2011 in Review

What a crazy year this has been. A year that Steve and I have thought and worked so much for. This year realized so many of the dreams we had during our college years. I'll try to make it brief...

January

• I walked through the snow to take a yoga class with my sister at "The Center" 2 nights a week. I then walked her home and we walked as slow as we could without freezing.
• I was finally at peace that I was not pregnant. It took 6 months, but I was more than okay, I was at peace.
• I made a "Provo bucket list". So glad I did that. I did everything except take a zumba class at the Orem rec center.

March

• The pregancy and blood work said I was pregant. Really? I was in denial.
• At work I started to train my replacement. I poured myself into the relationships with my co-workers knowing that they were soon coming to an end.

April

• I got an ultrasound to date a pregancy I didn't really think I had. The baby was 11 weeks old.
• I said "goodbye" to SirsiDynix. Loved the people and not the work. It was hard to leave the people I had grown so fond of.
• Steve (and my sister) graduated from BYU.
• We moved to Fresno and into our house.

June*

• We officially started fixing up the house, our first project was new carpet! This would be a summer long project with lots of yard work and painting.
• We traveled to Washington D.C. to see Matt and the sights.

July*

• Steve and I volunteered as leaders at the Fresno Stake Girls Camp. There were three Hamm women there who responded to "Sister Hamm". That was confusing! I repelled and hiked and was glad for frequent opportunities to nap.

August*

• Steve and I were counselors at Camp Sunshine Dreams. Amazing experience! I hope they let me come back in 2012.

September*

• Steve started work for Deloitte.

November*

• We had our baby girl!
• Steve passed the last section of the CPA test (which he started working on in May!) while I was recovering in the hospital with Jenna. I "helped" him study but I was so groggy I doubt I was helpful.

So in conclusion, 2011 was a happening year. I wonder what 2012 will bring?

*Pictures are on other posts to this blog.

CPA

This is Steve. I passed all parts of the CPA exam! I was studying for 3 of the 4 parts over the summer while working on house projects. Then the last section I studied quickly as I was working and waiting for Jenna to arrive. My scores were pretty good! (75 is passing)

Tax and regulation - 91
Audit - 84
Business - 91
Financial - 92

My job gives a little bonus for this now and mostly I'm relieved to not have to study while working and Jenna-ing.

Jenna Elizabeth - The Birth Story

It was a marathon to get our little girl born. Approximate 24 hours of labor, 3 hours of pushing and it ended in a c-section. Here is my story...

Monday October 31st

On this day I was so excited! I knew that babies usually don't come on their due date, but wanted our little girl to be born on this day. It was not to be. Instead, I went to the doctor. My body hadn't progressed from the last visit and he said that we would set an induction date for November 7th.

The week of October 31st

I was a wreck. Every day I couldn't help but wonder, "Was today the day?" I didn't sleep very well that week. I went to mutual (at the time I was 2nd counselor in the Young Women's presidency in our ward) and to church that Sunday. Everyone was as anxious as I was to greet my little girl.

Monday November 7th

My induction appointment was at 5:30 am. They started pitosin at 6 am. I was hooked up to a machine all day and only kind of felt contracts. I could handle the pain and I only progressed to a 3. The doctor suggested we stop pitosin, sleep at the hospital and get started again the next day. I had only slept 3 hours the night before and that sounded like a good idea. Especially when they offered me a sleeping pill!

Tuesday, November 8th

Pitocin started again at 5:30am. I was having back labor and decided to get an epidural at 10am. The doctor who gave me the epidural was LDS! He is in North Stake and Steve's parents know him. He was gentle and that was very comforting. Around 3pm I started feeling labor pain on my left side - from the belly button to the opposite side. They gave me extra juice and that really helped.

Finally at 5:15pm I was fully dilated. I was elated! And then I pushed. I couldn't really feel the contractions, but the nurses helped and I did the best I could. I even pushed sideways to get the baby to corkscrew down. That helped but it wasn't quite enough. When the doctor came in (around 8pm) he said, "Let's stop the epidural for 30 min, just so you can feel the contractions." Well, they cut the medication and let me feel the full back labor. I think during the entire process of labor I threw up four times - more than I have in the last 10 years!

