Weekend in Red Bluff

The day we found out we're expecting a little, old man we drove down to Red Bluff to visit Mr. Mitchell's brother and to help with the lawn. They found out the same day that they're also expecting a little boy! Liz is due about a week and a half before I am, and I am so happy that my boy will have a cousin close in age to grow up with.

We didn't get any 'before' pictures, so the next two will have to be close enough.

That's not grass - it's all weeds.

Combination of dirt and tan.

Luke and Liz's kid enjoying the freshly turned dirt.

Using ingenuity to level the backyard.

Romping behind his dad with his mom following close behind.

Luke filling a stubborn hole.

 

While the boys worked hard, Liz and I goofed off with her little boy and watched a lot of AFV.

Besides yard work we all just talked, watched movies, and had a good time enjoying each other's company.

Drum Roll Please...

Do you see what I see?

It's okay. I didn't see it either until they wrote "I'm a boy!!!" Oh, wait. I still didn't see it. So, they tried again.

I still didn't see it. They put little arrows pointing to all of his 'boy parts' and even wrote it in for me. I still didn't see it. They told me not to worry: I'd see them when the baby came out. 

I began thinking they didn't know their basic anatomy and we were going to have a girl. Then...at the very end of the ultrasound...I saw it!!! I was so excited that they froze the screen and printed out a picture of it on top of the two they already printed. I was very proud of myself. It looks as though we are indeed having a BOY! 

They then did a 4D ultrasound and I'm going to be honest - our baby looks freaky. Let's play this game again.

Do you see what I see?

I see an old man with a goatee 'ahem'ing into his hand before he begins a lecture.

In fact, my fellow LDS peoples, if you were to add glasses I think we'd have...

George Albert Smith.

Mr. Mitchell agreed with me. At least I know there is one other person that sees it. I'm told that he'll look less old-manish once he's fully cooked. Then we'll have an alien. And I'll love him anyway. You know how I can say that with confidence? Because he's already one of my favorite people and I haven't even met him yet.

20 weeks

A Little Bit About Sprout

Sprout is what we are fondly calling our baby until the gender is made known to us...hopefully this Thursday! I found out I was pregnant the night we got back from Mexico. (I don't say "we're pregnant" because, let's face it, we're not. I'm pregnant; we're expecting. There you have it.) I didn't take a picture of the test because I personally don't care for seeing sticks that people have urinated on and I don't think anybody should have to see my urination stick. The product that will come from the test's positive result in 9 months time, not to mention the growing abdomen up to that point, should be proof enough. Wow...I totally got on a soap box there. Sorry. Let me continue with telling you about our Sprout.

We had been trying for awhile to get pregnant and nothing had happened yet and so I didn't believe the test, especially since it was almost 2 in the morning and my brain is not trustworthy at that time. I told Mr. Mitchell about it and said I'd take another one in the morning. The morning came and I suddenly got very nervous about trying the test again. My hopes had gone up a bit; what if they had to come crashing right back down because  my brain couldn't figure out what the pee stick was telling me at 2 in the morning? Mr. Mitchell finally got tired of waiting and practically forced me into the bathroom with the test. (He waited outside - peeing in front of other people is not a favorite past time of mine.) Once again, it came out positive! We were, and still are, so excited!

Because we were going to be moving up to Oregon before the first trimester was over, we didn't meet with any doctors in the area and I relied on babycenter.com to fill me in on what was happening to me. I rather enjoyed the weekly update on what size the baby was. Sometimes they were kind of obscure or they'd use an object that could be just about any size, but one week they said the baby was the size of a blueberry. That seemed pretty reliable and we bumped across some blueberries as we did our grocery shopping that day. This brings you my first tummy picture.

7 weeks...my pants' button is more impressive in size than Sprout at this point.

After that ridiculous photo shoot I decided that I didn't want any more tummy shots until my stomach started showing all of the time.

We made our move to Oregon and settled on a doctor. When he found out that we were about 11 weeks along he was pretty surprised that it was our first doctor's appointment. Apparently we're more patient than most. Because I was far enough along they were able to do an ultrasound through my abdomen where we discovered that I was actually a week further along than we thought. This brought Sprout's official EDD to September 20, 2012. The countdown truly began. (Which also means that the 7 week blueberry picture was actually 8 weeks and I should have been holding a kidney bean.)

Sprout's first picture at 12 weeks

The doctor was very happy with how active Sprout was being. At first it looked as though s/he must be sleeping, and then suddenly BAM! S/he was kicking and punching and flailing and having a grand ol' time. Personally, I was glad that I couldn't feel any of it yet. The doctor was also very surprised with how long Sprout's little legs already are - we're guessing s/he takes after me in that respect.

