More fun at the pool

Last Friday Lydia and I were invited to go swimming at Ben's boss' house. The office where Ben works is actually in the basement of the house, so Ben was able to come swimming for a little bit with us on his lunch break. We didn't get to swim for very long , since Lydia was getting tired and practically falling asleep in the floaty, but we had a good time. Incidentally, I was very meticulous about putting sun screen all over the both of us, except I missed the spot in between my double straps so I have a sunburned "X" on my back. Hee hee!

Ben's boss' wife, Jill

A Birthday Party!

Last Saturday, one of Lydia's "friends" turned a year old and we were invited to a birthday party! Lydia wasn't too sure what exactly was going on, but she had fun watching everyone. Also we got some good pictures :)

Lydia sitting with daddy; the birthday boy eating cake

Lydia's hair curling in the humidity.

Sitting with daddy, wearing the fun birthday hat!

Fist ... yummy ... better than cake ;)

All the moms with their kids

Look everyone, I still have blue eyes!

Lydia gave Joshua some foam letters for the bathtub

Happy girl!!

Buy me some peanuts and craaaaacker-jacks!

Last week Ben and I had the amazing opportunity to attend a Braves' game. One of our friends had tickets but got sick last minute so he gave us his tickets. My in-laws were available to take Lydia, so we were very fortunate to be able to go. It's always fun to have a date with my hubby, but it's become especially precious to have that time since the baby was born. A night out comes few and far between for these new parents! It was hot, humid, sticky, and very very fun. It did rain a little bit, but we were under the upper pavilion so we didn't get wet. The trade-off, however, was that there was NO breeze. The Braves won 1-0, and it was very exciting! On the way home we stopped at my favorite ice cream place, Zesto, and I got my favorite chocolate-vanilla soft-serve twist. Mmmmm yummy!

Our view of the field

Atlanta's ace, Tim Hudson, more affectionately known as "Huddy" around our house.

Right-fielder and rookie Jason Heyward, "J Hey", as we like to call him :)

This is what I get when I ask my husband to take a picture. Instead of letting him take a picture of me objecting to the picture, I decided to make a ridiculous face instead.

Ok that's a little better!

Friday night fireworks!

On being frugal ...

For some, being frugal is a necessity; for others, it is a choice. For me, it's both. After going from two incomes to one income after Lydia was born, it wasn't too hard to pare down the budget. Most of what I was making at my job we were using to pay off my car, which we did in March. Since then, we're debt free, other than our mortgage and my student loans ... ugh ... Since I'm the one that does all the shopping at my house, I'm also the one that sets the budget. This works out pretty well since I'm definitely not a spendthrift! I guess that comes from my heritage of second-hand store clothing and layaway. With the advent of summer and after receiving our first electric bill, I started to feel a little uneasy about my budget. I looked it over and sighed at all the non-negotiables: mortgage, student loan payments, utility bills, taxes, and health insurance (big ugh!), and I started to wonder where I could possibly cut back. Then I looked at my grocery budget. I had always thought of my grocery budget as a little bit sacrosanct. I love to cook, and have both a fascination and an obsession with trying new recipes. My grocery budget was always a little generous, so that I could afford to buy all those ingredients to make that special dish, or just whatever looked good at the store. I had no interest in alternating between pasta or rice and beans every day. However, with an open mind, I sat down and read through several books from the library and came out of the experience surprisingly energized and confident about being able to cut back on my grocery expenses. For starters, I have set a goal to reduce my grocery spending by about 15-20% this month without sacrificing nutrition, and so far I'm doing pretty well. In order to accomplish this, I have several smaller rules for myself that I'm trying to abide by. Here are some of them.

1. Stop throwing away food. When I really thought about it, I couldn't believe how much food I was throwing away! Leftovers, rotten produce, etc. Now, I do my best to eat all my leftovers, even if I have to make them into leftover soup. Also, I've stopped buying all sorts of produce, just to have it on hand. If I'm not going to use green onions in more than one recipe, I don't buy them until I can plan for at least 2 recipes that week that require them.

2. PLAN PLAN PLAN. This goes hand in hand with rule #1. Gotta have a menu for the week, and gotta try to use items that I buy in more than one recipe.

3. Go meatless 1-2 times per week. Not only will this save money, but everyone could use a little less meat on their plate.

4. Beans, beans, everywhere! I've resolved to use beans at least once a week. Not only are they cheap, but they are high in protein and fiber!

5. Make it yourself. I'm trying really hard to avoid processed foods. I never bought a lot anyway, but now I have even more incentive to make things from scratch, especially snacks. I've been making my own granola bars and muffins, and also plan to cut my own carrot sticks and string cheese. Bottom line: when it's already cut or comes in a small package, you're paying a premium for it. Obviously this is time consuming and may not work for every schedule. But for myself, I'm making it work because I want to save money.

6. Batch cooking. This idea struck me as a huge "duh" when I thought about it. If I'm going to cook something that I know we like, why not double the recipe and freeze the rest for another meal? Tacos, meatloaf, casseroles ... the possibilities are endless. Cook it once, eat it twice. That's my new motto.

7. Be a savvy shopper. In order to be a savvy shopper, you have to know your prices. Recently I started a price book which has helped tremendously. I went to the cheapest store around, Aldi (LOVE that store), and wrote down the prices on the stuff I normally buy. Then I know when something is really a good deal elsewhere. For example, I've concluded that with a few notable exceptions, it is almost never a better deal to buy something at Sam's Club, than to buy the generic brand at Aldi or Walmart. Another dirty secret about buying in bulk: sometimes buying in bulk means that you consume in bulk. Think about it next time you're shredding that cheese you bought in bulk. Do you shred extra just because you have a whole block of it? I was a bit guilty to realize that I do that. It's that "oh hey, well I have a whole bunch of this so I'll just throw in a bit extra" attitude. And let me say this about coupons: I use them, occasionally. But I get my coupons for free (courtesy of my mother-in-law), and I only use them on things I would already buy and typically in conjunction with a sale. Publix loses money on me when I use my coupons. Thank you Couponmom.com! Luckily I live in an area when stores are close together and I can go to multiple stores on a weekly basis. If your stores are far away from each other and you, you might not have this luxury.

