I can't believe it's been a whole year already! And I certainly never thought the first year would go like it did. I also never thought I would be 27 weeks pregnant on our first anniversary. I've been told the first year of marriage is the hardest. If that's true, we are pretty set for life (well and eternity). It was a great first year, full of lots of adventure and new things. I mean who gets a 6 month honeymoon in Alaska? Over the last year I've discovered that my husband is wonderful! I knew he was a pretty good catch when I married him, but he's only gotten better since we've been married. I am so excited that I'll get to see him be a dad in a few short months, he's going to be the best dad ever. For our anniversary we got to spend the day out on the town. We had a lot of fun. We went to Tucano's, a Brazilian restaurant. For those that don't know, you sit down and they bring around the meat on spits. You let them know if you want it or not, and they just keep bringing it until you cry mercy. We both ate WAY too much. I was sure my stomach was going to explode, there is just no room in there. Ben loved the food, especially the grilled pineapple. After that we went to a place where you can decorate your own pottery. We painted matching mugs. Most people spend an hour or so doing this, we spent over 3 1/2. We should be seeing the pottery in the mail any day now, and then I'll post a picture. That night we didn't stay at Rob & Kristi's, but we got a hotel (thanks Dad!). Maybe it's not as good as that trip to Hawaii I was originally planning on, but we both had a lot of fun. Besides, if we had gone to Hawaii on our first anniversary, what would we have to look forward to for the next 20 years?
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Happy Anniversary!
I can't believe it's been a whole year already! And I certainly never thought the first year would go like it did. I also never thought I would be 27 weeks pregnant on our first anniversary. I've been told the first year of marriage is the hardest. If that's true, we are pretty set for life (well and eternity). It was a great first year, full of lots of adventure and new things. I mean who gets a 6 month honeymoon in Alaska? Over the last year I've discovered that my husband is wonderful! I knew he was a pretty good catch when I married him, but he's only gotten better since we've been married. I am so excited that I'll get to see him be a dad in a few short months, he's going to be the best dad ever. For our anniversary we got to spend the day out on the town. We had a lot of fun. We went to Tucano's, a Brazilian restaurant. For those that don't know, you sit down and they bring around the meat on spits. You let them know if you want it or not, and they just keep bringing it until you cry mercy. We both ate WAY too much. I was sure my stomach was going to explode, there is just no room in there. Ben loved the food, especially the grilled pineapple. After that we went to a place where you can decorate your own pottery. We painted matching mugs. Most people spend an hour or so doing this, we spent over 3 1/2. We should be seeing the pottery in the mail any day now, and then I'll post a picture. That night we didn't stay at Rob & Kristi's, but we got a hotel (thanks Dad!). Maybe it's not as good as that trip to Hawaii I was originally planning on, but we both had a lot of fun. Besides, if we had gone to Hawaii on our first anniversary, what would we have to look forward to for the next 20 years?
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
The Real Oregon Trail
Growing up I loved playing Oregon Trail, especially when I was supposed to be doing other things like schoolwork. Part of the fun of the game was seeing what terrible things would happen to your party as you traveled across the west- snake bites, running out of food, illness, heat exhaustion, getting caught in a blizzard, Indians stealing your supplies, etc. Now I'm not so excited about 1. the traveling and 2. the terrible things that might happen as we do it. We plan to leave here Friday evening and drive 12 hours to Utah, which means driving through the night. At least this should help us avoid heat exhaustion. I don't think we will run out of food, because Mom Nelson shops at Costco. We already got stuck in a blizzard once, so that should be checked off our list (and I think it's the wrong season for that). I don't think anyone will actually be bitten by a rattlesnake, but I'm sure after 12 hours in the car my ankles will look like it. And if 10-year-twins eating your Nilla wafers is comparable to Indians stealing your supplies, then count us in.
After spending 2-3 days in Utah for Russell's baby blessing and a family reunion, then we get to travel back to Rexburg and start the new adventure of moving into our apartment. That's when the "thou shalt not lift anything heavier than 25 lbs" starts to work in my favor. Mostly I am tired of traveling. I'd prefer to not be in a car, plane, train or boat. Especially without air conditioning (although I hear we are going to recharge it before we leave- which will give us 2-3 days of temperature regulation before it all leaks out again). Ben's not excited that we are spending our first anniversary at his brother's house, as that's the day they are blessing Russell.
