December?!

Where has the time gone?? I know where October went, but November and most of December have come and gone without me knowing where exactly the days have gone.

The quickie version of what we have been up to: Julie's dad came up for the week of Thanksgiving - we relaxed, ate lots of turkey, and I put the guys to work stripping wallpaper and painting the room where baby will live after birth. The final product looks amazing!









For our Christmas present, Dad bought us a live tree! I was so excited; I haven't had a real tree since leaving for college. Turns out dorm and apartment life aren't conducive to the real deal. We were on the way home from the gym and saw the tree stand...I was driving the Echo so we strapped the little tree into the trunk and home we went! During that we we also had the chance to spend time with some good friends from our Pullman days, Jessica, her baby, and husband Chad. She gave me some pointers on being a new mom and we got a kick out of watching Cleo try and figure out what exactly a baby was all about. She wasn't real impressed with the baby herself, but thought the rattle toys were pretty nifty. Here is our little tree, and Cleo hiding underneath.


I made a trip to busy Las Vegas at the beginning of December to attend the American Association of Equine Practitioners conference - some of the seminars were great, I got to see old friends, and I now remember why I am glad not to be in school anymore (sitting in lectures all day can be so boring!). In addition to the several thousand of us horse vets, there were 27,000 marathon runners plus additional supporters, two other conferences, and the National Finals Rodeo crowd in town. It was a crowded place!!

And as a baby gender update - we have done several "old wives" tests to determine the gender of Baby Hunt....so far we're running 8 for a boy, 7 for a girl. It's a close race! Just to remind everyone, we are accepting guesses through February! Overall, it seems split as to whether people think boy or girl. Only time will tell! My latest profile last week at 28 weeks:

We're staying put for the holidays this year. We hope that everyone has a great Christmas and a happy new year!

Boo Day and a Trip to the Capital

Happy Halloween one day late!

Chadwick and I both had to work a half day yesterday, so we decided to add a little flair for the holiday. He wore his black afro wig with his white coat and I squeezed into an old camo suit from his marine corps days. I say squeeze because, when the pants were pulled up all the way, I couldn't button the top button; my belly is bigger than his!!



For dinner that night, we had eyeballs, witch's stew, bones, brains, and a delightful artichoke-parmesean dip. To be washed down with a blood drink (not pictured).




Last weekend I spent about 4 days in Washington DC with my best friend from college, Dessa, and her boyfriend, Victor. We've been trying to plan a weekend together for many years and finally got it together. We were rained on Saturday and Tuesday (when I left) and had perfect weather Sunday and Monday. We managed to fit a lot into those days without going crazy. Following is a few pictures from the trip:


Dessa in her little apartment in Du Pont Circle.




Chadwick's good friend, Phil and his wife, Melanie, at the National Arboretum. They live in DC with their baby boy and we were able to meet up for a while!




Sunday morning was spent walking through the giant National Zoo. We were there for several hours and still didn't see all of the exhibits! The weather was perfect and the trees turning colors. We saw cheetas, an elephant, panda, mom and baby gorilla, the biggest crab ever, and several displays of pumpkin people and skeletons doing various activites (like playing pool).


One of our favorite animals was this little muskrat. If you click on the picture to make it big, look at the little guy on the far right. In his hands you can just make out two little pebbles. He had one in each paw, laying on his back, and was juggling those pebbles! When one would drop, he'd pick it back up and continue his show. It was hysterical! He finally lost one of the rocks, searched frantically for several seconds, than gave up and proceeded to wake up the rest of his family since his source of entertainment was missing. Cute!

We went on a night tour of the memorials - FDR, Lincoln, Washington Monument, WWII, and Korean. Most of my pictures didn't turn out for lack of a tri-pod, but this is one from the WWII Memorial. At each end is a half-circle with pillars listing the names of all 50 states and several US territories. The center has the large fountain. It was very impressive.



Dessa and I spent Monday wandering around a few of the museums and the mall area. Behind us is the Capital building.
Such a fun trip!!

Where Are My Feet?

I looked down the other afternoon and realized that my feet were completely missing from my view, and that the view has been replaced by my ever-expanding mid-section. Those in my family who do not live in Boise have a hard time believing this statement, so I took the liberty of obtaining a picture from my point of view. The camera was placed just under my chin.....does any one else see my feet?
I didn't think so.

