Impromptu Family Trip

On March 18, my brother David had a trip to California, which he decided to take his family with him. Hey, work pays for a hotel for 4 days - all you have to do is pay for DisneyLand Tickets and food? Sounds good to me!!

Well, Nathan, Makayla and I have annual passes to Disney Land so we decided to head down that weekend and join David and Garrettson's family. Jordan also decided to join us.

We thought since we were going to be there, we would see who else we could talk into going. We tried and tried to talk Dan & Danielle into it, but they had made plans with friends to go camping. I ask you, which is more fun, DisneyLand with the Family or camping with friends - my opinion is there's no question - anyway, they couldn't come. So we moved onto mom and dad. They jumped on it.

On Saturday March 21, we all met in Anaheim. Had a nice day out and got to see Cindee! YAY! Love seeing Cindee! and on Sunday, we headed of Disney Land. Now I have a theory, the sun is ALWAYS shining at Disney Land - ALWAYS! So when we woke up to rain, I still had faith.

Even after my parents got to DL and said it was pouring rain, I wasn't there yet, so the SUN IS ALWAYS SHINING AT DISNEY LAND!! Do you see my faith? Well, we finally get there, and guess what, the rain stopped and the sun came out!! YAY!! We had a great day of fun and family!

Now, being pregnant, DisneyLand isn't quite as fun, however, I did get to experience rides I have NEVER been on before - like Peter Pan, Snow White & Casey Jr's Train. The only other ride I did, was It's a Small World, which I've been on before, but they did just redo it. Was a fun day to be sure!! My dad, Nathan, Jordan, David and Thomas all took off to do the Big Kid rides, while the mothers stayed with the little kids and kept them entertained. One of the best parts of the day was when we all enjoyed lunch at the Blue Bayou. It was so nice and all the kids did really good.

And here I am waiting while the kids and Garrettson and Grandma were on Dumbo. I can't even do that ride when I'm not pregnant.

I wish Dan, Danielle, Jason and Stephanie could have been there too. Oh well, was a good time while it lasted! I love my family and had a blast spending time with them.

Compare Isaiah

Ok, so you all know (or if you don't, you will now) that my dad is quite amazing! He has always worked sooo hard, and I admire him for that. He is also one of the smartest men I have EVER met! He remembers everything he reads. He knows the origin of useless things. That was a book he read, and he really does. Ask him where the paper clip came from.

He also LOVES the scriptures. Ask him anything about the scriptures, ANYTHING, and he can turn right to a scripture and then explain it to you. It's amazing! Since he is so good at it, it only made sense that he would write a book. Well he has. It's called . . . Compare Isaiah. It's about all the biblical scriptures in the Book of Mormon, and why they are in there. It's an amazing book that he wrote several years ago, and ow it is being published! YAY!! It went to print last week and they say in about a month or so it'll be on the shelves. So watch for it in the upcoming months.

15 and a half weeks

So, I went to the doctor yesterday. Last week I had a couple issues that caused a bit of concern for me, but not for the doctor. So the Doctor checked the heart beat, and it's good and strong! YAY!! 160 beats per minutes, and my size and the baby's size are about perfect, which makes me feel really really fantastic! Also, hearing the heartbeat is sooo comforting. It makes everything seem much better. Now, we have the ultrasound scheduled for March 12th at 10:45 am. I can hardly stand it! We are going to take Makayla and we hope that she doesn't get creeped out at the black and white images, and hopefully won't have too many "alien baby" pictures. I'll be sure to keep you all updated. YAY!

25 Random Facts about Shannon

1. I am finally unemployed for the first time since I was 14. And I'm enjoying every minute of it, mostly!

2. I love to sing. Not shocking to most of you, but I do. When I was 12, I was told that I didn't sing well, so don't try! I still love it!

3. I HATE romantic movies, books, tv shows etc. Bring on the horror, suspense, terror and any other weird things. Within that, I also hate EVIL. If it's a sck and evil twisted movie/book/or tv show, I WILL NOT watch. I don't like to feel creepy.

4. I still haven't seen Batman: The Dark Night.

5. At this exact moment, I am realizing that the last three Smallville episodes have ended with Clark and Lana kissing. No, I'm not watching Smallville, I'm catching up on Supernatural.

6. I love my choir family. I am a member of the Saints Unified Voices. They are probably the one of the greatest things that has happened to me in the past 2 years. They are amazing people who have such a love and faith in each other.

7. I have loved completely, totally and utterly.

8. I am obsessed with my daughters toes. She is five and playing with her toes is still one of my favorite things ever!

9. Once you have become my friend, you will always be my friend. I may not be the best at keeping in touch, but I will always love you. I don't think there is one person who I have cared about that I don't still think about often.

