Tuesday, November 30, 2010

First Comes Love, Then Comes Marriage, Then Comes.....A BABY!!!!!

So there was a part of the Thanksgiving day that we left out in the last post. This was because we wanted to wait until after the first doctors appointment to tell most people. But we found out they dont see you until after you are in the 8 to 12th week. So we pretty much just cant wait to tell so here it goes..... We are having a baby!!!


Words can't describe how happy we are!!!!!!!!!!!
All of our family and our really close friends however were informed that night. Here is how we found out:
We found out that night that a couple of people that we know are pregnant, and it got us to thinking that we ought to be pregnant by as well. We went home after the festivities and tried out one of our pregnancy tests. Deana was really sad and nervous at first but we moved forward anyways. I told Deana that we would never know unless we tried. I looked at the test first because Deana was afraid. It was positive! At first I wasn't sure because the 2nd line on the test was very faded and I didn't notice it at first. Deana finally worked up her courage and looked over my shoulder, she noticed the second line immediately. We thought that we were pregnant but because of the faintness of the line we weren't sure. We called Deana's sister Amanda right away and asked her what she thought. Deana called Amanda's phone but Andrea (her other sister) answered it. Not knowing it wasn't Amanda She said "I took a pregnancy test and there is two lines but one is really faint so we aren't sure if that means we are pregnant or not but we think we are!" Then Andrea asked "ok who do you want to talk to Amanda or Mom?" Confused Deana said oh who is this? After getting Amanda on the phone, Amanda said (with urgency in her voice), to come over to her place because she had a digital pregnancy test that would say either pregnant or not pregnant. We rushed to her house as fast as we could, drinking sobe all the way there so that she could pee again. Once there the wait was on. It only took about 20min for Deana to need to pee again but it felt like eternity. We sat on Amanda's bed and talked about how great it would be if she really is pregnant and telling Cortney she is going to have a cousin. When she used the new test everybody was gathered just outside the room, including most of Deana's family, and some friends, (all still there from Thanksgiving dinner). There is about a 3min wait from the start of the test till it gives you an answer. The 3mins passed incredibly slow for everybody. Amanda kept looking at the test and asking why it hadn't decided yet. Finally the verdict was in; pregnant!

The top one is the test I took at Amanda's house with everyone there
The bottom one is the first test I took. As you can see the second line was very faint.

We were all so excited! ( This is Deana, It means so much to me that my family was there with me to find out. It was nice to have the first test at home just with my husband and then to go and have most of my favorite people there.)  Now we just have to wait for the baby to get here.

Friday, November 26, 2010

Thanksgiving!!!

It was the most amazing day ever! Sean sadly had to work from 6am-3pm which put a damper on the day just a bit but still it ended up being a wonderful day. While Sean was at work, I went to his mom's house at 8am for breakfast with the family. We had a good time chatting and laughing and eating. It was a good start to the day. I made some headbands with 'The Tiny' Ondalynn. They turned out really pretty.



Jimmy was in a funny mood and was saying random things about the people at the airport. Seth was his usual witty, hilarious self. And it was nice talking with Elizabeth and Onda. They had a family dinner planned at the park at 12pm but it was out in Glendale and it would take an hour to drive out there. Since I had plans with my family at 4pm for dinner and I still had to make two different kinds of mashed potatoes I had to get to my sister's house at 1pm to make them, so I couldn't go. Plus Sean was going to miss it as well. We had about 20 or so people at my sister and brother-in-law's house for thanksgiving dinner. The holidays are always huge and loud for my family. We tend to invite friends that don't have anywhere to go to come celebrate with us. This year we had 4 friends there with us :) I made the mashed potatoes with the help of Amanda and our friend Kirby. The two kinds we made were the traditional kind and the Paula Dean Garlic Mashed Potatoes. Those were my Favorite!! Seriously amazing, they were! I missed Sean the whole day and I literally jumped for joy when he got off work and came to the house. It was Cortney's first Thanksgiving so Amanda and Corey were very excited for her. She loved the food!



She was trying to talk while she ate and it was just so cute. She also kept using her broccolie has a spoon. Andrea ate the most! I'm pretty sure she had 3 plates. She started out with two to begin with.


