Family Update

Things are going well. We are super busy with school and work. I have two jobs. I work on campus as a Teachers Assistant for Brother Bennion. One of my favorite teachers that I have had at BYUI. I also work at the Rexburg Opinion Center. Tomorrow is my first day. I am taking 14 credits. A little scared to take on all of this stuff. Mike is working at the Rexburg Opinion Center too and he is taking 17 credits this semester. One of my classes is a teaching one. I get to go into the middle school and teach 6th graders. I was in the class room today and I definitely go a little emotional seeing all of them because they are my little brother Garrett's age. I don't usually tear up like that but that is one of the blessings of pregnancy. It definitely made me miss little Gair Bear. I had my second doctor's appointment today. I got to hear the baby's heart beat which was very exciting and it was a fast little heart beat. Doctor says everything looks good and that I should start showing again. I haven't gained weight yet(Which Mike is worried about because he wants me to gain weight for the baby) but it is normal to not gain weight until the 2nd trimester. I am not sure how I feel about baby bump pictures. I feel like they are necessary to document the moments but at times they can be cheesy. So if you care just let me know how you feel about it. I am thirteen weeks tomorrow. crazy. Tomorrow is the final end to the first trimester. Our baby is about three inches long and weighs about 1 ounce. The internet says it is about the size of a medium shrimp. Pretty picture right? Well that is the update on our lives. I may not be the best at this but I will try to update on pregnancy info.

Baby G is coming to town!

Well, I have been protesting blogging lately. Don't ask me why. I think it may have a connection with my aversion to facebook. Another story for another time.

Mike and I have been vacationing with the families for the past three weeks. Finals finished on Thursday and we left Saturday. A week and a half with the Garrard's and a week and a half with the Davies. It was a fun partying, talking and eating. We miss them all so much.

Well the Wednesday before we left, during finals week, I was feeling sick so I went into the doctor's office. Short story long, we find out we are pregnant!!! Yay! We decided it was time back in March to start a family. It just felt like something was missing or someone. The temple sure does the trick too. lol We weren't going to announce it until September, but it just kinda came out. Everyone was shocked and excited. I think my dad is still trying to believe it.

I have been feeling good as expected. Heart burn is definitely a burning fire. lol March 22, 2012 is the estimated due date at this point. I had my first doctor's appointment on Tuesday. The first ultra sound. Not going to lie, it was weird. Didn't quite believe that it was my uterus on the screen. Did you know that there is a yoke? ya, I didn't know that either. We got a couple of meds for the nausea and heartburn. Unfortunately the nausea medicine makes me sleep which is something that I try to not do in the middle of the day. My doctors were surprised that I haven't been tired at all. I am glad that I haven't been tired. One thing this baby does not like is working out. I am still working out and running regularly but the baby likes to make it difficult by causing nausea. I am a little over 9 weeks along. Our baby is the size of an olive.

I have been sick but no complaints here because it could be worse. I can eat anything that does not have a smell which is mostly foods that aren't good for me. Unfortunate but I try to eat good things. V8 juice has been a great thing in my life. Well, that is all for me. We are extremely excited about this and we are still having trouble believing it. lol

Happy Happy Birthday

This weekend was jam packed with busyness. Friday I woke up in a fury of focus. Attended my class, worked at the Office of Foundations, worked out, cleaned the apartment with Mike, grocery shopped, and then did some home work. Friday night I has a splendid time with my Heather. We went to the Paul Cardall Concert.

He is an LDS Pianist. This is his newest album that I love. I listen to it a lot when I study. I was really excited that he was coming to Rexburg for a concert. He recently had a heart transplant in 2009. He was born with half a heart and was given only a few days to live when he was born and defied all odds. He lived in the hospital for a year before the doctors found a suitable transplant for him. Anyway, amazing story and an amazing concert.

Saturday was another day packed full of focus. Mike was reffing volleyball that morning. I worked out and then got down to business on homework. I really can't complain about homework because I really enjoy it. I love learning and I love all my classes this semester. It is pretty amazing this semester. I spent pretty much the entire day from 9 am to 4pm studying and baking cupcakes. I still didn't get everything that I wanted to get done finished but I finshed all my homework for Monday.

