Time to travel!

Come June is seems that we always start traveling, We usually have the first half of the year off then the second becomes a bit more busy. I love it though, I like being busy and on the move!

To start the year off right we headed down to universal studios with my family! It was a blast! We had a tour guide take us around and tell us all about each ride along with some fun facts about universal in general. Did you know that they went on a hunt to find the weirdest bent up palm trees to make the Dr. Seuss area more well... Dr. Seuss? The park puts a lot of thought and detail into making the park what it is. I had no idea. Carter of course went with us and I think i may or may not have accidentally drugged him.You see, I took some Bonine so I could ride all the rides and well... Carter felt the effects. He slept the ENTIRE day. Literally, he was only up or an hour. It was great! During that hour we made sure to get a picture of him on his first amusement park ride which was the merry go round. I freaked him right out.

After Universal Shaun went and did his finals. He again got all A's. I'm pretty proud of him! He juggles a lot especially with the new job and new baby. Once he finished the finals he had about 2 weeks to relax. We are so excited for him to be almost done and be able to spend more time together! 9 more weeks folks. Count down with me. This module he is taking a social marketing and another marketing class that I cant remember. I suck at that. I'm actually excited for the social marketing class. I find that area super interesting and already have had some fun conversations about it with Shaun, I like to pretend I know what i'm talking about when it comes to business, and oddly enough i've started to enjoy it more and more.

This last weekend we did something super fun. We jumped on a plane to surprise my dad for his birthday/fathers day! It was a short trip but super fun. After my dad got off work we loaded up the razors and headed towards the cabin to spend the weekend. We drove the razors and my dad took the ol' jeep for a turn as well. I think he was pleasantly surprised how fun it was to have that up there, he even got it a little bogged down in the mud which required that the winch be used for the first time as well! It was so great to have the whole family together (except Kasie, stinking baby  needs to come! :D) Hopefully we can all land on the same side of the globe soon!

Carter also hit his 2 month mark. He is starting to interact with us more and we love it! He smiles whenever he get attention and squawks when he doesn't feel he's getting enough. He also has finally won Toby over. For awhile the pup was pretty bitter but now Toby likes to be in whatever room Carter is in. He also has to check on him each time he is let back in the house, which is sometimes a problem since it usually includes a lick to the face (SICK) and a woken up baby (stinking Toby). While we were in Idaho we were able to have a pediatric eye doctor give us an opinion on his eyes. Carter has been behind in his vision and also has a few cysts on the edge of his pupil. Good news though, the cysts are minor and just require us to keep and eye on them and hope they dont grow or change shape! If they stay the same everything should be good to go! He also is right on track as far as the vision goes so thats a great thing too! We will get one other opinion on the cysts but this doctor definitely made us feel a bit more at ease! We sure love this baby boy, he is such a good baby and helps keep me busy and entertained during the days!

Here is Carter's "newsletter" ( I dont know what to call it) As well as a few of his newborn pictures!

Happy Reading Folks, We love you!

1 Month!?

You guys we have a baby! Never imagined that one happening. Since Carter has been born things have been a bit of whirlwind. I think a lot of that may be due to the sleep deprivation. Oh man... speaking of that. You should have seen Shaun and I the day we got home from the hospital. It probably wasn't safe for either of us to be driving or doing anything that could be even the slightest bit dangerous. It was wild.

Aside from having Carter, the last month has been a bit crazy in this household. We have had pretty much a non-stop flow of visitors and even threw in a graduation to the mix. That's right, Shaun walked for his MBA! He still has one more module till he is officially done but the walking ceremony showed us that there is light at the end of the tunnel! We're both getting anxious for school to be done so we can [hopefully] relax a bit. The two years we've been married I feel like it has been a constant state of chaos in some ways, and were ready for a break! Seeing Shaun walk was so fun, i'm constantly amazed by his work ethic and overall just how great of a guy he is! While at his ceremony there were many people who stopped us to gawk at Carter and say how exciting of a time it must be for us. They were right, we have some AMAZING things going on in our life and were so grateful.

Shaun also surprised me while we were at his ceremony by ordering my graduation package from Utah State. He really wanted me to walk but I wasn't to keen on the idea, and then when we found out when Carter would be coming I thought I was off the hook. But, Shaun wasn't letting me not celebrate some how. Even though I was a bit embarrassed when Shaun pulled out the gear I was very thankful to him. He has ALWAYS supported me in whatever I'm doing and makes sure I feel appreciated. It truly was an amazing, touching, perfect day in Athens. Having Shaun and I both dressed in our gowns and holding baby carter was a great way to see all our recent accomplishments as a couple.

