Seattle

The week after getting back from California, Jeff and I were able to go to Seattle and visit Jeff's youngest sister JoEllen and her husband Sean, and of course our new little nephew Noah. We had such a good time with them. It was our first time to Seattle so they showed us a lot of the hot tourist spots, some great shopping, and of course awesome food. We weren't sure if we would be coming back since they will be leaving in May to move to Boise for the next 2 years and then who knows where after that. So Jeff and I took advantage of the time we had with them in Seattle. We went to the top of the Space Needle, on a very clear day surprisingly. We went to the famous Pike's Place Market and watched some fish tossing. We did the Underground tour of Seattle, which by the way was a very cool way to see Seattle. If you go there, that is one thing I would recommend doing. We went to Gasworks park, the locks, and even saw the troll under the bridge. Since Jeff's birthday was on the 24th we decided to celebrate a little early and go out to dinner to a nice sea food restaurant "Ivers"...umm yum! Thanks Jo and Sean! We had a great time, we look forward to our next vacation with you!

Goodbye Uncle Frank

A lot has gone on since my last post, so I have a lot to share. First I would like to share is that my Uncle Frank passed away. He was my mom's older brother and only sibling. He died of prostate cancer. He was diagnosed 2 years and one month ago. The cancer was already in stage 4. All they could do for him was treat it and make him comfortable. He spent the last few years traveling with his wife to the places they loved most. I was able to attend his funeral in Alameda California with the rest of my family. My parents, older brother, and grandma were able to say their goodbye's before he passed. Everyone said that he was holding on until my grandma got there. The funeral, or memorial, was a traditional catholic service. It was a little different that what we LDS folk are used to, but good things were said and it had a good feeling over all. I was really proud of my dad, he stepped out of his comfort zone and spoke on our families behalf about how much we loved Frank. It's pretty rare that I get to see my dad cry, it's nice to know he has tears in there somewhere. We will all miss uncle Frank, but we know that we will be with him again. Here is the obituary that was printed in the local newspaper near his home.

Franklyn S. "Frank" Nelson Jr.

June 5, 1956 - March 8, 2009 Resident of Alameda Frank passed gently in his home in Alameda surrounded by many loving friends and family. He was born in San Pedro, California. He was a graduate of the University of Utah and spent many years enjoying the creative process of designing sound equipment for Audio Access, Citaton, and other Harman Kardon Brands, as well as his final years at Cisco-Lynksis. Frank volunteered for ten plus years as a docent with the Alameda Museum. Some of his other hobbies and interest included doing live sound for local bands, organic gardening and travel. He is survived by his wife of ten years Trish (Crowley) Nelson, his stepson Brint Joseph Stewart age 28, his mother Ila Jean Nelson of West Jordan, Utah, one sister Karen (Jeff) Foster . Frank is also survived by his in-laws Josephine and Kenneth Crowley of Alameda, two nephews Cory and Cameron Foster and one niece Nicole Foster. He was preceded in death by his father Lt Col Franklyn S. Nelson Sr. Memorial service and rosary will be held Wednesday, March 11, 2009 at 5:00 PM at Greer Family Mortuary. A reception will follow at Linguini's Pizza & Beer. Frank's cremains will rest at his home. In lieu of flowers donations in his memory may be made to the American Red Cross or the Yosemite Fund. Greer Family Mortuary 510-865-3755

First Ultrasound!

I had my first Ultrasound on March 5th (sorry this is a picture of a picture, not cool enough for a digital copy yet). It was so amazing. Granted it was not what I was expecting (being a vaginal one and all), but still totally amazing. At first it showed two blobs on the screen, I was like "Uh-Oh! Twins!", but then she explained that one of the blobs was the yolk sac that kept the pregnancy going until the placenta took over. Fewww! Twins would be fun, but not for the first pregnancy. So no worries just one little blob in there. I was able to see the heart beating. That was honestly the most exciting thing about the whole thing. Jeff wasn't there with me because he was in California, but I was able to show him the picture of our blob. The next one will be a little more interesting for him. Anyway the ultrasound confirmed my due date as October 22nd. That will be fun because my little bro's is on the 20th. Who knows maybe they will even have the same birthday! It's amazing that anything is in my uterus right now, cause I sure don't feel pregnant (knock on wood)! The funny thing about this appointment is that I totally had to lie to my mom. I know I know your not supposed to lie, but when you are trying to keep a secret it's ok. My mom flew into town that night and needed me to pick her up. Well she was able to get on an earlier flight, so she got into Denver at about 4:45. I normally work until 5, but was able to get off early for this appointment. Well just like all doctor's offices, they were running way behind. My 30min appointment turned in to an hour and a half, AGAIN! So I had to fib and tell her that they wouldn't let me off early. She had to wait at the airport for about 45 minutes. I felt bad, but she forgave me. She'll really forgive me when she finds out where I really was! Hopefully I won't have lie too much more!

Families Are Forever!!!

