For those who are wondering...

This picture was taken November 18th (two days past my due date)...

We are still anxiously awaiting his arrival.

It's been awhile...

A quick update on our busy lives...

Stephen has been the ward financial clerk in our ward and I get to teach these adorable little 3-year-olds every week...

(Please note that not all are pictured.)

We kicked off the summer by paying a visit to Mom and Dad Smith in NJ. Then I flew out to UT to help Jordan and Chandra (my brother and sister-in-law) with their adorable kids seeing as Chandra just had #5...




I also got to visit with a few friends and family, including my Pace siblings (and new niece)...




Then Stephen headed down to VA to sing with Wolf Trap Opera again for the summer...


I joined him a few weeks later after dog-sitting this cutie...


We ended our summer festivities by taking a trip to CA for Daniel (Stephen's brother) and Christina's wedding...


We moved back to Indiana into a lovely, CLEAN smelling apartment (after being homeless for a week or so because of a nasty, dirty smelling apartment)...

(Stay tuned for more pictures.)

Stephen had a recital and he sang beautifully...

(Look for a future post with audio clips!!)

Stephen is a commercial bus driver, graduate assistant and master's student. I'm an incredibly smart temp worker (or so all my supervisors have indicated--DUH! I have a college degree) and a soon-to-be full-time mom...

(Only 3.5 weeks to go!!)

Life has been very busy, but we're having a great time and look forward to meeting our little baby boy!

I am grateful for my Savior!

Is it me or Fedex?

Either Fedex is incompetent or I have incredible luck whenever I use them. I ordered a cell phone online and selected Fedex 2-day shipping. My order was supposed to arrive by 7 pm on July 8th. When 7 pm rolled around, I decided to track it online. Much to my dismay...it was in Mississauga, ON. Yes, Fedex had it in the wrong country. What was more baffling, was that it shipped out of West Chester, PA. I didn't know Ontario was on the way to NJ!! I called Fedex to figure out what was going on and they ended up hanging up on me. Then I called Verizon since they seem to think Fedex is so wonderful. The rep with Verizon called Fedex to inform them of the problem. I was told that Fedex would contact me in 24 hours. Isn't time of the essence when a package is supposed to be delivered?! I have not yet heard from Fedex, but I was pleasantly surprised when I tracked the package again this morning--it miraculously made it to NJ overnight. Despite their huge mishap, they were able to pull themselves together. My cell phone went from PA, to NJ, to ON, to TN and finally back to NJ. Incredibly efficient.

New do?

I've been debating whether to chop my hair again or merely trim it. What do you think? Take my poll!

We're moving to...

Stephen and I have FINALLY made a decision about the fall!

It has been quite exciting to see how Stephen compares to other vocal students outside of BYU. He was accepted to University of Tennessee, University of Houston and Indiana University, each offering scholarships. Unfortunately the Curtis Institute rejected him (after he made it past the preliminary round). They only accepted about 2 or 3 people and they were all of different voice parts...they probably only took half of a baritone. :P We're still happy with how far he got in the Curtis auditions and know that his voice is in a good place because he did so well.

As of last week we narrowed our options down to Tennessee and Indiana. He flew out to both schools this week to take lessons from the teachers he was interested in. Best idea ever because he is coming home tonight feeling completely at peace with our decision (even though it's the most expensive). We'll be going to Indiana University!

I couldn't help but notice a small miracle in this whole decision making process. Stephen tried to set up a lesson with Andreas Poulimenos (at Indiana) and was unsuccessful: He said he doesn't offer sample lessons because he'd be doing them all the time if he did. Stephen decided to observe a couple of his lessons and towards the end of the last lesson Poulimenos turned around and offered to work with him for a little while. Stephen knew instantly that this was the teacher he wanted. After a bit of effort, he was able to get in touch with Poulimenos who agreed to have him in his studio.

Had Stephen not had the small window of opportunity to sing with this teacher, he may not have been able to easily say he wanted to go to one place or the other (especially since the other lessons didn't go as well as he had hoped). I'm grateful to have received such a distinct answer to our prayers and even more grateful to have made a decision!