Letter to Lanni Lanae Wahl....before she arrives

   Lanni,

       We love you! I can't believe we get to start our family with you. We are so much more than excited. I love feeling you swim around in my belly. You always move when your dad touches my belly like you are letting him know that you know it's him. He loves it. The other day he tried to hear your heart beat. He sat there quietly listening and after 30 seconds his head flips around to me with the biggest smile on his face. " I can hear it! I hear her heart beat!" He was on cloud nine being able to hear something so perfect, little, and ours.
      Today I am 39 weeks pregnant. For the past 2 weeks I have told you everyday to "come out". We want you to make your way into the world right now. I am not very patient, so maybe this is teaching me, or at least trying to teach me, a lesson about patience. We have been trying all the "natural ways" on Google to start labor. We have walked, rubbed feet, hands, legs, ate pineapple, blah blah blah. Obviously, nothing has worked for me. It is true what they say, "Your baby will come when she's ready." But we are ready! We are just waiting on you. So please hurry.
     We named you after people we love dearly. Lanny is your Grandpa and Great-Grandpa's name. They are such wonderful men. They have taught me so much in life. Your Great-Grandpa would always call me princess, tell me that I am special and express how important it is to do what is right. One time he gave me a blessing and told me I would raise my kids in righteousness in the last days. I was 16 when I got this blessing. It is now becoming reality. All your dad and I want is to teach you, and future bothers and sisters, what is right. To be kind. To be respectful. To listen to the Holy Ghost. To love and build a relationship with your Father in Heaven and Savior. And all the little great things in between like: making cookies, laughing, hunting (your dad can not wait to take you), and so much more. Your Grandpa taught me lots of great things. He is the best dad in the world. Among many things, he taught me how to fish, check the oil, and work hard, my favorite life lesson serving others. He is the perfect example of selfless serving. One example: one Christmas my dad told us he knew a family that didn't have much. We were going to give our Christmas to them. Honestly I was a little bitter. I love Christmas, I love all the gift giving and receiving. It was important to me at the time. We still decorated and such, but I was just clinging to the thought that I wasn't getting any presents this year. As the holiday approached I was taught by my dad that "stuff" truly does not matter. That giving is what matters. That is all our Savior did.  We always would talk about the true meaning of Christmas, but it never mattered to me until now. I finally understood. To my great surprise Christmas morning Santa still came! I still love the gift part of Christmas, but I love being with my family more, and I love the true meaning of the holiday. That is one of many wonderful memories I have of your Grandpa and his serving. I hope one day I can be just like him.  Your middle name, Lanae, is your dad's sister's name. We love her. (We love all our family) Your Aunt Lanae has 5 boys, and we wanted her to have a girl in her life! Your dad loves both his sisters, but him and Lanae have a different relationship. I know she  helped your dad through some of those rough patches in life. We can't wait for you to meet everyone, they  love you.
      Well, so I don't miss a day, "Come out!!!!" I am looking forward to when I finally get to hold you. I know I will immediately feel a kind of love that only comes from holding my sweet baby. I also look forward to seeing your amazing, wonderful dad look at you and hold you for the first time. I can only imagine how much my love for him will grow as I see the "new love" he has for his sweet princess.  As you grow up we are always here for you. We will always listen to you, love you, guide you. We love you more than words can express.
     - Love
      Mom and Dad

Catch Up!-The last year

  So, obviously I am not very good at keeping up with this Blog, but once a year counts for something. Right? Quite a bit has happened in 2013, and I will try to sum it up in the littlest nutshell I can.

  Byron and I spent Christmas with my family in Utah. We had a blast. I love having a white Christmas.  We spent New Years with his family which always involves playing the "The Divorce Game" better known as Wa Hoo. Fun times. I am pleased to say we are still married!

   February...... well not my favorite month this year. You will soon learn why with some pictures I will post. 

Byron's brother Lance came to town I believe Monday or Tuesday early in February. Of course we had to go out to dinner. So off we went to Oregano's. I had never eaten there but everyone RAVES about. I do not rave. We ordered a deep dish pizza, chicken wings and a pazookie for dessert. Everything was good. shortly after we had gotten home my inner thighs started to itch really bad and started to show signs of minor hives. This little reaction has happened once before a few years ago after eating  at a Mexican restaurant. So, I did what I did last time this happened. I took some Benadryl and hopped in bed so I could get enough sleep to function at work the next day. Unfortunately this was nothing like the previous reaction. This was a monster of a reaction. I had been sick the week before and took a few days off work, so of course I didn't want to be that kind of employee and call in sick AGAIN! I called my favorite office manager Robyn, and told her what was going on. I told her I don't want to be "that" kind of employee. She recommended maybe I come in and talk to Dr. W about it. Off I went looking horrendous. I knocked on my bosses door walked in and his face said it all. He then said, "So... what's going on? I think you should go home." (By the way...best boss ever! Love working for him!) I explained what was going on. He gave me some recommendations to help the situation.  While talking to him a few fellow employees started arriving. I walked out of his office and everyone was in shock. I started to swell and Mandy drove me to the hospital, and we had Byron meet us there. A friendly face  from St. Johns (they moved to valley, he is a nurse) came to say hello. Thanks Mr. Herring. Poor Byron just sat with me and watched TV. The doctor wrote me some prescriptions, told me to drink lots of water and sent us on our way. We were there for about 5-6 hours. I spent the rest of the day on the couch. I thought after the hospital stuff, and the prescriptions that I would be significantly better the next day. I woke up the next day and could not have been more wrong. My body was a wreck. The hives were gone, but I was swollen beyond comprehension. EVERYTHING was swollen and hurt and ached. Byron took the day off work to help me because I could not move on my own. My lips were swollen, my nose, my hands, my legs, my feet. Oh my feet and knees were so painful. Byron had to help me eat, pee, and take a bath. Thank goodness for a wonderful husband. After a day or two the hives started to come back....yes I was still swollen. This is weird, but the hives like...moved around each day. They started at my legs/thighs, stomach/chest, back, and arms. I kept taking my pills and hoping it would all soon be over. Eventually and thankfully this disaster came to an end after about a week and half. This had taken a toll on my body and immediately after I started to feel better I got a kidney infection. Painful. Thankful for modern medicine once again to make it go away.  SOOOO, turns out all this was due to MSG Poisoning. Stupid MSG.  Who would've thunk??  Okay here are the photos, they are a little embarrassing so no laughing. 

