Have YOU Heard?

So I have been thinking about writing this post for weeks, and to be honest, the longer that I put it off the easier that it was. I probably could have waited a WHOLE lot longer, truthfully. But, alas, after a friend kept asking, I decided I would go for it. SO......the news is, I have a new calling! I am now the nursery leader of our ward. I am actually really excited about it. I have spent a lot of time in nursery lately and I kind of miss it from when I was in the Primary (or Nursery) Presidency in our married ward. I am excited to get working on my calling!

Haha......just kidding!

That is SO not the news.

But you know how fall comes and suddenly none of your clothes fit anymore! Its like hello, what happened? I guess it is from all of that comfort food we start eating and the holidays coming up. Thank goodness that we are covered up in layers for fall and winter! But, really I am pretty sure that my clothes aren't fitting for an entirely different reason.

Yep, that's right.

I'm PREGNANT!

(I am sure many of you have already found out by other means.)

16 weeks along to be exact, and just as sick as I was at 6 weeks, bummer.

So although I have been slowly growing out of my clothes, I haven't gained any weight, well a tiny bit, less than a pound. And to be honest, I am kind of ready to not be sick anymore, I really shouldn't complain, many friends have it a lot worse than I do. But, I gotta say, although I was sicker with Gavin, it is a totally different story when I have a two year old to take care of. It is a good thing that he plays on his own fairly well. I basically only got up to get him more juice or something to eat. He has been quite patient with me actually. And whenever he finds me in the bathroom...throwing up, he always asks if I am ok. Such a sweet boy. And of course Zac has been great too, he does wonders with Gavin and is basically a solo parent when he comes home from work because I am too sick or exhausted.

We are REALLY excited to have another baby! And I am really glad that Gavin will be almost 2 1/2 when the baby arrives. He will such a great big brother and helper. He knows that there is a baby in my tummy, but he doesn't really get what that means. He still jumps on me and kicks me a lot, but I am sure that as I continue to grow that he will start to understand.

Zac is probably one of the most excited, he actually gets really angry with me that I don't want to 'announce' it sooner. Because of course he told everyone he works with like 10 weeks ago. :)

I have my reasons for not telling, probably none of them are valid to anyone but me, so we will just leave it at that. :) I am due around April 15th, AND we find out on Nov. 15th what we are having. Only two weeks to wait, and I am really excited to know if it's a boy or girl. So start your guessing!

Let October BEGIN

I love Halloween time, not quite as much as Christmas, but I think it is so much fun. I already have my decorations up and it seems like the festivities are already starting. We started off the month with General Conference which was wonderful, I felt like missionary work was discussed A LOT! If you didn't know the church just started a new media initiative in a few areas, and DENVER is one of them. As a Stake we have been strongly encouraged to create profiles on mormon.org which the church will use to create video commercials from the ones that they choose. Anyway it was interesting to write out why I have a testimony of the church and try to share it with someone who will be looking at the church from an outsiders perspective. Growing up in the West, I have assumed that everyone has at least heard of the "Mormons," and knows some of our 'weird' values. My senior year of High School I traveled to Boston, MA for Nursing Forum, and my roommate was from down South. She had no idea what a 'Mormon' was, and I kind of explained a few things to her but that was it. I probably should have used that as a better missionary opportunity but I didn't. I know a lot of light has been shed on the church because of the current Presidential Candidates as well as the new Mormon Musical on Broadway. Publicity is great, because it creates curiosity in those who do not know anything about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. On Oct. 3rd the initiative started and I see on average 4 commercials a day from mormon.org. I will be honest it makes me emotional to see these commercials and watch as each person ends the commercial smiling saying, "My name is ____, and I'm a Mormon." If you haven't created your profile do it, or at least check out others that have been posted. Just click on mormon.org.

