Oh Baby!!

It has been a few weeks since my last update. Please forgive me. I'm currently working 35 hours a week and finding it difficult to keep up with the house let alone my blogging duties. Being pregnant is exhausting, but I love it! :) Onto the baby news!!

Baby Beluga is doing wonderfully!! Its perfect, measuring perfectly and its little heartbeat is perfect too! There's nothing like hearing that heartbeat and seeing your baby. I'm so in love already. I go back to the doctor on March 23rd and then we have the big ultrasound on April 1st. I honestly can't wait to find out what this baby is so I can start planning and making cute things! :)

I'm now taking weekly belly shots, hubby is a bit annoyed that its EVERY week, but I think soon there will be some big growth!! I also purchased this book, which I love!! I saw it in a bookstore several years ago and told myself I would purchase it when I was pregnant. It helps me jot down my thoughts, emotions, cravings, etc. and I think it will be a pretty special keepsake of this whole process. Here are some recent pics of the baby bump: 

 

Some things to note:

1. My hair has not grown since being pregnant and I haven't cut it. I'm struggling with how to do it, etc. I do need to get a trim and reshape it a bit.

2. I'm also struggling to have cute pregnancy style. Some days I feel cute, but I still feel like I'm in the "in between" stage. Recently I've worn normal clothes and laughed at myself in the mirror and then realized I won't be able to wear that shirt for a long time!

3. I'm significantly smaller in the morning than I am in the evenings, all of these pictures were taken in the evening. I think one of the next few days I will take a picture from morning to evening and show you the difference, its crazy! Is this just me or do you/did you notice a big difference too??

We got to see the baby again on February 18th. Hubby was late to the appointment due to traffic. They let me stay longer so he could hear the heartbeat and then we were lucky enough to go into the ultrasound room and see the baby for just a minute, it made my day. I have never had any other appointment where I leave with a grin on my face (except when I got my braces off). Here are pics of baby and how he/she has grown:

I just love the hands in the air!!! The difference in just 4 weeks is incredible!! Here are some of my current habits, cravings, etc.:

*I have been feeling the baby move for about 3 weeks now. Whenever I do feel baby, I try to say hello and it just makes me so happy. I love it!! It's also very reassuring.

*I love to sing to baby especially in the shower. Some of my favorites are: Baby Beluga (Raffi version), Skinamarink,and The Little Blue Man. All songs from my childhood.

*I love when hubby says hi to baby and I can't wait until he can feel the baby move!

*I've been craving lots of protein, mostly cheese burgers. A couple weeks ago I ate 4 cheeseburgers in 5 days!! Maybe this means I'm having a boy!?

*I finally have my appetite back for the most part, some things still sound better than others, but I'm eating 5 to 6 times a day!

*I only have 1 pair of maternity jeans from gap. All of my other "maternity" clothes I wear I bought in the juniors sections at Target, or Kohl's. Also, I love these jeans from Nordstrom's they are amazing and so comfortable!!

 *I'm still throwing up once a week. Generally it happens when I brush my teeth in the morning.

*My nose has super powers. I can smell anything from miles away.

*I feel like my acne is finally going away. I've recently started putting face lotion on morning and night after I wash my face and for whatever reason that has really helped.

*My emotions are all over the place. I had my first pregnancy nervous breakdown a couple of weeks ago. Something to do with the shower water going cold...it wasn't pretty and I felt bad for hubby. He made me get out of the shower with shampoo in my hair and I just sobbed in bed for a good hour until the water was warm again. I laugh at myself now, but WOW!! (There were other events of the day that triggered that, but the shower was the clincher). 

*I seriously can't wait to find out what we're having and I wish I could meet baby beluga right NOW!! :D

Hiadus

I've been on hiadus for several months...

I quit my job in August and moved to Kansas. I decided I needed a break, so I took one. Hubby was very understanding. He let me take all the time I needed. After taking four months off of work, I decided to start looking for a job. I applied to dozens of places it seemed like in early December. I was having a difficult time getting any hits. One day, I heard from two different temp agencies. I had interviews with both. The first ended up being a little scary and a waste of time; it almost seemed like a scam. I didn't feel good about the company and I was really starting to miss my old job in Utah. 

