What's In a Name?

Naming our baby girl actually turned out to be harder than we thought.  When we were engaged, my sister-in-law Rebecca threw me a bridal shower and asked Scott & I both the same questions for people to guess who answered what.  One of the questions asked what names we would like for our kids.  Without discussing this beforehand, Scott & I both answered with the name Kimberly for a girl. It was quite surprising to realize that we had both said the same name.

When we found out that we were having a girl, it made sense that the name Kimberly was at the top of the list on what to name her.  Figuring out a middle name that flowed took more time, however.  We both couldn't really agree on a middle name.  Since it took some time to figure that out, I started realizing that I just wasn't sure about the name Kimberly anymore.  I've been told that the best way to know if you really like a name is to say it out loud and I had a hard time saying the name Kimberly out loud.  It just didn't seem like the right name anymore.  Scott was a little disappointed and I did feel a little sad because we had both agreed on the name before we were even married!  How can this not be the name anymore?  What to do now?

Scott & I started looking at baby names in books and online.  It was a little difficult to figure out what I was looking for since Kimberly really was the only name we had in mind.  Also, being a teacher, there were a few names that were definitely out.  Looking back now, I'm pretty sure there are more boy names that I don't enjoy because of past students rather than girl names.  I also had opinions about which names are popular based on the number of students I've had with that name.  Spelling was big too since I've seen a lot of weird spelling.  I love this comic because it is a funny representation of names.

I decided that I still wanted a name with the "k" sound, like McKenna or McKenzie.  After looking at a lot of names and both of us dismissing a lot of names, we finally made a decision on a name we both enjoy.

Yes, we have gone with Kylie Fletcher!  I love it and we are not changing it last minute at the hospital because I spent time and money making those letters in that picture. Haha. Now, we do have a dilemma on picking a middle name for her!  This is probably something we will figure out at the hospital.  Here are the ideas we have so far for her:

• Kylie Camille Fletcher
• Kylie Cassidy Fletcher
• Kylie Christina Fletcher
• Kylie McKenna Fletcher
• Kylie Elizabeth Fletcher

My favorite one is Kylie Elizabeth and I'm not sure which one is Scott's favorite, but he would like a middle name that starts with a "C" so our girl could have the nick-name of K.C.  Which one do you think works best?  Either way, there's only 10 days until her due date and her name will be official! :)

Painting Makeover

When we moved into our house about a year ago, there wasn't a lot of color in the house.  Three rooms had some color, but the majority of the house was either tan or gray.  Neutral colors are fine, however we thought it was a little boring and wanted to add some life into our home.  We even thought that the gray in our family room made it feel a little dark.

It has been a  year now and we have repainted four rooms now, three of them being major traffic areas (kitchen, entry room and family room).  I really like how the colors we picked brighten up the rooms.  Our house has such an open feel to it the way it's designed that it just made sense to pick colors that would pop.  Like I said in my previous post, it did take some time to find the right colors (we have 7-8 sample paint jars) and I think we picked colors that we can live with for quite a few years without getting annoyed or bored with them.

Scott & I both always wanted some sort of blue in the family room and green or yellow were an option for the kitchen.  The green we chose for the kitchen ended up being a lot brighter than we thought to where we wouldn't want it on the large empty wall in the entry room because it was just too much.  We then found a yellow that really toned down the green, but not so much that it wasn't noticeable.  We wanted at least one color to pop in our house, but not be overwhelming to look at.  I think we found the perfect combination of all three.  What do you think?

Before pictures of the entry room:

 

After pictures of the entry room:

Before pictures of the kitchen:

 After pictures of the kitchen:

 Before picture of the family room:

After picture of the family room:

Now that painting is out of the way, we can begin decorating each room just the way we want.  It will probably take another year or so, but I'm excited to work on putting our house together.  I want our place to be a home that people feel comfortable being in and a place that people want to go to.  After all, it is in the home where love is felt, laughter is heard and memories are made.

