FALL

I love fall.  For the following reasons:

Pumpkins  (Prize winning one's... hence the blue ribbon!)

  The farmer's and the pumpkin they "grew"

 

Bundling up in layers 

 

Football games... especially when we win. 

GO BYU!

Sisters that come visit :) 

And that live close! 

 Playing inside on {COLD} days!

him

AND him :) 

this 

this

Oh, and this

We had the greatest time taking our family pics this past weekend. Mandy over at Mandy's Studio did a great job! It was a bit cold, but Parker was so content and Mandy had so many good poses! She was super easy to work with and we HIGHLY recommend her for anyone in Utah County. Great Prices and Even Better pictures. But hey-- when you're that good looking, it's not {too} hard to get a good shot! HAHA.

Gratitude- Day 1 (already behind!) HOME

Wow.   I just read my (cousin-in-law's?) blog post about gratitude and of President Monson's talk about gratitude this conference. This is a link to her wonderful post.  Thanks Michelle!

She, like many others, are taking this month to show gratitude for things in their life. Hopefully I will be able to keep up with this daily posting- seeing as I am already behind.

There are so many things to be grateful for.  Literally everything that I have is given to me by the Lord. Today I am grateful my home. That I have a home, a place to live, a roof that provides shelter for me and my family- I am truly grateful. 

Every night, when I am turning up the heater, I recall a cold November night when Jed and I helped a homeless man. We didn't have much to give him, but we gave him a blanket that we were keeping in our car. It was just a small fleece blanket that my grandma had given me, and I know that that man needed much more than we did.

I can't stand being cold. It is one of the WORST things in the world to me. And neither does Parker. He is constantly being bundled up and I have had to make many accomodations so that he is more comfortable. Though Jed is probably a little too warm at times, Parker and I are able to be warm.

And yes, I often find myself looking at others who have such nicer homes, who have their own home, or who might have more space than me-- but I love my home. It is mine. My family and I get to make memories in our little basement apartment on 800 North in Provo. I will always remember this home. I brought my first baby home here. I have done many "firsts" here. Yes, I love this home.

A few lessons learned

Babies really are their own specie. That probably sounds funny, but to me they are so Abnormal. My family is LOUD- not over bearingly annoying, but yes, we speak our peace. Speaking for myself- this is ONLY done within my immediate family- with others I feel so misunderstood that my brain is too foggy for coherent conversation--- (what a rant) so its strange to me that babies don't speak. In the words of my 6 yr old cousin, Caroline- "What words does he speak?" ... "What!? No words!" I was just as dumbfounded.
Considering the field that I want to go into- teaching English as a 2nd language- learning to communicate with those that don't share a common language-- I thought that this would be easier. But babies can't do ANYTHING to express themselves. Oh how I wish that Parker could just tell me he's warm/cold so I can dress him appropriately. Or tell me when he's done eating so I don't force feed him, or under feed him. Or when he's tired so I can lay him down to sleep.  I've heard that you can listen to their cries- and though I think that has its place-- when it's 3 AM and I have eye boogies in my eyes (recent infection I think) I'm still totally dazed and Parker's crying-- listening to his cry is the last thing I want to do- I just want to find out what it is so he can be happy (and not wake up our upstairs neighbor) So YES-- I can't wait for Parker to SPEAK.

 (** Disclaimer: None of these pictures have been doctored or staged- that is just how {incredibly} good looking my son is!)

We are loving being parents. I love being Parker's Momma. Still adjusting- its a process for sure. Trying to juggle parenthood and being a student is challenging, but I have found the support and love that I've needed. {thanks all!}

ALL ABOUT PARKER: 

He loves to

SMILE (aww!!) 

and I can't get enough of it

MOVE

his little legs are always going

SUCK

he's gonna be a thumb sucker

SWING

in his "Johnny Jumper" 

But by far... his favorite thing is....

