TMT: List

Tender Mercies this week? Gotta list them:

-For help from my S.I.L. with all our pictures and our Christmas card. It looks AWESOME. She is SO talented.
-Tip from my cousin on where I can get free prints for all said Christmas Cards and pictures (artscow.com) all though be prepared to pay a little more for S&H and delivery time but hey all the prints were free so it works out
-Pictures of our sweet niece Ashlyn in her beautiful blessing dress. Brought a little tear to my eye. She was blessed yesterday in Oregon. Both my dad and Father in Law were there so our family was well represented.
-For my parents safe return drive home on a SNOWY Sunday.
-Actually for my parents company all week here in Utah. They are so kind and generous to their poor children and grandchildren!
-For my younger brother and his 2 friends to make us all laugh with their silly college boy antics.
-For all Ty's teeth to have FINALLY come in
-For my sweet husband who took care of Ty and me all day Sunday and yesterday with our colds only to have woken up himself this morning super sick. He has to work and go to school though, only 2 weeks left before FINALS!
- For all the Whooooaaaaa's and Wow's Ty said when he woke up from nap time to find Matt and I had decorated for Christmas. We'll get our tree up on Thursday. I KNOW Ty will love it. I can't wait to share this holiday season with him and look at things through his eyes.
-For my Grandma who was so worried about our Pre-Thanksgiving dinner with all the aunts, uncles and cousins. Don't worry Grandma it was AWESOME, everyone felt loved, appreciated and went home QUITE happy and full.
-For my Aunt to open her home to all of us on Thanksgiving. It was SO great to see my Granparents Aunt and Cousins that I haven't seen in forever.
-For Honey Lemon cough drops that make me feel better but alas have been over used so I feel like I am going to yack. HAHA
-For advice from a certain Uncle to read a certain blessing only to find it's written in black and white that it's meant for me to have a daughter and that I can do an amazing job at raising her if I put everything I have in it. That was quite a comfort.
-For the opportunity to be part of the Community Chorus with my sister. It's fun to learn new things and practice hard, but i'll be honest when I say I am glad our concert is this weekend! The sooner the better, hope my voice is fully back by then!

Most of all though, is for me getting all of our Christmas Card addresses together to re-connect with so many friends and be overwhelmed by so much family. Makes you realize what a large support group you really have and be thankful and grateful for so many wonderful people in your life!

Herriman Community Chorus Christmas Concert

Here is the poster for our concert this Saturday. Yes I am aware that a lot of you have... uhh other plans, but I thought I would just let you all know about it in case you wanted to come :)

Thanksgiving

So yeah I didn't take any pictures of Thanksgiving, EITHER of them! We had a big dinner Wednesday night with the Coombs side, and another dinner Thursday with the Bragg side. It was AWESOME to see all of our cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents!

The rest of the week was filled with movies, bowling, shopping and a TON of Football and Basketball games. Alas our Football team fell to the Utes but our Basketball team pulled it out every time. At least one of our teams is still undefeated. The movie we saw was "Tangled" we enjoyed it. Ty sat through the whole thing IN the theater and said "Whoa" and "WOooooWW" a few times when the horse was on screen. It was really cute.

 We've gotten a ton of snow lately, this was taken Thanksgiving morning. Matt took Ty sledding and he loved it! He went down all by himself and held on tight. I didn't go I was baking pies.

 The day after Thanksgiving Matt had to work that morning so Ty and I were cleaning up the house, doing dishes etc. I asked him what he was doing with the basket for our utensils and he showed me.

 HAHA I guess he had the Black Friday spirit! Even though we didn't even go shopping, he was ready to go.

 I have told Matt how similar he and Ty are. He finally got to see Ty's movie watching face. Mouth open, brow furrowed, promise nothing crazy is even happening just intently watching. Matt does EXACTLY the same face and I laugh every time I see it :) Maybe one of these days I'll sneak a picture of BOTH of them with the same face on. 

 We went to Trafalga with our passes to do some Lazer tagging but our wait was really long so we nixed that idea and stuck with arcade games. Ty liked playing all of them even though he didn't even have any tokens.

