Baby Bootie

I realized that I haven't shared any of the ultrasound pictures here yet. The remedy: Pictures.

6 weeks

6 weeks

17 weeks

17 weeks

17 weeks

Favorite Things

I just finished reading the blog of a close friend. On it she has a list of her favorite things. I decided that since I haven't posted for a while I will copy her and give you my list of some of my favorite things.

In no special order and not including the obvious, like people:

coffee

books

sunny days

ultrasound pictures of Baby Bootie

cereal

wedding pictures

listening to birds chirp outside our apartment

snuggling with my husband while we watch a movie

cheese

baby clothes

baking

The End and the Beginning

Last week was interesting: Monday – James and I were headed to the Grand Canyon when my car broke down leaving us stranded about 30 miles south of Flagstaff, AZ. Tuesday – James and I went to Howard and Peggy Sample’s house to see them, Brenda Bryson, and Grace Peterson. Following that I took a pregnancy test and officially found out that we are expecting a baby. Wednesday – James and I headed to Flagstaff to pick up my car after it was repaired. Rather than make it to Flagstaff we were stuck in traffic on the interstate for about 6 hours before being told that the interstate had been shut down because of the snow storm. We then had to turn around and head back to Phoenix. We had left Phoenix at about 11am and returned about 9pm without getting to our destination. Thursday was a normal day. Friday was New Year’s Eve. We went to the Sample’s house to watch The Lord of The Rings. After the first movie in the trilogy we went back home.

The week before last was a fun week: Christmas week!

I’ve had James all day every day for the last two weeks! It has been amazing. He has today off work too. I don’t want tomorrow to come. I’ll miss him when he is at work.

Now that I’ve made my general update I should give some details about the last week.

On Monday we were on I-17N when the Corolla died. James was able to get it to start again, but it died immediately. Thankfully my Aunt Cheryl added me to her AAA membership so we were able to call and get the car towed to Flagstaff. We were dropped off at an auto repair shop and the diagnosis was that the main computer had died. Because they didn’t have the part and because it was going to be expensive they called the local Toyota dealership to see what could be done. The dealership said that even though the car had a salvage title they would treat it as if the warranty was still good. So we called AAA again and got a tow over to the dealership. They confirmed that it really was the main computer that needed to be replaced and gave us a loaner car for free to use until they could get it repaired. We only had to pay $87 to the first dealership for the diagnosis. God provided in a big way.

Wednesday was a painful adventure in getting trapped on the interstate because of a little snow in a state that can’t seem to handle it. We had planned to eat a late lunch once we arrived in Flagstaff to get the car, but since we didn’t make it there we missed the meal. It wasn’t until about 6:45pm that we were finally turned around to head back to Phoenix. During those hours all we had to eat was about 1/3 bad of baby carrots. James, being the wonderful husband that he is let me have them all. Thankfully they helped me keep from feeling too sick. We also didn’t have a bathroom handy so we, as well as thousands of other stranded motorists, had to use the local trees. Once we were on our way south we stopped at the first Taco Bell we saw to get some food. It tasted AMAZING!!!! I really don’t think I’ve ever had nachos as good as those. But then I am pregnant and I was STARVING!!!

What an amazing end of 2010 and beginning of 2011.

DMax gets the Boot, pt 3

We had our Phoenix wedding reception last Saturday. Because none of our friends here were able to attend the wedding in Iowa I put together a video of wedding pictures. The second song is one that James wrote. During the wedding we used the short version of the song for my processional and the version on the video for the Sand Ceremony.

I hope you enjoy the video and that it portrays a bit of the joy we were experiencing that day.

DMax gets the Boot, pt 2

A few minutes before it was time for the ceremony to start, there was a knock on the "closet" door. When I peeked out, I saw that James, his grandmother, and all our parents were lined up and ready to start the processional.

The most memorable aspect of my processional was listening to the song that James had written for me to enter. The song is very peaceful and soothing; I love it. No matter how calming music may be, it is a bit awkward to walk into a room and see everyone staring at you. When my dad and I started down the isle I had a hard time figuring out where to look. Because of the shape of the room I wasn't able to watch James the whole time. We had to enter from a rear side door and the isle had to v at one point so I could get to the front and center of the room. So when I first entered all I could see were our guests on my sides and in front of me and not James. Thankfully I had people I am close to near the entrance of the room so I didn't feel too odd.

The ceremony was perfect. James and I had written our own vows and rather than do the typical Unity Candle, we performed the Sand Ceremony. That was followed up by a perfect first kiss as husband and wife. Time went so quickly and almost before I could blink we were presented as Mr. & Mrs. James Bootsma.

