Second Baby Bumpdate: 24 Weeks

How Far Along? 24 weeks. 6 months, people!! Ahh!

Maternity Clothes? Yes! Always and forever. If I'm not in leggings and a tunic then I'm in a dress, and if it's neither of those two, then you'll likely find me in Steve's basketball shorts and one of his USU t-shirts. I've gotten big fast so I have like a solid 5 shirts and 3 dresses that I rotate through. 

Sleep? Not the highlight of my life these days. It's hard to get comfy and I'm constantly wanting to roll on my back. I also have been getting major leg cramps in my sleep so I have to stand up a few times a night to work out the charley horse that's eating my calves. 

Best moment this week? Being able to work a 35 hour week and feel great! A few weeks ago, my back would be super achey by the end of my work day but I think I'm building some muscle and endurance! I feel so lucky to still be feeling so good.

Worst moment this week? I was going to take of my gloves this week and put them in the trash, but dropped them on my way so bent over to pick them up. My patient in his chair said "Woah! It's very impressive that you can bend over that well!" Thank you sir, but I'm only 24 weeks, so you actually just ruined my day.

Movement: Little man is definitely a mover and shaker! I feel him all day but then he goes wild at night. I can feel his kicks strong but haven't caught a good time for Steve to feel him yet! Crossing my fingers that it's soon cause it's the funnest thing! 

Food Cravings: Ice water. Always! I just crave freezing cold water. And Cinnamon Life cereal. 

Food Aversions:  Not necessarily. There are definitely things that just don't sound good but I don't feel sick thinking about eating them.

Gender: Still a boy! And it's taking all my self control to not buy ALL of the baby clothes! I have officially scowered every Old Navy baby clearance section in all of Utah County. 

What I'm looking forward to: A super fun month of July! My parents will be in town, we're going on a few fun vacations and I'll have a couple weeks off work!

First Baby Bumpdate: 18 Weeks

How Far Along? 18 weeks

Maternity Clothes? Yes! Maternity leggings are my new favorite thing and I'm finally showing enough to make the gathered sidings of maternity shirts actually useful.

Sleep? Besides having to get up at least 3 times during the night to use the bathroom, sleep is good! I've always been a back or tummy sleeper so switching to sleeping on my side was an adjustment, but once I figured out how to tuck pillows where, I'm comfy!

Best moment this week? I set a goal to read the whole Book of Mormon again before the baby comes, and I just started up this morning! My scripture study has been so sporadic lately..mostly topical and different every day, so it was refreshing to open up and begin the near and dear familiar story in 1st Nephi! Steve and I are so adamant about centering our lives on Christ, and I want this baby to see from the very beginning that his mama loves her Savior and the scriptures.

Movement: Just barely! The only times I've felt it is when I'm laying really still at night, but it hasn't been very often yet. Excited to be feeling more!

Food Cravings: Apples and crunch peanut butter. It's always been a favorite snack of mine, but I have to have it every day lately! And water. Give me all the water, I feel constantly dehydrated.

Food Aversions: I went to make chicken noodle soup this week and could NOT bring myself to deal with raw chicken, even just to throw it in the crockpot. I ended up buying pre-cooked, pre-shredded chicken that you can just heat up & it was a life saver.

Anything making you queasy? Besides my prenatal vitamin that's made me want to hurl every day for the last 4 months, and a few geriatric patients with rank breath, I haven't had any problems!

Gender: BOY! We had our gender ultrasound last week (at McSketchVille USA in the mall..ahh) and it was no question that this one is a little man! We were going to wait a while longer before our doctor would do it, but we had just finished a weekend of babysitting our favorite kids and the 2 year old, Cannon, was Steve's little shadow all weekend, he would not leave his side! We got home Sunday night and as we were laying in bed, Steve said, "Abbs, I need a little boy. Even if it's not this baby, at some point, I need a little boy." It melted me..& we went and found out the next day. When the words "It's A Boy!" popped up on the ultrasound screen, I immediately started crying and the grin that slapped on Steven's face still hasn't left. 

What I'm looking forward to: The sun finally getting out and being outside! I always feel so much better when I can be outside and get a little sunshine and vitamin D. 

It's a Baby!

Coming this fall! Baby Jensen due October 10, 2016.

Steve and I are beyond excited to become parents and are grateful for a healthy little one. We prayed this baby here and waited a while to see those 2 lines, so we are ecstatic that it's finally our time!

I have a hard time thinking about anything else. Thoughts about this baby and our quickly changing lives consume my thoughts all day every day! Our list of names is growing and shrinking and nearly every dinner, nighttime, morning conversation Steve and I have revolves around the tiny lime-sized baby in there.

I am so excited to be a mama. Can't wait to meet you, little one.

xoxo Abby

Sister Richards

I have sat down at my computer so many times in the last week and a half to write this post and have either walked away in tears or have written so much that I want to keep special to me in my own journal. It's been just under 2 weeks since Loline got on her flight to the South Africa MTC to begin her 18 month missionary service.

