an evergreen dream

remember our plans from my last post?

seriously in one week, we've been able to cross off everything on the list besides the popping out a kid part.

*Christmas in Texas and try not to die driving there from ut (plan changed)

*brett finds a job

*we move wherever brett finds a job

*i pop out a kid

since leaving rexburg on the sunday after graduation things have been a whirlwind.
we said good riddance to rexburg on sunday and made our way down to utah with brett's parents.  they have helped us tremendously with our move and we've been so grateful for them.  there was a potential job for brett down in tooele, ut and so far the phone interviews brett has had with the company have gone really well.  so it was sort of safe to assume that he got the job, but still, it wasn't for sure.
but since we were going to texas for Christmas we wanted to dump our stuff in tooele, and if the job didn't work out we figured we'd be in ut anyways and can simply move our stuff outta there.
monday we hung out in tooele exploring the town and putting our stuff in storage.
tuesday was brett's actual face to face interview with the company in tooele which right after that they sent brett to salt lake city for another interview with the district manager.  brett felt the interviews went really well and felt confident about getting the job.  they were gonna let him know at least by Christmas whether he got the job or not.  feeling like we were done with what we needed to do in ut we started heading down to texas that evening.  we got to spanish fork and brett got a call.
HE GOT THE JOB!
but there was a small catch.  they wanted brett to start monday, dec 27th, which meant we couldn't go to texas for Christmas.  definitely a bittersweet moment.  we were absolutely thrilled and relieved brett got a job but we were a bit bummed we weren't gonna go to texas and see my little nieces and nephews.  i was really excited to have a texas Christmas and have nice warm weather for once.  i got a little teary.  the reason why they wanted brett to start early was so that the health insurance could kick in sooner than if he were to start in jan.  we viewed it as sacrificing our Christmas plans so that our baby can have the health insurance he needs.  Merry Christmas baby boy!   but now what do we do?  we headed back to salt lake city and asked brett's bro darren if we could spend Christmas with his family in bear lake.  we haven't seen them in a while either so it would've been fun to see them again.       

wednesday since we knew for sure we were going to be living to tooele we needed to find a place to live and fast!  since leaving rexburg we've been staying in hotels and i started to feel a little homeless.  just driving around tooele there were a few apt complexes but turns out they were either in a really bad part of town or were senior homes.  we went to a real estate agent and she found us this really nice 3 bedroom 1 1/2 bath townHOME for a pretty good deal for rent.  we couldn't believe it, brett just got the job the day before and we were gonna be getting a little house of our own?!  it still feels too good and too fast to be true.  we thought we're just gonna get a small apt but a house sounds SO much nicer!  especially now that we're gonna have a baby soon.
thursday we finalized the rent and we get to move in tomorrow, wed the 29th.
friday brett and i made our way to bear lake for Christmas Eve and this was the view on the way.

the evergreen dream
idk if these are evergreen though
but whatever

 it was so beautiful and Christmas Eve with darren's family was really nice.  we're really grateful they took us in for the holidays and let us be a part of their family traditions.  every Christmas we've had since we've been married haven't been too bad and we've been too poor to really get each other something.  our plans ALWAYS change the last minute yet we manage to spend Christmas with some family, which is always important to me (also eating a lot is important to me).  we still haven't been able to spend Christmas with my own family and i hope that will be next year.
saturday-Christmas morning, even though brett and i were too poor to get each other presents, i find it such a joy to watch my nieces and nephews open their presents.  it's the cutest thing seeing how excited they are and i get excited knowing one day i'll get to see the joy on my kids' sweet faces on Christmas morning!  but i'd still want a little something for me brett!


wasn't that such a freakin busy week?
we've stayed in 4 different hotels since leaving rexburg and have had many high and a few low points.
so much worrying as to whether brett would get the job, where we'll live, where we're gonna have the baby, etc etc.
with everything that's happened this past week we've been counting our many many blessings and i'm so grateful brett was in tune with the spirit when He told him we should move to utah.

here's my sweet boy on his first day of work.

he's so excited for his new job.

oh yeah, the company is WELLS FARGO and he's a personal banker!!

i'm so proud of him.

p.s. we also have a name picked out for my other sweet little boy...

brett's grand grad weekend

the time has come for brett to end his hard work with school and graduate so we could get the crap out of rexburg.

and at byui they split up the graduation ceremonies according to your degree so brett's graduation festivities was an entire weekend affair.

