it's raining babies

Labor day was taken very seriously this year as both my sisters announced they were pregnant and both were due within a week of labor day.  Our first little family addition came on Sept. 2 around 10:00 p.m.  We were graced with the presence of a beautiful baby girl named June Charlotte.  My mom, Blake and I got to drive up and see her less than an hour after she was born.  It was so magical and made me simultaneously scared to death to birth a child and ecstatic that in 4 months I would have a sweet, perfect little baby just like her that I could hold in my arms and then take home with me.  (I tried but Jamie wouldn't let me take June home.)  This was an especially exciting birth as it is the first girl born on my side of the family.  When I married Blake I became aunt to these two little beauties:

I LOVE these little girls and I am a lucky, lucky lady to be their aunt but I'm proud of my brother Dan for stepping up and blessing the Hill family with a little girl and a little less testosterone to boot.  June is STUNNING and whenever I hold her I am sad that I'm not having a little girl.  Jamie already looks like her beautiful non-pregnant self again. I somehow don't think i'll be so lucky.

Meet June.  She's so darn cute.


The second addition to our family joined us yesterday, September 6 around 4:00 p.m.  I was studying in the library and my sister texted me around 1:15 and asked if I could come down and watch her kids cause she thought she was in labor.  I hurried down and she was already gone by the time I got to her house.  She made it to the hospital just in time because little Graham Lewis was ready to be here and he arrived just 2 hours later. Blake and I got to see him last night and we LOVE him.  Graham is definitely made from the Brostrom mold.  He looks just like the rest of her boys just of the blonde variety.  Graham made us so excited to have a boy.  We can't wait for Graham, June, and our own little Knox to be best buds through their whole lives.

We bonded with the little man last night

With all these babies, I am getting a little jealous and I wish that I didn't have quite so long to go before I get to hold and kiss our little boy.  But, not wanting to wish our precious time away before sleep becomes minimal, poop becomes an hourly occurance, and I become a cow of sorts, Blake and I decided to embrace our three day weekend and we headed out for a weekend at the cabin.  We invited our friends Marshall and Lisa up and we had the best time watching the BYU game (go cougs), hiking, playing hours of nertz, watching movies, and eating way too much food.  They had to leave us before the weekend was up unfortunately, but Blake and I enjoyed our alone time and slept, watched movies, and went on a nice 30 mile bike ride on Monday with my dad.  It was a stunning ride around Pineview reservoir and some nice back roads (courtesy of my father).  It was so wonderful and I made a point of telling Blake what an awesome wife I am for going on a long bike ride with him while almost 5 months pregnant.  He agreed that yes I was the only 5 month pregnant woman he knew that would do this...but we also don't know any others. bummer. I'm sure I look absolutely ridiculous on a bike and my legs are starting to hit my belly while I bend over to reach my handlebars. I'm sure that the onlookers get quite a kick out of it.  

In OUR baby news I am finally starting to develop quite the bump on the front of me.  Little man is getting so big and I feel him kicking all the time.  He is definitely a mover but refuses to move whenever Blake puts his hand on my belly.  Blake is certain Knox is already defying him. I think he probably just doesn't like us poking him all the time.  We are terrible at pictures but have really tried to get a picture of the belly every week so we can see the progress he is making.

18 Weeks!

19 weeks!!!

HALF WAY!!!!

21--this week.

This is not an attractive picture but it's what we've got. 

We are officially past the half way point and I couldn't be happier about it.  I simply can't wait to give as many kisses and snuggles as I possibly can to our little guy.  He is going to be one loved baby. I should technically be going in this week for my long ultrasound but I got a little off because we were out of town so I am going in next week.  I can't wait to make sure that everything is OK and see his sweet little face again.  We are so excited to be parents!!!

baby BOY

We are for sure having a boy! It has been confirmed several times now.  When we went in at 10 weeks for our first appointment the doctor did an ultrasound and told us it was the earliest he'd ever been able to tell but it sure looked like a boy.  At 14 weeks he peeked again for us and told us that it still looked like a boy.  At 16 weeks we wanted the seal the deal so we paid to get an ultrasound done and it is for SURE a boy.  As soon as we found out I was pregnant we both felt like it was a boy and it was...at least it was from 10 weeks.  We love our little guy and he is already so stinking cute. At least we think so.

This is what he looked like a week and a half ago.  I love his little drumstick leg and that you can see his little brain.  I hope it's his dad's brain, he'll do much better in life. I can't wait to kiss that little face of his.

