Happy Birthday Tim

For Tim's Birthday in July I wanted to do something new and different.  I did some research and found an indoor shooting range near our house.   We went and rented all the things we needed and took them down in the basement with our targets.  It was incredibly loud down there, surrounded by cement walls and lots of men shooting large guns, but it was actually really fun!   Tim did such a good job.  He had to teach me a little bit about gun safety, how to aim, how not to hurt myself, all that good stuff.  I'm not sure how much Baby Ellie liked it inside my tummy, but Tim and I had such a great time.

 

Summer Update

I realize it has been a little while since I updated our blog. The last few months have been crazy and fantastic!!!  Here's a quick update:

In April,  my parents and siblings came to Arizona to see the my church musical. It was so fun to have them there.  It was a short weekend but still wonderful to see everyone and spend some time together before they left the country.

Armstrong Relax!

The Girls!

In May Tim's brother, Jak,e came to visit before he left on his mission!  We were so glad that we got to spend some time with him before he left!

In June, Tim graduated from Pharmacy school!  His parents came out to celebrate with us and we had a great weekend.  Then his mom helped  us pack up all our stuff in Arizona and move to Utah!

Presenting DR. TIMOTHY NELSON

In July, we got to spend a little time with my parents before they left for their three year stay as Mission Presidents in Uruguay.  It was wonderful.  Tim also took his boards and is now a Licensed Pharmacist! Way to go TIM! We have also been gearing up for Baby Ellie, who is 6 weeks from coming!  Life has been a little crazy, but we are doing our best to love it!

We went out to celebrate at Red Robin when we found out Tim passed his boards!  Then Dessert at U-SWIRL

Still getting bigger!!

Baby Ellie's room so far...

Baby girl on the way!

We are expecting and we could not be more excited! Plus, we are over halfway there, which is even more fantastic. Pregnancy has been quite the rollercoaster but it will for sure be worth it in 16 weeks when Baby Ellie arrives!!     Right now I'm getting closer to the 3rd Trimester and I wonder what it holds for me.   Everyone always told me, "oh just wait until the 2nd trimester, you will feel so much better."  They were right.  The 1st trimester was ... memorable.  I lost a lot of weight, I threw up a lot, I had zero energy, I basically abandoned my husband in the areas of cooking, cleaning, and grocery shopping, and I felt awful most of the time.   2nd trimester has brought energy, a little bit of weight gain (almost 4 pounds now!), and the best part, feeling Ellie kick me! It has also been fun to share my experiences with my kids at school.  They ask me every day how big Ellie is, how much she weighs, and if she is still in my belly!!   It amazes me how fast it is all going.  I've already been through 5 months of fun stuff with this baby and she's not even here yet.  I sometimes get overwhelmed with the future (i.e. moving to Utah, having a baby, getting a job, having a baby, not sleeping, and yes having a baby), but lately I have been blessed with a lot of comfort that things will work out the way they need to work out.  I am so grateful for those feelings!    Baby Ellie is doing great and Tim and I are staying strong and doing our best!    Here are my top 5 Likes and dislikes about being pregnant!

TOP 5 REASONS WHY I LOVE BEING PREGNANT
1. Getting to feel Ellie kick me  - I LOVE IT and just can't get enough
2. Getting to pick out a name for our little girl
3. How much Tim loves my tummy!
4. Wearing clothes that used to be too tight, but now actually are too big on me because I was so sick.
5. Hearing the kids thoughts about Baby Ellie (the good and the akward)

Top 5 reasons why I don't particulary enjoy being pregnant
1. I get to throw up lots - it has decreased to about once every 2 weeks now, which is a blessing
2. Having to try and GAIN weight.  This has actually been a struggle for me. Food is the enemy sometimes.
3. Having to go to the bathroom ALL the time: middle of the night, right after I've already gone, always!
4. Experiencing body aches, increased heartburn, headaches, and all those fun things.
5.  Spilling - I spill on my tummy ALL THE TIME now.  Bad habit to develop for sure!!!

ALL WILL BE WORTH IT!!!   I Just can't wait to see this wonderful baby girl!!!

