Christmas Fun!

Well... we are back in Hurricane after a crazy and fun Holiday up in West Valley! I tell you... the Grants sure know how to party! We have been up to West Valley twice in the last week and, although we were pretty tired when we got home last night, we had a blast!!!

During our first trip, we went to Bill's friend Casey's wedding and had a great time visiting with a lot of his friends. It was crazy cold and snowy though!

The next day we made it up to Logan for a few hours for the famous Mortensen Family Christmas party! I really love these parties! There are so many people there. The highlights of this party was of course the White Elephant gift exchange (where a decapitated panda head and it's body were two separate gifts!), and the ugly Christmas sweater contest! Bill and I were too slow looking for a sweater, so we didn't get to participate in the contest, but we we were sure proud of the winner! Our Brother in Law, Alexander, won the contest with his amazing sequin Santa!

Our second trip was officially for Christmas! We left at about 1:30 Christmas Eve and headed back up to West Valley. Actually, we first stopped at Bill's brother Eric's house in Sandy for a Brazilian Christmas! Eric's wife Tatiana is from Brazil, so they have different traditions that they like to share with the family at Christmas time. We ate a huge meal, sang carols, and waited until midnight to open gifts! We opened some of our gifts that night, and saved some for the next morning as well. I think that my favorite part of the evening was watching little Giovanna! She is at the perfect age for getting thrilled over Christmas (and being able to stay up so late!

Christmas day was very fun and relaxing! Bill and I couldn't sleep past 6am, so we got up and unwrapped the gifts we had saved with just the two of us! It was very quiet and simple, but very fun too. After the gift opening, we spent the day relaxing and really didn't do much at all! It was so nice. Jim fixed us his famous breakfast of hash browns, sausage, and eggs in the morning, and Karla made an amazing Christmas dinner for that night! Katie and Joel arrived from Wyoming just as dinner was getting on the table, so it was fun to have them with us as well. Their little Lizzie is so cute and fun to be around too! I think one of the funnest things for me was being able to talk to my brother Charles on the phone! He is so cute! He is on his mission in Edmonton Canada right now and received special permission from his mission president to call us separately since we were in West Valley this year and not with everyone in Hurricane. It was so fun to get to visit with him! We talked until his phone card ran out!

We spent Friday shopping and visiting friends. Bill got to hang out for a bit with some friends from high school, and we finally took my friend Michael to dinner for giving us such a good deal on our wedding photos. It was fun to visit with them all for a while.

Saturday was a very busy day!!! We started at about 10:30 for the Grant party (Bill's parents, siblings, in-laws, and nieces & nephews). It was fun to watch some of the gift opening and have a good visit. And, of course, a Grant party in the winter would not be complete without a game of dodge ball!

After Dodge Ball, Bill's family threw a baby shower for Lindsey and me, right there at the church. Several people weren't able to make it due to the crazy winter weather, but it was great anyway! It is fun to start getting some baby things, since we really didn't have anything before our winter travels! And, finally, here is a prego picture that some of you have been asking about. I don't have one of just myself, but here is one with my cute sister-in-law Katie, who is also expecting! I think we are pretty cute!

Speaking of pregnancy, no post would be complete without mentioning the fact that this baby is going to be here before we know it. I am in the middle of my 27th week and time is flying by! I think teaching school has been good for me because it keeps me busy while I wait! Next time I probably won't be working, but I will have a little girl that will keep me busy I am sure!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas of your own and that 2009 brings many new and exciting things to you and your family!

Frosty the Spartan!

So, I never thought this would happen with me teaching in St. George, but it has. Today has officially been declared a snow day for all Washington County Schools! It actually has snowed for a couple of days and I guess they take extra precautions for people down here that don't know how to drive on snowy roads! Today was my day off anyway, but it is still fun to think of it as a snow day. I just hope the weather clears a little this evening... Bill and I are heading up to West Valley and Logan this weekend!

Here is a picture of a snowman one of the teachers I work with built outside of our school last night! His name is Frosty the Spartan!

Busy time of year...

So, I've realized that I need to update this blog for a while now, but I haven't gotten around to it. This is mostly due to the fact that nothing extremely huge has happened lately and I haven't known what to write about. I guess I will just play catch up!

Thanksgiving was so much fun this year. My Grandma and Brent ended up coming all the way from Quartzsite, AZ (they are staying in Southern Utah until after Christmas!!! ) and my Uncle Todd and Aunt Sandra came with their cute kids! We also had my Grandma's good friend Marie (who we love to pieces and consider part of our family) and some of my parents neighbors that had nowhere to go this year. We all piled into my parents house and had a blast eating ourselves silly!

