Hello. We're going to have a baby. In fact, we're going to have a baby very soon. Have we installed the car seat? No. Have we painted the nursery? No. Have we taken birth classes? Packed a hospital bag? No. And the worst part: we haven't picked out a name. September marked 5 years since we decided to add to our family. So how is it possible we are so un-ready???
This is where our friends and family come in and save the day. Here are the names we're deciding between, in no particular order (for some reason I feel it necessary to remind you of our last name after every one of these. Helps with the flow):
James Tiberius Thorson (this will not actually be happening, but that's not to say we haven't talked about it)
Jesse James Thorson
Daniel Atticus Thorson
Samuel Atticus Thorson
Jack Benjamin Thorson
Benjamin Jack Thorson
Jack Daniel Thorson (this will also not actually be happening, but we bring it up every time, thinking we've found the perfect combination...)
Vote for your favorite. Orson Thorson is out.
Friday, September 28, 2012
Friday, September 7, 2012
26 goals from my 26th year
My friend Carrie recently had a birthday and updated her goals list, and I was reminded to do the same. Yeah, my birthday was in July, but better late than never. Here's what I set out to do in my 26th year of life:
2. Make a table/learn how to use power tools!
Done. We made our end table and are now in the middle of a coffee table project.
4. Get published, even if it's in a teeny tiny magazine
Nope. After we moved to Spokane, I stopped writing. Other things took priority (see #16).
5. Become a really good visiting teacher
Sadly, this was not accomplished. It's not a great excuse, but we moved wards 4 times last year. It made it difficult to establish relationships.
6. Go camping. This seems silly--especially for Jesse and me, who love camping--but we've never been camping together.
I can't believe we didn't do this one! We did buy a little rafty boat, and we went fishing. Does that count?
7. Run 5 miles without stopping. I'm getting close. Or rather, I got close once...
This did not happen. (also see #16)
8. Learn to hem pants
Ok. I didn't ever hem any pants, but I did drag out my sewing machine and learn how to work it. I sewed some practice seams, and I'm fairly confident I sort of think I could hem pants if I needed to.
9. Go to the temple by myself
Done! One sunny evening after work, I drove to the Medford Temple and spent a peaceful evening there. That is also when I decided my temple dress was getting much too tight (see #16 again).
10. Sew something I can actually wear
No...
11. Unpack all our stuff that's been in storage for 2 years
I think I/we get double points for this one. In October we moved to Spokane--where all our stuff was in storage--and unpacked everything into our rental house. Then in April we packed everything up, moved back to Oregon, stuck it all in a storage unit while living with my parents for a few months, then unpacked it all again in our current apartment. All right, Jesse unpacked most of it this time.
12. Surprise Jesse. With anything. I've never been sneaky enough to do this
Done! I managed to surprise him several times. For Christmas, I surprised him with our filled-out adoption papers. For his birthday, I threw him out of a hot air balloon. I hadn't meant this to be all about gifts, and maybe I surprised him with my wit and charm and womanly strength throughout the year, but that's not documentable.
13. Make a chocolate soufflé
This was one of several things I planned to do the last few days I was 26. But I consciously decided to do relax those days. This one's carrying over.
14. Experiment with "raw food"
Done.
15. Make a blog book of our England adventures
Although I didn't make a blog book per se, I did make 3 different photo books of some of our England trips/memories. I'm counting it.
16. Start a family
YES!!!!!!!!!! This was the most time-consuming goal, and everything I didn't do gets swallowed up in the fact that we accomplished this one. We began this process in August and did 2 rounds of IVF. Each round takes about 3 months, and I won't bore you with the details, but let's say it's pretty involved. And here we are, 7 months pregnant! It's a miracle. And definitely not something I did on my own...
17. Build something out of pallets
I built pallet shelves. They might be in my parents' side yard because they didn't really turn out.
18. Make my bed everyday
Nope. Carrying over.
