Catch up!

So because I spend four straight hours on the computer at work, I don't really have much motivation to spend more time on the computer to blog when I'm at home! But it's time for some catching up I realize, as I was looking through the pictures on my camera and realized what I haven't blogged about! So here goes...

Over Labor Day weekend we drove to St. George and spent some time with my fam. We all decided Saturday to drive to Zion's and pick some apples at the orchard up there. We had a lot of fun and met up with my aunt Jill and her fam. We got some yummy apples and then on our way to dinner we stopped at the elk farm...they had the biggest elk and bulls and the saddest thing is seeing all the flies in their eyes! After that went to dinner at Zion Pizza and Noodle! MMM it was good. I love their pizza!
Following THAT and a long chat with some neighbors of my parent's we ran into, we had ice cream and then went to Springdale's oldest cemetery. It wasn't even the one I had mentioned I wanted to go to, but we stumbled upon it and found some pretty interesting head stones! It's an amazing way to see a little history in my opinion. It's so sad how young a lot of the children were that were buried in the cemetery. The picture up above is two siblings. Read the dates...the parents lost one baby at 16 months, then had another baby abour 4 months later that died at 41/2 years old. The baby below is a cousin I think...

We saw a LOT of headstones dated for the same year, so a lot of babies that didn't live to be a year old. Makes me so grateful for modern medicine!
We went home after that and enjoyed a quiet rest of the weekend. Ben spent all of Labor day working on homework, while I vegged out on the couch. Can't say I didn't LOVE it! Lotsa good stuff on tv last weekend! :-)

Going a little further back I just wanted to post pictures of my dad's birthday in July when we went to Texas Roadhouse. He tried to sit the furthest in at the booth so they couldn't make him ride the saddle, but we were all too happy to let him out when they came around! ha ha...I think he enjoyed it a LITTLE bit.
There's also pictures of when we went surveying with my dad for the day back in June or July sometime. We went somewhere around Pinto...can't remember where exactly. It was a LONG day, but we had fun going on a nature walk and my sisters enjoyed the 4 wheeler. Ben wouldn't really let me ride it...said itwasn't good for the baby. Oh well...haha. That well was SO creepy...reminded me of the one in The Ring...ick.

And then we have a cluster of randmoness..the pictures I took of the fire in New Harmony from the freeway, another elk picture just to show the massiveness of that dang thing...the delicious dinner we had last week that was VERY green..lime rice, green salad, limeade and chicken :-) Check out Figaro begging at the table..he's good at that. And for Lauren, thought I'd show you how we used the nice serving dish and pitcher you gave me for my birthday! :-) The dogs all had a play date up here last week too, my parents let them come home with us for a few hours before they came up here for the day and took em home. They were SO bored and didn't know what to do in our house! Ha ha..The last is a picture of my cousin's son Daxton, he slept over at our house last month and his mom had no idea he was that brave! ha ha...

Ok last but not least, some ultrasound pictures from our 3D ultrasound gone awry. I'm sad we didn't get better pics, but here are just a few of my faves.

Top Left, straight shot of his face. Top right, profile. Bottom left, sucking his toes on one foot with the other straight up. His head is on the left. Bottom right, hand by his face. I think he's going to have my nose, but for a moment there he really looked like Ben! It's weird to think he's really our baby and will come out looking like US! :-) Can't wait to meet him in less than 13 weeks!

That's all! Hope I caught up on everything I wanted to!

Prego pics...

So Miranda, here you go. Since I haven't felt like you can really TELL a difference in pictures I haven't posted any...but I'm pretty sure I can tell he's grown, so maybe other people can too! Still just a minor bump compared to what he'll be in even one more month, but I had an ultrasound Monday so we can track these types of pictures with those! :-)

So for your cheesy viewing pleasure, here is me at exactly 25 weeks! I'll be posting 4D video and 3D pics next week, as we are getting our last "fun" ultrasound! (And if it seems like I've gotten a lot, it's because I have. Connor has a bright spot next to his heart, it's a muscle they are keeping an eye on. We're not worried...but loving the extra ultrasounds!) Anyway, my mom took this of me yesterday, it's a lot more fun for everyone now that he really sticks out! :)

Master in the making...

Well the day has finally come for Ben to spread his wings again and fly. After 10 months of boredom due to unemployment he will finally have a reason to get out of the house! And I'm sure in about 2 months he'll be wishing for the long boring days spent at home watching Golden Girls re-runs with me. After what seemed like the longest summer in history, he is finally joining the student ranks.