We've been in Oregon for a week or so now (I have no concept of time anymore). It's been different from going from just Ben and me to a house full of people. Ben's been working and I've been, well, doing a whole lot of not much. Baking. I've kept 11 people in continuous supply of cookies and other treats- that is quite a feat. Shopping. My non maternity clothes are no longer an option, so I bought a few other things so I don't have to do laundry every 3 days. And Ben needed nice clothes for school, so I hit up the outlet stores here. Our little girl has more clothes than I do, and she prefers to be naked right now. No grandmother can resist buying cute little clothes, especially the $.25 at yard sales. Hopefully they will all fit in our car.
We've had some fun too. We went to Red Lobster (they don't have one in Alaska). We went swimming. We went and saw that new Batman movie. Pregnant women should not go see 2 1/2 hour movies that start at 8:30, it got over well past my bedtime. We want to pick blackberries, but we are anxiously waiting to see if they will ripen before we leave.
I stupidly injured myself again. This time I got in a fight with a razor. Sadly, I wasn't even shaving. I was washing my hair and my elbow caught an unsheathed razor that was hanging up. Luckily it only made it through the first 2 layers of skin.
And that's all. For now. I'm am sure we will have more stories for The Traveling Circus part deux.
After spending 2-3 days in Utah for Russell's baby blessing and a family reunion, then we get to travel back to Rexburg and start the new adventure of moving into our apartment. That's when the "thou shalt not lift anything heavier than 25 lbs" starts to work in my favor. Mostly I am tired of traveling. I'd prefer to not be in a car, plane, train or boat. Especially without air conditioning (although I hear we are going to recharge it before we leave- which will give us 2-3 days of temperature regulation before it all leaks out again). Ben's not excited that we are spending our first anniversary at his brother's house, as that's the day they are blessing Russell.
We've been in Oregon for a week or so now (I have no concept of time anymore). It's been different from going from just Ben and me to a house full of people. Ben's been working and I've been, well, doing a whole lot of not much. Baking. I've kept 11 people in continuous supply of cookies and other treats- that is quite a feat. Shopping. My non maternity clothes are no longer an option, so I bought a few other things so I don't have to do laundry every 3 days. And Ben needed nice clothes for school, so I hit up the outlet stores here. Our little girl has more clothes than I do, and she prefers to be naked right now. No grandmother can resist buying cute little clothes, especially the $.25 at yard sales. Hopefully they will all fit in our car.
We've had some fun too. We went to Red Lobster (they don't have one in Alaska). We went swimming. We went and saw that new Batman movie. Pregnant women should not go see 2 1/2 hour movies that start at 8:30, it got over well past my bedtime. We want to pick blackberries, but we are anxiously waiting to see if they will ripen before we leave.
I stupidly injured myself again. This time I got in a fight with a razor. Sadly, I wasn't even shaving. I was washing my hair and my elbow caught an unsheathed razor that was hanging up. Luckily it only made it through the first 2 layers of skin.
And that's all. For now. I'm am sure we will have more stories for The Traveling Circus part deux.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
The Traveling Circus
There will be no pictures on this post. Sorry. I don't want to go through all the suitcases to find the card reader right now. Maybe next time. We made it back from Alaska, safe and sound. We had a good time with the Munyers in Anchorage right before we left. The largest incident we had with flying was when Ben got held up in security for awhile. He packed a screwdriver in his carry-on and it took security quite a while to figure out what it was, and then they had to inspect it. But our flight was on time! We flew into Portland overnight and neither of us got the sleep that we needed. Apparently flying isn't a pregnant woman's friend. The next day my ankles were swollen. I remember one of my ankles being swollen that large before- I was 6 and was stung by a wasp. It was disgusting and not very comfortable. And I had killer heartburn to top it off.
The next morning we packed and left again. This time we piled 14 1/2 people into a 15 passenger van, which was surprisingly far more comfortable than an airplane. And we were dragging a boat that was piled with luggage and food. We weighed 13,000 lbs. I can only imagine what people were thinking when we all got out of the van at KFC- 13 people, one of them pregnant, and a 6 week old baby. And then we had to order. We drove 4 hours to Grandma Sharp's house in Richland, Washington. Saturday we got up and drove 4 hours to Great Grandpa Ogle's house in Moscow, Idaho. We visited him for his 98th birthday and then drove back 4 hours to Grandma Sharp's. Around halfway back half the car got "caged monkey syndrome." Perhaps you've experienced this before: too many people, too long having to sit in the same spot, no possible way to be entirely comfortable, no one's had enough sleep, and, well, you go a little bananas. We were lucky in that Russell, who is only 6 weeks old, slept in the car nearly the entire time. Despite the caged monkeys, it really wasn't a bad trip. I can remember much worse in a car with only 5 people.