Mom made us awesome place mats this year. They are turkeys she sewed together. She is so creative!




Amanda always has to do something to make things fun and random so she decied that this year she would write everyones names on their cups and put a nick name with it. haha It was fun trying to come up with names for everyone. I was Deana the Possum. There was Sean the Shiny (cuz of his balding head which I think it so cute), Andrea the Weed, Kirby the Firby. I cant remember the rest but they were fun. It was the frist year that Robyn wasn't here with us for Thankgiving. She and her husband Carlos are living in Wyoming. We missed them lots. After we ate ourselves into a coma we just lounged around and talked the rest of the night. I think this was my favorite Thanksgiving yet.                                                                                                                                 


There are a couple of people mising in the picutre but that almost the whole group. I'm not in it and neither is my dad and my uncle and grandma or cortney baby. It was tough getting a group picture.
                                                                                           

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Surprises and stuff

So I seem to have this problem when it comes to surprising Deana, she is completely unsurprisable. I often put her on the same pedestal as Sherlock Holmes in her ability to find out what is going on and where. She hears everything and always knows what is going on. Ironically she loves to be surprised and often asks me why it is that I never surprise her. I decided that for her birthday (Nov. 22) that I would finally devise a plan that not even she could see coming. She asked me last week if we were doing anything for her birthday; my opportunity was here. I told her that I hadn't planned anything. She was obviously saddened by this and begged me to at least take her to dinner. I told her that dinner would be alright, all the time making bigger plans in my heart. Upon reviewing our finances however, we decided that we should probably just stay home and have a quiet night together. :) Brilliant. I immediatley set about texting people and inviting them to one of Deana's favorite restaurants, Buffalo Wild Wings. On the big day Deana had absolutely no clue! Things were coming together quite nicely. I even stopped by the apartment at one point and found her in her pajamas and completely ready to stay home all evening. Just as I was finishing my last class for the day, Deana texted me and said that she missed me. I quickly told her to get dressed because I was on my way to take her out to eat. She was quite happy but only marginally surprised. As I was picking her up many friends and family were gathering at Buffalo Wild Wings for the big surprise. When Deana and I arrived she was surprised to see some of her family members there and a little annoyed that they hadn't invited her to come with them seeing as it was her birthday. She was caught completely off guard! She quickly realized what was going on and was thrilled. The night was amazing. We had a great time with everybody. There were good times all around and I finally surprised Deana. Thank you everybody that helped me with the surprise, and thank you Deana for being born. You are the most amazing wife in the world and I love you so very much.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Toothy Fairy

I've had to have a couple of dental work done over the past month and I have to say, it isn't as bad as people say. I had a tooth break back in high school, 4 years ago, and it just got worse and worse. The tooth wall was still there but not much else. It started to hurt a couple months ago and I had a wisdom tooth coming in behind it. My friend Brianna is a dental assistant so I went to her office. It was a fun experience to go and have her there helping with the procedures. She made it so I wasn't at all nervous. People always say that the dentist is scary and they are masochists and all that but I have a completely different view on them. All the doctors and office people I dealt with this month were very sweet and caring. First I got the root canal on the broken tooth, then a week later I got the crown put on it. A week after that I got three cavities filled. Then I had to wait until after the six flags trip to get the wisdom tooth out. I just got it out today and it was the easiest of all the work I have had. The other procedures took on average an hour and a half each. This one was a tenth of that!! I went to work this morning for an hour and a half then Sean came and picked me up (in our pretty new car, it just makes me so happy) and we went to the dentist office. I went to the room and they did the shot and left for awhile for it to take affect. The assistant was really kind and made sure I knew what was going to happen. She said the worst part was the shot and that was already over and she has a feeling it will go fast for me. I'm am very happy to say that it did. I started my playlist and before the first song was even through the intro it was over. The dentist pulled and it just came out. Now I'm just home hanging out while Sean runs some errands. The gauze made me want to gag but other than that not much as happened. Tonight is going to be a lazy, movie night for us. I'm excited! It has been awhile since we have just been home alone not going out and doing things or having people over. This shall be a grand night.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Prince Theodore

