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...

The Baby Ate My Brain

So, I was going to get on and write about my parents coming last weekend and how my little brother was going into the MTC. Luckily, I had two comments on the post I'd already written on that subject. Also, luckily, I read those comments before I started writing. I could have sworn I hadn't written about that yet, so I had to go back and read my last post... lo and behold, I HAD written about it.

I read that this week the baby's neurons in its brain are developing... at a rate of over 25,000 per minute!!! Not even my math and number-oriented husband could wrap his mind around how many that was in a week's time. I also wondered if I was losing brain cells just as fast. Hopefully not, because I don't know that I actually have that many to lose... either that or they are all gathering around my tummy, which seems to have 'popped out' in the last week or so.

When my parents were here and I would have bouts of forgetfulness I would claim that 'the baby ate my brain'. This statement had little Miss Kaiti worried that the baby actually was eating my brain. We had to explain that it wasn't really eating it... I just couldn't remember anything. So, to everyone who was worried that my brain is being eaten by my little two ounce leech (said in the most loving and endearing way), don't worry. The baby isn't really eating my brain. Sometimes it just seems like it.

highs and lows of a busy weekend

This past weekend has been quite interesting. AJ left Friday morning for drill in Boise. I really don't love drill weekends, especially when AJ is gone overnight. I've had insomnia pretty bad lately (hooray for being pregnant...) and I really don't sleep well when AJ's gone anyway. Soo... Friday night I spent watching movies, trying to fall asleep. And crying like a baby... not sure if it's hormones or because I desperately missed my husband. Finally around 5:30 I fell asleep, that's right... 5:30 in the morning. So, it shouldn't be terribly surprising that I didn't get up until after noon.

I finished some housework and packed up a suitcase. Around 3:30 (half an hour after I'd planned...) I hit the freeway and headed to Grace. I spent the evening with my grandparents. My parents and siblings got there around midnight. We spent the next couple hours getting them unloaded and all settled in. As well as doing some 'catch up' and some talking. We finally got in bed around 3am.

Lucky for us, church wasn't until 12:30. We got up around 11 and after a bowl of cheerios, a few minutes in front of the mirror and changing from sweats to a skirt, it was off to chruch. I ate almost all the way through the three hours and had a few instances of convincing myself that I didn't really feel sick. After successfully making it through all three hours we went back to Grandma's and ate sloppy joes for dinner. Yummy!

My favorite part of the whole night was when AJ texted me and told me to come pick him up. He rode down with another guy in the Guard and he dropped AJ off at the junction between Grace and Soda Springs. It was soo good to see him again and I know it was only two days! We were glued at the hip for most of the rest of the night. I sure do love that silly boy.

We spent yesterday running around with my parents. We hit up the mall... my parents and Kaiti's church clothes were forgotten in Reno. And my favorite part of the day... Igot my temple dress! Yay! Ate lunch at Artic Circle. AJ wanted to go to Big 5 so we went there and then met my mom and sisters at Ross. My mom didn't have any luck at the mall. I wanted to check out their selection of maternity clothes, for future reference.

We then went and met some family at Sizzler for dinner. It was delicious but we were still pretty full from our late lunch. We sat around and talked for a while. It was nice to just bask in that 'family glow', We went up to my cousin's house so the rest of my family could see them. After a couple hours up there we finally came home. It was so nice to finally stop going, going, going. It took about all the energy I had for a day like that.

But we still couldn't go to bed yet... I needed my mom to help me with my dress for pictures at the temple. I wanted to wear my wedding dress, but it had gotten a bit tight... especially with this new little bump around my middle. We let out the sides and it didn't fit too terribly, as long as I don't gain 10 lbs in the next 5 weeks, it should work out alright. We'll keep our fingers crossed. We finally got to bed around 12:30 last night and got some much needed zzzzzz's.

