Updates

Sam is growing!!!! Some of these pictures are a month or so old... better late than never, huh?

This is Sam at Halloween! The picture is turned sideways, but he's my litttle monkey :)

I sang him a song:

Sock monkey, monkey so funky

Sam is so chunky...... etc.. you get the idea... 

He HATED the little hat.... 
He's a cute sleeper - Jake's Mom made Sam the fluffy blanket he's sleeping on... 

I love this pose - It looks like he's dancing! 

Here's a moment of happiness during tummy time - He's so fun to hang out with!

LOL! Here's a crusty look! He gives me these a lot.... he he he... 

Cute little boy on a monkey blanket!

This is so my mom can see how much Sam has grown! 

Sam and Grandma Keller

We have been doing great! Sam's a good sleeper so we are all happy!

Thanksgiving was great. We spent it with a family from the ward who already had a lot of their family in town for a baby blessing. We were just a couple of people out of many and hopefully fit right in! It's beautiful weather (in the 60s and 70s) and Jake went golfing with all the guys in the morning. Our friends from the ward own the public golf course in town. Jake loves it. :) We had a great time. 

Lately we have been getting things done so we can come back to Utah for Jake's sister's wedding (Congrats Eva Anne and Nate!). We can't wait to meet Nate! Oh - and we will be back for Christmas too - so we will get lots of family time :) We get to drive back - about a 24 hour drive to Honeyville. Hopefully Sam can stand being in his car seat for that long~ He loves his car seat, but that's a long time. Hopefully Jake and I can stand being in a car that long too... :) 

Well - I better go help Jake with lunch - we are doing great - Sam is awesome and we love him! 

Sammy this morning....

Here's our cute little boy this morning!

 Isn't he great!!!!!!

Just to pass the time....

So I'm sitting here in the middle of the night typing with only my left hand and feeding the hungriest three week old known to man! Do babies really eat this much?

Anyways I will just post more pictures and lave the updates to a time when I can use both hands....

Here Sam is sleeping like Jake with his arms above his head... :) (Burp rag under his head because you never know when he's going to lose it!) 

I guess I take a million pictures of Sammy while he's sleeping. He's just really cute to me. I'm totally biased, but I think he is the most handsome baby ever. :) 

I don't know of any good photographers in the area, so I'm relying on my own limited ability to get good pictures of Sam while he's a baby. And then try and use my editing software to make the picture look somewhat good.... Here's a try... :) 

Another cute sleeping pic. 

And this is my favorite. :) He's an amazing little package - We love him a lot. :) 

More Samuel Pictures

Sammy's first bath. Not a very happy baby right now!

Well Samuel Keller finally made it here. Steph was in Labor for about 12 hours, which included about 1-1/2  hours of pushing. It was a bitter/sweet experience for. On one hand it was so hard to see someone you love go through so much pain, but when Sammy finally got here it was so good. Steph and Samuel are both doing well. Here are some pictures of Samuel saying hello to the world.

BINGO

I'll try and supplement this post with a picture later on.... 

I learned a new East-Texan vocabulary word today: BINGO. 

Yes - my dentist asked me if I was ready to BINGO! I'm pretty sure he was referring to my 8 1/2 month pregnant state. LOL.... He kept on talking about other women that "Bingoed" (or came close) while he was cleaning their teeth or doing a root canal. 

So yes - I AM READY TO BINGO! 

2 1/2 weeks left - Sam's lungs are developed and I think he can come outside now....

Any wagers on when? 

I say today. Jake says Monday..... Dr. says probably the beginning of October. So in one week? 

BABYMOON!

So Jake and I went on a "BABYMOON!" Our last vacation together before Sammy comes. :) 

I planned it and dragged Jake along. I also realized that a lot of places hate pregnant women. Amusement Parks aren't really "down" with pregnant women on their rides. We can't float down a river because I'm pregnant. etc. So.... we had to resort to other entertainment.... 

FIRST, we went down to Galveston. It was hammered with hurricane Ike, and it looks like it's still trying to recover. We were only at the beach for about 2 hours, but we both got BURNED to a crisp! 

I couldn't believe it! I'll have a tan line from that day for years to 

come! Seriously! 

7 month pregnant women

              + 

  bad sunburn

=

     VERY UNCOMFORTABLE PERSON!

