Last night, Justine's dad (Andy), brother (Harrison) and I went to the Pepsi Center for Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals. The Lakers beat the Nuggets!! I had to wear a Nuggets jersery cuz the Lakers lost Game 2. Owell, I'm glad they won Game 3 and have I mentioned how good the Lakers are??? Like In-and-Out good :) :)

Congrats Harrison!

Yesterday Mike and I went to Harrison's high school graduation. It was at a big outdoor amphitheater which would have been nice if the weather had cooperated. But it rained (which is why we all look a little soggy in the pictures).

We are so proud of Harrison. He was the student body co-president so he spoke and did a great job. He decided to join the ROTC and was offered a full ride scholarship to ANY school he decides to attend! He has decided to go to BYU since it's the easiest to get a deferment for a mission there.


Here we are braving the rain. One great thing about being so pregnant is that I stayed nice and toasty even though it was pretty cold. Thanks baby for keeping me warm:)

Why London?

Hello everyone. This is Mike. Why did I choose London? Well, I wanted a place name and there were some that I liked, for example Memphis. Justine didn't hate it, but I could tell she didn't like the name. Maybe I'll save it for another baby girl if we have one.

I was thinking about it and found a baby names list by Places/Cities and London caught mine eyes. I thought about it for a few weeks and I caught myself saying the name outloud one day and it fit great! I thought London was a very bold, very feminist, uniquely individual name. I really enjoyed the combination of Hazel London Ballard.

Not much of a story, but it'll do.

:)

Ciao

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!!!!!!