"Thankful"- Josh Groban Lyrics

A Time To Be Thankful...

Thanksgiving is once again upon us. As I look back on all the many things that have happened in our lives this year, I have an overwhelming feeling of gratitude. Parley and I have so so much to be thankful for. From moving home, to buying a home, to becoming new parents etc. We have been truly blessed, especially in these difficult and struggling times in our country.

I would like to personally express how grateful I am for Parley. Now, I am not meaning be cheesy by any means, because I know there is a time and a place. However, my expression of gratitude for him is not something I share often. I deem it appropriate on such occasions like this. I just have to say we wouldn't be in the position we are in now if it weren't for his hard work and dedication to being a good provider and priesthood holder. My life and the life of our son, who is arriving in a few short weeks have been so blessed because of the decisions Parley has made on his own as well making decisions together. He is a wonderful young man and husband. I am so fortunate to be his partner. Thank you honey for all you do! I love you!

Now to my family.... This past year, well the last 8 months have been a struggle, with being pregnant. I have had a rough pregnancy and I am so grateful to my family for all of the help I have been given. For the love and support I have felt from each and everyone of you. I am humbly blessed to be apart of such a glorious family, especially a daughter of such a wonderful mom. I don't think I could have gone through this without her. With Parley being out of town, my mom has stepped in and helped guide me through so many things that I have had no idea about. Thank you mom! I love you!

To my friends... How grateful I am for such wonderful friends. We have started to get together once a month, to have food, and enjoy one another's company. Since we don't see each other very often because all of our lives are so busy. I thought it to be worthwhile to make it appoint to get together once a month for a few hours and catch up. Those hours have blessed my life immensely. I love every minute we are together. You are all so precious to me. Thank you! I love you!

This past conference President Monson gave a very special talk about gratitude. It was one of my favorite talks ever. Not only should we express gratitude, we should also feel gratitude in each aspect of our lives, even in times of hardship. If we do so our lives will be filled with abundant joy. I many times don't feel grateful, especially when things are hard or don't go my way. I have to remember in those times, that being grateful for them will help me to grow. I am going to challenge myself to always be grateful for the things in my life whether they be good or bad. I would like to share with you one of my favorite songs. It is by Josh Groban and it is called "Thankful"... Happy Thanksgiving Everyone and God Bless You!

Morphthing.com

I was on facebook the other day and one of my darling friends from Minnesota tried this thing on a site called morphthing.com. She had pulled pictures of her and pulled pictures of her husband and using both facial features from each, morphthing creates what your child is suppose to look like. I got the biggest kick out of it and decided to try it. I went to the site followed all of the instructions and low and behold our son....

so so funny. At first I thought to myself, he looks just like Parley. Then I started looking at more carefully and realized the picture actually looks like my older sister Michelle and my Dad. Ha Ha! I showed her and she couldn't stop laughing. She always says that my baby will look like her, because her baby looks just like me when I was little. Funny how genetics works. I know this was all for fun and games, but I am anxious to see what the little tike looks like, or better yet, who he looks like. Just 5 more weeks and counting.

I have had quite the little battle my last month of pregnancy. Not only have I been swollen, suffered from heartburn, and seriously every bone in my body has ached... I found out that I have a kidney stone. If you have ever had a kidney stone, you know what I have been going through and I am still going through, because it will not come out. I am getting pretty frustrated. Although I am passed the first painful part, there is still another one ahead when I actually do pass the darn thing. After one long exhausting night in the ER, I finally can say I am not as in much pain as before. I talked to my doctor and he said that we aren't going to worry about it, if it is not causing me any pain. I said perfect, it saves me from a really nasty surgery, which I really don't want to have unless it is so necessary. Right now we think the stone is just floating around in my bladder somewhere. Crazy how one tiny little stone can cause so much awful pain. I have no idea where or how I got it. I guess it is just one of those things.

I know I promised to put a pic of our baby's room up and I will... I am just waiting for my state traveler husband to come home so he can hang the curtains and some pictures. We are almost ready, there are a few more things I still would like to get. I had a family shower last night and I am so appreciative of my family. They gave my little guys some really great gifts. He is spoiled.

