New Dishwasher

YEAH! We got our new dishwasher! Thanks Al for putting it in and making sure it works. Doesn't it look nice?

Emergency Medicine Residency Workshop

Jon and I went to an Emergency Medicine Residency Workshop at St. V's Mercy Hospital in Downtown Toledo tonight. There was good food and very helpful information. The food was from the China One Buffet, which we of course had to find out ahead of time that it is safe Chinese. It was really good, and nice to find out there is a Chinese restaurant Jon and I go to and it is ginger-free.

For the workshop, there were two attendings that talked about things to look for when choosing an Emergency Medicine Residency and what to prepare for when you are out interviewing. All the students who attended (there were only about 20, mostly third years) were able to ask questions, too. It was very helpful information.

Test Results

I had my 6 month appointment today. I found out that I do not have gestational diabetes! I am so glad! Everything was good! I have now gained 20 pounds in my pregnancy. Also when the doctor was trying to find the heart beat, he kept moving away from her.

Jon and I are trying to figure out what we are going to do to celebrate passing my blood glucose test. We also found out that our insurance will cover the supplement (Fish Oil/DHA) I have to take with the free prenatal vitamins (free from Meijer). Very cool!

Baby Update

Here is a picture of me at 6 months (26 weeks). Also at the end of this post I will include a slide show so you can see the difference.

I had my glucose test today. I think it went okay. Hopefully, I will find out the results at my doctor's appointment tomorrow. I could feel my blood sugar dropping during the hour I waited. It felt like I am still hypoglycemic, so hopefully that is a good sign that I do not have gestational diabetes. Jenni, thanks so much for driving me in case it made me sick! I did feel a little sick, but not as bad as the last time I had to do that test.

Jon did feel our "little bean" move the other day. He was really happy, but it was not what he expected to feel. "A little ripple" is what he called it.

St. Mary's

Sunday morning, Jon and I headed to St. Mary's, OH for another Branch Conference. We had to leave at 7:30 so I could be there by 9:30 for a pre-conference meeting. It was a really nice morning. There was fog rising off the ground everywhere. It looked really cool and was a great sign that fall is here. We also got to see the sun rise. It was reddish pink until it got about the fog. So beautiful!

The conference went really well. I taught a combined YM/YW class with Dusty Watson, a member of the Stake YM Presidency and my ward. The youth seemed more into the lesson than the week before (I was in Wauseon).

The branch building was fairly new and really nice. I love the green steeple on top! That is actually how we found it. I have discovered that getting lost on the way to a Unit Conference is just part of the experience. Everyone I have been to (except my own ward), we have gotten lost trying to get to the building. Well, this time was no different, but it was not our fault. The directions from Map Quest were wrong. They had the wrong name for a few of the streets. Luckily when we were back tracking I saw the Chapel and we were able to find the correct roads.

The branch had made lunch for the stake leaders who were there. Too bad for Brother Davis. Brother Davis, the Stake YM President, had invited Dusty, Courtnee, Jon and me over to his house for lunch. I actually eat at both places and both were really good! When the meetings were done we headed to New Bremen for lunch at the Davis's.

SIDE NOTE: Yes they are related to the Davis's in Idaho Falls. I went to high school with Brother Davis's (the one here in Ohio) nephew. His parents and brother's family live in my parents' stake. Small world!

Anyway, we had a wonderful meal with Brother and Sister Davis. They have a very nice home. It is older, and they are fixing it up, but it was fun. It even has the old radiators that really work.

Then, we headed for home. We got home at 5:30 and just lounged around the rest of the day. Jon said he felt like he missed out since he was not at our ward's meetings. I feel inactive. I have not been to our ward in three weeks. We had Stake Conference, then I was at Branch Conference in Wauseon, and the I was at Branch Conference in St. Mary's. I will probably be there this week, but by myself, since Jon will be in Iowa for a Conference related to the research he did this summer. And then the next week is General Conference. Crazy!!

