Moving Right Along

Well today marks exactly 25 weeks in my pregnancy!  I can't believe how fast this is going by!  When we first found out I was pregnant, I remember feeling like I would NEVER get through the first trimester and all of a sudden the end of the second trimester is sneaking up on us!

So on to the good stuff.  First and foremost, in September we found out that baby Whittington is a BOY!!!  It has taken me a while to post this because I wanted to get the sonogram pictures scanned in.  Along with finding out we are having a boy, we have also decided on his name:  Stanley "Stan" Pierce Whittington!  So without further adieu I give you....Stanley Pierce:

This is actually a picture of his "tenders" (as Michelle's boys would say)!  During the sonogram the nurse said there was no doubt that it was boy because he wasn't shy and was "flashing it all over the place!"

We couldn't be more excited about having boy!  I will never forget laying on the table with Preston at my feet.  The nurse announced it was a boy and Preston grabbed my ankles in sheer excitement and I immediately started to cry.  It was definitely an awesome moment!  Preston and Mr. Markel called it from the beginning.  After the nurse left the room Preston was grinning from ear to ear and I told him I couldn't tell if he was more excited about it being a boy or if he was more excited about the fact that he was right!  I honestly think it was a little bit of both! :)

Also, several people have asked for updated belly pics.  So here you go!

21 Weeks

22 Weeks

23 Weeks

That is really about it for us!  We are counting  down the days until we get to come home for Thanksgiving.  Just three weeks from today and we both can hardly contain ourselves!  Have I mentioned that this will be the first time since last Christmas that either of us have been home?!  Personally, I think that is just TOO long.  I really think we are both going through withdrawals....Preston has already planned to eat at Connie's twice in the short time we are actually in Tupelo! :)

I will leave you with a sweet profile picture of Stan from our last sonogram:

I can't stop staring at this picture!

It's That Time of Year Again...

....the time of year I complain about how bad it sucks to live in the desert during the fall.





I'm officially depressed.


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17 & 18 Weeks

I've had a couple of people from home ask about the "baby bump" so I am going to try to post "the bump" as often as I can remember.  We are trying to take a picture every week.  We started at 17 weeks so we will see how it goes.  Also, just for my documentation, I felt the baby move for the first time on Sept. 2, 2010!  I wasn't sure if it was the baby or gas but it kept happening and has definitely gotten stronger in the past weeks! :)  And as you will see I started "poking out" A LOT between 17 weeks and 18 weeks!

17 Weeks!!

18 Weeks!!

Austria - Part II

After our Saturday day trip to Salzburg we were pretty worn out (especially me)!  So Sunday we slept in and did a little more city exploring on Sunday afternoon.   We ate at a cute little pizza bistro for lunch and then toured St. Stephen's Cathedral.

Katie and I eating pizza al fresco.

St. Stephen's Cathedral.  The architecture was unbelievable!!!

Unbelievable detail in St. Stephen's.

Just an extra little tidbit about St. Stephen's Cathedral:  For forty years, many years ago, any person that died in Vienna was buried in St. Stephen's catacombs.  Katie and I didn't see the catacombs (it cost extra) but we heard about "rooms of bones."  It so happens that I found this picture on the internet, which looks unbelievably similar to the picture that Travis (mentioned in previous post) took with his cell phone.  Evidently the stench got so bad that they had to quit holding church there for a while.  The church still holds services there today and it just blows my mind that people attend a church that has dead people in it..... A LOT of dead of people.

After St. Stephen's we wandered around Vienna even more and came across an awesome shopping center.  Unfortunately, because it was Sunday, everything was closed so we decided to go back on Tuesday.  Late Sunday we walked through a tunnel, then through an archway and stumble upon this:

We learned from our tour book that this where the president lives and this building also houses the Austrian National Library.

Sunday evening I was, again, pretty pooped so I decided to go to bed relatively early and Katie went out with several other State Farm agents.

Monday, the travel agency that planned the trip for all of the State Farm agents organized trip to a small town outside of Vienna called Melk.   In Melk we took a tour of a HUGE monastery that is still active.

