It's a GIRL!!!

I'm sorry Katie, but alas it is a girl. :) We had the ultrasound yesterday and saw a lot of blobs and things that the technician was telling us was the liver, the kidneys, the brain, etc. I could of sworn I was having a baby frog until she finally focused on some recognizable features like the spine, the hands, the feet, and the entire head with two little arms and hands rubbing the face. It was soooo amazing! It is so nice to be able to refer to this little baby as 'she' and be certain! I'm pretty sure we will call her Lilian. Or maybe Lillian. I haven't decided on the spelling yet. Any suggestions?

Catch up

So here's a few photos just so you can see that I really did graduate and move to Oregon!
Look closely; there's the prophet!

Aaah, Meredith has made it coast to coast at last!
And now you can see how fat I am now that I'm 22 weeks! Just kidding, this was in a fun house mirror at the Rose Festival in Portland.

A long hiatus!

Ladies! I'll have you know that I'm back finally! I don't know why this blogging stuff doesn't like me, but it seems that I get the hang of it for a while and then Boom! For some reason it doesn't work for a while.

Well, Brad and I are getting settled in Oregon and we LOVE IT! The weather has been lovely and there are tons of things to do, so come and visit us any time.

Plus, we're finally getting all of the doctor appointments figured out and scheduled. I'll get to find out what the baby is on WEDNESDAY!!!!!

Any guesses?

Best Weekend '07

For lots of reasons, but one of them... Well, yeah.

25 is 25

BDA 25 has finally arrived. We are all members of the 25 club. Yessss.

Blah-Blah-Bloging

Well, I just wanted to say that you all have a pretty good excuse to abandon the blog, being pregnant and everything. I don't. So here's my post. :)

I love you girls!

Baby It's Cold Outside!

When I left to go to my basketball game this morning, the thermometer in my car showed -14! Anyone feel like taking a trip to come visit?!

Wide Shots, Far Shots, Close Ups!

Hey girls! I just realized that it's been a while since we've updated our blog, so I thought I'd post a little news. I guess the good part of not posting is that it doesn't mean we've been entirely out of touch.

Last week Meredith and I went to a reading of Stones In His Pockets at an adorable little deli in the Avenues. It was fun to hear the story again, but I had forgotten how many swears were in the script. I think I didn't notice it as much when we were in New York because the actors' accents were so thick. I this it's fun occasionally to be around artists who consider themselves true contemporaries - the types that dye their hair bright bright red or wear clothing that you're sure must be made of wheat or oatmeal or something else completely organic. Good fun.

I'm about ready to decide where I'm going to end up. Does it seem like I've been saying that for months now? Maybe that's because I have. For how much I hate this process, I sure have been prolonging it. Blah.

ABC's of BYU

I have been going through some boxes of stuff that somehow made it through the last few moves. After tonight most of their contents will make a final move to the trash, but I found this list of ABC's of BYU that brought back some fun memories:

A - abroad, apple juice (which has no fat!), attempted baptisms at Timp
B - boys, birthdays, bonding, BDA, Bishop's BBQ, bachelorette parties
C - colors concert, cozmo, creative dating, complimentary shapes, curling on couches, "crazy"
D - domestic, dancing in the family room, David John Hall
E - engagements, eleven-twenty (plenty late), excessive emails
F - foliage, football, finals week
G - general conference, Bishop Garrett, green silkies
H - Heritage Halls, Helaman Halls, hiking the Y, highly marriagable, hiking Timp, happinessabounds
I - ice cream...
J - just around the riverbend, Jacintos
K - Kendrita, Katia
L - living legends, loving couples (wish they were dead!)
M - marriage, missions, Megadeath, mood-lighting
N - New York summertime, nightly walks, nervous breakdowns, New Mexico boy
O - Olympic volunteers, older & wider, open-air cinema
P - Provo
Q - quote board
R- rock canyon, roommates, roadtrips, route "B", rolo cookies, running
S - sexy stares, soldier hollow, Snow Hall
T - temple dedications, traditions
U - up all night, ushers
V - VL...
W - ward prayer, ward notebox, whoppers during finals week, work, weddings
X - XTC
Y - Y-mountain, your mom
Z - Zekey boy!

Frankenstein Emerges

Well, what do you think. It's actually not even that bad anymore. This picture was taken the day that I pealed off the sterustrips. The scar isn't quite so dark red as this now, though it will probably take a few years for it to really lose the color--and now that it's not so tender to the touch the scarf thing is working out pretty well.

