Finals! #27weeks

December is flying by. Sam had some extra tickets to the Christmas devotional (thanks to her dad, hahahahaha which has the best background story) and we were excited to go! Jake had never been to the conference center, so it was fun to explore it with him and look at all the paintings. The devotional was great too, even though President Monson wasn't there. It was also supposed to snow that night but it didn't snow until the next morning and only about 1/2 an inch... best winter ever.

Finals week is also about to be here! We have our last day of classes tomorrow, and then finals start on Saturday! Only one of mine is scheduled, but I think I'll be able to bust them out early so I can work the rest of the week until we try to fly home! I'm glad we're flying ... driving actually sounds pretty miserable right now even though we'd get so many good gas station snacks... my favorite part about driving. hahaha

We also got this awesome surprise from Jake's mom for Christmas! She ordered us (and herself) a sampler box from Fivemarys and it is AWESOME! We were so excited to get the box. So far we've only tried the ground beef and the M5 spice rub, but we are excited to try to ground lamb and other goodies! It also came with their ground beef recipe book which we've already tried two recipes out of and oh my gosh, yum. I am going to get spoiled by their ground beef... it's seriously DELICIOUS. We tried their chili and the sloppy joes and both were seriously so freaking good. 

And for pregnancy update... I don't feel like I'm that big which is kinda nice, but sometimes I still have a hard time getting out of bed. I've been feeling pretty great though.

-  I don't know how much weight I've gained, but I'm not feeling TOO heavy. I have an appointment next week, but they usually don't even tell me my weight / I don't look at the scale. 

- I have my glucose test tomorrow :O I'm kinda nervous even though I don't know if I should be... I just hope I don't have gestational diabetes and I hope I don't have to do the 3 hour test! I'm going to eat eggs and ham for breakfast 

- The baby is a wild thing during the day and then at night is totally calm and doesn't move much! But if I move on a certain side in the middle of the night he/she dances around to get comfortable. I've been getting a ton of video of all the movement lately! 

- My acne has been gone for a while now, which is SO NICE! Haha I don't feel like a pregnant 12 year old anymore! 

- Sleep is getting better now that I've figured out a better system! 

- Baby gifts have been coming in  the mail - SO SO FUN! I have the best friends! 

Thanksgiving in Cincinnati! #24weeks

This surprise trip to Cincinnati was VERY NEEDED and we enjoyed every minute of it! Jake mainly enjoyed staying up until 4 am with his brothers and dad playing games, and I enjoyed riding the horses and spending time with the Smiths, specifically getting closer to cute Ashley! We seriously had the best time.

We were planning on spending Thanksgiving with Sam's family because the flights to Cincinnati were soooo expensive. We even looked at routing through Vegas which was a lot cheaper, but wasn't really worth the extra 10 hours of driving. But then Tracey texted us asking if she could book us a flight... of course!!! We were excited to be able to spend the holiday with family!

We spent most of our days outside, or making hot chocolate inside! We got the horses out a few days in a row which was so much fun - they are really good horses when they want to be! Ralph just finished a new trail and the horses were awesome on it, even when I was a little sketched out!

Jake got a lot of work done in the garden with the other boys. They were getting it ready for next year... It took about 4 boys almost 4 hours to complete. I can't imagine if Tracey had to do that on her own!

We also got Buddy, the pony, out to play for a little but he is feisty! He will kick you in the shin if you're not careful... or even if you are careful. Just have to punch him right back! But we got his mane looking all nice for the ladies (AKA Rose) and then sent him back out to the pasture to continue being a punk.

On the our last day there, it was just me, Tracey, Jake, Brent, Bridge, and Lillie which was really fun. We needed to move the coop to the garden so they could 1) be safe 2) fertilize it for next year and 2) eat everything that's made its home inside the beds, and it was a MUCH bigger job than I thought it was going to be! We finished JUST before it got dark. We ended up catching all of the chickens and putting them in the coop, which took seriously about an hour. We even caught the devilish roosters (and by we I mean Jake and Bridger). Then we pulled the chicken tractor over, but ended up getting it stuck in the mud... Almost the entire Polaris was stuck, too! haha so we got out the big guns - the tractor, and that easily pulled it. We set up the fence, clipped their wings, and then we were finally done! Luckily it wasn't too cold.

I'm so glad we got to go out there - we really needed a little break before we finish these last couple weeks of the semester! I'm grateful for Jake, my amazing mother in-law, and a healthy little baby growing inside of me! Life is pretty awesome.

As for pregnancy things . . . I recently bought a fake wedding ring for the days my fingers are a little bigger than they usually are... haha still haven't figured out WHY they're bigger some days, but oh well! I don't feel like I've gained much weight, but I think I've gained at least 10 or so pounds. My belly is measuring 26 weeks and baby's heartbeat this past week was 140! We are definitely still leaning towards boy.

22 weeks!

The cutest foot ever. 

Baby curled up in a ball... He/she really doesn't like ultrasounds! 

The dreamiest profile I've ever seen. 

Chunky little leg! So freaking cute. 

Holy moly how I am I 22 weeks pregnant already? Ha. Jk. It's been the slowest 22 weeks ever! But I'm definitely feeling more pregnant this week - my stomach feels harder, my baby's moving around CONSTANTLY (which feels crazy cool and he/she sleeps all through the night ha hahaha), and I'm feeling round ligament pain when I walk like nobody's business.

