Buying our first home

After a few months of crunching numbers, looking online, and finally viewing over 30 properties we finally found our ideal home for right now.  Our neighbors are awesome and have already included us in many of their activities.  So far we have watched fireworks, been invited to a Brazilian bbq, and received a plate of the most amazing cookies ever!  Our next door neighbors have a little five year old who is so adorable.  Every time he sees either Bryce or myself he always says "Hi, my new neighbors!"  I think we will be considered his "new neighbors" until one of us moves, but it is so cute!   

We feel truly blessed and we know that this is where the Lord needs us right now.

It's A...

BABY!!!!

We are so excited and can't wait for this little one to become a part of our family! It was the sweetest experience to see our bundle of joy today at our ultrasound. Unfortunately, the baby was a little stubborn and wouldn't cooperate. The ultrasound technician was able to see almost everything she needed to. She wanted to see the heart a little bit better, but the baby would not move. She kept shaking my belly, but this baby wouldn't budge. Finally, she gave up and we have to go back in two weeks to see if the baby will be in a better position. It was the best experience and I loved being able to share this with Bryce. He was so excited and is going to be the best daddy ever. Once they had checked all the essential organs they asked if we wanted to know the gender. We thought that when they were looking at the bum we had a pretty good guess at the gender of the baby. I almost gave in and had them tell me, but Bryce reminded me of all the grief we have already received and we are already half way. We were strong and decided that we still want to keep the gender a secret.

At the second ultrasound Bryce wasn't able to make it because he had to work so my mom came with me. The baby still wasn't in the best position, but we got to see our little one again. Finally when the doctor was almost ready to give up the baby moved and she was able to see that everything is just fine with the heart. Before we left the baby had to make sure to give us a good shot at it waving at daddy!

Celebrations

So I think I talked about this in my birthday post, but I love living so close to family. It is nice to be able to drive up for the weekend to celebrate holidays and birthdays. My family is extremely close and it seems like when we were living in Cedar we were missing out on so much.

My grandma's birthday was on the 14th of April and to celebrate we all met at the famous Maddox for dinner. There were so many of us there. It was hectic, it was crazy, and it was so much fun! We adopted Paislee for the night because she wouldn't leave Bryce alone. I guess he is getting in all the practice he can before October. While we were waiting for our dinner Brittanee pointed to my tummy and told Paislee there was a baby inside. She was convinced it was a little girl and kept talking to the baby all night. She was constantly telling everyone to be quiet because the baby was sleeping. What a doll!!!

Since grandma's birthday is only two days before our anniversary, eating at Maddox was a great reminder of our wedding luncheon. I will never forget Bryce's reaction (and some of his family member's as well) when they first pulled up to the drive-in part of Maddox. Bryce told me later, but after he dropped me off in Logan the night before he drove past Maddox just to see what it was like. I think he was a little nervous because he didn't see the other part, but it is a good thing he trusted me. The next day his sister-in-law Hillary said she was a little nervous too, until everyone noticed "The Lodge" where the luncheon was held. Afterward Hillary said that it was one of the best meals she has had and she still comments about it occasionally :) Bryce loves Maddox (especially their rolls)!

Outside the building there was a block with the lights shining at it. Bryce thought this was made just for him and decided to pose for a few the paparazzi!!!

Sunday we went to Logan again for Brittanee's patriarchal blessing. What an amazing experience and sweet spirit that was present. Before the blessing the stake patriarch had everyone present (both sets of grandparents, Bryce and I, and my parents) say something about Brittanee. Almost everyone was in tears afterward and the spirit was so strong. Brittanee is such an amazing blessing to our family and I couldn't have picked a better sister or best friend. Her blessing was amazing and just another reminder of just how special she really is.

Spoiled Rotten!!!

I am afraid this child is not even born yet and he or she is already spoiled rotten!!! Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Skyler and Aunt Brittanee are so excited for their first grandbaby and first niece or nephew. All of the excitement is starting to affect certain aspects of their lives (like their wallets :) haha). The best way for Grandma and Brittanee to express their excitement is to take it out by shopping. I don't think they have been able to go to a store without looking at the baby aisles since we made our BIG announcement.