So, I have been wanting to go to a Pumpkin Festival this year since Gavin is actually old enough to somewhat enjoy it. Most places were doing theirs on Oct. 8th, which was fine, except we woke up to snow, rain and wind with 35 degree weather that morning. Oh well, were going anyways. We decided to head over to Punkin' Chunkin with a few of our friends. Luckily the majority of the activities were inside the building at the fairgrounds, or we would have left. But the punkin' chunking was outside (You know where the launch pumpkins from a giant slingshot/trebuche). And of course the website refrained from telling us that they would only launch pumpkins at 10:30, 1:30, and 3:30. We got there at 11:30. So we had to wait around for a few hours. Some activities were free, others not so much, and all of the food stations were outside so you had to wait in the cold to get anything. Gavin enjoyed playing in a corn pit, and looking at the different stations but he definitely got a restless. He played two bean bag tossing games and made the first one in both times, he's got great aim. Finally 1:30 rolled around and we stood in the freezing cold mud to watch. It was a contest from different groups who built their own trebuche's and then the last one was a professional, that launches like 2,500 feet, it was pretty awesome except there was so much snow that we couldn't see it.

Making corn husk dolls, that were wet in a freezing tent.

A few of us tried on Gavin's pumpkin hat.

Picking his prize.

Gavin LOVES Shrek!

Last night we carved pumpkins for Family Home Evening. Gavin loved the pumpkins themselves, and would have been happy to leave them that way, although he enjoyed the end product. He did not however, like the pumpkin guts. Zac would try to get him to touch it and he said NO! And then Zac would wipe some on his hand and he would cry. And then say he needed to wash his hands. This kid HATES to get his hands dirty, seriously I have a boy, he is not supposed to care! Zac made the Jack-O-Lantern and I did the ghost. I actually really enjoyed it this year it helped that I wore gloves while cleaning out the pumpkin :).

He has a spoon in his hand, it was the only way to get his hand in at all.

Zac has work the next two Saturdays while I have a baby shower, and a Zumba class and Trunk-or-Treat. Then we will go to Boo-at-the-Zoo and do our Halloween Party on the 29th. Then trick-or-treating and Zac's trick-or-treating at work on the 31st. It is going to be a busy month but I think we will enjoy it. I hope you enjoy your October too!

As you can see he wasn't going to get messy. You can even here him say "alright" His favorite answer to any question.

August and September

Wow, I can't believe how much has happened since my last post, there have been SO many things that I had planned to post on and I just haven't had the time. We were really trying to enjoy the last of summer and get out and do things as much as possible, but it just feels like we've been busy. So here is an update of the last two months!

August:

The month began with my Zumba certification class. It was from 9am to 5pm and lets just say that I was more than exhausted when I got home. My muscles hurt for days afterwards but it was so much fun and felt great to work that hard.

On the 17th we made our trip over to Ely for Alex's homecoming, and I was so excited to see him and all of my family. I think that last time we were all together with everyone was Christmas 2008, so it was great. I had taken the car in to get serviced the day before we left, and the guy made a comment that if my car starts having trouble starting that we need a new battery, I didn't really think too much of it, and I forgot to tell Zac. So of course, we stop for lunch and when we get back in the car to leave, it won't start. Ooops! So I told Zac we needed a new battery, luckily we were just across the parking lot from an auto parts store. But it was like 95 degrees outside and it took a while for Zac to get the battery out and changed, but that was our only problem of the trip, we just lost an hour of time. I taught my first Zumba class for a few people while we were in Ely, and it was a lot of fun, not perfect but I hope everyone enjoyed it. We also had a picnic and took the kids to McGill Pool one day. And then Saturday everyone was finally there including grandparents. We were able to take some family pictures down at the train station and I think the boys enjoyed seeing the trains. Alex gave a great talk on Sunday and I am so proud of him. He served a great mission, and I can tell that he had grown up so much. It sounds like he is adjusting to real life now that he is back at BYU and engaged to his girlfriend that waited the 2 years.

After we made it home, Zac and I celebrated our 3rd Anniversary and went out to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. It was Zac's first time but I think he really enjoyed the experience and great food.

September:

In September we were able to go to our Stake Fair and enjoy lots of food and games. It is always so fun to go and I love that our stake puts it on each year. Gavin's favorite part was definitely the watermelon.

The next weekend I helped out with a Baby Shower for a friend. I think that it turned out great, but there was definitely a lot of hardwork that went in to it. But Mary Lynn and Dane truly deserve it.

