Arizona Bliss

Originally we were planning on staying in Nebraska for Thanksgiving, but then my cousin announced she was getting married Thanksgiving week and we refused to miss it!! So tickets were booked and the long wait until November began. The trip went by ridiculously fast. So many people we wanted to catch up with and family time made the 5 days fly by in an instant. 

Bachelorette Party dinner at Liberty Market

Three of my favorite ladies, can't wait to see them again soon!

Waiting with my sister in-law, Tiersa, for Lauren and Andrew outside of the Mesa Temple. 

Momma and daughter

Lauren and her new hubby Andrew!!! So excited for them!!!!!

Lindsey and Wayne

Cutest Milly

We met up with Tiersa and our nieces at Cafe Rio so we could see them before they took off to Utah for the holiday

Lucy girl taking a breather from partying at the reception 

Classic Joe picture face with Mack (<---Cousins son)

Our sister-in-law, Meghan, and baby Avery came to visit us. So in love with her. She wants to give you a "high five" with her foot :)

I really am terrible at getting the camera out, hence no pictures of Thanksgiving with the Grimes! I'm so mad at myself for not getting any!!! I will do better next time!

We love our families!!

Life As We Know It

Halloween was a little lame for us this year. Joe spent almost the whole day and night until 10:30 at the Library while I spent the evening with a cup of hot chocolate in hand watching Sleepless in Seattle. BUT we did take advantage of the $2 BOOritos as Chipotle. Joey threw on his "Summer Suit" (the same that he first won me over in on Halloween 3 years ago!)and I sported a "Dorothy" get-up. We put on costumes ONLY for the sake of $2 burritos and we were soo glad we did. A huge dinner for only 4 bucks. Score!

That is some serious frizzle frazzled hair of mine!

The craziness of law school is completely underway. Lately, Joe has been at school from the early morning to late in the night, with only a 2 hour break at home with me. He is working so hard and he impresses me everyday with his diligence. We are most definitely looking forward to Christmas break though!

We had a lot of fun in October! Starting with General Conference weekend (which was absolutely perfect!), a few days in Denver visiting my cousin Lindsey, her husband and their new baby boy, and a week with my parents.

Late September visit with my parents. 

Downtown Farmer's Market. One of the best!

Buying some goods.

Caught red-handed with the fresh kettle corn.

Visit to the Winter Quarters Temple before delivering my parents to the airport. 

Statue in the Pioneer Cemetery from the 1800's that is part of the Temple grounds. The spirit is so strong walking through that cemetery. The statues are beautiful and it is so powerful to think about all the pioneers that came through Winter Quarters. 

The next week...

 Fall flag football!

Between Saturday conference sessions we headed to the golf course for some range practice. Joe loves his golf!

I chose to watch most of the time :) 

The next weekend we headed on a road trip to Denver. 

 The new little family of three!

 Joey gettin' some stroller practice :)

And some baby snuggle time...

You can imagine how much I loved seeing his Daddy skills :) 

So handsome. 3 1/2 weeks old.

I have looked up to Lindsey for most of my life. Seeing her as a mom only magnified how much I look up to her and admire her! So happy we're only a 6 1/2 hour drive away from them!

A week later, my mom arrived again for a week long stay and my dad arrived a few days later.


Ice cream break at a super yummy place!! If you visit us, we will take you there! :)

My mom and I got in 4 awesome runs, through thick misty fog, a treadmill run (after a night of insane howling wind), and 2 freezing runs on the most beautiful trail. She came to work with me, we shopped, we cooked, we soaked up lots of hang out time and had so much fun! My dad was only able to come for two days but we loved every minute of it!


Some of the views from the trail are the most beautiful I've seen. My mom took this with her phone and it is still an amazing picture! We were in heaven running with such a view.

One month ago this was a lush green trail!

Frozen to the bone after our 11 miler in 27 degrees! 

Sunday evening we headed back to our favorite running trail for a walk. 

That little boy was flying across the trail on a zip line his dad rigged up!! Too cool! 

 

I got this awesome new Brooks jacket as a gift from my mom and on our walk we realized it had a pony tail whole on the hood!! Check it out...

After our 7 miler on her last day here. I overdressed a bit for this run :) I was just so flipping cold after our Saturday long run I didn't want to risk it again! 

 Lunch at Whole Food's in Omaha before heading to the airport. My salad bar box weighed almost 2 lbs. Woops! 1 lb for me, 1 lb for the little babe inside :)

Time goes by waay too fast when they visit us! I can't wait for them to come back! 

Tomorrow is November!! Hooray!! I love November! I love Thanksgiving! I love the weather! I love that Christmas excitement begins! I love that we will find out whether we're having a BOY or a GIRL?!?!!!!! I just love it all!

