Me with all the stocking stuffers. Jeff humored me and actually put one of those temporary tatoos on for the day even though they were a little glittery. Now they're in the trash. We tossed that little Nerf ball back and forth 207 times without dropping it! And I made a flower, two swords and a dog out of those balloons.
Jeff and all of his gifts from me and his parents. The two shirts, fancy mechanical pencil, The Final Break Dvd, Muppet Treasure Island Dvd, Rubber Neckers game, Bananagrams game, and lingerie are from me.
Here I am holding my prized blog book that Jeff spent hours putting together for me. He formatted all the blogs from our first year of marriage into a book and every year from now on, he is going to make another one. I love my husband! I got a lot of great gifts! Jeff got me the Scene It game, Narnia books, 3-D globe puzzle, Yozone frozen yogurt gift card, and most of those Dvds. The rest are from his wonderful parents.
Us with our shared gifts
I put this puzzle together after we got back from California. It took forever!
Then I punched a hole in it.
It was very satisfying.
After we opened all of our gifts and finished packing up the car, we left for our appointment to hear the baby’s heartbeat for the first time. We were so excited! It was incredible! I can’t believe there is a little person growing inside me! Hearing the heartbeat made it more real. We can’t wait to meet him or her!
After our appointment, we drove over to pick up Jeff’s cousin Rachelle and started the drive to California. We stopped at Café Rio for lunch. Jeff and I got some delicious burritos. Jeff expertly drove and ate his enchilada-style burrito simultaneously and ridiculously quickly. I, on the other hand, was having a hard enough time avoiding making a mess sitting in the passenger seat with my burrito on my lap. We arrived around 6:30 and said hi to everybody before Kelsey (Jared’s girlfriend) came over and she, Katrina, and I went to Ashley and Patrick’s new apartment for Ashley’s bachelorette party. It was so fun talking to Katrina and Kelsey in the car on the way there. I love those girls.
At the party, we met a bunch of Ashley’s friends. They were really fun girls. And Ashley is so great! I loved seeing her again and I’m so excited that she is now my sister-in-law! At one point while we were sitting there, Kelsey leaned over Katrina and said something like, “I’m not sure if I should ask you this, but I heard you might be trying to have a baby soon…?” I had told my mom a long time ago that we were planning to start trying to have a baby sometime around Christmas. That was our original plan, but obviously that changed. Apparently, Katrina hadn’t heard any of this so she was really interested to hear my answer too. I had to lie so the Christmas morning announcement wouldn’t be ruined. I’m usually a terrible liar, but I was actually pretty proud of my performance. I told them that it could be soon and when they looked at me wanting more, I said, “I’m not on the pill anymore.” And of course, then Katrina had to yell excitedly, “You’re not on the pill anymore?!?!” Suddenly, everybody’s eyes were on me and I had to lie to every person in the room! They were all saying, “That’s so exciting!” and “Oh my gosh! That’s awesome!” Katrina asked how long I had been off the pill and I very convincingly said, “Well what’s today? … It’s only been like a week.” They were so excited and I managed to keep it up the whole time. I even talked about how I had put on weight and I needed to be more consistent in my exercising to work it off.
A little later, they started a game where everyone had to be blindfolded and use their mouth to stick a Hershey’s kiss on a blown up picture of Patrick’s face, as close to his lips as possible. It was really funny to watch. The picture was taped to the door at Patrick’s real height, 6’3”, so every girl had to get on her toes to reach him. Ashley got so close to right on and then Kelsey somehow managed to get it in exactly the right spot! It was unbelievable! Katrina and I refrained from this activity as we found the idea of planting a “kiss” on our brother a little too weird.
I spent Friday hanging out with Mom and expertly keeping the baby news under wraps while Jeff attended Patrick’s Bachelor party. Patrick, Jared, Casey Linford, Tyler Rex, and Jeff went shooting out in the desert all day. This kind of activity isn’t something Jeff would normally do, but he went to spend time with his brothers-in-law. They hadn’t had many opportunities to get to know each other in the past. They had fun shooting “bulletproof” glass, 2 liter bottles of soda, and cans. They arrived home just in time for the rehearsal dinner at Buca di Beppo, an Italian restaurant in Brea. Jeff was starving! Not surprisingly, all the boys had brought to eat was a box of doughnuts and Jeff only ate one. Crazy boys! Unfortunately, it took a while before all the food came out so he had to suffer for a while. Buca di Beppo serves food family style, so my mom picked a whole bunch of pastas, pizzas and salads for everyone to share. Jeff just stared in the direction of the kitchen and begged me to distract him until the pizzas finally came out. Poor guy! But by the time we left, we were all stuffed! It was a lot of food!
