What a dream!!

Some people have realistic dreams and some don't. I fall in the latter category. My dreams are ALWAYS strange and confusing. I had a dream about our baby last night that made me laugh when I woke up this morning. It started off with me going into labor and four hours later delivering our little boy (somebody told me it was four hours when it was all over). Somehow I made it home from the hospital but the baby wasn't with Dave and I. But this was normal in my dream. The first time I actually saw my baby was when my sister was holding him and taking care of him. Knowing that he was mine to claim at this point I took him from her to admire the little guy. This was when I noticed just how big he was. He was so heavy, I could hardly lift him. I would guess around 30 pounds. His features were also ALL distinctly Dave's or mine... He had Daves hair (side part and everything), a full set of teeth, Dave's nose, albeit a smaller version, my eyes, with Dave's long luscious eyelashes, and my mouth. He could even smile right away and tell me that he was hungry :).... I hope none of you are dream readers out there; I don't want anyone telling me we are going to have a 30 pound baby with a full set of teeth, if that be the case, my nursing plan is OUT!

You Said HOW Big?!?!?!

Dave and I had a doctor's appointment yesterday. We were particularly excited for this one because we were to receive another ultrasound. The last one at 19 weeks looked good, but the doctor wasn't able to see the baby's head as well as he would have liked so he scheduled us for another one a number of weeks down the road, and yesterday was the day. It was so exciting to see his little arms and legs again, and that precious little beating heart. My favorite however was seeing his face. Last time because he was so buried, we didn't see ANY of it. This time we saw perfect little eyes, his little button nose, and his adorable puckered lips. He was once again proud to be a boy and showed us all his glory. I also got to see why I can't ever breathe... he's got his bum and legs wedged underneath my right rib...
After taking a number of measurements and indulging us a little with extra explanations of what was what etc, we discovered something. We will be delivering a full sized man (or so we think). The doctor showed us his growth progress on those little charts and explained that we have a HUGE baby on the way. Although Carson is only 31 weeks as of yesterday, he is measuring as though he is 33 weeks. He is in the 97th percentile!!! I asked the doctor about the due date and he said you generally only move them in the beginning of the pregnancy. AND since I am very regular, and know when I ovulate, there really is now question that I am truly only 31 weeks along. However, according the computer program that my doctor has tied to his ultrasound readings, the date has moved. We have had three ultrasounds total. The first was at 11 weeks because the heartbeat was undetectable with the audio unit, and the doctor wanted to make sure everything was alright. I had one at 19 weeks to determine that Carson is proud of his manhood, and another one yesterday for that better look at his head (which it looks great by the way). With each of the ultrasounds, my dates have moved accordingly:

January 16th

January 12th

January 3rd!!!!!!!

BUT because Dave and I are by no means "average" sized people, we do NOT plan on have an average sized baby. Simply put, Carson is HUGE and will continue to be so until he pops out. I predict at this point, that he will come to join us anywhere from January 13th, to January 16th, and that he will weigh over 9 pounds, and be 22 inches long. We will see how close I get....

I was the schmoosher

This weekend Dave, my little sister Kate, and I all went to Idaho Falls to take part in the Fager Family Second Annual Applesauce Making Party... aka FFSAAMP. It all started when last year my mom told me that my Aunt Kirsten had all the apples we would need to make as much applesauce as we wanted. We just had to pick, clean, cut, steam, schmoosh, and process. When we started last year, we got 30-ish quarts out of the deal and I thought that was a lot... this year, we blew that record out of the water! We totaled over 85 quarts of gorgeous applesauce. This was a labor intensive activity that involved my whole family (with the exception of my sister Jenn who is stayed in Utah to plan her wedding). We spent literally eight solid hours getting all this done and I loved every minute of it. My mom was right when she said she will have good memories every time she eats applesauce. I will do the same. Each time I open a jar a flood of memories will run out. I will think of my dad who washed dish after dish and jar after jar. How he secretly cleaned our "stations" whenever he could, and used his spare moments to help cut apples. I will think of my mom who had the know how and the energy to run the whole charade. How every time the door opened between the kitchen and garage, it was her running jars and apples in and out. Adding water to the steamer or the processor and encouraging us all the while. I will think of Dave sacrificing precious study time to be with my brothers all of whom helped by turning the crank on the Victorio Press to turn the hot, boiled apples into sweet, pink, applesauce. I will think of my sister Katie who cut hundreds of apples and literally ate herself sick while doing so. I will the of my brother David who actually came to spend time helping me do something he wasn't particularly fond of, and sticking with it! It meant more than he will probably ever realize. I will think of my cheerful brother Ben who delicately cut the worms and bruises out of the apples and actually liked the job! Each jar of applesauce will be savored; the taste and the memories will be sweet. I can't remember the last time we had such a precious family gathering void of ANY contention, and involving EVERYONE. It's one of those memories I can rely on to always bring warmth into my heart and joy into my thoughts. Ben washing some apples
From left to right: Katie, Me, Dave, David
My dad and Katie cutting apples. This is what would get so messy that my dad would clean up for us. He even washed the knives a NUMBER of times.
Dave... not sure what he is doing here... but he sure is handsome!
My mom cleaning the filled jars before they went into the processor. David cranking the Victorio Press. Me making sure the applesauce was all the right consistency, and putting into quart jars.

The people who made it all happen...

Pushin' 30...

...and not in years; in weeks of pregnancy. And yup, I am still tiny and SO GRATEFUL for that!

I will spare you any more pictures of me fresh out of the shower with ZERO make-up BEFORE the crack of dawn. I just wanted to give you one full picture.

ok I promise I won't do any more posts of pictures today; I know it's been a lot...

Handsome Dave

This is handsome Dave....Dave LOVES to play football!!!!!

Did I mention that Dave LOVES to play football!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is his intramural team the Patriots. Here is handsome Dave with handsome John. Handsome John is also my cousin :)

I love Dave not because he loves football and is great at it, and I love him not because he looks so handsome when he dresses up, but I love him for all the things in between. I am grateful he fills every role between athlete and righteous priesthood holder. He is well rounded and so gifted in so many ways, but is so humble about it, and doesn't think he is. He is good at everything, and anything. What is most important to me though is not that he is good at everything, but that he tries his best all the time. It's always been almost almost a creed of mine that it doesn't matter if you fail as long as you give it your all. Dave is the epitome of effort... I love that Dave is the right person for me.

He will probably be embarrassed that I put this up... ok so he will be really embarrassed that I put this up so I hope he doesn't delete it!

For Halloween I was a....

RACCOON!!!!!!

Sorry for the bum shot; I told Dave to take a picture of my tail and he did I guess.....I had to show the tail though. It's amazing what a little nylon, newspaper, and tape will do :)

This picture hopefully demonstrates the method behind the madness. With handsome Davy Crockett on the prowl for some wild game; why would I be anything but a poor raccoon! Of course I wanted the wild frotiersman to catch me!! (It was either a raccoon or a bear, but I only had a grey sweat suit)Here are some of the other people at the party...


And of course another picture of my handsome husband... I am not sure about that face he is making :)

I saved my favorite picture for last. I really like this one; I think its GREAT of Dave. And in case you are worried; it's alright, the gun isn't real.