Our Big News!

Zac and I have a pretty big announcement to make...

We are expecting a baby!!!

As of today I am 12 weeks along, which means that the baby is due March 16, 2010. We won't know for another 6 or so weeks what the gender is, but we will keep everyone updated when we know. As for an update on me, I am doing better. My mom said she had very easy pregnancies and didn't get sick at all, I was hoping to be the same; however, it doesn't appear that I am quite as lucky. Fortunately I have only actually thrown up twice; unfortunately I have had pretty bad nausea for the last 6 weeks or so. About 4 weeks ago when I started taking the prenatal vitamins I started getting really sick, I am pretty sure it was the vitamins so I started taking them at night, and I have been feeling much better.

Since this post comes so close to my last post, I am fully aware of just how chubby I looked in all of my sister's wedding pictures, so I would like to take this time to blame that on my pregnancy. :) Yes I realize I was only 9 weeks pregnant; however, it was right in the middle of when I was most sick and tired. I hardly got any exercise and I was very bloated! Any of you who were at the wedding, I'm sure you noticed my extra chub, and if you try to deny it, just go back and look at the pictures. Actually since I have been feeling a little better I think I actually look better now than I did then even though I am 3 weeks further along! But its not too long now before I learn what fat really looks like!

So that is the basic update, but if you know my writing, then you know I like to tell long, drawn out, detailed stories... I am pretty much incapable of telling the "short version" of any story. So if you like my long drawn out stories, continue reading on for the story of how we got pregnant (I bet you have an idea - wink, wink). But I will give a warning to anyone who doesn't like hearing about "that time of the month" this story does mention a "period" since that has a lot to do with getting pregnant. Don't worry I've kept it clean, just thought I would warn any potential male readers who are uncomfortable about this kind of talk. :)

So let me start by saying that the only possible conclusion that one can make from this story is that Zac and I were destined to have a child at this time because the series of events that led to this event can only mean that Heavenly Father was sending us a message loud and clear. Also, by telling this story I realize I am letting everybody and their mom (and their dog, if it has access to a computer) know that we weren't necessarily planning on this pregnancy (Shhh, don't tell anyone). But I couldn't waste a good story!

Our story actually begins back at the beginning of the year. Back in January I went into the pharmacy to pick up my birth control refill. When I went to pay I was quite surprised when my normal copay for a 3 month supply that was $5 turned into a copay of $90! Apparently our insurance policy changed over the new year and we didn't realize what a significant difference it would make. Well I had little choice other than to just pay for it, but I decided that we were going to need to find a different form of birth control because the one I was currently on didn't have a generic version, so I decided that I needed to talk to my gynecologist to get a new prescription.

However sometime within the next month I received a letter from Kaiser saying that my OB/GYN had left her practice, then a another letter that reassigned me to a new OB/GYN; however, this doctor was a male and I wasn't too comfortable with that. When I went online to find a new doctor, I couldn't find any female doctors accepting new patients. Well instead of actually doing something about it, or just going to a male OB/GYN to get a new prescription, I put it off and forgot about it until May when I ran out of birth control. Well I still didn't want to pay the $90 again and I didn't get a new prescription in time, so I decided I would just continue using the Nuva Ring for another month and just skip my period for a month, giving me more time to go in and get a new prescription. My doctor told me this was okay to do, and I had done it one or two times before and never had any issues, so it wasn't a big deal.

