She's growing so fast!

Aleah is growing so fast, I cant believe it! We went to her two week appointment yesterday and she is now 6 lbs 11 oz and 20 inches long. That means that since we brought her home she has gained a whole pound and grown two inches. Wow! Here are some pictures from the last few days that I think are really cute.

She's Amazing

I need to write a quick post about Shay and let everyone know how amazing she is.

We just had our first baby girl a little more than a week ago. For those of you who don't know, Shay delivered Aleah completely natural. Yes, no epidural. Yes, on purpose. I have a completely new respect for her and what she is capable of doing.

Pre-labor for Shay started late Wednesday night. We ended up staying up that entire night, as the contractions were strong enough to keep Shay awake. We were pretty sure that we would have Aleah sometime Thursday. Well, the contractions slowed Thursday morning and delayed things. Fortunately, the contractions picked back up Thursday afternoon and evening. By Thursday night, I was absolutely wasted. While Shay was working through the contractions, I was laying around the house, hoping that they would stop so we could sleep. I was fine with the contractions starting up again Friday morning after a nice long sleep. That didn't happen. We ended up going to the hospital late Thursday night/Friday morning at 12:30am.

After a couple of hours into this final stage of labor, I was looking like an old man in church meetings, giving myself whiplash. And Shay? Well, she was wide awake in labor. AMAZING. Two nights without sleep and still able to do all that was needed to get Aleah here. I am so grateful for her, for her strength and dedication and for everything she did to bring our beautiful, healthy daughter to us. Aleah is amazing and proof that miracles do happen. We give thanks to our Heavenly Father daily for her. If anyone has any doubts who the strong one is in our family, I hope my post makes it clear that it is not me.

A huge hug goes out to Shay's parents as well, for being with us at the hospital all night and still working the next day. You guys are wonderful!

This sounds a little boastful, but I just needed to let everyone know how amazing Shay is and that I love her!!

-Brad

Birth Announcement

Here are the facts...What is your guess?

I thought that it would be fun to see who can guess the closest to when our baby is going to be born, how much she is going to weigh...things like that. So I will give you the facts and then you need to make your best guess. I am 37 weeks and 2 days pregnant. At my appointment yesterday I was dilated to a 2 and effaced 75%. I was born at 5:15am, 6 lbs 8 oz, 20" long, with a medium amount of very light brown hair. Brad was born at 11:30am, 7 lbs 12 oz, 20 1/2" long, with a little bit of blond hair.
What is the date and time that you think our baby will be born?
How much will she weigh?
How long will she be?
How much and what color will her hair be?
Good luck! I am excited to see if anyone can guess right on!

Nursery Part 2

We Did It!
I have been wanting to paint some stripes in the nursery, but I have been scared to do it. I decided that we weren't going to do it because I am kind of a perfectionist when it comes to things like that. I was sure that it would end up crooked or something and then I would go crazy every time I looked at it! But, I really thought that it would be cool. So I changed my mind, again, and put it on the list of things to do. Some of you might know about this list, it is the list of things that I want to get done before December. When I put it on the list Brad said, "Sorry, there's no more adding to the list, unless you take something off." Well, let's just say this, we painted the stripes in the nursery last Saturday. I think that it turned out great! We did so good, they are even straight. I love doing projects with Brad, it's just so much fun! I am thankful for a wonderful husband who puts up with me and my list!

What a Miracle!

As of Wednesday afternoon I have a new little nephew named Grant! He is such a miracle. For the last 17 weeks the doctors have been saying that he would not survive once he was born. Well, he is here and he is amazing and so cute. He is such a fighter. My brother and sister-in-law are also so amazing! What a wonderful experience it is to see the hand of the Lord working miracles in their lives. I know that Heavenly Father loves all of his children. I know that there is a plan for all of us, there is a reason that he is here with us. I am so thankful that he gets to spend some time with us! Congratulations Nate and Stacey and welcome to the world sweet little Grant!

A whole lot of tagging going on!

So I have been tagged many times since I have started blogging. Sorry to all of you who have tagged me in the past, I just have never gotten around to doing it. Well, I have been tagged seven times in the last few days, OK I get the point, I will update my blog!

Let's start with the list of 6 quirky things about myself tag.

1. I do not like ranch or cream cheese. This tends to be a problem at most parties since ranch is the salad dressing of choice for most and cheese cake is a popular dessert.

2. I'll do one more thing about food. When I eat frosted mini wheats I have to turn them all frosted side up before I pour the milk. They just taste better that way!

3. I can't take fast showers. I enjoy long showers, but sometimes it would be nice if I could take a fast shower. Believe me I try and it just doesn't work.

