Belly

So at first I was pretty good about taking weekly pictures. Then as I got bigger and the pictures got more exciting, I became more lazy. And more self conscious- I don't like to take pictures of my fat-ness unless I look good which doesn't happen all that often, plus I don't have the camera out every time I feel good enough for a picture. Sorry guys. Even posting some of these makes me a little uncomfortable, so please don't judge!

15 weeks:

16 weeks:

18 weeks:

19 weeks:

20 weeks:

22 Weeks:

23 Weeks:

Almost 28 weeks:

Work Christmas Party

Well, we were popular this year on December 3rd. We were invited to our married ward Christmas party, and both of our work christmas parties. We chose to attend Todd's work party. Not only is it my alma mater of 5 years employment, but they were going bowling. No brainer. Here are a few pictures of us in our amazingness. Sorry they are dark. It was that cool black light kind of bowling.

You should know a bit about my talented husband. His first game I think he bowled 162 or something outta control like that. He scored well all day, I think we got 4 games in because Todd and I were lucky enough that our bowling partners didn't show up until the very end. All the other lanes had 4 or 5 bowlers while we just had us 2. I even did pretty well, scored over 100 every time! At the end the top prize went to the team with the most cumulative strikes. A team consisted of 2 lanes, so Shelly my sister also was doing pretty well and helped us to tie another team in strikes. Well, Todd and some other guy happened to be the two top scorers of the whole night. So they did a bowl off. Whoever bowled the best frame (one chance!) would win the grand prize for their team.

With tension high, Todd bowled a 9 and a spare. His competitor hit only 8 but got the spare. So Todd bowls again- strike. I thought we had it for sure. But no! STRIKE from the opponent. Then Todd gets only 8, so I thought it was over. But then we see a split- and the second ball goes in-between the 2 pins. Still a tie! Goodness this could go on all night! Todd then hit 9 and missed the spare, and the other guy got 9- but hit the last pin down. It was a pretty awesome showdown.

Little did we know, the grand prize was some box of chocolates (good, but come on. People get plenty of chocolates during Christmas and usually you only like a few of the flavors anyway). Second place each got a piece of Cheescake Factory cheesecake! So not only did Todd represent our team well, he also won us the better prize by losing! He must have known. What a smart guy.

O Christmas Tree

Last year we were scrooges and didn't even get our own tree. Not this year! We went to Lowe's. (Yes, this phrase should mean to you what "He went to Jared" is portrayed to mean in the commercials. It means that we did the best, most awesomest thing ever in regards to Christmas trees). We picked out a tree that was on sale for $20- it was over 6 feet tall. I think we came out pretty much on top.

You'll have to wait to see the fully trimmed tree. I had work the next day so we couldn't decorated it yet. You'll see it when we talk about Christmas day!

Pasta Pig Out

For the past few years, we have had a very fun tradition of getting together with Todd's family the night before Thanksgiving. Everyone brings a pasta dish to share. This year everything was especially yummy. Most of Todd's cousins were able to come too. I especially was excited to have Jon and Dani there, who have lived in Idaho as long as I've known Todd and just moved down here in September with their little boy, Linkin. It has been a lot of fun to have them around for family get togethers. Also J. Dee, who was visiting from Philadelphia. I sure like it when everyone can come! Unfortunately, I only came out with two mediocre pictures of the food. But know this, you are definitely jealous.

Turkey Bowl

Todd played some flag football with our singles ward the Saturday before Thanksgiving. He was so excited! I wore green in honor of his team color so I could cheer from the sidelines. I think he really enjoyed it, even though it made him feel a bit out of shape. I would have played, but we have a very sporty ward and I didn't want to embarrass myself too much. Plus Todd yells at me if I even jump up and down because I might hurt Lila (true story.)

In this first picture, I capture Todd looking for me. It literally took him about 8 minutes to realize I was just sitting on the ground instead of standing up. Silly boy.

