Yoder's Cove

Minuscule Things I'm Grateful For

2012-01-15T14:05:00.000-08:00

A Garage
For the first two years of marriage we either had a parking space or a covered parking space. And when we bought Paul his first motorcycle, it took precedence when it came to having the covered space. There are SO many good things about having a garage!

1. Your car stays cleaner for longer and doesn't receive the wear and tear it does when it's constantly outside, day and night.

2. You don't have to scrape ice or snow off of it in the wintertime! It's also warmer in the garage so you aren't freezing halfway (or all the way) to work.

3. You can store stuff!!

Heated Water
I don't know if I made a post about this, but about a month or two after we moved into our new place, the gas was shut off. I didn't realize that in our contract we were supposed to get in touch with the gas company and take over. Not sure how I missed that.....we went without hot water, the oven, the stove, and the heater for over a week before we were able to get a hold of someone to sort it out and get them to come turn it back on. What a headache!

I now have a newfound respect for heated water as well as other things that deal with heat (especially during the wintertime).

Air Conditioning
So, it was bad enough that our gas was turned off during the wintertime ~ and then our air conditioning broke in the summertime! Luckily the landlords took care of the costs so we just had to inform them of the situation and get someone to come over to fix it. This happened on a weekend (the gas did too!) so we had to wait for someone to come in on Tuesday. I think it was a holiday on Monday or something. Anyways, he came and diagnosed it and then we had to wait several more days until another guy could come with the correct part and fix it.

It was HOT. We were eating otter pops like crazy and going over to swim at my mom's as much as we could.

Not to mention the air conditioning in a car can be the most wonderful thing in the world. I had owned a car when I was younger that had "selective" air conditioning. It worked when it wanted. It stinks (literally) driving from your home to someplace else and having sweat sticking to your back and running down your face.

A Printer

We bought a printer when we first were married, but it didn't last long for us. It had sooo many issues. Anytime I wanted to print something, I couldn't. It was frustrating. :( We finally were rid of that and were without a printer for forever. Then my mom and stepdad gave us an old one they had. That one took about 30 minutes to boot up and it was really noisy. The cartridges were also VERY expensive. Once it ran out of one cartridge (it had to have 4 working ones at all times) it wouldn't print at all. We couldn't keep up with it. It was too pricey. We put it in the closet and just left it there for a long time.

Finally, fed up, I asked Paul to find some printers he thought looked nice. He sent me a few links and I picked a couple I thought were nice, but he ended up making the final decision. This time, when we received it, I installed it myself so that it could get to know me. I didn't want a hate relationship like with the other two.

It has been super awesome ever since. We have probably had it for a few months now. Not disappointed. I can actually print things when I want to! I know it sounds silly, but when I taught our primary class there were always some activities I would want to print for the class, but couldn't. I resorted to skipping over some activities and handwriting others.

Printers are really really REALLY nice to have. They are a blessing.

A Small Place to Live
I know, you are thinking WHAT? Everyone would be grateful to have a lot of space! Well, we are kind of grateful for limited space because it forces us to get rid of things we do not need. It also reminds us that we don't have room for a lot of things so we are not tempted to buy a lot of stuff. That might not be the case for everyone, but it is for us. We still have a lot of storage here and still need to get rid of a lot of stuff, but it could be worse! Limited space can be a good thing!

Two Sinks
Our first place we only had one bathroom, which only had one sink. Our second place we had two bathrooms and the master bath had two sinks! This is when I grew to love two sinks. It is seriously annoying pushing and shoving each other when you are both needing to use the sink. Or, in some cases, stamping your feet like a 2 year old and whining at the other to hurry. OR, in my case, having toothpaste dribbling down my chin while waiting for Paul to hurry up.

I swear we always need to use it around the same time, every day. I always wondered why there had to be a His and Hers. I realized early that it is pretty healthy to not have to push and shove each other. I'm okay with sharing if that's what we have to do, but I am extremely grateful for being given the opportunity to have these two sinks.

A Master Bathroom

Let's face it ~ in the middle of the night you might need to go to the bathroom and you might not be sleeping in your PJs. And what if you have kids that are older or you are rooming with another person? Who wants to run into the hallway in their underwear? Or, who wants to get dressed just to go to the bathroom? A bathroom that is connected to your room is SUCH a blessing. I will not ever be able to go back. It's just too convenient.

Mattress Heater
I realize not everyone has had one of these or has even heard of them. Our first Christmas my mom and stepdad bought us this bed/mattress heater pad. It goes right on top of your mattress just like those quilted pads do. Each side of the pad has it's own heater and a little device where you can both set your own temperature. That way you can heat your side as much as you want and he can heat his as much as he wants. It is AWESOME for the wintertime. No more getting into bed cold! And if you are cold, you'll warm up fast! We use it every winter.

Not Your Ordinary Cat Fight

2012-01-14T20:42:00.000-08:00

This morning I was suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuper stoked to print out my very own cleaning list. Sound lame? Yeah, it probably is lame. But hear me out. The reason I have always had trouble creating a cleaning plan or a cleaning schedule is because I have to think of everything that needs to be cleaned and then divvy it out into daily tasks. THAT is a chore in and of itself.

Last night I was saved when I found that someone had already created a list for me!! Seriously, you can just Google around and find some great cleaning lists and advice out there. I'm sure you are itching to spend your entire day looking at cleaning lists that others have made. :)

So I photoshopped and prettified mine (it's not amazing or anything, but it's perfect for me). I then printed and stuck it to the fridge so we can see it daily.

The great thing about this calendar is that I didn't attach it to a year or a month. You know why? So I don't have to reprint one for every month!! All days are covered in a month on this one calendar. If a month is shorter, then we'll just skip that day on the cleaning calendar. No biggie. At least things are getting cleaned. I feel proud of myself.

So after getting all excited about that list and sharing it with Paul (unwillingly on his part, most likely), we went and played some Diablo II together before tackling the cleaning.

After much zombie and imp flaming, we traveled to the bedroom (because that was what was on the 14th on the list to clean) and began to tackle the things that needed to be taken care of. We even went out of our way to move the bed in preparation for the crib. And when we did.....shoes magically appeared (I keep my shoes under the bed). And when you looked across the room you could see all of Paul's shoes pushed against the wall in clear sight. It was definitely time to get some sort of shoe rack.

So we bought this one at Walmart and are pretty happy with it so far. It hasn't even been a day, but it's so space efficient. Gotta love having more space. :)

As we were finishing up our deep clean of the bedroom I happened to look out of our window and saw two cats sitting on the brick wall in our backyard. They were having a stare down, no joke. Paul told me they had been there for at least an hour. We wandered into the office and found our cat on the windowsill, holding really still and staring at them.

Paul decided he would try and get the attention of the cats so he started knocking on our window. The calico cat (the one closest to us) got up and turned to look at Paul. THEN IT HAPPENED! Gray cat stood up and pounced on Calico Cat! Calico Cat struck back and knocked Gray Cat off the wall. Gray Cat made a comeback and jumped back on the wall and as Calico Cat was trying to get away, Gray Cat pounced on him right into a huuuuge tumble weed. Paul had to open the window and yell at them to get them to run away. It was pretty scary!

Then as they were running away, we noticed a white cat sitting calming up on some rocks, watching the battle. I think Icarus enjoyed watching it because he doesn't really get a whole lot of action just walking around the house all day, sleeping and meowing at us.

There is one thing I learned from all of this......cats can be very territorial.

The rest of the day was preeeeetty much spent looking at cribs online. I found one I really like on Walmart.com, but my pa is helping me look for one on KSL.com right now so we can get a better deal. Seriously though....way too much time spent looking. :)

As a treat I decided I'd try a new recipe. All it really did though is make me feel like I spent way to much time making it and then being mad at my oven because I haven't been able to cook hardly anything right since we moved here. Going from an electric oven to a gas oven is hard! They definitely bake differently. It's been over a year, but I haven't given up yet!

So, without further ado, I present to you an epic FAIL.

See how they all exploded? And they were slightly undercooked on the inside. But still pretty tasty. Just not good enough to make again.

REALLY excited for Cove to get here. I'm pretty stoked because I just started the third trimester!!! But oooh man.....3-4 months to go still? It seems forever away.

And now to end with some Icarus photos. It wouldn't be a blog post without Icarus.

All of us kids received some amazing blankets from my dad and step-mama Becca. This one is Austin's. He had thrown the blanket over Icarus and later we found he had scooched to the end so he could breathe. He was there in that position for about an hour.

Paul accidentally left his fuzzy awesome blanket on the couch. We woke up one morning to find he had probably been sleeping on it all night.

"My blanket."

His hiding spot from Paul's new mini helicopter he bought. He's between the baby carseat and some wrapping paper.

The Pregnant Diaries - Weeks 22 & 23

2012-01-10T18:49:00.000-08:00

Week 22 was spent with my mama and step-sibs (along with my biological siblings). Two of my step-sibs are pregnant as well! One is due about a week before me and the other is due in June of this year. Three more grandchildren to add to the grandparent collection.

As for my dad and stepmom, we will be the first to have a grandbaby on both the step-sib side and my side. They are crazy excited to be grandparents!

Here are some interesting photos we took during week 22:

Yeah....I was bored so I put 3 images together to make us move. It cracks me up so I posted it. :)

We have been really blessed with such a great family.

This Christmas season we were blessed with quite a few gifts for Baby Cove. Because he is the first baby on my side of the family, he will be spoiled. We'll try to not let it get to his head. :) Anywho, I'll have to post some of the cute things we received from friends and family for our little Cove. Also, I've been working on knitting a baby blanket for him, which I will have to post. I've gone through at least 5 bundles of yarn already and am only about halfway done. I gotta get crackin'!

During week 23 I think it finally hit me that I'm kind of....you know....fat. Haha! So far I think I look pretty healthy and my face seems to look like normal, but a lot of other things have gotten larger. Most notably (to me) are my hips. Definitely childbearing hips. For this reason my thighs have gotten bigger as well. Paul and I are planning a workout schedule so that we can get the exercise we need. I don't mind being pregnant, but I do realize I'll need to exercise if I don't want to lose control of my body weight!

I read that acne can be an issue while pregnant, but I'm sure that doesn't happen to everyone. My acne has actually been almost non-existent since being pregnant. Love it! My nose has been less bloody now and I don't have to blow it as much. My super smell has seemed to gone down a bit.

Still no strange cravings. Just chocolate, which is not considered strange amongst women, pregnant or not pregnant.

Cove is finally flipping around and kicking higher on my belly. He still loves to kick near my pelvis the most, which sometimes feels a bit sore from all of those kicks. I feel he especially loves to kick me on my right side. I can also see the kicks. If I stare at my belly while he is kicking I can see it go up and down. Way awesome. I can also feel him when he shifts around. And every once in a while he will stretch or something, because I can feel a bump where his feet are and where his hands are, at the same time. :)

For the new year I've been looking at some cribs. I found one at Walmart that I really liked, but we'll see. My dad mentioned some cribs were worth a look on KSL.com, so I'm going to take a gander and see what happens. My sister-in-law gave me a link to a really sweet crib deal, but we have some awesome family members who are wanting to help pay for a crib and want us to get one that we really want (I'm unsure if they want to remain nameless, so I'll keep it that way for now).

Hmmmm....you know what? I do believe I failed to mention that I was released as a Primary Teacher and am now 2nd Counselor in the Primary Presidency at church. I still have a lot to learn, but so far I am loving it. :) The hardest part right now is getting to know all the children as we have over 100 of them. I've been in the ward about a year and a half now and I still hardly know anyone. Sad, isn't it?

Had another visit to the doc and everything is great. There's no risk in my pregnancy at all. Baby and I are as healthy has horses. At this point in time we had to discuss the glucose test. Basically between weeks 24-26 I have to drink this orange fluid they gave me. It has to be drunk within 5 minutes and I have to watch the time to see exactly when I start drinking it. Then I have to go into the office about 10 minutes before an hour after I started drinking the stuff. They have to draw my blood at exactly the 1 hour mark. Don't need an appointment or anything! I just walk in and tell them I have a lab test, show them my paper, and waddle on through. Sounds easy enough. The only hard part is that I work so....I'll need to take time out of the work day to make sure I time myself right and that I'm not on the phone with a client when I have to drive to the doctor's office.

The Pregnant Diaries - Weeks 20 & 21

2011-12-29T19:40:00.000-08:00

Name reveal!

So, it didn't take us long to find a name that we liked for a little baby boy. I was seriously thinking that we would have to name him as soon as he entered this world...but it turns out we landed a name about 2 days after the ultrasound.

His name will be Cove Toy Yoder.

Paul suggested the name, although I'm not sure if he suggested it as a joke at first or was seriously considering it. I took him seriously on it and added it to the name list. I thought about it all day at work and when I got home I told him I really liked the name and wanted to stick with it. He contemplated another day and agreed.

The "Toy" comes from Paul's middle name. His family seems to have a habit of giving all of their kids the middle name of Toy. I don't know the nitty gritty details of how it came about, but I do know that his dad's last name was originally "Choy" and when his family came to the Americas it was then changed to be spelled as "Toy". His father adopted the last name of Yoder and thus Toy became a middle name (any of you Yoders out there can expound on this or correct me). We've decided that all of our boys will have the middle name of Toy to keep the tradition alive and to give all of our girls my middle name, to keep it fair. :)

Mah belly at 20 weeks. (Yes I know those pants don't match the shirt. I just tend to change my pants as soon as I get home from work. PJs are a blessing.)

During weeks 20 and 21 I have come to grow very fond of Cove's little kicks. He really likes to kick super low, around my pelvic area, but I assume that he will eventually learn how to flip himself over and start kicking more in the belly.

