Catching up... Sydney's Baptism

A few weekends ago back in March, we headed up to Idaho Falls for Sam's niece Sydney's baptism. We picked up Mom Robinson from the airport in SLC and off we went! It was fun having her with us for the drive. Especially because Sam had lots of studying to do so it was nice to have someone to chat with. :) Emily and Charity came up from Utah for the occasion as well. The baptism was Saturday morning and Sydney looked so cute. Everything seemed to go really well. My favorite part of the presentation was when Sydney and Charity (only a few months apart in age) sang the special musical number together. It was the cutest thing! loved it. We only stayed overnight but still had a great time (as usual when we head up there). Thanks Matt and Amy for having us and feeding us! hee.

 After the baptism, this is actually most of Matt's family (the Fackrells) with a few Robinsons in between:

Getting Sam all ready to carve the yummy brisket for the luncheon lol:

32 Weeks

Taken on Sunday: 32 weeks exactly (I've realized, in trying to take pics that I have short arms and a long torso, making it fairly difficult for me to get a decent pic with my arms around my belly. so this is what you get. the same dang pose every time. lol sorry..)

I've been feeling pretty good these past few weeks. I had quite a bit of energy for a while up until a day or two ago when I started getting a head cold with gross congestion crap. That and the fact that I gained a few too many pounds over the weekend (we went to visit family in idaho on friday and saturday which always involves delicious food, lol)  are a sure combination for the tiredness and laziness I've been feeling.. oh and the hugeness. can't forget that part. I know it looks like I haven't grown too much in the picture but I assure you that I have. I'm pretty sure I've just gotten a lot WIDER (which I'm not about to take a picture of, haha)..... bleh.

Total Weight Gain/Loss? Lol... numbers don't really matter, do they? It's just a little more than I'd like and hopefully wont be too much more in these last few weeks.... here's hopin'... 

Cravings? The only craving I had these past few weeks was for a big fat juicy bacon cheeseburger from Burger Supreme. We FINALLY went there on saturday and it was everything I had been hoping for. 

Sleep? For some reason my potty brakes have jumped from going 3 times a night to 5 or 6 times a night. and it's like legitimate peeing too.. not just a tinkle hahaa. and an even more annoying thing is I find myself thirstier than EVER in the middle of the night which just makes it worse. yes. so fun. 

Crazy Weird Things? I've become a loud breather... no really. it's starting to annoy the crap out of me. I'll just be sitting there and all I can hear is myself breathing and there is nothing I can do about it. Even if I breathe through my nose. Maybe it's just starting to get to the point that everything I do makes me feel like I'm out of breath and that I have to take annoyingly loud deep breaths in order to actually feel like i'm getting enough oxygen. Hopefully this will change a little when I get down to Houston where the air is nice and thick.
Coolest Thing? Her feet are always kicking on the upper part of my stomach. I know it's her feet bc the doc always tells me she's head down whenever I go in for checkups and I can feel that they are actually little shapes.. usually cute (especially when Sam is around to be able to feel them), sometimes annoying. especially when she finds it necessary to stretch out her legs and stay in that position for minutes at a time. ugh... It's fun though because finally it's to the point that it feels more like a baby and not some little alien thing living inside.

Name? We have it narrowed down to our 2 or 3 favorite ones but I think we will just have to meet her first to know which one for sure. 

Plans for the next few weeks: We are actually moving down to Houston for the summer so Sam can sell again. And being the sweet husband that he is, he would rather me fly down early than have to suffer through a 24 hour drive at 36 weeks pregnant. So I'm flying down April 13th (when I'm 34 weeks) and spending the week at my sister Kelli's until Sam gets there, after he's done with his finals. I'm not terribly worried about him because he will have Max to keep him company while I'm gone and to be his driving buddy on the way down. :) Sam is just worried I will have the baby before he gets there, but I HIGHLY doubt that will happen. She seems pretty comfy in there. We are SO excited to be able to spend this summer in Houston. It's been about 5 years since I've lived there and 7 for Sam.. and it's especially exciting that our baby girl will be a TEXAS baby! woo!

Max's first birthday

Our little pup is growing up so fast! His first birthday was last Tuesday, March 15th (we got him from a breeder so we actually do have on record his real birthday, which i think is pretty cool). In the future we probably won't do much to celebrate his birthdays but just wanted to make the first one special. 

