25 weeks

I'm 25 weeks! Only 15 more to go! It sounds like a while, but considering how fast these 25 flew by this baby is going to be here before we know it! People keep telling me that I look really small and it makes me nervous. I worry that he isn't growing when people say that, but I just had an appointment on the 30th and my doc measured me and didn't say anything about me being small, so I just figure I'm fine unless told otherwise, but it's so easy to worry. Greg and I are getting so excited to go to Ohio for Christmas! Only 2 more weeks! Hopefully I will be a little bigger :o)

The Most Amazing Cranberry Sauce EVER!

I never liked Cranberry sauce until I made this. It is so delicious and the aroma that fills your home is heavenly!

Cinnamon Apple Cranberry Sauce

2 Cups Cranberry Juice
6oz bag sweetened dried cranberries
1 cinnamon stick broke in half
1 Cup of sugar
2 Gala Apples peeled, cored, and diced
2 tsp cornstarch

In a medium sauce pan on medium heat add cranberry juice, cranberries, cinnamon, and sugar

Bring to a boil and let cook 5 min - you know it's cooking when you can smell the cinnamon :o)

Add apples and cook, stir occasionally until cranberries are soft and apples are tender, about 5 minutes

Remove 8oz of liquid to small bowl and whisk in cornstarch

slowly add cornstarch juice mixture to the cranberry mixture stir constantly and cook for 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and pour into a serving bowl refridgerate until thickened about 30 minutes. Remove cinnamon sticks and serve.

Enjoy this bowl of pure deliciousness!

22 weeks!

Not a whole lot new this week. Sometimes our little boy will move like crazy then other times not at all... well I think he moves but I just can't feel it. When I don't feel him for a while I will use my doppler to listen and I can hear him moving but I just can't feel him. Last night when I went to bed he started moving a lot and it actually made it really hard to fall asleep. It would be nice if we could change our babies sleeping routine in utero haha. Thanksgiving is coming soon and I'm pretty excited! I saw this apple cinnamon cranberry sauce recipe on the food network that I am going to try! Anyway Happy Thanksgiving to all because I may not post until then!

We're having a BOY!

We ended up having an ultrasound today instead of tomorrow because of a little scare we had yesterday. I went to work after my appointment and had a little brown spotting with a lot of discharge and I freaked out because I thought it was my mucus plug. I called my doctor and he told me to go home and lay down and we would see what the ultrasound had to say on Thursday. I was on my way home and then my doctor called me back and wanted me to come in to his office again so he could do a pelvic exam. I was completely closed but he was a little worried that I was thinner than I should have been so he set me an appointment with a high risk doctor (perinatologist) and we had an ultrasound today. She said that everything looks perfectly fine and that I am just way sensitive to my contractions. She said that some people don't feel them until later but others are really sensitive and feel them right away like I did at 8 weeks. She also said that everyone contracts from the time they conceive they just don't all feel it. She also said that because the cervix is a glandular organ that it's not uncommon to have a lot of discharge and she said that the brown spotting was probably just a broken blood vessel because there is absolutely no sign of bleeding anywhere in my uterus. Yay for no Placenta Previa!!!! So all is well and I honestly think it has a lot to do with our prayers and the blessing I was given last night. I also no longer need to be on bed rest! The US tech told us he was a boy and then the doctor came in and did her thing and she said do you guys want to know what the sex is? We said we were already told and she said, "well good because he's not being shy at all I keep trying to stay away from the area but he is just right there!" haha!

20 weeks!

Today was our 20 week appointment! Greg didn't go this time due to school :o( My doctor brought out his lovely tape measure this time and said everything was measuring normal! He told me that I am a little behind on the weight gain, but he didn't seem too concerned. Again he said, "sounds like a boy." We will see on Thursday! I'm so excited for that ultrasound I can hardly stand myself. I've been having braxton hicks contractions since 8 weeks that never hurt but I can just feel something going on so I touch my belly and it's hard. He said it was normal and not to worry about it. I have them about one every hour sometimes less, but he isn't concerned at all... I am... but what do you expect? I'm a little nervous about the ultrasound probably just as much as I am excited because I want to know if my cervix has shortened... I really really hope not! It's already on the shorter side to begin with so it makes me nervous. He thinks everything is going to be fine. I'm really glad he doesn't seem to mind that I'm so paranoid. He said even if it is short they will just monitor it closely with more ultrasounds throughout the rest of the pregnancy. Anyway we are hoping for all good things and I really don't feel like anything is wrong I just know a little too much about some things and sometimes that's not always the best.... I almost wish I would have gone through nursing school after I had all my kids... I would be less of a spaz!

