Birthday in Elsinore

Just in case you missed my birthday or you haven't been to Tod & Michelle's house or eaten some of her food... here are some pictures of what you missed out on.

Let it snow... let it snow

whoever thought, Sara would be building her first snowman... here in our sunny town and with child. We had to break his mid-section into several pieces just we could lift it because the snow was very wet and heavy, plus we are weak. Sara found some great pine cones, which we used for his features:)

Bellies

Stanford and I took a trip home to California last weekend. Amongst seeing family, friends, soccer games and having the Snowball Family Christmas party (there will be pictures to follow soon) ... I got to see my sister Tasha and take pregnant pictures with her! I am 28 weeks and she is 34 weeks. Here are a few of my favorites.









Stanford was feeling left out so we did a belly shot too. :)

Thanksgiving

I promised my mother I would put a new post up here. So here's to you mom, and maybe, just maybe I'll be a little bit better about blogging. No promises though.


Thanksgiving morning. I had to work. Blah. But who could be upset when you walk out the door and see a beautiful rainbow? It made going to work all worth it. And there's my ever-growing belly at 26 weeks. The night before I had trouble with my gallbladder and possibly passed a gal-stone. Worse experience ever. But again. Check out that rainbow. Love it.


Thanksgiving dinner at Cory & Sarah Smith's home. What a feast. Sarah completely outdid herself and Stan and I had so much fun. We are grateful for their friendship and the chance we had to visit with such great people.

20 weeks

Here's me at 20 weeks. I think I look humongous for only being 5 months. Oh well, not going to stress over it ....









First pumpkin pie of the season .... mmmmmm .... delicious!

Yellowstone or GC??? (footnote 1)

Michelle called me a few weeks ago to make plans to take our Mother to Yellowstone & the Tetons to celebrate surviving chemotherapy (footnote 2). It just so happened to fall on General Conference weekend, which I've watched religiously since becoming an adult. I don't know if you've ever been faced with choosing between two good things... but for me it has always been the case that when faced with choosing between two things... knowing I could only do one... I would feel a sense of doom... either way, I end up feeling guilty or at least making a choice is like pulling teeth. But just a few weeks prior to my sister's call... while sitting in church.... I heard a great talk about listening to the spirit and to letting the spirit be our guide, especially when faced with multiple choices, all of which seem good. Interestingly enough I got the chance to put it into practice. The trip was fabulous!!! Sara, Sorry for leaving you in Vegas.


Footnote 1.
GC = General Conference, basically this is when LDS church members get together to listen to the prophet of the Church.
Footnote 2.
Okay, Mom is doing great, although she has temporarily lost her sense of taste and she can't really feel her toes but we are all praying for her speedy recovery. She HAD colon cancer... you would never guess her age by the way my Mom acts and the amount of energy she has despite it all.

A itty bitty...

I've been a little distracted lately, Sara has been really kind and supportive. Wednesday, we really thought we might lose my little brother after getting in severe biking accident. He was rushed to the University of Utah where they cut his skull open to relieve the pressure and to stop the bleeding. Anything with the brain really freaks me out... almost more than eye injuries and needles... while he was in surgery I assembled the baby's new rocker... to make the time go by faster...meanwhile, Sara called her family and we all said a prayer for his behalf. My uncle and cousin came down to give him a blessing beforehand. Two hours passed and finally my sister called to say the surgery had gone well. Jonathan is real lucky to be alive.

A itty bitty... re-realizations.

First off, how lucky I am to be married to Sara and for her family... whenever I've lost a job or anything, I know they are all praying for me. Sometimes, my faith is weak... and it nice to have support like that. It seems with all the prayers I have had answered... I would never doubt the power of a prayer but sometimes... especially when something is important... a lot of doubts enter my mind. So it's nice to have my family and hers for backup support. Thanks.

Secondly, I've been so worried about my Mom lately, that this news... really threw me for a tailspin. Well, life is precious. People are precious. These politically debates seem like they have been going on forever... and I find myself growing more cynically especially with the downpour of pessimistic economic news. I resolved to be less sarcastic and to put forth a better effort to remember to be kind and supportive to the people that surround me... just because.

Thirdly, be careful. Jonathan has always been a cautious person. He wears helmets and seat belts and is pretty good at not seeking out danger... my best friend. But for some reason, he has been riding around without a helmet lately. He is lucky to be alive. I realized I should probably be more cautious and grateful when Sara reminds me to buckle-up or put a helmet on.

We're having a ......

Baby GIRL!

Here are pictures from my ultrasound today. Baby is healthy and has a strong heartbeat. Stanford wasn't able to make it to the ultrasound due to a work meeting that had come up at last minute. He didn't want to know what we were having until tonight so I made dinner - pasta with alfredo sause that I dyed pink, corn and french bread. I also had pink punch to drink. For dessert we had strawberry ice-cream and pink sugar cookies. I took lots of pictures but I can't get them to download at the moment so you'll have to wait for those. Oh, and I had a poem waiting for him before he ate. It read:

Ten Little Fingers, Ten Little Toes
Boy or Girl, you do not know
Trains and Trucks or Ribbons and Bows
A clue I'm sure you'd like to know

Not lots of blue or green or red
Will be found piled upon the baby's bed
But purple, white & lots of pink
We soon will find all over the sink.

