Tatum's Blessing Day & Easter

Brian gave Tatum the most beautiful blessing on Easter Sunday, April 16. Baby girl wore a blessing dress that my mom had made for me for my baby baptism. However, I never got to wear it because it wasn't done when they had my baptism. I was so happy to hear my mom had saved it all these years and with a teeny bit of altering, it fit Tatum's big noggin! 

We had a rather large group, comprised of Brian, his dad, his grandpa Baldwin, Kevin, Randy, Glen Garner, George Black, Braden Lott, Tom Nielsen, Matt Haggard, and Bishop Ian Russell. 

We are so blessed to be surrounded by the wonderful family and friends that we are who are there to help us celebrate these special occasions.

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Catch Up: Weeks 20-24

Week 20: Baby is the size of a mango!

Highlights: Conference weekend! I say this every time conference comes around, but it really comes at the best time. I love listening to the leaders of our church talk about issues that we face currently and ways to strengthen our faith in this crazy world we live in now. My favorite talk was Saturday afternoon when Elder Cook spoke. If you haven't listened to it, you should! It can be found on LDS.org under General Conference.

Halfway through the week on October 5, we had my 20 week ultrasound! They confirmed it is a girl as best they could see. She was being so stubborn (just like her mama!) and they couldn't get her to roll over or put her arms down. I couldn't believe how much she's developed and how much more you could see. We saw all 4 chambers of the heart, kidneys, bladder, stomach, etc. Her fingers and toes were so much clearer and she was moving around like crazy. Any time they tried to push her one way or another to reposition her she put up a fight and wouldn't let them! It was pretty amusing to me.

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Week 21: Baby is the size of a banana!

Highlights: Dayne and Ashley's sealing! Some good church friends of ours and fellow converts were sealed in the temple on October 8 and Brian and I got to be there to witness it! It was a beautiful ceremony and their three children were sealed to them at the same time. It was the first time I'd been to a live sealing with children and it was so sweet and special. Another fun part of it was that Brian's and my sealer, Brother Schultz was sealing Dayne and Ashley and he had been randomly selected to perform the sealing, so it was fun to see him and hear how he was doing.

Baby highlights: Baby girl is moving like crazy now. Brian keeps poking my belly and singing the popular Adele song, "hello from the outside..."

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Week 22: Baby is the size of a spaghetti squash!

Highlight: Brian officially felt baby girl move and now she does it all the time!

We had our ward Halloween party and trunk-or-treat and the chili I made for the cook-off won 2nd place out of 13, so that was fun! I wish trunk-or-treat was more of a thing where I'm from because kids make out like bandits and there's no reason to even trick or treat! After feeling like crap and being in pain all day from my back, I was a total party pooper and didn't dress up, but it was fun anyway. The young women were in charge so we had fun games and face painting for the kids also.

We bought baby girl's dresser so we officially have all the large furniture for her nursery and I've started creating some of the other decor for the walls!

Cravings: LEMON YOGURT. For like the last 5 weeks.

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Week 23: Baby is the size of a papaya!

I had to work Saturday, October 22nd so I had off on Friday which was super nice because it was Brian's day off also. We both slept in and then got some stuff done around the house before going out to lunch together and heading to Target to finish up our registry! It's now done, except for a few small things. I didn't even begin to put any clothes on there because I figured it's pointless and people will give us a ton anyway. Plus we have SO many clothes once she gets bigger from Kevin and Amanda. I started sorting them out but I don't know where I want to put all her bigger sizes...

Time is going so fast (yet so slow) at the same time. I can't believe it's the end of October and we only have 3 1/2 months until baby girl is here. The next couple months are going to be SO crazy busy I don't even know where to begin. The end of the first week of November-end of the 2nd week I will be in southern California for a super fun work trip, so I'm excited for that, but also excited for it to be over so we're closer to the holidays!

Baby news: She's killing me from the inside. Round ligament pain and sciatic nerve issues are real. More than one day this week I was unable to either get out of bed all day or walk more than 100 feet without almost collapsing. I feel massive and I know it's only going to get worse. I'm starting to question why I wanted a baby bump because now when I see a pregnant woman who's bigger than me, my anxiety at the thought that my stomach will soon be that big is out of control. It's taking everything in me to stay positive and optimistic. At least I know at the end of this I'll be holding my beautiful little baby girl and I'll be grateful for that!

