Halloween Weekend

Halloween this year has been great! On Friday we had a ward party. We took our niece, Rya, and our nephew, Aiden. Our neighbors Charity and Zane came with their son Stone. They brought Zane's brother and his wife and son. We has some food together then waited a while till they started the trunk-or-treat where the kids go around to different cars in the parking lot of the church. It's a lot safer for the kids and they still have fun. Cambria and I were dressed as a king and queen. Rya was dressed as a princess, and Aiden was a pirate. When Cambria and I got home we got Rya and Aiden to bed since they were having a sleepover. Afterward we enjoyed the rest of the night watching a movie together.

Saturday evening we had a party at Nathan and Sharlyn's house. Cambria took the kids back then stayed there and cooked for the party. We wore our king and queen costumes again. Charity and Zane came as well as another couple from our building. Monty and Linda were there as well as Claudia and a few other foreign exchange students. We ate, played games, and sat around talking. Cambria and I ended up getting home really late and went straight to bed.

Today is Monday and is Halloween. I am studying most of the day but thought I would take a break to write in the blog. Cambria might go see Rya and Aiden trick-or-treat for a little while. Linda invited us to go to dinner which I don't think I will be able to make it to. It's been a fun Halloween season. Now it's time to look forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas!

Baby Update

This past Sunday night Cambria and I were talking when she said the baby was starting to kick. She had me put my hand on her stomach. I waited for a while but didn't feel anything. After about a minute I felt a small little bump hit my hand. I thought it was the most amazing thing! Up till now all I had seen was a black and white image on a screen that barely looked like a baby. Now I was actually able to feel her! What an amazing miracle. It's true that I am nervous to have a child but I'm excited at the same time.

About a week ago Cambria had an appointment with her doctor. It is a special ultrasound appointment where they measure all the parts of the baby to make sure she's growing well. Monty and LInda came along too. My mom was invited but she couldn't get away from work. It was a longer ulrasound which was nice. We had time to look at all the bones, her brain, and we even watched her heart beating. Everything looked great and she is a healthy little girl. They then did the 3D imaging of the baby. It looked so neat to be able to descipher facial features, and see her little arms and toes. Her arm was above her head and across her forehead. Cambria poined out that that is exactly what I do when I sleep.

Cambria is six months along now, and still doing really well. She has some pain from time to time associated with pregnancy but all in all she feels great and is as cute as ever. Since I wrote the paragraph above about feeling the baby kick, I have felt her quite often. It's still really neat. Cambria was using her laptop the other day and the baby kicked and Cambria said the baby kicked the laptop.

Life is crazy but fun. School is definitely omnipresent and chemistry classes occupy most of my time. This semester I will be done with all of my general studies classes and will have an Associates Degree. From here on out I have three more chemistry classes, a math, two physics classes, and a handfull of microbiology classes. I am trying to focus on enjoying the now and not looking too far ahead. If I do I get down on myself about how much longer I have to go until I'm out of med-school. So now I am going to go study some more

Grandpa Ellison's Funeral

Well earlier this month we found out that Cambria's Grandpa, Don Ellison, in Idaho had fallen and broken his hip. Although he is 93, they still said he was healthy and a good candidate for surgery. Well, even before the surgery was to take place he started to decline in health very very quickly. He went into total organ failure and within hours he passed away. It was truely a blessing that he was able to pass so quickly. He had very little pain. We along with the whole family have been aware that both Don and Afton would be passing within the coming years. We left to Boise the next Friday when Cambria got off work. His viewing was to be that night and the funeral the next morning. It was a pleasant drive with my wife as we listened to a book on CD and enjoyed our time together. The viewing was very nice and it was great to see all the family. They had a slideshow going with pictures of Don throughout all his life, many of which some of his children had never seen.

The following morning there was a short viewing followed by a family prayer before the funeral services started. All of Don's sons spoke. Monty gave a great sketch of Don's life with amazing, funny, and touching stories. Others who spoke touched on Don's great kindness, and loving nature. He was always telling his grandchildren how proud of them he was. He always had a smile and was ready with a joke at any given time. He was faithful to the Lord in everything he did. He taught his children through word and example. It is amazing to me to hear the stories about this great man who I have only known for a short time. I have often wondered what he may be telling our unborn daughter about her mother.