Baby Shower

Two of my sweet sisters threw me a baby shower on Saturday! It was so nice. I am always blown away at how generous and kind our friends and family are. Thank you so much to everyone who came or sent us something. It was beautiful. Cindy and Annie really went all out, and Eli's family helped a lot too and added some beautiful things. You'll see in the pictures: (I don't know why this is underlined!)

Annie made a really cute table runner to match the pink and green. We had a delicious pasta salad (from Cindy), little sandwiches, fruit and dip, veggies and dip, trifle, and chocolate dipped strawberries (from Eli's sister). Everything was so good! The cake was made in ID, Eli's step-mom ordered it and Eli's mom brought it down. It was so cool! I've never seen such an amazing cake! It tasted delicious too!

Annie made Caroline the most beautiful baby quilt! She is really talented. Look at the details of the embroidery!




Everyone gave such lovely (and needed!) presents! Thank you so much!



It was great! Now we're ready for her to come whenever she wants. I started having some contractions Saturday! I think they were just braxton hicks, but still, it means something going on. I go to the doctor tomorrow and he'll check to see if I'm dialated yet. I'm so excited!! This is my last week of work. I was going to work next week too, but I am getting so tired and uncomfortable. If she comes this week, that would be great, but if she comes closer to her due date I'd like to be as rested up and relaxed as I can be. Two weeks left!!

Quarter of a Century

I had a great birthday! I was very spoiled by Eli and my family. Here's how my day went:
I got up and went to work. It's true, I had to work all day on Saturday, but it was fine because I was getting nice calls from family and friends all day (thanks!) and they let me go home early. So, Eli picked me up from work and gave me my presents. He gave me a gift card to Down East Basics (one of my favorite stores), and then as we were supposedly driving home, he went a different way. He wouldn't tell me where we were going, but we ended up walking into a massage place. He had gotten me an hour long pregnancy massage! We were stopping by so I could make the appointment. I was so excited. I'm going Wednesday evening, so I can get completely relaxed before bed. I can't wait! It will feel so good! Eli has really spoiled me this Valentines/Birthday week. He said he wanted to make sure to spoil me now because he won't be able to for the next few years, with the baby and medical school we will have no money. I really appreciate all that he's done. I get to get my nails done, get a massage, and get some new clothes when I have the baby. He really listened to me when I would mention things that I wanted and went out and surprised me with them. He is the best!
Eli's parents gave me a really pretty necklace/earring/bracelet set and a good quality thermometer for the baby/family. I also got to go out to eat on Friday night with my sisters Annie and Cindy at Olive Garden. It was delicious. We felt bad that we weren't with all the cousins though. Maybe next time!
We had a family dinner at home when I got home from work on my birthday. Eli's uncle was in town. Then we all went to see Unknown at the movie theater. It was pretty good. It was more like The Bourne Idenity than Taken, but I liked it. It had an interesting plot twist that I did not expect.
Eli and I got to the movie first to get tickets for everyone, so we had some time to kill. I walked over to Down East, just to see what I might want to plan to get with my gift card, only to find that all of their sale things were 50% off the sale price. I got a really cute cardigan, belt, and bracelet for $20! Eli told me to save the gift card because it was such a good deal! I was so excited! I am trying to make an effort to be more fashionable, by building quality pieces, as Stacey and Clinton would say. I did wear my cardigan, unbuttoned of course, with the belt on the outside, to church on Sunday. I got lots of compliments and I realized it is really fun to dress nice and feel good about yourself!
In Caroline news she is doing great! 3 weeks till the due date! She is definitely stretching my stomach as far as it can go. I think she's dropped a bit. She still likes to move around a lot, but she hasn't been getting the hiccups as much as she used to. It used to be she would have the hiccups everyday like clockwork at 10:30 p.m. But, it's been a few days. I wonder if she's gotten better at swallowing in there. We were given a beautiful blessing gown for her yesterday. And I mean, the most beautiful dress you've ever seen! We are planning on blessing her on May 1st. We're hoping that she comes early, but not until after Saturday. My baby shower is on Saturday and my sisters and friends and family have worked really hard on it and I would hate to have to cancel it. So, she's welcome to come any time after Saturday. That's the update for now. We'll keep you posted!

25

I am going to work longer today than I anticipated. Sadly, I finished my book yesterday and took it back to the library without finding a new one (I didn't have time to go in and peruse the shelves). So, in an effort to do something in between calls, I am going to write a list of 25 things I want to do before I die, in honor of turning 25 soon.