I went to my interview with the second temp agency and they were phenomenal!! They had me taking placement tests before I left and they found work for me within a few days. I started doing some temp work for a cable company. It's mostly clerical, boring work. Lots of filing, some data entry stuff. I check and sort the mail every day and breakdown checks and get them sent out once a week. I work anywhere from 20-40 hours a week depending on what projects they give me. It's kept me busy and it's helped me interact with humans again which is always nice. I find myself exhausted at the end of the day and some days I wonder why I'm even working.

I interviewed for another job through this temp agency. The interview went really well. I liked them and they liked me. They offered me the job...and then they rescinded. I was a mess. It was everything I was hoping for and it didn't work out, or so I thought until I remembered something that had happened earlier that month... 

 

So, while I was bummed at first, I can't think of a better job in this world then being a mom!

We are so excited for this new adventure!!!  :D

Halloween

We had a wonderful Halloween this year!! We decided to find/make costumes last minute and go all out!! Really, I came up with the idea and ran with it!! Hubby was nice enough to oblige me and go along with the idea. I think I can only remember one other Halloween where we dressed up...we are usually party poopers with no creativity.

This year we went to the Trunk-or-Treat at the church. We walked in and were a little embarrassed when we were some of the only adults dressed up!!!! We had fun anyway, but I felt like a 10 year old all over again.

We had an endless supply of chili and soups for dinner, a costume parade, and then cute games inside with the kiddos. To finish the night we all went outside for the Trunk-or-Treat.

We decorated our car trunk and came up with the Halloween Alphabet game for our car (pick a letter of the alphabet and give us a Halloween word that starts with that letter and we'll give you two pieces of candy)! I made cute alphabet Halloween cards with pictures on them. The kids loved the game and hubby gets all the credit because he came up with it!! I saved the cards so we'll have them for years to come and I'm sure it will be a hit in the future too!

Hubby also got the best husband prize for letting me dress him up!!

Happy Halloween!!

 

 

Care Bear Stare!!

Our nose hearts

  

Our hearts on our hips which are a sign of authenticity!! (PS. This is an unflattering picture of me...just a baggy sweatshirt - please no preggo questions/comments)

Goodnight Bear and Love-a-Lot Bear!!!

The Adventure Begins...

WARNING: LONG DETAILED POST AHEAD!!! Read at your own risk! :)

It's been nearly a month since we left our home in Orem, UT. I can't believe we've already been here that long!!! I feel like I'm just getting settled and feeling comfortable in our surroundings and realizing I don't have to get up and go to work in the morning (the best part by far)!!! As most of you know, I'd been counting down the months/weeks/days to when we would finally get our new start/adventure. Now that it's happened I'm wishing I'd enjoyed my time a little more. I miss our home; our friends; and what's comfortable to us, but I am so very grateful for the opportunities we have been given.


Tuesday, August 24th, 2010: My last day of work at Novell. I remember feeling weird as I placed my computer and badge on my boss' desk. I walked out of those doors and left my security badge behind and I felt naked! It was something I had taken to work with me every day for the last 4 years. I headed home and we started cleaning and packing the truck. I was in a daze and still clueless as to what we were doing.

I consider myself a very organized person. We had everything all boxed and ready to go and it took less than an hour to pack our truck- I was SHOCKED!! We had a ton of guys helping us and before I knew it we were standing in a mostly empty condo. The ladies helped clean and we seriously couldn't have done it without everyone's help.

photo op after packing and cleaning-my besties!

Us with our hubbies!

Wednesday, August 25th, 2010: We slept on the living room floor that night and woke up early to start our long day. We had a lot more stuff still in the condo than we hoped, so it took about two hours to finish packing and get on the road. Matthew drove the rental truck with our Passat in tow and I drove our 1998, 180,000 mile, Honda Accord and followed him most of the way.

