Wanted!

I am trying to get a little head start on a place to live this summer. I don't want to have to deal with this last minute and feel stressed out. As most of you know, we have kind of an interesting schedule. We live in Utah from about the end of May to end of August or beginning of September. This makes it hard for us to find a place to live. We are looking for a town home/condo or home in Orem/Provo or surrounding areas. At least 2 bedrooms. Preferably furnished. Or if not fully furnished a Master Bed and couch. We hate buying furniture because it ends up being more of a hassle moving it every couple months. We don't have any pets and it will just be the two of us with our new baby. We are always on time with payments! Let me know if you or anyone you know has anything available or would like to talk. I can be emailed at jesstoolson08@gmail.com I will be in Utah until December 16th and would love to look at some places if anyone is interested! Thank you!

Disney World

Back in October my parents decided to go on a last minute vacation to Disney World for my dad's Birthday! Did they really think being in Italy was going to stop me from coming? Nope! I had the flight booked within the next 24 hours to get home! It was well worth the last minute trip. We had a blast day after day! Thanks dad for having a Birthday and deciding to take all of US along for your celebration.

Benton loved getting his face painted! He almost fell asleep when the brushes were tickling his face. Sam got his face painted the same! For some reason my computer is deciding for me which pictures will upload.

From the second we entered the different parks each day Cody would take off sprinting for about 5 minutes every 20 minutes. He would spring to a ride, get our fast passes for the day and come back. Then when our time was allowed to get more fast passes he would take off again! Let's just say- "Dear Disney World, your fast pass system didn't fool my brother!" After about 2 hours in the park he would have upwards of 80 fast passes. By the end of the day we would start giving them away because we couldn't use all of them. Thanks Cody for doing all the running!

Cute Sadie and Sam with Mary Poppins! They also LOVED meeting the Toy Story characters. Yet again, my computer won't allow those pictures to be downloaded. Frustrating!

As a family we rode the Toy Story 3 ride about 8 times. About a year ago when we visited Disney World we became obsessed with this ride! It is the best thing ever because even Lulu who was about 2 months at the time can go on the ride! It is competitive and the last time we went Ryan and my dad had to compete over and over again! We never decided who was better.

Happy Birthday Dad! Thanks for another great vacation! We love you!

A trip down memory lane

I was browsing through pictures on my computer when I discovered there are so many events this summer I didn't blog about! I wanted to post some random pictures so that I have them documented. Lots of these pictures are from little vacations we took this summer or just things I want to make sure we never forget.

Visiting Arizona!! Dressing up in Ryan's High School "Tool Time" shirts to go play Sean's friends in a mean Toolson vs. Friends match of wiffle (spelling?) ball! We won every single time and finally his friends gave up and left. We chanted "Tool Time!" the whole way in and out of the building! It was so much fun! I loved this trip because it was the first time I was able to really spend time with my new sister in law Colbi! We were like two peas in a pod! I love how good she is at teasing Ryan!

I hiked the "Y" about 4 times this summer. A few times with my mom and sister Kim and this picture is with the Relief Society! I love hiking the "Y!" Sad to say this summer was my first time in all my years of living in Provo.

All of us best friends took a road trip to St. George and Vegas! Here we are cooking dinner in the pitch black. Obviously you can't tell it's dark but the power went out for about 45 minutes so we cooked dinner using flash lights and just the gas stove! Thanks mama and papa Norton for letting us stay in your beautiful home! This trip is definitely a new tradition!

Eating at Benihana's in Vegas for Stef's Birthday! After we ditched the spouses/boyfriends and went clubbing for about 1 hour and laughed hysterically at the way all of us Mormom girls were dressed compared to the awesome clubbing girls of Vegas! Let's just stay we stood out and we loved it! My best memory of the club was the 80 year old man that looked like a wizard dressed in his silky blouse and snake skin hat following us around the whole time. He is truly missed!

We may have found some mustaches to purchase at the outlets.

One of my best friends Lauren got married! Loved her wedding! She looked beautiful as always and I am so happy for her and Whitney!

