Merry Christmas

cards are sent out.

neighborhood gifts delivered.

shopping complete.

halls are decked.

presents are not wrapped.

we are ready for christmas.

we hope you all have a happy holiday.

love, us

{28}

Yesterday, the man of our house had a birthday! We celebrated by going out to lunch at Famous Daves and doing some shopping. i know right, birthday shopping on his birthday, i was quite surprised it was allowed. but it was for him, so it was okay.

We are pretty lucky, pres & i, to have this guy in our lives. he treats us pretty dang good. I can't even describe how much Chase loves his boy, they have a cute relationship. and i just love him for more reasons than i can name. He's a great other half for me, and a great daddy too.

clearly Preston is the most fun to take pictures of, even if it is daddy's day.

16 months

say it isn't so.... is he really 16 months old. about to be a big brother? oh dear. sometimes i fear for his little sister, and other times i think it will be the sweetest relationship formed. the doc said yesterday at his 15 month appointment (even though he is almost 16 mo) that it will be most definately a love/hate relationship. which i expected. Not too many changes in the the little guy since i last posted about him. he has had some rough bouts with sicknesses the last little while. yuck, can it be over yet? it seems to be one thing after another, but i tell you if i have to catch anymore throw up in my hands, or change 14 poopy diapers in one day again then i'm taking a vacation....hopefully we can be done with it all soon, even though its unlikely since were rapidly approaching sick season. we will most likely opt to stay indoors for the majority of the winter. Preston sure does keep us laughing and smiling though. he is getting the funnest personality.

I've been jotting down some of the things pres is up to these days that i don't want to forget

-cries terribly when he sees his daddy leave for work, or a meeting. he is used to chase just being gone when he wakes up, but now that the season is over he has to watch him leave, and doesn't like it one bit.

-Asks for lots of attention from Chase and I, he is sure to make sure we are watching him when he is doing something funny or mischevious.

-loves giving kisses. big-wide-open-mouthed-kisses.

-loves to honk our noses, especially when i am rocking him and he is supposed to be being quiet.

-LOVES to lift up my shirt and give baby sister a kiss, sometimes i ask him where baby sister is and he lifts up my shirt to show me, other times he just goes straight for the belly and attacks it.

-attempts to climb onto anything possible in our house.

-loves to feed himself. although he is terrible at it.

-quite possibly my favorite of them all is how he folds his arms everytime he gets in his chair so we can say prayer, or at bedtime. sweetest thing ever.

-kinda turned into a pickier eater. he's not too bad, but definetely worse than he's ever been. But, he loves cold cereal, especially cheerios and ramen noodles. and anything sweet.

-can seriously untwist ANY lid with his mouth. If it has a twisty lid, and it can fit in his mouth, he will get it undone. we have certainly learned the hard way with this one, as drinks have been dumped on him, my makeup all over the floor, and so many more. i don't think we can stop this habit either.

-chipped one of his front teeth, most likely due to the fact that everthing goes in his mouth. oh well, its a baby tooth.

-still loves baby einstein.

-LOVES to dance.

-throws WAY too many fits for my liking.

-loves taking baths and swimming at grandma & grandpas. getting very confident in the water which makes me quite nervous.

-will cuddle with me and only me. occasionally he will lay his head on someone elses shoulder but will only let me rock him or cuddle him.

-likes to drink out of cup like mom & dad, usually he takes of the lid to his sippy so that he can drink out of the cup like a big boy.

-doesn't have a huge vocabulary, but we've heard him say several things a few times.

-momma, dadda, mooo, no, this, that, duck, kitty, horsey, down, ball, nana (banana), shoe, baby, chair....and i'm sure more but thats all i can think of right now.

-he jibber-jabbers all day long though, and we can't wait for them to turn into actual words.

-He often claps for himself when we say good job preston, but it is a silent clap, i've never actually hear noise from his hands....a good golfers clap i'd say.
He's a fun little guy.

a little of me

I saw this cute idea on the adorable blog little miss momma the other day and i thought i would quickly jot down a few things too...

i'm weird because.....

-i do not enjoy cuddling while sleeping

-have never left preston with a teenage babysitter, except for once but i had already put him to bed.

-i absolutely love prestons slimy-wet kisses

-can't stand when i make dinner and its hot-n-ready, but the hubs takes his sweet time getting to the table. who enjoys a cold meal, uh not me!

-love to cuddle up to the warm clean laundry fresh out of the dryer

-i won't drink a glass of plain milk. only chocolate.