So, you might be thinking that this seems like a huge hassle. Why do I do this, all to save $50-$75 a month. First of all, in my budget, that's huge. Not to mention, when I save that money it's still mine at the end of the month. I can do whatever I want with it! I love that feeling of power and accomplishment, knowing that with just a little bit of extra effort, I can have some extra cash to put into my savings account, buy a couple of things we've been needing, or just put it away for a family vacation. That's why I say that being frugal is both a necessity and a choice for me. I thought I would be sad when I decided to cut down on my grocery budget, but the truth is, it's just a new challenge for me and so far, I'm enjoying it.

Finding the time

How do you find the time to do everything? As a new mom I have struggled to find the answer and honestly, I'm still looking! I guess it probably all comes down to prioritization, but I just want to get it all done. Here is a list of some of the things I am currently working on or wishing I had time for:

*practicing the piano for my Primary calling

*finding new music for my choir calling

*painting the cabinets and the trim in the master bathroom, in preparation for painting the walls

*reading cookbooks to get new ideas for recipes

*finishing Atlas Shrugged

*keeping up with Braves' baseball

*keeping up with the laundry

*making sure the kitchen is clean

*getting energy to clean the other bathroom (someday)

*keeping my files organized

*vacuuming the front room at least every few days (darn cat)

*researching cost of putting new carpet in the house!!!

*pricing new tires for the Explorer

*going Visiting Teaching

*trying to find time to shampoo the couches

*going through the boxes and boxes of my stuff my mom brought me from home

*blogging ... occasionally

*facebookery

*archiving digital photos onto CDs and my external hard drive

*going to the gym, at least twice a week

*doing an exercise video at least another couple of times a week

*grocery shopping

*putting up pictures in the baby's room

...

All of this and more while taking the time to play with, feed, and diaper Lydia. Whew! It is really true that a woman's work is never done. Looking at that list, I actually feel a little better about all the things I haven't finished. Still, I recognize that no matter how little else I do, being a mom,and being here for my baby is the most important thing I do!

New Friends

Lydia has a couple of new friends. The first is a Minnie Mouse plush toy that Ben's boss and his wife brought back from Disney World last week. It has little bells inside so it makes a fun jingly noise when we shake it! She loves how soft it is.

Lydia's other new friend is Kisya. I noticed yesterday that Lydia was staring at the cat, just following her with her eyes wherever she moved. I called the cat over and showed Lydia how we pet the cat, and she was so excited about it that she giggled. The cat is really very sweet and gentle which is good. We haven't gotten to tail pulling yet though ...

No, for now we're just trying to eat the cat's tail.

Lydia in the Kitchen

Look out folks, I think we have a future chef on our hands! Today I put Lydia in her Bumbo on the counter while I was making rolls. She certainly enjoyed being up high watching mommy, instead of down on the floor in her bouncy where she usually is while I'm cooking. However, she was decidedly less interested in the rolls than in the tool turnabout which I use to hold my tongs, wooden spoons, spatulas, whisks, etc. She couldn't get enough of those funny gizmos!

Baby Giggles

Oh I just love it when Lydia laughs, and she doesn't do it very often. But tonight daddy did something that was absolutely hilarious, and luckily, Lydia laughed every single time he did it. Just ignore my goofy grin in the corner of the camera. I'm holding the baby and trying hard to catch all the action on the swivel-view of my camera.

Lydia Videos!

Here are a couple of videos I've taken of Lydia recently ... ok maybe just one. The other one wouldn't load.

Playing with the cousins ...

Welcome to the HEAT

And I'm not talking about LeBron James. It is HOT here in Atlanta. It's been mostly in the 90s for the past couple of weeks. My poor air conditioner is getting a workout! I'm sorry it's been so long since I've posted anything. They say time flies after you have kids ... man, "they" weren't kidding. Here are some of the highlights from the past month:

Ben's birthday was last month! He turned 26 on the summer solstice, the day after Father's Day. He was so lucky to get his two favorite dinners, two days in a row: pizza, and barbecue. We also had a family party for him on following Sunday. By the way, if you're ever in the mood for an ice cream cake, and you don't want to go to Carvel and spend $30, just use ice cream sandwiches as your cake base, and build ice cream layers over that. Yummy!! My bro and sis-in-law turned me on to that. If you want to really send it over the top, make a layer of: 1 cup whipped cream mixed with 1 box pudding mix and about 1 cup crushed Oreos. Wow.

We are in the midst of a minor master bathroom remodel! Our wallpaper was flowery and moldy, so it had to come down. Then we also got wind of a toilet rebate program, so we bought 2 new toilets for our house and one of them will go in our master bath. Then we figured while the toilet was out, we might put in a new bathtub. But, while ripping down the wallpaper we realized that we were going to have to do extensive wall repair when we were done. Basically we are going to have to completely skim the walls with spackle. Fun. All this was supposed to be done over the 4th of July weekend, but as renovations normally go, we are still working on it. Hopefully tomorrow we can spackle the walls and purchase our new bathtub. I am SO excited to have a new bathtub. Our current bathtub is 12 inches deep. Yeah ... pathetic. I can't WAIT to take a bath in our new bathtub!

And finally, the news you've all been waiting for, Lydia updates! Well, suffice it to say, "they" were right when "they" said how fast children grow. I haven't hopped on the scale with her lately, but I'm guessing she's between 14 and 15 pounds. She's also getting much taller. She's wearing anywhere from 3-9 month clothing, and she's just turning 3 months next week. She's smiling like crazy and she really enjoys talking and singing along with her mama. She's very close to rolling over (she's already figured out how to roll onto her side), and if I put her on the blanket on the floor and walk away, I'm never sure where I'll find her when I come back. She uses her back legs to rotate and scoot herself around when she's on her back. She is such an absolute joy to have around. We are loving her so much!

Our little family

Happy Birthday Ben!

Yummy ice cream cake

Almost 3 months old!

Happy to be hanging with grandma

House guests

We've had a couple of house guests in the past couple of weeks! My dad was here over Memorial Day weekend because we had Lydia's baby blessing at church on the 30th. He had a LOT of fun hanging out with his newest granddaughter, and we had fun with him! On Memorial Day, my brother gilled steak and hot dogs and we did nothing but eat and chat all day. The food was amazing and the company was even better.

Then, a few days after my dad left, I went and picked up my BEST FRIEND Kylene who was in town from Washington for a conference. She decided to ditch the last few days of the conference and spend time with me and Lydia. We had a blast touring World of Coke, visiting Stone Mountain, making donuts, and in general, just hanging out together. It had been 2 years since we had seen each other. I am so sad that we live on complete opposite corners of the county.

