BIG NEWS, BIG NEWS!

Okay, first:

Spencer and I were so surprised. We both really thought it was going to be a boy. I asked the lady several times how certain she was. She showed us three different shots of feminitity. Spencer had told me before that he was planning two dates that night, one for each gender. We got in the car and I asked him what we were doing for our date, and he had no idea! He had only planned man-night, assuming that was all he needed to do! It took us about 20 minutes to dare to start telling people. We were just not convinced.... but we are sooo excited. We make 'em cute, so they may as well keep coming!

Cadence loves to dress herself, and her outfits always include special shoes. She is very particular about her fashion. Yay for more girls!

Next:

We found a place in Walnut Creek that is perfect for us. We found it one day, signed the papers, adn moved our stuff in that night. It was crazy, like our life has been. But things are settling down and now at least I know that we'll be here for a while and the baby will be born in Walnut Creek.

AND LAST BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST:

YAY SPENCER! We heard from University of Chicago TODAY that Spencer has been accepted to their MBA program and that he has received Merit Scholarships for both years. I am sooo proud of him. He has worked really hard to make it a possibility to go to grad school this early in his career and it hasn't been easy. He has really had to make every moment of his last five years count for something so that he could get in to a top school with only two real years of work experience. Having entered his life at about that time, it's really fun for me to see it pay off. Chicago is a great school and they have a very strong reputation in the business world. He is really excited because the school culture and curriculum sounds like it will be the best fit for him. He is also excited because they allow their business students to take classes from anywhere on the whole campus for some of their credits, which means he could take a sociology class, etc. We are both excited because his brother Clifford is attending the school already and we can't wait to live near him and Gina and Reese. Yay!

Spencer and I back in 2003, back when the dream began... We are trying to look so hard core... I feel like the last few months I really learned what hard-core means. Go ahead, life, hit me with your best shot!

This is a huge weight off our shoulders. For the last six months we have been wondering where and what we would be doing with our lives for the next couple of years and now we know. Good job Spencer. I'm the proudest wife there ever was. You are incredible.

A Boy For the Ortons

Some of you may know that in my parents' family, a man-child has not appeared since 1978. 30 years. Since then, 9 girls have come (sisters and nieces and Cadence). Last Wednesday, the curse (some of us didn't mind) was lifted when, appropriately, a son was born to my only brother, McKay. McKay's wife Karalyn had an awful pregnancy, the kind that requires a pic-line, which is an IV that she wore all the time, so that she could be fed several times a week. She was too sick to do much of anything almost every day of her pregnancy. We were all very excited for this pregnancy to end because of that, and because we don't know what a baby boy is like. Yay for little Zavian, who was so excited to be born that his heart was racing way too fast and he was taken to the NICU. We're happy to say that he has since shown great strides and has a healthy, normal heart. Thank goodness. He is so handsome, too. I guess boys aren't so bad. Congratulations to my wonderful brother McKay, who's had to share the heavy load of masculinity with only my father for so many years. And to Karalyn, whose 9 months of carrying the ever heavier load of femininity has come to an end and she finally gets to hold her baby.

Let's see if I can post the pic of how handsome he is:

turns out I can't. I tried, really, I did. I wish I knew how these dumb computer-machines work.

ALOHA OI...

I can't wait until next Fast and Testimony meeting because I have been waiting all my life to get up there and say, "Brothers and Sisters, ALO-O-O-OHA!" Now I finally can. We just got back from our week-long stay on Oahu. We got a great 2-for-1 deal thanks to Matt and Mimi and in the traditions of our fathers (and mothers) found a way to do everything cheaper than you can imagine. So, we loved it. Cadence loved it. Some highlights from the trip:

Our first night there I went into a Subway (sandwhich shop) alone and blacked out. I was able to get myself to the ground first. When I was able to get up, I could hear my arm peeling off the disgusting floor. Not great meatball sandwiches over there. It wasn't a big deal, mostly just embarrassing and gross.

The first few days were spent in Waikiki. If you go on vacation to shop at the same stores you could shop in at home, and you love to go to beaches that are so packed you can't put your towel down, Waikiki is the place for you. Amazingly, only about a mile down from Waikiki beack we found a lovely little beach that had a small number of mostly locals with their young children. If you go, it's called Queen's beach and it was perfect for a little toddler and perfect for me, too. Yay for that beach.

Polynesian Cultural Center: As many of you may know (I did not), the PCC is a cultural theme-park (no rides) run by the church to support a huge percentage of the students at BYU-H. These are students that have been recruited from Asia-Pacific that would otherwise have no way to go to college and they work at the PCC in return for their tuition. It's a pretty rockin' deal. It's a little expensive, but you see why, now. If you go to Hawaii, go. Cadence loved it, and it was a needed break from the beach. You can learn to make coconut milk, learn about Easter Island (it has a real name, but I can't remember) from a native, and have New Zealanders teach you to dance, sing, and throw sticks. Oh, there's tongan drumming, weaving, and spear-chucking, too. All sorts of things. The night show is fantastic. We thought Cadence would go to sleep during it, but she was so intrigued. She still talks about the dancers. Also, we got to visit with my Aunt and Uncle who are service missionaries there.

Yay for gorgeous landscapes and dramatic colors.

Yay for whales. March is whale season in Hawaii. The rest of the year, the humpbacks go back to Alaska. We got to see a "pod" of males trying to out-do eachother in a masculinity contest. Men.

Yay for one whole week of being together as a family! Spencer had the whole week off but he sure did a lot of work. I literally took the week off and he took care of Cadence and me.

