Wednesday, October 24, 2007

SNOW SNOW SNOW!!!

So we had our first snow :o) How fun is that? I woke up early Monday morning to head to work, and when I pulled out on the driveway... I realized it had magically turned white!! I was super excited about it - unlike the rest of Alaska! We had to rush off to work on Monday, so we didn't get any pictures - but I had a little time this morning to show off our new digs around here! It's not as pretty as it was yesterday all blanketed and unblemished... but it gets the point across! And nevermind the lovely construction equipment. They laughed at me when I asked them to move for the picture (no, I didn't really ask you morons) (K)

Monday, October 22, 2007

Home 1 last time before baby Lily arrives!

That's right - I traveled home after the lovely wedding in Minnesota to enjoy family and friends and shopping :o) It was a BUSY busy week with a quick timeline to fit as many people as I could in... and there were many of you I was unable to visit :o( or saw for such a short time it just wasn't fair!! After flying in, we drove promptly to MiMi and Paw Paw's house to visit the grandparents... sorry, no pictures! Monday - I enjoyed a VERY fancy lunch at Dante's with my mom's best friends. They're church ladies - but not the blue-haired type. Not yet at least... someday, I'm sure they'll have their own little circle of blue-hair habits though with my mom being the ring leader ;) HA Super cute gifts for Lily were received here... hence my hair bow.

Tuesday, Mom and I drove to Charlotte to meet up with one of my greatest friends - La and her boys! Sawyer is 2 and a half, and I was at the hospital when he was born. Sadly... baby Holden was born Sept 5th (I believe?) with me, here in Alaska... pure torture. I finally got to meet this littlee guy though!
And of course, I must give Sawyer his Halloween debut - "To Infinity and Beyond..."

Next, on Wednesday - I traveled down to good ole Chapel Thrill. Ahhh... that glorious, special place! Alli and Cheryl were nice enough to take the day and drive down from Virginia Beach. We reminisced of nursing school... bla bla bla... and enjoyed lunch at Top of the Hill before some shopping on Franklin street! WE did find some lovely Halloween spider caps :o)

That night - I was able to stay with Scott and Nina (my brother and sister-n-law) and have some yummy PF Changs. I miss that restaurant... :o( Murphy was the happiest to see me though :o) That's there lab puppy that is just HUGE now! He still thinks he's a lap dog though?! IT was a task trying to keep him out of my lap... but he sure is a lovable dog! I managed to not take any pictures at all while there. How wrong of me?! Baby Lily will come into this world without having any pictures of her uncle Poopsie with my belly. What can I say? Oops... AFter spending the night - I got up the next morning to relax and do some shopping around town! I ran lots of errands and enjoyed all the stories I used to shop at on a regular basis! Good thing for Josh I can't do that often :o) I meet up with my great friends from the Chapel Hill Bible Church that night for dinner... and again, failed to take a picture. We'll blame it on placenta brain?! AFter dinner, I scooted home - stopping by to see my good friend Heather who's also pregnant and due about a month before me! Oh the joys of hearing from her what I have to look forward to in the next few weeks! WE're kinda getting into that "just get it over with" stage! Of course, Amy (church friend from dinner... not posted here - oops) and I have been in that stage for quite some time now! HA . Friday was business as usual at the Pernell house - dinner with the extending family... that Pitmans. Again, not posted. Saturday - Jen Gresham came up and we headed to the local Octoberfest for some funnel cake - yippe (baby Lily really liked that!) and met up with Sarah, Barb and baby Easton. Then it was off to dinner with the crew - thanks for everybody driving in!! We all again laughed about some nursing school/college stories as well as pregnancy/motherhood stories. That seems to be taking over most of my world these days? Guess that's how it happens! You get pregnant and start a family and the focus shifts - it's not about you anymore. Ahhh... sad... :o)

