Entry on our Adventure to Georgia!

Wow, I have wanted to post some baby pictures for sometime now, but have not! Let me give you an update on what the Woods have been up to the last couple of months. April, we went toHawaii for one week as a last hoorah before Daphne joins the family (yes, her name is Daphne).

First of May, I finished working at South Davis Community Hospital. I miss my co-workers. I made good friends and loved the experiences I had there. I loved having the opportunity to work and help save for our beautiful home. They threw me a fun party before I left!

May 5th, movers packed up our apartment and sent our stuff to Georgia for two weeks storage. May 8th, we moved out of our apartment and into the TLF on base (temporary lodging facility). It was "pet friendly" to allow Greycoat, so a little ghetto as you can imagine. She hated staying indoors for one week. During that week, Kelly's parents came up and we got to hang out with them and Chris, Carly, and their family. Kelly’s parents drove one of our cars to New Mexico, which was very nice! Sunday, the 15th, we waved good-bye to South Ogden, UT. It was hard saying good bye to so many wonderful friends. We hope to stay in touch with all we met there. We stayed in Orem that night and Mitch and Pam’s home. It was nice to see them and Katelyn and Matt before heading out. The next day, we made the long journey to Las Cruces.

Wonderful times in Las Cruces! We saw lots of family and had the baby shower with good friends from there. It was great to see everyone. While there, I got a horrible flu, and then gave it to Kelly, my mom, dad, Kimball, and Colin. Did I miss anyone? Fun stuff. It didn't stop us; we were only a third of the way to Georgia.

Sunday, the 22nd, my mom, Kelly, Greycoat, and I in both of our cars loaded down with lots of stuff traveled to Carlsbad, NM to see the Bluth family. This is when Mom got her flu, our one day in Carlsbad. Sorry mom! It was a bad case of stomach virus. She stayed quarantined in her bedroom while Kelly and I hung out with Cami and the kids. We drove around Carlsbad and looked at different lots Cami is considering building a home on and then ate lunch at the Pecos Restaurant. I loved living a day in the life of Cami-she is a busy mother and woman! Kelly and I went to the Caverns that afternoon, something I had never experienced before. Lots of walking, but amazing sites! I cannot believe it is all natural.

Mom recovered mostly by the next day (Tuesday), so we headed toward Burleson, TX. This is where the fun begins, and I don't just mean the fun of seeing Katie and Joe and kids (which was so fun!!). On the way to Burleson, I called the moving company to let them know AGAIN that wewould be in Warner Robins, GA on Friday as planned and to go ahead bring our stuff from storage. Well, their report was that they had been slammed and they could only unload Wednesday (the next day) or we'd have to wait two weeks for our stuff!

After much debate and thinking, we decided Kelly would stop in Burleson for dinner only and then drive all night to make it by 10am when the movers planned to bring our things. AHHH! My mom and I considered going too, but I realized I am not great at staying awake since being pregnant and my mom doesn't drive well at night. We had a nice evening with Joe and Katie and kids. Joe had the night off and Katie made a wonderful dinner for us. It was so fun to see them. Katie is due a couple of weeks after me, so we got a picture of our belly's kissing (kissing cousins).

Poor Kelly. I set my alarm to call him every hour throughout the night. He did well staying awake. He listened to Rumors of War by Dean Hughes, one of my favorite novel series. He said it actually kept him awake. He made it to Warner Robins (WA) just in time to get the key to our lovely new home and meet the movers. Meanwhile, mom and I get up at 530 and take off on our adventure to Georgia, the same drive Kelly just made.

Woops, though, because Kelly has the GPS. My phone has GPS capabilities, but loses battery power quickly and I left my car charger in Las Cruces. Let's just say that a 13 hour drive took us 16 hours! We got lost several times in shady and non-shady parts of Alabama. It's a miracle my mom and I are still talking this day. Just kidding. But, Dad and Joe saved the day by guiding us through parts of Alabama over the phone. We arrived to our beautiful home at 10pm that night and found Kelly zonked out on the couch after a long 36 hours. It was very cute. Greycoat held her pee all 16 hours-good cat. We missed being able to hang out with the Blancs in Shreveport. We hope to see you soon!

