ER Excitement

Having been unable to keep anything down for well over 24 hours, I finally called the midwife this morning, who recommended I go in to the ER to get rehydrated and get some anti-nausea medication. Thus began my five-hour sojourn in the ER. I got two liters of fluid through IV, as well as some Zofran for the nausea. It took a long time before I actually began to feel human again, instead of just a vomit machine. But after several hours I finally felt well enough to have some pudding and jello (green of course, this is Salt Lake after all). Once we were sure that was going to stay down, they pulled out the IV and discharged me, sending me on my way with a nice friendly Zofran prescription. I'm glad that ordeal is over. Not as glad as Jeff though - he had the kids with him in the waiting room the whole time. Neither of us realized that it would take so long, or he would have brought the kids back home for a while. As it was, though the kids enjoyed the little play area in the lobby, they were definitely quite antsy by the time I was discharged.

Anyway, it's been a really long and kind of difficult day. But on the plus side, there's only about three hours left until the kids' bedtime, and I actually feel like I might be able to get them some dinner (peanut butter sandwiches) without throwing up halfway through!

Also, almost forgot to mention this. But they did an ultrasound to rule out any problems (make sure the pregnancy wasn't ectopic, etc). I got to see the little baby, safe and snug in my uterus. There was cardiac activity, and fetal movement, which translates to mean that the heart was beating and the baby was moving. It was exciting to get to see my little one! I'm not one of those moms who don't feel like the pregnancy is real until they see the baby on the ultrasound. But it made the pregnancy feel closer and more special when I got to see my cute little Slug (that's what it looked like) on the screen. Ultrasounds are awesome.

Morning Sickness...

Barely escaping from the bathroom long enough to say that I'm sick and miserable! I haven't been able to keep anything down all day, and the only reason I'm not throwing up right now is because there's nothing left to come up.

Later, I'll post about our weekend at Mom and Dad's house, and Janelle's funny frosting mistake, and what not. But for right now, I'm going to go back to focusing on my attempt to keep down a glass of water.

Ugh.....

1st Appointment

Baby and I had our first appointment yesterday at the clinic. Well, mostly it was me. Jeff and the kids came too, because I didn't think I could drive there and find it by myself. The kids got antsy after a while, because first prenatal appointments do take quite a lot of time, with all the questions to answer and paperwork to fill out. So Jeff took them out running through the halls while we finished up my exam. Everything is going well - my uterus is measuring just under eight weeks, which is right where it should be considering that I'm about 7 1/2 weeks along.

I saw two midwives - one certified and one a student. The clinic is located in the University of Utah Hospital, so there's students and studies galore. I'm alright with that - as long as they treat me nice I don't mind students getting valuable experience on me. Both the midwife and the student midwife were very nice, they listened to what I had to say, heard and answered my questions, and treated me like a person and not just a patient. When I said I want a natural birth, they let me know that the midwives in the practice believe birth is a natural process and are willing to support the mother's desires to let it be as natural as she wants. I was glad to hear that - I don't want a lot of routine, unnecessary interventions.

It was too early to hear a heartbeat, and they didn't do an early ultrasound. That's okay - it would have been cool to see the little bean with its little heartbeat on the ultrasound, but not really necessary. And if it's not necessary I don't know if our insurance would cover it, so I don't mind not having it. This will be my first pregnancy not on Medicaid, so I'll try to avoid anything that we might have to pay extra for. :-)

Anyway, in all it was a pleasant prenatal appointment. I'm pleased with the providers, and the pregnancy seems to be progressing as it should. Plus, I got a prescription for a pregnancy-safe migraine medicine, which will definitely come in handy.

And because of all the construction going on down at the hospital, they recommended we use the free valet parking. So we got to use valet parking for the first time. It made me feel ritzy. :-)

Bump!

Already feeling quite a bit of tightness in my clothes, I decided to go without a waist band for church today, choosing an attractive black dress that just glides over my curves instead of trying to squish them in. When I looked in the mirror, I saw just why I'm feeling so much tightness in my waist bands lately!



