Happy Birthday, Sister!!!

Happy 21st Birthday, Manders!!!! We love you so much!!!

25 Things We Love About Mand:

She can play the violin like a fiddle.
She is very good at wrapping entire faces to make sure they are safe.
She is so funny.
She always makes sure people are not alone, even when it is small or dumb stuff.
She is just like a little sister to Bryan.
She makes Bear howl at her violin on purpose.
She unlocked the door for me when I would come home WAY past curfew.
She stayed awake for hours and hours with me while we took turns standing on each others knees, having lotion fights, giggling until Dad came downstairs, and much more.
She is the peacemaker of our family.
She has beautiful red hair - - that shade that every stranger on the street wants to have.
She never wondered why her when she broke her back.
She has the quickest witt in the entire world.
She'll go rollerblading with me any time I call her.
She has an extreme hippy sense of fashion.
She loves the same cartoons as me.
She loves Disneyland as much as I do.
She invents catch phrases like, "real sad," "real happy," "real darling," that I always end up using because they're funny.
She pats Mom's legs and rubs her back like she's in a Rest Home when she says crazy things.
She has awesome FaceBooking skills.
She plays tricks on Dad with me like faking like we're going to pop her back.
She can carry a hypothetical story on and on and on and on with me like 2YTOMP. She has high standards that she will NEVER budge on.
I can read her like a book because she makes such distinct faces of disgust, happiness, smirkiness, and all other emotions.
She has such a happy tone of voice.
She loves to study at the ELC and hates the library.

Happy Birthday, Mandy! Thank you for being such a perfect sister and best friend! I love you so much and I hope you have the best birthday ever!

Flashback

Thanksgiving Parade 2007. Thank you, mom, for allowing us the pure pleasure of walking down Main Street wearing these beauties!!

The Big 2-4!

I had a spectactular birthday thanks to this cute FACE: (Who could resist?)

I signed on to our infoCenter at work and was greeted with a happy message!

And these darling decorations, flowers, and cupcakes! Thanks, Brooke, Crystal, and Steph!

Mid-morning I got a phone call from "Husband," who said, "Do you think you should go out to your car?" I did and found some beautiful art work all over the Red Dragon! Each window was decorated with "I Love Yous," and "Happy Birthdays!" And. . .

a seat full of a love card and my first present of the day! And then, that cute face above appeared out of nowhere and gave me some birthday lovin'!!

And then I dined with my absolutely adorable, sweet, hilarious sister for lunch! Thank you, Mand! Love you lots!

After work, I hung out with these fine folks! Love you , Mom and Dad! Nice work with the camera, mom. (This is our fourth try with mom holding the camera.)

And then, Bryan was off of work and I came home to find the house decorated and. . .

A huge satchel of presents and some flowers! (And that cute face again!)

Thank you for the car surprise, the flowers, the decorated house, and all of my new, cute clothes, Bryan! You are absolutely perfect!

Bryan treated me to dinner at the good ol' PF! [Note: This is where we had our first day exactly three years ago on my birthday.]

And, thank you, Steph, for blessing us with this plate of heavenly warm cookie delight!

The next day, my other co-workers got me an ice cream cake to celebrate!

I also received some more moo la (my fave) from Bryan's parents the next day!! Thank you, Allen parents!

Best the last of all the game: Bryan also bought me a cake on my birthday (strawberry cheesecake - - mmmmmmm)! I'm glad I was alive for this picture full of smoke because we almost lit the house (and ourselves) on fire.

Since Blogger won't upload my video, I'll just have to paint you all a picture. Bryan bought sparkler candles for my cake, and they were lit just fine until. . .they started exploding all over everything (i.e. the table, my shirt, my hair), and blowing on them just made them spark more! Some of my favorite lines from the "Exploding Cake Video:"

"My cake is sparklering!"

"Hold your hair back so you don't light up!"

Who knew that sparkler candles are to be extinguished by water only? Guess we'll read the box first next time.

Thank you to everyone who sent cards, gifts, texts, e-mails, or called! It's so nice to have so many wonderful friends and family! Thank you, Bryan, for making every holiday/birthday/anniversary so special and something to remember! I love you so much!

Half Way

Yep, I am 21 weeks pregnant! Wow! Time flies when you're having fun!!! Enjoy the pics!

11 Weeks

15 Weeks

20 Weeks

Thankful

"Count your many blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done."

• The insurance claim on my little accident has closed. Our check from the other insurance company arrived in the mail last weekend.
• The doctor called us about our ultrasound last week. Everything is perfectly perfect and our little baby girl is our favorite thing in the world!
• We got our first of a million doctor/lab bill. $22.07. Boo ya.
• Bryan worked his guts out (again) this month and has made the most in commission since we moved to Utah!
• Bryan's parents are buying the rocker/recliner of our choice.
• My parents are buying the crib of our choice.
• Bryan started his last semester of undergrad!
• We went to the temple and did sealings for our anniversary month and it was wonderful.
• We're having a baby!!

Okay, so it might not be Thanksgiving yet, but we sure do have a lot to be thankful for lately!

The Results Are In!

Las night was our long awaited ultrasound appointment to check our little bean and maybe try and see his/her parts. The technician was AWESOME and let us play and look around for about an hour and a half! And the result is. . .well, see if these pictures help:

That's right, we're having A GIRL!!! We are both thrilled and can't wait to meet our sweet little daughter! Although we did see "the parts," I bet she wouldn't like it if I posted them so I'll post a couple of our favorites instead!

