I miss school…almost

I was hoping my next post would include pictures from Korea, but it seems like Nate doesn’t quite share the same necessity for picture taking that I have.  I’m sure he’s taken pictures (…) and just hasn’t sent any to me yet.  Yep, Nate’s in Korea for two weeks; he gets back two days before school starts.  He had a good flight over and so far seems to be having a good time.  The report is that it is really, really humid and that the food is really, really good.

I had to take some paper work to BYU for Nate (during education week…not so much fun).  The weather was so nice and I hadn’t walked around campus for awhile so it was fun to notice the little changes that they make to campus every year.  I’ve thought this before and was reminded of it yesterday: I kind of miss going to school.  Not that I’m at all sad to be done.  It’s just different now to be doing the same thing this “semester” that I did last “semester” and all summer long it was also the same thing.  I seem to do really well with change, sometimes I really need change and even seek it out, so life being so different from semester to semester was good for me.  Now I feel like an adult.  I go to work, that’s what I do now.  I don’t have the same anticipation of new classes and new teachers and projects and papers.  But I still get to learn.  At my convocation the theme was to be a life long learner and I really have tried to remember and use that council.  I’m reading for fun again.  Novels.  And it’s amazing.  I’m working on my sewing “skills” and have decided to crochet something harder than granny squares.  So, I think I’ll let Nate have enough fun these next two semesters for the both of us and I’ll be content setting my own syllabus.

I can’t very well post something without pictures, now can I?  Let’s see, what’s been going on lately.

My dad retired from the military.

I made Nate kill an ugly cat face spider, which turns out to not be one of the most poisonous spiders in North America as I was told all growing up.  In fact, they are harmless to humans.  I still made him kill it.

That really isn’t a pleasant picture, is it.

And the last thing I have a picture of is the rain.  I love warm, summer rain.  I hope we get more before the season is through.  It was really windy so I didn’t venture outside to take better pictures, but this one of our little balcony will do.

Well, that’s all, friends.  Maybe we’ll have pictures of Korea next time.

“Funny, Silly Faces” – I Heart Faces

I’ve found a fun photo contest site that I thought I’d give a try this week.  Check out I Heart Faces to see what it’s all about.  This week’s theme is funny faces and I thought I’d post one of the pictures of Sammy I took a few months ago.  I think he’s 6 months here.  It was almost nap time and he had been dozing when his dad brought him over for me to watch for a bit.  He didn’t quite know where he was or why this crazy lady with a camera was with him, but he is such a mild little guy it didn’t seem to bother him much.  Just gave me some fun expressions to take pictures of!  And he fell asleep at the end which gave me enough time to edit and burn the pictures for his parents before they came back : )

Cabining

We just got back from a “cabining” trip in the Uintas.  My parents have rented a cabin through the military for the past four years and this year was the first time I was able to go up with them.  Last year they had a big Manookin family reunion that I wasn’t able to go to because of my internship and Nate was at basic.  It was really relaxing and a lot cooler up there.  Nate was so excited to sleep in cooler weather!

It was so beautful there.  I love the mountains and regret that I haven’t spent as much time hiking and climbing as I used to.

A lot of the trees were dead because of a bug infestation.  I can’t remember exactly what they said was going on, but Tessa told me that a lot of the trees at Camp Shalom had been cut down because of it.  Definitely gave the Uintas a different look than I’m used to.  I noticed some of the same deadness on the mountains behind our apartment when we came home.

Nate LOVES fishing.  Tanner, Tessa, and I followed Nate up a trail until we found the perfect beaver pond for Nate to fish in.  He wanted to try his hand at fly fishing.  And yes, he is almost knee deep into that water without any waders on.  But he had fun and we had fun talking and watching him.

We went fishing the next day at, I think, Whitney Lake.  It was really windy and actually a bit cold.  It was hard to complain about being cold when I knew I had just come from almost 100 degree weather.  The wind kept blowing my line back to shore so I’m sure we would have caught more had it been calmer.  But 7 fish in a few hours isn’t bad.  We kept 5 of them, mostly because they would swallow the hook so bad they would die before we could get them back into the water.

