Christmas comes early!

Merry Christmas! I bring glad tidings of great joy, Carver and I will be having a baby boy in April! I wanted to think of a really cool way to tell people but cute and creative have never been my strengths. So a good old fashioned “Hey guess what we’re pregnant!” will have to do.

Now that I have moved out of the nauseating, lying on the couch and living in the bathroom stage things are quite good. I mean gaining tons of weight isn't really that fun, but I’ll take that over throwing up at this point. I have really come to admire all women who have children, and especially the ones who have multiple children. Have you ever met my mom? Eight kids! Making a little person is really hard and I can’t believe she did it eight times. I’m really grateful for all the great examples I have of women who sacrifice a lot to have children.  I also appreciate them letting me pick their brains and beg for advice.

Baby boy will be joining the family sometime around April 25^th. That means that I am at the halfway point now! The ultrasound was really helpful because it reminded me why I am doing this. I am doing it for that little guy who at this moment is just floating around and hanging out, no idea what he’s in for when he gets to this world. The ultrasound tech told us multiple times in the appointment that we have a very calm baby. If anyone knows my husband than they realize that is definite proof that this is his child. (Not that there was really any question J) Carver is one of the most laid back, easy going people I have ever met and if he has passed that on to our child then I have much to be grateful for.  The tech kept poking and prodding the baby trying to get him to kick so we could see it on the monitor and so I could know what it felt like. But instead of kicking back like anyone in my family would do, he just curled his legs up under his body and moved over. He seemed to be saying “Hey if you don’t leave me alone I’ll just go over here by myself.” Like father like son.

The nurse told me I will have a good six weeks ahead of me before things start to get uncomfortable again. I’m crossing my fingers that maybe it’s a bit longer than that. I do have to be thankful that I am able to feel better and enjoy the holiday season. This may sound pathetic but not being able to enjoy the food and festivities at Christmas time would put a real damper on the holidays. Luckily I can now eat my sugar cookies and drink my hot chocolate without any consequences, until the next weigh-in that is.

We still have 19 weeks to go but I can’t wait to meet this little person. I’m sure the desire will increase as his movements get stronger and I get more uncomfortable. But I’m grateful he’s there and that soon he’ll be a part of our family.

Hi Ho Hi Ho

Carver and I didn't get to spend much time in our new home at first. We threw all our stuff into the house and then took off for a little vacation. Well I did. Carver headed back to Utah to finish up his finals. A strange way to plan things I know but that's how it happened.
So while Carver got to spend another two days in school I got to fly up to Spokane and see my old roommate and friend Mallory Kipp get married! It was awesome to see her again and to see her so happy with her new husband. It was also one the craziest receptions I have ever been to. There was a beautiful set-up in her parents front yard with lights, a dance floor and beautiful tables. Well 20 mins before it started the rain began to poor and the power went out! Everyone rushed stuff inside and instead we ended up having a candlelit reception in the house. It still looked pretty cool and Mallory is so easy going that the night was still a success.

After the wedding Carver met me in Spokane and we took off on a tour of Washington/Northern Idaho. Carver is in love with this area of the country and it was fun to see him pointing out a lot of the places he went to as a kid.

And away we go!

The main reason we took this little road trip was for Carver to do some research. He is writing his senior paper on the Mining Riots of 1892 which took place near Wardner and Wallace Idaho. We spent a lot of time checking out museums, scouring the libraries and touring some of the ghost towns nearby. It was actually pretty fun to see these little towns and the history behind them. Even without the paper Carver loves history and it was fun to roam around and see what we could find.

We had to stop and read every historical marker, apparently he gets it from his grandpa

We even got to take a tour of a gold mine, just to get an idea of how the mining process went and what types of conditions they worked in. Our tour guide was great and it was very informational. Mining would definitely not have been my career of choice if I lived back then, but I guess somebody had to do it!

End of the line at 500 ft under the mountain!

That's some good color there

After the tour they gave us an hour of free gold panning. We are really big nerds and have always wanted to take a gold panning class. They actually offer a class at UVU! This was the perfect opportunity to  see if we have what it takes. The rain that followed us all week had started to pour so I didn't last long, but  Carver was determined to make his fortune.

We had planned on camping along the way, but it ended up raining every day so we decided to check out some of the local accommodations. There were some interesting hotels in those small mining towns. I contemplated bringing in our sleeping bags to sleep on the bed a few times. But they were cheap and it's all about the experience I guess. We did find some awesome restaurants though. Carver and I both really like food and we like trying out new places. One little gem was Frank's Diner. It was made out of an old railway car and the parking lot was completely empty when we pulled up. It was 6:30 p.m. which is prime eating time so I was a little nervous that no one else seemed to want to eat there. I was so wrong, they served some amazing breakfast food and the place was pretty full by the time we left.

Frank here sat right in our booth with us, he was a great dinner guest.

