Everything's bigger in TX

...like layovers, BBQ, apartments, rivers, and my belly as result of all the yummy food. I would have to say the Alamo is something that's not so big in size, but a big tourist attraction.

Let's start out with Wednesday. I was up at 5, worked 6-3, headed to the airport for 5pm flight to Denver and then off to San Antonio at 7pm. First flight was delayed due to tornadoes in Denver. We boarded the plane and then they took us off because another tornado hit and we couldn't leave for another hour. Received update that connecting flight wouldn't be leaving until 8pm. Re-boarding plane at 8pm as quickly as possible and decided to stay behind to ask about updates on our connecting flight since it was supposed to be leaving Denver already. Yep, it had. The very unfriendly staff at Frontier Airlines (their motto: "A Whole Different Animal"...so true) had apparently not planned on letting us know any sooner and were just going to let us on the plane to Denver and let us figure it out when we got there. Luckily, since we asked, the lady took down our names, told us we would be put on standby for the next flight to San Antonio and to check with the staff in Denver which flight that might be. In all the rush, she did tell us that we could stay in Salt Lake and receive a voucher which would be good for 1 year, or we could try to make it onto a flight on standby but since it was a holiday weekend and most flights were full we might not get on for a couple days. As she is saying this another person is yelling at her that he has to close the gates so she tells us that we have to tell her our decision RIGHT NOW. Without really thinking, I just said, "okay, let's go." Adam was being hesitant, and I still can't believe I took that risk! As soon as we buckled in, I thought about what I had just done...was this the right thing to do? Were we given that option because we were really supposed to stay in SLC because the plane was going to crash?? Were we ever going to get to San Antonio??

Prayer works! We got to Denver safely at 10:10pm and we were there told that the first flight was at 11:50am. So we camped at the Denver airport for 13 hours! Luckily we had some snacks with us. Adam watched the extended edition of the Fellowship of the Ring while I attempted a few hours of sleep with my head on his shoulder, we checked email, facebook, baby strollers, and made a list of apartments that we wanted to look at if we ever made it to TX. (And entertained ourselves by taking pictures of each other...here are some of the highlights)


We actually made it onto the 11:50 flight, got to TX, showered (the best shower of my life!!), and headed out to look at one apartment and catch the "worst BBQ" for dinner. Just a bunch of guys BBQing and they sell food by the pound. That giant jar of pickles did catch my pregnant eye, but I resisted.
They served our food on a crate and gave us a stack of bread to eat with it. We got some ribs, brisket, creamed corn, peach cobbler, and "chopped," which is a mix of their sausage, and a couple other meats in their BBQ sause. Yes, the way they spelled sauce bugged me the whole time, but the food was delicious!!


The next day, Friday, we slept in until 9ish, got some yummy breakfast tacos, and then apartment hunted for HOURS...until 6pm when all the offices closed. I'm only going to show you our very favorite one! Oh, we didn't stop for lunch because all 6 places we went to offered complimentary cookies (I didn't refuse at any of the locations, and I even helped myself to seconds half the time)! My favorite were the white choco/craisins cookies! Never would have thought to do this myself, but LOVED them! K, so here we go on the tour of the apartment:

We love the flow of the place, the natural lighting from the big windows, the bay window, and the openness! AND the plush, non-industrial carpet!!

Kitchen: Notice the DISHWASHER to the right!!! Haven't had one of these in 3.5 years and are so excited for the possibilities!

From our bedroom, There is a vanity area with 2 sinks here, next to it is the room with a toilet and tub, and next to that is another vanity area with 1 sink that leads into the 2nd bedroom and also to the living room. AND in the mirror reflection here you can see a sneak peak at the washer and dryer which is included in the apartment...not just hookups. Can you imagine??...Going from 1 sink with no counter space and having to go up and down 3 flights of stairs to do laundry....to 3 sinks, lots of counter/cabinet space, and having a washer/dryer right inside the apartment?? Heavenly!We went to the River Walk to obviously walk around and then get some dinner. We got some yummy Mexican food and sat at a table right by the river. Such a gorgeous evening!


