While I am gone...

...eating fancy meals and interviewing at places far away, my wife is stuck at home taking care of the cat. This is not fair, but unfortunately finances more or less require it to be so. I am writing this simply to say that Katie is awesome and that I miss her. I hope this makes her smile when she sees it, because she deserves to have lots of smiles in her life.

10 points to anyone who knows when/where this was.

Letter to my daughter

I wrote this letter over a year ago, just as we were about to begin fertility treatments. I had no idea what the future would hold and when (or if) I could expect a baby girl. But for some reason, I felt very close to her at that particular moment and was inspired to write this letter. I wanted to post it as a reminder to myself of what I hope to be as a mother.

A letter to my unborn daughter, Aug. 12, 2012 Tonight I was being silly with Lucy, resting on her chest and asking her silly questions like "what are you most afraid of? Starving to death? A house fire? That Alex and I will die and you will have to live somewhere else?" She finally groaned (telling me to get off of her) and at that point I had an thought that maybe you were in heaven, looking down at us and thinking that we would be a fun family to have, and maybe even asking if you would be allowed to come down a little bit earlier. I hope you can and I hope you do. I was listening to a talk by Truman G. Madsen this morning and he shared the thought that children might have a little bit of a say in where and when they come. I think you have picked us out. Or maybe you have been assigned. Either way, I am grateful for you and I want to get to know you. I know for sure I can't promise to be a perfect mother, and sometimes I probably won't even be a good mother. But I will love you even when you make mistakes. I will encourage you to love life for the joy of living and discovering and creating. I will encourage you to do things you want to do, and to work hard at them. Not because you need to achieve anything, but because God will give you and has given us His children so many gifts and a beautiful world and precious time to enjoy it and make it a better place. I will set a few firm limits that I will expect you to live by. This won't just be so that our home will run better but so that you will have the steadiness and peace of an ordered life and knowing that someone cares about who you are and who you become and so that you will learn consequences to your choices. I will do my best to let you be who you are and to love you for exactly who you are. There will be no "other daughter" that I wish you were. I want you to be you. I will provide you with and teach you to make nutritious meals and teach you the wonderful gift that your body is and how to take care of it. I will teach you to appreciate beautiful things - music, art, and nature. I will teach you to love the word of God and to follow God's plan for you, His daughter. I will teach you to find joy and comfort in the Plan of Redemption and the Atonement. I know that I will make mistakes. We want you in our family to have a part in nurturing your soul and to provide a temporary home for you on this earth, but it also for us to progress on our journey to become more like God. Just as you are expected to make wrong choices on your journey, we are too. I hope you can forgive us for the many mistakes that we will make. I already feel love for you and I don't know you and I don't know when you will be coming. Love, mom

What I learned in my 20's

Today is my last day in my 20's. I was thinking about what I have learned in the past decade.

1. Life is better with cheese.
2. Life is better with Alex.
3. How to speak Polish.
4. How to be a veterinarian.
5. How to hold down a real job.
6. Kind of how to knit.
7. Kind of how to sew.
8. How to pay someone to make a baby for me.
9. How to buy and own a house.
10. How to make and can jam.
11. How to bake good stuff.

I was going to do 20 things I learned in my 20's but I think I only learned 11 things. Oh well.

It's a ...!!!

We had our birthday/sex of baby revealing party tonight. It was a big night. 

Here are eight of the nine cakes we ended up making. Thank you David Lebovitz for providing the vast majority of the recipes. 

This is before everyone got there. After everyone got there it was more an exercise to see how many people we could fit in our house...

So the birthday part was fun, but the real fun was finding out what we are having. 

Cherry was awesome and volunteered to make our baby cake. I gave her the sealed envelope from the ultrasound tech and she made the cake yesterday and today. It was an awesome cake. 

Once everyone was more or less there we cut the cake to find out what was inside. 

And...

There you go. The secret is out. 

We were both happy. It was what we were expecting, so at least there were no shocks to the system.

I apologize in advance to Lisa for posting this picture. It is just the only one we have of that moment. 

Yay for baby girls!! Anyone have any name suggestions?

(Surprise) Party

Apparently I have been in a piñata mood lately. 

I made them in secret for a couple of weeks until Alex, without knowing what I was working on, thought it would be a good idea to take a piñata to St. Louis when we visited the nieces and nephews. I thought it was a good idea too except I had already had that idea, he just didn't know it yet. So I brought one of my piñatas and it was a surprise anyway and the kids pulverized it.

