Happy Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day everyone! Today was a great day. Levi and I woke up early to get an elk roast started in the crock pot for dinner later. Levi then surprised me with a mothers day present even though I am not quite a mom. He got two mommy and me bracelets that match each other. He got a pink and a white set. One for me and one for the baby. And of course a chocolate bar! Any pregnant person knows you can't go wrong with chocolate. It was perfect. Levi is so thoughtful! He is the best Husband ever! I love him so much!

In the afternoon we had Levi's parents over for a mothers day dinner. It was delicious. We had a elk roast with potatoes, onions, carrots, and green peppers, steamed squash, jell-o and for dessert a double chocolate pie from Costco(of course I picked out the chocolate). It was nice to have Levi's parents over to our house for dinner. They have had us over for Sunday dinner every Sunday since we have been married--two and half years. They are so kind to have us! We didn't want to make Peggy cook for us on mothers day.

Peggy is an amazing person. She can't ever slow down. She retired last year after 26 or so years of working for mesa public schools. Now she fills up her days gardening, exercising, doing humanitarian projects for the church, and making us the cutest baby blanket ever! She is a great mother-in-law and she makes some killer meat loaf!!! I have never liked meatloaf until now!

My parents also came into town today. They are here for the week for Levi's graduation. We are so excited to have them come visit. It was so kind of them to bring down all the baby gifts from the baby shower in Utah. Maybe when they are here my mom can give me another sewing lesson. My mom is the best seamstress in the world. She can make anything. She always has a project going on. Whether it be making blankets for the grandkids, sewing Halloween costumes, or fixing a rip in a pair of jean she does an amazing job! Right now she is making receiving blankets for her humanitarian group. When they started this group they came up with the name the looney loomers! I suggested that the group should be called the happy hookers!(I make myself laugh) Their group is truly amazing. They all work really hard on helping out those in need. They meet once a month and find projects to work on.

My mom loves, loves, loves her grandkids. She would do anything for them! Whenever I talk to her on the phone she is always telling me something funny that one of them did. She would do anything for any one of her kids or grandchildren. Levi and I just wanted to tell our moms how much we love and appreciate everything you do for us. Thank you!!!

I really am pregnant and I have the pictures to prove it.

The other day at work the NP that I work for asked me if Levi had gained any weight with me through the pregnancy. Of course my reply was are you crazy?!?!? Have you seen Levi. He couldn't gain a pound if he wanted to. Then she said that alot of guys eat what there wives are craving which usually isn't the healthiest snack or meal and they end up gaining a couple of pounds along with there wives. I then went on to tell her what Levi eats on a regular basis, you know like a box of cheez its, a heaping bowl of spaghetti around ten o'clock(after a normal dinner), milk shakes, double stuff oreos, and of course I can't forget the big bowl of ice cream on a regular basis. That is just a few of his regular snacks but do you think he has gained even a pound? NOPE! I don't think it is possible! I couldn't help but laugh when she asked me that. So I decided to include a picture of Levi along with myself so you can see us growing!


Today I am 29 weeks. I like to look at it the other way around, I only have 11 weeks left. It makes it seem closer for some reason. I have been feeling great. I am a little more tired than usual. The other day when it was 102 degrees outside I was really hot when I got home from work so I went and laid down in our room where there is a fan to cool off. It was 8:30 and then next thing you know I wake up and it was 11:30. I couldn't believe it. I still went back to sleep and slept the whole night. I guess I needed the extra sleep. I must have been pretty tired.


That rash I had finally went away thank goodness. The doctor said it was called PUPPS-Pruritic urticarial papules and plaques of pregnancy. Everything I read said that it usually lasts until a week after delivery and then goes away. I am so dang lucky that it went away. It itched more than anything I have ever experienced. I am just really hoping that it doesn't come back!

It was like that scene in the movie 'Alien'

Levi came up with that title.
These last 5 weeks I have really started to feel our little girl move around inside of me. It is the weirdest thing ever. It is always at the same time everyday that I can really feel her move. I mean I feel her throughout the day but I think that I am just busy running around at work that I don't really pay that much attention to it. But when I get home I usually eat some dinner then around six thirty I lay down on the couch and put my feet up and she goes CRAZY! It is so funny. Levi always comes and puts his hand on my stomach and at first I could only feel it but within the last few weeks she has gotten stronger and stronger and Levi can feel it too. A few days ago I alerted Levi that she was moving; he was on the other couch and he could see my stomach moving from where he was!
It was so funny one day when she was moving Levi came to feel her and she stopped. He just kept his hand on my stomach, nothing happened, and then I hear him whisper to my belly the name that he likes and wants to name her (which we don't agree on quite yet) and no more than 2 seconds later I feel the biggest kick or punch ever! Levi was even surprised by how hard it was. I told Levi that she didn't like that name and was trying to kick him for saying it to her! Levi says that she likes the name and she was just responding to him, but I don't think so!