Pregnancy related stuff:

• I'm definitely in maternity jeans. I have been since probably 16 weeks or so. Regular jeans were causing REAL PAIN, and I was being squished in all the wrong places. 
• I'm probably going to have an outie belly button here in the next couple of weeks. It's so close.
• I'm lathering up every night w/ bio oil and cocoa butter lotion to hopefully prevent some stretch marks. They wouldn't be the end of the world, but . . . I had a dream that I found some the other night and they were like tiger claws to the belly. I cried in my dream. 
• I'm pretty much always hungry, but when I'm full, oh my gosh I'M SO FULL - like can't move full. Even feel like I can't breathe full. 
• Not sure how much I weigh but I had a dream that I weighed 150. In my dream (and when I woke up), I was like, THERE'S NO POSSIBLE WAY. So we'll see at my 24 week appointment
• I probably need to get a pregnancy pillow soon. I toss and turn ALL NIGHT. 
• Not really craving anything, and don't have any food aversions. Although I haven't had hot funyuns since I threw them up at Rancherito's a few weeks ago hahaaha (it was terrible). 
• Not finding out the gender has actually been pretty easy. And makes me way more excited for delivery! 

We got our official 20 week anatomy scan about 2 weeks ago, and it was awesome. The tech had been working longer than I've been alive (ha he found this terrible) and he was SO informative. We're that annoying couple that's like, "So what are you looking for now? Oh, how big is the baby's femur measuring? And how much do you think the baby weighs? OH AND WARN US WHEN YOU'RE GOING DOWN THERE BECAUSE WE DON'T WANT TO KNOW THE GENDER." First time parents... so annoying.

Our baby is growing well! At the time, he/she was about 14 oz. I forgot to ask how long he thought the baby was, but I'm kinda hoping he/she takes after Jake's genes and not mine, or short and chubby will rule his/her world.

Updates in our life, besides the baby include . . .

• Jake is killing it in school. Still. Today he texted me that he got a 99 on his physiology exam... A 99!!! I told him I can't wait to have his big-brained babies.
• We've already finished Stranger Things 2 and loved it. Although Jake's way more of a fanatic than I am. Randomly the other day he was like, "Yeah, they are probably going to make at least a 4th season, if it keeps doing well." He's been researching it, hahaha, of course
• We also started watching The Great British Baking Show on Netflix. It's lighthearted and those people are SERIOUSLY talented. 10/10 would recommend that show to anyone.
• We bought a crib!!!! :) :) :) It's the crib I wanted from IKEA, but IKEA stopped making it so I was bummed. But I found it on Facebook marketplace, along with the mattress that she had never taken out of the plastic, for $50!! I was so excited. So yes, it's already set up in our room. And it's SO CUTE.
• We're doing a Friendsgiving the Sunday before Thanksgiving, and WE'RE IN CHARGE OF THE TURKEY. Honestly, pray for us.
• Ok baby related, we feel the baby all the time. Well, I do, and then when I get Jake to look over or feel, the baby stops. Too excited that his/her dad is waiting to feel movement. But so cute nonetheless. But last night the baby made a huge bulge (I don't know what else to call it?) right by my belly button and Jake was like, "There's no way the baby did that. You did that." And luckily the baby did it again so I could prove it wasn't me. Baby just loves to move.
• We are so excited for our little Thanksgiving break. We are going up to Bountiful for a couple days, and then will probably just catch up on shows and snuggle the rest of the week, ha.
• Jake just got a new calling....... He tried to trick me that he got called into the bishopric, HAHA. He's actually a permanent sub for primary. I just want him to be called into nursery with me! Agh!
• It's starting to get colder. Woohoooooo. Except I'm not looking forward to the snow, mainly because I don't like driving in it?!? And I drive home from work at 6 like 4 days week!?!?! 

19 weeks .. and anatomy scan!

This semester is going great! Jake is killing it and school. . . and I'm not doing too badly either ;) I'm finally enjoying school and everything I'm learning so woohoo! I'm not afraid to encourage anyone that may feel defeated and stressed out by what they're studying to switch to something a liiiittle easier and become a normal, happy person :)

ANYWAY... Can you see our cute baby's profile?! I'm obviously biased, but it's the sweetest little profile I've ever seen.

A couple weeks ago, I agreed to do the quad screening test. This test basically SCREENS for Trisomy 21 (down syndrome) and Trisomy 18 (Neural tube defects, such as spina bifida). My insurance covered it so I thought, why not? Another test we went ahead and did was to check to see if I carried any mutation of Cystic Fibrosis.

About a week later, I had called in about the CF results because they still weren't in after 6 weeks. I had left a message with the nurses to please call me back when they had the results! One nurse did end up calling me back, but it was to let me know that she didn't know how to interpret the results and would have to wait for a midwife to call me. Looking back on that now, that could've been she didn't know how to interpret the quad screening results.

Anyway, wasn't freaked out. Everything was fine, a midwife would try to call me later. The next day, I got a voicemail from one of the midwives, Sue, that said, "We probably need to speak with you by tomorrow. I will make sure someone calls you." I was freaking out! It didn't help that I had listened to this voicemail at 3:00 pm, so I didn't have much time to call in and figure out what was going on.