Holy cow, where did that belly come from? Wow! I'm only seven weeks along, but already I'm sporting a 3- or 4-month belly bump. Well, I compare it to a pair of jeans. Fresh out of the wash, they're nice and snug, and hold everything in. But once you've worn them a few times, they relax and let everything hang out. This is my third pregnancy, so those muscles are all stretched out and just don't hold anything in anymore! :-)

It is kinda fun, I guess. When I was pregnant with Zaylee I had to wait a long time before I was showing enough for anyone to notice. This time I don't have to be patient for that exciting time at all! It's already here!

Dreading the Turkey

We bought another big turkey on Monday, because it was about 48 cents per pound or something like that. We decided that we want it done around lunch tomorrow, so using my mom's cooking method (but without the brine) it cooks for fifteen hours at 200 degrees, and I need to start it right about now. When Jeff and I discussed me starting the turkey, earlier today, it seemed like a good idea, very rational. But now it's time to actually pull the turkey out of the fridge. And take it out of the wrapping. And reach in and pull out the giblets. And have my hands all over that gooey, cold, raw bird. And my nausea is just bubbling up in anticipation. Or is it dread...

Sigh, I guess I'd better get it over with. I really wish Jeff just didn't have to work - he could take care of it. But when I brought that up with him, he reminded me that if he didn't work, we'd get no money, and get evicted for not paying rent, and end up living in the gutter, etc. So he went to work anyway. And left me to deal with that huge raw turkey despite the fact that my morning sickness is at its daily worst right now. Sigh. Here I go, wish me luck.


***Update: I did it. And it was gross. But I survived, and my nausea did not get the better of me. That's going to be one tender, tasty turkey when it's done.***

Life Without Power

I just spent two hours reminding myself that we need new batteries for all our flashlights. And realizing that I'm a bit too hooked on TV and the Internet. You see, the power went out this evening, for just over two hours, right when it was starting to get dark.

At first, I was a bit irritated. I was watching an episode of House online, and wanted to see how it ended. What was I supposed to do with my time until the power came back?! The kids started getting a bit restless - their Sesame Street movie had been interrupted as well. We were just a bunch of screen addicts that had gone on sudden involuntary withdrawal. Much longer and we would have started chewing on each others' legs and fingers!

But after the dust settled, I realized that this would be a good opportunity to do something I don't think I do often enough (especially since the morning sickness kicked in) - play with the kids. We just got a beach ball (though where we'll find a beach to use it at I don't know) and the kids and I started tossing it around and having a great time. Zaylee has been working on catching balls, and had a lot of fun trying to catch the large, bouncy ball. Thomas thought it was a hoot when she would throw the ball at his head and it just bounced off without hurting (mental note: make sure Zaylee knows that she is not allowed to do that with any other balls). And with the kids chasing the ball around the living room, I was able to play with them without getting up from my relaxed position on the couch.

After we exhausted our ball-playing energy, we read a few books. It was still mostly bright outside, so it wasn't a problem. Then it was bedtime for the little ones and I was left alone (Jeff works this evening). At this point I remembered again that there was nothing to entertain me. I tried reading next to the window for a while, but we only get so much light from the street lamps. By the way, it was really frustrating for me to look out the window and see functioning street lamps, and houses across the street with working lights, but to not have any power in our apartment building. I lit a candle and tried to read by candlelight, but quickly decided that my candle must not be the reading type, and put the book away before I ruined my eyes more than they already are.

Around this time there was a large bang outside, and I hurried to the window to see an accident in the intersection by our apartment. I would have called 911, but the phone wasn't working of course, and there were other people there to call. Having nothing better to do, I stayed by the window and watched people and police cars gathering around for a while. Then a police car pulled up and parked right in my way, blocking my view of the accident. So that venue for entertainment was closed off. By the way, I do not find car accidents to be amusing or fun in any way. I was just so bored because there was absolutely nothing else to look at.

