creating

Baby stuff. The kitchen table has been converted to our workspace.

Burp cloths (We made some of these with adorable ribbons at the shower Teresa gave me, and I got carried away while finishing them up and now I have twice as many!)
Fabric, ricrac
"Binky" straps
Embroidered onsies
Nursing covers

Kent said he's heard the word "Cute!" way too many times in the past two days.

My dad even got in on the action last night and sewed a burpcloth all by himself! He's never, ever even thought about wanting to sew before.
I think Mom and Dad are excited to be grandparents.

And I still haven't forgotten about posting my creative nonfiction piece--I just haven't yet figured out how to do it. It's a long document.

sunshine

California.
Green hills,
Baby shower,
Mission farewell,
Family pictures,
A kayak race (Kent won first place for me!),
Backyard barbeques and the pool,

And of course the famous Taco Truck.
We had to satisfy Kent's craving for it. We went twice.

Hopefully it isn't too long before we get to go back. We'll have little baby Nicholas* in tow.

*Although we haven't submitted our final answer quite yet, "Nicholas Kent" is the name we're currently decided on.

away

We're in California this week,
visiting all of Kent's family and seeing his brother, Mason, off on his mission.

It's wonderful. Warm. Green. Relaxing. Fun.

Last night we played a rousing game of Taboo, and we laughed so hard we cried. I'm so happy we get to be here!
And Kent's whole family is together again for the first time in like three years.

I'm going to post the piece I read at graduation once I have Kent show me how to add a document link to the Html.

But for now, I'm going to make a waffle with bananas on it and sit in the morning sunshine.

commencing

Here we are: two of BYU-Idaho's newest Alumni.I read a creative nonfiction essay at my convocation. I was super nervous,
but as I sat on the stand, reading over my paper and hoping I wouldn't mess up,
our little boy kicked me
just hard enough to remind me that he's there--
I think he wanted me to know I'd do well.

I mean, if I can grow a child, I can certainly read something to a room full of people.
Both of those with Heavenly Father's help, of course.

And here's my handsome husband listening intently during his own convocation.

The past two days have been busy, full, and fast. Our families were here, as were my grandparents (the Woods).

They're gone now (except for my brother Josh who's hanging with us until we move on Monday).

It's quiet.

I don't quite know what to do with myself. Who am I now that I'm not a student anymore? What do I do next?

Our little boy seems to know. I'm glad he's there to remind me.

an end and a beginning

We're at the end now. Kent tried on his cap and gown in preparation for Thursday and Friday.

This morning I finished my very last homework assignment ever. (Finals week is actually this week, but all my teachers decided to be "nice" and make everything due last week. Which just made last week as crazy as finals week usually would be.)

But it's nice to be done.

I even finished my final cake project. (Sorry the picture is small. I post a bigger one on Wednesday, I promise).

I traveled to the National Undergraduate Literature Conference last week and gave a reading of one of my short stories.
The experience was eye-opening.

BYU-Idaho is a wonderful school. I'm glad I came here. For one thing, if I hadn't I wouldn't have met and fallen in love with the crazy boy who is at this very moment singing about eating potatoes while he sends me instant messages from across the table.
Yes, I'm so glad I came here. I love this school and I've even learned to love the frozen tundra of Rexburg.

BYU-Idaho is a very sheltered place. Our "bubble" is thick.
I'm going to miss it,
but there's so much coming.

and the winner is

Megan!

So that means
It's a boy!

And there was no mistaking it. This child is definitely a boy.

We are very excited. We are celebrating tonight with blue peeps and going out for ice cream after I work on my English portfolio.

Kent has already planned to buy him a baby-sized leather jacket and sunglasses.
And he's predicting that our boy will be going to China on his mission.


Of course, I'm a little sad about not being able to buy all the cute Easter dresses for sale right now.
But instead, we get to buy cool things like this: peepee teepee
We already ordered a set.
And cute outfits like this. Adorable!


We think he's pretty cute.

Now we just have to pick a name.

it's time

for a contest.

On Tuesday I am going to the doctor. The hope is that we will be finding out what it is.
A little baby boy, or a little baby girl. We are so excited!

And so, I need you all to guess. Leave your guess as a comment, and out of all of those who guess right, we will hold a drawing for a prize!

Oh, and if you don't have a google account--you can still leave a comment. Click "name/URL" and just type your name in. I want to hear what your guess is! And I know who you all are that read my blog but never comment.... Now is your chance!

I was thinking we'd wait until Wednesday to tell you all.
Because Wednesday is April Fool's Day, and I thought that it would be funny.

But I think I'm going to be too excited to wait.

So, have your guesses in by Monday night at midnight. And I'll let you know what it is and who won on Tuesday.Four days ago I wore my first maternity shirt. (This is me two weeks ago--at 16 weeks.)

lemon poppyseed

butterflies. It took me a few tries to get them right.
Does anyone know what would make cupcakes do this? Other than not using baking powder or baking soda (I used both).
It's a mystery to me. But once I got it right (i.e. used a boxed yellow cake mix and added lemon flavoring and poppyseeds), they were SO good.
The girls I visit teach loved them.

So did I.