My life these days

I think I'll blog more now that I shared the news in our life. Not to let you in on my secret, but if there's something going on I can't freely talk about then I sometimes can't talk at all, at least on my blog. 

So back to the subject of this blog, my life these days...

- Today I coordinated my 3rd wedding in 6 weeks. Today's wedding was really fun with a very sweet couple. I'm discovering that weddings are not always the best time to meet couples, they tend to be stressed and tense. No big hairy stories to share yet except for the Ethiopian wedding I did 3 weddings ago. The sister of the groom arriving that morning and insisting on changing the stage layout, the entire wedding party and bride and groom, showed up an hour late for the ceremony, and a few other random things made that one by far the most interesting! But overall I'm really enjoying it and always have 1 or 2 things after each one that I would have done differently. I was really impressed with the ushers at the wedding today! Actually, everyone was really nice. It's sometimes hard for me to remember that this is their one big day when it's simply one of 10 weddings I have on my calendar. Actually, I have like 8 more scheduled through October then I'll take a break to have the kid.

- Last Friday I worked the Third Day show (see pic above). It was super fun!! Third Day is my all time favorite Christian group EVER, I have every single one of their albums and every song they sang was familiar. My boss, Janet Fraser, volunteered and since I got to be in charge of the VIP line and a few other things I put her on fun jobs where she got to be around the group and have a backstage pass. It was fun!!

- Because of an admin leaving at work recently I've had the opportunity to pick up some extra hours until they hire a replacement. Although I like the extra money, I've really been missing my Tuesday and Thursday mornings at home. But it's worth it. Although this kid is making me pretty tired lately and I used to take short naps on those mornings, which I haven't been able to do. 

- Speaking of Tuesday and Thursdays, I normally workout with Trisha on those mornings. We meet at 6am at either the gym or Nike campus. We are supposed to workout another day a week but haven't made it in the past few weeks. Running has gotten SO much harder!! Not sure if it's the extra pounds I've put on or not going very often but I'm really feeling it!

- I did a Demarle party a couple weeks ago and have another one scheduled next Thursday. I LOVE being able to get myself more product! That's the deal I struck with Mark, I do the parties and he lets me spend my money on more product ;) The last party was so successful I got to invest in a new pan. All the product from the party arrived the other day and I haven't opened it up yet, but I'm looking forward to testing my new pan out out! It's only 1 pan, but I've heard nothing but really great things!!

- Last weekend Mark and I were able to spend Saturday and Sunday in Seattle for Mark's niece's 1st birthday party. Very fun!! Tegan is SO cute and it was fun to see the family. It's also kind of fun to see Michelle's friends as their families are expanding over the years we've been around for the girls' birthday parties. Of course, we also spent Sunday celebrating Mother's Day with the family. We had a yummy brunch at Marie Callendars before heading home. 

- Although we had to cancel our planned annual beach weekend, we have a couple more trips planned this year. I'm going to visit my friend Marla in June for 4 days. In July Mark and I are joining my family for a week in Alaska. My brother Jared lives there so we're excited to see people and get to see more of Alaska. They'll still be in the light-all-night season so that will be interesting! In August we're taking a week vacation to North Carolina to visit Mark's family. And before you think we have loads of money to blow, which couldn't be further from the truth, we are using frequent flyer miles for both trips (my parents are helping with the Alaska one, they are very generous with their kids) and we're visiting family to help keep costs down. We decided to use our miles before they expire and the baby comes and the Alaska trip was a fun add-on we couldn't turn down!

- I'm VERY excited for spring/summer to come and stick. This morning I bought some plants and pots with Barb and look forward to trying to grow a tomato plant in a pot on our back porch. It gets good afternoon/evening sun so I'm hopeful! I really miss being able to do the big gardens like I used to at Barb's house. But they were also a lot of work. 

