Blessing

With a title like Blessing, I know this post could be about anything. It is in fact about the blessing of our little baby Carson whenever that may be. Dave recently called his mom to see if she would do us the honor of making the baby blessing outfit for our little boy (she is a FABULOUS seamstress). Upon this request she told Dave that she would definitely do so if that is what we wanted, but that she is pretty certain she still has Dave's blessing outfit, and would we like to use it? YES!! I don't get sentimental about very many things; it's not really in my nature, but this caught be by suprise and I thought this was really neat. When Dave told me this it about put me in tears.
Then... Dave told me that he would wear the suit his father wore when he blessed Dave.... touching moment OVER! Let me tell you about this suit...
It's a three piece, polyester, powder blue, flare-legged disco mania classic. ALSO, Dave's dad is/was 5'8'' and Dave is 6'3''!!! It hits Dave about mid shin when he is standing; imagine what it's like when he sits down! Now you ask how do I know what this suit looks like so well??
Well, Dave did in fact wear this thing for his senior pictures in high school!!! He matched it with a powder pink shirt, and a retro tie to match. Fortunately, Dave was just trying to get a reaction out of me and boy did it work!
Back to the blessing though; I know I am one day shy of it being Thanksgiving season, but I do want to list some things I am grateful for:
-my wonderful husband
-a forgiving family
-storms that let you snuggle up inside with a hot bowl of soup and a blanket
-summer days
-friends
-a healthy body with which to sustain another life
-growing pains i.e. trials
-a not-so-hairy husband (but I do love my very hairy father dearly)
-beautiful music; I know it's good when I get goosebumps
-fall colors
-good examples
-a generous boss
-prayer
-the ability to work hard
-my upbringing
-the holidays
-the list goes on and on...

Weekend Warriors

So Dave and I had quite the weekend and enjoyed every minute of it. On Friday we went to a Halloween Party with a few other couples. My husband dressed up as.... Davy Crockett. Not knowing what to do as an ever growing fat lady, I decided something comfortable was in order. I had gotten on the internet and learned how to tie a toga and was going to make a head/wreath thingy and be a Grecian (midcitygal and I are on the same page :), but then a stoke of genius hit me and I dressed up as a..... I am not going to tell! I will post the pictures of it tomorrow :)
For the party I was in charge of making chili; it turned out WAY better than I had hoped. I was so pleased that I might even volunteer to make it again sometime. After a night full of games and fun, we went home and hit the hay.
Saturday morning started bright and early with Dave and his buddy Jake out on the Frisbee Golf course in South Provo. I stayed home and cleaned things up a bit. After a day full of Breakfast (x2), football, baseball, lunch with sister, games with other sister, and lots more in between, I was BEAT.
I could not seem to wake myself up Sunday morning. I got ready just in time for Welfare Meeting but still felt the need to wedge some toothpicks between my upper and lower eyelids so as to hide just how tired I was. When the meeting was over, I was standing in the Clerk's office waiting for Dave so we could go home. That is when we got assigned to speak in Sacrament that day. There was a miscommunication about who was supposed to schedule speakers, so Dave, myself, and the Executive Secretary were put up to the task. Dave and I raced home and prepared talks from noon to 1:30, and then went back to the church. It's safe to say, I wasn't feeling sleepy anymore!! We managed to pull of our talks on the Atonement. I thought Dave did a great job, as well as the other speaker. When church was over, we managed to fit a few things before going to bed... once again.... we were beat.
In fact, as I sit here in my chair, I realized I am really not sitting at all. My bum is all the way at the front of the seat, I am slumped in such a position that while my head is resting agains the back of the chair, my chin is about touching my chest. My fingers are the only things moving as my arms are resting on my lap with mininal effort to reach the keyboard. My legs are flopped apart since the effort to bring them togeter is too great at the moment, and I can feel my eyelids getting heavier... and heavier. And yet, I am so grateful for a blessed life, and a great weekend full of friends and family; I am one lucky girl.....

Longest Picture Post Ever

So I never posted a blog entry about the Homecoming date a very handsome wild frontiersman asked me to, but I am repenting now. The story goes that I came home one evening from visiting someone to find my apartment smelling really good with soft music playing in the background, the apartment clean, the lights dimmed, and this poem on the table accompanied by flowers and sour patch kids. My handsome husband asked Carson and I to go to Homecoming with him in the poem...

My handsome husband had even dressed up and was waiting for me...

I don't think he knows he does this; or maybe he does? But, every time he hugs me, or we take pictures now, he ALWAYS has his hand on my stomach. I think it's really cute.