Jason and Sierra kept going on this ride and Ty wanted to go so Matt took him. He was nervous for about .2 seconds then had a grand time. I think he went about 3 times. This was at the end so the excitement wasn't as evident.

  We went to Red Robin one night for dinner, Ty really liked his balloons and was going crazy one minute then the next minute he was completely out but still clutching his balloons.

 

Last night after Suzanne and I came home from choir Practice it was late and Ty was busting a move to the ending music of the movie that Matt and Preston watched. Such a funny kid. I always feel bad when he is teething and meets new people. This whole week he was until Saturday so all of the friends and family probably thought he was a stinker and whiny. Promise he isn't usually! :) 

Going up this week are our Christmas decorations and this coming Saturday evening is our Christmas Concert!  

These are a few of my favorite things

Since I don't think I ever posted this I thought it should kick things off. Here are my darling nieces and nephew along with Ty guy in their lovely matching outfits that my mom provided. I think this is a great picture. Taking a picture of five kids under the age of five is tricky, luckily we got at least one shot where they were all sitting and somewhat smiling :)

 If Dad is doing it, so must Ty. We handed him an Allen wrench and let him have at it. Matt was tightening the chairs.

 It snowed pretty hard on Sunday night, actually harder than this "Blizzard" that was supposed to happen last night. So Matt got Ty in his clothes and took him out.

 He wasn't sure at first but by the end he was eating the snow and shoveling like the best of them.

What do you do when it's cold outside and all the kids have been cooped up all day? Take them to Kangaroo Zoo of course. They LOVED it! Everything they did was full speed ahead. Here is Jason.

Then Sierra came down next.

Matt was being funny in the 2 and under section.

I think Ty enjoyed himself, he could yell and run wherever he wanted...

Ahhh they went down together that is precious. (That's my foot just in case you were wondering)

Ty got up there himself but wouldn't go down himself. So after a few times of Jason "showing" Ty how to do it....

We told Jason to grab an ankle and bring him down.

As you can tell he didn't mind at all!

Matt started developing different sliding techniques, Ty liked this one best. Matt usually held him up Superman Style.

Coltons friend Lizzie joined in on the fun and Ty was giving her a road block so uncle Colton would win the race.

Oh and of course Elena was there, and she was happy to look at all the colors and hear all the new sounds.

Ty liked the big slide the very best, especially when everyone was going.

Ty has officially become a Toy Story boy. If I let him choose a movie it's Toy Story 1 or 2 EVERY TIME. I can now say both movies verbatim. Sometimes it's all I can do to get things done though. Matt got home from work yesterday while I was getting dinner ready and saw this.

Matt pulled him back a little from the TV.

 

Yeah he will sit like this the entire movie. Crazy kid. For Christmas he'll be getting his own Woody Doll so he doesn't have to hold the case anymore AND Toy Story 3.  (Checking out the Black Friday Deals for those)

So those are a few of my favorite things lately. Hanging out with the family and all the kids. We have been keeping very busy doing it too!

I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving, be safe driving where ever you are going and enjoy yourself!

TMT: Help

This week at church was CRAZY. If it could go wrong it did go wrong, well with Nursery anyways. There are 3 leaders and about 12 or so kids in our class. Long story short at one point there were only 2 leaders taking on 20+ kids with little toys, no snacks or books.

We got it all figured out, things calmed down and we survived the day. The best part of that whole fiasco though was that I was able to hand of Ty (who had been napless and super grouchy) off on my husband who can take care of him. He is the ward clerk and if you ask him its the best calling of them all! Well it has it's down sides but the upside is much greater he says. All I know is he's able to take Ty anytime in his office with him while he is getting stuff done or after he is done with stuff he can come in and help me! :)

What I am extremely grateful for and honestly count as a huge tender mercy is the fact that one mom, seeing we were short handed and with out keys to anything, ran home and ransacked her house for Fruit Loops, Animal Crackers, little Dixie cups, Napkins and hand sanitizer. Such a life saver, that would have been the longest 2 hours of my life with out that! It was so helpful and different then the usual dump off the kid and run away from Nursery attitude. She saw we were in trouble and helped where we couldn't. Oh and there was also another sweet mom who stayed and helped then came back after the other leader needed to leave 20 minutes early. It could have been just me in there!

