christmas comes but once a year...

and when it comes... we give a cheer!!! our first christmas as a married couple... even though last year we felt married... we were indeed not! for the last couple months chris and i have been saving 75 dollars every month to put towards a tv.  i have a fairly nice tv but it is big and boxy and heavy and with all the moving we are going to do the next 6 years we decided it was time to buy a flat panel tv like everyone else.  the week of christmas we headed over to sams club to buy one.  we had our budget (which had to include tax) and started looking at tvs.  we knew going in we could probably afford a 42" which is pretty huge for our little apartment so we went straight to that isle so we wouldn't even be tempted to go beyond our budget.  we sat there debating for at least an hour trying to figure out which was a better deal and what all the numbers and things meant.  the discussion included a couple of phone calls to my brother jack to is tech savy (as we are not) and finally we came to a decision... we bought a vizio 42" lcd that had apps... so it had wifi and whatnot so we could watch netflix right from our tv and pandora... etc.  we brought the box home and i told chris he couldn't open it till christmas since it was a christmas present. he didn't like that so i put a blanket over it like it was wrapped so it wouldn't stare him in the face for the next 2 days.

we also decided that since we bought a tv we shouldn't really buy anything else for each other... but in the end decided we wanted to open something christmas morning so we set the budget of 25 each to buy little stuff for each other.... man it was tough! we mostly bought silly food items and candy but chris did buy me a new daily calendar. this one has medical weirdness for each day.  i bought him a tiny pool table... that was originally 40 bucks but after being half off and having a 10 off coupon i was able to get it with in my budget!

the 2 weeks leading up to christmas were super busy!!! we had a million different parties and what not. first was the dental school christmas party where we had some pretty good food... got dressed up and talked with a couple friends from school.  the next night was the ward party where i was in charge of the music program and had to sing.  then sunday was the stake choir festival and i was asked to sing a solo piece for that as well. tuesday night was a girls night out with the dental wives in chris' class.  we all made cookies and brought a bunch to exchange and make plates to take to visiting teachies... which was nice to get that done too!  thursday i had a brunch with my visiting teachers which is really fun with bagels and other things to eat and lots of talking and hanging out.  friday was another christmas party put on by one of chris' class mates and mostly consisted of the mormon married couples... way fun night with lots of food and white elephant and other hilarious christmas games... and pregnant women.  i think 6 of us at the party were expecting. ha! the next monday was our "anniversary" and then on tuesday night was the relief society christmas party where my mom and i were in charge of the music and i brought the table decorations... way hilarious fun night! wednesday we had a dinner over at my brother sam's for my dad where we ate and opened a few presents.

thursday night was the party at my moms where we have dinner and then do a white elephant.... its always crazy!  the hotest items this year were the crap my grandpa brought from his house.  one he called a "safari kit" it had an orange and a bottle of diet coke and some other random stuff... but it included this little barrel coin bank that he has had on his dresser as long as i can remember and as kids we would always play with it.  his other present was a bag of what he called junk... he basically emptied out a drawer full of watches and what nots... but it ended up being the coolest bag of junk! it had this neat money clip that had a tiny watch on it... and it had all these neat antique watches and all sorts of stuff.  i ended up with the bag of stuff and sam got the bank.... but he really wanted the bag and i wanted the bank so we traded.

friday night we had off and needless to say i didn't want to do anything! so we just hung out at my moms... real low key.  saturday night was the christensen family christmas eve hoopla.  sam did magic tricks and we all sang along to his karoke christmas music.  my mom asked me to sing and impromptu "have yourself a merry little christmas" and then santa came and we passed out little gifts to the little kids.  it was a really fun night!

christmas morning chris jumped right out of bed and ripped the blanket off the tv.  we opened the rest of our presents and then got ready for church.  we got ready fast enough that chris opened the tv and started setting it up.  after church we had turkey lunch at my moms and then made a stop over at my grandma slades house to see my grandparents and my dad.  we then headed home and jack came over to help us set up the tv and figure some things out.

it was a really great day and a perfect first christmas as a married couple.  we are now enjoying the rest of chris's break from school buy getting a bunch of baby errands done including registering for baby gifts and registering at the hospital and a visit to the doctor... we are also working on organizing a few more things around the house and painting a rocking chair my mom gave me.  more on that once its finished!  merry christmas!!

sing... my angel of music...

on january 22nd chris and i will celebrate our first wedding anniversary... which is pretty amazing and exciting.  what a busy year we have had.  we wanted to do something really special for this first anniversary and since the baby is due fairly close to our actual anniversary date we decided to celebrate a month early... that way we wouldn't chance losing out on tickets to a show and hotel room.  we decided a while ago we wanted to see "phantom of the opera" before we left las vegas.  i saw it once when i was six... and have ever since been obsessed and have the entire musical memorized.  chris has been playing all the songs on the piano but hasn't ever seen the stage show.  so we bought our tickets for dec 19th and then thought hey... lets book a hotel room at the venetian for a night and make a whole little stay-cation out of it.  this was our last hoo-ra before baby comes.

