Boy or Girl???

We had our ultrasound today! I was excited for it and excited to find out what we are having of course, but I have to admit, it wasn't as big of deal to me this time. With Daylen he was the first, everything was new and exciting, finding out the gender was a HUGE deal! The first child, what's it gonna be? I anticipated the ultrasound for days. This time I new it was coming up, but I've had other things to think about. I have Daylen to take care of, and it kind of snuck up on me. Once we were in the ultrasound room and we got to see the baby and see the little heart beating and the legs and hands and everything else you try to decipher what's what, that same excitement I had with Daylen came back. There's just something about really seeing your baby for the first time. It's amazing! So after looking into everything and making sure all is well healthwise with the baby, which everything looks perfect thankfully, we finally got to find out the gender. The doctor pointed out the 2 legs we were looking between, which I remembered doing with Daylen and he was very obvious. She asked if we could tell what it was and this one was not so obvious so my conclusion was it must be a girl! I was right!! We are having a little girl this time and we are so excited! This a relief to me because I've already been calling her a she and by her name, Kate, so I would have felt bad if I had been calling a little boy, Kate. This pregnancy has been different for me so I had suspected it would probably be a girl, but you just never know! Now we do!

Mommy's little helper

Lately Daylen has really enjoyed helping me unload the dishwasher. He doesn't care whether they are clean or dirty, he just likes taking them out and setting them on the counter for me. I found him like this the other day, just happy as can be, standing on the dishwasher and one by one emptying all the dishes, which were dirty at the time of course. Oh well.

My Little Car Washer

Back in September when we went to Boston we had a bunch of pictures already on our camera we hadn't downloaded before we left. In order to free up space so we could take as many in Boston as we wanted, we downloaded them on to Rhett's computer thinking we would make a CD before we left. Well, we forgot. So we finally got the CD from Rhett this last weekend of our old pictures and I was looking at them today and wanted to put these of Daylen helping me wash the car one day. He had watched mommy do this many times already that summer and decided he wanted to help. So on his own he went and grabbed a sponge, the "bug sponge," and started washing the bugs off the front! Grandpa Goodwin would be so proud! It's in his blood, he's a natural car washer.

4 Months

So, yesterday I passed the 4 month mark in my pregnancy. I thought it would be kinda fun to post a new picture with each month to show how big I'm getting. The growth has definitely happened faster this time around. Rachel asked me at Christmas, "So are you sure you're not having twins?" Thanks Rach, that makes me feel better. Rachel also got engaged over the Christmas break to Tyler Hair, whom our family is very excited to have join us. We're all very happy for them, my only problem is they have decided to get married May 1 which puts me at almost 8 months along. I'm really excited for those wedding pictures!

Playing in the Snow

This last Saturday morning brought yet another blizzard of snow to Spanish Fork. I don't remember the last time we didn't have snow on the ground. It was great packing snow and Brad was itching to get outside. So...after shoveling our driveway he decided to make a snowman. Not your average 3 balls of stacked snow with a corn cob pipe and a button nose and 2 eyes made out of coal, no no no...he made this lovely monkey playing the cymbals. Brad is always thinking of the creative way to go about doing something and I think he did a great job, don't you? Unfortunately as you can see it is kind of "leaning," well, that afternoon bought the strong winds and toppled our poor snow monkey to the ground. But we have the pictures to prove he really did exist!

Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas in Walla Walla with my family this year. I was not excited at all about the lengthy drive, but it was definitely worth it. The whole reason we even decided to go home for Christmas was because my good friend from home, Candice, got married on the 21st. We decided to go for her wedding and we might as well just stay for Christmas while we were there, so we did. She looked absolutely beautiful, it was so fun to be there and see so many friends and family.

While at home we discovered we have a little Beethoven in our family, Daylen found the piano and loved to play it! He did pretty well too, I mean he wasn't spouting off any concertos, but he didn't just bang the keys he actually played it nicely. It was so cute because he would play for a little bit then stop and throw his hands in the air and yell, "Yah!!"

When Brad's parents moved to Alaska, Karen let my mom have her old high chair she used for her kids and was then using for her grandkids. My mom wanted it to in turn use for her grandkids. So Daylen got to use the same high chair his daddy used when he was a baby!

The Sunday before Christmas we got to go to visit Grandma Murray in Waitsburg, Wa, just about half hour away from Walla Walla. We spent a few hours with her and Daylen had a fun time playing with Grandma's toys. She had just gotten a bat and ball set, and Daylen LOVES balls so he had a great time. Plus, Brad and I then knew he would like his Christmas present because that is exactly what we got him!