My parents and siblings left this morning for Provo. Andrew and Mom and Dad wanted to do another temple session today. Andrew goes into the MTC tomorrow. It's crazy... that makes me feel old. Not getting married or even getting pregnant, but my little bro going on a mission. He'll be a great missionary and it'll be good for him. We're proud of him for going. Congratulaions and Good Luck! Keep in touch. We love you.

boredom begats... creativity?

So, I got bored today and stumbled upon this website that had a bunch of photo editing features. It caught my interest and I stuck around and played. This wasn't my first project that I tried, but it was the first I felt was somewhat worth saving. And since AJ has drill in Boise this weekend and I'm going to be in Grace with some of my family I will probably get a little homesick and missing my husband, I can now sneak back to our blog and look at all the fun times we've had and remind myself that it's only a couple days. What can I say? I'm still smitten with this man of mine.

Happy New Years

Well, we hope everyone has had a fabulous beginning of this new year. I can't believe that in just over a month AJ and I will have been married for a whole year already. It has been a most eventful year for sure, but an incredibly awesome one nonetheless. And in seven short months we'll be starting a whole new adventure. One that both excites and terrifies me, although mostly excites... usually. =]

I guess I'll wrap up the last couple days and we can then go forward. On Tuesday night AJ and I had quite an interesting experience. Life as an Army wife is anything but normal, steady or predictable. There is a whole bunch of restoration and remodeling being done up at the Armory right now. Because of such not all the alarm systems can be armed each night, and thus, someone has to be on-site 24/7. Well, AJ gets a phone call around 4pm informing him he'd been volunteered to stay the night at to report back up at the Armory at eighteen hundred hours (6 o'clock for those of you in the civilian world). He called me and told me about it and I wasn't too thrilled that my husband would be gone all night. Sleep is a somewhat precious commodity these days, seeing that it takes a TON of energy to construct a baby, and I don't sleep well when AJ's gone. So, when he told me I could come with him I was torn over sleeping in my comfy bed alone or on a cold air mattress with my husband. The air mattress won, mostly because I figured we could be miserable together just as well as we could be alone. I packed up some food and movies and games... and the air mattress and sleeping bags of course and we hit up Taco Bell take out for dinner and went to relieve the guy at the Armory. We ate dinner, and then moved our base camp up to the room with a ginormous tv monitor. AJ did his nerd thing, hooked up his laptop, and we watched a movie on the huge monitor. Well, I watched a movie and AJ played video games. Boys will be boys. I fell asleep around 11:30 or so and AJ finally came to bed around 1 0r 1:30. We got up at 6am (not a time of the morning I frequent) we packed everything up and then were relieved of duty around 7:15. We came home and went back to bed. Well, tried to anyway. We were both a little restless and about the time we finally started to drift off again AJ got a phone call. He was then awake and didn't have a chance of going back to bed. He got up and went over to his brother's house to work on a car they'd been trying to get running. I went back to sleep until I got a phone call around 11.

I got up, showered, and got dressed then waited for AJ to come home. We had a few errands to run so we did that and then came back home and made some Muddy Buddies. We went over to some friend's around 8. The Institute had rented out the Student Union Building at the University so we went up there for a little while. The boys played a few games of billiards and the girls chatted. We eventually hit up the food and then went back downstairs and the boys played a few more games. We went back to Russ and Ashley's around 11 and waited for midnight. All three of us girls are expecting and so we were pretty wiped out by the time we watched the ball drop. We came home shortly after and headed to bed. We decided to start a Monk episode but when we both started nodding off during it we decided to call it quits for the night.

We slept in this morning. Ran a few errands. Came home and AJ made us dinner. When some friends moved last spring they cleaned out their freezer and we inherited some of their meat. Some of it was venison that Amy had shot. AJ cooked some of it up tonight and I had my first taste of deer meat. I actually really liked it. He made some mashed potatoes and gravy and a salad we got at Costco yesterday. It was a delicious dinner. I have such an amazing husband. And thanks for the meat, Amy!

I made some guacamole while AJ cooked dinner and then we made some black bean salsa (yum yum!) before just hanging out. We've had a pretty fabulous first day of this new year... and here's for 364 more!

