rendezvous in reno

That's a really weird word, rendezvous. I always had a hard time with French because it's not a language you can sound out very well. And I'll admit I had to look up the correct spelling... not only that I had to look up the definition too. Just to make sure it really was rendezvous.

Anyways, here's an update of the past whirlwind week. AJ left home for Boise last Tuesday. Thank you Army for once again taking my dear husband away. AJ rode over with another guy in the Guard and was then stranded on post all week. I spent Wednesday and Thursday cleaning up our house a little bit. As much as I could handle with the bean on board, anyway. Smells are still an ever constant battle. I did get our bathrooms cleaned (they needed it so badly) and all the dishes done. Which was quite the feat, had you seen our mountains piled in/around the sink. I also got the counters in the kitchen cleared off and scrubbed down. Also quite the feat. I'm pretty proud. P.S. that photo isn't of our kitchen. We don't actually own that many dishes. But all the ones we do own... they were all pretty much dirty...


Friday, however, was my 'break day'. I did a few little things, but mostly decided to just chill. I showered (which probably also needed to be done pretty badly...) and then went out for a little socializing. AKA: shopping. I was running out of fresh fruit and that's one of the things I can almost always keep in my stomach. So, I went and got some more. I also got supplies to make curtains for a few windows in our house. Namely, the family room, the back doors, and our bedroom. We have a projector in our bedroom that we watch movies on sometimes. Occasionally, even at noon... but it's hard to see the picture since the room is flooded with sunlight. Enter red curtains. They block out the sunlight enough to see the movies... and isn't red an aphrodisiac?? P.S. these aren't our curtains. And ours look nothing like this, other than the fact that they are red. And hanging in front of a window. But, pictures make a blog, right?



I then decided to stop at the dollar store and get some picture frames to change things up on our walls. My theory: it's the pictures that are the important things so I can deal with cheap frames. Well, on my way back home my mom called, just to check up on things. We talked for a while and I told her how I'd even showered and gotten dressed and made an appearance in public. Out of nowhere she asked if I wanted to come to Reno. I was a little taken aback, in fact my exact response was: "Uhm, like now?" I told her she could check on airfare if she wanted to, but that I really was doing ok by myself. Although it was harder to go from being with AJ almost 24/7 for the past month and a half to being all alone 24/7 than other times when he's been gone before. But I had a whole list of things to do to keep me busy.

Well, my mom got excited and found a plane ticket that would work. I was able to get things arranged with AJ so that I could leave the car with him and fly out of Boise. He jumped at the idea for two reasons: 1. he felt better that I wouldn't be all alone for the next week and a half and 2. he really like the idea of being able to leave post every once in a while. So, in about three hours my plans for the next week and a half went from making curtains and punching even more holes in our walls to flying to Reno. By the way, I still made and hung two sets of curtains before I left...




On Sunday I drove to Boise (on the most boring road ever, I might add) and met up with AJ. We were able to spend a few hours together before he dropped me off at the airport. He went back to playing soldier and I took our little bean for it's first airplane ride. See the previous post for details on that... My parent's picked me up at the airport in Reno and we've just been hanging out the past few days.

Monday was Kimme's Birthday. Happy Sweet 16th! She's pretty anxious to grow up, and although dating isn't at the bottom of her list it is at least sitting behind getting her driver's license. However, she still has another 20 hours to log on her permit... and she's gotta convince Mom (I think she may slowly be winning that battle though). We ate In-N-Out for dinner, per Kim's choice. My parents got her a keyboard for Christmas and they got a sustain pedal for it for her birthday. They also got her a software program that lets you compose your own songs. I'm secretly hoping it'll get here before I leave so I can check it out. =]



Tuesday, Kim had a late start for school and got out early. So, she, my mom and I went and took advantage of the free pancakes IHOP was giving a way in honor of National Pancake Day. Less then $10 for the 3 of us to stuff ourselves, we thought we did pretty good. Kim had a bowling competition that afternoon. Her team won and they are competing next week for 1st place against Carson City High School. Kimme bowled her highest score ever, a 199. Congratulations to her on that. She bowled a 140 and 143 in the other two games, making her average that competition 160... which is way more than I could probably bowl out of three games combined.




