this is what we've been up to...

Wow, guess who hasn't posted for a long long time? Well, that would be me... and Aaron for that matter. Remember how it is now December 17th and Christmas will be here in 2 minutes? Yeah, I remember too.

So, why have we not posted for so long? Well, Aaron took a leave of absence because that thing called dental school was calling his name...and now he is proud to announce that finals are over with. What has he spent his days doing since this past Thursday? We'll never know...but he sure is enjoying it. Oh wait, I know what he's done ONE of the days. Friday was spent preparing a turkey for our ward party. What a beaut! (I have to say, I didn't have a lot of confidence in his turkey skills...but alas, he proved me wrong).

Oh, Aaron has also been touring with the Babcock duet... look how pleasant his face is here.

Me? Oh, well, you know... stuff. Like this:

you know, things like these holiday cards and tags for all my many customers (ok, only a handful this year...but it was by choice). I haven't taken pictures of the "finally finished" stockings (three years in the making) or the wreath I created OR the printed Christmas cards. You'll totally be impressed, I know it. ha! totally. CRAZY month, my friends. Crazy month. BUT I LOVE IT! one of these days I'll take pictures so you'll believe me that I haven't been sitting on my rump the entire month (and no, I didn't mean to rhyme).

We leave this week to UTAH! Who's excited? me. real excited. Hopefully we'll post again soon. No promises though, especially to my sister Becca AKA the "wah wah whiner" that we hadn't posted for a long time. Happy now, becc? good. oh, and Merry Christmas.

we weren't joking...

So, I kid you not. This baby thing is for reals!
Being that today is my second to last day off BEFORE we go home for Christmas, I plan to accomplish a lot. And since I don't really sleep in anymore, I thought I'd get right to it this morn.

Okay! I know you have ALL been waiting for ACTUAL proof that we indeed are having a bundle of pink...so today is your lucky day. I tried to scan the ultrasound pictures when I came home, then tried to take screen shots of our little DVD, and then we finally took pictures of it...and that is when the magic appeared. Before then, it was just empty blackness.

Introducing Sweet Baby-Face Wood. She is such a dolly!
I know you'll agree!

yep, she was ready for her close up. I swear she's got our profile!

who's number one?

that's right! she already knew she was #1!!! she is so smart at such an early age! (she totally takes after me--well, maybe aaron too. I guess he was the one who got in trouble for reading the Encyclopedias too late at night. Maybe that means he was smarter...hmm...).

Really, though. It was such a fun/wonderful experience to be there with Aaron. She was moving around so much and we were amazed at all we could see! It was crazy. We came home and watched the DVD two or three more times!

It is amazing, because we already love her so much. We can't wait for her to make her debut! I love that Aaron says every night how excited he is for her. Good times, good times. Oh, and here's another visual treat...er...not. But this is what I look like now. P.S. Aaron kept saying, "Ok, hon, straighten your back a little bit..." but I couldn't! This is as straight as I go. Weird, I know.

and doesn't everyone do a side shot at 20-something weeks? okay, so we joined the club. It is so weird to see myself in a mirror and think..."is that really my stomach?" yeah, crazy, but true.

SO! There you have it...we weren't telling a joke or making up a story to be funny...it is the actual truth. (I was going to write "a belly never lies" but decided not to, b/c that sounds lame). :) Hey, get excited...only 21 days till Christmas!??!

some good deals

Melissa says she doesn't want this blog to become a coupon site, but i just think there are some great deals out there and wanted to let the world know. If you have an american express card they have this thing called "my wish list". I really wanted to get the TV they were selling the other day (42", $700), but didn't get picked. you have to be ready to click at certain times of the day. The wish list sale goes to december 13th and they are giving away 3 cars that day. Other prizes/purchases left to win include a camcorder, trip to china, BMW motorcycle, las vegas trip, xbox, diamonds, and other stuff. Good luck!


ps - we just got some great wrapping paper at Hobby Lobby (50% off) and melissa has been loving looking at it all day. She's like a busy elf getting ready for Christmas lately with different cards and tags and wreaths and things. It's nice to have her around because Christmas feels like Christmas when she does so much good stuff.

And we have been loving buying hot french bread lately anytime we go to H.E.B. or walmart and can't even make it home without eating it.

oh, no...i'm gonna be sick...again!

nice, I know.

So, remember how I don't look at my food before I eat it? Yeah, gotta change that, asap. Well, team, I had another "incident" this evening. I get home around 7:00 p.m. each night from work. When I walk into the house I am ready to eat dinner. Let's face it, I'm ready to eat dinner at 5:00 p.m., but I'm a patient girl. So, because NOTHING really can be ready to eat in 30 seconds flat, I usually like to grab an "appetizer" of sorts.

