Over it!

I'm kinda over this whole pregnancy thing, I just want the baby here already. We have nothing for the little guy, but I am just not enjoying being pregnant. I'm glad I'm not an elephant.

Independence Day!!

So Fourth of July weekend just isn't the place for cameras! We had a super busy weekend, and I only managed to take 2 pictures.
Our weekend started on the 3rd with the annual Shepherd family party. Every other year the family rents out a pool, and the other years they rent a bounce slide in which family members try to kill themselves and each other on. This year they tired to go safer by adding a jump guard at the top, so the only way to fix this was clearly with Pam cooking spray. My wonderful husband got the idea to spray down one side of a pool float toy and slide down the hosed off slide. Surprisingly no one was injured.

We came home sleepy and sun burnt, but it was all worth it!

On the Fourth itself we had a quite day, we went to church, had a BBQ with my folks and nephew, and did some illegal fireworks. My parents go to Mexico every year in March and buy some, No one died don't worry.

On the 5th we were blessed to have it off work, so we spent it at the mall like any good America should! Scott broke his flip flops playing Volley ball at the family party and we needed to spend a good 3 hours shopping for new ones. After some success, we went and registered for baby gear at Babies R Us. That night we did some more fireworks with Scott's family and ate some more BBQ!

It was a great weekend and I was sad to see it end, but the best part of Utah is we get to do it all over again for Pioneer day, which also includes sleeping over night for a parade on the streets of Salt Lake City! Baby will love this!!

Shaelynn and Ali's Wedding

So, watching your best friend fall in love is a fun thing. Over the past year I got the opportunity to watch just that thing happen. Ali is a great guy, and I have been joking about them getting married for a while now, and it was so great to see it happen. Shaelynn hasn't always had the best taste in guys, but I think she would choose guys she knew she wouldn't get too serious with. Ali certainly was a catch and I love seeing how much he loves her back! They are a super cute couple, and I'm excited to have Ali in the "family."

Here is the happy couple on June 24th exiting the Salt Lake temple, they were so happy and the sealing was beautiful :).

Awwww!!

Shaelynn looked incredible, I don't miss planning my own wedding, but watching her make plans for her wedding was really fun, I picked out the colors long before I ever met Ali, I just want to add that :)

So, Ali is the only boy in his family, he has 3 sisters, and Shae has one brother and 2 sisters, and those sisters have had babies which have all been girls (5 total) and Ali's one sister has 2 girls of her own... Ali is the lone gun men her with all these girls around (Shae's brother happens to live in Nebraska... Away from all the girls). I hope for the Harash sake that Shaelynn at some point, for Ali, will bless him with a son. But the odds just aren't in his favor...

They looked so stunning, I'm so happy that I got to be a part of their wedding, and I know Shae and I talked about having our babies at the same time, but Ali just didn't make it quick enough to the party, maybe next time. I love them both very much, and I look forward to the memories that the 4 of us can make with our own growing families. I wish them much happiness love, like Scott and I have found!

Father's Day

I wanted to post really quick about the 3 (almost 4) great men in my life. I really have been blessed.
STEVEN HULSE: I love my father very much, he has always been the parent looking to have fun. Some times he teases people, but he is always quick with a joke of a story, and I think a lot of my personality is because of him. I may not have always understood him, and we may disagree on things, but I know at the end of the day that my father loves me, and he wanted me to be happy. He has always let me explore, that may be the world around me, or myself, and never judged me. He has become the greatest grand parent a kid could have, I love watching him with my nephews, and I know that my little guy will be so blessed.
MARK SHEPHERD: Oh how I love to tease you! Living with you and actually getting to know you on a more personal level had been incredible. You are so strong in your beliefs, and are such an anchor for this family. I love watching you help Meg, and I really appreciate how hard you try to fulfil every church calling. When I watch you I can see how you only want what is best for your family, and to please our Father in Heaven. You may cheer for BYU, but I won't hold that against you :) and I'm grateful you raised such an amazing son!
SCOTT SHEPHERD: You are the greatest person I know! I can not even picture anything in my life without you in it. You taught me to love, you brought me to life, and you have made all my dreams come true. I pray for your happiness and safety far more than my own, and you are going to be the greatest father of all times! I love how you have to touch me when you're sleeping, and how you won't let me leave for work with out a kiss. I love how playful and fun you are. I love your crazy bed head, and how you steal the covers (even in the summer). I love the excitement on your face when you feel the baby kick, and how much you love to pick out cute, yet cool, baby clothes. I love that you have such big dreams, and I hope we can make them happen. I love you lots and lots, you're my best friend.
RIVERS SHEPHERD: I don't know you yet, but I know you're here. I love you so much it hurts! I love feeling you twist and kick. I love learning about how you grow and change daily. I love trying to imagine what your life holds in store for you. I'm going to let you be whatever you want to be, I will help you reach every dream you will ever set. Everyday you will know how much I love you, and how much your daddy loves you too. You will never feel out of place with me. I promise you will know every Bible, and Book of Mormon story. You are going to be so loved that you will never fear anything that the world could throw at you. You are the greatest gift I could ever ask for.
Love, Mystie

I hope everyone had a Happy Father's day :)

IT'S A.....

BOY!!!!!

Introducing Rivers Mckean Shepherd!

We are so excited! Here are a few pics of the ultrasound, now again, I have no scanner, so these are pictures of pictures so you lose a lot of the quality, but he is so cute, I can tell :)

My baby's sweet profile, I think he has my lips, and Scott's nose

And here are his boy parts.

We had quite a crowd when we went in for our ultrasound, both my parents came, Scott mom (his dad had to work or he would have been there too) and my best friend Shaelynn, plus Scott and myself. This baby will be very loved.

