First Finals

Clayton took his Criminal Law and Contracts finals this week. He has two more to go. Thanks for your prayers.  He has two more and then he gets to take a few weeks off. Yay!

Nicole had a work out buddy this week. It was nice. Nicole is feeling a lot better and more able to function as human being. She is even doing the dishes now, without a mask. She takes great care of Clayton while he studies. At twenty-four weeks Nicole can still fit in most of her clothes, but her friends tell her that she is hardly showing at all.

On Sunday, we had a couple, who both attend law school with Clayton, the Sessions, over for dinner. We had lots of fun with them. It was very therapeutic to talk about finals and freaking out about law school. Its nice to know he's not the only one freaking out. We made a yummy dish we learned from Nicole's Cousin. Clayton made some delicious fudge sauce to go with our ice cream sundaes. The Sessions said it was the yummiest fudge sauce.

We will see you all soon. We are excited to spend Christmas and New Years with you.

С наступаюшем празником
("with the coming holidays" a traditional Russian holiday greeting)

It's a Boy!

This week we found out, for sure this time, that the baby is a BOY! The best part about the ultra-sound was that we got to watch our baby kick, yawn, punch, and infuriate the tech by hiding. The tech said that the baby was really stubborn. Baby must take after Clayton, because Nicole is not stubborn at all.

On Thursday, Clayton turned in his final paper and completed the last day of class. He has two weeks of intense finals and then a break. We are looking forward to visiting family in Kentucky and Utah. Clayton really wants to dust off his ice skates and play hockey.

Not much else happened this week, and we thought you all would rather look at baby pics.

Baby's Arm and Face

Look at that foot!

Baby Mouth Yawning

Baby Mouth and Nose

Peace and Blessings

Thanksgiving in Kentucky (it's that friendly!)

Monday of last week we were supposed to find out the gender of the baby. But due to some scheduling difficulties the imaging center would not see Nicole until this Friday. Apparently they thought Nicole had canceled the appointment. This new appointment is actually more convenient for Clayton. He will be able to come to the ultrasound and finally see the baby in action. Last night marked the first time Clayton felt the baby kick. It was very exciting.

Tuesday Nicole and Clayton traveled from the Baltimore airport to the Indianapolis Airport. It took, what should have been a one hour drive to Baltimore, 2 hours to reach the airport because of holiday travel. Thankfully Catherine, Nicole's cousin, had the foresight to leave an hour earlier than Nicole thought necessary. We made our flight just in time and arrived in Indianapolis to drive 2 more hours to Louisville. Thanks to David for going to such lengths to get us there for Thanksgiving. When we arrived we greeted Brittany, Reagan, Roxanne and Nicole's Grandparents, Fred and Kay. Fred is on a strict organic diet of sorts that allows him to eat mostly raw foods. We stayed up late chatting and got out salted nuts and chocolate to snack on. It was so sad to see Fred watch everyone else eating with out him. We felt like we were smoking in front of a drug addict (because we all know how it feels to smoke in front of drug addicts.)

Wednesday was a pretty casual day of hanging out with Nicole's family. We went to the park with Brittany and Reagan and Clayton taught them how to do some Tai Chi he picked up on YouTube. Clayton is trying to find more creative ways to make himself exercise. We just recieved a book about how to do all the Tai Chi moves. He likes it because it too involves meditation. We'll see if he goes back to yoga, but for now he's all about Tai Chi.

That night Roxanne was sick so Nicole volunteered to make dinner. She made Beef Dorito Casserole, one of her favorite dishes since childhood. Unfortunately this meal caused her to vomit and feel nauseated all night. It was a rough job to wake up on Thursday morning.

David had of course assigned everyone a thanksgiving task so that all would go smoothly for dinner. Nicole and Clayton's task was to make 2 peacan pies, but Grandma Kay thought that 3 would be better for the volume of people we had coming. Because of Fred's strict diet, we had one regular butter ball turkey and one organic coconut oil turkey. Clayton is a fan of organic turkey's so he was glad to help Fred eat his turkey. Fred was so happy to eat food that wasn't raw spinach and there was finally a big smile on his face.

