Life Update

Hello blog readers, it’s good to be back in contact with you. I wish I could say that my lack of postings is simply due to how overwhelmed, busy, stressed, sought after, etc. that I’ve been. That would be a lie. It’s really just a case of laziness and forgetfulness.

Many of you have asked what the next year holds for our family so I thought I’d post an abbreviated summary of what happened this summer and what the next few months hold for us.

I graduated in May right about the time that Kim went back to work with Jack. We basically spent the next three months in following format: I would occasionally go to work (depending on what the temp agency had found me), Kim would take Aydan to Jack’s house and return to our place mid-morning. It was a blessing that the Shins allowed Kim to spend so much time at our house with Jack. If I wasn’t working I took care of household chores and then would hang out with them the rest of the day. As the summer moved on each day was muggier and less bearable than the day before it. Aydan keeps getting stronger and loves exploring. She’s almost crawling now so the exploration figures to kick into high gear here soon. We had some great family time: a weekend with my parents in Savannah and two weeks with Kim’s mom here. Kim’s brother David moved in with us and will be staying until we leave at some point in the next year.

As I write this, Kim and Aydan are still in Walla Walla and won’t be home until Labor Day while I'm here in DC. Once Kim gets home things really speed up for us. A week from Monday (September 13) I start my career as a Foreign Service Officer. I have five weeks of general training followed by an unknown amount of destination specific training. The first week of class I’ll be given a list of available posts. Kim and I will do our homework on life and work in those places and rate each post as low, medium, or high. The powers that be will incorporate our input into their decisions but can send us anywhere, no matter how we rank the available posts. On October 8^th, everyone will find out where we’re going in a public ceremony called ‘Flag Day’. As each person’s name and destination post is called, said person crosses some kind of stage and shakes hands with someone. ‘But wait’, you may be asking. What happens if you ranked Afghanistan as ‘Don’t send me there or I swear I will retire right now’ and they send you there? You find out in front of everyone? What if you break down crying? Great question. And I really don’t have a good answer for you. Once we learn where we’re heading we’ll also know what our next year looks like. Some posts require extensive language and other training. We could stay in DC for close to a year. Other posts require very little additional training and we could be in our new country before Christmas.

So that’s what we’re looking at. Right now we have no idea what the next few months will bring but that’s what’s so exciting- we really could be headed anywhere.

Thanks for reading and I hope you all can come visit us wherever we end up!

College Football

I am currently watching Arizona play Toledo. It’s not a particularly compelling game but it is football. After the long off-season it feels like a breath of fresh air. This year I’ve given more time than usual to thinking through which teams I despise the most. The reason I put it this way is that most of my rooting decisions are based on who I’d like to see lose.

My criteria are slightly convoluted, but here they are:

1. How much has a team won? Recent national championship winners are always on my Root Against list. As are programs who consider it a disaster to lose three games in a season.

2. Where is the team from? If a team benefits from consistently amazing weather I tend to smile on their demise. Does your team play in LA? Florida? I hope you lose. Wisconsin? Minnesota? Blessings upon you.

3. How arrogant/morally bankrupt does the head coach/quarterback/random booster appear? Currently Nick Saban, Lane Kiffin, and Houston Nutt head this list.

Those are the basic criteria and they range in importance depending on the how I’m feeling on a particular day. One day might see a team’s arrogance earning it my ire despite the fact that it’s playing a traditional powerhouse I regularly root against.

Here is my general ranking of how much I dislike each team with several brief explanations. The list goes from most to least repugnant.

1. Alabama- The perfect trifecta. An amazing combination of a lying coach, history of winning, and a recent national championship. Although to be fair, the only real Alabama fan I know is quite reserved about her team’s dominance.

2. The rest of the SEC- This is largely due to the unending bleating of most SEC fans that only their conference really plays football. Textbook arrogant idiocy and if every SEC team could somehow loose every game I would be one happy camper.

3. Ohio State- The recent humblings have been appreciated, but a good team this year and Buckeye fans will be back louder than ever.

4. Michigan- A few years ago they would have been higher than Ohio State. Nothing against Rich Rodriguez but a few more down years for the Maize and Blue would suit me just fine.

5. Oklahoma- Somehow they bug me more than Texas. Not sure why.

6. Nebraska- I still remember some significant losses they handed the Huskies. It disturbs me to see them playing well again.

7. Texas- I love the logo, but that’s just too much winning for one team.

8. Notre Dame- It’s hard for me to hate a team that really doesn’t win that much but Charlie Weiss knew how to make that happen. I might tolerate them better now that he’s gone.

9. The rest of the Big Ten

10. The rest of the Big Twelve

11. Everyone Else

12. Pac 10 teams- as a dedicated Pac-10 fan I will even root for USC when they play non-conference games. I realize this is a gross violation of every one of my above criteria. Sorry. Here’s my ranking of Pac-10 teams with the most to least loathable.

