One Last Hurrah!!!!!

For Memorial Day weekend we decided to head down to sunny California for our last hurrah before the baby comes. We left last Thursday and what a strange day it was. Last Sunday through Wednesday, temps were in the 80s and nice and sunny but Thursday came and so did the storms. Apparently there were quite a bit of tornado warnings north and east of Denver. Luckily it didn't effect our flight too much. We were about an hour delayed than sat in a "traffic jam" for about 20 minutes since there were 16 planes ahead of us waiting to take off. Once we were in the air, it was smooth sailing until we got to LAX and saw that it was pouring rain over there! By the time we got our bags the rain had let up and the sun was starting to peak out. We took the Van Nuys Flyaway to meet my parents. What was supposed to be a 45 minute drive ended up being 1 1/2 hrs. Let me just say that both the baby and I were not too thrilled. It was 9:00 pm Denver time by the time we got to Sam Woo for dinner and we were starving. Nonetheless, dinner was fabulous.

Friday, I decided to take Troy to the Reagan Presidential Library. I think the last time I had been there was in 8th grade for our 8th grade political convention. I was part of the state of Hawaii and still remember to this day what the state fish is...humuhumunukunukuapuaa. There was a special exhibit showing all the different styles Nancy Reagan which was pretty cool. (Even cooler is that in 4th grade, I met the first lady.) They also have the retired Air Force One plane. I would have to say that it was a lot smaller than I expected but it was really cool to walk through. We also got to see a portion of the Berlin Wall and President Reagan's gravesite. Afterwards, we went with my parents to go see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I would have to say I prefer the older movies to this one but it was still entertaining.

Saturday, my mom threw me a baby shower. It was a ton of fun and our little gal will be very well dressed. I can't believe how tiny some of those clothes are. I feel like the baby is already huge in me that there's no way she's going to fit in some of them but I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Later that evening there was a family gathering. I think it's funny whenever I ask my mom who I can expect to be there she just tallies off the numbers so number 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, and 10 were present along with some of my cousins and their kids. It was a fun night and even moreso that we were finally able to play MarioKart with more than just Troy and I. *Will and Kristin, you will be happy to know that we bought the connection thing so we should be able to play with you once Troy gets it all set-up.

Sunday, was a nice and relaxing day. We went to church, had lunch, and then I proceeded to have a 3 hour nap. I haven't had that long of a nap in forever but it was much needed. I even didn't have any problems falling asleep that night.

Monday, we went and had dim sum in Chinatown. We even got to see a baby pigeon fall our of the sky. Even as ugly as it was, I still felt bad for it. We then went to the Long Beach Aquarium. That place was pretty cool. Our favorite exhibit was the tropical reef where they had a demonstration on feeding the fish. It was a feeding frenzy. I think I would have been a little scared if I had that many fish swarming around me. We also saw seals and sea lions, sea otters (they are super cute), and a bazillion different types of fish. Another cool exhibit we saw were shark eggs. We could see the sharks developing inside. Unfortunately we didn't get a picture of those.

Tuesday, we flew home and picked Lexie up from Aaron and Robyn's. THANK YOU POWELLS FOR WATCHING HER!!!!!!!!! We are glad to be home and like Troy said last night, Let the nesting time begin!!!!!!!!!

T minus 10

Tracie hit the 30 week mark on Friday, and we are excited to be in the last 25% of the pregnancy. That also means that we only have a short time to finish a lot of the preparations for the baby. With that in mind we accomplished a couple of things on Saturday. First of all was painting the baby's room. We finished the vast majority of the painting, but we still want to put up a chair rail (where the blue tape is).

Since it is not finished yet, I am under strict orders not to post any pictures that gives away too much. You can see the two colors we are using in the first picture, and I will tell you that the yellow is on top, and the orange is on the bottom. We also took a tour of Sky Ridge Hospital, where we will be delivering. It was a very good tour, but it was a little surreal to stand in the labor/delivery room. I guess we always knew that this pregnancy would lead to an actual baby, but it was a little startling being confronted with that reality!

We also got a package in the mail from Dan and Rachel. Thank you very much, and since we can't show her playing with it yet, you will have to be satisfied with Lexie playing with the box!

On the work front, I took my exam on Tuesday. I'll spare everyone the gory/boring details, but I feel pretty good about it. I'll find out if those feelings are valid in about 6 weeks. For now I will just enjoy the guilt-free spare time with no pressures of having to study. Tuesday night I flew to Chicago for a client meeting/dinner. It was a nice dinner, with plenty of schmooze, but I was glad to come home to Tracie on Thursday.

