A Baby Bump and a Flower

Mother's Day has new meaning this year, seeing how I feel little kicks and squirms in my stomach daily, from our adorable baby boy on the way! 

But I have to admit, I've always loved Mother's Day, even as a young girl.  That's because my dad (and ahem...mom), made sure that every year on that special day, all the girls and women in our family had a corsage--including me!  I can't remember how old I was when this tradition was started, but I was young, probably around 6 or 7 years old.  My sisters and I, along with our mom and grandmothers have always worn a corsage to church, and I remember how special it made me feel. 

Mother's Day
May 13, 2012 (my one year wedding anniversary!)
Wearing my Orchid Corsage

My parents taught me that motherhood and womanhood was part of my divine nature, even though I wasn't a mom yet.  That I should be respectful of that calling I had been given.  I knew early on what a special role it was and am so grateful I did at such a young age.  Even those who are not yet "moms" or have not had the chance in this life to rear children, we are all still mothers--it is our divine role. 

I remember in 4th grade, my class had to draw a picture of what each person wanted to be when they "grew up".  After we finished, they were on display in the bulletin board in the hallway leading in to the library.  I drew a picture of me as a mom!  That was always my response of what I wanted to be when I grew up.  I was instantly teased by a lot of the boys in my class, and they called me "mom" ever since.  Which I have to say, wasn't nearly as offensive to me as they probably intended.

Some might think that this is a ridiculous thing to aspire to, even at such a young age.  I think it worried some of my teachers at the time.  But I always knew it was my biggest goal.  Now here I am, I just received my degree from ASU, and I'm so glad!  Working as a Recreational Therapist has been so rewarding and I hope to continue to grow and progress in that field.  I love working on new things, learning new hobbies, developing friendships and new relationships.  But I'm sure as I look back on my life, I'll feel that being a mom was my most important (not glamorous) job, and for that I am so excited!    

So here's to the beginning of my newest and most important chapters in life!  I'm scared and worried, but I am also very excited!

Grilling Weather

For most people, the grilling season starts in the summer. 

And while we still BBQ in the summer, it isn't enjoyable to lounge outside because the heat is just awful. 

So springtime means we've been grilling up a storm around here lately!  Summer is creeping up on us, but we don't see our grilling habit stopping anytime soon.

We tried teriyaki burgers the other night...

The patty was wrapped with bacon and topped off with a piece of grilled pineapple.  They were yummy and a nice variation to try!

We also love making kabobs, with fresh produce and chicken.  We love the Rosemary Ranch Chicken recipe from The Sisters Cafe.  It is so simple, and you probably already have all the ingredients on hand!  We use the marinade for kabobs, and just regular grilled chicken.  Here's the recipe, for your grilling pleasure!

Rosemary Ranch Chicken Recipe
1/4 cup ranch dressing
1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tb Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp dry rosemary
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp white vinegar
fresh ground pepper to taste

Combine marinade ingredients. 
Place meat, veggies, and marinade in Ziploc bag.
Place in refrigerator for 30 minutes to an hour. 
Enjoy!

Told ya--so simple and so delicious!  Definitely need to try it!

I've also been into cheesecake lately (I'm starting to think it's a pregnancy craving...but let's be honest, I always have had a love for cream cheese!).  I made some lemon blueberry cheesecake bars for our picnic to the Easter Pageant.  They turned out delicious, but were so time consuming, and our house felt like a furnace after using the oven for such a long time!

So I tried this "mock" (no-bake) cheesecake in a springform pan, and it turned out fabulous!  I think this is the kind of cheesecake I will stick to during the summer months. 

How Juicy!

When the orange blossoms started blooming, we decided to pick all the oranges off of our two backyard trees and JUICE!

My mom and dad loaned us the juicer attachment for our Bosch.

We juiced all these cans, plus three more gallons!

The juice was so yummy, and since we had so much, we topped the night off with an orange julius!

General Conference Weekend Away

We spent this past General Conference weekend in Willcox with most of the Allred family. 

We spent a lot of time out in Bowie (pronounced Boo-ee), a town 20 minutes outside of Willcox where two of Brett's siblings live.

Friday night when we drove in, we headed straight to Bowie and watched "Cowboys versus Aliens" with Michael and Kami. 

Saturday we spent the day with the Jared and Melanie Allred family, who live on the family farm in Bowie.  Melanie treated everyone to "Conference Crepes" for breakfast.  It was fun hanging out with the family and kiddos!

In between sessions, we hiked Ft. Bowie.  Jared has gotten into trail running lately, and runs this trail about once a week. He ran the whole thing, while we walked most of the trail.

It is a 3 mile round-trip trail, that is not super difficult with lots of fun information and exhibits on the way. 
At the top, they have a ranger station, which is almost like a mini museum.  This is a historically-dense area, and we found out lots of tid-bits of information!

While the men were at Priesthood Session, the kids and moms all got together for mini pizzas and banana splits.

