Merry Christmas!

Baby, Baby, Baby, Oh....

Perhaps you have noticed that all my post titles are songs/lyrics with "baby" in them.  Perhaps you haven't. Either way, I have baby on the brain all the time.  Mostly because it's the biggest thing to happen to me since my marriage (screaming:  MAJOR LIFE CHANGE). Also, I can't ignore the fact that Baby C calls all the shots when it comes to my daily activities and consequently I am very aware of his presence. I have 84 days until my due date.  I have less than 100 days until my due date.  I am in my 3rd trimester of pregnancy.  I have 12 weeks until this little man gets to join the rockin' party at the Champ house. Bring it on little man-we can't wait to hang with you.

Baby It's Cold Outside

Merry Christmas to all!

Another 12 months has passed since our last 12 month recap and we cannot believe how many things can happen in one tiny year.  Daniel and I have been so blessed.  We love this time of year as we celebrate the birth and life of our Savior as we enjoy time with friends and family.

January was pretty much just there. We lived and loved, and most likely laughed.

February was fantastic as we discovered Matt and Carla were pregnant.  Danno got a raise at Moss and surprised me with a new purse for V-day since Yuki ate mine.

March was a sad month as Yuki had her everlasting accident.  We did finally get air conditioning for our upcoming summer.

April was a much better month than the latter as we met Brad and Tiana our new ward friends.  Evonne flew into SLC and ran a marathon and Danno started to become a regular at the Thorup boys' Man Night.

May was a big month for our friamily (friend family)!  Ian got a girlfriend.

June was a monumental month as Scott and RoquesAnn got married and we apparently got pregnant! Ian and Lindsay also decided they were getting married.

July is our favorite month since we found out on the 13th that we are expecting a lil' baby!  We also celebrated our 3 year anniversary.  My sister Julie had her sweet baby Andrew and Evonne and family made their yearly trek to Utah.

August brought wonderful friends and memories.  Danno turned the big TWO-FIVE and we had an awesome weekend when some converts from his mission surprised us.  We love the Cookes.  They are our heroes. We told our families we were pregnant and the Cookes were able to share that experience with us.  We also found out that Rand and Kim are expecting baby #4.  We also finally found Dr. Nebeker to fix Yuki. We also got to meet our baby doctor- Dr. Terry and were able to see baby and baby's heartbeat.  So sweet. Also, baby EZ was born-surprise!

September made us realize how old we are.  Danno had been home from his mission for four years, it was the 10 year anniversary of 9/11.

October was lovely as Ian and Lindsay got married.  I was a bridesmaid and barely fit my four-month belly into the bridesmaids dress. We also found out that baby is a BOY and we went to St. George with the Champs as our anniversary present.  We saw The Little Mermaid at Tuachaun and it was awesome!

November was humbling as we joined together as a family.  Jonelle found some lumps and causes for concern but thankfully we found out they are not cancerous.  Phew!

And now here we are in December, 28 weeks pregnant, Yuki's leg is finally healed, many friends married, many babies on the way in our family, we have our health, and we feel so grateful for the ways the Lord has blessed our little family.  Sending much love!

Love,

Daniel, Janelle, Yuki and baby boy

"Hit Me Baby One More Time" -Britney Spears

26 weeks.
I'm feeling very pregnant these days.  This morning I realized touching my toes is harder than it once was.  Luckily, I'm in the great part of my pregnancy.  My emotions are fairly leveled off, I'm not swollen yet, I feel like myself, I can eat, and things aren't too smelly.  Also, baby is so very wiggly.  Two days ago I was worried because I hadn't really felt him move much.  I told Danno I was worried and he consoled my poor little heart and we included baby C in our prayers that night.  Twas' not hours later that baby C was kicking up a storm.  Since then, he has not stopped moving and has taken to kicking my bladder as a fun little game. (I'm glad you are okay in there lil' guy-but ease up on that new game) I'm also fairly sure that he had hiccups too.  So fun, so freaky, so soon.  14 more weeks until we are legit padres.  That's cray-cray (reference taken from Penny on "Happy Endings."  Great show.  Watch it.)

Announcing...

a sweet little baby boy.

we love our little man.

we are so happy you are coming in 20 more weeks.

D.A.C

I love this boy.
Seriously.

Good looking, hard working, understanding, loving, manly man- you are the bomb.

16 weeks down!

 16 weeks, feeling well, and excited.

 Ok, 16 weeks, feeling great, and SUPER excited!

16 weeks. feeling awesome, and ready for the lil' ninja to make his/her appearance!

Bring it baby!

side note: we will know if he is a he or she is a she on october 21st.

Not quite a craft, but cute.

In my last post I promised to make more crafts, but so far I have only succeeded in making a baby.  But isn't it just the cutest little blobby thing ever?  I go back to work next week and I'm sad.  However, I have decorated for fall, cleaned all my carpets, kept my house clean, spent oodles of time with my mom and sisters, completed my 1st trimester, made breadsticks that weren't gross, baked a lot, and helped Danno with homework.  All in all, I chalk this up to a successful off track time.  I wish it were longer.