Monastery in Melk.  Again, the architecture was breathtaking!

After the tour of the monastery we went on a dinner cruise on the Danube River.  I have to say that this was probably the highlight of the trip for me....just floating down the river and coming across castle ruins, tiny towns with vineyards and even a palace!  

A view of the Danube from the monastery.

Castle ruins.

A quaint little town with vineyards on the hill.

Katie and I cruising on the top of the boat.

A huge palace on top of the hill.

Tuesday was our last day in Austria.  We got up fairly early and went back to the shopping area that was closed on Sunday.  We hadn't done much souvenir shopping so that was our main goal for Tuesday morning.  I am not much a souvenir person so I decided I wanted a Christmas ornament....something that I knew I would use and would be a reminder, every year, of my trip.  Katie and I found a cute little Christmas shop and I picked out a "Christopher Radko-esque" ornament of St. Stephen's Cathedral, which is very much a symbol of Vienna.  I also found a wooden wind-up carousel that played "The Blue Danube" for the baby's room since the baby traveled with me to Austria! :)

After shopping we went to The Belvedere.  It was at one time a palace in Vienna but they have since turned it into an art gallery.  This was also a highlight for me because I had know idea we would get to see original paintings by Rembrandt, Renoir and Van Gogh!  It was awesome.  The main attraction of the Belvedere is the Klimt display.  Klimt was famous for the painting called "The Kiss".  Klimt's art is very much representative of Austria.

I found this picture on the internet.  I didn't get many good shots of The Belvedere because it was just SO big!

I did take this picture.  This is a picture of the grounds on the opposite side of The Belvedere that is pictured above.  The grounds were gorgeous!

Unique statue on the front of The Belvedere.

Tuesday evening we went out to a nice dinner with Stephanie, Kirk, Travis and Pat.  It was a great way to end a fabulous trip!

Wednesday morning we were up early to catch our bus to the airport and thus began a VERY long day of traveling.  I think after all was said and done with traveling home, I was up for over 24 hours and I had to get up and go to work the next day....NOT FUN!  And I think I cried when I saw Preston in the airport because I was just so. tired.

Like I said before, this trip was absolutely amazing....definitely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me and I will never be able to truly thank Katie for her generosity!  Katie - maybe when we are old and retired we can do this again! :)

Austria - Part I

I'm not sure really how to start this post.  There is so much to write about, so many pictures and so little time and space.  So I have decided to split it up into two posts so hopefully it won't be so overwhelming for you and me!

I had an awesome time in Austria with Katie.  I will never be able to fully express how appreciative I am that Katie invited me on this trip.  Not only was it a unbelievable just being in Europe, but getting to spend a week of quality time with Katie was great.

After an extremely cold, 10 hour flight, with a several hour layover in Houston.  Katie and I finally made it to Vienna around 8:00pm Thursday evening Austria time.  We were very tired with greasy hair so we checked in, unpacked, took showers, ordered room service and went to bed.

Friday morning we were suppose to go on a bus tour of the city but due to a slight case of jet lag we opted to sleep in and explore the city ourselves that afternoon.  We had a blast getting familiar with the area surrounding our hotel.  We shopped, tried our first Austrian cuisine and walked through beautiful parks.

This was the park that was right across the street from our hotel.  It was gorgeous!!

That gold statue is a statue of Mozart as a young child.

This guy was playing as we strolled through the park....it was very picturesque!

Friday evening we met up for dinner with Katie's friend Travis and his friend Pat.  Travis is also a State Farm agent.  Let me just say that dinner with Travis and Pat was a real treat....I don't think I stopped laughing the entire time!

Katie and Travis on our way to dinner.

