|{ Christmas In Utah }|

For Christmas we spent a week in Utah with Jonathan's family! It was so fun to be able to spend the time with them. We had a wonderful Christmas and we miss them all already!

We were babysitting Ethan while everyone else went to see The Hobbit (since we had already seen it) and after running around for a bit he had fun watching his uncles play Smash Bros. 

On Christmas Eve we had our Italian dinner:

Figuring the cooking schedule for the day!

Risotto for Aranchini

Angela was a HUGE help!! (So was Mom!! THANK YOU!)

What the boys did while we cooked

Homemade Ragu....Yummmmm

Baked pasta!

Rosemary for the foccacia

Aranchini

Starving!!!

Dad didn't like the Orzo so much! :)

And after dinner?? Back to video games! Seriously, these two did this all week! It was actually pretty endearing since Ben just got back from his mission. He was definitely missed by his big brother!

Christmas morning:

SNOW!!!

 

Ethan opening his legos from us!

Angela gave us a 'Totally Useless Card. This card gave us 0 presents,' Haha! She's so funny!

After presents mess!

The boys played ping pong

We watched.

We got to meet Kallie!! We were sad she wasn't there in person but Skype is the next best thing! :)

And we even got to see Temple Square!

p.s. My photo and editing skills have completely gone out the window this year (assuming I had any to begin with)

Things we didn't get photos of.. :(... We got to see my brother and his wife!! They made us an awesome Christmas Ham dinner!! YUM!! It was so awesome to see them! We also went to The Pie and met up with my bestie Mercede and her boyfriend there! I miss her to pieces! She was looking as beautiful as ever of course. 

Things we ran out of time to do: See Madame Baigue (which I REALLY REALLY wanted to do), sledding (both time and lack of proper snow apparel kept us from this), and there were other friend who I had hoped to see as well. Alas, a week is not enough time and when you only get to spend once a year with your family, that time is precious. I love you all and I'm sorry I couldn't see you! 

Next Up: Our week in Arizona!

|{ It's Finally Christmas Time!! }|

I definitely slacked when it came to posting for November so let's sum up what we did! :)

My silly Husband chopped up our wood to use in our fireplace!

And then he planked on his planks.

We celebrated Thanksgiving with some friends!! (Photo below does not belong to me)

Jonathan's brother, Ben, came home from his mission!! We got to meet him in Chicago during his layover!! It was awesome and we are so excited that he home!! Christmas is going to be awesome this year!!

Waiting for us at the airport! 

We celebrated our 5th anniversary!!! Crazy!!! That day we exchanged gifts, went to get some AWESOME sushi for dinner (Shiro), had our first fire in the fireplace of the season, and watched our wedding video! It was a wonderfully relaxing evening!! It's been the most incredible five years of my life! I'm so blessed to have this man in my life!

My new Fossil wallet that I LOVE!!

Jonathan's new wedding ring that is comfy enough to wear in lab!

At the restaurant!

And last, but certainly not least, we decorated our house for Christmas!! Always so much fun!!

|{ Coping }|

This post is a little overdue but I've been putting off writing it.

At my doctor appointment on October 30th we found out that we had lost the baby.  They don't know how long it had been gone but when they did the ultrasound the didn't find anything.  I was somewhere between 6 and 10 weeks when we lost it.

My doctor said that I am perfectly healthy and it was nothing that I did.  Miscarriage is very common but that doesn't make it suck any less. We were heartbroken.  Everyone around us has been SO AMAZING!! It's so great to have such amazing friends and family and they have really helped us to get through this unexpected hardship.

We both feel ready to jump back on the horse and start trying again.  My doctor thinks the chances of it happening again is very slim.  My doctor has also been awesome by the way, I kind of love her! I feel like she actually cares about me and it's a great feeling.

It gets easier every day, but it still hits me hard every once a while.  We are definitely grateful that it happened as early as it did and Jonathan has been the most amazing of all.  His love and support has been absolutely incredible and I am so lucky to have such an amazing man at my side.

