Blabbing

I had SO much fun at my wonderful baby shower last night with all my wonderful friends from work. I'm feeling so grateful to love where I work and love the people I work with. I think it's pretty rare to be that good of friends with your co-workers. I'm also grateful to have a job that I can come back to after baby boy is born. I'll post pictures and write a little more in detail a bit later... but I just wanted to post a little note and say thank you to my wonderful friends who took such good care of me and little one. Scott and I are getting so excited, and I'm getting much closer to pretending that I'm almost ready to say that I'm ready for the baby. I don't know how anyone can ever really be ready to have a baby. Maybe I'll be singing a different tune in a month from now... but as of now, I'm still feeling the pressure!

We have a busy weekend planned for the 4th! I've been looking forward to it as if it were a vacation. It's already July. In fact, the next couple months are filled with a lot of busyness. I'm hoping my energy stays up and my body cooperates for the next 8 weeks while we wait for the baby, because there's no time to slow down!!

Scott continues to do well in school and work. He's busy too, but there's something wonderful about summer that makes us feel like we have more time together doing what we love. We got in my parents' pool a couple days ago, which felt incredible! I loved feeling weightless and cool for the first time all summer. We got to visit with Bob, Dana, and Lizzie while we all sat around enjoying the perfect evening weather. The evenings are lengthened so Scott can fit in evening mountain bike rides, and we go on a ton of walks and hikes in the mountains and canyons just up from our house. I'm feeling lucky to be able to be as active as I am in my 8th month, but I'm also excited for little man to come out so Scott can take a turn at carrying him up a hill!

I'm thinking it's about time I print out the blog books I've had on my eternal to-do list. I have one for 2008 (Our dating year), 2009 (Our 1st year of marriage), and 2010 (Our 2nd year of marriage) all ready to go, for the most part. I need to do some editing, but then they're ready to print. I just need to get around to doing it. I figured starting 2011 and printing the other 3 will be a good post-baby project to keep me sane while being house-bound. I've been using blurb. Does anyone have another favorite or suggestions?

Today's my day off. I've been organizing YW camp, cleaning bathrooms, folding laundry, organizing the baby's room, scrubbing walls and baseboards and cleaning out cupboards and drawers. It feels good to get the schtuff done.

A Collection of Goods

It is SO WEIRD to feel a little human moving around inside you. I can be totally relaxed, laying down even, and I can watch my belly wiggle and jiggle around without my consent or control. It's so weird.

We've had a lot of little-man-themed fun the past week. My sister hosted my first baby shower last Monday, which was so much fun!







I was able to hang with my aunts/cousins/grandma/mom/sister while chatting and opening wonderful gifts for our little guy. We love all of the fun little baby things, and it definitely started to feel more real now that I actually have stuff to put in the baby's room. My mom and sister put in a lot of work for the shower, and I had a wonderful time. It really kick-started my excitement for little man to make his debut.

We were also lucky enough to go to Santa Barbara for the weekend for a baby shower with Scott's family and family friends. We were showered with love and gifts in Santa Barbara, and it was so nice to get to spend time with Lynne and Rick for a few days. It's always nice to take a trip to the beach, load up on supplies at Trader Joe's, hang out at the house, and devour a Blenders or two. Scott was able to have a brief surf session too, which was an unexpected surprise.









Lynne made us the most beautiful Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy dolls (with blue hair for a boy!). I'll have to post pictures of them. I love love love them and I'm sure our little man will too! Scott's family had a thing for the Raggedy's and so did we! We've both dressed up as Raggedy's for Halloween too! I should dig up some pictures.

A couple weeks ago we were able to participate in the annual O.C. Tanner Lagoon Day! Wahoo! I don't think I had been to Lagoon since my 8th grade graduation. Ten years... could that be possible?? Ha ha... Scott's never been and had to go to class that night, so he has yet to experience the germ-infested chaos! Someday, Scott. It was so much fun to chase Keek's kids around Lagoon. Andrew was so brave and went on all the scary rides. Ben and I went on a ride where we managed to get soaked. SJ just wanted to be out and about instead of confined to her stroller. Andrew was such a good big brother and took good care of his siblings when they'd go on the rides together. We ate at the big BBQ and finished the night off with some dip n' dots. Isn't that the whole point of going? The dip n' dots? It's the only reason I go to the zoo.

I'm almost through this catch up stuff!! Congratulate me.