He enjoyed orientation last Thursday all day, and so far really likes the people he'll be in the program with. He is the only boy that was accepted this year, the other three are girls, and one happens to share the name of Kirsten with me...weird. So for two years I'll be hearing Kirsten this and Kirsten that, but it won't have a thing to do with me! I'm not worried though, Ben said "I only need one Kirsten in my life..." which should definitely be true, as I'm quite a handful. I hope he can handle all the estrogen, at least he's getting a son this year and not a daughter. It'll help balance things out a bit.

After orientation I got to meet everyone at a BBQ in the backyard of the Burch Mann house, where Ben will be taking most of his classes. He said there are rumors that the late Mrs. Burch Mann still wanders the halls of the home she donated to the University...so although he was given a key and can use the house at any time, I doubt we'll be making any trips there after dark!

Ben found out it's going to be a VERY busy two years! He will have his graduate classes, as well as a paid assistantship AND a projects class. It all sounded very overwhelming but very exciting at the same time! All the first and second year students had to do a group interview and present their resumes and qualifications and talk about which assistantship they wanted to be chosen for. Afterward all the supervisors hashed out where everyone would work best. Ben was grilled and questioned the most due to his vast experience, and when all was said and done was chosen to work in the Marketing department for Utah Shakespearean Festival! SUCH an irony, as they have passed over him twice for jobs! Ben really had a grudge against USF, but now that they have picked him I think he'll have to get over it and enjoy the ride. It's exactly what he really wanted to do-and he hopes to use his graphic design experience as well as his previous marketing experience with Opera Pacific. It'll sorta be like starting back where he left off in November.

I am so proud of Ben for getting into such an awesome program, and for his patience waiting for school to start. He will be one of the programs strongest assets, and I think it will be fun to follow his adventures for the next two years! He's multi-talented and the more they see of that, the busier he'll be I'm sure!

In other news, when Ben bought his laptop for school it came with a Wii, and I'm going to stay busy as I can with that thing. I love it, and think everyone should have one! :) The baby is growing well, and we have yet another ultrasound tomorrow to follow up on the last one that had a weird little thing show up by his heart. Probably nothing, but to be safe we're doing another one, and why would I ever resist more pictures of our sweet baby boy?!

Stay tuned for more episodes...

Kirsten

Baby's heartbeat...

So I know I may seem obsessed...but I found out from a fellow pregnant girl on one of the pregnancy websites I am a member of that these Angel Sounds Fetal heart monitors really work! So of course I had to get one...

I was so excited to try it, and for a couple days I sat around, and all Ben saw was me with my headphones on, trying to find his heartbeat again and again! It's easiest with water, I didn't need to buy any gel or anything-which is also nice. I'd never heard good things about fetal heart monitors, but this one really works! I decided to record it onto the computer, but in order to upload it anywhere I had to make it into a video file. It may seem corny to some of you, but for posterity sake I had to get the little guy's heartbeat on record, and the video of my belly a few weeks ago doesn't really cut it for me! :)

Tonight I was using it, and was getting a really clear heartbeat...sometimes I can hear mine too loudly over his, but I couldn't hear mine at all. Just his strong little beat. So I wondered to myself, where is he in my belly? Maybe he's just right there! Within seconds he kicked right where the monitor was pushing against my belly...as in kicked so hard the whole fetal monitor moved and I saw my hand raise up an inch or two! WEIRD. I'm still getting used to that part of pregnancy :) But I love it SO much!

These things are also great for recording your OWN heartbeat so after the baby comes you can play it back for them, since it's a sound they grow so used to. Thought that was a cool idea...

Anyway if you've ever been playing around with the idea of getting one, I highly recommend this brand, it's great and it's really fun to be able to pick it up and hear your baby's heartbeat whenever you want to!

Memories...

So today whilst bored at work (this is nothing new) I was talking to a friend who works at my old office in California. He was saying how they are going to the Del Mar races again in a couple weeks and it got me thinking.. "that's already been a year ago?!" So I started wondering what else I was doing this time a year ago...and things have changed a lot--but at the same time not much at all.

