Just stuff

Just a shout out to Megan Hatch, who I just found out reads this: holla!

Things have been going pretty well around here, no exciting labor or anything yet, but probably pretty soon. Since my last post, some exciting things have happened. The Saturday right after my last post Mom came to Pasadena to help do some things around the apartment we hadn't gotten around to yet. We hung pictures and did some heavy lifting that needed to be done but Rick wouldn't let me help him with. We had fun and capped it off with a trip to Souplantation where my favorite thing was the blueberry muffins, they were soooo yummy. After Mom left Rick and I put the finishing touches on our talks which we gave the next day. Sunday morning Rick and I were both really nervous, and no contractions to keep us away we went to church. I spoke first and did most of the introduction of us as a couple and my talk was about joy. It turned out pretty well, but I ad-libbed a lot and probably sounded a little crazy, but at least I didn't cry. Well, I guess I sounded really cheerful, a guy in the ward told me that I came across as very cheerful today, so I guess that is a good thing. The primary sang a couple songs in between and then it was Rick's turn. He did a really great job speaking about the importance of families all the time, but especially at Christmas. He didn't do such a great job introducing himself because he talked a lot about me, but it was really sweet.

The next day December 15th was very exciting because Holly had her baby, Jack Flanagan that morning. He is so cute and looks a lot like his daddy. The Flanagans are all doing well and are now at home. My mom drove up Tuesday to Utah to be with the Flanagans, and she's been having a ball playing with them and Julie. Our week here in Pasadena was not full of any sort of excitement, Rick went to work and I've just been doing things around the house. I did pack my hospital bag and we installed the car seat, so just a couple more things to get ready. Saturday we went on a date, maybe our last one before the baby. We got some really yummy pizza from a little Italian place in town, which I think we will definitely return to in the future. I was especially surprised I liked Rick's Tomato basil pizza, it was olive oil based, not pizza sauce based, and just topped with a little mozzarella, tomatoes and some fresh basil, it was really good. Then we went and saw a movie. It was really fun just to get out and do something that was not baby related, which most of our dates have been. And as we were driving around we saw more preparations for the Rose parade, there are bleachers set up sporadically up and down Colorado Ave and there are more and more decorations going up. Today has been a good day, with the Christmas presentation during Sacrament meeting and good lessons in gospel doctrine and relief society.

Rick and I have been trying one new recipe a week just to expand our eating horizons. Today we made some apple chicken and it turned out pretty well, maybe next time we'll add some more apples just to kick up the flavor a notch. And I made pumpkin muffins this week, which are so good. I made plain, raisin and chocolate chip pumpkin muffins, and they all turned out well. I got Rick and Ableskeiver pan for Christmas, so I think we might do those this week sometime.

This week will be exciting because Julie is coming down for winter break. I haven't seen her since August, so I'm excited to hang out. And she just wants me to have my baby so she can be the first person to hold both the babies. We'll see how that is going tomorrow at my doctor's appointment. And of course this week is Christmas, which is awesome, but a little weird since our family already celebrated, I'm not exactly sure what we'll do, but I hope it is something great. A lot of people at Church today speculated that we'll have a Christmas baby, which is entirely possible, but I hope doesn't happen, that would stink for poor little William.