33 Weeks and Christmas decorations!!

I am now 33 weeks pregnant. Here's the picture:

We also put our crib together. And I've been painting a dresser we bought on craigslist---so final pictures of baby room will be soon :)

And we put up our Christmas tree and decorations and took a family photo:

Thanksgiving

First of all, Dave and I are so grateful for all we have. We have wonderful family and friends and have been given many great opportunities this year. We are most especially thankful for the gospel in our lives and to be members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints---and grateful for the atonement of the Savior, Jesus Christ. We would be not be as happy and enjoy life as much without this knowledge.

For Thanksgiving our Bishop and his wife invited us and a couple others from the ward over to celebrate with them. It was an amazing feast and we're so grateful for their hospitality and kindness. Here are some pictures to highlight the day :)

The bishop cutting the turkey---yum yum!

The feast begins!!

Dave took most of the pictures, but this one. So here's Dave! Love him so much!!

Juliana's Visit

Dave's sister Juliana came out for a couple days for a job interview. So we didn't have a lot of time. But we took her to Harvard Square, Mount Auburn Cemetary and to Bunker Hill. Here are some pictures from the weekend. It was so fun having her here!!

Juliana and Dave at the Bunker Hill Monument.

Juliana, Dave and Liz at the top of the monument. Yes, I walked all 294 steps! I took it slow though and met them at the top :)

To prove we made it, or at least Juliana made it---and either Dave or I took the picture :)  We all made it, I promise.

I look weird in this picture---but Juliana looks pretty and so do the pretty fall leaves :)

Juliana at Regina's Pizzeria. So yummy!!

Glad you could visit us Juliana!!!!!

30 Weeks!

I'm am now 75% of the way through the pregnancy!! Thirty weeks! I've definitely gone through a growth spurt---or Marcus has :)  So here is the very unflattering picture to prove it. Everything is going well so far and we're excited to meet Marcus in a couple months--time is flying!!

Amber & Sarah's Visit!!

My good friends Amber and Sarah were able to come out and visit for a couple days!! It was great having them here. We were able to go to the Boston Temple, walk the Freedom Trail in Boston, drive down to Plymouth and see some cool cemeteries and Harvard campus/Harvard Square. They also went to tour Fenway Park (go Red Sox!!).

So here are some pictures from the weekend, enjoy!!

 Statue of George Washington at the Public Garden in Boston.
 

Liz & Sarah at the Public Garden.

Sarah visiting Mary Goose AKA Mother Goose's grave.

Staying on the path :)

Liz & Sarah visiting Plymouth Rock.

After seeing the Mayflower replica and Plymouth Rock we ate some clam chowder at Cabbyshack. Amber loved it :)

Sarah, Amber & Liz at Duxbury Beach.

Sarah, Amber & Liz on the Mayflower replica.

A chapel at the Mount Auburn Cemetery. 

The Tower at Mount Auburn Cemetery.

A beautiful pond and gazebo at the Mount Auburn Cemetery.

The Charles River, near Harvard.

Amber and Sarah sitting by the Charles River, resting their feet. But I think it was me that really needed the rest :)

Apple Picking

Dave and I went apple picking last Saturday with our friends Jesse & Sarita. It was a lot of fun! We drove to Tougas Farm, about 40 miles west of Cambridge, MA. Then, just like it sounds, we picked apples from their orchards. It's a pretty popular thing to do around here. We also had a picnic and got a pumpkin and some cider and donuts. So it was a great Saturday activity! We were glad Jesse & Sarita could come up from Rhode Island to share the experience :)

Dave, Liz, Sarita and Jesse on the wagon ride to the orchard.

 Dave and Liz in front of a pumpkin tree. Okay, not really, pumpkins grown on vines---they just attached these to the tree to confuse people :)

 Lots and lots of apples!

 Dave picking an apple! Twist and then pull :)

Pregnant lady trying to pick apples without falling off the ladder :)
 

Dave and Liz apple picking, how cute :)

Fall Break - Dave's parents visit!

