Holiday Season

So its been a very busy last few weeks as I'm sure it has been for everyone. We had the wonderful Mathison Christmas party on the 21st. It was so fun because it was just so chaotic with all the people there. We will seriously need to rent out a church or something for the future parties. There are just so many people and not enough room at my mom's anymore. But it was a great party and we really enjoyed ourselves. Then on the 23rd, we had the annual Harding Christmas party. We all went to a play by the Pickleville Playhouse called Santa Claus's Party. It was really cute and I think the kids really enjoyed it. Then we went back to John and Lorie's to have dinner. We always pick names with the Hardings and this year we picked Jeff and Seneca. We got them Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader? DVD game. The boys played it while the girls talked, of course. Elder BJ picked us so he sent us some pretty awesome soccer jerseys from England. He even sent one for Ethan but he'll have to wait to wear it because its an 18-24 month outfit. Perfect to wear when BJ gets home.

On Christmas Eve, we went over to Laura and Steve's house to have a turkey dinner with them and my dad. It was really fun and of course the food was delicious. Christmas morning was incredibly great, not only for the presents but also because we got to talk to BJ. It was so fun to talk to him and to hear that he's doing so good. We miss him but we're so happy that he's off doing the Lord's work. London is very lucky to have him.

We have started a new tradition on Christmas Day where all the boys and girls go see separate movies, alternating who watches the kids. This year the boys saw Valkyrie and the girls saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Brian said that Valkyrie was a pretty good movie. I didn't enjoy Benjamin Button as much. It was a two and a half hour movie that felt much longer. It was an interesting movie because it has a unique storyline but was really slow. But overall, Christmas Day was very enjoyable. I can't wait for next year when Ethan will be a little older and will be able to enjoy it more.

Then this weekend, Brian and I went down to my mom's Saturday to have dinner with Jacque and her boyfriend, Devin. This was our first time meeting him and it was a lot of fun. We approve! We stayed overnight to see Danielle Cox give her farewell talk in my old home ward. She did an amazing job and will be such a great missionary. Watch out Richmond! I know this is getting long so I will be done but I hope everyone had an enjoyable Christmas and will have a happy New Year!

This is our first real family photo taken at my mom's Christmas party. Thanks Em!

Ethan practicing his ho ho ho's. So cute!

All the nieces and nephews dressed in the pjs grandma makes for them, except Ethan. His were too big.

Ethan's first smile caught on camera. He started to smile on purpose when he was 5 1/2 weeks.

This picture is kind of random but I had to post it. This is Ethan after a bath. You can tell he isn't a fan.

Girls' Night Out and Christmas Lights

So last Wednesday night, my mom, sisters (except Emily) and sister-in-law came to Logan and we went to see Twilight. I was so excited to see the movie and even more excited to just get out with my sisters. I left Ethan home with Brian, which was a little nerve racking leaving him for the first time for more than a few minutes. But he did really good and just slept the whole time I was gone. It was so fun to hang out with my sisters and the movie wasn't half bad. I liked it but hopefully the next movie will be done a little better.
Then this weekend Brian and his dad put up the Christmas lights we bought and they only cover half the house. So I went to buy more at Walmart and they were all out except one box which someone had already opened. Apparently, the picture on the outside of the box wasn't good enough for them. I was pretty bummed but hopefully they'll get more lights soon so our house doesn't look so weird. The lights themselves look good its just that only half the house is lit so it looks a little off to me. But I was really excited to wake up today and see snow on the ground. I blasted the Christmas music all day because just having snow puts me in the Christmas spirit a little more. I love Christmas!