we packed our bags and got to the hotel right when we could check in.  we hung out in the room for a while and got all fancy dressed up and headed to dinner.  we ate at "grand lux cafe" which is a sister of cheesecake factory.  the food was way good! then we headed down to the theater and found our seats.  the theater was built to replicate the actual opera house the musical is based on.  it was very neat.  our seats were up in the balcony but still really good.  when the show finally started i had chills and i will admit after they say "with a little illumination... gentlemen" and then the organ comes in all huge and rumbling and the chandelier begins to rise and take its place... i got a little teary eyed.  blame it on pregnancy hormones or just on sheer excitement of seeing the show again... i was chocked up the whole time.  the show was really good. i was really impressed with both christine and raoul.  they had beautiful voices which is good since they sing the prettiest songs.

after the show we walked around the grand canal in the venetian.  we listened to a few gondoliers and then got some shakes and took them back to our room.  by the end of the night i crashed and fell asleep pretty easily.  i woke up in the night all congested and not feeling great... i had finally caught the cold chris had had a week earlier.  its never fun to be congested when you are pregnant and already struggling to breathe.

in the morning we woke up at like 10.... nice long sleep and cleaned up our stuff and left.  it was such a fun night and a perfect way to celebrate our anniversary.  the food was great, the room was really nice, and the show was awesome!

marathon man...

this year chris has run in a couple different 5k races.  the first was "miles for better smiles" which the dental school puts on to raise money for childrens clinics.  it was a fun day.  we went out to tule springs and he ran the race while i talked to a couple of the other wives. it was a pretty short event as he finished in like 27 minutes and then we ate a little food and left.  needless to say chris was the only person from his class to show up and run.  slackers.  but he had a good time.

then in november he ran in "race for rob" who is the older brother of a friend of mine and a former unlv dental student who was about to graduate from endo school and had a massive stroke.  he is on the road to recovery but is faced with both massive school debt bills and hospital bills.  so they had a 5k to raise some money.  this one chris did really well in and placed 4th.  the winner was the old guy who is like 75+ years old.  it was a beautiful mid november day and a good experience all together.

baby crib etc...

back in october i got all adventurous and decided to sew a bunch of stuff for our little guy.  i found some really cute fabric online that was for a boy and not too baby-ish... but fun. so i sewed a crib skirt, fitted sheet, and bumper.  we didn't have a crib until recently (i found it practically new at the thrift store and spent $38 bucks.. score!) so i didn't have any way to take pictures till now.  i really love the animal print and think it is so sweet!

i also sewed a little quilt with some fabrics that also went with the collection.  i really like the camouflage.. nothing more boy than camo!  the back is white minky dot and the whole blanket it light weight and super soft. 

my sister saved a bunch of stuff from her baby and so she gave me her boppy pillow and i decided to make a new cover for it with the left over material from the bedding.  i just used the original cover as a pattern and cut out the pieces and sewed it together using velcro instead of a zipper like they had.  but i think it turned out way cute!

i also had the idea to make a cuddle buddy blanket with a few taggies on it.  my mom found this unbelievably soft puppy in her collection of animal toys and gave it to me... i cut out 2 small pieces of brown minky dot that were left over from something else and slit a hole in one side... slipped the dog through and sewed the hole shut... and then cut off the rest of the dog (poor guy).  then i cut little pieces of ribbon to go in each corner and sewed the 2 pieces together.... thus creating my cuddle buddy with tags.

i really love sewing and am sure i will have many more projects in the future! 

 

christmas crafts for family...

this year for crhistmas gifts for chris's family i decided to make something for them.  we dont have a ton of money currently being in school so i found a couple ideas that would work for my budget.  for his mom i made the christmas wreath out of yarn and felt and i was pretty excited how it turned out! for jeff and stevie i did the frame wrapped in yarn with the wood letter in the middle.  i decided to make theirs more of a all the time decoration instead of just a christmas one.  and then for catherine's little girl scarlett i made this psychedelic toddler quilt out of flannel and the back is a dark pink minky dot... super soft! we had them open them over thanksgiving weekend since we aren't going to be able to go back for christmas and visit.

thanksgiving in reno...

this year for thanksgiving (our first thanksgiving as a married couple)  we ventured up to reno to spend it with chris's family.  we left wednesday after school and lucky for us everyone was traveling from reno to vegas so our side of the road was very clear and we only had to pass maybe 13 cars.  the whole trip, including 3 stops for prego lady, only took 7 hours!! not bad eh?  we stayed with jeff and stevie so the first night we hung out and chatted it up.  thursday morning was spent getting ready for dinner at 4.  i mostly played with my little chunkster friend cadence... she is such a happy little baby and always smiles at me and laughs.  chris and jeff were busy watching 4 different football games... for reasons i wont mention but silly needless to say.  stevie was busy getting the phenomenal turkey ready.  at 2pm susan and the rest of the fleming clan came over and the real party began.  catherine and jeffery and scarlett soon showed up and at 4 we sat down to eat.

 there was soooo much good food!!!!  i made my overly sweet sweet potatoes... just the way i like them!  i also made the rolls my aunt joan always makes... i need a couple hundred more batches of practice before they come out perfect like hers.  stevie cooked the turkey and it was amazing.  i normally dont eat any turkey because its too dry but this was juicy and wonderful.  we also had green bean casserole and mashed potatoes and stuffing... etc.  it was all really good.  after dinner was cleared we played this dice game called farkle which was fun for me since i had the worlds luckiest first game ever!! i ended up winning the game with a 4000 point turn and killed everyone... i was never that lucky again but that game was awesome!

