Asado anyone?

I love a nice barbecued piece of meat that has been soaked nice and long in a tasty marinade. In the summer I occasionally will cook some chicken up, or a steak, or even some salmon. I didn't use the grill as much as I should have this last summer. In fact, I have neglected to even bring it into the house. I should do that. Here is the current state of my grill.

sweetest husband ever

my husband rules. he brought home this surprise because he knew i was disappointed after my doctor visit today. you're the best weston :)
oh, and i L-O-V-E tulips

well, here we are

the 30th of january, kate's due date, and still ... no kate. i went to my last appointment this afternoon and barely made it out of the office before the first tear fell :) my body just isn't progressing and hasn't made much of a change in 3 weeks. i'm scheduled to be induced a week from today, so sure, i can wait a week. the depressing part is that my doctor told me i could be in for one of those marathon labors (18+ hours) or that if things stay as they are, i have a 50% chance of needing a c-section. blah. has anyone actually tried those self-inducing suggestions and had them make ANY kind of a difference? i'm not really feeling like anything would help at this point, but i'll take all the advice i can get.

shower #4

i guess i forgot to post about shower #3 ... how did i get so spoiled? my mom threw me a great baby shower a few weeks ago in monroe. it was fun to see some of the ladies in the ward i grew up in and then to see friends i haven't seen in years! it was definitely a fun afternoon. we had the best lunch and i totally overate. oh well! :)

shower #4 came this week when my young women and the leaders threw me a baby shower for our activity. it was so fun and i couldn't believe that these girls brought me gifts! how sweet and thoughtful are they!? it was fun to answer questions and gab about the doctors in the clinic with the other leaders. there was also some AMAZING food and the young women made me the most adorable quilt! kate is going to be so well dressed and have such nice baby gear! can't wait for this little one to make her debut! :)

last night i kept teasing weston, who is snowboarding today, that he better be ready to leave the mountain because today is my day, "i can feel it" YEAH RIGHT. he just laughed :) it's totally not my day, none of the days between now and february 6th will be my day, i'm afraid. positive thoughts, everyone!

our little maternity shoot

weston took me to the studio for some belly photography. here is a shot of the bump (if you can still technically call it that ... it's more like having one of those big, long, oval watermelons shoved under my shirt) and here is one of the parents-to-be. i had NO clue how large everything looked until i saw photos! here i have been thinking i was carrying this baby in front and mostly compact ... yeah right! i definitely look like i'm ready to have her! hopefully that will be the case very quickly!

tagged by danae

ABOUT MY HUSBAND
What is his name? weston christopher colton
How long have you been married? just over 3 1/2 years
How long did you date? it really depends on what you count ... we started dating in november of '96 ... and at our wedding luncheon weston's mom said we were the "most broke-up couple" she knew :)
How old is he? 27, will be 28 in march
Who eats more? technically me ... but that's just because i actually EAT during the day. weston doesn't really eat his first meal of the day until about 9:30 pm ... not kidding
Who said I love you first? probably me, although technically i said "i think" :)
Who is smarter? weston for sure - he knows EVERYTHING, but i'm definitely a close 2nd :) haha
Whose temper is worse? that would be ME
Who does the laundry? me - although weston really should do the laundry, he's so PICKY! :)
Who does the dishes? me, but i get a lot of help from weston when it comes to unloading the dishwasher
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? weston
Who pays the bills? me
Who cooks dinner? usually me, but weston's "meals" are way better (cafe rio, chili's, etc) :)
Who drives when you are together? weston
Who is more stubborn? me - FOR SURE!
Whose parents do you see the most? probably about the same
Who proposed? weston - caught me completely by surprise!
Who has more friends? probably pretty equal
Who has more siblings? i do... i have 4 and he has 2
Who wears the pants in the family? we think we each wear one leg :)
I tag...... kristi, ashlee, margaret, ashley, and cynthia

"what are we doing?"

