December...So Far

The holidays are always crazy and insane, but we've had a few things added onto our plate to contribute to that insanity. On the 6th, we had the opportunity to support our good friends, the Chapmans, as they were sealed to they're adopted son Trevor. He was born on May 22nd and they were able to take him home just a few days later. The 7th he was blessed and we were able to be a part of that too. It was pretty crazy the week before because there were some probelms with the paperwork that was supposed to be finalized and what not, and Satan was really trying hard to make it not happen for them. But Matt, Holly and Trevor are now an eternal family and we are so happy for them! Something that Holly told me that day hit me pretty hard when we were talking about all the issue that they had. She said, "You've had the easy way out. You didn't have to deal with any of this madness!" What she said made me realize that we didn't have to go through all that to have Alaina sealed to us- it was just kind of an automatic thing. I am so greatful that we've been blessed in that respect and we can have this wonderful little girl in our lives forever.

Anyway, enough with the teary stuff. On the 12th, Cory and I were able to go see the production of "A Christmas Carol" at the Hale Centre Theatre with the Pehrson klan. That was such a good production and the man who played Scrooge knows the Pehrsons. He was good friends with my mother-in-law's cousin, who passed away at a fairly early age just around the holidays. This man dedicated a preformance of the show to the family and said that was the greatest show he'd ever done. He's been playing Scrooge for 25 years and it was amazing.

We also got a new car. Well, it's new to us anyway. Two weeks ago someone backed into our parked car (in our driveway) and it got totaled. The guy was in a truck and the hitch and ball just went right through the grill and pushed all the engine parts up. It turned out to be a blessing for us though because we needed to do a few repairs on the car and get some new tires, but with the money from the insurance company, we were able to find a newer and better car, and still had a few dollars left over. My dad was going to get us new tires for Christmas, and I'm not sure what he was more frustrated over- having to help us find a car, or having to figure out something else to get us as a gift :) The car is a 2001 Pontiac Grand Am and it's silver. It's identical to Cory's car, silver and all, except his is a 2004.

I probably won't be making a post until after Christmas, so have a great holiday and enjoy the wonderful spirit that comes with it. Merry Christmas!

November Post

Ok, so I had to take a bit of a break before getting this next post done. I forgot to mention that we also got family pictures done in October. Our good friend Amanda took them for us and they are so cute, but Alaina was really tired and not in the mood, so we don't have any smiles from her.

We celebrated my birthday in November and it was nice to be able to find a babysitter. We went to our favorite restaurant (whenever you are in Logan you have to go to Le None's. It's the best place ever!!!) and we were able to go to the movie theaters for the first time since before the baby came. Also we were able to set up a blind date with Cory's cousin Brennen and a friend that I work with, Candace. We doubled with them and it was pretty fun. Going out twice in one week without the kid was prettty great though!

We started Alaina on solids the last week of November and it's been an interesting attempt. She's getting lots better, but it's still a pretty messy thing to do. And speaking of messy, my cousin Sara had a bit of a problem with powdered sugar over Thanksgiving while helping in the kitchen :)

The only other thing that happened in November was Thanksgiving and it was so great. We spent it with the Broadhead's this year and I was so excited for all the food! Last year my senses were all messed up from being pregnant so nothing I ate tasted good, but I definately made up for it this year. We played lots of card games with the cousins, especially Nertz (or Blitz or whatever the heck you want to call it), but no Killer Bunnies this year. My Uncle Dan played with Alaina quite a bit, which apparently is a big deal since I was the only other baby, besides his own kids, that he's ever held. My Aunt Holly made me get a picture of it because it is just such a rare thing. And that's about it for November!

October

I feel like every time I post something new I'm apologizing for not posting for such a long time, and I really only get around to posting because I get threatening emails from all of you who keep tabs on us. So I've decided that it's not even my fault for taking so long because all of you should have threatened me sooner. :) No, just kidding. I really do need to try harder though. But since it has been so long I thought I'd section it out and do several posts so it doesn't get to crazy all bunched up in one.
October was great for us and we spent conference weekend with the fam. A great friend of mine got married and we were able to make it to the ceremony. Ken had homecoming, but unfortunately Alaina couldn't stay out that late so he took another date. :)

Also this month, Alaina (and I) discovered the joy of the Jonny Jumper. She'll play in that thing forever, and we put it in the kitchen doorway so she can see me while I'm in there. She hasn't quite mastered jumping, but spinning and stomping are so much fun! We went to the pumpkin walk and had fun seeing all the creative scenes that people had made from pumpkins and gourds. Cory's favorite was the Indiana Jones, of course, but I really liked the Michael Phelps/Olympic one.

Halloween was a blast and we spent it in Salt Lake. Alaina had a ladybug costume, but it was pretty big and so we didn't keep it on her very long. I don't think we even got a picture of it, but it'll fit her next year too. My friends, Tami and Jessi, stopped by with there girls and it was so great to see them! They are twins, and we grew up together, but the fun doesn't stop there. Last year Tami had her daughter on my birthday, and Jessi's daughter was born the same day as Alaina!

So there's the post for October, and tune in next post for the update of November!