Friday Nicole, Amanda, Roxanne and Brittany went to go see the first part of Breaking Dawn. It was Brittany's birthday wish. Afterwords Clayton and Reagan started a bonfire in the backyard. (The pile of wood scraps has been there for over two years.) Brittany and the girls made a rendition of Harry Potter butter beer to serve to everyone around the fire. By the time the fire had died down, Clayton had only singed his hand a bit. David decided to make a dutch oven peach cobbler to cook over the coals. While we were waiting for the cobbler to cool we played games and opened presents for Brittany's party. Finally it was time to eat the cobbler and David was so excited. Apparently, so was Reagan because he was the first to open the lid...and dump all the lid ashes into the cobbler. The result was a bit charcoal-ly, but no one was harmed.

Saturday David put all the boys to work putting up Christmas decorations. David was tasked to get all their old baby stuff for us out of the attic so why not get all the Christmas decorations out too? This is Clayton's most favorite thing about Christmas. He loves decorations almost as much as he loves exercising (NOT). Nicole will be hard pressed to get him to put lights on their own home one day. (He secretly had fun.)

The baby stuff included a crib and a "wonda-chair." This wonderful chair includes an assortment of attachments that will turn your chair into a fancy stroller, a car seat, a high chair, a baby bassanet, and an infant stroller. It was pretty amazing that it all fit inside the van, David was excited to get rid of it.

Sunday Roxanne made us delicious chocolate croissants to send us on our way. David and Roxanne gave us a mini-van. We've only been marred 2 years and we're already in a mini-van, but we are delighted to have a car that will be able to fit the baby too. The van drove smoothly and without a hitch. Thank you for all the preparations that went in to getting the car ready for us. We got in only an hour later than it usually takes due to holiday traffic and today we are adjusting to civilian life. Thank you for having us for Thanksgiving and Thanks for the car. Hope you all had a happy Holiday!

Peace and Blessings!

the baby kicks

On Monday, we had a surprise visitor. Nicole's cousin, Jubal, came into town and stayed with us on his way to audition for an opera. Before picking him up at Union Station, we decided to get dinner in Chinatown! We found a neat little restaurant. The place was really busy and the waitresses were constantly shouting in Chinese. Nicole was delighted by the General Tso's Chicken. She said it was the best she had ever eaten. The restaurant also served fantastic noodles. The best part of the whole experience was that the chinese food didn't make us feel sick afterwards. Clayton was delighted with the atmosphere of hanging ducks in the window and the street view of the chef preparing fresh dumplings. For those who visit DC, the place is a real treat.

The next morning Nicole took Jubal to the opera audition and then off to the airport. On the way they got stuck in DC rush hour traffic. While Jubal was practicing his beautiful audition music with the car window open, another car with loud rap music playing pulled up right next to them. It was quite a contrast. We hope he did well on his auditions and wish him luck.

Later on Tuesday Clayton was feeling sick, so he came home early and Nicole nursed him back to health. He was able to stay at school the whole day on Wednsday, but found that he didn't need to stay late on Thursday and Friday. Nicole was enthralled. She came home from babysitting on Thursday to find that Clayton had made her dinner and brought her sunflowers.

Friday Nicole barely made it to her appointment with the doctor for her glucose testing. The test involves drinking something close to a flat orange soda exactly one hour before drawing blood for the test. The test is for diabetes, which she hopefully doesn't develop as this week's pregnacy craving was for toaster strudels. YUM! Then she rushed back home for another babysitting appointment. Clayton took a final on Friday and did pretty well and then went right back into preparing for the next finals. After Thanksgiving, he will be pretty busy studying for finals.

This week Nicole has started to really feel the baby kicking. So Saturday Clayton spent some time trying to see or feel the kicking for himself. He may need to wait a little longer before he can feel it. On Monday we will find out the gender of the baby (for real this time) and we will keep you all posted Saturday night we went to a couple's house to play a board game. It was called 7 wonders and Nicole liked it because she won. Clayton only likes games when you can cheat. This must be why he likes hockey so much.

Today we went to church and afterwards we got set apart for our callings. Our congratulations to Mike Burrow on shaving his mustache. What has it been? 25-30 years since he has been mustache free?
We are both looking forward to the nice break next week and we are so excited to see Nicole's family for Thanksgiving.

