Snowball fight

We headed up to Cache Valley for Christmas this year.  We had planned to go snowshoeing on Christmas Eve, but the canyons were a little too icy so Seth came up with a back-up plan.  He decided to have the snowball fight of all snowball fights.  He enlisted the help of willing family members who helped build forts and prepare hundreds of snowballs. 

Then he impatiently sat and waited until the remainder of the unsuspecting family members showed up at the house.

Then the fun started.  The fight lasted a good half hour...then the teams continued the fun with a game of capture the flag.  I decided to remain neutral and acted as the fight photographer.

As much as Seth loves the snow...I wonder how we ever made it through two winters in South Carolina.

I believe a good time was had by all...this may need to become a new family tradition. 

Utah Eats: Part II

Here are a few more pictures from the yummy places we have gone to eat recently.  For the most part eating is a chore these days...the constant nausea I experience makes it difficult to really enjoy food.  I have had a few cravings and have learned very quickly not to by an item I am craving at Costco...seriously one day I crave something and the next day the thought of that same item makes me sick.  But one constant craving is  meat...I have taken to calling our little one Rex as in T-Rex for this reason.  I typically have the biggest sweet tooth around...but lately I have no cravings for sweet.  Seth is amazed at the abundance of sweets we have around.  We have had ice cream in our fridge for over two months and usually it doesn't even last a week. One of my co-workers gave me a cupcake from the Sweet Tooth Fairy for Christmas...normally this cupcake wouldn't have even made it home from work...but this year I carried it around for a few days waiting for a little bit of my old sweet tooth to kick in.  With that said...here are two of the places that have actually made me want to eat recently.  

First up Pat's Barbecue a local place featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.  We buy a Groupon almost every time they are available and used ours the Friday after Thanksgiving for lunch.  We were lucky enough to get there in time for the special of burnt ends.  We ordered bread pudding for dessert.  I had a few bites and it reminded me of our old home in the South.   

The next place we visited was The Mandarin right here in Bountiful.  The atmosphere was very festive and the food was delicious   We ordered the walnut shrimp and the cashew chicken.  The walnut shrimp was by far our favorite...when you go order it and I promise you will not be disappointed.

TITLES

I used to consider myself a "runner."  I wore the title of" runner" with pride and basked in the feeling of accomplishment that came each time I stepped across the finish line.  Each race convinced me that  I could do "hard" things, I could cross the finish line no matter how tough the miles were to get there.  So what exactly does this have to do with being pregnant...I feel like I have entered the longest race of my life...40 weeks of race to be exact.  I just reached the 13 week mark last Monday...and during those first 13 weeks I felt like I was not tough enough for the race that I had entered...that the race was much harder than anyone that had run it before me had said...and that this was not exactly what I thought I had signed up for.    

Well this last week finally brought the relief of the first aid station along the course.  We headed to our first doctor's appointment and were able to hear the heartbeat of our little one for the first time.  I was left quite speechless when we heard it.  That little sound brought all the peace that I had been praying for.

The next day we headed back for our first ultrasound.  The picture below was our first view of the baby.  We were relieved to see that there was just one in there...although at this point a two for one sounds pretty good.  I had a dream around the time that we got pregnant that we had twins and the night before our first doctor's appointment Seth dreamed we had triplets.  Let me tell you this little one is a mover and a shaker.  It looked like there was a dance party going on...I think this little one might take after their father.  

Here is a shot of one of the arms.

This is a shot looking down on our baby's head.  You can see their little fingers lifted up in front of their face.

In this picture you can see the spine.

This week has given me the will to keep going.  The finish line is expected to come on June 9th.  I am excited that at the end of this race I will gain a new title I will be a "mother."

June 2013