playing catch up.

playing a little catch-up since I've been MIA!

we love love love hosting people in our home.

Taylor makes fun of me because I kind of thrive off of getting to plan a party. HA

so there is always something we have planned ( aka galentines coming up in just a few weeks!)

before it got too cold, we tried to do as many backyard nights as we could.

which always ended around the fire-pit!

we also finally started a tradition taylor has been dreaming of for a long time!
now that we have a home, we were able to fulfill his dream of hosting a "christmas dinner" for our dearest, dearest friends.

taylor envisions it as an "appreciation" dinner for some of the most special people in our lives.

we were really fortunate that we were able to have dinner catered for our friends, and ring in the christmas season together.

taylor had a really great idea to string lights across the ceiling--which really set a fun mood for dinner.

 I was SUPER grateful that taylor's dream involved catering from a restaurant, because I doubt they would have appreciated my burnt quesadillas. ha

I tried to claim the dessert as my own--but I was ratted out real quick ;)...kelli doesn't cook. haha

 I have just been so grateful for this winter season!

we've been on a cuddling/movie kick lately, and it's pretty great.

ALSO, I felt baby girl move yesterday for the first time!!!

I felt little movements all day, and wasn't totally sure if it was it.

But at night, I just laid on our bed and FOCUSED, and she moved a few times!

it was the weirdest/coolest/most amazing thing.

but it felt nothing like anyone described it...but I also can't describe it myself, so I see where the problem lies.

ha but today she has been SO active!

one day NADA, and the next...she's going crazy! it's so so so weird.

she just barely kicked me so hard, and it was the craziest thing.

could life get better?
I just love my baby girl so much!

a little DIY house update.

so many sweet comments from my last post--thank you so much!

we had a pretty eventful little weekend!

we headed up to ikea to finally get some of our bedroom furniture!

and then spent hours and hours assembling.

(just look at all of those broken down boxes!)

we got to one of the last steps on the bed, and then realized that one of the pieces wasn't included!

UGH. sooo annoying when it's 1am and you're sooo close to finishing.

luckily, we have a bed in our guest room, so we crashed there for the night.

but we went and got the extra piece and were able to finish the bed this weekend!

our bedroom finally feels like a real bedroom!

It's still not finished...there are lots of little steps left...but here's a little preview:

we still need: a new bedspread/pillowcases

and a canvass above the headboard (i've got an idea I'm really excited about!)

and we are also going to put tiny floating nightstand shelves on either side of the bed!

(notice cute little penny on the bed...the pink bunny from our gender reveal. taylor literally sleeps with it every night hahaha...and p.s. we didn't name her penny ourselves, she had a little name attached to her ;))

one thing we loooved about this bed was the storage:

these drawers are HUGE and notice the cute hidden shelves on the side!

I really just have an obsession with storage. 

the drawers aren't even full right now, but I just know I'm going to be grateful to have those drawers once our house is being filled with more and more little people!

clearly, I still need to decorate those empty shelves.

but my sister is coming down in a few weeks, so we will take another ikea trip then ;)

so the dresser pictured above is one of my favorite DIY projects we've done.

it is THE BEST dresser.

(still working on dresser decor...one thing at a time ;))

we actually got it from taylor's parents, and just painted it and changed out the knobs.

it was just a solid wood dresser, but I just wasn't loving the color of the wood.

so we, of course, painted it white. hahah I get made fun of for painting everything white.

here's a straight on shot of it:

and I'm obsessed with these knobs.

speaking of DIY projects, we also inherited taylor's parents old table.

...and of course, painted it white.

it also has cute little drawers on the side. perfect excuse for anthropology knobs.

(before)

(after)

^drawer knobs^

that table was a beast to paint.

honestly, almoooost not worth it. haha

but in the end, it turned out so cute, and we really really love it!

sooo kinda ironic.

I complained last post about my baby bump.

I woke up sunday and had literally POPPED.

like it was the strangest strangest thing.

I was like "uhhh, where'd you come from??"

it's still kind of an awkward bump.

My top two abs are still hanging out and so it looks reallyyy funny shirtless.

like two little abs, and then a belly.

and I just keep telling those abs, "Look, I know I really wanted you and worked hard for you but it's okay for you to go away now. I don't want you anymore!"

also, BACHELOR. tonight.