So long ago (more like 6 months ago) when Sean and I were first engaged, he was taking me to work one day in my car and something horrible happened! He crashed it because he was looking into my eyes talking to me because he thinks I'm pretty. It wasn't a bad accident for the people involved, no one was hurt. It acutally ended up being a blessing in a really good disguise, due to the fact we no longer had a car payment during the time we were engaged and planning a wedding. But soon after the wedding I started getting annoyed of sharing one vehicle. Our schedules don't leave much room for carpooling. Sean has to be to work at 7am and I have to be to work at 7:30am but then after work Sean has to go straight to school at 3:30pm and I dont get off work til then. So needless to say it just doesn't work out very well. I have very awesome friends who have graciously given me rides to and from work. We have been trying to buy a new car but had hit some difficulties. FINALLY after all the wait and planning and worrying we bought one today!!!! We are so very happy. Its a 2007 Ford Taurus. It drives very smoothly and most importantly has lots of room for babies. I named him Prince Theodore. It was fun buying it. The consultant we had was so nice and fun. He said as we were leaving that "its so refreshing to see married people so happy together" I love it when people say that about us. It makes me feel like we are doing good. I love marriage.




Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Six Flags/Birthday Bash Extravaganza!!

We decided a couple months ago that we were going to go to Six Flags Magic Mountain to celebrate my(Deana) birthday and also as a last big trip for awhile if things go as planned and we get pregnant this month. We needed to invite at least 15 people so that we could get this kickin deal of only $23 a ticket so naturally we invited everyone we love but sadly some of them couldn't come. Still, the group ended up being pretty big. We had 19 people. I was worried at first that with that many people we wouldn't stick together as a group but boy was I wrong! With two exceptions the group went on almost all the rides together and we wandered around the park as a massive group. I loved it! So this is how it all played out.

Friday- I had to work because two other people already requested that day off so we had planned on leaving right after I get off work. I get off at 3:30, we ended up leaving at 5:30pm. haha Shows how well planning goes with my friends. We met at my parents house so we could of course car pool and most importantly say a prayer for a safe trip.
This is my Mama, Baby Cortney and Justin saying goodbye to us all

This is a picture of the group that drove up together and stayed in the hotel room,
the others met up with us Saturday morning.

Then after a quick trip to the nearest Quick Trip (haha I made a funny) we were off! The drive wasn't bad and surprisingly didn't seem too long.  We got into California at about 11:30pm California time. The hotel was pretty dinky but sufficient considering how cheap it was. In the endeavor to save as much money as possible, we decided to all sleep in the same 2 bed hotel room and just split the cost. It was so fun sneaking all 14 of us in there.




The girls slept on the beds and the boys found floor space and slept there.
  In the hotel was Sean, Me, Andrea, Brittney, Brittany, Fran, Kirby, Heather, Alex, Chance, David, Lance, Melissa and Ben. Then Brianna and Jordon were in the hotel room next door to us. Jessica, Kenny and Amy stayed in a more fancy hotel and met us at the park. It was a pretty well orchestrated plan. Sean and I checked in at the front while everyone in the three cars hung out in the parking lot. After checking in we were found out that they only allow one car to be parked in the hotel parking lot. That just made our plan more difficult. We had to have everyone sneak into the hotel room with their stuff and then the drivers of the two cars went and parked them in a near by neighborhood. Then Sean went and picked up the drivers. We all claimed our sleeping spots and went to sleep.... well some of us went to sleep. There was a couple of people that snored which made it impossible to sleep!! Sean slept but I however did not. It was a horrid night for rest. I was on the bed for awhile but then I ended up on the floor with Sean then we both ended up on the bed by morning.

Saturday equals awesomeness! We awoke at 8am and began getting ready for the day. We had breakfast at the McDonald's across the street then we were off to the amusement park. The whole day was a blast!! I can't even remember the order of things but we went on all the best rides. I do remember the Tatsu was the first and my favorite.Sean was so funny. He gave commentary on all the rides. As we went on a drop he would say "oh my! we are going down, we might die, what are we going to do, look there is a loop!, We just went through a loop, I feel like I'm flying! I'm superman!" haha it cracked me up. Another ride that was my favorite was the bungee swing. The only ones in the group that went on it was Brianna and her husband, Jordon and Me. They harnessed us together and pulled us up really high (I can't remember how high but it was insane, probably 150-200 feet) and then Brianna pulled a cord and we DROPPED!!!! Then it swung for a while back and forth til we slowed down and we grabbed on a loop on a pole to stop ourselves. It was an amazing thrill and yet very frightening! I would have done it twice but it was an extra $15 to ride. Most of got capes too, which made us feel super.