4 words uttered by weston saturday night at about 7:05. we had been invited to have dinner at Olive Garden in Provo with Mark & Amanda and kids and Rory. "what are we doing?" meaning - why are we attempting to go to Olive Garden ... in Provo ... at 7pm ... on saturday night. we should have known what kind of night we were in for when we got through the doors of the restaurant and the employees were saying it was about a 75-80 minute wait. rory had already been there for about 40 minutes, so we were hoping to have cut that time in half. after about 20 minutes of being packed like sardines in the waiting area, we were told it would still be about 40 minutes until we would be seated. at that point, however, we were all salivating for our salad and breadsticks that we were fully committed. the next sign of impending doom should have been our buzzer going off and our group letting out excited screams ... only to find out, "oops, sorry, that was a mistake, we're still not ready to seat you ... probably about 20 more minutes." rrrriiiiiggggghhhhhtttt. so we waited some more. the highlight of the wait was a sample cup of some pina colada and then a sherbety citrusy drink later on. finally we were taken to our table. our waiter came to take our drink orders, writing it all down. i ordered a water with lemon and rory got a water with lime (everyone else had sodas). rory and i got our waters, but no slices of citrus fruit. mark and amanda then ordered an appetizer sampler, including calamari. when the appetizer plate finally made its way out, there was no calamari. our waiter decided to play hide and seek with us, as we only saw him once every 15 minutes or so. about the third time he resurfaced, we asked about the second salad bowl we had requested, the missing calamari order, more breadsticks, and the lemons and limes. the kid was incompetent to say the least. he came back about 10 minutes later, with ONE salad bowl (we had requested a SECOND bowl, not the next replacement bowl), no cheese on the salad (come on! who doesn't load up the salad and soup with that cheesy goodness?), a plate of lemon and lime slices thrown at us, and a few more breadsticks for a table of 7. this kid of a waiter also called mark "dude" and mumbled excuses out at us AS he would leave the table. it was ridiculous. to make matters worse, not only had we been seated for about 45 minutes, had ordered 3 entries for the table, and nobody had received more than one refill on their empty drinks ... but the table to our left had been seated, received their dishes, finished, and were paying! in fact, most tables around us were pleasantly being served. a manager/cook in his kung fu shirt made the rounds from table to table in our area, asking patrons how their dinners were, etc. and, just as rory was gearing up to let him have it, he glided right on by our table. wow. it was just unbelievable! finally, after being in the restaurant for about 2 hours, we decided to leave - this was AFTER our waiter showed up and blamed the kitchen for our missing food - sorry "dude" i have a hard time believing anything you say when everyone around us is eating what they ordered AFTER us ... and it's kind of hard for the kitchen to make our food when you never place the order for us. poor mark and amanda had each taken turns taking noah outside or for a quick car ride, neither of them were able to enjoy much of the night out, i'm sure. we flagged down the manager, in all of her david bowie hair glory (seriously, there are no words - it was a 'do you had to experience yourself) and she tried to appease the situation by offering a $40 gift card for our next evening out together. sure, $40 might seem like a nice gesture, but really? that is supposed to cover another dinner for FIVE adults? that's dinner for TWO. we could all make the trek to Olive Garden again to relive the nightmare, and we could each order a specialty drink and a salad. Thanks Olive Garden.

as we piled back into the car, mark and amanda asked zoe if she was still hungry (since there really wasn't much FOOD on the table for 2 kids to enjoy). poor thing picked olive garden because it's her birthday this week and that's what she wanted for dinner. so we stopped by the wendy's drive-thru on the way home to get her the chicken nuggets kids meal. when she asked her dad if she could see her toy, we shouldn't have been surprised AT ALL when there was no toy to be found. NOTHING. what is going on with this night? oh, and weston and i each ordered a small frosty - you guessed it - no spoons or straws. SA-WEET.

