Coming May 2012

Coming in May 2012 will be a baby BOY Bessey! We couldn't be more thrilled! We both really wanted a boy and can't wait to meet the little guy. I personally feel a bit nervous since during the entire sonogram, he didn't stop moving...and I am not kidding. The nurse laughed and asked what I ate for breakfast as she chased him around with the wand to get good pictures. An active boy it is! Yay!

Christmas Activities

Our Christmas weekend was spectacularly spent with Christmas like activities and lots of fun with friends. It was very relaxing to stay here in DC and to not have to travel, although, we greatly missed our family! Our weekend began on Friday afternoon with a trip to Arlington Cemetery to see the wreaths. Every year, a company from Maine donates wreaths to Arlington Cemetery to place at as many of the graves at Arlington as possible. Beautiful and sobering to see the views at Arlington. I am very grateful for all the men and women who serve in the Armed Forces, especially those who have lost their lives in service.

After the trip to Arlington, we went on a tour of the East Wing of the White House. Ryan had never been in the East Wing before and I hadn't been since I was an intern 6 years ago (geez, I can't believe it has been that long...) On our way to the White House, we saw that Einstein was all dressed up and ready for Christmas, he's a good man.

It is a special treat to see it at Christmas time because it is amazing and awesome with all the decorations AND you can take pictures, which is forbidden the rest of the year. For your viewing pleasure, here are a few shots of what the Obama family sees at Christmas.

That night, we went with our fantastic friends, Mandy & Trent Bowen, to see a house in Maryland that Ryan heard about on the news. This guy decorates his house and front lawn with an impressive light show timed to a radio station. It. Was. Awesome. 
 

I think my favorite part is the lights on the neighbors house...There was only one word written in lights and they called it good for their house. I would totally do the same thing if I lived next door to these people!

On Christmas Eve and Christmas, we celebrated and ate a lot of food with several of our dear friends that also stayed for Christmas. We attended a party at the Kachers and then the Curds on Christmas Eve and had a blast with fun friends! No pictures really came of the events...oops.  Oh except this one of the guys toasting to something, who knows what they were talking about at the moment but my guess is that the NBA season started the next day.

Then on Christmas we went to church and enjoyed a wonderful Sacrament Meeting of music and beautiful Christmas messages. We are so grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ. I love reading the Christmas story in Luke and also in the Book of Mormon. It reminds me of how blessed we are in our lives because of the love, mercy and grace of our Savior.

After church, we went to my childhood and longtime friend, Kayleen (Lamb) Fuller's, home for delicious Christmas ham and all the trimmings. I have never been so grateful for maternity leggings because I ate a lot of food. All in all, it was a fantastic holiday and we are grateful for all those that let us enjoy their company!

Oh and Ryan blew it out of the park this year with my Christmas present. I love it so, so, so much. And the sneaky guy told me for days he got too busy to get me a Christmas present and to not be disappointed. He said he would combine Christmas and our anniversary and make it up to me. Totally tricked me, I was definitely not disappointed!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!!

Christmas Is Coming!

I love Christmastime! We decided to stay in DC for Christmas this year and so we decorated our apartment more than we usually do and it makes me so happy! I had lots of ribbon around so I decided to use it...kind of everywhere...and I love it. This only shows half the room but just picture more ribbon on all the pictures in the room, plus everywhere else it would go.

Last weekend, we went to dinner with some friends at National Harbor and the decorations there are amazing, especially in the Gaylord Hotel. I wish I could have decorations like that at home! With that many lights around of course. And seriously, the hanging Christmas tree...awesome.

Ryan convinced me to be fun/not lame when we went to National Harbor and wear our "Christmas sweaters" that we found at his parents house in his box of old clothes. The first question is, whose sweater is better? Mine or Ryan's? The second question is, does any of Ryan's family remember Ryan actually wearing these ever? If so, I want stories.

Lastly, here is a belly pic. I blame a migraine for the tired eyes/pale face, but this pose is per Ryan's request and makes the picture way better. I am 18 weeks in the picture and I am feeling awesome! 

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

Mother May I...

Mother may I please come join your family of two on May 18, 2012 and make it a family of three?

Yes, baby, you may! We can't wait! :)

Utah!

I love August, it is my favorite month of the year. It means that I pretty much don't work for the month (please hold the cracks about how I don't work any of the months of the year...I really do work. Most of the time.) This year, I decided that it had been far too long since I had seen my family and I was going to Utah. And if I was going to make the trip, all of my siblings should come too! So for a few days, all of my family except for Mom and Dad and Ryan were together. We caused all sorts of havoc and I loved every second of it. I even got to meet the newest addition to the crazy family, little Charlotte...oh and is she is a doll.