- I have grown out of my jeans. Not really because I have a growing baby but because I have a growing body. For our photo shoot (see previous post) I wore my newest jeans and only got away with it because my loose sweater concealed my muffin top. Hah! Last week Barb saved me with a few pairs of jeans that she doesn't wear any more. That 1 size sure makes a difference!! I'll be honest that I'm seriously freaked out about getting the weight off at the end, so am trying to be a little careful but also realistic. I'm looking forward to when the baby grows enough I can start wearing maternity clothes and not just clothes to accommodate my expanding thighs and hips.

This was really long and probably not very interesting to some of you, but if you were wondering what's going on in my life, now you know!

Pictures of Us

A couple months ago I bumped into a friend I haven't seen in a few years, on facebook. We used to do highschool camp together but lost touch. Funny that when we found each other again we discovered we got married within a month of each other and wore the exact same dress ;) 

She is now a photographer and asked to "shoot" us. Never being one to turn down something free, I eagerly took her up on the offer. However, we had to reschedule at least once and I had to talk Mark into it, but it didn't take long ;) We've never really had a professional photo shoot done as we didn't have engagement pictures taken and a friend did our wedding pictures, although he did a great job! So this was really fun to just hangout with each other and be in love and happy while Sara took pictures. She had us do some really good poses and it was all very "us". The other neat thing is that we were already having a great day together so what you see is truly how we felt in the moment and every day with each other. We are so thankful to God for bringing us together and a little over 1.5 years from when we got married we're still desperately in love!!

You can see more of the pictures she took of us here on her blog and also on my facebook.

"Going Public"

I like to use dramatic terms for something that's not so dramatic. I've been saying we aren't "going public" yet while quietly telling nearly everyone we would be "going public" to! 

 

I really think that God's funny in how he works things out. 8 weeks to discover you have something growing inside you, deal with the reality (in our case, elated!), get used to feeling sick all the time, get used to keeping a secret while still telling your selected support system, and to get out of what I call the "danger zone", all while completely under the radar to the general public because unless you tell people, they won't know what's up. Well, it would appear we're out of the danger zone (although still sick a good part of the time) and heading into phase (a.k.a. trimester) 2 of 3.

 

Yes, we're pregnant! We couldn't be more excited!!! Although it doesn't really feel real yet. It's weird that you could have a little thing growing inside of you but not even know except for that frequent sick feeling and many other random symptoms. Although we did hear the heart beat today, which is really exciting! But still crazy that there is a separate living thing inside there. I keep thinking it will feel more real when we start showing but I'm wondering if it will ever feel real!! Like the other night when I sat in the living room watching tv with my husband thinking, "wow, I can't believe I'm married with a place of our own, sharing my life with my man, how cool!"

 

We're due November 17th and other than feeling sick (but never throwing up) 75% of the time and having an exceptionally sensitive nose and a slowly expanding body (but not because of baby just because of extra pounds ;), things are going along beautifully! At least as far as we know.

 

I'm going to share this next part because I would have been interested in stuff like this when we started this process.

It took us a little longer than we had hoped (7 months) and we were trying A LOT of different things to help the process along. I won't bore you with the details, but if you want to hear about it one-on-one, I'd be happy to share. Lets just say we were being VERY intentional! I was beginning to wonder if it was going to happen at all and was assured that this was normal (they say it can take normal couples up to a year with intentional effort) even though my head couldn't process how one month nothing happened but next month it could happen with pretty much the exact same "formula". It has been a very interesting journey and now that we're actually pregnant (which is still weird to say), it seems like a distant memory. Well, not entirely. But the feelings of fear and uncertainty are mostly a distant memory. But they've been replaced with fear of losing the baby and if we'll be the type to make it all 40 weeks and if it all goes well, how are we going to afford this whole kid thing? I have reminded myself many times how this is simply the beginning of a life-time of prayers towards this little one. It's hard to believe that we'll have a small being that will fill-out one of the 2 tiny outfits we've already been given. I can't wait!!!

 

What else has been going on?

Other than our trip to Whibey 3 weeks ago, we also drove to Montana last weekend for a wedding on Saturday night. It was a great trip of visiting friends in Spokane, short visit with some of my family in Montana and LOTS of driving. But totally worth it! We had a great time together and enjoyed hanging out so much. 

