And Baby Hardy is A.......

That's right folks, we're having a GIRL!!!  We are absolutely thrilled!  I had my 20 week ultrasound and everything looks good and healthy.  It was so neat to see her all balled up in there.  It was 8:00 a.m. so she was still asleep I think, she wouldn't move for anything...and all that pushing and jiggling the tech was doing to get the last view made me have to pee!  But it was totally worth it.  We didn't end up getting the view of the umbilical cord so I have to go back next week, but I'm not too sad about it, I get to see her again :)  Luckily she was not being modest on the one view I wanted to see for sure.  The tech says, "You are having a little...girl.  Yep, there are no boy parts down there!" It is so fun to finally know, now I feel like I can start planning...  But seriously, it was one of the best moments of my life.  To see our little baby girl healthy and strong, it was beautiful!  It brought me to tears. It was funny to try to see what the tech was pointing out at certain times.  Like the kidneys...yeah, totally just saw something kinda circular-ish...I'm just glad he knows what he is doing! 

While we were waiting to get the CD made of all the pictures I looked at Landen and he had this really cute goofy smile on his face.  He said he was just really excited and that he was hoping it was a girl.  What?!  That was news to me!  I had no idea, he never once mentioned that.  He told me he didn't say anything because he didn't want to jinx it. Silly boy!  I'm just glad he's excited :) 

Our families are pretty excited it's a girl.  My mom is pretty excited...I think she's just happy I'm having a baby!  My dad is still convinced I'm having twins, which I am NOT.  He said that when a little boy comes out too he'll let him know that he was the only one that even acknowledged him.  HA!  He said he'll make a top 10 list of boy names for us because we'll be needing it.  He's so crazy! 

I have to admit that the best reaction was from Adri and Anita.  We went over to Nita's school after our appointment to let them know what we were having.  Now, to preface this, they really wanted a girl...REALLY badly.  But they said they would be okay if it was a boy.  There are a lot of little boys running around here and it was time for a girl.  So, I thought it would be fun to tell them it was a boy first to see their real reaction.  Landen told them it was a boy and they were both like, "Oh, we figured," with not much excitement.  But when I said, "Just kidding...we're having a girl!!!" they both jumped up and started screaming and crying, complete excitement.  It was pretty awesome!  So you could say it's probably going to be one loved little girl.

I'm just so happy to finally know!  It makes it even more real!!!  I'm so excited to see Landen as a dad too...that little girl is going to have him wrapped around her tiny little finger...I can already see it.  So many fun adventures to come with this little one!  We are so blessed :)

Thanksgiving 2012

Thanksgiving couldn't have come at a better time this year.  I was in desperate need of a break from life!  It was really nice to spend 4 days in a row with Landen too!  I went up to Newton for the weekend and it was great to have some time to relax and enjoy being with family.  The only annoying thing was that everyday we woke up at 8:00 am!  I wanted to sleep in more.  Life is hard, I know... 

We went to Brent and Stacy's for Thanksgiving dinner this year.  We had a really good time catching up and eating.  Stacy made her cream cheese mashed potatoes and they were delicious as always...that's why Adri and I go.  I just love Thanksgiving dinner.  It makes me happy.  It made the baby happy too. 

After dinner we were looking through all the Black Friday ads and I found some laminate flooring on sale and mentioned it to Landen.  Then Brent and Stacy told us they had a lot left over from when they did their floor and that we could have it!  WOW!  It was so nice of them to give it to us!  We are really excited to put it in the entry way of the house.  I'm so grateful for their kindness. 

Later that night I had my first real Black Friday experience...more like Black Thursday because it was Thursday night...but anyway.  I saw this leather glider/recliner chair with an ottoman on sale at ShopKo for $130, originally $350!  I couldn't pass it up.  I wanted it for the nursery, it was perfect.  So we headed to the store at 9 pm when they opened.  We waited and let the line get inside before we headed in.  It was C.R.A.Z.Y.  People are nuts!  But it was worth it to go home with this chair!  Brent and Stacy went with us just in case we couldn't fit it in the car...and we're glad they did, the box didn't fit.  But they got some good deals too, so it worked out.  We went back to their house and took everything out of the box and put it in the car piece by piece and it fit that way.  We're ridiculous.  But I'm so happy!  We put it together on Friday and it will be perfect for the nursery...as long as Landen doesn't take it over before then...

