21 Days and Counting

Only 21 more days until little Sara is ready to pop out. We are back at the original doctor after a short stint with a doctor and office in Payson that we were even less happy about. Rosey's blood pressure has stabilized now (in fact it was almost normal at her last visit) and we suspect that she is going to carry full term without any complications.

Our biggest dilemma now is what to call her. We can't decide (agree) between:
Sarabelle Christensen
Sara Belle Christensen
Sara [non-Belle middle name] Christensen
or maybe even a latecomer,
Emma Christensen

Hmm...

Biffing the Practice Recital

Tonight was the practice recital for my performance next weekend and I totally biffed it. Even though I have had the song memorized for nearly two months and have literally played it hundreds of times, I couldn't get through it in front a small gathering of fellow pupils. I stopped half-way through, almost lost my place, and then continued on slurring all of the notes together. I totally embarrassed myself.

After everyone else had gone, I was tempted to ask for another chance to play to redeem myself. But then it occurred to me... that's the whole point of performance. You only get one shot, one opportunity. You're either prepared for it or you aren't. I doubt that there was anyone there who thought I wasn't capable of playing that song given enough time. Nor did anyone care whether or not I could play if perfectly in the privacy of my own home.

The difference between being able to play a song and being able to perform a song is a whole lot of practice. Unfortunately, I hadn't really been practicing this song. See, I got the song to where I could play it pretty good and from that point on I PLAYED the song instead of PRACTICING it. I left the rehearsal recital committed to practice the hell out of this song for the next 9 days and hope that it's enough to not embarrass myself on the real performance.

Thanksgiving 2007: The Lost Photos

Oops, I forgot to post these photos from Thanksgiving.

An Early Delivery?

Rosey and I finally got fed up with her doctors constantly sending her to the hospital despite getting positive test results over and over again. So, we decided to switch to a new doctor based out of the hospital in Payson. We figured that the new doctor may not be much better, but at least:

• there would be only one doctor to deal with instead of getting a different doctor at every appointment.
• the new doctor was a female OB-GYN and came highly recommended by everyone that had heard of her.
• the clinic is Payson is much closer and therefore means less travel time even if Rosey did end up going to the hospital as frequently.

Rosey saw the doctor for the first time on New Year's Eve. The jury is still out on whether or not we are going to have a better experience with this doctor.

Although Rosey's blood pressure continues to be only slightly elevated, and neither she nor the baby is showing any other signs of distress or pre-eclampsia, the doctor was concerned. Enough so, that she said that she will monitor Rosey over the coming weeks and decide week by week whether or not she wants to induce labor and get the baby out early. She said that she could do this as soon as the baby reaches 34 weeks and has mature lungs. That would be next week :)

Even if everything goes well over the coming weeks, she said that she will probably want to get the baby out one way or the other when she reaches full-term at 37 weeks. As you can imagine, neither Rosey nor I are very happy about this. Neither of us want there to be any danger for little Sarabelle, but unless there is an imminent risk we would prefer that she get to cook for as long as possible. And so far, every test, other than the blood pressure reading itself has come back showing that there is no imminent risk.

It's very frustrating to feel like you are at odds with your doctor. I understand that doctor's are concerned about taking risk's that could lead to lawsuits if something goes wrong, but on the other hand, I feel like they put their own interests (of covering their own asses) ahead of the best interests of the baby.

In any case, if the doctor gets her way, we may be parents a little sooner than expected. So much for having a valentines baby :)

A Mighty Wind

For most of the year we love that we live so close to Spanish Fork canyon and across from a farmer's field. The mountains and canyon are so beautiful and we get unobstructed views.

Unfortunately, this benefit comes with a price. Over the winter, the brutal Spanish Fork canyon wind blows across those empty farmer's fields and dumps small mountains of windblown snow right onto our driveway :(


It's a good thing that I got a sturdy new snow-shovel from my (Rosey's) Grandma Lightcap for my birthday. That poor shovel has seen it's share of snow this year.

