Thankful

I was looking through my pictures trying to decide which ones to post for a 'grateful' post, and I decided there's just way too many things I'm grateful for for an instagram post. So I decided to blog about it instead.

I'm so grateful for our dogs - and their new puppies!!

Last Sunday around 11pm, right as I was falling asleep, I heard a cry from our backyard. (Our bedroom has the sliding door to the back porch where the dogs sleep) Leia had just had the 1st of 5 puppies. Pretty exciting, and kinda scary. So I kinda just sat and watched her until I fell back asleep, because really there was nothing for me to do. She was all in mommy mode and it was kinda cool. Haha. Weird but whatever. Anyways she had puppy number 5 around 6am Monday morning. They are the cutest little things!! And it's so fun to see Leia as a mom, and even Chewie as a dad. P.S. excuse the mess in the pictures. Chewie had just torn all of the stuffing out of the bed that they use. So now there's green stuffing everywhere and a sad bed in the kennel...

All 5 precious puppies

Sweet mama

He's so cute with his little babies

They are just too cute!!

I'm so grateful I got to spend time with family in Katy this Thanksgiving!

This is the first time Jacob and I have been apart overnight since we've been married, and the longest we've been apart since we started dating 3 years ago. (I know, I know. 4&1/2 days is nothing compared to what some people endure, but that doesn't mean I don't miss him like crazy.) But because of my work schedule I wasn't able to go to Oklahoma with him like we were hoping. It did, however, work out that I could go to Katy for a few days and spend some time with my family. Even better, I was able to ride there with my brother and ride back to CS with my sister in-law. No driving is a huge win for prego me ;) Thanks guys! Haha. Wednesday night my sister helped me start a registry for the baby. Thursday morning I went over to her house and went through the bazillion and one clothes for baby girl. Seriously, I don't think I'll be in need of any clothes until she's well over 2. Pretty overwhelming going through it, but such a great blessing to have so much given to us. Not to mention baby and I got some sweet cuddle time with Hutch and my nephew Harrison. AND my niece Henley actually warmed up to me. That's a huge win in my book. Haha. Afterwards we all met up at my oldest brother's house for thanksgiving dinner. What a blessing to be able to get together with almost all the family ( we missed you Missy!) and celebrate. Plus there were lots of cute cousins playing together (mostly getting along ;) ha ) and football… even though the outcome wasn't good, Jacob has turned me into a serious aggie football fan. Seriously though, family is the best. So glad I got to be with them.

Hutch and Harrison were the best cuddle buddies to me and Kayla.

How cute is this Minnie?!

(not only did she warm up to me, she even let me do her hair. for real this is a big deal. lol.)

Sweet, sweet cousins.

took this one from my sister ;)

Wish I would've gotten a few more pics of everyone!!

I'm so grateful for my sweet hubby!

Love love love that crazy guy. He's the absolute best!! And did I mention he's an AMAZING pumpkin pie maker. It's actually really cute watching him make them, a little perfectionist side of him comes out and I can't help but smile. And he's the sweetest with kids. Just a few more months and he'll be holding our sweet baby in his arms. Just thinking about it melts my heart already! I'm so so grateful that he is my complete opposite and better half. He just makes everything better. And on Tuesday he surprised me at work and it was the best, and it completely made the rest of my day. Sorry if it's getting too love-dovey. But I feel so lucky that he chose me, and I find new reasons everyday to love him more and more.

*See picture of him and puppy above, because he just looks so cute holding that little tiny puppy.*

All of my recent pics of us have been posted, so here's a few of him cuddling with Bella.

They just look so cute I can't help but snap a pic when I see them.

And an old picture of us. No significance really, just us. And I love it. And him.

Can it be Sunday night yet? I can't wait to hold him tight and not let go. That's exactly what I plan to do when I see him...

And last but certainly not least, I'm grateful for my soon to be baby girl!

I'm not a fan of being pregnant at all. But I'm a huge fan of the fact that we're about to have a sweet baby girl in our lives in less than 10 weeks!! Ahh, it's going by so fast (yet not fast enough) Haha. We can't wait to meet her :)

That belly just keeps growing!! 

We are so blessed and have so much to be thankful for, an instagram post just wasn't going to cut it this time ;) Ha

Happy Thanksgiving!

October 2014

Can I just start off by how amazing my husband is?

Last night, after a supper crappy day at work, he took me to get a chocolate shake and some pizza rolls. The whole time it was raining so we just sat and waited in the extra long drive-thru lines, and he jammed out to the new Taylor Swift CD with me. Seriously, he just knows how to make everything better.

