34 weeks and Cankles

Well, I am almost 34 weeks. I will officially be 34 weeks on Sunday. I had a Dr. Appointment this week and will have them every week from now on. My Dr., in a nutshell, said that this is it and what happens, happens. So, this is what I look like at 34 weeks. Ignore the face. I look like I got ran over. That's not the case though. I just got home from work.

And what comes along with being 34 weeks? Well, for me it's been since about 24 weeks. But that's right. CANKLES! I actually think they look better on camera. Some days are better than others, but now I can feel when I start to swell. Today was a doozy. This is what my ankles look like after I get home. I think it's a bath night tonight.

I know....I know....

I am probably the worst blogger in the world. So much has gone on, and I haven't posted anything about them. I kept telling myself that I need to sit down and catch up on everything. Then, as I begin to think about all the pictures I have to gather, and what I would have to write I would be lose motivation to do it. So, I decided that I am going to just give a brief synopsis of what has gone on, and then talk about now. Since February, we have gone to Disneyland, Allie loved the princesses, Allie turned 3, we celebrated our 5th Anniversay, it feels like our 10th, and we have found out the sex of our baby. Oh yeah, if you aren't in contact with any part of our grapevine we are having a baby and are due October 4th. I don't think I will make it to October. She is sitting low and keeps dropping. I was contracting regularly for when I went to my last visit and my doctor did a check but everything was shut and normal so I'm not in premature labor yet. So everyone knows, we are going to name her Jessica Gale. Gale is my middle name, and my mom's middle name. I am also the 2nd daughter and Jessica is our 2nd daughter so we thought it would fit to give her the middle name of Gale. We can't wait until her arrival. I have so much to do before then and I'm kind of stressing because I can't do certain things until other things take place, and who knows if they will EVER take place, but I figure all will be well no matter what. So, now you are pretty much caught up. I do know that those who live on the other side of town, or are out of state, would like to see how I'm growing with this one so I will attach a picture. This is me at 29 weeks. 'Til next time!

Loooooong Post

Okay, I have had enough people say that I haven't posted anything in months, so I have decided to sit down and actually update everyone on the last 3 months in the Pond home. Since my last post we have had Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and two birthdays. It was a crazy time and we have not quite settled down from all of the excitement. During that time we either forgot to take pictures or remembered our camera and left it at someone's house, so as for pictures I will post what I have which are mostly Christmas. Richie's parents came down to visit for an entire month over the Christmas season. The original plan was to stay three weeks, but they found a remodel job while they were down so they had to extend their time an extra week in order to finish the project. It was a fun time having them down. We had a full house and were bursting at the seams. Now the house seems so empty and makes me long for more company so that I can have everything full again. So, enough with the wishing and lets get to the pictures.We might as well start with the cute one. This wa Allie's Christmas dress. I put it on and she twirled and twirled and then had to go downstairs so Grandpa could take a picture. She's been into getting her picture taken lately. Now whenever she puts something on or is doing something cute she says, "Mommy you need to take a picture of this." She cracks me up.

Every year we go up to my grandparent's house in Prescott for their Christmas party. We have Mexican Food, do the nativity, and then Santa brings stockings for everyone. We don't know how much longer we will be doing that so this year my family decided to start our own and my parent's home. We all got together, had dinners, did a short nativity (with only 3 grandkids), and then all of the grandkids got stockings. My siblings and I also got together and gave our parents dinner and tickets to go see the Smothers Brothers. If you have no idea who I am talking about we seriously need to talk about what you think is comedy. It was a fun night and I look forward to doing it every year.

Now on to Christmas. As you can tell from the pictures below, we may have gone a little overboard with gifts this year. It was kind of hard to stop when we were playing Santa for more than just a two year old. Allie is the absolute best person to by presents for because she loves anything she gets, but being able to provide Christmas to other members of our family was great. After the one we had last year, this year made up for it.



There are many more images to share but I'm tired of uploading. As you can tell, we had tons of fun and a full house!

