Our 1st Couples Baby Shower!

My girlfriends put on such a beautiful baby shower for us this past weekend :) We had about 25 of our closest friends and had an AMAZING time!!! Here are some pics from the shower:

The cupcakes were DELICIOUS and I LUV the cupcake stand Neal made for us!! :) We're gonna use it in her room and for her 1st bday party!!

Next to the diaper "guest book" which ended up having some pretty funny stuff written on these little diapers by the end of the night. Alcohol + sharpies= no good!

Table w/ yummo food, beautiful flowers (thx Melissa), and hanging onsies across the windows

Momma (Nana) and I

Steffanie, Muah, and Andrea - I got hot in my sweater and had to change :)

Chadd & I.. course Piper had to be a part of the pic :)

Look at the GREAT gifts we got from our friends!!! We are truely blessed with AMAZING friends!!!

Thank you so much to the girls for putting together such a beautiful shower: Steffanie, Andrea, Staci, Jennifer, Shelly, and Ashlie... thanks again girls.. We love you SO much and appreciate more than we could ever express!!!!

33 weeks!

Holy cow.. I cant believe I only have 7 wks to go before my due date!!! Its sooo crazy how time has flown by. I absolutely cannot wait for Dakota to get here.. I cant wait to hold her in my arms and kiss her little cheeks... but I know that I'm also going to miss her moving around in my belly. She is rolling around like a little gymnast as I type now! I LOVE that feeling and LOVE to sit at night and watch my belly roll around. Its honestly one of mine and Chadd's favorite things to do!! And everytime she is moving around like crazy... I tell Chadd and he rushes over to feel. She likes to play games w/ her Daddy... its kinda funny! She'll be kicking and moving around like crazy and as soon as he puts his hand on my belly, she'll stop. Then he'll take his hand off, and she'll move around again. He likes to try and fake her out too.. I cant til she's here and I get to see Daddy and Dakota play together!! Chadd is going to be such an amazing father!!

So, alot has been going on since I've posted last.. we have been working on the nursery like crazy and had a muralist come in to paint on one of the walls.. someone my Mom knows and does an AMAZING job!! Here's some pics of the room.. the painting was finished this past Tues, but I haven't made it back upstairs to take some more pics of it.

We are SOOOOOOOO in love w/ her room!!!! It is exactly how I pictured it to be!!

We still have a lot to do.. I'm getting a wall decal to go on the other side of the room and still need to get some things set up on the shelves, etc. I'll definately get some more pics posted as soon as its more done :)

New Table & Engagement...

Yeah, I know its been a while...

We finally got the "anniversary table" so I figured I would post a pic of our new addition... the pic doesnt do the table justice at all.. it looks much bigger in person. Oh, and I'm in the pic.. preggo and all! I added in a couple extra preggo pics for your enjoyment, hee hee!!

On another note, my BF Ashley that was my neighbor growing up (since the 3rd grade) is engaged!! Her boyfriend (now fiance) took her to Santa Fe, NM where she wants to get married and proposed next to her favorite church.. CONGRATS ASHLEY!!! I'm really looking forward to your wedding next July!!! We have LOTS of weddings coming up... Justin & Rachel are getting married Oct 9th, Jerod & Rachel Oct 17th, then we have Erika/Thomas, Nicole/Aaron (hurry up and propose Baron, ha!), Ashley/James, & Matt/Aurora. How exciting!!!!

2 years ago..

I walked down the aisle and said "I do" to the most amazing, wonderful, caring man in the world! I really can't believe it's been 2 years.. 2 AMAZING years! I can honestly say it's been 2 of the most wonderful years of my life.. and I am looking forward to many many more together.

This morning Chadd gave me the sweetest card with a surprise inside. I LOVE what the card says:

"Many anniversaries from now, when we have been together for a very long time, I wonder what it will be like. Will we share extra blankets to keep warm? Count the stars from our front porch rockers? Dream older, wiser dreams, or be contented with the memories we've made?

Of course, I can't predict the future, but I'll tell you what I do know-- if we use extra blankets, I'll still need to hold you close. If we sit in our rockers, mine will be right next to yours. And no matter how old or wise we become, I'll still want to feel of your gentle hand in mine...

I guess what I'm trying to say is, I look forward to whatever the future may hold-- as long as my future holds you."

He then put a really sweet personal message to me and this was my surprise:



It's kinda hard to see, but its a piece of paper with a picture of a kitchen table that Chadd personally drew himself.. ha ha!!! He's sooo creative, what can I say?! I am SO excited.. I have been wanting a new kitchen table for SOOO long and Chadd knows how picky I am, so he wanted us to be able to pick it out together! How cute and sweet is he?!

