Boppi was here!

First time holding Collin 10/19/13

The day after we got home from the hospital my mom, aka Boppi, flew in for a whole 2 weeks! We loved having her here, and all her help with Collin and things around the house. It was a sad day when she had to go home. But I know my dad, aka Owie, was happy to have her back. She's traveled a lot this year! We're just glad that we get to go see them both over Christmas!

Some highlights from Boppi's trip:

- Walking around downtown along the Riverwalk, through La Villita, and the Alamo. Also stopping by Michael's office and introducing Collin to his coworkers.
- Lazy mornings (maybe more of a highlight for me)
- Collin's first Halloween. She was a great help for this beginner sewer with his fun candy corn costume
- Trying some new recipes- stuffed butternut squash and sausage pasta shells and baked potato soup
- lots of shopping! This is always a highlight when Mom's around :)
- making homemade baked donuts with one of our shopping finds
- Some Halloween crafts
- Treating us to Collin's first restaurant outing...yummy Cheesecake Factory!
- Getting to catch up with a good friend who used to live in CA, whose daughter also lives in San Antonio, and happened to be visiting at the same time.
- Painting some adorable canvases for Collin's nautical room.
- exploring a couple of the local missions. Growing up in CA we of course know all about the CA missions, but never really knew that there were missions in other states too.
- And of course, lots of snuggles with Collin!!

Unfortunately I didn't get a really good picture of her and Collin. But I do know she got some :)

The Alamo

Halloween Ward Trunk or Treat 

After a rough morning for Collin, Boppi had the magic touch to finally get him to sleep. 

Boppi's beautiful handiwork above the bed 

Bath time with Boppi her last morning here

Me and my mom at one of the missions we visited

Introducing...

Collin Michael Coon

Born Wednesday, October 16, 2013

8 lbs 15 oz

21.25 inches

Our little boy is finally here! Its been a month already, yet it feels like he has always been a part of our family. We love him like crazy. We love watching him grow, but can't believe how much he has already grown in such a short time. Slow down sweet boy! 

I wanted to be sure to write down the details of his birth before I forgot them all! 

He was due on Monday October 14th. I had an appointment that day and an ultrasound, just to make sure that everything looked good. The ultrasound tech predicted that he would weigh about 7 lbs 10 oz (boy was she wrong!). When my doctor checked me I was measuring at a 2 and 75-80% effaced. Since I was at 40 weeks she stripped my membranes and we decided to schedule an induction for that Thursday the 17th.

last belly shot taken 8 days before he was born

Moving along to Tuesday, Michael was getting really anxious for our little boy to get here. He insisted that I run up and down the stairs and do some jumping jacks. I felt silly doing them and didn't think that it would do anything, but something must have worked! We went to bed around 11 that night, but I never fell asleep. Around 11:30 I started having some cramping, that just kept getting worse. I started timing them around 12:30, they were about 6 minutes apart, and just kept getting closer. I woke up Michael around 1-1:30, and we got things together for the hospital. We checked in at 2:22 am. When they checked me in triage I was measuring at 3 cm, nearing 4 and was 100% effaced, with contractions about every 2 minutes apart. The nurse could tell that I was pretty uncomfortable so she was kind enough to get the fluids started right away so I could get my epidural ASAP. I just have to add that Michael nearly passed out while I was getting my IV. It was pretty funny! I don't like needles and was nervous for the IV so I was looking the towards Michael and holding his hand. I think I had my eyes closed, but all of a sudden I sensed that Michael was leaning forward, over the bed a little more. Sure enough I open my eyes and he was totally leaning towards me. At first I thought he was just trying to get a better look, but then I noticed he was a bit pale, and swaying. Thankfully he recovered quickly after sitting down. He thinks that he must have locked his knees. I guess I'm not the only queasy one in the family.

I got to my room and met my nurses and by 4 am I had my epidural! It was wonderful, instant relief! My nurse Mandy (the best nurse, I was so sad that she was off before the delivery) was so reassuring and calming during the whole process. I was nervous about getting it, but knew that the pain would far out weigh the pain of labor. Turns out the IV hurt more than the epidural! I highly recommend them, but applaud the women who do it natural (like my dear mother!) Oh, and word had gotten around with the nurses that Michael had nearly passed out. So they made sure he was on the other side of the room while I got the epidural :) After that everything progressed pretty consistently and quickly. I will just list those details out:

4:40 am dilated between a 4 and 5

6:45 dilated to a 7

6:49 water broke

7 our favorite nurse Mandy left, and Diana came in. 