Kelly was promoted to Captain the weekend we arrived! It is very exciting to leave the ranks of Lieutenant. He doesn’t start his training for this new job till November, which means he has lots of free time at work and can help out when the baby comes. Not sure why the AF does some things it does.

Since our arrival, we have been busy making our house a home. Mom was here for a few days and helped out a lot. The responsibility of being a home owner leaves us overwhelmed at times. Plus, we don't know anything about Georgia climate or bugs, which seem to be our greatest challenge right now. There are some strange things growing out there. We love having a place of our own in a cute neighborhood. Our ward seems great. The church is true wherever you go, which is great. I love that no matter where you go, the people in the church have the same goal as yourself; they just have different situations, blessings, and trials along the way. We all learn from one another.

One of the weird things growing in our backyard. Any clues?

It really gets green here! If only there weren't so many bugs and it wasn't so humid, I would love to go in the backyard!

Google Map of our Route to Georgia.

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How to Sleep without spending $50?

Ok, so I am not supposed to sleep on my back anymore. So, what do you experienced mothers recommend? There is something called a snoogle. Is that necessary? My friend has one and she loves it, but maybe it isn't necessary. It might be nice for when I am bigger, though. Thanks for the tips!

February/Mustache March

It's been a big month for us. First, we flew to Georgia and picked out our first home. After driving around and going inside a few dozen houses, we finally picked the 2nd house we looked at: 206 Cheshire Drive

At the end of February we also found out the gender of our baby. It is (probably)...a girl! Now comes the hard part--picking out a name. Our top 4: Anneliese, Jane, Meg and Daphne. As terrible as we are at making decision, I'm not sure we'll ever pick one.

Cassi finally has her baby bump (kinda, sort of, and only if you know her and she's wearing something tight around the stomach). This is her a week ago when she was 18 weeks pregnant.

And Kelly is celebrating the air force tradition of "Mustache March" by sporting a hideous mustache and generally looking like Paul Blart.

Three Good Films

We recommend...

The Gathering Storm

4.5 Stars

Das Boot

4 Stars (Cassi), 4 Stars-at least (Kelly)

And, Winston Can't Meow

5 Stars

A Good Day

So, I felt almost GREAT today! Why? I have no idea.

I didn' t have to take Zofran-not like Zofran gets rid of my nausea completely

I craved a Keva Juice...so badly

I didn't know how to get one

I didn't have my car today because I carpooled

But, my awesome boss let me borrow her car to fulfill my craving. THANK YOU!

I made dinner all by myself tonight

And ate 3 square meals for once.

Let's see what tomorrow brings

I could be ushering in the nausea/vomitting-free 2nd trimester

Or, I just had a good day and tomorrow is back to normal

I have a feeling I'm not out of the water yet

Either way, I feel very blessed and want to say

BRING IT ON.

Not to mention, I am blessed with a good husband

Who dumped my recycle without even asking

And filled my car with gas

Picked up my prescription

And was kind when I didn't cut his hair correctly. You're the best my dear.

Photo by Katelyn McCuistion Risenmay

At this stage of our dating, did we know we'd be parents together? It's hard to imagine.

Let's Throw a Baby in the Mix

Most of you know, but Kelly and I are going to be parents! Our current due date is August 13th. If the military moves us, it will be Georgia baby. We are both so very excited! Kelly would love a girl, but would love a boy too, and I don't care. Well, some days I want a girl, and others a boy. It depends on the mood, you know. :)

After being sick today, I decided to write some things for which I am grateful:

• The double bagged trash can in my office that caught my puke
• A private office
• Only having to talk to 3 patients about food today
• The perk of free beverages and refills at work so I could sip Sprite all day
• Saltines
• Boiled eggs, for some reason
• Text messages from Mom and Kelly
• A pregnant co-worker
• Sleep!
• Knowing that being sick means baby is healthy :)
• Kelly, because his excitement for being a dad reminds me to be excited
• And the black market nausea meds I got from my sister-in-law...haven't used em yet, but getting close!

Week 10 coming up on Friday...can't wait for Trimester 2! It'll be fun to start showing! Despite how I sound, I (and we) feel very blessed to soon become parents.

I promised Cassi I'd post this...