What an exciting year!

2012 is going to be an amazing year for us! We have so much to look forward to this year!

We'll be having our little one in just 10 more weeks - give or take. It has gone by so quickly for us and we think back to 7 months ago in July when we found out and it seems like yesterday. I only have 6 more weeks at work and then I'll be done (most likely for good!). After that I have a few weeks to half relax and half get the house ready for a baby to be here. And by the way, if any of you know of someone who needs a job in Provo, let me know because we'll be starting the interviews for mine in the next couple of weeks. It really is a great job all things considering - 30 hours a week with a bunch of nice holiday breaks, but still a paycheck as big as when I worked at the law firm. However, despite being great, to be honest, I don't think I'll miss the working world once Harvey gets here. I'm super excited to be a full time mom which is another thing I am looking forward to!

Another thing that has been exciting and good for us lately is Nick's work. The company was suffering a bit last year because of a (now ex-)employee's dishonest behavior. Now though, things are going great and seem to be getting better for the business. For those of you who don't know, he works with his dad's company selling large industrial businesses power saving equipment like capacitors and co-generators (co-gens). Co-gens help companies "create" their own energy to sustain their plant on (and even can create excess energy that they can sell back to the power grid to make money off of) from things like the excess steam and heat that the manufacturing machines give off. Some good things are happening with two or three big companies currently and they are starting to feel like the weight has been lifted from last year and that this is their year to take off with this business idea. If the deals go through with these two or three companies, they'll be recruited to install the power equipment in ALL of the branches worldwide of these companies and they'll have enough business for more than one lifetime. It's still nerve-wrecking with these type of deals though since nothing is ever certain until the equipment actually on it's way to getting in place and some high up CEO can always come down and say "NO, just kidding" at anytime (which has happened before with other smaller companies), but after a few meetings they've had already this week, we are feeling pretty good about things this year for work and are trying not to get too excited about anything yet, but can't help it!

At the end of this year, Nick will graduate with his bachelor's in Business - Supply Chain! We will finally figure out exactly where we're going and what he'll be doing with his degree. Right now we are unsure of what our best opportunity is going to be so we aren't sure where we'll end up, but we are excited for the many opportunities we'll have and to start our life outside of the student world soon.

This year is going to be a great year though, so here's to a happy and wonderful 2012! We hope everyone has just as much to look forward to and anticipate as we do!

Hellfire Challenge

For those of you who don't know, Nick is a spicy food connoisseur of sorts. When we first got married I bought regular hot sauce, but that just wasn't hot enough. The next hot sauce I bought for him was the habanero kind and that didn't cut it either. The one he likes best is the Dave's Insanity Ghost Pepper Sauce. It's not even the regular Dave's Insanity sauce (he tried that one at a sub place and said it wasn't hot enough). This bottle has lasted him a few months so far because he doesn't have to put as much on food to get the heat that he wants.

Knowing that he can handle the spiciest of spicy food, we looked to see of any spicy food contests in Utah and found a couple but hadn't gotten around to trying any yet... Now that it's almost December we finally decided to go this evening to Kobe Sushi and let Nick try the Hellfire Challenge! My step-dad Chad and my mom came too and Chad tried the challenge as well though he didn't quite make it to the end. That last roll got him.

This challenge was featured on the show Man vs. Food, so here's a clip from that show that can introduce the challenge a little better than I can:

Since then, the challenge has changed a bit - You eat one level 4, one level 5, one level 6 roll, and that is considered the qualifier. Then you eat a 6.5 to see if you can handle the extra heat. Then you sign a waiver (no joke!) saying you will not hold them liable for any health problems that may occur from eating the level 7 rolls. Then you eat 3 rounds of two level 7 rolls (so 6 level 7 rolls total). They do it in rounds of 2 because they have so many people drop out after eating just one so then they don't have to waste any food if people quit (out of 3500+ people who have attempted the challenge, only 190 have finished so far - Nick was 190). They also provide puke buckets between the rounds because puking is inevitable mostly because the taste isn't that appetizing and some people's stomach's can't handle the super heat.

Anyway, here is a picture of the level 7 rolls. Nick and Chad both said the worst part was the flavor and that it was a huge glob of the nasty flavor on top of the roll. The spiciness/heat didn't bother them at all, but the flavor was gross. My mom and I both thought they smelled gross too so I really believe them when they say it was the taste that actually made them puke.

And here is Nick with Chef Alex just a few minutes after he finished the last two level 7's, puked up almost everything he had just eaten, and got his t-shirt which, when he wears it there, will give him a 10% discount for life off of bills at Kobe Sushi.

Belly Progress - Week 22

Hello baby bump! I am finally at a point where people do not hesitate to mention the fact that I am pregnant because they can tell it's not just chub. Yay! Also on another note. Harvey is pretty good about sleeping at night with me and not keeping me up. He only woke me up once this past week with a super hard kick at about 3am. He kicked a few more times and then went back to his own resting. Anyway, here are the pictures of the belly growing progress.

Week 4 vs Week 22