Lastly, one of our friends had a birthday party on Friday night. They had a really good BBQ and it was good to get to know some of the other couples in the area. If we ever get our deck approved and put in, maybe we could throw a party ourselves!

Happy Birthday to Bean!!

(It's a horrible pic of me. The guy didn't say when he was going to take the pic.)

I would have to say that we had quite the productive weekend. Saturday morning I woke up at 4:45 to go to the bathroom and proceeded to stay awake. Since the sun comes up at the butt crack of dawn, meaning that it's nice and light by 5:45, I decided that I would finish the book that I had been reading. I finished it around 7:15 then took a little cat nap and woke up at 8:00. Troy and I decided to head out to breakfast for a pre-Mother's day meal to IHOP. I was pretty good. Then we headed over to Lowe's and bought a weed wacker, seeds for our garden, and picked paint samples for the baby's room. Picking paint colors is not a very easy task so luckily we headed over to Robyn and Aaron's for her birthday fun so she could help me out. We went out to dinner with some of her in-laws to Cinzetti's. Cinzetti's has got to be the best Italian food buffet ever. Afterwards the rest of Aaron's brother headed down to their apartment where we head cake, cupcakes, and ice cream. It was delicious.

Sunday was Mother's day and Troy treated me by letting me sleep in and catch up on the sleep I missed out the day before. Then he made me waffles for breakfast. Mmmm. The youth in our ward, every mother's day, makes boutinneires (?) for the guys to buy and help out with whatever they're trying to fundraise for. Well, I'm not a huge fan of wearing flowers and Troy knows that but we decided that it's a lose/lose situation because if he doesn't buy one then it looks bad because he didn't get one for me and he's not supporting the youth so I gave in and pinned one on. I just don't like the hole that it leaves when you take it off. Anywho, we only had 6 kids as opposed to our usual 10-13 kids for primary so I think the mothers of our primary class decided to pitch in and give me a nice a relief for mother's day. :) All in all it was a great day with great weather. It's hard to believe that this time next year I'll actually be a real mom. Yikes!!!!!

April Showers????

I thought the saying went "April showers bring May flower" but in this case it's "April showers bring May showers." Where's the sun and the nice spring weather?!?!?!?!?

12 weeks and counting!!!!!

I figured that it was about time I posted a recent picture of me. I had a doctor's appointment and I'm right on target of where I should be in weight and measurement (?). She's been moving around a ton lately and even gives me little nudge if I try to nudge her. I still can't believe how quickly time has gone and how quick July 25th will be here. We have lots of stuff planned from now until then and we're excited. We'll be headed to CA for Memorial Day weekend. Then Ryan and Erin will be moving in with us for about a month in June and then a ton of people visiting between June and July.

Acorn doesn't fall far from the tree

So Tracie's Dad is in town for business, so he took us to dinner (thanks!) and then we brought him back to the homestead for some Mario Kart action. Ed liked the wheel, and was much better at the races than the battle. It was a nice change of pace.

What do you think about during church? We thought of girl names, and middle names. We have a couple we like. Want to hear them? Sure, just wait 11-12 more weeks.

Saturday we went bowling. We forgot the camera, but I thought Tracie did really well for being pregnant. We had Thai food for dinner, and then back home to relax. We are excited that spring has set in, although that means pulling weeds and mowing the lawn.

Go Away!!!!!

Snow, snow go away. Come again at the end of the year for little Tracie wants to play.

After a slew of glorious and beautiful days of sunshine Mr. Snowstorm decided to show his face hopefully for the last time this season. The last 3 days have been in the mid to high 70's and I think the high for today is mid to low 40's. Boo!!!!! Hopefully my tulips and daffodils will survive.

I forgot one more thing...

A friend of our's in our old ward gave us the cutest little shoes with little ladybugs on the side. I couldn't pass up posting a pictures of them. Thanks Stacey!!!

