U-Picked HOW Many Raspberries?

Two weeks ago, when went to a U-Pick raspberry farm in Arlington, called Biringer Farms. The farmer wished us luck and told us where to go to get the most raspberries. It was, after all, the end of the season.



We picked for about two hours. Up and down the rows. I decided that raspberry farming is a very time- and labor-intensive industry. No wonder those wimpy things of raspberries at the store cost so much money!





But we are good berry pickers.

Probably too good.

We returned to the barn and the farmer said, "Holy!" We found a lot more than he thought we would.

He weighed our boxes. The grand total came to...

17 pounds.

Andrew and I were surprised. It cost us $50. But that $50 bought us delicious berries, which made delicious jam, which we canned in our kitchen without air conditioning on the hottest day of the year.



And it was worth it.

My Trip to Utah

It was a fun time in Utah. There were many parties (I love parties) and seeing friends. I am so amazed at how I'd only been gone for three months and so much has changed with everyone! Life goes on for everyone, and it is impossible to keep up to date with everyone you love. Just trying is a challenge, but it is rewarding to still love people after months and even years.

I went to the Farmer's Market in SLC with my parents and Leslie. This guy was playing the dijeridoo (or however it is spelled).



Leslie having a near-death experience at City Creek Mall.


The trout inside City Creek Mall. Leslie said, "How did they get the trout there?" And I made a joke. "Oh, you know, the Utah Department of Fish and Wildlife came in their helicopter and dropped the fish into the mall the way they do when they stock a lake. But the poor trout hit the glass ceiling and died so they had to bring them in in wheelbarrows." Unfortunately, my family didn't find it funny. Andrew did though. He understands.

So, sorry those who love it--not super impressed by City Creek. The stores were ones I would never shop at (too expensive) and it wasn't that cool of a mall. Maybe I just am not much of a shopper. I don't think it is worth all the hype it has gotten for its opening and since then.

And Saturday night I drove to Park City all by myself for the first time ever to celebrate the wedding of Andrew and Bree. Congratulations!


And coming back into Kaysville, I saw this fire on the mountain.

It was in Layton but they got it all under control pretty fast.

Monday! We had a barbecue and baby shower and birthday party with my family. It was great to see everyone and I got a haul!



Opening presents and looking like a dork.

On Tuesday I drove to Logan and visited friends and met babies.


Calvin--so chill, sometimes I even forgot he was there.


Kaylee--she used to love me but seemed rather wary of me. That's what three months does to you when you aren't even two years old.


And I had a fun shower with friends and, once again, it was great to see everyone.


John--love the big eyes :)


Me, Annie, and Audrey--Audrey was so sweet to want to come see me! I wish Andrew could have come so they could have played together.


The Logan Temple at twilight.

On Thursday, I had a shower with Andrew's family.

Big Andrew skyping with Kaleb and Olya's cute kids, Little Andrew and Emma.

FYI--I absolutely LOVE this picture and it was one of my favorite moments of the trip.


Little Andrew playing with naked Barbies with Glenn.


Me and Aunt Meagan. She is due the day before me and is having a boy. The plan is to have our babies on the same day.

And I had to get all my loot home.


I impressively fit everything in my suitcase. It weighed in at 51 pounds. The nice man at SkyCap didn't make me take anything out. I must have looked appropriately and pathetically pregnant.

And that was my trip to Utah. Fun times! But I was very glad to get back to Andrew.

Come visit us if you are in the Seattle area!

I'll Never Escape It...

I'm thinking that I've gone crazy. I'll never be the same.

You may know that I am a little obsessive about grammar. I will mock you and your advertisement if there is an error on it. But ultimately, I'm pretty forgiving because I realize everyone is human. And most people aren't as brilliant as I am.

I can forgive the misspelled flyers from our apartment complex. At our apartment barbecue tomorrow, we are having "deserts" (not desserts), which I'm looking forward to, as I've never eaten a desert.

I can forgive simple misspellings of homophones like that.

I can forgive problems in Facebook statuses that were obviously typed too quickly.

I was about to say I can forgive people who make plurals into possessives by adding an apostrophe, but that would be lying. I really can't forgive that one.

Example:

"Kitten's" when you are talking about two cat babies (that should be "kittens"), not one cat baby's mittens.

Come on people.

But I can kind of forgive doing that with some last names (even though that is incorrect), such as those ending with an s.

Example:

"That is the Thomas's house" when what you really mean is "That is the Thomases' house."

But I can't forgive:

"I just love the Monson's."

It should seriously be "Monsons", unless you mean you love their car, but then you should write "Monsons' car"

These are grammatical errors and some are forgivable, to varying degrees.

Other grammar things that I can understand but don't like include different press styles.

I know and love Chicago style, and, to me, the other press styles don't make sense in some cases.

The problem becomes most apparent in series. You know, a list of items?

Chicago style:

"I had toast, an orange, milk, bacon, and eggs and cheese for breakfast." (Meaning there was cheese gloriously incorporated with the eggs). See how the comma exists before the "and' of the final noun in the series. It just makes sense.

Other styles:

"I had a toast, orange, milk, bacon and eggs and cheese for breakfast." (How are we supposed to know if the bacon is gloriously incorporated with the eggs or the cheese is gloriously incorporated with the eggs?) It doesn't make sense and just adds confusion.

But I recognize that this is an accepted style, even though I don't like it.

I read it most often in news articles from reputable agencies and books from small, no-name presses.

But today I realized that there is one place I will never be able to escape the lack of a serial comma...

Facebook.

NOOOO!!!!

AHHHH!!! There should be a comma before the "and"! I'm going to die every time I see it.