Since becoming a mom i'm shocked how fast the days go by, but yet I have no idea what I do all day. I thought being a stay and home mom would be boring but for right now, boring is the last thing it is! I feel busier now than I did when I was working and going to school. I've also learned that being a mom is pretty easy, well I guess it comes easily. There are stressful times... like when the kid screams for 3 hours straight, that sucks. But overall its pretty simple. Like Shaun's good friend kept telling us.."they're pretty dummy proof, really".  Shaun also has taken on the role of "dad" with ease. Him and Carter already have a bond that is easy to recognize. He also has the magic touch of getting him to fall asleep. One night, I was up for a couple hours fighting to get Carter back to sleep, I decided I needed a break and went and woke up Shaun. The second I handed Carter over he was out.... What the heck?! Stinking baby.

Shaun has finally reached the point he can breathe at work. The last 2 months have been extremely busy to the point that Shaun has had to stay up into the early hours of the morning to try and keep up. I think for the first time in a month he came home from class last night (at 10) and was able to go to sleep instead of putting in another couple hours of work or homework. It's been rough. For one of his classes  he had to come up with a product and create a business plan then pitch it to potential investors (real investors). His group decided on pitching the idea of socks that have a small magnet in them so they stay together in the wash. Pretty smart.  He presents the idea this next week, so wish him luck- maybe we will become millionaires off  of these "Sole Mate" socks.

Oh and here is Carters 1 month update!

Happy Reading Folks, We love you!

That Baby Boy!!!

He came! And lucky for you i'm sitting in a hospital bed bored so you guys get an almost instant update of all things that went into the last 24 hours of our lives!

Here's the quick run down of what happened. For the last 2 weeks I have been told that my body is showing no signs of labor being anywhere near. Because of this my doctors were telling me that I should just plan on going until they induced me. So, I started to plan on that! Well,  last night (Tuesday) I went to bed and about an hour later my water broke! I didn't quite believe it was real so I laid in bed telling myself that I had just made that up. Well, jokes on me... it was very real. I woke up Shaun and we hurried and got things ready to go.  When we arrived, I was checked and found that still, other than my water breaking, there were no signs of labor.  But since my water was broke we were staying. A few minutes later I had my first contraction and it was pretty intense! So, I got some pain meds to help with the contractions and Shaun grabbed his pillow and we went to sleep.

The next morning we work up to still having no signs. The doctors then decided to start me on some medication that would push things along. I was told that they were going make things much more painful so before they started the medicine I received an epidural. I'll tell you what, those things are amazing!!! I wish I still had one! :) After a few hours of no change I ended up falling asleep and was sleeping like a rock!  It felt great! However, next thing I knew the doctor came in saying she wanted to check me then said "your complete, lets have this baby!" I was in such a daze it took me forever to figure out what was going on! Well,  about 40 minutes later our little boy was born!

He looks so much like an Allred it is crazy, especially since Shaun doesn't really have any of the Allred traits! We think he has red hair, surprised? We laugh because he looks like a cross between an old man and then will look like a  grumpy elf most of the time! Depending on when you look at him you will either see Grandpa Bob, Bart (uncle) , Levi or Jetson (brothers). Shaun's mom said that she has pictures of Levi as a baby that would be indiscernible from the ones we took today of Carter

Going into this whole thing we didn't really have a name 100% set. I really liked Conner and Shaun liked Carter. We were both OK with either so we decided that we would just decide when we saw him. Well a little while after he arrived we were trying to decide what he "looked like". I told Shaun that I dont really care so what ever he thinks fits better we will name him. Thus the name is Carter Bradley Allred.

Carter is a short little average size boy weighing in at 7lbs 6oz and 19 inches long. He was also born on his due date at 1:11 pm, pretty cool time if you ask me.  He seems to be a pretty chill baby, he is completely content sitting and looking around, especially if we don't move or bug him. We will be hanging out here till Thursday assuming nothing goes wrong. Little boys seems to be as healthy as can be and I'm just fine as well- if I keep on my pain meds :)

Thats probably all there is to say about little Carter coming to the world. We're pretty excited to have him and are surprised how natural it seems! We also have loved all of your comments, calls and texts saying congrats and wishing us well, we miss being close to family but are blessed to have some amazing friends here that will take care of us until family can make it out!

Tractors and More Tractors!

Well dear family (and friends), were about 2 weeks out from the big date! Can you believe how fast that went by?!

Things are going great with baby and me though, and despite a few contractions here and there it looks like we might be in for the long haul, but then again you never know! We did finally pack a few hospital bags, so at least we have that!  The rest of the planning is still in the well...planning stage. Like a name? Still struggling there. Let's be honest i'm struggling. Shaun is pretty set that it should be Carter and i'm still iffy. My feeling is that we need a couple as back up, so I also like Conner (close I know) and Bracken (which Shaun HATES).  Names will be names right? No big deal?