So picking his name has been a hard process. We wanted something original, I wanted something nature inspired, and Scott wanted something not too crazy or spelled weird. After I shouted out ideas like Rainbow and Sunshine, I went for dead actors, like Rock Hudson, and River Phoenix. Scott liked River, but he thought Rivers Como was cooler (lead singer of Weezer), and during Sacrament meeting that week, Scott found a scripture that my mom is going to needle point for us to hang in his room.

1 Nephi 2:9

O that thou mightest be like unto this river(s) continually running into the fountain of all righteousness! (last part of that verse)

In this verse, Lehi is naming the river of Laman, well of course we couldn't name the baby Laman, but we want our children to be raised in righteousness, and but adding the "s" to the end, it made it almost sound like a prophecy.

So this is how Rivers came to be, we both love it! It's funny because people have mixed emotions about it, they either love it or hate it (pretty sure Scott's siblings think I've turned him into a total hippie). Scott is always reassuring me that it doesn't matter what people think, it's our baby, and we love the name so does it matter, the vain, insecure part of me says yes :).

Having the ultrasound was so cool. I got to lay there and watch everything on a screen, and they recorded everything onto a DVD for us, which we make people watch when they come over. It's so cool though, and it shows all the parts of the baby.

I love my little guy, I love how he moves inside when I'm hungry, and he's still while I'm sleeping, I love watching Scott's face when he feels him kick (which is rare, because I barely feel or notice it most the time) and I love the thought of our other kids having an older brother, something Scott and I never got experience (Scott is the older brother in his family).

I can't wait for October for Rivers to get here :)

We're Half Way There.... Whaaa Ohhhhh Livin' on a Prayer

Well I've made it to 20 weeks with out killing anything or any one :) Second trimester is so much better and happier, what a relief that is. So Sunday I wasn't able to zip up my skirt, so I made Scott take pictures :) For some reason whenever he takes pictures I'm never sure if he knows how to work the camera so I always have a concerned look on my face, I'm really happy. Well tomorrow is the day for the big here is what the baby is ultrasound, I kinda like having a mystery about it, but how will I know what to shop for if I don't find out? I'm actually really excited because I love our baby names :)

Fat and happy!

From Moab with Love

So this post is a ton of pictures, we had a great time in Moab, it was Scott's first time going and I think he already is planning a trip back. if only there was a mall in Moab I think we could live there :)

Day 1: On our way to Moab I found on the Internet this cool site off the freeway where you can see Dinosaur tracks, Scott was so excited as you can tell...

Here is Scott pretending to be a dinosaur, they tell you to pour water into the tracks to see them better.

I'll point it out for you all...

We did a little shopping when we got into town, here is Scott's get-up to protect him from the sun.

That night we went on a guided moon lit hike of Dead Horse Point, Scott took some pictures of the moon rising on his phone, but we haven't uploaded those yet.

Day 2: Arches National Park... We did a ton of hiking this day, but there is so much to see we broke it into 2 days at the park. Here is Scott under sandstone arch.

and 5 month pregnant me made it up to Delicate arch, it was 95 degrees, and for a pregnant lady it was like being on the sun!! Scott was so happy when we got to the top, it really is a spectacular site, and I loved seeing Scott's excitement when he got up there :)

That night after we showered and cleaned up, we went to the Bar-M-Chuck wagon. We really enjoyed this, it's a fun little show and dinner that this local couple puts on, we started with a shoot out...

and after a cowboy dinner we got a show, I got Scott up on stage, other than the kids you see on stage we were the youngest couple there, I guess old people and me and Scott really like this sort of thing.

Day 3: Monticello and Hole 'n' the Rock, these got a bit out of order, Hole in the Rock is one of my favorite tourist spots. This guy decided to build his home in the mountain, he blasted it out with dynamite and him and his wife lived there. They had a diner and gift shop, now you take tours and there is a petting zoo! If you ever go to Moab stop here and take the tour, it's unreal.

Here is the Smallest temple in the world! Monticello. We did a session, which was super nice and helped Scott and I on our goal to visit all the temples in Utah. Afterward we went our to eat, and there was NOTHING in Monticello! No lie, we found a subway in a gas station, and all the people that were in the Session with us were eating at the Subway... guess that's all you can there is go to the temple and eat st the Subway...

Back to the petting zoo! The camel was my favorite, you can pay $5 and get a bucket of food for the animals, it was so fun, and the animals are so much more friendly if you have food, it was a ton of fun!

Scott got to feed the animals that licked out of your hand... that part seemed gross to me :)

So... I knew I got sun burnt on the hike, but since I have a great heritage I didn't think it was that bad... Well I was wrong, turns out you burn really bad when your pregnant because of some oil your skin releases, I blistered and peeled and cried and whined because it hurt so bad. This is my own fault for never wearing sunscreen before, and my mom's fault for being Indian and not telling me that people get sun burnt. I'm all done peeling now, and all is well...

Day 4: We slept most of the day, mostly because I was so sun burnt and tired. But later that day we went back to Arches, because when you pay to get in it's good for a week, so you can go back many times. Here is Landscape arch, which is my favorite.

We did a few other small hikes that day, here I am at balanced rock, since I was so burnt Scott wouldn't let me go unless I dressed like this... I look crazy, so look at the rock, not at me :)

We had a great trip, and we have so many funny stories from our adventure. We stayed at Moab Rim camp ground (I wanted a bathroom and a shower) and whenever we'd the camp site we'd pass this sign that Scott thought was so funny, and it sums up the end of this post.

Pleas DO come again :)