The Pregnant Woman Rambles: 16 weeks

I know Heavenly Father has a plan for every one of us. And a lot of times it's very different than what we would ever plan for ourselves. I've learned this countless times over the past year. 

This especially rang true when the day after we arrived in Nebraska we found out a baby was in our near future. I didn't have a period the whole time we were in China for some reason. Three weeks after we got home It finally came back for one whole day. Neither of us thought I was able to get pregnant yet. HA! Boy were we wrong. And man am I glad we were wrong! After the first day's shock of the positive test that resulted in immediate bursting into tears on my part, we were excited. :) The extent of our conversation on the Saturday we found out went something like this, "What are you thinking?" "I don't know, what are you thinking?" Every day after that we have become more and more excited!! Weeks 6 through 11ish included relentless nausea, loss of appetite, and fall-over fatigue! I battled the nausea pretty well with regular doses of Vitamin B6, and ginger and digestzen DoTerra essential oils. All three helped so so much! 

The first few weeks in Lincoln, I also developed a terrible cough. I was getting in maybe 10 miles of running those weeks, trying to take it easy so the cough would go away once and for all. Finally I conquered it. Running in the first trimester was insane. I could not believe how little energy I had while running. My pace had gone from a daily 7:40 to 8:15 minutes per mile to 10:30 mins/mile, which caused me to be se out of breath and exhausted you'd think I was sprinting miles on end. Some days when I would struggle to peel myself off the couch, I would tell myself, just go for 2 miles and you'll feel better. I'd do it, feel good for a bit then get struck down with the nausea and fatigue all over again. But I NEVER regretted a run or a long walk. Somewhere around the 8 or 9 week mark, I was able to get my miles back up to the mid 20's per week. I was feeling a little stronger, still nauseas but the running seemed to help with that. If I skipped a morning workout, I'd find myself a whole lot more sick throughout the day.

With the start of the 2nd trimester, I was beginning to feel a bit stronger in regards to running. I had some days where I could easily run 8 miles at 8:50 pace, then other days where my pace would creep back up in the high 9's. It's funny to think back to a 13 miler my brother, Kris, and I did together the Saturday before moving and how freaking hard it was for me! I felt like I was absolutely fighting to keep up, especially the last half, little did I know I was pregnant! 

The hardest part about running while pregnant, at least for me, is the pressure I feel in my low abdomen. Basically feels like my organs are getting squashed in there the whole time, until I have to pee and then it just feels like I'm going to lose it, but at least a full bladder helps with the pressure feeling :)  During my long run's I tend to have to pop a squat on the side of the trail at least once, sometimes twice! The constant need to pee while pregnant is no joke, especially when running! I'm so grateful to be able to run throughout all of this. It means so much to me to do something I love with the little babe that I love so much inside of me. I really hope I will be able to continue throughout the pregnancy. Finger's are crossed so we will see!!

Next appointment with my midwife is next week and I have been counting down to it ever since my previous appointment just so we can hear the heartbeat again!! Yaay!!

The Beginning of Three

Once upon a time... they made a baby. 

And they are counting down the days until they get to meet the little babe due on April 16th :)

She is currently 14 weeks along. 

They have never been so happy (like so so sooo happy)!!!

Story to be continued... :)

Jersey

A few weeks ago, we traveled back east to New Jersey for Rochelle and Eric's "Grimes Family" reception. The last time we were there was for our own version of this awesome party. We love meeting up with the Grimes Family in New Jersey. They are so fun and we always have a great time! We landed at midnight and finally made it to Uncle Joe's house at  2:30 in the morning. E-x-h-a-u-s-t-e-d. 

But we got up bright and early a few hours later to finish the drive to the shore of Ocean City New Jersey! 

First activity of the day:

Miniature-golf on the Boardwalk. Joey has been wanting to play since we first got together in 2009... poor guy. So we finally got in a solid, sweaty game. We were neck and neck the whole game and I barely squeezed by with the win. Proud moment. 

An Ocean City picture tradition.

To calm our sweat glands we met up the Grimes Family at one of their Shore homes. I love this place! Relaxing and so fun! 

Joey's dad has 8 brothers and sisters and they throw quite the party!!

Rochelle and Eric headin' out to sea on the kayaks.

 Chelsea gettin' her paddling on. 

One of many attempts to stand up :) She finally got it!

Uncle Joe giving us one big push off the dock.  

Getting the hang of it. But still hard! 

Joey going out with his momma and Uncle Jim for a quick ride.  

 Sunset at the Shore. Love.

Early morning stroll on the boardwalk. 

Grimes Girls 

A great party with awesome family. So perfect! Can't wait for next time!!