Gender Reveal!

I guess today....well technically Wednesday was the day.... Sorry everyone, I've been lazy and haven't posted yet.

It's gender reveal time!!

On Wednesday we went to the OBGYN and got an ultrasound done. Jake and I were both pretty nervous, but giddy with excitement. It was a shock to see just how much our little one has grown since the 9 week ultrasound. (We're at 21 weeks now!) I'm sure I annoyed the ultra sound tech with my little squeals of excitement and "trying to be funny" nervous comments. Our baby sure is a wiggly one--frustrating the ultrasound tech with all its moving around.

Baby's head! Lookin' good!

Two moments really stand out to me from the experience.

1) Seeing our baby grab it's toes with it's hands and kicking at the "camera". It just made my heart melt!

2) Sneaking a peak and Jake and seeing him inch closer and closer to the screen with nervous excitement and happiness emanating from his face, and then him turning to me with his cute and nervous "we're going to be parents" smile.

I'm sure this sounds all so cheesy, but that was such a beautiful moment, kind of like earlier this week when Jake felt the baby move for the very first time. This little baby has stolen our hearts already.

So you ready to find out what it is?

Here's a riddle :)

In mommy's belly I will grow
Ten tiny fingers, ten tiny toes
Some don't know what my gender will be
Although you might already see
Guess if I'm a girl or boy
I'm sure either way, you'll jump for joy
Read this riddle with great care
Look really close, but please don't share!

(I can't take credit for the riddle......google :))

21 Weeks

They gave us lots of pictures :)

It's a girl!! 

DIY Christmas Tree

Okay, so maybe it's a little early to start decorating for Christmas....but I really think it depends on your perspective.

Christmas is less than a month in a half away. That's almost here! I'm ready for all the holiday cheer........hold the snow storms please!

Anyway, so this last Wednesday Jake planned a fun date night for me--making chocolate dipped pretzels, decorating for Christmas, and watching a Christmas movie. It was really a sweet gesture considering he's definitely the type to only decorate for Christmas/listen to Christmas music/watch Christmas movies after Thanksgiving is over. (Personally, I think it helps get me more into the mood for Thanksgiving....or maybe it's just all these pregnancy hormones running rampant.)

Well, during our date night we made our Christmas tree. Yep, made it! It all started last year.....

Still living in an apartment, not having space, money, or storage to purchase a "real" tree, I decided to come up with my own version that would still bring some holiday cheer into our home. I scowered Pinterest for some ideas. I came across some good DIY trees, but nothing that really peaked my interest. I finally found one type that was made out of foam cones that seemed pretty doable. But knowing the price of foam cones, that still seemed on the pricey side. Luckily, I've never been one to let that stop me, so it stemmed into something much more affordable, cute, and (bonus) cheap enough that there was no guilt in throwing it away after Christmas was over.

Back to present day:
Well, since doing that last year, I've been thinking about making a cute Pinterest tutorial all year for it. So I finally I did! My first one (with Jake's help)!

Also, and as just an update. We will hopefully find out baby's gender this week! Yay! (As long as baby cooperates and proves not to be too bashful :) )

Getting bigger....in more ways than one.

So, I feel like it's been long enough that I should be writing a best of 2013 already. Hmmmm, maybe I should have thought through this blogging thing a little better...

Actually, occasionally this blog will run through my mind, and I've come to the conclusion that I need to make two changes.

1. Bigger fonts (to make it look longer :) )

2.Feel less obligated to write a lot.

So...sorry my novel readers out there. I don't think I'll be able to keep up on all that length and depth I had last time (ha!).

Well, okay. Now for the real purpose of this blog--to keep you all updated with the going-ons of the Shelleys!

(And I'm decidedly not going to even attempt to recap most of the year prior to this. Sorry guys.)

Well, the two big crazy things happening right now?

Jake and I are pregnant! We're expecting our first little future soccer stud to arrive around the 5th of April.

Whoa! Big moment :) and TERRIBLE picture.

Our little peanut at 9 weeks.

That first trimester was a doozy. Not going into the nitty gritty...let's just say I spent the days that I wasn't working, laying in bed wondering how human civilization ever continued to survive and reproduce.

However, the second trimester is pretty fantastic. I'm even beginning to forget some of the side effects of the 1st trimester. Hmmm...maybe pregnancy brain is the reason we still have humans on earth....just a thought.

So....I have to apologize. Everyone loves a good baby bump photo right? Well, here's my confession. I just took my first one today! At 16 in a half weeks. But hey, It really wasn't til last week that my bump even looked like a bump-ish.

16 1/2 weeks

Anyway, enough about me! On to my better half! My husband is amazing. Earlier this year he took the DAT (Dental Admissions Test) and did pretty good! Since then we sent out applications to a lot of different schools across the country in the hopes of getting interviews.  (It's a weird, long process--apply in June, get secondary application requests in July and August, interview requests for September through November, and then don't hear back from anyone until December.)