A Great Idea

So it's usually every Friday night or Saturday morning where Troy and I will ask each other what sounds good for breakfast seeing as we usually just eat cereal during the weekdays. We usually opt for pancakes or waffles or muffins or eggs, etc. but Troy suggested German pancakes. Where he came up with that I have no idea but luckily our friend, Kristin, had just posted about making German pancakes and included a recipe. Can I just say that they were delicious. Here is the recipe if any one would like to try:

German Pancake Recipe

3 eggs, beaten well

2 T fine sugar (I used regular)

1/3 cup milk

1/3 cup heavy cream

pinch of salt (o.r. :1/4 t salt)

1/4 t pure vanilla

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 T melted butter (for coating skillet/pan)

1. Heat oven to 440 degrees F.
2. Put eggs in blender container, cover and process at “stir” until light yellow in color. Push “mix” button, remove cover and add remaining ingredients; process until smooth.
3. Coat bottom of two 6 or 7" foil pans with 1/2 T melted butter in each pan. Make sure bottoms of pans are coated completely with butter. (I just stuck my pans in the preheated oven with the butter for a few seconds.)
4. Pour mixture into prepared pans and bake 15 minutes or until all puffed and golden brown. The pancake will unfortunately shrink very quickly when it is taken out of the oven so you have to work fast (good idea to have your family/guests sit down first).Serve with lemon slices, powdered sugar and butter if you follow recipes to the letter, if you’re me...I add a little fresh berries and maple syrup too!!
Yield 2 6-7-inch pancakes.

Troy said that they were super simple to make and he used milk instead of cream since we didn't have any.

Another great idea that occurred this last week is that I was able to finally come up with a color scheme for the baby's room. Ever since my last doctor's appointment I have been internally stressing big time. I would wake up sometime in the middle of the night usually around the 3 o'clock hour and proceed to lie awake for at least an hour and up to 2 1/2 to 3 hours thinking of all the stuff that we needed to do. A friend had offered to help me make the bedding if I found fabric that I liked. Well, a couple weeks ago, while lying in bed, I came up with a strawberry theme that would include a gingham pattern, polka dot print, and strawberries. I searched the internet for TOO LONG looking for fabric and came up empty handed. While looking though, I came across a website headquartered in Canada and found a bed set that I really liked that had nothing to do with strawberries. I convinced myself to spend the money and just buy the already completed set instead of stressing about searching for fabric and such. Well, all in all we got a great deal and ended up spending a little less because of the exchange rate.

Symphony of Spring

We think that we have finally had our last snow of the season, and the grass and flowers are responding to the warmer weather and the sunshine. These are some flowers we planted, those knowledgeable might recognize them, but I just call them pretty.
We hit the 80s early in the week and have settled into a nice 60-70 degree consistent pattern of afternoon highs. We attribute it to the return of Kathy Sabine.
On Saturday we decided to head out on a date (while we can still enjoy them!) We got tickets to the Symphony and had dinner at the Cheesecake factory downtown. It was exciting to be downtown since the Avs were playing that night as well (they won of course). Now for those of you who have never seen a show in Denver, let me tell you a little bit about the performing arts center here. It covers two city blocks and there is a big theater for musicals, etc. (where we saw Les Miserables, Phantom and Lion King), a concert hall that is home to the Symphony, and Opera House that has screens on the back of the seats that translate the operas simultaneously into 8 languages, and then a theater complex that has a few theaters for the artsy fartsy type plays. It is a really cool place to be, and there are usually pretty good offerings.
We saw Broadway Bravo, which was just the Symphony and 3 Broadway types singing a bunch of hits. It was pretty entertaining. Our seats were in 'Ring 3' which was a lot higher than we thought they would be. When they started The circle of life we felt like we should stand up and sing the "Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba" part. We decided against it, but did deploy our full arsenal of loud whistles at the end of the performance. It was a fun night!

Is there sugar in syrup? Then Yes!!!!

Pics from DC, cherry blossoms, the Potomac, tulips, the Washington Monument, and a picture from halfway down the escalator to the Rosslyn Metro stop.