Anyway, I lit my candle again so I could find my way around the house. At about that time, the power suddenly came on again, so the candle was superfluous. Overjoyed, I turned on the computer and here I am blogging about the adventure! Oh, and as I write, it appears that they're in the process of towing away the car that has been stuck in the middle of the intersection for the past hour or so. I hope nobody was hurt badly.

So now I have a renewed sense of priority - we need flashlight batteries! Lots of them! Flashlights all over the house! I don't want to be stuck in the dark again. Has anyone ever tried to go to the bathroom by candlelight? Quite the unique experience.

I can't stand it!!!

I was going to wait. I really was. Jeff will have to forgive me. But after reading Melinda's several blog posts about their new coming attraction, I just can't wait anymore!!!





























Due December 4, 2009.

I have a secret blog that only Michelle and my parents know about. I've been keeping it since the end of March. Check out My Preggo Blog.

Escape Artist

Thomas has discovered that he can climb out of his toddler bed. For the first few days he stayed in it whether he was awake or asleep, unaware that there was any other option. But today he discovered that he can crawl out.

Now how am I supposed to get him to take a nap when he won't stay in his bed? Arrrgh, this is not fun. I am tired and want a nap, but I can't sleep through him playing with his toys and throwing books all over the floor. I've already gone in and put him back to bed three or four times, all to no avail. I know eventually he'll get used to staying in bed and taking nice naps again, but the transition times are always kinda difficult.

Too Pretty?

Jeff caught Zaylee pushing Thomas, so he sent her to time-out. He told her to sit on her bed, and she tried to refuse on the grounds that "I'm too pretty to sit!!!"

Adorable excuse, but he put her in time-out anyway. :-)

Thomas' New Bed

Today I finally bit the bullet and took Thomas' crib apart. He's been shaking it like crazy and I feel like if he used it anymore he'd probably break it apart. :-) And Zaylee climbing in and shaking the sides with him every morning doesn't help. I've been putting off taking it apart because, with our tiny apartment, I wasn't sure we'd be able to find a place to put the crib pieces. But I finally buckled down and disassembled it, and we found places for all the parts. We put the head and foot pieces behind the couch, and Jeff stuffed the other parts into the kids' already-stuffed closet. And I put the toddler bed together.


Thomas was pretty excited to see his new bed. Going down for a nap in it, however, was an entirely different matter. He immediately started crying and trying to climb out. So I held and cuddled him for several minutes to calm him down, and he was ready to sleep after that. He ended up napping quite nicely, thank goodness.

It seems like Thomas is such a big boy now, sleeping in a toddler bed instead of a crib. Sigh, he's not my little baby anymore. At least he still lets me cuddle him sometimes.

Women at the Well

Saturday was the Women at the Well performance. Mom and Janelle came and watched it, while Marie, Rheanna, and Samuel stayed with Jeff and the kids. They got to go hang out at the library, but I can't help but think that Mom and Janelle got the better end of the deal!

Despite being fairly nervous and jittery before the performance, I think we did a really good job. There were so many women in the audience with wet eyes by the time we were done. I teared up during a few songs too, but was able to keep myself under control (as opposed to sometimes during rehearsals when I would actually start sobbing because of how touching the songs were). My song went really well, I didn't forget my lines and my voice didn't crack or anything.

After the performance we had a delicious lunch. They served this chicken salad with grapes, apples, and cashews that was just fabulous! And each table had a beautiful centerpiece. Everyone who participated in the performance got to take home one of the centerpieces, which I found just thrilling. I totally love this jug/vase!


Closeup of the spout:


The whole centerpiece. Since I took these pictures today, a couple of the flowers died already. The big orange one and the leaves are fake, though, so they'll last.


My Young Womens' leader from California, who recently moved up here and is coincidentally in my stake, came to the performance, and so got to enjoy a little unexpected reunion with Mom and Janelle. That was a lot of fun. We chatted a bit and enjoyed catching up together.

All in all, I'm glad that the show is over. My Saturdays are free, and now I don't have to worry or stress over it anymore. But I sure will miss it! I made some wonderful friends, and had a great time being a part of it.

