Happy Turkey Day!

I know I'm a day late but I wanted to put up pictures with this post. This year our family decided to have Thanksgiving in McCall and it was probably one of the best ideas we've ever had. There's something about not having a big family dinner at your own house that makes one of the most stressful dinners of the year less stressful. Don't get me wrong we were all running around trying to figure out how to get everything done in time. We have three rooms complete with kitchen and dinning areas and we were moving furniture around, taking tables and chairs for other rooms to accommodate everyone in one place.

I think that's probably what it all boiled down to, we had three ovens and three convection/microwave ovens to cook everything and we didn't have to worry about cleaning the house to make it presentable for company since these places are already free of clutter.

My sister and her boyfriend showed up from Sun Valley just as dinner was ready and we had all three ovens cooking something. We recently found out they are pregnant! Yes my baby sister is having a baby! It's a good thing because this family needs more kids...I never realized how lacking our family was in the kid department until Speed came a long.

Everything turned out great except the pride of my mothers cooking...the gravy. There was a hole in the pan and all the yummy goodness dripped to the bottom of the oven causing much remorse in the gravy department. Nonetheless it was a wonderful dinner with all the trimmings and company we could possibly want.

I had an even cuter picture of my boys but it wouldn't load right

Grandma had curlers in her hair as she was helping Flash in Scrabble but she wouldn't let me take the picture until they were out :P

Speed adores my sister and has found a new friend in her boyfriend

My older brother with his girl

Some of the FNG's came up with us for the weekend

The Boys

They had to tell me to stop talking to take this pictures...I had no idea

I'll be 34 weeks along next week and the doctor told me the baby's head has dropped. I'm not really sure what that means though my doctor thought it was significant. My mother says she should be arriving any day now. Though the idea of having LB (Lady Bug) is very exciting I hope she doesn't come until after December 18th. School will be officially out and I can focus just on having a new born in my life and not on all the projects I need to get done.

The last few months have been difficult. I've had a scare with the baby coming early when I was 24 weeks and had to go to the hospital...though it turned out everything was fine...it was still a possibility. Sleep has eluded me and I finally broke down and asked my doctor about sleeping pills. I've been diagnosed with gestational diabetes which means I have to watch my diet...something really difficult for me. It's a common fact that college students will eat anything just to get through the school day. I've over planned my budget with time trying to get everything done for everyone and prepare for the baby so having to plan my diet carefully has been a timing challenge.

In a couple of weeks it'll be all over and I've never been so grateful for Thanksgiving Break. My family and I are going up to McCall for Thanksgiving and I will be in charge of making the Big Meal since my mother will be less then able. She had surgery this Friday...nothing huge or life threatening but surgery all the same. Right now she's just trying to focus on recovery and therefore will not have the physical or mental aptitude to make a 12 lb turkey.

But though this semester has been difficult I have had some great experiences. I've gone to several football games with close friends of mine as well as family (Flash, Speed, my dad, and younger brother). I've had a baby shower and a Halloween Birthday Party both of which turned out very well. Most importantly I've been sealed to my husband...something I felt like was long waited for though afterwards it felt like no time had gone by at all. I've even been able to enjoy a few books, the whole Twilight Series actually and though I don't enjoy them nearly has much as the rest of the world seems too (I feel Edward has control issues and is a Drama King but Jacob isn't much better so I'm for King Jacob either) I find great joy in analysing them with my friends.

I've also enjoyed seeing my family grow closer together. I feel closer to Flash now then ever before and Speed has grown so much in school and church.

A difficult semester yes...thank goodness life hasn't stopped and as long as the good keeps coming I'll take the bad.

Getting Distracted

For one of my school projects I have to create an online help for a freeware program called PhotoScape, an digital editing program a lot like Photoshop but free. This means I get to test (a.k.a. "play with") the program to get a feel for what I should be writing.



It's really easy to get distracted. This is my lasted distraction:

Taking a Year

So I've decided to do something kinda scary and maybe no very well thought out....

I'm taking a year off school.

I only have a year left that's including 150 hours of internships I would be doing during the summer time. For the last year I've been married mine and Flash's goal was to get me out of school as soon as possible. This goal was meant to help enrich our family income and try to show the importance of education to our children but some how I just couldn't see myself going to school next year and here's why.

I'm having a little girl in January. Now even if I was able to make myself stay away from my little new born two nights a week (that's what my schedule would be next semester) and work my office schedule around both school and my little girl I cannot see how I would survive a 150 internship hours without her.

I'm incredibly lucky to have a job that allows me to have my children close by while I'm working, with a baby-sitter handy for those times I need a break. I'm fully aware that is unusual in this day in age where family and work is still separated. Though we have seen a evolution of jobs giving both mothers and fathers more time with their families outside of work, I have not only seen but experienced first hand how families and jobs can coexist and still be professional. Just a little less then the average work place....especially the average accounting place (that's the kind of work I do though that's not what I'm going to school for).

It's not uncommon to hear screaming babies, laughing children, and the pitter patter of little feet running around the office halls where I work at the same time financial consultation is taking place.

I don't want to give that up. Not as a new full time mom. I want to see my child while I'm at work and internships don't allow for that, school barely allows for that, and frankly I not only want to enjoy my first year with my baby but to solidify the bond that we are already sharing. Right now I'm the woman that is carrying her but I want to be the woman that raises her.

When that year is up my role will not be less important or less demanding but I will at least have had my chance before giving her up to someone else for 150 hours plus school time. Luckily many of my classes take place at night so she will be with her father.

I know what I'm doing is selfish and like I said before probably not well thought out but I just can't give her up yet.

There are a few other reasons like being able to focus on my work and moving up in the company a bit but really it's all about the baby.