The poem is a bit cheesy but my sister found it online and it was better than anything I would have come up with. She also gave me the food ideas. Now Stanford is making up songs while he's doing all the dishes (which I had to pull teeth to even get him to do). I wish I had a video camera to record his little songs...all about how life's not easy doing the dishes .... it makes me laugh!

Attack of the ...

SCORPION!!!!



Well, ok, it didn't really attack me, but on Friday night while I was home all alone I almost stepped on a baby scorpion that looked pretty similar to this one. It was in my livingroom AND I was barefoot. I just happened to catch a glimpse of it with my eye and almost had a heart attack when I looked closer and realized what it was. I quickly got a shoe and smashed the little beast and flushed it down the toliet. Stanford was pretty dissappointed I didn't get a picture of it but I was just happy I killed it before it got away! I was super paranoid to sleep that night thinking there were more of these little creatures around my house just waiting to come out and attack me (I'm being a bit dramatic, but I think you would be too if you had seen one of these). The next day Pest Control calmed me down and said not to worry unless I see another one. You can bet I've been checking behind pillows everytime I sit on the sofa or grab something from a bookshelf or looked at every spot on the floor.

Luckily ... there have been no more sightings and Stanford is now home to take a picture if the next one pops up.

Splurge

Today has been a MUCH better day. I woke up headache free and even though I had nausea on and off, I felt 10x's better than yesterday. Stanford has successfully made it to Utah and now I am home alone. This is how I have spent my evening thus far:

A trip to the mall to buy some maternity clothes. It wasn't the most successful trip ever but I came away with two tops - something is better than nothing.

Then I treated myself to this:



Then this . . .



And now I'm home watching this . . .



When Stanford called me a little while ago he was quite appalled at my choice of dinner for the evening. Me, I was perfectly happy with my pretzel, lemonade, and 1/2 lb. of handpicked See's. The house is still a mess, the trash waiting to be taken out, and yet I'm quite content sitting with my feet up, watching Ever After and enjoying the fact that I feel good. . . and not least bit guilty for the things I splurged on tonight.

I wonder what the next few days will bring?

I'm tired ...

• I'm tired of feeling sick all the time.

• I'm tired of having a headache for days on end.

• I'm tired of that headache turning into a migraine and leaving me so sick I can't keep anything down (the present situation)....even after I've taken zofran....the miracle nausea drug.

• I'm tired of throwing up.

• I'm tired of not being able to cook dinner for my husband or myself.

• I'm tired of my new system of doing laundry: put a load in the washer, change it to the dryer and then get my clothes out of the dryer only when I need them, instead of just folding the load when they are done. Then I finally start another load days later.
  

• I'm tired of having no energy.

• I'm tired of being on my feet all day at work and coming home and spending my evening on the sofa.

• I'm tired of my messy house. I just can't stay on top of it like I want to.
  

• I'm tired of being grouchy all the time (and I know my husband is tired of it too!!)

• And now I'm tired of complaining.
  

To combat my complaining episode, here are a few things I'm grateful for:

• I'm grateful Stanford will rub my shoulders and neck anytime I ask and has never once complained about it.

• I'm grateful Stanford cooks for me and will clean up the kitchen and take care of me.
  

• I'm grateful for my daily emails with my sister Tasha. She provides the love, support, and strength I need on a daily basis while at work and I love her to no end.

• In fact, I'm grateful for my whole family for their phone calls and check ups to see how I'm doing.

• I'm grateful to be pregnant and to be 18 weeks along with a little belly to show for it.

• I'm grateful that next week I will have my ultrasound to find out if I'm having a boy or a girl!

• And I'm grateful that Stanford should be home any minute to spend this evening with me before he heads off to Utah tomorrow for four days to be with his mom and sister!!!
  

How many Carly's???

This is the one photo I really wanted to our photographer to take but couldn't seem to get across the vision... finally I got it... ahhh:) Thanks, Carly for running across the lawn.

John Wayne Classic

Only the best Western movie ever made in the history of mankind... recently I convinced Sara to watch the movie "The Cowboys". She reticently agreed. My Dad was a big fan of Westerns so I saw a lot in my childhood. It is a genre I pretty much skip over these days because I saw too many when I was young.. that and Hawaii Five-0 episodes. But for some reason I've always wanted to watch this movie again... just to see if it was as good I remembered it.

Now this is a dangerous proposition because when I return to a movie I loved in my childhood there is always a chance that I will hate it the second time around... and suddenly that is one less memory I have to reminisce.

