I Hate Work Travel

Imagine this...you are at the end of a 3 day meeting stint in the Eastern Hills (make that backwoods) of Tennessee. You are counting down the minutes until that last minute is finished and you can get your tired self to the airport and on the plane to get home. But then, you get to the airport and your flight is delayed. And then delayed again. And then one more time. 3 hours of delays to be exact. By this time, your delayed flight means you will miss your connection to your next flight home. Which means you get bumped to the last flight of the day. Que the next installment of a new 3 hour wait at a new airport.
Did I mention I was exhausted and just wanted to get my pregnant butt home and in bed???
And it smells like curry in this stinkin (literally) airport, which happens to be Atlanta.
At least if I was going on vacation I'd know there was no work in the near future. But alas, that is not the case. Tomorrow is a new day of new meetings, only not from the Hills of Tennessee, but the Hills of Home Sweet Roanoke.

Utah Wins!

You know you are a true fan when you are at a different college's football game, yet you sit and watch your cell phone for score and play by play updates from a game going on across the country!

Last night Ralph and I went to the Virginia Tech/Maryland game which was fun since VT won, but my heart was definitely in Salt Lake City last night.

Utah pulled off the last minute win against TCU, who was favored to win by the way, and it was awesome for this Utah alum. Even if I did only get to read about it on my tiny Razr Phone until the wee hours of the Virginia morning.

So, in honor of their win and my nostalgia and homesickness for Utah Football games, here is a picture of me and my 2 best friends, Kristy and Andrea at the Utah vs. San Diego State game back in 2004 (Utah's other magnificent year!)

The first picture is us tailgating before the game at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego and the 2nd is us during the game.

GO UTES!!!!

Getting into the spirit!

Last night was pumpkin carving night. Ralph had a "mouse house" pumpkin idea in mind that he saw in a magazine, and I, as usual was Mrs. Traditional. Sadie, as it turns out, loves to eat pumpkin guts. But I don't know what that surprises me because this is a dog that will eat lettuce if I give it to her. Anyway, we had a blast and are looking forward to all the Trick-or-Treaters tonight!

Happy Halloween!!

Halloween Party

It has been a few years since I dressed up for Halloween, so when Ralph and I got invited to a Halloween party this year, I only had one costume in mind....a Newsie, because that was what I was back in 2006. I told you before, I'm not very creative! Only I didn't really want to be a Newsie again! I mean, how many times do you get to go to Halloween parties? Okay, maybe YOU do, but we don't! Anyway, Ralph jumped at the chance to get away with an easy, in-house costume, so he was the Newsie. I copied some co-worker's ideas from that Halloween in 2006 and chose to be a Mobster. It was hard getting my pin striped mobster slacks to button up over my ever-growing pregnant belly, and I had to borrow one of Ralph's white shirts to be able to button it up over these giant pregnant boobies! But it all worked out and we had fun getting out and hanging out with the living---or in this case, the dead! (It was Halloween, get it??? Okay I'll stop typing now.)

Mom and Me go to D.C.

I was so lucky to be able to have my mom come out and visit Ralph and I here at our home in Roanoke. She came all the way from San Diego! Anyway, we had so much fun together and it was so nice to have someone to talk to every day (no offense, Sadie). We shopped, cooked, joked and just did all kinds of mom and daughter stuff.

Anyway, on one of the days that she was here, we drove out to visit my brother Dan and his wife Merianne at their house in Washington, D.C. Since my brother works in government (top secret job!) he was able to get us "backstage passes" to the Capital building and our own private tour. Since 9/11, the public can take guided tours through but we got our own little tour courtesy of Dan.

Here are some pictures of our day at the Capital:

This next one was taken right in the center of the Capital, and Dan the tour guide pointed out that this spot also marks the very center of Washington D.C.

Dan, Mom and me inside the dome:

What that beautiful dome looks like from the inside:

I'm in love!

Yes, of course I'm in love with my dear hubby but I was referring to the unborn in this case. We had our 12 week ultrasound a few days ago and got to see the little one moving and sticking out it's tongue. The ultrasound tech said in this picture she thought the baby was sucking its thumb. Anyway, it was so nice to have my mom come with along with Ralph to the ultrasound since she was in town these past few days (more pictures and entries to come on that later!)

Baby Bump - 11 Weeks

A few people have asked me to post updates on my baby bump every month or so. For those of you that don't know, this baby took almost 2 years to create. We are so excited and happy, but are cautious at the same time. We feel truly blessed with this baby and Ralph and I are eagerly awaiting December when we will find out which of our guest bedrooms (We have one currently painted rose pink, and one painted baby blue-- we did that last year when we moved in) will be transformed into the nursery. Stay tuned....