Baby Stuff

Rosey and I finally went and did our shopping for Sarabelle's nursery yesterday. Between some money that I had set aside and a generous gift from Dad, we were able to get pretty much everything we needed in one shot. Let me tell you... Babies 'R Us made a killing yesterday :) It's amazing how quickly you can blow through money buying stuff for baby.

We got:

• Stroller System (Graco Tour Deluxe)
• Dresser/Changing Table Combo
• Nursing Glider
• Baby Swing
• Baby Carrier
• All manner of bottles, sheets, cloths, rags, diapers, ointments and miscellaneous "stuff" that you just need to have :)

We were afraid that it might not all fit in the car, but we just barely made it.

The dresser was the only thing that we weren't able to take home with us. They didn't have the one we wanted in stock and had to order it in. I suppose that was a good thing as we wouldn't have been able to fit it anyway.

We spent the afternoon assembling. I was actually surprised how easily most of the stuff went together. The most difficult piece was the swing. Other than that, the bulk of the work was mostly unpacking, unwrapping and shuffling stuff around.

Ice Cream Treats

Rosey, Sarabelle and I got a really fun Christmas present from Rosey's Mom... an ice cream maker. I was a little reluctant at first, but after reading through the recipe book that came with it I started to get really excited about experimenting with my own ice cream. We've used it several times now and have had awesome results.


So far, we've made:

• Fresh Strawberry
• Pineapple Coconut
• Chocolate Raspberry

I still have a little bit of tinkering to do to get the recipes just right, but they all turned out pretty good. 

Nine Mile Canyon Winter Hike

Every time that Rosey and I drive down to Moab we stop at a gas station just south of Price. A side road leading away from the gas station and highway six is labeled "Nine Mile Canyon". For years, I've thought to myself, "Someday, I'm going to check out that road". Well several weekends ago when Rosey and I were looking for some way to occupy ourselves on a Saturday afternoon, I said, "Let's check out Nine Mile Canyon".

We've been there several times now and have discovered that it's a really interesting area. It's a mix of red rock and sandstone, canyons and mountains, desert and alpine flora. Really it's a pretty cool place that doesn't seem to be very well traveled by many people. I think that this is exactly what Rosey loves about it :)

On our most recent trip down there, we saw a wash that came up to the side of the road which originated in a canyon in the distance. It didn't really look like a hiking trail but we decided to take it anyway. Our adventurous spirit was rewarded with a spectacular hike through an ice covered sandstone canyon. Way Cool!

And yes, I probably should go to bad husband hell for taking my pregnant wife on a hike like this. But the great thing about Rosey is that she wouldn't have it any other way :)

My Very First Piano Recital

I got a new piano teacher about 6 weeks ago and she convinced me to perform in the Christmas recital. The piece that I performed was called Musetta's Waltz by Puccini. It was the last piece that I learned with my old teacher, Tanner, before he stopped giving lessons.

It was somewhat horrifying to perform in front of a room full of strangers. It's particularly odd because I am obviously old enough to realize that a bad piano recital is not going to make or break my future. And yet, my hands were trembling so bad that I'm surprised that I was able to hit any of the keys at all. It was also rather comical to be the only 31 year old performing amidst a bunch of 8 to 12 year olds.

Here is a video that Rosey took of the performance:

I think that Rosey deserves special credit for putting up with hearing me play this song for so many months in a row :) She's a good sport to pretend like she's not tired of me playing the same piece over and over again.

My next recital is in February when I will be performing the piece "Arabesque" by Johan Burgmuller.

Pregnancy Update

With less than 70 days until the birth of our daughter, Sara Belle Christensen, we are entering the home stretch of the pregnancy. Little Sara seems to be really healthy, but Rosey has started to have some problems with elevated blood pressure. The numbers are right on the border of where the doctors are concerned, and we aren't really sure if this is just her chronic hypertension acting up in response to stress of if she has a mild case of pregnancy induced hypertension.

