We Are Having Another Boy!

We just got back from the doctor a few minutes ago and I am pretty excited! We found out this morning that we are having another boy! We are going to name him Noah something. Well not Noah Something, but Noah and we don't know what the middle name is gonna be yet. If you have any suggestions you can post them as comments. We got video done at the doctors office of the ultrasound so maybe I'll post post it here or as a link to Youtube so everyone can see. I thought about getting a 3-d picture done, and they even offer a 4-d video (that's a video of the 3-d image, time being the fourth dimension) but that was pretty expensive, and we will have the real thing here soon enough. So, I just wanted to post this little tidbit and get it written down. Just for your FYI.

Cruise to the Bahamas

Last week Rachel and I took a cruise to the Bahamas. It was our first time ever on a cruise and we didn't know quite what to expect. We were worried about the size of the room, and how much we were going to have to spend on food and blah blah blah. I think that a cruise is has got to be the most self-contained vacation you could possibly have. We had a great time. The food is cooked and prices are included in the cruise ticket price. You could probably gain 10lbs if you aren't careful, cause there is "free" food 24-7. The only extras you pay for are gambling and alcohol, and since Rachel and I don't participate in those activities we didn't end up spending a bunch of extra money. We traveled on the Carnival Fascination. Carnival may not be the nicest, most luxurious cruise line, but is probably the most fun, at least according to some of the cruise aficionados I met on board. There are live shows to see, comedy acts to see, and Rachel's all time favorite: Karaoke Night. We flew to Florida on Thursday night, left Miami Friday, arrived in Nassau, Bahamas on Saturday and got back to Miami on Monday. We went swimming in the warmest clearest bluest ocean water I have ever personally seen, went to a massive resort called Atlantis on Paradise Island, and spent an afternoon walking through the aquariums and pools they have, saw the Michael Jackson Suite (the most expensive hotel suite in the world at $25,000 a night with a four night minimum booking. It's the "bridge" between the two buildings), frolicked in the ocean, listened to some crazy tour guides and just had a great time overall. I would definitely do it again. Not stay at Atlantis (cause I'm not rich) but go on a cruise. Or go to the Bahamas again. There isn't much to do there except go to the beach or to the resorts. I was a little surprised at that. The capital city didn't have a movie theater or fancy restaurants. It was mostly about tourists buying trinkets. There were some pretty aggressive ones too. They would come up to you and put stuff in your hand saying it was free and then ask for a "donation." When my donation wasn't large enough, they took their "free" stuff back, called me cheap and walked away in a huff. It reminded me of the Markets in Mexico where I served my mission.

Last Week in Recap

Last week was my birthday. I turned 28 on the 24th. According to my older brother, who also had a birthday last week, only two more years till I'm officially "dead." He just turned 29, and now has less than a year left till he hits the "big 3-0." Of course we have been saying stuff like that since we were teenagers. Once we hit 20, we're not teenagers anymore, and now, once we hit 30, we are no longer in our prime, and we are supposed to grow up and get responsible and stuff like that. But for me, I have a wife and a one year old son and another baby on the way, I own my own home and do my own laundry and dishes and pay my own bills and stuff, so I guess I'm already pretty responsible. But enough of that...
Last week like I said, I turned 28. I was also on vacation from work the whole week, and you'll never guess what we did. Go ahead, try. If you guessed anything fun, you'd be wrong. We were all sick last week and didn't do anything. I have bronchitis that has mostly cleared up with antibiotics, Ammon had an ear infection and was also on antibiotics and pain meds, and Rachel had a sinus infection, but she has been really bad about taking her medicine. She is worried about the pregnancy. I guess I understand, because this one has been more difficult for her. This time around, she has been more tired and nauseated. With Ammon, it was more energizing than anything else. Anyway, we watched a lot of movies last week 'cause we didn't really leave the house unless we had to. We have a rather large movie collection, since I would rather buy the movie and watch it whenever I want, than see it in the theater once for the same price. We probably have 100 or so, give or take. For my birthday, one of my younger brothers gave me Gremlins. I remember being scared by that movie when I was young, but it only has a PG rating. Now it's like, "Oh you can see the strings that they used to make the puppets move!" And the acting was pretty unbelievable. Not in a good way either. It was pretty funny to remember watching it so many years ago, excited and scared at the same time, only to laugh and poke fun at the animatronics and bad acting now that I'm older. But I find that life is sort of like that too. Not with the animatronics and bad acting, but as I grow up, it's interesting to see the changes in what I think is important, or exciting and worthwhile. I guess maturity will do that to a person...

Happy New Year

It's the new year. 2008. The year where we will see which party gains control of the White House. I am very interested in politics, but I try to keep my politics to myself. I tend to be conservative and Republican, in that order. I say that because lately many of the Republicans that are in office have not been acting in accordance with the conservative principles that I hold near and dear. Small government, lower taxes, national security and capitalism. It's kind of like when that new Superman came out and the writers said "Truth, Justice...and all that other stuff," instead of the "and the American Way." Fairly disappointing. I hope that whichever Rep candidate will fight for my beliefs. If Ron Paul wasn't so isolationist and didn't have two first names and no last name I might consider him. But his foreign policy is loony. Rudy Guillani is really much too liberal on social issues for my taste. Mike Huckaby... I don't know. Taxes and criminals make me think twice about him. I wish that Duncan Hunter had more than a snowball's chance in... well you know. I think I'd vote for him in a second. But he's not a "top tier" candidate so I'd probably just waste my vote. No, I'm gonna have to choose Mitt Romney. I don't think I agree with everything he has done in his political career, but he has had great success both as a governor, and in the private sector. He has "executive" experience, something that many of the other front runners, both Democrat and Republican, do not have. I wish that he had not flip-flopped on his abortion stance, but I think that of the candidates most likely to win the nomination, Mitt Romney is the one that I can most identify with, politically. I'll vote Republican no matter who the nominee is, don't get me wrong, cause even the worst candidate in my estimation would be a thousand times better than any current Democratic nut job. Anyway, what a way to start the new year, huh?