It's a Boy!!!

In honor of the sex of our new baby, I am writing this entire post in blue. We had our ultrasound yesterday, and it was the most amazing thing. We got to see our little Magnum (as Ben calls him--don't worry, that won't be his real name) moving around and yawning. He's so cute.

I was so sure it was a girl, probably because that's what I always wanted to have first. I was pretty shocked when the tech asked us if we wanted to know what we were having and then said, I know I saw it around here somewhere. But we are so excited. I definitely know little boys better than I know girls. It somehow makes me feel so much closer to him knowing now that he's a him. I can't wait until we get to see him for real.

We also found out that he measures to be about 20 1/2 weeks along, instead of the 18 weeks 6 days that we originally thought. This is close enough that our doctor will have to decide if she wants to change our due date. If that's the case, Baby will be due November 21st instead of December 1st (which I'm kind of hoping for). But we should find that out at my next appointment in August.

Here are a few pictures from the ultrasound. I'll exclude the ones that prove that he's a boy. I figure he probably won't appreciate me posting those pictures for the world to see.

Here's his little profile. I think he looks like me.

Another profile. I admit, I spend a lot of time staring at these photos.

This one's kind of hard to see, but about an inch below the word foot you can see his tiny little toes.

4th of July

For this 4th of July weekend, we went up to Ben's parents in Kuna. We took my brother Geoff with us because, as Ben says, everyone comes home to Kuna. It was a pretty busy weekend by Kuna-standards.

We went boogie-boarding in the canal near the house twice this weekend. For those of you not familiar with how it's done, here is a little video to demonstrate. Sorry it's all weird and skinny, it was taken with my phone.

Ben and Geoff enjoyed it the most, they did all kinds of tricks and stayed out in the freezing cold water for awhile. I just went once and that was enough for me.

We also showed Geoff around Boise and visited Ben's Grandpa in the Veteran's Home that he just moved into. On the 4th we went to the parade in Melba. Grandpa was the Grand Marshall in the parade, and he did an excellent job.

That night, we went to the famous firework show in Melba. Ben dressed up for the occasion.



Today's a pretty exciting day for us, Ben had a 3rd interview with KPMG. We should hear from them by next week (though how definite the response will be, we're not really sure). It's also my brother Josh's 18th birthday. And most importantly, it is finally the day of the ultrasound! Today at 4 we find out if we're having a boy or a girl (or one of each).

Run, Run, Ragnar

So the infamous Ragnar Relay was a week and a half ago. I've been wanting to write about it for a little while now, but we seem to have misplaced our camera. Hopefully it turns up soon. So I will just have to use the few pictures that I took with my phone.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with what the Ragnar is (aka "non-runners"), I will explain. The Ragnar is a relay race, and this particular one that we ran, the Wasatch Back, goes from Logan to Park City. There are 12 runners on a team (or if you're really crazy, 6), split up into two vans. You all take turns running and as you run, your van drives along and cheers you on and provides you with water and snacks as needed (just as Ben and Lisa are doing for Lora below).

Our team name was "Go Fish" and we all had matching shirts, not to mention matching capes. Ben still wears his around the house.

We also decorated our van and had blow up props.

Our van started early--we had to be at the starting line to check in at 5:30. But we were lucky because the times lined up that we were actually able to sleep that night. The poor runners in the other van did not have as much luck, since they had to run through the night.

Most of the time that we were running, we were in the middle of nowhere. But it was gorgeous and green--not at all like the Utah that most of us are used to on the other side of the mountains.

Even though we weren't the fastest runners (we finished in a little over 36 hours), I'd say we did pretty well--especially considering how much training some of us did . A little shoutout to Kim, who ran the entire Ragnar Hill--without stopping to walk once (of course she was one of the few who was diligent in her training, so obviously that paid off). We were all pretty sore afterwards though--there was a lot of limping that weekend. It was definitely fun, and I'm really glad we did it, but I'm also glad it's over. I did hear talk of doing it again in 3 years. I think by then I'll have been in the family long enough to be able to say no. Hopefully....

