Visiting Teaching

I don't know about you, but I love visiting teaching. I can't say that I'm perfectly consistent, but I do my best. I love how different visiting teaching is in a family ward... there is such a variety of sisters...

Anyways, I just have to say that tonight I visited one of my sisters, named Harriett. (My companion is with her husband while he does his graduate internship during the summer, so I made the visit by myself.) Harriett is the best! She is a grandmother (but still very youthful herself) and has made a point to make sure my companion and I knew how glad she was to have young visiting teachers from the day we were assigned to her. =) Her husband was out tonight, and she knew Chris was working, so I ended up visiting with her for two hours! I honestly can't tell you who was visiting whom... she is such a doll and so concerned about making sure I'm well taken care of with the baby coming and all.

I just love the way visiting teaching works... I know Harriett loves our visits, but honestly, I think we may love them probably even more! And it's like that with all the sisters I am now or ever have visited. I love how you can be paired up with a companion and "assigned" to sisters you never have the opportunity to get to know well otherwise, and then you just grow to love them so much, so quickly...

Sixteen

No, I'm not talking about the "magical" age when I was allowed to date. Believe me you, that fact, and what this post is about, are not related. I am sure my parents are very grateful for that simple truth.

This post is really about the fact that every once in a while I glance at Baby Pea's gender-guessing poll. I set it up so that the poll closes on Baby Pea's due date and I use it as something of a count-down for our new arrival.

I just glanced at it today and there are only 16 (did you catch that--sixteen--SIX-teen) days left until Baby Pea is due to arrive. That's just barely more than two weeks.

Of course, the due date doesn't mean too terribly much, as the likelihood of an early or (oh please not) late arrival is very possible. At my last appointment I had graduated to 2 cm.

Apparently, I will be walking during lunch this week... and not napping. ;)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Mom

Many many moons ago I had a youth leader named Margo. I very distinctly remember Margo talking about how she wanted to be a "Chocolate-Chip-Cookie" Mom. This meant she would always have fresh baked chocolate chip cookies for her kids when they came home from school.

I thought this was a great idea! I soon adopted it into my own "things to do when I'm a mom" list. (Unwritten, just little things noted over time.)

The only problem with this "goal" was that I would have to make a new batch of cookies every day in order for the cookies to be hot-out-of-the-oven-fresh. Enter my second year at LDSBC and a revelation! One afternoon I was hanging out with my friend Emily (and all her fun roommates) when she decided to make cookies. After making the batch she proceeded to scoop out all the cookies onto a cookie sheet or casserole dish and stick them in the freezer until they were firm. She then transferred the cookies into a large ziploc bag or tupperware container. I had found my answer!!!

Chris has thoroughly enjoyed my desire to be, at this stage, a chocolate chip cookie wife. =)

Cooking up a Storm!!!

Every once in a while I accomplish something that I think is pretty significant. Please excuse me while I toot my own horn!!

I spent Saturday cooking meals for the next week. I have little motivation to cook after work these days, so this should last us for lunch and dinner all week long... and maybe a little longer...

1-Got the Garlic Lime Chicken in the crockpot...
(Here's what it looks like when it's finished...)
2-Got the lentils going for taco "meat" for our taco/tex-mex casserole on the left burner
and
3-chicken curry working on the right burner...
(Here's that curry a few hours later... I let it "stew" a little long... all the meat is coming off the bone!)Added some black beans to the taco "meat" and got the sauce for the casserole going on the back burner...
A few steps in between and taco/tex-mex casserole is ready for the oven...
And now it's done!!! Doesn't that look good? (Don't worry, it is ^_^)
4-Spinach & bacon quiche
Before the oven...
And after the oven...
5-I also made "Country-Style Pork Ribs" (on sale for less than $1/lb!), but they aren't very picturesque.

Showers!

This last Thursday my coworker/boss-type, Elvis, disturbed me from my afternoon nap. Having a headache, I wasn't too happy about it. Luckily for me, my coworkers not only took my mind off my headache, but they helped to remind me of how grateful I am for them!!!

A little "inside" joke...What a friendly bear! =)
Will wonders never cease??A friendly bee...
Oops, no... that's TWO friendly bees!
For little Baby Pea to gaze at! =)

Not too many weeks ago...
On one bright spring morning...

Some of the lovely ladies from our ward gathered together...
For some lovely punch...
Yummy treats...Sweet favors...
All in honor of Baby Pea!! =)
Anna, on the left, was the hostess with the most-ess. Next to her is Camille, whose children (especially Becca) I've mentioned before...
This is Laura, our favorite primary chorister! She does such a good job with the music in our nursery! I also really love watching her interact with the kids (including her own 4!!)... she's really patient and sweet with them...This is my friend Sloan and little Livia (one of our nursery kids from last year... oh so cute!!)...
Some of my favorite guests didn't stand taller than about 40 inches... =)
This is Jene`... (I'll tell you a "secret"... She was the absolute FIRST person to know we were pregnant... I guess that's what happens when you are nice to the new girl and she needs to figure out where to go to the doctor... =D)
You almost don't want to open it...
This is the very grateful girl/almost-mother. She may look familiar. ;)Elizabeth was the amazing photographer, hence she's not in any of the pictures... I think she did a wonderful job documenting this fun occasion, don't you?

Week 36

Please excuse the very tired eyes! Besides the fact that I'm waking up about every 1.5-2 hours... We usually take these pictures at the end of the day, when I am wide awake, but we instead took these this morning after I'd been awake for about 30 minutes...