Loving Life With My Little One

So, life is pretty much amazing. I had no idea how much I would come to love my little girl so quickly. And speaking of quickly, I feel like she is growing so fast!! We measured her last night and she is 23 1/2 inches. She is a month old now and is doing really well sleeping, with a few occasional exceptions. She's on a pretty predictable schedule now, the only downside being that she doesn't like to go to bed until about 10:30pm. I am slowly trying to get her to bed earlier, but it's hit and miss. She does sleep from about 10:30 until about 4:30 though, so I can't complain too much. It means I get a little bit of time with my hubby before I go to bed, and then I get a good REM cycle or two in before she wakes up and wants to eat. I think it's kind-of funny though that after I put her back to bed at around 5:00, she lays in her bed and grunts and grunts for about an hour, moving bowels and settling back in to bed. I wish she'd go right back to sleep, but maybe that will come. At least she's not screaming for me. Still, I have a hard time going back to sleep when she doesn't. Then daddy's alarm starts going off at 7 and it wakes her up. I need to get after that daddy of hers to quit hitting the snooze button so many times! Soon enough she'll be in her crib in the nursery, I expect, so the point will be moot. I probably could put her in there now because she's sleeping so well, but ... well ... I dunno ...

She's definitely getting a little more interested in what's going on. She isn't smiling quite yet, but she's becoming more and more aware of what's going on around her. Today her cousins came over and where even just a week ago I would have had a fussy, fidgety baby, she cooperated quite well and was very interested in these new faces! It's so fun to watch her grow--I get the biggest thrill out of it. Of course, I also get a big thrill out of just having such an amazing little person in my life. She is so sweet and I couldn't be more grateful that Heavenly Father gave her to me to take care of for a while. I couldn't imagine my life without this little angel.

Welcome Baby Lydia

Wow. I'm a mom. Somehow, looking back on my life, I always knew this day would come, but now that it's here I admit that it's a bit surreal. Although it was not my first choice, I did end up having the c-section. From this experience I've learned that every baby comes in their own way and comes when they are ready, and this was how Lydia needed to come. I'm still glad that I made the choice to wait and try for a vaginal delivery. I'm so blessed to have no regrets whatsoever!

On the evening of Wednesday April 14th I started experiencing terrible back pain in my lower back. It was so bad that I couldn't even get comfortable, let alone try to sleep. At 6am the next morning, I finally woke my husband and asked him to please call the doctor and see what we should do because I was in such horrible pain. The doctor told us to go ahead and come to the hospital just to get checked out. Four hours and an ultrasound later, they discharged me from the hospital, still in terrible pain. Luckily as the afternoon wore on, my back pain lessened to the point where I was finally able to get comfortable again. I decided that maybe this baby was just going to hang out inside me forever! I was wrong ...

I had just drifted off to sleep at 1:10 am on Friday April 16th when I was awakened by my water breaking. Having my water break was completely unexpected and it totally startled me. I turned and slapped my husband and said, "my water just broke! Go turn the light on and tell me what color the fluid is!" After he fumbled unsuccessfully with the light for several seconds I finally reached over and switched mine on, then leapt out of bed and ran for the bathroom. I contemplated sitting down on the toilet but then I could feel it about to gush so I jumped into the bathtub instead as it all came gushing out. It was brownish-green. "Great," I thought, "meconium." By this point I was totally freaking out trying to deal with the idea that within 18 hours come whatever, we were finally going to have this baby. And then there was the thought that went along with it, "there's meconium in the fluid ... the baby could be in distress!" Then I was trying to decide whether I should go ahead and shower because I was already in the shower and I was covered in amniotic fluid, and I'm yelling to my husband to call the doctor and tell them my water broke and to be sure and let them know there was meconium in the fluid! In the midst of all this my husband announces that my mom had arrived from New York and asked was there anything I wanted her to do. The only thing I could think of was how the bed and several of the pillows were probably soaked so I said, "I dunno, laundry?" I finally decided I should take a shower so I turned on the water and started to get clean. Then the contractions started coming and I knew I'd better hurry because I didn't know how long it would be before they started coming stronger. I'd always heard your contractions are stronger after your water breaks. Finally I got out of the shower, got dressed, and after saying good-bye and good night to my mom, we headed over to the hospital. Just as we were arriving at 1:45 am, a nurse was dropping someone off at the curb in a wheelchair. She offered the wheelchair to me and I gratefully accepted as my contractions were getting stronger.

After they got me settled into my Labor and Delivery room and I was all hooked up to the machines, they tested me to see if I was dilated any more from the previous day's 1cm. Yes! Nearly 3cm! Although I was planning to wait as long as possible to have the epidural I was already having a really difficult time coping with the pain so I said, "I'll take the epidural now please!" Unfortunately the anesthesiologist was a total jerk. I had always heard that the worst part of the epidural is the first part when they numb you before they put the needle in. Well, unfortunately that was not my experience. First the anesthesiologist goes through the whole drill of telling me how still I have to be very still during the whole procedure, which of course, I already knew. Who doesn't know that about the epidural? Then he tells me how difficult it's going to be because I'm overweight. Thanks for that, I'm in pain, you're about to put a needle in my back and you're telling me I'm fat. Well, I can't change that right now!!! So, he "numbs" me with the local anesthesia and then without telling what was next, he sticks me with the epidural needle. I felt a jolt of intense pain in my back so of course ... I jumped. "See, that's exactly what you can't do," he says in an extremely frustrated voice. (Of course, I know this already.) "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," I cry out. "All right, I'm going to try just one more time. Don't move." He sticks me again, and again ... I jump. At this point I'm about to lose it and I whimper in distress because he said he was only going to try it that one last time. I was in so much pain I didn't know how I was going to manage without the epidural. "Sweetheart, if you do that again, I'm done. This is dangerous enough as it is," he says. Praying with all the faith I could muster, I hunched over and waited as if the guillotine was about to drop. This time, I felt the needle go in, but I didn't feel the sharp pain like the previous two times. Miracle of miracles, I managed to stay still. It was done. After the epidural kicked in, I felt much better. I wasn't throwing up any more from the pain, thankfully and we sat and waited while they came in every hour to check my progress.