Baby Olivia was born! She is ADORABLE! I love her so much and can't wait to see her in a couple days!

One of my favorite cousins Annika moved up to Utah from Arizona for school!! I love having her in Utah! She is someone that always has a smile on her face and I look up to her for always being kind. Love you!

This is the only picture I could put up that wouldn't make me cry. We had to put our dog Abby down this summer. She was very old and sick so it was for the best! But that is not to say it made it any easier! We miss her all the time. Our house feels empty without her. You can call us weird but we had a family memorial to remember her! We told funny stories about her and threw her favorite balls into her favorite spot of the river! We'll miss you Abby!

Going through these pictures is making me a pregnant emotional wreck! Ryan's Grandpa Baker passed away two days before Ryan left for Italy. It would be an understatement to tell you that he is one of Ryan's favorite men. He looked up to him, admired his hard work and treasured his friendship. His Grandpa was without a doubt Ryan's #1 fan. Not only did Ryan love him, I LOVED him. He made me feel like a million bucks every time I was around him. He would never fail to make us laugh! He was sick for years but would do everything in his power to make it to every UVU game or event. It was an amazing blessing to be able to spend so much time with him before he passed. It would have devastated Ryan to not be able to say goodbye to someone he cares for so much. He will truly be missed but we know we will see him again. Can't wait for him to meet the baby some day! Luckily we still have Grandma Baker who we treasure also!

I had to document this night. The night before I left to Italy a bunch of my girlfriends got together and we played night games! My whole family got involved and we played a very intense few games of steal the shoe! We laughed until we cried and almost lost our peach cobbler from running so much! I love my friends and family!

Saying bye to my little buddy Benton at the airport. Let's just say this was seconds before my meltdown. I love him to pieces but it is so fun being able to skype him every single day and watch him change! I love my nieces and nephews so much and am very excited to bring an addition to the family soon!

We call them Anzianos

We love the Elders! This is Anziano Gallacher and Anziano Hill. They are currently serving in Treviso and we love having them! We've had them over for dinner and brunch! Both times I let them make the requests. First time they chose my mom's amazing recipe for Chicken Pot Pie! Then for brunch they requested German Pancakes and Surprise Muffins. Ryan was whispering in their ears for the brunch request because his mom's recipe of German Pancakes with buttermilk syrup is also among our favorites! We've also met up with them for gelato, they've taught us Italian lessons and they help Ryan out when he can't make it to church by coming to us. What a blessing to have Elders in the area.

Also meet Danielle! I love this girl! She is here working as a nanny from London. I am so sad to say that she leaves us in 2 weeks. She is a convert to the church and is the sweetest thing you've ever met. I'll miss her very much! At church she is the only member that I can speak English with! Don't leave Danielle!

Walking

I've adopted a new habit. Enjoying simple walks! Before the pregnancy I loved to run miles every single day. Now that's uncomfortable so I am taking these few months to enjoy a calming stroll. You girls out there that can run through your pregnancy amaze me! I had to stop in my first trimester. Anyway, I thought I would post a few pictures that I took while out on my walk a couple weeks ago. Now it has begun to snow every once in a while so the colors aren't as pretty but I love the snow! The holidays aren't the same without it.

I hope that you had a fantastic Thanksgiving! We will be celebrating tomorrow. Finally a morning off from practice and enough time to get together! Happy Weekend!

Announcing...

BABY BOY TOOLSON!!

We are very very happy to hear everything is looking healthy at this point! Thankful to learn he has all his fingers, toes, a strong heart, two kidneys, and all the measurements look great! Perfect Thanksgiving Day gift.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

The big 1-8!

I am now 18 weeks!

