Day at the Museums

The 5th of July had Katie and I off on an adventure to as many museums/historic places as we could handle! Realistically, that meant we went to 3 sites. But it was cool!! Our first stop was the visitors center and museum for Little Rock Central High School where 9 Black students integrated in 1957. I loved it and poor Katie had to wait as I took my time at the exhibit. There was so much to see! They had SO many recordings that there wasn't time for me to sit through them all. I took a picture of some quotes I liked.

"The best of American history is made up of people...who experience a moment of revelation that inspires them to fight against injustice." Juan Williams

Her name escapes me at the moment, but she was SO brave! She didn't go to school with the caravan and sat alone at the bus stop with the mob.

"The challenge is yours...to prove your maturity, intelligence, and ability to make decisions by how you react, behave, and conduct yourself in this controversial question. What is your answer to this challenge?"

We weren't allowed inside the school because it's still a functioning high school. It's beautiful! Hard to believe that so many angry people filled this place.

It's me!

It's Katie!

This was Dunbar High School--where the Black students originally attended school. However, it wasn't open in 1957 and was soon converted into a magnet middle school. We snuck inside! Turns out they transported anything of historic value downtown.


We then went to visit the William Jefferson Clinton Presidential Library. This is an exact replica of Clinton's oval office. I got chills looking at it. I wish they would've let us inside!

We then visited the cabinet room.

"Central Intelligence Agency"

"President of the United States"

"Department of Defense"

"President of the United States"

"White House Chief of Staff"

Shout out to Leo McGary!!!!!

Regardless of the ginormous astronaut suit boot, Armstrong's feet are SO much bigger than mine!

After the museums we headed back to the apartment complex to pick up Lacie for lunch. We've been wanting to try eating at The Purple Cow and it seemed like the perfect opportunity! It was the CUTEST little 50's diner!!! The shakes and food were yummy. I was a little surprised that my sandwich was going to cost $8 but realized it was worth every cent when it arrived! Their sandwiches are HUGE. They stacked multiple sandwiches on top of each other and held it together with tooth picks. It definitely held over as a yummy leftover.

Later that night we 3 girls were a little bored and Katie & Lacie's sweet tooths were awakened. Since they were in the mood for cheesecake I suggested we go to Arkansas' version of the Cheesecake Factory! So at 10pm we jumped in the car singing to songs we may or may not have remembered all the lyrics to. The restaurant was still open and the girls ordered their cheesecake while I enjoyed my banana's foster--enjoyed means I took 2 bites and was full. I've become the QUEEN of leftovers. We had SO much fun eating there. It was one of the best nights ever in Little Rock. Thanks girls for a fantastic day! We'll have to have monthly girl nights in Utah!!!

Our First Doctor's Visit

At week 8 we woke up and hit the road for our morning doctor's appointment. Well...2 hours later we finally found the hospital. Awesome. They had a huge stack of required paperwork and weren't even sure if I could get in to meet with a doctor anymore! Luckily, they squeezed me in. The nurse was really nice and interested until she found out I wouldn't be giving birth in Arkansas. Apparently that means we're no longer best friends. *sigh*
I laughed when my doctor walked in and asked how I was feeling--she was soo pregnant she looked ready to pop!!! She did a really quick check-up and said all the blood work and tests would be performed in July. Each time she left the room JT tried to play with her equipment! He's such a big kid.
Then the BEST part: she popped open a laptop, squeezed jelly on my belly and proceeded with a spur of the moment ultrasound!!! I don't know if this is standard, but I was shocked! We saw our little baby. It was the sweetest thing I could ever have imagined. I started crying as soon as the doctor left the room. JT just held me. Even though we didn't plan this and definitely weren't hoping for it...we were so strangely happy. It seems like I've always loved JT like I do now. I almost can't remember a time that I didn't want to marry him and have a family with him. Those two things would comprise the whole of my happiness. I have to admit, I don't do too well with my dreams coming true. My cynical nature makes it so that I'm always anticipating the next day will take away everything I've worked for. JT has had to hold me many times as I've cried about how happy I am and how impossible it seems. I do get scared, and quite easily. So to have the whole of my dreams coming true was surreal. I have the man I love and the baby that will be the start of our family. I still tear up everytime I think about it. It's really happening.
So, the aforementioned cynicism left me terrified that the doctors would find something fatally wrong with my pregnancy. As scared as I was, I never voiced my fears. JT didn't even know. To see the baby and hear that it was perfectly healthy was beyond amazing. I had been looking at pictures of a 8 week old baby/fetus for weeks now and easily recognized the head, arms, and torso. I feel silly writing this, but it was the best thing ever.
Parenthood is scary and I still cry when I think that the pure selfish (oxymoron?) love I get to experience with JT will forever change in a few short months. But I am grateful that I get to tackle this new task ahead with JT at my side. I couldn't be paired with a better and sweeter man. It is a blessing and because of him, I know I will never have to worry. No matter what happens, JT and I can handle it together. Oh I can't help lovin that man of mine...:)