8:05 dilated to a 10, an at a +1 station (I think that's what it is referred as). They wanted me to get to a +3 before starting to push

9:10 started pushing 

9:56 He's Here!!!

Overall labor was a pretty good experience and I won't mind doing it again in the future. Even if I didn't get any sleep the whole night! I was really relaxed, but just too anxious and excited to sleep. Pushing was way more chill than I expected. The epidural let me feel just enough pressure that  in between pushing with the nurse we just chatted. It wasn't until those last few minutes when the doctor showed up that the excitement picked up. My doctor was at the practice's other office that day, so another doctor at the practice, Dr. Bryan Cox, delivered Collin. He was awesome, very energetic (great for pushing), and even sang happy birthday when Collin was born. Michael got to help pull Collin out once his shoulders were out and cut his cord. I chose to have the mirror when pushing, which was very motivating for me. And I loved getting to see Collin's full head of hair. I was hoping the whole pregnancy that he would have lots of dark hair like I did when I was born. 

As it got closer to him being born I was more excited than emotional and didn't think I would cry at all.  But as soon as they put him on my chest there was no stopping the tears. I can't really describe the emotions I was feeling. I was in awe, excited, amazed, exhausted, etc. There was so much going on that I don't remember much from the moment. I just couldn't take my eyes off our beautiful, perfect baby boy. I wish I could more adequately describe how I felt, it was just simply an amazing and miraculous moment!

Since then we have been loving our little boy. Sure there have been some ups and downs. And a lot of "maybe we should try ____" But I couldn't imagine our life without sweet Collin! (And in all honesty it really is hard to remember life before we had him, but maybe that's the result of lack of sleep) As his Aunt Corinne said in a text after he was born, "Welcome to the family Collin!"

Baby Update

Things are still looking great. I am now going to the doctor every 2 weeks. Which is making time pass really fast- all of a sudden I look at the calender and realize I have another appointment that week! Total weight gain so far is 23 pounds. I am right on track growth wise gaining about 1 lb each week.

Just a day shy of 31 weeks
(By the time I am actually posting this I am 32 weeks)

The symptoms seem to have kicked it up a notch in these last couple of weeks. But I try not to think about them too much and look at the good side.
- I get tired pretty easily- definitely don't have the energy levels I had the 2nd trimester. So I am extremely grateful our girl's trip feel when I was still energetic!
- My back is pretty achy. I blame our uncomfortable couch. But Michael is so good about rubbing my back.
- Heartburn is getting worse. It always seems to come in spurts, it will be really bad for a couple days, and then go away for a couple, then come back, etc. But I actually don't hate the taste of tums, well except the green ones. And I already slept with a couple pillows so whats 4 or 5 extra :)
- The swelling has started. Thankfully just in my fingers and toes, and mostly just at night. I think I am nearing the end of wearing my wedding ring, but hopefully this means we can take it in for some much needed cleaning and a re-dipping to brighten up the white gold.
- I can't really stand for extended periods of time without my legs getting really achy. Making dinner or doing dishes is getting harder unless I take occasional breaks to sit down.

I love feeling little "Bruno" kick! And he is really strong! One night I jokingly said to Michael that maybe we should just pray that he is "healthy" and not "healthy and strong". Thankfully he doesn't kick my ribs...that often. Although sometimes if feels as if he is pushing against my pelvic bone. Don't really know if that is possible, but sometimes it can be a little annoying. Sometimes my stomach will get lopsided and there will be a little bulge. And other times I can feel a little foot, hand, bum, or whatever part of his body it is, I can't really decipher them. He really loves my right side. I hardly ever feel a kick on my left. We recently saw Star Trek and the musical Ragtime. Bruno was kicking and moving quite a bit during both of them- I like to think he enjoyed the music and noise. The other night Michael and I tried shining a flashlight on my belly to see what Bruno would do and he gave us a couple good kicks. We tried it again a couple days later, but he didn't react. I like to think his head was just turned so he didn't see the light and the first time wasn't just a fluke. One night Michael felt Bruno while he had the hiccups- he thought it was pretty entertaining!