One moment I absolutely loved was when Paul was able to feel him. I tested it out first and for sure thought I felt the kick just by feeling my belly with my hand. I had Paul try. It was a precious moment seeing his eyes light up and get excited about our little baby. I try to involve him in any way I can with the growth of Cove, and I believe he appreciates it.

Sometimes his kicks tickle, depending on where he is kicking. If you are ticklish and having a baby...beware! It makes me giggle involuntarily. I've found that it tickles the most when we are going to sleep and I roll over to my side (you aren't supposed to sleep on your back because it cuts off blood flow to the baby). As soon as I'm on my side he'll kick in the spot that has the most contact with the bed. Sometimes I think that he likes to kick the places that have the most pressure on them. He'll kick right at where my waistband sits the most snug on my belly and he'll kick on the side making contact with a surface (such as the bed). Super cute. :)

I have found that leaning over has already started to become more taxing. Putting on socks is not my favorite thing anymore (although I'm not entirely sure it was my favorite thing to begin with). I have also received more bloody noses as well as stuffy noses during night time, making it really hard to breathe.

One book that I'm reading suggested that putting a pillow between your legs at night should help you with sleeping. I've tried it once and now do it every night. Pillows that are at least separating the knees from knocking into each other are the bomb.

All in all, I'm pretty proud of my belly. I'm not afraid to get fat, as long as it's in the right places. Haha.

How Big Is Cove?

At week 20, Cove is about as big as a cantaloupe. (Measured from head to bum, not roundness.)

At week 21 Cove is as big/long as a banana. (Measurements are now taken from head to toe.)

What's Icarus Been Up To?

These are more like pictures of what Paul has been doing to Icarus lately. Poor kitty.

The Pregnant Diaries - Weeks 17, 18, & 19

2011-12-26T09:31:00.000-08:00

Quote of the day (by Paul Yoder): "Don't rub yourself on the razor blade." And if you haven't guessed it, that comment was made to our cat, Icarus.

These 3 weeks were filled with friends, family, and the Holiday spirit.

For Thanksgiving Paul, Aust, and I drove up to Murray to spend time with my dad and stepmama. Jason flew in from California while Sarah and Josh drove down from Brigham City. It was so wonderful to have all of us siblings together again. Everyone was excited to see the baby bump, no matter how small. The food was too good to be true, but the company was even better.

The only mishap I had while spending Thanksgiving with the Zimmer fam, was waking up in the middle of the night with the most horrible heartburn I've ever experienced. In the morning I took some tums and mentioned my heartburn. Apparently I wasn't the only one! A few others had the same effect. We figured it must have been something in the food, but it still remains a mystery as to what.

Before we headed home, dad and Becca were so kind as to give us our Christmas gifts early. Christmas and Thanksgiving all at once? Yes please! Everyone received their very own blanket. And these blankets weren't just any ordinary blankets. These are the softest and most warm blankets you will EVER have the privilege of being covered by. :) They even gave us a mini version of the blanket for our little baby (gender still unknown at this time).

Saturday night we arrived home just in time to take a trip to Jay and Tabie's wedding reception. They were so adorable. I should have known that Tabie would have a wedding dress unlike any other. :) It was fun to see so many people I knew from my past.

How Big Is Baby?
At Week 17 baby is as big as an Onion!

At the end of week 18, my mom and stepdad took us to Disneyland!! :-o This was Paul's very first trip so I was crossing my fingers (and possibly toes) that he would enjoy himself. As soon as we arrived at our hotel in Anaheim and entered our room, he lit up like a Christmas tree. I swear he was like a little kid who couldn't stop being excited. We didn't realize that we would be staying at a condo so it was the most pleasant surprise! My mom even let us have the "adult" room (the only room with a bed for 2 ~ make that a bed for 5).

Yeah, prolly should have taken the pic before we slept in it. Ah well!

Mom modeling the Doritos. Work it Mom!

I must say that the entire trip was so much fun. Because we were there on a Thursday we didn't have any trouble walking onto rides. When we rode Splash Mountain (which you advised not to ride if you are pregnant, but I did anyways) they asked us if we wanted to go again after our first run-through. Never happened to me before. Ever.

Getting our smiles ready for Dizzyland. :)

One of our epic Splash Mountain poses.

Quick pic after Splash Mountain mayhem. Some scenery for the Pooh Bear ride. It's one craaaazy ride.

One word of advice though if you are pregnant or have not exercised in a long time....you may want to prepare for all that walking and standing! By midday my knees were aching, my feed were sore and my lower back was starting to become sore. I felt like such a wimp, but by the end of the day I could hardly get anywhere without wobbling. That's what I get for not doing my exercises daily. The second day at Disneyland was very hard for me and I daydreamed of being in a little cart and having Paul push me everywhere haha.

The trip was successful and Paul had a great time. Here are some of the highlights:

Pirates of the Caribbean ride malfunctioned while we were riding it, in the front seat. We stopped directly underneath the skull that says, "Dead men tell no tales." We tried to memorize his words, but somehow can only remember, "Psst! Avast there!" That ride took about 40 minutes total because of the delay. It was Paul's favorite.
Paul's fascination with the blue bricks.
World of Color (it was amazing!).
Ferris Wheel (my first time ever riding a ferris wheel).
Splash Mountain (we rode this about 5ish times during the trip and loved it every time). By our second or third time riding it, Paul and I would try and sing along with the characters right before the drop into the briar patch.
The Tiki Shields. Every time we passed them Paul would go up and inspect them. He kept saying he was going to buy one. Unfortunately they didn't sell them. However, it did inspire him to carve his own shield.
Nightmare Before Christmas Haunted House. This was mom's favorite (aside from Tower of Terror). It was definitely better than the original Haunted House.
Being together as a family having a blast in the most magical place. :)

Checkin' out the shops. Paul really loved this hat, but said he would only wear it at Disneyland (it had dreadlocks attached). Lookin' good Paul! (his face almost reminds me of Dave's...)

You're not allowed to take pictures on the ride. But when you are sitting underneath this guy for 30 minutes, you tend to not care after a while. :)

I was seriously considering buying one of these ears because I saw so many girls with them. They looked so cute in them...but when I saw myself I decided a picture would do just fine. :) Paul put himself in there...so we're kind of in the picture together haha.

The infamous Tiki Shields (this one is Paul's favorite).

DISNEYLAND!!! What a magical place.

Jack picking his nose...or maybe biting his fingernails. One of the two.

Week 18 was also when I began to feel our baby's little kicks!! It was kind of weird feeling at first. It felt like spasms in my lower abdomen (close to the pelvic area). Soon I recognized them as kicks and fell in love each time I felt them. I think our baby especially loved Splash Mountain. :)

Many MANY thanks to Mom and Ed for taking us to Disneyland and providing everything for us to make it special.

How Big Is Baby?At Week 18, Baby is as big as a Sweet Potato!

After a great time at Disneyland we said our goodbyes and headed home. That Monday I had my monthly visit with the doctor, which was pretty uneventful. It did take the doc quite some time to find the baby's heartbeat, which worried me at first. It turns out he was chillin' on my left side and the doc was searching for him on my right side. I guess he'll be good at hide-and-go-seek when he's older.

I was given a phone number for the hospital so that I could schedule an appointment for my ultrasound and finally find out the gender of our baby!! I could hardly wait so I told them to get me in at the earliest they could manage. They fit me in the very next day in the afternoon.

Now, here is the painful part...they told me to drink about 32-40 ounces of water about 1 1/2 hours before coming in so that I would have a full bladder for the ultrasound. BIG MISTAKE! I was 19 weeks along at this time, and I would have only had a little bit to drink had I known that my baby would be visible with our without the water. It was incredibly painful holding all of that water in, especially 19 weeks pregnant. Unless you don't have a baby bump, don't drink that much water. It will only make the experience painful and you'll constantly be worrying about letting it all out while the lady presses the device on your belly during the ultrasound.

I had to tell her during the middle of everything to let me go to the bathroom because I just wouldn't be able to hold it in and then we'd both be embarrassed hehe. She was kind enough to let me go and I will be forever grateful to her. I was a little mad that the ultrasound looked exactly the same as it did when I had a full bladder though, but at least I was able to enjoy the last part of it. :)

We found out we are having a boy (and have pictures to prove it, but you don't need to see that). I was slightly disappointed because of the fact that I didn't have any boy names that I liked. A silly reason, I know, but it was really hard for me to find any boy names I liked (and that weren't already taken by someone in Paul's family). However, aside from that, I must say that the ultrasound was amazing. Sure, it's black and white and for the most part you don't know what you are looking at, but it was incredible to see the baby moving around. We could see his skull, his fingers and toes, his bones in his arms and legs. I probably would have cried with happiness had I not been in pain for being restricted from going to the loo.

We can finally buy gender specific clothes. YAY!

How Big Is Our Baby Boy?At Week 19, he is as big as a Mango!

Our Christmas Tree (put it up after Dizzyland)

Paul did most of the work putting up the tree. I helped with the branches later.

Icarus tried to help as well.

Paul and I put up the lights together and then strung the ribbon round about.

All done!

What is Icarus up to?

"My bag."

Gotta see what's in the bag.

Gotta get in the bag.

Gotta get under the bag.

The Pregnant Diaries - Weeks 14, 15, & 16

2011-11-02T20:54:00.000-07:00

3 weeks you say? Why yes, I am that lazy. ;)

Week 14
Halloween! I must be honest, Halloween is not my favorite holiday. I am a wuss when it comes to scary things, I don't feel like spending an arm and a leg on candy that might not be given away because of the lack of trick or treaters nowadays, and I have no creative ideas on costumes (and I fear that if I did I would end up spending too much money on them). Sad? Yes. I do have a goal to actually decorate and take my kids trick or treating (when we have them). So, the verdict is:

1. Halloween isn't for me.

2. Halloween is happy fun time for kids that love dressing up and eating candy (I think it's safe to say that this Holiday is pretty much for ALL kids.)

Needless to say, I know adults have just as much of a blast, if not more, as kids do. I must confess that I have this guilty pleasure of seeing what all my friends, family, and acquaintances have thought up for the Holiday, even with my lack of interest to dress myself up. And while I'm confessing ~ I also secretly want to be scared during Halloween, but then when I am scared (whether by movie or game) I tend to have nightmares and sleepless nights afterwards. This puts me in my right place and reminds me of why I steer clear. :)

So, Halloween day arrived. We put a note on our door saying we had no candy, which I found to be a bit sad because I'm not averse to handing out candy, but we just didn't buy any this year. We'll just pretend it was for the reason that we didn't want to be eating all of that delicious cavity-inducing substance. So, what exactly DID we do for Halloween? I decided, at the last moment, to buy some tiny pumpkins. My thought was to make "pumpkin snowmen" with Paul. We each took 3 pumpkins and ended up having a great time decorating and painting them to whatever we desired.

I just realized that I don't have a final picture of my pumpkin/snowman, but Paul does. :( Mine had the hat, a button shirt thing, and arms (made of real sticks I found out in our yard).

Later in the week I had my second appointment for Baby. It was pretty quick and easy. Pee in a cup. Check for Baby's heartbeat. Update doc on any problems. I told him about my back pain, but kind of already knew what the answer would be.

I honestly think they have a once a month appointment just to relieve the mind of the mother that yes, there is a baby still inside of you.

Later in the week I stopped by the Nielsons to pick up Cristina's maternity clothes that she said she'd let me borrow. Free maternity clothes? Heck yes!

How Big Is Baby?

A lemon!! Still so small!

Me at 14 weeks. Not very big, but I was proud of that bump.

What's Icarus Up To?

He literally climbs into these blinds if they are closed. I don't know how he does it without breaking them.

He's offended they are closed.

I didn't realize our camera did panoramic! Just testing it out. I should use it again sometimes as it totally rocks my socks.

Sleepy time? (Paul loves to put things on Icarus and see him get offended.)

Weeks 15 & 16
And this is why I clumped all of these weeks together. Not much occurred other than work. I mean, I honestly feel SO normal that I sometimes forget I'm pregnant. However, the mirror reminds me daily of my folly. The only other thing that is a constant reminder is my super smell super power and my ability to dry heave at any opportunity.

I must warn you that super smell is not a super power you should desire. Who wants to be able to smell a baby's stinky diaper from a mile away? Not I! It's even torture with the smell of really delicious foods. Such as smelling some great food someone else brought ~ making you crave it, want it, need it. It's either that or smells that make you nauseous or, in extreme cases, puke.

Even if my coworkers think it's cool I can smell their candy from across the office, I don't think I will miss it when I don't have it anymore.

How big was Baby during these weeks?

A naval orange at 15 weeks. So tasty!

An avacado at week 16! We just love our avacados! Especially baby shaped ones. :)

And now for another round of Icarus

Awesome balance.

His face was seriously like this the whole time. He wasn't just blinking in the photo.

And here is another picture for proof!

The Pregnant Diaries - Week 13

2011-11-02T20:53:00.000-07:00

Feelings of nausea are, for the most part, gone. However, I think the nausea bestowed upon me super awful gag reflexes. When I brush my tongue, I gag. When I smell something stinky, I gag. When I take my prenatal vitamins, I gag (and almost regurgitate them). I also still have some lingering heartburn here and there. However, the cool part is that my nose seems to pick up a lot of smells. I suppose this is a curse as well as a blessing. If you are hiding chocolate, beware. I will smell it out.