See, I’m not afraid to get my hands dirty.  And the fish was bleeding when we pulled it from the water because it had swallowed the hook so badly.  And I couldn’t get that blasted hook out.

Tanner really wanted to take some pictures so I consented to a picture of myself.  I figured I needed to post a picture of my pregnancy soon anyways.  Here I am at 27 weeks (I’m 28 today!  third trimester!); he didn’t do half bad, either.

I even managed to catch a fish this time.  Sure, it was on my dad’s pole because he told me to hold it just in case we could get one more while he gutted and cleaned the already caught fish.  But I had to set the hook and reel it in.  And I was successful.  And I think mine was the biggest.

Tessa and I went on a 10 minute hike to get some pictures of flowers while we were getting checked out of the cabin.  It was a relaxing trip, even if I’m still tired from it.  Good thing I didn’t try to plan our Seattle trip any later, this really wiped me out.  But I’ll take being tired over being sick any day.

Jared and Cheryl Wedding

One of Nate’s best friends got married over the weekend.  They asked that I tag along and take some pictures behind Megan, who tagged along with me at Jake (Jared’s brother) and Katie’s wedding.  Megan and I were at about the same level in our photography endeavors last year at Jake and Katie’s wedding, but she has been able to build up her little business and keeps herself pretty busy with picture taking.  If you need someone to take pictures and don’t want to ask me, ask Megan!  http://meghallphotography.blogspot.com/

It’s crazy to me to look at Megan’s pictures of the same thing and see how different and the same our styles are.  It’s so much fun to me to see other people’s interpretations and to take what I like from them and expand my own photography.  Yes, I’m the person who can spend hours looking at someone else’s pictures and then get really itchy to try new things.

The happy couple had also asked a brother and a friend to take pictures at the temple…so there were a lot of people walking around snapping pictures like paparazzi.  I just kind of stayed out of the way and took a shot when I felt like it.  It’s so much less stressful not being the person in charge of the pictures.  And candids are so much more fun than posing.  Not that I don’t like it and would turn down any jobs sent my way…but I still told Megan I’d be her backup any day!  I only took about 100 pictures, which is hardly anything.  Looking back there are a couple of shots that I knew if I had just kept clicking and waiting for a head to turn or people to move out of the background I would have had a great picture.  Oh well, maybe the other two guys got it, right?  Besides, I’m 5 months pregnant and it was 102 out there.  I think I did pretty good, all things considered.  And I somehow managed to only get sunburned on the tops of my feet.

I just looked at these pictures on my work computer and they look really dark!  I didn’t know what “style” of pictures these two like so I’ve got about 3 different edits for all the pictures I thought were worthy to give to them but decided to post some of the desaturated/higher contrast pictures here.  They look better on my nice computer at home…perhaps I should post pictures that would look good on more monitors?  Tell me what you think.

Michael’s Glove – Seattle Day 4

We slept in nice and late today and hit Seattle again.  First stop: fish and chips to make Tara happy.  We went to Ivars, just off the street.  I at first wanted to eat there in the restaurant for the clam chowder, but I didn’t care so much after the goodness of what we had yesterday.  Mmmm.

I was really happy to get my fish and chips.

Nate really wanted to get a seagull to eat out of his hand.  It took them a bit, but he got two of them to take a french fry from him.

I liked the sign.

In case you can’t read it, it says, “Seagull lovers are welcome to feed seagulls in need (Please do not feed pidgeons).”  When Nate was tired of waiting for a seagull to fly in and grab the fry, he just threw it into the water and we got to watch them fight over it.

We walked up to the Space Needle again and went to the science fiction museum.  I wouldn’t have been as excited to go if it weren’t for the Jim Hensen exhibit that was also there.  Though I admit the science fiction part was pretty cool.  And I was pretty surprised at how many of the movies and shows I’d seen.  We weren’t allowed to take pictures of the exhibits, but we took as many as we could.  Including the bathroom doors, which made me laugh.

I loved the Jim Hensen area.  I forget how many different kinds of things he created.  We were allowed to take pictures in the “recording studio.”  They had a bunch of puppets and you could pretend to put on a show.  We were fine just posing for a picture.  I was Jimi Hendrixs and Nate’s was a mix of Animal and some drummer we can’t remember.