The baby got really close to coming out vaginally. The doctor knew I didn't want a c-section and we tried to use a vacumn, but the baby's face was up and just wouldn't come out. When they made the decision to do the c-section, I was in so much pain and was so tired that I didn't care what they had to do - just as long as they made the pain go away!

After administering pain relief, they rolled me into the surgery room. I tried my best to ignore the fact that I was there and to stop the uncontrollable shaking. Thankfully I was so drugged that it felt like I was in the room for only 5 minutes. I remember they told me the baby came out, but nothing registered until I saw Steve's elated face. Jenna got really high APGAR scores and is a very healthy, alert baby. This is exactly what I wanted, just not via c-section.

Here I am doing my best to smile. Totally didn't work!

So my delivery was NOT the way I wanted it to be! I wanted to have a natural, vaginal delivery. The pain really, really, really hurt, but I almost had it and if labor had been shorter that would have helped... I wonder that they didn't look to see that her face was up before. I guess if she had been a smaller baby we could have had her without a c-section...

We came home early Friday afternoon and I was still so exhausted that I spent the next couple of days crying and crying uncontrollably. I am much better now and able to function on 4 hours (in a 24 hour period) of sleep. My incision still hurts but I am healing well and have already lost 19 pounds (17 more to go!). I am still bummed that I had to have Jenna this way, but she is healthy, and that is the most important thing.

And that is my story.

(Both my mom and my mother-in-law had c-sections for all of their babies, and I may have to join the club (we'll see...). At least I have a lot of empathetic support.)

Halloween

So I don't have a baby yet, but I did dress up for Halloween on Saturday.

Can you guess what I am??

(The cat who ate the fishbowl!)

Beautiful Flowers

I love flowers. They make me go "ahhh". So relaxing.

Homegrown roses
Steve thought it would be more cost effective to buy rose bushes and cut roses from them rather than buying roses from the store.

Donated flower arrangement from The Wild Rose in Fresno
My sister-in-law is doing an internship at The Wild Rose and when the lady heard that my sister-in-law was throwing a baby shower for me and she offered to donate flowers. Very beautiful.

I've requested flowers from Steve when I deliver my baby.

Rockie Road Brownies*

I usually can get enough of a dessert. I can usually say "no". Not with this dessert though! Luckily I have Steve to help me eat it.

And yes, those are marshmallows on top of homemade brownies topped with a homemade chocolate drizzle.

To make this dessert you need:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup butter
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk or sour milk (sour milk is 1 tbsp lemon juice added to 1 cup milk, which sits for 5 min before you use it)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups dry-roasted peanuts**
3 cups tiny marshmallows
1 recipe Chocolate drizzle

1) Preheat over to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking pan with foil, leaving about 1 inch of foil extending over the ends of pan. Grease foil; set aside. In a large bowl stir together flour, sugar, baking soda, and 1/4 teaspoon salt, set aside.

2) In a 2-quart saucepan combine butter, 1 cup water, and the cocoa. Bring to boiling, stirring constantly. Add to flour mixture, beat with an electric mixer on medium speed. Add eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla. Beat for 1 minute. Stir in 1 cup of the peanuts. Pour into prepared pan.

3) Bake in preheated oven about 40 minutes (I cook about 35 min) or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup peanuts and the marshmallows over hot brownies. Top with Chocolate Drizzle (below). Cool in pan on wire rack. Remove brownies from pan, using the overlapping foil to lift brownies. Place on cutting board, cut into bars. Makes 32 brownies.


Chocolate Drizzle: In a medium saucepan combine 1 cup semisweet chocolate pieces, 1/4 cup whipping cream (I used 1% milk, which worked just fine) and 2 tablespoons butter. Heat and sir over medium-low heat until smooth.

Per brownie: 237 cal 13 g total fat (6 g sat. fat), 22 mg chol., 119 mg sodium, 27g carbo, 2 g fiber, 3 g protein.

*From "Anyone Can Cook", a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, page 445.

**I didn't put in the peanuts.

The Battle of Bull Run Reenactment (Oct 22)

The men prepped the cannons for battle
The war began with a BANG!
The Confederate soldiers joined the battle
The men fought heroically
The horses joined the fray
The wounded retreated
The dying were left as the battle moved on

The Confederacy Won The Battle!

