Ultrasound Results......

So, we went to our 19-week ultrasound today, and... IT'S A GIRL!!! If you want to see pictures, go to this link:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100001543180381&sk=photos

Sorry, my computer savvy husband is currently occupied, so you have to copy and paste the link to get to it. But you can manage, right? There's also a video coming, but I'll let you know when we (by "we" I really mean "Sam" :) ) get it up.

Baby weighs 11 oz., and her heartbeat is 148 bpm. She's healthy, and we couldn't be happier!!!

Oh, Christmas Tree!

We put up our Christmas tree last night!!! Sam got home from work at 10:00, and for some reason we decided to get the tree ready. (I think I was way too excited, so Sam went with it :) ) We had bought 1 strand of lights from DI, but it wasn't enough... So of course we went to Walmart at 10:30 to get more. Of course, right? We couldn't have a half-lighted tree, now could we? While at Walmart we found a box of candy canes for 88 cents and we couldn't resist (ok, I couldn't resist) buying them. Then we came home, strung up the rest of the lights, put on the ornaments and candy canes, and voila! Christmas. :)

Thanksgiving Break (Sorry for the extremely long post...)

Friday was the last day of school before the week-long Thanksgiving break. Sam and I were really excited for the time off from school - we needed it! Rexburg was supposed to have a snow storm starting on Friday night, so when we walked to the car from our last classes we were excited to see a few flakes starting to fall. We went home and watched a movie, talked, and relaxed. Then at 11:45 that night we decided to go to McDonalds for ice cream... Why not, right?

Mmmm...... Ice cream!!

It didn't snow Saturday or Sunday, but Monday morning we woke up to quite a bit! These are our front stairs.

There was probably 5 or so inches, so Sam had to be manly (well, he's always manly...) and shovel a path so we could get out of the parking lot.

On Tuesday morning we drove to Twin Falls. What is normally a 3 hour trip took us 6 hours because we were driving in a blizzard. We saw probably 18 cars off the road, and at one time the visibility was so bad Sam couldn't see the road... So we stayed right behind a semi that had its hazards on - he kept us on track!

We were dumb on the trip and took few pictures. I'm really bummed about that! So I'll just have to tell about it without pictures... On Tuesday we stayed with Melissa and Maren. We had fun talking and watching a movie. The next morning we went to WinCo to pick up some things, and it was pretty crazy! It was the day before Thanksgiving, what can you expect?

On Wednesday afternoon we got to my grandparents' house, and while Sam helped my grandpa shovel snow, I helped my grandma cut (and eat) caramels and dip pretzels. I wonder who got the better end of that deal... :) My grandma had also made clam chowder for us that night. Mmmmmmm. I ate all the leftovers too. :)

Thursday was Thanksgiving! Sam and I were only in charge of deviled eggs and green bean casserole. Seriously, everything else was taken care of by my aunts and grandma. Crazy. We went over to my aunt Karen's house to help set up. I really didn't do much because every time I would pick something up, somebody would say, "now should you be carrying that?" So I opted for sitting in the living room and watching my cute cousins, Joey and Dylan, play "huskies" and talking to my uncle Matt. Since the roads to California were so bad, Melissa and Maren weren't able to travel. So they came to Thanksgiving dinner with us!!! It was fun to have them - I hope they weren't overwhelmed by us all! We played some games, ate an amazing meal, and talked. Then later that night Sam and I went to "The Last Three Days" with Matt and Alisa. It was a good movie, but I think the end ruined it for me. Bummer when that happens.

Friday Sam and my grandpa watched football. None of the teams they were rooting for won. The Boise State game was especially disappointing. But we don't talk about that anymore around here. ;) I played some games with my grandma, talked with her, and she introduced me to "The Unsinkable Molly Brown." Later that evening Sam and I walked around the mall. I love when the stores are all decorated for Christmas! We even looked at strollers and baby clothes at Sears. That was fun. :)

On Saturday we got to go to the Twin Falls temple for a session! It was so beautiful. I loved it. After that Sam and I went to my Aunt Alisa and Uncle Matt's house. I looked through Alisa's old maternity clothes (thank you!!!), and we talked for a few hours. It was fun to get to know them a little better and to spend some time with their family.

On Sunday we drove home. The roads were much better than Tuesday, so we got home quicker - which was nice. I'm so grateful for a husband that is experienced at driving in the snow!!!

