SURPRISE!!

Here is an excerpt from John's journal, which he wrote tonight:

"Oh yes, we’re pregnant with #2. But our first “whoops.” I really didn’t plan on having #2 until my second year of school once I got core and my internship out of the way. So whoever this baby is, he/she has some very specific plans to come right away, right now, and right during my mid-terms in what will be the busiest semester of my life. I suppose life wouldn’t be all that thrilling without surprises like this. Honestly, Amber and I are very excited. It just took a second to get the eyebrows back under control when Amber first told me the news."

I was pretty surprised myself when I found out we were pregnant, but also super, super excited. The timing may not seem perfect, but I have always thought that two years apart seemed like good spacing for my first two children, and that is almost exactly what they will be. My due date for this baby is November 8, and Makenna will turn 2 on November 18th. I'm also excited becuase my sister Amanda and sister-in-law Tanya are both expecting, and due shortly before me. It will be fun to add so many new babies to the family at the same time.

So far this pregnancy has gone pretty well, although if you would've asked me during the first trimester, you would have gotten a different story. I was pretty nauseous almost all day every day (but never threw up, so it could've been a lot worse). The hardest part was figuring out what to eat. I didn't really have specific cravings, but just felt so sick that it would take me awhile to decide what actually sounded good. And left-overs were out of the question. Luckily that part is over, and it will hopefully be smooth sailing from here.


Here is a picture of John and me at our Labor and Delivery Class that we took while pregnant with Makenna. I would love to say that this was the night before I had Makenna, but in reality it was about a month before she came. I was pretty huge by the end, but in my defense, she was an 8 1/2 pound baby. I'm hoping this next baby won't be any bigger!

Mother's Day

I just wanted to wish all of you mothers (or mothers-to-be) a Happy Mother's Day! I am so grateful for not only the two amazing mothers I have in my life, but for all of the other mothers around me that help me be a better mom. I love hearing your stories, and learning from your experiences.

I know Mother's Day is a day for us to thank our mothers, but I also can't help but reflect on the fact that I am so grateful to be a mother as well. Having Makenna has taught me so much, and I feel so blessed to have her as my daughter.

(P.S. John surprised me with the camera that I have been wanting; a Cannon Powershot Digital Elph! He thought that since we won't have any money for the next couple of years, he should get me a nice gift this year. I am super excited, and can't wait to start posting some nice pictures...thanks Hunny!)

Washington D.C.

Well, we made it home on Sunday evening from our final trip of the month. We had a great time in Washington D.C. and are so happy that we were able to be there for Natalie and Mike's wedding. It was also great to see John's family, since we don't get to see them very often.

On Thursday morning before any of the wedding festivities started, we took Makenna to the D.C. zoo. They call it the "National Zoological Park"...very official. We had a lot of fun, and Makenna loved seeing all of the different animals.



In this picture, Makenna is roaring at the Lion.


The wedding was on Friday afternoon, and it was a wonderful sealing. Natalie looked beautiful, and along with Mike, made such a sweet and happy couple. It is always fun to go to a sealing and think back to the day when John and I were sealed. Makenna did absolutely fabulous all day at the wedding and the reception. She loved spinning around in her dress and giving everyone hugs. She is such a sweet little girl most of the time anyway, but that day especially, she really was such a doll.

Here is the happy couple


Natalie's mom made dresses for me and Makenna, so it was nice not to have to stress about what to wear. I didn't see the dresses until Thursday evening, and beforehand worried that maybe they wouldn't fit, but they both fit great. Thanks Robyn!




At the temple Makenna found this little tractor that she wanted to play in. John's dad bought and gave Makenna a tractor book earlier in the day, and was pleased to see that it sank in so quickly. Maybe we have a future farmer on our hands!


On Saturday, we went into D.C. with John's family to visit some of the sites. We decided to just go until Makenna was "done", and ended up carrying a screaming child out of the one and only museum we visited. I guess we waited too long. The poor thing didn't have a proper nap the whole trip. It seems like we did a lot of driving, and she just got one short little nap each day in the car. I felt bad for her, but she really did great the whole trip (minus the one major meltdown).

John's family in front of the Washington Memorial


John and his brothers Joey and Dan trying to push down the Washington Memorial. (No worries, they were not successful in their attempt...surprising huh?)


Our family with the Lincoln Memorial in the background


Makenna and I with the Capitol Building in the background


And finally, the White House


We stayed in a really nice Marriott hotel during our trip, and I ordered my favorite ever breakfast food not just once, but TWICE! It is the Crunchy French Toast, and it is AMAZING!! I order it almost every time we stay at a Marriott, and I just love it! I keep telling myself that I just need to make it at home sometime, but somehow I just don't think it will be the same as having this yummy plate of food brought to the room and eating it in bed. If you are ever staying at a Marriott where they have this on the breakfast menu, you have to try it.

Here we go again!

Tomorrow we are headed to Washington D.C. for John's brother Michael's wedding. We are looking forward to seeing all of John's family, and meeting his bride-to-be Natalie. (John has already met her, but I haven't.) I think we are also going to have some time to visit the sights in D.C. It will be my 3rd trip of the month, and John's 5th! It has been one crazy month.

