Mormon Motherland

Yes, we returned to pay homage to our heritage and spent the weekend in Utah. It was packed with friends, family, nostalgia, spiritual goodness and Thai Ruby. Mmmmm-MMMM!!!!

We drove in to Provo and met some of our favorite couples for dinner at one of our most favoritest restaurants ever, Thai Ruby. Miss you Florences, Besses and Vogts!!! It was so nice to be surrounded by these people that we spend the last few years with and almost go back in time to our Provo days...

 The next day we got our conference on with Steve's family, then Steve's sweet mom, sisters, aunt, cousins and grandma had a little baby shower for little SJ! Michelle made some darling cake pops that tasted even better.

 That night while the boys got their man-conference on, I met up with my favoritest girlfriends ever! Linds, Ash and Kris, seriously so good to be with you again. Makes me feel at home (awwwww!!!!!)

We ate at the Dodo :)

 And they surprised me with a little baby SJ shower too!!! We played a game or two :),

made cupcakes (this pic was NOT staged, I repeat, NOT staged haha)

 the cute little table of all things boy and baby...

Love you girls

 The next morning, Steve and I braved the 28 degree blizzard and 9 bajillion feet of snow outside 

(um seriously? It was 70 degrees 16 hours prior there)

to go to the Sunday morning session of conference. I LOOOOOVE going to conference, as it was our reason for heading out there. I wanted one last session in before this little one comes and our life is doomed to babyness (that's what happens, right???)

For those of you at home watching that were wondering why the congregation laughed when Pres Eyering  got up toward the end and said, "We are SO grateful...", let me fill you in...

The previous speaker finishes speaking and the choir begins to stand up to sing the next song. As the organ begins to play, Pres Eyering walks to the podium and says, "We are grateful" but then gets cut off by the choir! He totally went up at the wrong time! So after the choir had finished, he got up and continued...."We are SO grateful....."

You KNOW Pres Monson didn't stop him on purpose :)

The spirit was strong, the gospel is true, Christ is living today, and The First Presidency involuntarily command the spirit when they walk in a room. I love it.

 Met up with Kyle and Mekelle afterward for a quick chat and goodbye...

Our favorite temple in the background!

 The rest of the day we hung out with Steve's family, ate, played games....so good seeing them.

The next morning we pack up to leave, head out to our car and THE LOCKING MECHANISM HAD FROZEN. As in...we couldn't unlock our car. As in...we had to pop our trunk, get our backseat down, and then Steve climb through to get to the inside to unlock it. WHEW our car was reminding us that we will never live in Utah.

On our way out, we stopped by the BYU bookstore get some sheet music for me and 

THIS!!!!!

They didn't have any Jimmer stuff :(

So March was Mustache March for the guys at Steve's school. I like to call it Nasty Stache March.

All the guys grow out their facial hair and then at the end try to come up with the creepiest stache ever.

Steve and Mike (please...click on the pic to enlarge it...he had some nice chops on the side, a little stache, some goat action and a hot little flavor saver)

The guys competing...Andrew's (left) nice handlebars, Mike's (the cop) whole costume getup won, Steve's trashy Nascar goodness, and Brandon's creeper (shaven head!!!) persona was um, creepy.

Shake'n'bake.

 And me? I'm 25 weeks along, my little homeboy is kicking up a storm, and I'm LOVING this baby shopping thing. I'm more excited to shop for him than me...AND WE ALL KNOW HOW MUCH I LOVE ME SOME SHOPPING OK? OK!

Now I just need a little baby to put in all the loot!

I'm feeling pretty good, my tailbone hurts and feels bruised all the time (um weird?), my stomach cramps/tightens up if I walk too fast, I crave all things evil (brownies, burgers, pizza, chips) and eat a TON of fruit, I sleep like a prego woman with pillows everywhere, I grunt when I get in/out of the car (OK sometimes), last week my uterus was apparently the size of a soccer ball and it definitely looks like it! Little SJ is about the size of an eggplant (who's actually seen an eggplant in real life? Not me.)

Life is good. We are way too blessed!