But if you take it for what it is... "The Cowboys" is the ultimate Western flick. It has classic frog in the classroom scene, it has the vintage Nigro... so politically incorrect, it has the stubborn man, it has death, it has a wild horse's spirit being broken, a very romantic display, it has prostitutes, vengeance... and everything romantic about Cowboys you could imagine has been packed into this short 120 minute movie... it is quite amazingly. Definitely, left me feeling like I didn't need to see another Western for the next ten years... but most definitely worth it... just remember to see it for what it is... and absorbed it... but don't be too disappointed if there are not any Indians.

Also, please check out my top ten movie list... I am thinking of putting "The Cowboys" on there.

Kayak Trip

On August 16th, Stanford, Taya and I set out for an 11 1/2 mile kayaking trip down the Colorado River. We planned this trip well in advance due to the limited number of launch permits they give out to kayakers. We were dropped off with a group at the base of the Hoover Dam and Stanford, Taya and I set out for our adventure at 9:15am ... due to meet at the end point at 3:30pm. The day was perfect: warm and sunny but with an an unexpected situation: wind. The wind didn't affect us too much the first few miles. We leisurely took our time and kayaked through caves and got out and explored a hot spring with a sauna cave, then swam around in the warm water.

After that we got back in our kayaks and set out to try and find another hot spring. It was a pretty rough couple miles that we were trying to get in synch with each others rowing and also battling the waves made by many jet ski's and boats. We finally got to a beach and decided to take a break and eat some lunch. This would be our last stop of the day (at 12:30pm) due to the strong winds that were starting up. We had 7 miles left to go and only 3 hours. It was quite an overwelming task ahead of us. As we set out we had no idea just how grueling it would be. I honestly don't know how we did it. I got sick at one of the windiest points in the trip and poor Stanford was in a kayak all by himself that was geared toward white water kayaking, not kayaking headlong into wind on a river. We were half an hour late to our destination and we really thought we'd never get there. But what kept us going was the beautiful scenery and the billy goats we would see every once in a while along the shore. And once we got to land and our arms were still intact, we thought, ah, we did it! And as we stumbled home and chatted about our triumph over the sea, we thought, hey, maybe next year we'll do it again....

Pregnancy Whoa's

I really can't wait to be through being sick with this pregnancy. It has really put me through the wringer. Yesterday was no exception. I made my first (and hopefully last) visit to the ER. As many of you know I suffer with migraines. And have since I was little. And usually taking medicine and sleeping in a nice dark room will make me better. But this has not been the case since I've been pregnant because there's really no medicine I feel comfortable taking except Tylenol when these migraines hit me. Which means I'm in incredible amounts of pain through most of the day and also throw up multiple times.

Well...yesterday I woke up with another one and after I tried to eat and take some Tylenol, I threw it right up. I knew it was going to be one of those days so I called in sick. But what usually happens is I throw up a bunch in the morning and then sleep as much as I can and usually can slowly start to get fluids and food back into me. Yesterday, I couldn't. It didn't matter what I put in my mouth, I just couldn't keep it down. I ended up getting so weak and dehydrated that I couldn't maintain my balance or stop shaking. After talking to my doctor I ended up getting my good friend Meridy to take me to the ER (Big thanks to you Meridy!!) . I'd never been to the ER but know they are not fun places to wait, especially at a county facility. I ended up waiting for close to 4 hours to get seen and another 3 1/2 before they sent me home. Once I got a room and some IV fluids in me I started to feel better. Poor Stanford came right before I got a room and then didn't feel good himself but sat quietly by my side for the remaining 3 hours I was there. We had a great resident and doctor and I was also able to get a nausea med through my IV because I was still throwing up in the room. But was able to eat and drink a little before I left.

But when I got home and tried eating some more, I couldn't keep it down. (It's the worst feeling ever to not be able to take care of my body the way I want to). I was so restless and hungry from not eating all day that I didn't think I would be able to sleep good, but I did, and even though it was on the sofa (since I could prop myself up better).

Now today is a new day! So far I've been able to keep fluids and a little food in me. I just pray that I can continue to do so. At least I am able to be at home and take it easy. The highlights of my day will include: taking a shower, picking up all the dishes that are lying around my house, and watching a movie. Oh, and eating what I can!! :-)

The cat's out of the bag ...

I'm pregnant!

I'm due February 27th! I'm about 12 weeks and have been VERY sick the last six weeks and still don't feel good. I'm really hoping that I'll start to feel better now that I'm heading into my second trimester.

I'm so excited to also be pregnant along with my sister, Tasha, who is due just a month ahead of me. She's finally going to be an aunt. And we get to walk along this pregnancy together!

I've had both an ultrasound and sonogram now and been able to see the little baby and hear the heart beat...so this baby is official. Stanford and I are SO excited!!!

Chad's Farewell & Family Pics

If you were there I probably took a picture of you.

(download the pictures)
(more pictures...)

Shout Out...

Sara is definitely not someone to secretly not mention "her birthday" especially the day of or the week of. She has been constantly reminding me for the last week... until this has official become her birthday week... wherein, favors are asked in the name of birthday week. Anyway, it has been great fun. Sara, HAPPY BIRTHDAY... HAPPY BIRTHDAY week!!!

Sara's omelet... in bed of course!!!