About half an hour later, Jake texted me saying that another midwife, Kim, called his phone and said, "You guys should probably make an appointment with a perinatologist. Here's their number." And we were like WHAT?! We were one, googling what the freak a perinatologist was, and then going back to WHAT? Why did we need to call them for an appointment?!

That day, I was trying to call the midwives, the nurses, the perinatologist's office . . . anyone I could think of to try to get these results, but nobody was available. We waited until the next day and I decided I would just go up to the midwife's office. The Orem office is closed on Fridays, but the Provo office always has one midwife working there, so I went. The front desk lady told me I needed to make an appointment - probably for next week. I told her, as kindly as possible, that I was not waiting until the next week, especially if everything had sounded as urgent as it did. (Did they want me to play the voicemails for them!?!?!) 

I was able to get an appointment with another midwife, Becky, at 12:15 that day. So I went to my physical science class and then returned to the midwife's office just in time. The nurse checked my BP, of course it was higher than normal ha, and my weight. Then she told me that they had been checking some websites to give me as much information as they could. This is when I figured it might be that I carry the CF gene, because Trisomy 21 and 18 are pretty well-known abnormalities.

When I finally got in the midwife's office, I was a freaking nervous wreck! I was sweating haha and on the verge of tears if I were to start talking. When she came in, she was so nice and again described to me what the test was a screening for - explaining that the quad screen gives you a risk factor for having a baby with these certain abnormalities, thus, not being fullproof and not guaranteeing that your baby will have anything "wrong" with him/her per se - which was nice. But I really just wanted her to get to the stuff I was there for!

She finally said, "We don't think that the quad screen results came back hinting at neural tube defects, but there is a higher chance your baby will have down syndrome." Then she basically went on to say that this isn't a completely negative thing. Many DS babies are born healthy and of course happy. I wasn't worried about having a down syndrome baby because of the way they look, or they way they act, or they way they think - I was worried about how I would handle a baby that may have to deal with several open heart surgeries and NICU time?! It was scary.

I finally asked her what the chances were that we were carrying a baby with down syndrome, and she said 1 in 10. That's a pretty high chance, as the national average is 1 in 150. I was thinking it might be 1 in 25 or 1 in 50 - 1 in 10 really hit me! But this was pretty much all she could say at the point, as it's not a definitive screening, and made sure that I had an appointment with the perinatologist. We did for the next Friday.

She let me listen to the baby's heartbeat - and it sounded great at 150 bpm!

All week, Jake and I were searching information about DS and the quad screening and trying to make sense of it all and trying to plan for IF our baby had DS markers and what we would do next. We also tried to have a lot of fun and stay busy and not stress about it - stress isn't good for me or the baby ;)

It finally was Friday and we were feeding the Mauldin's horses that morning so we got up early anyway. I made chocolate chip pancakes and eggs for breakfast and I'm pretty sure we watched an episode of Heartland. As we got ready, I could FEEL Jake getting more and more nervous! Haha he was not handling it well. I reminded him to wear deodorant . . . and he told me he doesn't sweat when he's nervous. Yeah right?!?!?!

We drove to the hospital, parked, walked in, filled out some paperwork, and waited. The nurse came and grabbed us and she measured my weight and BP - also higher than normal. I joked about it and she said, "Everyone that comes in here has a higher BP than normal, don't worry about it." Haha, I think my BP was 126/85 or something, so not terrible. I definitely pride myself in staying calm haha.

She walked us back into the ultrasound room. It was so nice and dark. I laid down and Jake sat right next to me and we met with the tech first. She was super nice. She had been working at this hospital for about 7 years and was super friendly and really knew what she was doing. Jake also was giving her a run for her money in identifying certain things and asking difficult questions ... anatomy students! Haha

She measured everything on the baby without spilling the gender, which was awesome, and she was super informative about what exactly she was looking for - nuchal fold, size of the femur, size of the head, the heart's 4 chambers and blood flow, the umbilical cord blood flow, etc. She also got us the CUTEST picture of our baby's left leg. Oh my gosh I about sent it to everyone right after.

She didn't give anything away about whether or not she had actually down soft markers because she's not the doctor, so although we had just spent 20 minutes riling up our cute baby, we still didn't know anything. Dr. Dizon-Towson came in about 5 mins after she left. She had reviewed the scans that the tech had gotten and said that they had found no soft markers. None at all. Wow. We were so relieved. It was a really amazing feeling.

Of course an ultrasound can't be definitive, as they can only show us physical things and of course trisomy 21 is a chromosomal thing, but it was still extremely reassuring and she didn't suggest we do any further testing (which was good, cause I really didn't want any). She also did a little ultrasound, just checking really fast over what the tech had just gone over. She got some nice frontal pics of the baby looking creepy at us and answered any and every question we had. We also made the connection that she was born in Cinci and then went to Medical school at UTSW and did her residency at Parkland! It's a small world.

We walked away from the ultrasound relieved and so thankful. We also walked away knowing that even if our baby had any markers for DS, we would love that baby just as much and would do anything and everything to ensure that baby was properly taken care of. We know that the moms and dads of DS kids are special women, and God only entrusts certain women and men with their care. We also know that kids with down syndrome are sent directly from heaven with sweet spirits and we wouldn't take for granted the opportunity to raise a baby with any chromosomal abnormality.

