Maternity Pictures

At 38 weeks, I made Sam go with me to get some pictures taken. Sam hates pictures and every time I try to take pictures of us he always makes a comment like " You aren't really going to take this picture," or "You aren't going to ask them to take this picture for us, are you?" or "You know how much I love taking pictures!" It's always a chore to get him to be in or take pictures. So this was my special treat to him, just what he loves. My good friend Michelle had maternity pictures taken and I just fell in love. I knew I had to do them too! I know I will probably never do these again, just because this is my first and you do everything with your first, but I will cherish them forever!

(Be aware, bare belly to follow!)

Blessing Dress

Sam's sweet aunt Vicki made a gorgeous blessing dress for Bristol. Sam's mother called Vicki to ask her is she could make one for Bristol as a surprise for me. Vicki insisted on not allowing Tracy to pay for it and that she would just do it as a gift to us. What a sweet family I am blessed to have married into. I feel so lucky to have all these amazing people around me. Vicki is incredibly talented in all the crafts she does. It is an amazing dress and we will cherish it always. I can't wait till this weekend when Bristol gets to put the dress on at her blessing. It will be such a sweet moment.

Baby Showers

My mom, my best friend from high school Lindsay and my sister all put on a great baby shower in Hood River on March 27, 2010. It was so great to have everyone there. My mom's boyfriend, Mark, made all of the food, which was of course fabulous. My grandpa's wife, Harriet, let us use her house to host the shower. We all had so much fun! The baby gifts were great. Bristol got a ton of cute clothes, she will be clothed for at least 2 years. My sister went a bit overboard, but I think that is what first time aunts do. She was unable to attend the shower, she lives in California and wanted to be here for the birth, but she sent a huge box filled with adorable little girl outfits. She spoiled her rotten! My mom bought us a stroller and car seat, but then also gave me cute dresses that I wore as a little girl. My favorite thing was 2 little sweaters that my grandma Kelly made that my mom wore when she was little. So sweet!

My good friends Stephanie Shambaugh and Cindy Aldredge threw me a baby shower in Salem on April 10, 2010. Stephanie hosted at her club house. I had a lot of friends from my ward attend as well as some good friends from the Portland area. I also had a lot of Sam's family attend which was awesome. It was great to have everyone there. Stephanie and Cindy planed a Cafe Rio lunch with a fun game about me! There were so many cute outfits that we received as well as stuffed animals. Tom and Tracy bought us an awesome pack and play, which is in use right now as a bassinet. It works so well to have that next to our bed. Also, we received a diaper genie, which is great, and a whole bin of baby essentials, from my friend Lori. We all had a great time chatting and eating yummy food.

Thank you everyone for all the wonderful gifts for Bristol. She is getting such great use out of every one of them!!

A little late, but better late than never!

So here they are, just as promised. My pregnancy pictures in order 12, 20, 23, 30, 31, 35, 36, 37, 38, and 39 weeks. It was an amazing pregnancy and I felt great most of the time. I only had about 1 month of nausea and about 1-2 weeks of vomiting, but other than that it was great. I guess I am considered one of the lucky ones. Even at 6 days over due I felt great, I was just so anxious to meet little Bristol.

It's been a long time...

So much has happened that I don't even know where to begin. In December, Sam and I both finished our Bachelors of Science, hooray! We celebrated Christmas in Oregon, Christmas Eve with the Kelly family and Christmas day with the Flory family. We enjoyed our holiday season this year, especially since we did not have any snow and were able to make it to Hood River. Below is a picture of Sam and I on Christmas Eve at the Kelly's. The other picture is of me on Christmas Day, 23 weeks.



In January, Sam and I planned a cruise for a graduation gift to ourselves as well as a "last time with just the two of us" vacation. We decided to go to Cozumel, Mexico and Belize City, Belize. We left on January 14th and came back on the 19th. We also stayed a couple of days in Miami with Grant, Genie and Cooper. We had an amazing time. We were able to go snorkeling in Cozumel and go to the Mayan Ruins in Belize.

It was great to see little Cooper and to spend time with Grant and Genie. Thanks you guys for letting us stay at your home for a few days!!

The pregnancy is going great. I am getting bigger everyday. At 31 weeks, she is now growing the most at this point and supposed to be doubling in size. I guess that means I will be doing a lot of growing in these last 9 weeks as well. It is amazing how much you can love someone when you haven't even met them. We feel so blessed to be able to bring this little girl into this world and we are both so excited to meet her. We have not chosen a name yet, but are deciding between Quinn(Quinne, Qwyn, Quynn, Qynn.. any suggestions on how to spell Quinn and to make it feminine?) and Bristol. I will post some pregnancy pictures soon, hopefully before she comes.

It's a girl!

We went in for Beck's ultrasound Monday morning and found out that we are having a girl! So me being a guy (this is Sam writing this by the way) all I think about is sports, and I have already decided, she (the baby) will have no say obviously, that soccer and tennis are what she will play and excel in. Lets be real, can I really decide that now? Well of course not, but that's what I hope for. A little tennis prodigy, I think that is the best way to see a return on the investment right? Anyway, Beck doesn't agree with me really, since Beck played soccer, basketball, and softball in high school. Really the point of this post is to let everyone know that were are having a girl and she is due to arrive May 2nd 2010. We are so excited to be parents, even if we don't really know what we are in for.

Birthday Surprise

It's been a little while but for my 26th birthday Beck surprised me with a trip to Seattle to see the Mariners Yankees game on Aug. 15th. With all my time living in the northwest I have never been to a Mariners game and have always wanted to go to one. But this year especially because my favorite baseball player of all time, Ken Griffey Jr., is now back playing for the Mariners. The game was great even though Griffey is getting a little old and the Yankees won. But it was still amazing to watch Junior at the plate and how much the energy in the stadium would change whenever he was at bat. His swing is still the prettiest thing on a baseball field.

Better than the game was the surprise of many of my friends and family that made the trip to Seattle. When we arrived in Seattle we went to the Niketown and as I walked in, there were a bunch of my friends who all yelled happy birthday. I had friends from Utah, and Portland that had gone to Seattle for the game and for my birthday, and my dad, lil' bro Steve and my uncle Don had all made the trip up. This was all a surprise and was one of the greatest birthdays.
Above is a picture of me my dad and brother Steve after the game had ended.
Above is picture of Cam, Me, Brody, Ladd, Todd, and Isaac who are friends from Utah that had made the drive to watch their Yankees play.
This is my friends from high school, Jeff Bates, Courtney and Michael Austermiller and me. Mike and Courtney drove up from Portland and Jeff was moving back up to Seattle at the same time.
Thank you so much Beck for the great Birthday, you are wonderful and I love you. And thanks to everyone that came up to Seattle.