Over the past few weeks we have gotten lots of baby necessities:

We found a beautiful crib at Costco. I convinced Michael to spend a little more money for a nice hard wood one that will hopefully last through all our children. I love it! I still need to make a crib skirt for it. I am thinking a red one.

We got a stroller and car seat on clearance at Target. One day I just happened to see it while shopping. It wasn't the color we had registered for, but I really wasn't picky, just wanted a neutral. And this one was $50 cheaper. Thanks Mom and Dad Coon!

I got a free Bumbo seat from a friend who got it from a random lady as she was leaving another friends house- did that even make sense? It was pink, but that problem was easily solved with a fun cover we ordered.

It has little elephants on it!

We got a dresser from Ikea. Read my last post if you want to hear the sad story about it. I am just extremely grateful to finally have one so I can start putting his many, many clothes away! Thanks to his Terry cousins he will be a very well dressed little boy!

Purchased our first box of diapers and wipes. Man they are expensive! But they were on coupon this month at Costco so I went ahead and bought them early. I will admit I can't help but smile when I see them. It just makes me so excited to know there will be a baby in our house soon!

Farewell to Budget Season!

Since the end of May/beginning of June Michael has been working SUPER long hours (like 9pm was "early" and he worked all day pretty much every Saturday) in the budget office getting ready for the 2014 budget. And I am happy to report as of last Thursday, the budget has been proposed/presented to the city council and these late nights should be done for another year. There is still the possibility of a few late nights since the city council has until mid-September to make minor changes, but it shouldn't be every night.

In celebration of the completion of the budget Michael got Friday off and came home at 3 on Thursday. Needless to say, I was a very happy wife! I just wanted to document the fun weekend we had.

Thursday-
Michael got home at 3. Since he had worked until 1 am the night before, he took a nap. But when he woke up we headed to Costco to look at dresser options for the baby's room and then enjoyed some yummy pizza, and chicken bake from the food court (I know, so romantic). Oh, and we finally added me to our Costco membership and I got my first Costco card. I know its totally silly, but I feel like such a grown-up now :)

Friday-
While I slumbered away, Michael got up early and went on a bike ride with his new best friend-his bike. (I finally consented and let him get a road bike for his birthday). We did some errands during the day. We went to the DMV and got our Texas drivers license. We are officially Texas residents. Michael picked out a new phone- it was definitely time! And then that night we went downtown for a fun date at the theater. We saw the musical Ragtime. I had never seen it before/didn't know much about the story, but I really enjoyed it. I even got a little teary eyed during the finale. And can I just say that I love that Michael enjoys musicals and going to the theater! (even if I do make him dress up for them). It wasn't over until after 11, and I can't say that downtown San Antonio is my favorite place to be that late at night (a little sketchy, thankfully there are lots of cops out and about on patrol) but I loved walking hand and hand down the street with my handsome husband. We ended the night with rostys from Wendy's. A great way to end a perfect evening!

Saturday-
While I slept in Michael went to play basketball at the church (this is our Saturday morning routine!). Had a lazy morning getting ready, and finally a little after noon started our journey to Austin to go to Ikea! On our way we stopped in San Marcos to check out the Pottery Barn outlet store. Bad idea going to the Outlets on tax free weekend in Texas. And these outlets were HUGE! Much bigger than the Camarillo ones- and those ones are pretty big. There was also a William and Sonoma outlet store connected to PB. I could have spent hours in there, but prices were still pretty high for our budget that day. :( Eventually we found our way to Ikea (it was a little farther away than we realized) Our main reason to go to Ikea was to check out a dresser for the baby's room. And of course pick up a few other Ikea treasures, and eat some yummy meatballs. We found the dresser, liked the price, liked the style, and of course I fell in love with the red one! And of course when we get to the marketplace and the end they were all out of it :(  In the end we settled on the black-brown one since we weren't willing to pay $100 to have it shipped to us, and Ikea is too far away to come back again so soon. Total let down, and I will admit that I was really grumpy about it. I blame it on the hormones. The cinnamon rolls with lots of icing that I bought as we were leaving helped a little and finally near the end of our 1+ hour drive home I was finally out of the worst of my rut. But I still can't stop thinking about the beautiful red dresser! Michael keeps reminding me that "Bruno" won't care what color the dresser is.

