Master(s) of the House

Well, I guess I'll have to share that title with David now that I'm not the only person with a master's degree in the house. David graduated last Friday with his Master of Business Administration (emphasis finance) on Friday.

The convocation ceremonies were held in the massive Marriott Center. As you can tell, we had awesome seats. I sat next to my friend and her family and since we had little children in tow, we wanted to be close to the exit.

Zara mostly just wanted to climb up and down the steps. I haven't been back in the Marriott Center since my own graduation *cough*8*cough* years ago, and I forgot how steep they are. I wasn't too keen on her taking a tumble down a bunch of cement stairs. She wasn't happy with me.

David shaking hands with professors. 

They had two speeches (but I really only heard the first one, by a classmate of David's). Luckily, the graduate students walked first before Zara couldn't be contained any longer. It took them FOREVER to read the undergraduate names. Zara and I went outside during that.

Apparently, BYU's MBA program celebrated its 50th year this year and so all the MBA grads got to wear (and keep) these special yellow sashes to honor 50 years of the MBA program.

Zara thought David's tassel was pretty fun.

Finally, I just want to say a huge congratulations to David for accomplishing something so momentous. He's the first person in his family to earn a graduate degree (and the second to earn a bachelor's). He has worked so hard for so long to achieve this goal and I am constantly blown away by his intelligence, hard work, diligence, dedication, and mad Excel skills. He's been going to school full-time and/or working full-time the entire 5 years that we've been married. I don't know what we're going to do now that David will no longer have to do homework all the time.

Now, the next big step will be to find a job. Keep your fingers crossed that something comes up soon!

Baby Avoidance

So I've kinda been studiously avoiding thinking about anything related to babies and labor and birthing and breastfeeding and diapers and all that jazz for the last 8 months. It's been working out well for me. But now that I'm officially into my ninth month of pregnancy, I suppose I should prepare myself just a little for Baby Girl #2's arrival.

Last Saturday, David and I attended a "comfort measures" class at my midwife's birth center. It's was a 3-hour refresher course for previous parents to review relaxation techniques, the stages of labor, birth positions, and practice natural methods for having a more comfortable birth experience. I was a little skeptical going into it, but I actually learned some new things (like rebozo, which I love) and it made me feel a lot less anxious about going into labor. Even though I've successfully given birth without pain medication before, I've been feeling almost more apprehensive this time around. What if my body just totally fails me? What if my labor stalls again? What if it goes too quickly and I have to give birth on my front lawn like this woman? I'm still feeling nervous (I think all woman, no matter how many children they have had feel this way), but I'm not as scared as I was...which is a good thing.

But now, I have to prepare in other ways. Luckily, having a second girl means that I don't have to buy a lot of new baby clothes, so I'm set there. I dug out Zara's old clothes from their dusty storage bins and pulled out the newborn and 0-3 month clothes. I've got to wash those, along with the cloth diapers and receiving blankets and other cloth items. We got out the infant car seat, breast pump, and I scored a free [used] co-sleeper which we will use until Baby gets big enough for her own bed. I went to Babies R Us today and bought all the little things I think I will need: a new changing pad and cover for the changing table, new washclothes and bathtime and diapering supplies. I bought the infant insert for my Ergo carrier and I have a feeling she'll be living in that thing for the first several months of her life, especially if we have to move in June/July.

I've been making a bunch of freezer meals to see us through the first few weeks after birth, but I still need to stock up my pantry/freezer with plenty of food and buy snacks to eat during labor. Luckily, my mom is planning on coming to spend a week or two with us right after the Baby is born, so that should help tremendously. I still need to pack my bags for the birth center. I bought pads for myself (I didn't realize that you bleed for like 6 weeks after giving birth and I was unprepared for that last time) but I swear there are other personal items I need for myself that I'm forgetting.

I also bought Zara a bunch of little $1 toys for her to open and play with those first few days after the Baby is born so she doesn't get super jealous. She keeps asking when the baby will come out, but I'm not so sure she's going to love it once it doesn't go back in.

So, what else do I need to do? What am I forgetting? What else do you do to get ready for baby?

Easter 2013

We had a delightful Easter this year. We had church in the morning and had a relatively Christ-centered meeting (which doesn't always seem to happen on Easter Sunday unfortunately) and then came home for lunch and naps (although apparently only I partook in any actual napping). We then went to my Aunt Debbie's house for dinner and an Easter egg hunt. Zara had a great time playing with her second cousins (?...I'm actually not sure what their actual relationship is) and hunting for candy. She was very excited about her eggs. I'm not going to include a lot of commentary but here are some photos from our day:

Happy Easter everyone!

Something on a Stick Day

Seven years ago, I had this crush on a guy in my ward. We'd hung out a few times but he was very busy and I hadn't seen him around much and I was getting a little bummed out about that. My sister and I devised a plan to throw a dinner party with the express purpose of luring him to our house so I could see him again. We looked up a list of random national days (like national ice cream day or PI day) and discovered that March 28th was "Something on a Stick Day." So we decided to put together a fondue dipping party where everything we ate would be eaten from a stick and dipped into some sort of fondue or sauce. We invited several friends (including said crush) and had a delicious meal. 

David (my former crush....obviously) still fondly remembers that night. In fact, every March, he often casually mentions something about eating things on stick and how much fun that is and shouldn't we that again? And every March, I forget all about it until the day has passed. 

But this year, I finally managed to remember and we celebrated last Thursday with foods on a stick.

For an appetizer, we ate cheese on pretzel sticks. (Surprisingly tasty.)

Our main course was keababs of steak, potatoes and pineapple dipped in a creamy cilantro sauce.  

And for dessert, we had fruit kebabs dipped in nutella or a honey yogurt fruit dip.

Zara was rather unimpressed by food on a stick, but David and I really enjoyed reliving a moment from our early days of courtship. If you ever need a fun dinner idea, I highly recommend something on a stick. I'm normally not much for making a big deal out of made-up holidays (and even more mainstream holidays) but I think this is one tradition we may have to make a more permanent part of our family.