Paint, Raspberries, a Birthday and Soccer Game

Scott has been working hard at getting the house painted before the baby comes.  We had some help from family painting our family room, but Scott's been painting the kitchen and entry room all on his own.  The blue that we picked for our family room looks great and really brightens up the room unlike the gray that was there before.  We picked a green for the kitchen and a wall in our entry room, but the green turned out to be a lot brighter than we anticipated.  It took us forever to find a green that we liked in the first place so starting over from scratch didn't sound too appealing.  We settled on picking a yellow for the entry room which I think looks great and tones down the brightness of the green.  I'll post pictures once it's 100% finished.
           I am glad that the painting will be done before the baby comes, but I wish there was more time to really figure out how we want the rooms decorated now.  I feel like I don't want to hang up anything we had on the walls before because I am not sure that's where I want them anymore.  I think we might just have some blank walls for a bit as we decide how we want the final look of the kitchen, entry way and family room to be.

My Aunt Debbie & Uncle Kent have a raspberry forest in their backyard.  Because of this, they get a lot of raspberries every year and are sometimes unable to pick them all because there are so many.  Raspberries are Scott's favorite fruit and he loves fresh raspberry jam.  Raspberries are expensive to buy at the store as is, so getting enough to make jam can cost a lot of money.  Luckily for my husband, I was on top of it this year and texted my aunt about coming up to pick some raspberries. She said yes and last week we were able to head on up and pick as many raspberries as we wanted!  Scott was in heaven as he ate about as many as he picked.  Good thing I have self control or else there would be no raspberries to make any jam with.  It was very nice for them to let us come up and get raspberries for free and I think they were glad that we were willing to actually come up and get them ourselves.

Scott is nearing the big 3-0 as he is now 29 years old.  Just like my birthday this year, the celebration was very low-key.  I had plans to head up to Snowbird to chat with some cousins for a few hours in the afternoon.  I was worried Scott would be bored and I felt bad for leaving him on his birthday, but Kyle came over and hung out with him.  Scott, Kyle and Lane then went golfing and had a good time, so I'm glad that Scott went out and did something.  I was able to get home before he did and I made him cupcakes out of his favorite yellow cake mix and chocolate frosting.  The rest of the night was spent relaxing and going to bed early since Scott had to work the next day.  I usually try really hard to make his birthday super special, but I'm okay that it was low-key.  I plan on doing something big for his birthday next year since he'll be turning 30!  Happy Birthday to the man I love so much and who I know will be the best daddy ever! :)

RSL in red & Sporting KC in blue.

Saturday night, we saw Real Salt Lake play soccer against Sporting Kansas City.  My sister Brianna was brave and donned her Sporting KC gear among very dedicated RSL fans.  Kansas City won 2-1, but I do wish it was a better played game.  It seemed that these two teams had it out for one another and there was a lot of tripping, falling and fouls being called.  Either way, my home team won and I was secretly glad on the inside although I was not as brave as my sister to be so vocal about the win.  Afterwards was a fabulous fireworks show to end the night.

Maternity Pictures

Back in June, I was able to get some maternity pictures taken.  At first, I wasn't sure about getting professional pictures taken since it can be a little pricey.  However, I really wanted pictures of me pregnant that I can look back on without embarrassment.  I saw some pictures on Facebook of an old room-mate and her family and noticed that they were taken by another old room-mate's sister (Melanie), whom I had met up at BYU-Idaho.  I looked at her photography blog (http://www.melparkerphoto.blogspot.com/) and really liked her pictures.  She also had a little sale going of these mini-sessions where I can get a CD of pictures instead of having to buy some.  The price was great and since I had met her before, I felt comfortable having her take my pictures.

She lives up in Ogden, which is almost 2 hours away from Salt Lake, so I was glad that she was willing to travel.  We went to the International Peace Gardens which was very pretty.  The weather was great and it wasn't too crowded with people.  My old room-mate came with her and it was so nice to have her there to make taking pictures more at ease. 

I really do love these pictures and it was definitely worth it.

Stadium of Fire

For 4th of July this year, I bought tickets for a friend and I to go see the Stadium of Fire.  This production happens every year down in Provo at the football stadium.  There is always a little program, a concert with a well-known singer and fireworks.  It is a very popular event to go to and I wanted to experience it.  It helped that the singer at the concert was Kelly Clarkson, whose majority of songs I know.  For me, going to a concert is a lot more enjoyable when you know the artists' music.  Another singer there was Carly Rae Jepsen, who is a hit with the younger crowd and has a very well known song of "Call Me Maybe".  I actually thought about being her for Halloween this past year with Scott being the guy she talks about in the song.