We bought a Fetal Doppler!

Best 27 dollars and 99 cents I have ever spent!! When I was at work I tracked the package and it said it was delivered to provo and I was sooooo excited!! I couldn't wait to get off work! I came home rushed to the mailbox and then used it as soon as I could. I found the heartbeat within seconds and then the baby moved all over the place so it was really hard to get it to hold still to listen to a steady beat. We recorded it and sent it to family it was so fun! I love it that I don't have to wait every 4 weeks to hear the baby!

baby kicks and cravings

We felt the baby kick for the first time today. I was sitting there crocheting and thinking about when the baby would start kicking and then all of a sudden I got this giant poking feeling and I sat there for a second and then it happened again and I called Greg over and he felt it the third time and it happened a couple other times before it stopped. It wasn't what I was expecting everyone kept telling me it feels like butterflies... not so much...I felt it again later on but it wasn't as strong, but it really just feels like giant pokes. So yay! That was exciting!

Lately all I have wanted was Tootsie pops and soft pretzels with cheddar cheese. So I went to Macey's yesterday and bought a bag of tootsie pops and ordered Greg to stay away from the red ones because those are the ones I really want! I found a soft pretzel recipe in one of my cookbooks so I have been making a lot of those :o) Greg loves them too which is good otherwise I would eat them all and it makes a ton!

Baby

Our Baby at 8 weeks! This little one has grown quite a bit and lately I have had a lot of round ligament pain, but I rather enjoy knowing our little sweetheart is growing growing growing...so it's no big deal!

Our Secret is out.... I'm growing a human!

Greg and I have had a secret for quite some time now. We had a doctor appointment today and I decided this was the appointment I wanted to tell everyone that we are pregnant! I am 16 weeks pregnant and it has gone so great this time! I haven't had a single problem, so hopefully it stays that way!

I had brought a pregnancy test home fr0m work and I decided I wasn't going to tell Greg that I was taking one because I didn't want him to get his hopes up and then it be nothing. I woke up early on July 20th and took the test and sure enough there it was two beautiful pink lines! I woke Greg up and told him and then sobbed uncontrollably. I had so many emotions all one time it was a little overwhelming. He tried to comfort me and tell me not to worry and oddly enough after that morning I hadn't worried since... I think it was just the initial shock of it all, because I didn't think there was any possible way I could be pregnant...because I got sick right around the time I was ovulating and well you know....there wasn't much happening between Greg and I haha (I hope that wasn't too graphic) Anyway after that morning I just felt like this time everything was going to be fine. So far so good :o)

From about 6weeks to 10 weeks I was soooo unbelievably tired I honestly thought there was something wrong like my iron was low or something. My doctor said my iron was fine and it was just the pregnancy. I knew a certain amount of fatigue was normal in pregnancy but I no joke could have slept 24hrs a day without a problem... I had just started working in the OR during this time and it made it so hard to learn I felt so ignorant because I was so tired I couldn't think straight. I had nausea quite a bit too but it only lasted for a few weeks.

By 11weeks I started feeling like a normal human again and it made me nervous because I was afraid my HCG was low because I wasn't quite 13 weeks yet which is when the preg symptoms start to slow down for many women, but my doc wasn't concerned at all. This time around if my doc says I'm good I just believe him and it's actually made this pregnancy much more enjoyable and a lot less stressful, but I also haven't spotted a lick like I did with the first so that helps keep the paranoia to a mininum.

Now I am 16 weeks and today at the appointment my doc said, "I think your having a boy the heart rate is about 130bpm and that's boy range." haha so we will see.... Greg and I have both had dreams that the baby is a boy, but we will find out for sure in 4 weeks!

