Bringing in the New Year

So despite the fact that the title of this post is "Bringing in the New Year," it is in reality, a post about July 2014 until the present, which incidentally includes brining in a New Year.  And of course I've been horrible with the whole keeping up on the blog thing, but hey here I am updating now (with a probably not-so-sincere commitment to posting more in the year 2015.) Plus life seems like it was so much more exciting when you post a bunch of pictures at once- even if they do cover a 6 month span, right? 

For Christmas 2013, I got Ben tickets to a journey concert to a Journey concert, which wasn't happening until July 2014.  A very in the future type of gift, but I had to get the tickets once they went on sale especially when it's for the hubby's favorite band.  I'm honestly not a huge concert person, but I will admit that this was a VERY good concert.  We created new memories and now every time I hear Journey on the radio I fondly remember this night with Ben and listen to the song as opposed to going on to the next station.  They were great live- I would go again!

This was also the summer of weddings- beginning with wedding of our friends Jake and Charissa in July.  I was a bridesmaid and Ben was a groomsman, thus the matching dress and suspenders. :) 

Next stop: Portland.  Unfortunately with Ben being in his 3rd year of medical school, having him come with me wasn't really an option.  So I met up with my dear friends for my old roommate Angela's wedding.  It's been so fun attending all of our weddings.  They all came to my wedding and now as the rest of us are getting married, it's been fun to be able to attend.  

Here I am with the lovely bride and groom- they look great, don't they? 

After the wedding in Portland, Levi, Taylor and myself had a day to spend before heading back home.  We spontaneously drove up to Seattle for the day- which was awesome! We went up the space needle, had delicious Greek food and attended a parade/Seattle festival that they apparently do every year. Still not sure what is was for exactly, but it was great either way.  And Seattle is beatiful.  

This guy's birthday was in August.  Isn't he cute? His birthday included garage saling (his favorite activity that I rarely participate in), going to Goodwill outlet (same idea as the garage saling) and opening presents.  Including a very special present- a book called "From Dude to Dad." It was so hard to keep it a secret, but I finally let the cat out of the bag- I am pregnant! (In reality I only "kept it a secret" for 2 days and don't worry- he was the first person I told.) Ben didn't understand at first because he knew we were going to be getting pregnant soon, which is why he thought I was giving him the book.  Fortunately it clicked though- he is very excited to be a dad!

August also included an unexpected trip to Utah due to the passing of Ben's grandfather.  I never had the chance to meet him, but from all of the stories that I hear, he was an amazing man.  We also got to spend a little time with Pook and his girlfriend (now fiance) Torie.  

I was back in Utah in September for wedding #3.  Emily made a beautiful bride and it was good to see my friends in UT once again.  Ben was not able to come with me again with med school and all, but it was still a good time.  

I waited until Halloween to announce to the world our good news.  We posted this picture on facebook as our announcement.  My first trimester was at a close at this point.  My pregnancy in general has been very very smooth.  I really can't complain.  Yes, I got sick here and there, but it really hasn't been bad.  

We went and supported Ethan at the swim state finals.  I had a reason to pull out my old Lindbergh shirt, which was crazy.  E rocked at the finals- we were so proud! 

We went to the symphony to hear the youth state orchestra perform.  The tickets were cheap and the kids were really good! It was a great date night.

For Thanksgiving break, we had our gender reveal party.  It was perfect timing because we found out the gender the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, which is also right when Parker and Torie flew in town for Thanksgiving.  We had everyone guess what the gender was:

Then we had a gender reveal box filled with either pink or blue balloons that we opened:

And voila- blue ones popped out- It's a BOY!  I knew from the beginning that he was a boy.  I don't know why.  Even at the ultrasound before we saw the gender I kept referring to him as a him.  Motherly instinct I guess.  We are both very excited for him to come.  The ultrasound made it so much more real because he actually looked like a baby as opposed to a jelly bean.  The ultrasound in general was one of the most incredible experiences.  Both of us were in awe as we watched our baby swim around, roll around, wave, wiggle his toes, and kick.  I will say being pregnant is so much cooler now that I can feel him kick.  It's one of the best feelings in the world.  Despite the fact that he is kicking 24 hours a day I feel like.  :) 

