We have good news!

Yes, that's right, we're having a baby!!

My cousin had a great idea of answering all the pregnancy questions people ask when they first find out you're expecting, so I think I'll do the same.

1. "How are you feeling?" It's true, people really do ask this question all the time. I've been very lucky to not have very bad morning sickness. In fact, I feel great in the mornings! I usually feel worst just before bed. But I haven't thrown up at all and have only had a few days here and there where I just felt icky. My mom was the same way and never had bad sickness, so I guess I lucked out by inheriting those genes!
2. "When are you due?" In case the small text in the above image is too hard to read, we're due on Jan 26th 2009. I just finished up my first trimester this week!
3. "Do you want a boy or a girl?" Of course we don't have a preference, especially since this is our first. I kind of feel like it will be a boy, but Rob thinks it will be a girl! So I guess either way one of us will be right. :) A girl would actually be fun since both my brother and his wife just had a girl (congrats to them!) and Rob's sister is due with a girl in September, so having a girl cousin the same age on both sides of the family would be nice. Also, even though I'm not superstitious so I don't really believe in this stuff, a few weeks ago just for fun, my sister-in-law and I did that string test thing to see what the baby will be, and it said a girl all three times we tried it! So I guess we'll just have to wait until the ultrasound to find out for sure.
4. Which answers the fourth question, "Are you going to find out the gender?" Yes, we plan to. As my brother says, it's just as much of a surprise to find out at 5 months as it is when the baby's born! Plus this way, you can plan better and have a name picked out, etc.
5. "Do you have any names picked out?" -- I try to dodge this question by saying, "we're waiting to find out the gender before deciding on any names." But in about 5 weeks, I won't be able to use that excuse anymore! The truth is, we do have a few names on a short list that we're thinking of, but nothing set in stone. We'll keep you posted!

So there you have it! If there are any more questions that I haven't covered here, then ask away! I guess the last question is, "Are you excited?" And the answer is YES we are!!

Stupid Delta

Just a few days ago we were looking for flights directly into Bakersfield, CA (where my parents live) and Delta had round trip tickets for $212 each! A great deal! Now just a few days later after taking some time to discuss whether we should drive or fly (driving = 10 hours each way and $380 in gas, flying = 2 hours each way and $466 for tickets), we decided to book the flights. But now they are $332.00 per person for a total of $706.00 with taxes and fees!! What the heck?! Just two days ago they were $240 cheaper for the exact same flights! What gives....

I tried calling Delta's customer service to see if I could still get the cheaper rates, but they were no help. "Rates change daily and are compacted hourly." blah blah blah....

Moral of the story: if an airline ticket price seems too good to be true, don't take time to think about them, JUST BUY THEM BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!

So looks like we'll be driving after all. :( Which sucks because it takes so much time which means less time spent with family. Stupid Delta.

Welcome Kaya Ann Bryan!!

My brother Paul and his wife Holly added a second child to their family yesterday. She was 6 pounds 7 ounces and 19 1/4 inches long.

Kaya sleeping. I love the little smirk on her face.

Kaya awake.

Eli meeting his new baby sister.

Congrats Paul & Holly!!
She's a cutie and I can't wait to meet her in a few weeks!!

Paper or Plastic?

Wal-mart always provides a plethora of interesting experiences upon walking though those automatic double doors, and our last shopping trip there was no exception. We have tried to be in the habit recently of taking our own reusable grocery bags in with us when we shop. Trying to save the environment and what-not. So after filling our cart and finding what appeared to be a short line but in fact ended up being the slowest line on the planet with at least two calls for help from the checker, we finally loaded our items on the conveyor belt and told the checker we have these reusable bags we want to use instead of their plastic bags. The young woman behind the counter gave us a very confused look, and here is how the conversation proceeded from there:

Cashier: "Are they free?"
Rawbanana: "No, we brought them from home. They're ours."
Cashier: "But you don't want to use them??"
Rawbanana: "Yes, we do. We don't want to use the plastic bags."
Cashier: "Oh."

