Christmastime is Here!

December arrived, and with it, Christmas. Baby Stoker getting bigger all the time, and so was I!  February was seeming really close. We love Christmas, and this would be our last one just the two of us, which was both exciting and bittersweet. 

His little face!

Anyway, here are highlights from the season:

1. Our Christmas tree, of course!

2. Making an awesome wreath for our front door.  I'm NOT crafty, so I was so proud of this.

3.  Seeing Gary and Melissa as they came out with Ally's car.  Love seeing family.

4. Planning my company's Christmas party.  OK, the planning wasn't so fun, but the party was a success!  All were also duly impressed with Danny's Karaoke skills. :-) I decided I would really miss my work family, as I didn't know if I was going back after the baby was born.

 

5. Being pregnant with my good friend Brittany. We worked in the Primary Presidency together and so we would sit in the back all the time talking about our pregnancies.  This was #2 for her, so I asked her for alll the advice. Her girl came 7 weeks before my boy, so it's fun that they are close in age, even though we moved wards in January 2018.

 

6. Taking Danny to see Les Miserables on stage for the first time.  It was so fun to show him something that meant so much to me.  And he liked it! Extra cool that Jean Valjean was played by a guy I knew in New York. That's always fun for me.  It was a great night with my favorite guy.

 

7.  Christmas Eve, of course.  We took our friends Ashley and Leon to the service at Christ Church that we love so much.  It's always a magical and spiritual night.

 

8.  Christmas Day was great.  We went to Ashley and Leon's for brunch with our friend Katy as well.  Then we just came home and relaxed.  The only other place we went that night was to see the temple lights.  Danny had thought Christmas night wouldn't be crowded, but I knew better. ;-) It was SO crowded, so we didn't spend much time.  But I'm glad we went.  It was gorgeous and ended our day perfectly, I think.

 

9.  I found a coupon for a painting class, and it was so fun!  I loved trying something new with Danny as one of our last real dates before the baby came. 

10. Back in 2015 Danny and I made these ugly Christmas sweaters for a ward Christmas party (that everyone was dressed to the 9's for, but that wasn't our style). I had to see what the same sweater looked like in 2017.  Two years makes quite a difference!

11.  We finally found an Egyptian restaurant!  My Middle East nerd was so happy!

And with that, 2017 came to a close.  2018 would prove to be the most incredible year with our new son, and huge/difficult adjustment at the same time with our new son.  An amazing and intense year learning how to be parents. But we didn't know any of that yet!  So, onward, and we were on our way into the abyss of parenthood! Yeehaw! 

Thanksgiving! (And the Rest of November)

November is one of my favorite months, because I love Thanksgiving, and it is just the precursor to the Christmas season, which is the BEST.  But in November 2017, life was just rolling along, with my pregnancy progressing (let it be known that my hair during my pregnancy was amazing!), Danny practicing his baking skills in preparation for Thanksgiving, and seeing the pre-Broadway run of Mean Girls with some friends.  The weather was finally starting to feel like Autumn, and the leaves finally started to turn.

26 weeks on November 1st!

So, Thanksgiving. Danny is a gem.  This was all his idea, because he decided that my family needed to see me while I was still pregnant.  So we went to Utah to be with the fam for Thanksgiving.  It also worked out that his parents decided to come to Utah for Thanksgiving, so we got to see some of Danny's family as well.  It made for a little bit of a crazy week, but it was great. We were able to see some of my good friends as well, which only added to the crazy/fun.

Jeff Stevens

Katie Hill and Jen Jacobsen and Raef

My Maggie girl

The Cannons also came into town for Thanksgiving, so my parents had a really full house, and Thanksgiving Day was a very big production to pull off!  Danny was a little overwhelmed, being a bit more introverted, but was wonderful and a great sport anyway.  I can't tell you how good it was to be with my family!

 

Cyndi gave me the best gift- an exercise book by Marie Osmond in the 1980's.  It was priceless. 



Danny's pies were a hit, of course.  And my 29-week pregnant self ate my share and then some....



Just....recreating the awkward.

The bummer about being pregnant during a holiday is that, I was so bloated that I couldn't eat as much as I felt I was entitled to, eating for two. ;-) But I put away a good amount of food anyway, no worries.

 

It was so wonderful to see my family, and Danny was right; my mom was thrilled to see me pregnant.  And you seriously can't beat the sunsets in Mapletopia.

 

We came back to quickly welcome Ally to the East Coast with a fancy dinner at Chick Fila. ;-)  I was so excited to have some family close by! She moved to Virginia to start her new job as the Press Secretary for Senator Hatch from Utah. So proud of her!

And Then Came the Fall, but it Took FOREVER.....

The fall was finally approaching, and though we knew we were having a boy, the anatomy ultrasound at 20 weeks (on September 20th) was still really fun! I hope James thinks it's cool that this is documented.  Hee hee!  So basically this is what my inside looked like...

 

And what I looked like on the outside at 20 weeks.  I was thinking, "Half way, it's about time I have something to show for all this discomfort!"  Ha! What's really funny to me is now I see what everyone else did- I was barely showing at all.  But if sure feels different, even if no one else notices.

 

Late September came, and with it my cousin Kelly!  It's always so fun when she comes to DC on business, and it gives us the chance to go do something fun that we have been wanting to do.  So we went to Harper's Ferry in W. Virginia.  It was a perfect day, really.  Harper's Ferry is where the Potomac and Susquehanna Rivers intersect.  And it is amazing.  We went on a fantastic hike, ate some yummy food, and enjoyed the views and weather. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In October Danny and I went with our friends Ashley and Leon up to Amish country.  Honestly, we were hoping the weather was going to be much more fall-like, with the leaves turning and colder weather.  Instead it was still very green, warm, and a little rainy, but still beautiful.  We ate lots of yummy Pennsylvania Dutch food (allll of the baked good and carbs) and had the best donuts of our lives at the Lancaster Market. We explored the area and found some beautiful covered bridges and just enjoyed the countryside. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The end of October was a little bit of crazy weekend, with the Primary program (I was in the Presidency) and an apple-picking excursion, a Halloween party, and overall pregnancy fatigue.  Danny took great care of me that weekend, including making me a delicious Sunday dinner.  He is an amazing partner, and so solicitous of my well-being in general.  But when I was pregnant, he was an absolute champion. I'm so lucky. 

Of course, we had to throw another hike in there before it got too cold. It was a gorgeous day at the end of October on the Potomac. 

 

25 weeks!

Aaaannndddd- about the nicest, most sincere tribute I can give to Danny during the fall season.  You're welcome, Babe.