It takes a real man to cry...

You know I can't help but brag about my wonderful husband...I probably get to mushy about him, but if you were his forever girl you'd understand :) He is as honest as the day is bright, and that's what I fell in love with! I just know I dated the poopy guys to humble me so I would appreciate this amazing Man when he came along.... He is the sweetest, most dedicated and positive, good-good man. I know he loves me more than anything. He shows me through all his actions that I am the one thing his world revolves around. {How much more do I need my HF to help me be the girl he deserves ...because of his goodness....} I know he will impress me as a father :) I hope Dallen grows up to be just like his hardworking, compassionate, dilligent, fun and hot Dad! I wish you could see how excited kirk is to have a son! He reminds me every day!

ANYWAY.....

We decided a long time ago that we wanted to invite our mothers to come with us to find out the gender of our baby. SooOOoO Kirk and I drove up to SLC and took them to fetal photo. I will never forget the way it felt when I saw my eternal companion wipe tears from his eyes when we saw Dallen's heart beat. Kirk loves us so much. That moment brought us that much closer as husband/wife & mom/dad. I'm so so grateful I have a husband at my side forever, who will be the father of our children, forever. That was the best minute...

The most memorable part of this experience was Dallen's busy body! He was movin, kickin, yawning and amazing us all! We even caught him playing with his hangy dangy! It took a minute for us to find out his gender b/c there were little hands and fingers in the way! Then finally- IT'S A BOY!!! I'll never forget seeing him play with his pee-pee on our ultrasound!

I can't wait to hold you and tell you how much me and your dad wanted you. Wow, you're amazing. You amaze us every day!

We spent the rest of the day telling the world how happy we were! We went to out to lunch, then my mom took us to buy maternity clothes...FUNNEST DAY!

our pregnancy time-line!

Pushin 25 Weeks! (and l promise I'm more excited than i look!) This is our most recent picture of Dallen and mom! YAY!!!

• I have absolutley loved being pregnant with our baby boy! I love feeling him wiggle and play & I love that dad can feel him too! We were cuddling up to a movie a few nights ago and kirk could feel him move against his back! We've gone from movie's at night to watching my tummy dance instead! Awesome, huh!? And I love to be soakin in the bath just watchin him!
• At this point I've turned into a Tootsie Roll mama! There's something extra delicious about them these days! Goodness gracioius, that must explain what's below :)
• I went from 137lbs to 141lbs this month!!! That was the biggest weight gain yet! And I think I'm finally use to seeing new #'s on the scale... It's not easy for me to love the continuous climb, but I'm starting to not mind it! Afterall,....YAY!
• On the other side I'm starting to get potatoe feet :( bla. I'm just grateful that a good-nights'-rest makes all the swelling go away! Just another happy sign that we're getting closer and closer!
• I've also started to realize how different it is to move around my tummy...Getting up out of low chairs, getting out of the car, putting socks on, bending over!...all those good things have come with slight annoyance at some point but it's all part of the fun! There must be a happy growing baby in there!
• I love walking! Isn't that funny?! And a couple times a week Kirk and I go on steep hikes because it has never felt so goooood!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• I"m in denial! There's no way I'm ending my 2nd trimester. I'm not ready! :)
  

22 Weeks!

• I look pregnant!!! YAY!!!!!! Maybe it was the cold weather and sweathshirts that disguised me into a fatty, but whatever it was, it's more obvious now...just call me Big Momma! :)
• I love the random belly touching! I really do! A little old lady couldn't stop from touching my tummy in the grocery store and I loved it! I can only imagine what memories that brought back to her and the 7 babies she gave birth too! ...one day that'll be me!
• Well, now that it's january and the sun is finally coming out...(I LOVE ST GEORGE!!) I'm starting to realize how white and flabby I from the winter! Time to start walking and doin exercises! I don't wanna be a chubby mom... and if my little sister tells me ONE MORE TIME how much she loves that I'm fat, I'm going to chop her littleness in half! :)
• Life is pretty normal!

