Charleston, South Carolina

I lucked out at BYU.  I met quite a few amazing people . . . three of which were my roommates.  We get together pretty regularly but it’s usually in a convenient location like Utah or Las Vegas.  But when Trisha moved to South Carolina for one year – I just knew we had to make an adventure out of that!  Luckily they were all up for a weekend in Charleston, South Carolina {we had heard great things about this little town}.  Laurel P. didn’t end up being able to come – she was missed.

I was the only one coming from the West Coast and it was quite a journey to get there.  We had Southwest miles to use which was wonderful – but they are not the most convenient when traveling that far. On the way out there I flew in to Baltimore, had a 3+ hour layover, and then flew to Charlotte, North Carolina where Trisha picked me up and we stayed at her house that night in Columbia, South Carolina.  On Friday morning we dropped her kiddos off and headed to Charleston to meet Laurel W. who was flying in from New York City.

Charleston is such a charming city – we fell in love!  We started our day off with lunch at Magnolia’s where I ordered something I don’t think I’ve ever ordered . . . fried chicken with potatoes and corn.  It was DELICIOUS.  A few friends had recommended a carriage ride through Charleston which was perfect for Day One because we got to learn all about the history of Charleston and get a feel for where everything is.  We had a great tour guide and learned very quickly that Charleston is packed full of amazing restaurants and history.  We pretty much ate our way through this girls weekend.

After a few hours of looking like true tourists . . . Laurel had the entire city figured out and was in charge of directions the rest of the time!

We had so many restaurant recommendations that we had a hard time deciding where to eat and how to squeeze them all in.  We ate at Magnolias, Poogan’s Porch, Cru Café, Husk & lots of Gelato. Most of the restaurants stayed pretty true to a Southern Menu which got me to try a few new things including my first fried green tomato!  On our carriage tour, we drove by the restaurant Husk.  This has been featured over and over as a top restaurant in the country {it was named best new restaurant of the year when it opened} and you typically have to have a reservation 6-8 weeks in advance.  Well, Trisha was determined to try to eat here so she called and since we had great weather the patio would be open and it was first come, first served.  So we got there early and got a table!  Trish was beyond excited.

Our cute hotel – complete with a Gelato shop two doors down and a view of the water!

Historic Downtown Charleston isn’t very big so we could easily walk everywhere.  The streets are charming with the architecture and gardens.  And I loved their addresses!  There were quite a few “0” and “1/2” addresses.  It was great just to walk around.  We did go in to a museum called “The Old Slave Mart Museum.”  It’s a small museum in the actual building that was built to buy and sell slaves when they could no longer do it in public.  Loved reading about this piece of American History.

 

On Saturday morning we walked to the Farmers Market to grab breakfast and look around.  By the time we got there, I really needed to eat something so I grabbed a delicious bagel but was too full to order a Huevo when we got to this stand.  I did try a bite of Laurel/Trisha’s and it was one of the best things I’ve ever eaten!  The fruit and vegetables were amazing and it was such a fun atmosphere.

After the Farmers Market, it was time for the beach.  We stopped and grabbed sandwiches & snacks on our way to Isle of Palm beach.  This was my first time on an East Coast beach and my first time touching the Atlantic Ocean!  I was pleasantly surprised by the beach out there.  It was rock-free, sea-weed free, warmer than California, smaller waves and it was shallow for quite a ways.  I loved it.

On Sunday morning, we went to brunch and then managed to squeeze in a trip to The Boone Hall Plantation before I had to be at the airport at 2pm to catch my flight home.  What an amazing place.  We had a wonderful tour guide of the plantation home and a great {but very talkative} tour guide on the carriage tour.  The pond below is where they filmed The Notebook.  Absolutely gorgeous place and it was fascinating to hear about all of the events they have there and the fruits and vegetables they still harvest.  We had it timed pretty well based on the information that the wagon tour was a 30 minute tour.  I began to panic a little when we weren’t anywhere near the front and we were at 45 minutes and I was supposed to be at the airport in approximately 4 minutes!  Trish was a rock-star driver and we flew out there of there and I made my flight!

