A Long Needed Update

Okay, yes, it has been awhile since our last post.  Justin has been busy with school, and I guess I felt like I didn't have anything new to post except for some news that we were waiting a few weeks to share outside of the family:

We're pregnant!  We sent this to family has Halloween drew near to share the exciting news with them. After they knew, I was pretty content to just let things sit for a while.  I'll be honest, I don't know that I completely agree with the whole wait-until-after-the-first-trimester-to-tell-people line of thinking (I get why people do it, but have my own thoughts I'm still formulating about it).  But, we've pretty much followed that since telling the Fam.  I'm 12 weeks into it, and been lucky enough to only feel slightly queasy.  No throwing up!!!  Estimated due date at this point is June 10th.  So far, it has surely not been my cup of tea to have to go through it mainly by myself.  Justin has been supportive from afar, but it's definitely not the same.

And, here's a picture of a picture (sorry, bad quality!) of the "unofficial ultrasound" I got done at my first appointment.  Our little baby blob...proof that I actually have something growing inside of me, since I lucked out and got to skip out on a lot of the typical pregnancy symptoms.

We also ran across some other random pictures that we hadn't posted yet.  One was of a Reese's trifle we made....I don't even remember for what:

And a skirt I made.  I probably wear it about every 2-3 weeks, now.  I gotta get all the use I can out of it before I get too big to fit in it.

Justin got to come home for his Thanksgiving break.  It was great having him home (of course), and to celebrate the holiday.  We had Thanksgiving dinner with Jeff, Tasha and their kiddos, Tasha's parents and brother, and another guy from their ward.  We made pies, and I tried a new recipe that was a fail.  But, now I can check that one off and never do it again!

And, of course, I have to make the most out of the Christmas season, so decorations went up this weekend.  We had our regular mantle set-up:

But the snowman on the ground was added.  I made that at a Relief Society activity earlier in the year.

Last year we had bought a couple more garlands, so I put one on the piano to embellish the nutcrackers I had put there.

 I'd say the biggest Christmas project I did this year were some new ornaments for the tree.  Last year, Justin and I had decided to do something with titles of Christ.  The original idea was that each day in December leading up to Christmas, we'd put one of these ornaments on the tree and read a scripture that had that title of Christ in it.  

I sanded, painted, and distressed the frames, painted on the chalkboard paint, and wrote names on each one.  It was a project that took a lot longer than I anticipated (I obviously didn't get them done in time for Christmas last year).

I have them all on the tree right now.  With Justin gone, I didn't want to do the one-a-day thing by myself, and I thought it would be difficult to find places for them to go after having all the other ornaments on the tree.  

The picture below doesn't quite to it justice, but I was actually pretty excited with how it all turned out.  I'm still looking for the perfect star to top the tree (hence the bow this year), but I think it turned out rather nicely.  It definitely helps me get in the Christmas spirit!

Last random picture, I promise.  I got bit by a vampire!!  Just kidding, Justin had a bloody nose, and my neck ended up being what caught all the drippings.  I feel like I should write a book:  "You Know You Love Someone When..."  I think this would definitely be worthy of making it into that book.

Justin headed back to Scottsbluff to finish out his semester.  It was great having him home.  With it being the season to think about what we're grateful for, I have definitely been grateful for even the short times we get to be together.