The brown loafers are sucking up all my creativity

Why is that weekends go by so fast while the workweek sometimes seems to drag by? Ugh.
I just finished munching on an apple that we got over the weekend during our little jaunt into the mountains with some friends. We were looking for some fall colors. But Washington, we forgot, is the Evergreen State. Meaning there are lots of evergreen trees. So there weren’t too many fall colors. But it was still a pretty drive.

Adam and I had our first appointment with the doctor last week to start this whole fertility process. She was really young, but very knowledgeable and easy to talk to. So we’re both getting tested (my test being a whole lot more pleasant than his), then if everything looks okay, I’ll start taking some drugs in a few months. It was an encouraging appointment – she was very positive about the whole process. But it was also a little scary just because we are going to be finding out some answers – and I’m a little worried about what those will be. Her main advice was just to keep trying and be patient. So that’s what we will do.

She asked me if I was doing anything to help along the process. And so, of course, I told her I’m trying to get healthier – i.e., working out, eating healthier, losing weight, the usual.
So she asked how much I wanted to lose. I told her I really just wanted to get fitter, but I wouldn’t mind losing around thirty pounds or so.
“Thirty pounds? Really?” she said. Then she left the room.

So I’m sitting there, thinking, “Oh my goodness. She thinks I need to lose even more weight than that. I’m fatter than I even thought I was. I’m so fat, I’m probably going to break the stirrups off this flimsy little table. Why do I even eat at all? I should just start one of those liquid diets. Or maybe just start eating celery. Nothing but celery.”

So at the point that my self-esteem was probably the lowest it’s ever been in my whole life, the doctor came back into the room with some good news.
She went through a list of things we could start doing now to help along the process (cut down on caffeine, alcohol – stuff we already knew) and then she said, “And it’s been my experience that women who lose around five to six pounds can jump-start their ovulation just by losing that little bit of weight. I don’t think you need to lose anything like thirty pounds, but five or six might help.”
Whew. Really? That’s all? What a relief. I thought she was going to say I needed to have my stomach filled with a saline balloon or something.

So I’m starting a new workout regime. Which basically means, I’m starting to workout. Adam already had been doing really well with the healthy eating and exercise, so now I’m hopping on board too. I still would like to lose a little more than five or six pounds in the long run, but that’s an easy goal I can start with. And I’m all about the attainable goals.

Love you girls!

Stay at home wife?

I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted. I do get to read what you all write, and I love it!!

Steph -- I will be at the wedding for sure!! We are driving 1/2 way Thursday night and the rest of the way on Friday. I can't wait to see you on Saturday all dressed up. :) You are going to look so beautiful!!

Nothing much going on here. I've been on Fall Break for the past two weeks, and I have no idea what I've actually accomplished. That's not true...my house is mostly clean, laundry is almost done and I'm almost finished with a baby blanket I'm making. I'm not too sure about the baby blanket...but everything else is coming out ok. :) I definitely couldn't make this a full a time thing...I have too much down time. :)

My sister got married two weekends ago now. That was a beautiful wedding. Now...all the Marsh girls are married. I think my parents are grateful and now looking to moved. :)

Fall has seemed to disappear slightly here. We had our first winter storm Tuesday night. We got about 6 inches of snow, that of course by today is almost gone. Jen you would have pulled your mittens out, but don't put away the flip flops...they are calling for 70 next week. :) Ahh...weather in Colorado...you never know what it is going to be like.

another one bites the dust

My brother also got engaged this weekend (that's Jason in Michigan, in case you were wondering which one). They are shooting for a September wedding next year in Michigan. That leaves the youngest, Stephen, as the only un-wed of the family. Other news - my Dad is in the hospital with cellulitis in his leg. He also has pneumonia so please keep him in your prayers.
This thursday and friday I am taking my very first business trip to Marshall, MN! I'll be visiting my team at USBancorp, with whom i have worked with for the last 4.5 years and only met 2 of them face to face. I feel oh so professional.
I think we'll be getting a dog in the spring! I've had puppy fever for a while now and recently, I've passed the fever on to Chris. We just have to decide between a chocolate lab, yellow lab, or black lab. Chris doesn't know this for sure yet, but I'm pretty certain :) I want a big dog that will scare people away with his bark - WOOF!

