Announcing the arrival of . . .

Alexander Luke Linscott

Alex was born at 9:43 AM on Thursday, October 23rd.

He weighed in at a whopping 7 lbs. 1 oz. and is 20 in. long.

The nursing staff gave him a 10/10 on the cute scale!

A very happy big sister, Abby.

The family of five, a very scary proposition!


The whole welcoming crew, with Grandma and Grandpa Linscott

Final "Nesting" Project

In a final burst of "nesting" energy, I finally painted the nursery the week before Baby Alex was born! Here are the results.

Before:

After:

{May I recommend to all women reading this that you never paint a room when you're 39 weeks pregnant. Let's talk about awkward (my belly kept bumping into stuff and getting smeared with paint), fatiguing (crawling around for hours), and working under pressure (I finished 2 days before he was born!). But at least I got it done and didn't have to bring Alex home to a mauve room. Hopefully no brain cells were sacrificed (his or mine) while breathing all the fumes!}

A New Friend

Well, we have had an addition join our family this week--but not THE addition we've been anticipating. As you can see, our baby boy is still tucked safely inside my huge belly. (I decided it was time to throw pride to the wind and post a 9-months-along-puffy-face-and-all picture!)

Anyway, we have acquired a cute, very entertaining little gerbil named Jane. Abby and Katie are both completely fascinated with her! Abby did banish her to the kitchen last night though, because Jane's wild antics on her exercise wheel were keeping her awake. This marks our first official pet that we haven't caught by ourselves!

A Few Fun Fall Fotos

This is a smorgasbord of pictures from the last week here in St. Louis. The weather has been beautiful, and besides the global financial meltdown, life's good!

A Sunday walk around the neighborhood.

Katie showing off her biking skills

Abby, Katie, and their neighborhood friends

Abby and Katie enjoying the fall leaves.

10 Years!

This week marks 10 years since I entered the MTC (Missionary Training Center), before serving a mission in Ukraine. I can't believe it's been a whole decade!
Here I am posing with my family--my parents and all 7 of my siblings--outside the MTC and trying to look brave before saying good-bye. I've been looking through mission pictures the past couple of days and reflecting on just how much this 18-month experience has affected my life. It's had a huge impact on who I am today.

Here is a Thanksgiving dinner with my district in Mariupol, Ukraine--including Elder Linscott! Obviously, the most major, long-lasting effect of my mission was meeting Luke there and starting a friendship that would later blossom into something eternal. Who would have guessed that, considering that one of the first impressions I made on him was tripping over my humongous, bright-green coat ("the pickle") and falling flat on my face on some stairs in the middle of the city?!

Besides meeting Elder Linscott, I learned so much about the gospel of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and how its message changes lives for the better. Also, I was forced to search deep inside of myself to learn how to get along with all kinds of people, communicate in a new language, navigate the customs of a foreign land, and stand on my own two feet without my family or friends nearby. Despite the inevitable challenges, I'll be forever grateful for this awesome opportunity I had and the wonderful people I met.

{So think hard, and if you have a minute, let me know in a comment: What were YOU doing in October 1998?}