Spring

Lucy and I went for a walk today and I had some thoughts which seemed worth writing down. Fall has always been my favorite season; I love the beautiful color palet, my birthday, stepping on crunchy leaves, and the crisp air. 

I discovered today that spring has taken fall's place as my favorite. I have always loved the cheery daffodils, daisies, and even the dreaded dandilions, but now there is even more to it than that. Spring is special in Star Valley and I'll tell you why.  (It even counters the fact that we got a fresh blanket of snow which covered my precious daffodils yesterday.)

 Our neighborhood comes to life in the spring. We live in a retirement community surrounded on every side by golf courses. In the fall the majority of our neighbors head south to avoid the snow and life suddenly becomes boring. I feel lonely as I drive past our neighbors' vacant houses. But in spring the golf carts begin to buzz around, and they wizzed past us on our walk today. People wave to us now when we pass them on the street. And best of all, when I walk outside I can hear the sweet sound of my own name as our neighbor, Richard, across the street hollers, "hey Rachie!" or "heya Rach!" It's also fun to hear Kory say, "Richard's outside. I'm going to go harass him." They like to heckle each other. Not everyone is back yet but I already feel satisfied that our community is returning to its liveliness again. How fitting it is that our neighborhood comes to life just as Mother Nature is awaking from her slumber, bringing life to us again.

And then there's Mother's Day that I now get to celebrate, and the baby fawns we see daily following their mamas but that's just a bonus. 

Shopping

I got tired of the carseat taking up my grocery space in the cart and then wondering if I was steeling anything that I couldn't find under the carseat/blankets.

This was our solution:

 

Either Lucy fell asleep embarrassed or super comfortable. We'll say it was the latter. I'm not sure how long it will last though. She grew 1 1/2 inches in 2 weeks and she barely fits in the basket now. I wish we had thought of this sooner.

We love Lucy!

Our baby girl is getting so big and we are very proud of her! She's 2 1/2 months old and weighs a whopping 9lbs 11oz now. Here are some of the recent highlights:

 

Christmas morning. She slept through the whole exciting thing.

 

 

We're pretty sure she'll be a redhead. And she apparently sleeps like an angel.

 

She likes to talk to anyone who will listen. She also loves her birthday suit.

She found her fingers. Her thumb is her favorite.

 

 

A double chin has made it's appearance, along with a few rolls.

 

 

We just love her to pieces.

 

Introducing...

...our light. Little Lucy Arvella (whose name means light) was born on November 9th in Jackson, WY; a whole month sooner than expected! She was 18 1/2" long and weighed 5lbs 3oz.

(Taken today. This was our attempt at a homemade photo shoot.)

And now, a VERY brief synopsis of the first two weeks of Lucy's life:

Lucy made her grand entrance after my water broke (in session with a client) the day before. She was breach (only to be discovered as such after 20+ hours of labor...) so we had to do a C-Section (which I might add was horrendous for all parties involved.) Lucy was then rushed to the nursery for intensive care. Her little lungs were not ready to come into the world just yet.

Two days later, I joined Lucy on her first airplane ride to the University of Utah Hospital where they admitted her to the NBICU. Kory drove down and met us there. They told us to anticipate being there until her due date, December 9th, or longer.

(Getting ready for the ride.)

And Lucy grew her lungs faster than anyone expected.

 

We got to come home eight days later. The nurses all said she would not be there long from the beginning because "she's so feisty!"

 

 

And it feels so good to be home.

 

 

The Bump

These were supposed to be posted periodically for the past few months. Obviously that didn't happen, so they're going to go into "the bump collection" post.

Just beginning to show. 3 Months?

 

5 Months

 

7 Months
With good friend Emily. We're due on the same day.

Oh Baby!

We got to see our baby for the second time this week. I'm not sure there's anything more amazing.

 We learned that the baby's corneas are made of cartilage so they show up on the ultrasound. If you look at the baby's eyes you can see the little white dots.

This kid is obviously going to be tall. Look at that leg span! 

We are so excited but mostly grateful that our sweet baby is growing and healthy, not to mention active. The doctor had a difficult time getting non-fuzzy pictures. If you were hoping to learn the gender in this post, you're not going to. We decided to keep the gender a surprise so you'll just have to wait until December with us!

Good News

(Yes. We realize this is disgusting, but bear with us.)

 

 

Due date: December 9th.

BULA!!

Kory surprised me with a honeymoon to Fiji! I only had a few clues and NEVER would have guessed Fiji. I didn't even know where to find Fiji on a map (it's in the South Pacific near New Zealand for those of you who are geographically challenged like me. ) I told Kory I just wanted to relax and not feel like I had to be out seeing and doing things unless I wanted to. Fiji was perfect for this purpose. It was a nice place to de-stress from the wedding. The locals were so friendly and told us "Bula!" everywhere we went; this means "hello" and "welcome" in Fijian. They also told us to tell all our friends about our "holiday in Fiji" so they will visit too.

Our first sunset on the beach just outside our resort.

 

The view from our balcony.

Hiking through the Garden of the Sleeping Giant.

This was the group that serenaded us from our balcony, and only us. Once they were done, they went to the next balcony. They sang You Are My Sunshine to us and it was one of my personal highlights of the trip. I have a video of this but it won't download. I'll keep trying though.

Relaxing after snorkeling.

Kory drinking Kava in a Kava Ceremony. In the US we would call Kava dirty, salty water.

Me, waiting for Kory to wake up and play.

This is my receipt from the 25 Figian cents I had to pay just for toilet paper in a public bathroom!! I was severely distressed over this. Good thing we had 50 cents for both of us...

Kayaking off of one of the islands we visited.

The hermit crab race. The first one out of the circle wins. Ours lost...



Kory watched the race while I watched him.

Kory's new hairdo: the grass skirt of our tour guide.

Riding a boat to one of the smaller islands.

There's more to come, but it's taken so long just to get this together that I thought I would post it anyways. Better some than none.

Best Day Ever!

Kory and I were married on September 15th in the Twin Falls, Idaho Temple. The ceremony was wonderful (except for the fact that I couldn't stop crying- out of joy of course. I tried to cry daintily but failed.) Following the ceremony, we had dinner and dancing at the CSI Rose Garden. It was a beautiful evening. I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

 

 

 

 

 Dad just had back surgery but danced with me anyway. It meant a lot to me. What a trooper.

Kory and his mom

 

My Niece, Kellyn

I couldn't leave this one out. She was so excited to wear pretty dresses and do our hair together.

 

There are many, many more pictures that we wanted to share, but our internet is opposed to it. In other words, our pictures load REALLY slowly. If you really wanted to see them, we submit that you just come visit and we'll show them to you. See you soon!

Hazing

We know, we know. You want wedding and honeymoon pictures. We promise they're coming.

In the meantime...

 

(The view from our back yard, facing the neighbor's house)

My (Rachel's) first Wyoming winter has begun. The snow seems to have decided to come at the exact same time that Kory left town on a "business trip" to sunny California. The snowblower also seems to be out of commission. Coincidence? I think not.

It seems as though my Wyoming initiation has arrived as I am left to shovel the snow on my own. 

(The front view of our house. Notice the ominous snowmarkers to the left. They're about as tall as I am...)



This is what it looked like the morning after I shoveled the driveway. This is beginning to seem a bit less like initiation and a bit more like hazing.

In rebellion, I have decided to enjoy myself, complete with snowangel making. May the snowplaying continue!