Eternity... HERE WE COME!!!

As some of you may know, trying to get sealed after you've already been sealed once is quite the ordeal. Steve and I worked on our sealing cancellations/clearance since August of last year and it was quite the emotional trial. Finding addresses for former spouses, former spouses not accepting letters from our bishop, returned letters that added complications, ward changes, etc. Finally, at the end of June, all our paperwork was compiled and completed, and our Stake President sent it all in to the First Presidency.

The next few weeks were filled with much prayer and fasting by our friends and family on our behalf. We prayed that the approval letters would come in time for us to be sealed when my family would be in town the first weekend in August. Day after day, week after week we waited for the letters. Finally, they arrived on July 29th.

Immediately, Steve called the Salt Lake Temple to see if they had any openings at all for August 5, just one week away. Not only did they have an opening, but they had four or five! We could not believe it!!! We scheduled the sealing and called everyone to let them know.

It was an amazing experience being in the temple with my sweetheart. The temple workers were so sweet and so excited for us. It was really really warm in there (which I think added to the special attention that we received) but we were so thrilled.

I'm grateful beyond words for a loving Heavenly Father, who knew the desires of my heart... to share this moment with my family, to be in the temple that I wanted, and before Trevor was born. It made the whole experience that much more special.

So, how does it feel being sealed to your best friend and all the children that you will have together? AMAZING! There was such a sense of relief and comfort. We didn't even realize how much it was weighing on us that we needed that sacred ordinance.

Eternity is going to be wonderful.

2 Years and 99 days

Today is a very special day in the Allred household for two special reasons.

First off, Steve and I met two years ago today.

And second, we have 99 days left as a family of 2.

Isn't life grand?

The results are in...

... and it's a BOY!!!!

Face

Little boy parts

Arm and Phalanges

Profile

Profile #2

Creepy Looking 3D

We are excited (and a little bit nervous)!

Our Active Little Parasite

On Tuesday, we had our second doctor's appt and we were able to have the first little glimpses of our little parasite:

Doctor says everything looks great and we have a very active little baby... to which he added "Good Luck" for my benefit. I think Steve was way too excited to even realize what was going on... he just kept saying, "Wow! That's our BABY!"

This is our "Hi Daddy!" picture.

12 weeks down... 28 more to go!

My Three New Loves.

Zofran.

Phenergran.

Pepcid AC.

With these three I'm more than like to remain mostly human throught the whole day. However, while we have tried to manage our relationship, I have learned three things...

1) Maximum Strength Pepcid AC.... Otherwise after three hours you are wishing you can pop another when in fact you can only take 2 in a 24 hour period.

2) Phenegran makes me a little loopey. The first night Steve couldn't stop laughing at me, nor could I. (I think he really appreciated the change in pace).

3) Dont ever get the bottles for Zofran and Phenergran mixed up. Otherwise you will spend all day wishing you were in bed asleep and all night in bed wondering why you can't sleep.

I think that the four of us (six if you count Steve and Parasite) are going to make a great team for the next 2-4 (or more?!?!) weeks!

Parasite

So as some of you may know, a couple of weeks ago I went to the ER with severe abdominal pains. Several tests were done, including ultrasounds, blood tests, and xrays. Results were inconclusive and I was sent home with pain killers and was told to call if it got any worse. Luckily it did get better.

However, in some of the blood tests, they did find that I have a parasite. This type is quite common among women between the ages of 20 and 40 although, cases have been found outside of that age range. This isn't something to worry about and in a few months, the parasite will be big enough that my body will pass it on it's own. At that point, we'll dress it up all cute and bring it home.

In the meantime, I taking lots of naps and enduring heartburn.

Christmas at the Allreds

I love Christmas. I love everything about Christmas. It's so magical and wonderful! And I love decorating for Christmas! Here's some of the decorations that we enjoyed this year....

Our real live Christmas tree, hand picked at the corner Christmas Tree Park and carried home. (I helped carry it the entire way home this year!)
And don't worry, I got to decorate it twice this year because it fell over a couple weeks ago...

We have decided that we are going to collect ornaments as a family tradition. This year's ornaments were made from a nut and shell lei from Hawaii.

The Christmas pillow from Steve's mom and the hand-me-down garland from my mother (which I love however we will need to find another place for it next year. Steve does not like the fact that he cannot put his arm around me while sitting on the couch and I did not like the night that it fell on me while we camping out on the couch all night.)

Our beloved Willow Tree Nativity.

Not really a Christmas decoration, but we are excited to have this picture of President Monson.

Our keyboard adorned with a simple nativity and polar bear and, yes of course, Christmas music.

Our stockings (which were hung with care)
BTW, I think Santa forgot to bring oranges to our house because we each had a can of mandarin oranges in the toe of our stockings....

The cutest nativity set that Steve got on his mission in Louisville, KY

Our coffee table with Christmas stories and candies...

... which are guarded by this nutcracker which Steve painted as a wee lad.

Merry Christmas from the Allreds!