Right when we got in the car after the ultrasound appointment Mr. Mitchell insisted that we start calling parents right then. I found his enthusiasm quite contagious and decided to call all of my family, not just my parents. I also collected their initial responses:

Dad: Ooohh!
Mom: Wow! Congratulations!
Annie: I kind of knew...
     (Mr. Mitchell decided we should tell his grandma (Wanda: Do you have insurance?) so she wasn't wondering why we were disappearing into town all of the time and she accidentally blabbed a little too much information.)
Garrison: What?
Chris: Oh! Congratulations!
Ryan: Oh! How far along?
Tena: Congratulations!
Britton: Hey!
Jen: Brina! Yay!
Angela: Are you serious?
Carter: What are you doing?
Heather: Yay!
Eric: Congratulations!

Carter's response was my favorite.

The next intentional pregnant picture we took was at graduation. Mr. Mitchell wanted to find a tiny graduation cap to put on my stomach for a picture, but the bookstore didn't have any. We settled for a BYU onesie instead. We don't know the gender, but we figured school colors have to go either way.

Sprout's first clothing

While visiting my friend Jen, who is very much pregnant, we decided we should get a pregnancy shot just in case we're never again pregnant at the same time. It also worked with my rule that my stomach had to have an actual baby bump all of the time in order for it to warrant a tummy picture. It just so happened that the week of the numb-bum was the week my bump started showing all of the time and that I had to stop buttoning my pants. (Thank you BeBand for existing and making life easier.)

We've decided they're practically cousins.

There I am at 18 weeks and my stomach isn't really that big. I didn't mean to push it out, but I have a habit of either slouching or arching my back. Perhaps I will try and use pregnancy as a time to fix my posture...haha, yeah right. I think from this point on I will try and do a weekly picture. I've heard that women regret not taking tummy pictures because then they can't compare them to future pregnancies. Since we're hoping to have more than one child I'm going to try and avoid that very easily prevented regret.

My breasts have been very tender, I'm simultaneously drying out and getting crazy acne all over, I'm pretty consistently tired, and I'm more picky about my foods. I have had zero morning sickness, zero BM issues, zero swelling. Overall, I think my body is taking pregnancy very well. I'll take the unsightly pimples over constant throwing up. Thank you Sprout for being kind to me. Within the past couple of weeks I have felt some little hits or kicks from Sprout, but they're only a few at a time and there will be days in between them. S/he's still got plenty of floating room in there and I suppose I should enjoy that while it lasts - before I know it I'll be getting kicked in the ribs all of the time.

Since we're sooo close to finding out the sex we've started a list of people's guesses. So far we have:

BOY                 GIRL                ZOMBIE
Dad                      Jayme                   Carter
Annie                    Liz                        Britton
Morynn                Luke
Kaleigh                 Finn
Chris                    Harry
Ryan                     Patti
Dawson                Mom
Rachel                  Ryanna
Mike                    Angela
Stephanie             Heather
Liahona

Boy is in the lead and zombie was originated by Carter. We're always open to more guesses!

Perpetual Numb-bum

I'm sure many of you know what I mean by "numb-bum." Mr. Mitchell said his family called it "carbutt," but I prefer "numb-bum." We recently suffered severe perpetual numb-bum, and for good cause. The plan started small and then became "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie..." (with the cookie being commencement at BYU).  There was lots and lots of driving involved, but it was all a good time.

Mr. Mitchell and I drove to Boise (about 8 hours) and spent a day dedicated to running errands that we can't complete while living where there are no stores besides a TrueValue and a two-aisle grocery store. The highlight of the day was getting to see Elder Kevin Miller return home from his LDS mission to Russia. I have known Kevin since he was in diapers; his older sister was my first friend. We took some videos for the Miller family to enjoy:

The next day, in the wee small hours of the morning, we took off to Provo (about 6 hours) for BYU Commencement and Convocation. We technically graduated in December, but BYU doesn't do commencement in December because they don't want all of the families traveling in inclement weather. (Let's just say that there are enough accidents in Utah without a sudden surge of traffic in the snow.) Mr. Mitchell and I originally weren't going to go all the way back just to walk across a platform, but then we found out that my dad was graduating also! He's been working on his degree for 40+ years and after always putting his family first has finally had time to graduate! Congratulations, Dad! 

We got to Provo in a very timely manner and got our caps and gowns and alumni shirts and free cookies and headed off to the hippy hotel to get ready. 

Mr. Mitchell getting ready.

He worked so hard to grow his facial hair out.

We then headed to the Marriott Center where the big commencement is held. All of the graduates had to meet in a parking lot across the way about an hour ahead of time so we could get in line. Mr. Mitchell, my dad and I stood together in my line. I'm sure there were many others lining up wherever they wanted to based on the mixed tassels. (I accidentally ordered the wrong color of tassel, but then I ran into somebody that had also ordered the wrong color and we each just happened to have what the other person needed - so we swapped. Perfect!) After 5 1/2 years of school it was finally my turn to walk across the pedestrian overpass in my cap and gown and I actually got quite excited. 

My dad and I lined up in the parking lot.
(P.S. I have the wrong tassel.)

Mr. Mitchell and I willy-nilly in the parking lot...they frown upon that.