The building was part of the “Experience Music Project” so there were lots of things to do with locals who had made it big, especially Jimi Hendrix, as well as other artists who were big and made a big impact in the music world.  And we have to include Michael Jackson, of course.  They already had the glove that was in their collection out in the middle of a big stage with lights on a big screen sync’d to music from the Jackson Five.  And I had to have a picture…for postarity.

We also bought a stuffed Cookie Monster for the little cookie monster growing inside of me.  I know how it’s going to be, the rest of our kids are going to be upset that we bought more cool stuff for our first kid than for the rest of them.  Oh well.

We tried to visit the Jones Soda corporate office, but had some issues finding the place.  I don’t think we walked quite far enough, but we sure walked pretty far.  It was fun to actually see Seattle, parts that most tourists don’t really go to since it’s pretty much every day sort of life for the people who live there.  After 5 we decided it was probably closed so we headed back to the ferry with a slight stop at Pike’s to get some dinner.  Nate really wanted a “yeero” from a Greek stand he saw yesterday (I like that they spell “gyro” phonetically so the rest of us will pronounce it correctly).  It was very good.

We stopped at a pirate shop on our way back to the ferry.  We almost bought these…it was just a little too expensive.

She is a cute mommy – Seattle day 3

We hopped on the ferry and explored Seattle yesterday.  I was going to post when we got back, but I was so exhausted .  I love riding on the ferry.  I guess I’m still just like a little kid.  And an hour on the ferry goes by a lot quicker than an hour on the road!  I think we are going to take the car on the ferry tomorrow to drive to the temple and just go home from there.  We will probably just drive as long as we feel like and stay the night in some cheap hotel.  Why?  Because we can.  I don’t have to go back to work until Friday and I just found out I’m only on call.  Man, it’s like I planned it out to actually work without trying.

We walked around Pike’s Place for awhile to find a place to eat lunch.  There is just so much to see there.  We found a place called Chowder.  It won best chowder at a national contest in Rhode Island and I believe it.  It was SO good!  Mmm…the sour dough bread was amazing with it.  And the shrimp roll wasn’t bad either.

We walked up to the Space Needle.  And I felt pregnant.  But I made it there and back with no problems, though I think I was waddling on the way back.  My stomach muscles were sore.

Holy crap!  I look pregnant!  I don’t think I realized how big my belly is getting.  I noticed people looking at my belly as I passed at Pike’s Place.  On the way up to the Needle, a larger scruffy middle-aged man stopped Nate on the street and said, “She is a cute mommy, isn’t she?”  I looked around trying to find out what he was talking about when he looked at me and smiled.  Oh.  He was referring to me.  Nate assured him I was and we ducked into a store to let him go on his way before bursting out laughing.  Oh, how I wish I could take pictures to capture moments like that!  It was random and hilarious.

We ate at the Sky City restaurant.  It was really nice.  It’s a good thing they don’t mind the tourists showing up in their shorts and sandals.  Yeah, I knew we probably should have dressed up, but who wants to walk around all day in nice clothes.  Besides, what’s the worst they can do?  Make fun of us when we leave?  Totally worth it.  The waiter had some issues getting the flash to work right for our picture.  I felt kind of silly…I couldn’t figure out how to work the on board flash.  I actually have never used it; I like my external flash but didn’t see any reason to bring it on this trip.  But it didn’t turn out too bad.

I took a picture of our strawberry salad because I thought there was chocolate drizzled all over it.  I took it really fast so I would look like too much of a tourist so it wasn’t in focus.  And the chocolate turned out to be a soy saucy something.  Which was still good, but not chocolate.  We had a free entree because it is our anniversary month so we decided this would be our one dinner where we could order whatever we wanted without looking at the price and not feel guilty.  I even got a drink.  I never get anything but water.  It was something with peaches and cream.  Mmmm.  Nate got a raspberry Italian soda.  Also Mmmm.  And the waiter made sure to give me the non-alcoholic drink book because he could tell I was pregnant.  Yup.

