Nauvoo Pageant...

Honig and I decided that by golly, we were going to make it to the Nauvoo Pageant at least once before we move from Iowa, and since we will be living in heavens-knows-where at this time next summer for honig to precept with another doctor, we were going to walk down to Nauvoo if we had to in order to see the pageant. Thankfully we didn't have to walk, but we did have to drive through a wicked thunderstorm to get there yesterday. We prayed on the way down there that the storm would pass quickly because we really didn't want to drive over 2 hours each way to find that it had been rained out, and thankfully, our prayers were answered. Everywhere but Nauvoo had nasty dark rain clouds pouring down on them. It was almost like we were in an anti-raincloud bubble once we got there. I'm sure we were 2 of many many people that were praying for the storm to pass.
The pre-show activities were fun, and we met a ton of people from all over the country. Honig had a chance to show off his log sawing skills for me, and I think he was satiated after that. He even met a lady who was from Germany so he got to Sprechen Sie Deutsch with her which I love to hear him do because he rarely gets to speak it anymore and his face just lights up afterwards.
Anyways, the pageant was really good and we were really amazed at how well choreographed it was. I will admit that I did cry at the very end when they lit up the Nauvoo temple in the background up on the bluff and President Hinkley's voice came on the loudspeakers and it was a recording from a talk he had given about the Nauvoo Temple. I held honig's hand a little tighter and I had this overwhelming feeling of love for him and for Heavenly Father and Jesus wash over me as I gazed up as that beautiful temple. Any LDS temple is such a sacred place, and I feel so honored to have been sealed to my handsome husband and our children for all eternity in the temple. To know that we will be together as a family for time and all eternity and that death is not the end, that is such a comfort and blessing. We were both talking on the drive home about how blessed we are, and how we have every need of ours met. We know that this baby is going to bless our lives in more ways than we can even comprehend, and we take such reassurance in knowing that our baby will be raised knowing about Heavenly Father and Jesus and will have the Gospel his or her life. We truly feel so blessed right now.

I said UNDER...

So I'm at work the other day (for those of you who don't know, I'm a massage therapist), and it turns out I have a detox to do which are actually pretty rare because they cost so much and people normally just like a good old fashioned rub down with no frills, but this young lady wanted the full meal deal which includes an exfoliation, mud wrap, and then a 20 minute massage at the end. They aren't my favorite thing to do because I prefer to dig in there and manipulate the muscles and give people the "hurt so good" feeling which means what I'm doing is working, but I'll do a detox because I get compensated very well for it and who doesn't love a little extra moolah!?

~

Anyways, so I take this young lady back to the room where we'll be doing the detox, and I explain to her what we'll be doing, and I answered any questions she had. Then I tell her that I'll step out and while I'm out of the room she'll need to get completely undressed and then lay face down under the sheets and I would be back in a minute and ask her through the curtain if she's ready. Simple enough, right? I step out, go wash my hands, and I'm walking by the room when I hear, "I'm ready." Ok, that was quick. So I open the curtains enough so that I can step in and when I look up she is standing there next to the massage table, as naked as the day she was born, with one arm across her chest in a feeble attempt to cover up her breasts, and her other hand was barely trying to cover up her crotch. Look up The Birth Of Venus painting online to see what she looked like because that was the first thing that came to my mind. So I immediately divert my eyes to the floor and back up through the curtains into the hallway and in the micro second it takes me to do that she asks, "What am I supposed to do?" I reiterate to her through the curtains to "Lay down on the table UNDER the sheets, and to let me know when you're all situated," but apparently when she heard it the first time it sounded like "Get completely undressed and stand there naked while barely covering up your womanly bits and then have your massage therapist come in while still standing there."

~

That's just another one to add to my growing list of massage clients that natural selection somehow overlooked. Oh well, at least she left a good tip and we all know that's all that really matters. =)

Picture time!...

Our rockin' friend Amy is awesome and took some lovely pictures of honig and I about 2 weeks ago at a local park, and I just wanted share some of my favorites. I have a million more pictures I love that she took but I didn't want to make the post too long. Thank you a million times over Amy!!

My little vertebrae...