Tonight was no exception. AND, seeing that we have some left over Clam Dip from Thanksgiving (my fav!) I thought "why not?!" and partook. Was there a problem with my beloved Clam Dip? No. Folks.

For the last few minutes, I've been been poppin' moldy french bread.

GAG! What is the deal, people? When will I learn?!?!?!

So, don't be surprised if I have food poisoning and am never to be heard of again. I swear, I never saw it coming. But, if this is my last post, know that I like you all. Oh, and before I sign off, enjoy some of the tags my mom might use for her neighbor gifts this year. She thinks I might need to tone down a few of them though. What do you think? (She's giving Lehi Roller Mill pancake mix...just add water, you know?) :)

hey, hope you too can simplify this holiday season. cheers! -melis

the answer!

OK... for everyone who took part in the guess how many pomegranate seed challenge,

The Texas Division winner was Lyssa Z. barely beating out Sam H.
The overall winner, hailing from the Utah Division was Marc R.

Congratulations to all participants, look forward to more contests in the future... maybe :) !

The answer is in comment #9 of the pomegranate post

Happy Thanksgiving

Well, I just finished plucking the seeds from the pomegranates for "Dixie Salad" as it's called around my house and since Melissa was sleeping and I wasn't really thinking about much, I decided to count how many seeds were in the pomegranate.

Melissa has really been wanting to do some sort of prize give away on the blog and so I figure this is the perfect opportunity. The person closest to guessing the number of seeds in pomegranate #3 from tonight gets the satisfaction of a job well done and an increase of character.

ps - dixie salad is really good, it's made with apples, bananas, pomegranates and whipped cream.

pss - the word for "grenade" comes from (pome)granate

FAST FORWARD to actual Thanksgiving morning. I (melissa) am awake...and have been awake since 3 somthing a.m. Why? I fell asleep at 7:00 p.m. That will mess up your sleeping schedule.

So, in the wee hours this morning I found this video. All I can say is this...it made me a little teary. And when I just showed it Aaron, it made him shed a tear or two. Maybe because it's the season of our lives that we're in, or that they found something on our little baby's heart that is sometimes seen in babies with Down Syndrome and the days we spent preparing for that possibility (we just got the results back, nothing looks abnormal at this point with our teeny tiny baby)... Well, we are just grateful right now and this video was touching.

I thought this would be an appropriate thing to post on this special day of Thanksgiving. It makes me think of the sacrifices those around me have made in my behalf (and Aaron's, of course). Thanks to all the good people in our lives. We love you. Enjoy.

the results

In the words of today's sonographer: "looks like we have a wiggle worm on our hands."



We're having a little girl.

!!! yES!!!!!
details to come.

p.s. due to my mom's total abhorrence of Aaron's foul language :) I decided to delete part of this post! :)

bloggin' & babies...

team,

this is melissa again. I feel I need to give a shout out to Aaron for updating the blog the last two times. Let me tell you something special about Aaron...something that bonds us to our very core...that is, he is a bloggin' fool.

For such a long time, it's been only me. It was only me that would update y'all and tell you the stories of life. It was only me who would click on everyone's blog and find out your goings & comings. It was all me. Now? not so. I love that randomly in the day, Aaron will text, gmail chat, or call me and say, "Oh, so and so has updated their blog," or "did you see the pictures on so and so's blog?" Be still my heart.

We have a saying here at the Wood house, "A family that blogs together, stays together." Nuff said.

With that said, I think Aaron will understand WHY I am updating our blog, even though we are taking a "time out" on the internet.

(We talked the other day about spending WaY too much time on the internet, bloggin, checking email, his NBA fantasy team (what is that all about?) :), shopping, etc. So, we decided to have a fast, if you will, from the internet this weekend. We have so many other good things we wanted to accomplish---i.e. laundry, put away all those clean dishes, go through the closets, figuring out our Christmas cards... and these things don't happen when we are both sitting at the table with our laptops in front of our face.)

It is a good thing we have done this starting yesterday morning. I am proud to announce we got TONS done, and the weekend isn't even over. We EVEN had time for a dance party/karaoke fest to Ben Folds last night. I never knew how talented Aaron was at playing the Air Piano AND singing with the lyrics on his computer AND swiveling his hips. Now, if that isn't rad/talent, I don't know what is.

ANYWAY, so b/c I understand Aaron's love for bloggin'---and seeing that I didn't update our blog on our BLOGIVERSARY (even though it was me who figured it out), AND because tomorrow is such an IMPORTANT DAY in our lives - I deem it necessary to blog for a second to share some thoughts.

