Zoo Trip

 Anna borrowed this awesome stroller that sits two kids side by side. Boyd was so excited to have a friend sitting next to him. He would point at Lincoln, look at me, babble something with a smile on his face. This was in the parking lot getting ready to go inside. They look ready for adventure.

 We stopped at the stingray exhibit for some real fun....definitely worth $2. Boyd and Lincoln just splashed in the water laughing and squealing with delight as stingrays swam past their fingers. We got splashed a couple times...or should I say soaked. We had to take Boyd and Lincoln's shirts off to dry and have them wear their jackets until their shirts dried. It was really fun. It was hard to get a good picture because there was water around and two little Boys that would dive in if given the chance.

 It was fun when the animals got really close to us. This cow actually tasted the stroller bar. The boys thought that was pretty funny. I thought the slobber left behind was disgusting.

 For lunch we let Boyd and Lincoln sit at a kid table. They thought that was great and after drumming the table and laughing at it, we ate our packed lunches. The ducks sure enjoyed the crumbs we dropped.

 Here we are at the petting zoo. Boyd found out the goats don't eat sticks or their brushes. He really thought the beards on the goats were funny and tried to pull a few.

 Here is Boyd going in for the tug.

 We decided Boyd needed to experience the carousel. He loved looking around. His facial expression didn't change much from what it is in the pictures. This was towards the end of our day and he was pretty tired.

 Yep, still looking excited here.

Lincoln fell asleep and Boyd sat back to relax on the way out. Occasionally he'd put his feet up on the bar. It was a good day.

It's been a while....

This is my sweet baby. He is looking more and more like a little boy. We went to the desert in March with Jacob's family. Love it.

Boyd is definitely a daddy's boy. He will stand on a stool, looking out the window as he waits for Jacob to come home from work. I always know when Jacob comes because Boyd will start breathing really fast and screech with excitement.  

You will not believe where I am in this picture... I'm at a MaryKay convention...Yes, I started selling MaryKay. Never thought I'd do it...but here I am. I've met some wonderful people. Getting a 50% discount on my MaryKay is a nice benefit as well. 

This is Jacob and the scouts at the mountain man rendezvous.

Our Family Picture. Not the best it could be, but love it!

2010

This year has been full of blessings for our family. On March 15^th, exactly on my due date, Jacob Boyd Shepherd was born. He was 8lbs and 14 ounces. I won't tell you how much weight I gained during my pregnancy. Let me just say, I thought the more I ate the faster my baby would grow. I was quite disappointed when I couldn't fit into my prepregnancy jeans a week after giving birth. I was quite disappointed when I couldn't fit into my jeans several months after giving birth. Actually, I had to keep wearing my maternity clothes for quite a while. Boyd has brought so much happiness and joy into our lives. He is so precious and so, so cute.

I stopped working at the dental office in February because I grew out of all my scrubs, and I really hated working when I was pregnant. It was hard enough going to work when I didn't sleep the night before, but seeing some of the things we pulled out of people's mouths really made me want to vomit. A half chewed hot dog? Come on. Anyway, I decided to stay home and eat my way into labor.

Over the summer, Jacob graduated from ASU with his Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering!! I thought that day would never come. He was offered a job at Goodrich in September and loves it! We lived through the summer without any income and learned that we could live without the Internet and make good dinners with our food storage....thanks to me. I'm a great cook.

Jacob and I are busy serving in our ward. Jacob is the 1^st counselor in the Young Mens Presidency and varsity scout leader. I'm quite busy serving as the 2^nd counselor in the Young Womens Presidency and as the ward camp director. I was recently called to be the stake assistant camp director for next year's camp... a calling I secretly wanted. In the summer, Jacob and Boyd both came to girls camp with me. It was fantastic.

Jacob and I are farmers. We raise chickens, rabbits and, undesirably, several cats as well. The cats come and go as they please and use our yard as their litter box. This makes us very, very angry. Our neighbor feeds these stray cats and they told all their feline friends. Now, the entire population of cats live around our house! Lucky us.

