Last Night in Provo

I don't want to be packed up!

Well, we're moving. Where to? Still don't know. All we know is that we're spending the holidays in Nova Scotia (hooray) and that we're waiting to hear about job offers.... Patient, my young padowan (spelling?). Surprisingly, I'm not too nervous. Maybe it's because all I can think about is how excited I am for Christmas in Canada with Ethan.

"Touched by such tiny hands, and oh, such tiny feet."

In early November 2008 we found out we were pregnant! Before seeing a doctor for a definite due date, I plugged in the dates online to get an idea of when to expect our first born.... and what date did it pop out? July 25th, our wedding date!!! Eventually, I got a more accurate due date of July 15th. :)

We were both hoping for a girl and were a little shocked when we found out it was a boy... but by the next day we were in love with our little future Ethan and haven't looked back since.

For one of my art classes I had to take a self portrait and couldn't pass up the chance to show off my startings of a belly. Little did I know just how big I would get!!

By the end of my pregnancy, I had gained a whopping 50lbs! I just knew he was going to be a big baby. And then there was the puppps.... it's a rare rash that forms in only 1% of pregnancies and yep, I had it! It starts on your belly and is like little lines of hundreds of mosquito bites. It makes it impossible to sleep or wear clothing because the slightest touch will cause the rash to flare up and itch like the dickens!!! By far, the worst part of my pregnancy... even worse than labor. No joke. It eventually spread to cover my whole body, even in between my fingers and toes.

I was so ready for Ethan to come. The rash was relentless and would only go away after he was born. The morning of my due date, my water broke and we headed to the hospital. I was exhausted to begin with since the rash had kept me from sleeping for days. But after 12 hours of labor, Ethan was born! 8lbs 13oz and a full head of dark beautiful hair.

The next 2 months were quite a challenge for me. My mom stayed with us for the first week and after that I was completely alone. Motherhood was different than I expected (duh) but I was determined to get through the rough beginning patch. Ethan was a GREAT infant! Rarely cried and loved to lay in the grass. We would spend most of our time taking walks and sitting on the lawn. 

After 2 months, I was completely recovered from whatever emotional hinderances I had felt and loved waking up in the morning looking forward to my day with Ethan. He's so much fun! Through the fall we would still take daily walks and I loved teaching him about the beautiful sights around him. He learned to smile and then laugh and (his favorite) constantly stick out his tongue. 

As Ethan grows older his personality is shining through. He's in love with his dad who can make him laugh just by looking at him. He loves to play with his feet and stand up and reach for things. We are in absolute LOVE with our baby, he makes us head over heels happy every single day!

Honeymooners!

Ha! So, funny story. When trying to decide where we should go for our honeymoon, Jon was listing of some potential locations to me. He listed Florida and I promptly stated that I DID NOT want to ever go to Florida. He was bummed and I immediately realized that, yep, he had already booked our trip to Florida thinking that I would love it. Well, after some thinking and time, I eventually got excited about the idea. It turned out to be great! Never really want to go there again but, hey, it was an adventure... our adventure. :)

By far the most fun we had was at the beach, boogie-boarding. There was constant overcast, which made it hard to get a much needed tan. I saw a dolphin fin, mistook it for a shark fin, and almost ran out of the water yelling "Shark, shark!" I could have spent the entire honeymoon on that beach, it was so much fun. 

We also went to some of the parks: Disney World, Sea World, and Busch Gardens. Sea World was our favorite, the shows were awesome. I fulfilled my dream of meeting all the princesses and we also enjoyed all the perks of wearing our "just married" pins and bride and groom mickey hats. 

Two receptions and a wedding

We had a PREception in Nova Scotia in Jon's church cultural hall. Although I loved planning my wedding, I was happy that Jon's mum took charge of the Canada reception. It was beautifully decorated in lighthouse and seashell decor to remind us of Peggy's Cove. Jon's family is GREAT! My parents came up to Canada with us which was a lot of fun. We spent most of our time kayaking on Jon's lake and lighting fireworks off his dock. Oh, and United almost made me show up to our reception naked... as in, they lost our luggage which included my wedding dress! Grrrrr.

Our first dance... I forgot to pin up my train and well, you can guess what happened next.

Yep, we fell, in front of everyone.... it was awesome.

Wedding day! July 25th, 2008. Timpanogos Temple.... 93 degrees outside.

We had our second reception in Boise in my parent's backyard. As per my request with had different flavors of lemonade and scones. We also had a family friend, Anita, make food from Ecuador (MY FAVORITE) for everyone who was setting up. It was perfect outside and my family had a blast! 

Will you be my bride?

It was my first time to Nova Scotia. We had been looking at rings before and I had chosen one but was told by Jon that it wouldn't be done in time for our trip. I was sad but kept my hopes up that he was hiding something. The day after Christmas, Jon took me around to see the sites he grew up with. We went to downtown Halifax and visited the temple. The last place he took me to was Peggy's Cove. It was incredibly beautiful, red moss growing on the smooth rocks, a lighthouse and the vivid sunset. For Christmas, Jon had tricked me into thinking he had gotten the ring by giving me a jewelry box. It ended up being a pair of earrings, a Mi Kmaq symbol meaning bride. So now, we are standing there FREEZING but enjoying the beauty of the surroundings and I mess the whole thing up.... I have a habit of putting my hand in his pockets for warmth. Welp, there was a ring box in his pocket and I immediately pulled my hand out, realizing what I had just blown. He smoothly pulled the ring box out, got down on one knee and said "Tara, will you be my bride?" Of course, I got teary-eyed and said yes. :) It was a great day. My favorite part was the drive home. An hour to ourselves, no cell phone reception to distract us, holding his hand with a new edition to my finger. :)

Here are a couple of our engagement photos. We took them in May, when the trees were blossoming.

Our favorite dates

This was my first time meeting almost all of Jon's family. We drove all the way to Regina, Saskatchewan (Jon will never let me forget the fact that I only drove for half an hour the whole trip). I was greeted by his sisters saying "Hello, you must be Jon's girlfriend. You'll be sleeping in a bed with me tonight." Ha!

One of our all time favorite dates was to a demolition derby for the 4th of July. Here is a pic of one of the cars in all it's hickness glory. "Your it"... I love it.

We went on a white water rafting trip with friends. I mostly love this pic because it shows off my guns! Jon also loves it because it looks like someone is scratching his head.

Stake Hoe Down. Don't we just look HOT?

My birthday falls on Dr. Suess' birthday and so it's tradition to have green eggs and ham.

Freak snow storm in March + trash bags = Midnight FUN!

Celebrating our 1 year dating anniversary at temple square.

Next post: Engagement story!

Hooray, we have a blog!

I'm so excited to start blogging on a regular basis! There's so much stuff that has led up to this moment, it's going to take a while to post everything. I'm just going to throw tid bits in here and there.

So... let's start at the beginning. Our dating days! Gah, seems like just yesterday. Our first date was to Arby's (classy, I know) after our BYU Men/Women's Chorus concert in Fall of 2005. I remember we played the "this or that" game. For example, I would ask "summer or winter" and Jon would state his preference and why.

That's it for now, more to come soon!!!