I Pack the Heat

In case you didn’t already know, all those rumors about pregnant women liking the cold are true. (At least as far as this pregnant woman is concerned, anyways.)

Over the last month and a half, my dear, sweet husband has borne the brunt of my need for cold. Once my body temperature really kicked it up a notch, we quickly learned that I had difficulty sleeping if the temperature in our apartment was above 62`F. Below that was preferable. As it is still just April, we have been able to accommodate for my need for cold by not running the heater or a/c much--until the last week or so. While beneficial to our budget, I really feel for Chris, who has taken to doing homework in bed under all our covers. All of this has helped me to see that while June is not the worst time of year to have a baby (I don’t have to endure the hot and humid summer months with this heater), I think there may be a better time… A baby due in January/February/March seems perfect to me. =)

I'm Appreciated

This last Wednesday was Administrative Professionals Day.

All the "administrative professionals" were taken to lunch and my department gave me a card and flowers. It was a very nice day! =)

Ketchup Please

Brace yourself, this may come as a shocker: When I was a little girl I was quite shy. My mom made valiant efforts to help me overcome my shyness (I think I hid from people I knew as often as I hid from strangers). One of the things my mom did (or didn't do) was ask for ketchup if we happened to go to McDonald's or Burger King (…not that that was often, mind you). I liked ketchup with my fries. So, if I wanted ketchup I had to ask for it myself. Sometimes I had ketchup, sometimes I went without, and sometimes my mom caved and asked for me. ;)

You may be asking yourself… what does this have to do with anything? In the almost 8 years since graduating from h.s. I have learned that I have a bit of a natural tendency for shyness when I'm out of my "comfort zone" and it often takes me a little while to establish a new "comfort zone" when I'm in a new place. There are a few places where I generally always feel comfortable, like church (and more specifically Relief Society) and my home.

One of the nice things about moving to a new place when you are married is that you have a nearly constant companion (your spouse) who you really should be with often… For me, the natural dynamic of that relationship helps me to not feel like a tag-along or a burden. It is the perfect, completely acceptable, security blanket! =)

However, as Sister Marjorie Hinckley once said, "Women need women." And, in case you had any doubts, I am a woman. =D The last few years I have always had a good group of girlfriends, and moving away from them has been a little difficult—which is why I'm really grateful for the times in the past few months when we've been invited to someone's house or I've been able to attend R.S. activities or other girl-gatherings. Although some of the "girl" activities have occurred when Chris has been working a lot and we would finally have a night together, my ever-supportive husband has encouraged me to go because he knows how much "I need my girls"—as he puts it.

As we prepare for the likelihood of moving at least once, if not twice, in the next six months I am trying to think of what I can do to make "asking for ketchup" (if you will) a little easier.

So, what can I/we do to be more social? I do have a few ideas myself, but I'd love to hear any suggestions from our much loved peanut gallery. ;)

The Bread

Ok. This post is to respond to the comments on my bread post... =) The bread is made by hand, ie. no mixer (although we do have one), but it doesn't require kneading, which is probably why I can make it. I'll be honest... that word scares me. ;)

The recipe:

"Miriam's French Bread"

2 1/2 c warm water
2 T oil
(Combine these two ingredients)

2 T sugar
1 T salt
2 T yeast
3 c flour
(Combine these four ingredients)

+3 c flour

Whip everything together, except for the last 3 cups of flour, until smooth.

Add 1 cup of the remaining flour at a time, mixing with wooden spoon. The dough is sticky. Leave the spoon in the dough and cover for 10 minutes. Stir & repeat five times (total).

Roll into 2 rectangles using little or no flour. Roll like jelly roll & tuck in the ends. Let raise for 30 minutes, brush with egg white and sesame seeds.

Bake at 400` for 25-30 minutes.

(Sprinkle pan with cornmeal, so its all over, before placing dough on the pan.)

**My note: Go ahead and try rolling with little or no flour. If you can make it work, and end up with 2 actual loaves of bread rather than dough-hands, tell me how you did it. ;)

Celebrate!

My sister (-in-love, as my mom likes to say) did a great job of putting together a celebration for our pending arrival. I think my favorite part was being able to see some of my much-loved and much-missed friends from "home". =)

All the preggies sat in the front... in case you wondered the three on the left (with me in the middle) are three of the four of us girls expecting babies on my side of the family. =)

Moving Day!

We were recently given some furniture. Since our apartment is furnished we didn't have a place for it, but said yes, because it would be needed (and very likely in the not-too-distant future). We received help from my mom and some very kind friends...

Apparently, Cliff is the man to have around! He knows how to pack a truck bed and keep your glass table-top perfectly safe from bumps and potholes. He engineered the get-up below, which worked very nicely!


