Baby Shower Fun

My dear sister, Laura, threw the most splendid baby shower for me last weekend. She held it at the boutique she works at called Dear Lizzie. It is the cutest place ever and the atmosphere was perfect for a baby shower. Dear Lizzie has a little bistro in the back where we sat and talked and ate!

When we planned the date, I didn't think anyone from my side of the family would be able to attend because its so close to Thanksgiving when everyone will be coming out here anyway. But I was very, very pleasantly surprised when I walked out of the bathroom and found my mom and Annie sitting there at the table. I doubled over and just bawled my eyes out---I'm sure the pregnancy hormones had everything to do with it!

Here are a few pictures of the festivities! You can see my belly...it is just so huge. I think it looks like I've stuffed a basketball in there. My next doctors appointment is tomorrow and we'll find out how close I am to being ready to deliver. I'm hoping she'll be early (safely early) and really think she won't be able to wait until the 5th of December.

Thank you to all my dear friends and family!!!

I'm taking guesses on when she'll arrive. Leave your guess in the comments!!!

At Exactly Midnight

Well, I'm happy to report that Jonah is doing much better. It has been quite the fight each day to give him his medicine but we've gotten it down and it is indeed working!

I, on the other hand, am not feeling fantastic tonight...or this morning. You'll notice the time of this post. Well, I'm having issues sleeping. It's amazing how during the day I can lie down and be asleep in a matter of seconds but at night, it's a different story. I've been lying in bed for 2 hours now with no sign of sleep. Grrrrr. It doesn't make it any easier when Jon gets into bed and immediately starts snoring (not his fault, but I'm a light sleeper and hate earplugs). So tonight I decided to hit the couch--or the computer, until the couch sounds appealing.

So what I really meant to post about was the fact that at exactly midnight (we know because we checked) our radio stations began playing Christmas music. Can you believe it?! We knew it was coming but when we actually heard it...weird! We decided we might have to boycott those stations for just a bit longer since they refuse to play more than 10 Christmas songs over and over.

Halloween was fun! Jonah strolled around Jon's work and immediately grasped the idea of taking candy from strangers and putting it in his bag. He dressed as a giraffe this year and was adorable! My favorite part of the costume was the butt because it was huge and just swayed back and forth when he walked. We went down to Springville to trick-or-treat with Jon's sister and our nieces and Jonah had a blast. We weren't sure he'd get it but soon enough he was mimicking his cousins and saying "tick-a-t" or something to that effect. I forgot my camera so I'll have to post pictures tomorrow. For tonight I'll show you the best Halloween costume I saw today...it just made me laugh!!!!

The best part for me was the red frosting on his eyebrows. Ahhh...I'm still giggling!

I guess I'll try to get some shut-eye now. Nighty-night!

Poor Jonah Boy

The last couple of days have been pretty miserable for the boy. He was really cranky all day Saturday and woke up around 2am with a fever of 101. We gave him some Motrin and put him back to bed. He woke up Sunday morning acting pretty cheerful but after a couple of hours his fever had returned. All day Sunday we kept dishing out the Motrin hoping that whatever was causing his fever would reveal itself or his fever would finally subside. By 4pm he was at 103 and we decided to give Motrin one more try and then go to the doctor if it didn't go away. We ended up taking him to after hours care at our pediatrician's office at 9:30pm. It was the saddest thing I've ever seen. He was zombie-like with bloodshot, watery eyes that were closed half way and he was absolutely burning up. I hate seeing my baby so sick!!!

When the doctor saw us she said that she'd already had several fevers that night and that half were showing up as strep throat and the other half viral. Sure enough, little Jonah's came back positive for Strep. The doc prescribed antibiotic syrup and I asked if they could do a penicillin shot instead and she said yes but that the dose was huge and was the same for all kids under 75 lbs. At that point I didn't want to see my little boy in any more pain or discomfort so I opted for the syrup instead. By the time we got home and administered the drops (both antibiotic and Tylenol for the fever) it was already 11:30pm so you can imagine Jonah's exhausted and sickly state. He took the Tylenol just fine but when it came time for the antibiotics, we had to hold him down, only for him to throw everything back up all over himself, us, and the couch. Poor kid. After a quick back and a book to calm him down, we managed to get one dose of the antibiotics down and put him to bed. Then I gave him one dose of Tylenol after he'd been in bed for an hour since his fever hadn't broke and he was unable to sleep.

