Petersen University -- Fall 2008 Course Offerings

Physical Science 101 - Taught by Allyson whenever there is a chance to pick up leaves, berries, branches, or any other nature items to collect. She recently collected 83 leaves on our hike up Butterfield Canyon last week muttering to hersef, "Must have that one... Must have that one .... Must have that one...." as she picked them up. She then came home and logged each one in to her journal before bed.

Tumbling - Beginner - Taught by Brooke all day every day. She is able to find and trip over something on a consistent basis. Her most recent bumps and bruises came during our hike up the canyon when she kept falling down in an attempt to keep up with Allyson.

Music 400 - Taught by Allyson whenever Maria is on the phone. She has "taught herself" how to read the beginner Thompson piano book and spends time with the piano as loud as it will go playing the songs and then composing her own.

Music 202 - Taught by Brooke whenever Allyson is trying to sleep. She is perfecting the "Ariel" song (think Ah-Ah-Ah.... Ah-Ah-Ah.... over and over again) and loves to sing it at the top of her lungs.

Child Development 302 - The Power of Pretend - Taught by Allyson and Brooke every minute of every day. (Allyson: "In order to be a princess you have to be 5!" -- Brooke: "Pretend I'm 5, ok?" -- Allyson: "Okay")

Child Development 500 - Patience - Attempted to be practiced by Maria on a daily basis, with 24 hour hands-on practical study. Recently, Allyson and Brooke were fighting over a toy and Allyson was melting down. Maria: Allyson, go to your room until you can act like a 5 year old." Allyson: "FINE!!!! I'LL ACT LIKE A 5 YEAR OLD!!!!!" - Followed by stomping loudly up all the stairs and slamming of the bedroom door for good measure.

Cycling 104 - Taught by Dave in the evenings in the basement. He recently got a new set of "rollers" which allow him to ride his road bike in the the house on these two cylindrical contraptions that are supposed to roll. So far, he has only fallen off a few times, and I don't think there are any dents in the walls yet:).

Home Repair 210 - Taught by Dave whenever something new breaks (which is often around here). Most recently, we finally have the holes in the kitchen ceiling patched and the new master shower is amazing!

PE100 - Taught by Maria every week-day at the gym. So far I have lost almost 20 pounds and 7 inches total (4 off my waist:)) in the last little while. Brooke is very encouraging and loves to go to the "Play Store" (the day-care at the gym) and is very put out when I go when she is in pre-school :).

Come visit and take any of these courses. Several more are likely to be scheduled in the coming days... All is well, even though it is a bit crazy too:).

Maria
(and posted per Maria's permission...) :)

White Coat Ceremony

Last night was the white coat ceremony for PNWU. Jared is now officially a medical student! I know you're all so proud!

The lighting in the building was terrible, so any pictures with flash turned out dark, almost black (and it wasn't just my camera, everyone around me was the same - weird!), so we had to use the "scene" setting without flash which makes capturing steady pictures up close REALLY difficult and so they are a little blurry...

Before being white "coat-ed". Jared looks so thrilled in that last one, huh!

Receiving his white coat.

After receiving their white coats

Sad dark pictures (and yes, the lights were on AND the flash did go off!! GRRR!!!)


And this last one is Jared afterwards eating cake (notice the blue frosting color on his teeth). YUM!

New Official due date

I just heard from the doctor's office this morning and my due date has been moved up 5 days.
Due date is now January 10, 2009!

So, how does this work with all our guesses?

Ultrasound results!!! Boy or Girl?

Yes, we finally had our first ultrasound. And yes, we did find out what "it" is!!!

The first thing the ultrasound tech said was "Well, your baby is definitely NOT shy". There the baby was, proud as can be, spread eagle for the world to take a peek...

And what did we find???

A hand poking me...

A little profile...

And this!!!

"Of course, nothing is 100% until the baby is born", said the ultrasound tech... "but I don't know how to see this one any different." Looks like Isaak will have a partner in crime pretty soon...

"IT" is a BOY!!!

The swirly looking stuff that looks like its coming out of his, eh hem, is the umbilical cord and those are his legs on either side. Every time the tech went near his rump there was a clear shot... And this kid was moving around like crazy!! It was really neat to feel him move and see it at the same time. SO COOL!!

We also found out that according to his size, I may be about 5-7 days ahead of what we thought. SO, I could actually be 22 weeks this week instead of 21. Doctor will have the final say tomorrow, but maybe our guesses will be all off... who knows...

As for names... I know people will ask, but no. No name yet, but we're working on it. We may just wait to see his little face to make a final decision... :)

OH, and check this out... He's peek-a-boo yawning! How cool is that!!!

Bagpipes

I finally did it!! I played through an entire tune (Amazing Grace) without stopping or cutting out!!!!!! I did it!!!! YESSSSSS!!!!!

New ward = speaking in church...

SO, we've been in WA for a month now and they finally asked us a couple weeks ago to speak in church, which we did this past Sunday. Not only did they ask us to speak, but speak for 15 minutes each on "Abstaining from Evil"!! Great... We equally could have given identical talks (you know, rattling off all the the do's and don't's, and should's and shouldn't's, how's and how not to's) but I think we did pretty good at splitting it up. I chose to talk on abstaining from the spirit of evil (meaning the disposition in which we conduct our lives) and Jared spoke more about the process of abstaining from evil.

You know, I'm always amazed how much you learn every time you open the scriptures because inevitably there is always something different going on in your thoughts and life every time you open them. Especially when you look at things from a different perspective. Jared got more laughs than I did, but I didn't have to speak for quite as long because I got to "introduce us" to everyone first. I think it was a win-win situation. :)

Well, I'm happy to say all went well and WE'RE DONE! Whew! No more talks until we move again... hopefully. Although, I am glad we had the opportunity. I really did learn a lot, despite being nervous about the talk. I really am happy that I'm a part of this gospel and have such a wonderful family in all of you to share that with. :)

Finally an ultrasound is scheduled!

So we had our first appointment with my OB here in Yakima. What a relief not only to finally get in somewhere, but also because he seems like a great doctor talking not only to me but also to Jared and seeming genuinely interesting in us. And not to mention reassuring and experienced.

He said that everything looked great. My "size" is just where I should be and the best part, Jared got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time! He just smiled and winked. I think he was more excited than he was showing, because after the appointment he kept talking about the instrument the dr. used and what he was listening for, etc. Such a dr. at heart, huh...

SO, my ultrasound is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 5th and we should find out what we're having then. The dr. won't be there and he won't get the reports until the following Monday, but he said we would have a pretty good idea what it is even before he has a chance to look at the charts and give us a call. I'm REALLY excited not only to find out what it is, but also to just see what has been kicking me!

We'll give you all a call when we find out next week. :)