Saturday night we celebrated Brice's birthday. Sorry I have no pictures. I need to be better about that. I made Brice cupcakes, vanilla cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. Delish. Pioneer Woman recipe. You can find the recipe here.

Soo Yummy. They were a hit. We played ping pong and sat around and visited with our friends. We always love hanging out with our friends.

Today is Sunday. I am trying out my sister in law Stacy's recipe for garlic chicken farfalle. I will let you guys know how it goes. It sounds yummy. Less than two weeks till Washington. Can't wait! Until then we have midterms to deal with.

6 Months, pretty much means we've made it through eternity

Well this last Thursday Mike and I celebrated 6 months of marriage. We have been officially married longer than we were engaged. Woohoo. We celebrated with a temple trip and I made penne with roasted asparagus and balsamic butter sauce. Yum-O! It is crazy how fast time has gone since we were married and we are proud to say that we have survived each other. Not that it was hard. We hear other couples in our ward talk about how hard marriage has been for them. The girls are depresses because they had to change their name and other depressing things. Mike and I wonder if we are weird or something because it hasn't been that difficult to be married. We hear our neighbors yelling at each other late a night and during the day and it just boggles us. Anyway.

Friday was pretty much Christmas for me. My best friend Heather Soderborg is taking a Special Education class that all education majors are required to take. One of her assignments is to be wheelchair bound for 4 and a half hours. Well needless to say I took full advantage of this. I found her on campus and pushed her around campus. It was pretty much the best thing ever. She was at my command. One thing though is that Heather knows EVERYONE! Literally everyone on campus. So we had to stop for her to talk to people a lot. I took her through a maze of chairs and tables in the crossroads which was way fun because she was freaking out. Mike met up with us in the Library and took his turn pushing Heather. We tried to take her down a dirt hill but she wouldn't have it. Well then when she was done being wheelchair bound Mike took his turn playing with the wheelchair and was doing wheelies and he fell a couple times but he managed to turn 360 degrees while doing a wheelie. I pretty much have the most talented husband ladies.

We leave for Washington in 19 days. I am so excited. Can't wait to go to Burgerville, get a haircut, and see my family.

Mike and I watched Super Size Me on Friday night. Such an interesting documentary. Pretty much made me not want to eat out for a very long time. One of my goals is to start cooking healthier food which means less of the Pioneer Woman's recipes. Love her recipes but they are filled with butter.

Year of Goals

I have made several goals this year. I didn't really make them until February but all the same I have made them. My goals this year are:

1. cook dinner 3/4 times a week.
2. Read my scriptures everyday of the year.
3. Read the entire New Testament
4. Read 100 books this year. I am almost half way done. I have read 48 books.
5. Work out at least 5 times a week for a minimum of 30 mins.
6. Make sure I clean the apartment every week and pick up daily. 

They are not many goals but all the same I have them. I have done really well so far this year. I am really enjoying working our regularly. I love it. The work out high is almost addictive. I get up at 5:30 in the morning to work out before school which you think would make you tired the entire day but I don't get tired. Instead I am pumped up with energy all day long and at times find it hard to fall a sleep at time. I only cook dinner 3 or 4 times a week because all the left overs last us a few days and that is all we need. Things are going well with my scripture study. I am just starting the book of Romans. I am having the best semester so far. I love my classes. I am taking Post Modern Literature which is rocking my world. We have read The Things They Carried and City of Glass. I am taking Major Authors and we are studying Willa Cather, Steinbeck, and Faulkner. Love that one too. I am taking Education Psychology which is changing my perspective entirely on how I learn. I am taking beginning Piano, and also Family Foundations. Family Foundations is good. It is a religion class based on the The Family: A Proclamation to the World. Good semester. Loving the learning.

