Another Day and Another Deer

Well Kelly and Patrick did it again...they got another deer. She was A LOT bigger than the last one. They estimate that she was anywhere from 180-200 pounds, not your ordinary doe. I went

to the Doctors today and Peyton is doing perfectly fine...and she is going to have to come on the 31st, because I'm going to be induced then. We're both really excited that we only have a couple more days, but it's also a HUGE reality check for us- I mean seriously, are we really mature enough to be parents? I guess we'll find out and we'll keep you updated.

The Update

Well, Peyton is hanging in there. We have another Doctors appointment on Monday morning and then they are going to decide which day to induce me. Right now though it looks like we're aiming for the 31st of December or the 1st of January. While we've been waiting for Peyton to come we've kept busy by playing fun games like Guitar Hero 3 and Patrick even got himself a deer (I'll let those of you who are curious ask him how he managed to do that yourselves). Other than that we had a wonderful Christmas and I was grateful that I didn't have to spend the holiday in the hospital. Only a few more days and we'll be calling/texting all of you with the good news. We love you all and hope that you also had a wonderful and safe holiday.

Come and Gone

So today is Peyton's due date...and she's still not here. She only has one more week though before I'm induced, so the count down is really on. We'll keep y'all updated!

Quick Update

So many have begun to ask the question that I ask Peyton every morning and evening- when are you going to get here? She's still moving a ton which could mean that she's either not very anxious to come out, or she really is ADHD and I have a lot to look forward to. We have another doctors appointment on Tuesday so we'll see what she says then. Right now I just feel big, big, and big. I finally packed my suitcase for the hospital and finished organizing all of Peyton's things- the only thing missing is her. We're both getting a little anxious and very excited, but if there's one thing I've learned about her already it's that she's stubborn and a little on the dramatic side...so there's no predicting when her big entrance is going to occur. But I guess that's part of the magic right?

Deep Fried Turkey

YEAH FOR THANKSGIVING!!! Now for a brief moment to toot our horns- with the help of Kelly, Ryan, and Lynn (Mike helped with the cutting/dicing) we pulled off an AMAZING Thanksgiving dinner. We had an entire spread of deep fried turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce, candied yams, sweet potato casserole, pumpkin bread, rolls, green bean casserole, deviled eggs and carrots. That was only the beginning though because the dessert bar was even more than amazing- grasshopper pie, 2 pumpkin pies, apple cobbler and vanilla ice cream, homemade eggnog and chocolate pie. The even more incredible part was that we were able to do it all that morning and were only 25 minutes past the time that we had originally scheduled to eat! I was pretty proud to say the least- bring on Christmas dinner!
PS For those of you who haven't tried deep fried turkey- it's HEAVENLY!!! and only takes 45 minutes to cook, gotta love that.

I really don't think that there is any more room in my tummy, but Peyton continues to move around like she's in the Taj Mahal. We're going on 37 weeks and it still hasn't totally sunk in yet. Heck, I still haven't even packed my hospital bag (don't worry it's on the to-do list). I guess I'll have a lot more time to do that now that I'm not working anymore- I finally get to participate in that traditional phase of pregnancy known as "nesting". Patrick and my cousin Megan insisted that I include more belly shots in the blog, so here they are. Peyton has grown a lot...as have I...and I'm really anxious for her to be in my arms as opposed to my belly. Time will tell, and we'll let y'all know.

Yeah for Halloween! We had so much fun at the Colvin household! River dressed up as Super Dog and his two friends Lydia and Marek came over in their costumes to take pictures. River loved when the doorbell rang because he knew that it would be a new group of kids that would shower him with affection...even though he was hoping that they would shower him with treats. While we handed out candy we also made some yummy Halloween shaped sugar cookies with orange frosting. We took a break and headed over to see Kelly at the Police Department to take him and the other officer/fire fighters/dispatchers some cookies and to show off River's costume. I think that overall it was a very fun and a successful holiday for us.

