sooooo zooey

got my hair cut today. i really like it. i was going for the whole zooey deschanel, 500 days of summer, thick blunt bangs look. not the greatest picture but you get the idea.

banana day

i declare the next 4 days banana day! why? because i love buying produce from costco. in doing so we are forced, the two of us, to go into fruit binges for a couple of days while it is still ripe. i have been waiting patiently for this huge bag of bananas to ripen and the time has come. my poor husband now must endure four days of cherrios with bananas, peanut butter and banana sandwiches, banana smoothies, and just plain bananas as a mid day snack. sounds yummy right? yah we shall see if he is still speaking to me when the four days are over.

it doesn't stop.

The most recent belly shot taken. This is at about 17 weeks. I am almost 20 weeks now and I need to take a new belly shot because I swear I have doubled in size since then. Check it out I am actually wearing a belt in that picture. The belt no longer touches over my belly now.
Doubling your size in a small body like mine is a PAINFUL process and it's not done growing!!! What?? Are you serious? The growing doesn't stop? oh jeez, this is going to hurt. It is the most odd feeling in the world to feel your body being pushed from the inside- out. For my stomach muscles to be sore from being stretched outward, instead of being sore from being sucked inward. And the new discovery of the week: having a patch of skin that is now numb constantly on top of my right ribs (found out to be caused by rib seperation because of my ever expanding diaphragm)... why didn't anyone warn me about these things???! Okay let's try and remember the positives: I can feel the baby moving almost constantly now (yup just felt a lil kick right now), being pregnant is beautiful, I can allow my belly to hang out as far as possible without feeling bad about it, my husband tells me all the time how beautiful I am pregnant ( I really do need to hear that especially after stepping off the scale) and I am beginning to get public attention now because of the bump (which may soon jump to the negative side but for now it's fun).
So now for the BIG news!! We have known for a while now but we are having a BOYYY!! We are eccstatic! It just made everything much more real to us. I can't wait to see how cute he is!
We decided when we found out the sex of the baby to keep it a secret from our families until Christmas (also, it's an inexpensive gift for us poor people). It was a hard secret to keep but we did pretty good. It was really fun to share the ultrasound with everyone and watch their reactions when they saw the butt shot haha. So fun. What made it more fun is that mostly everyone thought FOR SURE it was a girl, SURPRISE! Actually Brady and I also thought for sure it was a girl so we were just as shocked at the ultrasound to see the butt shot. I am thinking this baby likes surprises.
So the holidays are over...so sad. We had a wonderful Christmas this year. We had to make our Christmas on Christmas Eve because both of us had to work on Christmas day (bummer, I know). Nonetheless it was still awesome! Mostly, I just love watching Braden open his gifts. He is such a little kid sometimes- maybe a lot of times, but he makes my life so much fun.
We had a Christmas party with most of the Harker side (we missed Max, Jayme, Halle and Trey) and my brother Brad and his family (now official Utards) were able to come to the party also. We then flew to SoCal for my family Christmas party. Party party party. We had a great time with all of our family! And we miss them all already. It's just not enough time.
New Year's Eve we were on a plane home from Long Beach. We barely got home before midnight and completely missed the countdown because we were exhausted and getting ready for bed... oops. Actually I totally forgot about it until I could hear firecrackers going off outside. What was cool though was that we were able to watch fireworks while laying in bed looking out our window. Someone was lighting off huge ones up on the mountain behind us, it was a good lil firework show.
It was an awesome Holiday Season this year! We have so much to look forward to for 2010: A BABY BOY!, Braden's graduation, full hearts and empty pockets!