After dinner, we headed over to the church where the singles ward meets and where the ceremony and reception would be held the next night. Ashley and Patrick hired the same decorator and caterer that did Jeff’s and my wedding: Shelley Biggs. She does an incredible job! The cultural hall (both the ceremony and reception were in there) looked great! We all got to work on the tablecloths, seat covers, and picture frames. With lots of hands to help, it went really fast. Jeff got me all giggly and twitterpated when he jumped about a zillion feet in the air and grabbed the rim of the basketball hoop. I made him do it again so I could show him off to my dad and anybody else in the vicinity that I could get to pay attention. I love my studly husband!
After everything was set up, we practiced for the ceremony with Bishop Mitchell. We paired up to walk down the aisle and I couldn’t believe that Michael Thomas and I were paired as the shortest couple! I’m 5’6” and he’s 6’0”, but it was a very tall wedding party. Katrina was paired with Casey and Jared (the Best Man) was paired with Brittani Lumsden (the Maid of Honor). We practiced walking and standing in the right place so we wouldn’t look like fools during the real thing.
Saturday was the big day! We were all so excited that Patrick and Ashley were getting married! They are so perfect for each other and I love seeing Patrick so happy. In the morning, Jeff and I attempted a bike ride along the riverbed on a 25-mile path that leads to the beach. We packed lunches and borrowed my dad’s two fancy bikes with the intention of going until we felt like turning around and coming back. We got down to the path and I made a couple of unsuccessful attempts at jumping up onto the bike. I could barely reach the pedals even after Jeff lowered the seat. Eventually, I got the hang of the bike and we were on our way, but I quickly found out that that bike seat was uncomfortable! We only made it a couple miles before I wasn’t having fun anymore and we had to turn around and fight the crazy wind all the way back! A little disappointing. Oh well.
That afternoon, we all went down to the Newport Beach Temple to take pictures. It was really fun and not too long, which the guys really appreciated. Ashley looked absolutely gorgeous! It was so fun to watch Patrick seeing her for the first time. They made him face the other direction and wait until they told him he could turn around and see her. I’m sure he wasn’t disappointed! They have to wait to get sealed in the temple until January 30th because Ashley is a convert to the church and she won’t have been a member for a whole year until the January 26th. I can’t wait to fly down for that!
Ashley and her parents
The wedding party
These pictures are so funny! I can't jump at all!
Not at all.
This is the best I can do. This entire time, Jeff was taking crap from my dad about how all of our kids would get my jumping ability (or lack thereof).
So cute!
Just a couple of hours later, we were down at the church getting ready for the wedding ceremony. Everything looked perfect and it was so fun getting to see so many people I hadn’t seen in a while as they arrived at the church. Soon, it was time for the wedding party to go back and wait with Ashley in one of the classrooms until it was time for the ceremony to start. Apparently, Patrick was left waiting at the front of the room with all eyes on him for a little longer than he would have liked, but everything went smoothly as we made our way down the aisle to our positions. The ceremony was beautiful and despite the fact that even Ashley and Bishop Mitchell got emotional, I managed to keep myself from breaking down in tears in front of everyone – just teared up a little. Patrick and Ashley were so happy to be married and we were all so happy for them.
