Fall Has Come and Gone!

We hope that by now you have heard our good news of Dana being pregnant! Sorry it's been a while since we've written on our blog. Below is Dana's end of her 1st month picture and her end of her 4th month picture. (The 2nd and 3rd month pictures really weren't that exciting!) I definitely have a bump now! I'm really glad to be well out of my 1st trimester because eating was more like a chore or discipline. I also had hardly any energy. Because of these 2 things, I lost a bit of weight. Now my appetite and energy has improved and, although I'm still struggling to gain the 1 pound a week, I've been able to put on a little weight. I have gone to the capital a couple times to see the doctor - who, by the way, studied at UNM! Small world. He said it was okay if I continue to ride my bike around the city, which I've been doing very slowly. It sure does freak out my local friends though!

The baby is the size of a large mango - or about 5-6 inches from crown to rump. He/she is becoming more and more proportional and already has fingerprints and eyelashes! The baby can hiccup (which I can't feel yet) and yawn! One of the most exciting things is I've begun to feel a little movement! I can't wait until the kicks get stronger. It is so amazing that there is a sweet little life being created in there! We are going to the doctor again the end of November - right before Thanksgiving, so we should find out if we're having a boy or girl! We'll keep you posted.

We got to go to a nearby desert a few weeks ago with some friends and got to ride camels! They are actually quite cute animals! Dana got the green light from her doctor to ride them as long as she was careful. She held on real tight and had a blast! We rode up to the sight by a chairlift.

See the guy in the front with the funny yellow boots? These are actually called Sandy Slippers because they keep the sand out of your shoes. They were really goofy looking, but very practical. We were cheap and didn't get them, so we're still finding sand in our shoes! They should rent these out at white sands!

We've never been to a desert like this before with dunes and camels. Dana had the Aladdin song "Arabian Night" in her head the whole time. It was a really fun day trip.

Yeah for camels! (Dana can jump higher but didn't want to jiggle the baby too much!)

Fall is here, actually we think it's over by now. The temperature is well into freezing at night with highs in the 40's. We actually had some light snow this week too! This has to be the street cleaner's busiest time of year with the leaves falling all over the city. They just sweep them up in big piles along with trash and whatever else. The piles all over the city look so inviting to jump in, but then you remember how much sick trash is mixed in and the temptation is quickly gone! Another good thing is that the leaky sewage is starting to freeze, so it's beginning to smell a little better in the city!

John has gotten to do a lot of "out-doorsy" things the last couple of months since the weather has been so nice. He went camping with a friend overnight in the mountains nearby. He's been coaching a group of locals in Baseball. It's cute, they call him coach and everything! They are pretty good. He got to go on a hike at a nearby mountain with these friends a couple weekends back. It was right when the leaves where changing, so it was beautiful. The next 4 pictures are from that hike.

You can find cotton candy being made at the local squares (kind of like a park) in this country. This old lady was just working away getting this cotton candy made for us. She's pretty cute, right? Love the camo hat!

The mid-autumn festival was over a month ago here, but I know autumn is just starting to settle in at the States. At the square near our house, Dana walked around and enjoyed the fall decorations. This is a traditional boot with fall flowers all around. Pretty.

Like our costumes? This actually isn't for Halloween, but a murder mystery birthday party we had. John was Black Knight and Dana was Nurse Ratchet. It was the first time we ever played a murder mystery and it was pretty fun. We were not convicted, and Dana was the only person to guess correctly who the "murderer" was! (Well, he did put green food coloring in my drink!) We hope that you have a wonderful fall!