IT'S A BOY! IT'S A BOY! IT'S A BOOOOYYYYY!

IT'S A BOY!!! And we could not be more thrilled! Jon and I had a feeling it would be, but as for the rest of my family and co-workers, I think it was a BIG surprise! My mom met us at the clinic for the ultrasound and she was SO excited and baffled that you could see so much nowadays! Since I am her youngest and am almost 26, it was quite the progress from the print out she was used to! She was so amazed to see the baby live right there on the TV! I don't know what was more fun, finding out the gender, or watching her react to it all!

Just a few days before I knew the gender, my generous step-mother took me on a girls retreat to Scottsdale Arizona where we were totally spoiled! Pool side service, free tennis, delicious dining, table side guac, and SO MUCH SHOPPING! She took me on a huge shopping spree where she bought me a ton of maternity clothing, and sprung for the cutest Juicy purse ever! It was such a steal, we couldn't resist! This trip was just what I needed and I am so grateful for her generosity and selflessness! I am truly blessed with an amazing family!

This week Jon's parents are in town, and they have been so so helpful! Jon and his dad have been working non-stop on the framing of our basement! I can't believe how quickly they have been able to get everything up! Jon's mom has been spoiling me too! We went shopping to pick out some fabric for the baby's room for the drapery. We lucked out way fast, and found the most adorable print! We ended up using some baby bedding from Target for the valance, and I can't wait to see how it turns out. She can sew better than most people I know, and I am confident it will be great!

THEN my sweet neighbor/friend made me the most adorable baby blanket THE DAY she found out what we were having! What an over-achiever! Of course, we're not complaining! Again, so lucky to have such great friends and family!

We are eager to get the nursery going, and so far we've got our crib, changing table, glider and ottoman, and bedding, and now drapes! Just need to find a dresser, the right shade of paint, and do the wainscoting, and it will be great! Take a look at our inspiration for the room :) We want the color scheme to be blue, brown, green, and white!

WE'RE PREGNANT!!

CATS OUT OF THE BAG!!

We're having a baby! Now that all of the complications have pretty much settled and I'm a little more calm, I feel like I cannot keep my mouth shut! Let's start from the very beginning!

February 28, feeling very tired, extremely sore breasts, and what feel like intense menstrual cramps coming on strong. I had been having these symptoms for about a week and still no monthly gift. Later that day, I was at the grocery store, and passed some pregnancy tests. I decided to get one just for the heck of it! When I was going to bed, I couldn't wait, I just had to see! (even though you're recommended to take them first thing in the morning) Sure enough the test was NEGATIVE. I tossed it in the trash like it was no big deal and went to bed. WELL the next morning, I use the ladies room, and I'm just staring off into space (into the trash can) and it looked like that second little line had appeared, but it was SO faint! My heart started pounding, and I woke Jon to tell him it had changed over night!! We both decided it HAD to be defective, so I went and bought about a dozen more tests until I was convinced. Obviously, you know what the outcome was!

Flash forward about two weeks. I start bleeding, as heavily as a heavy flow period. Again, I'm thinking I am not actually pregnant, or maybe I was and I had miscarried. I called my doctor and he wanted me to come in for an ultrasound right away! I went to the doctor, and everyone was shocked to find a little flickering heartbeat right there on the screen! Unfortunately, the bleeding continued for about a MONTH and so heavily, I became anemic and was put on bed rest! I passed many HUGE blood clots that made me think once again that I had miscarried. Needless to say, this stage of my pregnancy was a wild ride emotionally. The doctor concluded that I had what they call a subchorionic tear, which means you are bleeding between the uterine wall and the placenta and it usually resolves itself. I am happy to say, I believe mine has, after a long long journey! I still pass clots every so often, but the color is better and it seems to be resolved (knock on wood). That brings me to now! 14 weeks pregnant and eager to find out what this bundle of joy is so I can stop calling baby B, baby B and/or 'it'.

The gift of life is a beautiful thing, and I cannot wait to welcome our sweet angel into the world!

LOVE IS IN THE AIR

So yesterday was Valentine's Day! Yaaay. I am the most anti-valentine's person you'll ever meet! I think the holiday was invented by Hallmark and and it's an excuse to waste your money and feel guilty if you don't fulfill the necessary obligations!

Okay, that may be a bit dramatic, but I just don't see the point, and it's not because I am single, since clearly I'm not....I don't really know where it comes from either.

ANYWAY, I guess you can compare me to Scrooge because in the end, I was quite the v-day cheerleader, and here's why!

A few months back, my brother invited me to his 4th grade class to help with their Valentine's day party! I was stoked, especially since I've been wanting to do something with his class for SO long, but somehow never end up being able to! SO I was lucky enough to be in charge of the cookie decorating table!

His class is so sweet! Quite a few of his students are deaf, as he is a teacher at the school for the deaf and blind, but that doesn't mean they don't know how to get down! This was the most rowdy bunch of kids I've ever seen! They all had so much energy, I don't know how my brother does it, but he is a GREAT teacher and they all love and respect him so much!

