Spring Sprung!

Most of my first trimester of pregnancy was a nauseated exhausted blur. But luckily for me the second trimester was much better. My friend Sarah said second trimester was God's gift to women. She may be right. I felt better and could eat real food again and I had energy again. Yay! Which was good because I had in-service and pre-service workshops out the wazooty. And Nate got to go to Japan for ten days for school so Dad and I went on a wild adventure to visit Sam in Louisiana. I love/cherish my trips with my parents- either solo or together. Sometimes I'm not sure Dad and I should fly together though- we have a history of missing planes. Lol I had a workshop in Tooele on Tuesday so I met dad that night at the hotel and we flew out the next morning to see Sam. Luckily Nate was flying out the same day we we ran to meet him at the airport and had a cute airport kiss moment before sprinting back to barely make our plane. Seriously. It almost happened again. Luckily our suitcases were empty because I was planning to bring back two suitcases full of Sam's baby stuff from Eden for Libby- which made them easy to run with. Seriously we both only had clean underwear and a toothbrush with us. We got to Dallas, rented a car, and boogied down to Sam's house. I was looking forward to the hot weather, but I brought the cold with me which totally ruined our bass fishing plans. Drat. Seriously we tried to fish but got skunked. It was so fun to see Sam and Kris and the kids. Sam fed us like kings- she even made King Cake for marti gras. We even frisbee golfed! Nate would be so proud. We were also on the hint for beignet doughnuts so we went to every doughnut shop in town but never found them. :( when we left it was sad to go. It was also sad to take the cheap flight which made us fly from Dallas to Detroit to SLC. Never again. We almost missed our connecting flight in Detroit and had to run a mile in the airport carrying a 20 lb backpack. Not fun for fatty who was five months pregnant at this point. And not fun for the guy who had to sit by fatty on the plane as. Smell her. Yeah pretty sure I forgot deodorant too. Whoops. Then when we got to SLC we had a minor incident at airport parking where I thought we parked in D but we really parked in B so we got off the bus with two giant suitcases and out backpacks and had to hoof it in the rain to our cars. Ah! But all in all it was a fabulous trip. One for the books.

Our anniversary on ice

So...the month of December was a bad deal. I was sick. So sick. I got antinausea meds finally from the doctor and they were amazing and worth every penny. But I was still sick. The meds made me functional but not better. Mall smells were the enemy. Nate cooked a duck on day and I came into the house and immediately ran to the sink and threw up in the sink. I spent the rest of the night in our room with the window open and the door shut lest the smell permeate the door and my nose. I was also exhausted now too. Going to bed at 8 after puking was a nightly deal. Nate was lonely and often went to Nibley when he was bored. Since Nelson's didn't know I was pregnant I think they wondered if I was avoiding them it if Nate and I were having problems. Nate's little sister Erica was on a mission. D wouldn't you know it- she was scheduled to fly into SLC on out anniversary. I told Nate- meh- no biggy. We have an anniversary every year. She only comes home once and you haven't seen her in 18 months. She was supposed to fly in at 10 am so I figured we would meet her plane, have a nice family lunch, then go do some anniversary stuff in SLC. Well...you know my best laid plans never work out. So there was a giant snowstorm that night. And the next morning the roads were a mess but Delta said her plane would be on time. So we dressed warm and got in the subie and decided to brave the roads and go anyway. By the time we had driven k Willard her plane had been delayed an hour. By Ogden- two hours. We stopped to shop and have lunch in Ogden. Plane delayed another hour. Miraculously, I made it through lunch without puking (my real food aversion at this point was Mexican food. Seriously, all I had to do was think about it and I would dry heave.) and we headed for the airport because we could see the plane in route. We got to the airport, parked, and waited. And waited. And finally she landed. Yay! So we went inside to greet her. Ha! It took them 3 hours to get the planes into the one terminal that was open and off the plane. Ugh. By this point my butt hurt and I wasn't feeling good. At all. So when try suggested a family dinner we hesitantly said ok, but no Mexican food. They said, "great, let's go to Cafe Rio (Mexican). We said Noooooo! The now thought I was a total brat but agreed des to go to Olive Garden instead. Whew. Luckily we announced our pregnancy on Christmas. We wrapped Huggie's diaper wipes and let Nates family unwrap them. It was fun. My favorite part was when Nate's cousin Curtis told us how smart we were to hold off having kids because kids were great but the worst. And then five minutes later the look on his face when we announced... Priceless. Hahaha.

