Today is Tara's GOLDEN birthday!! She is 23 on the 23rd.
WOW, my first attempt at split pea soup TOTALLY FAILED! (And as a side-note, can I just thank Samuel for coming home, not getting dinner, and still doing the dishes and scraping out both pots? I totally didn't deserve that.) Well, hope you enjoyed this week's cooking disaster.
Well, our Easter weekend was fun, just a day at the beach with some friends with my big belly. I'm kind of embarassed to put this picture on, because unfortunately I am not feeling like a "cute pregnant woman", I feel like I've doubled in size overnight, a pair of pants that used to be baggy won't fit anymore, and I'm feeling a little bad about it. But oh well, I know you guys have been there and felt unattractive, so I'm branching out here. Saturday night was an adventure though, I needed to buy 12 plastic eggs for my Easter lesson in YW's, and it was only around 9 p.m., so first we went to Wal-mart...all sold out! Then we went to Longs Drugstore...all sold out, then we went to two grocery stores, and they were all sold out!! I couldn't believe it, my whole lesson pretty much revolved around those eggs (you guys are probably familiar with the Easter lesson where little objects go in the eggs to tell the story of the atonement, crucifixion, and resurrection). Anyway, finally I got a thought to call Mel, who has two little kids, I figured she just MIGHT have eggs that she used in the morning and I could use in the afternoon (church is at 1 p.m.). Sure enough, she saved the day and the lesson by lending me some plastic eggs (and then reading her blog I found out she got the LAST BAG at Wal-Mart at 7 a.m. Saturday morning! Wow!) THANK YOU MELODY!!!One thing I love about our family ward here is that there are tons of young couples, some with little kids, and some without. Since we can't be with family except on major holidays, we tend to get together. Mark and Marty had Easter dinner at their house, and a small group of us got together for dinner. I made my first-ever Funeral potatoes (the cheddar sour cream yummy kind) and they worked out pretty good...I just realized that none of us has kids yet, so it was an adult dinner and there were no eggs to hunt. Holidays are still all about food I guess! I'm excited to have a kid to add to the mix though, especially seeing all your cute pictures.
As we were driving to dinner we saw this lovely sight out the window. So I thought I'd share the Easter rainbow. Happy Easter.
Yes, we are having a girl, which means cute girly outfits (yay!) and also, Samuel and I were right (that gut feeling). Oh yeah, so was the Chinese calendar, haha. If you’re pregnant and want to get a “prediction” of what you’re having, click here. It’s 50% accurate. 
Anyway, I am 20 weeks along this week, (due date is August 25). We actually got our ultrasound two weeks ago. My baby was/is measuring “big” for her age (GREAT!) just kidding, big is good, and although it took an hour to get her to uncross her legs, we finally confirmed that it is a girl.
And we're talking huge all over...as you can see from the picture (and you know I didn't choose the one where I look the fattest), I’m more round…everywhere! My bum is at least an inch bigger, that's gonna take some good exercise to get off! I’m not complaining about the “big jugs” though, as someone anonymously calls them (guess who) but too bad about the junk in the trunk, what purpose is that serving?
Speaking of big jugs, isn't it a nice treat for us smaller women? Not to mention the "bonus" for our husbands! Maybe that's their reward for putting up with us while we are hormonal WRECKS! For about five weeks (month 4?) Samuel was kind of scared to say or do anything that might set me off. Sorry hon! So, his consolation prize is the big jugs, but then again, they hurt so much the first trimester, they were off limits. Eye candy only! (Pardon my bluntness). I found this picture on the web, I had to throw it in, not that I would ever let my husband wear a T-shirt like this.
Hahaha, okay, so back to my reflections, I will never forget the day I decided just to “check” and see if I happened to be pregnant- I wouldn’t be “late” for a few more days. I had some little pregnancy test/strips, so no big deal to waste them! It was the day before my birthday, and I was meeting Samuel at a big Christmas choir rehearsal. Right before I left, I took the test, and when I saw the second faint line start to appear, I could hardly contain the excitement. I must have smiled the whole morning, with my little secret, my best birthday present ever. I kept it from Samuel for 3 whole hours, then I just showed him the test and he was like, so…what does this mean? And I was like, WHAT DO YOU THINK? WOOHOO!!
