Thankful

I just got done putting Jake to bed. The routine went so smoothly--Wesley carried him to his room, and we all knelt down next to the bed for prayers. Wes said it nice and slow so that Jake could attempt to repeat each line, citing all the things he was grateful for (among which included mommy and daddy, snacks, and his blanket). Then as usual, he kissed daddy goodnight, and said "lay down, mommy!" Then we spent the next few minutes singing his favorite song (twinkle star) repeatedly. He is getting so good at singing along! As I laid there cuddling with my little buddy, listening to him sing almost all the words (slightly off-key), I couldn't help but feel so lucky.

Being Thanksgiving weekend, I decided that now would be a great time to write up a little blog post for posterity. I have so many blessings in my life, and I want to write about some of them. Small warning--this post is more for me than for you, so if it gets too wordy and rambling, you don't have to read the whole thing.

I'll start with my obvious "gratefuls" and go from there ;)

1. I'm grateful for my awesome husband Wesley. In less than 3 weeks we will be celebrating our 5 year anniversary. 5 years!!!!! The last 5 years have been the best of my life. We continually work to strengthen our relationship, and we've of course had our ups and downs, but I still feel just as strongly as ever that Wes is the right man for me. We help each other become better people each day, and I feel so thankful to have him by my side. We trust each other, and love each other--and I feel so safe with him. He is such a loving dad to Jake, and I love knowing that we are a team, and are united in our trials, failures, and successes. :) I love you honey!

2. JAKE--what a cool little kid!!! When I think about Jake, I feel overwhelmed with joy that Wes and I get to raise such a special little spirit. He is a very unique person. Some words that I could tag him with would be--sensitive, sweet, clean, cautious, and friendly. Jake loves other kids, but hates to be teased. He can't stand being dirty, and will freak out if he has one drop of food on his hands, face, or clothes. He loves to play and wrestle, but will run to mommy and get each and every boo-boo kissed better within 2 seconds of injury. He will push mom's buttons, and experiment with power struggles, and can throw epic tantrums, but seems to genuinely care if his parents lose patience with him. In fact, when I give him "the look" he will almost always go send himself to his room (crying) until he can find his "happy face" again. Jake gives the best hugs and kisses--you just have to watch out for the occasional great big lick on the cheek (this happens when he is pretending to be Pluto). I love seeing his face light up with pure joy and gratitude when he receives a present or treat, and is very good about saying "please and thank you". It's an amazing privilege to be able to watch him grow up. I feel so lucky that I get to be the one to help him discover new things.

3. Baby girl--Although we haven't yet met, there are so many things related to our upcoming daughter that I'm grateful for. First of all, I'm so thankful that I was able to get pregnant after only 4 months of trying. And since then, I've had a healthy textbook pregnancy--I've known a few friends who couldn't say the same about their own pregnancies, and I know how lucky I am that I haven't had any complications so far.

I'm grateful that I was able to stay home with Jake instead of working on my feet 40 hours a week like last time, and that I've been able to exercise throughout my 9 months. I've gained a lot less weight in this pregnancy than in my first, and I know it is partly due to those two things. (the third reason being that since round one, I've actually learned a thing or two about reading the nutrition labels on my food--thanks jess!) The point is, by gaining less weight and staying in shape, I've been sleeping better and feeling a lot more comfortable as my tummy has expanded.

Although I'm getting very excited to meet my baby girl, I'm not bursting with impatience for my 9 months to end. I'm still feeling pretty good even though there are only 3 weeks left!!! I know that in many ways my life is about to get a lot harder, but I'm feeling hopeful and ready for the challenge. After all, as hard as parenting can be (especially to a newborn), I'm going to love her the way I love Jake, and I know from experience that those feelings make everything worth it.