Dinner at the Beck's

Jon and I had a meeting to talk about how youth conference went this last year. Along with the meeting, President Beck, the 1st Counselor in our Stake Presidency, made dinner for all involved.

We talked about all the things that were good about youth conference, all the things we wish we knew before hand, and all to things that should be changed. It was good to talk about it. Now we will type these things up and pass them on to whoever does the next Wilderness Youth Conference in four years.

For dinner, we had turkey (cooked on the grill), acorn squash (made like mashed potatoes), homemade coleslaw, tomatoes with cheese and balsamic vinegar, rolls, cranberry sauce.... It was so good! The turkey was really moist. For dessert, we had Handel's Ice Cream with fresh peaches. It was a fun night to get together with other members of our stake and talk over dinner.

Jon even got to feed the neighbor's horse. President Beck has a beautiful house and yard. There is a forest with a stream in his back yard. It was a nice neighborhood too.

On our way home, Jon and I saw an interesting car. It was either a Lamborghini or Ferrari. We weren't really sure, but it was weird to see a car like that driving around in Toledo. Too bad I didn't get a picture.

Baby Stuff

After my meetings on Thursday, Jon and I picked up some free baby stuff. The Wahlquists were nice enough to give us a lot of their baby things. They just sold their house here in Toledo and were ready to give it away. Now besides just having a crib, which I got from my sister (Thanks, Kelli!) and a dresser, with Jon's name written all over it, we also have a stroller, swing, tub, and bouncer.

Here are some pictures of what we picked up Thursday night.

THANKS KENNA AND MARC!!!!!

Meetings

Thursday night, I had my third Thursday Stake Meetings. We put together a schedule an budget for 2009. It has to be in to the Stake Presidency by the end of the month to be approved. I am pretty excited for some of them. The activities should be lots of fun! Right before Standards Night, we had a planning meeting with the youth. They came up with lots of really good ideas for activities. Sadly, we could not use all of them. Since we have been asked by Salt Lake to cut back, we could not even use all of the top 8, but we did our best to work in as many of their ideas as possible, and the activities will be longer.

It was a long meeting to get everything figured out, but it was a good experience to be able to be involved in the process. I hope all involved have a good time.

Problems with Appliances

A few times this summer, Jon and I have had to call our apartment office to have our air conditioner fixed. We have had a few nights where it got to 90 degrees in our apartment because we had to wait for the air conditioning guy to come. Well, now we are at the point we can just have the windows open. It is wonderful! There is talk of a new air conditioner for next summer, even though this was a new one.

Now we are having problems with our dishwasher. The inside of it is turning yellow/brown. Not very reassuring that the dishes are getting clean when the inside of the dishwasher looks so gross, which you cannot really see in this picture. Also something I have always thought a little weird is the duck tape. What's up with that? Al (our fix-it guy) said we are going to get a new dishwasher, because it is old and he doesn't know what else the problem could be. Yeah! The sad part is I will have to wash dishes by hand until the new dishwasher comes on Monday or Tuesday. Thus is life, I guess.

Wauseon

Sunday morning, I went with the Stake YW President to the branch conference in Wauseon, Ohio. Thankfully Sister Chase was feeling better, or I would have had to go by myself and fill in for her. I know I would have gotten really lost trying to get there, since we did get lost and Sister Chase had been there many times.

I really like Wauseon. It is a nice farming community, and the branch has great people in it. There were a ton of corn fields, which we drove by on our way. It is only about half an hour from Toledo (of course, I went from Haskins on back roads, so it might take less time from Toledo).

The youth always amaze me. They are great! I have really enjoyed going to different wards and branches around Northwest Ohio, and getting to know the youth better.

Youth Standards Night

Saturday night was Youth Standards Night for our stake. I am surprised that it came together and worked out great. There were a lot of stressful days leading up to this event. We had many people, who were supposed to participate, discover they could not be there, and we had to scramble many times for someone to fill in for them.

