GIRL!!!

On Thursday the 21st we found out that we are having a GIRL!!!  I was so surprised...but I really shouldn't've been.  I had spent the entire day convincing myself it was a boy simply because I had always been picturing it as a girl, so I just wanted to be prepared.  But I guess I psyched myself out so much that I was COMPLETELY convinced it was a boy by the time we got to the ultrasound.  When the technician said "It's a girl!" I said, "Wait...are you sure??"  She said "Positive!"  And then I spent the rest of the time just bewildered and trying to picture it as a girl again.
Now, I've gotten it pretty well into my head.  And I am SO HAPPY!!  We just know she is exactly who she is supposed to be and we can't wait to have her in our arms.  I love that we can say "she" and "her" now instead of "it."
I've been feeling a lot of movement from her, some days more than others, but I'm at the point where I'm loving each one.  I've heard that later on it'll start to just feel uncomfortable rather than miraculous, but for now it's pretty exciting!!  Here are some of my favorite pictures from her ultrasound:

Our first ever picture of her cute little baby face!

Good news, baby has a spine!

This one shows her nose and lips and chin a little better.

If you can't tell, she has both arms up in front of her face like she's ready to box.

She seems to have Andrew's long legs, I think!

Little baby chest

Look at her cute little self.  I am just dying.

And this is only the beginning of a million baby girl pictures.  I'm sure this blog will be loaded with them forever more!!

In February were able to take a mini vacation and we went on a nice long road trip from Provo to Tucson, Arizona where Andrew's parents live now.  Although the 12 hours each way was not completely awesome (with the lovely morning sickness I was definitely still having) it was totally worth the trip.  It was a family reunion of sorts to celebrate two things: Andrew's brother Matt returning from his mission and his other brother Hyrum leaving on his mission!  It was so cool.  I met so many of Andrew's cousins and aunts and uncles that he hadn't even seen in 7 to 10 years or so.

The first night we got there we spent a fun crazy evening at Aunt Billie Jean's house in Mesa with all the cousins.  Everyone was in the backyard, playing sports, eating, meeting each other's spouses and kids, talking, and laughing the whole night.  I could tell it was a pretty big deal that almost all the cousins were together for the first time in YEARS.  It reminded me of my family and how AMAZING that would be.  It used to happen often, but everyone's lives have branched out so much.  I'm sure it's that way with many families.  I think that's why it was so awesome to have everyone together for this event.  I felt such a part of it all and I had literally just met these people.  It was pretty great.

The rest of the weekend was spent mostly with just the immediate Dobbins family.  We all had fun hanging out on the balcony, playing more sports, and swimming in the warm weather.  Then Sunday both Elder Dobbinses gave their talks- Matt's homecoming and Hyrum's farewell.  They brought the spirit so strong and I definitely choked up when Hyrum bore his testimony.  He has always been one of the best parts of joining the Dobbins family for me.  We were able to take him to the MTC a week later and now he's in Atlanta, Georgia preaching the gospel to the people there.

It seems that boys enjoy tackling each other in swimming pools...cause that's mostly what they did the whole time!

See?

that and have playing dead contests....  if you look closely you can see Andrew hitting his Dad in the face to try to get him out of the running.

The three Elder Dobbinses

All the Dobbins kids

All the Dobbins girls...minus Lynny

Despite my gross looking hair, I LOVE this picture!  We will always be I Love Lucy buddies.

And this is just sad.  They are all almost as tall as me when they kneel down.

This weekend back in February made me very grateful to be a part of the Dobbins family.  When we got married I was obviously just thinking all about Andrew and I liked these people that came with marrying him, but they kinda were just part of the deal to me.  But now I feel like we are family.  I was really grateful to be there.  Welcoming Matt home was exciting and seeing Hyrum off was bittersweet.

Elder Hyrum Dobbins

This picture just cracks me up...whenever I look at it I realize how very short I really am compared to them.

The name "Elder Dobbins" has meant quite a bit to me in the last few years of my life and it still does now, but for different reasons.  I'm proud of Hyrum and Matt...proud to have them as my brothers.  I hope we will find some more Elder Dobbinses in our family as life goes on. And at that point it will mean even more to me, in yet another way.

No, not updates on the baby...updates on Andrew and Hillary before we announced the baby.  I figure I should back track a little and get a bunch of things on here that I've been missing before I bombard this blog with baby thoughts and feelings and pictures of the cute outfits we have.  SO...

First off: Valentines Day consisted of

Flowers for Hillary

Monster Kit-Kat for Andrew

Married Stake Dance-- here we are before leaving the house

Aaaand some lovely Valentines from the kids at my school!!

This is one reason I love working at a preschool...they celebrate EVERY holiday like crazy!  St. Patrick's Day was even a big deal!

However, long before Valentines Day we went to California to spend Christmas with my family and the beautiful fog that I love so much...and I never blogged about it!:

Beautiful bridge

Siblings that were there...missing Julia, Samantha, Lester, and Addy (although she's not a sibling but ya know)

Luke and Dad just being...Luke and Dad

Luke trying to give us a piggy back ride

Mom and I

Giant Q-tip we found at Fort Point....apparently Andrew really need to be cleaned out....

And even before THAT I had a fun crafty day with some of my neighbors...we call ourselves the King Henry Wives Club....because every other girl here is single.  We gotta stick together:

A baby a baby we are having a baby!  I tried to write out a mature blog post announcement all about it but I just can't.  I have so many feelings about it that I don't think I can do my heart justice without just gushing and gushing.  The day we found out I cried like a baby...honestly if anyone had happened upon me at that moment they would've thought someone had died.  When really it was quite the opposite!
We've known since the end of November.  But, obviously we've been really guarded about it and decided to keep it on the down low for awhiiiile.  We are now in the 20th week and I know that many people usually tell long before that point.  But I don't think I'd do it differently...seeing how happy everyone is for us on facebook came right at a time when we needed to feel a resurge of excitement about it.  Because lately we've mostly just been overwhelmed.  However, we are never ever not happy about it.  A little scared perhaps, a little worried about all the details...but we are always happy.  Happy is not even the right word.  I don't think there is a right word for how we feel.  We are already loving our little person like crazy and we CANNOT wait to meet him for her.  We find out the gender this week!!