On Saturday we got up early and took a bus trip to Salzburg.  We were both still pretty tired/jet lagged so we slept a good a bit of the bus ride but it was very cool getting to see the Austrian countryside.  It is absolutely beautiful!!  Once we arrived in Salzburg, our tour guide pointed us in the direction of some tourist hotspots and we took off walking.  We ate at one of the oldest restaurants in Salzburg.  At the restaurant we met up with Katie's good friend Stephanie and her husband Kirk.  Here are some highlights of what we saw in Salzburg:

The garden where "Do Re Mi" from The Sound of Music was filmed.

A fountain from the same garden.  I believe the Von Trapp children skipped around this fountain in the movie.

We breezed by Mozart's home.

This is "The Fortress."  It was built into the mountain and was really a city within the city.  You could easily get lost in this place!

Katie and I at the top of "The Fortress" with a hint  of the Swiss Alps in the background.

After touring through "The Fortress" it was time for us to head back to the bus.  The bus ride back to Austria was HOT and we were all very tired from walking all over Salzburg.  Plus our tour guide played the entire soundtrack of The Sound of Music on the ride back.   That was fun at first but others thought it necessary to show off their singing abilities and me, Katie, Stephanie and Kirk got slightly annoyed.  Needless to say, we were happy to get back to the hotel.  I took a nap the minute we got back (don't forget....I was just 8 weeks pregnant so not only was I "first trimester tired" but I just walked ALL OVER Salzburg).  Katie and I decided that this was another good night for a shower and room service, followed by a movie on my laptop since only two channels on the television were in English.  Stay tuned for Part II!!

Widget Alert!

I added a pregnancy countdown to the blog!  So now my plethora of readers can keep up with the pregnancy progress!  It's going to be fun to watch the ticker countdown!

Don't miss the pregnancy post below!!

And I love exclamation points!! :)

Itty Bitty Wumpydump

So, as promised, here is the pregnancy post!

As I mentioned in the previous post, we found out in June that I was pregnant.  I guess you could say we were sort of trying.  I had been off birth control for a month because I had a skin condition come up called melasma, which is a side effect of birth control.  I had even gone to a lower dosage of estrogen in hopes that my skin would clear up but that didn't help.  So I decided just to be done with birth control all together.  Once I made the decision to get off birth control Preston and I decided to officially start trying to get pregnant once I got back from Austria and that we would just "be careful" until then.  As Mrs. Libby would say, "famous last words."  I had one period off of birth control and was pregnant the next month.

The day I missed my period I honestly didn't think much about it.  I knew that I was suppose to start but since I had just gotten off birth control I knew there was a possibility that everything wouldn't be like clockwork as before.  Saturday, Sunday and Monday came and went...nothing.  I remember telling Preston Monday morning that if I was pregnant I would be surprised because I didn't have any other symptons, besides the missed period, that pointed to pregnancy.  I told him I felt normal, no sickness...nothing.  Again, famous last words.  Monday afternoon I started feeling strange.  My tune changed completely.  The rest of week I told Preston, "If I'm not pregnant then something weird is going on."

Preston was out of town that week.  He was in Tempe from Sunday until Thursday evening for work and he pretty much demanded that I was not to take a pregnancy test until he was there.  So Thursday, on my way home from work, I stopped at Target and picked up two pregnancy tests.  The minute he got home I went straight to the bathroom, followed all of the instructions and as Preston and I stood in our powder room, me checking the test every few seconds, I watched as a "yes" popped up on the digital screen.  I turned and grinned at Preston and he said, "What does it say?!!"  I told him it said yes and in true Preston form, being completely silly in such a surreal moment he asked me, "'Yes' we are pregnant or 'yes' we aren't pregnant?!?!"  We both started laughing!  I guess that is a pretty valid question!  I took one more test for good measure (which was positive) and then we went back to our regular evening routine of dinner and watching tv.  That night, whenever there was a pause in our conversation or a commercial came on, we would grin at each other and say things like, "We're gonna have a baby" or he would say to me "You're pregnant."

The following week the morning sickness set it. I never actually got sick but was just nauseous all the time.  Looking back on it, I had it easy but during the thick of it, it sucked and I was a total wuss about the whole thing.  I also had some anxiety that accompanied the morning sickness.  Mainly I was anxious about my trip to Austria with Katie.  I am a worrier by nature so I was going through all of the "what ifs" in head.  Thankfully the morning sickness eased up and was pretty much nonexistant by the time I left for Austria.

