catching up: krystell's visit

I have been meaning to post about this since June but somehow it never happened (along with many other posts). It is a Sunday evening and W is taking a nap, the house is quiet, and it's the perfect time for a catch-up post like this one.

Back in June, my friend Krystell came to visit from Utah. Krystell was my roommate at Rick's College (back when it was Rick's college) in 2000. The last time I saw her before this visit was at my mission farewell in September of 2001 - eight years ago! We have kept in touch through letters while she was on her mission, email, facebook and each others blogs through all of that time. She had been wanting to come and see the Pacific Northwest for quite some time, so she finally did it. It was really fun having her here. It was perfect timing, too - I had just graduated but hadn't started working yet and was only volunteering a couple of days a week, so I had a free schedule (man, that was nice!).


After I picked her up from the airport, we went to Dash Point Beach and had a picnic (well, it was mostly just pita bread and hummus but it was good).

(Back when I didn't have a big belly)

Krystell really wanted to see a lighthouse so we ventured up the road a bit to where we saw one in the distance. It was kind of a pathetic lighthouse, though.

(Krystell didn't want to be in many pictures so there are lots of me)

The next day we hung out in downtown Seattle. We hit Pike's Place, had lunch at Beecher's Handmade Cheese (yum) and then went to the library for a tour and then she met up with another friend of hers for the rest of the day.

(Cheese is being made behind us)

I have been to Pike's place several times (everyone wants to check it out when they come to visit and I don't blame them) but I enjoy it every time.

That night we went to a Mariner's game.

The next day we took a ferry out to Bainbridge Island, where we looked at fun shops, had lunch at a cute little place called The Harbour House, and then had ice-cream at Mora's (thanks to my friends, Dean and Becky, who sent me a gift card there as a graduation gift. Their ice-cream is divine).

Our view while we had lunch.

Our view on the ferry on the way back to Seattle.

Overall, Krystell's visit was really fun. I'm so glad she came!

It's a...

BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are very excited! I didn't mention this before because I didn't want to sway your decisions when voting, but I thought we were having a boy. I even had a dream when I was 7 1/2 weeks, while we were in Utah, the night we told our families. It was a very vivid dream - I saw a baby boy and I knew he was ours. I can still picture his face. [Not that dreams are always accurate. I am thankful for that, as I have had some crazy dreams during this pregnancy...the kind where I wake up and say "WHAT?!?" Every night I dream about random people in my life who are not likely to show up in my dreams, but there they are.] The little guy was very active today. I could feel him moving around before the appointment, which I was hoping was a good sign. I had 1/2 cup of orange juice to get him going, but then I asked the tech if that is a myth or if it really works and she said it doesn't really work but that some babies are just more active and cooperative than others.

You can see that his most recent photo is blurry - that's because he was moving around so much. It's cool how you can see his spine in this one. I also liked how we could see his little heart beating during the ultra sound. We're grateful for this happy news and especially to know that so far he is a healthy baby. What a great day!

made me laugh...

Wow, two posts in one night. I just have to share this picture from Karen's blog (the amazing person I took a photography class from last year. I love her blog). This picture made me laugh out loud, which I needed.

By the way, I enjoy reading all of your blogs. I have a routine where I come home from work and take a little break while eating dinner. During that break I check my email and read blogs before moving onto photo editing. Thanks to everyone for the entertainment! Keep blogging away - know that I appreciate it!

brief baby update

Just stopping in to say that we get to find out the gender of our baby tomorrow morning (bright and early, at 7:45am)! We are pretty excited. Any tips for me? Drink juice? Caffeine? I'm so hoping this little baby is active in the morning! I added a poll to my sidebar. I'm a bit late in adding it but if you want to vote for boy or girl, please do. I would love to see what everyone thinks.

Also, some of you know this but for those who don't, I have a pregnancy blog where I keep track of my thoughts (and pictures of my growing belly) during this pregnancy. I have this blog private but if you want to read it, leave me a comment or email me and I will send you an invite (if I don't already have your email address, leave it for me). It's not too exciting but it's just a fun place to keep all of my baby thoughts together. (I also added a link to it on my sidebar under "My Stuff" for those who follow it and want to get there quickly from my blog.)

feeling overwhelmed...

I am totally overwhelmed with my life right now. I feel like I go non-stop and only stop to sleep before I'm running out the door again. It's pretty crazy. I am grateful for my job, and my second job slash hobby but I do miss creating pretty things, home improvement projects, reading books, and cooking. In light of these feelings, I want to at least share some pretty things on this blog lest it become a very boring place.

I think it would be fun to spend an afternoon making caramel apples like these.

I love how fun and colorful this porch is.

I saw this cute Fall decoration idea on my friend Marci's blog and I love it.

If you're looking for some lovely blogs to read, check out this one and for good recipes (with amazing pictures / presentation), go here.

I would like to share more but as usual, I am running out the door. Have a great weekend!