We are still alive!

I know it has been two months since we last posted. It has been a crazy two months with our Massachusetts trip, school starting and preparing for our little girl to come. I'll do a quick update and then hopefully be better at posting.

After we came back to Utah from Washington, Alex and I went to Monroe for two weeks.
During that time, we had my Grandmother Forbush's funeral and a family reunion. The funeral was so beautiful and sad. My Grandma had bone cancer and was ready to pass, but it is still so hard to have such an amazing woman gone from this life. Even though it's hard, I know she is much happier and feels better than she did here. It is so wonderful to have the knowledge of the gospel, specifically the plan of salvation. What a comfort it is to know I will get to see her again and just to know where she is right now. Because my Grandmother was such an amazing person, I am going to share a few things about her. She was a huge Jazz fan! Grandma knew about every player and she hardly ever missed a game. The only time she would miss a game was because she chose to watch her grandchild's game instead. She loved her grandchildren. Every time one of us got married, Grandma would hand stitch us a quilt. She loved to quilt and make booties and beanies for the humanitarian service. My Grandmother also loved to garden. She took great joy in her vegetable and flower garden. One of my fondest memories is playing cards with her. She loved to play all sorts of card games. The last time I ever saw her we played a few games of Hollywood Rummy. I am going to miss her so much, but I rejoice over her life and the knowledge I have that I will see her again. Here are a few pictures of her. In the first one she is on the far right and in the second one she is the grandma on the left.



For the remaining few weeks of summer, Alex and I took a trip to Massachusetts to visit with his family. We had a blast seeing all of the sites and just enjoying family. Isn't it funny how when you live somewhere you hardly ever go see the local sites? It takes a vacation back there to see what you had more time to see when you lived there. This was the case for us. We went to Sturbridge Village; which is a town setup like it would have been in colonial times. This is a picture of us playing one of the games found around the village.



We also went to New Port Beach in RI, a Paw Sox game, the Norman Rockwell Museum, and the North Bridge in Concord, MA. This is most of the family in Corncord having lunch.



Another exciting thing we did in Mass is have a baby shower! This was so much fun. Everything for a baby is tiny and adorable; I love it.



My mother-in-law, Sara made the most beautiful blessing dress. Here is a picture of it. Note: this is the only picture I have of the dress so you have to see the dorky face I am pulling in this picture. I'll have to post a better picture that allows you to see it better.



Since we've been back in Provo, our lives have been incredibly busy. Alex and I have been house hunting. It is not as much fun as I thought it would be. We have also been busy with school. Alex started the graduate program for computer science and I am still working on my bachelor's in early childhood ed. I applied for gratuation last week! That was very exciting.

The baby is doing very well. She is still due at Christmas time. I think she is going to be very active, because she sure kicks me a lot throughout the day. I will post some pregnancy pictures soon. Now that I am caught up, I will try to keep current posts. It may be a little bit hard this school year as I wrap up my degree.

It's a Girl!!!

Today we found out the baby is a girl! We are so happy. It was also the first time we were able to hear her heartbeat. Everything is going so quickly. In the past month, she has grown so much.

Mom and VeeAnn's excursion

Last weekend, my mother and Aunt VeeAnn came out to visit for five days. We had a blast! I never realized how similar VeeAnn and I are; it was pretty funny. Here are a few photos of some of the things we did.

We went to Pike Place Market in Seattle.


These are random. We were trying out some of the many sunglasses at this stand.


This was great. We rode in a horse carriage around Seattle.

Pedicures, of course!!!


All four of us went on the underground tour of Seattle. We learned all about Seattle's sewer history and the money making "sewing circle."


VeeAnn and her new "friends" from the fire celebration. Yes, Seattle celebrates the year their city burned to the ground.


This is the Snoqualmie Fall. It is as tall as the Niagra Falls, but obviously not as wide. Such an amazing view!

We had so much fun. I wish they could have stayed longer.

Alex and I are almost done with our stay in Washington. This Saturday is our last day. On Wednesday, we find out the gender of our baby! Lots of events to look forward to.

Washington and Baby update

Washington:

We have been trying to explore Washington state before we leave in July. Some of the places we've visited include:

Seattle Aquarium- This was fun, but if you've been to the Boston aquarium, this one could be a let down. Most of our time was spent watching the sea otters and seals eat.

Tacoma Glass Museum- I was surprised by how interesting this place is. If you are planning on going, you really need to watch the live glass blowing and listen to some of the facts. This will help you to appreciate the displays. If we would have walked through the displays and then watched the glass blowing, we wouldn't have had as much fun.

Canoeing on Lake Washington- The BYU interns and their spouses got together and went canoeing and then had an outdoor lunch. This was so much fun. Alex and I shared a canoe with Austin, so I got to sit and relax in the middle while they did all the work. Lunch was at the Gas Works park. We are thinking about going there for the 4th of July to see the largest firework show in Seattle.

Camping at Belfair State Park- This is a beautiful place to visit, but you sacrifice a little privacy. The camp sites are very close to one another. We were able to go star gazing, play frizbee, and go wading in the ocean. This was the first time I was in charge of all the packing for a camping trip. I felt like I did a great job, until we started noticing all the things I forgot to bring. This was one of those moments when you really appreciate how great your parents are. My mom wouldn't have forgotten bug spray!

Baby:

Our second prenatal visit was a few weeks ago. Because the doctor couldn't find the heartbeat on the first vist, he reassured me I would definitely hear it at the second visit. I was expecting to hear the baby's heartbeat, and when 5 minutes went by and there was no sound, I was a bit worried. Alex and the nurse kept telling me they're sure everything was okay. I just about cried. The nurse ended up doing an ultrasound just to make sure the baby was fine. The ultrasound showed a healthy and active baby. I was so relieved. Junior has grown so much. His/her legs are so long that they have to be crossed. We could not only see the heartbeat, we saw a face and bones (namely the spine). The docotor said the baby and my uterus are the perfect size and everything looks great. Even though the reason for the surprise ultrasound was a little nerve racking, it was great to see how the baby has grown.

I am starting to show a little. It is so much fun. This is the only time I will ever be so excited to get fat!

We are pregnant!

Friday I had my first prenatal doctor visit. Everything went beautifully. We were able to see the baby's little fingers and toes. Even though we couldn't hear the heart beat, we could see the baby's heart beating through the ultrasound. The baby was very active. It was a little hard to take pictures because he/she kept doing flips. We did get some good pictures so we could have a more accurate due date: December 25th. That's right, we are having a Christmas baby.