In response to his invitation, I teamed up with my little sister and came up with a fun candy-gram to answer him back. I had her leave it in his locker one day. He was confused because there was no way I could have put it there and he knew it.... I love being sneaky!!

When the big day arrived, we both got fancied up (not quite to the high school extent) and had a great evening together. I put this picture in because I was so very proud of my curly hair. My hair doesn't "do" curly; so I had to take a picture FAST!

For the big date we went to dinner at Doc's Pizza and were almost the only people there. Because of this, they asked us what kind of pizza we wanted and were able to special order all the yummy pizza we could eat! After the dinner, we went to Smith's to rent a dollar movie. On the way we just happened to be passing by Provo High School and noticed it was their Homecoming football game that evening. We have a good friend that is an assistant coach there and he was able to get us in for free. Dave was in seventh heaven reliving his own memories! I had a fun time looking at all the Homecoming Royalty. The queen was particularly striking to me. She was a petite black girl with a shaved head. She had chosen a (modest) beautiful turquoise-ish colored dress which was so gorgeous against her skin... she was LOVELY. After the game we rushed to Dave's intramural volleyball game which he had to play in. (They are playing for the championship tomorrow morning, but that is a story for another day). When the game was through, we came home, cuddled up, and watched our movie. I was on cloud nine after that perfect date with the perfect man!

NOW-- for the NOT SO ROMANTIC story.... remember this? This just to happens to be the night we did Mr. Cricket in. The picture below is of our refridgerator pulled out as we learned was easier to do that initally thought...

R.I.P. Mr. Cricket... maybe I am a bad person, but I don't feel sorry for him AT ALL!!!
Yes, I admit, it was DAVY CROCKETT, in the KITCHEN, with the FLIP-FLOP! Need I remind you it was 2:30 in the morning??
Here is just a few randome pictures. I like the one below because I think the smoke looks neat. My cute parents bought us some gigantic sparklers. It was our favorite part of the night!
This was also on the same vacation. These are some of the most important women (minus Dave) in my life....
...and these are some of the most important men in my life...

Here is a randome picture I thought was kind of funny. I had to deliver a whole bunch of fliers for Stake Conference. The only chance I had to deliver these things was during a nasty rain-storm. Thankfully Dave and I have these really expensive ponchos that kept me pretty dry.
And last, but certainly not least, here is my handsome husband (#19) during an intramural football game. His team is currently undefeated and having a great time! #12 is actually the nice guy who I told you is the assistant coach at Provo High. He was in my ward growing up. I love watching Dave play football; he is really good! I don't like the fact though that I know just enough to get REALLY nervous during the games, but not enough to know when I don't have to be nervous anymore :)

FAQ

I thought MidCityGal did a nice job with her post so I decided to copy it and hope that is alright! I also am bored to death at work. My boss' father passed away last night so he doesn't plan on coming in for the rest of the week, and I don't have anything to do so you might see a number of new posts this week :)

Q. When are you due?

A. January 15, 2008 - maybe. I say maybe because lil' baby Crockett is a big boy and is measuring large. Because of this and the fact that they want to get a better look at his head, the Dr. will do an ultrasound next appointment (31 weeks), so at that point, he might actually change my due date, or leave it the same depending on whether he things we will have a big baby, the baby will come early, or both!

Q. What is it?

A. I think I blew this one already. It is a bouncing baby boy, and I think I will reiterate BOUNCING, kicking, punching, rolling, and squirming.

Q. Do you have a name picked out?

A. Yes siree! We had a name picked out before we even started trying for a baby. First name: Carson Middle name: David

Q. How are you feeling?

A. FANTASTIC!! I was SOOO sick for the first 14 weeks that I didn't know if I wanted more than one baby. I said at that point that I would have to forget what "this" (vomiting every second of every day), is like before even thinking about having another baby. Well, I have already forgotten, and am grateful for that blessing. I am not very big now, and don't feel awkward or anything, so life is wonderful.

Q. Do you have any cravings?

A. I eat oddly enough as it is; I will refrain from telling you what some of the strange things I eat are, but I have had people ask me if I was pregnant for a VERY long time just because I like odd food and odd combos. There were a couple of months in there where all I wanted was sour food. And I don't mean a little zest, I mean I wanted to suck on a lemon, and I would put lemon juice on things. Warhead Candies were also much appreciated. My favorite was when my sweet husband would suprise me with sour patch kids just to be thoughtful.

