I Love . . .

staying up late.

hearing Mike play guitar.

flip flop tan lines.

drinking Sunny D.

this face.

perusing the aisles of an office supply store.

feeling my baby toss and tumble when I first lay down at night.

fresh berries.

family home evening.

Mike.

waking up slowly.

being with family.

wearing my sweat pants all day.

trying a new recipe.

my growing belly.

listening to the rain.

checking the mail.

phone calls with friends.

paisley prints.

going to the temple with Mike.

starting a new project.

watching Annabelle play when she doesn't know that I am there.

warm baths.

camping.

visits from my Nona.

scrap booking.

pasta, bread and potatoes.

browsing my friend's blogs.

vellum paper.

watching Annabelle play outside.
hearing my nephew Eli shout "T-ya" to me on skype.

fresh ginger.

the weather right now.

hearing Annabelle squeal when she plays with Mike.

quiet time in the afternoons.

sitting in a sunny window to color.

playing Ticket to Ride.

a clean bathroom.

seeing Mike as a Dad.

finishing a project.

Happy Valentines Day!

Elated and perhaps Belated

I am so thrilled to blog about my pregnancy. I realize that most of the people that I am aware of that read my blog already know that I am pregnant, BUT for those of you who I haven't seen/talked to in the last couple of months - I'M EXPECTING! Ha ha, how is that for an announcement?

I am 20 weeks along and am feeling great (typical of the 2nd trimester). I love that this part of my pregnancy also happens to fall during a beautiful time to be in Arizona, as it is usually between 60 and 75 degrees during the day. 

I had my much anticipated ultrasound this week and was thrilled to learn that our little boy seems to be doing just fine in there. I knew he had defiantly developed his limbs as I have been receiving little jabs as a notification of his presence for about a month now.

(he is laying on his left side, so you can most easily identify his right eye, 

nose and the outline of the right side of his face)

Annabelle really seems to be understanding what is going on. She has talked about the baby for a while and is interested in looking at those in vitro photos of what the baby looks like at different ages. For months before the ultrasound she would say "It could be a boy, but I think it is a sister".  But she was a champ as the ultrasound technician told us that it was a boy. Her main responses yesterday were "I'm still happy" and "He can be the prince and then when he gets bigger he can be a monster". I'm glad she has been able to find a place in her life for a brother :)

I am so thrilled and elated to be pregnant. I feel like the last several months have just flown by and that he will be arriving just as quick. I am excited to have this little guy join our family. I love him so much already, I guess motherhood can create some pretty strong bonds. I feel like having a boy will be a new adventure and I am up for it! 

Hiking

These are some pictures I took over the last few weekends while on my morning hikes. there are two pictures of silhouettes, one is of the moon setting and the other is the sun rising. I am amazed at how green the desert can be and how much I am enjoying it. The weather here in the winter is perfect for hiking, I'm not sure what I will do once it gets too hot to hike. I guess I will just enjoy it while I can. - Mike

What Color are These Eyes?

I just can't figure it out! Some days they look more one color than another. What do you think?

Celebrating Christmas

We spent a wonderful two weeks in Colorado celebrating Christmas. Our families live very near each other which means we never have to choose between them and once one set of grandparents is worn out we can move onto the next set! I love that our families are also friends and so we can often combine activities and enjoy everyone's company at once. I know, we are spoiled. 

Annabelle really gets along well with her grandparents and has special activities that she enjoys with each one of them. With Grandma Shauna Annabelle could read from dawn until dusk. The favorite book this trip was 'Oh Ducky! A Chocolate Calamity", after reading it about a dozen times a day Grandma Shauna was nice enough to send it home with us. Anna still has it memorized. The last week we were in town Annabelle discovered the endurance that Papa Zeke has for playing house, one afternoon while everyone else took naps they played a marathon 3 hour round of house. 

Playing house with Papa Zeke, these are their quadruplets at the park

Grandma Rosalia's house has become famous for 'crafties' and helping with dinner. My mom has a lot more patience with Annabelle in the kitchen than I do, which didn't result in too many mishaps, but I do recall something about hot chocolate mix being dusted on the counter while french toast was cooking . . ;)

 

My grandma, Nona, making cute little napkin holders for Christmas

Grampster is good for playing just about any game Annabelle can come up with. He has really honed in on the skills that matter most when playing with her: Do whatever she says and never question her.

Something funny must have happened at breakfast, Annabelle says it has something to do with wanting 'gummy bears on my boots'

On New Years day we went up to the Crags with both our families and enjoyed lunch and sledding. Starting a couple of months before Christmas Annabelle talked about wanting to eat snow - so she would eat snow until someone put her on a sled, then she would giggle down the slope until the sled stopped then she would promptly start eating snow again. Too fun!

Other great moments from the trip are: Mike and the other Sherwood men going up to the TeePee in the mountains, joint family Christmas Eve dinner, random McKean wrestling matches, candy making with my Mom and Nona, Mike and his friend Than going bouldering, going to the temple with Jake Sherwood, celebrating how old my brother is getting, cutting wood for Nona's stove, feeling my new nephew kick around in Trudy and eating homemade tortellini soup at Nona's.

I'm almost embarrassed to put this, but I thought I would include a list of gifts we have received that we already can't imagine life without:

Mike: new camera, in case you hadn't noticed ALL the pictures on this post.

Tia: a GPS for driving, I use it so often that Annabelle was surprised when we arrived at our local grocery store yesterday morning without the assistance of the GPS. She said "Mommy, you didn't get lost! You got to the store without asking that lady!"

Annabelle: A tool box from Santa (aka Grandma Rosalia) that is labeled "Annabelle's Crafties" and is filled to the brim with arts and crafts supplies.

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas . . .

Christmastime is so much fun with a three year old! I can't believe how exciting these last two weeks have been with Annabelle as we have been making our Christmas preparations. We decided to get a real live Christmas tree and even though it is fairly dry these days I don't regret it. Annabelle had a great time decorating it and sits and looks at it every day. 

Last week we spent an entire day wrapping presents, not that it takes that long, BUT when Annabelle and I are doing it together we just take our time. I think her favorite part was designing individual gift tags for each present/person. It was a blast - one of the best days I have ever had as a mom. 

For the last couple of family home evening lessons we have been focusing on teaching Annabelle about Christ's birth. This week we pulled our nativity off the shelf and added each piece as we told the story. I think Annabelle is catching on to what Christmas is all about. She loves singing Christmas songs. Her favorite one this week is "Angels We Have Heard on High" because of the 'glo -o -o -o -o -o -o -o -o - o ria's. I think she listened to it 20 or 30 times on Sunday. Luckily we like that one a lot too. 

I am excited to celebrate Christ's birth and am grateful for this holiday to remind me of what a great gift His life is to me. I hope you all have a bright and wonderful Christmas enjoyed with family, friends and of course good treats!

Thankful for Thanksgiving

I can't believe I never posted about our wonderful Thanksgiving. We were lucky enough to be the get away spot for Mike's parents, his younger brother who is 19 and his older brother and his wife and son. It was wonderful to get to play, eat and relax together. The weather cooled off and that was great for getting out and seeing some of the desert that my nephew was stoked about. 

Oh and my pumpkin pies turned out (if you remember my previous post).