20 Weeks! Half-way there and……

I’m 20 weeks preggo this week and we got to have an ultrasound to check how the baby is doing and find out what we are having We are happy to announce that we are having a baby BOY! We really didn’t have much of a preference either way but we are happy to know what our baby is so we can start planning and buying stuff! We are also glad it is a boy because we only had 1 name that we agreed on and it was a boy’s name so we won’t have to worry about a girls name until the next time around. The name we want for our baby is Rex (Middle name still undetermined) Wilkins.

Here’s the best ultrasound picture from our appointment. Sorry it is not the best quality, its a picture of the actual picture.

Baby Rex laying on his back. You can see his facial profile and his belly. The grey blob in his chest is his heart and if you look closely you can see the chambers.

I was going to post a pic of the baby boy “proof” but I' don’t really want that posted all over the internet to humiliate my child later in life…You’ll just have to trust me on this…or come to my house and I’ll show you the pics :) All his measurements were good and in a healthy range and his heart was beating at 154.  He was a bit fidgety and was moving in all sorts of directions from laying on his belly, to his back, to his side, to his belly again…It was cool to see him moving around in there!

Well I’m halfway done and I can’t believe how fast it has gone by! It just scares me that before I know it, my baby is going to be grown up! I’m able to feel his little kicks every day now even though they are just light “taps” or “nudges” but it is getting stronger. It’s not strong enough yet that I can feel it from the out side, I can just feel them inside me. Hopefully Andrew will be able to feel him soon :)

 

Left to Right: Belly at 20 weeks, 15 weeks, and 8 weeks

My belly is slowly getting bigger-Some days I feel huge and other days It seems like I’m hardly showing. I’m pretty sure my belly changes size/shape as the baby moves cuz In that 20 week picture I look huge and I definitely don’t look that big all the time! When I’m laying down and I change positions to my side, it’s weird to feel my whole belly “plop” over and sometimes I can feel the baby “plop” inside of me too! All these pregnancy things are so awesome and cool and it is still weird to think that I have a little human growing inside me but I’m so excited to me him in a few months!

St. Patty’s cake

So I was browsing the web for and I happened upon this and it made me so happy just looking at it that I just HAD to make it myself for St. Patrick’s Day. The 17th also happens to be my Father-in-law’s birthday so I made the cake for his birthday too…

So here is the pretty cake batter in the rainbow colors

  Here is the cake in the pans before it is cooked. It looked pretty cool(I was trying to do a double layer cake)

After they were cooked and cooled, I tried stacking them but the top layer fell apart :( I’m pretty sure this is my first time baking a cake like this and I just don’t have the skills. But the crumbles all still look pretty :)

So here is Darrel with the cake I made…only 1 layer but it still worked. Please ignore my decorating skills. I had nothing to write happy birthday with and so I bought this pre-made “frosting” that was more like clay and was a pain so my letters look pretty stupid. Little did he know what it looked like inside…

SURPRISE! My Awesome Rainbow cake! Doesn’t it just make you smile? I mean it’s a freaking RAINBOW! And rainbows are just happy :)

Someday in September….

We are happy to announce that we are having a baby! Our baby will be due around September 19, 2011. We are so excited and have waited quite a while for this to happen. It was a harder road than we expected but we made it and we are so happy. We got to have our first ultrasound today and it was awesome to finally see the baby and know that it is really happening! We heard the heartbeat on Tuesday and it was beating nice and strong at 180 :)

Here are some pics from the ultrasound. He/she is about the size of a lime or plum :)

The baby from the side. You can see a little hand above his/her belly

The baby from the top. You can see the belly with the arms/hands up by his face (which you can barely see)

Thankfully I haven’t had any morning sickness, only food aversions to practically everything except sweets/carbs lol. But I eat anyway since I know the baby needs it. And I’m not “showing” yet…just getting a bit “pudgy” and clothes are getting tight although I haven’t gained any weight yet.

In keeping with family tradition, we want to do a guess-the-gender-and-other-random-things-about-the-baby-contest. Friends are welcome to participate as well. If you guess something right you get an awesome feeling and maybe a hug if you’re accessible :) So comment or email or send me a facebook email with your guess on the baby’s Gender, weight, length, and day he/she will actually be born, and hair color.

Just fyi, yes Andrew and I both have brown hair but I was born with a TON of brown hair and Andrew was born very blonde! (surprise huh?! His hair darkened over the years to his now almost black hair!)

My Wonderful Husband

It's been a while since I posted last and I plan on catching up soon, but I just wanted to dedicate a post to my wonderful husband. I love him so much and every day, even after almost 4 years of marriage, I still wake up and feel so blessed to be his wife and to have him in my life. I am grateful for his testimony and the "foundation" he is for me in my life. I have a tendency to worry about things and make my self sick over things and he always does such a great job at comforting me, calming me down and putting things into a better perspective. I'm grateful that he can give me blessings when I feel I need them to help give me the comfort I need.

I love being married and there are so many wonderful things about marriage that I love but one that I appreciate more is that with him, I know that I never have to face any trials by myself (yes I know I have Christ) but having him personally by my side is such a comfort to me. I love having a best friend to talk to every day. I love having someone to make me laugh and I'm glad I can make him laugh too.

I'm glad that my husband is going to school and still works 5-6days a week to support our family. Even though it means that I see him less, I know he is doing it for us. I'm grateful for the work he does around the house, cleaning and fixing things and also our cars. That he can save us a bunch of money by fixing our car problems him self or with his dad and brother.