This week pretty much rocked because Chelsea, a friend I've known since middle school, offered her glider and baby car seat to us.....FOR FREE! Yes, that's right. Free. That's how awesome she is. So we spent all night Thursday to borrow my mom's truck, pick up the glider and car seat, drive them home, drive the truck back, and then drive home again. It took at least 2 or 3 hours (crazy huh) but we survived and it was definitely worth it.

On Wednesday Paul took me on a date to the Temple. It had been a long time since we had gone so it was about time! We made a pinky promise that day to go every Wednesday so that we wouldn't slack off like we had been doing.

Now for a lesson in Nutrition for all those of you are are pregnant or are looking to have kids sometime in your life. I learned all of this through the textbook called, "Nutrition Through the Life Cycle" by Judith E. Brown. Kristy gave it to me, bless her heart. (textbooks are expensive, I don't recommend buying them)

1. Your baby is NOT a parasite. Your mom may call it that, you may call it that, your doc may call it that, but it's not. What does this mean? It means that nutrition will first be supplied to the mother to support maternal nutrient needs for her health and physiological changes. Then the excess will go to the baby. Make certain you are taking your prenatals and getting all the nutrients you need. It doesn't hurt to get excess nutrients, with a few exceptions.

2. Drink a lot of water. It helps carry nutrients to your baby. About 8 or 9 cups a day should suffice. You'll know if you are drinking enough if your urine is light colored and does not smell. Beware though, you may have to go to the bathroom often!!

3. Folate (Folic Acid). Make sure you get your folate! Take extra, it doesn't matter. Folate is water soluble, meaning you will pee out the excess. Just make sure you get enough. I believe most all cereals have folate (or folic acid) in them. Make sure your prenatal vitamins carry folate or folic acid. It is recommended you consume 600 mcg folic acid a day when you are pregnant.

What might happen to Baby is you don't get enough folate and folic acid? You baby could develop Spina Bifida, Anencephaly (the absence of the brain or spinal cord), or Encephalocele (brain protruding through the skull).

4. Vitamin A. This vitamin is not water soluble, so make sure you get enough for you and baby, but don't get too much. Deficiency of Vitamin A is rare in the U.S., but it's not as rare to get an overdose of it. Deficiency can product malformations of fetal lungs, urinary tract, and heart. If you take too much Vitamin A in the form of retinol or retinoic acid, your baby could develop retinoic acid syndrome. This includes small ears or no ears, missing or abnormal ear canals, brain malformation, or heart defects.

Make sure to get at least 770 mcg Vitamin A per day, but no more than 3,000 mcg.

5. Iron. Take about 30 to 60 milligrams daily. Iron helps carry oxygen to your baby.

6. Calcium. consume about 1,200 milligrams daily. This helps with breast milk as well as the growth of your baby's bones and teeth.

7. Protein. Make sure to get about 71 grams of protein daily. This is usually easy for those of us who are not vegetarian or vegan. If you are vegetarian or vegan, please read up on how you can be sure you are getting enough protein. Make sure you are only getting protein from food sources. Protein supplements can lead to nutritional imbalances.

8. Fats. Omega 3 fatty acids are the best fats you can get. Major sources are flaxseed oil and fish. There are supplements for omega 3, but beware. You may be burping up fish if you take them during the morning. My doctor recommended taking mine before bed, which I like better. I don't like fish breath. :( I recommend sunflower seeds or any other nut as your secondary source. They provide unsaturated fats.

Also, be careful about the supplements you take for omega 3. There is a risk that they could contain mercury, which is very very bad for you and baby. Either take your doctors advice or just buy fish and eat it.

9. Vitamin D. If you aren't getting enough Vitamin D through sunlight, you can buy milk rich in Vitamin D. Not enough Vitamin D can cause poor fetal bone formation. You need at least 5mcg a day.

That's not everything having to deal with nutrition, but hopefully that helps you out if you aren't sure what you should be getting. :)

Okay ~ that's enough jargon for the day.

How Big Is Baby?

Baby is as big as a peach!

What's Icarus Up To?

The Pregnant Diaries - Week 12

2011-11-02T20:44:00.000-07:00

My nausea has finally faded into practically nothingness. I still have some heartburn (not bad at all) and I have found that I am needing to belch constantly. I feel like my belly should be doing something. You know....like getting bigger? I feel it has been kind of stagnant ~ although I swear I am getting more fat growing just below the belly button. Haha. I'm already ready for another doctor appointment so that I can hear my baby and make sure baby is doing okay and still growing. It's pretty insane how fast and slow this process is!

So, being one of the lucky ones, I am feeling pretty normal. The only difference is that my pants are feeling incredibly tight and I have to at least unbutton the first button to feel comfortable. However, I'm not anywhere near needing maternity clothes as of yet.

I've been trying to keep on track of doing speed walks as often as possible, but I don't want to go by myself so I have to get Paul to come with me. Sometimes it's easy, and sometimes it's difficult. Hehe. However, when I do get him out of the house he seems to really enjoy the walk and the fresh air. Not to mention some time together away from our computers. :)

This Saturday my sweet mother invited Paul, Austin, and me to go hiking at the Grand Canyon with her. The last time we went to the Grand Canyon was when I was 7ish, so I didn't remember it at all. We had a great time looking at this amazingly huge Canyon from way up high.

Gorgeous Views

Mine.

Why does Paul look the same in all of these pictures?

Paul thought it would be funny to take a picture of me taking a picture. I think it was just an excuse to check out my buns. Just sayin'.

Who took this pic? That's right, Paul did. Why? "The Ledge" He probably pointed out at least 5 different ledges he wanted to climb up to.

This was probably one of Paul's favorite places during the trip. He practically climbed all inside and outside of this building. My mom has more photos of him climbing, I only have this one.

My awesome pose. So awesome you can't see my face. I call it, "Faceless."

Loved this window. My fave.

Beautiful orange/yellow tree below us. A great view from up here as well. We are about 1 mile into the hike.

The orange yellow tree! We passed by it further down the trail. :)

My leaves.

So Paul and I ended up walking about 3 miles total (down and back up). Aust and Mom walked the 5 miles down to the waterfall and 5 miles back up. And let me tell you ~ it is 5 miles DOWN (no flat area) and 5 miles UP. They were pretty much beat to the bone.

How Big Is Baby?

Baby is as big as a plum! About 2.1 inches.

The Pregnant Diaries - Week 11

2011-11-02T20:05:00.000-07:00

During this week my back started to reeeeeeally kill me. My sciatic nerve usually acts up after I do a vigorous activity, but now it just started aching at the end of the day. Each day this week it would start feeling worse and worse. I did some research on the internet and found that taking walks and doing stretches each day would help.

So Paul and I began a little schedule of taking some power walks every few days. We change up the time. For now we did 15 minutes one day, 20 the next, 25 after that, and then back to 20 again. Then afterwards I would do some normal stretches such as trying to touch my toes. I am REALLY out of shape and don't have one single stretchy limb on my body. So this is a very painful process. BUT, it has been working! By the end of the week my back started aching less and less.

This was the week I also decided to order some books. These books were recommended by a gal from the college married ward we used to go to.

As you can see I swiped these photos from Amazon because if you click on them, you most likely will not be looking inside. :) So far I have skimmed through a lot of Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Newborn. It's really great because it gives you a lot of facts and it also has a lot of images. It will tell you what your body is doing, what baby is doing, how to prepare to give birth, exercises you can do, nutrition, etc. I highly recommend this book as it will talk about how to prepare for giving birth should you decide to do it at the hospital or even at home. It pretty much touches on everything. :) And it talks about the Newborn at the end of the book, but I haven't reached that point yet.

I've already started reading The No-Cry Sleep Solution, although I should be reading this book last haha. I really love the way it's written, so it captures my attention a lot better than the books that are more "textbook-like". Really great info! I will definitely keep this book on hand if our baby is waking up a ton in the night crying.

I haven't opened The Baby Book yet. I'm waiting until I reach the third trimester to start reading here as it talks about the baby after the birth. It starts from newborn and teaches you about your baby for their 1st and 2nd years as well.

How Big Is Baby?

Baby is as big as a Lime! About 1.6 inches. :)

What Is Icarus Up To?

Paul hung a stretchy cord on the door and tied a mouse to the end of it.

Iccy loves to step into bins. He just stood there for a while with his two front legs in it.

Then he repositioned himself and started organizing things for Paul. Paul just looooves that (sarcasm).

Veneer Headboard and New Glider

2011-10-30T18:04:00.000-07:00

I've been daydreaming lately on how to spruce up my home while still keeping it cheap. One thing that can really give your bedroom a great look is a headboard! And, let's just be honest, a lot of headboards are not inexpensive.

So I found this DIY headboard tutorial (well, not really a tutorial, but it kind of explains the step) on BHG. And I feel it's the perfect headboard for our room. I really love the wicker look and feel, and this is just one step down from that. :) I've decided to just save the tutorial for now and then do the headboard later when I'm feeling more crafty and confident.

So, being bored, I decided to Photoshop the headboard in. Hehe. I apologize that it isn't the greatest work in the world, but it gave me an idea of what it would look like.

BEFORE

(pardon the bad photography skills)

AFTER

I also Photoshopped the glider that super awesome Chelsea gave us for free just the other day! (She also gave us a carseat that doesn't expire for another couple of years. THANKS CHELSEA!) I'm trying to figure out what color I want the fabric to be. I really like this light green color and I think I'll want it to be a solid tone instead of having some sort of pattern on it. I'm really loving light greens lately as it's such a fresh and inviting color. Especially when partnered up with white.

What do you think?

The Pregnant Diaries - Week 10

2011-10-28T16:12:00.000-07:00

WOOHOOOOOO!!!! Thursday morning we got to go see the doctor for the first time!! :D

I guess it's weird being excited to see the doc, but Paul and I weren't completely convinced I was pregnant until we heard the heartbeat.

For those of you who are planning on getting pregnant and wondering what happens at your first appointment -- here is what happened at mine.

1. Came into the care center 15 minutes early because I had to fill out paperwork. This was my first time coming to this care center as I hadn't been to a doc since right before we got married. So if you already have a regular caretaker, then you can skip this step haha.

2. Weighed me. I had gained 5 lbs already haha.

3. Ushered into a waiting room where the nurse took my blood pressure and afterwards asked me a lot of questions and asked Paul a few. Some of them had to do with health and others were questions such as, "When was your last period?" "When did you take the pregnancy test?" and things like that. She then told us how many weeks along I was and when the due date was. It was kind of funny because at first she said I was 6 weeks along.....and I was like huh? I thought I was 10 lol. And she did a double take and confirmed it was 10. She also told us our baby was due April 28th. :)

4. Doc came in. He was very nice and chatted with us a bit to get to know us better. It made me feel more comfortable. I asked him any questions I had on my mind (and written down on a piece of paper), which wasn't many. So get a list together of questions you may have. One of mine was even a simple question of "how many times should we schedule a checkup/visit?" and the answer was at least once a month.

5. Gave me "the gown". That thing is soooo awesome....not. lol For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of wearing it, it's basically a sheet with armholes and they ask that you leave the back untied for the awesome physical that you are about to get. They also give you a papery covering for your lower half.

6. After changing into that and lying down on the table thinger, the doc put some nice goopy stuff on my belly and searched around for the heartbeat, which is what I was waiting for!! He first showed me what my heartbeat sounded like and then kept moving the ultrasound device. I was getting kind of nervous cos I wasn't hearing anything. Then it happened! We all heard this tiny little heartbeat going crazy fast. Paul immediately says, "Whoa, so there IS something in there." And after that Paul has fully acknowledged that I'm pregnant haha. I almost cried when I heard it because it was SO AWESOME. Loved every moment of it.

7. And then the fun part of checking my heartbeat, checking for breast cancer, and then doing the papsmear. I'm guessing I may not have had to do that if I had a more recent checkup, but they will have the physical if it has at least been a year for you.

8. Afterwards they sent me away with a lot of little packets of prenatal supplements and said I could try them out and purchase a whole bottle if I wanted. Then it was off to get my blood drawn. And, to be honest, this was a first for me. I've never given blood so I was a bit nervous. The funny thing is that I'm pretty okay as long as I watch. So I watched the lady poke in the needle and draw the 5 vials of blood. It was pretty gross, but other than being a bit lightheaded I was okay. The lady thought it was weird that I watched the whole time. I guess I just had to make sure she wasn't going to take ALL of my blood? No idea why I had to watch.....I'm not very good with blood.

Tada! That was it! :D

How Big is Baby?

Baby is as big as a prune! Yuck, I don't really like prunes. Baby is about 1.2 inches.

What's Icarus Up To?

Icarus got a bag stuck around his neck. He loves to stick his head in the handles.

The Pregnant Diaries - Week 9

2011-10-18T17:01:00.000-07:00

Okay so I thought I would catch up eventually, but I'm way behind on posting my weekly encounters with this pregnancy. (I actually just hit 12 weeks yesterday, so that should give you an idea of my behindness.)

I'm trying to remember what happened this week, but I'm sorta drawing blanks (go figure). SO I will give you all pregnant-to-be ladies a bit of advice. First and foremost, if you find you are pregnant, sign up at TheBump.com. You won't regret it! It has this nice little weekly checklist for you, it emails you every week to tell you how far along you are, what your baby is up to, and what size your baby is. And yes, I will admit it, I "borrowed" those images of fruit from TheBump.com. I'm too lazy to make up my own.

Another thing to REALLY consider is nutrition and exercise. These are crucial when you are pregnant! I'm still researching the nutrition part (Paul is helping me with it), but I do know that nutrition can really help your baby for the rest of their life! You could be making your baby smarter depending on what you are eating, or you could be giving your child a life of ADHD. Who knows?