Then the cashier, still with a confused look on her face, begins to load our groceries into these foreign objects we call reusable bags, and then says:

Cashier: "So, why do you guys like these bags so much?"
Rawbanana: "Because they're reusable!"
Cashier: "Oh! I've never seen them before. There's a first time for everything I guess!"

Well I'm glad we could introduce her to the world of reusable, cloth grocery bags. Our part in helping save the environment is complete.

When we shop at Smiths (and I'm sure even more so if we were to shop at Whole Foods) the cashiers don't look at us funny when we bring in our own reusable bags, in fact they even sell them there! But cashiers at Smiths do tell us all sorts of crazy personal stories from their own lives that we don't really care to hear about. For example:

We were going on a long road trip and went to Smiths to stock up on snack foods and some energy drinks to ward off that nasty drowsiness while driving. The lady scans our small cans (not those huge mega-sized cans) of Sobe Adrenaline Rush and proceeds to tell us all about how horrible these drinks are and how her nephew had to go to the emergency room and nearly died after drinking one! Hey gee, thanks lady. We just bought 4 of them. ... Then she goes on to tell us a crucial part of the plot which she so conveniently failed to mention during the first part of her story; her nephew drank this energy drink after he had already downed a few capichinnos, and he is over-weight and the doctors have told him not to drink too much caffeine. Hmmm, are you sure it was the energy drink alone that did him in lady? But thanks for the stern warning about the product we just purchased. Duly noted.

Another cashier just the other day was talking on the phone while scanning our items, and after hanging up decided that we needed to hear all about the conversation on the other end. It was her 20-year-old son who is just SO dependent on her and can't do anything for himself and has to call her all the time for the tiniest problems, and what's wrong with kids these days anyways??

Ahh grocery shopping. Will you ever cease to entertain me? I think not.

Pet Peeves

1. When you have a food package that has a "tear here to open" thingy on the top, so you tear, but it still won't open, and then you have to cut it. Could have saved time by just cutting it in the first place!
2. And along with that, when those same bags have "resealable packages" but the Ziploc impostor thingy doesn't work, so you have to put it in a real Ziploc bag or clip the top. If I wanted to do those things, I wouldn't have paid more for the fancy resealable bag in the first place!
3. And finally, when both of these things happen at once, or when tearing off the top "open here" part also rips off the resealable part, rendering it useless. Excellent packaging my friends!

Bad Wifey

I am a horrible wife. Rob's birthday was in January, and on that day I promised him two gifts that he wanted, but at the time were unavailable to purchase or order. I even went so far as to make up a little birthday card with pictures of the items on it to give to him on his birthday.


It's now 6 months later and he still does not possess either of these items. What a horrible wife I am!! How can he ever trust me again! The answer? He may never be able to. But maybe if I can manage to get these items for him by Christmas, maybe then he'll at least be able to forgive me. We'll see what I can do.

Painting

I took a few oil painting classes while I was in college and really enjoyed them. I haven't painted since those classes, and I didn't realize how much I missed it until yesterday when I started a new painting! I have to thank my friend Audrey who asked me to do a painting for her. I've been keeping blank canvases behind my bed for way too long; it's time to get some paint on them! This painting I'm doing for my friend is very small, only 5x7 inches, but I'm hoping it will turn out okay. If it does, I'll post a photo of it when it's finished. And hopefully this will keep the painting bug going!

Temporary Threshold Shift

Rob and I got the chance to go to the American Idol tour for FREE last night! My boss got a suite at the E-center for the whole office! It was a good show. The top 10 performed and sang 3 songs each, except David Cook (the winner) who sang three and then came back out for an encore; his performance of Billy Jean which was my favorite song that David performed during the season. He sang Chris Cornell of Soundgarden and Audioslave's arrangement of the song, which is amazing! I took a video of part of it (see below) so you can hear for yourself. The video quality is quite poor, but the sound quality is good. The parts where I pan away from the stage is me trying to film the large screens they had off to the side. That part didn't work so well. Again, it's mostly just the sound that's important anyway!