1.Have at least 4 children.
2.Visit the temples in the US (this is going to be difficult because they keep building more temples. I'm not complaining though!)
3.Get Eli through medical school and residency.
4.Learn how to quilt.
5.Build up a huge repertoire of healthy and delicious recipes I can cook at the drop of a hat.
6.This goes along with #5, but get to the point where 65-5% of our daily food is raw.
7.Become a certified Pilates instructor.
8.Travel to every continent.
9.Serve a mission with Eli.
10.Learn how to garden- by this I mean have a successful vegetable garden, and plant beautiful flowers throughout the yard that I can pick all summer and make bouquets.
11.Live close to my sisters.
12.Be able to stay home to raise my kids.
13.Maintain a healthy weight.
14.Build up a big personal library of fiction, non-fiction, and gospel books.
15.Go to one more Neil Diamond Concert so our Caroline can hear him singing her song.
16.Become a master scriptorian.
17.Deliver at least one baby naturally.
18.Go to Disney World.
19.Go on a cruise.
20.Do a triathlon.
21.One day own a nice house, with a large yard where I can plant peach and other fruit trees, a big garden, lots of flowers, and have room for the kids to run around and play.
22.Take an art class that teaches me how to paint.
23.Be as awesome of a grandma as my grandma was.
24.Be someone that others think of a positive and uplifting.
25.Ride an elephant!

That's my list off the top of my head. What is yours?

Promises of Pictures!

So, about a year ago (or longer) I lost the cord to connect our camera to a computer. I'm sure everyone has noticed that I usually don't put pictures on here. Well, today at wal-mart I discovered the best thing! It is a USB port that you put your Memory card. So, I just put 777 pictures on the computer. I'm so glad to find this thing, and it was only $8. So, now I will add some recent pictures and promise to carry my camera around and take pictures and share them frequently. Here are some new ones, in no particular order, Eli as a little baby and that first picture just makes me laugh. Me as a baby, my valentines flowers and meal that Eli made me, belly shots, and valentines cupcakes. I have to go cry right now. Ken Jennings just lost to computer on Jeopardy. That makes me so sick and sad. That stupid computer just was able to buzz in faster than the other players. Not fair. Man v. Machine. The only person to ever beat a machine was John Henry. Duh.

Valentines Day

Eli and I had a great Valentines Day, mostly to his credit. He is very thoughtful and gives the best presents!
We celebrated on Saturday. Eli has a new job (yay!) but the training is 5 weeks long and from 12:30-9:30 every night, M-F. I work from 7:30 A.M.- about 1 M-F, so that means we'll only see each other in the mornings when he takes me to work, briefly at night when he gets home (if I'm not asleep already) and on the weekends. So, celebrating on Monday was out of the question. Saturday was so nice though. I didn't have to work so we slept in (okay, sleeping in now is till about 8:30) and started our day. While I took a long shower and fixed my hair and makeup Eli went out and got me donuts and strawberries for breakfast. We don't eat donuts very often, but I've had a hankering for them lately. He gave me my present too. He got me some beautiful flowers and a gift certificate to get my nails done! I love getting my nails done, with the french tips, but it's expensive so I only do it for special occasions (prom and wedding). I'm really excited. I think I'll go next week, so they can be nice for my baby shower, and hopefully they'll last until the baby is born. I don't know why but I really want to look as nice as I can when she comes. Is that weird? Not that I expect to look perfectly put together whilst I'm in labor, but I do want to have my nails and toenails painted nicely and hopefully have shaved legs. Probably I won't care about any of that stuff when I actually have her, but did any of you moms feel like that?
We went to see the move Gulliver's Travels at the dollar theater after lunch. It was pretty good, a good dollar movie, but it did make us laugh. Then Eli made me dinner. He always makes me dinner for Valentines Day, and it's always something fun and delicious. This year he made chinese cabbage salad, homemade egg rolls (so good!) and rice. It was a really good meal and we had a good time!
I gave Eli Elder Hales new book and a bunch a candy. I hope he liked it, he's already reading the book, so I'll assume he does like it. That was our Valentines Day!

Jazz V. Thunder

I forgot to write about this earlier, when I fell down, it blocked everything else out of my mind with worry. But, Eli and I went to the Jazz game on Saturday and it was so much fun!
In addition to candy, Eli's other love is sports. Basketball in particular. He could watch basketball all day if he let himself. Luckily, Eli has amazing self-control and knows when it is appropriate and when it is not appropriate. But, you could ask him any question about any player or any team or coach EVER and he would be able to tell you about it. I think that is why he'll make a great doctor. He has amazing retention skills. So, one of his favorite up and coming teams is the Oklahoma City Thunder. He thinks they have some great players and are great to watch. His mom got him the perfect Christmas present. Two tickets to Jazz v. Thunder. And these weren't just any tickets. They were six rows back from half-court! We were so close, it was amazing!