BEING NAKED! :) 

Not a surprise to those of you who truly know me. I am a girl that loves her birthday suit. As creepy as it sounds, it is the truth. I am constantly in my robe (at most) so yeah, I am in tune with my body. And SOOO is Parker. He loves his diaper change time, Bath time, any time that I let him have his diaper/clothes off. HE is a momma's boy- and I LOVE IT :)

Halloween Decorations

Thanks to the lovely ladies at  Graphics Fairy,  Stories of A to Z,  and House of Smiths, 
I was able to create my own Halloween space. OCT 31st and all that comes before, has always been my favorite time of year. Pumpkin Patches, apple cider doughnuts, getting all dressed up, and CANDY makes this holiday the best. 

The blocks were made out of some wood that we had cut at Lowe's, some black acrylic paint (.30) at Michael's, and the stencils were handmade (took forever!) by printing out the letters, tracing them with an x-acto knife and sheet protectors. It was a bit of a process, but it was super fun. Everything else was super easy- and definitely added a bit of "spook" to our living room :)  

This is the entrance to our "BAT CAVE" as we so lovingly call it :)  (Lately it might be better known as an ICE CHEST, but you get the pic) 


These little projects have been keeping me busy and have been getting us into the HALLOWEEN spirit :) Happy Halloween all. I'll post our costume pics a little later!

Parker, things, and LIFE in general

YAY!! Pictures of Parker! :) We love our little man. He is soooo sweet and cuddly and boy does he smell good :) This picture was after 19 hours of labor (amazing!) and 9 months of being preggers.... (ick!) So we both were so excited to see him, hold him, kiss him etc. Even still today I love getting him dressed each morning, giving him a bath at night, reading to him- anything. He is my own little doll, and he is just so fun to have around.

Here he is- after MOM had taken WAYYY too many pics :) (and I still do!)

Oh gosh I could just take pictures of him all day. And thats what I did for the first few weeks-- Now he stays awake a little bit longer- but this was during the time when he would stay awake for ten or so minutes-- just long enough to get a diaper change and get dressed before he was off to never never land :) Now he is up to about 45 minutes of awake time, so I have a few pictures of him being super cute :)

I LOVEEEE this picture. When I rested him there on the boppy- he looked nothing like this. This was apparently a far superior postion. He is also breathing pretty heavily in this picture, so I was able to get some footage of him with his hand on his hip, and it bopping up and down- way too adoreable for me!

This was a highlight of my life. So we went up to campus to buy our textbooks-- the last day before class started--whoops!--- and baby parker was less than 2 weeks old.  We needed to feed, so I fed him in the ladies room.  As I was changing him- I realized he had pooed all the way through his outfit, and I didn't have any other clothes for him (Im still a newbie at this!) Anyways-- I was about to leave the bathroom when I passed the mirror and saw that- yup! My little guy had peed right through his diaper while I was feeding him. (LAME cheap diapers!) Well, with no clothes for Parker, and no clothes for me-- we walked home. Him (nakie!) and me- WET! :) Oh, how I love the number of times Parker and I change throughout the day. When will I learn to start wearing my rain gear all day?!

PARKER'S BLESSING! It was amazing. Parker looked soo handsome, and Jedediah did a marvelous job blessing our son. We were so blessed to have so many of our family there- I was so surprised so many people could make it. There almost weren't enough seats! This picture is with my mother dearest and my younger sister, Alyssa. My mom stayed for a week to help with Parker, and Alyssa was there before, during, and after Parker- thanks sis! With their help, as well as many others, I can say I survived the first few weeks (man I am not looking forward to that again- I guess I will never be a new mom again, whew!)

Jed's parents, Eric and Kathy, were also able to make it out. It was so nice to have Parker's grandparents there with us! Hopefully we can make it to Seattle or they can visit us, because Parker misses them already. Grandparents are great all around- they spoil them, love them, and almost always bring them back :)

These last three pictures always bring tears to my eyes. (Okay, so the hormones are still a rollar coaster!) but even still- I love my son. I mean, obviously I knew I would love him, but its INCREDIBLE how I love him. That probably sounds kind of strange- but I am really surprised that I am able to love anything so quickly and so fully. When he's sleeping I miss him. When I have to go to class, I miss him. I just always want to be right there with him. I feel like every single aspect of my life changed now that I have added "mother" to the list. My priorities have all shifted down so that Parker can find a place at the top.