First, BLOGIVERSARY? Yeah, awesome. Most of you don't remember that special day...exactly ONE year to date (well, now one year and 9 days ago). Many of you weren't the devoted fans you are today. Well, team...I have decided to give you a link to that infamous day. Here 'tis. Man, we've had a good run. It is fun to see what we did last November (well at least for us).

Secondly, IMPORTANT DAY? Yes. Indeed, very important. You may have etched on your calendars (as if it is a stone or something) this Wednesday as the big Ultrasound date, but alas, the doctor's office called and my appointment needed to be rescheduled. Well, team, after many calls, I was able to switch around work AND it worked for Aaron, we got a Monday appt. It was that, or wait till Dec. 4th.

So, you thought you had a few more days to vote on the baby's gender? Not so. Only about 24 more hours, team. Cast your votes wisely.

Honestly, at this point, I am just nervous about the baby, boy or girl. Everyone's telling me it's normal to worry about the health and whether or not they will have one arm or two. (Aaron told me, that we will just call our baby Stubs if that happens, thanks hon.) I mean, we will love whatever we are blessed with. I just worry a lot about lots of things. Thanks, Denise aka Mom. I blame you for that talent.

We shall see. We'll definitely let you know what we find out. !!!! Crazy, eh? I know. I am still reeling that this is all for ReALs and not for FaKes, you know?

Anyway, team, have a great day/night (whenever it is you read this). Peace out for now.

camping

We went to Garner State Park with some friends a couple of weeks ago and here are some pictures.

We don't have any sleeping bags but we had a lot of blankets! Melissa stayed plenty warm and I was happy about that because she hates to be cold.

Here's the tent Melissa got me for Christmas last year. It is really great and easy to set up too. Plus, you can see the stars through the roof.

Here's everyone that came doing a "silly face". I don't know if Jake knows what "silly face" means.

We went down to the river and played. Some people went in the river with their phones in their pockets, but luckily it didn't break.

I thought the action shot of me trying to knock down a cairn was pretty sweet.

click the links inside for more

In honor of our first blog birthday, I'm posting a couple pictures that I like, this first one is a cheap joke, but a good one. Not much to it, but really funny.
Next, here is a picture of the scoring scheme for the fantasy basketball league I'm playing in with a bunch of friends, notice that technical fouls and ejections are worth a lot of negative points, I'm leading the league in those categories.




Here's a witty FedEx ad. (click the pic for a better view)


I really like this one with the penguins. I think everyone in college should talk a class on "cognitive dissonance". Basically that means you are able to see something from someone else's perspective. It is what economists do for a living. I've been really into economics lately and love reading the "Freakonomics" blog. ( I like leavitt more than dubner).


This picture is from an NPR story on the ever - growing size of our homes. I've been thinking how often we spend money just to be spending money and then I got all into these wacky sites like the "small house society" devoted to living resourcefully and reducing our impact on the environment.

And to finish off this post I'd like to tell everybody about how great my friend Adam is. It is my privilege to know him. He's always having a crazy adventure. Here he is with an over 100 year old lobster he caught off the coast of California. I want to live by him so I will always feel alive. Adam, you are the man. (PS - he is a really cool commercial airline pilot)


While I'm sharing my feelings, just wanna make a public shout-out to Melissa. You're the best! I love you so much and can't believe I always get to chillax with you. LOVE!

ps- i like it when you guys post... hint hint adam, jordan. (scott and mark you do a good job)

*edit - Adam, I just saw you "manning up the blog" and I'm really impressed.

*edit 2 - There are a bunch of men around here that need to blog as well, mike b. and todd w. are the only men around San Antonio man enough to blog. and they are doing a good job. I'd like to see posts from quintin, brian, dave, kip, tim, chris b. way up in washington,

never posted these darlings.

So, I was looking through some photographs on the old computadora (again, for my non-spanish speaking friends...it means computer), and came across these gems.

I am lousy at posting pictures right after they've been taken. For that, I apologize. But, I thoguht you would like to see Aaron's cute family! My definite favorites are the ones with "los hermanos"---holy cow, I forgot how fluent I am in spanish. The boys are so funny when they get together. I mean, seriously, I was taking A (meaning ONE) photo of them together, and then they keep posing and say, "no! here's another one!" yikes. they love the camera. But, we ask, does the camera love them?

You decide.

No, I'll decide. The camera does love them. Heck, we all love them. :)

So, here's some photos from the "shoot" up AF Canyon.