Crafty crafterness

I love being off track.  I say that every time.  I know- I'm aware.  But I just want to make sure you are all aware.  I decorated the house for fall yesterday and I got the craft bug so I made this fun little tree thingy.  I keep seeing decorations like this and I really wanted one.  As I was browsing Martha Stewart online I saw something reminiscent of this and then realized that I had an endless supply of dried up sticks!  This is all thanks to our stinkin' garbage trees that are slowly, but surely falling on our house.  Seriously, who lets a cottonwood tree and the poisonous banana tree grow in their yard?!  Anyway, I just found some aesthetically pleasing branches, spray painted them black, made some ornaments, found some sparkly ribbon and a pot.  I love having time to do things for my little house and family.  Hopefully there will be more crafts to come soon.

2 1/3 and a puppy

As many of you know, we are preggo!  I am now 13 weeks and quickly departing from my 1st trimester of pregnancy.  I am hoping that this means the painful symptoms are leaving as well.  However, compared to my sisters and mother, my pregnancy has been really mild.  I have only thrown up twice and just have back pain (so intense!) and nausea.  This is the strangest experience.  I totally thought when I became pregnant I would feel instantly different.  Tis' not the case.  I feel the same-I'm still Janelle, but I feel bloated and my belly is protruding.  We had the awesome experience of seeing baby-bean via ultrasound and it was the sweetest and most adorable blob I have ever seen.  Since then we are in love.  Here is the short version of our pregnancy events:

• I had a cough that wouldn't go away so I went to the doctors office if I could get a refill on my inhaler.  We had just, and I mean JUST, started trying so I thought that there was a 5% chance I could be pregnant.  Due to the medicine I was going to get they needed to check if I was preggo. Yuppers I was!  I just laughed and giggled and couldn't control it!  Poor doctor Vogelar just smiled and put up with me.
• While at Barnes and Noble, I told Danno I wanted a book that compared our baby to fruit sizes.  He thought I was crazy.  But he still helped me find the perfect book and baby is currently the size of a peach.  A sweet, fuzzy (baby has hair now), wiggling little peach.
• Danno is now the official man for stinky jobs.  He is the sole poop picker-upper, garbage taker-outer, Yuki tooth brusher, and other various scents that bum out my super smeller.

 So that is it!  I have the most wonderful husband who takes care of my ailing body and tells me how cute I am even though I'm chunkin' out.  I am so lucky to be so loved.  Baby is already so loved.  Lucky lil' 1/3 of a person.

Tres Anos!

Wonderful things come in threes. Amigos....
3 legged races....

Three years of marriage.

Oh yes, there are many wonderful things that come in threes.

Camping in the Spruces

I love me some nature.


I also love sharing it with this huge bunch of yahoos.




Kelsie, Natalie, and Ashley felt the urge to chop wood and grow hair.

My dad enjoyed some much needed relaxation.

Scottie Pippen!

The boys.

The girls.

The worm.

The Dads (Wally is drawn on the plate)

The Moms

Look closely! Nasty lil' caterpillars!

Clearly born this way [Lady Gags reference]

The tiny tent. The tiny couple.

Look closely by Jack's head-there is another caterpillar hanging.

Beloved hammock.

Families were made to spend this time together. I love my family.

I'm coming clean.

Danno and I have kept this under wraps for nearly 5 months now. Baby Yuks has had a hard life. We have only told close family and friends of this sad, sad leg. Yuki was on the forbidden couch and had no plans to get down. We nudged her off like we usually do, but something terrible happened. Yuki broke her leg. We rushed her to emergency where they had to drug the poor bitty baby up. We took her to her doctor where they performed surgery. FAIL. Yup, they did it wrong. We didn't find this out for 6 weeks. Enter surgery #2. FAIL. Did it wrong again. Enter surgery #3....Hold the phone doc-you only get to slice open and ruin my dog twice. We then found our saving grace Dr. Nebeker. No surgery-just proper bandaging and experience. Bone fixed! However, we have found out that Yuki has weak bones-which explains the broken teeth and broken bone. Sadness. So here we are, nursing our little dog back to health, doing physical therapy on her, and hoping for four legs by Christmas. There. I said it.

One year of Yuki

I lost my camera cord for 2 months. Consequently, I didn't post anything because let's face it-little I say is interesting without a picture. So here I am back tracking!

March! Yuki turned one! In tradition with Guido (Matt and Carla's dog) and his birthday, we got her a kiddie cone from the big McDaddy's.

Yuki's new toy

Playing with Guido

Happy to be poor.

I had a delightful realization yesterday. I love my life. I love the modest beginnings of life we have here. I like going to the Coinstar and making bets on how much we have in "chump change." I like getting excited about a $3 shirt. I like cleaning my own home. I love painting and decorating my own home and feeling that "chaaaaa! I did that!" feeling. Yes, money is wonderful and the harsh realization is that we all need it. However, I'm glad I don't have a bunch of it. I think it would drastically alter who I am or at least have the ability to do so. What was my realization? I want to live a modest life. I don't want my daughter to be hoisted on shirtless puberty stricken boys for her 16th birthday as MTV has glorified. I'm as happy as a Clam-pett. Turn around Jed. It is a much more fulfilling life if you do it yourself. Mow your own lawn, clean your own house, raise your own kids, and I'm pretty sure you will appreciate it all that much more.

I heart my bathroom.

This is how the room started.

I apologize that I'm in this. But you get the idea.

Picture prints: $3. Frames: $0. Whale: $0.75. Blue candle: $birthday present from 8th grade.

Jars: $0. Q-tips:$2.89. Cotton Balls: $ 1.

Orchid: $10. Plant Pot: $2.50.

Shower curtain: $20.

i love it. so peaceful and zen-ie.