Catch-Up Attempt

Remember how I was going to be better at blogging now that I'm an expecting mother so I can have everything documented? Well, that hasn't happened. I think I've pulled out my actual camera for pics maybe twice in the last 5 months, thank goodness for iphones and instagram. Here's my attempt at a quick recap...

Sammy and I loved conference weekend. Sam was recently hired to be a Marshallese interpreter for the church, and interpreting part of the Saturday afternoon session of conference was his first gig. Sam's Australian mission companion was in town with his wife. We were able to meet up with them between the two Saturday sessions. It was great to meet the Elder Stone I read about in letters (he and Sammy served together for 6 months), and I loved listening to anything he and his wife had to say with their amazing accents!

Elder Nielsen and Elder Stone

Pat started to show a bit more than ever before:

Sam and I were adventurous one weekend and went to a Real Salt Lake soccer game. All of the fans are so spirited! We had a great time, RSL won, and of course it was a nice plus that the stadium is by Chipotle (since Utah valley is lame and doesn't have one, that's special treat).

Easter Sunday we were able to attend church and have fun with our little nursery kiddos. Later that day we had a fabulous Easter dinner at G's with some of Sam's extended fam. It was a beautiful day and a great time to reflect on our Savior's life and His resurrection. Easter Sunday wouldn't have been complete without a family pic in our Sunday best...

Sammy finished his junior year of college and the hardest semester in the chemical engineering major! WHOO-HOO!!!! I cannot explain how dedicated Sam has been this last semester and how hard I know he has worked to get through his toughest classes and maintain good grades. I am so proud of him and hope Pat inherits his brainy skills. On the day of the last final, Sam hosted a BBQ for all of his classmates. Sam spear headed the whole thing and had quite the turn out! My man loves throwing a good party with good food. I was able to sneak over during my lunch hour and saw Sammy in his element at the grill serving up hamburgers and brats left and right.

The day after Sam's last final we jetted off to California for a much deserved vacation! I think that will be a separate post...

Pat's Friends

Not much Pat news to share, but we are very excited about Pat's cousins that are also scheduled to arrive in September 2012!

My sister-in-law, Vanessa (Sam's sister), is pregnant with her 2nd baby and due at the beginning of September.

 PS. This was taken in Costa Rica and that is why were so excited for American food aka Burger King!

My sister-in-law, Jenny (Chris' wife), is pregnant with her 3rd baby and due at the end of September.

Super old pic of use but it's the best I could find! :)

Vanessa already found out she's having a boy, but Jenny and I are still waiting to find out the gender of our little ones. Regardless, I think it will be so fun to have cousins so close in age on both sides of the family. My other sister-in-law on the Heyman side, Candace, is due with a little girl at the start of this summer, so there will be so many little ones joining our family this year!

Latest pregnancy updates:

• I was looking forward to the 2nd trimester because everyone says that's when you start feeling better. My 1st week of trimester numero dos I threw up three times. However, since then I have started to feel better and I get nauseated A LOT less often.
• I'm still exhausted pretty much every day.
• I'm still eating more than before I was pregnant, but I rarely feel as hungry as I did sometimes in my first trimester.
• In the two plus years that Sam and I have been married, I don't think I've ever bought chips besides tortilla chips and an occasional bag of Sun Chips. Every week now I can't pass up buying Pringles. They taste amazing and always sound good!
• Vitamin B6 + Unisom at night does wonders to my sleep!
• Everyone still comments that I look small and am not showing yet, but if they saw me in a swimsuit the comments would be different! I'm slowly but surely growing. 

Pat Update

Early on when Sam and I first found out I was pregnant, we started calling the baby "Pat". Sam said it's a safe name to use because it can stand for Patrick or Patricia. Although we're not planning on using either name to really name the baby, Pat is it until we find out if Baby Nielsen is a he or a she.

On March 2nd, I finally had my first doctor's appointment. I'm using a doctor that my neighbor recommend and a lot of people in my ward have used, I love him! I am always nervous for doctor appointments because I know there is a possibility that something might come up and they'll have to draw my blood (I'm a fainter). I was prepared mentally that I'd probably have blood work done, but I was so excited to finally find out more about our little babe that it wasn't too bad. I didn't faint, and all went well with the appointment.

Everything is looking good so far with Pat and the scheduled due date is still September 12th. Sam and I were so happy with the awesome profile snap shot we got of our little one.

Isn't Pat cute?

I've been getting a lot of questions about if I'm showing yet and comments from people who say they still can't see anything. I have a little bump now, it's not a real baby bump more of just Allison's-belly-is-getting-fat look bump, but it wasn't there before! It sounds crazy but it came Thursday night (I promise).

Here are just some random facts on my pregnancy so far (more for me to remember than anything else):

• At 6 weeks and 1 day the nausea hit.
• At 8 weeks I started feeling exhausted every day and my bed time moved up substantially.
• After that I was so tired I often left dishes in the sink over night and my clothes started piling up on the floor (things I was usually against pre-pregnancy).
• Even when nauseous I hate saltines.
• My body will dry-heave and gag all it wants, but the throwing-up doesn't come easy (sorry for the info).
• One of my favorite things is listening to Sam talk about being a dad.
• Sam now calls me "piggy-wiggy" in reference to my increased appetite.
• In 11 weeks I gained 4 lbs (at 13 weeks it's the same...I think the 4 lbs were more from quitting my usual work outs and being less particular about my diet!). 
• I am so happy and feel blessed to have this little baby growing inside of me!

Baby Nielsen

Yup, we've got a baby on the way. I'm pretty sure everyone who knows us, knows this news by now since we made it "Facebook official" already, but I figured it's still worthy of a blog post announcement...

