Boyz in the Hood: Part 1

Nick and Josh (sometimes simply typed out as NickJosh to save myself the energy of adding an unnecessary "and") are in town visiting with me and Mikey this week. Woot!

Yep. Last Friday we drove out to Orinda for a simple weekend trip and when we got back to Reno Sunday night we found them in the back of our car. Seeing as we are heading back to Orinda this weekend for Baby Shower Madness we decided to just let them chill out with us for the week.

So far the trip has been somewhat uneventful for them, though they don't seem to mind. Monday and Tuesday consisted of them playing Assassin's Creed on the Xbox and messing around with this open source 3D imaging program called Blender. They've branched out a little today and have started reading their books and playing Spider Solitaire. Also, a small amount of TV has been watched in between the mass gaming.

On Monday I toted them along with me to the blood lab where we got to wait around for an hour so I could have a blood glucose test done to check for gestational diabetes. They fought the boredom with their Nintento DS'. Then on Tuesday they had the privilege of joining me at my OB appt--I let them stay in the waiting room while I had the ol' belly measured (which, I am told, is "perfect size" at 30cm for 30 weeks).

Oh, and we also went swimming on Tuesday. Just so you all know I have made an effort to get them out of the house! And we are taking them to see Hancock tonight when Mike gets off work, at which point we will also be hitting up Cold Stone for some fabulous ice cream concoctions.

I will make an effort to take some pictures while they are here.

A Wedding and a Roomie

Last Sunday (the 20th) Mike and I made our way out to Sacramento for his pal's wedding. Mike has been friends with Eric since 4th grade, so he was really looking forward to seeing him tie the knot. (Actually, Mike just LOVES being married to me so he is always trying to talk the rest of his friends into getting married and when one of them finally does he gets really happy about it.)

I was a little concerned about going to the wedding. The ceremony was to be held outdoors at 11:30am in the heart of Sacramento. Anyone who knows Sacramento would understand my concern being outside midday in July.

As it turned out, Sacramento decided to be about 80-something that afternoon instead of the normal 97 degrees. Thanks, Sac-town! If only we had been earlier to arrive Mike and I could have had shaded seats. Naturally I was wearing sunscreen, but being 7 months pregnant I was still sweating up a storm. Mike helped me out by standing in front of me to shade me from the sun until the ceremony started. Then the ceremony only lasted about 10 minutes before everyone moved inside for the reception! Here's a pic of me, Eric and Mikey (not sure where his new wife Kelly was when we took the shot):

Mikey's dad, Ted, met us in Sacramento for the wedding--he took that picture for us. It was fun to see him for a little while! After we left the wedding we took a little tour of Old Sacramento with Ted. We would probably have walked around a bit, but there was nowhere to park so we just drove and gawked at the western-theme old towne buildings.

As fate would have it, my fave roomie from BYU and fellow-blogger, Myriah, happened to be in Davis visiting a friend for the weekend, so after we said goodbye to Ted, Mike and I hopped in the Jeep and drove on down to see Myr. We had a wonderful time looking at each other's new phones (she got a Centro and we are now texting buddies). We also showed her Spielberg Smurf as Mike had been toting it around in his pocket. He just loves that camcorder, what can I say?

Myr and I suck at taking decent pictures so I've decided to just post the worst of the bunch. Here we are--I was trying not to laugh because my stomach was bumping into her and she was just making that face for kicks:

Anyway, it was a fun, long day. We got to attend Eric's wedding and hang out with Mikey's dad and we got to see Myr (it's been...hmm...probably more than a year since we hung out last). And Mike got to play with his camcorder. Oh, and we were fed after the wedding. What more could you want in one day?

Spielberg Smurf

Mike and I have been researching camcorders for a month or so. We wanted to buy one before we had the baby so Mike could record the birth (just kidding--that is NOT happening). But we did want to have a camcorder before we had the baby so we could record every moment of her new little life.

This weekend I suggested that we go check some out in person. Mike had been researching $1200 HD camcorders and I had been researching the more affordable varieties.

The HD guys were pretty fancy--and as it turns out, a little too fancy for our taste at this time. Purchasing an HD camcorder would have required that we also purchase a blueray disc burner, blueray player and probably a few other things which would amount to an additional $1000. Oh yeah, we would also need to purchase more hard drives on which to store the footage from said HD wonder. The only thing we currently own that would cooperate with such a purchase is our newish HD Sharp Aquos. It wasn't too hard to change our minds when all this surfaced.

