Baby Preparation!

Our Pregnant Bellies

Alright, time to catch up on the missed blogs. This last month has brought a lot of craziness, from moving into our new house, having a baby and finishing up the semester.

Before the baby, Duke and I went to a series of birthing classes (missing the last one), which turned out to be fun and educational. The best night was learning all the different comfy positions and learning how to breathe. This night Duke decided to put on the empathy belly, which didn't last long. He definitely had empathy. There is a harness which is strapped on tight around your lungs, making it feel like there is a baby in your lung and then tight down on your bladder. Then they add weights and more items under the harness that makes it even more uncomfortable. Duke really acted pregnant and once he sat down needed to go to the bathroom. It was pretty funny and he looked pretty miserable.



We also were able to move in slowly the week that Brinley came, putting up the crib and getting the kitchen mostly moved in. On Saturday Duke was able to move in the big stuff while I was in the hospital.

33 1/2 Weeks!

Wow, time has flown! I'm getting down to the last month and a half. The rest of this month will consist of school, work, and moving! The next month will be finals and baby...hopefully it falls in that order. At the beginning of December, Duke will have his last interview with Cooper and Norman, an accounting firm, and hopefully get the internship he's wanted for next spring. Life never stops hoppin'!

General Conference

For conference we went down to Mom's and stayed with her one night and at Angie's the other. Alisha and Karissa also came down, so we were all able to have a fun family weekend. We did the normal, watched conference, ate and played games. There are always new games to add to Phelps stash, which are always getting better. We had a blast.

Kinbree and Mason helping with dishes

Duke went fishing with his dad and siblings on Saturday. Using his newly developed talents he caught the most, 5 big ones!

We always love hanging out with family. Thanks for all our wonderful host's!

This was just kind of cool...Duke noticed it on the way down andwe had to take a picture of this memorable moment-always depreciating

Corn mazes and all the fun that goes with them...

We took our nephews to the corn maze and found more fun looking at the animals than anything else. They had all of these animals that were a little different than normal and we had to take a look.

Me feeding a mini-camel

Cute dwarf baby goats

Duke with "Duke" the mule

Brock petting a dwarf horse

This was some sort of lama, I can't remember was they called it.

Having Kids over...getting prepared

Keith's kids came over, 3 weeks ago, for a fun closing the pool party, we stayed up way too late and had way too much fun. After the pool we played guitar hero, which Adeline and Lora love and set up their sleeping bags on the floor. Henry went into our room, and saw our new bed, climbed up on it and said "Ahh, SOO nice!" He had put his hands above his head and relaxed. That boy cracks me up...they are such cute kids.

Jammin'

Peaches!

Brooke had gotten a bunch of peaches she wanted to can and spent all day with Mom Debbie making jelly and sliced peaches. To finish up Bill and I helped finish and got a great picture of all of us in our aprons. We love fall and someday I will do my own major canning for my food storage.

30.5 Weeks!

I'm am really pregnant now! And feeling her kick like crazy, I think she is done being in my belly. We've decided to name her Brinley Nicole (maybe Brinlee) unless she really doesn't look like one. We are getting more and more excited every day.

Our Secret is Out!

It's a GIRL! And we can't wait...Duke has been doing all the shopping and is loving the idea. I'm 25 1/2 weeks pregnant, so I have a week and a half until I'm in the 3rd Trimester. It has now started to go so fast. I can feel her a ton more, it is so fun!

We're Back!!

Our quick update:

So we've moved back home, and boy does it feel good. We had a good trip back stopping to see family on the whole way back. After a 9 hour drive we got to Jan's and had FHE with her and Angie and Mom and the rest of the bunch. It was fun. Then up to Mom's. I had a great sleep and ready for more visiting. We saw Grandparents, Zina, and Duke's parents. It was exciting and I'm looking more pregnant which is more exciting. We stopped to see Duke's mission president on the way out of SLC. Good guy but doesn't wear a belt, a little weird. We met him at his law office downtown.

After getting home Kendra and Jeff came down for the weekend so we could celebrate what we are having! I won't tell yet because the siblings all don't know and won't for a couple weeks. I'll give you some pictures to try to guess because I'm too excited to completely keep it a secret :)

I worked Saturday, which was good but being on my feet for 8 hours was a stretch after my relaxing summer.

We start school today and are looking forward to a crazy busy semester!

Holy cow! Every time I look at this I can't get over how cool it is and crazy too!

Aren't these perfect little feet!

1st Anniversary

Cheers to our first year and to a wonderful husband!
It has been a fun filled year and things are definitely different from what we expected, but probably better. We couldn't imagine our life any other way and love having a best friend to always have around. The last couple of weeks have been the best, with the summer coming to an end we've had a lot more time to spend together.

Enjoy the memories from our special day!

Mormon Night!

Very clever idea and the best turn out the Dodgers have every year. Last night Duke and I went to the Dodgers game and had a blast! I think it's the best pro game I've ever been to. We sat in the all-you-can-eat pavilian, the back right side of the field, and had all the nachos, peanuts and popcorn we wanted plus all the other game food.

Duke lovin' his Dodger Dog!