Next was my birthday. It was fun I got to eat Macayo's and spent time with family. I also got to work from home so I didn't have to go to the office that day. My sister-in-law and her family drove down that day to spend the week with all of us so it was fun to have them here a s well.


Last but not least, New Year's Eve. We spent it over at Robbie and Callie's playing games and eating until we were about to burst. It was a fun time of family and friends.

Needless to say, we had a great holiday season and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. There is nothing better than family!

Haircut and Halloween

Well, the day before Halloween, Richi took Allie to get her haircut. We only want it trimmed with a few layers to help her bangs blend in and the first thing the lady did was cut off 3 inches. It was sad to see her beautiful, long hair be chopped, but it still looks cute. She can make anything cute.

She is getting so big!

We spent Halloween at my parents house and Allie went trick or treating with her cousins. We carved pumpkins and then took the kids around the neighborhood. Allie wanted to go to every house. She loved that complete strangers were willing to give her candy. She was Snow White and loved her dress. She would've slept in it if I would've let her. She still puts her shoes on and says, "Mommy I'm going to work okay?" It's amazing what they understand and absorb from the world around them.

Cheezy!

RICHIE GOT A JOB!

We would like to thank everyone for their fasting and prayers on our behalf. On Thursday Richie officially became the new Project Manager for Aspire Design. He starts tomorrow and we are so excited! This year has been a huge struggle, but so many blessings have come because of it. We have had more blessings than sorrows during this time, and now we are going to have so much more. I feel like shouting from the roof tops. I want everyone who reads this to know that I know that Heavenly Father answers prayers and that his Son lives. My testimony has grown so much in the last year and I know that the Lord doesn't present you with any challenge that you can't handle. I also know that he will make your weaknesses become strengths and that if you place your yolk upon him he wil help you. He loves every one of us and wants us to come to Him for help. He is waiting at the door and knocking. We just have to open it.

Tag of 8

Kim tagged me and I am actually going to do it this time! Doing this is part of my pre-new year's resolutions. So, here we go:

8 shows I love to watch (I have more than 8 so this is hard to limit):

Criminal Minds
Big Bang Theory
How I Met Your Mother
House
NCIS
Heroes
Privileged
Without A Trace

8 favorite restaurants:

Macayo's
Manuel's
Carolina's
Olive Garden
El Charro (the one in Prescott, not Mesa)
On the Border
Macaroni Grill
Buca di Beppo

8 things that happened yesterday:

ASU lost to USC (I'm tire of them beating themselves)
Got to know Randy's new girlfriend Katie
Opened a new bank account
Shopped for new work shoes for Richie
Stayed up til 2:00 talking with Randy and my husband
Played Candy Land as a family
Made Pizza
Cleaned my bathroom

8 things I'm looking forward to:

Richie's first paycheck!
Mom and Dad Pond coming down for Christmas
Megan and Kennis's twins being born
Getting Pregnant (yes we're trying)
Primary Activity on November 15th! (it's going to be awesome)
Richie's Birthday
Carrie Underwood concert!
Quitting work! (getting ready to start the countdown)

8 things on my wish list:

Going on a cruise
Being debt free (except for my house, and this is going to be within the next year)
Being a better Primary President
Tile in my bathrom
My backyard being done
Fart like Randy (inside joke)
Having twins
Being a better Visiting Teacher

8 people I am tagging:
Stacy, Stephanie, Natalie, Callie, Tiffany, Lindsay, Holly & Marcie, Lindy(you ned to start a blog and now's your chance!)

I Do Cakes!

......and flowers, and table cloths. I guess I should say that I do parties. I finally got a picture of Lindy's wedding cake from my mom. I showed it to everyone at work and they were all wondering why I was working behind a desk. So, I have decided to post the picture. Spread my name to friends, family, and people you meet in the grocery store. I don't care. This is something that I enjoy doing and would love to do more often. Please ignore the flies. I did not put those on the cake!