The beautiful Teton Mountains.
The largest Elk Horn Arch in America!
Birthday presents!
And more birthday presents!
Snuggling. It seems I'm still tired ALL THE TIME...
Cute kids.
More cute kids.
31 October 2007
Pictures!
Hey all! Like I've said before, Seth and I get pretty lazy about taking pictures. Luckily for us, Amanda took some good pics of our last trip up to Jackson, WY a couple of weeks ago. Enjoy.
The beautiful Teton Mountains.
The largest Elk Horn Arch in America!
Birthday presents!
And more birthday presents!
Snuggling. It seems I'm still tired ALL THE TIME...
Cute kids.
More cute kids.
The beautiful Teton Mountains.
The largest Elk Horn Arch in America!
Birthday presents!
And more birthday presents!
Snuggling. It seems I'm still tired ALL THE TIME...
Cute kids.
More cute kids.
22 October 2007
Relax, Refresh, Rejuvenate
This past weekend was incredible. Nothing exciting happened. We didn’t travel anywhere. We didn’t have friends over or company in town. We just stayed home. Well, I did. Seth went fly fishing all day on Saturday.
I decided, sometime around 4:30 am Saturday morning, that I would treat my Saturday as though I was at one of those spa retreat centers. I slept in, took a long, warm bath in the morning, made sure I ate healthy, yummy food, did an hour or so of yoga, went for a walk, watched the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice, did a prenatal Salsa workout video (super funny, but really fun) and took a nap. Amazingly, in the evening, I even had enough energy left to make muffins.
Every once in a while, one gets the chance to look back at a day and say, “I spent that day just exactly as I should have.” Saturday was one of those glorious days. (And, I must give my wonderful husband credit – it was possible because he spent Friday evening, after I’d gone to bed, cleaning the house! I woke to everything straightened, dusted and cleaned!)
Sunday, Seth and I spent a lot of time together, going to church, getting groceries and shopping for fingerless gloves for his next fly-fishing adventure. He even watched part of Pride and Prejudice with me! Later, I watched the Boston/Cleveland game with him. It, too, was a fun, relaxing day. For the first time in quite a while, I feel like I was ready for Monday.
I decided, sometime around 4:30 am Saturday morning, that I would treat my Saturday as though I was at one of those spa retreat centers. I slept in, took a long, warm bath in the morning, made sure I ate healthy, yummy food, did an hour or so of yoga, went for a walk, watched the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice, did a prenatal Salsa workout video (super funny, but really fun) and took a nap. Amazingly, in the evening, I even had enough energy left to make muffins.
Every once in a while, one gets the chance to look back at a day and say, “I spent that day just exactly as I should have.” Saturday was one of those glorious days. (And, I must give my wonderful husband credit – it was possible because he spent Friday evening, after I’d gone to bed, cleaning the house! I woke to everything straightened, dusted and cleaned!)
Sunday, Seth and I spent a lot of time together, going to church, getting groceries and shopping for fingerless gloves for his next fly-fishing adventure. He even watched part of Pride and Prejudice with me! Later, I watched the Boston/Cleveland game with him. It, too, was a fun, relaxing day. For the first time in quite a while, I feel like I was ready for Monday.
20 October 2007
A Sweet, Sweet Sound to Our Ears
Yesterday afternoon Seth and I went to our 2nd prenatal doctor's appointment. We've chosen to go with a midwife who works in a clinic alongside 2 other midwives and 2 Ob/Gyns. The clinic is out of the hospital that is closest to our house, and it happens to have the best Women's Clinic in SLC.
We really didn't know what to expect with this visit since it was just a follow up to our traumatic appointment a couple of weeks ago. It did set our nerves quite at ease, however, as everything looks to be going really well now. We were able to hear the baby's heartbeat within seconds of the midwife starting the doppler. A strong 152 beats per minute.
We've heard from other couples that hearing their baby's heartbeat for the first time was a really emotional moment for them. Unfortunately for us, it wasn't that huge of a moment since we'd gotten to see the kid bouncing around on the ultrasound a couple of weeks ago. Now, that was amazing!
The best part of the afternoon for me was that the appointment was really quick, so I got to go home and take a nap!