Thank you to all of our Twin Falls family for letting us stay with you, and for feeding us! We had lots of fun with all of you!

In response to several requests, here's another picture of my belly. (Good heavens, when am I going to learn to smile normally in a picture? Sigh...) This was today, at 17 weeks and one day. We went to the doctor on Monday, and after waiting over an hour to see the doctor, we heard the heartbeat (150 bpm) as well as a little kick on the Doppler. That was exciting! :) While we were scheduling our next appointment, the lady at the front desk gave us a brownie because she felt so bad we had to wait so long. Well thanks! We can wait an hour when we don't have anywhere else to be anytime for a brownie! Our next appointment will be December 17th at 3:00. We'll have the ultrasound to make sure the baby is healthy, as well as find out the gender! We're really looking forward to that. :) Also, today I felt the baby move for a solid 10 minutes while I was in my chemistry class!!! That was pretty exciting for me because I've thought I've felt it before, but I've been unsure. There was no doubting it today, though!

There's every kind of holiday Hershey's Kiss in there. Dad and Micah? Be excited.

We got our Christmas tree today! We wish we could have gone to cut one down, but the snow hit at the wrong time! We're excited to put it up and decorate it. It's the first time I've had a real tree, so I'm excited. Hooray for my favorite holiday of the year!!!

Good thing we didn't get pulled over with that thing sticking out the window!

If you read that entire thing, I'm very impressed. Just sayin'.

Recent Happenings

This is one of the most exciting things to happen lately. Sam's parents gave us their old washer and dryer. (and drove them all the way here from California!) And this is Sam installing them in our house!

He read up about how to do it on the internet and asked around, then decided to buy all the parts. We had to go back to Ace Hardware a few times to exchange things, but we ended up getting all the parts we needed.

This is the finished product... We hadn't quite put everything away yet, but it was done!!

This is where Sam had to cut pipes and add some stuff... I don't know much about it. You'd have to ask him, since he did the whole thing on his own.

Here's another pipe he had to add. This one was for the filter for the washer. And now we don't have to spend 10 dollars a week on laundry, nor do we have to go to the laundromat! Thank you, thank you, thank you Adam, Tami and Sam!!!!!! :)

In other news, my mom has been asking to see pictures of my pregnant self. This was me at 14 weeks. This is Sam's cousin, Megan, and her husband Jon. They came for dinner a couple weeks ago, and we decorated sugar cookies. Megan is also pregnant! She's having a little boy in March! They got some cute ultrasound pictures of him last week. How exciting is that?? :)

And this is me on Sunday, at 15 weeks. Don't mind the weird smile, or the vacuums in the background!! Sam was in the process of fixing them for the guys upstairs. We have another doctor's appointment on Monday, and we should be able to hear the baby's heartbeat then. I'm really hoping everything is going as great as it was last time!

I've been feeling amazing, and I have more energy to do things around the house. It was also fun to get a few maternity clothes a couple weeks ago! I never thought maternity pants could be so comfortable - I mean, looping a hair tie over the button on my pants and through the button hole worked great, but maternity pants are a million times more comfortable! And thanks to my mom for my early birthday present of more maternity clothes!!! It's amazing how much more flattering maternity clothes are than pre-pregnancy clothes that just stretch. It makes my belly look pregnant rather than just big.

Sam and I are also looking forward to our week off of school next week for Thanksgiving Break! We're going to Twin Falls to stay at my grandma's house and have Thanksgiving with my family up there. I can't wait to see them all!

12 Weeks

Today marks 12 weeks and 2 days. We're almost into the second trimester!

The first trimester has been great. I've been getting used to the symptoms of pregnancy - nausea, occasional vomiting, fatigue, feeling faint, emotional changes... It sounds so simple when described on the internet, but experiencing it is a little different. The nausea feels different than the flu. It mostly happens when I'm hungry, or when I smell something strange - it doesn't even necessarily have to be something strange, it could be something that I normally like the smell of like soap, chicken, or brownies. It's crazy how when I get hungry, I immediately start to feel sick and I have to eat right away. And if I wait too long to eat, whatever I eat comes right back up. I'm usually to come right back to the table, though, and finish eating. The feeling faint thing is completely new to me. I've never had a problem with standing (or kneeling ;)) for long periods of time, but even after standing for 15 minutes I begin to feel light-headed and I have to sit down. I also cry... often. And for the most random things! We watched a video in my anatomy class and I started to tear up.

