Purchase Order

I forgot I never posted how we told our family we were expecting. When I was fifteen weeks along, we made a "purchase order" and mailed them to our close family. We made matching envelopes with the same stork picture and Storks, Inc. slogan. Brandt and I had a good time filling out the specifics of the order (i.e. "Terms of Delivery = Unpleasant). Then we sat back and waited a couple of days for the phone calls to come in :) Although I think I did end up telling my sister, Lindsay, over the phone because she thought something was wrong with me for some reason and was pretty distraught, and since she lives further away than everyone else she would have been a day late in getting her letter in the mail. So I think I ended up telling her by having Kate go and tell her that she (meaning Kate) was going to be a cousin, but I had to bribe her with candy so she'd do it because she wanted to keep it a secret between the two of us. So I think her exact words were, "Mom, ummmm, Dani says I'm gonna be a cousin and she's going to give me candy!" which was kind of fun because then Linds started screaming and Kate didn't know what the heck was going on.

*In case the writing is hard to read on the letter, let me share this cool trick I learned the other day. If you push Ctrl, then the '+' symbol you can zoom in on your computer screen. Then you just push Ctrl and the '-' symbol to zoom back out. You're all probably geniuses and already knew that, but I thought it was a pretty neat little trick!

I am now 23 weeks along. Things have been going really well so far. I've been very blessed and haven't experienced any nauseousness. I was nervous about that mainly because of  my job and where I have patients that are expecting to see me; I would hate for a patient to show up and have the receptionist tell them, "Sorry, your hygienist can't stop throwing up - come back tomorrow and maybe she can see you then." So luckily that's all been fine. My biggest symptoms so far have been tiredness and increased appetite - I usually go to bed early and I eat every 3-4 hours. And amazingly with my increased calorie intake and lack of exercise I didn't gain any weight the first trimester - but starting around week fifteen I've probably put on a pound a week.

I first felt baby boy move just after I hit fifteen weeks, and it wasn't very many days later that I could actually SEE him move and Brandt could feel it as well. And ever since then he's been moving all over the place. For a few days there I was convinced I was having twins because I thought there was no way one kid could be moving so much! It's kind of fun and makes the whole thing seem more real.

I have a feeling he's going to be a good boy (but I guess every parent probably thinks that about their kids right?). I feel like we're a team, him and I. For example: getting my braces taken off was a bit traumatic. I have a pretty high pain tolerance when it comes to my teeth but for some reason they were really sensitive that day and they had to do some final adjustments, plus fix my retainers, take off all the cement, etc. Every time they used the high-speed  it sent a shock straight to the nerve and I thought I was gonna die (ok, that may be exaggerating just a tad, but it was very unpleasant). But every time I felt my stress level rising, the baby would kick and it gave me something else to concentrate on. He kicked more during that hour than he usually would. It was like he was watching out for his momma. Or maybe it was just that my stress was stressing him out, thus making him freak out a bit. Either way I appreciated it :)

It's still hard for me to believe we're going to be parents in a few short months. In some ways I feel ready for this next phase, but then in other ways I feel like I have no clue what I'm doing! But I would guess you never feel quite ready to be a parent. We'll just take it as it comes and learn as we go. Should be fun!

And....They're OFF!!

Today was a fabulous day. After one year of treatment, I got my braces taken off!! Wooooohoooooo! I ended up getting them off six months earlier than my orthodontist originally thought, so I was pretty thrilled. The most thrilling part is that now I won't look like a pregnant teenager! Exciting, I know!

Before

That canine and lateral always bugged me. They just jutted out there like nobody's business.

After

Ta Da! I've wanted to do this for a long time and I'm glad I finally got it done. It was definitely a pain (literally, when those rubber bands would snap and break inside my mouth - killer! Not to mention I have no idea how many rubber bands I accidentally swallowed), but it was worth it. It's been a nice boost to my self-image as I am now in the "I don't quite look pregnant, just chubby and like I need to lose ten pounds" phase of pregnancy. So now at least the top half of me is lookin' pretty good :)

Today

Today is a special day. Mainly for two reasons.

First, today is our five year anniversary. It's crazy to think that we've been married for five years already. Time has flown by. So much has happened in the last five years and it's so funny to look back at our wedding pictures and remember that day; it seems like another lifetime! And those kids in the pictures...I can't believe they're us! We really look like little kids. Very tan little kids. I feel so very blessed to have Brandt in my life. Guaranteed, 100%, without a doubt, he is who I was meant to be with. I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father that Brandt is in my life - I really can't imagine life without him. I love him so much more now than I did five years ago - it's interesting how as time passes, your love for someone can increase as you go through life's experiences and trials together. We know each other so well, but every now and then I will learn something new about him and think, "how on earth did I not know that already?" It's kind of fun. I am so lucky that he picked me, and I can't wait to experience the next five years with him (I have a feeling their going to be a little crazy!) Love you babe!

