Santa Fe in pictures

Well it's been a long few days but a good and full few days. I'm typing this from the hotel room while I sit and wait for Ben to get back from his full day of meeting people and having interviews. Right now he's at some restaurant downtown with the marketing director. It wasn't really in the schedule to leave the opera, but the HR girl is out sick so things have been sorta thrown off anyway. This is all I know and Ben's been gone for almost 7 hours. I'm dying! But I did take a nice little walk today and explored the area around the hotel. Some of these pics are from yesterday and Wednesday as well.

The drive was actually really enjoyable. I watched two movies, took two naps and enjoyed the beautiful nature around us for the first part of the drive. The second half was rough with bumpy highways but we managed and our car has been PLUSH which this pregnant woman appreciates! I'll admit every time I had a Braxton Hicks contraction I mini panicked afraid I was going into labor...but that's everyone's fault who psyched me out that this baby was going to be born on the side of the freeway. He's STILL in my belly people! :-)

We had to stop for about 20 minutes due to some AZ road construction and I got some pretty pics of the surrounding beauty as well as of our nice rental car.

Our first exposure to New Mexico was a little shaky...we stopped somewhere to pee. It was called Gallup, the first city we came to after AZ. I went in to the Shop and Stop to find a bathroom...it smelled like D.I. (which isn't bad I guess cuz I shop there a lot haha) and I was the ONLY white person in the place, just a little weird culture shock. And the back had a burrito stop or some sort. Ok so that was different....and we just felt SO out of place. We kept going though and it got more charming as we went on. We arrived just as it got dark in Santa Fe which is sort of a bummer, we felt really lost and had no idea or sense of where we were. Thank goodness for GPS! My second impression of New Mexico was better...I went to the bathroom inside of a Smith's grocery store which is my favorite store in the world (really it is) and there were some white people this time! (Don't get me wrong I'm NOT racist just NOT used to being a minority! Thanks a lot for THAT Utah...haha) Ben teased that I'd be ok cuz Santa Fe had Smith's and Redbox. It didn't feel to different from home at that point. We got to our hotel which let's be honest was a BIT of a disappointment. It reminded me of a revamped Motel 6. It is a small room, a lot like a Motel 6 and at 36 1/2 weeks pregnant the most uncomfortable thing you can do is try to adjust to a different bed. OUCH. Bad night. And the floors above us are thin so we hear every step people are taking. Talk about a bad combo. We had a hard time sleeping and I woke up VERY puffy in the face the next day. The altitude difference and lack of sleep made it hard for us to want to explore too much but we did the best we could. We saw a few apartments and found a condo we can see ourselves squeezing into for at least the first year here. It'd be a big adjustment from our spacious townhouse in Cedar, but hey I'm willing to give it a whirl!

The people here have been nothing but kind and genuine. They don't stare, they aren't OVERLY friendly like I would imagine some other cultures are, but they are just nice. And it's hard to know the locals from the visitors because there is a balloon festival going on here and so a lot of out of towners. But our first night here we got free KFC because the employee charged our card for the wrong amount then just credited us and didn't charge again. She said dinner was on her...so nice!

It's so confusing trying to get acclimated with where I am and where everything is but hey we've only been here a couple days. We drove by the Opera and both of us felt a weird tingle but weren't sure if it was just our lack of sleep fuzzy heads or if this might really be Ben's job soon. Can you get jet lag from driving???

I can't get over how it looks just like St. George meets Cedar City in terms of the scenery. Some of these pics show what I mean. The yellow on the mountain I suspect are the leaves changing...just as they are in Cedar right now. The bottom right pic is of part of the Opera theater space. These pics are taken from the opera, it has a fantastic view!

The many beautiful flowers of Santa Fe...and even a yellowed cedar tree. Couldn't get enough of all the pretty flowers!

Some interesting sights I saw on my way back to the hotel from McDonalds today. I walked half a mile there to get a Big Mac..it equals out right?! The pic on the top right is one of the prettiest parts of the Railroad park...

The pic on the bottom right is a funny tummy shot I took. The bump is ready to burst! :-)

This beautiful and unique park is right across from our hotel. Ben and I discovered it last night when walking to the farmer's market that was just ending. It was so pretty and we got to see a beautiful sunset. I didn't have my camera but went back over today to take some pics. The bench in the picture is the one we sat on.

