5 MoRe WeEkS

5 more weeks until the arrival of baby Carter!!! I will seriously have no problem if he decides to arrive on his original due date of the 6th. As you can see in my picture, Carter is having no problem growing. We have been busy this past couple of weeks getting ready for his arrival. Brad put together the crib and we put his bedding in it. I think it looks really cute. Last night we also bought a changing table. I feel like we still have so much to do before he comes.

Yesterday we went to our third trimester class. Lets just say our teacher was bit of a granola. The class was from 9-4:30 and I thought Brad and I were going to go nuts! Some of the things she was telling us to do when I was in labor were completely crazy. Brad had the hardest time not laughing and making his usual comments.

Brad has his last final on Tuesday! This has been such a long journey and I can't believe it is almost over. I honestly don't know which one of us will be more happy. He is still searching for a job. He is having a hard time finding a job with the economy being so bad.

Thanksgiving/ Shower pics

Thanksgiving and Baby Shower

This week has been a busy one for our family. My sister and her husband came in from Virginia to spend Thanksgiving with the rest of the Stahles. It was so much fun to spend a couple of days playing games and eating tons of great food together. My sister-in-law Sandra makes the best food! While Schelley was here we went Black Friday shopping, which consisted of going up to Park City at Midnight to shop at the outlets. I could not believe how stupid we were for thinking that was a great idea. We got some awesome deals, but baby Carter would have appreciated me staying home and sleeping. He let me know around 3:00 a.m. what a bad idea it was by me bearly being able to walk anymore.
On Saturday my sister through me my baby shower at Sandra's house. I might be a little biased, but I thought it was the best baby shower that I have been to : ) Schelley had made it a clothesline theme and all of my wonderful friends made bibs for me. I can't wait for Carter to use them. Thank you so much for all those that came to my shower. It meant a lot to me to see my closest friends and family together. My dad took tons of pictures of the baby shower, but lets just say you will not be seeing too many of them. I know I have gotten bigger, but I didn't realize that my face blew up!!!!!!!!! I am glad there are only 7 more weeks of this weight gain. I would appreciate it if he would show up a little early. Everyone keeps telling me it only gets worse from here, which is not exactly what I want to hear. I feel like he wants to kick out my belly button to escape my ever growing belly.
I am going to post some pics of Thanksgiving and the baby shower, but there will not be so many of me!

Jobs Jobs Jobs

So we are still job searching for Brad. Although Brad felt that the interview in California went well, he ended up not getting the job. We have been searching here in Utah, along with Tennessee, Texas, and pretty much everywhere else : ) We are both starting to get a little antsy about him not having a job. If anyone out there knows about any job openings please share! Although it is not the ideal situation, if he cannot find a job we have been talking about taking care of Carter while I finish out the school year.
On a positive note, our newest nephew was born, Joseph Gabriel. He is so darling. When we visited him in the hospital he was so sweet and content. Gabe was so calm while I was holding him. Getting to hold him made me realize how soon I will be holding my own baby. I can't believe in 2 months we are going to have a baby of our own.

October Pics

Pumpkin Carving and California

We have had a busy last couple of weeks. Baby Sofia decided to show up about a week late! She is such a beautiful little girl. Because she was so late my parents got to hang out with us more. We went with Matt and Michon to a pumpkin patch to find a family pumpkin. I designed the pumpkin and Brad cut it all out. On one side we had a scary face and on the other was a big C for baby Carter. Even though he is not actually here, he is definitely showing himself in my big belly.
We have also moved into the basement of our friends John and Amanda. It has been such a blessing for us. Our contract ended at our apartment complex and we didn't know when we would be moving out of state. They were so nice to let us rent out their basement. We have been having a fun time doing dinner together.
I had UEA break from school last week and Brad had fall break so we decided to have a babymoon and go to California. We were also going out there to see if we liked the area just in case Brad gets a job there. We hung out with a couple of families Brad knew from his mission and then met up with Matt and Michon. My favorite part of the trip was hanging out at Carmel Beach off of Pebble Beach golf course. It was so beautiful and we got to watch the sun go down.
Brad has an interview next Monday in California, the area we were just in. We are also hoping that he will have an interview with Eli Lilly in Austin, Texas. We will be really excited if he can get in with this company!

