Cruise Pictures

Although our camera broke on the third day (or was it the second, everything is running together...?) I'm still glad I got the few photos I did... including some from my favorite day. Here they are...

This is about the size of group we would go out with each day, although this wasn't our whole group... there were about twice this many with us on the cruise. Our very first stop, St. Thomas, included a trip to the beach, and snorkeling for Parker. I just loved sitting on the warm beach in such a beautiful place.

The water was so blue! Love.

I think this was the island of St. Thomas as we were getting back on the ship that evening. It was just lovely.

Here we are at the formal dinner after our day on St. Thomas. It seemed like the boat would rock terribly every night at dinner. It made me a little queasy/light headed feeling, and made me wonder if it was sea sickness or morning sickness. I don't know. Either way, I still loved dinner! It was so fun to meet up with people in our group and chat about the day while being served 4 course meals. :)

The rest of the pictures are from my favorite day on the island of St. Maartan. The island is half Dutch and half French, kind of crazy, but cool too. :) This was the day that (I think... ?) we planned to go zip lining, but in was too rainy/wet out so our whole group rented mopeds and quads and we cruised around the entire island! When we were on our way back to the ship that late afternoon it started to poor. We were drenched in seconds, and then it started hailing too, but it was all part of the adventure. It's a good thing that was at the end of the day, I don't know that I would have been so positive about it otherwise.

These two pictures are before we got going while we were waiting for everyone to get their vehicle.

This was about half of the group, with the other half behind us. I have to admit I was a little worried at first because a few of the guys on mopeds had never ridden before, and actually crashed while they were getting a feel for them (before we had even left the rental shop)... but don't fret, no one was seriously injured. :)

They're lookin' tough, right? It was fun to meet new people and get to know others even better!

This is the last spot we were at before our camera broke. It was some sort of fort on a big hill used as a watchtower, I believe. There were old cannons (replicas, I assume) on the outskirts that could have shot out into the bay to protect the island from pirates or other invaders.

I wish I had pictures from the other days, because I feel like I can't keep track of which island was which and what activities we did on each of them. There were 5 stops in total, and most of the islands looked similar. We loved the cruise! Can't wait to go on another one someday (in the not too distant future!) :)

First comes love, then comes marriage...

We're on our way to having the baby in the baby carriage!! Although I'm pretty sure everyone who reads this already knows this news, I'll post about it here too. :) I'm due on July 15th, so as of today I'm 18 weeks along.

We found out a week before Thanksgiving. I felt normal until about December 1st, which is when I started to feel sick. I didn't get super sick like some women do, but I was definately grateful when I was done with the first trimester because the nausea subsided and I felt like I could actually have an empty-ish stomach without throwing up. It was kind of a pain to constantly have food around to nibble on. (Although I kind of have to do that again now because I may be slightly hypoglycemic, according to the doctor. So, to keep from being light-headed and shakey, I munch on high protein foods like nuts and cheese.)

Parker and I went had another prenatal visit a week and a half ago, and Parker really wanted to know if it was a boy or girl. Before the visit he was saying that he was going to convince the Doctor to do an ultrasound to find out, and I really thought that was highly unlikely, maybe a 10% chance. Doctors are busy people and I was pretty sure that you have to schedule those sorts of things in advance. Anyways, we get taken back to a room, and sit down, and right when the Doctor comes in Parker just asks him if he could do an ultrasound because we really want to know the sex. Well, the Doctor seemed a little hesitant, but still agreed. We went right to the ultrasound room, it only took him about a 45 seconds total, and he told/showed us that it was a BOY! He was out the door right after and that was it for the appointment. I kind of wonder what he would have done if we hadn't asked for the ultrasound, because that was basically all that happened (besides the nurse checking my blood pressure and weight etc.). We still have the big ultrasound scheduled for March 4th. We're looking forward to that!

