Girl's Night Out

Last night I got together with four of my BYU roommates for dinner & a movie. We don't get together all that often, but it's always a blast when we do! (Kasey, thanks for planning the get together & Shannon, we missed you!) Six of us in total lived together sophomore & junior year while at BYU. Then, you know the drill...we all started getting married one by one - we all got married within one and a half years of each other. They were the best roomies a girl could ask for and we have such good memories together. All five of my roommates are from Mesa, AZ and 3 out of 5 now have homes here in Arizona. So fun!

Pictured: Natalie, me, Kasey, Sarah, Suzi
(Suzi & I have due dates only one week apart and Kasey is looking hardly pregnant at 28 wks)

Pregnancy update: MY DUE DATE IS THIS FRIDAY THE 13TH!! Hopefully the next post will be baby news?!

Tagged

Confession - usually I won't respond if you "tag" me (sorry!), but I've been meaning to post something that is not entirely focused on my tummy, so thanks for the opportunity, Lauren.

How long have you been together? 3rd Anniversary this July

How long did you date? Can I count the engagement? Almost 9 months, which includes a 4 month engagement...yeah, we're one of those couples

How old are you? almost 25 - 13 more days

Who eats more? You take a wild guess - I'll give you a hint...I am 9 months pregnant - it's me, for sure! And even if I wasn't pregnant, I'd still win.

Who said I love you first? Brandon

Who is taller? Brandon, and I can wear any pair of high heels I want and he's still taller. This was not the case before his mission - I think he grew at least 3 inches while he was gone! I did not recognize him at all.

Who is smarter? Definitely, Brandon. But I like to think that I'd be as smart as him if I were done with my 2nd year of law school. :)

Who does the laundry? 75% of the time - me, 25% of the time - Brandon

Who does the dishes? Depends how good my meal is...if it's real good, he's definitely on dish duty! It's a shared chore.

Who pays the bills? Definitely me.

Who mows the lawn? In the future, Brandon will. That is, if we have grass. There are a lot of front yards made of rocks here in Phoenix.

Who cooks? Me, but not even close to every night. p.s. Brandon's specialty is Mormon Enchiladas.

Who drives when you are together? I prefer to drive us around town, especially since traffic doesn't frustrate me like it frustrates Brandon. On road trips, Brandon is the official driver - I can't last more than an hour.

Who is more stubborn? Brandon. (I love you, sweetheart.)

Who has more siblings? I do - I have 3 younger brothers; Brandon has 1 brother and 1 sister

Who wears the pants in the family? It depends on the topic. What do you think? If you are brave enough, feel free to leave a comment. :)

Don't feel obligated, but I tag my sister-in-law, Cindy, and Lindi (Lindi, I need your password to your blog - email me - whitneyhale@gmail.com).

Quick weather report - I watched the forecast and the next 7 days are all over 100 degrees. Brandon is loving life!

107

The significance of 107 is that it was 107 degrees my first day in Phoenix! Brandon was loving the heat. I can honestly say that it hasn't been all that bad.

The good news is that we both arrived safely (Brandon by car and I flew) and we are both excited about our summer here. Our place is great - it's a very large one bedroom apartment and the complex is beautiful. Hey family, here are more pregnant pictures of me on our balcony, 36 weeks. I also met my new doctor this week and he was great - whew!

The sun found Chicago!

Whitney, future mom!
Brandon, future attorney :)
(Sorry that Brandon's head is cut off - we opted for the camera timer rather than asking a stranger to take a picture of us - Brandon used weeds to prop up the camera...guess he didn't use enough weeds...he he he)

EFY Sheet Music?

I am searching for some sheet music for two songs. They come from the 2002 EFY CD: We Believe. I'm looking for "I Need Thee Every Hour" and/or "Stand in Holy Places" and I can't find it anywhere on the Internet - not even to buy at full price. Does anyone have a copy or know someone that has all the EFY sheet music?

Also, as a sidenote, I've been meaning to post my new found delicious treat...you may remember this from when you were a kid - Bubble Gum ice cream. YUM!

33 Weeks

Only 7 weeks until the due date and there's still plenty to do before our little one's arrival. Here's the plan of attack: I will be in Chicago until my 36 wk appointment, and hopefully they will clear me to fly. The next day, I am flying to Phoenix to settle into our new summer home only .5 miles from both mine and Brandon's work. Meanwhile, Brandon is driving our car out to AZ with all of our baby stuff in tow that same weekend. He will then fly back to Chicago for two weeks to finish finals. As soon as finals are done, he will fly to AZ and start his summer internship while we wait for our little girl to come. We will be in Arizona until mid-September and then back to Chicago for our last year of law school!

As much as I feel like we have a lot to do, there is one thing that is done....the name! This part was easy. Her name will be Rachel Faye Hale. Do you like it? Not that it will change anything. :) There is a lot of family tradition that comes with the name...

She will be the ninth generation of Rachel Hale's. In fact, there has been a Rachel Hale alive since 1767! On Brandon's side, the tradition is that a Hale son names a daughter Rachel and I love the name, so it was simple. Here's the generations -

1. Rachel Johnson Hale (the first, who took on the name Hale through marriage in 1767)
2. Rachel Johnson Hale Savory (born 1798)
3. Rachel Johnson Savory Hale Hoagland (born 1829)
4. Rachel Susan Hale Clark (born 1857)
5. Rachel Louisa Hale Tuttle (born 1891)
6. Rachel Hale Christensen Cunningham (born 1927)
7. Rachel Kay Hale Gonzalez (born 1959) - Brandon's aunt
8. Rachel Elizabeth Hale Murray (born 1985) - Brandon's sister
9. Rachel Faye Hale - Brandon's soon to be daughter!

There's tradition with the middle name as well. My middle name is Faye and my mother's first name is Faye (although she goes by her middle name, Elaine) and my Grandma Thompson's name is Faye.

Anyway, we're really excited to be parents to a little girl soon! See pictures below - all taken in Utah two weeks ago.

Picture taken with Faye Thompson, Faye Elaine Parker (mom), pregnant me, Nancy Hale (mom-in-law), and Bonnie Allred (Brandon's grandma aka Pookie)
Picture with Rachel #7 and #8. Brandon's aunt, Rachel and Brandon's sister, Rachel. Don't get too concerned that there will be any confusion - we'll distinguish them by calling our baby "Rachel Faye" when we are with the Hale family.
This is my, "I love the sideshot" sarcastic smile. Here's me at 31 weeks:

Ticket Issued for Playing Soccer in Chicago Park

I am posting a Fox News clip of my co-workers who got tickets for playing soccer in a park after work on Tuesday. Apparently it is against the law to play ball in Chicago Parks due to grass wear and tear - crazy! A nearby homeowner called the cops when the group arrived. I was not there (I have a pretty good excuse and didn't want them to confuse my belly with the soccer ball), but Brandon was there as a substitute for me, so he got in on the action when the cop showed up and started issuing tickets but was not able to meet Fox News when they did the interviews since he was at school.