Also, we discovered in the car on the way home that Seth is eerily good at making the doppler heartbeat sound with his voice. It is really good to laugh.
We really didn't know what to expect with this visit since it was just a follow up to our traumatic appointment a couple of weeks ago. It did set our nerves quite at ease, however, as everything looks to be going really well now. We were able to hear the baby's heartbeat within seconds of the midwife starting the doppler. A strong 152 beats per minute.
We've heard from other couples that hearing their baby's heartbeat for the first time was a really emotional moment for them. Unfortunately for us, it wasn't that huge of a moment since we'd gotten to see the kid bouncing around on the ultrasound a couple of weeks ago. Now, that was amazing!
The best part of the afternoon for me was that the appointment was really quick, so I got to go home and take a nap!
Also, we discovered in the car on the way home that Seth is eerily good at making the doppler heartbeat sound with his voice. It is really good to laugh.
18 October 2007
Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
We woke up this morning to a couple of inches of snow. Very pretty, but starting to drip. We've also begun to notice a strange phenomenon. Most people have carports in our culdesac (just like us). Lots of people also park on the street. When it frosts, freezes or snows, our cars gets caked with ice or snow. (This morning it was a couple of inches of icy snow). No other cars on the street have nearly as much weather related matter on them. What is it with our particular driveway?
At this point, this particular phenomenon is not a problem. But, it makes me wonder what it will be like in a month or so...
Tomorrow it is expected to be back in the 70s, sunny and clear.
At this point, this particular phenomenon is not a problem. But, it makes me wonder what it will be like in a month or so...
Tomorrow it is expected to be back in the 70s, sunny and clear.
Moody weather, crazy people, hormones & more Russian birthdays!
Yesterday was the strangest conglomeration of feelings and events... I woke up at 3:30 to our cat scratching at the window above my head, begging to come in. When I opened the door, sheets of rain came blowing in, the cat (looking like a drowned rat) snaked past my ankles and lightening flashed above our apple tree. I hurried to shut the door and crawled back in bed. Sleep refused to come, however, and I lay awake listening to the rain and thunder. I think I was able to sleep after that, in approximately 15 minute segments, between more thunder cracking and the cat wanting in or out. At 5:00 Seth's alarm went off. He snoozed it 3 times before turning it off and then promptly fell back asleep. I did the dutiful thing and didn't let myself go back to sleep, but forced him to get up. Then I got up. And started practicing random Hebrew and Russian songs on the piano.
The rest of the getting ready part of the morning was normal.
As soon as I got to work, however, the phone rang. It was one of our models for a Figure Painting class. She sounded horrible and informed me she had been hit by a car while riding her bicycle on Monday afternoon. Since then she'd been in and out of the emergency room with a head injury. She figured she probably shouldn't come to work this morning because she was feeling worse rather than better. Then she added, "Plus, we really got all we needed accomplished with the pose on Monday. They don't really need me." Now, forgive me for being skeptical, but this gal always has the strangest excuses for things. Usually they involve her bike and they always come on Mondays or Wednesdays when she's scheduled to model for our 8:30 am class. She informed me on Monday that she and her boyfriend had just moved last weekend, so she was swamped with unpacking. Regardless, what it did was leave me to 1) inform the professor that she's not coming and is potentially seriously injured, ii) frantically start calling our other models at 8:00 in the morning to find a replacement, C) try to decide if we should ever hire this girl again and IV) try to figure out if I felt bad for her or if I really didn't believe her and was just annoyed. Not my idea of a great way to start off the day.
From there I moved on to some completely assanine tasks involving department statistics and college/university website and mailing information. On the latter, I'd already worked for 2 days on adding schools with art departments who had a certain percentage of minority faculty members. I was only half way through California, having started with Alabama and working in alphabetical order. I was already pretty sick of these projects, but halfway thankful that I actually had work to do, when my brain totally stopped functioning. I seriously sat, staring at my computer screen for minutes at a time, blank. I don't remember this happening before. I guess I was tired... and I felt ridiculously like I was going to cry - for no reason of course - thank you pregnancy!
Then the hot flashes started. Seriously. Weird.