Today, Kaiti got to have a play date with her friend Brennin. The rest of us girls watched a couple episodes of NCIS. Kim fell asleep on the couch and before too terribly long I joined her in dreamland. I didn't sleep long, but long enough to feel slightly more energy when I woke up. Kim and Kaiti both had activities for church tonight. My mom and I dropped them off and then she took me to tour the new Target. There was a few things I couldn't get into my bags, so I had get them here. I hadn't thought about making a trip to the store and left my wallet at home. Promising to pay her back, I let my mom pay for everything. But, being the fabulous mom she is, she wouldn't let me. I did get a couple of BellaBands for my prego belly.


I'm pretty excited about those. Especially since I didn't have to fork out the cash for them. THANKS MOM! And the bean says, thanks too, grandma. Funny how an elasticized piece of material can make one so giddy, but I can feel the stretching on my tummy and a little extra support will be soo nice. They say you appreciate things more if you have to work and earn the money to pay for them. I have to disagree. You are still pretty appreciative of things you wish you could afford, but realize you can't, when someone else is kind enough to get them for you. She also got me some toothpaste, but that may have been for other, more selfish reasons. =]

a pregnant roller coaster

CAUTION: this post is riddled with sarcasm. Enjoy.

So, you know those signs at amusement parks that have all the people listed that probably shouldn't get on the ride? And you know how pregnant women are always on that list? Well, I have one thing to say: What pregnant woman in her right mind would WANT to get on a roller coaster???




The little bean and I took our first airplane trip together today. I don't think the bean likes flying in utero. I know I'm not terribly fond of flying with a little jumping bean on board. Ok, lemme rephrase. Flying was fine, takeoff and landing... bleh. It wasn't absolutely miserable, by any means, but it wasn't real fun either. However, it's been decided: I will definitely be avoiding any and all roller coaster rides until August 6th. Or whenever our baby makes it's appearance. Won't my doctor be so excited?!? (sarcasm is a blessed thing.)

I enjoy roller coasters, and I usually enjoy flying, but not when I have to wonder if I'm gonna end up with my stomach in my throat... and my baby. Now there's a mental image for you.

Take that with you and
Have a great day!

=]

Valentine's Day

I gave fair warning that I'd be posting a lot... so keeping with my word, here I go.


For Valentine's Day this year we didn't do anything super exciting, just enjoyed being together. We slept in and AJ made me breakfast in bed. It was delicious, he's such a fabulous cook. My tummy was feeling a little icky so I didn't get to eat all the sausage he'd made up sadly, but the eggs and toast was pretty tasty. I'd cut out a bunch of hearts and written things I love about him on them and 'heart attacked' the wall above his side of the bed, complete with a few Hersey's Kisses. I hope he was pleasantly surprised... but he probably should have expected it, as I'm always doing something to our walls -- whether it be painting/writing on them or poking holes in them or something else.

We spent the rest of the day just hanging out. We've finally got our office set up so we can both be in there and on our computers (I have my laptop, AJ has anywhere from two to five monitors on at a time... I love my nerd). I touched up a few pictures we took at the Logan Temple and AJ has been playing with remote desktop connections, so that would be my guess as to what he was doing.

I eventually peeled him away from all the pretty, glowing monitors and seduced him enough to talk him into a bubble bath. Ok, it wasn't really that hard. =] I enjoy taking baths with him, because if he's in with me then I stay warm enough that the water doesn't have to be real hot... which is nice, because then I don't feel like I'm cooking the little bean. We had some bath caviar we'd been given and decided to try it out, although neither one of us knew exactly what to do with it. We ended up acting like 5 year-olds and throwing it at each other, but hey it got some pretty fabulous laughs. (Sometimes I wonder if we're mature enough to have a baby... =] At least we'll have fun though.)


We ate some lunch and were trying to decide whether to attend a stake activity that night or not. AJ'd signed us up for it, although I was just hoping to spend the night together. We opted against it and decided to just spend the night together at home, mostly.

