Mmm, Sunshine...

The sun came out today. It was out yesterday too, but I noticed it especially today. Sunshine always brings a flutter of hope to my heart. I feel stronger, healthier, happier when the sun is shining. Even more so when I can only feel its intense heat on my face and skin. I happen to love having really dark hair because it heats up so quickly in the sun. Of course, sometimes in the middle of a July I might feel a little less happy about that fact... But in the dead of December, its awesome. I'm staring out of the big window my desk faces in my office... and pondering all the ways that God shows His love for me, and for us as people. When I see the stark contrast of snow white mountains against a beautiful blue sky, I know that God loves me. I feel like He is speaking directly to me saying "Look Dawn, I know you're unhappy about some things here, but look at the beauty I am giving you today. Let it lift your spirit." And it does. I just wish I could be better about keeping that with me when things aren't sunny and beautiful. I wish I could still see the beauty in things when the sky is cloudy. Oh, all the different ways I mean that....

But today, at least, I am happy. I feel like I could do anything, be anything. I am so excited to see what the next few months will bring. We will know soon where we're headed after April is over. I am looking forward to a new adventure some place I've probably never been. I am still holding out hope that it will be somewhere sunny! Haha. But that will come in time. More than anything, I am excited to start living again. I am excited to make friends again and to be myself again. I feel like I've been hiding in a shell for the last two years here. I can feel the shell breaking. I can feel all the remnants of my old self returning. I am happy to talk to strangers again. I am getting comfortable in my own skin again (which, oddly enough, looks nothing at all like it used to!) and I am feeling confidence I haven't felt in years. All this excites me beyond words. I am so looking forward to meeting my baby girl and showing her all the wonderful things about this world... and I'm so excited that I actually feel like there ARE wonderful things to show her still.

Mmm... Sunshine. It makes me feel particularly insightful. In case you didn't notice... :) Sorry, I know this isn't really just MY place to talk (its Derek's too) but I just had some things to say and no journal with me, so you get what you get. Haha.

Peace out homefrys!

Christmas! (and some other stuff)

This is my bass guitar and Derek's Guitar Hero guitar. He bought me an amp cord so I can play her (her name is Cherry, by the way.) and my parents bought us Guitar Hero so Derek can practice some more. We love playing Guitar Hero and Rock Band with my family. They are nuts!!














You'd think he was a 5 year old getting his first bike for Christmas by the look on his face.... But that's my Derek! It is actually a 3 pound bag of gummi bears.












This looks like a ball of wrapping paper garbage, but its really a tie wrapped like 6 times and with 13 bows. I thought the bows might distract from the ugly wrapping...








So Christmas was a lot of fun this year. We went to my grandma's house on Christmas Eve and had so much fun at our party there. After the party, we went to my mom's house with all my family. Cliff and Melissa had family pictures taken and they turned out SO cute! Cayson is such a little stud. We opened our presents that we got for each other and had a lot of fun. We got totally spoiled by everyone. We got some really fun gifts. Liliana even got some adorable Oklahoma Sooners binkies and little OU pajamas. SO CUTE!!! My mom gave me some more ornaments to add to my collection, including a cute Coke can (that looks awesome next to my ketchup bottle) and a cute one for me and Derek. Derek got a huge padded frisbee that reminded us of the time when we were playing frisbee in the park and he got hit in the face by it. I'm not sure if getting hit by this one will hurt more or less.... We laughed and laughed until my face hurt. We finally had to go home around 11 or so. The drive home was pretty scary when we got to point of the mountain and the wind started blowing snow around so bad that we could hardly see the road. It was nice to finally be home and safe from the storm.
Christmas morning Derek tried waking me up WAY too early. I really felt like the Grinch when I talked him into going back to sleep... but I didn't feel bad enough to actually get up. Haha. We finally got out of bed around 10 and opened our gifts. It was fun to wake up to our own little tree on Christmas morning. We played Guitar Hero for a while and some of our other gifts. Then we got ready and went to Derek's grandma's for a party there. It was fun to hang out with everyone. It is crazy over there b/c I'm so used to my family. We don't have any little kids in my family anymore. All of my cousins are older. But Derek is the oldest grandchild in his family, so there are tons of little kids. Our baby is going to be the first great-grandchild... which is so weird to think about b/c Alice and Dan (Derek's grandparents) do not seem anywhere NEAR old enough to have that title!!!

