Pregnancy!

I LOVE being pregnant! And holy cow! It's really been 3 years since I last blogged?

Huh.

Guess I have a lot of updating to do. But for now, since I get so many requests, here are some pictures I've been taking of my growing belly. I can just picture Spencer in there, all warm & squished. Isn't he so cute?! Well, here are the photos I have so far:

It's totally gross to think I peed on that thing, but I HAD to take a picture for keepsake purposes! Here's a close-up of the official word:


I didn't start to take pictures of my stomach until week 14, because

let's face it

there's nothing to show.

But here they are, with some weeks missing (sorry). It was kind of hectic in the beginning, when the children & I were still in the great state of Texas, & Todd was coming to visit us or we were going to Arizona to visit him. Other times, I just never got around to it.

Anyway... aren't I (or at least my belly) so cute? :P

Week 14
I'm really sticking out my stomach
here to try to show The Bump.

Week 16
Yeah... not much bigger. Maybe
a little.

Week 17
We're getting there! This was my
last official week in Texas. :(

Week 19
My first photo in Arizona! Todd was
able to take the picture this time!

Week 20
He's getting biiiiiger!

Week 23
And bigger...

Week 25
I don't know if it's because I skipped
a week, or this shirt is complimentary
to pregnant tummies. But I LOVE
my Bump here!

Week 26

Week 27
Oh BABY! Look at that belly!

Week 28
And here's the most recent. I have
never loved my body so much!

I can't say when the next time I'll post will be. Life is so busy. But hopefully I'll update this again in the not-too-distant future. Thanks for all your love and support everyone! We love you!

Back in 2004 or 2005 – don’t remember which – my good friend Janell was in the ward choir. After a while, I decided to join, too. The choir director of the ward’s name was Sister Cook, and she was the best. I mean THE BEST. She had graduated in Music from BYU and was so excellent at getting the best songs to sing and teaching us how to sing them. Many people, myself included, would go not only to participate in the ward choir, but also to LEARN how to sing. It was like free music lessons! Anyway, when she introduced a new song, she would go over it verse by verse, explaining her interpretation of what the song is trying to say. This alone was awesome because I learned to really take meaning from the hymns that we sing every Sunday, when before I just sang it because the songs were pretty & that’s what I’m supposed to do. But I don’t just sing anymore, I try to understand what it is talking about as I’m singing the words. This has taken the hymns to a whole new level for me, as cheesy as that sounds. One hymn, “Lead Thou Me On” is now my favorite because of Sister Cook, how she described what it was saying and taught how to sing it with sincere passion.

Well, on to what I’m getting at: she was also in charge of leading the choir for Stake Conference. She chose a song that I had never heard before, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”. She had us listen to a tape of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing it. It was a pretty song, I thought. After we were done listening to it, she told us that she knows it’s a difficult song to sing (& she was right!), but then went on to tell us what she thought the words meant. When she did that, I gained new excitement for having the opportunity to sing this beautiful song. It was hard & it took weeks to practice it, but boy oh boy, I tell ya – when we sang it in conference, we were every bit as good as the Tabernacle Choir, just with fewer voices! :) (And it was all her doing, I don’t take any credit!)

Anyway, for some reason, this past week I have been really loving listening to music sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. When I came across this song again, I just listened to it over & over. The message is so beautiful. And peaceful. I decided to look on YouTube to see if they had a video of the Tabernacle Choir singing it, and – yea! – they do! (Several, in fact.)

So (deep breath) the whole purpose of this blog entry is to give the opportunity for you to hear it. If you’ve heard “Come Thou Fount” before, you know how beautiful it is, & if you haven’t, you’re in for a big treat. I really hope you like it.

Because sometimes it’s hard to understand words to a song you don’t know the words to, I’ve included the lyrics so you can listen AND enjoy the message: (turn up the volume!)

Come, thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it,
Mount of thy redeeming love.

Here I raise mine Ebenezer;
Hither by thy help I'm come;
And I hope, by thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here's my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for thy courts above.

Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed his precious blood.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here's my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for thy courts above.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be!
Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here's my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for thy courts above.

(Text: Robert Robinson, 1735-1790
Music: Wyeth's Repository of Sacred Music, Part Second)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUhU0HgTq94

Just wanted to share a bit of joy. Hope y’all have a good day!

