24 Weeks - I'm an avocado

This past week I have been eating a lot of avocado and every time I do Tyler scrunches up his face at me as if to say "gross!" I keep telling him that avocado is "healthy fat" for me and the baby.

Saturday morning I discovered that my favorite pair of shorts no longer fit around my baby bump, and I was a little disappointed- no one likes being too fat to fit their favorite clothes no matter the reason. But Tyler, in an effort to cheer me up said, "It's okay, cause it's healthy fat... (pause) ...you're an avocado!" He has been affectionately calling me his little avocado ever since. And, luckily, he likes this avocado :)

Colorado Re-cap

Tyler and I spent a couple days in Denver prior to the annual Turner ski trip in Aspen. While we were there we stayed at my best friend Monica's parent's home in Aurora and were lucky enough to get 19 inches of snow!! I say lucky, though Tyler might tell you something different since we did have to shovel a driveway for the first time ever. But, it was so so so beautiful and I could've sat by the window all day watching it! Everything looks better covered in some sparkly white snow if you ask me!

Pretty snowfall in front of the Fiala's house.

Evergreen trees and fences laden with lots of fluffy snow!

We also had the opportunity to drive out to Greeley, CO, which is where I was born and spent the first 11 years of my life before moving to Hawaii. I hadn't been back since we moved and it was fun to see what has changed and what is still the same.

The bell tower at my elementary school.

Our old church building- it was exactly as I remembered it, inside and out!

Our old home- a few trees, some kids, and some toys were definitely missing.

The "big" bridge at Epple Park (down the street from our old house). Somehow almost everything was much smaller than I'd remembered.

We also stopped by the temple to take a few pictures- sooo pretty!!

After our fun in Denver we headed over to Aspen to meet up with Tyler's family for ski week. I, of course, did not ski this year, but took the time to enjoy some more snowy weather. Unfortunately, the week ended with a bad stomach flu, so hopefully things go a little better next year.

This is the only photo I took while in Snowmass/Aspen. Our main camera lens was in the shop, so all I had was our mega zoom lens and it was too hard trying to get photos when I had to back up like a hundred feet to get it all in. Maybe next time we'll get some better ones.

Happy Valentine's Day!

How cute is this "My Heart Beats For You" pillow case? I may just have to grab it for Tyler cause that's exactly how I feel about him!

I have to apologize to all the other women in the world today, because I have the best husband ever!! No, he did not surprise me with breakfast in bed, chocolates and flowers this morning. But he did make another early morning market run to help me find something that will stay in my stomach for more than a couple of hours. And he didn't complain about me waking him up numerous times in the middle of the nite because I was going to throw up or because I was having bad dreams and my back was in pain, again. I've been suffering through a horrible stomach flu for the past couple of days and he's been the best doctor, masseuse, shnuggler, and distract-er one could ask for. I think that's true love :)

So, Happy Valentine's Day Tyler! I love you to the next galaxy and back!!

P.S. If you follow the link there are several more really cute lovey-dovey gifts to peruse.

It's a Boy!

20 Weeks

Long Awaited Update

So, after a two month vacation from blogging, I’m back! I guess one of my New Year’s resolutions can be to stay on top of this more, mostly because Tyler really, really wants me to. And I think there will be a lot of fun things to blog about this year ;)

For now, I’m just going to re-cap the past two months the best I can.

November:

The highlight of November for me was going to Hawaii for two weeks. Tyler wasn’t able to take that much time off of work and because airline prices are high we decided we save the money and go back together another time. The first week in Hawaii I spent working at the Maui Invitational for the second year in a row. I had a fun time watching good basketball, seeing all my old friends from Kemper again, and seeing Steph Curry, Luke Walton and Doc Rivers there.

My fam and I flew back to Oahu early Thanksgiving morning and just relaxed for a while before we started getting ready to eat. Luckily my mom had the Boy Scouts cook our turkey this year (imu style!) so there wasn’t too much work to do. After Thanksgiving was over I just spent the rest of my stay in Hawaii relaxing and enjoying the beach, but unfortunately I took zero photos so I apologize for all the text!

Tyler’s November highlight was being able to grow a mustache with some of his buddies at work for Movember. I, thankfully, planned my trip for the same month so I avoided the worst of it. He did have a full grown the mustache when he picked me up at the airport November 30 though, which was definitely creepy. After we took a couple photos I made him shave it immediately. Gross.

Why do guys think the more hair the more manly?

December:

December flew by really quickly for me this year. Tyler and I bought our first real Christmas tree this year and decorated it with all the ornaments we have picked up on our travels together. I think we filled the tree quite nicely and it made me happy to see our Nutcracker and Canadian ornaments whenever I came home from work.

We spent most of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at Tyler’s dad’s new house, though Christmas morning we spent just the two of us opening gifts from each other and then going to church. I think we were both pretty satisfied with our gifts this year, and for once Tyler actually surprised me with a few things! Tyler’s dad also gave me the gorgeous yellow rainboots below that I absolutely LOVE!!