We actually ended up having THREE turkeys!!! My dad wanted to try and Dutch Oven a turkey, and Bill and I wanted my family to finally try a deep fried turkey that was done correctly. You see, a couple of years ago, my dad tried to deep fry a turkey and it didn't turn out so well... Billy's family did a couple last year, so, after quizzing down Bill's sister and doing some research, we mastered the art of turkey frying. Since the oil was so expensive, and we received a free turkey from a company Bill works a lot with, we decided to just buy another turkey and fry two that day. I was amazed that it only takes about 45 minutes to completely cook a turkey by the frying method. All the turkeys turned out juicy and wonderful, and I am not usually a huge turkey fan.

One of the highlights of the day was a funny song that Todd and Sandra brought. It is to the tune of "I Will Survive" and the words are from the perspective of a turkey determined to survive through Thanksgiving day! It started out that Sandra and I were trying to sing it, but then of course Bill got in on it and he really outdid us! It was a hit. We made him redo it later in the day so we could video it. I'm not sure I can figure out how to get the video on here... I'll have to get Bill on that project, if he won't mind sharing this lovely song with all of you!

Since then we have been busy with school/work and getting ready for Christmas. We put our tree up a week ago, and although the tree is very old, and our ornaments are mostly homemade, we think it looks great! I have quite a bit of Christmas decorations from my mom, as well as from working at Bulloch Drug and being able to take home slightly damaged items for free! I love the Christmas season and having the decorations up just makes it more fun! I can't help smiling when I think of next year and a little girl who will be crawling and probably fascinated with the preasents (mainly the wrapping paper and bows) and the decorations. I think the bottom of our tree will look a little different next year.

Well, that pretty much catches us up. I guess I had more to ramble about than I thought. I can't believe how close Christmas is! This weekend will be busy in that area as well! Friday is our ward Christmas party (Bill and I are in charge of the entertainments portion), Saturday morning I have a dress rehearsal for the Messiah performance the following night. My Grandma's Christmas party is Saturday, and Bill and I are singing in our ward on Sunday as well!! There are only two weeks of school left! It seems like the Christmas season is always the craziest time of the year! But it is oh so much fun!

Well...

It looks like most of you out there had the right idea!... That's right, we are having a little girl!!! We are sooooooo excited!!! The ultrasound was an amazing experience! I loved being able to see our little girl in action!

Everything seems to still be going well, although Dr. Astle said that she was a little small for how far along we thought I was. He said that it could be that she is just a small girl, or it could be that we miscalculated and I am not as far along as we thought. We are going to have another ultrasound in 8 weeks to see how things have developed.

Here are the pictures we were able to get from the ultrasound. I will try to explain them if I can...Her little arm

Little cute body... look at that spine!

Yup! It's a Girl! ... we are glad she cooperated! This is the one time it was okay for her not to be modest! :)

The next couple of pictures are 3D, which are very cool, but hard to understand if you don't know what to look for. I'll try and help out as best I can...

She is on the right side of this picture. You can see her profile with her nose and mouth, and you can see her little arm and her hand up toward her forehead!

And.... last but not least, we were able to catch her sucking her thumb!!! It was fun to watch during the ultrasound as her little hand was able to find her mouth!

All in all, it has been a very fun morning! It was such a neat experience to be able to see our little girl and know that she is growing and getting closer and closer to being with us every day! We already love her so much!!!! Bill was so cute during and after the ultrasound! It was fun to hear the excitement in his voice as he called to tell his family, and hear him start talking about "Daddy's little girl!" I know she will get him wrapped around her little finger in no time... she probably already has!

Only 4 more days....

We are just excited because there are only 4 more days until we get to go have our ultrasound!!! I hope our little one will be cooperative so we can start referring to a little boy or girl instead of produce!

Not much

Well, nothing new has really happened lately, but I feel the need to blog anyway. We are anxiously awaiting our ultrasound (as you probably already know), and just living life. I am loving the few days we have had so far of the weather turning colder, but I just wish they would stay! 75 degrees in November is not cold! We were at the Hurricane High football game this last Saturday and it was actually hot! Bill thinks that is just sick and wrong!

I must admit that I never thought I would miss the cold weather or snow... but I do! CRAZY!!! There have been colder days where I have stepped outside and thought, "Oooh! Maybe it will snow!" I know it is foolish though because it only snows once a year in Hurricane, and definitely not in October!

