The Results Are In!

We had a wonderful appointment today!! The ultrasound tech was very friendly and made us feel comfortable. She looked all around at our baby and determined that everything looked great! There was not a single issue of concern :) The baby measured at 20 weeks & 1 day which - go figure - is exactly how far along I really am, to the day. Pretty neat! The baby was moving a TON, arms and legs squirming everywhere - I'm surprised I didn't feel it! It weighed in at 12 ounces....growing up quick!

And of course what you all are waiting for....we're having a little girl! The tech was 100% sure of it - apparently it was crystal clear. And as I said in my last post, we had our girl's name picked out years ago. If you're a long time reader of this blog, you may remember why it's called what it is (if you don't, read this). If you attended or saw pictures of our wedding in 2007, you may recall that we had lilies of the valley on our cake for the same reason. And if you know that I'm pursuing photography as a profession, then you know that my business has been called Lily Mae Photography since the fall of 2008. We decided on the name Lily sometime between the starting of my blog and the starting of my business. It's just a name that Clark and I have both always loved. "Mae" doesn't have any particular significance to us, we just think that it's pretty and that it sounds nice with Lily. And until she expresses her own desire to be called something else, she'll go by her double name, Lily Mae.

There were only two people who thought it was going to be a boy, so we got a lot of "I knew it!" exclamations today. It was a roller coaster of a day for me, but very, very good and exciting. I can't wait to share the plans for Lily Mae's room (and the bedding set I talked about yesterday was for a girl - I'll post some pictures), but that will have to wait until another post. After the appointment we spent lots of time calling family and friends, and everyone's thrilled. Then we went out for Mexican food, went to a hobby store for some pieces for my first crafty thing for her, and got a cute blanket and outfit from Target. Then we stopped by to visit some friends and get and give some hugs.

Wonderful day, but now I'm exhausted! I'm outta here, but enjoy the ultrasound pictures!

(Sorry, we don't have digital ones so I had to take pictures of the prints with my iPhone...not the greatest quality)

Profile of her body, but she turned her head in our direction at the last minute. The picture is labeled, but since it's blurry, I'll tell you that her face in on the right (kind of looks like she's winking) and her belly is the bubble on the left. You can kind of see her little fist tucked up next to her cheek.

A footprint picture. She does have two feet, don't worry, haha. She just pulled one of them up on top of the other. I was expecting the baby to look a lot more like an alien, so I was pleasantly surprised that she looked so cute!

20 Down, 20 to Go - Halfway Point Thoughts

We've made it! Today I'm 20 weeks pregnant, but I don't want to assume that all of you know all there is to know about pregnancy (gosh...I know I don't). So for you who aren't preggo pros, a "normal" pregnancy lasts for 40 weeks, so that means I'm halfway done!

Sometime between Saturday morning and now (Tuesday night), I sprouted a belly. It wasn't there before, but now....it really is. I can see it pretty obviously, and it's safe to say that everyone who saw me at church on Sunday night was blown away. Last Sunday there was a whole 'lotta nothing. I've started gaining weight which is nice and puts my mind at ease. I've gained back everything I lost during the first trimester and have added three whopping pounds to it.

There are tons of old wives' tales that go along with pregnancy, and none of them interest me save one. Many people say that the way a woman carries her baby in her belly suggests whether it's a boy or girl. The only reason I put any weight into this theory is because I've now witnessed many friends be pregnant. Friends who've had girls look a certain way, and friends who've had boys look a totally different way. I'm sure there are exceptions as there are to every rule, but since I've seen this theory proven several times, maybe it's not all hogwash. Point is....everyone I've talked to thinks I look like I'm carrying a girl.

I don't care what the sex of baby is, as long as it's healthy. Seriously. Clark and I both think that there are pros and cons of either one, and we don't really have a preference. If you put a gun to my head and told me I had to choose, I think I could admit to wanting one slightly more than the other, but it's like 50.1% for one and 49.9% for the other. (And no, I'm not telling you which one's which). Regardless, my gut tells me it's a girl. I've dreamt that it's a girl and when I think about the baby, my mind is just more inclined to think girl things. I don't know....just a gut feeling. I'd be happy with either, but I would be surprised if it was a boy. We'll know within 20 hours!

