Promenade

Okay, I realized I'm SUPER behind in posting, so I'm gong to attempt to get caught up so I can focus on Sam & Holly's fiesta this weekend (they got married last weekend, but I will do that in another post) and then the remodel.

The first weekend of the month, we went up to Moab for Sarah's Jr. Prom. Apparently Jr. Prom is the big thing in their town, not the senior prom. And let me tell you, it was pretty much the coolest thing EVER!!!

All the parents and students get together and decorate the gym the week before the prom. This year's theme was something like the seven wonders of the world, so they had decorations like the great wall of china, the pyramids, the aurora borealis, the Eiffel tower, etc (I know, some of those aren't the 7 wonders, but they made for some cool decorations). It seriously looked amazing. I tried to get pictures of the decorations, but none of them really turned out. Here are a few to attempt to give you an idea of what it was like.

This is where the promenaders came out onto the dance floor.

The aurora borealis.The Great Wall of China.

Sarah looked absolutely beautiful as you can see. :o) And what a cute date too.

We had been telling Addison all day that we were going to a dance, and let me tell you, she was SOOOOOOOOO excited. When we got there (about half an hour early to get seats), though, everyone was sitting in the bleachers waiting for the Promenade to begin. Addison was very distressed that nobody was dancing. So she went out on the dance floor and began dancing herself. It was SOOOOO cute! She was seriously the pre-show entertainment. Tons of people were taking pictures of her. Pretty soon several other little kids joined her and they were having their own little dance. It was dang cute.The Prom is begun with family and friends coming to watch the Juniors "Promenade." Each pair of juniors dances (and not just regular teenage dancing, an actual choreographed ballroom type dance) out to the middle of the gym where they are introduced to the audience by the MC. Once all the juniors have been introduced, they all come out on the floor and do the big choreographed "Promenade" together.
If you're thinking, "Wait, I swear she's not dancing with same boy as the one Rebecca said was her date." You're right. Apparently picking your promenade partner usually happens WAY before your junior year, and a lot of times isn't who you go to prom with. If you're thinking this is weird, I did too, until I heard the explanation. The promenade is for Juniors ONLY. You can take someone from any grade to prom, but the promenade is to showcase the juniors, so often your partner is different than your prom date. Makes sense.Bart's cousin Levi was elected Prom King. In my school the prom king and queen was mostly a popularity contest, but in Moab they vote based on who did the most to help set up the gym for the promenade. Isn't that cool!?! From what I hear, Levi being king was well deserved. He was ALWAYS at that gym setting up. Way to go Levi!
After the promenade, they have a parent dance, where the parent dances with his or her Junior. This is why we came down. Bart got to dance with Sarah for this dance. It was really special. Addison got jealous when she saw her dad dancing with someone else, and ended up joining them. Aunt Debbie & Levi:
They had a few family dances after that, then the parents and family members were invited to leave so that the Juniors could continue their prom.

Sarah and Leonard dancing.Geneava & Jacob dancing.Addison & Grandma dancing. Back home our dances were nothing like this, so it was really fun to be part of it. Thanks Sarah for letting us come down and be part of your Prom!

Name Update

Okay, so Bart's "I like it" wasn't as definitive as I would have liked it to be, but the name is one of the top names on our list now. Since I know some of you are dieing to know what it is, I'll share.


The name I like is Hannah Lee Francis. (I'll explain the significance of the Lee in another post sometime...if we choose this name...te he he).


The big contender (the one Bart is still really liking) is Madeline. I also love the name Madeline. In fact, we have some friends who have a daughter named Madeline (yes, I'm talking about you Rocky & Jessica) and I had specifically not reminded Bart that their daughter is a Madeline because Bart gets all weird on me when he finds out that our friends have already named their kids a name we're considering....and I really like Madeline. But, the more he talked about it, the guiltier I felt for not telling him, so I finally told him, AND HE STILL LIKES IT! Yay!


I am still leaning toward Hannah because I really like the middle name Lee and I think I like Hannah Lee better than Madeline Lee. But we shall see.


But, I have decided that we have to choose a name for the baby BEFORE Addison meets her for the first time. (Addison wasn't named until like the day I left the hospital...and the reason we did it that soon was because I didn't want to have to worry about the paperwork from home).


But we can't do that this time because I don't want to confuse Addison. I can just picture it now, "Addison, this is your sister, Baby Francis." And then a few days later when we actually choose a name, "No mom, her name's Baby." Or worse, she could start making up names for everyone because she thinks it's okay to change names. (Admittedly neither of these things are very likely to happen, but just in case, I'd like to have it chosen before the baby gets here, and AT LEAST before Addison meets her).