It's been a year since we moved near the Temple. We love our ward and our callings! We love this home we live in. I love a few of our animals and love our garden. We love living so close to both our families. We have been so blessed!!! Merry Christmas!!

It's been a while...

Our baby Boyd is growing so fast!! We just got over being sick at our house. I laid on the floor as Boyd had the house to himself. When Jacob got home from work all our CDs were spread over the floor and magazines and ads were torn up and spread everywhere. I watched Boyd do all this and really didn't care to stop him. I feel great now and our house is back in order.

He's getting so BiG!

Boyd is such a fun little guy. I can't believe how quickly he is growing.

Our Garden

After a few set backs, our garden is finally growing. It was hard to find time to get it planted and when we did, the chickens got in and tore up half of it. They ate almost all the leaves off our tomato and pepper plant. We replanted a section and now things are growing rapidly... especially our zucchini plants. We've already picked 3 zucchinis and they were HUGE!! We're still waiting for everything else to mature and start producing. Heather can't wait for the okra to come on. I'm real impressed with the potatoes that I planted. He had a few in the house that started growing eyes so I cut them up and buried them. Now there are 10-12 plants thriving. I can't wait until harvest time.

Now we keep the chickens safe behind bars.

I love baby noises!

Boyd's first video

When I watch this video it makes me want to hold my baby... if I'm not already doing so. I love being a mom and love loving this precious baby so much. He is so amazing. He is getting big so fast... I cherish every moment I have with him.

baby baby baby

Here is our amazing baby Boyd. He definitely looks like his daddy. He was born march 15 at 12:30 pm weighing 8lbs and 14 oz. He is a good baby and I love being his mama.

Our big guy

I had an ultrasound yesterday to determine how big our baby was. In this picture you can see his little face and hands smashed together because there is no room. His poor nose is smashed. The technician pointed out to us that our baby has lots of hair. We actually saw it floating around the amniotic fluid . It is estimated that he is weighing around 7 pounds and 11 ounces right now. (84th percentile) I'm definitely having him early. The doctor says he hopes to see me before my next appointment...only this time in the hospital delivering. I hope so. I can see the look of concern on my baby's face as he wonders how he'll ever get out of there.

Snow Trip

I took the Young Women in my ward to my parents' cabin so they could play in the snow. There was plenty of snow for them to play in.
Some signs were completely covered with snow. We passed a couple snow plows on the way home.

Jacob's Birthday Cake!

It's Jacob's birthday on Tuesday and I wanted to make him a cake like he's never had before.....worth 27 years of waiting for. Not only is this my first cake, it's my best. It's banana cream cake with cream cheese frosting and chocolate flakes sprinkled on top to show off the five layers all made from scratch. Jacob was overjoyed. Every year I'll add another layer to his cake.

January 20

Heather reminded me of a family tradition that my mom started around the time my oldest brother went on his mission. We chose a day and recorded what everyone did that day. So, here's what Heather and I did on January 20th.

Heather rolled out of bed (helped by Jacob) at 6:59am after a long night of tossing and turning, which had been interrupted frequently with bathroom breaks. While Heather got ready for work, Jacob made breakfast - French Toast. Heather went to work (as a dental assistant at Synergy Dental Group), while Jacob started getting ready for the second day of his last semester in school. He is getting a master's degree in mechanical engineering at Arizona State University. After going to math and institute class, Jacob returned home for lunch and to study. In the afternoon he went back to school to be a Teaching Assistant for a class. He then returned home a second time. Heather looked in people's mouths all day.

Just before Heather got off work, Jacob started warming up the chicken enchiladas that Heather had made the night before. Boy were they delicious. Heather does a lot for being 32 weeks pregnant. After quickly eating, Jacob hurried off to another class at ASU and Heather got ready for mutual. Heather is an advisor for the Beehives and Jacob is a counselor in the young men's, over the teachers' quorum. After Jacob's class, he hurried home to make it to the last 30 minutes of mutual.

