Oh baby!

So almost as if it is right on cue, I felt the baby kick yesterday for the first time. I was sitting in Relief Society and I felt my mind wander just a little bit. Then suddenly these tiny little movements brought me back to reality. I put my hand on my belly just to make sure that's what it was, and sure enough, our little duder was moving around! It is the coolest feeling! Joe got to feel it a little later when we went to Bill and Gretchen's for dinner.
We find out tomorrow what we are having. Joe is almost positive that it is a girl, and I'm feeling the same way. At the same time, I'm trying not to get to excited one way or the other because we are just so excited to have this baby come period! I'll make a post as soon as we find out! The whole thing feels a little more real now, being able to feel the baby kicking and anticipating knowing the gender as of tomorrow.
As for posting some belly pictures, we will keep working on it. We can't find out camera which has made me crazy. A lot of people have looked at me and told me I don't look that big at all, other's have told me "it's definitely a Joe baby!" I'm not an expert, so hopefully we'll get some pictures up so we can get a few more opinions. I do have a really long torso, so I have a tendency to think that I'm not popping as much as other people. Then again, what do I know? Stay tuned for more!

Oh and by the way, I love Valentine's Day! It isn't that we had an extraordinary one, but it was just fun to make sugar cookies, get roses, and watch sappy movies like Sleepless in Seattle. I also should mention that before getting married, all of those things probably would've made me gag, but now I just relish every moment. Odd how things like that can change! Hope you had a great one!

Finally decided to update!

So I've been stalling writing a post since Christmas simply because I had the excuse that I was waiting on my mom to send me pictures so I could post those...then my mom sent me the Picasa albums and I am out of excuses! Here is what has been going on since November:

I was wondering why I'd been so tired and my back was hurting so badly...go figure! We're having a baby! I was feeling really great for the first little while, no nausea what so ever. Then the morning of my 12 week appointment made up for it. Then I went in and they told me there was no way I was 12 weeks, so the bumped me back to 10 weeks (and I was so excited to get out of the first trimester too!) and changed my due date to the 10th of July. It actually ended up being a really big blessing (for insurance stuff, and for my mom's availability to be here).

The nausea stuck around until about week 13ish, but I am doing just dandy now. We are at week 16 now and loving it! The hardest thing for me to figure out is if I'm regularly getting bizarre indigestion or if I'm feeling the baby move! We find out if we are having a boy or a girl on Feb. 17th, which seems really far away, but I know it will come a lot faster than it seems it will.

So far the wierd cravings have consisted of:

• Popcorn with butter and salt (plain popcorn was making me sick...wierd)
  
• Cheese quesadillas (or really anything with melted cheese)
  
• Tomato soup
  
• Fried rice (just randomly one night)
  
• Fresh squeezed orange juice with a little bit of grapefruit in there
  
• Spaghetti (for a while with the nausea we were eating this every night because it was the only thing that sounded good!)
  
• Chocolate Ice Cream (I can't really tell if this was legit or me just really wanting it! Either way it is delicious!)

My last appointment went well and when we listened to the heartbeat the doctor commented, "Man, this little one's got a really strong heart." He could've just been saying that to be nice, but it did make me feel good. There are so many little things to worry about that it was reassuring to know that so far everything is going as it should.

As for Christmas: We spent two wonderful weeks in Jersey! Here are some photos of our adventures!

We made an attempt to go to the Statue of Liberty, however, there was so much fog that they shut down the ferry and we didn't make it past Liberty State Park. That didn't stop us from having a great time though!

Here is my cute husband being a dork

Here is cute little Erinn's modeling pictureI really liked this pictureShannon's gorgeous ballet moves on the foggy bridge

The rest of us trying to follow suit

Shannon's reaction to our ghastly attempts Here is the famous family stair picture that we take every year on Christmas morning

It was a wonderful Christmas and it was so great to spend it with my family again. I couldn't have asked for a better vacation.

Joe and I are now back into the swing of things with school and work. I am doing my student teaching this semester which means that graduation is right around the corner (I keep telling myself that I can make it to April). YAY! Student teaching has brought its own challenges, but I'm glad to be getting the experience. I'll work on getting better and giving regular updates!

Digging a little deeper

I wish I knew where to start. Giving status updates isn't very satisfying and it probably makes for rather boring reading material, so in an attempt to switch things up I'll explain a few things that have been on my mind.

The last few weeks, amid the insanity of everything that Joe and I have going on, I have had a few brief moments to stop and just think. In these moments when the world slows down, for a very short period of time, there are brief glimpses of the person I am becoming. I realized how many parts I have to play every single day, both literally and figuratively. There is the student, the teacher, the business woman, the professional, the air head and attention seeker (for Sleepy Hollow of course:), the wife, and - the culmination of all these roles - the adult (one I am still coming to terms with).

For some odd reason, since the age of 12 (my parents would probably argue 2), I have felt the need to be successful, accomplished, and most of all, independent. That doesn't sound so unreasonable. What I never really grasped is that all of these qualities I wanted were ultimately a search for one thing - validation.

