Saying goodbye to Rexburg

It was amazing having so much help as we were packing up our house, since I really wasn't much help at all. Ethan's mom came into town earlier in the week before graduation and helped me get the majority of the house packed up while Ethan finished up his finals. My parents and as well as Ethan's brother and his wife got in Thursday before graduation and helped us pack up the rest of the house, pack the truck/trailer and clean the house. I can't even begin to express the thanks we had for everyone and their willingness to help us so much!

 Last few pictures in Rexburg

 One more of the graduate!

I assume it's because we had so much going on the last couple weeks of living in Rexburg, but it wasn't until the night before we left that it hit me–I don't know if I'll ever be in Rexburg again. Ethan and I started talking about it and realistically, the next time we come will be if our own kids decide to attend BYU-Idaho.

I was handling it great until we dropped our keys off with the new tenants and drove down our road for the last time. Tears welled up in my eyes as I thought of all of the memories that this place holds for me. This is where I went to school, had heartbreak, has some of the best times, met the man of my dreams as well as a thousand other amazing memories.

We started driving up the hill past the temple, which has always been one of my favorite things. Driving into town at night and seeing this beacon on the hill. I asked Ethan if we could go to our special place and he obliged. We sat up there and looked out at the little town that had become our home. My heart was full of gratitude for the time I spent there and for all of the amazing things I had learned.

I will miss Rexburg and all of the blessings it brought into my life whether it be friends, experiences or my husband. It will forever hold a special place in my heart and I can only hope that I will always remember the lessons I learned here and the people that helped me through it all.

Graduation

We have a college graduate ladies and gentlemen, well basically. He still technically has the internship credit he's doing and one religion class, but we decided getting a job was was worth taking those classes online!

Getting to the graduation was a little hectic. We had family staying in two different locations but we had the tickets in one location. Long story short, I may or may not had to have run a little bit at 8 months pregnant down the hill! My feet were swollen and I was hot as heck, but we made it in time for the graduates to enter into the BYU-Idaho Center to Pomp and Circumstance (the song graduates walk to). 

I couldn't be more proud of how hard he worked, especially this past semester. It was definitely a rough semester, but he kicked it's trash and came out with fantastic grades and amazing skills in Excel!

(Ethan and his mom Sarah)

(Shannon, Jared, Ethan and Sarah)

(My parents with Ethan and I)

We're so grateful for all of the family that came to town to support him/us. It was so awesome having everyone there to watch him walk across that stage to show everything he had accomplished. 

These three have been the best of friends since they got back from their missions. They're like the three amigos, and I know they're definitely going to miss each other. 

I'm so proud of this guy for everything he accomplished. He worked so hard to get through so he could be working by the time we had this baby. I was so proud as he walked across that stage, and almost brought a tear to my eye. He is such an amazing man and I'm so thankful for everything he has done for our family. 

37 Weeks

And I'm back! I've been gone for a couple weeks because we have had graduation, packing, driving down to California and unpacking! But, hopefully I'll have a little more time on my hands (until the baby comes of course)!

How far along? 37 weeks

How big is baby? According to my pregnancy app, he's about 19 in and about 6.3 pounds (size of a bunch of Swiss chard).

Total weight gain/loss: 35+ lbs.

Maternity clothes? Just bought another dress!

Sleep: Sleeping great, along with taking some great naps!

Best moment(s) this week: My parents came to Rexburg and Ethan's mom, brother and sister-in-law came as well! Met my new doctor and she's fantastic! They also did another ultrasound and got some more pictures of our little guy!

Movement: Constantly!

Food cravings:  Nope

Food Aversions: It's not so much of an aversion, but I'm into lighter meals these days since the rest of me is so heavy!

Gender: It's a boy

Labor Signs:  Lots of Braxton Hicks contractions, but nothing too serious yet.

Pregnancy Symptoms:  Swelling hands, feet and legs, pelvic pressure, and tired–really tired.

Belly Button in or out? It's kind of poking out. It's weird.

What I miss: Not being pregnant. Things are a lot harder when you can't do much for yourself (we've been moving and I've basically been useless).

What I am looking forward to: Having him here already. This whole 9 months of being pregnant is hard!

Upcoming appointments/events: We have our next appointment on Friday as well as touring the hospital.

Milestones: He's head down, 50% effaced, but it looks like he'll be cooking for a bit longer. 

35 Weeks

How far along? 35 weeks

How big is baby? According to my pregnancy app, he's about 18 in and about 5.25 pounds (size of a honeydew melon).

Total weight gain/loss: 35+ lbs.

Maternity clothes? Just tops, but I just bought a new dress (not maternity but it'll work!)

Sleep: Heavenly.

Best moment this week: Taking a quick trip down to California to find some housing for us. And we found one!

Movement: He's an active little guy!

Food cravings:  Nope

Food Aversions: Nope

Gender: It's a boy

Labor Signs:  Nope! All clear!

