Wedding & Graduation

1. One of the thousands of reasons why I hate Wal-mart. All I was getting was toilet paper too!!!

2. Our newest niece, Alora, and our nephew Kaden at Derek and TJ's wedding reception.

3. Jon's family stayed in a cabin at the local KOA in Provo for most of their time here (our apartment is too small for 6 people!!!). We went swimming with them and then ate dinner there. Some fire trucks showed up- apparently, there was a small grass fire across the river behind someone's yard. Jon was excited... until he saw how small it was.

4. We had a campfire and roasted marshmallows in celebration for Kaden's 4th birthday.


There was a photo booth at Derek and TJ's wedding reception. You got two sets of pictures, one to put in their guestbook/scrapbook and one to keep. They also had silly hats, glasses, etc. that you could wear. The camera flashed quickly, and I didn't have time to think of what to do (that's why I look so dumb).
1 & 2. On Jon's last day of school (AKA graduation day), they had some fire games where the recruits (he and his classmates) competed against real Provo and Orem firefighters in various competitions. Jon did the ax relay, in which, he and another recruit were supposed to chop through a log before two other real firefighters could. Pretty much, Jon didn't have to tag in his partner before getting through the log. The other team had already tagged in the other competitor. So Jon beat the strength of TWO firefighters. He did feel somewhat bad that his partner didn't even get a shot at chopping the log. Oh well...

3 & 4. Immediately after the ax relay, Jon was in the arm wrestling competition. His arms were tired and the Provo & Orem firefighters somewhat cheated in their arm wrestling (they used their whole bodies to pin the recruits rather than JUST their arms- you can totally see that in the picture). Jon lost on the right arm, but he did win on the left.

1. Graduation day finally! So happy that is over with... now onto the paramedic program...

2 & 3. After the fire games, Jon decided to show us the fire trucks he got to use all semester long. Kaden especially enjoyed climbing in them.

This was at Jon's graduation. I snapped it really quickly because he was already walking to sit down. I was pretty positive I got a picture of him shaking hands with his instructors, but it's not on my camera! So proud of him though!!!

Another Random Photo Post

1. Cookie dough dessert pizza from Pizza Pie Cafe. Yum. Too bad their regular pizza isn't as good as their dessert pizza.

2. Sunset from Wal-mart parking lot in Springville.

3. Pretty mountains during the sunset.

4 & 5. Taggie elephant and alligator for baby girl. Definitely put the legs on the alligator in the wrong spots. Oh well.

6. Jon is always playing the guitar. He has recently learned children's songs for baby girl to listen to.

7 & 8. Roasted garlic chicken pesto pizza - before & after cooking. (Sounds amazing, but I didn't care for it.)

9. My favorite cheesy alfredo pizza.

1-3. Our dryer decided to be loud and annoying right before Jon's family came into town. I had to go to the laundromat to dry our clothes until new parts for our dryer showed up and Jon had time to fix it.

4. This cat came into the laundromat and tried to hop onto my lap. Then s/he followed me outside and tried to get in my car when I was leaving. I do not like cats at all, but I did feel bad for it...

1-3. Baby booties!!! Picked them up at Kid to Kid, and I love them!

4. We bought a diaper bag on Saturday, and I decided to put some toys in it.

5. My pregnancy stats as of last night. Less than 100 days!!!!! Baby girl is also around 1.5-2 lbs. and 14-15ish inches long, according to the pregnancy apps on my phone.

Life According to Instagram

1. What you get when you take education classes and have lots of lesson plans and ideas you don't want to get rid of. Time to organize...

2. Nicely organized papers.

3. Ry was obsessed with my Harry Potter 3D glasses and wore them the whole time at my apartment on Friday.

4. The pacifier clip/leash that I crocheted ALL BY MYSELF. I'm awesome, I know.

5. I love when I find a secret clearance item for ONE DOLLAR (hooded bath towel plus three washcloths).

6. My favorite popcorn. Ever. Try it.

7. I finally decided to give in to the Utah snow cone fetish. I think I'd rather have ice cream.

8. Cute baby girl clothes.

9. Cute hat that I got for 50 cents at The Children's Place Outlet in St. George.

1. Waiting at the doctor's office for my ultrasound. They had balloons and cookies just for me... or so I told myself.

2. Being pregnant means lots of snacks for me: water, string cheese, peanut butter crackers, and cookies.

3. Thank you, Costco, for bringing the wonderfulness of churros to Utah.

4. Clearance baby toy that plays music and head moves (Creepy? Maybe. We didn't realize the second part until we got home with it.).

