Colton's Early Birthday Present

Little Lemon Baby: Week 13

                         How Far Along? 13 weeks Baby's Fruit-Size Equivalent? A lemon! Weight Gain? I don't use scales or monitor my weight, so I don't know. I do get a little bloat bump every evening! But it's gone by morning. Maternity Clothes? Not yet. How Are You Sleeping? I was sleeping like a baby (ha!) for a little while there, but lately I've been having a hard time falling asleep. I'm turning into an insomniac like my father. Best moment this week? When Colt came home from St. Louis. We missed him a lot. Weird pregnancy moment? I never feel hungry! I either feel uncomfortably full or nauseated(meaning it's time to eat). And gnarly headaches every evening. Any Movement: Noneskies. Anything making you queasy? The thought of Chick-Fil-A, and vegetables. And riding in the car. I think it's getting better, though. How About Cravings? It depends on the day. One day I'll eat something because it sounds good, the next day the same food sounds awful. But we can't seem to go wrong with mashed potatoes. Gender: Too early to tell! Colt still thinks it's a girl. What I'm looking forward to: Our doctor appointment this Wednesday. We haven't been to the doctor since I was six or seven weeks along, because of the move. I'm hoping we get to hear Beanie's heartbeat for the first time.

See You Soon!

Boeing sends all of their interns on an 

out-of-state trip to different facilities.

Colt will be in St. Louis, Missouri until

Friday afternoon with all the interns in the region.

I dropped him off at the airport this morning.

Oldie but goodie

Dear Husband,
While you're gone, I'm going to order thai food,

and keep my fingers crossed that the Netherlands

win today. Oranje! Hup Holland Hup!

I also just might drive to the mall

and buy me some perfume. 

Have a great time, babe.
Hurry home to us! 
Seriously. 
Before beanie has me spending all of our money
on yellow curry.
This baby is a stern master, 
with highly specific demands.
Love, 
Sam and The Bean

One Year, And Other Adventures

June 22nd was our one year anniversary.

To celebrate,

we took a day trip to New York City.

You know, as one does.

We saw the 9/11 Memorial, Times Square,

 Grand Central Station

rode the subway AND took a taxi, 

walked around Central Park,

and, per my request, 

went uptown so I could try a 

chocolate chip cookie from Levain Bakery.

Yum.

Also, trying to take pictures in New York is hard.

Everything is huge. 

I felt like the pictures didn't represent

exactly what I was seeing.
Also, no matter where you go, there are approximately 
5 million people. 

But we did our best!

The weekend before, we visited

downtown Philadelphia. 

We walked around the historical area so we could see

Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, and where

Benjamin Franklin was buried.

Busted! Caught munching on my pregnancy snacks.

But I think last weekend was my favorite.

We went to Cape May, a beach in New Jersey.

But, here, they aren't called beaches.

It's "the shore."

And it was the perfect activity for my 

tired, pregnant self.

The coast here is so different from the Oregon coast.

Mainly because it's actually warm.

In fact, the sand burned our feet.

There were some amazing beach houses

(i.e. Victorian mansions).

And we saw a pod of dolphins right off the shore! 

Oh, hey handsome.

Thanks for marrying me.

This little beanie and I are the luckiest

to have you.

Year one was amazing,

but I think this next one is going to be

pretty incredible, too.

I Never Thought I'd Say This...

But I really miss Utah. 

Especially Utah in the summer and the fall.

For some reason, moving to Philly has made me super nostalgic. 

I feel full of excitement and anticipation.

It's almost exactly how I felt every time I moved into a new apartment at the start of the school year at BYU. 

Except that's not what's happening.

Things I Miss About Utah

1. The mountains
2. Our family and all our friends 
3. The yellow curry at Sawadee
4. Our soccer team
5. Bonfires up the canyon
6. Pretty much all the fun stuff there is to do in the summer, actually. Including things I never did, like float the Provo River or the rope swing at Mona.
7. Cafe Rio
8. BYU (weird, especially because I'd rather chew off my own hand than drive around campus during graduation week)
9. The BYU creamery. Sweet, sweet cheeseburgers
10. Familiar running routes
11. Zupas
12. Knowing my way around
13. Camping
14. Lots of LDS people
15. Dollar movies
16. Stadium of Fire fireworks going off right across the street
17. Football games. I haven't actually been to one since my senior year. But I love walking around Provo and hearing the roar of the crowd from anywhere in town 
18. The smell of wet pavement after it rains
19. There's always something going on and tons of people to do things with. Farmer's market, street festivals, concerts, ward activities, rodeos, etc. 
20. Drive-in movies
21. Cheaper rent 

A lot of these are things I did as a college student. 

I think moving away has solidified the fact that this chapter of my life is officially closed. 

That makes me kind of sad.

It wasn't perfect all the time, 

but I really enjoyed my years as a Provo college student. Living close by made it feel like it hadn't completely ended yet. 

Also, a lot of these are food-related. 

That chapter is definitely NOT over.