I apologize for not getting this post up way sooner. The picture would have been much more effective two weeks ago. Alas, recovery is taking a lot more of my time than I'd like. While I'm back in my classes, I'm generally exhausted by about 1pm and I've discovered I have to cut back a lot more than I anticipated--even with all the advice I got from people who have had the same thing done. However, in a way it's nice to be forced back to the basics and just do just what I need to do to survive in my classes while making sure that I have enough time for myself to relax each day.

Forced relaxation--isn't that the way it usually goes? How sad. I hope that this is a turning point in my life and that it helps me to see how important it is to take time for myself each day. I have this crazy tendency to think that I have to do everything and that the world will stop turning if I don't. Well, the world had news for me. I don't have to get A's on every assignment, or even better--I don't even have to DO every assignment! It's nice to know that I can be missed and the world keeps on turning without me. :)

Nine Hours a Year

So, as I was washing my face in the shower this morning, I remembered where I got that idea: you. Remember how I used to wash my face at the sink and create a mini-flood on the vanity after I showered? Well, I would just like to report the way that your advice on this particular subject has changed my life:

I have now been washing my face in the shower for around 4 years. I figure it saves me close to 1.5 minutes/day (not to mention another dirty washrag and a flooded vanity). If my math is correct, that is approximately 9 hours/year of saved time. That would be 36 hours (1.5 days) that your suggestion has saved me so far (along with the aforementioned inconveniences). Perhaps in 4 more years we should have a 3-day reunion so that I can dedicate those days to you; it seems fitting.

Yet another way the Fabulous Four have changed my life forever. :) Thank you.

p.s. My ultrasound is in 1 hour. What do you think- girl or boy?

Hungry, Hungry Hippo

So, there's this website called McSweeny's Internet Tendency. It's pretty funny. One part of the site is just dedicated to the most random lists that are submitted by people. This one made me laugh:

Where I Would Look for Hungry, Hungry Hippos
By Andrew Hoyt

Turkey
Chile
Cameroon
Cook Islands
Samoa
Hungary

If you haven't guessed, I'm really hungry and can't wait to go to lunch. While I was waiting to go, I decided to post to our blog and I decided that I just love us. Aren't we great? I knew you'd agree. I hope you all had wonderful Thanksgiving celebrations. Greece was impressive - I'm only sad that I have to be back at work now. Anway, I'm going to stop because I feel like each word is making this post less impressive. I love you girls!

I Love My Piano!

When my parents were here a couple of weeks ago, they wanted to get us a 'big' present before they left on their mission. I'd had my eye on this Yamaha Piano for a little while, so when the opportunity presented itself, I was more than anxious!! For me, it's certainly a gift that keeps on giving because every day I love having it at home more and more! I've forgotten how therapeutic playing the piano is for me. It's been fun playing all of the songs that I used to play when I was learning the piano oh so many years ago, and it's also got the fun functions of keyboards so I've been playing around with all the funky disco beats and dancing to the 'demo' song with Lucas. And my favorite function is I can record songs and transfer them directly to my USB jump drive!!! So if things go as planned, you'll be receiving my very first CD ever in a couple of weeks!

Hope everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving and that Sarah had fun in Greece!

Recovery

Sorry, I'm not going to send any pictures with this one because I look terrible! However, I'm feeling pretty good under the circumstances. The surgery went off without a hitch last Thursday and I came home on Friday afternoon. The doctor did give me the option of going home Thursday night, but I decided not to take it when I couldn't quite wake up in the recovery room. I mean, I was conscious, but I was still so out of it I could barely keep my eyes open. That anesthesia is powerful stuff! Thank goodness for it though, I haven't felt too much pain.

Well, my mom told me in the recovery room that the nodule was benign and that was confirmed again yesterday by the official report from pathology. I'm so relieved. Although thyroid cancer is 100% treatable, if I don't have to go through any more treatment then I don't want to! I started thyroid replacement medication today though and will likely be on it for the rest of my life. If that's the only price I have to pay, I'll count my blessings!

Recovery is a lot harder than I thought it would be though. I've been feeling pretty loopy and not-quite-all-there for the last few days because of the pain medication. I'm extremely fatigued and it's about all I can do to lay on the couch and watch movies--I honestly don't have the energy for much more. At least I can type today! I was trying to type an email yesterday and it just about wore me out! Oh well, the thyroid medication should kick in in the next few days and I should start getting some energy and concentration powers back. It's truly amazing how much your thyroid controls: your metabolism (and thus your energy levels and weight), your calcium levels, your concentration, your hair growth, your body temperature, your digestive system--yeah, pretty much everything! Now I know why they tell you that you need a whole week to recover.