I had fallen in love with this song while I was pregnant and now every work just fits perfectly so I thought I would share (I swear this was written about a child and not a woman) :

"Haven't Met You Yet"- Michael Buble

I'm not surprised, not everything lasts
I've broken my heart so many times, I stopped keeping track
Talk myself in, I talk myself out
I get all worked up, then I let myself down

I tried so very hard not to lose it
I came up with a million excuses
I thought, I thought of every possibility

And I know someday that it'll all turn out
You'll make me work, so we can work to work it out
And I promise you, kid, that I give so much more than I get
I just haven't met you yet

I might have to wait, I'll never give up
I guess it's half timing, and the other half's luck
Wherever you are, whenever it's right
You'll come out of nowhere and into my life

And I know that we can be so amazing
And, baby, your love is gonna change me
And now I can see every possibility

And somehow I know that it'll all turn out
You'll make me work, so we can work to work it out
And I promise you, kid, I give so much more than I get
I just haven't met you yet

They say all's fair
In love and war
But I won't need to fight it
We'll get it right and we'll be united

And I know that we can be so amazing
And being in your life is gonna change me
And now I can see every single possibility

And someday I know it'll all turn out
And I'll work to work it out
Promise you, kid, I'll give more than I get
Than I get, than I get, than I get

Oh, you know it'll all turn out
And you'll make me work so we can work to work it out
And I promise you kid to give so much more than I get
Yeah, I just haven't met you yet

I just haven't met you yet
Oh, promise you, kid
To give so much more than I get

I said love, love, love, love
Love, love, love, love
(I just haven't met you yet)
Love, love, love, love
Love, love
I just haven't met you yet

|{ End Of Fall + Bump Update }|

I decided that this last weekend was probably the last weekend of Fall.  Temperatures are definitely dropping over here and I have a feeling (or at least hoping) that we'll get some snow sooner rather than later!! It definitely is starting to feel like winter...and I LOVE it!! :)

We finally made it to the cider mill over the weekend! Definitely later than we would have liked to and most of the leaves are gone so it wasn't very Autumn looking.  I'm sure we would have gone earlier had there been apples to pick, but since it was such a bad harvest year there were no apples to pick.  So we went to Erwin Orchards, got some donuts and cider and went home.  Short trip but at least we made it.  And I actually didn't get cider.... since I'm pregnant and the cider is not pasteurized I had to get hot cocoa instead.  On the plus side, at the least the year that I didn't get cider and the year we couldn't pick apples ended up being in the same year.

On Saturday night we had our ward Halloween party.  We ran out of time and creativity this year when it came to costumes so I ended up at K-mart to buy our 50% off costumes.  At least we still looked pretty cute.  There were so many good costumes at the party! Everyone looked great and it was a lot of fun!

How Far Along:  10 weeks!

How Big Is Baby:  Baby is the size of a prune! (1.2 inches long, weighs .14 ounces)

Total Weight Gain:  I'm at 143 (pre-pregnancy weight was about 140)

Sleep:  Pretty good, though starting to dread the only sleeping on my side thing, it's not gonna be very comfy.

Best Moment Of The Week:  Spending Sunday with my husband eating chili and corn bread, and the Ward Halloween Party!

Food Cravings:  None. 

Food Aversions:  None.

Symptoms: 

Practically none this week.

Nausea- Pretty much gone.

Breakouts- The only thing really bothering me!

Other- Sore boobies, mild fatigue.

Gender:  Getting excited to find out!

What I'm Looking Forward To:  Seeing my family over Christmas! Can't wait to share my pregnancy joy with them! 

What I Miss:  Cider from the Orchard!

Next Doctor Appointment:  Tomorrow!! 