Just about then, it started raining again, hard. As I watched people dash for cover outside the office window, I answered the phone over and over again - and the questions (and people) were really strange. Now, I usually get a few odd calls a week, but these were extremely concentrated. Plus, I had absolutely no patience for it. These people were making no sense! (One of the drawbacks to working in an Art department is that aphabetically, it comes first, and somehow that means that people calling the University in general end up calling us looking for some totally different department altogether. Instead of asking for that particular department, and letting me transfer them easily, they generally launch into some intricate tirade about this thing or that, I get completely confused and have no idea what they are talking about, and finally 5 minutes later we figure out they had no intention whatsoever of calling the Art department and need X department (of course, it would be nice if they listened to the fact that I answered the phone, "Department of Art and Art History, this is Bethany").
Next I started sighing. This was in order to keep from crying. People in the office kept asking if I was okay. Some of the ladies even went so far as to say, "If you get teary, we understand." Blasted hormones!
As lunchtime neared, we each made our preparations to leave, planning where we'd like to spend our hour of freedom. Just before the first person left for lunch, however, it started hailing outside. Huge hail stones! Like just shy of a centimeter in diameter. We decided not to venture outside. It was kind of fun to watch the accumulation of white pebbles in the flowerbeds, however. Students kept walking in, drenched and frowning.
The afternoon continued like this, outside dark and gloomy, alternating between rain, lightening and hail, and the rest of us dealing with grumpy students and our grumpy selves.
When I left the building at 5:00 I was more exhausted than I've been in a long time (and that's saying a lot these days!). But, it was time to meet up with my lovely, frustrating, totally unorganized and wonderful Russian choir friends. I've never so violently wanted to call them and tell them I'm not coming. But, I had to go - this was the meeting to celebrate my birthday! And at 5:10 the nausea hit. Horrible, no good, very bad day!
Thankfully, by 6:00 I had myself pretty much put back together and was seated on the piano bench. By 7:00 the party was all set up and we joyfully gathered for sweets, juice, cards and flowers. We were also celebrating Itsaak's birthday. He is the "baby" of the choir (only in his 60s rather than 70s, 80s or 90s). He is also a really funny guy. He usually tells Liz or I he likes to sit by us because it helps him feel younger. Mini Milano cookies and Mint Brussels raised my spirits a bit. Thank God for cookies!
When I got home I fell immediately to sleep. My bed is my absolute favorite place these days. Plus, I was smart and wore earplugs. The cat was out all night. :)
The rest of the getting ready part of the morning was normal.
As soon as I got to work, however, the phone rang. It was one of our models for a Figure Painting class. She sounded horrible and informed me she had been hit by a car while riding her bicycle on Monday afternoon. Since then she'd been in and out of the emergency room with a head injury. She figured she probably shouldn't come to work this morning because she was feeling worse rather than better. Then she added, "Plus, we really got all we needed accomplished with the pose on Monday. They don't really need me." Now, forgive me for being skeptical, but this gal always has the strangest excuses for things. Usually they involve her bike and they always come on Mondays or Wednesdays when she's scheduled to model for our 8:30 am class. She informed me on Monday that she and her boyfriend had just moved last weekend, so she was swamped with unpacking. Regardless, what it did was leave me to 1) inform the professor that she's not coming and is potentially seriously injured, ii) frantically start calling our other models at 8:00 in the morning to find a replacement, C) try to decide if we should ever hire this girl again and IV) try to figure out if I felt bad for her or if I really didn't believe her and was just annoyed. Not my idea of a great way to start off the day.
From there I moved on to some completely assanine tasks involving department statistics and college/university website and mailing information. On the latter, I'd already worked for 2 days on adding schools with art departments who had a certain percentage of minority faculty members. I was only half way through California, having started with Alabama and working in alphabetical order. I was already pretty sick of these projects, but halfway thankful that I actually had work to do, when my brain totally stopped functioning. I seriously sat, staring at my computer screen for minutes at a time, blank. I don't remember this happening before. I guess I was tired... and I felt ridiculously like I was going to cry - for no reason of course - thank you pregnancy!
Then the hot flashes started. Seriously. Weird.