so excited

Ok girls, I just have to say that I'm sitting here reading all of your blogs and I am SOOO excited to all be together in just a few short weeks for the blessed event of Stephanie's wedding! I cannot wait. First of all, Steph, it is ridiculous that we live in Tulsa and still do not see each other that much. PLEASE call me when you get a chance and tell me when we can get together. Because you are much busier than me. Don't forget that I am having a jewelry party on October 21st at 6pm. Please come. I'm actually selling the jewelry now and need you to come because I'm afraid nobody else will and it will be embarrassing. That's my news girls, I'm selling a quality fashion jewelry called Cookie Lee. It's kind of like Arbonne or Mary Kay except that it's really cute jewelry and there's no sales pitch or pressure. Just fun jewelry! Basically I just show it to my friends and when they have something they need new jewelry for they can buy it from me if I have something they like. I'm also doing some home shows and office parties and craft fairs to make some extra money. I thought this might be a fun thing I could do from home that could help provide some supplemental income for us. I keep some jewelry inventory in stock but you can also order anything out of the seasonal catalog. If any of you happen to be interested in seeing it, let me know and I'll mail you a catalog. No pressure! Just for fun. =) Anyways, enough about me. Liz, thanks for the Michigan tips, we'll take it to heart. I also want to add to Kim's blog that she was not only the one writing her crushes names in her journal with hearts around them, ... but I even remember a time when she wrote her love interest's name of the moment in the pockets of her jeans and I'm pretty sure that we could also find a variety of romantic infatuations listed on the inside of her closet door frame. hehehe =) So, quick update here. Seth has been sick all week. YUK! I haven't seen the light of day since Monday (5 days ago). I'm going crazy! Lilah is good. She's getting fat. But it's cute. My brother got engaged last weekend. I've attached a couple of his pictures from the evening of the big event. His fiance', Lauren, has threatend me with ugly bridesmaid dresses if I continue to laugh at Daniel's stupid attempts to woo her. (He's been calling her to recite messages of Love that he stole off the insides of all my Dove Promises chocolates.) He was attempting this last night at my house and she heard me laughing while he was on the phone with her. Anyways, that's it for us. Miss you all and love you!

My Fair Autumn

Where dost thou goest my fair autumn?! Autumn has slipped away. if you look closely, ah yes, there you go... snow pellets! It's freakin October people!!! The leaves on my two front trees are still green and fully intact. This is of utmost rediculous behavior! I wore my winter coat and mittens today... MITTENS! While this may be perfectly acceptable in climates such as Alaska, Colorado, and the North Pole... it certainly is not in Illinois. I'm really disappointed if you can't tell.
Oh, but i did get new tires today on my car, which makes a huge difference. So I guess I'm ready for the snow, whenever it comes. Now we'll be safe traveling to T-town next month. And this time, i've decided to have my tires regularly rotated because i did learn my lesson there. Oh, Chris and I just watched 'Stick It', that gymnastics movie that closely resembles 'Bring It On'. It was cute with some definate laugh-out-loud parts. I recommend it for a girls night... or if you, like me, have a husband who likes teen-age girl chick flicks. I love this man :)

Blast from the past

So I just upgraded my Yahoo e-mail account to the Beta version. And, for some reason, the little Yahoo gnomes re-sent some of my really, really old e-mails as new messages. My inbox was flooded with e-mails from around the time of our wedding, three and a half years ago.
It’s so weird. Like the me from the past was trying to communicate with the me of the future.

Anyway, I highly recommend this to anyone who’s a little bored – go back and read a couple e-mails you sent or received around three or four years ago. It’s really quite entertaining … and a little humiliating – sort of like reading your diary from jr. high where you wrote down a certain boy’s name over and over, surrounded by flocks of little hearts. Of course, I never did that – but I know some of you did.