I live for mondays just for the bachelor.

who's watching this season!?

happy monday!!

all things baby GIRL

I feel like I've had to start every blog post by apologizing for being MIA.

the truth comes down to something really simple: I received a really hurtful and mean comment on my blog a few months back, and I took it really personally.

From a simple text from a good friend last night, I realized how stupid it was to let it stop me from sharing my stories.

So only two thoughts on the matter, and then I'm letting it go completely:

1. cyber bullying is a real thing & it actually does HURT

2.  BE NICE TO EVERYONE

OKAY. Back to life!

If you follow me on instagram, you know that we found out that baby gilbie is a GIRLLLL!

taylor was seriously over the moon.

he was hoping and praying and dreaming of a girl.

kind of the cutest thing.

I honestly didn't have any feeling either way.

there was a week period where I kinda thought "boy," but the day we actually found out, I was really thinking it was a girl.

We had our ultrasound and it was the best ultrasound ever!

baby actually looked like a baby!

and she was kicking around the ENTIRE time.

like there is nothing weirder than watching that baby kick her legs, and knowing "that is literally happening inside of me" and yet, I can't feel a single thing. HA

soooo weird.

we happen to know our ultrasound tech, so he totally spoils us!

he let us get the early ultrasound for free, gave us a free DVD, and gave us the longest ultrasound EVERR.

it was the BEST.

we told him to write the gender on a piece of paper and then I immediately took that paper to a little boutique and picked out a little boy stuffed animal bunny and a little girl stuffed animal bunny.

I took the "secret gender" and both bunnies to the counter, paid for one of them (they were the same price, so it didn't matter), and then left the store while they opened the card and wrapped one of the bunnies.

The clerks were so cute and excited for me.

(^ignore my tired face...I was literally crying on a bench while I waited to go back into the store because I just could not believe what life is. To see that little baby moving around inside of me was one of the coolest things EVER ever EVER.)

BUT MAN. it was hard just sitting outside waiting!

And having that bag in the car on the way home...AHHH.

luckily, patience won, and we waited for our dearest family and friends to come over (and facetimed my california family) while we opened the present!

I made Taylor open it, because I was a nervous MESS.

and as soon as I saw a little pink tutu, I LOST it.

and I will admit that when everyone left, I balled like a baby.

and NOT because of excitement, because of PURE PURE PURE fear.

For some reason, a girl seemed sooo much scarier and real than a boy!

And I just felt so inadequate and scared and so many feels. ha

Taylor was the sweetest and gave me the sweetest blessing.

and wow. God is good.

p.s. that pink bunny sleeps with us every night. taylor is obsessed.

also, my opinion on gender reveal parties:

if you're like me and have been battling about whether to do one or not, I have some advice.

I actually didn't totally want to do one; I wanted to find out with just me and tay.

but we also knew how much it would mean to some of our family to let them be a part of it.

while I was deciding, I asked around to some other moms and heard that (depending on your ultrasound tech), it can be really awkward and not necessarily "celebratory" in the ultrasound room...since the tech doesn't know you and they reveal genders every day as their job.

so we finally decided to do a little reveal...and it was soooo much more fun than I thought!

Having the extra wait, and KNOWING it was right there was like the best christmas eve EVER.

and so, so, so, fun to involve family + it was still SUCH a special moment between me and my tayray.

so that's my two cents on gender reveal parties!

anyways, that weekend, we immediately went shopping for baby girl gilbie!

I think taylor was ready to buy the whole store.

hahaha he was dying over every little piece.

but we took it slowwww, and picked our one favorite outfit (with the cutest little sockies)!

baby gilbie has already been spoiled so much by so many.

There are already so many things filling her empty nursery!

and in other pregnancy news:

still running as much as I can (along the best running routes in my new neighborhood)

my doctor was a little worried because I was actually losing weight for a little while, so he wanted me to cut back on the exercise.

I also have a really hard time not being competitive with myself while I run....so it's been quite the learning process to slow it down for little baby.

and I'm completely frustrated with my "bump."

I'm definitely getting a bump, but not in the way I want. ha

It just looks like chub. and it is the most awkward bump EVER.

