Holy Moly I'm showing!

I can't believe how fast I am showing this pregnancy! This is me at 21 weeks. We had our big ultrasound scan last week and everything looked great, and measuring on time.

Miss Madeline is as sweet as ever. She just got over a horrible stomach bug and is back to her old self. She is saying her own prayers now and says them at random times during the day. It is great. She said one in her sleep the other night! She normally blesses mom, dad, and the baby but we have also heard her talk about ketchup, eggs, Thomas the train, and Emily (her beta fish).

A Once in a Lifetime Oppurtunity

So as some of you may know, Nia was sweet enough to let me go to the Sugar Bowl in January to watch my beloved Utah play. It was hands down, without question, the happiest moment of my life! There is nothing that I can think of that could compare. Maybe the only ones would be the day I met Nia, or the day Madeline was born. That's my top 3...yeah, I'm confident about that. The 30 hour drive each way was well worth it. And such scenic landscapes too.
Honestly, though, the game was phenomenal. You would think that after Utah was up 21-0 in the 1st quarter I would have been rubbing my elbows together, but I think the score made me more nervous. I kept thinking, this is going to really suck if Alabama kicks it up a notch and Utah blows this lead. But Utah just kept pouring it on. I won't lull you non-sports fans with the stats, but lets just say that Utah treated the Tide like they were Cougs. In fact, 90% of the Alabama fans had cleared out of the stadium with four minutes left.


This is us being happy at the end of the greatest game in the history of everything. That counts the time I scored 260,000 on 'Dwarf Throw'.



We ate our faces off. I ate crawfish with every meal. I have never had such great seafood. I take that back, Artic Circle has a pretty good fish sandwich. They trim it into such a nice perfect square.



This was my father and I getting some directions from the guy that was in "Song of the South". This was right after his encore version of "ZipaDeeDoDa"



We paid our respects to all those who have gone before. Marcus is in the back trying to remember what it was he was just doing. He was walking.

The public facilities in the French Quarters were a joke. Fortunately there was no line at this one. (I have to put a disclaimer on this one, because Nia doesn't want anyone to think that I was actually peeing in the street like everyone else.)

Um what to write...

It really has been a slow month, which I don't mind. Skipper made it back safely from his little trip to the Sugar Bowl. Madeline has been a blast! She makes me laugh everyday. She loves to sing and dance. I am feeling good and have been for about a month! I go in for the BIG ultrasound next week, but we are not finding out what it is, so that will be fun!

A few days ago Skipper gave me a compliment. He told me that he didn't know I had a particular talent and that he never imagined it would come into use in our marriage. Well we were leaving the house one night and got to the car and realized that neither of us had the car keys...or the house keys... It was freezing outside and we didn't know what we were going to do. We had only locked the bottom lock, not the dead bolt so I asked Skipper for an old credit card and after a couple minutes of working the card in the door it popped open! I have only done this once before and it was with my roommates back in college. We pulled a prank on some of our guy friends while they were at the priesthood session of conference. So we broke in and switched their bedrooms. Bedding, computers, clothing, pictures, posters, every single thing in their room. It was one of our best pranks, wouldn't you agree Carrie :)?!

Oregon, 4 year Anniversary and Skipper

We were able to spend Christmas in Oregon with my family this year. That hasn't happened since 2005, so I was pretty excited!! We had great food, went to the coast, and stayed up way too late playing games every night. We drove out on monday the 22nd, and it took 18 hours to get there since we were in a snow storm almost the entire way. The drive home only took 13 hours, and we were so excited about that. Madeline was a trooper on both trips and didn't cry at all!! She loved playing with her cousin Levi, and with her aunts and uncles. We went to the coast one day because Skipper needed fish and chips. It was freezing so stayed on the beach for about 2 minutes. We were also able to see my new little niece's baby blessing.

On monday the 29th we drove back and that day just happened to be our 4th anniversary. It was probably the best one EVER!! Okay so not really, but at least we got to spend the whole day talking, and being with each other. Yesterday Skipper surprised me with 2 dozen roses, and a movie to watch while he abandons me for 5 days. I then had an OB appt and they did an ultrasound so Skipper was able to see the babe for the first time. He loved it. We then went to P.F. Changs which I have been craving ever since I got pregnant.

Back to Skipper abandoning me... When Utah's football team made it to a BCS bowl Skipper's father wanted to take his sons and son in laws to the game in Louisiana, so sadly he left me last night. I am very happy for him to go but I sure do miss him, I am sure the hormones are making it worse. I can't wait to see him again on Sunday night!

So...

I got an early Christmas present....




a doppler



So I can listen to this little babe that will be coming the first part of June!

Ponytail!!

Madeline's hair is now long enough to do this...

Look how happy she is about it!!

Welcome to the world Hazel Crook!

My brother Justin and his wife Daphne just welcomed a new baby girl on Thursday at 1:52 am. She was 7 lbs. 2 ounces. I am so happy for them especially since doctors gave my brother a very low chance of ever having kids again after he had chemo. We are going to Oregon for Christmas and are so excited to meet her!

Temple Square Christmas Lights

Madeline likes to squint her eyes in pictures now...




Family picture!




Wow, whoever is married to that man, and has that cute girl for a daughter is one lucky lady!




Madeline and her friend Mason who came along. Notice Madeline's squinted eyes again. Silly girl!

Thankful for hand sanitizer!

Since this is the week of Thanksgiving I decided I should post something I am thankful for...

HAND SANITIZER!!!

Why you might ask? Well my darling little girl came running out to me in the kitchen carrying her Thomas and Toby trains, and kept saying they were dirty. Then I noticed in one hand she was also carrying a black sharpie. She had colored on her trains faces. I was praying that was it, but of course it wasn't. I then found black sharpie ALL over my computer screen. I was able to google "how to remove sharpie from a computer screen" and looking through the black sharpie I found a post about using hand sanitizer. With a paper towel, sanitizer, and a little elbow grease it came all the way off!!

Madeline's birthday bash!

We had a great combined birthday party with Madeline and her cousin Bennett yesterday, and it was her Uncle Nathan's actual birthday yesterday so we include him too. Madeline and Bennett's birthdays are 6 days apart so we decided to just have them together. We had a "zoo" theme and it turned out great.



Now Nathan didn't want us to celebrate his birthday, and wanted the party to be for the kids. But MarKey made him his own hippo cake, and I made him his own birthday picture dvd, set to the song "Your the best around" from the movie Karate Kid. He was embarrassed and so we accomplished what we wanted!!



Madeline got a bunch of great presents: pj's, giraffe's, thomas the train, books, a green dinosaur, an AWESOME quite book for church (Skippers mom made it and it is amazing!), and we also got her a POWER WHEEL!! Thanks for the gifts everyone!!