Hope you all have a wonderful week.
Peace and Blessings!

Bengal Spice + Hot Chocolate = The Cutest bunny EVER

This week Nicole's pregnant bump is starting to get more defined. Clayton has decided that in order to keep himself from looking pregnant too, he needs to start working out. Clayton hates exercising for exercising's sake, but he thinks this is a worthy cause. So Monday night for family home evening, Nicole and Clayton did yoga from a DVD that Nicole found. Every night when Clayton gets home, he is doing yoga. So far all of Clayton's back problems have disappeared and he feels much better. We'll see if he continues the routine after Christmas.

Nicole and Clayton await anxiously to know the gender of the baby, but will have to wait until Nov. 21st.  Nicole spent all of Tuesday and Wednesday trying to find the best place to have the ultrasound done that also takes her insurance. We are so excited to visit Nicole's family in Kentucky for Thanksgiving, and thankfully we will find out the gender of the baby the day before we depart to Kentucky.

Thursday Clayton surprised Nicole by coming home early. He has been feeling a bit worn out from writing the same paper for the past six weeks. Writing law papers has proved to be much different from writing like a normal person. Apparently the students are supposed to take everything they have ever learned about writing and throw it out the window. Perhaps this is why lawyers are notorious for being terrible writers. When Clayton is feeling a bit depleted from law school he sometimes looks at this "cutest bunny ever" photo that he found.

Friday Nicole spent some time with her cousin, Catherine, helping her family take family pictures for Christmas. She was reminded of Natalie and how much she loves family photos. Later, Clayton and Nicole went on a last minute date so Clayton could get a brake from writing his paper. We attempted to see a movie but nothing looked very tempting so we went to Noodles and Company where Nicole could eat normal food and Clayton could have something Asian. (Oddly enough it was Nicole's Italian dish that made us both sick.) Then we took a stroll to one of our favorite stores, The World Market. Its kind of like a museum of international artifacts that you can actually touch. Clayton bought a Russian treat to share with Nicole. It was vanilla flavored ground up sesame seed powder that she thought tasted like vanilla flavored baby formula. Apparently the "actual" Russian treat is much better because it is ground up sunflower seeds. Nicole bought some shortbread cookies that she used to love in England. When they returned home Clayton made the most amazing hot chocolate (he uses the bengal herbal tea to season it) and they watched a movie.

Saturday we went to Costco, which for some reason Clayton finds very therapeutic. Perhaps it's all the FREE samples. Then for the rest of the day/evening, Nicole worked on preparing for a talk on tithing and Clayton worked on his paper.

Sunday Nicole gave her talk while Clayton made funny faces at her from the second row. Then immediately after church Clayton's home teaching companion took Clayton off to go home teaching and Nicole gave his wife a ride home. Clayton also had his first meeting with the scout committee shortly after home teaching and then had to turn in his paper, so it was a busy day for him.

Hope you all have a wonderful week.
Love,
the DC Preece's

D.C. Temple

On Halloween, we took cookies to our home/visiting teaching families. Then we came home and made some wassel and started reading Dracula by Bram Stoker. It is a great book. We highly recommend it to anyone looking for a spooky thriller.

Tuesday Nicole and Clayton both had lots of work to do.

On Wednesday, Clayton had a meeting with the JRCLS. The national conference will be in D.C. in 2013 and he will be working on the planning committee.

On Thursday, Clayton came home early and we decided to go for a walk down by the river. The leaves were super beautiful. unfortunately we forgot our camera so not pictures. While we were walking. Clayton spotted a huge bird in one of the trees. We watched it for a while trying to figure out what kind of bird it was. Suddenly the bird flew to a closer branch. It was a huge owl! It sat on the branch staring at us. It was super cool. It had gigantic eyes. We were so disappointed that we did not have our camera.

On Saturday, we went to the temple! The D.C. temple is HUGE! It is also really beautiful. The grounds are neat because it is surrounded by a forest.