I think I started to show a tiny bit at the beginning of January, and I've just hovered there at that size for a month or so. I don't look pregnant, just like I've gained a few extra pounds and they've all gone to my stomach. Within the past week I feel like I've grown a lot and I'm starting to sort of look pregnant to anyone who knows, but it's not obvious yet... I don't think. As of a week ago I'd gained three pounds so far. I'm really hoping I can keep it steady like that, because lately all I've wanted is junk food! Anything besides pizza, hamburgers, or hot dogs for dinner sounds unappetizing. I guess my one healthier craving has been cottage cheese with pineapple. Do I sound crazy? Maybe just a little... :)

I've spent a lot of time looking at stuff (cribs, car seats, strollers etc.) online, trying to figure out what is the best quality/safest/easiest to use, and it's been driving me nuts a little bit. There's so many options, and some people love an item and some people hate it. Sigh. I've taken a break from it this week, because although I enjoy looking, I get a little anxious about actually making a decision, even though I've got plenty of time.

This post is way longer than I intended, but there's kind of a lot to think/write about. This is a big deal, a life changer(!) and we're excited. :)

Such a waste...

There a few mistakes that happen in life that require money and feel like such a waste, because they are. For example, locking yourself out of your house (or car), requiring a visit from the locksmith... or getting a speeding ticket (or any other ticket for that matter) making your insurance go up on top of the hundred+ dollars you have to pay for driving too fast. Not fun.

What is also not fun is having both of these events happen within two weeks of each other. Maybe we need to put a "money down the drain" category in our monthy budget. Really, I am thankful that when we were locked out of our house, Parker actually managed to get the door open before the locksmith came so we didn't have to pay him, although it makes me wonder how secure our lock is.... hmm...

New Years Eve

***I've posted a bunch, so scroll down if you want to see them.***
I wrote more about new years eve in the post titled "December!" So scroll down if you're interested. Here's the spread we had! Too bad I felt nauseous that evening and couldn't hardly eat any of it...

Christmas Pictures

***I've posted a bunch, so if you want to see them all make sure you scroll down.***

Christmas was wonderful! If you want to read more about our day, scroll down to the post titled "December!"

Parker looks so tall compared to his Aunt and Uncles. :)

Temple Lights

***I've posted a bunch, so if you want to see them all make sure you scroll down.***
Parker and I enjoyed a fun evening with Grandma Hilton a couple days before Christmas. We walked around then stopped in the Joseph Smith Memorial building to warm up before heading home.

Nice 'stache, Parker.

2nd Anniversary

These pics are in the opposite order, but I can't seem to fix it, so here they are. For our anniversary Parker got me smelly-good lotion and perfume (and a piano, but he didn't give that to me until Christmas) and let me get these boots when we were at the mall that evening.

I got Parker the watch he's been wanting. This picture below makes me laugh a little...

Here we are on our way to dinner at Olive Garden! So tasty... Oh, and Parker went through a mustache/beard phase through December, as shown below. It started on the cruise over Thanksgiving and thankfully ended (at least for now) in mid-January.

Broken Ankle

Poor Parker... he loves to play basketball early in the morning before school. One morning in early December, one week before finals, I woke up to a phone call from him telling me I needed to take him to the Doctor asap because he just broke his ankle. Well, he didn't actually break it, he just tore a ligament and chipped his bone... that's close enough to broken in my opinion. It was extremely painful for him, and we went home with doctor's orders to keep it iced and elevated the rest of the day. Parker had to wear a boot for the next two and a half months. He finally got it off a couple weeks ago, and now has a brace to wear and is slowly able to walk again. His tendon's are so stiff he can't really bend his foot up or down. It's coming slowly, and most of all we're glad he no longer has the awful boot and crutches!

I love weddings.

I love being at a fun reception, eating tasty food with Parker.I love the beautiful decor.

I love being able to see family members and cute little cousins.

And, most of all I love being able to see the happy couple sealed together in the temple for eternity. Thanks for inviting us, Carrie! We were glad we could brave the snow storm and make it there... even though we almost didn't. :)

Christmas Tree

Parker and I bought a Christmas tree this year! It's a fake one because that's what works best for us. We really enjoyed the festive Christmas spirit it brought, even though it was quite sparsely decorated and didn't smell like a real tree. :)

We only have several ornaments, and I treasure each one... including the clothes pin raindeer I made in first or second grade, the Las Vegas bell Parker and I got on our honeymoon, and the shell star/snowflake we got on our recent Carribean cruise.