Making a game plan

Break!

Todd Makes the catch!

Next time they aren't so lucky!

Happy Birthday Todd!

Todd's birthday in November was fun. As is our tradition, I had put a few things together for us to do that Todd would like and were a total surprise to him. Todd had school in the morning, so as soon as he got home we set off toward Salt Lake. Unfortunately, we had to turn around at about American Fork because Todd forgot his cell phone. I would have just told him to go without it ntil we got home, but we wouldn't be home at all for quite a while and I wanted him to be able to get his birthday phone calls. Lunch was at Tucano's, for which of course we used his birthday coupon making it a 2-for-1 deal. Still expensive, but at least manageable.

Then we walked around the Gateway mall since we didn't have time for my next activity. We were going to go bowling at the U of U, that would have cost $2 for parking $1 for Todd's shoe rental (I have my own!) and then only $1.50 per game. That's only $6 for our first game and $3 for each after that! Pretty good deal. But we didn't have anymore since it took us about an hour just to go back for the phone. So after some fruitless shopping for shoes for Todd (I had saved some birthday money so he could pick out his own), we headed for Sandy.

We went to Jordan Commons, where we walked up to the movie theater. I hadn't heard Todd talking about any movies he really wanted to see, and as early as I was planning and finalizing everything my only movie option was Harry Potter 7 (since it came out on the same day as Todd's birthday), so that's what we saw. I was afraid Todd wouldn't think it was so great, but it turned out he had actually wanted to see it! I was so happy. It wasn't as exciting as either of us thought it might be, so we are looking forward to part 2 with a little more action.

Todd blinded by the camera in the dark movie theater. (Don't worry, it was before the movie. we didn't disturb actual movie time)
After the movie we went to an indian restaurant for dinner. It is pretty much Todd's favorite way to eat out. It was a good place, we liked it. But we still think our favorite indian place is the India Palace in Center Street in Provo. Yum!

After that was the ultimate surprise! We drove just down to the next exit off I-15, and pulled into the Jim's Family Restaurant parking lot. Actually, we were pulling into the parking lot of the Hampton Inn, but for some reason all Todd noticed was Jim's. It made me laugh how long it took Todd to figure out where we were going. I had picked a hotel that had a pool so we could go swimming if we still had some energy, but we were both pooped. My wonderful and fantastic grandma Faber had done me a favor in delivering a pumpkin pie and whipped cream to the room earlier in the day so we could have some birthday dessert. We opened up the trunk where Todd found all his presents and our stuff for the night stay, and settled in. Then we opened presents! I think he liked most of them, I tried to make sure he would like them all.

The pictures are a bit hard to see, but he got some nice smelling candles, turkey jerky, some scrubs for school with the patch already sewn on the sleeve (Congratulations nurse Todd!) a tie rack (desparately needed, as shown by picture below), Glenn Beck's latest book, some socks (a gag gift, they were free since they were hand-me-down's from my little brother. Styles he doesn't like anymore. However, they are all in much better shape than the ones Todd was wearing!) and a knock off of rosetta stone for Italian. Todd considered using both his Christmas and Birthday money to get the Italian Rosetta Stone, but I found this awesome version at costco for about 30.00! We took a look at some of the features and I think it will be just about as great.

Just as a side note, Todd loves his ties and normally would never let this happen. However, since our church changed to 9:00 at the end of September and his meetings changed to 7:00 am, our hanger that had been just fine for 3 years just didn't cut it anymore. Now it was early and dark and Todd had much less motivation and time to make sure his ties all stayed on the hanger as he pulled off the one he wanted. The tie hanger I got him has proved to fix the problem!

After we opened presents Todd played with his rosetta stone knock-off for a while and looked at his Glenn Beck book a bit. Then we had pie!