The nausea started at six weeks, at first bearable, but not for long. Everyone said I was lucky I wasn’t throwing up, but I was unlucky in that I was walking around sick to my stomach and gagging from the time I got out of bed in the morning until I fell asleep at night. Eating was miserable, but it was the only thing that barely eased it for me. One Saturday morning I slept in late and hadn’t eaten, but I wasn’t feeling well. Sam, trying to be helpful, started offering ideas, do you want toast? Do you want eggs? Do you want soup? Just the thought of food set me off, and that’s when I really got hit- cold sweats, trembling, and I ran to the toilet…Samuel, with lightning speed, heated up a can of soup and came racing into the bathroom where he spoon-fed as I sat on the bathroom floor. I’ll never forget that morning! He saved the day. But I still had to work full-time, which didn’t help, and I will never forget the day I prayed (in desperation) for help dealing with the nausea, or I was never having another child. That help came within a few hours, and a few days later, I had Sea-Bands to wear on my wrists, which took the edge off for the next 4 weeks. But wow, I was sooo tired all the time! I fell asleep in a movie theater, that was a first.
At 9 weeks we got to have our first ultrasound, and hear the heartbeat, and see a little baby shape. It was thrilling and amazing, and I couldn’t believe it was really happening. I cried.
Of course, ironically, at 12 weeks, feeling much better, I randomly threw up, which happened once a week for four weeks. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought, and I would take that any day over all-day nausea.
At 16 weeks I felt something like a big bubble bursting in my belly, and wasn’t sure…but at 17 weeks after a big helping of dark chocolate M & M’s, our baby started really kicking. This has to be one of the most amazing phenomenon’s I’ve ever experienced, in fact, it is the highlight of every day now, when I feel her moving and trying to get comfortable.
Anyway, I know a lot of women don't enjoy pregnancy much, and I've heard it gets pretty uncomfortable at the end, but all I can say for now is this pregnancy bit is amazing, and I almost feel bad for all the men who don't get to experience it. Good luck to all my friends and relatives that are pregnant. My sister Krystal is due in May and my sister-in-law Erin is due in July, both having girls, Katie, due in July, me in August, Genis in September, Amy J. in October, and Melody in November. Isn't that fun. Anyway, that's been my experience so far, I can't believe it's going so fast. I'll just enjoy it while it lasts, til it's replaced with something even better.
So, the roast turned out pretty good, I guess for a first time roast, but the meat didn't have the same taste as my mom's used to, so I'll have to get her recipe. We also had fresh Esplin cattle meat to use all the time, and maybe THAT'S why it was so tasty! 
And even though I spent 18 months in the south, this was the first time I ever saw a "Drive-In" church, you can worship while sitting in your car in a parking lot! Haha! So, yay for Florida.
Then, one of their old hotels is now a college, Flagler college. It was weird, cause there were all these tourists in the lobby, and then there were college kids going in and out of the library and to their dorms and stuff. It was beautiful, inside and outside, but here's a little glimpse.
I like this picture of Allie and "Grandpa Dale"- she's the only granddaughter for now, but that will change soon!
So cute! Matching! I don't think it was on purpose- Malakai gets his first dip in the ocean.
The boys got busy building their version of a sand castle, a big round thing, which was later filled with dead jellyfish. They spent all kinds of time building a mote around it and trying to stop it from getting washed away. Later, the tide came in and did wash it away. But still, way to go boys. (Sidenote: It was fun seeing them all working together, and I was happy that Samuel was right there with them. I think he fits in the family just fine.)
The moat worked, and diverted the water around the "sand castle" and Jeff was excited!
"‘Jesus, take the wheel,’ that’s not very nice of Jesus.”