Our reception was a special time of introducing each other to family members. I now have a TON of aunts and uncles -in-law! It will probably take a few years for me to get all the names right, especially since most of them live in Iowa and we are here in Phoenix.

After a few hours of meeting new people at the reception my 4 year old niece approached James and I and tiredly asked, "Can you leave so we can leave?" It was so cute and hilarious. By that time in the evening James and I were exceptionally tired and wanting to leave too. Thankfully it was only about half an hour after her question that we were able to take off.

DMax gets the Boot, pt 1

I decided that since I'm no longer a Maxwell by name, my little blog should also receive a name change. I have officially been a Bootsma for 43 days now. I have the greatest husband ever and I love being his wife.

Our wedding day was amazing. I really wouldn't change anything.

October 30, my wedding day, started out with a treat from my best friend of having my hair and makeup done. Then I met my fiancee and almost all my family at my oldest sister's house for lunch. After lunch James and I went to our photographer's house to get dressed and to start the pictures. We were able to have some photos taken there at the photographer's house (which was also the house we stood outside of chatting for 5 hours the first time we really talked).

James and I had a great time running around Des Moines, IA having our picture taken over and over again thanks to having an AMAZING photographer (www.sentimentalsoul.com) and my AMAZING best friend who helped me with all the little things, like getting in and our of a vehicle in a rather large wedding dress without getting dirty or tearing anything.

After all the photos, including about an hour of family shots, were done it was time for me to hide in a room that was a little bigger than a closet and wait for the ceremony. Again my best friend, Chris, was AMAZING. She stuck with me for that last half hour and kept me distracted by telling me game scores (not that I EVER care about game scores) and by just chatting about anything and everything that didn't involve the wedding. It was especially fun when my 9 year old Jr. Bridesmaid who was my only attendant and is also my niece joined us in the "closet."

More later...

Wedding Week

Today the wedding countdown gets serious. We're down to 5 days. Wow. It is getting REALLY close and I'm so excited.

This afternoon James and I were able to get most of our packing for the trip to DSM done. Although I'm not living in the apartment yet most of the things I brought from DSM to PHX are there. We moved most of my stuff into the apartment Saturday evening because Sundays are always busy, Monday we needed to pack for the trip back to DSM for the WEDDING, and Tuesday we leave for DSM. So now I have just enough stuff at the place I'm living to get me through one more day.

Honestly, I'm amazed that the last two months have gone so quickly. I thought they would drag but they didn't. And now our wedding day is almost here.

Just a Simple Observation

One of my more recent observations is that I am still living in a place that gets excited about double digit temperatures. In Iowa because of the cruel cold winters people anticipate the warmth of hitting highs that are in the double digits rather than single. In Arizona because of the extreme heat of summer people anticipate the cool of lows that are in the double digits rather than triple.

More Adventures of Life in Phoenix

Friday evening was an unexpected adventure. The night before, James’s dad had called and invited us to dinner, telling us that he and Helen wanted to treat us to a train ride to Tempe and dinner at Monites, a fairly historical restaurant residing in a bit of a younger town. James and I accepted and met his parents at their home in the early evening so we could catch the train together. The ride to Tempe took about 25 minutes. We had fun talking about our week and his parents, the faithful tour guides, told me more about Tempe and Phoenix.

After we arrived at Monties Helen explained some of the unique architectural aspects of the building: the building was constructed before the days of air conditioning so the walls are about two feet thick to allow the building to stay cool during the heat of summer. The décor was made of paintings and newspaper clippings that depict some of the history of the area.

After the waitress took our order and we were served our drinks and the bread appetizer a waiter came to our table to tell us that there had been a bomb threat in the park across the street and that the police were there telling the management that the building had to be evacuated. Still hungry and wishing that we had been able to eat at least part of our meals we left Montes through the south exit as requested.

After we cleared out of the threat zone we ended up walking down the streets of Tempe to a different restaurant called My Big Fat Greek. There we were able to order and eat our food without threat of another bomb. Once we were done with dinner we left and rode the return train to Phoenix.

Saturday was still a fun day even if it didn’t include a bomb threat. I met James at his apartment at 7:00am so we could take our first bike ride together. I ended up riding his mom’s beach cruiser bike. The pink bike has no gears or hand breaks, if it would have had a banana seat and handlebar tassels and my trip back to my childhood would have been complete. James road a really nice mountain bike and kindly enough kept it in a higher gear to make our workouts be a bit more comparable.