Yummy! (Thanks again Grandma!) We both basically passed out after that. We must have had a long week. We enjoyed a hot continental breakfast in the hotel in the morning, then drove down to Orem in the morning for a ward Turkey Bowl. Ironically enough, I left my cell phone under the bed and we had to turn around and go back for it, making us late for the football fun. At least we found it!

Happy Birthday Todd, I love you!!!!!! (even though you are so old!)

People

The thing I am most thankful for this year is people. There are way too many that have helped me with so many things in the last 12 months, and those that have been there for much longer. I don't know what I would do without so many wonderful people in my life.

My Mom. How can I not start with my own mother? There were, of course, times in my teenage years that I thought I "hated" her and wished she were any other kind of mother. But she loves me and all my siblings and wants the best for us. She has a lot of quirks and specifications that I don't understand and sometimes don't agree with, but as a mom she sure was the best kind for me. Always believed in me and knew I could do a good job but didn't let me slack off. She is the hardest worker I know, and I admire her for that.

My Dad. I feel like when I was younger I didn't really know my dad all that well. He was gone a lot and when he was home he was often tired. However, for the last several years (I think about 10 years now), he has become such an important part of my life. He is so gospel oriented and honest and I have learned so much from him. He is the other hardest worker I know.

My Grandparents. I have two sets of grandparents that happen to be around still. I am so grateful for them. They are always willing to help me out when I ask and happy to see me when the family gets together. I love them all!

My sisters. Well, bear with me as I have many. Jasmine: wonderful mother and role model as such. I love that no matter how long it has been since I talked to her or saw her, she is always so happy to catch up and find out what has gone on. I have even considered moving to Oklahoma just because she is there. Jessica: is unafraid to do what she thinks is best. I love her laugh and humor, and love how she expresses her own opinions while respecting others'. Anna: is so enthusiastic and so creative. I love when she cooks or sews or orchestrates anything- I always know it will be good. Shelly: a lot like me. Sarcastic but always willing to help out those she loves. Also extremely unafraid to show who she really is and never wavers in her self-identity. Lauren: I have loved hanging out with her lately. She is a complex teenager and I love to sit and talk to her and hear how her life is going. I know she will do great things in life. Nikenzie: smart and grounded. She is just starting to really grow up (13 in January!) but so far has still shown a great desire for anything that is good and right. I admire her for wanting to be good in such an evil world.

My brother. I guess he gets his own paragraph! I am so proud of him right now in the mission field. He is probably the most loving of us all. I always appreciate when he is excited for me over stupid little things that no one else cares about.

Todd's Family. The good ol' Itri's. It has been quite the adjustment getting to know the customs and habits of the Itri family, occasionally even shocking. But they are a wonderful family and I am so grateful for the things I learn from them and good people they are. Especially I am grateful for my mother-in-law, who sheltered me and took good care of my like my own mom before I was even engaged to Todd. I still am able to call her up out of the blue for any advise or anything else I need. I am also grateful for my sisters-in-law. Stephanie, who I wish I could see more often is an amazing mom, beautiful, and always makes me feel like she considers me part of her family. Lisa and Kelsey are both very different from me, but I have enjoyed getting to know them and learning a bit about their families as well. While it has taken some time, I hope that all of us are able to continue to become better friends and be a buffer for each other against the Itri testosterone.

Puddle. She has been a best friend since high school. I have learned so much from her. She is so strong and beautiful. While I don't get to see her nearly enough, I love every time we get together. I feel lucky to know her and her wonderful husband, Ryan.

Lauren Francis. That is not really her name anymore, but since I always called her that growing up to differentiate between her and my little sister, it is hard to make the switch to Lauren Billings. She was my first best friend in Provo, and has always meant a lot to me. We had a thoroughly bipolar relationship for about the first 8 years we knew each other, ranging from the bestest friends to short-term bitter enemies. But the last few years I have just appreciated her as a friend. She has been there for me and helped me stay young by playing Zelda with me like we used to. I am so glad we have ended our bipolarness and plateaued our relationship in a friends zone.