Kamikaze Kitty

I've been holding back on blogging because I wanted to wait until I had pictures to go with it. Today I realized that I was just letting life pass me by unnoticed. So if I ever get pictures for anything I'll just post it and refer the reader back to the blog about it. Here's where we begin:



One Sunday JT and I came home and noticed that our cat Snickers was nowhere to be found. We figured she was in deep hiding and soon forgot about it. HOURS later we realized that she had still not made an appearance! We began to tear the house apart. We vividly remembered the last time she got stuck in a wall or under the couch. We figured this was just a repeat. We had no such "luck". She was definitely NOT in the house! I decided that I was ok with it. Since she wanted to escape us that badly, she could have the outside world! Good thing we hadn't declawed her! JT was a lot more concerned than I was. Eventually my humanity won out and I realized that she was probably scared somewhere.
Then JT noticed the window was open and the screen was jiggled loose. We were 3 floors up!!! JT headed down into the brush to find her and I went to find a flashlight. We were honestly looking for a body by this time. Suddenly, JT heard a faint meow! She was 100% ok and hiding in a bush!!!
It wasn't until a day later that I noticed a cut with dried blood on the back of her neck and the limp she had developed. We took her to the vet who was shocked to see her alive! The vet said her injuries were from a fight with another cat. Her back paw had been bitten. SO sad. She survived a 3 floor free-fall only to have her booty handed to her by a tough outside cat! What luck.

Jonathan's Patience

Last week we stopped by the mall for some window shopping and a haircut for JT.  It was a lot of fun and I even got a new pair of workout pants out of it!  On our way to the salon JT brought up the nursery we would need to start prepping when we got back to Provo.  He asked me if I had any thoughts on color schemes.  Notice: he asked for thoughts.  I promptly responded, "Yes. It's going to be seafoam green and white. We'll have a white molding on the bottom third of the wall and the top 2/3 will be seafoam.  We'll paint the wall to look like panels by alternating with a gloss. If we have a boy we then add blue decor.  If a girl, then the decor is pink. Either way, there's no major remodeling when the second kid comes along." His eyes got BIG.  I guess I'm gonna have to get better at including him in my decision making......*sigh*. I'm hopeless.

We're having a baby!!!!!!!

It's official, I'm pregnant! It's really weird to think about. I'm so not old enough to be someone's mom! I hope this little tyke knows what they're getting themselves into. So...we found out Monday and it's a funny story.

I woke up for the 3rd day in a row highly fatigued with an upset stomach. I had also missed my period for all of May. I decided to call J'Lene. I figured that once she calmed me down and told me that there was no chance of my being pregnant, I'd be able to move on and make different conclusions. No such luck. She declared me pregnant! She also asked if I had a sore throat....I was shocked to say yes. She basically shoved me out the door to go buy a pregnancy test (or at least as much as she could over the phone). I bought it, took it, and waited. She called back and demanded I check on it. I said it hadn't been 2 minutes yet!!! J'Lene has since told me that my voice was shaking and that I was sooo scared. I believe it. I checked but didn't believe what I saw. So I took a picture and emailed it to her. J'Lene called back to say that there was no way I was not pregnant! I freaked.

JT was excited when I told him and insists it's a boy. Who knows? Anyway, I'm 6 weeks along and my tentative due date is January 29th, 2010. If there's anything I know, it's that life changes fast!

From Missouri to Arkansas

After Camp Hope we visited the Fantastic Caverns & Bass Pro Shop. FUN!!

Camp Hope

A few weeks ago JT and I headed out to Missouri for his platoon reunion and charity fundraiser. The camp is named after a fellow platoon-member (Chris Neal) who was killed while they were on deployment. It's a cabin out in the woods that provides relaxation and fun for injured servicemen. There's skeet shooting, fishing, four-wheeling, etc. I don't really have a whole lot to say about it because I didn't participate very much. We thought the other Marines were bringing their families but...I was the only wife there! I went straight to bed the first night and they all stayed out on the front porch catching up. From the racket they were making all the way into the morning, I'm assuming they had a good time! The next day was the fundraiser and BBQ. I sat on the front porch talking with someone's grandmother. JT won a shooting contest and got a $25 gift card to bass pro shop! That night we all got dressed up and headed off to the banquet. They were presentations, pictures, and money donations. But sufficeth to say, the Marines were happy to be able to unbutton their collars and head into the bar for a drink when it was all over. The next day they slept in and went fishing. These were really great guys and I was so happy to finally meet the men who took care of my JT.