In Lewiston, Idaho, Carver took me to a place called Waffles N' More where I found some of the best looking waffles I have ever seen. It was so hard to decide, but I settled on the Coconut Cream Pie Waffle. The waffle itself tasted like cake, and then it had coconut cream pie filling on top with whipped cream, coconut and coconut syrup. I almost died. It was delicious and I can't wait until we go back. Next time I'm trying the strawberry cheesecake waffle!

In Lewiston we also got to spend time with Grandma Stellmon and Carver's aunts Lorna and Kristi. It's always nice to see family and to see where Carver grew up. Then we headed off to the Lochsa River for Carver to get in some fishing time. Even before we were dating Carver would talk about the Lochsa as one of his favorite places in the world. I was really excited to see this place I have been hearing about for a few years. It did not disappoint. It was so beautiful with thick trees everywhere and the winding river, the rain even made the mountains look great. We will definitely be back.

I'm really thankful for our road trip and for the chance I had to explore my new state of Idaho. Things are going pretty well so far and  I think I'm going to like it.

Happy Happenings

My last post came some time ago. Our internet was pathetic for a few months. Then we packed up our apartment and moved to Idaho, so that has left little time for blogging. Here is a quick slide-showish post on the ins and outs of our little family the past few months.


We went up to the cabin with all the boys for Spring Break. Carver and I decided to get one last snow-shoeing trip in before everything else melted.

Double date! We got together with Ryan and his girlfriend and made t-shirts for their online store Del Sol Apparel. There was a lot of creative juices flowing in that kitchen and things looked great!

In May Carver and I celebrated our one year anniversary!! It has been an amazing year and it is such a joy being married to this guy. We spent the weekend at a condo in Park City, Utah. We watched movies, went to the outlets, and made yellow curry for dinner. Such an awesome weekend!

Carver's new pride and joy, the Cool Daddy deep fryer

Our yummy curry dinner

In June we went camping with some friends in the Uintas. It's always fun being out in the woods with your friends, even if half of them can't seem to smile for a picture.

A boy, a fishing pole, and a great summer morning

In June we went to the Oregon Coast with Carver's family. It was an amazing trip. We spent time sitting on the beach, eating ice cream at the Tillamook ice cream factory, and walking around in the sand. On the way over to Cannon Beach we stopped at this really pretty waterfall. It was beautiful.

We also spent some time getting family pictures, it went pretty well seeing how many people we were working with. Smiles for everyone!

Believe it or not this shot took a really long time to get, a really long time, as in we took a million shots and still didn't have one where we were all jumping at the same time. A big thanks to my sister Becca and her awesome editing skills!

Double date! We hit up a Bees baseball game with Wes and Tiffany. We love baseball!

The annual 24th of July celebration in Mendon, Utah. For some reason I love coming back for this every year, and I love spending time with my family. They set off the fireworks on the softball field so you are super close, I love it!

 Random stop at the cowboy saddle store, this boy loves his western wear.

 Fiesta Days Rodeo! One of our favorite places to go.

It has been a great few months and there has been a lot to be grateful for. We've started a new chapter in Idaho and hopefully I will be better at documenting things!

So I Butchered My Husband

In an effort to be a thrifty and frugal wife I decided it would be a good idea if I started cutting Carver’s hair. I mean really how hard could it be? Obviously people go to school and spend a lot of time practicing this sort of thing, but surely I would be able to pick it up right away. Carver had full confidence in my abilities and was so excited for me to start hacking away at his overgrown mane.

Things started out well enough. I buzzed up the bottom and trimmed around his neck. I cut the top of his hair and then the sides, I was feeling pretty good about my hair-cutting skills, and that's when it all fell apart. There was this ridiculous line around his head that would not go away. I came at it from all angles trying my best to blend the dang thing away, but 45 minutes later it still remained, taunting and reminding me that I was definitely a newbie in the world of husband hair styling.

I’m embarrassed to admit that I had a bit of a meltdown at that point. I mean come on; it should not have been this hard! My friend Heidi showed me how to do it a few months ago, and I watched an entire video on YouTube right before I started, how could I not be a professional at this point? But despite my extensive preparations there sat my husband, wearing a trash bag because we didn't have an actual cape, a chunk missing from the side of his head thanks to my experimental blending techniques, and a bowl cut that any six year old would be proud of.

Ok so it wasn't that bad, but in my frustration I forgot to take an after picture. Luckily our friend Maycee was able to fix it the next day. Carver only had to walk around like a weirdo for 24 hours. I am very grateful first of all for professionals who are good at what that they do.Without professionals everyone who saw Carver would know that the poor guy was being forced to participate in his wife's beautification education. I am also thankful for a husband who’s not too concerned about his looks and was amused rather than annoyed at my first haircut attempt. He is such a good sport and I'm very thankful for that. And suprisingly he’s even willing to let me try again!

