Couple of months worth of summary...

I know this is long, but the last couple of months held so many good things that I don't want to forget. I might come back and post pics later, but I figure now is the time to post the summary before I'm completely distracted by baby.

March began with the birth of little Darcy. She is absolutely beautiful and perfect. It sounded like Allison did amazing and we were so excited to visit them in the hospital.

Mid-March, we had a party for Katrina and Bethanie to celebrate their 22nd anniversary of birth and were thrilled when Chrissy joined in on the celebration too. A Bethanie and Katrina celebration definitely required double dessert of banana cream pie in addition to a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and green sprinkles.

That weekend Tyler and I were thrilled to have Vanessa, Michael, and little Emma stay the night with us. I grew up with Nessa and seeing her and her little family is always a huge pick-me-up. We were so so happy they come down from Boise for a visit!

For my birthday, Tyler told me he was planning on taking me out to dinner and asked me to be ready to leave when he got home. When he did get home, we talked for a bit and then he was all the sudden really anxious to leave. Of course I had to go to the bathroom before we left. He seemed a little flustered by this, but hey, when you gotta go you gotta go. I came out of the bathroom and Tyler was practically standing outside the door anxious to "leave." I suspiciously looked around the family room, but all appeared normal. But as we walked past the doorway to the kitchen, I was bombarded by flying candies and shouts of HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Spencer, Allison, and Jill had snuck in and were prepared to share a delightful lasagna birthday dinner that they had made beforehand. Taylor, Martha, and Nelli came over and shared in the Miller tradition of yummy yummy ice-cream birthday cake. Best birthday ever!

We also had a birthday/anniversary getaway the next week and headed up to Salt Lake to stay at the Anniversary Inn. It was so relaxing and so nice to have a tub big enough for me to fit in! We especially enjoyed looking at all the different rooms as they were being cleaned before we checked out.

The first weekend in April was general Conference, and we thoroughly enjoyed the nice weather on Saturday and hosted a BBQ between sessions with Taylor, Martha, Dallas, and Jessica. The 70 degree weather was divine and we even managed to weed the flowerbeds, mow the lawn, and put in new bark. The next morning, the first thing Tyler said when he woke up was, "Let's go look at our yard!" Imagine the surprise when we pulled back the curtains only to see our beautiful yard covered in 3-4 inches of snow!

We still made it up with Taylor and Martha to West Jordan that day to watch conference with Grandma Southwick, Mama Jana, and some friends from Washington. I always love it when Jana comes down. Even when she makes quick trips :)

The next week, my family came down from Washington and spent Wednesday-Sunday in Utah. It was an awesome week with trips to fabric stores, Ikea, yummy food, and incredible home improvement projects that I will post about later... Their visit ended with little Darcy's blessing and there couldn't have been a better ending to an awesome week.

While my family was here, Martha and Jill managed to pull a baby shower together and it was so perfect and so wonderful. I was feeling a little overwhelmed by preparing for baby, but I can honestly say that I'm not scared anymore. It was so fun to have a little pre-birth celebration and to see so many good good friends and amazing family. Thayne is going to be one spoiled and well-dressed little boy after that shower!

With fabric purchased during our girl-outings to fabric stores, I endeavored to make pillows! My friend Amanda, who blows me away with her talent, helped me get started. She had just finished reupholstering her couch, which looks amazing, when she started helping me with my project. Manda taught me how to sew pillows, and that you can often get batting cheaper by buying ugly pillows at DI and re-using the perfect batting inside.

Last week Tyler and I got to keep little Colter man for a few days while Jill and Tev took a much deserved vacation to Moab. I absolutely loved it. Colter is the bestest little buddy. We ate together, took naps together, went on lots of walks, and just played. Colter made me even more excited for Thayne to come and it was tough giving him back to his parents at the end of the week.

Then last weekend Mama Jana and Papa Scott came down for a a weekend to watch Taylor walk for graduation. I particularly enjoyed lots of yummy food in celebration of a job well done. Good job Taylor!

Well, I think that brings us mostly current. There will hopefully be a few more posts coming before Thayne gets here, but this is good for now.