Beloved Bishop

Bishop Cook stood today and announced that he was recently diagnosed with cancer.

Tears sprang to my mind, as my mind immediately flashed back to the face of another bishop - a warm and friendly face, with sparkling eyes and a smile that was a permanent fixture - Bishop Oliver's face. I see his face as it appeared on the front of his memorial service program.

Bishop Oliver was the bishop of our ward when I was in high school, back in California. A gentle and fun-loving, slightly older African American, Bishop Oliver was a favorite among the youth. He came to girls' camp one year. We all had a great time as we tried to teach him some of the games we had been playing, especially since he didn't really learn them quickly. He laughed as much as everyone else as he made mistake after mistake in "This is a What," and as he snapped his fingers and grooved along to the rhythm of nursery-rhyme rap game "Hump-de-Dump."

When I was in college I received a phone call from my mom that Bishop Oliver had died. Cancer. It was so hard for me to hear. He was so full of life, so giving and happy. How could he have died?

This is what I thought of as Bishop Cook stood at the pulpit today, announcing his condition to the suddenly quiet congregation. I sat quietly wiping my tears as he explained that he has prostate concer, and described the irony of a 62-year-old man who had only just discovered how to be happy being diagnosed with a life-threatening disease.

Luckily (if anything regarding cancer can be called lucky), prostate cancer is one of the less serious types. Bishop Cook proclaimed to all that he does not expect to leave this life yet, not now that he has finally settled into this whole life-and-happiness thing. He will keep working, he will continue as our bishop, he will keep living his life. Even as he told us of his condition, hope and faith emanated from his face, from his whole being.

After he spoke, it was business as usual. The meeting went on, the bishop continued his duties. He made a request for me to set up some specific musical numbers for the coming months. He went to choir practice. He went on with his day.

But I think everyone who heard him speak today, though we may go about our lives as well, will be just a little different than we were before.

Mom's Coming!

I'm so excited! My mom and younger siblings are going to be visiting this weekend! Actually, for all I know they could already be at Aunt Karen's house right now, but they won't be coming over here until later this evening. Just in time, because I have dress rehearsal for W at the W so they can watch the kiddos while Jeff is at work! How bad am I - Oh, you're coming to visit? Great, you can watch my kids for me! :-)

Anyway, I'm so excited to see Mom and Janelle and Marie and Rheanna and Samuel! I've been working on cleaning up the apartment a bit - not too much because I don't want to go overboard and there's too much to do anyway. Just enough so that they don't have to see the pigsty that is our normal abode. You know, actually putting away the toys and books and clothes in the kids' room, wiping all the counters, vacuuming the carpets, that kind of thing.

Speaking of, Thomas just woke up from his nap so I can go ahead and vacuum. Oh the joy and the thrill of cleaning. Could you sense the slight sarcasm in that? I love the feeling of having a clean apartment (I organized the kids' room today and it looks so much nicer!) but I really dislike the process of getting there!

Just a couple more hours until they get here. Woopee!!!!!

More Sewing - Reconstructing a Shirt

Yesterday I checked out a book from the library, Reconstructing Clothes for Dummies. There are lots of fun patterns and projects. Not all of them are really my style, but I loved the tutorial for making a skirt out of an upside-down shirt. So I took an old, ill-fitting shirt of mine and turned it into a skirt!


It was a pretty easy project. Basically, you cut out the shoulders and turn the shirt upside down. Then you use a different shirt to make the wide waistband. If anyone is interested in a tutorial, let me know. I can make another one and actually take pictures of the before and the process, which I neglected to do this time.


I love all the little frills on the bottom!

Anyway, I'm excited to do more with my old clothes - things I've been hanging onto for years (some since high school!) but don't really wear anymore because they're out of style, and they don't fit anyway. I can give myself a whole new wardrobe without having to go out a buy a lot of clothes! Well, maybe not an entire wardrobe, but I will enjoy getting to add new pieces to my existing list of clothes that I'll actually wear. :-)

I Made a Mei Tai!

