DEALS and Fireworks!

So today I was perusing the yard sales online when I came across an office closeout "yard sale". They were selling all sorts of office furniture and computers so I figured we might as well check it out. This was at 10:15 a.m. and the sale had already been going on the night before and since 8:00 this morning. WELL we were in luck, not many people had been by yet! We wandered around and I realized they had a desk that looked just like the one Ben had wanted to buy at Staple's a month or so ago. I had told him we should really just wait, never know what you can find at garage sales and when school specials start. WELL it was the very same desk! Ben was so surprised to see it there, and I can't believe he had walked right past it to the other more expensive desks! So we put dibs on THAT for sure. Then we found a nice office chair that Ben really loved, nice and big. Then we saw some utility shelves for our garage to store stuff on. Then I saw a decorative shelf that I really liked! Then we found a mini fridge for Ashlee to take to college this fall! After all that, we talked them into letting us have one of the other chairs for free. Turns out the one we got free retails at more than the one we paid for! So below check out all our price deals!

Magic Chef Mini fridge- still has plastic on inside shelf-perfect condition

Retail: $99.99 @ Home Depot
Paid: $20.00!

Brother Laser Printer- Hardly-if ever-used GREAT condition

Retail: $189.00
Paid: $10.00!

Rubbermaid utility shelves

Retail $79.99 each @ Target
Paid-$10.00 each for 2!


Beautiful decorative shelf
Retail: Estimate $25.o0
Paid: $5.00!

Two computer chairs
Retail: Left chair-$60.00 Right Chair- $50.00
Paid:Left Chair-FREE Right chair- $20.00


Desk- A few minor scuffs but looks very new
Retail: $170.00 @ Staples
Paid: $25.00!!!

Ben lovingly cleaning his new prize--PRICELESS

Needless to say I'm very proud of these deals. We also got a free Mr. Potato Head from their toy box-ha ha. Also got a nice surge protector for $2.00. We added up the retail value of all these items and the total came to $764.00! We paid a whoppin $102.00. Don't ever tell me yard sales are just a bunch of junk! We got all this for almost half what we would have paid for the desk alone! YIPPEEE!!!

Also I thought I'd throw in a few cool pictures we got last night while doing Pioneer Day Fireworks...

Five second videos! :)

So the 20 week ultrasound was fun today, I got to watch baby on a big screen in front of my face. Yeah don't worry, I was sitting there watching the tech's screen and Ben asked if I could see the screen. "Yes I can honey"...and I guess he realized I was still looking at the tech's screen because he nudged me and pointed out the HUGE flat screen tv right in front of my face. Wow..

Anyway it wasn't as fun as the one we paid for in SG, the pictures had to be more technical and such and he was so active it was hard to get any good pictures. So when I got home I was excited to see that I had some videos on the disc she gave us too! So here are some five second snippits of our little guy kicking his way around my uterus! :)




And for your viewing pleasure, the first "tummy" shot of me. I finally feel like I look pregnant and not just bloated...so here I am at 20 weeks! Connor has been measuring 4-5 days early ever since I had my first ultrasound, but we're sticking with the same due date. But according to his size I am 20 weeks and 2 days today. Oh well...he'll come when he's done right ?
Oh and don't mind Figaro, he literally never leaves my side. :)

Canvas #2 and crib!

Here's the next creation Ben did while I was at work today. WOW. And the other picture shows our beautiful crib we bought for $75.00! :) Can't wait til the room gets even cuter!

First Canvas!

So after looking online at how expensive Dr. Seuss stuff is, I decided it was time to get crafty. I'll be contributing to this cause soon enough, but for now my art gifted husband who has never painted before has taken over. He spent a couple hours last night and this morning working on the first of about 5 canvases that will be hung in the baby's room! Check out his work...

Looks a little darker in the picture than it does in real life, but isn't it GREAT?! Can't wait to see many many more! :)

Today while cleaning out the baby's room...

Ben was in the baby's room putting the cradle together that I slept in as a baby, and helping me clean things out of there, as it had become our junk room. After a while he called Figaro into the room and wouldn't let me in. This is why...