This is what I looked like at 17 weeks:

This is what I looked like at 16 weeks:

I know I don't really look pregnant in these pictures.  Most days it just looks like I've had a little too much to eat, but there is in fact a little bug in there growing and kicking me every day when I try to sleep.  

And being the picture people that we are we didn't take anymore pictures before that except for these little beauties right at the get go.

When you're worried that one pregnancy test might not be accurate.....

Just take three more.

I have had a really easy pregnancy and I feel so lucky that I haven't been sick and that the baby is healthy and growing.  Blake and I are SO excited to be parents and we can't wait for our little man to enter our lives.  

We're expecting!

We're having a BABY!  We couldn't be more excited! It definitely came as a bit of a shock but we are really so excited to meet our sweet little one.  We are 10 weeks along and baby Tengberg should be arriving around January 14th.  We can't wait!!!!

Sandy Ego

Blake and I have had a busy few weeks.  We took all our finals, moved, and then took off two days later for San Diego to visit Blake's family for Easter.  We had the best time.  I am the WORST at taking pictures. Luckily, Blake's sister Shardae is the queen of pictures so she took a bunch to document that we WERE actually there, unfortunately I don't have any.

The drive to San Diego is just horrific.  We woke up at 5:00 and were on the road by 5:30.  We made it to Blake's house in time for a delicious dinner and a chance to hang out with his wonderful family for a few hours.  Easter was wonderful.  Blake's parents spoiled us rotten and we walked away with gift cards, new running shoes and clothes, and a Sea World season pass.  We are the luckiest kids and we LOVE Blake's parents.  My brother drove down from LA and had dinner and spent the night with us.  It was a wonderful day.

Monday we put our Sea World passes to use and spent the day admiring Shamou and his friends.  We watched every show we could and all burned our little noses sufficiently to look like Rudolph for the rest of the week. We went to Blake's little brothers Lacrosse game that night.  Brady's team is undefeated and they looked so good.  They were so fun to watch.

Tuesday morning we got up early and went to the temple with Blake's parents.  I haven't ever been to the San Diego temple and it was BEAUTIFUL.  It was a wonderful morning.  Blake and I came home, put on our new running gear and took off for a beautiful run.  It was perfect weather and we ran around a lake.  I was in heaven.  We came home and laid around the pool and read.  We had another delicious dinner and great night.

Wednesday we got up early and went on a bike ride.  I got a road bike for Christmas but I had never ridden it because of the crummy Utah winters.  Blakes mom, dad, Blake, and I all loaded into the car and drive down to the coast.  We did a beautiful 22 mile ride and I am converted.  I absolutely loved biking and I can't wait to do it again SOON.  Although, I can't think of any ride in Utah that will compete with biking along the amazing San Diego coast.  We came home for a quick turn around and headed off to the Padres game.  The Padres lost badly but we had so much fun.  We had great seats right behind home base in the shade.  I had so much fun although I don't think that baseball will ever be a sport I love.  It just moves way too slowly for me.  We went home and went to another one of Brady's lacrosse games.  It was another easy win.

Thursday Blake got up early and headed golfing with his dad and brother.  I stayed home and slept in and read and laid by the pool.  Blake came home and we all headed to Disneyland for the afternoon to meet my mom and neighbors.  My mom was so sweet and bought us season passes so we can go whenever we visit.  Anyone that knows me AT ALL knows that I was over the moon about those passes.  We had a great night running around Disneyland and California Adventure and got home so late.

Friday was our last day and we were so sad.  We walked down to the winery by Blake's house to check out the farmers market.  We came back and taught Blake's dog Harley to swim.  It was the most satisfying feeling.  We got so excited when Harley swam you would have thought it was our own child. Our poor child is going to feel suffocated by our love.  We went shopping that afternoon and I finally got my very own pair of Rainbow flip flops thanks to Blake's encouragement.  I am turning into a true Californina what with all my season passes and my Rainbows.  Too bad we live in Utah.

We got up early Saturday and headed back.  We were SO sad to leave but we know that we will be back so soon to head to Hawaii.  We had the most perfect week and we are so grateful for our wonderful families who make our lives so happy and fun.  We could not be more blessed.

a weekend away

On Wednesday afternoon I went and met Blake for lunch and I could tell that Blake's fast approaching finals were weighing heavily on his mind.  I decided that we needed to do something a little different to push finals out of our thoughts for at least a little bit.  I finally came to the conclusion that we needed to get out of the "Happy Valley" (not an appropriate name) for the weekend.  Neither Blake or I have classes on Friday's so we decided we would head out on Thursday after class and spend the weekend up at my cabin.

