a few highlights from 2012

uhhh...is january really almost over?? how did that happen? we may be well into the new year of 2013, but i can't help but go back and reminisce on some of my favorite moments of twenty twelve:

~finding out about our first bun in the oven in the smith's grocery store bathroom all by myself. long story. not how i pictured that moment going but hey, life happens.

^i completely forgot i had this picture. 

but this is totally how i remember feeling,

like,
"is this real? this plastic stick changes my life forever?
that can't be..."

~convincing my husband that i did not buy a "fake positive pregnancy test." this was real. i really was pregnant. ha! that also did not go how i pictured it.

~realizing this tiny baby growing inside me was the size of a grain of rice.

and witnessing for myself that life is a miracle.

~announcing many times that we were expecting. one my favorite is this video of my family. they were all there (!!) (except my dad who refused to cooperate with our scheming and went to the grocery store last second...sigh) this was so special to me. daron and i made the 13 hour drive to clovis, CA so we could be with everyone for easter and make the announcement. we debated back and forth whether we should make this very impractical trip. i can't tell you how glad i am that impractical won. what is life without moments like these? 

i still shake my head that no one believe us... it's true we were not trying for a baby. but i thought someone would believe daron!

~finding out the very next day that my sister Shalice and her husband Trevor were also expecting and that we were 1 week apart. this made all 3 "original" Pugmire girls pregnant at the same time. what a year!

~seeing daron's sisters reaction to the big news. daron's sisters constantly kept telling me and daron that they wanted to be aunts. so, we put little sticker ants in their hands to make them realize their dream of being "ants" was finally coming true.

and last but not least! telling best friends about baby boy arriving in nov 2012

~becoming an official BYU alumni with daron in april.

~living with my sister for 4 months over the summer. lucky daron got to live with not ONE pregnant woman but TWO! ;) i have to say i did feel bad for trevor and daron, but i was one happy camper. who can complain about a 24/7 friend?

~the summer of 2012 was definitely the "summer at the lake." daron was in heaven.

~welcoming home friends from italy and france.

~celebrating our 23rd and 26th birthdays!
i got to celebrate again with my birthday twin...

and daron really surprised my 7 months pregnant self with his gift. 

(oh that hair ... literally every year daron wakes me up at the break of dawn to give me his gift. maybe we should change that habit?)

~going through 34 hours of natural labor to bring Carter Lee Young from heaven to earth. wowza! labor...so much to say on that topic i, ironically, have nothing to say at the same time. all i can say is, "women are warriors"

^and thank heavens for this guy...

~meeting our son for the very first time. an experience that will be imprinted on my mind forever. 

~naming Carter. can we have a round of  applause for me and daron? we agreed on a name before we left the hospital. i'm still proud of us for doing that. thanks to my mom asking how the different names could get made fun of, daron said "well, there's carter farter." i laughed so hard i cried and it oddly made me fall in love with the name. so with that and the gumption to commit, we decided on Carter Lee Young.

~Carter flashing us his first genuine smile.

~and my personal favorite, watching daron love and serve our son each and every single day.

oh 2012, what a year. truly. as over half of the points all pertain to the new babe that entered our family, i think we can safely say it was the "baby" year. this year was like no other for daron and i. the most life changing we have experienced yet. we are so excited to see what 2013 brings as we juggle our new family of 3 and continue on the ever changing journey of parenthood.