The park has some interesting things to look at from the giant metal dog, the metal dinosaur I didn't get a pic of, the bus stop bench and the trails. I walked by the slides and almost didn't realize they were slides!

Below is my little squirrel friend who seriously looked like he was posing for the pictures. He didn't move hardly at all. :-)

So here I am still sitting and waiting. I last heard from Ben over an hour ago...can't wait to know what is going on. I'm really glad I came with him and have really enjoyed the visit to Santa Fe. The weather is great here too! I just can't wait to get home to my sweet Connor. My mom has been such a champ taking care of him. She got strep throat the day we left and still took care of him without complaint. Desi has been helping a lot I've heard which makes me feel a little less guilty. I just keep telling myself that if we move they'll really miss him so hopefully even though she's been sick my mom has enjoyed her grandma time. It is mine and Ben's last time to really have some quiet alone time before Parker gets here too.

Mini update on Parker: Laurie asked if I wanted to be induced at 39 weeks. I only hesitated a moment before saying....um...yes? Why not! I think it's because she knows we may be moving soon and my first induction went really well. Since it's not my first time having a baby I guess I get to cheat the system a little! I'm SO ready to have him here. It's hard to not bend over, to have to pee so often and to just feel SO overtaken! I just really can't wait to smell him and hold him in my arms. There's nothing better! So for now unless he comes even sooner, he'll be entering the world on October 17th! YAY!

I'll post as soon as we know anything about the job! Until then....happy day!

Updates

Well it's been a slow summer for blogging! Ever since we graduated it has just been slow going for life in general! It has been really nice living with my parents and not having the sole responsibility of chasing after my toddler...honestly the best EVER! My mom is so helpful, as are my sisters and my dad at keeping up with his ever growing curiosity and craziness! He's such a busy boy, and I just love it- but it's hard on a mommy who's growing another baby! So here are some updates I don't really want to forget about this phase of life...

Connor learns new words everyday and I find myself having a lot of moments that go like this:

Connor: M nnn M...

Me: Yeah..M n M...WAIT did you just say M&M? ok then! Ha ha as he has chocolate drool coming out his mouth. Lots of his new words I am stunned to hear come out of his mouth because I didn't teach them to him directly. His favorite words right now are ANIMAL (he loves watching baby genius DVD's and his favorite one is Baby Zoo animals. He LOVES requesting the "Animals" every day. He also says piano which sounds like Mano- and he'll say it every time anyone is playing one. He loves to pound the keys as well. He says Bike a lot, because anything with wheels is a bike. Shopping carts, his toy lawn mower I bought for $1 at a yard sale, etc. He loves hair dryers and still calls them "ahhhh" because of the sound they make. He has always told long stories but I'm just now starting to understand them...like the other day my mom helped him get a drink at the drinking fountain and he got water up his nose. So for the next 20 minutes he told anyone who would listen about "Wah Wah...Nose..." and I was able to translate for him! I love knowing a tiny bit of what he's trying to communicate! He HATES nursery unless his mommy or daddy are in there with him. And he really doesn't even pay attention to us while we're there but he notices right away if we're gone. Still working on that one. He would have been FINE but his first week he went ALL the kids were crying. Hasn't happened since- so sad that it was a fluke day! He calls keys "larlhhh" or something. Not sure what he's saying...it's one of many words we have yet to figure out! He has the SILLIEST personality and loves to make everyone laugh. He swan dives off of things with complete faith that someone will catch him. I love it but it makes me nervous! He is climbing on everything, asks for everything either by name or sign language, and is OBSESSED with shutting doors, plugging things in, switching light switches and all other buttons that are fun to push. I'm exhausted just thinking about it but it sure is fun! I really do look forward to waking up to him every day and am so grateful to be his mommy. I love hearing him say mommy and wanting me to kiss his owies better.

He also LOVES to kiss my tummy and says "baby!" and pulls my shirt up (not always convenient in public or in church when I'm in a dress) and goes "mmmm---muh!" on my belly. I know his brother loves him already and seems to move more when Connor is making a lot of noise. :-) I can't wait to have two little boys that will be friends and play together!

