surprises

sam is a man full of surprises. 

it seems like he always has something up his sleeve

he surprised me with a wedding band on our anniversary 

(I honestly told him I didn't want another one)

he surprises me often with romantic dates 

candlelight dinners

cleaning the house head to toe 

hot tubs waiting for me after i've gone to the gym

weekend getaways to park city area 

I must admit a lot of the time i prompt such surprises 

with not so subtle hints

yesterday I had a  surprise after work

before i could walk from the garage to the house sam was pushing me back into the car

he forced me to eat a snack because he knows i was hungry 

and whisked me away 

he planned a couples massage to celebrate hitting 20 weeks 

half way yahoo 

it felt wonderful

thanks to sam for preparing me for a surprise of a lifetime 

waiting until birth to know the gender of this little one. 

debut pregnancy picture

technically i'm 19 weeks and 2 days... can't wait to hit half way!

but at 18 weeks our baby was the size of a mango

we walked past them at the grocery store and snapped a picture

to celebrate the babies size we bought some mango sorbet

it was delicious

even though we aren't finding out the gender of this little one 

we are so excited for the ultrasound next week

I am just so excited to see this little person forming 

and also, hopefully know that it's developing healthy

not to mention eliminate any possibility of twins!

while our baby has already been spoiled by family 

i finally caved and bought my first item for the baby 

i bought the cutest little emu boots for next winter 

it'll only be 6 months old and i definitely want all 10 toes nice and warm

the basement

it was a big weekend at our house

our renters move in

and we are thrilled to be done with the basement remodel!

even though the basement took a lot of resources

money, time, energy, hard labor(especially sam)

we are so happy with the end product

and happy to have someone living in it paying us the mula!

here are a couple pictures we snapped right before they moved their stuff in

 before, front room

 before front room

 after: the walls look much whiter in this picture, they are more cream/beige

I wish I had a picture of the kitchen on this camera but here it is after 

the hickory cabinets add a lot of personality to the place

and we love the flooring, especially because it hides any dust.

exercising

these last four months being pregnant have sure messed up my exercise routine
i'm interested in trying some pregnancy yoga or pilates
before going and buying a bunch of videos I was wondering if there are any recommended
so if you have tried one let me know if you liked it or recommend it.

the year in review

One of my 2011 goals was to blog more frequently

It was a poorly written goal because I never defined 'more frequently' 

but considering I almost doubled the amount of post from 2010 in 2011 I feel satisfied

and there's always room for improvement. ;)

I'm so glad I did blog more, yesterday we reviewed some of the post 

it was a great way to remember some events that may have been forgotten or overlooked. 

job change... 

lots of valentine crafts and neighbor presents(since I missed christmas)

celebrated my birthday all week long, never felt so loved

last day at cardiac rehab- going away party

purchasing our tickets across the world for the trip of my dreams to europe, let the planning begin

enduring my first tax season 

sam getting pretty much all straight a's all year long 

taking our first post tax season trip to the homestead

planned the surprise birthday party for sam's dad, and completed his goal of running the 5k with the family

ran in the dirty dash, cleaned dirt out of our ears for a week

traveled to europe, ate crepes, maguums and lots of great food inbetween seeing all the sights and soaking in as much as we could

raised money in the MS walk

convinced my work i needed an iphone 

gave sam an awesome birthday date package, and have been enjoying monthly preplanned dates

celebrated our third anniversary

did my first zipline and loved it 

went to hebgen

ventured to nebraska

dressed up for halloween... and even got a picture to prove it

purchased our first home

announced this baby to family and friends at 14.5 weeks 

gutted and finished a basement 

moved right before christmas 

ended the year with one last trip to the cabin in woodland(where we rang in the new year last year) 

and celebrated 2012 at 8PM with all the nieces and nephews

I feel so blessed to have had such a great year.  

I have very few memories that I wish to forget(if any) 

and amidst all the turmoil and trials going on in the world right now I am fortunate 

I am looking forward to so many huge changes in our life in 2012! 

Happy new year.