our amazing host family

the next day the twins went and played some golf... i slept in and was lazy around the house it was wonderful. friday night we went out to washoe valley to have prime rib with chris's dad and siblings.  another fun night that included watching "gaither christmas homecoming" which is this baptist singing group that do concerts.  their dad got them hooked on this video when they were growing up... so they sang along to their favorite songs... it was fun!  

saturday we went over to chris's mom's to look (and borrow) baby pictures of chris so i could bring them home and scan them... it was fun to look at chris (and jeff) as a baby!! super cute!  and then we  went to lunch with jeff, stevie, claire and cadence, jeffery, and catherine and scarlett at qdoba.  they have this queso burrito that chris loves! so we ha to eat there while in reno!  

sunday morning we went to a catholic mass with chris's mom.  it was really fun and neat for me to experience that and have a better understanding of what church was like for chris growing up.  then we jumped in to car said good bye and thank you to our hosts for being so awesome and hit the road.  it again only took us 7 hours to get home.  it was a really great holiday and we were glad we could make the trip up there!

beaver, ut in the fall...

we went up to our family cabin in beaver, ut to watch our church's semi-anual general conference broadcast.  we have been going to the cabin to watch every year twice a year for as long as i can remember.  its nice to get away from life's distractions and plop in front of the tv for 4 hours saturday and 4 hours sunday... and of course in between sessions we venture out and explore beaver.  this year jack and laura came down from idaho to join us and in between the saturday sessions we went for a drive up the canyon to see the changing leaves.  we got pretty lucky that everything was just beginning to change.  it made some trees look like they were on fire!  we stopped at this lake and were just in awe of how beautiful it was!!

isn't it beautiful! we stopped and let will run around and play with the rocks and dirt and took a bunch of pictures.  

after stopping for a bit we headed back to the cabin where gigi and meesha were waiting for us (gigi was sleeping when we left) and chris took the kids outside to play and look at the horses and take them for rides on the gator.  later that evening we got a lot of rain and when i looked outside i saw not 1 but 2 rainbows!!! a double rainbow!!! how lucky am i??

28-30 weeks...

30 weeks!!! i'm in the home stretch... with 2 months to go.  i'm still really enjoying being pregnant.  this week was a little scary as on monday my blood pressure was elevated and the doctor got a little worried when after resting for a bit it didn't go down very much.  he put me on bed rest for the week and wanted me to come back on wednesday for another bp check.  i was also scheduled to take the glucose test that monday and when i woke up that morning pregnancy brain got the best of me and i had some candy when i got up that morning... oh no... not just any candy... sugar babies... thats right the pure sugar candy.  needless to say my blood sugar test came back a little high.. haha.   the good news was my other blood tests (liver, proteins... etc) were normal meaning at this moment i dont have preclampsia.  i am still on light bed rest and have to go back in on monday for another appointment... hopefully my bp will be normal that monday so i wont have to go in once a week.  i did have to go in thursday this week for the forever long glucose test.  i showed up at 8:30 where they drew my blood and i had to drink the sugar drink, wait an hour, get my blood taken, wait an hour, get my blood taken, wait an hour, get my blood taken.  i had been fasting with no food or water since midnight and needless to say by hour 3 i was feeling very faint and blacked out twice.  the office was so nice though and let me lay down in a room with a tv and they kept bringing me water and what not.  definitely not a test i ever want to do again.  the results came back normal so i do not have gestational diabetes.   some other things i'm experiencing these days:

- i totally can't breathe.  after i eat i'm so cramped that i can't breathe.  when i roll over in bed i can't breathe. needless to say this big boy of mine is taking over my abdomen.

- as proven by the sugar baby incident i have lost my mind and can't remember anything.  i am getting better at writing things down when i first think of them or they are gone.

- the baby is one active little booger moving all the time.  especially being on bed rest he is dancing around like crazy.  not walking around and rocking him to sleep he just jumps.  especially when i lay on my side... it feels like he is jumping up and down stretching both sides of my body.

- my face has finally cleared up and i'm not breaking out anymore.

-i'm a little baffled at the idea that i still have 2 months and my belly is going to stick out that much further... 

- i'm seeing my first signs of stretch marks but they dont look too bad so far.

- my hair is dry which is amazing for a girl who always had greasy hair. its nice to not have to wash my hair 3 or 4 days at a time! way better than every other day.

we haven't and probably wont settle on a name till our little buddy shows his face, but here are the names we are seriously considering:

henry

andrew

daniel

joseph

we shall see.  as last time i will leave you with another silly photo shoot by chris.... he gets a little carried away with the camera

23-25 weeks...

it is now very easy to tell that i am pregnant!  this belly of mine has really exploded in the last couple weeks.  we had my 25 week check up this week and everything is good.  his heartbeat was good and everything else was fine.  it was a short appointment since i didn't even have any questions to ask him, but we did sit and chat for a minute about various things including old wives tales things people say that sound crazy to me... and they are crazy.. haha.  i love my doctor. he's a really good guy and funny and sarcastic.  i fully trust him and know that whatever he says he is looking out for my best interest and interest of the baby.  here are some things i am experiencing lately:

- this little man moves all the time! he is a very active baby.  he makes his presence known a couple times through out the day and then does the cha cha all night long.  usually i can sleep through it... except when i have to go to the bathroom and he makes it worse.

- i am having a harder time bending over because i can't breathe... this hard ball doesn't squish out of the way when i move so it just cuts off air supply.  