Yes I laughed...yes I felt bad for him. I didn't let him hobble around for too long because I knew how stupid he must've felt.

Figaro had a rough day today...while I was in the bathroom he came running in from outside like he'd seen a ghost and tried to hide behind me. I looked down at him to see bunches of leaves stuck to each of his paws and his tail. Someone had run through sap somehow then gotten a whole tree stuck to him! He was scared to death because he could NOT get these leaves off. Poor dog. He has a rough life sometimes. We sure do love our Figaro. His life is about to be turned upside down so in the meantime we make sure he knows how much we love him. He is honestly my little best friend!

Thanks little man for making my life so entertaining, and putting up with your dad when he gets bored! :)

Hi Daddy!

So I'm pretty amazed myself that this happened last night, but you can't deny the truth! :-) I was laying in my nice warm bath, and my bath pillow is being washed so I wasn't awfully comfy. I was just enjoying feeling the baby move lots. I put my hand on my stomach like I always do, waiting to be able to feel him on the outside as well as the inside. I had to feel it a couple times to be almost sure I could really feel him, but I called Ben in and told him to HURRY! :) So he took what felt like an eternity to me to come in and I put his hand right where mine had been. He has this tendency to push down thinking that'll help him feel the baby. I guess it worked because he felt him a couple times! I couldn't really even tell if the baby had moved since he had his hand pressed there. But the third time I felt it really strong and so did Ben! He said "I felt that! I felt it again!" I was pretty excited as I think he was. He's been waiting to be able to feel the little guy. There have been times when I'm amazed he CAN'T feel him in there because it feels like such a big kick to me! But FINALLY he felt it! It was really cute, like the baby was saying "Ok ok, HI dad". :-)

Every little first moment is SO much fun. I can't wait for all the other firsts! Of course some of the firsts are NOT very fun. Like the first time you get a backache from the extra weight you carry around. And when you spend the whole shift at work with what feels like indigestion, but later realize is probably a pinched nerve in your upper back...NOT fun.
Being pregnant is already a lot more work than I thought it would be. I thought I had at least 2 more months before I felt all the aches and pains of pregnancy, but apparently with the good comes the bad. I'll take it though! Having this little baby boy in my tummy is a dream come true, and I love EVERY minute of it! He keeps me company and jabs at me when I'm in a bad mood almost as if to say "cheer up mommy!" It really DOES cheer me up too. I'll enjoy this part of it as long as I can, until he's kicking my ribs and REALLY making himself known! I fear that as active as he is now...he may be quite a mover and kicker in later months. I guess he'll be hyper like his mom! No problem with that! :-)

Grateful...

Since by Thanksgiving I'll be so miserable and ready to pop, I thought since I have a minute I'd blog about the things I am THANKFUL for!

For starters, since I'm at work right now, I'll say how thankful I am to have a job. After 7 months of being unemployed and realizing what a scary time it can be, I know how lucky I am to have the job I have. I only have to work 4 hours a day and my job is VERY easy. I love getting out of the house and socializing a little bit each day. I like everyone I work with and really appreciate how nice they all are! And they were totally cool with me being prego, even though I'm apparently the 7-8th girl in this job to be pregnant! haha...

Since it's the main thought in my head all the time...I'm SO thankful to be pregnant with this little boy. I love him SO much already, and when I feel him move I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. It's better than the excitement I used to feel over a new crush or really good food, or almost ANYTHING else for that matter! I can't believe my body knows how to build this little human. It's not always comfortable but I wouldn't change it for the WORLD! He's going to change our lives SO much and I can't wait!

I really should have said this one FIRST but it doesn't make me any less grateful...I am SO thankful for Ben. He has been such an awesome husband throughout my pregnancy. Two days ago I came home to a clean house, the dishes all done, the laundry folded, and dinner on the table! And after I ate I laid on the couch and without me asking he started to rub my feet. I'm not even on my feet at work, nor are they swollen yet, but the gesture was sure nice! He encourages me to make goals and stay busy throughout the pregnancy so I stay happy and keep my spirits up! He goes for walks with me every night, and I LOVE that time.

