Our Life: Chapter Two

Update on life in CA:

So we finally made it.  We flew into San Jose Sunday afternoon, picked up our rental car and headed to my wonderful friend Stacie's place in San Ramon.  She made us a delicious dinner and it was so fun to hang out with her, I am glad we will be so close for the next little while.  We spent the week mainly looking for housing.  My hopes of a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom apt or house were quickly shattered by our rental agent who basically told us that would not be possible based on what we wanted to spend.  So we settled for looking at 2 br 2 bath places.  Let me just say it is sooooo expensive here and with a 98-100% occupancy rate, finding a good deal has been difficult, but we are pretty sure we have found a place.  I will post more about it later as we have a few more options we are looking into.  We headed home this weekend to hang out with our families and for my baby shower (see below).  We are now back and Jason starts his first, real, I'm-an-adult-now job tomorrow.  His internship last summer really helped him to not be too nervous.  I told him to try to stay a little nervous so he still has that new employee ambition and enthusiasm.  Tomorrow I have my first (35 week) appt with my new doctor, we have a lot to discuss and iron out (ie: where I will deliver, etc).  I'm not gonna lie, we have both been a little stressed with all the life changing things that have recently happened or will soon be happening, but we are so excited at the same time, that is why I named this post chapter two, it is a new chapter for us, and our lives will never be the same, but we can't wait.

As you probably know by now I am obsessed with my darling niece, here she is sporting her super cute A-line.  Everywhere we went this day she was getting compliments, keep in mind she is 4 years old and quite a trend setter (I copied her...see below)
From the back
Mommy and daughter, both so beautiful!!

Baby Shower:

My baby shower was in my hometown of Lincoln on Saturday.  It was held at the Boatman's lovely home.  We had planned on having it outside but of course the weather didn't cooperate, it was 109 degrees!  So we had it inside.  It was great to see so many people I grew up with and so many awesome people from my life in Lincoln.  Everyone was sooooo generous to us, we are really blessed, and our little guy is going to be so well dressed!!  I am really appreciative to the Boatman's for opening up their home, and to my wonderful Mom and Mother-in-law, it was a beautiful shower and I really appreciate all their work.  And thanks to everyone who came and to those who couldn't make it but wanted to be there! 

My silly sisters
The Ommen gals (minus Tam and Tiff, we missed you guys)
Hanging out
My cute mother in law Jan
The beautiful hostess, Maria
My cute Mom
My Grandma, Aunts and me (btw, I cut 10 inches off my hair, I like it, it feels refreshing!)
My friend Megan put all the gifts on display, didn't she do a fabulous job!

My cousins and me (with Stacie in the background

Me and my sisters

Chrissy and Nicky
Megan, Stac, me and Chrissy (we are just missing Tam and Brendi)!!!

Battle of Midway Triathlon

After running a marathon a few years ago Jason diverted his attention to triathlon training. The day finally came for Jason to participate in his first Olympic distance triathlon (swim 1m, bike 23m, run 6.2m). We headed up to Midway on Friday afternoon. Jason's Mom, Dad, and I volunteered at the event, while Jason check in and dropped off his bike.  We stayed in the Zermot Resort in Midway, which was VERY nice. That night we (me, Jason, Jan, John and Michael) went to dinner at the Mountain House Grill, which we ate at one other time in Midway, it did not disappoint again and the service was much better this time. Later that evening Jenny, Jeff and Michelle came up. So Jason's entire family was there to cheer him on.  I know he really appreciated that and it meant a lot to him for everyone to come.

