To Whom it May Concern...

Baby Aliyah decided to come to her family December 23rd at 12:27pm, weighing 6 lbs. and 13 oz., 18 inches long! We are pretty sure she is the most perfect baby ever born...ever. Here are some pictures of the last few days.

Checking into the hospital--my water broke a couple of hours before this...


The most wonderful experience right after she was born. I got to hold her for the first time...and it was just me, Dave and baby Aliyah


Our new little family


Baby Aliyah (we originally were going to spell it Aliah...but we think (and hope) we like it with a "y" better--Dave says it's for the Cougars!) How do you like all that hair and all those cheeks!


We came home Christmas Eve...a pretty good present under the tree!




Christmas Day


It definitely was not expected to have her come 9 days early, but we are SO glad that she is here and healthy. We LOVE her!

2 Weeks...

In a row that I'll have posted something...pat on the back for me right!? Oh and 2 weeks until baby is due...but who's counting?

Here are a few things that I am looking forward to post-pregnancy:
Slouching
Bending over
Doing sit-ups
Wearing normal clothes (and not constantly pulling on my shirts to make sure my belly is covered!)
Sleeping on my back
Not grunting to stand up


Here are things I will miss:
Feeling her move
Her hiccups
People staring at my belly while I walk around stores

I have enjoyed this blessing of being pregnant! But I'm look forward to having a baby in my arms and not in my belly! 2 weeks...maybe!

Some Updates...Kind of

So we are officially "full term." Yesterday we were 37 weeks and now I'm basically a ticking time bomb. My belly has continued to grow...thank goodness...and to put it in perspective here is my dad's comment, who I hadn't seen in almost 5 weeks (they are true empty nesters and leave when they can), of when he saw me: "Oh wow!" Thank you dad. The following pictures are within the past month and a half or so and also document the evolution of our nursery:

mid-October


beginning of November


beginning of December


It's been fun to prepare, but we are now on the home stretch and definitely have a few more things on our list to do! Good luck to us during this busy holiday season too!


In the past month we also celebrated our 3 year anniversary of our first date--cheesy huh? But I loved it. Plus we've been trying to take the advice of others and spend a lot of good quality time together before the baby comes. So we did dinner at Macaroni Grill and went to the Hale Center Theater to see the Scarlet Pimpernel. It was fun to reminisce and reinact our first date and the first three years of being together. Dave made the night very special and I love him for his thoughtfulness.



Well, let's be honest, the next post will probably be with baby...and she might be a year old by then too! Let's hope not, but until then...

I LOVE Fall

If anyone wants a fun fall tradition to start...go to The Red Barn in Santaquin. They have a hay ride, a little maze, pick your own pumpkin, AND the best part...apple cider doughnuts! SO, SO good. We went with some of the my family. Cute kids, fun times and delicious doughnuts.




Stake Flag football. Dave loves fall simply for all of the football. Yesterday he played flag football (2nd picture is of him throwing a touchdown pass) and we went to the BYU game to watch football. Thank goodness they finally won! We needed it.


AND I'm officially in the third trimester! 12 weeks to go.

(we just painted the "nursery"--how do you like it?!)

Scrabble

I want to best remember the moment in telling my parents we were expecting, so I thought I would share it on the blog.

My mom is a really, really big scrabble player. All growing up, whenever my mom and Grandma Downing would get together they would play scrabble what seemed to be all day long for two weeks straight. My mom is professional. So, Dave came up with the brilliant idea to announce our pregnancy to my parents through a game of scrabble.

For father's day we invited my parents over for dinner. We set up a scrabble game as though Dave and I were in the middle of the it when they came over. Dave spent about 10-15 minutes coming up with this:





We had it planned that when my parents came I would tell mom that she needed to help Dave because he was trying to put a word down that didn't work--"baby" in the lower right hand corner under "first." We knew that would get her looking at the board and try to come to his rescue.

We made sure to hide a camera so we could have the classic reaction we knew would come from my mom.


Then showtime. As soon as mom knew Dave was in need of her expertise she was ready to dive into the game. She laughed at Dave for trying to put "baby" at that place, because "ib" isn't a word. (note that the word Dave was trying to put down was BABY!!) She then went on to tell us that you can't put January down because it is a capital word. We asked, "so you can put mom and dad, right." That was fine. She was looking all over the board trying to find a different place for Dave to go--she even told him that he had horrible letters. Finally, I asked how are our other words. She looked around the board and said, "Oh, 'expecting' is a really good one." and kept looking. Finally, (she said it was when she read toddler that it clicked) she looked up suddenly and basically yelled to let us and my dad know, "You're going to have a baby...in January!!!!" It was such a classic moment. We couldn't have planned a better reaction.

I'm now 22 weeks along, but here I am at 18 weeks (I don't have the 20 or 22 week pictures on my computer!)

It has been fun to begin the fall going ons with Dave starting to teach again and beginning his Master's program and I am teaching at BYU and my sister's studio. Time will fly by and we are excited for the future!

Liars

Dave and I have been deceiving people in the blogging world for quite some time...do you remember this post http://thecardstricks.blogspot.com/2010/03/whoda-thunk_22.html (I'm not smart enough to link it). Although all documents were true and deserved there's been a bit of a change in plans. Some already know, so this might be anti-climatic, but here's the real scoop:

Dave will actually be attending the University of Utah (I can hear my brothers and mom squirm) to get his masters Instructional Design and Educational Technology. It has been a rollercoaster ride to get to this point, but we feel that it is perfect for Dave what he is doing and what he wants to go on doing. We're really excited despite his absence in the home!