My progress was slow, only about 1cm every other hour. Obviously I began to get concerned that I wouldn't progress fast enough to have this baby before the 18-hour preferred deadline. After several hours I began to notice that the feeling in my legs was returning. Shortly after that I also noticed that I was starting to partially feel my contractions. Then I felt that my back pain had returned. At first I thought my contractions were just getting stronger and that's why I could feel them again. But after a little while I realized that in fact my epidural had completely worn off and I was in the suddenly middle of full-blown labor and I thought I was going to die of pain. My contractions were very strong and very close together. There was almost no relief from them. As soon as one stopped, another one started. The nurse came in and they got another anesthesiologist to put some more drugs into my epidural but they didn't take. My epidural was clearly dead. The doctor then came in and asked me if I wanted to have the epidural re-done. Oh man, there was nothing I wanted less, but the pain was too great, and if I ended up needing a c-section, I would need that epidural. They told me they would give me 5 minutes to think about it if I wanted, but just as they were getting up to leave another contraction started and I said, "I want another epidural!" Thankfully, this anesthesiologist had a MUCH better bedside manner than the first and was able to get the epidural in successfully on the first try. Within 20 minutes the pain from the contractions was completely gone and I was mercifully at peace again. Unfortunately my blood pressure had skyrocketed during this period and they discovered that I had developed preeclampsia during labor. Lovely. They had to put me on medicine for that which made me feel really really hot, so I had to turn the thermostat way down but I was still hot.

At 3pm they checked me for progress and I was only 6cm. They also noted that the cervix was starting to bulge which typically means that it's not going to dilate any more. I asked if I could have some pitocin or something to help, but they said that my contractions were strong enough that I should be dilating. At 5pm I was still only 6cm. Since I hadn't made any progress for 2 hours and it didn't look like I would dilate any further, and with the preeclampsia and the fact that I had already been in labor for 15 hours, I decided enough was enough. I was ready for the c-section.

They came and prepped me for the c-section and it all went fairly quickly. The anesthetist got me completely numb and he and the nurse wheeled me back into the operating room while Ben got dressed in the blue paper suit. Obviously I didn't feel them cutting me open, but I did feel all the pressure when they got the baby out. Ben was at my head up until that point, and then he was gone. I could hear my baby crying, but I couldn't see her or my husband. The amazing anesthetist stayed by my head for the entire time, coaching me through the stitching-up process. "You're doing great," he kept saying. Thank heavens I had someone there coaching me through it. All the tugging and pressure was very uncomfortable. Eventually they brought the baby over to me, after they had siphoned as much of the meconium fluid out of her lungs as they could. They put her right on my chest but I was so shaky that I said, "someone else better put a hand on this baby or I'm going to drop her!" For a few brief moments I was totally distracted by the sight of my baby to even think about the fact that I had been cut open and was now being stitched up. She was all bundled up and all I could see was her little face, but it was crazy. I couldn't believe this was my baby. This was the little creature that I had been carrying for 9 whole months? So weird. They took her away after a few moments and of course Ben went with her.

When I was all stitched up they wheeled me back to the same Labor and Delivery room and I got hooked up again to the IV and blood pressure monitor. After about 15 minutes I still had not seen Ben or my baby, but my father-in-law poked his head in and I told him to tell Ben to stop hogging my baby in the nursery! Finally, an hour after she was born, they brought her to me and I got to really hold her for the first time. She was so beautiful--it was amazing.

I'm so grateful that she came the way that she did. A c-section was not what I wanted, but in the end, I think it was the right way for her to come. I found out later that she'd had the cord wrapped once tightly around her neck. That combined with all the other factors that developed during my labor lead me to believe that despite what we want, sometimes the Lord simply knows best. I am so in love with my little girl and am so excited to be her mommy.

Lydia Hart Welch
born 4/16/10 5:48pm
9 lb. 4 oz. 21 in.

Baby drama

Still no baby ... yet. She's due on Friday, and although a lot of first-timers go over their due date, one can choose to be optimistic, right? I had a bit of a scare on Wednesday when I went to the doctor and after an ultrasound, they told me my baby's estimated weight was 10 pounds. What??!! She had been growing normally based on the other two third trimester ultrasounds at 31 weeks (3 lbs. 8 oz.) and 35 weeks (5 lbs. 14 oz.). Suddenly at nearly 39 weeks she jumps to 10 pounds?? Of course the doctor immediately recommended scheduling a c-section to avoid shoulder dystocia (the shoulders getting stuck after delivery of the head). Shoulder dystocia can occasionally cause permanent palsy-type damage to the shoulders and arms. Of course I was in shock and very upset. I think most women would not choose to have a c-section if they can avoid it, and I am definitely one of those women. After much prayer, a ton of online research, a priesthood blessing and many conversations with various people including a labor and delivery nurse, I have finally come to the conclusion that I want to go into labor on my own, and try for a vaginal delivery. First of all, I do not believe the baby is actually 10 pounds. All of my research seems to suggest that ultrasounds can be off by a couple of pounds when done very close to the due date. Also, the incidence of permanent damage from shoulder dystocia is very low, and many more unnecessary c-sections are performed every year because of this diagnosis, while large babies are birthed vaginally and healthily all the time. Interestingly I discovered in my research that the mere suggestion of macrosomia (large baby), which can only be properly diagnosed after birth, drastically increases the number of c-section births (over 50%) when compared to women who were not expected to have large babies but in fact had them vaginally. Women who were not expected to have large babies, even though they did, ended up with c-sections at the average rate of 30%. I recognize there are risks, but I don't think childbirth was ever completely free of risk, not even a caesarean. Ultimately I have felt the greatest peace since making the decision to wait and let her come on her own. My excitement and happiness have returned, which is the greatest confirmation that I can have.

2 more weeks!

Until my due date, that is. I'm so ready to be able to sleep more than an hour at a time. Some people say you don't get any more sleep after the baby is born, some people say you get better sleep, I say, I don't think it can get much worse! I'm so exhausted all of the time. Now, if the baby is colicky, I guess there will definitely be no sleep. Well, we shall see! She's been moving moving moving today! Let's hope she's moving down down down.

In other news, I'm too hot. It's been over 80 degrees outside the past 2 days. I don't know what happened to Spring but I guess Summer bullied it out of the way. Luckily for now it still gets cool at night and we have an attic fan so we can use that. It's so nice to have that attic fan--and powerful ceiling fans in every room. I think it's funny that whenever they do a room remodel on HGTV they always take out the ceiling fans. Granted, they are not as elegant and beautiful as a chandelier, but when you are dying of heat they are pretty darn necessary!

