One More Year To Eternity

December 29th Carson and I celebrated our 3rd Anniversary!

Carson surprised me with a Flip recorder!- We'll use it to film the birth (kidding)

I can't believe it has already been 3 years since I married my best friend. I am so grateful I stumbled across him at a gas station of all places :) The Lord works in mysterious ways...I won't go into it, but it definitely wasn't just a coincidence that we met. I absolutely needed to meet Carson at that time and the Lord knew it. I think that is why things happened so quick. We only dated about 4 months before we were engaged. :)

These past years have been great! A list of some of the things we have experience the past 3 years together:

We have lived in 3 places, both go accepted into our educational programs, we have experienced job loss and also a new job (for Carson), position changes at work (for me), then stepping down after working 4 and a half years in management and switching stores, getting debt paid off, then adding some more (student loans- I guess it's a good one to have if we're to have some :)) hanging out with awesome friends and sharing our families with each other, enjoying the addition of 2 new nieces and 1 nephew, being able to travel (Disneyland, DC, Cruise to Mexico), helping each other through heart ache and sickness, church callings, Netflix changed our lives :), coming up with nicknames for each other, sharing the journey and excitement thus far in bringing a new member to our little family!

I couldn't ask for a better spouse to share all of lifes ups and downs with. LOVE YOU CARS!

Half way there!

This is kind of a late post. I am actually over half-way through my pregnancy...can't believe it! I am 22 weeks (about 5 and a half months).

We went to the doc for our 20 week ultrasound a couple weeks ago to check on the health of the baby and to verify that it was a boy....as you will see from the picture, it is in fact a boy! Hard to miss it :)

He is looking perfectly healthy as far as they can tell. Carson and I couldn't believe how much he has grown since our first sneak peek at 16 weeks!

They do want us to go back for another ultrasound to double check the heart. He was in a difficult position for the tech to get good, detailed views but from what she could see, it looked normal. So we may just do a 4D ultrasound when we go in cuz why not????

One other exciting happening: Not only have I started feeling the baby (first felt the "flutters" at 18 weeks) Carson was able to feel his first kick on Thanksgiving! What an awesome experience for the both of us! Since then, we have enjoyed feeling him move around before we go to bed (he's more active at night for some reason).

Halloween

For Halloween this year we were invited to a Murder Mystery Dinner-Party hosted by our good friend Leslie. This was held at our other friend's Jeff and Holi Chambers home up in Salt Lake.

It was a 20's themed mystery with a whole bunch of characters in the mafia and such. We had to figure out who killed the mayor of the town. I was Sher Ratton, a singer/bad business woman. Carson was Tiny Torrelli, a mafia leader.

I actually ended up being the murderer! I didn't know I had it in me...Carson seemed to have me pegged though :)

I had never participated in a murder mystery but have always wanted to! Thanks Leslie for putting it on! We had a BLAST!

It's a.......BOY!!!!

As I mentioned on my last post, we had someone from school scan me. At first the baby didn't cooperate, he was being very modest. The tech was finally able to sneak a peek. She said she's 90% sure it's a boy! 90% because he's small and was in an awkward position. But she was pretty darn sure...I mean 90% is pretty sure, though we will have our 20 week Dr's appt. next month and it'll be easier to see. Just a couple pics:

The last pic is hard to tell it's a boy...or hard to tell it's even a baby :) I think the image moved when she took the pic, but we were seeing it on the monitor and we could totally see what she was talking about and it definitely looked like a boy!

We are SO excited to have a boy! And this was the first time we got to see what's growing inside me...it's so surreal!

What do you think?

Today I was sitting in clinicals and my rotation this week shares a space with ultrasound. A few ultrasound tech's have offered to scan me but I haven't had a chance yet to do it and quite frankly it actually hasn't been very convenient even though I work pretty much directly with them.

But as I said this week I share an office with them and realized, "Oh, they can scan me like today!" So Carson is on his way over and we'll get our first view of our baby!

Originally I just wanted to just see the baby. I didn't want to find out today what we're having. I planned on waiting until our 20 week appointment at the Dr.'s office but Carson thinks we should. The sooner we find out, the sooner we can start planning.....I was kinda hesitant, but I gave in...I think we'll do it!

