The Nursery

Look! Two blog posts in a row! And this one has pictures. I can't figure out how to get the pictures from our camera onto the computer, but I did figure out how to use the camera and e-mail on my phone...and voila! I'm quite proud of myself. Here is the nursery, just waiting for baby. The rocking chair is a hand me down from my brother and sister in law - Chari and Joe -and the crib we actually bought ourselves - something we don't do very often with so much helpful family around! We are so grateful for all of the help and support we get!

Here is the other side of the nursery (the other side of the room is storage, I'll spare you). The dresser was a great $1 find at a garage sale by Danny's parents and the car seat is another of those great hand me downs from Chari and Joe.

My boss made this fun quilt for baby Oliver with the cowboys on it. And the cute one in the crib with the jungle animals Danny's momma made for him. It's so fun, she stitched messages into the quilting for him, it has his name, our names, and the words to "I am a Child of God."

Still Pregnant

I'm not actually due until the 26th, but I was so counting on getting out little guy out early that it feels like it's taking forever.... However, I know at this point that it will be absolutely no more than 2.5 weeks from now, and that is a relief. We are so excited to have a son! Meanwhile I am getting huger (is that a word?) every day and don't fit into most of my maternity clothes anymore - so I'm stretching out Danny's clothes for him. Why on earth do they make men's clothes fit pregnant women so much better than women's clothes? I don't think I'll ever understand.

My boss at work has been great, she has me scheduled for like 3 hours per day so I get to get out of the house still but I don't wear myself out. Up until last week I was still working 10-12 hour days. Ugh!

Everyone cross your fingers little Oliver comes soon! We love him and can't wait for him to get here! Actually - it would be preferable if he came on Friday afternoon since Danny starts classes tomorrow. We'd love to have the weekend together. Thanks!

I hate coming up with titles for these things...

Here is our semi annual blog update... or at least it seems like that's about how often I write.

Danny and I are doing great! It's felt like we've really had a summer for the last week or so (although a cold one). I told Danny a few weeks ago that a girl at work had asked me to cover a shift for her in August and that she would be able to cover a Monday for me and he asked if she could do it the Monday after his finals so that we could maybe take a trip to Utah and see some friends. I thought it was a long shot but she agreed and I got someone to cover my Friday and we ended up with a long weekend! We left Thursday night at about 7pm and got into Idaho Falls at 4am. We visited with my grandparents for the day and then drove down to Salt Lake and visited friends and family in Utah Valley all weekend long. It made us so happy and we had so much fun, and also so sad because we miss having our good friends so nearby.

Now it's Friday again and I again have the day off work! Danny has had this week off of school because he is between quarters and we are family reunioning with his family all weekend. There has been a huge turnout already and more people just keep coming. Hooray for summertime and friends and family.

In other happenings, Danny has been released from the Elder's Quorum presidency and is now the eleven-year-old scout leader. He has only gone to scouts one time but is very excited about it. And my belly is getting rounder and rounder. I'm having strangers ask me frequently when my baby is due. It's a lot of fun. And he is a mover! Danny was able to feel the baby move for the first time a week ago. We can't wait for him to get here. We're still debating names but the current favorite is Oliver. We're open to ideas for middle names if anyone has any...

Baby blog

So, for those of you who maybe don't check facebook....we're having a baby! We're due September 26 and very very excited. The appointment to find out if it's a girl baby or a boy baby is set for April 29 but at our last appointment the ultrasound tech said she was about 70% sure it's a boy. Hooray! We love baby boys!

Recent Happenings

1. Danny changed majors. He is no longer a pre-nursing major, but pre-med. If all goes as planned he will have two more years of undergrad, the MCAT, and then med school. We're hoping for UW because he could possibly do the first year here in Spokane at a satellite campus, we would get in-state tuition, and it's a great medical school. Then again, we would love to go somewhere else for a few years also. 

2. I reached my six month mark at work! I now have insurance coverage and got a raise. It's still crazy, and some days are harder than others but for the most part I really like it. The hardest part is finding time to do the really cool things that I am assigned to do. Between supervising visits and supervising and scheduling staff I rarely have time to look for grants, develop new programs, or develop new trainings. 

