"D-Month"

April is finally here and guess what?!...

....I'm still pregnant (forgive the blurry picture). 

I am almost 39 weeks now into my pregnancy and just plugging along. I figured I'd write a quick post now since I probably won't get another chance before baby Addilyn comes. Next week my finals start and boy do I have a lot of school work to get done! Luckily I have most of next week off work so that should give me enough time to get everything done and have some time to prepare before the baby comes. Collin's finals begin the week after mine end and then he graduates on April 27th. While we have a busy couple of weeks ahead of us we are excited about the big events that will follow. For both of us it has been a race to the finish. The majority of our time is consumed by school and work so we look forward to a change this summer when our time will be devoted to our baby girl. 

Pregnancy wise the last couple of weeks have been....well lets just say uncomfortable, but I've been blessed with the energy to get done the important things that I've needed to do. Not only is my belly growing bigger, just about every inch of me is swelling up as well (notice my sad marshmallow feet). Again I'm grateful to be wearing scrubs most days because I now only have one pair of real pants that fit and with my swollen ankles I wouldn't dream of wearing anything else. My sister-in-law, Annelise, was kind enough to lend me a long skirt to get me through the next couple of Sundays so I thankfully don't have to flaunt my massive cankles at church. 

In the moments of spare time Collin and I do get, we have spent it preparing the nursery. Between the baby showers and a few trips to the store I think we have just about everything we need. It all turned out so cute!

 Collin and his sister,  McKenzie painted the walls several weeks ago with some leftover paint we had from when we painted our bathroom. I found the material for the curtains on clearance for $3 a yard which I had Collin help me sew one night. Funny thing is that when we got finished sewing them one side turned out to be about 6 inched longer than the other side. After a few laughs and having uneven curtains for several weeks I finally fixed them. One of my favorite parts of the nursery is my quilt! It was a lot of sewing, but with my mom's help I finally got it completed and I just love how it turned out!

With my busy schedule it was hard to find the time to finish the quilt so my mom volunteer to bind it for me. To be honest that was the part I dreaded the most so I am very grateful that my mom was willing to do that for me. She did a fantastic job!

Also we were running of storage so we purchased this cheap bookcase at Walmart for $15. To dress it up a bit, Collin's uncle let us have a scrap piece of bead-board which we mounted on the back. The fabric storage boxes we got with a gift card and the wooden horses we found at D.I. for $1. With a fresh coat of paint they turned out to be great decor. I just love a good deal!

Among the many wonderful things we received at the baby showers, we go this adorable swing from Collin's mom. It looks and feels so comfortable that it makes me wish the made these for adult. I know Addie will love this!

Lastly, I just wanted to say how proud I am of my amazing husband for all of his hard work, love, and support. I can't wait to see what the rest of our future holds together. Congratulations sweetie!

*** Hopefully my next post will include picture of an adorable baby girl!!

Almost Feels Like Spring...

The weather has been so nice the last couple of days...perfect for a little photo shoot. Here is a sneak peak of how it went. To see more, check out Hanna's photography blog. 

Update...

 To be honest not much has happened since my last post. We are still busy and hard at work with school and our jobs. With only having one car again this semester and a full load, we have really had to learn how to manage our time better and stick to a schedule. Luckily, among other semesters, our schedules this semester meshes much better. Last semester since we had two cars we would get up separately and go about our daily tasks without really needing to coordinate with the each other. Now we get up together in the morning, Collin drops me off at work and goes to school till two. At two, he picks me up from work and I go to school while he works from home. Since we spend almost 12 hours a day apart from each other,  I have come to love the little bit of time we have together in the mornings. Another thing we've come to really look forward to are our weekly date-nights. Last week Collin's sister was able to get us free tickets to a Portland Trailblazer game in Salt Lake which was a fun outing. Here are some pictures we took at the game...sadly the Blazers lost, but we still have a good time.

As for a baby update, things are still going well. I've been a little sore and fairly uncomfortable the past couple of weeks just because our baby is going through a growing spurt causing my rib cage to expand, which can be very uncomfortable I've found. Also, because I carry her up high I have been having frequent heartburn and back pain, but I'm grateful to know that our baby is healthy and growing strong. I feel her kicking a lot now which as been fun for both Collin and I-- we can't wait to meet the little girl that has been in there kicking at my ribs for the past couple of months. And believe it our not I am now almost 32 weeks along with less than 2 months away from my due-date! I feel like this pregnancy is just cruising along and we still haven't gotten anything for our coming baby yet! However, to our excitement Collin's grandma sent us a cute little outfit in the mail this week, so we now have our first baby item! I get so excited looking at it that I just can't wait to have my precious baby girl to put in it. 

Christmas In Pahrump

Sorry that this post is a little delayed, but I thought I would share. This year was my first Christmas away from home. Besides missing my mom's Christmas breakfast casserole and the snow I honestly felt right at home. We drove down the day before Christmas Eve and were able to stay for the whole next week. We had a lot of fun spending time with family and greatly enjoyed the long vacation away from school and work. Unfortunately, like most people we are not the best at remembering to take pictures but here are the few that we did take from our trip.

I was feeling very crafty this Christmas and decided to make most of the gifts to our family. 

Collin helped me tie a fleece blanket for Carter. I used Carter's school colors, gold and maroon, which made for a nice cozy blanket that he could take on all his sporting trips.

Here is Collin in his new cardigan! With his new cardigan and glasses everyone says he looks like an official psychologist now.

Among all the homemade gifts I made, I made Lily and Olivia little aprons to go with the play kitchen they got last year for Christmas. These probably took the longest to make but thankfully Hanna helped me with them. I made all my other nieces some skirts which I'll have to take a picture of Mia in one to show you how cute they turned out!

