Wine country without the wine...

We just returned from my oldest sister Tiffini's wedding in Napa Valley, California. Can I just tell you-she was so beautiful. The whole Sonoma Valley is breathtaking, the estate on a vineyard that they got married at was incredible, and every detail of the wedding was classy and so romantic. I enjoyed every part of it but the best part was getting so see my sister so happy and marrying the love of her life. It is not that often that all of my family and cousins get to get together and when we do it is always a party.

Tiffini has talked about having bagpipes at her wedding since she was a teenager. (Note the dark colored glasses on the end? That was our sparkling cider!All of my siblings (plus Matt's sweet wife Dara) What a handsome family!

They got married at this balcony at sunset overlooking the rolling vineyard

Their reception was held in the coolest cave decorated with modern elegance.

It was sort of a whirlwind of a trip but I just LOVED seeing all of my family. Thanks Tiffini and John for putting on such a great party all weekend long. Miss and love you all!!

21 weeks and loving the life within me

20 week photo

They are right when they say that the second trimester is the most comfortable time of pregnancy. I feel great, I finally look pregnant for real, and I get to feel like I have a little friend hanging out with me all the time. I love the closeness that I feel with him already. He is one active little guy! Sometimes I feel like I am riding a roller coaster all day as much as my stomach flips around. Other days I feel little kicks of approval as I go about my day to day business.

And the verdict is...

For those of you who guessed BOY, you were right! Chase and I are SO thrilled to be able to refer to our baby as a HE instead of "He or she" all the time. The ultrasound went extremely well and it was such a miracle to see our little boy moving around on the screen. Chase was literally jumping up in down with excitment as the nurse ushered us into the ultrasound room to find out. He was a little embarrassed when she turned her head and caught him bouncing around with excitement. I thought it was so sweet.

We were relieved to see that our baby was developing right on track. He had a healthy brain, kidneys, heart, blood flow, bladder, and he was nice and cooperative to show us his {soon to be} manly parts. It really was a miracle to watch him so comfortably snuggled up inside of me. I couldn't help but have tears of joy running down my face the whole time. I was really glad that I was too late to put on mascara that morning!

When I get a chance I will scan a few ultrasound pictures, I'm not sure when that will be though. We are back in Boise for two days of playing catch up from work and then the whole family is off to Napa Valley, CA for Tiffini and John's wedding. I can't wait! Tiffini will be a beautiful bride and I can't wait for John to be in the family officially. Our extended family is so spread out around the country so it is SUCH a treat when we have events that pull us all together. I can't wait to see everyone!

P.S. I'll try to do a quick pregnancy update with belly pics soon too!

According to the old wives...

I decided I'm sick of waiting so I consulted the "old wives tales" to figure out if I'm having a boy or a girl. Here were my results.
You have a 33% chance of having a boy.
And you have a 66% chance of having a girl!!!

And Here's Why...
You are carrying the extra weight out front, so it's a boy.
The hair on your legs is not growing any faster during your preganacy, so it's a girl.
Your feet are not colder than they were before pregnancy. You are having a girl.
You refuse to eat the heel of a loaf of bread. You are having a girl.
Dad-to-be hasn't been gaining weight along with Mom-to-be, so it will be a girl.
The maternal grandmother has gray hair, so a boy will be born.
You had morning sickness early in pregnancy, so you are expecting a girl.
You are not looking particularly good during pregnancy. Therefore, it must be a girl, because girls steal their mother's looks.
Your chest development has not been very dramatic during pregnancy. You should expect a boy.
Since the sum of the mother's age at conception and the number of the month of conception is an odd number, it will be a girl.
A needle on a thread held over you belly moves from side-to-side, so it will be a girl.
You are craving sweets, which means that it is a girl.
Your nose hasn't changed during pregnancy, which indicates a girl.
You have been craving fruits, so it is a girl.
Your baby's heart rate is 140 or more beats per minute, so it's a girl.
You have no desire for orange juice, so it's a boy.
You are having headaches, so it's a boy.
Your belly looks like a basketball, not a watermelon, so it's a boy.
You show the palm of your hand rather than the back of your hand when someone asks to see your hand, so it's a girl.
You use the handle on a mug, so it's a boy.

