Spreading the news...

Steve and I are expecting our 3rd baby!

And we are so excited!

We broke the news to my family last weekend. We got chinese food and had special fortune cookies made and the fortunes had different things like #3 or Girl? or Boy? or my due date. It took a minute for the parents to figure it out, but they did and they are very excited.

Steve's parents are in Germany so we couldn't figure out a way that would be as fun, but we called them and put Reagan on the phone and she said "Baby in her tummy!" We had practiced with her to say "Mommy has a baby in her tummy" but she was just too excited. They got the gist of it and are very excited as well. We are hoping that the baby will bring them home a couple of months early, cross your fingers!

As for me... I am doing great! This has been my best pregnancy by far! I have felt slightly nausious on occasion, but really nothing to complain about. I am 12 weeks along and my due date is February 9th, 2010. Crew's birthday is February 11th so they will be almost exactly 2 years apart. We are extremely excited! Let the countdown begin!

Book of Mormon Experience

So it's been a little over a week since Steve and I returned from our Stake's Book of Mormon Experience with the Youth. We were called in February to be "Lehi & Sariah" of a family of youth during this year's Youth Conference. When we got the call I was so excited. The Stake had been talking about this experience for months and I was so sad to miss it when I was released from the Young Women's organization. This was my chance to participate, and I was pumped!

The experience turned out to be all I had hoped for and more. I think I actually got lucky being a Sariah because I was able to be right in the thick of things, while the ward leaders didn't get the same experience. After many meetings and trainings, we finally got to meet the kids in our family and jump in!

Although most of the Lehi's & Sariah's said this about their families, we had the best! They really were the best group of kids! We had one of the few large groups with 6 girls and 6 boys. It was a little awkward at first getting to know each other, but everyone put themselves out there and we clicked in no time.

Here are our kids on the first day. We had just met each other and we were still trying to warm up to each other. (I don't know who the little guy is on the top row on the left side. It was a hot day and he had found a place to sit in the shade and nothing we could do could get him to leave it.)

Our experience was filled with presentations of stories from the Book of Mormon, team building games, discussions within our family, water/flour/paint fights, great food, and so much more. Coming home was a relief and a challenge. I really grew to love my kids and had a surprisingly hard time telling them goodbye.

My favorite part of the whole experience was the last morning we were awakened by the sounds of earthquakes at about 4 am. The whole camp was shaking with the sound. It really was incredible. We gathered our family and went down to the ampitheater. We waited there for a bit in the dark and the sounds stopped. We then heard a voice who spoke in a language we didn't understand 2 times and finally in english announcing the coming of Christ. Just then a spot light shone on the roof of the stage and Christ walked up and greeted us as an audience and spoke the words as we read them from the Book of Mormon. It was incredible. He came down from the roof and called his diciples from the audience to join him. (They were the bishops from all of the wards and the Stake Presidency). He then left the stage and began to walk throughout the crowd, touching us and hugging us. He was talking the whole time. Truly, this experience was incredible. After he left, there was silence among all of us and the spirit was extremely strong. There weren't many dry eyes. We were instructed to go back to our camp fires and read the account of Christ coming to the America's. Never before has that passage been so real to me. We talked as a family about what we had just experienced and then turned the time over to our kids for a small testimony meeting.

It truly was one of the most special experiences I have had in my life. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to meet these kids and feel of their spirits. I am glad to be a small part of their lives as they have become a big part of mine. Together we were reminded what is most important and what we should be striving for.

I love my Savior and his gospel. I love that I know I will be happy if I follow his teachings and strive to be like him. I know that He is always watching and hoping we will do what is right and return to him. I hope I can make him happy. I can't wait to really see his face and give him the hug that I wanted to give the actor who portrayed him. One day!

California ~ San Diego

I really have the best intensions, but that never seems to be enough. I have so much to blog about it isn't even funny. But the good news is that this will be my last post about our California vacation. I am so happy to be done with these pictures! They did turn out great though, so I guess it is all worth it. I'd love to hear what you think!

Here is a picture of the whole group. This is the only one I got the entire week. Sorry family. We should have been better about that.

So on our last day in Cali my dad really wanted to go into downtown San Diego and see the fun little sea-side shops and maybe fly a kite. Reagan loves Mary Poppins, for those of you who don't know, and she has never flown a kite before so my dad thought it was time she did that. We decided to give it a try.

There was a little kite shop right on the coast and the owner found us the right kite for the weather and gave us some great tips. The guys got the kite ready to go and it seemed like the wind totally died. There were other people out flying kites (ones that looked like they did it for a living) and even they couldn't get their kites off the ground. I think my dad was kinda sad. But it was still fun. It did get up for a bit!

I was able to get Reagan to sit still for one minute while I got a couple of shots of her in front of the ocean. She was loving it.