A little Something

A few quick and incidental stories. Just in case anyone wanted confirmation of how good of a man Tyler is. Perhaps a little mushy, but hopefully portraying how appreciated he is.

Walmart

I've been trying to get everything ready for baby the past couple of weeks by cleaning out his room, washing clothes, and putting together lists of items still needed. Last week I finally made it to Walmart, a trip that had been delayed and put off for far too long to get baby necessities and other goods. I started out by dropping my car off for an oil change and then proceeded to wander throughout Walmart while on the phone with my mom and sister to make sure I had all the basics covered for baby and postnatal recovery. I had quite the collection of goods by the time I got to the register. The lady scanned my items and when I opened my purse to pay, I realized I did not have my wallet containing all my plastic cards and money. Brief panic subsided as I spotted my rarely-used checkbook in the side pocket. I wrote a check, and mentioned something about not writing a check in forever. I handed it over with all the baby goods bagged and in my cart. The lady looked at me and asked for my ID. Panic returned. No wallet, no ID, just a checkbook. I explained this to her, but unfortunately no ID means no payment via check. I couldn't help it, I started choking up and tears were welling. She mentioned something about how she wasn't going to ask for ID until I said something about not having written a check in forever. She (and the manager that happened to walk by at that moment) tried to say something about holding everything for me if I could make it back that day, but I opted for a quick apology instead and walked away from the cashier before the tears could fall. All my baby goods that I'd spent over an hour gathering, were sitting bagged in my cart and could not make the trip home with me. With no car to escape to, I felt like an idiot as I sped walked past the closed restroom and down to the isolated and secluded Gardening section. No baby goods, and no means of getting home if I couldn't pay for the oil change my car had just received. I stood there for a minute telling myself, "It's ok Ali, you're a big girl, it will be ok," but the tears still cascaded. Not even the grass seed was enough of a distraction. I called Tyler.

Tyler. The wonderful wonderful man I call my husband and best friend. I think all I said was "hey"(with a couple of sobs) and I could hear him running down the stairs and heading to his car. I told him what happened and how silly and ridiculous I felt. All he wanted to know was where I was at. He stayed on the phone with me until he came to my little section of the gardening department and gave me a giant hug. My knight in shining armor. Isn't it funny what a difference a hug can make? Or how having someone on the other side of the phone saying, "it's ok" works so much better than when you try to tell yourself the same thing? He put his arm around me and we retraced my previous course to regather all of my 'almost' purchases, paid for them, and retrieved my oiled car. He's the biggest hero of my life. That's all :)

Mornings

Lately I've kind of been a complainer in the mornings. I have a really tough time when I wake up feeling worse than when I went to bed. My hips really hurt by the time morning comes, and some nights are so filled with trying to find any comfortable sleeping position, that I swear I never actually fall asleep. So the other morning, I woke up with Tyler's arms around me and he asked if I liked the massage he had given me. I felt so bad when I had no idea what he was talking about. He continued to tell me how he knew that my hips and legs usually hurt in the mornings and so he had been massaging them for me as I woke up. Lo and behold, my hips and legs felt great all morning. -Love- Every morning since, he takes just a couple of minutes to rub my back or play with my hair to help me sleep before he heads out the door to go to work.

Cars

Getting in and out of the car can be challenging. Especially if there is an incline while getting out, and gravity complicates the process further. The other day I mentioned how it is so much easier to get out of Tyler's car than it is to get out of mine. He now takes my car to work, allowing me to use the car more well-suited for pregnant ladies :)

Baby

It's obvious Tyler is already in love with little man. He comes up to my belly at least once a day to let baby know that his daddy loves him, that he is so excited for him to come, and gives him a kiss. The baby room was in need of definite repair when we moved in as it hosted many many holes in need of patching and definitely required a paint job. A couple of months ago, Tyler spent almost every day after work patching up the room and painting and was so proud and excited to get the room ready for baby. The room is now beautiful and clean with a nice coat of creamy colored paint. Just one of Tyler's many little labors of love.

It's kind of crazy to think how much things will change as we adjust to having a little person in our house. The thought is very exciting and a little scary at the same time. It just makes me so happy to have such an awesome, patient, and loving buddy on this adventure with me. And by buddy, I mean Tyler :)