As for exercise, there are a lot of things you can do. I researched what was best for me and found that doing stretches and taking daily walks was the best way to help me and Baby to stay healthy. However, there are a lot thing pregnant women can do besides walking. Make sure you make a schedule for yourself and do it! This habit should also help greatly after giving birth. ;)

I also REALLY like any advice anyone has to offer. I realize everyone is different so it's nice to get a feel for what others have experienced. For instance, I read this awesome post by Kristy Colley. I thought a lot of it was some good advice/opinion. :)

That's my advice for now. I'll tell you more about my experiences as the weeks progress.

One thing that DID happen at the end of this week was General Conference. I love listening to our Prophet's voice as well as talks that speak directly to moms and dads. After the first two sessions Mark and Melissa told us about their neighbor who was having a yard sale. She was selling some baby stuff. They showed us a picture of this really cute baby swing so we asked us to buy it for us. Being as awesome as they are, they bought it that day and then brought it to us that night. Thanks so much Melissa!

How Big is Baby?

Baby is as big as a Green Olive! About .9 inches.

What's Icarus Up To?

The Pregnant Diaries - Week 8

2011-10-08T07:24:00.000-07:00

Another week of some queasiness. Thursday morning the sickness finally defeated me. I was pretty sad about that because I totally thought I had conquered it! Luckily, it was the only time I vomited. I'm not sure exactly what I did different that brought it on. Maybe I didn't drink or eat enough the night before. Who knows?!

One of my most random cravings this week was fish sticks. Right before coming home from work I told Paul I HAD to have fish sticks for dinner. I went to the store and bought fish sticks and tartar sauce right away. After we ate them, I didn't care much for them anymore. Completely random.

I also found that Creamies made me feel like I was normal again while eating them, but afterwards I felt like my same nauseated self. :)

Other than that, the only really eventful thing that we did all weekend was helping Paul's brother Mark out with his shed. And these boys talked so much they hardly got anything done, but it was pretty fun nonetheless. I was the "Luke Watcher" of the day. So I pretty much chased him around everywhere to make sure he was not getting into things that he shouldn't (like grabbing handfuls of nails and wandering outside of the yard trying to touch the exhaust pipe on the car).

Melissa and Mark had the cutest little pumpkins growing in their yard!

Luke LOVED climbing the ladder. Madelyn had actually named the ladder in the past, but I forget what they called it. I spent a lot of time by Luke on that ladder making sure he wouldn't fall and also having to remove him a few times.

Mark and Paul, chippin' away at the roof of the shed! (More like hammering the shingles on.)

And here is Luke -- yep! By the ladder again. He saw a spider and was looking for it.

The boys. They LOOK like they are working, but you should see how hard their mouths are working.

Luke liked to be inside the shed, finding things he could grab. I'm not quite sure what he is doing here. LOL

I just like this pic because they're just barely peeking out from under the layer.

Sorry Melissa! I'm bad! I wanted a picture of him at the top. He just loved climbing it so much.

After helping on the roof I went to Marissa's baby shower, which was seriously a blast from the past. A lot of gals I knew from the Married Ward were there! It was really great talking to all of them. I also found out that Maylene (my VT partner waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay in the past) was also 8 weeks along. Just like me!!

Cravings

Pickles, Fish Sticks

How Big is Baby?

A Raspberry!!!! And who DOESN'T love raspberries? Sooo tasty. Baby is about .63 inches long and moving their arms and legs like crazy!

The Pregnant Diaries - Week 7

2011-09-28T20:30:00.000-07:00

(Sorry! No pictures this week. I'll try and do better.)

It's only week 7 and I'm already getting impatient! I really want to talk with the doc and ask him all of my questions as well as hear the heartbeat so that this pregnancy feels more real. All I have to go on right now are the symptoms as well as the pregnancy tests taken at home. Just 3 more weeks! Gotta hang in there!

This week was miiiiiiighty crazy. It was fairly normal as far the pregnancy goes. I bought a ton of goldfish crackers and Teddy Grahams to tide me over at work. As long as I'm munching on something and drinking water I don't get queasy.

I was incredibly burned from the tennis tournament so, you may have guessed it, I was peeling like no other. It looked like I had some major dandruff covering my face (especially the nose). Luckily I'm cooped up in my own office so I didn't have to see civilization all that often. When my boss brought in an interviewee to say hi I nearly died. All I could say was, "I'm sorry, I'm peeling. Ignore it." I'm sure they couldn't stop staring after that.

The beginning of the week was pretty regular other than the fact that our secretary, Miss Kristy, had to take a couple days off of work to see the doctor. Her back has been in some incredible pain. It seems to me that everyone in the office at least has one thing wrong with them whether it be kidney stones, back pain, pregnancy (I guess this isn't WRONG though, is it), illness, hurt legs, etc.

Thursday morning I hear Paul wake up and immediately say, "I feel weird. I think I have a fever." To which I probably grunted and fell back asleep. I woke up to Paul missing and found him laying on the couch. He was not doing good at all. I took his temperature and sure enough he had a fever. I brought him Tylenol, DayQuil, and NyQuil so that he could take whatever he was feeling like he needed (he gets picky about what he takes) and left for work.

Paul called and was feeling really horrible, so I decided to come home and take care of him.

I stayed home from work Thursday and Friday getting Paul what he needed and making sure he was okay. I just couldn't leave him. He was in a lot of pain. :( It's very hard to see your own healthy, strong husband all of a sudden become weak and frail. Luckily he called his brother Mark who gave him a ton of great advice. Thank you Mark! Paul got on a schedule of taking pain meds so that he could bear through the fever.

During the fever he would constantly worry about me. I don't know if I was just not taking care of myself as well as usual, but I kept feeling really queasy and had to lie down a lot. I was also feeling extremely fatigued Thursday and Friday and fell asleep quite a few times. Paul would tell me to wash my hands as much as I could to not catch his fever, so I did my best and tried to not get too close to him. I also washed my hands if I touched anything he touched. So far so good!

Early Saturday morning Paul's fever broke. He slept out on the couch (I told him he could have the bed but he insisted on sleeping on the couch) so about 5 AM I hear him walk into the bedroom to take a shower and heard the good news. We were soooo excited that his fever had finally broke.

Other than those events, I felt pretty blah all weekend. We watched a ton of TV and movies together and honestly? That's pretty much ALL we did. I did some cleaning, but not enough to make me feel satisfied. Ah well! The weekend has come and gone, but I'm just glad Paul is doing okay. :)

Hmmm ~~ Since I don't really have any picture to share, I will randomly stick this one in as it pertains to Baby.

Not the best pic, but these are two baby beanies I made. I'm also working on knitting a blanket out of the same white yarn. It is most definitely, hands down, without a doubt, the most fluffiest yarn my fingers have ever had the privilege of touching.

Cravings

Pickles (I heard this is typical)

How Big is Baby?

Baby is as big as a Blueberry. About .51 inches.

Baby's brain is rapidly growing this week!

What's Icarus Up To?

These are actually older pictures and didn't occur this week, but I don't have any of Icarus this week so.....deal with it. :)

Words cannot express how funny I find this picture. Paul likes to put hats on Icarus.

Is it just me or does he totally look like an owl in this pic?

This is probably completely accurate to what Icarus was up to this week. What cat doesn't love to look out the window?

The Pregnant Diaries - Week 6

2011-09-27T16:54:00.000-07:00

Labor Day was spent recuperating from my cold. At this time I began losing my voice among all the phlegm (I hope that paints a pretty picture for you). Well, I was pretty grateful that I wasn't bed-ridden all day and took advantage of that by doing the dishes, taking the second pregnancy test (still said I was pregnant) and going to Walmart with Paul. Then I thought, if I'm going to Walmart while still slightly sick, how many others do the same thing? Not a very nice thought hehe. Had to be careful of what I was touching.

I convinced Paul to take me to the baby toy section where we picked out 3 toys that would be fun/useful for a new little baby. :)

Week 6 started hitting me a bit harder sickness-wise. I would feel queasy at random times throughout the day. The worst time of day was right when I would leave work and make the drive home. I later told my mom about this and she said it could be because of how hungry I was. Might try some snacks throughout the day this week to see if that helps.

This week I mentally thought of all these things we'll need for the baby. There truly is sooooooo much that we need. I realized just how important a baby shower is for a first-time mother and father. We're going to need the help!

Called up the doctors office (had to call three times because each time the secretary was out) and make my first appointment. I had a really hard time understanding her. There seemed to be some loud background noise. Ah well, we eventually got the appointment set after a bunch of "I'm sorry what did you say?"s and "I'm sorry but could you repeat that?"s. I'm pretty nervous as I haven't been to a doctor in a long time, but perhaps the excitement is winning over the nervousness. We'll see how the battle wins out by the time I have to go.

Now it's time to look into insurance for the baby. Right now I'm covered under my dad until I'm 26, but Baby will need some coverage. Might need to wait until about a month before Baby comes. That makes me kind of nervous. We may have to try a different plan to get some Medicaid help. I'm ready for everything that comes my way, but this insurance planning is killing me Smalls.

Saturday Cristina and I played in the Heatstroker tennis tournament. Nice name for a tournament that a pregnant lady is playing in, huh? Well, we kicked butt our first match winning with a score of 6-1, 6-1. We had a little break afterwards and sat in the shade for a little bit with our families. Zoe (Cristina's newborn) was the center of everyone's attention. She was toooooooo cute.

Call me a narcissist, but I love this pose. >8) Bowlegged and awesome.

We waited for quite some time, so we found ourselves playing some fun tennis games with everyone else who was waiting. That kinda tuckered me out. I blame everything on my oldness and being pregnant. ;)

We played very hard and long in our second match and lost 2-6, 6-2, 4-10 tie-breaker (I think that was the score?) And then we found out we had to play another match immediately after. I could feel my back breaking and my stomach aching. The funny thing is that we really tried in the 3rd match, but at the same time we wanted to lose because if we won, we'd have to play the same people we just played previously --- AGAIN --- for the final match. Cristina was serving the last game, and I'll be honest, she probably served about 30 deuces before we finally lost. She told me she didn't want to double fault and lost the match that way. Tsk tsk Cristina. The things pride does to us. ;)

How big is Baby?

Baby is the size of a Sweet Pea. About .25 inches. Awwwwww.

What's Icarus up to this week?

The Pregnant Diaries - Week 5

2011-09-26T19:05:00.000-07:00

I had been telling Paul lately that I had not been feeling all the way myself. I tended to be tired/fatigued during the day and throughout a few times in the day I'd get to feeling queasy. Well, come Wednesday August 31st I realized it had been a week since I was expecting my period. I was experiencing a lot of the symptoms of an oncoming period, but they had been happening for more than a week, which is completely uncommon. Plus, I had been playing tennis quite a bit with Cristina for the past month or so and my body wasn't getting any fitter, which is very odd for me as I tend to get tone pretty quickly.

Of course the idea flitted across my mind that I might be pregnant, but then I remembered that day about 3 years ago when I thought the same thing, took a pregnancy test, and started my period the next day. So, I wasn't getting my hopes up. However, I was very curious and would rather take the test and start my period the next day instead of waiting another week. Impatient, I know. :)

So I'm guessing you know what happened next! The instructions on the test said it usually takes about 3 minutes, maybe less, to see the result. About 30 seconds later the screen popped up "Pregnant". I think my mind was blown at that point because I honestly wasn't expecting that although my heart wished it to be so.

Hobbling into the computer room I held the test in front of Paul. His eyes went big and he said something to the effect of "No way!" I took a sit on his lap and we sat there hugging and smiling. Then, of course, Paul says, "This reaction isn't anything like the movies." Haha, nope! It wasn't, but it was the best feeling between us two at that moment and I loved it!

Paul suggested we kneel down to thank our Heavenly Father, which we did with huge smiles on our faces.

The very next day (Thursday) I discovered I had caught a cold and spent the entire Labor Day weekend sick and in bed. :'( Colds are noooooooooo good. Avoid them at all costs. I can't tell you how many times Paul pitied me that weekend. I can't deny that I also pitied myself. Goodbye cold, I shall never miss you.

I don't have any pictures of me as my belly looks the same size as it always does. So, instead, here is a pic of how big Baby is during week 5.

Baby is as big as an Appleseed. About .13 inches. Baby is starting to form major organs during this week.

What's Icarus up to this week?

Sniff sniff. Peek-a-boo!

Sniff sniff sniff.

Forgive me, but I absolutely adore this picture.

What? He's not sniffing something?

Yes, this is a laundry basket. Icarus eats laundry for breakfast. He's a growing boy.

Yes! I'm Pregnant!

2011-09-24T20:11:00.000-07:00

We did it! And we are super stoked!

Baby is already a part of our lives, no matter how small. :)

Glass Orb from The Labyrinth?

2011-09-24T19:11:00.000-07:00

I'd like to see Davie Bowie whip these around.

The Ultimate Nap Nook

2011-09-22T19:21:00.000-07:00

Fall asleep while reading a book? Do it all the time. Need to get away for your nap? Most probably.

Problem Solved.

Nook Under the Stairs: Can You Say LOVE?

2011-09-21T21:25:00.000-07:00

So, Melissa (my sister-in-law), begin the brilliant and talented woman that she is, gave me this supercalifragilistic link to Pinterest. Thank you Melissa!

Let's just say, I have already fallen in love. IN LOVE!

Shhh, don't tell Paul.

What have I fallen in love with (besides the website itself)? Have a look for yourself.

HOW CAN THAT NOT BE LOVE AT FIRST SITE??????? Ooooooh the awesomeness. Oooooh the agony. Now I must have a house with stairs. Well....perhaps I could do with a window-seat. I'm torn. Please let me have it.