Christy. Best friend since 2nd grade. I can still call her any time for any thing, and I am so glad that her husband Jason and Todd get along so great. It has made for some really fun evenings and vacations. Christy and I are opposite in a lot of ways, and there are times when I wonder how in the world we ever stayed friends through the years. But I am so glad to have her in my life and for the person that I am because of her.

Miriam. She is in our singles ward and got me my job by giving me an amazing reference when she knew nothing about me. Since then we have become good friends and I love it when I get to see her and work with her. She is even nice enough to have picked me up and taken me home from work a few times. This is very helpful since Todd would have to do it otherwise.

Debbie and Aubrey and Chris. three amazing ladies that I also work with. They are all night shift workers, and I recently switched to working days due to being sick with child. I miss them all a lot, they became very good friends. Chris even got me a souvenir from her vacation, Debbie invited me to a party at her house (not to mention the millions of times she has helped me in nursing or started an IV on someone who had no veins), and Aubrey and I have been out shopping together plus she bought me Chik-fil-A because she knows I love it! One of the reasons I love my job so much is the great people I get to associate with.

Lila and her feet. I am so thankful for my baby girl. She is less than 3 months from officially being part of our family, and she is rambunctious. I say I am thankful for her feet because of all the sad stories I have heard since becoming pregnant about miscarriages and severe birth defects and even having to go to Puddle's son's funeral after a stillbirth. I don't know how any of those mothers are so strong, I don't know if I could handle anything going wrong with Lila. Every time she moves or kicks or does a full on dance recital for me I am so glad to know she is there. Because of her I get to be a mom- and there isn't a whole lot that I could be more thankful for.

Now that my novel is over, I just want to say thanks to all the other people who have been there for me. Even if I don't sit here and mention you by name, you have certainly had an impact on my life and I am very grateful for it. Todd doesn't get his own paragraph because I have already gone on and on about him a few times lately, but he is my other half and has become an appendage I can't live without.

Oh, and by the way, I think Lila is on a growth spurt right now which is the perfect time because I can eat more food now than I have been able to since I was dancing 25 hours a week! Go Thanksgiving food!

Some Fun Stuff

Happy Homecoming!

I helped Lauren do her hair for her first ever school date-dance! I love being able to help my little sisters with fun stuff like this. However, it has made me realize that I am getting old. No, not elderly, just old. My older sisters used to come over and tell me that I was so cute and had such stylish clothes and that I should show them how to be so up-to-date. Well, at the time I thought this was extremely odd as all I did was go to the stores and buy clothes and apparently that made me "cute." All you have to do is look at other people to see what the trends are. Well, I pretty much have become frumpy. My favorite way to get dressed is out of Lauren's closet. I have been very good at washing and returning items and ask almost all the time so she will still let me do it. But now I see- she is cute and I am not and I now know how you can lose it. I would say the number one reason is that I have a husband who values clothes as basically nothing. He won't even let me buy him new socks even though his have holes in them! (Did I already mention this once? Can you tell it really bothers me?) When I was in high school I would go to the mall every few months and spend $100-$250 easily, now I am lucky if I spend $100 in a year! All my cute clothes are lost, worn out, or no longer cute. Ha ha maybe after Lila comes I'll try to be better at shopping sales so I can feel pretty again!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween this year was awesome. Trick-or-treating of course was on Saturday night since we live in Utah. I got to work Friday night, then again Saturday night, then a third on Sunday. So basically I got to stay out all night long every night over the holiday weekend! Too bad I didn't get to go to any parties, give away any candy, or dress up as someone else. Pretty sure that would have been even awesomer. Oh well. At least there was a night earlier in the week that Todd made some cookies while I carved a pumpkin! That was fun on our very small kitchen table.

Happy History!