20 Weeks...pregnant??

• Gotta love that in-between stage where no-one knows you're a mama yet! you can kinda tell if you look close!
• I'm trying to love the sleepless nights! I just can't stop tossin and turnin! (sorry kirky!) Also, talk about The frequent potty trips (where I'm usually surpised at the how little I went vs how bad I had to go!) And the times I swear I'm starving to death...then can barely finish 1/2 a sandwhich :) haha I never thought I would actually get to his stage...These are the things that mean I'M PREGNANT!!!!!! :D
• IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Kirk and I wanted him so badly! SO so SO so SO bad! YAY!
• I also had the flu somewhere around here, bummer huh!? It was absolutley awful! Kirk and I were both the sickest we had been in a long time. I was so so thankful we had 2 bathrooms AND that we had no demands to take care of. What would I do if we had kids?!
• I have officially become the most forgetful girl in the world! I forget EVERYTHING! Work meetings, scheduled babysitting times, where I parked the car... my husband thought it was hilarious forgot where i put the light for his firefighter helmet... but i guess I'm glad someone can laugh about my embarressment!
• I FELT OUR BABY MOVE!!! I was about 15 weeks along, (which is very early from what I hear)! But I'll never forget that sweet little moment when I was reminded about how incredible and amazing it is to have a body. I am so so glad that HF made that part of the plan. I know that was truly an experience I could only enjoy b/c we have bodies :) It felt like a little butterfly!
• JOSH AND HEATHER ARE PREGNANT TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Our best married friends, and kirk bff from way back when ARE HAVING A BABY TOO!!!!!!!!!! Kirk and I were so stinkin happy when they gave us the news! I guess we were 12-13 weeks along or so, but YAY!!!!!!! AND! We're only 2 weeks apart!!!! Couldn't have been any closer if we planned it! CONGRATULATIONS GUYS!
  

12 Weeks!

• Well, now that the suprise has worn off somewhat- I guess it's about time we start finding our midwife! Yes, I know I'm crazy-I've only heard it 5 billion times....I want a home birth. We'll save this for another journal entry, but this was the week of our first appt with Cindy! I didnt' go to the Dr's when we got married, and I hadn't gone since I was 5 so this was quite the work up! I had no idea what I was in for...! But I loved that Cindy let kirk be so involved in my physical (that sounds wierd, i know! And I'm sure if he weren't going to paramedic school he probably wouldn't be so interested, but I loved that he wanted to be right there through the whole checkup. She let him do so much as to look at my cervix and feel for certain things around my pelvis. I know that sounds weird, but I loved that he got to do that! And that he was so interested. Just another little thing that made me love him so much more!) Luckily it went very smooth and I loved our Midwife. She's an amazing woman! Every experience with her was been awesome! I have been very blessed to have always had a healthy, strong body :) And now that i'm carrying a baby I'm that much more humbled...
• We heard Dallens heartbeat!! Looking back, it was such a dream! Cindy found his heart beat on both sides of my tummy and I loved the idea of him moving around in there so much! I didn't recognize the sounds of his heart at first, but when Cindy pointed it out I couldn't believe it! I can still see the smile on kirks face as we just took in the moment! I love our family :)
• This was about the time when we made our big announcement! It was a blast! I was reminded of how many people truly love, care and support us. We are so blessed to have such great family and friends. And finally I was able to talk my thoughts out with experienced moms :) My poor mommy, I know I ask her the same questions all the time and just ramble, thanks so much for letting me! And Mist, what would I do without you? You're my soul sista. Thanks for going through this first so I could lean on you!
• DAWNA IS PREGNANT!!!! And we're only 5 weeks apart!!!!!! We've been through everything together.... at least the big stuff! We sent missionaries off together, dated&"waited"together, got married together (she was my bridesmaid), moved away from our families together, AND NOW WE'RE PREGNANT TOGETHER! (by the way, if you're reading this Obama you put those pics up!!) Such a relief to have a girlfriend to relate with and understand!
  
  5 & 7 Weeks!

