A New Nephew!

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Travis' older brother Jason, and sister-in-law Mindi, just had their first baby boy! David Christopher Holloway was born yesterday afternoon, weighing in at exactly 8lbs, and is healthy and doing well, as is his sweet mommy. We, as well as his parents and 2 older sisters, are so excited to welcome this new little guy into the Holloway family! David is the second nephew that's been born since I married Travis, and is the 10th grandbaby to be born into the Holloway family. So, welcome, welcome David! We love you and can't wait to meet you!

Pictures and Puddles

Since the sun came out today and decided to turn our parking lot into a lake, I thought I'd take this opportunity to use "the lake" (and other puddles) to try out some reflection pictures (a little late for the Mission 24 blog, I realize).
So, here are some of the results (all unedited, though I think I will edit some of them when I get the chance):

Our apartment complex and the edges of "the lake":


(Ok, so I threw in a shadow picture too):

(These next two are my favorite):

Reflection pictures are trickier to take than I thought, so this was a good experience for me to try out different angles and focuses and see which ones I liked best. And in the end, I think I got some pretty good pictures. (Splashing in the puddles while doing it was pretty fun too). =)

A Unique Opportunity

I just wanted to let you all know of a unique opportunity Travis just recieved. BYU-Idaho had been asked to put together a men's choir for April's General Conference, and as such, had invited all of the men on campus who had ever been in a University Choir to apply. Well, Travis applied and was accepted! So, all of you guys out there can now look forward to seeing him sing as a part of the BYUI Men's Choir for the priesthood session of this upcoming General Conference! We think this is a great opportunity, and are so excited for Travis to be apart of it! Just think--he'll be on the stand behind the prophet, apostles, and other general authorities! So cool!

A Little Tag About Us

Our friend Shantyl tagged us for this little "Survey About Me," and since she tagged us together, we're going to respond together!

8 Favorite TV shows:
The Office (Jenny)
What Not to Wear (Jenny)
Who's Line is it Anyway? (Jenny)
Project Runway (Jenny)
The O'Reily Factor (Travis)
The Amazing Race (Travis)
American Idol (Travis & Jenny)
Don't Forget the Lyrics (Travis & Jenny)

8 Things to Look forward To:
(In a some-what chronological order. These are for both of us.)
Baby!
Moving to Ohio
Our 2 year anniversary
Having more kids
Completing Podiatry School and the succeeding residency
Buying (and personalizing) our first home
Traveling to Europe and Japan together
Serving a mission together

8 Favorite Places to Eat:
(These are for both of us too)
JB's
Winger's
Bajio's
Olive Garden
Red Robin
Sizzler's
Rupe's
Cascade Garden/Bob Evans

8 Things on My Wish List:
(Again, these are for both of us)
A normal sleep schedule (10-7 every night)
A real paycheck
A dish washer
A washer and dryer
A fully stocked baby nursury
A home of our own
2 tickets to England
For Spring to arrive

8 People I tag:
Rachel & Brandon
Mindi & Jason
Cassie & Mark
Tia
Chelsea

Pregnancy--Week 28

I realize that I've kind of gotten out of the habit of posting about my pregnancy regularly, so here is an update for Week 28 (the first week in my THIRD trimester!).
What to Expect Says: "This week, your amazing baby has reached 2 1/2 pounds and may be almost 16 inches long. Baby's skill of the week: blinking. Yes, along with the other tricks in a growing repertoire that already includes coughing, sucking, hiccuping, and taking practice breaths, your baby can now blink those sweet little eyes. Dreaming about baby? Baby may be dreaming about you, too, courtesy of the REM sleep he or she has started getting. But this little dreamer isn't ready for birth day just yet. Though his or her lungs are nearly fully mature by now, your baby still has a lot of growing to do." Reading this, I was surprised at all of the things our little girl can already do--what a champ!
I'm feeling her movements more and more these days; so much so, that I feel that there's not a move she makes that I don't feel. Her kicks are also getting stronger--almost too strong at times! =) And as she continues to grow, so does my belly! Here is a picture of me at 6 1/2 months pregnant:

(please note that there's a shadow behind my head that makes my face look fat.)

I can't believe that in just 10 more weeks, our little girl could make her grand entrance into the world! We're so excited to meet her, but are also happy for every day that she gets to be in the womb to grow healthy and strong before her birth day.

Valentine's Day

Last year for Valentine's Day, I was at school all day, followed by work, and thus had little time to do anything special for Travis above make him a handmade Valentine's card. Travis, on the other hand, had a little more free time that day, and used it to buy me 2 beautiful roses (for 2 Valentine's Day's together) and to decorate our apartment with balloons and love notes. He did everything I could have wished for, and I felt like my efforts totally paled in comparison.
I wanted this year to be different.
And for this Valentine's Day, our situations were completely opposite. (Important side note: this February 14th was Travis' grandmother's 80th birthday, and since we wanted to celebrate it by attending her party that day, we decided to do our own Valentine's celebrations a day early.) Whereas I had all day Valentine's Day and the days leading up to it to plan and prepare something special, Travis had school all Valentine's Day, and several tests to study for and take in the days leading up to it=no free time for him to plan or prepare. So, what was the story of this Valentine's Day?
Travis, being the sweetheart he is, woke up early on Friday (the only free time he had) to make a special shopping trip for my Valentine's gifts, and then made me breakfast in bed (of cornbread and yogurt, one of our favorite breakfasts)! As you can tell, I was very pleasantly surprised!
Here are my gifts from him: a card (that was so sweet it made me cry!), some chocolate (pb cups--some of my favorites), a little stuffed animal dog carrying a sign that says "Love ya this much!" (which is meaningful because that's something we often say to each other), and a Valentine's mug (which he knew I'd like for drinking hot chocolate).


