bar results

i think that i know how people who get their mission calls feel. they get a letter in the mail, knowing that it is their call and that the most exciting part of the letter is contained in the first couple sentences where they tell you, "you are assigned to labor in the (insert geographic location here) mission." they open the letter, hands sweaty and shaking, and their eyes quickly scan to find the most desired information.

well, i received a letter from the utah bar association on saturday and i knew what it was, and i knew that the information that i wanted would be contained within the first couple sentences of the letter. and so, with high anticipation, although not so much sweating and shaking, i opened the letter. sure enough, the very first sentence was what i wanted to see.

i don't know that i've been that relieved in quite some time now. the rest of the letter was much less exciting, and mostly about how they are going to charge me a lot of money in licensing and registration fees to become an attorney, but the overall feeling was one of excitement. randy and i celebrated by going to the symphony. okay, actually, we were going to go to the symphony anyway, but with the impending licensing fees, we decided to call that our celebration.

andre watts played beethoven's emperor concerto and it was very impressive. he was a really fun performer to watch and you can't go wrong with a beethoven concerto!

ultrasounds

here are a couple of ultrasound pictures of the baby. the first one is a top-down shot of her head and hands. it was taken earlier, around 20 weeks. the second one is a more recent ultrasound, probably around 24 weeks. it is her profile. she's cute already!

pregnancy pictures

well, after many requests, here they are: pictures of me with a pregnant belly. i have to admit, i feel much bigger right now than these pictures make me look, but i'm sure that i will only start to feel and look bigger as it gets closer to my due date. the second picture is an attempt to emphasize the belly. i'm not sure if it helps.

i also like the way that the sun shines down in the pictures to make a kind of spotlight on the baby. i can hear the announcer in the background, accompanied by a drumroll, "and now, presenting ms. madeleine!" only like the von trapps, she's not ready to come out yet. except she's not running away from austria through the mountains...

the nervous amateur blogger

well, here we go. this is my first post. it is overdue. our blog has been sitting here, postless, for about 2 weeks. i would like to say that it has been in this sorry state for so long because i have been busy, or perhaps because i was too technologically challenged to figure out how to post something. alas, with the full disclosure that a blog deserves, i have to admit that these are not the reasons for our blog's silent state.

i'm not that busy at all. i work for the government and come home around 4:30 most days, leaving my work at the office. now that randy is back in school, he is busy studying or practicing when i get home, and i am left to my own devices. don't get me wrong, i'm not complaining about my new-found free time, i'm just explaining that constant occupation is not the reason for the silence.

in all honesty, i have not posted to the blog out of fear. fear that i would not be funny enough, that i would not be insightful enough, and that my pictures would not be good enough. in fact, one of the main reasons that i have been avoiding our blog is because i don't have any pictures to post right now. and let's face it: one of the main reasons that people go to blogs is to peruse pictures. and with the news thati am pregnant, i have had several requests for pictures of me with a belly.

however, pictures or not, i decided that i needed to post SOMETHING to get over my fear of being a blogger. and so, with this initial blog post out of the way, i should be able to get going with things. i will try to post pictures soon, but until then this will have to suffice.