Preggo-wise, I've been feeling pretty good. I've got an occasional achy back, but that's it (and I don't even need Tylenol for it - it's not that bad). My headaches have gone away and my appetite has come back. I've got more energy overall, but sometimes after lots of activity I do feel like I've hit a brick wall and I have to stop and sit. I did have a nasty, evil cold for two weeks. It probably felt worse than a normal cold only because there was very little medicine I could take to relieve my symptoms. It was a head cold for one week before moving down to my chest for the rest of the time. I completely lost my voice for about five days and I've still got a wet cough that just won't quit, but it's nothing that's getting me down anymore. Oh! Good news! Sometime after 18 weeks I went off of my anti-nausea medicine again to see if it had passed, and I have yet to get sick again! I think it's over for good and I'm totally thrilled about that.

When I was really sick, I had feelings like, "what if it's this bad the whole time?," "what if it's this bad every time?," and "how can I possibly be sick like this while having to take care of a toddler (or even more kids)?" I think I'm over it now. That first trimester was hard, I have to admit (and it didn't turn off like a switch like I was told it would...I'm just now starting to get my groove back consistently). In the midst of all the grossness I was feeling, I lost my memory of what it felt like to just feel halfway decent. I was worried that I'd never feel good again but....I thank God that I do! And now, just as quickly as those concerns had come, they've gone again. I'm so hungry nowadays that now instead it's becoming hard to remember what it was like to feel sick and have no taste for food! I feel fortunate to have had a rough experience so that I can relate and empathize with other women, and also to know that I can live through it and that it gets better. That alone is enough of an encouragement to myself that I look forward to going through it again and again (God willing) to bring more little ones into the world. So a note to my future sick-preggo-self who I'm sure will read this post in a few years in search of some hope: it will go away, you'll be happy again soon, and it will all be worth it. So keep your chin up and hang in there!

We've got a few things for the baby's room. (Does anyone else NOT like the word "nursery"? I just don't like it. My personal opinion is that it's too traditional-sounding and like a nursery should be a big room with lots of random babies. After tomorrow, we will be calling that room [insert baby's name here]'s room.) We've got a crib and a changing table both assembled, the beginnings of my cloth diaper stash arranged cutely on the shelves of the changing table, and a bedding set for one particular gender (not telling which). The story behind that is that I found a twin-sized bed-in-a-bag set that - if it turns out to be that gender - I will take apart and make into a baby linen set. It was a great deal and Clark said I should get it, even just to hang on to for "someday" if it's not this time. That room will be totally gender-specific, so pretty much we just need to wait a smidge longer to get started on it.



Tomorrow.

Oh my goodness, tomorrow. I don't know what "normal" emotions are to have about what's happening tomorrow, because I've never had a 20-week ultrasound appointment before. I've had several friends who have had bad experiences with that appointment, one of them being completely devastating. Part of me wishes that I could walk into the office tomorrow afternoon and feel nothing but joy and excitement for seeing the baby and finding out the sex. The other, bigger part of me is thankful to not be naive. If everything's not completely perfect, at least I won't be caught completely off-guard and I will have a strong support system of friends by my side. I am anxious about it. I had a little bit of a meltdown over the weekend because I was totally overwhelmed by fear. "My belly's not big enough." "I'm not growing right." "Nobody ever thinks something will be wrong." "I've taken too much Tylenol." "I haven't been drinking and eating right." UGH. But I just needed that hour or so to freak out and get it out of my system. I'm better now and not worrying about things like that; I have just anxiety about it in general. My past appointments at 6, 8, 12, and 16 weeks have been great and the baby and I got clean bills of health from the doctors, so really, I don't think I should expect anything different this time.

On the good side, man am I EXCITED to know what it is!!!! I'm really hoping the baby cooperates and we get a good angle to see the goods. I was told last time that in their practice they've only been wrong one time in seven years, so I have confidence in them. We've had a girl name picked out for almost two years, and a boy name for about three months. So we just need to know what it is, and then he or she will have a name! I can't wait to see it and be surprised by how much it's grown. I can't wait for it to have a name!!!!!! And you all will know what it is tomorrow!! Be sure to check back in, and thanks for reading today!!

Rewind: October Trip to MD

Alrighty, finally made it upstairs to my Mac, where all my pretty pictures are.

(Yes, I have been sick and groggy and tired, and instead of making the grueling trek up the one regular flight of stairs that we have, I have been working off of my laptop from the coffee table in the den. Don't make fun...you know you'd do the same thing. Or maybe you wouldn't.)