It was a really good game and the Dodgers won in the bottom of the 9th, so very close. The rest of the game the Atlanta Braves were ahead pretty much 2 points. The ending score was 5-4. Crazy FUN! Oh, and Elder Ballard pitched the first ball of the game and our man, Andre Ethier on the right outfield, made the homerun that won the game with 2 others on base!!

20 Weeks!

We are half way there and getting more and more excited! We'll find out what we are having in a couple weeks and I'm pretty sure it will just get even better after that. Duke and I are getting more settled here in California but will be leaving in 2 weeks. The next few weeks will be tons of fun, we have to fit in all the things we don't have back home, but we will be happy to get back to normal life again.

Site Seeing Weekend

Every weekend Duke and I try to do something here in California that is a little different from what we normally can do. We were told to go see the La Brea Tar Pits, which are in the middle of LA. The cool thing about it is they are continually finding more bones that are from thousands of years ago continually searching in the different tar pits around their site. The tar pits are natural and trapped animals and preserved there bones perfectly.



While we were in that area we thought we would look for more to do that would be different and we found a place called Griffith Observatory. It is on the mountain that says "Hollywood" that looks over the city and is more exciting when you go after dark. It has discoveries about the universe and different ways that men have used stars and planets for different things. It was pretty cool.

LA a night, looked beautiful

We were able to meet up with my cousin Mandy and her husband Brad for our little outing. Between our two stops we were able to venture through an art museum next to the La Brea Tar Pits. We also stopped by Wahoo's for some fish tacos. I never had had them and never really wanted to, but thanks to Mandy she talked me into it and it was great! We had a great time and our legs were exhausted by the end of it.

These were made out of tupperware, pretty cool

This was pretty funny...they had 5 cement blocks set up as "art," so I decided to make it "real art"

Duke thought this looked like the lighting section at Home Depot, just lamp posts instead...again "art"

Happy Birthday Duke!

Today is Duke's 23! As tradition growing up we always got to pick our favorite dinner. Well, Duke loves breakfast so that's what we did. He normally gets up way before me, so I'll sleep good tonight. I made him his pancakes, hashbrowns, over-easy eggs and bacon. He loved it and we have lots of left overs for tomorrow.

Also, growing up we always got a cake that we wanted and so I asked him, thinking he'd say fudge brownie sundays or a basketball or something along those lines. Nope, he wanted a spider cake...I think he's just testing my abilities. So it is and I hope he likes it. Long skinny legs are hard to make stand up, so I hope it doesn't tumble over when he blows out his 23 candles!

More family visitors!

Lora, Adeline and Henry

While Keith and Audra and their family came for a visit I was able to spend a couple days with them. We had a lot of good food, which always comes with Audra and her family, we looked for little crabs and sea stars in the ocean when the tide was low and we went for a hike trying to find a hidden waterfall. Lots of activities in a short amount of time.

Henry and I waiting in the shade, he's quite the hiker

Keith, Audra, Henry and Thunder

Audra's dad made some wonderful tri-tip, which I had never had and couldn't get enough of. On the way to the beach we went down this beautiful mountain with the ocean in the distance and it was just amazing. I'd take that drive any day. At the beach, our little explorer, Adeline, was busy finding sea annenomies and little crabs. It is always a relaxing experience at the beach. The hike got everyone exhausted but was a fun adventure.

Taking a rest and feeling the breeze

I love this picture

Keith and Adeline

Everyone relaxing in the shade after our hik!

Almost 17 weeks!

I'm starting to feel a little more pregnant...just feel a little thicker and harder down there on my belly. I've been feeling great but ready to really feel pregnant, maybe not, and I'm sure once it's here I'll be ready to have the baby!

4th of July

Check out all the boats on the ocean, kind of reminds me of Minnesota on the 4th, just not as big! (the boats and the water)

It was a great 4th. The first one Duke and I had together. We are so grateful for our free country and all the wonderful opportunities that it offers us, and for the day off!

That morning we got together with our ward for a pancake breakfast, that was an adventure in itself! We mapquested the way to get to this park and it looked like it was right off the freeway and by the airforce base. No problem! We got out there and followed the signs, until they stopped. That is when we couldn't find the road to the grove of trees in the distance. We went up and down the roads surrounding it and couldn't quite find it. We did find a cool musical highway, though, that has the vibration sections on the road that played different pitches. We were assuming it was the airforce song, pretty cool. The last road we took led to a dirt road that looked like it was only for 4-wheelers, but heck why couldn't the honda take it? Duke went for it and we found the paved road that connected to the park! We made it and loved it!

Love the drive up Malibu Canyon

We decided to take a trip to Malibu for the day, especially for the fireworks, that Duke heard were great. It was a ton of fun. We did more site seeing than anything and walked on the beach. The day was a little cold to get in the water, I thought, so we just enjoyed and relaxed. For fireworks that night, we sat on Pepperdine's hill. After we got settled the sprinklers in front of us turned on and continued up the hill section by section. We made friends with our neighbors as we ventured across the hill finding a place where the sprinkles had already been. It was pretty hilarious when a big group of people not noticing the sprinklers and everyone moving, got soaked; lots of screaming and scurrying around. We got home safe and ended the night with In-and-Out!

Enjoying the nice breeze

Comfy Cozy, waiting for the fireworks...

then the sprinklers started

waiting...

waiting...

Ready for FIREWORKS!