Run, Run, Rudolph

Well, as many of you know, Troy has been in Washington DC for the past 5 days and lucky for me, my parents flew me out to Salt Lake for the weekend so I wouldn't be alone for so long. I left Friday afternoon headed towards the airport. I stopped at my old work and had lunch with an old co-worker. For those of you who don't know me, I hate waiting at the airport especially if Troy's not with me so I decided to wait until the very last minute to make my way there. I pulled into the airport parking lot at 3:10 pm. My flight was at 3:50 pm and the parking lot is a good 10 min. away. Luckily I was already checked-in but I had wanted to check in a bag. Having not read my ticket stating that bags need to be checked in 45 mins. prior to the flight I had to throw away my lotion, face wash, and shaving cream. Oh well, I was in a hurry and trying to book it as fast as I could. I got through security around 3:40ish, hopped on the train to take me to my concourse. Having checked my flight earlier in the morning to make sure it was on-time I could have sworn the gate I would be boarding at was B27. I got off the train and ran to gate B27 to find that the door was closed but the plane was still there. (Mind you, I'm 6 months pregnant and lugging my 20+ lbs. carry-on. I'm sure it was a sight to see.) I decided to check the screens to make sure that I had the right gate. Why I didn't check when I first got to the airport, I don't know but it came back to bite me. I was supposed to be at gate B46 which is on the other side of the concourse. I probably had about 7 minutes left to get to my plane so I start running again but thinking that there was no way I would be able to run fast enough so I stopped one of those cart-driving people and asked for a lift. While I was catching my breath we passed a set of screens and it had said that the flight was closed. I thought "how could it be closed? Two seconds ago it said that it was 'now boarding'" So I asked the lady to step on it. We got to my gate and I was about to jump off while it was slowing down when I saw that the door was open. The ticket guy asked if I was Tracie, I said yes. I was the very last passenger on the plane, right behind the pilot. Let me tell you, I have learned my lesson and will never complain about waiting at the airport.

All in all, I had a great weekend. My parents drove up from CA for the weekend and I stayed with them at their new townhouse in Cedar Hills. I flew in around dinner time and we ate at the Chinese restaurant we always go to. It was delicous. Saturday, we headed down to Will and Kristin's for lunch then out to look at fabrics for the baby. There really isn't a whole lot out there or maybe it's just because I do not have a creative bone in my body and can't imagine how things will look. I found some prints that I like but I'm not 100% settled on it. Hey, I've got time right... That night, my mom made dinner for the family and my cousin's family. She's actually due a month before me but I feel like I'm so much bigger than she is. It was great seeing them. Sunday, we went to church then out to dim sum then to the airport. I was there with an hour to spare. So much nicer being able to walk instead of run. Thanks mom and dad, and Will and Kristin for a great weekend!!!!! Troy comes home tonight. He took the camera so he'll be posting pictures of all the fun stuff he's been able to do.

P.S. As for the dreaded glucose test, it actually wasn't too bad. I think my biggest fear was that the drink would be ridiculously sweet and I can't handle ridiculously sweet stuff. The drink was coke flavored and heavily carbonated. I would have preferred root beer but the carbonation helped it go down. The glucose test came back fine although I'm slightly anemic. It's nothing to worry about. I just have to start taking iron supplements. I have also started scheduling my 2 week visits. I can't believe that it's really right around the corner!

Washington DC

Can you think of anything more glamorous than visiting the Nation's Capitol? All those Museums, monuments, historical sights, and cool places to visit. And then to be here during the Cherry Blossom festival to boot, who could ask for more?

-Yet I'm not out seeing the sights, nor doing anything fun. I'm sitting in a conference room in a Hilton Hotel in Arlington,VA for 7-8 hours a day, learning about accrued benefits, minimum vesting requirements, nondiscrimination testing rules, PBGC plan termination requirements, multiemployer withdrawal liabilities, you still reading?, and other sundry pension topics. I would gladly trade places with anyone!! At least I get to fly back to Denver and go right back to work on Tuesday. Needless to say that Tracie will be doing most of the posting about her weekend!!!

Hoops, Talks and Kicks

So another post with no pictures, but we promise some good ones next week. We are still waiting on the official warm-up in the weather, we've been hovering in the 50s and the tulips are starting to come up. Maybe with all the rain/snow we get this week, things will start to turn green.

With Tracie and I eliminated from both our bracket challenges, we have enjoyed watching the Final Four with not a care in the world (although we still liked seeing UNC lose.)

General Conference was nice, and we watched almost the whole thing (we both napped during Elder Oaks' talk). There were some great talks, especially Elder Holland and President Monson. The funny moment was when Lance Wickman got up and he looked like a Dana Carvey character!

The highlight of my week as feeling the baby kick a couple of times this weekend. It's moments like that which make me really excited to have her come and realize how close we are getting.

Tracie will see some of you this weekend, and if you want to talk Pension Nondiscrimination Testing and PBGC plan terminations you can call me in Washington D.C.!

