20 weeks and....

We're having a BOY! We're really excited about it. I have always wanted a boy first and when I asked Matt what he wanted he just said "I wouldn't know what to do with a girl." :) Of course we will love a girl if (when!) we get one but knowing that this first one is a boy is very exciting.
I went to the doc. on Tuesday to have the anatomical ultrasound and it was the coolest thing! They gave us some pics and a DVD. I don't know how I feel about the 3D images, though... It's still amazing to me how it all works. I don't think anyone can experience something like this and not believe that our Heavenly Father exists and that He is in charge.
I turned 20 weeks yesterday and the baby looks like he's right on track. I have a couple of ultrasound pictures as well as some pics of my belly but I'm not where I can post them right now so they'll have to come later. I'm getting to the point where my normal pants have finally failed me and my shirts are too tight but yet all the maternity stuff that I'm borrowing from my sisters is way too big! This "in between" stage is getting annoying but I shouldn't complain because I am healthy and baby is looking that way, too! I had lost a few pounds in the first trimester and was slowing gaining it back but this last time I gained FOUR pounds (in two weeks). I guess that's good but I probably shouldn't keep it up at that rate. :) Maybe one pound a week instead.
Now we just need to actually think of some boy names.... neither of us have any ideas AT ALL. Wish us luck with that one... :)

Christmas, Anniversary, and New Year

This year for Christmas we stayed in Laramie and spent a lot of time with Matt's family. His family hadn't been together since the Christmas before Matt's mission (in 2002) so we thought it would be good to stay here and it was a lot of fun. I actually didn't take any pictures of Christmas itself but here are a couple of Matt and I and our tree.

We went to Lyman for New Years and spent a few days with my family. Everyone was there and it was really fun to see them all. Here's a picture of my cute nieces and nephews.

While we were in Lyman we celebrated our 3rd anniversary! It's crazy to me how fast time flies. We went to Utah to the Bountiful Temple and then to Salt Lake to eat at the spaghetti factory. It was a good day and it has been such a wonderful 3 years. I didn't take any pictures (lame) but here's one of us from the day after our anniversary. :)Since we're starting a new year and a new decade, I thought I'd list some things that have happened in my life.

This decade
2000: got my braces off
2001: made all state and all northwest choir
2002: had the lead in the high school musical "Music Man"
2003: graduated high school
2004: decided to leave Utah State
2005: came to UW
2006: went to Europe and married my Matt!!
2007: moved 3 times
2008: was the section leader in collegiate chorale
2009: graduated from UW and got pregnant!

This year
Jan: started student teaching at Linford elementary
Feb: turned 24

March: started student teaching at Laramie JHS

April: conducted my first concert

May: graduated from UW

June: interviewed for and got my first teaching job!

July: Matt was in Scottsbluff :(
Aug: started my new job

Sept: realized I hated riding a school bus to work every day
Oct: found out I was pregnant!

Nov: went to Lyman for Thanksgiving

Dec: directed a successful Christmas program

And as far as pregnancy news, I have taken a couple of "belly" pictures, but you can hardly tell I'm pregnant even though I'm almost 17 weeks! So I decided they aren't worth posting. :) I'll put some on here once there's something to see. But I did go to the doc last Monday and everything is looking good!

2nd Trimester!

I am very happy to say that I have passed the first trimester of my pregnancy. Having had a miscarriage almost 2 years ago and having to wait awhile for this little one has made me a worry wart! I'm sure everyone worries but it's been crazy. I'm hoping that I will be able to calm down a little now that the first trimester is over and the risks are reduced.
I've had two doc. appointments so far and both have gone pretty well. My second appointment was just last Friday and it was such a relief to hear the heartbeat again and know that all was still going well. I'm also not as sick anymore although I do feel hungry ALL THE TIME. I'm glad that my students finally know I'm pregnant because now I don't feel bad eating wheat thins in front of them. :)
Speaking of students, tonight is my first concert as a teacher! It is the "holiday" program. I can't believe how much it has been on my mind and I'm SO glad that it will be over tonight so that I can actually fall asleep without thinking about it and maybe the nightmares will stop. I'm not kidding. I have dreams about this program EVERY NIGHT. Mostly about it going terribly wrong. If it were just a high school concert or something maybe it would be different but tonight's program features:

• The elementary play! (this is really the part I have nightmares about)
  ***among many other things, they are singing "The 12 Days of Christmas" and every kid acts out a character in the song.... let's just say that this seemed like a brilliant idea at first but now I realize that I was completely insane and when all 50 kids are on stage in various bird costumes it.... is.... CHAOS.
• The Jr. High "Orchestra" (consisting of 5 violin players)
• The Jr. High Choir (6 members with only one boy)
• The High School Choir (5 members..... no boys. of course.)

So we'll see how it goes!
I feel like my posts are boring if I don't have pictures but who wants to see me and Matt anyway? I'm sure I will post plenty of pictures in June..... :D

What I'm Thankful For

Our bishop always reminds the ward to count their blessings, especially on fast Sundays. I have not been very good about doing that but whenever I do I find that I feel much better. And since we just passed thanksgiving I'm going to list just a few things that I'm most thankful for.

• Matt


• Family


• The gospel


• My Savior


• Prayer


• Scriptures


• Temples


• Animals


• Matt being in pharmacy school


• My job teaching music

And one more thing that Matt and I are VERY thankful for:












































This. :)


(It's not a very good picture but I think you get the drift) :-D

Sorry!

I know I promised pictures, but man-a-livin it is actually a hard thing to do! We erased all the pics from our camera cause we put them on the laptop and we don't have internet at home. By the time I get home from work I'm all tired and don't feel like taking Matt's laptop to the university where we can pick up internet. So, this is all you get still.

I will tell you, rather than show you with pictures, that the first weekend of October we climbed Medicine Bow Peak (pictures to follow.....someday....) and it was one of the hardest things I've ever done. It wouldn't have been so bad if there wasn't tons of snow up there (before it really snowed in Laramie) but I didn't realize how out of shape I was until the end of that day. It was worth it though because the view was amazing! But then that night I realized that I had been FRIED but just from my eyebrows down on my face because I was wearing a hat and everything else was well bundled up.... two days after that my face broke out in dozens of little tiny blisters. OUCH! and very unattractive. A kindergarten boy looked straight at me and exclaimed "what the heck happened to your face?!" Kids. :)

Ooh I found some pics of the peak and the view from the top on the internet. So here ya go.

Medicine Bow Peak

View from the top. I actually like our pictures better....

And a few weeks ago Matt and I went to the Laramie river to fish and I caught two 15" brown trout in my first 3 casts! We didn't have our camera so I took a picture on my phone and I can't get that on the comuter either because my phone is dumb. But it was awesome!

Right now I'm at school for parent teacher conferences. When you have two evenings both 3:30-7:00 and then one whole day from 8:30-2:30 for these things and there are only about 80 kids in the school and you're the music teacher so you don't have many secondary students, it can get a little DEAD and boring. I have seen one parent since 3:30 and it's been 2 hours. SO I am caught up on my work so I thought I'd throw out a quick post. Sorry it was a little long and rambling!

And just for the fun of it I'm posting a picture of my favorite flower of all time. I like all sorts of colors but white is the best! It's my desktop picture and helps me to remember that spring will come again someday...