Just Pictures

Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving. Thanks Em!
This is one of the two tables of people at my mom's. The other table had a couple parents and all the kids. It was so fun!
Here's me holding my handsome baby.I love this picture of him. He's just so cute!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a busy weekend. First of course, was Thanksgiving. We went down to Fruit Heights to my mom's house this year. The food was great and the company even better. Brian went down to Provo that morning to play football with some of his mission buddies and ripped my favorite shirt while making a touchdown. I guess it was worth it. Then we had a wonderful dinner that made me fuller than I've been in a long time. After dinner, Brian went with the brothers-in-law to see Transporter 3. Us girls just stayed home with the kids and chatted for hours. It was great. I love getting together with family. This was also Ethan's first holiday but of course I forgot my camera so hopefully I'll get some pictures from my sister soon so I can post them.
Then we got together again with everyone except Tara to take my dad out for his Christmas present. We went to dinner at the Olive Garden in Riverdale, which was fantastic as always. But it took forever for them to seat us so we had to hurry and eat to get to our movie on time. Then we went to the new Megaplex in Ogden to see Quantum of Solace. It was a lot of fun. I loved the theater. It was really comfortable and that was nice because I was holding Ethan the whole time. Again, another first for Ethan, his first movie theater experience! I admit I was really nervous to take him because he's pretty fussy at night but he did amazing. He just slept the whole time and didn't make a sound. He hardly even jumped when the movie got really loud. It was great to get out and have fun with everyone.
And today, we're going over to Brian's parents' house to have dinner with everyone. I'm really excited to get together with the other side of our family. And hopefully this week, we'll get our Christmas tree and lights up. I love Christmas! It's my favorite time of year. Happy holidays everyone!

Ethan's First Bath

So this is a little overdue since his first bath was last week but I just went through pictures today on my camera and decided to blog about his bath. It was so funny because he cried the whole time except when Brian was taking pictures. He must love the camera.

He loved his head scrubbed.

Grandma doing a good job keeping him calm.

I just love the old man look on his face. So funny!
This was a different bath. Brian said he looked like he was posing for a picture so he took one.

I Got Tagged!

8 TV shows I watch:
1. The Office
2. CSI
3. House
4. Bones
5. Survivor
6. ER
7. Numbers
8. Lost

8 favorite restaurants:
1. Chili's
2. Ruby Tuesday
3. Olive Garden
4. Red Robin
5. Cafe Sabor
6. Iggy's
7. Wingers
8. Subway (I know, not a restraunt but I love it!)

8 things that happened yesterday:
1. Ethan was circumcised :(
2. I watched Just Like Heaven.
3. I watched The Big Bang Theory.
4. My car stalled for the first time. Its an automatic. Weird, I know.
5. It rained.
6. I chatted with my mother.
7. Ethan smiled at me in his sleep.
8. I took a nap.

8 things I'm looking forward to:
1. Christmas
2. Snow
3. Being able to sleep through the night again
4. Ethan smiling on purpose
5. Taking my kids to Disneyland
6. The weekend
7. Thanksgiving, I love food!
8. Getting a rocking chair

8 things on my wish list:
1. Crib for Ethan
2. A vacation
3. My house to be 100% finished
4. A new car
5. Lasik eye surgery
6. Christmas tree
7. Brian to put up Christmas lights
8. Ethan to keep being healthy and happy

8 things I love:
1. Brian
2. Ethan
3. Hot baths
4. Getting massages
5. Sleep
6. Vacations
7. Sitting by the fire
8. Cuddling with my husband and baby

8 things I can't stand:
1. When people chew with their mouths open
2. Bad smells
3. Certian construction contractors
4. Nasty breath
5. People who are always late
6. Slow drivers
7. Fish
8. A dirty house

8 people I tag:
1. Missy
2. Traci
3. Brittney
4. Mandy
5. Emily
6. Heather
7. Jacque
8. Kristin

He's Here!!!!

