How I know I'm Poor...and/or Pregnant

Last night my rogue dog got into my purse and ate a 20% off coupon to Babies-R-Us that I had been saving.

This reduced me to tears. Forlorn, burn-your-eyes tears.

Roo taped the slobbery pieces back together, but it took a rerun of Alias to cheer me back up.

INKOM, ID

If they were to compile a list of the most romantic things to do for Valentines weekend, "hang out with your parents and in-laws in Idaho" may not make the top ten; however, we did just that and had an excellent, and surprisingly romantic time.

We persuaded my parents to come spend a relaxing weekend with us and our dogs in Inkom, Idaho. Inkom boasts a number of not-to-be missed sights and hard-to-resist attractions which include, but are not limited to:

This water storage container with a big INKOM painted on it.

A railroad, and occasionally even a train.

The Red Pony Bar--the main gathering place in town. Roo's mom decided to stop in once to see if they served food because that would also make it the main restaurant in town. They didn't. However, she noted that they did offer some exemplary pretzels.

The best part of Inkom is located on its lovely foothills, just below the Pebble Creek Ski Resort. This is Roo's parents' newly completed home:

Cuddling up with a book and staring out the windows for long periods of time is a dream come true when you have this view:

and these chairs:

We spent Friday night eating a cozy roast dinner with mashed potatoes, corn, salad, cococut cake and chocolate pie as a belated birthday celebration for Roo. Then he opened his presents: a jumbo pack of heartburn medicine and a pink princess bag full of baby clothes and a couple maternity shirts for me...for Roo's birthday.

We ended the evening visiting and watching (i.e. falling asleep to) the Olympic Opening Ceremonies throughout which the most common remark among us was "this is still going?" The TV is in the library shown below. The walls not pictured are lined with more beautiful bookshelves and an equally beautiful television.

That night, with the snow falling outside and the lights from the ski resort filtering through our window, Roo and I laid on the fold out sofa bed talking and laughing. Roo put his hand on my tummy and felt our baby girl move for the first time.

We woke up to about 8 or 9 inches of new snow. The men had to dig us out so we could go get breakfast. Roo helped shovel the driveway--his dad remarked to me later that he was less than impressed with Roo's work since he did not bother to shovel a path from the driveway to the side door. I thought, hey, that's what you get for raising him in California. My dad, meanwhile, was busy trying to dislodge his non-4-wheel drive truck from a snowbank. I couldn't help, so I just watched while my mother and mother-in-law (both grandmothers) pushed and pushed with Roo to get the truck un-stuck. They eventually got it out--Roo pushed so hard he fell face-first into the snow and raised his head just in time for the spinning wheels to spray his face with snow. Sandi fell into a waist-high snow bank and my mom kept trying to direct my dad as to what he should do next. Dad was too determined to listen or to stop for a photo-op after Sandi had gotten out of the snowbank and dug through her purse to get her camera. He sped up as fast as he could to get over the hill facing him, just as an oncoming car crested the hill towards him. The road was slippery and small and dad was definitely not going to stop. I know for a fact he uttered at least one swear word in this moment, but thankfully the car moved over and dad's truck was free. Reed, clad in florescent orange coveralls, was still removing snow from the driveway with his tractor, the grandmas were exhausted from pushing a full size pickup out of the snow, Roo had done some apparently less-than satisfactory snow shoveling AND fell down in the snow, I was tired just from the laughing, and dad, what with all his swearing and such, had definitely worked up an appetite.

Breakfast at Elmer's diner in Pocatello was so delicious and well-earned!

The rest of the day was spent moving some big furniture from the warehouse apartment in Pocatello to the Inkom house. We also got a tour of the "Museum of Clean." This is a project Sandi is helping with--a five story building in the warehouse district of Pocatello is being renovated to become the world's foremost museum for everything that has to do with cleaning. It is the brain child of Sandi's work associate, Don Aslett. I couldn't really write enough to sum up Don. Lets just say, he is 75 and plans to paint the entire interior of the building himself. He talks very fast, rarely finishes a sentence, has a couple warehouses full of old vacuum cleaners and washtubs he's collected, says things like "gadfrey" and "surley cat" regularly, and was there painting his museum when we stopped by, so he gave us a tour. It was entertaining. My favorite part was when he impersonated Japanese tourists.

Back at the house, Dad marvelled at Reed's book collection and did some fix-it jobs around the house. Mom and I helped organize the kitchen.

The dogs loved frolicking in the snow. They can struggle to walk through two inches of snow due to their dwarf legs, so imagine their joy (and our joy of seeing how ridiculous they look) when plowing through eight or nine inches!