My regular clothes don't really fit or look cute, and maternity clothes are too big for me.

and I'm really sick of the same 5 flowy shirts I've been alternating between for the last 3 weeks.

UGH

tell me...is this normal for all women?

here is my 18.5 week baby bump in all its glory.

trust me, it's awko taco.

(ALSO YAY. we finally are getting our bed this weekend!!

...aka why our mattress is on the floor HA. somehow the actual bed didn't make it at the top of our list for new furniture when we moved haha)

this whole new "body image" thing has actually been quite a challenge for me. 

I think it's hard because I don't look pregnant to anyone, I had to stop running for a couple of weeks (seriously seriously hard for me), and I haven't been sick/felt baby move...so I don't feel pregnant at all, I just feel like I'm getting FAT.

but every time I cry to my mom, she tells me the bump will come and this phase will pass. HA

oh, life.

I am anxiously waiting for the first time I feel baby girl move.

I'm so jealous of everyone due around the same time as me who has already felt their babe!

I'm just over 19 weeks...and still nada.

but it's got to be coming soon!

and that is life as of late!

all things focused on baby girl.

we could not be more excited!

more updates from my lack of posting to come realllll soon ;)

telling taylor he's going to be a daddy!

I had decided to take my first pregnancy test Saturday morning, October 3.

It would be six days before my missed period.

But, I just couldn't wait!

I bought an early detector test and crossed my fingers it would work for me.

I didn't realize until we started trying how much I wanted a little baby of our own.

The days leading up to the test were the WORST.

I was looking for any possible symptom, and was constantly googling "earliest pregnancy symptoms"

I swear I googled that like 3 times a day hoping for new answers. hahah

I was desperate for any sign!

Friday night, I could hardly sleep!

I was soooo anxious.

I kept telling myself, "there's no way I can fail the test...I've NEVER failed a test. taking tests is the one thing I'm actually really good at!" hahah

I decided not to tell Taylor I was taking the test.
He thought I was waiting to take one the following tuesday.

After tossing and turning ALL night, I finally woke up at 6:30 in the morning and decided to take the test!

Waiting those 3 minutes...HOLY COW hahahah there's nothing like it.

I went into the bathroom and at first, my heart sunk.

there wasn't a second line.

but when I picked it up, I saw the faintest FAINTEST hint of a line.

like hardly visible.

I instantly got on my phone and started googling, "What does a faint line mean!?"

almost every answer was "if there is ANY hint of a second line, you're pregnant!"

but I still wasn't convinced.

So I ran to wal-mart and bought a digital test.

Taking the second test was even worse.

There was a big part of me that was believing I was pregnant.

But what if the second test said negative!?

what would that mean??

I took the second test (taylor was still asleep), and THOSE three minutes were even worse than the first.

I finally went in and looked--sooo hesitantly.
I like crawled into the bathroom to look. hahah

I did NOT realize how much I wanted this baby until that morning!

when I saw that it said "PREGNANT," I literally slumped against the wall and balled like a little baby.

I was sooo grateful!

It was one of the neatest moments between me, my heavenly father, and my new little baby inside of me!

A couple of weeks before, I had asked Taylor if he wanted to make a "breakfast video."

I told him I just had a cute idea and wanted to make one in our new kitchen.

He agreed, and never had a second thought about it.

LITTLE DID HE KNOW, I had this whole idea planned FOREVER. hahah

I let him sleep for awhile longer, and I went for a run with the little secret that was just mine and baby's.

I couldn't stop smiling and crying during that whole run.

there's really no way to explain that feeling!

^a little picture of the happiest little run of my life!!^

I was DYING to tell taylor but I wanted him to sleep in and enjoy his last few hours of his stress-free life. hahah

so when he woke up, I asked him if he wanted to do that breakfast video.

he agreed (whew!).

making breakfast that morning with him right there, trying to keep such a big secret, was the hardest thing EVER. 

so here is the little video of me telling taylor ;)

p.s. it took him FOREVER to drink the orange juice! 

Every time I drank from my cup, I was saying, "mmmm, babe, this orange juice is soooo good. you should drink some more!!" hahah

enjoy!!

more baby stories to come!

