{the baby BUMP}

so as of today i am exactly 21 weeks and 2 days along...and i still haven't put up pictures of the little baby belly. i honestly haven't taken hardly ANY pictures because, my baby bump, has been m.i.a. for the last five months. until last week. pretty sure ever since we found out we were having a little boy, he has wanted to prove just how manly he can be. he moves around like crazy the second i lay down for bed, and he has been growing constantly. {don't worry, i'm not complaining...i'm glad he has finally decided to show himself} it is so amazing to me every time i feel him move. {even if it is right when i am trying to fall asleep...} there really is a little guy in there, and we are SO excited to see his cute face in just four short months.

{20 weeks}

{this is in the parking lot of our doctor's office. moments after finding out we are going to have a BOY!}

{21 weeks}

{happy birthday alli bug}

my beautiful sister, alli, had her 19th birthday yesterday! she is amazing. here are a few of the many reasons that i love her guts:

she can always get me to laugh. either by quoting emporer's new groove, or bringing up some funny memory from our past

she is gorgeous

she is so dedicated to what she does, and ever since she graduated from high school she has been working two jobs to save up money for hair school. she starts hair school this september! yay!

she loves seven peaks as much as i do

she has a great sense of style, and has had to deal with me borrowing her clothes all throughout her life...even now

she is just plain sweet

she wanted to go to five guys for her birthday, and i was lucky enough to tag-along with the fam. we had a delicious dinner of hamburgers and fries...i LOVE that place.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALLI! WE LOVE YOU!

{top ten}

my husband just left for the weekend with the byu men's soccer team...again. this weekend they are going to be in chino, california. (everytime i hear about chino i think of ryan from the o.c. ohh the good old days.) anyways. i already miss him. so i thought i'd make a list of ten things that make me happy as of late. then i'm going to go out and bask in the sunlight.

it's BEAUTIFUL outside.

{one}

these babies. danny got them for me as a late birthday present and i LOVE them. these sperry's will be much loved by the end of the summer. {two}

young-adult fiction books. i went to this class last year for my job, where the english teacher from provo high talked about all of her favorite books. {and holy cow, she's read basically every single book that has every been written}. but it was a super fun class, and made me want to start reading books for fun again. she compiled a little book of all of the "must-reads" for the past year and gave us all a copy. i'm slowly making my way through it. these three books i've read/am reading. and they are so. good. (girls, if you're in the mood for a super dramatic/love story...read the luxe. it won't disappoint. i mean, just LOOK at the cover!)

{three}

these.
i just went to wal.mart and bought a box of 100. i'm betting they will be gone before danny even gets home.

you think i'm kidding...

{four}

finally having a fridge again!! going a week without a fridge, while being pregnant, is not easily done. i don't really know how we did it. but we found a sweet deal on ksl.com and it's so nice not having to worry about getting electrocuted every time i go to grab a bite to eat. PLUS the freezer is about four-times bigger than our previous freezer, which allows room for all of my otter pops. yay.

{five}

bringing home fresh flowers from lab every thursday. seen below is moluccella (more commonly known as bells of Ireland). it's fun learning all of the botanical names of flowers. i feel so smart!


{six}

speaking of feeling smart...this is what i saw on the testing center screen yesterday after taking my family finance test:

96% Fantastic!

i seriously almost took a picture of the screen, because i've always wanted to see that after taking a test, but it's never happened before. i was so pumped. i only missed ONE question. some girls say their memories get worse when they are pregnant...i'm almost positive this little boy inside of me is making my memory better!

{seven}

the fact that my husband is going to be teaching seminary at my old high school! how crazy is that?!!? we found out about two weeks ago that danny was one of the four teachers they were asking to come back to teach! we feel so blessed. we're hoping that after this semester the "hiring freeze" defrosts a little bit, so that our chances of getting hired are higher. but until then, danny is going to be teaching all of those T-BIRDS! if any of you have younger siblings going to timpview next year, have them go say hello to brother mckinley! or even better, have them sign up for seminary 3rd or 4th period. he teaches the second period every day.

{eight}

fruit. period.

people always ask me if i have been craving anything weird...and honestly, i haven't. but i ALWAYS, always feel like eating fresh fruit. of any kind. (at the moment i am eating a mango. it is delicious!) last week i bought a little watermelon and i probably ate 3/4 of it all by myself. we're going to have one healthy little baby.

{nine}

little baby boy clothes. aren't baby clothes just adorable? except i do have ONE teeny, tiny complaint...ok...it's kind of big. the fashion industry definitely caters to little baby GIRLS. every single store that i go in has walls and walls covered in pink

...where is all the blue stuff??