I've been getting really big into this whole babywearing thing. I love using my wrap, and both Zaylee and Thomas enjoy getting carried by it. And now today, I found a tutorial for making a simple and stylish mei tai (Asian baby carrier), and thought that I would give that one a try too!

I bought some cute home decor fabric (it has to be strong, sturdy fabric) from the clearance rack at Wal-Mart and made this super-cute mei tai this afternoon. It took a few hours, but it was so worth it! I love the bright colors - just enough to be cheery but not too bright and overstated. And I liked that the colors in the fabric changed from one to another. There are stripes of orange, red, and tan. The way the pattern laid out, I ended up with the main panel being both orange and red, and it makes a cool effect.

Since Thomas was still eating dinner when I was ready to model, Zaylee was happily willing to let me carry her instead.

One side is orange:


The other side is red:


And a slightly unflattering view from the back (oops, I should have made sure the straps were flat against my back, instead of folded up like that):


I feel very stylish with my new mei tai!

I used the tutorial found here. This is the Ball Baby Overall mei tai - it differs from other mei tais in that the straps are wider (and therefore more comfortable) and are the same color as the main panel. This mei tai was designed by Kimber Tower, who also sells her beautiful carriers at this website.

Singing in Church

As a way of advertising our upcoming performance of Women at the Well, several of the participants were asked to sing during either Sacrament Meeting or Relief Society for all the wards in the stake. I was asked to sing my song as a special musical number for our ward's Sacrament Meeting, and for the Relief Society of the ward that meets after us in our building.

I was pretty nervous - I've sung my song so many times I can't count them, but that was during practice in front of all the other participants, or at home in front of Jeff and the kids. Sunday was my first time actually performing the song for an audience (or congregation...) and therefore I was a mess of nerves! But if you go by the words of Jeff and everyone who came up to tell me I did a good job, and by the number of crying women in the congregation, I think I did a pretty good job! Jeff said he was amazed at how great my singing was, and that I could totally be on American Idol because I have such a good voice ... but I think he's a bit biased. ;-)

Anyway, I'm glad that I had the opportunity to perform my song, not once but twice, before the actual production. Now that I know I can do it even when I'm nervous, I'll be more confident on Saturday and less nervous (hopefully). I'm so excited about the performance on Saturday - but I'll miss practices and hanging out with all the wonderful women I've had the opportunity to meet and get to know. I'm always a little bit sad when a production is over - I've had a wonderful time and I'll definitely miss being a part of it.

New Sink and Thomas' Shirt

A couple cool things about today. We went to Wal-Mart to pick up diapers for Thomas, and when we got home there was a man under our sink.

A couple days ago I decided that I had finally had it with the faucet of our kitchen sink. It would spray water out of the top of the nozzle, all over the kitchen, if we turned it on too high. And I noticed that the stem itself, not just the nozzle, was leaking water. It made using the faucet really inconvenient and unpleasant. I had tried a couple times to tighten the nozzle, but it never did any good. And this last time it made it even worse. So I finally did what I should have done right away - I filed a maintenance request.

And today the maintenance man came and made it all better. He didn't just fix the old faucet...


He installed a beautiful shiny new faucet! This one doesn't leak anywhere at all, and it looks so much nicer than the old one, which was pretty much falling apart. I love our new faucet!

And that garlic in the background - we usually don't buy fresh garlic but it was super-duper on sale and we bought that whole packet of five heads of garlic for about 20 cents. I love being a bargain shopper!


The other cool thing about today was working on Thomas' new shirt. I bought a sheet at D.I. a while ago for the purpose of making a new Church shirt for Thomas. I got the pieces cut out and then they sat there for a while. Today I sewed it all together.


It's looking so cute, and Thomas is downright dapper in it, but I've hit a roadblock. I can't put in the buttons until I do the buttonholes, and I can't put in the buttonholes until I get a seam-ripper. We'll probably go shopping again tomorrow so I can go ahead and buy one, so I can do the buttonholes and buttons. I'm so excited for Thomas to be able to wear the entire outfit, this shirt and the coordinating pants.