5. The. Best. Grilled. Pineapples. Ever. Try them. The link is on my sidebar.

6. Pomegranate 7-Up in the summer? Yes, please. Thank you, Maceys.

7. Ry at the San Diego Safari Park (formerly known as the Wild Animal Park) back in May.

8. Jon brought home some beautiful roses to me after he got off work one day!

9. Fake flowers at Rumbi.

1. Go Orem Owlz! Love baseball and summertime. Miss my San Diego Padres though.

2. The clouds turned crazy colors as the sun was setting behind us.

3. Jon at the Birch Aquarium overlooking La Jolla Shores in San Diego back in February.

4. Jon in front of the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland. So sad that that was my last visit for probably a while.

5. Lego firefighter Ry and I found at Toys-R-Us.

6. Painted toes all ready for summer!

7. My other love: Pepsi. I try to drink the non-caffeinated kind for baby, but sometimes I just need the real thing!

8. Craving this right now. I make a whole wheat crust to make up for the fact that the rest of the pizza is super unhealthy: four cheese Alfredo sauce topped with an italian blend of cheeses. SO YUMMY!

9. Jon and I went hiking in Hobble Creek Canyon a few months ago. Not sure how I survived for so long, but I did.

1. Herriman Rodeo.

2. Three books I mysteriously received in the mail. Found out a few days later that my Mom sent them.

3. Waiting for Jon to finish work in Alpine. Love the houses up here!

4. Jon and I at Disneyland.

Random

I love looking at these pictures. I probably look at them at least five times a day.

Last week was awesome. I loved seeing my baby girl for the first time, and I wish I got another ultrasound before she arrives. Jon is getting used to the name Lyla (YAY!) and to the fact that we're having a girl. He's just a little worried though... that girls are more sensitive and delicate than boys. It'll be good for him though. He needs some more sensitivity in his life, right? I also bought some REALLY cute clothes at "Kid to Kid," a secondhand children's and maternity store. I wanted to get so much more, but I restrained myself so that Jon wouldn't flip out when I showed him all the clothes I bought (and how much I spent). Just you wait, Jon... You're in trouble now with two girls in the family. :)

We told our niece, Ryleigh, that we were going to name our little girl Ryleigh as well. She thought that was pretty funny. Then we told her we were kidding. She's been pretty funny about this pregnancy because, when I first told her Mom that we were expecting, Ry would not look me in the face the next day. She was acting embarrassed and shy. But she was pretty excited to hear that we are having a girl because "boys are mean."

I also got to see HARRY POTTER yesterday with Julianne. So fun! I'm glad she was able to go with me because I might have had to sneak off to see it by myself on opening weekend. I LOVED IT! And I cried more than I should probably admit. But I can't wait to see it again with Jon. Julianne and I saw it in 3D, so we got some sweet Harry Potter 3D glasses that are SO MUCH more comfortable than the normal 3D glasses you get for other movies. I hate those things. I somewhat wish we had paid the extra $1.50 to see it in 3D IMAX. That would have been pretty cool. Oh well...

Jon finishes the fire academy in less than a month, and I couldn't be more excited!!!! I feel like I hardly get to see him these days, and it'll be nice to have more time together as we prepare for our little girl's arrival. I'm so proud of how far he has come, and I look forward to the day we leave Utah County for good (two more semesters!!!!).

It's a.....

GIRL!!!!!

The ultrasound tech kind of did a quick overview of the baby to get a sense of where everything was, and I thought I saw boy parts when she showed this view the first time (it was a very quick view). Then when she was measuring the femur bone, I knew it was a girl before she got to that part. She did some more measuring before coming back to the bum and telling us that "100% it's a girl." Everything looks good as far as the baby is concerned. She's healthy and has all the working organs. The placenta is in a good spot. My due date is accurate, so far. It was fun watching her little heartbeat beating (and hearing it again!). We also caught a glimpse of her moving a little bit. I guess the "kicks" i have been feeling have been her arms since she is head down right now shaped like a little "C," with her feet up by my belly. She must find this position comfy because I hardly ever feel her moving much on the left side of me. Now that I know where her little body is, I can maybe find her heartbeat with Jon's stethoscope. I've been trying to find it the last week because I read that around now you can hear the heartbeat through a stethoscope, but I haven't had much luck.

Some of my favorite girl names are: Abigail, Chloe, Eliza, Emma, Kaylee, Kylie, Leah, Lily, Olivia, Sophia....

but my all time favorite, and the one I really hope Jon will learn to love is....

Lyla Lee Arndt

I kind of love it. I feel like I need a really girly name to make up for the fact that Arndt is such a manly name (it's German- what a surprise). So I think watching "August Rush" over and over again until Jon loves the name too will have to be my strategy for now. Otherwise, Kylie or Kaylee would probably be my next pick (and I think Jon doesn't care for those either).