On Christmas Eve we took a drive to Othello, Wa to visit my grandparents. This is where my mom grew up and I'm related to more people than I know in that city. If the last name is Gilbert you can bet I'm related. It was good to see them and visit for awhile, it's so hard to see your grandparents get old. I'm not sure my grandma even knew exactly who we all were, but luckily grandpa is still doing great in the mind area at least, he knows us and appreciated the visit. I especially enjoy getting to see him. My Grandma Goodwin is also living in Othello now at an assisted living facility. She lived with my parents for the last year, but she has dementia pretty bad and needed more attention and care. They had a piano in the eating area so my sister, Lori, sang "O, Holy Night" for grandma, then we all stood around while my mom played and we sang Christmas Carols for grandma and whoever else cared to listen. It was fun to sing with my family again, it's great to have husbands now to sing the men's parts, before we were pretty much a female choir as my dad always jokes about what a great lip syncer he is.

When we got back home that night the kids got to open 1 present, pj's of course. We tried to take pictures of them by the tree and they were a bunch of monkeys, they all had to have a banana. Daylen really enjoyed opening presents Christmas morning, and he was good at ripping that paper away.

Daylen was so cute with baby Kayla, he loved holding her. If someone else was holding her he would go up and put his hands out to hold her. He would watch her and touch her little fingers, he would hold her for quite awhile. When he gave her back he would have a big smile on his face, it the cutest thing! I think he'll be a good big brother.

Family Time

We spent this last weekend in Island Park with Brad's family to celebrate my sister-in-law, Mandy's graduation from BYU-I. It was such a fun, relaxing trip, we stayed in a big cabin so we could all fit in 1 place and it was fabulous. Brad's parents came from Alaska and it was the first time Dave has seen Daylen and his cousin, Ivan, since their baby blessings last November! It was great for Daylen to get to spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa Gasaway since he doesn't get to see them very often.

It snowed pretty much the entire time we were there so there was plenty to play in. Between sledding, snowmowbiling, playing games, watching movies, eating, enjoying the hot tub, and doing absolutely nothing, I think everyone had a great time. I have a few pictures to share from our trip, Karen took a great picture of Brad and I on the snowmobile so once I get that from her I'll post it as well. Daylen had fun playing in the snow for the first time, he really liked knocking it off the tree branches.





We tried taking pictures of Grandma and Grandpa with the grandkids and Daylen was not in the mood to get his picture taken as you can see. Little stinker.

Daylen loves to play pat-a-cake, he kind of can say it, but unless you knew that was what we were playing you probably wouldn't recognize that's what he is saying.

So we just got back from this trip this past Monday afternoon and now we're leaving again tonight after Brad gets off work for Walla Walla. I sure hope I'm ready for another long drive. We'll break it up by staying at Jamie's in Cauldwell tonight then driving the last stretch tomorrow morning. We are going for my friend Candice's wedding this friday and then staying for Christmas. It's been 3 years since we've been in Walla Walla for Christmas so I'm pretty excited. Merry Christmas everyone! I probably won't post anything else until after Christmas so have a fun, safe holiday!

Tagged

Ok, I've been tagged by my friend Natalie so I get to share with you all 6 hopefully interesting things about me. Here goes:

1. For 3 summers during college I worked as a Park Ranger at a National Historic Site called The Whitman Mission. It's a small Site close to my home in Walla Walla, Washington, but I was amazed at how many people it attracted in the summertime from all over the world. My favorite thing was reading the guest sign in book to see where people were from and what they thought of The Mission. I got wear the whole green and gray getup, badge and Smokey the Bear hat and all (the hat luckily was only when I went outside). I gave "ranger programs", did cultural demonstrations on Saturdays dressed up in costume of the day, and learned a lot of history.

2. I absolutely LOVE food, I may be small but I can pack it down as anyone in my family can testify to. Forget dessert, as good as some can be, I would take an extra large portion of a main food dish over dessert any day. Brad tells me I can eat more than most guys he knows, but I'm not sure if I would go that far. The only problem with being pregnant for me now is that it has messed up my taste buds and my favorite foods just don't give me the same pleasure as they used to, you have no idea how sad this makes me.

3. While at BYU I started taking ballroom dance classes for fun and found out I not only loved it, but was actually pretty good at it. Out of at least 20 competitions I entered for different dances, my partners and I rarely were cut before at least the semi-finals, and I made quite a few finals. I love the thrill of competition, standing on the dance floor waiting for the music to start, and then hearing the MC say in his english accent, "Ladies and Gentlemen, the samba" or whatever dance it was. Ahh, it gives me chills. I also had the amazing opportunity to dance on a back-up BYU Ballroom Dance team and found performing just as thrilling as competition, I LOVED IT!

4. Music has always been a big part of my life, I just wish I could somehow be as involved now as I was in high school. I played the clarinet for 9 years, but haven't so much as picked it up since my freshmen year at BYU, I know sad. In high school I was 1st chair throughout my junior and senior year, played in a Clarinet Choir and a Woodwind Quintet. I especially enjoyed the Woodwind Quintet being the only clarinet to carry my part.

