Pregnancy and the Nursery

Well, today I am 31 weeks pregnant. It has gone by fairly quickly and I have been really lucky. I have not been sick once and despite the frequent trips to the bathroom things are going pretty well. I am just starting to fell uncomfortable. We are so excited to start our family and welcome a little girl into our family. We have decided to call her Emma Mary Lavender. I am due on November 30Th. This also happens to be Quinn's nephews birthday and he thinks that's pretty cool, but I hope she comes a little before that. I don't really want to chance a December birthday for her. That month is already so full of things. We are hoping for sometime before or after Thanksgiving because we just found out my Doctor will be out of town for the holiday. Oh well, nothing much I can do about it.

We have been working on the Nursery over the past months. When we moved into the house the room was a bright blinding princess pink. Just the color an 8 year old girl would pick out herself. Even though we are having a girl, this color is just too much. We decided to paint the walls a pastel green so that if the next baby is a boy we won't have to paint again, Yeah. I forget how much work painting is until I start doing it and I end up asking myself why am doing this again. We are going to go with a Noah's Ark theme. We'll see how it turns out. As of now the painting is all done and I am very excited to start moving stuff in and decorating. Check back for updated pictures of my progress.

This picture does not do the blinding pink justice.

The Painting Crew included Dad!

Mom and I created these one of a kind curtains.

Our Nursery is starting to look like a Nursery now!!

-Lauralee

Our Trip to Portland

In July, Quinn and I drove the 12 hours to beautiful Portland, Oregon. We were very excited to be able to go somewhere new and to stay with our friends the Greens who moved there about a 2 1/2 years ago. The drive was long but we made it. We had hope to escape Utah's hot weather but ended up going during Portland's heat wave as well. It was just as hot there and humid too.

I was also 20 weeks pregnant at this time but did just fine with the drive and sleeping on an air mattress for a week. Will Green and Quinn grew up in the same ward and we were very sad to see them move, but Will decided to go to Chiropractic School up there. Will and Challene were great hosts and their two kids even liked us and didn't seem to mind us invading their house. We were even able to drive ourselves around Portland with its many freeways, one way streets and bridges. I think it was all due to the GREAT navigator Quinn had. (That would be me.)

We spent every day sight seeing. Sometimes on our own but Will and Challene joined us when they could. Will was in school at this time. The first day Quinn and I walked around downtown exploring the parks, churches and doing a little shopping. The second day we visited OMSI - the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. It was amazing. There were tons of exhibits and lots of stuff for kids to explore. Quinn and Will viewed the Body Worlds exhibit, which consisted of preserved human bodies with different muscles or veins exposed. Challene and I took the kids to the playroom. Quinn and I also toured a WWII submarine that was also in the movie the Hunt for Red October.

A plastinated body from the Body Worlds exhibit

"Be careful what you shoot at. Some things in here don't react well to bullets."

(Sean Connery, The Hunt for Red October)

On day three we all headed to the big flea market and then to China town which has a beautiful Chinese Garden on a full city block right in the middle of downtown. It was so beautiful and green.

Here we all are at the Chinese gardens: Challene with Joshua, Nob, Ethan peacefully sleeping, Quinn and Lauralee

On day four, Sunday, we attended their church which is full of other Chiropractic students from Utah and then took a beautiful drive over to the famous waterfalls along the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Parkway. This one of favorite parts of the trip. Its just amazing how green everything is, the trees were completely covered with moss.

Don't go chasing waterfalls.

On day five Quinn and I were on our own again. We visited the turn-of-the-century Pittock Mansion which included an intercom system, central vacuum and an elevator. It was gorgeous.

Next we hit the World Forestry Museum. This was the only thing that was not worth the money we paid. The brochures made it sound like it was a real forest, it was not. It was all fake and set up for grade school kids.

This was one cool thing they had -- it was a firejumper parachute simulator. There was a target projected on the ground from above and you had to steer your 'parachute' toward it as the projection gave you the impression you were descending. It was pretty cool.

Next we visited the Japanese Garden. We loved this. It was so peaceful and larger than the Chinese Garden. We spent a fair amount of time exploring it.

Our last stop of the day was at the International Rose Test Garden. In case you didn't know Portland is the City of Roses. This Garden is where they test all their new varieties of roses. There were roses everywhere and all in bloom. When you walk in the smell hits you, it was just amazing.

Well our trip had to end sometime and we had to make the long trip home. We had a great time and would like to thank Will, Challene, Ethan and Joshua for letting us stay with them. We had so much fun and felt so comfortable in their home we really wanted to stay.

-Lauralee-