Sunday-
Nothing too special. Went to church. Taught the sunbeams. Michael got a super long nap that afternoon. And together we made one of our favorite desserts- peach crumb bars! We have been enjoying the leftovers all week. I am actually surprised they have lasted so long.

Despite my sad dresser story it was a really good weekend and I loved all the Michael time I got! And despite the super long hours, we both really love Michael's job, and the people he gets to work with. He has already learned so much in the short time he has been there and I love to hear about the great things Michael's supervisors have to say about him and the work he is doing. Thanks honey for working so hard!

Baby "Bruno"!

As I mentioned in my last post, on February 13th Michael and I found out that we were having a baby! We are super excited and can't wait to invite this new little member into our family!! Even before we were pregnant Michael would joke that we were only going to have boys. No girls for him. From day one Michael has nicknamed the baby "Bruno" (luckily for Michael the baby ended up being a boy, and not a girl). t sounds like a dog's name to me, but unfortunately it stuck. It works as a "womb name" though since I don't want to settle on a name until we get to meet the baby.

We are super excited for this new stage of our life and are amazed at how fast the pregnancy has gone by. Just for my own sake, here is a little very wordy timeline of some of the highlights of this pregnancy, with a few pictures in between :D

February 13th- found out we were having a baby!

March 4th- first appointment at 8 weeks Unfortunately, Michael just barely missed this appointment (although it turns out it was just "technical stuff"- nothing he would have enjoyed) since he had left for Texas on the 1st. But they confirmed that I was indeed pregnant, and informed me that in the next couple weeks I would have to go get the "dreaded" blood work done. Oh, and at this point the morning sickness had kicked in. It was probably around 7 weeks that it started, so Michael was lucky enough to be around for a few days of it. Nothing terrible at first, no throwing up, just extreme aversions to smells.

March 18th- lab work By now morning sickness was in full swing. I had only thrown up a handful of times but I had no desire to eat. It probably wouldn't have been so bad if Michael had been around to make me food so I didn't have to smell it. The worst was opening the fridge. Just thinking about it makes me cringe. I lived off of crackers, noodles with butter and cheese, cheese, lots of bagels, bananas, occasionally a yogurt, apple sauce, pretzels, granola bars and fruit snacks. Pretty much lots of carbs with a little fruit. All I have to say is thank goodness for prenatal vitamins! Anyway, I had to go get my blood work done at the health center on campus. I had never had any blood work done before, I hadn't even ever given blood, so I was a bit nervous about it. It went better than I expected...at first! I told the girl it was my first time and I was nervous. She was great, found my vein right away, I hardly felt the needle, and she talked to me the whole time to distract me. But then at the very end I caught sight of the little vials of blood. There was much more than I had expected and it just hit me. I was able to walk back to the waiting area, but after a minute of sitting there I was feeling  really queasy, clammy and I started to black out. I staggered to the front desk, they thankfully got the gist that I felt I was going to pass out, and got me to a comfy reclining chair and handed me the trash can for me to throw up in. After a few minutes of laying there I was feeling much better and able to make it to work just a couple minutes late. I swear it would have gone much better if I hadn't been so sick and eating normally. But it still makes me nervous to have my blood drawn again.

March 25th- 11 week appt This was my first appointment with my actual doctor. I was really impressed with her. We got to listen to the baby's heart beat which was so amazing and a huge relief! Everything was looking good, and not terribly concerned that I hadn't gained any weight yet. This is the appointment I really wish Michael could have come to. But I called him as soon as I got out and told him all about it. I remember being on cloud 9 that afternoon and couldn't stop smiling! We were going to wait to tell our family until graduation when we could do it in person, but I just couldn't wait to share the news. I called my mom after I got off work that night, and she was slightly surprised, but super excited. Michael told his family a day or so later, and over the next few weeks it was all about telling our closest friends. We decided until after my next appointment to make it public knowledge. Just to make sure that we were really out of the riskiest time and everything was ok.