Just about then, it started raining again, hard. As I watched people dash for cover outside the office window, I answered the phone over and over again - and the questions (and people) were really strange. Now, I usually get a few odd calls a week, but these were extremely concentrated. Plus, I had absolutely no patience for it. These people were making no sense! (One of the drawbacks to working in an Art department is that aphabetically, it comes first, and somehow that means that people calling the University in general end up calling us looking for some totally different department altogether. Instead of asking for that particular department, and letting me transfer them easily, they generally launch into some intricate tirade about this thing or that, I get completely confused and have no idea what they are talking about, and finally 5 minutes later we figure out they had no intention whatsoever of calling the Art department and need X department (of course, it would be nice if they listened to the fact that I answered the phone, "Department of Art and Art History, this is Bethany").
Next I started sighing. This was in order to keep from crying. People in the office kept asking if I was okay. Some of the ladies even went so far as to say, "If you get teary, we understand." Blasted hormones!
As lunchtime neared, we each made our preparations to leave, planning where we'd like to spend our hour of freedom. Just before the first person left for lunch, however, it started hailing outside. Huge hail stones! Like just shy of a centimeter in diameter. We decided not to venture outside. It was kind of fun to watch the accumulation of white pebbles in the flowerbeds, however. Students kept walking in, drenched and frowning.
The afternoon continued like this, outside dark and gloomy, alternating between rain, lightening and hail, and the rest of us dealing with grumpy students and our grumpy selves.
When I left the building at 5:00 I was more exhausted than I've been in a long time (and that's saying a lot these days!). But, it was time to meet up with my lovely, frustrating, totally unorganized and wonderful Russian choir friends. I've never so violently wanted to call them and tell them I'm not coming. But, I had to go - this was the meeting to celebrate my birthday! And at 5:10 the nausea hit. Horrible, no good, very bad day!
Thankfully, by 6:00 I had myself pretty much put back together and was seated on the piano bench. By 7:00 the party was all set up and we joyfully gathered for sweets, juice, cards and flowers. We were also celebrating Itsaak's birthday. He is the "baby" of the choir (only in his 60s rather than 70s, 80s or 90s). He is also a really funny guy. He usually tells Liz or I he likes to sit by us because it helps him feel younger. Mini Milano cookies and Mint Brussels raised my spirits a bit. Thank God for cookies!
When I got home I fell immediately to sleep. My bed is my absolute favorite place these days. Plus, I was smart and wore earplugs. The cat was out all night. :)
16 October 2007
Jackson Hole, WY
Seth and I took another trip up to Jackson Hole, Wyoming this past weekend. Again, we met up with Amanda and Kayli, but this time we stayed in the Coyboy Village Cabins. Amanda and Seth were participating in a psychological conference and Kayli and I got to play. Jackson is a great place for the 4 of us to meet because it is pretty much halfway between SLC and Sheridan. The other perk of the Jackson/Grand Teton area is that it is the current home of Aliesje King, another of my dear friends.
We made the trek up to WY Thursday evening, right after work and arrived around 10 pm. A cute, almost 9 year old wearing adorable purple Tinkerbell flannel pajamas greeted us with exuberant hugs and energy to envy.
Friday we all got up early, partook of a delightful continental breakfast (haha), and headed off to our respective duties. Amanda and Seth were in conferences all morning and afternoon. Kayli and I took a rousing trip to the Dollar Tree and K-Mart for coloring books, crayons, markers and nail polish. We then wasted away the day watching CMT while coloring and playing Polly Pocket. Kayli painted her nails a very festive black with orange sparkles (and I think convinced Seth it would be a good idea to paint his nails, too). Mostly, I wished all day to take an extensive nap!
Saturday and Sunday were pretty much the same, although we were able to explore Jackson and the surrounding area a bit in the evenings. We did some window shopping and visited a candy store, Seth and I went out and visited Aliesje for an afternoon, I found a pair of really cute stuffed elk to continue my Noah’s Ark animal collection and we all went out to (pretty horrible) Thai food.
All in all, it was a good weekend, but a tiring one. I still haven’t fully adjusted to my body’s need for extra sleep and total lack of energy…
Thanks to all who called over the weekend to wish me happy birthday. It was fun to talk with you.