Hope everyone has a Happy Halloween!!

|{ 9 Week Bump Update }|

I was originally going to start my updates at week 10, but I got too anxious so I decided to start a week early! :)  I had a couple of ideas as to what I wanted to do with these photos, I kind of wanted to do them outside but decided that due to weather it might make it difficult.  Then I thought that maybe I could do them in from of my window so you could still see the change of seasons but I couldn't make the photos look good due to too much background light. So I decided to do them in front of my fireplace, where you can still see the 'change of season' due to my decorations.  

I also am planning to take a nontraditional 'bump' photo each week, I'll start doing that next week.  :) 

So here we go! My first bump update post! 

How Far Along:  9 weeks!

How Big Is Baby:  Baby is the size of a green olive!

Total Weight Gain:  I haven't checked in a while, but last time I checked I was about 4 pounds higher than my pre-pregnancy weight.

Sleep:  Sleep is great! I feel pretty tired during the day so I always sleep just fine.

Best Moment Of The Week:  I started my new job on Monday!! That was exciting! I also got to do my first real pregnancy massage on someone and it went great! :)  It was kind of weird to think that there were 4  people in the massage room instead of just 2. :)

Food Cravings:  I had a friend tell me that he didn't believe pregnancy cravings were real (which I suppose makes sense) so I'm interested to see if I really feel like I am having specific cravings rather than regular non-pregnant cravings.  So far, not craving anything in particular. 

Food Aversions:  Anything with too strong of a smell, like my husbands sardines or hot dogs.  Nothing sounds good when I'm hungry so it's been kind of hard to decide what to eat.

Symptoms: 

Nausea-  Not bad, just a little queasy when I get hungry.  There was one evening this week that was particular bothersome, but still not bad enough to throw up or anything.

Cramping- Very slight, only every once a while.  I still hate when it happens though, I'm afraid something is wrong when I feel it but it's never bad.

Other- Mild fatigue, breakouts, slightly heightened emotions, sore boobies.

Gender:  No idea! When asked what we are hoping for we never have a real answer.  At the moment neither of us have a preference! Just healthy! Please be healthy!!

What I'm Looking Forward To:  I can't wait to start showing!! I want this bump to get bigger! :)

What I Miss:  Not a whole lot yet! I even kind of like my negative symptoms because it means I'm pregnant and I love that!! :)  Not even missing certain foods either because usually nothing sounds good.

Next Doctor Appointment:  October 30th! (Pretty sure it's going to be an ultrasound appointment and I can't wait!)

|{ Thoughts On Having A Unique Name }|

I love my name.  I have met one other person with my name in my life and there have been a few times where people say they have met someone with my name. BUT, I have never met someone with my same spelling.  I'm not saying there aren't because I know there are, I've looked my name up on Facebook and there are plenty of people. :)

As I have looked on the internet for baby names or heard about people talking about naming your kids with a unique name, the feedback is often (though not always) negative.  People say things like, "No one will be able to pronounce it", "They will get made fun of", "They will always have to correct people and they'll hate that", etc.

However, as someone who has a unique name, I don't agree.  Yes, people say my name wrong, though as the years go on and more and more people have unique names it happens less often, I think people are getting used to it.  I have never been made fun of.  I don't always correct people, only when I know I'll see them again, and I don't really mind.  I don't get mad when people say it wrong.  It really doesn't bother me.

Most of my conversations go like this, "How do you say your name?"- "Shalay"- "Where does it come from? Is it Irish?"- "No, my Mom made it up actually."- "Well it's absolutely beautiful, I've never heard that before."

My Mom did make up my name, I asked her how exactly she did that because I can't even imagine just making up a name and she said that she was just putting letters together one day.  I had my name picked out before my parents even met.  My Mom even wrote me a letter, with my name, before she had met my Dad.

I'm proud of my name, I like that it's unique!  So I say, if you want to name your baby something unique then go for it! :) (Just don't let it get too out of hand, there are some crazy ones out there! Haha!)