First-Round Results Are In!!

We surprisingly were able to get through the first-round of our Baby Name-Picking Bracket fairly easy (and quickly)! Now that we have narrowed the 32 names down to 16, match-ups are becoming tougher. This name-picking thing is more difficult and is going to take even longer than we thought!  Good thing we have 3 1/2 months to fight it out!

On a side note, We FINALLY found a Chinese restaurant here in Cleveland (HALLELUJAH)! We both are extremely happy today and full of Chinese food! Life couldn't be better! :)

It's a GIRL :)

5 1/2 Months down 3 1/2 more to go! Time is flying by and our list of things to do before this little one gets here keeps growing with no progress made. We talk as if we have forever to get everything done but everyday I'm getting bigger and loosing energy and my want to do anything but lay on the couch and eat is slowly diminishing. :)

We are so excited to be having a baby girl. This came as a complete SHOCK! Throughout the entire pregnancy we have both thought it was a little boy. All the wives-tales said it was a boy, my cravings, the way I'm carrying, everything said this little one was gonna come out a mini-Lance. We were completely wrong and our mouths dropped when the doctor announced we were going to be having a little princess. Then of course pregnancy hormones kicked in and I started crying...a lot.

I've already started making outfits and lots of bows for her. I've been having so much fun. Lance just shakes his head every time I come up with a new creation that I "HAVE" to make for her. Even though he shakes his head I know he is just as excited as I am to be wrapped around that little girl's finger.

It's crazy how much we already love her. We constantly talk to her and try to bond with her. Lance occasionally sings to her, it's the cutest thing (cheesy alert) and makes my heart melt every time. It's so fun to feel her little kicks and have Lance constantly with his hand on my stomach trying desperately to feel her move. He finally felt his first little kick a few weeks ago and it was so fun to see his face light up and to see him get all giddy. He really is going to be the most amazing father. I am so grateful to be married to him forever and I cannot wait till I get to see him hold her for the first time.

We finally started talking about names and have came up with a Baby Girl Name-Picking bracket!  This way we can put names we like head-to-head and eliminate them that way. It is so much easier than having a million names in our head trying to pick out our favorites. We got the bracket idea from some friends of ours who did it for their little boy. SUCH a good idea, not to mention so much fun! All our family and some of our friends are getting in on the fun trying to figure out which one we will pick!
Here is a picture of the first round match-ups! We will post updates as soon as we get each round done!

Other than that all things are good here in Cleveland. The weather has been beautiful! We finally got to go out golfing last week, it was so nice to be outside after being cooped up inside all winter long. I am proud to say that I still can beat lance at a round of 9-holes even with a tummy getting in the way of my swing.

We celebrated St. Patrick's day last weekend by going to the parade downtown-I'll have Lance blog and post pictures about that. It was so crazy!

Many people are asking me to post baby bump pictures, and even though I have been highly opposed to posting any pictures I think I might cave in a post some. They will be coming shortly (maybe).

We promise to do better about keeping everyone updated and blogging!!!!!

New Adventure!

This year is going to be full of exciting firsts! Lance and I are thrilled to announce that we are going to have a little one in July! I'm officially due July 24th, this is actually the day we had our first date almost 4 years ago!

We are thrilled to be parents and are so excited to meet our little one! We still don't know the sex of the baby but we will be finding out in a month or so.

Everyone asks me what I would prefer- a boy or a girl- I always feel guilty answering. I will be thrilled no matter what it decides to come out as ;) However, I would really love a little boy to start out with. Growing up the eldest of 3 kids I have always dreamed of having an older brother. But don't get me wrong, if its a girl I will love it just as much. Lance isn't scared to yell at the top of lungs that he wants a little boy. He also knows that if it is a girl... he is going to go broke!

Pregnancy so far has been pretty smooth sailing. A small dose of morning sickness once in a while, normal aches and pains, normal emotions.....ok not smooth sailing with the emotions part! I have been the most emotional person ever (just ask Lance). I can't even watch TV without sobbing, not just a couple tears, full blown hysterics. Its not over sad stuff either...anything happy gets me going to the point where I'm curled up in a ball with the covers over my face bawling.  We made the mistake of watching "17 Miracles" last night and ended up pausing it what seemed like every 10 minuets so I could calm down. Lance just sits there and laughs the entire time because I will even admit how ridiculous I am acting!

Other than that all is pretty well and normal! I've only had a few cravings and MANY food aversions. So far I've been craving Arby's beef and cheddar melts, pickles, jalapenos, frozen burritos, Beto's (problem since I live a couple thousand miles away) and other stuff I can't really remember. But the aversions are the worst! I cannot even touch or smell chocolate. I used to love chocolate but ever sense I got pregnant I cannot even stand thinking about it, I also can't stand peanut butter any more which is a killer.

We will try and keep everyone updated on this new adventure and anything else that happens in between! We've been horrible about blogging but promise to do better! :)

Easter Weekend

This past Easter Weekend was really fun. We came home Friday after work and found an early gift from the Easter Bunny (a.k.a. my Dad); It was a great start to a great weekend! Saturday we got up went shopping because I "needed" a new Easter outfit to wear to church, Lance is still trying to understand and accept my definition of need...he's still learning.  After a LONG day of shopping Lance had enough...it was only 2 hours, but he had enough.
We decided to do something Lance wanted to do so we went golfing with Taylor and Cassie. We started late in the day so we decided just to do 9 holes (we knew it was gonna take a while....were not quite pro's). I'm glad we did, it took us almost 4 hour for 9 holes! However, I being the amazing golfer that I am, totally beat Lance!!! (see picture below for reaction) It was a great day!!!

