Visitors!

Mama and Papa Southwick came last week and it was absolutely wonderful. On Friday, Tyler and Taylor took time off from work and school to come see the Bloch exhibit at the Museum of Art on campus. BYU transported a collection of original alter paintings from Denmark to display at BYU. I had seen his work many times, but the beauty, size, and attention to detail in the originals was astounding. Here are a few of my favorites from the exhibit:





These pictures are borrowed from LDS Church News and some of them show the audio/ipad system they had set up for visitors to learn even more about the paintings.

Tyler and I loved seeing the paint globs, the brush strokes, the cracking paint, and flawlessness of detail in every shadow, expression, and bulging vein. It was also great practice as Tyler volunteered to carry little Nellie around with us in her car seat.

Sunday was another incredible day. It was an "ah ha" day in many ways. We started with Dallas and Jessica's baby blessing for little Kayla at 8:30. Tyler, Taylor, and a few of their friends from Anacortes were able to stand in for the blessing. Then we went to Taylor and Martha's blessing of little Nellie at 11, where quite a few pews were filled with Southwick family and friends. Both Kayla and Nellie were absolutely beautiful and so very loved. Listening to the blessings, sitting with family, sitting with friends, and knowing I have a husband who has lived his life in a way that he could stand in for those beautiful blessings and offer the blessing of our little boy when he comes, was wonderful. It was a reminder of my Heavenly Father's love as I realized how much I loved the people I was surrounded by. It was a reminder of the inherent and divine strength of families. It was a reminder of how happy I am to have an incredible husband and baby on the way to teach me how to love more purely.

Mama Jana then came with Tyler and me to our ward at 2 to help teach our primary class. Our little five year olds were extra reverent and attentive when they learned Tyler's mom had heard how good they were and wanted to come and see them. Tyler thought of an awesome lesson plan to teach the importance of prophets and the priesthood in Christ's church both anciently and today. We took plastic cups and built a "tower" or "castle" depending on which of our boys you asked. Each cup was a component of Christ's church as we see in the bible and what we have today. After building the cup building, we talked about how the people weren't so good after Jesus and his disciples died, so they no longer had prophets or the power of the priesthood on the earth. We let two boys pull the cups labeled "priesthood" and "prophets" out from the foundation of our structure and the kids loved watching the whole building crumble. We also tried to show them that there were still good things on the earth, like the Bible and the ability to Choose The Right and do good things, but a lot of other important things were lost. Then as the lesson went on we talked about how all of those components were restored and rebuilt our building cup by cup. It felt so good to feel like we had a productive lesson that kept their attention (mostly) for the hour that we had them.


We ended the day with dinner at Taylor and Martha's with lots of Nellie holding. We were sad to say goodbye to Scott and Jana, but so so happy they came. We're excited for them to go see the Jason and Leah family in Florida and for them to be there for Ollie's blessing.

The Sad Truth

Tyler loves Christmas time. He starts listening to Christmas music after his birthday. His birthday is September 14th. This last Thanksgiving, Jana and I went to Martha's baby shower and came home to find Tyler and Scott on the roof putting up Christmas lights. Tyler was SO excited! They had found some colored lights and an adapter that twists into the existing porch light, allowing us to turn on the Christmas lights with the flip of a switch from inside. Our colorful lights were on every night. Until the sad truth was revealed.

I had been struggling the decision of how long into the year we should keep our Christmas lights on. I took note as one by one, our neighbors' beautiful yards reverted back to their pre-Christmas states. Most ceased to sport their lights within a week of Christmas: and only the stalwart few remained after the snow melted. When I realized ours was the only house with lights remaining, I suggested that maybe our season of Christmas Light Cheer had come to an end. Tyler was visibly heartbroken, but still switched our plug-in adapter for the traditional energy saving bulb. This was last week, the first week of February...

