AJ's Newest Project

So, there hasn't been much excitement around here lately. I guess the big news lately is that AJ has undertaken the task of repainting his motorcycle. It's a far more complicated process than I would've imagined and a bigger project than I probably would've undertaken... especially, since he's done it before. He knew how much work it was going to be. Crazy man! But, as he pointed out, he does have more time than money right now. And I think he was getting bored and needed a project.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous last weekend. And so the bikes were out and about. No way AJ was going to miss out on the opportune moment. During one ride, AJ noticed a weird noise while stopped at a stoplight. He noticed some anti-freeze on the garage floor once at home and decided to check that out. He discovered that the cooling fan that kicks on at a specific temperature, (I don't know what it is, but it's pretty warm... well, maybe not for a running engine... anyways), the fan had kicked on and had chewed into the radiator on that side. Sad day. He checked into replacing it ($350... ouch!) and repairing it ($55-$100... still ouch, but bearable). His parents are coming through on their way to Vegas sometime next month so maybe his dad can help him repair it for a fraction of the $55. The bad news: He can't ride until that gets fixed. The good news: it snowed again on Sunday. And it hasn't been real warm since. Not exactly motorcycle riding weather.

The "Before" Shots. There aren't any pictures of it, but the left side has several areas where the paint peeled and the gray primer is showing through. There are also some stickers on the gas tank that he's not so crazy about.

He's begun sanding all the old paint off and almost has that all done. He's found that when the previous owner wrecked it, it was a worse wreck than he'd realized and not really put back together as good as it could, or should, have been. So, he's been doing so light maintenance and repair on that.

AJ leaving on his motorcycle for a week in Boise.

No word on what color this new project will result in yet. He hasn't decided, although he's got a few ideas and possibilities. It's been a good project for him. It's something he cares enough about that he's doing a good, thorough job and will stick with it until it's done to his standards. The only downside: he spends time in the garage, sanding instead of on the couch with me, cuddling. Hahaha. To entertain myself, I've finished my curtain project. We now have curtains hanging in our bedroom, over our backdoor, and ones that are finished and ready to hang in our family room.

On to the next project... hemming all my maternity pants... [sigh]. You can only wear the same two pairs of pants so many times a week and none of the others fit anymore. Oh, and decorating the nursery. Or at least deciding how to...

One of those beautiful Idaho sunsets. Kodak moment.
Maybe AJ should be a freelance photographer... =]

Elder Andrew's Address

Just really fast... I have Andrew's new address in Texas. He is in the Austin, TX zone and more specifically Ceder Park, TX. If anyone is interested in writing him, let me know and I will pass the address on. He sent quite a detailed email to Mom and Dad, and they passed it on. He seems to be doing well, and has had quite the eventful past five days. He is learning lots and enjoying this new adventure. He has already realized that Southern food is delicious and will easily add pounds to a waistline. =] I'm sure he would appreciate any letters you may be inclined to write...







{hint, hint}

;-]

Texas Missionary

So it's official, Elder Andrew McCurdy is in Texas and in his first area. Living the life of a missionary. He left Provo on Wednesday and flew into San Antonio. He was able to call and talk to Mom and Dad for about 40 mins before he got on his plane. I know all enjoyed that opportunity. His Mission President sent a quick email and a photo, to let Mom and Dad know he was there and safe and settling in. Good luck, Andrew! We love you and are proud of you!

Elder McCurdy at President and Sister Cutler's home, his Mission President, on the day he arrived in Texas.

Spring Time!

Spring time is officially here! Yay! Now if we could just convince the weather that spring time means no more snow. We have had three days of absolutely gorgeous weather... unfortunately, there's snow in the forecast next week. Guess I'll enjoy it and get the most out of it while it lasts. Hope you're all having a fabulous first day of spring!

Half Way There!