USC

UCLA

Oregon

Oregon State

Stanford

Cal

Arizona

Arizona State

Washington State

Washington

I realize I've given altogether too much thought to this, but thanks for sticking with me.

ESPN

I love sports. And I like watching ESPN for sports news. But I’ve had a growing feeling of unease as I watch sports reported with such sincere and profound gravity. All news stations are desperate to fill their airtime and end up dwelling, at times, on trivial issues. But with ESPN the disconcerting truth is that everything is ultimately trivial. Maybe someone’s job is at stake and occasionally a player sustains a serious injury. But to hear roster speculation and a batting average reported and debated with such intensity leaves me feeling decidedly empty. People devote their working lives to reporting this? Why do I spend so much time paying attention? Despite the fact that I love sports I have to admit that ESPN is an ultimately trivial endeavor and probably a male version of E! News. Just entertainment taken waaaaay too seriously.

OBX

That's Outer Banks for you West Coasters. Last Wednesday night we were at our friends house and they said they were going to the Outer Banks that weekend (Memorial Day). Some connections fired off in my head, something like this:

1. Do I have Monday off too...?

2. Don't that Johnsons live there?

3. Isn't Peter in Richmond now?

4. Isn't Richmond half way between Washington and the Outer Banks?

Then finally, "Patrick let's go see Bethany and Zack and pick up Peter on the way!!"

So two days later we packed up the Civic and headed down south. Turns out Peter and his dad were already there. Great! For those of you who don't know, Peter is one of Patrick's closest friends. Ken Rowan, Peter's dad, is the "B" in BCRA, my father in laws architect firm. So the whole family are really good friends.

To sum up the weekend, we drove for a long time in traffic to hang out with some awesome friends and play on the beach. Aydan was perfect. She is setting some high expectations for us these days. She didn't cry at all, she slept 11 hours two of the three nights and she was very happy to be held by anyone who wanted to snuggle her. We all loved the beach. It was Aydan's first time and she loved it! We tried surfing. Patrick was pretty good and I was terrible. I blame it on my lack of muscles still...

It was a great weekend and we are thankful for our friends for taking us in. : )

ps i didn't have time to check this so sorry if there are errors. : )

Just hanging out on the surf board.

In her little beach seat. It was perfect because the sun shade was huge and keeps the sun out of her face.

The girls watching the boys surfing. Did I mention Bethany is pregnant? She's having a little boy in October!!

Reflections on Graduation:

On May 16^th I graduated from George Washington University with a Masters in European and Eurasian Studies. It was a busy two years for me and Kim, what with both of us working most of the time and my evenings taken up with classes and studying.

The graduation weekend itself was fun. My parents came to town and saw my Elliott School graduation on Friday and the full school graduation on Sunday. The idea behind the two ceremonies (near as I can tell) is that with the full school graduating together it would be too time consuming to march everyone across the stage and hand them a diploma. Of course this doesn’t stop other schools (UW, I’m looking your direction) from holding interminable ceremonies that can only be survived with a thick book and a comfortable bleacher to sleep on. Anyway, the Elliott School holds a separate graduation ceremony where we get our names called and are handed a medal and shake someone’s hand. It was fine, but I’m not sure why they feel compelled to have so many speakers. Also, each speaker’s credentials have to be read out loud before he or she speaks. Am I more likely to listen if you tell me what journals he’s written for? In fact I’m trapped and would listen if he were the night janitor reading the day’s stock report.

Two days later the full school graduation was held on the National Mall with the Capitol in the background. We began by processing in. Wait, no we didn’t. Instead of dealing with the logistical difficulties of walking everyone in, they simply had us all sit down and then played processional music for 20 minutes. Why? I don’t mind not walking in, but let’s get on with things. Michelle Obama was the keynote speaker and discussed community service as a continuing lifestyle. It was a good address and cool to hear her speak.

I think the weekend really did sum up my feelings about grad school: I enjoyed my time here but I never felt emotionally connected to the school. It was more of a business transaction or a professional relationship. I gave them an ungodly amount of money, performed the requested tasks, and they gave me a good base of knowledge, some professional skills, and a degree. During my undergrad degree I never felt like I learned much (although I probably did) but I connected with the school, the campus, the clubs, and all the people there. At GW it was the other way around. I know I learned but I don’t think I really connected. I like visiting WWU- the campus holds so many memories and good times. I don’t imagine I’ll be nostalgic when I return to GW’s campus in the future. This might be the simple difference between undergrad and grad school and I certainly didn’t expect a similar experience, but it’s interesting nonetheless.

College was a unique experience that really laid a foundation for friendships and behavior patterns that I expect will last the rest of my life. Grad school seems to have served a more utilitarian purpose restricted to my professional life. Not that I didn’t make friends or grow as a person over the past two years, just that it’s been a different experience from college in almost every way. And while I did enjoy it in way, I’m glad to be moving on.