Second is something that isn't necessarily directly involved with me, but I still feel like it needs to be said. There has been a tragedy that has affected the last few days to make me, and many MANY others think about life a little differently. A family from our ward back home had a son in Flight school at Utah Valley University. Something went wrong with his plane during training and he and his instructor crashed, neither survived the crash. David was the oldest in his family and only 25, he was married this time last year to a darling girl from Mexico that speaks little English. My mom says that our ward back home is doing everything and anything that the Whitney family would need help with during this trying time. My mom was able to attend the memorial service for him here in Utah since she wont be home to make the funeral on Wednesday. She said the place was packed and it was kind of happy instead of sad remembering this amazing persons life.

Here is the news story:

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

I knew him, but very little. All I remember was that he knew his stuff when it came to the gospel (he was in my seminary class my senior year) and he had a smile on his face all the time. My younger brother dated his sister, his younger sister has babysat Ty once and my mom sees his mom numerous times each week at the exercise classes she leads. I'll admit after really thinking about the situation that his wife is left in (Where will she live? What will she do? She had a marriage visa, will she have to be deported now that her American husband has passed?), how his siblings feel or how it would feel to be a parent a lose a child like this I cried. It's devastating and heart breaking for this family and they are taking it quite well. Like I have said before, I have never had to really deal with death. No one close to me has died and I don't know how I'll react to it. Hopefully I can be strong and understanding. This situation has really brought new light to the Thanksgiving week having me really understand how important every moment with family and friends can be. I am so thankful for their health and safety and I pray for it daily. It's also comforting to know that during a tragedy like this there are so many people back home and here in Utah that can rally together to help one of their own. It's amazing what people are helping out with. I wish I could do more then just pray, but that is equally important as well, there is so much power in prayer. 

Special Edition Matt Post: Insert foot in mouth

Have you ever seen the Twix commercials when someone says something or does something that puts them in an extremely uncomfortable position?  Fortunately, I had the opportunity to be an onlooker to someone who probably wished they were anywhere but in that current situation which they placed themselves in.

Most of us know that when babies are born, they are not attractive.  It's really not a shocker, considering you were inside of your mothers body for 9 months covered in fluids.  If I sit in the tub for 15 minutes too long, I'm all wrinkly, so its no surprise when a baby comes out looking like E.T. who has soaked in the tub till the water turned cold.  Given some time, babies do eventually start to become somewhat cute.  The problem is, we still think our kids are way more adorable than anyone else considers our kids to be.  That's why you hear the term, "a face only a mother could love."    

 At work we have a Halloween cutest baby contest.  I will admit that some kids can really pull off the Gollum look, from Lord of the Rings, even though I don't think that's what they were going for.  My co-worker , who we will call Peter sits across from me, and was approached by another co-worker yesterday, who we will call Jeff.  Jeff, assuming that Peter is looking at the cutest baby contest pictures walks up behind Peter, looking at his computer screen and says "Now that is one ugly baby!"  Granted, you may think it, but is there really a need to say it?  To Jeff's unfortunate surprise, Peter says "um, that's my kid."  Oops.  Yep, no recovering from that. Jeff was left standing there, obviously searching for anything kind to say that would cover up his loose tongue comment and Peter just sat there looking like someone had just broke his new Christmas toy before he even had a chance to play with it.  And with that, the Twix signature comment came to mind, "Need a moment?" 

(I thought it was snickers that Matt really meant, but it is TWIX, just youtube the commercials, they are pretty dang funny)

2010 Family Pictures

After a wardrobe malfunction on my part, (Hello why would I think it's a good idea to take family pictures while 19 weeks pregnant!? NOTHING fit!), a borrowed shirt from Michaela and a re-scheduled morning due to unexplained sickness on Ty's part, we had our family pictures taken.  It was really just a mini session. Since it was freezing and raining we only spent about 15 minutes out there before all the boys were calling it quits. My S.I.L Michaela did them for us. I think she did a great job! Thanks for working so hard to make me look photogenic. Ty and Matt looked great in every picture, I ruined half of them. I think the fall colors look amazing, I am glad we were able to catch the seasons best in the BYU-I Gardens. 

