Halloween 2012

Lance and I aren't ones to go all out on costumes for Halloween, but this year since I am pregnant I wanted to have a cute costume that I could use my pregnant belly for. I didn't have a whole lot of options to choose from because I wasn't showing very much to begin with. One idea I had came from the movie cast away. Lance would be the Tom Hanks character and I (my belly) would be Wilson the volleyball. I soon realized (from the sweet council of family and friends) my belly wasn't as big as a volleyball should be, so I came up with another idea with the help of my very creative sister-in-law Megan. The idea was to have Lance go as a bank robber and I would go as the bag of money he stole. I thought it was clever and my belly was big enough that it could pull off being a (small) bag of money.

We didn't have any set plans for Halloween parties just ideas for costumes incase plans for parties came up. Lance's work has a Halloween party every year but his boss, who throws the party, was going to be gone so that party didn't happen. We went to a party last year but weren't sure if they were having the party this year until the day before the party.

Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to make our bank robber and money costume so we decided to go as death eaters (from Harry Potter) instead. Lance was able to get the big black robes and wands from his work and I stopped at a Halloween store and picked up the skull masks.

This was the end result....

As soon as we got there I realized the party was more of a family friendly kind of party and our costumes weren't very family friendly, seeing how all the kids there were probably under the age of 4.

Ben was terrified of us when he first saw us, but after we showed who we were he wasn't too scared. Luckily we didn't scare any of the other kids.

Ross and Megan went as the mayhem insurance guy and Flo. Very creative!

Ben and Clara were the tortoise and the hare. Also very creative and cute! 

 

This little boy was dressed up as a little chicken. It was the cutest costume! The whole family was dressed up as barn yard animals.

Seeing all the cute kids and babies at this Halloween party got me excited for next Halloween when I'll have a bundle of joy to dress up.

It's birthday time

Another year has flown by and I am now even closer to 30, 26 to be exact. I'm not implying that 30 is old, it's just crazy for me to think that I am getting closer to that age! I'll probably feel this way as I approach every decade mark. Another crazy, but wonderful, thing for me to think about on this birthday is that this was my last birthday before kids enter our lives. Again it's a crazy but wonderful thought to think about.

My birthday fell on a Thursday this year and lucky me I didn't have to go to work on that day. It was great getting to sleep in as late as I wanted and not feel bad that I wasn't already up doing house work or something. However, I wasn't to thrilled to see this as I opened our window and looked outside....

I realize it's not inches upon inches of snow, but any snow for an Arizona girl isn't a pleasant sight. It just reminds me that more snow is on its way.

I woke up to these notes hanging everywhere in our house.

Lance did a similar thing last year for my birthday but this year the notes said, "Happy Birthday my sweet pregnant wife", which was very cute and I loved seeing the words sweet pregnant wife. I continued to find these notes throughout the day in places he knew I'd go to. The funny thing was he put a note in the dishwasher and one in the laundry basket, guessing or maybe assuming I would be doing house work on my birthday. Well he guessed right, I did do house work and it was great to see those notes as I did. Another cute thing he did was before he left for work that morning he cleaned all the dishes that were in the sink by hand. Very sweet of him.

Lance had to work all day and had school that night so we didn't get to do anything till he got home later that night.
When he got home he walked in with these beautiful pink flowers. I loved them!

He also got stuff to make our favorite dessert called Pizookie's. It's cookie dough that's cooked to the point that its almost done, still a little doughy, then you put ice cream on top. It's delicious! On top of that he went to Redbox and picked out a lovey dovey chick flick for us to watch. He knows I enjoy those kinds of movies and the main thing I wanted to do on my birthday was to relax and watch a movie together. Since he's in school we don't get many nights where we can do that.
It was so sweet and thoughtful of him to get all that stuff for me!

We decided to go to dinner at Tucanos, which is this really good Brazilian restaurant. It's pretty expensive so we only go for birthday's because if you join their birthday club you get a birthday card for a free meal.

It started to snow again while we were eating dinner.

They had these nice fire pits outside the restaurant.

I didn't realize my hands were that close to the fire.

It was freezing when we walked back to our car. We really don't like winter weather!

After dinner I got to open the gifts Lance bought me.

Lance wanted to capture how excited I was...

still excited 

First gift was a BYU shirt. I have a BYU shirt that I wear to every BYU game but it's kind of big and

I got the shirt when I graduated BYU so it says BYU Alumni on it. Lance felt I needed a more girly BYU shirt that didn't say Alumni on it, and I agree. So I was actually very excited to get this shirt. 

The other gift I got (it's hard to see) is a gift certificate to Babies 'R' Us. I was very excited for this gift because ever since we found out I was pregnant I love looking at baby clothes and all things baby, especially now that we know we're having a boy. Lance did a great job on my gifts, especially since I didn't give him many ideas on what to get me.

We were too full from dinner to make our pizookie's so for the rest of the night we just watched the movie Lance got.

