Saturday, November 13, 2010
Thursday, October 28, 2010
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.
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.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
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.
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.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Cousins, cousins everywhere!
Tyler and I started out July by driving to Menan Idaho for a Ray and Annie Miller family reunion. What a weekend! I have cousins that I've never really met before. I have cousins with kids going to college. I have cousins that are grandparents! It was a ton of fun and I absolutely loved seeing the legacy my grandparents created. Here are the immediate cousins that were there Friday night,
...and here's the whole extended family that were present,
Yes, we did all wear name tags :)
Southeastern Idaho is one of my favorite places on earth. I remember when I was little my friends would be so excited for their summer plans to go to Disneyland or Hawaii, and I was just as excited to go to Menan. Last I checked the population was at a high of 700 people, and a good chunk of those 700 are relatives in one way or another.
Unfortunately, it was a little too chilly to jump in the canal behind the old Miller Farm, but we did enjoy walking along it and looking at the old fields while the sun set.
We ate incredible food,
Griffin discovered how unbelievably ticklish Tyler is,
We got pretty up close and personal with some monstrous and valuable elk,
We enjoyed the Menan 4th of July parade and watching Kelsie and Griffin improve their "street skills" to get more free candy and chocolate milk,
And of course, a Miller family reunion would never be complete without lots of tractor rides :)
Tyler and I were really excited to spend an afternoon with Grandpa Ricks while we were there and couldn't believe it when we ran into the uncle Clyde Southwick family in Rexburg. Overall, it was a wonderful weekend with lots of family.
...and here's the whole extended family that were present,
Yes, we did all wear name tags :)Southeastern Idaho is one of my favorite places on earth. I remember when I was little my friends would be so excited for their summer plans to go to Disneyland or Hawaii, and I was just as excited to go to Menan. Last I checked the population was at a high of 700 people, and a good chunk of those 700 are relatives in one way or another.
Unfortunately, it was a little too chilly to jump in the canal behind the old Miller Farm, but we did enjoy walking along it and looking at the old fields while the sun set.
We ate incredible food,
Griffin discovered how unbelievably ticklish Tyler is,
We got pretty up close and personal with some monstrous and valuable elk,
We enjoyed the Menan 4th of July parade and watching Kelsie and Griffin improve their "street skills" to get more free candy and chocolate milk,
And of course, a Miller family reunion would never be complete without lots of tractor rides :)
Tyler and I were really excited to spend an afternoon with Grandpa Ricks while we were there and couldn't believe it when we ran into the uncle Clyde Southwick family in Rexburg. Overall, it was a wonderful weekend with lots of family.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
The Events Preceding, "I feel sorta sick..."
Tyler and I love Saturday mornings with no school and no work. This morning was no exception. We slept in, went for a run, and made a delightful breakfast of whole wheat pancakes and a strawberry smoothie. Satisfied with my own plate of pancakes, I actually started paying attention to Tyler's plate and this is what I saw:
Yes, under that mound of powdered sugar and maple syrup, there is a pancake. I promise- I checked. After taking one bite of his sugary delight, Tyler realized he had forgotten the peanut butter. With only a second's hesitation, he flipped the pancake over and proceeded to lather on more "buttery" goodness.
This is the same man who just minutes prior requested we cook just egg whites to be more healthy :)
Yes, under that mound of powdered sugar and maple syrup, there is a pancake. I promise- I checked. After taking one bite of his sugary delight, Tyler realized he had forgotten the peanut butter. With only a second's hesitation, he flipped the pancake over and proceeded to lather on more "buttery" goodness.
This is the same man who just minutes prior requested we cook just egg whites to be more healthy :)
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Life as we Know it
Tyler and I have been back in Provo for about 5 weeks now and we love it. We love that we have our own little apartment that we're finally settled into, and that we both have jobs that we enjoy. We love our new ward and getting use to this "married life" thing.
The weekend we came back to Provo we had our little Open House. He reserved a pavilion at Nielsen's Grove, and the week prior Mama Southwick helped us pick out food from BYU catering. Everything worked out wonderfully. Tyler picked up the food and we set it out, the threatening rain stayed at bay leaving a windy but beautiful evening for us, no one was too upset when we were completing the final touches and I still wasn't in my dress at the start of the Open House, and we it was small enough that Tyler and I could roam and talk to everyone that came. Unfortunately we didn't get very many pictures, but here are a few that we did get.
Tyler and I have worked hard to get everything settled into our apartment. For a week or so, our apartment felt more like an obstacle course than a home. There were boxes everywhere and so much stuff that we weren't sure where any of it belonged. We were pretty embarrassed when people from the ward would come over and it was a struggle to make it to the couch and then to actually find a place to sit on the couch. But no worries, five weeks later and we are in great shape.
We've had a lot of fun making dinners together and other tasty treats. One night we ambitiously made our own tortillas and they turned out pretty good!