10. Magic still fasinates me. Even the simple coin in the ear trick. I love it!

11. I have read the most sick and twisted book ever. I'm not even goign to tell you the name cuz I don't want you to even look for it, but it was wrong.

12. I cannot not finish a book. May take me a year to do, but I have to finish it. Right now Twilight is my nemesis! I cannot get through it, if you're wondering why, please refer back to #3.

13. Criss Angel scares me.

14. I get crushes on people because of dreams. It last a couple days, then is over. My latest was Zachary Levi from Chuck. I still think he is totally cute, but I'm not obsessed with him like I was after my dream about him several weeks ago.

15. I almost always remember my dreams. And I usually have at least 3 a night. I wish that some of them would come true, but I hope even more that most of them never, ever do.

16. I can type 225 character per minute on a 10 key. :-)

17. I have the greatest family in the world, both immediate and extended! I absolutely love and look up to my aunts, uncles, cousins, parents, in-laws, grandparents and especially my brothers. I love my brothers!

18. I don't understand how or why my loving husband puts up with me, but I think he is the only one who can, and I love him for it.

19. I don't know how to search the internet very well. In fact, I think my grandparents do that better than I do. I go to the websites I need, and get off. If I can't find it, I ask Cindee. :-)

20. I grew up with Dogs - we almost always had one, now, I don't really care to have one ever again. What happened? Oh and I hate cats! not only am I allergic to them, they are snotty and arrogant.

21. I still think Roswell is/was one of the greatest shows on Television. That and Joan of Arcadia

22. I love living in Las Vegas, but would probably love to move more. As long as it's not to snow.

23. I hate cleaning. I hate it. But I can't stand a messy house, unfortunately, my first statement wins more.

24. I think my brothers and my brother-in-laws picked fantastic wifes!! I love them all!

25. I think Sean Connery is sexy.

Prgenancy, the good and the bad

So, I'm officially 12 weeks pregnant now. With that came the heart beat on Monday! YAY!! We were so excited to hear it and it is such a comforting sound! My two favorite things about being pregnant are hearing the heart beat and feeling the baby inside me. There is nothing at can be compared to it. For that reason I feel very bad for men. They can never feel that feeling. Not even the Pregnant "man," who is NOT a man - I don't care what anyone says. SHE still has all her girl parts except her boobs, FEMALE!! Anyway, I can't wait to start to feel the baby.
Okay, the bad :-P I am sooooo over being sick. Feeling like crap and being constipated is not my idea of a good time. Good news is that I am moving into my second trimester, so things should start to ease up a bit. I was sick with Makayla until after I delivered her, but it did get a bit more manageable once in my second trimester. So I'm keeping my hopes up.
Over all, I love being pregnant and we are sooo excited to have a new little life in our home. Makayla wants, needs, and deserves a sibling. I think she'll be a great big sister and am anxious to see her with the baby. She says she doesn't care if it's a boy or a girl, but would like a sister. She's cute!

The Wedding

So . . . Dan and Danielle finally got married!! YAY!! Here are some pictures from the day.

Me and Makayla and Chase. Don't the kids look awesome?!? Chase was so cute. When Garrettson took him to get his suit, he said, "I look silly, I look like Daddy!!" He is so funny!

Makayla looked absolutely beautiful! She is very excited to have a new aunt. Now I have 3 sisters on the Swint side! YAY!!

Me and my handsome brothers! Even though i have always wanted a sister, I wouldn't trade these brothers for anything in the world!! I am so proud of them and I love them so much!! And no, we're not really all the same height! I do have 3 inch heals on. I think Dan has Jas and David beat by half an inch!

My four parents! Mike & Barbara Ballard, and my Mom and Dad. Such a great day!

Allison, the one that has been there for me literally since the day I was born. We are 9 months apart and our parents are best friends. She wasn't at my wedding, something that has been very hard for me, but she was able to be at Daniels. I love her so much and am so grateful for her amazing friendship all these long years.

Gotta show off mini me! Chase looks so much like David it's freaky!! They are so cute!

K, that's all for now, but don't worry, i'll post more later. These are just the pictures that Allison took, so they are a bit limited.

It's about time!

Okay, if you can't tell from the Picture, I am pregnant! I'm only about 5 weeks along, but I've been feeling it for about 4 weeks now, and I took a test (or two or three ;-) ) and the results are positive!! I also went to the Doctor yesterday and they confirmed it as well!

WE'RE GOING TO HAVE ANOTHER BABY!!!! We are soo excited!! Makayla is thrilled beyond words. She's already planning on the baby sleeping in her room. It's a girl ya know. Just ask Mak, she'll tell ya!

Anyway, thought I'd let you all know!