Callings, 3rd Trimester, and a Name!

Since Mike and I have been married, every calling we've held has been as a couple. Right after we got married, we were the YSA Sunday School teachers in the Deaf ward. Shortly after that, we were also called as temple ordinance workers. Then when we moved to Colorado we were both called as ward missionaries. Our new ward is living up to the expectation, and we have once again been called to serve together on the Activities Committee:) We are both really excited, and just like with all of our other callings it will be so much fun to serve together. I don't know what I'll do when I ever have a calling by myself again.

I've always said that Mike and I are so good together because we really do bring out of best in eachother. Where one of us struggles the other is very strong and vice versa. Guess it's no surprise that we do better in callings when we're together:)

In other news, I am now offically in my 3rd trimester! Even the parents of the kids I work with have started to notice I'm expecting (and that's saying something since we wear scrubs at work and they hide a lot). I'm still feeling really good overall. A few minor aches and pains here and there, but nothing terrible. I have been having very vivid dreams though and will sometimes wake up in the middle of the night, lean over to Mike, and just start telling him crazy stories. Haha, he just smiles and nods. He also says I sign with really good ASL grammar when I talk in my sleep (which is weird because normally I'm pretty lazy and sign mostly English.) It's strange the things pregnancy does to you.

It hit me the other day that our sweet little girl will be here in less and 3 months, and I still have so much stuff to finish before she's born! One thing that is officially done and checked off the list is picking a name. Her name will be.....

Hazel London Ballard

I just fell in love with the name Hazel then found out it was also my great-grandmother's name. Mike picked London - you'll have to ask him to explain that one.

Before....and After

Before....

After....
I need to confess my loyalty to In-and-Out. Can't get more American than that! (Justine thinks I'm a dork)

Like Mike

We have some great friends in our ward who live just across the street from us. They have 3 adorable kids who love to come over and play with Kiara.

Josh, who is about 4 years old, absolutely loves Mike. Well, Friday night we had a ward activity. Josh's mom came up to us to tell us that Josh asked her to gel his hair so that it would look exactly like Mike's. When she was finished Josh said, "I look like Mike! Mike will probably come up to me and say 'Who are you? You look like Mike. Where's Josh?'" Haha, we thought that was the cutest thing ever. When we saw Josh and told him "You look like Mike" he said, "Yeah. I know!" Needless to say Mike is already trying to arrange a marriage between our daughter and little Josh.
Here's a picture of the two of them together. His hair really does look like Mike!

No Olympics After All :(

As you may know, Mike is on the national Deaf Olympics Volleyball team. He went to Venezula in 2007 for the PanAm Games where the US successfully qualified for the Olympics in Tai Pei this September. This past weekend Mike was in Rochester, NY for a tournament when the team got some bad news; the USA Deaf Sports Federation made an executive decision not to send the men's volleyball team to the Olympics:(

Mike is a bit bummed that after all that hard work, the team won't be able to compete. No matter what, I say you're a great player (and a very good looking one too!) I love you tons:)

One good thing about Mike not going to the Olympics is he will not have to leave our sweet baby girl for 3 weeks right after she is born. She and I will be very glad to have Daddy around.

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....