3. Danny got offered a position to do research with his chemistry professor at EWU. We don't know many details yet, but there is a possibility that it will be a paid position and it will look great on applications for med schools.

4. I'm teaching the crazy crazy sunbeams at church on Sundays. I love them, but I come home very ready for a nap on Sundays. The CTR 6 class I had last year made me laugh like crazy and energized me most weeks - these kids just exhaust me. And make me laugh too.

5. My dad has been out of work for the past few months but had an interview on Tuesday and thinks that there may soon be an offer on the table. Cross your fingers!

6. We booked tickets to go to Europe! We're leaving on March 18th to fly to Rome. We'll spend a few days there then take a night train up to Munich where Danny's aunt and uncle will (hopefully) pick us up and we'll spend a week with them at their home on the Army base in Southern Germany. Danny's parents are coming with us and we're going to have an amazing time. I can't wait. Although I can't imagine how exhausting the first day back at work will be after flying in at midnight the night before. Who needs recovery time?

Marathon Blog

Meaning I will post marathon pictures and it will be a very long posting since I haven't posted since...August. I had to check to see how long it had been.

First off, the marathon was mostly a success! We ran at the end of August on probably the coolest day of the summer. We were very lucky. We started out from our apartment parking lot at 5:30am in just a little bit of rain. We ran through downtown to the Centennial Trail in Riverfront park. From there we followed the trail through Spokane Valley, past Liberty Lake and Stateline, and we finished in Post Falls, ID for a grand total of 26.2 miles (or so we guessed on the whole point-two thing). We had arranged beforehand for my Dad to meet us at Sullivan road in the Valley for some water and a snack, but through some miscommunication (consisting of my Dad writing down Sullivan when I talked to him but waiting for us at Harvard about six miles farther down because he remembered wrong) we got it a little later at Barker road once we got the miscommunication cleared up. To this point we were feeling great. It had been raining for most of the morning and we had gone about 19 miles. At about mile 20 my right knee started hurting and by mile 22 I couldn't run without feeling like it was going to give out. So my sweet husband walked the last four miles with me and my parents and little brother held up a tape for us to run through at the finish line. And then we went home and Danny watched Lord of the Rings while I slept. Then we went to Tomato Street. End of Marathon Day. Oh and we made t-shirts.

Next on the list: we went to Mexico! It was a blast. We were in Puerto Vallarta for a week in September. You can see our pictures here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2290353&id=17805371&l=54b22d72d6.

Fast forward: we had a group Thanksgiving. We are grateful for both of our families who like each other enough to celebrate holidays together. My little brother Conrad came home from school at BYU-ID and Jackson came over from North Spokane and we all had Thanksgiving dinner at Mom and Dad Olson's with Chari and Joe and kids. Speaking of Chari and Joe, we have a new niece! Abigail was born two weeks ago and we love her so much!

Last on the list of things that I can think of to update is my job. I am still at Fulcrum supervising visits for parents and kids but things are looking up. I've been promoted to the Assitant Director of the Interchange. I now provide staff training and supervision, am putting together an agency policy book, developing a therapeutic visit program, and hopefully - if we get the grant money for it - I will be going to Indianapolis in February to start to develop a program for fatherhood classes. I'm very excited about the things I am getting to do.

That's the most interesting highlights I can think of from the past few months. Thanks to those of you who stuck around unti the end of the post!

Oh My Busy

Life is busy and life is fun. I finally got a job and started last Monday. This is the first time since then that I have been online. It's been that busy. I know.

My job is lame-o. I supervise visits between children and non-custodial parents and write down every word that comes out of their mouths and narrate everything that they do for hours at a time. I should start asking them to slow down, my hands feel broken. But good news, I have another job interview tomorrow. I really never wanted this one even before I applied for it but I was getting very bored at home and making zero cash. So now I baby sit parents with their kids. Cross your fingers for me on this job interview!

So now I work a full time job and a part time job. Danny goes to school full time and works part time. We're both marathon training and running for miles and miles. And we clean horse stables every week. And Danny just got called to be in the Elders Quorm Presidency. We're busy. But we're getting the hang of it and it's good to have lots of things to do. We see each other mostly on the weekends and we cram them full.