Blasts from the Past

So this past week, I keep running into people from my past. 

At work last week, I ran into another very pregnant woman who is a nurse at my hospital and she looked so familiar.  Yeah, she was at my high school.  We definitely didn't run in the same circles-I being a choir nerd and her being a cheerleader but she recognized me once I got up the guts to say hello! :)

Then last Friday I went to a baseball game with my cousins.  It was so fun but I'll share pics of that later.  Anyway, I looked down the row from us and there was a girl who totally looked like a neighbor of mine in the dorms almost nine years ago!!  She was!  In fact, she was also the wife of one of the baseball players on the opposing team!  I was brave that night too and went over to ask if she was indeed Heather and she was and totally remembered me!  

I used to dread running into old acquaintances!  When my parents moved back to where I went to junior high, I worried I'd see people all the time but haven't.  I kind of have worried about the same here but this is the first that it's come true!  Luckily it was positive!

In the more recent past, a friend had lunch with me today and it was lovely.  I miss my friends in Minnesota so it was so nice to visit with her and get updates on people who I know and miss! 

Happy Thoughts

I'm trying to have happy thoughts today.  I told my Grandma the other day that I'm worried about just about everyone close to me right now.  It's just not one of those easy times.  I have family members or friends looking for jobs, moving, having babies, having health crises, taking big life-altering tests, and that's just the tip of the iceberg!

Today my father in law is having surgery.  It's going to be a very long month for my husband's parents and I hope that everything goes as planned. 

Today my brother starts his bar exam.  He's pretty much one of the most brilliant people I know, so I don't have any doubts that he won't pass but this is the culmination of three years of hard work for him.  

So, if you have extra happy thoughts and prayers, send them their way today for me!  

White Fence Farm

So it was almost a week ago, but I'm trying to space all this out. Last Sunday, Grandpa Bob took us all to dinner at White Fence Farm. It's an old tradition apparently. You have a big fried chicken dinner served family style (not my style of sides though- I have to admit, I had trouble with the beets, cottage cheese and coleslaw-so basically I ate a bunch of chicken and corn fritters-but the corn fritters were to die for!) and then there are places to walk around and explore outside.

M was such an angel Friday and Saturday for all the events, I guess it was impossible to expect three days in a row but she had had it! She was exhausted and cranky which made her hot, tired, pregnant mommy cranky! So fun! Luckily after dinner, she got to visit the petting zoo and playground and of course that made it all better! M and Bev feeding the goats.  The goats were all over free food!  And Bev's daddy, Sterling, was all over supplying the girls with food!  I, on the other hand, discovered why I've never been to a petting zoo! No thank you!!! I was so much more grossed out by it than I expected and I just had to separate myself from the gross things getting all over M's hands!  I told W that this was going to have to be his gig because I couldn't handle it! 

they also had sheep and a pig and a steer.  The steer totally slimed Bev's mommy, Mae, when she fed him and then tried to gore Ster!  So we stayed away from him!
I have no idea when they got this one-it was at the playground and I'm so glad they did! Too cute!

More Wedding Weekend Pics

Here are a few more cute ones from our weekend!

M at the rehearsal dinner.  She was such a trooper, after a long day in the car, to go to a big dinner and play and have fun with bubbles!
W's cute sisters (yes, they're twins) who are in college.  I miss these girls more than I knew once we moved!
my little Venus, relaxing after the long trip
the weekend was hot, I feel like I looked like I was melting the whole weekend, yet, I'm still surprisingly pleased with this picture! :)

My Dancing Queen!

She had so much fun with cousins and Dad dancing the night away! I did dance but only until I felt my belly going one way and me going the other. I decided I was done then! :)

There Her Peence!

We just got back into town from the lovely wedding of W's cousin, Em. It was a fun weekend and we are so glad we were able to go. I don't have many pictures yet-I leave that to Grandma Jan :) but you can see how beautiful the wedding party was.

Every time M would see the bride and groom, she would say, "I see Emmy!" and then "There her peence!" (prince) I sort of suspect she can't remember Baird's name, but it was still completely adorable!
It was my first Catholic Mass, so someday I'm going to have to sit down our cousin and have her educate me on it. It was a beautiful wedding and lovely reception. M danced the night away (literally!) and had a blast with her aunts and cousins running around and dancing until WAY after her bedtime!

