Baby's First Picture

Hello World!

My First Mother's Day

Some things are like clockwork. When the clock stops, it causes some apprehension, a little excitement, and even some nausea. The week before Mother's Day I found myself clutching a coupon for a pregnancy test and standing in line at Walgreens. Heck, I even bought a can of soda to chug down to ensure I could pee the requisite 5 seconds. I wasn't about to be the reason this thing wouldn't work. After we came home, I did the deed. While waiting, I threw my head into my pillow, unsure of which way I wanted this to turn out.

Moments later, our future changed. Thankfully it wasn't one of those tests with line/dash hieroglyphics. I don't think my heart could have handled waiting to decipher pregnancy code. So there we were, future parents. A crazy, but still intangible change in our lives. There were tears, hugs, and a little jumping up and down. We couldn't be happier. However, we wanted to to wait until Mother's Day to tell our families.

Three days. That's a long time to lie to your mother's face. And I imagined her reaction in every possible scenario, but her actual reaction exceeded my every expectation. The night after we found out we bought two tiny onesies that said "I have the best Grandma." We wrapped each of those in matching gift bags paired with extra positive pregnancy tests (I was far more confident in my abilities the second and third go-around.)

Daniel instigated that our mothers open their gifts before dinner on Mother's Day. I was so nervous I could have just let the moment go by without saying a word. The instant my mother recognized what she was opening a onesie she exploded in squeals of delight. I've never seen someone so happy. My dad shed a tear or two and my in-laws were equally thrilled. For the rest of dinner my mom periodically broke into a smile that forced her to laugh. She just couldn't contain it.

16 weeks later, here we are. We just found out that it's a little girl wiggling around in there. I fortunately haven't been very sick and my stomach is just starting to puff up like a balloon. Things are really good. And we can't wait for January 18th. 

Summer 2012 Recap

As lovely and warm as this summer has been, we haven't done much out of the ordinary. That's means there is a shortage of pictures....

• Daniel trekked through yet another semester--one more to go! 
• We celebrated Daniel's birthday eating lots of food, as you should on all holidays. He got a grill for some delicious summer cookin' and we had a great BBQ with friends and played some baseball. I may have ripped my pants wide open while playing... I just can't remember. 
• We found some tennis partners that we play with weekly. 
• I got called as our ward Primary President, which means I am president of the nursery and the three kids that are sometimes there. It is a pretty sweet gig.
• We celebrated the fourth of July in Driggs--Glenn Beck was not there this year, but the fireworks never disappoint. 
•  We partied hard for our third anniversary. We headed up to Heise Hot Springs and had a great day in the pool. Then we went to Idaho Falls and had dinner at the Snakebite, an awesome little local restaurant. 
• I turned 23--whoo! Norma (mom-in-law), my Mom, and I went out for pedicures. Daniel and I had a lovely lunch. Then my mom spoiled me to death with new clothes (of the maternity variety), and then we ate more excessive food at my parent's house.

That's all I think. It's been a good summer, but I'm feeling ready for fall. Hey, I'm ready for January....

Final Days in Utah

After we got home from Vegas we had a jammed packed week.

• Saturday: We had a triple date with our friends Andy & Sariah and Darla & Sam. We went out to dinner and to a Real Salt Lake soccer game. It was a surprisingly fun game. Afterwards we played games and such. 
• Sunday: Easter! We spoke at church and it was the most well-received talk either of us had given. We used a book I picked up at work and walked through the last seven days of the Savior's life, ending with Easter Sunday. I'll admit it was a different and interesting talk. We enjoyed preparing them. We really liked the ward we were in too. I wish we could have got to know them better.
• Monday: Checked out City Creek with Andy (for the third time). We went to a Jazz game (vs. the Spurs) with tickets we scored at Fanzz for buying $50 worth of stuff for the aforementioned Real Salt Lake game. 
• Tuesday: We had won tickets at my work party to the Hale Center Theater. We had a nice dinner out and then saw Zorro: The Musical. We loved it! It was a super small theater with the stage in the center. Quite a few of the cast were very talented! I'm happy to add it to the list of musicals I have seen live. 
• Wednesday: Went on a double date with Darla and Sam to a Thai restaurant in downtown Salt Lake called Sawadees. That was a first for almost all of us. It was delightful! It was even more sad since it was our last night there, but we had a really great time with Darla and Sam. (Don't worry guys, we'll be back). 
• Thursday: We caravan-ed back to Rexburg with Daniel's dad. I'm a little sad. And I miss my job. But here we are.

Vegas, Baby

New York-New York

In our final days of living in Utah, we decided to take our spring break down to Vegas. True, we aren't the usual spring break crowd, but I figured I need to see Vegas once in my life. (That's really all it takes).

I was actually really excited about Vegas at first. I thought it was so cute and cheesy. But after three days of walking up and down the dirty Strip I was certainly done.

Caesar's Palace

M&M Factory

I was hoping for more out of the M&M "Factory"--it's a four story store. But it was cute.

Our hotel

 Our hotel was great. We were literally at the furthest end of the hotel and it was really quiet and pretty high up. Everything there was white so it felt more like Miami than Las Vegas. We spent the warmest of the days chillin at the pool, which was absolutely great. Not to mention, I saw Joey Fatone eating at the fancy restaurant at our the hotel. We totally made eye contact.

Hash House A-Go-Go

 We love to hit up our Travel Channel favorites which included chicken and waffles at Hash House A-Go-Go. We even went back later that week for lunch (yes we ate all that for breakfast). We kinda got used to eat two enormous meals a day. I'm not entirely sure we have adjusted out of that schedule yet.

Chicken and Waffles!

Pawn Stars

Paris or Vegas?

 We went shopping at the Vegas Outlets, the Caesar's Palace, and some other mall. Then we hit up the wax museum. It was surprisingly cool. However, all those stars better not be that short because I felt enormous.

 The Bellagio fountains were pretty awesome. Surprisingly cool.We also ate at the Bellagio buffet. Suprisingly uncool. We waited FOREVER to eat at nine thirty at night and, sure, the food was some of the best buffet food that I've ever had, but after dying of thirst in line and waiting that long. It was not worth the price tag.

 We enjoyed the lights down at the "Glitter Gulch" more than the Strip. They were more classic, old Las Vegas. I did have some drunk girls yell at me and a solicitor compliment me way too much. Vegas people are odd.

Vegas has some highs and lows. I'm glad we went. We planned on visiting the Hoover Dam, but we were too tired and I felt sick so we hit the road home.

Bye Bye Brother

 We said good-bye to little brother at the end of March. The drop-off at the MTC was pretty uneventful. We literally pulled up to the curb and then off he went!

A Day in the Life...

Our time in Utah is coming to a close, so here we are documenting our little journey. I snapped some pictures of how my day usually goes.

• Morning commute with my carpool buddy (Daniel)
• Off to the Deseret Book store or to the Corporate offices on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
• Daniel drops me off and continues his drive up to Layton.
• I work until four/four-thirty each day.
  
• Head home, and if I am feeling ambitious I actually make dinner.
• The end.
  

This is the actually building that I work in. It is on the opposite side of the store as the original Deseret Book offices.


This is the view from the office that the Director of Merchandising shares with me. Not too shabby huh?

I love working downtown and so close to Temple Square. I've met some interesting people and some very important people. I've met Sheri Dew, Ardeth Kapp, Kristen Oaks, Harriet Utchdorf, and other artists and authors that have come in. It has been a wonderful experience and I will be sad to see it end in two weeks.