October Festivities

Happy Halloween!
Rob and I love going to our friends, Derek and Lara's house for halloween every year! Disco Style this year was the winner... it was that or Snuggies! Whatever I could fit into at that point.

Here are the grandkids all ready for Halloween trick or treating at Grandpa's house. Jane wasn't too happy in her Sweet Pea costume, but Faith was a hoot when she would say "Buzz! Buzz!"

Gardner Village

Daddy helped Abby feed the ducks. This is what Abby was most excited for.
Jane's Cute Halloween socks...

Rob has worked so hard sanding down and getting Cricket's crib ready. I love this man so much and he is going to be the BEST DADDY EVER!
Getting closer....

The ward shower....

September Pictures

Rob and I at my cousin's wedding. Large and in charge!

Grandma Dee and Jane, Great-Grandchild #44
(Cricket will be #45)

Jane's Baby Blessing - Corey's mom, Mary, made Jane's dress. It was so beautiful!

A September Update before it's October

I can’t believe it’s almost the end of September! Rob, Cricket and I are all doing well. The pregnancy thing is still exciting and keeps surprising me. Lately, Cricket has been moving a lot. It’s been so funny to watch my tummy move all over the place. It’s the symptoms of pregnancy that I’m really surprised about. I had heard about the leg cramps, the sciatica issues, Braxton hicks, and the swelling of your hands and feet and all the other “fun” things I am enjoying… but I have a new symptom that I had never heard about. Numb arms and hands! Sleeping at night was already starting to become a challenge. Now I wake up with my arms throbbing and so I sometimes sleep with my arms dangling off the side of the bed to keep the blood flow going. I can’t talk on the phone for more than 5 minutes without starting to feel that tingling sensation. And my fingers on my right hand will not straighten out all the way. Weird! Oh and I had never experienced heartburn before now. Good heavens! Tums are now in my purse, on my nightstand, in my desk drawer, pretty much everywhere.
Other things include:
High heels are a lost cause. The wedding ring moves to the pinky finger, which may eventually become a toe ring. Shaving your legs is only per request by your husband, and even then you have to hire out someone to do it. Painting your toenails now waits until your dilated to a 4 and getting ready to leave, and you call your sister to meet you at the hospital. Your keyboard at work is at its highest level, while your chair is as low as it will go (without having to have a forklift get you up out of it).
Despite all the above, we cannot wait to see our little girl! The anticipation and excitement is truly outweighing any discomforts of pregnancy.
My dear friends threw me a Baby Shower Luncheon while our other friend, Brittney, was in town. She lives back east and is due just a week after me –also with a baby girl- We had lunch at the Sego Lily Café. It was so much fun to visit with my friends. I was terrible and didn’t get any pictures at the luncheon, but I did get this one later that night. This will probably be the last picture of Brittney and I together before the girls are born. And just by coincidence, here is a shout out… Happy Birthday Brittney! And again, Yes. I am due a week before Brittney. I still think people are just starting to realize I am pregnant and not just gaining weight.
I had my first family Baby Shower on Monday. My sisters put it together for me! I have the best sisters! I had so much support and love shown to me at this shower. Cricket will be the best dressed little girl in town. Not to mention the coolest too with her new Harley Davidson gift from her Aunt Lisa. I will have to take some more pictures, but my sister, Richelle, stitched a beautiful blanket and burp cloths that match a blanket I had made 5 years ago. My wonderful mom crocheted a gorgeous pink blanket that will be used for her blessing. My talented step-mother, Kathleen, quilted this adorable sheep quilt that will look so cute in Cricket’s room someday. My Great Aunts (Cricket’s Great, Great Aunts) that I adore came. My many second cousins and extended family members who are hilarious, sweet and so much fun came in addition to my wonderful aunts and cousins. It felt so sad to not have my dear Grandma there since she passed away at Christmas last year.
Anyway, as you can tell, we are doing well and certainly keeping ourselves entertained.
Rob had a very good thought last night. He was worried that I might go into labor while he is at work and he has to rush to the hospital looking like this...

