Just call me the bishops wife...

Yup, you read that right. Brad got a call earlier this week (when he was in Texas for a business trip) that the Stake President wanted to meet with him on Thursday night. So he went thinking that maybe they were going to ask him to give a talk at our Branch conference this Sunday or something. We both thought that since he had just got a calling to be Young Mens President and Scout leader only a few weeks ago. But nope, they asked him to be Branch President! I was still waiting for Brad to get home when I got a call from the Stake President asking if I would support him in his call. He said that he normally always had the wives present when they extended this type of calling, but that he didn't want to make me travel since I was from out of town and expecting and had two little ones. I just sat there in silence and shock for about an hour after that. All I could think of was the look on Brads face when he would walk through the door. He looked just like I thought he would ;) It was one of those looks where you don't have to say a word you just smile and shake your head in disbelief.
I can't say that I'm completely surprised that this happened though. Brad has so many wonderful qualities about him that I knew he would make a great bishop someday if he was ever aked, I just had no idea it would happen this young.
I was teasing him in the car yesterday when we finally told Kayla about it, and I said "Just think Kayla, you'll be graduating about the time your dad will be getting released." Ha! You should have seen the look on his face then, all we could do was laugh though ;)
I know he'll do so great. I love him, he's the best.

I told him he had to let me take a picture of him today, so I could compare how many more grey hairs he has at the end of his calling, then at the beginning. I know, I know, I better quit teasing him or I'm going to get it. Here's the picture of my hansome husband in his new suit (thanks to my mom, we love you!):



Oh, and by the way, since several of you have asked how old Brad is... he is 26 years old.

Week 26

Well, here we are at week 26 now of my pregnancy. Everything still is going good. I have been feeling pretty good so far, still can't complain. This has been my easiest pregnancy by far. I am starting on my two week visits at the doctor now. I always love when it gets about that time, it means our little baby won't be to far around the corner.
I also found out at my last visit that they have a new test that they can give moms that have gone in to premature labor before. The test will tell them if you will have the baby within the next two weeks (well for the most part). They said that it is very accurate if you get a negative result (like 99%), a negative means you will not go into labor. They said it's not as predictable with a positive result, this means that you could go into labor in the next two weeks but not that you will for sure. Anyway, I still think it will be helpful. Because for example, if I start contracting more, before they would have just stuck me on bed rest and put me on medication no matter what. But now if the test says negative I'll know that I'm good at least until my next two week appointment, so I won't have to be on unnecessary bed rest or medication. Sounds good to me! So I'll be getting my first premature labor test (not sure what it's called) next week.
Oh and just think, I will only be posting 3 more (at most) of these monthly pregnancy pics and then our little girl will be here!

Hot Springs mini vacation

A couple of our good friends invited us to stay at their new Condo this past weekend in Hot Springs, AR. So we decided to take another little mini vacation and see the "beautiful" part of the state that I hadn't seen yet. It really was an awesome area. It has a lot more greenery and rolling hills than the flatter area that we live. Thanks so much Deb and Mike for inviting us! These are a couple pictures of us by the condo on Lake Hamilton.




We also got to go to a Science Museum while we were there. Brad had been there when he was little and remembered it being a lot of fun, so we took the girls. We had a blast. This is a picture of Kayla with a giant Quartz crystal that was found in a mine in Arkansas.




The museum had a lot of Engineering and building activities. I think Brad liked teaching the girls about the "mechanical" side of things.





After we built some of the towers you could push a button that would simulate an earthquake to test how strong your structure was. Pushing the button and making the buildings fall was the girls favorite part!




This tower we built from the ground up and it really took a lot more work than this picture shows. What would have been a really great picture is when the big pregnant girl was standing on the stool adding the final piece in the middle. I'm lucky I didn't break my neck in the process.






Playing a little london bridge.




This is the "drinking fountain". Looks yummy, huh? Let's just hope Callie doesn't get any crazy ideas and try this again at home ;)






And last but not least, we got the girls to go up on the stage and touch the ball that would make there hair all static. Kayla wanted to go up and last minute we talked Callie in to going with her. They really thought it was funny.

Easter Pics

These pictures aren't necessarily in order but they are just some of the activities that we did on Saturday and Sunday to celebrate Easter.
Saturday afternoon we decided to dye easter eggs. It was a lot of fun and it ended up being Brad's first egg dying experience. I guess I must have always done it in the past few years when he was at work. But the girls had a great time, especially with their daddy there.













Callie got a Dora Kite in her easter basket on Sunday morning. And it just so happens that the weather was perfect right when she got it. So the girls got to go out and fly the kite for a few minutes before we got ready for church.