I'm at work so I need to end this, but I will for sure keep you updated!

High on the Mountain Top.....

This weekend we went up Hobble Creek Canyon and set up camp. We didn't stay all night because it was really cold on the mountain, but we stayed to watch the sunset which is the best part about camping here anyway :o) We made Banana Boats and to make those you leave the banana in the peel and then hollow out the banana but leave some of it in the bottom and then top with marshmallow and chocolate chips and wrap them in foil and then thrown them on the fire. We made Orange muffins also and to make those you leave the orange in the peel as well and then hollow out the orange but leave some inside and then use a muffin mix that you only add water and then we mixed the muffin mix in a ziplock bag then put it in the orange, wrap it in tin foil, and then throw it on the fire. Then we made tin foil dinners. So it was a delicious and rather fun night! After which we went back to a friends house and just talked for about an hour then came home. Here are some pictures...one of which Josh, me and Greg and doing an assembly line to make the banana boats...I was waiting for a banana in the picture so I only had my spoon. haha. I tried to put the pictures on in order from when the sun was up to sunset but when they loaded they loaded in reverse haha... anyway it was a pretty day! I hope y'all enjoy thr pictures!

Charity is Love

I don't want to drive up the pearly gates in a shiny sports car,
wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly
manicured fingernails.
I want to drive in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking
kids to scout camp.
I want to be there with grass stains on my shoes from mowing my sister shenk's lawn.
I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a
sick neighbor's kid.
I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping weed someone's garden.
I want to be there with the children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears
of a friend on my shoulder.
I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived.

-Marjorie Pay Hinckley


I simply want to be a good wife, mother, and servant of the Lord. I only hope that when it is my time I will be able to honestly tell the Lord that while I was here I served my family, my sisters and their families to the best of my ability and that I tried with all my energy to have a hand in helping build the Kingdom of God.

Finding Joy in my calling

I am officially excited about being the Relief Society President! I have to admit I was very fearful Sunday and Monday. I went to the Temple on Tuesday and pondered everything and really read through the RS handbook and I started thinking about how "Fear and Faith cannot coexist" I can't remember who said that, but I began to feel a great deal of comfort and now I am so excited to see what I can accomplish and I'm so Grateful that the Lord has entrusted me with these women. I have never felt such a great deal of love and appreciation for the organization of the Relief Society and all that it stands for. I hope that I am successful in helping build the Kingdom of God. I've become very consumed already and I haven't even been sustained yet! I'm so excited to serve the Lord and my Sisters!

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Bars

12 whole Graham Crackers, crushed
1 cup margarine or butter, softened
1 cup Peanut Butter
3 1/2 cups Powdered Sugar
1 (12 ounce) packkage choclate chips

Combine Graham cracker crumbs, margarine or butter, peanut butter, and powdered sugar in a large bowl. Pat firmly into a greased 9x13-inch pan. Melt chocolate chips until smooth. Frost mixture with melted chocolate. Refrigerate. When chilled, cut into small squares. You can drizzle white chocolate if you want I don't, but it's because I'm not a fan of white choclate!

"Rock On!"

Today I actually got off work at a decent time so we decided we wanted to go rock climbing! It snowed in the morning but then got up to the 50's by the afternoon so we went and brought a friend of Greg's along with us! It was a nice way to welcome Spring!

Spring has Sprung

Spring has finally Sprung here in Utah! It's so nice right now! Greg is finishing up this semester and he will then be a Junior! That's exciting for us! 2 more years and he will be finished!! We are hoping that next weekend we will be able to get some rock climbing in...it's one of our favorite things to do together :o) Not much other than that going on right now!

Happy Easter!

Today is Easter! As a Tradition I make these little bunny cakes that my Grandma would make when I was little. I still love them so I make them now and share them with friends here in Utah! We went to Salt Lake to see General Conference in the Flesh! It was so amazing!! Crazy busy, but really spiritual :o)Being away from family during the holidays usually bums me out but this Easter turned out to not be such a bad Easter :o)