Two weeks? REALLY??

We have about two weeks left befor D-day (but probably more than that because I think she's going to come late). I'm feeling a little more prepared since I've had two baby showers and have started nesting more. Baby shower pictures will be coming later. She's my little basketball belly.

Here's our new nursery CHAIR! Super comfy- as you can tell. I'm just trying to break it in.

Dan, his brother Sam, and our four-year-old nephew Reed went to a Utes football game on Saturday while all the girls were at the Women's Relief Society broadcast. They spent WAY too much (of grandma's) $$$ on consession stand food, taught Reed how to do the wave, cheer for the UTES, and had a blast! What great uncles!

Next to update you all on- Here are some before pictures of our unfinished laundry room. Only half the room was dry walled before, but it was never painted and some of the existing old dry wall had some water damage. So here are the before pictures...

Dan worked so hard to putty, sand, putty, sand, prime, texture the ceiling, and paint (What color?- the same soft blue that's in our "master" bathroom). He put in a light fixture because there wasn't one before (just a bulb), and we're excited to put in some new shelves in the little nook you'll see below. THANK YOU HUSBAND! Enjoy!

Dan the man!

New light
Real Walls!
The nook
Another great WALL!

Less than a month and counting!

EIGHT months PG! Wow! Time flies. Yes, the horizontal stripes were probably a bad decision, but here's the latest belly shot. I'm feeling quite big these days and getting pretty uncomfortable. I've had pretty bad indigestion, back aches, more frequent braxton hicks contractions, much stronger baby kicks/pushes (less amniotic fluid), pregnancy nose congestion, and I don't sleep very well at night. I don't have a hard time getting to sleep at first. It's just that after I get up to go potty in the middle of the night I can't get BACK to sleep because my mind is racing about things that I still need to get done. I haven't had any major "nesting" tendencies yet and I think that's part of the problem why I still feel like I have SO much to do.

I guess the most important thing to remember is that whenever she does come into this world, early, on time, or late, she'll be welcomed with loving arms from her mom, dad, grandparents, aunts, uncles, neighbors, friends... We may not have cute curtains hanging or even all the nursery furniture yet, but that won't matter as long as her needs are met and she's LOVED unconditionally. I can't wait!

Things I have LOVED about being pregnant: knowing that my body is being used to fill the measure of its creation, feeling the baby move, all the attention from complete strangers giving me advice and guessing which gender it is by the way I'm carrying, doctors appointments to hear the babies heart beat and see how big I'm measuring, new clothes (in the form of "maternity" of course), counting down weeks/days until she gets here, reading and learning about the miracles of pregnancy and child birth, sharing ALL of these with DAN! :) I'm sure he has a list of things he's loved about the past 8 months... You'll have to ask him about it though.

When I said I was feeling quite big... I guess it could be worse- right?

Dan's way of "nesting" to get ready for this baby has been to do home improvement projects. We previously posted about our new bathroom sink, fixing leaks, and installing new lights. The most recent project was our new counter tops. These aren't the best pictures due to our lack of a REAL camera, but you get the idea. We had professionals make and install the counters. But my hunk of a husband, with all his bulging muscles, unhooked our sink and took out the old counter tops and carried them to the garage ALL BY HIMSELF! :) That little job saved us like $150! I'm so lucky to have him in my life.

Before

During

After

Since we knew we wouldn't be staying in this condo forever, and since the only way to have the counters be a "real estate upgrade" is with granite or quartz, we decided to save a BUNCH of money and go with laminate instead. We are quite pleased with the results!

Stay tuned for pictures of our soon-to-be finished laundry room as well, nursery chair, and baby showers! :)

Francis Webster

No, that's not the name for the baby. Francis Webster is the name of my great-great-great-grandfather (Here comes a history lesson).

This last weekend Cedar City decided to dedicate a statue in recognition of all that he did. He was a civic and church leader and did a lot to help Cedar grow into the thriving metropolis it is today :).

Francis Webster was also among the Martin-Willie Handcart Company. He had enough for he and his expecting wife to come to Salt Lake in a wagon, but instead sold the wagon which helped pay for 9 other families to come across the plains, thus leaving all of them to push handcarts. He said that at times he thought that he could push the handcart no further and that once he came to the next hill, he would give up. Francis would arrive at the hill, and then would have to look around to see who then began to help push the cart. He was sure that the angels began to help and has frequently been quoted by numerous church leaders. In defense of the decision to leave so late in the season, Francis said that "Every one of us came through with the absolute knowledge that God lives for we became acquainted with him in our extremities." What awesome faith and perspective our pioneer forefathers had!!

Shifting gears a little bit, he was also a sheep herder, and eventually a large plot of land up by Cedar Breaks was named after him. Pretty cool, huh? Here's a picture of us with the sign:

Pretty glorious stretch of land, eh?
Cedar Breaks
View from the Webster Flats sign of Zion's National Park, waaaaaaay in the distance.
What pioneer settler commemoration would be complete without a couple o' bag pipers.
The mayor of Cedar speaking just before they unveiled the statue.

They blocked off Main street for about 2 hours so we could have this event. Here's just a few of the cousins I never knew I had.
There he is! However, I don't think they got his skin pigmentation right.Here's us...it's about as close as we could get. Thanks to my Dad for making it possible for us to come with him to this great event. It really helped me see the positive impact that one person can have on generations of people. Hearing speeches from so many prominent people about how influential Francis was caused me to reevaluate the kind of "legacy" that I am leaving with my family and friends. Hopefully we will all take some time to reflect on the same.

-Dan