I had my first doctor's appointment with a nurse practitioner before I left for Austria to verify that I was indeed pregnant.  My second doctor's appointment was after I returned from Austria.  I had a sonogram at this appointment and we got to see Itty Bitty Wumpydump.  I will never forget looking over at Preston when the nurse first brought the image up of the baby.  As he looked at the screen he had, what I like to call, his "sh$t eatin' grin" on and for those of you that know Preston well...you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about!  The third and fourth appointments we just met with the doctor and got to hear the heartbeat.  The heartbeat was much stronger at the second appointment and we could hear little sounds that were actually the baby moving.  Our next appointment is in about three weeks and we will get to find out the sex of the baby!  We both can't wait!  We have been sort of taking a poll and the majority thinks that it is going to be a girl.  Preston, Mr. Markel and Nana are the only ones, so far, that think it is going to be a boy. 

People keep asking me how I am feeling and honestly I am just feeling fat.  I am fifteen weeks pregnant (sixteen weeks on Saturday), through the first trimester and down to one pair of pants and one pair of shorts.  I am pretty sure there is a bit of a baby bump there but I have never had a flat stomach and there has been a pooch there since about sixth grade!  I am looking forward to the next couple of weeks though....finding out what the baby is and starting to feel the first flutters of movement.  And of course registering and decorating a nursery! :)

So that brings us up-to-date on the baby front.  Sorry for such the long post but I really want to try to document all of this as much as possible so just bear with me!  For those of you interested, stay tuned because I am sure there are going to many baby posts to come! :)

Ketchup and Cornbread

Well I know I have been a VERY bad blogger. Needless to say, I have a lot of catching up to do especially since the last time I posted which was in May. So I am just going to cut to the chase so we can get to the good stuff.

In May:
Mr. Markel came to visit for Memorial Day weekend.  He and Preston had a blast playing golf two days in a row at a VERY nice resort.  I worked the days that they played golf but I did grace them with my presence for lunch at the resort.....somebody has to earn the money to feed Preston's golfing habit! :)  We missed Mrs. Libby though.  She was suppose to come out with Mr. Markel but was recovering from a "fun" trip to Belize. :)  Fortunately, we are getting to make up for lost time right now!  As I type this (at work...shhhhh don't tell anybody), she is out our house giving Preston a cooking lesson in cornbread.  I can't wait to go home!! :)

We also said goodbye to the Bulmer family at the end of May.  I can't even begin describe how much Preston and I both love this family!  Before they moved, it had gotten to the point where it was just a given that we were going to eat pizza with them on Sunday evening.  Oh the amount of pizza we consumed with the Bulmers.....!  They moved to Florida, which is not too far from home so I know, before too long, that a "meet in the middle" trip will HAVE to occur! 

In June:
Oh sweet June!  This was the month that I found out I was pregnant!  Do you like how I just threw that into the mix?  Don't worry....I have a post solely dedicated to that entire subject matter in the pipeline.  That is all I am going to say about that right now.  Yep, I'm just going to leave you hanging like that.

In July:
Katie Bell invited me to go on a once-in-a-liftime trip (for me) to Austria.  We left June 30th and arrived back in the states on July 7th.  We had a full week in Austria and it seriously was an amazing trip.  Again, I am working on an Austria post because, let's be honest, a trip to Europe definitely deserves it's own post accompanied by pictures.  And if you are putting two and two together, I did travel to Europe in my first trimester.  So again, that's all I'm going to say about that right now.  Aren't you loving the cliff hangers?

After my trip to Austria, my mom and grandmother came out to visit the following week.  I wasn't able to take off from work, seeing how I had just returned from Austria so it felt like a very quick trip but we had a blast!  I LOVED having Nana here and I felt so blessed that she made the long journey out here.  Because of her trip out here, I officially gained and still hold the title of "favorite grandchild."  And yes, this was acknowledged by the other cousins!  Not only did she make the long trek just to see ME but this was the first time she had flown since my grandfather passed away three years ago.  Seriously, who can argue with that cold, hard evidence!