The park closed at 7pm. We left and went to dinner at Denny's. It was SO nice to have good food after such a long day. Right as we finished dinner my amazing friends surprised me with a birthday cake and sang me the birthday song. It was a wonderful ending to the day.




The ride home however was miserable. We were all exhausted and just plain did not want to make the 6 hour drive home. I couldn't even sleep a little on the way home because I was too nervous for the drivers. I stayed awake and kept texting and calling the other cars to make sure they were doing good and were alert. Sean slept for the first two hours of the drive home and Amy drove then they switched. The other two cars had one driver the whole way home, hence my nervousness for them. Good thing our Heavenly Father takes care of us and we made it home safely. We have to do that again sometime but make it a two full day or three day trip so we don't feel so exhausted afterwards. I have to say that this was the best birthday bash I have ever had and it wasn't even on my birthday! 


Sunday, November 7, 2010

Toys, and Boys night

Today was a fun day for the both of us. Sean woke up and went to work at 7am and was there til 3pm. I kept myself busy trying to figure out how to make our blog look awesome, which I have to say I think I did a pretty good job at it for now. I still have lots to learn but I am quite proud of myself with it right now. Sean thinks its lookin good as well, which makes me happy. I was going to work out today but that plan failed. I ended up just reading my pregnancy book and playing on here most of the day. I did get the cleaning done though so it was a productive day. We texted each other the whole day, as usual so it was nice. I miss Sean when he isn't here. He had an ok day at work. It was just slow. So when he came home we went to my parents house and hung out there for a while. Our friend Melissa and her baby Joanna met us there. Then us girls went to a Discovery Toy party. It was really fun. There was a bunch of ladies there. My sister Amanda and her baby Cortney came as well as a a couple other friends, Jessica, Emily and Meagan. Its the same set up as Mary Kay and Avon with the way they sell through consultants. They have been around for 35 years and you can tell because the toys they sell are wonderful! Every toy has a life time warranty and replacement parts and even better they help with the child's growth and development. Plus they even have toys made for special needs children. I'm happy I was introduced to this company. I cant wait to have a baby and get these toys for him/her. Here is a link if you are interested in looking: www.discoverytoyslink.com/carriehyde.com


Meagan, Emily, Amanda, Mama, Cortney baby, Melissa, Jessica, Joanna baby

Meagan, Me and Cortney baby, Mama, Amanda
I wish I had gotten pictures of the toys but alas I didn't. Any way it was a really good time. Mostly made me want a baby even more, if that's at all possible. Afterward Jess and I went to Melissa's house and hung out there for a bit.

Sean shall now speak of his night with the boys:
While Deana was out with the girls, I got to go out with daddy rogers and Justin. We decided to go out to the movies and see Megamind. It was a pretty good movie but mostly we had a good time hanging out and talking. I had high hopes about the movie because it combined two of my favorite things, cartoons and Will Farrell. It didnt turn out quite as good as I had hoped but it was alright. I always enjoy being able to spend time with my father in law and brother in law. That was pretty much my night.


When Sean was done with his boy night we came home and just enjoyed being alone and talking. Now its time for bed, we are both way tired and ready for a good nights sleep.

Friday, November 5, 2010

Frisbee of the Ultimate Variety, Non-movie Movie night, Fun Filled Friday

WEDNESDAY:
We played ultimate frisbee. We have only been three times but we think that we have found a new love. Neither one of us was very good the first time that we went, in fact we were quite terrible. Deana hardly touched the frisbee all night and every time I touched the frisbee disaster quickly followed. The second time was a little bit better for Deana. The frisbee got passed to her a few times and she was able to catch it and pass it pretty well. My performance on the other hand was perfectly consistent with my previous attempts, total disaster. This last week however presented a little bit more promise for both of us. While we had many bad moments, we also found ourselves having a good amount of success. Both Deana and I caught the frisbee multiple times and were also able to complete several passes. All in all it was a pretty good night for us both. We are hoping that next week we will be able to improve even more.