Yesterday afternoon, Chadwick and I rode the Thunder Mountain Line, a train which lives in Horseshoe Bend (north of Boise about 35 minutes). The special of this time of year: the pumpkin liner. Along with many noisy, some screaming children and their parents, we loaded up on a rickety train and traveled an hour north to Banks to a small area where they had tons of pumpkins lined up, ready to be chosen. Ice cream and apple cobbler was available for $1 (too bad we weren't carrying any cash, I was hungry) and the weather was perfect! We had 30 minutes to choose the perfect pumpkin before we loaded up and came home. It was super fun! I decided we will start a tradition of going to pick a pumpkin somewhere other than the store each year.


It was hard to choose just one pumpkin, but managed to find the perfect one. Chadwick took home a large, round one with a great side for carving. I chose a small, fat, round one that I could easily carry back on the train. It was a riot to watch these parents with multiple kids, who of course wanted the largest pumpkin possible but weren't big enough to carry the thing. It was entertaining!

I also have to update my pregnancy profile, per request of my Bop-bop. In honor of the season, Chadwick participated as well:

His belly is a bit bigger than mine. =)




And here is a picture of the cat, since she posed so nicely for me this afternoon. It's a rough life!

To Make a Room

I've decided that in most cases, to clean a mess, sometimes you have to create one first. In my case, Chadwick and I are starting the process of creating a room for the baby. In order to do so, the office must be dismantled, moved downstairs, set up again, and the baby room started. Our closet in the office is typical - a hiding spot for things that I don't know what to do with, a spot for old yearbooks, journals, toys from college (i.e. my WSU Barbie cheerleader given to me by a good friend), and more pages of notes from vet school than I care to count. Plus some other miscellaneous items. This is turning into something of a process, but it is a needed "purging." I am grateful for recycling....makes us feel less guilty about getting rid of so much paper. And what to do with all of our textbooks??

I am excited to be starting the process of making a nursery! Tomorrow, Oct. 13, we go in for our 19 week ultrasound.....more on that at a later date. =)

Happy Birthday, Julie Schmoolie

Twenty-nine years ago yesterday, I was born in Albuquerque, NM in the midst of the balloon fiesta. Mom said she could see the balloons from her hospital window....

My morning started out with a fabulous scrambled eggs, potatoes, and toast breakfast, made special by my wonderful husband. Work was super hectic; three of the six doctors were out of town for a mini-conference in Sun Valley, ID, leaving two of us in the clinic and one running around taking care of cut and sick horses. We were also short-staffed! Usually, our morning appointments end around 12:15.....yesterday we finally caught up with the morning at 1:00 pm. That left little time to eat, finish some things, and prepare for the afternoon appointments! But, as Dr. Kayla says, "We'll get it done." And we did, with most of our hair intact and not pulled out. We have a great staff! The pumpkin pie we had in the clinic for my birthday gave us some necessary sugar to power us through the day as well.

The flowers pictured above were a delivery gift from Chadwick - I love flowers! However, I hate the nickname "Julie Schmoolie," which is what was written on the card attached to said flowers. Chadwick came up with the nickname early in our relationship when we were coming up with pet names for one another. Luckily, I don't hear it very often! =)

After work, we went out to the Cheesecake Factory with my in-laws for dinner. Lots of garlic in that food! We rolled out of there with leftovers in our hands. Overall, not a bad day. And I got lots of phone calls from family and friends. I'm lucky to have so many wonderful people in my life!!

Life Updates

These last several weeks have been busy! Not so much with work, but life.

After much debate, thought, and conversation, Chadwick decided that he was no longer going to pursue veterinary specialty and instead learn the art of being a general practitioner. Now we're able to focus on a new direction....where ever that may lead! We can go anywhere and do anything at this point, so we're tossing around some ideas. We'll keep ya posted.

Second, my mom and step-dad Mark came up to Boise last weekend for a visit. Mark has never seen our house or clinics, and mom wanted to know what her pregnant daughter looked like. (Side note: once you get pregnant, fewer people are concerned about your welfare, only that of the child. I think this will continue to get worse after the baby is born. Huh.) We went up to the Hunt family cabin Friday night and the boys went fishing on the Middle Fork of the Payette Saturday for a few hours. They were successful, though Chadwick kept only one fish.
During this time, Mom and I walked, talked, and relaxed. The weather was great and the bugs minimal, so we had a good time. Saturday evening, we attended "A Tuna Christmas" which was put on by the Idaho Shakespeare Festival - it's an outdoor theater with lawn seating and an amazing venue! You can bring your own picnic dinner and drinks....we didn't know that food and photos were okay until we got there. I'll take a picture next time. Sunday was relaxing and dinner with the Hunts. All-in-all, a great time.