19. Fly a kite
I brought Jesse to a cool outdoor Irish rock concert and even borrowed a kite from my mom, but it wasn't windy. No go.
20. Visit a new state
Done! We flew down to Oklahoma for my nephew's baptism.
21. Have our own Christmas tree
Did this, and it was our favorite Christmas so far.
22. Join a Zumba class (I spy on this class in the gym and laugh at the old guy who shakes his booty and the girls who get really into the moves, but it's only because I'm jealous...)
I did! I really did! At the Y in Spokane, I went to Zumba. And it really was fun.
23. Make some kind of artwork that I actually want to put in my house (painting, photograph, etc.)
Hmm. There was that wreath... I also painted several little cool-person birds and framed them in our Spokane house. Granted, I threw them away when we moved.
24. Throw a croquet party
I didn't do this, although I did it the year before last. I'm not sure why I had this as a goal.
25. Sing in a community choir
Done. Jesse and I sang with Siskiyou Singers last fall before we moved.
26. Read at least 10 novels for fun (sounds strange for a girl with an English degree, but I've completely gotten out of the habit in the last few years).
Nailed this one. I'm a child of habit, and quite a few of these are re-reads, but that's ok.
Here's my list:
1. Learn to can/make jam
Did it! Jesse and I enjoyed our canned peaches and blackberry jam for as long as they lasted last winter. I was sad not to have enough time this summer to do it again, but we did pick and freeze blackberries, peaches, and huckleberries.
Done. We made our end table and are now in the middle of a coffee table project.
3. Make a wreath
I made a sort of wonky square wreath last fall, which didn't exactly survive the moves of last year. But it was nice.
Nope. After we moved to Spokane, I stopped writing. Other things took priority (see #16).
5. Become a really good visiting teacher
Sadly, this was not accomplished. It's not a great excuse, but we moved wards 4 times last year. It made it difficult to establish relationships.
6. Go camping. This seems silly--especially for Jesse and me, who love camping--but we've never been camping together.
I can't believe we didn't do this one! We did buy a little rafty boat, and we went fishing. Does that count?
7. Run 5 miles without stopping. I'm getting close. Or rather, I got close once...
This did not happen. (also see #16)
8. Learn to hem pants
Ok. I didn't ever hem any pants, but I did drag out my sewing machine and learn how to work it. I sewed some practice seams, and
9. Go to the temple by myself
Done! One sunny evening after work, I drove to the Medford Temple and spent a peaceful evening there. That is also when I decided my temple dress was getting much too tight (see #16 again).
10. Sew something I can actually wear
No...
11. Unpack all our stuff that's been in storage for 2 years
I think I/we get double points for this one. In October we moved to Spokane--where all our stuff was in storage--and unpacked everything into our rental house. Then in April we packed everything up, moved back to Oregon, stuck it all in a storage unit while living with my parents for a few months, then unpacked it all again in our current apartment. All right, Jesse unpacked most of it this time.
12. Surprise Jesse. With anything. I've never been sneaky enough to do this
Done! I managed to surprise him several times. For Christmas, I surprised him with our filled-out adoption papers. For his birthday, I threw him out of a hot air balloon. I hadn't meant this to be all about gifts, and maybe I surprised him with my wit and charm and womanly strength throughout the year, but that's not documentable.
13. Make a chocolate soufflé
This was one of several things I planned to do the last few days I was 26. But I consciously decided to do relax those days. This one's carrying over.
14. Experiment with "raw food"
Done.
15. Make a blog book of our England adventures
Although I didn't make a blog book per se, I did make 3 different photo books of some of our England trips/memories. I'm counting it.
16. Start a family
YES!!!!!!!!!! This was the most time-consuming goal, and everything I didn't do gets swallowed up in the fact that we accomplished this one. We began this process in August and did 2 rounds of IVF. Each round takes about 3 months, and I won't bore you with the details, but let's say it's pretty involved. And here we are, 7 months pregnant! It's a miracle. And definitely not something I did on my own...
