Happy Father's Day

I'm thankful for my dad. He's taught me a lot. He taught me to be a skeptic. He taught me not to accept the first thing I hear about something. He taught me to be a critical thinker. He taught me the basics: throwing a ball, kicking a ball, riding a bike, how to do math. When I was younger, he taught me to see the good qualities in people when I was speaking disparagingly about others. He's set a great example of how to treat the elderly, and growing up I watched him serving the widows in our neighborhood. I have yet to meet a single person who loves babies as much as my dad does. He really loves my mom. He's always worked so hard, sometimes at the cost of his health and sanity, to provide for us. Even though he's a total workaholic and we all tease him about it, he's always shown up to all our things - no easy feat, I'm learning, with six kids. Yet he is always there at every school thing or whatever else we're involved in, standing in the back with this enormous proud grin and a video camera. When I turned sixteen, he set up a scavenger hunt around the neighborhood and at the end met me in a park and asked me on my first date. He took me to a really expensive restaurant (I'd never been anywhere like that) and then to my surprise sweet sixteen party. At the time I was kind of embarrassed about the scavenger hunt/date thing and how it ended up being my dad of all people, but now I can see how sweet an idea it was. I'm thankful for my dad.

Maternity Photos

I tend to think that people who hate and make fun of maternity shots are anti-feminist and stuck in a different era. There's my little disclaimer before I post these. :-)

VERY last-minute, our friend Sarah Michelle did some maternity photos for us! I had gone back and forth forever about it, but her offer was too great to pass up. This is only her second maternity shoot - she picked up photography as a hobby in the last year, and man does she have some skills! I probably did mine later than most people do - I'm just about 9 months pregnant. But it was fun to see our friend Sarah and document this important part of our lives. We've been taking weekly shots of me standing sideways since I got pregnant, but I really wanted to capture what a great dad Ryan already is and how loving and great he's been through this whole pregnancy. We took them this morning and she already had a few up on Facebook for us a few hours later! Thank you, Sarah Michelle!

We love this baby. He was wiggling and making us giggle throughout the entire photo shoot. Even though I was originally very against getting photos done, I'm glad we did because it's good to have some nice family photos at this stage of our baby's life. :-)

Mother

"A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie."

"As in all things, the Savior set the perfect example in the love He showed for His earthly mother. In the final, most pivotal moment of His mortal life—after the anguish of Gethsemane, the mock trial, the crown of thorns, the heavy cross to which He was brutally nailed—Jesus looked down from the cross and saw His mother, Mary, who had come to be with her Son. His final act of love before He died was to ensure that His mother would be cared for, saying to His disciple, “Behold thy mother!” And from that point on the disciple took her unto his home. As the scriptures say, then Jesus knew that “all things were now accomplished,” and He bowed His head and died." -Bradley D. Foster

"When the real history of mankind is fully disclosed, will it feature the echoes of gunfire or the shaping sound of lullabies? The great armistices made by military men or the peacemaking of women in homes and in neighborhoods? Will what happened in cradles and kitchens prove to be more controlling than what happened in congresses? When the surf of the centuries has made the great pyramids so much sand, the everlasting family will still be standing, because it is a celestial institution, formed outside telestial time. The women of God know this." - Neal A. Maxwell

"When we understand the magnitude of motherhood, it becomes clear why prophets have been so protective of woman's most sacred role. While we tend to equate motherhood solely with maternity, in the Lord's language, the word mother has layers of meaning. Of all the words they could have chosen to define her role and her essence, both God the Father and Adam called Eve "the mother of all living" - and they did so before she ever bore a child...Motherhood is more than bearing children, though it is certainly that. It is the essence of who we are as women. It defines our very identity, our divine stature and nature..." - Sheri Dew, "Are We Not All Mothers?" (I love this quote because Sheri Dew does not have children.)

I'm thankful to my mother for showing me what it means to truly sacrifice everything for your children. I'm thankful she taught me to be intolerant of intolerance. I'm thankful that she has always expected me, since I was very little, to be the person who stands up for others and never to be unkind. I'm thankful that even though she is incredibly busy and tired, she picks up the phone when I call 6 times a day. I'm thankful she taught me by example to be honest. I'm thankful for her thoughtful care packages. I'm thankful that because of her I always know I have support and I am never alone. I hope everyone has a mother like mine and I hope I can be at least half the mother she is.