So we're back to where these "Life Since October" updates began. The very first weekend of last October, we made a trip up to Maryland to visit friends and family. Originally, I had coordinated with Bonnie to go to the Renaissance Festival that weekend, as we used to do every year when I lived there. That weekend happened to also be the weekend of the Maryland/Clemson football game - a game that my dad could get tickets to. The game time was yet to be determined when we planned the trip, but I was hopeful that it would be a night game so that my Renn Fest plans wouldn't be thwarted. Alas, they were. It was a 1:00 game, so the Renn Fest was out. I'm still sad about that, but hey - my dad bought us tickets to a great game and we had a lot of fun. At that particular time in the season, Clemson was doing great, and Maryland....not so much. Even as an avid fan, I was expecting the Terps to get shut out. But, just the same as what happens every year, Maryland got a wave of good luck and stomped all over the Tigers. I felt bad, because I knew MD's prospects weren't good for the season, and it would be much worse for Clemson to have a loss. And I'm a Clemson fan, too, whenever they're not playing my turtles. It was the only game we were able to go to that year, and I really wanted my hubby to be able to see his team win. (Sorry hon, maybe we should stick to games where Clemson doesn't play Maryland - it doesn't seem to ever go well for you.) Anyway, Maryland pulled out a 24-21 win that afternoon. Yay for me, boo for Clark.

After the fun afternoon, we had the joy of hanging out with friends. We never go to Maryland without visiting with Bonnie and Joe, and rarely have we made a visit without also seeing our friends Erica and Josh. Usually due to time issues, we all get together at the same time and have dinner as a group. We all met in Sykesville and had a really great time catching up as we always do. I really miss my friends.

After dinner, Clark and I went back to Bonnie and Joe's place to keep the party rolling. And by that, I mean play Scrabble, chit-chat, and snuggle. Er - Bonnie and I snuggled, but Clark and Joe did not. Just to clarify.





And the last fun event of the weekend was meeting Baby Rex! I missed out on one of my very close friends having her first son last July. We got to visit with Mary and Wolf, meet their wonderfully squishy little boy, and have pizza together. Spending time with friends is really one of my favorite things to do ever, and this was a particularly special visit for me. It was during a time when Clark and I were getting very frustrated about not getting pregnant, and one of Mary's greatest gifts is that of encouragement. She had so many wonderful things to say to build us up, and Wolf's notorious dry humor was much needed. I wish I had a mini Mary and Wolf set to carry around in my pocket every day - they just brighten my life so much.

That about does it for the Maryland visit! We've got another visit coming up here in the next month, and I promise it won't take me as long to post about it!

Moving Right Along Through December!

I've got all these nice pictures on my SD card from life since October, but I have to go through them, pick my favorites, and downsize them. I'll do that later, so I'm leaving out any event that have nice pictures for now. We made it through October (there was a ton left out, sorry) and November (only thing missing is Thanksgiving). So moving on to December and beyond!

December
Oh, but umm, almost everything that happened in December has said nice pictures. Oops.

Well, here are the posts you have to look forward to later:

• We hosted a Christmas cookie party for our Bible study group
• I enjoyed dinner and a fun photo session of my friends and their sweet baby
• My parents and aunt came to visit
  
• We hosted family at our house for Christmas day

Other than that, some other things did happen! I was still pretty sick in December, but I was able to perk up and make it out of the house for my friend Abbi's Christmas party. Abbi and I used to work together, and through that job, we've become fantastic friends. I have had lunch with her almost every week since I've left the office. She's also pregnant and about 15 weeks ahead of me. The party was great and I happened to have a little appetite that night, so it was awesome to have tablefuls of yummy snacks to choose from. I didn't know many people there other than the other girls I used to work with. It was fun catching up with them and I'm glad I was able to go!

I turned 25! Gotta admit...I did feel older on this birthday. 25....a quarter-century. I'm over the hump of my 20's. My birthday was on a Monday and I was sick (I know that you know...sorry to keep saying it. I won't say it anymore). I didn't want to do anything special on that day because I knew I wouldn't enjoy it, so we delayed the birthday plans. I did get to spend some time with friends, though, because I went to a monthly team meeting for church that I always enjoy. Stay tuned when we get to the January updates, because I'll tell you about my belated birthday dinner.