Thanksgiving break also included a trip to Pappy's.  Anne, Torie's mother, came in town as well.  It was so fun to meet her and have time to get to know her and Torie better.  (At this point they really are engaged- he proposed in October.) So I have a new sister-in-law, which is both crazy and cool.  Crazy because it's weird that my little brother is getting married and cool because he picked a good one. :)

After Thanksgiving, we went to Anheuser-Busch to see the Christmas lights.  I had never been before and they were excellent.  And free! I would recommend it to any in St. Louis that have not been.  

We got our pic with one of the Clydesdales.  If I'm remembering correctly, his name was Thomas.  

More lights:

And then there was the Christmas tree.  Wow.  Ben got me a 9 foot tall fake tree for free on Craig's list for this year.  And this tree nearly killed me.  It was a pre-lit tree that all of the lights were burnt out on (thus the freeness) and Ben thought we could just cut the lights off.  10 hours later (literally), we only have 1/3 of the lights cut off.  So we left the rest on and just put new lights over the rest of them.  (You can't even tell).  I like a lot of lights.  I mean a LOT of lights.  That's what makes a tree look good, right? And I admittedly don't know how to do something half way when it comes to this.  So I wrap every single branch with lights and run out of lights 1/3 of the way up the tree.  3 trips to home depot later, and many tears and hours later (including a burn out of all of the lights in the tree), the tree was finally finished.  I think the words "I hate Christmas" may have escaped my lips on multiple occasions during this.  Sigh.  It doesn't help that I'm not THAT big of a fan of Christmas in the first place (I know, I know, don't judge me).  But the one thing I enjoy about Christmas is decorating my tree.  My mind might be changing about that now ;)  And my tree is still up for those of you wondering.  Normally I take my tree down on December 26th but with going out of town, and the idea of taking down my hours upon hours of work, I just haven't been able to do it.  (I am starting as soon as I finish this post though, I promise.)

Here's my 22 week pic:

As I mentioned earlier, we went out of town for Christmas this year.  It was my first Christmas away from home.  And it really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  (My first Thanksgiving away from home was not a pretty event).  We spent the week of Christmas in Utah with Ben's parents.  We had a lovely Christmas even dinner featuring the traditional cordon bleu.  

We got together with my besties at Elise's home in SLC.  It was great to see everyone.

We saw the tree of Life in Draper.

And the lights on Temple Square.  This is the spot that Ben proposed to me 2 years prior. The rest of trip included lots of Cafe Rio, In n' Out, seeing the Hobbit, shopping, and relaxing.  A good time.  

We spent the week of New Year's in Cancun with my family for Ethan's senior trip.  And it was awesome! I had never been to Mexico, so it was a first for me.   We saw Ruins:

Including Chitzen Itza (below) and Ek Balam (above).

This is Ben at the top of Ek Balam.  The ruins were my favorite part of the trip.  And Ek Balam was awesome because you could climb on it.  You can no longer climb Chitzen Itza.  

We also brought in the New Year at our resort where they had a little party going on for all of the guests.  

We went downtown one night to a restaurant called "Perico's."  It was very fun!

We finally had to come home and go back to reality :( We are now getting ready for Baby Fisher to come in April.  Here Ben is at Buy Buy Baby, overwhelmed by all of the stroller options.  :) 

And we just attended the fabulous wedding of my friend Emily at the Sheldon Concert Hall.  This heart was by the coat rack, and a perfect photo op.  Ben was happy, despite his efforts to be silly and grumpy looking for a pic.  

Whew! I think that sums up my past 6 months.  Here's to a fabulous 2015!