Super Smelling Is Not A Desirable Super-power

So in the beginning of my first trimester I thought pregnancy was easy (yes, I acknowledge I'm a moron). I mean I didn't feel tired or sick or anything. Well guess what- that part comes later. Yep. And the first indication of trouble is the subtle realization that you can smell your husband's deodorant on the other floor of the house. And you think- huh. Cool. No worries. Well my friends, that is before the nausea sets in. This year Thanksgiving was in Colorado. I was so excited to go. But I had started to feel slightly queezy so Nate and I decided to tell my family about the baby since it would be too hard to hide. When we got to the ranch and walked in the door I immediately knew there was a dead mouse somewhere in the house (damn super smelling nose). I almost barfed. Seriously. I had to run upstairs where food was cooking to escape the smell. Nate being the brilliant man he is brought a hotdog bun and shoved it in the oven. He called my parents into the kitchen and asked them what was in the oven. My dad peered in and said, "it's a bun...a bun?" "Yes dad where is it?" "It's in the oven. A him in the oven!?!? Ahhhhhh!" It was glorious. So after the cat was out of the bag I told them about the mouse (which they located and removed so I didn't barf. Then we had to hide the secret from all of our company (Ferd and Valentina, Balloga's who came and dominated the skeet shoot, Aunt Susan and Uncle Larry) and I had to not barf during Thanksgiving dinner lol oh man...too many smells. Being pregnant was starting to stink. Literally. And don't even get me started on the car ride home in which Nate had to drive the whole way while my stomach backflips. Ugh. Super smelling isn't a desirable super power.

The one where we found out I was knocked up.

So there I was guest lecturing at the University of Utah. Dad was in town for a wedding so he came to watch me teach and hung out. It was fantastic to see him. When I was teaching I wasn't feeling too well. I was feeling slightly dizzy. When I told dad he laughed and said, "well I bet you're pregnant." I laughed and said, "oh yeah really funny." Well two weeks later the joke was on me when I was staring at a pee stick pregnancy test that was positive. I freaked out. Ran three miles. Freaked out again. And then decided to figure out a way to tell Nate. Earlier this year while we were camping Nate's grandpa Neil gave us a baby camp chair and said we might need it some day and he had been hanging onto it for us. Ha. Yeah, I thought...someday... Well now here I was digging the damn chair out of storage. I set it up at the top of the stairs and put the pregnancy test on it. When I picked Nate up from school he said he wanted to go to Nibley so I told him we needed to take a red box movie back so we had to stop at our house on the way to His parent's. He ran into the house and I figured he would come out freaking out. Instead he came out with the redbox and said, "let's go." Um... I said, "really? Nothing else?" And he said, "what else is there?" Then I got pissed and said, "GO BACK INSIDE NOW!" He had no idea why I was so frantic and pissed (seriously he didn't see the pregnancy test) so I went back inside with him, grabbed the chair and shook the pregnancy test in his face. Then he got it. We hugged. We freaked out. We hugged again. We freaked out again. And then we went to Nibley and kept out secret. For two more months from his parents. More on that in a later post.

