It's the Holiday Season!

I love our Christmas tree! We've been getting our real trees at Costco for the last couple of years and they are always so fresh and beautiful. We of course (because of me) had to get out the decoration a couple of days after Thanksgiving! 

We've both been in nesting mode this last month. Dan got some shelves hung in the baby room, we got a crib, and we decorated with some prints! We got this watercolor painting done of our embryo. I'll do an updated post once the nursery is all the way complete. It's been so fun to work on together! 

A fun drawing from a student. She was pretty spot on. I've been wearing that sweater a lot lately haha! 

Marissa is a childhood friend of mine. We got to go and celebrate her baby coming in January! It's crazy we're pregnant at the same time. 

We had the annual Chapman Christison Dunbar Christmas party at Madi and Josh's this year. It was so great to see everyone! I can't believe how big our group has gotten over the years. 

Mom came to hang out and see the nursery progress. She got lucky and felt her first kick too! The baby must have been saying, "Hi, Grams!"

More fun food places with our Grub Club passport. This was actually the night of our first birthing class! Dan didn't want his picture taken... clearly. 

The glory of driving to work in the snow. 

We had a fun weekend at Josh's cabin for Madi's birthday. It was so fun celebrating her! We just relaxed, had yummy food and caught up. I loved being able to have some good deep chats with Glade and Jessi. Unfortunately, Dan went down to the valley to play hockey Saturday night and called me after saying he blew out his knee. So he's been pretty hurt the last few weeks. I'm not sure when he'll get to play again and may need surgery. 

We had the annual Christison party at grandpa's. It was so good to see everyone and eat some yummy food! He got all of the little babies these socks. Can't wait to put them on our baby! They are hand-made by the Native Americans. 

I got a SNOW DAY. This is realllllly rare in Utah. I woke up to a voicemail with the best news ever on December 15th. It was amazing to go back to bed and just relax all day. Dan had some fun shoveling! 

I wish I would have gotten more pictures this day, but here's this cute one of Daws. We had breakfast at mom and dad's in memory of Grandma Linda. We got to go visit her grave as well. It was really special. That morning, I had to have my SECOND glucose test (since I failed the first) and so I was really ready to eat by the time I got to mom and dad's. 

Since we went to California for Christmas this year, we had an early celebration with my family. It was so fun getting to open pajamas with everyone still and exchange some gifts. Mom and dad sure do make the holidays special every year. 

We didn't take a lot of pictures in Cali. We did get a few though. We celebrated Christmas Eve at Sarah's with the cousins and then Christmas day at his parent's house. It was so great to see everyone during the week while we were there! 

Had to facetime the fam on Christmas! Sure did miss them! 

We had a nice visit with both of Dan's grandma's while we were in Cali. I thought this was a sweet view at Grandma Joyce's house. Dan was helping her put her grocery delivery away. We had quite the sketchy drive back to Utah! It was pretty snowy in some parts. But we made it home at 2:30 am. 

There were some things this month that we didn't get pictures of. I had a fun girls night sleepover with some friends at Regan's. We exchanged favorite things gifts and ornaments. It was the best time! My family had a fun baking night one night. My divinity didn't quite turn out that great this year. Last year it was amazing! We also had fun helping gramps get his Christmas decorations up at the beginning of the month. I just love this time of the year and I'm sad it's coming to an end! But we've got some pretty exciting things coming up. These next few months are going to fly! 

Dan suggested we start doing a family picture in front of our tree each year. So here is our first one! It was such a special holiday season this year with our sweet baby in my belly. It made it that much more special. We can hardly wait to celebrate with a new member of our family next year! 

Time is flying... 26 weeks with babe!

Here are the progression pics, with an updated one at the end! 

8 weeks!

12 weeks!

16 weeks!

20 weeks!

And finally... 26 weeks! That belly is really growin'! 

I've been having the WORST charlie horses at night. I've woken Dan up a couple times screaming and he always grabs my belly thinking that something is wrong with the baby. I've never had them so bad. It feels like a knife is being dragged through my calf. It's TERRIBLE. Usually, in my sleep, I'll overstretch my leg and that's what triggers it. So I've been trying really hard to not let that happen, but it's hard. I keep asking Dan if that's what labor is going to feel like? Like he knows. He says he doesn't think so. HAHA. I'm also starting to get pretty uncomfortable. Sitting in certain positions for a long time is hard, so I get pretty antsy. 

The fun part of this stage is the baby has been starting our birthing classes. We were really worried about what kind of crowd would be at these classes, but we actually fit right in. We're enjoying them and learning so much! We go every Monday night. She taught us about some stretches I should be doing every day to prepare for labor, so I've been trying to incorporate those into my daily routine. I can already feel a difference. We've also been feeling the baby move more and more! The baby is very quiet and still at night, but moves pretty consistently during the day. Are they already on a good schedule??! Let's hope. I am even starting to see the movement by looking at my belly. That means the baby is getting bigger and stronger! Another good thing is I haven't really been dealing with the cramping in my left side. WAHOO. So overall, I'm feeling really good and just loving every second of carrying this baby. It's an absolute dream come true. We can't wait to meet you, baby! Here are some more fun bump pics. 

Loved celebrating the Christmas season with my little sidekick. :) 

Mom and dad got me my birthing outfit for Christmas, so of course, I had to try it out! 

FALL Photo Dump

We started off a beautiful fall with a drive up the canyon! It was amazing! 

Us girls did a little shopping with this little cutie! 

We had the fam over for a little fall fire! It was so cozy out there. 

Tay and Kyle invited us to come to the Hickman cabin for a weekend in October. Max and Tilly loved the squishy car ride together! All of us squished in our trailer to sleep. It was so nice to relax in nature. The views were beautiful! 

We had the best little girls weekend in Park City in October. I sure do love these sweet friends of mine!

Dan and I enjoyed lots of yummy food since we got the Grub Club passport. It lets us get deals at lots of different food and dessert places each month! 

We had a fun night at the pumpkin patch and then carved pumpkins with the fam. Dan carved the tiniest face into his. I wish I had gotten a picture! 

My annual cat costume for school haha! 

We had our annual Silva Halloween party. It was really fun! Lots of good friends showed up. Dan handmade my Mother Earth costume. He was Tyrone Biggums. 

More fun girls days with Dawsy boy!

We spent hours shopping, trying to find Dan an outfit for Sarah's wedding. He wanted to wear this velvet jacket with plaid pants, but Sarah didn't love it lol. 

Kai turns 21! Of course we had to go to El Chihuahua. 

We started getting the baby room going! Love this mini crib we found and it fits perfectly! 

We loved celebrating Sarah and Nic on their big day! Dan gave the best speech. Everyone thought it was quite the hit. 

Thanksgiving was with my family this year. Dan was in charge of the turkey again. He went all out this year and spent a lot of money on a nice one. Then he spatch cocked it on the Traeger. It was so yummy!

Think we had enough pies? My apple pie turned out amazing this year! 

We had such an amazing fall!