- i have experienced my first couple Braxton Hicks contractions.  at first i thought it was the baby moving around but then i realized wow that whole area is tight and it feels like there is pressure... or just uncomfortable-ness and then after 30 seconds or a minute it goes away... totally weird.

- the other day the baby stuck his bum out at me.  he rolled over and all of a sudden my belly was totally lopsided with this hard ball sticking out.  it was way funny.

- chris has now really felt the baby kick.  it was during one of the baby's morning dance sessions... chris felt it on my side... while i was feeling it on both sides.

- it makes me laugh when he moving or kicking and punching in both directions... i can just see my belly dance from side to side.

- i now waddle a little bit.  chris thinks its awesome. i'm just trying to walk.

- my face is finally not breaking out constantly anymore which is really nice!

-i literally feel like an oven with a bun in it.  i am so hot all the time! our house is freezing to chris and i am just dying! often i will walk in a room and think its super hot and my mom or someone else says "um no, its just you". 

we still haven't settled on a name but i think we have a few that we are seriously thinking about... some that stick out more than others.  thats all i have for today... or all i can remember since i have lost my brain.  here are a few extra pics... chris likes taking pics with our camera... and he got a little crazy this last time and kept making me pose while he counted down really fast... here's the result:

getting ready for the boy...

i have been dying to know the sex of the baby because i have all the projects i want to work on but had to wait till we knew for sure what the baby was.  the monday after we found out the baby was for sure a boy i went off to the fabric store to buy material for my first project- recovering the car seat my sister saved for me.  my awesome sister saved all her nice baby stuff so that i could use it in the future.  the future is now here, but i'm having a boy.  the car seat is black and grey and purple.  i decided to take out the purple and put in something a little masculine and cute! i found this really cute black fabric with grey stripes and yellow and white dots.  i bought enough so that i could recover the matching stroller as well.  here is the finished product:

i started by finding a blog online that explained how another girl had taken apart the seat, saved all the pieces used them as a pattern, and then sewed it back together.  i had already decided to save the black fabric and the grey piping as they were both in really good shape.  this made it a little harder to find a fabric i liked that would match until i found the one i used and really liked it. 

 since i was using so much of the original car seat (including all the batting/backing inside) it made the process easy.  some parts were frustrating and definitely a challenge but i had so much fun doing it.  i took pictures during the entire taking apart process so i could remember how things were supposed to go back together and i';m glad i did!! it came in handy many times!!!  here is one part i'm proud of: making this hole for the seat belt button and making the button hole for the strap to come through the button.  i had never done either before but it was really neat to figure it out.

i'm really happy with how the car seat turned out!! i think its so cute and will totally work for this little guy.  i also did the little infant head rest which really adds to the whole thing... 

after i finished the car seat i decided to tackle the stroller.  this one was more difficult as i wasn't sure how to take it apart. it was also tricky as it had this plastic window and these pockets for the support bars etc...

 once i finished the hood i took off the seat and after looking at it for a while decided it was WAY too complicated to take apart and put back together... not worth the trouble at all.  there were only 2 little strips of purple and it didn't seem like it would be worth the mess to take it apart for that. so i left it.  but even just changing the hood i think adds soooo much to it!!

after i was finished with all that i decided i wanted to make one of those blanket covers you see so many people with these days.  they looked easy enough to make so i went back to the fabric store and picked out some fabric to go with the black yellow and grey i already had.  i ended up getting a really bright yellow black and white stripped fabric with a black with grey circles to mellow it out a bit and then a black fabric with grey and white squares on it for another contrast.  i had seen someone use giant rickrack on the border and thought it was so cute so i did the same and only used it on the front edge.  i also put an elastic band across the back to help hold the cover down when its windy (as it is in february in las vegas).  i already had some white snaps and decided to use that instead of velcro for the straps to attach it to the handle. 

for the inside layer i decided to use left over fabric from the car seat so when the front of the blanket was flipped up it would match the inside.  i also used white minky dot for a border on the inside.  partly cause i think its so cute and soft and also to give it a little weight to help hold down if windy.  i was going to attach a little velco to the side to help hold it, but once i finished it was heavy enough to hold itself.  

overall i'm really happy with how everything turned out!!! i am now waiting for some fabric to come that i bought online to make bedding and what not.  we aren't even getting a crib until we move in the navy, but i need to make it now in case i never feel up to it after the baby is born.  i love sewing and am excited to be able to do all these things in preparing for our little guy to come!!!

19-21 weeks...

i think it is evident from the pictures above that red is NOT my color and blue is amazing.

this week we went for my 20 weeks appointment where they do a big ultra sound and measure everything and check that everything looks good and is developing as it should.  i was anxious all morning partly from wanting to know the baby was a boy for sure and also not knowing if chris would make it home from school on time for us to ride together to the appointment.  he had 2 screenings and half the time they dont show up which the first one didn't, but the second one did.  luckily the guy had already been down to the ER and chris was able to get through the appointment faster because of it.  once we got there the ultra sound tech took us back and first thing confirmed ITS A BOY!!! chris got a big smile on his face.  he's very excited to have a boy.  this will be the first spillers grandchild to carry on the spillers name as jeff and chris are the only boys of all the cousins on his dad's side of the family and so far jeff only has girls... so this is the first BOY!!! i am very excited as i have many projects i want to start working on but had to wait till i knew the gender for sure.  i will be very busy now!! 

here's my update from the last month:

-baby is kicking ALL the time!! after i eat lunch he usually starts swimming around and kicking me and when i am first trying to fall asleep he usually perks up and says hello.  chris and i have tried a couple times now to catch it so he can feel it which we have once... but its hard for him to feel it, especially since my heart beat is so strong right where the baby is sitting right now.