Our Indiana trip went really well, and Makenna did great with her Grandparents. I think I had a harder time than she did. I cried the night before we left while I was rocking and singing to Makenna, and then again in the morning when John and I were driving to the airport. Eventually I got it together, and was able to keep my emotions in check the rest of the weekend. I think that the trip was a success, as I find myself not dreading moving to Bloomington like I was. I wouldn't say that I'm excited about it, but not dreading it is a step in the right direction. The Indiana Business school has a really great and very active Partners Club. John has been telling me that Indiana is ranked #2 in the nation (behind BYU of course)for family-friendly schools. I do think that that Bloomington will be a good place for our family, and I am looking forward to living in a townhouse instead of an apartment. Baby steps.

Navarre Beach Florida

John, Makenna, and I were lucky enough to spend the past week in beautiful, sunny Florida with my family. My whole family (12 adults & 7 kids) stayed in a big house right on the beach. We had such a fun time hanging out with my family, and playing on the beach. Makenna absolutely LOVED being around her 6 cousins. She mostly ran around with her older cousins and wanted to do whatever they were doing, whether that was jumping on the beds or wrestling with their uncle Morgan, she just joined right in. She acted more like a 3 year old than a 16 month old on this trip.

Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to get a new camera before we left on the trip, (maybe for my birthday in May) but that didn't stop me from taking tons of pictures with my old camera.

One of our favorite parts of the trip was playing at the beach, which we did almost everyday. John went boogie boarding, I played in the waves and found sea shells, and Makenna mostly played in the sand (she loved looking at the water and the waves, but was not about to get in).


Here is part of our group playing at the beach. (Notice that there is no one else around.) That is one thing that I love about Navarre; it is very much off the beaten path. We pretty much had the beach to ourselves, which we loved.


One morning, we all went to the Gulfarium, where we saw 2 dolphin shows, and a sea lion show. Makenna loved watching the dolphins perform their tricks, and kept asking for more.


We also saw lots of other sea creatures at the Gulfarium including fish, sharks, sting rays, and tropical penguins.


This was just a fun picture of John and Makenna playing on the deck.


On Easter Sunday, we decided to take some family pictures on the beach. We waited until after dinner, and it was really windy, but it was also a lot of fun. Here is the whole group.


And here is our little family.








Our guys pyramid (minus Matt)


After all of the pictures, we had an Easter egg hunt for all of the kids on the beach. Each child had a different color egg to find. Makenna actually had a lot of fun finding her eggs and trying to open all of her candy. I think she even ate a few sandy jelly beans before we could get them inside to wash them off.


Finally on Easter Sunday, we also celebrated John's 28th birthday, which was actually on Tuesday the 14th, but since that was the day that we travelled home, we decided to celebrate early.


In other news, John has officially accepted his offer to get his MBA at Indiana University (which means he has also said no to BYU, and Texas). John and I are leaving first thing in the morning to go to Indiana for their admitted students weekend. Today has been filled with unpacking, doing laundry, cleaning the house, and repacking. We are leaving Makenna here with my parents. I am a little nervous about leaving Makenna for 3 nights, (mostly because I am going to miss her) but the weekend isn't really set up in a way that would make it easy to bring a child, so I think it will be better to leave her here. Hopefully John and I will find a really cool place to live for the next two years, and more importantly, hopefully I will learn to like Bloomington during the weekend...wish me luck!

In the Market

Not for a house (I wish), but for a new camera.

In less than two weeks, John and I (and Makenna) are going to be heading to Florida with my side of the family. We are going to be staying in this big house right on the beach.



I am super excited for the trip, but have decided that we need to upgrade our camera before we go. Our current camera still works, but doesn't take the best pictures (only 4MP). We aren't looking for anything too extravagant, but something that is small and easy to use, and most importantly, takes great pictures. If you have a camera that you love, and would recommend, I would love to hear about it. Thanks!

(I'm also looking for a few good books to take along with me...any recommendations?)

More, More, More, More

John and I were feeding Makenna some treats in the car the other day, and she just kept saying "more, more, more, more..." over and over again. John joked that she sounded like the seagulls from Finding Nemo who just say "Mine, Mine, Mine" over and over. I hated to, but I couldn't help but agree. Most of the time she uses the word singularly like she should, but if there is some sort of sweet treat involved, that's when the seagull in her comes out. She also uses the word "more" in some really sweet ways. My favorite is when I am feeding her a bottle before bed and singing to her. She will take the bottle out and say "more" after each song that I finish, wanting me to sing another song. It is really sweet!

Makenna's vocabulary has expanded the last few weeks, and now includes: ball, juice, ice, shoes, bubbles, duck, hi, bye, night-night, keys, and my favorite new word no, no, no, no, which she says way more than I would like. She has also learned the signs for: baby, milk, eat, drink, ball, and all done. Just in the last couple of days, she has started to repeat words that we use, but hasn't really incorporated them into her everyday vocab.

Makenna may hate me someday for doing this, but I just had to post some pictures of her from a recent bath. She wanted to wear her sunglasses in the tub, and put them on herself.