-i make a ba-jillion lists to check off but never really check them off

i'm a bad friend because.....

-it takes me an eternity to listen to my voicemails

-and almost just as long to return the phone call

i'm a good friend because.....

-i'm a good listener

-i'll go to lunch with you anytime you want.

i'm sad because.....

-my one-on-one time with preston is coming to an end

-i am having a rough time directing myself on decorating baby girls room
-Preston chipped his front tooth on something.

-my dr. keeps calling baby girl in belly a boy, and that makes me nervous.

i'm happy because....

-little P-man took two 2+ hour naps today.

-hunting season is officially over!! yay for having husband back!

-i just got my hair colored.

i'm excited for....

-crazy black friday shopping

-multiple thanksgiving dinners

-baby girls arrival

-christmas

i'm grateful for...

-the opportunity to be a mom

-a healthy body

-family

-the gospel

-my husband

-a full nights rest

baby kisses

Preston is good at giving kisses. I adore them. others, (namely Melissa & Avery) turn their head as fast as possible when they see his wide open mouth coming at them. Always a bit of slobber involved. gross i know, but i'm his mom & i will take as many as i can get from him.

We (pres & i) are staying at my parents house for the week "babysitting" my sisters and cousins while our parents are vacationing in Jamaica. Its not too rough considering that 4 out of the 5 kids are in high school. The other in 1st grade, and Preston is in heaven following her around and doing what she is doing. She actually seems to love it as well so its a win/win. I'm getting lots of jane snuggle time this week & i'm pretty happy about that. We miss Daddy, but can't wait to go home to a complete hunting season & then we will enjoy daddy all to ourselves.

and lastly, snapped a 29 week belly photo this morning. should be 30 week according to my last posted pic, but since my date got changed its not. here is to 11 weeks left. kinda can't believe it.

hopefully will get fabric picked out for her bedding & such this week at one of the worlds greatest fabric stores here. (the Gathering Place)

a boy & his truck

Grandma & Grandpa Jones gave Preston this awesome truck for his birthday. the boy really does love his truck! You'll notice that i've duct-taped the tail gate of the truck, this being because Preston would open it up and climb into and then continue to climb on top of the truck, i thought that by taping it shut i would solve this problem. Negative. He climbs up through the driving position now. We've only had a few minor spills thus far, none that have taught him a lesson though. He absolutely LOVES to honk the horn, and when he honks it, i can hear him giggle at himself across the house. he thinks he's pretty cool stuff. He still cannot drive forward in it, i think because it is lifted off the ground quite a bit, but he loves to reverse and push & climb all over it. his favorite however is looking through all the windows and playing peek-a-boo with me. I think its pretty darn cute!

***on a different note: i had a dr. appointment yesterday, and She has changed my due date once again. I have consistently measured small according to my due date, so as of now, my d.d is January 31st. I've kinda been expecting this to happen so i'm not too bummed about it, i'd rather it be changed now that a month before my "expected" due date and then move it back. We'll let her cook as long as she wants to in there. Other than that, all is well is the baby dept.

halloween 2011

We had a very low key halloween this year. we thought about going trunk or treating but ended up not. Preston had already eaten more than enough candy as the trick-or-treaters knocked on our door....and lets be honest, it would be me who would end up eating the majority of it. Really, what kind of mother am i letting my child gorge on candy before dinner. The kid loves candy. Then we went over to a friends for a little halloween dinner. Preston was a cute little dog, and actually liked his costume which surpassed my expectations.

here are a few pictures from our night...

28 weeks...

and there you have it...my belly @ 28 weeks! this pregnancy continues to fly by super-duper fast, and smoothly!! i honestly feel weird saying it, but besides the growing belly and sweet little kicks....i pretty much don't feel pregnant. i am however, assured that there will be some hiccup along the way at some point. It can't be this smooth/easy. I did fail my 26 week glucose test a few weeks ago, so i had to go in for the long & dreaded test that i am all too familiar with from last pregnancy...but thankfully i passed. I was pretty pesimistic about it since i had failed with preston and @ week 26, but so so happy to have passed this time around. finger pricking=yuck!

So, now i need some advice. i am pretty dang nervous to bring a brand new little babe home to a wild little 18 month old....I know he will probably not care or even know what is going on, but is there any suggestions out there on how to make the transition easier for preston, or how i can try to prepare him in even the slightest bit now before her arrival? I am well aware that it will be a lot of trial and error, and jealousy in our household for a while, but if there is anything any of you have experienced that may help me out to ease this transistion, do share please!!

