Halloween and Birthday

James asked me a few weeks ago what I wanted for my birthday.  I told him all I wanted was to go to Boise.  So he made it happen!  We left on Halloween morning and got there a little after noon.  We met Ryan and one of Kara and my old roommates from BYU for lunch.  It was so fun to catch up with her.  I could kick myself for not taking a picture!  Then we went home and waited for trick-o-treat time.  Halloween is not one of my favorites, but it sure is a lot more fun with kids!

Wolverine!

This bunny suit has lasted through the ages.  I'm pretty sure I wore it when I was 1.

The boys had fun trick-o-treating, but I'm pretty sure the highlight of the night was passing out the candy to people who came to the door.
It was a really relaxing weekend.  I was still really hit or miss with the morning sickness, so I might not have been much fun.  Lots of laying around!
On Sunday we celebrated my birthday.  Deeds and Kim came over for dinner and we had cake and ice cream.

 On Monday morning, James made me my birthday purple cow.  Yumm!

 We hung out for the morning and then hit the road to head home.

We stopped in Ogden for some In-N-Out for my birthday dinner.

 

It was such a nice relaxing weekend.  It was just what I needed!  I only barfed twice while I was there, so I'm calling the trip a success.  I had to drive both ways because not driving makes me car sick, but we had a wonderful time!  Can't ask for a better birthday than that!  Thanks for having us Ryan and Kara!

This is the birthday present I got from James...

This was very much needed as about 95% of my clothes don't fit anymore.  Isn't he the best husband?  I thank Heavenly Father for him many times a day!  I also got  money from parents and James' parents for the same thing.  Look out maternity sections of all nearby stores!

The one sad thing about being gone over this weekend was that we missed little Lukie Toots first birthday.  He turned 1 on Nov. 1st.  I sure love that sweet little boy!  We share the same birth month...that means he's awesome!

October Fest

October has been rough on our Cougar hearts.  We went from talk of Taysom being a Heisman contender and BYU possibly busting in to the College Football Playoffs to being the biggest joke of a team in a matter of 3 hours.  Taysom broke his leg and we lost to the Aggies for the first time at home since the year of my birth.  This all happened in the game against Utah State where we were "royal", strong and true.

At least we had a cougar tail to help our woes!

It was a good thing General Conference was the next morning to rescue a weekend that started off so poorly.  James made us this most delicious breakfast before the first session...

We got to babysit our little niece during the second session, which I didn't take any pictures of sadly.  Tricia and Olivia came over that evening for a little girl time while the boys were at Priesthood session.  It was so fun to catch up with them!  Again, no pictures taken.
We joined the Grossen fam for Sunday morning session.  The kids were so good playing their Conference bingo, and little Luke loved crawling up to the TV and helping Mack Wilberg conduct the Mo Tab.  Conference is one of my very most favorite things.  It was a wonderful weekend!

The next devastating home loss came a couple of weeks with a loss to Nevada...ugh!  We started the game off right with some Sensuous Sandwich...a downtown Provo classic!  My dad went to this very same restaurant when he was a student.

I sat with my nose plugged almost this entire game as my bionic pregnant nose smelled every single hot dog in the whole stadium.  Football games aren't very fun when you feel miserable, but we never missed a game!  We definitely didn't stay until the bitter end of any of these either though.  The little bambino wouldn't permit such late hours, strong smells, and lack of laying down.

This same weekend, James arranged for me to get my hair cut by one his friends.  It was part of my birthday present.  I had been complaining about my hair for weeks.  Look how disgustingly long it was...

 

 

 Prenatal vitamins make my hair and fingernails grow like madness.  I am in love with the finished product!

 

 

This last weekend, we had the Taylor family annual Halloween party.  This was my first time being able to attend.  It was so fun!  My mother-in-law is so wonderful! She spent weeks getting everything ready for this, and it was awesome!

