2011 Life Recap

"Cheers to a New Year and another chance for us to get it right." -Oprah Winfrey

As we come to the close of 2011, I have been reflecting on the many surprises and accomplishments the year has brought. Such as...

• Getting pregnant (the biggest surprise of the year)
• Mark gets in to U of A (and did a great job his first semester)
• Andrew came home from his mission
• I was promoted to HR Generalist
• Family relationships going through some life changes
• Upgraded to a smartphone (which I am obsessed with now)
• Finally managed to get out to Portland and visit my old home
• Mark and I finally got to go to vegas...and yes, we will be returning again
• Got to return to San Diego, which was awesome!
• Mark placed 34 place in the country in collegete mens golf
• Marks golf team won 1st in state

2011 has really proven to be a really great year for Mark and I. I am really grateful for everything we were able to experience together, the good and the bad, because it has helped us to discover more about ourselves and our relationship. We are excited to begin 2012 together and we are certain that it will hold more excitement, surprises and possible disappointments than the year previous. At least we are aware of one big change...WE ARE GOING TO BE PARENTS! We can't wait to meet her!

Christmas Joy

Another great Christmas accomplished in the Ontiveros household!

Mark and I had a great holiday today. At 6 am we woke up to open presents and see what Santa brought us. Needless to say, my Santa listens very well! I got EVERYTHING that I asked for this year. Mark got most of the goodies he asked for, but then again, his list is always alot larger than most. He made out like a bandit.

We spent Christmas Eve with the Horton's this year. We made empanadas and attempted to do a nativity...however our Mary began to cry and baby jesus decided to fight the donkey...so it was the strangest version of the Nativity I have ever seen. We had a fun time.

Christmas Day we spent with the Ontiveros. Mama O made a wonderful meal and we enjoyed opening presents. Mark and I recieved iphones, which is pretty sweet. I am finally graduating from a flip phone to a smart phone! Big step for me.

The Baby even recieved some presents this year. She got some very cute out fits, a soft memory foam area rug for her room and the coolest peek-a-boo bear ever from her great auntie clarice. I know that this bear will scare the heck out of me when the baby plays with it, but it made me even more excited for her to come. 8 more weeks!

Her cute outfits.

The Stinky Has Returned!

Andrew returned from his two year missionary service in the Dominican Republic. It is awesome to have him back and I am so proud of him! His next mission is to get married to whitney in the temple.

He is so awesome and I have missed him so much!

And yes...I cried like a baby when I saw him (I blame pregnancy)

This must have been so hard for them. They could not hug or kiss till Andrew was released as a missionary. Andrew is displaying the famous 'Missionary Hug'...I used this many a zone conference with the elders.

My mom is so happy to have her little boy back. Now ALL of the six Horton children have served a full time mission...all because of our amazing mother.

Sick Day

Today I took a sick day from work to relax my body. I have been feeling a lot of stress from work and over did it yesterday lifting some heavy boxes at my moms (bad idea, I know). I feel loads better now. Started off this morning feeling a few contractions (which were more than likley braxton hicks). So that got me pretty scared and convinced myself to take care of baby first instead of going to work.
I hate staying home from work! I was hooked to my email all day trying to get some things done, but I felt so discontected and I do NOT like knowing that my team has to work harder because I am not there. Mark was really good about reassuring me that ONE day would not kill any of my co-workers and that our babies health is more important than if someone got contacted today about their LOA being up.
I need to be more selfish. Allow myself to listen to my body and take it easy when I need to. Who cares if others think that I am being a baby, I need to take care of this pregnant vessel of mine. When it all comes down to it, my child is number one, my work will just have to understand. If I were to loose my baby or go in to pre-term labor because I put my job first instead of listening to my body, I would never be able to forgive myself.
Glad I have a blog to spill it out...I feel better mentally now.

Christmas Photos

This year  I am trying to get some photos for christmas cards. So mark and I went out today to take some pictures with my niece sarah. It was fun, Mark was a good sport. I have some editing to do, but these are the ones I like thus far.