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Week 24: Baby is the size of an ear of corn!

Halloween weekend, yay!! I have to be honest and say I didn't do much that weekend except clean and cook and relax (which was super nice). Sunday, I taught YW at church and Brian had lots going on with church and school... I swear we never stop moving. But Halloween day we had a big soup cook-off at work and I made a loaded baked potato soup that won 3rd place! I'm on a roll with soup/chili this year. That night we went to Brian's parents house for Lindy's annual Halloween dinner with both sets of Brian's grandparents which was fun. We stayed to hand out candy for awhile and then decided we were too old and boring and went home to relax and watch tv. And of course, Brian did homework.

Today I went to see the chiropractor to get my back fixed before my big work trip! I'm hoping I'll survive this trip (both physically and mentally since this will be the first time Brian and I have been apart for a night since we got married and I'll be gone over a week). We leave bright and early tomorrow so my next week's post will be much more exciting than these mini-updates. 

On a side note... I AM SO EXCITED FOR THE COMING HOLIDAYS. That is all.

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Gender Reveal & Weeks 18 and 19

Well, the secret is out! Baby GIRL is joining our family! We are so excited. It was really funny because Brian totally predicted it and kept saying he thought it would be a girl. I kept agreeing but when the doctor told us it was a girl, we were both kind of taken aback! I guess we both subconsciously assumed it would be a boy due to the trends in both our families, but like usual, we're never like anyone else haha.

I have to admit I am so excited. Little girls clothes are so cute and I keep finding more and more that I love for the nursery that is strictly "little girl-like." My parents are beyond thrilled, as I knew they would be. Especially since my dad was already texting me every week asking "how is my granddaughter doing?" He thinks he's funny.

It was so fun to have family and friends over for the gender reveal and Lindy and Sabra did so much for us! We had balloon popping with blue and pink paint inside for the kids to play with, super cute blue and pink food, mustaches and bows for everyone to wear their guesses, and then when it came time for the big reveal, we had pink confetti in black polka dot balloons that we let go and everyone shot them down with BB guns! We are so lucky to have had so many family and friends come out and support us and Baby B. We're already feeling the love so much and we're so blessed.

Week 18: Baby is the size of a sweet potato!

On Friday when we had the gender reveal BBQ, it was actually my first day of week 18, so that was an exciting start to announce it to the rest of family and friends! Even though I didn't actually put it on social media until Sunday... It was a super busy weekend though and Brian and I spent most of Saturday down in Salt Lake for my friend Jordan's endowment in the Draper Temple. Every time I think life is settling down, it proves it's not! But oh well, it keeps us on our toes.

This week I started really noticing all my slowly developing aches and pains. My round ligaments are apparently stretching..? And they love to give me random sharp pains all over my sides which is just super awesome. I feel like my whole body is ballooning and I'm a tub of lard because I haven't been able to work out like I used to before. I'm trying to be okay with it but I would be lying if I didn't say I hate it AND my uber round face. It's no bueno.

Week 19: Baby is the size of a tomato (what the heck, that's smaller than a sweet potato in my opinion...)

Either way, baby girl is definitely getting bigger and it's getting harder for me to hide the bump. On Friday, the first day of week 19, we were down in Salt Lake again for Jordan's wedding at the SLC temple and for the first time, someone that didn't already know asked if I was pregnant. Granted I had just eaten about 5 lbs of Brazilian food at Tucanos, but I was happy someone finally noticed!

This week's chronic pain is in my back which I think will be a continuing trend thanks to my scoliosis. The right side of my back will begin aching so bad and feel so cramped by about 7 or 8 pm every night that Brian has to massage it out or I literally writhe around on the bed in pain and can't fall asleep until he does.