After the temple, Nicole was craving Olive Garden. We found one on our GPS, but when we got there it was no longer in business. Nicole was so sad. We decided just to drive home. On our way home we spotted a little Italian restaurant and decided to go there. We walked in and there were only four tables and a bar. The room smelled really smokey. We were about to leave when a guy sitting at one of the tables said, "The restaurant is through those doors. We were really relieved. We sat down and the server was super friendly. The food was delicious. We had this really yummy calamari in a tangy lemon sauce.  They also served yummy bread with an olive oil, basil, garlic and sun-roasted tomato dipping sauce. The sauces on the pasta were really good. The food was also pretty reasonably priced. When the waiter brought us the check, he also brought us some tiramisu, on the house. It was really yummy. We really liked the restaurant and will probably go back... someday.



This week we received a sweet letter from Brianne and Cailie. Thanks for your kind words.

Out of Tune

This week

Here is a picture of us at the corn maze last week.

Clayton spent extra time tying to get caught up from his week off.

Nicole came and visited him and law school on Tuesday. We went to the J. Ruben Clark Society (JRLS) reception.  The JRLS is the Lds law club. It was fun to be there with other students and see all the little kids running around. The event was fun. We got to talk with some of Clayton's fellow classmates. We learned that one of the served in the same mission, at the same time, as Joseph (Nicole's cousin) and they knew each other. They sang together at different functions during their missions. The menu was interesting; there was a taco bar, there was also mac and cheese and chicken fingers for the kids, apple juice and a big tub of ice cream.

On Wednesday, Nicole came up to the law school again to go with Clayton to the Art Law Society panel. Nicole got to hear about law and the arts. It helped her to realize just how awesome it is not to be a lawyer and to be the one making the art. After the event was over we walked to china town. After surveying the fabulous culinary offerings we opted to go to Fudruckers.  We also saw a really cool water fountain at the International Monetary Fund building. We also saw a segway gang. Apparently there are night tours of the city on segways.  We were afraid we had come across a vile group of segway mercenaries, whose evil deeds are the white collar equivalent to the hell's angels.

We rode the metro home. We were feeling kinda gross because the metro car we were on was a bit... sticky. This reminded Clayton of something he saw a few days ago while riding the metro. There was a family with three or four kids riding to the zoo. The kids were super excited and were going crazy while their parents tried to keep them under control. The dad was trying to get two of the boys to sit down in the seat. When he turned around, his younger son was licking the window of the metro. The father was incapacitated with disgust. He just stood there, his jaw dropped and he let out a slight whimper. At this point the mother also noticed the boy licking the window.  She was quicker to act than her stupefied husband. She made a mad grab at the boy, pinned him to the seat and began a germaphobic lecture in an attempt to scare the child straight. The dad just stood there.

On Thursday Nicole received a call from her Mom about her Grandfather Fred. At the doctor's office, they found a growth in his lungs. On Monday he will receive further scans and decide the best course of action. He is in our thoughts and in our prayers.

On Friday, Nicole's friend, Hilary, who has a two year old little boy, invited her to go to the ward trunk or treat. Her husband is a lawyer and was out of town. As Clayton was still studying, Nicole too was widowed for the night by her law career husband. So they went together. It was fun to see all the little kids running around with candy-crazed eyes, finding ways to run the trunk circuit multiple times without getting caught. One of the trunks was decorated as a Wonka-vision nerds packet that transformed the giant candy bar into a smaller size. The couple was dressed as Willy Wonka and an umpa lumpa. In another display, a single lady in the ward dressed up as the queen of hearts and set a "throne" up in the back of her truck.  She made everyone bow to her before she would give them candy. Hilary's son was dressed as the cutest little robot. He had a duck tape covered box with dryer exhaust vents for the arms and legs. The original design had the child wearing a sweatshirt underneath, but it was much colder than expected, so when he put on his winter coat he couldn't really move his arms, let alone bow to a "queen of hearts," so he skipped that one.