We made the trek up to WY Thursday evening, right after work and arrived around 10 pm. A cute, almost 9 year old wearing adorable purple Tinkerbell flannel pajamas greeted us with exuberant hugs and energy to envy.
Friday we all got up early, partook of a delightful continental breakfast (haha), and headed off to our respective duties. Amanda and Seth were in conferences all morning and afternoon. Kayli and I took a rousing trip to the Dollar Tree and K-Mart for coloring books, crayons, markers and nail polish. We then wasted away the day watching CMT while coloring and playing Polly Pocket. Kayli painted her nails a very festive black with orange sparkles (and I think convinced Seth it would be a good idea to paint his nails, too). Mostly, I wished all day to take an extensive nap!
Saturday and Sunday were pretty much the same, although we were able to explore Jackson and the surrounding area a bit in the evenings. We did some window shopping and visited a candy store, Seth and I went out and visited Aliesje for an afternoon, I found a pair of really cute stuffed elk to continue my Noah’s Ark animal collection and we all went out to (pretty horrible) Thai food.
All in all, it was a good weekend, but a tiring one. I still haven’t fully adjusted to my body’s need for extra sleep and total lack of energy…
Thanks to all who called over the weekend to wish me happy birthday. It was fun to talk with you.
08 October 2007
The folks, shopping and Park City
This weekend, Jon and Ruthie came to visit from Iowa. They rode the train overnight Thursday and all day Friday, arriving in SLC around 11 pm Friday night. We met up with them early Saturday morning. Seth took us all to this really funky diner for breakfast called Ruth’s Diner. They had the strangest assortment of breakfast foods available! But, we all seemed to find something that satisfied. The whole place was decked out in pink flamingos, too. (Amanda, we thought of you a lot!) Again, I really wish we had used our camera!
Then, we all headed out on a car tour of good ol’ Salt Lake City. The weather happened to be terrible, cold, rainy and so overcast one could hardly even see the mountains, so taking our tour by car seemed to be the best option. Then we all headed back to our place and let them check out our new home. It was a pretty nice and relaxed day. I’m always amazed, however, how many things there are to talk about when you haven’t seen your friends and family for 3 months.
Later Saturday afternoon, Seth and Jon headed out to electronics stores to find a new digital camera and Ruthie and I went in search of maternity clothes (not that I need them at all yet…). All in all, it was a great day, but a tiring one. It ended with Mexican food at our favorite restaurant. We certainly couldn’t go wrong with that!
Sunday we all headed out to church and celebrated a fun World Communion Sunday. I always love to see so many different country’s flags lined up together. The service was full of different languages, both in written and sung form. It was fun.
Sunday afternoon we decided we should take advantage of the fairly clear sky and headed up to Park City. It turned out to be a beautiful, but cold day in the mountains. We walked, talked, ate and found a fun Sunday market to check out. Seth and I had a great time choosing artsy picture frames and beautiful, handmade mugs. (One of the down sides of not having a dishwasher is a larger collection of broken dishes. Our mug collection has been dwindling lately).
Today, Monday, I’m back at work. But, the rest of the gang is probably still asleep. Seth has the day off as a federal employee and Jon and Ruthie will board the train late this evening for their trip back to Iowa. I’m trying to decide if I want them to come take me for an extended lunch or if I want to take the afternoon off to play some more. Time off is kind of tricky right now as I only earn one day a month and I’ve worked here just shy of 2 full months. But, an extra afternoon to play sounds oh so good…
Then, we all headed out on a car tour of good ol’ Salt Lake City. The weather happened to be terrible, cold, rainy and so overcast one could hardly even see the mountains, so taking our tour by car seemed to be the best option. Then we all headed back to our place and let them check out our new home. It was a pretty nice and relaxed day. I’m always amazed, however, how many things there are to talk about when you haven’t seen your friends and family for 3 months.
Later Saturday afternoon, Seth and Jon headed out to electronics stores to find a new digital camera and Ruthie and I went in search of maternity clothes (not that I need them at all yet…). All in all, it was a great day, but a tiring one. It ended with Mexican food at our favorite restaurant. We certainly couldn’t go wrong with that!