(Belly shot from around 32 weeks)

4. FAMILY-- my sisters and mom are truly my best friends, and being able to pick up my phone and call them anytime is so wonderful. My dad gives the best advice and is always a soft spot for me. I feel so lucky to have been raised in a family with a handicapped brother--David is such a sweet kid, and in all our struggles with him growing up, our family stayed close. We were always a team, and I truly believe that it was a major factor in helping me stay strong in the gospel. It helped me find a better perspective on life, helped me survive high school and everything that goes with it--and helped to prepare me for marriage, and for raising my own family. Mom and dad--you guys are amazing, and I'm sorry none of your girls live nearby anymore to help out with David. :/

I'm grateful for Wesley's family--a couple months ago his parents retired from their jobs in Thailand and moved to Utah. It's been wonderful for us to see them more often, and for Jake to get to know them. Wesley's sister lives around here as well, so we have all of them within a 40 minute drive now. I'm happy to have them here, and a little jealous that my parents don't live closer too. But at least I do have one sister living close by, and I'm thankful to her for the girls nights, for coming over once a week to do her laundry, and for babysitting so much! Thanks Syd!

(old photo, but the only one I have of the whole family)

5. Although there are lot's of little things that make life challenging, there are also a ton that make it sooo much better. I'm grateful that Wesley has a job, and is back in school (and doing really well too!) I'm thankful that he works less than a mile from our apartment--which reminds me--I love our apartment. I love that we have so much space for Jake to run around, and that we have a third bedroom for the new baby. I've had a lot of fun creating a frilly pink nursery, and I can't wait to bring her home to it!!! I'm thankful for my wonderful friends--for the phone calls, support, play dates and girls nights. You guys are my bread and butter ;)

Even though it'll be lame for baby girl to have a birthday at Christmas, I am actually loving my due date. The Christmas season has always been my favorite time of year--and this year is no exception. I have every intention of spending the next 3-ish weeks baking cookies, spending time with family, and reflecting on all the wonderful stuff in my life. I want to "savor the moments" and really feel the season. I guess what I'm trying to say is, I hope I can always take time to slow down and appreciate the good things. Since this is pretty much my Thanksgiving post, I'll end it with a couple pictures from the actual holiday. We spent it with Wesley's family, and it was a lot of fun. Happy Thanksgiving!

Scott and Jake...aka the mischief makers, and the life of the party..never a dull moment with these two!!

4 generations of Hurst men! :)

love my jakey!/36 week belly shot.

Baby Shower!!!!!!!

***Just so you know--I am finally all caught up on my blog, so if you want to catch up on my life, there are actually 3 new posts from today! so keep reading after this one ;) ***

A couple weeks ago my sister Sydney and my sister-in-law Melanie threw me a baby shower!! Thank you SOOO much for all the hard work you put into it! The food was soo yummy and the decorations were adorable! I felt so special seeing all of their efforts, and then being able to see so many good friends at one time. Thanks to all of you who came out, and brought me so many nice presents too!

Melanie hosted down in Salem, and she and her mom handled all the food. They made so many tasty things, and ordered a cute cake too!

Sydney designed the invitation and sent it out, and brought decorations, party favors, games and prizes. Thanks Syd!

We saved the pink puff ball things and hung them from the nursery ceiling afterwards. It was the perfect finishing touch to the room!

I love having an artist for a sister. From taking the fabulous photograph, to re-covering old books--she does it all.

Prizes!!! so cute!

I felt so spoiled.

33 week tummy! Thanks again to everyone who was involved :) I'm now approaching 35 weeks--the time is flying by! Can't wait to meet you baby girl!

Halloween fun

I've decided that the holidays are a lot more fun when you have kiddos to celebrate with! Halloween was no exception. Jake LOVED carving his first pumpkin (with dad's help) and was super pumped to dress up in his monster costume! I just have a few quick pictures to show--I hope everyone had a fun halloween season!

We went to Macey's so Jake could pick out his pumpkin. Not as cool as a pumpkin patch, but Jake didn't seem to mind :) I LOVE his cute little smile!

Jake absolutely refused to touch the pumpkin goo, but was all for helping dad carve out the face.

We named his pumpkin "Jack" (I know, so creative) and Jake was very excited that Jack had a "happy smile". Over the next few days, he constantly brought his crayons and sketch pad to me, requesting pictures of pumpkins with all sorts of facial expressions. In the following photo, Jake is trying to mimic Jack's smile--seriously. He did this constantly for about a week, pointing out his amazing impression of a "Jack Smile".

We used one of those battery tea-lights for the pumpkin so that Jake could put it inside all by himself. I think he was super impressed that the faced glowed.

