Boys don't read blogs. That just isn't a manly thing to do. Cody read the blog the other day, which is great, I don't mind it at all. I am just getting really excited about Cody's birthday in a few weeks and I have already started on his birthday present. Thanks to pinetrest of course! For the sake of keeping Cody's present a secret, at least until the week of his birthday, I am not going to share. But it is already really exciting and I will eventually blog about it! When I know it is safe of course.

Last Sunday was a nice lazy day here at the Searle home. Cody asked what I wanted to do and I told him that I wanted to color. After a long stare of disbelief we finally whipped out the good ol' Hello Kitty twist crayons that I have had since I was 8.

 Yes. Cody needed a hair cut bad. And yes, he got one yesterday.

Cody just loves coloring. And me taking pictures. Can't you tell?

Last week I got a very early Christmas present. PHOTOSHOP! We have been apart for over 4 months now, due to the fact that my computer was a complete piece of junk and decided to die. I have been editing like crazy and LOVING it! I will post a few pictures from things when I get them finished.

Also thanks to pinterest, I have found these really easy, and obviously darling, crocheted baby boots! I just need to put buttons and flowers on them and they are done. Of course one is going to my sister so I couldn't ruin the whole surprise by showing you what they really look like.

And last chapter in this novel of a blog post, if I would just suck it up and write more often this wouldn't be so long, food of course! Today was grocery shopping day. The one day a month that I absolutely love and hate at the same time. I love having food in the house and a lot of delicious dinner ideas. What I don't like is walking around the store for what feels like hours looking for one thing. Yes, ONE item. Turns out they don't even have it. At least it wasn't for tonight's dinner so I still have time to find it.


(Mine better taste as good as these look! And no, Cody's plate will not have ranch on it.)

I am already so excited to make Winger's Sticky Fingers! They are basically chicken strips smothered in a delicious spicy sauce that is sweet. The name of their sauce is Wingers Freakin Amazing Sauce. Amazing sounding right?! The recipe I found looks easy and harmless enough. Well if all turns out well, which my fingers are turning purple because they are crossed so tightly, it will be the best dinner in a long time. Ok, maybe not the best but it will be wonderful.  And one craving  to check off the list!

Our poor little girl. Last night while we were watching Andy Griffith and just calming down, she was moving so much! We just sat and watched her for what felt like the longest time. Cody was laughing and just having fun feeling her moving. Not even half an hour later my stomach did a complete flip. I just barely made it to the bathroom before my stomach completely emptied. That poor little girl was just warning me that something wasn't right! Trying to kick it away from her... possibly?

I now am having a doctors appointment every two weeks. That means it is getting close. Very close. The other night Cody informed me that I would not be holding our baby at all at the hospital. Completely shocked I asked him why in the world not. His response said it all. "Because I will be holding her the entire time." At this point I don't know who is more excited, me or him!
 

Besides working part time, young womens is sure keeping me busy. At least one night a week and on Sundays. Last night for our activity we painted pumpkins. And YES, that is a Harry Potter pumpkin. Coolest pumpkin of the night, even though I didn't make it.

Last week we had a "movie night." Everyone got their hair done, some were crazy and others were cute. Mine just happened to be crazy, at one point it was sticking straight up. I brought my camera and it turned into an interesting night. I am not going to lie, I didn't think I could even get six inches off the ground when Talia said she wanted to take a jumping picture with me! Well I have proof! 7 1/2 months pregnant and I still got hops. At least I did that night.

I got to take a few of the girls pictures this past week. There are three girls that are best friends and they like to do friend pictures, especially this year because one will probably be moving before the end of the school year. Maybe once I get photo shop again and can actually edit pictures I will post more.

The most exciting news is the weather. Terrible, I know! I am glad to say that it is officially FALL here in Burley, even though it was 85 degrees two days ago. It is now in the 30's and we woke up to snow on the mountains! I lied, its not a mountain, its a hill.

Cody is in love with all things Christmas and this gloomy cold weather is NOT helping! This morning I asked Cody where he thought we should put the Christmas tree (I am getting thrown off with the weather to!). Of course he took this as an invitation to start singing Christmas music. Oh boy, its going to be a LONG next two months until that music is aloud in this house!

I am excited for lots of nights filled with blankets and snuggling, hot chocolate, squash!, caramel apples, pumpkins, and all foods even remotely related to fall! 