In one of my religion classes at BYU, my professor told us that love is expressed by meeting the needs of another. There are nine basic needs that we can fulfill to let someone know that we love them. For anyone who is curious, they can be remembered by the acronym "Civil Wars":

• C ompetent- to feel like we are good at certain things
• I ntimacy- a need to feel close to someone
• V alidated- to feel accepted
• I ndependence- space and privacy
• L ove- we have a need for it and we have a need to give it; if we don't feel love from someone, we probably aren't doing much to show are love for that person
• W ell Understood- one of the biggest blocks to communication is the fear of being misunderstood
• A ppreciated - not just the things that I do, but the effort that is put into it as well
• R econciled with God- if we are not at one with God, it will flow into our relationships
• S ecurity, Safety

There was a disjunct between my association with independence and love. I didn't really think it was validation that I needed. Independent people don't need to be validated! I thought I knew where I wanted my life to go, and how happiness would be within my grasp. But then, various experiences convinced me otherwise. I got accepted to a school which is now teaching me that the greatest education I could ever receive isn't found in a college classroom, but serving those outside of our campus; I got a job which helped me discover capacities I never knew I had; I got a second chance to foster and develop talents I didn't know I'd ever be able to share or enjoy again; I fell in love with the most incredible man I've ever known, the only person, next to God, that I am completely dependent upon.

Then I realized, I don't have to do any of these things. These are things that I choose to do. I choose to take on these roles because they make me happy and they make me better. It is amazing to me how easy it is to forget why they make me happy when things get a little bit crazy. So, I am extremely grateful for these little moments that help me remember my life is being sculpted rather than forced in to a mold.

Welcoming September

Happy Birthday Mom! It is my lovely mother's birthday today and I am so grateful for her! She is amazing and I hope one day to be the kind of woman that she is! She is the glue of our family.

So for the last two BYU games, the Cougars have managed to come out on top, despite some sloppy plays. It is hard to watch them make stupid mistakes like fumbling the football or getting sacked, but then I guess that is part of what a team deals with in the beginning of the season while working through all the kinks. It is still fun to be at those games though. I love being a Cougar fan! We get the student all-sport passes with our friends Marian and Devin Anderson, and Marg and Matt Leduc. Marian and Devin are expecting their first in January and Marg and Matt just got back from selling security systems in Texas this past summer. It is great to have them back. They are awesome friends to watch football with.
This is the game against Northern Iowa. It was so hot during the beginning of the game (we heard it was around the mid-nineties). This was later on in the game when it finally cooled down a little bit. Haha...see how stinkin high we are? So much for trying to get tickets early!

Here is Marg and I at the game.

The other exciting news is that even though school has started once again, I found out where I get to student teach! I will be at Timberline Middle School in Alpine. I am so excited! The school is only about eight miles from where we live. I'm so excited not to have to commute very far! This semester I am in a practicum class where I will spend time at Timberline getting familiar with my mentoring teacher and the kids in the classes so that in January it will be really easy to pick up with student teaching because everything will already be familiar.
My classes this semester are pretty awesome and I think that Joe is enjoying a few of his as well. One of my favorites is my senior English course where we are studying the history of the Great American Cowboy. It is so sweet! Pretty much every Thursday we get to take field trips, and last Thursday we got to go horseback riding! It was proabably the greatest class of my college career. I was in heaven!
The last thing we should probably mention is that Joe and I are in a play. It is The Legend of Sleepy Hollow in Concert. Performances will be the first couple weeks in October. I am so happy and proud of my Joe for doing it with me. He has been a really good sport about the whole thing. It has been a great thing for us to do and enjoy together. My mother and father-in-law, and sister-in-law Liz are in it as well. There will be a Harvest Festival before the performance where there will be fun games for kids, hay rides, and food; the performance will take place later on after it gets dark. Joe and I went last year and really enjoyed it and then Carol (my mother-in-law) finally convinced us we should be in it this year. If you are interested in coming, it is in the outdoor amphitheatre across from the Timpanogos Temple, and if you go to SleepHollowshow.com you can print off coupons for tickets and see the actual times and performance dates.

Shanni's Back!

YAY! So on Friday I got a call from my mom saying that Shannon was flying back to Utah for school on Saturday and she was wondering if we could pick her up. I was so excited to see her so of course we agreed! Then on Saturday Joe and I went shooting with his dad, brother and our friends London and Kayle. When we were done, there was a message from my mother saying that Shannon's plane was coming in around 8:30, and that she didn't have a place to stay until Wednesday...so could she please stay with us. This got me even more excited, despite the fact that it was a little sudden:) So Shanni is here and tomorrow she is "auditioning" for BYU's Theatre Ballet group again. This picture is of her sewing her pointe shoes in preparation. I say "auditioning" because they would be crazy not to take her back. She was in it last year and she was absolutely incredible. Here are some pictures of her from last year: Isn't she beautiful?




Anyway, so we are super excited to have her back here with us.

We also went shooting and that was a ton of fun. Joe's baby is his .44 mag. It is way fun to shoot, but it takes a little bit to get used to it because of all the kickback it delivers. We also shot shotguns and .22 rifles. It definitely gets your heart pumping.

