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Today is one month from the due date of our second child. Yup, just four weeks away, give or take, we will have another little person in our family. Maybe it’s the pregnancy hormones, but I’m not quite sure how I feel about this.  On the one hand, I am so excited to have a baby again. Is there anything as sweet as an infant sleeping peacefully in your arms? Too, carrying a baby for 9 months, delivering said baby, and then sustaining that life, all with my own body, makes me feel strong, beautiful, and fulfilled. I loved seeing all the things Annie learned as she grew older. I distinctly remember thinking when Annie was about three months old that it was just the best age. She could smile, laugh, and wasn’t as fragile as a newborn. Since then, I think she just gets better with age. Not to mention, babies never act like prepubescent teenagers trapped in a toddler’s body… On the other hand, our family is just so happy and finally into a nice routine, why would we want to mess tha

I know that in thirty years DNA tests will probably be something antique and outdated.  However, at the moment, they are quite the rage.  I remember probably ten years ago when my mom was talking about a DNA test that could tell us something about our paternal line, but since we are a thin line of female only children, it wouldn't mean much. We felt rather defeated. Now, just ten years later, people are finding relatives and even biological parents and siblings through a commercial DNA test supplied by Ancestry.  And just yesterday, John was telling me about a blood test where birth defects can be detected in an embryo by taking and analyzing blood...from the mother .  I can only imagine where we will be in ten more years, or thirty, or a hundred. So Glo ordered me a test as a Christmas present.  I appreciate that Glo has always been my genealogy buddy, tagging along with me through the years to different genealogical sites, or listening to my stories from my childhood, or comfor

This post was supposed to be written months ago, but as is my procrastinating nature, I'm only now getting to it... June 2017 Somehow, as if a sign of changing times, as Allison and I drove away from what we knew would be our last regatta coaching for Northville High School's Rowing Team, my white frame, gold polarized sunglasses just fell apart. Like one second they were intact, totally functional, good for daily running or for making me look a little more intense when I needed it, and the next second one of the lenses popped out after the frame around that lens snapped in half. They were good, solid glasses that I used almost everyday, mainly cause of my rowing job. When out on the water, they served a trio of purposes: of shielding my eyes from the sun, protecting my eyes from lake water splashing around, and serving as an eye shade, so the kids I coached never knew where I was looking. Plus they had a downward slant to them, which I felt like gave me an added intimidati

Summer: I don’t know, summer is always the best time for me because I’m busy with things that I want to do and enjoy, and nothing else. I’m busy spending time with family, whether that’s exercising in the morning and swimming in the river in the afternoon, or busy at Interlochen, hanging out with friends having fun, or traveling around Europe catching Pokemon. Also summer is just the best because it has fantastic weather. Sure it can get hot and muggy but that time of day when it’s early in the morning or as the sun is setting, and the air is still warm, but the grass is cool, and at least in PA, the fireflies start coming out. I guess I’ll add the faint smell of bug spray to my summer nights;) and it just means the days are carefree. I’m not worrying about applications, due dates, assignments or performances. I can just bask in the life that I have, enjoy nature, and spend time in good company. Which brings me to my second love: Nature Nature: In case you haven’t heard me bem

There's a scene from the TV show, Friends, where Joey and Phoebe are trying to show Ross and Rachel that they belong together by forming "a plan".  And along with the plan, comes a plan laugh.  It's one of those evil laughs.  Here's the clip for anyone who can watch it:   It's Not Santa's Plan I've joked about it before, this "plan" of Heavenly Father's where he can just sit back and watch us fail and be miserable and laugh the whole time.  Or those times when we think we know "the plan" only to discover that we know absolutely nothing at all...but Heavenly Father does.  How he must sit up in Heaven, chuckling about what we think we know. You would think that I'm going to write about our move, and our house, and our financial ruin, but I think it's going to take many, many years for me to say, 'A ha, Heavenly Father knew along what he was doing, and aren't I so glad he did?"  Instead, it's easier fo

Last night, Ethan and Rebecca Face Timed us (not an unusual occurrence), because Baby had asked them too.  I love that she frequently asks to call "Poppie" or "Lollie", not because she wants to talk to us, but because she wants to perform for us on the telephone.  And if her parents change the screen so that she can't see herself performing, she will stop whatever she is doing and correct their action.  We love every minute of it.  In fact, we watched her for a full 45 minutes last night, and we only stopped because it was bedtime. During Christmas, we would be taken for a ride on "Baby Cam" where Baby would take their phones and show us different things around the house. She's actually very adept at figuring out how to position the camera on the phone so that we can see what she wants us to see.  The best part about Baby Cam though is watching her face bouncing around as she runs from one place to the other with the phone in her hand with the ca

Because Allison's parents weren't able to attend the sealing ceremony in the temple, it was important for them to have a ring ceremony in the evening.  It was so beautiful and so touching that I think it was difficult to not feel that it completely overshadowed the temple ceremony--not in the importance, but in the personal touches.  Music, of course, was a big player in it all, and seeing so many people in attendance was amazing.  I was glad for the Bosses that it turned out so nicely. Brother Dyerly, a member of the bishopric in the YSA ward, presided over the ceremony, and golly, for having so many rules from the church handbook about what was okay and what wasn't, he pulled it off spectacularly, and I couldn't imagine it being any better.  Grammy (John's mom) was in tears throughout the entire thing, and I know others were too.  I asked Brother Dyerly for a copy of the ceremony which he thankfully provided. Welcome to congregation Opening Prayer:  Kathy Ken