39 week update...

Dilated: 1 1/2 cm

Effaced: 80%

Contractions: 0

Butt: 3 times the size it used to be...

Name: Still not chosen (talk to Dan about that one...)

Safari Baby Shower

My friend Teri threw me the greatest safari themed baby shower this weekend! She is quite possibly the most creative person I know, and she really went out of her way to make sure we all had a great time...she even came up with games, even though she hates games! Below, you will see the incredible cupcakes she made...as well as the diaper cake...



A few days before the shower, Teri informed me that only a few people had RSVP'd, which made me very worried that I don't have any more friends. In fact, with my crazy pregnancy hormones and all, I may or may not have shed a few tears about this fact...especially as I am still mourning the loss of my dear friend Sho. However, lo and behold, tons of people came! It was so great to see some old friends that I haven't seen for a while. The shower was held outside, and it was a little hot...and the cupcakes may have melted a little bit, but they were still delicious.

Thank you to all of you who were able to make it to the shower...it was so fun!

Rest In Peace, SMK

In memory of a dear friend who was taken from us before her time...

Yellowstone

This might seem unbelievable but, despite living within driving distance of several national parks, Dan and I have never been to most of them. However, in July this year, we got to check Yellowstone off of our "Must Visit" list! We went on a super fun, extra long weekend trip with our friends Mark, Lisa, Dave, and Brooke. Our first stop...The Grand Tetons!

Now, despite my engorged belly (that was really getting bigger every minute of the day...) I was actually very excited to go hiking in Yellowstone...until the Geyser Walk. I'm sure all of you who have been to Yellowstone probably feel that the infamous Geyser Walk is a nice little walk...well, for me, it was a hike. It didn't help that I was not aware of the lack of shade and the fact that we would be out in the sun for 3 hours...it also was not helpful that each of us only brought one little eight ounce water bottle to tide us over. By the end of the walk, the geyser water was looking mighty refreshing...even though it was filled with sulphur and was probably more than 100 degrees. But we saw some very interesting sights, including:

Old Faithful

A hot spring...that is boiling. I did NOT want to drink this...

But this hot spring looked very refreshing...
And this geyser was my favorite...it was the most fun to watch, and exploded for hours on end.

This is the extent of our wildlife viewing...bison (up) and prairie dogs (down). Actually, we spotted a moose as we were leaving the park, but there was no time to stop for a picture. Every bathroom we went into warned us of the dangers of getting too close to the bison...but an entire family of bison was just hanging out by the cars on our way back from the geyser walk...I would have posted the picture of the baby bison but, frankly, it was pretty ugly (and I am hesitant to post pictures of ugly babies on here because I am trying to convince Dan that all babies are cute...). Our goal for the trip was to see a bear...and I would have been content with bear cubs. But no matter how much food we left outside our camper, we didn't see a single one... We camped at a different camp sight every night...and when I say "camped", I mean we slept in the luxury of a wonderful trailer. And, not only did we get the luxury of the trailer, but Dan and I were blessed to sleep in the queen sized bed (for the baby, you know...) while the others crammed themselves into different spots that just did not look comfortable at all. I was surprised that Brooke and Dave never rolled off their bunk. However, despite the comforts of the gigantic bed, Dan still didn't sleep very well...apparently I kept stealing the blanket. It was for the baby...

Almost every night of the trip, we made s'mores...yum. I could go for one right now! At several of the campsites we were taken over by bugs, so we had to make our s'mores quickly...and before it got dark (because the really scary bugs come out after dark). Below, you can see Dave, Mark, and Dan toasting away. We tried several different techniques to make the perfect s'more...specifically focusing on getting the chocolate to melt. We started by placing the graham cracker with chocolate on it on the grill over the coals...this technique worked very well to melt the chocolate (a little TOO well, if you ask me...) but it often burned the cracker a little, as well as a few of our fingers when trying to retrieve it off the grill. After several other failed attempts, I discovered my favorite technique. I call it the "Double Decker"...you take a graham cracker and toasted marshmallow on it...then put some chocolate on that while you work on toasting your second marshmallow, which you then place on top of the chocolate, then top it off with a graham cracker...this way the chocolate melts, but does not get sooooo melty that it drips onto your shoes (or pants, or belly...not that I have any experience with that sort of thing...). Below, you will see a picture of Dan's final attempt at making the ultimate s'more. At first, we were calling it the "Widow Maker", but it's official name now is "The Vacation Ender".

Thanks again Mark and Lisa! What a fun trip!

In case you haven't heard...

I recently got my hair cut! What do you think?

Yes, I know...I look like I am under the influence in this picture. But really, I'm just tired...

Ok, that was probably not the news many of you wanted to be reading about, so here it is...We are having a baby! We tried to keep it a secret there for a while, but SOME people (who shall remain nameless...but you know who you are, SMK!) made every attempt possible to tell everyone we know about this baby. In case you haven't heard the details, we are having a boy and he is due on October 15th. That means right now I am in the 23rd week which is a good way into the second trimester.

Let me tell you 10 things I LOVE about being an incubator...