After our two hour bike ride we drove to Gilbert, AZ to meet up with Brenda and Eric Bryson. It was SO NICE to see people from home. I haven’t really been dealing with homesickness, but not having friends in Phoenix is starting to get hard. BUT I know that as James and I continue to get connected at church I will be able to make friends.

Life in AZ

I have mixed feelings about time. On one hand I really want time to fly by until the wedding. On the other hand, I love spending time with James and getting to know him as his fiance. I feel like I've been living in AZ for months but at the same time it seems like I just got here yesterday. However quickly or slowly time passes is irrelevant though. It passes and once a moment is gone it won't be relived.

While all the time James and I spend together is special, there are a few moments that really stand out.

On Sunday, September 5 I went to the apartment to meet James before going to church together. He had asked me to arrive early so we could have breakfast. We had some extra time after we ate so we read the Bible together and prayed. After that he asked me to stand up, he got onto both knees and officially proposed. I know that this may seem backward since I have spent the last two months planning a wedding for October 30. But we wanted the official proposal to be face-to-face and not right after I arrived in AZ and was exhausted from a three day trip. James also wanted the proposal to be in our future home. It was the perfect proposal for us.

Last Saturday morning, James and I hiked up a mountain together. We went up North Mountain because it is one of the easier ones to hike and I've never hiked up a mountain. After we were done with our hike, we went swimming, and then made lunch together. It was another perfect day.

Sunday we went to church, washed the cars, made lunch, then drove to the town of Cave Creek. Cave Creek is the town where James's mentor used to live and James wanted to show me the house where he lived before passing away. Then we rented a movie and made dinner. While we were cooking, we lost power three times. During the spurts when we actually had power we were able to make things somewhat edible. The broccoli ended up a bit scorched because we turned the electric skillet temperature WAY up in hope that we could get it to cook while we had power. The cheese crisps turned out. We could have enjoyed a nice candle light dinner if we had candles. Somehow cell phone light dinners aren't as romantic - especially when you have to keep pushing buttons on the phones to keep them lit.

Monday was another good day. James had training so he didn’t get an afternoon break but instead he was done for the day by about 1pm. As soon as he got to the apartment we went to Julie’s house to pick her up so she could sign as our witness on our wedding license application as we got it notarized. Julie made it so much fun. She took her camera out as we were signing the paperwork. Once we were all done signing she asked the Notary Republic to take a picture of the three of us. She is a precious jewel.

I've hit a bit of a routine, my typical day starts out with waking up at Julie Crum's house, getting ready for the day, then heading to James's apartment. I do random things until he comes home for his afternoon break then once he goes back for the second part of his shift I do more random things until he is done for the day. During the average evening we will go for a walk, grocery shop, swim, spend time with his parents, or read together, etc. After that I head back to Julie's house to sleep.

Arizona or Bust pt. III

The third day of our trek was the best. Mostly because while we were on the road I was able to talk to James and we could say cool things like, "When we see each other later today." and "We're now in the same state."

The drive itself was beautiful. We went south on I-17 through Flagstaff, AZ. The mountain drive was incredible. But I have to admit that the last couple hours of the day were almost too much for me. I started shaking a couple times because I was getting so tired. AND although I was really tired God enabled me to safely make the rest of the drive, find Julie's house and get some things unloaded from my car, and then find James' apartment. And then REUNITED with my Honey!!!! YAY!!!

I'll update more later on my first impressions of AZ and other exciting things (including an OFFICIAL proposal) later when I have more time. But for now, here are pictures from Day 3.

Eric on Day 3.

Brenda on Day 3.

Me on Day 3 thinking "I get to see James today!!"

Somewhere in NM or AZ.

Arizona or BUST pt. II

This was the second day in my trek to Phoenix. The BEST part of my day was being able to talk to James for hours on the phone. Sure we would randomly lose connection because I was driving in the middle of nowhere, but it was GREAT to hear his voice. I'm SO EXCITED to see him TOMORROW!!! Today's drive was uneventful until arriving in Albuquerque, New Mexico. But let me start at the beginning before I come to the more eventful end.

We started our drive at 8am sharp. The rout that was recommended to us took highway 54 to I-40 to I-25 to the motel. We passed through the rest of Kansas, the "handle" of Oklahoma (Texahoma is a REAL place - we got gas there) and a bit of Texas before making it to New Mexico. We ended up stopping randomly in New Mexico for lunch. We didn't know what town we were in and when we stopped, we didn't even know there was a restaurant there. It looked like a gas station with a little shopper's mart attached. Even though the appearance of the restaurant was rustic and a bit run down the food was EXCELLENT and INEXPENSIVE. We asked the waitress what town we were in and she said Logan, New Mexico. So if you ever find yourself in Logan, NM and you notice their gas station, stop for food. Its great!