The rest of the weekend we hung out and enjoyed our time off work.  Friday we ran some errands and got some stuff for the house.  Saturday we went over to the house and did some painting and got some stuff done.  It was nice to work on it, makes me more excited to move in...we still have a lot to do though.  We made sure to be home in time to watch the Notre Dame vs USC game Saturday night because 1: I love Notre Dame and 2: it was their last regular season game and they were undefeated...and they won!!!  They are going to the National Championship game!!!  I am so excited!  I love football.  We had a great weekend!



Bad things happen in three's, right?!

This past weekend was INSANE. I was writing in my journal about it a few nights ago and realized that it doesn't sound nearly as crazy on paper...but when you take in the emotional side and the fact that I'm pregnant I was totally pushed over the edge.  So here it goes:

Well, it really started about 2 weeks ago when I got a traffic ticket for rolling through a stop sign.  I thought I had stopped, apparently not.  Oh well.  I made it 28 years without any kind of ticket, so I'll say that is a success!  But still, not to happy with having to pay that fine, I'm not made of money. 

Then this past weekend everything got worse.  November 9th: We were driving down to my brother's Friday night and it was snowing and yucky out.  We were in separate vehicles because Landen came down from Newton and would have to leave earlier than me to get back up there.  We were getting close to Springville, literally about a 1/2 mile from our exit.  I had merged over to the far right lane preparing to exit and Landen was still in the next lane over.  All of a sudden the truck in front of Landen slammed on his brakes so Landen did the same.  Then the truck swerved to the left and as he did so Landen saw the disabled car just sitting in his lane, so he swerved too.  The first truck hit the front end of the car propelling it into the front passenger side of Landen's truck then he hit the truck in front of him, which at this point had come to a complete stop.  Oh, and I got to watch it all from the next lane over...I think that may have been worse than actually being in the accident.  It is no fun watching your husband's vehicle getting smashed up on the freeway!  I was still driving and finally came to my senses and pulled over and ran back to where the accident was.  Of course I was crying and totally freaked out!  I was so glad to find out that Landen was fine. 

Apparently the reason the car was sitting disabled in that lane was because the driver had been going way too fast and starting spinning out and was hit by a semi as it crossed into that lane.  Stupid kids driving too fast in bad weather!!!  Kinda makes me mad.  Anyway, I won't go there. 

We spent a lot of time waiting as the highway patrol got all the paperwork done and the tow trucks got there and hauled away the vehicles.  It was so cold and wet!  I was shaking because I was cold and one of the firemen kept asking me if I needed to get my vitals checked...finally we realized he didn't know that I wasn't in the truck!  He asked if I wanted them checked anyway...um, no. 

It was so nice to finally get off the road and to my brother's house.  I was so done.  On Saturday I called to file a claim with our insurance and basically we just have to wait until the police report comes out to see who is going to be responsible for damages. It is just frustrating not knowing.  Luckily Landen was not cited for anything. 

The next weekend Landen came down to help me go get the truck out of the impound where it was just racking up a bill.  We had to pay out of pocket for the towing and storage fees, but the guy was really nice and cut the storage fees in half.  Tender mercy.  And our insurance will reimburse us for the towing fees.  Another tender mercy.  Hopefully once all this gets worked out we will get paid back for the storage fees, but we'll see.  We went to drive the truck out and had to remove the bumper because it was pushing into the tires...we didn't think the damage was that bad.  Then I was standing there looking at the truck with the bumper off and realized there was a lot more damage than we thought...the tires were both turned outward.  Yeah.  That's not good.  We drove it enough to get it off the lot and out on the street.  The next morning our friend, Justin, took us down there in his truck and towed it up to Salt Lake where we met Wayne and he loaded it on a trailer and got it up to Newton.  That doesn't sound so bad when you put it in one sentence...but what an ordeal!!!  Oh my gosh.  I never want this to happen again.  No fun.  We are really blessed to have great family and friends to help us out.  Luckily Wayne and Anita are letting Landen use Adri's old car for now, otherwise I don't know what we would do! 