Fall is in full swing around this outfit which means several things. First, I am…older. Which is sad, but it sure beats the alternative. It also means we had to rip out our garden which always makes me sad but I am never sad to see canning season end. But more than anything what fall means around our house is that it is hunting season. Of on variety of another of course. We have been grouse hunting, goose hunting, pheasant hunting, duck hunting, and Nate has been deer hunting up a storm. The first day he went out with his dad and Spencer they left the house at 4:00 AM and didn’t get back until after dark. They hiked to the top of the Wellsvilles (which in my opinion is just craziness because let’s face it—who wants to pack a deer out of those steep suckers?) and when they got home every last one of them said they would NEVER do it again…until two days later when they unanimously agreed that it really wasn’t that bad and if Andrew ever wanted to go they would go with him. ***I am so glad I don’t deer hunt. They didn’t get a deer so Nate went back out a couple days later with Michael and Michael got a nice two point deer. Yes, I did say nice. I don’t want Nate bringing home any big monsters, which in my opinion don’t taste as good. I want him bringing home some nice tender young meat. Nate and Spencer then went out again on Friday night and I knew when they didn’t show up after dark that they had gotten something. Nate shot a lousy four point. I mean, did he not get the memo about shooting the little tender ones? (In all fairness the four point was an absolutely lovely deer and it tastes amazing and is very tender.) He and Spender were way back in the mountains though and it took them three hours to drag it out. When we finally got it home we used our pulley system set up for the kayak and hung it underneath the back balcony in true redneck fashion. Nate’s family thought we should take the deer to Horlachers (the local butchers) and have them process the deer, but being the cheapskate with an overly inflated sense of self-confidence Native American rancher’s daughter that I am, I insisted that we process it ourselves (besides I am not entirely convinced that the deer you give them and the deer/parts of deer(s) you get back are the same deer, but that is a story for another day). To be honest, I have never processed anything by myself before. Usually when Collin and Dad butcher at home I am just on skinning/wrapping duty—but even that hasn’t happened for ten years. Collin and Dad happened to be processing an elk that weekend and so they made some tutorial videos on mom’s phone and emailed them to me so I could watch their technique—I love technology. It wasn’t as good as having them here to show me how to do it, but it was the next best thing. So that afternoon I trotted myself down to Walmart and bought a sharp knife and some plastic freezer bags. The look on the face of the guy who sold them to me was priceless. I should have purchased some duct tape and a shovel just to see if he would call the cops. Back at the house armed with my personal butchering video collection and the knife my grandpa gave me I skinned the deer and then proceeded to process it with my new knife and bag the meat with the vacuum packer. When Nate arrived home I was doing fairly well but welcomed the company and the help. Eventually Michael showed up to help too. We got done about 10:00 at night and I was relieved to have the chore finished. The freezer is now chock full of deer, lamb, and garden veggies, and it is safe to say we are going to be eating very well this winter. Nate even made some delicious venison jerky, but don’t ask for any; I am not sharing. Grandpa I know you would be proud.

The Day I Became Obsolete

I used to think that if I died Nate would get married in two weeks because that is as long as a person can go without food. Last night I discovered that if I die Nate will get remarried whenever he feels like and it will be to a Hooters waitress who probably can’t even spell her own name let alone cook. Nate can cook. Seriously. Probably better than I can. He made grouse wrapped in bacon (this recipe) which was way better than any food I have ever gotten at Elements (the ritzy restaurant in town). So…if I die don’t be surprised to see Nate with a busty blond on his arm. And remember not to be too surprised when her conversation is as shallow as a shower.

Lake Powell 2013

So Lake Powell this year was a raging success. After the first night that is. I had no idea that when I agreed to marry Nate I would be marrying Johnny Rainmaker. Honestly that kids makes it rain every time we go to Lake Powell. However this time was perfect—rain and all. When we arrived it was very windy. Poor Dad had the boat tied up to the wave break by the boat ramp. It seemed like a bad idea to go out on the boat but I figured we drove all the way down there so dad came to get us and we parked for the night tied up to the wave break. With two dogs and all of our camping gear we settled down for the night er morning. It was about 1 am at this point. Sage would not sleep. She was too excited and stressed out by the wind and she pants louder than any dog alive. Letting her off on shore wasn’t an option so she started out the night “laying” between my legs. After about an hour of that I had had it. I tied her onto the tang by my bed and crawled up under the nose cover to go to sleep. Which was fantastic. I slept there until first light and was very refreshed. Nate and Dad had other problems. First, Sage got lonely and jumped down onto the floor and onto Nate’s head where she remained for the rest of the night panting and nosing him. Second, the heavens let loose and it down poured. Dad got up and put a tarp up after they were almost completely soaked. Nate had actually pulled his thermarest up over the top of him prior to the tarp being put up. The four of them only got about an hour sleep total. Hahahaha. But when I woke up there was the most beautiful sunrise and a double rainbow and after that the trip was perfect.

We went down and hiked to Rainbow Bridge (lovely), waterskied almost to our heart’s content, tubed, fished and caught some whoppers, hiked, saw some wild burros and ate Dad’s gourmet cooking. Sage swam and swam and loved life. It was truly fantastic. I can’t wait until we go back.