He's Arrived!

Maxwell Varner made his arrival two weeks ago. He is very sweet and mom, dad and Max are all adjusting to their new life quite well.....


He likes to sleep...... at least during the day :)

He likes to smile too.....

I think he'd had enough for the day...... (note the adorable knit hat under his head, made by Grandma Molly )

And he likes to hang out with dad while listening to music and being sung to.

Last Minute Trips Just the two of Us...

Everyone has advised Andy and I to 'get away' as much as we can before the wee one comes and life as we know it turns completely upside down. So.. we went to Baja with my sister and her husband for a little break and some deep sea fishing.

Thanks to my bro-in-law's expertise in finding the fish, Andy got to reel in TWO big marlin. He was a great fisherman :)

Love the 'fishing belt'. (It is actually pretty necessary bringing in those big boys. Looks funny but works like a charm)

We were close to the beach, so evening walks in the sand were oh so nice.

We took the hounds up the canyon hiking as well and are planning a little camping trip this weekend although I can't honestly say I am looking forward to the 'several times a night' bathroom trips to take place in the bushes. (BTW, I don't usually dress this glamorous.)
And I'm sad I don't have any pictures from when my sister Heather and her family came out from Pittsburgh for a few weeks last month. It was great to see them and we were able to enjoy some time at home in the lustrious potato land of Idaho. (I'm thrilled to say that Andy has personally stated Idaho has 'grown' on him and he enjoys going up there quite a bit! :O )

DOG DAYS OF SUMMER

Things have been pretty low key around the Wright house lately.....

as some of us continue to get larger.....

and some of us still lazier (if that is possible)....

Although...... while things are not completely finished, I have been productive in one area

It's progress... and hopefully we'll get there before he gets here :)

Trips, trips, trips

So Andy and I have been on a few trips over the past month. In the end of February, we went to Costa Rica. It is a beautiful country and I think a good time was had by all (aside from the morning sickness!)

We did a little 'adventure pack' one day which included horseback riding and doing a zip line through the rain forest. (They made us wear the ever-so-glamorous yellow helmets. A liability thing I'm assuming although they were as chinsy as they look and probably wouldn't do much good should one get a serious blow to the head anyway....).
This is the river we had to drive through to get to one of our destinations. At first we were confused because we had followed the map and didn't see how we could dead end into a river (mind you the roads down there are HORRENDOUS! It was a good day if we averaged 30 km/hr). But then a land rover came up behind us, promptly drove around us and without missing a beat just drove on through it. We followed suit and were on our way.
Andy's first, and honestly, probably one and only surfing lesson. He did well though and got up several times. (Thats him on the right and his teacher on the left).
The sunsets were incredible as were the sunrises. We would go watch them every day, the water always packed with surfers anticipating the perfect wave.

This is Volcan Arenal, an active volcano Costa Rica is famous for. It sits right next to a large lake which we drove around. It was gorgeous! If ever we go back, we'll be spending our time around lake and volcan Arenal.

These were strange and rather scary creatures (notice the NAILS!) But we fed them some club crackers and it was entertaining to watch.

My favorite part was just driving around the country. There were so many amazing, picturesque views we were able to see!

And last but not least the zip line! It was being up that high, a little scary if you looked down though. Our guide said he'd never had any casualties though :)

After we got back from this trip Andy took a trip to southern California with his dad to watch tennis while I went back east to see my sister who just had a baby. Pictures from these trips will have to come later though!

Stir Crazy

Winter is officially here. I can tell not only by the biting cold, my craving for soups and the snow that makes driving nerve racking, but by the uneasy, cooped up, stir-crazy sort of feelings that will not leave me alone. Winter makes it harder to get out, it seems, and so these feelings persist. Andy and I try.... and we have a good excuse because the dogs can always use a walk. But when TV has lost it's charm, I can't crochet another stitch, and cooking is the last thing I want to do, what in the world is there left to do?????? Blog. Blog on our feeble attempts to get out and take back our sanity.........



We like to go up to south fork..... It has a great view and there's a field where the dogs get very tired in a short amount of time, trudging through the 2-3 ft deep snow.

We've even been able to convince family members to join us in our endeavor.

God speed the Spring!

Ode to SISTERS!!

If you couldn't tell by the title, this is acutally Sarah. I found myself with some spare time today and thought I might try my hand at blogging. Here goes.
So I love being married. It is the best thing in the world and I would recommend it to anyone. I absolutely love going to bed every night and waking up every morning with my wonderful husband by my side. While our life together may not be an action packed adventure story, it is fulfilling and makes me very happy. I admit I have learned LOTS too..... about life, about myself, about Andy, about men in general, about women in general and compromise :) I have also learned how much I NEED and love sisters. I feel very fortunate because I can call so many AMAZING women my sisters. And I know this list will only continue to grow throughout my life. I had four fabulous sisters the day I was born. I inherited three incredible sisters this May. I have bumped into many other stunning sisters throughout my colorful college career. Sisters are wonderful for many reasons......

Sisters are oh so talented.....


Sisters are wild and crazy....

Sisters like to be together....

Sisters are good moms....



Sisters are happy.....

And sisters are wonderful friends, confidants, and therapists! Just to let all my sisters know that I love them!!!!

Holiday Preparations

I am at work this Saturday afternoon. It's a fairly familiar place for me as of late. Right now I am looking out over Riverwoods in Provo, Utah. Although I do have a beautiful view of Cascade and Timpanogos Mountains, I think some weekends I would rather be looking down a ski slope or even just looking at at t.v. screen. But Sarah made me promise that I would work long enough this weekend to support her extravagant lifestyle. (Just kidding -- anyone who knows Sarah knows she is low-maintenance . . . monetarily that is.)

What I wanted to post about today concerns my thoughts on the Christmas season and my focus this time of year.

Related to what I have to say on this topic is the fact that I am so grateful I am married to Sarah. Of course there are numerous reasons why I am grateful for Sarah; but today (on the way to the BYU tennis courts at 5:20 a.m.) I got to feeling blessed for being with someone who, for the most part, looks at life much the same way I do. For instance, we both (generally) are fairly non-material (at least I think so) when it comes to buying things for ourselves. We don't shop to shop and we try to budget. (An interesting tidbit is that Sarah sometimes talks about getting new make-up from Dillards or somewhere because they give a "free gift" with a purchase. I give her a hard time because what is a "free gift" when you have to buy something to get it???) I don't get it.


Nonetheless, this will be our first Christmas together being married and we are both looking forward to it. A while back we discussed what we wanted to do for Christmas in terms of presents and such. We both decided that we would use money that we would otherwise have spent on ourselves to give to a family in our ward or area who have children whose Christmas could use some brightening. When I think of families together who go without, I can't help but get a lump in my throat. Maybe it's because when I was a child we never had much. But then again, I guess I never consciously thought about what I did and didn't have.

But to get back to the topic, I feel really blessed that I am with a person who cares for others more than herself. And it isn't caring for show; Sarah serves and spends her time thinking of and building up those around her. For that, I am grateful.

Anyway, my feelings on Christmas have evolved quite a bit over the last 30 years. As a kid, Christmas was only a time to look forward to because of presents and being out of school. Now, Christmas is a special time for me because it is a time when I get to relax just enough to be able to spend time and connect with family. I sometimes get the question of why I came back to Utah after law school. For me, despite enjoying my time in school in Michigan and Colorado, I couldn't imagine a life where I wasn't surrounded by my family. So Christmas, in my evolved view, is a time of year in which my thoughts focus even more narrowly on family.

- - - I promise that I won't be as mushy in my future posts - - -