Saturday we were assigned to help clean the church, but Clayton threw his back out and wasn't felling up to going, so we skipped it. It was probably a good call because Clayton stayed lying on his back for the rest of the day, icing it. It feels a little better, but these things take time to fully heal. Hopefully, we'll be able to help clean next time. Nicole's piano tuning kit came on Saturday and she was a bit apprehensive to start right away. We did find an electric tuner online to assist, but our computer isn't really portable so we moved the piano to the computer. Now it sits in the middle of our living room and will be there until she decides to finish tuning it. We'll see. Tuning a piano is much more tricky than it looks. Saturday was also the day we found out that Clayton got a speeding ticket. He got caught on camera when he was helping to transport the new piano. The bill was sent to his parent's address in Utah. It wasn't a huge fine, but it was a super bummer because it was Clayton's first speeding ticket.

Today was stake conference and we enjoyed the talks, though parking was a bit crazy. Nicole was worried about Clayton's back having to sit for two hours, but he did OK. After the meeing, Clayton received a calling. He will be on the troupe committee and is excited to be working with the scouts again.

We hope all is well with you, peace and blessings!

Butterflies and Pumpkins

First, because we know everyone wants to find out, we still don't know for sure the gender of baby. Apparently we have to wait until she is 20 weeks along to get that joyful news. So far, mom and baby are doing well.

We had a great week with Reagan, Brittany and Roxanne.  Missed you David, hopefully you'll be able to come with next time.

On Monday, Clayton studied for his midterm, while Nicole and entourage visited Georgetown. They ended up driving through a couple private gardens by accident and were scolded by the groundskeeper. They also got some delicious cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcake. They picked up Clayton after he was finished studying and the whole group went to Alexandria.

We got shut down at the Free Mason Temple, again. It closes at 4:00pm, we missed it by fifteen minutes. From there we took everyone to see the torpedo factory. We had dinner at a pizza place called Bugsy's. It is owned by a former Habs and Caps player. (Hockey). The restaurant is a tribute to the American melting pot. We ate Italian food in a restaurant owned by a Canadian and were served by Hispanics.  As you can imagine the food tasted good on the way in but caused lots of problems on the way out. With only one bathroom in our apartment, the competition was fierce. 

 Nicole is super grateful for all the meals that Roxanne cooked while she was out here. When you are sick and not feeling well there is no substitute for mom.

On Tuesday, Clayton took his midterm. Everyone else was sick so we stayed at home. We forced Reagan and Brittany to come with us to the Asian market. They were good sports. Especially when they were drastically disappointed by the not so sweet, sweet treats. (we forced them to pick something to try). Clayton liked the Tomato Candy.  We also got some pumpkins and had a pumpkin carving competition. Clayton and Brittany were one team and Reagan and Nicole were the other. Roxanne was the judge and in true maternal fashion, everybody won.  We had lots of fun.

 Wednesday, Brittany and Reagan hung out with their cousins. Nicole and Roxanne went shopping for maternity clothes. Clayton didn't want to go shopping so he tried to fulfill an assignment for his Civil Procedure class that requires him to go to a court proceeding. After waiting for two hours at the DC superior court. He was told that he would have better luck if he came back the next day... He didn't.

On Thursday, we all went downtown. We went on a driving tour of the monuments that ended when we ran out of gas in the middle of DC! We pushed the car to a parking spot. Clayton ended up taking a cab to find a gas station. Apparently to dissuade the potential terrorist there are no gas stations near the National Mall. Nicole took Regan and Brittany to see the natural history museum and Roxanne stayed with the car. After Clayton and Roxanne got the car sorted, we all met up and went through the butterfly bubble. It is a cool room inside the Smithsonian that has butterflies floating around. It was really cool, because they land on you! Nicole had a butterfly that stayed on her the whole time we were in the room. 

On a more somber note, we toured the National Holocaust museum. It made us really grateful for all that we have. It was interesting to be there with Nicole and Roxanne, because they visited some of the concentration camps while they were in Europe.

On Friday, We said goodbye to Reagan, Brittany and Roxanne. Then we went to the doctor and got to hear baby's heart beat again. We also drove out into the country side to go to a corn maze. The maze was super simple.

On Sunday, Nicole played the piano in primary. She felt a little rusty but did well.

Check out our pumpkins. The pirate ship one is Brittany's and Clayton's(they were particularly proud of the pirate ship shadow they made. The Flaming Tree roots is Nicole and Reagan's.