After the ceremony was over, we all visited with each other until people started arriving for the reception. It was such a fun reception! Jeff and I got to chat with a lot of great people and I had to flat out lie to two different people who asked us about our pregnancy plans and then asked, “You’re not already pregnant are you?” “Not yet!” The dessert table was covered in delicious treats and my sweet husband was nice enough to bring me some strawberries while I was confined to the wedding party table. The cake later that night was especially delicious! Jared and Brittani gave awesome toasts. Jared’s was so sweet! He rode back from the temple with Jeff and I earlier that day and we were discussing ideas. He even looked up tips online, but ended up deciding to just speak from the heart when the time came. He did great! Patrick and Ashley’s first dance and the father-daughter and mother-son dances were very cute. And when the dance floor was opened up to everyone, it became clear that some of the guests could really dance! Jeff and I especially loved watching Jared bust out his moves, much to Kelsey’s embarrassment and watching Brittani dance with the little girl who lives across the street from my parents. They had some serious moves and just kept dancing song after song. I got up for a minute, but it hit me that a big part of the reason I loved dancing so much in high school was that it was fun to be single and draw attention to myself with my friends (especially boys’ attention). It’s just not as fun anymore now that I’m an old married lady. I’ve already got my man! Overall, it was a wonderful night and we were all exhausted by the time we cleaned up and went home. Jeff organized a very efficient system for he, Jared, Kelsey, Katrina, Dillon (Katrina’s boyfriend), and I to unload the presents from our car and get them up into Patrick’s room once we got back to the house. We finished in record time and as soon as we were done, we went straight to bed.
Wedding party table
Jared dancing the night away
Sunday morning, we got to go to my old ward with my family and have fun seeing and catching up with even more awesome people. It was funny having people tell me I looked great even though I already felt like a fatty being twelve weeks pregnant and knowing I had put on a couple of excess pounds on top of the baby weight! It was fun having the Sommers/Hunters there in sacrament meeting with us. It meant that I could hold Brooke’s 7-month-old. She is the sweetest, happiest baby and Jeff and I had a lot of fun playing with her. Apparently, my mom was loving the image from behind us, wishing we had one of our own and having no idea that I was busy cooking one up right then and there! A little later, a man in the ward approached my dad and said, “Wow, I haven’t seen Kira in a really long time! I didn’t even know she had a kid!” So funny!
After church, we went over to Mamal and Papal’s house, like my family does every Sunday (they’ve lived 2 blocks away since I was in middle school). It was so nice to get to visit with the Sommers/Hunters and with Aunt Debi. Jeff, of course, spent time playing with the kids, chasing them and tossing them around. We exchanged a few gifts. Everyone was very happy with Mamal and Papal’s generous cash gifts and Aunt Debi got everyone an awesome gift: Money Soap. They were bars of soap with a rolled up bill in the middle of them. It could be a $1, $5, $10, or $50 bill. You’re supposed to use the soap until it wears down enough to get the bill out and see what it is. I couldn’t wait though. I started a trend when I used a plastic knife to cut my $1 bill out. I think only Patrick and Ashley committed to actually using the soap to get their money and everyone who cut their bill out got a $1 bill. Surprise, surprise. It was a great gift! And of course, like every time we’re in California, Jeff happily took advantage of the cable to watch Football. While we were sitting there watching the game, I decided that since I would be sharing the baby news with the family in just a couple of days, it would probably be safe to tell Brooke and swear her to secrecy until then. I wanted to be able to tell her in person (she was driving home the next morning). I asked Jeff if that was okay with him and he gave me the green light so I went outside to find her (my grandparents live in a black hole for cell phones so she had walked down the street to get service to call Ben). It was fun getting to tell somebody. I had been waiting sooo long! Although I had accidentally let it slip to Emily through some very poor lying and I had to tell Jackie because I borrowed her bridesmaid dress for the wedding and I it didn’t fit anymore when I tried it on a couple weeks beforehand so I had to ask her if I could get it adjusted. After I told her, we went on a little walk so we could chat and so Brooke could compose herself so she wouldn’t raise suspicion when we went back inside. She did a great job playing it cool!
Monday morning, Mom and I went hiking for an hour and a half in Chino Hills, like we did most mornings. We can talk forever and I loved getting to catch up with her. I managed to keep my mouth shut about the baby the whole time! No easy feat! For the few days between that morning and Christmas morning, Jeff and I were pretty much just trying to fill the time until we could finally make the long awaited announcement. We saw Avatar and got some delicious Golden Spoon frozen yogurt that day and that night we went for a walk around East Lake with Mom and Dad to see the Christmas lights.
