Brooke the Cook

If anyone is interested, I've been keeping track of the meals I'm making so I remember what turns out yummy so I can make it again in the future. I make notes to myself in the entries, so I am exposing my lack of kitchen knowledge, but oh well. I have not recorded all the questions I have to ask my mom over the phone with each meal to preserve a small amount of pride. If I can even call it pride.
Anyway, the address is http://brookethecook.blogspot.com/.

Baby Update!

We went to the doctor on Friday for another ultrasound. He told us that our baby is already 6.5 lbs! ! ! ! ! We still have six weeks to go! He said the baby was about three weeks ahead of schedule, but that everything looks good. Just too good. So I freaked out a little because we are NOT ready for a child in our house. We went shopping all morning Saturday, and after spending mucho dinero we now feel much more prepared.

Now, the ultrasound machine our doctor used was not the normal one; it was really really old, and it could be off by a pound or so. I would be fine if this baby was only 5 pounds. We have another appointment in two weeks on the newer machine.

We are very happy about our shopping excursion on Saturday -- we needed to get a dresser/changing table and a crib for when the baby outgrows the bassinet. We found an ad on KSL.com for a nice dresser, so we went to this privately owned furniture store in Clearfield called Bed Haven. They had already sold the dresser in the ad, but they were trying to clear their floor models of baby furniture. We got our set for half of what it cost at Babies R Us. Yesss. The best part is that they are custom building the dressers and they deliver the furniture already assembled FOR FREE! The owners are some of our very sharp latin community friends. Me gusta mucho. When we get the room set up we'll post some photos. We also bought our stroller/car seat. I still have a long list of little things to buy, but at least now we have a way to get the baby home from the hospital and a place to keep all his stuff.

If only we could pick a name. . .

Southern Happenings

Here is a little glimpse at the last six weeks of the Hochstein life in the south. Justin stayed in Montgomery, AL for the week while I stayed with my fam in GA, and then we met up on the weekends either in GA or AL.

One weekend we took a road trip to Florida to visit Justin's good friend Thiseas (a.k.a. "The Greek") in Tallahassee and also Justin's brother, Nick in Jacksonville.

We golfed in St. Augustine. . . well mini-golf on just the greens. And guess who got a hole-in-one THREE times . . . the fat lady. You know it! The stomach was no challenge, apparently. Well, I still lost to Justin and Nick by 15 or so . . . but who's counting?

Justin and I were tourists at the World of Coke. I love the new exhibit -- especially the 3D movie where you get squirted. The only problem with that place is that you have to be ready to feel really really thirsty by the end. Luckily they give you samples of all the sodas of the world before you leave. You want to avoid the ones that taste like burlap and stick with the more citrusy or fruity drinks at the end to prevent bitter aftertaste. Who knows what my baby thought about those flavors running through his system.

The highlight of the trip was that we were sealed in the Atlanta Temple on Feb 7th! Wooohooo! Justin is now officially stuck with me for eternity. And our son will also be born in an eternal family! The day was gorgeous, I was crazy emotional, and we walked away a very happy couple. Thank you thank you thank you Stacy for again being an incredible photographer and capturing that day.

Justin passed all his classes and graduated! Yay! His group (of which Justin was the leader) came in first for everything except this dodgeball game they play called Icarus (sore spot, don't mention it to Justin).

My mom and sister threw a baby shower, and we had both men and women there -- lots of great presents! Thank you! I LOVED the diaper centerpiece that Stacy's sister-in-law, Rachel, made.
We miss the south! I miss my family and friends! I miss the 70 degree weather in January! One day we will be back. . .

Air & Space Basic Course

I've been in Montgomery, AL for the past few weeks attending a class for the Air Force at Maxwell AFB. Brooke is just down the road staying at her parent's house, which has been great since I can visit her on the weekends. :) Class has been going really well. I was assigned to the Blackhawks squadron, which is made up of 12 flights including mine. All of the people in my flight are really nice, and we work really well together. Every week we are evaluated as a flight on different things we do in and out of the classroom. We've gotten the "Top Flight" award every week we've been here. According to our flight commander, no other flight has ever done that before. We will graduate a week from tomorrow, and then it's back to Utah. It's been nice meeting a lot of new people, and spending time with Brooke and her family on the weekends. It'll be sad to leave, but it'll be nice to get back home too.

Here's a picture of that "Top Flight" I mentioned:

Get out the chalk

Apparently my dad sang this song to my mom's roomies while they were dating. Justin is going to be taking some notes with his ever-expanding wife. He'll be writing his notes with chalk. Has anyone else heard this song before? I almost cried from laughing so hard.

Huggin' and Chalkin'
(Clancy Hayes and Kermit Goell)


I’ve got a gal who's mighty sweet
Big blue eyes and tiny feet
Her name is Rosabelle McKee
And she tips the scales at 303.

Oh gee, but ain't it grand to have a gal
So big and fat that when you go to hug her
You don't know where you're at
You have to take a piece of chalk in your hand
And hug aways and chalk a mark to see where you began

One day I was a huggin' and chalkin'
And a huggin' and a chalkin' away
When I met another fella with some chalk in his hand
Comin’ around the other way
Over the mountain
Comin’ around the other way.

Nobody ever said I'm weak
My bones don't ache,
My joints don't creak
But I get weak and I go limp
Every time I see my baby blimp

Oh gee, but ain't it grand to have a gal so big and fat
That when you go to hug her
You have to take a piece of chalk in your hand
And hug a bit and chalk a mark and see where you began

One day I was a huggin' and a chalkin' and
A-beggin' her to be my bride
When I met another fella with some chalk in his hand
Comin’ around the other side
Over the mountain
Comin’ around the other side
She’s a mile wide
Chalkin’ up a mark down in Yellowstone Park
When I met another fella with some chalk in his hand
Comin’ around the other side
Over the mountain
Over the great divide!!!

Merry Christmas from the Hochsteins!

Merry Christmas! Here's some of the few Christmas decorations in the Hochstein home this year. Grandma Millie gave us a few of her decorations that she doesn't use anymore. We splurged and bought our first nativity set at Deseret Book for $4. I made the stockings -- my first sewing project! (One of my friends out here had to monitor every move I made. I wish I had paid attention when my mom tried to teach me. . .) And of course, we have the 25 1/2 week bump. It's getting quite largo. Woohoo! ! Yay for big bellies! ! We wish the best for the holidays!

December Ultrasounds!

This ultrasound was another 4-D, and we should have been able to see the baby's face pretty well, but once again the baby was snuggled into my side and had his hands in front of his face (sucking his thumb?). So what we got on the screen was several minutes of orange and black shadows with an occasional bone or brain flashing across the screen. It kind of felt like a scary movie at times, but it was really exciting too. The kind-of okay images we got of the baby could also qualify for images out of a scary movie, but at least we can see a little of his face. The best picture we got out of it was of his cute bum and sexy legs. The 2-D pic we got looks a whole lot like last month's. He must like that pose. We did find out that he has all his fingers and toes, and all the bone structure we could see was in place. The heart is healthy, brain is there, kidneys are there. . . um I think that is all the technician pointed out. Yay! We are having a baby!