It's a BOY!

It's official. I'm finally going to blog about this pregnancy and make it a publicly known and traded fact.

I am 17 weeks pregnant with a baby boy.   I'm kind of shocked as I was very much getting the girl vibe, but we'll be happy with anything we get as long as he's healthy.   The doctor couldn't really see too much today at the ultrasound so he'll be much more thorough next month, but what he could see he thought looked good.  We will also have a fetal echo by Jack's cardiologist sometime in January for an extra look at the heart. Hopefully that will bring us some peace of mind.  We've been a little nervous, but know things will work out. 

So far this has been a pretty good pregnancy. I only threw up once, and other than being tired and achy which just kind of comes with the territory, I've been fine. About a month ago I woke up in the middle of the night with some major bleeding and was sure I had lost the baby, but the next morning they checked me out at the hospital and miraculously everything was fine and they couldn't find the source of the bleeding. It hasn't happened again so my doctor says everything is fine.

We're excited for this new chapter in our lives and are really glad Jack is doing so great so we hopefully won't have to juggle being in the hospital and a newborn.  I hope these two boys will be buddies. Jack LOVES babies and always wants to hold them and give them big hugs so I know he's going to be a great brother.

It's also good news for the probably 3 people besides my mother who might still check this blog occasionally because I have a feeling I will be writing a little more often as I will have news on something other than Jack. Shocking, I know. We'll see if it really happens, but I'll try.

St. George and Condo

Two weekends ago we had the opportunity to go to St. George with some friends.  Actually, it was the coaches Hardy works with at Olympus so it counted as a little coaching retreat.  The men golfed each morning while the women took the kids swimming and bike riding.  We were staying at this beautiful condominium complex that apprently is having sales troubles so we were the only people there. It was great.

One afternoon we took everyone to the sand dunes. Jack had a great time playing in the sand. He also kept grabbing our hands and requesting "Let's go to orange mountain," the big tall one you can see in the distance. He was rather disappointed that we didn't make the trek in our bare feet, but no. I have my limits.

We went to a park one afternoon. The weather couldn't have been more perfect.  Too bad that is no longer the case.

One of the best outcomes of the trip is that Jack left his binky in the car of our friends who we rode back with. All he has left at home is an old binky that I had cut the tip off of. He still likes to hold the old one in his hand to go to sleep, but I think we are finally binky free.  I've been wondering how that was going to happen. Good riddance.

This weekend has been much less exciting. The people who have been renting our condo for the past year just moved out.  I finally got over there on Thursday to check it out, and while it's in pretty good shape, the carpets are gross and we needed to paint a room.  We painted Friday and Saturday, but Jack was being a total stinker and had to be under foot the entire time. I even hired my friends daughters to come play with him downstairs, but he freaked out and insisted on being held. It made painting rather tedious, but we finally got it done. The carpet cleaner comes this afternoon and we'll find out when he's done if we are going to have to replace any of the carpet.  The big red punch stain they left in the living room does not give me much hope for that room, but we'll see.  Seriously, who gives their kids red punch?  Anyway, hopefully by the end of the week it will be all set to rent out again. I just pray that we are able to find some good renters and fairly quickly. If you know anyone looking, send them our way.

Glorious Garden

I took a few pics of the fruits of my labors this summer.  Here is my first cut into my home grown watermelon. It was so sweet and ripe that it practically burst open. Delicious.  We'll do these again next year. I also had some excellent cantaloups over the summer, and below you can see one of my cute pumpkins that is soon to adorne my front porch.  I love having a garden.  We didn't eat much of the broccoli or lettuce, but the corn and zucchini were excellent.  I guess we'll stick to squash and melon next summer. Can't complain about that.



Dana Point, CA

Last weekend Hardy and I took the opportunity to run away to California for some fun in the sun. We left Jack in the capable hands of his grandparents and enjoyed some relaxation. We went to the spa, went sailing, walked on the beach, read books, slept in. It was a nice little get away. The hotel we stayed at was wonderful and our room over looked the ocean. My hair took on a life of it's own in the high humidity, but with lots of hairspray and a hat I did okay. It was also just cool enough that we often needed light jackets. It made me look forward to fall a little.

Jack did great with my parents. When we got home I was sort of expecting him to rush into my arms with tears of joy, but no. He was busy playing cars with grandpa and hardly noticed us as we walked in. I finally had to grab him to get a hug. Stinker. I guess it's good to know he wasn't wailing for me the whole weekend.

Lion King and Football 101

Last night Hardy and I enjoyed a fun date and went to see The Lion King. The costumes were magical and it was such a great show. We've really enjoyed having our Season Tickets if for no other reason than it gets us out for date nights. We're now debating whether or not to get them again for this next season. The shows that are coming are The Color Purple, Les Miserable, Mary Poppins, and Young Frankenstein. Could be fun. We'll see.