April 25th- 15 week apt This appointment was the day before graduation, and right in the middle of moving and my parent's visit. But Michael was able to be at this one!! Plus, my doctor wanted to squeeze in one last appointment before we moved. We got to hear the baby's heart beat again- nice and healthy! Although, they were a little concerned that I had gone down a pound. But morning sickness was getting lots better, and I hadn't thrown up in a couple weeks, so my eating habits were slowly getting back to normal. I bet I would have been a little faster at getting back to normal if I hadn't been so stressed with moving, finals, and graduation. When I am stressed I don't eat much.

My first belly shot! Taken at 15 weeks 6 days in Huntsville the day before we left for Texas. I was totally sticking out my stomach in this picture...so it's a bit deceiving. 

May 7th- 1st Appt in SA @ 17 weeks This was my first appointment with my new doctor. Once we moved here I started asking around and lots of women had gone to doctors at this particular practice. When I called to make the appointment my first choice doctor was booked out a couple months, so I went with my second choice. I wasn't too disappointed since they all have similar qualifications and I had heard multiple good reviews about a few different doctors. The people at the office were all very friendly, I really liked the doctor's nursing assistant, and my doctor was pretty nice. Not quite as talkative as my last doctor, but still nice, and I am confident she will knows what she is doing. Everything was still looking great and in just two short weeks I had gained 5 pounds! I am convinced it was because the stress of moving was over and I had gotten into a new routine.

Oh, and over these last couple weeks, since moving to San Antonio I thought I had started feeling some little flutters.

17 Weeks 6 Days

May 15th- 18 week Ultrasound At my last appointment they were surprised that I had not had an ultrasound done with my previous doctor, so they made sure to get me in for an appointment right away. I was so excited the night before our appointment that I could hardly sleep. And of course it was early...7:30 am early, and I had to be up around 6 in order to drink 16 oz of water an hour before the appt. By the time we were on our way to the appointment I had to go pee really bad. And of course the song playing in the car was the Les Mis one that Fantine sings with the rain in the background and of course they had to have a beautiful fish tank in the waiting room- nothing worse for a pregnant girl that has to go pee!
This appointment was by far the most memorable! It was amazing to see our little baby moving around on the screen. And of course we got to find out the gender. As soon as the ultra sound tech said that it was a boy I had such a peaceful feeling come over me. This was right. This little guy was meant to come to our family at this time. I glanced over at Michael and he had the biggest smile on his face. He was getting his little boy! Of course I would have loved to have a girl, but now that I know its a boy I wouldn't have it any other way. The ultra sound tech went through and checked every little part of his tiny body. I really appreciated that the tech would describe what we were saying and then say something along the lines of "that's normal" or "that looks great". It was so reassuring!

Of course I loved the whole 30 minutes, but I especially loved seeing his little arms and legs and his 10 fingers and toes. And throughout the whole ultrasound our little guy had his arm up by his face- a very Jenkins trait!

My favorite ultrasound picture! I have this as the lock screen on my phone- sometimes I just love to stare at it! 

In the couple of weeks following the ultrasound our little guys kicks were getting much stronger. Not enough for others to feel yet, but I sure knew what I was feeling!

19 Weeks 6 Days

Sunday June 2nd Just one day shy of being 21 weeks Michael was able to feel our little guy kick for the first time. It was such a fun moment. I had been trying to have him feel it for a while, but none of the kicks had been strong enough. And I was so excited that he got to feel him before I left on my vacation.

June 7th- 21 week Appt Nothing too significant about this appointment. I had gained 4 more pounds. A total of 9 for the whole pregnancy thus far. They did tell me that my next appointment would also be my glucose test. I guess I never realized that this involved getting my blood drawn again, so of course I was thinking about it periodically over the next 4 weeks. Oh, and they did measure my stomach for the first time. I measured 22 cm. Don't really know what that means, but just wanted to document it.