Sunday was planned out with the usual group from church, followed by a visit to my Uncle Larry and Aunt Kathy's house to see the girls and Laura! And then Sunday night dinner - pizza with the Pitman crew! Monday was a whirlwind of last minute errands to get everything done and me crashing shamelessly on the couch before packing my now doubled load of things! And Tuesday I was off to the airport... only to arrive home 2 days later. That wasn't planned... but look on the bright side - instead of flying straight to Minn and home - I was able to see Minn for a while, then see Phoenix, then fly over the Grand Canyon on my way to Seattle and FINALLY make it home to Anchorage! (note - there really was NO bright side to any of this...) In fact - I ended up in L&D on Thursday due to the contractions I had all night and all day most likely from the dehydration and stress of the flight home! Lovely. But baby Lily is healthy and happy as ever... even after the chinese take-out on Saturday that re-appeared several times on Sunday! Ahhhh, ode to being pregnant.
Home again home again. I've decided - although it was all worth it, I hate traveling away from my husband. It's not cool. I don't like it. So I'll have to take up a few issues with Uncle Sam and his plans for Josh over the next few months?! We'll see who wins that battle, ok? So 30+ weeks and pre-bad-chinese food... maybe I managed to lose a pound or 2 on that one :o)

And this weekend while I was home in Anchorage, feeling lousy - my cousin Wendy was celebrating her baby shower! There were previously NO grandbabies on my mom's side of the family... the Tuckers. And come December, there will be 2!! Little John Owen Tucker is due a few weeks before baby Lily... and while I couldn't be at the shower, I decided to pretend. Aren't we cute - belly to belly? (I thought you might like that one Courtney! I hear you've been reading up on things :o) And I think the cupcakes were a perfect CAROLINA blue ;)

Sunday, October 7, 2007

Everybody needs a little Josh :o)

That's right - and too bad I'm not sharing?! But thankfully, there are others out there and one of my greatest friends - Melissa - found herself one! Even better, Josh (her new husband) is one of our greatest friends too!! It's really too good to be true... and slash mark number 2 for me and setting up my friends! I get to take credit (as much credit as us humans can take in this ordained world we live in and the wonderful God that watches over us) for two of my best friends and their now husbands :o) Kate and Greg - couple number 1... Lissa and Josh - couple number 2. Note to those of you that are single reading this - hang out with me long enough and I'm bound to find you the love of your life!

Josh and Lissa started dating last year at our wedding! How convenient :o) They were both in the wedding party and after we got home from our honeymoon, we heard that sparks were flying! So they followed in our footsteps - were engaged this summer on our engagement anniversary, and married this past weekend. How glorious?! I did warn them that the next few months might be more precious than they realize (aka - bun in the oven at month 4 of there marriage?! We'll see how closely they follow in our footsteps)

MY Josh and I were able to fly down to Minnesota this past weekend for the wedding and enjoy ourselves thoroughly! It was a small, outdoor, family and close friends affair and it was just gorgeous! It was unseasonably warm - but there was a gentle (and sometimes gale force) wind to keep us cool and keep the bugs (mostly) away. The rain came in and pushed off just about 30 minutes before the ceremony and we were able to enjoy the wedding and the rest of the day outside! I managed to zip up my dress - thankfully, and look as graceful as a whale in high heels. ( you can imagine that, right? whales don't even have legs... and sometimes, due to swelling, it didn't look like I did either! Just call me stumpy ;) So most of the pictures don't include my fancy shoes that I ditched post ceremony for my comfy flats! - forgive me for that! The blushing bride and groom were just gorgeous and happy as they could be!



On to the MOST enjoyable moments - please note the grin on my husband's face.

DESSERT! Yummy :o) He wasn't the only one enjoying the yummy sweets though ;o) We'll just say baby Lily had her fair share!
And so we carry on and my tummy grew by the hour (and the bite?!) 28+ weeks, so we've hit the 3rd trimester and we're in the 7th month! WHEW




Holy cow?! Look at me grow... ps - you're not aloud to say things such as "cow" in reference to me. (if you'd like to stay on my nice list) We had a lovely time and enjoyed being a part of the Linder (Melissa's) family for the weekend! And now - I'm off to NC to visit home, family and friends - and sadly without my husband :o( Pouty face and sigh go here.... Josh headed back to Anchorage to claim our sweet Graci from the kennel and enjoy (prayerfully) another week of work while I'm now resting on the couch at home planning a week of relaxing, shopping, and visiting with friends and family! As much fun as that is... it's bitter sweet without my husband!


Until next time....