Weekends

So we've spent the last two weekends running around in Salt Lake for various reasons. Last week was General Conference, which was our main reason for visiting, but it seemed like things kept being added on! My brother Ken had Homecoming and my parents did dinner for his group, a wedding in Provo, family pictures getting taken and just hangin out with the fam.
Saturday we drove down to Provo in the pouring rain to a wedding of one of my best friends. Cami and I have been friends since we were about 5 or 6. She had moved to California and then Washington in 6th grade, but we still remained close. We actually visited one another quite a bit(her to Utah more often with some family here). The ceremony was gorgeous and it was so great to see all her family again- it's been way too long. Cami, you looked beautiful and so happy! We are so glad for you and Ephraim!
Ken's group was pretty clever working around the Priesthood session- they had dinner at 4pm dressed in their t-shirts, then took the girls home to get ready while all the boys went to conference. Then they picked up the girls right after and went straight to the dance. Alaina was dressed up from the wedding we attended, so we had to get a picture with Uncle Ken.
Sunday Amanda and Scott took some really great picutures for us, since we're a little behind the ball on things. Thank you so much- they are gonna look so great!
This weekend we went down for a family shindig on Friday with my mom's family. My Aunt Sue and Uncle Roger came in to town from the East Coast because one of their grandsons was getting baptized and his brother was getting ordained a decon. So everyone that was close enough to come did and it was so great to see them all! We were able to show off Alaina- well she was actually just stolen away from us pretty much the whole night. Not that we minded- the break was really nice.
Saturday we hung out with Cory's family and Alaina was a doll! She had fallen asleep and there were a few errands that we wanted to run, so Grandma said she'd watch her for us. I'm not sure who enjoyed it more, us or Grandma. But we ran arround and stopped by Babies R Us and got a warm carseat cover that's weather-proof, and boy are we glad we did. It started snowing that afternoon and Logan has had some pretty constant flurries since. That night we went out to dinner with all the Pehrsons to celebrate Gil's 56th birthday on the 9th and Hiedee's 17th birthday on the 15th. Happy Birthdays!
I'm having some issues with my memory card right now so I'll add pictures when I get that worked out.

Top of Utah Marathon

Hooray! Mom and Ken (and Alex) finished the Top of Utah Marathon on the 20th of September! I am so impressed, because I could never do that- not that I'd want to either. Mom finished with a time of 5:51:05.92 which was up about 40 minutes from what she did last year in St. George, but she had injured her hip about six weeks prior putting her training on hold for a while. Ken finished in 3:37:44.80 and said that he was ready to "lose consciousness" at the last mile. He made it though and placed 5th in his age group! Not bad for a 17-year-old kid right? Ken ended up getting a trophy( with a moose on it- he he), but unfortunately his friend Alex finished one minute behind him, and they only give trophies out to 5th place. But I think to say you finished a marathon is trophy enough. Mom was able to give her granddaughter a couple of high-fives along the route which made her extremely happy. Alaina cheered, or at least her shirt did, for Grandma and Uncle Ken too. It was an awesome race and we are so proud of you!

All right, so I have to apologize for not being the greatest blogger. It's taken quite a few proddings from people to finally get this post done. Alaina is doing fantastic and is an absolute joy! She's been smiling and laughing for about 2 weeks now and she's got a pretty fiesty personality. She's also been letting me sleep too- at least 6 hours before she wakes up to eat and then she goes right back to sleep afterward. I absolutely love being a mommy!

Friday my family is coming up for the Top of Utah Marathon on Saturday. Both my mom and my brother are running and we're so excited for them. I'll make sure I don't take too long to post some pictures of that and the results!

New Arrival!

Alaina Kay Pehrson was born yesterday morning at 7:36. She weighed 6 lbs 14 oz and 19.5 in long. She's got Daddy's blue eyes and quite a bit of light brown hair. We were getting pretty anxious for her to come, so on Monday night we started working on ways to induce labor at home- we found accupressure points, walked a ton, and got some raspberry leaf herbal tea. The latter was what put things into gear! I had a glass at 9:30, by 10:30 there was pretty intense contractions and by 11:30 I was hooked up on the monitors in the delivery room. We had to wait all night for me to get all the way dialated, but they had me start pushing around 6:30 and then she was here! I was pretty wiped out with not being able to sleep all night, but she's just beautiful!

Cory was able to cut the umbilical cord and is such a proud daddy! The grandparents are just as proud and super excited to spoil her. We'll keep you updated and post more pictures as we get them.

Getting Closer...