The great news is I can finally cook again! I made a delicious dinner of lemon pepper salmon and parmesan garlic asparagus tonight complete with peach cobbler for dessert. But the most exciting thing to happen this week is that we finally got the crib and glider and set those up! I spent a lot of Friday night and Saturday morning moving everything out of Brian's office to make room to make it into the nursery and Brian set all the furniture up that morning. Now we get to start on the fun part: decorating! But it is somewhat comforting that I don't have to worry about anymore of the big furniture, other than a dresser, despite the fact that we have a lottttt of other things to get. Baby steps!

I also got in the autumn spirit with the cool weather front that came in and started doing a little decorating. Out with the summer, in with the fall! I just love boots and sweater weather. I'm excited but also nervous because I feel like the next 4 1/2 months are going to fly by and baby will be here soon! We are so excited and I'm so blessed to have Brian. He's so supportive and enthusiastic about this that it makes me even more excited. We have so many wonderful things going for us!

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The Start of a Crazy Summer...

May is already showing how busy this summer is going to be. I feel like Brian and I are always running all around the place trying to manage our crazy lives and still have time for fun! 

The first week of May, Kimberly and Austin were back in town for another wedding, so Brian and I were lucky to steal some of their time and have lunch with them one day. That same day, Sabra and I went to PaintNite in Layton! I have always wanted to do one of those events and I had a great coupon for it, so it seemed like a great time to stop making excuses and go. For those who don't know what PaintNite is, you go to their website, choose your location, and then look through all the different paintings they have. You choose one you want to learn to paint on a day and time that works for you, pay the fee, and then go to the class you signed up for. They have all the paints, brushes, and utensils you'll need already there for you. It's a fun atmosphere (although I didn't particularly like the location), and you leave with a canvas and knowledge you didn't have before. Sabra and I chose a sunflower painting; I'll include some photos at the end.

On May 4, Brian and I caved and bought another guinea pig (haha, it was only a matter of time right?). We decided that Winston was probably getting lonely hanging out alone while we were at work every day, and since research told us guinea pigs are very social creatures, we had to get him a friend. Because neither of us want to deal with baby guinea pigs, we got another male and named him Schmidt, obviously because what else could we name him? (I guess I shouldn't say that, Ferguson was in the running too....) He's very squeaky and much more active than Winston, so his name suits him for sure.

Our excitement over the newest member of the family was short lived, as disaster struck our house again on Mother's Day weekend. We went grocery shopping so I could begin the process of making 150 cake pops for the Baldwin Family Mother's Day party, and when we got home, we walked in to see a huge puddle of water on our living room hardwood, which was obviously coming from the dripping in our ceiling. We went upstairs to discover that our washer (which is conveniently *sarcasm* located between our master bedroom and the larger of the two spare bedrooms) had not drained properly. We still don't know how it happened, but it resulted in the water leaking into our laundry room, under the linoleum, through the flooring, into the ceiling below, and emptied through the smoke detector. The upstairs hallway was also flooded, and the water had seeped under the walls to the two bedrooms on either side. As a result, we had to suck out via steam cleaner 6-8 gallons of water out of our carpets (thanks Lindy), cut and pull up our brand new carpet (just installed with brand new padding 7 months ago), rip out all the wet padding and throw it away, rent two big industrial sized fans to blow the carpets dry, rip out the linoleum in the laundry room, and drill big holes into the laundry room floor to tape a shop vac in there to blow the ceiling dry.

I have to insert here that it could have been so much worse. The downstairs hard wood didn't get warped because we got home in time to mop it up. The carpet all dried in a matter of 2 days, and Brian has already replaced all the padding he had to rip up. The bad news is we don't know what's wrong with the washer and we'll probably have to replace it to be on the safe side. We laid the carpets back down over the new padding, and we'll deal with having them stretched and put back in when we get back from our big trip (starting this week, yayyyy!!!)

To make things more annoying though, our air conditioner decided to quit working the night before the washer fiasco. Luckily, Brian's awesome cousin ordered the part we needed and came and installed it for us the next week before it got hot again. The bad news is that he also discovered some of the wires had gotten fused together and started a fire in the wall in the garage. We still don't know why our house didn't burn down, other than the fact Heavenly Father is reeeeallllyyyyyyyy watching out for us it seems. We are so blessed that through all of these trials, we've actually not had anything too serious happen to us.

