The Final Countdown

Well, it's time for my bi-annual post.

Psh.

We are now 10 days away from the due date! Want a quick recap on the pregnancy?

I had morning sickness in the first trimester, it faded in the second trimester, no problems in the third trimester. Now that I'm in the final stretch...no pun intended...I am uncomfortable but not one problem to report. I'd almost say it's been a breeze.

I swam a little over a mile a few weeks ago and was glad I did it when I did. By the next week I could hardly swim half that length. Too many weird pangs and twinges, so I just floated around the lazy river and pretended it was the hot tub.

I miss hot tubs.

What to guess what our baby will look like? Here is a little taste:

We're excited to meet her!

My Dad is Cooler Than Your Dad

Happy Father's Day, Dad! Love you!

6 month re-cap

Another link to K.C.'s blog? Why not? She inspired my 6 month re-cap. Or is it 6-month recap?
Either way. 6 months in 12 pictures.

My cubicle.

Robert leads a flag detail in front of some big wigs.

Sister-in-law Alisa gets called to serve in Taiwan.

Other sister-in-law Brynn and I pull out the ol' Christmas socks.

Naegles congregate at Aspen Grove. Aunt Sandy's arm makes it in the picture. 

Cousin's child plays a tiny violin. 

New Year's Day on Antelope island. Some guy is there with a truck full of hawks. 

Robert grows a horn. 

Brother-in-law James looking dapper, cold, and suspicious of the PORCUPINE in the tree behind him.

Robert has his Golden Birthday and I throw him a little par-tay.

Robert makes a 10,000% profit on a basketball card he bought 15 years ago. It ships to Taiwan, coincidentally.

Oh yeah. We are having a baby :)

Faceboot

Back in December Robert and I finally got Faceboot accounts.

We made sure we "liked" each other's account...

...then we spent the night updating our profiles. Make sure to Share! :)

My next post

Months ago I entitled this "My Next Post" hoping I'd get around to it soon. Well I didn't.

Robert and I tagged along with siblings, nieces  and cousins to hunt down our own Christmas tree this (last) year.
K.C. has some great pics of the really fun afternoon here.
I'll add a few more pictures and videos.

Flight suit and saws at the ready!

Frozen river!

Also, this.

Oh, and this picture of the fun you can have with a sheet of ice.

Lunch break!

After hours of searching, we found the perfect one.

Ta daa!

'Tis the Season

Okay, so it's been a while. Here are some things we've done:

Want to know how the Air Force Ball went? It was fun. We had a few light refreshments, danced a few dances, shook a few hands, had a few laughs, and tried to take a few self portraits after we got home and changed, then remembered we didn't have pictures so put our gear back on and set the camera on a timer.

Our clock is military time. It still throws me off. (By the way I see the date is November 11th. Yes, it's been a long time.)

Robert headed to a field training preparation overnighter. I was proud of my packing skills.

Thanksgiving dinner at the Dave Naegles. Delicious as usual. Robert had two name tags since we still can't get his name right.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING 7 MONTHS AGO!

Les Miserables

Here is a little twist I put on a popular song of the season:

Oh, the weather outside is freeeaking awesome.
And watching the Les Mis trailer is so delightful.
And since we've no place to go but the AIR FORCE BALL tonight,
Let it Snow, Let is Snow, Let it snow!

I have creatively, beautifully, and successfully portrayed in this verse the Top 4 things I am excited for right now.

1. The Air Force Ball tonight. This will be my first dance. Well, my fist dance where Robert is my date, that is. Yipee! I'm nervous, but excited.

2. Snow. Obviously. This includes all the cute cozy clothes that you get to wear in the winter time.

3. Les Miserables. Les Miserables. Les Miserables. 

(UPDATE: It turns out Stephanie posted a "Love-Les-Mis" post yesterday, too. See here.)

Bear with me as I confess to you (my millions of readers) my love affair with Les Miserables. 

Some of my earliest memories include Les Miserables. I remember sitting right in front of the speaker in our living room acting out Les Mis with two trucks; A TONKA truck for any male singer and a pink and yellow truck for any female singer. The fist hook was simply the music. It was beautiful to me. It gave me goosebumps.

Then I started listening to the story. I would listen, while sometimes interrogating my mom. If I was really lucky, my mom would sit and explain the whole story to me as we listened, which she did many times. 

She also took us to see the musical. I remember a few things from it (and Phantom, and Beauty and the Beast, and Secret Garden, and Music Man, etc.) but mainly I just remember being enchanted throughout the whole long thing. And getting goosebumps.

As I grew, I found out about the 10th Anniversary Concert. What?! A whole new world of dialogue that wasn't on my Original Cast recording! I would watch it, then listen to my CD in my room and act the story out as it pieced itself together. My appreciation grew.

In my little freshman dorm, half my roommates and I used pens and highlighters (Angela Valentine Naegle style) to act out the whole thing to the other half of my roommates. 

Then...the 25th Anniversary Concert. My Les Miserables world turned upside down. First, because the Jonas kid was a really poor casting decision, but second and more important, I fell in love with Alfie Boe and Norm Lewis. They are my Jean Valjean and Javert.

Robert and I went to see it at the Capitol Theatre a few years ago (THANK YOU AUNT CRISTY!) and Robert, who loves a good story, fell in love, too. Robert and I then began asking more important questions about the characters...well, character. About society. About the author's views. 

Here we are, the present day, and I am halfway through the book. I needed answers to my questions and the book is thorough. I think it is safe to say there is no book in existence that is more thorough than Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. When  I listen to the musical now, I get goosebumps and cry like I never have before. Ah...I could go on and on. 

Now that you are convinced I am a legit fan, let me tell you that I am excited for the movie, simply for this reason: 

Les Miserables is a fantastic story. I can't wait to see it in "movie" medium. I know there are Les Mis movies out there but this one will be grand because it's a movie of the musical. I will keep my singing expectations in check and look at Hugo's story from a different point of view. I am so excited!

Moving on. (p.s. I shortened this Les Mis entry by about half before posting it. You're welcome.)

4. THE HOLIDAY SEASON!

It's snowing right now. Right this second. I don't care what people say, I can listen to Christmas music. All this talk about "if you listen to Christmas music you are forgetting Thanksgiving"? I won't have it.

There is a magic about Christmas time, and listening to cheesy music awakens past holiday feelings of  peace, electricity, and the Spirit of the season. I don't see anything wrong with giving two months to this feeling instead of 25 days. Why must I hold back until a certain day to start getting excited about all of the  magical, wonderful. spectacular, miraculous things about Christmas? Uh uh, not me. I'm not waiting.

Of course, I'll try not to overdo it.... :)