The Countdown is On...

7 Days until...

The best (and only) reason for summer to come to an end... BYU FOOTBALL SEASON!!! We are so excited, this is going to be a GREAT year, I can feel it! Go Cougs!!!

Bring. It. On.

I left my Heart in San Francisco...

So this blog entry is about a week late, but I haven't been in much of a blogging mood. Also ever since we've been back, work and school have been pretty crazy for us. (Yes, I said School, Shad's first day was yesterday... yuck) But, on the bright side, we had an AMAZING trip to San Francisco. It was a nice last big trip to take together before baby, and a wonderful way to see our friends, whom we missed so much this past year. We, of course, were the ultimate tourists having never ventured over there before. We saw as much as we could possible fit into 5 days. San Francisco is a CRAZY place!! Certainly a place that you visit, not a place I would ever want to live! Out hotel was pretty ghetto, and in an area that wasn't too "safe" in my opinion. But we still managed to make it work and have a great time. Kjirstin was our tour guide and had the whole trip mapped out for us, and knew exactly where to go. It was fun getting around everywhere on the buses, cable cars, and subway systems, especially with someone who knew what she was doing! That city is so international, we saw all the major little "towns" and sampled the fine cuisine of each Chinatown, Japantown, Little Italy, and the Mission (Mexican food). We saw all the tourist spots and attractions. I took about 600 pictures of the trip, ... so I will let the picture tell you everything we did. Here's our trip in pictures (The condensed version!) :

Day 1: Shad and I arrived there about half a day early, so we just walked around not really knowing where to go, and happen to run into City Hall, it was a beautiful building inside and out!

Day 2: Kjirstin took us to her old work where she interned for two years, and we got to see the inner workings of the traffic lights, and cameras! It was actually very cool...not the usual tourist spot!

We also visited Alamo Square/Full House Park, where you get an awesome view of the city.

We got fortune cookies at Chinatown! Yum!

And stopped at Japantown!

Day 3: We saw lots of pretty flowers and gardens at Golden gate Park.

Then we ventured over to the windy beach. SO WINDY!

Then we made our way over to Lombard Street/Crooked Street. This place was packed with all sorts of tourists, and cars lined up to drive down.

Next we walked over the Ghirardelli Square, where we got FREE chocolate samples!! And saw how they made the delicious chocolate.

Day 4: We finally made it to the BRIDGE!! My personal favorite stop of the trip!! This bridge is so amazing, and so beautiful. We took TONS of pictures!

After the bridge, we went down to a small fort and took a free tour of the place, which was pretty interesting. Then we ventured over to Fisherman's Wharf, and pier 39, where we ate delicious sourdough pizza and sandwiches!! ( Ok, so i couldn't fit in pictures of EVERYTHING! ha ha!) After lunch, we went sailing! This boat took us around Alcatraz, under and around the bridge, and gave us an amazing view of the city from the water.

Sailing was our main event, and really the only thing we spent money on, besides food. Our big splurge. :) And definitely worth it!

After sailing we made if over to Little Italy for Gelato! And over to the cable car museum, where you could see how those things work! Awesome!

After the cable car museum, we went back to the hotel, freshend up and went out to a nice place called Max's for dinner. It was the last night we were going to be together, because Brad and Kjirstin left on a redeye home!

Day 5: Shad and I pretty much had the whole day 'till our plane left at 6:30 pm, so we slept in and mapped out some places that wouldn't be too painful to walk to with a SUITCASE! Haha. But Shad was pretty bummed out that the giants were not in town that weekend, but he still wanted to see the stadium.

It was a very nice stadium right on the water, too bad we couldn't see it in its full glory, in action!

Then we walked back over to Union Square, saw some shops, and got some lunch. And finally made our way to the Airport home. We were actually VERY ready to come home, and sleep in our own bed!

Overall, it was a very successful trip! We saw all the things we wanted to see and more! Sailing was incredible, and the weather couldn't have been better the whole time we were there. We ate lots, and managed to keep our budget! The best part was getting to spend time with our friends again, and all the fun memories. Now, summer is over, and school starts again! Here's to the second year of law school!

