15 weeks down too many to go

I am so grateful to be having a baby but I am not enjoying being pregnant at all. I have a book about expecting and it goes through the pregnancy. Every negative syptom one could possibly get while pregnant I have. The first trimester is over so I am just hoping I am one of those who starts to feel better soon and not one of the ones who is sick the whole time. Lucky my worst days seem to be on saturday and sundays. Its like my body knows I don't have to work so it can just all hit me really hard. I know it will be worth it in the end, I just hope the next six months fly by.

Last weekend I drove down to College Station Tx in a 15 passenger van with 13 of my instructors for fitness weekend. I was really nervous about riding in a big van for 8 hours with the way my stomach as been lately but luckily nothing hit me until we had reached the hotel with a nice bathroom. It was fun weekend and I finally have been able to work out lately so it was fun to do a few classes. I really do have the best job ever! 4 more weeks and we get to find out if it is a boy or girl!!

Our Little Miracle Story

Gabe and I are excited to annouce that we will be adding to our family in August. We are very excited to be pregnant. It is such a great blessing and an answer to so many prayers. Even though there have been many struggles on the road to this pregnancy, I am so grateful for our blessings and I think the Lord as really prepared us to be parents. I thought I would write out the quick story so I don't forget how blessed I really am.

We decided a little over 2 years ago that we wanted to start our family and about 2 years ago I was diagnosed with PCOS so we knew it would be a little difficult. We tried on our own for a while and then were referred to our Fertility Specialist. Things looked promising so we again decided to just try on our own. After the year mark we decided to start looking into the fertility treatments. There were a lot of tests that needed to be done and they all had to be done around my cycle which was so irregular that it was very hard to coordinate them. Also money became an issue. Our insurance only covered diagnoses so everything else we had to pay for. It always seemed like we would save up the money for a test or something, and then something else would happen that we would have to put that money towards. It was really frustrating for a while, and it seemed like everyone I knew was having babies.

I am so grateful for my family and friends who helped me so much through all these trials and for all the prayers that were offered in our behalf. We have so many great people in our lives that gave us so much support and help. In November we finally had finished all the necessary pretests and visits and were ready to start the fertility drugs. We also decided to do insemination to increase our chances of conceiving. On Dec 6Th we had the procedure and everything went well. And then we had to wait 2 weeks to find out if it worked. Only about 1 in 3 who do it have it work the first time. So I was prepared and pretty sure that we would have to try again and that it more than likely wouldn't work. Gabe was so sure that it worked the whole ...what an optimist. I guess I was just preparing myself for the negative so that it wouldn't hurt so bad if it didn't happen.

On the 20Th of December we went in for the blood test. I didn't take any pregnancy test before; I didn't want to get a negative and then still have to go into the doctors. I thought we would find out pretty quickly but they sent us on our way and told us they would call us by lunch. We both went to work and I definitely didn't get any work done. I didn't want to miss the call. At 12:30 I called Gabe and told him it was almost past lunch time and so he called over to the office. He called me while the nurse went to get the results and we were all on the line. I think that is when it all hit. I started crying mostly out of fear that I would have to go through this all over again. When the nurse came back to the phone all she said was positive and I was crying and Gabe thanked her and I couldn't even say anything. Gabe came later that day to my work and by then I think the tears had dried out. There was a chance for twins (which Gabe was hoping for; he is wasn't thinking of all the work just the fun factor; I was a little more realistic that one would be best for us). We found out at week 7 that there was just one heart beat. Thank goodness!

We truly feel like this child is answer to so many prayers. I am so thankful for a Heavenly Father who listens to my prayers and the prayers of others. We had our last visit with our fertility doctor today and she said everything looks great. We got to see the little "it" moving around and everything. They said I could graduate from their office and now I will see a regular OB. We are excited for the months to come to see our baby grow!!
Once the baby looks more like a baby instead of an alien I will put up some of the ultrasound pictures!

Christmas Time!

Last year we didn't get a tree or even put up any christmas decorations because I went out to Utah the whole time. But this year Gabe will be here the whole time and I am only going to leave over new years so we will get to spend Christmas at home. Gabe has to work a lot but oh well, I will enjoy my time off with a lot of sleeping in and christmas movies!! We got our tree last night and got it all decorate. We went with a lot smaller tree this time, last time we got a tree that filled up the whole corner. But now we have room to put this little elelctric fireplace next to the tree and I even hung our stockings above it!! My goal is to now get the house cleaned this weekend so then I can really just sit, relax and enjoy the tree.