But the positive things greatly outweigh the negative!!! I have the most amazing husband - he's constantly picking up my slack around the house - (and you better believe there's been a ton of that!) cooking, washing dishes, doing laundry, you name it. He often makes me dinner, only to me being unable to finish it after taking one bite. He offered to hold my hair when I throw up. That was kind, but I think I'd rather do that one on my own. :) He lets me sleep in, and wakes me up in the kindest way possible - NOT like my dad's way of flip on the light, rip the covers off, and walk away. He listens to my constant babblings of how old our baby is, how long it is, how much it weighs, what its fingers look like, its activities, the state of its bladder/heart/brain, the cool new thing I heard in embryology...blah blah blah. And I'm sure he's interested in most of it, but seriously? Sometimes it's too much. He makes me get in the shower when I'm feeling sick, knowing I'll feel better afterward. He comes to pick me up from school when I feel sick from being in the cadaver lab, offers to make me whatever I want, buys spaghetti-o-s for me, (on the condition that he doesn't have to smell them) brings me breakfast in bed, lets me cry and complain about the most recent thing that's bothering me, and even saves my life when I pass out at the temple. :) And he does all this while he's extremely busy with school, work, student representative council meetings, presentations, managing the apartment upstairs, and the common stresses of every day. I'm so grateful for him and all he does for me. He truly is the BEST.

And, with the positives, nothing can describe the joy of walking past the fridge and seeing those three pictures of our little baby - knowing that it's ours, and we saw it wiggle around! We're so happy and excited. We even made pumpkins last night for family home evening that looked like babies... I'll post those soon.

Life is going so well right now. I couldn't be happier. :)

Our Little (and I mean REALLY little) Baby!!!

On Monday Sam and I went to the doctor for our first ultrasound. We were both really nervous that morning... Until we saw our baby, that is!!

It was such a relief to see that everything was perfect. The baby even moved around for us!! The poor nurse had a hard time measuring it because it wouldn't stop wiggling. This is my favorite picture because I think it shows the most detail - arms, legs, tummy, face, brain, everything.

When the baby finally stopped moving, it measured at 10 weeks 1 day - just one day shy of what we thought! Its heart beat was 166 bpm. It was so awesome to hear it just beating away!

Here's the profile shot. You can even see the little fingers! It was amazing to me how much it looked like a human, even though it's so tiny.

It was such a surreal experience to see this little human growing inside me. We knew it was there, and I'd been keeping track of how big it would be, but it was a completely different thing to actually see it. Especially when it started moving around! I think I've looked at the pictures on our fridge a million times since the ultrasound! Whenever I look at them, I just remember what it was like to see those little arms and legs punching and kicking. It was so fun to see our little baby for the first time. :)



*****On another note, my bestest friend Heather is getting married tomorrow!! I'm so excited and happy for her!! Greg makes her happy, and they're so perfect together. I can't wait to see them at the reception on Saturday!!!!!*****

Post for Tami

Dear Everyone Who Reads This Blog,

Sam and I (mostly Sam) just got off the phone with his mom, who informed us (mostly me) that we needed to update our blog. So, because Sam has the pictures from our trip on his computer - which he is using for homework right now - I will just write a little bit about what's going on in our lives.

School has started up, and it's been great to be back on schedule. Sam is taking 18 credits so he's busy, busy, busy. As for me? I'm only taking 12. (auditing 4 and retaking 8 so I don't rack up any more credits than the 48 I'm allowed to have when I apply to the Nursing Program again)

We've also started as managers of Apple Tree Apartments. Mostly it's been maintenance around the apartment, Sam riding herd on the 8 boys to clean, check-ins and check-outs, manager meetings, and painting parking lines in the parking lot by hand. Though it's been busy, it's been good to help things get back to the way they should be as BYU-I approved housing.

This weekend we are going to be spending lots of time with family. Ben is going to be leaving for Iraq on the 21st (I think) so we are going to Twin Falls to spend time with all of the Brubakers except for Joe who's doesn't get home from Mexico until March. It will be a weekend full of good memories. Even before we leave for Twin Falls on Saturday, though, Adam, Marci, Joseph and Isaac are coming to stay with us on Friday night! It will be fun to have them be the first visitors in our new apartment.

After we all spend time together in Twin Falls, Jacob will be the second visitor in our apartment! He'll stay until he goes home to Placerville on October 1st. He's going to have to sleep in my old flowery bedding, but at least it's soft and warm, right?

