Bachin' Out

Jess has been gone for the weekend on a girl's trip with her mom and sisters. So I've been living the bachelor life for the weekend. I've haven't eaten so much fast food in one weekend since I was single. This weekend was stake conference, so it was pretty busy. I didn't have too much time to sit around and be lonely, but I'll be happy to have Jess back. I can't believe how fast her due date is coming up. We're going to have a crying, pooping baby to take care of before I know it. We've been getting some good swag, though, and from what Jess told me on the phone, we really cashed in on baby stuff between her mom and our sister-in-law, Sara and Sara's mom. Not to mention the other sisters. Jess's mom, Debra, reminded me this weekend that my days of getting presents are over. I'm okay with that. A present for the baby is like a present for me, because it's less money we have to spend on baby stuff and more money to spend on ourselves. It's good to have family.

April Showers

For today's weekend update, I bring you the highlights:

#1 Kaplan has stolen my husband. Good news is, it plans on returning him sometime before June.

#3 We have a pea patch, or rather an onion patch, on our roof. Justin planted some onions, leaks and thyme and we're planning on adding some tomatoes and mint. Hopefully they actually grow :)

#3 I'm really big -- 29 weeks and counting. The honeymoon trimester is officially over and my little guy is really moving and a shaking. Unfortunately he's usually moving and shaking in the upper right quadrant of my belly, making for some very painful kicks and nudges. I always thought babies just hung out in the middle, but my little guy loves my right side. I try sleeping on my left side with the theory that gravity will pull him to my left, but it has yet to work. Ah, just 11 more weeks...

#4 Rat City Roller Girls makes for a great date night (those gals are intense! and if you haven't seen Whip It yet, go rent it now)

Happy Easter! I just made a deal with Jess that if I update the blog today, she would do the dishes. It's a pretty sweet deal because the kitchen is quite a disaster after the Easter feast we made. Jess took her first step this weekend on what I hope will become a lifelong journey. She made her first pie from scratch, crust and all. It was a strawberry-rhubarb, and it was delicious! She started on Saturday by making the dough for the crust so that it could sit in the refrigerator overnight. I took a picture of the finished product, and I should really post it on here, because it looked like a textbook pie from a rustic cooking book or something. Not rustic because it was sloppy or anything, but it just wasn't too fussy. There was some pie filling that had boiled over the side of the pan a little and the crust wasn't perfectly shaped. It was perfect and tasted as good as it looked. We also baked a ham and will be eating it for the rest of the week.
This week Jess's belly grew by 13". Just kidding, but her belly keeps getting bigger. We can't wait for our little guy to pop out in a few months. Listening to General Conference this weekend reminded me of how blessed we are to be able to start a family and what an important responsibility we have to do our best to be good parents and good examples to this child and our future children. It's so easy to forget about what's most important in life. It's nice to get to spend a weekend being reminded and have time to hang out and think about it.
Jess is about done cleaning the kitchen, and I think I made a wise trade.

Baby Recap

so folks, we all know that i'm not the best at this blogging thing, this keeping in touch thing, this documenting our life thing. but, i'm going to try. really. i've decided to make it my goal to post once every week -- each sunday. i think i can do it. we have so many people in our life that we love and appreciate and we want you all to be a part of our life -- especially as we move into this next chapter. we have 3 months before baby ray joins us -- here's to the journey ahead :)

for my first sunday blog, i have 2 pictures to recap baby ray's progress the past couple of months.... (i'm starting out small, guys -- don't want to overwhelm myself ;)

First, IT'S A BOY!!!
this is our first family photo, taken Feb. 5th, 2010, right after our ultrasound. that 30 min or so was the coolest experience of my life so far. seeing our little guy move around, squirm and snuggle, seeing his heart and hands and feet -- i can't even get over the absolute joy i felt. i just love him so much i can't even contain myself sometimes!

second, 27 weeks on March 27th (neat, huh) -- can't wait to meet the little guy. he's kicking me all the time now -- especially when i'm trying to sleep or get work done. i have a feeling this will continue outside the womb as well. i also had my first super emotional pregnant moment in church today. we sang "i am a child of god" as the closing hymn and i was practically sobbing by the time we hit the second verse. i'm so humbled at the thought that heavenly father is entrusting us with one of his children -- that we get to "lead and guide" him and "help him find the way." life is cool.

lastly, i just have to say... i love seattle.
everyone i love, please move here.

Baby Ray: Coming end of June 2010

Thanksgiving and things

So, Jess and I have been pretty lame so far when it comes to blogging. I guess both of us are kind of too lazy to type after we've been sitting at a computer at work all day. I thought I'd at least post a little update. We're both still working and both liking our jobs less than ever but very grateful to at least have jobs. I am attending South Seattle Community College working on some prerequisite classes and planning on applying to dental school soon. I should be doing homework right now, but I got distracted. It's great to be back at a community college, and I'm so glad that there's a tv show about it, too. Trying to take these science classes at BYU made me think that I'm just not supposed to be able to understand this stuff.
Jess is working long hours as an analyst at a market research firm called Penn, Schoen, and Berland which is why she's not here now even though it's 6:45 pm.
We just enjoyed hosting my parents for Thanksgiving in Seattle. We feasted on the first turkey I've ever cooked, which turned out delicious (not to toot my own horn), and Seattle's finest cheap eats. We had to teach my mom how to use chopsticks and in return she gave us a years worth of free, unsolicited advice. I am thankful for her!

Deja Vu

Although I am still on the job hunt, I did manage to secure a fun side job. I'll be working as a personal tutor a few nights a week, mostly teaching SAT test prep, for a company called StudyPoint. I miss my old TA job a ton (even though I don't really miss grading all those papers), and I'm excited to get to know some new students and help them do their best. But in order to do so, I have to take the SAT today. And maybe I'm not so excited about that. I don't think taking the test will be so bad, but I'm terrified to see my results. I think I'll have all the writing and critical reading questions down, but I was reviewing some of the math yesterday and it's amazing how much I've forgotten since high school. Hopefully I'll do okay because I don't know how much confidence I'll have tutoring these kids if I bomb. So wish me luck as I put myself in the shoes of a 17-year-old!