March of Dimes walk for babies

One of the ladies I work with had a baby at 29+ weeks about a year and a half ago and now her baby is the spokes baby for the local march of dimes. So, a bunch of us from work and some of her family and friends got together and did the march for babies in Elkin, NC. It was about 4 miles I think and it went all through town. It was a nice day and fun to get out and support a good cause. I didn't get many pictures but Miranda (the one I work with) is on the right pushing her baby in the stroller.

Wings over Wayne Airshow

Well, I know that I have been a slacker in keeping up on this blog thing. So, be prepared for a plethora of postings in the next few days. I've uploaded all the pics, now I just have to do the writing part. Anyway, back in April we went to this air show in Goldsboro at the Air Force base there. It was so cool. I've never been to a military air show but Kris has. He said that now I've been spoiled and I won't think the smaller air shows are as cool. He's probably right. They had the Blue Angels that flew together - they are part of the Navy. There were tons of other great planes too. Kris knows the names but there are too many for me to remember. I just know that it was fun to be there and that my neck was tired afterward. The Blue Angel planes are F-18's.

This is an F-15

This is a helicopter in the Coast Guard.
I don't know if I can explain this picture. We didn't get to see the front but this made us chuckle a bit.

Outer Banks, NC

Since it was Easter weekend and we are in a place that celebrates Good Friday we decided to take advantage of a day off of work and school and head to the Outer Banks. We went to Kitty Hawk because that is where the first machine powered flight took place thanks to Orville and Wilbur Wright. We spent some time at the museum and this rock is to mark the spot where they took off. The first flight lasted 12 second going about 120 ft. They did a few more and the 4th one was 800+ feet and lasted for 59 seconds. 

This is a full scale model of the first plane.
We got to the museum late in the afternoon on Friday so we went back Saturday morning. We walked through a display that shows how far we have come from the first flight. It's pretty amazing to think that what the Wright's did lead to so much air travel now and to space. Kris looks very squatty in this pic. 

This is one of the monuments at the park. It has their names really big on one side. There was also a bronze replica of the flyer and the 5 people that were present at the first flight. After hanging out here we went to the beach and picked up some shells and just enjoyed the walk.

We went to another state park called Jockey's Ridge. It is a bunch of sand dunes. They had a hang gliding school there that looked kind of fun and there were several people flying kites. We looked at the kite store but decided to wait on purchasing one for now. 

Here's my first pregnancy pose. I guess I'm really starting to look the part.

One of the other things we did out there was visit one of the light houses. This one is the light house at Bodie Island. It was built in 1872. You can't go up into it but it was cool to look at and it takes good pictures. The Cape Hatteras lighthouse was too far down the coast for this trip. I guess we'll just have to go back. 

20 Week Ultrasound

I guess no more explanation is necessary. We are very excited to know that "Little" Foote is a boy and to know that everything looks normal in there. I've started to feel some movements so that is cool and I noticed today that my belly button is getting really shallow and stretched out. Hopefully if it becomes an outy it will return to its normal inny status after all is said and done.

Back by popular demand

Well, really just a couple people have commented that it has been a while since we've posted so I figured it was time to update you all. I'm sure by now anyone who likes to look at our blog or who knows us knows that "Little" Foote is on the way. We don't know what it is yet. I'm just over 16 weeks even though the counter says I'm almost 17 weeks. Apparently I was a couple days off. Anyway, we are getting more excited for that but we still have a long way to go.

So, the adventures of Kris and Jenny over the past couple of months have been few but they were fun. In January we decided to head to Ashboro for a trip to the zoo. It was pretty fun. It was a nice day and their zoo is set up neat. There is a spot designated for the African animals but it is a very open space and they can mostly roam together. I think they did have the elephants in their own spot but they had quite a bit of room to do their thing. We never did see the rhinos but maybe they were taking a nap somewhere. It was such a big area that some of the animals were tough to find because they were on the edge of the fence or in a corner. It was cool though. I don't remember if it was this gorilla or another one but they were quite active the afternoon we were there and one of them ran up to the glass and slammed into it. I was at another window but I heard the people scream there were there because they were scared. It was also doing a little dance for everyone.

Kris is working with the Weblos and they had their annual Pine Wood Derby at the beginning of February. They had fun cutting the wood, painting/decorating their cars and adding some weight. I think the big race was fun for them.

We were able to go to a Wake Forest basketball game one night. The medical students can put their name in for a draw to see if they can get a ticket to the games and we finally got some to one we could actually go to. It was fun. We ended up seeing some friends of ours and sat with them for most of the game. The Deacs won so that always makes the game awesome.

we had the event of the year...the weather forcasters finally forcasted some real snow. None of this 1 inch or less stuff that the kids can get off school for or at least have a 2 hour delay. We got a whopping 5 inches. It was really beautiful. Kris and I stayed home all day. It just happened to be on a day that I don't normally work and Kris didn't have school because they had a test that week. By the end of the week it was about 75 degrees. I guess I'll always be glad I came from Utah because I'm use to the weather being kind of crazy like that.

The first Saturday of spring break Kris had signed up to volunteer at the Special Olympics so I decided that I would go with him because really, what else was I going to do by myself...clean house?! The event that we covered was basketball. So, Kris was a medical volunteer which basically means he picked a couple people up off the ground when they fell or clean up scrapes. It was pretty low key but we had a good time. I was in charge of the time clock/score board in one of the gyms. It was fun to watch the people and how excited they were to play and to see how some of the coaches worked with their teams. They were so encouraging. It was a long time to sit but it was a good experience.