Teaching is going well, but I can't believe how fast the semester is flying by! It will be Christmas before I know it! (Not to mention Thanksgiving!)

Speaking of Thanksgiving, I think it will be really fun this year. At first it was just going to be my parents and my siblings/spouses (all except Charles who is in Canada), but now it has expanded to include my Uncle Todd and his family, as well as my Uncle Zeek. My Grandma and Grandpa Bulloch might be coming too. I love having family around during the holidays!

Well, last of all, I do have to mention the baby progress! Our little one is now about the size of a small/medium mango! Next week my book says it will be the size of a small Cantaloupe! CRAZY!!

Fun Weekend!

Well, we just got back from a lovely (although way too short) weekend in West Valley with Billy's family. We drove up after work on Friday, tried to catch up with some much needed sleep, and headed out Saturday morning for a day of Halloween fun!

We started at the Hogle Zoo and it was packed! They were have what they call "Boo at the Zoo" where kids can come in costume and trick or treat in the Zoo. Billy's sister Katie and her husband Joel have a season pass to the zoo, so we all got in for free. Lizzie wore her cute bumblebee costume, but we didn't bother with the trick or treating. We just went around to see the animals. Here are some pictures:

At least I'm not as big as the gorilla!....

After the Zoo, we headed to the Grant Family Halloween Party! We met at Becky's church building and had a lot of fun! There were tons of food, costumes, and games! I am always amazed at how many fun things Karla finds for the kids to do at these activities! There was even a fish pond they could earn tickets to fish from and get prizes. Here are some party pictures...

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Scary Pirates!

Monsters... or Jim and Karla? (Billy's parents)

Billy... wanted by the sheriff!

Nieces and Nephews!
From left to right (starting at the back):

Ashley as Barbie, Ethan the Jester, Craig as a Marshmallow on a stick!

Allison as Dorothy, Robert as a Ninja Turtle (not wearing his shell)

Abby as a witch, and Giovanna as a China Doll

So cute!!!!

The party really was a lot of fun! Afterward, we went over to Becky's house to take it easy for a while (Bill and I were sooooo tired) and wait for the dinner show we were going to. Billy's sister Becky is acting in a fun Halloween dinner theater at Boccia's D'Italia Restaurant in Harrisville. She played the Corpse Bride and was wonderful! I have always heard of her acting talent, but had never seen her perform! It was so fun! ... the dinner was pretty good too! Billy and I both solved the mystery, but didn't get any of the prizes :( It was still a lot of fun though. The characters walked around and interacted with you a lot throughout the evening. We should have tried to get more pictures, especially of Becky, but we only got one at the restaurant so here it is...

Jim with the clown! It's a great pic though!

All in all, it was a wonderful, fun, weekend! It had been way too long (about 6 months) since we had seen any of the Grant clan and it was fun to spend some time with them, even if it was a really quick trip. We will be back up for Christmas next time, so we're glad we won't have to wait 6 months to see everyone again.

Oh, if you've actually read this much, I have some other fun news! Of course, it has to do with the baby... I think I have started to feel the baby move! It is just little flutters right now, but it definitely feels different! I can't wait until I really can feel for sure, and Bill can as well! I am still amazed at how much I already love this little bell pepper!

Poll

Okay, so as I said before, we are going to be able to find out if we are having a boy or a girl on November 14th! So, in honor of this happy event, we invite you to participate in the poll on the right of our blog. We think it would be fun to see what everyone thinks. So if you want to, take a second and cast your vote!

Police Escort

So, I had a rather interesting thing happen to me today. I was driving down Bluff street when all of a sudden 20 Las Vegas Motorcycle Cops pulled in behind me. Well, let me tell you, that was an interesting sight! Well, that wasn't all that crazy except they kept following me, down St. George Blvd., and on to River Road. Well, I finally got to where I needed to make my left hand turn into some of the shops off of River Road (towards Old Navy) when a couple of the cop cars pulled ahead of me, went into oncoming traffic, stopped traffic, and had me complete my turn! I guess the cops wanted to turn there as well and just decided to stop traffic since there were 20 of them! I just thought it was funny that they stopped traffic for me as well! For those of you that have tried to make that left-hand turn at that spot, you know it probably would have taken a while. I guess the cops didn't want to have to wait! :)

In other news, I went to my October Dr. appointment today and all is well. The baby's heartbeat was a lot easier to find this time, and Dr. Astle said I was doing well and that we are right on schedule! I made my appointment for our ultrasound, so we will be able to find out if we are having a boy or girl on November 14th! I can't wait!

~Emily

Life is good!