Pregnancy Update

First of all, I must explain the crazy things I am wearing in this picture. So Bart & I are remodeling our house. (We were toying around with moving and it just never seemed right, so we decided to change some of the things we don't like about our house so that we'd like it more, and I'm SOOOOO excited. Our Kitchen and Master Bathroom/Closet are getting a major overhaul). I was getting ready for the demolition by clearing out our closet. In the process I found this shirt that I LOVE, but had lost a few months ago, and put it on (right over the green long sleeve shirt I was wearing) because it made me happy. Te he he. Then I found the bandanna. My hair was getting in my way and I had no idea where I put my hair ties (I had already cleared out the bathroom), so this did the trick.



I wanted a belly picture since I had taken NONE this pregnancy, but I also wanted you to be able to see my cool shirt (In case you still can't really tell, it's a bunch of sheep trying to jump over a fence, but the first sheep is stuck in the fence, so all the sheep are jammed up behind it...this is what my nights have been like lately). Bart complained that that first picture wasn't a true belly picture because my belly wasn't in profile, so he took this one...I think my belly looks the exact same size in both of them, but to appease my excited husband, I am posting both. :o)

Now, on to the pregnancy update. Yesterday was my 28/29 week appointment so I got to drink the lovely glucose drink. For those of you who have never been pregnant, this is basically a sugar drink that you have to down within 10 min and then have your blood drawn exactly an hour later to make sure you don't have gestational diabetes. The one my doctor uses basically tastes like un-carbonated orange soda. I happen to like orange soda, but to have to drink so much in 10 minutes makes it nasty. I got my blood taken and they will let me know if I have it within the next day or two...no news is good news, so I'm hoping not to get a call. :o)

Everything looks great. The baby's heart beat is great, my blood pressure is great, and my uterus is exactly the correct size for how far along I am. The doctor said that I'm still about 9 lbs under where they would expect me to be at this point, but after the initial drop in my weight from morning sickness, I've been gaining exactly how much I should....just from the lower weight, so he's not worried. He showed me my weight gain chart and my weight gain line seriously like parallels the regular weight gain line, just 9 lbs below it. So I have the best of both worlds, I'm weighing less than the doctor would normally expect, but I'm still gaining at a rate to make my baby healthy...sweet.

And, to make things even better, I had a stroke of genius this morning and think I figured out what we want to name her. I emailed Bart and he responded in an email that simply said, "I like it."

Now, I'm not sure if this "I like it" is like the "I like it" we use in conversation when talking about baby names which basically means, "Yeah, we can include that on our list of names we're considering," or if it's like a, "Yeah, that's the name!" "I like it." Since in my email I included a middle name (something we haven't talked about at all yet), I think it's the latter, but I will wait to consult with him when he gets home from work before I unveil it.

Overall, life is good!

The Banking Problem Made Simple

So, Bart & I love listening to "This American Life" via podcast. They have some awesome and very entertaining podcast. In addition, they do a really good job about explaining complex things (generally not as entertaining, but very informative). In October (or was it late September?) when there was the sudden credit crunch, they did a GREAT job at explaining, to the average Joe, what was happening.

Well, they have a new podcast that is free just for this week explaining the banking crisis. Not quite as complex as that credit crunch, but something that some people may not really understand. So, if you're interested and have an hour to listen, you can find it here.

I also recommend subscribing to the podcast. They really are very entertaining...even though this one is more informative than entertaining.

Baby Andy

So this weekend was Bart's brother, Charles', birthday. Since all of us are finally healthy, we decided to go up to Charles and Heather's house to celebrate (and see their new baby, Andrew). He is so adorable. I got to hold him first...I'm so excited to have another little baby. :o)

I asked Bart if he would take a picture of me & Andy. He was not too thrilled at the prospect. Without getting up from the couch across the room, he reached over to grab his camera and took this shot.

Yeah, great shot of ME & ANDY. In case you were wondering, that pile of blankets on my lap is Andy. I finally persuaded him to get his lazy bottom off the chair and take this picture. Isn't he darling!?!

I wanted a picture of Me & Andy, I ended up getting a picture of me, and a picture of Andy. Oh well. C'est la vie.

We put Addison's hair up in two pig tails before we left. She fell asleep in the car on the trip up to Ogden, and when we got her out of the car, one of the rubber bands had disappeared leaving one side of her hair in a cute pigtail, and the other a caiotic mess.

I had to include the picture above because I just thought her face was so cute. But since it doesn't do the chaotic mess justice, here is another picture.

Her hair actually regularly looks like this in the morning...well, minus the one semi sane side. Whenever we go in to brush our teeth in the morning, Addison looks in the mirror, laughs and says, "Mom, my hair's CRAZY!" It's true, my little girl's hair is OUT OF CONTROL!