- i feel like my belly has exploded this week.  all of a sudden i feel so much more pregnant and my belly is sticking out a foot.  but i'm excited it is finally getting to that point.

- i have lost interest in foods i lived off of for the first couple months.  i can no longer eat cottage cheese and pears (together), macaroni and cheese, and occasionally cereal does not appeal to me. so i am now venturing out to see what i want.

- heartburn has kicked in! holy cow.  some nights are worse than others, but tums is helping a little.  my doctor gave me some stuff to try so we will see how it goes.

- it is getting harder to bend over to pick stuff up. i stand up and am completely out of breath and dizzy. its a nice excuse to ask chris for help more often now.

- my hair is growing way fast.  i just barely got my hair done and it already has grown an inch! that and it grows too fast on my legs which makes me shave more often.  its annoying and becoming increasingly more difficult. 

- i am sleeping fairly well, but every time i roll over i have to get up and go to the bathroom. 

- i get really bad headaches EVERY afternoon so my doctor prescribed me to drink a can or 2 of diet coke everyday... i will admit i was excited to hear thats i SHOULD drink some caffeine... i do miss my diet coke... haven't had any in like 7 months. 

here's the pics and update on the baby BOY:

the baby is looking really good and healthy.  he is definitely a boy! gave us a couple really good views to prove it! we also got to witness him sucking his thumb! it was so sweet!!!  

it was so crazy to see the 3D view! makes the baby look really real... with skin and eyelids and hands and feet... so neat!! we got one really good shot of the face! and the others the baby was being shy and looking away or kept putting his hands in front of his face.

he is measuring BIG.  like my due date should really be FEB 3rd, but they are keeping it the 11th.  so he is a week bigger than expected and at this rate if i make it to my due date he will be AT LEAST 8 pounds!! thats big for my family! we were all little 6 pound babies.  when she measured his femur she said he was going to be a very long baby as well.  that makes me happy! i hope this boy gets chris's height and not mine!!! 

we left the appointment feeling really happy and excited.  my health is good and the baby is looking good.  just have to wait a couple more weeks now (like 18) to see him!!! we are having fun thinking of names.. and my family is especially having a good time. 

 some suggestions we got this week:

lorenzo

bo hunkus

alex

fredrich

henry

mj

jack

and many more!!! some we like and some not so much- haha! but we aren't planning on settling on a name till the baby is born.  i want to see his face first.

11 days in reno...

four days after i got back from the cruise chris and i jumped in the car and headed up to reno.  he was on a 3 week break from school so we decided to spend half of it in reno to see his family.  we went up on thursday august 18th because chris's friend from dental school and from reno was getting married on the 20th.  on friday morning chris went up to lake tahoe with jeff to go golfing at edgewood golf course for casey's bachelor party.  it was an EXTREMELY expensive course but EXTREMELY beautiful... the whole time you are golfing you have this incredible view of lake tahoe and the mountains all around.  i spent friday morning with stevie and the little girls.  we went to the park and to scheels to look at the giant fish they have.  then we drove out to david's house in washoe valley to meet up with the boys and everyone else for a BBQ.  we had good food and fun company with catherine and jeffery and baby scarlett and david's girlfriend karon and her son josh and his friend. poor jeff ended up not feeling very well that night and was pretty sick :(

the next day chris and i spent the day with his dad and catherine and jeffery and went up the mountain to virignia city... we walked up and down the "old town" and looked in some shops... visited the old school and took its little tour and had lunch... chris didn't feel that great all day and had kinda a sour stomach... poor guy.

that night chris and i drove up to lake tahoe to meet up with jeff and stevie and their friends to see shakespeare by the lake... we saw twelfth night... which is hilarious! it was the based the movie "she's the man" on.  its a really neat setting as you sit in the sand on a hill in little beach chairs and have the lake as the back view of the show.  after the show chris and i had walked towards our car and decided to go to the bathroom before taking the trip back down the mountain... while waiting outside for our turn... this bear walked up the walkway towards chris.  at first he thought it was a big dog till he flashed a flashlight on it and saw it was a bear... and man walked up behind chris which scared the bear away... bizarre right??!! i was totally freaked and felt lucky it just walked away.

we woke up sunday morning and got ready to go to church out in washoe valley... it was a small little ward but fun to be there.  they have a full sized chapel but a really small congregation.  that afternoon we were picked up by susan and richard as they offered to take jeff, stevie, cadence, chris and i to the wedding.  we drove up to lake tahoe back to edgewood golf course where the wedding took place.  it was beautiful! kristen (the bride) looked amazing! loved her dress! we had great fun taking pictures in the photo booth they had for the guest book and eating food.  we danced a little but i wasn't feeling great and chris's stomach was bothering him... on the drive home... chris ended up getting sick. poor guy. 

 that night i made him sleep on the couch so i wouldn't get whatever he had.  monday morning i woke up shaking with the chills... looks like i got the flu too.  it is still the only time i have thrown up this whole pregnancy.  we didn't realize that everyone else had the flu too till his dad walked in the door at lunch time home early from work and had been sick all night.  turns out that chris, daivd, karon, her son josh and his friend all had the flu that day.  catherine ended up getting it later in the week... weird! it knocked chris and i out. we spent monday laying on the couch doing nothing all day.  