We got Chickens!

Here Jacob is making the coop out of scrap wood we found in the back yard. The only thing we bought was the chicken fencing and screws.


We decided we wanted to get chickens for a few reasons. Chickens eat bugs including scorpions. They also lay one organic egg a day. Every morning they march together out of their coop and eat from their feeder then graze the yard the rest of the day. When the sun goes down they march up into their coop until the next day. We've only tried to catch them once before we realized they would go back into the coop by themselves. They are fast! As soon as you stop chasing them they immediately start pecking the ground again.


We named them all "Lady" because we can't tell them apart.

A White Christmas at the Cabin

We decided it was much easier for us and Tiffany to pick up Elizabeth.

Christmas is so much fun with little kids. We had fun in the snow.

It's been a while since we've had our picture taken.

Life

Jacob and I have officially moved into Grandma Shepherd's house! We love having a house large enough for a baby. I feel pretty good except I don't know how I'll be able to stretch any further. I'm only 23 weeks along and know I have a ways to go. Thanksgiving is this week and I hope I don't gain too much weight. Yes, I store everything I eat. My last visit to the doctor I gained.... I can't say it. I'm too embarrassed. Oh, and I started having this pain/numbness just below my right rib. I was told it was a normal pregnancy symptom as the nerves are being scrunched in this area. I can't complain too much. I'm so excited to be pregnant and know Jacob and I will have a little baby in March!

Our Little Guy

We found out what we're having today...It's a boy! How exciting. Everything looks normal and healthy.

Pregnancy Update

I'm now in week 19 of my pregnancy and feel great! Once I hit week 13, my morning sickness magically vanished. My stomach has definitely grown and I wonder how I'll be able to stretch any further. I posted a picture for all who haven't seen me pregnant yet. I don't know how much of my size is due to my vigorous eating habits, or just baby. I'm hungry all the time...seriously, I eat all the time. I wake up extremely early with hunger pains and can't fall back asleep without satisfying my hunger. I don't know if this is normal and I don't want to turn into a pregnant fatty. Anyway, I find out what I'm having next Thursday! I have no idea what the gender will be, although I have referred to this baby as a 'he'.

I'm 14 weeks pregnant!!!

Our due date is March 15th. Spring Break!!!! We'll find out what we're having next month. We both are very excited and feel very blessed. This video was taken at 10 weeks. According to Joele at work, I'm having a girl because my wedding ring dangling from some dental floss over my stomach swayed back and forth instead of rotating in a circle. I don't know how she does it, but she has an answer for everything.

The Fourth of July

Heather and I went to Utah with my family to celebrate Independence Day and enjoyed the "Small Town" style celebration. We drove up there with my parents and Faith and her three kids (who had been in AZ since Charity's wedding). We all stayed at my brother's house in Brigham City. We went to the Oquirrh Mountain temple open house on Friday and met Charity and Matt, who had driven up that day, at Temple Square.

Saturday morning half of us ran in the 2nd annual Brigham City 5k Firecracker Run. Matt came in 5th overall. Aaron and Katie ran together and were the next in our family to finish, followed by myself and then Faith. Mom was the last person to finish the entire race*. There was an older lady who started the race, but quit after a block. It was a lot of fun and worth the T-shirt and breakfast they had for us afterward.
*Technically, Mom didn't complete the entire race. She cut off about a block because "there wasn't a sign saying I couldn't." I was shocked to see her pop up in front of me around the 2.5 mile mark, but I think she made up for it by running back.

By far, the best part of the trip was being able to play with firecrackers without worrying that the police (or my mom) would catch me. It was a blast setting of firecrackers in my brothers driveway.

The fireworks were exciting for everyone to watch.

I think the boys got more of a kick out of it than everyone else.

Some of the firecrackers were loud.

The Grand Finale. This one went on for a couple of minutes and contained a little of everything.