(now that I can finally tell them!!)

xoxo

we're having a baby!

 the news is out!

we are expecting our first little babe!

we could not be more excited!!

we are still a little bit in shock--especially since it feels more real after telling everyone.

we kept it a secret for TOO long--it was the worst!

but we were waiting to tell my family in person when we saw them at thanksgiving!

after four years of marriage, taylor and I started to feel like there was a little baby waiting to join our family.
we actually had a few really cool personal experiences that made everything feel so inspired!

taylor and I decided to start trying a few months ago, because I was convinced that it would take us at least 6 months to get pregnant--which was perfect timing in my book! (I don't know why I thought that though--all of the girls in my family have been little fertile machines)

soooo I was super surprised to find out that we were pregnant on our FIRST try. 

HAHAH the only thing we could really say was "thank the heavens for birth control all of this time!" HA

(more on me finding out I was pregnant later!)

I have been SOOO lucky with symptoms.

I pretty much haven't been sick at all.

EXCEPT for a weird bout monday & tuesday of this week.

(which seems weird since my first trimester is almost over...)

I've only thrown up three times while pregnant, and two of them weren't really because of pregnancy--more my stupidity.

the first time, I went to bed really hungry and thought "whatever..."

UH DUMB haha I learned my lesson really quick.

I woke up that morning soooo hungry, that I couldn't even stomach anything!

I had a piece of toast, and after about two bites, I lost it.

sooo lesson #1: this baby is hungry all of the time--and when the babe is hungry...it needs to eat NOW

the second time was because I am the biggest baby ever and I really really really hate taking pills.

I know its a mental thing, but I really can't handle it.

I can usually only take pills if I'm drinking something thicker than water (chocolate milk, smoothie, etc).

So I've had a good supply of chocolate milk on hand for my prenatals.

wellll the other night, I thought, "I can totally do this with just water!"

swallowed, and then my mind-game caught up to me...and UP came the pill and my dinner.

hahaha but I pretty much throw up anytime I try to take a pill just on water, so that really wasn't pregnant related.

BUT last night was the funniest.

we went out to a birthday dinner at pf changs for one of our best friends, kate!

and right at the end of the dinner I suddenly felt so sick.

haven't felt that ONCE during pregnancy.

so we started leaving the restaurant and I turned to kate and said, "guess what!? we are having a baby!!"

she congratulated me, and then asked me if I had been sick yet, and as soon as she asked that...I turned around and threw up.

my whole yummy dinner. 

right outside the entrance of pf changs.
pretty sure I ruined their business for the rest of the night.
but I was laughing so hard while throwing up...like how ironic is that? two seconds after telling someone I'm pregnant, I'm bent over throwing up. haha
aaaand I may or may not have peed my pants while throwing up.
my bladder just couldn't even handle the stomach muscle spasms.
pregnancy is so beautiful! HAHA

so YES, I've been super lucky with sickness!
other than being really tired (which is finally starting to go away!) and having a really sensitive nose to everyyything, I haven't really had any symptoms.

at 8 weeks, we had our first ultrasound, and we got to hear little baby gilbert's heartbeat.
SO fun.




we seriously are so in love with this little babe already!
It doesn't feel too real yet...but I'm sure as my pants continue to get tighter and my belly continues to get bigger, it will start to feel more real!

last night was the first time that I felt like I actually had a little hint of a belly!
taylor and I were trying to describe what it felt like..."it's not soft like a roll of fat, but it's also not rock hard like a bloated stomach..." ha

tomorrow I will share a fun little video of me telling tayray that he's going to be a daddy!
makes me cry every time. HA

we are so happy this little secret of ours is OUT!
12 weeks along and this babe already has our hearts!
we love you, little baby gilbert!

lesson learned: don't show naked pictures to students

we had a really, really happy weekend.

I am still fighting a nasty head cold and cough---but alas, nature of the beast of winter.

it also snowed today for one of the first times, and it is so beautiful!

it makes me soooo giddy for the holidays!

we are traveling to my sweet home in california for thanksgiving, and we are sooo excited to get there next week!

tay and I chaperoned another orem high dance.

my senior cabinet was in charge of this dance.

and I was super proud of their hard work.

they even had a cute polaroid station for the students.

so fun!

soooo time for another beloved highschoolism.

whenever I search something online, I always freeze the projected screen "just in case"...you never know what will pop up when you are searching.

anyways, today was no different.

