I'm not fat... I'm just pregnant....

it's true... if you have heard any rumors or have seen me lately, we are expecting a bran new baby boy or girl in just a short amount of time! Our little one will be here in APRIL! We have actually known since I was about 2 weeks along, but now we figured it was time to share our exciting news with everyone!

Our little bean! He is super cute!

It is a rather funny story how we found our exciting present, and it happened in Vegas. After the family reunion, we had returned to Vegas and I was feeling rather sick. Not the sick that you would normally think of a pregnant lady, but I was having the worst stomach pains of my life! I honestly thought I was going to die from my appendix bursting. After many debates and figuring out which doctor I could go see and still be covered by our insurance, and discussing it until the early hours of the morning; we decided to wait until the next day to see if it went away. The next day came, I was in pain all day and it was only worse if I ate or drank. I was taking care of 4 children while this was happening, and decided I needed to see the doctor. When Jason got home, we said hello, tag teamed it, and I headed off to the doctors office.

Well, I saw the doctor, peed in a cup and waited to hear that I needed emergency surgery. It was only a few minutes later the doctor came in and announced my exciting news. I was not dying from my appendix bursting, but was simply pregnant! I was given orders to re hydrate myself and left in shock as I saw that I paid 35 dollars to simply have a pregnancy test. How did Jason find out? Well, as soon as I heard the news I e-mailed him. Ha ha, yes e-mail. He had forgotten his phone at work and the only way we could communicate was with my phone and his i-pod, so I e-mailed him.

Being pregnant has actually been great! I haven't been sick, except for now and then when it's been hours since I've eaten, and my stomach has really been stretching, which isn't the greatest. It never really seemed real either until we saw our very first ultrasound. It was incredible to see our little bean move and think about the incredible power we were blessed with to be able to create a life of our own. It has been amazing just to think that this little guy is a piece of me and a piece of Jason, and that our Heavenly Father trusts us so much with this little life.

Our next appointment to see the little cutie (he's about an inch now) is next week! Keep reading for more updates on our little bean. We are so excited to have the wonderful opportunity to be parents together in this life! I'm going to be a MOM!!!

P.S I do have knee problems, but that's not why I didn't run a marathon. It was simply because my body wasn't ready with a new little baby inside. I could have ran 10 miles, but then after that would be a risk of miscarriage, so that's that story :)

Conference Weekend

When an aggie and a cougar get into a fight, who do you think will win? I totally thought an aggie, but apparently I was wrong. This weekend started out pretty ok :) It was a Mark Ballantyne reunion with all the childens from our family. I could hardly wait to leave work, because the anticipation of my family being here was driving me crazy! It really had only been a month since our awesome trip to Washington, but it always seems like so much longer when you want to see your family as often as possible.

Anyways, as soon as I got home we packed our bags and jumped in the car to head to Provo for the Utah State vs. BYU game. It was my mom's idea to have all of us attend the game, but leaving at 5pm was not the smartest idea. It was stop and go traffic for the longest time. The movement of the car moving forward and stopping and moving forward and stopping, literally gave me motion sickness. I had to lay down covered in blankets (cuz Jason broke the window in our car sometime during the week) and tried to sleep off the nausea.

4 hours later we arrived at the stadium with all of our family. I must say not too many of us were happy. It took Kira 7 hours to drive from Rexburg (normally a 4 hour trip), mom & dad 13 hours from Washington, and Jason and I 4 hours from Roy Ut, which really isn't that far away. We were all happy to be together at the game all snuggles close with lots of blankets and jackets. We really had a good time, and it just got better when we were at my brother's house covering his living room floor. It was so nice to have all of us together in one place, which hasn't happened since.... well a long long long time.

