Coming July 2013!!

  We got the best Christmas present ever this year (a few months ago) and found out we are finally expecting our first child!! It took some faith, a couple doctors, fertility help, lots of patience, and great love for each other and now we've got a little Thacker on the way! We are so excited and nervous about it all but so unbelievable happy.

  I had already planned on how I would tell Steven by making a red onesie with a Star Trek logo on it. Since we were first married we watch 2-4 episodes of Star Trek each week to relax after work (usually eating dinner at the same time too) so it's just become our "thing". Although since we hadbeen trying for a while, I figured I had loads of time to make the onesie. So, that day (thankfully I had work off) I ran to Michael's, bought some fabric paint and rushed home to make the onesie and hoped it would be dry by the time Steven got home.

  I put the onesie in a box and the positive test underneath. When he got home from work and we were about to sit down and eat and watch our show I said I had something for him. He opened the box, pulled out the outfit and said, "Oh, that's REALLY cute!!" Then paused, looked at me kind of curious and said, "Wait, is this an announcement?" I had just started treatments a month and a half before, and we weren't expecting anything for 6 months to a year, so he REALLY wasn't expecting me to say yes. So when I DID say yes, I have never seen his eyes get wider! Then a long paragraph of, ARE YOU SERIOUS?! REALLY?! YOU'RE PREGNANT?! REALLY?! OH MY GOSH?! REALLY?! - ensued for a good 5 minutes until he came over kissed me, rubbed my belly, kissed me again and said in utter disbelief, "WE'RE PREGNANT!!! HOLY COW!!!" over and over all night long.

  I told myself  when we found out it would take a while to get pregnant, that I wouldn't buy anything baby related until we were actually pregnant. So now I was going nuts scouring the internet, looking at all things baby, FINALLY going through the baby aisle at stores and loving every minute of it. It's definitely a new thing for me!

  We found a travel combo on sale with the stroller made by the bicycle company of Schwinn oddly enough. We couldn't help it and bought it the first month. Here's Dax testing to make sure everything is safe.

  Our little one is due July 2nd (REALLY hoping they don't come on the 4th!!!) so we only have 6 more months to prepare. It's already going by so fast!

End of 2012 updates.

I figure if I get one post a month, I'm doing okay, right?

We finally finished getting the tree decorated for Christmas! Steven put on all the lights (he's a PERFECTIONIST!!!) all 1200 of them (possibly more, I can't remember) and our house feels like it's ready for next week. I swore I would be finished with christmas presents by the 15th this year. Yeah...didn't happen. I'm shooting for the 21st instead. Last year both Steven and I were up until the early morning hours of Christmas day, wrapping, cooking, cleaning etc. Never again! We were so stressed out and it wasn't as fun as it could have been. Hopefully things turn out better this time.

I'm counting down the minutes until we get to talk to Rachel on Christmas. We might even get to skype and see her! We just hope she doesn't have a stingy mission president like Michelle's. He only let them talk for 30 minutes. Jerk! I don't care about your mission rules when it comes to talking to your missionary on CHRISTMAS!

Anyway... Updates in the family, Michelle is pregnant with their 3rd, a baby girl!! She's due in July and I have already started making cutesy things as this will be the first granddaughter of the family. We are all so excited for another grandbaby. Oh, Michelle and Lema are buying a house! It happens to be one street away from us so they'll be in our ward again! We'll get to teach Eli in nursery which will be fun. Michael is engaged to a cute girl named Dee. They are planning on a March wedding at the Logan temple and we are SO excited for them. I'm so very happy that Michael has found someone to share his life with and to love. Marriage is wonderful! Rachel is still in her first area even though they've done transfers. Kinda the slums, but she loves it. She'll hit her 6 month mark soon!

This past week I was hit with a stomach bug or flu. I've never felt such constant nausea before in my life. It was like someone was stabbing my insides with a fork, all day long. I stayed in bed for 4 days straight, watched 2 seasons of Downton abbey, dragged myself into work for an hour, then sped home to die in bed. Thankfully by this Sunday (day 6) I could keep normal food down and not feel like passing out when standing. So what did I do? I cooked a ham. It had been in the fridge for a while and needed to be done, so I did it. The smell made my head spin and stomach lurch, but I'm loving it yesterday and today as real food in my diet again. And of course Steven could eat for every meal if I offered it. Boo to Stomach flu!!