On Saturday us girls went to the park to have a picnic while Brad took a nap (he had an early morning turkey hunting). The weather was so nice. Later that night we went over to my in laws to have Easter Dinner. Unfortunately I forgot to bring the camera to that, so here are just some fo the pics from the picnic at the park.

Birthday shout out

It seems that as my family keeps growing and growing (on both sides) that I can never keep up with all the birthdays. But I just wanted to wish another Happy Birthday to 3 people that I love who all had birthdays this week.
Happy birthday to my brother Mark, who I love so much, who always hooks me up with the best deals! There are so many things that I love about Mark... like how easy going he is, how adventurous he can be, and just a great example. But not only that, I have loved always being closer to Mark because we were able go to college together. I don't know if I ever would have got up the courage to move to Idaho if Mark hadn't gone with me. I love you Mark.

Happy birthday to my sister in law Shayla. Her birthday is today. I have known Shayla it seems like forever. Long before she was my brothers wife. But when he told us he was going to marry her, I had no hesitations what so ever, because I knew what a great girl she was and I couldn't have asked for a better sister in law. I love how friendly and easy going she is, how genuine she is, and she's someone that you can trust with anything.

And last but not least, Happy birthday to my best friend Jennifer! Her birthday was yesterday.
I miss seeing Jennifer and her kids, and I miss watching them all grow. But I love the fact that no matter how long it has been since I've seen her, we just pick right back up where we left off. I love that Jennifer is "real". I love how she's honest and she says it like it is. That's how I am, and that's probably why we get along so great together. And I love how she always makes me laugh. There are not a lot of people in life that you just feel like you were meant to be friends, but I definitely feel that way about her.

Happy birthday everybody!

Family Wedding

We had a family wedding this past weekend. Brads younger brother Craig got married to his fiance Jillian. It was a beautiful wedding and everything turned out really great. We're excited to have Jillian joining the family. Kayla and Callie and Jillian's little sister Rachael were the flower girls. They looked so cute together. I was nervous that Callie wouldn't walk down the aisle once she saw all the people, but she wasn't scared at all, she wanted to be just like her big sister. She even went and sat by a complete stranger once she got to the front of the aisle. I had a seat that was a couple rows behind the girls and Brad was on the stand because he was the best man, so I was nervous if the girls would sit quietly during the ceremony while no one they knew was by them. But they were excellent! Here are some pics from the night.




This first one is of Jillians immediate side of the family and of Craig's side.

If I could only slow down time....

My sweet little Callie. You are so much fun and so full of life. You bring a smile to my face every day. Sometimes I wish I could just wave a magic wand and keep you at this age forever. Your sweet little voice, your cute little smile, even your chubby little feet, are things that I don't ever want to forget. I remember feeling this same way about Kayla, it was one of my favorite ages for her as well. I have been very fortunate to have had two very delightful two year olds who didn't seem to go through the terrible twos.
It really is amazing how well behaved she is for her age. I can actually let her down in Walmart or other stores and she will stay right by my cart and not walk away if I ask her to stay by me. If she sees something that catches her eye and she picks it up, I will say "No, were not getting that right now." And she will say "Oh.... Okay!" And she will put it right back, and just go trotting along. I can even take her into the toy aisle and let her play with whatever toy she chooses and then (as long as I tell her were not getting anything before hand), she will just put the toy back when I ask her to and not even cry for it.
At nap time she will lay down on her own, and at bedtime she will race into her bed to show us "what a big girl she is".
She's always checking in on me asking me "Whatcha doin mom?", or "What we gonna to today?" (I get these questions over 15 times a day).
She has started to incorporate her own thoughts into her prayers. Last night she said "Bless baby Hailey", and tonight she said "Bless Chuck E Cheese". Hey, chuck e cheese might not need a blessing, but you have to admit it's still pretty cute.
Well, I just wanted to write down a few of these things, mostly for my own sake, because I know how soon, as mothers, we forget the things that we were sure we never would.

22 week bump

Okay, here is my baby bump progress for week 22. For all of you who said I had "no bump" in the past posts, you can't deny it now ;) And in case your wondering why all my baby bump pictures are taken in the same position and place, it's because I am going to be making a cool scrapbook page when I'm all finished of all 9 months, so I want all the pics to look close to the same, except for my growing bump. I think it will be fun to see them all together when I'm finished. I only have one pregnancy pic from when I was pregnant with Kayla and I only have 1 when I was pregnant with Callie with the exception of our trip to Florida. So I'm trying to do a lot better this time around.