17 weeks! And OCTOBER!

Jake's mom visited this weekend and it was so fun! She was coming for Emily's volleyball game (they were playing Westminister which was so awesome) and also to get some good family time in!

Friday night was the volleyball game. They ended up losing, but in 5 - it was such a good game and it was fun to visit with Emily afterwards! I also talked to Jake's cousin Monica who had a natural birth last year with her daughter and she gave me a book recommendation! I'm excited to read it.

On Saturday, we got Tracey all to ourselves and we went maternity clothes shopping and ALSO BOUGHT A CAR SEAT AND STROLLER! I'm soooo excited about it. Tracey is amazing! It was the first thing for the baby we've purchased -- a totally necessary item -- and I'M PUMPED. I'm also proud of myself for not splurging on any random baby clothes... Yet. 

We also saw our cute baby in an ultrasound! The tech didn't spoil the surprise and everything was looking good. He/she was sleeping with one hand over the stomach and the other hand above the head... Dreamy little kid already. 

After that, we all spent some time at the Mauldin's and I had to try on EVERYTHING WE BOUGHT. Hahahaha, Blackwelders love fashion shows. Later that evening, all the sisters that live in Utah went up to the canyon and brought all the available kids. I was excited that Anna and Ruth were coming otherwise it would've been... interesting, hahaha. We went up to American Fork Canyon and picked a random little hike to go up with everyone. The fall colors were amazing...

BUT.... On Sunday, after watching the first session and eating breakfast sandwiches, we took Sundance up to Provo Canyon by Squaw Peak and the COLORS WERE INSANE THERE (pictured below is AF canyon and then below that, you can see Provo canyon behind us... Insane). 

It was really fun riding Courtney's horse up there, especially when at one point we were going up this part that was pretty steep and Sydney was like, "I'M FALLING OFF!" hahaha. It felt so nice outside -- being with people I love.. It was awesome. And those pics of me and Jake and Tracey were taken on Jake's iPhone 7+!! The quality is seriously ridiculous! 

The bump is growing! I'm ready to feel some movement from this baby who I KNOW loves to move! 

Hahaha so Jake and the boys went up to Squaw peak Saturday night while we were having girl time and they found 5 chickens that had been left stranded there! They were just going to leave them there because they were looking pretty bad and there was NO WAY we were adding more chickens to our flock. A random lady ended up coming up to them and saying she'd take them (this is from her Insta-story and I was dYING LAUGHING!!) She really did take them home ... even though she doesn't have a coop .... In the front seat of her car. Hahaha. Amazing. 

15 weeks

I wish (kind of?) that I could say this pregnancy was flying by, but it's really not! I was 15 weeks earlier this week, but I'll be 16 weeks tomorrow . . . So really, this is like a 16 week update.

I get to go back to my midwife this week, which is exciting. Although I'm hoping for a boring and regular appointment! I'm pretty sure we're just discussing some optional tests to see if my baby will have any kind of disorders (Down Syndrome, things like that). If they're covered by insurance, we may go ahead and do it. But the Panorama test also gives away the gender of the baby . . . No thanks!!

We are holding off on finding out the gender until we deliver the baby because that's how it's meant to be! It's meant to be a surprise. . . science is getting in there and ruining a whole lot of things about growing a human and birth, in my opinion. ;) We were both on board with the idea way before I even got pregnant, and it makes us even more excited for March!

I've been feeling pretty good. I'll randomly get sick and feel like I'm going to throw up, but it's rare that I actually throw up. Although the other day, we were driving around town and running errands and I was like, "Oh no... I don't feel good. Pull over. Pull over!" Hahaha and we pulled into some Rancherito's on state street and I puked.... so fun. I. hate. puking. Jake was like, "What can I do?" and I said, "Run in there and get a sprite!" hahahaha. Overall though, I feel pretty good.

My pants are DEFINITELY getting tighter. Holy cow. I'm not sure how much longer using the ponytail trick is going to work... but I'm definitely not big enough for maternity pants. And did I mention it's getting cold so dresses aren't that great of an option?!?!

We don't have another ultrasound until our anatomy scan which is our 20 week appointment... That's gonna be a long wait. I'm pretty sure during that appointment they make sure everything is measuring correctly (head, femur, etc). And they usually give you the gender of the baby at that appointment. Hopefully they remember to tell us to turn away and don't accidentally say anything like, "Oh, he's looking good!" It obviously wouldn't be the end of the world, but it'd be pretty sad to not keep the surprise!

Other than that, everything is pretty good! Sleeping is still good so far, even though I switch from side to side a lot through the night already... I'm a stomach sleeper and that's been rough because I can't quite do that anymore! Luckily Jake pretty much sleeps in one position all night and I don't feel like I'm bothering him too much.... yet. Haha

Summer at the farm

This summer was SO much fun! I didn't quite know what to expect going into it because when I was there last summer, it was ALL play. This time, it was going to be WORK and PLAY! Going into it, I knew that I wanted to really learn how Tracey made her garden grow so well. Other than that, I wanted to play with the chickens, maybe set up a little "love shack" so she doesn't have to keep ordering chicks, and become more familiar with the sheep. Tracey also wanted me to work on the website. She hired a lady to do all the actual work, but she needed opinions and ideas to get the new website flowing! Other than that, there are the usual farm chores and things that come up that need to be done. Needless to say, it was a busy summer.