I also did a bit of mending today. I bought a cute black skirt to wear for the Women at the Well performance (we're supposed to wear all black) but the hem was coming undone. I was excited to be able to fix the hem quickly and easily. And one of Jeff's pairs of pants had a hole in the pocket, which I was able to fix for him after I did my skirt. It's so nice to have a sewing machine and be able to do all these little sewing things! I'm so glad we decided to go ahead and buy one.

Wish I Weren't Sick...

Apparently my body doesn't like it when I stay up late snacking on sweets and junk food for three nights in a row. I woke up sick this morning, with a major stomach-ache and lots of time in the bathroom. I never even bothered to get out of my pajamas this morning, and I've spent the whole day lazing around on the couch or the computer (or the bathroom...) trying to rest and not feel so icky.

Lucky for me, today is the beginning of Jeff's off-week, so he's been home all day helping with the kids, and he'll be home for the next week. No more late night snack raids. We plan on going to bed at a decent time, and I am planning on not snacking on sweets after dinner. And then I'll just hope that I can be good and disciplined when Jeff goes back to work next week. Sigh, I knew all that snacking would catch up with me.

Now I just have to get rid of all those cookies I baked at 10:00 last night...

Time to Update I Guess

Sorry it's been a while since I posted. Let me see if I can actually remember stuff to write about this week...

The beginning of the week is a blur 'cause it was so long ago and nothing really interesting happened. We went shopping on Monday, which I only remember because we always do our shopping on Monday. Let's see, Tuesday I had practice for Women at the Well. We worked on individual songs first, then all got together and worked on the group songs. I'm working on memorizing. I've had my song memorized for quite a while, but now am trying to make sure that I can sing the other parts without music too. I also have a couple lines that I need to memorize. It would be a lot easier if I hadn't lost my script last week...

Anyway, I'm getting really excited about our performance. The show is on the 21st, and I'm super excited that my mom is coming down to visit with the kids for spring break, and they'll probably be here in time to watch the show. Hooray! I'm so excited for a visit from Mom and everybody (and it will be good motivation to get the apartment cleaned up - it's been getting messy again).

Nothing memorable on Wednesday (evidenced by the fact that though I'm wracking my brains I can't remember it at all) so I'll skip forward to Thursday. We usually have our monthly girls' night out on Thursdays so I drove down to Lehi on Thursday evening with a pan full of brownies, super excited to watch Vocal Point and hang out with the girls. Except that upon arriving I realized that the concert (and girls' night) was actually on Friday night. Oops. Angie took pity on me and invited me in for dinner, then we went to her Enrichment activity. The youth in her ward put on a show for us, with singing and dancing and acting. Lots of talent, and I was very impressed! After enrichment I came back home and planned to make the drive again the next night for the actual Night Out.

Except that, on Friday morning the car wouldn't start. Jeff took the train to work and I called a friend in the ward to help us jump the car. But it turned out to not be the battery - we couldn't figure out what was wrong. So no Girls' Night Out, no Vocal Point, and the car is now in the shop (after Jeff and Brother B. had an adventure getting it there - apparently it's harder to tow than one might think). The man at the shop thinks it's the fuel pump, which costs over $500 to fix. Yikes! And ironically, he can't get it to not start now, and he hasn't even fixed it yet. Plus there's a problem with one of the fans that will cost over $200 should we choose to get that fixed too. Man, I really dislike when cars stop working right - it costs so much to fix them!!

Saturday morning we ran through the Women at the Well show, with staging and everything. That was fun, it's reminding me a bit of when I would be in high school plays. Except everyone goofs off less because we're all adult women instead of goofy teenagers. But we still have a good time. It's so neat to see it all coming together, and I still cry a bit during some of the more touching songs. I cry a lot more easily since becoming a mother - we had the CD of all these songs when I was younger but I don't think they ever made me cry back then. I guess I just understand things more now, and I am reading more into them - glimpsing into the lives of these women who were touched and blessed by Jesus in their lives. This has been a really special experience for me, and I'm really glad that I had the courage to audition to take part in this performance.