I got my kitchen put together finally! For months I've had boxes sitting on the floor holding various and sundry items. A couple of weeks ago we bought a small bakers rack and a rolling butcher block cart. Nothing too fancy or expensive, but it with a little creative rearranging, it does the trick nicely.

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

A Few More Updates!

It's just me and the cat tonight, as Ben is on a camp-out with his 14-15 year old boys from church. I'm a little nervous about him being gone, but he's only about 30 minutes away, and with 3 weeks left until my due date, I'm not very likely to go into labor tonight. However, I still have a sink full of dishes and I'm exhausted from walking all over Walmart today.

One thing I'm really grateful for, is that I'm done working. I had my last day of work on Wednesday the 17th. It probably would have been a more emotional day except that it just happened to be an extremely stressful day with teachers calling in sick and spraining their ankles and having to go home early ... yikes! All in all, I haven't missed working yet, and I probably won't until I miss that first paycheck I suppose. I do miss some of my co-workers and the children, but it's good to have time and energy to accomplish some of the tasks around my house that have been piling up for the last couple of months. I do have to be very careful about how much I do though, because if I overdo it, I really end up paying for it!

We finally got furniture in the baby's room! We've had the crib for a couple of weeks of course, but initially we weren't sure what we were going to do about dressers, etc. However, one of our friends was participating in a yard sale to benefit a young man with some medical issues, and one of the things they collected to sell was a complete white wicker bedroom set, 2 dressers, a trunk, a nightstand and a rocking chair. Since the rocking chair was wrapped in cellophane and we couldn't tell whether it was comfortable or not, we opted not to get rocking chair. We did, however, get everything else for $80, which I'm quite proud of! The color and style match the room perfectly and now we have STORAGE! I finally got to wash the baby's clothes and have somewhere to put them! It was so fun folding all the baby's clothes. I kept thinking to myself, "oh my gosh that is so cute!" and "oh my gosh, THAT is so cute!" She is going to be one well-dressed little girl.

I went to the OB on Wednesday and they discovered that I am dilated 1 cm. Isn't that exciting? It doesn't give any indication of when the baby is coming, of course, but it's progress! I had contractions all night that night, probably due to that internal exam. Last night however, everything was pretty calm so I'm not worried about going into premature labor. Well, not yet anyway! I'll be happy to give it one more week just to make it to 38 weeks and then she can come any old time she's ready, or perhaps she can be convinced ... I'm getting pretty uncomfortable and my clothes are getting too tight so I'm ready!

Baby's Room Update!

The baby's room is finally done ... sorta. We finished painting the day of my baby shower and got the crib in there a couple of weeks later. It looks really good. Now I just need to finish painting a shelf, hang it back up on the wall, and get the baby's furniture in there. But you can see the dramatic before and after shots. I think the stripes turned out beautifully. I'm SO happy with them. I also had my hubby change out all the cream/black electrical outlets for bright white ones and spray-painted the heating vent cover white as well. I wish we had painted the woodwork white because it looks very shabby next to the crisp, freshly painted walls, but I guess that's a project for another time!

BEFORE:


AFTER:

Getting down to wires

We're getting down to the wire here, only about 6 more weeks to go! We are so excited and of course, nowhere near ready! The goal is to finish painting the nursery this week and get the crib moved in. My baby shower is on Saturday and I keep telling Ben I need somewhere to put all the baby's stuff! Maybe tonight I can convince him to finish painting?

Speaking of wires, I made a trip to the cardiologist last week after a slight scare on Monday morning. I went to visit a friend from church with another friend, and we were sitting in her living room talking when all of a sudden I started to feel like my heart was beating out of my chest and I was feeling slightly nauseous. I leaned over to my friend who had been a nurse and she put her hand on my wrist and we timed my pulse--120 beats per minute, just sitting there! Of course, our friend had the space heater on in her house and I was feeling pretty warm. With having a baby on board, I called my OB just to make sure everything was ok, and they told me to go ahead and visit the cardiologist as the OB's office doesn't have any sort of cardiac diagnostic equipment! Eek! So off I went to the cardiologist who told me not to worry, that everything was probably just pregnancy-related, but who still ordered an echocardiogram and a 24-hour heart monitor. I had the echocardiogram the same day and it came back normal. I went Monday for the heart monitor hook-up and spent a very uncomfortable 24 hours with 7 electrodes taped to my body, recording a constant EKG. I can't even describe how silly I felt with a bunch of cords running under my shirt, but I dealt with it. I still haven't gotten any results back, but it can take a week or so. I just hope I don't have to go back to the cardiologist for many, many years to come!

In other news, I only have about a week left of work. We found my replacement and she's starting next Monday. I suppose I should be grateful, but truly it feels a little weird. As stressful as it can be sometimes, I've been working for so long that I'm very used to it. I enjoy my job, and I enjoy my contribution to the family budget. We'll survive without my income, but we won't be able to save as much as we have been able to while I've been working. That said, I know how important my role as a mother will be in the life of my child, especially having worked in child care for the past couple of years. I truly feel that nothing can replace a mother's influence in her child's life. I know it will be a challenge for independent-minded me, but I'm looking forward to this new phase in my life.

Eight more weeks!

I can't believe it's only 8 more weeks before the baby's due date. I'm having a baby shower in 2 weeks, and we're going to be scrambling to try to get everything together before she comes! We primed the nursery for painting last Saturday, and so hopefully tomorrow we'll be able to get the actual paint on the walls. I think I've decided on the stripes, at least on one wall, so I'd better go and draw my lines for that today!

I'm feeling totally huge and I can't imagine my belly getting any bigger. Ha!! If only I could be that lucky! I ended up buying one of those maternity support belts and it has made a world of difference. I can actually walk now, even after a full afternoon of work. I used to look like a complete cripple in the evening, moving so slowly across the house and gripping the handrail to go up the stairs, but now, as long as I'm wearing that belt, I can boogie! I'm not completely without pain, but it's not so debilitating.

The Olympics have been a real treat. I've been staying up way too late to watch all the coverage in the evening. The baby really likes the Olympics too. She moves nonstop while I'm sitting on the couch watching for 4 hours a night. Either she's going to be an athlete, or she really likes the music from the figure skating!