Okay, so first of all, I have a feeling like this might be a "rambling" type of blog, and it may seem a little gushy because I am just feeling so grateful for everything right now!... So, continue reading if you wish, but if you end up bored... don't say I didn't warn you!

Like I said, I have been thinking a lot about my life lately and it has really hit me how great I have it! Sure there are problems, but all in all I am very happy! Most of my happiness is due to the fact that I have a wonderful husband who does so much for me!

For example, I'm sure Bill never pictured himself living in Hurricane, Utah, but here we are so I could complete my student teaching and have a year of teaching experience before our little one arrives! He supported me fully when I was finishing school, and continues to do so while I figure out this teaching thing! Thank you!

Bill is soooooo good! For those of you that know him well, you know that this is true. Yes, he does have a mischievous side, but it is always in good fun. I actually don't know anyone who doesn't enjoy being around him.... although this could be because they would never tell me even if they didn't, but I don't think so. :) He's just a nice guy! Not to mention incredibly good looking ;)

I love the way he can make me laugh and enjoy life! Some of my favorite moments are when we get laughing hysterical over nothing at all! It really is fun to be married to my best friend!

Another important thing that makes me happy right now is knowing that I will be a mother soon! I can't wait to feel my little one kick and I am even more excited to hold them come next March! We are going to be able to find out what we are having in a little over a moth... I CAN"T wait!! Although pregnancy is not always the funnest thing (pants getting too tight, weird cravings, and constant nausea) I try to remember that it is all for a good cause! Most of the time I am just happy that things are going so well.

I have such a great family! I love my extended and immediate family so much! They are a great support to me! Bill's family is amazing too! I am so lucky to have such great in-laws! I hear people complain about their in-laws all the time, and I never have anything to add because I think they are all great! My mother-in-law is one of the neatest, sweetest, most wonderful women I have ever known, and I don't think life would ever be the same if we didn't have my father-in-law to keep us on our toes! :) I love them both... almost as much as my own parents :) No wonder Bill turned out the way he did!

Well, I could go on even more, but I'm sure this is boring to anyone who reads it, if anyone gets this far! (I warned you it would be long and rambley!) Just know that I am happy, life is good, and I am excited for whatever is coming next!

~Emily

Making our way through the produce section!

Well, I thought I'd update again because our little one is now the size of a lemon! It feels like we are making our way through the produce section! I will really love when we know what we are having and can start talking about a little boy or girl and not produce! Dr. Astle only does ultrasounds if there is a problem, or about halfway through, so we are having our ultrasound in mid November. We are very excited! We would love to know before then, but since that would mean that we would have to have a problem, we would rather wait!

My sister Katie is convinced that we are having twins! She always refers to our baby as "the babies" or "the lemons" or whatever the size is that week... she just makes sure that she makes it plural. All of Hurricane High School probably thinks we are having twins!

As far as morning sickness goes, I have been feeling better. Dr. Astle gave me a perscription that I have taken a few times and it seems to help, but it makes me even more sleepy! Today is a day that I don't have to go in to Snow Canyon to teach, so I think I'll see how long I can go today without taking anything. I hope to make it through the day, but its nice to know I have something... just in case.

With the nausea easing up, I have had more of my appetite return!... and cravings to go with it! The things I seem to want all the time are nectarines (which I have always liked, but have never been a real favorite until now) and anything really really cold and slushy. I have tried to make my own "slushy things" at home, but it seems like "SNOKAPS" seem to fit the craving the best. Katie works at a little Sno-cone shack in Hurricane called SNOKAPS! They arent really sno-cones... they are 100% better! They are like gourmet sno-cones! Hmmmm.... they are only open from 2pm to 7:30pm, so I might have to venture out this afternoon (on my way back from buying more nectarines!)

~Emily

Baby's Heartbeat

So we went to the doctor today and got to hear the heartbeat. And now you can too!

Finally... an updated blog entry!

Well, I realized today that we really haven't updated this blog for a while, so I thought I would take the opportunity. Most of you already know, but we have some exciting news... We are going to be PARENTS!!! We are so excited! We found out that we were expecting right before our Yellowstone/Bear Lake trip, and things are still going well... well, except for the fact that I have been incredibly sick! I guess I shouldn't complain because I know a lot of women have morning sickness worse than me, but I know I sure haven't felt good! I am at about 12 1/2 weeks, so I'm hoping I will feel better with the ending of my first trimester. Bill has been absolutely wonderful through all of my sickness! He is good to help me remember to take my vitamins, fixes me dinner, helps clean the house, and has even done our several loads of laundry, when all I've felt like doing is sleeping or visiting the toilet! I am so lucky!

