Baby Update

For the past few weeks I have been going in for weekly ultrasounds and non-stress tests. Our baby girl's abdomen is measuring small and the doctors determined the placenta is not providing/transferring enough nutrients for adequate growth. They have predicted I won't make it full term but it really is a week by week observation. I am 33 weeks and counting. This weeks check-up and growth ultrasound went very well. She is still measuring small so they will continue the weekly monitoring.

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A cute profile pic of baby Lila

(Did we tell you we finally agreed on Lila? Well, we did:)

A belly pic for those of you who were asking.

Lila's crib, ready and waiting!

(Quilt made by Grandma Johnson and baby lamb from Grandma Pope)

Thanksgiving Break

For Thanksgiving we went to Sacramento to visit family and friends. We spent the first half of the day and ate the big meal with our friends Josh and Chandra and their family. The second half and dessert was with Chris' sister Ashley and Travis and their families. It was a great day at both houses and too many funny instances to re-tell. We are so grateful for their generosity and having us share the Holiday with them. We forgot to take pictures at Josh's but did get a picture with Ashley and Travis.

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Me, Chris, Ashley, and Travis

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The next day we got our Christmas tree and all the decorating materials. It was so fun watching Christmas movies and listening to Christmas music as we decorated our first Christmas tree. I love this time of year!

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Our 1st Christmas Tree.

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For awhile we were going on Sunday walks consistently but haven't the past few weeks due to the early evening. Today we went on a walk at the same park we always go to. The last time we went the fall colors were so vibrant and I remember thinking to myself I should have brought the camera. The path we walk at the park is so peaceful and this time I took some pictures.

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I love bridges...

.and tree lined walking paths.

.This reminded me of some painting. Not sure which one though.

. I love the colors of the season and tall trees.

Wicked!!!

Wicked was fun and entertaining! I'm so glad we finally got to see it. We were starting to think it's an elusive show we were never going to be able to see. Last night was our final attempt and it was successful.

We had tickets to see it in AZ but moved a week before the showing so we sold them. Turns out the show is playing in San Fran. So we bought tickets to go for my birthday in September. We decided to drive into the city cause we wanted to eat out and stop by a maternity store. Bad idea, cause traffic was horrible and it took us like 3 hours to get into the city. As we were crossing the bridge into the city, I looked down at the tickets and realized they were for the night before. I told Chris and we just looked at each other in total disbelief. How could we have not even looked at the tickets before now?

Since we were already in the city by this time, we decided just to go to the theater and talk to a manager and see if they would help us. We explained our sad story to the ticket booth guy and he said we would have to write a letter and the manager would call us in a week. Well, we didn't know if they would even read our letter but wrote one anyways and hoped we would get to see the show. It took about 3 or 4 weeks but finally Bob, from the Orpheum Theater called and said we could choose between a few dates. We marked our calendars again and started another countdown. This time, we decided to ride BART (pictured below) and not deal with the ridiculously annoying traffic.

I've ridden on BART before but many years ago and Chris has never experienced it so we were a little uneasy about the ride, especially at night. We got to the station and had a little trouble parking. Chris started to worry we were going to miss the show again. We grabbed some info guides and also asked the BART lady where we needed to get off and about how long it would take to get to our stop. It was a relief to get on and just sit 'til we got into the city. The BART is a very interesting spot to people watch by the way.

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We got off, walked upstairs and we were right in front of the theater. There were no problems with the tickets and we even got better seats then what we had originally purchased. Nice eh?

Both of us really enjoyed the show and were really impressed that the theater was so nice about giving us another chance to see the show. We will be sending them a thank you note:)

Nightmare...and Pumpkins

Nightmare Before Christmas is one of Chris' favorite movies and this is our second annual pumpkin carving and watching the movie for Halloween. I've never been into the whole claymation movie thing but this is the second time I've seen the movie and it's growing on me. Especially the soundtrack.

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Chris starting off the Pumpkin carving.

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Me cleaning out my pumpkin. Sometimes I don't get grossed out by the guts of a pumpkin but this year I did.

Still carving...

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and done.

We had some complications, of course, with my pumpkin, but you can't even tell can you? Chris is great at solving problems:)

Murder Mystery Dinner

The Location:

Old Hollows Inn/

Emily and Austin's apartment.

The decorations created the perfect atmosphere. I've never been to a murder mystery dinner before but have always wanted to go to one. Emily and Austin did such an amazing job and we had so much fun!!

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The dining hall.

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Emily made this chandelier and I couldn't stop looking at it.

