The Last 9 Months...

Well, It's been a year since I last updated this blog, but I am going to try REALLY hard to keep up the blog because....

 

We're having a baby!!!

 

(in TWO WEEKS!)

 

And I really want to be able to take all my pictures and thoughts from this blog and turn them into a book every year for our me and Aaron and also for baby.

 

I am already doing a pregnancy book for the baby, so I'm not going to back track and fill in everything on this blog, but I will update with a few highlights from the last 9 months.

 

We found out we were pregnant in March. This is our Easter picture. We had an awesome time just staying at home and making our own Easter dinner together.

 

 

 

We also started a garden this year! I thought it was very successful... we learned a lot of lessons, and I think next year will be even better. Note to self: plant less cucumbers!

 

 

 

We met my parents, Nate, and Ben in Branson, MO for the weekend. Dad was there for a car convention. It was pretty awesome! Here we are at a drag race.

 

 



 

Here is a picture of Dad racing in the white car!

 

 

We also went to a family reunion on Aaron's side of the family. It was nice because it was only three hours away, so that was really nice. Aaron's whole family flew in and visited us at our home for a couple days before we all drove out to Mountain Home, AR.

 

Us at the family reunion. I am almost 5 months pregnant in this picture.

 

Another 5 month picture.

 

In August, my coworkers had a baby shower for me. It was super sweet of them, and we had a blast.

 

 

Aaron and I at the shower. I am looking a lot more pregnant now! 6 months.

 

 

The cake was one of my favorite things. It matches the baby bedding that we bought. My coworkers had planned it all out so that it matched. So cute!

 

 

There was also a little sign on the cake that said "farewell" because this week was also my last week in the office. Since we were first married, we always knew I would be a stay at home mom, so the decision to quit wasn't hard. However, it was tough to decide when to quit. We really prayed about it a lot, and decided that this was the right time. I was sad to leave everyone, but I am SO excited to be a stay at home mom.

 

 

In August, we went to Martin's Cove in Wyoming for a family reunion on my side of the family! It was great to see everyone, especially since I haven't seen most of my extended family since our wedding.

 

Almost 7 months pregnant... I hiked the whole way, but Aaron insisted I ride in the golf cart on the way back. I did pretty well, but I did have my first contractions while we were walking.

 

 

Aaron has a new hobby. It's been very fun to watch him having so much fun, and I enjoy watching the rockets too.

 

 

 

 

Here we are on our second anniversary! We took a picture with our first anniversary picture (which was in China on the Great Wall of China!)

 

 

The Young Women threw me a surprise baby shower! It was the sweetest thing. I had no idea. My favorite gift from them was a quilt. On each quilt square the girls wrote a note to me, Aaron, and baby. LOVE IT!

 

 

Here was my Halloween project. We also went to a super fun Halloween party, but I didn't get any pictures...It was a murder mystery dinner, and we were given assignments of who to come dressed up as. Aaron was John Denver, and I was Betty Grable.

 

 

We've been doing a lot of relaxing lately before the baby comes.

 

I can't explain in words how much I love this guy. He's taken such good care of me while I've been pregnant. It's amazing. He's so wonderful.

 

Baby's room!

 

 

I love love love his bedding. It's so cute!

 

 

 

We are overflowing with diapers. I love it! Thank you to everyone who has bought them for us!

 

I'm really proud of these... I sewed them myself!

 

 The TV is for me... not baby...

 

 

 

We went to a fun little event in downtown Bentonville called "Toyland." It's a preview of all the big toys that are going to be sold at Christmas time.

 

 

They had a couple props from the Batman movies there too!

 

 

 

Ok here it is..9 months pregnant!

 

Aaron likes to make me laugh while he is taking my pictures. Love him!

 

 Our bags are all packed for the hospital!

 

 

And now mommy and daddy are very ready to meet you baby.. so please come soon!

 

 





Date Night!

 

One night we decided to have an extra special date night. We both really like steaks, but Aaron thought I needed to taste a high quality steak that was NOT overly cooked. I always order mine well well done.

He converted me. I will never order my steak well done again. It’s SO much better medium well! Delicious! Below are our pictures from the event…It was so much fun! I have such a sweet and awesome husband.

 

The next day we also went to the LPGA tournament that was being hosted in the neighborhood next to us. It was pretty awesome. We got to see some of the best women golfers in the entire world. It was well worth it. We weren’t allowed to take any pictures, but we did take a picture of the massive amount of stuff we got for free just for showing up! The event is hosted by Wal-Mart and P&G, so that is where most of our stuff came from. We had a great time!

-SL

Girl’s Camp

 

So I completely forgot to post about Girl’s Camp back in June!