Trimester Numero Dos

I know it was not very long ago that we posted our last picture, but that picture is almost a month old, and there has been quite a bit of growth in my abdominal area. Plus, today marks a great day because I am 14 weeks. No more first trimester! Not that mine was particularly difficult.

So it's time for a new photo (mostly for the benefit of my parents). I'm always frustrated with pregnant women who only take one or two pictures throughout their pregnancy. Fat, pregnant bellies are one of the most beautiful things in the world. I talk about mine all the time. I'm sure there will be many updates over the next 5 1/2 months.

I'm also slightly weirded out by those awkward profile shots where you just stand and smile uncomfortably with your hands at your side. I decided to go with more of an action shot--yes, I had just gotten back from running. See, much less awkward.

Also, in case you noticed that knee brace, I had a stressful week because of a sudden onset of knee pain that only allowed me to run about a mile. With Ragnar only two weeks away, the time for finding a replacement has pretty much passed. I didn't want to let the family down, especially since I'm pretty sure the main reason certain Fishers have welcomed me so enthusiastically is because I complete the running team. But my doctor was brilliant enough to suggest a knee brace, and it worked!

In other updates, Ben is almost done with his second-to-last term of his undergraduate career. Since next term he's taking poetry and intro to ceramics, I'm pretty sure it's all downhill from here. He's also working as a research assistant and he gets to research Central Asia and all that good stuff. The best part is that he gets to work at home.

Happy New Baby

That's right, this is the much-anticipated announcement of the newest addition to our family. We're expecting baby to come at the beginning of December, and so far everything has gone very well. We got to hear the hearbeat a couple of weeks ago and it was strong, loud and amazing. I'm growing more and more each week, and I'm very excited about entering the second trimester with the prospect of enjoying food again.

Ben has been very supportive and is excited about being a Dad. I'm just a little nervous about raising a child with his energy level. Oh, and in case you were wondering what our baby will look like, we couldn't wait the six months to find out, so we did a little techno-magic and this is what we found.

Happy Birthday Nathan Jacob Fernquist!

Today is my youngest brother's birthday, and I thought I'd take a page out of Kelly's (blog) book and do a little spotlight on this 90 pounds of pure sunshine.

About Nate:

Today is his 15th birthday.
He was born in Bozeman, MT. I was there. My parents made me go to school when it was done, which was pretty lame. And I was really hoping for a sister.

Sometimes has to share his birthday with Mother's Day.

Is a freshman in high school and is about to get his driver's permit. I don't think he'll be any worse than Geoff was when he started to drive.

He now sounds exactly like Josh on the phone--they even mumble the same. He thinks it's funny if you can't tell who he is.

Loves tennis. Is not afraid to smack talk about his abilities to beat you.

On Facebook: He has 374 friends. That's almost as much as me.

For college: He wants to go to BYU (which is an excellent choice).

Special skills: He makes the best oreo shakes. He can also dance.

Social skills: He is probably the coolest of the Fernquist children. He's the most social (note the number of Facebook friends) and has the best style (the only time I compliment Geoff's wardrobe is when he's wearing one of Nate's shirts). However, no one thinks Nate is as cool as he does.

Year 1

Yesterday was our first anniversary. It's hard to believe how quickly this past year flew by. One thing I know for sure is that it was the best year of my life. I feel incredibly lucky every day to be married to such an amazing man. We've had a lot of great adventures together in the past year and there's no one I would have rather shared them with. He brought roses to my work yesterday morning--always the romantic. I admit, I liked having the flowers there partially because it allowed me to tell everyone that it was our anniversary. For dinner, he took me to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in Salt Lake which completely lived up to its reputation. We had a great time there and the food was excellent. The whole time we were out I kept thinking, I have such a wonderful life, and it's all because of this cute, goofy redhead across the table. I'm excited to get to spend dozens more anniversaries with him.