James and I are both pretty anti-dressing up for Halloween...a little boring.

A little monkey in a tree

Pirate Devin

Rosie the Riveter Hilary

Wind-up doll Aubrey

Noelle as Little Red Riding Hood

We played a few minute to win it games...

 ate yummy food...

 and played more games...

 and finished the night off will all the yummy treats that Sondra and Hilary made.

Family time is really the best time!

James was starting to feel like he was coming down with a cold right before the party, and within a few days, he was a mess.  He can't be a mess!  He's the only one keeping our boat afloat over here.  We finally went to the instacare and he has bronchitis.  Luckily the doctor says its not super contagious so I have been spared thus far.  Being pregnant sick and having bronchitis would send me over the edge I fear.  Good times around here!

We are Having a Baby!!

Yep, it is true!  Baby Taylor #1 is on its way!  We are so very excited and feel so blessed!  We went to our first doctor's appointment a couple of weeks ago and got to see the little wiggle worm.  It made it so real!  We finally told all our family members.  It was so fun to tell everyone!  This baby is going to be loved by so many!

I've heard my whole life how motherhood is a great sacrifice, and I completely understand that.  We sacrifice our bodies, our time, a lot of our desires, and a whole lot more to bear and raise children.  I thought I was mentally prepared for this.  I had no idea it started when they were the size of a green olive.  Holy smokes this baby has turned my world upside down! I don't want to sound like I'm complaining because it is completely worth it, and I know many women who would give anything to have morning sickness.  However, I do want to document how pregnancy has changed life in the Taylor household.
I have been so incredibly blessed to be able to work from home.  Being ten feet from my bed and five feet from a toilet has been a gift.  There have been days that I stumble out of bed, work a few hours, puke, work a few more hours, take a nap for lunch, work a few more hours, puke, and then go right back to bed.  Most days have not been that bad, but I miss feeling normal.  I miss being able to exercise.  This baby will have none of that!  I tried many times and it would throw my day into a downward spiral.  So for now, my exercise is growing this little one.  I am so tired of eating.  Never in one million trillion bagillion years would I ever have thought I would say those words.  I have to eat something every 1-2 hours to keep something in my stomach or things get ugly very fast.  The problem with this is that nothing sounds good.  Entering the kitchen makes me gag especially our pantry.  I have to go downstairs with a definite purpose in what I'm grabbing to eat and not think about it or breathe out of my nose.  This is what my desk looks like most days...

Look at all that sugar!  This kid is going to be addicted before birth.

 Mornings are the best time of day for me.  I feel worse as the day goes on, with the worst time of day being about 4-7pm.  I usually finish work and head straight down to the couch.  I don't leave the couch (except to pee, which is just about hourly) until we head to bed.  James has been incredible!  This has been my view almost every night...

 He comes home from work and makes us dinner.  What sounds good an edible can change in an instant.  One night all I wanted was chicken fajitas.  James came home and made delicious fajitas.  By the time they were ready, I wasn't sure I could eat them.  I hoovered one down anyway just to put something in my stomach.  It came right back up within minutes.  It was the most barf I have ever seen in my life.  All things that I once loved sound terrible...cold cereal being the big one.  Oh and ice cream too...who doesn't want to eat ice cream?  Absurd!  Needless to say life is so weird right now.  All I do is eat, work, eat, barf, lay, watch TV, barf, and sleep.  I feel useless.  James reassures me all the time that I'm doing the most important work for our family right now.  I want to cook and clean and make our new house a home.  So far all my time in the new house has been yucky.  Wowsers...it has been rough!  The one good thing is that as long as I'm sick, I know the baby is in there and growing, and we are so grateful for that!  The light is at the end of the tunnel as the first trimester is coming to a close soon.  Let's keep our fingers crossed that I'm not one of those rare women who is sick the whole time.
We can't wait to find out if its a boy or girl!  That should happen in mid-December.  We love our little green olive baby!