Overall we're really happy right now. Life is good, the weather's great, we're enjoying school, and my favorite holiday is only 101 days away!!!

I hope you will all forgive me for my sparse posting lately! Again, I promise to be better. There will be some fun pictures from Arizona and California coming your way, so be excited!

See you soon, Brubakers!!

Love,

Heidi

Salt Lake with Cameron, Alex and Mary

This is at the Children's Museum at Gateway Mall. We all had so much fun there!

The kids got to go inside a helicopter, and they thought that was quite cool!

After the museum we went to the fountains outside the mall. It was a hot day and the kids really enjoyed it! They were so cute and funny to watch.

Here they are soaking wet... Maybe we're bad, but we just let them get wet in their clothes. Not one of them complained about being cold on the drive home (they were wrapped in towels, I'm sure that helped), so we figured it wasn't too horrible.

Mary was so tired on the way home! Isn't she cute?

I know, I know... It's been a long time. But don't worry, I'm going to write ALL about our vacation in the next few days. The computer won't let me add any more pictures right now, but I have more to say so I'll post again tomorrow!

Favorite memories from Utah:

- Having Alex tell me "You were really young to get married, huh." (I just thought: you're definitely not the only one to say that) :)
- Watching Cameron laugh when Mary was disgusted at Sam and I holding hands
- Hearing Mary talk on her fake cell phone to Cinderella, Snow White and "Beauty." "Hello, Beauty? Cinderella says she can't come over. Ok, love you, bye."
- Watching the three kids team up at the museum to get all the building blocks from the one bossy kid.
- Hearing Cameron and Alex laughing in their room when they were supposed to be asleep, then going silent when they heard Sam's or my footsteps in the hall.
- Getting a picture Mary colored for us and telling her we'd put it on our fridge
- Racing through Wal-Mart as "boy team and girl team" to try to find the tie dye kits first

What We've Been Up To

Well, we've been moving!! A few weeks ago we got the offer to manage an apartment complex of 6 boys, live in a basement apartment with 2 bedrooms and save 60 dollars a month on rent. So, we jumped at the opportunity and moved in all our stuff before we left on vacation.

Moving stuff into the kitchen cupboards... Fun stuff!

Our first meal in the new apartment.

This is us at Warm Slough. This spot is where Sam and I had a bonfire last summer with friends... And it's where Sam says he fell in love with me.

Here I am where we stood last summer, pointing to the sunset we watched as we talked for hours.

This is in the back of our new apartment. The last managers didn't do very much yard work, but we're looking forward to planting a garden next year!

Notice the nice line of weeds? The right side is our yard. Don't worry though, they're gone now.

All of these weeds are taken care of too. You wouldn't believe the bugs that flew out at us when we weed-whacked those guys!

And this is the start of our vacation. Hello Jackson Hole!

On our first night camping we made these campfire pizzas. We used pita bread for the outside and put sauce and string cheese on the inside. I wasn't expecting much, but they were super good!

This is what they looked like before we wrapped them up like a burrito.




Here's our campground at Gros Venture the first night. There were lots of other families close by, so it was easier to sleep at night without waking up every few minutes afraid of bears.

It was fun to roast marshmallows. I hadn't done it in awhile!

This is Sam's version of a perfect marshmallow... Just let it burn to a crisp. I'm glad he likes it!

Here we are getting ready to get on the ferry across the lake.

As we were riding on the ferry to the start of the hike this rainbow was in the wake.

And this is as we started the hike.

This was the view from a little ways up the path.

Here we are at the top: Inspiration Point looking over Jenny Lake.

Sam's turn!

And now together...

After we got to the top we decided to hike back a little further into Cascade Canyon. Look at that view! I know the hat looks silly, but I didn't want to get my part sunburned...

And this is where we saw a moose! It was out in the canyon.

This is at String Lake where we went swimming. It is only about 7 or so feet deep at the center, and crystal clear the whole way. It was freezing, but we still had fun swimming around.

This was in a shop in Jackson Hole. We had fun just messing around. It's amazing to me what kinds of random things people will buy in gift shops for ridiculous amounts of money.

I definitely wasn't meant to be a cowgirl!

This is the side of the Tetons that we don't see in Idaho.

Look how beautiful! We had lots of fun in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park.


Right now we are in Salt Lake City watching Sam's 3 cousins - Cameron, Alex and Mary. We've had lots of fun adventures so far, and we'll blog about it when we get the chance!