My Valentines

This is Savannah.

She has rosy cheeks, dark hair and brown eyes, all of which she gets from her dad.

Her favorite food at the moment is tacos, rice and fries.

Her favorite toys are stuffed animals, and magnets.

She likes being in charge, and has an attitude.

She loves to dance and run.

In fact, she never just walks anywhere, she has to run.

She loves to color, especially on the walls.

She brushes her teeth about 5 times a day.

She cries when it's time to get out of the bath.

She doesn't like to be messy, ever.

She's got the personality of a firecracker.

And I love her.

This is Bryant

He has freckles, dark hazel eyes, and dark hair.

He likes to sing.

He loves to read and can read an entire series in a matter of a couple of days.

He's a people person, and makes friends easily.

He loves sports, and he plays, refs, and coaches them nearly every night of the week.

He's a Star Wars nerd.

His favorite food is anything with meat in it, and he likes to cook.

He thinks I'm cute with my glasses.

He's a very hard worker, and is always reaching for new goals in life, and obtains them.

He owns 6 of the exact same shirt.

And I love him.

Our Valentines Day kind of went down the toilet. I've had a medical issue that requierd some antibiotics, and on Thursday, I woke up in a lot of pain. Bryant origionally planned on going into work early in order to get off early, and then we were going to take Savannah out to dinner and a movie. But instead, he took the morning off and drove me to the urgent care, where we waited for over 2 hours, just to get a change in the antibiotic prescription. When we made it home, I took a 3 hour nap while he kept Savannah busy so she wouldn't come wake me up. Later that night, he had to go into work to make up for his morning off. 

I'm happy to say I'm feeling a bit better. Valentines wasn't a complete bust though, last night we went and got a couples massage while Bryant's brother babysat for us. I wish massages weren't so expensive, because they really make me feel amazing. She worked on my sciatic nerve a lot, which was super painful, but worth it, it feels so much better today! 

I don't need a day set aside for Bryant to shower me with gifts or love and affection, because he does that for me every day. I'm so blessed to have him in my life. Our marriage grows stronger every single day because we work at it. We work really hard at it. We communicate, we offer thanks and praise to each other, and we never forget that we promised each other that we would be together forever, no matter what challenges came our way. We are not quitters. We are hard workers who are in love with each other, and in love with the little family we have created.

I love you Bryant, Savannah, and Baby #2.

Happy Valentines Day!

Valentines Day and Baby Update!

Yesterday was Valentines Day. I was really excited and I had some fun things planned that I wanted to do, but unfortunately, I'm still sick. Bleh.

I did however, get to go to a romantic lunch with Bryant. He was able to get off work a little early and he called me and had me meet him down at the Chefs Table in Orem.

Sooo yummy!

We had a gift card there that Bryant won a few months ago from work, and we didn't use the whole thing so this was the perfect day to use the rest up!

(yuck, I'm really starting to look bloated aren't I?)

I had the chicken salad sandwich with a salad and Bryant had the fillet minion (spelling on that?) which I stole a few bites of...


Afterwords, Bryant wanted to take me to a movie or bowling, but I was starting to lose energy fast and my nose was blocked like the hoover dam so we headed home and I took a long nap.

Then, we headed off to our first prenatal class! A few of my friends have told me not to waste my time there, that I would know exactly what to do when the time came, but honestly, I'm so happy I went! I learned a lot and I'm looking foreword to next weeks class!

We learned about warning signs to look for, the different stages of labor and delivery, and then learned some breathing and relaxation techniques (which Bryant just sat there and giggled because I couldn't breath at ALL through my nose!). Bryant was a good sport and really supportive the whole time. It feels good to know that he's going to be a good "birthing coach".

The lady who teaches the class did a really good job. She's been a labor and delivery nurse for 13 years and is pregnant with her 7th baby (I'd say she's well qualified to teach the class at this point...) And she answered everyone's questions, no matter how odd they were, like the one girl who asked if she would shake uncontrollably after she delivered or what it would smell like during labor and delivery and if there was any particular smell to be worried about (obviously, she's been reading too many weird things on the internet and is getting a bit anxious or paranoid. Really? What does it smell like when you deliver a baby? That was not even at the very bottom of my list of concerns...)

