Cast Your Votes!

Great news! Our 20 week ultrasound is scheduled for Friday, June 3, 2011 at 2:00pm MST. You have until that time to cast your vote as to whether we'll be having a boy or girl. Check out the poll over to the top right of the blog -->

We can't wait to find out!! We're so excited! :)

Vote vote vote!

Oh - and here's the 16 week picture:(Please pardon the awkward pose and huge-looking arm. It's hard to take these pictures without the help of Trevor, who was at the gym). :)

Catching Up...

I've been meaning to blog about this... but I kept forgetting after I posted our good news :)

Back on Monday, April 4th, Trevor and I had the chance to drive up to Park City (Deer Valley, really) to see my Aunt Kristen, Uncle Scott, and cousin Lauren who were visiting from South Carolina to go skiing before the awesome ski season was over. Aunt Kristen is my mom's sister (if you couldn't tell!) and it was SO great to see them because that really only happens once or twice a year if I'm lucky!

Anyway, we got to see the AWESOME house they were renting with some friends. It was exactly what you'd expect up in Deer Valley - made of large beams of wood, luxurious, and HUGE!! They just loved staying there and had to give us the tour when we arrived. There were even TWO indoor saunas in the basement!!!

We were able to go out to eat at the Riverhorse on Main street in Park City. I was extra excited about this because it's the restaurant Trevor and I were GOING to go to on Valentine's day before we got stuck driving in a blizzard for two hours...

Anyway, it was delicious - almost worth the price ;) But the company was grand and we even had a picture taken of all of us:You can tell they'd been skiing by the nice color on their faces. And Trevor, he's just lucky I guess. It makes me look like a pale ghost!! Eeek.

Anyway, we're excited to get to see them again in July when we go to the beach in NC!

In other news, I figured I'd update you with a 14 week picture taken last Tuesday on the way out the door to yoga. I'll be 15 weeks in just a couple more days. It's actually going by pretty fast, although overall it feels pretty slow. I know, that doesn't make sense, huh? Trust me, it's just weird :) Before I know it I'll have a little baby to take care of, and I'm SO excited. It still doesn't seem real (except for my pants not fitting) so I'm excited to continue growing and eventually feel the little baby move and find out if it's a boy or girl! Can't wait til June ;)Anyway, happy Sunday... and we just heard on the news that Osama bin Laden was found and killed. I think we all thought this day would NEVER come. Way to go USA! Now we just need to deal with all his angry, loyal, radical followers... we'll see how that goes.

Happy Easter 2011

Easter this year really was just wonderful. Although we didn't participate in tons of Easter season activities (like dyeing eggs and hunting for them), we really enjoyed the time we got to spend with family.

Playing it low-key, Trevor and I each got an Easter "basket" with a chocolate bunny:
So, it's not the most extravagant basket you've ever seen, but I'm telling you, that solid, dark chocolate bunny is the best I've ever purchased!! Yummm! Dove chocolate really is delicious!

I also continued with tradition and made my bunny cake this year:
No, it's not the best one I've ever done, but I still did it nonetheless :) For past bunny cake pictures, see here and here. After quickly icing the cake after church, Trevor and I stopped by Meg and Steve's house for dinner and to see the family for a couple hours, and then we traveled down to Elk Ridge to see Trev's parents for a couple more hours. We came home with only half of the bunny's round head left. I'd say we did pretty good! :)

Oh, and, another tradition, you've got to wear an Easter dress on Sunday, so here was the one I chose this year:
I'm guessing this is probably one of the last times I'll be able to wear this dress on Easter. I guess it just depends on how my body changes during pregnancy. ;)

Anyway, I really am so grateful for Easter and for the ability we have to remember that Christ was able to overcome the grave and rise again! He suffered and died for us, so that we might repent and live with Him again, and then he rose the third day. What a wonderful message for us all to remember throughout the year.

Also, I'd love for you to read the Easter message written by my wonderful missionary brother. It's on his blog, HERE.

Happy Easter!! I hope yours was wonderful as well :)

Dear Everyone (Version 2)...

Hi! It's me again!

So, you may remember my last letter I wrote on January 20th where I had kindly asked if you could all stop getting pregnant and having babies because I was having a difficult time watching everyone achieve what I had been hoping for for a while...

Well, I just wanted to let you know that you may resume your baby-making because Trevor and I are

proudly...

happily...

excitedly...

and successfully...


