It's NOT a girl it's a BOY!!!!

Naw, I am just kidding about the title. We are really going to have a girl. The reason for this post is to continue my unceasing hatred toward the heat here in Phoenix. Yesterday it was 114 degrees and today it was 113. Tomorrow it will get up to 113 as well and Thursday we will see it cool down to 112. All this outrageous heat sparked an idea in my little brain. I thought, "I should take a frozen burrito in the car with me and while I install a security system (that is what I do for work) I will see if it heats up enough to eat." Sure-nuf, that baby was delicious as ever after an hour and a half on my dash. So I guess the heat isn't that bad after all......but only if you have frozen burritos.
Stay cool!!!

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!!

It is true, we have a little girl in the oven. Sasha is about 20 weeks now and everything is going just fine. We were kind of nervous for this ultrasound because this is the one where the tell you if there are any abnormalities in the baby's development. They looked at her head and neck, spine and little limbs and everything else and she looks great. They were even able to get a cross section of her heart and stomach. I had no idea how they do that so I asked the ultrasound technician how that worked and she had no idea either. Oh well.

Along with telling the world about the gender of our first-born, there is another reason for this posting. We know what we are going to name her but we haven't decided how to spell it. Her name is going to be Gaelyn Kate, or Gaylin Kate, or Gayelin Kate, or Gayelynne Kate, or something like that. The name comes from both Sasha and my mom's names. We thought it would be cute so if you hate the idea then you are just going to have to deal with it because it is MY baby!!! Anyway, let us know how you think it should be spelled. We will also be mentioning whose spelling we liked the best in a future post so make your suggestion count!!!
Here is a picture of her foot and her body.

And you thought YOUR life was bad....

It is common knowledge that there are many things that are wrong with every city in these, the United States. Phoenix has it's fair share of maladies but I happened to stumble across the worst one this evening. It isn't the murder rate or the horrible traffic on every road. It is simply this....I turned on the kitchen faucet to the cold side and warm water came out of the tap. I thought, "I will just let it run for a while and it should get cooler." The water ran and ran and contrary to what I thought, the water got hotter. All I wanted was cold water out of my tap. All I wanted was something cool to touch my skin. That's all. I am in the middle of a desert and I just want to feel cold and all I get is hot water.....

Anyway, Sasha is doing just fine. She is tired all the time but not that sick anymore. That is about it. Stay tuned for future happenings!!!

Early Halloween!!!!

So, I wore a hat today. I never wear hats. I only own one hat and I had very little time to get ready today so I threw it on. Needless to say that I had hat hair this evening. When I took off my hat and Sasha saw me she said that I looked like Count Dracula because of my widows peak and my hair all slicked back. I was then talked into putting baby powder all over my face and subjecting myself to the camera. Here is one of the results. I am not too fond of it but Sasha assured me that it would be fun so look at me........I'm having fun.



On a side note, Sasha is near the 15 week mark and everything is fine. She feels a bit better these days which means that I get to see her gorgeous smile most of every day. I love it!!! She is getting bigger which is also fun. I think this whole thing is just super fun. If you want Sasha's opinion on the whole thing, you will have to ask her because I think she is routing for adoption in the future. KIDDING!!!!!!!!

I caved...

I just couldn't stand the pressure from my pants anymore, so I did it. I bought prego pants for work. The waistline is higher than Olivia Newton John's spandex pants in Grease, but the pressure is gone. Unfortunately the urge to spend the day with the Porcelain God hasn't left me, but the fat pants definitely help a little bit...and I'll take whatever I can get. I also bought a couple shirts, the kind with no shape at all. I found that breathing was getting hard in my old shirts. All you moms know what I'm talking about. I got dressed for work in my new duds yesterday and had to laugh when I looked at the final outcome in the mirror. I just look like a fat chick with really bad hair who woke up and decided to throw on a pop tent. Sexiness at it's best! And no, I'm not just being hard on myself, Glen laughed too. Whatever, I'll pay the ugly price for a bit of comfort and the ability to inhale without fear that I'll bust through my top like the Hulk. Also, for all of you who have written comments and notes, I'm sooo sorry that I haven't responded. Honestly, I've probably gotten online 4 times in the past 6-7 weeks (reading didn't help the nausea, but I think it's getting better). You're all amazing and I enjoyed Glen telling me what everyone had to say, so thank you and I love you all! Hopefully I'll be on here more often now.

OOPS!!!!!

It seems that I forgot to post some new ultrasounds that were done on the 25th. They baby still looks like a little blob thing but it has some shape....kinda. Here they are. The second one is super zoomed in. SWEET!!!!