Scott was working the holiday, so I invited my friend Amanda (whom I was room-mates with in college) to come with me.  We met up and had dinner beforehand and arrived at the stadium right when it started.  I picked the cheapest seats I could find, so we were up towards the top, but I think we had a great view of the fireworks.  The fireworks ended at 11:00pm, but I didn't get home until 1:00am.  Even though we tried to park on some side roads, there was still a lot of traffic to get through before hitting the freeway.  Amanda and I also stopped to get some $.50 ice cream cones from Burger King on the way back.  It was delicious.

Parachuting the flag into the stadium.

Amanda and I!

Fun dance performance.

It was pretty funny watching the dancers dance in these.

Cirque du Soleil!

Carly Rae Jepsen

Carly Rae Jepsen

Kelly Clarkson

Kelly Clarkson

The Stadium of Fire was fun and I'm glad I got to experience it, but it is something I wouldn't plan on doing every year.  I've seen much better firework shows and it just isn't the best activity for younger kids (the small kids around us were getting very fidgety and tired with quite a few kids laying down on the bleachers sleeping and this younger boy behind me plugged his ears during Kelly Clarkson and would screech every so often asking when the music would stop.).  I'm glad I was able to do this before having kids, although it was a little exhausting for someone who is 35 weeks pregnant.

Speaking of pregnant, here is my 35 week picture!

There's really no reason to do a whole post on me being 35 weeks since there hasn't been anything new going on.  I do crave anything cold all the time now like smoothies, any form of ice cream, frozen yogurt, popsicles, etc.  My belly button hasn't popped out, but it sure is close.  I've been lucky to not have really any swelling, which is surprising since it's been a rather warm summer.  My wedding ring can still fit on my finger and I get tired really quickly now.  I love that I still have a month until she is due since there is still a lot to get done, but I really cannot wait until she is born and we get to hug and play with her.

Missouri Trip

I had been itching to get out of Utah for quite some time and the best time for us to travel is during the summer since I am out of school.  It's always fun to go to California since there is a variety of activities to do there, but we both hadn't been to Missouri since our wedding reception back in 2010.  Even then, Scott really wasn't able to see much of the place I lived for 20+ years because we were only there for two days and there was a huge thunderstorm while we were there.  I decided that it was time to go back for a visit.  My dad & Roberta are out in Missouri and I like it because there's always an excuse to go back and visit.  I don't have any hopes or wishes of living back in Missouri again, so it's nice to have a reason to go back and stay in touch with my past.

While trying to figure out dates of when to go back, it seemed that the earliest we could go was at the end of June and when counting out the weeks, I would be 34 weeks pregnant on our vacation.  34 weeks seems a little late in pregnancy to travel, but I really wanted to see my dad and get out of Utah.  We had actually planned on driving, but the bigger I got, the more uncomfortable it got to sit for long periods of time.  Driving 15 hours would not have been fun, so we changed our plans and flew, which I am so glad we did.

Since we were now flying, we had to figure out how to get to and from the airport plans.  We didn't want to leave a car at the airport for a week and we were leaving in the middle of the afternoon on a Monday, so finding somebody to take us was a little difficult.  So, we resorted to public transportation and it worked great.  We took the bus from the stop right behind our house to the trax station and then took that all the way to the airport.  We got there in plenty of time and didn't have to worry about cars or inconveniencing anyone.  On the way home, my brother Aaron was nice and asked if we wanted a ride home from the airport to which we gladly said yes.

Scott & I had a great time in Missouri and I'm glad that he got to see a lot more than our first trip out there together.  Since we flew in Monday and didn't arrive until later in the evening, not much else happened that day.

My dad was kind and let us borrow his car everyday as long as Scott took him to work and picked him up.  It worked out great.  Tuesday, we both slept in from the long day of travel the day before and went out to lunch at a restaurant that was definitely meant for an older (senior citizen) crowd.  The food was good, but it was pretty funny to see the age difference between us and the other customers.  While trying to find lunch, we stopped at a fruit stand and picked up some really yummy fresh fruit.  Can you guess whose idea it was to stop and get some? :) 
       After lunch, we waited at my dad's house until it was time to pick him up and then we all headed to get some BBQ!  First, we made a stop at Roberta's work to really get an idea of what the company she works for does.  She's in the financing department of this company (Castle Creations) that builds the motors for remote controlled cars, airplanes, etc.  She took us on a tour and Scott was even able to play with one of the test cars.  He had a little too much fun.