Before we started to Play...

The end result!! VICTORIOUS! :)

Easter Sunday was a fun day. Church was INSANE! You could definetley tell that those children had their candy...It was probably the most rowdy, non-reverent day at church I have ever been to. I still love my nursery kids so I had a blast playing with them.
Cassie and I tagged team the Easter dinner and it turned out pretty tasty! We had steak, funeral potatoes, Strawberry almond salad, bread, and mint brownies. The boys wouldn't let us grill the steaks "that's a man's job" says Lance, so we let them feel manly and cook the steaks. Lance was so excited to finally get our new grill out of the box and actually use it. I have a feeling were going to be living off of grilled things this summer. Whatever makes him feel manly I guess! :)

Overall, the weekend was great, we had so much fun! We wish we were closer to family, Holidays make us feel homesick, but Cleveland is still fun!

~enjoy

First Day Downtown

So we finally got to go out and have a little fun downtown! A lady in our ward purchased group tickets to Les Miserables so we were able to get them and go with some of our ward members. Our seats were great! We were on the bottom level and on a small platform so we looked out over the audience. There was a speaker right above us so we heard everything perfect!  It was the traveling Broadway tour from New York so the production, sets, actors were superb! Lance's favorite thing about it was the set/backgrounds. They really were absolutely amazing!  Anyway, I could go on all day about how much we loved it but I won't. :)


After the show we went out to dinner for a late birthday celebration for Lance. Obviously he chose Brasa' Grill a Brazilian restaurant. It is like Rodizio Grill back in Utah. We both really enjoyed it. They had parmasean encrusted steak which was probably one of the best things I've ever eaten. However, overall...we both came to the conclusion that Rodizio Grill is much better, which only made me miss Utah more!

Our day was really fun it was so nice to be able to actually do something on a Saturday instead of homework. I know Lance was especially excited because he usually just watches me do homework and is bored out of his mind. I told him from now on I would try to get all my school work done during the week so we could do stuff on the weekends. This weekends adventure...I think we are going to the zoo here in Cleveland! I'm so so excited!

Oh... one last thing! We bought a Table!! YAY!! I'm so excited! We have been eating off of our coffee table in our living room since we got here until we saved some money for a full size table. I really like the one we got! The funny thing is were not the only one's excited. The missionaries in our ward have been asking us every Sunday when we would be getting a dining table because I promised them when I got one I would have them over whenever they wanted. I think we finally have all the major things for our house for the most part! I just need to start decorating it a little more! I promise I will post pictures of our house as soon as Lance gets the table set up!

~enjoy

Starting to Warm Up!!!

It has been forever since I have wrote anything so I thought I'll give a little update!! Lance and I are doing great! Work is so long and tiring but we both enjoy it and we're learning a lot. We haven't been able to do much here in Cleveland because of work and school so we haven't really gotten to know Cleveland too well.
Last week I was able to go home to initiate my little sister into Alpha Chi Omega. It was the BEST experience ever. I decided to surprise her and my dad and not tell them, I was scared that they were going to find out but they didn't. My sister broke down with happiness when she saw me and it didn't take long for the rest of the room to start crying. I am so Excited I get to share Alpha Chi with her, words cannot explain how much I love that organization and the girls within it.
The downside of the trip was I missed Lance's 26th birthday. I was sad so why he was gone on a business trip I hid a present in the house so he would have something to open on his birthday, he was excited I got him a membership to ESPN Insider. He had a good birthday I think but then got deathly ill (not really deathly but close too).  He is slowly getting better he just had the flu.
Tomorrow will be the first time we actually go out and do something downtown. With school and work we haven't been able to go do anything fun on Saturdays because I dedicate Saturdays to school. We got tickets to Les Mis it is traveling here from New York so it is going to be AMAZING!!! I'm so excited!! We also are going to a delicious Brazilian place for dinner with Taylor and Cassie for Lance's birthday.
I will update with pictures soon!

enjoy~

All Settled In!

We found a place!! Yay! It is a GORGEOUS duplex, its two bedroom with a huge finished basement. Ron (our neighbor) lives upstairs but he is so quiet we can't even tell he is there! It is so pretty and really makes us feel like we are home. We are all moved in and have the living room and kitchen set up, we are just waiting on our bed set to come in so we can finish unpacking. 

We have been in Cleveland for about 2 weeks. It is extremely different. It isn't as bad as I thought it would but I would much rather be home. I get homesick a lot but I'm sure that will pass after a couple of months.  The weather out her is insane. I thought Logan was cold but this place is CRAZY! I think it must be the humidity but I have never been so cold in my life.

The ward out here is extremely different then the wards back in Utah. We are in the Cleveland 1st ward; the ward consists of multiple cities and the boundaries are HUGE!  For the first time in my life I had to sit through sacrament with the smell of cigarette smoke lingering around me. A lot of the ward members are converts so they definitely bring a new and sometimes very interesting perspective to the lessons, but I am sure we are gonna love it.  One thing that I have learned that I find very interesting and different is that you don't go visiting teacher/home teaching to the active members of the ward. They take you to inactive members so it is like missionary work.

We start work tomorrow, we are both excited yet nervous at the same time. It is going to be extremely weird especially for me to actually have a real job. 

We miss everyone at home so much and can't wait till we get to come visit. I don't think we will until Christmas but we are trying to fit a trip home before then.

Pictures of our new place will be up soon!!!!