Home sweet home

I don’t think anyone knows this, and they should. I have the greatest parents ever. Hands down. They are incredible and loving and giving and just amazing. I have been with them since the end of April and I have loved EVERY minute of it. I will be the first to say that I was SERIOUSLY scared to come back home. I really haven’t been home for an extended period of time for years, and so suddenly coming back for the summer married and pregnant really scared me. (who knows why, but it did) Well, I couldn’t be happier. (Minus the fact David isn’t here) I am loving all of the quality time and bonding.

We have had so much fun. It has been a blast buying baby clothes and other items for little Kellan and figuring out the room situation, preparing for the hospital, sewing, doing work around the house, etc. My mom and I have been able to get a ton of things done in preparation for the little guy and one of the things we did was sew. We sewed 2 nursing covers, TONS of bibs and burp cloths. At times, I felt that we were in a sweat shop because we had this routine down and while it took us a while we did it! We still have a lot of sewing to do, but for now we are content with what progress we've made. 

Along with sewing and 'nesting' for our little guy, a wonderful friend, Sister Alred,  threw me the baby shower of a lifetime! I was so surprised at the love and support of so many friends and family. The theme was "She's about to pop" and everything that was there was around that theme. It was seriously so perfect! And to top it off, Kellan was seriously SPOILED-he got so many cute clothes, books, soap and lotions galore and oh my gosh, he's set for months! I'm still in shock about how loved and supported I was that day-it was incredible and I can't wait to use everything with my little guy! 

One thing I've noticed while being at home is how many little gadgets my dad now has. For example: Growing up my siblings and I would help my dad prepare the boat for the summer. I remember being outside for hours waxing the boat at least 2 or 3 times, and prepping the bottom of the boat with this stuff called Skat. We would work on that boat all day long in the sweltering heat and dad would be there helping us, and also correcting us and making sure we did a good job. Now, I'm not saying that I don't appreciate that he did this for us, I'm just saying that when I go outside because I hear this unknown rumble going on and see my dad with this hand held power waxer that literally takes him 20 min to do the whole boat, I was in shock. Well, not really, I guess I just felt a little tinge with the fact that he could have gotten this beautiful machine years ago and helped his weakling children. haha

After a few weeks of being home I had the greatest treat ever and David came to visit! Wahoo!!! Seriously, The whole time I've been here I've been having contractions of all sorts and my mom and I have been so scared that little Kellan was going to come early! But, thankfully he didn't. David arrived and I was large and ready to explode! We had a ton of fun and it was great to just be together again. To be honest, I had the hardest time when he was gone and was ready to spend every minute with him! 

Well, the whole reason David came was to be with me for the birth of our first child, Kellan. Every day we were on pins and needles and we waited...and waited...and waited. Seriously I had like 18 different melt downs just dying for the little guy to get here. Poor David was such a trooper with dealing with all of my emotional break downs and also dealing with my PUPPS (don't worry, there's a post about that as well) and wow, he's just wonderful. I love him so much and I was just loving life with him-even if it was waiting for our little man. Thankfully, Kellan came! (wahoo and a post for that as well with details) It was just so great to be with our son, together, and even though it was just for a little bit, it was perfect and I wouldn't have had it any other way. (for sure have David stay longer, but I'll take what I can get.) 

David and Kellan :) 

After David left, it's been hard, but it's been crazy since then so I've been lucky enough to not be able to dwell on it. Kellan and I have just been hanging out and I'm getting used to being a mom. Seriously a lot harder than anyone tells you. But, I couldn't be happier-this little guy is my pride and joy and the love of David's and my life. 

Mitch's graduation weekend!

 Before I flew out to Ohio for the summer I was able to go to Utah for the weekend and celebrate with the family for Mitch’s graduation! It was a party for sure! I met up with the family at City Creek and did some shopping/had some dinner there and then we went back up to Provo to Mitch's home. It was seriously so nice to be with family and catch up. I always forget how funny we get when we're all together. Throughout the night,  Mitch perfected my "getting up off the floor" routine and had us all rolling, and I will admit, I almost peed my pants, ALMOST. We stayed up late and reminisced about childhood memories and were 'corrected' about how they really went down by my parents and just had a great time.

It was great, on Saturday we met up with my Aunt Linda and cousin Kelsey and her hubby, Jake and went to the Tulip Festival over at Thanksgiving point. We had a blast walking around and being with family. The park was HUGE and just filled with hundreds of different types of tulips. While it was really great to be there, it was SO HOT, and when your 8 months pregnant, by the end of the day, I wasn’t the happiest of campers and needed a break. Haha

 (for some reason I couldn't find the rest of my weekend photos so I stole the following ones from my cousin's blog. Thanks Kelsey!) 

My Aunt Linda and I

Me, Kelsey and her husband Jake! 

The following day we went to the Grand America Buffet! OH MY GOSH-seriously it is heaven on earth. It’s become a family tradition for when we’re all in Utah, and I’m seriously so thankful for that! The buffet has everything you could even imagine and then some! I like to start off with crepes, then an omelet, then maybe some prime rib, then sushi…etc. By all means, this place is not for the faint of heart and there is a reason we only go once a year…MAYBE twice.  After the buffet we lounged around the rest of the day and packed up to go home early Monday morning!

This was AFTER we gorged ourselves at the Grand. Oh man-I love this family tradition! 

Needless to say, we had a blast all weekend long celebrating Mitch and his great accomplishment of graduating from BYU! Wahoo! 

Summertime beginnings

From the beginning of April, our lives got extremely crazy. David accepted an internship that would have him go to Thailand for a total of 10 weeks and work with a world wide market research company called TNS. This was an opportunity of a lifetime so needless to say, we were going to make things work out. Since I was too far along in the pregnancy we realized that I would have to stay back and hopefully he would be able to come back to the states for little Kellan's birth. Well, everything was a success, after much deliberating, and prayer, we finalized a plan that would work out for both his internship and our growing family. David would leave mid April for Thailand, I would continue to work till the end of the month and then go to Ohio and be with my family for the birth. David would come to Ohio for 2 weeks around the expected due date and after the birth of our son, (hopefully) he would return to Thailand till July. 

Well, our lease ended in the beginning of April and we weren’t leaving for a good 2-3 weeks after so we needed a place to stay. Our amazing friends Amber and Brant said that we could take over their basement for the time being and it was an absolute dream! We had so much fun and stayed up way too late a lot of the time. It was so nice to be in a home with great friends and not just a hotel for a few weeks. Also, let’s not forget that I had some serious pregnancy hormones going on and so having them there as a support during a very difficult transition was an absolute DREAM!

So after being there for a week, David left for Thailand to do his internship and then after 2 ½ weeks, I left for Ohio! It was so surreal because once I left, that was it; we were never going to be in Rexburg again. Sure we would later need to pick up our stuff from storage or visit some friends, but we would never LIVE there again-we were done with college and life was starting! I felt like such an adult. Haha

Well, after my last day of work, I drove down to Salt Lake to meet up with my family to celebrate my brother, Mitch’s, graduation from BYU! Wahoo!! What a party weekend it was. I love being with family because we’re constantly laughing and joking. (see later post for details) I love being with family!

After a great weekend with everyone Mom, Dad and I headed back to Ohio and life at home with the parents began once again.