Update. :)

Sorry, it's been a while! But here's a little update on life. :)

I'm already 37 weeks into my pregnancy! Time has FLOWN. We are getting so, so excited for our precious little boy. His room is almost complete, thanks to my AMAZING husband who framed, insulated, sheetrocked, taped, mudded and textured the room, himself, in 2 days! I LOVE YOU, SHAUN EVANS!!! This week we are finishing painting it, and the carpet people are coming to lay the carpet. SO exciting!! Then comes the fun, decorating/setting up his room part, which we are the most excited about. We bought all brand new stuff (Thanks again, baby!!) except the changing table, which a friend from our ward gave us. (Thanks, Shannon!)  It's going to be super cute.:) Pictures will be coming soon!

And... our little Shiff has a name!! Ryker Shaun Evans. :)

Shaun wanted to name him: Shaun Pierce Evans the 2nd. Haha  And as much as I love my husband and his name, having TWO Shaun's running around would be too confusing! Luckily we both loved Ryker Shaun just as much, so we went with that.

At my 31 week appointment,  little Ryker was already head down and dropped. I couldn't believe it! I think he is just as eager to escape as I am for him to vacate. haha :) It will be so nice to get my body and way of life back. My energy level has sucked, and I haven't been able to work out at all this last trimester. I'm trying to stay as active as I can, but between the pressure of his head and the weight of my belly (my poor little legs!!) I'm lucky to keep up with the house work.

I've only gained 19lbs, and my belly has been measuring 5 centimeters smaller than it should be. Dr. Baker didn't think anything was wrong but wanted me to have a precautionary ultrasound, anyway, to make sure Ryker was okay. Yeah... I was a little freaked out! Everything ended up being perfectly fine. In fact, he is the perfect weight for his age. 5lbs 14 oz (and that was 2 weeks ago!) I guess I've just held him in really well... which I'm so, so glad! No maternity clothes for me! Woooo!! ;) Dr. Baker figures he will be about 6.5-7.0 lbs. Yay for a perfect sized baby!!

Ashlynn and Tyson are so excited, they can barely stand it! Ryker is probably the most loved baby EVER, and he isn't even here yet. Everything is all about him. They're already planning who gets to sit by him in the car (they compromised and decided to take turns haha) and they have just as much fun shopping for him as we do! They constantly talk to him and hug my belly (which took me a bit to get used to) because they think it's super cool he can hear them. They are going to be fantastic little helpers, which will be a blessing all on it's own.

We took a tour of the hospital so they can see where we will be before they come visit. AND we've gone over the routine, just in case we have to wake up and leave in the middle of the night for the hospital. We have every one's bag packed... except mine and Shaun's... Guess we should do that soon as Ryker could come any time, according to my Dr! And, we're gamers, so of course Call of Duty and the PS3 are coming with us. :) hahaha

It's such an exciting time around our house right now. I love it. There is so much I am thankful for. My amazing husband who makes me feel beautiful and takes such great care of me. He has made this experience so special and the best it ever could be. My kids who are so extremely helpful and brighten every minute of every day. I am so incredibly blessed to have the family I do.

Have a good night, everyone!

OUR BABY!!

Last Wednesday, we hit the twenty week mark!! Not only am I halfway through my pregnancy (YES!), we had our twenty week appointment, which included the ultrasound, so we could see our little Demon Shiff!! (Shaun-tiff, for those of you who don't know what "shiff" is ;) It's been it's nickname since we started trying to have a baby haha ) and everything looks great. The Shiff is the perfect size and completely healthy, even though my weight gain has been really low (which I'm perfectly okay with!!). We're so excited to meet our little, baby boy! YES, you read right. It's a BOY!!!

Shaun's mom and my whole family guessed he would be a girl, and Ashlynn and Tyson hoped SO BAD it would be, but I pretty much knew from the start he was a boy. Shaun and I didn't really care what we got. Secretly, I think Shaun was hoping for a boy. That way, he would get to decide how the nursery was decorated! Luckily, he has great taste. It's going to be SUPER cute!! I'll post pictures once he is finished. :)   

There are a couple names we've picked out, but nothing is official, yet. We still have 4 months to decide, so no rush.  :)

It's been a fun and exciting time for us. I'm incredibly fortunate to have such an amazing husband who helps me so much, emotionally and physically, through it all. Our lives and marriage have been so blessed because of the little guy! We can't wait to finally hold him! Here is hoping the next 20 weeks goes just as fast as the first!

The Man Post

I started this months ago and apparently never finished it...so here it is!!