Wrapping up January

I can't believe January has already come and almost gone! I feel pretty good, although some days are better than others. Whenever I'm not working, I'm sleeping or couch potato-ing due to my hip and sciatic pain, the overwhelming exhaustion, and the fact that I am constantly sick with some bug or another. It's interesting that I'm not experiencing a lot of the things about pregnancy that I was expecting to. None of the books I read on pregnancy really helped me very much, because my issues seem to be just weird and specific to me! Oh well. We're not too far from the goal-line now; just over 10 weeks to go!

With the baby coming so soon, I'm finally getting to work on the nursery! I was going to paint the walls a limey green, (free can of paint, what can I say), but after my sister-in-law gave me a red flowered crib set and an extra set of red-checked crib sheets, I've actually changed my design plan a little bit so that the room doesn't look like Christmas when it's all done. My plan is to paint the walls white with a lime green accent wall, or perhaps white and lime green stripes ... haven't exactly decided yet. I'm probably going to have to paint a strip of lime green just to see how it looks on the wall before I make my decision. Then we'll just have red and lime accents. I started prepping the room today by taking down the curtain rod, removing the shelf on the wall, taking out all the nails, and filling in the holes with joint compound and a putty knife. Then I was having so much fun with the putty knife that I decided to fill in the scrapes in the stairway from moving the couches downstairs. Eventually those walls will get painted too, but I'll have to wait until it's a bit warmer I think. The basement does not have HVAC. Now I have to wait for the joint compound to dry (24 hours) and then I can finally get to work priming the room for paint. Hooray! So, stay tuned for updates on my progress!

Happy New Year 2010!

It's hard to believe that it's been 10 years since Y2K. Do you remember where you were when 1999 became 2000? I was in my parents' house in New York, and my dad decided that after all the Y2K scare, it would be really hilarious to go and pull the breaker at midnight. He's a funny man, my dad!

Well, what would New Year's be without a football game? As Ben is an avid Auburn fan, we watched the Auburn/Northwestern game on January 1st. I don't think I've ever seen such an interesting ending to a game. If you saw the game, you know what I'm talking about. If not, well, you just missed out then! It's certainly destined to become a classic.

Sunday night I went to bed feeling a little sick to my stomach, but I thought, no biggie, I just ate too much candy. (My house is FULL of candy leftover from Christmas. *sigh*) Monday I got up, ate a little breakfast, drank some orange juice (bad idea), swept and mopped my kitchen floor, and got ready for work. I ate lunch in a hurry as I was driving to work and by the time I got there I really was not feeling well. I couldn't go home until my boss went and picked her daughter up, so she went and did that and in the meanwhile I did my best to put on a happy face as parent after parent came in to register their child. Oh there is nothing worse than a busy day at work when you feel like you're about to hurl. And then right after my boss got back from picking up her daughter, I lost it, literally. So I came home right away and after that I'm sure I lost everything I had eaten for the last month. For 5 straight hours I was completely miserable, lying in bed unable to move except to roll over or get up and run to the restroom. Thank heavens it only lasted for 5 hours. Today I'm at home recovering from this stomach bug and trying to reacclimate my body to solid foods. The good thing about stomach bugs is that they are so short lived. And thank goodness that babies in utero and women's bodies are hardy enough to withstand such a beating!

Christmas 2009

This year was our first Christmas in our new home. You would think that I would have gone all out with the Christmas decorations in celebration, but alas, being pregnant and returning from Utah just a few days before Christmas ... well ... my Christmas tree made it up on Christmas Eve, just hours before my parents and little brothers arrived from New York.

As we had purchased ourselves a brand-new king-sized bed for "Christmas" this year, we simply did stockings on Christmas morning. My parents gave us a cordless drill which we were VERY grateful for, and used immediately to install our over-the-stove microwave. Here's to years and years of home fix-it projects! We spent Christmas day at my brother's house with our whole family. It was really nice to just hang out and be with the fam. That night however, my eyes started getting really really itchy and when I woke up on Saturday morning, much to my chagrin, I realized that I had brought more back than just luggage from Utah. Pink eye! The first pink eye of my life. And let me tell you, pink eye is NO FUN. Ben got it too, but he seemed to get it worse than I did. Although my eyes hurt and were red and itchy, Ben's eyes actually swelled to the point where I wasn't sure if I was married to Ben or Quasimoto! The worst part of the whole thing was that Sunday was supposed to be our Christmas choir program at church, and I'm the choir director! After receiving a priesthood blessing and after much prayer, I felt it would be okay to go and lead the choir program. I have to say, it turned out pretty well, considering 1/5 of my men's section (Ben) was not there. Monday we both went to the doctor and got medicine for our poor eyes. We're both recovered from the pink eye now, although not before managing to pass it along to my niece. I just pray that's as far as it goes, although the thing is horribly contagious! With parenthood just around the corner, I doubt I'll be able to avoid it permanently.

My parents stayed through January 2nd, and despite being sick for part of the time they were here, it was such a blessing to have them. I know it's a long drive for them (16 hours), but I'm so grateful that my brother and I live in the same area so we get to see my parents more often. I was so spoiled being able to take so much time off work leading up to and over the holidays!

Our trip to Utah!

The week before Christmas, we had the opportunity to fly to Utah for 6 days. Ben's grandmother turned 100 on December 20th, and the family had planned a big party in her honor on the 19th. As 6 of Ben's 7 siblings were going to be there for the event, we decided that not only would it be a great opportunity to celebrate grandma becoming a centenarian, but also for me to meet some of Ben's family that I had never met! We flew out very early on Wednesday the 16th from Atlanta, but with a connecting flight in Phoenix, it felt like the longest airplane ride of my life. (Pregnancy and airplanes don't mix very well, I've decided.) Plus we were flying with Ben's sister and her 4 children, ages 8, 5, 3 and 2 months. (Children and airplanes don't mix very well either.) Nevertheless, despite a few spilled drinks and trying to get the 3-year-old not to kick the seat in front of her more than once every 20 seconds or so, we finally made it to Salt Lake where it was ... not as chilly as I was expecting! Or maybe that's because I am expecting ... hmmm ... Very luckily, although I was 5 months pregnant, my big winter coat still fit me! I don't get a chance to wear that coat very often, so it was nice to be able to use it.