Baby Maylee Steps

I am taking baby steps at this whole, mom to a girl thing. So I sewed something, and to be honest with you all I am SHOCKED I didn't think a curse word the entire time. I remember the LAST time I tried to sew something was when I was pregnant with Ty. Maybe that's what it takes for me to sew, the insanity pregnancy brings.  I frequently thought, "What the HECK am I supposed to do?" and read then re-read each instruction. I thought "This is STUPID!" about 400 times too. However, I didn't have to call anyone and ask any questions! I DID however ask Matt quite a few times what he thought the instructions meant. It took me about 6 or 7 hours to sew both the shoes and the dress. I was hoping the dress would be tiny but it doesn't look so small to me. The shoes ARE tiny though so I wonder if Maylee will even be able to wear them both at the same time. I was shooting for "the coming home" outfit with this one. 

Maybe I'll try again to make another dress smaller, it really doesn't require a ton of material and if I say it was straightforward and easy enough then you KNOW I mean it.

Kristin sent me the link for the pattern, HERE it is just in case you want to know what it SHOULD have looked like. The shoes are uhh not matching-ish, one is a bit bigger than the other and so are the straps. But hey not bad for a first shot right? :) 

 This is the back of the dress, the pin is where the button will be.

Here is a close up on the shoes. I actually almost cried a little bit when I finished it all. I still need to go buy little black buttons for the shoes and the back of the dress. I'll probably add some buttons to the front too just for looks. Now all I need is a matching hairbow! We all ready have the tights.

I am so proud of myself. I can't believe I did it! Maybe if I keep trying I can get the sew time down to a few hours so I can just make her outfits like this all the time. I got the fabric for maybe a dollar all together in the clearance bin at Wal-Mart, so it's totally cost effective I think.

I think Matt was actually some what impressed himself when I showed him the shoes.

TMT and it's time for Round 2!

So, I should probably just copy and paste THIS post for  you all to read and where ever it says Ty just replace it with Maylee. Yeah time for round two, all though the pain isn't AS bad, it's still annoying to deal with. I didn't sleep well at all last night and all last evening I was on the couch. Matt picked up on my lazy, not feeling so good mood so he took Ty to some fast food restaurant to play on the play structure there. He couldnt take him to the park it was cold and dark. It was a nice break all though some how Ty ended up in bed with us last night and waking up with a foot in my face, NEARLY in my mouth probably wouldn't put ANYONE in a good mood ha ha. As my sister brought up, maybe Ty and Maylee are on the same growth schedule because Ty seems to be endlessly hungry and grouchy frequently so he's got to be growing too.

SO In other news I just wanted to say, how much I love my family. Both sides, it doesn't matter... seems like the last few months I have felt an outpouring of love and help coming at me from every angle. It's been just little things here and there to brighten my day and put a smile on my face. So all you who are related to me please except my big THANKS for being so awesome! As I thought about it last night while I was attempting to sleep I realized what a putz I have been and how helpful and kind everyone else has been to me. I'll kick it up a notch, promise!  

Oh  an here are a few pictures since I have been lacking lately.

 Ty has recently become very aware of all the cleaning I do and loves to help. Well he likes to help anyone with the sweeping or vacuuming, ask Kristin! He loves it! He also is very worried when he drops a crumb on the ground. He says "UH OH" then drags me over to the spot to show me. Sometimes he'll attempt to clean it up himself.

 He is becoming more and more handy with his fork and spoon. Here he is just finishing his Whole Wheat Waffles with Strawberry Jam. He REALLY liked them. The other day Matt gave him a bowl of Applesauce and a spoon. I said Ty wouldn't be able to eat any of it but he proved me wrong and did it all by himself!

Here Matt and Ty are enjoying one of their favorite snacks together, Muddy Buddies. They are watching "The Cat in the Hat knows a lot about that" on Netflix.

Random post eh?

Results

Just in case any of you were wondering, Maylee is a healthy normal little lady growing just right. I had another appointment today to go over the ultrasound results after the radiologist had reviewed them. The reason I tell you all this is because this appointment when I was pregnant with Ty, didn't go the same way. We had instantly more doctors and more ultrasounds scheduled and quadruple the bills! I am so happy to know everything is going as it should with Maylee, now I am just left with the "girl" thing to worry about. Which has actually started to sink in more and I am getting used to the idea. Thanks to all those who offered advice and insight, it really helped!