We drove up through Heber and hopped on I-80 and by 10:30am we made our first stop at Little America in Wyoming. Allphin family tradition is to get a 50 cent ice cream cone at the restaurant when you're passing through. We of course had to document the occasion as it was my first experience at Little America.

 At the boutique- we've only gone a couple hours and I'm already done...

Aside from Matthew running over some wood on the road and nearly hitting my windshield and his contact popping out of his eye on the middle of the freeway it was an uneventful drive. There were spots of construction it seemed every 50 miles or so all along I-80, that became more of an annoyance than anything else.

Day 1 was the longest day! We spent about 11 and 1/2 hours on the road and we stopped in North Platte, NE for the night. We ate Taco Bell for dinner and went to bed early. 


Thursday, August 26th, 2010: We slept in and got on the road around 9:30 am. We had a short 6 and 1/2 hour drive to Kansas, but it was still a LONG day. The drive wasn't as boring as most people told me it would be and I rather enjoyed cranking up my music and singing at the top of my lungs. (Thanks Jennerbirdie for the sweet mixed CDs- You saved my LIFE).

We made it to Olathe, KS just after 4pm and were able to check-in to our hotel and go and look at a couple of apartments before they closed for the day.

This was my view most of the trip:

And this is us on day 1 as we stopped for gas:

We had our walkie talkies with us the whole way to communicate and make sure we weren't falling asleep. Each one came with an ear piece which was handy and helped especially when my music was blasting!


We were happy to be done driving and looking forward to finding a place to live. 

**Coming Up: The apartment hunt begins!

Circle of Life

I woke up the morning of August 20th with my sweet husband by my side. We had been neck deep in packing and moving details for a few days when he turned to me lovingly said, "I need you to be ready tonight at 5pm. We're going out for out last date night in Utah". 

I was rather perplexed and a little annoyed that he would ask me to drop everything and go on a date with him. I had my sister-in-law coming over that evening to help me pack the kitchen and my mother-in-law coming over Saturday morning to help with the rest of the packing, how do we possibly have time for a date night?? Before I could argue he said, "I've already made plans and reservations, so you need to be ready and not ask questions, okay?" 

I agreed and told him it was his responsibility to call my sister-in-law and explain why we would have to cut our packing date short.

I went about the day with little thought of where I was going that night. I had a lot on my mind as it was, so it was easy to think about other things. I came home from work around 3pm and my sister-in-law was already at our condo packing up the kitchen. 

We worked until 4:30 and then she left...I felt like we had just gotten going and so I was annoyed again that I had to stop the momentum and get ready for our date.

I got ready and we left the house later than Matthew had anticipated. We got in the car and had an empty tank, so we had to stop off at the gas station. By this point I felt really bad since it was a quarter to 6 and we had a reservation somewhere at 6pm in Salt Lake City.

We had dinner on the patio at PF Chang's. It was a beautiful evening and by this point I was happy to get away from the moving chaos. 

After dinner, we went for a walk and to my surprise we ended up at:

And we walked in the theater and up to Will Call where we were given our two tickets for The Lion King!!!

I couldn't believe it!!! I had mentioned to Matthew back in February that this was a show I would love to go see. At the time we didn't know where we would be in August.

This movie has always had a special place in my heart. It was one of my dad's favorite Disney movies; he would watch it with us often when we were kids. It was actually one of the last movies I ever saw with my dad. And the story hits close to home for me and my family. 

As we were sitting in the theater waiting for the show to start Matthew made me promise that I would only cry at the sad parts. I agreed, but I didn't know how difficult that would be.

They opened the show with "The Circle of Life" and I got all misty-eyed. The entire show was beautiful and has such amazing symbolism. It also has some amazing songs that aren't in the movie.

If you have an opportunity to go see this show-DO IT!!! It is worth every penny!

It is definitely a date night I will never forget. I'm so grateful for a husband who is mindful of me and knows what I need even when I don't. It was the perfect way to relax and spend time together before the big move!

Happy Anniversary!

