A Time for Thanks

I am so glad that we got married during this season of Thanksgiving! It reminds me every time how thankful I am for such an amazing husband! Jared, you are everything to me, and I had no idea how many wonderful things would come from saying, "Yes" to you 7 years ago! You are the most kind, understanding and giving individual I've ever met, and each day I am surprised to find you still love me despite all my faults and shortcomings!

You have given our family such strength and character with all your determination and dedication to finishing school. You are an idealistic father to Anna, and already one to our little girl on the way - just by taking such good care of me! You have seen us through thick and thin, and I feel so blessed to have you in my life! I love you, sweetie and Happy Anniversary!

Little Angel

For anyone that knows me pretty well, the title of this post may come as a surprise. Not because Anna isn't a cute little angel or anything like that, but mainly because I'm not one for sissy pet names. However, I just wanted to share that I really did have a little angel on my hands today as I "caught" Anna saying prayer several times. I would walk into her room, and she'd have her chubby little arms folded as best they could be, her head sort of bowed, and she'd be whispering incoherent words for a second before abruptly stopping and clapping for herself! I'll have to admit that I clapped for her when we first learned prayers because she did so good, but now she claps after every one... it's cute enough that I'm not going to curb it. I wish I could get into her head to know what she is thinking, or what she is saying.
Also, as if to further solidify my opinion of my little angel, while writing this post, she came up to me wanting me to read her "I am a Child of God" book. She has all of her books fully accessible, and that is the one she picks, bringing it to me, pointing at the cover art and saying, "Shesus, Shesus."
She must be having a spiritual day...
Here is a recent picture that just makes me smile; I love my little girl. :)

Okay, Here You Go...

Ugh, for some reason I have really not wanted to post my pregnant picture this go-around. Last time, even though I gained about double the weight, I think I felt more excited about experiencing it all for the first time and thus didn't care what I looked like. This time, for some reason, I haven't been able to make myself post anything. But, Jared made me take a couple pictures just so we'd have a record, and I decided that I may as well indulge the curiosity of blog followers. It has also been fun creating this post because every time Anna runs behind me as she plays, she points and says, "Mama!"

Anyway, in this picture, I am at 33 weeks and explaining to PJ how the birds and the bees work... Of course, he's already had 7 kids, so I'm not really sure why he was asking. Sorry about the completely blank backdrop, we are still planning to close end of November, and thus have mostly everything packed already. Enjoy.

Cock-A-Doodle-BOO!

Happy Halloween everyone! Here are some pictures from our adventures! Jared was working so he missed out on the fun, but the girls had a great night. First, I briefly considered dressing her up as a mad scientist:


But then went with our original plan of a rooster...that plays piano...



Anna had lots of fun running around chasing balloons at the ward's trunk-or-treat. She wasn't very social, but liked the decorations, pumpkins and lights. I kept having to shed her layers underneath her costume as the night progressed - that thing was hot!



I just loved the yellow and orange striped legs!



By the time we made it to Grandma and Grandpa's roost, she was super pooped. We didn't stay for long, and she ended up going to bed before 7! Anyway, we had a great time, and can't wait until next year when she really will understand what is going on! :)