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The place settings along with spiderwebs all over the table. Aside from the spiderwebs getting tangled in my food when I tried to eat, they looked really cool.

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You gotta have candles.

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The Food:

We had dessert for dinner and dinner for dessert. It was delicious and tricky. I really expected the grilled cheese sandwiches to be hot when I picked it up. You'll see in the picture.

Meatloaf and Mash Potato Cupcakes

Tomato and Ham Quiche Pie

Strawberry Jam, Mascarpone Cheese and Cookie Pizza

Frozen French Toast and Ice Cream Sandwiches

(Don't they look like real grilled cheese sandwiches? Maybe it was the lighting.)

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The Characters:

So for those of you who know me, you know I am not an actor and this dinner was no exception. My character had an affair with another character. I was suppose to flirt with him and what not but just couldn't do it. I just got married eight months ago and it really felt weird to even pretend flirt with someone else. Anyway, I ended up blurting it out when we were discussing each character's secrets. Turns out it wasn't important at all and it was only written on my character description. Go figure.

Misty Soul: Librarian/Supernatural Enthusiast and boyfriend, Woody Coffin: Carpenter

Norma Bates: Paralegal and boyfriend, Fred E. Krueger: Lawyer

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I.M. Grimm: Caretaker and Constance Grimm: Cook/Caretaker

Earnest Otch: Businessman with exotic trinkets and wife, Bea Otch: Architect

Thrill Seeka: Heir to old fortune and girlfriend, Sue Bliminal: Professional Dancer

Brett L. Bones: Orthopaedist and girlfriend, Stiletta Reaper: works in book store.

We had a lot of fun and thanks again Emily for inviting us!!

This is a little past due but...GUESS WHAT!!!!!!

I'm pregnant and we are having a baby girl!!!! Most of you already know but I'm gonna blog about it anyways:) My due date is January 18th. Sometimes it seems this pregnancy is going by fast and other times, not so much. Chris and I are really excited and feel incredibly blessed to become parents in the next few months. We still haven't agreed on the name but I'm sure we will figure it out in time. Maybe you can tell us what you think. We are deciding between Lila and Jocelyn.

Second ultrasound confirming our baby's sex.

Cute profile pic of our baby girl.

Story Time:

So, a week before this ultrasound, I was standing in line to return something at Best Buy. As I slowly moved up the line, the small item I was holding felt heavier and heavier. Then I began to feel very hot and thirsty. Then I began to feel slightly light-headed. Right when I decided I was going to sit down and wait till I was called, it was my turn. I asked if there was a water fountain and thought in my head, I'll go get some water after I finish this return. The next second I fainted and fell to the ground. I woke up to someone asking if I was ok and a bunch of people standing over me. I sat up and said "I think I just need some water". A clerk brought me some water and I immediately felt fine. When they asked if this has happened before, I said no but I am pregnant. They immediately freaked out and called 911. I really did feel fine but they didn't believe me. The paramedic came and started quizzing me to see if I knew my name and where I was. They offered to take me outside to the emergency vehicle to check vitals and such. I then said "I was in the middle of returning something". The paramedic asked if the clerk could take care of that for me. The clerk then quickly threw my money and receipt in a bag and wished me well. I was strolled out the door to the truck and they start testing everything. When the paramedic asked if I wanted to go to the hospital. I then said "maybe this is silly but how much is this gonna cost me?" I'm sure the paramedic thought I was ridiculous being so concerned with the return and then how much the ride in the ambulance is, but oh well. I called Chris and told him I fainted and was in an ambulance. He kinda freaked out and kept asking if I was ok. I asked him if he thought I should go to the hospital and he said he would meet me there. I hung up and said well, I guess you can take me to the hospital, my husband is going to meet us there. They ran tests for my heart then checked my blood pressure and blah. blah, blah everything else to make sure I was ok. When the nurse said he was going to do an ultrasound, Chris and I looked at each other and I asked the nurse if while they're checking to see if the baby is ok, could they also tell us if it's a boy or a girl? The nurse said of course. We were so excited to find out and then the whole fainting experience seemed worth it. I never really thought anything was wrong to begin with but better safe than sorry. So, that's when we found out we are having a girl!!!! A week later was the detailed, 20 week ultrasound picture above. The technician wrote "I'm still a girl!" to confirm a second time.