Disneyland Blues, but San Fran here we COME!

So, if you know me but at all, you know that I LOVE Disneyland. I'm talking it's my favorite place in the whole wide world. I dream about it at least once a week, and plan our trips months and months in advance. I LOVE IT. We went there for our honeymoon (awesome!) and we went there last summer with our dear friends, Brad and Kjirstin. We had such a wonderful time with them, that as soon as we left last summer we VOWED to go again this summer together. Even though law and medical school would soon separate us. Then I found out that you can get in FREE on your birthday this year!!! And welp, my birthday happens to be August 2nd! Another awesome thing to LOVE about Disneyland. Well, I wasn't about to pass that deal up. So all year long I was dreaming about Disneyland, planning another awesome trip with the B and K... But what do you know? Come early June, and one positive Pregnancy test later, my Disneyland dreams came to an end! Not that I would would trade being Pregnant for anything, I'm just saying, I was a little bummed to find out that you cannot ride ANY of the AWESOME rides while expecting. (Including my FAVORITE Indiana Jones! You can't even ride Soarin' Over California... What's up with that?!?!) So... after going back and forth on the idea that we can just go anyways, and I will stay behind on all the rides. We finally decide that another California destination is for us!!! Brad and Kjirstin being the wonderful friends they are suggested we go to San Francisco instead!! So come tomorrow Shad and I are off to the city by the bay!! And will meet them there!! I'm so excited I can hardly STAND it!!! Shad and I have never been, so we are going to be the ultimate tourists. :) So even though Disneyland is the BEST place on earth, and I can honestly say I'm a little bummed about not going... I am so much more happier to be pregnant, and SO happy to have good friends who will still vacation with us anywhere!! San Francisco here we come!!

Here's to More good Memories...

Funny Story -- Like Seinfeld Funny

Here is a funny thing that happened to me today that I can't resist telling.

Earlier today, I had to go to the Spokane County Jail to exchange paperwork with a client. Normally, when I go there, there are very few visitors, if any, but today, it was hoppin' with "interesting" people. As I was waiting in the lobby, I noticed a very nice old lady sitting near where I was standing. She almost looked like she didn't quite belong there. Immediately after I noticed this old lady, a girl about my age (or a little younger) came around the corner after having visited an inmate herself. When she noticed the old lady, she said "Grandma, how are you?" and walked over and gave her a hug. I thought to myself that they must be there to visit the same person (being family and all). If not, I would have expected the girl to ask her grandma something like "What are you doing here?" Instead, the girl asked, "Grandma, who are you here to see?" I had to refrain from chuckling to myself, and I thought, "how many family members or friends could they have in here?" Then Grandma explained to her that she was there to see someone named Jamie, who she was hoping to bail out or something (I assume it was her son or grandson or someone like that). The girl responded (not surprised at all that someone else she knew was also in jail), "Oh, how is Jamie?. . . Tell him I said hi." I was bursting inside with laughter.

When I got back to the office, I had to tell someone, so when I told this to my boss' secretary, she laughed and responded, "Well, keep it in the family I guess." I say, she got it just about right.

SURPRISE!!!

The Clues ( to our very easy riddle!):

The Answer:

Yup!!! It's true, Shad and I are going to have a little one join our family!! My expected due date is February 15, 2010... our little Valentine! We have been BURSTING to tell this little secret for a while, I am officially 12 weeks and almost out of my first trimester. We were going to wait 'till my next doctor appointment on the 11th, but that just seems SO far away!! We were definitely not expecting this from previous news we received about having children, but a very happy and welcome surprise, hooray!! I have deferred my schooling for a year and will hopefully still go on to receive my Masters next summer 2010. (Because having a baby half way through the year was just not an option in a 13 month INTENSE program.) As you can see from previous posts, pregnancy has been good to me. I have been able to stay pretty active, so that picture above with the morning sickness is not totally accurate. I have not really been sick at all. Here's to another 6 months of feeling good!