Motherhood is everything. I finally feel like everything I was taught in young womens and by my family has made full circle. I was meant to be a mother. It really is a divine calling. A woman's place is in the home. 

I still don't know what I am doing for school. I am taking 8 credits right now. I don't know exactly what Jed is doing for work or school next year.  Nor do I know what to do for Parker most of the time.

But I do know, and have always known, that I am a daughter of God, and I don't take that lightly.  The Lord knew that I needed Parker right now. He was meant to come into our family at this not-so-ideal time.  I have been prepared from the beginning for this purpose, and I so grateful for those who have taught me how to be a mother. Jed is an amazing father. Fatherhood is a weird thing. I still don't have it all figured out- but Jedediah surely does. He has been so caring and understanding- as always- these last 6 weeks. Whenever he's home (which isn't very often) he takes care of Parker. Jed changed all the diapers while we were in the hospital (then Alyssa took over.) Jed got up with me everytime I fed Parker. Now I only wake him up when I need him- but he is alway so willing to do anything I ask. Jed is the best father I've ever known, as well as the best husband.

WOW. Well this got long, very quickly. I was going to say a bunch of other things, but I should end now. Maybe some other time I will give the birth story- but for now, keep us in your prayers-- we can take all we can get. :) xoxo

Kyle Andrews "You Always Make Me Smile" Official Video-- Yeah, we were there. The GREEN TEAM.

Pregnancy Post

I feel like as soon as I'm not pregnant anymore, and after all the initial baby craziness (plus a few months) maybe I'll look back and enjoy my pregnancy. Because even now I can recall a (very) short time when I enjoyed it.  But as I sit here, in outfit number 2 for today (already sweated through #1) I cant even fathom doing this again. I am trying to pull together a list of things I liked about my pregnancy- because the list of things I DIDNT like would be long, really long, and everybody who reads this has probably heard me complain at least once (sorry!).  So with literally nothing in mind right now, here goes.

-I got to eat without counting calories.
The few extra pounds on my face will tell you I did this.

-Baby clothes shopping.
My new favorite thing to shop for. 

-Feeling him kick.
Each time I felt him, I felt like he did it just to let me know he was okay.

-Ultrasounds
I wish we could do these more often. At first he looked like... a blob of something- and then a few short months later, he was a full fledged baby. Amazing!

-Baby showers
I love getting together with people I love, and I love getting presents for Parker.

-Letting Jed feel him kick
He always gets stage fright when Jed is trying to feel him. Jed says that in the morning when Im still sleeping he can feel him kick and move. (my heart melted when he told me that)

-Organizing his baby clothes
Lets just say I have done this way WAY too many times! 

-Talking to Parker
pretty much about everything Im doing, things I am thinking about. I just like talking to him. I really hope he is used to my laugh by now. :)

-Swimming
I almost dont even feel pregnant. I think that counts!?!

-Jed rubbing my feet
He has pretty much gone pro at foot rubbing. Such a good guy.

WOW. I am honestly super impressed with myself. I didn't think I could come up with 5 things to think positively about. All things considered, I think I will love holding my little boy more than anything. I cannot WAIT! :)

Now for the pictures. Excuse my swollen face, sweatiness, and overall pregnant grossness. I am not one of those girls that feels sexy when she's pregnant. Definitely not!

Jed and I at Olive Garden (Alyssa is taking our picture). We get so spoiled. I watch our friends 1 yr old daughter for a few hours, and they give us a gift card to the Olive Garden. YUMMY!

Friends from my ward throwing me a baby shower! Thanks Sarah! It was a blast! Nice to have Alyssa  there as well.

There he is. This is me, at 38 weeks-- Aug 12th.  I honestly didn't think I could get this big. At least my huge club feet aren't in the picture (thanks Alyssa) they are huge!

This is Jed and I at Bear Lake for his family's reunion. It was a lot of fun, warm!!, but lots of fun. Look at the water! I had never seen water that color before-- gorgeous! p.s. Jed has gotten a tiny belly too. I loveeee it!