1) I LOVE receiving daily notifications from the What to Expect website...they really keep me up to date on what is going on in my uterus. For example, today I learned that the baby's face is almost completely formed, and he can hear not only me but all sorts of things going on around me. I have been making it a point to sing every day in my car so the baby can get to know my voice (and so that when he is young he will think I'm the best singer ever and should be on American Idol...). I specifically like the produce analogies...I believe my baby is currently the size of a large squash (not the State Fair kind of squash, just a normal large squash...).

2) I LOVE that after the first 14 weeks I no longer felt sick every day, so now I can enjoy eating again! However, I could really do without the heartburn...

3) I LOVE that I can finally tell people "No, I'm not just getting chubbier...there's a baby in there!"...I've been wanting to say that for years!

4) I LOVE that Dan cooks dinner every night...I know this is partially because I get home so late from work but I also know that it is partially because I am carrying his love child...

5) I LOVE that when we moved into our new house, we found a PLETHORA of baby products (including a crib, changing table, toddler bed, and an assortment of baby boy clothes), and now we can use them all! This house just keeps on giving!

6) I LOVE reading about all the things I should and should not be doing while pregnant...and I love when the information I read is actually useful! Here is an example: How many of you know what Fifth Disease is? I didn't either. I read about it in a baby book and shared all my new knowledge with my spouse, who immediately reminded me that I am a hypochondriac and that it is not helpful for me to read about all these diseases because they just freak me out. Just for your information, it is the fifth of the childhood skin rashes (including scarlet fever, rubella, and measles, among others) and often causes spontaneous abortions in pregnant women. The week after reading about this disease, I went to work and found out that one of my clients had Fifth Disease...what is the chance of that happening!?!?!? Honestly, if I had not read about this, I would have just gone to the child's home and been infected! My baby boy has had his first near death experience!

7) I LOVE that I am not really craving anything sweet. Dan is not too thrilled about this...he was hoping that my cravings would result in numerous weekly trips to get soft serve ice cream for the both of us. Unfortunately for him, I just want fruits! The reason I'm glad I don't want sweets is that I am hoping this will help me keep my weight down, stop me from getting gestational diabetes, keep my baby from weighing 13 pounds when he's born, and keep him from wanting sweet things (so that I can keep them all to myself!)

8) I LOVE that I can blame my mood swings and bipolar behavior on the fact that "I'm PREGNANT!" SOME people might say that I am really mean these days...especially after 10:00pm...and that I am more demanding and less appreciative. None of those things are true...I am actually very pleasant between the hours of 8:00am and 6:00pm...unfortunately, all those hours are spent with my coworkers so SOME people don't get to see my pleasant side...

9) I LOVE feeling little kicks in my lower abdomen. So far they are not annoying me...they just help me to know he's still alive in there and very active. He's kicking more and more every day...now I just want Dan to feel these kicks, but so far no luck.

10) I LOVE that Dan tells me all the time to relax and not overdo it...isn't that sweet? Sometimes I still overdo it a little (because my stupid yard needs weeding every single day of my life...).

The Entertaining Game

It took us two months to update the blog and now everyone gets two posts in two days. Anyways, yesterday I posted about the free Bees tickets my dad won. We went to the game tonight and it was awesome. We got to see former allstar John Lackey make his rehab start. He went 4.2 innings with 3 strikeouts, 1 hit, and 1 walk. Besides getting to see him pitch, the game was incredible for two other reasons. In the fourth inning, the Bees hit not one, but two grand slams. This was the first time in Bees history and only the third time in the history of the Pacific Coast League that it has happened. The other record was the first time in Bees history that the team has had a 9 inning 1 hitter. Good offense and good defense, combined with great weather and you've got a great game. The Bees won 13-0, scoring 13 runs on only 12 hits.

The Big Update

It has been quite a while since we last updated the blog. I'm sure we'll leave something out, but here are some of the things that have happened since moving into the house:

1. We've started to work on the basement. My dad, grandpa, and I spent a Saturday framing the storage room and moving a light fixture into it. Then we spent this past Saturday along with Aaron putting up the drywall in the room. Over the next few days I will finish mudding, taping, and painting it to make sure it is ready to install the shelves. Pictures will follow at some point.

2. We attended the wedding of Jorden's friend Chantel to Juan a couple Saturdays ago, then this past Saturday we went to Juan's baptism.

3. Softball season started. So far we won the first game (19-16) and lost the second game (12-19).

4. Golf season also started. I've only played 36 holes so far. 18 holes with Aaron and 2 rounds of 9 holes with Sam. This season has started off well and I've already shaved almost a half a stroke off of my handicap.

5. Tonight was the beginning of the second annual "Summer Monday Night Movie Night." Each Monday for FHE we go to a movie with Shoshanah, schedules permitting. We kicked things off with X-Men Origins: Wolverine which was pretty entertaining.

6. This past Saturday we watched an incredible Kentucky Derby. I hope everyone saw the amazing come from behind victory of Mine That Bird at 50-1 odds. To put this in perspective, I read that Mine That Bird was bought for $9,500 while one of the favorites, Dunkirk, was bought for $3.7 million. If you didn't see it check out the Kentucky Derby website and watch it.

