Got 3 Minutes?

Go HERE and watch the "Meet The Cast" video. Then start counting down the days to September 25th.

Umm....

So, like, I have, like 5 weeks until my due date! Isn't that crazy? This pregnancy has really just flown by. We are so excited for Owen to come and join our family. Zoe talks about him every day and loves to touch my tummy. Sometimes she lifts up her shirt and shows us "Zoe's baby Owen" so I don't think she quite grasps what is going on, but it's dang cute.

Anyway, I thought I'd take a couple minutes and document this pregnancy for my own sake. I have such easy pregnancies and I am so blessed. I have been way more tired this time around, but that's probably due to the fact that I chase a 2-year-old up and down the stairs all day. A few weeks ago I was having a tough time because Owen was getting a little too strong. His kicks were literally hurting me (anyone read Breaking Dawn? A few parts really hit close to home). I'm sure some people at the grocery store thought I was going to go into labor in the middle of the aisle as I was constantly stopping and wincing in pain from this little "nudger." Plus he was mostly kicking in the same spot so I was sore. Besides being strong, he is pretty persistent. He picks a spot to stretch or push against and won't give it up for a while. It was getting really uncomfortable for a couple weeks. Luckily, it seems like he has grown enough that he can't get as much momentum behind his punches or that he's settled into a position where they don't bother me as much. Either way I'm happier.

As anxious as I am about handling 2 kids and all that that entails, I am really excited to have Owen here. I feel so prepared in some ways and yet I know I'll be taken completely by surprise when he comes. I feel like such a different person than I was when I had Zoe - much more patient and relaxed, but less organized and "on top of things." Oh well, it's probably a healthier trade off for the whole family.

The next 5 weeks will be packed with so much change around here as Summer draws to an end, we get back into the routine of James going to school, and we tie up the many loose ends we have to take care of before Owen comes. I am so excited to share it with all of you and if you have any advice about the whole "more than one kid" situation (or just having a BOY for that matter) I'd love to hear it.

It Never Ends...

No, I'm not talking about this pregnancy (yet - stay tuned) but about Zoe. This girl can TALK. She is never quiet when we are home. She keeps herself entertained all day long, sometimes without ever taking a toy out of her closet. And all the while she is narrating. She also loves to read and she has quite a few books memorized. These videos are LONG because, like I said, she just doesn't stop. She's also started singing a lot and will throw in a few random stanzas here and there. What a Nuggle. I sure love being able to hang out with such a cool kid all day long.

A Camping We Will Go!

We have been meaning to go camping all summer. We finally got to go over the weekend. We spent two nights up at the lake and enjoyed every minute. The Namannys joined us Friday afternoon and spent that night with us. On Saturday as we made our way home, we stopped to hike to Grotto Falls. It was really just a great weekend. Words don't do it justice, so here are a plethora of pictures:

Tent Sweet Tent

We are a Happy Family

Exploring the Campground

Zoe finds humor in calling chips "twips"

She also enjoys walking like this and tells us she's "Bein' a Jeep"

The Lake - Dang Cold, yet Utterly Irresistible

Someone to Throw Rocks With

The Hike to the Grotto

The Grotto from Above

Hi Daddy!

The Grotto - Bringing a New Meaning to the Term "Cold Water"

My Newly Discovered Super Power

If you've ever been pregnant (or been around a pregnant lady) you know all about those heightened pregnancy senses - smell, taste, hearing, sensitivity to temperature. Last night I discovered a new one - the ability to detect power outages.

At 3:24 am the power in our neighborhood went out. I know because I woke up right when it went out and I checked the time on James' cell phone. How does one detect power outages when one should be dead asleep in the middle of the night? I have no idea. All I know is that I woke up to a very dark room (since the outside lights had gone out as well) and I saw James' phone light up - since it had been on the charger and that's what it does when it's disconnected. Then I suddenly felt hot and noticed that the ceiling fan was off. I looked around and all the clocks were blank. Then I heard the beeping from our computer's surge protector, which also serves as a back-up power source. The power was out for about 15 minutes.

How crazy is that? It took me forever to go back to sleep, but I'm glad I woke up so we knew to reset our alarms. Maybe next time I'll get super speed...

"It's An Open Invitation to Make Noise With Your Face"

If you haven't noticed, James and I love music. We are particularly fond of the Wilco variety. We especially like hearing live music, and yesterday we were able to be passionate about both at the same time. Translation: Wilco played Salt Lake and we were totally there! They had been touring for quite some time, but without ever stopping close enough to us. In April I had made up my mind that we would drive to San Francisco and shell out $300 each for festival tickets since they were making an appearance. A few weeks later they announced a show in Salt Lake. I got my hopes up. Then tickets for the show sold out in a matter of hours, without us obtaining any. I know! I scoured the internet pretty much daily until about 2 weeks ago extra tickets started popping up and we nabbed some. James' boss kindly offered to watch Zoe for us so I dropped her off and away we went.

The show was amazing. Wilco never disappoints - as a side note, it was very fitting that they came so close to our anniversary as we danced to Far, Far Away at our reception and we saw them in concert four years ago, shortly after we were married. Anyway, the show was at Red Butte Gardens and Fleet Foxes opened for them. It was the perfect night.