                                                        Byron insisted on a hospital picture. 

 This is when we got home from the hospital. You can see my face is covered in hives, imagine it 5X worse and that's how it was earlier in the day.

  This lovely gem is the next day. My lips peeled for weeks after this from being stretched beyond their limits. 

                       These are not butt cheeks! These are my legs when the hives began to reappear.

                                                                  This is my side.

                                Inner leg. Please don't mind the leg hair. I was in no condition to be shaving.

                                                               Outside of leg.

Well, all I can say is I am sure glad that is over, and I am ever so careful when I go out to eat. Also, thank you Byron for being the best ever and taking care of me. 

  The next few months weren't quite as eventful. Byron celebrated his 22 birthday in April! We ate (carefully) at Joe's BBQ for dinner. YUM. For the cake, Lemon is Byron's favorite so that's what he got. Also yum. 

                                             

   We now are in the month of May. This month is pretty exciting because on May 7 we found out we had a baby on the way!! WOO HOO!! We waited until we were 13 weeks pregnant to announce we had baby. Which was right around Father's Day. 

  

      My birthday is in June, so I LOVE June.  Byron flew me to Utah to spend my birthday week with the fam. It was lots of fun!

                                                       The Guard Pool. Our old hangout. 

                             I love this place called the Orange Peel. I wish we had one here in AZ.

                                              I made egg rolls and wontons for dinner! Delish!

 My dad got a grill for Father's Day. It was quite a surprise to him, and he shed a tear. It's so tender when                                                         my  big, tough dad cries. We love him!

    July came around and Byron enrolled in some Power Plant classes. He is doing great, and almost done with this semester.  And we also found out we are having a baby..............GIRL! We got out first ultrasound. 

    Byron loves to hunt. He didn't get drawn for Elk, so he bought an archery deer tag. He got his first archery buck August 24. He was so excited. Mmmm, and those deer steaks sure tasted good. Proud of my man. 

   Oh, I guess I should say my pregnancy has been super easy. I never got sick. I hated sweets the first 7 months, but I like them now!  

                                                         This is me at  7 months a few days!

     Knowing we have a baby on the way, changed our living situation. We were in crusty, old, cheap apartments that did the job for us. There was no way I would bring a baby home to that. We looked and looked for a place to rent. Of course my mom's good friend from St. Johns has a home here they own and they would rent to us. We are truly blessed. My mom flew down the end of September to help us move. Between Byron, my mom, and Lance (Byron's brother) we got all moved. My mom did everything for me. She cleaned, made dinner, helped me pack. It was wonderful having there. She also stayed and helped unpack in our new home. AND my mom also made the cutest blessing dress.Thanks mom!

    October was so fun. My awesome boss bought his staff and their families 3 day Disneyland and California Adventure passes, and also 3 nights and 2 days hotel stay! Thank you so much Dr. Welch. This was so fun for us because we got to check a few items off our "Bucket List". 1. I had never been to California  2. Byron and I had never been to Disneyland or California Adventures  3. Byron and I had NEVER been to the ocean!
It was so fun we absolutely loved Disneyland and the Ocean! I couldn't ride all the rides. I could ride most princess ones, and Byron gladly rode them with me! Oh, and I seriously could have eaten the parks out of their corndogs! Oh man I loved those!

                                                               Of course a kissing picture!!

    It is almost Thanksgiving. I am making a list of all the recipes I want to try. Our sweet baby girl is healthy and growing. I love feeling her move, and Byron loves her so much. He tells her all the time he can't wait to take her hunting. She is expected to arrive December 12. We wouldn't mind if she came a little before that and was healthy!
                                                   We love her and can't wait to hold her!

         I have been crafting with my friend Hannah this last week. We mad a good amount of headbands for baby.  

                                                         These are only 2 of about 12

   
                     We are basically all caught up. See you next year! Just kidding, hopefully before that!