Anyway, Jake's hard work has been paying off--at least concerning interviews. (We're not counting our chickens before they hatch though.) These past couple months have been pretty crazy with managing school and flying Jake across the country to his interviews. We're actually pretty extremely happy that this part of the process will be over soon!!

Other than that. My birthday was amazing, thanks to my wonderful husband. Here are just a few pictures to sum-up my post.

My birthday "cake".

Trisha

The Best of 2012

Welcome, welcome!

First blog post ever!

I'll catch you all up to date. Jake and I have been married over a year! Can you believe it!? We have been through a lot, let me tell you!

Let me just sum up 2012 for you really quick.

Last January Jake and I made a very tough.....let me repeat, VERY TOUGH decision. But when you're desperate for money and dirt poor married college students you do crazy things.

We signed up for 4 am custodial....

That's right, you read it right, AM! Early morning. Wake up at 3 AM Monday through Friday to get to work and clean toilets, sweep floors, take out trash, vacuum.......(I'm shuddering just thinking of it!).

This picture pretty much sums up my life.....if you add a toilet....

Our typical schedule looked like this:
3:15 AM: Wakup (4 alarms)
3:30 AM: Eat breakfast (bagel & banana--to this day I hate that combination with a passion)
3:45 AM: Romantic bike ride to school by moonlight...
4:00 AM: Clean Toilets/Offices
7:30 AM: Clock out and LUNCH TIME!!!
7:30 AM - 5:00 PM: Go to classes, sleep in classes, sleep outside classes, fall asleep while studying for classes. Second lunch.
5:00 PM: Go home and cook a wonderful dinner for Jake (Hopefully bake something to warm our little ice cave)
6:00 PM: Do the dishes
7:00 PM: SLEEP!

Longest semester of our lives! The bike rides to work were fun though, racing Jake, trying to hold hands while we biked,...almost getting ran over a few times.... That's when we invested in helmets.

Don't we look dashing?

But then a miracle happened....well two actually.

Miracle 1:

THE SEMESTER FINALLY ENDED!

Miracle 2:

WE BOTH GOT STRAIGHT A's!



And then another great event happened! I got an internship! An internship at Y Be Fit as a health coach at BYU! This was amazing because my internship was on BYU campus, within walking distance of my custodial job. I didn't have to pay to drive to Salt Lake for my internship (like many others in my major.)



The old logo

The new logo (that I designed)

 Sorry for the blurry images...the first one was the best image I could find. The second was because I was too lazy to convert the PDF to a jpg....so I took a picture on my computer screen. Ah, such is life.

Jake also had a big event happen! He started shadowing dentists this past summer! In fact, he has accumulated over 80 hours of shadowing! Way to go Jake! My husband is so dedicated.

 And! We were lucky enough to turn our custodial jobs into full-time! Our bosses let us add an afternoon shift!

So basically, our Summer consisted of custodial work and internship/dental shadowing. We both worked 40 hours per week, and then I added 20 hours of unpaid internship hours to my schedule, while Jake added 8 hours of shadowing and a Chem class.

Busy, busy, busy!

We did make some time for fun though :).

We went on lots and lots of hikes and bike rides!

Hiked the Y

The top of the Y

Slate Canyon

The Provo River Trail

Mount Timpanogos

Y mountain! The view is gorgeous. Can you see why hiking is so addicting?!

Y Mountain Meadow

 And....we may have carved something on a a tall skinny something somewhere on top of a giant something....

But anyway!

Our Summer was amazing! 

Work all week, play on the weekends!

The biggest and best miracle came at the end of the Summer.

I applied to be a Hall Advisor at BYU and got the job! It was the most stressful time of my life waiting....and waiting....and waiting..............

It was a huge life changing moment when I got the job. We could move out of our bug infested hole of an apartment, not have to wake up at 3 am anymore, not have to clean toilets anymore, not have to worry as much about money, good insurance, and the list goes on.

We felt very blessed that day.

Currently, I love my job working and living with the Freshman men and women. They do crazy, dumb, and silly things...a lot.... but I enjoying mentoring them and my RAs and working with wonderful people everyday....plus, Cannon Center meals every week? Can't beat that!

The last part of this post will just be notable pictures from the year. This post has already been long enough! Hope you enjoyed!

We went to Oakland in May! Jake showed me around his mission.

Halloween costumes! Katniss vs. Seneca Crane.

Jeremy got home from his mission!

The Fisher's were all back together! 

Visiting Ben & Betsy in Alamogordo, NM and sledding at White Sands!

Slack Lining with Kayla & Ryan with shoes on. Hello! There was snow on the ground!

Christmas with the whole Shelley Family!

Best year of my life so far, and it can only get better.

I love being married to the man of my dreams!