Gmyr update for Nov 28th, 2004

I hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday with their families and friends. Ours was pretty uneventful as we stayed home and cooked ourselves turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and corn. Dan was very happy because of all the dishes, only one of them he is technically allowed to eat on his diet. We also had some rolls that we had purchased a while ago and kept in the freezer (those ones that you can take out a few at a time and bake), but they had been in the freezer so long they worked better as bricks than bread.

The pregnancy continues. As this is all new to me I really am not sure what to expect, but I do know it looks more like Dan feeds me VERY well than that I am expecting a child. My pants and garments are rather tight around the middle, but I thank Heavenly Father that I've always loved big T-shirts, sweatshirts, and turtlenecks, because I'm pretty sure they will last the entire pregnancy. We've come up with some names we've liked, but we're still don't know the gender so it's more what sounds good rather than coming up with something definite (not that we don't have plenty of time to decide). It's nice that the "morning sickness" has abated somewhat. It's gotten to the point that I can pretty much ignore it in the morning and almost all day. As long as I have something in my stomach I'm usually okay.

I'm happy to hear from Jennifer and the good news from up north. I'm actually rather glad that we won't have twins at our house, but it sounds like an exciting adventure. It's good that you'll have help around the house with the other kids and Andy.

The only news we have at our house is our upcoming trip to Albuquerque right after Christmas. We'll more than likely be driving out on the 27th to avoid holiday and Sunday travel. We're not sure how long we'll stay, but we can't leave the cats along very long so it will more than likely only be 3-4 days. I'm looking forward to seeing family, and I think Dan's looking forward to not being chained to the phone for work (they still have him on call 9 out of 10 weekends).

Have we made any other suggestions or plans for a possible family reunion in 2005? It would be nice to know a little in advance since Dan will have to have about 3-4 months to request the time off and have it be approved. I would really enjoy seeing all of the family I don't get to see or hear from much. Steve and Beverly, this means you ;).

Dad, I'm excited to know that you and Lucynthia will be able to comeback soon, though I know it will be sad for you to leave your new friends. Keep us up to date on your information. I'm already hoping to come out and see Sandy at the end of January, and it would be nice if I could see you both as well.

Lots of love, Karen

Thank you all

I wanted to thank you all for your congratulations on the upcoming arrival and for the birthday wishes I've received via phone, email, and mail. It's been about a month since I last wrote and a pretty uneventful one until this past week.

Dan has been busy with work, having projects in his lap as well as other people's projects he has to fix. On the plus side he has to use some of his vacation time or lose it at the end of the year which means that he's taken a few days off here and there. The first day he took off was this past Monday. It was so he could go to the Ob/Gyn with me... and that bring us to the exciting week we've had.

Sad as it may seem, we can already show off baby pictures and fully intend to do so. (They will be attached to the email and posted on my site for those who wish to view them.) During the exam we determined that I was approximately 11 weeks along putting my due date on May 22nd. The doctor also sent me to the lab to have some preliminary tests done. I decided to wait until Tuesday and was fairly glad I did. The nurse who took my blood told me that Monday had been really busy. Dan also took a long lunch so we could walk over and vote. It's very nice knowing that our voice counts. Even though we didn't know some of the people that were on the ballot we did have a basic grasp of some of the major issues taking place in our area, state, and country and were able to express our opinions on the matters.

Wednesday was fairly uneventful until I called a friend up to see how her turtle was doing (I was asked to look after and feed the turtle and fish while they were in Vegas this past weekend renewing wedding vows) and was invited over for dinner. Dan and I accepted and we spent and enjoyable evening talking and eating. We're thinking of trying to make this a weekly or bi-weekly thing. Thursday that same friend, Genaphur, and my former boss and good friend, Natalie, and I made plans to go hiking. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect since Natalie had made all the plans. I just climbed into Gen's SUV when it pulled up around 9 am and we were off. We ended up approximately 2 1/2 hours outside of Tucson at Chiricahua National Monument (http://www.nps.gov/chir/) where we started hiking down the Echo Park trail. We reached a cross-point where you could complete the Echo Park loop or head further into the park to the Heart of Rocks area. Feeling fairly confident, though noneof us was in the best of shape, we decided to take the extra trek. Oops. What could have been a nice mild 3.3 mile hike around the Echo Park loop we turned into a 7.5 mile test of muscle, joint, and asthema. I'm still hurting. I doubt that I could have made it without Heavenly Father's help, which I was asking for about halfway into it.

Ahh well. Enough about me. Again, I am grateful for the best wishes we've received. We're very happy to hear from family and know you are doing well. We're looking forward to seeing as many of you as we can this December, though you may not recognize me at first glance since I'll be about 4 1/2 months along at that point.

Love to you all,

- Karen and Dan