Ethan John Harding decided to grace us with his presence Friday, November 7th, the day before he was due. He was actually born at 11:17 P.M. so he was only 43 minutes away from his due date. He weighed in at 6 pounds 14 ounces and measured 20 1/2 inches long. He is a sweet little angel and we love him so much already. Everything went really well with the delivery. I didn't even know I was in labor until I went into my appointment Friday morning and the doctor told me my water was leaking and that I needed to go upstairs to delivery because I was in labor. It was all very interesting because that day I hadn't been having contractions when I was having them regularly every other day and I was in labor! So weird. But after about 11 hours of labor and a half hour of pushing, Ethan was born. He had a major conehead from dropping so early but its shaped up pretty good now. We were able to come home Sunday afternoon and its been so much better. I wasn't so comfortable at the hospital so its nice to be home. Ethan's doing really well and he's got a nice pair of lungs too. We love the little guy so much and are so grateful he's part of our family. Its so weird to think that he is our baby and we don't have to give him to anyone. He's ours to keep and we're so happy for that. Brian loves him so much that he even changes his diapers. Its so great. He kept saying before he was born he wouldn't change a poopy diaper but he's changed about five and he does really good. He's a natural! I'm feeling really good and just so grateful for my little angel. He is so sweet and I love him so much!

The before birth/after epidural picture, looking pretty happy.

First picture of Baby Ethan.

Good shot of his conehead, all gone now.

Our first family photo!

We're so happy to have it all done with and to have our little piece of heaven finally here.

Dr. Dracula

I had a very interesting experience yesterday going to my doctor's appointment. I went in and last week I was warned that Dr. Horsley likes to dress up for Halloween. Last year he was apparently Nacho Libre. But I didn't really think much of it until I was sitting on the table, waiting for him to come in and this walked in...

Kind of scary right? I just about jumped off the table. I kind of freaked out a little bit because he had bright yellow contacts in too that you can't really see well in the picture. He looked right at me and smiled and asked how I was doing. I was stunned and didn't know how to answer his question because he was so freaky looking but still acting like the nice guy he is. Imagine being checked by a vampire. It was kind of freaky. But he was a really good sport and let me take his picture with my phone. That's why the picture is so tiny and not very good quality but I had to show people what came into the exam room. Then he was making all these jokes about our baby being delivered by a vampire that night. But still no baby. Instead, we had Traci and Brody and Missy and Brad over to have pizza and play games. Thanks for coming over guys. We had tons of fun. This is also the first year we handed out candy to trick-or-treaters because everywhere else we lived, they either had trunk-or-treats or we were gone. So Brian had fun handing out the candy and seeing all the cute little costumes. Back to my appointment, I am dilated to a 3 which means that Ethan can come anytime. But we'll see. We will definitely be keeping everyone updated. Only one week left!

Pumpkins and scary guys!

This last weekend was full of fun fall stuff. First, we went to the corn maze at the Bottoms in Paradise so Brian could help scare. Brian had a blast scaring people and I had a good time staying where it was warm, watching my little nephew Carson. He is the cutest thing because anytime he would see anything related to Halloween, he would say "Scare me" and cuddle up close to me. It was so cute. He's such a doll. Anyway, Friday I made Brian take me out on a hot date because we won't be able to go out much soon. So he took me to dinner at Ruby Tuesday's then we decided to go to the Pumpkin Walk in North Logan. It was so fun to go because its one of our fall traditions. We enjoy it even without having kids. I guess its cuz we're both kids at heart. Then Saturday, we went to the Aggie football game, which was way fun to watch until the last two seconds when Fresno State made a 47 yard field goal and ended up winning by two points. It was very depressing but fun to watch anyway. After that, we decided we better get all the fall stuff in we could so we decided to do the Haunted Forest. We've done this one since we've been dating so it was fun to go do again. Brian was kind of hoping that all the scaring and walking would put me into labor but no luck. Then when we got home, we watched Brian's favorite Halloween movie, Nightmare Before Christmas. I'm not a huge fan but I love him so I watched it with him. And of course, we both fell asleep. It was like ten o'clock and we were both out. We're already acting like parents and we don't have kids yet! Soon enough I guess. Only ten more days!
I didn't get any pictures of this weekend because I'm really bad at grabbing my camera before we go out but here's a poster of the Haunted Forest. It really was good this year! Brian even got scared a lot but he won't admit to it. He's too tough to get scared.

