Another wedding!

JD's younger sister, Tiffanie, is getting married today (his brother, Tyler, tied the knot earlier this year). Last night, we got together with his family and the wedding party to practice walking down the aisle. We were also treated to a nice dinner by Tiff's soon-to-be in-laws; they own a catering business- yum!  Today, we'll be taking pictures, attending the ceremony, and partying it up at her reception. . . here's to hoping all these wedding festivities will send me into labor this week! 

Handsome husband + really pregnant wife

Tyler

Trever + fairly recent new girlfriend

Tyler + Mikella

Expectant momma + (almost more expectant) grandpa-to-be

Baby Shower

The Skousens and a few of my friends planned a baby shower for me a few weeks ago. Cory made all of the adorable decorations; Abby and Julie sent out the invitations, prepared the food, and planned the games; Melissa hosted the get-together in her home; Jada, Stefanie and Abby brought extra treats (Am I forgetting anyone? Sorry if I left someone out!) A lot of neighbors and friends came to support and love me. I felt overwhelmed by their willingness to share and give. There were a lot of women there from my ward (or local church congregation) who barely know me, but know Melissa and Julie, and were willing to reach out to me in fellowship and love.  Their presence at my shower was a sweet example to me of how we can serve each other, even in small and simple ways. 

Abby and Julie Skousen

Mari and Jada, my closest friends from Spanish Fork

Cory, my roommate sophomore year at BYU

The whole gang.

I can't say thank you enough to all the people who have sent gifts and clothes and toys our way in preparation for the baby. We are grateful and excited! 

Also, Abby took a few pictures on her camera I still need to get from this shower. I was so glad to see and visit with my friend Holli from Texas and all my old roommates who are still in Utah. Love my girls!

Ten Days.

Happy October! Our first little pumpkin is due to arrive in ten days. Ten days! By golly, I can count that many days down on my fingers. However, I have a sneaking suspicion she's going to hold out a little longer. In any case, we are ready for her! Every night we fall asleep thinking about and praying for and dreaming of our first sweet baby. Gah, we are just giddy with excitement!

Over the weekend, we recruited Mikella and Ty as photographers for a pre-baby shoot. These photos were taken in Farmington, UT on Sunday evening with me at 38.5 weeks pregnant.

Handmade with love.

A few friends and family members have requested an online tour of baby girls' room. So without further ado, here is our little orange, teal, and yellow wonderland! Almost every detail and project in her room was handmade or re-purposed with love, by her daddy or me.

A little break.

JD and I were both busy bees last night. He was studying for his first big Organic Chemistry test of the semester and I was getting things done off my creative checklist (. . . festive fall hand towels for the shop, birthday gift for my little sister, and a custom Halloween canvas for my aunt). We worked and studied side by side for a few hours and then decided to take a little break and indulge in some root beer floats. Yum! 

Ps. I would be lying if I said that was the only break we took. We also stopped every half hour or so to talk about baby names, look at our planners and try to guess when our girl is going to make her debut,  watch her move around in my belly, and daydream about what it is going to be like when she's here. It's  hard to think about much else when you're so close to becoming parents!

RT Retreat.

This post is a little late, but I recently got these pictures back from a friend at work and had to share. When I was 30 weeks pregnant, the recreation therapy (RT) department at work had a little retreat. We floated the Provo River, zip-lined through Provo Canyon, and ate dinner together at one of my favorite places, Brick Oven. I loved every minute of spending time with these folks in such a gorgeous setting (And don't you worry. . . I wore a full-body harness while zip-linging to alleviate the pressure on my belly. There was minimal to no risk for me or baby!) 

Half the department is pregnant!

All of us together.

Ready for adventure!

On the zip-line. What a rush!

Love that glorious sunshine.

In case you didn't know, I work full-time as a recreational therapist at an adolescent residential treatment center. I love what I do and, as you can imagine, I'm a pretty big believer in the healing power of wholesome recreation and leisure.  I feel so lucky and grateful that my smooth, healthy pregnancy has allowed me to continue doing all the active things I'm used to and love doing. I had no hesitations being involved in this retreat or any of the other adventure outings we provided for the residents at work this summer. At 23 weeks pregnant, I spent the night in Moab with a group of boys and took them hiking and river rafting (those rapids were a joke!) At 31 weeks, we went canoeing. And most recently, at 35 weeks, I camped overnight and hiked with the boys to a landing up Big Cottonwood Canyon to supervise outdoor rock climbing. Gosh, I just love seeing teenagers experience new and rewarding things and can't imagine a job quite as rewarding as the one I've got :)

Family memories.

We are pretty lucky to live within a few hours of most of JD's family. We get to see them regularly and I'm glad that, if we have to live away from my family, we are at least close to his! His parents and littlest brother came over for most of the day yesterday and it was so nice to chat and laugh and eat with them. JD's mom and my sister-in-law, Mikella, hosted a sweet shower for me last week with his extended family; it was lovely to gather and celebrate our baby girl.  JD and Ty (and sometimes me and Mikella, too!) have been getting together recently to play tennis. . . and I guess what I've been thinking about lately is just how grateful I am to get to make all these precious memories with his family before we head out for PA school sometime in the next year. We are blessed!

Brotherly love at the three youngest boys' birthday dinner in August.

Tennis date last month.