And here's the Alamo. Um, what else do I say here?
Saturday morning we slept in until almost 11am! We were so exhausted from the day before. Our friends had to head out of town, but their parents gave us the car to go to the mall for a couple hours before taking us to the airport. It's sure hot there, but so fun to be with Adam on a vacation together!
Here we are, back at the Denver airport for a planned 3 hour layover with no delays! Hooray! Much happier in this picture!
Back to Utah and here's the latest baby belly picture!

The Martha in Me

Last night I had been really wanting to make something sweet, so while we were grocery shopping, I conveniently made sure to pick up ingredients for carrot cake and cinnamon rolls. We had some friends over kind of late, so at 11:40pm I decided I would make chocolate chip/butterscotch chip cookies. Betty Crocker knows what she's doing! They turned out amazing!

Tonight, Adam is working a graveyard shift from 6pm - 6am and so I have been trying to pass the time without letting my emotions get the best of me. Really, I was tempted to go to bed at 7, but I decided to stick it out a little longer. I only cried right after I closed the door when Adam left at 5:40, while I did the dishes, and they were all out by about 6 when I decided to take a shower. Yes, that's really early to take a shower, but showers are so cleansing in more than just a physical sense. It felt great! I haven't cried since then and I think this is the best I've done since he started working night shifts =) He has spoiled me lately by mostly working day shifts, which I can definitely handle, but since we are going to San Antonio Wednesday-Saturday he picked up a shift tonight to make sure we'd have enough money since he can't work his usual shifts later in the week. I really admire him for his constant watch over our family. He really makes sure the finances are in order, he makes sure I'm doing okay, he is even reading this book entitled Be Prepared. It's laid out like the boy scout handbook and it's all about practical ways to prepare to be a father. It's written by a comedian, but has some very neat things in it that are even good for me to know! He just might be more prepared about this parenthood thing than I will be! Really though, we both know that I've got the nurturing thing down and he has the providing/protective/common sense thing down. =)

So...tonight I have decided to make this recipe from allrecipes.com called Clone of a Cinnabon. I made it a couple weeks ago and have been wanting to make it again for a while now. In my quest to pass the time so I don't seem ridiculous for going to bed at 7pm I have decided to bake...one of the things I like to do that makes me feel productive! I am such a people-pleaser which is why I want to do this for Adam. What brings me joy in life is when I can do something for someone else. My mom used to say, "When your day is bad and getting worse, keep a cookie in your purse." That means: instead of feeling sorry for yourself when things aren't going how you want them to be...do something nice for someone else. My senior year in high school, I knew I hadn't studied well enough for an exam I was going to have the next day and I was getting super tired and discouraged. So, with the short amount of time I was going to stay awake, I decided to make cookies and take them to all my friends at school the next day instead of using the time to study. I knew that the 20 minutes it took to make cookies was going to make me a lot happier the next day than spending the time studying, which 20 minutes wasn't going to do me a whole lot of good anyway...I should have started studying much sooner! So I went to school knowing I wasn't going to do well on my exam, but I would still be happy and there would be other exams and assignments to bring my grade back up in the class. Now, you know that I just graduated from BYU, so obviously I made it through my senior year just fine and I didn't make a regular habit of doing that, but it was a perfect story for how I'm feeling tonight.

I would much rather if Adam were here with me tonight and I would much rather have him next to me when I wake up in the morning, but since I have to leave for work at 5:30 tomorrow and work an 8.5 hour day instead of just 8, and he won't be here until 6:30, I'll just make the best of it. He'll get to come home to the smell of yummy cinnamon rolls in the morning and I'll get to know that I will have a happy husband waiting for me when I get home from work in the afternoon!

Now, if he gets called in tomorrow night.....it's carrot cake.

Our First Baby Photo!

You know it's time for a new post when...

You have too much to say to put it in the status bar on Facebook.