Mr. Lead Foot At It Again

The SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) hosts several Solo events every year. A Solo event (aka autocross) is a timed race on a track created using cones. It's usually in an empty parking lot. This one was at the Texas Motor Speedway bus lot. Anyway, this event is one of the few National Tour events and there were people from all over the country competing, about 300 cars in total. I didn't place very well, but I had a blast trying! Here are some pictures and a video.

WOO-HOO! Another semester done & gone! I have almost 4 whole months before I have to go back to school! I have high hopes for this summer. I want to hang out lots with my hubby (which might be a little difficult, since he's taking summer-evening classes for 5 weeks), get lots of exercise, work in our front yard, visit Arizona, possible visit Utah - if we can schedule it when Mom & Dad go, relax, read, and above all, CONVINCE THE DARN STATE THAT WE'RE READY & ABLE TO HAVE FOSTER CHILDREN IN OUR CARE!!! That's what I'm hoping for the most, obvioulsy. We were really hoping that we could get some of the babies from the polygamous group in Eldorado, but 1) they aren't looking for any more foster homes, & 2) they are trying to keep all the babies with their mothers, so it probably wouldn't have worked out for us anyways. Oh well. I'm hoping that since so many foster parents helped out with that situation, it left other opportunities open for Todd and me. That doesn't sound bad, does it? I just want babies... lots of 'em. And until I have so many that I can't get an ounce of sleep for weeks at a time, then I will know I have enough!!! JUST KIDDING!!! Geeze, I can already here y'all telling me I don't know what I'm talking about, getting into, or asking for. It was a joke people!! ;)

*cough* (changing the subject) *cough* Speaking of foster care, it is so cool... I've actually had 3 different people ask me about where to start with foster care in Texas. One was a friend from my ward growing up (she's now in Houston), another one was the sister of a lady that was in my social work classes, and yet another was the friend of another classmate. It is so fun to have people come up to me and ask, "So have you got a child yet?!" or "I know someone who is looking into foster care or adoption through the state... can you give me some information on it?" Many of these people are in my classes, but I've never spoken to before. They are so friendly and just come right up to me and ask about it. Very cool. It feels so good to help people who want to help children.

Anyway, that's all I have to say for now. Hope all is well with y'all. Take care!

Nimrod Returns

Big Boy Tom (for those who feared him, called him that) rose early one beautiful morning to the alluring sound of hens clucking. He enjoyed his status among the other turkeys, he had worked and fought hard to climb his way to the top position among the hierarchy. So, he lazily made his way to the distant clucking, knowing that his mere presence would send those seeking his privilege scrambling frantically to get out of his way.

Finally, he made his way to the most dominant and seductive sound. He thought to himself... "this hen is making the best cluck sounds he had ever heard, she must be new". To this point he had been silent as he made his approach, but as soon as he saw the hen, he let out a loud and powerful gobble. He expected this announcement to make the large male next to her disappear in haste. To his amazement, this inferior male didn't move. "How dare he defy my power and right as the reigning male", he thought to himself.

As he approached the final 15 yards, Big Boy Tom puffed up his chest and wings, and spread out his tail feathers in an awesome display of supreme dominance. Again, this other lowly male didn't move a muscle! Big Boy Tom had had enough of this game. He strutted right up to the other male and looked him in the eye as he circled the insurgent fool.

"Something isn't right...", Big Boy Tom thought to himself. He then realized this "fool" was just a decoy, and that he had been the true fool. He turned to run, but it was too late. He heard the distinct click of a shotgun igniting a 3 inch shell propelling a tight pattern of copper BBs towards him. They came impossibly fast and he was unable dodge the deadly destruction.

Big Boy Tom had heard legends of a mighty hunter whose skill and stealth was beyond most. He knew this Nimrod (as the Bible refers to him) had traveled to his domain recently, and in fact had masterfully taken one of the males in his elite guard just 2 weeks previous. As Big Boy Tom struggled for his last breath, he saw a magnificently camouflaged form emerge from some brush just 20 yards away. He knew it was this "Nimrod" that everyone had been talking about. And so in quite dignity, Big Boy Tom saluted this mighty hunter and drifted into endless sleep.



YEEE! HAAA! I got me another turkey! :-)

 
 
 
 

 
 

2008 Turkey Hunt #1

This was the first time I went Gobbler hunting for myself. Ty came with me and helped me call in some Turkeys. We never got a shot by calling them in though. So we decided to drive to another area and saw a bunch from the road. We parked and backtracked around a ridge and snuck up to them on our bellies. It was about a 30 yd shot and the rest of the story is that we had an excellent Turkey dinner the next day :-) He was 25 lbs.