Carrie Underwood - Temporary Home

Sorry that I am posting several of these in a row. I'm remembering all the videos that I was wanting to post over the past few weeks of songs and what not that have come to mind and have really good meaning behind them. Some are self explainitory and others not so much, but I think this one is one of the self explainitory ones.
This is our "temporary home"

Come What May & Love It

I love the message that this video puts out to the world. It helps me remember to look for the good in life and make the best of what we have been given.

Memories....

Two years ago today I was sealed to my husband for time and all eternity in the Manti Utah Temple.
It was a perfect day! The temperature was a beatiful beginning of fall type day, just like today is here in Missouri. I was wonderful to have as much family as we did there, considering how short of notice we gave everyone. Things feel together within a matter of 2 weeks for us to go out to Utah and get sealed in the temple of our choice. Despite not being able to have all of our family there, Ryan's parents made it an occassion to remember for us and we thank them all the time for the oppourtunity it gave us! Since that day we have been greatly blessed to move upward and onward with our lives together, and mostly in a positive direction the entire time. We have had our ups and downs and continue to do so, but it is hard not to struggle in the times we are living in right now.

We have moved 3 different times since that day and are currently hoping to stay "settled" in the home we are at right now for at least a year. Hopefully longer cause we are tired of moving every few months :) And come December our little family will gain a bouncing baby boy. We are extremely excited and scared all at the same time because December is coming really fast! I am now 29 weeks and doctor's appointments are now 2 weeks apart, as opposed to the monthly check-ups. Its just another reminder that we are getting closer and closer to this little boys arrival....

And as I type this his little cousin (Jayden Dale Sharp) is being buried out in Utah. He was born last Saturday to his parents Katie and Cory Sharp, tiny little baby only 1.5 lbs, 11 inches. Sadly he was still born. They had induced his mother early (25wks) in hopes that he would be born alive so they could hold him before he passed on. My heart has been aching for them this whole time since finding out they would lose their little boy to a rare chromosome defect (Trisomy 18). Ryan & I wish that we could be there today with the rest of his family, but we are there in mind and heart. Though we never met little Jayden we love him dearly and he will be missed.

So today is filled with wonderful, good, and sad memories for us...but we continue "come what may and love it."

26 and Counting....

Despite the looking like a deer caught in the headlights this was this best pic we were able to get of me last week.

I'm starting to feel huge, even though I'm really not yet. But for someone who has remained below 100 pound the major of her life and fit in the same size clothes for 8+ years, well I'm feeling a bit self-conscious about myself. When we had our last doctor's appointment back on the 16th of August I forewarned Ryan that if the Doctor told me that I still didn't look pregnant I was going to have a fit....thankfully she didn't say that :) And according to my "mother hen" co-workers I get bigger over the weekends....lol

Baby boy (aka Brysen) is becoming much more active. Kicks are becoming stronger to the point where if you pay enough attention to my tummy you can see him kicking and moving around... its weird in a neat sort of way.

Late August Update

August has been a whirlwind month for us and our immediate families and its reminded me of the small and simple things that get us through everyday. A smile, a kind word, a phone call, a song you hear on the radio, a hug, and the list goes on.

Have you ever noticed how hard it is to give advice to someone when you haven't been in a similar situation yourself? Its hard to relate to how they are feeling and what they are going through emotionally and physically. My mind has been focused a lot on my family and relationships with them. Mainly on 2 of my sisters and how grateful I am for them and their strength through trials.

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My sister, that is just older than me, has been struggling with many things over the years health wise, but lately its been in the relationship department of life. She was happily engaged to who I am told is a wonderful guy and they were set to be married in October and the next thing I know the engagement is off. When I heard the news from her I didn't know what to say and especially what kind of advice to give. So I did the best I could with what limited detail I had from her and what guidance I got from the spirit in thinking of what to say to her.

She has recently moved into a new apartment and gotten a new job and so she is trying to rebuild a life for herself without him in it right now and I just don't know what to do or say. Heartbroken, moving on with her life, and still managing to stay in a cheerful mood....that's my sister Cassy.

*****

The other is my sister-in-law, Kate. She and I are pretty close in age and its been fun getting to know her over the past couple years. She too, has also been through some tough stuff the past few years, but I would have to say her most recent trial tops them all by far. You see she and I both found out we were pregnant within a couple weeks of each other, for both of us its our first. Its been so fun having someone to share the dramas of pregnancy with. We found out that we were both due within about 2-3weeks of each other in the month of December. Then we both found out we were having boys. So exciting being able to relate and have someone to talk to...that is until she had her latest ultrasound appointment earlier this month. They discovered that their perfect little boy was not perfect and would not make it full-term. He has what's known as Trisomy 18, which is extremely rare. Once he is born he will probably not live for more than a day, unless heaven provides a miracle for this little family. They have recently found out that the best option for them at this point is for her to get induced early so that they will have a chance to see and hold their precious baby boy in their arms before he passes. I have found it extremely hard to reach out to her with comforting words. My heart stopped when my husband told me what was going on one day when I came home from work and I burst into tears. We sat and cried together on our living room sofa. Sorrowful cries for our sister and her little family, mixed in with ones of gratitude that it wasn't us. I felt selfish with that though but couldn't help it at the same time. Since then I haven't know what to say to her nor have I really attempted (I know I'm gutless...shame on me). I have overheard conversations Ryan has had with his parents when they have called to give us an update. The last time he called he actually talk to Kate for a little while and he told me how impressed he was with her faith, strength, and positive outlook. Said that she was defiantely growing up.

