Getting Ready!

Well... we don't have a separate baby room to get ready, but we do have a corner of our bedroom that we are preparing for our little girl! I don't know how long we will be in this apartment after she is born, but for the time being, this is our plan. We figure we will want her close to us in the beginning anyway!

Bill working hard to put the crib together! ...

Aside from having a place to sleep, our little girl has TONS of clothes, thanks to Bill's family, and especially his sister Becky who gave us several boxes of CUTE hand-me-downs! I think she has more clothes than I do, at least for her first year of life! As you can see, I still have a lot of organizing to do!

There is still a lot that we still need before she gets here, but at least we know she will have a place to sleep and clothes to wear when she arrives! She has a couple other fun things too (also from her Aunt Becky).

We are getting so excited for her to get here! We can't wait to meet her!

A couple ramblings...

So, I have been thinking about some of my greatest blessings lately and decided that it was time for another rambling blog entry. Just realize that you have been warned in advance...

First of all.... I have been very happy to realize that I love teaching! I have had a wonderful year at Snow Canyon Middle School with wonderful students and great fellow teachers. I couldn't have asked for a better first year teaching experience! I am so thankful that Bill has sacrificed to allow me to have this experience before our little girl arrives. I never thought it would be a hard decision, but I have decided that my children are more important to me than a career (no matter how much I enjoy it) right now and I am choosing to stay home with them. Right now, the situation is available where I can, so I will. I hope it remains that way for several years.

One of the main reasons I am so glad I have had this opportunity is to be able to find out that all those years of school were worth it and that I actually can be an effective teacher. I am glad that I have my degree and love being able to see it hanging next to Bill's. I hope seeing them on the wall will help inspire our children to love education.

Another thing I have been grateful for is the wonderful ward we are in right now! They have been so kind and welcoming from the moment we moved in! One of my favorite things has been, of course, working with our beautiful young women! They are so STRONG, and such a good example to me. I feel like they have taught me more about "standing for truth and righteousness" at all times than I have really taught them. I love the young women's program!! Just being involved gives me a boost! I have been really excited for the recent addition to the young women's theme... The General Young Women Presidency along with the First Presidency has added the value of VIRTUE to the end of the list of values. I LOVE IT! I think that the young women of the church are virtuous and can have a great affect on those around them by showing their example. These girls live these values every day, by choice, and they glow because of it! I wish everyone could feel the complete JOY that comes from living the principles found in the Young Women's theme!

Well, I have really rambled this morning haven't I? I warned you ahead of time :) Now I really need to get ready because my mom, sister, and I are leaving to visit family in Las Vegas today! I am so excited to see all the "hens!" I love how close my family is and how much enjoyment we get from each other. Hopefully I will be good and actually snag some pictures of the hens to share on here!

Oh... I can't believe that there are only about 9 weeks left before our little girl arrives... I guess we need to get a name picked out... :)

Ultrasound #2

We were excited to be able to have another ultrasound last Friday and, Bill being the video man that he is, we were able to record a copy. Bill has since edited it and it has been quite fun for us! I don't know if any of you will be that interested in it, but here it is anyway. I hope you enjoy!

Christmas Fun!

Well... we are back in Hurricane after a crazy and fun Holiday up in West Valley! I tell you... the Grants sure know how to party! We have been up to West Valley twice in the last week and, although we were pretty tired when we got home last night, we had a blast!!!

During our first trip, we went to Bill's friend Casey's wedding and had a great time visiting with a lot of his friends. It was crazy cold and snowy though!

The next day we made it up to Logan for a few hours for the famous Mortensen Family Christmas party! I really love these parties! There are so many people there. The highlights of this party was of course the White Elephant gift exchange (where a decapitated panda head and it's body were two separate gifts!), and the ugly Christmas sweater contest! Bill and I were too slow looking for a sweater, so we didn't get to participate in the contest, but we we were sure proud of the winner! Our Brother in Law, Alexander, won the contest with his amazing sequin Santa!

Our second trip was officially for Christmas! We left at about 1:30 Christmas Eve and headed back up to West Valley. Actually, we first stopped at Bill's brother Eric's house in Sandy for a Brazilian Christmas! Eric's wife Tatiana is from Brazil, so they have different traditions that they like to share with the family at Christmas time. We ate a huge meal, sang carols, and waited until midnight to open gifts! We opened some of our gifts that night, and saved some for the next morning as well. I think that my favorite part of the evening was watching little Giovanna! She is at the perfect age for getting thrilled over Christmas (and being able to stay up so late!

Christmas day was very fun and relaxing! Bill and I couldn't sleep past 6am, so we got up and unwrapped the gifts we had saved with just the two of us! It was very quiet and simple, but very fun too. After the gift opening, we spent the day relaxing and really didn't do much at all! It was so nice. Jim fixed us his famous breakfast of hash browns, sausage, and eggs in the morning, and Karla made an amazing Christmas dinner for that night! Katie and Joel arrived from Wyoming just as dinner was getting on the table, so it was fun to have them with us as well. Their little Lizzie is so cute and fun to be around too! I think one of the funnest things for me was being able to talk to my brother Charles on the phone! He is so cute! He is on his mission in Edmonton Canada right now and received special permission from his mission president to call us separately since we were in West Valley this year and not with everyone in Hurricane. It was so fun to get to visit with him! We talked until his phone card ran out!

We spent Friday shopping and visiting friends. Bill got to hang out for a bit with some friends from high school, and we finally took my friend Michael to dinner for giving us such a good deal on our wedding photos. It was fun to visit with them all for a while.