Sunday we all headed out to church and celebrated a fun World Communion Sunday. I always love to see so many different country’s flags lined up together. The service was full of different languages, both in written and sung form. It was fun.
Sunday afternoon we decided we should take advantage of the fairly clear sky and headed up to Park City. It turned out to be a beautiful, but cold day in the mountains. We walked, talked, ate and found a fun Sunday market to check out. Seth and I had a great time choosing artsy picture frames and beautiful, handmade mugs. (One of the down sides of not having a dishwasher is a larger collection of broken dishes. Our mug collection has been dwindling lately).
Today, Monday, I’m back at work. But, the rest of the gang is probably still asleep. Seth has the day off as a federal employee and Jon and Ruthie will board the train late this evening for their trip back to Iowa. I’m trying to decide if I want them to come take me for an extended lunch or if I want to take the afternoon off to play some more. Time off is kind of tricky right now as I only earn one day a month and I’ve worked here just shy of 2 full months. But, an extra afternoon to play sounds oh so good…
Tuscany
Seth called me at work sometime mid-week last week and said, “Ask your coworkers if they know of any really good, fancy restaurants. I think you need a couple of excuses to wear some of your fancy dresses before they no longer fit.”
Fun stuff. So, of course, I asked around and came up with a great list of places to try. We decided our first fancy date should be Friday, after our doctor appointment, so we could celebrate.
Here’s what I found:
I really wish we had actually used our camera because the inside was so beautiful! It really felt like being transported into northern Italy. The food was fabulous, too. We had really great, crunchy hearth bread and salads topped with pesto vinaigrette to start. Then, Seth ordered a pulled pork meatloaf served over garlic mashed potatoes and I got pesto encrusted salmon served over couscous. We hardly even touched our entrees because we were already so full! (And, I must admit, I was saving room for dessert). The salmon was very good, however, and we were especially impressed because we had heard you can’t get good seafood here in Utah.
When the time came to order dessert, I was excited, but it turned out to be a REALLY hard decision! Normally, I look over dessert menus and pick the one thing that sounds good. This time, EVERY SINGLE THING sounded good. We finally decided on the banana cream pie served in a coconut shell, topped with brulee sugar and drizzled with chocolate and caramel sauce. It was heavenly.
Fun stuff. So, of course, I asked around and came up with a great list of places to try. We decided our first fancy date should be Friday, after our doctor appointment, so we could celebrate.
Here’s what I found:
I really wish we had actually used our camera because the inside was so beautiful! It really felt like being transported into northern Italy. The food was fabulous, too. We had really great, crunchy hearth bread and salads topped with pesto vinaigrette to start. Then, Seth ordered a pulled pork meatloaf served over garlic mashed potatoes and I got pesto encrusted salmon served over couscous. We hardly even touched our entrees because we were already so full! (And, I must admit, I was saving room for dessert). The salmon was very good, however, and we were especially impressed because we had heard you can’t get good seafood here in Utah.
When the time came to order dessert, I was excited, but it turned out to be a REALLY hard decision! Normally, I look over dessert menus and pick the one thing that sounds good. This time, EVERY SINGLE THING sounded good. We finally decided on the banana cream pie served in a coconut shell, topped with brulee sugar and drizzled with chocolate and caramel sauce. It was heavenly.
Pokes, prods, but no heartbeat
Hey friends – sorry it’s been a while since I’ve written, but Seth and I had a really busy week. It culminated with a trip to the doctor to check on our little fetus and (hopefully) hear his/her heartbeat. Unfortunately, our little kiddo apparently likes to hide deep down inside mommy, so we didn’t get to experience that particular joy this week. Unfortunately, too, not being able to detect it worried the midwife, so we were sent off to get an ultrasound. Now, this was worrisome to us because we knew it wasn’t standard procedure at 10 weeks, but it turned out great! We got to see our little “peanut” jumping about and see his/her little heart beating like mad. The best part for me was that Seth was standing at the foot of the bed, watching the ultrasound monitor the whole time. About 30 seconds into the whole thing, he got this really great, huge, goofy grin on his face. We both got to watch once all the measurements and tests were finished. It was a time for which we are really grateful.
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