100 things about me...part 2

50 Things about Troy...


1) I like spreadsheets.
2) I like numbers, as a kid in church I used to take two numbers, add them together, and then add that sum to the last number etc. (eg 4 +5 = 9, 5+9 = 14, 9+14=23).
3) In the two years I was single at BYU after my mission, I never went to a single stake conference. Not my fault BYU always played some sort of football or basketball game on the same weekend!
4) I wrestled my senior year in high school, mainly because Jeremy made the basketball team and I didn't want to get fat.
5) I weighed 170, but wrestled most of the year at 189 due to injuries.
6) I won 5 matches... 3 against the same kid.
7) When I was a sophomore and junior in high school I sang in a select choir called Evenstar. We caroled at DIA, the Pearl Street Mall, and sang the National Anthem at a Rockies' game.
8) I was at Coors Field for the only no-hitter ever thrown there by Hideo Nomo. It was worth waiting after the rain delay.
9) In fifth grade, our grade played the teachers in a kickball game. The whole school came out to watch, and in my at-bat, I tried to kick it so hard that I fell on my face. Luckily it went foul, so I had another chance to redeem myself, and I got a hit.
10) My parent's used to have this dried flower centerpiece with a fake blue bird. One night I was sick and had to take children's chewable tylenol, but since it tastes gross, so I stuck it into the middle of the centerpiece.
11) I take public transportation to work, buses and the light rail.
12) I have fallen asleep on more than one occasion and missed my stop.
13) I found the 'Marriott Militia' a BYU basketball fan club. We made our debut at San Diego State. BYU won. They haven't won there since.
14) I gave a shirt to President Merrill Bateman, Elder L. Tom Perry, and Elder Russell M. Nelson. Elder Perry waved it around his head after he got it.
15) Matt and I used to watch Battledome regularly freshman year of college...
16) ...shamefully, we also used to watch Jerry Springer.
17) Due to some urging from Sam Waddoups, Matt and I Nair'd our chests. Never again.
18) On my mission we met another set of Elders for a meal with a member family. We got on the elevator to go down to the lobby. We started heading down and noticed that the weight limit was 400 kilos. The other three said their weights, 125, 120, 110. Then they got to me, I said 75. They blamed me for pushing us over the limit. We had to pry open the doors at the lobby, and step up a good 6 inches to get onto the floor. Whoops!!
19) I tried growing a goatee in high school. My Young Men's leader made fun of me. Jeremy had a full dark goatee already!
20) Tracie out ate me on our first date.
21) Tracie and I spent our first Valentine's Day watching the NBA slam dunk contest and eating from the Wendy's dollar menu.
22) I took her to the symphony the following week.
23) My diet Freshman year consisted of: Hawaiian Punch, Bean Dip, Cheez Whiz, Pizza and Taco Sticks, Potato Wedges, Big Boppers, Tomasitos pizza, and thankfully the occasional home cooked meal from mom.
24) I secretly like the show 'So you think you can dance.'
25) When we were growing up in Draper, all the area around our house was just open fields. One day in the field across from our house, a neighbor had rented a pitching machine. We played all day, then came in for dinner. My parents had to run an errand, and the three of us boys were supposed to do the dishes before going out to play. We didn't, but I saw my parents driving down the road coming to our house. I sprinted across the road, started doing the dishes (I did like 2), and when they got home, Shane and Jeremy got in trouble, but not me!
26) I worked at Dairy Queen in high school.
27) I drove into a parked car in high school.
28) I worked at the BYU Laundry in college, and was on the "Rag Run" picking up dirty rags and mops from the custodial departments around campus and dropping off clean ones. One of my favorite stops was the Student Auxilary Building, since we usually got a donut.
29) We had different routes each day on the rag run, going to different buildings. During March, my co-worker and I devised a scoring system for each building, 15 points for each bag of rags, and 10 points for each mop. One week we ranked the teams 1-16 for each day (minus Friday), and then made a bracket, which we filled out over the next 6 weeks.
30) One of my husbandly duties is to open all Pillsbury biscuit containers, since it gives Tracie major anxiety (think Will Ferrell testing the Jack-in-the-box on Elf).
31) I was good at Math and Science in high school, so everyone told me I should be an engineer. I signed up for a lot of pre-engineering classes my freshman year. It took me two days to realize that I did not want to spend the next 5 years with those future engineers.
32) The first time I saw the ocean was on my mission. I saw it every day for two years!
33) The first time I swam in the ocean was in San Diego. I tried to run through a wave, and it knocked me over. It's a little stronger than a wave pool.
34) My family went with my Mom's family to Mt. Rushmore. I saved money for souvenirs. I spent most of it beating the arcade game 'Sunset Riders' which was in the lobby.
35) My favorite vacation was going to Hong Kong. Great sights, great food, great company, and great baked breakfasts.
36) I got suspended for a game my senior year when I left practice early (on Labor Day) to go to a Metallica concert.
37) As a youth, my favorite activities were always the service projects.
38) I am excited to have a girl, and hope that she ages from 0 to 12 and then just starts over at 0 again.
39) I took the ACTs again the fall of my senior year because I thought it would be fun.
40) I was a runner-up in Math for Sterling Scholar my Senior year of high school.
41) I have never been a fight in my life.
42) I play basketball with guys from my old ward every Wednesday night. One night there were only 3 or 4 guys there, so it got over early. Tracie asked why I was home so early and I told her I got in a fight. I think she believed me.
43) When we first moved back to Utah, the only thing Jeremy and I had to do was workout. I think we worked out for 2-3 hours a day. Even when two-a-days started for football we would go to practice in the morning, come home, eat, and then workout before practice in the afternoon.
44) I got to go to the Home Run Derby for free when it was at Coors Field, since we had a friend who worked for one of the radio stations in town.
45) I have absolutely no desire to run a marathon.
46) We ran a 5K two summers ago, I was in first place for a while, but then I got overtaken by a 12 year old girl...
47) ... ok, I admit, I sprinted out to the lead just so I could say that I was in first place at some point.
48) My favorite food is my mom's sugar cookies. They are dangerously easy to eat.
49) Tracie's dad is the best tour guide in LA. I strive to be like him here in Colorado.
50) The best book I ever read was Les Miserables. The unabridged version.