{ten}

this boy.

p.s. no, that's not our dog...even though danny wishes it was. this is his physical therapist's new baby german shepard. so cute.

there you have it. a LONG list of ten things that make me very happy.
if you're feeling a little down (i.e. your husband just left for the weekend) you should try it. reminding yourself what brings a smile to your face works wonders.

{drumroll please...}

danny: what's that??

doctor: HIS thing

danny: i don't get it...

doctor: umm. that's the thing that tells us he's a boy.

danny: ohhhhhh. WE'RE HAVING A BOY?!?!

jessie: i don't know how to change boys' diapers.

danny: you'll figure it out.

jessie: yeah right! you're the dad. good luck when he shoots at you.

{our reactions, seconds after finding out that we are having a little baby BOY.
ps. those were danny's exact words. it was hilarious.}

yeah. we are ECSTATIC, to say the least. the ultrasound was absolutely amazing. we got to see his brain, his cute little heart, his lips, hands, feet, and his little profile. whenever the doctor was focused in on his legs he was kicking like crazy! we already have a little soccer star in the making. he weighs three-fourths of a pound and everything is in great condition! after our appointment today, everything feels SO much more real. now all we need to do is decide on a name for this little boy...any ideas?? four months to go until we get to meet this little baby boy. what a miracle it is.

life is good.

tribute to mom

where do i begin?? my mom is absolutely amazing. i love her smile. her kindness...to every single person she meets. her positive attitude. her cooking. her love for the gospel. her love for her family...the list goes on and on. i look up to her in so many ways, and i am so blessed to have been raised by such an incredible woman. i love you mama!

not only do i have one amazing mother, but my mother-in-law is wonderful as well! she is so supportive of all that we do, is extremely generous, kind, and has quite the sense of humor! our kids are going to be very blessed to have such fabulous grandmother's.


yesterday for mother's day, danny was still traveling back from california (he was gone all weekend with the byu soccer team), so i got to spend the day with my mom. (actually i spent the whole weekend there, because i hate being home alone...but that's besides the point) we got to go listen to my brother and his wife speak in sacrament meeting, and they did a wonderful job! i love hearing the testimonies of my older siblings--they are such great examples to follow. since they were speaking, we got to watch the girls! i am in love with my neices. little children are so innocent and pure, and being around them makes me that much more excited to meet this little baby growing inside of me.

speaking of that little baby...TODAY is the day. at 3:30 pm we will be arriving at the doctor's office to get THE ultrasound. yeah. i'm freaking out right now. we are both so excited to find out who is going to join our family first. i don't know about you, but i think this is basically the best mother's day gift any (soon-t0-be) mommy could get.

fridges and french fries

The Fridge from Hell... Michigan... actually it was made in China... actually idont really know where it was made but thats as good a guess as any! (Hell, Michigan is a place) (Jessie made me clarify that) thats what me and my seminary students say becuase they're so innocent and cute that they don't like saying the word "hell", so they add "Michigan" on the end. I love my seminary students! quite the intro eh? so our fridge is older than most of our moms (no offense mama) and ours had tons and tons of ice everywhere. in the freezer it snowed every time we got something out and brushed any part of it. in the fridge we had a glacier growing against the back wall. so on monday night i had this bright idea to take our fridge out front and defrost it the Argentine way (for those who served missions in south america know what im about to say). it took a kneeboard and lots of pulling to get our fridge slid out our door; it weighs mucho! once outside, i started filling pots of hot water from the tap and told jessie to start chucking hot water on all the ice. i equipped her with a screwdriver and a spatula to start chipping away at the ice. how ghetto is the argentine way?! yeah iknow! so after lots of splashing and chipping all the ice was magically gone. it only took half hour.... blah blah blah we got it back inside. we plugged it in and whaddya know... jessie now has a perm due to the electric shock that the fridge gave her! and her dumb husband wanted to find out if she was lying by grabbing the door handle which just so happens to be very metal. we are a very strange looking couple lately! (because of the perms). we checked the cord and wires and everything but it was just shocking us for no good reason. then we came back later that night and voila it was fixed. then today voila it was shocking again. and coolant is leaking in it. way to go danny and the argentine way! so we're in the market for a new, cheap, used fridge if you have any suggestions. now the big question is "will our baby come out with a perm?"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i secretly hope so. ps due to the fridge ihavent slept much, which could explain the randomness of this post.

swine flu

all i have to say is...

don't try this at home!

YAY

i'm excited about a number of things...the following being at the TOP of the list:

1) danny and i passed every single one of our classes!! we've had quite the semester (with work, getting through the first trimester, and soccer) and i must admit, i was ready to bribe some of our teachers...begging them to pass us. but guess what?? i didn't even need to go to those lengths! yeah. we are pretty proud of ourselves! i even managed to get a few A's and B's. YAY for passing winter semester. one step closer to graduation!