I've been feeling great! People are right when they say the second trimester is better then the first! I am starting to feel "flutters" and I am positive it's the baby! Ryan asks if it's just gas! haha I crave healthy foods most of the time which is random. I am a huge sweets person usually! But they don't sound quite as delicious at the moment! Not to say I don't ever have any. Gelato anyone? I say, YES!! I have to sleep on my side with a pillow to sprawl on. I have a certain position that is the absolute best! Next purchase is a body pillow. The baby is now about the size of a bell pepper. Keep growing! And did I mention I am an absolute pro at getting blood drawn now? This used to be quite the ordeal. Ask my sister Kim about our experience the first appointment I had. Let's just mention some nervous sweats and you can choose the rest of the story. But here in Italy they do blood work once a month for normal pregnancies and I've been having it done about twice a month for random things here and there. It doesn't even phase me. The nurses at the Lab know me by name and they are little speed demons! Ryan doesn't even have to remind me to breathe anymore. I have my favorite picture on the wall I stare at every time and it's over before I know it! That's big for me!

But today is the day! Boy or girl? I've been looking forward to this for weeks! The bambino better participate and not have it's legs crossed!

And now for Ryan's maternity picture! It took everything in him to push out his belly this much. Silly boy!

Another post to come tonight! Thanks for enduring my rambling about my pregnancy!

Seeking help

So this post may sound a little personal to blog about but I am to the point where I will take any suggestions. My hair is falling out. I don't mean a few strands here and there. I know that is normal. I mean falling out in very large handfuls or piles I should say. I take a shower and lose probably about 5 globs of hair in my fingers. I brush my hair and had to clean out the brush 2 times yesterday. I run my fingers through my hair and at least 15 strands of hair come out at a time. It is all over my clothes, couch, bed, floor. It's gross! When I brushed my hair again this morning the brush needed to be cleaned out again. Today I showed Ryan and HE was worried which says a lot because he always tries to keep me calm. I can tell a major difference in my hair to the point where I think I may be bald in about 2 weeks if this keeps up. My hair is really thin and I will be cutting it shorter when I get home so it isn't as noticeable. You think I'm exaggerating. I'M NOT!! I would post pictures of the piles of hair but that is gross. Here is what's going on. The doctors have discovered I am having a problem with my thyroid which only began with the pregnancy. This can be normal and it happens to many people! That is good to know but the medication I have been put on comes with major side effects. I don't want to sound like I am complaining because really I will go bald and wear a wig for this baby. I am so grateful to become a mommy and I'll take all the funny things that happen to your body during pregnancy in order to have this baby! I mean it! Really the reason for this post is to see if any of you can tell me you've been through the same thing? If you found a solution? If there is a doctor at home you recommend I see in a couple weeks? I have great doctors here but it always helps to see multiple people. I am going in tomorrow for more blood tests and am hoping they can figure out if there is another medication that will help the same with the thyroid but also stop with the hair loss and many other side effects. Again I apologize if this is a little out there and TMI for blogging but I'm desperate! Anybody? PLEASE!!?

One word...CHOCOLATE

This weekend in the center of the city there was a chocolate market! It was amazing! There were about 15 tents set up with different chocolatiers in each one. I wanted to try everything! I loved every second...

Do you see the horseshoes, keys and screws made out of chocolate?

He was my favorite! Not a great picture but he made beautiful truffles!!

Chocolate high heels! Every women's dream.

Chocolate Market...COME BACK PLEASE!

Basketball and Baby

Here are a few pictures I took at the last home game. Ryan is now #20. His favorite number is 10 and it has been his jersey number for years and years but this year it was taken. We decided that this is his 2nd year pro (x) his favorite #10 = 20 It works great! The games are very energetic! Lots of fans, tradition and awesome Basketball!

And...I'm 16 weeks!

My belly has POPPED the last couple weeks! It is fun to finally feel pregnant and to not just be told I'm pregnant. I have to wear my bella bands and adjust what shirts I can wear! Ryan thinks it is so fun to see my belly growing. He is so funny. The other day at the doctor there were a bunch of women that looked ready to pop. Ryan couldn't stop talking about how fun it will be when he can feel the baby moving and to see me have to waddle to walk etc. I told him I can wait! I hope I never waddle. But I know those times are going to be here before I know it!

I want your predictions!

We go back to the doctor on November 25th to find out if the baby is a boy or girl! Perfect Thanksgiving Day gift! I want to know what all of you think we're having! Even if you haven't been around me just take a guess! I'll let you know as soon as I find out.