Now you may be thinking, a-ha! That's how you got pregnant! Well if that's what you thought then you would be wrong. :) All that did was make my period come 3 days early. No big deal right? It shouldn't have been except for perfect timing of the next few days. So here is the break down... I flew home to Vancouver to visit my family (to help Kayla with ideas for her wedding- you can reference an early blog for that story) on Wednesday June 10th. I didn't come back home until Tuesday the 16th. Try and follow me here - my period was supposed to start on Thursday the 11th but it ended up starting on Tuesday the 9th. The idea was that I would leave to go home on Wednesday, my period would start on Thursday, then I would come home the next Tuesday, bite the big one and pay the $90 to refill my birth control and start on it again on Thursday (the 18th). However when my period came on Tuesday, I left on Wednesday, and my period ended the following Tuesday, the day I came home. Now the problem was that I was suppose to have time to get home and reorder the prescription and pick it up in time, now there was no way I could pick it up on time. I was going to reorder the prescription online from home, but I forgot that I needed the prescription number which was on the box back home, and I couldn't have Zac look up the prescription number because he was on golf trip in Las Vegas (you can look back for that blog as well). So I had to wait until I got home to reorder the birth control, but of course, the online renewal site was down, and it was too late to call. So I reordered on Wednesday, but it still takes 2 days to fill the order, so we picked it up on Friday and started on the birth control, 3 days late. In the past I have been a day or so late starting my birth control, but we never had any issues so we didn't think that 3 days would really be that big of a deal, even though we have read the instructions with the birth control that say if you are even a day late, the birth control won't be effective for at least a week. Well needless to say, 3 days does make a bigger difference than 1, and well... basically that is the series of events that have led us to my present condition. :)

Well the story continues if you can handle it. At this point in the story we are still unaware of anything obviously. So this brings us to the first week of July, and I stop my birth control for my period. First I should mention here that Zac and I had talked about when we wanted to try and get pregnant, we had kind of unofficially decided that we would start trying in about a year from now, so at this point we were both not really considering getting pregnant, and Zac especially got particularly worried waiting for my period every month. My period usually took about 3 days to start after I stopped my birth control, and every month Zac would worry, freak out, and ask me every day until my period started. So of course July was no exception and Zac asks me everyday if it "has started yet." Days 1- 3... "No, not yet, stop freaking out." Day 4, "Not yet, calm down." Day 5, "How about I tell you when it starts." Day 6, "....um... not yet" Day 7, "okay this is weird, something must be wrong." Now my periods have never been irregular so I was more worried that something was wrong with my menstrual cycle, and that we might face fertility issues in the future.

So we sat and discussed what are were going to do now. Zac wondered if we should take a pregnancy test, he was really freaking out. I was like, "I guess, but there's no way. I think I would know if I was pregnant." (For some dumb reason I thought I would be able to "feel" a baby or something and it didn't even occur to me that most people do actually know by this point because they feel sick. I wasn't feeling sick, so that should have been my reasoning, but alas, I wasn't even smart enough to think of that.) So we decide that we should go rent a movie and get some snacks, and so we might as well pick up a home pregnancy test while we are out. So we picked up our movies and we went to our local Lucky supermarket and picked up a couple snacks and a home pregnancy kit. We got the only one they had which was some e.p.t. 3 for the price of 2 value pack, so we got it and and went home (by the way, at this point I ironically had no idea that e.p.t. stood for error proof test).

Zac was still pretty nervous about the whole situation so he insisted that I take a test before the movie so he could rest at ease. So we read the directions, opened one of the strips and I took the test. This is the result we got:

Now this may look clear to some of you, but we were not so sure. As you can see there is a strong vertical line, but only a faint horizontal line. Obviously if you are pregnant you are suppose to get a positive sign and if you are not you get a negative. Now we figured this looked more like a negative facing the wrong way than it did a positive sign, so we consulted the directions once again to see if the negative could be facing the wrong way. It didn't mention this as a possibile out come; however, we still weren't convinced. So we decided that we needed to take another test to get more definitive results. Now there are two ways to take the test, I tried the pee on the stick method first, and we decided that it was possible that our "odd" result could have been because of the way in which I took the test. So we decided I should try the other method of peeing in a cup this time. This is the result we got:

This test appeared to be a bit more definitive; however, we still weren't completely convinced. I suggested that we could have faulty pee strips or perhaps this could be somebody's idea of a sick joke to tell everyone that they were pregnant or something. So being the good scientists that we are we know that the only way to know for sure was to have a control sample. So Zac has the brilliant idea that he should take our 3rd test. Well I thought this made perfect sense so we went forward with this idea, and this is the result we got:

Apparently Zac was not pregnant. But it was starting to look like I might be. Now most people would be fairly convinced by this very clear negative, but we are not so easily deterred from our mission to prove that I was not pregnant. So the next thing we think of is, "hey this a home pregnancy test, these things are known for giving false positives, right?" So we consult the trusty instruction sheet again for the accuracy rates. This is one of those tests that you can take up to 5 days before your first missed period so it says: at 5 days before- 70%; 3 days before- 80%; 1 day before- 90% and day of- was something like 99.8%. So at 7 days after my missed period, the accuracy was looking to be pretty sure.

However, we were still not convinced. We decided that we needed to take a test at the doctor's office because that would be more accurate. So I emailed my doctor and she ordered the test for me, and about 2 weeks later (a Saturday) I went in and took the test. They told me my results would be posted in my online profile within 24 hours. I checked the next day, but they hadn't posted the results, probably because it was Sunday. I went to work on Monday and I got a call at lunch from my doctor. She asked if I'd checked the results, I told her I hadn't yet that day, and she then informed me that the test was positive, that I was in fact pregnant.

So we finally had no choice but to accept the news and start getting excited about it. Of course it was still hard to believe, but it started becoming a little more believable when I started getting nausea and getting really, really, really tired at about 6 weeks. Then when I went in for my first appointment with my OB/GYN (by the way- it's still the male doctor I was assigned, and it has been a little awkward but I got over it- funny I didn't decide to just get over it sooner). Zac couldn't make the first appointment, and I didn't think it would be a big deal since I heard at 8 weeks the baby is the size of a peanut and doesn't look like anything anyway. But I actually got to see the baby, and it even looked like a tiny little baby! I could see the head, arms, and legs! I could even see and hear the heart beat! I wish Zac could have been there, but at least he got to see the picture:

So basically this story is what I call "Our Path to Believing."

Here are the most recent pictures of little baby Greenhalgh. This is at about 11 weeks. I was amazed at how much bigger it is! Zac got to come with me this time, and it was really nice to share the experience with him. We saw and heard the baby's heartbeat, and we got to see it move around! The little guy (or gal) was going crazy! Doing somersaults rolling around, and we even saw it clapping! So cute! In the first picture the baby is in what the doctor calls the "teddy bear" position. In case you can't tell the head is kind of at the bottom and the arms and legs look like circles- kind of how a teddy bear looks. In the second picture the baby is in profile and you can see its big head on the bottom left.

So if you have made it through my very long detailed story... thank you! I know it was long, but I hope you enjoyed it. All in all Zac and I are still getting used to the idea, but we know this must be what Heavenly Father had in mind for us because this certainly seemed to be our fate. Of course we are like any expecting parents that are excited one moment, and completely terrified the next! This baby is really going to bless our family and we are very excited to bring it into our family! Plus as many of you can imagine my parents (especially my mom) are ecstatic! They are going to be first time grandparents so they are pretty excited. Zac's parents are really excited for us as well, even though this will be their 6th grandchild. Zac's sister Aubree is actually pregnant right now as well, and is about 3 months further along than I am with a little boy, so we are pretty excited that our baby will have a cousin so close in age. Hopefully they will get to be good friends!

We are very excited, and we will certainly keep people updated with pictures of the baby, and probably even of me getting fat. :( Even though I know I will eventually get huge Zac assures me he will be supportive and helpful to me so that I can get back into shape after the baby is born. :) I expect to take him up on that, and have him watch the baby while I go work out. ) Anyway, we know we are very blessed and this baby is just one more way the Lord is continuing to bless our lives. I hope that we can be the kind of parents that our parents were for us, and we can be the kind of parents that the Lord wants us to be.

A Little Rodent Gets Married!