At the end of July I took a quick, two day trip to Holland, Michigan for work.  It definitely was a work trip with a little fun thrown in but I was VERY glad to get home. 

Phew!!  July was a busy month!

So that pretty much brings us up to date.  Things in August have slowed down a bit and we are back to our daily grind....well...as "daily" as it can be with the whole pregnancy thing thrown into the mix.

Ok, I have officially wasted enough time at work.  Time to go home and eat some cornbread!

Pure Class

Preston and I ate a very classy establishment tonight called "Buffalo Wild Wings" and we were joined by the classiest of the classy....



Needless to say, Preston was slightly embarassed after I licked my fingers and put my elbows on the table. And he felt a little bit out of place without a mustache and a tattoo of the virgin Mary...not to mention that he was also wearing a pink polo shirt.

P.S. If you look closely you will notice a little "like father like son" action going on.

Classin' it up in Tucson,
Anna


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Easter 2010

Our Easter weekend was a little different for us this year.  Normally Preston's parents are out here and we all spend the weekend with the Knights and the Molls.  On Saturday before Easter Sunday the men usually play golf (which was dubbed "The Desert Shootout" after the first year) and the women and kids brunch and go shopping.  Then on Sunday we all meet up at church and spend the morning praising God for the gift of His son, watching the kids hunt Easter eggs after the service and then off to an AMAZING brunch at one of the local resorts where we stuff ourselves silly.  This year was a little less eventful.  Preston and I did a little shopping on Saturday (I still had to purchase an Easter outfit) and that was about it.  Sunday we went to church and were very blessed by every aspect of the service.  And even though it was "just us" we still carried on the tradition of having brunch at a local resort and we were joined by our friends Zak, Lisa, their daughter Lilly and Zak's mom.  We missed having the Whittington's out here and our normal festivities but we managed to get by! ;)

Me and the hubs!

Lisa, Lilly, Zak's mom and Zak

March Madness

March proved to be, yet again, another pretty busy month for us starting with a fairly impromptu trip for me to Chicago.  I went for a training for a new design related computer program that my company is looking in to. While in Chicago I got to mix a little business with pleasure and spend some much needed quality time with my long lost friend Drew.  Here is a picture of me and Drew from our "glory days" in the Mississippi College Naturals.

Unfortunately I did not take one single picture while I was in Chicago.  I would've loved an, obviously much needed, updated photo of me and Drew but I think we were too busy catching up and a little overwhelmed that we were actually seeing each other after at least four years.  Preston asked why I didn't at least take any pictures of the city and I must admit that I have huge reservations about taking "scenic" pictures.  What's the point really?  "Ooooo look at that cool building" or "Ooooo look at that OTHER cool building."  Scenic pics just don't make that much sense to me....maybe they will one day....but not today.  Plus it was rainy and overcast the whole two days I was there so if I would have taken scenic pictures, I don't think they would have been very "scenic."  Anywho, I had a blast in Chicago.  The training was excellent and getting to spend time with a long lost friend is priceless.


Next on the March Madness list is my parents' trip to Arizona.  They drove in (yes, they drove...they love me, can you tell?) on a Sunday and left on the following Thursday.  It felt like such a quick trip because I worked half days on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday but I am so thankful they came to visit.  The Monday afternoon when they were here we made the 1 hour trek up to Ski Valley on Mount Lemmon and had a fun afternoon of a little Southern Arizona skiing.....quite different from the Colorado snow we are all used to skiing in (huh Daddy?) but it was still a blast.  It still boggles my mind that we can go from 75 degrees in the cacti & dust covered desert to 35 degrees in the pine & snow covered mountains.  We were bummed that Preston had to work and couldn't ski with us.  Here are a couple of pics from the day.

Momma and I on Ski Valley's sole ski lift.

