DODGER STADIUM!

We spent last weekend in California at the Crockett Family Reunion. The Bob Crockett family has come to the point where we need our own family reunion in order to get us all together at the same time in the same place. It was wonderful to be together and Rob and I were very happy that everything in the pregnancy is going well so that we were able to be there.

We got there on Thursday night and watched a disappointing loss by the Lakers in Boston. Everyone was a little bummed. The next day Rob went with almost everyone to Magic Mountain (and he didn't get sick!) while I stayed back at the house with Debbie and Scott and the little kids. We went swimming and ate lunch and the kids watched a movie. It was a good day.

That night was something very exciting for me and Rob. Rob loves Dodger Stadium. Something about loving the team and memories from his childhood. . . .I bought him a big framed photograph of Dodger Stadium for his home office. I had never been to Dodger Stadium. My dad and brother are also big Dodger fans, so I grew up hearing about the Dodgers and cheering for them. So Rob really wanted to take me there, especially since we don't live in California and don't have that chance very often. Well, Friday night was it. We went with the whole family to see the Dodgers play the Angels at Dodger Stadium.

The whole gang! We took up a whole row :)

Here is my 35 week belly shot :)

Diva was fascinated by my belly! And she has officially named the baby Joseph. Hmm, we'll see.

We had so much fun! Unfortunately the Dodgers didn't have as much fun. They lost 10 to 1. Ouch!

Saturday we spent the day at the beach and then had scrumptious burritos and Carly's guacamole. Mmm. That night we had a hilarious evening laughing so much! Everyone was telling stories about each other and then we played a game called THINGS that also made us laugh. I seriously laughed so hard for so long I was worried I would induce labor! It was so fun. We were just hanging out. That is the best part about family reunions I think. Just hanging out together. And I can't forget to mention the Ultimate Oatmeal Cookies Lindsay made. I have never seen cookies disappear so fast! I really love this family and am so glad that I am a part of it.
We also received some adorable gifts for the baby, some cute cute clothes from Baby Gap. This kid is going to be dressed so cute! That is for sure! Now we just can't wait to meet him! Grandchild #6.

Sunday everyone made it to sacrament meeting and then Scott took me, Rob and Ryan to the airport. It was a great weekend full of what life is all about: family, food and fun! Cheesy, but true eh?

SHOWER

My mom, Gramine and our friend Janet threw us a shower on Saturday. It was wonderful! Such a gorgeous day and such a fun time. Janet opened up her beautiful backyard to us and I think everyone had a really nice time.
They had a spread of food set out on a decorated table (salad, chicken salad sandwiches and fruit) and got the cutest cake!




The cake was a baby! It was chocolate and almond flavors. Sooo yummy!

Lots of people were able to make it: aunts and grandmas and cousins and friends. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives! We love them all and are so grateful for all their kindness and generosity. We are set after this shower!

My mom and me with a blanket my sister-in-law made for us.

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND

We had a really good weekend this last weekend. Rob had a long hard Friday, working into the wee hours of the morning. Fortunately he can work from home so we still got to eat dinner together. I just hung out at home with him while he worked. But I am not kidding when I say that he had to work almost all night. I went to bed mid-nightish, he joined me hours later and then he slept in in the morning while I made cookies for my Sunday School class. When he got up he mowed the lawn (something he will have to do every nice weather Saturday until the little guy that is coming to our family is old enough to) and then we walked to the Yogurt Stop, our new favorite place. It is a yogurt place that lets you serve yourself your own yogurt (there are about 10 choices of flavors) and put your own toppings on and then they charge you by the weight of it (35 cents an ounce). It is so yummy and only a pleasant walk away. I love taking walks right now, being 8 months pregnant it is great for me. And it is fun to be with Rob. I have a feeling we will be going to the Yogurt Stop a lot in the next few weeks. They also have smoothies and bobas (which remind Rob fondly of his days at Berkeley) which is what we got this time. It was 50% off day to celebrate their anniversary so we planned to go there again that night :)

When we got home, Rob weeded and I made a salad for dinner. Then we went to the mall and looked at maternity swimsuits. I am going to need one for our trip to California but I just couldn't bring myself to justify paying over $30 for something I was going to wear only a few times, so we left empty handed. (Sunday I tried on my regular swimsuit and it works out just fine so that is what we are going with.)
My parents came over that evening to have burgers grilled on our new grill and watch Game 6 of the Lakers v. Suns. We went to the Yogurt Stop during half-time and enjoyed a glorious victory by the Lakers. GO LAKERS!!

Sunday my brother was put into the bishopric in their new ward. He is the first counselor. Congratulations!! Crazy. We went to Ogden to support him and to watch my dad ordain him a high priest. It was so good to be there. I am proud of my brother. He is truly an incredible person that has grown so much in his life and has shown me what it really is to progress toward our divine potential as children of God. I love him and hope he knows it.
Rob and I both had to teach on Sunday so we rushed back to our ward to teach and then enjoyed a dinner altogether with my family at my parents house. After dinner we went to visit Loren's grave. I miss him so much. I wish Rob could have met him.

Monday we slept in again (we have to enjoy it as much as we can while we can), went to the Yogurt Stop again (for smoothies and bobas) and then went for a little hike up Little Cottonwood Canyon.



It was a gorgeous day and we really enjoyed our time together. I did pretty good considering the belly!


Afterwards we went to a pool party at the Hansen's house in Alpine. There were lots of people there and it was good to see friends and family, especially Chris and Janice and the boys. Gavin and Gabriel are so big now! 2 years-old! and doing so well! We spent the afternoon eating food and visiting with everyone. Then we met my parents at the movies and saw "BABIES." It was an interesting look into parenthood all over the world. The U.S.A. was represented by a totally hippie couple. One of our favorite parts was when their little girl got up during the "earth is our friend" trippy group song thing and ran for the door.
We ended the weekend with another trip to the Yogurt Stop. Mmmm....