I've learned: homemade tomato pasta sauce is tricky to make the first time, a batch of cookies or muffins seems a lot bigger and lasts a lot longer when there are only two people, Tyler loves chocolate things, Costco frozen fruit is perfect for smoothies, and new knifes really are sharp. I will spare the pictures of my poor thumb.
With some of our Target Gift Cards, we decided to invest in board games. Tyler introduced me to Othello. A game he's never lost. He failed to mention that small fact until I was ready to give up on the game I could never win. Yet, through perseverance and determination, I am pleased to announce that the champion has been beaten. The point of the game is to have the most of your color remaining on the board. Here is proof of my victory (I was white and he didn't have any turns left :)
And here is Tyler's look of disbelief
We also invested in some camping gear to enjoy the great outdoors. It took a couple of weeks before we felt like we had the basics covered and we could venture to the mountains to find our very own camping spot. This past weekend we finally packed our gear into the car and headed to the infamous Payson Lakes Campground (I actually don't know how truly infamous it is, but it was recommended by a couple different sources). It was a gorgeous drive and we were getting excited to finally go on a camping trip. We came to the campground and it was full, as were both of the two large campgrounds up the road. It could have been a beautiful place to camp, so we got out of the car and took a picture of us there to try and compensate for our lack of camping.
With Tyler's driving hunger and a cooler full of roast-able hot dogs and marshmallows, we found our own fire pit on our way back to Provo and reaped the rewards of the food portion of our camping preparations.
There was plenty of room for a tent, it was just too bad there were "Day Use ONLY" signs everywhere...
Saturday we spent the afternoon with Grandma Southwick fixing her computer and going to eat at Golden Coral. I am always amazed by how much Tyler can eat, and it was so good to see Grandma again :) On Sunday we tested out our new ice cream maker and made the most delightful homemade vanilla ice cream with Spencer & Allison, and Jill & Tevya. I just wish we had pulled out the camera, but maybe next time.
The weekend we came back to Provo we had our little Open House. He reserved a pavilion at Nielsen's Grove, and the week prior Mama Southwick helped us pick out food from BYU catering. Everything worked out wonderfully. Tyler picked up the food and we set it out, the threatening rain stayed at bay leaving a windy but beautiful evening for us, no one was too upset when we were completing the final touches and I still wasn't in my dress at the start of the Open House, and we it was small enough that Tyler and I could roam and talk to everyone that came. Unfortunately we didn't get very many pictures, but here are a few that we did get.
Tyler and I have worked hard to get everything settled into our apartment. For a week or so, our apartment felt more like an obstacle course than a home. There were boxes everywhere and so much stuff that we weren't sure where any of it belonged. We were pretty embarrassed when people from the ward would come over and it was a struggle to make it to the couch and then to actually find a place to sit on the couch. But no worries, five weeks later and we are in great shape.We've had a lot of fun making dinners together and other tasty treats. One night we ambitiously made our own tortillas and they turned out pretty good!
I've learned: homemade tomato pasta sauce is tricky to make the first time, a batch of cookies or muffins seems a lot bigger and lasts a lot longer when there are only two people, Tyler loves chocolate things, Costco frozen fruit is perfect for smoothies, and new knifes really are sharp. I will spare the pictures of my poor thumb.With some of our Target Gift Cards, we decided to invest in board games. Tyler introduced me to Othello. A game he's never lost. He failed to mention that small fact until I was ready to give up on the game I could never win. Yet, through perseverance and determination, I am pleased to announce that the champion has been beaten. The point of the game is to have the most of your color remaining on the board. Here is proof of my victory (I was white and he didn't have any turns left :)
And here is Tyler's look of disbelief
We also invested in some camping gear to enjoy the great outdoors. It took a couple of weeks before we felt like we had the basics covered and we could venture to the mountains to find our very own camping spot. This past weekend we finally packed our gear into the car and headed to the infamous Payson Lakes Campground (I actually don't know how truly infamous it is, but it was recommended by a couple different sources). It was a gorgeous drive and we were getting excited to finally go on a camping trip. We came to the campground and it was full, as were both of the two large campgrounds up the road. It could have been a beautiful place to camp, so we got out of the car and took a picture of us there to try and compensate for our lack of camping.
With Tyler's driving hunger and a cooler full of roast-able hot dogs and marshmallows, we found our own fire pit on our way back to Provo and reaped the rewards of the food portion of our camping preparations.
There was plenty of room for a tent, it was just too bad there were "Day Use ONLY" signs everywhere...Saturday we spent the afternoon with Grandma Southwick fixing her computer and going to eat at Golden Coral. I am always amazed by how much Tyler can eat, and it was so good to see Grandma again :) On Sunday we tested out our new ice cream maker and made the most delightful homemade vanilla ice cream with Spencer & Allison, and Jill & Tevya. I just wish we had pulled out the camera, but maybe next time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)