Month of Parties

So this month has already been a month of parties! Two weekends ago was Sandra's and Lindsey's baby showers. It was also my niece Madi's birthday. I had a fun time trying to get around to everything! This past weekend was Brad's 25th birthday. I am a horrible wife and didn't take any pictures of his birthday party. : ( Thanks for everyone that came. We had a great time. I even told Brad to remind me, but that obviously did not help. I am so scattered brained lately. I have made it through a month of school, and really proud of that. Brad has started applying for jobs when he graduates. Hopefully he will be able to find something before December. This week should be the arrival of baby Sofia!! I am excited to see what she looks like. We also bought Baby Carter's cribbing. I am really excited because we got it at TJ Maxx for half of the price that is in stores! Well I think that is about it!

Updates!

So it has been awhile since I have updated this! Well I started school again, and luckily this year my students are much better. I hope they continue to be good! Well I actually didn't make it through the first week of school. My first Wednesday morning I woke up and Brad had made me my favorite muffins for breakfast. I sat down to eat one of them and I started to get sharp pains in my abdomen. I decided to go lay down for a bit. When I got back up I left for work. As I was driving the pains came back and were much worse. By the time I got to school I could barely stand up. The other teachers in my area told me to call Brad and have him come pick me up. I called my doctor, but she didn't seem very concerned. She just told me to go home and lay down. My cramping stayed around for half the day. Luckily I have not had to experience that since that day. My mom told me that pre-term cramping can happen because of dehydration. The school that I teach in does not have air conditioning and it was 100 degrees the first two days of school. Since then I have been drinking tons of water.
This past week we went for our ultrasound. The ultrasound tech told us that Carter is perfect with everything. He is right on schedule growth wise and it seems like he will be showing up around the 18th of January. I was really happy when I heard all of this. I am also going to be putting pics up of that ultrasound.
Monday was Labor Day and Kristina, Lindsey, and I went up to Park City for some baby shopping. It was soooo cold! By the time we got up to Park City it was 45 degrees outside! I was going to take pictures of us, but it was really rainy and gross so I decided against it. We all found some really cute clothes at the carters outlet. I am really excited to put Carter into carters clothing hahaha. Lindsey got a bunch of super cute clothes at osh kosh. I liked a lot of clothes there, but I was not as patient about waiting in line to buy it.
I finally took a picture of me today, 21 weeks along for your viewing pleasure. Seriously feel good about all your skinny figures as you see me. Brad and I went on a walk today, and lets just say I can defintely feel the affects of carrying a baby!

A Two and a Half Moral Victory

So since Laura feels that I do not ever give my input on our blog I thought that I would. Today I woke up at 3:30 am and drove down to Springville, Utah to run the Hobble Creek Half Marathon. I know what many of you are thinking, yeah right. But for all you doubters out there, yes I did go and I did post a personal record for myself. The reason that I did post a personal record is because I have never ran a like this before in my life and on top of never running a race before, I did it cold. No, training at all. This is a big mistake. Never run if you have no training up to the race. But nonetheless I finished. With a amazing time of 2 hours 28 minutes and 49 seconds. Yeah I know that is not amazing for any runners out there, but for never running I am happy and even more happy that I finished. The winner of the race finished in 1 hour and 6 minutes, in my opinion he is a show off. Now with this obstacle out of the way I am now training for the swimming leg of a triathlon team. I am racing on a team with my piano moving boss and his little brother. Don't worry, I am training for this one. Especially since it is a 1000 meter open water swim and I have not swam competitively since high school. On the 19th of this month me and Laura celebrated our third year anniversary. I feel that I am extremely lucky to have her in my life and truly do find my self falling in love with her all over again everday. We are also getting more anxious for our soon to be son to be born in 4 months. I can not wait. In other news, Laura starts teaching next week for her final teaching year, she can tell you more about that, and I start my final semester at UVU. I am starting to get ready to apply for jobs and pray that I can land something for the beginning of 2009. Lastly, we have been having a blast watching the Olympics, even the events that are rigged and have other countries or judges cheating.