We met up with our friend Landon and his dogs at the park for some good quality playtime. Max always has a blast with his dogs so it was a perfect little birthday party for him. hehe..

Birthday goodies..

Waiting patiently to eat his cupcake.. I used this dog cake recipe to make it (turned out a little smaller than i anticipated but oh well, lol) complete with all his favorite human foods including peanut butter, honey, bananas, and carrots. oh and can't forget the yogurt frosting on top. yummy kinda? well... he thought it was awesome lol:

playing with his new toys. hooray for a new bone! AND a new squeak toy- his favorite..

Baby Shower!

Sam has three aunts on his dad's side that we are pretty close to, two of which live here and we are able to see fairly often (and the third just happened to be visiting).. This past weekend they threw me a baby shower, combined with another cousin who is expecting a boy in April, for friends and family up here in Utah. All I can say is these aunts are serious rockstars and threw this whole thing together in just a week. I love them and I'm so grateful they were able to do this for me!! Anywho, here are some fun pics from the afternoon....

the yummy food! All of it was amazing! especially the delicious angel food cake that i MUST get the recipe for next time I talk to Aunt Patty, lol.. no seriously.

one for baby girl and one for baby boy, hehe:

Susan was able to make it for the first part and it was so fun to see her!! Love you Susan!

With my own relatives from SLC who I haven't seen in forever! Aunt Marillyn, Cathy, and Colleen (from my mom's side).. I was soooo grateful they were able to make it!! It was so much fun to catch up:

With Sam's amazing aunts.. I love love LOVE them! Thanks again Aunt Nancy, Patty, and Ethel for everything!!

Our Best Bites book launch event

If you haven't already heard of this cooking website, I highly recommend it. (Just click on the cookbook and it will take you to their page). These two girls, Kate and Sara, decided to start a blog together a few years back of recipes they come up with and lately they have gotten pretty popular. Their recipes are fairly easy and usually always include ingredients that you either already have in your house, or aren't hard to find at the store.. And most importantly, are ALWAYS yummy!

Anyways, they just recently published their own cookbook and were coming out to SLC for some book launch events and signings, including a cooking demonstration at Orson Gygi. They held drawings on their website and through Deseret Books facebook page for tickets. I entered into both, not expecting much... when lo and behold, someone from Deseret Books messaged me and said I was a winner! Woohoo!! I never win anything so it was pretty exciting. So the event was held last Friday and I had a ticket for myself and a friend. My friend Jennifer was able to go with me and we had a blast!!  They did some cooking demonstrations of a few things from the book, then we were able to get cookbooks signed afterwards. These girls were super fun and actually pretty hilarious. and their recipes are soo yummy!  If you haven't gone out and bought your own copy of the book yet (sold at Deseret Book, Barnes and Noble, or Amazon.com), DO IT! In the book, they included some favorite recipes from their site, along with a ton of originals that they have never posted before.. I can't wait to get cookin'! :)

With Kate and Sara while they sign our books:

Just a couple of my favorite recipes so far include these (click on the picture to go to the recipe):

Rosemary Focaccia Bread

Cadbury Egg Cookies

Max, friends, and snow

The other day we stopped by our friend Landon's house to see their new puppy. It's an 8 week old mini dachshund, just like Max (well not JUST like. his coloring is different of course). it was so fun to see a such a tiny puppy. i don't think Max was ever that small, haha.. Anywho, meet Charles. he is a white piebald (spotted). He is sure a cutie and super playful! I'm sure they will be great friends:

Landon and his wife have 2 other dogs as well.. they have a mix of some sort who is the oldest, then this one is 6 month old Zoey (doberman pinscher). she is GORGEOUS and super sweet. Max has met her before when she was just a tiny puppy too.. i'm sure he was surprised to see how big she is now. haha.. here she is sniffing him out:

Max hasn't seen too many dogs lately bc it's been so cold and there haven't been many who come to the park so this was a fun little playdate. they actually played really well together. it was too funny.. sniffin the pup:

The other day we decided to take a drive up the canyon a little ways and let max run around in the snow at this one park.. he was fully prepared with his parka on, hehe. and i'm pretty sure he had a blast. I just think it is HILARIOUS watching him run through the snow. had to include a couple videos:

28 weeks

Welp, she is certainly growing as you can tell from the pic. and we are in to the 3rd trimester now! woo! Overall i've been feeling pretty good.. I'm not as moody which has been nice. I'm sure Sam appreciates that too haha..  Actually, for a few weeks i was feeling pretty darn great! no contractions, no tiredness, hardly any back pains, etc.. then a few days ago, the lovely braxton hicks became more frequent again and the exhaustion came back. lovely. i'm sure it will continue to be up and down like that for these last few months to come. i'm just glad that so far, those tired, achy days have been less frequent than the good days.. 

