It's a girl!!

This last Thursday, we finally got to see our little one in our first ultrasound. It was one of the most amazing experiences of our lives! We both watched in amazement at what we made. The tech first made sure that everything looked good, then told us we had a happy, energetic little girl coming in a few months. She moved and squirmed the entire ultrasound (like she is as I'm typing this).

It was so amazing to watch her squirm and stretch. Brent tried to see if the tech could tell whose hairline she would have, but she said she couldn't tell. I do like to think that she already has my nose. :) We can't wait to officially meet little Isla Jean in September!

Enjoying the journey... or trying.

Well... my blog resolve was a little short lived. Here we are in April! I can't believe how the time is flying. I'm enjoying Spring Break this week, so I thought I'd take a second to update our lives via our blog.

We are officially pregnant. I know that should be obvious by 17 weeks, but having heard the heartbeat (twice) and seeing the belly grow (along with emotional outbursts), it's becoming more official in my mind. We could not be more excited to be looking forward to the birth of our little one. But there have been certain parts of pregnancy that have really frustrated me. I know that all you moms our there know exactly what I'm talking about. I want nothing more than to bring this child into the world. But do we have to learn all these little lessons of patience and endurance along the way?? Of course we do.

More specifically, I'm talking about the weight gain. I have always struggled with my weight. That is nothing new. I spent years trying to lose weight, and only failing. After I moved to Arizona, I finally discovered the gym and became a runner (in my own right). I loved watching my body change! Finally, I was comfortable in a size 8/10 and enjoying the life of a medium size.

Then... marriage hits. You get happy, and you get fatter. I said it wouldn't happen to me, but it did. I have the most amazing husband who has always made me feel like the most beautiful person in the world! I no longer stressed about my size and just enjoyed our social eating habits. But as we got closer to starting a family, I tried to buckle down and really lose some extra pounds to make my pregnancy that much more enjoyable.

Then... the holidays hit. And boy, did they hit! And to our joy and surprise, we were pregnant after a miscarriage and 6 months of trying. We couldn't have been happier.

Then... the nausea hit. And what made it better?? Food!!

I have gained almost 20 pounds in 17 weeks. This has been the biggest trial of my pregnancy. I don't know how to handle it, and I'm afraid that I'm not enjoying this amazing time in my life as much as I should. As the nausea begins to subside and I continue my gym routine, I'm hoping that I can just sit back and enjoy the ride. I have wanted to be a mother my entire life. I can't wait for this baby to join our family! I am making a resolve right now to enjoy the journey.

Fine... I'll get my own ultrasound

After my first trip to our OB, I was so disappointed that we didn't get to see our little "sprout" for the first time. I wanted to see the reason for all my nausea and queasiness... to help me remember that I want to go through this. No dice. We have another 10 weeks to wait. After finding out that was pretty normal, I decided I can get my own picture (though it's not of my child).

We are SO excited to have this baby join our family. I'm pretty sure we're both scared to be parents, but this baby will be so loved. Thanks to all our friends and family for your love, support and advice. We don't know what we're doing, so it is all appreciated. Seven months to go!

We're taking a poll

If you haven't heard yet, Brent and I will be parents in September! But combining our genetics has brought up an interesting question: Who's hairline will the baby inherit? I (Allison) was born with a head of hair. Brent's hair came in around his second birthday. What do our friends and family think? The poll is officially open. :)

Our annual post

I considered waiting another week to make it a whole year since our last post. We are obviously not very good bloggers. Ironically, a lot has happened this last year. Both of our jobs have changed, we live in a different state and we are no longer newlyweds. Quite a lot of accomplishments. Here are a few of the changes we've made from 2009-2010:

*Brent graduated from ASU with his MBA (YEAH!!)

*Allison finished teaching her second year of fifth-grade

*Brent and Allison took a belated honeymoon to the east coast. We visited DC, Philadelphia, NYC, and Boston

*Brent applied at Edward Jones

*Brent got hired at Edward Jones!

*We packed up all our belongings and headed north to Seattle

*Brent started with Edward Jones

*Allison started subbing

*Brent and Allison had their 1 year anniversary!!!

See! I told you it was an exciting year! It's been great being close to Brent's sister, Tammy and family. We've also been able to head south to Portland to visit the Platt clan.

We love living in Washington, and look forward to our future here. Brent and I are part of an amazing ward. We were quickly put to work. Brent teaches the Sunday School class for the 17/18 year olds while I was called as the first counselor in Young Women. We are busy and happy.

We hope that you all had an amazing Christmas and are starting an amazing New Year. We will see how long it takes us to post again. :)

Another attempt

We are not good bloggers.  That's my new conclusion.  But I'm still going to make an attempt. We've been married now for over 2 months, and life is starting to settle down a little.  I will be done with this school year in May, and Brent will graduate soon after.  We're excited to have more time together, and finally take our honeymoon.  Life continues to be good.  We love being married.  We should have done this sooner!  :)  

Here are some of our bridals, that we had taken back in September.  Amy Hanson (Sara's sister-in-law) took them for us, and we love them!  We'll write again "soon".  (That could mean 2 months from now.  :)

Yes...We're Alive

So, we decided that after two month of no new posts and six weeks after getting married we'd let everyone know that we're still here.  So here's the Reader's Digest version.

We were married Saturday, November 8th in the Portland Oregon Temple.  Considering it was Oregon...and the middle of November, the weather was great.  It rained for about a minute while we took pictures.  Our parents and all of our siblings were able to spend the day with us.  Later that night we had our reception in Newberg where we saw how much people really like candy...especially the adults.

The next Saturday we had an open-house here in AZ at our old bishop's (Paul & Heather Sandstrom) house. The weekend after that we went to Montana to have our third, and final, reception.  The best part was when we went into Drummond to pick up some ice at the grocery store and saw our announcement and picture taped to the door of the store.  Who knew that we were celebrities in Drummond?  

Now that the craziness is over, we've been piecing together our apartment.  The best part was when we lugged our 7-foot couch up three flights of stairs, while our neighbor stood at the bottom and watched the whole thing.  I'm sure it was hilarious to watch.

Married life is good...what else can we say?  We hope that you all have a Merry Christmas and a great New Year!