After a tour of Roberta's work, we headed to get some true Kansas City BBQ!!  It was Scott's first time having real barbeque, so of course I had to document it. 

We went to Oklahoma Joe's (I know, funny name for a bbq place in Kansas City), which is a very highly rated BBQ joint.  We ate dinner earlier in the evening, but it was still crowded and as we left, there was a line out the door!  You know a place is good when it's busy no matter what time of day you go to eat.

 Before picture: Scott excited to taste Kansas City BBQ!

After pictures: I think these are self explanatory on how he felt about the food. :)

Wednesday: Wednesday was a busy, but fun day.  My dad took the day off of work to spend some time with us and he took us on a tour of Hallmark/Crown Center.

Portrait done with just basic salt and pepper shakers.

Scott made his own bow!

Um, I really wanted ice cream okay?  Sheridan's is really yummy.

After Crown Center, we headed to look at Union Station and then went to check out the World War I museum and Liberty Memorial.  I had been once before, but didn't see all of the museum so it was good to go back and see it all.  It is the only World War I museum in the United States.

View from the top of the Liberty Memorial.

We then went home to rest for a few hours before heading to the Royal's game!  We did go to a Royal's game our first time out to Missouri and I just remember it was so dang humid and we were sweating like crazy.  Luckily, it was a good weather week in Missouri and the weather truly was perfect all week.  The Royal's won in the 10th inning! It was a good time.

Hall of Fame and who is that person with the giant belly? :)

Tried to get a picture of the screen saying Royal's win, but this is the best we could get. Ha.

Thursday: For Christmas, my Aunt Kathy gave us a movie gift card, but the only problem was that it was for a movie theater that is not out here in Utah.  So, since we were out in Missouri, Scott & I took the opportunity to use that gift card and see a movie.  We went and saw the new Superman movie, Man of Steel, and the theater we went to has amazing seats! All the theaters in the building have these seats, not just special showings.

These seats made this pregnant lady very happy to sit through a 2 1/2 hour movie!

Don't fall asleep!

After the movie, we went and picked up my dad and then gave Scott a little tour of the plaza.  We ate at this Italian restaurant, Brio, that was pretty good and we wanted to walk the plaza more, but there was some pretty bad lightening going on, so we headed home.

Famous J.C. Nichols fountain

Friday: There was still money left on the movie gift card, so we headed to see Monsters University, which was cute.  We then went home to hang out for about an hour and then headed to do a session at the Kansas City Temple.  I'm a little sad this temple wasn't here when I was growing up, but I'm glad it is there now.  It is a small temple and it was good to be in the temple with Scott, especially since he missed going to Brigham City.  I was silly and forgot my nice camera, so my pictures are from my phone.

After the temple, we headed to my friend Kaitlyn's house to have dinner with her, her husband and their little boy.  Kaitlyn and I go way back in our friendship, being friends since we were 11 years old.  She was my best friend throughout high school and even though we're not super close now, I'm glad that we've kept in touch.  It was nice to meet her husband and baby boy and just catch up with how everything is going.  Silly me again, I forgot to get a picture of all of us.

Saturday: This day, we met up and had lunch with my Aunt Kathy and Uncle Don.  I haven't seen them for quite a while and Scott had never met them, so it was good for that to happen.  It was unfortunate though that my aunt was not feeling well at all that day, so the visit was cut short, but we sure did appreciate the time she took to come and say hi.  After lunch, we headed to play mini golf and I used a coupon I had for a free game I won quite a few years ago.

Scott's hole-in-one!

Robert's hole-in-one!

Dad's hole-in-one!

My hole-in-one! Seriously, when did my belly get humongous?!

After mini-golf, we headed back home to just relax the rest of the night.  Roberta made us a delicious dinner of grilled chicken and asparagus and baked sweet potato.  After dinner, we played card games until it was time for bed.  Sunday, we traveled back home.

I am grateful that we had the opportunity to go out to Missouri and have a vacation before the baby comes.  Even though I was 34 weeks pregnant when we went and couldn't do some fun activities (like go to the amusement and water park), it was a lot of fun.  Thanks dad & Roberta for being so hospitable!  We hope it's not 3 years before we come visit again.