Gingerbread Houses

Last night we decided to have "family night" with our dear friends. Matt, Kasia, and baby Kaylix came over and we started the night off with a steak dinner generously provided by the boys. Yummy! I have been wanting to start a tradition of making gingerbread houses for a while now, so we decided to do it. We watched The Voice and worked on our gingerbread houses for hours. I am extremely thankful to have the amazing friends that we do. They really are more like family than friends. We are always coming up with crazy ideas and deciding last minute to go do something. It is nice to have these two so close so we can do stuff like that. I can't wait to introduce Riken to Kaylix.. They will be the cutest little baby couple ever! Gingerbread houses are done until next year.. But I am definitely glad we started a new tradition. Christmas time is so much fun! 

Maternity Pictures

A couple of months ago, I called Jammie Hansen to schedule an appointment to have Riken's pictures done when he gets here. I was just about to hang up with her when I decided to have her do some maternity pictures of us. I am really glad we did because it will be nice to have some good pictures of us to look back on. I was 32 weeks when we had them done, and my belly has grown a bit since they were taken, but here are some of my favorite ones. There were seriously 70 pictures on the disk, so I tried to narrow it down a bit! 

P.S. doesn't my hubby look amazing? He's a cutie, that's for sure.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Can you believe Thanksgiving has come and gone already? You know what comes next right?? :) 

We had Thanksgiving at our house for the second year in a row. It was such a nice day! Kenz had to work during the day, but he was home by 3, so it worked out. Mom, Ken, and the boys went shooting in the morning. I woke up and went to breakfast with my dad, since we do Thanksgiving with them earlier in the month. Then I came home and started getting everything ready. By the time I got everything ready for people to come over, I was pretty worn out. But it was definitely worth it, and my mom came over a couple of hours early to cook the food with me. All the food turned out delicious, and my Thanksgiving table looked really cute. After our meal, we watched the Cowboys on TV and indulged in some pie :) I definitely felt very thankful all day for all that I have. Life gets rough sometimes, but we really are so blessed to have all that we have. 

After everything was cleaned up and the football game was over, we started setting up Christmas. We have been looking forward to this for months! We got the tree set up and most of my decorations before we headed to Ephraim for some Black "Thursday" shopping. The Ephraim Walmart was CRAZY, but it was a lot of fun to be with family and friends and get some good deals. 

The next day we went up and cut down Matt and Kasia's tree with them. It was a bumpy ride, and we had to hike a little bit to get to it so I was hoping that might get things moving with this baby, but no such luck! When we got down from the mountain, we went home and had poker night with our friends. When Matt is home from work, we pretty much spend all weekend with our little group of friends. I seriously love it and am so thankful that we have such sweet people to hang out with. I was a happy girl because one of my very best friends Sadie came over with her hubby. It was a really fun night. 

On Saturday we went to my cousin's baby shower. She looked adorable and it was a nice day with family. We did a lot of shopping on our way up and by the end of the day, I realized that road trips and shopping sprees are not my cup of tea anymore. I am pretty sure I am done with stuff like this until Riken gets here. It just takes everything out of me, and I am SO uncomfortable! Thankfully we have most of our Christmas shopping done.

All in all, it was the best weekend in a long long time. I so didn't want to go back to work yesterday. But the good news is that it is Christmas time, and my little boy could be here anytime now! Sorry for such a long post, but here are some pics of our Thanksgiving....

Halloween

On Saturday we had a Halloween party at our house! It was so much fun and everyone's costumes were seriously hilarious! Here are some pics of the night, and here is a chance for you to see my ever growing belly. I swear it gets bigger everyday!!

Today is just another day for us.. Kenz is asleep for his next shift and I am giving candy to trick or treaters and doing homework :/ I am SO ready for the next season. Bring on Thanksgiving :)

Ramblings of an Emotional, Pregnant Person :)

Every four months at work we have these great big parent seminars. Parents come from all over the world (literally) to spend a few days with us and gain support from each other. Somehow this has become my show. I got thrown into planning it one time and since then it has kind of become my baby. I usually stress out the week before the seminar then when the parents get here, I am one happy girl. That was definitely the case this time. Last night I was a little flustered. I had all these parents showing up this morning, I had two assignments due in school, I was stressing about some bills, and I felt like my stomach was going to explode! Maybe I'm crazy, but when you guys were pregnant, were there times that you could just tell that your baby was stressed out too? Last night I could totally tell that Riken was taking on every bit of my stress, and I knew I needed to stop and breathe for a minute. After running around like a crazy person all day, I got in the tub and just sat on the couch and felt my baby moving around for a while. I decided that my assignments could be a day late for once and that everything else today would fall into place and I just called it a night. I spent quite some time just laying in bed, reflecting on a lot of things, and I woke up feeling pretty good. I was so happy to see some of the most wonderful people in the world today and, like it always does, it really put things into perspective for me. During the presentation my boss did today, he played the song Never Grow Up by Taylor Swift. If you haven't heard it, here is a link to listen to it. Tear jerker! As I sat surrounded by parents who aren't getting to watch their kids grow up, I was just overwhelmed with emotion. I was sitting next to the sweetest couple from Papua New Guinea, and as I watched her looking at a picture of her son and crying, I could just feel the love she had for her son. I haven't even held my baby yet, but I feel such a strong bond with him. Becoming a parent is such an emotional experience. I am beginning to understand the unconditional love you feel for your children. I am just one short month away from being full term, and all I can think about is meeting this person who is taking up so much of my heart already! Today I am just really thankful for so many things in my life. I'm lucky to have a job where I get to be inspired by these amazing parents. I learn so much from them about patience, love, and sacrifice. I am so glad that when the baby comes, I still get to be here and have the best of both worlds. I also better mention the two great guys I just left home doing the dishes. They clean my house, they let my dogs out to play when I can't get home in time, they make me dinner, and they put up with my extreme mood swings! I could not do all the things I am doing without the help and support of my hubby and my little brother, Zack. Life is so great, and I could not ask for more. And one more thing that made my day... One of the parents came up to me today and told me that when she asked her son who his favorite staff is, he said me! :) I love these kids! Okay, I'm done. Sorry for the emotional rant. I don't know what I will do when I can't blame it on pregnancy anymore ;)

Pumpkin Carving

Last night was such a fun night. We had some of our favorite friends over to watch the Yankees game and carve pumpkins. Ty, Kelton, and Jessica came over and Kasia, Kensey and baby Kaylix. Then of course, me, Kenz, and Zack were here. Kenzie's pumpkin is the Yankees one and mine says Riken with a baby skeleton on it :) The Yankees lost :( But we had a great night making our pumpkins, eating pizza, and spending time with friends. Everyone's pumpkins turned out so great! I love this time of year!

30 Weeks

Here is a little peek at my baby belly last week at 30 weeks! I am now just about 31 weeks, and I can't believe I am about five weeks away from being full term! Where has the year gone?