So I couldn't really think of how else to say "vote" that started with an H. But I contributed to history on November 2, 2010!! I have had 2 chances to vote for national elections before this year, last of which was a presidential election. Each time I wanted to vote, knew it was good, but just didn't do it. So this time Todd and I actually looked at our little Utah voting pamphlet and went out to the polls! Hopefully this becomes a trend and we are good at voting in future years, plus even better at studying the candidates to vote for the best ones. We stuck our stickers on a door frame to remind ourselves that we did something good!

Money Woes

So Todd and I set a pretty lofty goal for ourselves this year. We set an amount of money we wanted to save by the end of 2010. Well, if you don't know Todd, I will tell you that he gets very excited about things and often thinks he can do/things will turn out/we can end up with more than is reasonable. I think I was able to talk him down a bit, mostly by showing him how many more expenses we actually have than he thought we did. But he is so cute in wanting to save for the future. So we finally settled on a goal, though lofty, possibly attainable. Now we are nearing the end of the year. We have done fairly well I think. There have a been a few months that we didn't review our budget, but we revamped it when we paid off our car in August, albeit we did have to then add a new expense we dubbed "baby stuff," plus the new baby medical bills.

And as we strive to meet budget each month, we have done very well in the categories we have made. But things always come up. We need new tires. When we last got the oil changed, Jiffy Lube wouldn't even rotate them because then it would be a liability to them if one the smooth surfaces did something wrong (I don't know anything about tires, does that mean they are afraid it will pop? or just not drive well?) Anyway, with winter coming we are now facing a decision on how much we can spend, how many tires to buy (the front are completely bald and the back just close to it), and we aren't very much of tire experts. I just don't want to die in the snow. We also just changed our cell phone plan. We will actually end up saving a significant amount of money in the long run, but now we will have to pay cancellation fees on our old plan. I wouldn't mind so much if it was January, but we have just over 2 months to save up to our goal! I don't even want to talk about maternity clothes. Right now I basically just stretch out my normal ones. I don't want to buy a whole new wardrobe for 3 months of wear! And none of my sisters have ever been pregnant through the winter so I can't even really ask to borrow anything. Come on, 7 kids between the 3 of them and the latest was November, but he came out in Florida so not much need for a maternity coat or long sleeved shirt!

Anyway, the bottom line is we have been so blessed with what we have been able to accomplish this year. We have sacrificed a lot to get what we have, and we are oh so close to that elusive number! I think if we don't make it we can just blame it on Lila, and in my mind that is a pretty good excuse. Definitely a good reason to not quite make it. Plus we have already saved more than I thought we might be able to. Whether we meet our goal or not, I am so grateful to have had a job this whole year so we could actually put away towards it. So really, this blog should be titled "Blessings".

Diapers and Rain

So we bought some diapers today. First diapers ever, but most certainly not the last. Today we spent $89 at Costco on diapers and baby wipes (using, of course, coupons for both). We have budgeted $100 per month until Lila comes to stock up on the goods. I guess we should probably use some of that money for carseats and such. We haven't spend Septembers $$$ yet and I think that's what it will go toward (a carseat I mean) if we can just make a decision. Sheesh how to you pick from 100,000 options! But we also want Lila to have a clean bum! It just feels weird to actually make that purchase....

It has been raining off and on the last couple of days. And I just thought you should know that I love it!!!!! The other night when I was making dinner I opened the big kitchen window because of the downpour and even with the feet of roof over the porch I still got a bit sprayed but the pouring water being pushed by the wind. It felt wonderful. I hope we have a few more days left in a desert rainy season.

It's A Girl!

