Bed Rest

So I went to the doctor's office today for my 34 week ultrasound. The technician was telling me that the baby was sitting surprisingly low and asked if I had been having any contractions. I told her that I've had more with this baby than with Hallie, but that they weren't painful, just uncomfortable. She thought it might be a good idea for me to meet with the doctor just to get his opinion on the matter. I explained to him what had been going on and he asked if I wanted him to check to see if I was dilated at all, but he didn't seem too worried. I told him that I would be interested in knowing, just for fun :) It turns out that I'm nearly 4 cm dilated!! That's almost half a labor! Fortunately, I'm 34 weeks along so I don't have to sit in the hospital for days, but he did put me on bed rest for the next two weeks (too bad my bed isn't as cool as the one in the picture). I'm sure I'll survive just fine, I just don't think Hallie will be too happy. If any of you have any fantastic self-entertaining ideas for children, PLEASE let me know!

It's all about the kids

So my life has transformed in the last month quite dramatically. For the past 18 years (or so) of my life, I have been going to school and getting my education. I got married after a couple of years of college, had a baby a year and a half later, and still went to school, despite the odds :) I finally finished, and now, I'm officially a "homemaker". No school, no work, just a house to clean, cooking to do, Hallie to take care of, and a pregnancy to survive through... amongst other random tasks of homemakery. I really like it a lot, actually. I thought I might lose part of my "identity" once I was done, but I haven't felt any loss thus far. I'm really liking the lower stress levels, in fact. Because I have more time to enjoy Hallie, Adam and I have been able to capture some fantastic moments of her young life. Enjoy! :)




Hallie takes after her mother... some of her favorite foods include peanut butter...

and sour cream. YUM

Hallie's sweet kicks... she's already attempting to whip her little brother into shape.

Motherhood

I always enjoy being Hallie's mom (ok, there are some rough days when I just can't wait for her to go to bed, but they aren't super often)... but some days stand out more than others. Today was one of those days where I just basked in all the glories of motherhood. I woke up to Hallie wanting to crawl into bed by me to drink her milk, which lasted the typical 3 seconds before she wanted down. We had bathtime which is always fun and she was awesome during our grocery shopping trip. Then I came home to put her down for her nap and she just wanted to rock in her chair and have me sing primary songs all day long. After about 10 or 15 minutes, I decided she really did need to go down for her nap, and she was pretty sad that the "wocking" and songs were over, but I promised her more after her nap. She woke up singing songs to herself in her crib, and we played for about an hour before running more errands. After those were through, she wanted to go to "schoo" to visit daddy, so we made the trip over to the Tanner building (we're trying to reinforce this love for school, hopefully it lasts for many years to come). She was delightful the rest of the evening... and I was one happy mom. I know this probably means she'll either be awful tomorrow or something traumatic will happen tonight... like going into labor 8 weeks early without insurance, but as for now, I think I'll just continue to bask in my joy :)

Trip to Zion

I would have to agree with Roy that Idaho is, in fact, Zion. There are parts that are a little more "zioned" than others, with Rexburg topping the charts in my opinion (it does help that all my family lives there now). We were able to visit my parents new home up by the temple this past weekend and just hang out with everyone. The house was gorgeous (but I didn't expect anything less, as this is my mom's dream home) and the company was superb. We had a lot of fun going up to my grandpa's cabin in Island Park and trying to keep Hallie from destroying Tate. Our first stop was at Bear World, where we got to experience a grizzly bear charging our car :) We also got to pet the dear, hold the fluffy chickens, and Adam had the opportunity to abuse an arthritic pig (ok, this information was provided after the encounter). We then went to Island Park and floated down the freezing buffalo river (luckily the three of us were in a canoe), and then we just hung out at my parent's the rest of the weekend. Here are some photos of the events...

Doesn't get a whole lot better than all the sisters petting a goat.

The original Webb girls... I think we're a pretty cute bunch, despite my melon of a stomach.

Breakfast with Hallie and Tate... one of Hallie's better moments with her cousin.

The gorgeous Rexburg temple at sunset. The sunset was actually better a few minutes before this, but the temple wasn't lit, so you couldn't even see it in the pictures. This picture was taken right outside my parent's house. What a view!