Bright and Bold Home Decorating Color Schemes

2011-09-18T09:24:00.000-07:00

A lot of people I know play it on the safe side when it comes to decorating their home. I admit, I am one of them.. I'm so safe in fact that I hardly decorate at all. I know it's horrible, but I'm too afraid to go and buy all of these wonderful decorations only knowing we are going to have to move again and lug those around with us. Someday though. Someday. :)

Personally I like the subdued gray blues, whites, and tans -- a beach theme. However, the "bold" themes always inspire me. I must say that I love to see what others come up with.

The following images are from Better Homes and Gardens.

These ideas come from House to Home.

Looks like blue, green, and hot pink are very popular and striking colors when it comes to brightening and boldening up your home. ;)

Three New Spring Blog Templates for Delectable Blogs

2011-04-06T19:43:00.000-07:00

This week I created three new FREE blog templates for Delectable Blogs.

Remember, it's Spring! Grab a background and brighten up your Blog!

I have a goal to transfer my Blogspot site over to it's own server so that I don't have to rely on Blogspot's space. They only allow for about 10 pages, and I'm sure I'll need more than that, eventually. :)

Anniversary Weekend

2011-04-03T09:04:00.000-07:00

Us two Yoder's really don't get out much. So last week, as our anniversary was slowly approaching, we were trying to think of things that we could do together on the 4th. We didn't really feel like traveling, so there had to be SOMETHING we could do together in St. George that we both wanted to do that wasn't inside the house. It turns out that I still had some leftover Christmas money and some birthday money that hadn't been spent. I'm a very frugal person and don't find much pleasure in spending it, but this time around I thought of something worthwhile that I really wanted; a bike!

Yesterday, between Conference sessions, we headed out to Walmart and bought a mountain bike for little ol' me. It's by no means my first bike, but to me it pretty much feels like my first REAL bike. I've had a cute little trainers bike when I was first learning, and then I inherited a bike my mom had bought from a garage sale that I believe was some sort of really old cruiser bike with a basket hanging from the front.

And now I have THIS:

Behold the glory that is Walmart Cheapness!

It's actually a pretty good bike. After Conference, Paul fixed up his old bike that he used throughout his mission in Washington, and we went riding around the neighborhood to get used to our bikes. It was fun, we were exercising, we were out in the sun (I swear we look like vampires because we are so white), and it was something we really enjoy together. :) Score!

So I took off work for tomorrow (our anniversary) and we're going to ride our bikes around and look for some nice areas to go bike riding. I, myself, prefer trails and St. George seems to have a plethora of those. I look forward to it!

While we were at Walmart getting the bike, I figured I still had some leftover money and so I decided to get a new purse and wallet. This was a big step for me! I had received my red purse from my dad as a gift when I was probably 18 or 19, so I've had it for quite some time -- and it's pretty dirty by now. That purse went with me everywhere! Paul was always reminding me of how dirty it was.

Old Purse

New Purse!

Paul calls it a "satchel".

There were several reasons why I decided on this purse, but one of the biggest reasons was...

I can fit my new scriptures inside!!! (I got these for my birthday)

And seriously -- this is something to celebrate. I have never ever received or bought new scriptures since the ones I received when I was baptised. Yep. Pretty stoked!

I'm pretty excited about this new stuff that I have, because it is VERY useful to me! It's not just a waste of money! Muhaha!

I've decided that since I'm posting a bunch of photos anyhow, I'll show you what our awesome duplex looks like.

See that tree up front? Well, a couple of weeks ago we noticed that a ton of our rocks were pushed onto the sidewalk. It pretty much looked like someone tried to drive a car/truck through our front yard (I wish I would've taken a photo). We couldn't figure out what had happened, so Paul (with a little help from me) pushed the rocks back into our yard. Later that day I decided to pick some of our weeds (they were plentiful -- you'll see some pics later on) and I noticed a kid in our front yard hanging from one of our tree branches! We had this really droopy tree branches on our tree, so I guess the kids thought it was fun hanging from them and sliding their feet on our rocks and pushing them onto the sidewalk! Grrrr.

I told Paul of what was happening. He came outside and climbed the tree to cut the branches off, then tracked down the kids and told them to not do it anymore. That's mah man! So yeah, as you can see, no more droopy branches.

Earlier this week (on Wednesday) my mom called and said she would help us pull our weeds. I really wish I had a before picture, but I guess I'm just lame and capturing things on camera. I barely remembered to get my camera for these shots.

Wooooo! Weed picking party!!!!

Check out Paul in the background amongst the "forest". See those weeds he's amongst? Yeah, that's how our entire yard looked! Even behind our home it looked like that AND we had 3 tumbleweeds.

And here's what it looks like today.

I added a bit of our neighbors yard in so you can envision a sort of "before and after". Now all we need to do is spray it with weed killer so we aren't wasting our lives picking weeds.

And last, but not least, a random picture of our couch, because I love it so much. It looks good, it's comfy, it's big, and I'm collecting green pillows for it! No longer is it JUST a brown couch. It is now a brown couch with cute green pillows on it. After much contemplation of what color I wanted to go with the couch, I stuck with green. And I think it's awesome! Anytime I see an epic find at a store, I'll buy it. Which is soooo not me.

Delectable Blogs Released

2011-03-31T20:46:00.000-07:00

So I decided to release Delectable Blogs on March 26th, even though I'm a slacker and only posted one design that day. However, to make up for it there are now 3 new designs that reflect the new spring season (and let's not forget Easter as well!).

Dig in!

Peek-a-Boo

2011-03-30T19:51:00.000-07:00

Newest Project: Delectable Blogs

2011-02-26T09:11:00.000-08:00

It seems there's always a project started that is never finished. Well, this project is planned to continue for as long as it may. Introducing (insert drumroll here) Delectable Blogs!

There will be ongoing blog background designs created here and they will all be FREE. Who doesn't like free? I live for "free". There will also be some nice giveaways every once in a while.

Go ahead and check it out. There's not much to look at yet as the release date isn't until March 26th. But if you're interested I will be posting some sneak peek designs before that time.

And don't forget....IT'S FREE! So there's no harm in telling people you know -- or perhaps just being greedy and keeping this knowledge to yourself. ;)

We Are In Love

2011-02-19T08:50:00.001-08:00

Happy Valentine's

2011-02-12T22:00:00.000-08:00

*drool*

Now this is what I call a Valentine's gift.

Moving Every Year

2010-09-14T21:32:00.000-07:00

I always thought that those who move every single year have it tough. Well folks, ever since Paul and I were married we have moved every year. Sure, it has only been 2 and a half years since we were married, but this will be our 3rd place, and next year Paul is planning on going to BYU for his Masters in Creative Writing.

The weirdest part is that we get excited to be moving! Sure, it's hard work and you have to go through all that deposit craziness plus you have to clean like crazy and organize everything -- but we both kind of enjoy it. We like to go through things and get rid of stuff. It's also kind of neat to see how much we accumulate over a years time. I've already cleaned out some drawers and dressers in our bedroom and given some clothes and other things to D.I.

However, sometimes I just wish Paul would do it like I do. If you take a look at this picture you'll see what I mean...

If you think that's our dinner table in the middle of the room, you are correct.

Trust me...it's a tornado in the other two rooms in our house. Even the guest bathroom is crazy! To be honest I think I'm almost going crazy. I'm glad we are moving out this weekend and not next weekend, because I can't live in this mess much longer!

As for how Icarus is doing...let's just say he likes to help us out when we are doing projects. I'm unable to capture all of his cuteness, but I did get a few (although blurry) shots of him recently.

I was reorganizing the shelf. As soon as I took the books out and began putting in the movies, he claimed the rest of the space as his.

Helping me out with my sewing practice by adding a touch of "Icarus" to my material. (This guy is getting so fat! I promise we don't over feed him!)

Speaking of sewing, my latest project has been to make my own skirt for my sister's Masquerade Wedding. It has been super fun, but pretty tiring. Thank goodness I bought some cheap material to practice on. The practice skirt was turning out to be so small I wouldn't be able to walk in it. I kind of gave up halfway through the process, but I learned a lot, and my actual skirt is turning out nicely so far.

(beware, horrible pictures coming up)

I still need to put the ruffles on the top skirt, then thread it with strings to make drapes, and then attach both skirts together. I feel like I am halfway done, and it is such a relief.

Paul has been working hard on his costume as well. Next time he takes 30 minutes to put all his gear back on, I'll take a pic. It's pretty awesome.

We've also got our masks to do! Well, actually, I'm the one that has to do my mask, because Paul's is already done. Sarah (my sister) was super kind enough to make us both leather masks.

This makes me feel young again, doing all of these crafty things. Ahhh the joys of life. :)

Brownie Pops: You Buy the Mold, I'll Make the Brownies

2010-09-05T21:38:00.000-07:00

I absolutely love cute things. Not only that, but I absolutely love (and adore) sweets. Mmmmmmm. Put cute and sweet together and you have an amazing thing. Today I just happened to stumble upon Brownie Pops. That's right, Brownie Pops. This would be a SUPER fun thing to make with kids or at an activity. Maybe with some friends at a chick-flick get-together. However, the brownie pop pan is $10. Considering I don't have any kids yet and I hardly have friends over, the $10 probably isn't worth it at this stage in my life. But boy oh boy, if you happen to buy one let me know. I'll definitely give it some use. ;)

Brownie Pop Recipe

The Famous Rainbow Cake: An Epic Find

2010-07-18T17:44:00.000-07:00

I was browsing DeviantArt for some inspiration, when I came across a picture of a glorious rainbow cake. It was a tribute to Rainbow Brite! Being a Rainbow Brite fan, I thought I would take a look at this cake and then read about it to see if it was real. Sure enough, this cake was most definitely real -- and most like delectable.

Link to Original Here

Doesn't that look DELICIOUS! I'm drooling..........all right, moving on! After this piece I somehow stumbled upon this:

Link to Original Here

This one is NOT real, however, it is VERY impressive. At this point, I began to be pulled into the rainbow cake world. I found myself wanting to look for anyone else who made a rainbow cake. I then came across this beautiful piece:

Link to Original Here

By the time I see this cake (with it's super yummy buttercream frosting -- my favorite!) I am just digging myself a hole into desserts. As some of you may know, I LOVE to make dessert. I usually just make cookies, but every here and there I'll try something new. This just gave me inspiration. I found myself perusing through the blog Whisk Kid and loving everything they had made. Sometimes I forget how beautiful dessert can be, but Whisk Kid has reminded me of it's beauty. Beware!

I Love My Boys

2010-06-27T17:59:00.000-07:00

I was flipping through some older pictures of Icarus and came across this one:

lol! You've gotta love Paul's hair, but aside from that, I loved how Icarus would sit on his back while he played video games. SO adorable! He's too big and stinky to do that now. This was taken sometime in October of last year.

I can't believe that Icarus is almost 1 years old! Time sure does fly.

Summer Cleaning

2010-06-21T21:30:00.000-07:00

Paul has gotten into this mood of finding things around the house and seeing how much he can sell them for. He's made a little bit of money from doing this. Enough to keep himself busy and happy (because he has money to spend).

We've been a lot more tight on money since Paul quit his job to go to school full-time. It has been super awesome for him and he has been able to focus, but I think somewhere in the mix he forgot what it was like to earn money for himself and would want to continually buy things. We came up with a glorious plan that I would provide for all necessities and he would only spend money that he made from side projects or from selling things he doesn't use anymore. It's been working wonders!! I feel like I'm not a frugal monster while he is only spending money that he earns, and he is doing well at saving up for something and making sure he wants it instead of buying "when he's in the mood," if you know what I mean.

I've also started a little fun money fund on the side, for myself and for vacation time together. I recommend this for everyone. You can't JUST save up money for all the necessary things in life. Set aside date money or "fun money" as we like to call it, in case you need a break or you just need to buy a stash of chocolate (or video games).

Aside from us being happy campers, another thing that is coming out of this is CLEANING! Yay! As we (mostly Paul) are scrounging for things around the house, we've been able to clean up here and there. We both love going through old junk and getting RID of it! I know that sounds silly, but things accumulate SO fast! I feel so awesome when I'm able to throw tons of stuff away and make my home seem clean, refreshing, and less cluttered.

I also find joy in reorganizing things (as a lot of women do). Here is a before picture of my desk space:

It looks pretty nasty right? (That random table in the middle of the room is a result of going through stuff -- yeah, messes happen while trying to clean a.k.a. get rid of stuffs).

And here is my desk in it's new home:

Yay! I'm pleased to be sitting right nex to Paul! It was a pain having to turn all the way around whenever he wanted to show me something. Oh, and believe me, he ALWAYS wants to show me stuff.

And we can't forget my little helper as I was trying to clean (you'll see that he is in the After picture above as well).

I can't close the drawer Icarus...

Okay, thank you, now I can close it.

Well, I guess I can't keep you in there forever. You might starve.

Get out you beast. Why are you rolling over?

Purple hat cat is not pleased. That's what you get for helping me clean. :)

I decided to finish the green beanie after cleaning was done. It has been 5 years since I started -- and all I had to do was tie it off. So easy! Took me maybe 15 minutes. Then, I decided to knit a baby beanie for Icarus. It turned out to be too tall for his flat head, but we had some good laughs. I'll save it for one of our future babies. :)

The Daily Routine

2010-05-05T17:20:00.000-07:00

So I was standing in the kitchen doing dishes, pondering about my life. I noticed that my weekdays are almost identical.

