aaron.anica.emily.isabel.claire

is a fishing pole!

Luckily we were able to make it down to the L I G H T S last night before the storm hit. We went with some guys from Aaron's work. He's pretty lucky to have a job he loves and work with some awesome guys that are great friends. Aaron, Andrew, & JD We just love JD & Adrienne and can't wait for their baby to come in February Aaron & I in front of the temple Love this guy!!! The prego's Andrew was pretty awesome to be Em's date for the night and put up with her Talk about a guy with patience! This is no easy kid!

Aaron and I were able to go on a cruise last week to the Mexican Riviera with the company he worked for during the summer. We had a blast! We got a lot of time together and also had fun hanging out with some of the people he worked with over the summer. Our first formal night Acapulco Our first stop was in Acapulco where we spent most of the day on the beach and playing in the ocean. We ate at Senor Frogs and finished the day by watching cliff divers dive from a 110 foot cliff. The gals: Morgan, Diana, Me, Aubrey, & Cherice The guys: Kevin, John, Cody, Aaron, Matt, & Zac Dinner at Senor Frog's Not sure what Zac ordered, but it resembled something Shrek would eat Ixtapa-Zihuantenejo I loved the beach here. It was warm and the water was perfect. We had to take a little boat taxi back and forth to the beach At a beach cafe Manzanillo In Manzanillo we walked through the streets and did a little shopping. We met an older couple from the ship that wanted to hang out with ...

I thought I'd do a special little slideshow of our towel animals on our cruise because as you can tell we were pretty excited about them.

Here's the evidence and it's growing rapidly! I've been able to feel her moving around and love that feeling. I can't wait til Aaron and Em are able to feel it. I'm feeling much better. I appreciate all your well wishes. I'm a week away now from the half way point!

So we went to the doctor yesterday and he did an ultrasound. He began by asking Emily whether she is having a brother or sister. She confidently said a brother and a couple minutes later the doctor said, "I'm proud to announce there's a 98 % chance you are having a . . . GIRL!!! The look on Emily's face was priceless. She slumped down in her chair with the most disappointed look I have ever seen. In the car on the way home she said, "Just send it back!" I think she's over it now and we are all really excited. Aaron would have liked a little more testosterone in the house, but he's perfectly excited to have another little girl. I'm just excited because now I don't have to get anything ready. I have all the clothes and crib and bedding so I don't have to stress. Now I can look forward to another little helper with my domestic projects. I got my sewing machine out this week to mend some of Aaron's clothes and Emily got all excited...

Emily was a pirate for Halloween (I couldn't talk her into a princess ;). She started out the festivities at preschool on Thursday with a Halloween carnival. On Halloween, she and I went up to my Mom's for the trunk or treat at the park. Later we picked up Aaron to go to a party at some friends. See if you can guess what we are dressed up as; please don't say nerds :) One of the games was to eat a raspberry filled donut off a string as a couple and guess who won . . . WE DID! The winner of the Fear Factor challenge and his date. After eating baby food, sardines, and pickled pigs feet, Aaron won us dinner at Olive Garden. I'm so proud of him! (by the way I wasn't pissed on Halloween, it's part of my character) Emily fighting a 2 year old with a foam sword, poor kid, odds are not in her favor The whole gang. Thanks Alyssa and Gentry for the awesome party! We had a blast!

SYMPTONS: FREQUENT VOMITING, EXCESSIVE FATIGUE, NAUSEA, LACK OF MOTIVATION SIDE EFFECTS: HOUSE TURNS INTO A PIG PEN, FAMILY MEMBERS WEAR DIRTY UNDERWEAR FOR SEVERAL DAYS, MEMBERS OF YOUR FAMILY ARE ACCUSED OF HAVING EATING DISORDERS FROM MALNUTRITION, YOUR BED & COUCH HAVE A PERMANENT INDENT, AND THE CARPET FROM HERE TO THE BATHROOM HAVE A WELL WORN PATH, PEOPLE THINK YOU HAVE FALLEN OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH My friend recently told me there's a chance she "might" be pregnant. When I asked what might meant, she told me it could just be the flu. I laughed at her until I started experiencing the same symptoms. Even after a positive pregnancy test I worried that it might be all in my head. Thank heavens for a trip to the doctor, he confirmed that: WE ARE HAVING BABY NUMBER 2 !!!!!! I apologize to any of you who have asked recently when we are having more kids or why I am sick, and I didn't give you a straight answer . . . well now you know!

Emily and her teacher Miss Clark Emily started preschool and I think she is enjoying it. After the first week I asked her if she liked preschool and she said, "I hate it!" When I asked her why, she said it was because I dress her up like a girl each time. She has finally come to terms with the fact that she's a girl, but insists that she's a "tom boy", so apparently I'm interfering with the image she is trying to portray. When I asked her if she had any friends in her class she listed several boys names. I asked if she had any friends that were girls and she said, "No, I don't like girls, just some moms and you." Glad I made the cut! She also told me how she flooded the toilet in the boys bathroom. I probably should have been concerned with the fact that she flooded the toilet, but I was more curious as to why she was using the boys bathroom. When asked why, she simply replied, "I thought it would be cooler in there." . ....

We made it home the first part of September after a fun 3 day road trip across the country. We drove through Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, and into Utah. Em was surprisingly good and kept us entertained as usual. We were able to make a couple of stops for some tourism. We spent some time in Santa Fe which was pretty cool and really artsy and we also went to Mesa Verde in Colorado to see the ruins. It was pretty amazing how they built they're dwellings right up in those cliffs. All in all we had a fun little trip. We enjoyed our first camping trip of the summer last weekend and we're looking forward to going to the dunes with my family this weekend, so it's good to be home in the mountains again.

So we've been home for about a month now and I've been a slacker. We did some fun things our last few days that I just wanted to share. We love and miss our friends in Memphis!

We had stopped at a gas station to fill up the car and Aaron said to me, " Do you want to run in and get some drinks? I'm gonna need a soft drink." A little voice piped up from the back and said, "Yeah . . . and I'm gonna need a hard drink!"

We went to the National Civil Rights Museum here in Memphis and I left with a new appreciation for this period in history. Abolishing segregation was something I always thought of as being a long time ago and half way across the country, but seeing all the history behind it brought it much closer to home. After spending the summer in the south, it has opened my eyes to the racism and bigotry that is alive in our day. It is extremely sad the way people treat each other and the intolerance and injustice that goes on. Racism does not affect only minorities, but all races. I have a great admiration for Dr. Martin Luther King and the work he did to progress in creating equal rights for all races. The museum was actually built around the hotel where he was assassinated. I didn't realize this until I was standing in the room, which was left in the same condition as it was April 4, 1968, and looking out the window to the balcony where he stepped outside and was shot. They also had ...