And secondly, today is a special day because it marks halfway in my pregnancy. Which means that this morning we got to go in for our twenty-week ultrasound and find out the gender of our baby.  Not too shabby for an anniversary gift. And the verdict is in:

It's a BOY!

Granted, this picture doesn't prove that he's a boy; this is just a profile shot. I was going to post the other picture, but Brandt said we should protect his privacy and not plaster his wee wee all over the internet. So you'll have to take my word for it. I was actually 99% sure it was a boy (I've thought that our first child would be a boy for the last few years), so that wasn't a real shocker, but it was great to find out that all his other parts are where they're supposed to be and that he is growing and developing just as he should. He was very cooperative during the whole appointment and showed the tech everything she needed to see. We are very excited for this new phase in our lives. I'm not sure we know exactly what we're getting ourselves into, but that's probably a good thing :) We can't wait to meet the little guy...only twenty more weeks to go!

So you could say today has been a pretty stellar day thus far. Now, I just have to wait for Brandt to get done with his final and we can go celebrate!

A Memorable Memorial Day Weekend

I love four-day weekends! They're the best. Brandt and I were able to spend a lot of time with the fam in Burley. Our weekend was jam-packed. We: 

• Watched Zach graduate from High School
• Took Rex for lots of walks
• Watched "Emperor's New Groove" (classic movie - tons of good movie quotes)
• Played Halo (not so fun for me, but the boys enjoyed it), 
• Went to the new "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie (LOVED it!)
• Got together with the extended family to play volleyball at the church, Dominoes, and Guesstures
• Put flowers on the graves
• And ate more sweets in four days than I have this entire year. Honestly, I'm surprised I'm not a full-blown diabetic after this weekend. 

We had a great time. Here are some pics:

Congrats Zach! I can't believe my baby brother is all grown up and leaving the nest. It makes me feel old. I don't like feeling old. Anywho, at the beginning of the graduation, their class performed a "flash mob" routine to Black Eyed Peas' "I've got a Feeling". It was the coolest thing ever! Everyone was so surprised; when the song started playing I thought it was a mix-up with the sound system. Then a couple of students started dancing; I figured they were just being silly. And then the WHOLE class got up and started dancing. It was really cool.

Brandt and I took Rex for lots of walks while we were there. It was a matter of life and death. This dog is FAT. And I mean F.A.T. He is a bear. My mom took him to the vet last week thinking that maybe he had a thyroid problem, but nope, he's just fat. 140.5 pounds to be exact.  The vet said he was the biggest lab he's ever seen.  He is now on a strict diet and exercise plan in hopes to lose 25-40 pounds. So here is a 'before' shot - and hopefully in a few months we can share a successful 'after' shot. Good luck Rex!!

We went to the cemetery on Sunday this year. For some reason, we always have to take a picture with the Jesus statue - one of those weird family things I guess. I remember as a kid being so excited to go see Jesus; it was the highlight of going to the cemetery on Memorial Day every year. We would patiently wait while our parents put flowers on the graves and then we would all walk to the other side of the cemetery just so we could see Jesus. 

It was a great weekend and we can't wait for the next family get-together.

Grandma Hines

Grandma Hines recently passed away. Just as it was when Grandpa Manning passed away, we are sad but feel joy in knowing she is happy and in a much greater place. She had been suffering with physical and mental health problems and, stubborn woman that she was, she tried to cut down a tree limb in the yard and it knocked her over, breaking her hip. After about a week in the hospital, she was able to move on from this life and into the next. She will be missed but we are glad she can be  with her Heavenly Father again as well as reunited with Grandpa Hines, who we lost about twenty years ago.

It was nice to see most of the family, many of whom we have not seen in a few years.

Grandma was a wonderful woman and we have many fond memories of spending time with her. One of the best words to describe her would be spunky, but she was also very sweet, kind, and loving. We had a tradition of sending each other Christmas cards that were, well, less than sweet, but always full of good humor and sarcasm. Another great memory was playing games with her; she would get particularly fired up when playing "Pit" and on more than one occasion she would call you by something other than your name, usually a four letter word, especially when you'd slip her the bear right at the end. I enjoyed a comment made at her funeral by my Uncle Jerry; he said she had a love for sweets and passed this on to her four boys. She had a talent for making delicious pies from scratch. I can say with certainty that this tradition, the eating of sweets - not necessarily the making of them, continues in our family today. Until I met Dani, I never knew it was wrong to eat the whole batch of cookies the same night you made them.

Grandma Hines was an amazing woman and a great grandmother. Thank you for all that you did and the joy you brought into our lives. We love you and will miss you.

Palisades...Take Two

Idaho Falls has had the worst spring ever. It has been so stinkin' cold. I've been thinking about this video I took of Kate when she came to visit last summer:

My sentiments exactly Kate. I want to go outside!! I want to get some sun! I want to be warm, and maybe get a mild sunburn. Is that so much to ask for? I think not.