But look at our cute feet. :) It was fun, despite being burned so bad.... 

After Galveston, we headed over to San Antonio. We walked along the "riverwalk" and had some great Mexican food. The next day we went to "SEA WORLD SAN ANTONIO" (say it with a Hispanic accent) 

It was amazing! I thought it was just going to be an expensive zoo, but it was so cool! I can't wait to take Sammy back where he can see what's going on - not just experience it from the inside! :) 

The killer whale show (a.k.a. Shamoo) was awesome. The whales did a complete back flip in the air. Wow! It was awesome. Obviously, they got us SOAKING wet, which was really nice because it was hot there.... 

And Sea World had some really cool rides - again, they hate pregnant women, so I just watched Jake go on them... This one was awesome. I tried to make him go on it three times. Once for himself, once for me, and once for Sammy. He could only do it twice. It made him sick... So I guess Sammy will have to go himself one day. 

And this was a show with some seals and a walrus. It was really cute. Everyone should really visit Sea World. It's so much fun.. 

But we left Sea World and drove to Austin then. We were both SO TIRED! We barely even enjoyed Austin before we were ready to come back home and sleep! Austin was very pretty, and I told Jake he should think about going to the University of Texas for some type of master's program. But we drove back home - both very tired and ready to go to sleep... but it was a great Babymoon! :) 

Preparing for SAMMY!

So I have been a super lazy blogger lately. Sorry! I'll blame it on being pregnant, tired, and busy. 

But we have been preparing for our little Sammy to come. :) 

Here was our first purchase. :) 

Yeah! We are officially SUV owners. :) It's a 97 4-Runner. It's old, but it runs well, and we will definitely have enough room for Sammy and all his stuff.... AND my stuff. 

Whenever we would drive around in it, he would show me ALL of the trailers that we could pull with our new purchase. He's really excited. I'm not sure when we are going to ge

t a trailer, but I'm sure it will be as soon as we have a place to put it (a.k.a. buy a house). 

Well, the first thing we were able to USE our new 4-Runner for was this! 

It's a super ugly dresser we got for $25 at a yard sale.... Sammy needs a place to keep his clothes! So we cleaned it up, Jake got new tools (he was so excited) and we refinished it. :) And here it what it looks like! 

Oops - never mind. I guess I didn't take an after picture. But it's much much mo

re beautiful! We refinished it with maple or something - it's beautiful and nice. 

We also got a pack and play for Sammy to sleep in. I hope he loves it. :) The thing on the left is a "newborn napper" so Sammy can sleep in it when he's all little. Then the thing on the left is the changing station. Then underneath there is a mattress pad which can raise and lower, so he can sleep on it. When he's all little we can have it high because he won't be trying to climb out, then lower it when he's bigger so he can't climb out... So I hope he likes it. :) 

And finally - here's an old picture of me pregnant. I think I was about 4 months along here. I'll try and update the blog with a new picture, but we will see... :) 

ARKANSAS!

For the 4th of July weekend, Jake and I went to Arkansas to visit my brother Todd. What a trip! 

Jake actually loves Arkansas. They have so much farm ground there compared to where we live in Texas. He was in heaven looking at all the tractors. I thought we were going to go off the road.... 

I can't believe we went all that way, and I don't even have a 

picture with Todd. What a slacker. But we had a great time - we ate catfish and BBQ and relaxed. It was wonderful. :) 

On the way down, we stopped at a NAPA store to get a few bolts....... 

Then put this on our car.... :) YEAH! GO AGGIES! 

We (Jake and Todd) actually changed the brakes and rotors (sp?) on our car while we were up in Arkansas. It was interesting.... It made us realize we needed two cars. 

So this is Jake changing the rotors... He's such a hottie. :) 

And on the way back, we stopped in HOPE ARKANSAS... guess why that's an amazing place on earth? Birth place of Bill Clinton. :) YEAH! (sarcasm!). Anyways, this is a picture of his "boyhood home." : )

New Purchase!

Wow.... I'm feeling like I'm going to be a mom. We got Sammy the coolest car seat ever today! :) 

HERE IT IS! 