The day before, the Stake YW President came down with the flu. Since I had been working closely with her to get everything ready, I got the be in charge at that point. I am so grateful to those who filled in at the very last minute, to those who help set up, and to those in charge of food and drinks. They made the night run more smoothly. I am also really gald I am not normally in charge of things.

I never had a Standards Night like this one when I was in Young Women's. We always had a speaker that would talk for an hour and then we would have refreshments. Our parents were invited. It was more like a stake fireside.

Here they do classes for the youth to pick from. Each class is about a different standard from the "For the Strength of Youth" pamphlet. This year they did a class for the parents to let the parents know what exactly the youth do in Young Men's and Young Women's, and what resources there are out there from the church to help them with their youth. The five classes, which the youth were able to pick three, were: Choice and Accountability, Dating, Honesty, Physical Health, and Sexual Purity. There also was an over all theme that was tied into all of the classes. We used the church wide theme for the youth, Mosiah 5:15, "Be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in good works...."

I made sure everything ran smoothly. I checked on each teacher to make sure they had what they needed. The youth and parents seemed to enjoy themselves. I heard only good things. The clean up went faster then I expected, but the YM President, Brother Davis, took charge of getting the building looking better then we found it.

It was a good night, but I am really glad it is over. My feet were really sore and swollen. It was nice to come home (and find out how College Football had gone).

Watering the Lawn?

Jon and I went for a walk after dinner, which was something Elder Kikuchi had said in Stake Conference that married couple should do. As we were walking through a neighborhood in Maumee, we saw something that was a little weird. First I should say that not many Ohioans water their lawns. Most of the time there is enough rain that it is not needed. Recently, we have not gotten much rain and lawns around town look really sad. It's almost like home.

Anyway, we were walking down the street and there was a guy putting out a sprinkler to water his lawn. He placed it right in the middle of the sidewalk. That way it watered the grass between the sidewalk and the road and the grass in front of his house. He's a multitasker. It was just a little weird to see him put a sprinkler on the sidewalk and leave it. Does the side walk need water?

The stone is out! My kidney stone just came out about 5 minutes ago! It is about 3 millimeters. I'm just glad that is over for a while and it did not take a month this time.

Here are some pictures of my actual stone.

Yet Another Stone

Yes, that is right. I have past another kidney stone. It was weird how this one started. Most of the day I had this feeling of having to go to the bathroom, but could not go. Then Jon and I went grocery shopping. I started to feel tired and sick.

By the time we got home, I was hurting a little, but it seemed to be a somewhat normal pushing on various organs by the baby. I laid down to see if that would help. It just got worse, and I thought, "I think this is a kidney stone." But it was on the wrong side. All of my most current stones have been on the right side. This was the left. I waited a few more minutes and thought about it. I was then sure it was a stone.

I took some pain medicine and tried to eat something so I could keep it down. It is really hard to eat when you are in pain. I also started drinking lots of water. I probably drank 45 fl. oz. in an hour. I started feeling better, so Jon and I went to a Ward Labor Day Social. We stopped and got KFC for dinner, since it was a bring your own dinner. We were not there very long, when the pain started coming back. We ended up leaving not long after we got there. I rode home in the back seat laying down, because it felt better.

At home, I tried to let it move through by itself. Jon gave me a priesthood blessing and rubbed my left flank forever. When I still was not able to go to the bathroom and was still in too much pain, I decided I should go into the ER, where they could give me some better pain killers and lots of fluid.

At about 8:00, Jon took me to UTCOM since it is closest and covered by our insurance. Even though they took me straight back, it felt forever before they were able to get a IV going and something for the pain. After that, I mostly slept and Jon studies for a quiz. They were able to confirm that it was indeed a kidney stone, and I also have a UTI, so I get to take an antibiotic for a week. It was the shortest time I have ever been in the ER, only about 3 hours, and I slept great last night.

Happy Labor Day everyone! I hope you had a better one then us!