Ali's big news

Well, if you couldn't already tell by the survey, Ali is going to be a big sister in August. We're not really sure how this happened. (Well, I guess that's not TOTALLY true- he hem...)Anyway, we went into the DR. in November to have our first appointment to start in-vitro. They told us to call them when my next cycle started and we would get started right away on the meds and shots and stuff. So, we waited. And waited and waited. I was actually starting to be really annoyed because I just wanted to get going now that we'd finally made the decision. But, as it turns out the whole sticking long needles into my own stomach wasn't necessary after all. Thank heavens! One morning while I was getting Ali's hair done for church she said," Momma, you have a bump on your tummy. Do you think there is a baby in their like Kaitlyn's mom?" I side stepped that question because we wanted to have our first Dr. appointment before we said anything to her about it- just in case. Nothing gets past that girl! Anyway, our appointment was the next day so we told her that night. The first thing she said was "I was right!". Ali is really excited for the new baby to come. I'm not sure how long after it actually comes that the excitement will continue. She is always asking if the baby is still in there and loves to give my tummy pokes and kisses for the baby. I've been pretty sick so far. Not as sick as I was with Ali (thankfully) but it still prevented me from doing Christmas cards this year. Hopefully you'll all understand.

Thirty, Flirty and... Thriving???

Or something like that. Here are some pics from my birthday. Ali was convinced that I wanted a Harry Potter birthday party. So that's what we did.

Christmast Highlights

Well, as it turns out we didn't take a whole lot of pictures this year but we have a lot of video. We went to Idaho Falls this year to join the Love family in a huge Christmas celebration. Almost everyone was there and Ali had a great time getting to know her cousins on that side. The snow was lots of fun too. We were also very lucky to get tickets to go through the Rexburg, ID temple open house. We were in the first group to go through on the first day. Since there was no backup of people yet, we were privileged to be able to also get a peek at the bride's room. Ali's favorite rooms were the sealing rooms and the Celestial room. It was absolutely beautiful! Even though it hadn't been dedicated yet, there was a very special spirit there and you could feel that you were standing in a holy place. It was so wonderful to be able to be there in the temple with Ali. I hope she will always remember how she felt there. Thanks again for the tickets, Dad. Now to the pictures: This is Ali hanging up the stockings next to our fireplace. Decorating our "Charlie Brown Tree" with Dad And Mom Adding the Angel Here is Ali and Aunt Adrie playing ukuleles together. Ali was so excited to see Aunt Adrienne and she is still talking about playing disney sorry with her. These next few pictures are from the Johnson Family Christmas party on Christmas eve. There were so many people we had to use the seminary building because no house could hold that many people. Every year they have the kids act out the nativity. This was Ali's first year participating and she was so thrilled to be Mary. She even got to hold a real baby- cousin Jacob. I'm not sure who was Joseph- if anyone was. It was mostly angels running around. It was also special because someone brought a video of Grandpa Johnson reading the story from years and years ago. That is why in most of the pictures people are looking at the TV. Hopefully you'll be able to see some of the adorable chaos that took place during this reenactment. It was really fun. Notice a much younger Aunt Adrienne being the angel on the TV. Here Ali's playing her new guitar in her new McQeen PJ's. She decorated it with the flowers all by herself. We were home from IF for about an hour or so before we headed down to Keizer to spend New Year's Eve with Grandma and Grandpa King. Ali was thrilled to see that Grandpa had gotten a Cars electric racing track. She wouldn't leave him alone until he got it out and played with her. She was all giggles and played for hours. Then we all went to the Merry-Go-Round on New Year's day. I think Ali went 8 or 9 times in a row. No one else could stomach it so we all took turns with her.