2012 in a very large nutshell post

So unfortunately I am so far behind I don't feel like I can feasibly catch up from last year. I want to start blogging again, but I feel the need to catch-up therefore I don't blog and get more and more behind.  I am going to post a whole bunch of pictures with captions from last year. I am putting a digital scrapbook together at some point so I will have the year documented that way, if you are intrigued by any pictures from last year I will happily tell you about them. I just don't want to blog event by event because it just isn't going to happen, but at least I am realistic about my blogging. So here goes

Cabo continued:

I can't tell if this is Lin or his brother Jake, but 80% of our time was spent playing in the ocean

Lin stepped on a sea urchin and his foot was full of little spines. We went to a red cross hospital and the male nurse told Lin to just man up and dig them out with a needle

We met a man at church who had just opened a restaurant so we ate there one night

Pregnant:
We found out I was pregnant in the middle of February. The due date was set on Oct 26th.

9 weeks

19 weeks

 Clogging:

Competing with Unlimited was so much fun! We had a great time and all three of our dances received high gold scores and took first place in our category at Lagoon.

Winning our trophy at Lagoon

Our 80's business wear to go with our dance to 9-5 by Dolly Parton

Heidi, Rachel, Robyn and Me

Volleyball:
Lin and his family played coed volleyball in Spanish Fork.

Lin and his brother Jake blocking

Graduation:
Technically I graduated in December 2011, but the ceremony was in April 2012. I decided not to walk (it seemed unimportant by that point) but Lin and I went to see Dallin H. Oaks speak at Commencement. We actually managed to get seats with a back which was amazing due to the number of people there.

Dallin H Oaks

Pregnancy:

On June 4th we had an ultrasound and found out we were having a girl! Lin had already said he knew it was a girl back in April. I don't have a picture of the ultrasound because I only have a hardcopy not a digital one. That same day we found out that my best friend was having a boy.

28 Weeks

30 Weeks

Anniversary:

We celebrated our 4 year anniversary on June 12th and wanted to get away for the weekend since it would probably be the last time before the baby came. We usually go to St. George but we were low on money since neither of us had been employed since December. Lin's brother Jim got us a room on his timeshare in Wolf Mountain (Ogden Canyon). On the way to the hotel we stopped and went fishing at Pineview Res. We had no luck except for Lin's tiny fish but we had tons of fun. The whole weekend was nice, we played tennis forever (yes I was about 22 weeks pregnant so Lin went easy on me) and just enjoyed the time away.

Painting:
Our neighbor was kind enough to trade us extra paint he had in exchange for Lin fixing his roof. We finally painted the ugly brown paneling in our trailer :)

Half and half

Before

After

Finally in August both Lin and I found work with our previous employers so after 9 months of unemployment we both were back where we started, silly I know. We are grateful for the work though.

Pregnancy:

32 weeks

33 weeks

Since we hoped the baby would be here by my birthday (Halloween) Lin gave me my presents early so that I could enjoy them. He got me a foot massager (good pregnancy gift) and a pasta maker attachment for my kitchen aid. So General Conference weekend we made pasta it was a blast.

Homemade whole wheat pasta, does life get any better

Halloween:

My friend Kirsten had a Halloween party at her house and a few weeks later on Oct 13th her mom had her annual family Halloween party. I always get invited even though I am not technically family, but it is a party I look forward too. Lin and I dressed as Thing 1, Thing 2 and I had an extra sign on my belly for Thing 3. Not the most flattering costume but definitely the most comfortable

We went to the party and I told Kirsten that I had contractions every 20 min the night before. I was still having them about once or twice an hour. We didn't stay very long at the party because neither of us had slept the night before and I didn't feel great.  Later that night the contractions picked up again. I called my sister to see if I needed to be timing them constantly or if it was common for this to come and go. Both my mom and sister had been saying I would probably go into labor late and that they have never had there water break on its own. She thought they were probably helping me progress but that it could still be weeks before I had the baby. Two hours later (11:45 pm) I called her back to tell her my water had broken. So at midnight Lin and I headed to the hospital. As we drove I called my mom who was out of town and told her what was going on. I wont bore you with the whole delivery story. It went really well and Sunday at 3:30 pm our beautiful Zelda Mae Skinner was born 6lbs 8oz and 18.5" long. It was an amazing experience.

Since then it has been a whirlwind. She is truly the joy of our lives and the comic relief :D I also need to thank the numerous people that have helped us prepare for this little one. We have had many people from our ward and our family hand down items that we needed. We were very blessed and hope to someday pay it forward to someone else.

 

 

My friend Janneke took these AMAZING photos of Z and made a birth announcement

 
 


Christmas:
Christmas was wonderful. We got to spend time with family and Lin and I kinda spoiled each other.

 

Well there is 2012 in a nutshell. If you are still reading I am amazed because this post is incredibly long. So I hope you enjoyed it and I will try and keep up a little better for 2013.