Patrick and the other EES students.

Aydan is cheering for Dad in this picture.

Aydan's First Month of Life

It's not the best quality but it's still nice.

A Little Perfect Life

It's been a bit over a month now and I'm finally at the place where I can sit back and document the birth of our little girl.  So skip this post if it's boring to you. It's long but I wanted to write it out for our memories.

For weeks before the birth I had been going to a hematologist weekly for blood testing. My platelet levels were low and my doctor wanted to have them monitored because if they dropped too low I could have some problems with bleeding and getting an epidural, which in turn would be a major problem if I needed a C-section. Because of this issue and because the baby was getting pretty big my doctor wanted to induce me on Tuesday March 30th.  This worked well as our parents would be in town.

My parents arrived on Saturday, March 27th and the Connallys arrived on Monday, March 29th. Tuesday morning my dad drove me and Patrick to the hospital to have our baby.

We arrived, checked in and went to our perfect delivery room.  Our amazing nurse, Helen, drew my blood to check the platelet levels.  Good news: they had dropped but not too far.  Knowing that they might keep dropping, they wanted to place the epidural catheter in my back before there were problems incase I needed a C-section later and my platelets were too low to give me the epidural.  Before putting that in, they started the Petosin at about 10 am. They then placed the epidural catheter into my back.  It was not hooked up to any medicine, it was just the catheter all ready for the medicine incase I needed or wanted it.

At 11AM I was in bed, swollen, huge and ready to have this baby. Our parents and Susan, Jack's mom,  came to the hospital so they could be there for the birth, little did they know they'd be spending their entire day there. We waited and waited and waited... I was having major contractions the whole time, or so the monitor told us.  I would never had known because I did not feel anything even though I wasn't hooked up to any medicine. It was shocking and beautiful.

The doctor came in every few hours and told me that I was still not ready and to keep up the good work. So we all hung out and talked, played cards and watched TV.  At 4:30 the doctor broke my water which we hoped would speed up the process but it didn't seem to.  So we kept on waiting. I really was having a good time, pain free, making progress (very slowly but it was progress) and I had great people around to chat with.  The only sucky part was that I hadn't eaten for hours, but I guess that's how it goes.

It wasn't until 12:30 AM that the contractions started getting overwhelming.  I kicked everyone except Patrick and my mom out and they went home and took a nap.  My dad stayed at the hospital but slept on a couch in the waiting room. I asked for the epidural medicine at this point and because I already had the catheter in it was quick and easy to get the relief I was wanting. The epidural was a good one though, I could still feel the contractions and pressure but didn't have as much pain. A little after 2:00AM I was ready to push. Mom called the Connallys and Susan who all came rushing back to the hospital to be there for the birth. Everyone but Patrick and my mom stood in the hallway and waited. Susan layed on the floor outside my door listening to what was going on inside through the crack in the floor and gave my dad, Rory and Connie a play by play.

Aydan was born at 3:41 AM on March 31st. She was beautiful. Purple, but beautiful. I looked into her eyes and fell in love with her. Patrick was an amazing coach and husband, he cried and spoke quietly to our little girl, seeing him love her was amazing. My mom was in the room with us, and I would not have wanted it any other way.  The nurses were super supportive and all around great. It was the perfect moment.

As soon as she was born Susan and Connie came into the room to meet her. Soon after the nurses took Aydan off my chest and took her behind a curtain in our room to clean her up, weigh her and let her meet her grandpas.

While that was happening the doctor and nurses were dealing with me. Because of my low platelets my bleeding got pretty bad. I won't go into the gory details but know that it was very scary for awhile but the nurses and doctor acted quickly and the bleeding finally stopped.

After I was all fixed up I got my little girl back, we all said good bye to the family and she and I snuggled down and she nursed for the first time. After that she slept in her little bassinet next to my bed and Patrick slept in the fold out bed next to me. It was a nice hour of sleep.

We were woken up an hour later because my heart rate, which was high the entire labor, was still really high, ranging from 150-160.  So the doctor ordered a chest x-ray and some kind of sonogram of my heart.  So, after being awake for 24 hours, not eating (I still wasn't allowed to eat by this time because I was throwing up after I had Aydan), loosing lots of blood and not to mention just giving birth, I was pushed to the x-ray room where I nearly passed out trying to stand for the x-ray.  After that they took me back to our room, let me eat and sleep for another hour and then took me away for my sonogram test.   All the tests came back fine so that is good. It wasn't the best way to feel bonded with my daughter but I'm glad they were being proactive with my health.

It was a tiring 26 hours but so worth it.

Belly Thoughts

As of today we have 4 weeks and 4 days until our due date... what that means as far as us having the little one in our arms is nothing really. A lady at our church just had her baby 3 weeks early and another was 2 weeks late... so who really knows when she will come... I hope it's March 27th at night bc then my parents will be here and the baby will be born on the 27th, me on the 28th and patrick on the 29th... different months but still that would be cool.