Momma and Daddy

And finally, to end our March Madness, Preston headed to Nashville for Reed Hillen's and Jennifer Osland's wedding.  His weekend started out a little rough with a few traveling hiccups.  He was suppose to fly from Tucson to Nashville with a connecting flight in Dallas but, to make a long story short, he ended up flying to Atlanta, meeting up with Chris McAlilly and driving to Nashville.  It made for a very long day but I think he loved the QT with Chris.  He had a blast all weekend spending time with family, friends from home and friends from the river and he was more than honored to stand by Reed as one his best men on such a special day. 

Preston and The Groom hanging out in Nashville before the big day!

Congrats Reed and Jennifer!

So I think that about does it for our crazy March.  April is shaping up to be a pretty quiet month thus far and we are honestly sort of looking forward to it.   Hopefully I will be able to find something semi interesting to blog about!

-Anna

"Misses Sickykins"

I realized the other day that Lottie, our chocolate lab, aka "the baby," has yet to make an appearance on the blog. I hate it that she is making an appearance under these circumstances but oh well....so be it.

About two weeks ago I noticed that Lottie's ears were, to spare you gross details, scabby. So I made a vet appointment and took her in to get checked for what I thought was just an ear infection. While at the vet I noticed that her back legs were swollen and that they were very pink, almost as if she had been chewing on them. To make a VERY long story short, the doctor diagnosed her with vaculitis, which is the inflammation of the blood vessels. So instead of leaving the vet with ear drops, I left with steroids, antibiotics and another prescription to be filled by a pharmacy. Later that week, after she had a HORRIBLE bout of uncontrollable diarrhea (yes, I said uncontrollable) we added a bland diet and Pepcid AC to the growing list of medicines followed by a blood test suggested by the doctor. After two weeks of being medicated and having someone cook her meals of chicken and rice for her EVERYDAY, we believe that Lottie is on the mend. The swelling is gone and her skin is healing. We are beginning to try to wean her off of the steroid at this point and hope that the swelling and scabs don't return but it is just trial and error at this point.

Here is what I have learned thus far about vasculitis: it is normally caused by vaccines or can appear in dogs that have been very sick. Lottie's case is somewhat of a conundrum because neither of these things apply to her. The doctor doesn't really know what is causing this because this isn't normally seen in young, healthy dogs. Also her blood test showed elevated levels in her liver and pancreas which could mean several things: 1) that the elevated levels were caused by the diarrhea 2) that the elevated levels are what has caused the vasculitis 3) the vasculitis has caused the elevated levels 4) she could have vasculitis in her pancreas and liver. The doctor is very pleased with her progress though and very happy that she has a good appetite, high energy and doesn't seem to be showing any signs of abdominal pain. So, like I said, our first hurdle is to see how she does with weaning her off of the steroid. If she does well with that we will move toward adding back in her normal food. If she does not do well we are looking at a possible biopsy of some tissue in her leg and maybe an abdominal scan to see what is going on in her liver and pancreas. As you can see...not just an ear infection. I took her to the doctor on Friday for a checkup and the doctor told me "we are going to be seeing a lot of each other in the next couple of weeks." Great....not exactly what you want to hear.

I can't close this post without trying to explain the title. When we first got Lottie for some reason adding "-kins" to the end of her name just seemed to fit. So her nickname became "Lottiekins" and eventually evolved into "Misses Lottiekins" or sometimes just "Misses Kins." Those later evolved into anything and everything that she did, for example, "Misses Pooterkins" when she poots, "Misses Pouterkins" when she pouts and I can't leave out "Misses Scumperkins" when she, well, scumps. I don't really know what "scumping" is but I believe the word originated with my high school girlfriends and somehow became a go-to word at our house. In this context I would say that Lottie being a "Scumperkins" is her just laying there, looking cute and being her sweet self. And I'll give a little shoutout to my brother-in-law, Pierce, because he thinks all of these names are hilarious and laughs any time I call Lottie anything ending in "-kins."