tuesday we headed out to jeff and stevie's to stay for the rest of our visit.  that night we made spaghetti and took it over to zack and katelynd's house.  they had both their new little girl twins home from the hospital and wanted to say hi and meet the babies.  wednesday chris went to work with jeff and i slept in! it was nice!! that night was claire's 2nd b-day so we headed to the park for pizza and cake and ice cream.

thursday we went back to zack and katelynd's for dinner and this time they cooked.  jeff and stevie came with us too... we have a fun little party sitting around holding babies and talking about the past.  that night zack kept freaking out at things i would say because it turns out katelynd and i have a lot in common... haha it was pretty funny.  friday morning chris went golfing again with jeff and when he got back we deaded up to lake tahoe just the two of us.  we sat by the lake and i read my book the whole time and chris would go out and swim and jump off the rocks and would come back and read for a while.  we left once the sun went down and got dinner at a little diner there in incline village.  

saturday we got up and went over to susan's.  we had an awesome breakfast and then headed over to the pool in their complex.  we played in the pool for an hour or so and then headed home.  on the way we decided to stop by and say hi to judy hicks since we were so close to her house... we ended up chatting for over an hour.  love that woman! it was good we stayed so long though since jeff called and said that brady (their dog) had gotten sick all over the couch... 

once we got home i discovered that brady had gotten into our room and found the big box of fudge we had just bought from cabella's earlier that week... she managed to get the box out from a bag within a bag within a bag... and ate the ENTIRE box including the wax paper wrapped around each piece... she is a little dog... lucky it didn't make her more sick or kill her but she was fine... that night we had catherine jeffery and daivd and karon over for dinner at jeff and stevie's. david and karon picked up macaroni grill for all of us.  we had a really good time sitting around the table just talking and laughing forever!  

sunday morning we got up and got ready for church.  we met up with zack and katelynd since it was their ward.  when we got to relief society they asked if anyone could play piano and no one raised their hand so i stood up and said i could.  i thought it was funny that i was the visitor and was the one playing.  after church we headed back to jeff and stevie's and had dinner and went to bed... we got up early the next morning and packed up and left. we stopped real quick at cabella's to pick up a new box of fudge since we didn't get to eat any of the last one... haha.. then drove home.  it was really  fun to see all the family! we may only get to go one more time for thanksgiving before we have the baby and are off somewhere new in the navy!  

vern christensen family cruise.. august 2011

i am finally getting around to writing about the cruise we took this summer... my grandpa hate the las vegas heat and is 87 and bored and keeps deciding to go on these big family trips... last time it was europe cruise to the baltics... this summer it was canada... 30 of us including his children and a bunch of us grandkids were invited to go with him.. haha.  we started with a midnight plane ride... which was awful! i didn't sleep at all!!! i had put on the sea sickness patch so it would be in my system when we got on the boat... but instead it gave me such bad dry mouth that i couldn't sleep at all!  when we landed in new york the whole group boarded a bus which took us on a little tour i got off at the first stop of time square... thats the only place i remember because after that i was fast asleep!!!

thank goodness that first day is at sea so we had time to rest!  here is the passage from my journal of that first day: 

august 7th 2011

i am currently on a boat/cruise with my mom's family- like 30 of us.  so far we have slept and eaten a LOT of food.  we started in new york and are now on our way to canada- halifax- this morning we had breakfast and ended up sitting at the same table through lunch and didn't leave till 4 pm to get ready for dinner- after dinner we went to the dance show... it was really bad!! after that sam, james and i sang in a karaoke contest and neither won... we were definitely the most entertaining but whatev... the guy hosting didnt like us for some reason... lame. but we really were awesome! i was a little sad all day cause chris wasn't here with me-- he didn't get to come because he has finals this week- super sad- but its been fun talking to all the cousins and eating fancy food.

fancy dinner night

karaoke awesomeness!!!

August 8th, 2011:

today we visited halifax, nova scotia canada-  it had really neat history.  this is where they buried those that dies on the titanic-  they also had their own disaster when 2 ships collided in the harbor and one caught fire and exploded because it was carrying gun powder and what not.  it killed 2,000 and thousands more were blinded and maimed by glass shards and other shrapnel. the whole town had gathered to watch the fire... hence the high casualty.  crazy! we did our usual favorite "hop on hop off bus" we discovered in europe... it took us all over. we saw this OLD graveyard and had a contest of who could find the oldest or most interesting tombstone. sam won because he cheated and made up some poem and acted like he was reading it off a grave... i laughed pretty hard at that one. 

 then we went to the merytime  museum. it had all sorts of ships and stuff about titanic.  i had an awesome moment when i was passing out our tickets and thought i had an extra and was yelling out "who doesn't have their ticket" till i realized it was my own... haha!!! then we visited this old fort... it was fun people dressed up in costumes... and then it poured rain on us!!! like crazy!!!  once back on the boat the rest of the night we just hung out and had dinner.  it was a fun day and interesting to learn about canada. 