17. Build something out of pallets
I built pallet shelves. They might be in my parents' side yard because they didn't really turn out.
18. Make my bed everyday
Nope. Carrying over.
19. Fly a kite
I brought Jesse to a cool outdoor Irish rock concert and even borrowed a kite from my mom, but it wasn't windy. No go.
20. Visit a new state
Done! We flew down to Oklahoma for my nephew's baptism.
21. Have our own Christmas tree
Did this, and it was our favorite Christmas so far.
22. Join a Zumba class (I spy on this class in the gym and laugh at the old guy who shakes his booty and the girls who get really into the moves, but it's only because I'm jealous...)
I did! I really did! At the Y in Spokane, I went to Zumba. And it really was fun.
23. Make some kind of artwork that I actually want to put in my house (painting, photograph, etc.)
Hmm. There was that wreath... I also painted several little cool-person birds and framed them in our Spokane house. Granted, I threw them away when we moved.
24. Throw a croquet party
I didn't do this, although I did it the year before last. I'm not sure why I had this as a goal.
25. Sing in a community choir
Done. Jesse and I sang with Siskiyou Singers last fall before we moved.
26. Read at least 10 novels for fun (sounds strange for a girl with an English degree, but I've completely gotten out of the habit in the last few years).
Nailed this one. I'm a child of habit, and quite a few of these are re-reads, but that's ok.
Here's my list:
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
On the Banks of Plum Creek L.I.W.
Little House on the Prairie L.I.W.
By the Shores of Silver Lake L.I.W.
Rascal by Sterling North
Steven King's On Writing
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey
Harry Potter (1 through 7) J.K.R.
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
The Last Juror by John Grisham
Stardust by Neil Gaiman
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Catching Fire S.C.
Mockingjay S.C.
The Hobbit J.R.R.T.
17 out of 26 ain't too shabby. Better next year--isn't that the ultimate goal?
Monday, September 3, 2012
6 Years
Saturday was our anniversary, and it was the best yet, I think. We used to try to splurge on our anniversary, but we were always sort of disappointed and felt like our plans never quite met our expectations. So each year we've gotten more and more laid back about things, and each anniversary has been better than the last.
We had planned on working on our coffee table all day (post to come), but other things came up. Things like peach picking. The 49ers were ready to go, so we answered the call with my mama. We met up at Sugar Plum Orchards in Phoenix and picked around 180 pounds of GORGEOUS peaches in around 40 minutes. It was over too soon.
We dropped by Grandma and Grandpa's in Ashland to split up the loot, and wouldn't you know, Grandma just happened to have some homemade chocolate eclairs lying around. So we stayed for a visit.
On the way home, we stopped by the outlet stores and scored some fall/winter clothes for a steal. I was all set to make a fancy dinner when we got home, but we nixed that and Jesse made scrambled eggs (we had my family over for dinner the next day and cooked the nice dinner then). I processed the really ripe peaches and Jesse entertained me with youtube videos, and then we called it a night!
Jesse also got me an orchid, because every real lady should have an orchid.
We had planned on working on our coffee table all day (post to come), but other things came up. Things like peach picking. The 49ers were ready to go, so we answered the call with my mama. We met up at Sugar Plum Orchards in Phoenix and picked around 180 pounds of GORGEOUS peaches in around 40 minutes. It was over too soon.
We dropped by Grandma and Grandpa's in Ashland to split up the loot, and wouldn't you know, Grandma just happened to have some homemade chocolate eclairs lying around. So we stayed for a visit.
On the way home, we stopped by the outlet stores and scored some fall/winter clothes for a steal. I was all set to make a fancy dinner when we got home, but we nixed that and Jesse made scrambled eggs (we had my family over for dinner the next day and cooked the nice dinner then). I processed the really ripe peaches and Jesse entertained me with youtube videos, and then we called it a night!
Jesse also got me an orchid, because every real lady should have an orchid.