As for Baby Stokes...

I had another appointment today and, once again, she's super healthy and everything in looking great! I'm still gaining weight right on track (a pound a week! Sounds like a lot, but the doc said that's what he wants me to gain) my blood pressure is normal, her heart rate is normal and her head is nice and low (which means her feet are still always in my right rib cage) and she's growing perfectly.

I go in again in another 2 weeks, then we start weekly appointments to be checked for dilation and all that fun stuff. It's crazy to think that here I am, almost 34 weeks, and she could (safely) come anytime after 37 weeks. Which means she could come in 3 1/2 weeks if she was ready. (I think with how well she's been doing so far, she will come pretty close to her due date though)

So there you have it! My valentines day and a Baby update! I'm off to go clean up the crib we just got from my aunt!

Pretty sure I was sick last valentines day too...

(my "sick" survival kit. Water, tums, tissues, puke bowl, throat lozenges, my nook, and cold medicine)

All weekend long I've been sick. This is probably my 3rd or 4th time being sick while pregnant. You see, when I was 19, I caught a bad case of pneumonia that had me literally drowning in my own body. I was in the hospital for a week and then at home in bed with a PIC line hanging out my arm and a stash full of IV's in the fridge for a month. Afterwords, the pulmonologist told me she thought I wasn't going to make it and was happy to see I was perking up.

She also told me that the pneumonia had wrecked havoc on my immune system, and that it would take years before it got back to normal, meaning I would get sick often. Then, as most anyone who has been pregnant knows, when you are preggo, your body shuts its immune system down, this is to prevent your body from seeing your baby as a foreign object (it is a parasite after all...) and ejecting it.

So what little immunity towards diseases I was slowly gaining with each cold, got tossed out the window when I became pregnant.

Anyways, I was feeling better Saturday, just a little stuffy, but the "Phantom of the Opera" was playing at my old high school and I really wanted to go. My brother told me that people were already lining up at 10:00 for the 2:00 matinee, so we rushed on down there. The line started inside, but one guy told us there was no more room (even though there was plenty) and that we needed to stand outside. In the cold. Obviously, there was no sympathy for a pregnant, sick woman and her little brother. So we waited outside, in the cold, for 2 1/2 hours to get tickets. (oh the lengths I go through to get a little culture in this town!) From the time I got there to the time the play was over, I was there for 6 hours! And thats when I began to really feel crummy.

But the play was really good!

Sunday morning arrived and I was so sore, so achy, so mucus filled and gross that I was not going to be able to make it into work. I called everyone and everyone was busy (but I can't blame them, it was short notice, and everyone hates working Sundays.) I was going to have to go in... But thankfully, one of my co-workers called me back! We agreed to switch shifts and I went back to bed and slept until almost 1 in the afternoon! I spent most of the day reading the Girl Who Played With Fire (highly recommend that series! Amazing!) and trying to eat since I had no appetite. But as the saying goes "sweat a fever, feed a cold".

Then, that afternoon, my parents invited us up for dinner. They had invited 2 other families in our neighborhood and we enjoyed enchilada casserole and chocolate fondue!



We had tons of fun, but I ate way too much and I was sick to my stomach the rest of the night. I guess that happens when your stomach is being squished and pushed by a little girl...



Bryant was having way too much fun teasing our neighbors kids. The youngest would just run up to him and start giggling like crazy! I was having a blast watching them. I can't WAIT until our baby is here to watch Bryant play with her!


This is the devastation of the fondue table after the kids attacked it. It was super yummy!

Today, I'm feeling slightly better. I actually just got a text from Bryant asking me to go out to lunch with him on his break and I think I'll be OK to go. Tonight, we start our prenatal class at the hospital, so I need to be feeling better by tonight for sure!

I'm pretty sure I was sick on Valentines day last year too because my cousins baby was born a few days later and I was just getting over it.

Stupid colds..

Happy Valentines day everyone! I'll write another post soon on how mine went!

Una noche de amore

Yesterday, Bryant and I attended Una Noche De Amore.

It's an annual Valentines fund raising dinner/dance for my wards Young Women program.