Dave's Fall Break was 5-10 October. It was nice to have some time with him! And even better, his parents were able to visit that weekend. We were able to take them to a few museums: Harvard Museum of Natural History, MIT Museum and the Science Museum. We also went to Mount Auburn Cemetery because of the great view, to the northern part of the Freedom Trail (Bunker Hill and U.S.S. Constitution), and to the New England Aquarium. We spent time relaxing a bit too, and going to the Boston Temple. It was a great weekend!

Here are some pictures from the weekend:

 A great view of Boston from the Tower at Mount Auburn Cemetery.Dave, Mom and Dad.

 We aren't smiling very well in the picture---but we really were happy :)  This is Liz, Dave and Mom at the Bunker Hill Monument.

 Dad standing in front of the U.S.S. Constitution. It's a cool boat to tour!

Dad, Mom and Dave in front of the New England Aquarium.

24 Weeks!

We decided to name our baby boy Marcus David Geiger. We're pretty set on it! I can't wait for Jan. 16 to get here!

I had my 24 week doctor visit today and all is going well so far. I got to hear Marcus' heartbeat and the heart rate is great. I've been feeling pretty good. Just tired, in part from not sleeping very well. I keep waking up on my back---but I talked to my doctor about and she said as long as I turn to my left side when I realize it I should be fine---it's okay to spend some time on my back. I am using a body pillow, but I'm not really enjoying it so far. Maybe the bigger I get the more I'll like the body pillow.

There are a lot of women in my ward expecting babies too, so it's fun to talk to them, and excited to know Marcus will have friends. It's also nice that Marcus will have some cousins close to him in age!

Okay, here you go. You can now see how big I'm getting :) I just started to "pop" more. After we ate a big dinner the other day my stomach looked huge. And instead of shrinking back down like it normally does, it has stayed the same. Bring on the back aches! :)

This one below I look ridiculous in, but you can see my belly better :)

The Best Year Ever!

Yesterday Dave and I celebrated being married for one year! Since our anniversary was on Sunday, we spent part of Saturday celebrating too. We went candlepin bowling. It's very similar to 10 pin bowling, but the ball is about the size of a botchy ball, weighing about 2-3 pounds. And the pins are not curved, just tall and skinny. And they're not staggered like bowling pins are---so you can only hit one row if you throw it straight on. It makes getting a strike impossible, in my opinion :). Candlepin bowling is only in parts of Canada and New England area. So it was fun to try it!

So after we went bowling we went to what we now are calling our favorite restaurant, Bertucci's. It's delicious Italian food. And they have amazing rolls. Plus they gave us free dessert for our anniversary :)

Then we just came home and watched the movie "RED". It's a pretty funny movie. Oh and we ate some Oreo Mud Pie that I made for Dave. Oh, and we both got each other movies as a present (great minds think alike!).

On Sunday morning, our actual anniversary, I went downstairs and Dave had red and white roses on the table for me :)   He surprised me since it was Sunday. He had hid them at our friends house (smart man!).

The rest of the day was great, just church and I made a pot roast for dinner. And our home teachers came (first time that has happened since we've been married). So it was great!

Dave and I are both amazed at how much more we love each other now than we did a year ago. We didn't know it was possible! But it's definitely true. We've made a lot of big changes together so far, and we're so close to being parents now. It's crazy. But I look forward to it. And I'm glad I have Dave with me now and forever to share life with. He is so much greater than what I imagined my husband would be. I feel very blessed.

Please notice the water pitcher, it was my favorite part!! Love you Dave!!

Law School and Red Sox!

Dave started Law School on Aug 31. He's enjoyed it so far. He definitely stays busy. He really likes to learn and be at school though. He's actually going to start a blog about Law School, so we'll post that link soon.

His section went to a Red Sox game on Sept 13, so I went with them. It was really fun. I've been to several Bees games, in Salt Lake, but watching the Red Sox is so much more fun! We stayed until the 8th inning----which is really good for me. We would have stayed the whole game, but it was getting late and we were afraid of being stuck in a huge crowd leaving. Plus, the Red Sox were ahead, and did win. They played Toronto. To complete the Red Sox experience we bought hot dogs. It was a fun night!!