As for me. Even though I had sent my letter of intent to attend the U...we just felt that two of us would show a betrayal...just kidding. Something more important came up! After a lot of prayers and hoping, we are finally expecting...a baby. No, really we are. I am 20 weeks along, due January first and we just found out that we will be having a baby girl. We are so excited and understand even more of how miraculous of a gift it is.

I will post pictures of such events at a later time...but for now these words of good news will have to do.

And that's 7 days of posting!

Conclusion of Our Trip

Continued from "yesterday," our trip really was wonderful. Along with seeing all the wonderful sights we spent a lot of time with this good couple.

A lot from this angle...

We laughed a lot in the car, cried a little ;), and talked. Dave and I have plenty of one liners from my parents that are pretty priceless--which were helped my dads hearing aids and my mom's guileless nature. In addition to the good times, Dave and I were able to see a lot more than we would have if we'd gone on our own. A wonderful blessing to have them with us.

A few of the days we were able to stay with family in Indiana. Unfortunately we didn't get pictures of people...just the important stuff--BOWLING. My mom's side of the family owns a bowling alley in Indiana so when we go visit we do A LOT of bowling. Dave bowled 5 games in a row one day. We very much enjoyed ourselves...especially when we were with my aunts and uncles and cousins!!

Great Form, right?


Dave's score


AND MY SCORE!!!! I beat my mom and had to document it. This was the first game we'd played and I never got close to that score again, but that moment was definitely a moment of glory.


Tomorrow's post...updating this month and more!

Church History Part

After coming home from our long trip, Dave and I both commented on how incredible it was to feel the Spirit in each of the church history sites. Although we felt the Spirit in the U.S. History places, it was definitely more powerful in the sites where the gospel was restored.

First stop, Peter Whitmer Farm.


Sacred Grove--It was such a great experience to be there with Dave for his first time. Dave is so good in his desires to feel the Spirit and this was a powerful place.


Smith Farmhouse


Palmyra Temple


Hill Cummorah


Pageant--It poured from mid-afternoon through half of the pageant. Other people had ponchos and umbrellas...we had trash bags. Each of us used at least 3 bags to help keep us dry--some worked better than others. We even had people asking if we had extras they could use. Despite the rain the pageant was great

(hope you enjoy that picture mom!!!)


Niagara Falls (not church history but sandwhiched in there)


Kirtland Temple



Newel K. Whitney Store--It was wonderful to be in these places where revelations were received and the restoration flourished. Such a wonderful Spirit.


John Johnson Farm


Carthage--this wonderful family was baptized in Colorado while I served there during the winter of my mission. They are INCREDIBLE people. They have since moved to Illinois and were willing to meet up with us in Carthage. They are such a great example to me of faith. I was rejuvenated by being with them again.


My beloved Carthage. I learned so much from serving there, giving tours and bearing my testimony of Joseph Smith. It was so wonderful to have Dave there with me and to tell him all the stories that mean so much to me and has made me who I am.


Nauvoo Temple--another place that I deeply love after being able to go weekly while on my mission. It is the most beautiful temple.


Another beautiful place. If you are ever going to Nauvoo make sure that you eat at this delicious cafe and bakery in Fort Madison--across the river. You have to have a dessert and eat part of it before your lunch--that was our tradition! I was so excited to go back and eat there and I was not disappointed.


Nauvoo



Winter Quarters


On the way home...


We were all ready to be home by the end of our 16 days excursion. We'd seen so much and been filled greatly. My favorite from the overall trip was to be in Nauvoo with Dave. In addition to the touring and showing him my favorite things, we were able to see the Pageant. If anyone has the opportunity to go to the Nauvoo pageant, do it. It is by far my favorite pageant (and not just because I am biased and love Nauvoo)!! It delivers such a powerful message of eternal families, temples, and Jesus Christ. So powerful.

Not only were we able to strengthen our testimony of the gospel, but Dave and I (poor Dave) were able to spend a lot of time with my parents and family in Nauvoo!!! But that's for tomorrow.

Vacation...

If you could call it that...maybe the term trip would define it better. We were gone for 14 days and saw Appomattox Courthouse, Monticello, Washington D.C., Gettysburg, Palmyra, Niagara Falls, Kirtland, Indiana (my mom's side of family), Carthage, Nauvoo, Kanesville, and Winter Quarters by car. We were waking up early, driving a lot, and getting to bed late. We had originally decided to take the trip because Dave will be teaching Doctrine and Covenants this year in Seminary and had thought that it would be a good thing to see all the places he'd be teaching about. Overall it was an awesome experience. Here are pictures from the U.S. History part of our trip and tomorrow I will do the Church History.

Appomattox Courthouse

Monticello

Mount Vernon

Lincoln Memorial

The Mall

The Holocaust Museum

Smithsonian

Gettysburg

Gettysburg


I had been to all of these places before (except Appomattox Courthouse), but it was Dave's first time. It was an incredible experience to see the history and lives of those who helped to establish our country. We felt the Spirit a number of times as we thought of how God's hand has been here all along. One of my favorites this time around was to see the flag that the Star Spangled Banner was written about. It was powerful to see this old worn flag and to have the great pride in our country. It was especially meaningful this time around because it was just after we celebrated the 4th of July and because of Taylor's recent deployment--being reminded of what he was willing to sacrifice for. So, regardless of the record heat days while in the D.C area, it really was an awesome experience!