My parents came to visit from the 23rd - 27th and they brought along my Aunt Jean (mom of cousin Dawn from the last post). I was mostly si-...er, um, I wasn't feeling at my best while they visited, but they understood and were very helpful around the house. They cooked, they cleaned, they drove me around, my mom wrapped all of my presents for me (the ones that weren't for her, of course), and they pretty much tended to my every need. It was definitely wonderful having them with us. They gave me a totally rockin' birthday present - a fancy schmancy flash for my Nikon (I really needed it), and some moolah which I put toward a crib for the upcoming little one.

My family left on the morning of the 27th, and later that evening one of my best friends Bonnie and her husband Joe came to visit! I can't believe that I took NO pictures while they were here. But hey, after all I was still si-...I mean, feeling a little under the weather. Joe had been to SC before to come to our wedding, but he had never been to our house or town before. Bonnie is an old pro' at visiting me, so she had her list of fun things that she wanted to share with Joe. We had a good time, and I know Clark was grateful for the manly company. He usually has to tag around as the third wheel when Bonnie and I get together, so this was a much better balance for all of us. We had a great time together, played games, tooled around town, ate a little food - the usual. Except Bonnie and I usually bake things together, but no part of me wanted to be in the kitchen this go 'round. They left on the 30th, and that marked the end of all of our Christmas visitors and adventures.

For New Years Eve, we did nothing. We didn't even watch anything on tv or the ball drop. Party animals. Yup, that's what we are.

The next few posts you'll see will have some of the "nice picture" posts you've been so eagerly looking forward to!

Wild Thing, You Make My Heart Sing

Being pregnant is a pretty big part of our lives these days, so I'm taking a really quick break from "Life Since October" updates and am going to share something special with you :)

Almost two weeks ago (geez, that went by fast), I had my 16-week appointment. Everything went well even though I didn't particularly care for the doctor we saw. In the practice, there are three doctors. You may remember that "Doc F" is my primary prenatal doctor, but all three doctors share patients during their on-call hours. As part of their patient care, they like for all moms-to-be to meet with all of the doctors, so that there's at least a slight degree of familiarity between them. Anywho, I had the "pleasure" of meeting Doctor E for the first time. I won't go into it too much...she was fine, really. Just had a little bit of 'tude with me and didn't really listen to the few questions/concerns I had, primarily about my lack of weight gain. Regardless, she knew her stuff and gave me the a-okay about everything. The heartbeat was strong and healthy, and after she tickled poked around my belly a bit to feel the size of things, she said everything was growing just right even if I was still pre-preggo sized. To me, that seems a bit weird....how is it growing just right if I'm not? (A purely rhetorical question)

So, that special thing I wanted to share! Here's our baby's heartbeat! The nurse let me record it with my handy dandy iPhone, so here you have it, at a strong heart rate of 142.

And, let's face it, this blog is due for a belly picture. It's not much, because my belly's not much. I'm kinda bummed...I guess I had an unrealistic expectation that it was normal to start showing at around 12 weeks. I've gotten many encouraging words from friends and family, but hey, feelings are feelings. I know it'll be fine, and I know that once I'm as big as a house I won't want to be, but for now, whenever that belly wants to pop out and show itself would be fine with me. The good news is that I've finally gotten back to my pre-pregnancy weight! It's only up from here!

17 weeks, 4 days (2/20/10)

The biggest encouragement recently has been from my cousin Dawn. She had a very cute little girl named Taylor last summer. Since I have no sisters, she is the closest relative I can compare with, and she too didn't start showing until later on...around 20 weeks she told me. We started with the same body type, and she got really sick and lost weight during her first trimester, too. Very similar experiences. Here are two of her pictures...

Cousin Dawn, 17 weeks, 5 days - looks just like meeeee!

And see! She got a belly after all! This is her at 32 weeks...there's hope for me yet!

Oh oh! And I almost forgot to tell you! Our big ultrasound is scheduled! March 10th, 3:00 pm. I'm reluctant to say that I'll make an immediate announcement about the sex or how it went, but maybe I will! Either way, I'm really, REALLY excited about it! 16 days, yippie!!

Life Since October: Part 2

"Oh my goodness," you're thinking, "Jess is actually making good on her promise to catch us up on all the many months she abandoned her blog? Wow!"

