Little One on the Way...

Well, many of you already know, but for those of you who haven't heard...

we are having a BABY!

Since we don't know if it's a boy or a girl we call the baby "little bug"...

I am 12 weeks along & looking forward to the end of the first trimester in about a week. I hear that pregnancy gets a lot better at about that time. I've had a bad case of what I call "evening sickness." I actually feel pretty good in the morning and by the end of the day (about 5:00) I get really nauseated. Luckily, I had about 2 "good days" this week and I think all of this will ease up soon. I'm not as exhausted eithernow... I can do with 8-9 hrs. of sleep instead of 10 or 11.

I'm not really showing, but Steve and I are going to take pictures of my belly profile every couple weeks and make a flip book in the end.

We are so excited to welcome a new little one. My due date is January 2nd. It's funny because many people have reminded me (mostly guys) that if the baby comes before the new year we get a nice tax credit :)

Lots of Happenings

So, it's been an entire month since my last post... I'm so sorry for the lack of updates. This past month has been quite eventful. About 2 weeks ago we had the first Lake Powell Paulsen Family Reunion... it was a blast!!! (Thanks mom & dad). All of my nieces and nephews were there. My sister and her family even flew all the way from North Carolina to be there.

Lake Powell

The whole fam at Rainbow Bridge. Each time I see it, I always wonder how much longer until that thing collapses. Steve testing his wake-boarding skills after a hard year of med school.I love to ski on glass... what a treat!My brother Isaac... the pro wake-boarder in the family. He always gives us a show.

Isaac and the wicked back-flip...

Steve and I showing off our fair Arizona skin.Miss Makayla enjoying the water.

This is a silly video of Makayla. She is very good at saying names, but she loves to call me by the wrong name (I've realized this is on purpose). I'm know she thinks it's pretty funny because I always get a good laugh out of it.

Emma with her favorite uncle Steve... what a silly pose.My brother Josh just being himself :)Jane loving the wind in her hair.Emma and my sister Abby showing off her cool shades ("I got them for only a dollar!").Audrey making sure the sun stays out of her eyes.Emma is always ready to set sail!Isaac with his lovely girl Megan along with my two sisters. It was so fun to have Megan there!Bryce Canyon

So our trip was supposed to end at Lake Powell, but our plans changed. My grandmother, Bestamor, passed away on the last day of our vacation. We extended our trip a couple days more so we could attend the funeral. Luckily we weren't too far from home and we were very grateful to spend more time with the family. We first made a detour by stopping in Bryce Canyon with my sister's family. We enjoyed the beautiful scenery and did some fun hiking with the kids. After spending one night there, we headed up to SLC. Salt Lake Trip

Once we arrived in SLC, we were busy making plans for Bestamor's funeral. Many of these plans were already written in detail by Bestamor before she passed. She knew exactly how her funeral should be... a celebration with lots of "fun"... she always emphasized the "fun" part of fun-eral. Abby and I worked on putting together all of her favorite songs, many of which she had written, into an organ hymnal arrangement for the prelude music... it was amazing... Abby is so talented. I know that Bestamor loved the music and hearing her children speak. She was an amazing woman and I am so grateful for her influence in my life.

Bestamor always said that if something ever goes wrong, " just put it up in a balloon, and let it go." I thought it would be very appropriate to emphasize this simple, but powerful phrase buy sending off some balloons at the cemetery. Bestamor was 80 when she passed, so with the help of my siblings we brought 80 yellow balloons to let go. It was a beautiful day... just the way it should be.
When we arrived someone else in the family had purchased 80 white balloons. So after a countdown everyone let go of the balloons... it was an unforgettable moment.
We'll miss you Bestamor!