My sweet tooth...

For the first time in my life, I crave sweets. Lots of them. All the time. I ate a 6 lb bag of gummy bears (not all at once, but still...). The other day Scott and I went for frozen yogurt. I finished that, then we stopped for more on the way home. I ate pie for dinner last night. And cookie dough. I want hot fudge sundaes and caramel sauce.


For those of you who know me, you know this is highly unusual. While I've always enjoyed sweets, I never craved them, and always consumed them moderately. Growing up, my mom would throw away my Halloween candy at Christmas, my Christmas candy at Easter, my Easter candy at Halloween. I never finished it. Now I wish I had saved every piece. mmmmm...

We had another ultrasound today, to check on Baby Cameron's growth. Other than being a little thin, he looks great. Look how beautiful he is!

I'm in the 3rd trimester now, coming down the home stretch. It's still not real to me that Scott and I are going to be parents. Even at this point, I'm just cautiously optimistic that things will turn out well. I'm scared to hope, even though I know this pregnancy is progressing normally.

Scott and I have made an exciting purchase...a LAWNMOWER!!! Romantic, eh? Our yard appears to have been neglected for a long time, and I think we have a lot of work ahead of us to get it under control. We're just trying to do a little bit at a time.

No, We Don't Have The Swine Flu!

In fact, we'd never even heard of it until we got back from our honeymoon in Cozumel.

We had a wonderful week, with lots of food, relaxing, and fun. We were at an all-inclusive resort. We spent time on the beach and in the pool, reading and relaxing. One day we went on a Jeep tour around the island that included snorkeling, a visit to Mayan ruins, a tour of the tequila factory, a trip to a lighthouse, and lunch. We met a very nice young couple from Boston, also on their honeymoon.
We also signed up for a horseback ride through the jungle. This was the funniest part of the trip. The "jungle" turned out to be a slow, hot ride down a busy street, with a little foliage off to the side. Every once in a while we'd detour off the road through some bushes, then back onto the road. lol
We spent a day in town, where Scott got his Hard Rock Cozumel shirt, and we found some small gifts. We treated ourselves to massages at the spa, and indulged in plenty of food at the buffet!
The most stressful part of the trip was the day we were leaving, when I accidentally left my wedding rings behind. We were on our way to the airport when I realized I didn't have them, and I panicked, and made the driver turn around. Thankfully they were still on the bed, where I had taken them off to put on some lotion. No one had been in to clean the room yet. I burst into tears with relief.
When we got to the airport, Scott realized he hadn't kept his immigration form. We were sent to the immigration office with a form that was completely in Spanish. When we tried to explain that we didn't understand what it was asking for, they tried to send us to a different office. Scott finally just filled in his name and passport number (we have no idea if this is what the form asked for). They didn't even glance at it, just stamped it and sent us on our way.
So we made it home, from the tropical breezes and high temps of Mexico, to the snow of Utah. From shorts and swimsuits to long pants and coats.

For all of you that made special arrangements to be here for the wedding, especially in these times of economic stress, we just can't thank you enough. The day would not have been the same without all of your love and support. We'll continue to keep you posted as we build our lives and family together.

Less Than A Week Away (The Groom's Perspective)

Well, as you can all see my darling Rebecca is a lot more adept at keeping up on this blog than I am. But, I was thinking about blogging today too, so here is goes.

Six days now, until I get to officially call Rebecca Mrs. Thompson. Seems like only yesterday we met, then not too long after that I proposed and here's the wedding day fast approaching. When we talked about having a spring wedding that seemed so far off, now here we are. There are a lot of last minute things to do, but to be honest (and maybe this is a guy thing) I'm not all that stressed out about any of it. Rebecca has been great about getting everything organized and there's a lot more to do on her end than mine. We have all the big things done. Caterer, musician, venue, Reverend, photographer, honeymoon.

Most of my family and friends are coming in from out of town and they've all made their plans and will be here. Both of us are really blessed with the riches of friends and family that love us both. The weather this time of year in Utah is a bit unpredictable. For instance tonight rain is moving in that may get cold enough to turn to snow on Wednesday. But, by Friday temperatures will be in the 50s with highs in the 60s expected for the wedding day. In Cozumel, the highs have been in the 80s. That will be nice.