I'm thankful for our beautiful home. I was perfectly content in California with our tiny little apartment and after we moved I really missed Ben and I having our own little niche. But we have one again and I really have loved making the space OURS! I am grateful we found somewhere priced just right that we can live in for 2 years. It's fun to picture our son crawling around on the floors we try so desperately to keep clean. I love that he'll have lots of room to roam!

I am VERY thankful for my family. I don't know how we could have managed the last 6 months without their support. Times were rough some days...but we really pulled through it and I missed them all like crazy the first week we lived here in Cedar! I have two wonderful parents who I know love Ben and I more than anything...and 3 sisters who I can't imagine life without! They are so fun to be around and I can't wait to see where life takes each of them.

I am also thankful for my sweet little dog, Figaro. He is my best little friend. He follows me everywhere in the house, even the bathroom. I am never alone as long as he's around. :-) He is so fun to cuddle with and talk to, and I'm having a hard time training him to sleep in his doggy bed because I love knowing he's right at my feet at night. I couldn't ask for a better dog!

I'm thankful for my extended family and all of my friends who are always there to lend support or just have fun with! My life is truly blessed and I'm thankful for each and every day!

It's a.....

Well we found out yesterday what color we are going to be buying from now on......
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BLUE!!!



Below he is waving hi to us :)The ultrasound tech swore he was smiling in this picture! I kinda see it...looks like he has fat lips I think...ha ha. his face is on the left
I think he looks like a peaceful little poser right here...with his hands tucked on the side of his face, he looks like he is content and smiling just a little here! :)
He kept his hands right by his face the entire time, here he is with his left hand in front of his face with his fingers spread, and the right had by his little ear.
Waving hi again :)
This one explains itself...

My favorite shot aside from the one that told us he was a boy...our little thumb sucker!
I was SO nervous/excited to find out yesterday...I really had my heart set on a boy. Everyone who knows my dad knows he's the most excited right now that we're finally bringing a boy into the world. Those who know my mom know she's a LITTLE sad she can't dress up a grand daughter...but she'll get used to the idea VERY soon! :) Both of our parents are SO excited as are WE!

I was just waiting for the ultrasound tech to tell me it was a girl..it's amazing how they can SEE it right away. She asked if I could tell and I said "uh no..." I really couldn't even tell where the head was at that point! haha..then she said it's a boy and I said "REALLY?!" and started to cry. Not buckets of tears, just little happy tears. Ben was smiling from ear to ear and we had fun taking about 35 pictures of the little guy. As you can see I couldn't narrow it down to just 2 or 3.

I bought like 5 boy things yesterday...it's going to be SO fun! I already have an idea of how I'll decorate his room and everything! YAY we're having a bouncing BABY BOY! :)

Our house...and more!

I finally got around to taking some pictures today, and part of the inspiration came from the fact that my wonderful husband finished our bedroom today! He painted and put all the furniture in it's proper place and decorated the walls! Good thing he has good taste or him hanging things alone could have been scary. But he did GREAT and I LOVE our new cozy room!

These first pictures are of our wonderful kitchen. The beautiful kitchen table displayed is one of my FAVORITE pieces of furniture! It was SUCH a good price, and the only reason was because the leaf is missing! As if we could fit it in there with a leaf anyway! So the price for the table was $60!!! And each chair was only $15 each, they HAPPENED to match the table, and it was the only chair on display for sale that had 4 others waiting in a warehouse! STEAL! I'm so proud of this table...and the rest of my kitchen. Bottom right is Figaro coming inside through his doggy door! It goes into the garage, and then another doggy door goes from the garage to the backyard. It took him a little over a week but he's got it all figured out and loves to use it!
The next photos are of my beautiful bedroom. Ben bought the curtains and rod all by himself and did a GREAT job. He surprised me when I got home from work tonight by having it all BEAUTIFIED! The bottom right picture is my favorite feature..my built in shoe rack! I love our huge closet, and believe it or not we don't even come close to filling it up! Yay for that!

