End of Nov. update - Sharon

Hi Family!
highlights from the past couple of weeks.
Our visit to Utah! So fun. It was good to be back with the Quinns. We were able to meet neice and nephew Truman and Jean for the first time. Anthony comes from cute baby genes. Woohoo! It's probably related to having cute genes in general. Anyway, it's sweet to know that baby Quinn will be entering a family with uncles that will go on their treasure hunts, and Grandparents that will cuddle and play with him/her.
While we were there, Valine, Camille, and Tiff threw an awesome baby shower for us. Lots of Quiche and yummy food. Aunt Dorothy and Mary, Aunt Joanne, and cousin Laura (Wallace) were able to make it. I was really happy to see Uncle Don too, even though he hid out in the basement watching a grandson. I was also able to see an old room-mate and my mission trainer. Such great people in the world. And Generous! We got a ton of really cute, really useful things. I feel confident that our baby won't go cold or naked now. :)
Other UT highlights included
*the Turkey Trot: We walked a 5k, which felt really good. I'm so glad that my pregnancy is going well enough that I can do that.
* (Cousin) Jake Quinn's wedding: So sweet. They were both so much more composed that I was during our wedding. Temple weddings are the best! And they had excellent crepes at the reception. Mmm.
* Mckay performing in Savior of the World at the Conference Center. He's only 14 and probably one of the tallest in the whole cast. The performance was great!..and made me cry again this year.
* Food! Wow, those Quinns know how to cook. Anthony and I laughed about coming home to Pittsburgh to a scrambled egg dinner.
Anyway, I could go on and on. But I won't. The rest of life is good. Going back to work today wasn't nearly as crazy as it could have been. The main toddler teacher is off for the next two weeks to prepare for her wedding, then honey moon. So, we had 14 kids today including two toddlers. It went relatively smoothly. I was alone with them during nap time...which is a challenge. Getting 14 wiggly 2-5 year olds to sleep must be teaching me some sort of life skills, right? This week is outer space week! It'll be out of this world. :)
Anthony is presenting in class for one of his finals. After this week, he'll be pretty much done with school. Woohoo! He's pretty pumped.
I'll hit 34 weeks next Saturday, and am starting to feel pretty pregnant. For instance, swollen feet. When we went to Mckay's show, my shoes started to feel really tight. So of course I took them off for the show, but couldn't fit them on when the show was finished! Well, I guess I squeezed them on with overflowing pudge long enough to get out of the building. But as soon as we got out, I pried them off. Bodies are so amazing, and sometimes so weird.
Alright family, I love you all and thought all Thanksgiving about how grateful I am for you. Really, I don't think there is anything more important to me than the gospel, and the blessing of having family that lives it. Have a good beginning of December. Ah December. Bring it on!
Sharon

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Home Automation
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Thanks.

Sharon Update - request for flu prayers

This is a Sharon update, but I thought I would just add that I wrote a longer review of the Ballet if you want to read it, it is after this update.

Hi family,

It's been another eventful week....including...

* An awesome visit from the fire dept, to my preschool. This weeks theme was Heroes and Helpers, because most of my little boys seem to think that all heroes do are use their martial arts skills and run around and yell. So, we had a day on firefighters, medical emergencies, police, helping our friends...and of course superheroes. I got the local firefighters to come for a visit, and they ended up staying for a whole hour, gave a really thorough tour of the truck, and let the kids climb around it, including sitting in the drivers seat. They brought big stickers and little plastic hats for everyone. So cool.

* Anthony's Birthday! Thanks for all the calls and singing. It was also our first day of Lamaze classes. It was weird being around so many pregnant women. It seems like it'll be a pretty good class, especially when combined with what I've learned about the Bradley Method and a some of the relaxation imagery from Hypnobirthing. Don't worry, it's not as weird as it sounds.

* Ant's interview in Connecticut went well and they love him. Who couldn't? So, he'd be doing a 2 year leadership training program with GE starting January 10th. That's right, 6 days before the baby is born. Crazy!!! Anyway, it seems like an awesome program, and we're hoping they'll let us push back the start date till say...March 1st.

* Midwife appointment. Everything's on track. For my last appointment I couldn't believe that I was gaining a pound a week, but now it looks more like 2 lbs a week! Woah!!! The baby is head down which is a huge relief. Just stay that way please baby.

* Yesterday started off the way every Saturday should. Sleeping in, whole wheat waffles, grocery shopping, and then my body sort of started to shut down. We bought a thermometer for the first time in my life, and my temp was 100.5, at least. Ant's was coming up around 96 and 97, so I wouldn't be surprised if mine was actually closer to 101, 102. I called my midwife and he called in a perscription for Tamiflu. I feel much better today. My head, throat, nose and energy level are still not where they should be. But I'm feeling much less achy and a little less pukey. And my temperature is down. If you guys could keep us in your prayers that would be great. Now that my temp is down, I'm more worried about what the medication could do the baby. Tamiflu isn't suggested for pregnant women since there hasn't been any research on the effects on the baby. In rabbits and rats, it looks like it could cause minor bone deformities in offspring. Eek.

Love you guys!!!! Hope all is well with you!

Sharon

P.S. I forgot to mention that we went to the ballet Friday night to celebrate Ant's b-day. It was amazing! The performance was called "Light/the Holocaust and Humanity Project." It made me cry...and also want to dance again. But at this point the dance would probably include other dancers rolling me around. :)

Light/ The Holocaust and Humanity Project

Over the summer some friends in the ward contacted Sharon about going in together on season tickets for the Pittsburgh Ballet. The idea was that they would buy one set of season tickets and each person would choose one performance they wanted to see. It worked out that they all wanted to see different performances. We jumped on the opportunity to see Light / The Holocaust and Humanity Project. This ballet was created at Ballet Austin by the artistic director Stephen Mills.

Background: I guess the guy in charge of the Holocaust Museum in Pittsburgh and the director of the Pittsburgh Ballet talked about doing something around the Holocaust, one thing led to another and Stephen Mills from the Austin Ballet ended up coming and helping produce Light with the Pittsburgh Ballet. It makes sense to have a project like this in Pittsburgh where there is a fairly large Jewish community.

The Ballet: The ballet was divided in seven sections: Adam and Eve, Family, Target Behind Doors, Isolation and Degradation, Boxcar, Ashes, and Hush. Each section had its own piece of music and was contributed from five different composers. It was amazing how it came together and flowed.

Thoughts:

• I was thinking this could be really cool, or it would be really lame. Lucky for us, it was really cool.
• One thing that struck me as we were waiting for the program to start was that it really took a step back and started from the beginning creating the base that we are all brothers and sisters experiencing the World.
• The dancing was beautiful and very artistic.
• As the name suggests, light played a huge role and I really liked that. It was used not only to create mood, but added to the story serving as a driver to the plot as well as creating scenery.
• My favorite section was the ashes section. The choreography was beautifully danced, combined with a great score and dramatic lighting, it proved to be very moving.
• It was interesting that most of the sections were danced in customes that made the dancers appear nude. There was really only one section where they had clothes on, but at the end of that section they striped and the next section was danced as if they were in their undergarments. Some might find this distracting, but I thought it added to the dramatic effect and really helped focus attention on the human and suffering side of the holocaust.
• I really liked that no where in the ballet were the oppressors represented. None of the dancers were dressed in Nazi uniforms, swastikas, or anything else like that. It seemed to be more focused on the inner feelings and human sufferings experienced.

So, those are some of my thoughts. If this is ever performed in a ballet near you, I highly recommend it. I've embedded the ad PBT (Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre) had on youTube and a slideshow so you can get an idea of what it was like.

Fallingwater

Saturday was a beautiful day here in Pennsylvania. A bright blue sky and warmer than usual temperatures. It was a great day full of fun activities for us. This was one of our more eventful weekends as far as events worth reporting on. Read on for a full review of our happening weekend.

Magee-Womens Hospital
We had our official tour of the hospital where our little munchkin will most probably be born. (how is that for decisive?) I have to say I was impressed. The labor, delivery, recovery rooms were the most impressive. They were big. They not only had a bed, but they also had a bench/couch, chairs, and a whole lot of equipment hidden inside beautiful wooden cabinets. The interior decorating was almost nicer than our apartment. As we left the tour guide said we were headed to the post delivery suite. I was thinking if what we just saw was a room, the suite would have to be really nice. I was disappointed. It was little and didn't feel as homey, just more hospital like. The food is supposed to be great though. Anyway, it was great to get familiar with the hospital. The one big take away I got was I need to prepare for the post birth part. Car seats for the ride home, a doctor for the kid, and how to be a dad. I tend to be falling into school mode for that, meaning I'm planning on cramming between when finals get out and the birth of the baby.

Fallingwater
Wow. That is all I can say. I didn't realize just how close we are, just a short 1 hour drive, I think I will want to go again in the spring. The weather was amazing. We were able to walk comfortably through the nature trails on the grounds and see some good views of the house and observe how it blended into the surrounding environment. The tour of the inside was really fun too. It made me want to learn more about Frank Lloyd Wright. Apparently he hated clutter and designed his houses so it would be hard for his clients to fill his space with junk. He was also all about 'breaking out of the box'. I thought of the Pete Seeger song "Little Boxes".

pete seeger songs
Free Music | free Mp3

Anyway, most of the rooms had a part that opened up to the outdoors and made you forget you were in four walls. I especially liked the windows on the corners of the house that could open and the whole corner was open with an unobstructed view. Some other things I liked were the natural swimming pool at the guest house, the stairs that descended into the river, and Edgar Kaufmann, Jr.'s bedroom on the 3rd floor. He placed his bed in the part of the floor with the most windows positioned so when you were laying in bed you were looking out a window into the forest.

Candide
We were invited earlier this week by a couple in our ward to see the musical 'Candide'. Music by Leonard Bernstein, adapted from the book by Voltaire. I guess it is best described as a satire on the philosophies of optimism or the thought that this is the best of all worlds, created by a perfect God, and that everything that happens is the best of all possible things that could happen. There were some pretty funny parts. I found a good broadway version on youtube. You can watch the first part below. You probably want to fastforward to about 3 1/2 minutes in to get past the opening credits and overture.


The group that put on the version we saw is called Quantum Theatre. They are unique in that they don't have a regular theatre where they preform. Instead they move venues for every play they do, and they are usually in unusually places. We heard of them doing shows in cemeteries, out in the woods, and old warehouses. Last night they used an old abandoned car dealership building. They worked in a bunch of car props and references. It was fun. I liked the way they put the stage together. The orchestra (small) was in the middle of the stage like a 'pit crew' and all had on mechanic jumpers. I want to read the book now.

So that was our fun weekend. Now we are off to another fun and busy week. I will be doing some final round interviews and should be hearing back from some employers. Your prayers our welcomed.

Check out our photo album if you want more pictures.

Sharon update: entering November

Hi Family!

It's been another fun couple of weeks. Nothing super significant, mostly the everyday happy.

* Pregnancy: I'm starting to feel big and round. This weekend I kept bumping into things because I expect to fit into places that I no longer do. For Halloween I wore the same costume as last year. I was a pirate. Ah, the benefits of owner lots of clothes that were really loose to begin with. The only thing that didn't fit me, was a choker. My neck is getting fat! Oh well. I had an appointment with my midwife and everything seems to be going well. My blood tests came back normal, and everything is on target. The baby is a mover and shaker. I guess he or she still has enough room to do somersaults which is pretty fun.

* Anthony: Still in the waiting period of hearing back from potential employers. He has possibilities with Deloitte, IBM, GE, and E&Y. Keep us in your prayers. School keeps him busy, but he still makes lots of time to play with me.

* Play: We've enjoyed taking walks this beeaauuutiful autumn. Last weekend we soaked in all the colors on a great trail not far from our house. It feels like we live in such a community. We skipped an apple festival to go to a Library book and bake sale.

We took our friend, Gabe out for his birthday dinner at the best Indian restaurant I've ever been too. Mmmm. We'll take you there if you come visit us in Pittsburgh.

This Friday we left for D.C. right after I was done with work. We stayed with Mom and Dad who cut my hair, took us on a fun walking tour of Georgetown, and fed us good food. The highlight was going on a boat ride in a canal built in 1828. They changed the water level for us and pulled the boat/barge with mules. It was really cool. Then we were off to the temple, which was great as usual. We found out today in Stake conference that our temple district just got switched to the Columbus OH. But Mom and Dad make D.C. too appealing.

* Work: Work is going really well. This week is Dr. Seuss week. My kids make me laugh everyday. My energy level is kind of on the decline though. I found this last week that I start getting really tired at about 4:30, and hour before I'm done. So I think I'll have to start eating trail mix at 4:15 or something as a preventive measure.

Hope everything is going well with everyone!

Sharon

p.s. Has anyone ever taken fish oil pills? Ick. I force myself to take one every once in a while for those baby brain building omega-3s, but they make me taste fishiness for hours and hours afterwards. Have any tips?

Fall Fun

This fall has been rather enjoyable. This is the beautiful view on our back porch. Sharon has also written an update, so I will keep this short as we have a lot of overlap.

School: I survived the first half of the semester. I front loaded it, so I would have more time the last half to work on my capstone project. This has turned out to be a good thing because no one else on my team seems to have time to get things done, so it's good one of the six of us is thinking about it. That made it sound really bad, but it isn't that bad, it just feels that way some times. Tomorrow we have a major milestone due, that will be a good measure of how much effort everyone has been putting in. I've been enjoying my last classes, trying to get as much as I can out of school before I'm done.

Pregnancy: Sharon is doing well. I am amazed at how easy she makes being pregnant look. I always thought women got moody and cranky when they were pregnant, but so far life has been good. That could change as we enter the 3rd trimester. Everyone has been asking for a belly shot, so we came up with this idea on our walk.

Jobs: Sharon gave a good update on this. The job hunt has been taking a lot of time, about the equivalent to a whole other class. It could have been worse if I were traveling for more interviews; fortunately few companies are flying candidates out for on-site interviews. I guess that comes with difficult economic times. If the executives can't get flown around, why new hires? It's looking like Pittsburgh, Connecticut, or Boston could be potential landing spots for us right now. I've been reading about Connecticut the most and liking the possibility, except for the cost of living.

Fun: We did our annual pumpkin carving. As we were leaving DC we found we found ourselves wondering if they would be smashed when we got home. We took that as an omen. When we got back, they were gone. Down the street a ways we found remnants of pumpkin, but there was no way of identifying if they were ours, just the circumstantial evidence.











In my opinion this fall has been much better than last fall. I don't know if last year my head was down more or what, but fall this year has been spectacular. We've been able to get out and enjoy it more too. There is a great park near our house that drops into a ravine so you can't hear or see much of civilization. It was nice walking along the path and enjoying the trees. It was a nice calm day with little gusts of wind that would come and blow through the trees knocking dozens of leaves off the branches. The leaves would then slowly and peacefully float down to the ground. It reminded me of watching snow fall in the lamp light in front of our house when I was growing up. It made me happy.

Going back to DC was nice. I really liked Georgetown. The Chesapeake & Ohio Canal ride was fun. I liked when they filled the lock to bring the boat up to the next level. It was cool that they still had the original tow paths and had mules to pull us along for most of the tour. I wish they did longer tours. I liked learning about the history of the canal too. We were lucky to catch it on the last weekend of the year. If anyone is in DC when it is running I commend it.

I'm looking forward to the next few weekends. We are going to Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater and a ballet called Light / The Holocaust & Humanity Project. So we should have some good updates/reviews coming up soon.

For more fun photos you can see our online photo album.