The whole day Saturday was great. First we went to our prenatal/birthing class from 10-3. It was great! We learned a lot and it really calmed me down about giving birth. The birthing videos even made me tear up. Then we drove up to Salt Lake. We ate dinner at this great place called The Red Iguana. It was so good. I think it might be our new favorite Mexican Restaurant. Very very very delicious. It was a fun dinner. And we got there kind of early for dinner, which was perfect because by the time we left there was a really long line to wait to eat. Then we parked, and walked around the Gateway. I dragged Eli into Banana Republic because I love that store and just wanted to look around. He surprised me by letting me pick out a less expensive shirt. They were having a 25% off everything sale, so I got a really cute shirt for the summer. It's motivation. It's a medium. I know I can fit into it after I have the baby!
After that we went over to the arena. I had never been there before. It is really big! Our seats were awesome. We got there early enough to see the teams warm up and everything. I can't believe how big these players are! Some of them were 6'11'' or 7'. It was amazing to see them in person. Kevin Durant is so tall, but has some of the skinniest bird legs I've ever seen. And I know Eli could give you a more in-depth technical evaluation of how the game was played and what kind of offense and defense was utilized by the teams, but I was blown away at how fast they were at making plays and passing and the like. It was pretty great. The Thunder won. Eli was happy. We had so much fun and it was awesome! Thank you so much for those great tickets Mom Hammond!Sadly, we don't have any pictures. We assumed, like all stadiums, that you cannot bring a camera, so we didn't even try to. But we saw other people with cameras and then we kicked ourselves. Or I guess if either of us had an iPhone or something with a good quality camera we could have some pictures. Oh well, we'll have the memories. It was a great way to spend our Saturday night!

See You in the Fall!

Yesterday I had an unsettling experience. I have always heard that pregnant ladies are clumsy and likely to fall more because their center of balance is off. And I have been wobbly from time to time. But yesterday I ate it on the sidewalk.
Luckily, there were lots of things in my favor to keep Caroline safe.
I tripped on the sidewalk as I was walking into my doctors appointment. I guess there's no better place to fall in case you really hurt something.
I managed to fall on my side, so I did not land on my belly.
I only have a couple scrapes and bruises.
They were able to find her heartbeat and she's been moving normally. The doctor said he would only be worried if when I stood up from the fall I had blood or fluid running down my legs. That would mean I had really done some damage. I was really shook up about it, thinking about how it really could have made things bad. I'm 35 weeks now and something like that could send you into early labor. 35 weeks is certainly old enough to survive, she would still have to be in the NICU for a while because her lungs are not quite ready yet. We want her to stay for at least 3 more weeks!

Disney Land....7 months ago

So, I am really really late, but here are some pictures from our trip to Disney Land, in July. It was so much fun. We went with our friends Steve and Brooke and had a blast. It was my first time there and it was better than I imagined. Can you believe that Caroline was only 5 weeks along then? She has definitely grown since then!

We have had a fun week so far, and the weekend will only get better!

Tuesday was Eli's grandma's birthday. She turned 88. So, I was able to get Wednesday off work and we drove up on Tuesday after work. It was a fun trip. We went to dinner at a really delicious Italian restaurant with his Mom and Grandma, got to visit a lot, and take grandma on some errands. We really enjoyed visiting them and it's probably the last time for a while that I'll be able to travel. And now I don't want to get too far from my doctor or the hospital. I'm now 34 weeks. I can't believe there are only 6 weeks left!!!!

On our way back from Idaho we stopped by Annie's house and played with the kids and had dinner with them and Cindy and Kurt. Annie also had a bunch of baby girl clothes so we went through it and I took a TON home! I'm so lucky to have all these older sisters who are so generous, otherwise Caroline would be wearing the same 5 outfits over and over. The clothes are so cute and it's fun to remember when Lia Belle or Phoebe was wearing them.

Yesterday we went to the temple and did our grocery shopping. I like it when Eli comes on errands with me. He usually gets to pick out a treat for coming, but have any of you guys ever seen Eli try to decide on what kind of candy to get? It's hilarious/infuriating. You may not know this, but Eli loves candy! Also, he is a perfectionist and always wants to make sure he makes the right decision. His dad said that when he was a little boy and they would stop at gas stations on road trips, the kids were allowed to pick out a candy. Well, they always had to set a time limit for Eli because otherwise he would take hours to pick one out. I remember a few weeks ago we had to run to Walgreens to get something or other. They were having a sale on candy, especially the new peanut butter snickers. Eli was wondering if we should buy some. We're trying to not spend money on stuff we don't need, so I told him he could get it if he wanted to, because he's an adult and can make his own decisions, but we don't need it, especially because we got a whole bunch of candy for Christmas. So, we didn't buy the snickers, but for three days he kept lamenting that we should have got that snickers. Eli is a funny man and he makes me laugh a lot. So, the point of the story is he got some candy yesterday. That is all.

Tonight we are having some friends over for dinner and a movie or game. Tomorrow we have our birthing class, then we get to go to the Jazz v. Oklahoma City Thunder game. Eli's mom got him really awesome tickets for Christmas and we are so excited! My excitement certainly pales in comparison to Eli's. He cannot wait! He really likes the Thunder. I just like going on dates with Eli. It's going to be a fun night! I think we'll even eat dinner in Salt Lake. Eli said I get to choose the restaurant. Any suggestions?

Anyone who is interested is invited to watch the super bowl with us on Sunday. We have the house to ourselves and are planning on making some yummy dips and snacks. We realize that most of our friends around here have family they'll be going to, but if you don't have plans, consider this your invitation to come watch it with us. Give us a call if you're interested!