I can change my Facebook into Spanish, Greek, Chinese, or Pirate, but I cannot change it into Chicago style.

Cry for me.

Aunt Sarah Fest!

I went to Utah two weeks ago and it was nice. I will post more about that later, but for now, you need to know that I chilled with my nephew Nigel for a day. I finally become an aunt and then I move away. You'd think I didn't appreciate aunt-dom. But I do.


I think Nigel was happy to see me! Well, I'll pretend. Usually he stared at me like this:


"Who in the heck is this crazy woman?!?!"

Nigel with Grandma:


Resting with Aunt Sarah and sitting on his cousin:


Whenever Nigel was on the floor, Sparky was very interested in him.

Sparky isn't very good at holding still for the camera.

Taking a nap in Grandma's cold house. I probably took a nap, too. Also, I was considerate and turned off my flash so I wouldn't wake him.


Going to a family party with that crazy lady again.


It was cold at Grandma's house. Melanie did not pack any PJs for Nigel. So, he got to wear some of his cousin's girl pants.



Cute girl pants, little man.

In the morning, still while wearing the girl pants, Nigel got to go on a lovely walk with Aunt Sarah and Sparky.


Sparky actually did pretty well not getting in the way of the stroller and was happy to go on a long long walk. Me too. I love going on walks. I love walking the dog. I love pushing strollers on a walk. Walking is just a good thing. And this walk was good, too. Nigel slept most of the time. And then one of the back wheels fell off the stroller. Yeah... so it wasn't locked in place. Ha ha. Good thing we were close to Grandma's house and we could call her and she came to save us.

And we had a great time together before Nigel went to Ephraim and I went to Logan.


I am a good aunt, even though I'm usually at a distance. :)

28.5 Weeks Along

I'm not very good at doing pregnancy updates, and I'm not sure if anyone else really cares besides me and probably my mom. I forced Andrew to take my picture cuz I looked so dang cute for church in my new maxi skirt from his mom. Also, I'm finally looking quite pregnant. One sister at church told me I looked so cute and pregnant and then later that day, another sister asked if I was pregnant (she didn't want to insult me). These are the first comments of positive pregnant affirmation! Yay! When I was in Utah last week, people just asked if I could look pregnant (I guess I didn't). So hearing people say I looked cute and pregnant was a good thing. I also realized that I am actually 7 months along. You know, when you think in weeks, the months thing is just confusing.





Oh for cute.

Also, do you like our family pictures wall? Andrew is working on photoshopping some new pictures for the collage.


So, cute bloggers do little updates. I'm not really a cute blogger, but here are some random pregnancy-related things to tell you about.

• I learned some German folk wisdom from Oma on Friday. "When the mother scratches her belly, it means the baby's hairs are growing." Of course, it sounds wiser in German. My tummy has been very itchy. We'll see if the folk wisdom hold true! But maybe I will have a baldy.
• I feel her kick throughout the day, but yesterday, I think I actually felt her body inside me. Andrew felt it first when he was squishing my belly. I don't push on my tummy cuz it makes me feel weird, but he has no problem squishing me or jiggling me. There was a hard thing and then it was gone. Dad is already a tease. So that was cool.
• I can still touch my toes, do push ups (45 today!), sit cross-legged on the floor to stretch or other floor things, and walk 3+ miles each day. My mom and MIL were both impressed.
• The glucose test was not all that bad. I just got a little dizzy and was WAY hungry. Also, I got poked more than I was supposed to and the person had to dig around a bit cuz my veins were hiding, so then I got bruises. My doctor's appointment is tomorrow, so we'll see how that went.
• Tomorrow is also our first childbirth class. I have no idea what that will be like. I hope that Andrew doesn't pass out while I am giving birth in a few weeks.
• On Saturday we bought some plastic shelving and cleaned up some of our crap. The bedroom/junk room/study is clean! It makes me really excited and happy every time I walk in there. We are having a baby and her half of the room sure looks like it! The other side isn't looking too bad either--progress!

And that is that. Being pregnant is fun.

Hospital Time!

Not for me--for Andrew! Andrew thought I would like some delicious finger with my char siu (Chinese barbecue pork) on Saturday. Well, I didn't, but I did want to eat some food before we went to the ER for stitches and a tetnis shot, since I know how long it can take to go to the ER. Yes, I am a compassionate wife.


Andrew getting his temperature, pulse, and blood pressure taken. It is his first personal visit to the Emergency Room!


All checked in, complete with wristband.


Pouting cuz he has to wait so long. I told the staff that we could be at the bottom of the emergency priority list, since we were mainly there for the tetnis shot. At least we got to watch the Olympics.


The doctor gluing Andrew and his "left digit laceration" back together. That glue stuff is great! You can wash your hands and it doesn't go away. Super cool!


It was very traumatic for him.

As you can see, we had an exciting Saturday night. We hung out for about two hours before we went home.

It seems like we have gone to the hospital a lot lately. Probably cuz my doctor appointments are all there. I think we should see if there is a clinic closer to us that is open in the evenings on weekends, but it was still only 20 minutes away, so not bad. Andrew also teases me about how I always hurt myself. This is true. I am always stubbing my toe and slicing it open, but it is never bad enough to need stitches or a shot. Last time I went to the ER for my own injuries was in Hong Kong when I had a "corneal abrasion". Andrew went in December for his kidney ultrasound (but not to the ER). I think we can therefore conclude that Andrew goes to the hospital for treatment more than I do, since he's been twice in the last year. Now that I've said that, I will probably go to the hospital for treatment soon. Hopefully that will be in three months! (aka, when the baby is due)