ISRAEL vs SEATTLE

Utah Valley University is sending two students to Israel to make a documentary and my Jacob is one of those special students :)
It's a 10 day trip in October! I'm so so excited for him! I really wish I could go with him, but then again early labor in the middle east sounds like a horrifying nightmare - even more so than having a C-section. :S

So off he'll go in October to see the beautiful architecture, people, and taste the delicious food of Israel.
He's headed out there to document the ruins of an ancient city with this device that UVU owns. You place it in the middle of a room, it scans the room (its dimensions etc) and it then recreates how that room looked before it was torn apart. So with this device they'll basically reconstruct this ancient little city! :)

And while he's away, I just might go see my beautiful sister and her adorable little babies in Seattle!! (PLEASE JAKE!)
I mean really, I shouldn't be alone for 10 whole days whilst 8 months pregnant. Seattle sounds like the perfect location for such a large expecting woman.

October = Big travelling month for both of us!

Jake will go here:



...and see this:



I, on the other hand, will go here:



...and see this:



...this:



...and THIS:



Courtesy of these two:

Baby Time!

Jake and I have been very blessed when it comes to baby Annabelle:

1. She's adorable! You might THINK every ultrasound looks the same, but no. She's the cutest thing I've ever seen! Not to mention, she plays with her toes in my belly to pass the time. ADORABLE! If only I could play with MY toes to pass the time... ;)

2. They say an active baby is a healthy baby, and let me tell you: She is one active baby!! She wakes me up in the night with her acrobatics! (We're thinking she'll do well in dance)

3. She does tricks! Real life tricks! I could lay on my back all day placing my hand on different parts of my belly and she'll kick wherever my hand is! I love it! Not so fun trick: She likes to bounce on my bladder. A lot.

4. She'll be Ms. Fashion Queen for the first 2 years of her life! AT LEAST! Really - she has more clothes than Jake and I combined! Thanks so so much to our sweet Aunt Jen, our good family friend in Germany, Mindy Hymas, and of course Nana Van Wagoner :) We love you and are so so grateful!

5. With the help of our friend's awesome garage sale, she'll have the poshest room in the house! Where else can you find Pottery Barn for $20? LOVE the garage sales :)





6. We love her. So so much! And just can't WAIT to meet her :)

Here are some other cute things we've gotten for her room:





Our baby will fit into that little spot!



I cannot wait to meet my little Annabelle Sue!

I love my mom!

Not only because she's the sweetest and most amazing mom in the world, but also because she's one of the most talented people I know! She's been sending me packages (which I LOVE!!) for the past little while and yesterday was another one of those special days!!
She told me a package was coming with some maternity clothes she'd picked up for me, so of course I was excited, however not nearly excited enough!!! This would be the best package I'd EVER receive!!

Check.It.Out!



She CROCHETED this! All 400 squares! I love love LOVE it so much!!



After calling home this morning to thank her for, my now, most prized possession, she happily informed me that it was the LAST thing she would crochet for a very.long.time! (At least until Lissie gets married) So, I'm super grateful I was the recipient of such an amazing masterpiece!!

Mom, thank you SO much for this beautiful blanket!

I love you!

First Try!

Well, it's happened. I've been fighting the blogging world, because really - who wants to read about my day-to-day life? I call my sisters when something story-worthy happens, and my mom gets weekly emails! But those emails just aren't hitting the spot - she's been begging me to start a blog since day one! And every time I tell Marie a story, she rolls on the floor laughing whilst telling me: Start a blog!!
(I'm fairly confident I'm only hilarious to her!)

So, I now have a blog! It will be good. I'm not fond of the idea of an online journal, but then again my real-life journal isn't getting the stories either. (And Marie's memory isn't the best...) ;)

Posts that will grace this blog:

- My cooking disasters (Marie's #1 pull for this blog)
- Documenting sweet Annabelle's life
- And well, ours too!
- Jake's senior year at UVU
- My arts & crafts
- My MOM'S beautiful creations
- And I can't think of anything else.

I have a feeling I might get addicted to this... Mal schauen!