So if you think about it, say a little prayer for "Misses Sickykins." Pray that we get over this first hurdle and that she can return to our sweet "Scumperkins" sooner rather than later.

- Anna

Very Late Valentine's Day Tidbit

When I started this post it was orginally titled 'Late Valentine's Day Tidbit but seeing that Valentine's day was almost a month ago, I decided to go with the above title. In fact I almost decided to forego this post all together but I felt it was important to share.

As of Friday, Febuary 12th we had no plans for Valentine's day. Which honestly is not out of the ordinary for us. The months of December, January and February are packed with special occasions for us: Christmas, anniversary, my birthday, Preston's birthday and Valentine's day. We get all of our celebrations out of the way within less than a two month time span so, needless to say, by the time Valentine's day rolls around we are kind of over it. Well it just so happened that Preston was playing in a golf tournament Saturday morning. He and a friend from work, Zak, were playing together and they were teamed up to play against their bosses so of course there were stakes. Whoever won had to serve the other a steak dinner. So when I say stakes, I really mean steaks (I crack myself up sometimes). As it would turn out Preston and Zak won. So in an effort to help the bosses save face Preston suggested that they let he and Zak take their wives out for a nice dinner on the company. They totally agreed. Now I know my husband can be very thoughtful and that was a very noble suggestion on his part but don't think he didn't already have THIS in mind! This just happens to be one of his very favorite places in Tucson to get a steak. So off to Flemings we go with the company credit card in hand (I sure hope Uncle Ted isn't reading this!). It was a wonderful dinner, just the two of us, with incredible steaks and live jazz music! A perfect Valentine's day date.

And now for the tidbit. While we were at dinner we were talking about when we started dating WAAAAYYY back in high school. We realized that this past Valentine's day was the tenth anniversary of when Preston told me he loved me for the first time. Well technically he was kind of a chicken and wrote it in my Valentine's day card (which I still have) but I think it still counts. I told him I loved him too and that officially marked the day we started saying 'I love you' to one another. I had no clue as an 18 year old in high school, preparing to leave for college, only having dated this guy for four months and celebrating our first Valentine's day together, that I would get to say 'I love you' to that same guy for the rest of my life! Come to think of it, this is also our tenth year of dating!! Wow! Pretty awesome tidbit don't you think!? Yeah, I thought so too.

Busy, Busy

It is hard to believe it has already been over a month since I last posted. The end of January and thus far of February have proven to be a little busy in the Whittington household! So since I haven't posted in so long (and the server is down at work, allowing me spare time) here is a little update with...wait for it....wait for it....even pictures included! Gasp!

I will start with P90X. I knew this program was going to be hard but let me tell you...it is hard in every sense of the word. The workouts are hard, the nutrition plan is hard, it is hard to find time to do the workouts, it is hard to have a full time job and somehow still squeeze in a workout, it is hard to be so focused on working out and eating that you realize you didn't even kiss your spouse that day ( we are both guilty of that)....I think you get the point. Come to think of it, maybe our lives haven't been THAT busy, they have just been consumed with P90X. With that said, we are in the fifth week and I think we are starting to find our stride, get in a routine, maintain a balance, etc. I do have to admit though, the first week of P90X there were tears...mainly from the workouts and mainly from me....ok, fine...solely from me.

Next in line we have eye surgery. On February 4th I had a LASEK retreatment on my right eye. For those of you who don't know, I had LASEK done on both eyes on February 5th last year. Also for those of you who don't know, February 5th is Preston's birthday. So in case you can't put two and two together...Preston was nursing his blind wife on his birthday for two years in a row. In my defense, I did ask his permission both years before I scheduled the surgeries. He is just awesome like that. However, I am hoping that me having eye surgery doesn't become a birthday tradition for my sweet hubs! In regards to my vision and recovery, everything is going well. My nearsight isn't quite up to par yet but it has only been two weeks at this point. I mean, give me a break people, I had a laser shot in my eye!

Next up is my work trip to Santa Monica, CA. Can I just say it was interesting and just leave it at that? I work with some pretty interesting people but that is for another post and another day.

