Sun the Sun Run

On November 10, a lot of our family members participated in the Shun the Sun Run. I wasn't one of them, sadly! Watching everyone take off that day looked like so much fun but I wouldn't have lasted for even one mile! (It's been awhile since I've ran.)

Here are the runners before their races:

 

Russ, Suzanne, Auburn & Scott taking off for their 10K

Lance taking off for his 5K

 

My mom, Alisse, and I were there to support and the kids had a good time Gangnum Style dancing and playing on Ellie's touch as we waited for the runners...

 

(Lucy was the cutest little cupcake)

 

 

It wasn't long before we were watching for everyone to finish their races. Lance came in first...

(screenshot of a video I took)

 

... then it was time to watch for our 10K people to start finishing.

Suzanne was the first one, sprinting towards the finish line

 

Auburn followed her within about 30 seconds

 

Next was Scotty

 

And then Russ

 

I was so impressed with all of their times!

After these runs were finished, it was time for the family fun run to start. These were the cutest participants.

 

 When the race started Noah took off sprinting. It was hilarious to watch - he was determined to "win" the race. Ellie was going pretty fast too!

 

Surprisingly at the end of the race, Noah was still going pretty fast. Ellie was right behind him - they were a little team and stuck together!

 

 

It was a fun day to watch my boys and team Sherwood!!

 

Noah turned 8

Noah turned 8 on Sunday the 21st so the Friday before, I took treats in to his class at school. His teacher is so cute and really made him feel special with a birthday kid shirt to wear and a special treat she made for him.

 

Sunday morning on his actual birthday, we had cinnamon rolls and he opened presents. It was a LEGO NINJAGO birthday. He is obsessed!

Sunday night we celebrated more at Grandma & Poppy's house...

Monday, Lucy and I picked him up from school and went to Panda Express for lunch. Chinese is Noah's favorite!

Tuesday, he got to go to cub scouts for the first time. I loved seeing him in the scout uniform. I never thought I'd be excited about anything scouts-related but I was wrong. There are so many boys Noah's age in our ward and it's so fun to see them get together. Noah is already loving it!

 

Next up was Noah's baptism. 

 

I'm thankful to be Noah's mom and to be married to such an great person that could baptize and confirm my sweet boy. Russ did a great job.

 

Proud mom, blurry picture!

 

 

Sibling shot

 

This is Maggie, a sweet girl in our ward that was baptized the same day as Noah. We had fun telling Noah that the next day when the bishop called them up to get their baptism certificates in sacrament meeting, that he needed to get Maggie and hold her hand as they walked up to the podium.

 

I am so sad to say that those are the only pictures that I took at the church. Noah had so many people support him from our ward friends, the Hunt family, Sherwood family, and Price family. I wish I had a photo to document it all but I don't, dangit! 

Alisse did, however, get some really cute pictures of Noah in his handsome baptism suit at the temple. 

 

 

We had a little celebration after the baptism with dessert, snack food, and a movie highlighting Noah's life from birth to age 8. I had so much help with the party and I'm so thankful to my mom and sisters and all they did to make Noah's day special.

 

 

Noah's day ended perfectly for him when cousin Cole got to spend the night! These 2 have so much fun together and don't get to see each other enough.

 

One last thing about Noah - a few days after the baptism I told him to find a book to read for his daily reading. He came back to me with a Book of Mormon and asked if he could read that. I helped him with the big words but was amazed when he asked me to explain something he had read. He said, "does God really sit on a throne in heaven?" - I was impressed that he wasn't just reading, but actually paying attention to what it meant. 

I love this boy so much. I'm a proud mom!

We're having a baby!!

Russ and I attempted IVF (in vitro fertilization) this past summer. I will leave out all of the little details of this process since I'm doing that on a different baby blog.

August 14th was the date of the egg retrieval and August 19th was the day of the transfer. The picture below was a picture taken at the moment the embryo was transferred from the lab to inside of me! Crazy! (There is a little white line towards the left side of the picture where it was placed.)

 

August 28th was the day we found out from the doctor that the process worked. YAY!! Russ and I found out together at the same time while on the phone with the doctor's office. I was shocked & SO excited since I had talked myself out of getting my hopes up, and figured the test would be negative. We kept it a secret for a week before telling anyone.

 The doctor had done a blood test to get the results but a few weeks later I did a home pregnancy test just for the fun of it. So exciting to see 2 lines!

 

This was the moment we told the kids

 

At 6.5 weeks we had our last appointment with the fertility doctor before being turned over to my regular OB/GYN. We got to see the cute little heartbeat flickering on the screen. That's when it became a little more real and also when I started getting sick.

 

At 8 weeks I had a little scare and was worried I was going to miscarry. Dr. Huish's office did an ultrasound and the baby was measuring exactly as it should and the heart was beating as it should.

 

Around 12 weeks I did the first-trimester screening and got some really good pictures of the baby. The ultrasound tech thought she knew what the baby was too... but I will still call the baby him/her because I want to be more sure. These pictures are a little freaky but still so interesting to look at! The baby was only the size of a lemon at this point.

I also got to take home a DVD of the ultrasound and have watched it a few times. It's so fun to see the baby move around!

 

 Something I didn't do with Noah and wished I would have... the pregnancy progression pictures! Here I am at 1) a few days before the egg retrieval; 2) 4 weeks; 3) 8 weeks; and 4) 12 weeks

 

We are SO excited for May to get here. Right now I'm just counting down the days until I feel better on a consistent basis, and then after that I will be fine for time to slow down a little. I'm more than 1/3 of the way there and that's a little bit scary. I have so many things I want to get done before the baby gets here, so I can focus on the baby and nothing else when that time comes! This baby is such a miracle to me - I am so thankful to be pregnant despite my complaining about being sick!