We had to do our Valentine's Day tradition. Well, I guess we were making it tradition, as we've only had two years to do it. We set a spending limit, went to the store and split up. I have to say I really enjoy this little tradition. With our anniversary only 6 days before, it's nice not to have the worry of what to get him for Valentine's Day on top of that. And the hunt/sneak around the store is fun too. Our gifts usually end up being random and sometimes a little silly this way, but I like it. I got him some candy, play-doh, candles, and a box of vanilla wafers (his faves). He got me a picture frame for our ultrasound pictures, some real cute earrings and a can of whipped cream... to top off the smoothie he was planning to make when we got home. As well as the cute little baby onesie.

We then went to Rolberto's for dinner. The two of us can eat there for about $5. And it's really good Mexican food. We opted for the drive-thru and took our spoils home. We shared our gifts and I gave him the card I'd made. It was fun to watch him read it, besides I didn't really get him a card for our anniversary so I probably owed him one. We ate dinner and our yummy smoothies, complete with whipped cream. Then decided to watch a movie in bed.


Valentine's Days are so much more fun when you're married, at least I think so. AJ commented that he was glad we'd just stayed home and spent the night together, to which I whole-heartedly concurred. It was perfect.

It's a... BABY!

So, I was going to let AJ blog about this, but he didn't, so it's a simple case of "you snooze, i win." =]

We had our first appointment with the doctor last week. She was great and I think I'm really going to like her. We got there, signed in, got called back to the exam room and while I took my usual trip to the bathroom with the little cup they give you our Dr was called to go deliver a baby. I came back to the room, AJ told me what happened and I figured we'd be there for a while and then have to reschedule. Surprise number one: we were gonna be seen before she left! Yay! Well, on top of all the fun tests and garbage they do, surprise number two: we got our first ultrasound. It was a quick one (she did have slightly more pressing places to be) but there really is a baby in there. And there really is just one baby in there. =] It was really neat to get to see it though. She tried to get a peek between the little bean's legs, but no such luck, so we still don't know a gender. She let us listen to the heartbeat too. That was neat too.

baby's head and back, visible spine

And I fell in love with my husband all over again. He had the most adorable grin from ear to ear the second the doctor started pointing out the baby. And it didn't leave his face all day. He's totally excited to be a dad. He's gonna be so good at it. He even broke down before I did and bought the first item of baby apparel the two of us have purchased. It was a cute little onesie that says "mommy's little jelly bean" (very appropriate since I call it a bean all the time). He'll be such an awesome dad and I'm so excited.

Our bean was so funny. Apparently, it's quite the active bean... does that make it a jumping bean? Hmmm. Anyway, when the doctor first started doing the ultrasound it had it's hand on it's forehead like a little damsel in distress and when the doctor kept pushing the little bean pushed back! I think we're gonna have our hands full with this one. We got some good pictures though. AJ thinks this one looks like it's saying "I Love You" in sign language with the hand at the bottom of the picture. It kinda does, and as doting parents, we're gonna keep thinking that.

our little drama baby

Surprise number three: we scheduled our big ultrasound before we left the office. They wanted it about two weeks out, but let us push it out another week so AJ could go too. So, hopefully in about two weeks we'll be able to know whether we should be buying dresses or shorts and pink or blue.

the last picture explained for those of us who aren't ultrasound techs...

First Attempt

So, just a warning... Over the next several days there will be a lot of posting done on this blog. Some of it exciting and relevant news, some of it simply ramblings in order to kill some of the loneliness and boredom I will be experiencing. You have now been warned.

Alright, so AJ is playing soldier and so my days are all of a sudden very free and open. Well, sorta. I have a 'to-do list' and I can honestly see all the cleaning on it even getting done, but a pregnant lady can only clean so much before she's absolutely exhausted... and so all the blogging I've been saving will finally get done.

