Oh boy!

To those of you who have not heard or had the chance to see Mark in his "announcement onesie", we were told last Monday that we are having a boy.  I made a shirt for Mark that said on the front, in bright pink, "Oh no...", and on the back in blue it said "I get a bro!"  It was so much fun to see the reactions of my parents as well as my in-laws, especially since everyone thought that he was going to be a she.  Because the doctor had to cancel all of his appointments because he was delivering a baby, I talked the nurse into doing the ultrasound.  She spent 15-20 minutes just showing me my baby, it was awesome!  I get to go back in on the 9th for another ultrasound so the doctor can do all the measurements.  I don't mind looking in on James again. 

Two Stars are Born!

Recently Idaho Falls did a community production of the play Annie.  It ran for 4 nights and they did one matinee as well.  Each night it was a packed house, not sold out but the place was packed, and I have to say that was in part because of the person who played the dog catcher and of course the dog.  Charlie, the Schwieder's family dog, was asked to play Sandy.  They needed someone to take care of the dog so they asked Brett, Brett's sisters Shanalee and Tammy traveled up from Utah to help as well.  Both Brett and Charlie did a wonderful job.  (By the way, don't you think Brett looks stunning with an inch of make up on?)

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Christmas is one of my most favorite times of the year!  I love Thanksgiving as well, it is just here in Idaho we have to put up our Christmas lights before it snows or the lights don't get done.  Things just get a little cold and slippery to be messing with lights.  So last Saturday Brett got on the roof and dutifully put up the lights they are going to look so great!  However, even though the lights are on the house they will not be turned on until  after Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving and Christmas, this truly is the best time of the year!!!

Un-Happy Halloween

Markie was going to be a tiger this year for Halloween.  The costume is a 24 month size costume and so it was a bit big but that made it just that much cuter.  I put him in it a week or two before Halloween and Brett and I had a great time.  Yet this poor little tiger would never get to see Halloween because that morning Mark woke up with a fever of 102.  Poor little tiger, those swine decided to attack him to.  

Yet never fear, Brett to the rescue.  While Mark was in the bath relaxing and trying to get his temperature down Brett decided to put on Mark's costume.  I hope you enjoy the picture as much as I do!  Happy Halloween.  (A little late but that's ok)

Pigs are flying

Why couldn't they call Swine Flu something cuter than "Swine Flu"?  It hasn't been any fun telling people that I got "Swine Flu", so I started to say that the pigs are flying at my house, or I am grunting like a little pig.  Because of the seriousness of swine flu nobody thought I was funny, oh well, I still do. :)  Yes, for those who haven't heard I some how got swine flu.  Now before you all send me posts asking if I am alright, you know I am because I am posting now.  The funny thing is I was debating on getting the H1N1 vac. for about the past 3 months.  Many people were telling me I should get the vac. others were saying it hasn't been fully tested who knows what it will do to your baby.  I was going back and forth and finally on Tuesday I decided that I was going to get the shot at my next doctors appointment, which was on Thursday.  I must have waited too long because I came down with swine flu on Tuesday--go figure.  If you had asked me how I felt that day I would have said I understood why they call it swine flu--because you feel like a herd of ugly, smelly, fatty swine have just trampled you on their way to a 7 course meal.  Tuesday was definitely my worst day--but after that day I haven't felt all that bad.  I do have to give all the credit to Heavenly Father on that.  On Monday, before I started flying with the piggies, I had the feeling that I needed to look up the symptoms of Swine Flu.  Thanks to the wonders of the internet it only took a few minutes.  Because I followed that feeling when I started to feel yucky the next day I knew exactly what was going on and I was at the doctors office before I spiked a fever.  I was able to get on the meds right as I came down with the flu, and that has made all the difference.  I also feel that because of many people praying for me and the baby the flu was tempered so it wasn't as bad as it could have been.  My testimony of prayer and the fact that the Lord is watching out for me really grew this week.  I am also greatful for the blessing we have of the Holy Ghost which can prompt us and give us feelings of things we can to do protect ourselves and our families.  Things would have been different if I hadn't felt that prompting on Monday, I probably would have suffered a lot more.  Sometimes I think we suffer a lot more then is needful because we are unwilling to listen or not tuned in properly.  We have so many things going on in our lives that we have a tough time stopping just to listen.  During the past three days I have had the opportunity to read most of 1st Nephi and part of 2nd Nephi, there are some beautiful promises and verses in Nephi, if we could just remember and apply all the wonderful gems that Nephi and Lehi are teaching just think about how much better our lives would be.  We truly are blessed to have the scriptures at our fingertips. 

Baby Names and What's your guess?

If the baby is a girl, her name will be Annabelle--Ann(a) for my middle name, and belle because that was my dad's nickname for me. If the baby is a boy, his name will be James Haroldsen--James after one of Brett's great uncles on his mothers side, and Haroldsen because that is Brett's middle name and because Brett doesn't like his first name for a middle name and he doesn't want a junior. Before Brett and I got married I told him that our first son would have to be named Mark Taylor after my younger brother who died when I was in kindergarten, and our first girl would have to be named Annabelle. I asked if that was ok with him and he agreed thus Mark Taylor, and if this baby is a girl Annabelle. Anybody want to make any guesses to whether the baby is a boy or a girl? I won't find out for a while but it would be fun to know what you think.

The BEST Birthday present ever!

With all this baby announcement stuff, and the fact that I don't like birthdays, I have let my birthday slip past without saying anything.  However, Brett gave me something for my birthday that I just have to tell everybody about.  Brett knows that my favorite thing in the whole world is to spend time together as a family.  Well with soccer and other school responsibilities the morning of my birthday he said that he wouldn't be able to be home until around 9:30 that night.  I was rather bummed, but I knew that responsibilities needed to come first.  Well, at 1:00 I went to answer the door and standing there with a gift in has hands was Brett.  I was confused and asked what he was doing at home in the middle of the day, and he said that he decided to use some personal time and take a half day off of work.  He called in a sub, told his student teacher she was in charge, and he came home to spend the day with me until he had to go to soccer, but by that time I had to go to mutual.  We didn't do anything much--we rented a movie from Red Box for a dollar, and played the Wii together, and then our neighbor said she would watch Mark so we could go out to dinner.  Like I said we didn't do much but it was the opportunity to be together that made it so special.  I really have a great husband!!!