In Loving Memory

I have the best Grandma any girl could ask for. When I was growing up, my grandparents were always at any event that was important in my life. I have several cross-stitches, quilts, and other things Grandma made for me. My grandma is one of the least selfish people I know, she is always thinking of others, especially her family.

Several years ago she was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and was not able to do the things she enjoyed anymore. Over the years, it got difficult to watch as the Parkinson's affected her ability to speak, her physical strength, and eventually her ability to eat. The last couple years were the worst and we weren't sure how much longer she would be with us. My Grandma's battle with Parkinson's finally ended when she passed away the morning of February 19, 2009. It was so hard to see her go and she will be missed so much, but we know she is in a better place and we will see her again someday.

Her funeral services were yesterday and they were so good. I felt like it really was a celebration of her life. All four of her daughters gave her life sketch and I learned some things about my Grandma I had never known. All of her granddaughters sang "I Am a Child of God" and the spirit was so strong, I barely made it through the song!

I just wanted to take this last opportunity to tell Grandma how much I loved her. She was such a great example to everyone around her. Our family is so lucky to have had her in our life. I only hope that I am half the woman that my grandma was!

We will miss you and we love you so much Grandma!

25 Random things about Me

1. Ever since I got married, I’m usually in bed by 9:30.

2. I love to ride my dirtbike and wish I could ride it more often.

3. I met my husband when I was fifteen and we dated for 5 years before getting married.

4. I miss my best friend, Deidre, and wish she would move back to Idaho. (hint, hint)

5. My closet is color coordinated.

6. My best friends in high school (other than Deidre) were guys. For some reason guys are so much easier to get along with than girls. I would much rather hang out with guys!

7. My ultrasound to find out the sex of my baby is in two weeks from today and I can’t wait!

8. I love being outdoors doing anything, other than working in the yard.

9. I live in a cute yellow house.

10. I hate cleaning, but once I get started, I can’t stop.

11. I love being an aunt. I have ten nephews (soon to be 11) and only two nieces. My family is really hoping for a girl.

12. I love reading.

13. Halloween is my favorite holiday, I love it!

14. I love buying stuff for other people, I think it's one of the best feelings in the world to give to others.

15. Before I was pregnant, I hated milk and now I drink at least a glass a day. It’s not that much, but considering how much I hate it, it’s amazing.

16. My dog is seriously one of my best friends…we hardly go anywhere without her.

17. My goal this summer is to plant a garden. I hate, hate, hate gardening and it will probably die, but I really want to do it.

18. I am terrified for my husband to go to Mesquite next week. I can’t handle being at home by myself.

19. Our truck has 1J plates on it because my husband thought it would be quicker to go to Rigby to register it, but didn’t realize we would get 1J plates. It’s embarassing.

20. I love junk food. I could eat it all day everyday….which is very bad. I need to start eating more healthy foods.

21. I can’t handle having the music turned up loud unless I’m alone.

22. I love exercising, I just never find the time to do it. We even bought an exercise bike—I’ve used it once.

23. I wish I was a better cook. And I’m sure my husband does too. :)

24. I really want a fireplace. We probably wouldn’t use it that much if we did have one, but I think they are so homey and comfortable. I don’t think any home should be without one.

25. I have the best husband ever and I love him so much!!!

Belly Pics

Here are the pics of me, 17 weeks and 2 days. I told Mike to be sure and not get my face, not feeling to attractive as a pregnant woman! :)

Now if I pull my shirt tight, it looks much bigger!

I didn't realize how big my stomach was until I looked at this picture, but the camera adds ten pounds, right?! :)

The Rubber Band Trick

So today I'm 16 weeks prego. Well, last Friday I wore jeans to work and by 10 o'clock I couldn't stand to have my pants buttoned anymore!! A girl I work with suggested I just use a rubberband to keep my pants up. I didn't realize how depressed I would feel when I wouldn't be able to wear my normal jeans anymore! So I decided it was probably time to buy some maternity clothes. :( My mom and I went shopping all day on Saturday and I must have tried on 50 pairs of maternity jeans. Guess what? They were all too short! So, in other words, I still have no maternity jeans and I'm going to have to keep using the rubber band trick until I can find some. If there are any of you that have freakishly long legs (because apparently I do!!) if you could please help me out! I need to know where I can find LONG maternity jeans!! Thanks! I will try and convince Mike to take some pics so you can all see my little pooch! :)

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone is having a great 2009 so far. The past few weeks have been so crazy in the Holst family! Between Christmas and all the birthdays in the family, I haven't had any time to update my blog. Mike and I had a great Christmas this year. It all started when we went to chop down our Christmas tree up in Kelly's Canyon. Believe it or not, this was the first year I have ever gone to cut down a tree!

We are so grateful we are able to see both of our families during the Holidays. We had tons of fun celebrating birthdays, having prime rib dinner on Christmas Eve with Mike's family, and spending Christmas afternoon/night with my family. We also decided that Christmas morning isn't that exciting when it's just the two of us. So...we are also very excited that this will be the last Christmas just the two of us! For those of you who don't know, Mike and I are going to have a baby!!! We are so very excited. I'm about 13 weeks along right now, which means we are expecting our little bundle of joy to arrive somewhere around July the 13th. Neither of us really have any preference on whether it's a boy or a girl but judging by the toy Mike recently purchased.....I think he's secretly hoping for a little boy.

Yes, that's right. This little beauty is sitting in my garage right now! I tried to convince Mike to at least wait until we found out the sex of the baby, but Bill's gave him such a good deal he couldn't refuse! haha. I'm sure that either way, our baby will learn to love motorcycles just like their Dad!

We are so excited for 2009 and want to wish everyone a Happy New Year!!