Parley is out and about this weekend over in Indiana for the Utah vs. Notre Dame game. I hope Utah does a better job than they did last week, because that was pathetic. TCU beat Utah 47-7. I was so sad I couldn't even watch anymore. However, if the Utes know how to do anything, it's to come back stronger and better and win.

Christmas is just right around the corner. I decided to get all my shopping done this month so that when the baby comes I will be all done and I won't have to worry about going out Christmas shopping. If I don't then online shopping will be a good resort. We are excited for Thanksgiving, because Par and I are going to get our Christmas tree and put up the decor that day. That is the new tradition we have decided to start. I think it is a rather smashing idea.

Well, if I don't blog before then.... Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Can You Say CHUBBY!

I haven't really wanted to take a whole bunch of pictures of me pregnant.. I know everyone says that I will regret it, but man oh man am I chubby! I do have one picture that looks pretty decent. For all of you who are wondering about the baby bump... this picture is just for you! I am just hoping with drinking lots of water, breast feeding, and a major workout routine I will be back to my old self in no time... Parley says just in time to have another baby. Ha! Isn't that the truth. I am grateful that I do have a healthy baby boy growing inside of me and I wouldn't trade that for anything, yes, even a hot bod.


My friends threw me a really nice shower this past week. Cristina, Joelle, and Ashley did a really great job putting it all together and my little buddy was truly spoiled. We receive so many wonderful gifts. I am so grateful for such great friends. I love them all so much.

Now it is time to get organized. Parley and I went and looked at bedroom sets for the little tike. I think we know what we want, now we have to get it all ordered and put together. I am in the nesting stage where everything just bugs. I feel like nothing in my house is organized or clean enough. I am going crazy... I think I'm driving Parley crazy too. Good thing he is out of town for the next five weeks so he doesn't have to be around for most of my craziness.

I am decorating the baby's room in a nautical theme... I found the cutest bedding at TJ Maxx Home Goods for like 60 bucks. I found a darling oar to hang on the wall that says "Gone Sailing".. I love it. I also found a bell the says "Captains Bell" to sit on a wooden shelf that has a sail boat, anchor, and steering wheel carved into it. I am so excited to finally put it all together. Don't worry I will post pics just as soon as I can.

10 more weeks and the little guy will be here. We are so excited.

Raise Your Banner High, High, High!

Since Football season has arrived... we decided that our home needed a touch of Utah spirit. I can't think of a better way to show our pride in and our love for the Utah Utes, than raising a flag. That is just what we did. Parley has talked about putting a flag up on our house for a couple of months now. Finally on Saturday his wish was granted. He drilled the holes into the stucco and set the Utah flag up right on our front porch. He was so proud... and I was so proud of him that he didn't damage the house... if any of you are familiar with the show Home Improvement... can you say "Tim the Toolman Taylor"! No, in all seriousness, he did a really great job. We sure started a trend too... once our flag was up, all sorts of flags were suddenly put up in our little neighborhood. It was great to see some more Utah spirit. Although we did get a few comments from the opposing team on Sunday. Hey, I don't see any of their banners raised... probably because BYU has only won one game this entire season and their team isn't looking all that great this year. I don't blame the fans. I'd be embarrassed too. Awe the rivalry... you gotta love it! It will be interesting to see if any of the BYU fans in my neighborhood bring out their flags on game days.

We have had a lot of fun going to the games on Saturdays. We just love college football, especially Utah football.. It just wouldn't be Fall without it. This week we have a bye, but the next few weeks our undefeated team will be up for the challenges ahead... Air Force, TCU, Notre Dame, etc. We have some exciting games coming up. I can't wait to be on the edge of my seat! Go Utes!

The Baby Tracker!

This will be a short little entry, but I had to comment on how cute and funny Parley is! He came up to bed last night around 11 pm.. that is an all time record for him. He usually doesn't go to bed until 2 am or so. I know he is crazy! He had to show me what he added to our blog. The Baby Tracker. Ha Ha he is so cute. I think it was a nice little addition to our blog, don't you think? Now for all of you who would like to know when our little guys is coming just look up at the top of our blog and it will tell you the weeks and days. 12 weeks and 6 days so far. We can't wait to meet him!

Slacker!!

