its a boy!

congrats, you were all right! it does appear obvious, doesn't it? here is a description of the pictures in case anyone couldn't see it (dad!)

1. profile with his fist on his nose and chest
2. profile and chest
3. looking straight on (hi strongbad)
4. another proflie
5 & 6. basically she described these as if you were looking from under a glass top table and he is sitting on top of it. you can see legs and butt and....boy parts!

its nice to have the sonogram lady say "yup, its a boy", "look, there you see it, its a boy", and "this is difinately a boy". with kate, no one could say for sure it was a girl so I kept having nightmares that she came out a boy(...not that a boy is a nightmare, I just had too much pink stuff for that kind of surprise!)

so we're having a boy and I'm still trying to get used to the idea. do I have any idea what boys are like?!? no. I'm afraid that ryan will be at school all the time and come home to find his son playing dress ups with his sister and mommy because they have no idea what to do with a boy. but I am excited for this new adventure. so excited, in fact, that I bought this at target yesterday:

(it was SO hard to bypass all the cute newborn dresses though!)

the moment you've all been waiting for

the sonogram day finally arrived (after being postponed a few weeks for our lack of being in tucson!) I was more nervous than excited, which is how I remember feeling last time. ryan is adamant that we play this as a little game and not just as an announcement, so here you are. take a look and see if you can tell what we're having!

I have lots of christmas catching up to do, but I thought this took priority! have fun!

new york videos!

I posted some of the videos from new york here, but the full story is down below

madonna in the subway

this was our favorite of the subway performers!

ryan playing bells

this was in battery park (where you see the statue of liberty from)

times square

ryan's video of times square!

New York!!

my long awaited trip to new york city finally came and it was so much fun! we did so much, I don't even know if I can remember it all....but if you don't mind a lot of pictures, here it goes. I flew in on saturday night and ryan and his cousing sarah were there at the subway station to pick me up. (it was SO nice having sarah there to help us!)

on the way to sarah's house we walked through times square. we walked out of the subway station and there was the late show! so that was our first picture. times square was really crowded but was awesome.



sarah took us to her and her husband justin's apartment and we settled in for the night. she lives in hoboken, new jersey and we took the subway out to her house. a few blocks from her house there is a great view of manhattan over the water. I loved her apartment and it was SO nice of her to let us stay with her!

the next day we set out for our first fun adventure. sarah was our guide so we didn't have to worry about maps or where we were going or getting lost! this is washington square? I think....at any rate, its a park and we got offered drugs there. so that was exciting.







ryan thought this picture was hilarious. (notice the sign)



it was in grand central station. it was so funny how throughout the trip everything we saw reminded me of a movie or tv show. I was like "oh yeah, like in the movie madagascar!" when we got to grand central station! this is a dark view from inside. but you can kind of see the clock that the giraffe gets his head stuck in! they had this cool kalidescope light show going on on the ceiling and walls. very christmasy.

this is the chrysler building

and this is sarah and me inside the chrysler building

this is us at "THE tree" in rockerfeller plaza. we couldn't get close to the ice skating rink because there were a million tubas performing christmas songs down there at the time and there was a big crowd.

this is outside of saks fifth ave with their cool snowflake decorations

we did some more walking and ended up at radio city music hall

times square again

and then ryan broke down and gave into my desire to see a broadway show and we got tickets to see mary poppins!

it was WONDERFUL! it was a in a really cool old theatre and the play was great. ryan even said it was better than he thought it would be, so I guess he enjoyed it a little! it was an awesome way to end the night. then we made it back to sarah's apartment all by ourselves....

....and that was the first day! I know, man alive, we packed so much in!! we were so exhausted....but then we woke up and did it all again the next day!

we started off by timing the subway ride to columbia because ryan's interview was the next day and we wanted him to be ready. we found the school of nursing first and the hospital that is across the street is so old looking!! and it was a really foggy and overcast day to begin with so it almost looked haunted!! then we took the subway back a couple of stops to where the actual columbia university is. we walked around to kind of look at where we would want to live. there were 2 really pretty parks right there! okay, they were less pretty in the winter, but I still enjoyed them and could see the potential they had in less cold seasons!

this is ryan looking smart in front of the columbia library....isn't it a pretty building?!?! we loved the campus!