Showers and weddings

Hi ladies!
So I thought I would post since I know it will be another long while before I'm on here again. I absolutely love reading all these posts - especially the ones about Grey's.

And, yes, Kimmie I am completely jealous, and that's honestly why I haven't been able to bring myself to call you lately! :) Just kidding. I am jealous though...the Grey's cast is SO much better than my incident with Garth. Thanks for the shoes for the wedding...I LOVE them and they'll be perfect for that day and after. They look way cute with jeans, too. :)

Liz - it's so good to hear a little from you! I hope we can connect tonight! I can't wait to hear your voice again. Too bad you can't meet me in Boston tomorrow!

Jen - I hope you're feeling better! You've been on my mind a lot, so give me a call when you get a minute.

Juls - Why is it that we live a matter of minutes from each other and we both seem to be too busy to get together. I have a shower gift for you and I want to see if you can do a trial run with the make up with me sometime soon. Of course, that means that we'll have to SHOP for make up. If you're ok with that. :)

Angie - I miss you mucho. I am so glad that we're getting better about our daily emails again, but somehow it's just not the same. Thanks for all the help you've been giving for the wedding! We'll chat about that soon.

Jamie - I CANNOT wait to see you and I am so glad you'll be able to make it in for the wedding! I hope school is going well with you and you have a great class this year! :) Have fun!!!

Ok, so as for me: I had two showers at the end of Sept / beginning of Oct. The second one was for my church and I got the best gift! They all got together and bought my mom a plane ticket to surprise me the night before the shower!! I was out bowling with church and my mom shows up at the bowling alley. Yeah, I freaked out. It was great. So she was here for about 3 days and that was wonderful.

Since then, I have been trying to do wedding stuff (32 days), but I was scheduled at Pottery Barn last week and I put in a bunch of overtime at SPARKS, so I didn't get much done until Sunday. It's coming along, but I still feel pretty far behind. This week, however, is dedicated to Jacqueline and her wedding. I will be out in New Hampshire (and Boston) until Saturday morning. I can't wait and I think it will be very fun.

Anyhooo...I can't think of much else to say, so keep in touch - keep blogging. Let me know when ya'll are getting into town so I can plan accordingly!

Love you girls and miss you lots!!!

Just a tip

Just a tip Juls, if you guys end up with the position in MI, move as far outside of Detroit as possible. Common sense, I know. But the further you get from those suburbs, the better off you are (especially for the value of your home in the long run). However, cheer up. I can't even get my mind around thinking of the cost of living in MI as being high after living out here. But, it's a buyers market in MI right now(it kind of is everywhere, but especially there).
Anyway, hello to everyone else as well. I miss you girls and am looking forward to seeing you all in about a month. Life here has been good. Nathan and I have been completely bogged down with work...grad classes, freelance work, church work, etc. But it keep us out of trouble. Although I'm enjoying my grad program, I'll be glad when it's over. It's quite a lot of work. Work is going well, although the school shootings of course change the atmosphere of school these days, especially in middle and high schools. Our schools is as locked down as possible these days. Yesterday afternoon, we had 2 high schoolers arrested on our school property with a loaded gun. Scary. Other than that, I'm settling into a routine with my new kiddos. I've got some tough ones this year, but what else is new. Ok well, I'm having a big fondu party this evening, so I had better go prepare:) Gotta love entertaining. It's been good hearing from everyone, and I hope the weekend goes well!

Wow!