I have had an increase in tiredness and have been over all uncomfortable. Some of this is due to the fact that I have a low iron count. I'm going to see a hematologist on Tuesday and hope to get on some medicine to raise those levels which will give me more energy and steer me away from a labor that will force me to not be able to have an epidural. A few good things are that Patrick is doing a fantastic job around the house, especially bc he does not have to work this semester, keeping it clean and keeping me as comfortable as possible. Also, the baby is healthy and moving around like crazy. And my mom is coming out on Tuesday for a conference. She will be in meetings everyday but it will be very nice having her around in the evenings.

We took a birth class last weekend... it was long 9-5 on Sat and 9-12 on Sun but it was good and I'm glad we did it.

Here are a couple of pictures for you. The first is of the tummy at 30 weeks and the second is of the tummy at 35... so exciting... well kind of... : )

30 Weeks

Not sure what's up with my eyes but here is a shot at 35 weeks

Patrick clearly isn't as far along as I am.

This is a Pottery Barn frame. I made a collage using a bunch of letters that Patrick and I wrote to each other while we were dating as the back ground. Once the baby is born we will take a picture of her little feet in the shape of a heart and put our wedding rings on her big toes and put that in the center of the frame. I think it will be cute in her room.

Here is my second project. I took a few of the cards we received from the showers that were thrown for me and made a little collage so the baby will see how much she is loved even though we are far from everyone. This too will go in her room.

The last framed project I have that is not yet completed is the same Pottery Barn frame with 4 holes in it and each one will be filled with a picture of the baby's grandparents as children. This too will go in her room, which she will have in May when Patrick is graduated.

Our Year 2009

Here's a video that I made with pictures from this past year. I hope you enjoy it.

Snow Day. Wait, 3 Days! A Week?

As many of you know, it snowed recently here. The snow started last Friday as a few friendly flakes leisurely made their way to the ground. On Saturday it kept up and by Sunday we were buried in 2 ½ feet of snow. Like other husbands on the East Coast I used all of Sunday morning to dig my way from our porch, across the yard, all the way around the car and then out to the street that had been recently plowed. On our street, they only plowed one lane down the middle of the road. And with 30 inches of snow you can imagine the piles that accumulate on each side of the plow as it works its way down the road. So in order to get our car out onto said plowed road, I had to cut a huge swath through a veritable mountain of snow created by the plow. The beauty is that after you finally get a path cleared the plow comes through a few hours later and traps your car behind another mountain of snow.

So Kim and I had an indoor weekend. And then classes and work were cancelled on Monday. Kim did a half day of work before coming home on Tuesday (my classes were cancelled) and then both of us sat back wishing we had something to do on Wednesday and Thursday as everything shut down again due to another foot of snow showing up Tuesday night. Only this time it came with a lot of wind in legitimate blizzard conditions. So I dug the car out again on Thursday morning.

At some point in there (Monday?) Kim and I walked to the grocery store along with the rest of the entire population of Arlington. You’ll be glad to know that Kim did not accidentally give birth on an abandoned snowy street in between our house and the grocery store although it was a concern.

What did we do while going crazy inside you might ask. The house is organized better than it has been in a long time and is all ready for a baby. Beforehand there was a lot of ‘Zelda: Twilight Princess’ going unplayed- a situation we were able to remedy. I got some schoolwork done, but let’s be honest, a snow day means no school.

Last Friday we were finally back in action. Kim was at work with Jack and I was at school. More snow came Monday night but it was light and we laughed at its pitiful attempts to stop us. Now we have no snow until the Saturday… So if you’re thinking of coming to visit us (which you should be) maybe don’t come until August which is the earliest I can guarantee that these piles will be gone.

Thanks for all your calls and emails. We love hearing from you guys.

Adios for now.

A few shots of the car from the week. The first two are from the first storm and the second is after/during the second storm.

Patrick digging us out, literally.

Our car is behind that huge pile of snow on the right side of the street next to the telephone pole. You can't even see it.

Pictures of our walk after the first storm.

Patrick digging us out after the second storm. The cove our car is in will be there for the next 100 years probably.

I don't think these pictures do justist to the crazy amount of snow and huge piles of ice we have here.

Here is a picture from this week (Feb. 20th). Jack was doing a great job helping Patrick shovel away all the snow. A good Jack quote, "The snow LOVES the water!" with a delighted squeal as he puts the snow in the gutter that was like a little river taking the snow away. Another good Jack quote from the week, "I think I'm going to be in heaven before this snow is gone!" said with a sarcastic voice he could have only learned from me. Funny.

January 27, 2009: A Day that Will Live in Gloriousness

If I’ve already called and told you all this then feel free to skip to the 10% off dry cleaning coupon at the bottom of the page, but on January 27^th I passed the final stage of the Foreign Service Officer selection process.

