Monday, May 25, 2009

Pregnant Moments

Pregnancy is a good excuse for doing a lot of stupid things...

I forgot to call my class in from recess. I think they had about fifteen extra minutes outside that day.

In the shower, I put conditioner in my hair, then shampoo, then conditioner again.

I went to school wearing slippers instead of shoes. (I did notice and had time to go home and change.)

While making a bowl of cereal, I pulled the jug out of the fridge...and proceeded to pour water all over my food. Yuk.

I wore my shirt inside-out all day at school. I didn't notice until 2:00 in the afternoon--no one said anything, so I'm hoping no one else noticed, either.

I pulled into the garage and hit the window-down button in the car repeatedly, getting very frustrated when the garage door wouldn't close.


* * * * *

I'm home today for Memorial Day. I really hope that it is in fact Memorial Day and I'm not actually supposed to be at school right now...

Friday, May 22, 2009

There's a first time for everything...and a second

I have mentioned several times to most every person I ever talk to that I don't like being bored, and I go rather insane when I'm home ALL SUMMER. I often hear envious comments of the three months teachers get off from work every year, but I personally think I would do better on a year-round schedule. I think three weeks off at a time would be lovely...just long enough to have a real break and be ready to go back without having so much time that you no longer know what to do with yourself.

Or maybe it's just me.

Anyway, I'm hoping that this summer Jane will keep me somewhat more occupied than she did last summer (walking helps) and that being pregnant will limit my need for constant activity. But, trying to be proactive, we opted to plant a garden. Two reasons: one, it gives me a project to work on and watch over throughout the summer. Two, it gives me something to do while Jane plays outside. I get bored sitting out there watching and my energy level no where near matches hers at the moment, so now I can be occupied pulling weeds and whatnot while she plays. Conveniently, we have four large-ish planter boxes on our back patio, courtesy of whoever owns this particular condo (the rental management company says we're not allowed to know who. oh well).

I've never done any real gardening before. This is a first.

Before:

The tulips were nice, but all the other flowers basically amounted to lots and lots of weeds. We asked Chris's parents, Craig and Janet, to make a special trip to Logan to help us figure out what and how to plant the garden. They were very helpful. They even pulled all the weeds!


We spent $80 (gasp!) at Wal-Mart to buy tools, dirt, seeds and starters. This summer's garden is definitely NOT cost effective, as Chris likes to point out. But, we are paying for my sanity, right? Isn't that worth something? It would have been cheaper if we didn't have to replace so much dirt, but the overabundance of weeds made it desirable.

Here is everything once we had it loaded in the car. Craig (or Chris, I can't remember which) stole (took out the trash early?) some of the plastic off a pallet to cover the floor of the car to avoid losing all the dirt there.

It was definitely a group project, although Chris wasn't feeling well so he and Jane took an afternoon nap. Lucky them, they missed the hot part of the day.

Nice hair, Janet!


Here are the shots of when we were all done. We planted two kinds of tomatoes, small ones and big ones (sandwich tomatoes, Chris says), carrots, onions, lettuce, and three kinds of peppers (mild and hot), and, obviously, lots of flowers. I wanted some color and we thought it would be nicer to look at from the yard if all the boxes were lined with flowers.




Sadly, the tulips didn't do amazingly well being transferred to the other planter box. They look a lot worse today, but it's about time for tulips to start dying--well, at least the blossoms--anyway so we'll blame it on that.

Hooray! I have a summer project!

Don't feel too bad for me. I do have several things I want to get done this summer that I never have time to do during the school year. Jane is getting big enough to play by herself for longer stretches of time so hopefully I'll actually get something done. I am very much looking forward to school ending. Only eight more days!!!!!


* * * * * * *
P.S.


it's a girl

P.P.S. that's a second :)

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Save the Hoohas

In honor of my dad's mom, Linda Nielsen, several members of my family participated in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5K in Salt Lake City yesterday. The Race is a fundraiser to raise money for breast cancer research and patient treatment. Over 18,000 people were in the race, and more donated money to the cause. I can't find the figures for how much money was raised this year, but it's more than the $600,000 raised last year. Click here for an article about the race.

My grandma was diagnosed with breast cancer in February of 2007. Yesterday, we joined the race in celebration of her survival.

Let the journey begin...
Here are some pictures from our TRAX ride on the way downtown for the race, which started at the Gateway Mall.

Jane and me

Mom and Michael

Lisa and Dalton (I promise he has a face)

Christian (Lisa's husband) and Deborah

Amy

The train did get rather crowded the closer we got to the Gateway. I'm not sure Jane appreciated the increased noise level.

Pre-Race Jitters...
We arrived downtown close to an hour before the race started. We found a few ways to keep ourselves occupied while we waited for the race to start.

All of our labels were pinned on our backs:
We posed for a few pictures:

Took a much needed bathroom break (I'm pregnant--need I say more?):
Enjoyed some short warm-up walks:
And let Jane try her hand at photography:
At a breast cancer awareness event, this picture seemed poetically appropriate.

Countdown...
As I said, some 18,000 people participated in yesterday's race. The true runners, who were in it to race, were at the front of the starting line.

The less-athletic, but just as enthusiastic, hung back just a bit.

We claimed our spot and waited for the start pistol.
We missed you, Sarah!



And we're off...

The crowd was HUGE. Pictures don't really do it justice, but here's an attempt to show the magnitude of what we were a part of. You can get some idea if you follow the line of the road. Ahead of us:

Behind us:

After a while, Jane and Dalton decided the excitement really wasn't worth their attention. They found a better way to occupy their own time:

We covered the stroller with a blanket to avoid sunburns. We did get a few comments and laughs...

Success!

We crossed the finish line at 1 hour, 11 minutes, 37 seconds. We all finished the entire race. Hooray!
In another attempt to show the crowd, here is a shot of the finishing line taken from the second level of the Gateway Mall:

But wait! There's more...

Mom requested a special Mother's Day present from her daughters. Any guesses?

Yes indeed, Mom was getting her ears pierced and she wanted her daughters' support. It all started with the paperwork, including showing ID to prove that Mom is over 18 years of age. (You'd think four grown daughters would be proof enough...)

The worker was very nice. I looked at her nametag a bunch of times--I know that she was the Assistant Manager, but I have no idea what her name was. Sigh.

Mom was a little nervous. Amy was there for her.

Cleaning the ears:

Marking where the holes will be:

Waiting--oh, the anticipation!:

Ear #1:

Ear #2:

Success again! Mom was well rewarded for her good behavior.

Don't the earrings look lovely (if you can't see them, yes, they do)? Amy paid for the actual piercing, so she picked the studs. They are blue zirconium, December's birthstone. Both Mom and Amy have their birthdays in December.

Meanwhile...
Christian took charge of Michael, Dalton and Jane while us girls had our ear adventure. They played at the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum, also located in Gateway Mall. If any of you are in Salt Lake with small children, let me know and we'll hook you up with some discount passes. Deborah works there.

There's no place like home...
The TRAX ride home was, shall we say, less enthusiastic than the initial ride downtown.

Whew...
It was a long day, but a very good day.

All for you, Grandma