Another Update

I must say that the last three weeks have been great. We have been living in our house, no baby and Brian has been really busy at work, which is a huge blessing. I don't mean that I like it when he's gone but its nice to have the work for money purposes. We've been enjoying the last few weeks we have of it just being us till this baby gets here. I'm getting pretty anxious though. He likes to stretch out a lot which makes everything in me squish up into my lungs and I feel like I'm sufficating sometimes. And I've started to snore every once and a while. Its awful. But I am so grateful that Ethan is still cooking instead of joining us too early. We have a little under three weeks now and I can't wait to see what my little guy will look like. We watched part of our wedding video yesterday which has our baby pictures on it and I am so excited to see if he looks more like me or Brian. I'm thinking Brian because on the ultrasound profile shot, you could tell he has Brian's nose. Thank goodness!
Little Clint, Tara's baby, is doing pretty good. He's nursing now and gaining weight. He's now almost six pounds and looking good. He still can't come home because of his breathing and his eyes but hopefully he'll be home before November. That would be great. He's such a cute little guy and so strong to fight so hard. We all love him and are so grateful that he's with us.
We had our first overnight visitors this weekend. My little sister and her "friend" came to stay with us. It was so fun because we have all this room but nothing to fill it so it was great to have someone stay with us. We had fun just talking and of course the boys played lots of nintendo and wii. It was great. Thanks for coming Chunky!
Our house is still mostly done. We haven't done a whole lot on it since we've moved in. But I told Brian we had to at least finish our bathroom before my mom comes. She's coming to stay with us after Ethan's born and it would be nice to have two bathrooms. And I still haven't put up any decorations because I'm afraid to put the first nail hole in. I look at the wall and think of how much work it was to make it look that way, I don't want to mess it up. So as you can tell, life is great for us and only continuing to get better every day.

Two Showers and a House

Its been a while and for good reason. We finally moved into our wonderful home last week. We are so excited and so happy to finally have it (mostly) done. We moved everything Monday night last week and had our inspection Tuesday afternoon. We passed (mostly). We just need to do a few little things but we were given the ok to live here so we have been for the last week and we're loving every minute of it. And to top it off, our cabinet guy actually came and finished up (mostly) everything he needed too. Just a few little things left for him to do but not at all keeping us from moving things in. We're super excited to have it done before the baby gets here. Brian has worked so hard on the house for so long its weird to not have to do it anymore. There are still things that need to get done but nothing that can't wait.

I also have had a couple baby showers since a few weeks ago. I had my family shower, thrown by my wonderful sisters and mother on September 27th. It was tons of fun to see all my aunts and cousins who I haven't seen in a long time. And we also got really cute stuff for little Ethan. He's going to be such a handsome stud in all the cute outfits we got.

Some of my cousins and my aunt.

Some of my wonderful sisters and my grandma.

Ethan's "tee tee" made by my mom. She makes a tee tee for all the grandkids. They're great!

Last Saturday was my friend shower, which was thrown by my wonderful friends. My darling friend Jacque made the cutest invitations for the shower and I love her to death for everything she does for me and has done for Ethan. We got some really cute stuff, including the famous Emma Art. I'm so excited to put it up in his room and show off how cute it is. Thanks everyone for so many great things! Ethan will be spoiled with all the cool stuff he got from everyone.

Me and my girlies having lunch at Olive Garden.

Oh and here's an updated picture of how pregnant I am. I feel so huge!

Go Aggies!