Painting Backyard Hikes

We have been loving our little back yard hikes. We went for a walk up to Ensign Peak on Sunday (after hearing a Sacrament talk about its history, which was kind of fun). These pictures are from Memorial Day. SLC was cursed with terrible weather, and we weren't able to head down to Moab with Matt and Loral because it was also Johnny's homecoming and Espen's farewell. So we did the best we could! We drove up some canyons to find someplace dry to hike, but everywhere we went was muddy and snowy, so we settled for a low-key afternoon painting up on the mountains behind our house.

We love to do these random painting days. This one was particularly fun because we had a light drizzle of rain on us through most of it, and it was just so fresh and clean-smelling.

Scott painted the view behind us, with the rain falling down over the eastern mountain bench. You can't tell from the picture I took, but he hit it pretty much dead on. I love spending time just coloring or painting. I also love to see what Scott creates. I'm impressed with how he sees the world because he doesn't see colors like we do. So fun.


I painted the view in front of where we were sitting with the spring explosion of wild sunflowers. I love to imagine the Salt Lake valley when the pioneers first settled the area. The entire valley was covered with these sunflowers. I can't think of anything more perfect that a world that spontaneously blossoms in sunflowers. It is gorgeous!!

Isn't Salt Lake gorgeous in the Spring! Even a rainy day is beautiful because it paints the city green. Most people miss this gorgeous time of the year because it's so quick! Everyone is waiting for the sunshine of summer, but spring is just so gorgeous. If you're not watching for it, you'll miss it! It's just like the fall. People miss the color in the canyons because they're waiting for the snow or they think the world is dead. But it's not! I just love the mountains and the seasons.

Because People Don't Believe Me...

I am pregnant! And I look it! No, I'm not 16. Yes, I have finished high school (I even finished college a few years ago!) Yes, I'm aware that I'll still have braces on when I have my first baby.

I haven't been one for profile pictures documenting my rapid expansion week by week. Part of that is because I haven't really been showing for all that long. This picture was taken at 28 weeks. That's a little less than 2 weeks ago. I look about the same now. We're about 30 weeks along!

In a Balloon

We were supposed to be way up high in the sky in a hot air balloon. We got up bright and early. We were so excited to go! (Wonderful surprise from my husband, right?) These were our excited 5am faces! (This was also before we got any sun this season... we were still dealing with snow storms at the end of May... so hence the pale morning faces).

And then... FAIL! We get a call on our way up to Park City and hear that the weather threat is too great. We're still in the process of rescheduling. I think this is the grossest face I've made in a long long time. But I think Scotty well-portrays our sadness.

Scott's Dirty Dash Pics

I've found them! Scott should have been a lot muddier, right? I'll make sure that he is next year!




Do you like my blue tongue? Free snow cones! I could have eaten my weight in them (which is a lot these days!)

Long lost hikes

This might have been over General Conference in April! I plugged my camera into the computer and realized how old some of those pictures are! This was a hike we did behind our house with Adam and Bekah before the left for the summer. Adam wears a retainer that fills in the gap in his teeth... so that should explain the hillbilly fun he and Scott are having. I love where we live because our back yard is full of gorgeous hikes that we can do spur of the moment. These are wonderful mountains. Scott and I got engaged in these mountains, and we're up in them at least once a week. Makes for the perfect evening walk (especially for those of us who are pregnant and now get winded walking up stairs... let alone a mountain! It's just the perfect length.)

Cheep Cheep Cheep Talk a Lot, Pick a Little More...

Can you believe it? Even with all that catch-up I've still got a list of things to get through! I'm going to take a bit of a break from all the talking.

Brain Bookmark:

Post Dirty Dash Pictures (on my camera)

Lagoon Day

The Cabin (Pictures on my camera)

My 1st Baby Shower!

Scotty's Birthday

Three in a Saturday...

Dirty Dash

We started two Saturdays ago with a morning up in Soldier Hollow where Scotty was running the Dirty Dash with his coworkers. I was SO jealous watching Scott run in the mud, and he came out WAY TOO clean. when I run it with him next year, I will make sure he doesn't get away with a clean shirt.

The Dirty Dash is a race through mud and obstacle courses. There's walls to jump over, tires to crawl through, a slip in slide to "clean off" and a giant mud pit at the end to make sure that you're good and gross. I actually have a few pictures of us before and after the race, but Scott ran too fast for me to find him on the actual course. Crazy kid got first in his heat.