I love this one because Mark is giving the baby a pep talk. He likes to talk to the baby...makes me happy :)

Seriously, he is the best!

OH CHRISTMAS TREE...

Tonight we put up our Christmas tree for family home evening. We listened to our favorite christmas music we call 'the stripper christmas' which was a record that my dad used to play for us when we would put up our tree as kids. We call it the stripper christmas because it is christmas music, but sounds like strippers should be dancing to it...it is pretty funny. Anyways, I made a homemade soup which turned out yummy, sweet potato and spicy sausage soup. I love making soups, reminds me of my childhood with my mom's soups.  We put up our tree and the traditional ornaments, including our 'first ornament' tradition which mark has adapted from his parents. It is where mark and I put up our first ornament together. I love it. I love getting ready for christmas, I am excited to be able to enjoy this family tradition with our future children!

 I am putting up the Pickle Ornament While Mark is putting up his basketball and football ornaments.

The end result. The mighty Ontiveros Christmas tree...'thar she stands!'

Good times. Excited for christmas!

SHE GROWS!

I have now reached my seventh month and am going into the thrid trimester...YAY! We have been blessed so far in the pregnancy with no issues, so we will pray that this will continue. I am noticing that I am growing everyday more and more. People are now noticing I am pregnant instead of just chubby, which I like.The other day two of the managers I work with came up to me and said ' Andrea, please don't be offended, but we need to ask. Are you pregnant?' I thought about saying 'NO!' just to make them scared, but they were sweet to ask instead of assuming. It is funny how people are afraid to ask these days...to many beer bellies out there I guess.

Well, so far my baby is a tumbler and enjoys waking me up in the early mornings like her daddy. I love the girl and can't wait to meet her! Oh wait, yes I can...just 12 more weeks!

I am Thankful

Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and I don't feel like going to bed yet, I figured I would mention a some of the many things in which I am grateful for this Thanksgiving. So here it goes:

I am thankful for...

-Mark, he is my greatest blessing! He is always doing everything he can to make me happy, stay at ease and know that I am loved. He finds ways to serve me everyday, keeps himself healthy and compliments me on my beauty (dispite the fact that I look like a balloon right now). I just love him so much!

-My heavenly father for helping me to have the knowlege of the gospel and the atonment of Jesus Christ. And providing me with the opportunity to create an eternal family with Mark. I know he truly loves me.

- A growing, healthy baby girl! She moves so much, giving me power kicks and punches to my ribs every hour...and I LOVE IT! I can sense her little spirit, I speak to her often and I know that she will be a true blessing to her family...especially to her daddy. I love her so much and I am grateful she has been healthy thus far in the pregnancy...13 weeks to go!

-My family. Especially my mom. She is such a strength and continues to look out for me and my happiness even as a grown adult. I know she will always be there for me. And I know, that the rest of my family members would do anything for me. And for that I am grateful.

-My little brother serving a mission, Andrew. He is one of my best friends and i am so proud of him for making the right decision to serve a mission. I know his life will be truly blessed for that decision as mine has.

-Marks family...actually, they are my family too. I am very grateful to have such amazing in laws to be with forever. They are always doing what they can to help mark and I out with our needs. They are constantly giving and are true examples of charity.They are fun and love mark so much! I know that they would do anything for him, and to me that is a blessing.

- A great job. Though it can be stressful, it is providing for our needs at this time. We are able afford the things we need while still being able to have fun. They are also patient when I make mistakes and have provided me with many career opportunites.

-A warm home!

- My health. No matter what sickness I am paronoid I may have, the test always come up that I am completley healthy.

- A car that takes me from point A to point B...some people have to take the bus or get a ride, I am grateful I do not.

Okay, I have a lot more things to be grateful for, but if I continue I might say that I love carpets and lamps...so I will end here. Oh, but I am grateful for thanksgiving food...yay for glutney!!