I now have a banana growing in my belly... well, he's still a baby, but he's the size of a banana. About 10 inches from head to heel and weighs almost 3/4 a pound. I figured today deserved a little bit of a shout out, being as we are officially halfway done with this pregnancy. YAHOO! In some ways, it feels like it's been forever since those two little pink lines showed up... and yet it seems like only a few days ago. Usually, it's the forever scenario though. And it's only going to get hotter and bigger and heavier from here on out. My biggest sadness: our baby won't be born until the end of summer. We're gonna miss out on all the camping, family reunions, roller coasters, hiking (I can barely walk, it's more of a waddle, let alone hike), and just the general laziness of summer days in the sun. We didn't plan our timing very well... lol. Then again, we didn't really plan it at all. At least not as fast as it happened. Oh, well, what's one summer for a bouncing baby boy, right???

Some times I wish I could evict my little tenant, but the we'd have to buy Barbie clothes to dress him in at this point... and I drop things a lot. Better to keep him where he is, for now at least.

The Newest Addition to Our Home

Our newest adventure within the last few days has been to acquire, set up and care for... an aquarium! Ok it's really more of just a fish tank than an aquarium. Aquarium kinda carries a not of glamor and it's not real glamorous. It's not really that big of a deal, I mean it's not like we got a dog we actually have to potty-train and play with and take for walks, but we're low-maintenance kind of people and this is our kind of pet. =] Not only that, they don't shed and poop all over the place. That means I don't have to clean it up. Yay!


We had actually been thinking about getting fish since last summer, but we knew we were going to be gone for several weeks and decided that it probably wasn't the best time to try and keep pets alive. So, we decided that maybe after we got back we'd look into it again. Well, we didn't. AJ had brought it up and that got me thinking that maybe I could do that for his birthday next month. When he brought it up I told him my thoughts for a birthday present. We decided to look around and see what we could find. (I got my birthday present last year a month early, so it's fair game to call it a birthday present.) Since I'll be in my third trimester of pregnancy this summer we won't be going very far from home, so we decided that maybe we'd check it out. We got to looking around and found a tank, stand, and a few other accessories for $20. We thought this was quite the steal after we did some research and found out how much a new aquarium costs!


Well, we bought the tank and then went to the Dollar Tree to find little ornaments for the fishies to play with. We got two buildings and a hammerhead shark figurine. It was fun trying to come up with ideas and ways to make things work. AJ commented more than once on what dorks we are. And it's true, but at least we can be dorks together.


We got everything home and AJ started tinkering with it all. He figured it out... but also figured out there were a few "accessories" that weren't in great shape. One of the outlets was plugged on the air filter, the diffuser bulbs were gross and didn't work real well, some of the tubing was faulty, things like that. He figured out what we needed and we headed off to our local Petco. We decided that maybe Wal-Mart would be cheaper... it was. We got the replacement accessories we needed there, as well as some fish food and plants. The fish, however, were cheaper and Petco... so back we went. We got 18 little feeder goldfish (figured we better start with something cheap, in case we killed them all) and went back home.

AJ spent hours cleaning gravel, washing up the tank, getting all the filters and tubes and hoses connected like they should be, and setting up the tank the way he wanted it. We ended up making a quick run back to Wal-Mart at 11:00pm so we weren't breaking the Sabbath and got a few things AJ found we still needed.


By the time 1:00am rolled around we finally had a fishtank full of water! And there were even fish in it! We fed them, watched them eat and then decided to call it a night and went to bed. We got up the next morning and all 18 fish were still alive. Yay! We have only had 2 casualties thus far, but it's about what we expected (if not better than expected) with feeder fish. We even named a few of them... the ones that looked different enough we can tell them apart from all the other fish. And, happily, none of our named fishies have died.

It's been a lot of fun watching our little fishies swimming in ther new home. And when they do die, its ok. We just flush them down the toilet. And as a wise fish once said, "all drains lead to the ocean." (-Finding Nemo) Every fish's dream right? Whether dead or alive.

"The Money Shot"

So, for clarification, just thought we'd let everyone know...

Don't feel bad if you can't tell from the ultrasound pictures that we're having a boy. I didn't post the "money shot," as AJ calls it. The thought of it felt a little dirty and I'm sure in 15 years our son will be thankful that the entire Internet community didn't have access to such a personal photo, regardless that it was in utero. But, I promise... it is a boy!

Drum Roll, Please!