This is the back door of the garage. It is north-facing and has accumulated quite a snow bank. We put the little dog on it to accentuate the novelty of it. That is what little dogs are best for--putting them on stuff to show how big and/or impressive that thing may be. Any picture of a tractor or a roof or a hot air balloon would be way funnier if you just put a little dog on it because your friends would look at the picture and be like, hey--there's a little dog on that tractor!

The rest of the day was spent playing with the pups, reading, going on walks, and napping. It was perfectly relaxing. For Valentines dinner we ate at Ruby Tuesdays where I impressed everyone with how much I can eat.

Sunday my parent went home and we went to church with Roo's parents. They serve as high councilman and wife to a branch in a retirement home. There were about 20 branch members. Most of the men were wearing running shoes. A lady in the back brought her chihuahua. And church consisted of an hour for Sacrament meeting (put on by local youth), 15 minutes for snacks/lunch in the chapel after Sacrament meeting, and one more hour of class. Yes, two hour church with lunch in between--that's what you have to look forward to in old age.

The trip to Inkom was lovely. It was relaxing. It required hard work from some. There was a lot of good food and good views and good talking. So if you ever have the chance to take your parents to Inkom, Idaho, I would highly recommend it!

Plans

I spent my free time today researching the best kinds of strollers and car seats.

Roo, meanwhile, was busy making plans of his own for the baby:

I gave my consent as long as he'd let me put a little pink bow in her wookie fur.

Five Months

This is a photo of me five months pregnant.

It was taken after a long day at work, and initially, I was tempted to make a few narrative criticisms about the way I look in the picture, but I was stopped by a pressing thought that's been growing inside me, as if parallel to the growth of my baby: the body is a miracle. So why are we taught to acknowledge our physical imperfections to the world? Why are we compelled to point out our flaws? Every second, my body is putting on a grand production of intricate processes that keep me alive and without me consciously instructing it how to do so. My body tells me when to drink, it tells me when to sleep, it tells me when I've had enough cookie dough for one night, and it keeps me breathing. For every imperfection I perceive in my body, there are a million perfected processes that keep me living. And now, it is forming from scratch an entirely new person inside me who represents hope and purpose and direction. How, then, can I be anything but thankful for my body, frizzy hair and all?

A Birthday Message

ROO, HAPPY BIRTHDAY FROM A FEW OF YOUR FRIENDS:

"Roo has ever been our friend an ally"

"I like chasing cars!"

Chewbacca when he played for the Brewers

Happy birthday to our best friend! Thank you for always making sure we have fun!

WE LOVE YOU!

It's a Girl...Part 2

Roo seems to think we are having an alien; however, I happen to know for a fact that our baby is a human girl. My proof is in the ultrasound picture below:

Further proof that Roo is the father: she was actually reading Pride & Prejudice on her I-Pad.

We found out on Tuesday. Roo and my mom were both there with me. I won't try to convey all my feelings about the experience except to say that it was one of the most extraordinary things I've ever seen--there was my baby, moving her arms and crossing her legs inside me, wiggling around so much it made the ultrasound technician a little frustrated. It was the first time I had seen her, but I already loved her so much.

When I got home from work that day, Roo and mom made up this nice little congratulatory arrangement which included some clothes, a blanket, a doll, and, more specifically, our baby's very first Star Wars doll--a tiny Aunt Beru action figure, blue milk in hand (that's what I'm holding in the picture). And I felt so safe and happy to realize that I was not the only one who would love this baby.

IT'S A GIRL!....Alien?

First I must place this disclaimer, as I do for each semi-annual blog entry that I do:

This is Roo! NOT Annie.

With that out of the way, and to those of you who decided to read on, I would like to happily announce that Annie and I are going to have a baby girl! She is due on June 30th, and everything is healthy. With that being said, I would now like to draw your attention to the ultrasound picture of our baby's face....

As you can see, she is happily waving to all the world saying "Hello world, I am a normal baby." However, thanks to the advances in technology that said baby has heretofore been ignorant of, we have been able to confirm that this is not a normal baby, but an alien. The proof is also shown below...

"Alien face mask"

The resemblance is a little too uncanny (and uncouth if you ask me) for our baby to be anything other than an ET from the nether regions of the galaxy.

Unfortunately, not everyone in the Phillips clan is excited about the new baby updates. Three of our most harry members are beginning to feel like they are getting cheated of much earned attention. So, in honor of their love, friendship, and general furryness, I have made a special tribute to Lando, Leia, and Chase...