a.k.a. the bayles family

the newest bayles!

2010-12-08T18:28:00.000-08:00

so, we have had two ultrasounds already, and tomorrow is the big one where we will find out if it is a boy or a girl!! just for the record, i think that we're having a boy and andrew is adamant that we're having a girl. we'll see...andrew was right on last time, and i found out that i basically have no mother's intuition whatsoever - i thought asher was going to be a girl for sure. either way, neither of us really cares if it's a boy or a girl - we just love babies, and if this next one is half as cute as asher we'll probably keep it. :)
i've been kind of negligent posting pictures but thought it would be fun to see the how much the little one has grown already!

this was our first ultrasound at 11 weeks.

this was ultrasound #2 where we got to move the due date up to April 28th!
so, wish us luck...hopefully we'll bring home lots of pictures and a video tomorrow!

happy birthday pics!

2010-12-01T14:44:00.000-08:00

we had a dinosaur cake and a robot cake.

but asher didn't like either of them.

asher didn't quite get the concept of the pinata, but he loved scrambling to pick up the candy with the other kids!

we did the japanese tradition of placing 5 symbolic objects out and letting the baby crawl to the one that would determine his life career. we had a book (to represent a career in academia), an abacus (representing business), a ball (athletics), a dollar bill (wealth), and a mango (either the culinary arts, or fatness?).
guess what asher picked? the mango! that's right...someday he's going to attend the world's finest vegetarian culinary arts school and cook his mom all the delicious food she could ever want!

maren, andrew and annalyn - three of the robots that attended asher's party.z

here is a brady robot and an afton dinosaur!

the best costume was probably ciara's robot outfit!

but this is my favorite picture of the night! we love you afton!

happy 1st birthday asher!

2010-11-17T13:49:00.000-08:00

i know that tomorrow is going to be crazy and i won't have time to post anything, so i thought i'd post a couple of fairly recent pictures of asher (i just checked and i think i actually took these a couple of months ago...so just picture him like this, but with more hair.)

asher's kissy face

crooked smily baby

asher's favorite thing to do - wave to people!

even though you can't tell from this pic, he has four teeth on top and two on the bottom.

asher loves soy milk, raisins, apples, grandpa kinjo, emptying out cupboards, and climbing staircases. although he can take up to four steps all by himself, he still refuses to walk unless the object of his desire is simultaneously interesting and yet not so exciting that he wants to simply get there as fast as he can. despite all of my encouragement to say "mama," asher's only intelligible words are "dada" and something that is kind of a mix between "giggle" and "google." which proves that he is definitely andrew's son. besides that, he says all kinds of things that we don't understand, usually pointing at us, raising his eyebrows and nodding his head while he makes his serious face and lectures us about something or other. the other 95% of the time, when he's not being serious, he loves playing peek-a-boo, being chased around the house and tackling anyone sitting on the floor. he loves to laugh, swing at the park, conduct the hymns at church, dance, and wave at everybody. he really is the sweetest boy and we are so happy that he is in our life!

halloween costumes

2010-11-17T12:58:00.000-08:00

so, i didn't think that our halloween costumes would end up being so confusing. but apparently they were.
for example, i thought mine was pretty simple.
black witch's hat + dangling tea bags = a certain delawarian candidate for senate...
yeah, no one at the stake trunk-or-treat got it.

asher's adorable and seemingly simple dinosaur costume got mixed comments..."what a cute dragon!" we think it was the ears.

and no one could even find andrew all night!

Asher's 1st biRtHday

2010-11-10T10:36:00.000-08:00

Come celebrate Asher’s 1st birthday!

Thursday 11.18.2010
3:00-5:00pm
Liberty Park Ward building
445 East Harvard Avenue
Salt Lake City 84111

Children and cool adults, please come dressed as a robot or dinosaur.
RSVP: 801.367.8915
or kristenbayles@gmail.com

announcement

2010-10-29T20:00:00.000-07:00

i'm a riddle in nine syllables,

an elephant, a ponderous house,

a melon strolling on two tendrils,

o red fruit, ivory, fine timbers!

this loaf's big with its yeasty rising.

money's new-minted in this fat purse.

i'm a means, a stage, a cow in calf.

i've eaten a bag of green apples,

boarded the train there's no getting off.

-sylvia plath

more sealing pictures!

2010-08-12T17:28:00.000-07:00

Thank you for taking pics Kathryn! Check out her website:
http://www.earthlensphotography.com/

july highlights

2010-07-24T11:05:00.000-07:00

this is what we've been up to this month:

-walks at liberty park
-weekly zoo outing
-jet blue's 10th anniversary party in park city
-visiting tammy and alan in ogden
-andrew's 27th birthday!
-clark planetarium with the hoganék
-the monson's sealing at the LA temple
-magic mountain
-asher turned 8 months old
-camping in american fork canyon
-visiting mary and kids at eileen's house

outside the LA temple after the monson's sealing

carlos was so happy to see his cousin asher, that he chopped him to pieces with his light saber

we got really sunburned at magic mountain. (andrew has on his fat face in this picture)

asher has on his i-think-i'm-sick-of-magic-mountain face

2010-07-18T18:30:00.001-07:00

the perfect day

2010-07-03T23:02:00.000-07:00

despite the picnic in the pouring rain, our sealing day was pretty much the sweetest, most perfect day. asher was an absolute angel. while we were in the sealing room waiting for them to bring in asher, i kept listening for the screams of an exhausted and hungry baby coming down the hallway...but instead the door opened, and a perfectly serene beautiful baby boy dressed in white came in with the biggest smile on his face.
it was so lovely to be surrounded by friends and family - thank you so much to everyone who came to support us!

It's finally here!!!

2010-06-08T08:54:00.000-07:00

so we're counting down the days now 'til this friday morning when we get sealed in the logan temple! since we can't have everyone with us, we just wanted to invite everybody to a little ice cream party on saturday, and to asher's baby blessing on sunday! please come celebrate with us if you can! here is a rundown of the weekend's festivities:

Saturday June 12

3:00-5:00pm Ice cream social at the Kinjo's house (bring your favorite topping!)

