It's a ........ (!!!)

We were lucky enough to be able to find out if our little babe is a boy or girl at 18 weeks AND on Valentine's Day!  Brody's job had scheduled him to travel to Africa for 3 weeks starting on February 15, so I'm really glad it all worked out!

I asked the ultra-sound tech to write down the gender on a card I brought and then we sealed it up tight in an envelope so we couldn't peek.  Then we had to wait in suspense all day long while we went to work/school.  I did enjoy a nice surprise from Brody while at work though... Valentines flowers delivered to me at work!!  He's never done anything like that before, and it was great for me to have a beautiful reminder of how wonderful he is while he was gone!

Later that evening, we headed to Babies R' Us and picked out a boy outfit and a girl outfit.  We took both outfits to the cashier, left her the envelope and our debit card before we walked out of sight and asked her to open the envelope, purchase whatever outfit matched the gender written on the card and gift wrap the whole thing so we wouldn't be able to see which one we bought.  The cashier was super excited to help us out!

Once we had our gift bag with the 'BIG ANSWER' inside, we grabbed some take out and went home to celebrate a nice Valentine's together.

When we couldn't stand the suspense any longer, we opened the gift (which was wrapped very tightly in many layers) and finally got our hopes and suspicions confirmation that we are indeed having a BOY!!

We are extremely excited and can't wait for our little guy to get here!

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Now that we know the gender, we can really start preparing for his arrival!!  And we didn't waste any time.  Just a week after Brody left for Africa, my mom and sister took a quick weekend trip out here to help me get the nursery started.  And to keep me company while Brody was gone (for a few days at least).  It was so great to have them here and I appreciated their help more than I can say.

We did a LOT of painting (I'll post before and after pictures later), but we were also able to squeeze in some fun while they were here.  We enjoyed eating out a few times,

and making some delicious new pinterest recipes.

French toast roll-ups

An amazing open-faced sandwich (not sure of the name)

We also went on a couple walks, watched Frozen one night, the olympics and a few hilarious home videos. 

We had a great time and I'm really thankful to have these two wonderful people in my life!!

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And since I'm now 20 weeks -- halfway there (!!!)  I'll post a picture of my progress of actually growing this baby.

I'm loving the second trimester, for the most part.  I'm extremely happy to not be nauseous anymore (that finally went away around week 15), but I feel like I've been in the awkward not-quite-pregnant-looking-yet-but-definitely-getting-fat stage forever.  I haven't had any crazy cravings yet, which I'm kind of sad about and I finally started feeling the baby move about a week ago.  This whole experience is so fascinating and I'm doing my best to try and soak it all in!

January

A fun Saturday
One Saturday, we went rock climbing at the gym with our friends, then to 5 Guys for dinner.  It doesn't sound like much, but it was a really fun day.

Warm days
We had a couple really warm days again this month (just like last year), where the temp got into the high 50's and even up to 63 one or two days!!  That's amazing for January.  We took advantage and actually went on a real hike -- the trail was completely dry and by the end we were both in short sleeves.  It was awesome!

Nuggets Game
Another weekend, we went with our other friends to a Nuggets game down in Denver.  We ate at a cute little diner beforehand and had a great evening!

We tried our best to get a group shot, but quickly realized that selfie-style was not going to work...

So we finally broke down and asked a stranger to take it.  Much better.

Cool snowflakes
Later in the month it got so cold that one day the high was 0!! It did make for some cool snowflakes/frost creations on the ground though.

Date night
Brody and I have been trying to do as many date nights as possible while we still can (without having to pay a babysitter).  This month we enjoyed many Friday evenings doing things like: going out to eat, watching movies, making cookies together, playing games and getting frozen yogurt. We always have so much fun together, no matter what we are doing.  I love this handsome husband of mine!

{P.S. Did you notice that Brody is wearing the same beanie in every single picture he's in??  That boy likes his beanie!!}

Spreading the news

We had fun telling our families and friends the exciting news that we are expecting!  We used a variety of methods to spread the word.  We told our immediate families first.  Then a few weeks later we told our extended families and close friends.  Then we finally posted it on social media.

My family:

We told my family by gathering everyone together for a group picture (which isn't anything out of the ordinary for my family).  I had a new tripod that I wanted to “try out” and a remote so we could all be in the picture.  When we were all ready to go I said “OK everyone, on the count of 3, smile and say Kylee’s pregnant!!”  It took a while for reality to set in, but when it did, Brody captured it all with our handy remote!

My missionary brother:

Since Jake wasn’t there to find out with everyone else, I decided to send him a little certificate in the mail that says “Congratulations on becoming an uncle” (since this is the first grand-baby on my side of the family).  I put the certificate inside a card I made, as shown below:

Brody’s family:

Brody got to choose the method of reveal for his family and he chose to slip in the statement “Well, Kylee’s knocked up” into a regular conversation.  He thought they would find it funny and I think they did!  Sadly, I didn’t catch any pictures of the reactions but they were all very excited!

Everyone else:
This is the picture we posted on Instagram and Facebook with the caption "Our new chapter starts in July (no, we are not getting another dog).

A fabulous year

2013 was a fabulous year. Maybe even our best one yet!  It was very low key, no major events or big decisions to make, and LOTS of fun and adventure.  I think this is the first year that we didn't rent a Uhaul and pack up all of our stuff for one reason or another.  This was also the first year that I didn't change jobs.  I can't even tell you how AWESOME it was to spend the entire year working at a job I absolutely love and not having the stress of moving so we could spend our time doing other fun things.  I will do my best to summarize our amazing year:

Sent off Chinese lanterns for the New Year.

Went climbing at the gym multiple times a week (in the winter)

Spent time outside enjoying 60* weather in January

Went to an ice sculpture festival

Went to an Alpaca Extravaganza

Went snowshoeing in Rocky Mountain National Park

Went to Utah for spring break and enjoyed some indoor surfing

Celebrated our 6 year anniversary

Got more snow the last 2 weeks of April (and on May 1st) than we did all winter

Crossed off a bucket list item by participating in a flash mob

Went back to Utah to say goodbye to Jake for 2 years

Attended an "Arrested Development" party

Rock Climbed 1,000 feet up the Flat Irons

Hiked up Grey Rock

I nannied these two amazing kiddos over the summer and we did lots of fun things together.

Camped at Red Feather Lakes

Went to a drive-in movie

Attended the Anberlin concert in Fort Collins 

Visited Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs

Went climbing in Vedauwoo, WY

Bought a new car!

Rented a pontoon for the afternoon with some friends

My mom came to visit

My sister came to visit

Brody's mom and Con came to visit

I went to Utah for my BFF's wedding

Went camping with some out of town friends

The Bundy's came to visit (our 5th set of visitors in a 6 week time frame!)

Attended the FUN. concert at Red Rocks

Spent a weekend in Breckenridge, CO

Spent a weekend in Winter Park, CO

I ran in my first race ever - 10 miles.  And I did the whole thing without stopping!

Brody also ran in his first race - a trail marathon.  And he did 85% of it with a broken foot! (A stress fracture)

Had a Harry Potter marathon with our friends

Hiked Devil's Backbone

Went to a corn maze

Dressed up as a sheep and shepard for Halloween

Celebrated Brody's "Golden Birthday" (29 on the 29th) with an awesome party

Went home to Utah for Thanksgiving AND Christmas and enjoyed the time spent with our families.

And after all that . . . the most exciting event of the year was seeing these two little lines on a pregnancy test!!

We are expecting the little one to arrive in July 2014.