Currently, we know about our daughter:

Her name is Lila

Due Valentines Day 2011

She has 2 hands, 2 feet, 2 kidneys

a pumping 4 chamber heart

a brain!

a stomach

a face

likes to kick

Has a daddy who loves her so much he is worried about going to jail for killing some boy in about 16 years (not seriously killing, of course. But he's already protective of his princess)

Has a mommy who is thrilled and loves her like a mother loves her children :)

Is a precious daughter of God

Three

August 1st. A beautiful day this year as it has been the last several. Todd and I started our anniversary the usual way, although we did actually have to celebrate on July 31st since the 1st was a Sunday. We got up in the morning and put on our Sunday best. The temple grounds were as beautiful as they were three years ago. I know a lot of people choose any temple except the Provo temple, citing the reason "It's ugly." However, I disagree. I think our wedding pictures turned out beautiful- though I must admit the grounds are much prettier now than they were before they were reconstructed. The flowers are brightly colored and the fountains add a serene atmosphere. Plus the symbolism of the building adds to the spiritual nature of whole experience. I admit it is a simple design, but I don't think it needs to be fancy. Anyway, enough of my soap box. It was wonderful to kneel across the altar from Todd and remember the promises we made together three years ago. It is one of my favorite traditions.

If you look in this picture (unless it's too small), you can see our reflection in the windows of the Temple:

Anyway, I wish you could see the pictures bigger, the colors are so vibrant. I think our pictures turned out wonderfully. I just thought I would prove how pretty my temple can be.

For lunch we ate at Mimi's, which is where our wedding luncheon was held. We also went there on our first date and always seem to enjoy ourselves when we go there.

We came home and relaxed for a while, then drove up to Park City, stopping along the way to catch the view of the lake. We drove around for a while, then ate at Jean Louis Restaurant. We were very impressed with the food. I was smart enough to order one of the specials that wasn't listed on the menu, but being a special I assumed it would be cheaper or at least within the same price range as the other dishes, so I didn't ask the price. Instead I spent $10 more than I would have on my second choice of a meal. Todd comforted me by telling me it was ok, I deserved something nice, and that we hadn't spent money on anything else so a few extra dollars was no big deal. He is so sweet. He got some "Les Escargots Classiques" which I of course did not taste. How do people eat snails anyway? However, Todd thoroughly enjoyed them so I was ok to watch.

My expensive steak:

Todd eating his tuna, which is the main reason we chose this restaurant. He wasn't disappointed.

I know I recently gloated about my husband, but what better time to throw out a few nice words than when talking about our anniversary. He isn't perfect. Sometimes he still drives me crazy with his procrastination or his seeming inability to keep anything picked up. But he tries. He works hard, and any time I tell him something I am worried about or struggling with, he does little things to make my life just a bit easier. I recently taught a lesson in my "Marriage and Family Relations" class about the role of mothers. I only teach every other week, and the week before was the class on Father's roles taught by a high council member. While I listened I was thinking about my upcoming lesson on Mothers. I almost started tearing up as I realized how much Todd had taught me about the role of being a woman and a mother.

I have struggled my whole life with wondering how important I really am as a girl, clouded by the millennia of the world's treatment of women as less than men. Even today with all of the women's rights stuff I still had a hard time appreciating my part as a woman. But that day I realized that I haven't really wondered about that stuff lately. For quite a while actually. And then I realized that the reason it hasn't been bothering me, is because Todd does understand the value and the role of women. One day he came home, so excited to tell me about a scripture about how "a virtuous woman is worth far above rubies" or something like that, implying that to him, I am worth much more than any precious stone. He gets somber and reverent when he tells me what a good mom he thinks I'll be, and how that is one of the things that attracted him to me most. His grades have gone from basically worthless before his mission to almost all A's, and he spends a lot of time and energy studying so that he will be able to provide for me- not because he thinks it's a woman's place to stay home as some might, but because he understands the eternal nature and importance of a mother's role in the home with her children.

In church we often hear about how women need to support the priesthood holders, and how while only men hold the priesthood, it couldn't have it's full power without the women's support. But what I realized more and more as I prepared my lesson, is how much we need the support of men to be able to fulfill our potential. I feel so lucky to have such a great guy that understands my responsibilities as a woman and helps me to see them myself. Who could ask for more than a husband who makes her feel not only worthwhile, but priceless.