So I entitled this entry "Slacker" because I think it has been almost a year that I have not updated our blog... that is horrible! This is suppose to be like a journal of mine and Par's life, I'm not doing a very good job at it. I thought by creating this blog I would be on it all of the time. Life comes at ya pretty fast. Well, let me take the honors and catch up, bear with me! Ha! I think that last entry I made was in October or November of last year, while we were living in Minnesota. Guess what, we moved back to Utah! Parley got offered a job last November to come work for a company called Career Step. He interviewed over the Christmas holiday the week we got back to Minnesota from the holidays we packed up and moved back to SLC. We ended up having to keep paying on our apartment until the lease was up in May so my parents were kind enough to help us out by letting us stay in the guest house on Abinadi Rd. I was able to get my jobs back with The Perfect Dress and Dr. Jensen's office. I would have worked at Dr. J's office full time, but he didn't need me full time, just two days a week, which has been really helpful and nice. We bought a town house in Sandy during the month of April and we spent about two to three months fixing it up so it would be livable for us. Parley did most of the work, but with friends and families' help we were able to get it all done. We put in hardwood floors, repainted, and put new carpet in the upstairs. When we enter our neighborhood we sometimes feel like we live in Pleasantville. It is a really nice area and it is hidden so no one can really see it.

Parley has been traveling a lot with his new company. He goes about two to three times out of the month to the Midwest. I am home alone a lot of the time, which gets kind of scary. Good thing I have my family here that I can see and be with when he is gone. Parley loves his new job and he is kicking butt. He broke the record for getting the highest contracts in, in one months time. His boss loves him. I am glad he is doing so well. The structure of his company is changing quite a bit and lately he has been a little stressed, but things will work out, they always do. He got a new best friend, though! The new i4 phone! I've been teasing him ever since he got it that he has a new found best friend. He is like a little boy at Christmas! It's so funny! One of these days the newness of the phone will die down and I will be the best friend again! Ha!

We had an opportunity to go to New York City and Washington DC this past summer. It was such fun trip. I learned all sorts of new things. What a culture shock! We spent three days in NYC and then 4 days in DC. We walked our little hearts out and to the point where we could not walk any more. We visited Eli and Julie who live in DC and I won the lottery to see "Wicked" in NYC. We got to see the Statue of Liberty and Canal Street. We took the subway to Ground 0 and stayed in the Waldorff Astoria. That was a neat experience. I felt like a million bucks. The best part was we stayed there for free ninety-nine. In DC we went to the Mall and saw the historical sites. It was amazing and beautiful. You gain a better sense of pride for our country while you are there. Amazing, Amazing!

During all of these things that took place since we have been back... We found out we were pregnant. Yes, I am having a baby. I am due on December 20th. We are having a Christmas baby boy and we are so excited. Finally with all of the girls in my family and in his family, there will be a boy. We have no idea what to name him yet, but we have a few names here and there that we like. I think we will actually decide when he arrives and we get to meet him for the first time. I am so excited for that day. I have had a rough pregnancy though.. I was really sick in the beginning, which went away, but now I am on mild bed rest, Doctors orders. I have been experiencing some contractions really early. I am only 5 1/2 months and contractions aren't suppose to kick in until around 7 or 8 months. Dr. Terry, who is the most wonderful Doctor, said I have to take it easy for a while to see if these contractions will go away. He gave me some medicine to help calm my uterus, because I guess I have what is called an irritable uterus. This can lead to pre-term labor if not watched properly. I think I will be okay though. This baby is so active and healthy, I am pretty sure as long as I am careful with my body, we both will do just fine the rest of the way.

Utah Football started back up! Yay, we are so excited. We have season tickets this year, so we get to go to all of the games. I will go to as many as I can for the next little while, after that Parley is on his own. I just keep getting bigger and bigger and its starting to get hard for me to get around. I even had to quit The Perfect Dress, also Doctors orders. We will see how the rest of the season plays out. The Utes played Pitt their first game and won in overtime. They definitely outplayed Pitt, but made some stupid mistakes throughout the game, which caused them such a close game. They will get better as the season progresses. They are going to the PAC-12 next year, which is really exciting for the team and the fans.

That is everything in a nut-shell. I am sure I missed a few things here and there, but I can't possibly jot down everything, just the main things that are important. I promise I won't take this long to blog again. Ta Ta For Now!