Projects

When my mom came down we got lots of projects done (as I mentioned previously). One of the things that her and Jared, and Julisa (she was here for a few hours) did was spray paint. I picked up this broken old mirror/frame for free at a garage sale. (I didn't get before pics-yes mom I should have). But I had them spray paint it and then I finished it today. The lace was picked up for free at a garage sale too! So the cost= hot glue and all of the many bows that I have made her. (She has WAY more than this-I didn't want to crowd it and make it look cluttered)   :)

Enjoy the Journey.

1 Year.

 It has already been a year since we were married! I cannot believe how fast this past year has gone! It has been a wonderful year married to my best friend! Since I was still sick and Jared got sick we opted to spend the day together in bed. Movies, toilet paper, medicine, water, frozen waffles, cadbury eggs, new sheets, baths/showers helped us make it through the day. 

 My view during the day.

 Some people go out someplace nice for their anniversary-all I wanted was a bean burrito. But we do have a gift card to use when we are feeling well enough to actually go out to eat. (Take note of our new sheets! I am loving them! Our old ones started pilling-getting the annoying balls on them- so we bought new ones)

 I think I might hate it more when Jared is sick than when I am because I always feel so bad for him.

 My other best friend yesterday....

 (Don't judge me... I stayed in bed all day.)

I am so thankful we still have eternity to go together! I am so lucky to be married to such an amazing man! He is so good about leading our family and making sure we do all of the things we are supposed to. I am so thankful he is a worthy priesthood holder and exercises it in our home. He truly is my best friend and I couldn't ask for a better one.

Enjoy the Journey.

Sick and stuff.

• I have decided it really is no good to be sick while you are pregnant. Luckily I never got super pregnant sick, but I have something right now. The stinky thing is the doctors don't know what is wrong with me. It for sure has something to do with my tonsils, but I have tested negative for strep so they think it is viral which means-wait it out. In turn this means waking up every morning and having my throat hurt worse and worse.
• A bunch of hamburger that was in our freezer is now turned into sloppy joes so that all Jare has to do is warm it up. This is heaven for him because they are one of his favorite meals and because of a bad experience #1 on my least favorite meal list. It also helps me to know that he always has something easy he can eat that he will enjoy if I don't feel like cooking.
• Garage sales have been good the last two weekends! I haven't gone but Jared has and has scored big for ebay!
• My mom came down for her spring break! It was such a fun week to have her here and she did so many projects for me. I had planned on helping her but she got a lot of them done while I was sleeping before I would wake up in the mornings. She is amazing! I am so glad she was able to come down and help me feel like I was being productive even if I wasn't the one doing it! 
• Lisa and the kids came Thursday of last week! It was so fun to play with them! We went to an awesome park and had tons of fun! Sadly we forgot to get the camera out! Jared helped make fishing hooks out of bobby pins for the kids fishing poles they made with sticks and 8lb beading string. In Parker's words "I can't believe I have been here all day and didn't catch anything!" (We were there for an hour or two, and the pond mostly has minnows from what we saw. As well as ducks and eggs! Chad came into town on Saturday and it was great to see him too! We were sad to see all of our company leave Sunday morning. 

Jared is amazing! He has been so good to me and has been taking care of me while I have been sick these past few days. Waking me up to take medicine, getting me anything I want or think I need. He even asked me yesterday if I wanted him to draw me a bath. Upon my response he grabbed a pen and paper and started with the claw feet of a bathtub. I told him I preferred not the Amelia Bedilia way. :)

Our little one is growing and growing! She is very active most of the time now as well as showing so that people are noticing that I am pregnant. I will get Jared to take a picture of me and do a real update in the next day or so.

1 year tomorrow!!!! It has gone so fast but has been so wonderful! -An update on that to come too.

Enjoy the Journey.

Ramblings.