Here is the piano Nicole found on Craig's list. It plays a lot better after we took the shower cap, drill bit, markers, and lip gloss out of the inside!

The New Addition

We are super excited to have Roxanne, Regan and Brittany visiting us.

After a long wait, Nicole finally got a piano. She scoured craigslist and after a checking a few out, she found one that was suitable. She is super excited to be able to practice again. We rounded up a whole crew to lift it into the back of Clayton's truck. We are super grateful for the help we had getting into our apartment. It is a little warn around the edges, and is a little out of tune, but she is excited to have it.

Clayton had a big paper due this week. After a three late nights he got it turned in. He is hoping it goes well. He has a mid term on Tuesday and is excited for it be over with because then he will get the rest of the week off. (except doing some homework for next week, compiling his notes, and going to a court case)

We get to find our baby's gender, for sure, on Friday! We will let you all know how it goes.

Biscuits, Doughnuts, and Spiders, Oh My!

Clayton spent more time than usual working on homework and papers this week. The Law Students are all buckling down for a nasty week and half. They have midterms next Tuesday and a big paper due on next Sunday.

In other news, Nicole only threw up twice this week. She is starting to feel better. Which is great. We did have a late night KFC biscuit craving but that was fairly easy to resolve. We made a mini kitchen in our living room because Nicole thinks the kitchen smells like gasoline and or other flammable gasses.   She has several theories, Clayton is unconvinced but moved the microwave, the "easy bake oven", and a pantry shelf of food out into the living room. The plus side is that know we can reheat our meals with out getting up from the table. We have plans for the toilet, to complete the maximization of our living space/ eating habits.

Nicole got the details for her freelance graphic design job and is happy to be working again. She has also been baby sitting for some people in our ward. Luckily, she still likes children after her baby-sitting jobs.

We had a home invasion of the arachnid variety. Nicole freaked out! Clayton calmly caught it and over came Nicole's chants of "KILL IT! KILL IT! Its brown recluse its going to kill us in our sleep! Its already smelled our flesh!" Clayton drove it to a distant park and released it into the wild. While Nicole researched spiders and found out it was not a brown recluse. Brown recluses don't live in Virginia. (But they do live in Kentucky, beware!) Ours was a Funnel Web Spider.

We are looking forward to next week for several reasons. Members of the Woodbury clan are coming to visit us.

Big shout out to CalDon and the West Lake High Cross-Country Team for qualifying for state. We do have a question and or suggestion for the team. First, if you are the West Lake Thunder does that make you West Lake's Thunder Thighs? If not, then you should be and make jackets!

Props to Amanda for getting a "amazing life changing role." She is playing the part of Donna Anna in Don Giovanni.  The lead female role.  Clayton has been dying (not intended to be a factual statement) to find out what an opera singer does when they get the hiccups during a performance?

Clayton made doughnut holes for Nicole for breakfast on Saturday. He served them to her in bed as a surprise.


Nicole didn't tell Clayton about Roxanne's birthday on Friday and now he feels like a jerk. HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY ROXANNE! 

Peace and Blessing are Back

(because we went to another ghetto Wal-Mart and are grateful we got out alive)

More "Baby" Pics

On Monday, Nicole went to see the doctor. They did a nuchal translucency test; the tests were screenings for genetic anomalies. Nicole got to see the baby kicking and jumping around! As the doctor said, "It will flop around like a fish!" It was amazing. They also did some additional ultra-sounds. We got the test results on Friday and so far everything is great.

Nicole thinks the picture in the middle looks like Clayton. Maybe he should be the baby for Halloween.

This week was particular rough at law school. Clayton had several extra late nights trying to keep up with the work load. On Thursday, Clayton got cold called for the first time. (cold calling is when the professor calls on students at random to present the facts and arguments in a specific case.) This was a little nerve racking.

Nicole also got hooked up with a freelance graphic design job!

On Saturday, Clayton competed in a negotiations contest. He almost didn't get to compete because there was construction on the metro line and it took him a long time to get into D.C. The teams were given scenarios and had to argue/negotiate for the best result for their client.  He really enjoyed the negotiating and wants to take some negotiations classes next year.