We did have some excitement on the plane ride there. Our plane was struck by lightning!! How crazy is that? Since moving to AZ almost four years ago, I have taken many a plane ride and in all those plane rides I have never experienced the plane getting struck by lightning. I can now add that to my growing list of flying experiences: running through airports, missed flights, delayed flights, cancelled flights, lost luggage, boarding four planes in one day but only flying on two (long story), plane getting struck by lightning, etc. If you have ever lost sleep on whether a plane will crash if it is struck by lightning, I am living proof that the plane will not crash. You don't believe me? Well here is proof!


If you look closely you can see the where the lightning actually struck between the cockpit window and the nose of the plane! And that is our pilot checking out the damage. He said in his 16 years of flying that he has only experienced that twice! So that was probably the most exciting thing that happened on my trip to CA.

So you're probably wondering what I was doing in CA in the first place. One of our furniture manufacturers hosted an awards presentation for their dealers...exciting...I know. I have to say, it was nice to get out of the office for a few days. Below is picture of me and Mike, one of my coworkers, and some random guy in the background (great phone photography skills by another coworker)! This was at the awards presentation in the furniture manufacturer's
showroom. We are both just so happy to be there! Can you tell?


Our hotel was just a couple of blocks from the Santa Monica pier, so after checking into our hotel, we walked down to the pier. It was overcast and had been raining all day but the sun was peeking through slightly. So we got to see a bit of the sunset.


The following day we had a sales training to go to and then hopped back on the plane to AZ. We were in CA for less than 24 hours but like I said, it was nice to get out of the office.

So I think that is about it for the catching up. I know most of this post was about me because my poor hubby has really just been working his little heart out....at P90X and at work! He will get a little adventure in March when he heads to Nashville for Reed and Jennifer's wedding! Sadly, I will not be joining him (don't even get me started on how disappointed I am that I can't go) but he definitely deserves a break and I know he is going to have a blast! I am definitely sending the camera with him!

Until next time...

I Don't Get It

When Preston and I got back from our Christmas trip we found THIS parked outside our neighbor's house.


We don't know these neighbors at all (which is such a shame because they live all of 5 yards from us) and I had noticed the new car (sans paint job) a couple of weeks before Christmas. Well upon our return from Mississippi we discovered the makeover. Now if the car read "Jerry's hotdogs" I could possibly comprehend the dachshund but could someone please explain to me what dachshunds have to do with cigars?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Anniversary/New Year's Eve

December 31st Preston and I not only celebrated New Year's Eve but we also celebrated 4 years of marriage! We had a wonderful time with Chris and Millie McAlilly, eating dinner at Park Heights and after dinner conversation at their house. We almost missed counting down to 12:00 from being so deep in conversation. We are so blessed

to have such wonderful friends that we can get so lost in conversation with that we don't realize how long we have been talking or even what time it is! Unfortunately we did not get a picture of all four of us but Chris did happen to take a couple of snaps of me and Preston.

And just for fun, here is a picture of us on our anniversary/New Year's Eve last year.

God has definitely blessed me with an amazing husband! I am so thankful for all of the things he is to me: a husband, best friend, provider, supporter, care giver, confidant...the list could go on. The past four years have definitely had their ups and downs but I can't think of a better person to share the peaks and valleys with. We have definitely carried each other through the lows and rejoiced with each other through the highs and I can't wait to see what God has in store for us in the coming years!

New Background

I decided to spice things up a bit! When we started this blog, we were picking out layouts together and Preston didn't want anything girly. Well since I am the primary blogger (so far the solitary blogger) I decided to add a girly background. Shssssh....don't tell Preston! I want to see how long it takes for him figure out! :)

Shout Out!!

I just wanted to say CONGRATULATIONS to the Ainsworths!! Kendall and Will welcomed their beautiful twin baby boys, Hunter and Hays, into the world January 5th! We are so excited for y'all and can't wait to meet the new additions. We are so glad y'all made it to Austrailia! :)