Very excited about the lights
Mom and Dad
The little igloo and arctic creatures on top of this boat were so cute!
Tuesday, Mom and I went hiking again, while Dad took Jeff mountain biking. Jeff loved it and he was impressed with Dad’s endurance. That afternoon Jeff and I went to the Block at Orange (an outdoor mall) to walk around. We had a delicious dinner of burgers and fries at Johnny Rockets and explored all the stores for a couple of hours. We found a store called Sports Treasures that sold all kinds of infant-sized NFL apparel. They had a whole lot of Broncos (Dad’s favorite team) stuff. I wouldn’t be surprised if our little one ended up sporting one of those little jerseys.
Wednesday, Mom and I went hiking as usual. In the afternoon, Dad took Jeff and I to see Blind Side. Great movie! We all loved it.
Thursday was Christmas Eve. Jeff and I went to Kohl’s, Best Buy, and Bed Bath and Beyond all morning, in an effort to pass the time. We found a dog Snuggie for Cisco to give to Mamal and Papal for Christmas at Bed Bath and Beyond. We looked for a body pillow to help my pregnant self sleep better there too, but couldn’t find a good one. We ended up finding and ordering one on their website later and it has worked great! We were glad to find a good use for some of the gift card money we still have left over from the wedding! At Kohl’s, we checked out the maternity section and ended up getting a pair of sweat pants for me. Then, thinking I wasn’t getting much jewelry for Christmas, we decided we should get me a little more since the sales were incredible and Jeff likes when I wear jewelry. We got me three necklaces and a pair of earrings. I worried that my mom may have gotten one of them for me, but managed to justify buying them somehow anyway. And of course, when we got home, we discovered that the one I had decided I couldn’t wait to open and put on was the one my mom had bought for me! Luckily, we discovered that the one she had gotten me was missing a stone so we had a good reason to return it.
At 5:00, we went over to Mamal and Papal’s house for Christmas Eve dinner and to exchange gifts. Dinner was great! And once again, we had a great time visiting with everyone. Jeff and I played Wii bowling and I will have you know, I kicked his butt! That doesn’t happen too often so it’s pretty exciting when it does. I didn’t win, however, when we played Wii baseball, but I held my own. Jeff kept playing Wii with all the guys, while Mom, Debi, Russ’s mom, and I worked a puzzle. I miss working on puzzles with other people. Jeff did a few with me while we were dating, but that stopped when we got married. It was a very nice Christmas Eve and Jeff and I were so excited that we would finally be able to make the big baby announcement the next morning!
At Mamal and Papal's
Mamal got Papal this hilarious visor with fake hair attached to the top of it. He loved having hair again!
Mom, Aunt Debi, and Katrina
Uncle Russ
Mom with Cisco in his Snuggie
Christmas morning had finally arrived! I was so excited! I couldn’t sleep! It was like being back in the days of Santa. I was up at 5am and every time I managed to fall back to sleep, I woke up again about fifteen minutes later. I finally gave up and watched the cartoon How the Grinch Stole Christmas on my laptop and somehow managed to pass the time until 7:30 when we heard Mom downstairs getting breakfast ready. Patrick and Ashley said they would be over at 8:00. They showed up a little later than that, but it was perfect timing for breakfast. I was about ready to burst, but we finally finished breakfast and went out to open presents. We went in order, opening one present at a time and of course Mom and Dad’s gifts from Jeff and I were the last ones they opened! Before they got to it, my dad asked if we wanted to keep going in order or just go all at once. I knew they were going to open the picture frame with the baby announcement next so I probably sounded a little too excited about going “one at a time. One at a time!” But at least then, they opened it without everybody else being distracted. It was perfect. I’m so glad I managed to keep it a secret all that time. It was worth it.
Christmas morning breakfast
The newlyweds
Jared got us toys! A horse ball, a Nerf ball, and a Tech Deck skateboard.
Patrick and Ashley with the remote control helicopter Jared got them.
Dad with his Popeye shirt
Everybody just wanted cash this year. Here's Patrick with his roll.
Jeff and I got Jared a Visa Gift Card.
Our camera! Mom and Dad got us a nice camera. Now we can take nice pictures of the baby.