Because I'm pregnant and my hormones are raging (at least that what I'm going to blame it on) in order to distract myself and not spend the whole day making my headache even worse by crying, I decided to learn a new skill. I know what you're thinking: "wow, she's so smart". Right? Hahaha. Maybe not. In any case, I decided I was going to learn Photoshop. Or at least learn more about it. I've got a different photo editing software on my laptop that I've used for over a year and know the basics of it well enough to get it to do most anything I want it to. However, my husband swears by Photoshop and it's what is on our desktop, so I spent the last few hours... yes, hours... playing around.

I was a little overwhelmed with the blank space I opened up at first, but slowly began filling it up. After 20 mins or more of utter frustration I figured out my only real problem. YAY! And although it took forever to get it all the way I wanted and everything, I finally created this:


I won't lie, I'm a little proud, although I may have gotten a little carried away. That'll be my next Photoshop project... somethings are best in moderation. But I still like it. =] I may have to take up digital scrapbooking.

UPDATE: I made our header too... It's not quite as overdone as my first little project. Now if only I were starting to get tired so I could go to bed...

One Year Later

It's official. AJ and I have been married for a whole year. And we even still love each other! Hahaha. It has been a good year; filled with ups, downs, and everything in-between. We've had our share of rough moments and definitely of fights and disagreements. Luckily, we seem to be able to work things out almost all the time, and the things we don't aren't a big enough deal to matter. So, here's to a year of marital bliss and for many many years yet to come.




So, I wasn't really gonna write about this but it's kinda funny and a little hard to pass up. We'd kinda decided to celebrate on Saturday after AJ got home from some Army training because Sundays are full of church and we had dinner plans with some of my family. We both have been sick (AJ got it first and was just so kind enough to share with me...) so I didn't even get out of bed until noon, when AJ came home for lunch. I was feeling pretty miserable but talked myself into moving down to the couch. After AJ left to go finish his training I realized I don't really have anything to give him! So I began concocting a plan but only had about three hours to make it all play out. I gathered things we had around the house and put them all prettied up into a basket. I made some cupcakes, but they didn't get frosted until yesterday. And then put in some potatoes to bake. For those of you who were able to attend, you'll remember that we had a potato bar at our reception. So, not only was it kinda 'tradition', it was super easy.

I finished up the basket (complete with things for a bubble bath and a couple of romantic comedies we'd watched while we were dating). I put the basket on the counter next to the cupcakes and sprinked rose petals from the door to the counter and lit a couple of candles. By then, I was super exhausted trying to beat the clock... and my husband's return home... so I curled up on the couch and watched a little TV. AJ came home with flowers, candy and a card (which he even wrote in! He bought me a b-day card last year and it's still sitting blank in our office). What a good hubby I have.

We ate our baked potatoes while we watched a Monk and Psych episode that we had on our DVR. Well, I started to fall asleep while we were finishing Psych and really thought I told AJ to wake me up when it was over, he says I didn't. In any case, I heard it end and was talking myself into waking up until AJ started watching something else. I thought 'well, if he's gonna watch this I'll go back to sleep. I'm still tired.' The next time I woke up my sweet husband was asleep too! What fun is celebrating an anniversary by yourself? So I went back to sleep again. My mom called and woke us up around 11 or so. So, there went our night of romantic bliss... we'd slept it away on the couch!

Don't worry. We just continued the celebration yesterday and did the things we hadn't done the night before on our actually anniversary. Our celebration at home, as well as our trip last weekend, made for a fabulous anniversary. Simple, fun, and enjoyable. Just like us.

Weekend Wrap Up

Saturday, after we went to the Draper Temple open house, we went out to lunch at The Pie Pizzeria. It was pretty delicious, but since I'd woken up with my residual headache and was a little icky feeling from being up before I'd slept away all the morning sickness, I stuck mostly to the salad. Which was also very delicious. After we fed those hungry bellies, AJ and I went back to Seth and Tavia's to change out of our Sunday clothes. We hung out for a little while and then went over to Chris and Jewelia's. AJ got to wrestle and play with the boys and Maddie. I was feeling like there was a rock-solid melon in my belly and so mostly just sat on the couch and watched them play. AJ's gonna be such a good dad, I can't wait. And I know he's excited to get to wrestle with his own little munchkins.