Then Alex had a birthday. I had to work until 8 pm that night so we didn't do anything exciting that day. I think I gave him some chocolate. Wait, I take that back. We went to a little Vietnamese sandwich shop and got Alex's favorite wings.

A few days later, I invited a couple people over, filled up two piñatas (one for kids, one for Alex), and made some donuts and hot chocolate. And I didn't tell Alex about any of it. I guess that officially means I hosted a surprise party. That is a first for me.

It was fun. I didn't get a lot of great pictures. Alex's piñata had some Ghirardelli chocolate and some new ties. The ties are for interview season which is fast approaching. I even tried to hunt down some Polish ties because everyone knows that Polish ties can't be beat but unfortunately was unsuccessful in that regard.

Here's one of the ties.

Thanks for coming over to help me decorate Cara and Ben!

Just a sidenote: I made eight cakes today. I don't think I need to do that again. Ever. Too many dishes. 

New stuff on the fridge

I couldn't agree more. Thanks mom for saving me cool stuff from the newspaper. 

This is my new motto. 

And... my baby! You can even see its little heart in there. Isn't it amazing that two cells know how to make a baby? Including a little four chambered heart? Sometimes it is almost overwhelming to me to contemplate how amazing it is.

No, we don't know sex yet. Stay tuned. 

The post you have all been waiting for...

We got back from our two week vacation yesterday at 5 pm. I had to be at work the next day at 7 am. My coworkers were betting as to whether I would remember I was supposed to work that day. There were two reasons I would never forget: 1) I work most Saturdays and 2) It had been hanging over my head for the previous 5 days.

Nevertheless, I went and it was fine, in a worky sort of way.

Enough about that.

We had an awesome vacation. We found out that in the rainforest it RAINS! (12 feet per year to be more or less exact.) We learned to never plan on camping when you are in the rainforest and to be flexible about hiking plans. Other than missing out on a day in the rainforest and not being able to camp because of all the rain, we had a great time.

Our first priority was to catch up with family.

We had a great time with Ben and Jamae and we got to meet our new niece Maya and see the rest of our cute nieces and nephews. We also met another niece Ellie for the first time but I wasn't smart enough to take a picture :(

My mom went to the Grand Tetons with us and it was so fun! Thanks mom!

Becky counts as family. 

I was able to meet Alex's cousin Sandra and her husband Dan. They were wonderful hosts. This is at Snoqualmie Falls. 

Not shown: my dad, my sister's family, and my grandparents. I have a picture with my grandparents but grandma made me sign a blood oath not to post it. 

Second priority: eat good food. 

 Our favorite candy/chocolate shop in Jackson (or actually in the world). Their chocolate covered caramels are to die for!!

Who knew bacon covered caramel donuts would be so delicious? Pike's Place market in Seattle.

What would a trip to the coast be without fish and chips? These were the best I have had (out of two?)

Another chocolate covered caramel, this time in Leavenworth. 

Not to mention all the delicious food we were fed by family and friends.

Third priority: enjoy beautiful scenery. 

Anyone want to move to Jackson with me?

 It would help if you are a millionaire. I hear that real estate is not cheap there.

Comet falls in Mt. Rainier National Park. This was the most intense hike we did. It was drizzly and gorgeous and I was sore for days. 

 There were so many cool fungi in the rainforest (Olympic National Park). This is my favorite one, the Red Belted Polypore (I think?) I like it because it looks like melted chocolate and marshmallows and makes me salivate a little bit. All you need is a graham cracker.

This was the highlight of the scenery tour. The rainforest in the Olympic Peninsula is awesome in its beauty. It almost didn't feel real to me. I have never seen anything like it. 

Sol Duc falls in Olympic National Park. This was beautiful but I am still deciding if it was worth 2 hours in pouring rain. 

This is about how I felt during the hike. 

The largest (supposedly) Sitka Spruce tree in the world.

Ahhh... the beach. Unfortunately we were mostly rained out. 

Third priority: not die

Wyoming has no oxygen.

Fourth priority: make new friends

I found me a bunny friend. 

moose friend

Bear friend.

I made a husky hairy friend in the hat store. 

Fifth priority: drive A LOT.

Sixth priority: vacation from vacation.