GOING TO HAVE A BABY! :)


I guess I should have been patient just a teeny bit longer :) We found out on February 20th (at almost 5 weeks) which means I am officially 12 weeks and 1 day along today!
That doctor's appointment I had and the medication I took worked miracles in the first month of trying! I'm so grateful for all of your prayers on our behalf and for the power of modern medicine!

Allow me to tell you a little bit about our adventure so far. Because I took Clomid, a fertility drug, for a month, I was able to have an early ultrasound soon after my 8 week doctor's appointment. Since the baby was so small, they couldn't hear the heartbeat using the hand-held dopplar and they couldn't quite tell if it was just one or if there might have been two (one's chances of multiples increases quite a bit when you take Clomid.)

Well, I was pretty sure it was just one because I hadn't been feeling very sick at all - just tired (ok make that exhausted) - and I just felt like one was the right number :) So, to make sure, we had an ultrasound. Please indulge in these next four pictures of our little bean:At 8 weeks and 2 days our "little bean" was just about 2 cm long! And yes, JUST ONE :)
You can sort of see where the head area is and also the umbilical cord!
Baby had a heartbeat of 166 beats per minute, which, by the way, we were able to both see AND hear! It was truly the most amazing part of my week!
Just a little blob of a fetus, I guess :)

Well the good news is that we're now 4 more weeks down the road since the ultrasound was done!! :) The doctor was easily able to hear the heartbeat (now 150 bpm) today with the hand-held dopplar and told me he thinks everything is going great!

Honestly, I've been so un-sick so far that sometimes I forget that I'm pregnant, or I worry that I don't feel "pregnant enough" (whatever that means). So, whenever I get a chance to hear that little heartbeat and remind myself that it IS real, I just get so excited :)

And yes, I've been documenting the belly a little bit. I'm really not showing too much, although my pants and I now have a love/hate relationship. Rubber bands have become my friend! And some days (and times of day) I'm WAY bigger than others. I think I just get food babies right now ;).

So now, if you're interested, please excuse my cheesy pregnancy belly pictures. Trevor says he's just not a fan, but I'm sorry, I have to document the belly (or lack thereof!):



Anyway, I again wanted to thank all of you for being so supportive for us. We had a rough year last year with Trevor being sick and with us just not being able to get pregnant. It was definitely hard, but looking back I'm realizing that God sometimes really does have impeccable timing. Again, I know many of you prayed for us and I really am so grateful for the miracles that God works every day.

We're definitely not taking this adventure for granted. We're loving every minute of it!

Oh - and because you're all dying to know...

Little bean is due October 25, 2011!!

Love,

Alex, Trevor, and "little bean" Shipp

Crazy Weather

I think Utah is still trying to decide if it IS, in fact, April, or if we are freakishly stuck in January. I mean, it IS spring now, right? And it has been for almost 3 weeks, right?

Well, it's April 9 and it's been snowing all morning (fortunately not really sticking this time!). But, that isn't all! Last Saturday, April 2nd was a GORGEOUS day... think of nice 70 degree weather and sunshine. Then, overnight, we got 5 inches of snow, and it continued to snow on and off all day Sunday. See, I have proof:Tree branches had fallen on cars because the snow was so heavy and unexpected. But, I will say it was a really gorgeous Sunday drive up to Elk Ridge to watch General Conference with Trevor's parents.

I felt bad for all the spring birds, though, as they all had no where to stand except the roads where the snow had melted. All of their nests and branches were covered in snow and too cold to stand on. So, we tried not to hit the hundreds of birds that were hanging out on the roads as we drove up to Elk Ridge. It was kind of creepy, actually. Think of Hitchcock's "The Birds"...

Spring weather, please come soon! I miss the warm and the sunshine!! And I have some really cute new shoes I'd like to wear.

Sincerely, Alex

BYU Rugby & HOT Krispy Kreme Doughnuts

For date night on Saturday, March 5th, Trevor and I went to the BYU vs. UofU Rugby game up at Rio Tinto stadium (where the Real Salt Lake soccer team usually plays). We got in for free courtesy of my company (thanks Property 23!!). All we had to do was wear our free "Warrior Rugby" t-shirts to support and advertise for my boss' new rugby team here in Utah. They are new, but they are awesome and they're going to be big!
So, even though we're in a red stadium wearing red, white, and black t-shirts, we were NOT rooting for Utah. We rooted for BYU! And it's a good thing, too, because they won! Woot woot!