New Year’s Eve was pretty unexciting this year. We went out to dinner at the Macaroni Grill with Tyler’s mom and her husband and then went home to watch the Lakers game. Afterwards we put on a movie and of course both fell asleep. We woke up just in time to watch the ball drop at Times Square and then we were off to bed again. Good thing we bought all those confetti poppers and silly string- I guess we’ll have to go crazy another nite for no reason :)

Our holidays were pretty chill for the most part this year, but we both enjoyed having lots of time off between Christmas and New Year’s to just hang out with each other. Again, sorry for the late post and the lack of photos, but really, when you have a picture of Tyler with a mustache, what more do you need?

We picked up a set of 7 of these ornaments (2 reindeer, 2 snowflakes, 2 rocking horses, and 1 Christmas tree) at a Christmas Around the World exhibit in a Chicago museum. These ones were from Canada and they're my favorite ornaments on the tree right now.

My nutcracker. We found him in an old Victorian home in upstate New York that had been turned into a year-round Christmas shop. I love him! Sorry the photo isn't great, but I had to use my phone as our camera is being very temperamental right now. Also, note Tyler's train in the background- if I'd let him he sit there all month long watching it go around in circles....boys.

The rainboots- I smile everytime I look at them :)

Happy 2012!!

Happy Halloween!

Tyler and I came up with some costumes a couple of hours before our ward Trunk 'or' Treat party Saturday. I just used a bit of felt we had to create ears, a leopard print shirt and headband, and some makeup to be a cat. I also have a leopard print belt that I stuck in the back of my pants for a tail.

Tyler wanted to be "The Bomb" so we grabbed a couple of black trash bags and stuffed him with newspapers and added a little white wick to his hat. He was hoping to be a little more rotund, but apparently the trash bags we got weren't big enough and he ended up splitting the center of his bomb when he sat down and spent the rest of the nite trying not to lose his stuffing when he walked around.

Tonite I think we're just going to go to a friends house and help pass out candy and look at all the cute kiddies. Hope you all have a Happy Halloween!!

Jack-O-Lantern

Last nite Tyler and I carved a pumpkin together and I think that is the first time we've ever done that together. We are way behind in life, apparently. The good news is our Jack is a cutie, but the bad news is that Tyler is a pansy. Yes, it's true. He made me take all of the "yucky" stuff out of the pumpkin by myself cause he was too grossed out by it, and he said the smell of fresh pumpkin made him feel queasy. What?! Pansy.

No worries though, I'm a pro and got him all cleaned up- not to mention the smell just makes me think of my family carving pumpkins together :) We messed up one of his eyes a little, so he may look funny, but I just wanted to make sure he had a HUGE smile, cause I wanted him to be a happy pumpkin.

Me pulling the guts out- Tyler was probably making retching noises.

Tyler making fun of Jack's bad eye.

Me & Jack.

Glowing Jack (sorry he's a little blurry).

Going Green

A couple of weekends ago Jordan and James Green let me photograph their family so I could get a little more practice doing portraits. Here are some of my favorites from the day:

Eden Malia Green

Green Family collage

The faces of McKay Kalani Green: "So Happy!" & "Heading into Battle"

*All photos were taken at the Santa Monica Pier

Geeks

Tyler and I both got new glasses not too long ago. The last time I had had my prescription checked was in 2005 so I was definitely in need of something new. Tyler was getting glasses for the first time and I'm still adjusting to the way he looks with them on. Both of us only need them for reading and computer use, and since I don't work in a posh bank like Tyler, I decided to go with something a little more funky. What do you guys think?

General Conference Weekend

Does anyone else feel like General Conference is a Mormon-specific holiday? Cause I do, and I love every minute of it!! Tyler and I opted to keep it low key this time and watched all the general sessions from our bed at home (and yes, I still managed to stay awake throughout). We, of course, had donuts and orange juice for breakfast on Saturday morning, but Tyler wasn't able to make his traditional scones for our Sunday morning session so we had waffles instead.

Anyways, one of the highlights of the conference for me was the announcement of the Provo Tabernacle, which almost completely burned in a fire earlier this year, being turned into a new temple, making Provo the first city to house two LDS temples- soooo exciting! Having spent lots of time in the historic building as a student at BYU, I cannot wait to visit Provo again after the temple's completion! It is seriously just very, very cool!


I LOVED all of President Monson's remarks during conference- he is such a happy, inspiring man and I love him! Other talks that stood out to me were: Randall K. Bennett's, Sister Elaine S. Dalton's, Ian S. Ardern's, Carl B. Cook's, Elder Robert D. Hales', Elder L. Tom Perry's, Elder Quentin L. Cook's, and President Uchtdorf's talk from the General Relief Society meeting.

If you missed you be sure to go watch/listen at lds.org. I promise you will not be disappointed :)

And Happy October! I feel like I have been waiting for fall all year!!