• I had a Dr. appointment yesterday and all went well. Every time we go in and liten to her heartbeat it makes it seem more real; you would think the kicking and watching my belly move would do that. She never called me back about my glucose test at 24 weeks, so I knew everything was fine there but I asked her about it anyways and she told me that it came back "more than fine" which made me very happy. My mom was completely expecting me to pull the gestational diabetes thing with my genes. She also measured me for the first time yesterday. I don't know what I measured but she told me that I have a long torso (which I was completely aware of) so I will always measure "small" and she expects me to measure 35 weeks when I am 40 weeks. I took that as good news because I am totally okay with being smaller. 
• I still regularly get "I didn't know you were pregnant" or "I never would have guessed you are pregnant AND that far along." It just makes me laugh. I am fully aware that I do not look pregnant, just like I have put on some weight, especially when I wear my normal clothes. Except for yesterday when Jared came home from class and he said to me "HEY PREGO! (laughs and continues) I think you popped last night." According to him I finally have a pregnant belly, but I think it still depends on what I wear.
• The weather has been lovely on and off for the past week-I was totally not a fan of the snow that we got on Sunday. But according to Jared it is officially shorts season. He has a bajillion pair of shorts so it makes it so that I don't have to do the laundry as often! 
• 3 weeks from today is the last day of classes for this semester! WAHOO!!! I would be more excited if he was done, but he is taking classes in the Spring. They will be Monday through Thursday, but it will put him so that he will graduate NEXT APRIL! So we are excited about that! So he will officially have summer starting June 11 after the Spring term is over. Which is totally fine, it will help pass the time until this little one comes. 
• We are so ready for garage sale season to start! Seriously there were garage sales in January and a few in February, but there really haven't been any (any worth going to that is) since then. But as mentioned before it is good because it means we are forced to get on top of the inventory that we have and get it sold and cleared out! 
• Last Friday was cleaning/rearranging day. We moved stuff from the upstairs closet downstairs into the coat closet-we took our bikes out of there and put them in the spare bedroom, and then put ebay stuff into the upstairs (spare bedroom) closet. It was quite the day but it has paid off. It looks so much better in that bedroom-even if we do have 4 bikes in there right now. And it means that her crib (we have a mini one right now) came out of the closet and is just it that room. It makes me so happy every time I walk past the door. Plus whenever I clean like that I am bound to get rid of stuff which I did, so that made me feel good too. I love the feeling of stuff leaving my house! :) 

Life is good, we are happy, and can hardly wait until June!

Enjoy the Journey.

An Instrument in His Hands

While we were making lunch yesterday, Jared and I were talking about our new calling and about how we could reach out more to the girls. We were discussing the many ideas we had as we finished preparing lunch. Then Jared asked me to bless the food; during the prayer (thinking about our recent conversation) I asked Heavenly Father to allow us to be instruments in His hands to do the things that he needs us to do. We ate lunch and went on with our day. An answer to this prayer came that evening. A friend text me and asked me what I was doing-I explained I was just finishing up putting banana bread in the oven and asked her what she needed. She just needed company. She needed someone to come and be with her, because her husband was at work. We were supposed to have been at Julie and Jill's yesterday but Jill text us and told us she was sick. I am so thankful that we made the decision to stay home so that I was able to do what my Heavenly Father needed me to do. I know that He will answer our prayers, especially when we volunteer to let Him use us in the ways that can help us become better as well as help His other children in their journey.

Yesterday my testimony was strengthened of the power of prayer.

Enjoy the Journey.

Diapers

Yes my friends we just bought our first boxes of diapers. (We have been given some-so this was our first actual disposable diaper purchase.) Babies R Us and Toys R Us were having a sale today where you buy 2 boxes and instantly get $25 off. With the mother that I was raised with I couldn't help but look around at prices, and look for coupons before snatching up this deal. We bought 2 boxes of size 1 diapers (246 ct) for 45.99 each. BUT let's add in what we got off. $25 instantly. I had two $1.50 off coupons, for different "types" but both rang up so add on $3 to our savings. We registered there-simply to get the samples and $10 gift card, which we had $0.39 left on, so add another $0.39 (total is 28.39) and they had their baby expo last weekend and I won a $5 gift card for writing down the most items in 30 seconds that you can find in a diaper bag. So our total off came to $33.39! We ended up paying $63.18 for 492 diapers making them $0.128 cents each! Wahoo! 

In other diapering news....

We bought 12 Fuzzibunz diapers when we were in Idaho over President's day weekend. We found a killer deal on them on craigslist and snatched them right up! We bought the white and "butter" colored ones so they are more gender neutral. I have heard/experienced so many good things with this brand that we knew this was the brand that we wanted. Chad and Lisa as well as Nick and Becky, (and some other friends) use them and love them, and from my experience with Parley in them they are great! Jared and I went back and forth, but after looking at the price of disposable diapers, and remembering how nice these are we decided we would go for it! We don't plan on using strictly cloth diapers, but using them a majority of the time. I don't want to use them with a newborn-even though you can (these are so awesome! they are adjustable, so easy to use etc.) so that is why we bought so many of the one size. Also I don't know that I am really going to want to use them at church-I don't love the idea of having to carry around the dirty insert/diaper, or traveling(in the car) BUT I do plan on using them to their fullest! 

