A Gender, Halfway Mark, and Calling

April 6th was a big day for the pregnancy for two reasons: it marked my halfway point, we found out the gender of our baby (we're having a GIRL!), and we found out that everything about her looks healthy and normal. We are so relieved and feel so blessed.

The other big news is that Mike got a new calling that really affects both of us big time: he has been called to be a Second Counselor in a Young Single Adult (YSA) ward in Provo. And they want me to attend the ward with him for as long as I can. The stake presidency member that called Mike said they want these YSAs to see some solid marriages and he thinks they'll see that when both Mike and I get involved in the ward. What a compliment to us! To hear that others think we have a great marriage, we think we do too but to the extent of setting an example for YSAs - not so sure about that one! Woah nelly. This calling means long Sundays full of meetings for Mike, going to church on BYU campus again, going to Sunday night ward prayer meetings, Monday night Family Home Evening (FHE) activities, ward temple nights, ward activities, and more meetings for Mike on a Tuesday here and there. Oh boy. The funny thing about this ward: I lived in the very area the ward covers, called Deer Haven, from 2003 to 2007 so it's totally a blast back into the past for me. The YSAs are older: most have graduated with their undergraduate degrees and are working, some are in graduate programs, etc. So they are generally between the ages of 23 and 35, with most of them around 26 to 31. And because of their ages, is one of the reasons why the bishop, Mike Goodrich (with whom Mike served in our home ward's teachers quorum sometime ago) - is because Mike and I can really relate to these singles and they can really relate to us since we also remained single for so long before we married.

Mike handled the news of the new calling pretty well. At first he was pretty overwhelmed and nervous, but he's now dealing with it like a champ.  I kind of cried and cried over this because I have been looking forward to being able to finally establish some great friendships with ladies in my home ward after I quit work and stayed home with our baby, and this calling seemed like it would make it quite a bit more difficult to do that since I wouldn't be attending the ward anymore! And I cried and cried when Mike was sustained by the members of this YSA ward in their sacrament meeting. But I've got my crying under control now. And then we hit the road running: when Mike was sustained on Sunday, April 24, he was also set apart, and then had to stay for a couple hours for some meetings, and then we had ward prayer that night, and then FHE the next night, and more meetings for Mike the next night! Wowsa. So here we go! I go from feeling like my life is stalled as a single person, to moving at light speed with Mike now that we're married and expecting a baby and all the other changes that are happening.

Our 1st Anniversary Trip

Mike and I think we've maybe started a new tradition: to go camping in southern Utah for our anniversary since that's what we did for our first anniversary this year. We went down to the Escalante and Boulder area to do some slot canyon hikes that I have always wanted to do, but boy the weather looked iffy as we drove down I-15 in pouring rain pretty much the whole way to Escalante. But the weather cleared a little and we decided to check out the Escalante Petrified Forest State Park rather than do a slot canyon that day.

At the petrified forest

At the petrified forest

In trying to find out the weather for the next day, we stopped by a local outdoor store and talked to a cool guy that point us to Cedar Wash Arch - which was pretty cool! Of course we took some different, longer and crazier trail in our first attempt to find the arch than what he told us about, but it got us there and provided a pretty good laugh when we found the actual trail he talked about that was only a one or two hundred yard walk to see the arch close up.

On our first, long hike into Cedar Wash Arch

View of the arch from our first route

View of the arch from the actual trail and short hike

We camped off of Hole in the Rock road and ate some yummy and easy shepherd's pie that night for dinner. Then the next day the weather looked great so we hauled down the Hole in the Rock road to the trailhead for Peekaboo and Spooky canyons. When we got there, there was only one car, but as we geared up to begin the hike another ten cars showed up much to Mike's chagrin. Peekaboo. Woah nelly. We did it first. I had visions in my head that it was going to be a walk in and come back out kind of deal. I did not anticipate a number of scrambles and climbs!! The first three really wore me out and I was not excited about the several more scrambles I saw immediately up canyon. But Mike helped where he could and I made it through Peekaboo! We tried to make it a loop to Spooky but we couldn't figure it out since there were so many cairns all over the place. So we hiked back down to the main wash to find Spooky and did the normal in and out path for it. (Later, we talked to a couple that had figured out the loop but they said it dropped into a pretty gnarly chalk-stone pile that had some big down-climbs so that made me happy that we didn't figure out the loop.)