Seth and Tavia came over later that evening. We ate a delicious dinner and then the kiddos went and watched a movie while the big kiddos played some games. We're kind of a competitive bunch... and definitely a loud one, but it was fun nonetheless. After I lost pretty much every game we played (someone had to do it and I'm probably one of the least competitive ones, so why not?) we went back to Seth and Tavia's. I took another Tylenol and we went to bed.

We got up Sunday morning, showered and got ready for church. AJ and I ended up only going to sacrament meeting... I hadn't eaten quite enough that morning and the monster within was a little upset about that. We went and ate something to quite the beast and then played with some of our temple pictures we took on Friday. I went through every single one of the 600+ photos and picked out my faves. Some of them will have to be photoshopped a little, but I'm so happy with the way they came out.

AJ and I watched a movie while Seth and Tavia napped after church. I'll admit I took a little snooze myself as well. Chris and Jewelia and their kids come over for dinner and we feasted. It was, as always, very tasty. The kidlets put on another movie and we played a game of Phase 10. I continued my losing streak. Chris and Jewelia dragged 4 tired, exhausted kids out to the car around 10 or so. Seth had to work that night, so AJ and I stayed up with Tavia for a little bit and just chatted. We finally called it a night around 11.

On Monday, AJ and I went shopping for maternity clothes. My wardrobe seemed to dwindle and vanish nearly overnight. Besides, American Fork/Orem area has way better shopping choices than we do here in Pocatello. I was able to get a few things and should be able to keep most of me covered... at least for now. After all our shopping I finally fed my starving bear-of-a-husband an in-n-out style hamburger and fries. It was absolutely amazing and made us both happier, nicer people to be around.

We had some things to deliver to Jewelia so we headed back over there. Any excuse is good enough for AJ if he gets to go play with the kids. We spent the evening/night with them and finally made our way back to our bed.

We got up Tuesday and started packing everything up and hauling it all out to the Jeep. We were able to meet up with my dad in Logan. He had some work he was doing there. It was good to get to see him again. We went to lunch at a fabulous Chinese restaurant. After we could eat no more we said our good-byes and made our way back to Pocatello. It was a great weekend and we had a ton of fun, but it was so nice to be back in our own bed. It's not much, but it's home.

Draper Temple Open House

On our spontaneous getaway this past weekend we were able to attend the Draper Temple Open House in Draper, UT. When we got the invitation to go we weren't real sure it was going to happen. I'm doing better with the morning sickness (most of the time) but seem to have an almost constant headache. Usually it's just a dull ache that is tolerable and really not a big deal, but last Friday night it felt like someone was repeatedly hitting my head with a small rubber ball. I was in so much pain I wanted to cry, but knew that crying only makes a headache worse, so I gulped some water, a 500 mg Tylenol, wrapped up in some warm blankets and went to bed.


Fortunately, I woke up the next morning with more of the dull ache. It was still there but not so bad that I couldn't even function. We got up, got dressed, ate a little and then hopped in the frosty cold jeep and started out for the "blue parking lot". There was such limited parking up at the temple that they had everyone register, receive a parking lot assignment, and take a shuttle up to the temple. We finally found the correct parking lot (after a small detour into a different church building's lot... they're everywhere down there!) we made our way inside. AJ's sister and her family were waiting for us. We watched a quick video and then all loaded on the shuttles. My niece and nephews were so cute, and that was probably their favorite part of the whole day. The temple is located on a hill over looking the valley below. There are houses just right across the street, these people almost literally have a temple in their backyards. How cool would that be?


We got to the temple and were pleasantly surprised that we were able to pretty much just walk right on in. We didn't even have to stop to put those annoying booty things over our shoes, they had the carpet protected with thick plastic runners. It was such a beautiful temple with a lot of really pretty woodwork and gorgeous artwork on the walls. My favorite part was the bride's dressing room, not really sure why. Although I always enjoy the sealing rooms and the Celestial Room of course. AJ's was the Celestial Room and he waited somewhat impatiently for us to get to that part of the tour. It was neat to be able to walk around that room with him. It was a more extensive tour than some of the others I've been on and it was neat to see a bit more of the things you usually only get a glimpse of. It was a great experience and even in an un-dedicated temple the Spirit was really strong. The perfect way to start the day.