2) finding out, on may 11, whether or not we are having a boy or a girl!!

2) my floral design class, with my MOM! my mom started back up at college last year, and she is loving it! we are in the same major but have never taken a class together...so we decided now would be the perfect time. our teacher is HILARIOUS and it seems like its the only thing that will get me through spring (since i'm also taking statistics and family finance).

3) the BEAUTIFUL weather! i'm counting down the days until seven peaks opens up. YAY for cheap season passes.

4) our new callings! we never got calls in our old ward, but our new ward jumped right on it. i'm excited to get more involved and to help spread the gospel!

5) not feeling sick anymore! YAYYYY. i think i'm actually going to attempt going to the gym tomorrow. i haven't felt up to exercising in a while, but i think i'm going to try it out.

what are YOU excited about??

birthday week

even though my birthday was over three weeks ago, it's still the month of april, so i can still blog about it...right?? my husband was SO sweet to me the whole entire day (even though we were super stressed with finals/work/everything else)--and we pretty much celebrated the entire weekend. thursday (the second) i woke up to breakfast in bed which was a big box of einstein's bagels (my favorite!) and a sweet note from him. i went to work, where all the kids were especially nice to me, and then i headed up to campus to go to class. on my way i received a phone call from danny--and he had his entire seminary class sing happy birthday to me. it was so cute when they all sung "happy birthday sister mckinley". i LOVE his kids. then about an hour later, i got about 25 text messages all at the same time. for his 7th period class he wrote my number up on the board and then told them to pull out their cell phones (they were all a little hesitant because they aren't ever supposed to have their cell phones out, and they thought it was some kind of object lesson) but once they found out it was my birthday, the texts came pouring in. once again, they are awesome! i had class at 3 and then that night, danny and i went out to red robin to get my free birthday burger! (if you're not already signed up--all you have to do is go here and you'll get all hooked up!) our order ended up getting lost, and our waitress felt super bad, so she gave us a free appetizer AND a free dessert! all we had to pay for was danny's burger. what a deal! it was super good and we had a wonderful time!

after dinner we headed to my parent's where we opened gifts and laughed and laughed. my family decided to get my maternity pants (along with a few other things) and it was hilarious. they were huge, so i had to exchange them, but everyone is excited for me to get BIG. (prego pictures to come soon...i promise!)

friday (the third) was a continuation of the birthday week and after we were done with work/classes, we headed up to draper to go to the brand new temple! they only do sessions every hour, and we got there 4 minutes before the session started, but luckily we made it in time! it was incredible and absolutely gorgeous, and was a wonderful way to start out conference weekend.

then, we treated ourselves to the melting pot. best. resteraunt. ever. but so so pricey. we figured since this was our last birthday without a baby we could splurge. so we did! we had a great night, and ate SOOO much. ohhh man, the dessert plate was heavenly.


friday night we stayed at danny's sister's house in salt lake and then saturday morning we woke up and attended the saturday morning session of conference. i LOVE conference. i am so grateful for the incredible men and women who do so much for this gospel and are so willing to share their testimonies! i need to be more like that. all of the sessions were great, but there is something so special about being in the actual building as conference takes place. the spirit is so strong. it's amazing.

all in all, my birthday was fantastic! danny's birthday was eight days after mine...we'll blog about that next!

soccer games and power tumbling gyms

for those of you that know my incredible husband...you also probably know that he is incredibly accident-prone. {incredibly might even be an understatement} not only is he accident-prone, but he plays on the byu men's soccer team...not the most accident-free sport. last season, he had shoulder surgery, and about 3 sprained/broken ankles from various games. this season we were determined to have an accident-free year since this will be his last season playing with the team. he was doing SO well, and was starting in every game (they have had 3 official pre-season games so far).

april 10, his birthday, he started in their game against weber state. and 00:55 seconds into the game HE SCORED!! it was probably the coolest goal i've seen in a long time. the goalie did not see it coming at all! he was so excited--as were all of us in the stands. byu won 2-1 and i couldn't have been prouder of my boy.

our friends brittany, ryan, and kim sat by us during the game (which was so much fun) and afterwards, danny's mom treated us all to pf chang's for danny's birthday. oh it was so delicious.