While in Utah, we stayed with Ben's brother Nathan and his family in Highland. Their oldest daughter gave up her queen-sized bed and bedroom for us, which we were very grateful for. We had a very good time getting to know Nathan's family, and playing Ticket to Ride with them, which we immediately purchased with some Christmas money upon our return to Georgia! We also saw Avatar with Nathan, and made waffles for everyone for breakfast. They were so impressed with the waffles that they sent us back home with a Belgian waffle maker. We were also able to catch up with some old friends (although we didn't have time for everyone), and we were able to go to the temple which was a HUGE blessing. With the Atlanta temple being closed for extensive renovations, we are now 4 hours from a temple which is difficult for this pregnant lady. Being able to attend the temple was a wonderful, wonderful experience. Aside from the birthday party, it was definitely the highlight of our trip.

The birthday party on Saturday was really neat. I got to meet some of my mother-in-law's siblings, and distant cousins and such. Ben's sister Michelle put together about a 16-foot timeline of grandma's life, complete with pictures and world events for comparison. Ben couldn't imagine what women did before the invention of the bra in 1913. The timeline was really amazing to look at. It took several hours of preparation, and then a couple of more hours to assemble before the party.



There were quite a few people at the party, which was held at grandma's ward building. It was pretty informal, mostly just eating and a small program where people were able to tell stories about grandma. We were able to get our picture taken with grandma, which if I can find it ... aha!



Our flight back on Monday was MUCH faster than the flight out. We flew via Denver, but our flight from Salt Lake was delayed so we had to run (or try to) once we got to Denver in order to make our connecting flight. When we got to our gate, who should we see but Ben's uncle and cousin waiting for the same flight! They had left on an earlier flight but still were scheduled to be on our flight, and on top of that, they had been assigned seats in the same row. What a coincidence! I had a good time chatting with Ben's cousin, who lives with her husband and 3 boys about an hour away from us.

All in all, we feel very blessed that we were able to make this trip. With a baby on the way, I'm not sure when we'll be able to make a trip like this again, much less be able to get together with so many of Ben's siblings and nieces and nephews. It really is true that the most important things in life are the members of your family. I'm so glad that we were able to spend some time forging lasting relationships with Ben's family.

All kinds of fun!

Getting a new house is such a crazy busy time! By now you would think that I'd be all settled in, but the truth of it is, we had a little more storage available to us at our apartment, and we had to leave it when we left. In my kitchen for example, which at first glance looks pretty well put together, if you look closer you'll see boxes lined up on floor along the wall behind the kitchen table. I still have nowhere to put that stuff, so I'm waiting until I can get some sort of buffet or storage implement to put in the kitchen.

I also have no working oven. When we bought the house, it came with a built-in range. We were essentially given a free-standing range when we bought our used refrigerator from a friend, so we cut out the built in range which had a very small oven, and replaced it with this freestanding range. Unfortunately we didn't realize that after sitting for so long in my friend's basement, the oven no longer worked. The burners on top work just fine, but no oven. It's only the best baking time of the year and I can't bake a thing! I guess I'm sorry out of luck for now because I can't afford to replace or even fix it right at the moment.

We bought a brand new washer a dryer! The washer is actually hooked up, but we can't hook the dryer up yet because we need an electrician to change out the receptacle that we have in the luandry room. We're also changing the location of the dryer vent because right now it extends about 20 feet to go out the side wall of the house. We think that's a fire hazard, so we're going to put it out of the wall that's directly behind the dryer. Having no dryer is really hard but for now, I'm surviving.

Another little problem that we did not anticipate when we moved into our house is that the previous owner left us with a flea infestation! Ben kept getting little bites all over his ankles at night, and when I bought a flea comb ... well you REALLY don't want to know how many fleas I got off the cat. Luckily for us, our good friend sells professional pest control products, so we were able to purchase some flea killer spray from him. We sprayed the house about 2 weeks ago and I think the population has diminished, but we're supposed to do it 2 more times to ensure that we really killed them all. Yuck. Well, we live in the south--if it's not fleas it's cockroaches or termites ...

We're going to Utah next week! Ben's grandma is turning 100 and her birthday party is on the 19th, so we're heading out there on the 16th, and we'll be back on the 21st. We're excited for the trip, but I would be more excited if I could do my laundry before we go ...

All settled in

We've been all moved in for 2 weeks now, and I must say, it is nice to have our own house! Frankly, I LOVE our house. It may have some strange paint colors as well as some amazing flowery wallpaper in the master bath, but I think it's just perfect! It's a split level house, and while I wasn't sure how I would like it, I really like having only to go up or down half a flight of stairs to get what I need. The kitchen is small, but it's workable for now. (It just needs a coat of paint that's not gold or royal blue.) The 2 best parts about the house, in my opinion, are the basement, and the back yard. The basement has 2 rooms, a family room and a storage/laundry room. The storage room works really well for our food storage and doubles as a pantry, since we don't have a pantry off the kitchen. My other favorite part of the house is the back yard. The house sits on .56 acres, so the back yard is pretty big, and it's completely fenced in. Most of the houses that we looked at were in newer subdivisions, and didn't have much in the way of yards. Having grown up in rural New York State, being surrounded by green space has always been very important to me. It's an old house (built in 1986), and it needs some updating, but we're very happy with it.

Pictures of our new house!

Sorry this has taken so long. We still don't have internet at our house, so I had to plan a trip to my inlaws' house and then manage not to forget my camera. More stories to come. Enjoy the pictures!

Getting ready for the big move

I'm home alone tonight! Ben is off learning lessons on home repair and renovation from our landlord. We closed on our house last Wednesday, and aside from a little bit of stress with a late document on Tuesday, everything went off without a hitch. There were none of the surprises everyone warned us about, for which I am grateful! We bought a used fridge and a gas stove from my boss which we dropped off on Saturday evening. We needed the fridge, and although we didn't need the stove as the home came with a gas stove, it was a very old stove, the oven was small, AND it was built in to the cabinets which I wasn't thrilled about. The "new" stove is a freestanding stove, and Ben and my landlord are working hard tonight to get the old stove out, cut out the cabinets and get the "new" stove in. Fun fun!

The big move is on Saturday, and I've had lots of help packing. I'm very grateful for good friends who are so willing to help! Today my sister-in-law and my mother and father-in-law came over and we got all my books and all my food storage packed. Now all that's left is the kitchen, clothes, and the stuff in the TV room. It's amazing how many boxes it takes once you get started. Hopefully I'll be able to go over soon and take some pictures to post online.

No time, no time!

Lately I don't know where all of my time goes. I have to much to do and I can never get it all done! I'm so tired by the time I get done with work at the end of the day, then by the time I get dinner on the table the evening is gone and it's bedtime. Somehow I've got to get my house cleaned and packed in the next two weeks ... Help!

