Soon there'll be three of us!

This might look like a simple picture of Josh and I with our dear friends' little girl, Maddie, but it's also a glimpse into what's coming for us in just six short months:
We are going to have a baby. Yes, we are excited, and yes, the thought of being parents for the rest of our lives and all eternity scares the daylights out of us. But it is a mandatory first step in the circle of life, and we seriously need the tax break.

Due date: Feb 5, 2008
Gender: unknown
Misc. details: Just one heartbeat, thank goodness!

This pregnancy has been very standard and healthy so far (knock on wood). I had a very easy pregnancy and delivery with Amanda, so we're hoping for something similar with this one. So far, so great!

And the packing begins.

Katie and Bronson left me yesterday. Even though I got to sleep without socks and pj's on last night, and now I don't have to feel guilty for keeping the a/c above 80 degrees, I was sad when Bronson wasn't there to greet me this morning. I'm gonna miss that little boy. I'm so pleased it was *my* stairs he learned to climb. It's like I got to make a permanent mark in his ever-changing world.

Today is supposed to be my first official "get serious about packing up to move" day, and all I've accomplished so far is washed two loads of laundry and read up on everyone's blogs. But the packing will resume soon, very soon. I'm going to repack the guest bedroom and bath first, then do the up- and downstairs closets. There are 5-6 boxes in the garage on shelves that I want to go through before I relocate them to the "ready for moving" side of the garage, and then I'll start boxing up the kitchen dishes I don't use often. I have a lot of bedding, cleaning supplies, house plants, and misc items to freecycle, so those should be gone in the next few days, and I started one bag of clothes for the Big Brother, Big Sister dropoff last night.

I'm so grateful I have these next two weeks to take some time to go through everything and not drag it all up to Utah with me. I'd go crazy if I had to sift through all of this stuff before I could settle into my new home.

The Move

School is over! Well, for now it is. My final was Thursday, Aug 2, and I think I did well. We shall see when this semester's grades post.

What comes next? The big move. We have to be out of our home by August 31, so I've already begun boxing things up and stacking it all in the garage. The guest bedroom and bathroom are empty and ready for me to clean, and the computer room and hall closet have almost reached that point. Biggest shock so far? The amount of bedding we have. Worst fear? Going through our bedroom closet.

It's actually been a lot of fun for me to go through things, organizing and getting rid of some stuff. Josh has sold some valuable geekware on craigslist, but I've listed most items on Freecycle for people to haul away if they want it. I've taken down my paintings, bubble-wrapped them, and will store them at my folks' house in Toquerville so I don't have to worry about throwing them in the back of the moving truck. I'm also nervous about moving my houseplants. My mom said I could temporarily store them at her house while we get settled, but I have 24 total, and I don't think she's ready to take on that kind of responsibility.

We've gotten several bites on our housing wanted ad on Craigslist, and are looking at a home in the Daybreak subdivision in South Jordan and one at Traverse Mountain in Lehi. They both have the space we're looking for at the price we want. The home at Traverse Mountain is actually in a better location for us, but I've heard it's very windy out there. Anyone know if that's true? Josh is now working in SLC full-time, so we want to find something soon, get an official move-in date, and get serious about hauling all of our junk up there. Fun, fun!

What a week!

I took two tests yesterday. Very difficult tests. I feel pretty good about the test I took in lecture, but I didn't do so hot on my lab. 86% was my grade. Ugh. My overall lab percentage is 92%, though, so it turned out okay. It was hard to prepare for the lab practical. It was the same day as the lecture test, so I didn't focus on it as much, and those blasted slides are just so difficult to identify. I missed the tongue, bronchus, and the lung slides. But I got the pancreas, thyroid, pituitary and testis! Here is an example of what we see and are supposed to identify: In case you don't know (and care for some reason) that is the thyroid gland. I actually couldn't remember what it was, but I recognized it as an endocrine structure, so I made a list of all the slides we learned for the endocrine system and systematically marked off the ones I knew I could recognize. The thyroid was the only one with a question mark, so I put it as my answer. It worked!

Anyway, the time I've spent *other* than studying has been most delightful. Josh's aunt and uncle are visiting from Maryland this week so I've gotten to spend some time with them. They are gems! Very personable and entertaining. We did a Vegas-style buffet last night and it was the perfect release to a stressful day. They are good company and I'm so glad I got to know them a little better.

Mini-vaycay

Saturday evening, Josh and I went to St. George to attend a surprise birthday party one of his favorite Dixie IHC coworkers threw for his wife. There was a dreamy chocolate fountain, the surprise was a success and it was fun to meet new people. And it just so happened an old friend of mine was the DJ for the party! I haven't seen Lex for about eight years (although the occasional 'update' email has been exchanged between us) and I had a great time catching up with him.

But the highlight of our little trip was that Gregg (the party-thrower) had gotten rooms at the new Marriott for some birthday guests that came up from California. We had planned to drive back down to Vegas after the party, but Gregg mentioned that one couple didn't make the trip, and would we be interested in staying in their room? Heck yes! Sleeping in a bed is much better than falling asleep in the car on the drive home, leaving Josh alone with the BBC news on NPR. We went to Target and got some toiletries then went back to the hotel and had ourselves a mini-vacation. That one night of luxury was sooooo nice. We slept in Sunday morning, had a delicious hot breakfast, and then drove home. It was lovely.