Wow is all I have to say for you Kim. I am so very happy for you that you got to meet some of Grey's Anatomy. I am a little bit in love with Dr. McDreamy myself. Although, I have to admit that for the first time in my life, I have actually given Josh a goofy and embarrassingly cheesy nickname... I'm sure you can guess that it is "Dr. McDreamy." So, I have my own Dr. McDreamy now. There is something awfully sexy about a handsome, brooding, intelligent man. Especially in scrubs when he's saving a person's life. Josh does seem hotter to me when he comes home and talks about an intense case where he made a difficult diagnosis or scrubbed into a surgery and held a human heart in his hands. He also seems just as goofy and retarded as he always has when he burps right before he kisses me or picks his nose while he's watching football. Oh well, I try to cling to the sexier moments. Anyways, speaking of Josh... he's been in Michigan and Ohio for interviews this week for residency. They went pretty well. He interviewd in Garden City, MI (basically Detroit), and they offered him a position at their program. He also interviewd in Toledo and it seemed to go well. They said they would be contacting him in a few days to tell him whether they will be matching him for that proram or not. We're still waiting for a couple more interviews in Ohio to make our final decisions. However, all of these programs are good and it looks like we may have our pick or at least several good options. So, we will definately be moving this summer somewhere north. Probably to Detroit, Columbus or Toledo. It will be one of those three locations. This is a huge relief for us because we know that Josh will absolutely match at a surgical residency program no matter what now. We won't have to scramble into an empty, crappy program and Josh will definately be a surgeon which is what he very much wants to do. Big weight off our shoulders. The only thing now is that I'm nervous about finding a new house because the cost of living is pretty high in Detroit compared to Tulsa. I'm nervous we won't be able to sell our house in Tulsa. I'm scared to make all new friends and I'm sad to leave our church and friends and home here in Tulsa. I thought I'd only be excited to leave Tulsa and be closer to family, but I definately have mixed emotions. Although I will say that I have been feeling recently that our time in Tulsa and this phase of our lives is coming to a close. So it will be a new adventure to move and start all over somewhere else next year. Other than that, all is normal here. Seth and Lilah are good and we can't wait to see you guys for Steph's wedding. Love you all!

Fight, Fight, Fight!

I'm at work. For those of you who don't know exactly what company i work for, it's a software company for auto dealers. Well, in our new location, we are the second floor of our very own dealership (Quad City Suzuki). It just so happens that the dealership is filming an infomercial today. Have you seen one before? the kind that introduce you to the top players at the dealerships, give you a phone number to call, and tell you about their awesome deals for 30 entire minutes?
So right now, they are filming and it seems they are using a high school marching band in the infomercial. SO, there is a 15-20 member marching band playing school fight songs right outside my window. oh. my. goodness... YMCA!
Sounds like I've found my afternoon entertainment! wish i had a camera!

The proof

Ok, I was waiting until my friend sent me these pictures before I finished the whole story. I’m really not trying to drag this out to ridiculous lengths. I just felt I needed the evidence first.
So Grey’s Anatomy was filming in Seattle on Tuesday, and my friend and I hightailed it downtown to catch the very end of it. We got to see the end of one scene. Three of the actors from the show were there: the Chief, Burke, and McDreamy.


I don’t have a good picture of Patrick Dempsey because when he started walking toward me, I completely froze like a deer caught in the headlights. In his headlights, I should say. But he smiled at me and said, “hey” and then got on his phone to talk to someone more important. In my mind, it was the show’s producers and he was telling them that they should hire this cute little blonde he saw in Seattle. But that’s probably not really who he was calling.

If you’re not obsessed with Grey’s, this probably isn’t such a big deal. But if you’re like me, and have had dreams about working at Seattle Grace, then you’ll be excited about these photos (Steph, I’m talking to you.) .
You think you’ll be all cool and relaxed in situations like this, but then when they really happen, you stand there and gawk like a little teenage girl.


Anyway, just wanted to share my little brush with Hollywood. Love you all!

More to come...

I’m sure I can vouch for all of us when I say we’re all keeping the PA situation in our thoughts and prayers. What a horrible tragedy. I only hope this results in better security and safety for our teachers and students nationwide.

Ok, allow me a moment of complete shallow-headedness. I already told Steph about this, but yesterday I met some of the cast of Grey’s Anatomy. I’m not going to tell you which ones, or where, or how…you’ll have to stay tuned. But let me just say “yyyyyiiiiiiiiaaaaawwwwwwpppppiiiiieeeee!”
(That means yay.)

Also, I’ve been writing on my own blog lately, and for anyone interested, here’s the link: http://kaylind.blogspot.com
You should all go read it and post at least one or two comments just because if you asked me to post a comment on your blog, I would. So there.
It’s nothing amazing. Just a way for me to express myself on the scary Internet. And also a good way for me to waste a lot of company time during the day.

