Dreams and Egg Hunts

This morning when I heard Booker wake up, I told Clark that I needed to sleep in for another half hour... just one half hour. Well, during that half hour I had the most distinct dream and guess what...

We're having a boy. Well, only according to my dream and my gut feeling so far. In the dream, I had a 3-D ultrasound and this little boy looked exactly like Booker. I wasn't disappointed at all... actually, I was a little excited knowing that Booker would have a little buddy for life.

Anyways, we'll find out for real in a few weeks. But I really think this one's a boy. Of course, I was convinced Booker was a girl until shots of his little hot dog proved otherwise.

On another note, I'm really proud of myself for going to a ward activity without Clark and knowing that my only friend in the ward wasn't going to be there. I usually avoid most ward social activities, but I thought that an egg hunt would be fun for Booker. It was, and it was even fun for me. There are like 7 other pregnant ladies in my ward and if pregnant ladies like to talk about one thing... its about being pregnant. Fun stuff.

Here's Booker with his loot. Once he realized that the eggs contained candy, he was a man on a mission. It took him awhile before he would release the eggs clutched tightly in his little fists so he could pick up another egg. Once he did that, we were on a roll.

Tucson

When Clark and I were dating, I told him that I didn't want to settle in Arizona ever. I would do my three years time while he was in law school, but that was it. I was raised overseas, I just assumed that obviously my children would be as well. And if not overseas, then at least the east coast or something similar.

Now that my three years are drawing to a close, I'm definitely singing a different tune. I think there's something to be said of having a place to call home. And I'd be quite happy to call my home Arizona, if Arizona will have me. Its actually not all that different from the deserts I grew up in.

Anyways, with graduation on the horizon, there are three options we are considering for the Fall: Phoenix, Prescott and Tucson. Clark interviewed with an IP firm in Tucson a few weeks ago and things went so well that they invited us back to get a better feel for the firm and city.

So this weekend was a Booker-free vacation for Clark and I- many, many thanks to the Dunyon family for watching him. I'm pretty sure Booker didn't even notice that we were gone. He loves his cousins (and their cool new toys) so much. The firm put us up at the most beautiful resort/hotel. It had its very own waterfall and koi pond and there was even a TV in the bathroom!


Here's the view from our balcony... lots of golf courses in Tucson. We had lunch at El Charro Cafe, a Tucson establishment. We viewed a few neighborhoods and shopping areas. Then we met for dinner with one of the firm's associates at a very, very nice restaurant. I had my first ever amuse-bouche and Clark was well-behaved enough to refrain from making lame jokes about being amused by bouche or whatever he had in mind. Well done, darling.

This is an unrelated but cool side note- I ran into my senior prom date's mother at the restaurant. She was visiting from Belmont, MA for her niece's wedding. It was the CRAZIEST thing. She even remembered my first name. I was so impressed. What a small world.

Anyways, it was really nice to have dinner with this particular couple for a few reasons. They are LDS and are expecting their 6th child around the same time we are expecting our second. They seem to be living proof that the firm would be family friendly- with six kids he still manages to leave work early sometimes to coach tee ball. They were a wealth of information when it comes to good neighborhoods, places to eat, things to do, good schools, etc. In fact, they pointed us toward a neighborhood in North Tucson that would be a half hour drive to the office for Clark and an hour and a half drive to Mesa (for me :) Not bad.

Here's the sunset as seen from the restaurant. Aside from being informative, they were such great company. I wasn't too excited about our Tucson option at first, but now I am. We'll see what happens.

Easter Pageant

I've lived in Mesa for almost 3 years now, and never attended the Easter Pageant until tonight. I was so impressed with everything! I can not believe this is FREE. Totally free. And tons of people just volunteer a huge amount of time and effort to make it such a cool production. I'm amazed. I guess its just a reminder that the Easter message is definitely worth sharing.
Booker was pretty freaked out by the guys with the beards. Although he really liked the centurions because they had swords. I thought since the show started at 8, he would just fall asleep. Nope, he was alert and quite animated throughout the entire show. He spent his time standing up in his stroller and screaming JESUS or WHOA every time there was a set change or some triumphant music. It was quite distracting.

If you get a chance, its definitely worth checking out. It runs next week from the 18th to the 22nd at 8 PM. Spanish shows run on the 14th and 15th. And, hello, its FREE... so go.

One of my Favorite Things...

Strawberries dipped in sour cream and brown sugar.Don't knock it until you've tried it. Its to die for. Is this just a weird thing my mother made up when we were kids or has anyone else tried it before? I'm totally craving some right now.

Which reminds me of a somewhat related story. When I was pregnant with Booker I was desperately craving some of my Aunt Diane's Seafood Salad. I was going to die if I didn't get some. So I bought all the ingredients (which include imitation krab and a ton of mayonnaise) and set out to make some. I wanted it so badly I even made Clark go out at 8 o'clock at night to buy me a food processor because we didn't have one.

Well, I spent the evening in our tiny little Tempe apartment alternately cooking and running off to the toilet to puke from all the krab/mayo smell. I was pretty new to cooking so I overestimated how much I would need. In the end, we ended up with a ridiculous amount of Seafood Salad- like bowls and bowls of it... big bowls.

I took one bite and my craving was MORE than satisfied. And it turns out, Clark doesn't even like the stuff. For a few days, I was kind of irrationally angry with him for this (stupid pregnancy hormones) so he tried his best to eat some to make me happy. Luckily, we had a family gathering that Sunday and I was able to unload some of the Seafood Salad.

Bring on the Sun

I think it might be safe to say that pool weather has arrived in Arizona and I'm thrilled. Maybe not in-the-water pool weather but definitely some lay-out-next-to-the-pool-to-get-some-color pool weather. Either way, there's no hiding this growing belly. I'm not sure what's bigger here, my belly or my double chin!

Almost 15 weeks.
I think there's a dirty fingerprint on my camera lens...
conveniently placed right where the summit of my belly is.