I feel that to be a man you must:
1) Put your family before anything else, they are yours and you should claim them!
2) Work hard so that you can pay all of the bills and make your wife and kids comfortable.
3) Be able and willing to kill any and all Zombies, Mummies, and Skeletons that decide to attack     your home!
4) Teach your children that being respectful, honest, and moral will get you further in life than any amount of money.  Then be an example of that so they know how to do it.
5) Lastly, my favorite, treat your wife with all the love and respect she deserves.  Every woman is different and every man is different.  We as men need to find the things that our wives need to be happy and make sure we give them that.  Even if we hate it, they need it.  So it's our duty to do it!

Do these five things and I feel you will be a man that is respected and loved by all for how good you live your life.

I hate working night audit!!

Hello, my name is Shaun....and I'm an alcoholic.  I'm just kidding, I don't really drink.  Anyway, it is 2:00 AM and I am sitting at my desk waiting for something to happen at the hotel so I am not bored!!  I try to be a good employee, I really do!  When I feel like I am being taken advantage of though because I don't like to say no, I get a little irritated.  I have a freaking prego wife and kids at home while others don't and I'm here working my butt off!!! GGRRRRRRR!!!!  I feel better now.

Anyway, so my wonderful wife posted about our good news! BABY TIME!! WOO!! We both swore we never would have kids again, but as she explained, things change when you find someone that you really love and want to be with!  Anyway,   we are both really excited and I already have names picked out.  If its a boy, we are calling him Mortimor.  If its a girl, we are calling her Mildred..... Tiffay would kill me!!!! HAHAHAHA.

This month (Aug) I had my AT for the National Gaurd.  Now, that is me!!!!!!  I love it!! Except for the tiny detail that my psychotic brain notices, my right leg pocket is open......so sad!!! But anyway, it was a good time and I got to meet some cool people that did a really good job running our AT.  I scored perfect on some of my qualifications...and not so perfect on others haha but I passed them all so that is good.  I also tripped on this giant rock and hurt my knee.  Turns out walking on rocks is a lot harder than people thought.  That or I have week sauce knees that can't handle the truth!!!  I enjoyed it and I am more glad its over. 

Ummm.....thats about it for now.  I hate working night audit.  I really do! There is nothing like sitting here trying to come up with things to do.  Oh well, at least I have Netflix!! Oh, and my amazing wife who stays up half the night talking to me....she is so amazing!!! I LOVE YOU BABY!!!

A little catching up!

July is a GREAT month! Yeah, yeah, I know it's almost September, but I'm back tracking a little. ;) Not only was it my (Tiffany's) birthday month, it was one of our anniversaries! July 14th, Shaun and I fell hard for each other and decided we'd do whatever it took to be together. We were best friends and understood each other almost perfectly... More often than not, I still think we have the same brain haha. It was a long, hard process that seemed to take forever to come together. Some days it felt like we were battling our way out of hell. Looking back now, I'd do it over and over again if it meant I could be where I am today.

 Which leads me to my next topic... We're expecting a baby March 14, 2013!

 Yup, another reason July is such a great month! We found out July 10th. :)

  Some of you may be thinking, "WHAT? Tiffany vowed never to do the whole pregnancy thing again!" Yeah, I did. In fact, when Shaun and I were first talking about being together, it was one of the first topics we hit. Neither of us wanted a baby. Ever. We'd both been too emotionally scarred by our former spouses for us to even consider it.

 It didn't take too long for that desire to change. In fact, right after we were married, we really wanted to start trying. For about 5 months we were off and on, trying to decide if we wanted a baby.

 We finally decided not to (I think we were both too scared. Haha), so I went to the girly doctor to get birth control. When I got home, I had a weird feeling that I needed to wait for my period before I started taking it. A couple days after, and about a week before my period, I started having some pregnancy symptoms. We were both convinced I was pregnant. Shaun reassured me with an everything-would-be-okay conversation, and after a few minutes of talking, we both felt good and started to get excited.

 We waited a couple days and then bought a pregnancy test. It was negative! I couldn't believe it! My symptoms were RIGHT on; the exact same as they had been the previous two times I found out I was pregnant.

 We were both SO disappointed!! We laughed at how sad we felt because we never thought we'd be so disappointed over having a baby! That's the funny things about REALLY loving someone. Your desires change and you actually want those things with them! Right then, we decided we were going to try. After that, neither of us ever had a negative or wishy-washy feeling about it. Everything just felt peaceful and happy. :)

 Two and a half months later, I had symptoms again. I waited until I missed my period to take a test, so we didn't get our hopes up again, and it was positive! YAY! We were both super excited... and, I'm not going to lie, a little nervous hahaha Big changes were coming!

