Just another day...

Just a quick little post about the day. There wasn't anything particularly spectacular about it. In fact, I spent the greater part of it sitting on my bed doing some homework/work work/sewing a little gift for a very pregnant friend-work/laundry work and my favorite, unintentional sleep-work. I fell asleep around 3:30 and woke up at about 6:15 and then had a little mini freak-out about not having dinner ready for grandpa and Craig.

Luckily, Craig had decided to go with a buddy to a computer conference in Salt Lake last minute so I didn't have to worry about him coming home starving. Grandpa hadn't been awake long, either, by the time I got upstairs. So what did that mean for the evening? Grandpa suggested we just go out to eat since neither of us were really in the mood to cook or wait for dinner.
 We left intending to go to Kneaders for a sandwich but ended up getting Mexican at El Azteca on Bulldog. It was perfect for tonight. While there are few things quite like fried ice cream, we opted to go elsewhere for dessert. We wandered over to the mall for a quick stop at Sees to get a free sample (hey, you can't say no!) and a half dozen rum nougats to share over the next several days. We do actually share, by the way- you cut a rum nougat in half and then it's the perfect serving size for a diabetic! Grandpa got out for the evening, did some walking, we had a little fun and maybe next time we'll take Craig along! :)

Baby Shower!

Last weekend during the priesthood session of conference, my oldest sister, Erin, hosted a baby shower for me and my college-age friends. (My Sisters-in-Law, Jenny/Jen, hosted one in August with family- I will be posting about that shortly). It was so much fun getting to spend the evening goofing off, eating delicious food my sister made (naturally), tying a pretty baby pink blanket and generally just having a great time with my sister, aunt and girlfriends.

The shower was supposed to last from about 6-8 but I got there a little early to see what I could do to help my sister finish getting things ready. Mom had told me earlier that day that Erin had had a seriously crazy busy week and had worked so hard to make everything perfect. Oooh, and boy was it perfect and then some! I am still kicking myself that I didn't take my camera with me so I'll just have to do my best to describe how everything was. When  I (and everyone else) walked in the front door, there was a baby blanket set up in the living room ready to be tied. This was a great place for the early-birds, such as myself, to plop, talk and tie. Continuing on into the kitchen, Erin had made her famous tortellini salad, buttery rolls, delicious pesto pasta, sliced fruit and had a veggie platter. In the family room where we were going to spend most of the evening, Erin had made a darling banner and had clothes-pinned tiny pairs of baby socks between the letters. In the corner was the newly painted armoire that became the holding place for baby gifts.  Mom had sent my blessing bonnet, booties and blessing dress which was hung up on the inside of the left door and hanging on the opposite door was the darling "Madeline" frame my sister had made.

After being completely blown away, I went back into the kitchen and sat down at the counter to help finish putting that together when Erin told me she had one more surprise for me. At that point, my Aunt Susan who lives in Arizona came into the kitchen. She had flown from Phoenix specifically for the baby shower! THAT was a fun treat.

The rest of the evening was spent eating, chatting and playing fabulously funny games with some of my favorite people. Matching games complete with coordinating candy prizes ("Mounds" was my favorite. I'll let you guess on that one;) ) and complete-the-nursery rhyme among other things. It was wonderful spending time with my sister and friends and seeing how loved little Madeline is already.

(Sorry, the pictures included here are mostly taken later at our house or borrowed from facebook-Thanks, Becca!)

Saturday...

I have been serving as the audio engineer for the BYU Cougar Marching Band this season. (For some reason, the idea of having a very pregnant color guard member didn't strike some instructors as a good idea.) My duties include, but are not limited to, recording the band during all of their pre-game and half-time shows at LaVell Edwards Stadium, taking field recordings of the band during their game day rehearsals, tailgate party, stand and post-game performances. Oh, and then all of the post-production editing and prepping for the videographers. This involves having a complete recording set-up for both pre-game and halftime ready before the game starts.

Craig has had the great pleasure of being my A2 (essentially, my audio assistant, although I know at this point he could probably do the whole thing without a word from me) for two of the home games this season. While he just gets a kick out of getting a sideline pass, I've really enjoyed having him there to help out and be voice with some grumpy broadcast guys- the "Game Day" people were the worst- and to help keep things calm. Both times he's been around to help, we've been able to get some really great recordings and keep things running smoothly. This is quite the feat when you consider we're set up on the West sideline which is where the t.v cart goes zooming by with little to no warning and have a grand total of about 3 minutes to get everything pulled down and safely stored away before the game starts. Then, we get about that much time to get everything BACK up and sound-checked before halftime starts. All the while the world of the game is still going on around us. Some people enjoy the rush. I enjoy everything going smoothly. Craig's great at helping make that happen. Heaven forbid we make it to a bowl game this year, he may be stuck doing this some more!


p.s There are a few perks. I did get the opportunity to go up to the 3rd floor press box before the game yesterday. What an amazing view!! It is a completely different world up there.

Goal Report #1

Okay! So, I made it through the last seven days. For some reason, this week just seemed to drag on and on. I certainly have not been lacking things to do (there's always statistics to study for, Shakespeare to write papers about and an independent study class that I highly doubt will be done before Thanksgiving) but it just seemed to keep going and going and going. However, there were some great things about the "long" week.