Dean gets to wear this nifty little outfit again this Saturday in a race called the Bix. I think he is supposed to be L5, but I'm not sure. Ahhhh, the things we do for chiropractic. Wouldn't change it for the world though.

And I just thought he looked cute in this one.

~

Our little peanut still isn't showing yet but my pants are definitely starting to get tighter. I'm ok with not showing yet because that means less time of being uncomfortable with a huge belly and a baby kicking my lungs and liver. It's crazy to think that we're at 16 weeks already and then another month and we'll be half way done. We go back to the OB's next week to do my AFP test which I am not looking forward to because they can never ever find my veins and last time I thought the phlebotomist was trying to stick the needle through my metacarpals, and I about threw up all over her. On the other hand, I am feeling so so so much better now and I am starting to get that elusive burst of energy that everyone talks about. We feel so blessed right now and can't wait to see what the next couple of months bring.

Jack in the Box tacos...

I am craving 2 greasy Jack In The Box tacos like a mutha' right this very second but Nooooooooo, the nearest one has to be over 2 hours away and of course if we were to drive all the way there I would end up not wanting it one we got within one mile of the drive thru. Someone send me a JITB taco please. Thank you.

Strong heartbeat...

How can I not love this man?

*For those of you who have asked and are still wondering what/who "Honig" is, it is my name for Dean. It means "honey" in German and it's what I call him out loud 99% of the time. I only verbally call him his real name when I'm mad or frustrated at him.*

Honig and I went to our OB appt today and saw our favorite midwife and asked her a barrage of questions which she lovingly answered and it turns out I didn't have to get my blood drawn like we thought I would. We were supposed to do an AFP test today but she said my levels might not be completely accurate because I'm just under 16 weeks along so we'll be going back in 2 weeks to have that blood draw to make sure it's uber accurate timing-wise. But the BEST part of the appointment was that we heard our little peanut's heartbeat and it was LOUD and STRONG! We've only heard it once before at 11 weeks and she had to search for a little while to find it that time and it was quick and faint but now she only had to search for 3 or 4 seconds and whoa nelly, I think everyone in the entire hallway and waiting room heard the heartbeat from the get go. Honig was standing there holding my hand and we both were smiling like a bunch of goons listening to our little miracle inside me and loving every second of it. Our midwife said that it sounded strong and healthy and was right on track and that was all we needed to hear.

~

We think we're having a boy. No reason behind it, we both are just thinking boy. We'll find out in a month!

Wisconnie...

Dean and I and our friends Brett and Amy went yonder north 2 and a half hours to go canoeing on the beautiful Wisconsin River over the 4th of July weekend and I just thought I'd share some pictures with you crazy kids...

Honig and I all jazzed up and ready to go.

Mr. Man setting up our tent.

He does love to chop wood whenever he has an excuse.

Amy and I taking a time out from swatting mosquitoes for a 2 second photo op.

Notice the Citronella (ok, it's actually OFF brand) candle I'm holding. I was DONE with the mosquitoes. They only came out in the evening and early morning. We all but bathed in bug spray the next morning.

Brett and Amy eating their dinner and ours was just getting started. Honig and I did tinfoil dinners but apparently an hour and a half is too long to cook those. They were absolutely charred and practically unedible so we made brats to replace our ash filled dinners.

Amy holding her first smoke bomb. Brett and Amy are from California where it is illegal to even own fireworks so they were like kids on crack once they started doing the fireworks we all bought. It was hilarious to watch.

I don't even know what he is doing in that picture.

No, I do not have a ring of green mold around my hairline. It was a glow in the dark necklace I was wearing.

After getting there Friday evening and eating and doing fireworks, Saturday moring we were rearing and ready to go once our canoes got there.

Awww, first time canoers but you would have never known it.

Honig was all about the paddling and I was all about the navigating and looking for turtles and fish.

Brett and Amy basking in canoey goodness.

Just in case you were wondering what the back of Amy's and my neck look like...

So some point throughout our first day on the river, apparently the earth decided it wanted to move 20 million miles closer to the sun within a couple of hours and melt the flesh off our skin. I think we all got a little heat exhaustion and we couldn't find a shady camping spot because there were a lot of other people on the river for the 4th of July weekend and the shady spots were all taken, so we settled for an island that had a sandy knoll on top. Dean and Brett were brilliant and strung a rain fly between our tents to provide shade. If you look at the left side of the white tent right next to the side of it, you'll see me laying down in the shade and I pretty much stayed there for 3 hours to make my body cool down. I was afraid our little peanut was boiling inside of me so I was a shade lizard until the sun went down.