Jeff and I got Patrick and Ashley each a Christmas mug and a picture frame for their new apartment.
Jared with his cash. Classy.
Katrina in the Snuggie Jeff and I got her. Holding the book light it came with, she looked a lot like Harry Potter with his wand.
Patrick found Ashley a purse that says L.A.M.B. all over it. She loved it!
The whole family after the big announcement
The very excited future grandparents with the frame we gave them. It says things about grandkids and in the middle frame it says, "Coming July 5, 2010"
Saturday morning, I went hiking with Mom and her friends Leslie and Cheryl. It was fun having a couple of other people to spice up the conversation. Jared went out and bought another one of the helicopters he got for Patrick and Ashley so he would have one of his own. He flew theirs all Christmas day. Later that day, Jeff and Jared started a helicopter war with the two of them. They each set up a row of army men on opposite ends of the dining room table and then each tried to be the first to knock the other’s men down. They flew them until the charge ran out, recharged, flew, and recharged over and over again for hours. I can’t believe they stayed entertained for so long! While they were playing, I went to get Golden Spoon with my good friend, Shelley Witt. She’s so great! I hadn’t seen her in months so it was awesome to catch up. I miss her when I’m up in Utah and I only get to see her a couple times a year. In high school I saw her every day! After a nice long conversation, I came home and spent a little time with Jeff before he went out with my dad to play volleyball at the church while Mom and I worked a puzzle. Jeff and I spent quite a bit of time apart on this trip! It’s weird that we were on vacation with no responsibilities, and yet I missed him sometimes!
Jeff and Jared battling with the helicopters. Those things were not easy to maneuver!
They got really close to hitting each other a bunch of times.
Both controllers have a switch on them that can be put on either A, B, or C. This determines which helicopter it controls. Once, when Jeff went upstairs, Jared told me all mischievously that he was going to change his controller so it would control Jeff's helicopter the next time they started so he could crash it. Then, Jared went to the bathroom and Jeff goes, "Psst..." and tells me he's planning to do the exact same thing. It was so funny! They both executed their plans and both helicopters crashed.
Apparently, Jeff won this round.
Sunday, we went to church and I got to set the record straight for the people I lied to about the baby at the reception. With all of these people suddenly in the loop, the fact that I’m pregnant started to feel a lot more real.
We didn’t go over to Mamal and Papal’s house after church so we just hung out at the house all day. Dad and Jeff watched football and Mom and I worked a really hard I Spy puzzle. That night, both Shelley and Jackie came over to visit! I was so excited to see Jackie! It had been a whole year since the last time! And for some reason, the first thing I said to her after I hugged her was, “Look, my boobs are as big as yours now that I’m pregnant!” Very appropriate. Shelley and Jackie stayed a long time. We just talked and talked and talked for hours. I loved every minute of it! I love those girls! And we finally managed to finish that crazy I Spy puzzle. Jeff had already been in bed asleep for over an hour by the time they left. It was a good night.
Monday was Jeff’s birthday. He turned 25. Mom and Dad got us tickets to Universal Studios along with all you can eat passes for the day. I hadn’t been to Universal Studios since I was ten years old and Jeff had never been so we were excited to go. When Mom and I were deciding on a place to go, I thought Universal Studios would be the most pregnancy-friendly since they have a lot more to do than rides and their rides have always been pretty mild. I think the park plays it a little safe though because all of the rides warned against riding if you are pregnant. It was a bummer. I felt bad that Jeff didn’t get to go on any rides on his birthday, but we had fun anyway and managed to fill the whole day even without the rides. We saw plenty of shows: Terminator, Shrek in 3-D, Water World, Animal Stars, and a special effects show where they showed us how a lot of special effects are done in the movies. We also walked through a haunted house with things from a bunch of different horror movies and went on the tram to see a bunch of famous movie sets. And all day, we got free food with our little all you can eat wrist bands. Every meal came with a dessert, though so I had way too many cookies. And when we got home that night, my sweet mama had left two little cakes and two candles (a 2 and a 5) up in our room for us. We had to save them for the next day since we were already dangerously close to dying from a sugar overload. It was a good day. I loved getting to spend all day with my wonderful husband. It is impossible to get enough of him!