The Kinjo Residence
11162 N. Park Circle
Highland, UT 84003

Directions:
Take I-15. Exit at Thanksgiving Point (Exit 284). Continue east toward the mountains for about 7 miles. Turn left at Park Drive (the last left before you enter AF canyon) and go up the hill. Take the first left onto Park Circle. The house will be on the right.

Sunday June 13

1:00pm - Asher's baby blessing

LIberty Ward
445 E. Harvard Avenue
Salt Lake City, UT 84111

Directions:
Take I-15. Take the 1300 S. exit (Exit 305C). Turn onto 1300 South and continue east. Turn left at 300 E. Take the 3rd right onto Harvard Avenue. The church building is on the left.

Asher's Lullaby

2010-05-25T19:56:00.000-07:00

This an awesome little song that Maren (Andrew's sister) wrote for Asher. She has informed Asher that she will be his favorite aunt.

Seattle!

2010-05-25T15:43:00.001-07:00

we finally got to use our flight benefits and go on a trip!! my parents were going on a vacation to seattle to relax and catch a mariner's game, and since grandpa hiko can't stand not seeing asher for more than 2 days, they said we could tag along too!

it was a trip with a lot of firsts: our first successful stand-by jet blue trip, asher's first time on a plane, andrew's first time in seattle, kristen's first time in chinatown, asher's first time swimming in a pool, and our first washington kiss. (so far we've kissed in 7 states: utah, nevada, idaho, california, minnesota, arizona, and florida - washington makes 8!)

we got to share a family suite with grandma and grandpa (thank you mom and dad!!) and took public transportation to see the sights: pike's market, the seattle center, chinatown, and everywhere in between. it was a blast! we have lots of video, but i thought i'd go ahead and post a couple pictures.

Mother's Day Proclamation - 1870

2010-05-11T07:20:00.000-07:00

andrew is the sweetest husband in the whole world. sunday was really fun; he totally went all out to make my first mother's day awesome. first he took all the night feedings and early morning feeding so that i could sleep in and then made a huge breakfast with all my favorite breakfast foods. i even got a beautiful bouquet of tulips and a new cheese grater from asher :)

one of my heroes, julia ward howe, most noted for being the author of the battle hymn of the republic, was also one of the earliest proponents of celebrating mother's day here in america. in response to the civil war and the franco-prussian war, she wrote this beautiful mother's day proclamation in 1870. i have made it a tradition to re-read it every mother's day, as it is just as relevant for mothers today as it was then.

Arise, then, women of this day! Arise all women who have hearts,
whether our baptism be that of water or of fears!

Say firmly: "We will not have great questions decided by
irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking
with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be
taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach
them of charity, mercy and patience.

We women of one country will be too tender of those of another
country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs. From
the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own.
It says "Disarm, Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance
of justice."

Blood does not wipe our dishonor nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons
of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a
great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women,
to bewail and commemorate the dead.

Let them then solemnly take counsel with each other as to the
means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each
bearing after their own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
but of God.

In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a
general congress of women without limit of nationality may be
appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at
the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the
alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement
of international questions, the great and general interests of
peace.

Yay!

2010-04-25T18:44:00.001-07:00

it's finally official - our little family is getting sealed in the logan temple! we are so excited! this morning we finished our interviews and got our recommends signed, and this afternoon we were sustained as ward missionaries! we haven't nailed down a date yet...and although andrew and i would go tomorrow if we could, it seems like the earliest that we might be able to get the whole family together will be the middle of june :(

as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we believe that families can be together forever- that a marriage does not have to last only "til death do us part," but that we can choose to be sealed for eternity to our spouse and children. we believe that the same power and authority to perform this sacred ceremony that was held by Jesus' apostles is held by modern-day prophets and apostles. just as there were temples in the old and new testament, we believe that there are temples today where we can learn about the purpose of life and make covenants (such as the marriage covenant) that will seal us together in families for time and eternity. since we believe that the temple is God's house, there are high standards of worthiness that we must live by to enter.

so, the long and the short of it is - this past year, andrew and i have been working to build a more Christ-centered home by keeping the commandments so that we can enter the temple and be sealed as a forever family.

vegetable oil baby?

2010-04-13T13:09:00.000-07:00

we met with a nutritionist at primary children's hospital yesterday and it is official: asher has an eating disorder. he has another appointment at the hospital in a couple weeks and is on the list to get in to the gastroenterology clinic in about a month. in the mean time, we were instructed to feed him vegetable oil??? mixed in with any baby food we can get him to swallow. i guess the idea is to get as many extra calories into him that we can, but i mean, come on, the poor child is already having to eat the nasty dog food formula...and now oily sweet potatoes and bananas? that's just mean.
i guess that's what i get for always saying that i wanted a car that runs on veggie oil - instead i get a baby that runs on veggie oil.

the sweetest sound in the world

2010-04-12T21:21:00.000-07:00

the other day i heard the most adorable giggles coming from our bedroom. luckily the video camera was close by. asher loves laughing at his dad. and although they provide endless entertainment, andrew's constant flux between his sesame street impressions, cockney lilt, jamaican proverbs, and old woman quebecoise voice is bound to give asher some really bizarre speech patterns when he starts talking.

rubik's cube cake?

2010-03-30T01:24:00.001-07:00

yes this is a rubik's cube birthday cake. and yes we made it.
you didn't even know how cool your friends were did you.
p.s. rubik is totally hungarian :)

anorexic baby

2010-03-30T00:40:00.000-07:00

sorry i suck at updating this blog but andrew and i are still trying to cope with ulcers, general anxiety, and any other stress related medical condition you can imagine because of asher's eating disorder. at first it looked like the dog food formula was working. he started eating again, gained his weight back, then stopped eating again. then his doctors suggested we go ahead and start him on solids since they still have no idea what it is.
he seemed to like the rice cereal at first until we introduced him to carrots and sweet potatoes. then he realized "hey, my rice cereal is like 75% dog food formula. gross." so he has now decided that he is done with drinking formula and eating rice cereal. he might start turning orange.

asher's 100 day birthday

2010-03-05T14:49:00.000-08:00

we haven't had a chance to post this video that we took on his 100 day birthday. to keep asher in touch with his japanese heritage (and to have some blackmail material when he gets older) we made this little clip of him. my dad said that in japan they always take a picture of the baby naked 100 days after they are born. i guess he got a little nervous when i turned on the camera. :)

alimentum

2010-02-27T17:02:00.000-08:00

asher has decided to start off his career as an anti-war activist by going on a hunger strike for peace. much to our dismay, he basically stopped eating about a month ago. feeding him is literally torture for everyone involved. by two months he was sleeping through the night and eating 3.5-4oz a feeding. now we're lucky if we can get him to take even a couple of ounces, he wakes up at all hours of the night because he is starving, and has lost about a pound. i have never been so stressed in my life. we've been back and forth to a couple of doctors and are finally trying a special formula that smells (and tastes according to andrew), like dog food. it is so gross; i have to hold my breath every time i mix it. and it costs like $30 for a tiny jar; i had no idea formula was so expensive!
also, andrew and i have vowed never to call him fat boy again. i think we gave him a complex. last week was national eating disorder awareness week, maybe that's why he stopped eating...

