Valentines Day

I always enjoy Valentine's Day with Mike. This year we celebrated on Friday before since he had to work on Saturday and Valentine's Day was on Sunday. I really just wanted to go to the temple. I knew that would mean we were dressed up and then we could go out for a nice dinner after. It was so relaxing to go to the temple and not have to rush or worry about Daniel at all (thank you to grandparents for babysitting :).

After the temple we went to Olive Garden for dinner. The food was so yummy and I ate way more than I should have haha. I'll get back to eating healthy on Monday :) I love going to restaurants because I love the noise and the atmosphere and having someone else cook for me of course. We got an appetizer, soup, salad and dinner. Such good food!

After dinner drove away from the city and into the mountains to look at the stars. I had forgotten what the stars look like when you can get away from the lights. It was a great night!

On Valentine's Day we went to church and we had a nice surprise waiting for us when we got home from church!

YUM!!!!

 Daniel had a nice Valentines Day too. He got some treats and some fun little presents. His favorite was the balloon of course which wasn't a surprise. He's been playing with it all day! He's a very loved little boy :) He also loved his cookie after dinner tonight! He even got frosting in his hair. Those peeps are little bears and he started thinking they were toys and not food. We had to feed them to him so he knew to eat them and not just play.

For dinner tonight we had delicious burgers. Mike did an amazing job! We also had pasta salad and corn. We made red velvet brownies for Stacey and Doug to have after dinner. Mike and I got ourselves a special treat in the form of Cheesecake Factory cheesecake. I was in a food coma by the end of the night but it was worth every bite.

I love both of my valentines so much! I have an adorable little boy who has his moments but is really just so sweet. I'm also grateful for a husband who loves us and works hard so we can have the things we need. I love you Mike!

My Little Valentine

Mike had to work on the Saturday before Valentines Day so I spent the day with my little valentine. We spent the day going shopping and playing at the park together. I love when I get one on one time with him especially since soon we will have a baby brother and it won't just be me and my little Dan anymore. He's a very sweet valentine too :)

23 weeks

23 Weeks

I have been so bad at taking pregnancy pictures this time because I haven't felt pregnant this time around. Most of the time I just feel really fat so I haven't wanted my picture taken haha

Today though I finally took a picture so that I can remember how I looked during this pregnancy and I actually felt pretty this morning. This pregnancy has been so different than it was with Daniel. I feel bigger than I did with Daniel for sure and I have also been moodier and sicker this time. I was pretty sick during the first trimester but thankfully that went away by the time we moved to Vegas.

Movement: This little guy does move around and I love when he does. He definitely doesn't move as much as Daniel did which kind of stress me out haha

Food: I haven't had any specific cravings during this pregnancy. I have wanted more sweets in general but I've been able to get that with fruit or with little treats here and there and haven't gone too crazy. Although I do use holidays and trips as a nice excuse to go crazy haha The only real craving I can think of that I've had is cashews and peanuts! I always have them in the house to grab a handful.

Exercise: I'm still working out on the bike and the elliptical everyday. I've also been enjoying going for walks with Dan and Mike now that its warming up more. I'm so glad I've been able to exercise because I get very anxious when I'm pregnant and it really helps me to focus and get some "me" time in to relax.

What do I miss?: Right now I am cold all the time. Normally I could handle the 50 degree weather but I have been bundled up every day. I do have a little iron deficiency again which could be contributing to how cold I am but hopefully as it gets warmer in Vegas I won't have to be quite so bundled up and I can enjoy being outside more.

Overall this pregnancy has been pretty smooth though and I can't really complain. I'm more stressed and have more anxiety but a lot of that is due to life right now rather than just this pregnancy. I really like our doctor though which is a nice change from last time. I'm very excited to meet this little boy though :)

Baby Epperson #2 is a....

BOY!!!!!

It looks like a baby brother for Daniel! We're so excited for Dan to have a little partner in crime. I am just picturing them being the best of friends and driving mommy crazy haha! 

 

We decided to do something fun this time to find out if we were having a boy or a girl. So we went to our ultrasound and had her find out the gender and put it in an envelope. Then we gave it to Mike's sister Stacey to hide from us. When we got back from Utah Stacey made vanilla cupcakes and inside one of the cupcakes she put pink or blue frosting :) We wanted Daniel to be involved so he bit into the cupcake. After a few bites we found the BLUE frosting and told everyone Dan is getting a brother!!

Mike says he knew it was a boy. I kind of thought girl for a while since this pregnancy has been so different from my first but at the bottom of my heart I knew it was a boy. We're happy and excited to have this blessing either way and I know this little boy will be the perfect addition to our family! 

We were even given a present for our little guy already! While we were in Utah my grandma gave us a blanket for the baby. She actually gave us one for a boy and one for a girl because we didn't know yet but she told us to give both to the baby or one to Daniel and one to the baby. So our newest little boy has 2 adorable blankets :)

Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum

One activity we had planned once we got to Utah and talked to Julie was the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point. Daniel likes dinosaurs and so do Mike and I so we were pretty excited about it. Everyone told us how awesome this museum was, especially for kids, so we were looking forward to it. It didn't disappoint us :)

Daniel was fascinated as soon as we walked in and saw a big T-Rex in the lobby and a huge Pterodactyl hanging from the ceiling.

I know he doesn't look happy but he couldn't see it very well so he was mad

Now he is happy :)

They had a fun puzzle area where you could build the dinosaurs you saw in the museum. Mike had a lot of fun building his Supersaurus and Daniel and I played with the pieces to a different dinosaur.

Then we got to build a dinosaur out of big foam pieces. They were too big for Daniel to pick up but he loved having Mike chase him around with the big dinosaur heads and also giving the dinosaur hugs.

They had a lot of cool dinosaurs and Daniel loved walking around and was fascinated with how big they all were. It was fun to just compare his size to the legs of some of the dinosaurs. He was so tiny in comparison. Daniel is also an expert at doing a dinosaur roar. He had so much roaring at the dinosaurs when he saw them, although he looked sad when none roared back to him.

He isn't scared of a raptor :)

Practicing his dinosaur roar

We also got to see some other cool fossils that came after the dinosaurs. Daniel's favorite was the shark!

At the end of the museum they had a fun fossil digging area for kids. At first he was not sure of what to do and he didn't like when his hands got dirty. After a few minutes he figured out how to use the brushes though and warmed up to it. Eventually he was sitting in the dirt and digging away :)

 It was such a fun day! I'm so excited to watch him get older and enjoy these things even more and now he can teach his little brother too!