In other news, we are on the job journey again! If you haven't read anything on Facebook I'll give a brief update. I haven't wanted to say a whole lot because of what happened with Yale...but things are at a point where we'd appreciate prayers and such next week! It has happened really fast- Ben submitted his resume after making sure with HR that the job was still open. He heard back from them very soon after, and within 2 weeks of submission he had already had 2 skype interviews and an invitation to come interview in person! So they are paying for him to come out- and since they are only 10 hours away and flights are complicated with short notice and end up not being much shorter, he volunteered to drive. So after much deliberation I am going with him! Yes...at 36 1/2 weeks pregnant I am going with him on a 10 hour drive. We are breaking it up on the way there but not on the way back. I just really feel like I should go and see the place we might be living and get a feel for it! So I have a doctors appointment Tuesday to make sure I haven't progressed at all yet, and assuming all is well we hit the road on Wednesday. They want Ben to sight see and get familiar with the area- good sign- and then interview and such on Friday- which will be when I have my own time to explore. We head back on Saturday and hopefully with good news and the baby still in my belly! :-)

**** I realized after Robyn's comment that I neglected to mention at all where the job was! Ha ha that was completely unintentional. I set the blog to private for the very reason that I could be a little more divulging of details! :-) The job is in Santa Fe, the company is Santa Fe Opera, the Met. of the west coast! Fingers crossed!

So that's the update...the job is fantastic and we have some great feelings about it...but we've said that all before so we are being very cautious! So that's my update for now!! One more month til baby comes...YAY!

Well...it's a deep subject

Get it? Ha ha that's one of the many phrases my dad has under his belt. On his birthday we spent the whole weekend listing all the funny off kilter phrases he says. Some we have heard a million times, others only a few times. We tease him at how unoriginal he is but we really do love all the quirky comments!

Anyway....my last post was the result of a boring bad day. The night ended better, with my nails and toenails being painted by my baby sister Tasha and my hair being done by my other sweet sister Ashlee. And if Desi had been around I'm sure she would have done something too... :) Anyway I have a great family. We went out for ice cream after that and had a good laugh at my sour mood.

SO an idea I've played around with before but have been talked into by my sweet husband....I'm going to write a book. I won't give any details now but it'll be a short and sweet funny book...factual and fun. So yay that! I have something to fill my time with....and it'll be an entertaining process I think. :-)

I'm also going to spend some more time teaching Connor. It's amazing how fast he's learning right now. I just read a book with him and he was able to say what each thing on each page was. Made me realize maybe he's ready for a little bit of mommy preschool! I used to play school with my sisters and had Ashlee reading pretty big books at age 3. So hey...why not get started with my own kiddo!? Also...we're ready to start potty training at our house. YIKES. But he's ready. Everytime we sit on the toilet he wants to pull his pants off and sit on his. And he tells us when he's pooping or pooped...so yeah. Bring it on!

Pretty Bored...

Yep that's what I am these days. I sleep in as long as I can both because I seem to always be tired, and to kill as much time as possible. Then I eat breakfast, take care of Connor's breakfast needs, sit around while he starts getting into everything and plays with all his toys, and wait for the next meal. Then lunch time comes around and it's basically the same routine....and I am getting to the point where it is just hard to get him in and out of his high chair and I have to bug someone else to do it now. My belly is just in the way. Sometimes for fun I do dishes, clean up around the house and some days my mom, Connor and I go shopping. But we really don't have any money so it's mostly just along for the ride or returning stuff I bought previously..ha ha. We seem to go to lunch quite often but even that has become mundane. Around 3 in the afternoon I find myself watching the clock wondering when something exciting will happen. I look forward to nap time whenever that happens to be...it's never the same time everyday because he wakes up different times each day. So usually when I know napping is over, the next thing I have to look forward to is dinner and bed time when I can sit and veg and watch tv. I know this is a lame excuse for a day...and maybe some of you can either relate or are shaking your heads wondering how a person can be so lazy. But this is my life now. I spent the summer trying to stay busy, went swimming with Connor as often as I could and tried to survive the heat and Ben finishing grad school.

Well now school is forever done. Ben finished for good last week. I got my diploma in the mail the day he finished...how awesome :) It made it more real to me that I now have my Bachelor's degree, something I honestly never imagined having/doing. I'm pretty proud of that but can't help but feel like....well now what?

So I'm a mother, which I love. But sometimes it is SO boring. I even live with my family so it's not like I'm home alone all day. I even have Ben here all day. So is that maybe the problem? I am relying on everyone to entertain me and I've forgotten how to entertain myself???