4. I have never been to Disneyland. I have always wanted to go and it has never happened for me. I am excited to take our daughter one day and experience it with her.

5. In addition to being a BYU fan, I am a U of U gymnastics fan through and through.

6. I inherited crooked pinky fingers from my Grandma Stone. I am interested to see if our daughter has crooked pinky fingers like me or straight like Brad.

I tag BreAnne, Stacey, and Tyeanna

Now I will do the 4-4-4 tag...4th folder, 4th picture, tag 4 people.

This is a picture of my 28th birthday party. Notice the cake, it looks a lot like the one that I had for my birthday a few months ago. Yummy, my favorite!

I tag BreAnne, Stacey, Jen Long, and Kam Schneider

I also want to post a photo from Halloween. We had a nice relaxing Halloween this year. We stayed home and handed out candy until the candy ran out. Then we got to watch The Office. Fun times!

Is that a crib in there?

Last night Brad and I put our crib together. The nursery is not close to being finished, but we now have the crib, the rocker, and the changing table all put together! Yay! For the last few weeks we have been painting. I have to thank Brad, my mom (especially for recovering the rocker), my dad, and Amie for all of their help. You guys are amazing! It is fun to see something that I imagined come together and actually look good. Well, I think it looks good. It's funny because every time I walk by that room and I glance in I think, "Is that a crib in there?" and the reality of the whole thing hits me. This morning I heard Brad say, "Whoa, there's a crib in there!" So here are some before and kind of after pictures. I say kind of after because I will post some pictures when we get the nursery all decorated. I can't wait, it is so much fun to do the nursery!

Clue us in!

Brad and I are trying to register for our baby. Trying is the key word. Last night we stood there at the store for about two hours saying, "I don't know, what do you think?" So we need help from the professionals. What's good? What's a must have?

Not yet, but close.

Since Brad will be out of town for my birthday we decided to have a birthday weekend. Yes, I will be 30 years old on Wednesday. Lucky for me I still have a couple more days in my twenties. It was a wonderful weekend. Brad really made it a fun birthday for me. He got me a new camera because I need a camera to take lots of pictures of our cute little baby and I need to practice before she gets here so that I know how to use it!

We went bowling with my family. I love bowling, but I really didn't do so hot. Why, well let's just say that most of the time I was trying not to send my little baby down the alley with the bowling ball. It was harder then I thought it would be. I was beating Brad so I didn't feel to bad, until he got five strikes in a row. Where did that come from? In the end even my niece Emma beat me, she got second place!

That night Brad and I went to the Tree Room up at the Sundance Resort. When we walked in I saw a guy that looked like my dad. Wait a minute, that is my dad! Surprise! My family was there. So we had a very nice evening eating yummy yummy foods and talking about the fact that the night I was born there was a huge snow storm.

On Sunday the fun continued with yummy homemade alfredo and marinara sauce with spaghetti and tortellinis. I love pasta! For dessert I had to go with my mom's delicious german chocolate cake! It was so good. Thanks Mom! My sister, Grandma Stone, and Grandma Bushman all decided that they wanted to match me, so we started a red shirt club.

I realized when I saw all the candles on my cake that the jokes that I have been saying on my parents' birthdays about having a fire extinguisher handy now apply to me! Wow, that is really crazy!

I am very excited about everything that's going on in my life right now. I am very thankful to have such an amazing husband and wonderful family and friends! Goodbye twenties, hello thirties.

Now that's BLUE!

Brad and I just returned from our family vacation to Bear Lake with my family. We rented a cabin that was right by the lake, the view was beautiful. This is how the lake looked by day...

and this is how it looked by night.

We had a lot of fun playing at the lake, but it was very cold as you can tell by my sister's face after she jumped in.The guys got to go golfing at the Bear Lake Golf Course. Your looking good guys! The girls got to make pumpkin pies. Having pumpkin pie at Bear Lake is our tradition and it is sure a yummy one. My mom shared her secrets with us, maybe one day our pies will be as good as hers are.There is always time to play on the beach. We got to make a couple of sandcastles. This castle was decked out with amazing spires and archways, a big swimming pool, and a rock sided mote.

Brad is really good at making these archways!

Isn't that incredible!After we finished building the castle we let my niece Emma destroy it. At first she was very confused because we had been tell her the whole time to stay away and then we were telling her that she could have at it. She wasn't confused for long, she was soon stomping in the pool and knocking down the spires. With every swipe she would say, "Ohhh, nooo!" Here is a picture of me relaxing on the boat with the wind blowing through my hair.

We left my sister in Logan. She is going to be attending Utah State University. I'm sure that she is going to have a fun time there, but it has been nice having her around for the summer. I miss her already!

