Announcing a Contest!!!!!!!

Alright dudes, and dudettes! This is the opportunity of a lifetime! Due to the fact that Jen and I are having a hard time coming up with boy names, we would like to announce a fun little contest. The winner will receive A $10 gift card to the location of their choosing. Heres how you play: submit a comment to this entry giving two baby BOY names that you like. If it so happens that Jen and I decide to name our baby boy the name that you submitted, we will award you with the gift card. This is in an effort for us to come up with as many baby boy names as possible. Plus I thought it would be kind of fun. Now, there are no duplicates allowed. If someone has already suggested your name, TOO BAD. Also, you are only allowed to submit TWO names at a time per day. You can come back to our blog the next day and submit two more names if you would like, but only two a day. Jen has also informed me that she will be playing because she wants the gift card too. But don't worry, I won't let that bias me. Please do not go through a book and just start listing off names. We want names that you sincerely like. Thank you. And good luck.

Thank You

I would just like to take a minute this 4th of July weekend and express my gratitude to all of the men and women serving in our countries armed forces. I will never forget my first Sunday home from my mission. It was the Sunday before the 4th and consequently, all the hymns in sacrament meeting were patriotic. The closing hymn was The Star-Spangled Banner and Sister Marshall (our ward organist who is one of my favorite ladies in the whole world) really made it special. I made it through about 1/4 of the first verse before I started ballin' and it didn't stop until the song was over. Spending two years in Portugal made me appreciate all the freedoms that we enjoy here in this country and it was a very special experience for me to come home and on my first Sunday have a chance to reflect on my feelings. I am proud to say that that emotion and that experience are not forgotten and I still have to fight back tears any time I hear the national anthem. So, I again would like to thank all those serving to preserve those freedoms that we enjoy. I would also like to send a special shout-out to my best friend from high school, Jordan Darrington, who is on his second tour in Iraq right now, serving with the US Army. Thanks bud.

Chicken salad, fireworks, and (LOUD) christian rock

What a great Fourth of July! We are lucky to have such good friends here in Southaven, MS, to spend the holiday with. We went over to the Snowden Grove ampitheater with the Pratts, Collins', Allreds, Kents, Fishers, Brumleys and Pursers, then ran into the Bakers and the Ross' while there. John got his five seconds of fame when he was interviewed and actually made the news! (Unfortunately, we didn't get to see it.) The fireworks were impressive, and everyone had a fun time. Enjoy the photos!

Oh Baby!

I think there must be something about seeing a pregnant person that turns off the filter in people's brains--you know, the one that tells them what NOT to say out loud. I recently started showing to the general public, I guess you could say, and a woman I work with confronted me in the restroom and said that until recently she thought that the whole pregnancy was in my head. Nice, huh? How do you respond to that? 

But my favorite comment this month was from one of the vice presidents at work. Monday I was chatting with a friend and he walked by, then paused and turned. He said, "You know, over the last week or so you've actually started to look like you're carrying a baby in there--as opposed to just looking like you're letting yourself go, or that you overindulged at the Shoney's buffet." Again, response?

I know there are several other doozies out there--so I'd love it if you posted some of your personal favorites. I'm trying to keep track of the ones that I get. It does make me laugh! I'll try to attach a really good bit from Brian Regan on the subject soon. 

Missippi

I was over at some friends of ours yesterday. As I was telling them about where I would be going on my externships, their 14 year old son came in and said, "oh, you're going to Nevahda?" I responded by saying, "no, I am going to Nevada." This started a conversation about the correct pronunciation of various locations throughout the US. So, for all of you who have not had the opportunity to spend some good quality time in the south, let me share a few things that I have learned. 

1. The state I live in is pronounced Missippi (slur all the s's together), not Mississippi.

2. It is not New Orleans (emphasis on the "leans"), its Norlynns (emphasis on the Nor).

3. You are the one that is weird for not saying, "sir" or "ma'am," not the other way around.

So if you're fixin to be a little more southern, practice these three things and you might could pass for a southerner in no time.

What happens in Vegas...

Well, today was a big day for us "third years" at SCO. Dr. Gibson (director of externships) posted our assignments for our fourth year rotations. We will be leaving Memphis (which we are soooo sad about... well... not really) in August of 2009 for beautiful Steamboat Springs, Colorado. I say its beautiful despite the fact that the only things I know about it are what I learned on Wikipedia. After a short four months there, we will head off to the bright lights of Sin City, Las Vegas, Nevada. Pronounced Nevaaaaaada (with a nasally emphasis), not Nevahhhhhda as they say here in the south. Maybe I can turn my student loans into millions playing the nickel slots at the Bellagio. Although that might be kind of hard considering that I don't gamble. We will be there from January to May 2010. After that, I have no idea. 

Okay, okay...

It's really too bad that we've had this blog for so long and have never posted anything. It's not because we have nothing to report--just not as much time as we'd like to do the reporting. But I'm trying to be better about it. Despite the fact that I still want to modify how this site looks, I can't put off writing anything anymore just because of that. So here goes.

To catch you up: John's started his third year of optometry school, and is now spending a lot of the week in the Eye Center on campus. Thankfully, he still likes it. I really think he chose the right profession. (Yay!) One more year to go--a year of externships. One in Tennessee and two still yet to be determined. We've talked about a few sites in Colorado, one in Las Vegas, and one in Phoenix. We'll see!

We are expecting a little boy in October, which is fantastic! John's already bought him a little Air Jordan onesie with a matching beanie and booties. It's really cute. He also plans to decorate the nursery (that's right, HE plans to decorate it) with lots of Tiger Woods posters and a baby blue blanket with the Nike swoosh on it. He claims it's just because we're having a boy that he wants to do the planning, but when I pointed out that if we were having a girl he'd be doing exactly the same thing, he considered for a minute, then told me I was right. If it was a girl, it'd be a "pretty, pretty princess room." What a cute daddy he'll be!

I'm including a photo of the onesie. I've got to admit, it's cute!