We had a great time! It was nice to break up all the moving and just relax for a few days. We're back into the swing of things now... Adam's started class again and I'm doing the best I can to get us all moved in. I really don't believe pregnant women are made to pack and unpack though, I think I've had to bend over about 5,234 times. Oh well, just one more room, one more trip to the storage unit and some wall hangings left and we'll be all done, wohoo!
-Whit

In case you were wondering, here's a little bit of the Hog's Wart encounter (just finished Harry Potter 7 for the second time)... I wish I was a wizard, my patronus would be a spider monkey.
-Adam

P.S. Turn up your volume for the full effect =)

The Move

So the big move takes place tomorrow morning for me.... Wednesday morning (most likely) for Adam. We rented a U-Haul truck to move our stuff and Jessica's, and Adam gets to play truck driver for a day. I think he should buy some sweet trucker shades to really get into the role. Here's the picture of the MESS Adam gets to pack tomorrow while I drive up with Jessica and Hallie. This picture was taken as Adam was looking for an ipod so he could listen to some Harry Potter on the drive up. I thought it might be a lost cause after realizing half of our boxes were mis-labeled from our first move, but alas, we finally found one for him!

Playing Catch Up

So I realize I haven't posted in nearly a month... and it's not because our lives are so boring we have nothing to report, but that we have been so busy I haven't found time to report them. We start with Taylor's (Adam's brother) wedding. They were married in the Las Vegas temple and it was as lovely as ever. Taylor was quite the stud and Stasi looked gorgeous! The reception was a blast as Hallie danced the night away. We had a fabulous time.

Exhibit #2-- The end of my internship and classes! This was quite the stress reliever. I had been working all summer, trying to fill hours for my internship, but to no avail. Finally I asked Adam's cousin to come babysit for a week so that I could just work, even if it meant I had to just sit there, I was going to get my hours in! Fortunately, my supervisor finally stepped on her high horse and found things for me to do and I was able to finish. I was also working on my last 2 online classes and had to overnight my final to get it done in time. What a relief when it was all done though, whew!

Exhibit #3-- Cake decorating. I've had this sudden urge to create cakes after watching "Ace of Cakes" on the Food Network. I have read online, gone to the library, and have found other ways of teaching myself how to make these fabulous cakes without having to take an expensive class where only one night was focused on fondant. Here is what I made for my parent's 25th wedding anniversary...

Exhibit #4-- The Olympics... I have LOVED watching the Olympics ever since I was little. I'm definitely a bigger fan of the summer games than the winter games, and I even dreamed of being an Olympic swimmer when I was little. I would take my stop watch to the huge pool in our neighborhood and work on my breaststroke every day and compare my times... oh the dreams we have in our youth :) Needless to say, I have been staying up way too late every night for the past week, but loving every second of it. We are convinced that Hallie will be a swimmer or diver someday with as much as that girl loves to swim and jump into the water.

Exhibit #5-- Graduation. We hauled ourselves up to Provo on Thursday to go to my graduation ceremony. Elder Scott was the speaker and it was just wonderful. My parents and grandparents came down and we went to dinner afterwards. To my surprise, Adam, my parents and in-laws all went in together to buy me a new laptop. I love it! I really didn't think I needed a new laptop, but now that I have it, I'm wondering how I survived with my old 5 year old beast of machinery :) Thanks to everyone that came to support me! I love you all!

Exhibit #6-- Jessica's Wedding. Jessica and Brad were married on Saturday in St. George. It was fabulous! We got to stay at a hotel the night before and Hallie had a blast at the pool. Hallie's dress was sooooooo cute on her, and we even managed to keep it mostly clean even after she ate about 8 strawberries at the reception. This picture doesn't do justice of the event, but we're still waiting on better pictures.

Exhibit #7-- The move. We are now getting ready to move back to Provo, which will take place about mid-next week. I'm really not looking forward to all of the cleaning we will have to do, especially in my very pregnant condition. For the next year, we will be moving once every 4 months, which is really not very favorable, but we gotta figure out where we want to end up after all this school business is over!

That about sums up our lives this past month. We're excited to be back in Provo for the fall semester. Adam is really looking forward to starting school again (weirdo) and I'm looking forward to not starting school again (at least one of us is normal). We're both excited to go to the football games and just enjoy our last year as college students as much as possible!

Choosing a Name

So I definitely wear the pants when it comes to choosing our kids' names. Adam doesn't really take much initiative though, he'll just let me come up with a list of names I like and approve or disapprove my picks. The top candidate thus far is Ashton, although we're still open to options. If anyone has any suggestions, shoot them our way!