Jeff is transitioning to working nights, and Saturday was his first day of working the evening-to-early-morning shift. So starting on Saturday I have been staying up way too late at night because Jeff isn't here to make me go to bed! Since he'll be working late every other week indefinitely, this is something I need to work on. Gotta learn to get myself to bed at a decent time no matter when Jeff gets home. Also, I need to learn to control my nighttime snack cravings. When I'm up late without Jeff, I get itching to eat chocolate and baked goods and ice cream and whatever I can get my hands on. Yeah, that's gotta stop... or the scale won't be looking too friendly soon. :-)

Today being shopping day but not having the car, I walked to Smith's to do some minimalist grocery shopping, being limited to purchasing only what I could carry back with me. We decided we could just get milk, eggs, cheese, and bananas, and just leave anything else for later. I brought my backpack for the milk, cheese, and fruit, and a canvas bag for the eggs. I was gleeful to learn that because I didn't use plastic bags, I got a five cent discount! Hmm, something to remember... I could sew up some grocery bags using scrap fabric and over the year we could probably save up several dollars! Whoopee! (heeheehee)

I just remembered something memorable about Wednesday! We went to have dinner with Jeff's sister Joy and her kids. We had taco salad, and it was really yummy. Joy had been going through their stuff and found lots of old books from back when she and Jeff and their brothers were young kids. She didn't want them anymore, so she gave them to us! It's fun to see so many books that Jeff used to read as a young boy - some of them are the same ones that I used to read too! And in one of them, he wrote his name in the front. It was way back when he first learned to write, because the J is backward and there are two Y's - JEFFREYY. It's really cute. The kids have been having a blast with their new books - mostly by spreading them out all over the living room. But we've been reading them too. Today I finally got them out of the living room and onto the bookshelf in the kids room. We'll see how long they keep them there nicely before they pull them all off and stack them in a pile in the middle of the room. I know my children, and I know how they operate. I just have to keep my eyes open if I want to avert the inevitable.

Okay, this post is way too long now, and there aren't even any pictures. I better end it now.

Stake Conference

I just remembered that I wanted to post about our Stake Conference this weekend. There's a few really awesome things about living in Salt Lake City. First, our Stake Center (where we had the Saturday evening session of conference) is only one block away from our apartment, and it looks like a castle.


Second is that we had the Sunday morning session of conference at the old Assembly Hall on Temple Square.


Gorgeous, isn't it? I managed to get some pictures of the inside before and after the conference. This is the organ (aaah, I love it!):


And here is a mural on the ceiling:


After conference we walked around the square for a while, and I took some pictures. Here's one of a statue of Joseph Smith.


Third cool thing is that you run into people that you never thought you'd run into. I was sitting with the kids on our pew, and I happened to glance over to another pew and see my Young Women leader from when I was in high school - in California! Never thought I'd see her here! Turns out she just moved up here, just like we did, and now we're in the same stake. What a fun coincidence. She's the one that gave me the recipe for the delicious shrimp appetizer that I make for Jeff and I every Valentine's Day.

I thought that now might be a pretty good time to announce that, even though I was miserable to be moving here to Salt Lake a few months ago, I recently discovered that I actually like it here! It has sort of snuck up on me, and then it just hit me that not only am I tolerating the area, but I actually really like it. I love the library, I love that we're within walking distance of D.I., Smith's, Big Lots, Walgreens, and our ward building and stake center. I love that we're so close to Temple Square that we can just take the Trax and it's free the whole way. I love that our Wal-Mart is so huge that I can find pretty much everything there - it even has a fabric section, which has been removed from most Wal-Marts. I love that I'm surrounded by beautiful buildings with history and architechtural interest. I don't even mind driving anymore. I don't go out of my way to find an excuse to drive, but I don't avoid it either. I've driven to American Fork twice, and I don't freak out on the huge freeways anymore.

However, I still don't like living in such a tiny apartment. That's something that I don't think will ever change! :-)