Video Compilation # 1

I finally worked on some of the video we took on our trip. I put in some pictures so it still tells a story, but you've probably seen most of them. This is just from the first part, just before getting to California. The video surprise will be up soon too- enjoy:

Oklahoma City/Arkansas

Oklahoma was nice, and we took a little country drive in a city called "Okemah," where we found this hilarious stop sign:






And then we drove through Arkansas:


we ate at a little diner that had some fairly tasty chili.

And we shared this $2 ice cream cone-rocky road and pistachio:

And we drove by this sign we liked:


We drove through Tennessee next, in fact the last 2 nights of our trip we stayed in that long state!

Unsure About Vaccines

I have opted out of both swine and influenza shots during my pregnancy against my doctors wishes. It is scary because I know about 1000 people have died from swine flu. But it's also scary to think of how the ingredients in these vaccines will not only affect me, but my tiny baby who has little to no immune system yet. I don't hold anything against people that opt to get the vaccines because I obviously don't have the answer. I just realize that I am the only one responsible for me and my babies, and after weighing the consequences/benefits, I make decisions that I think are best---with the knowledge of the gravity of possible illnesses that I will be responsible for either way.
I saw this story on Fox News about a week ago, and was recently emailed it from a friend so I decided to post it. I do think the vaccines are meant to help, but I also believe there are people with predispositions that may not be detectable until after the fact, that may make them more susceptible to the supposed adverse side effects of the chemicals in various vaccines. Check out this video of a beautiful young cheerleader and her experience with the regular flu vaccine:

New Mexico

"Are we there yet?"
It was pretty, and barren until we got to Albuquerque. This hotel was probably one of the nicest--especially the bathroom, and the hotel receptionist was very nice and helpful and loved Lucas.






We got in kind of late so we just ate panda express.




Lucas loved this mirror--i will put up the video of him soon, where he tries to repeatedly grab his hand through the mirror!



The next morning before heading out, we stopped at Albuquerque's Museum of Nuclear Science & History--lots of interesting stuff about World War II. I wrote about my grandfather CWO3 Norman Fox who was a POW, in the little book they had for people to write their reflections on Hiroshima & Nagasaki.





Scary...


I figured I'm allowed to put this up since I recently found out I'm part Japanese ("..part Japanese-rapist.." as John says. How nice huh?)

The big boy and the Big Boy:





They were re-building this plane:



This was really odd--these products all contain radium! Back then they thought it was a cure-all. Some of them still emit loads of radiation (they had some of those orange dishes on a spinning wheel that goes under a machine to detect its radio-activity):




Some interesting posters:

B.O. is watching you!




Yay! Nuclear power! We should really follow in France's footsteps and create more nuclear power plants---read the pros and cons on the poster. It's the closest to 'clean' energy that we will get for the price, that is reusable and feasible, and easy to harness. Arco, Idaho was the first city to be powered only by atomic power. They still have a high concentration of hydro-electric power plants and that state is one of the most prosperous states today-voted high in "best places to live" contests. John is confident he will get a job there right out of the navy, that pays well and the houses there are really nice for the price. Plus we will be close to a lot of his family, so he is pretty set on it. 530 days today exactly!

Oklahoma is next!

Gallbladder Woes

Around this time last pregnancy, I had an issue with my kidney being hydronephrotic. They said it was most-likely a stone, but it never passed. I sometimes get that bad flank back pain, but I started having a different pain this time during our trip. I would get nauseaus and then have really sharp stabbing pains in my upper abdomen right under my ribcage. After reading up on it I realized it had to be my gallbladder, and possibly gallstones. I have naturally high cholesterol (hey, it's in my genes) and pregnancy increases your cholesterol, which is sometimes what gallstones are made of.

I had my pregnancy appt yesterday morning and they agreed that it is most likely my gallbladder but they won't do an ultrasound until i've been on a strict lowfat diet for a few weeks, if I still have the pain. So I have been changing my diet and recording what I eat. I really do like a lot of healthy foods, I just got lazy and never cooked or bought stuff that you don't just microwave or through in the oven etc. I made a chicken soup in my crockpot today that was delicious. The vegetables were really good, and everything was little to no fat. The broth was 100% fat free, and I only added a tiny bit of tomato sauce for flavor, cooked it on high for 4 hours and the house smelled like good chicken soup. John liked it too, and since he is losing weight for his weigh in, our diets coincide.
I am hoping to keep these habits after Olivia is born, and get back down to a good weight and feel pretty for John again :)

When I was researching gallstones, I found this picture---isn't it wierd how they are really shiny almost pretty stones!?

This is a gallbladder cut in half, with all those stones inside, that got aggravated when the person ate any fat and put pressure on the pancreas.

3 more months!

The Grand Canyon

The next day we visited the Grand Canyon for a few hours in the morning, before setting out for New Mexico. Williams was about an hour away, and since it's a big hole in the ground, you can't see anything until you are actually there, but it was still a fun ride. I am sad that our vacation is over...John and I had a great time together and Lucas is such a good traveler. Our next tentative trip is to MA next summer!

This is a stitch of 5 photographs taken in this lookout room:


Here are pictures of the Grand Canyon- I know they aren't the most vivid and can't really show what we saw so you all should make a trip to visit it sometime, especially you who live in CA. It was very cold so we didn't stay outside too long, but we all enjoyed it and want to go to more national parks:










These are two of my favorites:






In the little museum:









Just outside of the Grand Canyon there was this little flintstone-land. It was really cheesy but good enough for some pictures. I bought my mom some turqouise earrings for her birthday and John got a mug.








Albuquerque, New Mexico is next!