the potential evan?

So, we decided to morph our baby pictures to see what our baby could possibly look like. We went to morphthing.com and added in our baby pictures, and here's what we got.



1 baby Rachel +


1 baby Rick =



Evan???

I really hope the kid doesn't come out with that nose.

It's a Boy!

One of the key and huge things that happened in California is that we went for a second ultrasound. My first one through the doctor's office was interesting because the baby would not open his legs (little punk) so we couldn't see what we were having. We decided to look up the 3D and 4D ultrasound places and there was one in Rancho Cucamonga for a really awesome price. Well, when this girl was doing the ultrasound, we could tell right away that it was a boy.
So excited that we're having a boy. It makes figuring out his name a lot easier. Rick is a second, so we are naming our boy after Rick. Richard Evan Chappell III.... Yeah, but we're going to call him Evan. So I am really excited about our little Evan, and have started registering at places for him.

Besides the picture that told us the sex of the baby, she showed us a bunch of close ups of his face and body... it was totally weird seeing it in 3D. When she first showed me his face in 3D, I was like, "ewww.. he looks like an alien." She just laughed and said that they get more normal looking on the 3D screens at about 26 weeks or so. I was only about 21 weeks at the time, so I still have a ways to go. Anyways, you can see some humanoid features to the baby. AND he's a thumb sucker already! Had his thumb in his mouth almost the entire time!

ALIEN BABY! Look how huge his head is compared to the rest of his body. I am so glad that he will be getting cuter than this (hopefully) before he leaves Mommy.

Eyes, nose, mouth, face, ears. It kind of looks like he's smiling. I hope he's smiling... that or he has a wide mouth. Anyways, it seems like Evan is having a lot of fun. He is always moving and swimming around. He's all over the place! And he likes to kick! I love it when he kicks hard (right now at least) because it makes me proud of my boy. He's going to be a great soccer player! I am at 23 weeks now!!!! Less than 4 months is my due date. I know that it will be coming really quickly! It's kind of weird and exciting at the same time! Scariness isn't a biggie right now, but I am sure it will be in the upcoming months!

Our California Summer Trip!

Rick and I went out to California for the past ten days. We just got back on the 8th. We had a great time with family and friends in Rancho Cucamonga and other places!! Here were some of the highlights!

Highlight 1

We went out to Santa Clarita to visit with some old college friends and have lunch at the Route 66 Grill: Aaron, Jen, and Brian in this one!

Me, Rick, Aaron, Jen, and Sarah... It was so fun seeing my friends! Jen, Sarah and I were roommates. Aaron was our FHE brother and now is married to Jen. Loved seeing them.
Me with the two roomies. I lived with Jen longer in college than anyone else! (I think about 6 semesters in a row or so!) and Sarah was only my roommate one semester, but she is still one of my bffs!

Highlight 2

We went to the beach with my family. It's been about a year since I've been to the beach and we had such a great time.

My adorable nephew Ollie fell asleep while Grandma was holding him.
My nephew Casey running around. He absolutely LOVED the water and insisted that we always go down to it!

Bethany and her adorable little boys. We went to the beach for her birthday and it looks like she enjoyed it!
Grandpa holding Ollie. We call Ollie the Michelin Man because of all of his rolls!

Poor Rick! He's still freezing from his boogie boarding. He's not used to the cold Pacific ocean like my family is. The water was 55 degrees that day! Awesome!
Casey having a grand old time running around! He loved the beach!


Rick and I on the beach! We loved going to the beach with family. It was a fun trip! Not so much of a fun trip home! It took about 2 hours to get from Corona del Mar beach over to Rancho. I am so glad that my mom was driving, and it wasn't me! California drivers in rush hour= scary... especially on the 57 freeway.

We spent most of our time in California hanging out with family, watching "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", and just having a great time hanging out. I also had a great time seeing Kajsa and Kersti Spjut (forgot to take pictures) and Nicole! Rick and I loved seeing family, especially spending time with my nephews, who I probably won't see again until I have my own little baby! Yikes!

Week 20 Ultrasound

I was so looking forward to this ultrasound. I am at the halfway point of the pregnancy and I was totally stoked--- mainly so I could find out what in the world I was having. I've had a feeling that it's a boy, but I wanted to know for sure before I go crazy with shopping for the kid. Well, we our little baby is modest, to say the least. His or her legs were closed, and even with a bunch of poking and prodding from technician and myself, the baby still did not open the legs up for us to see. We did get a fun little look at the baby though.