Sunday we spent with the Justin and Jocelyn family during the sessions.  We had hootenany (German pancakes) for lunch with fresh chicken eggs and had fun hanging out with the kids. We got nearly a whole ream of paper colored for us during conference from our adorable nephew Spencer.  It was a combination of animal and conference coloring pages, each page addressed to us individually.  He had to start doing double sided pages!

Sunday night was topped off with family dinner with the whole Allred clan in Bowie at the Michael and Kami Allred family home.  Yummy food and good company just can't be beat!

We also brought our sweet pup home that night, she was a little scared and slept on my lap the whole car ride home. 

It was a good weekend, I love General Conference Weekend!

I Feel Good!

Well, I am finally feeling GOOD again!

I can now fix dinner and grocery shop without feeling like I am about to lose my cookies.

And I don't feel like I am going to topple over and collapse of exhaustion at 7 pm every night.

I feel little baby movements in my tummy, which is way neat, and they are increasing every few days!

The bump on my belly is obvious to the world now, but I am still in the awkward "is she pregnant of chubby" phase to strangers.

And since I am feeling so good, I feel like taking pictures and blogging again, hence the blog posts resuming!

The bump (a few weeks ago)...

Visiting my aunt and uncle, Carson and Jen, in the hospital after she delivered her beautiful baby twin girls.  They were big for twins, 6 lbs. 12 oz. and 7 lbs. 4 oz!  Names are Tessa and Claire. 

We went to movie in the park to see the Princess Bride (inconceivable, I know!).

And had a picnic dinner at the Easter Pageant with Jacob and Camille!

I hear the second trimester is supposed to be the best...I am soaking it all in! 

I am about 17 weeks now, we find out what we're having in just a few more!

The Newest Addition To Our Family...

...is our adorable new pup named "Cub"!

She is hard to resist, and I have never cared and worried so much about anything non-human before!

We got her from the Justin and Jocelyn Allred family down in Willcox this past weekend, their dog "Bear" had 7 puppies, all equally as cute!  Our neices and nephews named her, and we thought it was too cute to change (and it is fitting seeing how her mama is named "Bear").

Her coloring and characteristics are similar to a rottweiler puppy, and although she may have a bit of rottweiler in her, she is just a big mix of a lot of different breeds that we aren't sure of (she's a farm dog!). 

She is a sweetheart, and loves to play.  Brett affectionately calls her "Cubby" as she scampers around the yard following him while he feeds the chickens, mends the fence, or grills our dinner. 

She is an outdoor dog, but we (mostly me), just can't resist those puppy dog eyes and little whines, that she is in the house often!  Brett doesn't love it too much, but he did bring her in this morning while I was still in bed--see, we just can't resist! 

I personally like the company of her while I am doing chores around the house!

 

Yes, that is bling on her collar, I like to take care of my girl.

And I used my metal stamps and washers, to give her some identification!

We are now pet people...and loving it!

Oh Baby!

Well, I'm sure most have heard the news!  Brett and I are expecting and due in September!  We are so thrilled and can't believe this chapter of our lives has already begun!

Most have heard that we had twins on the way, which was quite the surprise (especially when Brett was not even at the appointment with me!).  They looked identical, and one was slightly smaller than the other.  Unfortunately, it is common to lose a twin during the first trimester...and that's what happened to us.  Even though we are bummed, we are still so grateful and excited we have a healthy, growing baby still on the way!  Thankfully, when this happens with identical twins in the first trimester, I don't "miscarry" like most women would with one baby, the baby just stops growing and slowly gets absorbed into the fluids.  They still aren't sure why this happens and is so common, but it most likely is from the shared circulation of the two babies, and one will just begin to dominate the other.  Just to give you an idea, here are the two ultrasound photos:

 Here are the two babies at 7 weeks, looking on track

and...

Here is 9 weeks, you can hardly even see the second baby now, in the top, right corner.

What a difference 2 weeks makes!

Twins do run in the family though, each of my parents have a sibling that has a set of twins.  And identical twins are not proven to be genetic.  Once you conceive multiples, your chances of conceiving them again shoots way above average!

Now I'm at 11 weeks, and things are going great!  I've been so lucky to not be nearly as sick as some women (like my mom!).  I have fainted once (thankfully Brett was there to catch me), but not once thrown up.  Nausea comes and goes, and sometimes at night, when I'm tired, I start to feel crummy.  But I've already been having really great days, so I think the worst might even be behind me. 

Things I've been eating a lot of lately:

soups

Ritz crackers

lots of bananas

jolly ranchers

cherry 7 up

QT icees

pistachios

apples

strawberries

and mexican food!

I feel like overall I've been able to keep pretty healthy eating habits, but sometimes that sugar/carbonation just helps my stomach feel settled.  And when I have to be in Downtown Phoenix at 7:15 am every morning, I will do what I have to do to feel good!

So even though we aren't getting the "2-for-1" deal this time, who knows, we might sometime later!  But for now, we are just so excited with one coming at a time!