Saturday was a very busy day!!! We started at about 10:30 for the Grant party (Bill's parents, siblings, in-laws, and nieces & nephews). It was fun to watch some of the gift opening and have a good visit. And, of course, a Grant party in the winter would not be complete without a game of dodge ball!

After Dodge Ball, Bill's family threw a baby shower for Lindsey and me, right there at the church. Several people weren't able to make it due to the crazy winter weather, but it was great anyway! It is fun to start getting some baby things, since we really didn't have anything before our winter travels! And, finally, here is a prego picture that some of you have been asking about. I don't have one of just myself, but here is one with my cute sister-in-law Katie, who is also expecting! I think we are pretty cute!

Speaking of pregnancy, no post would be complete without mentioning the fact that this baby is going to be here before we know it. I am in the middle of my 27th week and time is flying by! I think teaching school has been good for me because it keeps me busy while I wait! Next time I probably won't be working, but I will have a little girl that will keep me busy I am sure!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas of your own and that 2009 brings many new and exciting things to you and your family!

Frosty the Spartan!

So, I never thought this would happen with me teaching in St. George, but it has. Today has officially been declared a snow day for all Washington County Schools! It actually has snowed for a couple of days and I guess they take extra precautions for people down here that don't know how to drive on snowy roads! Today was my day off anyway, but it is still fun to think of it as a snow day. I just hope the weather clears a little this evening... Bill and I are heading up to West Valley and Logan this weekend!

Here is a picture of a snowman one of the teachers I work with built outside of our school last night! His name is Frosty the Spartan!

Busy time of year...

So, I've realized that I need to update this blog for a while now, but I haven't gotten around to it. This is mostly due to the fact that nothing extremely huge has happened lately and I haven't known what to write about. I guess I will just play catch up!

Thanksgiving was so much fun this year. My Grandma and Brent ended up coming all the way from Quartzsite, AZ (they are staying in Southern Utah until after Christmas!!! ) and my Uncle Todd and Aunt Sandra came with their cute kids! We also had my Grandma's good friend Marie (who we love to pieces and consider part of our family) and some of my parents neighbors that had nowhere to go this year. We all piled into my parents house and had a blast eating ourselves silly!

We actually ended up having THREE turkeys!!! My dad wanted to try and Dutch Oven a turkey, and Bill and I wanted my family to finally try a deep fried turkey that was done correctly. You see, a couple of years ago, my dad tried to deep fry a turkey and it didn't turn out so well... Billy's family did a couple last year, so, after quizzing down Bill's sister and doing some research, we mastered the art of turkey frying. Since the oil was so expensive, and we received a free turkey from a company Bill works a lot with, we decided to just buy another turkey and fry two that day. I was amazed that it only takes about 45 minutes to completely cook a turkey by the frying method. All the turkeys turned out juicy and wonderful, and I am not usually a huge turkey fan.

One of the highlights of the day was a funny song that Todd and Sandra brought. It is to the tune of "I Will Survive" and the words are from the perspective of a turkey determined to survive through Thanksgiving day! It started out that Sandra and I were trying to sing it, but then of course Bill got in on it and he really outdid us! It was a hit. We made him redo it later in the day so we could video it. I'm not sure I can figure out how to get the video on here... I'll have to get Bill on that project, if he won't mind sharing this lovely song with all of you!

Since then we have been busy with school/work and getting ready for Christmas. We put our tree up a week ago, and although the tree is very old, and our ornaments are mostly homemade, we think it looks great! I have quite a bit of Christmas decorations from my mom, as well as from working at Bulloch Drug and being able to take home slightly damaged items for free! I love the Christmas season and having the decorations up just makes it more fun! I can't help smiling when I think of next year and a little girl who will be crawling and probably fascinated with the preasents (mainly the wrapping paper and bows) and the decorations. I think the bottom of our tree will look a little different next year.

Well, that pretty much catches us up. I guess I had more to ramble about than I thought. I can't believe how close Christmas is! This weekend will be busy in that area as well! Friday is our ward Christmas party (Bill and I are in charge of the entertainments portion), Saturday morning I have a dress rehearsal for the Messiah performance the following night. My Grandma's Christmas party is Saturday, and Bill and I are singing in our ward on Sunday as well!! There are only two weeks of school left! It seems like the Christmas season is always the craziest time of the year! But it is oh so much fun!

Well...

It looks like most of you out there had the right idea!... That's right, we are having a little girl!!! We are sooooooo excited!!! The ultrasound was an amazing experience! I loved being able to see our little girl in action!

Everything seems to still be going well, although Dr. Astle said that she was a little small for how far along we thought I was. He said that it could be that she is just a small girl, or it could be that we miscalculated and I am not as far along as we thought. We are going to have another ultrasound in 8 weeks to see how things have developed.

Here are the pictures we were able to get from the ultrasound. I will try to explain them if I can...Her little arm

Little cute body... look at that spine!

Yup! It's a Girl! ... we are glad she cooperated! This is the one time it was okay for her not to be modest! :)

The next couple of pictures are 3D, which are very cool, but hard to understand if you don't know what to look for. I'll try and help out as best I can...

She is on the right side of this picture. You can see her profile with her nose and mouth, and you can see her little arm and her hand up toward her forehead!

And.... last but not least, we were able to catch her sucking her thumb!!! It was fun to watch during the ultrasound as her little hand was able to find her mouth!

All in all, it has been a very fun morning! It was such a neat experience to be able to see our little girl and know that she is growing and getting closer and closer to being with us every day! We already love her so much!!!! Bill was so cute during and after the ultrasound! It was fun to hear the excitement in his voice as he called to tell his family, and hear him start talking about "Daddy's little girl!" I know she will get him wrapped around her little finger in no time... she probably already has!