I'm excited for the future, 
but sometimes it's hard to say goodbye to your past.
Especially one as kick-a as mine.
And who knows?
Maybe we'll be back one day.
In which case, I'll be reminded of
the inversion, snowstorms in May,
and
terrible drivers.
 :)

We've Got Big News

But first, 
would you please look at these little babes?

It's us!

Just living life, miles away from each other.

 

Oh, and guess what?

These two little ones grew up,
 married each other,

and now

have one of their own on the way.

Baby Plessman, due January 2015

The Great Migration

Our new home

We did it! We are officially east coasters.

For a few months, at least.

It's pretty weird to think that we just 

drove across almost the entire continental U.S.

We traveled through nine states,

seven of which I have never been to before.

Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, 

Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

We moved out of our apartment in Springville on Friday, May 30th.

It was sort of sad to say goodbye to our first little home.

Especially since we met in Provo, and all of our old spots were just a few minutes away.
Not anymore.
We'll have to make new spots.

We stayed with Colt's sister, Kristy, and her husband Ryan and our nephew Ethan until Tuesday before heading out.

When Colt went to pick up the U-haul trailer on Friday, the truck started making some strange noises-

the steering pump was leaking, they said.

Of course it was.

So we had to stay an extra day with Kristy and Ryan so that could get sorted out.

Shoot. ;)

Thanks for letting us stay, you guys! We love you!

Off we go!

We broke up the drive, so we could stop and see family along the way.
Our first stop was Denver, to stay a couple of days with
Colt's parents, and to see his sister Alisha and her family. 
The Whitesides' are moving to Washington this month, which is enough crazy for anyone.
But to top it all off, Alisha was due to have her baby June 10th. 
They're handling it like champs.

We hung out, drove to Greeley to play with Miss Bailey and help Alisha pack up a few things, and ate lots and lots of yummy food.

A few hours after we left Denver,
Colt's mom texted to tell us that Alisha had gone into labor!
Later that night, our newest nephew was born.
We're sad we just missed meeting little
Bentley Matthew Whitesides,
but we're so happy he's finally here.
Congrats Matt, Alisha, and Bailey!

After we left Denver, 
we drove through some crazy thunder and lightning storms in Nebraska and Iowa.
I was a little afraid we would have a tornado encounter.
I made us create a safety plan, just in case.
Turns out, there's not a whole lot you can do
if a tornado is headed in your direction while you're
stranded on the freeway.
Just do what everyone else is doing, I guess.
Dig a hole and climb inside?
We stayed in a motel in Des Moines, Iowa, had a delicious
breakfast at a place called "The Machine Shed,"
then set off for Colt's sister Lindsey's house in
Kalamazoo, Michigan.



Upon arrival, we were enthusiastically greeted
by Lindsey and Jared's pup, Charlie.

Charlie is awesome.
He and Colt hit it off immediately.
I'm pretty sure Charlie increased my chances of getting a dog at some point in the future by at least 75%.

Jared is doing his residency in an ER, and had to work night shifts while we were there.
We had lunch with him and visited for awhile, but the poor guy had to sleep,
so it was up to Lindsey and Charlie to show us around.

We saw the sights of Kalamazoo, took the dog for a few walks and runs, watched inordinate amounts of Modern Family (per my request),
 had a barbecue, took naps...it was awesome.



They have a great couch for napping.



We also went to an alligator preservation farm!
I faced my fears and held an alligator.
A very tiny one, but an alligator just the same.
We're still waiting on the pictures of that momentous occasion, 
but I swear, it happened.

We took off after a couple of days to start our final
leg of the journey.
Three states, thirteen hours, lots of toll stations-
which, by the way, what the?!
Nobody told us about those.
Tolls are ridiculously expensive, and I hate them.
Shouldn't it be free to drive on freeways?
It was a long day, but we made it.
Colt went in to sign some papers for work on Wednesday afternoon,
and today he's at orientation. He officially starts on Monday.

We can't move into our apartment until Sunday. So,
we're currently staying with a friend, Ryan, who has an empty house this week while he goes back to Utah to move his family here to Pennsylvania.

What's it like here?
A lot like Oregon, actually.
Super green, tons of trees.
We haven't seen the sun since leaving Michigan.

Also, the air is a lot like Oregon.
In Utah, the air is dry and arid. 
In Pennsylvania
(and Oregon),
the air is full of moisture.
I forgot what this does to my hair.
It's been so long since I lived in Oregon, I'd forgotten
that I looked like a chia-pet all through high school.
In Utah, my hair straightens easily if I want to straighten it. It curls and holds with no product necessary.
The air has no water in it.
Here, the air is super heavy. Every day is a bad hair day.
It's so sad.

We wanted to see the city yesterday, but it was pouring rain.
Hopefully we'll go tomorrow, so we can see the Liberty Bell
and eat a Philly Cheesesteak sammich.

This post was terribly long.
I'm glad it's over.
So was the drive.
I'm glad that's over, too.

It was all worth it,though.
I just found out they have Baja Fresh here.
Hallelujah, amen.