Our Christmas Surprise and More!

Disclaimer: You may need to take breaks while reading this post. It's a long one.

Like some of our friends, we are also a little late with our post-Christmas blogging. To be honest, I have been waiting just a little while so we could let you all know about our special little surprise.

I awoke from a dream on the morning of December 15th at about 6 AM. Said dream led me to creep into the bathroom (hard to do quietly with our creaky floor), trying hard not to wake up Ben. His alarm went off a few minutes later. I turned on the light and showed him the pregnancy test I had just taken. He squinted, tried to make sense of what was going on, and then asked, "Are you pregnant?" The test indicated that I was, but to be certain, I took a few more tests over the course of the day. All positive! :)

Unfortunately, this was also the morning of Ben's last and most difficult final. That morning while he was supposed to be studying, he was looking up apartment complexes and talking about the baby (we were so excited!). I said many extra prayers that day for him and he did really well on his test!

When we were in California for Christmas we had our first doctor's appointment and ultrasound. Wow. It all became real when we saw our tiny little baby (then about the size of a grain of rice) and the doctor asked, "Do you see that movement?" Yes, we could. "That's your baby's heart beat!"

I am now about 12 weeks along and my pants are getting tighter and harder to button. Ben has been such a wonderful help to me. I am so grateful to have such a loving and kind husband who is so quick to serve. He makes me breakfast every morning, holds my hair back when I'm sick, names off a million different things to eat when nothing sounds good but I know I need to eat something, says family prayer almost every night because I am feeling too sick to talk, runs to the store to get something that I need or to do the grocery shopping, and so much more. He is the absolute best! Engaged and involved husbands feel the pregnancy almost as much as the wives do!

Now, on to the Christmas recap...

The day after we found out I was pregnant we flew to Vegas to spend time with family for a few days. I had a bad cold and so we ended up just relaxing at home and enjoying time with Dad, Cassandra, and Romario for most of the trip. Dad and Cassandra took us to Name that Tune and Ben made it to the 3rd round! We had a blast! Here are a few pictures:

This was a pretty intense moment. Ben won this round by naming Pink's "Get this Party Started" and John Mayer's "Gravity"

Ben and Romario waiting for the rest of us to be ready for church...

The Christmas decor at the Bellagio was amazing!

Cassandra spent a good amount of time making delicious food

And we helped a little...mostly with the eating part!

I felt pretty good (besides the persistent cough) until our last day in Vegas when I began to feel a little queasy...

We then rented a car and drove to Long Beach, CA to spend time with Mom, Sam, siblings, siblings-in-law, and nieces and nephews. What a lovely time we had! Here are a few moments caught on camera:

We got an upgrade because they were out of the basic car we had rented. Ben LOVED driving it!

Christmas day at Cesar and Lindy's house. The kiddos opened a few presents...

Jackie got an Easy-Bake Oven. I was pretty jealous...I always wanted one.

Lindy helped Jackie bake some little cupcakes. It turns out the Easy-Bake Oven is not so easy at first. They conquered it though and Jackie shared her treats.

A gift from Cesar and Lindy

Michael and his very nice new ties!

Grandma was visiting from Mexico

Cute baby Espy. This was our first time meeting her!

Ben enjoyed playing with the kids

We went to the Santa Ana Zoo

And we saw a lot of little monkeys!

Most of the crew

We loved spending time at the beach!

Other highlights included Mom taking such good care of me while the nausea and heartburn set in, Christmas Eve at Mom and Sam's when we told everyone we were having a baby, fun at a park in Irvine with the kiddos, and visits with our good friends Kipp and Natalie.

We love family and friends!

Fall updates

Here we are again! We have had a busy Fall thus far. We survived midterms and are now preparing for final papers, projects, and tests. Ben especially has had an eventful month. Here are some of the highlights:

Ben went to Utah for DJ’s wedding and got to spend time with Dad, Ali, and Elizabeth. He had a wonderful time.

Kipp picked Ben up from the airport and they surprised their dear friend LeGrand.

The family went to dinner at a fabulous Italian restaurant and Ben got to meet Ali's boyfriend Brandon!