So hopefully he/she likes it and feels very comfortable in it.... And... the best part. We got it for about 80% off. I feel like such a good coupon person. We had a coupon from Bed, Bath, and Beyond for 20% off, then we cached in all our Discover Card money for BBB, and we ended up paying $46.00 for a $180.00 car seat. Wow. And it has good safety ratings. Since I don't know a thing about car seats, I hope Sammy likes it. We will see. And we can take it back if it doesn't work out. 

Well - now I'm excited to get a crib/pack and play. I think I'll get a pack and play instead of a crib.... any suggestions? 

It's Been A While...

So it's been a LONG while since I last posted.... Here are some things that have happened!

* Jake and I were apart from each other for a long time. :( He would go to Nacogdoches for two weeks then come home for one week. So we saw each other for 2 weeks in between 6 weeks of being apart. It was totally stinky :( I recommend living with your spouse. Always. This is us after I got to Texas. We are happy!



* I finished my second year of law school. Despite throwing up WAY past my three months of being pregnant, I was somehow able to study just enough to be able to take my final exams and have a mock trial. And - my grades weren't as bad as I expected. I kept my mediocre class standing.... and didn't get any C's. (p.s. I haven't thrown up in a couple of weeks.... though it is still drug induced non-vomiting....) :)

* My family and ward each threw me an awesome baby shower. I'm usually not a huge fan of baby showers, but they are so helpful! I can't believe how generous people are. We have some awesome stuff for our little offspring! I now call he/she "Sam the Parasite." Sam works because it could be short for Samuel or Samantha. And I like the name Sam. And it is definitely a parasite. It makes me sick. It makes me hungry.... But I love it anyways. So don't think I'm not excited about my little parasite. I am. I promise. :)

* I turned 26! Yeah!

* The movers came (on my birthday) and packed up our whole apartment and moved our stuff down to Nacogdoches for us! It was so great they took care of almost everything (except for cleaning) and I didn't have to pack a box. :)

* My grandma Randall died on Mother's Day. She was really ready to go, but I still can't believe she's gone! She was a cool lady. I didn't get to go to the funeral though :(

* After a week of being out of school - I went back. I did a one week class, and now I'm paying to work at Lone Star Legal Aid. I get a bunch of credit, so that is good... but still. I'm paying through the.. anyways. :) This last week we went to prison. I almost met my first client - but they only allowed one person to talk to the prisoner at a time. :( So I stayed outside.

* I had an ultrasound and I could see my baby! I saw his/her face, arms, legs, four chambers of his/her heart, toes, etc! So the parasite lives on! I still can't really feel Sammy move yet, but since I feel nauseas then I'm sure he/she is still alive. :)

* We went to Nacogdoches Blueberry Days! It was a blast. :) Huge downtown stuff - you know, booths, large turkey legs on a stick, funnel cakes, a petting zoo, the works. We went a picked blueberries for $1.25 per pound. I thought we would get more, but I guess the bulk of them weren't ripe. So we have enough for some good stuff in the mean time. I made fresh blueberry pancakes for breakfast. Wow. Yummers! I think I'm going to start liking blueberries.

This is a picture of the blueberry patch. We are going back in two weeks when more are ripe and we are going to pick a million berries. A million.



* I'm 5 months now. 5 months having something alien living inside me. Isn't that so weird. Hopefully Sammy rocks - then I'll have more kids. Because this "bearing a child" is super weird. I'm sure it's all worth it in the end. People do it all the time. Multiple times. There's got to be something to it.

We went to Nacogdoches! What a trip! 

We flew out last Sunday and came back on Friday. We were SO READY to sleep in our own bed. Holiday Inn's pillows are super weird. 

So..... we'll start out with last Sunday morning. (Somewhat) Lucky me, I hadn't thrown up at all with this pregnancy. (Sometimes I wish I would just throw up if it would make me feel better). But just hours before we catch our plane, I have my first experience throwing up because of the pregnancy. I somehow knew this would happen because it would be just my luck to be in an enclosed space (airplane) with LOTS of people and lose it.... But I was okay... and we caught our plane... 

But - as we were waiting to take off, they guy sitting right across the isle from me... BRINGS IN A BURRITO. I'm sure almost everyone would say: "Yum"! No. Not to a pregnant woman that thinks everything STINKS. I thought I was going to lose it before we even got off the ground. But - a lot of deep breathing (from my mouth, not my nose) helped me get through until the guy ate it all.... And I was pretty good the rest of the flight. 

