adventures at the hogal zoo!

We got to take a family trip to the Hogal Zoo this morning. We were originally planning on going the morning of Memorial Day, but the rain spoiled that idea real fast. I was so bummed, I'd been looking forward to a fun outing, and we wanted to take Daylen on a fun little trip before the baby comes. This morning was beautiful, we got there right when they opened so it wasn't crowded at all until we were ready to leave. It was nice to feel like we had the zoo almost all to ourselves. Daylen had a great time watching the animals and naming them. There have been a few last minute things I've wanted to get done before the baby comes, getting my hair cut and going to the zoo were 2 of them. So now I'm feeling more ready to just get Kate here with us. Brad predicts June 5th, so we'll see if she comes this coming Thursday! Brad and I also went on probably our last date until after the baby comes, we went and saw the new "Indiana Jones" movie, so good by the way. (Thanks again Janell for watching Daylen!) The countdown has begun...

Daylen was tuckered out by the time we left, we barely had left the zoo when I turned around and saw this...

Hallelujia!

We had a major milestone at church today. Daylen finally stayed in nursery the whole time all by himself! I was able to attend Brad's gospel doctrine class for longer than 10 minutes and he gave a fabulous lesson. He is such a great teacher, I've been excited to go ever since he was called and I was released from primary, but then Daylen would freak out every time I left him. Then I got to go to all of Relief Society which was fabulous as well. Church was just altogether such a great and uplifting experience today for me, I loved it! I just hope this is only the beginning of what I have to look forward to. Hopefully Daylen will continue to stay and today wasn't just a fluke thing. All I have to say is Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers!

every day fun...or work...

We finally got our garden all prepared a couple of weeks ago and I got most of it planted last Saturday morning. Daylen loved digging in the dirt and "helping."
We all know how much Daylen loves to play with balls. We were playing catch last week and he has great form already! I wanted to try and capture it in a picture, but it was difficult once Daylen saw the camera. This is the best I could do.
After he throws he likes to pose if he's in a silly mood. He has some great ones, but once again he got a little distracted by the camera.
We have had some beautiful days lately, except for today, rain rain rain, so we've taken lots of walks to the park to play. Daylen really does enjoy the swing more than he is letting on in this picture.
Just a quick update on me. I went to the doctor on Monday and they checked to see if anything was starting to happen yet, and it is! I am 60 % efaced (sp?) and dialated to a "1 and a wiggle" as my doctor put it. So we'll see if there is progress from here when I go back next week, but we are getting very excited for Kate to come!

i'm a big boy now!

By the title of this post it sounds likd Daylen is potty trained, I wish that were the case, but no. Actually we made the switch to the "Big Boy Bed". This last Tuesday night was Daylen's first night sleeping in his new bed. It's just a set of twin mattress and box springs we've had, but we talked up his "Big Boy Bed" all day so he would be excited to sleep on it. He was a little nervous at first, but we just kept our same night time routine and he went down really easy and stayed there. (Of course we always close his door and he doesn't know how to open doors yet, but he did stay in bed.) The only difference was that he woke up way too early, 6:00 AM! Too early for me anymore. He's been sleeping well in it ever since. I just hope this keeps up and the routine of it will stick even when he learns he can actually get out of bed and open the door himself. If I don't open his door fast enough for him he knocks and calls for me. I would post a picture of the bed, but it's not really that exciting, he doesn't have any cool little boy blankets, just ones we already had, I figure he really doesn't care or know the difference. Plus I couldn't get Daylen to pose on his bed.

So now we have the crib set up in Kate's new room, I need to get cracking on finishing her baby quilt, anyone have a quilting circle? I just bought a curtain rod today so I can hang her curtains I finally finished, as in cut some length off and hemmed up. Next I need to decide what to paint, I'm hoping to bring a dresser back from home when we go next week for my sister, Rachel's wedding. Things are coming together, only 7 weeks left!

together again...catching up

Brad was in China with the camera when I passed my 7 month mark, so I couldn't take a picture. Here I am a little over a week later, still growing! I've developed a pregnancy pain in my right hip area this time which isn't so fun. The nurse gave me some stretches to do which seem to be helping so far. It just hurts to walk.



Daylen was playing outside yesterday with a couple of his balls and when I went to check on him I found him like this trying to reach one of this balls.

I just thought he looked so cute and peaceful here.

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So Brad was in China all last week, with our camera, so not only was I lonely without him, but I couldn't blog without new pictures! Nor did I really want to say Brad was gone on my blog while he was gone. He left Friday the 11th and got back Friday the 18th, which was a day earlier than planned. He went with his boss to scope out the world trade show, find suppliers, get cheaper pricing for different items, stuff like that. They had a productive trip, but were ready to come home, thankfully a day early even! I got to talk to him a couple of times a day usually via web cam. Funny how when I was waking up he was getting ready for bed, then in my late afternoon he was just getting up. I talked my sister, Rachel, into spending a couple of nights with me, and then my other sister, Jamie, came last Wednesday with her 3 kids to keep Daylen and I company, thanks again Jame! So we were able to bare the solitude a little better. Here are a couple of pictures from Brad's adventure. This first one is of Brad at the airport.

Brad with his boss, Bryan, at some park.
This is the view outside their hotel room, Brad said the air was always smoggy, they only saw the sun a couple of times. With 20 million people in the city was do you expect?