august 9th 2011:

today we were in st. john, new brunswick canada.  it was way smaller then hallifax.  the only really cool thing about it was the reverse rapids where the river meets ocean... high tide reverses the flow of the river... we also walked around the little town... meesha and i went into this little candy shop and stocked up... it had the weirdest candy! like this extra salty black licorice.. i had to spit it out the second it hit my tongue... gross!!! once back on the ship we ate dinner and then everyone just sat around talking forever!  i was way more lonely today.. missing chris badly.  sometimes i want to go explore the ship or something but don't have anyone to go with me.  and not having any form of communication is bizarre since my phone doesn't work in canada or at sea.  tomorrow hopefully i will get to talk to him in maine! 

august 10th 2011:

today i got out of bed and fell back in!!! the boat was way leaning to one side- the harbor in bar harbor, maine was having a crazy rain storm with winds at 60 mph which meant we couldn't get off the boat because it wasn't safe to get off the boat by tender... so instead it became an "at sea" day. we ate breakfast and sat there till lunch and after lunch we went to karaoke... sam sang and meesha, nicole and i sang neil diamond song and emily and i ended the show with her amazing version of the 1990's song "bust a move" which she raps in opera... and i sing back up chorus... in opera... it was awesome haha.  then we hung around till dinner and did some line dancing... during dinner the fog horn was sounding every 3 min! it was so foggy you could hardly see the water below. the sea was pretty rough all day... and night... we also went to the employee talent show.. it was actually pretty good! we spent the whole day just laughing which is good for being stuck on a boat... and i never did get to talk to chris but sent him a quick text saying i'd call him from boston.

August 12th 2011:

i missed writing yesterday cause i fell RIGHT asleep when i got in bed... i was soooo tired from walking a million miles around boston!  in boston we rode a trolley all around and got off to see fenway park- home of the red socks- and then when the next trolley was coming by we tried to flag her down by waving our arms and she would wave back and not slow down at all so we'd wave again and she would wave back at us with a smile on her face... we were freaking out.... till she finally stopped and said "sorry, i was just messing with you" ha! 

after that we walked the "freedom trail" which is this red brick line that goes for 2.5 miles all through town marking all the famous historic sites... it was really neat... graves of a couple guys who signed declaration of independence... paul revere's home... the place/balcony where the declaration of independence was first read to the public... etc. we also got to see the 2 locations that represent the show cheers.  the one they filmed for the outside shot and the bar that has been redone in the exact way the show had it.. it was neat. i also finally got to talk to chris!!! it was so nice just to hear his voice... and because i'm pregnant and hormonal i cried for the first 3 minutes we talked... haha  we had wanted to see the "uss constitution" but ran out of time and had to rush back to the boat... the rest of the night we ate (cause thats what you do on a cruise) and sat around and talked. i went to bed early from complete exhaustion...

august 13th 2011:

today we were in newport rhode island.  beautiful!!!!  harbor and coast line filled with summer homes of the rich and famous.. we decided to see 2 mansions of the vanderbuilt family.  the first one was "the breakers" named because the ocean breaks right on the rocks of the coast line.  massive mansion!!! 4 stories including one just for the help.... it had like 20 bathrooms... built in the 1890s.  the play house in the backyard was 1200 square feet!!!! bigger than the apartment i live in now!!! and totally extravagant! neat to see how people lived back then.  we also visited "marble house" so named because the entire first floor is covered in marble... they say it would cost 300 million dollars to build a house like that now... it belonged to the crazy wife of one of the vanderbuilts... she was a woman's rights activist and just crazy! she built this chinese tea house in the back yard... and collected weird art and what not... my favorite part of newort was the beautiful giant mansions on the coast line.. my favorite being this one white one... its giant but so pretty!!!

that night we dressed up one more time for dinner... as the boat headed back to new york... 

august 14th 2011:

the trip home... was... bad! we had to be off the boat by 11:45 and then our plane didn't take off till 4 or something. so we sat around the airport... and when we finally got on the plane there was something wrong with one computer in the cockpit and we sat there for an hour while they tried to fix it... decided they couldn't and made us get off the plane and told us it may be a while before they find another plane... so we sat around for a while till they had us change gates and get on another plane... and once on the plane we sat there for another 40 min while we waited in line for our plane to take off... then it was like a 6 hour plane ride.... i wanted to die!!! i coudn't sleep... of course. and by the time the plane landed my feet were sooooo swollen i could hardly get my shoes back on.  this is of course the reason why when chris pulled up to pick us up... he came right up to me and gave me a hug and i BURST into tears... and cried the whole way home.... glad to see him.... glad to be off the plane.. and just so tired!!!! 

the trip was so fun and an amazing memory to share with grandpa and the family!

wee babe... boy???

i just want to start by saying i am totally stealing this idea from an old roommate of mine.  she took weekly prego photos and i thought it was such a cute idea that i'm doing the same... sorry to the roommate in advance... just really liked the idea... i also want to apologize for the quality and angles of the pictures... we are still trying to figure out this big fancy camera we got for chris to use at school and figuring out how we want the pictures to look... but i'm impressed chris does so well having no idea how the camera really works!

