He's Her Lobster!

I'm supposed to be cleaning... but instead I'm watching my tummy wiggle around. Still the weirdest experience of my life.

School started for Derek this week. Part of me is insanely jealous b/c I wish I was going back and graduating this semester like so many of my friends. But a bigger part of me is perfectly ok with not being there b/c I have a husband and baby girl on the way instead. I will go back one day... hopefully soon. I am so excited for Derek. He's taking a few less hours than he has every other semester, and that has made it so he can work more and regular hours. He still has to work Saturdays, but I get to see him at 6 o'clock every night instead of 10!!! YAY! He does have to wake up super early every morning to do it tho. I can't even begin to tell you all how much I appreciate all the things he does for me and our future family. I am SO proud of him and all that he has managed to accomplish... all the while taking care of me! (As many of you know, I'm not exactly what you'd call "low maintainence" haha)

We have another doctor appointment on monday... If they stick to the normal plan, then this should be the last 4 week appointment... Then we will go to two weeks. That makes me nervous. I am 30 weeks pregnant now, so only about 10 more to go. In so many ways that is the best news and the scariest news all at once! If she were to show up today (which I very sincerely hope not!! she needs to do more growing!) she would think we didn't love her! She has two binkies, two blankets, and some pajamas. That is IT. Poor baby. It freaks me out that we are so severely unprepared for her. But there's no reason to think that she might come early, and two months is plenty of time to get things in order.

We are still not sure where we're headed come springtime. Derek heard from a company in Arizona the other day. Back in September we took Arizona off the list of options for a few reasons. One: it is too close to Utah. I know you all think I'm evil for wanting to be as far from this place as possible, but you are WRONG. Hahaha. And two: it is just more desert, and an even hotter desert than here. I REALLY want some humidity. And last: Derek and I really want to have our own adventure somewhere totally new and different. So, with all that said, when Derek told me that he got a call from this company in AZ while I was staring out of my office window at snow falling... Well, I was a bit more enthusiastic this time around. Haha. I REALLY hate snow and cold. And an offer to live in a desert with NO snow (or very rare snow that melts super fast) sounded AWESOME at that point in time. After further research, it still looks like somewhere we maybe could live... But no one has grass and almost every house I looked at had a cactus of some kind. What the cactus?! If there's no grass, where will my dog play? If the only plants are cacti, what will my dog eat when she has a tummy ache? On the upside, having a pool would be SWEET!! So, there's the latest on that front. There is another career fair coming up and Derek is sure to get more interviews from that. I'm still hoping for the south!

We watched my favorite episode of Friends last night, hence the title. Awesomeness!

Guess its time to go clean now.

Peace out homefrys!

Mmm, Sunshine...

The sun came out today. It was out yesterday too, but I noticed it especially today. Sunshine always brings a flutter of hope to my heart. I feel stronger, healthier, happier when the sun is shining. Even more so when I can only feel its intense heat on my face and skin. I happen to love having really dark hair because it heats up so quickly in the sun. Of course, sometimes in the middle of a July I might feel a little less happy about that fact... But in the dead of December, its awesome. I'm staring out of the big window my desk faces in my office... and pondering all the ways that God shows His love for me, and for us as people. When I see the stark contrast of snow white mountains against a beautiful blue sky, I know that God loves me. I feel like He is speaking directly to me saying "Look Dawn, I know you're unhappy about some things here, but look at the beauty I am giving you today. Let it lift your spirit." And it does. I just wish I could be better about keeping that with me when things aren't sunny and beautiful. I wish I could still see the beauty in things when the sky is cloudy. Oh, all the different ways I mean that....

But today, at least, I am happy. I feel like I could do anything, be anything. I am so excited to see what the next few months will bring. We will know soon where we're headed after April is over. I am looking forward to a new adventure some place I've probably never been. I am still holding out hope that it will be somewhere sunny! Haha. But that will come in time. More than anything, I am excited to start living again. I am excited to make friends again and to be myself again. I feel like I've been hiding in a shell for the last two years here. I can feel the shell breaking. I can feel all the remnants of my old self returning. I am happy to talk to strangers again. I am getting comfortable in my own skin again (which, oddly enough, looks nothing at all like it used to!) and I am feeling confidence I haven't felt in years. All this excites me beyond words. I am so looking forward to meeting my baby girl and showing her all the wonderful things about this world... and I'm so excited that I actually feel like there ARE wonderful things to show her still.

Mmm... Sunshine. It makes me feel particularly insightful. In case you didn't notice... :) Sorry, I know this isn't really just MY place to talk (its Derek's too) but I just had some things to say and no journal with me, so you get what you get. Haha.

Peace out homefrys!