June 28th- While we were in Utah (near the end of our 3 week girls trip) my friend Courtney threw me such a fun baby shower. The baby's room is going to be a nautical theme, so she used that as the theme for the shower. The decor was adorable, and everything she made she let me keep so I have some fun additions for his room decor. It was a small, intimate group, of mostly family, but it was perfect! This little boy was so spoiled and it is easy to tell how loved he already is! Some highlights of the gifts- the diaper bag I had been eyeing from Lindsay, Corinne, Anie, and Brittany; a boppy pillow from my MIL; and an adorable handmade nautical carseat cover, blanket, bibs, and burp cloths from Courtney and Mama Hansen. And of course lots of other fun baby things!

Some shots from the shower

The hosts and some of my favorite friends!
Courtney did an amazing job on the decor and food. And Jess hosted some fun games. 

July 8th- 26 week Appt/Glucose Test When I first got there I had to go up to the lab to drink the delicious orange drink ;) It wasn't terrible tasting, kind of soda-ish, but it left a weird after taste. Then I went down to my regular appointment. I met with the nurse practitioner since my doctor was out of town. She was a hilarious black lady. Things were still looking good, but she was a bit concerned that I had gained a whopping 9 pounds in just 4 weeks. Supposedly they suggest 1 pound a week- oops! No one had ever told me that before. I blame it on my 3 week vacation/road trip with the girls in my family. But overall I have only gained 18 pounds, which is not bad. I have started walking with some friends a couple mornings each week so hopefully my next appointment will be a little better for the scale. Oh, and the blood test went a lot better than my last one. I just made sure to sit for a few minutes before getting up and sipped some water and ate some fruit snacks. I never felt a bit queasy- Success! 

26 weeks 6 days

Phew! That was a lot of catch up. Sorry for being so wordy. There are so many things that I just don't want to forget! We are coming up on the 3rd trimester in just a few days which means my appointments will increase to every 2 weeks. Time is going by so fast! Pretty soon it will be once a week and before we know it October 14th will be here! Sometimes I wonder how we will ever be ready for our little guys arrival.

Summing up January 2013 to Now

January 2013:
After our fun trip to CA, we returned to Provo to start our last semesters at BYU. January 7th marked our last first day of school ever! Provo got bucket loads of snow, the middle of the month was a icy, cold, blur. Michael was busy applying for jobs and slowly the interviews started coming in. The end of the month Michael headed to San Antonio, TX for a career trip with a few students from his program. I was bummed he was going to be gone for my birthday, but he made up for it when he got back. While he was in Texas he and another student had the opportunity to have a last minute interview with the City's budget department. Little did we know how much that interview would change our lives! Now back to my birthday. It was a very mellow day, but I got to talk to lots of family and friends on the phone. Michael arranged with his friend, Ryan, to pickup and deliver some beautiful flowers. It was such a fun surprise. We celebrated the following weekend, once Michael got back by going to see BYU's production of Phantom of the Opera. We ended up having front row seats and it was AMAZING! I was in awe during the whole performance. Then we went for an early dinner at Red Robin and shopping for a nice winter coat for Michael. It was a wonderful day and I was so happy to have Michael back!

Birthday Flowers from Michael

Phantom of the Opera Birthday Date

February 2013:
February was a month of big changes! As I mentioned previously, Michael had an interview with the San Antonio Budget Office. After his trip out there he had a 2nd interview, this time over Skype. It was sounding very hopeful for a job offer and looking like a great opportunity (minus the location). This 2nd interview was probably around the 10th or 11th of the month and they said it would be about a week before they made a decision. Meanwhile, Michael had a few other video conference interviews lined up.
On the morning of the 13th, after Michael had left for class, I took a home pregnancy test and it was positive! We had been trying since August and I was beyond excited to finally see those 2 pink lines. I told Michael that evening with a little jar of 10 things I love about him (All this month I had been giving him a little surprise/gift each day for 14 days of Valentines). I didn't get quite the reaction that I was suspecting, since I caught him a little off guard by telling him on the 13th (he figured I would have waited till Valentine's day) and since I put it as slip number 5 instead of 10. Either way we were both super excited and had lots of things to ponder at our Ward Temple night that evening- a possible job/move, and a baby coming in October!

February 13th Finding out he is going to be a Daddy! 