My brother Josh was kind enough to let us borrow his diesel truck. Although it took a little getting used to, Chris decided on our trip up to NoVA that he really liked it... A LoT.


We stopped at home on our way up and got lunch. I decided we should get a picture of the truck all packed up, so that's what you see below. As it started sprinkling during our stop-off, we decided to not risk the 60% chance of rain and Chris rigged the bed with our tarp. The tarp and the wind battled and the wind won... about 5 miles into our trip. Luckily, we didn't run into any heavy rains, just a couple sprinkles here and there.


**Please note: Chris did a great job of securing the tarp, but because it was a windy day and we were on the interstate, the tarp (not the highest quality) actually ripped... thus we drove without it.

Our Adventures in Nursery (Cont.)

This last Sunday was probably one of our best Sundays this year! It was nice to effectively manage the nursery and not have too many disasters or long moments of crying. Things weren’t perfect, but it felt like we were making progress—which is nice.

Chris has often tried to divert attention of crying children or otherwise amuse the kids in nursery by “riding” the stick horse and making galloping sounds. When he saw one of our boys holding the stick horse he encouraged him to “ride” it. When Chris made the galloping noises Andrew would trot in place, but he would stop when Chris stopped. It was so funny.

Someone left a basket of the wedding bubbles in our nursery room, which we have put to good use. Not all of our kids are used to blowing bubbles and recently, one of our little girls managed to practically eat the wand when she was trying to blow the bubbles herself. She wasn’t trying to eat it… she just didn’t understand that you hold the wand outside your lips when you blow. Well, in the process of “blowing” she managed to get some of the soap in her mouth or something, so even though the wand wasn’t working, her mouth was… and out of her mouth came bubbles!

On a separate, but somewhat related note, we were able to spend much of sacrament meeting being entertained by Becca, one of our nursery girls from last year. She absolutely loves Chris, and it has been a lot of fun to interact with her and her family since we moved into the ward. Initially, she sat a few rows ahead of us (in the back, where we are all in chairs). She knew we were behind her and would often make faces at us or stare at us until we looked at her and then she would smile and hide her face (I’m sure you are familiar with that game). At one point during the passing of the sacrament she was sitting in her chair, facing us, with her head propped on her little fist. It was one of those cute, picture-perfect poses. She was watching us (mostly Chris, I think) and then she quietly said our last name and turned around. After sacrament she joined us and sat with us periodically, allowing Chris to read whatever book she brought with her each visit. I think Chris was in heaven. =) He was also glad to hear that we were asked to help out with Becca and her older siblings next Sunday when her mom is out of town. Since her dad is in the bishopric, we will go to their house before church, bring the kids to church, and sit with the children during sacrament. I don’t think I could have a husband happier to perform such a service! =)

Will Graduate… Will Not … Will…

Chris is due to graduate in May (government/political science major), but there have been a few hiccups in getting paperwork and formalities taken care of that have given us a little cause for concern.

The credits from his semester of study abroad in Turkey are essential for graduation (or else he would have to take summer school to make up the 7 credits needed for the total credits necessary for graduation—which would completely botch all tentative plans for this summer). Chris was informed that the official transcripts for his courses were unacceptable because they weren’t in sealed envelopes. It apparently wasn’t an easy task getting original transcripts when Chris was actually IN Turkey, so the likelihood of getting original transcripts mailed/shipped to us in the States wasn’t good, and even if we could get the transcripts it would cost an arm and a leg (… they don’t accept Mastercard or VISA, so there goes paying for it over the phone…).

Chris happened to mention the transcript dilemma to a faculty member in our ward, who recommended he speak to the head of the study abroad center. Chris was able to schedule an appointment with the director for Tuesday. When he arrived he was informed that the director wouldn’t be in the office and all his appointments had been rescheduled to someone else! Eeiikk! Chris managed to reschedule the appointment and off he went.

We are pleased to announce that after his meeting Chris is a little closer to actually receiving that diploma! The director looked at Chris’ work and the transcripts and gave him some instructions (get the transcripts translated and certified by the Turkish professor, bring them back, etc.) but said he anticipated Chris should receive 3 credits per class (for a total of 12 credits). We are so pleased and grateful!!

The final hurdle has been more of a waiting/follow-up game… the Russian minor assigned when applying for graduation was the wrong one (apparently there are 2)… for which he didn’t meet the qualifications. The paperwork has now been processed and he has a valid Russian minor!