So we decorated cookies, played games, and decorated little v-day card mail boxes, which I thought was so neat! When I was a kid, we had to do that at home, which some of these kids did, but it was fun to see what they could come up with in such a short amount of time.

I have a confession, word got out that my last name was NOT the same as Danny's (Mr. Hilder), so everyone was eager to ask me what mine was. I may have told them I am related to Kobe Bryant, but hey, it's all in good fun. The best part is, not a single one of them doubted me! Well, almost. One boy asked Danny to confirm, or deny....and he definitely CONFIRMED! I was a little disappointed at how bummed some of them were, as they are die hard Jazz fans! So basically, if I ever go back this year, I'll have to bring in a high quality photoshopped image of me and my "famous" cousin ;)

After the party at the good ol' elementary school, I went home to meet Jon and head to school. Right before we left, we decided we would just turn in our homework and go out for a night on the town! Sounds so rebellious, but this was the first day we've ever missed, so that's how we justified it! We went to dinner and saw 'Just Go With It', which I thought was pretty funny, but Jon swears is the best Adam Sandler movie since '50 First Dates', which I also wasn't waaaay stoked about, but tomato, tomato.

Moral of the story:

Any excuse to hang out with a bunch of fun kids and have a night on the town with your husband is a good one! Still don't love Valentine's Day, but I will thank St Valentine for giving me yet another excuse to snuggle up with the hubs while eating fatty carb-loaded foods and watching a movie :)

Hot movies + hot friends + hot husband = Hot weekend!

Friday night, my best girls and I went out for dinner at Cheesecake Factory and then to the movie Black Swan. We arrived at the theater a little bit...after showtime, but lucky for us, there were five seats all together....on the FRONT row! I have not taken a seat on the front row of theater voluntarily since I was about eight years old. Good thing, we are all sports :) The first thirty minutes of the movie, we were all super dizzy because of how close everything was, but the movie was well worth the kinked necks!

It's a movie about a girl whose dream is to be the star of the Ballet 'Swan Lake', a story about a white swan who is cursed with black feathers and the spell cannot be broken until she finds true love. But all is lost when her prince falls in love with someone else, and the swan kills herself. Nina, the girl fighting for the role of swan queen (and gets it), becomes so consumed by it that she believes herself to be 'the black swan', Dance being her love, and Mila Kuniz trying to take that from her. It was a bit confusing, but luckily Tianna was there to keep us all up to speed ;) Anyway, it was a really great movie, kind of suspenseful, pretty dark, but very well made. It was great to be able to get together with my best gal pals one last time before our beloved Sara becomes the first in the group to mother a beautiful baby boy! Her due date was yesterday, so we're all praying he comes soon so she can meet the lovely bug who's been living inside of her womb for what feels like ages, he must really like it in there! (We're all pretty excited too)!

Saturday night Jon and I had a cheap movie night. We bough some Taco Bell, stuffed it in my purse and went to the movies! We saw 'Country Strong' starring the lovely Gwyneth Paltrow and Tim McGraw! I was so hyped up to see this movie! Knowing that it came out in Nashville and select theaters so much earlier than it did here did not help! I am happy to report that it was just as good as I had hyped it up to be! Gwyneth Paltrow plays the role of 'Kelly Canter', a once on-top-of-the-world country superstar who has fallen off the deep end a few too many times. Her husband (Tim McGraw) can't stand the thought of his wife going down like that and is more eager than anyone to make sure she goes out with a bang. While I was really torn by his role in the movie, he played it very well. The group of people touring with her all have these kind of secret pasts that they are not super proud of and are trying to hide it through their music, well all but one, who is definitely living it through his music. All in all, I think the movie sends a pretty good message. I am going to leave it at that so I don't spoil it all for all...three or four of you who will read this!

On a different note, we have decided to NOT run the San Diego Rock n Roll marathon this year, Instead, we are going to run the Seattle Rock n Roll! It's on June 25, instead of the 1st. This way, my brother (who is a school teacher) will be out for the summer and able to run it with us! We are so excited and are still working our butts off to get in shape for it!

I will leave it at that! Happy Sunday Funday!! :)

Happy Blogging in 2011!!

It's a new year and time for changes! I am new at this blogging thing, so bare with me :) I look forward to 'following' many of our close friends and family and keeping them posted on what's new and happening in our lives.

Jon and I rang in the new year with Jon's brother Dan and his wife Angie at their Taylorsville home. We watched a few movies, but I was quickly reminded I am not a hyped up youngin anymore, when 1:30AM came and I was more than ready to go home and hit the hay!

Chris and Shannon Durr joined us just in time to watch the ball drop in Times Square (via television of course)! Probably the quietest New Year celebration we have had...ever! But it was a nice change of pace.

A few friends and I chose to train for my second, and for some the first, marathon in San Diego this June! I have also given up soda completely to help attain the goal! We've been hitting the gym hard and can't wait until the traffic dies down. Apparently everyones resolution is to achieve optimal physical fitness. Who knew? ;)

School starts again soon for us both and we are eager to do well and finish as soon as possible. Jon is continuing his major in accounting, and I am continuing my path to becoming a dental hygienist.

Well, more posts to follow, but that's all for now! Happy New Year all!!