Life Through My NEW Sony Camera!

Ask my family and they will tell you that one of the first things that I do every single time I go home to visit is pull out the home movies and scrapbooks. I LOVE watching our home movies. I LOVE looking through our baby books and scrap books. I consider them to be such precious memories that in most cases, I wouldn’t remember without help.

I’ve always loved journal writing for that same reason. Preserving the memory. Maybe you have a stellar memory, but frankly, I do not. I NEED journals and movies and pictures to help me. (Besides, even if you do have a good memory, who doesn’t love to go back and look at their awkward preteenager days? So fun!). (My only question is, what happens to these piles and piles of journals that I have when I die? Question for a different entry…).

Some people might think it’s silly to see so many pictures on facebook and instagram of what someone eats, wears and where they are. I say, BRING IT ON. Memories. Those places, food and clothes when looked at 5 years from now will surely remind you of an experience, a feeling, a joke, something. Something that you wouldn’t necessarily remember without the picture. I think it’s great.

Something I knew I wanted before having a baby was a new camera. My camera is oooollllldddd (if you couldn’t tell from the picture quality of the fotitos on my blog). The battery dying after an hour of usage was the final straw. Thanks to amazing family who love us so much, we were able to save up our birthday money and use it towards a new camera which we bought this weekend. It’s nothing super fancy spancy, but compared to what we had, it’s like an upgrade from a Motel 6 to a Hilton, and we (I) can’t get enough of playing around with it. You don’t believe me?

Proof:

I can't wait to capture every little detail of our little baby on this new camera Until then, you'll have to deal with every little detail of me and Darin. And really, who's not excited about that?

Monster Mash

Last  night we had a little fall shindig. Actually I guess it wasn't completely a "shindig" because according to the urban dictionary a shindig is:

A small party, not quite full scale. Generally a shindig consists of 5-20 people hanging out at the host's house, but they may be held at other locations such as a beach. A shindig usually does not escalate into a large full scale party because it is meant to be a low key night. Shindigs almost always involve alcoholic beverages, usually beer. Often, marijuana is smoked as well.

So yeah, I guess it was only partially a shindig. The "low key, small party" part. Anywho... now that we know what a shindig is...

Our "shindig" included a yummy fall dinner of corn bread, salad and my new favoritest chili. After which we carved pumpkins, ate donuts, drank apple cider and made caramel apples.  Such a perfect way to celebrate this beautiful time of year.

Without further ado, PICTURES. Let's start with the winning costume of the night. Cutest piñata! Kaitlin has got to receive the Best Halloween Mom award for making this thing.

Holy cuteness!

I'm so obsessed with this little man. He makes me so excited to have my own.

             

             

Happy Fall!

Then and Now—24 Weeks

A lot can happen in 6 weeks.

It amazes me how quickly these little ones grow, and even more amazing that this little boy is growing inside of me. Over the last few weeks it hasn't just been Little Self doing all the changing. I've been praying for quite some time now to feel connected to our baby and to be able to love him unconditionally like a good mother should. Some of you might think that is odd. I would have thought that it was odd 24 weeks ago. Shouldn't it just be natural for a mother to love her baby right from the start? For me, being pregnant was actually really strange at first. It didn't feel real. I felt strange knowing that a little unknown creature would be interrupting what I consider to be my perfect life with Darin. I really was worried about being able to connect and love it with all my heart.

Last week I had a special realization. I was just finishing my not very intense pregnant workout at the gym when I felt a strong feeling of gratitude for the little baby inside of me. I felt it again while in the locker room getting ready. For the first time it really clicked that me and my baby do everything together. He's always with me. We work out together, shower together, sleep together, go to class and work together, etc. For the first time I felt a really strong bond with my baby. It was a feeling that I will never forget.

I've been feeling him move around for quite some time now, each week feeling him more and more. I love feeling him move around inside of me and especially love it when Darin is able to feel him move as well. We both get these cheesy grins going across our faces as I squeal "Oooo, did you feel that?" and Darin responds that he did. I love sharing "baby moments" with him and more than anything, I sure do love my boys.

Happy 24 Weeks Baby Self!

Black vs. White

White Out

Black Out

White Out totally wins in my book.

October 15th--Remembering

I'm a date person. Dates seem to just stick with me. As soon as I write the date on a paper or journal entry or whatever it may be, my mind starts spinning. What happened this month? This week? This date? Am I forgetting a birthday or any other special event?

I'm finally starting to learn to not wish my life away into the future, or even the past, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy it. Today I wrote out October 15th, 2012 and my mind went straight to what I was doing this time last year. Along with just finishing the first half of my Spanish Translation semester and teaching a pilot district of missionaries for 6 weeks rather that 9 weeks (which makes more sense to me after this weekend), I was alsooooo....

-Driving to California!

-Being told at a gas station in Nevada that I have a cute baby (i was holding my friends baby, but yes, in my mind I was pretending he was mine and kindly thanked this stranger).

-Listening to a man tell little Kaitlin that she is so nice for taking care of her big sisters baby (ha!).
-Watching Cohen pee on his second change of clothes (you had to be there. It was hilarious. These last 3 all happened within like 10 minutes of each other. That gas station stop pretty much MADE this trip).

-Praying that our car wouldn't die till we got home from California (prayer answered).

-Being grateful for Jane Thatcher's kindness and ironing skills and patience in ironing my difficult bride's maid dress.

-Spending the night with a sweet stranger from Uruguay and loving the fact that she drank Mate in the morning.

-I was also decorating this: 

-Hanging these (while listening to the BYU game from the garage):

-Trying to decide where to put these:

-Chowing down on this:

-And best of all, partying it up with these crazy's in celebration of Kaitlyn and Erik's wedding. 

 It was a pretty exhausting weekend, with lots of driving, but I would do it again. The food was amazing, the fiesta was grand and the sealing was absolutely beautiful. Seeing one of your best friends get married in the temple has got to be one of the greatest things to experience in this life. It was really special. I was so happy for them that day 1 year ago. I'm happy for them today for making it through their first year of marriage together and here's to many many many more, they totally deserve THE BEST because they are THE BEST :).

Happy Anniversary Nystuls!