Then we get to the airport.... and guess what the car rental place has for us? 

Yep. We got a PT Cruiser. Jake HATES PT Cruisers. I tell him it's okay and it will be a "good experience" for us. he he he... :) 

So we drive 2 1/2 hours to Nacogdoches and check into the Holiday Inn with the weird pillows.  

Monday Jake went into work for some training (fire ant training....) and that night we went out to the "Cotton Patch" for dinner with his boss and his boss's wife. 

Let's just say I was up most of the night throwing up dinner. Then most of Tuesday getting rid of anything else in my stomach. Do people really choose to be pregnant AFTER they have already done it once? I can't believe people choose to go through this. Somehow, it must be worth it... I'm just not seeing it right now. 

So I sleep ALL Tuesday. No homework. None. Fail family and con law II? Maybe. 

Wednesday I get a prescription from my doctor that is supposed to help me. I take it while we drive ALL around Nac-Town to find an apartment. We visit everything that doesn't look like it will be infested with college kids (and some that are). Hopefully we have found something we can live with. But after taking the medicine, I am out. I slept for about 14 hours. 

My poor husband. He just hangs out while I sleep. :( 

Again, no homework. 

Thursday we do some of the Touristy Stuff. We go downtown Nacogdoches. Do you know it's the OLDEST TOWN IN TEXAS. But no one could answer Jake and tell him HOW old it is. Here's a picture of the town - with heavy equipment in the road. Gotta love it! 

We also went by "Lone Star Legal Aid." I'm hoping I can put in a LOT of hours with them and get some credit for school. Hopefully everything works out. It's a cute little building downtown. 

We also went to the "Azalea" gardens. I guess they are famous for them. It was pretty. The azalea's don't come out fully until March 21st or something. So we got the preview. 

We also went out to Lake Nacogdoches. He heard there are NO alligators in Lake Nacogdoches. But I will didn't want to get too close. This is crazy. Alligators belong in the zoo. Not in an open lake. But while we were there, Jake asked some guy in a truck where the best fishing was. The guy just kind of looked around... "In the water." he he he.... I loved it. 

And before we headed to Livingston Texas to a new Holiday Inn (with equally weird and uncomfortable pillows) we had to stop by John Deere. We got a free poster and Jake got to sit in the tractors. It made the visit complete.... :) 

He's such a cutie! ;) 

So the flight home was better - and I've been feeling a little better. Still can't imagine why people decide to go through this pregnancy thing more than once, but I'm sure I'll figure it out in October. 

Oh - and I totally chopped my hair. I was really sick of it. So the picture is weird because I probably slept on half my hair AFTER I flipped it out... but.. you get the idea. 

So hopefully I can keep from sleeping on it too much so it will look nice. 

Other random facts about Texas: 

1. People actually go the speed limit. Jake got pulled over going 60 in a 55. The cop told him he was "runnin'." Interesting. Not like on I-15 where you go 80 in a 65 and people are still passing you and treating you like your slowing them down.... 

2. I ventured out of my "white bread and cereal" diet and tried a Subway sandwich. The guy at the counter couldn't believe that someone would get a veggie. (I'm 100% against meat at the moment). I wonder in vegetarians exist in Texas. 

3. Jake couldn't find a BBQ place open for dinner. I guess in Nacogdoches they are only open for lunch. Weird. 

4. Street signs and directions actually tell you to make a U-turn to get to a destination. Like, get off the highway, make a U turn, then you can get to the Holiday Inn with uncomfortable pillows. 

That's all the fun facts I can think of right now. :) 

But we will definitely miss Utah, but we are excited about going someplace new! 

If you have any morning sickness suggestions, please let me know. :) 

 

Bad and Good Good News

So - We have NEWS! 

The bad news: Jake is another victim of the bad economy. He got laid off yesterday. :( 

The good news: His employer offered him another similar job in Nacognoches Texas. 

You are thinking: WHERE IS THAT? We thought the same thing. 

Here it is: You can see Nacogdoches in the Center. Shereveport, Louisiana is close by (about an hour) and Dallas is northwest and Houston is southwest. 

