Happy Easter!

For dinner on Easter Sunday we had a bbq with a bunch of friends in our ward. It was also Jake Sim's 2nd birthday, so we also got to celebrate with him (and eat the adorable soccer ball cake that my friend Melody made!) Thanks to the McDonald's for hosting it. It's hard to be away from family during holidays like this, but we are so grateful for all the friends we have here in California who are like family to us now. We had an easter egg hunt, Dan grilled up a mean steak and we ate tons of fabulous food!

We had a great time!

Jake & Mika

The Sims

Baltzer's

Arnold's

McDonald's

Me & Dan

Schumann's

Pacheco's

Over half way!

I'm over half way, but man, August 9th still feels so far away! I'm definitely feeling and looking more and more pregnant these days! My belly is official big. It pretty much popped big-time this week (week 20). It's such a crazy thing to see your belly button getting distorted. You know, people kept telling me that during the middle trimester you just feel so great, so I couldn't wait for my first trimester to end. Finally at week 17 the nausea went away and I felt fabulous! I had 1 1/2 weeks of working out again, and then started getting these crazy stretching/ cramping pains, which were no fun. I made several calls to my OBGYN, who assured me that is was just the stretching pains of the ligaments and uterus. The pains sort of evolved into this level of discomfort and painful pressure, and pretty much anytime I walked, I felt like all my insides were going to fall out. Gross, I know, but I don't know how else to describe it. I went to my 20 week appointment, described in detail what I'd been experiencing, hoping for some quick fix, only to discover that this is apparently just how I carry. I'm really short-waisted (thanks mom!) and this little one is already very low, so I was kindly informed that the aches/pains were not only not going to go away, but were only going to get worse, and that they would likely start even earlier with every pregnancy. Not the best news to hear! The only way you get through the morning sickness is believing that it's only going to last a couple of months. I would definitely much rather feel this than what I felt during my first few months, and I remind myself that some people have the nausea the entire time, so I'm grateful that I don't. I was so looking forward to feeling good enough to work out again and couldn't wait to run on the beach, but since I can't do anything high impact, I've had to improvise. I've started going to yoga and this week tried water aerobics, which was good. So, that's what I'm going to try to keep doing. Hopefully it lasts! ;) Wearing a maternity belt has really helped, so that was a great discovery. I just can't imagine what it's going to be like as my stomach gets so much bigger. Just one day at a time....

On a much happier note, I finally felt the baby today! It was really cool. People tell me that I've probably felt her before, but just didn't recognize it. Today was the first day that it was really obvious to me. It was such a crazy feeling! It might be harder for me to feel her kicking or for Dan to feel her, since my placenta is at the front of my stomach, so she has another layer to kick through, but I'm sure it will happen soon enough. What else? Lots of people have asked if we have a name picked out. So far our two favorites are either Sienna or Siena Marie (Dan and I are arguing about how to spell it) or Eva Katherine. Sienna (how I want to spell it, since I think it looks like it's spelled wrong with 1 "n") we came up with when we were backpacking in Europe a couple of years ago. We were going through Siena, Italy and just thought it would be a beautiful name for a little girl. Eva is my mom's grandma's name and Katherine is my grandma Hanson's first name, so both are family names for me, which is neat. Stay tuned!

Favorite music website

If any of you have not checked out http://www.pandora.com/ , you need to! You can plug in favorite musicians, etc... and it creates a radio station for you. It's a great way to discover new music as well. And it's free! I love it.

Quote on Faith

This is a great quote on faith that I read the other day. I love the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. It was just what I needed to hear, so I thought some of you might need to hear it as well. It's stuff that we've heard a million times, and it's really quite simple, but for some reason I constantly need to be reminded that there is Someone in charge of my life who knows what is best for me! I just need to trust Him...completely.

"Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego knew that they could trust God--even if things didn't turn out the way they hoped. They knew that faith is more than mental assent, more than anacknowledgment that God lives. Faith is total trust in Him. Faith is believing that although we do not understand all things, He does. Faith is knowing that although our power is limited, His is not. Faith in Jesus Christ consists of complete reliance on Him."

--Dennis E. Simmons
("But If Not . . .," Ensign, May 2004)

Nelly's been out 1 year!

My sister Janelle is serving a mission in Prague. March 3 was her 1-year mark! She'll be home the end of July, just before I have the baby. I really miss her, but am so proud of her and the amazing missionary she is!

Come back, Hoaglands!

Sarah and Avery came back to visit for a long weekend. It was so fun to have them here! We really miss not having the Hoaglands here. I just wish that I didn't have to go to work, so I could've played with them more. We had a great weekend filled with shopping, pedicures, walks on the beach, pizza, Wahoo's, In-N-Out, and more. It was fun just to be able to spend some quality time with Sarah. Let's just say that my house is definitely not toddler-proofed, so it was a good learning experience for me! We miss our little Avery! She just loves Dan and couldn't seem to get enough of him. She would just climb right up on his lap when he was on the computer and just hang out with him. It was really cute. We went on a walk on the beach on Sunday night and were taking tons of pics since there was an amazing sunset. Apparently when it was my turn to take a picture with Avery, she was all pictured out, so she was refusing to take a picture. I love the picture of her adamently refusing! That girl definitely has some spunk!

Sarah and Avery came back to visit for a long weekend. It was so fun to have them here! We really miss not having the Hoaglands here. I just wish that I didn't have to go to work, so I could've played with them more. We had a great weekend filled with shopping, pedicures, walks on the beach, pizza, Wahoo's, In-N-Out, and more. It was fun just to be able to spend some quality time with Sarah. Let's just say that my house is definitely not toddler-proofed, so it was a good learning experience for me! We miss our little Avery! She just loves Dan and couldn't seem to get enough of him. She would just climb right up on his lap when he was on the computer and just hang out with him. It was really cute. We went on a walk on the beach on Sunday night and were taking tons of pics. Apparently when it was my turn to take a picture with Avery, she was all pictured out, so she was refusing to take a picture. I love the picture of her adamently refusing! That girl definitely has some spunk!

Happy Birthday, Jared Lee!

Nothin' says Happy Birthday like rockin' out to Bon Jovi or Journey kareoke-style! We went up to L.A. on Feb. 23rd to celebrate with our brother-in-law Jared. Honestly, we thought 3 hours was going to be a bit too much kareoke, but we all rocked out right up until the minute we got kicked out. There were quite a few closet kareoke fans in the house, so the time really flew. Some of the songs even had music videos, which were classic. Does anyone remember how ridiculously lame 80's music videos were!?

We love San Clemente!!

Our good friends Tracie and Sal came back to visit for a quick weekend. We stayed down in San Clemente for the weekend and had a great time. It was so fun to see their little Samson running all over the place. He's a little firecracker! I love this picture of him on this rocking horse...what a smile! Personally, I think it's pretty scary lookin', but he couldn't get enough of it!