I am officially in the 'tweener stage of pregnancy - my regular jeans no longer fit in the mid-section (though thankfully my rear end still fits fine) and my maternity jeans Mom bought left me with a saggy bottom all day at work because they are a smidge too large. Give it a week and they'll fit better. This is me at 17-18 weeks:

To end, my thoughts are with the Pullman crew with whom we shared many between-Conference session meals - Ryan, Holly, Hayley, Milo, Chad, Jessica, Todd, Hannah, Mike, Jen, Anne, and Liz. I miss you guys!

Working Toward a Tank

Since his birthday almost 2 weeks ago, Chadwick has been diligently working to build the M1A1 tank model. First, the paint, then pain-stakingly removing each piece from its plastic home to glue it into place. It looks pretty good! I think there is still more to come....
When I went home in August for my Nana's birthday, waiting for me in my room was a craft Mom had bought for me to put together for the baby. I've had said craft for, what, at least a month. Here is how far I've gotten:
Yeah, still in the wrapper. Sorry, Mom. It's kind of a running joke that our crafts (mine and Mom's) might be done by the second or third child. I guess we're relying on other people to complete a craft for the first one. Ha!

The Big 3-0

Last Wednesday, 9-9-09, pushed Chadwick (and thus his twin, Stephen) out of the 20's and into the 30's. According the card sent him by my Nana, he only has 10 good years left. Yikes! I guess we'd better make the most out of those years then, eh?

Unfortunately, we didn't do anything extra special for him. Leftovers Wednesday night, dinner with his parents Thursday night, and out to eat at McGrath's Fish House Friday night. He opened several presents and had pretty much a normal week. This is him with his Dairy Queen blizzard oogling over parts to the M1A2 Abrams tank model I bought him for his birthday. He used to drive the M1A1 version, which they didn't have in the hobby shop, but you can make the earlier version of the tank with this model set. Projects!


An update from his fishing trip in Yellowstone - great weather, beautiful country, good company, not so great fishing. They weren't biting well, but the boys had a great time despite the fact.

14 Weeks Down....

And this is me at 14 weeks! I wasn't showing at all until about week 12, and I swear the belly popped out overnight. Hello?! One of my co-workers is convinced that I'm having twins because she thinks it's a little early to be showing so much. Where else is everything going to go?? I'm wearing a poofy shirt, which I pulled up to "show off" my stomach.

And can someone explain why people feel the need to touch the belly? It's weird to have women I don't know well reaching out to touch my abdomen....

As a side note, my husband spent this Labor Day weekend with his dad and brother, James, fly fishing in Yellowstone. Rough life! He spent an evening or two tying flies for the venture. He showed me all of them and asked if I knew what kind of fly they where - "Uh, a bug?" was all I could reply. He'll have some good stories to tell upon his return.

New Branch on the Family Tree

Yes!! We are expecting an addition to our little family - my due date is March 4, 2010. Which puts me at 11 weeks and almost through the first "tri-semester," as Chadwick calls it. We've known for a while but I haven't mustered the energy to sit at the computer and update our blog. This will be the first grandchild on my side of the family and number 12 on his side. One of my
sisters-in-law is due in January, so there will be two new little Hunt additions next year!

In other news, Chadwick enjoyed his time at the veterinary school at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is learning the ropes of general medicine at his dad's practice. I have been "kicked" out of the large animal side of things and am now a small animal veterinarian for the remainder of my pregnancy....which will be great as the size of my abdomen continues to expand.

We drove to Idaho Falls at the end of July to attend the wedding of a close friend, Alexis, who of course was a beautiful bride. I also made the trip to Albuquerque for a 4-day visit with my family. My Nana celebrated her 75th birthday and I had to be home for that event! Nana, Mom, and I went to the opera Friday night for the world-premeire of "The Letter," which was quite the cultural experience.
And yes, there are 75 candles on that coffee cake!

I got together with three high school buddies while there - Betsy just had a baby girl in May, and Laurie and I are expecting in February and March! Needless to say, the topic at lunch was pregnancy and babies. =)

Her Favorite Perch

Once the weather was warm enough to allow for open windows, Cleo has been quite taken with the outside world. She will flit from window to window each morning, checking out the birds, looking for bugs flying outside....and always watching. She will occasionally make a little chirping noise when she sees a bird nearby. This cat of ours is really quite entertaining. Last night around 3:30 I felt Chadwick move the bed. I thought he must be twitching in his sleep until the "twitches" progressed to full out kicks. It wasn't until I heard a small "thud" that I realized he was kicking at the cat - who was biting his feet in protest because he tried to rearrange his sleeping position. She didn't return the rest of the night.