• Craig & I got the entire basement organized & cleaned (see item #2 on my to-do list)
• We got the baby "nook" set up in both a functional and esthetically pleasing way (see item #10) 
• All of the clothing items we have are now organized in the armoire (see item #3)
• I went with my friend, Casey, who is expecting any moment, to get a maternity massage. BEST hour of my week, I'm sure. Nothing quite like being completely relaxed and 100% pain-free. 
• I did work on some more burp cloths with Casey Friday night (she needed a little distracting with being so close to her baby coming) and they even match our new car seat. I count this as item #5 being done. 
• We got a gorgeous infant car seat from my Grandma Nasson, Aunt Susan (who came and surprised me last weekend!), Aunt Carol, my sister and mom. 

Lots of good things were accomplished this week. I didn't get our headboard finished or the garage cleaned as previously planned so those items are still up for tackling this week along with studying for another stats midterm and writing a paper for Shakespeare and a little more decorating for Halloween. (Come see! We decorated the Christmas tree grandpa has had out since last year with pumpkins and other assorted fall items.) Luckily, I only have two days of band this week which leaves my days WIDE open to get things done. 

A little behind but pushing ahead!

Okay, so I haven't posted anything since July 18th. Yes, just like with everyone else, life has been about as full and changing as one can possibly imagine. So many things have happened since then that I can't even begin to think about putting them all in one post, which is good, since that is not the purpose of this entry. Because I have been told that goals are just wishes or dreams if not written down, the point of me writing this afternoon is to give myself someone (or something) to be accountable to. As of today, I am 64 days from my due date and I have plenty of things that I would love to accomplish (well) before then. I am now writing them down and can now proceed with my goals! In no particular order...

1. Organize the garage (we still have things from when we moved in that haven't been organized)
2. Organize the basement (ditto)
3. Organize/sort/hang all of the baby clothes (I have no excuse now- my sister is letting us use her beautiful baby armoire!) 
4. Make a car seat cover to match the nursing cover my mom/sister gave me
5. Make a couple more burp clothes (apparently you can never have enough) 
6. Finish our headboard 
7. Finish our curtains
8. Get all winter guard items completely organized (this includes uniforms ordered, flags made, drill books with routines put together) 
9. Make a little Sunday dress for Madeline 
10. Figure out/rearrange our "baby nook"- it needs some feng shui 
11. Purchase any other important items I may have forgotten (baby bathtub, nursing pillow, monitors, baskets to hold toys, blankets etc.) 

I'm sure this list will grow, but for now, those are my long-ish term goals. I'm going to pick a few things a week to work on and will then report on them at the end of the week. This week I will be working on: #1, #3 & #6 since those might be less pleasant in the cold and #10. Let's see how it goes!! 

Pizza, pizza!

The Nasson family has a tradition. It's called Friday Family Fun Night. On Friday Family Fun Night, we do something fun. Something like eating pizza. Where my family lives in Connecticut, there aren't any chain or 'fast food' type pizza places and if you want to go out for pizza you go somewhere like Bertucci's. (Great. Now this pregnant gal is craving Bertucci's rolls!) Since Bertucci's is a very rare treat, my family instead either makes homemade pizza or embellish frozen pizzas with things such as grilled chicken, fresh chopped veggies, basil & sliced tomatoes from the garden, fresh mozzarella- really, anything. One of my brothers enjoys death by meat. It's Friday Family Fun Night and really, (almost) anything goes.

               Living in a college town in Utah, we're surrounded by tons of pizza places. Everything from Brick Oven to laid back buffets to $5 pizzas can be found within a 2 mile radius of our house. Yummy treat? Once in a while. Healthy? Absolutely not. I recently had a desire to start my own version of Nasson Friday Family Fun Night. This past Friday I decided to go for it. I made some pizza dough from scratch (easy, yummy and less than buying a pre-made one at the grocery store), topped it with half bbq half tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, grilled chicken, roasted red peppers, sliced tomatoes and basil, chives and rosemary from our garden. I received rave reviews from Craig and Grandpa Merrill (thankfully!) and now we have a little tradition of our own: Friday something and pizza and something night. New name to come!
(Included are a few pictures from the process. I'd be happy to share the dough recipe!)

Surprise!!

Surprise! Craig and I are expecting an addition to our little family this winter! While it might seem like we've been sneaky keeping this a secret from everyone for the past 20 weeks...we have been.  With this little one being my first, I've been a bit apprehensive about things. Compliments of the reading I've been doing, I have learned about all sorts of things to be concerned about. Neural tube defects, missing limbs, partial heart development, missing brain sections, club feet... you name it, I'm sure I've read about it. As a result, I've been hesitant to make a mass announcement, just in case.
     However, this morning Craig and I went for my 20 week ultrasound and all is well! Our sweet little baby has fingers, toes, arms, legs, a darling behind and a very cute little head! As the really nice ultrasound lady was going around doing all of the medical checks (routine before finding out gender), Craig and I noticed a little something by our little ones' legs. Or, I should say a "lack of" a little something. That's right! We're having a baby girl! We're still talking about names, but for some strange reason, it feels so much more "real" now that I have pictures to back up what I've been feeling.
Stay tuned- many more posts specific to the pregnant life and continuing development of our little "sweet pea" to come!