These are the lines at a McDonalds near their Hotel. Holy cow!
This is just one of the locations where this massive Trade Show was taking place. Brad did a LOT of walking. He and Bryan treated themselves to foot massages at the end of the day.
It was definitely an adventure, Brad tried foods he would be happy never having to try again, one of them being jellyfish. He had a good time overall, but is glad to be home and I think his body is finally adjusted from the jet lag. Daylen and I are especially glad to have him home again with us, we love you Brad!

a few recent pictures

Here is Daylen with Grandma and Grandpa Gasaway before they left to go back home to Alaska. He was being a stinker and wouldn't smile for the camera.

He was sad to see his cousins, Garret, Brett, Dustin, and Derek leave after spending a week with them. (Dustin was already buckled in the car ready to go.)

Friday Brad had a mission reunion and his Mission President was able to be there. He is from Brazil and is now serving in the 2nd Quorum of the Seventy I believe. He doesn't speak much English and I don't speak any Portugese so I just smiled while Brad talked to him. :)

In Memory of...

We received a shock last Thursday, March 27, that I hope none of you ever has to experience. My very sweet amazing sister-in-law, Venecsa Cook Gasaway, was killed in a tragic car accident leaving behind her husband and 4 boys. Another sister-in-law, Mandy, has written a beautiful tribute to Venecsa on her blog so I am posting a link to her site for you to read. Venesca truly was one of the most amazing women I know so to get to know her a little better please read this tribute by clicking on Mandy's name.

It is at times like this when I am so grateful to have a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ and a knowledge of His Plan of Salvation. Although we will miss Venecsa dearly we know that through the sealing power of Temple ordinances we will see her again, and she will be with her family again. As Venesca's sister, Amelia, said at the funeral service we are not saying goodbye, just see ya later.

Happy Easter!

Easter Sunday was a beautiful day in Utah. A beautiful day to celebrate our Savior and all He has done for us. I love this time of year where everything is coming to life again, a true symbol of our Savior that He lives! After church we went over to my Aunt LuAnn's house in Springville for dinner with family and an Easter egg hunt for the "kids." Daylen grasped the concept of finding eggs and putting them in his basket very quickly and had a lot of fun.

This last week I finally got all the equipment I needed to put our home videos onto the computer so I've been working on getting the footage somewhat edited and burned onto DVDs. I made up a couple of clips to post of Daylen's egg hunting, but it takes FOREVER to upload and so far I haven't been successful. I will keep trying so hopefully I will have video footage on my blog soon!


Daylen is obsessed with balls and he loved being able to dunk the basketball with the help of daddy.
He wasn't too happy when the big kids took over the hoop with bump, but luckily....
....there was a Daylen size hoop in the garage where he could dunk the ball all by himself!

Beautiful Days + a Cute Boy = HAPPINESS

We've been able to play outside the last couple of days and it has been wonderful! We went for a walk this morning with our friends, Janell and Rylan, and it felt so good to get out and walk in the morning again! We got this hat for Daylen a couple of weeks ago and I think he looks so cute in it, so grown up. So of course I had to take some pictures of him in it.

The other day during lunch Daylen started hiding his grapes from himself and saying. "where go?"

He would cross his hand with the grape behind the other, then he would show it and say "there it is!" and eat it. I watched this for a minute before thinking I should grab the camera and get some pictures of this.
Here he is showing me his grape while he eats it if you can't tell. He is such a silly boy, he makes me laugh. It's been fun to watch him this last month especially, he is learning so much!

6 Months

It's that time of the month again. Here I am at 6 months, but again I say, pictures do me good. I really do look bigger than this in real life, just ask Brad. I still feel pretty good for the most part, I feel like I have good energy most of the time. Rachel came over again today and helped me do more spring cleaning. We got the rest of my kitchen cupboards cleaned, the drawers, my freezer, and dusted everything in the entire house. My last big project will be to shampoo my carpets, oh and the garage, but that will wait until warmer weather and Brad's help. I wanted to get all the cleaning out of the way so I can start on my projects for baby Kate. I think I will enjoy working on them more if I don't have thoughts of cleaning lingering over my head. I'm getting excited to start putting her room together!

Spring Cleaning

So with the BEAUTIFUL weather we've been having these last few days I decided it was time to start my SPRING cleaning! So far, with the help of my sister Rachel on Monday, I have cleaned all the blinds, windows, window tracks, window seals, doors, floor boards, and cleaned out the bottom cupboards of my kitchen, including under the sink. (Ew gross!) It is so refreshing! Luckily my sister is coming back tomorrow to help me again cause I need a little motivating boost to keep crossing off my LIST!

UV50

This past Wednesday night was the first annual UV50, which consists of the top 25 fastest growing companies in Utah Valley, 15 top revenue, and 10 up and coming companies to watch for. Namifiers was honored as the 18th fastest growing company in Utah, go Namifiers! I went with Brad along with 2 account executives and their wives to represent. It was a really fun evening, dinner was catered by Tucanos, yum! For those of you who have seen Jason Hewlett in action you know the entertainment was awesome! He does musical impressions, I have not laughed that hard for a long time. Then, the awards part was quick and to the point, which is what I like. We left Daylen with his first real babysitter besides family or an adult. She is a young woman in our ward, I think she's 13, and he did great! She did too, of course! We'll have to try and get her more often, although in this ward you have to book a babysitter way in advance. The supply vs. demand is way out of balance.