Christmas! (and some other stuff)

This is my bass guitar and Derek's Guitar Hero guitar. He bought me an amp cord so I can play her (her name is Cherry, by the way.) and my parents bought us Guitar Hero so Derek can practice some more. We love playing Guitar Hero and Rock Band with my family. They are nuts!!














You'd think he was a 5 year old getting his first bike for Christmas by the look on his face.... But that's my Derek! It is actually a 3 pound bag of gummi bears.












This looks like a ball of wrapping paper garbage, but its really a tie wrapped like 6 times and with 13 bows. I thought the bows might distract from the ugly wrapping...








So Christmas was a lot of fun this year. We went to my grandma's house on Christmas Eve and had so much fun at our party there. After the party, we went to my mom's house with all my family. Cliff and Melissa had family pictures taken and they turned out SO cute! Cayson is such a little stud. We opened our presents that we got for each other and had a lot of fun. We got totally spoiled by everyone. We got some really fun gifts. Liliana even got some adorable Oklahoma Sooners binkies and little OU pajamas. SO CUTE!!! My mom gave me some more ornaments to add to my collection, including a cute Coke can (that looks awesome next to my ketchup bottle) and a cute one for me and Derek. Derek got a huge padded frisbee that reminded us of the time when we were playing frisbee in the park and he got hit in the face by it. I'm not sure if getting hit by this one will hurt more or less.... We laughed and laughed until my face hurt. We finally had to go home around 11 or so. The drive home was pretty scary when we got to point of the mountain and the wind started blowing snow around so bad that we could hardly see the road. It was nice to finally be home and safe from the storm.
Christmas morning Derek tried waking me up WAY too early. I really felt like the Grinch when I talked him into going back to sleep... but I didn't feel bad enough to actually get up. Haha. We finally got out of bed around 10 and opened our gifts. It was fun to wake up to our own little tree on Christmas morning. We played Guitar Hero for a while and some of our other gifts. Then we got ready and went to Derek's grandma's for a party there. It was fun to hang out with everyone. It is crazy over there b/c I'm so used to my family. We don't have any little kids in my family anymore. All of my cousins are older. But Derek is the oldest grandchild in his family, so there are tons of little kids. Our baby is going to be the first great-grandchild... which is so weird to think about b/c Alice and Dan (Derek's grandparents) do not seem anywhere NEAR old enough to have that title!!!

Needless to say, it was hard to get back to work yesterday! Right now I am just waiting for Derek to get off of work. I really hate that he has to work Saturdays, but I guess that's just the way it is sometimes. Soon enough he'll graduate and then be part of the normal 5-days-a-week workforce! I am looking forward to that!

Today we are going to go to dinner and a movie to celebrate our second anniversary! It is actually tomorrow, but since tomorrow is Sunday we're celebrating today. I can't believe its been two years! It has been so much fun and I'm looking forward to what is to come.

Oh, one more thing...
Do you people realize that it is almost JANUARY?!?! And it's almost 2009??? OH. MY. GOODNESS. That means that our baby is almost here... Derek's graduation is almost here... my days in Utah are NUMBERED!!!!!!! Woo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So many awesome things to look forward to in 2009.... and I just can't wait!!

We hope everyone had as wonderful of a holiday as we did!

Peace out homefrys!

Alright, I'm Giving In...

This is my baby belly at 27 weeks.














This is a candid shot of me looking at my belly. She started moving all weird right when this pic was being taken...

It's Like A Book, Just Look At The Pictures And You Get The Basics!

Aw, look at our cute little purple Christmas tree! Derek must love me b/c he lets me have a girly Christmas tree. See Kitty? Haha. It is adorned with some of the ornaments my mom has given me over the years. Some are very girly, like the "I Love Dance" one that is pink and glittery. Some are totally random (but totally ME) like the Ketchup bottle. I love it. There are awesome stories about all of them and why they apply to my life. And so much evidence that my mama knows me sooooo well!

So it snowed like 5 inches today. Maybe more, but that's what my hand measurement said. (B/c that is sooo accurate!) It stopped right before I got off of work, so the drive home wasn't too bad. I hope it isn't awful tomorrow or Wednesday so we will still be able to go up to Clearfield to see my family. I love the Christmas party and the food! Haha, it seems like all my happy holidays involve food...

The baby moves a LOT now. She's always wiggling around. I spend who knows how many hours staring at my weirdly moving tummy all day. I'm still pretty excited.... For her to come?? HAHAHA I totally lost my train of thought right in the middle of that sentence...

I think I should stop this post now b/c who knows what might come out of my...fingers, technically... next. I'm thinking I should just delete this whole thing. But the point was to put the pic on here. So maybe I should stop typing all this nonsense now and delete everything but the point of this post...

But I won't.

Peace out homefrys!

I'm Not A Grinch...