My little sister (who I affectionately refer to as Rodent) got married this summer! Yeah for her! I am so happy for her that she found a really great guy to marry! His name is Kevin, and my whole family thinks he is pretty cool. Especially Zac who loves that now there is another guy to do sports things with, and I am happy so now when we get together for craft weekends Zac will have someone to play with so I can do my crafting! She got married on August 14th, which happens to be the same Friday Zac and I got married on two years ago (only it was the 17th then). It just happens to be the perfect weekend to get married because it gives you a week for a honeymoon and a week to move before school starts, it made sense for us then and so it was natural that it should make sense for them now. Anyway, as you may remember from an early post, I was made the official wedding planner, so I came out a week before the wedding to help plan, design, and prepare for everything that needed to be done. In all honesty though, I still feel a little guilty that I didn't help enough because my sister was at home during my wedding so she probably helped me more overall, but I tried to help as much as I possible could being so far away.

Well the first thing that I did when I got home was actually to drive up to Forks, WA to see my cousin Landon give his farewell talk in church before he left on his mission for 2 years to London, England. I am really happy I got to be there and hear him speak- even if I did have to sing in Sacrament meeting! He is going to make a great missionary and I am so proud of him and his decision to serve the Lord; he will certainly be blessed for it.

This is the cousin flock-shot of all of us who were able to make it. (Bryce, Landon, Kelsey, Christi, Kira, Kayla, and Kandice)

This was all the family that was able to make their way up to the rainforest for the farewell. From what we are told (although I'm not sure I believe it- since I have never seen an all sunny day in Forks) apparently it had been sunny and warm and hadn't rained in Forks in 2 months, but of course the weekend we got there it was cool, rainy, and overcast- go figure right? Anyway after church they had a really great BBQ in their really beautiful backyard, and it was really great to sit and talk with Landon. I am really grateful that I was able to spend this time with him before he left. Any way we left after lunch, and Landon left for the MTC that Thursday.

Then on Monday Kayla, my mom, and I went to the greatest stylest on earth to get our hair cut before the wedding. This is me, with my cute new hair cut, and Kayla with her cute new haircut all up in curlers as they did a practice run for the wedding day hair-do. This is all of us with Melanie our totally awesome stylest. Kevin even came and got his hair cut too! How cute! (Plus I took Zac later that week when he got there and he got his hair cut too. I have been doing it for the last year, and I learned that I have been doing it all pretty darn wrong! Now if only I can remember everything she taught me so I can give Zac a better haircut!)

After that we went and got manicures and pedicures so that we could all be picture perfect for the big day!

We like to make it a big group event. This is Sandy, Linda Lyons, Kevin (yes even Kevin got a mani and pedi!), Sheila, Kayla, and Kira. Its always fun to get pampered!

After that Sandy (Lexy's mom) held a Hadenfeld/ McKay party for Kayla and Kevin. The Hadenfelds have been very close family friends for like 18 years so they were pretty bummed that they wouldn't be able to go to Kayla's wedding so they held a little party to celebrate before they left. This is Audrey (Britney's mom), Britney and myself at the party.

The next day was a long day of bridal pictures with my cousin Alan. Alan took all my wedding pictures too, and he is so awesome!!! I have gotten so many compliments on our engagement, bridal, and wedding pictures. Alan is an amazing photographer, and I would definitely recommend him to anyone and everyone! Of course Kayla was Alan's assistant and my wedding dress fixer, so naturally it was my turn to return the favor and hold the reflector to shine light in all the right places, and make Kayla look absolutely luminous! I got to arrange the dress train, try to keep if from getting dirty, and fix the flyaway strands of hair. Alan took some amazing pictures, and I am sure he will win more photo contests with them! (He won a photo contest with a photo he took from our wedding.) Here are just a few of his amazing pictures!