 For me, the best part (aside from the baby-making, of course muahahaha) was getting to make the decision to have a baby. We decided together. And while that may seem trivial to someone else, it was HUGE for me. Shaun and I never disagreed or wanted a baby when the other didn't. Neither one of us felt pressured or obligated by the other. We were ALWAYS on the same page. It was nice, and just one more thing to make our relationship even stronger. :)

 I'm currently 11 1/2 weeks, so almost done with my first trimester! I haven't been nauseas... just tired. And poor Shaun... he has been having sympathy symptoms! Not even kidding! It's bizarre! hahaha I'm sorry, baby! But thanks for being so amazing. :) You have been the best support EVER, and I'm so excited (and blessed) to get to have this experience with you. :)

 

The little things

This is going to be a small post, but I just wanted to take a minute and talk about some of the little things in my relationship with Shaun.

These are the very first flowers Shaun ever gave me (July 2011). Aren't they beautiful? I'm not a huge fan of flowers, but I LOVE lilies. They are my absolute favorite. When I saw them on his table, I was so surprised he remembered! Although, I'm not sure why I was so shocked, we knew everything about each other. Just the fact that he'd paid attention (and even more, cared) meant so much more than the actual flowers hahaha. :)

 He does so many little things like that for me every day. Not the flowers (although I do get those a lot too haha), but the sentiment and message behind them. He always pays attention to me, even when he works. He calls me every time he gets the chance and texts me non-stop. When he is home, we are nearly inseparable. We stay up late talking, we laugh over stupid things, and have loud, fake arguments in public just to see people's reactions!

 Yes, we definitely bring out the best in each other. haha

 The little things are so important to both of us. I feel like they built the foundation of our relationship even before we were together. Whenever we needed to talk we contacted each other. We never had to worry about being judged or anything like that. We trusted each other with humiliating secrets and personal issues. Neither of us had anyone who understood us, let alone knew how to deal with us! Shaun and I have always had an uncanny understanding of each other, and it's been such a relief to be together.

Our California Trip!!

Meet the new memeber of our family, Loppy. :)

First off, Hoppy Easter! And yeah, the bunny on the right is ours. The Easter bunny did well this year. ;) Her name is Loppy.

The kids were with their dad for Easter morning, so Shaun and I celebrated by going to church… not that that’s unusual. We go to church every Sunday morning. hahahaha so really, it was just a normal Sunday morning for us!   

While we’re on the subject of church, I would just like to take a quick moment to say how much it means to me that Shaun comes with me. For now, he has to work weekends, so he goes to work early every Sunday so he can leave work for 4 hours to come home and go to church with me and then go back to work until 5! I never have to remind him. I never have to even ask him. It’s so important to him, I just know he is going to be there. He is such a great example to me, and he motivates me so much. I am the luckiest girl in the world to get to be with him!

Okay, I’m done bragging about my awesome husband hahaha.

Knott's Berry Farm!

Well, we just took a 9 day, much needed, vacation to California. We played at Disneyland, California Adventure, Knott’s Berry Farm and the beach! The weather was amazing: 85 degrees! After sun burning and walking around looking like lobsters for a few days, Shaun and I both came back to Idaho with nice tans (the part I was most excited about). Now if we can keep it in this frozen wasteland. J Okay, maybe I exaggerated a little about the wasteland. It’s not frozen, just about 30 degrees colder. ;)

The kids at Goofy's Kitchen.

We had a blast… like we always do together, but it was super special because Ash and Ty had never been to Disneyland and etc. or to the beach! We took a boat ride out on the ocean and saw, seals, sea lions, 3 different types of Dolphins and whales! It was incredible! 

There were some really cool places to eat, too. Rainforest Café and Goofy’s Kitchen have always been two of my Disneyland dining favorites, so we ate at those places! And of course, Olive Garden. It’s a special place for Shaun and I, so we ate their twice. J

Here are just a few of the pics we took!

There was a 55 minute wait for Star Tours at Disneyland, so we wasted a lot of time taking pictures of us. haha

We were in Arizona for a few miles and stopped, excited to see all the cool trees and plants! Yeah, we're dorks. :) 

Driving a car in Toone Towne.

My three favorite people in the world, getting ready to go to Disneyland!! Tyson and Shaun had Mohawks the whole week! haha. It was awesome!