I saw Matthew for the first time on Sunday, January 5th, 2003. My oldest brother, Louis and my mom had just driven me back to Utah. It was a difficult time for my family, as my father had just past away a few weeks earlier. My mom and my brother went to church with my that afternoon at the BYU Law Building. I was sitting there saying hi to my sweet friends and feeling their wonderful love and support when in walked this strong, handsome farm boy. I was immediately attracted to him.

Weeks went by and my image slowly changed. I dyed my hair a darker color and started going through a "punk" phase. My family was worried about me, but I felt like I was just trying to find myself and cope with everything that had happened over the last several months.

Matthew and I wold walk past each other on our way to classes and every time I saw him, my heart skipped a beat. I finally verbalized my crush for him to the girls in my ward and by March he called me on the phone and asked me out on a date. I was elated!!! I hung up the phone and screamed, I felt like the luckiest girl in the ward. 

We moved fast in our relationship, by our second date I told him I was really attracted to him and I wanted to see where things could go, but that I came with some serious baggage. We were open with each other from the start and it was so refreshing. On that same date we had our first kiss.

The next year brought a lot of struggles for both of us. We were young and trying to find ourselves and figure what we needed, but being together was never a question. On April 10, 2004, we went up to Sundance and he proposed to me in the very same spot where we had our first kiss.

I moved home to AZ a few days later to plan the wedding. On Saturday, July 10, 2004 I married the man of my dreams and I've never been happier. Matthew is my world and I've grown to love him more and more every single day. 

Here's a look at us throughout the years! 

Us on our wedding day- 108 degree weather is not ideal.

 

 

Our Honeymoon in Mexico, where I began the never-ending bad luck with all motorized vehicles that are not cars. I wrecked our 4-wheeler about 15 minutes after we rented it and I was determined to take it back right away. This has only continued throughout our marriage, the most memorable can be seen here.

 

Our very first picture with our very first digital camera. This is history in the making folks!

Our 1-Year Anniversary-We went up to Salt Lake City and stayed at Little America where Matthew proceeded to get sick with food poisoning-definitely a memorable anniversary!

December 2005

 

I will NEVER forgive myself for this...I used to cut Matthew's hair and I thought I was pretty good at it. Until this specific incident when I had taken the guard off of the clippers to get around his ears and then I found a spot that I had missed on the side of his head and I went at it without the guard on...before I knew it, it was too late!!! Needless to say, I refused to buzz his head, so we had to take a trip downstairs to Nate and Jill's-she was braver than I was and afterward he looked like our niece Grace. I've never cut his hair since...

 

Sept 25th, 2006 - The night before Matthew's first marathon in Logan, UT

 

Sept. 23, 2006 - Just after crossing the finish line after his 1st Marathon!

 

Disneyland June 2007-Matthew's 1st trip!!

 

4th of July, 2007- I love his curly hair!

 

Christmas in Boise 2007

 

After purchasing our first car-Christmas 2008

 

My first race "Running with Angels"-May 2009

 

My 25th birthday in Park City-September 7, 2009

 

Matthew's Graduation-April 30, 2010

 

Special Olympics-June 2010

 

4th of July 2010

Happy Anniversary babe, I love you!

Friday, April 30, 2010- Matthew's Graduation Day

I know I'm really behind, but I think I'm ready to get back into blogging and catch everyone up on all the big events that have happened the past few months. The biggest and best news of all is Matthew is done with his Bachelors of Science in Computer Science. Hooray [I'm Jumping up and down]!!! :D I couldn't be more pleased with him and all of the amazing things he has accomplished. 

This day couldn't have been more perfect. We seemed to have spent weeks and months planning for the big graduation day and it all happened so quickly. I kept telling myself, throughout the, to live in the moment and soak it all in. I didn't want to forget anything about this moment, these feelings, etc. My only regret is that I did not get enough pictures, but I will cherish the ones I have for a lifetime!

Friday morning we had the privilege of going to a President's breakfast where they honored the Valedictorians of each college. Matthew's parents were able to join us as guests and we had such a lovely time. The weather was a little gloomy, but I think I wore enough sunshine for everyone!

