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?!