(pics were taken by our sweet friend steve moa!)

     brett's convocation where steve and i attacked brett with candy leis that steve had made for brett.

it's a polynesian thang and it was really sweet of him to make em, pretty sure brett was freakin surprised!  haha  brett was blingin out in candy (which is a great road trip goody)

 brett's dear parents.  their last one in the family has grown up and graduated with a degree!

 steve and gwen and baby sienna!

we freakin miss them so much

i am so proud of my man.  all those long nights with his study group, takin tests and reading powerpoint stuff when he coulda been at home with his barfing woman.  i love him so much! 

 our other awesome friends, robert and raffaela, who we miss so freakin much too.



 hangin out with santa claus AKA gwen's dad.  he grows his beard out every Christmas and does "gigs and appearances" all over rexburg and has done so for 13 years!  this is as close to a mall santa as you can get in rexburg, except he's not creepy.

 baby sienna is about 8 weeks now and she is just the sweetest thing.  and she has these BEAUTIFUL deep blue eyes!  which isn't what we were expecting cuz of steve's togan looks.  she's a beautiful baby!

 the BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY IDAHO CENTER.  this is the thing they've been building for years and i remember in my freshman year that it was just a big hole in the ground.  it looks so similar to the conference center in SLC and holds just 6,000 less.  brett was part of the first class to have graduated in this building!  pretty cool, just one of the good memories we'll have from rexburg.

 our good friend sarah who brett grew up with in texas.  she and her hubby, jared, graduated together!  so cute. i didn't realize till i saw this pic that i'm starting to bust at the seams!  holy crap, i really wouldn't have worn this sweater when you can see the uneven button line.  another thing to throw into the "can't fit into this right now" pile. 

 when brett got his cap and gown, i thought he sorta looked like

*a dementor from harry potter

*a judge

*or a hogwarts professor from harry potter

but he did look cute.

 we're truly grateful for the sweet friends that we've made in rexburg, the lessons we've learned in school, the fact that we met here and spent the first 2 years of our marriage and found out we're pregnant and the memories we'll just always have.

but peace out rexburg.  hopefully if we come back it'll be in 20 years dropping our kid off to school if they wanna come here.

so what's next for the caldwells??

*Christmas in Texas and try not to die driving there from ut

*brett finds a job

*we move wherever brett finds a job

*i pop out a kid

i think that sounds like a good plan yeah?

brett's joined the quarter club!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to BRETT!!

brett turns 25 today and i'm just so blessed to have him.

you may remember his very eventful birthday party from last year.

 all he really wanted for his birthday this year was a ton of snow, we got a little bit yesterday but that just wasn't enough for him, the weirdo.

not being able to provide him the obscene amount of snow he wants i had to think of something else to get him.  he's one of the hardest people to get a present for.  i think it's also a man thing.

also being insanely poor right now i just wanted to get him a little something.  i scooted on over to walmart and got him a cute card and his fav candy

candy always wins his heart.

to celebrate his birth we hung out with our sweet friends steve and gwen last night and played his fav game

have any of you played this?  it's not like all those other board games out there and makes you strategize like crazy.  i slaughtered everyone including the birthday boy. we also ate some peanut butter chocolate cake we got from the grocery store.

all in all i think brett enjoyed his simple birthday and i didn't even take pics, i'm usually good at capturing the moments but it was such a relaxing time i didn't even think about it.

today's (his actual birthday day) events-

ward Christmas program and i spilled orange juice.

at least firemen and the police didn't come like last year's birthday bash!

happy birthday brett, i love you so much and i'm grateful to have an amazing husband who's so patient with me so far in this pregnancy.

i think you'll be a great baby daddy!

it's been confirmed we're not having a gargoyle

leading up to the appt today i've just been so nervous as i stated in my last post.  brett came home from school saying "its not like you're going to take a test and you're gonna fail or we're gonna find out there's a puppy inside or anything."

true dat true dat.

but i was getting so nervous cuz i realized that this is such a huge thing!  finding out the sex of your baby, something that will change your life!!  well that's how i see it.

i was smiling the entire time they did the ultrasound.  i find it relaxing sitting in their big comfy chair while they browse my tummy in the dark room and they measure every little thing on the screen.  seeing all the organs of the baby was so neat and just seeing that little heart beating always makes me smile REAL big!  and when it came time to see the gender we were just in awe that it was a boy!  seriously i NEVER would have thought that.  i really thought it was gonna be a girl anyways cuz of the tale "if you're really sick then you'll most likely have a girl" but that just went out the window for me. 

 brett is completely thrilled that it's a boy and we can't help but think of a sweet little boy running around on a baseball field.  i'm actually super excited that i get to watch my x-men cartoons with my little man!

ohhhhhhh yeahhhhhhh

i'm gonna douse my boy in dinosaurs and x-men while brett plans on doin sports with him.

we'll need to get one of these.

 seeing the spine was just the weirdest thing.

reminded me of a dinosaur.