October (continued)
I made my last big journey with the folks from my office job. I had already hired my replacement - a lovely girl (and now friend) named Heather - and she was all trained and ready to go by the time our trip came, meaning that after my work there, I'd be able to pursue my goals of volunteering full-time for my church, being a dedicated housewife, and working diligently on my photography business. The week-long trip was to work at the International Solar Conference in Anaheim, CA. At our booth, I was the primary technical support person, there to answer any technical questions people might have about our system. Also on the trip were my boss, his wife, and our new (at the time) marketing manager Melissa. If you're a long-time reader of mine, you may remember that around this time last year, my boss took us to New Orleans for another trade show. That last conference only had show hours running from morning to early afternoon, leaving the evenings (and late nights) open for having tons of fun exploring a new city. Sadly, at this Californian conference, the hours ran all.day.long, and there were gajillions of people there, and they ALL loved our product. Really. It was non-stop for us from the moment the doors opened until they closed for three continuous days. The show exhausted all of us, but my boss, being the wonderful guy that he is, made sure that Melissa and I were well-fed at nice restaurants every night. Other than that, there was absolutely no time to enjoy the city - only time for my head to hit the pillow as soon as possible. On our last night after all the solar hub-bub was done, we headed out to spend the evening in Disneyland! That's right!! My boss was going to pay for us all to go act like kids as a reward for our really hard work. We pulled up, and - just our luck - it was closed. So instead, we got dinner at the Rainforest Cafe and spent the evening in Downtown Disney doing some window shopping. My favorite part of the trip? Getting to get to know and grow much closer to my friend Melissa, who I miss very much now that we don't get to work together anymore.

November
Not much needs to get left out from this month for nice pictures, only Thanksgiving. So stay tuned for that one.

Dun dun dunnnnn. November 5th. A day we will forever mourn the loss of four dear molars - Clark's wisdom teeth. Yup, at 29 years old, he finally got the nerve to get them out, and yes, it was necessary to take them out; they were impacted and would have cracked the roots of the neighboring teeth if left in. I love him, but Clark is one of those people who lays on the couch moaning and groaning when he is sick (as apparently am I). After we got home from the surgery, he was feeling alright but was on some serious medication. He didn't have a stomach to eat much, so he didn't. Bad idea. I was on gauze-changing duty when he stood up over the sink in the bathroom, said he thought he was going to be sick, and I helped him down to hunch over the porcelain throne. Then, in an instant, he was out like a light! Completely unconscious! He had fallen into me, and not being able to hold him, I pushed him into the corner of the room. Trying to revive him, I forgot all about his teeth and just started smacking him in the cheeks. Oops!! He came to after about 45 seconds and had NO idea what had happened. It was scary at the time, but ended up being a pretty funny story to lighten the mood a little bit. He was couch-ridden and - let's face it - basically pathetic for about five days. I know it, he knows it, we all know it...it's just true. I had mine out when I was 18, and I do think age has a lot to do with it. When you turn 30, your jawbone has solidified almost completely, making removal of impacted molars more complicated. And more complicated surgery leads to a much, much more painful recovery. So I have pity for the guy, he went through a lot. All my tooth knowledge comes from my all-knowing dental hygienist of 37 years mother, just so you know I'm not trying to sound like a know-it-all about teeth. Because that wouldn't be cool.

Poor, poor guy.

Five days after Clark's surgery, he got "the call." This particular call summoned him up to Norfolk, VA for an open-ended trip for work. We decided, that with me not having to work anymore, that Rocky and I would join him for the trip. We left on November 9th and stayed at the Quality Suites. Side note: I highly recommend Quality Suites - we've had quite a few of extended stays with them and they're always clean, and I love that there are two separate rooms. So that's my plug, and no, they didn't pay me. Anyway, this particular hotel was pet-friendly and Rocky was a total champ. He didn't make a peep, had no accidents, and obeyed all the rules; I was so proud of my pup. He kept me company during the very long hours that Clark had to work (14 hour days, 7 days a week), and some website projects for church kept me busy. It was a long trip - 2 weeks total - and it stretched our patience a little bit being away from home sweet home. However, that trip holds a special place in our hearts. Monday, November 16th, was the day we found out we'd be having a baby! Very happy news! The 19th is my parents' anniversary, so after staging a little "tantrum" I convinced them to drive down and meet us in Richmond for dinner to celebrate. Little did they know that their anniversary present would be the news that they'd be grandparents! They were thrilled, gave a really great reaction in the restaurant, and finally understood why I made such a big deal about making them drive through DC traffic during rush hour to meet us. They were leaving on a vacation the next day, so there weren't a whole lot of options. We broke the news by giving them a baby-themed picture frame with this photo inside:


It was a delayed reaction, but a very happy one!