Sunday we picked up our friends dog to dogsit for a few days while they went to Florida. Salta was a bit nervous that first night but I think she liked us by the end. We took her hiking down by Charlotte at Crowder Mountain State Park. We did about a 3 mile hike I think and she made it most of the way by herself. She's a little dog so we had to pick her up for a few of the rocks. It was about 85 degrees that day and it was so nice to be in summer like clothes. The leaves haven't really started growing back yet but we had a nice time just being in the outdoors again. We are excited to get back to the mountains in the western part of NC but we will probably wait a few more weeks so there isn't any ice when we go. The rest of spring break I had to work so Kris occupied himself with other stuff. He made a little garden box so we can try to have a few fresh veggies later this year and he bought a model airplane of a beaver with floats. It will probably take a while to finish because this morning they started their next section in school...neuro-anatomy and the word on the street is that it is brutal. Well, I guess that is good for now. I hope you enjoyed our adventures. Come visit us and we'll take you on some adventures too.

Since Thanksgiving

While we were home in Utah at Christmastime we went snowshoeing in Rock Canyon. It was a gorgeous day, oh how we miss the mountains in Utah (and the snow).

We also took a fun trip to the dino museum at Thanksgiving Point with all the little nieces and nephews. They loved it. Other than that we had a great time with family and were able to visit some good friends also.

Thanksgiving in New York

New York with great friends was a wonderful place to be this year. We drove up from North Carolina and spent the long weekend there. Garret and Megan are great, they have a small apartment in Brooklyn, and let us crash on their futon bed. Coincidentally, they are also great tour guides, so we had lots of fun too.

This is a pair of Alaska Brown Bears at the American Museum of Natural History, what an amazing museum. It is huge and the exhibits are very well done, we could have easily spent all day there.

Clearly, we had to visit the Statue of Liberty. It was special to think of how so many people must have passed her in the harbor and what a symbol of hope and freedom she is. There is a poem, on a plaque by Emma Lazarus, that has the words "...Give me you tired, your poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe free." What a blessing.
Lights, people, sounds, and smells are all around when you take a walk through times square, it is teeming with life.

One other place we visited was a retired aircraft carrier that has become a museum in the harbor, The USS Intrepid. They some fun stuff for kids and historical information about the life of the carrier. Back when it was active in the Navy, it had a crew of over 3000.

We saw many other sights in New York, this is just a few. Riding the subway was fun, we also had a great Thanksgiving dinner. If you get a chance to ride the IKEA ferry at night, the skyline is beautiful.

Ahhh, Pumpkin Pie

I made my first pumpkin pie over Thanksgiving, I think it turned out pretty tasty.

Wake Forest vs. Duke

Because Kris is a student at Wake we were able to get some tickets to the Wake vs Duke football game. It turned out to be a pretty good game because they were both about equal. Wake was able to pull off the win in overtime. Wahoo, go Deacs!

Grandfather Mountain

Grandfather Mountain is located on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It is privately owned right now but I heard that the state of North Carolina is going to purchase it and make it a state park. It was a beautiful place. They have a "mile high" bridge which really means that it is a mile up from sea level but it was still pretty cool. It is a swinging bridge but it is made from steel I think. They also have a little wildlife preserve place that has 3 bears, some eagles, otters, cougars, and white tail deer. They believe that there are not any breeding cougars here anymore out in the wild. There aren't too many eagles either but the other 3 animals are pretty well represented in this area. Then we hiked to one of the peaks. It was only a mile from the parking lot but it was a good mile. There are a series of ladders that help you to reach the top of the mountain. It was awesome. There were 2 guys that we met along the way that said we must be from the west because we were wearing real hiking boots and not worn out tennis shoes. The one man's toes were hanging out the side of his shoe. Most of the leave had already fallen from the trees because they are at higher elevation but it was a beautiful day and a nice view. We wanted to continue on to the next peak but shortly after we started on the trail again we came upon some ice on the trail that was very slick and we didn't feel comfortable going ahead without knowing what we would find later on. We are still planning on going back sometime though because there is some cool camping on that other peak that we'd like to do.

Hanging Rock

We decided to take advantage of the first block of school being over with for Kris and we went to Hanging Rock State Park again. This time we hiked to a fire lookout. It was about 4 miles total and it was a fairly easy hike. It was pretty with all of the leaves changing. When you go hiking here there are so many trees and the shrubs are so thick that you can't see a whole lot until you reach your destination. It was definitely a pretty view. We are glad that there are places near by that we can go, even for half a day. 

Salem Lake

One day while we were out and about we decided to stop at a little place called Salem Lake. It isn't too far away from here and we thought we should see what we could do at this place. During the summer time you can rent canoes for an hourly rate or for the whole day, you can go fishing there if you have a license or there is a path that goes all the way around it that you can walk run or bike. We didn't do any of those things on our first visit there because it was an information visit only but we are looking forward to the time when we can go back and really enjoy the place.

Lexington Barbecue Festival 2008

I don't know if you have heard the word on the street but it is that Lexington, NC has the best barbecue pork in the world. I'm not sure if I entirely agree with that but I don't think my opinion from the west really means much out here. There is a festival that has been held for the last 25 years on the main street in Lexington. They have several stages set up so that groups can sing, there are rides, lots of little shopping places like at the fair, and of course the food. We had pork sandwiches which probably would have been a lot better had the buns not been totally soaked and smooshy. They have a spot where they display painted pigs. When the festival is not on they have some of them displayed throughout town. It kind of reminded me of the painted buffalo that are found in different places throughout Utah. Anyway, it was fun and that might be because we went early and it was raining a bit so the crowds weren't as terrible as people told me they would be.