Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years and Everything In Between!

If I had done a Christmas card it would have said what a busy/awesome/exciting year we've had! We feel so incredibly blessed to be in Michigan in law school, to have the friends we have, and especially for our families. We've hit the half way mark of school and I'm a little bit sad, we're really enjoying this stage of life.

The highlight of the year was obviously Benson, we can't wait for him to join our family (we got a sneak peek at our 4D ultrasound we got for Christmas)...



I've spent most of the winter in Las Vegas for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years and have loved every second of it, which is possibly why I abandoned my blog for so long!

Thanksgiving was just how I like it, traditional, good food, and the whole family together...

At Christmas time this year we had our semi-annual soup party and made 8 different kinds of soups and treats, threw a big family Christmas party, shopped and shopped, spent Christmas Eve with Brandon's family and went to a late dinner at Lawry's with my family, opened presents (Benson even scored a few), and spent some quality time with our families...

A few days after Christmas my aunt threw me a dang cute shower and lets just say, Benson is going to be decked out. I can't get over the quilt my aunt made- it's amazing, Brandon's mom put together the cutest diaper cake, and we pretty much got spoiled!

We rang in the new year with Katee's 20th Birthday and a big party...

We're definitely looking forward to 2010 and what the new year will bring!

To Do

Time seems to fly by these days. I'm in my third trimester now if you ask one book, and will be on Friday if you ask another. I'm starting to feel like I have so much to and not enough time to do it. Nesting is not good when your Type A!

We leave Friday to head to Vegas and I can't wait. I'm feeling a little homesick and I can't wait for sunshine 7 days a week. Finals are coming up already and I think Brandon is feeling the pressure.

Want to hear my "To Do" list? It will make me feel better so here we go:

• Clean my house, I refuse to leave town with a dirty house
• Put my fall decorations away
• Doctor's appointment tomorrow (glucose test- ugh!)
• Make some yumminess for my friends shower on Wednesday
• Do all the laundry so we can pack
• Pack
• WORK! I'm so behind.
• Deliver our guest bedroom bed to family that doesn't have one (to make room for a crib)
• Buy a crib and changing table and get Brandon to put them together
• Build shelves in Benson's closet
• See New Moon
• Plan the ward Christmas Party (yay for my new calling!)
• Find the perfect birthday present for my niece that's turning 4
• Find curtains, a rug and mobile that match Benson's bedding

What? Who does that? I do feel a little better though :)

Good Stuff

It's been far too long since I've blogged about good stuff I found at the grocery store, but food is a funny thing when you're pregnant. Lately it's been slightly more appealing and I've found a few things that must be tried. First, these...



The lemon ones are SO delicious- and only 100 calories! And these...

Equally as good, but not exactly 100 calories. And my mom sent this in our Halloween package...

I cannot get enough! Try it all!

Last weekend we headed to Ikea in Detroit to get some inspiration for Benson's room. We remembered some outlets on the way and took a detour. It's funny, the kid isn't even here yet and I already gave up on shopping for myself. I never understood how moms did that, but I found myself going from Baby GAP, to Gymboree to Children's Place. There was a massive sale at Children's Place with the CUTEST clothes on racks there were .99, $1.99 and $2.99. We had arm fulls, then a lady in line handed us a coupon so we ended up spending $25.00 on about 25 things. We were pretty dang proud of ourselves! A few of my favorites...

Blocks, Benson and a Bird

Martha Stewart talked me into making these blocks. Aren't hers cute?

My crafts never quite turn out the same as hers, but here they are...

You'll notice there is a name on these blocks- finally!

Isn't this bird random?

I saw him at Meijer (think Super Walmart if you're not from MI) and thought he would look cute on a shelf in my nursery, but now I'm thinking it might be a little creepy!

Go, Go, Go

We have been go, go, going lately. I hear the baby might slow us down a little and I have a fear of missing out on anything fun so we've been cramming it in.

A few gals and I threw a "Lil Pumpkin" baby shower for our friend Riley that turned out darling! I was in charge of the cheeseball and I really wanted it to look like a pumpkin, after calling my mom 85 times and consulting my friend Emily, I ended up rolling it in crunched up gold fish crackers to make it orange. Crafty right?



We hit up the homecoming parade with a few friends...

And seriously- one of the funnest things we've done in a long time- midnight madness! The NCAA says when teams can start practice for the season and MSU throws a huge party to kick off the season.

The players were introduced and walked right by my seat. It was so awesome to give them all a high-five!