Anyway…gotta run. Love you all and miss you bunches!

Amish School Shooting

The words just don't go together. The community here has been overwhelmed with shock, grief and even fear. It is so hard to imagine what goes through a person's mind causing them to do such a horrific act on innocent children. Not to mention, he was a church going, normal person with 3 kids of his own. The whole thing is simply unthinkable. I can't imagine having to explain this to my own school age children, confronting their fears of going back to school. How do you assure a child that they are safe at school? In the past week there have been 3 school shootings: 1 in Colorado that was very similar to this one, one in Nebraska or Wisconsin where a principle was shot and killed by a student and now this. The question on my mind is - do I want to bring a child into this God-forsaken world? How do we stop these things from happening? It's all so overwhelming.
Now that that is off my chest - As far as I know, none of my relatives or family were immediately affected by this tragedy. However, I do have family in the Amish community here and prayers for them and those involved are appreciated. The Amish are now faced with so many things that they never even gave a thought to, such as security at school and at home. It is a community that is against any kind of violence and lives in peace with each other and the rest of the community. It is beyond their comprehension that something like this could happen to them. I just hope and pray that the same bitterness that caused this man to do this does not take root in the hearts of the Amish and the community.
Please pray...

Update

Hi girls! Just a quick update on life in Steph's world:

The countdown is upon us - 47 days until the wedding. AH! Things were coming together pretty smoothly until last week. Shawn's Grandma has been suffering with cancer for a while, but doing really well. She seemed fine until one day she just couldn't get out of bed. After that, things progressed pretty quickly. In two weeks, she went from being almost normal, to being bed-ridden and unconscious. So, we went to Chickasha to visit - thinking it would be just a little birthday party (Grandpa turned 86) but it ended up that she passed away about 12 hours after we arrived. No one was really thinking she would go that quickly. Shawn is extremely close to his grandparents so he's taking this pretty hard. He hasn't let too much out yet, but I know it's coming. We are leaving to go back to Chickasha tonight for the funeral tomorrow morning. It's really hard for us to focus on anything wedding-oriented right now, but there is still so much to do. SO, that being said - any prayers are much appreciated. I think this weekend will be good - I have two showers to get me back in wedding mode.

Most of you know Jacqueline is getting married in New Hampshire in a less than three weeks as well, and her father passed away in late April. Well, she ended up in the hospital late last week with appendicitis (sp?) and had her appendix out. 3 weeks before her wedding!

Ok, so other than that, I am SOOOO excited to see all you guys and to have a great time at the wedding. Just so you know - you're all invited to the rehearsal dinner on Friday night at 6:30. I'll get you more info as it comes in. Oh, and make sure to reserve hotel rooms ASAP so we can see if we need to block more. All that info is on the website : www.rohdeandcobb.weddings.com

As for your stories about bad gifts...I can't think of any, but yours made me laugh so hard in my quiet little office, that I almost had to leave.

Julie - I am going to try to make it to Lilah's dedication on Sunday - Shawn said he wanted to come as well, so we'll try to be there! I can't wait to see you!

As for everyone else - I miss you dearly! I love you, too! Keep writing - even though I don't write a lot, I still check it everyday to see what's going on with you guys! Love you!