2nd question: do i move preston from his crib into a big-boy bed pre-baby or post-baby? I don't want to keep baby girl in a bassinet next to my bed for very long (preston lasted about 2 weeks), but i don't want it to be traumatic for preston either to be giving his bed up? so do i buy another crib or go for the toddler bed?

oh yeah, happy halloween. i'm sure my halloween post will follow later this week, or next at the rate i have with updating my blog.

a simple day...

today has been filled with a whole lot of nothing. every now and again i enjoy these kind of days.

*Preston woke up in just the nick of time to make it to exercise class, which on most days is a struggle trying to get through because of the fact that Preston sees his Grandma at the front of class teaching and he can't quite understand why he can't run to the front of class to play with Grandma like he usually does. today a fellow-exerciser had a headache so she volunteered to watch the busy boy while i worked out.

*The rest of the day has been spent wasting much too much time on pinterest (as usual), searching for the perfect fall boot, thinking of yummy fall recipes to create, and writing up my fall to-do list instead of accomplishing any of it.

*All the while sneaking in some great cuddle time from Preston who is working on 3 big-ol molars popping in, they must be bothering him because he doens't snuggle just for fun. and while its sad he's hurting, i'll enjoy the sweetness of his head resting on my shoulder.

*I keep walking past the mirror and noticing a belly has finally/definetely emerged. i still feel like i'm in the "fat-stage"...but thankful to see a belly popping out. As of yesterday i entered into my third trimester...which gives me a feeling of nervousness and excitment. we have a lot of baby-prep to do with preston.

*i'll leave you with a few pictures we quickly snapped at our fun community pumpkin walk this weekend. I love fall!!

my big boy

isn't he sweet? and grown up?

I told you so....once we found out we were having another little babe Preston decided that he better grow up quickly, and he is succeeding. Most days i love that he is turning into my little boy, but others i miss my baby. One thing i know for sure, is that i like him!!

Decided to write down some of my favorite things preston is currently doing for my memories sake:

-When he wants to sit on my lap, no matter how far apart in a room we are, Preston will turn around and walk backwards until his little bum finds my lap to sit on.

- His LOVE for the game of peek-a-boo. brings an instant smile to his face

- When he knows i am about to lay him down for a nap, he hurries and lays his head on my shoulder to snuggle. he must know i love his snuggles, and of course, i resist laying him down just to enjoy 10 seconds worth of a cuddle.

- How he loves to slam dunk the basketball on his little hoop. He's pretty good too.

- He brings me books to read to him all day long, but he NEVER sits still long enough to get past the 2nd page.

-The way he is beginning to understand. It amazes me. I can tell him to get his shoes and socks and he will then he'll sit on his bum so i can put them on. When i tell him that we are going to go outside, or change his diaper, or get in the tubby...He runs right to the location and waits for me. so cute.

-Beginning to say more words. I have heard him say many before but he's not so consistent yet: but ones that he can say are mama, dada, kitty, cow, down, duck and ball. Although he is not good at saying them on command, just when he wants to.

-He blows sweet kisses, and continues to give an abundance of kisses (especially to me)

- i weighed him yesterday just on our scale and he weighed in at 27 lbs (with his clothes on). but still, he's a chunker.

We continue to feel blessed and lucky to have this little guy in our lives.

and i doubt that feeling will ever change.

Baby Jane

My sis Melissa had this sweet, adorable & perfect little girl yesterday.

Her name is Jane.

There is just something about new babies that make my heart melt.

i like her alot. time to go snuggle her.

congrats Trae, Lis & big sis Avery!!!

crash, bang, boom!