I also snapped a few photos. Here's some of the ones that actually turned out okay.

The top 10 performing the last song

David Cook rockin' out on his lefty guitar

David Cook on stage

David Archuleta. I like this photo because I got him on stage and on the large screen behind him in the same shot.

When Archy came on stage, the crowd went CRAZY!!! He's from Utah as you know, so he's got a lot of fans here. It was funny because every contestant who performed before him said, "wow, you guys are really loud." But it got even louder when Archuleta came out. I even plugged my ears for a bit during all the screaming to prevent any short-term hearing losses!

Carly Smithson on stage

Michael Johns on stage.

MJ on the big screen

Jason Castro - one of the girls at work is 'in love' with him and she freaked out when he came on stage. She was desperately trying to figure out a way to meet him after the show.

Brooke White

It was a fun show! I'm glad we were able to go. I have been a fan of American Idol on and off for the the past few seasons, but I really liked this season. There were several contestants that I liked, which is different compared to years past when there was only one or two who stood out (in my opinion).

Okay, that's it. Yay for American Idol!!

The Bunny Hop

Our one and only car has been in the shop ALL WEEK!! We took it in on Monday because it hasn't been driving very well for the past month or so. It wasn't accelerating in the first two gears, and then when it hit 4000 rpm's, it would jump and start going. Weird. The guys at the shop said we needed a new clutch, so that's what we got, but in the meantime they broke something else while trying to replace it!! So it took them 4 days when it should have only taken one. The big jerks. So we went to go pick up the car tonight. I was the lucky one who got to drive it home, and let me tell ya, it was like re-learning how to drive a stick all over again! I was bunny hopping all over the place! I guess our old clutch was really loose (hence why it needed replacing) because this new one you have to barely let out while you hit the gas. If you let it out any more, the bunny hopping starts. I even killed it a few times before getting the hang of it! So if you see a silver 2-door Chevy cavalier roaming the streets jumping around like a student driver is behind the wheel, you'll know it's me.

Spangled

As part of the 4th of July weekend celebration, we sang The Star-Spangled Banner as the closing Hymn at church yesterday. I really enjoy the second and third verses that are included in our Hymn book. We only ever hear the first verse sung before sporting events, etc. But the other two verses really have a lot of meaning, especially verse three. My favorite line is, "Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n rescued land praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserved us a nation!" -- I think that's what celebrating Independence Day is all about; remembering that "this be our motto: In God is our trust!" (another line from the third verse). It saddens me to see people out there who want to take God out of everything, including the Pledge of Allegiance. When you look at old texts such as The Star-Spangled Banner which is our National Anthem and see strong evidence of faith in God, how can you say that the Founding Fathers would want us to remove Him from our coins and pledges? They wouldn't. This country was founded on religious freedom, and the men who made it happen were believers in a higher power. We can't let anybody take that away from us. Because if we stop praising that Power that hath made and preserved us a nation, what will happen then?

On another less serious note....Rob and I were discussing the meaning of the word "Spangled" as we walked home from church yesterday. What does the phrase "Star-Spangled" mean?? We tried to come up with a definition based on context, and the best we could come up with was "scattered" or "strewn". We decided that we would re-introduce the word spangled into the world by making it part of our everyday vocabulary. "Hey honey, would you mind spangling some salt on my eggs?" ... "This room is spangled with junk. We need to clean up." etc. How disappointed we were to come home and look up the actual meaning of the word spangled, only to find that it means:
1. A small, often circular piece of sparkling metal or plastic sewn especially on garments for decoration.
2. A small sparkling object, drop, or spot: spangles of sunlight.
So I guess we can still work our new vocab word into everyday conversation, it just might be a little more tricky that's all. "My, your eyes are so spangling today." or "Wow! That be-jeweled vest you're wearing is beautifully spangled. Did you make it yourself?" Ok, maybe a bit of a stretch. And if I ever have friends who wear home-made spangled vests, please shoot me.