My one regret was not having a camera for the best moments. Like when I challenged Mark to kick a branch of a tree and he kicked it but then fell flat on his butt. Jamie and I about peed our pants and Troy just did a slow clap. Or the time when Kimball tried to teach me how to do his iguana dive and I failed miserably and slapped the water really hard. Or when Scott and I chowed down on donuts from Dick's Bakery and remembered why sugar makes you sick when you get older. Okay so I wish I had a camera glued to my head. Since I don't, here are the pictures we did get.

Abby, Molly, Lauren in the back, Lucy in the far back and Elena

Lydia, Allie and Lucy

Andrew, Kimball and Eddie

We got to celebrate Troy's 36th birthday.
And we got to give him a hard time for getting old. So awesome.

The adorable Charlotte

Playing "Mother May I", which we played A LOT. I had forgotten how fun this game is.
And we came up with some awesome "steps". This was my froggy hop. I still wish we
had a picture of Mark doing his booty shake side step. He won cause his booty doesn't
stop shaking and so he kept moving to the finish line.

At the splash pad. The water was super cold. The kids (and Justin) loved it

Lydia

Elena

Andrew

Henry and Lucy

Abby, Lydia and Allie

I just cannot get over how cute Henry looks in this picture

Troy and Jamie. These two are amazing hosts. They had 18 people
staying in their house for a week. I continued to crash for several more
nights and they didn't even kick me out.

Eddie

Molly at the Alpine Days parade

Lucy, Lydia, Abby, Lauren, Molly and Andrew in the sandbox.

Justin was the only adult that went in the splash pad, what a champ

While I was in Utah, Megan and I made a quick trip to Vernal to see Grandpa and Grandma Knutti. It had been far too long since I have seen them and I wanted to give them both a big hug. My Grandpa was put into an assisted living center a few months ago. He has dementia and it has been really hard on all of us, especially my Grandma, who has been the best caretaker anyone could ever ask for. Before we went over to the care center to see my Grandpa, we stopped at my grandparent's house and we were super lucky and all of the girl cousins that live in Vernal came to see us, along with my Aunt Jill and Uncle Richard. It was so fun! I think we are only missing 3 of the girl cousins in the picture below. It was fantastic to see everyone, I adore my family!

Fun cousins!

We went to see Grandpa and it was a blessing but also very difficult for me. I had tried so hard to prepare myself for him to not recognize me, but I still cried. He didn't know who we were but I know that he knows that Megan and I are two ladies that love him dearly. He held my hand and when I told him I loved him, he got tears in his eyes and told me he loved me too. I lost it multiple times. He is such an amazing man who I have always thought the world of. My Grandma is amazing and shows so much love for Grandpa and for all of us. I could not ask for better grandparents and I LOVED seeing them.


We also got to stop by and see my Aunt Ann before we left Vernal. I just love her and will be forever grateful for her and Jill for everything they do for Grandma and Grandpa. I wish I had gotten pictures with them! It was so fun to spend the day with Megs in the car, we always have things to talk about. It is so wonderful to be with someone that knows you that well (and that will sing duets with you at top volume...)

We really missed Ryan, Mom and Dad and can't wait until next July when Mom and Dad return and we can all come together and cause more trouble. Sorry Mom and Dad, I know you love Argentina and all but I personally cannot wait until next July. Please come faster July, please.

It should also be noted that I got the chance to see the Bessey family a few times as well. I just don't have pictures to prove it. How am I so blessed to have two amazing families in my life? It was so fun to see all of the Bessey family, they are a seriously awesome bunch! Thanks everyone for changing your plans so we could all do a Sunday dinner when it wasn't a Bessey week, I loved it!

That was Utah folks and I loved it. Every single second of it. I wish we lived closer to our families because we sure do love them! Special thanks to Troy & Jamie and Scott & Andrea who let me sleep on beds and couches for 2 weeks, can we move in?

And what did Ryan do while I was in Utah? He worked. AND he competed in a triathlon. He finished in 2 hours and 51 minutes. I married an awesome guy didn't I!?!? He is super hot and strong, so dreamy :).













Congratulations Husband, you are awesome!! Even though you wear a speedo ;)

Dolphins

The last adventure on the fabulous vacation to Cancun was a day of swimming with the dolphins! It was so awesome and we had a blast. It was Tesli's birthday and what a celebration for a cute 1 year old! Now I know that some of you are thinking of how cruel it is to force these dolphins to swim with you and such. I don't completely disagree, but it was a fun experience! Just don't throw eggs at me for animal cruelty, deal?

There isn't really any explanation so how about a slew of pictures? While I realize that people would rather see cute nieces and nephews more than me or Ryan, we own this blog so there will only be an appearance of a few of the kids. For posterity's sake, here are pics of Ryan and I with the dolphins. And a couple of cute kids too :)

Tes was unimpressed by her birthday kiss :)

Me and Ana hugging the dolphin, she was a sweetie!

That is the end of the posts on the Cancun trip. The pictures don't really do justice to how amazing the vacation was. Thank you SO much Mom & Dad Bessey for an awesome trip. We had so much fun! Thank you, thank you!