Here we all are dressed up for church. As you can tell from the photo the weather was truly nothing I have ever experienced on Christmas, but to be honest the warm weather was rather nice. 

Not only did we enjoy spending time with family, we also enjoyed LOTS of good food-- so much so that we both gained five or so pounds! Luckily I can attribute some of those pounds to my baby.

Also over the break Collin and I celebrated our two year anniversary! While marriage does come with its difficulties, the past two years have truly been blissful. I couldn't be more thankful for everything I have, especially for my loving husband who does so much for me. I love all the times we have spent together and am anxious and excited for the many more years to come. 

Planning for Baby

Another semester has gone by and a new one has begun. We are excited to say that it is Collin's last semester at UVU and he will be graduating in April! He has really enjoyed his experience at UVU and has greatly excelled in his classes. Also he recently found out that his research group was accepted into the National Conference of Undergraduate Research that is being held at Weber State in March. If all goes well with that he and his group might even go as far as getting their work published! I wish I could say I was graduating this April as well but working has slowed me down some. Fortunately, I will only have three classes left to take after this semester and an internship and then I will be graduating as well. We've just finished our first week of school and are both really excited about our classes this semester.

Besides school, all is still going well with the pregnancy. We had another ultrasound last week to check up on how our baby is growing and developing. She is healthy and growing big. Between school, work, and the holidays Collin and I have hardly had time to start planning for our baby. We realized the other day that our baby is due in just three months and we have nothing, so we decided to devote the day to baby shopping. Although we still have a couple months left to buy everything we'll need we went out today and looked at some cribs and rocking chairs. We haven't settled on anything yet but we found a lot of good options. One thing we have settled on for sure is the name Adilynn (although the spelling is still on debate).

I've been debated for awhile if I want to make the bedding or buy it all, but after some prodding from my sister I've decided to make it. Hanna has helped me a lot and has given me some great ideas that has really got me excited. Plans really seem to be taking off now and the excitement of our baby girl just keeps growing. Below is the quilt that I've decided to make. I ordered the pattern online and bought some cute fabric today and am thrilled to see the final product-- it is going to be so cute!

I found this vintage baby quilt pattern on Esty. It sounds like it will be super easy and I just love the frayed edges and the wrinkled vintage look of it. 

Hanna found this adorable vintage carnival fabric at some store and I immediately fell in love. I've decided to  use it as inspiration for Addie's nursery. Below is some fabric I found to use in the quilt that goes really nicely with the carnival fabric. I haven't quite decided what I want to do with the carnival fabric, but I was thinking about maybe making a crib skirt out of it and then framing some of it to go on the walls. I also think it would be fun to frame some of the artwork Hanna was able to find as well.

That is pretty much all for now, I'll be sure to keep everyone updated how everything turns out!

Christmas Spirit

I love this short little message from a Christmas Devotional given a couple of years ago and thought I would share, enjoy!

The First Presidency Christmas Message (2009):

"In celebrating the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ our thoughts turn to that sacred occasion when He was born “The Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). He promised: “He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12). Truly, Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer who was “wounded for our transgressions … and with his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5)."

"Our prayer this Christmas season is that the light and testimony of the Savior's divine mission will come into our hearts and be reflected in our lives and in our homes."

"May each of us be blessed, not only at this Christmas season, but also throughout the coming year. May our faith in Jesus Christ increase as we follow His example in all we do and say."

Merry Christmas!

A Most Wonderful Time of the Year

 So everyone remember our cute little entertainment center we got for $20 when we first moved into our apartment? Well it is now gone and replaced by this years Christmas. Although we haven't had it for long we have been enjoying it, not to mention it gave me an excuse to rearrange me whole apartment. Cleaning and rearranging things can be so refreshing!

Don't mind the unevenly arranged pictures on the walls, I haven't quite had the time to add all the little homey touches yet.

 Not only did we rearrange our living room but we got our Christmas tree! It honestly would not feel like Christmas without it. I love coming home to the fresh smell of pine and the warmth the beautiful decorations bring into our home. For our wedding my aunt gave us a big plastic container filled with Christmas tree decorations and lights which really have been wonderful. I think it is such a clever idea to give newly weds Christmas decorations since the majority of us are poor college students that don't have any money to spend on them, especially during this time of year. My mom also gave me my box of Christmas ornaments that my Grandma Robertson has given me over the years and the one's I had made when I was young. My Grandma Robertson has the most extraordinary nativity collection and every Christmas she gives all of the grandchildren a new nativity ornament, which have now come in very good use.

While we truly enjoy the many material holiday traditions during this time of year, we are both so grateful for our Savior and the gift that he has given us. We loved the First Presidency's Christmas Devotional and their reminder to us of what Christmas is really about. This is such a joyous time of year and we have so much to be grateful for. In fact for FHE the other night Collin and I took this month's Ensign challenge to write down 100 things we are thankful for. It took some time but it was fun comparing our listz and made us realize that a list of 100 things doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of all the things Heavenly Father has blessed our lives with. If any of you want to take the "Gratitude Challenge" here are some suggestions that the Ensign gives in listing what you are grateful for:

1. Write 10 physical abilities you are grateful for.
2. Write 10 material possessions you are grateful for.
3. Write 10 living people you are grateful for.
4. Write 10 deceased people you are grateful for.
5. Write 10 things about nature you are grateful for.
6. Write 10 things about today you are grateful for.
7. Write 10 place on earth you are grateful for.
8. Write 10 modern inventions you are grateful for.
9. Write 10 foods you are grateful for.
10. Write 10 things about the gospel you are thankful for.