• Do you know how hard it is to keep a BIG secret?!?!?! I was desperate to talk to someone at this point! I wanted SOoOOo badly to have someone to relate too and confide in...another woman that is! :) But we couldn't let our secret out until after our siblings weddings. We didn't want to steal the attention at all :) But holy hannah, it was bottling up inside me! It's kinda funny how serious and desperate I was to find comfort in another woman. I didn't need it b/c I have an amazing and supportive, sweet man as my husband, but I was looking forward to letting it off my mind.
• GIVE ME MEAT! AND LOTS OF IT! hahaha this was sooo not me! I am NOT a meat girl at all, never have been and save this moment, probably never will be! But that was the one thing I couldn't get my mind off! Isn't it so funny!? Looking back, now that I"m over it, it kinda grosses me out! But i know my manly husband loved it! Steaks & chicken every meal!
• I was kinda sick in the first trimester!I would have 2, maybe 3 rough days during the week where I would be nauseated, but that was about it! I was way tired tho! All the time!!! But I didn't mind sleeping in, afternoon naps and long showers :) I'm glad my hubby didn't either! If only I could talk him into putting on those "sympathy pounds" with me....

WE'RE PREGNANT!

This picture was taken when we found out! SO SUPRISED!!!!

• Kirk and I hadn't exactly planned this to happen, but we were moving in that direction. So it's hard to say it wasn't planned, it just happened sooner than we thought! We agreed that the ideal time for getting pregnant was May 2011, but instead it worked out that our sweet baby would arrive then!
• My first reaction: Oh my gosh, this CAN'T be real. I was just talkin to Dawna yesterday telling her how this was not our plan. I've gotta take another test just to be sure ... Alrighty! Well, I guess the McAllister family starts NOW! My period has been pretty screwy b/c I just stopped taking birth control... It had been pretty late before, so it took 12 days for me to decide something was off. I instantly felt extremely nervous. I was all alone b/c Kirk was at a flag football game and I was starting to get mommy scares...
• Kirks first reaction: I went to Target and bought a cute little outfit that said "I Love Daddy" on it, b/c I needed something to tell him for me. When he came home and opened it he was SO EXCITED!! It made me feel so good :) But his excitement quickly turned into nervousness. When Kirk is nervous he gets himself busy! He started cleaning things he's never cleaned, putting things away he's never touched and finding things to do to occupy his hands. It was pretty funny to watch! Def a one time only thing ;) But his first reaction was exactly what I needed to turn my tears from "being scared of the unknown", to loving.every.single.moment
• After we calmed down we decided that we had a whole 9 months and there was plenty of time to let it soak in. Luckily there were 2 weddings happening and the holidays to get our minds refocused on life :) I don't mean to say we weren't happy, we were extremely happy! We just knew our lives were going to change forever! And just when you start to get comfy, Heavenly Father likes to light a fire under you to keep you progressing :) And I'm so glad He did!

ready or not!

i JUST figured out how to fix our blog! i was having troubles logging in and gave up for a while....but weeeeeEEeeeEEee're BAaAaAcCCK! :)

newly weds!

Just recently Kirk and I were at the park with our crazy doggy doo, Mo! It was a nice evening and it was starting to get dark. An older man came to hang out with us, whom we've seen like 5o times but can only remember his dogs name, Betty, and not his hahahaha. Pretty pathetic! But he was telling us about his ranch in Idaho. He said it was where his and wife and himself raised their children, they had cows-chickens-horses-sheep and Betty. They grew crops too! He was telling us all these wonder things he loved about his ranch...it painted a perfect picture in our heads. And, as you know, Kirk and I have a dream of owning land where we can have a ranch too :) We want that soooooooo bad. So! We asked him "If you could do it over again, what would you do differently?" It seemed like a good question to ask! We were hoping for good pointers on stuff like... "Well, when you buy chicks, expect 2 or 3 of them to die so always buy a few more than you want"... or other advice like... "Horses are just like dogs. They need to be played with and given attention daily for hours if you want them to be good animals..." bla bla.