Q. Are you nervous?

A. No. This is strange for me to say, because I ALWAYS thought I would be, but now that it's upon me, I am not nervous at all. They say ignorance is bliss, and I pray that that is NOT why I am calm about it all; I want to be informed and ready, not ignorant and naive. I should say that this last trimester/delivery is what I feel calm about.
I AM worried and nervous about everything after though. I don't worry about how I will take care of Carson, and that he will have enough to eat, or be warm enough etc, but I do worry that I will be inadequate as a mother. I fear for the young men in the world a little more than the young women. The temptation and prevalence of pornography and addictions are frightning. And, I know these things are generally more difficult for boys than girls. I want to be able to teach and train him in a way that he will be a righteous priesthood holder and "like unto Moroni" in the battles of our day and age. And I want to teach him how to be in the world but not of the world. Because I know that even though I would love to lock him in a room full of scriptures, with pictures of Christ, General Conference DVD's, and soft music playing all the time, that probably wouldn't be the best thing. I want him to lead and be an example of what is good and right in this world. I want him to have a testimony. I fear that he won't reach his potential because I am not an expert mother, and haven't had the opportunity of a dry run once already. THAT is what makes me nervous. Thankfully, I know that Heavenly Father is mindful of each of us, and as long as we do our best and have faith in Him; His plan will prevail and that is a comforting thought.

Q. What do you do with all of your free time right now?

A. Who said anything about free time and where can I get some?!?! I still work full time, and probably will until I have contractions. I am still the Relief Society President which takes up A LOT of my time, but my year is almost up (Can you believe it Ashley??? I sure can't). My uber-athletic husband plays MUCHO intramurals, also, now that I don't throw up all the time, I can maintain my house and feed my husband, and, I am trying to get everything ready for the baby. That leaves me with....8 hours a day to sleep.

Q. What is your delivery plan?

A. Well.... I want to do it naturally. In my perfect world where everything goes according to plan, I would like to deliver in a hospital but don't want an epidural and don't want to be induced. I am hoping that since my perfect world isn't terribly out of the ordinary or maybe I should just say I know it's a possibility, I would love for it to happen that way. My mom always delivered in a hospital, but never had an epidural with any of us. With my older sister, she was too far along by the time she got there. I was 90 minutes start to finish, and the only reason I took that long was because she had to use the restroom. I don't know why she didn't have one with my little sister. And since both my brothers were born in a small town in Montana, she didn't have the choice there; they simply didn't have them. So, no, I am not going for the mom of the year award, I am not afraid of needles, and I know that epidurals can be quite beneficial. But having had 7 knee surgies, and knowing what pain is (albeit less than labor and delivery pain), I think I can do it. I don't know any differently, and I know women used to go without epidurals all the time. Plus, I want all of my physical faculties; I want to feel the overwhelming urge and need to push. I don't want the baby to be groggy at all. I want to feel what I need to feel.
Now, if I get in there, and think that I am truly going to die, and that I can't make it one more moment, I suppose I will get one. I am not morally opposed to epidurals, and I think that if others want them, I am 150% supportive of their decision. I don't care what others want to do, and while I have a firm stance on what I want to do, I by no means think that my ideas are better than your ideas. I think every baby is a miracle, and as long as he comes healthy and happy, then I will be pleased with however that may be.

Q: Will you name any of your children David?

A: Since my husband will probably read this at one point or another, I will refrain from saying NO NO NO NO NO!!!!!!!!!!!! But since I can't say that, I will say, chances are slim :). I feel like David Crockett is a name that one in a BILLION could actually pull off with confindence and a smile. Since my husband just happens to be that one-in-a-billion guy, and there aren't even close to a billion people in the US... well you do the math. David is actually my favorite male name, but it's not going to happen. I did promise Dave however, that if we ever have a boy ON Dave's birthday, then we will name that boy David (Dave's dad got his name this way). Now in case you forgot, David will be Carson's middle name; we reached a compromise. And just because I don't want David as a first name, I will let Dave have free reign with ALL the middle names.... Bordelga, Herkamer, Hazermaveth (I have actually HEARD him say all these names)

Just other little FYI's:
- I want to nurse.
- No, I don't know what to do about work. Dave and I desperatly want to stay out of debt, and since I work for an accountant and the baby is due at the beginning of the busy season, I will just bring him in to the office with me, and help my boss get through April 15th. (We have already talked about this). We have to make it through April 2009; any ingenious financial plans any of you know of that will help us get there??
- I am carrying the baby REALLY low. that is part of the reason I look so small. Ask me where my belly button is, and I will point it out to you, then you will realize how low he is.
- I can still sleep at night. I have really strange dreams and usually have to get up once to go potty, but that is about it.
- I would love a brown-eyed baby. (chances of that are REALLY slim)
- I knew Dave would be super excited to have a baby, but never did I know he would be as excited as he is... it is SO cute! I am one lucky girl.

