Bingham Girl's Weekend

This weekend my mom and sisters came to Midway for a weekend getaway together. We had such a blast! We played games, sewed a baby quilt, and went to art galleries and boutiques around town. It's always so much fun having the girls get together to bond.

me, Kathryn, Mom, Emily

On Saturday, we had quite an hour of drama. We had been at a local boutique, looking at crafts and things. There were samples of lotions and body scrubs all over the place. We all kept putting products on and feeling so chic, smelling each other. Well, I came across a spray bottle that was labeled cranberry spice. How could I pass that up?! I took the lid off and sniffed, but couldn't smell anything, so I sprayed a little on my wrist. Oh man! It smelled SO GOOD! I could not resist spraying two or three squirts on my neck. I reveled in my great new aroma.

I came across my mom in the store and asked her to smell me. She wanted to know what I had used, so I showed her the spray. Well, she read the bottle and said, "It says it may irritate skin." What? I looked at the bottle. Then I looked at what it was displayed with - incense. Not body spray.

I said, "Actually, my neck IS starting to sting a little bit. I guess I'll go wash it off in the bathroom." By the time I got to the restroom, the sting had turned into more of a burning, and my neck was turning red. I washed and scrubbed with soap as best I could, but nothing was soothing me and the red was inching up higher and getting brighter.

I hustled out of the restroom and found my mom. When she saw me, she said my neck looked lobster red! We hustled home to take some Benadryll. However, on the way home, I started to worry that I shouldn't take any medicine without my doctor's approval. I called his number, but he was not in the office. Urgent care had closed two hours earlier. And no one answered the phone at the emergency room. (Gotta love small towns at times like this!)

Instead, my mom made me an oatmeal poultice. I layed on the couch and pretended I was getting a spa treatment for the next hour. It really did make it feel better. An hour later, I was as good as gold. Crazy, I know.

Thank goodness for oatmeal and cold water.

We had a fall feast for dinner - soup in a pumpkin. It was so divine. My friend Rebekah made it last year in Alabama, and Todd has been dreaming of it ever since. We had wanted to make it together before he took off for Oklahoma, but ran out of time. So my mom and sisters and I had it in Todd's honor instead. Here's the recipe:

Slice off the top of one medium pumpkin; clean out the inside of pumpkin and set aside. Saute four cut-up chicken breasts in three tablespoons of butter until golden. Remove and saute three sliced carrots, two sliced celery stalks, and 1/2 cup scallions. Add one can each of cream of chicken soup, cream of celery soup, and chicken alphabet soup. Stir in one can water, 1/3 cup sour cream, and 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg. Mix well and pour into hollow pumpkin. Top with pumpkin top. Place on baking sheet and bake in a 350 degree oven for 90 minutes. Scrape pumpkin sides when serving. Makes eight servings.

Mmm. Pumpkin soup. Divine.

And last but not least, I finally took another belly picture for you all. Oh, and Todd's captain is hoping to send the troop to Afghanistan a little early, so now I'm nervous that Todd'll miss The Bean's arrival. They're hoping to leave December 5th. My due date is December 1st. We'd appreciate any and all prayers that she'll make her appearance before Todd takes off.

Me and The Bean a day shy of 34 weeks.

Fun Quiz

Your Element Is Air

You dislike conflict, and you've been able to rise above the angst of the world. And when things don't go your way, you know they'll blow over quickly. Easygoing, you tend to find joy from the simple things in life. You roll with the punches, and as a result, your life is light and cheerful. You find it easy to adapt to most situations, and you're an open person. With you, what you see is what you get... and people love that!

What's Your Element?

Painting the Baby's Room

Well, Todd and I drove back to Midway on Sunday, and right away Monday morning got started on projects around the house. My favorite was painting the baby's room. My jobs included planning the finished product, helping to tape, picking out the paint at Home Depot, and reading to Todd from the hallway while he did the actual painting. We documented the wall's progress for all you loyal readers to see:

Taping the wall

Todd, hard at work painting

Just about done - just need to take the tape off

Voila! And, oh yes, we also set up the crib.

We're so excited! We've got a dresser in there, and space to put the comfy green glider we bought which will hopefully arrive before The Bean does. Now I'll just get to work on hanging up cute pictures and things on the walls. Also, I need to find great crib bedding. So much to do, so little time. I am loving this baby room thing!

What I Like About You

"Come here, my little crock pot."