Baby Update

We had an ultrasound on January 5th, 22 weeks along, and found out we're having a little boy! He's doing well and was just as active in this ultrasound as he was at 12 weeks. Here are the few pictures we have of our little man:

Profile with his hand coming up to his face,


Little arm,And his little foot.
I love being able to feel him move. My favorite thing this week has been, not only having Tyler feel baby boy, but being able to lay down and watch my belly contort with his movements. Sometimes my belly looks like it's being jostled side to side, and sometimes there's just a quick protrusion as he kicks and punches.

My belly is finally starting to protrude. It is the weirdest thing to have one image of yourself in your head, and then look down or look at your reflection and the image is quite different. Quite often I'll think of myself as a regular me, that looks the same as I've always looked, and then I have one of those moments, and I love it! My mental picture of being pregnant always included a cute pregnant belly and I finally feel like I'm starting to get there.

This is me, 24 weeks pregnant:


Date Night

While I'm blogging , I might as well include the best date ever! I found the recipe for Tyler's favorite soup yesterday, PF Chang's Hot and Sour, here. It took quite a bit of searching at the grocery store, but Tyler managed to find all the ingredients. It was really easy to make and SO SO good! It made me so happy to see how much Tyler loved it.

I also made the Hershey's Chocolate Cake Recipe. It came out of the oven looking more like a crater than a puffy dome... but it still tasted really good!

After our delectable meal, we went to the musical play, Peter Pan, put on by the BYU Fine Arts Department. We both loved the performance and had the songs stuck in our heads this morning. We couldn't take pictures during the play, but here as some posted on the BYU website:




It was an awesome date night and I just love this husband of mine!

Ode to 2010

2010 was an incredible year. Some memories were captured and blogged about, some were not. This post may be a little long, but I want to summarize the wonderful events that made up 2010 for Tyler and I before we dive into the adventures awaiting in 2011.

January

Tyler and I drove back to Provo with Chelsea and Edwin from our Christmas break together . We started a new semester and enjoyed taking Stats together. We started talking very seriously about the idea of marriage and designed my ring at the very end of the month.

February

We took a weekend trip up to Spokane with Taylor and Martha for Valentine's Day and Mama Southwick's birthday. Little did I know Tyler had the ring, and he proposed on February 13th in Riverfront Park.

March

Colter was born. School, making wedding plans, finding an apartment, and trying on LOTS of dresses. My mom came down and we decided on a final dress design and worked out some more little wedding plans.

April

Finals and graduation for me. Taking engagement pictures (lots of pictures...) and designing a wedding announcement with my incredible sister-in-law, Leah. Printing announcements and gathering addresses. I moved into our new apartment at the end of the semester when my contract at Brownstone ended.

May

I drove up to Spokane a little earlier than planned with Mama Southwick at the very beginning of the month to help with wedding stuff. Tyler stayed in Provo for work until the week of the wedding. May 14th came, and it was the most perfect and beautiful day. The wedding was beautiful and we loved seeing so many family and friends. Best day ever! We flew to Hawaii May 15th and thoroughly enjoyed our 9 day stay on Oahu. We flew back to Spokane for our car and made our way back to Provo in time for a little Open House at Nielsen's Grove on the 29th. Tyler went back to work at BYU and I started working as a Speech Assistant for an intensive summer therapy program using palatometry. I loved it.

June

June was spent settling into our apartment. Lots of unpacking, trips to Target, playing board games together, walks, exploring, and bike rides. We tried to help Jason and Leah as they packed up to move to Florida, though we were very sad to see them go. We casually started looking at houses with our Realtor, SuAnne Hoffman, whom we absolutely loved.

July

We Drove to Menan for a large Miller family reunion. Afterward, my family headed up to Yellowstone for camping and exploring. Tyler and I came back and participated in The World's Largest Water Balloon Fight at BYU. Just for coming, they gave us free T-Shirts, a sub sandwich, Creamery ice cream, and water bottles. The summer therapy program ended and I began my search for a new job. We found a few short sale homes we liked and submitted offers, hoping for the best. Our little house was approved surprisingly fast and we waited to work out details for closing.