Hello again! So we've been getting ready for Christmas. I wouldn't let Derek play Christmas music or put up any decorations until after his birthday on the 7th (and 8th, haha) so he was excited when I "finally" gave the go-ahead last Tuesday. We had his brother Stuart over for dinner and to help us decorate our Christmas tree. I think we were all feeling a little nostalgic for past Christmases. It was fun. Derek and I continued our own tradition of making the star to put on the top of the tree. Last year I made one side and Derek made the other. This year we just designed one together and Derek assembled it. He is really the one that designed it; I just provided the paper. Haha. It totally puts last year's star to shame. Our cute little tree is 4 1/2 feet tall, but it sits on our end table so it looks normal from across the room. I thought it was only 3 feet tall and I was feeling VERY short next to it... so I'm glad to find out that it is 4 1/2 feet tall. Someday we'll have more than just my uber-girly ornaments. Hello Kitty has taken her place right below the star. Poor Derek... if he thought I was bad, just wait til our daughter gets here! Knowing our luck she'll be even girlier than me! EDIT: So Derek told me that I didn't prove that I'm not a Grinch. Here's why I think I'm not a Grinch: I HELPED put decorations on the tree; I SANG ALONG to the Christmas music we were playing while decorating said tree; I bought some lights to go on the front WINDOW for even MORE decorations; and... well, I guess that's really all. I did it all, tho, without complaining about it and I even smiled!!! So there. I'm not a Grinch!

Speaking of the baby, we got to see her today. She's huge!!! Well, she's still only like 2 pounds, but compared to the little blob she used to be, its pretty crazy that she has grown so much in a few months. Everything looks good with her and I'm doing much better with this whole pregnant thing. Of course, now that I'm not that sick anymore I can see all the other not-so-fun pregnancy symptoms MUCH more clearly. I still think of the alien movies whenever she kicks or stretches. She really likes to kick my ribs... which tickles for now, but I've heard it can be kinda painful. I'm officially 6 months... so only 3 more to go! We'll start a countdown at the beginning of the year.

So December brings another special occassion for us... our wedding anniversary. This will be our two year anniversary! It's been so much fun and we're looking forward to many years to come. :)

Peace out homefrys!

Football, Food, & Fun!

The week of Thanksgiving is always one of my favorite times of the year. I am a HUGE football fan, and the games are always great. (Especially yesterday's whomping of the Cougars... sorry, Derek) I also look forward to my birthday most years. I'm happy this year b/c it hasn't snowed yet! Haha, I can almost always count on snow for my birthday. And the best reason for the season? The food!!! I LOVE Thanksgiving dinner at my grandma's house. We always have the best food there! It's fun to get all the family together and eat and hang out for a while. It gets a little more complicated when you get married and have even more family to see on holidays, but it is still fun.

This week has been really busy. I am working full time now as the other lady is too sick to work for a while. My boss said she won't be back until "after the holidays at least." I'm still trying to get used to working full time... it is a lot more tiring than I remember!! But then again, the last time I was working this much, I wasn't very pregnant yet. Speaking of being very pregnant, I feel like a whale. And, no, there will not be any pictures posted. Well, maybe some from the shoulders up. Everyone says I'm still really small, but I don't feel so small. And what's with all the weird things that come with pregnancy??? Like memory loss, weird rashes on my arms, and dropping every thing I pick up??? Oh well, it won't last forever, right?

Derek has been sooooo busy with school. I think this is the busiest semester ever for him. Probably b/c he is working a ton of hours too. I really appreciate all that he does for our little family. We are both super tired all the time, but we will have a little break for the holiday. Then its back to the grind til the semester is over. After that... Only one more semester to go! I don't know if words can describe how excited we both are for school to be over. I'm sure Derek is more excited for that specifically, but I am excited at what that means: we finally move!!! We still aren't sure where we're gonna go in May, but we know it will happen.

We had another ultrasound this past week. It is always fun to see our baby girl and how much she is growing. She was HUGE in this last one compared to the previous one. We will get to see her again at the next appointment. She is already learning well how to avoid the paparazzi and has not let us see her face. Good for her, I say! But we do need to see her face so the doctor can rule out... something.... I don't remember what. Derek probably knows. I am feeling pretty good most days, with the exception of being dead tired by like 6. I have even had enough energy to feel hyper on a few occassions lately. Sources say that will end soon. Haha. I do have to say one thing, I am SO glad that I get to go thru this with Heather. It makes it easier to feel good when I can talk to her and we both know that we're normal and things are going well. And its fun to share stories of baby hiccups, getting kicked in the ribs, and whine about not being able to sleep.

Oh, the Cowboys game is starting... That's pretty much all I have to say! Hope everyone has a fun and safe Thanksgiving!

Peace out homefrys!