We're having a boy!

We had our 20 week ultrasound today and it went great! Everything looked perfect: arms, legs, hands, feet, head, lips, spine and internal organs. His heartbeat was 155 bpm. He's just under a pound and about 8 or 9 inches from head to toe. He's a good looking baby! We will post a photo later.

A new calling...

I got a new calling in our ward at Church a week or two ago.

Ward Choir Director

Yikes! I made the mistake of agreeing to sub one Sunday for our Choir director who was unexpectedly out of town on the day we were supposed to perform. I lead the choir during the performance. Whoops! I'm sure I was immediately pegged.

Oh boy. I've been in a few choirs over the years, some in school, some in church. I took a conducting course as part of my music minor. But I'm not sure any of this experience will prepare me for the phenomonon known as Ward Choir. It's a whole different animal. Begging people to come sing so it's not just a handful of people. Teaching music fundamentals to the new musician while tactfully absorbing the unsolicited advice of the old musician ;) and praying your guts out that the whole thing comes off during the performance. It will be a blast.

If ANY of you have ANY advice, resources or tips on leading a ward choir, I welcome them!

Wish me luck!

You're Fired

I got an email today at work that was too funny not to share. It came as an auto response when I sent an email to a person who is apparently no longer at that company. I've changed the names to protect the innocent:

To whom it may concern:

I regret to inform you that John Doe no longer works at Acme Corporation.

Your email has been forwarded to Bob, who will then deal with your enquiry or pass your information to a member of staff who will be best suited to help.

We are sorry for the inconvenience this may cause but can assure you that this decision will benefit our service to you in the long run.

Please feel free to call me at any time just to discuss the new arrangements and put your mind at rest. Thank you for your continued support.

Signed,
The Managing Director

I'm glad I don't work for that guy!

New Furniture

It's amazing how different a room can seem with new furniture. We found these couches for a great deal on Craig's List and were happy to make them part of our home. They're pretty comfy and work for us!

Happy Labor Day!

I hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend as much as we did! We spent Saturday doing our usual errands and cleaning (all the boring stuff) but it felt so much more relaxed knowing not everything had to be crammed into one day. Sunday was a calm day of worship, and we made some killer fajitas for dinner.

Then on Monday, we got up at a decent hour, gave Doug a haircut, ate french toast (yes I made GF bread just for that!), then dug into cleaning out our clothes closet. Doug and I both put away a big stack of clothes that we don't wear, separated a bunch for donation, and did some reorganizing. We only got 80% of the way through, though, before our time ran out. We had already made plans to go to the dollar ($1.50 really) theater to watch Iron Man. What a great movie, and what a great time we had! It was wonderful to just walk away from the messy bedroom and go have fun with my spouse! After the movie, we came back and busily started preparations for a Labor Day feast. We grilled baby back ribs with a super tasty apple cider mop. Doug was in charge of grilling and did an awesome job. I made some potatoes, and our friends brought over a cool summer cucumber salad, corn on the cob and homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream. Could not have been tastier! After fat-dogging for a few minutes after the meal, we played cards and ate ice cream until it was unfortunately time for bed. Sad that it's still a work night even on a holiday. But yeay for the holiday!!

He was born a carnivore!

We actually made it through 2 1/2 of these racks (between the 4 of us).