Needless to say, it was hard to get back to work yesterday! Right now I am just waiting for Derek to get off of work. I really hate that he has to work Saturdays, but I guess that's just the way it is sometimes. Soon enough he'll graduate and then be part of the normal 5-days-a-week workforce! I am looking forward to that!

Today we are going to go to dinner and a movie to celebrate our second anniversary! It is actually tomorrow, but since tomorrow is Sunday we're celebrating today. I can't believe its been two years! It has been so much fun and I'm looking forward to what is to come.

Oh, one more thing...
Do you people realize that it is almost JANUARY?!?! And it's almost 2009??? OH. MY. GOODNESS. That means that our baby is almost here... Derek's graduation is almost here... my days in Utah are NUMBERED!!!!!!! Woo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So many awesome things to look forward to in 2009.... and I just can't wait!!

We hope everyone had as wonderful of a holiday as we did!

Peace out homefrys!

Alright, I'm Giving In...

This is my baby belly at 27 weeks.














This is a candid shot of me looking at my belly. She started moving all weird right when this pic was being taken...

It's Like A Book, Just Look At The Pictures And You Get The Basics!

Aw, look at our cute little purple Christmas tree! Derek must love me b/c he lets me have a girly Christmas tree. See Kitty? Haha. It is adorned with some of the ornaments my mom has given me over the years. Some are very girly, like the "I Love Dance" one that is pink and glittery. Some are totally random (but totally ME) like the Ketchup bottle. I love it. There are awesome stories about all of them and why they apply to my life. And so much evidence that my mama knows me sooooo well!

So it snowed like 5 inches today. Maybe more, but that's what my hand measurement said. (B/c that is sooo accurate!) It stopped right before I got off of work, so the drive home wasn't too bad. I hope it isn't awful tomorrow or Wednesday so we will still be able to go up to Clearfield to see my family. I love the Christmas party and the food! Haha, it seems like all my happy holidays involve food...

The baby moves a LOT now. She's always wiggling around. I spend who knows how many hours staring at my weirdly moving tummy all day. I'm still pretty excited.... For her to come?? HAHAHA I totally lost my train of thought right in the middle of that sentence...

I think I should stop this post now b/c who knows what might come out of my...fingers, technically... next. I'm thinking I should just delete this whole thing. But the point was to put the pic on here. So maybe I should stop typing all this nonsense now and delete everything but the point of this post...

But I won't.

Peace out homefrys!

I'm Not A Grinch...

Hello again! So we've been getting ready for Christmas. I wouldn't let Derek play Christmas music or put up any decorations until after his birthday on the 7th (and 8th, haha) so he was excited when I "finally" gave the go-ahead last Tuesday. We had his brother Stuart over for dinner and to help us decorate our Christmas tree. I think we were all feeling a little nostalgic for past Christmases. It was fun. Derek and I continued our own tradition of making the star to put on the top of the tree. Last year I made one side and Derek made the other. This year we just designed one together and Derek assembled it. He is really the one that designed it; I just provided the paper. Haha. It totally puts last year's star to shame. Our cute little tree is 4 1/2 feet tall, but it sits on our end table so it looks normal from across the room. I thought it was only 3 feet tall and I was feeling VERY short next to it... so I'm glad to find out that it is 4 1/2 feet tall. Someday we'll have more than just my uber-girly ornaments. Hello Kitty has taken her place right below the star. Poor Derek... if he thought I was bad, just wait til our daughter gets here! Knowing our luck she'll be even girlier than me! EDIT: So Derek told me that I didn't prove that I'm not a Grinch. Here's why I think I'm not a Grinch: I HELPED put decorations on the tree; I SANG ALONG to the Christmas music we were playing while decorating said tree; I bought some lights to go on the front WINDOW for even MORE decorations; and... well, I guess that's really all. I did it all, tho, without complaining about it and I even smiled!!! So there. I'm not a Grinch!

Speaking of the baby, we got to see her today. She's huge!!! Well, she's still only like 2 pounds, but compared to the little blob she used to be, its pretty crazy that she has grown so much in a few months. Everything looks good with her and I'm doing much better with this whole pregnant thing. Of course, now that I'm not that sick anymore I can see all the other not-so-fun pregnancy symptoms MUCH more clearly. I still think of the alien movies whenever she kicks or stretches. She really likes to kick my ribs... which tickles for now, but I've heard it can be kinda painful. I'm officially 6 months... so only 3 more to go! We'll start a countdown at the beginning of the year.

So December brings another special occassion for us... our wedding anniversary. This will be our two year anniversary! It's been so much fun and we're looking forward to many years to come. :)

Peace out homefrys!