Dad came bearing gifts from London. We love Galaxy chocolate! Thank you!

They had ice cream at Sub Zero

Back in Virginia Ben was nominated to run for President of the student association of the Health Services Management and Leadership department. He had to give a 90 second speech which he began with “Hi. My name is Benjamin Tingey and I am running for president. The first thing that I will do as president is change all the water fountains to chocolate milk fountains.” This is the email that Ben got showing that he won! He is one busy guy.

Ben’s birthday present came a week early. His computer is pretty much dead and so yesterday we got him a new one. The sound was really important to us because we watch movies on Ben’s computer all the time. So far he loves it!

Last night we got to babysit the Hales’ kids. What a great time! We loved that as soon as we walked in the door the kiddos came running yelling “Ben and Jackie Ben and Jackie!” It warmed our hearts! We played blocks, Ben chased the kids around the house, we gave them baths, we had a pillow fight, we read a story, Niko’s tooth came out, and I helped Niko write a note to the Tooth Fairy! We ended the night watching some BYU football. What a great evening!

We look forward to spending time with family for Thanksgiving and Christmas! We already bought our plane tickets to go to Las Vegas and California. We love you all!

Highlights

Ben and I made this blog one year ago and this is our first post! Sad, I know. We have been inspired by so many great blogs of family and friends and have decided it is time to update/begin our own. I'm not sure where to start...so we will give you a glimpse at what has happened this year. Enjoy!

May 2011: Mom, Sam, and the Tingey Family joined us to celebrate our graduation. I received my Bachelors degree in Social Work and Ben in American Studies.


May 2011: We took a trip to South Carolina with our good friends Kyle and Carly Sipherd. Ben and Kyle were mission companions there. We had an incredible time visiting their areas, the members, and the beautiful sites.

We hiked Table Rock

This was the first house they knocked together

On our way to Fort Sumter

Sitting on a swing in Charleston--the very place where Ben and his family visited after his mission and he said he would bring his wife there one day

June/July 2011: I began school at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia studying Social Work. Ben stayed in Provo for a month and then followed to sell security systems for AMP. The words he used to describe his experience include "loathing, unadulterated loathing. Hated. Mind bogglingly terrible. Pain. Lots of Pain." Enough said. We did take one day to go out and see some sites. We really only had one day because Ben worked Monday through Saturday until about 10pm and I studied all day every day. We were glad when the summer came to an end.

10pm

In front of the Stonewall Jackson Memorial in Richmond, VA

In front of Saint John's Episcopal Church where Patrick Henry said "Give me liberty or give me death."

August 2011: We joined the Tingey Family in London and then flew to Israel to pick up Elizabeth at the Jerusalem Center and enjoy the sites. It was an amazing trip! I can testify that Jesus Christ is our Savior. My heart ached to think that the majority of the people living there don't believe in Him. I felt so grateful for the restoration of the gospel. We attended church with the Jerusalem branch, a small group of Saints joined together. My heart was filled. We know that Jesus Christ lives. We know who He is and how to access the Atonement. I love our Savior and our Heavenly Father for preparing such a perfect plan and sending His perfect Son for us.

You can see more pictures of our trip here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100145048738139.2474110.17806871&l=7d1d1c05ec

At the Garden Tomb

Sitting on a camel was on my bucket list!

We got to go to the temple with Elizabeth. She got her mission call to Lisbon, Portugal!!!

We saw "Much Ado About Nothing" at the Globe Theatre

August 2011: Back in Virginia we got to move into our new apartment and see Ben's campus at George Washington University (he is studying Health Services Administration). We thank all of the aunts and uncles in this area (The DeVores, Johnsons, and Hales) for hosting us many times and for taking such great care of us--we love you!

The metro. Ben loves riding the metro everyday to campus!

His stop is Foggy Bottom and his building is right next to the station!

The George Washington University Hospital

We enjoyed a Labor Day symphony concert on the west lawn of the Capitol

This is the street we live on! We love our neighborhood--it is a short walk to the metro for Ben, I can walk to my internship, and there is a great frozen custard place just down the street. More pictures to come!