Please Enjoy. Of course you'll enjoy! Duh! (kajsa, I can't stop saying duh. I totally blame you).

by george, i've got it!

Team.

I have an announcement to make. I have it figured out. Did science prove it? no. Did we see actual evidence? no. But, how do I know? LOOK AT THE FACTS, PEOPLE! Duh! (thanks kajsa for re-introducing that word into my life. it has had a long 8-10 year absence and has been dearly missed).

We are going to have a baby boy. I totally know it.

I've decided that it is a Season for the Boys. Yes, I did create a special title for this season, because it is true. Why? Well, I'll tell you. Every single pregnant woman I know is having a boy. Not ONE of them is having a girl! Not one is having a girl! (well, one person is not far enough along to know, but...soon enough, and when she does, it will be a boy too).

Oh, you think I don't know people? Hey, I know people. And, it just so happens that a bunch are pregnant right this very minute. Oh, and yes, I know more than a handful, thank you very much. Let me list the names. (oh, these are in no particular order...just the order that they are coming to my brain).
Tiffany E., Bekah G., Danielle C., Lindsay B., Katie S., Svetlana, Shaela H., Margaret S., ...and well, that is all I can think of right this very moment in time. But, team, that is a lot of girls that I am friends with who are having a boy here in a few months. (in case I forgot someone...I will blame aaron, and remind me and I will add you to the list!)

What does that mean? Crazy. It is the Season for the Boys.

You know what song comes to mind? "Let's Hear it for the Boys" -- you know, that song that they play on Foot Loose (are we supposed to underline movie titles? and put quotes around song titles? i never remember), where the best friend is learning how to dance? Yeah, best part of the whole movie, and of course, they choose such a great song that totally has everything to do with MY post.

Well. That's it for now. To make it official, I guess we'll go to the appointment the DAY BEFORE THANKSGIVING to find out.

But, whatever, I already totally know. Sheesh. It is nice to be so smart AND psychic.

halloween horrors!

Needless to say, Aaron loves the camera and his photo shoots. In the last one I look like I am doing a piece of choreography from Michael Jackson's thriller. Awesome. Oh, take note that I am pretty much squeezed into that shirt. Can I tell you that lots of my button down shirts are not accommodating this pregnancy very well. Gag. Oh well, so is life...a whole bunch of Gag sometimes.

dear team...

Well, today is Halloween. All Hallows Eve? I don't even know what to call it, but I do know that I have a BUNCH of candy...lots for the kiddos in the neighborhood (and let's be honest, mostly for Aaron and me...oh, and while we're being honest, this is our 2nd round of candy. We made the mistake of buying the first round a few weeks ago. Yeah, you can figure out why we needed a 2nd round).

That brings me to the topic of Halloween candy. Which do you buy for the kiddos? If it was up to Aaron, we'd be giving them all Tootsie Rolls. Can we say, "Gag" ? Yes. I mean, I love an occasional Tootsie here and there, but come on...that's like the houses that would give you a little thing of smarties. You're face drops and you have to say thanks, but we all know, Smarties are the worst treat of all. One or two Tootsies rank right up there.


So, what did we get? And when I say WE I mean, ME. The kids are in for a real treat this year...the leftover Tootsie Pops that Aaron and I did not eat from the first round (yes, he did win a few weeks ago, we got the tootsies. ha! the joys of being an adult), Kitkats, 3 Musketeers, Hershey Bars, and...yeah, that's it. We did have Mike & Ike's at one point, but alas, no more. Sorry all you trick or treaters out there. You missed out.


Ahh, I remember the days well of dressing up, replacing the little plastic pumpkin bucket for the pillow case, running from house to house so we could get more candy in a smaller amount of time...those were the good days. I am sad to report, this year, Aaron isn't even dressing up.


BUT! I will say that we did dress up the other day. We had a Murder Mystery party at one of our friends' houses (was that grammatically correct right there?). We forgot our camera for the bulk of the evening, then ran to grab it in the car and only had enough time for a few shots of us. Hence the pictures posted above. (Aaron loved his hat and suspenders from WalMart...can we say LOVED them? yes.) But, Jami did a good job posting. Here's her link. It was pretty fun.

So...with that I say Happy Halloween to y'all. Hope you don't get tricked...only treated. I got tricked already this morning. We keep water in the leftover milk cartons (yes, we clean them out first, duh!) and when I was pouring my liquid onto my brand new cereal (Oatmeal Squares) I looked down and realized it was indeed water I was pouring. Sick. I know. But, I was able to salvage the cereal.

Don't stress, guys. It's only Halloween. Things like this are bound to happen.

Ta ta!