Nice times, growing bellies, and happy holidays

So quite a bit has happened in the past few weeks. Adam and I are insanely busy with work, school, Hallie, and being pregnant. I feel like I barely have time to breathe, but luckily the responsibility of being a parent has allowed me to have some fun times swimming and being with family, which offers relief. Lindsey and Tate came out for a week in June to enjoy some warm weather, and the kids had a blast...




























Kelsey came out the week after and saved my life when Adam had to be gone for a whole week. Unfortunately, we were poor picture takers when she was here, so we have no visual documentation of the event :( We had a lot of fun, though!

Our Father's Day and 4th were fabulous as well. I made my first semi-fondant cake for Adam for Father's Day and we saw lots of "boom booms" on the 4th. Hallie did great! She stayed up and played on the golf course during the evening and loved the fireworks show.

















































And finally, the biggest news of all. Hallie, my mother-in-law, and I got to take a nice LONG trip up to Utah this past Wednesday to see my OBGYN (all of the doctors refuse to see me here in Vegas, which is absolutely ridiculous... oh well). I got an ultrasound and what do you know...










we're having a boy! I have to admit, I'm really nervous about the whole prospect of having a boy. I'm afraid he'll turn out to be a bully with a bad attitude, in which case, I'll just throw him in his room with his scriptures and let him come out when it's time for his mission :) Despite my nervousness, I'm really excited. It will be fun to have a little guy around to add some variety to the mix!

Viva Las Vegas

So I don't have any poolside pictures yet (which is where Hallie and I spend most of our time), but I thought I would post what we do have. We love the weather here so far. It's warm, but not too hot (yet) so we can go swimming, eat dinners outside, etc. I am doing my internship right now and I love it, and Adam hangs out with Hallie and does some work for his dad on the side. I probably need to pick up the pace on my homework, and that should be a little more do-able now that the Cavs are out of the NBA playoffs (of course, I'll probably watch all of the rest of the games while I'm doing my homework anyway). I'm feeling pretty good, although last weekend was quite the upheaval of every kind of sick a pregnant girl could get. Fortunately it was pretty short-lived. Anyway, life is good, we really enjoy it here, and we're wishing we never had to go back to Provo... oh well, just two more semesters!

















Yum! I love applesauce and Grapenuts.
















Sweet shades.

















Adam and I hit the strip for dinner and a stroll for my birthday. It was nice to finally get to go on a date!















This would be Tate-the-great, Hallie's favorite cousin. He's one handsome dude. Way to go Linz and Stu, you guys produce great offspring.

Update

Well, it's been a while since our blog has seen any changes, but our lives have been nothing shy of crazy. Finishing up my last semester on campus was exciting and exhausting. I'm looking forward to just being a mom for a little while. Adam and I both finished our semesters better than we had planned, so that was exciting. Hallie is nuts. The girl has a motor that never stops.
We moved to Las Vegas a little over a week ago and will be here for the summer. Adam and I both have internships, and I have 2 online classes to finish before August. Hallie loves the nice weather, going over to grandma and grandpa's house, and swimming. She has no fear... in fact, she doesn't even have a problem with jumping in the pool when I'm not even in it yet. She just has a couple of coughs and sputters, no crying, and tries to drown herself all over again. Of course, as a mother I worry to some extent, but it's pretty funny too :)
I am pregnant again. Hooray! This came as a complete shock to Adam and I, but we are starting to come to terms with the fact that we will soon be a family of four. At least I'll be done with school before the baby comes. Hallie will make a great big sister. She loves to pat little babies and oos and coos at them. I haven't been too sick this time, which is SUCH a blessing! I was worried that life would basically be impossible to be pregnant, in school, and running after the world's busiest body. Fortunately, Adam has been a great help. He just seems to know when I'm not up to running around after Hallie, and he takes over without a complaint. He's a great dad, too, I think Hallie's starting to become a little Daddy's girl.
Life is great for us in all, it's nice to have a change of scenery and be here in Las Vegas for a few months! Adam has posted a few videos of Hallie below, so enjoy!

Hello there party people, this is the 'ole grizzly bear Adam, doing my duty to society and propagating the cuteness of my daughter and the dazzling beauty of my wife.

ENJOY!