On Thursday I'm supposed to soak the sterustrips covering my scar until I can peel them off. I'm not too excited for that. Maybe I'll have to send pictures of it then and hold a contest. You can all judge how much I look like Frankenstein! If I don't try to find any humor in it, I might doom myself to wearing turtlenecks for the rest of my life. Maybe I'll just have to learn how to be fashionable with scarves . . . :)

the madness

Girls! How are you? I hope you all had splendid halloween celebrations. :) Mine was pretty low key, but lots of fun. My roommate and I had a dance party in our apartment and only four people were invited: Calamity Jane, Deb from Napoleon Dynamite, Jenny from Forrest Gump and some pirate girl whose name no one can remember. Ok, really it was just us. But we had a good time.

I can't believe I'll be home in six weeks. My time here is flying by. I can't believe that I thought four months would be so much time. Life just keeps speeding up. Wednesday was a holiday here. All Saints' Day, actually. So in proper religious-style celebration, we drove up to Den Haag to go to the temple. It was freezing! The temple was beautiful though. And so small! This picture makes it look like I've got some weird pig-tail thing going on, but it's just the wind. It was so windy.

I am trying to think more about life after this and thankfully I'm not too worried about things. I guess at this point I'm only a little worried that I'm not more worried! I am thinking more and more about starting an internet marketing business -- which initally would probably mean just a little bit of contract work while I took some more classes. We'll see what happens. I'm still not sure about where I want to end up. It's an exciting time and decision, but a kind of scary one to make alone.

Wishing you all a wonderful November!

The Coca-Cola Bear

I think I've told you all about the free Como Zoo down the road before. Well, yesterday it warmed up to about 50, so we decided to go to the zoo. So far my favorite animals there are the polar bears. Every time we've gone, one of them is swimming (I know we've only gone 3 times, but other people that have lived here longer say the same thing). I think it's kind of cool how graceful the look!

Once there was a snowman

Minnesota's not the only place with snow! Ok, so you have to go into the mountains to get to it, but it's here in Utah too!

On Friday we drove down to Cedar in 70 degree weather. On Saturday we drove up Cedar Canyon in the rain to get to Cedar Breaks National Park and by the time we got to the top of the canyon we were in four inches of snow!




We got to the viewing point just in time to see the breaks, but by the time we had a snowball fight and I was done with my snowman the view was completely fogged in. It made me very excited for winter, but I was glad to get back down into the valley where the fall colors will last for at least a few more weeks.

Fear vs. Faith

I am using this blog to share with you, my closest friends, some thoughts I have had this weekend. As the possibility (and even probability) of needing open-heart surgery after this baby comes looms ever larger before my mind (they found "regurgitation"-- a heart valve is not closing properly), I have cried more the past two days than I have cried the past five years. I am so scared. I'm scared about what it may mean for this and future babies. I'm scared that years are being shaved from my life with each malfunctioning heartbeat. I'm scared about the recovery: not being able to hold my babies for months, the toll it would take on my body, etc. In all my reading, and in the one case I have heard of (a girl from Soda Springs got it in her mid-20's), I feel like surgery is eminant. Of course, I am trying to completely suppress all of these fears and wait for the Cardiologist to call me. I pray that he will tell me it's all a fluke, I'm just fine, and life can go on as normal. However, I can't help but to be scared. It's easy for others to tell me to "have faith" and "everything will turn out just fine," but I'm finding myself having a hard time with these principles. To completely let go of fear (which is the antithesis of faith) is perhaps the most proving factor of our human existance. To trust that the Lord is in command, that He has a plan for us, and that He will comfort us and carry our burdens in our times of struggle may be the most important lesson we can learn, and yet the hardest. To live life normally this weekend has been nearly impossible, and yet I want to lean back and put it all into the Lord's hands more than I've ever wanted anything in my life. My eyes have been re-opened to what is really important in life: the Gospel, my family, relationships, and how I conduct myself. I sit here with tears streaming down my face, my throat sore from crying, and silently praying that this experience will teach me how to resolutely conquer fear with faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ. And through it all, I am also desperately holding onto hope that it will all amount to nothing, or that the surgery can be postponed until after my child-bearing years.

I love you girls. I appreciate your love and support more than you know. I appreciate the fact that I can put on a face that "I'm just fine" to the world, and then collapse at your feet and sob. You are the most understanding and best girlfriends I will ever have.

Snow & the Sculpture Garden

Hey girls! Like I promised I wanted to show proof of the snow that we've been graced with already. This was taken on Wednesday.Also, last Saturday Zeke and I got to go out on a date for the first time since we moved here. We went to the Sculpture Garden downtown where there is the famous Cherry and Spoon sculpture with a beautiful view of the Mpls skyline.
Meredith- the sculpture garden kind of reminded me when we went to Washington DC and saw that big rubber eraser statue! There were lots of funky sculptures. It's a beautiful garden, perfect for a picnic. If, I mean when, any of you come visit, I'll take you there!