Not like it's all super exciting stuff, but more of a journal entry while Adam's at work. I found these pictures from graduation while I was just looking for one to add to this entry after I wrote the whole blog. The only way they really go with the rest of the blog is because they are pictures of us and I talk about us in the blog, so there ya go. I thought you might enjoy them! They are some of my very favorites!

As previously mentioned, I have 4-day weekends so last night I tried to stay up late and party with Adam. ("try" because I had been up since 5am and had only had about 5-6 hours of sleep the previous night) I made it until about midnight. When Adam got home from work I had made sloppy joes and french fries for dinner and we made salad together as well as banana milk (a recipe from his mission in Chile) and later had ice cream and popcorn! We played some video games and I fell asleep watching a movie we rented from the Provo library. That is a regular occurrence at our place since Adam can usually stay up later than I can and I love to cuddle up and fall asleep on his lap. He doesn't mind it. It's a win-win situation. *I just re-read this paragraph and it sure makes it sound like we eat a lot! Oh well. It's for the baby right?*

Adam got me up at 10:30 this morning to read scriptures and eat breakfast before he left for his lunch shift at the Olive Garden. This is something we've just started this week and it's actually working for us. Reading before bed wasn't consistent enough for us and I usually fell asleep during reading or praying so we have been reading together before the first person leaves in the morning. I must say how happy and proud I am of Adam for letting me wake him up at 5:45am Tuesday through Thursday...he's been so good about it! Back to today.... he left for work at 11, I showered and was actually exhausted by the end of my shower. I do like to take long showers, but this one wasn't any different than the rest. I didn't have the energy to dry my hair or do the dishes...I climbed back in bed and was asleep by 11:30. Adam woke me up at 2:30 when he got home! 13.5 hours of sleep??? I feel like a lazy person doing that. I keep forgetting that it's what pregnant people do and I now qualify as one of them. Can you believe we only have 4 months until his arrival?

On that note, I've been thinking about registering lately. I've talked with my sisters and I realized that most of the big items (carseat, snap n go stroller, video baby monitor, baby bjorn, and breast pump) are going to be given to us which is a HUGE blessing, especially due to the lack of money we will be living off of while Adam's in school. One of their neighbors is even sending us some of her cutest baby boy clothes. Right now we have one outfit and one blanket in our possession so we'll take anything we can get!! People are so generous! I've decided to get the crib off craigslist since about a million people in San Antonio and San Diego posted cribs today so I'm not so worried about finding one when we move rather than dropping a couple hundred on a new one. There are still a lot of little things the Babies R Us registry list online recommends getting so I should decide on a nursery theme soon and get going on that. Also another thing to decide on...

His name! This has been a common dinnertime/bedtime/anytime conversation lately and the names that have officially made the list are: Ethan, Wesley, Odin, and Jackson.
-Ethan has been on the list since we got married and we still like it. It means firm/strong.
-For today, Wesley is my favorite. It's Adam's middle name, his grandfather's name, and the first little boy I ever babysat. It means western meadow. Okay, that sounds lame, but I still like it.
-Odin is the chief god in Norse mythology and is associated with wisdom, war, battle, death, magic, poetry, prophecy, victory, and the hunt. (Thanks Wikipedia for helping me out) Adam picked this one and I'm not sure it'll make it to the finals, but it's a strong name.
-Jackson is a name Adam came up with and I didn't say no to. We both think it's cute. It means Jack's son which is pretty lame too since his dad is Adam, but oh well. What do you think about these names??

Adam went to work the dinner shift at 4:15 and I got some Father's Day shopping done...that's right: no Hanukkah Father's Day this year! We're off to St. George in the morning and we'll be attending the Brian Regan show that night. He's our favorite comedian. After that we'll be staying the night with my step-sister Xandra and her cute family! We should know within the month where Adam will go to medical school, so we'll keep you posted!

You go girl!