Hardy recently signed me up for Utah Football 101 for Women, a special class taught by U of U Head Coach Kyle Whittingham. We get to tour the facility, try on the gear, and learn all about football and how the team gets ready for games and prepares their offense and defense. Hardy's heard great things about it and he can't wait for me to go to the first class next week so I can tell him everything coach Whittingham has to say. I thought it was a funny idea at first, but I'm actually getting really excited. Maybe it'll turn me into a true fan rather than just the wife of a dedicated Ute. I'll let you know how it goes.

Summer catch up

Where has this summer gone? I swear I blinked and it's practically over. We did have a three week stretch where each of us was sick so that wasted much of July with a lot of sitting inside sniffling, but we're all better now and trying to make up for lost time.

A few weeks ago Jack learned to play croquet at Grandpa Tom's house. Note his excellent technique at getting the ball through the hoop every time.

Last weekend we had a reunion with my family. We went to Cherry Hill (which we loved), This is the Place Heritage Park, slept over at Little America Hotel where we swam a lot, went on a tour of the LDS Conference Center, and just had lots of good cousin time. We had so much fun I kept forgetting to pull out my camera so I hardly have any photos.

Tuesday we went with my sister Erin and her family to the zoo.

Jack loved banging on the drums near the tigers and would have stayed there all day if I would have let him.

P.S. If anyone needs zucchini, please let me know. I have two plants and they are producing like crazy. I picked 5 yesterday. I would love to share our bounty.

Slow the Flow

I got a flyer in the mail a few weeks ago from the Conservation Garden Park that mentioned they offered free a Water Check, so last week I gave them a call. Three nice college interns came out this afternoon (despite the crumby weather) and spent about a half hour evaluating our sprinkler system, water pressure, coverage, soil type, etc. and wrote up a recommended watering plan that will help reduce our water use and increase our grass root depth and health. They pointed out some problem areas and made some suggestions. What a great use of 30 minutes, and it was all totally free. I like doing my little part to save the planet. If you want it done too just call (801)468-3170 or check out www.slowtheflow.org.

Bountiful Baskets

My sister told me a few weeks ago about a food co-op called Bountiful Baskets. She had tried it and got some great fruits and vegetables for a good price. I talked my neighbor Hiedi into splitting a basket with me, so Saturday morning I went over to Day Break with my laundry basket, stood in line for a while, then went in and got all this food for $15. It's a good thing Heidi and I shared becasue there is no way we could have eaten all this food before it went bad. We got red potatoes, carrots, romaine lettuce, swiss chard, tomatoes, bananas, black berries, apples, a pineapple, a cantaloupe, and probably some other stuff that I can't remember. All of it very fresh and so much better than the stuff at the grocery store. It's kind of an adventure because you have no idea what you might get each week when you sign up.

I must say that it's helping me to eat healthier now that I have a fridge full of good fresh fruits and veggies. I think we will try it again in a few weeks.


Speaking of fridges, our renters called Saturday morning and the refrigerator died. Boo. Jack and I spent the afternoon shopping for a new one. Not my idea of a fun afternoon, but oh well.

More Projects

Hardy and I have been very productive lately. Last weekend we painted Jack's bathroom. Before is on the left, after on the right. We want to install a new sink and counter top and maybe a new light fixture, but that will have to be the next stage. In the mean time, I think it looks a lot better already. Amazing what a coat of paint can do to freshen things up.
We also began the process of installing curbing around our flower beds yesterday. The guys installing it got held up and didn't get started until late so they only got the front done but will be back Monday to finish the back. I think it is going to look great once we get everything dug out and put down some nice mulch. I'll post after photos when it's looking nice and not just fresh cement with a bunch of dug up grass.

This is the path they dug along the back fence where they will be putting in the curbing. Jack loved watching the big machines but once they got the cement out we had to bring him in and make him watch through the window so he wouldn't touch as he is want to do.

I discovered today that my broccoli is sprouting, so that is fun. Still no sign of the peas though. I also got some potatoes and lettuce planted. My rhubarb and raspberries seem to be doing fine and growing a bit so hurray for warm, sunny days.

Now that it's finally warm outside, Jack is loving it. He gets in his swing, ask for a "push' and insists that I swing "wis" (with) him. Too bad swings aren't built for big mom butts. It's just not that comfortable. We need to have some cousins or friends over so I can got back to just pushing. Playdate anyone?

The Best Banana Bread

I love banana bread but have struggled to find a good recipe that I like to make. They are either too sweet and go bad in a day, have way too much butter, or are so bland you have to add chocolate chips to make it taste good (which I hate to complain about chocolate, but then it feels more like dessert than breakfast food.)

