Valentine's Day

Dennen and I actually celebrated Valentine's Day the day before because we didn't want to deal with all the craziness. We went out to dinner at Macaroni Grill and Dennen got me some flowers (some people don't like flowers, I do). I miss how Valentine's Day used to be when I was a kid... I loved making my own Valentine's mailbox and picking out just the right Valentine card for all my friends (and crushes)!

Although, now we start to get to enjoy holidays with kids. What could be more enjoyable?! Grandparents and cousins gave Finn little gifts and candy for Valentine's. He was sooo excited! It was really cute to watch.

Grandma Marci even made us one of her traditional giant pink heart sugar cookies. They are my absolute favorite! She even made Finn one, but then decided to take a bite out of it... Bad idea.

Valentine's Day dinner with the fam, and my parent's friend Steve Chambers from Alabama

Grandma Marci taking a tasty bite of Finn's cookie

Look at that face! Just kidding. This was the face he made when we tried to get him to take a bite of his cookie. He'll learn to love them soon enough :)

Finn says baby

I'm pretty sure Finn doesn't get the concept that he's going to have a new baby sister in a couple of months. But we have gotten him to say baby and point at my stomach :) He also points at my belly button (or the lack thereof) and laughs.

Snow day

After what seems like forever without snow, we finally got a storm on Sunday! We definitely took advantage of it. Dennen and Finn made a snowman on Sunday night. And yesterday we drove to Daniel's Summit to go snowshoeing. It was a blast! I'm a believer that anyone can enjoy the snow/cold if they dress appropriately. But when it's hot outside you can only strip down so much... I feel like I can never cool down enough. And that's why I detest extremely hot weather!

conked out

And here is a video of our adventure.

Fun weekend

Has anyone else taken their kiddos to the Gateway Children's Museum? It is awesome! My mom and I took Finn there last Friday and he had a ball. He's still not quiet sure what to think of lot of kids and seems to get kind of nervous sometimes... So it was good for him to go and start to get used to it.

Lately Finn has been giving a lot more hugs and kisses, which I love!  He wasn't a snuggly baby at all, so I'm glad I can get some in now :) He likes puzzles and is pretty good at them once we help him do them a few times. His stuffed animals are still his favorite and he loves snuggling with them. The last time I changed a poopy diaper was a week ago (hopefully this continues and I didn't just curse myself). Every morning right when he wakes up I go and put him on the toilet and he poops and pees like clockwork. It's pretty nice. He's getting the hang of the whole thing. Basically I started awhile back doing EC (elimination communication). There's a lot of information on the web about it. Oh, and another priceless item when it comes to him sittin' on the pot? An ipad. Yep, I just let him watch movies. This one is pretty funny and he really likes it.

Dennen and I also went hiking with Finn on Saturday at Big Springs. We brought our snowshoes but didn't end up needing them because there was pretty much no snow. It was fun nonetheless though!

Last but not least, Dennen's mom watched Finn and we went to Park City to visit our buddies the Koehlers. They treated us to a tasty homemade meal, followed by the World Cup Mogul Competition at Deer Valley. It was crazy to see the skiers rip down the mogul field! I'd say their knees probably go bad pretty quickly... And once again, being at a ski resort and seeing other people skiing made me a little sad that I'm not able to this winter. Oh well, better safe that have a detached placenta and go into premature labor.

Family pictures

We had some family pictures taken awhile back. I love how they turned out! Brynn did a great job. If you're looking for a photographer in the Utah Valley area, she's your gal! You can check out the rest of her work here.

In other news, I'm now 28 weeks along (these pictures were taken when I was 26 weeks). I can really tell a difference from this pregnancy and when I was pregnant with Finn. I am just as big right now, as when I went into labor with Finn at 36 weeks. Yep, I don't think we'll be having another 4 pounder. It's great, keep growing baby girl! I'll be getting a fetal non-stress test at 32 weeks just to make sure everything is a-okay, as well as another ultrasound to check on my placenta and amniotic fluid levels. Here's hoping this time around goes a bit more smoothly... But if not, we're still happy to have her!

The Fraziers are officially going to be Maine-iacs!

Maine-inites? Maine-ians? Mainers? Portlandian Maine-o's? In any case, we'll be joining the ranks of the Maine folk come May. I was lucky enough to be accepted into the University of New England PA program in Portland, Maine. Hilary was able to come out to the interview with me and we both loved the city and the program. It was nice having Hils around for the interview and her aura of coolness definitely helped me seal the deal. I'm sure the interviewer was thinking, 'Wow, this guy is really awkward. And he kind of rambles on about stuff. But his wife seems attractive, hip, and normal so he couldn't be that bad. I guess we'll let him in.' Plus sightseeing by yourself is a drag. And eating by yourself in sit-down restaurants puts off the creep vibe.
Anyway, here are some of the things we really liked about the area:

• a safe, compact downtown with a good mix of salty New Englanders and hip youngsters
• fresh, cooked crustaceans
• it is stinking beautiful
• LL Bean boots, everywhere
• proximity of the University to everything else
• Tim Horton's donuts (a Canadian donut chain that we first had when we lived in AK)
• lots of parks, trails, and green space
• neat children's museum
• the little transit system
• the ocean will be at our doorstep

Downtown after the snowstorm. Lots of brick and cool little shops.

More downtown, good seafood restaurant, and Portland Head Light (I was protecting my lips from the o-so-cold wind)

Back Bay, Portland Head Light, Bean Boot, and naughty, pregnant Hils standing on an icy bench

Portland Head Light

Bottom line is we need to party with y'all (yes, I mean you) before we leave. So give us a call or else we might just show up.

Videos of Finn and shoes

We introduced Finn to cotton balls the other day. He decided that it would be fun to put them in his mouth and spit them out.



He has also learned to jump and then land on his bum.



Besides playing with Finn, I've been making some baby girl shoes for Rowan. Here are some pictures of them.

I bought the 100% wool felt here, and the pattern for the shoes here. I kind of just made up the flower patterns from ones that I've seen. And I bought the ric-rac and pom-pom trim at a fabric store (I'm sure you could find it online too).

I'm not gonna lie... I'm super excited to have a girl! Most wouldn't pin me as the girly type, but I think there are so many cute baby girl clothes and accessories out there. Finn will be a great big brother to her, and I'm excited to see how he takes to her.

Good day

Sometimes it's hard for me to live in the present. Really hard. I tend to worry a lot about the future. It's nothing in particular, and if you asked me what I worried about I probably couldn't pinpoint it... Yesterday I was able to live in the moment. Dennen, Finn, and I drove to Deer Creek to take pictures and so that Finn could throw rocks (one of his favorite past-times). It was a good time!

Showing us his handful of rocks.

The follow through!

I love these two with all my heart.

The backside of Timpanogos.

I haven't shared a song for awhile... So here's a really good one.