Crib Shopping

This week I was online looking at cribs on ksl. I saw in ad for cribs on sale at a warehouse in Orem. I decided to go down there and check them out. They all were so cute, I was having the hardest time trying to decide which one to go with. I sent pictures to my sister and Brad and they both liked this one. The next day Brad and I went back down there because apparently I cannot make decisions on my own to look again. We told Lindsey and Joe about the sale and so they came along too! After Lindsey and Joe both told me they liked this crib too, I decided that we should go with it. They found a crib that they liked and got one that day too. Today my brother Mike and Sandra are going down there to see if they can find a crib that they want. If anyone out there is looking for a crib this sale is awesome. They have 6 or 7 different styles and they all come in different colors. The cribs prices range from $169 to $264, which is seriously a third of their retail price.

IT'S A .........

I could possibly be the most impatient person in the world ( I probably should work on that in the next few months). The other day my friend Kaylene and I went maternity clothes shopping together. Our due dates are about a week apart. After we walked out of motherhood maternity we saw the fetal studio. I wanted to see how much it was and when they could find out the gender of my baby. He told me he could check mine right now. I didn't think that Brad would appreciate me finding out with Kaylene instead of him so I went home and asked him if we could go back. Yesterday before we went to the temple we went back and got my ultra sound done and we are having a baby boy!!! I started crying while I watched my little guy swimming around. He looked so sweet. I feel so blessed that I get to be a mom and I have a husband who is going to be the world's best dad. Brad is so good with kids, he changes little Madi's diaper even when I don't want to! Well baby Carter really likes his profile because he kept showing it to us. Here are all the pictures from yesterday.

Summer Pictures

Summer Fun and Stroller Shopping

So I have not updated in awhile so here goes. On the 4th of July we went down to Provo and hung out with Brad's family. While we were there we went to Nordstrom's to look at baby stuff. We were in the baby section and Lindsey put a plastic ball around her. I was really proud that it had fit around her pregnant belly!

My good friends from the cheesecake factory and I went to lunch this week at the Citrus Grill. It was really nice seeing them when we aren't all dressed in white and looking like marshmallows. Oh and by the way just to let you know national cheesecake day in the 30th. Come in and get a slice for $1.50!

This week I had the chance to watch my sweet niece Madison. I decided that we were going to go swimming. She was really excited about this until she realized how big the pool was. After about 20 minutes Madison was having fun and kicking her little legs around the pool.

Brad and I went Boondocks and Olive Garden this week for a date. We always play the basketball game there. I have to brag a bit....I beat him and got the high score on the machine! Brad beats me at a ton of things, but I seem to always do well at the game. We were going to play on the bumper boats, but I was having a hard time in the heat.

I think I have narrowed down my stroller search to two different strollers, the Quinny and Uppa Baby Vista. On Saturday Brad and I went to a couple of baby boutiques. I will post pictures of both and hopefully you all can help me decide which one to get. I like the Quinny because of the way it folds and unfolds. I also like it because it goes with the mico cosi carseat. I like the uppa baby because it comes with a bassinet and has a larger basket underneath the stroller.

Baby on the way

For those that do not know, Brad and I are expecting our first child in January! Last week I heard the heart beat and made me finally realize that something was growing inside me! We are both excited about all the changes that are going to happen in the next 6 months. Brad will graduate in December right before the baby comes, then hopefully we will be moving! We will find out what we are having at the end of August. If we have a boy we like the name Carter James ( James for my dad) and if it is a girl we like Brooklynn Ann (Ann after my sister and me).

summer slideshow

Summer Trips

So this summer we decided to have a three week vacation extravaganza! We spent the first week on a cruise in Mexico with our friends Stacey and Jeff. We went to Cabo and Ensanada. Surprisingly we both enjoyed Ensanada more than Cabo. This might have had something to do with the fact that is was COLD in Cabo. When we got to Ensanada we rented scooters and went across town the the world's largest natural blow hole. We had so much fun looking through the shops there. We ate at this place that tried to give us margaritas instead of the jaimaica drink the guys ordered. All in all my favorite night on the ship was the formal night. We all got dressed up and had a nice dinner. We tried to go outside after dinner to take pictures, but is was really windy and cold.