It was a fabulous girls weekend.  It’s really the only way to truly catch up with friends – you need a weekend.  It was great to see Trisha and Laurel and to explore a new city.  Can’t wait till our next adventure!

Nate graduated from preschool.

Today was Nate’s final preschool graduation – he’s headed to Kindergarten!  I’m so glad we decided to hold him back – this has turned out to be a great year for him and is now overly ready to go and I think he’ll do great.

This year of preschool had a rocky start.  Our friend and teacher, Ms. Joy, had to stop her usual routine because of an uproar that her new neighbor caused about so many kids being in her home. So in October, we had to start looking for different preschools that might have an opening.  Ali & I were lucky and found Ms. Sonia and Mr. Tom and they had openings for Nate & Daisy.  And it was M-TH from 9-12am!  It was their graduation today and I was reminded how lucky we were to find them – they were a great match for Nate for his year before Kindergarten.

When I first walked up to the door, Nate and another little girl were the greeters, shaking hands while saying “welcome to our school.”  They did a full program showing us a lot of the stuff they learned this year.  They learned a lot.  It was quite amazing, actually.  We have a joke around our house that whenever Nate comes up with proper grammar, a US President we didn’t know about, or something about the solar system we say: “let me guess, you learned it from Ms. Sonia.”  It was great having an older couple as teachers – they have a properness about them that is missing in the world today and I loved having their influence over Nate.  Nate developed a bond with both Sonia and Tom.  Tom was so cute with him helping Nate with all of his artistic and creative ideas as well as teaching him how to play chess.  Mr. Tom wrote me a note one day and asked if I could get Nate a chess set for home because Nate really had a desire to learn and he thought he could be really good at it. 

The proud mama is kicking in now but I was so impressed with Nate today at graduation.  First off, he was named valedictorian of the preschool class.  I’d never heard of such a thing but I thought it was neat for Nate.  He memorized his speech and did a great job today in front of everybody.  As they spent 30-45 minutes doing their program, there was hardly a time when I couldn’t hear Nate kind of “leading the class” with what to do and say.  I don’t get to see him in these situations very often so it was really neat to see him be a leader, he was focused & well prepared.  And as soon as the program was over he was laughing and having a great time with Daisy and his classmate, Juliana.

They had refreshments after the graduation and Nate was in heaven.  He kept saying “this is the best food ever!”  Overall, it was a great day for him.

We celebrated at Nate’s choice for dinner – The Olive Garden.  And we got him a little graduation present – a chess set.  I might need Mr. Tom to teach both Nate and I how to play.

Another great part of this year was that Ms. Joy was able to work it out for a small group of four (Nate, Daisy, Phoebe, Paige) to go to her house on Monday afternoons for a little time with Ms. Joy to do crafts, learn a little, and have fun.  Nate is also pretty lucky to be able to do all of this with his “cousin friend” Daisy.  They really are little buddies.

Nate has a really soft heart sometimes.  After his last afternoon with Ms. Joy, he came home with a darling note from her.  He asked Ali to read it to him on their way home and after she read it she looked at him and his head was down because he was crying that he wasn’t going to be able to see Ms. Joy as much anymore.  And then as we were writing Ms. Sonia and Mr. Tom a thank you note, he started crying again!  He loves his teachers.

Hooray for Kindergarten.  We’re ready!

We’re having a baby. A baby GIRL.

It’s probably about time I got this little milestone on the blog.

Wes & I were really enjoying life with the two boys but something made us at least try to have a third.  We had a hard time getting pregnant with Nate and Ryan {our wonderful fertility doctor was a part of both} and so we thought that while it was worth trying for a third we weren’t going to be too upset if it never happened.  We were both done with fertility doctors so this one would have to happen on it’s own for it to happen.

So, 2013 was the year.  If it happened that year, great.  If not we were ready to move on with the two boys and just have fun.

It happened in January. 

It was obviously meant to be.  Sometimes I think my Heavenly Father knew I might change my mind if it didn’t just happen.  I must admit it was shocking and a much easier route than endless doctor visits.