Then we left for our cruise to Catalina Island and Ensenada, Mexico. We took a Carnival with my sister Melanie and her husband, and we even brought the kids. So we had 4 adults and 4 kids, but we had a lot fun, and Gavin really enjoyed the time with his cousins. He remembers their names and loves to say who they are each time he sees their picture.

On Catalina Island we spent some time on the beach playing in the sand and the cold water. Then we took a glass bottom boat and saw some different fish and a lot of kelp forest, but it was really fun.

Waiting to get tickets for the glass bottom boat on the Island.

Nick and Bryton with Aaryn in the back.

Figuring out the beach.

I think he enjoyed the sand, not so much the water.

Gavin loves cousin Jayden!

Melanie and Jayden at the formal dinner.

Gavin is learning to actually smile for the camera!

Our family.

Totally Zac.

The elephant. :)

The next day we went over to Ensenada to spend the day. We went out in the morning and found a shuttle to take us over to La Bufadora (the Blow Hole). There are a ton of vendors trying to sell things to you as you walk down to the blow hole, and after a while I just tried to avoid them, but they get you from both sides. I kind of hated it and we didn't even buy anything but vanilla to bring home. I just never know what to get that I would actually want to display or use but it was fun. The tide wasn't very high so the water didn't spray up too much, but the kids loved it and Jayden loved how it made a rainbow each time.

He hates strollers but for some reason he loved this one and wanted to sit in it all the time.

The view at the Blow Hole.

This one is a monkey they hang from the TV.

The last one was a frog, it is harder to tell, but Zac kept trying to get Gavin to hug it.

Our last day was at sea and it was nice to just relax and enjoy our time on the boat. We had lots of food, and loved just being on vacation. We saw a few shows, and Zac and I even participated in Family Feud, which our team won. It was so nice to be able to enjoy it with some family. Thank You Pay Family for making the trip with us, it was great!

Gavin making his build-a-bear on the boat.

Waiting to debark, we didn't plau anything, the kids just seemed happy to pretend. :)

Getting off the boat waiting to go through customs.

Gavin loves his doggie that he made.

I am definitely ready for fall here in Denver, but the weather isn't quite there yet. I can't believe it is already Conference time. I am excited for a weekend at home, and for all of the upcoming holidays. It is sure to be a busy next few months, but we hope to make the best of it!

Harry Potter 7 Part 2

Well, we made it to see the movie the Saturday after it came out. We left Gavin with a babysitter, for only the 2nd time. (well, family has watched him a few times but that's it.) And at first Zac said he was going to stay home and watch Gavin and I could go with our friends. He really doesn't like the idea of the added cost to date nights when you add a sitter. Which is the reason why we NEVER go on dates. Anyway, I got him to come and it was SO fun! I made simple ties for everyone that were yellow and red for Gryffindor colors. And then we played trivia while we waited for the movie and then enjoyed the last of the Harry Potter series. I finished the book a few days before and it probably wasn't a great idea, because I was a little frustrated everytime they changed something. But I really was very happy with movie, and happy that I was able to enjoy it with Zac. It ended up being a busy day so by the time we got home at 10pm we were definitely exhausted. I am grateful to our friends who made it possible for us all to see the movie together. There were 8 of us altogether and we wished Alana could have been there, but movies with friends are great!

Here we are waiting to go in the theater. Alexandria went really early to make sure we were able to get seats together. We were one of the first inside the theater so we were dead center it was GREAT!

Zac and I waiting for the movie. The seats were nice, but definitely not for short people. If I was any shorter I wouldn't have been able to see over the seat in front of me.

For a quick update on Gavin. He is really enjoying the summer, mostly because of swimming. We recently bought him a life jacket so that he could be a little more independent in the pool. The first time he hated it, and now he LOVES it. He swims/bobs all over the pool and loves the freedom. He does go face down everyone once in a while but overall he's happy. I have been giving him a little more freedom to see what he can do, but I am never more than 10 feet away. He is also saying so many words and a few phrases now which is really fun. He loves to say Awesome!, Oh No!, Uh-Oh, Grandma, a mess, and a lot of others. He also tells us most of the time when he needs a diaper change now. Hopefully that means that potty-training isn't too far off, although I am dreading it.

AND, my brother comes home from his mission on August 17th and I can't wait to see him!