 Matthew and I at the President's Breakfast

 

Picture with Matthew's wonderful parents

 

Proud wifey!!! :D

After breakfast, we attended commencement, where Matthew sat on the podium and was recognized by the President of UVU, Matthew Holland. I met his wife at breakfast and she is just the most lovely, beautiful woman. President Holland spoke and used the text from Dr. Seuss' "Oh The Places You'll Go", definitely a favorite book of mine. They also had Larry Echohawk, head of the U.S. Indian Affairs speak to us. Matthew's dad played football with Larry at BYU, so we met him before commencement during the Presidential Breakfast.

Immediately following commencement, we had the convocation for The College of Technology and Computing. Matthew sat on the podium and gave a wonderful speech. We have it on video, but it's in the wrong format and Matthew requested I not put it on the blog, but it was amazing. I received a little shout out; it made my heart flutter and it brought tears to my eyes.

 cute hubby on the podium

  

 I love this look, melts my heart!

Giving his speech

 

 Receiving his diploma

 

 Picture we got with the family that was able to attend-THANK YOU!!!!

 

After all the ceremonies, we dashed off to pick-up our packets for the Provo City Half Marathon and then we went to Matthew's Celebration with family and friends. We had such a wonderful time and truly appreciate all the love, support, and prayers we've received on our behalf over the last several weeks, months, and years. We've started to look for jobs and we feel so blessed to know that the right one is out there for us!

Thank you to all of you!!! We love you more than you could ever know!!!

Update on Life...

My bad day came and went...I was more venting than anything, so I apologize, but I do like the video and the song is great too! Life have been crazy in our home. We don't have babies or dogs or any other such things to occupy our time, but we are busy nonetheless. 

Matthew is finishing up his Senior Design Project and should officially be done by Friday. This is one reason why I haven't posted pics of graduation or other events....I've been stalling okay!? I wanted everything to be officially done so we can have a blogger celebration! Also, I didn't want to post pictures out of order, so I'll be doing lots of catching up in the near future! :D

Next week we will start looking for jobs and I will be counting down the days until I can officially put in my notice at work. I've been at Novell for over 4 years and I am definitely ready for a change. We are excited about the future and hope to be able to find something that will be a good fit for us. I'm hoping maybe we can take a few weeks off in between jobs or maybe I can go home for a while some time this summer. I'm missing my family like crazy.

Wish us luck on the job hunt and pray for me that it won't take forever!! I'd just like to know where/when we're going so I can start making all sorts of crazy plans!
 

Salt Lake 10 Miler

We drove up to Bountiful Friday afternoon to spend the weekend with my in-laws. The race started at 7:30 the next morning, so we took Grandma Catlin out to dinner and then headed to bed around 9:30pm after checking the weather. We realized we could be running in a blizzard with horrible winds, I prayed that it wouldn't be horrible and it could have been worse. We didn't sleep well at all and woke up around 4:30 am to get some oatmeal in before we left for the race. We drove to "This is the Place Monument" and waited for our friends to arrive to give us a lift to the starting line.

The run started at Little Dell Recreation area. The course went up and over Little Mountain down Emigration Canyon and finished at "This is the Place" monument. The map below shows the course:

Once we got to the start, we tried to stay warm and stayed in the car as long as possible. The video below Matthew took just after the gun went off:

The roads were wet, icy and snowy and the wind was brutal! The first 2.25 miles had a fairly steep incline before we hit the summit and started on the downhill. There were some parts of the incline with the wind blowing 30mph you just felt like you were running/jogging in place. It was awful, and I was only averaging a 12-13 minute mile for those first few miles. My IT Band started hurting soon after the start and I had to walk it out a few times. I started feeling pretty good once we headed downhill although I still felt some pain in my knees.

My pace was getting better and I finally felt like I was getting into the groove. At mile 8, I stopped for water. The stop was less than 60 seconds, but when I started running again the pain was excruciating. I was crying and whimpering. Matthew looked at me and asked if we need to stop and go get the medic, but I was determined to finish. It took another half mile to get into the groove again and mentally get past the pain, but I crossed the finish line hand in hand with Matthew with tears streaming down my face. It was an emotional run, frustrated I was feeling so much pain and wishing my body would have kept up with me, we finished slower than I would have liked, but we finished. Our time was: 1:41:00.06.