Going to Vegas...

We have discovered that River has a talent with the dice. We were playing Yahtzee for Family Home Evening and Patrick wasn't having a lot of fun because he wasn't doing so well. Toward the end of the game he was down a Yahtzee and a large straight. So, to be goofy and show that he didn't really care, he put the cup in River's mouth and let him dump out the dice. Low and behold he rolled three 6's ... and in the next roll he rolled two more and got Patrick the Yahtzee. He tried it again on his next turn and River rolled his large straight. It was insane! Too bad casinos don't accept dogs =)

Alone for the weekend

Patrick headed down to Maryland this morning for a test with the Prince George's County PD, and I already miss him like crazy! Now I know what he felt like when I went down to NJ to visit my family. I don't even know what to do with myself, and even River is acting lost. But we're both hoping that he does well on his test and preforms well during the physical portion. Other then that the weekend is a very welcome break to from the long week we've had. I just can't seem to keep a lot of energy throughout the day. Tonight is our ward activity- trunk-or-treat. It'll be a lot of fun to see all of the kids in their costumes. If Patrick were here we would put River in his costume and take him with us, but that's too much for me to handle by myself. I guess y'all will have to wait until next Friday to see him in his super hero costume.

Family Home Evening

So we decided to get into the spirit of the season and carve pumpkins for Halloween. It was a fun little party with Mom Colvin, Kelly, and Lynn joining us. Pat even discovered a new way to carve pumpkins- USE A POWER DRILL! Only a man would think of something like that. The pumpkins turned out great...too bad I can't say the same for the pumpkin seeds. Our oven in the apartment is a little ghetto. So I put the seeds in at 400 degrees for a half an hour, and Patrick decided that they weren't cooking quickly enough. So he deduced that higher heat would equal quicker results. So he cranked it up to 550 degrees. As we were sitting on the couch watching TV I smelled something burning- yep, you guessed it. It was the seeds. At first I thought that I had done something wrong...until Patrick came clean and admitted that he had changed the temp. Thankfully most of the seeds were spared. But I definitely think that Patrick needs to stick to his original career ambitions and not seek a job in the culinary field.

My pillow stealer

So River has found a new fascination with my prego-body-pillow. I can't blame him though, it is really comfortable.

The Latest Belly Pictures

Well here is the latest big Buddha picture! I have a check up tomorrow and we're going to see how big Peyton is. There are times when I swear that she is hiding her twin brother or sister somewhere in there because she: a. MOVES A TON! Definitely enough for two people and b. she's putting on enough weight to equal two people. Her latest fascination has been with my ribs...I wish that she would find a new hobby =) Patrick started applying to several police agencies in Delaware and Maryland and we're just crossing our fingers (and praying really really hard) that he'll start hearing back from them. My job in Boston is still going really well and I love commuting to the city! On a final tangent, tonight's the final game between the Red Sox and the Rays...hopefully they'll pull it off and I can get an awesome world series shirt with my two favorite teams- the Sox and the Phillies.

Walden Pond

Patrick had the brilliant idea today to venture out to Concord and Walden Pond. This was the place that Henry David Thoreau "ran away" to and wrote "Walden" and "Civil Disobedience". The leaves were brilliant! and the weather was perfect! It was a really great to get away for a little while with each other- especially since my work schedule doesn't give us a whole lot of hang out time anymore.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

The Tummy

I just wanted to share some fun pictures with everyone! Patrick thinks that my tummy is pretty cute...the baby inside it is cute, but I don't think that the tummy is =)

Not slackers anymore!