I too, cant wait to see what the future holds for us. I couldnt imagine my life w/out him and my life would be incomplete without him by my side.

I love you my Chaddy, my best friend and my soulmate for life!! You make the most amazing husband and I cant wait to see you as a Daddy to our sweet little girl!! You are going to be the best Daddy in the world!!!! My heart belongs to you forever!

P.S. Your PPhead (Piper) and Kitty love you too!! :D

New addition to our family...

My sister had her baby, my little nephew, Brenden Kjerst on June 19th 2009 @ 10:56am. He weighed 7 lbs / 2 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long. I'm sooooo excited about another little nephew. Anyone who knows me, knows how obsessed I am w/ my neice and nephew, Ashlyn and Noah. I cant wait to spoil little Brenden too! :D I'm also sooo excited that Brenden and Dakota will only be 6 months apart, like Jill and I were. I look forward to seeing Brenden and Dakota grow up together and be the best of friends like we were.

For those who dont know... Jill was my cousin, we were only 5 months apart, and the BEST of friends. We were lucky that we lived only about 5 min from eachother, we hung out every weekend, played soccer together, slumber parties almost every wkend and sometimes during the week, made some pretty awesome videos (ha!), and even went to Junior High and High School together. Jill passed in 2000 from a car accident and I still miss her every single day of my life.

I have waited to post about Brenden cause I took some really great pics of him when he was only a few weeks old, but have been so busy I have just now been able to go through and edit them. Here's my sweet precious little nephew!!

These are just a few of my favs! There are SO many amazing pics and even some I haven't yet gone through. I made the pictures smaller for my blog so you might have to click on the pics to see the better image quality. :D

On another quick note.. today was the start of school.. Noah started the big 3rd grade and Ashlyn into Kindergarden. I cannot believe how fast they are growing!! A big props to Aunt Sarah (that would be muuuah) for picking out Noah's shirt and Ashlyn's outfit for their first day of school :D

What a girl wants...

Just some outfits I've picked up for Dakota.. keep in mind these were ALL on sale!! I'm such a bargain shopper!! There are a few more we've picked up that aren't pictured.. not to mention her airplane outfits she'll have to wear w/ a big bow in her hair, ha!! Nana got Dakota the cutest little Sketchers too, her very first pair of shoes!! They are adorable!

I always knew how much fun it would be shopping for a little "me"!! :D :D

What a girl needs..

We went and ordered Dakota's nursery furniture a few weeks ago cause we were told it would take 8-12 weeks to come in.. to our surprise they called Chadd this past wkend and it was ready to be picked up!! YAH!! We have been dying to get her furniture and start getting her nursery together. So, Chadd and his friend picked it up Monday afternoon and were going to surprise me and have it all put together when I got home from work. Poor thing ruined his own surprise... He meant to text his friend and say "Remember, dont tell Sarah we got the furniture today" and accidentally sent it to me instead. I shouldn't have opened my big mouth and came home and acted surprised.. but I did :( He was disappointed but I was still excited to come home and see everything in her room. He got the dresser set up and we actually put the crib together 2 nights ago, well I watched while he put it together :D Here are some pics.. we had alot of fun! Please excuse the wall color... we are waiting on a sample of the bedding fabrics so we can pick out the paint for her room :D

Piper, Kitty and I were supervising Daddy ! :D

The finished product!! :D


And some of the decor I've picked up along the way.. not where they will be going when the room is all put together :D

The furniture is in a black antique.. we are SO in love with it and cant wait for the room to be completely put together. We're hoping to be able to paint this wkend. Well, Chadd will be painting.. My painting skills arent the greatest, ha!

Whoaaaaa Momma!!

Ok fine.. so I'll break down and do it.. I might chicken out and take them back down.. but here they are!!! Sigh. ha ha!

I'm 22 weeks tomorrow!! My belly is definately growing!! I'm sure it has nothing to do w/the desserts, fast food, and cheese puffs I'm grown a liking for :D :D

IT'S A.....

GIRL!!!!

We are soooo excited!!! We found out this past Wed and were really shocked! I actually had a "girl" feeling but since males are so dominent in Chadd's family, I had convinced myself it was a boy. We had our sonogram 1st thing Wed morning.. we went into the sonogram room and for about the 1st 30 min or so the tech looked at every part of the baby to make sure she looked good. Everything looked great so she asked if we wanted to know the gender.. of course we do :D Before we knew it "Looks like a girl" comes on the screen. I wish I had a camera of Chadd's face.. it was priceless!! He couldnt believe it.. we were both in tears.. tears of joy!! We both really wanted a girl and were absolutely thrilled to hear the news. After the sonogram, I had an appt w/ the doc, where he went over the sono results with me. He said if he had to give her a grade from her sono results, she would get a 100%!!!! YAH!! That made us even more happy.. to know we have a healthy little baby girl!! We are sooo excited and cant wait to meet her!