mark and amanda dropped us off at our place and we decided to head over to cafe rio (with 15 minutes until they closed) to get our "saturday night regular" so we could have the leftovers on sunday. this was our last stop of dining out for the evening, and we shouldn't have been surprised when the guy taking our order got it all wrong - AGAIN. i asked for a pork burrito, black beans, mild sauce, enchilada style - 4 options. he started to make my burrito - with chicken, not pork, and asked me pinto beans? when i realized it was chicken, not pork, i asked about it and he dumped what he was making and started over. why do they always look at you like YOU messed things up? whatever. he made my new burrito and asked every step of the way what I had already ordered. "black beans?" "yes" "mild sauce?" "yes" "enchilada style?" "yes" i'm sorry - how hard is it? weston pretty much had the same experience, right behind me. WOW.

so, i guess the moral of the story is, don't waste your saturday night out on dining out :) but what's more american than a night out on saturday? come on!

baby blurb

we went and did some more final shopping last night for more baby-room gear. we needed to get some odds and ends like a garbage can (with a good lid), some hooks, and a new lightbulb for the table lamp. we went to home depot to try to find the right size and wattage for a bulb ... after a couple of minutes asking a myriad of questions to the poor employee who offered us some help, i was pretty embarrassed. we had so many questions for him in relation to a stupid lightbulb - how lame :) oh well. the bulb we ended up buying, and the bulbs we already have, were all too bright for those midnight feedings/changings. i ended up being crafty and fashioned an inner lining for the lampshade out of some dark cardstock. let's just hope those energy saving bulbs don't burn hot enough to start a nursery fire! i'm not too worried since weston could still touch the bulb with his fingertips after it had been on for 30+ minutes. i think we're pretty safe :)

i know i still have 2 weeks left until my 40 weeks are up, but man! isn't it pretty average for ladies to deliver before their due dates? it's COMPLETE wishful thinking for me to ponder that ... and because i am naturally such an impatient person, this baby will probably decide to come out only when i am 3 weeks late and my doctor finally decides to schedule an induction :) as a matter of fact, i am off to ask him the policy on inducing labor at my appointment tomorrow - i'm not anxious or anything.

and, to cap off the baby talk for the time being, here are a few cute kids who will be joining the "i'm going to be a big brother/sister" club in 08 - i couldn't be more excited!

jane cottle

zoey dunn

booker proffitt

alex cottle, jr.

(sorry to any of you parents whose babies are featured here ... let me know if you want them removed)

another baby quilt

yep, i gave in and made another quilt for baby kate. this one is more of a portable quilt - it's smaller (45 x 45) than the other one i made (crib size). that's pretty much all i can come up with for a justification :) i fell in love with the colors and i backed it with this incredibly super-soft furry flannel. LOVE IT. oh, and it's a LOT more girly :)

utah valley baby shower

a HUGE thank you goes out to my sisters-in-law Jessica and Annie! You guys are awesome :) *does anyone else hate the phrase "in-law"?* family is family if you ask me - so you guys are 2 more sisters to me :) no "legal" separation here :) anyway, they threw me a great shower last weekend and we had a great turnout with good food and friends ... and only a few games! :) (inside joke there). there was a lot going on for the family in the days leading up to the shower, so thank you so much to you girls for pulling it together and making it a special day for me. i didn't even bring my camera along, so i have no pictures to document the afternoon *sigh* aunts and cousins and friends came and brought the most adorable clothes and the best baby gear! seriously, it was like everyone had read my mind! weston and i had just spent the last week talking about how we needed to get this or that, and everyone just happened to bring exactly the items we were in need of! it was great :) thanks to everyone for helping us get started and for making a fuss :)

12 days of christmas?

or something like that ...

here's the top 12 items from our holiday season

1. Lotsa Motsa Pizza
weston LOVES Lotsa Motsa. we can only get it in richfield (or a couple other small towns between utah valley and richfield) so it's always a big item on his list of things to eat when we go home. for some reason, we rarely take the time to order a large pepperoni for him, so this was our number one stop when we drove into town on the 23rd.

2. Christmas at "home"
i have this super strong desire to have our own little christmas at our home (in american fork) but have yet to start that tradition yet. this year it was REALLY nice to be home in monroe for the holiday, though. i think it had something to do with snow actually being on the ground in monroe :) it's usually bone dry and everything is just brown/dead looking. there was just something so cozy and comfy about being home this year.