Wake up
Turn off the alarm
Turn on the shower
Get back in bed for 3 minutes will shower heats up
Take shower and get ready for work
~~Make the bed~~ (yeah, this only lasted about a week or two after I got my new job)
Eat cereal
Make lunch
Go to work
Work
Come home from work
Get mail
Open mail
Empty kitty litter
Do dishes
Eat
Do whatever I please or need to do for the rest of the evening (I usually get about 3 - maybe 4 - hours to do this) -- Usually Paul will try to find something to do together, bless his heart
Get ready for bed
Read scriptures
Snuggle
Go to sleep

The weekends are usually the time to be doing laundry and cleaning house. Thankfully, Paul usually does the laundry. :) Thank you sweetheart!

Unless we have some other engagement planned, that is my day to day routine, Monday through Friday. I can't believe how most of my time is spent only doing these things. Then there are other things that are squeezed in here and there, but wow! Pretty boring right? I feel like a robot. ;)

Do you find yourself in a routine on a day to day basis?

I {heart} Stairs

2010-03-27T08:26:00.000-07:00

I love stairs. This is a truth that I feel will never fade. Even when I'm old and wrinkly and have to use one of those moving-electric-chairs-that-are-attached-to-the-wall to get up the stairs...I will still love them.

So, as you probably have guessed, my dream home has stairs. Stairs that aren't just hidden away. MY stairs are a piece of art in themselves.

I love how these stairs start at the entrance of the house, and curve around the wall. Plus, the banister is gorgeous in itself. Can I has it? Pwees? :)

Just As Much Fun As Back Then

2010-03-24T18:03:00.000-07:00

I've been reflecting.

Yep! Reflecting. I know it's hard to believe.

Life is SO great!! Especially my life at this time. I have the Lord who is always there and ever so constant, a husband who loves and adores me, a kitty who loves and adores me and is always there to greet me when I come home, a beautiful place to live, a great job, no debt, savings, two vehicles that are paid off, loving and supporting families, great friends who eat our food, beautiful red rocks just waiting for us to scale them, a dishwasher, a working washer and dryer, food in our cupboards and in our fridge, clothes on my back, so much potential for our hobbies and mad skillz, and beautiful memories.

Life is to plan for a great future and to live day by day, enjoying it to the fullest. Save up money for vacations and take them as often as possible. Enjoy the outdoors while the weather is nice. (maybe even when it's not so nice?) Spend time with family and let them know you love them. Don't be so caught up in the menial things -- have courage and faith in yourself; you'll be surprised at what you can accomplish!

Some things that I have accomplished in my life:

Rock climbing (I'm afraid of heights! But am starting to overcome it with this feat!)
Certificate of Visual Technologies (I'm proud of it!)
Working for a Design/Website company
Learning HTML and CSS on my own -- and continuing to improve on it
Learning how to sing and enjoy beautiful music
Learning the flute and continuing to play it (though not often)
Being the breadwinner to allow Paul to go to school and be successful
Design professionally
Began my own business
Responsible with finances (thanks for teaching me to be frugal Mom!)
Helped to hoist our couch over a banister to the second story floor
Helped some friends in need
Learned where I stand with religion and know who I am
Bought a kitty and take good care of him
Learned to play the guitar
Played on the Varsity Tennis team in high school
Enjoyed myself in tennis and kept a good attitude

I love my life and all the wonderful people and things Heavenly Father has laid out before me -- and continues to lay out. :)

Cristina's Bridals

2010-03-03T18:26:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend I had the most amazing chance to be the photographer for my friend's Bridals! Not only that, but I got to do it with my good friend Sharon, who is currently aspiring to be a Professional Photographer. She has an amazing eye and I was so happy to have her there with me. She knows so much about photography, whereas I know very little (if anything at all). Even though this was my first time being an actual "photographer" I must say I had a ton of fun and I feel that some good photos came of it.

The best part is that I get to take photos at the wedding in Vegas as well! So this is more a less a practice shoot. ;D

Below are some of the good pictures that came out of the shoot. (I think I picked about 50 good one overall, but that's too many to post)

Paul's New Blog!

2010-01-18T10:03:00.000-08:00

Hi all, this is Paul. I created a new blog just for writers and readers of the fantasy fiction genre. It’s called Cove’s Guild and here is a link to it.

http://covesguild.blogspot.com/

It’s a ongoing story that me and friends are writing. Someone posts a short chapter and then the next person that wants to post writes the next chapter continuing the story. It’s pretty cool. Though I’d let all here know about it.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-10T20:47:00.000-08:00

And a Happy New Year it is! Paul and I have been lazy for the most part. Work has been a bit slow, but is picking up pace again. Resolutions haven't been made yet....but they should be. :)

I feel my design skills are improving and I still seem enthusiastic about designing and creating websites. Here is my latest and greatest project.

It's an online photo album for the Yoder fam. I have made the header into a slideshow of images on the front page and then there will be categories for every sibling and their families. It's like a fancy slideshow/album. I'm no professional photographer, but thought it would be fun to make our pictures into creative artwork and show them in a pleasing way for all to view and have easy access to. It is turning out to be a lot of work!! The website was easy enough to create, but the photos take forever to touch up.

Cheers to the New Year! I will work hard to be frugal this year! :D

Our Favorite Christmas Ornament

2009-12-25T22:56:00.000-08:00

Yes, we have a favorite Christmas Ornament. In fact, we have constructed a little video for your viewing pleasure to show you how much we love this ornament.

Merry Christmas from all of us! We hope you had a day off and were able to be lazy! Or, at least, lazier than usual!

Here are a few the of the awesome gifts we received and would like to add another special thanks to our family and friends who bestowed these gifts upon us.

We also got 3 more Guitar Hero games for the DS (i think we have them all now). I guess we won't be bored for a while! :D

A Relaxing Setting

2009-12-24T17:15:00.000-08:00

I am inexorably drawn to white couches. I can't stay away from the idea that I want a white couch. Maybe it would be nice to have an older couch with a white couch cover? No matter how much I look for photos that DON'T have white couches...I somehow run into them.

As I continue my quest for that "perfect home" I have discovered that the "relaxing" colors suit our little family well.

Sometimes I ask myself, "What would it be like to feel like we were on the beach every day? Even when we aren't?" Well my friends, the answer lies beneath this text.

Simple yet relaxing. Beachy yet stylish. AND it has a "home" feel to it. It doesn't look like something in a museum.

This room makes me feel relaxed.

Merry Christmas Eve!

The Bold Room

2009-12-23T22:29:00.000-08:00

Hooray for Holidays!! I get to be lazy two extra days this weekend. How wonderfully blissful does that sound? I must admit that it sounds very much so.

So my quest for the dream house continues. Here is an image that inspires me in so many ways and frightens me at the same time:

It is so beautiful and elegant (in an oriental kind of way), yet it is very bold!! I am not bold when it comes to any sort of design. You could say I'm kind of afraid like I am with driving stick shift; I've just got to try it and work at it.

On a lighter note, I love the earthy tones and the feeling of being in the outdoors in a tropical, yet exotic, land. This is a big inspiration for the bedroom OR maybe even the master bathroom. Plus, the carpet/wood flooring is super dark. Take that you naughty little messy kids!

Looking for that Dream House

2009-12-20T18:51:00.000-08:00

Don't let this title fool you, Paul and I are not out house hunting. We are far from settling in our own little home yet. We have definitely decided to wait until Paul has his Masters and is able to get a steady job before making the big decision to buy a home. Actually, it was really exciting for about a month because we had decided to buy a house in 2010, but then Paul changed his mind about only getting a BA...he wants to get his Masters and maybe a Ph.D. I fully support him and think it's awesome!! I'm not too excited, however, to move up to the cold cold cold! (at least it's not Logan right?)

U0fU is offering some Master degrees in the fields Paul is looking for. For some reason we couldn't find them at any other college in Utah. Well, BYU actually supports the Master degree he wants, but they don't offer a Ph.D. I guess we'll find out when he graduates (hopefully 2011) with his BA. :)

So, back on the main topic here -- my Dream Home! Paul will vouch for me that I am constantly looking at houses, watching HGTV, and basically dreaming of that perfect home that we'll one day have. I have seriously given this a lot of thought. This is serious business! When we first got married I had no idea what kind of color themes I wanted for our house or what kind of furniture to go with. Since I was so indecisive and Paul just wanted comfort we sort of bought some things on a whim. We bought our beautiful brown leather sofa that I love (and Paul loves too), but it's so nice it gets me kind of nervous when I think of our kids (this is futuristically speaking) are spilling things all over it and thrashing it to pieces. Plus it is a pretty big and awkward shape. We couldn't get this puppy up the stairwell to our house so we had to tie a rope around it and hoist it up the balcony!!! I'm wondering how we will get it back down once we move -- perhaps it will become "the condo couch."

I've been searching the internet for a while now for some themes. I've decided I really like a few styles: oriental, beach, traditional, country. I like all of them and have practically pulled my hair out deciding on which one I want to stick with!! Finally, and answer came to me -- I will use all of them!! I'm thinking a nice oriental look for the bedroom would be awesome, beach for the family room and maybe bathrooms, traditional/country look for the kitchen and maybe the same for the bathrooms. (See? I'm still indecisive. But I've got years to plan.)

Here is my first inspirational picture.

The main reason this is my first inspirational picture is because the couch looks almost exactly like ours! Which gives me hope yet because this room is well put together. I love the rug (although I don't like the gray trim too much), the pillows, and the coffee table. The green look is really comforting to me. I really do want to go with a beach look for the family room to give it more of a relaxing feel, but I can't get over the fact that we have already bought this couch and that we should make it work. What goes best with brown? Green does. :)

Hot Tubs and Snowflakes

2009-12-12T12:36:00.000-08:00

Paul took a look out the window this morning and saw the hot tub steaming outside. He has wanted to go hot tubbing for a while now. I have been pushing against it because even if you get all nice and warm in the tub you will eventually have to get out!!!!

Today I caved. After an adventurous trip to the vet with Icarus we wrapped ourselves in a towel and a blanket and pitter-pattered out to the hot tub. Our feet felt like they were going to burst into flames once they hit the water, but after about 10 minutes of soaking we were super comfortable. Not to mention we were the only ones in the pool area. Snowflakes were still softly falling which made for a cute and romantic experience. :)

I am now grateful I caved and had a small adventure with Paul. (one that turned out to be enjoyable!)

Soon to come....pictures of Icarus as an ornament in our fake Christmas tree. That poor tree...

Shoo Dawgs

2009-10-01T21:13:00.000-07:00

Our prayers have been answered! After two months of unemployment and some loping about trying to get work for my freelance business, I have been hired on full time to a wonderful professional web design company called Danemco (3 interviews later). They are super nice and very tight knit.

I did apply to a company a week prior to applying here that allowed me to do freelance work from home and they were interested in having me work for them. However, I did my homework on them and most designers who had worked for them in the past had awful experiences. They also did not pay very much for the work. I'm so glad I decided to continue my search for work. :)

Although I would love to be designing for Danemco...for now I will just be their Exec Sec (executive secretary). It'll be super fun! Wish me luck!

I Eat. Therefore, I Cook

2009-09-27T20:02:00.000-07:00

Recipes are now posted at Ee Wen's food blog I have joined. It is called "I Eat. Therefore, I Cook." There will be tons of awesome recipes posted there so if you are looking to make something new, maybe even exotic, come see what we have in store for you!

I Eat. Therefore, I Cook

Cinnamon-Topped Zucchini Bread

2009-09-21T21:32:00.000-07:00

So I did end up making this recipe today and boy oh boy is it delicious!! It is the very first zucchini bread I have made. I'm glad it was this recipe too. Even Paul says it is super good. Definitely a keeper! The cinnamon topping really gives it that holiday taste that we all love. ;)

BREAD
3 cups shredded zucchini (2 to 3 medium) -- I used one large zucchini which is about 2 and a half cups
1 2/3 cups sugar
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs
3 cups whole wheat flour -- I used white flour because I don't have whole wheat
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

TOPPING
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon cold butter

INSTRUCTIONS
1..Move oven rack to low position so tops of pans will be in center of oven. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease bottoms only of 2 (8x4-inch) loaf pans or 1 (9x5 inch) loaf pan with shortening, or spray with cooking spray.
2..In large bowl, stir zucchini, sugar, oil, vanilla and eggs until well mixed. Stir in remaining bread ingredients; mix well. Pour into pan(s). In small bowl, mix topping ingredients with fork until crumbly. Sprinkle over batter in pan(s).
3..Bake 8-inch loaves 50 to 60 minutes, 9-inch loaf 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan(s) on cooling rack 10 minutes.
4..Loosen sides of loaves from pans; remove, and place top side up on cooling rack. Cool completely, about 2 hours, before slicing. Wrap tightly and store at room temperature up to 4 days, or refrigerate up to 10 days.

I cut our bread about 20 minutes after it was done because Paul and I love warm warm bread. Mmm mmm good!! Don't forget to add your butter on top!

Crab Clacks

2009-09-18T15:41:00.000-07:00

We just recently bought Icarus a laser pointer (for us to tease him with) and he absolutely loves it. We feel bad sometimes because he can never catch it and when we turn it off he is confused as to where it went and will go looking for it for about 5 minutes. But it's too fun to watch him to stop. :) It keeps him busy and he seems to enjoy it. One recent discovery we have found is when we start the laser pointer he will make these really weird noises with his mouth. It is SUPER weird. I'm not sure if other cats do this, but he does this clacking noise. Paul says he sounds like a crab so we call them crab clacks. I caught a little bit of it on video, but I can't find the cord that plugs into the computer. Ah well, maybe next time. :)

Aside from this weird clacking we have had our hands full with this little guy!! He is very cuddly and constantly wants attention. He almost always wants to sit on our laps. If one of us is wiggling too much or talking too much he'll transfer to his other parent. Sometimes he'll transfer laps over 20 times in 1 hour! It's pretty sad.