Life is not spelled F-A-I-R

There are some times in my life where everything is going great and perfect. Other times not so much. When life is not going as good as I want, it gets frustrating. One thing in my life that I have tried to do is not cry over something that I can't change. Accept it and move on. Not an easy thing at times. Being angry, whiney, teary, and just acting plain childish doesn't change anything. Sometimes being an adult is tough that way.
This week I found out that I didn't get an HR job for online studies which I was pretty excited about and wanting bad, mostly because it would be good to build up my resume and also because it was 20 hours a week. Which Mike and I need right now. Then I was hoping Mike and I would be able to make it to Colorado for my cousin Skyler's farewell but because of prior commitments to work Mike and I can't get off in time to drive with Steph and Hans. All my uncles will be there, my mom, and grandparents will be there and I can't go. It is not fun. Well, not going to lie I am upset but I am grateful at the same time. As much as it stinks to not go I am grateful that we have a week of working and earning money. I am grateful for the break we get to have from school. Not to mention Mike and I went to Twizzleberry which is a frozen yogurt place, and Mike won a free yogurt because he guessed the exact weight of his yogurt and then we had a card for a free one as well. So we won TWO FREE yogurts. So fun. Mike and I are pretty blessed with all the good things that we have and I am grateful for that. Being happy and positive makes life so much easier. So positivity is my outlook right now even though I really just want to be upset. I think that Katherine Hepburn said it best: "Life is hard. After all it kills you." Makes me smile every time.

March Madness!!!!!!!!

Ok, this title is deceiving. I don't really care all that much about March Madness basketball. It is fun to watch when it is the final rounds. I am cheering for VCU. The underdog of the tournament. They made it to the final four. They only made it into the tournament through bubble play or something. I forget what Mike called it. Anyway. On to the stories of life.

This last weekend I was thinking about my blogging. I normally don't blog because my life is boring for the most part. To remedy this I have decided to do something new every week to give me some kind of topic to blog it up about. This weeks new activity: running. Yes, I said running. Mike and I have been working out everyday for the last month and I decided to overcome my biggest adversary in the gym. The treadmill. I run for time, I don't run for distance. Some people run for 3 miles. I run for minutes. This week I started out with 10 minutes and eventually made it to 30 minutes of running. I definitely upped my need to eat. I forgot the invigorating feeling of the burn that comes with running. It is so relaxing. I use to say that I hate running. The only reason I was able to play soccer was because I had to chase a ball which gave running purpose. Well running now has a new purpose. Creating leaner legs and a flat stomach. So here is to creating a new habit of running.

This weekend was my old roommate's bridal shower. Daniella is getting married to Daren in just two weeks. Yay for marriage! It was fun. Food, stories and gifts followed by more food. I made these delicious French Breakfast Muffins from the Pioneer Woman cookbook. They were soooooo good. I also made lemon poppy seed cookies.(Not as good).

I gave her that cute apron. I am good I know. lol

My main reason for blogging today though are these:

 Like my apron? I bought it at Ross. I bought the some one for Daniella in green/blue.

 Check out these super sick bruises! I love them.

To answer your question: no, Mike does not beat me. I inherited these beauties from donating plasma. They accidentally went through my vein with the needle. They aimed a little too deep. Either way, I have two cool bruises. They didn't appear until a day later. The one on my right arm just keeps getting bigger and bigger  and they both change color every day! I can't donate plasma anymore right now because of the bruises. Poopy, I know. Once the bruises are gone, then I am back in action. So there goes 50 bucks a week for a couple weeks. 

One thing you should know is that I love pushing bruises. If someone shows me their bruise then I automatically push it. Don't ask me why but I do. Every time. It is like the easy button. You just do it. 

To day I am making white chili and homemade cornbread. Yum Yum. This week has been a good cooking week. I made fajitas, fiesta chicken bake, taco soup(the BEST that I have ever made), pork chops and gravy. [We were really into Mexican this week] I baked up a storm on Friday. I made the French breakfast puffs, the cookies, and messed up a chocolate cake. 

Cornbread made from scratched and baked it in my skillet.

Mike played volleyball on Friday night and Saturday morning. He played in a tournament on Saturday. His team placed 2nd. It was a busy weekend for him. We also tried Costa Vida which is very similar to Cafe Rio. The final verdict though is that Rio is way better. Just better flavor.

Well, have a great week. Until next time. Adios.