Fall in Utah

I know everyone is posting their thoughts and photos of Fall in their area of the world right now and I guess I'm like everyone else. But honestly, how could I let this gorgeous season pass without showing my respects to the artistry of it all.



Last weekend Pete and I took a pic-nic brunch up Rock Canyon to enjoy the changing colors. I can't believe we live so close to all this and so rarely make the effort to enjoy it.



Being in the mountains put me in such a good mood, I even allowed myself to be caught on camera for the first time in months.



Yes, I am carrying REALLY high. I know you couldn't help but notice. Please take the time to enjoy the background scenery too.



We were lucky we got such beautiful weather, over General Conference weekend Pete and I took a mini-vacation to Bear Lake and it rained the whole time we were there. But we did manage to get out and take a few shots.

Pete's Latest Project

Admittedly, Pete's latest project is on a somewhat larger scale than my nursery plans. Pete is in a Business Class at BYU in which he and a few classmates are required to open and operate a small business for the duration of the semester. Pete and his group started a Rally Towel Business called True to the Blue.



Last Saturday was their first trial of the business as they sold their Rally Towels outside LaVell Edwards Stadium during the BYU vs. UNLV Football game. They did pretty well for a being open for their first two hours ever. Watch out for Provo's Original Rally Towel at a Football game near you!

My Latest Project

I love projects! In fact, I think it's actually a genetically linked trait in in my family to seek out projects, and then go way over the top with them--anyone who knows my sister Sharon understands EXACTLY what I mean by that.

So my latest project/obsession has been baby quilts. Sounds like not-that-big-of-a-deal right? Wrong! (See above note about going way over the top). In my search for the perfect bedding set for Baby, I am finding myself to be rather non-committal. I like a lot of what I find, but I have a very definite image in my mind of exactly what I want and I haven't seen it yet. So, it has come to making baby quilts. And I have decided that my mother and I need to make this perfect Aristotelian exists-in-the-mind-of-god baby quilt. (It sounds like a good tri-generational bonding opportunity, right?)

The challenge with all of this is that neither mother nor I really know how to quilt. We've both tied many quilts, and Mom has made some beautiful quilts and blankets before, but never actual quilting. I say, there's no time like the present to learn! Mom's on board and we have a pattern--its a simple one, I am after all a reasonable woman. When it's finished it should look something like this:



Really, Mom got off rather easy. The pattern I am hoping my Mother-in-law will make for Baby is much more complicated (she has years of quilting experience and likes to try new designs and pattern, so I don't think this will be too overwhelming for her).



This is really just one small part of all the plans and daydreams I'm coming up with for Baby's room and belongings--yes, I realize she won't care at all, but this is so much fun for ME and all Baby's aunties! I'll post photos as we finish projects so you all can see how things turn out!

How Pete and I came to Be

One or two people have asked me lately how Pete and I met--people who I thought knew "our story" and I realized that I never posted it on this blog, so it's about time I took care of that.

When/how did we meet? Well, which time? It could either be at the MTC in Preston England, in the Chicago airport on layover, or in Ms. Fishler's 7th grade heath class. (Now that we've been married for two and a half years and are expecting our first baby I find it amusing that we had our first Sex-Ed class together at the tender age of 12). The official answer to the whendidwemeet question is the Chicago Airport(that whole health class thing doesn't really count as we never actually spoke to each other--or noticed each other in any way really).

We were in a group of new missionaries headed to England for training--so I guess in the strictest sense, we met on our missions. Just not IN our missions--which is a big difference. Actually, we hardly met in the airport either, just enough to swap names and where we were from. I remember noticing him mainly because we were from the same hometown.

After we got to the MTC is a different story though. We still rarely spoke--we weren't in the same district and rarely had occasion to meet in passing, but I sure noticed him in groups. (Being cooped up with a group of 32 other missionaries all day for three weeks, it's hard not to notice everyone). But Pete stood out nearly from the beginning. for starters, he was older than the other American missionaries and definitely more mature. (He didn't get in trouble for staying up all night playing football in the halls).