Either way, the doctor suggested (ordered) that she quit working and try to spend as much time as possible relaxing. I don't think that she's on official "bedrest" yet, but they are continuing to monitor her condition and run tests. In the meantime, Rosey actually feels pretty well despite what the doctor says. We are still going on frequent walks through the neighborhood, which we have discovered actually helps to lower Rosey's blood pressure and is fun for the both of us.

Blog Back Up

After several weeks of being down, I finally revived my blog today. I had suspected that my server had gone down, but it turns out that my DNS account for the domain name svoid.mine.nu had expired. I register through a free service called DynDNS and they recently changed their policy to expire accounts that don't log into their web page at least once a month. So, that's what happened. I recreated my account this morning and everything is happy again. Although I may have to look into switching to a different service that isn't such a pain in the ass.

It's a Girl!

We're having a baby girl!

It's a ...

Rosey and I had our first ultrasound today and discovered that our baby is... uncooperative :( The baby had it's legged crossed beneath it in a way that made it impossible to determine it's sex. We tried to get the baby to move, but it just seemed way too comfortable to budge.

Fortunately, we'll get one more shot at it today. We have another appointment in a couple of hours to see if we can get a better look. Wish us luck!

The Perfect Reception

Well, despite the weather, Rosey and I had what I would consider the perfect reception. Although snow came and went all day the roads never got treacherous and the fire did an excellent job of keeping the cold out. In fact, I think that most people who attended would agree that the blazing fire in the center of the pavilion was the highlight of the day. Everyone gathered round the fire and talked and ate and drank while listening to music blasting from the sound of my generator powered laptop and rented speakers.

Thank you to all the people who braved the weather to come celebrate with us. And I would like to send out a very special thank you to all of the people who helped us plan and organize the reception. This includes (but is not limited to):

• My Dad without whom we probably never could have pulled this off. He flew out from Barbados a week early to help plan and prepare and was busy nearly every minute of that week tracking down the sound system, firewood, and other necessary rental equipment on top of helping to plan out the food and beverage menu.
• Rosey's Mom, who helped with table decorations, food preparation and just general preparation and cleanup.
• My friend Owen who manned the barbecue grill all day and did a fine job I might add.
  
• My friends Chris and Shannon who flew out from Wisconsin and showed up early on Saturday to help setup and stayed late to help tear down.
• Rosey's friend Fara who flew in from Alabama and helped setup and tear down.
• My sisters Marci and Lisa who helped tremendously with the food preparation.
• And finally my friend Rand whose excellent home brew was enjoyed by many.

Here are our pictures...

It's On

As of this morning the roads are clear, so we will be seeing you up at Altamont.

Dreams Die Hard

Dreams die hard.

Rosey and I had a dream of having a friendly and informal outdoor wedding reception in some beautiful mountain location. We worked hard to make this dream a reality. However, a couple of days before the reception it looks like the weather is going to throw us a wild card and test our resolve :)

We weighed our various options and have decided that we are not going to let this dream die so easily. We are going to go ahead and plan on having our reception at Altamont in American Fork Canyon despite the weather forecast. If you venture to join us in our defiance you will be handsomely rewarded with good food, good company, a warm fire and plenty of hot cocoa. Please dress warm.

Of course we are concerned with your safety and ours. If on Saturday morning we feel like the weather has made the drive up to Altamont dangerous then we will move the reception party to our house in Spanish Fork. If we do this, I will send out another email informing you of this decision. I will also post last minute information about the reception location on my blog. So, please check your email, check my blog or call me at 801-400-8597 before heading out on Saturday afternoon.

Our Address Is:
[email me for address]

Thank You,
Dan and Rosey Christensen

Pregnancy Appointment #3: Anticipation

I'm late posting this. Our third pregnancy appointment was last Thursday. It was easy to forget about though because we are actually more excited for our next appointment... the one in which the sex of the baby will be determined. We are scheduled for an ultrasound on Thursday, October 11th. So we, nor you, will have to wait much longer in suspense.

Rosey has a pretty strong feeling that we are going to have a boy. I used to have that feeling as well, but now I'm really not sure which it will be.