We had our ultrasound today. The paper told me to come with a full bladder, so I did my part and drank extra. Well, I'm on the table and the tech squirts goo all over my tummy and starts looking around. She commented, "Wow, you're bladder is really full." I was like, "Yeah, I know." I had to go to the bathroom soo bad! She let me go a little so I didn't wet my pants while she was measuring the baby and everything else. Thank goodness!


Things are going well. We have a healthy baby. Two arms, two legs, two hands, two feet, eyes, nose, lips, ears and a head are all accounted for.

We even got to see the different chambers in the brain and the four different chambers in the heart and watch it beat. There are two kidneys and a stomach, just like we'd hoped. =] She even showed us the umbilical cord and the blood flow through it. That was kinda neat.


She took measurements and our little bean is right on schedule. She didn't do a length measurement, but AJ had a dream a few weeks ago that it was born 22" long! I'll have those two little feet poking out my throat before it's born! She did get a weight: 8 oz. Which is normal for this far along (18 weeks, by the way).


At the beginning of our appointment the tech was panning back and forth, looking at the baby's position. She'd already asked if we wanted to know gender, to which we had answered, "yes, please." Before the tech could even explain what we were looking at AJ nearly shouted (in excitement, I'm sure), "Hey, it's a boy!" So, Daddy gets a new little buddy and all the subsequent little beans we may have get a big brother. I was slightly disappointed at first that I don't get to buy frilly outfits and play dress up. But, I'm adjusting to the idea that my Mother's Intuition doesn't work... and I'm excited for my little boy.




(If you click on the pictures, it'll make them bigger and you can actually see what everything is. And the labels on the pictures will help...)

Anticipation....

Well, we're finally on the downhill end of these past few weeks apart. It's been great being able to spend time with my family and I definitely appreciate the generosity and hospitality (and plane ticket...). These past few weeks have made me remember why I hated long-distance dating so much. Sometimes you just need a hand hold, or a kiss on the forehead, or to actually see their face and hear their voice. Phone calls just don't cut it. And around a bunch of other Army guys they aren't always conducive to the environment. There have been a few tough days and we always seem to fight more the longer we are apart. [[Our solution to that: we just never need to be apart for days and days at a time. And we shouldn't be allowed to fight in text messages either.]] But, not to worry, my loyal readers. Despite any previous conversations or other interactions of the past few weeks, we are still madly in love and still going strong. At least I am, but I'm pretty positively sure AJ feels the same way.

The highlight of this week, besides getting to see each other and finally go home together, is Thursday. We have our ultrasound. We're hoping to find out whether it's a boy or a girl. And, of course, that everything else is going well too. I still haven't felt the baby (or at least haven't recognized it as being the baby... there was one time I wasn't sure, but I think it was just tummy bubbles). It's making me a little nervous, but I still have about 4 weeks before I need to really freak out. I'm sure that'll make it a little more real that there's a baby in there, not that I'm just having "fat days" everyday of my life.



Soo, all I really want is a healthy, happy child and whatever gender it turns out to be will be welcomed and anticipated, but... I see definite pro's and con's to both. I mean somethings will be the same, like AJ's gonna wrestle and play with our bean regardless of gender. And it'll be loved and nurtured and taught regardless. I feel so neglectful calling my baby "it". But, are we gonna play dollies or legos? Dress up or cars? Hot Chocolate Parties (because we don't drink tea) or with building blocks in the dirt? It's hard for me to get real excited because I don't have this 'fantasy picture' in my head of what life with our bean will be like. (I know: late night feedings, utter exhaustion, no more sponenaiety, toys and poop and barf everywhere, ect...)

I always kinda wanted my oldest to be a boy, so my other kiddos would have a big brother, but a little girl would be a lot of fun too. I've kinda felt all along that it's a girl... but I'm not sure if that's mother's instinct or my secret wishful thinking. I know AJ would love a son to teach all the 'boy' things to... tools and cars and motorcycles and roughhousing and camping and building cities out of legos, but I also know that if it's a girl, she'll be Daddy's Little Princess (and he thinks it's hard to say 'no' to me...). Either way, it'll be amazing. I'm so glad we were able to schedule the ultrasound for when AJ can go too. Now, if we could just get him out of Annual Training the three weeks before our baby is due...

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...