Anyway we told my family the big news about 3 weeks before everyone else and I think my mom worked non-stop at making some Easter gifts for the baby. This is the baby's Easter three weeks later...

It was so cute, she had both outfits, both blankets and both burp rags stuffed inside this giant Easter egg.

I think Mommy is also pretty excited and can't wait to finally meet her little baby. The night before Easter I couldn't help but make the baby an Easter egg. However, one of the blessings of not knowing what the gender is, is getting two of everything :)

Egg for Baby Boy Carter and Egg for Baby Girl Carter

I think Daddy is excited too, but he was having more fun playing with the giant plastic egg :)

Anyway I think we are going to be in trouble when this child finally makes his or her big debut, but we can't help ourselves. We already love this child with all our hearts! I think we need more storage room though because Daddy is slowing losing his closet space the more "stuff" this little baby gets. So for those of you who have expressed your concern that because we aren't finding out the gender the baby won't have any clothes, I would just like to reassure you that Grandma will NOT let that happen and she is already taking care of that concern :)

Pregnancy Update: 1st Trimester

This has been such a fun and exciting new adventure already.  I would consider myself one of the "lucky" ones when it comes to morning sickness (which I'm not sure why it is called MORNING sickness, I was worse at nights for sure!!!).  I was hoping that pregnancy was a gene that you could pass on because my mom had the easiest pregnancies ever.  She only threw up once between all three pregnancies, and of course it was with me :)  Anyway, it seems like I may be like her because I have only thrown up twice (both times it was because I gagged on the GIGANTIC prenatal pill.)  I wish they would come up with a pill that was smaller considering when you are pregnant and have better gagging reflexes and feel nauseous, swallowing a horse pill is the last thing you want to do.  I guess it is just one of those things that moms do for their children.  I never realized the sacrifices start so early :)  Anyway, if you ask me I think that I was pretty lucky.  I was pretty nauseous and had to take it easy for a few weeks, but some women spend months in the bathroom, so yeah I'd say I'm pretty lucky.  Bryce on the other hand probably would disagree.  He felt so helpless for those couple of weeks when I nauseous.  Secretly I almost wish it would have lasted a little longer (ALMOST!)  Bryce was the sweetest hubby ever.  Every night he would grab some crackers and set them by my bed with some water and ask if there was anything else he could do.  What a sweetheart!!!

Actually he still spoils me and I don't feel sick anymore so I definitely am loving the second trimester!

So basically I am glad that the first trimester is over, but I also realize how lucky and blessed I was, it could have been a lot worse.  I am so excited for the 2nd trimester.  I can't wait to feel the baby move and to look pregnant (not really excited for the "Is she pregnant or just fat?" stage, but let's just hope it passes quickly!)

 4 weeks

8 weeks

12 weeks

14 weeks

The BIG News

After multiple negative test results the previous month I have to admit I wasn't very excited to take another pregnancy test. I decided to wait until after my birthday because this could either make it the best or worst birthday ever! Finally I couldn't wait any longer and decided to stop delaying the inevitable. I was home alone and I figured there was no better time. Let me just say that those were the longest three minutes of my life. I was pacing around the house with my heart beating out of my chest. I finally checked the results and couldn't have been happier. It was probably a good thing I was home alone because I just sat in the bathroom and kept squealing. I was ecstatic, but couldn't tell anyone yet. I decided that it would be best to keep it a secret until the next day (Valentines Day) and I would do something special for Bryce. That way he wouldn't expect a thing :) I swear the next 24 hours felt like an eternity. It is not very easy to keep a secret from the person you tell everything to! I almost blew it a few times, but finally Valentines Day came and Bryce was home from school. This was my time to shine. I put together a little "Bad Day Box" for Bryce with letters from family members, some of his favorite treats, uplifting and funny quotes, scripture verses to get you through a hard day, and at the top of the box was a cd that just said "I love you Bryce" on it. I told Bryce he had to wait and use his "Bad Day Box" when he was actually having a hard day at school, but we could watch the cd right now if he wanted to. Of course he didn't protest. A couple of days before I told him that we should start recording more of the things that happen in our lives so that we could look back on them with our children and laugh at some of the things we did to entertain ourselves while we were poor. This was the perfect excuse to pull the video camera out and catch his reaction on film. The cd was actually a dvd presentation of our dating experiences, major events (like graduating and moving) since we had been married, and it finished with some first we had experienced together. The end of the movie said "We have experienced a lot of firsts together and I can't wait for this next first... Becoming First Time Parents". Bryce's reaction was priceless. He was so excited!!! He wanted to start telling people right away, but we decided it would be better to wait until I was farther along. I think it almost killed him to keep it a secret for another 6 weeks but he did great!