So we went to the Aggie game Saturday because we have season tickets. I know, the Aggies rock! So I went with the attitude that I wasn't expecting much but would enjoy it none the less. They played Idaho and I don't know who ranks lower, USU or Idaho. Well, it turned out to be quite an exciting game because they both weren't very good but against each other, it was a fair match. Idaho started out leading but we quickly caught up and beat them 42 to 17. It was awesome! And the fans behind us were great. We were sitting right behind the whole Idaho team and the people behind us were great hecklers! They were our entertainment the whole time. It was a lot of fun. We had two extra tickets so we brought Missy and her adorable little baby Abbi with us. Abbi is probably the most chill baby I've ever seen. She only cried once when she got scared at all the screaming, and I'll admit, it scared me too when they got so loud a couple of times. She is the best baby. SO CUTE! Anyway, that was our weekend of fun. Now its back to finishing the house, which we'll be in by tomorrow hopefully! I'll let you all know how it goes.

My First Hospital Visit

So we had kind of an exciting weekend. Not that we wanted it but it was. Friday I started to have some contractions but not more than usual so I didn't think much about it til about 11:30 that night. I was having them about every five minutes and they were pretty intense. I was having a hard time breathing through most of them. I kept having them every five minutes for two hours so I decided to wake Brian up. Of course, he freaked out. We called the hospital and they said to come in so we could be monitored. It was kind of funny because at first I don't think they thought too much about them because they weren't crippling me as I walked. But when they got me hooked up to the monitors, they could see that the contractions were coming every two to four minutes and that the baby's heart rate was lower then they would have liked. So they gave me a shot that was supposed to stop the contractions. They only got closer together and longer in duration. So they gave me some pills that were stronger. They did nothing so they gave me another dose. Again, nothing. So about an hour later they tried the shot again. By this point we had been in the hospital for about four hours and the contractions weren't getting any worse but they weren't any better either. So they just monitored me for the next three hours. They started to taper off for a while. At about 11:00 a.m. the on call doctor came in and told me very reluctantly I could go home. She gave me some restrictions and told me to call if the contractions continued. Well, I didn't want to be there anymore so I wasn't complaining. Also when I first came in, they checked me and I wasn't dilated at all. About five hours later I was dilated to a one but I wasn't thinning out anymore so they decided it was going to be ok. I've never been admitted to the hospital before and let me tell you, I am in no hurry to go back. It was impossible to sleep and the bed was very uncomfortable. The food was worse. Even Brian didn't like it and that says something. He'll eat anything. Anyway, the doctor gave me a shot of steroids to help Ethan's lungs develop in case he does come early. That one hurt. They gave me the second dose this morning and it was just as wonderful. But I am so grateful that our little one isn't here and that he is doing good. His heart rate went up after a couple hours so that was relieving. He is still moving like crazy so that's also a good sign. Hopefully, he'll stay where he is for the next eight weeks.

Update on...everything

So we finally have all our cabinets in! Yay! We are so excited because as many of you know, it has taken two and a half months longer than what our wonderful cabinet guy said. He kept telling us for sure he would be done later in the week but we never heard from him and he wouldn't return our phone calls. But last Thursday he came and actually finished them all. I was so happy and so surprised he actually came this time. He has a few little things left to do but nothing that is holding us back anymore. Its been a good week. So now Brian is going to start the countertops this week and hopefully we will get our permit of occupancy to move in. We're hoping two weeks tops but we're not saying for sure because things always come up.
Another thing that is going well is Tara's baby, Clint. She had him at 27 weeks and he's been in the NICU at McKay Dee Hospital for the last four weeks. He had heart surgery but he's almost totally recovered from that. He is breathing on his own with little oxygen but no more ventilator so that's really good. Hopefully he will continue to do this well so they can move him up to Logan Regional. That way Tara would be able to be home and still be able to see her baby as much as she likes.
As for my pregnancy, everything is going very well. Little Ethan (or should I say big Ethan) is growing right on schedule and I'm feeling bigger than ever. We went to the doctor last week and everything looks great. I'm so grateful for that. I love to hear his little heart beat. Brian was lucky enough to come this time and he got to see how uneventful this visits really are. We're looking forward to November 8th, hopefully no sooner, to meet our little boy.