For starters, this time last year I was blogging about mine and Ben's impromptu visit to San Diego. I have been thinking of this memory actually, as it was such a fun trip and I really miss living in California and having fun places be just a hop skip and a jump away. Funny how when I lived there I couldn't wait to move home, now I'm here and I really miss those fun things! Anyway, we had a great time staying at the Marriott and going to Sea World, eating Mexican food and having time away from our dogs. I loved that trip, it was just what we needed at the time!
I also found a picture from when Robyn, Tyler and us ate at Pizza D'Oro. Let me tell you I've honestly considered driving down there JUST for this pizza. But it just feels too far...and I'm trying hard to find some place ALMOST as good, because it'll never be AS good.
Then I saw the post that had some pictures of ZZyzxx Inertia Snowball Squirts McGee.
It made my heart hurt. For those of you who never got the update, she was lost and assumed to be eaten by a coyote, as evidenced by the cat hair and poop all over the front door. But miraculously she appeared in the backyard at the Tyrrel's later that night! I hugged her and loved her for a while before I put her down. And I decided against my better judgement she should still stay there in Riverside. After all, she had apparently survived ONE attack..she'd be ok! Well we drove away and I will never forget watching her run accross the front yard of the Tyrrel's house...looking for somewhere safe to play. I thought for sure she'd be there the next time we came around. I found out later she had disappeared within days, even though I'd wanted her to sleep indoors at night. She wasn't always cooperative to come inside. So my theory is that some wonderful family found her and adopted her! :) I'm holding tight to that idea because my pregnancy hormones make me really REALLY sad when I consider the alternative! I don't think I'll ever have a cat again. She was irreplaceable and I feel terrible for giving her up. She was sorta naughty, clawing the carpet and peeing in corners. But I still loved her, and look at how cute she was!

All in all the changes this past year...moving to Utah, more specifically getting our own place again here in Cedar, expecting a baby, getting ready to experience life as a Student Family, and many more small things...have been GREAT changes. I'm so thankful to live near all my extended and not so extended family. I love that I have instant friends here in Cedar that I can hang out with! I love that we can walk to my Grandma Irene's house and to the park whenever we please. I love that I work part time and still have plenty of time to relax and have fun with Ben! Life is good...what more can I say? And despite the lack of excitement in Utah versus California, there's no place I'd rather be right now!

DEALS and Fireworks!

So today I was perusing the yard sales online when I came across an office closeout "yard sale". They were selling all sorts of office furniture and computers so I figured we might as well check it out. This was at 10:15 a.m. and the sale had already been going on the night before and since 8:00 this morning. WELL we were in luck, not many people had been by yet! We wandered around and I realized they had a desk that looked just like the one Ben had wanted to buy at Staple's a month or so ago. I had told him we should really just wait, never know what you can find at garage sales and when school specials start. WELL it was the very same desk! Ben was so surprised to see it there, and I can't believe he had walked right past it to the other more expensive desks! So we put dibs on THAT for sure. Then we found a nice office chair that Ben really loved, nice and big. Then we saw some utility shelves for our garage to store stuff on. Then I saw a decorative shelf that I really liked! Then we found a mini fridge for Ashlee to take to college this fall! After all that, we talked them into letting us have one of the other chairs for free. Turns out the one we got free retails at more than the one we paid for! So below check out all our price deals!

Magic Chef Mini fridge- still has plastic on inside shelf-perfect condition

Retail: $99.99 @ Home Depot
Paid: $20.00!

Brother Laser Printer- Hardly-if ever-used GREAT condition

Retail: $189.00
Paid: $10.00!

Rubbermaid utility shelves

Retail $79.99 each @ Target
Paid-$10.00 each for 2!


Beautiful decorative shelf
Retail: Estimate $25.o0
Paid: $5.00!

Two computer chairs
Retail: Left chair-$60.00 Right Chair- $50.00
Paid:Left Chair-FREE Right chair- $20.00


Desk- A few minor scuffs but looks very new
Retail: $170.00 @ Staples
Paid: $25.00!!!

Ben lovingly cleaning his new prize--PRICELESS

Needless to say I'm very proud of these deals. We also got a free Mr. Potato Head from their toy box-ha ha. Also got a nice surge protector for $2.00. We added up the retail value of all these items and the total came to $764.00! We paid a whoppin $102.00. Don't ever tell me yard sales are just a bunch of junk! We got all this for almost half what we would have paid for the desk alone! YIPPEEE!!!

Also I thought I'd throw in a few cool pictures we got last night while doing Pioneer Day Fireworks...