The One With Our Pumpkin Carving

At our house, we love Halloween time, Rick especially. We love that it's college football season, the hot apple cider (or caramel apple cider) & hot chocolate, this is the time we watch our only Halloween or scary movie each year, scaring the trick or treat-ers, crunching the leaves, and much more!

Rick's family invited us over for FHE to carve pumpkins. It was lots of fun. Rick told me to get a pumpkin about the size of my belly... can you guess why?


He carved a picture of Paige, from her ultrasound! How cute is that!? Can you see it in the pictures below?




I started out using a stencil to carve a spider, but I gave up. That was too much work for me. So I went with my original idea, of carving a U... go Utes!


I saw this shirt and HAD to buy it. It did take a few days for me to swallow paying $30 for a maternity shirt that I would possibly only wear a handful of times, but I am glad I splurged.

The One WIth The Picture Updates

I've been taking pictures about once a week lately. Since Rick takes my laptop to work so he can take his classes online, I don't see my laptop as much as I used to. So, it's time to play catch up on the most recent pictures I've taken.

My family started a tradition last year of going to the pumpkin patch and picking out pumpkins. At this pumpkin patch, there are all sorts of tractors that the kids always love to play on. I only had my point and shoot camera, so I didn't get very many good pictures, but I loved the cheesiness in this picture. I love my nieces and nephews. They each bring so much happiness into our family.



Some friends from our ward wanted some pictures taken, so we went up to Silver Lake, thinking the leaves would be pretty. Well, unfortunately, the snow was still there! We got some good pictures, but we'll do a mini shoot soon as the leaves hit the valley so they have more pictures to chose from.




Baby P is 6 months old already!! Her mom did a good job picking out some fun outfits!


Baby C is Baby P's cousin. He is 1 year old now! It's been really fun to see him grow up. I'm making a photo book of his first year, you can check out my website to see it. I hope to have more time today to work on that, and get it finished.
www.throughmichelleslense.shutterfly.com





My beautiful cousin Candice had another fashion show coming up, so we went to her mom's art studio to get some fun shots. I loved the character of the studio, and as usual, she had some great clothes too.

The One With My Happy Ramblings

I am one lucky lady.

(sorry, this is kind of long...)

Maybe it's just the hormones making me feel this way, but I've been extra happy for the most part over the past couple of weeks. I've REALLY appreciated Rick more, since he is working SO hard for us (12 hour work days plus school for his masters), and I have felt closer to my Heavenly Father lately too. I've really felt so blessed. I've had a few spiritual epiphanies lately too, that have helped me to feel this way. In one of the talks in conference, the apostle mentioned that he wrote down his feelings, and then he was able to learn more. I felt this yesterday, just as I was writing in my journal. I had a feeling that God is blessing us so much, partly because Rick is doing all that he can for us, and working SO hard. I have always had a testimony that the harder you work at something, the more you will be blessed. I just always thought it was for gospel topics like reading your scriptures, or praying. The older I get, the more I realize the work that needs to be put into gaining a testimony.

Since Rick is so busy working and with school, we try to maximize the hour or two that we get together every night, even though both of us are exhausted. Last night, was so nice. We really were able to spend some much needed good quality time together talking. We even read our scriptures together, which has been harder to do now with his schedule.

Last night when we were talking, and Rick asked me if I really believed that Paige could hear our voices and that she will recognize them when she is born. I said yes, so he immediately got down to her level and started talking to her. He introduced himself to her, and told her how excited he was to have her and how he's going to be the favorite parent and will give her money when she asks for it. He went on for a minute or so. I couldn't help but just cry. It was such a cute thing to see him so excited and loving her so much already. It makes my eyes tear up just thinking about it. Then, after that, she started kicking, and he was finally able to feel her kick a few times! It made me so happy.

Ever since we saw her on the ultrasound and found out she is a girl, it has seemed more real. It's been really exciting for both of us.

For those of you who don't know, we picked out the name Paige back when we were dating. Rick was the one who suggested it, because he loves Jimmy Paige - a famous guitar player - but little did he know, I had loved that name since middle school. If we were having a boy, we would have been in big trouble, because either we couldn't agree on a name, or it wouldn't fit.

We put a deposit down on an apartment home this week. We'll be moving next month. I really didn't want to like this apartment, I had my heart set on another one, but I couldn't help but feeling good and feeling at home when I walked through the apartment. It's a 2 bedroom apartment, with no one above or below us. We have a car port right outside of our door, plus an extra parking spot right next to it. We don't even have to take our trash out on trash day, the garbage man grabs our can right from its spot in our car port each week. We also have washer and dryer hookups, which the other apartment that I liked didn't have. It really feels like a "real" place, instead of just another basement apartment that we are renting out. I am sad to be leaving our ward, but I really do feel good about this place.

On Tuesday night my mom and I were able to spend some good time together. Part of the reason why I wanted a girl was because my mom is my best friend. I know I can't force my daughter to be my best friend, but I really want to have a good friendship with her. My mom always makes blankets for each of her grandchildren, so we went to pick out the fabric. We found the cutest things, and had such a good time. I also went with my mom to her mom's house to visit with my grandma. Once again, it's possible that this is the hormones talking, but it was so nice to spend some time with them both. For some reason, I have been missing my mom more than normal, even though I see her at least once a week now.

Sorry for rambling on and on, I just had a lot on my mind, and some free time.

The One With The Ultrasound!

We had our ultrasound bright and early this morning! I was excited to find out what we were having, but I was very nonchalant about it for some reason. That is until Rick and I laid down to go to bed last night. It was more exciting for me than Christmas! Not to mention, I had to try to hold my pee in all night so that they could get a better look at our baby.
Morning time finally came. I carefully got ready so I didn't pee my pants. When I finally got there, the lady told me she had never seen a pregnant woman have that much in her bladder. :) I guess I could have laid off a little bit, huh? So, she started to do her thing, and she commented on how tall and wiggly our baby is. I bet the baby turned upside down and back up again at least 3 times during the 20 minutes we were watching it. I also didn't realize that the baby was above my belly button already, especially since I haven't felt it up there, but it was way up high! Here are the pictures!!






Our baby looks like a little skeleton!! Happy Halloween!!


Here's proof of the long legs. . .
and below . . .
Proof it's a girl!


It's kind of hard to see, but I guess it's obvious that there's nothing to see... don't be fooled by the umbilical cord.
Most of you guessed right!


PS- Conference was great! I really enjoyed how powerful and unapologetic President Holland was (I think that was him...) in his talk.

The One With All That Kickin!!

Here's another pregnant rambling... :)
I have felt the baby kick inside of me for over a month now. I have loved that connection that I get to have with the baby. I have noticed that the baby is most active in the afternoons (from about 2ish - 6ish...). A few days ago, though. I was watching TV, and the baby was kicking, as usual. I have been noticing lately that they aren't quite as soft of kicks as they first started out to be, so I wondered if I could feel them with my hand. Sure enough, I could! I was thrilled! This was more exciting for me than feeling the baby inside for the first time. I think because now Rick can be more of a part of this pregnancy. The only problem is that whenever Rick is home, the baby isn't as active. Stubborn little thing! I hope that Rick will get to feel the baby this weekend!