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!

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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!!!

wee babe update...

this week i had my 12 week appointment with my dr.  it was exciting because they did a screening for down syndrome which means i had an ultra sound and got to see the baby again!! this time it actually looked like a baby! it had a head mouth eyes feet and hands... i also got to hear the heart beat this time... amazing! can't help but have a huge smile on your face hearing something like that.  the ultra sound tech lady was trying to measure a space on the back of the baby's neck... i think measure the fluid there and she couldn't get a good view because the baby was trapped in a nook right by my bladder... so she kept pushing kind hard trying to get the baby to move.. and all the baby did was get the hiccups!! but that was also really fun to watch... to see it jump up and down like that.  here are the pics from that day:

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i think the one with the alien face it totally creepy but the profile shot is soooo sweet!!!!

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here are the updates on the wee babe:

- measure a week ahead of schedule... which i think it will the whole time because i have a super short cycle... so just going off my LMP will put me a week ahead... 

- the baby looks good the measurements this time all looked good... 

- my baby update email that i get every week compared the size of the baby to a kiwi... so chris and i have been calling it kiwi... its better than "it" until we find out the actual sex of the baby... (which will hopefully happen at my next appointment!!)

my prego updates:

- i already look pregnant... my stomach sticks out so far from bloating that i totally look pregnant... which i think is actually fun! 

- i am still nauseous often but have made it through my entire first trimester with out vomiting so i count myself lucky.

- i have started getting really bad headaches in the afternoons but my doctor gave me something for that so hopefully it helps!

- i have fully experienced pregnancy brain where i can't remember what i'm doing or what i'm trying to say... etc... thats annoying.

- this morning i experienced my first dizzy spells... that was hilarious.. i felt like i was trying to walk on a very rocky boat.  had to hold on to everything around me.

- i cry at everything!!!! i can't watch tv with out getting choked up, i can't hear sad stories with out crying, i have seen harry potter twice now and cried fairly hard both times, and tonight we went to Barry Manilow (post about that soon!!) and i totally got choked up with TEARS several times... its embarrassing.  i am singing in church tomorrow and really hope i make it through the song with out crying.

- i am super excited to start feeling the baby... and i have started touching my stomach all the time... not sure what thats about but i catch myself just rubbing my lower belly when i'm standing.

chris and i have also had a good time picking out names... we play the veto game and usually that consists of my coming up with the worst names ever and him taking me seriously and then vetoing them.  we do have a few that we actually really like but until we really know the sex of the babe its hard to think of names... for now we will play the crazy name game and see how much we could ruin the baby's life with just a name... haha like the johny cash song "boy named sue" 

mammoth creek cabin...

for the fourth of july chris and i headed up to mammoth creek with my mom and my siblings to the old family cabin.  my grandpa and his brothers built this cabin a million years ago... now it is owned by my mom's cousin so we rented it for the weekend.  it was so much fun to go back!  we used to go every summer when i was little till i was about 8.  my mom would take all us kids up there with her mom and we would spend a week... and during that week we would play in the river (which is just outside the back door of the cabin) and we would run up the mountain side outside the front door and play in this ancient fort (which still stands) and we would go out to this field to hunt for horny toads and we would visit the lava caves... etc.  

my siblings and i were so excited to go and kept sharing all of our memories from previous trips.  mine of course being the one where my aunt julia took the little kids on a little hike/walk where we ended up across the river from our cabin up on a road... you could totally see us below and she had us all take our shirts off and wave and yell at our moms down below who were in the back yard reading books... 

it was really fun to see the cabin... even though improvements have been made it still looks much the same... 5 bedrooms with a million beds crammed in each one and 2 bathrooms... the front room has the dining table and kitchen and then there is a little den with tv and what not... the favorite place to hang out is the back porch... so fun to sit in a chair and read a book while watching the river and seeing the kids play all over...

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the first day we were there we took a hike to cascade falls... its fascinating as the water is just shooting out of the side of the mountain... it come from the navajo lake above and then eventually the cascade falls goes under ground to become mammoth creek springs... its very cool. the hike was really crowded but still fun and easy (thank goodness) 

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we had a good time playing by the river.. it was way too cold and way too full to actually get in but the little babies had a great time putting their hands in and throwing rocks...

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we also had a hilarious time trying to get a good picture of the three grandkids... as proven below it was impossible but the result of trying was still really funny...

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the next day we visited the lava caves... they are these underground tunnels that are crazy dark... like with out flashlights you cannot see anything... i even felt like i couldn't breathe it was so dark... we made the half mile way through the tunnel and crawled out this tiny hole at the end and were covered in mud... but it was totally worth it and way fun!

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the boys also had a good time climbing on the mountains of lava rock....

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i took our nice camera up with us so chris and i could have a little fun taking nice pictures... i got some really cute ones of my nieces and nephew... they are just so darn cute!

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on the last day chris decided he had to jump in the river... it was very cold and moving fast but he had to do it at least once... our camera has this really neat sports mode that take continuous pictures.. so you get to see the whole movement of chris jumping and and the river pushing him over... it cracks me up when his leg pops up out of the water... he said it wasn't that cold... it feels the same as lake tahoe.. and i said yeah... that means its cold!! 

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on the drive home we took the scenic route to look at cedar breaks... which is breath taking!! 