When Wilco started their set we made our way to the front and were literally yards from the band. I loved every second. They played a great set, taking a lot of music off of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A Ghost is Born, which are my favorite albums. Don't get me wrong, I love Sky Blue Sky, their newest material, but I was glad that the show didn't consist entirely of that album with only a few other things thrown in here and there. They didn't play our song, but they really didn't play any of their slower stuff. It was pretty much a rock show from beginning to end. They did play my all-time favorite (and all-around most perfect song) Jesus, Etc. and that was great. The title of this post is what Jeff Tweedy said when he told everyone to sing along with the song. That man is some kind of entertainer. I just love to watch him...

The only downer of the evening was that security was pretty on top of things as far as taking pictures and recording the show. We saw several concert-goers get a stern reprimand for doing such and the guards were always on the lookout. So I only got a couple seconds of footage here and there and a few not-so-great shots.

The whole evening was just great. Too great. Today I don't feel like it really happened. Especially since it is 9:00 and Zoe is still asleep. I must be in some alternate universe.

It Seems Like Only Yesterday...

It was 3 days after my 21st birthday.
Exactly 2 months after deciding to take that next step.
And only 9 weeks after breaking up for the last time.

Here's what we were doing 4 years ago today:

Boise and Birthdays

Whew! I am getting way behind around here. We took our "staycation" on the road and had an actual mini-vacation over the weekend. We had a friend getting married in Boise and another friend willing to drive with us and split gas money, so away we went. Previously I've avoided similar wedding trips as James and "the boys" have an all-day bachelor party involving golf, video games, and movies and I would be left to fend for myself in an unfamiliar city, usually without transportation - but this time I had an ace up my sleeve. I have an old roommate who lives in Boise and had a spare room for me and Zoe to stay in so we tagged along and spent the weekend with her. She even watched Zoe so I could go to the temple ceremony and the lunch afterwards. It was basically the only vacation we've taken since Zoe was born that has FELT like a vacation for me. Thanks so much Paige! To sweeten the deal, my copy of Breaking Dawn arrived just before we were about to leave so I had plenty of entertainment in the car (although I have mixed feelings about the book itself. I know others feel similarly).

We got back Sunday afternoon and since then we've just been playing catch up. Then yesterday was my birthday. James made me breakfast and Zoe and I spent the afternoon at the pool. The best (and so far only) present I got was that I finally found tickets to the sold out Wilco concert on Monday. We had to drive up to northeast Salt Lake City to pick them up, but at least they are ours. We were starting to give up hope of going. While we were out there, we decided to drop in on some friends and check out their new place. So not too exciting, but it seems that my birthdays never are. Plus I don't really see anything exciting about turning 25. Yech. But I did set aside some money for an Ikea trip and fixing my sewing machine, so I am happy. Craving a smoothie, but that's beside the point.

A Close Call

I'm guessing a lot of our female readers spent Friday night (and all day Saturday) much more pleasantly than we did. Just before midnight we got a knock on the door. It was a woman from the neighborhood informing us that we were being evacuated. Immediately. I thought it was all a bit ridiculous as the fire wasn't consuming homes yet, let alone any that were close to ours. I told James that we should just turn off our lights and pretend to be asleep. How would anyone know? James, being a more upright citizen, went outside and found someone slightly more official to talk to - a guy in a fluorescent, reflective vest. The real news was that we might have to evacuate. That we should prepare now because the next time he came around it would be with sirens and a p.a. system and we would have about 5 minutes to get the heck out of Dodge.

So we did just that. It was quite the educational experience. I found that my 3 priorities in regards to leaving my home with the possibility of only returning to its charred remains are :

1. Pack Necessities - clothes, toiletries, food, blankets, etc. Just enough to get us through a couple days.
2. Pack Valuables - our external hard drive, non-digital pictures, journals, keepsakes, and such. Basically anything that we would never be able to replace no matter how much insurance money we got.
3. Shower - Who knows when we would see another shower if we had to leave our home in the middle of the night? Plus we had been outside watching the fire so we smelled like smoke anyway.

We stayed up pretty late gathering things up, tying up loose ends, and waiting for the alarm to sound. We didn't think it would, but we didn't want to be caught unawares. Truthfully I probably should have been more concerned than I was. I realized this as we drove around Saturday morning to assess the damage to our beautiful mountains. The fire stopped less than HALF A MILE from our house. Yikes. I am surprised they didn't evacuate us.

All in all we were extremely lucky and blessed. The fire, though seemingly out of control last night, never reached the main part of the canyon and it looks as though no inhabited homes were damaged. I just can't get over how close it was, though. It was a good drill and while I hope we never have to think about it again, it's nice to put everything in perspective and take stock of your life in terms of a natural disaster. We've never had to do that before. Oh yeah, and it reminded us that we should update our insurance coverage!

We're On Fire!

Well, the canyon just south of us is, anyway. As I was getting dinner ready James called to tell me that his bus was running late and asked me if I had seen the smoke. I casually glanced out the kitchen window and saw the thickest wall of smoke rolling off the mountains. Here is the news story. Make sure and check out the other pictures on ksl.com. James submitted a couple of ours as well. It wasn't so bad until the wind shifted and now our neighborhood smells like a camp fire. Hopefully it gets contained soon and doesn't hit the main canyon. Good thing we aren't camping this week!

UPDATE: The wind is really blowing like crazy out there. They have evacuated our canyon. It really is a good thing we did not decide to go camping this week. That little hill sticking up over the houses in this first picture is completely charred now. So much for our beautiful view of the mountains.