Tut, Tut, Looks Like Rain!

My mother-in-law and sister-in-law threw me a "Winnie the Pooh" baby shower on Saturday.

The food all had "Winnie the Pooh" tie-ins. I think the funniest one was that they called the ham "Piglet."

Sister-in-law and Mother-in-law

My roommate from college was able to come!

Beautiful quilt made by my grandma, the picture doesn't do it justice!

4 Generations! But is the 4th one also a girl???

My mom's side of the family

My dad's side of the family

My side of the family likes to take lots of pictures. PE's side of the family was also there, I promise!

Adorable Mickey Mouse quilt made by my college roommate!

Carseat from my mom, and cover from my Aunt. I feel like there should be a baby in there!!!

This baby is already quite spoiled! We received so much from family, thank you!!! 

A Growing Family...

Meet the 2 newest additions to our family!

Aren't they adorable?

They are super sweet, soft, friendly, curious, and of course adorable! Now if only they didn't poop so much...

Baby #1

We are excited to welcome Baby #1 into our family in October! We found out we were expecting exactly 4 years from the day PE proposed. In March, I went to my first doctor's appointment and I was able to see our baby for the first time. You can't tell much from the picture, but it was neat to see the little heart beating. Based on this ultrasound, my due date was set as October 16.

Baby at Week 9

In March, I also started experiencing the joys of "morning" sickness. About the time I started feeling sick I had to go to a national biological engineering conference in Indianapolis to present my research. The first time I threw up was actually in Indianapolis (fortunately it happened while I was in my hotel room and not while presenting my research). From about week 8 to week 15, I was pretty sick. PE was a saint and took good care of me. There were many days he would come home from a long day at work and find me lying on the couch, too sick to even think about dinner. So he would find or make something for dinner without any help from me. Towards the end of week 15 I started to feel a lot better. I still have some bad days, but it is more manageable now than it was during the first trimester.

PE and I decided that we would wait until people asked if I was pregnant before we told them (with the exception of a few people). My family finally guessed on Mother's Day that we were expecting. The thing that gave us away was the gigantic bruise I had on my arm from where the nurse took a blood sample for the 16 week screening tests. And Mother's Day was during week 18. It actually took 3 weeks for the bruise to disappear. We also told PE's family on Mother's Day since we didn't think it would be fair for one family to know way before the other family.

Yesterday we had our big ultrasound! It was fun to see how much development has occurred since the last ultrasound. We are going to have the gender be a surprise. I actually almost forgot to tell the ultrasound specialist that we didn't want to find out the gender. Good thing that the first thing that showed up on the ultrasound was the baby's face! The measurements from this ultrasound actually showed that I am 4 days further along, so the due date has been moved up to October 12.

Baby's Profile at Week 21

Baby's Foot at Week 21

So far, I would not consider pregnancy a "fun" experience. But we are very grateful and excited to welcome this little baby into our family in a few months!

Tulip Festival

On Friday, PE had the day off work, so we went to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point. It was nice to get out of the house and see the beautiful gardens!

General Conference

I'm a few weeks late in posting this, but I really enjoyed this session of General Conference. I especially loved the talks about family. I loved Elder Ballard's prophetic counsel that the strength of our society is a result of the strength of our families. If we really want to fix our societal problems, we need to first focus on fixing families. This year being an election year, there is of course a lot of  debate over the problems in America and who is the right president to fix them. But really, I believe that the power to "fix" our country is in the hands of mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, and children everywhere in America.

Thought for the Day

I read an article on KSL today that made me remember this talk from General Conference. I couldn't remember when it was, or who the speaker had been, but I had remembered the message. I did some searching on LDS.org and found the paragraph I had remembered.

"Yet sorrowfully, on occasion, some are willing to set aside the precious gospel truths restored by Joseph Smith because they get diverted on some historical issue or some scientific hypothesis not central to their exaltation, and in so doing they trade their spiritual birthright for a mess of pottage. They exchange the absolute certainty of the Restoration for a doubt, and in that process they fall into the trap of losing faith in the many things they do know because of a few things they do not know. There will always be some seemingly intellectual crisis looming on the horizon as long as faith is required and our minds are finite, but likewise there will always be the sure and solid doctrines of the Restoration to cling to, which will provide the rock foundation upon which our testimonies may be built."

-Elder Tad Callister, Oct. 2009 General Conference

I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints because of the truths that I know, because of the sure and solid doctrines of the Restoration. I know that God lives, and the He is my Father. I know that Jesus Christ lives and is my Savior. I know that Joseph Smith is a true prophet of God. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I know that the First Presidency and Twelve Apostles are true prophets of God. I know that true happiness comes from obeying the commandments of God. But I also recognize that I do not know or understand everything. But I can't sacrifice the great truths that I do know for doubt about something that is not central to my exaltation.


My Grandma shared this scripture years ago at the funeral of my great-grandma, and I still remember it vividly. 

"Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend."

-Mosiah 4:9

We have to believe that God comprehends more than we do. We have to believe that we can't and won't understand everything in this life. But there are things we can understand and know in this life, and the rest is where faith comes in. Heavenly Father sees the big picture, and while I can't see all of it, I can see enough to know who He is which makes me willing to place my hand in His and let Him lead me.

One in Heart and in Name?

To our 2-year old nephew, PE and I are both the same person. He calls both of us by my name. Now my name may be easier for him to say, but he can actually say PE's name. The other day, he accidentally hit me with one of his toys and his grandparents told him to tell me sorry and give me a hug. He did say he was sorry and gave me a hug, but then he also said sorry to PE and gave him a hug. It was pretty funny.

While his mom and grandparents are trying to help him identify PE with the correct name, we actually find it flattering that our nephew considers us to be one person. Even at his young age, he knows that PE and I are a packaged deal. On the rare occasion when only one of us is there, our nephew will keep looking out the door or window waiting for the other to come in.

The bible teaches us that a husband and wife should cleave unto each other and become one flesh. We feel like we must be doing something right if even our nephew can't tell us apart. :)