I picked Blake up after his last class on Thursday and we were off.  We listened to the BYU game on the way up and stopped at my house to watch the end of it. We wished we hadn't. We do still love BYU though.  We picked up some groceries and we were on our way.

Although I wish we could've just left school behind us for a weekend, Blake doesn't have that option, so much of his weekend was spent writing a 30 page paper.  That gave me lots of free time to read, take at least 3 baths a day, and watch hours of food network.  Due to my obsession, poor Blake has learned to watch Food Network without complaint.  We have both learned so much and one night Blake even decided to try his hand at caramelizing some peaches.  They were delicious and he was so pleased.

Here he is proudly displaying his cooking skills. 

One night we went down the canyon and got yummy desserts at The Oaks, the location of one of our first dates.  It was so fun to take a walk down memory lane. 

Admittedly, not the best picture of me. 

It snowed so much while we were there so we really tried to soak in the last of the winter months.  I am not a fan of snow in November and especially not in MARCH, but for some reason when I'm at the cabin it seems OK.  

It was a beautiful winter wonderland. 

Blake was such a champ during our little get away and he plowed our LONG driveway several times, shoveled the deck, checked the hot tub, swept out the garage, made good food with me, stood outside in shorts, boots, and his garment top throwing snow balls at the dish trying to knock the snow off of it so I could watch the show I had been DYING to watch, and on top of this he wrote 20 pages of his 30 page paper.  I love that man.

It was a perfect weekend and a perfect retreat before the dreaded finals start. 

a perfect day

We had the best photographer ever for our wedding. Hands down. For a peak at our pictures go here.

way above the minimum

A year or two ago I made a list of minimums that I expected in a husband.  I knew so many people that made giant lists of all the things that they expected out of a husband and I thought this was a sure way to never find anyone good enough.  I decided to make things easier on myself and just made a list of minimums.  That way, any guy I found that passed the minimums would seem incredible.

A few examples include:
He doesn't have to have the best body, he just has to be taller than me and he can't fit in my pants.
He has to weigh more than me when I am 9 months pregnant.
He doesn't have to be rich he just has to be able to support a family.
He can't color his hair.

The most important one to me was this:

He doesn't have to love Disney but he has to accept that I do.  And as a side note, he has to be willing to take me to Disneyland at least once a year...preferrably more.

Blake is so good at this last one.  I know that he doesn't love Disney as much as I do but he has the best attitude about it and goes along with whatever weird Disney obsessions I have.  We have been to Disneyland a few times together and it has been magical. The first trip was just a day before the infamous meningitis hit and even with the terrible back and head aches that I was having, it was a perfect day.

Then, in January my mom took Blake and I to Disneyland for a three day trip.  I have been to Disneyland every year in January since I was 2.  I have had some incredible trips but this one was definitely the best.  I know Blake was hesitant to spend a full three days there but we had the best time.  He was a champ and never once complained that we walked him from Tomorrow Land to Adventure Land to the Golden Gate Bridge 19 times a day.  He even found his inner Disney geek and whipped out his speed walk so that we could make it to rides before the crowds hit.  It was incredible.

The pinnacle of Blake's support of my Disney love happened this Friday when he willingly took me to Disney on Ice. I mentioned that I wanted to go but then didn't bring it up again.  A few days later he told me that he had spent time looking for tickets for me.  We got a great deal on tickets and went.  I was easily more excited than any of the little kids that were there and I totally would have worn a princess outfit if Blake had let me.  It was actually super impressive and Blake loved it (more than he will let on). At one point I put my arm around him when Aladdin and Jasmine were skating to "A Whole New World" and felt goosebumps on his arm.  I called him out on it and he shyly admitted that he just really happened to love that song.  I laughed but truthfully I've never loved Blake more.

Blake treats me perfectly and is so willing to do things for me even if it's not his favorite and he always has the best attitude about it.  I love this man with all my heart and I could not have found someone better.  He FAR surpasses all of my silly minimums and is truthfully far more than I ever dreamed I would get. But I'm pretty sure he can fit into my pants. There's no butt on that boy.

To end on a Disney note... I always dreamed my prince would come. He came. And he treats me like a princess. I love him.