Ginger Jade

My niece Jade and I built a gingerbread house last night.

We had a hard time keeping the roof on.
But it was a lot of fun!

Catching up...

I've been so busy lately I haven't had the chance to blog much. Thanksgiving was so much fun, we got to spend time with both sides of the family. The next week was my Auntie Linda's wedding, which was beautiful and came off without a hitch. My mom and I did most of the planning. The hardest part was finding something to wear :)

The beautiful cake!

Blaine & Linda Farnsworth

Progress

27 Weeks

30 Weeks

31 Weeks
34 1/2 Weeks




Kiss the baby.

We're Ready.

Ode to being Pregnant

I have come to terms with the fact that I am not carrying a 15lb baby, so I have rationalized the weight gain instead.

Pre-natal vitamins have made my hair and nails grow so long that they alone must weigh 3 lbs. 30% more blood running through my veins must weigh a ton & the days I'm weighed at the doctor's office I'm sure my shoes weigh 2 1/2 lbs each! I have had to move up a cup size so I know the "girls" are getting bigger/heavier too (which is the only part I don't mind weighing more!)

And then, of course, there is water, placenta, and finally my baby boy who only accounts for 1 1/2 pounds at this point. sigh.



Things I've Learned:

• I pee so much I'm not sure how my body produces spit!
• Rolaids are my friend.
• I am constantly hungry (which explains the 15 lbs).
• Smells are 100x worse than usual.
• I lost all desire for meat & chicken.
• Bag-balm is awesome.
• Baby does not like the dentist.
• Maternity clothes are expensive!
• Hand-me-downs ROCK!
• I don't read the "bad/sad" chapters of preggo books. My imagination is vivid enough, I don't need someone else's ideas floating around in my head.
• Even sounds have made me gag!
• My memory is worse than it was pre-baby...which is bad!
• Complete strangers will talk to you just because you're pregnant.
• Pregnancy months confuse me... I have to go by weeks.
• Do the math... 40 weeks / 4 weeks in a month = 10 months!
• Grown men will go out of their way to accommodate you (like a stranger walking out of the uni-sex bathroom who saw me waiting in line and turned around to put the seat down!)
• There is nothing better than seeing the smile on my family's face when they get to feel the baby kick.

(I have really enjoyed this experience thus far!)

Smuggling Pumpkins

Our trip to Apple Annies Orchard & Produce/Pumpkin Patch

Willcox, AZ

We had such a good time with the girls!

First we went to the orchard and had amazing apple pie and homeade ice-cream

Then we headed to the pumpkin patches. As we walked in a gentleman asked me "Are you smuggling pumpkins?" I thought it was funny.

Measuring in at 27 weeks

I had a check up today in Las Cruces. Everything was normal, we had another ultrasound and we took our one hour diabetes screening test. The midwife measured my belly and said we are measuring at 27 weeks, but I am not quite 25 weeks yet... big baby! He weighs 1 1/2 lbs... lets hope he doesn't want to be an over achiever. I'm also hoping he doesn't get too comfortable in this breech position ;)

110 Things to do Before I Die

1. Become geographically brilliant
2. Spend time in Paris and indulge in art and culture.
3. Be recognized for a great accomplishment, or accredited award.
4. Memorize all 50 states.
5. Have something published. [x]
6. See the Coliseum.
7. Visit DC again and pay attention this time.
8. Provide a happy home.
9. Own a business (be self employed).
10. Travel to all 50 states.
11. Make a significant donation.
12. Hike the Grand Canyon.
13. See the Great Barrier Reef.
14. Visit Australia, Germany, Spain & Italy.
15. Retire young.
16. See the art I've learned about.
17. Be an extra/character in a movie or TV show. [x]
18. Tell my friends how much I love them.
19. See the Northern Lights.
20. Fall deeply in love. [x]
21. Read 200 + books (including the Bible).
22. Learn to play the piano.
23. Visit NYC & see a Broadway show and Time Square.
24. Attend an opera.
25. Learn a new language.
26. Provide for my parents.
27. Trace my genealogy.
28. Write my own vows and say "I Do" once. [x]
29. Have a 6-Pack.
30. Go to a major sporting event (Super bowl or Olympics).
31. Watch a symphony perform. [x]
32. Scuba Dive. [x]
33. Jump off a waterfall.
34. Design/Build a home.
35. Afford a decorator.
36. Do a back flip- intentionally.
37. Start a Tradition.
38. Be a role model.
39. Enter a dance competition just for the fun of it.
40. Write down my life story.
41. Be in 2 places at once.
42. Oktober fest in Munic.
43. Spend a night in a haunted house. [x]
44. Spend New Years in an exotic place with my husband.
45. Join a fire department.
46. Drive from Coast to Coast.
47. Watch a sunset on the beach.
48. Go on a cruise with my family & closest friends.
49. Winter in Hawaii, Summer in the Alps, Spring in London, and Fall in New England.
50. Deserve what life has to offer.
51. Bungee jump.
52. See the Pyramids.
53. Light a match with a .22 rifle.
54. Fly 1st class… anywhere.
55. Mend a broken friendship. [x]
56. Organize a fundraiser.
57. See Stonehenge.
58. Work for a cause I believe in.
59. Shoot a show of fireworks. [x]
60. Attend a Grand Ball.
61. Watch the sunrise on the top of a mountain.
62. Adopt a child.
63. Plant a garden like my Grandma June had.
64. Ride on a gondola in Venice.
65. Visit a tropical island.
66. Walk on the Great Wall of China.
67. Snowboard.
68. Learn to ballroom dance.
69. Be a great salsa dancer.
70. Backpack in Europe.
71. Live abroad.
72. Sail.
73. Go a week without a computer, cell phone, internet or TV.
74. Own an original piece of art.
75. Understand taxes.
76. Ride a cable car in San Francisco.
77. Get a piece of art into an exhibition. [x]
78. Play a poker game in Vegas.
79. Throw a dart on a map and go there.
80. Attend a film premiere.
81. Own a boat x and jet skis.
82. Learn to golf.
83. Own a villa in Tuscany (or at least a time share!).
84. Graduate College. [ x x ]
85. Watch the Kentucky Derby.
86. Be in the audience of the Academy Awards.
87. Have a romantic moment in a lighthouse.
88. Drink wine in a bubble bath with rose pedals and classical music playing.
89. Stay up all night talking to a friend. [x]
90. Be interviewed by a major newspaper or magazine.
91. Renovate an old house.
92. Make someone cry of happiness. [x]
93. Ride in a hot air balloon.
94. Take a trip without a map or a plan.
95. Visit all 7 continents.
96. Save a life. [x]
97. See a tornado. [x]
98. Make a guest speaker appearance.
99. Raise my family in a Church.
100. Ride a "People Train". [x]
101. Have a wall of Photos.
102. Get married while my Grandparents are around. [x]
103. Get Baptized. [x]
104. Open a coffee shop.
105. Be generous to the communities we grew up in.
106. Open a recreation center for kids to keep them off the street, off drugs, and baby free.
107. Re-vitalize downtown.
108. Learn to cook & bake wonderful things!
109. Conquer my fear of 4 legged/wheeled things.
110. Love my Husband unconditionally with everything I have and everything I am.