100 things about me...

So our sister-in-law posted a blog with 100 things about her. Troy and I were talking and thought it would be too hard for each of us to come up with 100 things about ourselves so we decided to split it 50/50 so here's my part...hope it's interesting!

1. I'm officially 24 weeks along!!!!!! Only 16 weeks left. Is it really just around the corner?
2. I love food.
3. I think I'm going through a growth spurt and I need to eat every 2-3 hours. I suffer through the night sometimes.
4. I have severe (or at least what I consider to be severe) anxiety over balloons. We were at Red Robin's yesterday and a gal was blowing up the balloons. I just wanted to cringe all over. What made it worse, she would just let them go...near a fire sprinkler and a pointy vent thing. They could pop any second. Troy made me switch seats so I wouldn't be able to see her do it.
5. My earliest childhood memory is getting my diaper changed in the doorway of my brother's bedroom.
6. In 5th grade, after watching My Mom's Have a Baby, I felt really sick. My mom decided to have am/pm hot dogs for dinner that night and run errands. I ate it then proceeded to throw up in the shoe department at Mervyn's. Luckily it was just on the display table and not on the shoes.
7. I can throw a football really well. At least for a girl. Both something that my brother and I are proud about. THANKS WILL!!!!!!
8. I like playing the game of throw not the game of catch. I hate catching. Maybe it's because I'm not so good at that or because I'm jammed my fingers one too many times.
9. When I was a little kid, I wanted to be a cashier with the conveyor belt and scanner or somebody in a cubicle that typed on the computer all day long. I've done both except I got jipped from the conveyor belt.
10. I drove a car when I was 14. Not very far. Just around the block a couple times. Shhh...mom and dad don't know. :)
11. I got played the piano for my high school choir during my freshman year. The choir director said that I could get paid to play if I came back the following year. I accepted. To make a long story short, the choir director left my sophmore year and the new one didn't want to sing in festival and to only have concerts with acapella songs. Let's just say that was the easiest $1100 I have ever made.
12. I taught piano lessons my junior and senior year in high school. I only had 4 students but got paid $120 a month. Not bad for $15/hr.
13. In college I was asked so many times what my ethnicity is except no one really asked me my ethnicity. ie) Where did you come from? What are you? Where are you from?
14. I have never broken a bone or sprained anything. (Knock on wood)
15. I've shaved Troy's legs before. He sprained his ankle playing basketball. The doctor taped it. He had to have it retaped but decided that it would be better the next time around to have shaved legs so it wouldn't hurt so bad taking the tape off. They were nice and baby smooth.
16. I have gone bungee jumping off a 17-story building. Won't ever do that again.
17. I think about exercising a lot but I rarely ever do it. I blame it on the altitude.
18. I hate getting ready for bed. Just ask Troy.
19. I love sleeping. I really don't know how I functioned during my college years.
20. I failed calculus my first semester at BYU. I took it the following semester with Will and he helped me pass with a B-. Not too shabby I would have to say.
21. I really liked my physics class at BYU and have even kept the paperwork from it. If you were to ask my questions about physics though I would be of no help to you. I keep the paperwork in hopes that it may come back to me. Not likely.
22. I love playing word games especially Scrabble and Text Twist.
23. If we were to ever get season tickets to any sporting event here in Denver it would have to be the Avalanche hands down.
24. I will never participate in harassing an opposing team but I LOVE it when somebody on the opposite team fouls out at a BYU basketball game. (left, right, left, right....sit down!!!!)
25. I don't really know how to sew. Even when I sew a button, I don't knot it. I just sew it until I can pull and it's nice and snug.
26. I was hit by a car when I was in kindergarten.
27. In our last ward, both Troy and I volunteered to donate blood. Apparently the last time Troy donated he passed out so I was giving him a hard time. He ended up not donating that night. I did and I passed out. First time ever. I guess I was asking for it.