Baby Poll & Fun

For the like one or two of you that read this, I put a poll on the side of my blog... Guess what my baby will be! 12 more days until I find out! YAY!

Also, Jon and I have decided to go here:

in late August or early September. I'm pretty excited. Jon's parents own a timeshare, and so we get to stay there for FREE! I can't wait to sit in the pool every day and hit up the outlets to buy baby some clothes! And eat lots of good food. YUMMMM.

Herriman Rodeo

A few weeks ago, Jon and I joined my sister's family at the Herriman Rodeo. I missed out on most of the rodeo because I stood in line for food for like an hour. Awesome, right? Then I stood in line for another 20 minutes for the bathroom. It would have been worth it to just leave and get food/go to the bathroom and then come back. Oh well... it was still fun. Jon and I don't do much these days since I don't get to see him enough. And when I do, he is too tired to do much (I'm the same way too though). So it was nice to get out one night.

I took some videos of the Hide Racing, which I've never seen before... But I found one that's a little better than mine from that night:

Unfortunately, I didn't get videos of the two guys who rode the hide from underneath accidentally (AKA dirt all over them). It was pretty funny to watch though.

Best Week Ever...

Or pretty close to it.

I just had a doctor's appointment today in which I was able to schedule my ultrasound!!!

Woohoo for July 11th! It will be a good week because (1) I get to start the week off by finding out the gender of our baby (hopefully s/he will cooperate), and (2) Harry Potter 7 Part 2 comes out that Friday (the 15th)!! Please, do not laugh at my nerdy excitement over this because I know all of you love HP too. I just don't know when I'll get to see the movie though because I totally forgot that Jon and I can't do what we did for movie #6 and see it at 8AM on Friday (he has work and school allllll day). Boo! Oh well. I might have to wait a while this time or see it by myself...

Anyways, back to the doctor's appointment. The doc said the baby's heartbeat sounded really healthy... I'm on track with weight gain (woohoo!)... and the uterus is in the right place/size. From my very first appointment at 10 weeks, I've only gained about 2 pounds. I'm not for sure on how much I weighed right before I was pregnant, but I'd estimate only 4-5 pounds of total weight gain so far. I know the numbers will start growing much faster in the upcoming weeks/months, but I just hope I can stay at a good, healthy pace that's right for the baby and myself.

In other pregnancy news, I have been having a hard time sleeping some nights (a lot of them) because my hips and knees will start hurting. I've always had a hard time sleeping- I'd usually wake up at least once to get up to go to the bathroom. Now I'm waking up 2-4 times (usually having to go to the bathroom each time). But it's harder to fall back asleep because of the pains I'm having. I asked the doc about it, and he pretty much gave me the same suggestions that I've read/heard about from others. Too bad most of the them are just temporary pain relievers (hot pad, Tylenol, warm bath, etc.). I guess I'll be buying a body pillow to see if that works (there will be NO extra space in our bed with that!).

I'm not positive, but I think I feel the baby when I work out. I just feel some pressure down there, so I don't know if the baby is just enjoying the work out with me or what. Haha. But, otherwise, I haven't felt him/her moving around a lot yet.

Oh, and if anyone wants to buy me this amazing jogging stroller, then I'll love you forever:

Don't worry, it's only like $500 without the second seat (it's another $90 for that). But it's pretty cool...

I've been looking at strollers a lot lately, and I think I've decided on one:

Or this color:

Can you tell I like green?

I personally like the brighter green better.... Have to see if Jon's okay with it too. It looks less manly than the darker one (I want gender neutral baby gear).

Also, I'm kind of thinking of trying cloth diapering... I would have never even considered it if it weren't for the fact that they have disposable (and flushable!!) liners for them. It's worth a shot... saving money and the world all in one... makes me feel good about myself and my baby's bum will feel nice from the soft organic fabrics.

An Announcement

Sometime in the middle/end of March, I found out that I was pregnant. I knew it before I even took a test because I could tell my body was changing already. Weeks 6 through maybe 8, I was very fatigued all the time. I also had VERY strong food aversions. I did not want to eat turkey at all (and I love turkey!). We usually use ground turkey instead of beef because it's healthier, but the smell of ground turkey just grossed me out too much to deal with it anymore. However, I have been very lucky with morning sickness. I'd say there has been little to none. MAYBE once a week, I would feel like I needed to throw up, and I would, and that would be that. I was fine the rest of the day. I mostly hated the fact that NOTHING ever sounded good to me. For a little while, all I wanted to eat was fruit and other healthy options (weird... but good!). But I am grateful that I have been part of the 25% (or less?) of women who don't really get morning sickness. Oh, and that 24-hour flu that I had last week was really the flu, but I'm sure it was somewhat worse because of the pregnancy. That was the only day during this first trimester that I was not able to keep a single solid food down.