** I wrote the first 100 things sometime mid 2006 and have slightly altered them since then. Something cool about it is that several people have come up with their own lists after reading mine. :)

Future Kickboxer!

The baby has really started kicking the last week or so!! One night I was reading and had my book resting on my belly. The baby kicked so hard it made me lose my place! I was shocked because he hadn't ever kicked that hard before. Then the next night my brother was text messaging me so I layed my phone on my belly and sure enough, every time it would vibrate he would kick my phone. The next night is the funniest... my cat Bash was laying his head on me and the baby kicked him so hard he got up and moved!! I thought it was hillarious.

New Book

I got a copy of Bud Russo's latest book in the mail yesterday. You're probably wondering who that is, right!? He is the author that I illustrate covers for. The book came with a nice check :) Yeah! It's always really cool to open it up and read my name in the credits. You can go to his website at http://www.budrusso.com/ or to mine www.KaciePeterson.com

From the beginning

Veao and I grew up under the same mesquite tree only 35 miles apart. We knew eachother through 4-H shooting sports, county fairs and of course good 'ol country dances. I am 13 months older than him but two years ahead in school. I always knew that he had a crush on me... and of course I always thought he was gorgeous, but the age difference seemed huge in highschool. After graduation I moved to Las Cruces to go to school at NMSU and a few years later Veao moved off to west Texas to be a government trapper and then traveled the US following natural disasters as a catastrophic insurance adjuster. Several years went by and I would run into him occationally when he was in town, but we never got together. Then one cold night in January of 2007 I had gone out dancing with my cousin and ran into Veao. I had just broken up with a sleeseball boyfriend, who happened to be there that night. There were several people that I knew from around home and Veao was one of them. He claims that I "gave him a look" and then we proceeded to talk and dance the night away. He decided to spill the beans to me and said that he had liked me for six whole years and that he would never treat me the way the "sleeseball" did. At the end of the night I wanted to be sure he was genuine so I told him that if he really wanted to get a hold of me, he knew how to (most of the people he was with that night had my number or lived across the street). Sure enough a few days later we were talking and setting up dates. We really hit it off, and it didn't take us long to decide we were meant for eachother. Actually it only took us three weeks! He took me skiing in Ruidoso around valentines day and it was then that we made plans to talk to our parents and ask for their blessings to get married. The first time I met his parents was to ask them the big question. We decided on a fall themed wedding and tied the knot September 22, 2007. In the mean time we purchased and re-modled two houses, I graduated college with degrees in graphic design and creative media technology, we took pre-marriage counseling classes, got scuba certified, and I was running Hill-Horizon Graphic Design through Jake Sims & Company.

WEDDING
The wedding was beautiful... everything I had dreamed of. We were married at Mesilla Park Community Church in Las Cruces and held our reception at Dickerson's Barn.

I am such a sentimental person that I wanted to include that touch in the wedding. The pianist that played at our wedding also played for my parents wedding twenty five years prior! I used silk from my mom's wedding dress to make the ring bearer pillow, and I left a seat open where my grandparents would have sat. The day was extra special because it would have been my grandma Tommye's 81st birthday. She passed away the March before the wedding but was so thrilled to know we were getting married on her birthday. I can honestly say that it was the
BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!

Bachelorette Party & Honeymoon I'm going a little out of order here... but the bachelorette party was a blast! The girls surprised me and whisked me off to El Paso where we ate dinner at Olive Garden (my favorite restaurant) and then we hit the town. The boys had their party the same night and I'm still not exactly sure what they did. I'm pretty sure it involved poles and meat...
ha ha. It also happened to be Veao's birthday... so I'm sure they had extra fun.

The honeymoon was great! We went camping in Ruidoso for a few days and then we left to San Carlos, MX to go scuba diving in the Sea of Cortez. It was so beautiful and we saw so many awesome things on our dives. We spent a full week in Mexico and completed 7 dives.

I was an avid seashell hunter while Veao was busy spear-fishing. We got to see things like a giant sea turtle, sea horse, starfish, blowfish, eels, an octopus, sea lions, and all kinds of colorful fish. The crew on the boat were great too! They would catch and cook us fresh fish everyday for lunch, it was delicious.