Stake Conference Trauma-Drama

I know Trauma-Drama isn't a real word, but I feel like its the only way to describe an experience I had this past Stake Conference weekend. I also know that Stake Conference and either one of those words really shouldn't be in the same sentence, but hopefully after I explain, you won't blame me too much.
And so it begins....
A couple of weeks ago Dave and I attended a stake choir practice for the upcoming Stake Conference. When it was all over, I spent a few minutes taking to the stake music person, Maria. In the ensuing conversation she asked me if I would be willing to accompany a sister in the stake who Maria was trying to contact for a musical number to take place during the Adult Session Saturday night. She told me in the event that she got a hold of this sister, I would be receiving a phone call about what music I was to be playing. I readily agreed to help and thanked her for the opportunity to serve. Or so I thought...
Nearly two weeks later I rememered the conversation we had, and realized nothing would be coming of it. That is, until I received a phone call that evening (Thursday night) around 8:00. It was a pleasant girl named Annie on the other line. She informed me she was the viola player I was to accompany that weekend. She brought the music over about a half an hour later and I promptly put it onto the piano to see what I had got myself into. The song of choice was Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring. I LOVE this piece, but had never played it. On my first dry run I realized it was DIFFICULT. This arrangement was hard! At this point, I didn't know if I was going to learn the piece adequately by Saturday. I only had about ten minutes that evening before Dave and I had to go to his intramural volleyball game at 9:00, and then come back to quiet hours. Friday we were going to be gone all evening, and while Saturday was open, I had so many things I had to get gone I didn't know how to manage it all.
I spent the next 48 hours finding sporadic pockets to pray and practice. After a near nervous breakdown or two, I finally felt like I could pull this off. At 4:00 on Saturday, Annie came over to practice. We went through it a number of times and it was a bit rough... we needed more practice together. When we were done I made a comment about going to the church to practice together sometime between 6:00 and 7:00 when the meeting was supposed to start. This is when Annie told me, "Oh, we don't play on Saturday, we play on Sunday!". I questioned it just a little because I thought I had heard Saturday, but she was confident Maria had told her it was for the Sunday session; this wasn't MY musical number after all, it was Annie's. We made plans to meet early and go through it a couple of times before the real deal on Sunday. She then told me that she was going to call Maria to make sure we had the right schedule figured out, and that I should plan on Sunday unless I heard from her in the next hour.
When 6:40 rolled around, I was relieved to not be playing that evening, and left for the chapel. I asked Dave on the way out the door if I should grab my music to which he responded, "yeah, just in case".
The meeting started and I was enjoying myself. Musical number, speaker, speaker, musical number, speaker, rest hymn. etc....
President Clawson got up to announce the second half of the meeting; I heard some of what he had to say, but not all... "First, we will hear from so and so; President of the Sunday School, then we have a special musical number by Annie (something or other), and Melanie Crocker mprhg prgrhm, qrtsmmns, ghsbmuph, klscbth..." the rest was all mumbles. My head snapped up, my face started burning, I started sweating hot and cold, and my heart started pounding in my chest. "No!" I thought, "I'm not ready, I haven't practiced on this piano. I HAVE to practice on this paino!! The keyboard is lower, they keys are stickier, and I have to adjust to the sound!! We haven't practiced together here, and I don't even know is Annie is in attendance today!! I need to go through my solo's and the runs just a few more times. I need just a few minutes and then I can do it." Needless to say I was panicked! I hadn't even picked up on the fact that he called me Melanie Crocker as opposed to Melanie Crockett, one of my friends pointed that out later.
I quickly stood up from my spot in the middle of the bench which was not-so-conveniently toward the front of the chapel and wiggled my way past the others sitting in my row with all the grace of a obese giraffe with music clutched in hand. I had spotted Maria when she came in earlier, so I went to her bench and rapidly explained the situation to her. She and her husband got up, left the chapel to try and race home, get Annie's number, call her, and get her to the chapel with her viola before the speaker said "Amen". The race was on. I spent the next ten minutes pacing the halls muttering incoherent things to myself, and praying they would move the number to the next day.
My prayers were in vain; the next few minutes were kind of a blur, but somehow, right before the speaker sat down Annie, and her husband, and Maria and hers showed up and we gathered outside the door at the front of the chapel all leaning in to hear the end of this talk. Never before had I wanted a speaker to take more time; drag out his words, and inconvenience everyone. I wanted that now though; I wanted it really bad. Alas, the end came quickly, and we were only gathered for about a minute before we had to march in. Somehow I made it to the piano and managed to put the music up. Since Annie hadn't tuned her viola to that particular piano we spent a minute doing so which, I was grateful for. It gave me a minute to get my nervous bladder under control.
We started... normally after about the first page my nerves would subside, and I could continue on with confidence. This was not the case; I was rattled to the point of shaky throughout the entire peice. Never before have I battled myself so fiercly; every note was hard fought for and every new line a seemingly insurmountable feat. My beautifully practiced piece did NOT turn out as I had so badly wanted and prepared for. In fact, I know I did much worse than anyone else probably realized, but nonetheless, we pulled it off. From what I hear we didn't do TOO bad, but I knew it wasn't too good either.
It was over; I was a bag of nerves for the rest of the meeting, and gave up trying to listen to the last speaker.
The next day I was so grateful to be singing in the stake choir amid multiple FABULOUS musicians and singers. In fact, I stood between two women with voices far superior to mine. What a relief!
I do have to laugh when I think about the poor little family in our ward (whose name I won't mention) who accidently sent a fuzzy, neon/elmo red colored scripture case (with scriptures inside) flying off the balcony onto the congregation below. They were sitting toward the front where the speaker was, and 20-30 feet to fall is pretty far, so EVERYBODY saw it happen. Fortunately, next year, no one will remember who played or sang what at stake conference, but they will still be able to laugh at the fluffy red flying saucer. Thank you family; you probably didn't enjoy what happened (although the husband spent the next few minutes trying to supress his giggles), but I consider it a tender mercy!