At my doctors appointment yesterday the Dr walks in and says,
"9 weeks and 6 days left. But who is counting?"
The 10 week count down is officially on.  Not like we are excited at all or anything.

Also, no matter what I will NOT have a Christmas baby. Thank you induction!
The longest I will have to wait to meet this little lady be December 19th.

I ALSO have a new love. The Sing-Off!!! (Its a TV that is a music competition but they are all a capella groups) It is AMAZING! I love music and the groups that are on this season are amazing. I now have something to look forward to at night while Cody is at work. :)

At 5 A.M. this morning, Cody rolls over and wakes me up. (Side note, when it is hot we do not sleep under our regular blanket, we both sleep with our individual fleeces.)
He rolls over and wakes me up and pulls me in close so that I am laying on his chest and halfway under his blanket with him. 

It doesn't get any better than that.
I told him the other day how uncomfortable it has been for me to sleep lately. I did find that sleeping on his chest while weaving our ankles is actually very comfortable and helps me sleep.
So being the amazing husband that he is, woke me up to make me more comfortable.
This was one morning I was glad that we don't have a baby here yet.
I am trying to get all my morning cuddles in before she comes and joins us in the middle.

I have seen so many CUTE booties on Pinterest lately. I thought they didn't look too hard and decided to try it.
SUCCESS!
I still need to figure out how to crochet cute flowers but other than that, our little girl will have a few different colors of crocheted booties for this winter.
Next on the list is Mary Janes because what girl doesn't need a pair of those in a few different colors?!

Tonight was the General Relief Society meeting of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

It. Was. AMAZING.

President Uchtdorf started out by saying that you and God know that you are not perfect. The person you think that is perfect, both God and them know that they are not perfect. He talked about not comparing ourselves to others and focusing on what we are good at.    Lately I have felt like I really don't have very many talents. The ones I do have are small and seem insignificant. He talked about how a forget-me-not flower may be small and insignificant in a bed of flowers but they are still beautiful. I love that! He also talked about how we should be happy now. We shouldn't wait for our Golden Tickets in Willy Wonka's chocolate bars to be happy. We need to not spend so much time waiting for the big great events to happen to us. It is the small things that matter and should make us happy now.

With this little girl on the way I sometimes feel like I just want her here now. I don't want to wait! When she gets here I will be happy and not quite so lonely during the daytime. But why should I wait for that Golden ticket?! It was a very much needed lesson for me, I guess you could call it a reality check.

Cody and I were discussing the unplanned timing of this little girl last night. Even though unexpected, it is absolutely perfect. We are at a point in our marriage that we get along so well, Cody has a steady job and is done with school, and we are just ready.

11 weeks left!

She is getting big!!! Which in turn means that my belly is really getting big. Everyone says that the last little while of pregnancy drags on. But I say bring it! It couldn't be better timing! We've got Halloween, Thanksgiving, and then BABY! And then of course Christmas. Our poor little girl will think the only songs her dad knows is Christmas because I will not let him sing Christmas before Thanksgiving and after Christmas. So he will be singing A LOT of Christmas music to her when she is first born.

Young Womens will also keep me very busy! Between weekly Wednesday activities, lessons every Sunday, and Young Womens in Excellence in November, I think I will be pretty occupied. Good luck time, I dare you to try coming slow.

What. A. Week.

A new calling, an anniversary, a funeral, a flu shot, and an appointment for 3 more hours of blood work. A lot has happened in the past week, so if it feels like a lot of rambling please feel free to stop reading.

First things first. Last Sunday I was called to be the Mia Maids Adviser in our ward. It will definitely be a learning experience for me. They are already the most amazing 14 and 15 year old girls I have ever met! When I was at that age I was so awkward and I didn't know where I fit in. I had the hardest time with friends and there was always contention between my mom and I. But these girls have it together. Already! They are so compassionate and caring towards one another. This next week we will be going to be picking up pine cones in one of the widows in our ward's lawn and they are all already so excited. Not to mention there will could possibly be oreos involved.

(My sisters and me when I was in Mia Maids)

(Cody, his nephew Colby, & Grandpa Hymas last December)

Last Tuesday night Cody's grandpa passed away. He was 96 years old and passed away peacefully. Being pregnant and going to a funeral is not a good combination.  I am grateful to know that this life isn't the end. That there is life after this earth. It was fun to be able to meet some of Cody's cousins that I haven't met yet and of course seeing all of his siblings is always amazing. He has an amazing family.