A little holiday fishin'

The Time Has Come

Okay, here we go. The first baby bump picture. A terrible one at that because I took it myself amidst the unpacking mess.
Another thing to report, we moved! It all happened within four days! Wow it was fast and stressful and exhausting! We had help from some amazing people! Shout out to Morgan, Alex, Larynn, Darren, Reese and my awesome bro Brad. These people saved our butts and my back! Thanks again you guys! We have some pretty awesome friends.
We moved into a town home in North Salt Lake. No we did not buy it, we are still renting but it was a steal of a deal so we jumped. It's a two bedroom, twice the size of our last place with a one car garage and a little grassy backyard. We have been here for a week now and so far it's been GREAT for us.
No more construction truck noises every single morning, no more dusty cars and porches from the huge dirt piles on the other side of the wall, no more partying smokers as neighbors, no more mysterious pot smells coming from who knows where, no more waking up from banging on the walls at 5 am, no more trying not to be too loud when friends come over!! Yay, I will not miss apartment living. Now, maybe in the future we will have to go back to that lifestyle but for now I will enjoy every second of life without it.
Pregnancy update: I am about 14 weeks now. Just entering my second trimester and wow it's a beautiful thing. Morning sickness has now faded and body fatigue is mostly gone. My body no longer looks like mine. As you can see from above I am starting to show a little bit. It still just looks like I am fat but I know I am pregnant so I am fine with this pooch.
I also bought my first couple of pairs of maternity pants this week. My tummy was over being dug into by the rim of my pants, followed by a hair tie stretching out over my navel.
Let me just tell you that maternity pants are wonderful. Why can't I wear these at all times? Is there something wrong with that? Because I honestly plan on wearing these when I am no longer pregnant. Wearing them is like wearing stretchy pants at all times! Which means room for a full belly after a great meal, what I have always dreamed of.
Baby is the size of a large orange and apparently moving a lot but I still cannot feel it.
As Braden watches my belly grow, he gets more and more excited about being a daddy. It is the best thing in the world to see that love grow over time. Oh wow this pregnancy thing is just too fun. Honestly, so far I LOVE IT.
Oh yah and one last thing. Tomorrow we are heading to Washington to be with the Harkers for Thanksgiving and we are so excited! We are driving, don't worry we have snow tires. Plus, Braden and I LOVE roadtrips together. We also love Wenatchee. Excited to spend time with beautiful family and friends in a beautiful place.

BIG NEWS!

For those of you who do not know.... I AM PREGNANT!! Shocked? Yes, I know. We were also shocked at the news BUT sooooo excited. We couldn't be more thrilled to welcome our own baby Harker into the world. I am due May 24, putting me in my 12th week of pregnancy.
Thank goodness I am at the end of my first trimester because boy it is rough! I am a wimp when it comes to sickness, especially nauseated sickness. So Brady is ready for a new phase of the pregnancy, haha. Both my mom and my sister were not sick at all their first trimester! How did I get so lucky? I just hope it will ease up soon.
We went to the doctor a couple of weeks ago and we were able to see the baby! Oh wow, if you could only have seen Braden's face. It was classic. Cartoon classic jaw drop to the floor and everything. I guess he thought I was faking it all this time? ;) It was wonderful to see that there is actually a little peanut in there with a heart that is beating at full force with arms and legs wiggling along with it. Braden kept saying, "Can you feel that?!" "You can't feel that?!" haha Amazing, amazing, amazing experience. A moment that has been engraved in my memory forever.
So now that baby is on the brain and in my belly, life has already begun to change for our family. My life has changed dramatically! Holy cow. It is the most odd thing in the world to me to have my body take over my life and dictate what I do and, mostly, don't do. My house is embarrassingly grungy and it's driving me nuts! School work is always a struggle to keep up with and sleep is always deprived, especially with those twice-a-night trips to the bathroom- which I know only increase.
Braden has always been wonderful with children and babies, but lately he pays more attention to them when we see them at friends and families home's, at grocery stores, or out and about. He has been wonderful in accommodating to my newly acquired tastes and sleeping patterns. He also gives me much needed massages! I couldn't have asked for a better husband and future father to our children.
So for now we are looking at 2 bedroom apartments and making plans for the future! May will be a big month for us! We have finals, Braden is graduating from college (I'm so proud of him!), and our baby is due!
Honestly, we are loving every second of our life right now. We have been so blessed in countless ways, we couldn't be more grateful for this beautiful surprise gift our Heavenly Father has sent down to us. :) Thank you for all of your love and support, we could not survive without it.



Just wanted to share the moments after we first found out the big news :) WARNING: I go into some detail of what I have been going through, so beware of words such as: boobs.









Enjoy.