"Dust in the Wind"

No, in the picture below I am not angry. I am simply doing X-Box Karaoke. My mom and brother came in town for conference weekend and brought this game with them. It just like Guitar Hero, or Dance Dance Revolution, except its with singing. I simply couldn't contain myself and sang along with EVERYONE else (sorry about that) as they were singing. My expressions are so totally random in each picture, that I can't remember what I was singing. I loved sitting next to Dave throughout the events; he knows every song SO WELL and has fantastic pitch. There was even one song that was too low for me to hit one of the notes, so I would pass the microphone over to him and he would hit the note for me, then I would continue on singing. My best guess for the picture below is a Billy Joel song.
From my arm movement I would tell you we were singing "Stop in the name of love" but that wasn't even an option. I THINK what we were really singing was "Play that funky music"??
Touchdown!! My mile long arms way up in the air would indicate we were watching a football game, but we were not. I actually know what I was singing during this one and I can guarantee nobody would ever guess...."I will always love you".
All in all, we had a wonderful time this weekend and have some not-so-flattering pictures to prove it (as witnessed above). And for those of you that were worried about Dave's safety as you viewed these pictures... don't worry I didn't ever actually make contact with my flailing arms. He remained unharmed.

Tongue Tied??

So I have been kind of worried about weight gain during my pregnancy. I guess worried might not be the right word; it might be safer to say that I am REALLY not looking forward to having to take it off in the end. I know it's inevitable, but I would rather just not have to think about it at all :). This is a problem because I LOVE food; more than most people know. I tend to eat anything and everything I can see...it's a good thing I like to exercise too I guess! What led to this post in the first place however was the fact that I ran across someone else's blog wherein they are concerned about the lack of weight gain their little 5 month old is experiencing. After going to the doctor a number of times and trying to figure out what was wrong, they discovered that his lingual ferenulum was causing him more problems than they realized. In English that means that the little web thingy that attaches the tongue to the floor of the mouth was way too restricting for this little boy. His attached from nearly the tip of his tongue to right behind his bottom teeth (or where they would be). He was literally tongue tied. They snipped it right then and there at the doctor's office, and since that moment, he has been able to suck harder, eat better, and ultimately gain weight. WELL, when I read that, I had to sit there and giggle to myself because I don't have a lingual ferenulum! I know you are probably thinking that I actually do, but really, I don't. I can not only reach my tongue to the very bottom of my chin, I can curl it up over my nose as well. AND I can swallow it. I will have to post pictures of this as well. (I haven't posted pictures by the way, because our camera died, and I have yet to remember to charge it while I am at home.) Thus, the picture of the gross cow; I look something like that when I start sticking my tongue out. I also think it must be because I don't have a web thingy that makes me such a talented and vigorous eater! Maybe I will sew one in so I don't end up like this in a few years....