Howard Zinn: An Alternative Hero of American History

2010-02-09T20:53:00.000-08:00

tomorrow it will already have been two weeks since one of my heroes died. i've embedded this episode of democracy now! that features three of my other favorite people in the world, amy goodman, naomi klein, and noam chomsky talking about his life. i don't really have time to say everything i would like to about him right now, but if you haven't read, "A People's History of the United States of America" - then go get it. right now. and read it. this is from an interview that he gave to amy goodman in may 2009:

AMY GOODMAN: You write in the introduction to A Young People’s History of the United States, “Over the years, some people have asked me: ‘Do you think that your history, which is radically different than the usual histories of the United States, is suitable for young people? Won’t it create disillusionment with our country? Is it right to be so critical of the government’s policies? Is it right to take down the traditional heroes of the nation, like Christopher Columbus, Andrew Jackson, Theodore Roosevelt?’”

HOWARD ZINN: Yeah, it’s true that people have asked that question again and again. You know, should we tell kids that Columbus, whom they have been told was a great hero, that Columbus mutilated Indians and kidnapped them and killed them in pursuit of gold? Should we tell people that Theodore Roosevelt, who is held up as one of our great presidents, was really a warmonger who loved military exploits and who congratulated an American general who committed a massacre in the Philippines? Should we tell young people that?

And I think the answer is: we should be honest with young people; we should not deceive them. We should be honest about the history of our country. And we should be not only taking down the traditional heroes like Andrew Jackson and Theodore Roosevelt, but we should be giving young people an alternate set of heroes.

Instead of Theodore Roosevelt, tell them about Mark Twain. Mark Twain—well, Mark Twain, everybody learns about as the author of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, but when we go to school, we don’t learn about Mark Twain as the vice president of the Anti-Imperialist League. We aren’t told that Mark Twain denounced Theodore Roosevelt for approving this massacre in the Philippines. No.

We want to give young people ideal figures like Helen Keller. And I remember learning about Helen Keller. Everybody learns about Helen Keller, you know, a disabled person who overcame her handicaps and became famous. But people don’t learn in school and young people don’t learn in school what we want them to learn when we do books like A Young People’s History of the United States, that Helen Keller was a socialist. She was a labor organizer. She refused to cross a picket line that was picketing a theater showing a play about her.

And so, there are these alternate heroes in American history. There’s Fannie Lou Hamer and Bob Moses. They’re the heroes of the civil rights movement. There are a lot of people who are obscure, who are not known. We have in this Young People’s History, we have a young hero who was sitting on the bus in Montgomery, Alabama, refused to leave the front of the bus. And that was before Rosa Parks. I mean, Rosa Parks is justifiably famous for refusing to leave her seat, and she got arrested, and that was the beginning of the Montgomery Bus Boycott and really the beginning of a great movement in the South. But this fifteen-year-old girl did it first. And so, we have a lot of—we are trying to bring a lot of these obscure people back into the forefront of our attention and inspire young people to say, “This is the way to live.”

to: kathryn, maren, lauren, and heidi

2010-01-31T16:00:00.000-08:00

love,
your favorite fat boy asher

harpy boofcake kirkie-poo

2010-01-22T20:04:00.000-08:00

we made you a lemon poppyseed bundt cake for your birthday.
too bad you live in california. it was delicious.
:)

i never get bored of this face

2010-01-22T16:35:00.000-08:00

i am irrationally proud that i sewed these. all by myself.

2010-01-22T16:34:00.000-08:00

my mother-in-law is an amazing seamstress. besides quilting a really cute baby blanket and dust ruffle, when i was pregnant, every couple weeks or so yvonne would send a package with new little outfits for asher and a stack of cute burp cloths that she had sewn. the pile of burp cloths kept getting higher and higher and i kept thinking, "i wonder if she knows how many of these she has already sent - there is absolutely no way i am going to use all of these! no one could spit up enough to need this many burp cloths."
needless to say, i'm eating my words; those burp cloths are my most prized possession. and i still have to do laundry every other day because he goes through all of them in about two days.
which is why i finally decided to try sewing a couple more myself. yay!

Two of my favorite vegan soup recipes for katy

2010-01-20T13:30:00.000-08:00

i figure as long as as i can't enjoy these...someone should be able to. :(

Tom Kha Gai (Thai coconut lime soup)

2 cans coconut milk
2 stalks of lemongrass (or zest of one lemon)
1 can vegetable stock
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
3 green onions
1/4 c. carrot (thinly sliced)
1 onion
3 cloves minced garlic
3-4 slices of ginger (or 1 T. ginger powder)
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. coriander
1/2 tsp. cayenne
2 T. sugar
2 T. soy sauce
3 T. lime juice
4-5 lime leaves (optional)
1/4 c. chopped cilantro

Use only the bottom white part (about 6 inches of the stalk) of lemongrass and discard the woody part. With the flat side of a butcher's knife, pound and mash the lemongrass to release the flavor. Cut into 2 inch segments.

Put vegetable stalk in pot and bring to a boil. Simmer onions and carrots for 5-7 minutes with all of the spices (except the lime and cilantro). Add coconut milk and simmer another 5 minutes.

Add other veggies and cook until soft.

Turn off the heat and add lime juice and cilantro. Adjust lemon to taste.