Sorting

There is a lot of work to be done when someone dies. When Grandpa died, my Dad spent three days with my Grandma sorting through paperwork, pension plans, social security, veterans benefits, life insurance, the list goes on. Now that Grandma is back in the condo with us, the work continues and I've spent several mornings with her making and returning phone calls, trying to figure out how much the ambulance people REALLY want us to pay them, and figuring out what she's entitled to now that Grandpa is gone. It's exhausting for Grandma and sometimes she just looks so tired.

Then there's the stuff. Jewelry boxes of cufflinks, wallets, watches and other treasures that were my Grandpa's. Clothes, papers, business papers, genealogy, mementos, and other things of value and not. Grandma is cleaning out her huge storage closet which is full of this stuff and not only weeding out but passing on things to children and grandchildren and sorting and deciding what she really wants to keep. This is the other reason she looks tired. :)

She gave me an old velvet jewelry box that her grandmother, Elizabeth Favargue gave to her. I think it came across the ocean and has been passed down through generations of Elizabeth's. She showed it to me years ago and I've always looked forward to receiving it and it's bits of papers inside of it that many Elizabeth's have owned. Along with it are three china plates that were owned by my great great grandmother as well. Grandma showed me her apron collection. She has Swiss aprons, aprons hand-smocked by her own mother, linen antique aprons, etc. Today, we went through her table cloths. My Grandma LOVES linen. It was an amazing collection!

She has linen tablecloths that were hand cut and embroidered by her mother and other aunts. She has tablecloths that were her wedding presents. She has a tablecloth from Belgium where Grandpa went on his mission that her sister in law used while her husband was stake president so President Kimball has eaten off this tablecloth! It was amazing! We went through and labeled them all and described them all and it was just cool. My Grandma is creating a wonderful heritage for her family. And in the process, I think she's helping me with my nesting! :)

Pictures!

It's been a while with the computer and internet out of commission. I'm trying to catch up. Here are a bunch of pics my sister took while she was here and I was there. Enjoy!

5 weeks of summer!

I feel like the groundhog. There are only five more weeks of Summer!!!! Now, let's face it, I live in the desert, the summer will go on longer than that. But I have high hopes that once I'm not carrying around another person, with a band of ever-tightening elastic around my entire belly adding to the heat, that the heat will be a little easier to handle. I could be totally wrong in this but don't crush my hopes!

Grandma asks me a lot if I'm hurting. I'm obviously not hiding my discomfort well. M is noticing. She's crankier with the ever-changing lifestyle we have going right now, all the travel and Mom's increasing crankiness and listlessness. It's fun. But I'm not hurting. I'm just uncomfortable. I'm convinced that is what the last month or two or even trimester is really for. It's so that you get soooo uncomfortable and tired and cranky that you're willing to do anything, even go through labor, to make it end!

We're excited too though. I promise! :) (I just don't want to do this very pregnant in the summer thing ever ever every again! :)
I've been going through clothes and organizing and getting excited. I'm at the point where I just want to see her. I want to see what she looks like. I want to meet her personality and find out what she likes and doesn't like.

And of course, if she wants to come early, that's fine with me too. I'm not planning on it, but as long as we're back from Denver next Monday, she can come anytime after that!

To Anonymous

I've been very vocal about not liking private blogs. I understand them, I see the necessity in them, but I don't want to go there. Lots of family and friends ask what it would take to make me go private. The answer is always the same, a freaky comment or two. So to the anonymous poster, out yourself or please put your name on your comment next time so I'm not having scary thoughts about whatever "wink wink" is supposed to mean. Okay? :)

Joe Miff

With my parents and a lot of my family here this past week with the funeral, I have been soaking all this time up with them! W being the sweet supportive hubby he is has been trying to get me home before the baby comes but nothing has been working out. I'm thankful for my grandpa bringing my family together so I could spend the week with them and I even went home to see the rest of them in AR for a few days. I'm so blessed.

One of our outings while they were visiting me was to Temple Square and downtown Salt Lake. M LOVED seeing the Christ statue! She stood and stared at it. There isn't much better than that when your two year old stands in awe of Christ. The tour guide was giving a German tour, and it was so cute because I was tuning her out, since I couldn't understand anything and M turned to me and said, "She said Joe Miff, Mommy" and sure enough she was bearing testimony of Joseph Smith and my child had listened and understood, even in German. Smart girl!