Now some of the feelings I've had throughout this time: anxiety and stress. Even though I had already known deep down that I was pregnant before I took a test, I still about had an anxiety attack when I saw the two lines. I didn't think it would happen so fast. I made a deal with Jon that we would start "trying" to have kids in February... or, in other words, stop "not trying" and take things as they come. We were in the mindset that "if it happened, then it happened," but we wouldn't stress over it if it didn't happen right away. Jon and I had started running together because he was getting ready for the fire academy, and I wanted to lose some weight before I actually got pregnant. Not long after we started training for a 10K (maybe two weeks in), I realized that I just couldn't run and keep up with him. I knew something was different.

Since Jon and I don't have health insurance, I knew we had to apply to Medicaid right away. Well, you probably aren't surprised that the government is a mess to deal with and made me very stressed out. When I first talked to them for my "interview" (you pretty much tell them everything that you just filled out on your application online again... so dumb), the guy told me that we might not qualify because we had too much in assets. We had a decent amount of money in the bank (not enough to pay for a baby though!) from our tax return. Also, the car my grandma gave us was still fairly new (very low mileage, a few years old, and in very good shape), so it is probably worth a decent amount of money. Jon didn't have a job at the time though, so how could we not qualify? The money in the bank wouldn't last us long. I was getting upset as I was put on hold while he figured everything out. Thankfully, he came back on and said it would all work out. Then I just had to bring in proof of the pregnancy, my birth certificate, and bank statements. Well, about a month later, I was denied. Then the stress came on even worse because if we had to pay for the baby, it would have to be done by credit card (for the most part). And Jon probably wouldn't be able to go to the paramedic program at all because we'd have absolutely no extra money for it. Well, turns out they lost my proof of pregnancy, and Jon was nice enough to call them to work it all out (he was only on hold for 45+ minutes). This time we faxed them our copy of the doctor's note. And about a week later, I was approved and so much more relieved. Either way, I knew all would work out okay because I figured this baby was meant to be because s/he came so fast.

I will be 14 weeks tomorrow. Jon and I just barely told our families and close friends yesterday. We (or I) wanted to wait until we heard the heartbeat, which we got to do this past Tuesday. I would be lying if I said I wasn't scared because I am. However, I know all will be well, and I'm excited to finally have that little baby that I have dreamed about since high school (I have always wanted to be a wife and a mother). We should be able to find out the sex of the baby sometime in July. I can't wait!

Fire Academy, etc.

Jon came home from his official first day of class last night. He sat in class for a while, listening to lectures. Later, they got their turnout gear and practiced putting it on. Eventually, they started to time them. Jon says they probably did this about 30 times, with shortening the time limit each time. If someone was over the time limit, then they would all have to do an exercise (pushups, sit ups, etc.). Jon was pretty tired, but he was never one to go over the time limit! So now he has to practice getting all his gear on in under 45 seconds (boots, pants, coat, hood, helmet, and gloves). I think he's really enjoying the academy so far, but it is a lot of hard work (both mentally and physically). We'll see what he thinks of the academy after his 1.5 hours of P.T. he has to do on Saturday....

Anyways, yesterday I woke up feeling pretty sick. I threw up twice before even eating any breakfast. I thought I was good to go afterwards and tried eating a fruit bar and some crackers. Well, I was definitely NOT okay because I couldn't keep that down. Anyways, the whole day I felt pretty miserable, and, if I tried to eat even just two crackers when I thought I was doing better, then it just came right back up. It must have been a 24-hr flu because I'm feeling SO much better today (I've eaten and NOT thrown up). Plus, I think I had a mild fever, which has definitely gone away. Jon was so sweet to get me some medicine, popsicles, soda, and jell-o last night, so I could at least put something in my mouth and reduce the fever. Later that evening, after we were already asleep, I woke up to Jon touching my face. I was so confused because I was thinking, "I'm sick and you're waking me up?!" I turned to him and asked if everything was okay. He said, "yes." Then he proceeded to grab my hand and just held it. I was totally confused at what was going on, and then realized that he was probably not fully awake or aware of what he was doing. I asked him about it this morning, and he said he didn't remember it at all. It is something that definitely made us giggle because this seems to happen every once in a while... he does/says weird things in the middle of the night, and then totally doesn't know what I'm talking about the next morning.