This morning my boy woke up feeling a little better and without fever. I'm considering going back to get the penicillin shot instead of forcing the drops down his throat twice a day for 10 days...what a process!!!

Anyway, we're hoping he feels better soon and we have our normally happy and content boy back!

Another Weekend in Colorado

A week ago we drove to Colorado for one of Jon's best friend's weddings. We took the opportunity to see the beautiful fall foliage and drove along the I-70 route. Veil was absolutely breathtaking. Fall is by far my most favorite season!

Here are a few pictures of the wedding. It was neat to see Jon with his buddies from high school. They haven't been in too close of contact with each other so it was a sweet reunion for them! The wedding was up Boulder Canyon outside of a nice restaurant. It was beautiful!

On another note, the belly is huge! I'm feeling pretty good but can tell that the time is drawing near. I'm almost 33 weeks along and my sister-in-law, Natalie, commented last night that I look like I'm 9 months plus one week! I have a feeling this little girl is not going to be so little! Jonah was 8lb 12oz so we'll see what happens with this one!

I'll post some pictures later today.

Let's Groove Tonight!

Today Jonah and I got back from a short trip to Colorado. We flew out there to have another "girl-get-together" with my sister's-in-law, Laura, and Mom. On Tuesday night we went to the Earth Wind and Fire concert at Red Rocks! It was fantastic (except for the extremely strong smell of fajitas cooking, the occasional and inevitable pot smoke wafting our direction, and the couple who thought it was OK to pretend they were in their own bedroom while listening to the music...if you catch my drift). The cool part is that Michael McDonald opened for them...and I'm sure that 99% of you will have to look up who the heck that is so I've provided a link for you. He is the former lead singer of the Doobie Brothers...and I've provided a link for them as well since most of you probably won't know their stuff. Sheesh, people, get with it! We all had a great time dancing and laughing at each other's dance moves (and the drunk people who thought they were dancing).

Jonah decided that he'd wake up at 3am today so you can imagine the horrific plane ride home with him. The worst part was when the guy next to me gave me the look of death when Jonah tossed his sippy cup onto the guy's khaki pants. I think he thought it was going to spill all over him. The glare along with the extreme exhaustion and frustration of dealing with Jonah's antics nearly caused me to burst into tears. But I held it together and we made it home to my sweet Jonathan, whom I missed horribly.

Here are some pictures of the concert for your enjoyment! Oh, and do yourselves a favor and go to iTunes to check out some of the artists' music I've mentioned today...make me proud!

We raided my mom's closet and all wore tie-dye.

Here I am at 29 weeks and Lindsey's at 21 or so. SWEET!

From left to right: Linds, Audra, Laura, Me

Michael McDonald...awesome deep voice.

Yay For Date Night!

It's amazingly hard sometimes to make sure we're having a weekly date night so today we planned to go to dinner together...just the two of us! We usually include Jonah in our "out-to-eats" but I decided that after a relatively long week filled with a few great previews of the "terrible twos" that Jon and I needed some alone time. Jon took me to Red Lobster for their delicious Endless Shrimp (which, for those of you that don't know, happens every year around this time and we always make a point to go). Jon's parents were soooo great and took Jonah way last minute for us while we went to dinner. What fun we had!!

On another note-- GO COUGARS! Each Saturday we go to my in-laws house here in Orem and watch the BYU game in their sweet home theatre. I wish we could go to a game this season but watching it in the theatre is almost better (at least I have to convince myself of this) for several reasons: 1. I get to recline in a cozy leather chair, 2. We can rewind any play we want or even fast-forward through commercials if we start the game a little later (which makes a 4 hour game last about 2 hours), 3. I can take potty breaks in a nice clean bathroom (increasingly important as my bladder has absolutely no room anymore), and 4. We can snack on anything and everything and usually do (we've made a tradition of buying french onion dip and chips).

Anyway, this season has been awesome and I'm excited to see what comes!

About Those To Whom "Social Responsibility" Doesn't Exist

I don't really ever post this kind of thing but I was watching a bit of news the other day at the gym and something reallllllly got under my skin and I have to make it known. The news was mostly covering hurricane Ike in Texas and the news reporters were mentioning how the authorities and asked (more like pleaded with) people to evacuate if they were in the areas that would be most affected. Well, of course, there were people who just wouldn't (and maybe a few who couldn't) evacuate. I'm upset with those that WOULDN'T, against better judgement, evacuate their homes...BECAUSE THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS!!!! People with good, common sense had to put their own lives in danger, making multiple helicopter rescue trips, to save those stupid people who wouldn't leave. So not only did they put their own lives in danger, but the lives of those who had to go rescue them. This makes me sooooo mad. Millions of dollars goes into each one of these rescue trips and PEOPLE DIE trying to rescue the idiots who didn't leave in the first place!