The drive went really well until we got to Albuquerque, NM. The drive through the mountains was beautiful as we neared the town. But also as we neared the town traffic began to pick up. After we merged onto I-25 and before we exited for the motel I was almost sideswiped about 3 times by the same truck. A couple minutes after that and after we exited the interstate I was almost rear-ended by a moving truck.

The mountains here are beautiful. They more than make up for the crazy drivers.

I managed to snap a couple photos today. I took the first one when we were starting out for the day. After that I randomly took a couple shots through out the day.

Starting out for the day...already looking tired.

Making our U-turn after the GPS freaked out.

Heading the right way again.

Arizona or BUST pt. I

Today was Day 1 of my trek to Phoenix and WOW am I tired. Driving all day really is exhausting.

My friends who are also moving to Arizona and I had planned to start our day at 6:30am at a restaurant in Clive, IA, but due to a random power outage the place was closed and we spontaneously came up with plan B - meet at Hyvee instead. A few other minor incidents caused us to leave town about 45 minutes after we had planned, but that really wasn't too bad.

What could have been a boring trip was made FANTASTIC by being able to chat with James for most of the day. YAY!!! (With the exception of my phone randomly losing all its service bars and dropping our connection.) I was also able to chat with my best friend, Chrissie, for a while too. Again YAY!!!

The drive itself was OK other than when we hit Kansas City. At a rest stop in Missouri we were told to take I-435 around Kansas City rather than go through the center of it on I-35 because I-35 had issues with a bridge and road construction. BUT the lady at the rest stop didn't know that a big chunk of I-435 was down from 3 lanes to 1 and that the ramp we needed to use to return to I-35 was closed. Thanks lady. You really made our drive better. Because of being at a complete standstill for a while on I-435 one of my friends was able to whip out his cameras and take pictures of interesting things like piles of rocks sitting on the side of the road and a speedometer reading 0 mph on the interstate. I was also able to take that extra time to text my family and friends, do my nails and take a nap. OK slight exaggeration on the nails and nap, but the texting and pictures really are part of our story. What made the limited lane access completely worth the extra time sitting on the interstate was that they really WEREN'T working on the road. The miles of construction cones blocking off the other 2 lanes were likely a strategic part of the KC plan to preserve the roads and not reconstruct or fix them. Brilliant plan.

We arrived at our motel in Pratt, KS at 4pm. At first I was disappointed that we wouldn't be covering more miles on our first day, but I didn't sleep well last night and I didn't use my air conditioner so I'm rather drained and am looking forward to going to sleep REALLY early tonight.

Once we got to the motel we walked to Walmart then got dinner at Taco Bell. We're now sitting in the motel updating our blogs, facebook, texting, etc.

Tomorrow we plan to leave here at 8am and should arrive in Albuquerque, NM around 6pm-ish.

I'd write more about today's trek, but I'm tired and at the point of losing coherence.

Big Changes pt. IV

In Big Changes pt. 1 I mentioned that right away after James and I started getting to know each other I realized that we would end up getting married. Thankfully James came to the came realization quickly after I did. In mid July while James and I were talking on the phone, as we do for anywhere between 3 to 4 hours a day, and we decided that October 30, 2010 would be the date for us to get married. YAY!!!!

Ever since that conversation I've been planning our wedding and preparing to move. My goal was to plan as much of the wedding as possible before I moved. THANKFULLY I have been unemployed and have been able to spend multiple hours a day focused on wedding details. I have to admit that I am somewhat impressed because in 6 weeks I was able to plan a wedding that won't take place for another 67 days.

Big Changes pt. III

Obviously, I have no idea what soon means. Sorry about the delay.

Here are some of the "little" details that God orchestrated in order to bring James and me together:

James put his condo on the market the same month I put my house on the market. My house sold within a few months while his didn't until AFTER I had moved away and come back. If his condo would have sold right away and he would have returned to Phoenix right away we wouldn't have met.

Although we first started talking at his good-bye party, James still wasn't planing to move for two weeks after the party. So we had a little bit of time to get to know each other face-to-face before James moved.

God timed things so that James and I would both be unemployed for his last two weeks living in Iowa. If either one of us would have been employed we wouldn't have been able to spend hours getting to know each other every day.

The weekend before James left, my immediate family was all in town for a niece's birthday party, my mom's birthday party, and Father's Day. Because of that, James was able to meet my family and it gave my family an opportunity to get to know James a bit.