First stop, the savanna to see the Lioness:


Never leave home without your toofbrush!


Oh yes, for all you Waldo fans out there, here's a little game of "Where's Hallie?":


Last but not least, a few remarks from Hallie:


CHEERS!

Going to Church

Adam and I got to skip out on Primary today as the Young Women took over so that we could go to Sunday School and Relief Society/Preisthood. It was wonderful! I forgot what I was missing out on every Sunday, although we really do love our Primary class. We studied Jacob 5, a chapter that I either always skipped or took as a botany lesson on growing olive trees. I had a lot to learn about this chapter, and I did! It was amazing to study all of the allegories and meanings behind what the Lord was trying to teach us. It's always amazing to me how simple even the "hard" chapters can become if you just take a minute to study and ponder them (although a lesson manual is a nice companion as well). I find as I get older, my list of favorite chapters in the scriptures grows, which is probably just me maturing and getting more out of the scriptures than I used to. I'm just really grateful for the gospel and for the people who plan and study so thoughtfully so that we can all feel the Spirit. What a wonderful blessing to be a part of the gospel, where I know exactly what I am doing here on this Earth and what I am striving for after this life. I know it, with my whole heart I know it's true and I hope that I can live my life in a way that shows my testimony (even if it just means being patient and loving Hallie anyway after she destroys my house for the 432nd time in one day).

Reflections of Christ

I was reading through some emails this morning and I received a link to this blog from Sister Zitzman back in Ohio. I thought the video on it was just wonderful, and I had to share it. The video is the one under the Reflections Slideshow post.

http://mabrystudios.typepad.com/reflections_of_christ

Wahoo for Easter!!!

This is Adam, the 'ole grizzly bear, I don't make too much noise on the blog here, but I thought I'd share some of Hallie's first Easter with y'all. I have two videos, one pre-easter egg hunt, and the other of the actual HUNT!

I'll stop blabbering, they speak for themselves.

So I haven't much time for an update, but I have had a few pretty significant happenings in the past few weeks. First, I have started training for my first marathon, wahoo! It's been good so far, I always feel a little sore after the long runs, but I feel like I could keep going if I wanted, so that's good. I also just had an article published at here. It's been pretty exciting to actually have other people read my work (besides my professors) and like it so much they would actually pay me. I might keep it up and make it a nice little side job after I've graduated. Anyway, that's my current life story in a few short sentences...

-I had no running pictures, but I did have a swimming one from my triathlon! :)

Sorry for the delay of posting to our blog. Unfortunately, I seem to be in charge of the blog and that means it takes way too long to get any sort of update on our lives. We're doing well, though! Adam is busy taking classes and working as much as he can. I'm taking 4 classes this semester (it's my last semester on campus, wahoo!) and running around chasing Hallie and trying to get all the day-to-day stuff done. Adam and I really try to spend as much time as we can with Hallie and each other, which leaves very little time for anything else. Hallie just turned one a couple of weeks ago, it was a fabulous birthday! It was really more of a celebration for us parents (and especially me) of making it through the first year. whew. It was a rough year, but Hallie's all smiles and she's just a complete joy these days... now if only the rest of my children could be born one year old...

Already a girl, through and through

Hallie's already talking on the phone, and loving every second of it.

Video time

Here's our babe walkin around. It's a little fuzzy, but you can tell she's walking like a champ!

Hallie's hobbies

Hallie enjoys eating... and pointing. She's rather multi-dimensional.

Mom and I are pretty good buds. We hang out all day long, play games, she even feeds me, dresses me, naps me, makes sure I don't die, and changes most of my diapers. Yaaaay mom!

Yup, that's my name on my forehead... in mom's lipstick.

She's wearing pigtails!! What a cutie! It took me about an hour to get them in, they're just ribbons and a little hairspray, but it was worth it, for that one day.

Hallie's going as a giraffe for Halloween!! Compliments of Roy and Brenna. I must admit, she's just about the cutest giraffe I've ever seen.

Anniversary-- This nifty little cave led to an underground volcanic crater with very warm, clean water where we got to swim for about an hour. If you were slightly cooler than us, you could snorkle or even scuba dive in the water.

Adam and I got to spend 24 glorious hours together last month celebrating the 2 year anniversary of our marriage. We went up to the Homestead resort near Park City and completely spoiled ourselves, it was fantastic!

fetch Hallie, fetch! good girl!