Well, this past weekend we FINALLY saw the sun for the first time in months. And the weather was gorgeous. Brandt and I didn't want to miss the opportunity to enjoy it so we decided to go on a hike to Palisades Creek. This was our second time hiking Palisades - do you remember how the first hike went down? Click here for a reminder.

But this time we were optimistic that our weather would hold. It was about 68 degrees with no moisture of any kind on the forecast. It was going to be a beautiful day. So we packed ourselves a lunch and headed out. This time our goal was to make it all the way to the lower lake (about four miles) before heading back.

It was a beautiful day. I think I may have been suffering with a mild case of seasonal depression the last few months; just being outside and getting some fresh air was doing wonders for my spirit. For the most part the trail was dry, but there were a few patches of mud and yuck, plus some areas where you had to dodge the snow (which was crazy since it was so warm that day). We were making good time and estimated that we were probably within a half-mile of the lake when the snow suddenly got much worse. For a long stretch the snow was a few feet deep, with no way to dodge around it as we had been doing previously. We figured if we were this close, we might as well trek through it (the snow-covered stretch in front of us was only about 20-30 feet long) and hopefully that would be the only problem we would have. So we jogged through it, filling our sandals with snow in the process, so much snow in fact that it cut my feet to pieces, giving me tons of blisters in the process. We had to take our shoes off and clean out all the snow and give our feet a chance to warm up. At this point I started to really question whether or not it was worth it to make it to the lake. But we had already sacrificed so much to make it that far, we might as well keep going. So we put our sandals back on and trudged on....until we rounded the next bend and saw this:

And we decided the lake probably isn't that cool anyways. We turned around and started our 3 1/2 mile hike back to the car. Darn that snow! We found the same big, flat rock from last time and ate our lunch. I was slightly disappointed we didn't make it to the lake for the second time in a row, and upset that our little jaunt through the snow gave me about ten blisters total (and that's not an exaggeration - Brandt can attest to it), but all things considered it was still a great day. It was so great just being out in the sun. And maybe next time we'll actually make it all the way. Third time's a charm right?

Wicked Weekend

This past weekend was pretty packed. We tried to divide our time evenly between our families so we could spend some time with both of our moms. On Friday we drove down to Burley and stayed with my family for the night.  We had a great time hanging out and playing games. Zach had just gotten his wisdom teeth pulled that morning so we had a great time laughing at his expense at all of the funny things he said and did while under conscious sedation. My favorite: my mom had to help him go to the bathroom (clarification: she didn't actually have to "help" him go, just get him to the right room and point him towards the bowl - although I had a great time trying to convince Zach she had to do more than that :) So she points him in the right direction and turns her back on him to give him some privacy, but she doesn't hear anything, so they proceed to have the following conversation:

    
                             Mom: "Zach, what are you doing?"
                             Zach: "I don't know."
                             Mom: "You're supposed to be going to the bathroom."
                             Zach: "I can't."
                             Mom: "Why not?"
                             Zach: "There's too many of them."

Not sure if he meant too many toilets or too many wee wees. Either way I laughed.

Zach icing his face

The next day, Brandt and I drove up to Boise to see "Wicked." We had heard so much hype about this play and I've been wanting to see it for a long time, so I was excited to hear they were coming to Boise. My cousin got us the tickets months ago and we weren't sure how good our seats were, but turns out they were awesome! We absolutely loved it. No comparison whatsoever to the book. The songs were fun, the actors were great, set design was amazing, etc. etc. I got chills when Elphaba  (aka the Wicked Witch of the West) sang "Defying Gravity." Other plays we've been to have always gotten a standing ovation when the lead roles come out and take their bows; usually I think they deserve it, but every now and then I think it's just a courteous thing audiences have adapted. But with Wicked, we were all on our feet as soon as the very first actors came out and absolutely roaring when Elphaba and Glinda came out. It was amazing. I would highly recommend it. 

After the play, we grabbed dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. Sooooo good! Although, I must say we were a bit disappointed in the portion size of the cheesecake. Not to say that we needed any more food in our bellies, but when you pay six bucks per slice, you would expect them to be pretty hefty slices. Not so much. But it was still good. And Boise was beautiful! The trees were all in bloom, the weather was perfect. Brandt and I wondered what the heck we're doing in Idaho Falls.

Saturday night we headed back to Burley to spend some time with Brandt's family. We met them at the hospital so we could spend some time with Grandma Hines. She broke her hip last week while trying to cut down a limb from one of her trees and hasn't been recovering very well. We suspect she won't live much longer. I'm not for sure she knew who we were, but it was good to spend some time by her side. She even smiled for us a couple of times.

Sunday (Mother's Day) was pretty low key. Brandt's parents spent most of the day at the hospital, so we hung out with Sheena and Kyle and played a quick game of "Settler's of Catan" before heading home. It was a busy weekend, but so much fun. It was nice to get out of town for a couple of days, visit with our families, and go on a fun date.