Mark's every-other-Friday's-off have also started. So far we've spent 2 of the 3 on road trips (Whidbey and Montana). Right now Mark is up in Seattle for an overnight trip to do some recruiting for work at his old school. 

Me? I'm working on some weddings. I have one tomorrow (rehearsal tonight), another in 2 weeks, and another 2 weeks after that. And of course, my day job. My weekend calendar for the summer is quickly filling up! I've also enjoyed lots of lunch dates with friends. 

While Mark is gone yesterday and today, I'm holding down the fort with Lucy, my cousin's dog that we're dog-sitting for a week. She's a super cute labradoodle. We're having a good time together, except her desire to get me up at 6:30 this morning. But after we went out for her to "do her business", we managed to squeeze out another 1.5 hours of sleep, that was fantastic! Although I can't believe how much I miss my husband in just one day!! Makes me wonder how I get through those 2+ weeks trips!!

Now you are mostly up to date ;) I'm going to go shower before lunch with a friend and then the wedding rehearsal tonight. Speaking of which, the rehearsal should be VERY interesting! It's a wedding for an Ethiopian couple. There's quite the cultural barrier when it comes to the type of ceremony and even some random things like what a prelude is. In addition to that, things aren't really done ahead of time or on time and I can't pronounce anyone's names! I've been half dreading it for a couple weeks but after a good reprimand (done in love ;) from my running partner yesterday morning that this couple deserves a special day as well (even if they don't do things the way I think they should be done), I had a quick conversation with the groom this morning and am feeling more ready to "wing it" tonight. I can see how when I'm doing weddings it will be hard to remember that this is their ONE big day when for me it's one of 10 weddings on my calendar. 

Half Marathon... almost 3 weeks ago

Yes, I realize I haven't blogged in FOREVER. Honestly, I'm drawing a blank when it comes to blogging. 

Almost 3 weeks ago we drove to Whidbey Island for what has become our annual Whidbey Island Half Marathon race. It's a fun one to start the year with because it's a nice course and my my Mom has been able to make it make the drive for the second year. She brought her running partner from Montana and I brought mine from Portland. 

It was, unfortunately, our slowest time ever for a half marathon (at least for Trisha and me), but it was a fun way to start the running year. We really hadn't trained very well so knew it wouldn't be our best.

And of course we always have a great time with Mark's parents! It's always fun and relaxing to go up there. 

Mark and me before the race. He's my wonderful support system and was the one to get up early and drop us all off at the start line. He always thinks about stuff I'll need, like snacks, water, extra clothes. He's super wonderful!

From L to R: Krista (Mom's running partner), Mom, me, Trisha (my running partner). Before the race. It was a chilly morning, but got beautifully sunny during the morning.

Mom and Krista running past Mark's parent's driveway (I don't have a good one of Trisha and I). It's cool because the route takes us right past their place, twice, because it was an out and back. Mark had water for us and even some cut up bite-sized homemade energy bars his mom had for us. 
Finished!! It's always great to get the first race of the year done. Being half marathon trained (even if it's not very well) by March is nice. 

After the race we went back to Jack and Jean's and had homemade scones and fruit. It was a YUMMY way to end the race!! Because Montana was having snow storms that day mom and Krista had a slow drive back and did some shopping and stayed the night in Spokane while Mark, Peter, Trisha, and I headed back later that afternoon.

Update

Wow, I didn't realize it had been so long since I last posted! I have a lot going on these days. 

During the time of the last concert I worked (and last blog post), Mark's brother, sister-in-law and 2 kids were down visiting from Seattle for the weekend. It was SUPER fun to have them as our guests. I get a little intimidated about trying to feed people who come visit (no pressure from them, it's all self-inflicted), but it all went great and it was fun to host company!

Yesterday I hung out with my good friend Stacey, who gave me tips on how to do things quicker and easier for my quilt (I'm making a quilt of my running shirts). You have to understand that I've never quilted before nor am I using any kind of guide, just winging it, because that's how I roll. So I made a quick trip to Joann Fabrics yesterday and was excited that what I needed was on sale. So I stayed up late playing and finished the ENTIRE top of my quilt and got the back put together. So the next step is assembling and then hand quilting. Which I'm pretty excited about!! It's a long project, not a "get it done quick" type project. Not sure why I felt anyone would be interested in this, it's just fresh on my mind.