Catching Up

When Chris and I decided to start a blog, he was the blogger but now that he is a little more busy than I, we decided I should be the blogger. It's been awhile since our honeymoon blog and there is much to tell. I'll recap on the most important events that have already occurred and then do my best to keep you updated. Hope all is well with everyone out there!!!! My next post is coming soon:)

Movin' On

In May, Chris graduated from ASU with his Bachelors in Civil Engineering. He was excited and relieved to finally be finished with school. It was a long ceremony full of foreign names and even more foreign thesis'. Chris' mom, dad, and sister Shannon came from out of town for the occasion. Pictured below is sisters Shannon and Wendy, the grad himself, me and Chris' dad, Lowell.

Chris and his mom, Sharon.

It's always great spending time with family and we had fun celebrating Chris' achievement. After graduation, it took some time for Chris' work to figure out where to send him. He was interning for the last two years at an Engineering firm, TPAC. With the economy being as it is, TPAC wanted to keep him but didn't have work. Fortunately, the parent company, Kiewit, was able to transfer us to one of their other district offices. We waited for what seemed like forever to find out where we would be moving to. Omaha, LA, and Concord were thrown out there. July came and we moved to Concord, CA. We packed up our things in a moving truck and made the drive from Phoenix, AZ to Concord, CA. Below is a picture from the outside of our apartment.

Below is a sketch Chris made of our apartment while learning/practicing a new program for work. It's a lot cooler to use the program cause you can do a virtual tour but you get the picture.

So there you have it, we've been in Concord for about 3 months. The weather is amazing and we love our new ward. Everyone has been so welcoming. My friend/old roommate Ashley's parents live around the corner and have taken such good care of us. We've also been able to visit family and friends in Sacramento. Aside from being the farthest state away from my family, we couldn't have been placed in a better area. Why can't Florida and California be closer together?

Jamaican Honeymoon

Jamaica was as beautiful as we had hoped. We stayed at the Grand Palladium located in Montego Bay. It is a brand new resort located in the northeast corner of Jamaica. We arrived Sunday afternoon and stayed until Wednesday afternoon. Everything was just as amazing as all the pictures we'd seen and the reviews we read online. It was very palatial and larger than life and the staff was really friendly. Any time we asked for anything they would respond, "Ya man" or "no problem". They fit the typical Jamaican stereotype perfectly. Everyone wore bright colors which matched the color scheme of the city buildings and homes. It was especially beautiful to see the wide color variation coming from Phoenix where all the homes are a different shade of brown with rocks in the front yard.

If we had to choose one bad thing about the trip, it was the food. I honestly think they tried their best, but let's face it, third world best is still very much 2nd rate to American products. The ketchup was this radioactive glowing red and heaven knows what was in the Chinese food. Through trial and error we eventually discovered what was edible and what wasn't.

This is a picture of the main pool. It wrapped around the entire facade. Just to capture the enormity I took 3 pics in sequence. This would be "1"

"2"

"3"

Ginny looks tiny on the massive grand staircase. Everything was outside when we arrived, including reception. They had numerous fans circulating the air.

We felt small compared to the large buildings. When we arrived they took us via golfcart to our lodging. It took a little while to walk to and from different activities and sights but it was so nice out that it was worth it.

In case you couldn't tell, everything was massive and spacious.

We went at a good time. There were enough people on vacation there that the place wasn't empty, but few enough to where it wasn't crowded. I think we saw other people in our building once. Here is Ginny standing by a fountain outside our door.

This is a random shot of the countryside in a city called Ocho Rios where we escaped to one day in order to climb the famous Dunn's River Falls. This landscape was typical of Jamaica. Everywhere we went there was lush green landscape.

Ok, normally I don't like showing a ton of skin in our photos but Dunn's River falls was amazing! We drove a few hours east, (we nearly drove to the other side of Jamaica), to experience the falls. We were under the understanding that we were to hike alongside the cascading waterfalls but we soon found out that we literally scaled right up the middle of the falls almost 1000 feet vertically. We started at the base at a nice beach and then worked our way up. We went with about 20 others and scaled together. It seemed kinda dangerous especially when we had to form human chains at some points just to get across but in the end that just added to the experience.

See. Here's proof we made it. On our way out our guide lead us through a barrage of vendors trying to sell us a bunch of stuff. Fortunately our guide prewarned us by telling us how to avoid the vendors. When asked to buy, you are to say, "Me no wanty. Me no wanty". In case we didn't get the implications of the phrase he broke it down for us. Apparently "Me no wanty" means, "I don't want". He made that clarification about three times. Crazy. Who would have guessed.

We had a great time. In some aspects we weren't ready to leave. At the same time we were anxious to get back to the states and start our lives together.