Thoughts While I Am Cooking

So I am making dinner: Salmon with Mustard Caper Butter, Crushed Yukon Gold Potatoes and Asparagus. I hope it will be yummy. I am trying to time it perfectly so that it will be ready right when Rob gets home (fat chance though).

The fact that I cut my hours at work a few months ago in preparation to be home full time once the baby gets here was such a good thing. It would have been a shock to me to try to figure out what to do with myself if I had quit all of a sudden instead of gradually. But now I am really learning how to fill my days and I love being so productive. I know that once the baby is here there will always be plenty to do, but I am glad I have had this time to get excited about trying to be crafty (something I am not) and decorate our home and really make it a wonderful place (I am being inspired to do this by my cousins blog allthingsthrify.blogspot.com. She is truly amazing). I guess my mind is just filling up with all these things to do. Oh, time to put the salmon in the skillet....

Mmm, it smells good. Anyway, today I wrote my grocery list (looking off of my planned meals for the coming week), went to the grocery store, went and added things to our registry at Babies-R-Us, got the oil changed in my car (it was the perfect day, they were having a half-off special and I didn't even know), made appointments to interview possible pediatricians, planned my Sunday School lesson (on appreciating our membership in the church, I am excited; hope the Deacons and Beehives are too) and made dinner (well, am currently making). Flip salmon and drain potatoes....

I am a little ahead of myself, I hope Rob isn't late. I can't wait for him to get home. That is another thing we are adjusting to. We are so used to being able to see each other at work. I call him every day I am not there now (today - three times) but it is not the same. We just have to keep reminding ourselves that this is what we want. Okay, now I have to crush the potatoes and fry them in the skillet....

Door to door salesmen, that is something else I am going to have to get used to. Man, that really threw me off. Now dinner will probably be cold when we eat it. Umm, since this post isn't really about anything I guess I can just end it now. But I need to blog more and that is what this attempt, just trying to blog more. Maybe I will just do this everyday, no matter how boring it is and then I will both get better at it and more used to it...

We'll see.

30 1/2 weeks!

Whitney at 30.5 weeks! She's been doing great, no complications. We are very blessed. We have a name picked out, but we aren't telling anyone until he's here, so don't even ask.

The baby's room is almost done. We painted and built a trinket shelf around the perimeter, a little over 6 feet off the ground. We still need to paint the baby's dresser. We're looking for a frog-green spray paint. Any suggestions on where we can get that color? We've tried Home Depot and Walmart, but their greens aren't what we want. We'll post a picture when the room is finished.

We're very excited to meet the little guy.

SEATTLE!!

This past weekend Rob and I took our last childless trip. We went to Seattle for the weekend. As we pulled out of the driveway, I thought, "Man, next time we will be packing a stroller and a bag full of countless things for the baby." We enjoyed just having one carry on bag between the two of us. Seattle was a very important place for me to take Rob to. Anybody who knows much about me knows that I love Seattle, and anyone who knows me well knows that Seattle is somehow part of my soul. Rob had never really been there, so I couldn't wait to be there with him. Here are some highlights:

Snoqualmie Falls

Brown Bag, the best breakfast place ever! Rob has heard about this place our whole marriage and now he finally got to go! (See my belly? It really started to pop out while we were in Seattle)

At Brown Bag with (from left to right) our friend Keith, my dad, my uncle Dick, aunt Heidi and my mom.

Famous and wonderful Pike Place Market

On a ferry rideAll the cherry blossoms were in bloom. It was magnificent! This is on UDUB campus.




The Space Needle
Look at that beautiful city!

It was a wonderful trip. We spent time with my grandpa (he is 94!), ate lots of amazing food at lots of amazing restaurants, saw my aunt and uncle (which was totally not planned, they live in Oklahoma), visited my grandmother's grave, relaxed, took walks, read, talked. I loved being there with Rob. He is amazing. I am so lucky.

22 WEEKS!!

Okay people, the first pregnant shot! What do you think? We are going to try to be more consistent with this and do it every month from now on but we'll see...

So I am five months pregnant in this picture. Everything is going well. I feel great. My energy is back and all food tastes wonderful ( I am finishing off a quart of mint chocolate chip ice cream right now in fact. Don't worry, I didn't eat the whole thing by myself, and I didn't eat all that I ate of it in one sitting...but almost). We are going to get the baby's room going now. I know exactly how I want it to look, but I don't really know how to describe it. I guess I would call it a paneling effect. It is going to look like paneling but it is actually just going to be the wall painted white with base boards to create the dividers and a shelf along the top. Above the shelf will be painted navy blue. His crib will be dark wood (still looking for a good bargain). The dresser/changing table and the rocking chair are going to be whatever I find that is cute and goes with navy blue....could be green or orange... We'll see. Fun!

We started our registry this weekend at Babies-R-Us. That place is insane! It is true that you need a lot of stuff when you are having a baby for the first time, but they also have so much stuff there that you do not need and that you will never need. My favorite was when the lady said that we should register for about 150 items so that people will have a good variety to choose from. Whatever, this is the way I see it: We are going to register for what we need and really want and that is all. None of this, "Well, why not, lets just register for this..... and this..... and this....." and pretty soon you have a registry that is pages and pages long. If anyone is reading this that will be coming to a shower for me one day, know that everything on that registry is stuff I need and want and not just everything on their "What You Should Register For List." I had gone to Babies-R-Us twice before, once with Rob and once with my mom, and scoped out the store and I had my own list. I knew exactly what I wanted to register for, so when Rob and I went on Saturday, we did it quickly. And guess how many items? 55.

I will probably be adding to that a bit though :)