As of now, my due date is September 12th. I'm currently in my 11th week. I've been going crazy because I STILL haven't had my first appointment. I got a Dr. recommendation from my neighbor, and a friend who just had a baby told me that in Utah I probably won't get an appointment until later in my 1st trimester. Sure enough, I call for the appointment and they said to come in between 10-12 weeks and the Dr. was BOOKED until my 12th week. (I'm hoping that just means he's a really good doctor and I'll love him...).

Sam likes to tease me and asks daily if I'm even really pregnant. He said that if the doctor can't confirm my "thoughts" then I have a lot of explaining to do. Mainly it's because he sees me taking pictures like this:

I know, no bump yet. That was at 7 weeks. Here's 10 weeks:

One day I'll have physical proof. I've had plenty of nausea, exhaustion and increased appetite to prove I'm in baby making mode though. I thought I was getting out of the "morning sickness" phase (which is really all day, or random time sickness) since I was feeling better last week and this week, but then the last two days were no bueno, so we'll see... I am grateful I don't have it as bad as some other girls do when they're pregnant, so I try to remember to think on the positive side!

Sammy and I are so excited for this coming addition to the family. Everyone asks if we want a boy or girl, we honestly are excited either way and are just praying for a healthy baby! I love hearing Sam talk about the baby or being a dad, that alone makes me excited.

I think being pregnant will now give me more motivation to blog again so I can write down and remember things along the way since I don't keep a journal. Here's to hoping :)

Elder Heyman

We already have a President Heyman and Sister Heyman representing the church as full-time missionaries, why not add an Elder Heyman?

My little bro, Taylor, received a mission call two weeks ago. I know the whole family was anxious for him to get his call and open it, I cannot image how he felt! Taylor is currently a freshman at BYU so Sam and I were able to be in attendance for the opening of his call.

Taylor's call came in the mail late on a Wednesday afternoon so he had a time scheduled for everyone to be together for the big "opening". The plan was to have my parents, Curtis and Candace, Chris and Jenny, and Tim and Jen all on ichat so they could witness the excitement. Unfortunately, there were some wifi issues and we spent a lot of time waiting like this....

There was a storm in Resistencia that night so my parent's internet had been going in and out all evening. Once we had them on, we ended up just calling siblings so they could at least hear it all. The family gathering:

Taylor had quite the crowd in-person too:

And then he read aloud the anxiously awaited words... Chile Concepcion Mission!

He will be speaking Spanish and reports to the MTC at the end of June! Everyone was so happy and proud.

Congrats Scooter!

Official

I am now a working interpreter, employed by Brigham Young University.

The proof:

(just please don't steal my BYU ID #, k?)

(yes, it still has my maiden name. i haven't changed my social security card to say my married name so BYU can't change my name in their system yet. i guess that means i should finally go to the ss office. blah)

I am only a "level 1" interpreter and I still need to improve and get my level 2/national certification so I can have more job options and work as a full-time interpreter, but I am soooo grateful for the job and opportunity at BYU. I am "teamed" with the kindest most helpful skilled interpreter ever who helps me so much. I still work full time at OrangeSoda so Mondays and Wednesdays (when I interpret) are long days, but it's worth it! I love the feeling of knowing hard work is paying off :)

Welcoming 2012

Lucky for us, the fun of our winter break didn't end with Christmas. We spent a few extra days in AZ after Christmas and were able to enjoy the warm weather, family and of course our favorite food spots.

We spent an evening at my parent's/Tim and Jen's house with the One and Only (Grandma Heyman), Aunt Lori and her fun fam and my sister and her family. We had some yummy pizza and played games, it was a fabulous evening and I loved getting to see more family.

The funniest part of the evening was when Sam and I first showed up and Kyle was showing off his new dune buggy he and Nolan got for Christmas. There is a dirt lot next to the house that he was riding in and then he came up on the drive way and rode straight into a bush that is at least a foot and a half high. Kyle got stuck and was disappointed the buggy didn't make it over "this time". Apparently he had attempted it before. I don't know if my explanation of what happened paints a clear picture, but it was hilarious... I stole the pic below from my sister's blog. It cracks me up.

Thanks to Sallee, the Nielsen girls were spoiled and got to enjoy a relaxing spa day together. We spent an afternoon enjoying hot tubs, steam rooms, saunas, laying by the pool and even a massage. Thanks again Sallee! Yes, I did have everyone stop in front of the mirror for a picture :) Unfortunately, Maddie had to work that day so she wasn't able to be with all of us.

 

Sam and I were sad to leave Arizona, but it was also exciting to get back home to Utah because we had more family waiting for us that we hadn't seen yet. My brother, Chris, and his family were in town for a wedding and stayed with us for a few extra days. My bother, Curtis, and his family were also in town visiting his in-laws. We loved getting to see more nieces and nephews! One night we all took a trip up to Salt Lake to enjoy the temple lights.

New Years Eve we had a full day of fun which included bowling, a scrumptious breakfast-for-dinner meal, making popcorn and playing games. When all the little ones went down we had more fun games, a movie and watching the ball drop with Martinelli's in hand to welcome 2012!

                          

Although it looks like Kate and Macy are hating life in the picture below, I promise they were the two that probably enjoyed bowling the most. I couldn't stop laughing when I saw their faces in this photo... And Reed, well he's just a little serious man.

 

Happy 2012! We hope that is a fabulous year for everyone!

Whew that was a long catch up! As you can tell, our holiday season was a cheerful one spent with our wonderful families. We feel so blessed to have TWO supportive and awesome families. We are already back into the routine of work and school, but are still happy. :) I think this 3 long posts in one sitting gives me enough motivation to never get this behind in blogging again!