He's also a troublemaker. He loves to climb everything and wants to play with every string/wire he comes across. Lately he has discovered this secret place behind my computer desk where I can't reach him. I have placed lots of textbooks in the way so he can't get there, but somehow he still finds a way. *sigh* He also loves to crawl onto my keyboard platform where I keep my Wacom Tablet. I usually don't like him in there because I don't want him to scratch it, but I finally gave up dragging him out and figured he'd hate being crunched up in there and wiggle his way out. I turned out to be right. He doesn't last 10 seconds in there.

He's also very curious about everything. Like my Tablet pen for instance...

He also just found out he loves our dirty laundry. I found him sleeping in it when I came home one day.

However, when he isn't causing trouble he is SUPER cuddly. He loves to be with us always and constantly wants to be on someone's lap.

That's my lap :)

And here is an update on Oscar. He's doing so well!! We transferred him to a bigger pot and planted some veggies and herbs.

German Chocolate Chiparoos

2009-09-18T13:28:00.000-07:00

You know, I really should try these recipes out before posting...but I have as yet to go to the store to grab that one ingredient I need. I have decided to make one of their pies this upcoming Monday or Tuesday. Check back to see how that goes. ;)

So here is the fall-recipe-of-the-day for all you German Chocolate lovers.

Makes: 2 dozen
Prep Time: 30 min
Start to Finish: 1 hr

INGREDIENTS
1\2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 egg
1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) chocolate chip cookie mix (I'm sure you can substitute for this one)
1/3 cup unsweetened baking cocoa
1/4 cup water
1 container (1 lb) coconut pecan frosting

INSTRUCTIONS
1..Heat oven to 375 degrees F. In medium bowl, stir together butter and egg. Stir in cookie mix, cocoa and water until soft dough forms.
2..Onto ungreased cookie sheet, drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart.
3..Bake 7 to 9 minutes or until cookies are set. Cool 1 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.
4..Generously frost cookies with coconut pecan frosting.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cloud Cookies

2009-09-16T21:21:00.000-07:00

So Paul and I came across this small Fall Recipe book at the grocery store today!! They all look SO delicious that I decided to scan in the images and share one recipe with you each day I remember to post. I will be trying out a lot of these recipes myself.

Makes: 5 dozen
Prep Time: 40 min
Start to Finish: 1 hr 20 min

COOKIES
1 box (18.25 oz) chocolate fudge cake mix
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

FROSTING
1 1/2 containers (12 oz each) whipped fluffy white frosting
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
2 teaspoons milk

INSTRUCTIONS
1..Heat oven to 375 F. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray.
2..In large bowl, beat cake mix, 3/4 cup peanut butter, the water, vanilla and eggs on medium speed about 2 minutes or until blended. Gently stir in chocolate chips. Onto cookie sheet, drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls about 2 inches apart.
3..Bake 7 to 9 minutes or until set. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 10 minutes.
4..In medium bowl, stir together frosting ingredients. Frost cookies with frosting.

Icarus, Cerulean & Oscar

2009-09-05T14:12:00.000-07:00

So Paul finally agreed to getting a kitty!!! Since we can have one at our new place I was overjoyed! We immediately went to Sue's Pet Castle last night to see what cats they had there. They actually had a pretty wide selection there. We picked out three potential candidates, but one really stuck to us both. We went back this morning and just had to get the one that looked like a little baby tiger.

When he got to his new home he was really jumpy and had to sniff out every inch of the house. He also had a run-in with our closet mirror and scares himself every time he walks by it.

Later in the day I attempted to take some pictures of him, but he loves me so much that it was hard to keep him at a distance for the most part. Right now he is sleeping on my lap. He loves his new mommy so much!

The pictures really are terrible. Someday we will make Icarus into a model. :)

Oh, and here are some pictures of Mr. Hottie on his new bike he named Cerulean:

He just got his bike inspected today. We are so close to getting all the bike stuff over and paid for! :P

And last, but not least, here is our little banzai plant, Oscar. He has been with me for over two years now!!

(before) When I first bought him two years ago.

(after) I had to take him home with me when I left SkyWest. He didn't adjust well to his new surroundings here and his hair soon yellowed. I thought he had died, but then one day when I decided I would finally throw him away, I saw green! He had started to grow again! I hope he continues to grow and will be beautiful little Oscar once again. :) I should have taken a picture of him with his long hair, but I spaced it. Oh well!

Can't Stop Laughing

2009-09-03T11:11:00.000-07:00

One blog I enjoy reading is Lindsay's. She knows what she is talking about. I happened to stumble upon one of her posts this morning and have found myself having short fits of laughter ever since.

Click Here to see Lindsay's Post

Freelance Graphic Design

2009-09-01T16:35:00.000-07:00

School has started up again for Paul. Bless his heart! He has done well so far with keeping up with homework and his job. I have been out of a job for one month now and have helped him a little bit with his work. It has been a little hard lately without my income, but I have just started receiving unemployment benefits since last week. We have been so blessed because with my benefits and Paul's small income we are able to get by and still save a little bit of money as well as pay our tithing.

However, I have almost had a few heart attacks during these past two months because Paul decided to sell the Black Leech (our second car) and purchase a motorcycle. We had so many discussions about this. It has worried me because last month we ended up getting two flat tires on the Leech and also had to fix it up for $500 in just one month! Then, we purchased a motorcycle that was clear up in Sandy. Yeah...it was a long long day when we went to get it. It ended up costing us $350 more than what we sold our car for. Also, we have had to buy him a helmet, gloves, jacket, and pay for the written test as well as insurance, licensing, and the motorcycle driver's course. It has been so expensive. I know that it will save us money in the long run while he goes to school and even when he becomes a teacher...but I still get worried that our money will run out sooo fast while I am out of a job. Right now I am just super grateful for unemployment benefits.

Please pray for us and for me to find a good job. I really want one in my career and we have decided that is what I will strive for while we are receiving benefits.

The job search has been slow-going, but exciting at the same time. I currently have two clients and received my first check yesterday! It really built my confidence. I know I can be a Freelance Designer if I really work for it -- and that's what I intend to do. However, it can be frightening going into a new profession. Your prayers are all very much appreciated!

For those of you who may know of someone who is in need of a Freelance Graphic Designer please let me know or refer them to me! I am happy to work with anyone. My portfolio is here.

Gooseberry Mesa

2009-08-02T09:31:00.001-07:00

Hey! We just went camping with Leighton and Sharon out at Gooseberry mesa. Many battles were fought there. I brought along my trusty “Death Sabers” for protection and good thing I did for there were animated cactuses’ waiting for us at the camp site! Sharon was the first to fall prey to their spikes of barbarous deeds. I quickly dispatched all of the culprits,

Death Sabers thirsted for cactus juice. Then, unexpectedly, one of my Death Sabers turned vile! It had had too much cactus juice. It wanted more…

I knew it would turn on us, so it left me no other choice. I SLEW the Rouge Death Saber. Thus ends the adventure at Gooseberry mesa.

Camping Slideshow

2009-07-29T20:04:00.000-07:00

Here's a slideshow i put together today of our camping trips we've taken recently.

Bloggin' It

2009-07-29T07:41:00.000-07:00

Time to blog it! I’m taking charge since Nikki’s hard at work with portfolio stuff. Let’s see, what’s exciting in our life now. Well here’s something, we went on a climbing adventure the other…two or three weeks ago. It was the awesomest in suburban kerosene. Here’s some pics from the epic 3 day climbing fiasco!

Eh, you like that? Yeah I know what you’re thinking. Your thinking “Man, I wish I could pull moves like that Paul. Well my friend, keep working at them overhangs and crimpers. Lol, someday you’ll get there! No, I kid. People kick my butt in climbing all the time. And if James somehow found our blog site and read this, I’ll be hiding in a hole for the next month or two.

Ok well other than climbing. We have been working--A lot! Yeah so is life. I’ve been doing a great deal of work on my sci-fi story that I started a few day’s ago. It’s been coming along nicely. Interesting voice I use in this story. We’ll see how it is when I’m done with it. Nikki has been putting together her graphic design portfolio. That’s taken a lot out of her. It’s demanding stuff.

Also we moved! Pretty cool. Email me if you need our address update along with our new phone number. paultyoder@gmail.com. Yup yup. Here’s some old climbing pics we hung up the other day in our new living room.

Ok that’s all for me. Later.

P.S. by the way, there we’re too many good pics of our city of rocks adventure. I’ll probably post again in a few days just to get the rest of the pics up.

Never-Ending Stuff

2009-05-29T18:12:00.000-07:00

We are so excited! June is packed with some refreshing changes for the two of us. We are so very blessed.

Near the end of June we will be going on a road trip with Sarah and Josh to The City of Rocks which resides in Idaho. It will be so nice to camp out and climb...no other worries! Oh, except eating. I guess we have to do that as well. :) But really, I am so stoked! We usually only get to climb once a week...maybe twice or three times if we are lucky. So three days of climbing is awesome. I even bought my very own climbing shoes! Ones that fit me! Woooohoooooo!!!! Now I just need to break them in or I my feet may just fall apart on the trip. No good!

But just a couple days before the trip we will be moving to Green Valley! We are very excited because the place i beautiful. 2 bed 2 bath with an open floor plan and a large balcony out back. Right now my dad owns it and is letting us rent it out.

We have started moving things over already. And wow, I never knew we accumulated so much stuff in one year! And how the heck did we fit it all in our apartment? (most of it is Paul's stuff) Welp, all I can say is that our house is a mess and I fear it won't be clean until we have moved every last scrap. It's so awful it looks like my bedroom did when I was in middle school.

So nothing more exciting than those two June events, but they are enough to take up most of our time!

Much Goodness

2009-04-30T20:46:00.000-07:00

A few things have happened since last we blogged. I’ll start with the most recent:

PAUL GRADUATES ON FRIDAY! Woohoooo!! Good job dearest! His last final was yesterday morning and we are both SO relieved! Right now Paul is still trying to get used to the fact that he doesn’t have any homework so he compensates for it by working more. Trust me, it won’t last long. ;)

Last Friday Paul had some Japanese Class buddies come over for a study session before the final on Monday. As you can guess, they really didn’t study, but they did end up making a huge mess in the kitchen. Luckily the food was really good. ;) We also had my brothers come over to eat with us and later had them sleep over so we could get up early the next morning and take them climbing. We don’t fully trust their ability to get up on time.

That was so much fun climbing with them that I give them 5 stars. Watching them climb made me wonder why I was such a wuss my first time climbing. When we get the chance we’ll go back to Black Rock and try the climbs I first tried and we’ll see how wussy I was, hehe. Anywho, my brothers enjoyed the climbing and said they’d go with us again.

Two days before we went climbing with my brothers Paul and I decided to go, just the two of us. However, Paul did two lead climbs before I was able to climb, which ended up in me getting injured. I belayed him on the two lead climbs he did, which is my least favorite thing to do and scarier than climbing when Paul is lead climbing.

The first climb Paul decided it was a little over his skill level. The second climb he had done before so I wasn’t too nervous and he did well on it. The third climb was a toughy and the belay spot didn’t look inviting. There were some other people climbing right next to us so there weren’t any good spots for me to stand other then right in their grill. So I picked a place behind this fairly large rock and put my foot on it. I had a prayer in my heart that Paul wouldn’t fall because it seemed like such an awkward belay position. I even worried that if he did fall my legs would get smashed into the rock in front of me.

All was going well and Paul was almost to the top. At this point I had moved myself a little further to the right of the rock (but still behind it) because instinct told me I shouldn’t be near it. Suddenly Paul falls (this is his first time) and my right leg hits the rock, but I manage to bring it around and use my left leg to stop me from moving further. Luckily I caught Paul and he only ended up falling about 10 feet. The downside is that my legs got scraped up pretty good.

Doesn't look too bad, but that's because Paul did a very poor job taking pictures. J/K My leg was really lumpy right after the accident and even today, a week later, I have subtle bumps were each cut/scratch is. The back of my left leg is also purple and yellow. It's pretty gross so there is no need to capture it. I’m just glad my leg didn’t break or sprain. I remember having a sprained foot twice last year and it is NO fun! Can’t climb with a sprained foot, but I can with scratches. :)

On a lighter note, our friends Sharon and Leighton just got married April 15!!! They had their wedding in Bountiful so we weren’t able to make it for school and work reasons, but we were able to go to their reception that Saturday. It was incredibly windy, but it didn’t ruin the wedding. The food was so yummy and the bride and groom looked ravishing. It really was a happy occasion. The reception was held at Lichfield Pond in Toquerville. Paul and I rode the bumper boats which was pretty exciting, but don’t try it with a skirt on. It’s hard to keep decent and you can’t concentrate on driving the darn thing.

So, congratulations Sharon and Leighton!!! Please don’t forget to come hang out with us once in a while. We know you are old and married like us, but that’s no excuse!

Paul and I just had our first year anniversary April 4th! Paul had planned the day for the both of us and, I must admit, it was pretty romantic. He is so thoughtful sometimes! So our plan was to sleep in, watch Conference, play tennis, take a walk in the park, go rock climbing, eat dinner at Benja’s, and then end the day on the Dixie Rock. Our tennis session was to be at the courts near my mother’s house because that was the second date we had been on and it was when we first held hands and had our first kiss. We had also taken a walk through the park that night. Unfortunately the courts were full so we decided to take our little walk and then come back to see if one opened up. It was so nice and relaxing!! We watched a ton of ladies walking their dogs and some boys playing at the playground.