If you have the chance and are interested, I would absolutely recommend attending this open house. Here's some more info:

Tours of the new Draper Utah Temple will be offered from 15 January through 14 March 2009. These tours will be available on Mondays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Tuesdays to Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Open house organizers request that advance reservations be made online at www.lds.org/reservations (maximum of 10 reservations) or by calling 1-800-537-6181 or 801-240-7932. Group reservations can also be accommodated by calling these numbers. (This will get you a parking lot assignment.)

On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 20-22 March 2009, the Draper Utah Temple will be formally dedicated. Latter-day Saints in the area served by the new temple will attend 12 dedicatory sessions.

After its dedication, the temple will serve approximately 60,000 members of the Church in Draper and surrounding communities. It will become the 129th Latter-day Saint temple worldwide and the 12th temple in Utah.

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

It's been a little while, but up until this weekend nothing exciting really had happened. So for a quick little update: we are 14 weeks pregnant, unemployed, and hanging on by the skin of our teeth. Things are tight, but we're still eating and the house is still heated. And, as AJ always says, "it's not so bad that it couldn't be worse."

Well, because my husband doesn't have a job right now we get to spend a lot more time together, which I am really enjoying. Over the past year we've learned to mesh and compromise enough that we can be together all the time for weeks on end and we don't constantly fight. So, yay for learning that life lesson... it's been a blessing these past few weeks. My most favorite part though... he gets to sleep through my morning sickness with me. I love cuddling up to him in bed in the mornings. Well, and he's been cooking quite a bit lately and I must say he is one fabulous chef. We're eating like kings... well, kings with no money.

Our latest adventure was our trip we took to Utah last weekend. We had been talking about having pictures done at the Logan Temple for our sealing (which has been pushed back at this point, but we'll keep you posted on that). I wanted to wear my wedding dress for our pictures and I wanted to have pictures without a ginormous baby belly. My dress was already getting tight and there's an unmistakable bump where my waistline used to be, so we bit the bullet. We'd been talking about it briefly, but hadn't really looked at the calendar and scheduled anything. We got home from Institute on Thursday night around 9pm and had been talking about it on the ride. Turns out the best weekend for us was the one coming up the next day. We contacted our photographer (a.k.a. AJ's amazing sister, Tavia) and were able to set things up for the next day. I was up pretty late trying to get things ready. It was a slightly less stressful re-enactment of the night before our wedding, although stressful nonetheless.

We finally left Pocatello on Friday around 1:30pm, later than we'd hoped, but made it to Logan by 3. Perfect, just enough time to grab the few things I'd forgotten at home with a quick trip to Wal-Mart (not to mention, a bathroom break). After our quick run into the store, we drove up to the temple. Tavia wasn't quite there yet, which was also perfect because it gave me time to finish wrapping my flowers and sewing a hair comb to my veil. Tavia showed up just as I was hurriedly sewing on the hair comb. AJ and I both changed into our formal attire and were finally ready to get started.



We took several hundred pictures and they came out very well. We were very pleased. There's a few shots where I wasn't sucking in the baby bump enough and it is visible, but oh well, it was bound to happen. AJ even snuck in a hand on my tummy pose. There's a few we'll have to photoshop a little... we both seemed to have a problem keeping our eyes open. And we have red noses (and my hands are quite red too). But all easy enough to touch up a little.



After I was thoroughly frozen to the bone and 600 pictures later, we climbed back into our cars, made our way through Logan and headed still further south. With, of course, the heater cranked up. At least until all those pregnancy hormones kicked in enough to warm me back up sufficiently.

I have to give a shout out to Tavia. Thanks for coming on such short notice and for taking so many awesome pictures for us. We couldn't have done it without you! You're amazing! We owe you!

Now, we're just waiting to go inside...