Tracey took this picture about a week before Jake and I left. The zinnias were pretty much pure heaven! Earlier in the summer, a bunch of us were thinning the small seedlings to ensure that each of them would be able to get enough nutrients. We also put a "netting" system up that you're supposed to do with zinnias to ensure they have straight stems. We were happy when they actually started growing that they had straight stems!!! Florists don't generally buy them when they're all wonky and curved so this was a big feat.

On the far right, you can also see a little bit of the sunflowers that Tracey planted for fun. Sunflowers are nice because you don't have to stake them at all; their stems are big enough to carry the weight of the flower. Not only that, but they are SO EASY TO WEED. They can pretty much grow in grass, so we were just weeding them once a week (AKA pulling grass out for like 5 minutes) to make sure they were getting enough sun, water, and to make that bed look overall prettier. It was all SO worth it when these babies started to bloom.

One evening, the boys were playing pickle ball and I was just sitting outside talking with Ashley. We saw the horses and Edward standing like THIS! They were ready for their dinner, but they were posing so perfectly for a picture! We grabbed Ralph's phone and snapped this beauty. Hahaha it is definitely a treasure photo now . . . They are funny!

Girls trip!!!! We went to Bowling Green, KY to pick up Bridge from EFY and made a fun girls trip out of it. We ate at this awesome and random pizza restaurant, went to Zappos TWICE! We mainly had a lot of fun laughing and talking and catching up with each other.

This is what the garden looked like in the BEFORE stage, when we spent hours weeding, thinning, and then putting up the netting. Crazy how much it changes!

Beth and her family were at the farm for a few weeks in the beginning and that was so fun! Her kids are crazy and fun, if you can't tell by the way Lucy's holding that chicken!

We got SO many jobs done this summer (and by we I mainly mean the boys because near the end of the summer I was a lazy pregnant lady). I'm hoping next summer we get to spend at least a little bit of time at the farm. Obviously it's a place that holds a lot of special memories for me. ;)

st louis to nashville!

We were super lucky this summer and were able to get Taylor and Megan's old Ford Escape! It's the perfect little car for us, even though I joked about wanting a mini van more... haha. They told me, "You probably don't need that yet."

So with this awesome new little car, we wanted to make a road trip on our way back to Utah! My friend Aubrey lives in St Louis which is about 5 and a half hours from Cincinnati so we decided to go there first and it was SUPER FUN! The drive wasn't bad at all, either, which was nice (Especially because I had been mostly nauseous in the car with being pregnant, but it felt like it all went away during this road trip)!

We got there around dinner time and were lucky enough to catch Todd and Mandy when they were free! We met downtown at a restaurant called The Atomic Cowboy. It's like a Mexican/barbecue place and it was really good. It was mostly fun being able to chat with Todd and Mandy about medical school and have Jake be able to hear some people that really love what they do to get him a little inspired!

After we went to dinner, the three of us went to the City Museum. I didn't have high expectations for this place but it was crazy cool! Ralph and Tracey told us they went there one time while they were in town for a soccer tournament and they LOVED it. It's basically a huge adult playground. Jake had a lot of fun seeing how everything was made and trying to fit through all the tiny little crevices and I tried not to freak out and get sick when there were things involving heights. It's an exhausting, sweaty place but it was so fun!

We stayed the night and slept GREAT in Aubrey and Nate's bed (hahaha thanks guys) and then we spent some time at the St Louis zoo that morning before eating a a delicious thai place. The st louis zoo is so big and FREE! That was the best part . . . I've never been to a free zoo before?!?! Also there was a baby rhino. So cute.

From St Louis we headed to Nashville which is about 5 hours away - not a bad drive at all! We were excited to see the Smith family and spend some time in Nashville. It's a place we've both been to but we've never been downtown! It's a lot more like Vegas than I imagined. We drove down the "strip" a couple of times and it was so cool hearing a bunch of random country songs coming out of each bar and all these cool cover bands. We were driving around looking for a place to eat but because the eclipse was going on the next day, literally everything was packed. It was crazy. The first couple of restaurants we were going to had run out of food and we kept having to find a new place to go to.

We ended up at Mellow Mushroom because we were ALL STARVING and we didn't want to wait any longer to eat. Plus we all kept thinking about the amazing bruschetta that MM has and it was a done deal. We had to go. It was a fun dinner but when we got finished, everyone was ready to go to bed. 

The next day, Monday, the day of the eclipse, we had a lazy day in the morning and were playing monopoly and eating chocolate chip pancakes. We stopped by the gas station and grabbed snacks and then headed to the pool. Nashville was in the line of totality and Heidi had previously grabbed us all glasses. Jordan set up his camera with some special paper so his lens could catch a picture of it and we waited. It was actually SO MUCH COOLER than we thought it was going to be. It pretty much got completely dark. The street lamps came on, the crickets started chirping. It was the coolest thing ever! We were all amazed. After that we spent some time playing in the pool. They were all trying to get two people on Jake and Jordan's shoulders... they could only last for like 3 seconds but it was SO FUNNY to watch. I'll have to get the videos from Jake's phone. 