The week before last I spent in New York visiting my family. I had such a great time! My sister and her baby daughter were there visiting too. It was so fun just to spend time with my family, visiting my grandma, oohing and aahing over the beautiful leaves, making apple crisp and half-moon cookies, and enjoying the crisp, cold, fall air! The only way my vacation could have been more perfect is if my hubby had been able to go. Here are a few pictures:

Me with my sister

Beautiful fall colors

My dad, sister, and neice

The biggest pumpkin I have ever seen!!!

Me and my 88 year old grandma :)

Moving Forward

Everything is moving forward with purchasing our home! We had the home inspection on Tuesday and aside from a few drainage issues that will need to be addressed once we move in, everything looks pretty good. The inspector was very thorough, so we feel pretty confident the house is in pretty good shape. We did see a Black Widow spider during the inspection. Scary!!! The spider will definitely have to move out. We're signing all our loan paperwork which is kind-of intimidating, but we feel like we're getting a good house. More than that, we feel like we're getting the right house, which is the most important thing.

My pregnancy is moving along as well. I am now 12 weeks! I'm starting to feel much better. After suffering from a bad cold last week (of which I still have some residual coughing), I'm actually starting to feel much better. I never threw up (thankfully), and the nausea that I did have is now gone. I have a little bit of my energy back, although I'm afraid to overdo it in the morning because my job has been a lot more physically demanding lately. If I overdo it before I go to work, by the time I get home I'm just ready to fall over into bed. Then of course I have to make dinner ... Ahhh, a woman's work is never done.

Next week I'm going to New York for a whole week! I leave on Tuesday the 6th and come back on Monday the 12th. I'm SO excited. I wish that Ben could come with me, but he can't really take the time off work right now. We're hoping to go to Utah right before Christmas to celebrate his grandmother's 100th birthday, so he needs to save his vacation. So, I'll be going alone, but I won't be alone! My sister is also coming with her daughter so we'll be having so much fun with the girls!

More good news!

We are under contract to buy a house! We are so excited. After looking for months and putting in 2 other offers, we found it last week and I just loved it from the moment we walked in. It's a 3-bedroom, 2 1/2 bath, split level home in Lawrenceville. We get to stay in the same ward we are in now, and we'll be in the Grayson school district, so that's good. There is a living room, kitchen, and 1 1/2 car garage on the main floor, 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths upstairs, and a large family room, 1/2 bath, and good sized storage/laundry room on the lower level. Also, it sits on half an acre, so there is a beautiful, level, completely fenced-in backyard. I can't wait to plant my garden next year ;-)

By way of announcement ...

We're expecting! We've known for a few weeks now, of course, but we finally had our first ultrasound today, and since everything looks normal, we're going to go ahead and make the announcement. We are SOOO excited! The baby is due April 16th and obviously we're not sure yet whether it's a boy or a girl. I don't think we really care. Right now it looks like a gummy bear, but we're pretty sure it will turn into a baby ;)

In case you can't tell what everything is, that's the head in the lower left, the body in the middle, and the yolk sac on the top right. Of course the other things are arms and legs :)

Sick as a ...

Now where did "they" ever come up with the phrase "Sick as a dog". I mean, are dogs really that unhealthy? I don't remember my dog getting sick very often.

I've been sick with a nasty cold for the last week. It started out as a sore throat, then went into my head and plugged everything up in there, then moved down into my chest and made me cough a lot. I was laid up Saturday through Monday basically. I didn't even go to church and if I don't go to church, you know I MUST be sick! On Saturday, Ben's uncle Larry came over and they gave me a blessing. While we were chatting, Larry suggested that we try NetiPot. "What in the world is a NetiPot", I asked? Well, turns out that a NetiPot is a nasal rinse system, which utilizes salt-water to clean out the mucus in your nose. It's basically a teapot that you put your salt-water mixture in, then tilt your head and pour into one nostril, and the water goes up into your nose, and comes out the other nostril. We went right out and bought one and I must say, it's pretty effective! Ben is sick now too, and he even uses it, which surprises me because he has such an active gag reflex. Thankfully I'm getting over this cold now--just some residual chest congestion and coughing. Just need to get Ben healthy now!

I've made it through "Back to School"

The last couple of weeks have been really busy at work because everyone's been signing their kids up for afterschool programs. When I was growing up, we used to scorn the kids who went to afterschool programs, and there was only one that I remember, "Greene Cares", which was held in the gym at the Elementary School in the town where I went to school. Nowadays, things have changed just a little bit, and with both parents working in most families, kids need afterschool care. Our daycare/preschool services about 7 elementary schools in the area, and we actually lowered the price of our afterschool programs this year so we had TONS of new families sign up. Of course, it doesn't hurt that we have cool stuff like an air hockey table and a foosball table! Because of the wave of new families, my job became "paperwork mass processor" for several days prior to the beginning of school on the 10th. I went in early, stayed late, and worked right up until the last second to get everything together. Luckily the first several says of school went relatively smoothly and things are slowing back down again. Phew!

A Temple Trip

Some of you may well know that on July 1st of this year, the Atlanta Temple closed for a year and a half of renovations. This makes the temple a little less accessible for us--the nearest one being Birmingham, AL--three and a quarter hours drive from here. Our area has been asked to attend the next closest temple--Columbia, SC--a three and a half hour drive away. After a pretty stressful week at work for the both of us, I felt like we needed to make the drive and attend the temple today. Since we didn't have anything else going on, it worked out perfectly. It was so nice to be in the temple again. I LOVE the small temples. They are so efficient, yet cozy and beautiful all at the same time. I love all the windows, and how each small temple has its own unique theme with the patterns on the stained glass. But aside from the experience of being in the temple, I think the most marvellous part of the day was the drive to the temple. When we go to the Atlanta temple, it takes us about 50 minutes to get there, and we are usually hurrying to make a particular session. We were hurrying today too, but you can only feel so much of a sense of urgency on a 3 1/2 hour drive, especially when you don't recognize the landmarks. It was neat to have a large amount of time to sit and ponder about the temple, to listen to quiet music, and prepare myself spiritually for the experience. I also enjoyed simply being with my husband, playing the alphabet game and laughing and joking with each other. Although it was a long day which involved a LOT of driving, it was completely worth it. I am really looking forward to our next temple trip!!