You may be wondering what our third bad thing was...the next day after the accident we went to leave for my work party and my car wouldn't start!!!  That did me in.  I was so frustrated!  Of all the weekends it had to die.  It was just the battery so we got that replaced and it's been fine since, but man! 

Well, I thought we were done in the car department until we hit a bunch of debris (metal pipes and gates that must have fallen off a truck) on the freeway as we were driving down to get the truck out of the impound.  I couldn't believe it!  The car has had a very annoying shake since then.  Grr...  So we went and got the tires rotated and balanced to see if that would help and we were told that one of them is bald and the others are close and need to be replaced soon.  What?!  You have got to be kidding me.  So yeah, just in the car department I'm a little stressed out...let's not mention that I'm pregnant, we're buying a house and I'm still looking for a job so I can actually move and live with my husband!  When it rains it pours. 

This was after we straightened out the wheels: Passenger side = straight. Driver side = NOT straight!

The good side of bad times...

When bad things happen (and I say WHEN not IF because let's be honest, they DO come) sometimes it is hard to see the good things going on around you.  Here are a few of the good things that happened the same weekend Landen was in his accident. 

1. We got to spend the weekend with Jared, Megan, Nathan, Rylie and Maya...and that always makes me happy!  I love being in their home!  Those kids really help you to remember what is important in life.  At one point I was pretty upset and talking to Landen.  Rylie was so worried about me and wanted to read books with me...and she "read" me the only book she could, A Ghost Named Fred.  She did a pretty good job remembering the gist of what was on each page :)  It was adorable and helped me get out of my sadness.  It was just comforting to be with family during a hard time.  The only good side of the snow that weekend was seeing the kids have so much fun playing outside!  It was fun snuggling with my girls that morning while we watched The Little Mermaid too! 

2. My work Christmas party.  Yes, on November 10th...it was even earlier than last year!  But who cares, we got to go to Market Street Grill and Landen got his seafood fix.  I got my filet mignon fix!  YUM!  It was fun to go out to dinner with everyone from work and just have a good, fun night.  The best part was that we gave the doctor's their Christmas presents...and we gave them Snuggies with Elite Chiropractic embroidered on them!!!  It was hilarious!!!!!!!  That was the fun part of the gift, there was a lot more in the baskets.  And Dr. Wimmer was a good sport and modeled his:

I voted!

This year marked another Presidential Election...and it was the first year that I actually went to vote!  In my defense, I was on my mission during the last election and it really wasn't on my mind to plan ahead and get an out of state ballot...and the election before that I was a silly college student and just didn't register... Anyway.  It felt good to exercise my right to vote as an American.  It makes me grateful that we have the ability to choose our leaders (well, sort of).  Though the outcome of this election was not what I wanted to happen, it was a good experience.  It was great to see Mitt Romney, an LDS man, running for President of the United States!  WOW.  But, Barack Obama beat him out to serve his second term as President.  No offense meant to anyone, but thank goodness they can only serve 2 terms!  As least I know this is the end.  It is going to be an interesting next 4 years...as it is with any President.  We'll have to see what the years bring, hopefully there are good things to come for the United States of America, we desperately need some help.  For now I just have to remember to just enjoy life one day at a time and take things as they come.  We'll make it!  I'm just glad those darn election ads on TV are done...they are so annoying! 

Oh yeah, I voted early so I wouldn't have to stand in those long lines!  It was brilliant!  I was the very first one at that location.  In and out.  Go me!