But Instead...

he said, "I would listen and learn all I can from people around me. I would value my relationships so much more the second time around..."

That comment made it really obvious to my husband and I that we are at two complete different stages of our lives. I will never forget the way that change of focus happened. We talked about it on out drive home. Life is such a beautiful cycle. This man had to be in his 60's reflecting back on his life, wondering if he did all he could to make it fulfilling... and here we are, newly-weds still dreaming about the future we want to put together. It's so awesome!

Having said that, Congratulations on this New-Start to Brad and Leah! We love you!

"May the joy of our fidelity to the highest and best within us be ours as we keep our love and our marriages, our society and our souls, as pure as they were meant to be."

today's top ten!

Today I am Grateful For:

1. Today I'm grateful that my husband took me out for dinner at Olive Garden, that our bill was smaller then we thought AND that we got two chocolate mints each, instead of one :) .
2. I'm so thankful for our home. Somehow cleaning our house always makes me more grateful for it. There's nothing like the smell of fresh laundry, and the look of shiny counter-tops and floors. I love cleaning! I love it, i L.O.V.E. it. It seriously makes me more grateful for what we have.
3. I'm grateful Kirk and I have jobs that we love. We had to weed through a few before we found what we have, but that has made us love them all the more! Happy and exciting jobs totally promote a happy and stress/pressure-free marriage :)
4. I'm grateful for the way my body feels when I exercise. I'm on a roll everyone! I'm a bridesmaid @ Brad & Leahs wedding next week (YAY!!!!) and I"m proud to say my crash-work outs have been successful once again! I have gone running every night, walking every morning and biked 3 times since last Monday! 8 days in a row baby...going strong!
5. I'm thankful for girlfriends! I've been able to catch up with a few and look forward to seeing a few more SOON! I love my Chelsey's, Tali's, Ally's, McKenna's, Barbie's and my Mommy Fortuna's!
6. Today I'm thankful for blessings that come from reading the BOM. Somehow I lost track of time this morning while I was eating my cereal... before I knew it was 8am!! Ah! I'm usually out the door 5 minutes before 8!! By the time I got my last-minute things together I didn't leave until 8:07. Somehow I was able to leave my house, stop by the office to get chalk, get stalled by an old lady with lots of memories to share, fill up at the gas station and get clear across town by 8:29. One minute before I would be late. I couldnt believe I had made such good time! I didn't speed AND I hit red lights lol! I feel like It all happened because the Lord wanted to strengthen my testimony on reading the scriptures. It did, and it boosted my confidence in Him a level stronger. An awesome feeling!
7. I"m grateful that Mo and I got to play in the river! We ran a bike trail near our house that follows a river! SooO when we were sweaty and stinkcy we decided to tromp through the bushes and sticks to the water. She absolutley LOVED it! She was going CRAZY! It was so funny! She loves the sand and water! I took off my shoes and socks so I could chase her..... she got a kick out of it! She was flippin up sand, splashing everywhere, then rolling around in the sand agian...way fun! However, I thought I was going to kill her when she grabbed my shoes and took them swimming hahaha but it was pretty fun to see her so hyper!
8. I'm grateful that I was able to wake up at 5 am this morning and not be tired, but totally energetic! It's been a while since I had to get up that early for work!! It reminded me how much I love the cool, still, fresh St George mornings.
9. I'm so grateful for Barbie today. She has such great adive and is such an awesome roll model. She's so sweet, honest and good-hearted. I admire her! I'm sooo grateful I got paired up to team teach with her! I learn so much everyday.
10. I'm grateful for treats! Today while I was driving I was thinking about all the yummy foods I love (in a "If I were stuck on an Island and could only have 3 foods, what would they be?" kind of way). I love red vines/twizzlers, tootsie rolls, fresh fruit & veggies, guacamole, pretzles, diet mountain dew.... and sweet potatoe french fries! awh yes. yum! And an occasional hand-full of cheerioes! OH! and chocolate-covered cinnamon bears!
11. I'm also grateful that Kirk and I have enough to give :)