Hodge-Podge

Happy December! I love December. Maybe it's because my birthday is this month, maybe it's because I love Christmas sights and sounds and smells, maybe it's because I love snow, but anyway, December is my favorite month. I am trying to relish it and not just wish away the days until our baby is born, so I have been working on lots of various projects, reading a lot of amazing books and cooking yummy things to stock our freezer for after the Relief Society stops bringing food!

Some of the best books I have read lately are Hawaii by James A. Michener, North by Northanger by Carrie Bebris and Never Sniff a Gift Fish by Patrick McManus. I LOVE Michener books--he has the best way of teaching history and making it interesting. Bebris writes mysteries that Lizzie and Mr Darcy have to solve and they involve other Jane Austen characters. And McManus is HILARIOUS. You will be rolling on the floor laughing.

We had the coolest bird at our feeder a couple of days ago. Normally we just have english sparrows and house finches, but the other day we had a small visitor that I wasn't expecting. Next to the sparrows and finches, this guy was TINY. I am pretty sure that it was a bay-breasted warbler, but they are pretty rare this side of the Mississippi river, so I am a little reluctant to say that I am positive. However, I went over my bird guide a million times and haven't found anything else he could have been, so... Anyway, here is what he looked like, although the pictures really don't do him justice. He was so beautiful!

Among other projects, I have been working on a tree skirt for our Christmas tree. This has been an ongoing project, mostly because math has never been my strong suit, especially where round things are concerned, and this project actually required me to think about diameter. You may as well ask me to calculate the return of Halley's comet. I would rather just wing it and eyeball it and have it turn out right--I can do that! Anyway, my tree skirt project plods along slowly. Dave thinks it looks cuter as a skirt for him!

We have the BEST sunsets in Rexburg. Lately it has been cloudy and kinda smoggy and so they have been even better than usual. I wish my camera was better--this picture doesn't show the colors at all--but hopefully you enjoy the view out my front door as much as I do. This picture is of the Tetons, and regardless of which side you say is the right side (does it matter since the Wind Rivers are really so much cooler?), you have to admit they look gorgeous!

For those of you interested in the progress of our baby... I am due the 15th. I had a doctor's appointment today and I am dialated to a 1. Wa-hoo. My next appointment is the 17th, and she seemed to think he might come around then. We'll see. Our doctors have us make an appointment with the hospital for an induction date, since so many girls in Rexburg get induced. The last possible day they will let me go is the 26th, after that I will be 42 weeks and they won't let me go any longer--it will be a medical induction, not an elective induction. I have set the 26th as my induction date because I am almost violently opposed to being induced--I just think that my body knows what it's doing, and it should be allowed to do it on its' own. Anyway, Mom, thought I'd throw you that bone, since all along you've been saying that our boy will come the 26th. I really hope I won't go that long, but we'll just have to wait and see. Wish us luck!