And Chadwick has arrived safely to Champagne-Urbana, IL, where he will be spending the next two weeks at the vet school learning about life as an ophthalmology resident and making connections. Thanks to my brother Sean and his girlfriend, Beth, for letting Chadwick crash at their place while in town!

Happy Fourth of July!

We spent Independence Day with Chadwick's family at their cabin north of Boise - his sister, Emily and brother, Stephen and their families came into town for the fun as did one of his cousins and family who now live in Boise. It was a big group! We had a late breakfast Saturday morning, went to the shooting range to put some holes into paper targets, and spent the afternoon canoeing on the Middle Fork of the Payette River. So much fun! I'm not sure the little kids had a good time, but we made it without mishap or capsizing. Saturday night was spent at the Starlight Mountain Theater watching "Joseph's Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." It's an outdoor theater in a town called Crouch - the production was impresive! The lead singers were great and the worst part about the whole evening was the mosquitoes that came out in force once the sun set. A city fireworks display completed the night.









I hope everyone had a great weekend!

On a side note, Chadwick officially finished his internship last Friday - he will be working at WestVet with their ophthalmologist once a week and then working for his Dad 4 days a week while he re-applies for residencies this fall.
And our cat is doing well.

When I Said I Do

Three years ago on June 24, Chadwick and I were sealed in the Albuquerque, NM Temple and I walked down the aisle in a ring ceremony next to my two fathers. It was a wonderful day and amazing to think that it was already three years ago! Time has really gone quickly. Unfortunately, reality set in and we spent our anniversary working. Chadwick worked late that evening so I had dinner alone....even the cat was gone for the night. However, I sent Chadwick flowers at work (pictured above) and made him a little album of words. I got a nice box of chocolates and some polish to care for my leather shoes. Turns out that the "traditional" gift for year three of marriage is leather - I'm not much for leather so he will help me care for the little bit of leather I do own. The "modern" gifts are glass/silver, thus the flower vase and picture album from me.

To celebrate our anniversary early, we went backpacking for the weekend to Blue Lake, north of Boise near Cascade. It was about a mile into the lake - where, by the way, there is still snow on the ground - and we had a very relaxing day. Chadwick was a depressed fisherman as he packed everything but his reel. No reel = no line = no fishing. We went on a hike instead.

View of Blue Lake from above near the trailhead






The evening stillness





This is our "Hubba Hubba," the two-man backpacking tent which was a gift from my step-dad. Apparently, there is a whole "Hubba" family of tents! The one-man tent is the "Hubba," two-man is "Hubba-Hubba," and the three-man tent is appropriately named the "Motha Hubba." I don't know if this is true or if Mark was pulling my leg, but we got a kick out of the name. It's an awesome tent!

One Year Come and Gone

One of my New Year's resolutions was to update the blog weekly.....it is now June and I'm adding my first post since Cleo came into the family. Better late than never?

The beginning of June marked our one-year anniversary as veterinarians, and it went by so quickly! Chadwick finishes his internship at WestVet at the end of the month and will start working at his father's small animal clinic in July. I am excited to have him home more often!

We have no interesting news to report, but each day is full of stories - weird clients, cool animals, dumb animals, a neat case, a sad case. We enjoy sharing tales of our day in the evenings and comparing notes on treatment of such-and-such.

In April, we spent a week in New Mexico - the first part of the week was vacation to the southern part of the state just the two of us, and the second part was spent with my family. We went to White Sands National Park and Carlsbad Caverns and basically spent the time enjoying one another's company.



My oldest brother, David, was married in Mexico to an amazing girl he met since moving to Alaska several years ago. They had a dinner reception in Albuquerque which was the primary reason for our little vacation. David's wife, Amanda, is wonderful and they make a great pair.






My other trip was back to my old stomping grounds in Pullman, WA to attend the WSU College of Veterinary Medicine Class of 2009 graduation ceremony. I know quite a few people from that class and it was great to be there as they made the transition from "student" to "veterinarian." I also got to see a few other friends, Chad and Jessica Christensen as well as my old mentor and professor, Phil Senger. Pictured below are me with my old roomie, Anne Gardner (who is now a married woman!) and me with my good friend, Alexis.