28. I used to play house with Will's GI Joes along our fireplace.
29. I hate shopping unless it's for the kitchen. I love all kitchen gadgets.
30. I like the smell of cedar.
31. I do not like nuts. I feel like I should like them and have tried a lot of nuts but feel like I could live without them.
32. I had a pet hamster named Hermie.
33. I have never read any of the Harry Pooper books.
34. I am somewhat ambidextrous. I eat and write with my left hand and play sports with my right. I suppose you could say anything that requires precision I use my left and anything that requires strength I use my right.
35. I still have my blankie from when I was a baby. Except for the short time my dad used it to wash the car!!!!!
36. I sneeze loud. I've tried to tame it down so not to scare people. I think it's hereditary because Will's sneezes are just as loud.
37. I was the first person in my kindergarten class to be able to tie my shoes with my eyes close.
38. I used the twirl the baton.
39. I do not like going #2 anywhere besides home. TMI...maybe
40. Will used to tell me that there was a secret box in my wall and to access it you just needed to press a certain "button" on my wall to get to it. I actually believed him for the longest time.
41. Since we weren't allowed to call each other names we came up with a word that would be just as insulting. Will called me a totem pole and to get him back I would call him tem-to.
42. I love food so much that when I talk to my mom or Troy's I always have to ask them what they're making for dinner.
43. I have the 4th best time when "I" ran the half-marathon in Moab in 2004. I had been sick a lot during that winter and didn't train so Erin volunteered to run it for me. She did track and cross country during high school so I place 4th in my age bracket. I was in the best shape of my life that year. Ha ha.
44. I played the piano during the EFY talent show. That was scary.
45. The only conversion I remember from all my classes at BYU is kilos to pounds. 2.2
46. When I was little I used to go around wearing my brother's glasses because I wanted glasses too. Now I have horrible eyesight. I think I'm -5.25 wearing contacts. Maybe one day someone will be able to convince me to do Lasik.
47. I hate spiders. I hate insects. I really think we could do without.
48. I can't watch animal movies. I get too attached and when they're in turmoil I get really sad.
49. I have the cutest nieces and nephews in the world.
50. I wasn't very competitive until I married Troy. One of my favorite memories was when we were playing Mormon Bridge. I won and I think it was the first time I had beaten him. I ran around our very small apartment yelling I won, I won. I went into the bedroom and jumped up on the bed and was waving my arms up and down. Our ceiling was pretty low and textured. Needless to say I ended up with 8 bloody knuckles, but hey, I won.

There you have it folks. I really don't know how Heather came up with 100. I have trouble enough getting to 50. Stay tuned for Troy's!!!!!

Food, Glorious Food

Seems like that is on my mind most of the time but I really don't think that's too much different than before I was pregnant. Wednesday we had the missionaries over for dinner. It is not often that we get a chance to feed them since we never see the dinner calender in Primary so this was a nice treat. The forecast for Wednesday was in the low 70s so we thought it would be nice to BBQ some hamburgers and have a nice summer-esque dinner. All in all it was a yummy dinner and nice company. Friday we were invited to Robyn and Aaron's for dinner. This was the first time we had been to their place since they've been married and Robyn has done a great job in decorating. Why couldn't she have done that here? :) We had fajitas, spanish rice, and black beans. It was delicious. And to top it off we had tres leches for dessert. Troy made the cake and I poured the milk stuff over it. I was impressed and I think the baby really liked it. Saturday we invited Troy's co-worker and boyfriend to dim sum. Let me tell you...I have been looking forward to this all week long and I told Troy that if she had to cancel then she would have to have a doctor's note. It was a great lunch and our friends were pretty open into trying everything we ordered.