Our (Not So Certain) Future

In light of Chris’ upcoming graduation we are often asked what our plans for the future are. Such a simple question, there’s a simple answer, right??? Perhaps there usually or normally is…

Considering the future and our situation makes me think of a specific instance that I teased Chris about over a year ago… When Chris flew to Turkey he did so without any kind of language manual in tow and no arranged plans for travel from the airport to his destination. He had no ability to communicate in a foreign land. I remember him telling me before he went that he thought it would be fun… it would be an “adventure.” (Some of us would call it a nightmare) He sent out a mass email/newsletter a few weeks after arriving in Turkey and mentioned the chaos and disorientation from that experience… And then he returned to school in January, on the second day of school, without being enrolled in any classes (apparently, that was a common thing as he didn’t usually have a set schedule until the 2^nd week of school). I specifically remember telling him (and thinking I was being cute/clever) that he was, “an adrenaline junkie with a peculiar fix.”

What IS Certain:

-We are eagerly anticipating Chris’ graduation in May and the birth of our first child in June. How fun!

-Chris will spend the summer doing his pest control sales job. This will be his third summer working in this lucrative, if not exciting, field.

What is Uncertain

-We are also still waiting to hear back on Chris’ research grant… the one that would take us abroad in September for an academic year. The earliest we’ll hear back about it is tomorrow. The latest would be June.

All things considered, we are both looking forward to making actual, rather than tentative, plans.

Strollers

We had a fun little conversation with Chris' Mom tonight regarding strollers. We have had quite the challenge when it has come to deciding what kind of stroller we should register for/purchase. I won't get into all the messy details (it may give me a headache...) but I assure you, it hasn't been an easy decision to make (which is why we haven't made it...).

I will say this though... I found some really cool strollers a few weeks back. I may have been able to decide on one of those if only they weren't in the $1,000.00 range (ok... now really... who would pay that much?? You'd never be able to make your decision off of reviews, because... that's right... no one buys a stroller that expensive!)

On the other hand... I found a stroller that I absolutely love, which is totally in our price range, when I discovered our local baby/children/maternity consignment boutique. Chris was kind enough to take a picture of it when he returned some stuff for me after my initial visit. I don't think I can adequately explain why, and the picture isn't the best.... so you may not be able to SEE why, but I LOVE this stroller. Practical? No. Love it? Yes. End of story. =)

30 weeks

The latest progress of the ever-expanding belly...

Mmm… Mmmm… Good!

We had a few friends over for dinner last Sunday and I made bread. Besides making the dinner, I made homemade bread. Just thought I’d emphasize that point, because… I think it was Chris’ favorite part. =) He has been anxiously awaiting homemade bread for some time and although I think a part of him may have somewhat bitterly given up hope, he was exceptionally pleased and delighted when he realized I’d already made the cookies and was working on something dough-like in another bowl. 

Perhaps that is part of the reason why he then began telling me all the many reasons why he loves the food that I cook. It was really fun and cute to hear him go on about how much he enjoys the food that I make and go into detail about the spices I use and everything.

(I had Chris take a picture of the remaining quarter of a loaf while I was at work... figured we should document it, in case it didn't happen again anytime soon)

On Saturday, while we watched General Conference from home, I made bread again. This time I decided to be creative and added rosemary and some garlic to it. It turned out pretty well... and Chris was once again very pleased with my efforts.

Our Adventures in Nursery

Last Sunday was such a funny day in nursery, unfortunately, we have no pictures. It was our first Sunday back after being out of town for the last two weekends. It was fun finding greater success with two of our boys that have struggled coming to nursery since the new year. A few of the funniest moments are below:

We had a new girl join us for the first time and show us that she is definitely not afraid or intimidated by the change of scenery! =) One of the other girls in our nursery occasionally uses a binkie, and she had it in her mouth most of the first part of nursery. The binkie apparently is the same type the new girl uses at bedtime and she kept grabbing it from the other girl’s mouth. The funniest thing about it was the reaction of the binkie-owner… she was simply horrified by the other girl! I mean it, horrified! Each time the binkie was grabbed out of her mouth she had this look of complete and utter shock & horror on her cute little face… eventually things settled down, but it was soooo cute!

Our primary chorister brought a special treat for the kids, a popcorn tree! She designed a box as a tree and hid an air popper in it. The children sang “Popcorn popping” and she plugged it in and they watched the popcorn pop out of the tree. It was fun to watch them so entranced by the machine and the popcorn coming out of the tree.

At about the time Chris was trying to get the lesson started, one of the boys (Jack), along with another boy, was playing in the other part of our nursery room. I guess the other boy started to play with the “play table” (pictured below) and Jack wasn’t having it. He picked up the table and frantically carried it into our part of the room. It was probably the funniest thing I’d seen all day!