Update

I'm really hesitant to say this because every time I do I seem to jinx myself, but I'm feeling a LOT better than I was a few weeks ago. I have my moments...like when I overeat (is that really just one word? I was fully expecting a red line underneath) even just a teeny bit. Or when I ride in the car for more than 10 minutes....or on a plane. You get the picture. I'm 14 weeks, and most likely we are going to cheat and get an early ultrasound in a couple weeks. Partly because we're excited to find out the gender, and partly because I want to make sure there's just one little peanut in there.

We are feeling pretty settled and loving our new home! I had a nice surprise/early birthday present when I returned home from MI-Kyle bought us a beautiful new bedroom set. It was on our list of things we didn't need right away, but I think he could tell that the lack of drawers for our clothing was getting to me. We still had them in boxes and totes because I didn't know where to put them. I've also had a really sore back, and the new mattress seems to be helping!

Last night our Bishopric came over to meet us. When one of them called and asked if they could, I thought maybe just the counselors so I was surprised to see all three standing at our doorstep. That meant a lot to us because we know they are very busy men. We chatted for a while, and before they left offered something so sweet. They asked if they could give Kyle a blessing, and then assist Kyle in giving me a blessing. Our house was filled with so much love from these men that we had just barely met. They were the nicest guys. It was really hard for me to leave California, mostly because of our ward and the great friends we made in it, and honestly I haven't been too excited to start attending a new one here. But now I feel a hundred times better, and am excited for Sunday!

Even thought I'm just barely in my 2nd trimester, I'm starting to feel like we don't have much time left before we have a new baby and our world is going to change. I really want to take advantage of the time we have left just the two of us. Don't get me wrong, I'm VERY excited for April, but I know things will never be the same after that. I have this sudden urge to get away and do as many fun things with Kyle as we can because I know it won't be as easy (or even possible) come April. So, since I happen to have tomorrow and Thursday off, we are planning a little getaway. We don't know for sure where, but we definitely want to stop in St. George and see the Erkelens who are visiting Lindsey's parents. Besides that, I have no good ideas. None. We talked about Vegas but we did that a few times when we lived in Cali, and unless we want to spend money (we don't) on a show or something, we don't know what we'll do there. Not to mention the 5 hour drive. Bleh. It's times like this when I REALLY miss California. We never ran out of new things to do, in fact we barely made a dent in our bucket list. If only the beach or Disneyland were an option this weekend....

Jillian

I have the priviledge of watching my friend Whitney's baby girl every day and I'm loving it! She's adorable and so much fun to watch grow and progress. She's smiling all the time and even starting to giggle. I started when she was 6 weeks (or maybe 7?) and she is already 12! The poor thing has been through a lot in the last 10 weeks of her life. She has what you could call a "bad case" of reflux, but after trying several formulas and putting her on a third medication, she is a much happier baby than she was a few weeks ago. She and her parents are all troopers!

When she's tired and ready for a nap, she buries her head in your chest/armpit. It's so sweet. And she melts my heart every time she grins at me. She can go from fussing to smiling in a split second. Sometimes it's hard for me to put her down, but it's the only time I can get anything done. Kyle adores her- he holds her everyday when he comes home for lunch. The other day someone asked us if we wanted a boy or a girl. I admitted I am sort of hoping for a boy because it would be fun to have the first boy in my family. Kyle told him, "I probably would have said boy at one time, but Kristen has been watching a baby girl and she's really cute." Awww. I could go on and on about how precious Jillian is, but I'll let the pictures do the talking...

And we're in.

Finally! We closed on our house on Monday and got our keys yesterday. It's hard to believe we've been in Utah now for 3 months. In a lot of ways I'm really going to miss staying with Kyle's parents. I have really enjoyed all the time we've had to visit with them. It's really sad to me that so many people have issues with their in-laws. I guess I am lucky because I don't have a single complaint. Mine could not be any greater! I am, however, looking forward to living out of cupboards and closets rather than boxes. Excited about my walk-in closet, a laundry room with cupboards....excited about all of my food I found in boxes yesterday-I forgot how much food storage we had in Cali. (I counted at least 15 boxes of cereal.) Excited about living in Provo where we are closer to our jobs and lots of other things....excited about my new shower curtains and some fun projects I am discovering on pinterest.....I could go on and on :)

Luckily I took some video of the house last week. Without it you would get a bunch of pictures that look like this:




















The first video is the main floor, the second is the bonus room off the garage, leading down from the kitchen. and the third is the upstairs with the bedrooms and laundry room. Oh, and a warning to my fellow pregnant friends: I may have moved the camera a little too fast at parts. Just sayin'. :)

I'll post pictures once we are settled!

Mackinac Island

One of my favorite places growing up, and still to this day is Mackinac Island. I'm starting this post with a brief geography lesson for my non-Michigander friends. Michigan consists of an upper and lower peninsula. (I am learning that people out west don't know this.) The LP (shaped like a mitten) is where I grew up. There is a bridge that divides the two peninsulas called the Mackinac Bridge. It is 5 miles long, and runs between Mackinac City (LP) and St. Ignace (UP). It is beautiful! It also divides Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. And in the middle of Lake Huron, between the 2 peninsulas, is Mackinac Island!

Taken from the ferry, on our way to the island

We came in on one of these ferrys

I girl that I cheered with in High School worked in the front lobby of our hotel. Megan Frost. Crazy!

My mom booked us a really nice suite. It had a great view of the harbor.

So good that I had to wake everyone up to see the sunrise

There are no vehicles on the island, just bikes, horses and buggies. While the smell gets a little old, it's fun to experience. We could hear the clicking of their hooves from our hotel room.

Jeremy biked the 9 miles with us around the island on our bicycle built for two. :)

Skipping rocks

I can't believe I didn't take pictures of any fudge shops. There are over a dozen on the island and we took advantage of the free samples that they all offer. Kyle bragged as we were leaving that he was sure he had eaten a whole slice just in samples. We made sure to bring some back for my in-laws after bragging to them about it the week before.

This is the fort on Mackinac island, originally built by the British

They had real artifacts from the war. Things like that are always fascinating to me.

This room looked identical to this picture taken back in the day (Kyle definitely made fun of me for taking a picture of a picture)

Last but not least, because it was actually one of my favorite parts of the trip, was hanging out in the hotel's game room. Kyle and I started with Battleship and Sorry before everyone joined us. My dad and brother played several games of pool while the three of us played exactly 21 games of Uno. We started with the best of 5 until the competitiveness in me came out when I started losing and I suggested best of 10.

Excuse my dad's unique picture taking skills

I think every hotel should have a game room!

Such a fun week that we'd been looking forward to all year. I'm a little sad it's over, but I'm already planning what to do next year. We're thinking a road trip and want to bring Kyle's parents with us. Help me entice them! :)

Camping

The Sunday before we left for Ludington we had our grandmas over for a bbq to celebrate Kyle, Mitch, and Bernie's birthdays. Watching Gracie eat her corn was priceless.

Setting up camp

Skyler was trying really hard to wait patiently for Kyle to be done so he could play with her. She LOVES her Uncle Kyle.

It was pretty hot in the tent so Steph tried letting Gracie nap outside.

Needless to say, it didn't really work.

Our campsite is the one you can see under the slide.

Skyler spent most of her time on the playground and often brought her buddy along.

Skyler and I had fun burying Kyle in the sand

Once we returned home from camping we unpacked, did laundry, repacked, and headed out the next morning for Mackinac Island. More pictures to come!