I got the seafood trio so I could try more than one thing.  Nate got the tomahawk steak.  25 oz of pure beef.  I’ve never seen so much meat on one plate before.  And I don’t know how you cook such a big hunk of meat so perfectly.

Leaving Seattle after a long day.

Bremerton.

Mine? – Seattle day 2

10 points if you know the movie.

Well, just for the record, I won the bet on the score of the Confederation Cup final.  I guessed Brasil 3, US 1.  Nate guessed 2 – 1.  We didn’t have much faith, did we?  We left for church just after half and we were up 2 – 1 and came back to find we lost 2 – 3.  It was our game to lose that last half and we lost it.  But they did well and should learn a lot for the world cup next year.

We always seem to find something related to the Netherlands or Belgium and this trip has been no exception.  We had frites for lunch today.  They were far from authentic which was admitted by the gal who made them for us, but they were still good.  It was fun to try new sauces.

You can see our little seagull friend in the background.  He really wanted some fries.

And Nate shared the ones that fell out of his cone onto the dirty table.  He really wanted it to take it out of his hand, but it wouldn’t.  It would come up to him and pick up stuff by feet, though.

We walked around the area by the ferry and the navel shipyard.  The museum closed 10 minutes before we got there so we’ll have to go back another time.  They have quite a few fountains around.  We went by some that were supposed to look like the tops of submarines and like whales when they spout off water.  There were lots of little kids playing in the water and I admit I wanted to join them!

Nate insisted he take one with me in it.

Nate forgot a tie, not too bad.  I forgot just about everything I need for my hair, toothpaste, and shirts.  The only shirts I have is the one I wore up here and the one I brought to wear to church.  I had just done laundry and set the other shirts aside but somehow forgot to pack them.  Yes, this is typical for me, but I’m going to blame it on being pregnant.  I figure I should take the excuse for as long as I can.

Holy construction, Batman! – Seattle Day 1

Well, we made it.  14 hours is a long time to be in a car.  We left a little later than we wanted and I only had about 2 hours of sleep since we left after my late shift on Friday night/Saturday morning so Nate drove the entire way, poor guy.  I offered, but it was probably a good idea for me to just stay navigator.  And we didn’t get lost!  (Thank you, Google Maps.)  Nate was surprised to find you don’t fill up your own car in Oregon and upset that it cost 10 cents more a gallon there than in any of the other 3 states we drove in yesterday.  If a 20 year old guy filling up your car in Oregon offers you advice on how to get onto I-82 faster…don’t take it.  We didn’t exactly understand what he was telling us and even now looking at a map, I have no idea what he was trying to get us to do.  And I swear the entire state of Oregon is under construction.  We spent most of the way merging between 1 and 2 lane roads going 60 mph.  It just makes us more appreciative of being able to fly.  But this is an adventure and it was fun to do together.

I’m alternating from saying that was the longest drive ever and saying it really wasn’t that bad.  I did great until we had been driving for 11 hours.  Those last 3 hours seemed so long.  I didn’t have to go to the bathroom any more than Nate and my back doesn’t hurt as much as I thought it would.  The second trimester of pregnancy is awesome.  Though the past couple of weeks are the first that I have actually felt pregnant.  And I caught Dr. Young staring at my belly at work on Friday.  Sorry, Dr. Young, there are reasons I’m not going to you for my prenatal care.

Our hotel is really nice.  We are staying in Bremerton right next to the ferry.  To my family: think of the stairs by the dock and that statue of the propeller with the people by it, I think we took a picture by it when we were here.  We are just up the steps from there.  Awesome.  And the weather has been beautiful.  Just a little drizzly this morning but it is supposed to be dry and in the upper 70s for the rest of our stay.  Also awesome.

No pictures yet.  Should have taken some, but haven’t.  We are going to watch the Confederation Cup final game (go USA!) and then go to church.  And relax.  That’s our plan for today.

Two Years

Yesterday was our two year anniversary.  It seems not too long ago I was posting about our one year anniversary and I must say I really liked having him home this year.  Nate is such a wonderful husband and I still can’t believe how well we match.  We’re the same in all the right ways and different in all the right ways.  And he is still the goofiest guy I know and I love him so much for it!

