Paisley

Here is a picture of our baby. On the right side if you look in the black blob inside of the big gray blob you will see another small gray blob. That is the baby. I think it looks just like Jerel. The left side shows the heartbeat. It is funny how the doctor says things like "Hm, 127 beats per minute" and then looks at me for a response as if I know whether that's good or bad.

I have been trying to think of what to call the baby since I'm not a fan of referring to it as "It." So whenever I like something I say "Hm. I really like Egg Nog (or rain or slippers or anything else really random), maybe that's what we should name the baby." I was trying to come up with something to call it that would annoy Jerel and I settled on Paisley. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be annoying him that much. Oh well. That's what I'm calling "It." (Oh, and for those who read the blog about our TV I just want to make it clear that we are not naming the baby Samsung. Apparently even after realizing it was about the TV several of my less smart siblings still thought Samsung was going to be the baby's name...)

I also thought I should clarify how we announced the pregnancy. Between the two of us if you just count our siblings and their families I think there are 34 people or something like that. Not to mention many dear friends and extended family members. We know everyone deserves to be the first to know but we just didn't want to deal with determining who to tell first. So we decided the only fair way would be to make an announcement to everyone at the same time. So if you found out on our blog, don't feel like you missed out on getting a personal notification because we didn't do that for anyone. We love you all and hope you understand.

Well, last night I finished making my pies and as soon as Jerel gets the rolls made we'll be heading up to Bremerton. Jerel is hiding his overwhelming excitement. His favorite part is that after Thanksgiving dinner my family all gathers around the piano to sing Christmas Carols. Not just the popular ones. All of them. We have a bucket of bells on strings and ALL during Jingle Bells, ALL the verses, the kids ring the bells. It is not annoying at all :) Then we do the 12 Days of Christmas and my mom does all kinds of crazy voices for the "5 gold rings" part. The first time Jerel came I was warning him ahead of time not to sing the 5 gold rings part since that's my mom's solo (and has been ever since I can remember). It turns out I didn't need to worry since he really didn't sing at all. Fortunately for him my brother Rick is usually there and they can sit in the corner and grumble about how dumb the whole tradition is. It's all part of the fun!

Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Details on our new little addition

We know you guys must have lots of questions--delivery date, names, how I'm feeling, etc. so I'll attempt to answer them for you. The delivery date ended up being a lot sooner than we expected. As for names we've settled on Samsung. Most importantly, we are both feeling great and are delighted with the new arrival. That's right, today our new television arrived. Jerel is going through a period of mourning. He and the old tv were together for a long time--more than 14 years--in fact the two of them got together around the same time I was going to my first church dance. But the breakup was inevitable . . .

I hate working full time so I told Jerel I thought we should buy a new TV as a reward sort of. So I could come home after a long day and have something to show for my work I guess. Jerel, of course, is much more practical. We were in Best Buy looking at all these fabulous tv's and he says "Maybe we shouldn't get a tv. Maybe we should put the money towards food storage instead." I told him that would be fine but that if we did that I would quit my job immediately. So we got the tv. It seems enormous to me! It's a 46" LCD and everything looks so BIG! We found out we don't have an HD cable box so we aren't enjoying the full benefits yet, but it is amazing already.

I hope this answers all your questions!

Christmas in July?

Asher is an old ladies' man...

I spent Halloween in Arizona with my grandparents. My brother Rick came with his two oldest boys. Rick's brilliant idea was that we all dress up as loggers for the Halloween party at the Elks Club. It wasn't such a bad idea really, except that it was 95 degrees and we were all wearing flannel and wool. But it was fun. My great uncle, grandparents, and great aunt even let me put fake beards on them. They were good sports. I crocheted all the hats and they turned out to be pretty ridiculous. But it was fun.

Halloween at the Elks Club was different for Asher (9) and Mason (7). Mason was a little shy, but Asher turned out to be quite the ladies man. After the costume contest (NOTE: anyone older than 55 should not wear a "wet t-shirt contest winner" costume) some of the older folks were dancing. I was looking forward to dancing with my grandpa. It's something we always did when we visit them, but his health didn't allow it. Anyway, Asher wanted to dance so he got out there on the dance floor by himself and started dancing. I think he was doing the moves from that Happy Feet movie. He ended up dancing with at least half a dozen old ladies! When he finally got home he sat down in Grandpa's recliner and said "Boy, all those women sure wore me out!"

The main purpose of our trip was to scan all the photos from my grandparents' photo albums. Rick and I developed a good system. I got up at 6 or so and started working on scanning. Then during the day we'd work together to label all the photos. Then I'd go to bed and he'd work until around 2am putting them all into a book. He found a good program at blurb.com where you can make your own photo books. Anyway, we got them all scanned--I think it was something like 4 or 5,000 pictures--and the book is just about ready to order. It was a huge project but well worth it. Or at least I think so, I guess I should wait until I see the book to decide!

Jerel held the fort down at home. Before we got married he kept the lights off on Halloween. I refused to be a halloween grinch so I kept the lights on and did all the candy. In fact last year Jerel freaked out because I'd gone to use the bathroom and the doorbell rang and he actually had to hand out candy to some kids...it's amazing he survived! Anyway, I figured since I was out of town the lights would be off this year, but no! He bought lots of candy and passed it out all night. I'm not sure what got into him! Two of the girls from my primary class came by trick-or-treating and I was sad I missed them, but I'm glad Brother Atkinson was there to tell them how cute they were!

UPDATE: At church yesterday one of my Primary kids asked if my dad had told me she came by trick-or-treating...Jerel used to come to class with me for a few months when the kids were really out of control and I've told them a million times that he's my HUSBAND not my DAD but they don't seem to get it.