I'm glad to say that Rosey is feeling much, much better now. She used to listen to people telling her that things would get better after the first trimester and was convinced that, despite that, it would never end for her. I was even beginning to believe that the sickness and fatigue might last for the entire 9 months. But, somehow as if magically, she is feeling better. She doesn't have to choose her food so carefully anymore and actually has more energy for hiking and other activities than a pregnant woman ought to :)

Our Life In Photos

Rosey and I have had a lot of adventures over the last year and a half. Here is a photo slideshow that I've put together showing the life and times of Dan and Rosey. Thank you Rosey for all of the good times. If we've done this much in the last year and a half then imagine what we can do with the rest of our lives :)

A Little Less Wise

I celebrated my return to work this morning by stopping off at the dentist office before work and having a couple of wisdom teeth pulled. I can't feel my entire lower jaw or tongue right now and I have two gaping holes in my jaw stuffed with gauze. How fun is that? :)

The Honeymoon Is Over

We got home on Thursday night so the honeymoon has actually been over for several days now, but I was so exhausted from all of the traveling that it has taken me all of three days to write this post. Despite being a lot of driving (somewhere in the ballpark of 3500 miles), I would say that we had a pretty good wedding and honeymoon. I think that both Rosey and I would agree that walking on the beaches of the Oregon coast was the highlight of the trip.

So, why home so early? Well, I think that these pictures will explain everything...


This is me packing up camp at Yosemite in the snow.


And this is us driving out of Yosemite through the very treacherous Tioga Pass Road. We learned when we reached the east entrance of the park that they had actually closed the road in the other direction and were not letting anyone else travel into the park on that road.

We had originally planned on hitting Crater Lake National Park in Oregon and then coming down to the redwoods in California. But, we decided to prolong our drive down the coast a little further and go to the redwoods first before heading inland to Crater Lake. So, we stayed a night in Crescent City, California and spent a day poking around in the Redwoods.

Because of the damage to our lens we weren't able to get very many pictures in the redwoods. We snapped a couple of photos with our smaller digital camera, but it's just so difficult to get a photo in the shadows of big trees. The lighting is all wrong.

Rosey and I had a pretty good 4 mile hike through the Redwoods, but I have to say that the highlight for me was riding my bike from Crescent City into Redwood National Park on the Newton B. Drury Scenic Parkway. It was a spectacular ride through big trees and lush ferns. I was surprised to discover that just because you are proximate to the ocean does not mean that your elevation cannot quickly rise above sea level. The first couple of miles out of Crescent City I climbed a 'hill' that peaked above 1000 feet.

Before leaving our motel in Crescent City, I checked the weather and discovered that Crater Lake was supposed to be blanketed with snow over the next couple of days. In other words, it didn't sound like a whole lot of fun to hike, bike or camp in Crater Lake... especially if you're pregnant :)

So, we altered our course and pointed our car eastward in the direction of the nearest Olive Garden restaurant... Redding, California. Ok, so we were headed that way anyway, but we figured if we had to stay somewhere, we might as well get a good meal. We were on our way to Yosemite National Park and Redding was as good a place as any to stay for the night.

While in Redding, we stopped by a camera store and bought a new lens for our camera. It was much more pricey that I had expected, but we couldn't exactly go on a trip to Yosemite National Park without a good camera now could we?

It turns out that we could have. Not only was Yosemite overcast and gray, but they had been performing controlled burns in the park for the last couple of days so it was smokey on top of it. Here is an example of one of the astounding pictures that we got with our expensive new lens.


At least we got some good squirrel photos.


While at Yosemite, we managed to get in a hike in the Mariposa grove of giant Sequoias. Now those are some huge trees. This is also where I believe that we got the only photo from the whole trip of both Rosey and I (with the exception of our wedding photos on the beach).


We were planning on doing more in Yosemite, but if you read the beginning of this post then you already know how that turned out.

So, it's good to be home now. We've basically spent the last couple of days lounging around the house and unwinding from all the traveling. Unfortunately, tomorrow, the honeymoon really is over... we both have to go back to work :(