We do have most of the little guy's room set up. Shaun has done a great job! I honestly had very little to do with it so its Shaun's masterpiece for sure. I love it. I think all thats left is figuring out where he wants a few pictures hung and decorating one last shelf.

I also had an AMAZING baby shower last night, hosted by 3 AMAZING ladies in my ward. One of which is pregnant herself, she's a trooper! It of course was tractor/farm themed as well and was so cute. We had an amazing turn out and I felt so blessed that so many women came to celebrate and give such amazing gifts! I can't thank them all enough! 

I had no idea how big I was till I saw this picture! 

The Three Hostesses

Other than just feeling like were playing a waiting game till the day baby arrives we have stayed pretty busy with our projects and of course school! Shaun is in between modules so he had this week off from classes. Sadly that doesn't mean he escaped the homework completely but, he was able to relax a bit more. Which is great given he got worked by tree pollen that is starting to hoover over  this city. Remember the yellow cloud? Ya, its slowly making its appearance. Yuck. I've been lucky so far, all i've had to deal with is an itchy throat, but once the pollen really hits my lungs like to close up on me. Allergies are lame! 

This next module Shaun will be taking an entrepreneurship class as well as project management. For the entrepreneurship one he has to come up with a business or product idea and then present it in front of actual investors. Pretty much Shaun gets to go up against Georgia's version of the "Sharks". I have a feeling this business idea may be farm related, ha. Good news though is that Shaun has this upcoming module and then one more. That means he's almost done! Oh and he will be graduating with honors! Cum Laude in Grad school... or maybe it was magna cum laude? Either way, good job Shaun!

As for me, i'm pretty much a home wife. Its been nice to have the time to get things in order and finish up some projects, but I go stir crazy. I usually go out for a walk of some sorts with Toby so that I dont literally go crazy but sometimes its just doesn't cut it. I'll tell you what, i'm so excited to finally get my body back, I would love to go for a run right now! But honestly being home and not working has been really good. I'm pretty sure there is no way I could have kept up with my clients! And, since little boy has made a few attempts to come early its been nice to be here, close to the hospital and close to a couch! 

Well, I think thats all there really is to update! Next time hopefully there will be a baby involved. If not, I may have a freak out. Belly can only stretch so much! 

The Great life.

Life is pretty great,  last night we made yummy Alfredo and I even made bread! As in I made 5 loaves of bread in the oven... I also did all our laundry, that never happens. I hate the word domestic and I refuse to say it and I even more so refuse to be it...but I think its happening and I'm so ashamed, stinking baby. Thats another new thing, I blame EVERYTHING on the baby. It use to be Toby but now its baby. I want to clean something? WHAT? stinking baby. I want to eat veggies? BABY! Everything goes back to baby. But aside from baby changing me into something I dont quite understand we have had some other changes that have been pretty great!

We finished our kitchen, completely... paint and all. Now, every time I walk in there I get a little excited. It looks so different and so clean! New paint does wonders. We also repainted our front room and have started transforming that into a little sitting area, think home teachers. That room is slowly but surely turning into my favorite room. I love the big window and the fun clock (thanks parents!).  We also finally finished a desk for Shaun. We converted one of the rooms into an office and wanted to have 2 big desks where we can both sit and have home work date nights... which is what we will be doing tonight.

Speaking of homework and school. Grad school is wild. I thought it would be easy but there is SO MUCH TO DO! I am instantly in awe that Shaun works full time and also is a full time MBA student. Granted he isn't technically full time since he only goes nights, but he sure does have quite the work load! But,  I am really excited to be doing my masters. I'm not sure if I will ever use it fully but it was a goal of mine that I have had from the day I started my undergrad and thankfully I married a guy who is encouraging me to achieve it! Shaun's school is going good too, he is taking a negotiations and a international business class. His negotiations class is all role plays and he comes home each week with some pretty funny stories from it. He is loving the negotiations class and I'm not sure if i'm completely comfortable with it. Shaun already was pretty good and making solid points no one could argue with, but this has taken things to a new level and its a dangerous thing!

Shaun also accepted an offer for a new job in the marketing department as a senior marketing specialist!  Its such a great thing and he is so excited to get out of demand planning, its been a hard 2 years for him having nothing to do with the equipment. This job will take him to all the field days, farm shows, and tractor rides he can dream of!

Shaun also has taken his love for tractors and farming and started decorating the "baby room". We have always wanted to make a room in our house designated to displaying all of Shaun's model tractors. Well, since were having a boy we decided what better room to make it than his!? It has been great to see Shaun create and design a room dedicated to to his prized possessions.  Hopefully the little guy ends up liking tractors and farming as much as Shaun or we may have a issue on our hands.