The Union army marched away in defeat
You could pay to stay in a Confederate "boarding house"
And in case you wanted to use the shower...
...these were the prices

Hiding out

Our dog is approximately 28 inches high (to the shoulder), 47 inches long (to the rump) and 64 inches long (to the tip of the tail). (He kept wiggling so these are approximate.) He likes to fit into enclosed spaces. I am amazed at where he can fit his body. This is one of my favorites.

At least he doesn't try to jump up into our laps!

Fresno County Fair

So when I was growing up, my family went to the fair every summer. We went to the same spots and ate the same food. It was predictable, but still good.

Well, when Steve and I were dating (or were we married?) we went to the Utah State Fair. They had a rodeo! Other than that, I was disappointed with what they had. Steve told me about how awesome the Fresno County Fair was. So last Saturday we went. And it was a lot of fun!

Steve had a really big rock collection when he was growing up and every year he would get new rocks at the Gem & Mineral Room. So we went. It was so cool!! I saw a display that showed what different rocks go into - one rock type is found in garlic! (I don't remember what it is called though...)

My two musts with the fair this year were to eat a cinnamon roll and watch a horse race. We did those two things right away. The cinnamon rolls at the Sonoma County Fair are better. And sadly, my horse didn't win.

I found a big pumpkin and since I sometimes feel like I weigh as much as this 330 pound pumpkin, I thought I'd take a "look alike" picture. I think I do a good impression, don't you??

Steve was a good sport and let me take a picture of him by the honey stand. Yummy honey samples.But my most favorite thing by far was the Alaskan Pig Races! Those pigs were so cute and well trained. I thought that the show was well done. I admit that I was tempted to get my own "professional photo with an Alaskan racing pig". And that was mostly because the photo would have a bunch of hams in it. Hehehe

The Last Rag Rug

So this is the last rag rug - my best yet! I have to say when I embarked on the rag rug projects I didn't realize how much time they would take - but then again, I had nothing but time! I was going to do four, but I think I'll stop at three. I want to work on other projects and truth be told I don't love crocheting rugs. Maybe braiding is easier?

So you can see the size

Refinish a Glider

This is something I have seen done and I have always wanted to do. When Steve found this glider for $35, I didn't care what the fabric looked like. Upon closer inspection, I realized that the fabric was WAY too itchy and needed to be replaced.

Old fabric = bleh (stained and itchy)!

Old chair (I had started to refinish it)
New fabric = soft and lovely
New chair

My only regret was that the corners of the ottoman didn't quite turn out the way I wanted them to. Well, live and learn!

Our yard

The weather today is lovely - 84 degrees! The house is a nice and cool 72 degrees, with no AC! I could definitely get used to this.

So I was looking out of the sliding glass doors in our living room and I noticed a lovely flower in our yard. We only have one of this kind of plant and it is blooming.

So beautiful! I just love orange and blue blooms.

It was so nice outside that the dog and I lingered a little before we returned inside.

Protector

This is Steve.

We have trained Buddy well to go #1 and #2 on a designated spot on the untraveled side of the yard. Every night we go out and signal him to go over, unload what he needs to, and then come back in for bed time. Tonight Suzanne brought him out and he played fetch a little, then patrolled a little, then did his business.

Earlier today I had purchased a barbeque and put it on the side of the yard--an area that is enclosed from the front yard by an iron fence. Well Buddy did not know that the barbeque was put there this afternoon.

Then the action happened. When he was ready to come inside, he took one last look around the yard an noticed a hunched over, dark shape on the side yard that he did not recognize. His normally playful tail went stiff. The waddle in his step straightened up. And his normally droopy mouth closed tight as his eyes fixed on that dark object.

We have never heard Buddy bark or growl at anything. But in that moment he barked out several deep, bellowing howls and barks at the mysterious barbeque. He went silent for a second, then he braced into attack formation and growled nastily at the barbeque.

This all frightened Suzanne quite a bit. She went inside our back yard door, which was behind our mighty protector. Buddy normally comes to the door excitedly, anxious to get inside. But Buddy didn't let the barbeque see him blink. Suzanne went out into the garage from inside, and opened the side door by the area that had startled Buddy. That door opens and turns on a set of very bright prison flood lights, so the target got illuminated. When Suzanne saw the barbeque, she called Buddy over. He determined that it wasn't really a threat, but only after a good 60 second sniffing and stare down.

I heard all this from inside, and I'm sure glad to have a strong protector like that for my family for when I can't always be around.

