Surprised!!!!!!!

That's exactly what I was yesterday.  I had a certain gender in mind and thought that I was 100% right for a very long time and learned that I was completely WRONG!!!!  It's been almost a full day and I think it will take me awhile longer to really believe the Ultrasound.

This is of it's face.

Did you see it??????

That's right!  We're having a GIRL!!!!!

I'm just completely floored, but excited.  She really is a very huge blessing because I don't have to buy ANY clothes for her (Mara's bday is in April, and she is due in June).  Hopefully there's enough of a span between the girls that Mara won't feel threatened when she's old enough to want to play with Mara's princess toys!

So there you have it!  Now it's just really deciding on a name. We have one in mind, but I'm not sure if it's right.

Any suggestions????

What Do You Think??

Boy or Girl??

We are having our Ultrasound next week and I'm interested to know what gender you think the baby is!!!  There's a poll in my sidebar where you can cast your vote and you can comment too!

My Crowning Glory

I have 2 friends in my ward that always do the cutest hair styles on their girls. I usually just stare at the girls and think "I won't ever be able to do that".  But I've made a goal to try new and fun things with Mara's hair (just for church, since we now go at 1:00).

This is a style that I copied from Andrea, but I did braids where she usually does twists.  I'm just happy with how it turned out :)

I just wish I could have taken a better picture, oh well.

New Project

No matter how much I like to make baby blankets, it seems like women are always bombarded with blankets when a baby is born. So I decided to make something new for baby gifts.

Diaper Clutch

(you can find the tutorial here)

Nursing Cover

(you can find the tutorial here)

The great thing about these is that I made both of them in just a few hours!!  And now I can make 'em for myself!!

So if you're having a baby soon, you know what you'll get from me :)

New Years Eve 2009

We went to Morri & Liza's for New Years Eve. We didn't do much, we ate dinner (and some awesome bacon appetizers) and played Band Hero until 11:45, then we gathered the kids to watch the ball drop. Xander thought it was cool. We had decided earlier to let the kids stay up this year, thinking that it would be fun for them. But I sure paid for it the next day having to deal with cranky children, but it was all for the sake of fun, right???

Mara & Xander's last picture together of 2009

Mara had to pose in her new jammies from Grandma & Grandpa Tolman.

(they're my favorite, the pants are so soft)

A quick pic of me & my girl.

Then Mara got ahold of the camera and took some pretty good pictures.

Uncle Morri

Cousin Alex

Aunt Liza

Thanks again for letting us come hang with you for the night. We love getting together with family :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Christmas Money

We went to Walmart today and the kids were able to use their money from Christmas.

Xander got a 7 in 1 Bakugan.

(It's 7  different guys that combine together)

We found this Disney Princess castle for Mara's pollys a few months ago, but decided not to get it (it was 50 bucks), but today it was on clearance for $24, so Mara was able to use her Christmas money and we only had to pay 4 bucks for it!!

Christmas 2009

I realized that I wanted to get Christmas blogged before the end of the year. Well, I'm cuttin' it pretty close.

Here are a few highlights:

My mom's Christmas Tree

Xander got a 'The Legendary Starfy' for the DS from Santa

Mara got her "Ariel with a Big Flounder and Castle" from Santa

(it's a bath toy)

A new Lego set from mom and dad.

Xander made a handprint mold at school for Pat & I. I love it!!!  My mom has one of all 4 of us kids because we all went to Bonneville, and since we live here, Xander made one too!  It makes me want to have all my kids to go Bonneville too. Too bad that won't happen, I'll just have to make my own when they are Kindergarten age.

Waiting for the rest of the family to come over for presents.

Mana gave the kids a Leapster!!

And 4 games for it!!!!

(Mara is LOVING this one)

Xander got an awesome Lightsaber from Aunt Karri!

A new Belle polly set! (her old one has been dicapitated a few times)

And a new nightgown from Aunt Karri!  (she has been living in it for a few days, it's her favorite)

A bunch of new legos from Aunt Karri

Every year when all the presents have been opened, the kids lay on the floor and we cover them with all the wrapping paper, we take pictures and video, say 'Where are all the kids?"...........

And then they jump up and play in the paper!! 

It all started when my dad was a kid, so we've been doing it for 3 generations :)

After having an amazing breakfast (Thanks Brent), we headed over to Grandma Joan's for some more presents.

Look at all those stockings!!!

Xander got a cool remote control car.

A new Barbie for Mara.

Grandma gives the kids an ornament from Hallmark every year.

Here's Xander & his 'Bolt' ornament.

Mara & her Ariel ornament.

It was a great Christmas and I'm glad we have another year before the next one :)

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was spent at home with my family.  It has been very convenient for us to live at my mom's, since this house is the hub for family gatherings.  We had a really yummy dinner (and the kids ate it too!), watched a little bit of family videos from when we were kids (really, from before I was born), made cookies for Santa, got new jammies from Mana, and hung stockings.  All in all a good time was had.

This picture was taken by Mara!!  She's getting better :)

Makin' Cookies - Max, Karri, Xander, & Mana 

 

Sawyer, Mara, Mana, & Conli

(I don't know what Sawyer was doing!)

Xander decided to put his face into the left over sugar just for fun.

And this is what happened.

The finished product = For Santa

   

The traditional stockings at Mana's

Oldest to youngest: 

Max, Xander, Conli, Mara & Sawyer 

I'm tired, so pics from Christmas day will have to wait until tomorrow.

Sledding

Last Wednesday (the 23rd) we were able to go sledding with Morri & his boys at Rock Canyon Park in Provo.  I, of course, only came along to document the event. 

It was Mara's first time sledding and she LOVED it!

Daddy & Mara

Carter & Xander

Pat even went down the hill a few times with Xander & Mara together.

Xander & Alex

Pat told Xander that we couldn't leave until he had gone down all by himself. He went down alone three times and loved it!!

A quick family pic before we left.

(I did take some video, but I don't like the fact that I have to put it on YouTube to put in on my blog, so no more videos for the blog.) 

In order to get to the car Pat took the kids down on a sled and I was stuck at the top of the hill! Morri was there to help me get down, but my boots were not meant for snow, so I fell on my butt a few times. By the time I was half was down the hill I had Pat give me a sled to put me out of my misery.  So I did a little sledding too, but not on purpose :)  The kids loved it and didn't complain about the cold until we got to the car and were taking their gloves and coats off, which was pretty good considering that we were out there for about an hour.

Thanks again Morri for inviting us to go with you, it was great!