Saturday we also decided to look at cribs and bedding to get an idea of what we (or should I say I) liked. I have to say our options are pretty limited. I decided that I do not want pink bedding. Well, that cuts out pretty much 95% of what's out there. I also don't want anything to crazy flowery. That's another 4.5% so I'm left with .5% to work with. I guess it's all of my own doing but what can I say. We did decide that we liked the color black and espresso and for a pattern for the bedding stripes and circles. We ran into a friend at the store and she said that she would be willing to make the bedding as long as I find a fabric that I like. Hopefully now my options have gotten a lot better.

On a sad note, after looking at our brackets, both Bragg and Ware family, we have come to terms that neither of us will win. I did have a good run on the Ware family bracket for maybe 2.2 seconds and was in the 98th percentile on ESPN. That made me feel good until Louisville lost yesterday. I expressed my frustration with Troy last night saying that it was a conspiracy that N. Carolina was able to play all of their games in N. Carolina...home court!!!!! Troy looked and found out that N. Carolina fans that lived in Chapel Hill would have to travel a whopping 38 minutes to the first two games and then a crazy 2 hours to last night's game. Really. Is that fair?! I don't think so. Well, after wiping away our tears, Troy decided to figure out the number of possible outcomes of the tournament. I thought that was nerdy but today, as I slept in, Troy created a spreadsheet that calculated the winners of all 32 possible scenarios for his family. He has since updated it tonight reflecting the games tonight. We were rooting for Davidson but we do find it cool that this is the first time since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1985 that all the #1 seeds have made it into the final four.

Now, I need some advice from the ladies out there. I have my next doctor's appointment next Monday and it is the dreaded glucose test. The only reason why I know that it's dreaded is that practically everyone I know has said that it's horrible tasting. I guess my question is - is there anyway to make it not so horrible tasting? The doctor recommended that I drink it cold and that would help but is that I can do. Be honest.

Spring Break - Part 3

Work and March madness.

Spring Break - Part 2

We left Will and Kristin's Sunday afternoon in time to get to my parent's house for a turkey dinner. It was really good, and thanks to Mom for the peach pie. We had a game night at Shane and Heather's after dinner, which was fun, especially for Jackson! The highlight was busting out the Wii and playing some Wii sports. We played Tennis and then had a bowling tournament. Dad and Mom got the hang of it pretty well.
Look at that form! Both from Mom, and Taylor, who did bowl some from that very position. It was not an all Wii week. We headed outside on Monday and Brett dominated Taylor and I in basketball. On Tuesday we had lunch at Sweet Tomatoes and then headed over to Mulligans to play mini-golf. I think Taylor pretty well dominated us, despite the early distractions of the Bingham girls golf team!
If you look really close you can actually see Taylor's ball catching some air!

Look at that concentration!! Taylor drove us home, and I think we ran something over near the airport. We pulled into Stansbury and Taylor felt it pull, so he got over to the side. He asked Brett to lean out and see if the tire was flat. Brett said that it looked "A little low."

Luckily it was pretty easy to pop on the spare, and I guess they even got the tire fixed for free. If you want more pictoral details from the change, let me know and I will post one of the other 21 pictures that Brett took!

All in all it was a very fun week, and we were sad to see it come to an end. At least coming home to 60 degree weather helped a little bit!!

Spring Break - Part 1

Tracie and I decided to take a Spring Break of sorts starting last Friday. We wanted to get out and see everyone before things got too hectic this summer with the baby, etc. We flew out Friday and spend Friday, Saturday and Sunday hanging out with Will and Kristin. It was great to see the kids and how big they are getting. As you can tell Sierra really enjoyed playing with her Aunt.

Tracie has been having a craving for cocunut cake for the past few weeks, so we solicited the help of Cakemaster Kristin in making it. Turns out only half the people liked cocunut, hence the decorating job on top.
We had fun eating at Wingers (and their lightning fast service), playing Mario Party, watching the BYU game, eating Pier 49 pizza (service approaching Winger like quality), disc golfing in the snow, disposing of a dead cat, and watching Will teach in the primary.