 19 weeks!  i'm starting to really feel my dino boy move around and i'm lovin that feeling!

 i'm REALLLLLLY hoping he comes out looking like this.

with a little bit of this thrown in.

last december and a pop o' color

holy crap.

we only have 2 weeks left here in rexburg idaho!!!!  brett's FINALLY graduating this semester and he just needs to do his internship next semester.  he's walking the byui stage then we're drivin outta idaho.  we honestly just don't know where to.  we're for sure going to texas for Christmas but from then on, who freakin knows.  brett's waiting to hear from some companies about some possible job opportunities and we're really hoping to hear from them soon.  i've been feeling a little stressed not knowing where exactly we'll be going esp now that we'll be having a baby in a few months.  i had my heart set on moving to texas but brett had a feeling he should try utah also.  we're in Heavenly Father's hands and we trust in Him COMPLETELY.

the city covered in snow for months out of the year starts looking bleak to me.  rexburg really sucks at clearing the roads and i find it HORRIFYING to drive.  brett one time took me to the empty church parking lot to practice/get used to swerving in the snow and what happened?  we got stuck. 

yup i'm done with idaho.

 

we went grocery shopping at albertsons and after you check out they had this cart of really pretty flowers they were just giving away! 

 and i chose these cuties.  i'm def a summer girl and i need my colors!

we find out the sex of the baby on tuesday!!  i can't believe that time is here already and i'm actually REALLY nervous.  i've been having dreams that the baby either didn't show us the goods or that something horrible happened with the baby.  also not being sick so much and just feeling little jabs here and there,  i'm often afraid that something's not in there anymore.  i'm such a worry wart anyways and with how big i'm feeling i'm sure there's still a little gargoyle in there.  i've heard of mommies having a "feeling" as to what gender their babies are but i don't really have such predictions.  i just know with brett's family track record it'll be a girl and with my aunt and grandma's filipino ancient wives tales they think it'll be a boy.  idk.  any guesses as to what the baby's gonna be?!   

a filipino thanksgiving in utah

our thanksgiving was such a freakin blast.  we went down to my aunt's and grandparent's in spanish fork, ut.  and along the way we had to make a few stops.  we stopped by brett's brother mike and his wife stacy's house in kayesville.  we had a good time chattin it up as always and stacy gave us a cute baby blanket and a baby book.  it's a little weird starting to collect baby stuff, it's just starting to feel a bit more real.

then i just HAD to stop by and see one of my bestest friends, ailinh.  she was one of my first friends in the ward and we worked together at the crappy wal-mart here.  she popped out 2 of the cutest baby boys ever and i miss living so close to her!  while brett had lunch with a friend, ailinh took me to a thai restaurant.  it was suuuuuuuper delish and i had such a wonderful time catching up with her over curry chicken.  droool.   

                                                            hot little mama and her boys

                      baby bennett!  last i saw him he was just a newborn!  now he sho is a chunkster

birthday buddies, me and porter.  we tight.

ailinh wanted to do crafts after lunch so we made these amazingly easy little Christmas trees made of styrofoam and scrapbook paper.
i love ailinh for her creativity and craftiness.

this was mine, pretty sure this is the only Christmas decor i have out in our apt.  everything's all packed up and we'll be going to texas for Christmas this year so why put out tons of holiday deco?

mmmm i LOVE this girl, she's my asian sista from anotha mista.

then it was on to spanish fork.  i love spending time with my filipino family, where my grandma feeds us constantly (which helps out my filipino food cravings) and where my sweet auntie jinky opens up her home and always makes sure we have what we need.  and thanksgiving with filipinos includes the traditional american dressings along with the filipino staples, lumpia and pancit.  masarap!

my little cuz tristan, his shirt speaks truth

my boy and i, he's such a good sport when it comes to my family.  he's still getting used to my family and the different culture and i think he's doing just fine!

my sis kyla and her hubs travis, my sweet grandparents, and bored tristan.

i'm so happy kyla and travis was able to come up for thanksgiving.  kyla and i often didn't get along when we were younger but now we are just best friends.  whenever we get together we love making the other hysterically laughing.  i like making kyla laugh till she has an asthma attack, that's how much i love her.

