Christmas in Utah

On my side of the family we don't have too many family traditions but we do have some family quirks.  One of them includes making music with chimes.  We don't do this every Christmas, just every once in awhile.  My sister is the Primary chorister in her ward and wanted to try out the chimes with us before borrowing them for Primary. 

Everyone who wanted to participate, did.

Even the youngest family member!

Later we found out that the Primary listened to instructions much better than we did...and they even paid closer attention.  They got a gold star for their performance while we were left with the bronze.  I'm not sure who took the silver but it wasn't us.

It was a fun evening with my side of the family and great to see everyone again.

Baby shower in Northern Virginia

My friends in No. Va. threw me a wonderful baby shower.  Check out that blue cake in the left corner of the photo.  It was so amazing...and tall.  And there was fresh fruit, yogurt and granola, muffins and cupcakes.  In fact, one of my friends knowing I am from Lehi, ordered some Lehi Roller Mills muffin mixes and made those muffins for the shower.  

The shower was full of fun, laughter and a lot of hugs.  What a great bunch of ladies!

I asked SM to join the party.  He said he would as long as he hid himself in the kitchen.  But as you can see, he still saw and visited with a lot of our friends.

We have been blessed with so many friends.  Thank you to everyone for your love and support.  It was great to see and visit with so many people.

And here are the ladies that threw together such a great party.  A big thank you to ya all!

Thanksgiving in the Outer Banks

For the week of Thanksgiving we drove to the Outer Banks and met up with three other families.  We all rented a beach house together and had a fabulous week together.  One of the things we did was visit the Bodie Island Lighthouse.

As you can see in the background, the Bodie Island Lighthouse was having a  facial.  Luckily, I have been here a couple of times and have better photos of the lighthouse.  This was the first time my friend had ever been.  Hopefully she'll come back another year and get a picture without all the scaffolding surrounding the lighthouse.

We had a house full of fun kiddos.  We had eight girls and one boy.  Luckily the boy was one of the younger kiddos and so he didn't mind hanging out with the girls.  We also took turns each evening cooking a meal.  Yum!

And we played games almost every evening.  The kids usually jumped into the hot tubs in the evenings and since they didn't need all of the adults watching them, we'd enjoy some fun game playing.  We taught our friends to play Seven Wonders and I think they all enjoyed it.  We also played Dominion with the final expansion, Dark Ages.  

The weather didn't cooperate too much while we were in the Outer Banks.  The first four days were full of lots of wind and sometimes rain.  But we did sneak in a few trips to different locations.  Here I am at the Wright Brother's Memorial.  We actually stopped by here three or four times because we didn't have enough time to do everything or I was too tired to see everything.  But since after the first time we didn't have to pay an entrance fee, it was really easy to do several short visits.

One of the first days of sunshine had us out and visiting the Currituck Lighthouse.  We took the opportunity to see it with friends and even hiked up to the very top to look out on the beach town below.  This was the last time we saw the sun that day.  By the time we made it down to the bottom of the lighthouse the clouds had moved in and it was windy and cold again.

SM pulled out Axis and Allies, a game he used to play in high school with one of the guys in this picture.  I had heard the stories about how long these games could go and so I declined the opportunity to play.  And it was a good thing I didn't play.  I think it took them around four or five hours to play the game and they didn't finish until midnight.

We filled up all these places with great friends and their kiddos.  We took an opportunity for everyone to share something they were grateful for that Thanksgiving.  I just wept the whole time...I'm blaming pregnancy hormones on that one.  Anyway, it was a wonderful Thanksgiving with lots of good memories and good food.

We deep fried two turkey, had mashed potatoes and gravy, apple cider green beans, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, rolls and lots of different kinds of pies and cakes and don't forget the Old Dominion Rootbeer.

The Friday after Thanksgiving was the first time I ventured to the beach.  The sun finally came out and the day was mild.  While at the  Outer Banks I reached the 30 week mark in my pregnancy and I was still feeling great.

What a wonderful week! (Sat. Nov. 17- Sat. Nov. 24, 2012)

Pregnancy photos

30 Weeks
I was at the Outer Banks when I reached 30 weeks.  I few things I remember from that week was that Gizmo got the hiccups very very often.  The bed was very firm and so my hips were killing me and I was turning from one side to the other every hour.  I brought green smoothies to drink every morning and went walking with a friend almost every day.

31 Weeks
We had about four days between our Thanksgiving trip and our Northern Virginia trip.  During that time SM put up the Christmas tree and some of our decorations.  Isn't this tree cute?  During this time Gizmo's hiccups decreased but my hips continued hurting...but I didn't have to flip over as often because my bed is pretty soft.  I did experience a couple migraines but have no idea what caused them.  Poor Gizmo is beginning to feel very cramped in the small space available.  I have felt an arm or leg trying to stretch occasionally.

32 Weeks
A few pregnancy quirks...my eyesight has gotten worse.  I hope that after the birth it will go back to normal.  My legs, ankles, feet and hands are beginning to swell and retain fluid.  Mostly at night or if I have been sitting working at my computer for long periods of time.  I am still walking when I can get out.  The weather in Georgia has been cooling down and neighborhood people have put out their Christmas decorations but it still feels weird without the cold and snow of Utah.  I have been able to drink water again without being grossed out.

Family Photos taken this summer

I love this man...even if he struggles to keep his eyes open if the sun is out.  Most of the summer he is wearing sunglasses when he's outdoors and the sun is shining.

Here's the whole family together!  Aren't we a handsome bunch?!

Here I am with my siblings and parents.

Here's grandma with the granddaughters!  Aren't they cute...and they are such good friends too!

And the grandsons with grandpa.  Each of my siblings has one son so each of these boys represent  one family.  Can't wait till my son joins the gang!!

Chicago

SM had to go to Chicago for a conference.  He decided to go to "the bean" again.  He took a few photos but then decided it was too cold to be a tourist.  But here are a few of my favorites.

SM took the pictures with his iPad...one of his new toys.  I liked this photo because it shows him taking a picture of himself.

And this photo is just cool!  I believe it's the inside skin of the bean...skin being a loosely definition.

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Hi Everyone,

I've been wanting to post...actually I've tried posting a couple times but at this time Blogger says I've used all my free portion and now I need to pay to use their services.  I have put it off for awhile but now I'm trying to get caught up and have decided to go ahead and pay a monthly fee so that I can share my photos and thoughts with all ya all.  So, as soon as I can figure out how to pay for more space on this site, you'll see more photos of my family and what we have been up to.

Toodles!