August

I had quite a few interviews for Speech Assistant positions, but all went to candidates with more experience. With the offer already accepted for the little Provo house, and we spent most of the month just waiting to hear when the current owner would be out and we would be able to move in. Our Stubbs contract was due to expire at the end of August, and we just hoped there would be a smooth transition from apartment to home. By midnight of Tuesday the 31st, we had everything packed, loaded into a Uhaul and the apartment cleaned; still unsure when we would be able to unload our things.

September

A big month. We stayed at Taylor and Martha's while we waited for keys and permission to move in. We signed everything Wednesday, the 1st, and gave them our down payment. On Friday we were still waiting for the legalities to process and for the go ahead to move in. We were really anxious because if the title wasn't recorded by Friday, we wouldn't be able to move in until at least the next Tuesday because of Labor day weekend. And we weren't fans of paying for the Uhaul every day it sat outside Taylor and Martha's when "our house" was sitting empty, just waiting. We got the call Friday afternoon and we were literally unloading the truck 10 minutes later. Tyler even used his flirtatious skills to get the water, gas and electricity on before the weekend came ;) I had tried, but everyone told me that nothing could be turned on until the next week. We moved in and unpacked. We had suspicions of pregnancy early in the month, and they were finally confirmed early one morning. We were both so excited! The rest of the month was spent repairing holes in the walls, settling in, and learning how to deal with pregnancy.

October

Biggest highlights were our trip to Chicago, and replacing the moldy carport. The carport looked like it was bound to cave any day and we were so happy to have it fixed. Tyler put a lot of hours into cleaning out the back yard, which was loaded with junk left by previous owners. October was also our first ultrasound when we found out little babe was definitely alive.

November

Scott and Jana came to Utah to celebrate Thanksgiving which gave us, Taylor and Martha the chance to make the Thanksgiving feast. It was so delightful and wonderful. (Sorry Martha, I stole your picture when I realized I didn't have any!)

December

Little Nelli was born and we were so happy to finally meet her. We were especially happy that she came before Tyler and I flew to Spokane for two weeks of holiday. Christmas was so wonderful. We spent about a week total at each the Southwick's and Miller's, though this was the year to spend the actual Christmas day and Christmas Eve with the Millers, but we still managed to run out to Scott and Jana's for Christmas afternoon :)

Well, 2010 was an incredible year and had more changes and exciting events than I could have anticipated. Tyler and I are so happy about all the changes and so excited for this next year!

The time has come...

To invest in a rake :)

Oh BABY!

It's true. We're having a baby! Seeing as both Tyler and I were baby hungry before we even started dating, I don't think the announcement is much of a shocker. Today was out first appointment. What a day!

The appointment was at 2, and fortunately Tyler was able to leave class early to be there with me. We went through the thousand questions and gave them everything for the needed lab work. We got to the part where we tried to find the heartbeat. The midwife tried for quite a while, but there was nothing. My heartbeat was loud and clear, but there was no baby heart to be heard. I started getting a little nervous as our midwife referred us to the hospital for an ultrasound. We had about an hour between the appointments, but finally, finally, we got in. Our baby was definitely alive and very active. We saw hands, feet, joints, a heart, and all of them were moving everywhere. Well, except for the heart. It was just beating :) Here are the pictures we have of our little one.


I may have cried a little when the technician first said, "Your baby is definitely alive!" We're about 12 weeks along and so so excited to know that our little papoose is growing strong! We didn't get home til a little after 6, but seeing our baby move was definitely worth the long day.

Chicago!