16 weeks pregnant photo

Baby update: I am 17 weeks (and four days) pregnant! I am no longer sick (YAY!!) and have much more energy. I'm not a fan of the constant stuffy nose and occasional heartburn that has started to creep into my life, but really those are my only complaints! I feel like I have a baby belly that is so obvious but most people laugh at me when I show them. In TWO weeks we have our next baby appointment which includes the ultrasound where we find out if we are having a boy or a girl. Its driving me crazy. I have started having the strangest dreams about it-from dreaming that Chase did the ultrasound without me and forgot to ask if we were having a boy or girl(how in the world??) , to the doctors office calling to tell me that they had to reschedule my appointment for March 5 (duedate: March 11), to seeing the ultrasound and our little baby was neither boy nor girl...a he/she. AHH! Besides those non-revelatory dreams, I have no clue whether we should start buying blue or pink. I'd love to see what you all think! I'll put up the voter for two weeks until our appointment on Oct.19

hard maple, ash, soft maple, and River birch

Chase, Dad and I took a trip to the hardwood dealership last week (is that what its called?) to admire grain size and width, hardness, and natural color of the various hardwoods. This was a special trip to pick out the species of wood Dad would use to build our cradle. It is a tradition that started in our family when Brian was born. Dad built a cradle from scratch and when Jade and Kyle had the first grandchild last year my parents decided it would be a tradition to make a cradle for each of their children's first baby. Tayler's cradle turned out so beautiful that the tradition might have turned into an incentive to have kids. Ok not really but seriously, how beautiful of an heirloom will this be?!

My parents have always joked that I have expensive taste. (its just a good thing I also got my Dad's frugal side) When we walked into the shop and saw the 52 panels of different finished hardwood samples on the wall, I immediately ran up to one and said "This is my favorite-look how beautiful it is, would this be a good, hard, wood for a cradle?" The woodworker smiled and said "Oh yes, that would make a beautiful cradle. Macassar ebony is very hard so it will last generations, it is an exotic wood but it would not be toxic for a baby." I was so excited! I had walked into this place with no clue as to what color of wood or grain size I preferred but found one that I loved so easily! "How much is it?" I asked. The woodworker laughed and replied, $96.00 a square foot." Dad, Chase, and I all laughed right along with him. The other beautiful (although much less exotic woods) cost between $3-8 a square ft. I guess I proved my parents right.

We sure did have fun admiring all of the beautiful types of wood in the shop. Chase and I narrowed it down to 4 different types of very beautiful (yet much more affordable) species and are going to go next week to look at stain colors. Thanks Mom and Dad, for offering to make this beautiful cradle for our little babe on the way.Tayler's cradle-made of Red Oak. Beautiful, huh?!

My very own little buttercup

Last night was our ward talent show. One thing I LOVE about Chase is that he is not afraid to be a bit goofy in the name of fun. The elders quorum presidency was supposed up come up with a talent so they got creative (and brave) and put this little number together. Have you ever seen "Three Amigos"? I had never seen it before I married Chase but it is a Taylor favorite. For those of you who haven't seen it, here is a clip of the scene that Chase and Chris did for the show. The pictures didn't turn out very well but I'll put a few up anyway.

A few of the wives in the ward and planned a little surprise at the end of the talent show also. Michelle taught everyone how to apply make up and we applied it to our husbands from behind a curtain. (its hard to explain-think of girl's camp skits) Afterwards we made them sing "I'm a little teapot" on stage. It was hilarious. Seriously-what a great sport!.
Baby Update: I am 16 weeks pregnant! I have definitely noticed a difference in how I felt right around 16 weeks. Food is still sort of a pain but overall I feel so much better. Chase has been such a wonderful pregnant husband. He cooks for me, does the stinky dishes, gives me back rubs, and when I wake up with charlie-horses in my legs he helps me work them out. True love! Three weeks until we find out if its a girl or boy!!!!

nobody tells you...

Pregnancy is so weird. Seriously how come nobody tells you about all the crazy things that happen to your body when you're pregnant? Some good, mostly not so good. The belly growing is kind of fun-and I tease Chase that I'm a vampire because I have an incredible sense of smell. As long as I'm not smelling anything very strong its ok, otherwise I have to hold my breath or head to the bathroom. As far as the "not so good" pregnancy symptoms go I think the list spans broader. For instance, the leg cramps in the middle of the night aren't really that funny...neither is the waking up 1-3 times each night to pee. I thought those were both third trimester plagues but I guess I'm blessed with them early. The hormone changes give Chase whiplash I think. I do my best to moderate my emotions because I know its probably just the estrogen. Of course there is the occasional faintness, varying levels of nauseousness, puking sprees with little or no warning, and worst of all: FOOD IS DISGUSTING! On one hand I am hungry ALL the time, but nothing sounds good and I can only eat half a meal before I feel like I'm going to lose it. Within the hour I am starving again.

Enough complaining. Honestly, even with all the weird symptoms it is more fun than uncomfortable to be pregnant. I love thinking about our little baby all curled up safe inside my belly. Hopefully soon I'll start to feel him/her swimmin' around in there. Call me crazy but I'm actually exited to "look pregnant" to other people. Right now I just think I have a baby bump and my family makes fun of me because they don't think I do.

14 weeks 3 days

P.S. Here are two big ones that I forgot. Suddenly I have all kinds of allergies plus my nose is stuffed up all the time and worst yet-MY HAIR IS FALLING OUT!!! What other weird/quirky symptoms did you guys have?