Weekend Get Away

Gabe and I flew down to South Padre Island early Friday morning. We got in around noon and it was freezing. You would thing because we were going to the southern tip of Texas almost into Mexico it would be warm, but no. A friend of ours has a sister who owns a condo down on the island and let us stay in it for free. Another reason for the trip was because the Texas Tech Basketball team and the BYU basketball team were playing in a tournament down there and Gabe also had another connection and scored us tickets to the whole tournament. The Condo we stayed in was awesome and right on the beach and right across the street from the games. I am definitely a beach girl and would love to live by the ocean one day.

Tech lost their first game by 20 points.. not good, But the Cougars won in double overtime which was very exciting on a buzzer shot. On Saturday Tech lost again by two we shot a 3 at the buzzer but lost. BYU beat St. Mary's in the championship game and it was really close again. Gabe and I were in the front row right behind the players and our family saw us on TV. My cute little niece told me I was in trouble for biting my nails.. it was an intense game. There were so many BYU fans there which made it really fun. I was sad for Tech but I will always be a Cougar fan so I was way excited they won.

There were so many jelly fish all over the beach. The first one we saw we weren't sure what it was, so Gabe popped it. Then we saw tons of them everywhere you walked. Pretty gross looking.

This was the end of the Island. We drove until the road ended I was scared driving because in parts half of the road was covered in sand we would have to drive on the wrong side. But plenty of cars were headed that way so Gabe swore we would be okay. The sand was awesome down there not so trashy and there were shells everywhere. I loved just walking down the beach with my best friend. I can picture us old and retired one day living by the beach and talking walks in the morning along the shore. That would be awesome!! We had such a great trip. I got to enjoy time with Gabe and on the beach and Gabe got to watch basketball so I think it was the perfect mini vacation! Next time we just need to go back when it is warmer so I can get a tan :)

Yeah Cougars!!!!! Way to win!

Thanksgiving

Gabe and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving Break!! Our plans for Thanksgiving Day were uncertain for awhile. We were going to stay here and have it with friends, then we were going to go to Dallas to be with Gabe's Family. On Wednesday it was decided that we were just going to stay here. Well I had a turkey but nothing else and I really didn't feel like getting up early to start cooking and it was just going to be Gabe, Casi, Jonathan and I. So instead we slept in on Thursday, Gabe went and played football we got dressed and the four of us went out to a Japanese Steakhouse for an early dinner! The food was great and I didn't have to worry about preparation or clean up. It was really fun, who needs turkey to celebrate what you are thankful for, I had Teriyaki Chicken and it was delicious! Afterwards we went and saw Tangled and it was great! It reminded me of going with my family to Disney movies on holidays and how I still wish I was a princess :)

Thriller Night!!

This week we had our annual Thriller week at the rec center. My instructors taught the entire Thriller Dance 3 nights during our group exercise classes. On the last night we encouraged them to dress up and we decorate the room and give out prizes. It is always one of my favorite nights, even though my instructors and I are typically the only ones dressed up. This year we had over 200 people participate in the 3 days. It really was a lot of fun and any excuse to dress up in a fun costume I will take it. I loved the weird looks I got as I was driving home last night stopped at all the different lights. Here are some fun photos from the event. Because not many people dressed up, Abby my student supervisor and I even made it into the campus paper on the Front page I might add! I hope I don't get bombarded with people asking me for my autograph today. I have a tough job but someones got to do it! Also I would like to thank my sister Lindsay for providing me with this dress. It worked great for my whole Zombie Princess look. Who says you can't wear bridesmaid dresses again, and I didn't even have to shorten it!

What I do when Gabe goes out of Town

So Gabe was gone this past weekend. So I had a lot of time by myself. I decided to go to my favorite place on Friday that Gabe doesn't like to go with me...Hobby Lobby. I know Ive said it before but I love that store, if I had money my house would be overly decorated with everything in there. I have been wanting to make some more hair accessories this time out of fabric. So I found some cute fabrics and got a few cute embellishments. I made 2 headbands and 3 bows. We recently got netflixs so I think I stayed up until 2am making my creations and watching cheesy romantic comedies. Saturday I got the whole house cleaned mopped and everything. Don't worry Gabe I saved the game/Laundry room for you to clean. And then I saw a great movie with a friend. Life as We know it. It was so cute and I recommend it for others who need a girls night out or can convince their spouses to go see it. Gabe definitely wasn't heart broken that I saw it with out him!

I also kind of want to start sewing, I have always said Never that sewing wasn't for me, but I have gotten into Project Runway this season and I kind of want to see if I can create something.. So I might need to borrow a sewing machine soon and see if I can tackle something easy.

Well here a few photos of my cute bows and flowers! Gabe thinks I'm crazy because my whole dresser is covered in these now.