Enjoy the Journey.

BABY

Last Friday our neighbors/friends had their baby! I text Shanda Thursday to go on a walk and she said we could "try it." When I walked across the street I found out what she had said that. She told me that at her dr. apt that morning she was at a 3, and she had been having back pain all day. We picked up another friend and started on our walk. During our walk she started having contractions that would take her breath away so we started timing them; every 5 minutes. Later that night Jared and I went over to play games with Shanda and Mike. Shanda started having contractions closer together so I strated writing them down for her. They were coming anywhere from 2-5 mintutes apart. Her husband was in such denial that she was in labor. "Nothing broke, you're not bleeding and you have been in this kind of pain before." Shanda went to pack her sweats into her hospital bag and was laughing that Mike really didn't think their little girl was coming. (She was 37.5 weeks) We ended up taking them to the hospital (they don't have a car) and her contractions were 1.5 minutes apart when they put the monitor on her. yada yada.... She wasn't admitted until 12 a.m. so we didn't end up getting home until about 1 because of some errands we did for them but all is well! Their ADORABLE little girl came Friday just after noon. Diana Ruth and she is a little thing at 7 lbs 18.5 inches.  We are so happy for them!

This made us even more excited for our little girl to come! Last week sometime I started seeing my belly move-mostly when we would read scriptures at night, but Jared would always miss it. (Jared says it is because she likes the scriptures already!) On Saturday he finally caught her moving! He thought I was faking it at first but he believed me when it happened again. We have tried to catch it on camera but apparently she is camera shy, so until she gets bigger you will have to see it in person if you want to see it!

Enjoy the Journey.

Dan Wells

A few weeks ago Dan Wells (one of Jared's Favorite Authors) was at Barnes and Noble doing a reading and signing with his new book. We were able to go and Jared loved it! We were also given a gift card there for Christmas from his parents so he was able to use that and it didn't cost us anything! The only bummer was the next day Jared realized he had another one of his books at home that wasn't signed! Darn!

Enjoy the Journey.

Lists and Stuff

Warning: this is an update on everything, random, unorganized, just my thoughts lately. 

I am a list maker. I am so much better about getting things done if I make a list and can check it off. Sometimes I even write things down that I get done that aren't on the list so that I can check them off anyways. 

Days like today are perfect for making lists.  Jared and I have a lot we needed to do today, so we woke up and made a list first thing. We probably had 10 or more things on our list and we are down to 5 things. 

On Saturday I had my first lesson on "craigslist/ksl" and selling things. Jared showed me how easy it is to make listings and we listed my old sewing machine (I upgraded with graduation PLUS I got a serger too!). I got the machine for my 15th birthday and I have used it since then, until around Christmas. IT SOLD SOOO FAST! We got a lot of phone calls on it, but we have another nice machine we picked up at D.I. we haven't listed so hopefully we can sell that one just as fast! This means I am officially in on the partnership of this little "business." I will be the one to update the homethriftstore blog, then post on craigslist and KSL, but Jared will do the actual "selling." It should mean more inventory moving faster because we will have 2 people listing things, and I have way more time to get it done than he does. I am excited to see stuff moving out!

Also today was EBAY shipping day. I love shipping day, especially after Jared lists a lot of stuff on auction. Auctions=lots of stuff leaving my house. It is a good feeling (but hey I get excited when we take the trash out!). Tomorrow will be another auction shipping day... or Wednesday. 

It excites me for garage sale season to start because our inventory is getting "low" from what we had and it is always better to start with less stuff so that we can keep up with what will be coming in. 

We also have been working on organizing the EBAY (or extra) room lately since we have this little one coming. The other day there was a full size bookshelf next door on the curb so I snatched it and that helped get things way more organized. We currently have the "mini crib" we will be using for the first while in the closet, but during the break between semesters we will reorganize it and get that out and put some ebay stuff in the closet. 

My mom and her friend Diane drove down on Saturday to bring us a small chest freezer and visit for literally 2 hours. Diane can use her work van and not have to pay gas so it was a fun excuse to come down and get to see me! Even though the freezer takes up a bit of space it is so nice to have it! Chicken was on sale for 1.38 a lb so I was able to get more and restock while it is cheap! 

