half way!

I cant believe how fast time seems to be going by!!

At 21 weeks :

still craving salads (cafe rio chicken specifically, which I have had 2x this week!! yumm!)
Pink lemonade is my 2nd drink of choice next to Water of course!
Gained 9 lbs
Definitely feeling some stronger kicks! I started to feel him and know what I was feeling around 18 weeks but it was very subtle. Now I feel quite a few strong movements after I eat good food and when I lay down for bed! Colby has yet to feel them, but I have a feeling it wont be long before Im being kicked constantly!
Bought my first (and second) pair of maternity pants! They are so comfy I may never wear real pants again!!
Had two strangers actually ask me how about my pregnancy! I guess I am noticeably pregnant now!

This week I am missing Colby! He is in Mexico with my dad and a whole bunch of other people doing a Baja run! Basically driving dune buggies and motorcycles down the mexican coast! I cant talk to him until he gets back on saturday, although I do have confirmation that he is alive :) and is having a blast, thanks to wifi!!

I also went to do a 3/d ultrasound with my mom, grandma, brother and sister this past weekend! It was fun to get to see some of baby boys features and share that moment with my family!

Here is my 21 week pic and some pic from the 3d ultrasound!! Who do you think he is looking like??

Its a boy!

After what seemed like a forever wait we finally had our first ultrasound/anatomy scan yesterday!
Baby was being active and playing with his feet! Our ultrasound tech was very nice and walked us through everything she was doing and why. I had read a whole bunch of horror stories about techs that wouldnt talk to you but that wasnt the case for us!

Baby was measuring 19w4 days (I was 18w6 days) but they dont change the due dates unless it is an 11 day difference.
Baby's estimated weight was 10 oz and was 8 inches long and is in the 86th percentile.
Heartrate was 162 beats per minute
and baby is a BOY!!

We are so excited for our little boy! We were a little bit surprised, we had been thinking it was going to be a girl, but the Howard tradition held strong!

Here are a few of my favorite pics from the ultrasound!

And here is the video of him trying to grab his feet!!

weekend!

This weekend we wanted to something fun. We considered heading up towards Flagstaff, but the weather turned crazy so we stayed in town. We ended up going to the desert and testing out the trucks off roading abilities.

Anyways we had a great time!

You can see the north side of Surprise from here.

15 weeks here.



Also, Here is an official picture of me at 14 weeks .

A little bump is starting to come out!

New Years Eve

We have had this problem lately where we cant figure out anything to do! Mainly its my problem, because it seems to take all my energy to even get ready, but at the same time all I want to do is get out of the house!
We made an actual decision on Saturday and headed up to the Salt River! It was a beautiful day, and almost 80 degrees outside! Believe it or not Colby and I both wore shorts!

We hiked down to the river, and Colby did some fly fishing. He caught one! It was a suckerfish and not the trout he was hoping for, but a fish is a fish to me! :)

 This fish had the weirdest lips I have ever seen!

The rest of NYE was pretty uneventful, we had dinner at Dennys, and then went home watched a movie and were in bed by 10:30. I wanted to watch the ball drop in Times Square but they cut out right at midnight eastern time to the 10 oclock nightly news. I guess the news was more important!

2011

2011  was kind of a crazy year! It was also the longest year ever! I am excited for what 2012 will bring!
Heres a rundown of what we did this year!

January

We went on a last minute trip to Washington DC! We made it there right after a snow storm and it was beautiful! Even though it was freezing outside there were no crowds and we were able to do everything we wanted to! I love DC and already miss being so close to so much history!

February
We were tormented this month with the news of the Greensboro Call Center closing and having to make a decision on whether Colby should find a new job, work from home, or transfer to a new place!
That pretty much sums up that month!

March

We made a trip out to Phoenix with AMEX where Colby was offered a promotion if we transferred. Looks like our decision was made for us!
It looked like our new scenery was going to change from heavily wooded area to this:

April
We enjoyed one of our last months in Greensboro by spending time with family and driving around Greensboro! Nothing too exciting!

May

We started to finish up our packing and then headed on a 7day 8 night cruise through the Western Caribbean! It was the perfect break from all the chaos!! We also experienced our first crash while we were mopeding in MExico! Definitely something we will never forget!!

June
I left my job of 3+ years! We packed up the Budget truck and made our way to Arizona! We miraculously made it in 2 days! We got all settled into our house and tried to gain our bearings! Oh and enjoyed our new pool!! My sister also graduated from High School and we were able to be there to celebrate! Colby also bought a new truck!