It’s a multi-stage process that I started years ago when I took the written exam, right after graduating from Western. Over the next couple of years I took the written part two more times before finally passing it in June of 2009. The next stage was to submit several short essays which I passed as well.

The oral section of the exam is the last and supposedly most difficult section. About 20% of people pass the first time with many taking it numerous times before passing. The thing that’s so frustrating is that if you fail you have to start the process over from the beginning.

When Kim and I got home from Christmas break I started studying and preparing. The State Department provides fairly comprehensive study and introductory materials. There are also several independently organized study groups in the area so I had no shortage of papers, files, personal accounts of the exam, etc. to get me started. The oral exam has three parts- a group exercise where six applicants are given several projects and limited resources and have to decide on which projects to fund, a memo writing section, and a 2-on-1 interview. For the group exercise I found a couple sample files on line and practiced with the study groups that meet around here. I also made Kim listen to me give my little presentations that each person has to give during the exercise. For the interview section I wrote up every question I could imagine them asking and then had Kim interview me. They didn’t ask me any of those questions but it was helpful practice.

The day of the exam I felt pretty confident. There were only six of us testing that day and we all got along and worked together well. After each of the exercises I felt I had performed well, but only at the end of the day do they tell you how you’ve done. After completing the final exercise we had to wait for more than an hour before receiving our results. I hadn’t been nervous all day but during this time I started to worry. Knowing that so few pass I was ready to get bad news and take the exam again. But as I sat there looking back on the day I felt strongly that I’d done well at everything. I was worried that if I didn’t pass I really wouldn’t know how to come back and improve a second time. Each stage had gone as well as I had hoped.

Finally they called each of our names one at a time. After everyone else had been called, a professor and I were called in together and told we had passed the oral exam. The examiners were very congratulatory and seemed genuinely excited that we had passed. It was a great day and texting Kim to tell her I’d passed was obviously fantastic.

Now we’re on to the next stage, medical and security clearances. I got my medical clearance on Friday and Kim will finish hers once the baby comes. The security clearance will take a lot longer. I’m supposed to expect a call in a month or so and then an investigator will start working with me to go through my background, contact all kinds of people, and basically make sure I’m not a threat to national security. We’ll keep you guys update but if it all goes smoothly I should be able to start training this summer and then be posted at an embassy by this time next year or even earlier.

Thanks for all your prayers and thanks for reading!

Here's Patrick the morning of the big test. Looking so handsome and confidant with his new suit and nice green tie he got for Christmas from my parents.

That Which I Hope to Never Experience Again

Kim and I just returned from spending Christmas in Washington. The time there was worth it's own post but for now I'd like to focus on the debacle bookending our visit- the travel.

The week before we were scheduled to leave reports began to trickle in that a snow storm was headed our way. As our Saturday departure drew closer the storm grew in anticipated magnitude. Our flight was officially cancelled at 3 pm on Friday, about 4 hours before any snow fell. On what was supposed to be a celebratory final night in DC, I spent 2 hours on the phone rescheduling our flight. We were put on a 1:30 pm flight. I asked the customer service rep why our original flight at 8:30 had been cancelled but a 1:30 flight hadn't when the snow was predicted to get worse all day. After being on hold for two hours I was in no mood to get back on the phone if our new flight was cancelled. Sure enough, one hour after being assigned to the 1:30 flight it was cancelled. I got back on the phone and waited on hold for 3 hours. The only bright spot was that all 3 of those hours were spent playing Wii tennis. Eventually we were placed on a Sunday afternoon flight out of Baltimore.

The next day (Saturday) we sat inside and watched the snow pile up. In the afternoon I dug the car out in case we needed it on Sunday and was openly mocked by a neighbor for doing so. She informed me she would have left earlier in the week rather than traveling during a snow storm. Next time I buy a plane ticket 4 months out I'll be sure to check with her on what the weather will be.

Sunday morning I got up and dug the car out a second time. After weighing different options we decided to try to drive to the metro, which we did successfully thanks to plowed roads. The metro ride to Union Station was uneventful but slow. Arriving at Union Station we found that all trains had been cancelled for almost two days, turning the station into a refugee camp. People and luggage were crammed into every corner and there seemed to be no chance that a train would leave in time for us to catch our plane. Kim and I ran back down to the metro hoping to get back to our car in time for us to drive (slowly and cautiously) to Baltimore (an hour drive in normal conditions). We jumped on the first car and... sat there for 15 minutes. The metro was running slowly and the next car wasn't scheduled to leave for another 15 minutes. We grudgingly disembarked and trudged back up to the trains hoping some would leave soon.

By the time trains started leaving a general announcement was made that amounted to "if you have a ticket for any train, you may shove you way, caged animal-like, onto any departing train you choose." Kim and I managed to battle our way past a ticket lady intent on not letting us board and get seats on a train headed to Boston. It stopped at Baltimore airport allowing us to try and catch our plane which had been delayed enough to give us hope.