Thanks love <3

So in case you didn't know, being pregnant is really hard. Basically it almost sucks. But then she kicks and it shakes my whole belly and it makes me laugh. Or Jacob puts his head on my belly and can hear her heartbeat… and then she kicks him in the ear a few times. Those are kinda awesome. But all the rest of it sucks.

Besides being completely exhausted from work and growing a baby, I've managed to be somewhat productive.

I finally got around to making some vinyl letters for my mother in-law. I love the way it turned out. And I can't wait to add a picture to her cute grandchildren wall in a few months ;) Ha

I also made a sign for the baby's room. I had higher hopes for the way it would turn out, but it's still cute. Even if I put on one of the words crooked… Lol.

Speaking of which. Her room is coming along… very slowly. Not good enough for a picture yet. Haha. We've been so blessed to get TONS of clothes, toys, and other things from cousins. But at the same time, there's a lot to go through. So it's a work in progress. Hopefully soon Daddy will paint her dresser and we can get a little more organized.

I think Jacob is slowly getting acting more comfortable with the idea that we're gonna have a little girl. (He still denies it, but we all know that he's going to be wrapped around her little finger.) We teach the 6 and 7 year olds at church and you can just tell he's starting to bond with them a lot more. And Baby Bella warms up to him a lot easier now. Normally it takes her the whole time she's here to be okay with him, but the other day when we were watching her she went right up next to him and cuddled. Well long enough for me to snatch a picture ;) Hehe. Either way, he's cute. I can't wait to see him with our baby.

Pretty sure Bella still doesn't quite understand what's going on. But she'll still point to her belly when we ask her where the baby is. Haha. And she rubs my belly. She can even almost say her cousin's name. It's precious.

Trying to get her to say Kayla.

And last but certainly not least, Halloween.

Honestly, the only reason we dressed up was for $3 bowls from Chipotle.

Best. Decision. Ever.

The line was out the door when we got there, but I feel like we didn't even wait 10 minutes before it was our turn to order. Plus, we looked pretty cute :) Hehe. 

Jacob and some friends from out of town were planning on going to the A&M game the next day, so we hung out and caught up with them, and then we all went to midnight yell.

It took me a few days to recover from midnight yell, which is why I didn't go to the game. But I'm so bummed I didn't go. I've already told Jacob multiple times that he has to take me next year.

Dat Belly...

It was a struggle to included the football belly in the pic. Haha.

Mmm Chipotle. Now I want some :)

Love this guy <3

Midnight yell is one of my favorite aggie traditions.

One day I'll actually make it to a game.

One day when I'm not pregnant. Haha.

I've been wanting to take a picture like this for a while. And it's probably my favorite picture to date. Ha!

Well that's about it for now. I'm over due on my "7 months" picture, but as you can tell, the belly is growing! Next up is holiday season, and before you know it baby will be here. Can't wait!! :)

Baby Girl!!

It's a girl! And we are thrilled!! Well… after the initial shock that it wasn't a boy. But really it didn't take that long to get over. I think deep down we both knew it was a girl. Either way we're having a healthy baby, so we're pretty happy :)

It's pretty blurry, but this is a profile of her head.

And when we got home, we had a mini photoshoot. Haha.

Daddy was obviously thrilled… Haha.

I'm pretty sure cousin Bella has no idea what's going on, but she will rub my belly and 'be so sweet to her cousin'. Haha. Love it.

And I finally made a 'big' baby purchase. But I had to go to work right after it got delivered. So...

Jacob came home to this note… hehe.

And when I got home from work it was all set up. (it took a lot less begging than I though it would ;P lol)

We have been so fortunate enough to have cousins close in age that have basically given us everything already. And they're still trying to give us more. Seriously we're set for the first 2 years. We are so grateful for everything!!

Speaking of the cousins… We got a short visit from them. Love these cuties!

And how cute is this little guy?!

Ok, ok. Jacob is pretty cute too ;)

Short and sweet, but it's an update nonetheless :)

Utah - Summer 2014

Growing up, my family would always take a trip to Utah once a year. Whether it was spring break, summer, thanksgiving, christmas, whatever, we always went once a year. I'm really hoping Jacob and I can keep up that tradition. So far so good. Haha. One thing we learned however, was that we will never go on a 2 week road trip when I'm 3 months pregnant. Lesson learned. Lol. But seriously we had a great time and can't wait to show off our newest addition the next time we're there!