I coordinate my first wedding next Saturday. I'm a little anxious about it, but probably just because I haven't done one yet (but the bride doesn't know that ;) I am currently scheduled for about 7 between now and October. Will be cool to get a couple under my belt. The "homework" leading up to the weddings can be a lot. So will be nice when I get the hang of putting all my notes together. I have another wedding in mid-April and then in mid-May, June, 3 in July, etc.

We are driving to Whidbey Island in 2 weeks for a half marathon, our first for the year. We have been trying to train good but definitely struggling more than previous years. We aren't sure if it's because we just aren't doing what we should be or because we're getting older ;) But the fact that my mom is doing it and pushing through means we can't use "getting older" as an excuse. But we (Trisha, my running partner and I) figure we can always walk what we can't run. We're not aiming for our fastest time ever, just to finish. And we're still struggling with motivation. We're heading into our 4th year of running so aren't sure if we want to put in the work, but we like the physical results, so it's a toss up. Mark and I are both excited to visit his parents and my mom and her running partner are driving up for it. This is the 3rd year we've done this race. Seems like a good annual run.

My class ends on Tuesday. Hard to believe I've made it through the term already! I squeezed in an extra credit assignment last week so hope that will keep my grade at an A level. We are otherwise only tested on 3 things during the entire class. The final test is on Tuesday and I haven't done too much studying yet. I like to wing school just like I wing other things, remember, that's how I roll. Hah! No, I plan to study today and Tuesday before the test. I work better under pressure ;) I've decided not to take any more classes until possibly the fall. Partly for time, I'd love to have that time for the many other things going on in my life, and also because of money. We could definitely use the money that would go to school to pay off debt and help sustain us during the economic time and all that. 

Last Saturday I worked the Chris Tomlin concert. With this show I helped a lot with catering because the promoter was doing it all instead of the church. Next weekend I'm working the Rockin' Worship show, which should be pretty fun!!

This is my backstage credentials. Which I "accidentally" forgot to return it ;) Hah! Actually I did accidentally forget to return it. I'm not sure if they need them back or plan to not get them back. The backstage pass is either a badge like this or sometimes a sticker that you wear. 

This is the pic I got of me and Chris Tomlin. He's to my left. I am about ready to give up on taking pictures with the artists because I'm not doing very well at getting them. Either my phone messes up, the lighting is bad or something. 

Saturday's concert

I got to work another concert on Saturday. This one was Esterlyn, Disciple, and Kutless. My day included things like helping with breakfast catering (I did the shopping on Friday), driving the lead singer of Disciple (pic below) for a bank run, picking up the manager from the downtown hotel, helping with tickets for the early VIP seating, helping with the post-show signing lines, and taking 4 crew for an 11:30pm run to Taco Bell (we placed a $50 order through the drive-thru! At Taco Bell, that's a lot of food!). It was another memorable day!!

This is me with Disciple's lead singer, Kevin Young, who I'd taken on the bank run earlier in the day. On the drive he mentioned that he wasn't much like how he is on stage, which was totally true! Overhearing him talk nicely to his wife on the phone and then screaming lyrics in his white tank on stage was a fun transition to experience. He was really nice though and I really enjoyed their performance! Even took advantage of the free ringtone they told people how to get at the show. It's a fun momento from the experience.

This is a pic of Disciple performing. I don't have zoom on my camera phone but you can see Kevin on the big screen. They had boxes on the stage that they'd stand on, they like to move and jump around. It was fun!

This is a pic of Kutless performing. I was off to the side in the back. I tried to get a picture of me with the band but my the camera on my phone was acting funky and it didn't take. Bummer! Although I didn't have much opportunity to interact with them and always feel like I'm "using" people when I get a picture just to prove I was near them when I never really talked to them. Most of the Kutless band is from Portland so they enjoyed a day out visiting with friends and family.