When we got into the airport we hopped in a long line hoping to check our luggage. The line did not move. It took several scouting expeditions to ascertain why not. Untied Airlines, in their unrivaled wisdom, had all four of their ticketing counters open to help any customer with any problem. The problem (obvious to all of us in the line) was that many people in the line were trying to reschedule cancelled flights. About an hour before our flight was to leave, Kim interrupted one of the agents to explain that unless a specific line was devoted to people wanting to check luggage, we would all miss our flights and then need to be rebooked as well. She told Kim there was nothing she could do. Really? No one there had the authority to redo the line plan? We finally found a lady willing to let us sneak to the front of one the lines and check our bags. I don't know what happened to the suckers in line behind us also waiting to check bags. Thankfully our flight was delayed even more, allowing us to make the flight.

After flying through Charlotte and Denver, we were relieved to find our last flight to Pasco delayed enough to let us catch it. As we sat waiting, assuming our troubles were behind us, a chipper young lady informed everyone that due to weather conditions in Pasco we might be dropped in Redmond and provided "alternate transportation". Redmond? Near Seattle? The chipper lady didn't know. Turned out to be Redmond, Oregon. In my politest voice I asked the desk lady why Redmond had been chosen when other airports were much closer. Walla Walla? Yakima? Spokane? She didn't know but later informed all of us that Spokane was the new alternate airport. So there we were at close to midnight, calling my uncle in Spokane, waking him up, and asking if he could pick us up at the Spokane airport in two hours. Ridiculous. Finally, minutes away from landing in Pasco, the captain came on and informed us that visibility was good enough for him to drop down close to the runway and determine whether or not he could land safely. For someone with a mild fear of flying I thought Kim remained remarkably calm at that announcement. We eventually did land in Pasco and stayed with my uncle, arriving at his house around 1 am Pacific Coast Time, that's 4 am our time, after over 18 hours of total travel time.

The trip home was less eventful but still frustrating. We arrived at Seatac to find that our flight to Dallas was delayed enough that we would miss our connection to DC. We were rebooked on a later flight out of Dallas. After enduring the standard screening we headed to our gate only to be told that our Seatac-Dallas flight was delayed even more, thus causing us to miss our rebooked connection. After another hour on the phone, we were put on a flight to Chicago with an immediate connection through to DC. We arrived in Chicago, hurried to our gate... and obviously found out that our connection was delayed due to mechanical problems. At this point our spirits, as well as any trust in airlines, were so crushed we could do nothing but slink to our seats and accept our fate like Thanksgiving turkeys. When we finally boarded, Kim and I were in the front row of the small airplane and thus perfectly able to hear the crew discuss the problems the plane was experiencing. We were also the first on board to hear the captain tell the stewardesses that we'd have to deboard the plane and wait still longer. So we did. And we waited again. For a long time. We got a call from our ride in DC telling us they'd be unable to pick us up as we were getting in so late. We eventually survived an extremely shaky landing, caught a cab home and climbed into bed at 2 am- more than 5 hours after we were originally supposed to get home.

For those of you still reading, I'll run down the final numbers.

Total time lost: about 39 hours

Total number of flights flown: 5

Total number of flights delayed or cancelled: 9

Price paid for direct flights we never got: $500

Hoping your travel went better than ours, Happy New Year!

Done with school, snowed in

This week I (Patrick) finished my classes as well as my internship, leaving me free as a bird for two days. I spent the majority of those two days looking forward to being in Washington and was thus crushed when Kim called on Friday to say our Saturday morning flight had been cancelled due to an expected snow storm. Usually I love snow and callously disregard the people who might be inconvenienced by it.

After calling to rebook our flight I spent two hours on the phone with several customer service agents. We were eventually booked on a flight at 1:30 pm Saturday. I asked the agent why a 9 am flight would be cancelled but a 1:30 flight wouldn't when the storm was supposed to get worse throughout the day. We ended up booked on the 1:30 flight feeling certain that flight would be cancelled as well. It was. I then called to rebook again, only to be put on hold for (no exaggeration) 3 hours. We're currently booked on a 1:55 pm flight out of Baltimore that stops at most airports in the continental United States before getting to Pasco sometime just before the next presidential election. I'm not sure how we'll get to Baltimore if the flight should actually take off.

Oh, one bright spot is that the Shins (the family Kim nannies for) gave us a Wii for Christmas so our unexpected snow day can be spent bowling and playing tennis.

Apologies to all Eastern Washington family and hopefully we'll see you soon. Adios!