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the trip overall was amazing and fun and so great to spend all that time with my family and get to share our memories with our spouses ... and it was fun to just be there again... you are so cut off from the world up high in the mountains like that and its really just kinda nice!!

our wee babe...

the beginning of this story isn't super funny or even that interesting:  boy meets girl- they get married- and decided to start a family...  it seemed that simple and really it was EXCEPT that emotionally it was so much more personal than i ever realized...

deciding to have a baby was easy.  i'm 27 and we were both just ready and really wanted to start our family.  i also really wanted to have my first baby here in vegas where i am surrounded by my mom and my family... i'm a total mama's girl and wanted my mommy to be close by. ha!

it was an interesting roller coaster from month to month getting hopes up and then being disappointed... i became so much more sensitive to others around me that were going through the same thing.  i never want to ask "are you pregnant yet?" cause sometimes its just not that easy... and then you have to share your disappointment of not being that month... and then once you are you kinda want to keep it private for a little bit but its hard with everyone asking "are you prego yet?" haha... anyway. when may hit i really had a feeling i was.. but i'm too impatient to wait for the most telling sign... so i took a test... like 6 days early... and it had the faintest of faint positive lines... i didn't even tell chris cause i wasn't sure... i mean i knew it meant i was pregnant but it made me nervous being so faint... so i took one the next day with the same result... i came out and showed chris and he was like... ok?  haha having no idea what the 2 lines meant... i said i thought it meant i was pregnant but he was a little hesitant to get excited... i told my mom and she was the same way... i think its because the line was so faint.  but it was there and i KNEW i was!!! so for the next 4 days i kept taking the test till the last time and it came out with 2 solid dark pink lines... yep positive!!! chris was more excited at this point.  we set out and told our families right from the start... i had wanted to wait and tell the general public till later and really held off as long as possible...

after my first appointment it became much harder to not say anything... i wanted to tell everyone about that tiny heartbeat beating like crazy and getting the real visual confirmation that there was a baby inside me... surreal moment!  well... as time went on we told more and more people and now here we are at 10 weeks and we've let it out.  my family will tell you i have NEVER been able to keep my own secrets... NEVER.  i get too excited and its all i think about and i am usually one to share thoughts... therefore people end up knowing.

we are so excited!!! its funny to think how we are going to fit a little one into our tiny apartment that i have packed full already... but i am willing to pack up lots of stuff to fit a little one into our lives.

how am i feeling??
- i am super bloated and already look pregnant at almost 11 weeks
- i am nauseous all the time... zofran helps a little but not always
- i am sleeping a lot.  i'm not working so when i don't feel good i just sleep.  i dont sleep at night except random 3 hour spurts so i'm usually sleepy in the day
- i haven't puked at all... not once so i count myself lucky and feel i can't complain too much about the nausea since i can still eat (usually)
- i feel as though i have lost my mind. i forget things and get lost in the middle of sentences forgetting what i was saying

that is about it.. i will brag that chris has been amazing through all of this!  he does the dishes... all of them which is a bigger task since we don't have a dishwasher.. and he takes out the trash... and he never complains when i don't make dinner for the 4th night in a row.... he tells me i'm beautiful and to just take it easy.  i'm spoiled and in love.

busy months full of secrets...

its been forever... i know but i have a good reason! we've just been busy... and my mind has been occupied that i haven't thought about blogging :)

in june we took a trip to the san francisco to go to jeff's dental school graduation.  we flew out friday morning so we could baby sit for jeff and stevie so they could go to the big alumni gala party thing... it was fun to play house for the evening... i fed claire and then chris took her for the rest of the night... played with her and read her stories and put her to bed while i had cadence.. fed her and just held her... 5 weeks old and just sweet and tiny.. i never wanted to put her down... and she didn't want to be put down so it worked out perfectly!

on saturday we woke up and took our time getting ready... and then headed out to the beach... by the bridge... and i have no idea what the beach is called... BUT it was really pretty.  sadly we couldn't stay because it was incredibly cold and windy and we were prepared for neither... i was instantly getting an ear ache (which is normal for me in cold wind) but it was a little miserable.. so we drove to this other spot and got some ice cream and got back in the car... we then got the driving tour which was way fun... my kind of tour where i can stay in the car and just look... san fran is a pretty place.

that evening we met up with the rest of the family for dinner... it was really fun to see them all again and to enjoy dinner... the food was really good.  after we went back to the apartment and chatted with jeff and stevie till late... i like talks like that!

sunday we got up and had breakfast at this vegan restaurant where we had oatmeal and french toast and it was all really good! and thank goodness it was quite the walk so we could burn off some calories both ways! sunday afternoon we got ready and went to graduation... it was 2.5 hours.. but for the most part entertaining.. it was interesting to hear where everyone had come from and where they were going...  after graduation we packed up and headed off to the airport.  it was a really good trip and we are so excited for jeff to be done and soon working as a real dentist.

on this trip we also announced to his family that we are expecting our first baby!!! yep thats right! come february we will have our very own little spillers baby! i will blog more on that later... but it was fun telling his family.  i had chris tell his parents.. when his mom arrived he began by apologizing saying sorry for it taking us a couple months but we were pregnant... haha and then after talking to his dad for a minute he just blurted it out.. well... marilyns pregnant! haha both cracked me up...