Loves.

Our peanuts' first canoeing trip. I was 14 weeks along in that picture.

The view from our camp site.

It was so hot during heat exhaustion day and continued throughout the night that one of the streams that we dragged our canoes up seriously dried up during the night so Dean and Brett had to carry our canoes across the island to the closest part of the river. We canoed until noon and then the lady we rented the canoes from came and picked us up and drove us back to the car so we could head on home.

We were all exhausted by the end of our trip from the heat. Just an example of "exhausted face."

Can you tell I was a little too hot and ready to get in an air conditioned car?

~

With the heat set aside, we had an AWESOME time and would do it again in a heart beat (hopefully with a couple degrees cooler weather).

Theater etiquette...

Last night Dean and I emerged from hibernating in our townhouse, and decided to get a little culture by taking in a movie, and what better way to get culture than by seeing The Hulk. We smuggled in our Mike and Ikes and Sour Patch Kids (heavens knows I will NEVER pay their 1,980,765% markup on candy at the theater but I will begrudginly pay any percentage markup on wonderful, buttery, golden movie popcorn) and we go to our theater and sit down down in the perfect seats and the previews start 1 minute later. Half of going to a movie for us is just for the previews. We love to get a quick 30 second teaser of what is going to be coming out in the next 5 years because it seems that that's about how long it is from the time you see the preview until the time it actually gets released in theaters. Anyways, our movie starts after watching previewy goodness and about 5 seconds in to it I have to whip my head to the right to glare at someone who isn't shutting up. Oh yeah, it turns out it's a little 5 or 6 year old boy that is sitting probably 7 seats away from me. The next hour and a half he must have been 'shushed' by myself and a guy sitting in front of us at least 15 times but do you think that this little kid ever lowered his voice? No. He did not. At all. And to top it off, he was sitting next to his dad and heaven forbid that his dad tell him to be quiet or take him out for not quieting down. The dad was too engrossed in the movie to even notice that his son was on everyone's nerves. And to top it off, the kid wasn't just whispering questions or exclamations, he was all but yelling them. "WHAT'S THAT?" "IS HE DEAD?" "IS HE DEAD NOW?" "IS THAT A BAD GUY DAD? DAD! I SAID IS THAT A BAD GUY?" "I WANT A DRINK!" "WHOA! THE HULK IS BIG!" "CAN I HAVE A HULK? DAD? DAD! I SAID CAN I HAVE A HULK?" At which point I was more into fantacizing about turning into a She-Hulk myself and going over to him and chucking him through the movie screen, through the concrete wall, and into the parking lot. I know everyone in the theater would have appreciated it, and I would have gotten a standing ovation and of course his dad wouldn't have even noticed that his son was gone. And I would have scored myself some free popcorn that was the kids'. We all win.

~

Now, for my 5 cardinal rules of theater attending:

1. If you have a child that is disruptive during a grown up movie, say something to them. I undestand if a kid is little and is watching Wall-E or Over the Hedge and being loud, but chances are that any movie I am in will not be little kid-ish. Threaten them within an inch of their life if you have to. Bind and gag them. Do what you have to. Just know that I did not pay to listen to someone do voice over commentary during the movie.
2. Do not answer your cell phone during a movie. Ever. Even if you think you're answering it very quietly to tell someone "I'm in a movie and I'll call you right back", the entire audience can hear you and the person on the other end of the line. Plus, your illuminated screen is brighter than you think and it draws attention.
3. Do not put your feet on the back of my chair. That'll earn you a whack on the foot.
4. Do not sit directly behind me or in the seat immediately next to me when the entire rest of the theater seats are empty. Would I come and sit right next to you on a bus when every other seat is open? No, no I would not.
5. Do not allow a group of more than 3 teenagers to sit together as that is a recipe for nonstop talk. I will come and sit inbetween them and spit in their popcorn to get them to scatter if it needs be.

~

Obey them. Or you will get the wrath of the She-Hulk.