Nashville Skyline

For Thanksgiving Kim and I went to Nashville to visit the Verner family, recently ranked the #7 family in the country for "Good times with Amy Grant relatives". It was a fantastic trip and a reminder how good it is to be surrounded by good friends. We stayed in Brentwood with Pace and Brandon Verner (great hosts) and their too-cute-to-be-true sons Afton and Sims. Afton is 3 years old and can say his ABC's in a killer country accent. Sims is 5 months old and does a lot of smiling.

We left on Wednesday and drove more than 10 hours to Nashville. Deep in rural Virginia we hit a bizarre traffic jam. Who goes out there? We hit the same thing on the way back, so apparently more people than I would've thought. We got in late, reunited with Hunter and Laura and crashed.

On Thanksgiving day we joined Hunter's extended family at his uncle's cabin. It's a beautiful log cabin sandwiched between a river and small hay fields. Seriously an amazing place. It was like summer camp: we went on a bike ride, played kickball, went on a hike, ate amazing food, and then played around on hay bales.

The next day was a work day. I won't try to explain to you what we did as i could spend pages and I'm not sure I'd really convey what happened. Basically it took 8 dudes 4 hours to get a 350 lb. roof to sit precariously on top of a vertical 18 foot log. For lunch that day several people suggested we have a "meat n' three". As the name suggests, one chooses a meat and three accompanying vegetables. Example: "Hey, I'm getting hungry. Wanna grab a meat n' three?" That night some cousins came over and we had a game night. Kim's sculpterade of a saddle could also have passed for Jabba the Hut. We also attended a performance of "The First Thanksgiving" as interpreted by a 3 and 6 year old which was one of the funniest shows I've ever seen.

On Saturday we slept in, took a walk around a nearby lake, and spent the afternoon hanging out with the relatives across the street brewing beer in the garage and watching football. That night we went to Jane and Glenn's house for a delicious Verner family dinner. What did they put on their cornbread you may be asking? Butter? Honey? No no. Yogurt and cayenne pepper obviously. Basically a perfect day.

On Sunday we got up and headed home. Unfortunately we ran into traffic again on the way back and spent 12 HOURS in the car. That is basically an intolerable amount of time. But it didn't ruin the amazing Thanksgiving weekend we'd just had.

Thanks Pace, Brandon, Afton, Sims, Hunter, Laura, Stuart, Erin, Katherine, Jane and Glenn! Hopefully we'll see you again soon

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Baby Connally

By now you all know we have a little girl on the way. I am almost 25 weeks along. She will be coming around the end of March or begain of April. Patrick and I are very excited as are our parents, family and friends. There has not been a girl in the Connally family for 82 years!! So, yes, we are all very very excited. Here are some common questions people have had and my answers:

• How were/are you feeling?

The first trimester was very hard, I was extremely tired. Everyone tells you that pregnancy makes you tired but I had no idea... Patrick has been working and then going to school from 7:30-10 four nights a week, so life was pretty hard for the first 20 or so weeks. He will be done in two weeks and won't be working next semester so life will slow down a lot.

I was never really sick until like 16 weeks when everything I smelled or put in my mouth made me throw up, even some sounds make me throw up... weird. During this time I didn't have any real cravings it was more like there were only a few things I could eat with out throwing up.

For the last month or so I've been feeling really really good. I've had way more energy and have been able to go on longer walks and eat almost anything. Which makes me and the baby and Patrick very happy. Patrick was great during those first weeks, he helped out a lot around the house and made dinner most mornings for us to eat that night. Amazing.

• Do you have any names picked out?

We have been having a very hard time coming up with girl names, so no, we don't have any names... not even a list of names we like...

Patrick has said that once we've decided on a name we will not tell anyone. But at this rate you will find out when we do, a day or so after she is born. : )

• Do you have a room for her?

We will have her in a little bassinet with us for the first few months until Patrick gets done with school in mid May. Then we will move our guest room down to where his office is now and we will make a nursery of the what is now a guest room. So, there will be a room for all of you when you come to visit, even after baby.

Well, I think that about does it for questions. If you have any others then please post them and I will get back to you. : )

A few quick fun stories:

The Sunday morning after we found out the baby was a girl, we were woken by a knock on the door, it was Jack, the little guy I nanny. He had a little outfit in his hand with his arm extended toward us. The outfit has little panda heads on the feet, and when we asked Jack where the baby's feet went he said, "In the panda slippers." Too cute!

Last Tuesday night we were packing for Nashville and I laid down to rest and the baby was kicking like crazy. It was really cool because it was the first time we could actually see her kicking. My belly was dancing around like Frosty when he has his hat on (ok I'm listening to that song right now). So Patrick and I obviously sat there for like 30 mins just watching her getting it done.

I was going to have Patrick edit this and write in his own thoughts but he has a final paper due tomorrow and a huge final next week so he won't have time to do look it over, so forgive the poor grammar and ramblings. I will say for him though that he is very excited to be a daddy. He is going to be great! I would say the best dad but then that would make him better than my dad and his dad so maybe just a tie for the best with both of them. : )

Here are some pictures of her first sonogram at 11 weeks:

Here's the belly at 16 Weeks

Belly at 20 Weeks

This is the sonogram from Nov. 6th when we found out she was a girl. She had been waving to us right before we turned the camera on. It's not the best video but it's still pretty cool.