Drue's 16th Birthday

Scott showered off to the best of his abilities, we got some cheese curds and ice cream at a dairy farm for the drive home (doesn't that sound healthy?), and made our way home for a quick (real) shower for Scott. Then we had to dash over to my cousin's birthday party. My cousin Drue turned 16 years old, and the whole neighborhood came together to surprise her. It was so great to be with family and all my old neighbors (we used to live in Drue's house before she did). I was so proud of Drue and it was so fun to watch her see all the people that came just to celebrate her. Her parents got her to come to the party by telling her that there was a baby bird on the ground of her neighbor's garden that had fallen out of its nest, and she went running to the back yard to check out the situation.

Real SL Game

We have so much fun going to Real games. We went to one a few weeks ago, but it was so so rainy that we decided sitting in the rain wasn't the best idea for our recent colds. Grandma, buy a shawl.

But we went to one just two weeks ago with Johnny, Kirsten, Nick, and Andrew. That was a blast. It was fun to have a night with just Andrew so he felt special and grown-up. And it was an awesome game. Thank you Dad for the tickets! Real games are so fun to watch, and it's so nice to be out in the sunshine watching a good game of soccer.

Moving on down the list...

Johnny's Home From Italy!!!

The pictures from the airport might be the most tragic loss from Scott's phone catastrophe. We had a video of Johnny walking out of the terminal and the little boys seeing him for the first time. I'll maybe try to track down pictures his friends took.

We are SO HAPPY to have Johnny home!! He's already jumped right in and hasn't missed a beat. When he came though the security doors, Ben shot off running... right passe Johnny... and plowed right into my dad, "Grandpa Grandpa!!!" He didn't even notice Johnny! But Andrew couldn't stop staring at Johnny. He was SO EXCITED to have Johnny home. He talked about it for months. He carefully decorated all of our welcome home signs, and he just followed Johnny around from the second he stepped through the doors. It was so nice to have so many family members there to see him come home. Espen was able to come, which was so nice since he had a week before he had to leave on his mission to Denmark.

Johnny gave a wonderful homecoming talk. And Espen gave a wonderful farewell talk on the same sunday! It was a big family weekend and we loved it! Doug came into town, so did Grandpa Pete, and we had all the sibling together for longer than ten minutes for the first itme in years and years. It was so great to get everyone together. At one point in May, we had Kirsten and Nick in Utah, Scott and I were in New York, Doug was in Washington DC, Johnny was in Italy, and my parents were in Antwerp. We're usually all so spread out!

We had delicious Italian food at Johnny's homecoming, and we've loved having him back. Let the adventures continue! We're so excited to have one more buddy who'll always be up for anything! Johnny is the most remarkable person. Our whole family is so impressed by him. We're proud of him and grateful for him. He was the most up-beat, solid missionary I've ever heard of. He's a fantastic brother and a wonderful uncle. The boys are all over him, and Sarajane has this strange infatuation with him. She'll be shrieking at the top of her lungs, but when Johnny hold her, she leans her head on his shoulder and just mellows out. We can't figure it out, because she doesn't snuggle with anyone but Johnny! And she's never met him before! It's hilarious to see.

Matt and Loral

Matt and Loral came and stayed with us for a week, which was so fun! We really only hung out with them a couple times because we had such different schedules. They were in town for a wedding. Scott and I were up and out the door before they woke up, and then we were snoozing before they ever got home. But we did get to have dinner and spend some time catching up. We love Matt and Loral and can't wait to visit them in Portland sometime!

"Why meeting the Dutsons was the best thing that ever happened to us."

U2 Night

I am most bummed that of all the pictures we lost on Scott's phone, we lost our pics from the U2 concert!

I picked Scott up from school, and it was the first beautiful day of the summer. We didn't want to go home, so drove up towards the U of U Stadium to check out the U2 concert. We miraculously found a parking spot right at the edge of President's Circle. Free. So we parked and walked over to the stadium with a blanket and a couple Greek yogurts. We could hear the music as we walked, and we loved it! We talked about how great it would be to have background theme music always following you around. Then we took that a little too far trying to come up with a business plan to follow people around and play theme music for their lives.

We got to the stadium and sat on top of a couple trash cans flipped upside down. I was thrilled. Scott and I have always wanted to go to a U2 concert. It's been on my lifelong to-do list for a long time. We almost bought tickets but ended up having the NY trip and a trip to Santa Barbara this summer... so our finances were a little too tight for the investment. As we sat there on the trash cans, I thought, "I'm here at the U2 concert! I can hear the music; I can see Bono on the jumbo screen; I'm pretty much as close as I'm going to get. I'm calling this a win."