My First Baby Shower

This weekend, the Harding boys all went on their "priesthood outing" they do every year. So us Harding women got together and had a baby shower. My wonderful mother-in-law, Lorie, threw it for me. We went to Olive Garden to have dinner and had a blast. I got tons of really cute outfits and Lorie gave me a super cute swing. I'm really excited because this shower made me realize that November 8th isn't that far away. I can't wait to use all the cute things we got. Thanks again to all my wonderful in-laws. We appreciate all you do for us!


From Left front to right front: Missy, Abbi, Me (pregnant), Celeste (pregnant), Lorie, Seneca (pregnant), and Emily

Couple Tag

What is his name: Brian Harding
What is her name: Kristy Harding
How long have you been together: We've been together for over four years but married for three.
How long did you date: 10 months
How old is he: 25
Who eats more: Probably me because I'm eating for two.
Who said I love you first: He did but I said it right back.
Who is taller: I am. But when Brian wears his Docs, we're about the same.
Who sings better: Definitely Brian.
Who is smarter: Brian for sure
Who does the laundry: Me-if Brian did the laundry, I wouldn't have clothes that fit.
Who pays the bills: I do
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed: I do
Who mows the lawn: When we get a lawn, I probably will.
Who cooks the dinner: Its pretty even but I think I do a little more.
Who drives: Mostly me
Who is more stubborn: I think that's a trait we share.
Who kissed who first: He kissed me.
Who proposed: Brian on our 6 month anniversary of dating. It also happened to be Valentine's Day. He gave me a necklace box but instead my ring was inside. It surprised me big time. Then he stomped a heart in the snow and put me in the middle and got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. It was very cute!
Who has more friends: We have the same friends now. That's what happens when you've been married for a few years.
Who is more sensitive: I am for sure.
Who has more siblings: Me, I have seven sisters and one brother. He has four brothers and one sister.
I tag Brittney, Missy and Traci!

11 Weeks and Counting

So I am in my third trimester, finally. It feels like I've been pregnant forever. And I am only 29 weeks. Hopefully the next eleven weeks will go by quicker. I'm just excited to see what Ethan will look like. But I am totally content to wait until my due date. My sister Tara, who was due at the same time as me, had her baby two weeks ago at 27 weeks. He's so tiny and has been having some problems. But he's a fighter so we all hope and pray he will be ok. His name is Clint and he is just about the cutest thing that I've ever seen. But seeing how tiny he is makes me so grateful that Ethan is still inside growing like a weed.
Speaking of weeds, here's an update on our house. It is coming along slowly but we finally got some of our finish cabinets in and the guy said he will have them all done no later than Wednesday. We'll see if he actually does it this time. Its like we've never heard that before. But we have made it our goal to be in before November so we have a home to take our baby when he's born. Hopefully it will be before that. We'll see!

Our Home

So this is our home. Brian's been working very hard to get it finished in time for the baby. We're still working on it but it'll be done soon hopefully. The color is strange to say the least but its grown on me and I really like it now. My father-in-law calls it baby poop yellow. Its actually called rustic gold but the other description works too.

The front view with our alfalfa field. We'll get grass next year.
Another view of the front.
Our wonderful kitchen with its famous unfinished cabinets.
Our "chocolate" room.
The neighborhood kids' favorite place to play, our dirt pile in the back.

When we finally finish with the house, we are going to throw a huge party. Everyone's invited and we'll all play on the dirt pile out back.

First Blog Ever

So I have finally caved and started my very own blog. I don't have all that much to write about but thought I would to just keep everyone updated with what excitement is going on in our lives. First off, we have been working on building a house in Millville and its been a crazy adventure to say the least. We started the house back in March and thought for sure we would be in by the first of June at the latest. Here it is middle of August and we're still not in but we're getting there. We only have a few more things to do and we'll be done. Well I should say Brian will be done. He's done 99.9% of the work on the house due to the fact that I don't know what I'm doing. I have only painted and let me tell you, I never want to paint ever again after that. I will post pictures of our house at a later date. I hope you all enjoy!