On Friday night we went on a date. Nicole felt liberated from the smelly apartment and did not want to go home. So we walked around a smelly parking lot instead. She is hoping the naseua will end soon.

We also got to watch General Conference. We enjoyed the talks and especially enjoyed just being together. Between sessions on Saturday we started reorganizing the apartment. We are still trying to get settled in our quirky layout. While Clayton went to priesthood session, Nicole went to a party with some sisters in the ward. She had a good time and got to make more friends.

During the Sunday sessions, Clayton made another batch of tamales. He really likes taking them for lunch. 

When Life Gives You Lemons

This was a pretty routine week for us. Accordingly, here are a few highlights.

Fall has started! Nicole is super excited about this. She loves the way the air smells and the cooler air. The leaves are just barely starting to change. She is also looking forward to diving into her scarf collection. She also loves pumpkin and is craving pumpkin pie and all things related to pumpkin.

Clayton finished his first month of law school. He loves it so far, but he hears that things are going to start getting tougher. He also turned in his first graded assignment.

Due to Nicole's super human sense of smell, we now switch bedrooms depending on which one smells better. Luckily we have two bedrooms. Often after we lay down to go to bed, Nicole decides that the room is too smelly and we switch.

The new trick is to carry a lemon around with her. She heard that her grandma used to do this and she never threw up when she was pregnant. She sniffs it and it helps to block out all the other smells. She scratches the lemon to make the smell come out more. The lemon helps to reduce or eliminate the nausea. Nicole thinks that smelling the lemon causes her body to focus on the threat of eating a lemon rather than the threat of throwing up. Does anyone know if you can get high off lemons?

For some reason this week, the steam from the shower keeps setting of the fire alarms. So every once in a while, we wake up the whole house by taking a shower.

On Thursday Clayton came home early from school. We went out and got some ice cream. This was the highlight of Nicole's week.

We went to Panera on Friday. Clayton was less than impressed with the chick food, but Nicole really liked the Mac'n'Cheese. There was a movie theater near by so we decided to see what was playing. Instead of going to see a movie, we decided to make up our own.

On Saturday our land lord came down and checked out somethings that are wrong with the apartment. One of the baseboards in the kitchen was mildewy and on further inspection it turns out that the whole wall is mildewy. Our landlord removed the baseboard and we are trying to dry the wall out with fans. No wonder Nicole was unable to go in the kitchen.

Clayton got Nicole out of bed early today by making crepes. Church was righteous. Nicole has friends in the ward and is happy.

Shout out to Regan. Congrats on getting the learners permit. Try not to scare or scar your mom with your new driving skillz.

Also shout out to Liesl, on getting a silver medal at her first figure skating competition. Clayton wants to know when you will see the light and get skates without a toe-pick. Nicole wishes we could have seen it.

Smells are Everywhere!

In response to the difficulty viewing our precious pre-baby baby pictures we decided, with the help of technology, to create some post-baby baby pictures. We found a website online that merges your faces to give you potential babies. So through the digital merging of our pictures we are happy to give you a computer rendering of several versions of our baby. Nicole thinks they are adorable. Clayton thinks they have potential.Clayton had several late nights this week and Nicole had several rough days. She learned that if she eats something hourly it helps with the nausea. Clayton signed up for the Alternative Dispute Resolution Competition. He will be competing in a few weeks.

Nicole has a particular tough time with smells. Nicole went on a walk one day and when she came back our landlord saw her plugging her nose. He was like "why are you doing that? it doesn't smell bad out here. It just smells like outside." Nicole explained that being pregnant gives you super human olfactory factories; she can smell everything and everything is potent! Clayton suggested that she use her respirator. It has worked fairly well. It is super funny though.

We want to give a big congratulations to McKell and Tanner (aka T-dog) on their engagement.

On Thursday Clayton got to meet the senior legal council of Apple. He was a really cool guy. He graduated from GW Law in 86. He told us about his experiences with the company and his experiences at Intel, he worked there as senior council as well. Unfortunately, for all you liberal mac users out there, he prefaced his remarks by saying he would NOT be discussing any future products. (Nicole resents that comment)

Friday, we switched doctors. We met our new doctor. He is Haitian. He speaks with a thick accent but he is still easy to understand. He is very friendly and informative. He helped us understand more about the whole process of having a baby. For example, it is possible that Nicole's vision will change. We got to hear the heartbeat and Nicole thinks it is the most beautiful sound she has ever heard. Clayton thinks it sounds a lot like a helicopter, which is pretty cool. He told us that it is an absolute miracle Nicole is pregnant. Statistically, she beat all the odds. This just helped confirm Clayton's suspicion that she is one in six billion.

We went to a sculpture garden on Saturday. It was a little weird because it was all around the sculptor's house. So we just walked around his yard looking at his sculptures. Nicole thinks they are very good. He had a lot of them. Clayton took a few pictures. Nicole is teaching Clayton how to use Photoshop. He likes the unlimited and ultimate power it gives him. ( Clayton's favorite photo that he has edited so far, he calls "Buffalo Tyler," inspired by Tyler's dream to own a pygmy buffalo ranch. )

Nicole got a calling today in church. We will let you know what it is in a few weeks. The Bishop wants to wait to make it official. Clayton was told he would not get a calling for a while. The first councilor, who is an attorney, thinks that Clayton has enough on his plate with law school for right now.

That's all we have for the week.

A Walk in the Park

Greetings all,

On Monday, we went to old town Alexandria. We drove instead of taking the metro because Nicole's stomach wouldn't handle the odors of public transportation. We started off at the Free Mason memorial for George Washington. It was closed. So we walked around the grounds and decided that we would come back when Tyler comes out to visit. They have a large collection of artifacts that were donated by George's family.

From there we went to the Torpedo Factory. We drove down king street which Nicole thinks is very long. Nicole thinks that any street that we drive down is long because the truck is bouncy and it makes her sick. Luckily we were able to park by the torpedo factory. The Torpedo Factory is a collection of artist's studios inside of what used to be a torpedo factory. The first artist we met was a sculptor from Italy. She talked to Nicole and introduced her to some other artist. She kept introducing Nicole as a "Budding Sculptor". Nicole got hungry and as she is pregnant that meant she had to eat something immediately. As we perused the street we caught a wiff of something delicious. We wandered near and far to locate it but were we unsuccessful. We did find a tasty little bakery and got a raspberry cheesecake brownie. Nicole's hunger crisis averted, Clayton insisted on a quest to find the yummiest restaurant in Alexandria. After two hours of wandering in the heat, Nicole put her tiny but never the less powerful foot down. We found a disappointing but "acceptable" place to eat. Clayton still mourns the lost opportunity of eating at a Cajun restaurant where the daily special was alligator soup. After one wiff of the place Nicole refused to continue reading the menu. So depressing Italian it was. We were both shocked to learn, upon reading the history of the building, that the restaurant was a former brothel. We gave it 2.2 on the Niclay sweet treats(Reagan) and personal pleasures(Cailie) scale. After lunch, we walked around a park and the pier until it started to rain. We found shelter near the Torpedo Factory, where a man played music on crystal goblets. According to the man, distilled water works best. After that we called it a day.

Tuesday- Nicole dropped Clayton at the slug line (he finally caved after experiencing the joy of sleeping in again) then stayed home and worked on her website. This is what the house looks like. It Rained

Wednesday- Nicole stayed home again and worked on her website. More picture of what the house looks like. Clayton came home late because he had a meeting. It Rained

Thursday-The RS pres. came and visited Nicole in the home. Nicole tried not to be nauseous. More pictures of what the house looks like. It kept raining.

Friday- Nicole made Butter Chicken. One of her favorite (dot) Indian dishes. When Clayton got home, late again. Nicole was devastated that she could not eat the butter chicken she spent hours making because it made her nauseous. Clayton got to not only eat but enjoy it.

Saturday- We went to see the Battle Field of Manassas. We did a five minute quick tour because Nicole started feeling nauseous. We thought it would be better not to vomit on hallowed ground. We would prefer not to be haunted by civil war ghosts for desecrating their memory.

Sunday. Church. Clayton made tamales. Yum.

Peace and Blessings