Race Day: Jason, Jan (Jason's Mom), and I got up around 5:15am.  It was not fun to get up that early but we really wanted to see Jason at every transition, and we had to take a shuttle to Deer Creek Reservoir (the swimming site).  Jason's age group started the swim at 6:45am.  Do you even realize how cold that water must have been, this was at 6000 feet elevation, and the temperature outside was 38 degrees, someone said the water was about 55 degrees?  Jan and I were worried about him since he is always cold anyway, but he surprised us and came in much earlier than we expected, I guess the cold water was a big motivator, his time for the one mile swim was 27 minutes and 38 seconds.  His transition from swim to bike was well...long.  He was completely numb, which makes taking off your wet suit and putting a tight jersey, socks and shoes on very difficult.  But he was off on his bike.  I wasn't worried at all about the rest of the event, biking and running are his two stronger sports.  He came in from the 23 mile bike ride in 1 hour 12 minutes and 31 seconds.  His transition from bike to run was really fast (less than a minute).  In fact it kind of sucked for us cause we would wait and wait to see him and then he was back for a minute and off again.  Overall I think Jason would say that the run was the toughest part of this triathlon.  It was on mountainous dirt trails, which is harder to run on and it was VERY steep.  But he finished the 6 mile run in 51 minutes and 54 seconds.  I was so proud of him when he came over the finish line.  He says he wasn't really that tired, in fact he wanted to go on a bike ride later that afternoon!!  I think a half ironman triathlon is definitely in his future.  He really enjoyed the whole thing and can now officially call himself a triathlete.  I'm so proud of him, he worked hard and did a great job.  His final time was 2 hours and 39 minutes and 31 seconds (he got a 2 minute penalty, we think because he forgot to pin on his bib number, so his official USAT time was 2:41:31).  He came in 134th out of 234 for the men.  It was a great weekend and we all had tons of fun.  

Oh and we are now officially in CA.  We are house hunting and baby shopping today, and I need to find a boards patient.  The corporate housing is very nice, maybe we will just stay here after our 30 days and pay $3500 a month, sounds like a steal :)

Jason at 5:30am before the event began, he is ready!

Getting ready to enter in the freezing cold water
Finishing the swim
Transitioning from swim to bike, I appreciate that during everything he would still give me a little wave here and there
Clipping in
Returning from the bike portion
Off he goes on the run
Victory!!!  He finished in 2hr. 39min.!

Me and baby are so proud!
Almost the whole family

His name on the big board

His spectators, his Mom and Michelle



Jen and Jeff

Friends

This last week we have spent trying to see friends before we head out of Provo.  Monday night we got together with Sam, Lori and Adelaide for Pizza and delicious strawberry cheesecake.  Addie was adorable and it was good to get some tips from new parents, since that will be us soon.

Later in the week we had a BBQ with some friends, the Freemans, the Robertsons and the Dunns.  We have known the Robertsons almost since the beginning of our time in Provo, and they are moving the same weekend as us.  They have the cutest little boys and we will miss them. 

 Friday I met up with my friend Megan.  We are both due the same week so we basically talked babies the entire time, but it was so fun to see her one last time, and to know that someone else is going through the same things I am.  Friday night Jason and I tried out a new place called Sammy's.  We had heard good reviews and we were not disappointed.  Our burger, fries and smoothie were all delicious.  

Saturday was Jason's much anticipated century ride.  Some weather issues required a later start then they had planned, but overall he really enjoyed it and hasn't been too sore since.  While he was gone I got to hang out with my fun sister in laws.  Jenny is so nice and signed us up for "A Night in Bangkok", a cooking class given at Harmon's grocery store.  It was so fun, I loved it.  We learned how to make four Thai dishes and the best part was we got to eat them all, it was great.  Saturday night we got together with some of my friends from school and their husbands.  I will sure miss these girls, we have had a long two years together and so it was fun to get together one last time (outside of school).   

Then Sunday was our last day in the singles ward.  We were both surprisingly really sad.   We were in an awesome ward and really grew to like the kids (especially Jason since he got to spend more time getting to know them).  We were so lucky to have the opportunity to work with them and we will always remember our time in that ward.  Finally Sunday night we got together with some friends from our married ward.  We love the Zirkers and the Richs.  We have been so lucky in our time here to meet couples that we have so much in common with.  We have made so many amazing friends in Provo and we plan to keep in touch (whether they want to or not).  One week exactly until we fly out, and we are both so excited for everything to come.

