Down Town

I have been trying to post this since the end of August, but my computer wouldn't let me post the pictures for some reason. Now it posted them just fine, so here it is. On Saturday, Aug. 23, Vance decided at the last second that he wanted to go downtown and take some pictures. So we hopped in the jeep and went for a ride. Me and Mason spent most of the time in the car driving around and dropping Vance off to hurry and take a couple shots and we would then be on to the next spot. Before we headed back home, we stopped at the park by Memory Grove and took some pictures. Vance and I used to go here all the time when we were dating and after we first got married so we thought it would be fun to stop here since it had been a while. Mason loved finally getting out of his seat and running around on the cold grass, dipping his toes in the water, and sitting all by himself on a cement stool by the water. Here are some more pictures Vance took before heading home.

A Night of Excellence

On September 27th, Vance's work threw a ball (A Night of Excellence) at Grand America to announce their new CEO. I was so excited to have this opportunity to get all dressed up fancy with Vance. Ever since our wedding, I have been wanting some excuse to see him in a tux and have me right there next to him all dressed up as well. There's just something about a tux! Our biggest problem was finding something for each of us to wear. Since I am pregnant with an obvious "bump" I knew there was a good chance none of my dresses I had would fit me, and we really did not want to spend too much on a dress, and $60 to rent a tux. Vance was talking to his dad one night and he mentioned the ball. His dad told him that he has two tuxes and he would be coming to visit the weekend of the ball, so he would bring them. We were so relieved that we were getting a free tux for him to wear! In looking for a dress for me to wear, I was going to borrow one, but my darn legs are too long, so it was too short on me. I ended up wearing a skirt I already had and finding a black shirt at Ross to go with it. It wasn't exactly what I had originally wanted, but I ended up being pretty happy with it! As far as Vance's tux went, we got it Friday night and when he tried it on, it was too big! I was soooo bummed. So saturday morning while Vance was finishing up some homework, I started calling around to find a tux to rent. We had to stop at my mom's for something, and we just mentioned the whole tux issue. She told us that Mike's old tux from high school was in the closet but she wasn't sure if it would work or not. She pulled it out, Vance tried it on, and it fit! And he looked AMAZING! I was soooooo super excited! We ended up needing to rent a shirt, vest, and bow tie, but the best part of it all is Mike said he could keep the tux! Anyways, after major trauma with my hair, we were finally ready to go. We didn't think we had time to worry about pictures before, so we thought we would just worry about it afterwards (never a good idea). When we got there, we ate an amazing meal, then played Blackjack for hours. Yes, we gambled (both first-timers!). They gave us each a bunch of chips to gamble with so we could win tickets to enter different contests. They were giving away tons of amazing prizes so we wanted to enter as many tickets as possible. I have to say, that I can now see why gambling is so addicting. IT WAS FUN!! I could never understand doing it with your own real money though. Anyways, we ended up not wining anything (that was our punishment I guess!), and it was all over way too fast. On our way home, we stopped by the conference center and took some quick pictures. We were in a huge hurry because we didn't want to keep my parents up too late with Mason, so the pictures did not turn out like we wanted. In fact, I was pretty frustrated with most of them. By the way, Vance took tons of pics of me while he was getting the settings right on the camera, but I figure that we don't post too many pictures of us, it's always mostly Mason. So for this post...what the heck...why not post them! My hot, sexy man in a tux! Me and my "bling!"

Lamb's Canyon

After church last Sunday, we decided to go for a drive up a canyon. We wanted to go somewhere we had never gone, or hadn't been to in a while. We ended up going to Lamb's Canyon. I had never been up there, and Vance hadn't been for years. It is a very narrow canyon and we of course were constantly stopping to take pictures, so cars had to keep squeezing by us. It was very very cold outside so Vance was the only one that got out to take pics. He would get out in a blizzard if it meant getting a good picture! I got out for a couple quick shots and was done. I was freezing! Mason slept all the way up the canyon and woke up on the way down. We kept him in the car since it was sooooo cold. It was absolutely gorgeous though. We usually take a family picture around this time of year, but it was way too cold for it to happen this time. These berries were all over. Me and the baby!