Peekaboo - yes, that's a climb I had to scramble up

Peekaboo

Peekaboo

Peekaboo

Spooky

Spooky

Barely fit through Spooky!

After Peekaboo and Spooky, we explored the Batty Pass Caves a little and then also Devil's Garden. Then that night, we had a fancy dinner at the Hell's Backbone Grill and camped at a cool place by the Boulder air strip. 

Batty Pass Caves

Batty Pass Caves

Batty Pass Caves

Devil's Garden

Devil's Garden

On Monday, we explored a little on the Burr Trail Road outside of Boulder: we hiked to an old grainery structure built by cliff-dwellers . . . maybe of the same descendancy as those found in Mesa Verde? And then we attempted to hike down to some narrows along Deer Creek. But after hiking a mile and a half in soft sand and chasing cows, I lost all energy and all emotional control and told Mike he'd have to explore those narrows with Lane since the narrows are too far and too hard for me at this point in my pregnancy.

Me resting by the grainery structure

Mike out exploring a little further away on the cliff where the grainery was

Washington DC with my Mom

I had a business conference in Washington DC March 14 - 16 so like tradition in the past, I asked my mom to see if she wanted to join me (after I asked Mike if he wanted to - of course - but he didn't want to). And she did want to join me! So we flew out early on a red-eye flight to Baltimore (since that's where the cheapest airfare went to from Salt Lake City), and then rented a car and drove down to Fredericksburg, Virginia to sight see and visit one of my dear London buddies (from my study abroad to London in Fall 2000), Natalie.

The red-eye flight was pretty taxing on both of us, but mom mostly. I slept a little; she didn't sleep really at all. So when we arrived at our first sightseeing destination in Fredericksburg, a Civil War battle field, we took a nap in our rental car at the back of the parking lot. :) And then we checked into our hotel in downtown Fredericksburg and walked around their quaint downtown area until mid-afternoon, after which we came back to our hotel to take another nap. Then we met up with Natalie for dinner that night and had a wonderful time gabbing, reminiscing, and catching up.

Cute little, original house on the Civil War battlefield. 

Our yummy lunch place: FOODE

Pretty church with pretty flowers in downtown Fredericksburg

Me and Natalie! 

On Sunday, Mom and I left Fredericksburg to go to Mount Vernon where we just barely beat the rain - we had a tour of the house, visited the grounds, and while we sat in the restaurant for lunch it started to pour! Then back to Baltimore to drop off the rental car and catch our shuttle into Washington DC. Our shuttle driver was a maniac!! He would zip in out of traffic, give us all whiplash as he changed lanes, cut off semis who would rightfully honk at us. Ugh. I'm glad we made it to our hotel alive. 

Mom and I at Mount Vernon

Cute little lambs at Mount Vernon

My business conference was pretty good and interesting - it was all about all the employment law changes and predicted changes. Mom walked around the neighborhood while I was in my conference and she even went into a nearby art museum too!

In the evenings, we went to dinner at Legals Seafood one night and then met up with a dear friend of mine, Camille and her boyfriend. Camille picked us up at our hotel and then we went to dinner, visited the Pentagon Memorial, and then went to a park that was right below where the airplanes take off from the Reagan airport to feel the thrill and rumble of those planes overhead!

Mom and I with Camille at the Pentagon Memorial Park

Wednesday morning, before our flight left that afternoon, Mom and I walked down to the "Mall" and went to the Museum of American History. Last time, we were in DC, it had been closed but had a few of its more popular exhibits in another museum. So I wanted to try out the whole museum now that it was open since I loved the few exhibits I saw last time. Well . . . I have to say it was a bit of a disappointment. It was not quite what I was hoping for. Oh well. After that we caught our much more pleasantly timed flight back to Salt Lake - although I got quite sick on the plane (light-headed, feeling nauseous and hot . . . lovely morning sickness . . .).

Winter "Ski" Trip to Victor, Idaho

The first weekend in March, Mike and I and several of our friends escaped to Victor, Idaho for some winter fun. We rented a quite nice cabin and filled up our car with all our snow playing gear: skis, cross-country skis, snowshoes, crampons, gear to try snow biking, etc. Dave rode with us in our car and we were the first to arrive. Steve and Tessa came. So did Lane and Carol-Lyn, and then Katie and Lloyd joined us the next day. 