Deana showed a willingness to sacrifice her body for the good of the team by making a diving catch, she even has the bruise to prove it.
THURSDAY:
We had a movie night but not one movie was watched. We ended up just all hanging out and talking and laughing like crazy. It was a blast. Our friends rock.

FRIDAY:
Today was a fine and spectacular day. After I picked up Deana from work we went to the Temple. It was an awesome experience as always. Afterwards we picked up Andrea (deana's sister) and went to costco to get her a verizon phone. She originally had cricket and then came to the realization that verizon is superior and far more desirable. The sales man was a very amusing man named Tyler. He flirted with Drea he whole time. We saw sparks fly as they fell in love. Ok not really but it was still a fun time. Turns out if you buy a phone from costco you get it much cheaper and they pay for the activation fee and give you a case and car charger for free. We wish now that we had bought our phones from costco. Andrea got a DROID! We are mucho jealous-o. I know we should not covet but it is a droid after all. I've decided we are heading the way of the terminators. Someday we will make cell phones so intelligent they will take over the world and drive man near to extinction. (speaking of taking over the world, this is Deana right now in these parentheses ,by the way, so if you type "is google taking over the world" in google and click "I'm feeling lucky" it says:

Google World Domination

Coming soon to a world near you.

Will be taken over within:

4 years 43 days 2 hours 32 minutes and 57 seconds
But its on a count down so its getting closer and closer every second!! I'm excited because I'm pretty sure that when google takes over then everyone will get a droid. Yes it will more than likely take over our mind but still everyone will have a droid so I think its a fair trade. Any way I'll let Sean have the computer back and he can continue to tell the tale of our day)
SO, after Drea got her brand new droid we dropped her off and she gave us $25 to go get dinner with. I forgot to say earlier that she is now on our family plan and it lowered her monthly bill by $10 and she was able to get the phone cheaper as well. We decided to go to Applebee's and have ourselves a fine date. On the way there we realized we hadn't been on a date just the two of us for about a month now. We have had a plethora of nights at home alone but none out lately. It was a nice treat. As we walked in the lady seating us said "you two look really nice all dressed up" haha It made us smile. We were still in the clothes we wore to the Temple. 
We had a good meal and entertained ourselves by eavesdropping on other peoples conversations and then discussing their discussions. It was quite enjoyable. Now we are blogging together and going to finish the night with a movie. Til next time, we are signing off.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

For those of you just joining us....

In 2009 when I was living in Gilbert, Sean was my roommates’ home teacher. Both of my roommates, Jessica and Megan, were recently engaged and I was single and was a little bitter that both my younger friends were engaged at the same time and leaving me. One Sunday morning I walked in the living room to find them and the home teachers sitting talking. Sean looked up at me as he was talking to my roommates and he asked them how their wedding plans were going. I tartly responded with, “I’m not getting married but thanks for bringing it up," and I walked into Megan’s room to borrow some shoes. I turned around to see Sean on his knee with a ring he picked up from the coffee table and said “will you marry me?” I laughed and said yes and put the ring on. I wore the ring all day at church and told people I was going to marry Sean Howell. From then on we called each other fiancé all the time, of course jokingly. We both dated different people but still saw each other at activities and had the same circle of friends.  
About a year after the fake proposal I had broken up with yet another boy and saw Sean at munch and mingle after church. O.k. my turn to write a little bit. This is Sean. At the munch and mingle we ended up standing in the same group and Deana started talking about her favorite church movie Saturdays Warrior. I said that I had seen the movie a long time ago and thought that it was pretty good movie. Deana suggested that we should get together that night and watch it. I told her that I would call her later that evening if I had time, and maybe we could watch it. I went to my mom’s house that afternoon and ended up staying there pretty late and so I never called her back that night. Two weeks later I saw her at church again. This time she suggested that we go to a fireside at the church building that night. I agreed and we met that evening at my apartment to go. Deana ended up locking her keys in her car, so after the fireside we went to her house to get the spare key. We had a good time talking while we drove. When we got back to the apartment we played uno with my roommates and watched a movie. Deana and I started flirting with each other that night. The next day I asked her on our first date. We started seeing each other every evening after that.
A year later we had been dating for about 2 months and Sean proposed.
So here is the proposal story!
Thursday June 18th Sean and I went to get cheese burgers and walked around the temple and watched the Easter pageant practice. Romantic, we know. As we walked back to the car Sean talked about how great things will be when we are married and we talked about all the cheesy cute things adorable couples such as ourselves talk about. I already knew he was going to propose (we had been talking about it for a while now) but I had no idea when he was going to do it. I also knew that he had picked a ring out but that it was being made, and just earlier that day he had “accidentally” revealed that he wouldn’t be getting the ring till next week. We had plans to have a movie night with some friends at his apartment (A.K.A The Man Cave). We got in his truck and headed toward the man cave. He had got me talking and I was into my story so I didn’t even notice we had passed his apartment (it’s on Country Club/Baseline) and we were coming up to McQueen and Warner. I was confused and asked where we were going in which he responded that he just wanted to see if he remembered where something was. I was content with that answer and kept talking. Haha.


