Peter

This is my little brother Peter. He's 12 years old and is awesome. Yesterday was his big surgery day and he is doing great! Peter was born with a heart defect (subaortic stenosis for you medical types) and this is his second surgery so far. The surgery is fairly routine and not terribly risky, so don't worry about him. I was just thinking about him and hope he knows it.
He has been looking forward to the surgery because he gets "room service" (a nurse will come when he pushes the Call button) and there is an X-box in the play room in his wing of the hospital. I guess I can't feel sorry for him with all of those perks!

Peter is a certified Jedi master. He likes to be serious and intense when he takes photos.

This is his "Old man" face!

Pictures of Ken

In our home, Ken is the primary photographer. Because of this there are usually few (if any) photographs of him from the events we attend. And then I usually blog about myself or baby related things, so Ken gets left out of most of the action. So to begin my repentance process, I decided to post most of the pictures I have of him.
And yes. This is the majority of the pictures I have that only have Ken in them.

Ken in Chinatown during the conference he attended in San Fransisco in February.

His first pregnancy picture!

He makes faces during pictures (particularly this face) because I ask him to and he knows it makes me laugh.

At the copper mines.

With the Kung Fu Panda.

Working on his own version of Settlers of Catan.

At a picnic at Rock Canyon.

This is from a date we went on in 2005 up at Temple Square!

In Honduras.

With a dragon in Las Vegas.

In his natural state.

His senior picture (he was too skinny back then!)

Ken with his first love, the nacho.

Nesting

I never really understood how much the "nesting instinct" was affecting me until I fulfilled it. Yesterday, I bought a crib and changing table combo off Craig's list from a family in Lehi. As soon as I got home, I pulled out the directions and started putting it together. And oooooh, it felt good!
Anyway, it's all set up and I put some clothes in the drawers and the bedding that I have on it and I smile every time I come into the baby's room now. I know I still have three months (and four days) to go, but it feels great if not to be prepared, at least preparing!

Rex Lee Run

On March 14th, I participated in the Rex Lee Run. A few months ago, Ken and I made a list of things we wanted to do before we left BYU. One of mine was to do the Rex Lee Run. It is an annual run that honors a former BYU president and raises money for the cancer research done on campus. I hadn't done it in my first three years here, but it was now or never considering we may not be in Provo next winter semester.
I walked the 5k with my sister Annalisa (not pictured). She is athletic and quite a good runner, but she decided to keep her slower (in many senses of the word) sister company.
It was so much fun! The weather was a little cooler than I anticipated, but it was such a beautiful day. The run started by the football stadium, went down 9th East and then looped around the South and West sides of campus. I finished the 5k in 50 minutes and 27 seconds (1417th place of 1470- not bad for my first time!). It was a run, not a race!
In all honesty I have never been athletic or really ever enjoyed exercise even, but I love the energy and camaraderie that accompanies such big events like this. I had so much fun and may even do something like this again in the future!

Heat Wave

For those of you who aren't in Provo, the weather has been wonderfully warm the past few days. I've really been excited! This is the earliest spring has ever come in my four years here!
However, today I was sitting in the JFSB grading some papers, and getting really hot. Apparently they haven't turned on the air conditioning yet on campus and I got a little taste of what the next three months are going to be like. And it was only in the low 70's today! I'm not sure how cool our apartment will stay in 90 degree weather.
So, I'm sorry to say this to all of you who love the heat, but I sure hope there is another cold spell or two before summer really starts!

Best Ice Cream of My Life!!!

Today, I had a big presentation in one of my classes. To celebrate, Ken went to get ice cream at Macey's. After several trips up and down the aisle to try to find some decently priced ice cream, Ken almost bought some lime sherbet. Fine, but in my opinion not really celebration food.
On one final look, Ken saw it. The ice cream that we've been pining for for many moons-

Limited Edition Girl Scout Cookie Samoa's Ice Cream.

On sale!


We'd only gotten it once before. May 2007.
Girl Scout cookie season was over and we'd missed our chance to stock up on some good flavors. But one night we found Samoa's Ice Cream. Smooth vanilla ice cream with ribbons of caramel and fudge and little cookie pieces. It is better than it's namesake cookie! We loved that ice cream- every last scoop of it.
But then it was gone.
We'd been looking for it for 22 months and were quickly losing all hope of ever tasting it again.
Today was a little dessert miracle.
We bought two cartons.

24 Weeks

Lost Pictures

I was looking through my picture folders today and realized that I missed posting a lot of pictures that I love. So here is a montage of sorts for the last few months:

Vance and Annalisa at Sunday Dinner

Making faces at Ken

The lovely spread

Naked New Nephew

Chilling with Emily
(and yes that cake and a cream puff for breakfast)

At the ultrasound

Thanksgiving Pictures

Dinner and a white German Shepherd (a breed deemed unworthy by Hitler- seriously)

Suzannah slaving away

My first cheesecake

Apple pie with decorative crust

Turkey Day race with a giant turkey