The next morning, Valentine's day (Thursday), Michael and I both slept in and skipped our morning classes. We were both coming down with colds and Michael had another interview with a different city to prep for. He had the interview mid-morning and then 30 minutes or so after that interview he received a call from the SA Budget Office, with a job offer!! He had a few days decide, and since I had never been to Texas, and was feeling a little uneasy about moving there we decided to fly out for President's weekend. We bought tickets, made arrangements to stay with a BYU alumni/former Budget office employee, and flew out early Saturday morning. We were there from Saturday-Tuesday, we did some sight seeing, talked with this BYU Alumni and his wife a lot about the area, looked at apartments, and Monday afternoon we decided to accept the offer! The only downfall of this offer was that Michael would need to start March 4th!

Getting the Job Offer! 

Sight Seeing in San Antonio! Nice and warm in February! 

We got back to Provo late the night of the 19th. And the next morning started figuring out everything we need to do before Michael moved out there. Thankfully, Camden Bird (a fellow MPA student and friend of Michael's) had also accepted a job offer with the budget department. I had met him and his wife, Becca, once before, but we decided to all go to dinner to coordinate plans and get to know each other better. It was decided that the guys would drive our new car out to Texas, leaving March 1st (thankfully we hadn't sold our 2nd car yet!). Becca and I would both stay in Provo until after Graduation, so I could finish up school and she could finish working as a Hall Advisor on campus. Then they guys would return for graduation, walk, we would share a moving truck, they guys would drive it to Texas, towing their car, while Becca and I flew with their 2 young kids. It was all a bit crazy and I will admit being an emotional wreck during those last couple weeks (the increasing hormones didn't help much either, thankfully I could just blame it on stress, and nobody knew the difference!)
March 2013:
The 1st of the month Michael and Camden hit the road for a long, 2 day journey to San Antonio, TX! They arrived safely and both started work on Monday the 4th. Thankfully they were able to both stay with a friend of Camden and Becca's for a few weeks while they found apartments for us to live in come April. With Michael gone I kept busy with school and work and somehow survived morning sickness on my own without anyone becoming too suspicious of our little secret :) We would skype every night and text throughout the day. The first week was the hardest, with many tears, but gradually it got easier and just became routine. Thankfully I was working multiple late night shifts at the Law Library, which helped fill the normally loneliest time of the day.
April 2013:
April was when I started to see the light at the end of the tunnel! Lindsay and her kids visited April 1st-2nd. That's when I told the kids they were going to have a new cousin, they didn't believe me for a long time and thought it was an April Fool's joke. It was so nice to see family after a long month of being by myself!

Walking around Campus, Tyler and Ashley made some new friends. 

Ice Cream at the Creamery on 9th, always a favorite! Tyler and Eric got some fun blue wigs from the bookstore. They wore them all over Provo and got so many compliments! 

After 5 weeks of being apart from our husbands, Becca and I flew to SA over Conference weekend (April 5th-9th). By then Michael and Camden were living, very modestly, in what would be our apartment (The Bird's was going to be ready later that month). We had a fun few days relaxing, sight seeing, shopping, eating and savoring the time with our husbands. Then it was back to Provo for the final 2 weeks of being apart. Thankfully they sped by! I was super busy finishing up the semester, packing, working, getting over morning sickness (finally), and mostly just trying to stay motivated! Michael came back the night of 23rd, just in time to finish up the packing, graduate! Lots more to tell about Graduation and moving, but I will give that its own post!

College Graduates!! 

Becca and I flew into SA on April 30th, and the guys arrived with the truck a few hours later. Thanks to many helping hands from our new ward we were able to get everything unloaded that night and even got washers and dryers hooked up and running.

May 2013:
Which brings us to May! Now we are settling into this new place called home and learning our way around the area. Michael is working hard and loving his new job. I think it is going to be a good fit for us for the next few years!

Since my Last Post- Wrapping up 2012

Well, its been a while since I have updated the blog. I have high hopes for getting a little more regular with the posts. Lots of things have happened since October! How about a little recap?