sarah and I walking by one of the parks

after we were done looking around columbia we hopped on the subway and headed for the temple.

it was so funny seeing such an important building look so small!! but it also felt kind of homey and familiar to see church things in that big city! the wards around columbia actually meet in the chapel in the same building, wouldn't that be cool?

after the temple we headed down to the other side of manhattan and saw wall street and the NYSE and the things around it. sarah and I both had a massive craving for a cookie so we also found a little place that had some sweets that we stopped and ate!

this is a really pretty church that is right in the middle of all that financial stuff I talked about up there. it was amazing. I love old things like that, and especially cemeteries!! there was a little one out on the side and you could actually read some of the markers.

then we saw the statue of liberty. we decided it was too cold for the ferry ride (don't we look freezing?!?) it was funny because when I was listing off the things I wanted to see when we were there, I kept forgetting about the statue of liberty! its only one of the most new york things!

we were also pretty tired by this time so we decided to head back to the apartment and ryan made his pasta and we played games. it was so nice to relax and hang out with justin and sarah. they are really cool and it would be so fun to live near them!

the next morning was interview morning. here is ryan in his suit on his way out the door. (its from a funny angle because I was warm and snug in bed and I didn't want to get up!)

doesn't he look handsome in it? he headed to his interview and sarah and I stayed and slept and took our time getting ready before we headed out. I was so sore by then (especially my hips....it must be a pregnancy thing because I thought it was a weird place to get sore!!) we went to central park and it was really big and really nice. it was amazing how when we got into the middle of it how quiet it was. someone was really smart to think to save that spot for a park because a city like that definately needs it!! this is a famous fountain in the park that I can't remember the name of.

we were at the park when ryan called and said he was done with his interview. he said it went really well and the director said she didn't see any reason why they wouldn't accept him. so now it looks like we have some decisions to make! we met him at the temple where he changed out of his suit and then we did the last thing on ryan's list....ate a hot dog from one of the vendors.

we had left our bags at justin's cool modern workplace at bloomberg and so we headed over there and got our luggage and said goodbye! sarah took us pretty far on the subway and then we made the rest of the way on our own. our flight back was long and we got home after midnight. we were so exhausted. but it was so worth it! thank you so much to sarah and justin for all your hospitality! it wouldn't have been half as much fun without you!

I just hope we're as good of tour guides when all of YOU guys out there all come visit us in new york someday!

now I worked today and work tomorrow and ryan works tonight and tomorrow night and then we leave friday for washington. lots of packing and laundry and everything to do! so this will probably be the last post I do until after christmas when we got home from wenatchee! can't wait to see some of you there and to everyone else

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

ryan update

ryan arrived in richmond last night at around 11 and he took his first taxi ride ever to his hotel. since he got there LATE, he went straight to bed! luckily his interview wasn't until 12:30 the next day. he made it there on time (navigating the buses) and he said that he thought the interviews went great. (there were 6 of them!!) he also says its COLD. (he's a bit or a tucson wussy himself!!) tomorrow he rides the train to new york and I meet him there on saturday!! I will pack him some long johns and a hat and scarf!!

I think its so funny how I always have patients who seem to match what is going on in my life. yesterday I cleaned a nice lady's teeth who lives half the year in new york city. she told me all about it (and told me how freezing it is and how I NEED to bring my husband a hat!) and today I cleaned a nice man's teeth who went on and on about how nice richmond is. he really thinks we should live there!

matching aprons

isn't it funny how I'm so busy and stressed and feel overwhelmed with how much I need to do....when most of it I don't even "need" to do! this weekend I decided to make matching aprons for kate and me. its a little big but I figure she'll grow into it. when it was done I was so sad because she screamed whenever I tried to put it on her! I thought maybe if I hurried and finished mine that she would want to match....not so much. the only thing that gets her halfway excited is if I show her how cool the pocket is.

she loves the pocket

little toes

my mom had painted her toes for a christmas party that she went to last night and this morning kate was fascinated by them! she kept going over to her toes and touching them. so we decided to give it a try! kate was so patient as I painted them and waited for them to dry and then she just LOVED them. she was walking around looking down at them and every once in a while she would stop and look at them and touch them. what a cute girlie girl!!