Wrapping Up The Year

I figured that since today is a good day (meaning I'm not alternating from a flat on my back position to that of peering into one of our two porcelain thrones) I should take a moment and write one more time this year. We lead pretty mundane lives so I don't know that there will be anything to write about until after New Year's Eve.

Anyways, we had a great Christmas. AJ and I stayed home here in Pocatello this year. It was nice to not have to worry about travel plans, especially with my daily hormone/health fluctuations. Luckily, by Christmas Eve I was feeling better from the flu I'd had a couple days before. We were awakened by a text message from AJ's best friend, informing us his very pregnant wife had just gone into labor. They welcomed their little Christmas gift later that afternoon. We are so excited for them, congratulations you guys.

AJ and I splurged on a nice dinner of salmon, mashed potatoes and gravy, and corn. It doesn't sound super glamorous (especially when I tell you the corn was out of a can...) but AJ worked his magic on the grill and the salmon was delicious. I boiled and mashed the potatoes and opened and microwaved the corn. But AJ did pretty much everything else. He has been so good to help with things. Our house in by no means spotless (and sometimes I can't even say clean) but I don't know what I'd do with out him. After dinner we cleaned up the dishes and spent the rest of the evening/night watching tv and movies together. Just relaxing and enjoying each other's company.

We slept in Christmas morning, figuring it will probably be the one Christmas morning we get to sleep in for a long time. We'd been slowly beginning to stir when AJ's phone went off once again. It was his sister calling to gloat about her new camera. =] We were very excited for her, it's a very nice camera. After AJ talked to her for a little while we decided it was time to return to the land of the living and get something for our hungry little tummies.

We opened our stockings and cut up the apples and oranges we got for breakfast. We munched on that and began with the gifts under the tree. AJ got some games and some movies, although his favorite was the ABC book I made him. AJ gave me a few pregnancy appropriate things and some jewelry. We watched Dr Suess' How The Grinch Stole Christmas with Jim Carrey... AJ had never seen it. We watched a couple other movies and things. At 5 o'clock we went to dinner at AJ's brother's house. It was delicious and we thank them for their hospitality. We spent the evening with them and when we finally returned home, we opted to finish a movie we'd previously started.

We spent the rest of the weekend together just hanging out and relaxing. We got together with some friends on Saturday night and played games. It was a fun night that went much later than any of us had anticipated. We ended up making a right-before-midnight run to Wal-Mart for some food. I've had salt and fresh fruit cravings with this pregnancy. Which isn't all bad... I've almost completely lost my sweet tooth.

Sunday was a rough day. I woke up with a real bad headache and knew that I wasn't gonna make it to church. AJ brought me some water and a yummy apple and i went back to sleep. Unfortunately, I had my headache all day yesterday and nothing really helped. I spent a lot of the day with my eyes closed, although not necessarily in sleep.

Today, has been a good day. AJ came home about 10am this morning... they had no water, no power, no heat and no phones or internet at the armory. Since they couldn't do anything today, he came home. It's been warm today and the snow has been melting. There hasn't been a whole lot of road maintenence and the roads are a mess. AJ did have to go back up to work and give the guy on duty a lunch break, but I went up with him and we started watched Kung Fu Panda.

We ran a few errands and then came home for a snack. And a break. Over all it's been a fabulous holiday weekend... And today marks a year from when AJ officially asked me to marry him and he slid this ring on my finger. It seems like only yesterday we met in church. What a year it has been.

We hope every one had a wonderful Christmas and that the New Year brings you joy and happiness.

An Unexpected Gift - Can You Guess?

So, most everyone already knows and I haven't been the sole news announcer on this, so I'm not entirely sure exactly who knows and who doesn't. Any way, for those of you who haven't heard yet, we have some exciting news... betcha can't guess what it is...?