My high school cheerleading coach moved to Phoenix about 14 years ago. Before they moved I was able to get to know her mom, who also moved to Phoenix. After James moved I knew that I needed to follow as soon as I could. My former coach's mom was told that I needed a place to live and offered to open her home to me. Her home is only 10 miles from James' apartment.

After finding a place to live, I needed a way to get to Phoenix. Obviously, I would need to drive. BUT I needed to get someone to make the 23 hour (actual drive time) trip with me. God timed it so that some of my friends from a former church would be moving to AZ only two months after James left IA and I will be caravanning with them.

BEFORE James and I met and after I move back to DSM from CR I had the gut feeling that I would move from DSM again but this time with only what I could fit in my car. Because of that I decided to start selling my bigger household items.

There are a LOT more details, but I'm not going to share them right now. Hopefully this post will point to God as being the one who pulled James and me together.

BIG Changes Pt. II

James and I had two amazing weeks of face-to-face time. Moving day came and he decided to postpone leaving so we could spend another day together. The next day came and he decided to postpone leaving so we could spend ANOTHER day together. Thankfully he had rented a trailer for a week so we were able to have more time without his needing to pay extra.

Since his move to Phoenix we have been able to spend a few hours talking to each other on the phone each day. I’m so thankful for the technology God has given us. I couldn’t imagine carrying on a long distance relationship back in the days of the Pony Express or carrier pigeons – the poor animals would die of exhaustion if they had to carry letters back and forth containing our conversations.

James and I have been praying about our relationship and where God wants us to head as individuals and as a couple. For now James is in Phoenix and I am in Des Moines but on August 29 I will be loading my car and moving to Phoenix. From there we will continue to wait on God’s timing and leading for the future.

God is in the details of our story. I’ve left a TON of information out so far in order to give you a quick overview of what he is doing in our lives. Details will come soon…

BIG Changes Pt. 1

So many wonderful changes have taken place in my life within this last month. My last post was a bit of a teaser. At the time I didn’t want to say too much, but now I can start to tell you what the verses have meant to me these last few weeks.

The first few days of June I was really beginning to struggle again with not knowing what direction God wanted me to head in life. I had been weighing the pros and cons of starting graduate school or of just finding a job and hoping that I wouldn’t hate it too much. But I have to admit that what I wanted most was to finally meet the “right” man. So I basically started to beg God to show me what he desired for my life. I also started to pray more boldly about my desires to marry.

A few days later: enter James.

On Sunday, June 6 I attended a church good-bye party for a man named James who was moving to Phoenix to be closer to his some of his family. I should probably admit that I had noticed James when I was visiting Grace Church before I moved back to Des Moines. (No, he wasn’t the reason why I decided to attend Grace after moving back - but it didn’t hurt.) James and I didn’t really talk much during his last weeks at Grace and my first weeks there. We didn’t even carry on much of a conversation at his good-bye party but after the party we ended up standing in our friend’s driveway chatting for about five hours.

After that night James had two weeks before he was planning to move. During those two weeks we ended up talking, hanging out, and/or Facebooking every day. During those weeks our thoughts went from “I could marry someone like him/her.” to “I’m going to marry him/her.” Wow.

For now I’ll leave the story hanging here. I’ll share more later.

Psalm 66:16-20

¹⁶ Come and listen, all you who fear God;

let me tell you what he has done for me.

¹⁷ I cried out to him with my mouth;

his praise was on my tongue.

¹⁸ If I had cherished sin in my heart,

the Lord would not have listened:

¹⁹ but God has surely listened

and heard my voice in prayer.

²⁰ Praise be to God,

who has not rejected my prayer

or withheld his love from me!

Zach's Birthday Party

Last Saturday I was able to attend a birthday party for my nephew, Zach. Most birthday parties for kids are fun, but I personally think that a kid's first birthday party is the best...even if it isn't something that they will remember.

My brother's and sister-in-law's camera broke so they asked me to be their photographer. I'm fairly certain that I wasn't given the honor because of my awe inspiring ability to capture the essence of a moment on film. I think I was the "lucky" one because I was there, had a working camera, and didn't have kids of my own to keep out of the way.

Here are a few of my better pictures from the day:

Moving Again pt 2

I just published that last post today even though I wrote it a few weeks ago. I moved back to DSM a little over a week ago. So far I have managed to stay busy by helping one of my sisters paint her new house. It's been a big project, but the end is in sight.

This week I'll start job hunting. I don't have to be in too much of a hurry, thankfully. I'm debating which direction to go: get a job so I have money coming in and start grad school or try to find a job that will give me some fulfillment and forget about school. Or who knows, God can bring up something I'm not anticipating. I think at this point, I'm hoping for that one. :)