this week i am 17 weeks... but the baby is still measuring a week ahead.  today was really fun.  we had gone with the intent to see if we could see what the gender of the baby is.  this was also the first appointment chris was able to come to since he is on break from school.  my mom came with us so we had a little party at the doctors office.  i have to just say that my doctor is hilarious! dr. swainston... i love him as my doctor! he makes everything fun and exciting because he's a little sarcastic and makes jokes the whole time.  he started with the ultra sound and showed us a zoomed in view of the baby's alien face which was facing right at us.  and then he zoomed in on the heart and turned on the sound... of course its in surround sound and up really loud... he made some joke about needing an excuse to go into best buy and get speakers... "makes you really feel the heart beat"  no kidding!! but still very cool to her that very fast heart beat.  after all that he started looking between the legs and right off said he saw something... but couldn't tell for sure because the umbilical was bunched up between the legs... so he turned on this other view that shows blood flow of umbilical cord and one part wasn't lighting up... so he said it could be boy stuff or still just cord... he's leaning toward boy but can only be 50% sure (another joke) he did one more test where he said "lets ask the baby" and started saying words like shopping... clothes... boys... barbies.  and the baby didn't move. so he said words like... football... sports... eating lots of food... and the baby moved his head. haha! i thought i was going to die laughing...  at this point the baby started moving his mouth open and closed and that was really fun to watch... like a little fish going for food... i asked my doctor if it was ok how i slept and he said it doesn't matter as long as you sleep comfortably.. and then he told chris "but she should NOT be doing any cleaning, laundry, dishes, or cooking... she should only be shopping... its for exercise"  haha i love my doctor... always looking out for me.

at this point we are saying its tentatively a boy... but we will know for sure september 30th when we go for our 20 week appointment where they do the big ultra sound and measure everything.  that will be really fun.  it would have been nice to know for sure now but i'm also just glad everything looks good and all my tests and everything looks really good.  

i thought from the beginning that this was a boy... for a few reasons: 

- my sister saved everything from her daughter so i have 3 bins full of baby clothes for a little girl... very prepared in girl department...

- when looking at baby names there haven't been too many girl names that really stand out and i love, but when looking at boy names we have had a 2 or 3 that we both really like...

- we have too many girls in our family and it was time for a boy... the only one on both sides is william and he's already 2... its time for a boy.

of course... if we go back on the 30th and the baby turns out to be a girl we will be thrilled and excited and i will be shocked and TOTALLY wrong... but as of now... i feel good thinking my gut feeling was boy...

here are some of my pregnancy symptoms happening now:

- my stomach is really starting to stick out.  i think because i have such a short torso... there is nowhere for anything to move except straight out.
- i am feeling a lot better... not so nauseous.
- i have lost my mind... i can't remember anything.  i have a thought of something i need to do the next day or later and if i don't write it down or do it right then... its lost.... i have also lost the ability to talk coherently because i forget words... can't think of what i'm trying to say.
- i am sleeping much better with only one bathroom break during the night....
- i am drinking a lot more water (i'm craving ice water badly) so my bathroom use during the day had gone up exponentially.
- my nails are crazy long and hard... i have never had nails before so it blows my mind to have such long nails.
- my face is still breaking out all the time, but i think that will be the case the whole 9 months.
- i think i felt the baby move for the first time!!! but i'll share more on that when i report on our trip to reno.
- the only really bad thing that happens now is that if i sit for too long in one position i get a really bad pain on my lower lower back...

i really like being pregnant and being able to tell people i'm pregnant... (even though my brother sam teases me about it) i'm just so excited that i can't help but tell people... 

barry manilow... my new boyfriend...

last night chris and i got free tickets to see barry manilow... i would be lying if i said i wasn't excited... cause i was giddy like a little girl.  i went through a phase when i was a teenager and would listen to this cd i have called "ultimate manilow" and its all his big hits...and i listened constantly, so yes i know almost every song by heart. so i begged chris to take me... he's a really good sport.  when we walked in they gave us these awesome red glow sticks to wave around during the show.  the audience was mostly 50+ very excited women and their husbands... ha!

(click to enlarge)

the show opened up with him singing "come... come... come into my arms" and lots of screaming women... yes including me.  i will say i was shocked how good he sounded for being a 68 year old man... i mean really good... he sounds about like he did in the beginning only his vibrato is a little slower... but really good! still hits all those high notes!!

the whole show was entertaining and fun as he kinda goes through all his hits and then mixes in a few new songs... all the while kinda telling his life story... i being pregnant was a little chocked up the whole time.. at any moment i could have easily produced tears... at one moment there were a few that made their way out of my eyes.  he shared the story of his beginning and his grandpa taking him as a 4 year old to this recording booth in time square where you could record anything for 25 cents... and he played a little of it... mostly his grandpa coaxing him into singing and the kid saying no... haha... and then he said his grandpa wouldn't give up and finally one day he got him to sing and some guy play the piano... bla bla bla... but it was so cute! and then in the show barry manilow sang "this ones for you... where ever you are" and i totally lost it! they brought down a picture of him as a tiny kid standing next to his grandfather.  i think the reason this hit me is because my own grandpa vern has always encouraged me to sing and praised me every time i did..  but he has always been my biggest fan... so thinking about that barry's story really touched me.

the whole show was so great! he plays the piano off and on (and very well i might add) and he would show clips from old tv shows like his appearance on american band stand where he sang "oh mandy" and then the movie screen moves up and he comes out singing the song and at one point sings a duet with himself in the video... very cool!!!

chris' favorite song was "copa cobana" it went on forever and they did a whole huge finally party with the entire audience standing and dancing waving their red glow stick in the air singing... i had a huge smile on my face the entire show and was so excited to go... i'm lucky chris was so willing to go and he enjoyed it more than he thought he would.. and recognized enough songs... we are now listening to the cd in our home... i have a feeling i'm going to have these songs stuck in my head for a month!!!