With this baby, we don’t have maternity insurance so we’re paying cash for this one.  We switched insurance plans on February 1st and around January 27th we realized that we had a “healthcare credit card” from our old plan with $600 on it that we couldn’t use once our new plan started on February 1st.  So I called my doctor’s office and found out that I had to actually have an appointment to be able to use the $600 toward my doctor payment.  They were great and got me in within a day or two so I could use my money!  I had an ultrasound and this peanut was so small we could hardly see it but everything else in there was looking good.  I had another ultrasound a week later and that’s when my due date went from September 25 to possibly October 5th depending on the baby’s size around 20 weeks.

This pregnancy has been pretty much like the other two.  As long as I eat consistently through the first 4 months, I feel pretty good.  I did throw up a few times first thing in the morning but that was it.  At the end of my pregnancy with Ryan, my veins in my left leg got really bad.  Those re-appeared in the first trimester of this pregnancy so that hasn’t been fun at all.  I’ve been wearing a compression sock but it’s officially too hot to wear that thing outside.  I’ve also been getting headaches that I didn’t get with the first two.  I’ve had a few sinus infections that wiped me out.  But overall, feeling pretty good!

One thing that’s been fun is I can feel the baby move around 17 weeks or so which is much earlier than the other two.  It could be that I now really know what it feels like so it’s pretty obvious.  I love the 2nd trimester – you’re not uncomfortable yet but you get the perks of feeling the baby and actually looking pregnant instead of just chunky. 

This entire time, I always referred to the baby as a he.  I was convinced I was having a third boy and was actually kind of excited about it.  And then on May 10th, 2013 we went to our ultrasound and heard the words: “It’s a girl.” It took me a while for those to set in!  The boys came with us and Ryan says in his little tone of voice: “Me no like girls!  Me want a boy.”  Both Nate and Ryan really wanted a brother but I think they are going to love having a little sister.

My post-ultrasound appointment with Dr. Miller went well.  She says everything looks good so far and we’re looking at an October 2nd due date!

I’m definitely still getting used to the idea of pink.  But it sure is fun so far.

Vail, Colorado

In February, Leigh casually mentioned that we should meet them to go skiing in Vail, Colorado in March.  I am not a skiier (and wasn’t about to learn while pregnant – I have quite a long fall) but I’ve been wanting Nate to hit the slopes and I always want Wes to be able to see his family.  After talking it over with Wes and doing some research, I called Leigh and asked if she was up for just Wes and Nate joining them.  It turned out perfectly because Leigh’s aunt and nephew were going and that left Spencer skiing all by himself on the bigger slopes.  Now Spencer had a skiing buddy, too.  His little brother.

They met in the Denver airport and drove to Vail late Wednesday night.  They got settled in to their hotels after midnight and the kids were up super early to check in to ski school the next day.  For the next two days, they checked Nate and Spence in to ski school and the adults enjoyed the day on the mountain.  Nate was definitely hesitant but I was proud of him for giving it a try.  Spence, too!  They both did great and loved learning to ski.  And I love that these cousins who never see each other got to do it together.

Nate always loves Spence and he really loved having Spence’s cousin, Alex there too!  He had a great time with the “big cousin” Alex.  He even came home and said we should name our baby Alex!

We thought it would be fun to have Nate tell Spencer & Leigh in person that we were having another baby. (They had told us that week that they were pregnant, too!).  They were casually sitting at a pizza joint when Nate looks up and says “Aunt Leigh, my mom has a baby in her tummy.”  Leigh looked around, confused . . . thinking “no, that’s me with a baby in my tummy.”  He said it again and Leigh turned to Wes and Wes just smiled.  Needless to say I got a very fun phone call right after that!

They had a great trip!

I am always the one that gets to take the kids on adventures while Wes stays behind.  This was Wes/Nate first of many adventures together.  Wes sent me this picture on their first night at the hotel.  It was after midnight when they checked in but Nate went in and found a notepad and wrote this.  Love this boy.