My work is going great as well. I truly love it. Some days I get pretty fed up with all fires that seem to always have to be put out but in the end it is a great job. I love my clients and I love the teams I have for each case.  We're now trying to decide if I should go back to work or not (post baby) and it is the hardest decision I have ever had to make.  I know some have a hard time deciding this when it comes to that point as well but giving up something that is turning into my dream career and constantly avoiding the conversation of being promoted is torture! Sure, we sacrifice but.... holy cow this is a huge one.

But on a good note the baby is growing and developing right on schedule. I'm now at the 33 week mark so just 2 more months and we're done with this pregnancy thing! It goes by so fast! Each day I go back and forth on how much time we have left. To be in this pregnant state for 2 more months sounds like an eternity, but only 2 more months till we have a baby is super scary. Pretty much, baby can cook as long as it needs because i'm no where ready to be a mom. A mom... ugh. However, Shaun is ready which is so so good. He's the calm to this storm of anxiety I create each time I think about only having 2 more months.


Anyways, here are some before and after of our kitchen!

Remember When 2014

Remember When....

• We built numerous projects on our little deck of the apartment?
• We went sailing and learned from a very inspired man?
• We had the snowpocolypse hit the ATL
• We turned off all the power in our apartment so we could feel like we were stranded?
• We went and helped people drive up the slope by our complex?
• We missed the circus because the town was shut down? (LAME)
• You passed the half way point in your MBA?
• We bought a home!?
• We moved back into the Suwanee ward?
• We moved into the home and the movers did a number on our walls?
• We redid our floors?
• Ariell came home from her mission?
• We found out we were pregnant?
• We found out we were having a boy?
• We went to myrtle beach?
• We went boogie boarding in the ocean and both got worked?
• I started a new job?
• You changed positions at work?
• I finished my bachelors?
• I got into grad school?
• You survived the company simulation from class?
• Toby fell in the pond?
• We visited all three families in the 10 day christmas vacation?
• We took toby on that 10 day vacation?
• Gage wore toby out?
• We repainted....everything.
• We became regulars at home depot?
• I lost my keys while running
• We did the boston ragnar
• We got worked at the boston ragnar?
• The funny tour guide in downtown boston?
• I ruined my computer...again?
• You were called to be in primary?
• I was called to teach sunday school?
• You were then called to teach the 4 year old class?.... and I was jealous?
• We gawked at the maroon F150.. well I gawked.
• Quality foods and the burping man/woman?
• Driving across the country in the dumptruck?
• When I took the travel sickness medication and slept for 24 hours straight?
• Kansas BBQ?
• The  head cold that did us both in?
• Toby and the escalator?
• You and the aerator? 
• The baby lambs born just before midnight on New Years Eve!

Boy oh Boy.. it's a Boy!

Folks were done with school! Well... for a few weeks anyways. This is the first time Shaun and I have both had a break at the same time in the two years we have been married. We're obviously pretty excited about that. Shaun submitted his last final last night and I did my last (ever) tests today. Such a nice feeling to not be stressed over what we need to be doing. It's also odd, we find ourselves becoming anxious because we feel like we are falling behind since were not doing any homework. School sure does mess with the mind doesn't it!? We can't even relax when we have nothing to do, Doi!

Aside from that I feel that most people want an update on the baby so i'll just get that out of the way. I think i get asked the same 5 or 6 questions over and over, no... it doesn't annoy me. But we'll just answer those since the seem to be the go to question of choice.

"How far along are you now?"
22 weeks/ 5 months ish.

"How are you feeling?"
Seriously I feel great! This whole pregnancy thing has been  really easy for me, which I know i'm lucky to have so i'm pretty grateful!

"Can you feel the baby move?"
Ha- yes, all day, every day usually. If i'm sitting down I feel it non stop, which is sort of entertaining. I'm getting passed the whole "something inside of me is gross" mentality and just take it for what it is.

"Do you know what it is yet?"
It's a boy.... thank freaking goodness! :)

"Have you bought maternity clothes yet"
Yes... I finally did last week and i'll tell you what, I CAN MOVE! I should have bought some alonnnngggg time ago!

"Are you ready?"
uh...... I NEVER know how to answer this question. Do you mean mentally? If so, thats a heck no. physically? Well, we have a crib and a diaper bag so.... i'd say we're close. Just kidding. but really  I'm honestly not worried about being ready in that sense. I figure if we need something we didn't get Shaun heads to the store and were good to go!

I know we're probably in for a major rude awakening in a few months but we'll deal with that when it comes. But atleast we know it will happen and have accepted it early, right?