We instead ended up purchasing a little JVC Everio. He's a little hybrid--he has a 30GB hard drive, plus a microSD slot in case we feel like we need an additional 8GB or so.

We got the blue variety because Mike likes blue and I thought, why not? It weighs just under a pound and fits in my purse or Mike's pocket. In my opinion, it is too big for Mike's pocket but if he likes to keep it in his pocket I have no problem with that.

I told my mom that it is small and blue, not unlike a Smurf. She replied that we could name it Spielberg Smurf.

If you are really bored, some girl did a review of it on youtube.

100 Calorie Packs Suck

I hate 100 calorie packs. Mike can attest to this.

I have been sorely disappointed in the past few years as everything I ever loved has slowly been destroyed as it has been converted into 100 calorie packs. This works for some items, like chips--they still taste the same, but they are tiny...and I like tiny chips so all is well there. I can't complain about a miniature Dorito. But then they had to ruin my Kudos!

I've always been a major fan of Peanut Butter Kudos. My mom never bought them, but I once had a neighbor whose mom ALWAYS bought them and I would find myself eyeing the pantry every time I visited her house, just hoping she would read my mind and offer me one (I would never ask people for food...I don't know why). After all, this is where I was first introduced to the fabulous treat.

Rumor has it the original Peanut Butter Kudos bar still exists. The 100 calorie version tastes like crap, and for only 30 calories more I can have my beloved original! I have yet to find a store where I can purchase the non-100 calorie pack variety. If you find it, CLUE ME IN!

Hello, Moto!

Well, I've done it. I've acquired a new cell phone!

I called in asking about the Razor and Krzr which have both apparently been discontinued and are being phased out. In their place Motorola has ushered in the MotoW755. The name sucks, no doubt, but so far I'm liking the phone. Check 'er out:

I got the purple one. It seemed a little more fun than the gray one.

This morning I have figured out how to connect KyMoto (that's what I've named it in the phone settings) to KyPalm (my PDA). KyMoto and KyPalm are having a great time sending contacts from one to the other, but I think I'll need to download some new drivers onto KyPalm in order to get all of the fabulous bluetooth functions to operate.

Also, this morning I have discovered that my orange juice is half frozen. There are chunks of ice in it. I think I like it. Way to improvise, fridge! I've always been a fan of self-starters.

Time for a New Phone?

I've been using the same phone for...actually, I'm not sure how long it's been. I'm going to say between 2 and 3 years.

To be honest, I've liked this phone. Aside from combating a crap battery, the phone has treated me well. No matter how many times I drop 'er, she still works! The phone has a 1.3 megapixel camera/camcorder. It plays music and has a MiniSD slot for extra storage space. It even has bluetooth. And I use none of this. I mostly just use the phone to make phone calls and as an alarm clock when traveling.

For a while now I have had the "opportunity" to upgrade to a new phone (with a 2-year contract, of course) but I have been putting this off because I haven't been very interested in any of the phones Verizon has to offer. They seem to have some cool things out there these days, but since I don't use any of the fabulous high-tech features I am torn.

For all you Verizon users out there, should I upgrade or not? Do you recommend the phone you have? I like flip phones because I don't have to lock the keys, but I'm not opposed to other options.

Well Hey There, Hospital!

Today Mike and I had a fabulous time at the Saint Mary's Regional Medical Center (aka: the hospital)!

After a few days of light spotting and occasional cramping mixed with me being a paranoid and entirely stressed mess we decided to play it safe and go to the hospital to have me checked out (because we are new to town, no OB's could fit me into their busy schedules and the only option left was the hospital). One ultrasound, some monitoring, a pelvic exam, some ice water (natch) and four hours later we were sent home with the following instructions:

Diet: Regular
Activity: Bedrest. May be up to bathroom, may be up for meals, may shower (phew!).
Restrictions: No exercising, no lifting, minimize walking, minimize stair-climbing, no sexual activity, nothing in vagina (not sure what they thought I'd put in there, but thanks for being specific, guys!).

The nurse, Patti, kindly explained that I was to be on a sort of modified bedrest, meaning that I can still go out to dinner and whatnot, but that I ought to basically take it very easy for the next week.

Unfortunately this little romp ended in our being told not to go to California this weekend. We are a little bummed out, but Mike has now "rented" Guitar Hero and that seems to have filled his need-for-a-fun-weekend void. I guess that means I get to watch him play! Now I can see his skills of a musician...