Speaking of grandparents... I have to brag a little bit. I have the best grandparents, ever. Hands down. For our anniversary it was my year to plan something to do (instead of doing presents). I decided that it had been too long since we had seen my grandparents in Utah and we also needed to do some baby shopping. We stayed with my mom's parents, Grandma & Grumps Stastny, and had an absolute blast. They are the most amazing people you will ever meet. Their home is always so warm and inviting, you never feel like you are intruding if you ask to stay with them because you feel like you are home.

53 Years of marriage and they are still the cutest couple you ever did see. I told Cody once we left that that is what I want to be like after we have been married that long. Grandpa even gave grandma a kiss and a big hug before he left to go on a "work" trip to Alaska. One day of meetings and two days of fishing, does that still count as work?

We are very boring people. Instead of doing anything big and exciting for our weekend off of work we just hung out. Literally. We watched two tennis matches and a football game with grandpa. Cody even took 3 naps! In one afternoon! It was very much needed after a month of working 14+ hours a day. Also because starting this week they will be putting in 14+ hours for the next 3 months with harvest.

 

 For our anniversary we at least had to do one fun thing so we went to the ZOO!!! I have been bugging Cody all summer long to go to any Zoo. We were following my sister Jen when she missed the exit, thanks to a mean Mercedes who would not let her into the lane. Utah roads are a little tricky, the exit to the Zoo is the last exit before the canyon that takes you all the way to Park City. As we are on the phone both looking for anything to turn around on we see an exit. It was just a tunnel that went under the highway, a one way, dark, muddy tunnel. The whole way through it Jen is saying, "EW! EW! Breathe! Breathe!" But other than our little detour the Zoo was amazing and we all had a blast!

Cody, Avery, & Wyatt with the elephants!

Did I mention that I LOVE my sister and her kids?!
(Bridger was out hunting this weekend)

 

 

 

You can't tell that they like Cody at all can you?!

Cody is going to make an amazing father!

Last but not least... pregnancy update. I had a Dr's appointment this morning and got beat up. Not really, but it still felt like it. They poked my finger with a needle-thing, I guess theirs is worse than any other one any of their patients have ever had. And then I got a flu shot. Good thing I am such a tough cookie and move my arm a lot, hopefully my random arm exercises today (and by exercises I mean moving it in a circle once and calling it good) will be enough to make it Not sore tomorrow. My blood sugar was high today which means I get to spend 3 hours Friday morning starving in the Dr's office and having them poke me every so often. Can that be considered torture? Ok, Ok, its not THAT bad.

This upcoming week will consist of a 3 hour glucose test, a young women's activity with the boys, preparing a lesson for Sunday, working, making my house actually LOOK like fall! and finishing up crafts that I have been putting off. AND attempting to watch Hocus Pocus. By attempting I mean find someone who actually has the movie.

Oh, Happy September!

Six tries later, they turned out! I cut the recipe in half and that still made THREE pans! Cody didn't think it was enough and they were all gone by the next night!
But, man oh man, they were DELICIOUS!

Don't you just love that goo-eee looking frosting?!
They were AMAZING!
Much better than Pillsbury!

Sundays are our lazy days. After we get home from church we throw on our comfy clothes and don't leave. Well usually. On Sunday Cody insisted that he wanted to show me something. I made him promise me that I didn't have to get out of the car for it because lets face it, basketball shorts aren't the cutest things to be seen in.We drove up a hill and in a little valley was this HUGE field of sunflowers!!! I had just told Cody a few days before how much I love sunflowers.

It was perfect! And of course we got out! How could we not?! I printed a few pictures earlier this week and realized that we have not had ANY pictures of us together from this year. At all. Maybe only ONE! So being the good husband he is told me to bring it before we even left.

{Sorry the coloring in these pictures is off, I STILL haven't gotten my computer fixed. 3 months later and I still don't have my photoshop.}

Our little lady has been just moving and playing. Last night as we were watching a movie I grabbed Cody's hand to make him feel her. She was kicking hard and every time she would kick he would just laugh! She just wanted her daddy to know she was still there I guess.

It is starting to feel like fall here already! Chilly weather is wonderful! Because big comfy, warm clothes are the best for snuggling up. I already have a big list of decorations to make!

Our SECOND anniversary is next weekend! We are hoping to get out and go play. A trip to Utah?! Yes, Please!

Also, one week from today I get to have my gestational diabetes test. Fingers are already crossed tightly!