The theme this year was a Latin/salsa theme and it was super fun! We decided to get all dressed up for the event. You paid for the dinner, then they had options to purchase flowers for your hair, boutonnieres for your sweetheart and chocolate-dipped strawberries, but unfortunately all we could afford was just the dinner. But I didn't want Bryant to go without a stylin' Boutonniere!

So I whipped one up out of some left-over felt I had.

(I appologize for the crappy photos. They were all taken on a camera phone and we all know how great those turn out in dark rooms...)

I made a Calla Lilly for him. That's what we had at our wedding and I loved them!
I thought it turned out pretty good.

I also decided to make a feather hair clip to match my dress, but I don't think you can see it that well in any of these photos

(shiny faces... bleh)

The turnout was huge! There were a lot more people than I expected but I was fun seeing everyone go all out.

I particularly enjoyed the people who wore old prom dresses from the 80's and 90's. If I weren't so massively huge around the middle these days, I would have borrowed my mom's old high school prom dress. I regret never wearing it to any of my high school dances.

My parents (sorry for the white out-shiny face look mom and dad! Blame the phone!)

The food was really really good too. For appetizers, they had fruit, chips, salsa and meatballs. Then they had a salad and chicken with mashed potatoes and green beans, then all sorts of chocolate goodies for dessert.

They also had a band playing. Our music conductor for the ward owns a music school and has something like 6 bands, one of which travels the world and just recently came back from a gig in New Orleans.

(I wish I had a better picture of the band!)

They has some dance instructors come and teach some basic salsa moves. Bryant made me go up to learn but for some weird reason I chickened out. Stupid pregnancy hormones. I'm not sure what happened. I suddenly felt way too fat and felt like everyone was watching me. I felt like everyone could see my swollen ankles and stretch marks and fatty hands, which was ridiculous because the dance instructors partner was a lot more pregnant looking than me (how she could dance in stilettos, I'll never know...).

I promised myself that after we ate, I would get up and dance, but once I got up for a quick bathroom run, my whole body felt stiff and sore, like I had hiked all day long the day before and my muscles were sore. I realized that, in my flip flops or not, I was not going to be able to cut a rug. I blame the fact that I spent an hour and a half on my hands and knees cleaning out the refrigerator earlier that afternoon.


(it's ok, I know I look like Shamu...)

But despite our lack of dancing, Bryant and I had a great time! Some people were really getting into the dancing and It was great to see how much fun everyone was having.

(My handsome stud helping to clean up afterwords)


It was a great night! I told Bryant that that could be our Valentines date this year, seeing as we will be in a birthing class on Valentines day.

Thrifty Fifties

Re-cap of the weekend:

So Sunday was valentines day, and despite the fact that my primary class drives me nuts and the brownie smashing incident from the last time I brought treats, I decided to be nice and make valentines day cupcakes for my class.
Thankfully, none of them smashed them on the floor, but one kid did smash one in his face. Gross, but at least I didn't spend time scraping it out of the carpet.

After church, my parents invited us up for a special dinner. We had steak and potatoes and my mom went all out. She brought out the nice china and decorated the table with flowers. It was really nice of her. My parents always made valentines really special. And this year, they did a "14 days of Valentines" and they both surprised each other with little gifts every day
leading up to valentines day. Cute huh?

Yesterday was Presidents Day, so I had no school and I didn't have to go to work. Last night after Bryant got home, we realized we were both hungry and that we didn't have anything to eat at home so we decided to go to taco bell. Originally we were thinking of going bowling, but we passed savers on our way to grab tacos and I mentioned how much I like to go thrifting. Surprisingly, Bryant said he thought it would be fun to go too and actually sounded like he meant it haha! So we canned the bowling idea and headed there after some munchies.
So we get there, and come to find out, it's "thrifty fifties" night. Everything was half off, and they had fifties music playing, trivia to win money (well, to win a dollar...) and all the employees were dressed in poodle skirts. It was really fun!

Bryant wanted to find an old three-piece suit and I was on the lookout for a black leather jacket to wear on the motorcycle this summer. We both found what we were looking for, unfortunately
the suit didn't fit Bryant and the jacket had some major holes in it.
Oh well, better luck next time...

However, we DID find a Jim Croche's greatest hits record to add to my collection.

It was a really good night. And i'm glad Bryant was willing to wander around in a thrift store with me. He's amazing.