Afterwards we went back to the tennis courts, but they were still full. So we decided to find some other courts to play on. We checked a few, but in the end gave up because everyone seemed to be playing tennis that day. I was pretty sad because it had been about a year since the last time I played. Oh well! We headed out to the Gap and rock climbed while listening to Conference on the radio we brought. Unfortunately we forgot the stinkin’ camera so we didn’t get many pictures.

Once done rock climbing Paul headed out to Priesthood Session and once home we ate out at Benja’s. It was sooo delicious! We ate sushi and curry and I must say, the sushi I got was the best. Just remember that sushi with tempura tastes oh so good!

Afterwards we tried taking some pictures outside, but none turned out. :’( Sooooome day we will get good pictures of the two of us. Ha!

We ended our anniversary by eating a piece of cake from our wedding cake that we saved. It was actually pretty good!

And we made a tradition to get each other a cool ring for each anniversary. We saw some really awesome rings on Amazon.com for pretty cheap. This year, however, we opted for paper rings. :)

Our next adventure is this Friday where we will go climbing with Sharon and Leighton as well as another friend of Paul’s. I’m excited! Climbing really is fun! I would say I’m more excited to go climbing than to play tennis. I just wish I didn’t have to belay sometimes. :D

XXL-Dragon-Sized-Beasts, Surf Safaris, Mullets, Climbing, and Glory Hair.

2009-03-23T21:16:00.000-07:00

Variety is the spice of life so they say, so Nikki allowed me, Paul, to write this entry. It’s been a little bit since our last entry and a lot has happened. School has been a XXL-dragon-sized-BEAST that we’ve both been battling against this entire semester; me with reports to write and Nikki with Math homework galore, but spring break last week allowed us to keep what was left of our sanity.

Some friends from church invited us to go on a yearly surf trip down in Carlsbad CA for four days during spring break. I had been with half of the crew two years previous on the same surf trip. We carpooled down there, camped at the beach, and surfed for three days straight. Needless to say, I caught some XXL dragon sized waves. Actually the waves topped off on their best day at about waist-high, but I rode them like they were dragon waves! Nikki had a blast, mostly boogie boarding next to me. It was freezing, water temp felt like it was somewhere in the high 50’s or lower 60’s but you know…it’s surfing so whatever. We bought Nikki a wet suit a week earlier for her B-Day present so she would be able to stand beside her man, taming the mighty CA Ocean’s fury of waist-high waves. It was fun.

Got back and decided that I needed a change. Found a buzz kit and went to work at carving the most glorious mullet known to man. Then I finished the job with a simple buzz cut of about ¼ of an inch. Should have kept the mullet.

We’ve been doing some climbing lately also and we’re both very stoked to find that (by way of my gracious older brethren) we have all the gear one needs to climb in our living room. I’ve gone every week now for about 5 or 6 weeks. Nikki’s come with me most of the time, Mark fills in when Nikki can’t make it. We’ll probably have more on that later when we get more pictures of us in the act.

That’s what we’ve been up to lately. Sad to say, now we’re back to a life of endless essay writing and math probleming for quite some time.

P.S. I also stuck some pictures up of me playing guitar on the evening before our surf trip. The glory hair is still in tact.

Pearl Jam's first time on Hold party

2009-02-21T16:24:00.000-08:00

Paul called me up yesterday afternoon while I was at work and was thrilled to tell me that when one of his customers put him on hold Pearl Jam was playing in the background! He was SO excited that he decided to have a party that very night to celebrate the first time hearing Pearl Jam on hold. The party was dubbed "Pearl Jam's first time on Hold party." He had his friend Chris come over in the afternoon to party a little bit and then when I got home we had our own little Pearl Jam party to celebrate.

First Paul gave me a t-shirt (well, tank top really) that he had written on in permanent marker "Pearl Jam's first time on Hold party!" Second we did a picture contest to see who could look most like Eddie Vedder. Paul and Chris did it earlier so I was the last one to do it. Here are the results:

Notice the candle Chris is using as his light.

Notice how Paul is using the wrong arm. ;)

Yeah, I figured the bed would be best to cling on? Should have used our wall out back.

We laughed so hard at each of them we claimed us all winners. :)

Afterwards we decided to celebrate Pearl Jam's first time on Hold some more by renting a movie, buying some snacks, and setting up a tent in our living room. It was a blast!!

We rented Big Trouble in Little China and viewed it from inside our cozy tent. Later I ended up falling asleep in the tent while Paul was outside (the tent) playing his guitar. He woke me up a couple hours later to go to bed. The ground wasn't so comfortable to sleep on anyways. :)

This morning we got back into our tent and played FFIII. When we got tired of that it was time to put away the tent *cry* and clean up the house. (YES!!!!!) It didn't get completely cleaned today, but it looks and feels so much better! I must say I am pleased.

The hobbly man

2009-02-17T19:21:00.000-08:00

Just a few weeks ago Paul and I discussed his many "phases." He usually goes through at least one a month. This month it is guitar and Steve Vai. January it was rock climbing. Actually, rock climbing has also crept into February as well. Well, I'm thinking of naming my months by Paul's phases. So if someone asks me what month it is, I should reply, "Guitar Phase."

We have as yet to see what these next months will become.

So life just gets busier as school begins piling things on top of you. I have been fine, but Paul is drowning in his homework. I have to read to him sometimes because there is so much reading he has to go through! But we manage! Lately, however, Paul has been hobbling around the house like an old geezer. We went snowboarding (I went skiing) about two weeks ago and somehow from all the jumps he went off he managed to hurt his lower back. The snow was very icy that day so we believe he didn't take too much care with his landing skills and it jostled his back pretty good. He's my poor ol' hobbly man!

Welp, even with his hobbly back we both had a great Valentines!! Friday night we drove to Paul's parent's house while they were in Las Vegas and pretended it was a free timeshare for us. We watched "The Deadly Mantis" (a hilarious old film) up into the night and I ended up falling asleep on the couch. Paul hates it when I do that! He will never let me sleep on the couch. He'll wake me up, which makes me all grumpy, and forces me to the bed. It's a very lengthy and arduous process for the both of him. I get all cold and grumpy when he makes me do that. But it saves me from a hurt back in the morning! He's such a good man. :)

Saturday we headed back home and after a bit of lounging we found ourselves at Basilas for lunch!! It was Paul's first time there and he loved it! Too bad it's expensive though. It was a darling afternoon together. We indulged ourselves to Haagen-Dazs ice cream and Paul bought me some red Gerbera Daisies and chocolate. I also got him chocolate and a great big kiss!

Sunday we lounged at mom's and watched Thoroughly Modern Millie. One of the greatest random shows ever! Thanks for the yummy lasagna mom! Your food is always SO GOOD! Too bad Paul ate all the leftovers. *insert sad face here*

Other than the Holidays and fun back-breaking activities, Paul and I have been busy busy busy with school. When I'm not working on my client's website I am designing wedding invites for Sharon or researching CSS. Ooooor just playing around hehe. Usually making dinner takes up my whole night. How does this happen??? Dinner is made and eaten....then it's time for bed!! Crazy crazy...but life is wonderful and Paul and I are pulling through just fine! :)

Learning

2009-01-30T20:10:00.000-08:00

Life isn't fair. We hear that phrase a lot, but I don't quite agree with it. I would rather say, "Life isn't always fair." Honestly, I feel life is extremely fair; perhaps overly generous. This past week however, I felt very belittled at work. I work so hard to know my numbers and keep track of my duties, but somehow there was miscommunication down the line, which ended up in me receiving a scolding. I really don't mind a scolding if there is something that really is my fault, but this time it was over the top. My integrity was trampled beneath their feet. I was humiliated. It was disheartening and I lost desire to do good work. I complained to Paul countless times about it, but today I came to realize complaining isn't doing me any good. Wallowing in this made-up grief of mine is doing me no good.

Sometimes things just happen. Miscommunication happens. More than I would like -- which isn't at all. But I need to learn from the experience and if, in the future, the same situation is approaching, I can fix it. I know the outcome and I know the alternative. I need to be a broken record, repeating, explaining, informing.

One of my many goals this year is to limit my complaining or rid of it entirely. Complaining is rubbish and rubbish is stinky. I don't want to turn up the noses of those I love. Most importantly my loving husband.

So even when work tires me out and is a place of drudgery, I will bear it. Besides, I have a home at the end of the day where I can be, leaving my stress and worries outside.

God has truly blessed me.

Tonight I made mention it would be fun to light one of our candles and roast marshmallows on it. Later, while I was reading to Paul, he whipped out a candle and began to roast mallows on it. It was a little frighting -- and also smelly -- as one by one the mallows would catch flame, but Paul made sure to keep a good eye on that. Besides, if our apartment burned down with us in it, then at least we would die with that nice little moment of sitting together roasting mallows over a candle while reading a story. Though, I'm not sure how our neighbors feel about getting roasted.

Yep. It has been a good day.

Meet Swordfish

2009-01-29T20:07:00.000-08:00

Let me say it is really hard to write something while your husband is behind you explaining about old school games where bad guys turned into good guys and he became a paladin. Then he plays a song about a girl who dies and he becomes very emotional about it.

Yes, this is my life. Oh, well that's not my entire life, because I left out the part where at least once every two weeks Paul busts out the Gummy Bears song on YouTube and sings along. He actually sings it in the shower here and there, but I have yet to capture a recording of it. >:)

And this is why I hardly write in my blog. It's very distracting if you can even imagine!

So, I had a revelation today. I am not Paul's only love! I was flipping through some pictures and came across a picture of Paul and his very first love.

Behold! Swordfish!

Look at how he caresses her!

Aside from the shock I am still grateful to have such a wonderful husband. He is very optimistic in every way. I'm glad I have my Gummy Bear singing buddy around to cheer me up all the time and to remind me that Gummy Bears dance here and there and everywhere.

Another set of pictures I ran into were of Paul and I at Sand Hollow with a few friends. We kayaked over to a mound of rocks where we cliff jumped a good while, decided we were cold, and headed back to shore.

Yarrrrr!!

Behold Paul in all his glory! About to jump to his death.

The ROFL Waffle

2009-01-20T21:28:00.001-08:00

A few days ago Paul and I made banana waffles and boy were they tasty!! However, we happened to be watching some Special Features on the Lord of the Rings, so when Paul put the last waffle in to be cooked he happened to leave it there....for a while. I remember thinking he was cooking another one, but he went into the kitchen so I assumed he took it out and unplugged our waffle machine. About 20 minutes later or so I smelled burnt bananas and here is what we discovered!!

Mmmmm tasty! (I'm talking about the model *wink wink*)

Other than that nothing of much interest has happened. I did create two different palettes for my internet development course. I'm pretty proud of them. :)

Yep!

Thank heaven for books on tape!

2009-01-17T13:58:00.000-08:00

Books on tape, CD, and the Internet!! What a blessing! I don't know if Paul would ever get all his books read for school if not for people who take the time to read aloud and record their voice in the process.

Just last semester Paul was reading Jane Eyre, and it was a very slow-going process for him. We discussed borrowing a book on CD from the library (and of course I became the errand girl). To our misfortune the Washington County Library didn't carry Jane Eyre on CD (or tape). Paul called two other libraries nearby with no success. However, being the genius that I am, I searched the Internet and came across a wonderful website! Librivox.org LibriVox is like a free online library. People volunteer to read chapters from books and they upload them to the website, available for everyone. The only downside is that the readers usually change from chapter to chapter and some are terribly borish.

I can't help but be pleased with the Internet at this point. :) Now Paul can entertain himself by building maps on Age of Empires II while doing his homework. Who'da thunk?

The Evil Begins

2009-01-13T19:04:00.000-08:00

Another semester of school begins! Where did the break go? I fear it became a slippy slide; a very very slippety slide with frozen water on it. Veeeeeery slippery. Well you get the point. Our break was extremely fun, but it passed right under our feet. So here we are, back in school. Didn't even have time to miss it. However, this semester is very exciting for the both of us!

Paul is taking three English classes this semester as well as Japanese II. I honestly CANNOT imagine taking three English classes in the same semester. Talk about pain! He has to read 13 novels throughout the semester. This is an amazing feat for our zombie Paul. But I'm rooting him on big time because if he passes he graduates with his Associate of Arts May 1st!!

As for me, I am taking Business Calculus, a Pre-Employment Seminar, and Internet Publishing & Design. This'll be fun! Oh, and if I pass these classes I will leave school for the summer with a Certificate in Visual Technologies. I'm very excited about that! But probably not as excited as I should be.

Other than school I have been brushing up on my PC Tablet skills and am designing a website for my second client. This time I'll actually get paid for my work. :P And Paul has been working on his chain mail.

We also designed and put together a small shelf for our house that cost us no more than $17 total. (paint, wood, everything!) Paul had so much fun making it that he wants to make another, but we really don't have much room in our apartment for one. We might be able to make room for one, but I don't feel it's necessary.

Aaaaaand we made a little movie the other night when bored. It will probably never exit this house. :)

And now, our current interest is Lord of the Rings. We have succeeded in watching the first two and the first half of the last one along with 3 of the Special Features CDs. We could both probably have our own company that sells every bit of knowledge from the making of LotR!

No Posts?

2008-12-12T08:25:00.000-08:00

So I made this blog for Paul and I to write in. :) Aaaaaand it is just sitting here. I guess you could call us the unbloggiest people ever! I mean, right now I am only posting so that we actually have a post!

But now that school is almost over check back every once in a while. We (meaning me probably) will start posting more about our little adventures as well as the stresses of everyday life. (and the glory of life!)

:)