As we watched, we saw two little 10 year-olds standing near the gate dancing in place and giggling. I pointed them out to Scott, and we figured out that it was Morgan Dutson and Olivia Cortez, two little girls from our old ward. We love both of their families, having taught their siblings in YM and YW. Scott worked with Morgan's mom at United Way, and we both got to the know the Dutson's and the Cortez's through our callings in our ward. We loved that ward and made so many wonderful friends. Morgan is such a goober, and we love her! She would always come say hi to us at church or come up and give us spontaneous hugs in the middle of Sacrament meeting. She was also ways cute and happy. so we hollered at her to some say hello to us, and she and Olivia came bounding over like the giggly girls that they are. It was so fun to see them. Morgan's mom came over to say hello, and we were slightly embarrassed to be sitting on a trash can peering through the gates.

It turns out the girls were bored at the concert and were being picked up by Morgan's dad. Reb (Morgan's mom) was able to let us in with the two tickets that the girls were using. We could NOT believe it! We were on row 30, or somewhere close to that, and we sat by Reb and her other daughter Maddie, who I absolutely LOVE (she was one of my YW). We had a blast! It was a dream come true! Not only were we at the concert (a lifelong goal), but we didn't have to pay an arm and a leg (we didn't have to pay anything!), and we got to spend time with some good friends that we don't see very often. The concert was AMAZING and UNFORGETTABLE! After the concert we all walked to where our car was parked and drove the Dutson's home. I don't know how we're ever going to give them an adequate thank you. Reb called Scott the next day and offered us tickets to go to a dinner to meet Presient Uribe. I had to work, unfortunately, but Scott was in heaven. It's like our nephew Ben meeting Spiderman.

Wish I had pictures of us squatting on the trash cans outside the concert. And then minutes later we were inside the gates having the time of our lives. Little man has been to his first concert... and it's pretty much the best one he could start out with!

New Calling

YW President

After putting a lot of work into planning the Stake YW Rough Out Camp at Heber Valley, I have now been traded to another team (well... kind of the same team). I was called the day before my birthday to be the new Young Women's President of our ward. I'm really excited and nervous about this calling. I'm grateful to have wonderful counselors and a great organization. But I'm intimidated by these faces I don't know very well and developing a system in a newly-formed ward and Young Women's program. I'm just hoping to get organized and wrap my head around everything before the baby comes in August. I'm so excited and grateful for the calling. As I'm trying to balance the changes happening at work and the changes happening at home, I'm hoping I can balance the changes in my calling and in our ward. Wish me luck! And by the way... I'll take all the advice I can get!

Scott is still serving as Asst. Scout Master and the Deacon Quorum Advisor. I'm so happy we've spent the last three years in the youth programs of the church. We love these kids and love hanging out with them. It's such a tough age, and we've really enjoyed the chance to help them through their challenges with school and friends. We've had an eclectic group of kids, and it's fun to get to know each of them.

Mid May Vacation

New York/Washington DC:

Did you know that we went to New York and Washington DC? We went in mid-May. Scott went over early for work, and I joined him a couple days after my birthday. It was fun to be out there together. Scott served his mission in NY and I hadn't been there in about ten years. We really need to take another trip when we can have more time during the day to meet some friends from his mission and check more off the list. But it was fun to see family. I had the daytime to explore, and then Scott and I met up for the evenings. It was just so nice to be together. I had been home alone for a week before I flew out, and that was a bad deal.

Before I got there, Scott went to the Statue of Liberty with his parents, Margy, and Oliver. He also visited with mission friends and had fun getting to know people in the NY Goldman office. We all went to see "How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying" with Daniel Radcliffe. I thought it was hillarious. It was so fun to get a good laugh in. I was able to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art twice, the Natural History Museum, walk through an overcast Central Park, walk up and down Lexington Avenue, visit FAO Schwartz, see Rockefeller Center, visit Bloomingdales, have a frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity, spend some good time at the Strand, visit Grand Central Station, and discover lots of other adventures on my way. I got a metro pass the first day I was there, and I went nuts. Everything feels so close together, and I loved navigating my way throughout the city. I was thinking about how long its been since I have had so much alone time to just explore. I really enjoyed it, knowing that I won't have that kind of alone time ever again once little man comes along. Scott worked hard at his new office and had a good time meeting co-workers he communicates with daily. We had so much fun exploring in the evening. We went to the Modern Art Museum, out for delicious dinners, and had a lot of fun bookstore shopping and exploring the city.