The next people we told were my immediate family. We planned a trip up north for my sister's birthday, March 17th (10 weeks along), and decided there was no better time than that. After dinner Friday night Bryce and I told my family that we had a new game that we wanted to play, Bubble Talk. It's like Apples to Apples except you are trying to match the funniest caption with funny pictures. Since Bryce and I didn't own the game, we found funny pictures online, made it into a PowerPoint slideshow and everyone but the judge had to come up with their own captions. Once again I wanted to capture everyone's reaction so I said that we should record this game and we could show it to Skyler when he got home from his mission. Bryce and I had planned it so that the last picture was the cartoon of the ultrasound and my mom would be the judge and I would be the one reading the captions to her. The game was a blast, but I couldn't wait to get to the last picture. Finally after laughing until some of us (DAD) were crying, we reached our final picture...

I thought my family might suspect something, but they were completely fooled! Of course Bryce and I had already planned the captions we would use for this picture, but it took dad and Brittanee a bit longer to think of their captions. I can't remember exactly what they said, but I read their captions first and then combined our captions so that it read "Ready or not here I come, Baby Carter coming October 2012." My family sat there for a minute, looked at each other, looked at us, looked at each other again and then squealing and jumping began. I'm not sure who was more excited, but I am so glad I got it all on camera. Throughout the night random comments kept coming out of everyone's mouth like "I'm gonna be a grandma" or "Wow, they're having a baby." It was priceless and such a perfect night!

The next day we were on our way to Brittanee's volleyball tournament in Rigby, Idaho. I was so glad I told my family the night before because after riding in a car for 2 1/2 hours at 5:30 in the morning it was nearly impossible to hide the fact that I was pregnant and not feeling well. It was also kinda nice to be babied and taken care of by my mom!

We wanted to make sure that Bryce's family and my brother were the next to find out. I think it almost killed my family to have to keep it a secret until Easter (3 weeks away), but they did pretty good. A couple slips here and there, but nothing too detrimental. Bryce, on the other hand, was telling people left and right. He told a doctor he had dinner with, his last day with the doctor at the clinic he has been attending for months now, and one of the sealers at the temple. Like I said, this boy is so excited to be a daddy!!!

So for the next couple of weeks while people were desperately trying not to spill the beans, I was making little Easter packages for everyone. The first Easter packages to be delivered were the ones going to my brother in Texas and to Bryce's family in Cedar City. We wanted to make sure that they made it there by Easter so I sent them a week early, but the mail was way on top of it and the package to Cedar arrived the next day! When Bryce's parents got their package we skyped with them so that we could see their reaction and I could get it on camera as well. I didn't get any pictures of them, but here is the Easter Egg hunt they were sent...

When they first opened the box they found the note at the top that said

"Here is a gift from us to you,

It's an Easter egg hunt, you'll know what to do.

Although we aren't with you this Easter time,

We thought that this gift with a little rhyme.

Could help to bring some Easter fun,

Just remember to start with egg number one."

As the opened the eggs in order they found an assortment of candies. The 9th egg had a saying on the outside... "mini m&ms, cadbury eggs, and Hersey bars,

jelly beans,junior mints, sour patch kids,

runts, and a ring pop

Get the picture?"

The ultrasound was hidden inside the 9th egg.

Everyone was so excited for the big news!

Finally it was time to tell our extended family. Everyone usually gets to together at my grandma's house for Easter to color eggs, have Easter egg hunts, and a delicious Sunday dinner. Unfortunately, this year was a little different and some of my aunts and uncles weren't able to make it. Since my mom and Brittanee came to Salt Lake the Monday and Tuesday before Easter we decided to make another Easter egg hunt (like the one we sent to Skyler and Bryce's parents) and met my aunt for lunch.