That's right... We're EXPECTING!! According to our calculations our little bundle of joy should should make an entrance into this world around August 6, 2009. We're really excited and as soon as we get past the yucky morning sickness hopefully life will get back to normal... or at least to the point that I can function on a daily basis. Some days aren't so bad and some days, well we just survive.

We hadn't planned on getting pregnant just yet, but I guess we should've known better, especially given AJ's family's past fertility experiences. Although, each of these experiences has resulted in a new little blessing that only makes the family bigger and better. Well, and there seems to be something in the water lately... I've got 3 friends, a cousin, a neice and a sister-in-law who are also expecting right now. They are all at least a month or two ahead of my eight weeks, but it's kinda been fun have someone to talk to that knows what it's like.

Yesterday I came down with the flu and had a really hard time keeping anything down. I finally stopped regurgating everything I ingested around ten last night and spent a good chunk of the night sucking on ice chips. I'm finally being able to keep down some liquids and crackers... my monster headache (i think from being dehydrated...) is finally starting to go away. YAY!

Christmas Day marks eight weeks in this "joyful journey". This whole being pregnant thing is nothing like I ever imagined... I was surprised how early I was feeling the effects of this new little growth inside me, and not just the morning sickness, although that is a good part of it too. I definitely don't have a ginormous belly yet, by any means, but some of the other changes to my body... oh my. It's been something to experience.

And, I've been so blessed to have such a great amazing, supportive husband. Very rarely does he complain that the dishes aren't done, the house is a mess, or we're running out of clean clothes. I feel bad that I don't seem to have the energy to do a whole lot, but AJ is great about helping pick up my slack after he gets off work. He really is a blessing and I'm so grateful he is mine, all mine.

Our baby is finally starting to look a little like a baby and not so much like the manatee it did last week, although it still has manatee-like qualities. The arms and legs are developing and so are fingers and toes. It's about the size of a kidney bean. Last week we had a little blueberry sized baby. It's been a lot of fun to learn how a baby develops week by week. It's absolutely amazing how fast they grow.



We wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. May you find your lives as blessed and joyous as we find ours. We're so grateful for the many blessings, all the family, and the friendships we have. We're grateful for the blessing of the Gospel in our lives. May your lives be blessed and may you find joy in the little things. We love you!

Temple Square Christmas Lights

AJ and I went down to Salt Lake City last night with some friends. We wanted to see the Christmas lights at Temple Square.

It was a lot of fun, even though it was a long night, given certain circumstances. AJ and I were soo ready for bed when we got home.

AJ had to be up at the Armory for some training this morning at 8, so he had an early morning... I, on the other hand, slept til I could sleep no more... about 10:30.

It snowed last night, but we beat the storm home, so we were thankful for that. It was a lot of fun, despite how tired we may have been.

You're My Treasure

I wasn't really gonna write about this, but when I mentioned it to AJ and he didn't remember a thing about it I couldn't help myself.

Last night we were in bed and AJ had been asleep for about an hour, maybe an hour and a half. I was still awake and a little restless. Our memory foam mattress sometimes sinks so much it feels like a hole and I was laying in just such a hole. I readjusted, rolled over and groaned a little with the effort or climbing out of my foam hole. AJ rolled right over, snuggled up to my back and whispered "You're my treasure," in my ear. This goofy little grin spread across my face and I cuddled up to him. I was taken off guard and didn't really know what to say. When I finally gained a few of my senses (it was late, they weren't all there) I asked him what he'd been dreaming about. He didn't know what I was talking about and told me I had just said 'treasure'. Apparently, I must have said it in his dream or something.

It was cute though. And when I asked him about it tonight he didn't remember any of it. Regardless of whatever brought it on, I know it's true and he's my treasure too.

Our Spontaneous FHE

My husband and I are a little more on the dorky side than your average couple... and we know it. However, we embrace it and have had some really fun times together. I've been sick with a cold/flu this past week and haven't had a whole lot of energy to do much. So, we didn't plan anything real big for FHE last night. We were laying on the couch watching tv when I looked up at him and said, "hey, we should go look at Christmas lights." I think he was a little reluctant at first, but we decided we would. We even made up some hot cocoa and took it with us.