Week two of our vacation was in Washington D.C. for my sister's wedding. We spent one day going downtown D.C. and looking at the monuments. We definitely could have spent a couple more days down there to see more sights. We stayed in old town Alexandria, which is now one of my favorite places! It was so beautiful and there was so much to do. One night my brother, Michon, Maddie, Brad, and I went down to a place called Bugsy's pizza for dinner. It was the best pizza I have ever had. If you are ever in Alexandria you must try this place. My sister Schelley got married on Saturday the 21st in the D.C. temple. She was absolutely gorgeous of course. I am really excited to have Nestor as my new brother in law.

Our final week of vacation was spent with Brad's family in Tennessee. It was really nice to have a relaxing week playing many games of rook with Brad's parents. I must say Brad's dad and I won every one : ) Being there made me realize how much I want to move there once Brad graduates in December. While we were there Brad's sister Jenny had her son's baby blessing. We were both excited to be apart of that.

We had a great three weeks, but I think we are both excited to be back in our apartment.

Vegas/ 5K

We both needed a break from Utah and the cold weather, so we decided to go to Vegas with our friends Chris and Christine for the weekend. It was really nice to just shop and relax for a couple of days and not worry about working 24/7. We ate at the the Rio one night... and we sure did eat. I think Brad beat out all of us when it came to eating crab legs. I wish I could have taken a picture of all of the legs he ate! Christine and I tried not to get beaten by the guys, but we eventually gave up trying and went to the dessert bar : ) It was a nice quick get away, but it made me just realize how much I need/want summer vacation.

While we were in St. George we ate at the new In-N-Out and I bought a t-shirt. It was fun to see how busy it was even at 3:00 in the afternoon.

This morning we ran our first 5k. I was a little worried about how we would do considering we did not train for it at all. In the end Brad got 3rd in his age division and 13th overall for the men and I got 2nd in my age division and 5th overall for the women. I was really excited that we both did so well. I think that this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship with the Bradfords and running. The funny part about running this morning was that we ran with Brad's boss. Bill ended up getting second overall, but he was pushing his two girls in a stroller. It was really funny to see the guys at the beginning of the race looking at Bill. I know they were wondering why he was lining up at the front of the starting line. Here is a picture of us after the race.

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Mayan

Brad and I have been really busy working at our jobs. A couple of weekends ago we were able to go with our friends Stacey and Jeff to one of the places Brad works, the Mayan. It is an awesome restaurant with cliff divers. Brad is going to be getting more free time with the school semester ending in a couple of weeks. He is still doing mortgages, and he will be concentrating on that while he is out of school. I still have 7 more weeks of teaching left until summer break. It seems like it is going on forever. I am so happy that it is finally getting warmer. We took our niece Madi on a walk today. She was so cute looking at everything and wanting to play on the grass. We can't wait to go on vacation with my brother Matt and Michon after my sister's wedding in June. That is about all that is new with us!

The beginning of blogging

So I decided to give in and start a family blog. Actually I have wanted to do this for awhile, but have had no time. I am on spring break so the opportunity has presented itself. There isn't anything particularly exciting going on right now with Brad and I. We are getting really excited about the month of June. Brad and I are going on a cruise with our friends Stacey and Jeff. Right after we get back from the cruise we are going to go to my sister's wedding in D.C. It is going to be a busy but very fun month. I am just counting the days until summer and I don't have to teach. Brad got a job at the Mayan as a server, but is still working moving pianos a couple days a week. Between our jobs we keep very busy. I guess that is about all that is going on with us!