We went home and made sandwiches, dried our swimsuits, and packed up our bags. It was time to go which was sad but I didn't want to drive a ton during the night. We ended up driving to somewhere in the middle of Arkansas and stopping at a cheap hotel and sleeping. The traffic was SO BAD from all the eclipse traffic and people leaving Nashville so we were happy with completely missing it and just sleeping. 

Finding out and telling everyone

Ahh! We are so, so, so excited. long story short, in the first 2 months of our marriage we were extremely happy but we were also like, "how much happier would our lives be with a baby?" and we debated and debated about getting off of birth control. because we are both still in school, and still would be when the baby would come. Jake was more worried about how i would do in school with a baby, but I really wasn't that worried about it. I knew we both could do it, as long as we were supporting each other.

fast forward to may/june. the semester's ending, we had been trying for 5 months and we were both like, "if we're not pregnant by the end of spring semester, then we aren't going to worry about it! we're just going to live our lives and hopefully we'll get pregnant when the timing is right!" 

We left Utah, went to Texas, had a really fun time there, and then went to Cincinnati. We got there around July 3 and I still hadn't had my period that was supposed to come on July 2nd. I wasn't getting any hopes up though because traveling can mess up your cycle and also my period ALWAYS came early or late; it was never on time unless I was on the pill. 

Around July 5th or 6th, everyone seemed busy doing their own thing and I still hadn't started so I snuck upstairs and took a test . . . in the bathroom that I couldn't get to lock. IT WAS NERVE WRACKING! hahaha. then I quickly took the test into our room and locked the door and waited 3 minutes. the line was faint but IT WAS THERE AND I WAS LIKE OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH TEXT JAKE.

Jake was downstairs building an Ikea dresser for our room. I texted him, "Hey come upstairs for a second :)" and he said "Haha ok" . . . HE THOUGHT IT WAS A BOOTY CALL!!! 

I'm not creative, nor did I want to wait any longer to tell him we were having a baby!!!!! So I left the test on the bed and I just smiled and said, "Look at it!!!" And he said, "I can't, I can't! Just tell me!" And I'm pretty sure I had to literally push his face down to look at it. And then we both freaked out and hugged and laughed and we were like, "WHAT THE heck?! This is happening?!!?!?" It's a whole other thing trying to get pregnant . . . but then when you ARE, you're like . . . Whoa, there's a baby inside of you. 

Anyway, we held onto that little secret for the next 2 or so weeks. It was tough because I felt nauseous, but mostly when we were in the car. I rarely got the front seat so a lot of the time I was just dying in the backseat really trying not to throw up and cursing whoever was driving hahah! There was one morning when we were helping a family in Grandpa Martin's ward; they needed all their square hay bales brought in before it rained so they didn't get ruined. First of all, HOT. Second of all, hard work. Third of all, PREGNANT. I was nauseous, thirsty, and dying the whole time. BUT I MADE IT THROUGH, and didn't break the news to everyone so I could just get a break. #proudmoment 

When we finally were wanting to tell people, I was around 7 and a half weeks pregnant (according to my calculations). Honestly I didn't want to tell people quite yet because I wanted to know that the baby was healthy, but after calling a few butthead doctors in the area, I figured out that wasn't going to happen! SO, we were trying to think of a fun plan. 

With Anna in tow, we went to a pregnancy center and got it confirmed (the weirdest thing ever lol) and then we went to get her sister Emily from the airport. This is when we really started to think of something good! The family really loves to look at pictures from people's trips and weeks and the fun things they've been doing on the apple TV. Well perfect, because Emily was just getting home from Italy! So the night after we picked her up, we were all hanging out at the farm just talking and everyone was inside so Jake (without me knowing he was going to do this) said, "Hey let's look at Emily's Italy pictures!" So we did. And she was awesome. And then we she got to the last photo, we had taken the one at the very top of this post the day before. She said, "And this is the best picture from the trip. . ." 

It took a second for everyone to read it and figure out what it said (cursive is hard haha) but when they got it, I was pretty much crying and everyone was so excited! We were hugging and laughing and everyone was like, "WHAT THE?!?!?!" It was soooo fun. Aaron was convinced he already knew. It was the funnest night.

I wish my family could have been there too, but since we wouldn't see them for another 4 weeks, I just sent my sisters and mom the picture above.

Everyone was super excited to hear we were having a baby. Can't wait to grow this cute little peanut over the next 6 months! 

WE'RE HAVING A BABY!

Best news of the entire summer?! WE'RE HAVING A BABY.

We have decided we don't want to know the gender. We both will be so happy and excited whether or it's a boy or girl! We are seriously so blessed to be carrying a healthy baby, who loves to move around (thank goodness I can't feel him/her yet!) and be the cutest baby we've ever known.

We love you, little baby! We can't wait to see you in March!!  

23 of my favorite things on Jake's 23rd birthday

holy what, my husband is 23?!?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAKE!

for the past 6 weeks i've been asking him, "what do you want for your birthday?"

and you know what he responds with?