We're starting the process of a home loan and are starting to look and see what's out on the market. So scary! Steven's mom wants to get the house fixed up to sell (new carpet, paint, repairs, etc) so next year their will be lots of changes in life. Weddings, babies, houses, oh my! Plus Steven is going back to school in January for his MCSE (a huge computer certification) that may end up in a change of career. Plus lasik for both of us and a possible 2nd deviated septum surgery for Steven, 2013 will be a year of craziness! Bring it on I say!

An update by pictures

It's been months since I've blogged. Ya know why? Because I write Rachel a letter every week, and honestly, I don't want to do it all over again on here!!! But I shall try.

The parents went to Niagra Falls (here they are in their raincoats for the Maid of the Mist) and then through Canada. My mom would travel until the day she dies if she could. They love it. Oh, they drove too!

Amber Lamber (My name for her) got married. Couldn't be happier for her!

Dax thinks my cabinet of fabric was made for her. Lucky duck.

She also thinks she can somehow get inside that tree to eat the birds that live there. Yeah, not happening.

We had Halloween! We hosted the yearly Hodgson Christmas party this year and it was a blast. Most of the pictures are on facebook if you'd like to see more.

The wolf and his kitten :)

Care packages for my missionary

Us on Halloween. freezing!

This is what happens when you forget about a bunch of potatoes in the basement. They grow legs.

Still in bliss being married to this hunk ♥

My Grandmother's flowers

These irises were in my great grandmother's garden and then moved to my grandmother's garden for a while. A few years ago my grandma gave them to me. This year I finally planted them. It's nice to have something growing in our flowerbeds that reminds me of both of them.

A few pictures of our "spring" home. This week I pulled out a lot of the spring flowers that were dying and planted some fall hardy ones, so I made sure to get some pictures beforehand.

Of course the lily's!!

These pictures were in may I think

Then July

Before..

After!

Rainy Days

Someone is enjoying having a cat just as much as I am :)

Steven's idea of playing with the cat (tying random objects to her tail)

Two straight days of rain has been keeping me from working in the yard like I wanted, but have to say I love the views we keep getting after the rain.

Dax

We got a kitty and her name is Dax. Aka "Peaches", "Kitty" or "Miss Kitty" (Her old names)

Yes I'm a dork and chose a name from Star Trek. but Steven won't let me name any of our kids Dax, so the cat got it :)

Steven's Grandma passed away a while ago and the her cat went to two different homes before settling in with us last night. I LOVE having a pet again. And a cat is the best kind I think. She follows us around and sleeps at the foot of our bed already. She's the clingy type.


At night these eyes are big and black. Like Puss n' Boots on Shrek.

Playing with bugs outside

Loves shoes. girl after my own heart!

High Five for Friday

It's Friday (FINALLY!!!) and I thought I'd shoot a quick post!

5 of my favorite things from this week:

1. This lovely Q&A  journal from Barnes & Noble that I am wanting. It asks you a new question every day, and it's a five year journal! Kind of fun so you can see how your answers change through the years.

3. My loverly family!! My uncle Clayton married Neesha a week ago and I took some impromptu family portraits. I love my family so much!

The Bride & Groom!

3. These Soap Eggs from Etsy. Don't you just love eggs? I think I'm getting these for my mom for something..Christmas perhaps. She loves eggs and these seem so her.

4. So glad this is gone!!! On June 1st my appendix decided it hated me and wanted out. Worst stomach pain of my life. Today is my 3 week mark and I am allowed to go back to normal now! Still sore once in a while, but I'm feeling recovered and grateful everything went well.

5. Going home to make this goodness for our Thacker outing tomorrow at Copperton park. Gotta love some frog eyes!!

There's my five for Friday!

Cox Honeyland, Logan, Utah

One of our stops during our anniversary trip was Cox Honeyland in Logan. They are famous for their creamed honey that Steven and I both love. 

In the giftshop they have tons of cute things relating to bees and honey. They even have a hive type thing showing the bees making honey. Really cool!

Cute candles and sculptures made on beeswax

Every kind of honey you could want too.

They have a little testing station where you can try all the flavors with a small spoon. The raspberry creamed honey was our favorite! Next to that is a little fudge section where you can get a free sample too. Really tasty stuff, but just too much sugar for the both of us.

 

We left with some raspberry creamed honey and a brown sugar keeper. Ir's a terracotta disc that you soak in water and it keeps yoiu sugar soft for months. I've been wanting one forever! Time to make some homemade bread for that honey!