3 Weeks To Go!

Here is one more picture of my ever growing belly. At my appointment this week my doctor gave me a week and a half to two weeks. He thinks I will definitely deliver early. I guess we will see what happens! My official due date of June 26th is still 4 weeks away. The modified one of June 16-26 is still 3 weeks away, but maybe Chicklet will make her grand entrance before that! As the days go by I am becoming less comfortable, so I would not be upset if she showed up a little earlier than planned! I guess only time will tell! Stay tuned to see when she comes...

The Seven Wonders of Utah

As some of you know, I created and coordinated a big project at the paper last year, The Seven Wonders of Utah and The Seven Wonders of the Top of Utah. The "Top of Utah" is our coverage area, pretty much anything north of Salt Lake county.

I created a nomination form, which was put in the newspaper, and people mailed it back saying which seven places, buildings, natural formations, structures, etc. were the most "wondrous." That started in September, and by October I had taken the 30 most popular nominees in each category and made a ballot. Voting lasted until Halloween, and the final project, with all the winners ran in the paper as a series from Dec. 26 until New Years Day.

It turned out pretty cool, and I recently entered it in a news contest for the Associated Press in Utah, Idaho and Washington. Maybe I'll win!

I will for sure feel like a winner if you look at the project by following the link below. It has links to the stories about each wonder as well as the awesome videos that were put together, too. If anyone is looking for new, cool places to check out in Utah, I think you can get some great ideas from the Seven Wonders.

The Seven Wonders Project

The AJ Classic

Bright and early Saturday morning, the group of people running the AJ Classic met at Vivian Park in Provo Canyon and started the run. A total of 14 people ran all or part of the race, totaling more than 100 miles total.

One hundred miles run to celebrate the 100-Mile Challenge! It was so appropriate.

The runners were all friends and family of Ali and myself, and everyone had a great time. Crystal set up aid stations at two places along the route, providing ice-cold water and delicious orange slices to all the runners (and to several other people who just happened to be running by at the same time!) Everyone finished the run in less than 2 hours (I am sure of this because I was at the end and I did it in 1 hour 54 minutes). It was a wonderful way to celebrate being back in shape, which is the whole reason behind the 100-Mile Challenge.

Here are a some of the pictures of the runners, the course, the start, the finish and the orange slices. Thanks again, Crystal.


After the race, Jeff and I watched "The Godfather," which he had taped off of TV and then Ali made me the dinner which I won for winning the 100-Mile Challenge. We had delicious lasagna, salad, breadsticks and then Strawberry Shortcake to finish it all off. So worth running 100 miles.

Ali and Jeff also gave me an awesome trophy for my birthday/winning the challenge.
Thanks, guys.

3³

On May 7, I turned 27 years old, or 3³ for you mathophiles. That means I can show my age on my fingers, holding three up with one hand and another three on the other hand, but slightly above and to the right of the first. I won't be 4³ for another 37 years, so I'll enjoy it while I can.

My birthday brought about a lot of surprises and fun, thanks to Crystal, my family and friends.

Work was normal and not very stressful, for which I was grateful. I almost mentioned it was my birthday to a coworker, but right before that he told me his wife's birthday was the day before and he forgot! She was out of town and he had already given her a gift, but I felt bad enough for him that I didn't tell him it was my b-day. He said he'll have a hard time living that one down... I can totally understand, Crystal still gives me a hard time, often, for going on a cruise without her, and we were only engaged at that time.

After work, Crystal gave me some presents, the DVD of The Prestige (which is awesome!), some Strawberry Milkshake Whoppers (so yummy!) and a present for-me-but-not-for-me, a onesie for Chicklet that says "Daddy's Girl." I'm so excited for our little princess to come!

After presents, Crystal made dinner with hamburgers and oven fries and LOTS of yummy fresh fruit salad. The missionaries came over for dinner and we had a fun time visiting with them. One is from Sweden and the other is Aussie, so it was fun to talk to them about their homes, as well as about missionary work in our area. NOTE: Crystal's hamburgers are the best! Everyone should petition her to post her secret recipe, because it is incredible.