Next is our living room and spare bathroom. The master bath is right inside the bedroom but isn't clean right now...so maybe later. This extra bathroom has been dubbed "my" bathroom because it's so girly and it's the better tub to take a bath in! :) It'll eventually be the baby's bathroom but for now it's all me. (And our guests he he) Then is our BEAUTIFUL living room. I really didn't like the wall color at first but it really grew on me and feels very warm and modern. The couch was another deal at Boulevard during their tent sale...got it for $450 and it is a dual recliner! We LOVE it! I can't wait to recline while holding my bowl of popcorn on my prego belly while watching my favorite shows :-) That's my dream people! haha...I hope you can put the angles together to figure this out...but we love having our piano in the living room, Ben plays it a lot more now. And then our beautiful Curio...our last steal from Boulevard. It's a curio/fireplace combo. The fireplace is fake fire but has a real heater that puts out a GREAT amount of heat, should keep us warm in the winter! It was originally $1350 and we got it for $300...couldn't say no! I uploaded the picture again to show the whole thing...so pretty.

The next pictures show a bit of our backyard. We pulled some HUGE weeds...rather Ben did, that were taller than the wall! It was intense, but he did it and then we planted some pretty flowers! Ok so BEN planted all the flowers. I was working INDOORS :) We already had 4 rosebushes that were hidden inside all the weeds! We also have this beautiful shade tree...a weeping willow that Ben also trimmed nicely. And in the back you can see a little dog run that we used to lock the puppies in when Lady and Inka came to visit so they wouldn't eat all our flowers! Figaro LOVES his backyard, and so do we!

In other news...we finally had a nice thunderstorm tonight! Desi has been staying with us all week, and tonight we went bowling but came out to find a beautiful rainbow! We rushed home and got some great pictures...wish I had better ones but this'll do! :) We had a really REALLY pretty one last week that I couldn't capture with my cell phone but the sun was hitting the mountain and it was the brightest rainbow I've ever seen! I could see every color so clearly. I think we'll be seeing a lot of these here in Cedar.
Also, I never posted a HAPPY FATHER'S DAY post for my dad and soon to be daddy husband! We had a really fun day, my family got to our house around 8:15 that morning and Ben made us all a yummy breakfast of scones, eggs and fruit! We went to my cousin Bryce's farewell after that and then gave dad some presents and celebrated more at the farewell!

We got him a pound of jerky and Paul Blart Mall Cop! He loved that movie and laughed so hard when we saw it in theaters!

My mom created a collage that has my dad holding all of us girls when we are babies...so sweet!

I really do owe my dad a HUGE tribute. He is the best dad in the whole world and I could cry just saying so. I run into people frequently who know my dad or have worked with him...and they all have amazing things to say about him. It makes me SO proud to be the daughter of a hard working, kind, loving man. He has a good reputation for being on time, getting work done the correct way, and having a great attitude all the while. He has been such an example to me and I hope to always be viewed as the type of worker he is! Aside from that he is a spiritual giant. Ever since his calling as bishop and even before that, he has been such a rock. His testimony shines through his eyes and he maintains his dedication to the Lord on a daily basis. He works very hard to be a better person every day. I love that he gets teary eyed as much as I do-must be where I get it from! I am SO excited and proud to make a grandpa out of him! He's just as thrilled as I am I think, and is determined to get a boy...but I know he'll be SO excited either way! I love getting sweet emails from my dad and I love that he never lets me pay for my own lunch (he he). He supported Ben and I for six months, probably a lot longer than he wanted to!) and still tries to help us out any way he can. I could go on and on, but he really is the BEST dad. I hope Ben will be just like him to our children!

And as for Ben I can't wait to see him fill the shoes of daddy this year! He'll be the sweetest most adorable father...and I'm so grateful that I married him so that he could be the father of our children. :-)

Sorry for the long post but I had to catch up!!!