When she told us last summer that she wanted to serve a mission, my first thought was "Really? But you just graduated! And you're ready to leave!?" and then immediately I thought, "Duh!" I couldn't think of anyone more perfect for the call to serve. Loline's love of life, the gospel, and confidence in herself and her testimony had shaped her for 18 years to become an ideal servant of Jesus Christ!

Because my parents left for their own African adventure in July, a lot of responsibility to get Loline's papers in and ready to go was left on me. It was admittedly overwhelming at times (as I'm sure all moms feel when they send kids out on missions), but also so much fun! I loved being a part of it all and experiencing it all along with her. She received her mission call to the Zimbabwe Harare mission and after the shock stopped us in our tracks, the reassurance that that was exactly where she was supposed to be sunk in.

It's been 3 short months since she got her call and it's certainly been a whirlwind! After her semester ended, she moved back home where Steve and I are living and we became a sort of three musketeers! Between immunizations, millions of skirts, visas, police clearance, passport, doctors checkups, and so much more, the days flew by! In these last few months, we became inseparable, knowing every detail of each others lives. While we've always been close, we became the absolute best of friends.

I feel like a part of me left with her on that plane to South Africa and will be there in Zimbabwe until she gets back next fall! I miss her more than I can say but have never been more proud of her in my whole life! She was so ready to go and is going to do such incredible work in Africa - this is Africa's time and I'm so excited that she gets to be a part of it's growth in the gospel.

My sister heart is so proud of the beautiful young woman she has become and the wonderful missionary she already is! 13 days down, a million to go. 

xoxo, Abby

Driving to School

Since I started Dental Hygiene school, I have tried to fill my mornings with purpose to prepare myself for endlessly busy days. I am not a scripture study in the morning gal (doing it at night has always worked better for me), and my morning prayers often sound the same when my mind is just turning on for the day, so I have tried to find another way to start my day off on a spiritual, positive note and have found my answer in General Conference talks! 

I admittedly and shamefully have a terribly hard time staying awake watching conference at home, snuggled up to Steve with a tummy full of yummy food. Nothing against conference, I can hardly stay awake for a whole movie either - the struggle is very real. To make up for my droopy eyes on those April and October weekends, I like to catch up by listening to a conference talk or two each morning on my drive to school. There are some I get hooked on and a bit fixated with and replay on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, andddd the rest of the week, but I generally find myself becoming familiar with most of the talks before the next conference rolls around. 

One in particular I've been hooked on is from this last October's Sunday morning session by President Russell M. Nelson titled "A Plea To My Sisters." I find President Nelson so endearing and love his cheerful countenance and love for life. I find myself feeling uplifted and filled with a boost of confidence after hearing his words. 

In this particular talk, he quite literally calls out to the sisters of the church and names distinct attributes that we as women need to strive for and become. I have loved listening to this over and over, because each time that I do, I think of a different woman in my life who fits one of these attributes so perfectly, and then I think of another, and another. 

My dear sisters, nothing is more crucial to your eternal life than your own conversion. It is converted, covenant-keeping women whose righteous lives will increasingly stand out in a deteriorating world and who will thus be seen as different and distinct in the happiest of ways.

I am so grateful for the examples of righteousness, determination, obedience, happiness, and love that I find in my mom, mother in law, sisters, and friends. If you are looking for a better way to start maybe a slow morning, check out this talk and so many others! I love using the gospel library app, or if I'm at home, hopping onto lds.org and find them all there. 

xoxo, Abby

Dear Sunday,

Dear Sunday, 
You are and will forever be my favorite day of the week.

Dear Kalynn, 
I'm so glad I got to see your pretty face at church today.

Dear Singing Time,
You exhaust me, but when those senior primary kiddos sang the Books of the Book of Mormon as fast as they could with every word memorized, man, my proud singing lady heart about burst.

Dear Apple,
Thank you so much for facetime. It makes my parents living all the way across the world just a teeny bit more bearable. I love Sunday afternoon facetime time.

Dear Afternoon Nap,
You killed it. You deserve a high five.

Dear Zimbabwe,
My best friend is coming to live there in 9 days and I'm not happy about it.

Dear Calendar,
You excite me so much these days - you've got one fun thing after the next jotted down in you and I can't wait for each one!


xoxo, Abby

Lets Try This Again

**inspired by my bff Kalynn, here we go again**

It's been eons since I've been consistent at blogging and without further explanation of why that is or why I'm back what the heck I'm going to write about,  I'm back. Lets try this again.

I'm at the absolute prime of my life. I am married to my dream man and I've almost got the marriage thing figured out. I'm gauging that based on the fact that I haven't ruined any of Steve's clothes in the laundry for at least a solid 3 weeks (ask him how many of one sock from a pair have snuck into the bleached white loads..) So three cheers for me. 23 years old and I can separate the colors and whites. 

We are living in my parents home while they're away in Africa, I'm weeks away from graduating from college (hallelujah), my hair has finally almost recovered from going from black to blonde to black one too many times, we've got lots of fun adventures planned for this summer and I had a crazy good banana for breakfast this morning (it's the little things).

So here's my little blog where I'll discuss my laundering victories, all of the things I love about Steve and a guaranteed picture overload every time I see my nephews and niece. 

Here's to setting & breaking goals, and being big enough to try and try again.

xoxo, Abby