After the big procession to the Marriott Center we had the opportunity to have Elder Dallin H. Oaks, an apostle in our church, as our commencement speaker. If you are interested in seeing what he had to say, you can find it here. The Marriott Center was packed and toasty, but it's always a wonderful opportunity to see a church leader in person and he had uplifting things to say, plus some funny anecdotes. In the video that zeroes in on Elder Oaks, I'll bet you can't help but notice the organ music. What can I say? BYU loves their organ music.

The very full Marriott Center.

Elder Oaks speaking.

Elder Oaks on the big screen. 

After commencement we found my mom who sat in that big crowded Marriott Center all on her lonesome. We took a few pictures, which we do not have, and then went to the hotel for naptime. We made the mistake of going to Cafe Rio for dinner, but other than that we had a peaceful evening. 

We had to rise and shout, er, shine (a little Cougar humor for you - hehehe) very early the next morning to make it to our convocations for our individual programs/schools on time. All three of us were scheduled to walk at the exact same time and we all graduated from different programs. Bummer! I ended up walking with Paul (BYU is very family friendly and so they have no problem accommodating situations like that) at his graduation, which was a good choice because it was probably half as long as mine would have been. My dad walked at his own and so we didn't get to see him walk, nor did they get to see us walk. It all worked out, however, because Harry and Annie drove all the way down from Oregon to see us graduate and were able to watch us walk. My dad also had a bigger crowd because my brother, Ryan, and my sister, Jayme, came with their families and watched him walk. Everybody was happy...I think. 

Unfortunately we weren't able to get any good pictures of us at our convocation, but we were able to get some good ones once everybody was done and we could all meet up together.

We were the first ones to walk in.
(P.S. Now I have the right tassel.)

They announced us together.

Mr. Mitchell gave his mom a Stole of Gratitude.

Apparently we like the sundial.

Getting a smooch by the library.

Enjoying the quiet in the JSB courtyard.

The beautiful South Campus path.

Traditional shot by the cougar outside LaVell Edwards Stadium.

The three graduates.

A small portion of our gang.

Once picture-taking time was done we spent the day with the Earls. We had lunch with one of Annie's old college friends and then drove an hour up to Salt Lake City. While there we took a stroll through Temple Square, visited the Beehive House, and checked out some family history stuff in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. 

Beautiful flowers we found on our way to the Beehive House.

Annie and I wondering about some crazy tulips.

After our time in Salt Lake, the Earls drove us up to Layton (about 1/2 hour) to meet with my family as they went to meet another friend.

The following morning my family was running around like crazy trying to get all packed up and get all of the grocery shopping done for our day at Lagoon. My parents, as a graduation celebration, paid for everyone to go have a great day at Lagoon and it was a lot of fun. 

The gang at the beginning of our Lagoon day. 

Mr. Mitchell and Carter on the first ride of the day.

We were all soaked after Rattlesnake Rapids.
I wish the picture could really do it justice.

Our last picture as the park was closing.

That hat you see me wearing in the last picture was the source of a bit of trouble that day. My hair, as you may know, is ridiculous and it's obnoxious to be riding roller coasters and having your hair flying all over your face and the person the next to you. I didn't have the foresight to pack one and so Mr. Mitchell went and bought me one so that my insane hair could be contained. About 10 minutes later the hat was lost on the White Roller Coaster. I have NEVER lost a hat on a ride before and I was shocked. We dealt with several confused and less-than-helpful employees, but we were persistent and by the end of the day I had my hat back. Pretty sure the people that work on that roller coaster never want to see me again.

That night we drove back to Boise (about 4 1/2 hours) so my mom could be to some meetings in the morning. We finally had a day of rest (yay for Sundays!) and then on Monday morning we were heading over to Pocatello (about 3 1/2 hours) to visit some friends. My best friend, Jen, lives there with her husband and they're expecting their first baby in about four weeks. I couldn't make it to her baby shower and since we were relatively close Mr. Mitchell decided we should go for a visit and take a present. It was so much fun! They made us a yummy dinner, we played frisbee golf, got ice cream, and watched a movie that I fell asleep during. In the morning we were spoiled with a fantastic breakfast before we left.

Me at 18 weeks and Jen at 34 weeks. Pregnant BFFs.
(My butt is bigger than my bump... ...)

After Jen's we went to visit our friend Bryan who was hit while driving his motorcycle and is living with his parents until he's healed up enough to go back to school.

We then drove back to Boise and then back to this tiny, old town in Oregon. Lots of driving that week and, consequently, we had perpetual numb-bum.

It was so nice to have a chance to see family on a special occasion and to be in areas that are familiar and fun.

Mr. Mitchell's favorite memory from the trip: Carter was really excited to get to ride his first roller coaster. As we approached one, Mr. Mitchell told him that he probably wouldn't be tall enough and that we'd have to measure him first. Carter solemnly walked up to the measuring stick and waited for the verdict. He was tall enough! When Mr. Mitchell told Carter so, Carter jumped up in the air and did a fist pump; he was ecstatic to go on his first roller coaster!

My favorite memory from the trip: As we waited for the Earls to come out of the visitor's center on Temple Square, Paul lovingly talked to Sprout about the history of the Salt Lake City Temple and what a feat it was to complete it .