yuck!!! looking at these pictures makes me literally sick. this last thursday i was headed up to my in-laws house to see chase and take him some stuff that he had forgotten at home and needed for work. I really didn't want to go anywhere that day because i feel like i have been gone so much....and i just wanted to stay home for a night, but when chase needed something, i decided to go. I drive the gravel road to my in-laws house quite often and although that doesn't make me like it more, i am not as scared driing on it as i used to be. We have had several problems with our tires on our Commander so i usually try to drive slow anyways to avoid any problems. This day was no different, infact, i was driving much slower than normal because Preston had just fallen asleep as i was driving up there and i wanted him to have a longer nap, so i was driving at a steady 20 mph. I could see a truck coming down the road in the opposite direction due to his cloud of dust that he was stirring up while driving, so i stayed clear on my side of the road and we passed each other, only to quickly see another truck following him way too closely in my opinion and not on his side of the road, and i did all i could to slow down more and pulled off as much as i could but it was too late, and he hit me head on!!!
I have never been in any sort of an accident before so i was quite shaken up and scared with the whole situation. When we hit, my airbags went off and then all i could hear was fluid rushing out of my car and that just made me real nervous, so i got out of our car, which my door was jammed slightly, and rushed around to get poor preston who was just scared with what had just happened. Thankfully he was asleep until the crash and then he woke up to the boom....It took him a while to calm down, i'm sure partly due to my level of emotion at the moment. Once i realized we were both ok, i told the other man involved (who was also ok) that i just needed to walk. so i took off down the road, mostly because i had no cell signal where the wreck occured. So i walked about 300 yards down the road till i could get any sort of signal, and even then it was touch and go...I got a call out to my mother in law, who was in Idaho Falls, and had her call someone to let them know what had happened. the biggest thing on my mind at this point was little princess inside my belly....and while i felt that everything was ok, i was really nervous and scared. It literally took an hour and 15 minutes from when the wreck happend for the cops to show up, thankfully there were no serious injuries or we would have been in trouble waiting and waiting up there. The officer wouldn't issue any citation because he said that there were no lines on the gravel road and no witnesses so its hard to tell where the collision occured. Plus the other man had moved his vehicle off the road from where the wreck happened so cars could get through, so therefore they couldn't tell exactly where the wreck took place. i am quite upset about this, because i feel so confindent that it was not my fault at all and he should have been issued a citation, but i guess we will deal with the card we're dealt.

Anyways, to wrap it up, car is totalled...still waiting on all the insurance business to go through. But Baby Girl, Preston and I are ok. I have been sore for the past few days, and i don't enjoy getting behind the wheel yet. Certainly won't be driving up on the gravel roads for a few days. but i feel blessed and lucky to be ok

well.....

we are so excited to be having a little girl!!! i am totally shocked. Chase was sure all along that it was a girl, so much so that when i was like 9 weeks along he started praying for our baby girl. I thought it was for sure a boy. But nonetheless, we are thrilled. When we went in for our ultrasound, i just had the tech put the gender in an envelope and we were getting together later that day for lunch with family and thought we'd open it up together. My sister in law Lauren ordered cupcakes, half "its a boy" half "its a girl"...and right before we opened the envelope we passed around the cupcakes and everyone chose whether they thought it was a boy or a girl. Lauren and Chase were the only two who chose girl cupcakes....so i'm not the only one who thought boy! I love the tiny bit of my mother in law Kathy that you can see in this picture below, she really thought boy....look how suprised she looks. Oh dear, we are so happy, and i am now starting to feel slightly overwhelmed with all the girl stuff out there, and it is confirmed that boys and SOOO much easier to prepare for. I just this week came out and said that i am ready for two, or maybe not so much ready, but excited and think it will be good for preston to have a little sister.

This pregnancy continues to be the easiest thing on earth (knock on wood)....still no symptoms, I'll be the first to admit that it is weird to feel this way, but i certainly won't complain. Hopefully little angel face isn't being nice now so that she can act up later. due date did however get pushed back a bit, which i've been expecting since i've been measuring small, so she'll make her arrival sometime in the end of january. I'll take all the time i can get. I need to do some major training with big brother.

the day of our ultrasound, Preston literally woke up from his nap looking like a big boy, and not my baby anymore. Its sad a little bit. But again, very exciting.

my boys...

oh how i love my boys. they are mine and they are wonderful to me!!

Here is the look of my hubs that i get all-too-familiar with in the next few months. thats right, hunting season has begun, ready or not. unfortunetly there were a few things we didn't check off our summer to-do list, and now they become almost impossible to do. But despite the fact that we see much less of each other during this busy season, its still a good one. and chase enjoys it, so thats most important. Thankfully, my inlaws have built their new home quite close to the ranch so Preston and I have plans to move in with them one or two nights a week so that we don't miss daddy/hubs near as much. We are just grateful for a good job.
And as for this little boy of mine...we are going to enjoy this time with less-daddy and do some major bonding (were pretty tight as it is, but we could always use more) He isn't my baby anymore, and that makes me a little bit sad. However, he is giving into my constant plea for a snuggle, and occasionally he'll give in just a little, and i like that. Hopefully with age, he will realize just how important his momma is to him. We had his 1 year appointment this week, and just as expected the boy had taken a leap in the growth charts and has grown. He is 25 lbs (97%) and 31.5 inches tall (96%). He is a big boy, and still just happy and busy.

