This is a new post. (I couldn't think of a better title)

I've given up on a tidy blog. I can never get pictures where I want them or text in the right place and just end up frustrated and cursing, which isn't very encouraging when trying to keep up a blog or stay in touch. So from now on, I will type what I am meaning to say and slap on the pictures and the reader can put the two together. I think that 5 years of yearbook layout designing made me a tad to particular about these things.

I would like to report that things are winding down at work and we are just waiting around for Lucy to make her presence into this world, but this is not the case. I've never been so busy at work since I started with Kids On The Move. I've been working 9 and 10 hour days this week and won't be slowing down for the rest of February or whenever Lucy decides to come. Needless to say, I'm exhausted. I think my body finally decided it was time for a rest, because I woke up with a head cold this morning. I've been sleeping all day and feel quite a bit better. I've been grateful for the busy days, however. They make the time go by really quickly. I am now heading into my last 4 weeks of pregnancy. From what I've read, the last two months really slow down, and expectant mothers wonder if the date will ever come. Keeping so busy helps me to keep my mind occupied and will make the break from work all the more wonderful.

For those who are wondering, I will be returning to work after Lucy is born. But not with out a good 2 months off before returning. Being an employee of Kids On The Move is really a blessing at this time in our life. KOTM has on-site childcare, so I get to bring Lucy with me to work everyday, and she is not far away. I can check on her whenever I want and feed her when she is hungry. My schedule is very flexible and I can work from home as often as I need to. I know that this job came just at the right time in my life. I have had a lot of different jobs in my life and was never really satisfied with any of them. I wondered for a long time if there was a job that I could be satisfied with. But I have finally found my niche. Early Intervention. Didn't even know it existed, but I love it.

With a busy work schedule, I sure look forward to the weekends. James and I have spent the last few weekends making preparations for Lucy. I might have mentioned in my last post that Lucy doesn't have a room to paint or a crib to set up, but we did clean out our coat closet in our front room and converted it into "Lucy Space." Yesterday, we purchased a pack n' play that will act as her crib probably for the first year of her life. People ask me all the time if we are ready for her to come. This is a really hard question in my mind. I feel like we have an ample amount of clothes, diapers, and other essentials to last us for quite a while. I drive around with an empty car seat in my car, so that I can bring her home when the time comes. We have a bed to place her in. James and I have attended pre-natal class, and I feel like we have a pretty good handle on what to expect labor and delivery to be like. (I feel better about it anyway). So am I ready??? I think I'm ready... Except there is this sort of lingering worry about taking on the title of "mother." That's what I don't feel ready for. It's a lot of responsibility and it all seems really hard. I can do hard things. I've done lots of hard things in my life. This is just a new hard thing, and it's a little more permanent than the hard things I've done in the past. So I hope I'm ready, but I can't be sure.

On a different note, it is Anna's Birthday today. We celebrated last night. I've never been much of a Twilight fan. I tried to read the first book, and couldn't make it to the end. I watched the first of the movies when I was in Mexico. I wasn't impressed, but for some reason have felt that it was important to see all of them as they have come out. I think out of curiosity. Anyway, Anna and I made James watch the second one with us about a month ago, and thought it would be fun to make him sit through the third one too. It was fun. I am still not a fan. On the contrary, I think the movies are silly. But we had a good time. I tried making a Boston cream pie from scratch for her cake. It tasted pretty good, but a cake mix would have done a much better job. The home made pizza made up for whatever the cake lacked, so all was well and our tummies were happy. Happy Birthday Anna.

It's BABY TIME!!

We are getting closer and closer to being ready to have this baby. With just a short 5 weeks left before my due date, we decided that we should probably start making some preparations for baby Lucy to come. My mother provided a very nice baby shower that helped us get started. Not only because we got lots of great clothes, diapers, and blankets, but it also got us motivated so that when we got home we just kept going with preparations. We've spent the last three days organizing our small apartment, creating some room for Lucy and all of her stuff. And... We got a car seat! Now really can have this baby, and bring her home.

Back to St. George,... thanks to everyone that joined us for the baby shower. I enjoyed seeing all of my friends and people I love down there. We appreciate the love and support we recieved. The weather was so nice we ended up staying an extra day soaking up the sun. I love that St. George weather!!!

North Carolina (a picture post)

I loved meeting my cute new nephew Max. I held and kissed him as much as possible.

So many fun parks.

Jake, the cutest toothless toddler ever.

Traci showed us all around North Carolina. I was impressed how well she was able to make it around the whole area with ease.

Delicious icecream at the Mayville Farms (I think).

James and I put on a Mexican spread one of the nights. It was DELICIOUS!

James practicing the baby pack. I thought it was adorable and can't wait to strap Lucy to him in the near future. He was a natural.

Max was so content wherever we went.

