cravings.

{i think about chocolate frosties all day long.}

happy happy birthday jamie dear.

happy birthday jamie! today my dad randomly came to work and brought me a letter from brother wilde that i wrote to myself. one of those letters that they are supposed to mail to you in 5 years. i wrote that you were my bff and guess what!? i'm so glad that you're still my bff and that we have a really strong email relationship :) love you and have a wonderful day!

{these pictures are my gift to you}

loves.

♥ this good thing from martha.

♥ pears.

♥ magazines.

♥ decluttering my house... which means going through all of my stacks of magazines, clipping articles & throwing the rest away!

♥ snow {and no more inversion!!}.

♥ 3rd sundays with sean's family.

♥ 4th sundays with my family.

♥ joining the enormous crowds of people at ikea on saturdays.

♥ non-fat frozen yogurts at ikea.

♥ umbrellas.

♥ baby kicks. sean bought her a soccer ball bc she loves kicking so much :)

♥ my body pillow.

♥ hearing baby's heartbeat for the first time.

♥ getting my hair done, finally.

♥ the season premier of lost.

♥ necco conversation hearts.

♥ this post by seth.

♥ this recipe.

♥ deciding not to paint the nursery {one project that i don't want to stress over}.

♥ these finalists in TAMN's makeover contest. {i voted for emily}

puzzle, belle and kicks

When Ariel and I were dating we had a lot of puzzle nights. We would sit talking forever and do puzzles. I would always have to save her the last piece so she could finish it off. We have continued this into our marriage and every once in awhile sit down and do a puzzle. For Christmas Ariel bought me the puzzle pictured above. (Beauty and the Beast is by far my favorite Disney movie! And I've always said that Belle is the hottest animated character.) Anyway, this is what the puzzle looks like when complete. Last night Ariel and I were working on the puzzle and the baby starting kicking. Ariel told me to come feel. I sat with my hand on her baby "bump" for a long time. I even started doing the puzzle again because I was not feeling anything and then it happened...I FELT HER KICK!! Right on my palm! It was the first interaction that I have had with my daughter and it was so exciting. Last night was one of the most memorable puzzle nights of my life. And the best thing about it was I got to share it with my favorite girls...Ariel, Baby Girl and Belle!!

22-24 weeks.

"At about this time the reality of having a baby is definately setting in {maybe it's the fact that you can't see your toes}."

"Your ribs are probably pining away for the good old days when they didn't have a foot permanently lodged between them."

"In the past few weeks, the top of your uterus has risen above your belly button..."

"By the time you are 24 weeks pregnant, your uterus should be two fingers above the navel."

"At this point, you may find your belly becoming a hand magnet."

This is what everything I have read says I should be experiencing at 24 weeks or earlier. Somehow none of these apply to me! The top of my uterus is definately not 2 fingers above my belly button. If that were the case, I might actually look pregnant! And this girl is nowhere near my ribs. No one touches my belly {except for my mom}, because it would be rude to do that to someone who probably just ate a big lunch :) Someone needs to write a "Pregnancy For the Tall, Average Weight Woman" book. I would buy it.

acrobatics.

baby girl either really loved or really hated being at choir rehearsal last night. i can't decide if she was dancing or wildly protesting, but i've never felt her move around so much for such a long period of time. seriously, the whole rehearsal she was doing acrobatics! i loved it.

day off.

my work is awesome and gave us martin luther king day off! so today i thought i would be domestic for once in my life. poor sean rarely gets a home cooked meal, especially since i've been pregnant. but with lots of time on my hands, i decided to make homemade cupcakes. yes, homemade. no cake mix. it was fun and in they turned out super yummy {see the recipe here or view the entire photo documented process here... wow, i'm on a blogging roll lately}. AND i'm making dinner. i've been wanting to try this yummy chili recipe for a long time and tonight is the night. sean is going to think he walked into the wrong house.

happy martin luther king jr day, everyone!

heart garland.

out of sheer boredom and excitement for valentines day, i made this garland the other day. now i just need to have a valentine's party so it doesn't look totally random in my house. it was so fun to make, though! i melted all of the pink/red/purple crayons in different patterns onto copy paper in my frying pan {medium low heat}. while the wax was still hot, i sprinkled red glitter over the paper. after the wax cooled, i cut out the hearts. then i punched some holes in them and strung them on a piece of string. i could probably find something like this at walmart for like a dollar, but where's the fun in that?

bedding.

this is the bedding we picked for baby girl's nursery. i love how clean, simple and non-pink it is. i'm going to paint the walls that color because i love this whole color scheme so much :) we got the cute green & white rug, too. i'm kind of anti-pink, if you hadn't noticed! i like it, i just don't want a pink room in my house. pink clothes & bows & blankets & toys are enough for me!

shopaholic.

sean went to the store today to get razors and came home with this: 2 baby outfits, some baby jeans, 2 6-packs of baby socks, baby animal toys, baby stacking rings, baby travel toys, diapers & wipes. this is not his first shopping spree. all it took was a baby girl to turn my husband into a shopaholic.

blurry.

sometimes the blurry ones are my favorites.

classical byu idol.

instead of watching american idol with the rest of everyone who's anyone last night, my mom and i ventured down to utah county for a free concert at byu. {don't worry, i took full advantage of our dvr, and i'll catch up on AI tonight}. we went to the 1st round of the young artist competition in voice, which was super fun for an opera-lover like myself. and really it's just like american idol. there were 27 singers last night, and on thursday they'll have narrowed it down to 15 singers for the final round. we enjoyed analyzing their outfits & hair, checking for wedding rings, being overly critical, and choosing our favorites... just like AI :) honestly, though, they were all very talented and there wasn't too much to critique them on {not to mention i could never sing as well as a single one of them... so i have no room to judge!}. i had fun with my mom, as usual. we have a history of finding random free concerts listed in the sunday paper, and this one did not disappoint. i may have to go back on thursday for round 2.

amazing staircases.

{kess sent me these great pictures in an email forward. i think they are totally cool, so i'm sharing!}