7. Easter Sunday we went up to my parent's house for dinner.

8. We found our lost Cheesecake Factory giftcard that Jorden's parents gave me for graduation last year and went up to Salt Lake to celebrate with some delicious cheesecake.

9. Jorden has been hosting parties left and right at our house, including, but not limited to: Chantel's bridal shower, her bookclub, and a team activity with her coworkers.

10. We are still unpacking boxes, slowly but surely we'll get this house like we want it.

11. Jorden got a church calling as a visiting teaching supervisor. I still don't have a calling, but I am definitely not complaining.

12. My dad won a radio contest on 1280 The Zone. The contest was to suggest a name for a Kentucky Derby racehorse that had to do with the Utah Jazz. His winning horse's name was "My Girl Boozer," earning him two tickets to tomorrow night's Bees game. We'll be seeing John Lackey make a rehab start. Hopefully it will be an entertaining game.

Hopefully now that summer is rolling around we'll have some interesting events to post about.

New Home Tour: Carpet

Old:

New:

We recarpeted everything in the house that was carpeted. The guy the sent to tear out the carpet and lay the new carpet called me in the early afternoon asking if he could come back the next day and finish. I came to the house to lock up and he told me he had hurt his knee by dropping a roll of carpet on it and he was in too much pain to finish. He felt bad that he couldn't finish that day so I convinced him to do the stairs like this, rather than the waterfall style we had paid for. It would have cost us an extra $5 per step for this, but we got it for free. They look so much better like this.

New Home Tour: Master Bedroom

First of all, we haven't yet thanked all of those who have helped work on the house. Thanks to Shoshanah ( who further damaged her rotator cuff painting walls in our home), to Dad, Mom, Megan, Uncle Gary, Matt (for the 20-30 minutes of actual work I think we got out of him), Grandpa, Sam and Jen. We only have one before picture of the master bedroom and it is of the ceiling fixture (Jorden was the photographer and we didn't think of before and after pictures until afterwards). Anyways...

Old:

New:

We did the following to the master bedroom:

1. Painted the walls "Chocolate Froth."

2. Painted the closet shelves white.

3. Recarpeted.

4. Broke our vacuum cleaning up all of the little carpet pieces. A new vacuum was just another of the many surprises we've had to purchase since we moved in.

New Home Tour: Entryway

New:

We did the following to the front entryway:

1. Painted the walls "guacamole green."

2. Replaced the front doorknob and deadbolt, which we also had done in the kitchen and dining room on the doors to the outside.

3. Replaced the doorstop to chrome to match all of the door handles throughout the house. (This is something I forgot to mention on the post about the entire house, we took down the gold doorknobs and made everything chrome.)

New Home Tour: Dining Room

Old:

New:

The changes we made to the dining room are:

1. Bought and assembled two stools so that we can eat meals sitting at the island.

2. Painted the wall that connects to the kitchen the "guacamole green."

3. Painted the wall that connects to the stairs and hall "chocolate froth."

4. Put a cover on one of the exposed holes in the wall that used to be an outlet.

5. Replaced the blinds on the left window.

6. Removed the chair rail, only to find they had left wallpaper underneath it. We had to steam off the wallpaper before we could prime, texture some parts of the wall, and paint.

7. Couldn't find a sconce that matched to replace the one that was missing so we removed the other three and patched the holes.

New Home Tour: Entire House

As Shoshanah mentioned in her comment, there are a few things that we did universally through all the rooms:
1. We cleaned every room top to bottom.
2. We sanded rough spots on every wall we painted.
3. We spackled all of the holes throughout the house.
4. We prepared all of the rooms except the bathrooms to be painted. I think we would be happy if we never saw another roll of blue tape or another bucket of paint.
5. Jorden wants it specifically stated that all of the baseboards were painted!

New Home Tour: Kitchen

We've been super busy working on the house getting ready to move in, so over the next few days we'll give you a walkthrough of the house as well as let you know what we've done with every spare moment we weren't working.

Old:

New:

Don't mind the mess of painting supplies and tools, but we made the following changes to the kitchen:

1. Painted the walls a green we call "guacamole green" over the old red/maroon.

2. Replaced the surge protector that was hanging from the microwave behind the stove with an extension cord that sits along the wall.

3. Replaced the fluorescent light fixture with a 3 bulb fixture that we can point where we want and won't have the sensation that we are still at work in a cubicle.

4. Fixed the broken hinge on one of the cupboard doors.

5. Bought a new fridge because the old one was not left open at all during the months they had been out of the house without power and it was covered with mold inside.

6. Tightened the loose faucet.

We Finally Did It....

We bought a house!!! Today at 4:00 pm we closed on our new home in Orem. We don't get keys until tomorrow so it hasn't quite set in yet that we are homeowners, but we are super excited to get into a home of our own. We'll be living much closer to both of our offices, which is nice. Over the next few weeks we plan to paint and recarpet before we move our things in. Here is the view from the outside. When we've moved in we'll get more pictures posted. Wish us luck!