And then I happened to catch a glimpse of him going off to sports time with his district WEARING A T-SHIRT! I grabbed my comp's hand and whispered "Don't look now, but Elder Tidwell looks HOT!" She laughed her head off and of course swiveled to stare. But I didn't think it was funny. From that day on I did my best to stay on the opposite end of the MTC from the happy, smiley elder who looked so good in a T-Shirt. Believe it or not, I really wanted to be a good missionary and not have a crush on one of the elders.

After our three weeks we of course went to our separate missions, Pete stayed in England and I took a short flight to Ireland. I got so busy (and so traumatized--but that's normal) that I forgot all about him. Good. That was the purpose.

Ten months went by (I was less traumatized by this point, but just as busy) when I was serving in a town called Lisburn (about 20 min outside of Belfast for those of you who don't know Northern Ireland) with a crazy companion called Sister Sinnott. She had a 'friend' she was writing to who was serving in the Leeds mission (she refused to call him her boyfriend and mocked him mercilessly even though they wrote every week without fail for two years--and ended up married a few months later). One day Sinnott was making a tape for her 'friend' when she thrust the tape recorder at me and commanded me to "say hello to Elder Peterson." I said hello, and since I couldn't think of anything else to say, added "I know someone in your mission, say Hello to Elder Tidwell."

That was it. Except it wasn't it. A few days later I got a letter in the post from said Elder Tidwell. It actually scared me to death, I thought Oh no, now he's going to think I totally fancy him and he's writing me to 'let me down gently.'

But he didn't. It was actually a very nice, cordial (if messy and nearly illegible--sorry Pete)letter. I wrote back. Then he wrote back. And I wrote back. On it went till Pete came home from his mission and asked me on our first date--about five days after he was home, and two days before his homecoming. (It wouldn't have taken him so long to ask me out, but I had accidentally sent my phone through the wash and he couldn't call me any earlier.)

Approximately forty five days later we were engaged, and we were married in the Salt Lake Temple in May of 2006. And we're happy. And Pete still looks hot in a T-shirt. (Can't say the same for myself--pregnancy is an adventure, but not an attractive one).


So that is the story of how Pete and I came to be US. If anyone actually read all that, thanks for indulging me.

HE MADE IT! As if I ever Doubted . . .

It's official, Pete has been accepted to the Advertising Program at BYU (finally)! Yipee! Yay!! Celebrate, fanfare, etc! I don't know why I'm so thrilled though, it means I'll never see him again for the next two years, but IT'S PROGRESS!!

Congrats Pete, I know how hard you worked to get accepted (trust me, I know) and I am SO PROUD OF YOU!!!

Just a Wee Bit Nuts

I don't think I've been able to concentrate on anything but planning for New Babygirl for the past three days . . . If you're in my Relief Society, sorry for neglecting you.

I wasn't even overly bothered that the Cougars played kind of a stinky game on Saturday, winning only 21-3 when it should have been a much more significant margin of victory. Hey, at least they won (Babygirl was kicking the whole time--a bit distracting).

She's been kicking a lot lately, Pete even got to feel her kicking for the first time this weekend--see why I've been so baby-minded?

And, well after the game I was just so glad it was a short game and we still had time to make it to the store before closing and BUY BABYGIRL'S CRIB!!!



It was nearly a compulsion. It's not even the crib I originally fell in love with (but who can afford $450 for a crib without a mattress?) so when I found this one that was actually affordable, I snatched it up. A crib is a must have--even if she's not scheduled to arrive for four months. So I'm going just a wee bit nuts. But that's normal, right?

Sugar and Spice . . .

Turns out the little squirmer is a GIRL!
And although this complicates the matter of choosing out a perfect name (we had a boy's name) WE COULDN'T BE HAPPIER!!

We welcome any name suggestions, but please don't be offended if we don't choose to use your name (I've had some weird suggestions already--mostly from my father).

I Feel Like Monstro the Whale Big and sleepy with a living creature in my belly trying to get out. On the positive side, tomorrow is the BIG day, we find out if Baby is a he or a she!

Big and sleepy with a living creature in my belly trying to get out.

On the positive side, tomorrow is the BIG day, we find out if Baby is a he or a she!