As previously mentioned, Mother's Day we had a big family dinner we attended. That week at church we also got a new Beehive join our class! I taught about the prophets Mother's Day weekend and about Patriarchal Blessings this week since we'll be gone the rest of the month! My Aunt Mary and Uncle Joe are visiting from Florida and cousin, Kimmy, from DC for Maddie's 4th birthday, so Brian and I went to Provo for dinner yesterday and got to see everyone and hang out. I'm so glad we decided to plan our tropical vacation this fall with a trip to Florida to see all my family!

Kimmy will be headed back to DC this week, so we'll get to see her a few times while we're home visiting my parents and I am so excited!! This week before we go will be super busy trying to get the house clean and laundry done (I can't leave knowing I'll come back to a dirty house), packing, and making sure everything church related is taken care of before we head out! We have a mother-daughter luau planned for Mutual this week that will be a blast, I'm happy I'm not missing it while I'm gone. When we head out, we're headed to Vegas to see Kevin & Amanda and the kids and then flying out of Vegas. If I haven't mentioned this before, flying out of Las Vegas is sooooo much cheaper (and it's a win-win because we get to see family!). 

Now before I wrap this up, I have to brag about my incredible husband for a minute. I think I wrote before about how he's taking a full load of summer classes that span the entire summer, but he's also still working and had applied to a lot of summer finance internships. I admit we fell a little behind the curve when he started looking at internships because most of them had deadline dates from before our wedding, and we definitely weren't on the lookout for them then. However, Brian found a great internship with Northrop Grumman's finance department in Salt Lake City. After many phone interviews and finally an in-person interview, he got an offer last week to join their summer internship program! Not only does it conveniently start after our vacation, but it pays really well, especially for a summer internship! I am so so proud of all the handwork he's put in and his dedication to getting school finished up in the next year, while prepping his resume for grad school ;). I'm one lucky wife!

I'll have many more posts when we get back with all our adventures, so I'll wrap this up now! Happy beginning of summer, everyone! :)

Now we just need the weather to warm back up...

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April 2016

I guess I’m going to backtrack a few weeks to catch up on daily life.. The weekend after general conference was stake conference. We were blessed to have Steven O. Laing of the Seventy speak to us Saturday, and again Sunday with his wife. Sunday morning session was held at the tabernacle beside the Ogden Temple and we walked around looking at all the beautiful spring flowers and enjoying a warm day. After that, we packed up a salad and dessert and made a trek down to Provo to have dinner with Christy, Matt, Maddie, and Lucy. We had a lovely dinner and went for a long walk afterwards. It was a very relaxing and uplifting weekend!

That week was a long one and nothing too exciting happened, aside from more chiropractic care from Brian’s uncle, Monte. I’m not sure I mentioned anything about this before… Apparently my scoliosis has decided to show it’s ugly face and my back has been causing me a lot of pain recently. My hips like to twist and get stuck, as well as two sets of vertebrae that keep twisting. It’s amazing how Monte can just pop two things into place and it’s all better (for a week… I have to keep going back until they decide to stop doing this). He owns Elite Chiropractic in Murray, UT and I highly recommend him for any friends in need around here! 

On the 16th, our super awesome realtor, Ruth Ann Combe Beardsley, gave us 4 tickets to see the newly released movie, The Jungle Book. Brian and I took his niece and nephew, Jaxton & Khloe, and we had a blast. We all loved the movie! That evening we had a wedding reception for a friend in Farmington and we got to see Kimberly & Austin and their families. 

The next morning at church, Brian and I both spoke in sacrament meeting and Kirk and Lindy came to listen and stayed for Brian’s lesson in gospel principles. My talk was on the power of the Book of Mormon in personal conversion, and Brian’s was on the power in daily living. Maybe I’ll contemplate posting my talk on here… 

The following week was eventful, and surprisingly fun. Wednesday night we had a stake young women’s recognition dinner and it was fun to see so many of our girls recognized for their accomplishments. 