Total weight gain? eek! ok i admit it.. i'm at +20 lbs total so far. I'm hoping that i'll only gain another 10-15 in the coming trimester. so far it has been pretty steady so i'm hoping it will continue to stay that way. sometimes I can feel myself wanting to eat JUST to eat, which is bad. i usually have to just stop and say 'kathryn, there is NO earthly reason to keep eating when you are already full.' gotta maintain that self control. lol.

Cravings? the only one other than chocolate that i can think of, has been sushi. i know it's a pregnancy no no but they say it's ok as long as you order the rolls that are tempura dipped (fried).. that way they are at least cooked a little. last saturday i couldn't stand it anymore and told sam we HAD to go to happy sumo for dinner. mmmm. it definitely satisfied the craving. can't wait til i'm in houston this summer with all their cheap corner sushi places that aren't as questionable as places up here, haha..

Maternity clothes? i have recently discovered (thanks to a tip from a friend and from my sis kelli) that Ross has waay cheap maternity clothes. up here it is pretty picked over but i did find a few shirts there for like $6 each. it was awesome. check it out.

Crazy weird things? I find that lately i have become quite the recluse. i havent wanted to be very social for some reason (besides the occasional double date with the hubs and).. all i want to do is stay home and read, surf the internet, or clean my house or what not. i started to think something was wrong with me or that i've turned weird but my sister assured me it can be explained by the pregnancy and hormones, haha... i guess that is the excuse for everything these days.. but seriously- if i haven't talked to you or called in a while, it's not because i dont like you anymore, i promise. i'm just weird. 

Coolest thing? the only thing i can think of that has been fun lately is that sam was laying next to my tummy the other day and she was totally kicking his face the whole time. it was hilarious. oh and i did take the glucose test and it wasn't NEARLY as bad as everyone says it is.. more like some sort of weird orange drink that is a cross between gatorade and soda? i dunno. maybe it was bc i was so thirsty to begin with that i didn't care. 

Names? i THINK we have narrowed it down to our favorite but yall will just have to wait to see which one we chose. :) and we are still working out the middle name. buuut, talk to me in a week and i'll prolly say it's changed again. haha

Valentine's day... or not?

So this Valentine's day was a special one in a different way. Last Wednesday Sam's grandpa (his mom's dad) past away. It was a unique experience because we were able to be there at the hospital along with his (sam's) mom, grandma, aunts, uncles and a few cousins. Grandpa Harris had gone into cardiac arrest a few days before and suffered brain damage so he was kept on a ventilator until the family felt it was time to let him go. When they decided the time was right and everyone said their goodbyes, the doctors came in to turn off the machines, etc. Luckily he went peacefully and fairly quickly and with loving family surrounding him. I've never been present for something like that and it really was a neat experience. He was 90 years old and had lived a great life so it was sort of a bittersweet moment.

The Harris family decided have the funeral on Valentine's day. All of Sam's brothers and sisters were able to fly into town for the event and it was awesome to finally have all of the original 9 Robinson kids in one place, as this sort of thing is pretty rare. I normally wouldn't post very many pictures of something like this but Sam's brother Jeff is an amazing photographer(as is his wife Michelle) and got so many great shots of the day so I just had to post some of them. 

First, this is last October with Grandpa Harris on his 90th birthday. He was such an amazing person. truly an inspiration to so many people of hard work, love, and dedication to the gospel. We will miss you Grandpa! Love you!

At the gravesite after the funeral. The pall bearers were all of his grandsons:

Grandma Harris with Aunt Rose:

Uncle Ray and Aunt Joanne:

The whole Robinson clan! minus a couple spouses and more than a few kids, lol:

with Grandma Harris:

aaand finally, the original cast! love this pic!

Brothers......

ohh brothers...