So quite possibly, if the tech can tell, we will be finding out the sex of the baby TODAY! I am 16 weeks which they are able to tell at this time.

So, what do you think? Boy? Girl? Let us know. We'll see if you're right!

The baby bump has emerged

Well I am 15 weeks and into the 2nd trimester. Just this last week I kinda started the "popping" process. It's kind of an awkward stage as I pretty much just feel fat. :)

I'm still feeling pretty darn good, knock on wood. My lack of energy has subsided quite a bit. That has been the hardest part. There have been a couple of tears shed over the stress of juggling work, school, and being pregnant; therefore, being exhausted but Carson has been quite supportive. I couldn't have a better partner.

It's crazy to think I'm over 3 months pregnant already...hard to fathom we'll be welcoming a new member to the family in only 6 months!

Things are sure going to change around here

Well, it is official. We are going to have a new addition to the Cullimore household....I am pregnant!

Originally we weren't going to start our family until after we both were finished with school but decided we could probably handle just one year juggling having a baby and going to school (with some convincing from my sister, Kristy). I don't know why, but she really wanted us to start having kids! haha To be honest, it didn't take much convincing. I have a lot of volunteered help from my family to help with watching the baby while we go to school and am so grateful for that.

I can't believe how easy it was for us to conceive. I figured we'd have a few months of "trying". Boy was I wrong! We immediately got pregnant! Fertile Mertile I guess.

I am currently 13 weeks. Due April 6th. We got to hear the heart beat yesterday. It was quite amazing. I haven't been able to think it's real until I actually heard that heart beat. It's crazy to think I have this little living being with it's own heart beat growing inside me!

I have been exceptionally lucky with my first trimester. I have not had any nausea. I feel super blessed. I don't know what I'd do with school and work if I was struggling with that.

I have been VERY tired though. I normally am tired anyway, but oh my gosh! I pretty much pass out at like 8 each night!

We are so thrilled to start our family and feel so blessed that Heavenly Father has allowed us to care for one of his children. I can't wait to see what all the different stages of pregnancy brings and can't wait for the little guy or girl to get here! (though I'm really not ready at all) :)

Over the Summer...

We have had a BUSY summer! We had two family weddings; first Chris and Emily on June 25th and then Cardin and Mitch on August 6th. All 5 of the Cullimore kids are now married and we are SO happy to have Emily and Mitch as new additions to the clan!

I forgot to take my camera with me at Cardin and Mitch's wedding so we'll have to get one and post it later.

We also hiked Timpanogos this summer (and I'm not talking about the paved path to the caves...I'm talking about the back way to the very top). This is something we've wanted to do for awhile and were so glad to do it this year. We went with a friend from Carson's work and a friend from mine. We started at about 5:30 am. Now, I'm not much of a hiker so I was sort of hesitant but I LOVED it! It was a pretty grueling hike (I believe about 14 miles up and down) but it was SO worth it! It was so beautiful! My friend kinda had a hard time, as I said it was a pretty grueling hike. So I stayed back with her and we weren't quite able to make it to "the saddle" as they call it which is on top of the mountain but I guess not the very top as there's a peak or summit that is technically the top. Carson made it to the "Saddle" and reported a breathtaking view. His friend went on to tackle the summit and Carson decided to stay back at the saddle (not to discredit Carson....the trail to the summit was pretty scary and he was already at the top) The hike completely wore us out though :) but was so worth it. We'll most definitely do it again.

Among all that, we've been doing things to get ready for our programs....I never realized how much there is to do! We're almost there. School starts in just a week for me and two for Carson!

Backstreet's Back Alright!

Last Wednesday a few friends from work and I went to the Backstreet Boys concert at the Energy Solutions Arena. It...was....EPIC! I saw N'SYNC in concert back in the day but never had the opportunity to see the BSB. Well FINALLY I was able to fulfill my lifelong dream. Here's a picture recap of this spectacular event:

Just Cruisin’

Boarding the Ship!

