My Husby

Keaton has been known to mutter a thing or two in his sleep, which is quite entertaining to me since I lived with Carolanne for most of my life and consider listening to sleep-talk a kind of a sport. (The key is to question them, make them repeat what they said. You get some real gems that way.) For instance, the other night Keaton woke me up out of a near-dead sleep with a very loud exclamation of "What the heck?!" in the dead of the night. When I tried to get him to explain what had startled him (Did you hear something? See something? Is someone trying to get into the house?) All I got was a half-mumbled answer about an undead army. Someone has been playing too many video games.

So last night I couldn't sleep at all. My head just kept racing, thinking about a mile a minute about worrisome things... what's with this economy? Can we make ends meet? Should I have spent that extra twenty bucks on that picture frame I had to have? Will my work be able to cut my hours to what they should be when I come back from maternity, if not, how will I take care of my baby? Will I have to find another job? Will I be able to find another job, part time with benefits? What would happen if Keaton's temporary job doesn't get renewed? Will we be able to keep our house? What about school? Will I be able to finish? How will we get Keaton through? And for heavens sake, I'm going to have a baby in like, TWENTY FOUR HOURS!!!....will he be healthy? Will I be a good mom?.... and on, and on and on. I can't turn my brain off to get some of the rest I desperately need.

Then my sleeping husband stirs a little, rolls over and wraps his arms around me. (Not an easy feat at the moment.) Then he sleepily whispers into my hair, "Don't worry, your husby has got you."

It wasn't long before I drifted away with that reassurance, sleep-talk or not. I shouldn't worry. My husby has got me.

I love my husby.

Sexy? Saturday

So tonight we had our annual (sometimes semi annual) sexy saturday, though it was more of a low-key baby shower type of affair than the usual glamour-fest. The girls got back together to go out to eat and have a co-shower for me and Tia, who is due in December. It was so fun to see everyone, though the "sexy" part doesn't really fit too well into my current description. :)

Sorry, Nancy! You have to be in this, too!
Better!


And lastly, my personal souvenir from a long day on my feet. Yeah. Sexy.

Keaton's Birthday

Snowbasin, September 27, 2008

(Happy Birthday, Elder Campbell)

Me and Lil Squirt

On Saturday after a very last-minute photo shoot, Keaton and I were able to go up to Needles Lodge at Snowbasin with his family for his birthday dinner. What a beautiful day! We got to take the Gondola up to the top of the mountain, and the fall colors were stunning. There was just the tiniest bite to the air, it was fresh and crisp and wonderful. Its been a long time since I've been able to relax and just have fun, but my stress levels seemed to just dissipate into the mountain air. It was a lovely place, too. From the windows next to our table we watched the sun go down over the mountain.

Sunday was Keaton's acutal birthday, and its a good thing we celebrated it the day before because it turned out to be a sad day for the whole family. Belle, the dog their family got for Christmas when Keaton was sixteen (she was already three years old at the time) has been sick for a while, she's had a harder and harder time getting around...and on Sunday, it became obvious that her time had come. It was a very sad thing that they had to put her down on Keaton's birthday, but the whole family still tried to make the best of it and he got to open a few presents and blow out the candles on one of his mom's always fabulous cakes.


My guy is 25!

Ceremonial first bite--a Smith family tradition!

Baby didn't end up coming that day (I don't know if we all could have handled one more thing! Probably for the best) so he doesn't get to share Dad's birthday. :) Guess he's holding out for one of his own. Today is 37 weeks so we're almost there... Though I could be ready right now!

Why it is nice to have a highly efficient hubby

In my current rotund state, it has been more and more difficult for me to rest comfortably, let alone do anything remotely useful--and I wasn't really that useful to begin with. Nevertheless, I made a smart choice in eternal companions, and ended up with someone who is ever the hard, motivated worker. Witness the fruits of his labor:

Remember what our kitchen used to look like? I told you he was handy!

Adios, Irwin

Sadly, Keaton's beloved pet lizard, a bearded dragon named Irwin (we bought him the week Steve Irwin died) has been relocated to a better place...meaning, he is no longer taking up space in my baby's bedroom! We put him up on KSL "free to a good home" at 10 o'clock at night and had 3 calls within five minutes! I don't know why there are so many people out lizard shopping on the internet at ten, but there is one little boy in W Jordan who is now the happy owner of such a cuddly little creature!

The Belly

So my baby bump is now more like a baby boulder! The look on my face is an indication of my overwhelming excitement. I still have over 5 weeks to go! Its like the moon...I know my belly has another side to it, but I just can't see it...

And here is the most recent picture of my passenger. These were done at 33 weeks and he was measuring about five and a half pounds. The doctor told me that I could expect him to gain a half pound every week and we still had seven weeks left at that point which would put him at nine pounds by his due date. Yep, that's my big guy. :)

To help you decipher the two ultrasound pics, the first is a great profile of his nose and lips and a little bit of chin and forehead. The lower one is also a profile pic, but of the other side, and we mostly get forehead and nose, because that is a hand up there in his mouth. He isn't sucking his thumb, but he kept putting his hand in his mouth. At least that's better than his momma, who is always putting a foot in her mouth. :)

Only a few more weeks to go!

Spark Update

I just recieved an email from Cedar Fort, the LDS publisher who, in January, rejected my novel because it had edgier elements that they wished me to change. At first I didn't want to--writer's pride, you might say--because I felt like those elements weren't comprimising in any way and that they added to the emotion of the story. But I realized that unless somebody actually had the chance to read the story, it didn't matter how much or little of your message they got. So I made the few changes they suggested and resubmitted it (though they never actually said "please resubmit this") in July. This is the reply I got today:

Dear Crystal,

This email is to inform you that we have reviewed your revised manuscript, Spark. At this time we would like to put your submission on hold for a few months. We feel that you have made the changes that we suggested and have improved your manuscript since the first time your submitted it to us. However, your book does not fit the current fiction needs that we have right now so we would like to wait for a few months when we feel we might be better able to take on your novel. That being said, we cannot guarantee that we will publish your novel at that time. We realize your desire to see your book published and we understand if you would like to accept other offers you may have. If that is the case, we wish you success. If you are willing to wait however, we will be in touch over the next few months.

Thank you,

-- The Acquisitions Editors
Cedar Fort, Inc.
2373 W. 700 S.
Springville, UT 84663
(801) 489-4084
1-800-SKYBOOK

While I'm glad that they're at least giving my story a chance, it is frustrating to wait in limbo a little while longer. This isn't even the genre or audience I really want to write to, but I did put a lot of time and effort into the story, even if it was only to get the feel for writing a full length novel. It would be gratifying to see it finished and on the bookstore shelves. Who knows? It might still make it there. They said they'll be in touch. When they do finally make a decision, I'll post it here first.