I had one of the best weekends ever! Friday March 6th I was able to attend the temple with my grandma Foster, aunt Trudy, uncle Karl, cousin Stephanie, friend Kathleen, and my mom. It's the first time my grandma has been back to the temple in a VERY long time. She has not been active in the church ever since I've known her. She lives in Wyoming and I had no idea that she was going back to church, and even taking missionary lessons! She decided sometime around Christmas that she was going back to the temple. She decided she was ready, so on March 6th was able to return to the temple. It was such an amazing experience. We first had the opportunity to witness her, my aunt, and my grandpa (by proxy) be sealed together! My dad was already sealed to them when they went through the temple the first time, but his sisters were not there. My aunt said she had been waiting over 26 years for this. It just goes to show that it's never too late! After the sealing we attended an endowment session together. It was really neat to watch her, and wonder what she was thinking. She looked so beautiful, and so angelic. It was an experience that I will lock away in my heart and memory forever. I hope I will get to attend the temple more with her while she is still here. She is my only grandparent that I've been able to attend the temple with. My grandpa passed away a little over 5 years ago, and I could tell he was so proud of her, and that he was there with us on that special day. I don't have pictures of that special day yet, but as soon as I get some I'll be sure to post them. I love you grandma and the example that you are to me.

First Appointment

The day I found out I was pregnant I made a doctor's appointment. I didn't have an OBGYN set up already, but I did have the office in mind where I wanted to go. It's very convenient because it's connected to the hospital where I work. With me having work hours (8:30-5) that aren't very convenient for making appointments, I can just go there on my lunch break. I was able to make an appointment for the next Monday after the discovery. They said that the appointment would only take about 30 minutes, so I planned my break around that. Well it took them about 15 minutes just to get me back to the exam room, another 15 minutes of just waiting. There goes my lunch. Well this was not a 30 minute exam. It was more like an 1:15 minute exam. The Doctor wanted to go over everything. Then of course there was the strip down part of the exam. You know the one where they make you put on that gown that makes you feel more naked when your wearing it than when your not. I won't go into the embarrassing details, I just wish I had been warned when I made the appointment that my Doctor was REALLY going to get to know me. I guess I'd better get used to it, it's just gonna get worse. So a fun appointment to start it all out with. When I returned to work nobody really asked any questions as to where I'd been. Jeff didn't do a very good job at covering for me. He just told people he didn't know where I was. Oh well no harm done, we still have our little secret. My next appointment I will be getting my first ultrasound. I'm really excited for that one.

THE ONE I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR!!

Yep you are reading that right! I'm writing this now so that I will remember everything that I'm feeling right now. This won't be posted until after I spill the beans to everyone when we are in Hawaii. It all started the week of February 16th. I had suspected but wasn't sure that I might be pregnant. I didn't want to get my hopes up, so I didn't take a pregnancy test right away. That's what happened a few months back when my period didn't come on time. I went out and bought the test, but unfortunately my period came the next day so I never used it. Well I kept telling myself that I'll just wait until Friday to see if it comes. I even looked up on the Internet some "signs" of pregnancy. I only had two out of ten or fifteen that were possible signs. So Friday came and still no period. So I took the test in the morning before I went to work. It was one of those digital ones that says "Pregnant" or "Not Pregnant". It said that it could show results as little as three minutes, and take as long as ten minutes. Well it took about one minute to show "PREGNANT" as the result (see picture). So many emotions went through me in that one second of realizing what it said, joy, happiness, fear, anxiety, but most of all I was ECSTATIC! I didn't think that I would cry but that's exactly what I did. Jeff wasn't home at the time, so I called him and asked him to meet me at work. He said that he had his suspicions because I sounded really happy on the phone and he hadn't seen signs in the bathroom that I'd started my period yet. We are both SO EXCITED for this new step in our lives. We've been trying for the past year, but we were in the mode of "if it happens it happens". Now that it's happened it's very exciting to know that our doubts of being able to conceive are gone. I'm very excited to tell the WORLD that we are having a baby, especially my parents. This will be their first grandchild. My mom and dad have been hinting that they want to grandparents. It's going to be so much fun to see their reactions. I'll make sure to get it on video for all to see. I'm trying to come up with some clever way of telling them, but nothing has come to mind yet. We keep wondering what we are going to have. Jeff is hoping for a boy, I'm indifferent, I'm just excited to be pregnant and becoming a mother. I'm sure there will be many more posts to come in the next 9 months about all the exciting milestones in my pregnancy. I just wanted to share what's going through my head right now. So this is the kick off post that won't be posted until April. It's going to be so hard to keep it a secret, especially because my mom is coming into town next weekend!

New Addition

Jeff and I are so excited, we now have a nephew! Noah Ervin Edmunds was born on February 7th. He weighed 7 lbs 7 oz. I think his lucky number will be 7. Mom (JoEllen) and baby are doing great and are home from the hospital already. JoEllen was probably the smallest pregnant woman I've ever known. She barly looked 6mo. pregnant when she was 9 months pregnant. We are even more excited to go meet the little guy in March. CONGRATULATIONS Jo and Sean, we are sooooooo happy for you!

Noah Ervin Edmunds



Jo at 8 months Prego
(I can only hope that I will look this good when I'm pregnant)