I also made chicken noodle soup because Jared wasn't feeling well. I was so proud of myself for braving the smell of cooking meat, and it turned out soooooo good! Jared had an empty stomach because nothing sounded good but I was so happy when he said that the soup hit the spot. I also made bread! I was so proud of myself for actually cooking! The next day we took a loaf of bread and soup to our friends who just had a baby!  

The sun has been out for the past few days too which has been so lovely especially for walks! I have been making a lot of friends in the ward lately so walks are happening even more often! Yesterday Jared and I went on a walk and found a bunch of stuff in a dumpster behind a store going out of business that he can sell on ebay too! (we stumbled upon this so we are not counting it as "working" on Sunday)

Speaking of dumpster diving... we went to the temple a few weeks ago and then Jared took something to the trash as soon as we got home. He found that the dumpster (while we were gone-he had taken something out right before we left) had been filled with baby stuff! We got an entire pack and play (all parts included!), a high chair, a bouncer/vibrating, some random clothes for a cousin, and took a box of stuff to D.I. The bouncer washed great and even has batteries in it so we know it works! The high chair still needs some cleaning, but it cleaned up a ton with the first clean. The pack and play I sent with my mom to clean and sanitize but it should clean up great too. I am thankful she is willing to help!

ANYWAYS.... sorry for the rambling, but I have just been feeling so good lately and I have been extremely productive! 

Enjoy the Journey.

Update

Life is wonderful here in pregnancy land. I am feeling great, sleeping great no complaints!! My belly is still pretty non existent but I am totally okay with that! My maternity jeans are still too big, my normal jeans are now too small though. If I wear maternity shirts they make my belly look slightly bigger, but nothing terrible. I just mix my wardrobe with non maternity and maternity. Luckily I have a lot of clothes that are cut so they work and look like maternity shirts, and my sister told me that I need to go through her closet because she has some shirts like that too she will loan me. All in all life is great!

How far along? 26 Weeks

Total weight gain: 4 lbs
Maternity clothes? mixed
Sleep: GREAT!!!
Miss Anything? nope
Movement: lots!
Food cravings: Milk, fruit, but not major "cravings" just things that sound good but I don't ever HAVE to have them.
Anything making you queasy or sick: meat
Gender: Girl 
Belly Button in or out? in
Wedding rings on or off? on
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy
Looking forward to: Jared being able to feel her as much as I do, she still can hide from him some!

Enjoy The Journey.

Valentines and Sewing

 We had a laid back Valentine's Day in. It was so nice. BUT Jared loves me and got me some of my favorite things. :) (And poor guy he had class until 6:45)

 Some bags I have been sewing lately. I found a picture on Pinterest but I am too cheap to buy the pattern so I just made it up! I have now made 5 of them!

They are so quick and easy and I have been using up my scraps that I have in my stash! This is my goal to make more room for this little girls stuff... she already has a lot of clothes!  :)

Enjoy the Journey.

The BIG 2-1

Jared is finally 21. It is kind-of exciting! Luckily his birthday fell on a Monday so he didn't have classes! We enjoyed the day with waffles for breakfast, presents, the movie Big Miracle (HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT!), chicken Alfredo and breadsticks, andes cake, the bachelor and castle. It was a wonderful day!

 We always give a gift in this bag... it just keeps getting recycled. What a better present to be in it than Garments? Haha but he was really excited!

 Fabric for receiving blankets that are in very JARED prints!

Birthday Cake! (Side note... we didn't have any candles.)

I am so lucky to have such a wonderful husband in my life! He is so good to me and will be such an amazing father! :) Happy Birthday Handsome!!!

Enjoy the Journey.

And The Verdict Is....

We went to the dr this morning for a check up from our visit last night. Dr. Clark ordered an ultrasound for my gallbladder because she said it sounded like gallbladder attack. We talked about changes in my diet aka shifting to a lowfat/lowacid diet. Then I was lucky enough to fast the next 8 hours until my appointment. They do the ultrasound of all of your organs (kidneys, liver, spleen, gallbladder, etc.) so it was quite exciting... NOT! Looking at our little girl is way more exciting! Dr. Clark had sent in the order as a call order meaning they look at the results immediately, call her and then she talks to us. She gave them permission to tell me the results and a few other things. The tech came in and said that I indeed have gallstones and sludge. LUCKY ME! And that Dr. Clark said to stick with the diet we talked about and we would talk further about the results at my appointment on Tuesday (which is when they are doing my glucose test). So for now.... Apples it is! :) 

{and anything else lowfat!}

Enjoy the Journey.

