All about ME

I gave a little update on Chad, and now here's what is going on with me!

• I've been busy lately - you know growing a baby and everything. haha Seriously though somedays it takes a lot out of a girl! This pregnancy I seize every opportunity I have to take a nap. I'm feeling really good which is a huge blessing. When I went to the doctor at 19 weeks, my uterus was already measuring at 26 weeks. Now wonder I feel big. Here I am at 20 weeks - HALF WAY THERE!!!

• I'm really missing all my TV shows at night. Seriously people what am I supposed to after Vance goes to bed at night?! I don't feel like being on the computer or doing a project or reading a book. What else is there after 8 pm? I will be glad when all my favorite shows are back.


• Work is steady as always. I have changed my days and hours a little and it has made life seem a little less crazy. I work a longer day (long for me is like 6 or 7 hours) on Monday and Wednesday. Then I work either Thursday or Friday depending on the week. It's been so nice to have 2 days off a week. I've been able to get a little more done around the house (let's keep it real) and have had fun setting up playdates with friends!


• I have been eating an INSANE amount of cereal. I always love cereal, but when I'm pregnant it's basically it's own food group. I like it because it doesn't have a strong taste and it doesn't feel heavy in my stomach. Luckily it isn't too many calories or else I would be packing on the weight. Most days I only eat one real meal, besides that I just snack a lot.


• My calling keeps me pretty busy. I am the Infant Welfare Specialist. We have a big ward and basically I'm in charge of all the pregnant people. I think right now there are like 13 or something like that. I try to keep up to date on how their pregnancy is going and coordinate meals when they have their baby. After a couple weeks I go visit and bring them a blanket, diaper, binkie, and a folder of info (Ensign articles on motherhood and depression, suggested parenting books, and online resources for when you have questions). This makes me so excited for my baby to hurry and get here!


• My motivation comes and goes these days. Somedays I feel fairly productive, but most days I don't think I get much done besides the basics. I blame it on the pregnancy ;)


• I bought a new body pillow and memory foam topper. They are most definitely the best purchases I've made. I am sleeping like a queen lately. I don't know why it took me so long to buy these items. Take it from me if you don't own these two things, you NEED them!


• Lately I've found a lot of relaxation in running errands or shopping by myself. I swear I go to Walmart to pick up a gallon of milk and it takes at least an hour. Most the time I don't even buy a lot. I just wander and wander. I know I've said this before but retail therapy is VERY REAL in my life.

Writing this post made me realize I don't always focus enough on me. It was seriously hard to think of this many things to write!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day was pretty mellow at our house but Vance and I did put together a little basket of goodies for Chad. I think it's pretty damn cute!

I know, I know...you want to be married to me. j/k The cute part is Chad actually felt guilty for not doing anything for me. I kept telling him that it was completely okay and that it's not really a holiday for gift giving - I just did it for fun. I love that he cares about me enough to be worried about it though ;)

Hope you all had a Happy St. Patrick's Day too!

Outside Time

Have I mentioned how incredibly ready I am for spring and summer to be here? I think Vance and I are getting on each other's nerves a little after winter. Needless to say I have LOVED the nice weather we have been having. I basically kick Vance outside...it's good for him.
He loves playdoh but I HATE the mess. I decided a good compromise is playing with it outside. He rolls it all out and makes me all kinds of "cookies."

Our other favorite outside toy is a good ol' bucket of water and a hand pump that's supposed to be used to blow up balloons. We use it to water the trees, rocks, windows, concrete, etc.

The day I took these pictures Vance played outside for well over an hour all by himself!!! We've been working on getting him to play by himself (he's not been so great at it lately) so this was a major success. This is a total side note but if you have any great ideas on getting a 3-yr-old to play by himself I would love to hear them. We've been trying quite a bit and it's getting better but I'm still up for suggestions.

What did I do with my uninterrupted time to myself? I made dinner while listening to my favorite music nice and loud without Vance complaining. It was GLORIOUS! I hope we have lots more of those days ahead!

Happy 25th Chad

Chad celebrated his 25th birthday on March 12th. I'm a little late but that's okay right?! I already did a big post on him so I'll keep this nice and short.

We celebrated by going to dinner at BJ's with some of our friends. It was so nice to get out of the house. We have some of the best friends and always have a blast with them. ***Don't drink the water at this table because there are LOTS of pregnant ladies. It's great to have so many friends doing the same thing as us.

We also celebrated Aaron's birthday which is on March 5th. The birthday boys kind of matched in their flannel shirts. Aren't they cute?!

Not the best picture of me but this is supposed to be about Chad.

On his actual birthday I made biscuits and gravy for him in the morning and we just hung out. If you know me at all you know this was truly an act of LOVE! I'm not a morning person ;)

We also went to Chad's annual birthday dinner at Viva Mercado's with Leslie and Joe. My parents came with us too. It was delicious as always!

I hope you had a great birthday honey!

Miniature Golfing

We bought a coupon thing for miniature golf like 4 months ago and finally decided to use it. It was a gorgeous day and we had a blast!
Vance wasn't too great but once he started setting the ball up (see the picture below) he did much better - shocker!

The Mathewson's and my parents went with us. The boys had fun just running around acting crazy. I definitely think we'll have to do this again.

Dad showing Vance how it's done! I think I needed that same lesson.

Look how happy Vance was! Right when I took this picture he picked up his ball, ran to the hole, and put his ball in. That's one way of doing it.

Here's where most of my balls ended up - in the dirt! I really suck and I mean SUCK at miniature golf. I had fun but I shouldn't quit my day job!

What about Chad?