The Saturday following my birthday my mother-in-law Kathy put together a little birthday dinner party. The party was planned to start at 5pm but Lance and I went over earlier so we could watch the BYU game and for me to make some jewelry.

There are so many beads that making something can be a little overwhelming. All
those bracelets you see on the table weren't made by me but by my very talented mother-in-law. She has perfected the art of jewelry making!

For dinner Kathy made one of my favorite meals; pot roast with mashed potatoes and salad! It was a very delicious meal! It was very sweet of her to make it for me.

After came cake and ice cream! The cake was a yummy red velvet kind and then plenty of different options of ice cream.

A little blurry but it was the only picture we got Ben to look at the camera (sort of).

The cake and ice cream were too good to look away from for even a second I guess.

Clara cooperated better, even though she doesn't look to thrilled about having
her picture taken.

The wonderful family that came to the party.

My belly is starting to poke out. It's a little hard to tell because we kind of blend together again,
but I promise you there is a baby bump there. :)

I had a great birthday this year and am grateful for all the family and friends who made it a special day for me, especially my sweet and loving husband! Can't wait till next years birthday when we'll have our little guy to add in on the birthday pictures. :)

I love the Temple!

A few weeks ago Lance and I got invited to be apart of a family sealing. Lance's cousin Eric and his wife Camille were having their adopted son sealed to them. I have never been a part of a family sealing so I was very excited to be able to witness this!

They had the sealing at the Timpanogos Temple, which was gorgeous inside (obviously).

Not sure what they were working on the temple, but it still looks beautiful even with all the construction stuff.

The sealing was amazing! The sealer talked a lot about families and how the temple allows us to be together for eternity. I sat there soaking in all that he said with so much gratitude in my heart for having these temples that allow us to be sealed to our loved ones for eternity.

I am so grateful that I am sealed to this wonderful, amazing, handsome man! I am so grateful that we made the decision to get sealed in the temple and that we will be sealed to our kids as a family forever!

Our black attire blends together so you can't tell how big I am :)

This is the cute little family we went to the sealing for. The littlest boy is the one who got sealed to Eric and Camille. 

Sorry I got a picture of you not smiling Camille. You still look gorgeous!

It was really sweet of Eric and Camille to invite us to be apart of the sealing. It was such a great experience! 

A Beautiful Wedding

Almost one month ago--- Oct. 12^th to be exact--- my little sister got married! It was crazy because the last wedding I was really involved in was my own and that was over a year ago.

The day started off at a luncheon the grooms side put together at this old church building up in Salt Lake. This building was built around 1850 I believe. 

I love old buildings like this one that still have a lot of their original workmanship and everything. This church had a balcony in the chapel area and a lot of detailed carvings on the pulpit and walls, along with other things you don't see in LDS churches today.

The building on the right is where the luncheon was held. We’re not sure if that was originally built with the church or if it was added later on. We think that side was used for social events.

The cute couple

Some of the brides maids

It was a really great luncheon. We got to meet my sister’s husbands family for the first time (they live in Colorado) and found them all to be great people.

The next thing on the agenda was the actual sealing! I was really excited to be able to be there in the temple to witness this. This was the first sealing I had been to since my own and it was such a great experience just being in the audience. I love the feeling you get when you are in the temple, and then to be there to witness your own sibling being sealed makes that feeling that much better!

My sister got married in the Salt Lake temple like I did and it was nice to reflect back and have those memories go through my head of when Lance and I got married. I remember coming up the stairs and walking out the doors to see our family and friends. This time I was on the other side of the doors looking in, waiting for the happy couple to walk out.

This is my favorite picture :)

These two little girls are her husbands niece and our little cousin Hadlee. They both thought Chelsie looked like a princess, and I agree.

It had been raining off and on all day and we were all nervous it would rain while we were trying to take pictures. Luckily we only got a little drizzle during the picture taking but it was when we were finishing up.

Still a happy, cute couple

This is around the time it started to rain a little on us.

Next came the reception at this really pretty reception hall. There was a dressing room specifically for the bride’s maids and bride to get ready before the reception. I found that to be quite cool.

It’s still sinking in that my baby sister is married. I can already tell this is how I’ll feel when my brothers get married too. I am so happy for my sister though, she has patiently been waiting for this day and I’m so glad she found a guy that treats her like the queen she is!

The next day my family got to go with Lance and I to a BYU football game. The game was an afternoon game so Lance’s brother and some of his friends put together a tailgate party that they so graciously let us join in on.

During the tailgate two things go on; eating and playing this game called corn hole. For some reason No pictures were taken of us playing but we got a picture when the BYU cheerleader’s came over to throw the corn hole bags.

It was a beautiful day, weather wise, not so much when it came to the game. The game was still fun to be at and it was great having my family there with us.

We slacked when it came to capturing our Saturday adventures but Lance was good and at least got these pictures of my family preparing for bed at our apartment.

Nice and cozy

It was a great weekend seeing my sister get married and getting to be with my family for a few days!