An Evening in the Hospital

It wasn't exactly what we had planned for tonight but it is what we did. I got really bad stomach pains this afternoon and thought it was gas. I took some tums and fell asleep for a little bit then woke up to the same intensity of pain. I had been happening for about an hour to an hour and a half so I called my mom. I explained that the pain was around my stomach, as well as really bad in my ribs. She told me to call the dr. I called the clinic and told them what was going on and she asked me to hold. She came back on the phone and asked me to go to Labor and Delivery to be monitored. I hung up the phone and immediately started crying. 

Jared and I drove to the hospital and then got checked in. We got into a room (after registering, etc.) and a nurse came in. The nurses started asking me questions and I answered them, then one of the nurses looked at me and said "Are you scared?" I was like hello???? If you knew the pain I was feeling and this was your first baby wouldn't you be too????? They found her heartbeat immediately and that made me feel good. She had a heartbeat of 155 and they put another monitor on to see if I was having any contractions at all. I wasn't but they kept both monitors on. It made us laugh because she always hides when Jared tries to feel her (but he has!) but she seriously kept kicking the monitor. I could feel her flop and kick, she did not like it! Jordan and Cahlin got to the hospital and Jared and Jordan gave me a blessing. A few minutes after the blessing the pain started to go away, but would come back here and there. After going in and out they gave me zofran and pepsid. They took a urine sample and a blood sample. They couldn't get ahold of my Dr. but one of her residents said he would come over in a bit. All of the tests came back fine, and they finally got ahold of Dr. Clark. (She was at the gym and figured she didn't have any patients due soon so she didn't keep her phone on her). They released me and told me Dr. Clark wants to see me tomorrow, so we'll see what happens.

For now we are glad everything is still going well and that it wasn't anything serious, even though they don't know what it was.

Enjoy the Journey.

The Temple

On Sunday the theme of church was the temple. The sacrament talks were on the temple, 3 of the 4 given by Temple Ordinance Workers. Then in Relief Society/Priesthood the Bishop talked on the temple. He started by playing President Monson's talk on the temple from this past conference. Then he discussed the importance of going to the temple often. He gave a few statistics about how many members in the ward were endowed, then he told the ward that only 79% of those currently hold a temple recommend and how he thought that even fewer than that use it regularly. It was inspiring to be better at attending the temple, but Jare and I felt a little better because we had attended the temple the night before. During the lesson from the Bishop a sweet older sister raised her hand to share a story. She spoke the first week we attended this ward, and Jared and I were very impressed with her. She is a small petite woman and her husband is a larger man (tall) in a wheelchair. I don't know anything else about them but I felt such love for them as she shared her story. She talked about how they had been given names to take to the temple and do their work for them. They attended and did a lot of the names, then summer came including traveling and children coming into town. One day/night her husband heard voices, the other 4 names of those they hadn't finished. He immediately felt the importance of needing to go and do their work. They attended the next 2 days to finish their work. As she was sharing this story her husband sat next to her. At first just a tear rolled down his cheek, then another, then you could hear his sob. It broke my heart because you could tell he truly felt bad about forgetting these last 4 names. As Jared and I talked about this later we discussed the sadness that we felt for him, his guilt in forgetting for a few months to do their work. We concluded that we now understand what WEEPING is. This man was truly weeping because of what had happened. 

As we start this year (well now a month into it) Jared and I have set a goal to make even more of an effort to attend the temple. It is a beautiful place where we can grow together and closer to our Heavenly Father. I challenge you to attend the temple even more often than you already do.

Enjoy the Journey.

Happiness

The past two days our little girl has been movin' movin' movin'! She is doing flops, kicking and who knows what else I can't identify. Jared has been wanting to feel her and every time I mention that I can he tries to feel her. When she was moving yesterday I had him come over and try to feel her. Every time he put her hand on my belly she would stop. Finally one time he felt her kick! He said right here? And pointed to where he thought and he was right. Then later when we were in bed she was flopping around again (it feels like she is doing flips) and he put his hand on my belly. Of course she stopped but he left it there, finally she started again and I was like "Did you feel her?" He said... "I don't know but that was weird." I explained to him that it was her, she was just flopping around again. It was an exciting evening for him, he finally felt his little girl move!

Enjoy the Journey.

Mmmmmm

Jared and I made rice krispies the other night. We were going to make normal ones and then saw the recipe on the package for peanut butter ones. {we are obsessed with peanut butter} Jared wanted to put chocolate chips in them so we did. I didn't think about the fact that they would melt because the mixture was still so hot, but they still tasted good! 