"skydiving or paragliding. and you have to come with."

it's like he doesn't even know who he married.

and then I plead with him and ask him to be realistic. i say, "what do you REALLY want?"

and he'll jokingly (kind of jokingly?) say, "a niño."

and then I laugh and say, "me too, but what can I ACTUALLY give you?!!?!?"

and then he's like, "I really don't need anything."

so now I'm back at square 1, trying to remember all of the things in the past 6 weeks he's mentioned that would be SO COOL to have. you know, the subtle hints.

so here are some things he's mentioned in the past 6 weeks:

1. As we were walking through Lowe's, he saw a Backyard Beekeepers magazine. He said, "So now you know what I want for my birthday." 
2. We were fishing with Kaden and Hailey and he said, "Oh, I'd love to learn how to fly fish. I just don't have any gear . . ."
3. He's always talking about how he wants our own camping chairs and our own mats for sleeping on, so we don't have to borrow the Mauldin's all the time.

so I think I'm going to get him a mix of the three. and maybe we can get  bees next year or something.

BUT, THE REAL POINT OF THIS BLOG POST is to talk about 23 of my favorite memories / characteristics of Jake. i could say way more than 23 but i'll stop there, and save that for his 24th birthday (I'm just now realizing that 23 is kind of old? but 24???? o . m . g. )

1. he never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever gets mad. ever. not once have i ever seen him mad. and sometimes i can be a little rude. i love that about him. sometimes he just has endless patience.

2. from the start of our relationship, he's always made me try new things. wheelbarrowing a pig, for starters. but also camping, eating new foods, floating the river, kayaking, having chickens, and MUCH, MUCH more. he's always up for anything and loves to try new things, something I'm learning to love, too.

3. he is a SLEEPER. haahaha. he can stay up SO late but when it comes to waking up in the morning, he has T H E hardest time. in the recent weeks, he's been getting up at 6 am to go to the gym and I feel for him because I know how much he likes to sleep in. I think i have more pictures of him sleeping than I do of him awake. THEY'RE SO CUTE.

4. he is really so caring, to anyone and everything. at night, he'll usually say something like, "I'm so glad you let me marry you." hahaha. but he not only loves his wife (and his family soooo much),but he also loves animals. even though neither of us are "dog people" (we're more like sheep and chicken people haha), we both cried in megan leavey and also we don't really understand the point of hunting. ALSO, the other day, we had been given some worms from our cousin who had been fishing with them and we had left them on the counter for a couple days. as i was doing something in the kitchen, i saw Jake GIVING THEM SOME WATER. i made a funny face at him and he said, "what? they're probably thirsty." ..... so tender. hahaha.

5. he loves to cuddle. this can sometimes be good and bad ;) but mostly good, obviously. I love how much he loves to snuggle up and watch a movie or when he wakes up in the middle of the night and scoots closer. it's cuuuuuuuuute

6. he LOVES POPCORN. hahaha.oh my gosh does this boy love popcorn. last night i said, "oh i just want a treat." and he said, "popcorn?". hahaha. he can eat an ENTIRE large popcorn by himself at the mall. and if there's free refills .... trouble.

7. he's always chewing on something. when we still had plastic bottles, i'd have to throw them away immediately after he drank one because he'd chew on the camp until it was pretty much disintegrated into his mouth. I hated the noise but also I found chewed bottle caps inside the water bottles all over our room. so sick. hahaha

8. he's sooo good at whistling. you can tell how he's feeling depending on if he's whistling, how loud he's whistling, what song he's whistling... haha. my favorite story is when we weren't sure we wanted to be together and cancelled my Cincinnati trip. his mom texted me and said something like, "Jake's not whistling anymore. Can you come visit?" ... It was the sweetest thing ever. And you know when he's not whistling, something's going on ;)

9. he plays candy crush before he goes to sleep. I NEVER WOULD'VE KNOWN THIS IF WE WEREN'T MARRIED! haha. i could be asleep for an hour and he'll just keep playing candy crush. he claims it helps put him to sleep.

10. he's a SPENDER. we'll go to Lowe's and he's like, "Yeah, I need this." Or he'll tell me, "Go and buy yourself whatever you want!" It's hilarious. And when we go to the grocery store together? There's no telling how much we'll spend. (We're working on a budget... haha!)

11. He loves to build things. Whenever I say something like, "AGH all of my pots and pants don't fit in this tiny thing!" he'll say something like, "I can build this for you right here and then you can hang all of them up." Sometimes I'm like OK, YOU'RE GETTING TOO CARRIED AWAY. But other times it's nice... He's built like half the things in our house! Redid our closet so we can fit more shoes, installed our oven, installed our new vanity and counter in the bathroom (with Kyle of course), built a headboard, coffee table, shelves.... He's good.

12. If he doesn't know how to do something, he'll figure it out. He can build IKEA stuff like nobody's business, but he can also "see things in his mind" and make them come to life. A lot of the times, he'll dream of something and then draw it so he can build it later. . . if it still looks like a good idea. But seriously he's smart. And his Dad's advice is to watch YouTube. Hahaha.

