Delivery "Service"

Dear Mr. Delivery Truck Man,

You probably noticed when you left the note on our door yesterday telling us to call you to schedule a delivery time for today that we live on the third floor of our building. I'm thinking that when you loaded the package on to your truck yesterday, and again today, you noticed it weighs 102 pounds.

Yes, Mr. Delivery Truck Man, I am working from home today so that I can be here when you arrive.

No, Mr. Delivery Truck Man, I cannot help you carry it up the stairs.

I'm sorry, Mr. Delivery Truck Man, but my husband is at work.

No, Mr. Delivery Truck Man, I don't know anyone who can come over to help you.

Mr. Delivery Truck Company, don't you have another Delivery Truck Man who can help this one? So that you can, you know, DELIVER our package?

You do? Great! Thank you.

Just one more thing: Next time, Mr. Delivery Truck Men, could you please not leave a package this big and doorbell ditch me? That would be awesome.

Have a Seat!

Would you like to come over? Because you're totally invited, and we got a new chair this weekend. We'd love to have you sit in it.


We're very excited about this chair because we've had our eye on it for months, since our friends Karen and Joseph bought it. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and we're glad that K & J seem to actually believe this because we've been following their lead in a few things lately. Their adorable little boy, Jackson (I do believe this may be his first blog shout-out), arrived August 31 and will be just a few months older than our Cate. So we totally copied them there (well, not totally I guess, since they had a boy baby and we're having a girl baby, but still), and then we went and bought the same chair.

A few months ago when we started admiring their chair, Karen and Joseph were kind enough to give us the name and phone number of the sales person who sold them theirs. So we went and met this guy, who told us he'd just sold his last one. And that he couldn't find one anywhere else.

But then, as luck would have it, I heard about a "scratch and dent" sale that furniture store was having this weekend. We didn't camp out overnight to be there when it started or hustle bustle over there or anything. We cruised in about 1:00, which turned out to be good enough. We were there about five minutes when we saw this beauty.

Thank you, maker of invisible scratches and/or dents, for getting us such a great deal on this chair! Did I mention it reclines?


So, anyway, come on over. You won't have to snuggle with us on the couch this time.

Paranormalcy

Ok, so remember our friends Todd and Erin? The introduced us. You might have met them in person or you might have seen my shout-out to them in the anniversary post.

Well, this was a big week for them! Why, you ask?

Because this week Erin's sister, Kiersten White, wrote a book and it debuted at #7 on the New York Times Bestseller list. Well, she didn't write the book this week, but it's on the list this week.

Seriously, Erin's little sister sat down with a notebook and a pen or a laptop and a Diet Coke or whatever people do when they sit down to write bestsellers and WROTE A BOOK. And GOT IT PUBLISHED. And now it's on the NY TIMES BESTSELLER LIST.

I generally opt for normal over paranormal, but I'm getting a copy this weekend, and you should too!

Click here to buy it!

You can check out Kiersten's blog here: http://www.kierstenwhite.com/

Wal - Mart

I'm going to a baby shower this weekend and the mom-to-be is only registered at Wal-Mart. So off I went on Friday afternoon during lunch to the one closest to my office.

I get to the computer thing where you can look up and print registries and this woman who works there walks up to me and says, "This machine, no paper."

I just stood there, looking at her. I didn't mean to look at her like she was crazy, but I'm afraid I might have. I looked back at the machine. Then back at her. She looked at me. She looked at the machine.

Then she looked back at me like, "What? Don't you speak English?" and really, I do speak English, and I wasn't judging her for not speaking English, I was just thinking, "What do you mean, 'This machine, no paper'? Isn't this Wal-Mart? Don't you have that here?"

Cate's Room

I am having so much fun making stuff for Cate's room! I'm fully aware that she is totally getting the first child treatment and that she is probably the only one of our kids who will get custom made by Mom bedding and hand painted by Mom and Dad furniture, but I am sure having a good time.

