August = The Month of Madness

I cannot even begin to describe all of the changes that have happened to us in the month of August.  It has been pure MADNESS.  This is however my attempt....

August 13th = My birthday!! I turned 23 and Skyler made sure I had the best day ever.  He made me an ice cream cake that was most definitely made with love and we had some friends over to share it.  It was also the day that I decided I was absolutely, without a doubt, sick of our car and taking it to the shop once a week.  We also had an interview with the owner of The Academy Apartments on my birthday.  What this meant to us was that we could possibly live rent free with free utilities, cable, laundry, internet..etc.  That also meant that we could possibly afford a new car....let the stress begin.

August 15th = We found out we got the position!!  Now do not be deceived...the hours spent from the interview to when we found out was absolute TORTURE.

August 17th = TRABIN:  (tra-bin) is defined as a cabin and trailer combined to create the perfect atmosphere for tight corners and crying because you're laughing so hard moments.  On Friday, we drove up to Island Park to spend the weekend with some family friends (Smiths and Okelberry's) at the trabin.  It was a blast and so nice to relax after such a stressful week.

Here is the gang at Island Park:)

August 20th = Let the packing begin.  Through this week I tried packing 3-5 boxes a day just to get a good head start.

August 24th = Skyler and I hit the boxes hard.  We packed non-stop all night and even mooched dinner at the Kelly's because we had packed up all of our food.

August 25th = Moving Day!  We borrowed, my boss's truck, my uncle's truck, Rick Kelly's truck, and John Kelly's trailer so that on Saturday we could make one trip and be done.  It was awesome.  The guys helping were great!  They started moving everything at 9:00 and were completely done by 11:00.  I was at work while all of this was going down and was pleasantly surprised when I got off and everything was moved AND Skyler had completely scrubbed our old apartment because he knew I would have a hard time bending over to clean.  He is a saint.

August 26th = Unpacking...enough said.  I hate it.

August 27th = We officially took responsibility for the apartments.  I never thought my phone would ever ring that much.  Bring on the responsibilities!!  I guess I should mention that we are now in charge of 8 apartments full of 48 boys that attend BYUI.

August 28th = We got new carpet in our new house!!  We were so happy the owners were willing to get us new carpet, but it was definitely an adventure to unpack and then have to move everything out of  the living room.

August 30th = Let's go to Utah!  When we got in to Utah Thursday night, we  went straight to Maddox where we met up with the Smedley's, Tueller's, Smith's, and Okelberry's for a seriously good meal!  

The birthday boy!! That is the shirt I got him for his birthday and the cake Grandma Tueller made him.

August 31th = Skyler's birthday and we woke up at 8 am with iPad in hand and a list of about 10 Toyota Corolla's that we were set out to look at in Salt Lake and the surrounding cities.  We were definitely going to buy a car.  By about 3:30 we had signed our lives away and bought a 2011 Toyota Corolla with 29,000 miles and I got it for 2,500 dollars under NADA value.  It think we did pretty darn good:)  It was extremely dramatic, stressful...etc.  I will leave that for a different post.  But, we also had a baby shower with the Smedley's!!! What a day!  The shower was great and we were definitely spoiled!

The baby shower:)

Meet Gracie, our new car!!

September 1st = After a long stressful day on Friday, we deserved a day of SHOPPING!  We went to City Creek and had a blast:)  Skyler and I both had birthday money with strict instructions that we had to buy something fun with it.  I got some fun shirts and a really cool watch and Skyler decided he wants to save his for something big.  We ended our day at Utah Noodle where we enjoyed some "Good ol' American Chinese Food" in the words of Kerry.

Utah Noodle!

NOW = We are exhausted...unfortunately this week to come we are having check-ins for three days, starting a birthing class, starting to teach dance again, and this is my last week of working full-time.  Bring it on September!

Oh and by the way I'm 33 weeks!! :)

I love my belly:)

7 Months!

I'm officially in my third trimester!  I have to be honest, I thought being in your third trimester would be different.....In fact, so much so that I have decided to make a list of things I should/am be experiencing and my feelings about them.