In line for the tram
We saw the car from the Mummy on the tram ride.
And a jeep from Jurassic Park
And the DeLorean from Back to the Future
This is from the scene when they first arrived at the island in King Kong. It's a miniature model that they filmed.
One of the houses from Desperate Housewives. We drove down Wisteria Lane.
Whoville
This is a real airplane that they used for War of the Worlds. It was huge!
This was part of the animal show. This pigeon was having a really hard time staying on this little girl's head. His feet were slipping all over her super fine hair. It was really funny.
This is the dog from Marley and Me.
This monkey was so funny! And talented!
The Water World stunt show
The classic Universal Studios picture. I took a picture with this shark when Jackie and I were last there for my 10th birthday.
Jeff with a car from The Bourne Ultimatum.
Jeff looks so scary in this picture! So serious!
Really enjoying being sung to.
Taking a breath
Re-enacting blowing after I missed it.
On Tuesday, we got to hang out with Patrick and Ashley on sort of a little double date to the park. It was so fun! They are so great together and so funny! We played catch with a football and then a baseball. We actually got pretty good with the baseball. We threw the ball around in a big square and got on a roll a few times. I’m pretty sure the kids playing on the playground were impressed (or at least they would have been if they had been watching). Then we played Bocce ball. I’m not very good at that game, but we had fun and everybody totally pampered me because I’m a poor helpless pregnant lady. The balls are pretty heavy and I mentioned that bending down to pick them up took some effort because even though I didn’t have much of a belly, I felt like I did. I don’t think I picked up my own balls again. I’m such a wimp. Bocce ball turned out to be a hidden talent of Ashley’s. She had never played before, but she gave a pretty impressive performance! I wish the two of them lived closer so that Jeff and I could hang out with them more often. They’re a lot of fun!
Wednesday was our last day in California. That morning, I went walking with Mom in the rain. On the way, I noticed the spot where she had carved my name in the wet cement on the sidewalk when we were on one of these walks years before. She just carved it in there and ran away, making me look like the culprit! My mom is the best!
Jackie’s birthday was the day before and Jeff and I didn’t make it down to San Diego for her party that night, so I decided to take a present and a card over to her parents’ house for her to get later. Jeff and I went to Kohl’s to get her a necklace, but the Christmas sales were over and the necklaces were pretty expensive at full price. Jeff got the brilliant idea to exchange one of the ones we had bought me for cheap for the one I wanted to get Jackie. He kindly drove home and got my necklace and brought it back to make the exchange. Success! We didn’t have to pay the difference since the two necklaces cost the same at full price. That night we dropped it off with a card. It was a bonus that I got to see Jackie’s awesome mom Barb and her dog Lizzie. I miss them both!
During the day, Jeff, Mom, and I saw The Princess and the Frog and got Golden Spoon. It was an awesome movie! We loved it! Later on, after dropping off the gift for Jackie at the Pinkowitz’s, Mom, Dad, Jeff and I went to McDonalds for ice cream cones to finish off the night. We said our goodbyes that night since we planned to leave early the next morning, but Mom and Dad got up and said goodbye again before we left. It was a long and wonderful vacation and thanks to Mom and Dad for everything they did for us while we were there. I have the best parents! And lucky for me, I get to see them and everyone else again on January 29th when I go back down for Patrick and Ashley’s sealing! I can’t wait!
3 comments:
My goodness that is a long post:) I love Katrina in the snuggie! Doug and Tricia have one too. Those things crack me up! I was honored that you told me your good news in person! Thanks. :)
Great post! I love that you always give all the details :) You've done that your whole life. I sometimes think you will become an author one day because they always have to come up with so many details. I love the pictures at Universal. My favs are the one with Jeff in the Bourne Car making the exact same face he did in the little green car at a museum you two visited last year! ha ha it must be his "I'm in a small car" face. And the one with you in the Shark's mouth-so flexible with such shiny hair :) Love you Both!
Love the snuggies! And that looked like a REALLY hard puzzle! I have lots of much easier puzzles over here if you'd like to borrow them sometime (1,000 piece). Love the shark picture - it is a classic!
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