African Yam Soup

1 chopped onion
1 large sweet potato (peeled/diced)
1 clove of minced garlic
4 c. vegetable broth
1 c. chunky salsa
1 can garbanzo beans
1 c. diced zucchini
1 c. corn
1/2 cup cooked rice
1/2 tsp. vegetable oil
1 tsp. thyme
1/2 tsp. cumin
2 T. peanut butter

Heat oil in pot; saute onion, potato, and garlic until onion is soft. Stir in broth, thyme and cumin. Bring to a boil and cover. Let simmer 15 minutes.

Stir in salsa, beans and zucchini. Simmer until tender (another 15 minutes).

Stir in cooked rice, corn and peanut butter until peanut butter is dissolved.

gastroesophageal reflux

2010-01-20T11:21:00.000-08:00

asher doesn't like thai. i am flabbergasted. how can MY baby not like thai?? this discovery came a few hours after eating a particularly delectable bowl of tom kha gai. when i tried to nurse him he sucked for a few minutes, then reared his head back and screamed like something was stabbing him. after frantically looking to see if there was indeed some unseen thing stabbing him, i tried feeding him again with the same results.
so, the bottom line is - no thai for me. or chili. or chocolate. or anything that has any kind of spices. basically, if it tastes good...i can't eat it while i'm breastfeeding asher. taking out spices basically spells death for vegetarians - spices are the main staple of any diet that mainly consists of vegetables! the sad thing is that changing my diet hasn't been enough; this last couple of weeks he screams just about every time we feed him.
a couple of days ago we were finally able to diagnose him with gastroesophageal reflux (GER), which is basically baby heartburn. since his lower esophageal sphincter is underdeveloped, sometimes the milk mixed with stomach acid will reflux into his esophagus causing a painful burning - poor kid! the doctor started him on medication a couple of days ago, so hopefully pretty soon he'll start nursing again without pounding his little baby fist on my chest in protest every time i feed him.

in case you were wondering

2010-01-19T10:37:00.000-08:00

THIS is the hardest button to button.

2 month birthday!

2010-01-18T21:17:00.000-08:00

so every few days when i have a couple of minutes between feeding asher and feeding asher again, i think to myself, i should post a video on our blog...or i could actually take a shower...or make something for dinner heaven forbid...and then of course i go take a nap instead. however, since today is already asher's two month birthday, i thought i'd better post something.
asher is the sweetest boy in the world. the whole parenting thing is definitely taking some getting used to, but we absolutely love our little family. we had an appointment with our pediatrician today and found out that he is already 12 lbs 3 oz! must be the cupcake flavored breastmilk...
this picture is of asher trying to burp out the two candles on his cupcake. (i'm not kidding, he really did burp when it was time to blow out the candles.)

fat boy :)

2010-01-10T16:23:00.000-08:00

more asher pics

2009-11-30T14:47:00.000-08:00

healthy baby

2009-11-25T13:51:00.000-08:00

asher kinjo bayles
born november 18, 2009 9:22am
7 lbs 8 oz, 19 inches

we'll post the whole story later but we just wanted everyone to know that asher is now off the bili lights, out of the high risk zone for jaundice, and is doing really well learning how to eat! (as you can see, he wasn't a huge fan of his glowing blue incubator.) we're doing a lot better now, especially with all of the amazing help from family; we'll be staying in highland with my parents over thanksgiving and awaiting all of the bayles/monson visitors!

shoot me

2009-11-10T21:27:00.000-08:00

okay maybe that's a little dramatic...but, we had another doctor's appt. today and i am still only dilated to a 1. (andrew convinced him to mark it at a 1.2 on my chart just so i would feel better about my progress.) all of these cramps and fake contractions for n o t h i n g!
so, he stripped my membranes again today - yeah and i thought it hurt the first time. ha. and we scheduled the induction for a week from today (tuesday the 17th), but i am REALLY hoping that he'll come naturally on his own.
i'm thinking a friday the 13th baby would be awesome...

update

2009-11-06T09:00:00.000-08:00

we had a doctor's appointment at 3pm yesterday and he decided to go ahead and strip my membranes to get labor going! (sorry if that's a little too much info for some of you :) it's pretty much as gross as it sounds, but he said that it should give me a 50/50 chance of going into labor within the next 5 days or so. supposedly it helps with effacement and dilation (i'm at a 1 right now).
i've been having braxton hicks contractions since then, but so far no bebe.
my heart has been doing this weird on and off tachycardia thing for the past month which is why he wants to induce. i've been taking a heart medicine, but there hasn't really been much of a difference. he said that if i haven't gone into labor naturally by tuesday (the 10th), we'll schedule an induction for the following tuesday (november 17th)! ahhh!!

punkin family

2009-11-02T20:50:00.000-08:00

daddy pumpkin.
mama pumpkin.
pumpkin in utero.

costumes for our halloween shindig

2009-11-01T22:04:00.000-08:00

the maren and the mama and papa bayles came up to party with us this halloween weekend! besides creating these amazing costumes, we carved pumpkins (pictures to be posted soon), played a round of mini golf, had a halloween dinner and murder mystery party with heidi's fam and basically just had fun hanging out.

p.s. why did i think that my swollen legs and cankles would fit in leggings and boots? not the best idea most fruitful yuki.

most fruitful yuki

2009-10-19T17:37:00.000-07:00

so what do you think of my latest halloween costume idea?! i will be the world's coolest pregnant superhero - MOST FRUITFUL YUKI!!

tribute to wesley willis and the belly

2009-10-16T14:47:00.000-07:00

dear baby,
i promise i haven't eaten mcdonalds in years.
love,
your mom

freaking huge belly

2009-10-16T14:34:00.000-07:00

these pictures are for you yvonne, as promised.
36. more. days.
i really don't think this belly can get any bigger. i mean, "it's a virtual planetoid...has it's own weather system."
now i'm going to go cry myself to sleep on my huge pillow.

cubicle sweet cubicle

2009-10-16T14:27:00.000-07:00

i snuck in to the office/baby room (or "the man room" as andrew calls it) and made a video of andrew taking calls in spanish for jet blue. yeah, it's pretty rough - he gets to wear his pajamas and socks all day and eat lunch with me during his breaks.