Saturday we listened to amazing general conference talks (general conference happens every 6 months where we get to hear from the apostles and prophets of our church) and enjoyed chillin together. Just before the Priesthood session (which all the men attend) we decided to take a beautiful drive up American Fork Canyon. There we built a fire, roasted some hot dogs and smores, and just enjoyed being together. The men left the girls to walk back (which was so fun to be with my sisters and mom) and it was then we talked of wonderful memories and enjoyed being girls.

When we got back to my brother's house we thought of the brilliant idea of meeting the boys for ice cream. Dairy Queen was sounding mighty good to most of us, but once we told the boys are meeting place, found that it was overflowing with everyone from priesthood session, we decided some cartons of ice cream and being together at home sounded much more appealing.  I loved it, because by the time we finished visiting and eating our ice cream we realized it was too late for anyone to head home. We were all together for one more night! I loved it.

Sunday was a wonderful day, but also so very sad. Mom, Dad, Dyelan and Kira were able to get tickets to attend the morning session of conference and so we headed back home. It as mostly to make bread and food for a hungry family that would be stopping at our house in Roy to have lunch and head home to Washington. We listened to conference on our way home and talked about the future of our family, and a little that will someday join our family. Once everyone arrived, we all ate lunch and said our goodbyes, not knowing when our next exciting reunion would be. I hope it's soon though, because I'm already having withdrawals.

I couldn't have asked for a better weekend! It was wonderful :) I hope yours was just as enjoyable!

A Magical Weekend

Hello everyone! How was your weekend? I know I'm a little slow with telling you about mine, but see it only just ended this morning as I went off to work. It was a really good weekend, full of secrets, romantic dates with my amazing Jason, bowling with old friends, a temple dedication, and talking to the family about future weekends together :) Now... it didn't all start out this fabulous, but definitely got better as the day moved on.

Friday I spent the night alone. Sweet Jason brought dinner to my classroom and we tried to have a romantic date there. With only 15 minutes and not hungry Clarissa, it wasn't all that great. I am really starting to hate having Jason go to school on Friday nights as well. I did get to watch my all time fave movie Tangled and bask in my wonderful pile of work. When you are a teacher, your work in never done and it follows you everywhere.

Saturday turned out to be so much better! Jason still had class in the morning, but when he got home at noon we had endless possibilities :) We ended up going to lunch at one of or favorite places (Olive Garden), and heading to historic downtown Ogden. They were having some kind of Harvest moon celebration. It was like a farmers market and a farm mixed into one. I love going to farmer's markets and looking at all the neat things people make. It was pretty cool and we got tons of exercise. We were able to go to the train station as well, and walk through a train museum all about the Union Pacific.We had a pretty good date I must say, but of course it had to end sometime.

On our way home, we searched and searched for white hankies for a temple dedication. The Brigham City Temple was being dedicated and broadcast through out all of Utah, so we really wanted to participate. Not to mention it was another of Jason's firsts I got to share with him. After driving around pretty much all of Ogden we FINALLY found a place that wasn't sold out (barely). We purchase 2 of the last 5 remaining and headed home to our lovely house (which I have been a slacker of posting pictures of).

At about 9:00 we headed to Bountiful to see some old friends from a really long time ago. See I went to school at BYU I and I had this awesome SPED class. We had the best group of my life and have stayed pretty good friends ever since. We never see each other, but keep in touch and Frances called me up and invited me to go bowling. We bowled and visited until our hearts content at midnight when the place closed, and then it was a long drive home for us. I am so surprised we stayed awake for the temple dedication. We had to be there at 8:00am and it lasted a good 2 hours. It was a wonderful experience and Jason really enjoyed himself I think :)

After relaxing and actually being able to enjoy a Sunday nap at the right time LOL (we have church at 1) we were able to google chat with the fam. I love being able to see everyone and pretend we're actually all together in one place. I really wished we all lived closer, but life just takes you different directions. In a couple of week Siehara will only live 45 min away, and I'm so thankful for that! Well... thanks for listening to me blab. Until next time, have an awesome week!

P.S We have a new addition to the family!