It's a Boy!!!

Well I had my second ultrasound yesterday---and the big one. I'm 18 1/2 weeks now so we were able to find out the gender.

It was kinda funny when we found out. We were both convinced we were having a boy---I had had some dreams I was holding a baby boy---plus we both wanted a boy first. So, when we saw that he was a boy we just looked at each other not extremely surprised---more like "Yep, we thought so!"

I'm excited to start getting the baby room together. I'm not one to go all out---but I'll still make it cute with our student budget :)  We already have some names we really like---so no worries there. Now it's just the waiting game. And lots of restless nights. I haven't been sleeping very well lately. But it's just part of the experience---and I'm sure it will be very worth it!

Here's some pictures of his cute profile. And my baby bump :) which by the way grows throughout the day. It'll be even bigger this evening. Dave probably wonders what I eat all day! But I don't think I over eat :)

Our first visitor!

My (Liz) sister Kirstin came to visit us for a few days. We were so excited!

She arrived early Saturday morning, 6 Aug, and left Tuesday evening. So it was short--but we tried to pack in as much as we could.

So on Saturday we went to Harvard Square for lunch and walked around some of campus. Then we went to the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) museum which was actually pretty cool. Then we just had a chill movie night.

Sunday we went to church and then went to the Boston Temple to walk around. It's a beautiful temple!

Monday we went to Salem---which turned out to not be very fun. But hey, if you want to get a Terot Card reading, then it's the place for you! Lame. Then we went to the North End of Boston, AKA Little Italy. We had a great Italian meal at Antico Forno followed by dessert at Mike's Pastry----sooo goood!!!

Then on Tuesday we didn't have a lot of time and didn't want to be rushed so we just went to the Harvard Museum of Natural History. It was pretty cool too!

Then Kirstin had to go :(  But we loved having her here! She has most of the pictures. But we did get some pictures on Sunday at the Temple---so here they are:

Alaska!

So Liz and I had the awesome chance to go up to Sitka, Alaska, to visit my sister Debbie and her family (thanks again, Boardmans!). We had a fantastic time with them. I am not going to post many pictures here, mostly because we took over four hundred and it would be too hard to choose which ones to post and which not to post on our blog, given the present tedious nature of such uploads. If you would like to see a much more complete set of pictures, please see my Facebook page.

Where to begin? We got there on Monday night, and Liz and I were pretty pooped out from the flights, so we just hung around Debbie and RD's cool house. The windows are amazing, with a great view of at least part of Sitka. On Tuesday we went for a hike up Harbor Mountain, which was pretty laidback for everyone except RD, who had a bit of a harder task because he was carrying Grace in a back-pack carrier (which he did the whole week on our hikes). The scenery was beautiful, with tall trees towering throughout the trek (along with bushes, shrubs, flowers, etc.). The top of the mountain offered a commanding view of the whole Sitka city and harbor, as well as the surrounding mountains and distant volcano protruding through the clouds. We had a great picnic lunch (anything with Doritos is great), I played some tag with the kids, and we sat around enjoying the sun and watching bald eagles flying overhead.

After the hike, we went to Sandy Beach, where RD and Grace played around in the cold ocean spray while Liz, Reese and I hunted starfish. Liz ended up finding a giant cache of purple and orange ones hiding beneath the rocks, while Reese went on to find many a crab and sea anemone. After playing there for an hour or so, we headed back to base camp to enjoy a yummy dinner and play Carcassonne with the adults (we played plenty of it that week!).

The next morning Debbie was doing a dance performance and wanted us to wait until Thursday's show to see her, so while the Boardmans went to support their mom Liz and I wandered over to the Sheldon Jackson museum, home to many of this old missionary's tribal items that he gathered during his many years in Alaska. It was pretty cool! Afterward we wandered down the main street and had king salmon and halibut at the Wild Spot, a small street vendor. The salmon was good, but the halibut definitely took the cake!