I am grateful for all the cute things he does for me "just because" like bringing me flowers at work or doing the laundry every now and then because he knows I hate it. I love that he loves me and makes sure I know that. :) I love that he makes me feel beautiful and thinks I'm esspecially cute when I wear his basketball shorts and a t-shirt. I love him SO much and I hope that I make him feel the same love as he does for me.

Pumpkins!

It’s pumpkin carving time! Yesterday we carved pumpkins with Andrew’s brothers and our friends Jordan and Lacey. This year we bought the actual pumpkin carving knives because last year we attempted to carve pumpkins with kitchen knives and surprisingly (and luckily) kept all our fingers! It was quite a dangerous feat doing it that way!

Jordan and Lacey

The band of Brothers

Me! (Lacey took a picture for me cuz I’m always the one taking the pics.)

The finished products from left to right: Andrew, Lacey, Alex, Alyse, Anthony and Jordan (the one with the glowing eyes you can barely see)

And here are some close ups:

This is what Jordan’s actually looks like. It is only carved through the skin, not all the way through and it glows pretty cool but the picture just didn’t show up very well.

Our New addition…..

We recently decided to add another dog to our family. Sasha has become a bit of a spoiled brat being an only child ;) and so we figured if we added another furbaby to the family now, she would get used to us splitting our attention between her and another creature so that when we get a baby of the human variety, she would deal with it better. So far, it has been fun with the new addition. We adopted a beagle from the animal shelter and named her Cassie.

Cassie is a total snuggle bug and we have come to call her our damsel in distress because if we ignore her and give our attention to Sasha, she gets very jealous and whines a lot like she is being tortured. Sasha is our Drama Queen. She likes to bug Cassie and if Sasha feels like Cassie is getting too much attention, She will go and SIT on Cassie! Like literally go over to Cassie and try to sit on her head! Needless to say we have had our fill of laughs this past week between the two dogs and I’m sure we will have many more. She likes to burrow into blankets

Cassie, with Andrew and his brothers

Me under the dog pile

Oh and last Saturday, I decided to attempt and walk both dogs by my self. I was nervous that it would end up being both dogs trying to walk me and that it would be just a joke trying to deal with the both of them but I found out that walking two of them is actually better than walking one of them! it was so much easier for some reason. Any way I was quite proud of myself. :)

Antelope Island

Recently, I got to visit Antelope Island with my Good Friend Jasmin and her parents from Switzerland. It was wonderful to see them again and to spend time with them. When I visited Switzerland 5 years ago, I stayed with Jasmin’s family and got to know how wonderful they are. They are such sweet people. I miss them and I hope I can go visit them again in their homeland someday.

Well we did a short hike on Antelope island and although the hike was hot with NO shade it was fun to spend the time with Ruth and Heinz.

Heinz taking pictures of the buffalo

 

The view from the top of the peak on Antelope Island.

Heinz and Ruth at the top of the peak

Ruth trying to rope a cow in the small pioneer village.

View of the lake. The reflection was cool.

Weekend Fun!

This weekend we went to Rocky Mountain Raceway and watched the Monster Trucks with Andrew’s family. Andrew was so excited to go because he has so many fun memories of  it as a kid. They were even giving out rides in a monster truck and Andrew and his Dad and Brother got a ride. (I was too scared!) I never realized how BIG they actually are! (and LOUD!)  And it was fun to spend some time with his family.

Bear Lake!

This year we were lucky enough to go to Bear Lake twice! First with Andrew’s Mom side of the family, the Eggetts (which unfortunately I have no pictures from cuz I forgot my camera) and then the following weekend with Andrew’s Dad’s Side the Wilkins! We had a blast as always. Here are some pictures from the second trip.

Andrew playing with Diesel in the Lake (Brandon & Katie’s dog)

Andrew playing horseshoes (a Wilkins tradition) with his uncle Brent

Diesel playing with his ball. He was so hilarious! He played with his ball for HOURS by himself. Katie and Brandon says he loves it and does it all the time! It was fun watching him.

Grandma and Grandpa Wilkins just enjoying the beach.

Andrew playing Fetch with Sasha in the lake. Normally, she is not a fan of fetch but She LOVES playing in the lake. She can play in the lake for HOURS. We had a very pooped dog each night. :)

Because the lake is so shallow for so long, we had to stand out in the water to be able to throw Sasha’s toy far enough so she could swim. Sasha didn’t understand and kept trying to take her toy ALL THE WAY back to shore, She did not want to give it to us before then because that is how the game is supposed to work ;) Eventually she caught on and would release the toy.

Andrew and I at the campground

Our pooped dog!

Syrenity, Aunt Pam, Shelby, and Grandpa in the Trailer waiting for a rain storm to pass.

Andrew and Grandma playing pinochle

DeVon, Lei, and Alex waiting for the storm to pass.

Katie, Jesse, and Liz playing Pinochle(another Wilkins Tradition)

 

Brent and Noe

Brandon and Travis Relaxing by the fire.

24th of July

We had a wonderful weekend celebrating the 24th with both Andrew’s family and My Family. Thankfully our families know each other and get along. We hosted the party at our house and also celebrated Meilin(my sister) and Alex’s (Andrew’s Brother) birthdays since their birthdays are both on the 23rd. It was nice to have them all together for food, games and fireworks.  

My Father wearing out our dog for us :)

Sasha playing Tug with Meilin….Sasha weighs more than her and was pulling her all around the yard it was funny!

 

Sasha catching the ball and my awesome picture taking skills got the picture at the perfect time!

 

Liz and Darrel

 

My Sparkler :)

Here are some pictures of the fireworks…I thought they turned out  pretty cool!