The house is coming together. We have the upstairs pretty settled with a guest bedroom serving as wedding central right now. This weekend we bought some rugs and new comforter for the bedroom and we got them really cheap as Penney's had them all on sale. Only downer was Emma trying to eat our rug. I quickly put a stop to that. The downstairs has been slower to come together. Though I do now have an office set up and two guest bedrooms. Still a number of boxes to unpack there and things to put away. We've both realized we still need to get rid of things that we have too much of - glassware seems to be a biggie. Summer garage sale on the horizon!!! The house still needs some work. Minor items on the roof, leaky toliet, drywall in downstairs basement, fence, lots of painting. Plenty of items to spend our tax return money on and plenty to do over time. Need to buy a lawn mower and weed eater, too. I've avoided lawn work for nearly 20 years. I guess its time to get back out there again.

Rebecca bought me U2's latest album "No Line On the Horizon". They have a song called "Magnificent" and the chorus goes "Only love, only love can leave such a mark; But only love, only love can heal such a scar: Justified till we die, you and I will magnify, The Magnificant" Rebecca has healed my scars and makes me feel magnificant every day. Our journey through life has only just begun.

Please be safe in your travels this week. We are grateful all of you can be here this coming weekend for this glorius day and should you happen to see my parents with a blank look on their face on Sunday that's to be expected. They didn't think they would ever see their only son get married. But, then I met Rebecca and my world change forever...

See you all soon.

Less than a week!

I can't believe the time is here! In less than one week, we will be Mr. and Mrs. Scott Thompson. I'm so excited!

This is the exhausting part. The final details. Picking up the dress, the tuxes, making sure family and friends arrive safely and are comfortable. Doing the flowers, the centerpieces, packing for the honeymoon (woohoo, Cozumel!), arranging transportation, finalizing numbers, organizing payments to the vendors, getting everyone together for the rehearsal and dinner, and HAVING FUN!!!

We are so touched by the number of people who are traveling to be with us. It makes the day even more special to know that we are so rich with loving friends and family. We can't wait to see all of you.

Travel safely.

Kramba the Butterfly

My 7-year-old nephew, Chase, has been studying butterflies in school. As part of the class, the teacher had several caterpillars, and the class was able to watch the life cycle as they spun their chrysalis' and then hatched into butterflies. If students wanted, they could then take a butterfly home. Those that were not taken home were released on a warm day.

Chase was very excited to bring home his butterfly. He named it Kramba. My sister built a butterfly house for him, and Chase packed the butterfly with him all over the house, to the bedroom, the kithen, and the bathroom.

A day later, there was a death in my brother-in-law's family, and they needed to fly to South Dakota for the funeral. Sarah called, asking if Scott and I would take Kramba. Keep in mind, a butterfly's life span is only about a week, and they were going to be gone for 5 days. Chase is so sensitive, but we tried to explain that Kramba might not be alive when he got back. He understood.

I am happy to announce that Kramba the Butterfly survived his week at Aunt Becca's and is now back at home with Chase. Phew! I don't know why I felt so much pressure to keep that thing alive! Probably because I can't stand to see Chase hurt or upset.

Chase is planning on releasing the butterfly so it has a chance to fly.

Getting settled

We finally moved last Friday, after several weeks of delay and frustration. Now we're dealing with boxes and boxes, and trying to find room for everything. I think we have enough drinking glasses and mugs to quench the thirst of a small country.

Emma has adjusted very well, and seems thrilled to have her own yard, plus plenty of space to run around in the house. The kitties are adjusting more slowly, and seem quite nervous and insecure. I can't get them to come upstairs (except for the one night Olivia spent 4 hours howling outside our bedroom door.)

So now we're in high gear for the wedding. We need to meet with the vendors again to finalize the details, get the flowers ordered, and put together some packages. I have a final fitting for the dress, which, thanks to a talented seamstress and a corset in the back, may actually fit me. I'm still not showing the pregnancy, so I probably won't be very big when the wedding rolls around.

We are really looking forward to seeing everyone at the wedding. I know it will be an amazing day as we're surrounded by our closest friends and family. I can't wait!

Still homeless!

This is getting so frustrating! We closed 1 week ago today, and still don't have keys to the house! There is some holding company in Texas that needs to sign a document and fax it to be recorded. Apparently this is just too difficult for them to do! Scott and I have delayed movers (again), electrical work (again), and delivery of appliances (again). Our $2 storage unit will now cost us $200, as of this weekend.
Is this even legal? The selling agent has the contact information for the holding company, but isn't sharing it, so we don't even know who to call to complain.
Thankfully my parents are more than willing to let us stay there as long as we need to, but the holding company doesn't know that. What if we weren't lucky enough to have family or friends to live with? What if we were in a hotel?
This is just crazy!