Its been hard for Ryan to watch Kate struggle through the years cause he has always felt really close to her and when she hurts, he hurts....its the perfect brother-sister relationship that I had always yearned for as a kid. So yes I am slightly jealous of their relationship, but they are both amazing people to me that I am eternally grateful to have in my life.

I want both Cassy and Kate to know how much they mean to me (and the rest of you too) and that they are teaching me about life as I watch them grow in their own lives.
Cassy you are my big sister and my close friend, always will be. Despite how far apart the miles have been keeping us over the past several years. Glad we have always been able to be there for each other when it matters most.

Kate, I don't know what to say beside I admire your courage with what you are going through right now. I do know one thing though, that our little boys may not get the chance to play with each other in this life, but I can guarantee that Brysen and Jayden are playing together right now and creating a bond of friendship that will last until they meet again....forever little buddies. Which I find comforting to know and so I hope it helps.

Living Room After Pics

I don't know what happened to my before pictures, but here are the after shots. The room just had a white primer-coat on it when we moved in. Ryan painted the living about 2 weeks ago and its just taken me a while to get the pictures off the camera and onto the computer. We think its a much better improvement (not as drastic as the dining room). Enjoy!

Pregnancy Belly at Week 19

Volia! Our little baby boy likes to move up during the day and sink back down at night. This is me last Thursday (July 14th) at about mid-day. Usually when I wake up in the morning my baby bump is lower. He is moving around enough now to the point where I have figured out when its him moving and when its just me. It's definitely making being pregnant seem more realistic when I can feel the baby moving around.
Baby tends to move around more in the evenings and whenever Ryan is around. Knows his daddy and seems to favor him already...lol For example: I was lying down on the couch Friday night with my head on Ryan's lap and he was moving around quite a bit whenever Ryan touched my belly.

Dining Room Makeover

Last weekend (July 9th) Ryan did me a huge favor and painted our dining room. Bye bye ugly pink wallpaper and faded yellowing white trim, Hello midnight blue walls and bright white trim!

BEFORE:

DURING:

AFTER:

Our Fourth of July Weekend

We had a good 4-day weekend. I say four because I came home sick on Friday and didn't go back into work until Tuesday afternoon, after the ultra sound appointment. So we were able to spend some much wanted time together. We didn't really do a whole lot due to it being really, really hot! The heat index was up in the 100's and I've been having enough trouble with the upper 80's and 90's. Heat is not my best friend right now. Saturday we spent about an hour in the yard doing clean up work and putting stuff away and that was about the extent of our outdoor activities for the weekend. Monday we spent most of the day indoors, again due to the heat and me not being able to tolerate it very well right now. I get sick from it pretty easy, which is why I went home on Friday from work. The office building was too hot for me to handle. Monday evening we sat outside for a little bit and watched neighbors shoot-off fireworks. We were going to go watch the City display at the visitor center, but neither one of us felt up to fighting the traffic and crowds to get down there this year and we could see most of them from our front yard anyway. Didn't take any pictures of fireworks this year either, we were too lazy.

Mainly we spent the whole weekend doing a Harry Potter movie marathon to get caught up on all the flicks before the new one came out on the 15th. SO yes in a matter of 4 days we got all seven "currently released on dvd" watched. We are not big movie theater goers,s owe didn't rush out to see the last one in theaters like the millions of other people did on the 15th. We love the movies don't get me wrong, but they are getting expensive and its soo much cheaper to have the patience to wait for it to come out to rent on dvd for a buck or two.

July 5th: Ultrasound Day

First off for those of you dying to see a pregnancy picture of me, here ya go. Finally showing a little bit, after weeks of people asking me if I was ever going to start showing. I kept thinking "I'm only __ weeks along in my 1st pregnancy, am I suppose to be showing?" LOL.

This was yesterday, technically I'm about 17.5 weeks along, considering they moved my due date up 11 days when we went in to the hospital on Tuesday.

Second: IT'S A BOY!
Ryan and I went to the hospital on Tuesday for my ultrasound and we got to "see" our little baby. They were able to tell us that indeed it was a boy...a very active baby boy! It's amazing that I am not feeling him move around in there yet with as much as he was moving around during the ultrasound. He was very cooperative for the nurse :)

I keep trying to upload a couple of the ultrasound pictures, but it wants to put them sideways which is bothering me, so I posted a few on my facebook page for those of you who are my friend on there. I will keep working on trying to get them posted up here when I have a bit more time and patience to make them post correctly :)