I always have Mondays off work so we just hung out doing whatever we felt like during the day.  We went to Salt Lake for dinner and then had Belgian waffles for dessert.  Yum!  So glad Nate found Bruges Waffles and Frites.  You should all go there.  And I should remember to take my camera when we try new places.  Just a good excuse to go back!  We are heading to Seattle for a little vacation (I guess people call it a “babymoon”) this weekend so I’ll have new pictures to post soon.  Actually, I think I have a bunch of random pictures on my camera I could post.  I’ll check tomorrow.  Not that anyone cares that I announce it or anything.

Half Way There!

I thought it was about time that I take a picture of my “baby bump” as the general public likes to trendify it.  (And if anyone asks me/talks about anything with the word “preggers” in it…just don’t…)  I had to take the picture myself since Nate is still at his class (done today!).  It was kind of hard to get it in focus because I didn’t have anything to focus on before I set the timer and  jumped in the picture.  I found if I didn’t do the hand placement around the belly it didn’t look like a pregnancy picture.  And it took me almost a week to talk myself into posting it.  Most people I work with at the hospital tell me that I look really good; my doctor says he looks more pregnant than I do.  But then there are some people who insist on commenting on my weight/how big I am getting every time I see them.  I have not gained nearly as much weight as you may have imagined.  The doctor said he can tell I eat healthy just by how much I weight I have/have not gained.  That’s right.  I’m normal.  Surprised?  Kind of reminds me of a “Dear Non-Pregnant Person” thing I read the other day.  I’ll post half of it here; I’m pretty sure I would offend someone if I posted all of it because it is so blunt (doesn’t mean I don’t want to post all of it because I agree with all of it, I just haven’t lost all sense of tact just yet).  But if you want it, I will send it to you.

I went to my 20 week ultrasound on Monday (6/8) and Nate was even able to come.  Every thing looks fine.  The baby wouldn’t roll around the right way so I have to go back for another ultrasound during my next doctors visit so they can get a better picture of the heart.  Nate was starting to worry about it but I figure if they thought something was wrong, they wouldn’t wait another month to check it.  He just wouldn’t roll over right.  This just means you don’t get to view the video of the ultrasound that I’m sure you all are looking forward to seeing for another month.

It’s fun to be on the downhill side of the pregnancy.  The first half went by so fast even though we found out we were pregnant super early.  I’m actually starting to feel pregnant now.  Standing up/sitting down constantly at work is finally getting to my poor abdominal muscles.  I’ve decided I’ve got to start acting like I’m pregnant.  Doesn’t mean I have yet.

Dear Non-Pregnant Person,

The body of a pregnant women should be treated the same as any other body. You would not randomly touch someone’s stomach if they were not pregnant, nor would you inquire into the condition of their uterus, cervix or how they plan to use their breasts. Pregnancy does not remove all traces of privacy from a woman.

Likewise, no women wants to hear comments on her weight – ever. A pregnant woman does not find it flattering that you think she is about is pop, must be having twins, looks swollen or has gained weight in her face. Telling her she looks too small only makes her worry that she is somehow starving her baby. Making such comments invite her to critique your physical appearance and you may not act offended. The only acceptable comment on appearance is ‘You look fabulous!’.

By the time we are 20-30 years old, most of us have picked up on the fact that the summer is hot. We are hot every summer when we are not pregnant. We don’t need you to point out that we will be miserably hot before the baby comes.

There is a reason that tickets to L&D are not yet sold on Ticketmaster. Childbirth is actually not a public event. It may sound crazy, but some women really do not relish the idea of their mother, MIL, or a host of other family members seeing their bare butt and genitals. Also, some people simply feel like the birth of their child is a private and emotional moment to be shared only by the parents. Like everything else is life, unless you receive an invitation, you are NOT invited. This includes doctor appointments, ultrasounds, labor, delivery, the hospital and the parents home.

If you are asked to help after the birth, this means you should clean up the house, help with cooking meals, and generally stay out of the way. Holding the baby more than the parents, interfering with breastfeeding and sleeping schedules and making a woman who is still leaking fluid from multiple locations lift a finger in housework is not helping.

Signed, All Pregnant Women