I love this man

I have more fun with this guy than anyone else. Just a Costco run (pictured here) or cooking dinner side by side, or a quick walk around the neighborhood is too much fun. I love being married to my best friend. I honestly can't imagine that better husbands exist. I know I don't have the monopoly on awesome husbands and the world would be a terrible place if I got the only good one, but he is pretty dang amazing. I think I make a list of reasons I love him like once a week, and find all different reasons each time than the last.

I love him because I NEVER wonder or worry whether he's telling the truth or hiding something. I love him because he reads to me at night to help me fall asleep. I love him because he senses when I wake up in the middle of the night and then he can't sleep until I fall back asleep. He'll get out a book and a book light and read to me until I'm out again. I love him because he never makes comments about me getting back into shape after the baby is born, and he makes me feel like being pregnant is the most beautiful thing in the world. I love him because he'll make me breakfast, pack my lunch, and take me to work just so I can have a better day - not to mention he goes ahead of me to warm up the car, and always gets my door. I love him because he's skeptical without being cynical. I love him because he's more concerned with doing right than with being right. I love him because he always listens to me, even when I talk too much, over share, and worry. I love him because sometimes I'll be sitting in church and hearing about traits we should develop, and usually I can't help but think of people I know who already have those traits, and more often than not, it's Ryan who pops into my head. I love him because he has amazing self-control. I love him because he loves the gospel. I love him because he informs the baby boy in my belly that if he disrespects women, he will be grounded. I love him because he is sensitive to others and thinks about how his words will affect them. I love him because he is sweet and kind but without being a sissy - he's firm when he needs to be and doesn't let people walk all over him. I love him because no man looks better in a suit.

In summation: I love and adore Ryan Copeland. I can't imagine marriage to anyone else.

It's a BOY!

It's a BOY!

I love that I have a son. I love when I feel him kick. Sometimes I lay there with my hand on my belly and feel him move and think to myself how special this time is, that I'll never have him this close again.

We are very excited. I love the idea of having a little Ryan. If he's anything like his dad, then I will consider myself the luckiest mother in the whole world.

And just look at those legs! I want to pinch them.

We love him and we are very excited.

Of Thee I Sing

I may or may not have gotten totally choked up just now while trying to read this book to my belly. What an inspiring children's book!

I was like, "My baby is so lucky is gets to be an American!"

I never say the popular phrase, "Proud to be an American" because I really don't get how you can be proud of something you didn't earn. If you traveled oceans to get here and worked your butt off to be made a citizen, be as proud as you want. But I didn't help found this country. I didn't choose to live here. I was born here. I didn't earn anything. I just got lucky.

So I will tell you all day how blessed I feel to be an American, how I love to be an American, but not that I'm proud to be an American. Just doesn't sit right with me. Plus the whole concept of pride makes me uncomfortable on numerous levels, but that's not for this post.

So much is imperfect, but that's with any nation. I'm so thankful my baby will have freedom of speech. I'm so thankful he or she will walk down the street and be relatively safe from a war attack, unlike many children in Israel or Palestine. I'm so thankful a Black president won't be anything to blink at for my baby, nothing to be as excited as I am about it. It will just be a given, like when I was little and it was like, "Why not have women vote?" Why not have a Black president? I'm so thankful for my baby's sake that it already happened. I'm just feeling thankful. Darn book got me all choked up.

Valentine

In high school and college, my Valentine's Days were always disastrous. Bad bad things always happened. Even if something good happened, it would cause catastrophe. Thus, while I've never hated Valentine's Day, I never really loved it, either. Why would I?

Ever since Ryan has been my Valentine, though, Valentine's Day has been awesome. The last two years we've stretched it out over two or three days and really gotten into Valentine's Day. Now I just love this holiday. :-) Guess it took finding my true eternal Valentine to turn "Valentine's Day" from being a holiday accompanied by a host of yucky memories to some of my favorite memories.

And today has been no exception! I woke up early with plans to make Ryan a red and pink breakfast, only to find he'd woken up early for the same reason and he beat me to it. :-) I got to start off my day with pink waffles. How's that for festive?

Then I heart attacked his office. Some hearts had love messages, some had special coupons, and some were just plain hearts. He was surprised! Yay.

Tonight is our date, and I can't wait! Our third Valentine's officially together, and the last before we become parents! It's going to be awesome.

What are some of your favorite Valentine's Day memories?