I was talking to my AP Gov students about first amendment religious rights, and I wanted to talk to them about the ridiculous pastafarian court case recently regarding DMV pictures.

have you heard about pastafarians?? 

go look them up. so funny.

ANYways, I pulled up the article on a news website, unfroze the screen and started to talk to the class about it.

they all started giggling, and I THOUGHT they were laughing over this picture:

but then there was so much weird chatter going on, that I couldn't figure out what was going on.

finally someone yelled, "there are naked pictures up there!"

I looked up on the screen and sure enough, on the side of the article was an ad that had a naked girl from the front and naked from the back.

like COMPLETE nudity.

I freaked out and ran over to shut off the screen.

HA the kids could not stop laughing.

so awkward and so bad.

immmmma looooose my job!

how did that make its way through the school wifi!?

and how did I NOT notice before I unfroze the screen!?

...and this is one school day after our "say not to porn" assembly we had on friday. HAHAHA

oh life. you are always keeping me on my toes!

HAPPY MONDAY!!

counting down until thanksgiving break!!

gilbert update!

welllll hellooooo, there! 

I have been a little absent on this blog of ours.

I've been having some moral dilemmas about blogging after a few things that happened recently; so I have been reverting to my personal journal to document things.

buuut, I'm back for the time being!

life has been SO good to us.

we love our new home more than we can say.

we have been having so much fun entertaining all of our friends recently.

speaking of entertaining, taylor and I threw our annual Halloween party.

and it was probably the best one yet! 

we had sooo much fun!

in a very, very last minute change to our costumes, taylor and I were dwight and angela from the office. HA

just D and his monkey ;)

speaking of, the REAL angela liked my photo on instagram. 

if that's not winning, I don't know what is...

a few weeks ago, taylor ran out of gas for the SECOND time in ONE week and had to be rescued! hahahah I was laughing the whole way over there to bring him gas.

he called me the second time and said, "hey, kells, go outside to the backyard really quick."

"okay..."

"look down. do you see a little red gallon tank? yeahhh, I'm gonna need you to bring that to me."

haha I was like, "nooo way. you're kidding, right??" HA

 one of our favorite things to do in our new home is to have friends over for BBQing and s'mores by the firepit.  and sometimes, we bring out the giant jenga. SO FUN

we drove home to california last friday for the quickest trip ever.

but we couldn't miss my dear friend's wedding.

this beautiful girl was my best best childhood friend since she moved to our town in 5th grade.
we did everything together.

like think of that fairytale best friend relationship? that was ours.

we were addicted to each other.

when I left california to move to utah for college, she spent the night with me the night before and we balled on my driveway as we said goodbye.

being separated from her was one of the hardest transitions of going away to college.

 her wedding was sooo beautiful and I was beaming for her all night.

we've only talked occasionally the past 2-3 years (life got in the way), and I realized last weekend how sad that really made me.

we will always share the most special love for each other, and we have decided to make a weekly date to talk to each other again.

because as soon as we hugged, we balled like little babies haha

I won't ever be able to thank God for giving me such a special friend through childhood.

I also got to see two of my sweet other friends from high school!

me, michelle (far right), and jackie (bride) made the best trio.

tooooo many memories.

in fact, michelle reminded me of the only two times her and I ditched school:

1. to go buy matching calculators (which we thought could message each other...HAHAH)

2. go buy the book, The Host, that had just come out at Barnes and Noble.

....oh, and don't worry, both times we ASKED our teacher if we could ditch.

we were the biggest NERDS EVER

hahah michelle and I could literally tell the most embarrassing nerdy stories on each other.

like how we would literally cry if we got less than an A on ANY assignment.

and how we would get so excited to go to calculus, until we finally realized we kinda sucked at it.

and how we would stay in a teacher's classroom during lunch half of the time to do our homework together. HAHA NERDS

but I guess it ended up paying off for both of us ;)

while we were only home for about 24 hours, we tried to squeeze in as much family time as we could

and taylor couldn't get enough of baby zo-zo.

does this sight melt your heart? because mine is in a puddle on the floor.

I have been trying to get over a dumb head cold all week.

teaching with an unbearable sore throat = sooo awesome!!

SO ready for the weekend!

xoxo