Last night while drifting off to sleep I thought of making a list of all the different ways to do a little girls hair, yeah so I have been thinking about it...:) 

The BEST

I have the best husband. I do, well he's the best for me and the BEST Dad for Ty. It makes me smile almost every morning when I peek into Ty's room before he wakes up in the morning to see him all cuddled up with a blanket carefully placed over him. No doubt Ty kicked off all his blankets that night and Matt put it there and kissed him before leaving for work.

Matt knows Ty's schedule and I don't even have to say anything to him about it. He'll just get up on Saturday morning (or any morning he doesn't have to work) and make Ty and of course himself some breakfast (eggs or french toast AND clean up after himself)... he'll put him in the bath and get him all dressed in appropriate matching clothes and take him to the park or out for a walk. He'll play with him and help him learn tons of new things that mom's kind of space it on. Thanks to Matt, Ty LOVES Airplanes and Helicopters. I forgot that little boys liked those, heck all boys like those. Matt still runs outside to see a big Helicopter flying over our house. (We live very close to a few Army Bases)  If Ty needs a diaper change, he doesn't tell me he just does it himself, making sure to use any needed cremes or ointments for rashes etc. If it's time for bed Matt just goes and gets Ty's pajamas and milk, pulls out the scriptures and starts the whole thing. I don't have to say anything at all. He knows when Ty naps, what he likes to eat, what his favorite things to do are and always likes to hear about new things Ty says or does. I haven't discovered a Lazy Dad bone in Matt's body and it has been very apparent since Ty's birth when I was SUCH a mess, so my mom and Matt did switch off duty taking care of Ty AND me. (Let's hope for a better L&D this time so my mom and Matt will switch off with Ty and Maylee and I'll work on fixing myself haha) 

I wouldn't even have to leave instructions for Matt if I left for a few days out of town and Matt was left to watch Ty.  Pretty sure Matt could take over doing my job quite easily... No wonder Ty is SUCH a Daddy's boy.

Some of you might be thinking well "Duh, aren't most Dad's like that?" (My Dad is that's for dang sure)

But, let me tell you they are not! If you are a lucky duck (and I know a lot of you are), your husband does this too AND if that is the case you better tell them what an awesome Dad they are and how thankful you are for them. Let me tell you, doing this parenting thing all on my own would be SUPER tough! I am SO glad to have someone just as dedicated and loving to our little guy as I am. Matt has so much going on in his life with work, school, tests etc. etc. that I am surprised that when he gets home he still has enough energy to muster up a "Bear Hug" for Ty let alone play with him for an hour or so before we put him to bed (way too late since I was keeping him up so he could see Ty)


P.S. Today is Veterans Day, I know Matt's Dad Steve served in the Navy, I believe in the Vietnam war. Thanks for serving our Country Steve, and all you brave servicemen past and present! "This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave."  ~Elmer Davis

Sierra's Day

Saturday we did a little party for Sierra's Third birthday since the H, Brit and the girls were in town. OUr parents were in town too for the football game and Elena's baby blessing. 

Kristin was going to do Cupcakes and Ice Cream so Suzanne and I set about to find some cute decor for her little party.

 We made the "Birthday Girl" a special shirt so everyone knew it was her special day.

 There were a lot more of us there, this picture however only shows the young'ns eating their yummy Watermelon Cupcakes. Ty really liked his, he ate the entire thing. We made the banner, the mobile, put little circles on the wall, a little banner on the windows and wall and we made a sign for the front door saying "She's Turning 3!" It was super easy, customizable and the best part... FREE! All we had to do was print and cut. If anyone wants to use this for another party let me know I'll send you the details!

 Kristin made the cute cupcakes all different shapes, Suzanne and I made the toppers.

 

  A happy brother, he got to partake in the cupcake goodness too.