Heavenly Father has been really gracious to us these past few weeks. I applied to several jobs and have (as of yesterday) secured three of them. I will be working in Boston as a temporary office assistant, babysitting/nannying on the side, and picking up some evening and weekend hours at Yankee Candle. Today was my first day of work in Boston and I LOVED IT! I didn't think that I would enjoy working in the city, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself. The office is a lot of fun and really casual, which helps because the work they have me doing is pretty mundane. Patrick filled out 5 more applications for police/ranger positions in Delaware, and was offered an interview with Merrill Shoes. He's still hoping that the candy store or PetCo calls back. Other than that we haven't been up to a whole lot. Peyton still continues to kick, squirm, punch, and generally make her presence known. I'm getting more and more excited to become a mommy and can't believe that I'm already at 29 weeks!

Our crazy lives

We hadn't been in Mass. for more than a few days when I jumped on a plane and headed down to New Jersey to visit the folks. Thankfully, we were able to get almost everything put away and I felt confident that Patrick could handle the rest while I was gone. It turned out to be an awesome two week vacation for me full of shopping, sewing, and other sorts of craftiness for Peyton's sake. It felt really fabulous to be with my mom for that long...I don't think that Patrick and River would agree with that though. Now we are all back together and Patrick and I are trying to find part time/seasonal jobs to tide us over financially until Patrick can obtain a career. It has proved quite frustrating for us because we don't really know how long we'll be here in Foxboro, nor do we have a firm idea of where we'll end up. I guess these are all factors of a "grown-up life". I'm just glad that we have wonderful friends and family everywhere to help us through the transitional period.
Peyton is doing really well and is moving more and more (to a point of making me nauseous) every day. She continues to grow and her kicks/punches are becoming more prominent. Right now we measure about 39 inches around when I am standing, and I'm told that we'll only get bigger.

We have arrived!

Well we're finally here in beautiful Foxboro, MA! We arrived Saturday at around 4:00 in the afternoon...and not a moment too soon. Amazing how a few days in the car and spending nights in random hotels can make you especially grateful for home. Especially after our final stay over in Rochester, NY. We decided that after visiting Kirtland and Cleveland, OH that we would try to drive a few more hours toward Mass. and stop wherever seemed most convenient. That place just happened to be the Motel 6 right by the Rochester airport. I should have known that this was a bad decision just because the only room that was available was a smoking room...but they were the only hotel that would accept River, so our options were limited. As we pulled in we noticed A LOT of shady characters. Little did we know that the majority of them would be throwing a party right down the hall from us. ALL night there were people going in and out of the room, talking loudly, making other noises, etc. etc. This probably wouldn't have been so bad if River weren't such a protective guard dog. Every time he saw a shadow pass our door, a voice or other noise in the hallway, he would leap to his feet and growl/bark. This continued almost every 30 minutes or so until close to 4:30 AM. Needless to say we were all lacking in the sleep department the next day, but pushed on so that we could make it to Foxboro before it got too dark. The rain that hit us all through upstate New York was terrible! But we survived, and now we are surrounded by boxes (too many) and fantastic family and friends. We are so grateful to have arrived in safety, and River is grateful that he has a pool and a yard to play in. Hopefully we'll get everything situated in the next few days and then it really will start feeling like we're home.

Well, I would have written yesterday...but Nebraska is so incredibly dull that describing the trip would result in all of you falling asleep. It was an extremely long day- end of story. Right now we are sitting in our hotel room in the beautiful Tinley Park, IL. We are about 20 miles outside of Chicago, but because of inclement weather and lack of time I doubt we'll be able to see the city sights. One highlight is that we're going to have dinner with a mission buddy of mine. River and Patrick have continued to be quite the traveling troopers as we slowly make our way to the East coast. Tomorrow we'll head to Cleveland, Ohio and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!

First Day on the Road

Well we survived out first day on the road. Nothing really eventful happened (those who have driven through Wyoming before are probably not surprised by this) and thankfully we arrived in Cheyenne, Wyoming incident free. Mom and I had a lot of fun driving together and talking; Patrick was a natural truck driver and arrived in good spirits; and River slept almost the entire trip. One highlight was the beautiful display of rainbows we saw just off the road. It was spectacular! Tomorrow we get to drive through Nebraska...