July
My family came down to celebrate the fourth of July with us!

August
I was able to spend a week in Las Vegas with my family and was also able to catch up with lots of friends!
We also went up to Slide Rock State Park in Sedona with the Coltons!

September
 We took our first camping trip and went tubing down the salt river!

October
We went camping again, I endured a treachurous (sp?) hike straight up a mountain! We went to Vegas and went on a double date with my brother! And went to California to go to Disneyland and a quick stop at the beach! It was quite the busy month!

November
We found out that we were expecting! We went to Greensboro for 10 days! and we celebrated our first Thanksgiving in Arizona with my family!

December

Mike and Dalene came to visit us and we went to see the Mesa Temple Christmas lights! We relaxed! and we went to celebrate Christmas in Las Vegas!

Happy New Year everyone!!

Baby on Board!

Im not sure if its possible to be in a state of continuous shock for months, but I think that is what I am in.
It started on Monday, November 7th. We had dinner plans with some friends that evening but had to run a few errands first. Colby had to convince me to buy the pregnancy test. I guess I was in denial! we headed home with a few minutes to spare before dinner to take the test. We were shocked by the almost instant positive sign! After a few tears of joy and shock and a questioning how (baby is definitely a surprise!), we headed to dinner! We feel so blessed for this opportunity to have a baby!
Im not sure how we kept it secret until Christmas! It was very hard after being in NC and finding out about my other sister in law and seeing my mom and family a handful of times!

So here the details!

Due Date: July 13th 2012

How far along am I? 12 weeks today!

Most exciting part so far? We heart the heartbeat on December 20th!

How have I been feeling? So far not too bad. Other than being extremely tired and even more picky with food than usual, oh and the occasional mood swing (sorry Colby)! Ive been lucky enough to only lose my meal 2x! Lets hope that number stays the same!

Weight Gain: +0 (not easy during the holidays!) I have been trying to do light excercises during the week and my weekly walks will resume back in January!

Food Cravings/Aversions? Ive really wanted salad, the good kind from restaurants or a salad buffet! I think I could eat it all day long!!! So if anyone wants to bring me a salad, especially a cafe rio one, Im down!!! :)No strong aversions, just different foods that dont sound good day to day!

Showing yet? By the end of the day I feel like my stomach is huge, its not really but it is definitely bigger than it was in the morning! Weekly photos will begin this week!

Christmas with a surprise!

Christmas came way too fast this year, and now its already past!
We decorated with as soon as Thanksgiving was over, but it was still hard to get in the Christmas spirit. Something about palm trees and 70 degree weather just doesnt feel like Christmas!

We drove up to Vegas on the Friday before Christmas to celebrate! We had a great time and it actually started to feel like Christmas! The freezing temperature might have helped! :)
My parents house was decorated beautifully! We went to "Christmas Dinner" at the Boulder Station buffet for lunch on Saturday because mama had to work and we had to leave in the early afternoon on Christmas to get back for Colby to go to work on Monday.
We went to church early Sunday morning, and had the shortest Sacrament meeting ever. 45 minutes! We sang 5 songs and then headed back to the house to open our gifts!
We were spoiled with gifts! Colby stepped up into the digital world and we got an Ipod Touch! and my mom got be an external flash and diffuser for my camera! Colby and I were amazed at the difference it makes in inside flash pictures!
We of course saved the best presents for last! I went and got them out of our room while my brother and sister were opening their last presents. I set them on the ground in front of me while everyone was just talking. Karli spotted them and said, "why are mour presents by you?" I just played it off like it was an accident... I told them to go ahead and open them. Kenny opened his first, blank stare. What is this? He showed it around and everyone was kind of confused for a minute. Then it clicked! My mama was the first to shout it out, Does that mean you are pregnant?? Yes, Yes it does. I told Karli to open hers as well.

No one suspected it!
We were able to tell Colbys family the previous Thursday night when they were opening all of their gifts. Mike and Dalene received a family tree from all of the kids and we had Brittany put an ultrasound pic by us. They were a little bit confused and thought the pictures was in the wrong place, since my other sis in law Christal is also expecting, but they eventually got it with some prodding from Brittany! They were all very surprised since we were out there only a couple weeks before!
So it was a very merry Christmas! Im am so bleesed to have a wonderful family and to have married into an equally wonderful one!