I sit around thinking of the things that stress me out...like our car problems- we just had the AC on our honda fixed. It's only been having issues for maybe 3-4 years??? Lame and it's still not all the way fixed. Still doesn't get very cold or blow very hard. But the mechanic said to totally replace it would be like $1000. Not gonna happen. Oh and then there's the big crack on the front bumper that we are waiting to repair when the insurance comes through. And the trunk that won't latch anymore and is now dented because the idiot mechanic dented it while trying to fix it...and acted like it was already there. And our jeep used to be the car with reliable cold air...and now that has gone out it seems. So we are getting rid of it before we have to pay for another stupid repair. I feel like we're going to have to give it away...but maybe someone will actually want to drive a jeep and won't mind getting a minor tune up to the AC. These are things that make the endless hours impossible to relax and enjoy.

I would love to start reading again, but don't feel like I'd ever be able to read very many pages. I don't want to expect everyone to have to take care of Connor while I have "a life" because he really is my life and I love spending time with him. But I need a purpose, or a goal or something. What do other moms do to stay sane???? My mom says it's probably worse because I am pregnant and getting antsy. This pregnancy never seems to end. I have been pregnant since January and I feel like....REALLY? I still have 2 months left?!

This is a post from a very negative nilly...I am not in the happiest of moods today. I seem to wake up every day with a head ache. I used to look forward to small things like a diet coke run with my mom. Trying to figure out who has the best ice. But my doctor has told me all I can have now is water and milk. So that excitement is out.

I guess I just need some suggestions on what I can do while we sit here day in and day out waiting to hear back from jobs that Ben has applied for. I really hope we are normal people some day who have a job and a normal routine. For now I'll just bide my time and try not to pull my hair out.

Hey tomorrow's Friday...that means my dad gets off work early and the weekend starts. Which is really no different from the weekdays...ha ha. PEACE OUT

Overdue Summer post!

Disclaimer: This is a long post for family history purposes...so enjoy the pics and read on if you want!

Finally I have enough pics for a decent post! Mostly because we finally did something out of the ordinary! We decided as a family to have a "stay-cation" of sorts since California is all booked up as far as time shares go, and WAY too expensive when you consider gas prices and hotel costs. Plus the pregnant in me just did NOT want to travel far. So....we enjoyed the splendor of Southern Utah! We were supposed to take a boat we rented out on Monday but the previous renters broke some things, so we changed our plans and went camping Monday night July 11th at Duck Creek. It was a LOT of work for a short amount of time! We always forget how much goes into camping, whether you go one night or 4. And to keep with tradition our air mattress went flat. Before we even slept in it. Before we even LAID on it! So I slept in the back seat of the honda, and Ben slept on the twin mattress that also went flat. We are cursed...what can I say? Connor slept nice and comfy and warm in his pack and play and I seriously considered crawling in there with him! He was in LOVE with the 4-wheeler which he calls a bike, because everything with wheels is called a bike. Or as he said it until today, "bite" ha ha. He wouldn't eat his dinner unless he was sitting on the 4-wheeler. And he ate so much since he was so preoccupied with pretending to ride it. Such a stud!!! He just keeps everyone busy and entertained 24-7!

We ate at Sue's Diner in Duck Creek and had some amazing burgers, fries, mashed potatoes and Connor even tried and devoured the scrambled eggs. It was rainy when we drove up but stayed clear until the next day when we were packing up to leave. We were nice and close to a bathroom, and had fun cooking dinner including dutch oven potatoes, chicken and peach cobbler. We even had a little room for S'mores later on that we enjoyed after Connor went to bed. It was a nice time out of the heat, but HONESTLY I'm not camping again unless I have a reliable bed in some sort of camper. It was horrid sleeping in a car!

The next day everyone did a little 4-wheeling and found an ice cave, but it was too cold to explore so given our exhaustion we headed home. I wondered why Connor was so quiet in the backseat...til i realized he had my makeup. I thought I got it all away from him but after another 10 minutes of silence I turned around to see this:

The pic on the left that is...

He's watched his mama do it enough times that he knows something goes on his lips, they were thoroughly glazed and powdered! :-) Love my kid....he's the best!

So after getting home and cleaning up THAT mess we went to Olive Garden to celebrate my dad's birthday which was that day! We all had a nice dinner and towards the end received a call that the boat was still not fixed...so we gave up on that plan. But at home Desi found another person renting their boat and it happened to be available. So we made last minute arrangements and headed out to Sand Hollow the next morning!