All right, so I'm a slacker and I never got picutres posted like I promised. So this time I won't promise anything and just let you all hope that I get around to it sometime soon. The past few weeks have been quite eventful. On May 22nd our dear friends Matt and Holly became parents! They have been looking to adopt for the past six months or so and got the call that morning. Trevor Caleb Chapman was born that (Thursday) afternoon and they were able to take him home Saturday morning. We just so happened to be down that weekend and so we were able to visit with them on Sunday. Trevor is the cutest baby every! He's full African American and has a full head of the curliest, softest hair ever. He was 6 lbs 8 oz and 20 inches long, so he's a skinny kid. Cory was excited because he was able to practice swaddling on Trevor, and it was cute while he was holding the baby because he fell right asleep on his shoulder and with the baby so small and Cory so big it was just adorable!
Cory's brother Joey and my sister Lisha both graduated on the 5th and we had the wonderful pleasure of sitting through two separate yet equally boring ceremonies while sitting in hard, uncomfortable chairs. Anyway, even though we were bored to tears (except for when their names were read) we are extremely proud of both of them and wish them luck with whatever they choose to do in the future.
Lisha left for Germany the day after graduation and from what we've heard in emails she's having a superb time. They have to bike everywhere, but that's what Cory and I are contemplating on doing here with gas prices so ridiculously high. She's really worried that she won't make it back in time for when the baby comes, but I really don't care at this point. I feel like I'm ready to pop! I went in yesterday for my appointment and the doctor said I'm dialated to a 1 and 25% effaced. That makes things seem so much closer now, even though it could not really matter either. I could stay at this point for 2 weeks, or I could go into labor tonight- it all just depends on when this girl decides she wants to come meet us! I have been having more contractions and definately more and more uncomfortable lately, and I have felt her drop down a bit. I asked the doctor when she would guess I would go into labor, and she said she hates guessing because she's always wrong, but she would say a week and a half to two weeks. A friend of ours said that she needed to be here before Sunday was over so that Cory could have a "proper Father's Day." He's still getting a few things though.
I've had a couple of baby showers and thank you so much to everyone for all the help and advice and stuff! We basically have everything ready for when Alaina comes thanks to all the generosity people have had. Thank you!

Finally An Update...

Ok, so I'm really sorry that I'm not very good about keeping up my blog. I promise I'll get some new pictures posted soon, but enough people have bugged me about not having written for such a long time I figured not having pictures would be all right.
We're down to just 6 more weeks until our little girl is here (or at least I'm hoping it's only that long) and we're both getting pretty anxious. We finally decided on a full name for her- Alaina Kay. She's quite an active little bug so we may have quite a handfull. She got the hiccups the other day, and that was one of the wierdest things I think I've ever experienced. Things are going pretty well with the pregnancy, and I'm just at the point where I'm pretty much uncomfortable all the time and extremely swollen. Cory's been really good about helping me out though. He's so excited to be a dad- he told me a few weeks ago that he was bored and wanted the baby to come already. I think it would be good to wait a bit more, but I married a pretty decent guy.
We did move recently too, but just a few blocks away just off of 4th North. We're renting part of a 4-plex, it's basically just a house. We have the main part with 3 bedrooms and we also get the backyard and garden and stuff. There's 3 one-bedroom apartments that are off of it, but our neighbors are students that are really quiet. One is a music major, so we hear her practicing the piano quite a bit, but she's really good, so we don't mind it. We're still working on getting to know our new ward, but they pulled us into callings pretty quick. They asked both of us to be the media specialists, so basically we're in charge of the bullitin board and announcements and things. They also asked Cory to do double duty and got him right back with the boys as 2nd counsler in the Young Mens. I guess since he's just a big kid at heart he fits in best there. :)
Well, I'll make sure to post again in the next week with more pictures and everything that's been going on.

A Little Girly!

Ok, so we finally found out what we are having! We went and had the ultrasound done yesterday and got the pictures and everything- it's going to be a girl. Our families are very excited, and so are we. The grandmothers seem to be the most excited though. With it being the first grandchild on both sides, she is going to be sooooo spoiled.

Everything seems healthy so far, so hopefully nothing changes and things go crazy. I'm right at 20 weeks, or 5 months for those of you who don't like math, and I had to start wearing maternity clothes right after Christmas. With how short I am, there's no where but out for this baby to really go.

It seems like we're going to have a real character on our hands come July- she was acting so funny during the ultrasound. She was smiling at us, moving around a ton, and we even got a shot of her putting the back of her hand up on her forehead like some drama queen. We're thinking about naming her Alaina, but we're still working on a middle name.

Christmas

Ok, so I'm not the greatest at getting my blog started, but I'm working on it. Cory and I had a great Christmas and spent Christmas Eve and moring with my family. We had all my dad's family over that night and Cory had to play Santa- my mom found this cheesy suit a few years back on clearance for $3, and my dad kept saying that it looked like there was a rat on his face. That morning was pretty funny because my mom is so excited for the baby, that Santa even brought some presents for it. She's pretty convinced that it's going to be a boy, so the baby got spiderman sippy cups and some toy that makes more noise than should ever be allowed.

Later on that day we went to the Pehrsons for a belated Christmas morning. Cory's sister Marci and her husband Larry went in on a gift for their parents with us and we got them a vacuum. Aparently they still had the same one from when they first got married and it was being held together by duct tape. My mother-in-law was pretty excited for it, even before it was opened. She was so curious at what was in the huge box that she had to wait to open.

Cory's brother, Joey, was pretty awesome this year and donated plasma a couple of times before Christmas so he could have enough money to buy his sitster Heidee a dress, even though we draw names and put a $20 limit on gifts.

We also got a few rounds of guitar hero in, so it was a pretty good Christmas I'd say.