The Great Salt Lake

2009-10-05T14:40:00.000-07:00

last monday we pilgrimaged to antelope island so that we could go swimming -floating- in the great salt lake -aka the cesspool of brine shrimp-. it is kind of one of those things you just have to do if you live here, and even though it's hard to tell if it's really the salt or the disgusting little floating organisms that are forcing your entire body to bob to the surface...it is really kind of fun. we also made a little buffalo friend on the island! (the song is by sufjan stevens -any votes for sufjan??)

pathetic

2009-09-24T20:25:00.000-07:00

normally i avoid npr during their fund-raising weeks...not only because it is annoying, but so that i don't have to feel guilty for being such a news junky and still not "giving" to sweet little diane rehm or ira glass.
yeah, so that's how i know that i must be really lonely lately - i've been leaving it on all day just so that i have someone else's voice filling the apartment while andrew is gone to class or at work.
pathetic.

new apartment

2009-09-21T14:19:00.001-07:00

as you may have guessed, and as evidenced by the fact that i haven't posted anything on our blog for a month now... i have completely lost interest in blogging! partially because we have been so busy moving to our new apartment in salt lake, but, mostly because i just haven't felt especially interesting. i think it takes a certain type of emotional exhibitionism to blog, or at least a confidence that you have something to say that is worth reading. maybe i've just been tired lately -attempting to pour my creativity into trying to decorate our new little apartment on a tight budget.
anyway, if you are in the area - come visit us!!! the place we found is downtown salt lake, near trax, liberty park, and the most beautiful public library i have ever seen. and since we don't have internet yet, that is actually where i am writing from right now.
as for other updates:
two more months 'til we meet the bebe!!
our free flying benefits have officially kicked in! (although we are still trying to figure out when we can use them since andrew has either class or work every day of the week, and i am ridiculously fat. )
andrew finishes training in two weeks, and then he can start work from home!
my new favorite name for the baby is sufjan. andrew thinks this is especially funny coming from a pacifist (sufjan means 'he comes with a sword' or something like that).

happy szent istván napja!

2009-08-20T10:30:00.000-07:00

happy august 20th!! today hungarians celebrate saint stephen, the first king of hungary in what is kind of the hungarian equivalent of our 4th of july. when i lived in budapest, my apartment was only a couple of blocks from his cathedral - szent istván bazilika. you can even see a chunk of king stephen himself if you visit the bazilika. yes, it is a creepy shriveled up severed hand.

reasons that being pregnant doesn't always suck

2009-08-20T09:40:00.000-07:00

- it doesn't take as long to fill the bathtub
- people don't look at you funny when you pull out a bag of snacks during church
- you have an excuse to wear scrubs in public, even if you've never worked at a hospital in your life
- awesome buoyancy in the pool
- there's finally a legitimate reason you look funny in a bathing suit
- everyone encourages you to take seconds ("oh no i couldn't possibly take the last kabab...okay, okay, you talked me into it")
- watching andrew sing to the belly
- entrance into a secret sisterhood, strangers smile at you
- stretchy elastic jeans
- everyone offers to carry stuff for you
- a glorious bosom!

all in all i think i'd rather be a bilby. otherwise known as the rabbit eared bandicoot, the bilby has one of the shortest gestational periods in the world: 12-14 days!

pics

2009-08-19T14:37:00.001-07:00

kathryn and chris came up last weekend and we took some family pics near the house. i can't believe we live in such a beautiful place - and i'm not sure why but i think that i've gotten to the point that most of the time i don't really even SEE the mountains. i definitely notice when we are somewhere that is flat because i feel all disoriented, but that's not the same as noting and appreciating the huge looming peaks that surround us. lone peak is so pretty.

you should check out kathryn's photography website - i'm so proud of her; it looks like the business is really taking off! there's a link to the right, under "earth lens photography."

more of andrew's beautiful childhood artwork

2009-08-04T10:39:00.000-07:00

on the back it says: "written on andrew's 'mad' day."
poor yvonne! i'll bet she just cried when she saw this. isn't it sad the things we put our mother's through? still, you have to admit it's kind of funny; though i guess it wouldn't be so hilarious if she didn't know how much he really adores her. :)
we love you yvonne!

éles timi! (now timi honeycutt)

2009-08-02T09:51:00.000-07:00

near the beginning of my mission while i was serving in budapest, i met a 17 year old girl on the bus and invited her to our free english class. to my surprise, she showed up the next week at the branch house and became one of our most faithful angol óra students! with hardly any coaxing, she started attending almost all of the church activities and meetings. hihetetlen volt, she fit in so well in the branch, and was soon everybody's favorite; her bright personality and warm smile had a way of making others feel totally at ease around her.

i will never forget one of the most immediate answers to prayer that i have ever received to this day. the first weekend of october 2005, timi met sister olsen and i at tihany ter to watch the saturday afternoon session of general conference. she could only stay for a few talks, so i was obviously really anxious when the first talk was by elder oaks on the priesthood, and things that i was sure she wouldn't understand. it was really not geared toward an investigator, and i was worried that she wouldn't get anything out of the talks and just end up being more confused than uplifted or inspired. i remember pleading with God as i sat next to her that the next talk would be something that would touch her and would be relevant to her life. elder holland got up to speak next and this was his introduction:

"I want to say to my own granddaughter and the vast majority of the youth of the Church whom I meet around the world how extraordinarily proud we are of you...This afternoon I wish to raise my voice in praise of you, to express my love, my encouragement, and my admiration for you...I am going to address my remarks to the young women of the Church, but I hope the spirit of what I say can apply to women and men of all ages."

i know that God answers prayers, and that He was mindful of timi and what she needed to hear at that time. he was also mindful of me, a new sister missionary who didn't know what she was doing, and couldn't speak hungarian, but loved her investigators and the gospel.

although i was transferred a few months later, over the next year before she turned 18, she met with the sisters (one of whom was molly walker, who had been my companion in another area!) and in my second to last transfer, finally was able to get baptized! at the time i was serving in Székesfehérvár, but i received permission to return to budapest to attend her baptism. honestly, it was one of the best days of my mission. as i sat there with another family that i had been able to teach, that had also been baptized (the Királyék) and listened to her bear her testimony i felt that the privilege to be in hungary and teach these choice people was one of the most tender mercies of the Lord in my behalf.

it has been almost three years since i've been home from my mission (and since i had seen timi.) yesterday, she and her husband, andrew honeycutt were in utah and came over for lunch with molly and brady hogan (and baby afton)! timi and andrew got married in the fresno california temple the same day andrew and i were married - march 14th! it was so wonderful to see timi so happy and, as always, to see the adorable mollyék!
i adore afton.

rock on chris and george

2009-07-31T10:11:00.000-07:00

of course we all know george bush is the devil with or without his use of the texas longhorn pride sign...

congrats chris!!