Twilight Saga = Memories

This week was the midnight premier of 'Breaking Dawn pt.1'. As tradition in our family, we went to the midnight showing wearing our self made t-shirts and prepared for a 5 hour waiting in the theater till the movie started. We had lots of fun! Sarah won a Twilight bag for answering a quiz question in line. We got a free slice of wedding cake for the Edward and Bella wedding reception...which was a great idea. The movie was great, they did an excellent job of portraying the events in the book. I am proud of them. It is always fun to share these memories with my sister and nieces, I am hoping that we will always remember the fun that the Twilight saga has brought us. And it was especially to be pregnant at the same time as Bella was in the movie...made it easier to come up with an idea for a shirt.

I love my little Vampire baby

My water broke and the vampire baby made a run for it. There were rose petals in the water...awww.

We support a losing team.

Tonight Mark and I went to the UofA vs. UoU football game. This is the second game we have been to this year, the first we blew out UCLA, this game, we got creamed. But we still had tons of fun being loud...even when the crowd is full of quiet, grumpy old people. And we had almost the entire section to ourselves after the 3rd quarter. One guy shouted to people leaving 'early leavers are non belivers.' I thought that was hilarious and so true. What lamos for leaving. You purchased the dange tickets...why not stay till the end. Oh well, they have their reasons. We had lots of fun without them. BEAR DOWN!

I can't seem to get this photo rotated, but this is an epic photo of mark wearing jeans...he looked so hot in them. He needs to wear jeans more often! What a sexy man!

Another Moment of 'AWWW'

Last night while mark and I were lying down for bed, we were talking and the baby started kicking like crazy! I grabbed marks hand and placed it on my stomach so he could feel her kick. She was sutler at first, which he could not feel, but then she gave a big soccer kick to his hand. When I asked him if he felt it, he was silent and only nodded his head. He then felt a couple more kicks, stayed silent and then put his arms around me and gave me a few big hugs telling me that he loved me. I could tell he was moved by this experience, as was I. Last night will definitely go down as one of the more beautiful moments that mark and I share together. I love him so much, and am so excited for him to be a daddy.

Halloween...done.

We had a fun Halloween this year in the Ontiveros home. Well, some of us at least. Mark had to study all weekend, but at least we got to hit up the corn maze. It is tradition after all! We did not manage to hit all of the check points, cause we are lazy and would rather skip to eating kettle corn, but we did have some fun together in the maze...as always. Here are some pictures of the fun.

And this is the traditional Corn Maze photo. It will be fun to bring our kids here someday. The pumpkin is already looking at my belly.

We carved pumkins with Tina and made caramel apples with the kids. On Halloween, Mark had class, but I got to take the kids trick or treating with my family. Overall it was a fun Halloween. Looking forward to next years Halloween when we can take a little someone around.

Baby on Brain

I am starting to look for baby clothes, and it is so fun! In Oregon I purchased a few outfits, and Grandma O (great grandma O for the baby) bought her a couple pairs of shoes that are SO cute! I bought her a pair of 'skinny jeans' that I know she will only fit in for a split second if she truly is our daughter, but I just couldn't resist! Here are a few pics of the outfits I found.

Her first pair of skinny jeans...sweet!

Oh yes, my daughter WILL be stylish

This outfit is cozy and snuggly...oh she is going to be smothered!

I am still however paranoid about miscarage. I have been blessed so far in my pregnancy with having zero complications, all tests for abnormalities and hereditary anomolies have come out normal, and everytime I go to the doctor to hear the heart beat they say she sounds great...so then why can't I just relax! I have a few friends who are prego, one recently had a miscarage and the other is on a feeding tube to keep the baby & mom nourished...so I should feel blessed and lucky...but I still can't help but feeling that something is going to happen! I have had a total of 10 miscarage dreams that feel so real and it freaks me out! This is classic me, paranoid about things that are out of my control. I need more faith, my poor daughter is going to think I'm a nut!