What a sweet, thoughtful husband/valentine I have!

And for my Valentine, I used the free time I had while Travis was at school to plan and prepare our own little "night away (but) at home" by decorating our apartment and making a special dinner and card.

This was my card for Travis:

I put little love notes in each of the balloons...

...which he had to pop open to find...

...and then tape to his actual card.

And here was our special Valentine's dinner of lasagna (one of Travis' favorite dishes), garlic french bread, salad, and black cherry soda (hey, it looks fancy, right?), all eaten by candlelight:

And for dessert? Strawberry cheesecake (Travis' favorite):

It was all sooo yummy!

Then, for the rest of the evening, we re-created the experience of a night away in a themed hotel room--the details of which I will leave out, but the reality of which I will disclose was very relaxing and romantic. =) And in the end, we had a wonderful time because we got to just be together (and what better gift is there than that?).

The next morning, we celebrated Valentine's Day again (this time on the actual date) by having heart-shaped pancakes for breakfast (thanks Trav)! (We had to do something on the actual day, right?)

Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day too!

The Latest from the Dr.'s Office

This morning I went for my monthly check-up at my OBGYN's, and got the latest on mine and our baby's health...
For my part, they had me do a glucose screening test, and the results were stellar--my glucose levels were "amazing, practically perfect" (the Dr. was VERY impressed), which means I do NOT have gestational diabetes, and my hemoglobin levels were also "good," which means I do NOT have anemia. YEAH! Another bit of good news for me was that I hadn't gained any weight since my last appointment (a month ago)--HOORAY!--and I have only gained 10 pounds total so far in my pregnancy, which means I'm right on track! =)
As for our sweet baby girl, they listened to her heartbeat and said that it sounds really good, and they also both felt my stomache and measured it, and said that she's (measuring and positioned-wise) right where she needs to be! So, overall, the Dr. was very happy with our progress and mother and baby are (healthwise) looking and feeling great!
In other baby news, yesterday marked just 3 months (also less than 90 days) left of our pregnancy in which we are now on Week 27, which means our baby girl is now (head-to-toe) 15 inches long and just over 2 lbs in weight! I still can't believe how fast she is growing.
And, last but not least in the baby news department, Travis felt our baby kick for the first time last week--YEA!

Winter Frost

We've had a few frosty mornings lately, and after Travis suggested to me once or twice that I should take some pictures of it, as he liked the way the frost attached to the tree branches, I got up one morning (a few weeks ago) and did just that! So, here are a few of the pictures I took (before I got too cold and scurried back inside) of the tree in front of our apartment complex:

And there you have it--my winter frost photo shoot! (By the way, I'm thinking of starting my own "photography blog," where I'd post my past and present "pretty pictures," as a sort of "running portfolio," but until then, I'll be posting new pictures right here. =)

Seal of Approval

Yesterday afternoon, I answered a knock at the door to find a kind postal worker holding an official looking package for me. What was it, you ask? MY DIPLOMA! A month and a half after graduation, it had finally arrived--with the final word that I had indeed graduated, and was now an alumni of Brigham Young University-Idaho!
Here I am with the package, so excited to open it:



A letter from President Clark (click to read it):


My diploma, with official signatures (from President Monson and President Clark), gold lettering, and the University's seal and everything--it looked so beautiful!


Here in its rightful place: my diploma cover (though I hope to soon get it framed and hung on our wall instead):


It feels so good to have officially graduated and completed my Bachelor's Degree! Hooray!

Camera Play

This past weekend, we went to Blackfoot, and I took this opportunity (of having new surroundings) to play a little with my camera. So, here are some pictures from my weekend photo shoot!

This was taken on our way to Blackfoot Saturday night:


A cropped view of the rainbow sliver we saw:


Travis playing some hymns on the piano:


And some pictures of mom's birthday roses:

And there you have it! Hopefully, I'll have more pictures to share every now and then as I continue to figure out how my new camera works and do challenges for the Mission 24 blog. =)

Snipets from our lives...

Several "milestones" have occured in our lives recently, so I thought I would share them:

January 28th was our 1 1/2 year anniversary. =)

January 30th I became 26 weeks pregnant.

February 1st I became 6 months pregnant (and am both feeling it and showing it. I've finally gotten to that stage where the size of my belly is feeling uncomfortable--heavy, tight, and stretched).


And today, February 2nd, I finished knitting my second scarf...


...which I made for Travis!

I was proud of how it turned out (and that it took less than a week to complete). Plus, I think it looks good on Travis and matches his winter coat really well. =)