Lovin That Baby Still Cookin in My Belly

Ben and I celebrated our first anniversary on December 29th! I feel like we just got married and like we have been married forever at the same time. In the past year these are some big things that have happened:

-We got married and went on our honeymoon to Cancun!

-Ben finished his Informations Systems degree and is very close to completing his Accounting degree

-Leslie finished her 2nd bachelor's degree in Speech Language Pathology

-Ben did an internship at Child, Van Wagoner, and Bradshaw

-Ben got a job he LOVES working in the accounting department at Cafe Rio

-We started and completed a pretty major remodel of our condo

-We got pregnant and almost gave birth to our first little baby

I'm sure there are some other big things I'm forgetting but those are the ones that are coming to mind. We went out to our favorite Utah restaurant Epic Casual Dining and got all our favorites. They have the best ahi tuna dish there and I was very sad I couldn't eat it due to being pregnant so we will have to go back again soon! I am grateful for an extremely intelligent, kind, fun husband with a great sense of humor who fulfills me in so many ways and helps me be truly happy. He can make me laugh no matter how I am feeling, he balances me out, and he puts up with my crazy ways. I'm so excited to start a family with him! 

The above picture is kind of funny. It's one of our engagement pictures that Ben altered for Halloween ha ha. My computer started having issues last night so I don't have access to a lot of our pictures, so this will have to do for now! I will probably put up pictures from our wedding/honeymoon once my computer is fixed.

Tuesday, December 30th I noticed something a little worrisome (I won't gross you out with what). I couldn't get in touch with the nurses at my doctor's office so Benny met me at the doctor's office so I could ask them face to face. The nurse there kind of blew us off with an explanation that didn't sound correct and she didn't offer to even check me, but I didn't want to worry so I just went home. Ben wanted me to go to Labor and Delivery before we left to get checked out (since my doctor's office is in the hospital) but I didn't want to. Ben did some research and talked to the nurse on call for the hospital and she said she would recommend going to Labor and Delivery just to get checked as Ben had wanted me to. I really didn't want to go but Ben insisted so I went begrudgingly, and it's a good thing! When I first got there they didn't think there was anything wrong, but then they realized I was having a crazy amount of contractions (apparently I don't feel contractions very easily) and my cervix was dialating. I was in pre-term labor! At one point they were pretty sure I was going to have the baby, but they tried some medicines on me to stop the labor and one of them finally worked. I had to stay in the hospital through New Year's Eve for observation, but we got out New Year's Day and Cassi is still cooking in my belly a week from the day we were admitted so we're really happy!! She was only 34 Weeks and 6 Days when we checked into the hospital (and she could have been 34 weeks if you go by her original due date) so we didn't want her to come that early. I've been on quasi-bedrest, but if it keeps Cassi in a while longer I don't mind at all. 

Ben's work was so sweet and bought us a whole bunch of baby things while we were in the hospital. It really helped us keep calm because they gave us a lot of things we didn't have yet that we really need for when the baby's here. They are wonderful! Ben's mom also came and stayed with me part of the night Tuesday night and all day Wednesday which I REALLY appreciated. She has a ton of things to do and I'm sure it was not a fun thing for her to be stuck in a hospital but it was so nice for me to have somebody with me all day and it helped me not be nearly as stressed about the situation. Thank you Mama Evans!!! Also thank you so, so, so, so much for those of you who called, visited, etc. It was a stressful time and we really appreciate all the support!! 

Onto less crazy things! We went to Arizona for Christmas and had such a great time! We celebrated my mom's birthday and had a GREAT time seeing all my family through the holiday. We miss them!!! We had a few family pics taken while we were all in town and I posted a couple of them below. 

This is one of my favorite family pics - my whole immediate family just hanging out in a tree like normal ;)

Yes, as is obvious from the above picture I am HUGE right now. My prego shirts barely cover my belly these days and I'm still more than 4 weeks away from my due date! Thank goodness for a wonderful husband who renewed my gym membership for me this week along with getting me a few sessions with a personal trainer for after Cassi's born. I can hardly wait to reclaim my body and my wardrobe!

We hope all of you are enjoying the new year and enjoying life. We are thinking of you and wish we got to see more of you more often.