Pregnancy Symptoms:  Swelling hands, feet and legs.

Belly Button in or out? It's kind of poking out. It's weird.

What I miss: Doing simple things like putting on my boots without struggling!

What I am looking forward to: Ethan's graduation and to have visitors from both sides of our family here!

Upcoming appointments/events: Ethan graduates on Friday and then on Tuesday we take all of our belongings with us on a road trip down to our new home in California!!

Milestones: 5 weeks left!

Maternity shoot

When we were down in Logan last weekend we had planned on doing a maternity photo shoot. Unfortunately, the weather had other plans, so I was in crunch time to find someone to do it. Luckily I knew a great photographer, one I did a logo for, and she was able to get us in for a mini session before the hustle and bustle of packing and finals week came around.

We went downtown Rigby, which is a little town about 10 minutes away from Rexburg. She was fantastic to work with and I'm so happy with the results. What's even better. She had them all edited a few hours later!!

Here are just some of my favorites. I'm so happy we got them done!

We can't wait for him to get here!

34 Weeks and other happenings

I've been MIA for a few weeks, so I'll start with a weekly update:

How far along? 34 weeks

How big is baby? According to my pregnancy app, he's about 18 in and about 4.75 pounds (size of a cantaloupe).

Total weight gain/loss:  I think I'm at about 35 lbs.?

Maternity clothes? Just the tops, I don't have any maternity pants. (Thank you gap gFast leggings!)

Sleep: Sleeping great.

Best moment this week: Realizing this is my last week of work (And finally purchasing some 0-3 month clothes, I figured he may need some of those)!!!!

Movement: You betcha! We're so excited to see if he's as active once he has a little more room to stretch out.

Food cravings:  Nope

Food Aversions: Nope

Gender: It's a boy

Labor Signs:  I think I have Braxton Hicks contractions, but nothing serious!

Pregnancy Symptoms:  I guess it's my time to finally feel what it's really like to be pregnant because my hands, legs, feet and hands are super swollen. I wake up in the morning and I can't even make a fist with my right hand for the most part.

Belly Button in or out? It's pretty much flat now..

What I miss:  Most things about not being pregnant. 6 more weeks, I can do this!

What I am looking forward to: Finding a home in California.

Upcoming appointments/events: I have an appointment tomorrow and then the company is flying us down to find housing. Things are definitely getting more real! We're also taking maternity photos on Thursday! (I also can't forget to mention that General Conference is coming up and I'm so excited to hear the leaders of the church speak!)

Milestones: I've hit the 6 weeks left mark and I'm still somewhat sane!

Now that I've caught up on that, I can now say that we will officially be moving to southern California two weeks from today! We never thought we would end up there, but we're excited/stressed about the new opportunity!

Two weekends ago, Ethan and I went down to my parents house for a baby shower (Tuesday, March 25th) and a Test Ethan needed to take for work. He was so stressed about it because if he didn't pass, he would have to take it over again. I'm happy to say he passed and I couldn't be more proud of him!

My baby shower was awesome! My best friend from high school, Jordan, put it on for me and it was perfect. It was low key, with amazing food and people. I had about 20 people or so come (mostly family and members of our ward). I felt so blessed to have so many people that were there to support me and my new little family, even after being gone for almost 6 years from the ward! We made out like bandits and brought our loot home, excited to start using all of the things for our little guy!

My amazing friend who put everything together for me! I wish we lived closer!

We came home the Tuesday after the shower and got back into the grind of work and school. Our plans for traveling to California had changed, so we decided to take the weekend to go visit Brennan and Austin in Logan, to say our goodbyes. 

We got in Friday evening and spent the night hanging out and catching up. The next morning, the guys went snowboarding at Pomerelle, and Brennan and I stayed home with Lainey. I've been wanting something slightly different, but nothing too drastic, with my hair, so we put in some layers and touched up my ombre'. I honestly thought it looked way different, but the fact that no one has noticed tells me I'm not daring enough to change my hair too much. But I still love it!

Brennan had a client, so Lainey and I watched Tangled together. I wish I took some pictures because she was so content sitting there and hanging out with me, it gave me a little glance into what my life will be soon! Not to mention, Ethan is absolutely adorable with her and she loves him. 

Sunday we were supposed to take some maternity photos but the weather had different plans. It rained and snowed and rained and snowed some more. It was miserable outside. We decided we'd have to skip it and just watched a movie together instead. We said our goodbyes and headed out about 5:00pm for home. Luckily, even with all of the bad weather, the roads were completely clear. We're going to miss having them just a drive away because they truly are our best friends. Thank heavens they already have a trip planned to California in this winter for Disneyland!

With all of the traveling and everything else going on, these last couple weeks have really snuck up on us and we're starting to realize how close we're getting to the end. Only two more weeks and we're off!!