More prego photos

Here's some pics Steve took a couple of weeks ago. The freaked out picture wasn't supposed to be, I was just making faces while he was messing with the lights. I'm never safe. :)

Anyway, for pregnancy details (Tara, for you): I'm due on October 26th, although most women in my family go a bit early, so we'll see. I've been feeling pretty good overall. It's awkward getting bigger, but I haven't been real sick or anything, so I feel I'm pretty lucky.

Other news/updates. We're living in Salt Lake now, which is good. We really like it here and enjoy the neighborhood. I'm working for New Haven again, but only on an on-call basis. That's nice because I get to pick my schedule for the most part and I like that flexibility/control. Oh, we got a new couch for my birthday (I really am getting old... I am even excited about it). We got it on a great deal from a yard sale. Yeah. I'd post a picture, but that might just be too much... ya know. Must be these nesting hormones or something.

Well, I suppose that's the latest. I wish I could post about cool trips or something like that. Alas, my coolest trip lately is walking down to the dog park with Keene. All in good time, right? Anyway, enjoy the new pics (now you don't have to look on facebook, Lindsay).

Uploaded - 8\12\09

steve's work on the web

Steve got some photos published at Climbing.com, Climbing Magazine's online version. Here's the link to check out the galleries: click here. Just scroll down the page a bit and it's the gallery about Hampi, India.

so many changes, so little time

Lots to update about. Let's start.

Steve is back from India! I'm so glad. While I seemed to function fine without him, having him back is a bazillion times better.

We moved to Salt Lake. We live right across from Liberty Park. We're still unpacking boxes and bringing up loads from storage, but we're getting there. We're pretty excited about the place. It's a great apartment, in an old house that's been renovated. We're in the upstairs. It's nicer than any apartment I've lived in before. Yehaw! Bethany, Steve's little sis, is also living here with us. We've been having fun exploring Salt Lake. It's been a long time since I've spent a good amount of time here. Our ward is really great, too, which is nice. It's great to have a group of people be excited you're around and make efforts to be our friends. I dig it.

I've been doing some work for New Haven, again. I'm filling in for one of their therapists who had her baby a couple of months early (never fear, mom and baby are fine). It's been good to be back at New Haven. I've been working at the one in Saratoga Springs, so it's not quite as bad as driving all the way to Spanish Fork, but it is 62 miles round trip. Anyway, it's just temporary, so I'm still looking for some work.

What about photography? We're still running the business, but since we've got a little expensive creature coming to live with us for eternity, we need some more cash. So both Steve and I are looking for additional work. If you know anyone that is hiring, pass it along.

Speaking of our forthcoming creature. We went to the radiologist this week and found out... it's a SHE! We're gonna have a little girl. We're both pretty excited. Not sure what we'll do when pink is her favorite color and she wants to have her hair french braided, but we'll manage, I'm sure. Also, my due date is now October 26, a week or so earlier than before. Yeah!

Oh, the only sad thing that's happened recently. I shattered my iphone a few days ago. It still works, but the screen is all cracked and I'm pretty sure if I accidently move it the wrong way, it'll stop working. Do I really need it? No, but it is a pretty handy little tool. Especially because we don't currently have internet at our house, so being able to check a few things from home is nice. Oh well.

eyes

here's the latest photo i received from steve. this was taken while he was visiting some villages in tamil nadu, the southern most state in india.

surprise!!!

yes, our fate has forever changed... indicated by these two little strips. positive they say, positive. :) yep, we're having a baby! a little creature has overtaken my body and will emerge around November 1, 2009. So, what does this do to your adventures, you may ask? Well, we found out right before we left. So we did some frantic visits to the doctors and decided it was still a go. While in India, actually just a couple of days ago, we decided the risks of me getting malaria were too great, so I'm back in the states. I'm actually here in New York City for a bit, visiting my great friend Lindsay. I'll be back in Utah sometime soon. Steve's still in India and will keep taking pictures and working for a while. I have no idea what I'll be doing for the next few months. I'm open to suggestions!

Anyway, enjoy our good news! I'll post my thoughts on international travel and pregnancy (aka how to survive an overnight bus ride in India with morning sickness) in a future post.

another post

April 9, 2009

Yesterday we headed northeast to a nearby city called Warangal, with our friends, Heather and Spence and our kickin hosts, Vijaya (sister in law), Chaitanya (brother in law) and Revi (Vijaya's brother). We hopped on a train for about 2 hours. After arriving in Warangal we got a taxi that could hold us all (some weird sort of Chevy SUV with sideways seats in the back). We then headed up to these old Hindu temple ruins about an hour away. They were hidden up in some hills next to a big lake. The ruins dated back to around 1200 AD. They're somewhat falling apart, but not seemingly from age, but perhaps a mild earthquake or something. Don't worry, there are a few priests and pilgrims that maintain some life at the ruins. Unfortunately, though, no one seems concerned with keeping the ruins free from graffiti, as it seems like e ery visitor feels the need to inscribe their name somewhere on these 800 year old relics.

We then went to another temple, much better maintained, that is bigger and older than the others, it was from around 1100 AD. The highlight for me was the tribe of monkeys that lived off of the mango trees surrounding the area. I dig how monkeys are so much like us, but different.

Then off to a fort, but when we got there they were charging a ton to see the ruins that you could already see from the road, so we decided to pass on that. We then went to some awesome rocks up on a hill. Somewhat like slickrock down in Moab, but more granite like rock. Anyway, we explored those for an hour or so, then headed out to one more temple. This one was called the Temple of a Thousand Pillars. It was even older than the others, build around 1000 AD. And still operational, with a Brahma priest sitting inside making offerings for visitors.

It was at this temple that Spence became an international star. There was a huge group of guys, all dressed in orange (which means they're like fasting or something like that) and they all wanted to take pictures of Spence (being 6 foot 5 or whatever he is). It happens everywhere we go, but there it was awesome... it really was like he was a celebrity.

Ok, for photos, check out the updates on Steve's photo blog at here. I'll try to post some soon.