I feel like a pretty lucky lady to have these two in my life. They make me happier than i could ever imagine.

An EPIC experience

This past weekend, me and 12 other crazies, ran in the Cache-Teton Epic Relay. We ran the 205 miles from Smithfield, UT to Jackson Hole Wyoming....and it was so much fun. I was the captain of the team, and with that a little additional stress in my life making sure i found 11 other runners and seeing that everything else fell into place. And it did, everything went so well...we had the absolutely funnest team ever and i am so proud of everyone for doing so awesome. We pretty much stick entirely with the 5 other runners in your car, and rarely see the other 6 runners except for at vehicle exchanges. We had such a ball with our 6, and i know the other 6 feel the same way about their car, so it worked out rather nicely. Our team finished in 33 1/2 hours, and that was pretty dang near what we were expecting to finish it in, so we did awesome.

I was runner #6, my leg was ranked 2nd hardest on the team, running 19.5 miles total. and i was pretty dang nervous going into it because on a normal day i can handle the 2nd hardest, but being almost 18 weeks pregnant is another story. But everything felt PERFECT! and i did much better that i expected to do. My first leg was 6.8 miles, and it started out slightly downhill for the first little while, as i was going down the hill i could see this MONSTER hill that i knew i had to climb once i got to the bottom of my downhill portion. Once i knew i was getting close to it, i told myself to not look up and just push through it, so i did just that, I got to the bottom of the hill, and put my head down so all i could see was my feet and the road, and i just put one foot in front of the other, and made it to the stop of the 1.5 mile hill without stopping or seeing what i was running up. It was a pretty awesome feeling to make it to the top of the hill and it gave me the energy i needed to finish my last couple of miles of that leg. My next two legs were 6.7 miles and 6.03 miles, and they went pretty good as well. I'm a pretty competitive person, but i knew i had to listen to what my body was telling me as well so that i would not do anything to hurt me or the little babe, and i was lucky enough to feel really good and finish all of my legs without ever walking.

My sis, Mckell, designed us our awesome team shirts that you will see in the pics towards the end (thanks Kell). It was a beautiful run and i am already looking forward to next year. So grateful for wonderful teammates who rocked it, and made it the enjoyable experience that it was!!!

One of my best friends, Jana, who is AMAZING!! she was in the other car and totally rocked all of her killer legs. She had the hardest Leg out of the whole relay and did so good. She's AWESOME!!my mother in law is AWESOME, and did so good. i'm lucky to have her and be able to do these fun races with. she's great motivation for me. love her!

this & that

I just love this little boy. I've been thinking alot lately about being his mom, and how it is such a blessing in my life. Imagining life without him, is unthinkable. Why we were trusted to watch over, protect, provide, and help him through life is beyond me, but i will gladly take the challenge. And chances are that i will fail at times, but thank goodness this little love of mine is forgiving and understanding. I can't imagine not being his mom, and spending everyday with him trying to teach him the things he will need to survive. I'm a pretty lucky lady.


Which brings me to this next darling photo. For some strange reason Heavenly Father has decided that i need to be a mom to yet another darling child, already. yes my friends, that is my official announcement. oh dear, i am scared....very very scared. I am almost 18 weeks along. Which puts me due in January, and also puts my children 17.5 months apart. and now you can see why i am so scared. I am just now coming out of the shock, and that i why i have waited so long to share this little secret of mine, that and also that i have not really felt a single symptom of pregnancy in the last 18 weeks, so i figured if i felt so good, i just as well keep it a secret while i can. Thank goodness for my sweet husband who keeps assuring me that it will be alright. Please don't get me wrong, i am very excited...just also very surprised. My little babe, and lis's little babe will be 3 months apart, which will be very fun.

anyways, that's the surprise of the day. bet ya didn't see that one coming did you? me neither. but now that its happening, i'm just gonna roll with it...."he never said it would be easy, he only said it would be worth it," I'm gonna keep telling myself this, and in the end it will all be worth it i'm sure.

So, again i am so grateful for the opportunity to be a mom. and for being trusted with these little angel children. i will just have to raise up to this challenge now. and i will.

p.s. doesn't this sister of mine look amazing for only have about 2.5 months left. uh yeah!