Lori, Addie and I

Me, Amber, Sydney, Brett, Katie, Nate and Tanner

Jason manning the grill
Braden and Tanner, aren't they the cutest little guys!!
Megan and I 
Yummy Sammy's burger
Sammy's cool sign
If you get a chance to go to Sammy's the Hawaiian smoothie was delish!
Jenny, Michelle and I cooking away
Jen trying to master flipping a piece of toast
Jason after his ride (note the crazy helmet hair), if you look close his computer says 101.5 miles
He is so strong (ok so the bike only weighs 17 pounds, he still looks strong)
Shelley, Annelise, Me, Jeff, Greg and Jason

Josh, Lindsey, Travis, Kelly, Jason and I

Moab

***Warning this post is really long, so we can remember everything we did, feel free to skip down to the pictures if long isn't your thing**

Continuing with our theme of trying to do things we've never done before we leave, this weekend we headed down to Moab with Jared and Shannon. I had clinic Friday morning so we weren't able to leave until around 12:30, and we had to come back Saturday night, so Jared could be back for a baby blessing on Sunday. I thought it would almost not be worth it to go down, but I was so wrong. We had a blast. We got there and checked into our cabin. Shannon and I are both pregnant and therefore we needed a bathroom close by, so tent camping was out of the question. This cabin was sooooooo cute. It had a queen bed, bunk beds, a bathroom and a little mini kitchen area with a small fridge and microwave. It was so tiny but suited our needs perfectly since you pretty much just sleep there. We hiked most of Poison Spider trail that evening, then went to the store and got stuff for dinner, breakfast, and lunch. We BBQ'd that night since our cabin had a little grill. The next morning we got up and headed to Arches National Park. We hiked to Delicate Arch which is the one on the UT license plates and probably the most famous arch of the park. It was a relatively short 3 mile hike, but it was warm, I am 8 months pregnant, and there were some rather steep areas. After that we stopped at the visitors center to watch a movie on how the arches came to be...it is amazing. Then we went to a park, made sandwiches and snoozed under a shady tree. Then we walked around the cute downtown. After that we drove to Potato Salad hill, which is a four-wheeling area. For those who don't know this, back in High School Jason and Jared were very into 4-wheeling. They both owned Scouts and loved working on them and taking them out "wheeling", breaking them and working on them some more. Jason still has his Scout in CA but poor scout needs a new transmission:-( Anyway, no one was out rock crawling so we found this river with a cool swimming area. It was so refreshing, since by that time it was pretty hot. I didn't have my bathing suit on so I swam in my sports bra and shorts, with my big ol' belly hanging out, not the most attractive thing you have ever seen (therefore no pictures) but there was no way I was not swimming in that water. I think baby was pretty mad at me at first because the water was cold and he was going crazy, but I think he has forgiven me. After that we ate at a yummy all you can eat pizza/salad bar/soup place that really hit the spot, and then we headed home. Although it was short it was an awesome trip and I really hope we make it back again someday because there is so much more to explore!!
This is pretty much the entire inside of our cabin, the door behind Jason is the bathroom, it was perfect!!
Jason and Jared in the "kitchen"
Ready for our hike
We will count this as my 32 week picture (I will be 32 weeks on Tuesday, this was taken Friday), this is on our hike


All of us on our evening hike
Jared and Shannon chillin on the bunk bed
Saturday morning leaving the cabin
All of us with delicate arch, I had a better close up one that this guy took but he told me to suck in my stomach (as a joke, I hope) and I apparently I thought that was REALLY funny so in the picture I am laughing with my mouth wide open and I look like a horse so this is what you get!
Look how little Jason and I are compared to the arch (it is the first time I have felt little in months)
Jason and Jared in our swimming hole
Shannon cooling off