Baby Shower

A few pictures from the shower my work threw for me. We got some really cute outfits. Is there anything cuter than little baby clothes? I think not. Well, except for maybe little babies dressed in their cute clothes :) Anyways, it was a sort of combined baby shower/going away party. My last day is Friday March 26th (unless baby has other ideas and decides to come early). I've loved working here at the chiropractic college. Not only for all the perks I get (free chiropractic and acupuncture care, discounted tuition for Cory, lunch time with Cory, etc) but because I've loved the people I've worked with. I was truly blessed to land this job. It's been the perfect fit and has blessed our family tremendously. I'm excited for baby to come... but I'm definitely going to miss working here and miss all the great people who make this a wonderful place to work!

Sacred Snow

Our friends Matt & Renee finally came to visit us! After what I believe has been 4 other unsuccessful attempts to visit us, they finally made it. It sure was fun to see them, and meet their son Jaeden. Of course, we did what we've done for all other visitors... go see the church historical sights.

We didn't take a ton of pictures (mostly because we've already got a bunch from other trips to the sights)... but we did get a few of a snowy Sacred Grove. Most people don't get to see it in the winter ('cause let's face it, it's cold!) But it's very peaceful and pretty. We didn't see anyone else in the grove our whole time there.

It was a quick trip for the Memmotts. But it was very nice to see them and get to spend a little time together. People always ask us if we're going to miss New York when we move... and the answer is yes, at least certain parts. How many other people get to live in the Cradle of the Restoration? We've been here for (almost) 4 years... living right where the Church was reorganized... getting to tour these sacred sights so many times that we've lost count. It's special every single time we go. We'll miss it, definitely.

32 weeks

Alright, as you can see from my weird smile, I dislike posing for pictures. But it does show off nicely our growing baby. I'm now 32 weeks (almost 33) and feeling more and more uncomfortable. Baby seems to be growing straight out... looking at me from the back, you wouldn't even know I was pregnant. Various muscles and ligaments have all started giving me grief, so thank heavens that I'm married to a wonderful man... who (conveniently) happens to be a chiropractor! I was already a big fan of chiropractic... and now I'm an even bigger fan. It's helped so much ease some of the aches and pains.

Baby is very active, kicking and punching me quite often. He even gets the hiccups. He's head down and his little feet are up in my ribs (just one of those aches!) I can sometimes feel his feet through my skin and see them as he's moving them... which is a fantastically strange sensation!

We don't have much other exciting news to share. I pretty much go to work, go to the gym, make dinner and then sit on the couch (or sit on the couch while Cory makes dinner). It's a really exciting life :) We've started to pack some stuff up, so we can sell some furniture that we don't plan on bringing with us. We've got a tour of the hospital planned for next week, we're going to a cloth diapering class, and we've been reading lots of books and watching natural childbirth videos. Like I said, exciting.

I am putting together a list of what needs to go in the 'take-to-the-hospital' bag (for both Cory & I). I've got a fairly extensive list, but feel free to comment about what you thought was essential. There's always the chance you think of something that we haven't. Also, for those couple of people who have asked - we are registered at Target. Please don't take this to mean you have to buy us presents... it's just an FYI. Our ward is throwing us a shower, and the college is throwing us a shower/goodbye party and we're telling people that gift cards would be wonderful gifts. The less stuff we have to move, the better :)

Less than 2 months 'til baby makes his big debut! We're so excited!

What's wrong with this picture?

Read the first paragraph of this article (click on it to make it larger):


Now, I've only read the Twilight series a few times (double digits still count as a 'few', right?). I don't recall reading anything about a character named Carlisle Cooper. Cooper? Seriously, I ripped this page right out of my Good Housekeeping magazine. Doesn't anyone proofread anymore?!? Having worked for a few college newspapers for a number of years, and being involved in that proofreading process, I totally understand how small errors slip by. But Carlisle Cooper? Come on, this is a book series that has sold over 85 million copies worldwide. I find this to be extremely amusing ... and a little embarrassing for Good Housekeeping. But too funny not to share!

Happy holidays for us

I know, Christmas was a few weeks ago... but I'm just getting around to posting our pictures on the blog. We had a wonderful Christmas. We drove down to D.C. to spend it with our friends Em & Brett. I think this was our 5th visit to D.C. but we wanted to see the sights at Christmas, and we never pass up the chance to see Em & Brett. They're like family to us. Plus, we all got to spend a few days in New York City together, and that was wild.

Christmas tree in front of the Capitol Building.

The White House

The White House Christmas tree... though not as close to the White House as I thought it was going to be...