P.S. Today is Will's actual Birthday, HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILL! Have a GREAT DAY! Isn't it so fun to have a birthday so close to your daughter? :)

A Baby Changes Everything- It's a song people

Don't know if y'all have heard this one or not, Suzanne and I get to sing it in our Christmas Concert coming up. Well we are just in the choir, we're not trying to be Faith Hill or anything haha... pretty nice song I think though. Give it a listen!



We'll have a full orchestra too, should be pretty powerful.

Early Edition TMT: My Thoughts

Warning: (Jordan) This is a long one and you don't have to read it :) Just a few of my scrambled thoughts!

I never pictured myself as a mother to a daughter. I mean I knew it was a possibility but deep down I just felt like I would always have boys, and I was completely and totally okay with it. I wanted it. I thought of all the stuff that you have to think about when raising a girl, mood swings, coordinating outfits, modesty, cattiness, sass, dating, oh my and the list goes on… I don’t think I was ever really into any of that stuff too much personally. But I know that most girls are. I have always gotten along better with boys than with girls. Don’t get me wrong I do and did have friends that were girls growing up but for some reason most of those strong relationships only lasted a few years. Boys are just easier to understand and to get a long with for me. Also, we have all boy stuff… the kids will be so close that all the clothes Ty wore would be perfect for the next child, they could share a room forever and we wouldn’t have to make any extra purchases.

The night before our Ultrasound, I couldn’t sleep. I maybe slept 2 hours. I wasn’t thinking about anything. My mind was blank but I couldn’t even drift off. I think now it was because deep down, I knew it was a girl and I was scared to death about it. I know what all you readers are thinking, “Didn’t Matt TELL you it was a GIRL?” Yeah, yeah, but come on, with the given Spence record of straight up boys I didn’t really believe him.

After we left the appointment I said a prayer in my head, just thanking my Father in Heaven that she looked healthy… I know with Ty’s Ultrasound we thought the same thing and were notified a few days later of some minor-ish health problems he had. It wouldn’t shock me if that happened again with this one, but as far as major health concerns she has all her major organs, 2 legs, 2 arms, 10 fingers, 10 toes and perfect little lips… for that I am so thankful and it is very comforting to know that she is growing right on track. But as far as the missing boy parts being replaced by girl parts? That was rough.

I held it together most of the rest of day, not excited, just anxious. I didn’t call and tell anyone, I let Matt tell the news to everyone because he was holding together better. I felt sick and nervous. As soon as it was time for bed I went down stairs and cried… Yes a lot, I was freaked out! Asking myself all these loaded questions, I never prepared myself to be a mom to a girl. I don’t even know where to start. I mean I know how to put a cute outfit together, how to change a diaper, feed and burp etc. but as far as the social, emotional aspects of it all, I am clueless. I don’t want my daughter to be a sissy prissy pants but I don’t want her to be the rough and tumble type either.

I woke up the next morning pretty much upset about it all, and to be perfectly honest I am still not SUPER excited about it. I know I will get more excited as time comes closer. I am sure I’ll start buying tons of clothes (because we have absolutely NOTHING girly here) and blankets, a car seat, try to figure out how to fit a girl into Ty’s super boy themed room and wrap my brain around it. But for now when people ask me what I am having and I say "Girl" under my breath, then they clap and giggle it takes everything I have to not melt down again right there.

Promise I’ll work on it, and I know you guys all think I am crazy. It’s not that I don't LIKE girls, I mean I love them. I love all my nieces and heck I'M a girl... but the thought of ME raising one is just a matter of excepting it and getting excited about it. Something I have to do for myself.

 I have absolutely no doubts about Matt as a father to a girl... I can picture that one easily and I am sure like some of you have said that he'll be wrapped around her finger from the get go. Luckily, I have that notion  to hang on to so it's really just me that needs to face it and start preparing.

