IF YOU WANT A TREE- COME VISIT ME!

Kimball and I started a Christmas Tree Lot- "UT Christmas Tree." It's been a LOT of work and Kimball has been working on it after work until very late in the night for weeks (months) to be ready. We finally are!! The trees are awesome. I was a little worried about that since they were grown in Oregon and we didn't see them until they arrived. I was relieved to see how beautiful they really are. I think the customers agree- everyone that has driven in the lot has purchased a tree. (But we have a ton of trees and need a lot more people to drive in the lot :) Without even looking at it, Kimball just picked one fron off of the pile for us and brought it home on Tuesday night for us to decorate. We LOVE it! My favorite tree we've had so far.

We are located at 11235 South State Street in Sandy. We are right on the corner near the Sandy Costco.

We're having a......

We had an ultrasound this week and we are thrilled to announce we're having a

BOY!!!!!!!

I should scan some of the ultrasound pictures just to prove it, but I just have to say that he is beautiful. He was so busy and did everything that we wanted him to do. I was told that my placenta is in the back of my uterus. She told me that my baby was right on top and that I would be able to feel every move he makes. I told her, "No wonder- I have felt him move since 15 weeks and 1 day." I also had 6 contractions during my ultrasound. I feel like I have braxton hicks all the time (first one at week 15) but she said that the baby just pushes back. When I had my next one, we watched him push back on the uterus. I am SOOOO grateful that everything looks good. Everyone was hoping for a girl for us, but what football team is complete without a second string quarterback? We are just counting down the days until we get to meet him in person.

Now, when I told Benson that we were having a boy he said,

"Well, I wanted a sister."

"Well, you're going to have another little brother."

"Did the Doctor tell you that?"

"Yes. It's a boy for sure."

"Is it Annie?"

"Uh, nope. We will give him a boy name."

"oh."

Golfing in November?

Kimball had to go to Moab for a quick assessment. He was only going to be gone for one night. We decided, literally a few hours before he was to leave that- hey, we wanna come with you. At least I could keep him company in the car. We got there a little after nine, and I'm pretty sure the boys think that a hotel is a dreamland. They love it- probably because they're not allowed to sleep in our room and so a big family sleepover is special.

Kimball worked in the morning, and we slept in and got breakfast. We were able to fit in a round of 9 after we checked out. It was a bit cold, but the scenery was awesome and the boys absolutely soaked up the chance to golf...with DAD! They were angels and secured the chance to get to go golfing again after the snow melts.

We actually let the boys steer the cart a bit and Kimball and I laughed with each other as they made sound effects, giggled, and smiled.

Do any other moms dress their children on an ordinary day and think, 'you seriously GREW last night, because I swear this fit you last week and now you look like you're wearing something of Andrew's?'

Andrew caught on super quick to the idea of removing the flag when you approach the green, and being quiet and taking a practice swing, oh and of course the goal of getting it in the hole.

What a fun, spontaneous getaway!

avocado- 16 weeks

Baby Center.com compares your fetus to a fruit or vegetable during each week of your pregnancy. I thought it would be fun to incorporate that food item into our meals somehow so that the kids could see the progress of the baby and see it grow from week to week. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the caramel apples we made for week 15, but this week we made fresh salsa with avocado's in it. I just have to say that it amazes me that the baby is already an avocado!!

This week the baby is the size of a turnip. Any ideas?? Recipes? We may just have it on display in the fruit bowl for the week...

SPOOKTACULAR NEWS!

Notice anything??? There are 5 pumpkins in this picture. One for Dad, one for mom, one for Benson, one for Andrew, and one for the new little pumpkin due to join our family of four in April.

We are extremely excited and can't wait!!

If the little nugget will cooperate, we should find out this week if it's a boy or a girl. Kimball has said girl from the moment we saw the 'positive' sign. Benson will occassionally say boy, but almost always girl- he really really wants to name it "erica baby" -whoa, that would be so confusing, but super sweet that he'd want to name it after me. I on the other hand am just not sure and will be happy either way. My family is voting HUGE for a girl. I will say that this pregnancy has been quite different. I have to give a ton of credit to my little guys who have been so good to go with the flow during the 1st tri, and a huge thanks to my very awesome and supportive husband. He's gone beyond the usual satisfying cravings, and being patient with my 'moods'. The 2nd trimester has definately been kinder. I just have to mention that Andrew says 'baby' and rubs my tummy. He did this for the first time a few weeks ago and at that point we weren't even sure he knew. Apparently he does. I can't wait to see him as a big brother! We are super grateful!

BYU vs UNLV

We were originally invited by G'ma Jones to go to the game but that plan changed when some family from NorCal came to town. Brenda went to BYU 30 years ago but never went to a BYU football game as a student. Shameful! Then Saturday morning a coworker text'd and offered us 4 tickets to the BYU game and we were back to Plan A.

Plan A might as well have been Plan Andrew because Andrew had never been to a football game before. One thing is for sure, Benson and Andrew are completely different people. When Benson was two he would sit in our laps and enjoy the game. He couldn't wait for a the punt, field goal, or kickoff. He just loved the kicking part. Andrew on the other hand would not sit still for 20 seconds, walked along or sat on the bench in front of us, continually touched the man next to him and even fell face first on the bench two rows down. The best part (probably for both of us) was when we gave him a sucker from the Halloween stash. That meant contentment and calmness at least until it was consumed.

I'm not complaining about the game at all... I love spending time with Andrew and he is so adorable what he notices, points out and expresses. There is great joy in spending time with the boy. He is really a great kid. (Just not in a confined space with a small attention span, he is two after all).

The game was fabulous. The most raucous the crowd got was at 41 seconds left in the game when we wanted to hold UNLV without any points. Alas they scored but we won big 55-7. A much needed victory and confidence booster with the way this year has been going.

Thanks Amy for a great time.

addendum: I just have to mention that it was in the car on the way home from the game that I FIRST felt the baby moving. Oh it was so awesome. I could hardly believe it. (15 weeks and 1 day- definately the earliest I've felt those first movements) Maybe that means that it's a Y fan and was excited about the win :)