2009-07-31T10:04:00.000-07:00

we went up to idaho last week to celebrate our brother-in-law chris' graduation! along with being able to go to his commencement and convocation ceremonies, we had an awesome party, lots of games of munchkin and a family baseball game. since i can't figure out how to email these to you kat, i just thought i'd post some of the video clips here. also, this way i'll be able to tell if you actually read our blog or not ;)

trip to idaho

2009-07-31T09:56:00.000-07:00

we got chris' sister wendy and her husband dylan to do the traditional japanese determine-your-baby's-destiny-at-one-year crawl thing with jack at the graduation party. this involves several symbolic items: a book, an abacus (in our case a calculator), money, a food item, a ball and a cell phone?? (i think the cell phone was supposed to represent technology in general in the computer-and-engineering-brained geeky duncan family)
looks like someday he'll be a jock!

latest ultrasound

2009-07-31T09:21:00.000-07:00

the really great news of this last ultrasound was that the placenta moved to a healthy normal position (the doctor had noticed that i was placenta previa about a month ago)! i guess the placenta doesn't actually move, but uterine wall grew enough that the placenta shifted. since our previous ultrasound, we've been praying that this would happen because how it was positioned was a lot more dangerous and a c-section would have been absolutely necessary. i guess my mom must have been praying too, because at this visit, he said that the placenta wasn't anywhere near where it was just a month ago and that he was really surprised at how quickly it moved to where it was supposed to be!
the shot of his leg is my favorite. he's definitely got my calves.

Kicking child

2009-07-30T20:34:00.000-07:00

So, for a long time Kristen couldn't tell if she was feeling the baby moving around or just feeling what various women have consistently referred to as "bubbles" (which we men would simply call gas). Finally on July 4th she jumped one day and said something like, "I just felt the baby for sure. I think so anyway." Beginning that moment, any time the baby was feeling particularly active, she'd call me over and place my hand on her belly, thinking that anything she could feel so strongly had to be feel-able from the outside too. It couldn't, and my enthusiasm sort of fizzled out after the first couple of failed "feeling" attempts.

We'd sit there with my hand on her belly and she'd say "okay, I'll tell you when I feel something and you tell me if you feel it too." I'd think I felt something, but then realize it was just her breathing or re-positioning herself. Then she'd get an excited look on her face. "That?" she'd say tentatively, and I'd shake my head. After a few of these, eventually she'd get a big kick in the ribs and say "Oh come one, you have to have felt that!" But I hadn't felt anything—not even a tummy rumble.

So on the 24th, when Kristen announced "He's really kicking", I figured it would be the same old thing, and wasn't too enthusiastic about sitting there disappointing my wife with every kick that would be so singularly hers. I put my hand on her belly. "He's pretty low", she told me, and I moved it down a few centimeters. "Push a little bit", she said, "see if he pushes back."

I pushed a little bit and felt a little tummy rumble. "That?" she asked, and I nodded my head with my eyes a little wider, realizing that it wasn't just a rumble after all. I was watching when he kicked again, and actually saw my hand move as I felt the tiny kick from the other side of her uterine wall. And he just kept kicking.

It's things like that that help you realize that there's actually a little person inside your wife's belly. Things like that and like the amazing ultrasound we had the other day. We got a profile shot of his face, with a nose and chin that look a bit like mine. He had his legs up by his head, with his whole body folded in half, and as we watched he bent his knees and pushed a little. Amazing.

we like da moon

2009-07-21T11:49:00.000-07:00

i didn't post a proper tribute to moon day yesterday. so, happy 40th anniversary to the apollo 11.

i heart dostoevsky

2009-07-21T11:27:00.000-07:00

really, who doesn't want to learn russian? last night for fhe, we wrote our testimonies in russian to send to elder bayles. (basically we spliced sentences from an online mtc russian computer program and are hoping that they will be at least somewhat intelligible.)
i have a goal to learn the russian alphabet and be able to read russian before the baby is born. (which, if he comes on time, will be 4 months from today!)
maybe by then i can convince andrew that we should name our son dmitri...

chibi

2009-07-21T11:24:00.000-07:00

this is totally how i felt today until i watched da moon video a few times. seriously, how can you not feel better after watching a rat(?) that looks like a potato who is singing about the moon?

by the way, chibi is my parents' dog. he keeps me company and takes me for walks sometimes.

harry potter

2009-07-15T20:05:00.000-07:00

isn't andrew the best harry potter? and apparently cho couldn't make the filming because she's pregnant. but she did make the 4:45pm showing today.
so, i am ridiculously proud of these rad gryffindor scarves that i made just for the occasion. it was awesome; the only other people dressed up were like 20 years younger than us.

i really need a job.

i am the queen of craftiness

2009-07-15T19:46:00.000-07:00

i made a baby blanket!

and a sock monkey and a snake.

and i'm working on a turtle.

do i have a life, you ask? no, not really. this is what i do while everyone i know is off being a productive member of society. i sit at home and make sock animals.