Well, I recently discovered a great recipe, so I thought I would share. It's moist, delicious, and doesn't have a ton of butter. The recipe calls for plain yogurt, but all I had the first time I made it was strawberry yogurt so I used it, and boy am I glad. It is so much better than regular banana bread. The hint of strawberry keeps the banana from being overwhelming. I highly recommend. It's from the Salt Lake County Fair 2006 Competitors Recipe Book and was submitted by Arlene Calkins.

Banana Bread

1/2 stick butter
3/4 c. sugar
3 medium ripe bananas
1 egg
1/3 c. yogurt (I use strawberry)
2 c. white flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. chopped nuts (I prefer without the nuts)

Cream butter and sugar thoroughly. Add the bananas and process until well mashed and blended. Beat in egg and yogurt. Sift dry in gredients together. Then add the wet ingredients to mix. Mix until moistened. Turn into a 9 inch, greased loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Let rest in pan for 10 minutes before turning out and cooling on a rack.

Happy baking!

Oooh...Vinyl :)

Since the weather has been nothing but yuck for the past week, our latest yard improvement happened while I stayed happily inside.

When we bought our house it was nicely fenced on 3 sides, but the front was open and of course that's the direction Jack always runs. So last Wednesday in a snow storm (which the guy opted for instead of the wind on Tuesday) we got vinyl fencing and gates installed across the front. It is so nice to know that I will be able to garden this summer and can turn my back without worrying if Jack has darted away. It is beautiful and adds a lovely amount of privacy. It makes me even more antsy for it to STOP SNOWING.

Strawberries!

Today's gardening project took Jack and I to Glover Nursery in West Jordan where we picked out some lovely everbearing strawberries, some seeding russet potatoes and a great big bag of compost. The bag of compost is too heavy for me so I'm going to have to wait for Hardy to get home to help me drag it back to the garden, but I didn't want my strawberries to dry out so we got those nicely planted, fertilized and watered. I bought 20 plants so I should have lots to share this summer. I haven't decided where to put the potatoes yet so I guess I'll plant those tomorrow. I also got my drip system sort of configured, at least for the areas where I have things planted. I need to plug in a few holes and make a few new ones, but the water isn't even turned on yet so I'm not too worried about that yet.

After planting I decided I needed to give a little love to my flower beds so I did some weeding and turned the dirt over. (Jack is a very big help when it come to digging in the dirt.) Now I just have to figure out what to plant and where. I've been so focused on vegetables that I forget I also need to figure out my flowers. Oh well. One step at a time.

We're definitely making progress.

Gardening 101

Last July when we bought our house it came fully stocked with a beautiful garden filled with tomato plants gallore, zucchini, yellow sqash, cucumbers, onions, basil, and lots of peppers. We just kept it watered, pulled weeds, and let it do it's thing and when stuff looked ripe I picked it. It was lots of fun.

So now this year I have this big, beautiful, empty garden that I have to figure out what to do with so I signed up for a 4 week vegetable gardening class at Thanksgiving Point. It has been great and I have learned a lot. My last class is this week so hopefully after that I will be ready to roll.

My intended crops for this year are:

• peas
• broccoli
• corn
• zucchini
• squash
• raspberries
• strawberries
• rhubarb
• pumpkins
• watermelons
• potatoes
• lettuce
• peppers

This past week I got rhubarb and raspberry transplants from my parents and got them in the ground. Hopefully they'll decide they like my garden and start to grow. Then yesterday I planted my first 2 rows of broccoli and peas. It was a little challenging with Jack clinging to me and trying to dump fertilizer everywhere, but the seeds are in the ground so hopefully they will do something.

My project for tomorrow is to get my drip system all in place. Right now I just have tubes running all over the place, but I think I have a plan to make it work.

It's nice to have something other than Jack stories to report about my life, so I'll keep you posted on my progress as a novice gardener. If anyone has any good gardening suggestions or favorite crops they love to plant, I'd love the advice.

Merry Christmas to me!

For Christmas this year I told Hardy that all I wanted was a new vacuum since my old one just isn't getting along well with the thicker carpet we have in our new house. For 2 months now he has been bugging me to either tell him what kind I wanted or go get one myself, so today I finally did.

I've been debating whether or not to get a Dyson because I've heard great things, but then I went into this great little vacuum store I found and based on my needs and uses, the owner recommended I buy this lovely new Sanitaire by Electrolux (formerly Eureka). It doesn't have any bells and whistles, but man, can this thing clean. My carpet looks brand new and has the most beautiful vaccum marks that just scream "CLEAN!"

As you can see, Jack was a big help, insisting on being held for most of the maiden voyage through the house, then sitting on and in front of it for the rest. Thanks Buddy.

And Thanks Hardy for a great Christmas present!