For those who don't know yet, I decided to get Karen a few gifts for Mother's Day. Being the man that I am, I wanted to give her something special, near and dear to my heart; something that every time she saw it she would know of my everlasting love and commitment to being her husband. So I got her a funnel. Yep. You read it right. A funnel for Mother's Day. But this is no ordinary funnel. It is a Go-Girl. A few months ago, we were watching the news and saw this device. It is designed to allow women to be able to urinate standing up. We both thought it was kind of funny, but Karen thought it would be really cool to have if we went camping. So, after racking my brain of what to get Karen for Mother's Day I remembered our conversation about the Go-Girl and ordered one.

When she opened her package she was stunned. Naturally she wanted to try it out. So a few hours later I heard Karen laughing in the bathroom. When she came out she had a proud look on her face and said, "So that's what it feels like to pee standing up!" Last weekend she took her Go-Girl with us to the mountains when we went camping. She tells me she still needs some more practice before going into the woods, but it worked great in the pit toilet.

Now, my wife and I share a special common bond that many other couples may never experience: we don't take life sitting down!

-Adam

Baby and Birthday

Adam posted last time so I thought I'd throw in some more details for you now that it's been a week since we found out the gender and celebrated Adam's birthday. On that same night, April 28th, Adam got to feel our little guy move for the first time. It was just like Linda said, babies move a lot right before you go to bed. I don't know who was more excited, but I know it made me feel like Adam could really be a part of this with me!

At our appointment, he was a pretty content baby. He stayed in the same curled-up position with one hand by his head and one hand between his legs and he was facing towards my back for most of the appointment which made it so we couldn't see his face or gender until the last 5 minutes. We peeked at his arms, brain activity, heartbeat, and legs until he would change positions, which only lasted long enough to get what we needed and then he curled up again. I was having a hard time figuring out what we were looking at on the screen and she wouldn't really stop and explain things very well to me. Luckily, when Adam was a volunteer at the hospital he interpreted for numerous patients getting ultrasounds so he knew what he was looking at and could help me out. He knew what questions to ask while I just stared at the screen in wonder. The ultrasound lady said he was the most difficult baby she'd seen all day. She was trying to be funny and joke that she hoped our baby wouldn't always be difficult. I just like to think that he'll be a cuddly baby like myself and Adam were when we were babies. =)

Before graduation I was working 3 days a week so I could finish up school, but I got so used to it that I didn't want to go back to waking up at 5:30(I know I'll have to once the baby comes) five days a week so....since graduation, I have changed my work schedule to only work Tues, Wed, and Thurs, which makes for 4 day weekends and no school...which means more time with Adam! We've played Super Mario Bros. Wii and our son goes crazy every time! He probably senses my elevated heart rate as I try to stay alive through each level and I think it's so funny! He also had a similar experience yesterday. I was taking a nap and Adam called me on his way home around 6pm. I was so startled by the call and my heart was racing...the baby was moving like crazy!

I have been able to read my first non-textbook in many years entitled: An Eight Cow Woman Deserves an Eight Cow man. I must add that I finished it in about 2-3 days and if you are familiar enough with the story of Johny Lingo for the title of the book to make you smile, then you should definitely read it! It goes over the 8 cows (character traits) that we should have in a relationship in a pretty funny way.

As many of you know, Adam and I like to celebrate "Hanukkah Birthdays." This means that we didn't order the gifts in time for them all to arrive before the birthday so we celebrate for about a week. After our ultrasound appointment Wednesday we went to Red Robin for his free birthday burger. Thursday we celebrated at Tucanos and redeemed his birthday meal there. His gifts that have been coming in the mail (all off his wish-list) have been: keychain light, rechargeable AA batteries, and the Lord of the Rings extended edition trilogy. We redeemed his birthday burger at Fudruckers yesterday and then stopped into Baskin Robbins for his free birthday scoop! He really knows which places to sign up for online huh? He received many cards and also a package from his dad with lots of yummy treats and a cookbook. I know he loved talking with his family on his birthday too! Last night we used giftcards for Target to get some camping equipment for our trip this weekend and we also got him some new t-shirts.
What a fun week it has been!