We took a bus down to Washington DC for a wedding. This is going to have to be another trip in of itself. I've been to Washington DC, but Scott's never been there, and I think he would LOVE it. There's so much history and endless ways to spend your time. I can't wait to go back sine we had such a quick trip... only a day. We spent that day at the DC temple with friends and family, and then made our way down to James Madison's house in Virginia. It was beautiful. The wide open estate was unbelievable. Scott was plotting the whole time about how he could purchase the property. We left at 10ish at night to drive back to NY for early morning flights. Rick was such a good sport to drive everyone where they needed to go, and he had driven through the night and was still going strong! I was very grateful and impressed. While it was a wonderful trip, this is my little note to self. I was just heading into my seventh month of pregnancy, and all the time in the car was not the best idea. I found my first bad veins after being on the plane and in the car so much in such a short period of time. I didn't take stops to stretch out my legs, and maybe that would have made a difference... but I'm going to be extra careful in the future. I was just really nauseous and car sick, but I couldn't sleep because my body doesn't bend in all the ways it used to. I used to be able to squish into any space and knock myself out, but it was just hard to maneuver with this big belly and swollen limbs.

We had such a fun trip, and it was one of our last before little man arrives! We had a blast. Thanks for the pictures I stole from Margy!

No more excuses.

Scott's sim card for his phone is taking the ultimate long vacation... and as a result, we have lost all of our pictures that were on it. Bleh.

So now I'm trying to remember everything I was supposed to write about. That's what I get for letting it all build up and collect.

Little Man:

Well, we're almost 10 weeks away with the little man. He's supposedly weighing about 3 pounds and is about 17 inches. He seems to be right on track with each appointment I have. I'm still feeling really good, which I am so grateful for. I think this pregnancy has been such a blessing. I don't know if I'll be this lucky in the future, so I'm trying really hard to count my blessings now. The worst of it is a sore back at night, but I'm figuring out my system for that. I'm a little embarrassed that I get winded on the way up the stairs. Carrying the groceries up to our apartment, I usually take a little break half way through.

He moves like crazy... nonstop! And I can't get over how weird it is to not have control over your own body. I've always been very in tune with my body, and it's so strange to know that this teeny little human has more say in what's going on than I do. I better get used to that. I love the feeling though. It's fun to see the changes. I know he's getting bigger because I definitely am!

Little man has discovered my rib cage. I wish he hadn't. It's slightly uncomfortable.

I was talking to my cousin and she told me that her friends (about 14 years-old) were talking to her about this poor girl who works at Jolley's who's only 16 and is having a baby. Sarah just started laughing. "Brown hair? Blue eyes? Yep... that's my cousin. She's 24."

I'm asking for it with the braces.

Lindsey,

Remember when you used to blog all the time?

That was before Scott got a fancy phone and now all of our pictures are on his phone instead of on my camera... and I don't know how to retrieve them!!!

And I always feel guilty blogging about current things when I haven't blogged about adventures we had two weeks ago. I think it messes with my head to switch up the order. I'm a very "down the list" kind of girl.

Lists. When I lived in London, I was stressed because I didn't have a ton of time to write in my journal. But of all the times in my life, that was the time that was actually journal-worthy, so I just wrote daily lists of what I did that day instead of expanding on my feelings. (I cringe to think that I filled 37 journals between 7th grade and 12th grade, but managed to complete only 1 documenting all of my college years. And don't even get me started on the lack of journaling since marriage. I've been so lapse in this area that when I opened my mission call on the Colorado River, I felt so compelled to write something down that all I managed to do was jot down a few thoughts on the back of a paper plate. I have that paper plate in a box with my 37 journals. Disgraceful.)

Anyways... I'm not going to make the empty promises. I'm not going to pretend that I'll "catch up" tonight. Maybe I will... maybe I won't (Lindsey Brammer... I always think of you saying that when we were living at Chattham).

Side Note to the Void: How is it possible that my child has been the size of an "egg plant" (according to my little blog ticker) for about 3 weeks in a row now? I'm sure that's inaccurate, because I can promise you he's getting bigger!