Proof of Life

There it is, the moment you've all been waiting for...


The other night, we kept feeling her move :) it is, indeed, Proof of Life

Autism Awareness Run/Walk

As you may already know, I work with autistic kids, and can I just say - I love my job! Sure the kids can be a bit of a handful at times, but they truly are some of the sweetest kids I've ever known and I love teaching them everyday.

Recently one of the kids said the funniest thing I've ever heard...
(therapist) "What are your eyes for?"
(child) "Seeing"
"Good. What are your ears for?"
"Hearing."
"That's right. What is your nose for?"
"Picking!"
Haha, well I guess that is one possible use for it:)

Mike and I will be participating in a 5K Run/Walk for Autism on April 18th. We are excited. I will be walking of course, but Mike plans to run. If anyone in the Springs area is interested in joining our team, we'd love to have you. A few people from our ward are already in:) Also, I'm looking for people to sponsor me. No pressure, but if you're interested in supporting a really good cause, you can sponsor me at http://www.firstgiving.com/justineballard. It's going to be a ton of fun! (Kiara is especially excited to come race!)

PS - I know everyone is dying to see pictures of my expanding belly, but my computer decided it no longer likes my camera and won't pull them off the memory card. As soon as I get it working, I'll be sure to post some.

St. Patty's day blog

Enjoy!!!!!!

Families Can be Together Forever!

Valentine's Day this year was an especially wonderful day for my family. My parent's were sealed in the Denver Temple and then all 3 of us kids were sealed to them! To make it even more special, it was my parent's 25th Anniversary!

Words cannot describe how wonderful it was to be in the temple with my entire family and know we will be together forever. It was one of the best days of my life (2nd only to when I married Mike.)

After the sealing we took pictures outside the temple and that night my parents had a little reception/anniversary party. My cousin Amy made the most beautiful cake for the reception and everyone had a blast (check out Amy's blog for better pictures - it's listed under my friends as the Wattles family).My Dad with Sister Heather Urr who was one of the Sisters who first taught him.

For Anxious Minds

Well the baby was living up to it's LDS standards by being very modest, and it didn't want to give my mom a very good look. But, based on what she saw, we're 90% sure it's a....









GIRL!!!!!

We are very excited, and she's beautiful:)

My New Project

I decided that I wanted to make the baby a quilt and I found this adorable pattern online. Now I just need to know if it's a boy or a girl so I can get the right color of material. Only a few days and counting....

This is Mike blogging:

I got a gift card for my birthday a while back from my mom. (Thank you Mom!)

I got several books with it and I finished by "birthday shopping".

These are the books I got -

Baby Updates

I am now 15 weeks pregnant and feeling great! Everyone has asked me if I've been sick, but luckily I made it though the first trimester with just a bit of nausea. I was EXTREMELY tired for the first 3 months. Poor Mike was bored out of his mind when I fell asleep at 8 o'clock every night (he claims it was more like 7 o'clock). But now I'm getting my energy back and I feel great.

This will be the first grandchild on both sides of the family so both of our parents can't wait! My mom was an ultrasound tech for many years and now sells ultrasound machines for Toshiba. She was going crazy not knowing the baby's gender soshe arranged to take me to one of the accounts where she sold a machine and scan me on Feb 12th! (My normal ultrasound won't be until 20 weeks). We're can't wait to know if it's a boy or a girl.

What do you think it is? Make sure to vote on the gadget to the right before Feb 12th.

Ode to Kiara

The furry namesake for our blog had not gotten any attention on it for a long time despite being the cutest dog ever. Once the baby comes she probably never will so I thought I'd post some cute pictures now and tell you about Kiara's quirks.


* If we let her, Kiara would sleep under the covers with us at night. She loves to cuddle.











* Kiara is a super dog - from pulling sleds up hills to climbing trees, she does it all.












* She LOVES water!!!!















* Her nickname is 'Yaya' because my good friend Becca's youngest brother could not say her name and would always call her Yaya. When we came to visit he would say, "Where Yaya?" and get really upset if she wasn't with us.







* When Kiara drinks her water she always makes a huge mess partly because she just sticks her whole face in (see above).











* She loves sticks even when they're twice her size.













* If I tell Kiara "Go to Daddy" she will run to Mike and vice versa if he says "Go to Mommy."











* Mike started dressing Kiara in bandanas when she was a puppy and now you almost never see her without one on. She loves wearing "clothes."










* Kiara has this look that will melt your heart!

California Christmas

Mike and I went to California for Christmas to visit his family and we had a blast! The weather was not quite as warm as we hoped, but it was still a nice change from the Colorado snow. Here are a few fun pictures of us at the beach and Knott's Berry Farm.