That's long enough for this post, onward to the third installment of updates since October!

Life Other Than the Baby (ok, well there's a mini baby-update, but only a little!!)

Hello there!

My goal is that this post is only a little bit "baby", but more of a general, non-preggo life update. My friend Rita may have recently caved into "mommy-blogdom", but I'm not ready to take that step just yet. :-P

I'll get the baby stuff over with quick. I've been in my second trimester now for two weeks! I was feeling awesome for about two weeks at the start of January and have backslid just a smidge since then. I'm still feeling great in comparison to November and December, so my complaints really aren't that many. I'd been having daily headaches for three weeks which made me pretty groggy, and I tried every trick in the book to get rid of them. The only things that have helped are cold compresses and sleeping with a sleep mask in the morning when the sun comes up (yeah, it's all really attractive). Doing those things and getting out of the house a bit have seemed to make a break in the headache cycle. I was still on my prescription meds for nausea and throwing up, but my pills ran out last Sunday. I wanted to see if that pesky first trimester symptom had passed, but it only took four days off of the pills until I started throwing up again. BOO. So, I'm back on the medicine, and I'll try to get off of it again in two more weeks. As far as my growing belly, well, it isn't growing. Actually, I'm even fitting into clothes that haven't fit into since before I got pregnant, so...I'm a little discouraged about that. I'll post belly pictures as soon as it becomes relevant to. So that's the short and sweet baby update! 16-week appointment is this Wednesday afternoon!

So it's occurred to me that I haven't really blogged about anything other than a few preggo posts since the beginning of last October. What's happened since then? Oh, well, not much....you know, other than Clark and I both having birthdays, two of my friends getting married in Kentucky, a beach trip, a few photo shoots, the loss of some wisdom teeth, a work trip to Los Angeles/Anaheim, leaving my office job and becoming a housewife, Thanksgiving, Christmas and parties, visits from family on both sides and friends from Maryland, the rolling over of a new year, trips to MD/DC/VA, birthday celebrations for friends and babies...so yeah, really, nothing much has happened. Ha.

Sorry that I've been a blogging stinker. I know many of you who keep up with this blog genuinely care about me and read this blog to stay updated on the goings-on in my life. I'll try to catch up on everything and share some pictures in the process, though it might take 2-3 posts to cover it all.

Let's start :)

October
The trip to Maryland and the one to Kentucky for a wedding will need to wait until I edit some nice pictures on my Mac. I also did an anniversary photo shoot for our friend/pastor and his wife. I'll post about those soon.



Clark turned 29! Not to say anything negative about my wonderful husband whom I love very, very much, but....he was kind of grumpy on his birthday and he didn't want to do anything. I had planned to take him to a Japanese steakhouse for dinner - which we did, but only because it was a surprise and he didn't have a chance to say no. I had also planned to go to a movie afterward, but he vetoed that (and the after-movie dessert) and decided he'd rather go home. I felt like a big failure, but we got it all straightened out....turns out he was just tired from a hard week at work and just wanted to relax. I over-planned, oops! Sorry, babe!

(Oh, and he grew a beard, kept it for a few months, and while shaving it off, enjoyed getting creative)









Our church does several service projects each year for a particular elementary school in our area. Back then, we hosted a free family movie night for the students and their parents. We set up a huge screen in the school's cafeteria and showed Monsters vs. Aliens. It was a big success and everyone had a great time! My favorite part, though, was the monster cut-out competition! Each of our small groups worked amongst themselves to create a life-sized monster, and we worked together to cut them out and design them on plywood. I can't stress enough that I'm not trying to boast, but I was the primary artist/painter for our monster and I am very proud of our group's work. We made ours from the movie's own globular Bob character. The kids voted on their favorite cut-out of the night, and Bob won!!

And the last thing from October that I'll include in this post is that we took a weekend trip to the beach. Clark's parents purchased a share of a condo in Myrtle Beach and we met up with them there. I didn't take any pictures while we were there, but we had a really nice time. The condo was nice - three bedrooms, a full kitchen, a comfy living room, and a golf cart. It was a little chilly when we were there, and it wasn't nice enough to make it down to the actual beach. We had a few nice meals, watched a movie, and went shopping at the outlets. All in all it was a really nice time. We'll be going back to the condo in May with two of our close friends Matt and Layna for what will be a really super awesome week at the beach. I'm really looking forward to that!

To be continued......