In other news, right now, our baby is about the size of a lime!

I can't believe how fast the development happens! I have three really good books that help us keep tabs on the development and it always amazes me how much changes each week! I just can't wait for the end of March (by the way, our due date is March 30th). :)

It is kind of crazy sometimes to think about becoming a parent, but I am excited more than anything. It is amazing how much I already love this little lime! We get to go hear the heartbeat this Friday, so I will have to give an update for how it goes. Did I mention that I am excited?

~Emily

Bear Lake Part 2

So I finally got ambitious enough to finish editting our trip to Bear Lake. Maybe in a few weeks I'll work up the gumption to edit the Yellowstone part of the trip.

~Bill

Bear Lake

So we got back this week from a much needed week long vacation to Yellowstone and Bear Lake. More will be posted about this wonderful trip, but in the meantime, here's a little video I put together featuring the highlights of the waterskiing and wakeboarding at Bear Lake. A special thanks also goes out to my nephew Robert for providing the inspiration for this video. (You'll see what I mean.)

~ Bill

Khaki Drawer

So here's a random post. When we got married we bought a new dresser at the Walmart. A few months ago we decided that it was too small for the both of us so we hunted through the Walmarts near and far to find a matching model. (The model had been discontinued) Anyway we finally got a display one at the Walmart at Jordan Landing, disembled the thing and packed it to Hurricane in our Corolla. So now we have two matching dressers and an abundance of space. With so much space I decided that I should dedicate an entire drawer to nothing but Khaki items. It has affectionately been named the "Khaki Drawer" and is composed of shorts, pants, and all things Khaki. Now you know, and knowing is half the battle.

~Bill

4th of July at the Ranch!

We had a wonderful 4th of July up on Cedar Mountain! After work on Thursday, we packed our camping gear, waited for Katie to get off work, and took off for Cedar Mountain! We were able to kidnap Kimber for the weekend too! It was pretty cramped in our little Corolla (aka the UGR!), but it was worth it to get everyone up there!
We spent the entire weekend up at the Lodge and my whole family was there! It was so fun! The men worked hard Friday morning cutting wood for the cabin, while the girls stayed behind and visited! Here are some pictures of my manly mountain man chopping wood:
It was so fun to get out of the heat of Hurricane and cool off a bit in the woods. Friday night we decided to go and have our own campsite over in Deep Creek (my dad's property) so I could actually sleep in our tent. It was so much fun! We had to drive the four-weeler to get over there because the road is so bad, and I had to let my family dog Kia ride on my lap the whole way because she was too scared to ride on the back! It was so beautiful over there with the creek and the tall grass!
I felt so bad for my allergic husband! We forgot to grab our Benadryl from the lodge before heading out, and he had a hard time with his nose dripping and couldn't breathe very easily. Luckily we did have some tissue, so he made it work for one night... poor guy! Doesn't he look amazing!



We stayed in Deep Creek for one night, then made our way back to the Lodge to hang out with the fam. We (well, mainly Bill) worked on a puzzle, played games, skipped rocks at the lake and just had a great time! It was so fun to be up there and not have to worry about what time it was, or having a deadline to meet. It was just good fun with the family! Here are a few more pictures from our weekend:

Running Ambitions

So, after realizing that both Bill and I have been terrible at the whole exercising thing, we've decided that we were going to try and run together in the mornings. Today was day #1 and we walked/jogged/ran just a little loop by our apartment and the High School. It felt really good, and we are hoping to get better and extend our loop to actually be an impressive distance, but for now, it just felt great to get up and get moving (even though it is ~5am)! It's a great time to actually get up and be coherent enough to carry on a conversation with each other before Bill has to go off to work at 6:30. Usually, I am just a lump still asleep in bed when he leaves... now maybe I'll be able to get more done in the mornings!

I figure if I post this news on our blog, we would be more likely to keep up the good work, so that we have something to report. I think we will stick with it! :)

~Emily

The Dark Ages have ended

So, this is the first blog....why is it the first blog? Well, since neither of us have been in school for a while, we've lacked the ease of access to the wonderful world of the internet. But Behold! After much trial and waiting for the guy to come sometime between 1 and 6 PM we were finally able to be connected to a world outside of Hurricane. Therefore, more to come as we enter the realm of blogging. It will take some time to get used to the new setup. Two years ago I was a pro at Myspace, one year ago I could work around Facebook....only time will tell what next year might bring. O ya and I got old yesterday when I turned 25.
~Bill