Grandma bought her a bassinet that's featured in this shot of her room:



And last night and today when I got home from work I finished up these pillows--obviously, Cate won't use these, but I think I'll put one at the foot of her crib and one on the reading/nursing chair:



One of the best things I've made for Cate is a burp cloth made out of a shirt my mom had when she was pregnant with me! It was the first maternity top she bought, and she gave it to me when we told her we were expecting Cate. My mom is a much tinier person than I am, and there was no way the shirt was going to fit (even early in my pregnancy) so I just hung on to it. Then I had this great idea to make it into a burp cloth. I wish I'd taken a before shot of the shirt, but I didn't think of that until right this minute. Oops!

Happy

Anniversary, that is. Sam and I celebrated our first anniversary last weekend. Since we only managed to post one time during the first ten months we were married, and since neither of us has written a word in a journal (except our little notebook for Cate, where we write her messages), now seems like a good time for a review of our year:

September: Very busy month, including a reception in Gilroy, a reception in Mequon, and a road trip to Fresno, CA, for Sam’s friends’ wedding. It was great fun to meet so many of Sam’s friends from when he lived in DC! This trip led to what is still the biggest misadventure of our marriage: misguided by “Pushy B,” our GPS, we took a wrong turn and ended up at the entrance to Yellowstone. Let’s just say that we were eating dinner at In-n-Out in SACRAMENTO at 5 PM Sunday. Not good. We drove and drove and drove and finally ended up taking a NAP in a hotel in Elko, NV, for about three hours from 2 AM to 5 AM on Monday. We rolled in to town 17 minutes before I was supposed to be the KEYNOTE SPEAKER at an event an 8 minute drive from our house. Rough week that week.

October: It was my birthday and Sam started his new job as the Executive Pastry Chef at Culinary Crafts.

November: Sam’s birthday fell on Thanksgiving! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Dinner with the McAllisters (it’s Bonnie’s birthday, too!). I made Sam this cake:

This was the month of our first inaugural Christmas tree shopping adventure. We are both very committed to live trees, so off we went. What I remember about that trip is that I thought we’d get a 4-5 ft. tree and Sam thought we’d get a 5-6 ft. tree and in the end our tree was 8 ft. tall.


December: I officially introduced Sam to one of the great wonders of the universe: Christmas in California. Oh, what a treat! Oh, how I miss the warm weather! Oh, how I think a White Christmas is so overrated! We spent our first Christmas morning at home together, then flew out to California. People often comment that Sam and I are a lot alike. Well, never has that proven to be truer than Christmas morning when we found that we had purchased not one, not two, but THREE identical gifts for each other.

No photos from our trip to CA, but here is a photo of the awesome live wreath Aunt Dale sent us, along with some of our Christmas cards. I just love Christmas cards!


January: Road trip to St. George to visit Sam’s parents. Spontaneous decision to move in February. I got brave and started my law practice, complete with business registration, a tax ID number, stationery, and business cards. Major Law, PLLC went live on the web at www.majorlawonline.com.

February: We moved! Hiring movers: good decision. Hiring movers who broke our stuff: annoying. Funniest moment: as he was carrying in a piece of furniture, one of the movers said to Sam, “Hey, man, does this go in the baby’s room?” Cate, of course, was not yet on her way.

March: Neither of us can remember a thing about March. If we did something fun with you, feel free to remind us in the comments section.

April: Duke wins the National Championship. I’ll say that again, because that was a BIG deal: Duke WINS THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!!

We spent Easter Weekend in St. George with my mom, where she introduced Sam to the family tradition of the “Magic Easter Basket.” My mom just happens to be the world’s BEST Easter basket maker, and it was so fun for me to see Sam getting his first Maggie-created basket. (The “magic,” in case you are wondering, is that the Easter Bunny just seems to keep putting more and more jelly beans in the grass—so you can find more for days!) In typical Sam and Nancy fashion, we neglected to take any pictures of the Easter baskets, but here we are in Snow Canyon with my mom:

I see this picture and I can't believe how I took my abs for granted before getting pregnant. Sigh. They'll go back, right?