3. Christmas Eve wandering through Richfield and lunch at the Dairy
we spent the early afternoon in richfield with weston's siblings. we had a yummy lunch at the dairy (my favorite) and then spent the next couple of hours wandering around doing some last minute/boredom shopping :) it was a great afternoon, though - no crazy crowds and a few really excellent purchases!

4. Shooting guns
i already posted about this, but it was a fun way to kill a couple of hours. i'm not the best shot, but i did manage to get a few targets :) we were all freezing by the time we left, so it was just the right amount of time outside.

5. The Simpsons Movie
another fantastic family moment :) santa brought us the simpsons movie so we opened it early and watched with weston's family.

6. Christmas and a nap!
weston and i woke up at 6am on christmas morning to get to his parent's house in time for the festivities to begin. needless to say, we were both BEAT by the time 10:30 rolled around. we went back to monroe to take a nap. santa brought me one last present and i actually slept for a couple of hours! i couldn't believe it! it was even right smack in the middle of the day! what a needed gift :)

7. National Treasure
christmas day (afternoon) we went with weston's family to see the only movie playing on the only screen in richfield. luckily it was something we wanted to see! we went to national "tray-sure" and had a good time. sure, the movie isn't the most sophisticated of cinematic stories, but it's always a good family/holiday flick

8. Half of a work week
this was my first real holiday as a working adult i guess ... somehow i always manage to take a week or so off work to get a good break over the holidays. with kate coming so soon, weston having to get back to work, and my family in denver, i decided i could "grow up" and go back to work myself. the beauty was, while i was being so mature, i still only had to work 2.5 days of the week :)

9. Sunday in bed
weston had been trying to cure a cold over our christmas break but to no avail. he has had several rough nights and just been kind of miserable with this cold. i'm trying DESPERATELY to avoid catching it, so wish me luck. we spent the last sunday of the year in bed all day. weston slept pretty much until about 5:00 that evening. i hate when he's sick or not feeling well or hurt! i feel pretty much completely helpless!

10. New Year's Eve - pizza and a movie and sleepytime
we had a raucous new year's eve party. okay, not at all close to the truth :) weston and i decided to spend it together and we placed our pizza order around 7pm. we had to wait an hour to pick it up, so we went and picked up a movie and drove around town until it was ready. on a sidenote, in high school we both worked for lotsa motsa pizza and know how new year's eve and other such holiday nights go at a pizza place. i was so irritated with people being so impatient trying to pick up or order their pizzas. i had one lady with an entire line behind her try to butt in front of me because she was there to pick up her order and i hadn't even placed mine yet - so she assumed this gave her priority. maybe if i had just walked in the door, but i had been patiently waiting my turn in the ONE line they had going, so she could wait behind ME! she was being rude to the kids working and yelling at them - i couldn't believe this woman was being so annoying! i wanted to turn around and tell her off, but all i could manage was a snide "hmfff" or some such noise and glared at her - trying to tell her to grow up and chill out! what did these people expect? new year's eve, 7pm, pizza? really? RELAX!!!! :)

11. New Year's Day - got to actually spend an entire weekday together!
this was amazing - weston and i never have time off together - for an entire day - on a weekday where we can actually DO something! (sundays are our only days to spend 24 hours together). we slept in, had breakfast (i did), took a leisurely time getting ready for the day, and did some random shopping. we went to salt lake so weston could look at some more outerwear, drove to trolley square to find out all of the stores were closed for the day (really?), and then hit up ikea to dive through the madness with 500 other people - nuts. luckily that trip was not fruitless. i found the perfect lamp and ottoman for the nursery. all that's left to get is the garbage can for those potent diapers! :)

12. Dinner with the Proffitts
we met up with clark and margaret new year's day for dinner at macaroni grill. happy birthday clark! the proffitts live in arizona, so we only get to see them about once a year. it's always so fun to see you guys!

so there's a "12 days of holidays" update for anyone who cares :)