The next day was a lot of wedding day preparation like planning the table decorations, Aunt Linda making the cake, and Aunt Bibi and her daughter Alysia making all the flower arrangements. And in the evening we went to the the temple for Kayla to take out her endowments. It was a really great experience to get to do that with my sister. After that we had a huge dinner at the Olive Garden which was fun for the good company and good food!

On Thursday we did more wedding prep during the day, Zac came the day before for the endowment session, and he took the opportunity to go golfing at a really nice golf course on this day since he isn't really into the whole sewing and crafting thing. :) And later in the evening some of the guys went to go see a movie; and my dad, Kevin, some of his friends, and Zac went bowling while us "women folk" had a bridal shower for Kayla. Britney Holland, one of my best friends since 5th grade also happens to be like an older sister to Kayla, and thus Britney and my other best friend Lexy (another pseudo-older sister) were two of Kayla's bridesmaids. I certainly tired to help Britney with the shower, but I was definitely over stretched this week, so in all honesty she did pretty much everything! So thanks Britney for everything you did! It was a ton of fun for Kayla and for all who attended!

Well that brings us to the big day! Friday August 14th was the day of the wedding! The wedding was at the Portland temple, and the ceremony was beautiful and wonderful. You certainly take in a whole lot more when its someone else's wedding. I remember I really liked what the sealer said at our wedding, I just can't remember exactly what it was. Anyway, the ceremony was great, the sealer was inspired and Kayla was beautiful!

The first picture is the bridesmaids and sisters: Lexy, Nabphreet, Britney Holland, Kayla, Britney (Kevin's sister), and Kira. The second picture is the bridesmaids again.

This is the groomsmen and brothers: Kevin, his 3 friends (I didn't really catch their names, you'll have to see Kayla's blog for that info), Zac (yes the short one- poor Zac- he really isn't that short, its just Kevin and all his friends are really tall!), and James (Kevin's sister Britney's husband).

Here is a few pictures of Kayla with me and my mom and dad.

The happy couple.

Here are some pictures from the reception. It was held at Vancouver Lake Park, the same place where we had my reception. We already had all the table cloths (even though we found out once we got there that they shrunk about a half a foot from being washed! We made it work though- duct tape works wonders!) the park was a beautiful really great location so it made sense to have Kayla's there as well. I designed the table decorations for Kayla's tables too and I think they turned out pretty nice so I thought I would include a few pictures of those. :)

All in all the wedding was beautiful, and it ran so smoothly! Luckily for Kayla we worked out a lot of the kinks at my wedding! (My wedding was great and we didn't have any real problems, but we worked out the timing a little better for Kayla's wedding.) I am so proud of my sister for finding such a great guy and for being prepared to marry him in the House of the Lord for time and all eternity. I know she is going to be so happy and I wish her and Kevin all the best as they start this new chapter in their lives together!

P.S. The Monday after we got back was the 17th of August, which marked 2 wonderful years of marriage to my best friend! Zac and I have been so blessed, and we are so grateful and thank the Lord everyday for the many ways he has and continues to bless our lives. We have a beautiful apartment with everything we need, two working cars, good jobs, and best of all wonderful families and each other. I am so lucky to have Zac in my life, he is truly my best friend and I couldn't imagine my life without him! Happy 2 years to us!

Summer vacation: Johnson Family Reunion

This summer our main vacation was a trip to southern Oregon for my mom's side of the family. The trip was in June in southern Oregon near Grant's Pass, OR. We spent half a day driving up to the cabin, and got in about 10 o'clock and I was immediately pulled into the baby shower being thrown for my cousin Shannon. After that we stayed up and did a card swap; luckily for me, my mom made my cards for me, but I got some really great ideas for when I do some cards of my own!

The next day we had a very fun action packed day! The first thing we did was a very fun rafting trip down the Rouge River. We got these spray guns, and believe me we got our full use out of a $14 PVC pipe- pump squirt gun! We had a full on family war, and Kevin (Kayla's fiance) was quickly initiated into just how much fun our family really is!