At the end of the month, we went to St. Maarten for a week. To say we struggled with taking photos would be a major understatement. The big news of the month was that on our last day in St. Maarten we found out Baby Major was coming! Inasmuch as Baby was the size of a poppyseed (a poppyseed!) we went ahead with our parasailing trip. I’m sure she loved it! This is us about to take a dip in the water:

The beautiful scene from our boat trip:

We went to a darling bakery on the French side of St. Maarten and got these delicious treats:

I was excited for Sam to speak French when he ordered these, which he did, but it was really more for me than for them--since everyone there spoke English!

There are literally no photos of us from that trip that are in focus. Alas ...

May: Oh boy. Was I ever a crazy pregnant gal! I count my blessings that I never actually got sick, but I felt like I had just gotten off the tilt-a-whirl all month. I would go to work, come home, take a nap, eat, cry about something, and go to bed. Every day. Poor Sam. I would say crazy things like, “There is NO WAY I can do this with a toddler, just so you know,” and (through tears), “I really thought being pregnant would make me feel so MATERNAL, but I do not feel maternal at all (sob, sob) and (sob, sob) I’m sorry, but I don’t LIKE being pregnant!”

Cate wasn't much to look at at first, but we loved her from the start:


I did manage to rally by the time Sam's parents and Aunt Dale came to town to support Sam when he participated as one of the chef's at Chef and a Child, a benefit for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Utah. Sam made chocolate passion fruit creme brulee, and it was the best thing there. Trust me.




June: Started telling people Baby Major was on the way. Due to my already expanding belly people said things like, “Oh, I’m so glad we can talk about it now!” and “I KNEW IT.” Except for Sam’s dad, who had said when we told him in May, “Are you serious? You wouldn’t joke about this would you? I have to sit down. This is great news.” The morning of the first day of the 11th week of being pregnant, I woke up and I was all better. No more nausea, no more too tired to think, no more crazy, all better. I haven't felt sick for one minute since then. So grateful!

July: Sam started teaching classes at The Art Institute! He teaches Introduction to Baking one day a week and he loves it! Here's a picture of Sam in his Art Institute gear before his first day: Isn't he handsome?!

I feel like this picture represents a major turning point for me, inasmuch as I 1) thought about taking a picture on an important day; 2) found the camera; 3) took an picture that is in focus.

We found out that Baby Major is a girl in July. It was so fun to have my mom in town for the ultrasound. Catherine Lee Major is on her way to our family and we couldn’t be more thrilled! She was looking much more human by this point (I know this is a repeat photo, but she's our favorite--indulge us):

I call this Cate's "Diva pose." Doesn't she look like she's ready to go to the beach?!

August: It’s been a year! Wow! We celebrated our anniversary by staying overnight downtown: Sam had the same flowers he brought me on our wedding day delivered to our room, out to dinner, ice cream from room service, movie on demand in the room, pool time, yummy breakfast (yes, there was a lot of eating involved in our celebration), poolside lunch, nap in the pool chairs. Fun, relaxing, wonderful weekend!

Sam has officially christened August 29 through January 1 “Major Festivus” because we have so many celebrations during these months: our anniversary, Sam’s mom’s birthday, my birthday, Sam’s dad’s birthday, Sam’s birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, and—this year—the arrival of Miss Cate!

Here are a few snapshots from the first day of our First Festivus a year ago:










Thanks again, Todd and Erin!


We couldn't be happier!






(Oh, and thanks Clark Swensen for the wedding photos.)

Curtains for Cate!

Cate's soda shoppe theme room is coming together! I've never made curtains before, but I made these and I think they turned out pretty cute! I'm going to make her bedding, too. Next up: crib skirt and bedding with these two materials, plus one more that has cupcakes on it. Photos of those coming soon!







Cate is moving around more and more! We actually saw her moving through my tummy this week--very exciting! Sam decided after we saw her moving that he should read her a story, so he did! "Bath Time" was her first book--it's about how all sorts of animals get clean, then the last page is about how babies get clean in the bathtub. Very stimulating for Cate, I'm sure! Thanks, Grandma, for sending the book!