Raising our final four banner...

Last but not least, we could not be more thrilled to have scored a signed basketball by Coach Izzo. Brandon has been wanting one of these babies, and he can't wait to display it in his office one day. We were pumped!

Love This

There are about a million things I could spend my free time on, one thing I choose to make time for is to catch up on my blog reading, I LOVE to know what everyone is up to all the time. I mostly read people I know, stalk a few acquaintances, and I read C Jane. I loved one of her recent posts so much that I have to share. She seriously speaks to me. Makes me think. You can read the whole thing here, or my favorite part...

“…My season is not about house decoration. It is not about glass vases on low centered tables (as lovely as it looks, and it looked lovely). I need a simple house without toddler traps. Good organization and lots of cues from nature.

A clean house.

My season is not about fashion. It is about picking a few items, showing off the best part of my body. Easy laundered shirts for the inevitable snot trails that end up on my shoulder area. Look nice, but not encumbered.

Clean clothes.

My season is not about cooking elegant meals. I do not have the heart to treat food the way it should be treated. It is okay to eat peaches, apples and toast. Pirate Booty and Lorna Doones.

Just eat something.

My season is for babies. For sleeping when my baby naps and early morning bottle swapping. For belly and breast expansion and retraction. Music in the nursery and afternoons in the backyard. A season for schedules and predictability. A quiet time, a time to be at home, a time to focus on growing and gathering.

Love this season.

(I don't want to ask my energy to do more than this, though some women can.)

Then, then, then! I will start to dream again. I will dream of the season of glass vases and vacuum lines in my carpet. The time to cultivate a more sophisticated wardrobe and mornings to stay in bed until noon. I will earn my way to a kitchen full of spices and surprises. Parties, gatherings, social outings.

First this. Then the gold living room.”

I love it. Sometimes I think I can have it all, and I can, just not all at once.

Sell-Outs

We are officially sell-outs. I hate to even admit it, but we sold our tickets and made some serious cash instead of going to the biggest game of the season against our biggest rival.

So we went to Babies-R-Us to start our registry (which I did not enjoy by the way) and I was coveting this chenille glider and ottoman when the manager said she had one in the back that had just been returned because it didn't fit in someones house. We got to buy it for half of what it originally cost and exactly what we sold out tickets for. So happy.

Can I Just Complain For a Sec?

My trustee MSN weather ticker says there is a freeze warning for tonight…can’t we at least wait until October for that nonsense? It also says it’s going to rain starting Friday, for 7 days straight! Luckily the one thing I’ve learned to trust about my trustee weather ticker is that it’s usually wrong.

I also want to give a shout out to GAP for making me a little more excited about the baby boy clothes situation. Seriously? Look how cute their new stuff is…

Speaking of GAP, my mom (also known as Grandma in the near future), purchased the little guy’s very first outfit while we were in Chicago last weekend…

Speaking of Chicago, we got to join my mom, dad, and little sis Kenzie for their first trip to Chicago. They came to East Lansing first and we showed them the sights. Obviously MI is about as different from Las Vegas as you can get so we loved showing them the nature, Lake Lansing, Hawk Island, campus, the law school, all that good stuff. We went to the Cider Mill and rode on the tractor and ate buttermilk doughnuts and drank cider. The weather was beautiful; it was a perfect couple of days. Kenize's pictures are amazing...

Then we crammed as much of Chicago as we could into Saturday and Sunday. Chicago will always be one of my favorite places…

Thanks for the fun times fam!

It's Officially...

a boy!

The doctor said everything looks perfect. We're happy, especially Brandon.

I feel like we can finally get started on things, but we honestly don't really agree on names. I love Benson, Brandon isn't a fan. He likes Caden, I'm on the fence. Then the issue of spelling, I think K's are masculine, he think's they're femine and that C's are more masculine. We have issues!

My parents and little sister are in town and they got to see the little guy going crazy, he would NOT stay still. It was awesome.

Pics...

I am...

Feeling pretty dang good about our move- it’s been such a blessing to be surrounded by the best neighbors anyone could ask for.

Loving the weather! My front porch is cover is orange leaves, I think fall is here early.

Ready to know the gender of our baby- I can’t wait until the 24th!

So annoyed about the Michigan State game on Saturday! Worst. Game. Ever.

Happy to be in Las Vegas visiting my family, even though it’s not for a happy reason.

Missing Brandon and wishing he were here with me.

So sad that my granddaddy died, I miss him already.

So grateful for eternal families!