Sometimes I feel like my blog is always about Vance and being a parent. I think it's important to think about myself as Allison the woman - not wife, mother, sister, etc. I also think it's important to talk about Chad outside of being a dad and husband. Don't get me wrong those things are great, but everyone needs their own identity too. I'll get off my soap box now...


This post is about Chad and what he's up to these days besides being an awesome dad and husband. I'm going to post one about me as soon as I get around to it! You might not be interested in this stuff but to borrow an idea from my friend Chelsea: It's my blog - if you don't like it than don't read it! It's really all for me anyway ;)


- Chad just got a promotion at work and I'm so excited!!! He will now be a truck driver for Wirtz Beverage. It's nothing glamorous but he got a serious raise that our budget is sure to appreciate. He worked hard and definitely put in his time. Way to go honey!


- He has found a new hobby - shooting. He is always talking about guns and which one he wants to buy next. Sometimes he goes shooting by himself, sometimes with friends and other times he takes Vance. I'm glad that he's found something to do on a regular basis that he enjoys. I actually like shooting every once in awhile too.


- He is still working hard at school. He should've been able to graduate this semester but his class offerings didn't work out. That means in the fall he will be taking his last undergrad class and will start his graduate level classes. YEAH!!!


- Chad is constantly cracking me up with his randomness. One Saturday him and Vance were outside for forever. Of course I took advantage of the time to myself and never ventured out to see what they were up to in fear of the alone time ending. When they came in I asked Chad what he was doing - "Making a bow!" Of course why didn't I think that my husband would take up bow and arrow making on a free Saturday?!


- His latest project has been getting the tent trailer ready to use. He has been majorly dying to go camping. We are going this weekend so hopefully that will help a little. If you ever want to go on a camping trip give us a call!


- Chad is just plain FUNNY! He seriously makes me laugh all the time. For some reason he is the funniest when we go to bed. Most the time he hits the pillow and crashes but every once in awhile he decided to become Mr. Funny. He will have me laughing until I cry. It's definitely one of the things I love most about him.


- He is a counselor in the Sunday School presidency. It's a good calling for him because he has weekly responsiblities but it isn't too time consuming. He has met a few new people in the ward too!


- Chad is a PLANNER. Not the normal Type A personality that you are thinking of however. He is always making ridiculous (according to me) or practical (according to him) plans. A few examples are how we are going to live on a ranch. He's also tried to convince me to buy a trailer and live in a trailer park. Think of the cost savings is his argument. He is DEAD serious about these plans and thinks I am a fun-killer.


- He is the cleaner lately. I'm so lucky to have a husband who spoils me rotten. I do the majority of the picking up (including after him most the time) and he does the majority of the cleaning. I try to never take it for granted and I truly appreciate it, especially when I'm pregnant!

- Chad can fall asleep anywhere after about 7:00. To be fair he wakes up really early for work and then stays up late for school. It's not the easiest of schedules. Chad has fallen asleep unlocking the front door, in the middle of eating dinner, going to the bathroom, and my absolute FAVORITE - he was laying on the ground to pick a movie to watch before bed and fell asleep face down on the wood floor. He literally looked like a drunk passed out. He said his nose hurt the next morning!

That's basically a snapshot of Chad and what he's up to these days!

Vance at 3

I took Vance out to take his 3-yr-old photos. He would never sit still at the studio so the only way to get a good picture is to let him do his thing and take about 500 shots. This is really the first time I've used my new camera and I love it. There is still SO much to learn about my camera and the editing software but you have to start somewhere right?!

Enough talking - here's the pictures (PICTURE OVERLOAD)

This one epitomizes Vance to me. His little face is normally lit up like this all day long! He is a little bit of a cheeseball and I love it...most the time.

Little poser -

You have to love the shoes. They're classic!

So GQ!

If only he could sit like this at church!

Showing off his hops. After about 10 tries we finally got one where he is in the air!

Messed around with the editing a little more on this one. Not sure about it, but I think I like it. I just can't decide if I want to do this with more of the pictures.

I really want to take family pictures here. I love this little shack I found!

Vance was obsessed with the rocks every where we went. He was very possessive of them and we ended up with about 15 in the car by the time we were done. I think in this shot he is thinking, "Just try and mess with me and see how fast one of these rocks finds your face!"

Overall I'm happy with the results. I feel comfortable behind the camera but the editing takes me forever. I can never decide where I think the line of editing too much or not enough lies. I also agonize about how I want to crop the pictures to get the best result. Hopefully I'll get better and faster with more practice!

Vance - I think you are more adorable and handsome than I can even describe in words. Thanks for being such a good model!

PS - Where do you print your pictures?

Lovin' the Weather

We are definitely people who love the outdoors. I have been beyond ready for it to warm up a little and it finally has!!! We've been going on bike rides, playing with sidewalk chalk, going to the park, and playing in the sprinklers in the backyard!

It's going to be a fun summer!!!

PS - Vance decided to water the lawn a little himself. haha!

Recycled Precussion

My sister got free tickets for all the family to go see Recycled Percussion. It's kind of like Stomp. I guess the group was a finalist on America's Got Talent. It was so much fun!

Here is all of the kids with the members of the show. The girls were twitterpated with the guy in the blue tie. Briton claims that she has met her future husband. We told her to keep dreaming!
The older boys wanted to sit up close. We were going to let them sit by themselves but someone complained. I honestly don't know why, they were being great! So Chad took one for the team and sat with the little boys.

Since Leslie and Joe couldn't make it, we brought Grandma Sutton with us. The kids were excited that Grandma Great got to come. I am not sure if it was her speed - it is pretty loud - but she got out of the house and sometimes that is all that matters right?

The girls were in heaven the whole time!

Thanks for taking us to such a fun show Amy and David! (and thanks for the pictures and post!)