A few weeks ago we enjoyed some relaxing time on a Carnival cruise to Catalina and Ensenada, Mexico. We went with our friends Jeff and Holli Chambers and Doug and Leslie Weiler. We had been planning this trip for a year now and I can't believe it came so fast!

The cruise left out of Long Beach, California so we decided to make it a road trip. We first drove down to St. George Saturday and stayed at Doug's grandparents home for two nights (thanks guys for providing a place to stay. Tell your grandparents thank you too:) ) While there, we swam and then Jeff formulated some obsession with wanting to float something down this decorative canal thing down Main street. So while shopping for treats for the road, we found a pack of 3 plastic fish....we HAD to have them and decided they were perfect to float down the canal. Each couple got one and we named them and had a race. We felt our fish were family so they even popped into most of our cruise pics :)

Flounder, Fast Fish, Dr. Fury

Our first day on the water was kind of rocky. We were to port at Catalina the next day (Tuesday) but they made an announcement that morning stating that we could not port because the winds were too strong and created a safety issue with the tenders that would take us to the island so they made it a day at sea. We ended up pretty much circling Catalina. It was a nice, relaxing day. We were able to get some sun...me a little too much because I forgot to have Carson get my back :(

The Boys enjoyed the water slide

We competed against each other in Shuffleboard

Wednesday we were finally able to go to Catalina where we kayaked to Frog Rock. We walked around the island a little. Little did we know, while discovering the island, there were tons of crabs crawling around near our feet! They blended right into the rocks! It sort of creeped me out when one of our guides pointed them out. Doug decided to show his manliness or something and picked one up. It got him with it's pincher and was dangling from his finger. We all laughed. Then to our surprise, I guess in a defense mechanism, it broke it's own arm off! It fell to the ground and scurried away, leaving it's arm still attached to Doug. All the girls screamed! haha it was quite interesting. Holli was pretty brave and picked one up too....I opted out of touching the things.

kayaking in Catalina

I had quite an interesting thing happen to me while taking the tender back from Catalina to our ship. There was a group of drunks on the tender with us. While stepping up the ladder from the tender into the ship, a drunk guy reached in between Carson and I and grabbed my toosh! Quite a scene....Carson was quick to push the guy. We kinda wished he would've pushed him out of the boat! Would've been better but I was quite proud of Carson. Never seen him so upset. That's my boy! haha

Thursday we arrived at Ensenada, Mexico where we just strolled the streets and haggled with some locals. I got some jewelry and Carson got a pretty sweet scorpion belt buckle. Looks good with his white trash tank top he purchased there too :)

Friday we disembarked and headed back to Utah. It was so sad to go. We had such a GREAT time! It was nice going for our honeymoon just ourselves but it's SO much better with great friends to share the experience.

The whole gang

There's a light......

For those who haven't heard, I was accepted into my Master's program last week. I will begin studying for my MISM(Master's of Information Systems Management) in the fall. This is a convenient program as it replaces my final year of my undergrad and therefore, gives me my Master's Degree in, technically, one year. It is also nice because I only have to pay one years worth of BYU graduate tuition, which is dirt cheap in comparison to anywhere else.

It's nice to finally have a solid graduation plan and know that I'll be completely done with school in 2 years!

There's some direction

As some of you may know, I have desperately been trying to get into Weber's Radiology program for quite some time now. They have a Provo campus at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center so I have been trying to get into that one initially because of convenience purposes since I live within walking distance from the hospital.

There are only three schools in Utah that offer the Radiology program, they are: Weber (as mentioned), Salt Lake Community College, and Dixie. SLCC's program was a waiting list and last I checked it was a three year wait! :S what a waste of time! I didn't really have much of a desire to go down to Dixie so my main option was Weber especially because it had that option for the Provo campus.

They only accept once a year so last January I applied. I applied mainly because I was eligible but with how scholarly competitive it is I had my doubts of getting in. I knew my grades could use some work. Sure enough I did not get accepted but since I applied they give you extra points if you stick with them and apply again.

So I worked hard for a year to chisel some grades and take extra classes and I started job shadowing there at UVRMC and met some important people :) Then the time came for me to apply again. This time I was prepared. Weber's program, as I mentioned before, is very hard to get into.