The Results

A day or so after the ER visit, the results to one of Sasha's blood tests came in. It turns out that Sasha is Rubella Equivocal. They didn't tell us what that really meant so we looked it up ourselves. We discovered to our horror that having rubella while in the early stages of pregnancy can cause many birth defects for deafness and blindness to severe retardation and even still born babies. So we pretty much freaked out and called everyone we knew that could give us a good answer to this new development. Paige Herschi was the first to our aid. She said that Sasha may or may not be immune to rubella and it doesn't mean that she has it. Thank Goodness!!! All Sasha has to do now is stay away from kids with rubella. I think that will be quite easy.

Later that day we went to her OB and she thought the doctors at the ER were CRAZY that a pregnant woman came into the ER, all dizzy, and they didn't even bother to give her fluids. She was pretty upset. Sasha and I both thought that was weird too. Anyway, after another ultrasound it looks like the hemorrhage has healed itself and everything is ok. The baby is fine.

Speaking of the baby, on the last ultrasound the OB kept the baby in the screen for a while so we could see him/her move. And after a few seconds he was punching and kicking away and even did some nice buckin' bronco action. It was a life changing moment for both of us.

EMERGENCY!!!!!!

Ok. This is what happened. It was March the 20th. Sasha was having really bad stomach pains that made her vomit all over the place and she was very dizzy. We knew it was too early for her to be in labor but we went to the ER anyway. We checked in at 9:00 PM and waited for Sasha's name to be called. An hour later they called her name and had her go into a small room where they took her blood pressure and asked for a urine sample. So she went into the one bathroom in the waiting room and did her thing and then sat down again and waited for her name to be called again. Another hour went by and her name was called again. This time a different room full of computers and cubicles. They asked her for her address and phone number and insurance card and then told her to go back into the waiting room and wait for her name to be called. An hour and a half later her name sounded and yet another room where they took 4 vials of her blood. A quick "thank you" and, you guessed it, "have a seat in the waiting room, it shouldn't be much longer." Another hour and Sasha was called into the first room again where they had to take her blood pressure. (Maybe they lost the results of the first test). Once again to the waiting room. It was now 1:00 AM and needless to say, a cranky, pregnant Sasha was hungry, dehydrated and shaky. A vending machine saved the day with slightly salted pretzels in a tiny bag. Sasha was not able to eat all of the pretzels because, GASP!!, her name was called. A doctor was ready to see her! It turns out it was a false alarm. The ultrasound was first. After the ultrasound she was escorted to a small room where we waited for another hour or so.

It turns out that the first "doctor" to visit us in the small room was a nurse and the second "doctor" was another nurse but the third "doctor" was really a doctor and ill-prepared at that. She looked at everything and said that it was possible that Sasha had a kidney stone. That was too bad because they can't do anything about it because she is prego. She also reported to us that she had some kind of infection. They weren't sure what it was exactly but even if they did they couldn't do anything about it because she is prego. Finally she told us that there was a small placental hemorrhage. Obviously they can't do anything about that so she sent Sasha on her way with a prescription to help the nausea. So we still aren't sure why she had intense abdominal cramps or was vomiting along with the cramps but whatever. At least we got to spend some time together.......in an ER........with sick people all around us......and it was late.......really late.......3:30 AM by now.......

Good thing we are going to pay a lot for this. It was worth it.

The First Ultrasound

Sasha and I went to a new doctor today and she was the best of all of them. She was cheery and super friendly and really was concerned about us. The doctor thought we were there for an initial pregnance visit but we told her that we were there for an ultrasound. She was happy to get us in that day instead of making us come back some other time when it was convenient for her. So without further ado..... the pictures!!!



Yep, that is it. The blob to the left inside the big black mass is the baby. I know it is not much yet but its little heart was going like crazy. It was really great to hear the heart. I guess a baby's heart beats at about 180-190 bpm normally when it is in the womb. It was at 182. Perfect!!! It all seems a bit more real now. It was a life changing visit. So Sasha is officially 9 weeks along and is really excited for the first trimester of barfiness to be over. She is still working but will only be working as long as she feels like it. I am getting ready to take more work because I hear that babies cost a lot. Woo Hoo!!! 'Cause we just got money layin' around all over the place!!! I was looking for a way to get rid of it all!!!

The News

These past few weeks have been very monumentous for us. Finally we have something blog-worthy. Sasha is going to have a baby!!! As of now she is about 8 weeks along and the due date is October 18th. We are very VERY excited!!!!! She is going to have her first ultrasound in the next week or so, so when we get those pics we will probably post them. Sasha is doing fine except for the pending barf that is constantly knocking on the door. Seriously though, she has felt like she is on the verge of brfing for three weeks in a row now. Day and night. We have tried a ton of things from gigner cookies to saltines to preggie pops and nothing has touched it. She went to the doc and they gave her some prescription shuff that helps a little but she has accepted the fact that she is just going to be sick for a while. So now we have something interesting to post about and that is exciting all in itself. We will keep you all updated as soon as anything else happens.