5. I am related to Filo Farnsworth, the inventor of the television. Because of my ancestor you all have the privilege of enjoying General Conference from the comfort of your home. However, we take no credit for all the other junk that is shown on TV now.

6. I love amusement parks, roller coasters in particular. I love the feeling of my stomach dropping. My all time favorite amusement park is Six Flags (all roller coasters!) and my all time favorite ride is the Tower of Terror at MGM Studios at Disney World.

There you have it, now I am tagging Mandy and Janell to see what interesting things they have to say!

Party Time!

Christmas time is my favorite time of year, not only is it a time of giving and kindness and celebration...it's party time! There are always so many different parties to go to and it all started last night for us. We had our annual work Christmas party for Namifiers, the company Brad works for and I did as well up until I had Daylen. They have to keep out doing themselves every year which is great for the employees. This year it was at Tucanos, a Brazilian restaurant in the Riverwoods mall, all the meat and salad bar you can eat. For anyone who hasn't been there they constantly bring around all different kinds of meat on spickets and if you want to try some they cut you off a piece. You have a little green light red light wooden something that you keep on green if you want more and if you need a break just turn it over to red until you're ready for more. Let's just say it was a LOT of meat.

Anyways, once everyone had pretty much had as much as they could eat the prize drawing began. Namifiers gave away $15,000 worth of prizes, every employee got something. I think the smallest prizes were $50 gift certificates to either Walmart or Provo Towne Center, there were also $100, $150, and $200 gift cards, Ipods, Ipod nanos, digital cameras, HD radios, a desktop, and the grand prize....a 50 inch plasma television!! Holy cow! Unfortunately we weren't elegible to be entered in to the drawing, but it's fun to see the employees get excited about it. (Don't you wish things were this big when we worked there, Emily?) It was a fun night.

As for coming up parties, tomorrow night we (as in Namifiers) were invited to the Republican Christmas party at Mitt Romney's Cabin in Park City so Brad and I are representing the company there, Saturday is our Ward Christmas party, then Monday the 17th we are having a Executive Christmas Party, my sister-in-law, Mandy, is graduating from BYU-I so we are going to party hardy in celebration in Island Park, and then there is Christmas itself of course, always a party then! Whew! I hope I don't get partied out....nah! So much to look forward to, I'm getting all excited just writing about everything. I hope all your holidays are just as much or more fun filled!

Family Pictures

Jamie just sent me some pictures she took with her camera while we were there and I liked hers better of our little family so I'm posting it now as well. Bryson also took one of the whole family so here we all are.

Happy Late Thanksgiving...and a little something more

What a wonderful time of year this is. We just back last night from a Thanksgiving trip to Cauldwell, Idaho where my sister lives. My whole family was there together as well as my brother-in-law's parents. We had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner, a relaxful afternoon, then witnessed the special experience of blessing my newest niece Kayla. Then to top it off enjoyed some delicious pie afterwards. What a great day! It's my favorite meal of the whole year, anyone who knows me well knows I love food, and all my favorites we get to have on Thanksgiving. Daylen had a fun time playing with grandma and grandpa, aunts, and cousins, at least most of the time.

We have a lot to be thankful for in our little family, not only is Daylen the cutest boy we could have asked for, but he will not long be the only bundle of joy in our life. He will get the opportunity this next June of becoming a big brother! We are very excited and are trying to explain it to Daylen, but he doesn't get it. He would get a little jealous when he saw his mommy holding his baby cousin so hopefully he'll grow out of that in the next few months. We just wanted to share our happy news with all our friends!
Here is Daylen and Lily jumping on her trampoline together. He got the hang of it pretty quick!

Daylen with Aunt Rachel.
Daylen developing his artistic talent. He loves to draw or scribble rather with paper and crayons.
We all took pictures by Jamie's Christmas tree before we left Sunday. That was fun trying to take one of the whole family and get all the kids to look at the same time.

What can I say?

I love being a stay at home mom, really, it's just that I don't think other people will find the things I do from day to day all that exciting. One reason I haven't posted a blog for awhile. But today I thought I better do something. So I thought I'd tell you the cute things Daylen has learned or done lately.

*Every morning when Brad leaves for work Daylen says "Bye-Bye Dad!, Bye Dad!" while waving over and over. When Brad closes the door he then runs to the window and pulls at the blinds so he can watch him drive away. Cute!

*He folds his arms and bows his head for prayer, until we start praying, then resumes the position once he hears "Amen."

*He grabs any item, usually a wooden spoon, silverware, or funnel and swings it like a baseball bat while making a clicking noise with his tongue. Homerun Derby here we come!

*He has the biggest smile and cutest laugh ever, and he knows it.

*This afternoon I wanted to calm him down to get ready for his nap so we rocked and sang Primary songs together. His attempts at singing are adorable, it was so fun to cuddle with him again!

These are just a few of the reasons I love being able to stay home with Daylen, he is such a cutie!