I should...

1.  Look about double my size:  Hallelujah that I'm not!  I'm very grateful I haven't gotten huge because it makes my life much easier.

2.  Have an extremely aching back:  Thanks in part to my not huge stomach, my back, while sore is very grateful for the lack of pain.

3.  Be totally ready:  For some reason when I was in my first trimester I had a ton of questions and thought, oh ya I'll research it and by my third trimester I'll totally be ready for this whole baby/birth experience.  Well here is my third trimester, and here I am...excited, but pretty naive haha.

4. Be constipated:  Well that's awkward...haha but seriously everyone talks about how you're crazy constipated and you get  little bundles of joys called hemorrhoids.  I am extremely pleased to say "all systems clear!"

5.  Have a line down my tummy:  I guess not everyone gets these because I haven't got one yet...I guess there's still a chance....

I do...

1.  Have ribs that hate me:  For about 10 weeks I have had excruciating pain in my ribs.  When I asked my doc what I should do about it, he said, "oh don't worry, I'll take care of that in about 11 weeks."  My thoughts "you little stinker." I recently have been feeling relief while simultaneously noticing that my ribs are REALLY spread apart.  I think my body finally gave in and said "FINE, I'll spread apart for this crazy thing inside of me."

29 Weeks:)

2.  Have a child that is a shaker and a groover:  I LOVE how much my baby boy moves:)  He is constantly rolling, punching, kicking, and shaking his groove thing.  The doctor said that if I lay on my side, I should feel him move 10 times within a 20 minute period.  I almost started laughing, he moves 10 times in about 2 minutes most days!

3.  LOVE my baby:  Whenever he moves I feel like it's just a little reminder of how much I love him already and how much I can't wait to meet him:)

All in all, my third trimester is proving to be great thus far:)  I am now 30 weeks and it's crazy to think that I'll be full term in only 7 weeks!! 

Baby Update:)

6.5 Months! 

Our crib and fabric for the bedding:)

Changing table!

                 We have some exciting baby updates:)  Skyler and I bought a crib while we were in Boise and it matches our changing table.  I absolutely LOVE folding little baby cloths, so I organized the baby clothes that we got into sizes by age and set them up on the changing table.  I also picked out the fabric for our bedding!!!  We found the cutest giraffe fabric that is green, turquoise, grey, and some yellow.  I love it!  My mom is going to make a quilt, bumpers, and a changing table pad cover:)  I can't wait to see what it looks like when it's all done!!! 

Le Bois

Kerry and his grill

Skyler seems to think that "Le Bois" is french or something for Boise....who knows.  Either way, Sky and I got to spend 4 whole days in the beautiful town of Boise with none other than the Smedley family:)  When we got there Kerry was firing up the grill for some good ol fashion 4th of July grilling.  We had delicious burgers and hot dogs with lots to go with them.  When we were done eating we went to downtown Boise to a park called "Ann Morrison Park"  or something like that and we were seriously SOOO close to the fireworks it made them look absolutely huge.  The scary part of the night was going to the Nampa Sonic for 1/2 off milkshakes where we very quickly learned where all of the pot head, drunken men, without shirts on hang out late at night are.  After waiting 20 minutes, we were informed that they weren't even taking orders because they were so busy.  That's when we went through the drive thru and called it a night:)

The two love birds:)

The next day, we went to the WATER PARK!!!  It's called Roaring Springs in Meridian and it was so fun:)  Even for a girl that can't ride the rides, I had a blast on the lazy river.  My funniest moment was when I spent about 20 minutes trying to find the beginning of the lazy river.......it wasn't til I saw a sign that said "Endless River"  that I realized I was a total blonde and I just hoped on in:)  After our day in the sun we went home and relaxed and later went to a really yummy Chinese restaurant in downtown Boise.  It was so good because you could tell it was really fresh!

Skyler's comment to this picture was "Syd look how much tanner I am than you."...little stinker.

Look at those smokin hott in-laws!