After the rafting trip we drove back to the cabin for a shower and quick dinner before taking the hour and a half drive out to a zip line course. It was a lot of fun, although the regular zip line wasn't all that impressive, and the guides seemed more interested that we have "perfect form" rather than actual fun; however, the part after the regular zip line course was when the real fun began. We did what they call the "Tarzan Swing." Basically you are hooked into a harness, then that harness is hooked to a rope that pulls you 50ft straight up in the air where you hold onto a trapeze swing, and when they give the okay you let go and fall into a long pendulum swing. I'm not going to lie, I was absolutely terrified my first time! But the second swing was less scary and more fun. Zac loved every bit of it, as did my mom, and my sister had the oddest reaction, which was to laugh the whole swing. She actually got made fun more than me for her laugh than I did for my shriek of terror!

The next day Zac and I went with my parents, and Kayla and Kevin to a wildlife rehabilitation center and saw a lot of animals that had been saved and given a new home. We saw a raccoon, badger, cougars, wolves, black bears, a grizzly bear, all kinds of owls, eagles, and hawks, and a lynx. It was really cool and a lot of fun.

After the wildlife refuge center we drove south to the city of Ashland for the Shakespeare festival. We had a really nice lunch there and walked around admiring the cute charm of the town.

After that we drove back toward the cabin, but along the way we stopped for a little nature walk with my cousin Alysia, her husband Topher, and their little daughter Grace. It wasn't quite the "botanical garden walk" we thought it was going to be from the name, but it was pretty, and we had a nice walk.

The next day we cleaned up and packed up our stuff because it was time to check out of the cabin. But before we could leave we had to take some family pictures. No Johnson family reunion is complete without family pictures. Since Zac and I weren't able to leave until 2 days after the actual reunion started we missed the official whole family picture day, and it would depend on who you asked whether this was a good thing or bad thing. Much is of my family is a "bit" impatient and the whole picture taking session is only slightly less than torture for them. However, it was a shame that we didn't get to be in the big family picture. We did get some of us and my family though.

After that we drove a little north to go to Crater Lake National Park. Zac had never been there before, and even though I have, I was pretty young, so it was pretty much a whole new experience for both of us. It was very beautiful and scenic; however, the mosquitoes were in full force and were absolutely terrible! We drove to a few lookouts that night before we decided that we were done being mosquito bait. We went back to the campground and set up camp in my parents' cozy little trailer. Some other families joined us in the campground, and it was fun to get to spend more time with them. My cousins: Alan, Jen, and their two kids; Emily, Jared, and their 3 boys; Alysia, Topher, and their daughter; and Dacia, Joe, and their daughter, all camped at the campground with us. We all enjoyed taking shifts in the trailer for dinner, and trying to stay away from those pesky little bugs!

The next day our family decided to go for a hike down to the lake. We wanted to take the ferry out to Wizard Island in the middle of the lake; however, we didn't find out until we got all the way to the bottom that the ferry wasn't running for the season yet. Oh well. It was still a nice hike down, and I specify down, because it was a pretty steep hike back up that wasn't nearly as enjoyable for me! Although Zac said he actually prefers going up steep inclines, than going down steep inclines, so I guess it wasn't as bad for him, but he is also in better shape than me so he had that going for him as well!

After that we headed to the Visitor's Center where I found some very cute jewelry, then we headed to the showers that I was totally craving! I was covered in oily bug spray and desperately wanted a shower! Needless to say I was a much happier camper after my shower.

After that my family continued on northward, but it was time for Zac and me to head southward towards home. On our way home we managed to find the same Denny's that we stopped at on our first drive down from my parent's house when we first moved to San Jose, it was a fun little trip down memory lane. Over all it was a very fun trip even if it was too short and packed full! It was so great to see all my immediate and extended family! I love my family so much and I absolutely love getting to see all of them and spending time with them! I love that my family has these reunions every two years. Family is so important, and I love that my family values family so much to put forth all the effort and work that it takes to plan these reunions every two years!