My dad stole the camera at some point in the morning and got some pictures of our family. They had these amazing trees. You will see... I wish they had some around here because they were perfect for pictures!

You'll have to tell me which one you like better...

Here is the little stud. He was so good this day. The whole trip actually. Love him.

Reagan was pretty sick of the camera by this last day. I can't blame her, really. It was out a lot.

Here is my mom in front of the bay. Isn't she a beautiful woman? It was just her birthday and I bet none of you will come close to guessing her age. (unless you know my age, then you are cheating).

Reagan is beautiful. That is the only reason I am posting this picture.

After we spent awhile at the shops we decided to head over the biggest bridge I have ever been on to see this really amazing, old hotel. It was beautiful. I guess it was in a movie called "Somewhere In Time" with the guy who played the original Superman. I have seen a part of this movie, as Steve loves all things old and insisted that I see it. Unfortunately it is kind of long and I didn't last. But the hotel is as beautiful in person as it is in the movie. More so, I am sure.

They have this fun little walkway that has statues of different Dr. Suess stories. It was really neat. Can you guess this one?

Just beyond their gardens was their beach and it was beautiful and very well taken care of. Here are the kids looking at the ocean. They just couldn't get enough of the water.

Here am I with the Crew-man. (the only reason I am posting this picture is because I had a request for more pictures of me... I am not happy about it)

Here is a better picture of the little man. I thought he deserved to be shown in a better light, don't you?

Reagan insisted that we go down to the water and dip our feet in. You may not be able to tell by this picture, but the water was quite a ways away. We had been walking all day and didn't want to hike to the water for a five second dip. Reagan is lucky she has a Grammy who will do anything for her. She hiked down and let her put her toes in.

This is what Crew did while we waited...

One thing I couldn't get enough of while we were in Cali, besides the beach, were the flowers and plants. They were beautiful. They were so different from what we have here and I think that is what I loved the most. It seemed like every tree and bush flowered. So there was color everywhere. Loved it.

I took a ton of pictures of the greenery, but I don't think you will enjoy them as much as I do, so here are only a couple for you to sample...

As you can see, our trip was a hit! We had a great time and the kids did fabulously well. Can't wait for the next adventure to come our way!

DISNEYLAND

Ok, it's finally here...

DISNEYLAND!

It has taken me forever to get these pictures edited, but I am finally done!

Phew.

It took forever. But now you all get to share in the joy that was our experience at Disneyland!

We started off our day like all of our days in San Diego...

I woke every morning to this cute picture. Because of the limited bedding in our condo, Sky shared a bed with Reagan. I was worried for him at first, but they got along just fine! As you can see they seemed to enjoy sharing a bed.

When we finally got ourselves ready and to the park, we took the classic Disneyland photo in front of the micky mouse flower bed.

Right as we entered the park we saw a load of characters... Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Pluto, Donald Duck, and Chip and Dale. All of the characters had huge lines. And we soon found that Reagan was petrified of these large characters she is used to seeing on TV. So standing in line didn't seem like a good idea if she was only going to scream. But Chip and Dale didn't have an awful line so we thought we would see if Crew would shake their hands.

He thought they were awesome! He couldn't get enough of touching them and holding their hands. It was so freakin cute!

It is funny how different my children are. In some ways they are totally alike, in others, they are completely different. As you can see... Reagan is nowhere to be found in these pictures.

We made our way through the crowds back to the rides for the kids. When Reagan saw the castle she got so excited! She couldn't wait to go inside, so we had to get a picture with Grammy and Papa.

The first ride we rode was the Merry-Go-Round. The kids loved it and would have stayed on all day if we would have let them. What is it about riding plastic horses that go up and down and round and round? Weird. Crew is on there too, it was hard to get a picture of him as his horse is on the inside of Reagans.

That was the beginning of a fun day as the kids loved the rides. Next we hit up Dumbo the flying elephant. Grammy and Papa took them on this one.

The Tea Cups was another favorite. Daddy knows just how to spin it and we sure got dizzy. So fun... Crew was laughing the whole time.

As you can see, Sky and Reagan became good buddies on this little trip.

While Crew became a total Daddy's boy and still doesn't want Steve to leave his site. I have become only useful to fulfill his basic needs until his Daddy comes home.

After we rode a lot of rides it was time for the big event. Reagan was going to become a Princess. (not that she wasn't one already) I guess it was just about to become official. Reagan had the oportunity to participate in the princess experience at Cinderella's Castle in Disneyland.

It was awesome! Totally the highlight of our whole trip to Cali. When we walked into the castle Reagan was greeted by her very own Fairy Godmother. "Princess Reagan" was then escorted around the princess store so she could choose which princess she wanted to be. She chose Cinderella (big surprise). From that point she then picked out a dress, glass slippers, a crown, wand, gloves, and jewelry.