From Swiss to Greek

There are 2 main events that I look forward to every year at this time... The good old Swiss Days and also the fabulous Greek Festival!
What a fun Labor Day weekend! We headed up to Heber City to go to the annual Swiss Days. I don't have a house yet to decorate nor do I know if I ever will (LONG story), so I didn't have much to spend my money on except Cricket. I bought this adorable brown knit beenie with a elegant pink ribbon and bow. The best thing about it was I went to the Tanger outlets the next day and found the cutest pink and brown sweater dress that goes perfectly. Plus it was on sale and I had an additional 20% coupon. Gotta love Old Navy!
We spent the next few days at Park City in my mom's time share condo. It was so much fun to hold Jane all day long and take Abby to the Park City Labor Day parade and to the pool at the condo.
Corey, Rob and I then headed back down to the valley Tuesday for go back to our reality day jobs. But luckily we had something to look forward too Friday. The Greek Festival. My uncle is half Greek and boy, do we love the food at the Greek Festival every year! Loukamathes! Dolmathes! Baklava! Gyros! Pastitiso! And my personal favorite is the rice! I could eat an entire plate of it!

Abby is a BIG sister!

Jane is here! And certainly here to stay! She is perfect in every way and Abby was excited to go and hold her new baby sister last week. We got the call at 4am that Richelle's contractions were 7 minutes apart, by 5am my mom and I were at their house and she and Corey left for the hospital. They checked in at 5:40am and by 7:03am, she was here! They even had to wait for the epidural to kick in... otherwise I bet it would have been a lot faster (I'm praying that I can have that kind of delivery). Anyway, Abby and I were inseparable the next couple days. I seriously went through some withdrawls when Corey picked her up.

Jane weighed 7 lbs 3 oz and was 20 inches long



Here was Abby and Jane's first time together! Abby takes after her daddy, but this new little sister seems to look more like her mommy. I can't wait to see what "Crickett" is going to look like. Yes, that's what we've been calling her lately. We don't have a real name yet, but we're working on it.

River 2009

We have a great time every year and again it was no different. We were watched over that no one has ever been burt too badly, despite the crazy family that we are. We spent one day at Downata Hot Spings and enjoyed the Preston City Parade that they put on for the Rodeo. Grandma Dee didn't make it to the river this year, but she was sure having a fun time at her Preston High School reunion.

Rob and Jen (Baby Girl had her first experience running the river. "Roller Coaster" yes, but no "Waterfall" just to be safe) Being pregnant on the river isn't terrible, but it's a little bit harder to sleep and paddle in a tube (the term "bums up" sounded more like "Argh, hoist your big belly high"). The first night Rob had really bad heart burn and a skunk about knocked him off his chair during the night as he downed some tums. Only to my surprise did I follow in his footsteps the next night, when I had to rush out of the tent to throw up and by darn if that same skunk didn't about do the same to me.
I just LOVE this girl! Everytime she smiles for the camera she always has this little wink in her eye... Isn't it cute!

"Mom and Dad, what are you doing to me?" Bath time on the river... who needs privacy?!?

The Bozung campsite

Braden, Abby and Paul playing on the tubes... They were pretending to be Pirates.

Katie and happy baby Carter! We will miss you guys!!!

Abby and Paul... best friends!

Even Richelle (9 months and all) made it down to the river, at least to put her swollen feet in!

One morning, Rob and I woke up to this site... Kids are the best, aren't they!

Papa and Luke getting ready to go for a hike

Abby waving to the kids up on top of the mountain! Look at her pretty hair that Michelle did. Michelle is still to be the only one that Abby will let touch her hair to comb it or make it pretty.


Normally it looks like this! Abby and her Grammy

Abby loved playing with Daisy on the river.

Washing dishes... just to make sure that is a different pan than the one Abby was using earlier!