This is a pic at the Pearl Harbor USS Arizona Memorial. She loves pockets. Just like her dad.

Yay for cute toes. I wait for years at a time for an excuse to get a pedicure. I stared at them a lot.

Yay for Matt and Mimi, who are great to travel with and who helped me out with Cadence a lot, too.

This is Matt and Mimi and C. and I planting pineapples at the Dole Plantation (above). Yay for pineapple ice cream at the Dole Plantation (below).

Okay, well, we had a blast, and actually didn't take enough pictures, although you should be glad. You've seen enough. Hawaii was awesome and exactly what the family needed at this crazy time in our lives. Yay for Spencer.

ps, we're having our sex-identification ultrasound on Friday. Any guesses or bets should be placed now!

HELP!

Hey, I know it's been a while since I've blogged. We just got back from Hawaii and so I've got some good stuff to write about, but right now I'm in the middle of a hunt. I need to quickly find a place that is affordable, and that will do a month-to-month or six month lease that is hopefully two bedrooms. We've decided that we need a place in Walnut Creek. It was too hard in Tacoma when I didn't have any friends or any idea where I was or where to go when I was having strange uterine pains, etc. And plus, we just have to be here when the baby's born. So, I'm back, I'm looking for a place, and I'm desperate! Oh, and I want to stay in the ward. If anybody knows of somebody who needs to sell a lease, or sublet, or something, let me know!

Tacoma?

Hey, it looks like the verdict is in and we are headed to Tacoma for a few months. We have a lot of reasons to come back to Walnut Creek at least for several weekends through April. After that, I'll at least have to be back once a month for my prenatal check up. I am really excited to just know where we will be. It has been pretty tough being in Limbo for so long. Spencer is excited about his role, which will provide him with some good Leadership opportunities. Also, the corporate housing scene is looking great.

Right now in Tacoma it is 45 degrees (vs. 58 in Walnut Creek). I'm really hoping it's not too cold and that the winter doesn't last too long. If anybody knows how long the winters are in Tacoma, I'd love to know.

Cadence is going to especially miss Luke, Rebecca, Lauren and Avery, and Wes adn Linda (the Carlsons, whom we live with) and Matt and Mimi. I'm going to miss a lot of people too. Merica, Kellie, and Mimi and Matt, especially. I would probably miss Heather more if I got to see her at all :). That's true about a lot of you. I am also going to miss seeing Victory be a real person again and miss Heidi's and Whitney's great lessons.

One final note: for those of you who know my sister Mignon, and that she's been serving a mission in Korea, MIGNON GETS HOME ON SATURDAY! I'll see her for the first time next Tuesday. Keep your eyes peeled for a special post all about it.

This is Cadence at 3 days old. She was such an angel baby. Just thought you might like to see the development of the cutest baby ever.

This (below) is Cadence as a very cute Unicorn and Luke, her man of choice, as a ruggedly handsome cowboy. And when I say "man of choice", I mean it. She pretends to call him on the phone, they love to kiss (unprovoked by us big people), and she talks to him even when he's not there (lately she's been heard saying "Luke, No! No, Luke.")

My Favorite Cadence-isms

Cadence is at an age where everything she does is so new and usually hilarious. This is a list of my favorite words, games, etc. from Cadence:

-Ahgotchanose!! (Playing the "I got your nose" game. She likes to tell daddy to "put it back!") She plays this game with herself, or people, or her stuffed animals.

-When she wants a bottle, which means she's tired, she says, "A make a bottle, YEAH!"

-Calling for Nina, Annie, or Nana. I have no idea who those people are, but she calls for them often.

-Shakes her booty. If you instruct her to do this, she'll place both hands on the back of her hips and really move that thang. She's an avid dancer. She's also got a shimmy that'll knock your socks off.

-Obsessed with shoes and bags. She loves to find different pairs of shoes in her drawer and begs me to help her put them on. After trying them out, she'll find another pair and beg to wear them instead. Trying to take her out of a shoe-store is a nightmare. Oh, and if you have a handbag on you, be prepared. She's going to assertively take it from you so she can sling it over her shoulder and walk around. She especially enjoys this if there is a cell phone around that she can pin between the same bagged shoulder and her cheek and talk.

-Talks all day long. She says everything we say. "Shake-a-booty!" is one she really likes. Most of the funny ones are things that Spencer has said that are embarrassing for one reason or another. She makes sure she talks from the moment she wakes up to the moment she goes down. When you walk in her room after she's made it clear she's awake, the second she sees you, she frantically starts naming the first things she sees and tries to talk about them. This is hard when she is groggy, and it turns into a panicky babble, usually. It's my favorite part of the day.

-The blame game. In preparation for potty training, I've taught her to recognize when she is "Stinky". But she thinks she's smarter than me. If you suspect she is stinky and ask her, she'll say, "Mama stinky? Grandma stinky? Teddy Bear stinky?" She'll blame it on anybody in the room and then look for toys to blame it on. I don't know where she learned this!

Well, I could go on and on. It looks like I already have. If you aren't convinced now that she's the cutest, come visit us! I know I'm THAT mom. I'm perfectly fine with all my friends being THAT mom, too. Go ahead, tell me the cute things your kids do.

Correction

In my first post I loosely cited some General Authority with saying it's "cool" to blog. It wasn't whoever I said it was. It was Elder Ballard and he said that while the rest of the world is using websites and blogs as ways to spread their own agendas, we should be using it as a tool to share the true principles of the gospel (as in, offer the correct version of mormonism, etc.) and to share how our lives are enriched by it. That's a really great point, isn't?
Okay, Heidi, if that's not right, you'd better tell me!