Dave and Mike and I played Jenga in the cabin the night we arrived

On our first full day there, Mike and I and Steve and Tessa went snow biking on the trails at Grand Targhee. I got wiped out pretty quickly after two hours of that! But we had fun. And then Mike was going to ski at Grand Targhee in the afternoon with Lane, Dave and Carol-Lyn. I really wanted to go but I was torn since I was pretty tired from snow biking in the morning. In fact, I was so torn over it that I cried in trying to make my decision! I figured out pretty quickly that my crying was a sign of just how tired I was and that I probably shouldn't go skiing. But it was killing me to be a Grand Targhee and not go skiing! Oh well, so I found a beach chair in the warm sun and read my book for a bit until I could get a ride back to the cabin with Steve and Tessa.

Snow biking at Grand Targhee

A new way for me to enjoy the slopes of Grand Targhee, much to my chagrin

Carol-Lyn and Mike skiing at Grand Targhee with the Tetons in the background

Our second day, I got up early to take Mike, Dave, and Lane to the trail head of the peak they wanted to climb: Table Top Mountain. It was pretty funny seeing all three of them pile onto a single snowmobile to traverse the first four miles that was on a road. And then I went back to the cabin to take it easy until early afternoon when I came back to the trail head to cross-country ski the same road they snowmobiled until I saw them coming back.

Dave, Lane, and Mike headed out to hike Table Top Mountain

Mike near the top of Table Top Mountain

On Sunday, we went to sacrament in a local ward there in Victor and then headed over the mountain into Jackson, Wyoming to snowshoe in the rain in Grand Teton National Park - although we didn't know it was going to rain on us. The rain was kind of a bummer but it was something to do, although I did get pretty wet.

Snowshoeing in the rain in Grand Teton National Park

Then Monday morning we headed back home. Quick, but fun trip with good friends. And there was only a few times that I felt crummy due to "morning sickness." 

Big News!

Mike and I are in the process of perpetuating our genes into a little human coming in August! We'll have a mini us!!!! That's kinda crazy to think about. I had great intentions to post a cute announcement but the soul-sucking-fatigue of pregnancy has made me lazy...or...er.....focus on just clothing and feeding myself. Early ultrasound courtesy of being of "advanced maternity age." It has it's perks. Ha ha! :) 

Needed Sun in St George

After several weeks of feeling pretty crummy, I needed to get out of dodge and do something that made me feel like me again. So Mike packed up the car with all our biking and camping stuff, and we drove down to sunny and warm St George for some mountain biking and camping. We biked for 3 hours as soon as we arrived Saturday morning, which was really quite surprising to me since I hadn't exercised one minute for several weeks. But it was glorious!! The weather was warm and perfect. The trails super fun and not too hairy. And the company the best around. 

We camped up on Gooseberry Mesa in our massive car-camping tent, and that night, Mike discovered a hole in his sleeping pad - his nice backpacking one! Thankfully we had packed some extra pads to make ourselves some princess beds so he didn't have to sleep on the hard, cold ground. But this trip made us resolve to buy some car-camping sleeping pads - nice big, comfy ones. 

The next morning, Mike made us some scrambled egg and sausage burritos on our coleman stove in the back of our car. Super yummy! Then we biked once more at Bear Claw Poppy before heading home. 

The warm temperatures and the sun was just what the doctor ordered! 

Sisters Winter Weekend Getaway - Revamped!

Robyn and I continued our tradition that we've been doing for 10 years, but with a break last year and a major revamping! This year, instead of skiing in Utah and staying at my place, we went to Robyn's cabin in Cascade, Idaho and walked around the McCall Winter Carnival. And Mom and Jen joined us!!

There were some nerves about getting into Robyn's cabin as there is a slight hill that always has snow on it, so we took Jill's 4WD Suburban and my AWD Subaru Outback - we had zero problems! Hence the pic that I took of our vehicles in the driveway - to show that we made it in with no problems.

We had fun chatting and laughing and eating yummy food. And it was fun and charming to walk around the McCall Winter Carnival - picking up candy and mardi gras beads thrown at us during the parade, which seemed to consist mostly of local businesses and schools.

I'll let the pics speak for themselves from here. :)