Damon to my sister, Tara
“Mom, can I have some more throw-up?”
Damon, to me. My nephew was standing up against the table where Damon was eating breakfast and spit up just as Damon was finishing his bowl. He tried to ask for more cereal, but must have had throw-up on the brain, because that’s what he asked for, completely serious.
“That IS a big mutha!”
My mom, to Tara and me. My brothers were scooping up the dozens of jellyfish at the beach and putting them in a pile. Tara commented that the big one was the mother, and my mom busted out with this. We couldn’t stop laughing.
“Careful!”
Allie, to herself, after she had fallen off the couch.
“Look at me, I’m a dental student.”
Damon, to me, after clipping a mechanical pencil to his shirt. Jeff’s scrub tops have a place to clip pens in, and apparently Damon has taken notice and likes the idea. I think someone needs to tell Damon that we’re on to ortho school now, though. 
Here's Allie in a gift shop...think she likes the Minnie dolls?
I got called out of the audience to be an "extra" in Indiana Jones, this was like a faux "audition". It was pretty fun, they dressed us up later like Arabs and anyway, silly fun.
Samuel in New York City. (It's just a backdrop.) Cool though, huh?
Oh yeah, thanks to a timeshare promo, we got our Disneyworld tickets free, along with 4 nights in a nice condo. (We didn't buy into it, as tempting as they make it sound.) Kimmy, Damon, and Jonny stayed there too. Damon wanted to go swimming, but it was too late, so we took a big bubble bath in our big jacuzzi. This one was more....clover shaped. We were having too much fun. 
We had them take a picture of our entire family, all together at last. 2 parents, 6 kids, 3 boys married into the family, 4 grandkids, and 2 on the way. My camera has a delay, and it caused heads to get cut off. Sorry, this is the only shot we got.
That night we left Jonny and Kimmy to baby-sit the 4 kiddies and we went to the Orlando temple to do an endowment session. It's pretty neat to be in the temple with your family, and it was even cooler because we were the only people in the session, except for one other guy. It was only the second time through for Eric, and it was a wonderful experience. 
Eric's mission call came while we were in the temple (in Utah) and our Stake President faxed it to the hotel, where Eric read it to us. (We had grandparents and cousins on two phones, listening in, Kimberlee is there holding two phones up.)
He got called to the California San Diego mission, Spanish speaking. Estamos bien animados!! Jeff, Wayne, Samuel, and I all served Spanish speaking, and we are excited for Eric to learn Espanol. My dad knows Japanese...but has no one to speak it to.
My nephew Damon took this picture of us (he went crazy with my camera!) but some turned out pretty cute, again though, head cutting off problem! Me and Jonny are happy for Eric. He's leaving April 25th!! 
Finally home! It was a fabulous trip. March 10th was probably the best day of my life. I'll never forget it. It was so fun to see so many people and loved ones, that made it most memorable of all. So, it'll take me a week or two to tell all about it, but to start with, we got into Vegas the night before our sealing, and didn't get to St. George until 3:15 a.m.! I got about 4 hours of sleep, then went to my hair appointment. I kind of just left it up to my stylist, who is actually the younger sister of my close friend Genis. My hair turned out pretty similar to one of the pictures, I really loved it. I decided not to wear a veil, when I put on the tiara, it seemed like enough. The sealing itself was amazing, we both cried like babies. And it was a fun surprise, my little brother Eric got endowed the morning of my sealing, and so he was there at my sealing in the afternoon. My mom had told me he wouldn't be endowed in time. (He got his mission call 5 days later, more on that soon!) We took all these pictures, here's a few of my favorites: 
(And...if you REALLY have a lot of time, you can check out all the pictures, tell me which ones are the best, in your opinion, before we print any out. Here's the link, password is march10.)
We had a wedding/sealing dinner after that, and we played a short slideshow, if you want to see it, click here, the username is HSB and the password is aloha. And it works better if you let it load before you push "play".
Okay, that's all for now, but I'll be back!!!!