Yes, it's true! Rob and I are going to be parents to a sweet little girl! We are excited to be able to begin our family. We just found out last week that it’s a girl. We are looking forward to this new adventure and chapter in our lives. We’ve begun the house hunting process and are looking forward to having a place of our own with a yard for our little girl to play and a garage for Rob to work on his truck (which hopefully will be joining us again soon before the river, Rob’s been working so hard on it to bring it back to life).
I’m doing well. The pregnancy thing is exciting now. I certainly won’t say that it’s been a piece of cake. May was the worst month with nausea and throwing up… Rob was a good sport through it all. Now, it’s a hit and miss kind of deal. One day I can make it til 11 without needing to eat or feeling nauseous. While other days, I’ve eaten my lunch and all the snacks I have by 8am. But I was getting so excited thinking that I was getting over the really bad stuff until just last Thursday, I was riding home from Girls Camp in the back of our Bishop’s car and got sick through the canyons and threw up. I felt so embarrassed, but luckily our Bishop is my high school best friend’s dad, so I felt a little better about it. Plus my best friend, Brittney, his daughter, is also pregnant and only one week or so behind me, so if anyone was going to understand, it would be him and his wife.
We don’t have any names picked out yet. In fact, we really haven’t even discussed it much. I think we are just hoping she’ll come with a name tag or something.
My sister Richelle is due in just a few weeks with a little girl, so we are excited because they’ll always have a cousin to play with growing up. Abby knew all along that Aunt Jen and Uncle Rob were going to have a little girl, but everyone else seemed to have their bets on boy. We were excited either way, I just wanted a healthy baby. I know that’s what everyone says, but I was so nervous the days prior to the ultrasound, all I could think about was our little baby having extra appendages, or missing limbs, or heart problems, or just looking like a monkey instead of a human. I mean you NEVER know! Anyway, my mind and heart were put at ease when this little profile and body showed up on the monitor. If you have experienced this, you know what I am talking about. If you haven’t yet, it is the neatest feeling in the world. It’s a testimony confirming moment for sure. I laid on the bed, and watched the monitor up above. Rob stood about two feet away from the monitor the whole time. It was so cute! The baby was in a tough position to get some clear pictures of her, but after laying on my side to try and get her to turn, the nurse finally thinks she got a clear view that it was a GIRL, but she still said she was only putting her strong bet on it. So technically, we may still have a surprise. But we’re going to go ahead and start planning on a girl.

Lake Powell

Heaven on Earth! In June, we were able to go to Lake Powell with Rob’s family. We stayed on Rob’s uncle’s houseboat right around Gunsight. It was a blast. I had missed Lake Powell (last summer we never made it there), so it was really fun to go.

Don't you just LOVE that BLUE water!!

Here is Rob with Brody and Bailey

Grandma hard at work in the kitchen

Jase is the MAN!!

Nice glasses "Papa"

Kristen and Brody on the boat

Kameron (Rob's cousin) was so light, that he would fly up in the air and Rob would just reach out and grab him and put him back on the tube. It was great fun!

However, being pregnant I couldn’t do all the things I love to do like ski and go cliff jumping. I did get to ride the tubes with the little kids. And honestly, just being there is worth it. Brody and I had fun collecting wood for the fire to roast marshmallows!

Rob caught this poor catchfish...

Click HERE to see my sister-in-laws pictures from Powell!

Random Pictures

So we have had lots of things going on these past couple months, but I haven't had much time to write about them, so here are some random pictures.

Wheeler Farm

Emily and Chris's Wedding (Sorry the picture is a little blurry)

Memorial Day

You know you are married to a "Handy Man" when....

My 56 cent purchase!! Seriously, with ads and coupons all this was only $0.56!!!

We took Abby, Michael and Paul to the Ogden Dinosaur Park

Sportin' the shades! She put the seat belt on herself too. Such a big girl already.

Getting our Food Storage Ready; we decided to can it all ourselves!

(I loved Abby's face in this picture... She looks a little bored after hours and hours of canning. Oh and she wanted to wear a hat since everyone else was too)

Rob had to clean out our Food Storage barrels. He had a hard time keeping it still while he had to get down into the bottom. I thought this would make a great picture! I love my Hubby! (P.S. the picture you don't see is then me going over and trying to hold the barrel still while Rob's inside, which I had a hard time doing)

Happy Mother's Day!

Mom, thanks for all you do! Thanks for the constant good example you have been to me and for always showing me that Faith in the Lord is key. Thanks for the songs you'd sing, the warm blankets you'd cover me with, the chocolate milk bottles you let me have (regardless of what others said), and all the small yet important things that let me know how much you cared and were devoted to being a Mother. You are the Best!
Above is a picture taken in 1986 of me and my mother at the Christmas family party. Thanks Mom for smiling through a silly 3 year olds "I don't wanna be a sheep!" tantrum! I love that you tried to make me laugh and be happy by putting on the "sheep's ears" (pillow case with rubber bands). I love you, Mom!