A little taste

So you may not know this but living in another country while your husband is working leaves you with a lot of free time! My sister Kim gave me a genius idea for something to do in order to fill the time. Go around and snap random pictures with my new camera! Ryan has a practice in the morning and again at night E V E R Y D A Y. So tonight I decided to get out and take some pictures around the city!

The center square of Treviso

There is a massive and beautiful Benetton store 5 minutes from my house. I LOVE THE CLOTHES! I can't wait to find out what I'm having just to go shopping here for the baby (and me of course!) I figure Ryan can't complain...I'll just tell him I'm supporting his team!

Also, a big part of getting me out was I needed to walk off my INCREDIBLY sore body. I finally went to the gym yesterday and decided to do legs. I haven't worked out just my legs in quite some time now! Let's just say I'm so sore it hurts to sit down on the toilet! But I love it at the same time.

Oh and uh...I know it's the beginning of November but we put up our Christmas tree! I love it! It's small but when you have to move from country to country the smaller the better. I am obsessed with the decorations we bought at Ikea. Yet again Ikea you did me proud! Bring on the Holiday spirit!

14 Weeks

Upon Request!! I have been asked to post pictures of my prego belly! I am in the awkward stage where I just feel chubby but that's ok! We went to the doctor again yesterday and had another ultrasound. Looks like we have an energetic baby on our hands! The baby was jumping around and waving it's arms all over the place. The doctor said everything looks great and that we should be able to find out in a couple weeks what we're having. She tried forever yesterday but said that every baby looks like a boy at this stage so she wouldn't give us the 100% on what we're having. We love seeing these ultrasounds and hearing the heartbeat because it makes everything seem so real!

Fall Festivities

When I visited home one of the things I wanted to be sure to do was participate in some Fall festivities. Well, we did it! My cute mom went all out for this fun night! We went and bought paint, ribbon, stickers, markers, wood carving kit (for the pumpkins), spray paint and a bunch of pumpkins! My mom did lots of research online finding cute ways to spiff up these little pumpkins! We started off the night with a family favorite, Brick Oven! Following with a delicious ice cream cone from Baskin Robbins THEN the pumpkin madness! It was a perfect festive night.

A little taste of some of our creations!

Happy Halloween!

P.S. I wanted to post pictures of Disney World. Come to find out all of them got deleted off my camera when I uploaded them on to my parents computer. I will have to blog about it when I go home again in December. Bummer. At least they are somewhere and not just deleted!

More of the news...

I have a few funny and cute stories about how I told my friends I was pregnant! The best was how I told my best friend Stef. It was perfect! My mom, sister and I were baking a million homemade rolls for a Stake Young Women Activity my mom had. Stef came over to learn how to make rolls and to help! Right when she showed up we were rolling out some dough and I said "Stef, do you know why we're making so many buns?" And she was confused obviously knowing it was for a YW activity but then I said "It's cause I have a bun in the oven!" She was so cute! She started crying which then made my mom cry then causing us all to jump and scream in the kitchen!

Then the next day we went to lunch with Caitlin and Kami at Happy Sumo. Stef and i made up a little poem that doesn't rhyme and basically makes no sense but it worked! We wrote it as if Stef's daughter Paislee was saying it...

It said:

Finally I have someone to play

When the big girls have their lunch days

We'll giggle, we'll smile, we'll be crazy and diddaly (not a word-we know!)

But I'll have to meet you when I get home from Italy!

Love, Baby Toolson

Then of course Caitlin and Kami started to cry! It was great!!

Then for my going away party we got a group of girls and went to Goodwood for dinner. Kami thought of the cutest way to tell everyone! We got a bag of kisses and took the papers out re-stuffing them with tiny papers that Kami had made saying

"I can't wait to give you Hugs and Kisses! Love, Baby Toolson"

It was PERFECT!

We then drove all the way to Bountiful for Nielsen's Custard and made a quick stop by Hobbitville. By far the funniest thing I have ever participated in. This story will be top 5 of my memories forever!

I can't wait for our baby to have so many amazing Aunts!!