Anyway, have a wonderfully spangled day everyone! (there, I did it!)

Hot and Rock'n Indeed!

Yes, the demolition derby did have fireworks. "The best fireworks in Northern Utah" to be exact. (or so they kept telling us.) They also kept telling us that this demo-derby was "the biggest derby West of the Mississippi!" They've got pride up there in Odgen, I'll tell you that much. They also had:

• a lovely group of attendees that can only be described as "white trash", or if you prefer, "rednecks"
• a 12 year old kid with a 6-inch red, white, and blue Mohawk. Very festive.
• a frozen t-shirt contest (not to be confused with a wet t-shirt contest)
• nachos, churros, Navajo tacos, cotton candy and snow cones. Staples at any carnival or State Fair-type event such as this.
• a very anticlimactic timing of "The Star Spangled Banner" over the loudspeakers during the fireworks display. To my surprise, everyone stood up and put their hands over their hearts. We all thought this would be an excellent time for the Grand Finale! But nope, the next song was "Hero" by Mariah Carey. Talk about a let down. The ACTUAL grand finale was accompanied by "God Bless America" as sung by Celine Dion. Still very patriotic (even though Celine is from Canada), but not as perfect as the National Anthem would have been. Oh well, maybe next year Odgen's Hot Rock'n 4th Celebration.

And the highlight of the night? As we were leaving the grounds, I got spit on. It was just a perfect case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. A young kid maybe in his early 20's went to spit on the ground, and at that exact moment, we happened to pass by in front of him. The result? A wet foot, and the memory of looking back to view the culprit with a hilarious facial expression of "oh crap, I just spit on you." If I were behaving as a good demo-derby girl should, I would have turned around and pushed him while yelling, "Hey punk, you just spit on me! Who do you think you are?" But, so sorry to disappoint all those looking for a good fight, I just turned around and smiled. I couldn't get mad at him, his facial expression was too priceless.

All in all, it was a great night. Thanks again to Joe & Lissa for inviting us!

Don't they know it's the 3rd of July??

Last night Rob and I went for a stroll around the neighborhood and happened to catch the fireworks after the Real Salt Lake soccer game. We live just a few blocks West of the University of Utah, and that is currently where Real (pronounced "Re-al" not "Reel") plays until their new stadium is completed. As we were standing on the grass by the sidewalk on 300 South and about 900 East enjoying the lovely display of Patriotism, a lady walked by and loudly proclaimed, "Don't they know it's the 3rd of July??"
We then explained that they were for the soccer game, and she said, "Oh....Go soccer." Then she just kept on walking. I thought it strange that she didn't stop to enjoy them. I mean, we only see fireworks once or twice a year, and they're pretty fun to watch. I guess maybe the magic just wears off after a while for some people, but we were happy to have caught the show. Last year we hiked Ensign Peak on the evening of July 4th (a short hike in the foothills above the State Capitol), and the closest show was again at the U of U stadium, but it was very far away from up there. We could see about 5 or 6 fireworks displays from all over the valley up there on our little spot on the hill, but they were all very far away. Last night as we were watching them from just a few blocks away, we could actually feel the shock waves from the big explosions! Now that's pretty darn cool. Not only do fireworks create beautiful bursts of color and light when they explode, but you can actually feel them! We're not sure if we'll be seeing any fireworks tonight on the actual 4th of July (we're going to a demolition derby as part of Ogden's "Hot Rock'n 4th" celebration! Woo-hoo!!) so we're glad we saw some last night to get our fill.

Happy Independence Day everyone!!

Cabin Fever

Rob did a church service project last week where he and several others from our Stake built cabins for a Young Women's camp in Heber, UT. The main structure of the cabin was already completed from what appeared to be a pre-fab kit complete with double-paned windows. He and two other guys from our Ward put the roof together in 6 hours or so. A full days work and two strange sunburn patterns on his arms later, here's what they had built.

Camping anyone??