Catch Up - Hawaii

It's already February! Time is sure speeding right along but I am still playing a little catch up. In December, Tim and I got to take a trip to Hawaii and it was just what we needed. I have ALWAYS wanted to go to Hawaii and it was such a blessing that we were able to go. My principal was ok with letting me take a few days off school and Tim was on his only break during his last year of Pharmacy school and everything just fell into place. We went during the first week of December and got to spend of few days on the Island of Maui. We relaxed, went to the beach, went surfing, wwent on a plantation tour, and just enjoyed being together. Our condo was about 5 minutes from the beach and 3 minutes from the pool! All the essentials!! Learning to surf basically rocked! I got up on my first try. Fortunately we didn't have any close up pictures of my face while I was surfing because apparently I concentrate REALLY hard and I look a little funny, but I did LOVE it! We had such a wonderful time. I never got to post pictures, so I thought I would now! Here are just a few pics of our wonderful week in Hawaii.

the view from our pool

getting shaved ice after surfing

Getting ready to surf

yahooo! I made it!

At the plantation

The faith of a child

Well, it has been a while since we have updated and to show Kim that I plan on updating more than once every year, we are ready for an update!

Life has been a roller coaster for us lately, full of wonderful blessings and also huge trials that have tested our faith. But through it all, blessings and trials, we have come closer to each other and closer to our Savior.

In September Tim and I found out that we were expecting our first child! We were so excited. This is something that Tim and I had been waiting for our whole lives. I started to get weird cravings for pickles and other strange things. Our minds suddenly could think of nothing else. Our thoughts were totally consumed by babies. We even stopped by the baby section every time we went to ANY store. I think the best part was feeling the love we had for this little buven, yes we named it buven for the time being. I began to feel as if I had a small glimpse of the love that Heavenly Father has for His children. The concern, the happiness, the fear, the love, all of it. It was an amazing feeling.

At the end of October we went to our doctor and found out that we had had a miscarriage. It seemed that we had gone from one extreme to another. All that love and joy had turned in to pain and fear. It was a very difficult time for us but through our faith, we were going to be ok. We were surrounded by love and comforted every day. There were so many people that helped us. Tim and I also grew so much closer to each other while we relied on our Father in Heaven to help us through something so difficult. We focused on getting through one day at a time, praying everyday, and reading our scriptures for comfort. There were so many times that I saw the Lord's hand in our life; in a talk at church, in a blog, in a scripture, in a conference talk. Every day the Lord made sure that we knew we were going to be ok.

One day I had a conversation with my sister in law and she told me that every night, our niece and nephew prayed that Emmy would get a new baby in her tummy. This instantly brought tears to my eyes. If we could all have faith like them; to have no fear, to have no hesitations , no worries, but total faith in our Heavenly Father. I have been working for this type of faith. What a wonderful experience to be reminded that our Father in Heaven has so much love for us. If we could all have the faith of a child, our lives would be filled with so many more blessings. We all have trials and for reasons we don't always understand. But we get through them and we learn and we come out stronger. We are grateful for the Lord, we are grateful for trials that bring us closer to our Father in Heaven, and we are grateful for this wonderful time of year.

Halloween: November 8th

Who says you can ONLY paint pumpkins on Halloween? It was a little late, but we decided to paint them anyways. I decorated mine with some of my travels from this year (Cali, Philly, New York, Cananda, Illinois, Mexico, Utah, Oregon and Hawaii in a few weeks). Tim did an amazing job with a scene from our future Hawaii trip :) It was incredibly fun!

Trip to Cali! We get to back in a few weeks!

Niagara Falls!! Canada and New York for our School Art trip

Trip to Philly to see the FAM

Awesome husband :)

Mexico Trip - Yes, that is me swimming in the ocean. Tim is the pink one on the sand! He did get REALLY burned while we were there!

This was Tim's Picture! I'm the one surfing and he's swimming out to me. I love it!!

Fall Break In Philly!

Being a teacher comes with some great benefits: 1) I get to teach very happy kids 2) The kids say really funny things like " I think Yehuda left his Bikini in your room." "You mean his Yamaka?" 3) I don't work weekends and 4) I get a whole week off in October as well as March. Pretty sweet! For fall break I went to Philly to see the whole Fam (well, almost all - Matman is staying strong on his Mission!)! Jen and Brookie came from California and then Mom, Stace, and Dad came from Peru. Tom and Bob (and Emily And Sheri) allowed us to infiltrate their houses with people, luggage, and love! A million thanks to them!! We had such a wonderful time being with our family. This was the first time we had seen Tom and Sheri since their wedding last year and what better way to enjoy seeing each other than to spend a weekend all cuddled up! What an amazing blessing to spend a few days with our wonderful family. We also got to be there for Baby Anna's Blessing as well as Claire's! We also went to a pumpkin patch, painted pumpkins, and just enjoyed being together! What a wonderful week!