A Surprise Baby Shower

I was surprised today to be called down to the office and asked to hang out for a little bit. While I sat and waited, my room moms were busy prepping my classroom for a surprise baby shower. They had been planning with the kids and parents to throw this for me before the baby came. I walked into a classroom full of kids, balloons, treats, games, and presents. It really was the cutest thing I have ever seen. My students were so excited. These kids have taken such good care of me and the baby these last months. They ask about her, worry about her, rub my belly, and give her lots of love.  I was thrilled that these moms thought to include them in the the celebration. I was also extremely touched as each child brought me up a present, homemade card, story, etc. They all wanted to participate and it was very sweet. 

Although I'm super excited for baby girl to get her and to stay at home with her, I know I will miss these sweet kids. I look forward to being able to visit and introduce her to all of her friends!

Baby Showers

I have been so spoiled with showers for this little girl! My sweet sister in laws had a family shower for me. I loved the theme. Baby it's Cold Outside! Nicole did an awesome job turning everything into frozen land. The snowflakes, icicles, etc. were so awesome. Everything was beautiful and tasted amazing.

My wonderful friend Nicci threw me a book themed shower. She is a teacher and knows how much I love children's books. It was adorable!

We made mini pizzas

 Ate pink salad

 Had Cesar salad

 Enjoyed yummy french bread

 Had little shots of milk and cookies!

Fudge and Swedish Fish

 Donuts and Pie

 Amelia Bedelia place mats

 To top it all off she found this adorable Olivia outfit, doll and book for me! I can't wait to put her in this cute little dress and read to her.

I'm so grateful to all of our family and friends who have come to showers, mailed gifts, sent texts, etc. We feel so loved!

Christmas 2015

This was our first Christmas together in Utah. I have never been away from my family for the holiday, but with baby girl coming soon we decided it was best not to fly or drive to California this year.  Luckily we do have wonderful family here to spend the holidays with. Plus Mark and I both got sick and really needed the down time to just relax and enjoy our last Christmas just the two of us.

This picture sums up our break! My big belly and Mark snuggling with me. We really took advantage of our days off and tried to just relax. We know our days of relaxing and sleeping are quickly coming to an end.

 If Mark had his way we would have a pre lit tree, but I just can't give up the live tree just yet. We searched for a tall, beautiful, green tree, but couldn't find one. We found this adorable little tree though and decided it was perfect for us this year. My favorite part was that it fit in the back seat of our little Honda!

 Date Night

 Every year my family chooses an ornament that represents their year. It is a tradition that I really wanted to keep going with Mark and I. When we were dating I gave Mark the Love ornament as part of his Christmas gift. That year my ornament was the key because I bought my house. Last year we got our first Christmas ornament. This year Mark chose the Brooklyn ornament because she has been the very best thing to happen to us this year.

 I wasn't in the mood to do too many activities this year, but we both agree that going to see the lights on Temple Square is a must! No matter how many times I see the lights, I still am in aw of how beautiful the temple grounds really are.

 The last 3 years of kissing at the lights pictures!

 One night Mark drove me around so we could see some fun Christmas lights. We stayed in the car and enjoyed the Christmas music and sparkling lights.

 The last two years we missed the Pratt family Christmas party. We were very excited to make it this year! It was an ugly sweater party! Mark and I have been planning this since before Thanksgiving! We found these amazing blazers and decorated them ourselves. We had a blast putting them together and enjoyed showing off our hard work.

 My mother in law realized that their fireplace looked a little sad with just the Mom and Dad stockings. She found these cute little initial stockings for all the grandchildren. I love that she already had one up for Brooklyn!

 Christmas Morning!!!

 I was very anxious to open presents! In my family we do all our gifts on Christmas Eve and then Santa Christmas morning. It was very hard for me to wait. I actually forced Mark to open one present on Christmas Eve because I couldn't wait any longer. This is the belly and I waiting and waiting for Mark to wake up so we could open our presents.

 Brooklyn is already an amazing shopper and picked out this beautiful necklace with her birthstone on it for me. Thank goodness she didn't come early and will really be a January birthday!

 Mark's birthday is New Year's Eve! He had to work so I picked him up for lunch so we could celebrate early. We had a nice dinner later with family and played games until Midnight!

We decided to go small on birthday gifts this year so I had this cookie shop make these AWESOME RUSH cookies for Mark. He was so excited and doesn't want to eat them because they look so cool. He was for sure surprised!

 A couple months ago, Mark got his real birthday gift...a new snake. Macky joined the family!

We really had a great Christmas and loved spending so much time together. We are VERY excited for next Christmas when baby girl is with us to celebrate.

Thanksgiving 2015

We were so lucky to have my parents come out for a couple of days over Thanksgiving break. I always am grateful that they will make the drive to visit us when we can't come to them. It was extra nice to have help around the house and they spoiled us as always!

Mark and I tried to have a bunch of the nursery done, but of course we needed the help of Dad to hang things as well.

These two did lots of hard work so that I didn't have to!