The next day at work, we introduced a new wellness plan! I say “we” because I am a member of the newly formed “Wellness Committee.” Our company dished out a certain amount of money per employee for us all to order Fitbits! We’re setting daily step goals and earning rewards for the days we hit our goals, such as paid time off, Visa gift cards, casual dress days, etc. They’re also going in to pay 50% of any of our race costs if we choose to enter a 5k, 10k, half or full marathon. We got our Fitbits 2 days later and we’re all already obsessed! The best part about Fitbit is that it’s a very comprehensive health plan. It tracks your steps, calories burned, floors climbed, and sleep. You can log your food and drink intake and better keep track of your weight loss/gain. It’s slightly addictive and I advise it for everyone!

Thursday night, Brian and I finally got a date night in and we went hiking in the canyon and got some wings at B-Dubbs. I’m so glad it’s starting to get warm out. I was beginning to get the winter blues from all the cold weather and rain! It came back again the next week so we’re definitely looking forward to May around here, for many reasons!!

Saturday the 24th, I renewed my adult and child CPR/First Aid/AED with the American Red Cross. Everyone kept asking me why I needed that as a marketing director for a law firm and they didn’t believe me when I said I just wanted to keep it active! A refresher course is always a good thing, and I don’t see how it could ever be a bad thing to be ready to potentially save a life! :)

That evening, the most exciting thing happened! So Brian and I have always joked that we wouldn’t get a pet until after we have kids and they’re old enough to take care of it themselves because we love being able to just leave whenever we want to without having any responsibilities at home or having to have his parents watch an animal that requires a lot of care… Well, we sort of broke the one part of it. WE GOT A GUINEA PIG! Ever since I was little, I have always wanted one, but I couldn’t ever have one because we had dogs and a cat. I’ve been joking with Brian for weeks that I wanted a baby bunny or a small animal. So Saturday after a busy day of CPR, grocery shopping, church cleaning, and house cleaning, we decided to go look at the pet store for fun (one of our favorite things to do). We knew we were probably leaving with an animal, most specifically a guinea pig because Brian didn’t want a hamster. 

We began looking around at all the small pets in Petsmart and although they were cute, nothing stuck out and we decided to go to PetCo, just to check it out. We walked in and saw a white and tan guinea pig (male), in the cage with 3 others. Unlike the other three, this little guy was running all around, squeaking, and climbing on top of his dome. I wanted to hold him, and as soon as he was in my arms, he snuggled into my sweatshirt and that was it. I looked at Brian and he knew this was the one haha!

We named him Winston, from one of our favorite shows, New Girl. In the show, Winston Bishop calls himself “Winnie the Bish,” so Brian and I named our guinea, Winston, aka Winnie the Pig or Winnie the Guinea. He’s an active little guy and he loves eating his Timothy Hay and running all over us while we watch TV. We’re already considering getting a second one to keep him company while we’re at work, and the babysitting ship has sailed. Brian’s mom said she wouldn’t mind watching him when we go on trips and Jaxton and Khloe love him, so we know he’ll get plenty of attention while we’re gone! 

The last Tuesday of the month for mutual, we had a birthday party for our newest Beehive! We played games and had cupcakes and the girls and I had a blast! Thursday, we went to dinner at ABC Mandarin with Kirk and Lindy to celebrate the end of Brian’s spring semester. Only one more year!! I cannot wait, I might be as excited as him.

This pas Friday night we had what turned into a huge cookout with 20 of our closest friends (lol), with a fire and games and good times with friends. Saturday, we got up early and headed to Rexburg, Idaho, with a pit stop in Idaho Falls, to go through the temple with Brian’s cousin, Katherine. The temple was beautiful and it was so nice to see family. We all went out to dinner, then on our way home… disaster struck. Not really, I’m being dramatic, but Lindy’s SUV has been having problems with the fuel pump, so we sat at a gas station in Idaho Falls for 2 hours while it wouldn't start before making our way back home and getting home at 1:30 AM. A minor setback, but at least we had Sunday to recover! (Shoutout to Jared for getting it working for us!!)