Here's the gang:)

Just relaxing in the shade:)

The following 2 days in Boise were spent doing what us Smedley/Brendle women do best....SHOP!!!!  Kenra and I had some serious success at second hand baby shops!  We got a ton of onesies for .95 each, it was super fun!  Skyler and I even went garage sale shopping on Saturday morning:)  We both left happy when I got a killer deal on some baby cloths and Skyler found a bike rack for our car.  We even scored and got a crib that is in excellent condition and is a "mini crib" so it actually fits in our apartment!

This is Sky's photography skills at work here:)

Well I guess this could count as my 25 week picture....except I don't look too pregnant...I'll work on that.

Ivy made me this amazing car seat cover!

Come Sunday we were not excited to leave at all...my exact words were "Can we just stay here for forever?"  and Kerry's response was...."Hey, we'll hold you to that."  We love spending time with family and Boise is such a fun place to visit.  Next time we'll be in town, we'll have a baby!!!!!

Celebrate America!

On Wednesday, Skyler and I had a conversation on the phone that went a little like this:

me:  I have an idea, how about we go on a "smokin hott date" this weekend and you plan it.
sky:  Ya, that sounds good
me:  so........are you going to ask me on a date then?
sky:  Hey Sydney, I was wondering if you would like to go on a date with me this weekend? 
me:  why yes I would love to:)

As a result of our Wednesday conversation, Saturday night was epic!  When we plan dates for each other we try to keep it a secret because we both like being surprised and we always try to come up with something as epic as possible.  Saturday afternoon rolled around and Sky revealed to me that for our date we were going to drive to Driggs to go to the "Huntsman's Celebrate America Event." 

It sounds super random, but it was awesome.  The Celebrate America Event is a big ol' party in a little town (populations: 1,439) where a very rich man named John Huntsman owns an extremely nice golf course.  This lovely man every year puts on this event where shows and events are held all day with bounce houses and food stands galore only to end with an incredible fireworks show at the end of the day.  Although there may only be a little over 1,000 people in Driggs, the whole town at least was there and thousands more had drove in to come see the spectacular event. 

Where we watched the fireworks:)

When we arrived, there was a hypnotist show and a BMX stunt show going on.  We had fun there and then went over to the food stands where we got some pretty good asian food.  I even tried a Pronto Pup corn dog!  It was delicious:)   We then went over to a huge grass field where we waited for the fireworks while listening to a live band that was actually REALLY good.  The firework show was incredible and basically summed up another amazing "smokin hott date" with Skyler:)

Happy 4th of July!

Half way mark!!

18 Weeks

19 Weeks

20 Weeks aka 5 MONTHS!!!

I am officially half way done with my pregnancy!!! I am 20 weeks and I'm really realizing that I don't look it haha.  Everyone says that this is the best part of your pregnancy and I totally agree.  I'm not sick at all and I'm not so big that I can't move.  At this point I feel like I should probably have a lot of kids since I'm so lucky; talk to me in a few months though and I'm sure I'll have changed my mind.  This Thursday Sky and I will find out what we're having!!!! I can't wait:) My money is still on that we're having a boy, but I guess we'll see.

P.S. I started to realize that my pictures with me and Jesus were getting a little weird:) haha so I switched the location of where I take the pictures haha!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Today is May 13th, 2012.  It is my first legitimate Mother's day:)    Today in church, we were at Skyler's singles ward and I thought to my self...hmmm I am the only mother in this whole entire room! :)  It kind of made me happy.

I was glad that my mom was able to visit last weekend.  Every time we spend time together I realize even more traits that I have because of her.  One thing we are really good at is laughing together and I love this picture taken at my wedding because it portrays it perfectly.  I'm so grateful for the things my mom has taught me and I can't wait for her to become a Grandmother!!

On the topic of being a mother, I get closer and closer everyday.  Unfortunately because Sky was in Guatemala, I didn't get a 15 and 16 week picture.  But here is my 17 week picture:)...still lacking in the belly department but I'm working on it!