We hit the streets with Christmas music playing in the background. I love Christmas lights, they are one of my favorite things about this time of year. I had a fabulous time last night and hope that AJ did too. I sure love that silly husband of mine.

We think those lights on the ground are milk jugs, but they were covered in snow and we couldn't really tell for sure. They looked neat tho.


It snowed yesterday morning and it really felt like Christmas, looking at the lights with all the new snow. It was beautiful.


This house was pretty intense. There were more lights than is pictured but i couldn't get them all in the frame of the car window I was shooting out of.

McCurdy Christmas

Since my dad's family is usually all there at our Thanksgiving festivities we all exchange Christmas gifts the day afterward. It's a lot of fun and a great way to start out the Christmas Season. Grandpa usually gives one of "Grandpa's Talk" and then it's chaotic pandemonium. Typically, it starts with the kids. Once they have all opened their presents it's the adults turn. It was interesting being an adult this year. Talk about good fun!

The Christmas Tree.

Silly girls... and Kameron's tushie...


Swords... Yay?


More sword action.


Just had to touch all the pretty colors...


I don't remember what she was yelling, but it made for some pretty silly faces.


Finally his turn. We thought he was sneezing or yawning... but he was posing with that face...

Careful... it'll freeze that way! =]

On Saturday, the adults all went down to the Logan Temple and did a session together. My grandparents are temple workers there and they all enjoyed being able to do that together. AJ, my brother Andrew and I went down and met up with them for lunch. Andrew needed to get a few more things for his mission and I wanted to do a little shopping.

I thought the clouds were cool looking and when Andrew said something about it too I knew I needed to capture the 'Kodak moment'.

The Logan, Utah Temple again a dreary gray sky. Looks almost like it's just floating in the air.


My dad's parents, siblings, their spouses and my brother.

Early Christmas

On the morning after Thanksgiving my family exchanged Christmas gifts. My mom was insistent on us opening our presents in her presence and I had wanted to watch them open theirs, so it all worked out. It was fun to have a "Christmas Morning" with them, since AJ and I will be at home for Christmas this year. That's ok too, but it was great to have a family Christmas too.

A Time for Thanksgiving

This year AJ and I spent Thanksgiving with my family in Grace, ID. AJ actually had the whole week off and we had a busy few days before we headed down to Grandma's house. I spent Monday finishing up the shopping for my family's Christmas presents. It took me forever to decide what to get my dad! And Kaiti was a little hard this year too. But, I finally had success and even got a few things for AJ.

My aunt came into town on Tuesday and I went and did a little shopping with her. Mostly I was just along as company. AJ had a few errands he had to run and he even did a load of dishes while I was gone!

We had a few last minute things to do Wednesday and we were on the road to Grace around 3pm. We checked to see if my parents were there yet and when they weren't we made a little trip to "Our Spot".

We had a big dinner with all the family Wednesday night. Nothing too fancy, just everyone came up to Grandma's. It was fun to see all the family again. My parents, siblings and AJ and I went to my Uncle Dana's. We stayed there, as there was more room available and there was a little less commotion than at Grandma's.

My mom, sisters, and I spent Wednesday night preparing and getting everything all ready for lunch the next day. It was fun to chat and laugh with them.

We got up the next morning and finished the food prep and headed over to the church, where everyone was gathering. We ate a delicious Thanksgiving lunch with all the traditional trimmings. It was fabulous and everything I had been waiting for. Yummy to the extreme.

We spent the next several hours just hanging out, talking, playing games, and of course the traditional basketball game. That one I am absolutely content to just watch. There is some serious competitive players and I value my life enough to stay out of the way.

It was fun to spend the day with family and to reflect on all the many blessings we are so grateful for. We truly do live in a "land of plenty", despite the current economy. We have friends, family, clothes on our bodies, roofs over our heads, and food in our bellies. We are thankful for the things we have been blessed with. For all your love and friendships.