He then pulled into my old apartment that I lived in last year with Jessica and Megan. I asked again why we were here and he said he just wanted to see if he remembers where it was. I thought maybe he was thinking we could live in these apartments when we got married. I was still under the impression that he didn’t have the ring so that didn’t even cross my mind that he could be proposing there, or that night for the matter. Also I had been told by my dad that Sean still hadn't talked to him so even more reason it couldn't be happening yet. (I later found out he had talked to my dad weeks ago.) So we parked and got out. I then was on memory lane. I talked about where I used to park and all sorts of useless information. We walked to the outside of my old apartment and he hugged me. We talked about how he helped me and my roommates when we moved and how funny it was when he proposed to me that one time last year, and now we really are getting married someday if he ever gets the ring and proposes for ‘realsies’ this time. He then says, “Yeah I just wanted to see if I remember which one is yours. It might come in handy someday.” Then I just felt like he ruined a cute idea. He said “Oh I’m so unromantic, I guess I shouldn’t have told you that.” And I replied, “Yeah now anytime you take me here I’m going to know you are going to propose! That would have been cute though.” He said, “Yeah it would be so cool to propose at the same place I did before but have it be real this time.” I was a little let down thinking that he ruined the surprise and he can’t do it there now because I would totally know. He was joking with me and said, “Well I could just take you here a couple times and not do it. Then when I really want to, I could do it. I could drive by here with you sometime and not even stop by, and you’ll think it’s going to happen but it won’t. Then another time we’ll come here and sit and talk about how I love you and then we’ll just leave.” This whole time we were hugging and being all cute but I was just thinking, 'Kay not funny, I just want you to propose for real, but alas he doesn’t have the ring." :( Then he says, “Then sometime I’ll take you here and actually get down on a knee - (At this point he does get down on a knee, but I totally thought he was just joking because I remembered that he didn’t have the ring and he had to be just messing with me.) “ - and then I can pull out a box and ask you to marry me?" At that point he had already had the box out and open. He had grabbed out the box before he got down while he was hugging me. Smooth I know! He’s so darn sweet!! And of course I was shocked at first and looked at the ring and him and then I proceeded to jump up and down and say “yes of course yes!”  I stuck out my hand for him and he put on the ring and we hugged and kissed and it was perfect. He proposed at the same place twice. Once for fakes and jokes and another for realsies.
We were married in the LDS Mesa Temple on July 13th 2010.


 We went to californa on our honeymoon.This is us driving there. It was a fun road trip. We sang song to each other most of the way.  
 This is the sign as we entered into the resort we stayed at. It was the Desert Palms Marriot. Pretty Snazy place.



 

While there we pretty much hung out in the hotel room most of the time but we had some outings like the San Diego Temple, Six Flags, the movies and dinner.





Sean on his first roller coaster! He was a little hesitant to go at first but then he was fine the rest of the time at the park. It was a blast and as you can see here he loved it!


Our pretty wedding rings :)


Kisses!
Since the wedding we have been just figuring out this whole marriage thing, haha.   We think we are doing pretty awesome.
So that’s the beginning of the Sean and Deana story and we are pretty much up to date for this blog! :D