big underpants

Hey girls! I don't have much to say. Other than having a baby, there's not anything new happening in my life. Lilah is good and pretty much just sleeps and eats all the time. She seems to be hungriest at night. I'm very tired. Oh, so very tired. Seth is good. He doesn't care at all about the new baby. He pretty much just thinks she's a nuisance. The only real interaction he tends to have with her is when she is in her bouncy seat. Seth is not allowed to play in the bouncy seat anymore. So anytime Lilah is in it, he squats down in front of her and hits her on the head and says, "no, no, no." He doesn't seem to understand why she's allowed to sit in the bouncy seat and he's not. He's very confused. Seth has also hit a new stage of terror. He is becoming a horribly unpleasant child. I feel bad saying it, but I rarely enjoy my son these days. I love him more than life itself, but I don't really enjoy his company these days. He is barrelling into the terrible twos and it's driving me crazy. Temper tantrums, whining all the time, rebellion and defiance. We have started spanking a little bit for certain things that Seth knows are wrong. He promptly responds by hitting us back and telling us "no, no, no." He does the same thing anytime we touch the oven or the dog bowl or anything else that he is not allowed to touch. Needless to say, I'm not completely sure spanking is going to be our most effective method of punishment. Although timeouts are equally ineffective as we have to hold Seth on our laps for timeouts because he's too young to understand sitting on a chair and he really does just love to cuddle. Anyways, enough of all that. I'm just praying Seth is going through a normal phase and that he hasn't actually been possessed by a demon. In response to Jen's post about wierd gifts... Josh gave me a pair of giant granny panties and a box of Raisinettes for my birthday 2 years ago. I still don't get it... but I just smiled and said thank you because he clearly thought it was hilarious. Well, I'd better go. Josh and I are having a date night tonight because his mom has Seth. Yippee! Love you girls!
By the way, Kim, if you do fly in for Steph's bridal shower, Lilah is being dedicated at church the next day (Oct. 1) and her baby shower is going to be after church that day around like 2pm just in case you can hang around in Tulsa that day. Just thought you'd want to know. Steph, you'll be getting an invite this week sometime.

You can say that again

Normally I would succumb to that old cliché, “It’s the thought that counts”. But what exactly was the thought there? Strange…very strange. But at least it wasn’t an embarrassing gift – unless you and Chris have abnormally oily hair or something… which I’ve never noticed, so I think we can rule that idea out.
Still, even that isn’t as embarrassing as having YOUR OWN MOTHER hand you a gift bag with a bottle of KY Jelly inside. Oh, there were other things inside, too…boring, mundane things like lip gloss and hand lotion.
I won’t even go into the conversation that surrounded that little exchange. Let’s just say I try not to think about it…ever.

To be honest, things have been a bit tumultuous with us lately. Between this whole issue of getting pregnant (or not getting pregnant, I should say) and our job stresses, other family issues, and now our ever-present houseguests, Adam and I were both feeling a little claustrophobic. But life being as it is, we hadn’t really gotten to talk lately…so things escalated over the weekend. Let me just say it all started with my ordering the wrong kind of pizza. Yeah, I know – it is the same as my attempting to murder his best friend.
Luckily, we were able to work it out before things got too ugly. Of course, having this be my not-so-favorite time of the month doesn’t help my emotional stability. At all. But I am blessed with a husband who enjoys working out our issues. We both can get pretty emotional…and, well, bitchy. It seems that the weaknesses we see in ourselves are the things we have issues with in each other. So, on that note, I have been looking for some good books on communication in marriage – anyone have any suggestions?

I’m so glad you posted, Jen. I’m bored at work and trying to stay motivated to make it until 5:00. Not that I really have any other choice…well, besides self-inflicted stapler wounds – which would probably get me excused from work…but also checked into a mental hospital.

Love you and miss you all so much! (Julie, I've been thinking of you! I'll try to give you call sometime soon! Steph, I'm a horrible person and haven't been to the post office yet. But I promise I will go today or tomorrow...or the next day.)

odd gifts

So yesterday Chris and I are at our nephew's (Landon) birthday party. He's 3 now. My sister-in-law gave Chris and I our birthday gifts as they are coming up soon. It was a box with a card. I'm not even going to mention how the card was made out just to Chirs, because indeed his birthday this year is much more special than mine (he'll be 30!) so i'll let that slide. But I will mention to you what was inside the box... Shampoo and Conditioner. I'll just let you sit on that for a minute... ... ... SHAMPOO AND CONDITIONER!!!! Chris (straightfaced) says, "oh, shampoo...". At this point, we're both thinking there may be something else inside the boxes of shampoo and conditioner as many people reuse boxes, right?! But no, there's shampoo and conditioner bottles in the boxes. And my sister-in-law says "sorry, it's practical!"
OK, so Chris and I stuff our gift in my purse so no one else will make a strange/rude comment (or indeed say exactly what's on our mind). When we leave the party and settle in the car, we both look at each other and just bust out laughing. We laugh most of the 2 hour drive home. Who buys someone shampoo for their joint birthday gift!?
To top things off, the shampoo is stinky!!!
So, this brings up a discussion i think we should have some fun with... what's the strangest gift you've ever gotten? And while you're writing that post, go ahead and fill us in on what else is up with your life!