Interesting huh? So we will be moving soon. I will finish school (the year, not the law degree) in May and move down. Jake will be back and forth after the end of March. It's going to be fun. His company will pay for us to move down there, and pay for us to go look for a place to live. It's going to be great. 

So law school - I'm going to apply as a visiting student at some universities down there and transfer the classes up to the U, so I will still be a graduate of the University of Utah! :) YEAH! The closest schools are pretty far away (about a 1 1/2 - 2 hours). So hopefully I can work out a schedule to only have to go two or three times a week.  

MORE GOOD NEWS! 

We are going to have a baby. Or babies. :) I'm due in October. I keep on telling everyone that I don't mind if I have twins, because that means I have to go through this morning sickness one less time. But I'm sure it's a pretty short-sighted comment. Twins would be much more difficult. So that will throw some interesting stuff in the mix with moving to eastern texas, trying to finish school, and have a baby. Good luck us! 

Talk to you all later! 

Steph 

The Funniest Joke Ever!

So Jake and I have different senses of humor. I like sarcasm, and he likes "puns" or whatever. A lot of times, I just don't laugh because I think he's weird. But I think we are trying to make up for the difference and jump over to the other persons' side... 

Anyways - Here is a great joke that I made up. :) 

ENJOY!

Jake: Do you think farmer's drank their cow's milk while they were milking the cow. 

Me; Probably - I would if I mixed chocolate in with it... (this isn't exactly me because I don't like chocolate that much - I would much rather each peanut butter) 

Then I started laughing.... 

Imagine! A farmer is bringing a can of "Ghirardelli's" hot chocolate mix under his arm and yells "get the hot stuff ready Betsy!" Then he puts the hottest milk Betsy can make into his cup and stirs it up with the chocolate, and enjoys milking the rest of the morning with his steaming cup of chocolate milk.... 

I laughed forever... I thought it was awesome. I love my jokes...

But it gets better.....

Jake has been drafting things at work (Mechanical Engineer stuff) and I always tease him he's drawing stick figures for work... Well, this is what he drew, in honor of my funny joke. :) 

This picture is a bit old. It was on our honeymoon over a year ago. We went to Daytona Beach. So here is "US" even though my hair is super wind blown. Maybe next post I will post something where I look a bit better. 

updates: 

1. I never thought it would happen. But it did. Someone stole our 72-hour kit. And my black and orange buckaroo blanket with my name on it. Who would steal that? I guess It's dumb for us to leave our Honda Civic (aren't Honda's the #1 cars that are stolen in the US) unlocked at night. Well, I hope someone is enjoying our (frozen) bottled water, raisins, and first aid kit. :) 

2. School started!!!! I'm back to fitting in studying time whenever I can and trying to not act stressed around Jake. Wow... I keep telling myself it will let up in a year and a half. Wait - then I get to take the bar. :( 

3. I'm getting better at racquetball and am actually getting competitive with Jake. He's getting scared and sweating a lot more now... 

4. I found out the dogs we wanted (short hair and wired hair german pointers) aren't hypo-allergenic. It makes me sad. I guess only poodles are TRULY hypo-allergenic and Jake refuses to get a poodle. 

First Time!

After seeing other blogs (and feeling like a mighty stalker) I decided we needed to jump in head first! A little about us! Jake and I were married a little over a year ago. We both graduated from Utah State although we never met while we were there. Jake is a mechanical engineer, and I am in my second year of law school. Life is crazy. :) Jake and I have recently discovered how much we love racquetball.... and I totally beat him today! (SSShhh... He's not going to like it that I tell people that!). We also love camping, running, backpacking, etc. We just like to get off our little bums (from school and work) and get outside! We are also obsessed with buying a house/condo/anything, but we probably aren't really in the market for it at the moment... but we still dream. And we want a dog. Or two dogs. The top one is a German Pointer (short hair) which is a beautiful dog. It's a good hunting dog, but we aren't really choosing it for it's mad hunting skills. I told Jake the short haired dog will be his, and we will call her Jill. The second picture of the CUTE puppies are German Wirehaired Pointers. These dogs are supposedly "Hypoallergenic" so I can touch them. (I'm really allergic to dogs, but most hypoallergenic dogs are yappers, which Jake HATES). So we want the wirehaired to be Jack. Jake and Jill. Cute dogs.... We'll have a wait for a house... with a lot of lawn... :)