Grandpa's Birthday Weekend

Sooo I had this whole blog post written out about my Grandpa's Surprise 80th birthday last weekend in St. George (maybe a few of you saw it) and then Blogger went and had a stroke and voila! Gone.

So here's the summary in pictures:

 Aunt Wendy and cousin Dustin

 Mom and Aunt Renee

The Wilcox Clan

The Dad

 

4 generation span (minus my dad): Grandpa (80), Great Uncle Blaine (89), and Ross (19)

The Grandparents on their wedding day in 1953

And the handsome birthday boy 58 years later.

Happy Birthday, Gramps! So glad all the family got to be there!

One final word on the situation

3 Nephi 4:28-31

  "28And their leader, Zemnarihah, was taken and hanged upon a tree, yea, even upon the top thereof until he was dead. And when they had hanged him until he was dead they did fell the tree to the earth, and did cry with a loud voice, saying:

  29May the Lord preserve his people in righteousness and in holiness of heart, that they may cause to be felled to the earth all who shall seek to slay them because of power and secret combinations, even as this man hath been felled to the earth.

 30And they did rejoice and cry again with one voice, saying: May the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, protect this people in righteousness, so long as they shall call on the name of their God for protection.

 31And it came to pass that they did break forth, all as one, in singing, and praising their God for the great thing which he had done for them, in preserving them from falling into the hands of their enemies."

Is it just me?

Or has this been a busy few weeks for world news?

 

 

P.S. I really hate that I have a picture of Osama on my blog.

The nightly routine

These days, my evenings after work look something like this:

Come home
Help make dinner
Eat dinner
Fall dead asleep on couch

Where does laundry, workout, dishes, and spend time with Sam fit into all that you ask?

Good question. Here's hoping my energy finds me again soon.

What is it with pickles and pregnancy?

I'm so relieved to be able to finally talk about being pregnant! This little miracle is just what we wanted this year and we can't wait to finally have a little family!

Sam and I found out 3 days after Valentine's Day (even earlier than I expected) and 3 more tests at various times of day for the next 2 days confirmed it.

As for how I'm feeling, my symptoms have been across the board. First of all, the term "morning sickness" is a complete crock. It should be called "hits-whenever-it-darn-well-pleases sickness". They always say to eat crackers or something before you get out of bed in the morning and to have something in your stomach every hour....lies. I had no control whatsoever about when I felt sick. Thankfully, I've only thrown up twice. Now that I'm into my second trimester, my energy and appetite are back. I shouldn't even say my appetite is back, it's back and badder than ever. I'm surprised by how little weight I've gained, considering how much I feel like I'm piling in.

As for the question in the title, I think it's all about the salt and boy do I know about that! I've even lost a lot of my desire for chocolate. (Ok, some.) After I first found out, I furiously went through all our chips and salsa in 24 hours. Then throughout the first trimester it's been: nuts, egg sandwiches, our homemade oven-baked potato wedges, goldfish, green bean casserole, more chips and homemade salsa, etc. Every week it was something new and what I had craved the previous week suddenly made me sick, but it was always salt. Good thing I have below average blood pressure. For now. :)

 12 weeks and nothing to see (except 5 more lbs. Boo.)

My midwives and hematologist say I'm in great health and my heartbeat was even too strong for them to find the baby's heartbeat on the Doppler at my first appointment. Hence our ultrasound at 10.5 weeks. (Just today I also got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time.) He/she is healthy, very active, and we can't wait to find out if we're having a boy or girl! One more month!

P.S. YES I DID rock climb at 12 weeks pregnant. Take that, pregnancy stereotypes!

Shannon #3

Word on the street is that the stork is headed our way. . .and it's true! Our first little pumpkin is due October 29th, just in time for my favorite holiday!

The proof:

I'm now almost 13 weeks, but here's Baby Shannon's first photo earlier this month at 10 weeks. He/she is a little dancer and was jumping ALL around during the ultrasound! We're going to have a very active child!

Have I been feeling excited/nauseous/terrified/starving/dying to tell/blessed/exhausted/humbled/dizzy/thrilled? You bet! Lots more to come!

Catch Up

Maybe all that blogging in February took it out of me for awhile. I can't believe it's more than halfway through April!

So to catch up: the first weekend of the month Sam and I enjoyed snuggling up and watching General Conference. The weather was so nice that weekend that we actually went up to Rock Canyon Park on Saturday afternoon to throw around the football, play some frisbee, and enjoy the oudoors.

Then last weekend my parents came to town for a few days! Good food and good times. That's what you can be assured with my family. We went to Ross's Concert Choir concert on Friday night and while the boys when skiing on snowboarding on Saturday, my mom and I had a fun day shopping.


Then this Friday we had a 5+ hour double date with Ross and Anna! We went indoor rock climbing at The Quarry in Provo and then went out for dinner and dessert until 11pm. We just love laughing with them and had such a good time that we completely lost track of how long it was going. (Pictures courtesy of Facebook - thanks, Anna!)

 Sam dominating the wall.

 Learning to belay.

 Happy climber!

Ross and Anna.

Aren't they cute?

 Bouldering (aka climbing without a harness or safety ropes. Don't worry, the floor was memory foam.)

Ross showing off.  

Yesterday as I was cleaning the apartment, I turned on some 80's on Pandora, opened all the windows, and loved every second. The return of spring just makes everyone infinitely happier. I'm soooo hoping that the nice weather is here to stay! (You hear that, snow? Don't you dare show your face again until Christmas!)