After dinner, we went to the Nickelcade and got to play lots of video games. I am going to post a collage that will hopefully show what happened there better than I can tell it. Let me just say that I am not afraid to gloat about completely beating a pregnant woman at air hockey.
(Also note that Crystal barely fit through the turnstile. She is so cute!)


We played “Deal or No Deal” twice, even though it was $1 instead of a nickel, and won both times. The first time, Crystal got a little too excited and chose “Deal” prematurely (see second row on left) and we only got 26 tickets. Later, we got it right and ended up with 100 tickets! (See third row) Those tickets turned into lots of candy!

After the Nickelcade, we came home and I settled in to watch the Jazz playoff game when my phone rang. It was sister, Christina, calling to say, "Is Crystal there? Oh, and happy birthday." Then she talked to Crystal about hair care products for the next five minutes and didn't say anything else to me. She is so funny! I also got calls from my friends Jeff and (a day early because he was going to Puerto Rico) Brandon, and my brothers David and (a day later because he was in Hawaii) Joseph.

By about 9:30 p.m., the Jazz were winning and I still hadn't heard from my parents, which I thought was kind of odd. I figured they were busy or would wish me a happy birthday when we saw them as planned a couple days later.

Then, the doorbell rang.

It was my parents and five of my siblings singing "Happy Birthday" and my mom had a tray full of eclairs, each with a candle burning in it. I was so suprised! I blew out the candles and we all had eclairs. Then, my brother, Michael, brought in a potato box and said, "Here's your present."

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy potatoes, but I was kind of curious as to why I was getting food for my birthday. My mom told me to open it, and I learned it was not potatoes. It was a Nintendo Wii! My mouth fell open and Crystal says I was about as surprised as she has ever seen me! It has been so much fun to play with Crystal, and I can't wait to play it with my family in order to thank them for such an awesome present. I have now joined the Wiivolution! Happy Birthday, it sure was!

Kitchen tips

As blog readers know, Crystal is quite the culinary master, so in her honor, I am posting the link to a great list of kitchen tips, which I has some good ideas for anyone in the kitchen.

Enjoy!

FrontRunner

On Monday, Jordan and I got to ride UTA's newest feature, Front Runner. It is a light rail train that goes from Ogden to Salt Lake City. The grand opening was the Saturday before and they were offering free rides for a couple of days, so we hopped on board and gave it a try!

Our adventure started at our house. The Ogden Station is two blocks from our house, so while everyone else who wanted to ride it probably drove to the station, we were able to walk there and hop on board. The train was very full, but we were able to find a couple of seats and enjoy the ride down to SLC. At one of the stops, the train got so full, that Jordan gave up his seat and stood for the rest of the ride to accommodate on older lady. What a gentleman! The train ride was very smooth and enjoyable. It was so much fun to be some of the first people to ride the new train.

Once we arrived in SLC, we hopped on the TRAX and rode to the Clark Planetarium where we caught an IMAX show about Mummies. The greatest part was we had a two for one coupon! I love a good deal! We walked around the Planetarium and saw all the exhibits. Jordan was able to give a weather forecast

and I was able to walk on Mars. After the Planetarium, we walked over to the Gateway where we were able to enjoy a wonderful picnic, the gorgeous weather and all the pretty flowers that have finally made there way to Utah!

To reward ourselves for planning such a wonderful outing, we stopped at one of the restaurants for a little sweet treat. I never could say no to dessert! After our dessert, we walked back to the Inter Modal Hub, where TRAX and Front Runner meet, and hopped on the train back to Ogden. While the ride down to SLC was very full, it was nothing like the ride back to Ogden! There was standing room only, and the only reason I got a seat was because a very nice man took pity on poor pregnant me and gave up his seat. The ride home took longer than the ride to SLC because there were so many people getting on and off at each stop, it delayed the trains timetable. Even though it wasn't as fast as it was supposed to be, it was a very nice ride. We got off the train at about sunset and there was still a long line of people at the station to get on and try out the new mode of transportation.
You can see in the picture below all the people crammed like sardines in the cars.

It was so nice to see so many people get out and try out this new train and see all the benefits it could give to us. While we rode down to SLC, one of Jordan's uncles and his family rode up to Ogden and walked around 25th Street. I hope more people do that and get to see how nice our little street is!