Surprise, Surprise!!
Since we went through fertility, the whole pregnancy wasnt much of a surprise to anyone. We didnt get to do the whole, "guess what... we're pregnant" thing. So... we decided we were surprising everyone w/ the gender. When we went to the dr and scheduled our sono appt for 2 wks out, we told everyone it was actually 3 wks out, sneaky sneaky.. hee hee. Prior to our sonogram appt, I bought 2 iron ons: 1 said "baby boy" and the other said "baby girl". After our sonogram appt I went home and iron'd on the "baby girl" to a white tshirt. I then went by my sisters house and surprised her first. She didnt notice it at first.. I actually had to say "Do you notice anything on me??".... then she saw and couldnt believe it. She and my Mom thought for sure I was having a boy!

After work I went by my Dad's house to surprise him and my step-Mom. I walked in and Dad says "baby girl.. ya, you're my baby girl. What?? Are you having a girl?" haaa.. He and Barbara are really excited and cant wait for the arrival of their new baby granddaughter.

I had talked to my Mom earlier in the day and asked if she wanted to have dinner. She lives 45 min from us, so we were worried we wouldnt be able to get her to come. But, since sis just had baby Brenden it wasnt hard convincing her. We both headed Southbound from work and all planned on meeting for dinner. Since I stopped by my Dad's on the way there, I was running a little later than everyone so it was perfect timing. They were all at the table when I walked up... Mom looked at my shirt a bit confused at first "baby girl??? baby girl !!! omg, a little girl!!!! I thought you weren't finding out til next wk??" Thats when we all said "SURPRISE!".. she was really surprised and SO excited we set her up for dinner.

After dinner, we gave Chadd's parents a surprise visit. Chadd had called his Mom beforehand and chatted w/ her a bit to make sure they were home. We walked in and his Mom was on the phone.. we were in the kitchen talking to his Dad but he never noticed.. MEN, ha! I went and sat down in the chair in front of his Mom.. she was on the phone w/ her sister and when she finally noticed what my shirt said, her jaw dropped.. she couldnt believe it!! We all exchanged hugs and kisses and their eyes filled w/ tears. They are really excited for a little girl.. she'll be the 1st girl on that side after Chadd and his brother, and his brother has 2 little boys. She wont be spoiled at all.. :D

All in all, this was one of the most amazing days and I will NEVER EVER EVER forget this day!! We have both agreed that now that we know she's a girl, the bond has just grown fonder and we cannot wait to hold her, kiss her, and love her every day of our lives.

Her name will be ........ Dakota Grace (Grace after my Mommy!!!)

I'm #1 !!! :D

17 weeks..

Ok so I haven't blogged in an awfully long time (over a month) about our little Beeb. I'm 17 wks today (4 months & 1 wk) whoooo hoooooo!!! I cant believe how fast this is going by. So far pregnancy has been a breeze (knock on wood) cause I haven't been sick at all, except the occassional acid reflux/heartburn which the doc gave me some meds for (and boy do they help!). Yes, I'm starting to get a little baby bump, and I'm in maternity clothes. They are OH SO comfortable!

Our little one this week is about 3.5 ounces, 4.4-4.8 inches long, and is about the size of your hand opened wide.. so amazing how fast they grow!!

We had a dr's appt yesterday and there's not much to tell. We listened to the heartbeat, but I bought a doppler so we can listen to the heartbeat anytime we want. We just really talked to the dr, asked ?s, and went over diet (since my darling husband decided to "tell" on me that my diet hasn't been so great). I know how to eat well, and have started eating better this wk. No more fast food for Momma! :o( I've gained 6 pounds through the whole pregnancy, but 5 of that has been this past month.. not good! ha!

BEST NEWS of the whole appt was scheduling our gender sonogram for 3 wks!!!!!!! We are BEYOND excited to find out what baby M is! I am SO ready to decorate and buy stuff for the little one. I can barely stand it anymore! Alot of people are asking me what I "feel" it is.. and I have noooo clue. I always have an opinion for every other preggo, but not for me. Sometimes I feel boy, and sometimes I feel girl.. so who knows. I did a poll and most everyone is saying GIRL. We will be thrilled either way, we just wanna know! :D :D

Will try and update more :D :D Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!!!