Monday we drove 4 hours to twin lakes. We spent the week there mostly playing on the boats. I did go for a tube ride, a very mild one, and even that I felt later. I was a little sad that I didn't get to try wakeboarding, but I can't imagine trying to get up on the wakeboard for the first time, and being pregnant. I have a hard enough time keeping my balance. I got a tan. That hasn't happened in several years for me. Thursday we got a big wind storm which kept us off the lake for most of the day. Ben filled his time by joining his brothers to make a potato gun. The wind got really bad and the dock started to float away. It was quite entertaining. The huge pine trees were making us all a little nervous. One fell and landed on a power line and we lost electricity, which meant no water because the water pump no longer worked. We stayed the rest of the week without it. For the most part, it wasn't that bad, everyone went to bed a little earlier. And the men had to do most of the water hauling for the toilets. And we had drinking water until a couple of hours before we left on Saturday. The worst thing was that our air conditioner stopped working. It really wasn't that hot, but we found out that the noise from the air conditioner was the only thing allowing us to get any sleep, because we were sharing a room with a 6 week old. And at this point my killer heartburn had lasted for a whole week. I think I got cranky.
Saturday we drove the whole way back- 8 hours- and then unloaded the boat and the car. I don't really remember Sunday, I was mostly comatose. Monday I started taking Prilosec, and within 8 hours of my first dose my heartburn was gone, and it hasn't come back since, even through enchiladas and late-night cheese fries. I can handle being pregnant for a few more months now. We are really enjoying the time with our family here. We got to go to the temple, and we only had to drive 45 minutes to get there! Ben is working with Dan while we are here. I feel bad that he is working the whole time we are here, but I think he is enjoying the time that he gets to spend with Dan before he leaves on his mission in September.
The next morning we packed and left again. This time we piled 14 1/2 people into a 15 passenger van, which was surprisingly far more comfortable than an airplane. And we were dragging a boat that was piled with luggage and food. We weighed 13,000 lbs. I can only imagine what people were thinking when we all got out of the van at KFC- 13 people, one of them pregnant, and a 6 week old baby. And then we had to order. We drove 4 hours to Grandma Sharp's house in Richland, Washington. Saturday we got up and drove 4 hours to Great Grandpa Ogle's house in Moscow, Idaho. We visited him for his 98th birthday and then drove back 4 hours to Grandma Sharp's. Around halfway back half the car got "caged monkey syndrome." Perhaps you've experienced this before: too many people, too long having to sit in the same spot, no possible way to be entirely comfortable, no one's had enough sleep, and, well, you go a little bananas. We were lucky in that Russell, who is only 6 weeks old, slept in the car nearly the entire time. Despite the caged monkeys, it really wasn't a bad trip. I can remember much worse in a car with only 5 people.
Monday we drove 4 hours to twin lakes. We spent the week there mostly playing on the boats. I did go for a tube ride, a very mild one, and even that I felt later. I was a little sad that I didn't get to try wakeboarding, but I can't imagine trying to get up on the wakeboard for the first time, and being pregnant. I have a hard enough time keeping my balance. I got a tan. That hasn't happened in several years for me. Thursday we got a big wind storm which kept us off the lake for most of the day. Ben filled his time by joining his brothers to make a potato gun. The wind got really bad and the dock started to float away. It was quite entertaining. The huge pine trees were making us all a little nervous. One fell and landed on a power line and we lost electricity, which meant no water because the water pump no longer worked. We stayed the rest of the week without it. For the most part, it wasn't that bad, everyone went to bed a little earlier. And the men had to do most of the water hauling for the toilets. And we had drinking water until a couple of hours before we left on Saturday. The worst thing was that our air conditioner stopped working. It really wasn't that hot, but we found out that the noise from the air conditioner was the only thing allowing us to get any sleep, because we were sharing a room with a 6 week old. And at this point my killer heartburn had lasted for a whole week. I think I got cranky.
Saturday we drove the whole way back- 8 hours- and then unloaded the boat and the car. I don't really remember Sunday, I was mostly comatose. Monday I started taking Prilosec, and within 8 hours of my first dose my heartburn was gone, and it hasn't come back since, even through enchiladas and late-night cheese fries. I can handle being pregnant for a few more months now. We are really enjoying the time with our family here. We got to go to the temple, and we only had to drive 45 minutes to get there! Ben is working with Dan while we are here. I feel bad that he is working the whole time we are here, but I think he is enjoying the time that he gets to spend with Dan before he leaves on his mission in September.
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