This past week Tyler had a work conference in Chicago. BYU paid for the hotel, food, and Tyler's plane ticket, which meant the only expense for me to tag along was an additional plane ticket. We stayed at the Westin Lombard, which I guess is a pretty fancy hotel.
We were on the 13th floor facing east where we could see the Chicago city skyline. It actually looked a lot like this:The best was seeing the sunrise from the 13th floor. I was never conscious enough to snap my own picture, but imagine sunrises like this one in loo of an obnoxious alarm:
I was so glad to have my new friend April there with me. Her husband works at BYU as well, so while they were in classes from 8 am- 9pm, we explored. We learned many valuable lessons.
Lesson #1- If at all possible, do not take the hotel taxi to get the Metro station. The hotel has a free shuttle service if you are aware enough to catch it. April and I were so excited to go into Chicago that we completely forgot to check what time the Metro was or when the shuttle left. We got to the lobby at 10:50, the last shuttle had left at 10:45, the metro was leaving at 11:04, and the next metro wouldn't come until 1:04. Our friends at the front desk told us we could hurry and catch the metro if we took the hotel taxi which was waiting outside. We gratefully jumped in and sped away to the station. In all honesty, I had to close my eyes while he drove. I've never seen someone zip between cars like that. When we arrived at the station, our taxi fare came out to be $12! Twelve dollars for a 3 mile ride! We reluctantly paid, unsure whether or not out small-town-naivety was being taken advantage of. But regardless, we were excited to finally ride on a real metro.
It was sweet! It was a two story train, just for people, with a conductor and everything! I felt a little ridiculous for how excited it was, but this was my first glimpse of big city life. And yes, I did take a picture while we were sitting there. You can kind of see the heads of the people sitting on the second level.
Once downtown, we had to ask a few friendly people how the buses worked and we were able to buy all-day passes to ride anywhere on the city bus. Our first stop- Navy Pier.
From here we could look across Lake Michigan, which really did look like the ocean... Here are a couple pictures of April and I next to the glorious lake. We found a really cool tropical garden area inside the Navy Pier shopping outlet. It had some incredible fountains. We couldn't tell if they were water or glass at first.
We walked through the city to Millennium Park and enjoyed seeing all the really cool buildings along the way.We especially liked the Chicago Tribune Building. It had rocks from all over the world plopped right on the exterior.

At Millennium Park we took pictures of the giant bean and then we were about ready to head back to the hotel.
Lesson #2- When riding the Metro, buy your ticket beforehand if there is a ticket booth available. Otherwise you are fined an extra $3 for you $4 ticket.

The men finished the conference by 1 o'clock on Friday, so they were able to come downtown with us that afternoon. We looked at Navy Pier again, but the highlight was going on the River Boat Architecture Cruise. It was amazing. My only regret is that our camera died shortly after we started the cruise. We left just as the sun was going down which made for incredible sunset lighting during the first half, and then we watched the city light up as the sky became dark. Here are the few pictures we did get.

Here are some borrowed internet photos to show what it really looked like after the death of our camera:
All-in-all, it was incredible. Oh, and I can't forget about the food! We had authentic Chicago Style Pizza, and it was worth the hype. It was more like a pizza pie with crust on the bottom and up the sides. It was about an inch and a half deep of cheesy, topping, saucy goodness. This is enjoying it the second time around:
We never did see any hot dog street vendors, so we tried Chicago style hotdogs at Portillo's, and they were ok. Not quite as impressive as the pizza. Lesson #3- Don't wander downtown Chicago after 6:30 pm thinking that you will find open restaurants. That's exactly what we did. After leaving Navy Pier Friday night, we thought we could just hop on a bus and find someplace to eat. We accidentally missed the stop for our restaurant of choice, but figured if we kept walking we would find something good. We passed a couple of restaurants in that part of town, but none of them looked too appealing. We kept walking. And walking. And walking. We walked all the way to the Metro station on the other side of town. Once we got out of that first part of town, we started to notice that all the restaurants were closed. Our best guess is that since very few actually live in the city, most restaurant owners close immediately after rush hour dining and head home. We ended up eating Taco Bell at the Metro Station. We felt a little ridiculous coming to Chicago and eating Taco Bell, but we were just happy to have food.