Jeff was able to get "unnecessarily close close-ups" of everyone lol. I give you.....the Robinson Bunch:

So glad all the brothers and sisters were able to make it up here for the weekend! It was really great to see everyone. and it was also great to see Sam's aunts and uncles on his mom's side who we don't get to see very often. although it was a bittersweet reason to get together, it was still so much fun. I'm sure Grandpa Harris would've wanted it that way. :)

The name of the post might be rather confusing. I chose it because as I was looking back at photos, I realized that we have YET to really celebrate the actual holiday of Valentine's day as a married couple, haha.. There seems to always be something that comes up to take the place of the special day.. last year, we ended up going to California for my nephew noah's baby blessing and spending the weekend with family. The year before, our good friends Christa and Andy got married that day so we spent most of the day in SLC then came back and spent the evening with Sam's mom, who was in town, at Steve n Sarra's house.. Then I tried to look for some sort of record of Valentine's the year before and had no luck! no pictures, no nothing (I hadn't started blogging yet). I THINK it was because we went to Mexico at the end of Feb that year so maybe we decided to put of our celebrating til then? not sure. and I guess we'll never know. haha.. Anyways, no worries tho. we aren't too heartbroken over it. I actually think it's kinda funny.. but, obviously each Valentine's day has been special in it's own way every year. 

25 weeks

i'm not sure this angle does my tummy justice. maybe my body is turned a lil too much or something. but i'm pretty sure i look a lot bigger than this picture perceives haha:

These past few weeks have been pretty up and down.. mostly up which is good but there were definitely a few down days every so often where i just felt huge and/or exhausted. i usually just try to blame it on growth spurts that she has now and again, and that usually makes me feel better. but i know i prolly have been driving sam nutty with my CRAZY mood swings lately haha. for some reason i just feel this constant need to argue with him about everything!! 

Cravings? well, same old chocolate of course (mostly chocolate chip cookies).. but some new things lately- deviled eggs and cheese. mmm cheese. oh and peanut butter. i'm not a huge peanut butter fan normally but it has tasted sooo good lately. 

Maternity clothes? my sister was awesome enough to send me a pair of maternity jeans so i didn't have to go buy some and i LOVE them. they fit perfectly. i got them in the mail on the exact day that i was planning on going to look for some so it worked out just splendid. thanks kari!! 

Crazy weird things? the mood swings. for some reason i will just get so pissed off at something sam says and i'll think to myself (while i'm arguing with him about the subject!) 'why am i being so defensive about something so dumb???' but i can't help myself and end up carrying on with the rant! gaah! hormones. and the whole time i KNOW it's hormones so why can't i stop? i dont know. i can't help the inevitable. lol..... umm one more weird thing is i have been eating weird combinations of stuff. but they end up tasting so good! i mean, it's not like i'm dipping pickles in ice cream or anything but still sort of strange. here are just a few: peanut butter and banana sandwiches; cheese on crackers with deviled eggs on the side; and the weirdest- ritz cracker with peanut butter and a fresh blackberry on top. kinda like a pb&j cracker?? i have no clue. anywho, yum. 

Coolest thing? i'm pretty sure she reacted to sam's voice one morning. he usually gets up early for school while i stay in bed. occasionally i'll be awake so i turn onto my back and she will start kicking away as her good morning hello. this particular morning, i rolled onto my back but she didn't really kick at all.. i just figured she was still asleep or something. then sam came in and said something to me (kinda loud) and she totally started wiggling around and kicking! it was awesome. i think she is learning her daddy's voice. :)

Names? we still have the names i mentioned before on the list but for some reason, NONE of them have been sounding good to me. (gimme a week and maybe that will change, lol) but if any of you have fun names you want to share, we would love to hear more ideas!!! (only names that you wont ever use for your own children of course) please, do tell! 

BYU vs. SDSU

Last Wednesday we were able to get tickets with some friends to the big basketball game of the season vs. the #4 team at the time San Diego State. BYU was ranked #9 at this time so it was sure to be an awesome game. And it definitely was! They were about neck and neck til halfway thru the second half when we pulled ahead and pretty much killed em. It was awesome. and LOUD! the crowd was going absolutely insane! This was the only game we've been to all year (football or basketball) and it was definitely worth it! We had a blast!

sitting by Christa and Andy.. we were towards the very top but could still see everything perfectly:

 After the game, all the fans in the student section rushed the court afterwards. It was crazy!: