Lisa n Tom (n James n Joseph)

Lisa writes: Much thanks to Crystal and Tim for inviting us over for Saturday breakfast. It was super terrific to have Annie and Corey and their kiddos there, too. We live right across the border, but for whatever reason, we just NEVER get into Maryland. And there's proof that there are lots of good reasons we should!

Lisa writes: We had an ultrasound yesterday morning and found out we're not quite as pregnant as we thought we were. This is going to get technical, so I shall use illustrations to explain the complicated medical terminology. Illustration 1: The artistic rendering to the right is a very near likeness of what you should see at an 8 week ultrasound. The dark circle is the embryonic sac, and you can clearly see the fetus contained within. Illustration 2: The next picture shows what we saw while peering into the monitor yesterday. The house was ready, but nobody was home. So what now? We wait for a while, then try again. This is the part where Tom whines, "It's sooo much work." Poor Tom. Poor, poor Tom. Tom sputters: It's not like that! I just take my spousal responsibilities very seriously! Less tongue in cheek, we want to thank those of you who have wished us well with this development. So far, it has seemed like many of you have taken the news harder than we ha...

Lisa writes: Here is Debbie last week at the Hogle Zoo in SLC as a "beeeuuteeful budderfly." A couple of days later she could have been taking this picture in four inches of snow. Spring is a weird time of year.

Lisa writes: I'm a bigamist. At least according to the IRS. Through a complicated sequence of events understood only by the Social Security Department, Tom is recognized under two different personal ID numbers. This makes filing taxes even cooler .

Lisa writes: Tom wasn't the only one celebrating a milestone on St. Patrick's Day, or even the only one wearing a silly hat. Baby Benjamin turned four months old.

Lisa writes: A little bit older, a little bit cuter. That's just how it is with Tom. We celebrated his birthday twice, once with friends at Ireland's Four Provinces Pub. Here is Tom making friends with the major concession stand item of the day. Here we are, looking festive. Look for the guy in the Utilikilt in the background. And here is Tom again on Sunday when we had lunch with Clan Anderson. Thanks for the cute presents, Wellers. Um, personally, I'm voting against twins.

Lisa writes: Happy Birthday, Tom! I'm watching you from across the room as I write this. You really do get better-looking each day. According to family legend, your first word was "airplane." But even before that, it looks like you were trying to express the same thought through interpretive dance. The one and only proof of baby fatness that I've ever seen. Plotting your escape. Pretty eyes. (And pretty teeth, too, once they all grew in.) What you were doing in 1984 ... wait a minute, that's what you're doing right NOW! I love you! You're the cutest and I'm so happy I married you. Love, Lisa

Lisa writes: My former roommate Molly back in Denver wrote recently to let me know that Freako is still alive and well. Freako was the only survivor of a failed experiment in aquaculture integration in my dad's large dental office tanks. (Since "Finding Nemo," it's an American Dental Association requirement that all dental offices must stock 25-gallon fish tanks.) Madison named him because of his easily spooked personality. He especially doesn't like it when you turn on the light in his tank. He dives down to the bottom and tries to bury himself in the rocks. I've been told this is a juvenile behavior: the fish equivalent of curling into fetal position. He also gets constipated on regular fish food. The high fat / low fiber content gives him gas bubbles and he gets stuck at the top of the tank. The trick is peas. Pinch a couple of peas and toss them in the tank. Freako has outlived dozens of tankmates, one high-ammonia scare, two moves, and solitary confinemen...

Tom writes: Lisa and I came home from a meeting at church, took a walk, and sat down on the couch. We had a light dinner (several hours ago, Lisa is quick to point out) and Lisa's hands were shaking. "I need some sugar," she states. "Would you like some juice?" "Sure" So she joins me for a moment in the kitchen, and while I am getting the juice, she has grabbed a bag of chips and some salsa. I do not notice the cottage cheese. "Good idea," I think. "Maybe I'll have some too." So far, so good. We get back to the couch and I reach for the dip. This is when I notice (just in the nick of time) the cottage cheese - and the salsa mixed together. And I skip the dip, thank you very much. The irony, as we were sitting down before the shaking hands bit, she was having me read an entry on a website for pregnancies that said that at this point in her pregnancy: "Studies show that up to 90 percent of women yearn for at least on...

Lisa writes: Tom is ___ . a. Preparing for future homeownership by perfecting his caulking skills. b. Playing a very literal version of that fun church game where you endure boring speakers by opening the hymnbook to random pages and adding "in the bathtub" to the end of every hymn. c. Saving Holland.

(1 second long) Lisa writes: Along the lines of "something borrowed," my good friend Heidi loaned me her wedding dress. Ultimately, I ended up with a different one (that's a whole other story), but here I am trying it out a year ago (a month after getting engaged). I recommend turning off the sound on your computer and then hitting Play over and over again.

Lisa writes: The home inspection today went really well. Mr. and Mrs. Clean's obsessive/compulsive devotion to cleaning and maintenance really paid off in the basement, where the inspector accused them of polishing the pipes and possibly Turtle Waxing the water heater. By the way, Tom and I have a back-up plan in case the astronomical mortgage payments prove to be too much for us. There's a fortune in copper down there. Unfortunately it's currently being used to, you know, route water through the house. But in a pinch...

Lisa writes: Last night, Tom said, "It's fun being little celebrities again." Both of us are generally kind of low-news people, so when something big happens -- like when we got engaged -- it was fun to have all the attention. (But after a while it gets exhausting and then it's fun to finally just get married.) Click "Comments" to read some samples of the electronic feedback our latest announcement has generated. Thanks for sending so much love our way.

Tom writes: When we woke up this morning, Lisa and I knew that big things were in store for us. We had an appointment with the real estate agent to put out a contract on this house, which we saw over the weekend. After many months of looking, we were kind of excited to jump into the market. However, there was one other little bit of news that caught us by surprise on the way out the door... Yup, it looks like one of the first orders of business in our new house will be to set up a crib - at least some time before the end of October! We spent the first part of the day elated, called friends and family with the good news, and went out for lunch to celebrate. By the end of the day, though, we are crashing pretty hard, so off to bed...

Lisa writes: Another weekend of house hunting; another couple of amazing houses. The first one on the right was VERY cheap at $409K ... and hadn't had anything upgraded since probably the Nixon administration. There was one corner of a bedroom where the dog's repeated peeing on the floor had literally dissolved right through the carpet. And then we saw this house for $485K that had the front bay window all boarded up. Why? we wondered. Because vandals had smashed all the panes and then, apparently, climbed into the empty house to explore and managed to cut themselves and drip BLOOD all through the living room, up the stairs, and onto the walls. It was like "The Shining."

Lisa writes: You're a DECADE old! Welcome to the two-digit club. You were my first favoritest niece and Tom and I just love you all to pieces.

Lisa writes: Today is our six-month anniversary. Gosh, that went by fast!