--Steve

Santa Rosa Baby Shower and San Francisco

***This post is extra long with a lot of pictures***

Last Saturday I had a baby shower in Santa Rosa. A lady from my homeward found out I was pregnant and said, "I am going to host a shower for you". I was thrilled. My mother in law, my sister in law and I drove up from Fresno and everyone was delighted to see them. We all had a fabulous time and I made off like a bandit.

Supervising the food and chatting in the kitchen
(The meal was brunch style - very, very tasty!)

One of my friends playing with her adorable daughter
The Pile of Presents - what could be inside???
(For the sake of space, I will only feature a few below)

I tried out the elephant feet for my daughter

The two aunts got aunt promoting items. One was "I love my aunt" and the other was "My aunt is a fox". Thank you aunts Kitty and Lizzy!

I got a quilt from my mother-in-law (I helped her pick fabric)

I even got a homemade quilt from a lady I didn't know!

On our way home we passed through San Francisco and stopped at Fisherman's Wharf. We ate bread bowl's with clam chowder and toured Ghirardelli square (unfortunately, no good deals). We also found the machine arcade/museum shown on Princess Diaries. You know the part where the Grandma has to arm wrestle the machine? We found that machine!

My sister-in-law and the machine

Me and the machine (it's so hard!)A very fun and successful vacation. Thank you, everyone!

Today We Acquired a Dog

Today we adopted a dog named Buddy. He is a lab + something big mix, 5 years old and very well behaved. We all really like him already. I think he will be a good addition to our family. He is already Steve's dog but he is very gentle with me and still comes to me for ear scratches. He is really good with small children, obeys commands, is house and car trained and does very well on walks.

Here is Buddy the dog!
Here he is with Steve so you can see his size.

He knows how to shake.

While playing with a rope he got his tail!

Last Friday's Trip to Lodi, CA

So one of Steve's cousins came to Fresno on Thursday with his wife. We attended their marriage last December. It was good to catch up with him and get to know his wife a little bit better. She is expecting a baby too and it helped to have something in common right away.

On Friday we all drove up to Lodi to visit more family at their dairy farm. Steve's cousin and wife hadn't met them, or hadn't seen them in a very long time. It was a very relaxing day and it was nice to hang out and get to know them better. During family reunions, the older generation and the younger generation don't really mix too much, and it was nice to do just that.

We had a BBQ, went swimming, got a very detailed and wonderful tour of the property, went to dinner and just chatted.

Swimming with Clorise the Ceramic Cow

Some family that didn't go swimming right away
(the girl in the middle joined us right after the picture was taken)

Here is everyone minus two cousins (about our age) that didn't make it to dinner.

What a nice, relaxing vacation! I love family!

Camp Sunshine Dreams

Steve attended Camp Sunshine Dreams as a child. Camp Sunshine Dreams is for children who have cancer and their siblings. I think that it is a special/wonderful camp for two reasons:

1. It allows the kids to be kids, and not patients or siblings of patients. They get to be normal kids for a week and do normal kid things.
2. The camp also provides an opportunity for the kids to talk about how cancer has affected their lives. It is a place to talk about the emotions they experience and not have them be mocked or misunderstood.

I was almost 7 months pregnant, but I survived, and I had a great time. I am blessed for the service I gave. Thank you Camp Sunshine Dreams for letting me come! What an amazing time.

I was a co-counselor of 9-10 year old girls (7 of them) and Steve was a co-counselor in a cabin of 14-15 year old boys (6 of them).

Peanut and my group.

Steve and Bleach's group.

There was a dance on Thursday and some (okay, maybe all) of my girls got a little silly trying to find dates. By Thursday afternoon they decided they didn't need dates - except for the one girl who already had one! I already had a date. The theme of camp this year was their 25th celebration, so we had a costume party.

One of my girls and her date.

My date and I dancing!

There are so many more memories, but to keep this short, I won't include them all. However, I have to mention Spirit Stick. The campers carve on the Spirit Stick and talk about their experience with cancer and then on the last night the shavings are put into the campfire. The ashes are saved and then those ashes are used to start the next year's fire.
The ashes are symbolic of remembering and keeping our memories alive while also releasing them and letting ourselves move on.

Here is a link to the Camp Sunshine Dreams website. Check it out! http://www.campsunshinedreams.com