It’s so fun that ever since we decided to go somewhere or do something new every month, we’ve been able to do so! Luckily we fit this trip in on the last day of April, and now I can say I’ve seen a lot more of Idaho and have actually spend a decent amount of time in the state. That’s checked off my bucket list, because honestly, Idaho doesn’t have much going on! I’m counting down the days until we head home for vacation! I’m so excited to see where we can venture while we’re there :)

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February 2016

I cannot believe February is almost coming to a close! This month has flown by which is crazy, but also makes me happy. I am so ready for warm weather and summer events, plus March is my birthday month so obviously, it’s the best.

But to reflect on February.. It wasn’t quite as busy as January but eventful nonetheless. At the beginning of the month, I decided that there’s no point trying to be a brunette. Blonde is better! …And since I’m a natural blonde, my hair refuses to stay dark, so why bother fighting nature, I’m clearly blessed to be blonde ;) So Tricia highlighted me to a caramel blonde, and I’ll be all the way back next month!

February 6th, we had a huge birthday party for Brian’s Grandma Baldwin’s 80th birthday! She is such an example to all her grand and great-grand children. She chose to have her party at Syracuse Rush, where we rented out the entire aquatic center and she spent 2 1/2 hours swimming with her posterity. It’s a pretty fun place with water slides, kids jungle gyms, and a lazy river. We had a pot-luck and I made my new favorite dessert: No Bake Nutella Cheesecake. 

It was incredible, to be honest.

The following week was agonizing while we impatiently waited for the weekend and our time in Las Vegas with family. Wednesday night, we met with our second counselor from church and I got a new calling! Previously I had been a relief society teacher, as well as the young women’s assistant camp director. Now, I have been released from said callings and am the new Beehive Advisor! I am super excited to be in young women’s full time and teaching twice as much each month. The girls are so great and I know they will teach me a lot!

February’s new event was a double-event. Friday the 12th, Brian and I took off work and headed to sunny, 75 degree Vegas! That night we went out with Kevin & Amanda to a yummy Mexican dinner, then headed to Fremont Street in downtown Vegas to do the Fremont Slotzilla zip line! I got part of it on GoPro, and I’ll try to post that. Here is the website for more photos and videos: http://vegasexperience.com/slotzilla-zip-line/

Saturday, we went to the Hoover Dam and went on the Power Plant tour! It was pretty cool, and I didn’t realize how big the dam actually was. Plus the history of it is neat and it’s just cool to add it to the list of important places I’ve been to. Later that day, we went to Braxton and Corbin’s basketball games which was cute and had me seriously reminiscing about my own youth games and got me super excited for when Brian and I have our own kids.

Sunday was the big voodoo holiday: Valentine’s Day! We had the best Valentine’s Day together. Kevin & Amanda’s church starts at 1 PM, so Brian and I slept in, went hiking together, stopped at the skatepark so he could get in some board time and I could lay in the sun, then went to church, and had a yummy dinner outside with the family. Brian got me a diamond bracelet and new workout pants I wanted! I’m the worst wife for not getting him anything because I thought our trip was our gift, but whatevs, he forgave me haha. Our trip back on Monday was long because of holiday weekend traffic, but it did validate my reasons for marrying Brian since we didn’t want to kill each other after a 7 hour car ride :)

The following weekend we went to the Provo City temple open house after Sabra and I did some damage at JoAnn’s and Michael's. I basically have decorations for every holiday of the year now…. Anyway. Thanks to Annalise, she gave us 4 tickets she wasn’t using and we didn’t have to fight people who didn’t have reservations this time, which was a good thing since the waiting like was a bajillion times worse. Glen and his friend Carly came with us, then we went to Station 22 Cafe for a late lunch and I got yummy chicken and waffles. 

That Sunday, I finally got to hug Elder Tom Nilsen when he got home from his 2 year mission. It is so crazy to think it’s been two years since he went to Florida and began teaching me. Brian and I went to his homecoming talk and I was sitting in the audience sobbing haha. He mentioned me in his talk and told everyone I was there, so more than a few people came up to me and asked if I was the Jess from his story, since I was the only crying girl in the audience. Guilty! 

The weather here has been really nice which gives me hope that Puxatawny Phil was right on Groundhog Day in his prediction of an early spring! Brian and I have gotten in a few more nights of snowboarding and I’m loving that my knee is getting stronger again. 

I’m so excited for all the fun things to come in 2016 :)

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