I knew my parents were planning to go up sometime in the summer too, so we made it work to where we went at the same time to save on gas. They drove up to our place and then we all left together. We stayed at my grandparent's house the first part of our trip. Back to going to Utah every year growing up thing, there's just something about my grandparent's house that feels like home. I love going there. And it's definitely a plus when Omi makes some delicious food for us. And staying up playing cards. Seriously some of my favorite memories growing up!!

My parents stayed in SLC at my grandparent's house the whole trip. Jacob and I left after the first weekend to see his family and attend the Wilson family reunion.

I'm the youngest of 6, so I always thought I knew what a big family was. No. Jacob's grandma is a Wilson. She is 1 of 13. She had 9 kids herself. Jacob's Mom had 5. Add everyone else in and trust me it's a lot of people. It was such a great experience, even if we left before EVERYONE got there. (again being away from home for that long when prego not the best idea.)

Ever since we first started dating, Jacob has raved on and on about his family's cabin and the canyon and so on and so forth. I mean it did sound pretty cool. But being there, so much better. Haha.

A few days before we left on the trip, Jacob and I had actually been reading up on the family history on that side of the family. So after reading about the ancestors, we were able to go and see where some of them lived. And a few miles down from the property there's a small graveyard where a lot of those family members are buried. It was so surreal. 

One of the highlights of the trip by far was announcing to the family that we were expecting. Soon after we got there they started handing out shirts with everyones names on it. (This was a big Wilson reunion, but the Lazenby family went up the week before to celebrate Grandma and Grandpa) All of the McConnells knew already, along with an Aunt. Well that Aunt was one of the ones in charge of shirts, and along with mine and Jacob's shirt we were given a little tiny one for the baby. Oh it made me so happy! And it was the perfect way to announce to everyone our news. So Jacob got Grandma and Grandpas attention and shared with them the tiny shirt and our announcement. We are one of 3 that are expecting a baby in January in the family and could not be more excited to have other little ones so close in age to ours!!

Okay picture overload…

Our view from the balcony.

At some point each day we were there, Jacob and I were able to get away and drive around on a four wheeler and just explore.

This was the view everywhere. It was so beautiful!

Part of the land is still used for work. Along with these guys.

This is the homestead. Complete with house, barn, outhouse, cellar.

Right now the house is boarded up because one of the original 13 is working to restore it. 

The potato cellar.

It's caved in but there's still some pretty cool things in it.

By the entrance of the cellar you can still see the records of potatoes for the year. This one was in fall of 1933.

Jacob LOVED all the old equipment laying around. This is a superrrrr old motor.

Another view of the homestead.

And the outhouse.

These are some old Quaker containers.

Wilson Peak. I can't get enough of those views!

Again… Jacob loved the equipment.

Jacob helped some of his uncles set up a zip-line for the kids. It was a huge hit!

One of the days we were there was Jacob's cousin's birthday. Her wish was to cut his mustache. So just before her birthday was officially over they held him down and she cut.

Hey, I got a clean shaven husband out of it. Hahaha.

Little tiny baby shirt. We are so excited!!!

A few miles off the property we found the family cemetery.

George Deliverance Wilson.

There are so many stories in our family history records about him. It was so cool to be at his gravesite.

He had a mormon battalion emblem underneath it.

"Pioneer and member of the mormon battalion" 

George's wife Martha (There were a few with the same name so it got a little confusing but I think we finally figured out who was who.)

**Update** - After looking closer at the dates, I think this is actually his daughter. Again, confusing, but if you look at the close up on the next picture you'll see the plaque better. I thought that was really cool.

She has a pioneer plaque on hers.

Jesse Wilson. Jacob's great grandfather. When I say Wilson reunion, it's the Jesse and Lilith Wilson family.

His wife Lilith.

This is the first of the original 13 of their children to pass away. He's now buried next to them.

Our last view of the Canyon and Wilson peak before we left. What an amazing experience!

When we left the reunion we went back to my grandparents. My brother had flown in for the weekend, so we all spent some time together. And ever got together with my cousins and some aunts and uncles. Jacob had a stash of fireworks so one night we went and popped some with my cousins. (We were there over Pioneer day, a huge celebration in Utah. Almost like a 2nd fourth of july, but celebrating pioneer history.) We also got to have a date night with one of Jacob's good friends that he grew up with and her husband. Unfortunately the only pictures I have from the trip that weren't at the cabin is of fireworks. Haha.

It was such a great trip over all. But at the same time I was so happy to come home. And to sleep in my bed. I must admit though, going back to work wasn't very easy. Lol.

We haven't been up to much since we've been home. Things that were so easy before are such a struggle now that I'm pregnant. So we like to take things easy around here now. Haha.