{...THEN...}

april 11 came around.
danny and all of his friends had been planning for quite some time to go to the power tumbling gym in south provo. they were celebrating danny and braden's birthdays and danny was seriously so pumped. he was looking forward to it for days. i decided to stay home, since they hadn't been able to schedule the gym until 10:30 pm, {and i wasn't sure how the little bebe would like all that flipping and jumping around...} so caleb came to pick danny up and they were off. about 20 minutes after they left, i got a call from danny.
{this is how our conversation went down:}

me: hello??
danny: hi babe. how are you?
me: i'm good! how are you?
danny: good!
me: so...why are you calling me? you weren't supposed to be done until midnight. you didn't get hurt did you?
danny: {pause}...yeah.
me: oh no. how bad is it?
danny: pretty bad.
me: you feel ok?
danny: umm...i've been better. i think it might be broken.
me: i'm on my way.

turns out on his SECOND jump his ankle cracked underneath him and he was done for the night. poor guy. he had to leave his own birthday party early. we went to the E.R., but then decided against it to avoid the super hefty bills that come along with visiting that wonderful place. we decided to buy some ice and wrap it up with an ace bandange instead.

{it looked like he had a tennis ball where his ankle bone used to be}

{the following morning...major cankle}

he's doing much better now! the swelling has definitely gone down and he can walk on it (for the most part) but he won't be out on the soccer field for at least a few weeks.
good thing he made that goal!

our new crib

don't worry. we aren't that on top of things...we don't have a baby crib yet. BUT we do have a new place to live! and we LOVE love it. we officially moved in april 6, (thanks to all those who helped us...the move went amazingly smooth) but we are just now feeling mostly settled in. it took awhile to sort through everything (we didn't even think we had that much stuff...but apparently we do) and get organized but we love our new little place! we actually live in a neighborhood now (instead of right in the middle of a parking lot) and our ward seems like it will be wonderful!

{before the big move}

{our lovely refrigerator is straight from the '50s. no joke. it weighs about 500 lbs. and has ZERO storage capacity. but...we still love it.}

{the humongous sinks are a personal favorite of mine...this one especially. i feel like i'm at a water pump every time i wash my hands. love it.}


{AFTER}

some moments are just so priceless

wow. where in the world has the time gone?? life has been somewhat INSANE over the past few weeks! i realized that i never wrote about how we broke the big news to our families, so i thought i'd share some pictures to explain! i saw the cutest family trees at desert book--but they were a little pricey--so danny and i decided to just copy the idea! it ended up being quite a bit more work than we had anticipated, but it was well worth it! first we had to get magnet boards (which we finally found at lowe's) and then we took them to my grandparents to cut in half with a hack saw. not easy. from there, we covered them with paper, i drew the trees, and we got pictures of everyone in our famililes to put on little magnets.

danny was so helpful during the whole project and helped with every step! who knew he had such a creative side to him?? here he is dilligently painting mod podge on top of each picture. what a great husband i have.

the sunday before st. patrick's day we had a big family dinner at my parents house, so we decided that would be a perfect time to tell them about the grandchild they have coming in september. danny and i were SO excited to finally be telling everyone our good news, so once we all sat down at the table, danny ran out to the car and grabbed the gift. (if you can't see in this picture, the little green square under our pictures says: baby mckinley due september 30) my mom was so surprised to get a gift for st. patty's day...but the look on everyone's face was priceless once they realized what was going on. my mom was almost in tears, bekah said she was going to cry--and once mariah heard her mom say that, mariah started screaming/bawling as well. i wish i had that moment on video. it was priceless. needless to say, the whole family was/is super excited and can't wait for grandbaby #3.

all of us (minus alli) after dinner

we told danny's family that following wednesday. (we were going to wait until we celebrated danny's mom's birthday on sunday...but it was just too far away.) they were ecstatic as well and can't wait for grandbaby #4 on the mckinley side. here is the magnet board we made for his parents.

after spending so much time on the magnet boards, we wished we had made one for ourselves! maybe someday soon we'll get around to it...

Baby Bear's Birthday

This is one husband's praising birthday story of his amazing, incredible wife and how she means the world to him. This is why April is the greatest month of all of em!
On April 2nd 1988 in a barn somewhere in kentucky was born the sweetest, prettiest, kindest, cuddliest baby in the history of sweet, pretty, kind, and cuddly babies! Jessica Lynn George was 4 weeks early - so while her mom was visiting her parents in some cowboy'd up town in the middle of nowhere (sorry to anybody that is actually from kentucky), and thinking she had a good month to go... her favorite daughter (sorry alli and cami) couldn't wait any longer. If you know my Jessie she isn't the patient type. Lucky for her, gramps was a doctor and delivered her no problem.
Ok, so i might be exaggerating a bit, just a bit. im fairly positive Jessie has never been on kentucky and half of us couldn't pinpoint it on a map (dang im sorry to all from kentucky! haha). So in reality Jess was born EXACTLY on her due date in provo utah, what an angel! Ever since i knew how to wish on and blow out candles i was wishing for that angel to be mine. WOW im still not sure how i got her! she is absolutely perfect!! i don't know what jessie's wish will be this year, but ihope that she always knows how she has made my dreams and wishes come true. I LOVE YOU BABY BEAR! now the secret nickname is out, oh well. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!