First when they get the applications they weed out all the scholarly weak and rank all the others. I was told I was pretty high on the list (haha not to brag....ok I don't care, I'll brag. I worked hard). Then they hold an interview with a panel of six people on one side of the table and the applicant on the other. Very excruciating. I was SO nervous! I walked away from my interview feeling very upset and that I had bombed it. I called Carson immediately after and vented my frustration. That was last week and seriously ALL week I have been super stressed and kinda mopey. I have even had some bad dreams about not getting in where I cry hysterically! Today I got the letter. My stomach churned as I opened it and.....it was an acceptance letter! I thought for sure I'd get a rejection letter! I will start this Fall.

My heart is full right now. I am so grateful that we live in this country where we can get a good education. I'm grateful for those who saw something in me that I did not. I can't wait to get started and feel that there is now some direction in my life education wise. And I'm grateful for those who stood beside me through all the late nights of studying, the tears because of the bad grades, and the excitement because of the good grades.

We're Moving!

The time has come for us to move on to bigger and better. We are currently in an apartment complex in Provo near BYU. It's a one bedroom maybe like 700 sq. feet. We have lived here just about two years now and have really liked it. We will really miss it. We have been thinking the last probably like 6 months about moving. We want a two bedroom place...you know...to expand :) (not any time real soon) There hasn't been a major need to move so we haven't been desperately looking or anything. We just figured we'd keep our options open and maybe something would come up. Well, Carson got a calling in our ward a few months ago as Executive Secretary so we kinda felt that we should stay in the ward. The ward is amazing though so we didn't want to leave anyway but that really limited us to where we could move. We live close to the hospital and they own a bunch of cute old starter houses that are in our ward. We've been wanting to move into one of those but they go SO fast it's nearly impossible to get one. We have looked at a few and have come so close to maybe getting a couple but they pretty much get snatched out from under our noses. With the help of some friends that live in one, we were able to keep in contact with someone from management and on Wed. she set us up to see one just as soon as they got word the current tenants were planning on moving. I attached pictures that were on the website and it looks ok but seriously they don't do it justice at all. Based on the pictures, we apprehensively went to see it and were blown away. It's super cute. It's 1100 sq ft. We'll have a yard and the two bedrooms we want. We'll have to put up our own pics later when we move in to combat the other ones shown here. We are excited to make this our new home. We will move in at the beginning of May.

A Taste of Parenthood

No, not really. Last week we "babysat" the Slikker girls (Carson's 3 cousins) for 4 nights at their house in Saratoga Springs. It was far from babysitting. The oldest is 15 and the youngest is almost 8 so really it was a matter of having someone there at night and in the morning to get them off to school. So it was essentially just hanging out with them. We had fun. The first night was Sunday so we just picked them up from their aunt's and pretty much went home and went to bed. The next night we got pizza and rented a movie. The third night Emma (the middle one- 11) had a great idea to make oreo truffles. They were pretty yummy! The last night I had one of my usual cravings...McDonalds fries. So we loaded up and went to the Saratoga Springs Micky D's for random stuff like fries and shakes. This was quite the McDonalds...it had a "fireplace" in it AND my favorite, a talking garbage can! Here's a clip of it...not sure if you can really hear it but it thanks you! Then it tells you "Recycling" haha right...

Well We Made It Yet Another Year!

2 years ago on the date of December 29th 2007 I married my dream guy. Just a warning, this is gonna be gushy...but hey it's an anniversary post it's expected, right? Though we only dated for a short time, I knew almost instantly that he was the one for me and the timing couldn't have been better. 2 years have gone by so fast and they have been wonderful! I am looking forward to many more years to come with my sweetheart! Here are some reasons why I love Carson:

• He puts me to bed when I fall asleep on the couch
• He lets me spend money
• He makes me laugh
• He's willing to hold my hair back when I hurl :)
• He works hard whether it's school, work, church callings etc.
• He's smart
• He enjoys pillow talk (or at least I like to think he does)
• He makes me a killer grilled cheese samich