That afternoon we went on another hike to Mosquito Cove, which thankfully--despite its name--is not home to swarms of mosquitoes. With our bear mace to defend us, we hiked through to a nice little cove with tall grass to play in. However, some dogs off the leash came through to disrupt us, so we made a quick hike out, stopping to take some pictures of course! After the hike, we hurried over to Fortress of the Bears, where one of RD's colleagues graciously showed us the bears and small petting zoo. We saw five different brown bears, from a safe distance of course! Unfortunately they were mostly sleeping, but one did humor us a bit and walk around. They are huge animals! We then had a fun time feeding the sheep, dwarf horse, and goats. Speaking of goats, they are mean little buggers! The one ram would butt aside the little babies to get at the carrots we were offering, so we had to resort to subterfuge to get them to the babies (thankfully, goats aren't the smartest animals in the wild).

We had a lazy morning the next day, eating Debbie's delicious blueberry morning (think French Toast + blueberries + cream cheese + blueberry sauce = yummilicious!). Then we went to see Debbie's performance, and she did awesome!!!! She is part of the New Archangel dancers, a group of women that performs traditional Russian and Ukrainian dances in honor the Sitka's unique historical heritage, being the former capital of Russian America. She performed in four of the six dances, and was very graceful and had a great smile on her face :) The kids loved clapping for her, and RD and Liz were vocal in their cheers. After the show, the weather turned sour (for the only time in the whole week, luckily!!!), so we had another night of dinner and Carcassonne.

Friday, we went fishing!! RD, Liz and I went out early am to the same place I went last year where I caught my first fish ever, an Alaskan silver salmon. The pink were in season this time, so we went ahead and started our casting. Liz did amazing--she caught four fish her first time every fly-fishing!! I hooked a bunch of salmon, but only ended up bringing one in to shore (though I did catch a bass and another, small fish). After our great fishing trip, we went to Totem Park, which is home to many native Alaskan totem poles, which was a fun little hike. Some bear scad had been spotted in the park, so we brought along the bear mace again, but luckily we avoided any contact. Gracie and the boys loved around picking and eating wild berries; or rather, Reese and Cameron loved picking berries while Gracie loved eating them. She's learning quickly, that one!

After the hike, RD and Debbie got a babysitter and the adults went down to the city to see Harry Potter VII(b)! I loved it, and I think everyone else did too, though Debbie mentioned she wished everyone were more excited at the end of the epic battle. After the movie and dinner, RD and I headed out again to see if I could have any more luck fishing, but unfortunately it was just not my day! There were a number of salmon, but none biting my line at least. It was still fun and peaceful out there, though.

Saturday we went to Cameron's and Reese's soccer practices, which were a lot of fun. Cameron was acting out as Luke Skywalker in one of his drills, and he certainly did look like a Jedi, darting between the balls going for him. He fell valiantly in the end, but it was a good fight. Reeser was one of the fastest kids in his group, so it was fun to watch them.

That afternoon, we had a weenie roast! RD built a great fire, and Reese and I skipped rocks while Debbie and Liz relaxed on the rocky beach. Err.... Well, they at least sat on it watching us. After eating hot dogs, we roasted marshmallows and had delicious smores. A great way to end the week! On Sunday, we went with the Boardmans to church, and they have an awesome, log-cabin-style meetinghouse (kind of like the lakehouse, Mom and Dad). We had awesome fish tacos and some more games of Carcassonne.

Monday came far too quickly. RD had to go to work as well, which was unfortunate, so we just kind of hung around the house playing with the kids. One o'clock and our departure came far too quickly, but vacations must end at some point. After what seemed like forever, we ended up back in Cambridge, MA.

So we had a wonderful, wonderful time in Alaska! It was full of natural beauty and fun things to do, and above all, family! Thanks again Boardmans for the fun times, hearty laughs, Italias sodas (just one or three more, right RD?), great photos, and good memories.