I shall call you my squishy

I really do like being married, but one thing I haven't enjoyed has been the post-marriage weight gain. I vowed I wouldn't be one of those people who starts to get a little squishy around the edges just because they are now married. Well I stepped on the scale a little while ago for my annual after holidays assessment and was shocked. Not at the amount gained over the holidays, that was pretty normal, but how much I had gained since getting married. In just eight months of marriage I have become very squishy. I  guess all those times I chose to hang-out with Carver instead of heading to the gym finally caught up with me. Wanting to try all the awesome desserts on my pintrest board probably hasn't helped either. That is why I am really thankful for the health competition the girls and I started at work. We've deemed it our Healthy Quest. You get points every day for healthy behaviors like working out, eating fruits and veggies, going without treats and other stuff like that. It's really given me a wake up call as to how off track I have gotten. It's nice to have other people to do it with as well. I don't see myself as a really competitive person, at least in comparison to the rest of my family, but it does drive you to do more when you see how many points every one else has. I'm excited for the motivation and the changes it will hopefully bring.

Today for church we had stake conference and got to have Elder Ballard there. They said that a stake gets to have a general authority preside over a stake conference about every 25 years! The talks were all really good, but it was wonderful to be able to hear Elder Ballard. I am so grateful to have living apostles and prophets and to be able to hear their words so easily. He talked about making sure that our testimonies are deeply rooted so that as things become worse in the world we are not moved from what we know to be true. He brought a great spirit to the conference and it was a blessing to hear from someone with such a strong and unshakable testimony in Jesus Christ and His gospel.

Christmas Trees and Killer Flies

It's time to report on our Holiday Happenings! If I don't write them down now then in six months I probably won't remember what we did. Not because our life is so crazy and fascinating, I just tend to forget about the fun little things here and there.

Thanks to both sets of our parents Carver and I were able to have a pretty decent Christmas set-up. There something about a tree, even if it's a small one that adds to the holiday spirit. My parents let us take a little three foot pop-up tree to put in our living room. What they didn't tell us was that it had been out in the shed for a few years probably and was now being inhabited by a family of flies. As we began trying to shape and peel back branches of the tree these decently sized black bugs began to fly out at us. After a minor freak out I realized they were just flies, but that meant that they were now roaming freely about our apartment. We had to take a brief hiatus from Christmas decorating and go on a fly killing spree. With Carver and his rubber band and I with my dish towel, we danced around to Christmas music swatting flies and reclaiming ownership of our home. Eventually we resumed our festivities and fluffed up the tree. But on going to plug it in we found that a wasps nest had been constructed on the cord. Another quick freak out and a trip outside with a hammer and we were once again back on track with the Christmas decorations. Thankfully, setting up our nativity scene was much less exciting. Carver's parents gave us this beautiful nativity scene and it was fun being able to set up all the different pieces and think about what the real meaning of Christmas is. I'm thankful for our parents who helped make our first Christmas setup something to be proud of.

Later in the month I introduced Carver to gingerbread houses, Schwab style.  Every Christmas Eve our family makes gingerbread houses as part of the evening festivities. Really they are graham cracker houses and part of the tradition is stuffing your face with candy while some of it makes it onto your house. I wouldn't be home with my family for Christmas this year so we decided to do it early with some of our friends. This was my first year making the sugar glue and frosting without mommy around. But we only burned one batch and the frosting only dripped off the houses a little bit. I'm grateful for family traditions and being able to share them with others. Plus I got to see Carver's architectural skills in action. He made an outhouse complete with a gummy bear pooping out a piece of chocolate. I see a bright future here.

Tons and tons of candy of course

Carver and his outhouse

Our other holiday activities included lights and hot chocolate at the Riverwoods, Red Robin dinner and the movie Frozen (Carver has been asking me if I want to build a snowman for a few weeks now), and a double date to the Desert Star Playhouse. We saw the play Miracle on 42nd Street and it was pretty entertaining. The best part was outside the theater Carver and I got to channel our inner thespians.

The best part of the month was spent up at the cabin. I'm kicking myself now for not having any good pictures to show, especially since my hubby got me an awesome new camera for Christmas. I'll blame that on the fact that it's so nice I don't know how to use it yet. But pictures wouldn't do it justice anyways, it was a great Christmas. While I am very attached to my own family traditions, it was really fun to see the different things that Carver's family does at Christmas time. We made tons of appetizers for Christmas Eve, got to help in setting up Christmas for all the little kids, ice fished, went sledding and tubing, snow shoeing, relaxing and reading, there was just endless amounts of fun and relaxation and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I am so grateful for the Christmas season. I love all the traditions and holiday activities that are associated with it. But mostly I am thankful for a chance to celebrate the birth of our Savior. I don't spend nearly enough time thinking about His life and what His sacrifice has done for me in my life. It's nice to have a month set aside to focus on Him and how His birth affects us. I love my Savior and am so grateful for His influence in my life.