Wardrobe Fiasco(s)

One thing that is often said about pregnant women is that they seem to be accident prone. Well. I have definitely had my share of accidents during this pregnancy… but nothing too serious or too frequent.

After this morning, I am seriously hoping that the frequency tide hasn't changed!

I initially thought that this "series of unfortunate events" began yesterday. And then I realized it really began on Monday.

Monday, I had sloppy joe leftovers for lunch. The name of the food is warning enough, right? Apparently not. I ate lunch. As careful as I was, I still managed to drop some of the meat onto my khaki pants. Having a belly makes dropping food on yourself a little interesting. If I didn't have the belly I don't think it would have landed as mid-thigh as it did. You just have to love the pinkish-orangish-reddish mark, left in the wake of sloppy joes, which is completely un-camouflage-able.

Yesterday, my sandal broke. Luckily, I wasn't walking when it happened. (Oddly enough, I was sitting at my desk, lifted my foot and my sandal fell off, broken.) No matter how I rigged it, I could not get the sandal to stay together for more than about 5-10 steps. During lunch I managed to make it to Burlington Coat Factory. Of course my sandal lasted about 5 steps from the car. I ended up just picking up my sandal and walking into BCF with one barefoot. Luckily… right inside the door was… a wall of flip-flops! Unfortunately… all of the flip-flops were the decorative, extraordinarily narrow flip-flops that won't fit these pregnant feet after about 1 p.m. I wasn't able to walk around looking for new shoes/sandals with one of the pairs from the wall because of the way the pairs were tied together. For a short time, I actually tried walking with just one of the sandals with its pair flopping around too, but that worked for about 3 steps. So. My only option was the one barefoot. Not wanting to be conspicuous (who was I kidding??) I walked around Mission Impossible-style, trying to avoid people and get to shoe department. I don't think that's really possible for a 9 months pregnant woman… but hey, I tried. I did find a pair of sandals that would work. Luckily, I have a great boss that doesn't care that they are pretty casual, and I'll be able to keep wearing them with my "business casual" work attire.

Each day when I arrive at work I clock in, put my lunch in the fridge and head to my desk. This morning, as I was preparing to sit down I realized that the back left side of my shirt was wet. I could barely pull it around enough to see that I had red sauce all down my shirt from the mid back to the seam. I made it to the bathroom to try and clean up and soon noticed that the sauce didn't stop at my shirt. It went down the back of my pants as well. Not just one spot either, I had a stream of sauce on my pants starting where my shirt hit my pants ending below the ankle. There wasn't much that I could do for the shirt, though I tried. I was able to get the tomato residue off of my pants though the paper towel I started out using left a nice lint mark on my black pants… At about 10 a.m. I went to BJs to pick up the cake for our monthly department party. Don't worry, I was able to make a detour to my much loved Burlington Coat Factory and found a really cute maternity shirt on sale for $6. Apparently, my wardrobe fiascos, should they persist, may keep BCF in business!

Kazakhstan

We will fly to Kazakhstan in September. The research Chris will be doing will last an academic year/two semesters, so we anticipate returning to the States sometime June 2009.

We are both very excited about going to Kazakhstan. Chris' family moved there when he was 14 years old and he left Kazakhstan when he entered college. So, while it will be a foreign place for me, it won't be for Chris! Although I had a few worries and fears, once we found out that Chris' application was approved they all disappeared--it just felt right. I joked to Chris' parents that Kazakhstan was a good "starter country" for their family—they have since moved to Russia—and it should be for ours too. =) [Because Chris has an international focus we hope this will be the first of many living abroad experiences for our family.]

Briefly, Kazakhstan is south of Russia, west of China, east of the Caspian Sea, and north of the other "-Stans" (Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan). All of these "-Stans" (including Kazakhstan) were a part of the Soviet Union. Russian is the official language (spoken widely), though Kazakh is the state language.

Our Biggest News

We know where we'll be over the next year!

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan

(Each is a link to a different site giving some sort of info on our soon-to-be home)

Graduation DAY!!!

The traditional, and final, "Walk Across Campus". Can you see Chris?Find him yet?
There he is!!!
Don't worry... he doesn't usually walk funny. This was his "I'm slowing down to a very awkward pace so my pregnant wife will stop 'running' ahead of me to take this picture" walk. =)
The graduates filing in.
Chris is actually in this one. I think.
Can you see him? He's wearing a black robe. So is the guy next to him. He's right there in the middle. Can't you tell?
The graduation for Chris' major was supposed to be in front of one of the prettiest and oldest buildings on campus... and then it rained. Which is why this picture of his department graduation is in a gym.

Graduation Saturday

This pose is reminiscent of my "childhood" trips to Louisiana, especially in the French Quarter... Chris hasn't gone yet... but we're gearing him up.

My dad apparently needs no guidance when it comes to posing with a statue. He even knows how to give the guy his own "props" like a glass of punch.

My mom likes to take "candid" pictures (aka mid-bite, mid-word, mid-expression-change, etc.). My siblings and I have a tendency to tease her about how bad some of the pictures turn out, so I felt the need to post both of the pictures of us in our garden. My mom took them and they turned out quite well. =) Go Mom!

Graduation lasts two days at some schools... or maybe just Chris'? My mom & dad came up on Saturday for the parent-student picnic (...inside due to rain), and then we walked all over campus and onto DoG St.