Finally done

When my mom was here in October she brought me a sewing machine so I could learn to sew a little bit! When she was here she helped me get all the necessities to start sewing. We also worked on a few projects while she was here. My mom got some fabric and a pattern to sew an apron and we only had time while she was here to cut the fabric out. Well I am proud to announce that six months later I finally finished the apron all by myself! I am pretty proud of myself, as long as I don't look to close to the edges!

I don't want to wear mittens to bed

I need some ideas from anyone who can help. These last three weeks my stomach has itched so bad! I don't mean that it itched and I scratched it once and it was all good to go, I am talking itchy itchy itchy all day long and to satisfy the itchiness I have to scratch my belly really really hard for a good amount of time and usually my stomach is still not satisfied, I just know that I have to stop scratching it. I will even wake up in the middle of the night and find myself scratching my stomach. I just can't stop myself. I try really really hard and still find myself scratching. I have bought all sorts of lotions with cocoa butter and vitamin E that people have recommended for me but it just doesn't seem to help. I have been putting the lotion on all day long and it isn't helping. Sometimes I put a little ice pack on my stomach to numb the area so I can't tell that it is itchy! All I can think of all day long is DON'T SCRATCH YOUR STOMACH! Just the other day I scratched my stomach so bad that it actually started to bleed and I have scratch marks all over my stomach. I can't stand it anymore. I have a doctors appointment this week that I am going to ask my doctor what she recommends I use, but if any one knows of anything that works good let me know because I am dying!! I am going to have to start wearing gloves to bed so I can't scratch my stomach!

Peep peep here, peep peep there...

Levi here:
My dad finally bought the chickens that he has been talking about for months. The black ones are Barred Plymouth Rock chickens and the brown ones are Silver Ameraucanas. So far the dogs have not made any direct attempts to get at the chicks. The chicks are staying in an aquarium under a desk in the kitchen until they feather out and can stay outside. I am going to have to build a coop for them out underneath the trees before they get too big.
Today we put them outside to have a little exercise. They were running and pecking at every bug they could see, even chasing flies that would zoom by. When they went back in their cage, all of them immediately got a drink and went to sleep underneath the warming light.
I decided that I wanted to name one. Its name is Beaker, named for the Muppet who only says " meep, meep, meep" and because it has a beak. It is the lightest colored brown chick on the right of the first picture (his bum is facing out) and on the far left of the second one. I have to say "it" because some could turn out to be boys and we really have no idea even though the store said they are supposed to be hens. Beaker was always striking out from the group and exploring, its already my favorite.

Over-nighter in Payson

A couple of weekends ago our friend Dave and his wife Alyona invited us to go to their cabin in Payson. We headed up after work on Friday. When we got there we got a fire going to warm us up. It was pretty chilly up there. There was still a little bit of snow on the ground. We just had a relaxing evening talking and watching movies. We also made Daves favorite pizza. Something I have never tried or even heard of. We had a frozen pizza dough that we let thaw and then for the toppings we put cheese, imitation crab meat, and tomatoes. I thought that sounds and looks disgusting but when I tried it it really wasn't that bad. I don't think Levi really liked it that much, but I didn't mind it. We also made an original pizza with pizza sauce, cheese and sausage so Levi would have something to enjoy too.
On Saturday we got up and got ready and went out for a hike. We went to a place called box canyon. It is next to the R bar C boy scout camp. We hiked down a canyon to a river. The weather was great. I even got a little to much sun and got a little burned. We had a great time. It was good to get away, even for a night, after a long week of work and school. We had a great time and hope we get to have more get-aways soon!!!!!

David and Alyona in front of the creek.

Kathy next to a series of waterfalls.

The two of us along the creek

Hiking down into the canyon. Off to the right on a cliff that overlooks the waterfalls there was a small plaque that appeared to be a tribute to someone's dog. It was a wooden plaque with a picture of a German Shepherd and the name "Bear" was written on it. It was just leaning against the base of a tree.