In this picture, she was trying to show up the profile of the baby but he has his hands on his face so we can't see it. So she poked him with the little ultrasound feeler thing and then she got this picture. His hands just totally flew up in the air, so we got to see his little nose, mouth, hands and fingers. I don't know how many fingers he has, (it looks like more than five to me).

I was disappointed that we didn't find out the sex, but I will update everyone on Tuesday of this upcoming week. Rick and I are visiting California, and while we're there we made an appointment at one of those 3D/4D places. I didn't want to wait, because my doctor told me that they wouldn't give me another ultrasound unless there was something wrong with the baby or they got too fuzzy of a picture of something.

It was really nice to see the ultrasound, and to see our little baby wiggling and squirming quite a bit. I started feeling him move around quite a bit about ten days ago. He's always thumping against me. It's the strangest feeling in the world. I am looking forward to finding out the sex of the baby so I can start registering at Babies'r'us and Target (actually I've already registered, but it's been for neutral stuff).

One Year!

It's been one year! So crazy and insane. It's gone by really fast. Rick and I have grown a lot closer together over the past year, and I am so thankful for all that he's done for me. Here are a few pictures from our anniversary celebration

The cake that we ate. A year old, and it still tasted pretty good. I don't know if you can read it, but Rick wrote on it "I heart Rachel"

Rick enjoying his cake.

This is Rick and I after going out to eat on Saturday night. Since the anniversary landed on Sunday, we decided to go out to eat on Saturday, and then have a quiet dinner to ourselves on Sunday. The Macaroni Grill was really good Italian food. Neither of us had been, but it was super-good.

This year has been a very positive one for Rick and I. We have grown really close together, and really strengthened our relationship. We've definitely had our trials and problems, but there are several things that have been excellent this year.

1) We found out we're having a baby. Baby is due on November 7th. We find out what we're having on June 24th. I am really excited.

2) Rick graduated from college. He did an excellent job on his senior project. Since he's been home from his mission, his GPA has been 4.0. Now, we're just going through the stupor of finding a job.

3) We went on our first trip together to New York and DC. We had a lot of fun and enjoyed ourselves. It was so fun to see where Rick lived for two years.

4) Rick's support for me as a teacher. Mountain View is wonderful. One of the reasons why our marriage has been great so far is because of the school that I work out. I know that sounds weird, but because I work at such a great school, I wasn't as near as stressed out as when I was working at my old Middle School, and that made things so much easier when I came home.

5) We really strengthened our relationship over the year, through praying together every morning and evening (or almost every morning and evening) it's so hard to stay angry with someone that you're praying with and for. That really helped, and I am so glad that we started that tradition within the first few days we were married.

I am really looking forward to this upcoming 2nd year of marriage for us! We have a lot coming up, and we don't really know we're going to end up. But, I do know that we'll be okay as long as we have faith and will rely on each other. I love Rick so much and I am so thankful for everything that he does for me, which is so much. Happy Anniversary Rick!

Strawberries

I love strawberries! I just made a ton of chocolate covered strawberries for the administrative office at our school! The strawberries I got were from Costco, and they are absolutely amazing. 4 pounds for $5 and not one bad one in the lot! SOOOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOD! And I had the first one without chocolate on it. It was fantastic. From now on, I am getting my strawberries from Costco!

Easter

It's holidays like Easter that I really miss my family. Sure, Rick's family is about 3 or 4 miles away from us, but it's a lot different not seeing my parents, siblings and nephews. Rick and I gave each other really sugary treats in Easter Baskets and then we went to church. I love my church and the opportunity that I had a to be raised as a member of the LDS church.

As we were in church, I realized and remembered the true reason why I celebrate Easter, and why it is such a beautiful holiday to me. I love my family. Because of Jesus Christ, who not only atoned for our sins (took on the pains and suffering of everyone in the world), and died for us, he was resurrected. Because I believe that I will be resurrected again, just like Jesus was, I can be with my family for all eternity. That's certainly a long time. You only have one family, that you grow up with, so you'd better get used to them, because they're not going anywhere.

Take for example my sister Bethany and I. Growing up, Bethany used to torture me endlessly (she still does, to a certain degree). But, over time, we've become really close, and I really miss seeing her so often and talking to her. It's nice to know that even after we die, my family will be reunited.

I am especially glad for the atonement and resurrection of Jesus Christ because I can be with my loving husband through all eternity. Heck, he can be infuriating and stubborn and drive me crazy, but I love him so much, I can't imagine being without him at all.

Just some of my thoughts on this Easter evening. I hope that everyone found some peace today, whether it was through their faith, family or friends.