That's what Todd said to me as he sat down to watch General Conference today. It took me a second to figure out why the heck he called me that, and then I started laughing. I'm slow cooking the baby!

How could I not adore this guy?

Grateful

Just want to say, I love living with Todd. It doesn't matter that we're in a hotel room in an unfamiliar city. I don't care that I'm using travel-size shampoo or living out of a suitcase. I slept better last night than I have in weeks, because when I'd wake up in the middle of the night, I'd hear Todd breathing next to me, and I could put my head on his shoulder and feel him wrap his arm around me. The next two weeks will be bliss.

Mission Call for Ryan

My awesome little brother Ryan got his mission call on Friday. He is going to the California Los Angeles Spanish speaking mission. He enters the MTC on New Year's Eve.

Congratulations Ryan!

It was exciting to be able to be there in person when he opened his call. Yet another nice thing about living in Utah.

Baby Gone Wild

Thursday night a couple of my college roommates, Kelsey and Emily Jean, threw me a baby shower. The theme was Baby Gone Wild, which definitely lent itself to some great decorations.

Leopard print balloons

Super cute diaper cake

Zebra print prize bags

Wild treat table

The best part of the night was the guest list. I was able to see my mom and sisters and reunite with good friends from the past. I was looking forward to this night for weeks because of who I would see there: Jennifer from high school, Trish from California, Brittany and Suzanne, who were my favorite college next-door neighbors, and freshman roommates Kelsey, Emily, and Theresa. I loved seeing everyone again.

Another freshman roommate, Stephanie, was planning to be there until she ended up with a complication in her pregnancy and was ordered on bedrest for a couple of days. So, when the shower was over, the rest of us roomies headed over to Steph's house and continued the party there. It was such a blast! We were reminiscing on all our crazy times and laughing so hard we were crying. Thanks for letting us crash your house, Steph.

Theresa, me, Kelsey, EJ

I had such a great night. Thanks for planning the party, Kemily!

28 Weeks

This was me last Friday. I'm borrowing someone else's computer/Internet access so I can get this posted before I'm significantly more huge than that. Enjoy!

For a quick update, Todd is in Central California, and I am in Midway, UT. We've got about 2 1/2 weeks apart, and then we'll both be in Sacramento again for a few weeks, living in hotels once again. Can't wait for October 1st! Miss you, Todd.

Sympathy Dreams

So, the book, "What to Expect When You're Expecting" states that husbands may experience symptoms similar like those of their pregnant wives, sympathy pains, so to speak. I've been checking in periodically with Todd to see if he has a sore back, sore feet, etc. Usually, there has been nothing on his end.

However... last week he dreamed that he was pregnant. He was several months behind me, so we were going to end up with two kids about three months apart in age. He wasn't huge yet, just had the little bump. Sadly, he doesn't remember many more details, but we will take what we can get. He hardly ever remembers his dreams at all, so this was quite the special occasion.

Speaking of bumps, my baby loves to move these days, and her favorite spot is right below my right rib. I think I have internal bruising. Seriously, there's tons more space in there to explore - why does she always poke and prod at this same spot? It's been weeks now!

(I try to complain, but truly I love every single movement. It is my favorite part of being pregnant. I love to feel this little girl inside me.)

Update Since We Moved

Well, guys, Todd and I fell off the side of the Internet world, but now we're climbing back in. We haven't been taking pictures, so I'll try to keep this short and sweet since there are no visuals to hold your attention.

On Wednesday, August 20th, Todd graduated from Flight School as an Honor Graduate, one of the top three in his class of 50 students. What can I say, I'm married to a genius. That afternoon, we hopped in the Penske and said goodbye to Alabama. We drove for two and a half days and rolled into Midway, Utah late Friday night.

We spent last week moving into our new house and hanging out with family. Highlights: watching my brother Ryan be ordained to the Melchezedik Priesthood; floating the Provo River; wakeboarding (just Todd); and just being around our families.

On Labor Day, we got in the car again and drove to Sacramento, California. This is the first stage of Todd's pre-mobilization training, and I came with him for the first week and a half - the last ten days I get to live with Todd other than "visits" for the next 13 months. It's a bittersweet time for us. We're so thankful for every day we are still together, but we definitely feel the clock ticking. It bites to be able to count down how many days we have left until we separate. I feel like crying a lot, but then I tell myself to wait - love these days together, and cry later. I'll have plenty of time for that down the road.

Okay, one picture. Here is where we ate lunch yesterday. We were so excited to be back in California so we could taste this deliciousness!