It turned out to be a lot nicer of a boat and we had a blast. The wind picked up after 4 hours so we decided to head out. It took a long time to get the boat in with the big waves, and we all had a nice laugh watching my mom try to back up the boat trailer and eventually ask a stranger to help her. Ha ha...we also got sunburned just sitting out on the boat which wasn't fun but Connor had a nice nap while the boat rocked back and forth!

Before all of this Connor and everyone had fun on the tube. I rode with Connor since it was a nice slow ride, and thought I could just die of happiness watching my little boy act so brave and studly riding that tube in the lake. He felt so cool and was so excited to get a turn! LOVE him!

Even Ben rode the tube and caught some great air..ha ha.

Of course Connor wanted nothing more than to drive the boat with his grandpa. He loved sitting there with him and did a great job driving! :-)

We tried our luck a couple hours later at Gunlock and were glad we did. The water was a lot calmer and we were able to spend a lot more time tubing and swimming. It was honestly SO fun and I wish owning a boat wasn't such a money pit! The guy we rented from really liked my dad and wants to rent to us again at a cheaper rate whenever we want! I hope it's soon!
It was such a fun stay cation and we didn't get too exhausted to get back to real life. We all got along and Connor had the time of his life. Thanks mom and dad for our fun summer memories!

Connor is a toddler...

He has definitely grown and changed by leaps and bounds lately. I don't know when it happened but suddenly my baby is a big boy, and he's learning more about life everyday. He copies EVERYTHING we do and makes us all laugh constantly! He says tons of words, and even when they aren't words coming out of his mouth he's in a never ending state of gabbing. He will talk your ear off and point at nothing as he talks. He has definitely shown us that he's a boy through and through...he loves cars, 4-wheelers, bikes, and loves to make the vroom sound. He loves to growl at me and throws really awesome fits. There are some days I have to ask everyone to just take care of him more for me cuz I know I don't have the patience, but most days I have really learned how to move with his groove. I am getting more patient with his tantrums and am really grateful he knows sign language and how to say so many words, because it saves a lot of frustration on both of our parts. He is a little angel and loves to give sweet love hugs and full on smooches. He puckers up and says "Muah!" when he kisses us. He is about ready for potty training, he tells us when he's about to poop, or has just pooped, and thinks it's cool to sit on his little potty. I love hearing him say "POOP!" He has a really hilarious personality, and everyone who meets him just loves him. I say often that I hope our next little boy is more mellow...and I do...but I love my little spitfire son who never EVER holds still unless he's sleeping (and even then...) I complain that he won't even sit through a ten minute episode of Rugrats (love Netflix!) But I'm really so glad he's not a couch potato.

He's a healthy little eater and LOVES fruits and veggies. He really doesn't like fast food which is awesome...at least I'm not passing my bad habits to him. I'm trying to eat more like him actually.

He blinks his eyes at us when we do it to him, he waves, does a fake sad face, and all sorts of funny faces.

He is pretty obsessed with his little boy junk and sticks his hand down there whenever he gets a chance! He runs around butt naked before and after his bath and acts like a little exhibitionist. He is in LOVE with the vacuum. He used to be terrified of it and now anytime my parent's door is open he RUNS in there as fast as he can to play with it. He calls it the "Ahhhh" cuz he imitates the sound it makes. He's still infatuated with anything that has a cord and drags stuff around all day. He can say "duck" cuz my mom has a little duck toy that he likes to push around. He also plays with a toy that has been around since I was his age, we call it a popcorn popper. It's one of those toys you push and the balls all pop inside the round bubble thing and pop like popcorn sound. He drags that and the duck stick thing all over the house over and over. He likes to walk like a big boy and swing his arm, and takes really big steps when he's acting big and cool. Loves the keys, likes to go for rides, loves ice cream cones, plays tag with the dogs, and is downright BUSY day in and day out! I never knew a little boy could have so much energy and get into SO MUCH. My mom swears her daughters were never this busy...and I hear that a lot from other mom's with girls. Makes me a little nervous to have two boys...but I know they'll have so much fun together!

Here are some pics of Connor from Sunday. He looked so handsome I just had to snap a ton of pics. Can't believe he's so old!

Connor LOVES to smell the flowers. He smells them when they are real, fake, in a book, a painting WHATEVER. It cracks me up when I see him sniffing and then see what he thinks is a real flower. SO fun. Until the next gigantic Connor post...have a great day!