This is a topic that really got me boiling in one of my law classes at BYU. There are stupid people who think they need more of a thrill and go rock climbing without ropes, or go hiking or mountain climbing without anyone with them or at lest telling someone where they're going, or those people that go back country skiing and snowboarding when there are clearly serious warnings about avalanches. So these people use millions of dollars from responsible, taxpaying citizens like you and me when they get lost, trapped, or fall hundreds of feet and need to be rescued.

So do me a favor, People! EVACUATE your dang house when you're told you should, your material possessions are not worth your life, or more importantly, the life of the person that has to come save your stupid butt!

Glad to get that off my chest. Now just to clarify--I'm not saying you can't take risks and have thrilling, exciting adventures (I, for one, enjoy these types of things!). Just do it responsibly so you don't put other people in danger when you decide to do something stupid.

Labor Day Weekend

We had a great Labor Day Weekend and thoroughly enjoyed the extra days off together. It's always hard to go back to the normal routine though. We went to Colorado and stayed with my parents for the weekend. Here are a few of the cool things we got to do:


1. Attend Alison's wedding (one of my bestest friends from home)

She looked amazing and happy and it was great to get to be there with her and her husband Taj.

2. See the Columbine Memorial

None of my family had gotten to see it yet so we decided to go together after Alison's wedding. We were all very moved at how nicely it was done. It is an inspiring memorial.

Grandpa with Jonah.

This is a Columbine.

3. Visit Estes Park on Labor Day

I love Estes Park. It's really nice that my parents live so close to it now so it's just a half hour drive up to the town. We walked around the shops and then visited the Stanley Hotel just for fun. For those of you who don't know, it was made famous by that creepy movie "The Shining" so now people go there just for the ghost stories. That's not why I like it--it's just really pretty.

Jon is either looking at a ghost or a really bad hairdo!

25 Weeks and Counting

I thought it time to post another picture of my blossoming belly. So here you go. We're getting closer and closer to the time when our baby girl will join our little family. I've been trying to get Jonah to recognize what's coming and the most progress we've made is him pointing to and rubbing my belly when I say, "Where's Baby?" I'm sure we're in for an adventurous transition. If any of you have any tips on how you handled it all, I'm always open to advice!

On another note, here are some sweet new shoes I got for Jonah last week. He's outgrown all his sandals and I decided I might as well get something that will last through the fall/winter. If you can't tell, they're New Balance with Oscar the Grouch and flies all over them.

Hikes, Cows, and Rockets

We decided to take advantage of this beautiful scenery right out our back door and started hiking on Saturdays. The first week, we took our Baby Bjorn, hoping Jonah would still fit in it. Jonah is in the 95th percentile for height, but is dang skinny and hasn't hit the weight limit for it yet. So we tried it out. Jon carried him since my belly protrudes enough that it doesn't fit me. It was pretty rough. Jon couldn't even lift his legs since every time he did, Jonah's legs hit his knees and created resistance. It was pretty funny looking, but Jonah didn't seem to mind it too much. We decided to get a hiking backpack for our babies and I was able to find one on eBay for a great price! It worked much better.

Liz called and invited Jonah and me down to a dairy farm in Mona that her husband Clay built for someone. The idea was to watch the cows being milked but we really just ended up looking at a few cows and driving home with about 100 flies in the car. I'm not kidding, I've never seen more flies in one place...I couldn't stand it!
As you can see, Jonah was more interested in his pretzels than the cows.
Another one of our latest hobbies (one that didn't last too long) was building Estes Rockets and launching them in a nearby field. It's pretty nerdy, I know, but it was a random nostalgic thought I had when thinking about elementary school and I had no problem whatsoever convincing Jon to do it. Here are a couple of videos (mostly of blank blue sky searching for the rockets).

P.S. Mine went higher!


I'm not including my launch, just the recovery of it because that's really the amazing part!


Here are a couple of random pictures for your enjoyment. Jonah has a habit of crossing his legs when he's lying down. He does it when I'm changing his diaper, or whenever...it's pretty cute.


Mamou (Jon's mom) bought Jonah a stroller since he loves to push them around. She couldn't find a blue one.