13. ROAD TRIPS with Jake are the best. Mainly because he loves to drive (and looooove the hum of his truck even more) and so most of the time, I can just lay back and relax while he does the hard work (story of our lives?) If he turns on a good audio book, he's set to drive for like, the next 10 hours. One time, we we were on probably our 12th hour of driving or something crazy and it was the middle of the night and I had switched with him and fallen asleep. Well I ended up waking up in the Lowe's parking lot and he was passed out next to me... That was a long night!

14. He loves babies almost as much as I do. Whenever we see one, he'll point it out. And whenever he gets to hold one, he snuggles and kisses that baby so much. We were holding our friends week-old baby and I SWEAR he had tears in his eyes. Later he was like, "I just can't believe that grows inside and comes out this perfect, tiny human!" Hahaha. So sensitive, so sweet.

15. He likes to remind me that we're married... you know, just in case I forgot. For example, last night I was BURNING. UP. in our bedroom so I moved to our couch in the living room which is leather so it's already cooler, plus we have the fan and janky A/C in there I can crank up. I was just planning on cooling off then going back in the room and he was like, "DON'T YOU REMEMBER I'M YOUR HUSBAND? WE'RE MARRIED. YOU CAN'T JUST LEAVE!" hahaha. He does this regularly.

16. He likes to experiment in the kitchen... Or whenever I make something and I know it NEEDS something but I don't know what, he's usually able to tell me which is nice. He'll be like, "Oh yeah, this needs paprika." Hahaha. I don't think he's actually ever said that but you get the gist. He is also really good at cooking meat over the fire... And veggies... and corn.... And anything ever.

17. He doesn't use social media WHATSOEVER. In fact, he rarely even uses his phone. So when I posted something for his birthday... and our 6 month "anniversary" he didn't even see the cheesiness. ;) And I posted a pic he doesn't like of us... and HE'LL NEVER KNOW. Hehhe

18. He always, always, always saves his last bite of food for me, especially if we're sharing something. The other night we went to get fries from this little place near Center street after the comedy show and he was like "Oh these are soooo good!" And he was about to take the last of the fries, but then dropped two little ones and he was done. He doesn't really say, "Okay that's for you," it's just something I know he's doing... It's cute. He may not even realize he's doing it but I love it!

19. Let's not forget how FREAKING CUTE HE IS!!! Oh my gosh he came home with a new haircut the other day and I was like heartEYES!!! Seriously that boy is attractive!

20. He is SMART. He works hard in school. He studies and studies and studies and when he's tired... he drinks a monster and studies some more. He's determined and focused and I love that about him! And it definitely shows off in his grades. Seriously proud of him!

21. Speaking of how smart he is... He's also incredibly humble. He would never tell you how well he did something or how he figured out how to do something new or that he just lifted a bunch more weight than usual at the gym. He's the kind of guy that will brag about other people but not about himself even though he REALLY should!

22. He LOVES his family. That boy has the biggest heart for his brothers, sisters, mom, dad, grandparents, aunt, uncles, and cousins. He has so many and somehow his heart continues to grow to encompass each of them! He may not know their birthdays or their favorite colors, but I know he thinks of them often and loves them so much. And he's a total mama's boy. ;)

23. Last but not least... A few little funny things he does that I love!... He frequently dances in the kitchen, he loves to hang up clothes (my least favorite chore!), he loves to chop wood, he's constantly whistling, the other day he said "I love when I get to make your dreams come true!" (cute) He is ALWAYS complimenting me, even when I look like a grungy mess. He loves to talk and talk and talk at night even when I'm halfway asleep. He's always up for some hard work. He loves to help people (Like our neighbor Benjamin with their new roof, and a newer Singaporean neighbor when he helped her build her kid's bunk beds!) He is thoughtful, selfless, and kind. I'm SO. GLAD. He chose me to be his wife.

bye bye, rooster.

Last night, Jake and I harvested our first chicken together...

We realized last week that one of our girls was not a girl. She was a boy. A mean boy who kept plucking the other girl's feathers right off their back. And I called Jake one night while he was at the library and the first thing I said was, "You need to come home and butcher this chicken right now." I wasn't being so serious at the time, but the more I watched him do this to the other girls, the angrier I got!!

We left for the weekend to camp and then it was Sunday night and we were bored (admittedly) and it was the perfect time to harvest that chicken. We grabbed him from the coop, and Jake said a good prayer thanking Heavenly Father for the opportunity to have the chicken, for the meat we'd get, and to pray that the chicken would go fast and clean. He said that we were grateful for the chicken's life and yes, I was tearing up even though this was a mean chicken.

Jake put his little body up against a log, chopped his head, and it took him about 30 seconds to bleed out and close his eyes. I had never seen this before, so it was kind of cool.

We de-feathered him, cleaned out all his insides, and then we decided we wanted to make chicken noodle soup. He didn't have very much meat, but the broth and the meat he did have tasted so good! we picked up some rosemary, sage, and bay leaves from Amanda and the soup was so good. It was surprisingly an easy recipe.

A cute moment from when we were doing the dishes...
We had some worms on the counter (from fishing) and Jake was sprinkling some water on them in case they were thirsty. Hahaha. It was seriously so sweet. He loves animals, and doesn't want to harm any of them for no reason (even raccoons who are sometimes the scum of the earth). I got lucky with such a tender guy (he would probably tell me to delete this because it's embarrassing).

Thanks, little rooster, for your life. We loved you even though you were a butthead.