A San Francisco Treat

In February Nic and I decided to take a long weekend and go to San Francisco. Neither of us had ever been there before, and so we were up for an adventure. Well. I was up for an adventure when I started planning the trip. This pregnancy, so far, as been the hardest of my 3 pregnancies and I was pretty darn sick before, during, and after this trip. I still was able to enjoy myself, though, and I was actually grateful for the distraction.

So we flew my mom up from Arizona to watch the kids and we drove (yes, drove) the 11 hours to San Francisco. Until you get to the Sierra Nevadas the drive is painful. We're talking salt flats painful. But once we headed up into the mountains it was beautiful. We decided to take a quick break and check out Lake Tahoe. It was beautiful.

We got to SF late in the evening and scoped out the city for a bit before heading for bed. The next day we walked and walked and walked and checked out lots of the sites.

City Hall

Chinatown

My cousin Kelli recommended we visit this factory in Chinatown. There were 3 cute ladies pumping out fortune cookies like its no ones business. We paid the dollar and took a picture with them.

The bay

Pier 39

Nic's new love. Its not hot chocolate. Its drinking chocolate. It was so thick that even after it was gone there was still a coating all around the cup. Nic was in heaven. We may or may not have gone back once or twice for him to partake.

There is a lot of Mason going on in San Francisco. There is a Fort Mason near the Golden Gate Bridge and a Mason street.

Lombard street

We took an early tour to Alcatraz and really loved it. The island is actually quite beautiful and the tour was awesome.

We then rented bikes and rode across the Golden Gate and back. Then we went onto Golden Gate park and Haight Ashbury. We rented our bikes from a place called Blazing Saddles. By the end of the day I found the name quite appropriate. San Francisco has a lot of hills. Who knew?

Total creeper at Alamo Square. Anyone recognize the houses from the opening credits of Full House?

On our final day before leaving we decided to take it easy. We headed to an indoor market and ate some good food. Then we walked along the water and did some people watching.

My only regret was that I was not feeling well enough to try some of the awesome food we encountered. There was so much Asian cuisine, and I while I usually love eating at new places, I just couldn't do it. The only thing I really enjoyed food wise was the strawberry and nutella crepe I made Nic get for me every morning. Mmmm. Nutella.

Every so often I think its important to get away without our kids. It makes it feel like we are dating again and while I certainly miss my kids, I enjoy having Nic all to myself. Thanks mom for watching the kids for us, and thanks Nic for a really great time.

Visit to the fire station

In February, Mason's preschool took a field trip to the fire station. (They also made a trip to the dentist, but I had a doctors appointment that day and so I didn't go along). If you know Mason, you know he was thrilled to be visiting a real fire station. Sage was pretty thrilled too. They gave each kid a hat and a sticker badge. Then they gave a pretty extensive tour of the garage and the fire truck itself. Mason's favorite part was when they turned on the siren.

Below is Sage, wanting to be a part of the preschool group. (As a side note, the girl next to Sage had a heavy ax dropped on her toe during the tour. It wasn't serious, but she was crying. Sage is very sensitive to anyone who is sad. If there is a baby crying in the grocery store she gets very concerned and will say, "baby. crying." over and over again until the baby stops. Well, this girl was crying while Mason's teacher tried to comfort her. Sage immediately walked over, gave her a hug, and patted her on the back while she recovered. I just had to brag about my sweet girl. I hope she always is this sensitive to others.)

 Mason has always had a fascination with firetrucks (or anything that moves). This was a very cool field trip for him. He's excited to do it again next year.

Catch up: Nic's birthday.

 Nic had a birthday. In January. I have been a bit behind on my blogging, but I am going to chip away at it. For Nic's birthday (in January) we decided to go to the Utah Natural History Museum. It turned out to be really cool and the kids really loved it. Mason got to hold a cockroach and hang out with tarantulas and scorpions. Sage got to run free, splash in some water, and see big dinosaurs. They loved it.

I really love this guy. He is an insanely good daddy and my best friend. I always tell him that when I pictured my future life when I was younger, it was just like this. He is such a major reason for that. Love you Nic. 

Three.

We are thrilled to announce that we are expecting our third baby this fall (due date September 20, 2012). Here is an ultrasound picture from today. (This baby has been ultra-sounded quite frequently. Its just too convenient having an ultrasound machine and a trained radiologist at my disposal at all times. And its just too fun to watch the little wiggle worm grow and move.)

From the moment we decided to get pregnant I have had a strong feeling that we would be having a boy. This was new for me as I had no idea what sex Mason or Sage were prior to an ultrasound. I have never claimed to have any sort of motherly/womanly intuition to help me predict the sex of my (or anyone else's) baby.  But this time I was just so sure. I even told Nic at one point that if it was a girl it would take me a while to wrap my head around it because, in my mind, its a boy. Well...in the end I guess that all says something for my motherly intuition. And that is that....

it works.

Its a boy and we are so excited! 

With all the ultrasounds we've done we were pretty sure it was a boy a few weeks ago, but we weren't quite willing to commit. I think this picture shows that a commitment is in order. Sage loves to watch the ultrasounds of the baby and even knows that its a baby (though I'm sure she doesn't understand that it actually is a real live baby). Mason is thrilled to have a brother. He has also been convinced that it was boy. We tried to tell him that we didn't know for sure if it was a boy or girl, but we would love it no matter what it was. His response to that was, "Yea. It doesn't matter. We'll love it if its a boy or a girl. But its a boy."

My heart is full and I am so grateful to have this little baby be a part of our family. We are so, so blessed.

Mason-isms

Tonight, as Nic was tucking him in, Mason said, "Daddy. I think Heavenly Father made us (meaning he and Sage) to make you happy." He melts my heart. Of course Nic replied with how happy he is to have such awesome kids. I am one lucky girl.