Our Summer

Ok so the summer has been here and gone for a long time now. So I will quickly give you a recap of what we did and who we got to see...as I remember it anyway. We have been busy busy busy this summer. On Aug. 29th we were here for one full year. During that year we had 52 visitors from WA, amazing.

My summer visitors started when Patrick left to Europe. I had two friends come and visit during that time, Pami and Anna. Pami came the first week Patrick was gone and Anna came the last. It was great timing. Pami and I went to a Carbon Leaf concert and other fun excursions around Washington. Anna, Jack and I hung out a lot. We played, explored and painted our living room and dining room. It was really nice.

Patrick returned home on a Wed. and we left to Bellingham for Hunter and Laura's wedding that Friday. But before we left some family friends, the Kageys, came to town on vacation and had dinner with us one night. It was nice to catch up with them. The wedding weekend was a great 4 days, we got to see all of our college friends and both our parents. We had one last breakfast with the whole Connally family before Brendan and Erin left for Peru for the next chapter of their lives. It was a beautiful, fun and refreshing weekend.

Us with the happy couple

Patrick with four of his best friends

12 of the 14 guys from their college house... oh the stories these guys have from that house

Me, Carlee and Lily Lim

The brothers together for the last time before Brendan and Erin head to Peru

We flew back to DC and that weekend my grandparents, aunt, her two kids and my mom came to visit. They all stayed at the house and it was one of the best weeks ever. They visited a lot of what Washington has to offer and came home so tired they didn't even fight at night : ) They were here over the 4th of July so we left grandma and grandpa at home and the rest of us plus another cousin that lives here, Chris, braved the metro and ppl to see the awesome fireworks over the Potomac with the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument in the background. It was really an awe inspiring sight. The week was great and went by too quickly. Everyone went back the next Sunday but my mom stayed for an extra week. It was really nice to have her here. Jack really loves having her here too because he gets special crafts and cookie making time, which is a great thing when you're 3 : ) That week also went by very quickly too soon we were saying good bye to mom.

EmmaLee lost her first tooth while she was here. Good thing the Tooth Fairy found her here.

Kobe, EmmaLee and Jack in his soccer outfit Patrick brought back for him

Me and Kobe on the metro on the way home from the 4th of July fireworks

Brendan and Erin with Jack

Then Patrick and I had about three weeks to ourselves before more visitors arrived. During those weeks we celebrated our 3rd anniversary and three days later found out I was pregnant. You all know the story behind this but I'm going to write another blog about that and how it's going after this one. It was a great time for us and we were very happy and excited for our baby to come.

The next set of visitors arrived in early August. The Clare family is a great family who have three kids, two in highschool and one in middle school. Lorraine taught 4th grade my last year at First Pres. and now has my job as the 5th/4th grade teacher. They were really fun to have visit us. The whole family ran around like crazy seeing everything all day long then came home and hung out with us. We really enjoyed having them and seeing how much they loved and appreciated this amazing city.

Patrick and the boys playing football while waiting to go to the top of the Washington Monument

The day after the Clares left three more friends came into town, Andy, Anna and Lucy. We had them for a week of playing and hanging out. We visited Philadelphia while they were here and basically just hung out bc I was too tired to do much of anything. It was great time though.

Anna and Jack swinging

Andy and Jack at McDonald's Play Land

Philadelphia

In September Paul and Sybil from Tacoma came into town for business and came over for dinner one night and spent an afternoon at Mt. Vernon with us and Jack. Paul climbed Mt. Adams and Mt. Ranier with Patrick the past two summers and this year they conquered Mt. Vernon together.... : ) It was really nice to see them and show them around a bit.

Mid October the Connallys came out for a visit. They were here for about 10 days two of which were spent in Baltimore at an insurance conference for BCRA (super exciting I'm sure). It was really nice to have them here. Rory did little projects around the house and Connie made dinner and lunch most days. Excellent! They are both very excited about the baby coming and did their fair share of practicing one day when we took Jack to the zoo. Patrick was really busy that week but did manage to spend some time home and with his parents.

When the Connallys left we had about 4 days until our next visitors. Our friends from Walla Walla, Mell and Riley Gribnau. Riley is 9 and was so excited to be visiting the Capital and Mell is a teacher in Walla Walla so she too was very excited to be here to learn and also to see us. They were here for 10 days as well. They were very fun to have around. Riley is hilarious and both are adventurous.

Now we're taking a quick breather before we head to Nashville to spend Thanksgiving with Hunter's family. After that it's only a few weeks before we take another trip back to the homeland.

Thanks for reading and we hope to see all you soon!