Rugby is seriously such a cool sport. I don't know too much about it (at all, actually), but I'm starting to learn. The night before we went to this game, we watched Forever Strong on Netflix, which is about the Highland rugby team here in Utah a few years back, I think. It's a pretty good movie, and it gave me a very basic understanding of how it works. Sort of :) All I know is that they often do the weird "huddle" thing above when they are putting the ball back into play whenever it didn't go out of bounds. It's kind of fun to watch because it's like a mosh pit until the ball suddenly pops out and they begin running and/or slamming into each other in order to get it in their possession.
I couldn't get any great shots of the crazy tackling and man-on-man impacts that happened, but you can kind of see above where they just got hit. And seriously, they SMACK into each other - no reservations - and they don't even wear protective pads! It's seriously exhilarating. I would go again and again just for the tackles... it's like waiting for the big "wreck" watching a Nascar race, but better! :)

Afterward, Trevor had a craving for hot Krispy Kreme doughnuts. When we got close, we hoped that we would see the nice, red glow from the "hot now" sign. Well, we got lucky! So we pulled in and I begged Trevor to let us actually go inside instead of drive through so we could see them making the doughnuts. I felt like such a little kid again, but it was just as exciting now as it was then! I love it.

They had just started making a fresh batch when we got there, so I got to document the first couple rows of doughnuts "plopping" out of the rising compartment. You can see below that a couple of the doughnuts had a little issue and one landed on top of the other. Those went into the "reject" pile :)
After they float and cook in the oil on one side, the "flipper" flips them over and they get to cook on the other side. Perfect and goldenly delicious!
And then, the BEST part... the "icing on the cake" so-to-speak. Or, at least, glazed icing on the doughnut! They are so beautiful and shiny when they come out the other side! I could watch the waterfall of sugary deliciousness for hours, probably!
Even though Trevor didn't want to get out of the car and walk in at first, by the time we left he was really glad he did and admitted it was way fun to go inside and watch the doughnuts cook. Yay for simple, spontaneous fun at Krispy Kreme. And yes, they were DELICIOUS. And yes, we had to buy a bottle of milk or else we wouldn't have survived :)

I hope you're drooling....

California in Feburary

Argh. I really am a binge blogger. Here I go missing another month, practically! Shame on me! I'll try to catch you up on some of my recent happenings! On February 23 and 24th, for work, I got to go on my second trip to California. It was definitely nice to escape the cold and snow for a break of moderate temperatures and sunshine!

We flew into Long Beach airport on Wednesday the 23rd. This is the smallest airport I have EVER been in. Seriously. What you see in the picture below is... the whole airport. You get on and off the planes by walking out to the tarmac and going up the steps! It was awesome! But it's a good thing it was sunny that day!
After we met with our client, we had a few hours to kill before our flight and we were able to travel down to Long Beach to see the ocean. Oh man. It's been way too long since I last saw an ocean (okay, maybe only last July, but it seems like FOREVER!).

Here's us driving through downtown on Ocean Drive:
And me out by the Pacific Ocean. They had two or three of those facilities you see behind me... I'm still not sure what they are. The water was cold, but I was just happy to feel the sand between my toes and the wind in my hair and sun on my face!
And yes, please excuse my nice business pants rolled up for the occasion ;)
Ahh.... water, sand, and sunshine.
Walking back to the car along the sidewalk high above the shore level. You had to walk down a ton of stairs to get to the actual beach. Almost sunset time. This is heaven on earth:
That night, we said goodbye to SoCal and got on a plane up to Oakland, CA and went straight to sleep. The next day, we had a mid-morning appointment with a client in Tracy, CA (about 45 minutes east of Oakland), so we drove out there. On the way, we saw some of the most beautiful, unique scenery. There were green rolling hills dotted with windmills and grazing cattle. I just couldn't believe it was so green in February! See?:
About mid-afternoon, I returned to Oakland and waited (aka napped in the hotel) until our third appointment later Thursday night. By this point, it started raining, and the slow, persistent storm continued until we left northern Cali on Friday morning. Right at dusk on Thursday night, we got to drive over the 6 mile long San Mateo Bridge into San Mateo (imagine that!) on the other side of the bay. In this picture (sorry so blurry!) you can kind of see where the bridge takes a left turn and raises up for ships to pass under:
I had so much fun in California. I hadn't been to Northern California in a really long time, but I have decided I think it is just GORGEOUS. It's got a different vibe than any other place I've been in the U.S. and I seriously think I could live there if it weren't for the outstanding taxes, house prices, gas prices, and oh yes, taxes!

For now I'll just enjoy the memory from the pictures. And I hope you enjoyed them too! :)