(and she was so proud of them, she posed for the camera very well!!)

the reason for my long absence

Bethlehem, an oratorio

this friday and saturday was my long awaited orchestra performance! we've been practicing about once a week since october and I have loved being in an orchestra again (despite all the time it took and stress it added to my life). we practiced tuesday and wednesday this week with the choir and lights and performers and it was quite a production! the man who wrote the oratorio and who conducted it is amazing. he told the story of Christ's birth through the orchestra and choir and there was also some actors who acted out what was going on. so many people worked really hard to put it together and the spirit of the story was so strong. I wish you all could have been there!!

as a side note, it felt really funny to be dressed in full concert black without my ami! I seriously kept looking around for you! I can't remember a concert since I moved to oklahoma that you weren't there with me!

decorating the christmas tree

last night for family home evening we finally decorating the christmas tree! and it was so much fun because kate actually had fun doing it (and she only shattered one bulb!) unfortunately, she wasn't in a very good picture taking mood....we tried to set her in front of the tree but the only thing she wanted to do was slide on her fleecy bum on the hardwood.

she is one silly girl!

its beginning to feel a lot like winter!

right after thanksgiving the weather turned cold here! its FREEZING!! and it makes it feel so much like christmas time. (okay, so the freezing part is a little bit of an exaggeration since its in the 70's still....but the nighttime lows are in the 40's and that always makes you feel like its cold when you get dressed in the morning!) so kate has been able to wear her cute sweater handmedowns that we've been waiting forever to wear!

(last sunday we had the missionaries over for dinner and the elder from alaska pointed to our gas fireplace and asked if we ever used it! of course we use it!! it gets COLD here!! hee hee)

dani and our thanksgiving tradition

it was so much fun to have dani here for thanksgiving. kate was in HEAVEN! on the day after thanksgiving we went bowling,but i as is our family's tradition. its been a long time since kate went bowling and it fascinated her. but it also frustrated her. she hated that she couldn't pick up the ball because it was too heavy!! but she wanted to be right in the action. she would stand right behind everyone as they bowled and then clap for them when the pins fell.

we had a lot of fun and we miss you aunt dani!!

happy thanksgiving!

I just realized that I really didn't take too many thanksgiving pictures...and the ones I have are pretty random! we started off the morning with the boys going to play football and us girls cooked and watched the macy's thanksgiving parade...and kate fed the dog!

(we're dog sitting the fattest and laziest and loudest snoring dog that I've ever met!) but kate loves him and when I was over watching tv, we started hearing the clinking of dog food going into her metal dish. kate was reaching her hand in the bag and pulling out tiny handfulls of food at a time! besides the fact that I think dog food is DISGUSTING, it was pretty cute.

the only other pictures I got were of kate helping grammy make rolls. she had a lot of fun with the flour!

as everything was going on, I couldn't help but think of what next thanksgiving will be like....where will we be living?!? will we be somewhere out all by ourselves?!? it made me very thankful to be so close to family!! we are very blessed!

snow!!

I really can't express in words how much kate loved the fake snow at the mall...but I think these pictures do a good job of it!

santa, on the other hand....

santa claus is coming to town

yesterday I took kate to go see santa and it was really fun. our mall has something new this year called "santastic" and they had all these switchbacks for the millions of kids that were going to flock to see santa. luckily, I went on a work day before thanksgiving so we were literally the only people there. the first thing you do is go to this big mailbox and when the lady tells you to open it you either put your letter to santa, if you brought one, or just say a wish in your hand and it gets sent to the north pole on the north wind. so when you open the mailbox, fake snow flies out at you and it makes a wooshing sound like it took it to the north pole. kate was very frightened. (oh yes, and there was a camera there to capture the moment!) then you go to the naughty or nice meter and push a button and it tells you if you were naughty or nice. kate was nice, so she got to sit on santa's lap. santa was so friendly and wasn't just like "smile, now get off, next" he let us take our time and take lots of pictures. I have a few on my camera of her screaming (of course) and then santa suggested I get in there too. his chair is extra big (just for this, I suppose) and so I sat next to him. luckily, I had looked halfway presentable that day since I had to be in the picture too!! oh kate! if only she was a little older, I think she would have really enjoyed everything. her favorite part was the fake snow that they made and it fell on the line. she just LOVED it! (I'll post pictures of it soon!)