I went to the doctor this morning. I have Iliotibial Band Syndrome. The doctor gave me some stretches to do and I purchased a Foam Roller to help work out some of the inflammation. He said I should start seeing some improvement in the next week or so. I plan on doing some lighter training for the next couple of weeks. I am still looking forward to running the Provo City Half Marathon on May 1st and determined to get there no-matter-what!!!

Hey Valedictorian!

My wonderful husband was named Bachelor's Degree Valedictorian for 2010 for the College of Technology and Computing!!!

I couldn't be more excited for him!! :D When he forwarded me the email this morning, I was in shock and then the tears just fell!!! I am so proud of him and everything he's accomplished. This is going to be such a wonderful experience for him!! There are seriously no words for how proud of him I am! :D

He'll be speaking at his convocation on April 30th and I will be sure to post lots of pictures and gushing comments about him!! AH-mazing!!!

The anticipated update

I realize I've been out of the blogging world for quite some time. I want to assure you, I've still been diligently reading your blogs and enjoying each of them. I needed a blogging break. I was finding it difficult not to compare my world with yours and your little families and all of the wonderful things you have accomplished in your lives, so I took a break, to refocus and decide for myself if I wanted to keep blogging....and I do! I've missed it, so here I am. I wanted to update you on a few things we've been up to:

*Matthew had his first major surgery in July of last year. An emergency appendectomy. The surgery was successful and all is well although it was such a different feeling being on the waiting end.
*After finishing the 5K in May of 2009, I signed up to do a 10K in September of 2009 only to run into knee issues. I consulted my family doctor and then an orthopedic surgeon. After being told to rest I was unfortunately unable to run the 10K and stayed off my knee through the holidays.
*We were able to take a log of vacations this summer: We went to AZ in July for my mom's 50th Birthday Bash. We had our first trip to Lake Powell with friends, a trip to Island Park, ID just West of Yellowstone and a few other short trips .

Hike to Stewart Falls

Nora's 1st Birthday Party: Miracle and Ellie

Nora's 1st Birthday Party: Me, Lori, Tiffany & Kirbi

4th of July Weekend: Me and Matthew
4th of July Weekend: Sadie, Kirbi, Lori and Nora
4th of July Weekend: Kirbi, Me and Nora

4th of July Weekend: Me and Nora
Lake Powell with Friends: Lindsey, Dorothy and Me

*We spent most of the fall taking drives over the Alpine Loop listening to Colbie Caillat and hoping it wouldn't be the last time.
*In September I celebrated my 25th birthday in Park City where we rode the Zip Line and I got braces...again.

Brooke White's Concert: Joseph, Brooke, Tiffany and Me (with braces :D)

*We spent the Christmas Holiday with Matthew's family and then went to AZ for New Year's to be with my family. We especially enjoyed the drive through Las Vegas this time and secretly hoped it would be the last time we would make that drive.

Christmas Caroling: The Allphin Clan

Mesa Temple Lights: Only some of my fam! :D
Mesa Temple Lights: Jake and I
Mesa Temple Lights: Sweet Cousins, Cole, Jayme and Lillie

*In January I started running again with hopes of running my first Half Marathon on May 1st. I plan to run 4 races in the next 3 months: The Frigid 5K on Feb. 27th, the Spectrum 10K on March 20th, the Salt Lake 10 Miler on April 3rd and the Provo City Half Marathon on May 1st!!!
* We had 1 new niece and 1 new nephew born in 2010!!!!

Austin David Allphin
January 17th, 2010
4 pounds, 7 ounces, 17 inches long
Lyla Ann Hinchey
January 29th, 2010
7 pounds, 6 ounces, 20 inches long

*I've continued to sew more and have loved finding new projects, I will have a post soon of my creations!
*Most importantly, Matthew started his last semester of his undergrad and will graduate on April 30th!!!!! :D