Before October:
Michael and I got back from St. Louis mid-August, just in time for me to start my new campus job in the Howard W. Hunter Law Library. We moved into a more spacious apartment a couple blocks south of Center St. We loved the split-level layout of this apartment, the only downfall was not having a dishwasher. I would joke that Michael was my new dishwasher :) I started my senior year of college and Michael started his 2nd and last year of his MPA. Michael started working for one his professors as a TA/Research Assistant. Life was busy but we tried to savor our last few months of living in Provo, before heading off to who knows where.
October 2012:
This was the middle of fall semester, I can't remember too much of what was happening. I do remember that we made the switch from the family ward to the married student ward (or it could have been September). Either way, it was a much better fit for us and where we were in life. We really loved our time in the Provo Married Student 33rd ward. Just wish we could have been in it longer than 7 months! The first activity we went to was the Halloween party. Michael and I had threw together some last minute costumes and had fun dressing up as Shawn and Juliet from the TV show Psych.

We were also able to spend a couple days in Huntsville. Michael's niece came with us for a night- she helped us decorate the house for Christmas, we made cookies, played lots of Candyland and called vegetables by their Spanish name to trick her into eating them (it kind of worked). 

November 2012:
We bought a new car this month! We found a great deal on a dark gray, 2008 Hyundai Elantra. In true Michael fashion, it needed a name, we settled on Glinda (like in Wicked). 6 month's later we are still happy with our purchase! Later that afternoon I headed to Salt Lake City to go shopping at the City Creek Mall with Courtney and Jessica. Love these girls, and our monthly girls days!!

Can't remember much more that we did this month except enjoy a few days off for Thanksgiving. We spent a few days in Huntsville, and enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner at Michael's sister's house in Ogden. My one request for Black Friday shopping was an artificial Christmas tree (our first real tree since being married). Michael and I shopped around and found a great deal at K-Mart and they were even open Thursday night so we didn't even have to get up early and brave the crowds on Friday. Score! Misty and Kiara came up on Friday and helped us rake leaves at the house. It was definitely nice to have the extra hands...there were lots of leaves!

December 2012:
December brought the end of another semester at BYU. We also celebrated our 2nd Anniversary on the 18th. We didn't do much, just both took work off and spent the whole day together! It was quiet and simple, the way we like it. Michael thought it would be fun to go out to eat for every meal. It ended up being just lunch and dinner since we decided to sleep in, but it was nice not to have to cook at all! We went to a favorite Chinese restaurant of ours on Center St. for lunch. Then spent some time walking the mall, getting my wedding ring cleaned, and enjoyed a redbox movie at home. We had hoped to try a new sandwich place for dinner, but of course it was also the night of their work Christmas party and so they had closed early. We settled for some yummy burgers and fries from Burger Supreme. A few days later we headed to Logan for Michael's younger brother's wedding. We headed up to Huntsville the night before right after, and then traveled the rest of the way the next morning. It was nice to be able to spend some time with Tanna and the kids and my Grandma before the wedding festivities began that evening.

2nd Anniversary...it was a snowy day! 

Huntsville Patio...we made a big pot of soup for the wedding, but need it to cool down before putting it in the fridge for the night. It was plenty cold outside so Michael decided to surround it with snow. It worked! 

Evan joined us to go visit my Grandma, we also took a trip to the Pepperidge Farm outlet store and got some snacks for our upcoming roadtrip to CA. He picked out some cookies for his family and decided on the plainest ones they sell- Chessmen. Michael and I were totally expecting him to pick something with chocolate. He also prefers just vanilla ice cream...I think he takes after my Dad :) 

 That night after the wedding we drove back to Provo, finished up some last minute packing, hit the sack around 1 am and then woke up around 6 the next morning to drive to CA for the rest of our Christmas break. I am disappointed that I didn't take more pictures of our trip. Some highlights were: Bowling with Spencer, Anie, and their kiddos and Bailey, Christmas Eve shopping with my Dad and Corinne, Japanese dinner with the Tao's, going to the Rose parade on New Year's morning, Downton Abbey marathons with Mom and Corinne, testing out my new sewing machine, meeting the family for lunch at 5 Guys, hiking the overlook hike at Sycamore Canyon with Michael, Chloe and my Mom, one last trip to the Sand Hill along Hwy 1 the night before we left to head back to UT.

CA Tournament of Roses Parade! Nearly front row seats and a great view!  

This is turning into a REALLY long post. This wraps up 2012- I think I will save the first few months of 2013 for another post :)