Christmas Time

The past few weeks have been pretty crazy for us, as I'm sure they have been for everyone. So, here's a rundown of what we've been doing this Christmas season:

1. Decorating our tree! We were thinking we weren't going to do it this year, but I'm glad we did. Steven loved it!

2.  Tried to spend as much time with the Hopkins as possible before they MOVED! We were so sad!! I wasn't actually even in Provo when they packed up and left, though (which is probably a good thing... I would have cried so much!), because I...

3.  Went to Macomb for my Mom's graduation! She graduated with her MBA and all of the Rands' kids were able to be there for it. My Dad got to actually present my mom with her diploma, followed by a kiss :) It was so great to spend time with my family! We realized that we probably haven't spent much time together, without kids or spouses, for around 14 years. We decided it's definitely something we want to make happen more often than that!

4. The day after I got home from Macomb, TJ and Steven left for Bloomington, where we were going to spend christmas. We decided it would be a good idea for me to stay and work for another week, and then meet them out there. So while I was at home, working hard to pay the bills, TJ's brother, Steve, took everyone to the zoo! He was doing an internship there, and so got "backstage passes" to see some of the animals. I was super jealous. I did get to see my cousin, Ami, while I was still here, though, which was so great!

5.  On Christmas Eve, I finally flew out to join them. I was a little worried the weather would be bad and I would end up missing christmas, but everything went smoothly! We then all spent the next week and a half with TJ's parents, and it was great! Steven didn't even know what to do with all the toys there, and loved spending time with Grandma and Grandpa and "Master Steve" (TJ decided it would be funny for Steven to call him that, now that he has his master's, and it stuck! The best part is, it kind of sounds like Steven is saying "monster Steve" :) It's cute). We even got to visit Martha (TJ's best friend from high school who we basically haven't seen since our wedding) up in Indianapolis.

6. TJ left a couple days early to help [Master] Steve move out to Utah. I stuck around and got to see our friends America and Tyler before I flew home!! It's a good thing, too, since Tyler's headed back to Rwanda and America will be joining him there in the summer. We'll miss them so much!! TJ got here the day Steven and I flew in, and so came and picked us up at the airport.

We're happy to be home, but we had so much fun with all our activities. I am so grateful for the wonderful friends and family we have, and the blessing we had to be able to see so many of them! I just feel like the luckiest person ever to have so many people that I love so much. I'm grateful that I get to add a new little person to that list, and am so excited for all the changes we have coming in 2013!

Ultrasound

We went in for an ultrasound today. It was the first time we had an actual ultrasound technician do it. Our doctor did all of Steven's plus the first two of this baby's ultrasounds. It was so fun for us to see the technician take so much time to show us the baby and what he was looking at to make sure everything looked healthy. He confirmed that it's a girl! He also mentioned she has a big head. According to her due date the baby is 22 weeks but the technician said the baby's head was measuring at 25 weeks 2 days. We also caught the baby yawning during the ultrasound. She's very cute :o) This is also the first time we got a CD with all of the pictures from the ultrasound so we thought we should post them on our blog!

Butt Crack

Lady Parts

More Lady Parts

Little Feets

Good lookin' arm bones!

Smooshed Face

More Face

Profile, her good side!

She has a cute nose, don't you think?

This is her yawning. The black circle is her mouth closing.

Gun Show

She is very snug.

Family Pics

So I guess I just need to come to terms with the fact that this blogging thing is just not my forte... I just can't seem to keep up with it! Maybe I'll get better someday...
It's been a pretty busy, what, month and a half? TJ and I found out we're expecting baby #2!! We actually have an ultrasound this week where we'll find out the gender! I've been much more sick than I was with Steven, though I've only actually thrown up once. Now that I'm out of my first trimester, things have gotten a little better, though not as much as I would have hoped. I guess as long as it keeps improving, maybe I'll be feeling great by the time the baby comes!
TJ's been busy applying to optometry school. He applied to 3 schools and has had 2 interviews so far, and gotten accepted to both (Houston and Indiana)! He has one more this weekend in Memphis. So we'll see how that one goes, but it looks like his odds are pretty good. :) We're excited for all the interviews to be over, though, so we can make a final decision on where we're going!
Amid all of this craziness, we decided we needed to make time to take family pictures before it got too cold (and ugly) outside. My amazing friend Nicole took them (of course) even though she was getting ready to have a baby in a week! She did a fabulous job with them :)

These are from a night we hung out with a couple of my friends from Macomb. I guess Steven has a girlfriend! (I'm trying to hold him back, but he really wanted to kiss Ashlynn!)

End of Summer

Well, now that school has started, we're all pretty sad about it. It's definitely still warm here, so it's not like we can't go outside, but there's definitely not as much time to spend out there. We tried to make the most of it before school started.
Steven wanted to play outside with Tate ALL the time. He even started bringing his train tracks outside because apparently there wasn't anything else fun to do. (Tate had his shirt off that day, so of course Steven had to take his off too).

We also did a few BBQs with the Hopkins up the canyon. It was so gorgeous up there!

**All these pictures were taken by Nicole, by the way. I guess I'm getting pretty lazy in my blogging now-a-days. I can't even take my own pictures! But even if I do take some, her's are always way better :)