Joshua Bell

2009-07-10T16:26:00.000-07:00

"In the three-quarters of an hour that Joshua Bell played, seven people stopped what they were doing to hang around and take in the performance, at least for a minute. That leaves the 1,070 people who hurried by, oblivious, many only three feet away, few even turning to look."

so i have to thank kathryn for sending me this article that was published a couple of years ago (if you click on the title of this post it will take you to the article). joshua bell, arguably the best violinist in the world, plays anonymously for 45 minutes in a D.C. metro station as a kind of experiment on rush hour travelers.
i really hope that i would be one of those seven people who actually stopped to listen and appreciate the impromptu concert that others normally pay hundreds of dollars to hear. on the other hand, gratitude is one of those things that i've really been struggling with lately. does it really matter that i usually do stop for street musicians if i so easily ignore other moments in my life that are equally simple and beautiful? (for example, andrew came and kissed me on the cheek like two seconds ago before he went upstairs and i'm pretty sure i just kept staring at this stupid computer screen.)
the article really hit me because, since i've been feeling so sick this past few months, one of the things that i am learning to appreciate for the first time in my life is when i have a few good hours in the morning or even an entire day where i feel like a normal healthy person. i have never been consistently sick for this long and am hoping that this lesson in gratitude, for the health that i've largely ignored my whole life, sticks even after i am healthy again.

andrew of the long neck

2009-07-07T17:44:00.000-07:00

"Andrew helps his baby get his pasafire and ratle

Yes! Yes! Andrew That's the thing to do"

while in vegas, we found some priceless artwork in a box of andrew's old elementary school homework. i now have no doubt that andrew will be an amazing father.

dancing baby

2009-07-07T15:20:00.000-07:00

so last week's biggest baby news is that on the 4th of july i felt the baby for the first time! he probably thought that we were caught in the middle of a battlefield and figured he would make his presence known before certain death. this may or may not have something to do with the boatload of illegal fireworks that a certain las vegas dentist who shall not be named set off in an undisclosed neighborhood that now has conspicuous char marks on the street...(note use of blow torch in picture) :) oh how i love 4th of july at the bayles'!

feeling the baby move is so amazing; i kept reading different things about what it would feel like but honestly it is just so surreal - there is a living boy-human-thing inside of me that sleeps and eats and yawns and hiccups and stretches and pushes itself around and is growing!

i just hope he looks like carlos. freaking cute guatemalan. anyway, we are now at 20 weeks - so halfway there! our baby is about 6 1/2 inches long and weighs about 10 1/2 ounces. unbelievable.

Las Vegas trip

2009-07-07T15:04:00.000-07:00

on wednesday we drove down to las vegas to spend the week with everyone for andrew's birthday (and lauren's, carlos' and arie's birthdays) and the 4th of july! it was so great to see everyone and we had so much fun! for andrew's birthday we took the boat out to lake mead and spent the day tubing, wake boarding, and swimming. we drove out to the hoover dam where the cliff wall to the right (in the video) is nevada and the cliff wall to the left is actually arizona! now how many people can say they have swum to arizona?! (andrew the grammarian has assured me that swum is the correct conjugation...i would have said swam)

It's a boy!!

2009-06-30T19:16:00.000-07:00

we had the big ultrasound today and found out that we're having a boy!!! so, despite the voice of the people who voted in favor of a girl (by one vote), it seems our baby has the clearly defined beginnings of manhood. the doctors said they were pretty much 100% sure, so it looks like we can start thinking about names!

the doctor said that the baby is healthy and that everything looks great!

we found out that i have placenta previa, which means that the placenta is in a low position covering the cervix. since we still have plenty of time for it to reposition it's not too much of a problem right now; we'll have another ultrasound in 4 weeks to find out if it has migrated to a safer position.

here are a couple of still shots from the ultrasound!

a haiku for andrew

2009-06-29T10:51:00.000-07:00

in only four days

o my darling husband face

you'll be old like me

everyone make sure to wish andrew a happy 26th birthday on july 2nd!

cherry picking!

2009-06-27T18:10:00.000-07:00

yesterday we found this website called pickyourown.org that links to some of the local fruit farms that have pick-your-own hours during harvest season. you can search by state and county, and it lists the addresses where you can go pick fresh blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, apples and cherries.

my mom, dad, andrew and i picked 44 lbs of cherries today!

letter from greggi! (elder bayles)

2009-06-24T17:42:00.000-07:00

tell me this isn't the coolest envelope you've ever seen. :) andrew's little brother, greg is in the mtc learning russian before he gets shipped off to the ukraine! in the last letter we sent him i drew lots of pictures of andrew and dinosaurs which, i think, is why we got such an amazing display of artwork back. my favorite is the picture of the missionary with the swine flu. two of greg's roommates in the mtc were quarantined with cases of the swine flu a couple of weeks ago. luckily, it sounds like so far he's happy and healthy!

(nancy is just a nickname for the baby - short for preg-nancy)

Zions

2009-06-23T22:25:00.001-07:00

the best part about living in utah is definitely the outdoors scene; this pic was taken memorial day weekend when andrew and i went down to zion national park. the bayles clan met up with us at a local chapel near the park entrance on sunday morning and we spent monday with grandma and grandpa bayles in parowan.

undaunted by the threat of storms all weekend and the fact that all of the campgrounds would be full because of the holidays, we headed out on friday. as we neared the park, we were thrilled to find a little make-shift hobo village by the edge of the river close to the entrance of zions. our vagabond neighbors had come from all over the world - we met germans, swedes, mexicans, and a couple from some country whose language even andrew couldn't place! we found a little sandy spot under some trees near the edge of the shanty town and pitched our little tent for the weekend.

saturday we took the shuttle into the park and headed toward the temple of sinawava -the entrance to the narrows. the hike was absolutely gorgeous as always. after the riverwalk we hiked about 3-4 miles through the virgin river between the beautiful bright canyon walls. since about 75% of the hike is in the actual river, we couldn't bring our camera, but it's one of the most popular hikes in zions and definitely worth the experience. (i just pulled these bottom two pictures off the internet to show what the hike looks like.)

the highlight of the hike for me was during a little rough spot in the river when we ran into another group of hikers. the mom looked at me, at my burgeoning little 3 1/2 month belly, and said "oh my gosh, are you pregnant? you are my hero!"

northland poster collective

2009-06-23T11:56:00.000-07:00

here are some more of my favorite images.

the job situation

2009-06-22T22:11:00.000-07:00

northland poster collective, one of my favorite artists' collectives, is going out of business. right now you can order posters, shirts and other stuff on their website until their inventory is gone, but i am really sad that such an awesome organization is closing. most of the artists' themes draw from various progressive political issues - fair trade, the labor movement, the anti-war movement, feminism etc. one of their t-shirts that i have has this woodcut from ricardo levins morales. it's an old IWW slogan, which is also a doctrine that brigham young espoused: "Eight hours work, eight hours sleep, and eight hours recreation."

after recently graduating with my oh-so-marketable degree in philosophy, and since we decided to turn down the positions in budapest, i haven't been able to find work here in the salt lake area. (for some reason not too many employers are looking to hire pregnant women.) honestly, it has been really hard not working - especially since we decided to stay with my parents in highland for the summer until we can find a place in salt lake. i feel like such a lazy bum. every day everyone at the house runs off to work while i stay at home puking and hanging out with the dogs.

luckily, in addition to his part-time italian translation job, andrew was hired this week by jet blue (free flights! woo hoo!) ...which is an amazing blessing since we found out today that his other other part-time job at the airport is going out of business. he was working for clear, a program for frequent fliers, that, for a nice annual fee, basically just allowed executives to bypass airport lines.

at least he got to keep the nifty tie.