After Reagan had picked out her entire attire they showed us to the dressing room so Reagan could get changed. She came out with a huge smile and thought we were all done. But the fun was just beginning. We were then directed to her very own chair where they began doing her hair.

Reagan was pretty nervous at first. She wasn't quite sure what was going on so you will see that she would only stay seated if she were on my lap. She is so funny sometimes.

The hair was quite a production so they started on her make up as we were getting the hair ready.

The gal doing Reagan's make up was so sweet. She knew just how to relax Reagan so she was able to begin enjoying the experience. She even let me go sit with everyone else and sat on the chair by herself.

The gal taught Reagan the magic words -- Bibbidy Bobbidy Boo -- and everytime Reagan would say the magic words, this gal would make Reagan's wand light up. Reagan honestly thought she had some sort of magical powers and was completely entranced in this game they were playing. She would say the words over and over and everytime the lights would go on, go off, or sparkle. It was the funniest thing I had seen in a long time.

Even to this day Reagan will walk around saying the magic words and trying to make things happen. So funny. We loved this gal, she was great! Reagan loved her too...

While we were all enjoying this fun activity with Reagan, Crew hung out with Papa. They were buds for the afternoon. Papa fed him apples, and carried him everywhere so he didn't have to sit in the stroller. Crew wasn't too put out that he had to wait for Reagan.

Here is Reagan playing the part of Princess perfectly...

Once the hair and make up were done, it was time for the magic pixie dust. This was an intrical part of the experience. You have to have the dust to be a real princess. They gave Reagan this mask to wear so it wouldn't go in her eyes, and she took that very seriously. Once the mask was in place they had Reagan say the magic words and sprinkled her with pixie dust. They didn't just sprinkle this stuff, they POURED it on her. It was everywhere! We are still finding it to this day in our clothes and her hair. But the effect was awesome!

Now we were finally done with the preparations and it was time for Reagan to see herself. They turned her chair around to face the big curtains that were behind her. They had her say the magic words she had been saying through this whole thing and the curtains magically opened to reveal the magic mirror! Reagan saw herself and was so happy! It was priceless!

I want you to notice Steve in the background. He loved this as much as Reagan did!

After the whole production of Reagan to Princess Reagan we were led to a back room that had a castle painted on the wall and a Cinderella Carriage in the middle of the room surrounded by bambi and thumper and other woodland creatures. They had a photographer there and they posed Reagan in a few places and took her picture. It was quite an experience and Reagan was in heaven. Here she is sitting in the carriage.

Right as we left Cinderella's Castle, we saw the real Fairy Godmother and she was wonderful. Reagan was very hesitant as she was with all of the other characters, but the Fairy Godmother was so sweet with her. She got down on her level and complimented her dress, shoes, and jewelry. She called her "Cinderella" and said things from the movie. Reagan was mesmorized and before we knew it Reagan was going up to her to show her the ring they had given her. It was really cool.

After this, I turned my camera off for the remainder of our day at Disneyland. I was kind of pictured out and wanted to enjoy my time there. But you get the gist of our experience. It was a great one and I can't wait to go back. Maybe next time we can spend a few more days there.

I did take one more picture... It kind of sums up how we all felt by the end of the day...

I do have one more post from our trip to Cali and I will try to not take as long with that one as I have with this one. Phew. That was a doozy. But a fun one at that!

So...

Ok, first off I have to apologize for taking FOREVER to post everything from our trip to Cali which now feels like a decade ago, even though it was only a couple of weeks. I promise Disneyland is almost done and totally worth the wait. Reagan is a crack up! It was a blast. Coming soon, I promise.

But today I wanted to tell you how I spent my morning.

Crew is learning to walk, and as I joke that he may never learn, it is finally starting to happen and he is getting pretty good. The down side to this walking thing is that walking is generally followed by falling. And Crew does a lot of that. But, as I have told you many times, Crew has been a champ! No bleeds. No infusions since October. That has to be some kind of record for a 1 1/2 year old Severe Hemophiliac.

Well, our good luck ran out. On Saturday night we noticed that Crew didn't seem to want us to set him down. It was like it was hurting him to sit. Sure enough, as we changed his diaper, we noticed that he had a bleed in his little bum cheek. The kid was afraid to walk because he didn't want to fall down, and he didn't want to sit because that hurt too. It was a no-win for him. So we kind of waited it out hoping it might ease by today, but no. It was bad news, it was getting worse. So we packed up his medicine and headed to Primary Children's for an infusion.

The IV techs were great and got his vein on the first shot, which is a huge deal for us. They got us in and out like it was no biggie. Thank Heavens. But poor Crew. This just isn't fun at all and we are only in the beginning. They left the IV in so we can give him more factor tonight and in the morning. The life of a Hemophiliac. Sucks. But through it all Crew is the cutest, sweetest little daddy's boy in town and I love him and am so happy to have him. Pray that he will have another long streak with no bleeds! Tomorrow -- Disneyland!