Finally Easter arrived and we told my grandma that we had an adult Easter egg hunt because the adults were always left out and never got to hunt for eggs. Brittanee and I had the little kids help us hide the eggs and we were ready to go. After sending the adults on a wild goose chase to find all the eggs (under swings, in the flower garden, in a bucket, under a rock, in a tree, by the window, in a wheelbarrow and by the car) they were left with this last clue...

"Eight down, one more to go,

You sure have put on quite a show.

Find this last egg and you're done with the clue,

Boy, do we have a special delivery for you."

The last golden egg was hidden inside the mailbox. We told the little kids that since grandma always hides the golden eggs for us we were going to let her open this last egg. Once again the reaction was priceless and we were definitely not disappointed. This is going to be the first grand baby for my parents and the first great grandchild on my mom's side so everyone was having a hard time containing their excitement!

My grandpa stopped by Easter morning and we had made on big Easter egg with everything piled inside. At first he couldn't tell that it was a baby in the ultrasound, but eventually he figured it out :)

The last stop on our Easter egg journey was to Fielding to tell my dad's side of the family. Once again the Easter egg hunt never seemed to disappoint as you can see my grandma's reaction when she found the ultrasound.

We finished by calling all of Bryce's brothers and extended family on our way home from Logan. It was a perfect Easter weekend.

22nd Birthday

Let's just say I was kinda disappointed a few days before my birthday because I didn't think my birthday would be very special. Bryce had a huge test the next Monday, I had a young women fundraiser all night Friday night and he had to study all day Saturday. I know it sounds really selfish, but I was kinda bummed. Doesn't the whole world stop on my birthday?!? haha.

Anyway, my husband is the best!!! A few weeks earlier I mentioned just in small conversation that I really wanted to go and see the new movie "The Vow" sometime. I think at the first of the week Bryce could tell I was a little bummed and so all week he said he had a big birthday surprise. If you know me and you know how much I love surprises then you will understand how quickly that changed my mood. Anyway, Friday Bryce's parents came up to Salt Lake to watch Kenny play soccer. Friday night we went to eat at Olive Garden and then I had to run to the fundraiser the rest of the night.

Saturday morning I woke up to an amazing breakfast made by my honey. I forgot to mention that Saturday morning I had to go to a leadership training meeting and Bryce was trying to get to the school so he could finish early. Anyway, with all the hustle and bustle I was trying to move a glass cup and Bryce was leaning over. Next thing I know he lifts his head up, his head hits my arm, the glass goes flying through the air, hits another bowl on the table, shatters, and I look up and my father-in-law is drenched in water. It was so funny, but so embarrassing. I think if we would have had a little more time we could have stopped to laugh about it, but we were in such a rush we didn't.

Anyway, the meeting was great. When I got home I had a letter from Bryce waiting for me on the bed and a treat from one of the sisters I visit teach. (She isn't supposed to give me gifts, it is supposed to be the other way around.) Needless to say, it was actually her birthday as well and I was on my way to take some no-bakes over to her. After delivering my little gift, Lindsey and I headed to Kathy's spa for some pedicures. It was so nice to get pampered and to spend some girl time together.

When Bryce finished studied, we went out to dinner and then he surprised me and took me to see "The Vow." We don't usually watch movies at the theaters. We usually just wait until they are out on Red Box, so this was a nice little surprise.

Sunday my mom and Brittanee came down to celebrate with us. My mom said not to worry about making dinner and instead she brought dinner with her. It was delicious and this giant birthday cookie was amazing!!!

We had dinner, opened presents and hung out for a few hours before it was time for them to leave again. Have I mentioned how much I love living close to my family??? It is so nice to be able to celebrate holidays and birthdays together again.

All my awesome presents! I have wanted a giant clock with our name on it since we got married. My mom found this beauty and I love it!!! You will have to ask Brittanee about the glass sometime :)

Overall it was an amazing birthday and I realized that I am very loved and blessed!!!