Surprises for Brad

Last week we celebrated Brad's 30th birthday. It was a lot of fun. On Sunday we had dinner with family. The first surprise came when Brad's family who live in St. George walked in the door. The look on his face was great. The second surprise came when we went over to the park for cake and ice cream and friends from the neighborhood were there. The third surprise was one of the gifts that I made for him. It was a book that had pictures in it from the last 30 years. It is such a great book! Thanks to ALL the family and friends who came to celebrate Brad's birthday!

Relaxation to the Max!

Brad and I just returned from an 8 day vacation. It was wonderful! We started out at the cabin up in Brian Head which had nice cool weather and then finished up down at hot Lake Powell on the houseboat.
We had a great time at the cabin with our friends and neighbors the Lepores. We got to GeoCache, which we love to do. The best part was just relaxing and visiting. I do have to say that the night that we played Apples to Apples was so much fun. Maybe it was because it was late and we were all in that laugh at anything mood, I loved it!
Brad took this picture of me after I made breakfast, he though it was so funny; I didn't! I had just made german pancakes and I didn't factor in the altitude and the glass pan so, yep, they were trying to climb out of the pan. Everyone said that they tasted fine. I've had better.


Our days down at the houseboat consisted of more relaxing and lots of playing. For the first few nights we were camped by this big sand hill that we would hike up every morning. By we I don't so much mean me. I did go up part of the way. One morning my brother-in-law Mark hiked up it five times in a row, WOW, he is amazing! Here are some pictures of Brad and I on the sand hill. Brad jumped down the hill and I jogged.

















Of course there was lots of time for Brad to wake board and for me to take pictures and wish that I could be wake boarding. One day while Brad was wake boarding the water was pretty rough and he got out of control on one of his jumps. It was awesome, but he was sore for the next couple of days. Poor guy! Here is the video.



Exciting moments: Ted and Tina's dog Bullet found a rattlesnake on the beach about 3 feet from the houseboat! A guy that we didn't know jumped off the cliff by our houseboat from really high up and tried to do a back flip. Well, he over rotated and did a back flop. Ouch! He came up with a hurt back that was bleeding, that's gonna leave a mark! Squirrels fighting over peanuts. Almost getting caught in a storm on our way back from Rainbow Bridge. Finding our kayak out in the channel (who was in charge of tying that one up?!).Thanks Ted and Tina for another wonderful family vacation!

How did you know?

Everyone has been telling me that I am having a girl and I would think, "How can you tell just by looking at me?" Well, I guess that you can tell just by looking at me because we are having a girl! We are so excited! We didn't really care either way, but it is so much fun to know. She is really cute. We had a lot of fun watching her move around and yawn.

This is a profile picture.


In this picture she is kickin' back with her arm over her head.


This is our 3D picture. She has her knee up by her chin and she is posing with her hand on her cheek. She looks so cute! At first she was being shy and had her hand over her face, but then she decided to pose for the camera. Good job baby!

What are the chances?

Last September I found out that my blood type is O-, which was very surprising because both of my parents are O+! I was pretty bummed thinking, "No not another shot!". So I have been very curious as to what Brad's blood type is. I have been trying to convince him to go and donate blood so that we can find out if I have to have the rhogam shot or not. I have had NO success. At my monthly appointment last week I had him cornered and we got his blood tested, finally. The results are, he is A-. Yes, I am so excited! I think that I have had enough shots in the last year thank you very much! So in the United States only 6.6% of the population has O- blood and only 6.3% has A- blood. Wow, what are the chances that we would end up together? It just adds to my list of why I love him!

4th of July Party

For the 4th of July we spent most of the holiday with Brad's family. We went down to St. George so that I could have Brad's sister Dawn do my hair. She is really good and worth the drive, I love my hair! Brad got to swim with our nephews while he waited for me. Then we went to Brian Head to stay at the cabin. It was so nice up there. It was very relaxing and the temperature was 69. We went down to Parowan for the festivities on Friday morning. We watched the parade and got lots of candy, which is why I like to go to that parade. I guess you could say that I go for the candy! Brad did a three-legged race with his dad. It was a lot of fun to watch and they almost won! The fireworks were also wonderful up at Brian Head. It's cool because they echo off of the mountains. We just love spending time with our family and we are so thankful to live in this country!

Oh! Isn’t that cute!

I decided that I better post my ultrasound pictures. The question is; Can you see the baby? The head is toward the top in both pictures. No the first one does not have two heads! The little circle to the right of the baby is the yolk-sac. In the second picture you can actually see the baby’s spine. I love these pictures and I can’t wait for my next ultrasound, which should be in about a month!

8 weeks

12 weeks