Grandma and I shopped and did other small projects.

 Thanksgiving photos! We had a great time with the Urrys! Mark's parents are always awesome hosts and we were especially grateful they didn't mind adding my parents to the guest list.

 My mom has been working hard on making sure baby girl has a wonderful library. We realized she has over 100 books and was in need of a bookcase! She bought the bookcase and the boys set it up!

Overall it was a nice couple of days away from work and spent with family. We did eat, shop, and watch movies a lot too.

October & November

We have been busy this October and November! I'm a little shocked that in a few days it is already Thanksgiving. Some days I'm a little worried about how fast the time is going because that means we are getting closer and closer to our baby girl getting here. I've spent most days staying late at work doing sub plans and then coming home to work on baby projects.  Luckily Mark helps me a ton with everything and doesn't complain when there is no dinner on the table. The poor guy hasn't gotten very many real meals in the last 31 weeks! 

Mark and his brother got elk tags this year. Unfortunately they were for my birthday weekend. When I told my mom, she decided to give me an early present and buy me a ticket to California for the weekend. I was so grateful to be able to go home and see my family and be able to stay busy while Mark was gone. We shopped, played, had a baby shower, and celebrated my birthday. To say baby girl and I were spoiled is an understatement. 

Yummy Mexican food to celebrate!

I love my sweet family! Glad the whole gang could come to dinner!

Cami and Allison threw an awesome shower. I was so lucky to spend the morning with everyone! Here we are trying to suck apple juice from a bottle.

26 weeks 

My shoes don't fit anymore, but luckily my feet aren't super sore.

My hips hurt at night so I'm getting less sleep.

I started to waddle a little bit... 

Halloween! Mark and I had a blast carving pumpkins this year. We decided everyone in the family needed one this year. 

I decided to be Cat in the Hat this year at school. It was comfy and I already had most of the costume!

30 Weeks

I'm using the bathroom a LOT more.

Still not much of an appetite.

I'm thirsty all the time! Slurpees are my favorite!

Mark decided that Lorenzo really needed a friend and that baby girl wasn't going to work. He surprised me with a new snake one day. It was more of a happy for him and not so happy for me thing, but Macky is part of our family now and settling right in.

I went to the doctor on Friday and baby girl is doing great! She is 31 weeks and has a strong heartbeat. I love going to the doctor and I'm actually excited I'm going to start going every 2 weeks. I just can't believe we are getting so close. Hopefully this week we can tour the hospital and continue working on the nursery. My parents are coming tomorrow and we are excited to have them and Mark's family to spend the holidays with.

Time Flies

I can't believe that it is already October! I'm not sure where August and September went, but I'm happy to be having some cooler days and loving Fall in Utah. Here is a peek at what we were busy with the last couple of months.

We were super excited to welcome baby Micah in our family! He is one cute nephew!

We went for a quick hike up to Cecret lake a few weekends ago. It was a gorgeous day and the fall colors were out. I've loved having nice fall weather. 

Our favorite fall tradition is going to the pumpkin patch. We squeezed it in between conference sessions and rain storms. We found the perfect pumpkins and can't wait to start carving!

 

In August my Grandma Hoppes passed away. We knew her health wasn't great, but it was unexpected that she went when she did. She had lived a good life she said and was ready to be done. I was glad that the last time I spoke to her I was able to tell her we were having a baby girl. She was so excited for us. I know we have an extra angel looking out for us now. I'm very grateful that Mark and I were able to make it home to be with the family for the weekend.

Baby Girl

Long before we knew we were pregnant I think Mark and I both realized we would be having a girl. I'm not 100% sure how we came to that conclusion, but whenever we talked about our future baby it was always a sweet little girl. Once I became pregnant that feeling didn't change. It was interesting to sit in and have appointments about the gender of the baby because we already knew. There was no surprise. Our doctor at 16 weeks said he would try and check. He couldn't get a clear view because our baby is VERY modest. He said if he had to take a guess based on what he saw, it would be a girl.  At 18 weeks Mark's cousin was kind enough to have us come and take a look at her work.  Before we went we stopped by Target and found some girly things to take pictures with.  Once at the appointment we could tell pretty clearly we were having a girl. Once again, she is VERY modest. Little one loves to have her legs crossed and it is the cutest thing ever. I could have just watched her move around all night.  We were both happy to have a confirmation that it was in fact a girl and not just what we think. We do have another appointment next week to do the big gender reveal. It will be very shocking if we suddenly find out it's a boy. Ha Ha! 

 I love this picture because its just of her little crossed ankles!

After our appointment Mark and I went to get a little treat to celebrate.  We were sitting eating and I randomly said I'm a mommy. It hit me like never before. I had a baby girl in my belly. I was really going to be a mommy to that sweet little girl. I got a little teary eyed as Mark giggled over the fact that I was just now realizing this. It's a wonderful feeling to know that I'm going to have something I've wanted my whole life. I can't wait for this little one to get here so Mark and I can love her more and more.