This last weekend the Sandgren's had a get-together at Steph's house. Vance's dad (Dave) was in town and he's been pretty sick lately, so we had a get-well party. It was fun to just get together and eat, relax, and enjoy eachother's company. But most of all, we really hope that Dave gets feeling better. Here are some random pics of us hangin out. After it was dark, Vance took Mason out on the trampoline. He loved it, and so did Mason!! (j/k!) I've never seen Mason laugh so much in such a short amount of time. He had so much fun. Luckily there was one of those net walls around it so he couldn't fall off cause he was running all over and falling down a lot, but he just kept on laughing!!

Baby Update!!

I know I've been posting week by week what is happening with our baby's development, but I have not posted anything personal about my pregnancy at all yet and I am almost at 18 weeks. So here is my little catch-up blog entry! My first appointment was at 8 weeks. My doctor did a quick ultrasound to get a measurement to verify how far along I was. I had my camera with me, so I took a picture of the baby. You can't really see any defining things on the baby, but you can tell that it's a baby! I was able to see the baby pretty well and we could even see the heart beating! It was amazing and it really made everything sink in that we were already going through this again. I was still really shocked at the whole pregnancy thing again, but this made me so excited! It's amazing to see the baby that you'll be holding in your arms in just a few months! The next appointment was at 12 weeks. Since my doctor already got the measurement, he just listened to the heartbeat this time instead of doing an ultrasound again. The heartbeat was good and strong! It was very comforting to know that everything was alright. Until I can feel the baby moving, I just have to go on hoping that everything is fine. Then at 13 weeks, I started bleeding a little bit. SCARY! So I called my doctor and he immediately put me on bedrest until the bleeding stopped. It lasted for 2 days and all seemed fine again. I worked Wednesday night and was probably on my feet too much. This all caused the bleeding to come right back. I was then on very strict bedrest until the following weekend when it had been stopped for a few days (my dr. was afraid of this leading to a miscarriage, so it was very scary for us). I had to have people over to help with Mason and things around the house. Luckily I have an amazing sister and mom that didn't even hesitate to jump in and help out. Julie came over for two days and did my dishes, vacuumed, and much more. Not alone, just helping with Mason. She was my lifesaver! Thanks sooooo much Jules!!! Then my mom came over for a few days after helping with my Grandma and Grandpa every morning. She was a huge help with everything as well. Thanks Mom!!!! During all this bedrest, my doctor had me go in for an ultrasound to make sure the baby was okay and to see if they could tell what might be causing the bleeding. Everything seemed completely normal with the baby (thank goodness) and there was no apparent reason why I was bleeding. Well, the bleeding eventually stopped and I have since returned back to my normal life. I just try to be a little more careful with everything. Luckily I have an awesome boss at work that had no problem with taking my Saturday shift away since it was a little too strenuous for me. The next most exciting thing that happened was at fifteen weeks when I felt the baby move for sure! I thought I had felt it before that, but I wasn't ever positive. Well this time, it was definite. I hurried and grabbed Vance's hand so he could feel it. And sure enough, it started kicking away!! We were both so excited!! It is so comforting to feel it move and know that it's okay. I now feel it move all the time and I LOVE IT!!! Well, my next Dr. appointment was at 16 weeks. He did a heartbeat check and everything was great. I then got my ultrasound appointment scheduled which I cannot wait for!! I also have to get my blood drawn after the ultrasound. Yea. I hate needles. But after having a baby, they don't seem to phase me much. So now I am just counting down the days until Sept 17!

Mark's Birthday

Okay, so I know this is way late to be posting, but I don't care, I figured the Sandgren's might enjoy looking at it! Mark's birthday was clear back in June. We went to a park in West Jordan and had a lot of fun playing a bunch of different games, climbing a tree, swinging on a tire, and just hanging out!