I was called as the assistant girl’s camp leader for our ward. I was a little worried about it because it was quite a bit of work to get done before hand, but I was called the month or so before camp. Also, I was going to have to take four days off of work and I only have 12 to begin with. I knew we were going to China this year. Not to mention all the other holidays I wanted to take work off for.

LUCKILY…my boss is a member of our church and understood that it was a calling, and that it was really “vacation.” He let me make up two of those days by just working extra hours in the office. The other day I got for free because as a manager we get to take one day off a year if it is for community service. The other day I had to use a vacation day for, but I felt pretty lucky to only have to spend one vacation day on Girl’s Camp!

Here are a few pictures from our AWESOME week with the Girls.

This was my tent. I put it up completely by myself! I thought it was quite the accomplishment…

We had quite the miraculous story while we were at Girl’s Camp.

One night a really severe storm blew in. It was probably around 11PM that I woke up to terrible wind and girls yelling. We evacuated all of the girls out of their tents and up to the lodge. Once we were there I stayed with the girls while the other two leaders went down to secure the campsite and check on things. We ended up putting the girls to bed on the floor of the lodge. Eventually I fell asleep too. In the morning we awoke to a bright and sunny morning.

I didn’t find out until later that day that a member of the Priesthood (we always have to onsite at all times) had felt the impression to remove all of the girls from their tents and take them up to the lodge. It wasn’t even storming that bad when he got the impression, but he followed it anyways. Soon after we were all in the lodge, lightening struck a tree and split it down the middle. The tree fell straight onto two of the tents completely crushing everything inside. If the girls had not been in the lodge, they definitely would have been severely injured or killed. We are very grateful for the blessing of the Priesthood and for worthy Priesthood leaders who are in touch with the spirit.

Below are a few pictures of the damage. I didn’t take many because they worked to fix most of the damage before the girls left the lodge. They were worried of the shock value the damage would have, and they didn’t want to upset the girls.

Our food tent put a great big scratch across our Young Women leaders SUV.

It was such a great experience, and I left camp feeling very blessed for the opportunity I had to grow closer to the girls in our ward and to be able to experience their sweet spirit for a whole week.

-SL

Thankful for Eternal Families

First of all, let me give you fair warning...
None of these pictures are all that glamorous of us, but I felt it was really important to take pictures over the course of this week in July, so that we would remember the moments. Two months later...I am thankul that I heeded that prompting.

Aaron's Grandma Bettye Drake passed away in July. It was a really rough time for all of us, but I'm really glad I was there to experience it with Aaron. We spent a lot of time just sitting together and holding each other. I'm also really thankful that we only lived three hours away and were able to be in Mountain Home, AR within hours of his Grandma's passing.

We were also there for the funeral preparations. Aaron was asked to make a slideshow of his Grandma using her HUGE collections of photos. Massive amounts of photos from all times her life. It was so fun to look through the pictures. Aaron scanned the pictures into his computer and made a really, really impressive slideshow. It brought so many people to tears, and I think it really comforted people to celebrate her life that way. As you can see below...we made quite a mess of picturs in his Grandma's living room!




Aaron's mom and her sibblings decided that it would be fun for all the grandchildren to look through Grandma's jewelry, and pick out some of their favorites to keep. I picked out quite a few, but my favorite was a real pearl necklace from Hong Kong. Jan picked it out for her mom on one of her trips to Asia. It's beautiful, but I've never worn it. I guess I'm saving it for a special occasion.

This is the two of us after the funeral... I think we spent a fair amount of time with teary eyes before this pictures. Ok lets be honest....I spent a fair amount of time burried in Aaron's shoulder, which left both of us not quite put together and very wet. :)

Like I said... not very glamorous, but worth having to remember what we were thinking and feeling that day.

By the way, it was one of the most beautiful funerals I have ever been to. It was held at our church - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints - and was so wonderful, second only to perhaps my Aunt Marci's which was also a beautiful occasion.

Losing someone close to you is always hard, but I'm so thankful to know that families can be together forever. One of my favorite songs to sing at church is the song below, which kept running through my head that day.

I have a family here on earth

They are so good to me

I want to share my life with them through all eternity

Families can be together forever

Through Heavenly Father's Plan

I always want to be with my own family

And the Lord has shown me how I can

The Lord has shown me how I can

While I am in my early years

I"ll prepare most carefully

So I can marry In God's temple for eternity

Families can be together forever

Through Heavenly Father's Plan

I always want to be with my own family

And the Lord has shown me how i can

The Lord has shown me how I can

The Sibblings

Sibblings and Spouses

I think everyone had a really good time being together. It was really stressful for me to watch Aaron go through something like this, but like I said before, I'm so glad I was there with him. It was really overwhelming to me to be surrounded by so many people that I didn't know well and to be thrown into a devestating family situation like that so soon after being married, but I would do anything for Aaron. I love you, honey.

-SL