Nothing New - well let's see...

Ok... So like I said, nothing new here. I don't even know why I'm blogging cause I really don't know what to write.
I'm currently at my mom's house cause I had to help her with an invitation. Well, let me tell you, I love when my mom wants me to come over on Saturdays... You see, Saturday is my laundry day and today happens to be 2 weeks worth of laundry day cause last weekend Joe & Ryan (Aaron's brother) were in town and I had to entertain them on Saturday so the laundry did not get done. Ok, back to my point. While doing laundry at my house, it takes me all day to get 4-5 loads done, but when I come to my mother's house, I get so much more done in less time. She has a magnificent dryer that spits the loads out in under 45 minutes. Just one of the perks of owning a brand new house I guess. So yea... All that to say I love to do laundry at my mom's. The little things in life.
Ok... So a little more about last weekend with the boys. One of these days I'm going to invite all of you girls down for a weekend and see how Aaron likes it. I'm tired of only having boys to visit. Last weekend was suppose to be a weekend with boys AND girls, but the girls bailed on me and once again I was stuck with the boys... Help! Somehow, I did have fun. Not sure how that happened. But I was also ready for them to leave. It's hard being the only girl cause you end up being the only one conscious of the fact that the house is getting dirty. On another note... It is hard to have anyone here over the weekends cause it invades on Aaron and I's time to be together. When you have a husband that works almost every night of the week, you begin to cherish the weekend time that you get to spend together and despise anyone that would try and infringe on that time. Ok... So it's not that bad, unless of course it happends weekend after weekend and then all of a sudden you are without time together at all.
So is anyone else looking forward to Steph's wedding? I'm so excited.
I guess Julie is in the hospital today birthing the first of the Sapphire's next generation... How exciting... Can't wait to see pictures.
Umm... Guess that's about it. Just one more thing... I know I don't write that often, but I do check it almost everyday. I love to see what is going on in your lives and I'm so glad I have friends like you all. Can't wait to see you in November!

Promotion

Hey gals. I was reading the blog yesterday wishing i had something to write about and realized i forgot to tell you about my promotion! My new position of Funding Manager started on Monday the 4th. It's a glorified title if you ask me... i didn't even get a manager's parking spot, but I'm ok with that :) It's a salary position which is a big blessing for Chris and I. Nice to know i can go to the dentist and not loose 2 hours of pay, ya know?
So other than that, I guess Chris and I are going through some other changes right now too... we had our last small group gathering at our home a week ago. This fall we are joining a young married small group and won't be leading at all. I've also joined the women's ministry and will be an apprentice leader for a table group. Chris has joined the set up team for sunday mornings. And starting at Christmas time, I hope to have the choir on a schedule at 6 weeks between performances!
My parents are in some sort of arguement with my oldest step brother's family. please pray for that situation. Meanwhile, they are considering more and more to move closer to us so I've been busy scoping out homes :)
oh, and I have recently started a blog for Chris and I. I basically put the same info on it as i do here, but if you ever want to check it out, i do have some cute pictures on it... chrisandjenakers@blogspot.com
I'm anxious to hear about our first second generation Sapphire, Julie!!

baby update

Hey girls! Just wanted to fill you in on the latest with baby #2. I had a doctors appointment yesterday and everything looks good. My doctor thinks I'm getting pretty big and I'm full-term now, so he has decided to induce me on Saturday, September 9th. He also did something at my appointment that has a good chance of inducing labor naturally. So I really could go at any time. Anyways, that's the update. Hope you all are doing well. We'll keep you posted when the baby arrives. Love you all! =)