10 more days!

2009-06-20T11:41:00.000-07:00

in 10 more days (on the 30th) we'll find out if our baby will be a girl or a boy! also, we'll get a little dvd of the ultrasound to take home! i'm hoping that finding out will help make the pregnancy seem a little less abstract - plus it will be SO nice to not have to keep referring to it as an it!

make sure you cast your vote!

i heart my belly

2009-06-19T15:23:00.000-07:00

andrew is the best husband ever.

about twenty times a day he tells me how beautiful i am.

even though my belly looks like this.

tomorrow is 18 weeks!

more pics

2009-06-19T14:33:00.000-07:00

the top picture is a view of the baby looking right at us! you can see the eye sockets and little arm bones and pelvis.

the other pic is another profile.

it measures 7.23 cm right now!

may 26th: second ultrasound!!

2009-06-19T14:06:00.000-07:00

on may 26th, we got to have a surprise second ultrasound! since we're moving up to salt lake in the fall we decided to switch doctors. at our first appointment, our new ob, dr. sean haskett, wanted to be able to see the baby since it was the first time he'd met with us and i was already about 14 weeks along. it was the most amazing thing i have ever seen! the baby actually looks like a baby! it was jumping around everywhere on the screen and turning over - the doctor said it was the most active baby he's ever seen! (it might have something to do with the grape jolly rancher i was sucking on.) i can tell my ridiculously biased mommy hormones are kicking in already - i seriously think we have the cutest baby ever!

and we are so glad to have switched doctors! dr. haskett is probably the nicest, least awkward ob ever - very comfortable, friendly, and professional - he kind of reminds me of a doctorly nick david!

confession

2009-06-19T13:16:00.000-07:00

since april, about 99% of the time food in general has become utterly repulsive to me. just thinking about some of my favorite dishes...tom kha gai, vegetable coconut korma, spicy african yam soup...makes me want to puke. i know, crazy! as i stare at my hundredth bowl of life cereal i want to scream - oh the injustice! on the other hand, maybe it's a great act of mercy. since i spend all of my time worshipping the porcelain gods anyway, maybe my body knows that one bad experience with one of my favorite curries might change the course of my life. consequently, i've been eating a lot of plain starchy foods. i literally can't open the fridge without gagging.

now for the soul-wrenching confession: i can honestly say that since that first summer of 2003 when i decided to be vegetarian, i have had absolutely no desire to eat animals...until lately. we were at a baseball game and everyone and their mom was eating a hot dog except for me. i was practically drooling on myself. how disturbing! the tantalizing ketchup-mustard-relish combo on a footlong hotdog...my tastebuds have never felt so ambivalent.

now some people might try to guilt me with some stupid argument, "your baby needs the protein! how can you deny your body's natural cravings!" but it was a freaking hot dog! you can't tell me that a hot dog is exactly a nutritious source of protein or anything remotely like it!

but the problem is that the carnivorous cravings haven't stopped there...greasy cheeseburgers, deli chicken at the grocery store, steakhouse billboards - why do you tempt me?!!

so for now i am eating veggie dogs, taking plenty of vitamins, and my iron level is just fine. bottom line is, even though i have not caved - my self esteem would be totally blown without articles like this one by caity mccardell:

http://www.vegfamily.com/vegan-pregnancy/not-so-vegan-pregnancy-cravings.htm

april 27th: first ultrasound!

2009-06-19T12:47:00.000-07:00

not that it's saying much (since lately i cry at everything from my breakfast to laundry detergent commercials) but i bawled the first time we heard the baby's heartbeat. 170 beats per minute!! and this is the april 27th ultrasound - our little 2.75 cm blob! it kind of looks like a baby, right? the tests show that we'll have a beautiful little thanksgiving baby; the due date is november 21st.

moment of truth

2009-06-19T12:33:00.001-07:00

april 6th.

ahhh!!

who needs budapest

2009-06-19T11:50:00.000-07:00

andrew and i have both always wanted kind of a big family. when we got married, we decided that we wanted to start a family right away...like maybe in a year or so. ha ha. we had jobs lined up this summer in Budapest and were planning on leaving near the beginning of June to go explore europe...but i kept feeling sick. we kept making jokes about it, but after a couple weeks decided that we'd better find out for sure since neither of us had jobs or insurance. (which, in america, is not actually very funny.) so after a few of those cheap drugstore pregnancy tests and a visit to the doctor, we decided that maybe we'd rethink our next year's plans. honestly, even though we were both definitely in shock...who wouldn't trade budapest for a beautiful baby? (not that we have to choose, right? we'll just go after the baby is born so we can have a gorgeous hungarian speaking baby!)

my attempt at a journal

2009-06-19T11:30:00.000-07:00

in my opinion, the only reason blogs are worth looking at is if they contain pictures of cute babies, which is why long ago i decided that the only reason that i would ever start a blog would be when i finally settled down and started a family. so now that i'm 4 1/2 months along, and in a desperate attempt to connect with the intangible little parasitic manatee that is growing inside of me...i am going to try to document our journey from couplehood to familyhood! since we've been living out of boxes the last couple of months and i can't even find the last journal i started, i thought that maybe i should write in a journal that i can't lose.

these first few posts are going to be kind of just catch up since i want to try to document everything we know so far about the lil bebe!

p.s. to start out, i figured i'd have to borrow a pic of one of the cutest babies i know so that this blog would be worth looking at. thanks lydia!