In Utah, if Halloween falls on a Sunday, it's basically understood that everyone just celebrates on the Saturday night before. It was actually a small miracle that we got to go trick-or-treating at all. On "Halloween Eve" we drove down to Salem, to spend the holiday with Wesley's family. It started thunder-storming like crazy around 5 PM, and we thought that going out with the kids would be a big FAIL. I felt so bad that Jake wouldn't get to put on his costume and walk around the neighborhood. But right around 6:15 the clouds parted! We were so happy, and hurried to dress the kids and get our there before the weather decided to change again.

Wesley with Jake and his two cousins, Mark and Scott.

Jess and Sawyer's visit

In mid-October, we had a fun visit from Jessica and Sawyer! They caught a ride up from Phoenix with some friends and stayed for just over a week. It was so nice to spend some time with my big sis, and Jake LOVED playing big brother to Sawyer. When we weren't chasing the kids around the house, trying to keep them from getting into too much mischief, we had all sorts of fun outings! We went out to eat at all those wonderful places that you just can't get outside of Utah County, went to the Kangaroo Zoo bounce house, and to Cornbellies Pumpkin Festival to name a few. We took about a million pictures, but I narrowed it down to a few favorites.

One day we went to Macey's to get some groceries, and they had the cutest display out front! The kids loved sitting on the giant pile of pumpkins :)

Jake was PUMPED to have a friend driving with him in his Maceys shopping cart.

For those who don't know what the Kangaroo Zoo is, let me tell you--it's pretty much the best discovery we've made since moving to Pleasant Grove. It's a toddler friendly bounce house. We have already gone several times, and I continue to be amazed at how good Jake is getting at conquering all those ladders, mazes and slides! He's getting so tough! I just know it'll be such a wonderful thing to have nearby this winter, when the cabin fever sets in. While Jess was here we took the kids one evening, and they had so much fun running around together. There is nothing more satisfying to me than seeing my little guy work up a sweat by running around and having fun. It makes him so happy, and then later, it helps him sleep nice and long (which makes me so happy!)

Since we were juggling the nap schedules, we spent a fair amount of time just hanging out at my apartment. They were so funny together. Jake was either following Sawyer around like a little protector, or running and crying to me because Sawyer stole something from him, and Jake is too much of a wimp (ahem--i mean softy) to take it back by himself.

Although Sydney was super busy with school, she managed to meet up with us for lunch a few times. One day we went to Kneaders--soooo yum. Jake LOVES going there, and picking out his own special treat from the window display.

After we went to Kneaders, Jess wanted to visit her old nurse friends over at Orem Community hospital. I was excited to come along for a couple reasons. It was nostalgic to go back with Jake and see the place where he came into the world 2.5 years ago, and I was excited to show him around, and talk to him a little bit about how he would be coming there to meet his little sister at Christmas!

One night we made a spur of the moment trip to Sub-Zero ice cream with the kids. It was right before bedtime (that's right, cookies for lunch...ice cream for dinner :/ I'm an awesome mom..) So we put the boys in their PJ's for the outing. They looked so cute in their Halloween jammies! Thanks to my mom for buying those!

The Sub-Zero in Pleasant Grove is awesome. It looks kind of like an old remodeled brick fire house, and the upstairs level has a small arcade area, a pool table, and some love sacs and couches. Also, since it's not in Provo, it wasn't over-run with BYU students. Jake and Sawyer loved having the place to themselves!

This year's visit to Cornbellies was particularly great. Not only because Jake was a year older, and able to really appreciate all the excitement and activities, but because we had such great friends with us! Jess and Sawyer came of course, along with Uncle Mitch and Aunt Syd (Jake was practically shivering with joy--he LOVES them.) And our friends Meghan and Tyler came down with their adorable little Caitlin. Thanks especially to Meghan for making it down--I know you were in the middle of first trimester morning sickness, and you were so tough! It was great to spend time with so many wonderful friends and family. :)

A little trivia--Jake is looking across the parking lot where Mitch and Sydney had just driven up in their car. about two seconds later he was shrieking with glee.

Jake loved having Caitlin and Sawyer to run around with!

The awesome Aunt and Uncle.

I was sad to have the week come to an end, but as always, life had to go back to normal. Thanks for a really fun week Jess!