Adventures in taxes

I guess it isn't a surprise that Pinnacle, the company I work for, does not have their act together. All I want to do is my taxes. They were supposed to send me my 1099 form last week but they had a different address on file for me. The address happened to be of the apartment that Sasha and I lived in when we were first married. Yes, that was 3 years ago. Nevermind the fact that I have been employed by them for four years and I have been in different parts of the country each of those years. The best part of the story is that the company regularly ships equipment to me at my current address and yet they send my tax forms somewhere else. I guess they could say, "We thought you had a house in Rexburg and Arizona." Then I would have to say, "No, no how silly of you. If I really had 2 homes, I would have to be a sales rep and not a service technician!!!" Well, Sasha and I are still in Arizona and it is quite lovely here. I has been a little chilly here the last week but the temperature is great now. Today it was 75 degrees and the there was not a cloud in the sky. I hope you are all jealous. I know I would be.

Sasha and I spent our Christmas in Portland and it was great. We got to go to the temple there and take some great pictures. That was where were married so it was fun to go back.

I am still going to school and Sasha is still making us wealthy. She works all the time and I love her for it. She recently went to the dentist and it seems that she is going to need to get her wisdom teeth out. So we are trying to get that all arranged. I told her that having your wisdom teeth pulled is one of the greatest experiences ever. She didn't believe me because she saw a youtube video of someone getting theirs taken out. Needless to say that she is not the slightest bit excited about it now. Anyway, that is about it for us. Stay tuned for future updates but don't hold your breath!!

You want a new post.....FINE!!!

Yeah so it has been a while since anything blog-worthy has happened around here. So I am writing mostly because my buddy Brett Livingston got all fussy about our lack of updates. So here is an update....
I just finished my first semester of graduate school at ASU. It was really hard but worth it in the end. Sasha is still working for the physical therapy place and she likes it there. The people are friendly and her co-workers are entertaining. She even has some stories about a guy named Bernard that are pretty good. You should ask to hear some of them. We will be leaving for Portland in a few days. We are staying there for the Christmas break. I have an entire month off of school so the break will be nice and long. We will only be in Portland for half if it though. The weather is good but it has been rainy here the past few days (see how boring it is here, I just made a reference to the weather in my blog. The WEATHER!!!!)
Anyway, that is about it. We hope everyone has a great Christmas and a wonderful New Year full of amazing resolutions.

Can Can

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

Just for Mitzi!

Ok, as you all have noticed, our blog needs some serious work....like posts complete with pictures and umm posts. Part of the problem is that I don't really deal with the blog, I let Glen keep track of it. But, recently one of my favorite friends from BYU-I, Mitzi Cannon, tagged me. So, here are 6 things the general public may not know about me.

1. I've been shoulder deep in cow crap...unfortunately, I'm not kidding. I took an artificial insemination class in college where I was suited up in a glove that was pinned to the collar of my shirt and covered in lubricant. Why? Here's some trivia for you, the reproductive tract of the cow can be felt "through" the colon...it's a bit "strechy". Yeah, anyway, I dropped the class...couldn't take it a whole semester of that and quite frankly I had NO plans to ever artificially inseminating a cow.

2. I've had my hands on an adult male snow leopard. Ok, so he was kind of knocked out at the time, but when he started waking up and growling at us I was the one who got to gas him up and hold a towel over his eyes to help calm him down.



3. In high school I got stuck hanging half way out of the sunroof of a car...with my skirt blown up over my head (from the wind). So, basically I mooned a lot of people that night. No, I wasn't going comando, but close enough. Really did not enjoy that.

4. My left pinky has a name. It got named Lunky when the middle joint was shattered while trying to stop a volleyball my best friends hubby hit a little too hard. It's now shorter than my right pinky.

5. I eat lemons like they're apples...they're really yummy with salt!

6. I have a bald spot on my head where my parrot, BeeBop, got a little too excited playing with my hair and took out a chunk of scalp. It didn't hurt that bad, but when I remember the sound it makes me twitch.

Well, there it is a list of 6 things most people probably don't know about me.

A long time.....

It is true. A long time has passed since the last update on our blog. Sasha no longer works for the True Harmony place. It turns out that she was paid one person's salary for doing 2 people's jobs. Sasha had her own lillte desk where she had to check people in and out, take payments, schedule future appointments, make and receive calls, babysit kids, do dishes, and check insurance. Ther was also no breaks for lunch or any other bodily needs durring the whole day. It also seems that the benefits were a bit blown out of proportion when she was first told about them before she was hired. Anyway, that ended but in a way it was a good thing because Sasha's mom was here last week. We took an amazing trip to the Hoover Dam and then continued on to Las Vegas and had a great time. We saw a Cirque du Soliel show and also saw Phanotm of the Opera. On the way back we stopped at the biggest crack in the world.....the Grand Canyon. It was the greatest of times. Some pictures......