we love the gal in our ward who can nanny on the weekend

Back in mid October, Cori and I took a little weekend away, only not together. I travelled to California to be with my mom and sisters. Sara invited us along for her final bridal gown fitting. We also got to attend a bridal shower her singles' ward hosted for her and hang out with the fabulous women that are part of the family she has married into. 

The dress fitting was at a vintage clothing designer's studio in the old garment district in downtown L.A. Sara had taken in photos of Grace Kelly and the designer created the perfect wedding gown for her. Ivory silk taffeta, a flattering silhouette, and simple, elegant details. 

I loved all the girl time, as well as getting to see so much of Sara's California life. We stayed in the apartment she now shares with her new husband. We toured the law office where she works. She has a super great office. We ate out at fun little places along the way. It was a great weekend.

Meanwhile, Cori flew out to Chicago to spend the weekend with a group of friends from his MBA days. Well, I say from his MBA days, but the truth is that these guys have stayed in touch and have continued to develop their friendship in the years since. They have maintained a conference call schedule since the day they graduated, and have made great effort to meet face to face as the years have ticked by. The group has whittled down to a core handful, and up to this point, their reunions have been centered around conferences at the business school. This year, they decided to plan a weekend that was all play. 

The main event was the BYU vs. Notre Dame football game. They spent a day and a few evenings taking in the sites of the windy city and the rest of their time in South Bend. If Cori looks like he is laughing in half of the pictures it is because he probably was. Reportedly, he laughed to the point of tears daily. They had so much fun.

Chicago was stormy and rainy, but they took a river tour, wandered Michigan Avenue and ate out at some great places. Then they were off to Indiana.

The Notre Dame campus is so beautiful. Fall splendor everywhere. And they have a lot of fun game day traditions - Mass, candle lighting, parades, tail gating... the guys did it all.

"Touchdown Jesus." He looks down on the stadium. 

The game didn't end favorably for the cougars, but nothing could rain on this parade. They are already talking about next year's trip.

catching up

As a few have guessed, my blogging hiatus has been due to a happy development in our family. Baby L* no. 4 is due to join our family next June. We are so excited and very, very grateful.

Truth be told, after Eden I was content to be done having babies. The postpartum road can be so long and tricky. But we couldn't shake the feeling that our family wasn't complete. I remember shortly after bringing Eden home, I was loading the children in the car and physically looked over my shoulder to find who was missing. We started talking about pregnancy last year. First, we were going to wait until I ran the half marathon with my Sister in January. Then, I got to run the Phoenix Ragnar in February. THEN, we got invited to run the Wasatch Back Ragnar in June. Then, well, there weren't any more reasons to wait ( I stopped signing up for races ) and I just wanted to get the show on the road. Our pregnancies have all been preceded by a miscarriage, so it was with some trepidation that we awaited any changes.

At the beginning of October, Cori and I made our monthly visit to the Temple (pictured above, actually). I had the sweetest experience that night. A very strong and peaceful feeling came that we were doing the right thing at the right time and that everything would work out. I didn't need to be afraid - neither of becoming pregnant, nor of being a crazy person after the baby is born. Shortly after this Temple trip, the symptoms set in. Even after a positive test, we were cautiously optimistic. Finally, my doctor's appointment arrived. At the ultra sound, there were no strange, sad, or unexplainable discoveries - just a perfect little baby with a strong heart beat. So grateful.

So we are surviving the first trimester. I don't remember the other first trimesters being so debilitating. But I'm sure I don't have it any worse than anyone else. Cori has been a regular hero. Things have been super busy for him at work and he comes home every night and picks up my slack without complaint. I haven't been good for much outside of getting through the day's necessities. But I'm getting to the end of the worst of it (all my fingers and toes are crossed) and I'm slowly getting the rest of life back up to speed. The last six weeks have been full of other fun things too, a couple trips, a wedding, Thanksgiving in UT... I'm hoping to get caught up before Christmas. :)

halloween 2012

Oh, Halloween. We got to celebrate it in all the usual ways. Grant got to be Captain America at school for a day. We had a great time at our ward's trunk or treat.

Cori made a pretty fantastic Napolean Dynomite. And I fancied myself a bouquet of flowers so I could be best buddies with our little bumble bee.

Everyone looked forward to trick-or-treating. But for the second year in a row, Grace and Grant were happier handing out candy than going house to house to collect it. We ate pizza and ghoulish jello jigglers. The whole neighborhood was out, it was so much fun.

tuesdays and thursdays

It is Thursday again.

When Grant gets up in the morning, he is usually pretty quiet for a while (like until after breakfast). If he does say anything it is usually to ask what day it is. All days around here are spoken of with reference to that day's activity. Soccer practice day. Piano day. Family night day. Pizza movie night day. Gymnastics day. Family day (Saturday). Church day. School day. Grant loves school days.

Tuesdays and Thursdays, or stay at home days, not so much. About every 15 minutes he is at my side with his big brown eyes asking the same question: "What can I do Mom?" I give him the usual list of options - work book, art cabinet, playing outside, playing with toys, play dough, riding his scooter... he is happy to do any of it as long as I'm doing it with him. Grace would work solo on her little projects for hours at this age. Grant wants a buddy.

I'm working on being a better buddy. Look at that smile.

girls' choice

Last month we organized a Sadie Hawkins dance for the Priests and Laurels in our stake (16-18 year-olds). The whole thing was the brain child of the Stake Youth Committee. They were having a discussion about the difficulties of dating - how kids just hang out or 'go out' but don't date, what to do on a date, girls freak out and think a date means the beginning of a relationship, it is scary asking someone on a date - especially when people don't really date any more. It was mostly the boys presenting the problems, and the girls protesting that these things should not be a big deal.

So the challenge was extended for the girls to try being the ones to do the asking. Thus, a Sadie Hawkins dance. They rose wonderfully to the job, though not without difficulty. Reportedly, some of them were quite terrified to ask - and for all the reasons the boys had mentioned. The evening was certainly worth the trouble. We had a lot fun - dinner, dance instruction, a fun DJ, a photo booth, and some ice cream. And we feel the young men and young women came away with a better understanding of what dating could and should be at their ages, and hopefully how to make it a little bit easier on each other.

 (This is her dad, not her date... he helped set up and chaperone.)