Round Two

On Wednesday, my sister Meghan and I went to my ultrasound appointment and learned the sex of our new little bundle. And the winner is.... GIRL!!! Yes, in September Ella will have a new little sister, and we're so excited. Everything looked great on the ultrasound, and now we can finally get to planning. We have a few names that we like, but haven't made any decisions yet. As much as we both would have liked a boy, I'm really excited to be able to do all the bows and headbands and PINK, PINK, PINK again!

Utah Vacation

Trey's birthday was on the 14th, but being the procrastiator that I am, you all get to hear about it a few weeks late. That's right, 27 BIG ones! We had planned a while ago to go visit family in Utah for the festivities. But, after some recent, pretty major changes in our lives, we questioned if going was the right thing to do. So after some discussion, and learning that the plane tickets were totally nonrefundable, we made the trip. And we're so glad we did! It was a really nice break from life, and just gave us time to relax and enjoy time with family.

Trey, I'm sure, would say the highlight of his trip was the "flash over" he participated in with his brothers, Devon and John E. John E is a fireman up in Utah, and also teaches some fire science classes at the university. A "flash over" is basically when they set a trailor on fire and make the students, a.k.a. firemen in training, dress in the full gear and sit in the heat for about an hour. It was a great opportunity for Trey to see what he's getting himself into, since he soon will be taking EMT and fire 1 & 2 classes in pursuit of a career as a fireman. Pretty exciting stuff!

HOT, HOT, HOT!!!

John E and Trey in their fireman turnouts

After the boys got back, and showered, we went to Salt Lake to meet up with Eric and Laura Allred and their super cute kidos at Rodezio's Brazillian Grill. Yummy! We love you guys and miss you tons! It was good to see you :)

All in all, love Utah, but love Mesa more. Guess we won't be moving anytime soon. Thanks to Amber and John E, and Devon and Nicole for housing and feeding us. Love you guys and miss you . And I know Ella misses Paxon, she asks for him at least a couple times a week.

Seriously, the cutest terrible twosome ever!

Why it's been a while...

You might want to ask me, "why has it been so long since you updated?" Well, if one were to ask that question, one might also ask, "Why haven't your floors been mopped in a while?" Or, "Why are you tired all the time?" Maybe then you would ask, "Why is your nose so stuffy all the time?" and "Why haven't you gotten out of your pajamas today?" But, if someone was really interested in knowing the reasons for my why's, all they would have to do is look at the oh-so-subtle bump I'm sporting these days, which would in turn be the reason why I can't button my jeans anymore and use a rubber band to hold those babies up, and why there's not a chance in heck of wearing a belt for the next 5 or so months.

On or somewhere around September 16th, our party of 3 will become 4. That's the reason for my "Why's". The greatest reason in the world! We're so excited for our new little one to join us, even though it won't be for a while still. So far, pregnancy #2 has gone great. Very few morning puke sessions, and no weight gained as of this morning at my doc appointment. As for Ella, she of course is awesome. She's started potty training all on her own. No big girl panties yet, but hopefully they're not too far off. We feel very blessed to be adding a new addition to our little family and that the baby is doing well. We'll find out in a month or so if it's girl #2 or a little boy. I guess only time will tell.

Happy Birthday, Papa!

On Sunday we celebrated my Dad's birthday. It was so fun to spend time with family, and see him open his presents. The big present this year was an ipod touch. He's been talking about getting a palm pilot to load the scriptures on. But good luck trying to find one of those now a days. Anyway, so Trey, being the techie he is, loaded the standard works for him, and he's been playing with it ever since. You think I would have gotten some pictures of it, but no. The only ones we got were of Ella enjoying some birthday cake and ice cream. Hilarious!!!

Christmas, a month later...

It's almost been a month since Christmas, so it seems a little silly to post about it, but we had so much fun,so here goes. We spent Christmas in Mesa this year with my family. Ella was so much fun this year, as I'm sure you can imagine. Her big gift from my parents was here new play kitchen, and then Trey and I gave her a stroller to push all her little babies around in, she's such a girl. I LOVE it! After she got the two big gifts, it was a major chore to make her open the rest, so I guess we've learned our lesson for next year. We had family pictures taken too, thanks to the amazing talents of Becki Crosby. Thanks again girl, they turned out so great!

The day after Christmas, after a very plentiful shopping trip with the girls, we made the trip up to Springerville to be with Trey's family. Let's just say, I'm thankful we survived the trip. After the road closers, ice and much more scariness, we finally made it there 7 hours later, at 3am. Fun times. We visited, and ate, and opened presents, and ate, and even had the super cute kidos act out our navivity this year, and then we ate some more. All in all, our Christmas was great, and we're so thankful for such great families, on both sides.

Today's Mission...

Ok, I know it's been a while. I've been needing to update about Christmas for a while, but I can't find my camera ANYWHERE!!! I'm kinda freaking out, since I'm one of those people who keeps all my pictures on my memory card and never erases them, so that when something like this happens I might potentially lose them all. YIKES!!! So, either it's somewhere right under my nose and I'm just not seeing it, or we're in serious trouble. Cross your fingers for me :)

First Haircut, Thanksgiving, and California Christmas

So, for anyone who has seen Ella's hair lately, you know how mullet-like is was starting to become. And for the daughter of a hairstylist to have an 80's hairdo was not gonna fly with me. So after her bath one night, we pulled out the shears, and off came the tail. She always loves getting her hair done in the morning, so getting her to sit semi-still wasn't too hard. And I have to say, her hair looks a lot thicker since we finally shaped it up.

Did I mention how stinkin' cute she is? I know I'm partial, but look at that face! Oh, and did I mention she's a poser.... she's cute and she knows it, Heaven help us!

Since it's been a while since I've updated, I'm going to squeeze Thanksgiving in here too. We decided a little late to make the trip to Cali for the holiday with my Grandma Lucita and my aunts and uncles on my Mom's side. It was Ella's first time on the airplane, ans she did fabulous!!! On the ride there, she got a little restless towards the end, but the sweet couple behind us played peek-a-boo with her and helped keep her happy. When we landed, they praised her for being such a good girl, so of course she yelled, "Yeah!" and started clapping for herself. To our surprise, the whole plane started to clap for her too! It was the cutest thing ever, and once again, Little Lovebug stole the show!

Then it was Turkey Time! Look at that bird, it was HUGE. But, 22 pounds fed all of us quite nicely with plenty of leftovers to enjoy. My Mom is an amazing cook. She always does such a nice job making sure everything is perfect. After we ate, we all did a gift exchange. We never spend Christmas with that side of the family, so why not smash two holidays into one? I'm so glad we got to spend that special day together. I'm so thankful for my family, especially my wonderful Trey! He had to work the day after Thanksgiving, but did it so willingly, and never complained. He's a hard worker, an amazing Father, and the best husband I could have ever asked for. Love you , honey, you're so awesome!!!

Meghan and Ashlee looking as HOT as ever!

Ella neeed a little help from Charly