Christmas morning. Abby was too cute while opening presents. The present she's unwrapping is actually mine (and I'm very excited to read it!) but since all she wanted to do was unwrap the presents, she opened some that weren't technically hers. She'd unwrap one, look at it, toss it aside, and grab for another one. Too cute! Cory & I decided that we're just going to wrap up empty boxes for our little one this Christmas...

Christmas dinner. Delicious!!!

Wreaths at Arlington Cemetery. Very cool to see!



Mount Vernon, home of George Washington. It's right on the Potomac River. Very picturesque.

Washington DC temple, at night. They do a mini-temple square, and decorate all the surrounding trees. Very pretty.

Brett, Em, me, Cory

The Monday following Christmas, we drove up to New York City. We wanted to see all the NYC Christmas sights. This is Rockefeller Center. And no, we didn't ice skate, since it apparently costs $50 per person to do so. Ack! But it was fun to watch :)

The famed Rockefeller Center tree.

Em & I, looking quite awesome in our 2010 glasses.

Macy's Department Store.

One of Macy's decorated windows.

Ground Zero. Every other time we've been there, it's just been a hole in the ground. It's nice to see they're actually constructing something. We visited the church that's across the way, and they had many artifacts and posters memorializing 9/11. It doesn't seem to matter how many times I've seen it... I still choke up.

Times Square. You can see the pole that the ball drops down. Apparently the ball wasn't out... we think because it was so very windy.

I'm putting up this unflattering picture of me so maybe you can appreciate how cold it was. The temperature was only in the teens and the wind was gusting up to 50 mph... making it feel about 0. I'm wearing 4 layers on the top, plus my coat. I'm getting big enough that fitting into my coat without 4 layers is challenging... Cory had to literally zip me in and I could barely move. I felt like Randy from A Christmas Story...

Em, Brett, me - on the decorated streets of New York City.

Like I said, we had a very good time. Baby was actually pretty well behaved, and I only threw up twice the entire trip... and luckily it wasn't on the streets of NYC or on the subway. We're grateful for good friends who feel like family, when we couldn't be with family for the holidays. It was an awesome vacation, and we enjoyed every minute of it! We got back to our house on the 30th (no, we didn't want to stay at Times Square to see the ball drop; we watched it from the comfort of our warm living room). We vegged for New Years, watching as much football as possible, and eating lots of stuff that was tasty (but not nutritious). An excellent way to start the new year!

How cute are these boots?

My birthday was this past Sunday, and these boots were my present from Cory. So cute! We went out to dinner on Saturday to Buffalo Wild Wings (which I'd been craving for weeks) to celebrate and unfortunately, my food didn't stay down. Sigh. But it sure was yummy while it lasted. We had a nice, laidback Sunday and Cory made me dinner. Luckily that stayed down :)

I've wanted a rocking chair for years. Even more now that we're expecting; I want to put it in the baby's room. This was my dad's present to me for my birthday/Christmas. It's genuine Amish handcrafted. It's so pretty and I'm so excited about it. It will be nice to have a tangible souvenir to take home to Utah with us from New York. Other than all the pictures and memories, of course.

Wonderful Weekend

We had a very nice Thanksgiving weekend. We stayed in town and had dinner with a family in our ward. Of course, I took my camera and then forgot to take a group picture. The Simmons family has been a true blessing to Cory & I. I tutor 3 of the kids with their math homework, so that's been an additional source of income. They often feed me dinner when I'm there (and then pay me on top of that). They graciously welcomed us into their home for Thanksgiving, and let us bring all our laundry, so we didn't have to go to the laundry-mat (one of my least favorite things to do, especially whilst pregnant).

As we were eating the delicious feast Deena made, we went around the table and said the things we were grateful for. Cory said he was grateful for the true gospel and that no matter where you live, there's always a ward family there to take you in. The Simmons family has done that for us - taken us in while we're so far from home. I'm grateful to them for that. I'm also grateful for Cory, for I don't think I would have survived these past 5 months without him. As much as this pregnancy has been not fun, I'm so grateful that Cory and I will get to welcome a beautiful little spirit into our family.

Instead of going shopping on Black Friday, we slept in, cleaned house and went to a tree farm and cut down our Christmas tree.


We played Christmas music and decorated the tree. It was a nice alternative to the craziness that is Black Friday. Normally I love Black Friday shopping, but we live so far from any stores ... and I'm 5 months pregnant and just so very lazy :) We did venture out to the malls on Saturday, and just about completed all of our shopping. Hooray for us!

Here's a picture of the decorated tree:

And a picture of me at 23 weeks, with the tree. People keep saying to me "wow, you look pregnant" ... which I guess is a good thing, since I only have 4 more months to go!