Howdy all, this is Joe. Giddyup it gets your heart pumping! Taking Jenn shooting when we were dating was about my only "marriage test" for Jenn, and she passed. You got to make sure your honey can keep you honest. Anyway, we had fun shooting with Jenn, my Pa, Jake, London and Kayle, and Dave Mecham. Fun times!

Here are some pictures from the gun fun.

It was fun to see Joe, his dad and his brother having some guy time. I almost felt bad that I was intruding (but not too much...we had a really good time!). They've all named their guns and it is hillarious to hear the three of them talk about them. Joe's .44 is named Helga and the shotgun is named Big Bertha. As is obvious from the pictures the three of them are pretty much sharpshooters while I am still learning. I was determined not to be a sissy and get some good practice in. I will say that by the end I was actually hitting the targets I was aiming at. I blew a water jug away and it was awesome! The wierdest part for me was going from the .44 and the shotgun to a .22 rifle and not having to adjust because of kickback. It threw me off for my first couple shots with the .22. All in all it was a great weekend, one of the last one's we've got before school starts up again. Can't wait for BYU football next Saturday!

Anniversary Weekend, Bear Lake, the Olympics!

We've been married for a year! Can I just say that we have the coolest anniversary EVER?! Here is why: first of all, we both got to marry our best friend...it doesn't get any better than that; second, the opening ceremony of the Olympics took place on our anniversary 8/8/08; and third, in China 8 is considered a number of good fortune (at least that is what we've heard...maybe that is why Michael Phelps got those 8 gold medals...crazy huh?!).

Anyway, we got to go to the temple the morning of our anniversary and it was amazing to remember everything about our wedding last year.
Here are some fun pictures from the day. At the temple, an overcast day. Gorgeous, but different from the incredible weather we had last year.The contrast to the beautiful weather we had on our wedding day.
The gorgeous little place called the Blue Boar Inn that we stayed in up in Midway. We loved it!

They left balloons, roses and chocolates in our room for us to say Happy Anniversary!

Then, after our little anniversary celebration we went to meet Joe's family up at Bear Lake for a family reunion. Joey came up there with us too (Joe's sister Liz was kind enough to take him up with her family). The water was so gorgeous, and even though there was some crazy rain and wind storms while we were there we had a wonderful time.

Gorgeous Bear Lake and the scenery that we enjoyed!Playing with the nieces and nephews that were at the family reunion.Joe and his sister Liz...can you tell they are related?Joe and his dad re-enacting how excited they were after they watched The Hulk.

My cute little (well not really) Joey, enjoying the amazing Bear Lake shakes.Joey went home about a week ago and we miss McKay and him so much! It was great to have them here. My brothers are so stinkin' cool! Shannon is arriving from New Jersey tomorrow though, so I can't complain too much! We (well probably mostly me) are counting down the days until Christmas when we can meet the entire family out in California!

We are also slowly realizing that school is creeping up on us faster than we anticipated. We really only have a week left before we are back into the full swing of academic madness. The one true thing to look forward to is football season! Go Cougs!

Bowling and Little Brothers

So you know when you start something, but you just have to take the time to sit down and finish? That is kind of what it has been like trying to get around to a second entry. It probably sounds lame, but whenever I sat down, something else that I was supposed to be doing popped into my head. That's just how things work I guess.

The most recent fun going on in the Ellis household had to do with a double date we went on about a week and a half ago and my little brothers. Joe and I got to go on a double date with a friend of mine and a guy that she's been dating for the last couple months. Christy and I planned the date and we decided that the four of us were going bowling.

Just in case you were wondering, this is not my forte. So, I am thrilled to announce that for the second time in my life I made it into triple digits. I was so excited that I took a picture. (Yes, Joe is the one right above me who got 140 as his total score; and yes that is pretty regular for him.) All in all it was a wonderful evening. Pizza, bowling, dessert and card games. I was content.

Then, right after our wonderful double date last Saturday, my two little brothers (well, relatively speaking) arrived on Sunday night to stay with us for about two weeks. They both have grown so much. The last time Joe and I saw them was at our wedding last summer and since then, McKay has grown about two inches (making him a grand total of 6'4") and Joey has grown about five (reaching somewhere right around 5'11")! I feel like a shrimp walking around my house (which is kind of ironic considering the ceilings in our apartment aren't too much taller than 7'). We have really enjoyed having the two of then here with us though. McKay headed off to Volleyball camp at BYU on Monday, but we ended up driving down to see him 4 out of the 5 days he was there anyway. Joey got a little spout of the 24 hour flu bug, but surprisingly no one else got it and he is doing much better now. When we picked up McKay on Friday we decided to go camping up in American Fork canyon. They loved it. We had this gorgeous little camp site right next to the river a little north of Tibble Fork Reservoir. We only stayed overnight, but then drove the Alpine loop to show off a little bit of Utah that we enjoy a great deal.

This was McKay and Joe trying to get a fire started so we could eat breakfast.

Here is my hot hubbie sitting next to the river that ran right by our camp.

McKay decided to get "artistic" and take some cool pictures.

I thought this one that he took was really pretty.

And this one....

This is by far my favorite picture of the entire trip. It is awesome.