Tiny Hand

Tiny Feeties

Our Dr. actually told us that he was pretty sure it was a girl back when he did an ultrasound after the accident, so Bryan bought the cute Nike outfit above the next weekend. Shortly after we told my parents about our girl, she gave us the darling pink blankie and matching burp cloth with handmade borders! Thanks, mom! We love it! And finally, thank you, Shennie, Granny, and Mindy for the cutie Cabbage Patch doll with the wonderful story behind it!

We're so excited to welcome our sweetie, angel daughter into our family! Yay for girls!!!

Happy Two Years!

'Twas the night before our anniversary trip, when all through the house, I was having the worst day of my life.

When what to my wondering eyes should appear (after a quick trip out for a minute), a dozen pink roses, some peanut butter M&Ms (my fave), and a darling note! "These always look better when you have a bad day. Love you!"

Bryan's brothers and he were at Kimmy & Nick's wedding luncheon and their plates were decorated with great care in hopes that their food would soon be there. (Yes, they used the flowers tied in the napkins and decorated their fancy plates in the manner displayed below. You gotta love it!)

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, I sprang from our hotel room in Logan to see what was the matter. (It was just rain.) We took this beautiful picture of the Logan temple in the rain.

The next day, Bryan spoke not a word, but went straight to his work. And filled my head with surprises and we were off with a jerk! More rapid than eagles in our car we flew. . .to Park City!

To the top of the mountain! To the top of the wall! Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all! We made a trip up to the top of the mountain! Bryan was a little nervous about the chair lifts at some parts.

We had a lot of fun and it was nice to be the only ones at the top of the huge mountain!

Next, Bryan sprang to the car, to his team gave a whistle, and away we flew like the down of a thistle. . .to the Candlewood Suites!

Of course, I had to bring the darling roses on our trip with us.

And mamma in her 'kerchief, and Bryan in his cap, had just settled down for a long winter's nap when we discovered that our bed was pillowtop memory foam and the most comfy bed we'd ever laid our heads on!!!

With a little old (he will be 25 this year) driver, so lively and quick, we were off to our next stop, Raging Waters!!

He was dressed in his suit all ready to roar! And I laughed when I saw him [speeding down the scary slide] in spite of myself! (Sorry that the video is sideways. I couldn't fix it.)

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on The Roof. . .US! We spent one night at the romantic restaurant on temple square. Our table even had a cute little sign that said, "Happy Anniversary," on it!

This is what we were looking at. Bryan took this beautiful picture!

Of course, we had to take a quick walk through Temple Square. (Good job, Sister Missionary with the camera.)

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head, Bryan drove Granny's Oldsmobile Ninety Eight back home like a pimp.

But we were happy to see when we drove into town, our happy Ed Head! Happy Ed Head to all and to all a good night!! (Yes, that is my dad's head on a billboard in Cedar City.)

The best part of this entire anniversary vacation is that Bryan planned it and made all the reservations alone and as a surprise to me! He is truly the best husband in the whole, wide world! Thank you, Bryan, for the best and most romantic vacation ever!

Our actual anniversary was on Monday, August 11 (the big 2 years)!! We celebrated at Navajo Lake on Cedar Mountain. When we pulled up to our picnic spot, we were greeted by the hugest chipmunk/squirrel/unknown creature ever! Meet Buddha, the. . . critter.

We had a quick picnic at the beautiful lake on a log,

and then Bryan tried to teach me how to skip rocks. His form:

My form:

After Bryan composed himself and quit laughing at me and got his breath back, we took a long walk around the entire lake. We even conquered the swamp marsh. And, we saw a Utah Flamingo. (I know that's probably not a real animal, but we saw a huge bird with really long legs, but it wasn't pink. So, what do you call that? A Utah Flamingo.)

Thank you, Bryan, for a wonderful and romantic and perfect anniversary! I am so thankful that I was lucky enough to catch you and marry you and that I get to be with you forever! You are my best friend in the whole wide world and I love everything about you!! I love you so much and can't wait for the many more anniversaries ahead!

Holy Moly!!

It was this:

That caused this:
That caused this:

Picture this: 7:45 PM on a regular weekday evening. I am just driving down Main Street minding my own business, when - - - BAM, BANG, SHEBOOM! I was in a minor car accident! Even though it wasn't a huge accident, I wanted to be sure that baby Zig was okay, so Bryan and I went to the doctor on Friday morning. He was very sweet and sympathetic until. . . he told me to go get my blood drawn that would determine if I should get a shot! Then, I started sweating bullets. Bryan was very supportive and held my hand (while looking out the hall) while they took all of my blood again. A couple hours later, we were back at the hospital where I got a RhoGam shot RIGHT IN MY BUTT!!! Again, I was very brave and didn't even pass out.

The best part of the unexpected doctor visit was that we got to see little Ziggy for the first time! Although we're not scheduled for our ultrasound until the 19th, Dr. G. wanted to do one just to make sure Zig was fine (and to reassure me I'm sure). Well, sure enough, Zig was fine! He/she even gave us a thumbs up! It was so neat to see him/her moving all around like a little fishy inside! Picture #2 is the one where you'll see Ziggy's tiny little arm bent at the elbow with his/her thumb giving us an "I'm okay in here" signal.

We are so thankful that everyone involved in the accident is okay, especially Zig. We are grateful for our wonderful and caring doctor who took the time to reassure us and to show us our little fishy inside of me. We are continually grateful for the opportunity to be parents to sweet little Zig!