Jake found a friend at Duke park. He was obedient to all of her demands.

James and Russ both thought this would be a good idea... Needless to say, I laughed my head off watching both of them try to get out.

The Staheli gang in front of Duke chapel.

I love this kid.

Jake loved to watch as James played Plants and Zombies. Actually he didn't care who was playing it, he just liked watching it.

New Year's Eve we had a Rockin' party that included a bubble dance party, candy bar bingo, Despicable Me, and we also raced the clock to see how fast we could put together this 300 piece puzzle. Traci, Russ and Scott made it to midnight. James and I hit the sac early because we had to get up early the next morning for our flight home. We really did have such a great time and Traci and Russ treated us so well, it was hard to leave. We really had such a great time and enjoyed seeing the sights of North Carolina. Thanks so much to the whole Staheli Family for a rockin' Awesome good TIME!

First Week of Christmas Vacation

Just an update on our Christmas break. I had a full two weeks off for Christmas break, which was wonderful. James just had to work on Monday and Tuesday, so I decided to get a few extra hours in on Monday as well. We planned to head down to St. George Tuesday afternoon. We knew we would be flying on Christmas day, so we decided to have Christmas early together, for Family home evening. It was so much fun. James planned a really great program for the two of us. We read Christmas stories, sang hymns, and watched my families version of the Nativity from our old home videos. It was wonderful to take some time and really focus on our Savior Jesus Christ. After, we opened presents and made a delicious breakfast for dinner feast. James mostly got practical stuff from me and all I asked for was the grater addition to my Bosch, which I got and was thrilled. We did fill each other's stockings with a few other surprises and it was a lot of fun.

Tuesday was our first encounter with the weather. It snowed all morning long. I knew that we had plans to leave for St. George that day, I spent the day watching the news, studying the weather and looking up driving conditions on I-15. It finally stopped snowing, just a little after noon, and I knew if we just waited a couple of hours we would be fine. So we packed up and headed down the road. The roads were absolutely clear which was the first traveling miracle of this Christmas vacation.

The next day we had dentist appointments and went to lunch with Mason. James comes out again with a perfect record, no cavities. After having two cavities filled, just over Halloween, I still had another small cavity that Mason said could wait. Ugh.. Hopefully our children have their father's teeth.

Later that night we made Mexican food for my family and decorated Ginger bread houses. I got the three little pigs award, because my house was made of bricks (Big Red Gum). James was the judge this year and he was obviously showed no biases towards my house, because he picked JoEllen and Maycee as the overall winners.

Christmas Eve is always a lot fun at Grandma Sullivan's. We even got out the chimes this year, which was fun. The kids love James and tackled him as often as he was around.

Christmas day we were off to North Carolina. We left for Vegas airport at 8:00 am and planned to be there later that night, about 8:00 pm. Needless to say it took a little longer than we expected. We arrived in Cincinnati only to find that our connecting flight to North Carolina was canceled. Delta could get us to North Carolina Sunday night from the Louisville airport, so we got to spend the night with Spencer and the kids in Louisville. It was a lot of fun to see them and we were so grateful he was so willing to come get us and feed us. We had a lot of fun with them. Sunday after Sacrament meeting, Spence took us back to the airport, only to pick us up 4 hours later, when our flight was once again canceled. We decided to forget about flying and decided just to rent a car and take matters into our own hands. We left Louisville Monday morning and arrived in Durham North Carolina Monday at 6:00 pm just a couple of days later than we planned but we were so happy to make it.

Christmas Time is Here!

I thought we might just make this mostly a picture post of some of our Christmas pictures that we've taken. I know when some people look at blogs that that's all they look at anyways.

This is probably my favorite picture right here.

We bought this nativity at the Deseret Book.

Lauri made this bow for the wreath. She's pretty darn good isn't she?

Even though we don't have a tree, we do have the presents.

Carl Bloch Exhibit

For family home evening last night James and I visited the BYU Museum of Art to see the Carl Bloch exhibit. If you think you don't know who he is, you would be surprised how many of his works you have actually seen. The church uses so many of them in Ensigns, book covers and many other published works. Some of my most favorite portrals of our Savior, I found out last night were his works.

The exhibit itself is a work of art in itself. Many of the pieces that they have there are the actual altar pieces from different churches and cathedrals in Sweden and Denmark. They are huge and absolutely beautiful. I feel like this is one of those opportunities that is only available once in a lifetime and I would encourage anyone that is within a decent traveling distance that you should see this exhibit. It is free but you do need to get tickets to see it. You can do that at http://moa.byu.edu/ . You can also learn more about this exhibit.

Both James and I felt Carl Bloch share his testimony with us through his works. As well as the care that was putting the exhibit together was a testimony from all those involved.

For posterity's sake...

There you go. I'm gettin' huge and uncomfortable.