Oh and I am thinking she’ll have blond hair, but hey Matt hasn’t been wrong yet has he…  

Special Edition Matt Post: "I had a Dream"

The year was 2006 and Mickie and I had just gotten married.  We always had it in our plans to have kids a few years after we were married, so I don't remember being too concerned about what the sex would be of our children.  Although, I remember very vividly, two dreams which were spaced about 2 days from one another, of what we would be having.  The first night, I dreamed we would have a little blond haired boy, which as we all know turned out to be accurate.  I remember telling Mickie about it, but also remember not finding it too fascinating, given the Spence probability that we would have a boy.  Then, two days later, I had another dream.  (note: I have told a few people this dream, so those of you who I have told, don't spoil the news yet)  In this dream, I was being sassed by a cute little dark haired girl (about 2 or 3 years old), with my son now being older, sitting next to me.  This came as a large surprise and I have been waiting ever since to see if this was my imagination or some vision of my future family.

Well, it was not just my imagination, but was in fact a glimpse of what was to come.  We found out today that my world is about to be turned upside down with what I thought would never be.  A little girl is about to be welcomed into our home I am am a bit perplexed about the whole thing.

When the tech told us we were having a girl, both Mickie and I were a bit uneasy about it, because for us a boy would be much cheaper and, I think, easier for us.  The tech, after showing us all the pictures, says, "well, is there anything you wanted to see on the screen that I haven't shown you yet?"  I said, "Yes, how about a penis?"  "Sorry" she says, "but I'm sure you will love her anyway."  She is right, I know I will love her.  But if you ask me what I think about it right now, the main thing benefit I see from this situation is the tax benefit.

I'm sure some of you are interested in what name we have chosen for her. The plan is to name her Maylee Elizabeth Spence.  The name Maylee comes from little girl in Aunt Sharon's neighborhood.  Mickie met her in about 2004 and I remember Mickie telling me how adorable she thought Maylee was and that she wanted to name her daughter with that same name.  So that was picked out from the beginning.  The middle name, Elizabeth, comes from my Grandma Spence.  I don't remember much about Grandma Spence except for her need to hug us all the time and her protection from Grandpa when we were too loud inside and it was too cold to go outside.

Interestingly side note is, after I thought of it and told Mickie how I liked the name, she had a dream where my Grandma Spence came to her.  My Grandma said she came to Mickie because I wouldn't listen.  Mickie has never even seen a picture of my Grandma but described her just as I remembered her head to toe.

I do believe there is a plan for each of us.  This experience has helped to confirm that feeling.  I am grateful for the times Heavenly Father gives us the opportunity to get a glimpse of what we can become or what he has in store for us as we continue with His plan.  Maylee will be a great addition to our family and we are excited to share this life and all it has to offer with her. Mickie is due March 31st 2011, the day after her birthday. Interesting note, Ty was born in June the month in which I was born and our next, a girl will be born the same month as Mick. They'll be about 21 months apart. 

Here are some Ultrasound shots, if you are interested.

Halloween Pictures

Well looks like they'll be all mixed up... Here we are at the Kids Carnival on Saturday.

The boys LOVED Trick or Treating with one another. Too bad little Ashlyn isn't in the picture then it could have been all the cousins :) So cute!

Tanner was so good to wait, Baylee and Laycee came Trick or Treating with us too!

Ty picked up what was happening by the end there, he was so excited to run from door to door, all though he had no IDEA what they were giving him.

Here we are Saturday night after Trick or Treating.

Michaela and I made Caramel Apples, her's turned out WAY better then mine. Don't they look so YUMMY?

Calin in his Lion Costume at the Kids Carnival.

As expected Ty loved to see Ashlyn. He wanted to look at her and touch her all the time. We had to be on guard so he didn't maul her really!

Nate and Dallin, he was a monkey but he didn't have his hood part on.

We hung out and played a ton at Jordan and Michaela's place.

We all went out to lunch at Craigo's on Saturday. Don't mind H.D.'s half opened eyes, it was a good picture of everyone else :)

Calin wanted to show me his food.

Precious little Ashlyn sleeping

Ty looking at all the balloons at the Kids Carnival.

 

Doing the Cake walk...

This was a pretty typical occurrence, these two, taking off together.

 

On Sunday morning Michaela took our family pictures. Hopefully I'll have some to show you all soon. After pictures we had to leave but not without Ty and Calin trying to help us pack up... more like playing on everything. They were so fun to watch play together. Ty even said Calin a few times... I was pretty impressed. Of course we couldn't ever get it on video.

We had a really fun weekend hanging out with all our family up in Idaho!