brett and travis also got the chance to bond by going out shooting leaving us girls to do our thang, like our nails.  which by the way i was able to buy kyla and i O.P.I nail polish at trade secret, 2 for just $4.50!!  for real.

anywayzzzzz we made it back to suxburg with horrible road conditions and freezing temperatures.  brett has 3ish weeks left of school and we're OUTTA HERE!!  we just don't know where yet...

we also find out our little baby's gender in 1 1/2 weeks.

i'm super thankful for my darling and sweet husband who takes the best care of me, a family who's so supportive and loving, friends who are always there for me, a place to sleep, a healthy baby continually growing inside me, food to eat, the gospel in our lives, the temple, and for our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ who loves me SOOOOOOO much.

i truly do love my life, no matter how much you may hear me complain about dumb crap.

harry potter lovin



just came back from seein harry potter and the deathly hallows (part 1)!!

i'm a hardcore fan since the beginning, more a fan of the books than the movies.  the movies are just something fun for me to watch and see how they adapted the book.

i'm usually one of THOSE people who love going to the midnight showings (never did dress up though) but this time being with child i'm learning that the baby doesn't really let me do a lot of the things i used to do before and it controls my sleep schedule now.  that's pretty much how parenthood's gonna be huh?

anywho, the movie was really good i thought and i won't give anything away telling you about it.  but this penultimate segment of the series was more of an explanation than a lot of action.  i dragged brett with me and we also had steve and gwen along with us.  they all haven't read the book and i could tell with them that the movie seemed a bit slow.  def reading the book has helped, knowing it's gonna be action packed and in your face in the next segment, which is coming out next july 15th!!  so yeah this film did pretty good explaining the story as to what the deathly hallows are and the characters' involvment with them.

effects were amazing, which seemed to get better with each movie.  one thing i'm a little tiffed at is this one scene featuring 2 of the main characters harry and hermione.  it's a scene thats totally in the book but it's just how they portrayed it and i thought it was a little inappropriate and weird.  i'm sure a lot of you have heard of the "controversial scene" already.  i'm not really offended, just annoyed the producers felt the need to film it that way.  i read an article saying that perhaps the last harry potter film needs to have the same "stylized and romantic" crap twilight has i guess.  lame, yeah i've never seen twilight but from what i've heard about it, it sounds lame.  also with the harry potter movies, i think harry could've been a lot hotter.  and i've felt that way since film one.

now that the final HP movies are coming out i want to get the WHOLE set (ALL 7 films) on BLU-RAY.  we don't have a blu-ray player yet but i know it's gonna be so sick watching it on one.  i know the HP set's gonna cost like, a million dollars, but that'll be my year present-birthday, mother's day? , half birthday, and Christmas.

nerd signing off. 

thankful for my parents

today, i'm SUPER grateful for my darling and cute parents.

they love my sisters and i so much and they were and still are the best parents.

anytime i need help they're there for me.

my mom ALWAYS answers the phone when i am in dire need, such as what i should make for dinner that night or when i have an urgent question pertaining to my rapidly changing pregnant body.

when my parents first had me my dad worked 2 jobs so that my mom could stay home and take care of me.  they also didn't wanna have to put me in some kind of daycare. 

and i will always be so grateful for that.

and now that i'm pregnant i look back often on how my parents raised me and i hope to be as good a parent as they were.

i have such hardcore dedicated parents and have always felt truly blessed to have them.

(i can't wait to see them as grandparents, i know for sure they're gonna spoil the crap outta my kids.)

a little heartbeat

15 weeks.

today i had a baby appointment and it was my third one so far.  we didn't do an ultrasound this time but we got to listen to the heartbeat again.  and it feels SOO good to hear it.  it was fast and really healthy.  we could also hear some other thumps which turned out to be the baby kicking!  i couldn't feel the kicks at the time but i swear i've felt a few at night when i'm lying still in bed.  one time i sneezed and right after were these 3 little "knocks" in my tummy.  the feeling of being pregnant as of right now i would describe as a really big toot that just won't come out.  sleeping has been really uncomfortable.  nausea isn't as bad now that i'm in my 2nd trimester but i still have my barfy days.  seriously i'd rather have it once in a while than every freaking day.  also as of right now the random bouts of dizziness has been sucking.  next baby appointment we find out what we're having. eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

being the month of thanks, everytime i blog i shall end with something i'm thankful for.

and today, i'm extremely thankful for a healthy fetus and its strong heartbeat.  ♥