Then I had the BRILLIANT idea to put them in milk. It was so good! They tasted like Reeses Puffs Cereal! {Jared laughed, then he tried some and admitted the "weren't as bad as he thought"}

 {no we did not eat these all in one night. we made a plate and took some to our neighbor.}

Enjoy the Journey.

BYU Mens Volleyball

Jared and I were able to go to the BYU Men's Volleyball games on both Friday and Saturday night. Jared has a friend who plays on the team (although he didn't play either night we watched) and he had vouchers for free tickets. Friday it was just Jared and I but we enjoyed it. BYU is currently ranked #1 and they played USC who is ranked #5. Then on Saturday Jordan and Cahlin, Julie, Jill and Savanna all came with us too. It was WAY more intense on Saturday, and we had better seats (with actual backs not just bleachers). It was a lot of fun and we didn't have to pay! :)

Enjoy the Journey.

My Cute Husband.

Last night we were trying to decide who's turn it was to pick the movie. So Jared gave me options so that I could pick. I love my husband. These are the options he gave me. ((This is after we finished watching the series (all 8 seasons over the past few months) of Full House))

A Cinderella Story

Princess Diaries

The Wedding Planner

OR A Mary-Kate and Ashley.

Tonight we were eating carrots and I made the statement.... "Why are the things that you want that really sound good always not healthy (making a general statement thinking about how I wanted crazy bread)." He responded "I have been pretending these are cookies." I just looked at him and smiled. 

I love this boy.

Enjoy the Journey.

Jeans

As mentioned in a previous post, I have been wearing maternity pants... loose as they may be... because my  trusty AE jeans were not very comfortable. Well yesterday my jeans were dirty and we were going to lunch with one of Jared's old roommates. I decided I would put on my AE jeans and fake it. I put them on and did them right up. I was shocked! I guess this little girl must have moved up from right between my hips. I went and told Jared about and he said that he can tell that she has moved up higher... I guess we will find out tomorrow at the dr. As for now, it is pretty great being 20 weeks and fitting into my normal jeans without a problem.

Enjoy the Journey.

Halfway.

Sorry for the messed up hair, end of day after Sunday nap me... But AT LEAST I took a picture... it will be nice to not just look "Chubby".... 

I cannot believe we are halfway to getting this baby here! Everyday that goes by I am thankful to be healthy with a healthy baby. There is a blog I love to look at, well mostly because I am super jealous of how cute she can draw on a chalkboard to document her pregnancy, but she blogs every week answering the same questions.... So I figured I should get better at it. :)

How far along? 20 Weeks

Total weight gain/loss: 1 pound (I am soooo grateful that I am tall!)

Maternity clothes? I wear maternity pants, but at the same time they are too big, not horrible, but I have to wear a tight undershirt with them so that they kinda stay up, even then I have to readjust when I stand up so my pants don't end up on the ground. 

Sleep: It goes back and forth... some nights I am fine, others I sleep terrible. It also has to do with the amount of stress I feel.

Best moment this week: Finding out our baby is a GIRL. Stepping on the scale for the first time after Christmas and still having only gained 1 lb total.

Miss Anything? Being able to cook and eat normally... meat makes me sick, so I feel bad I don't "cook" like I used to but I am getting better. (good thing I have an understanding husband!)

Movement: A few baby flutters here and there, Jared is super jealous he can't feel her yet but I am sure it will be soon.

Food cravings: um.. it depends, over the break all I wanted was Hoagies, with the little mayonaise packets, not out of a jar. Lately it has been root beer, but I am trying not to drink it too much because I never drink pop.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Meat.

Have you started to show yet:  um... Kinda, I have a half bump below my belly, or after I eat meal the bump kind of rounds out (see picture above).

Gender: GIRL.

Labor Signs: Nope.

Belly Button in or out? In.

Wedding rings on or off? On. 

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy, when I get stressed (like moving) I get emotional though.

Looking forward to: Jared getting to feel the baby move.

Enjoy the Journey.

Our "Dinosauresque" Baby Girl

While the picture isn't great or anything, you can kind of see the profile of her face on the right.  She's face up, and you can see her spine really well too, but that's about all.  Because of all the odd pictures she gave us, our very funny technician said that she was very "Dinosauresque", but we think she is cute!

P.S. Obviously this is Jared blogging (for once) and not Kara.

PINK

To the 8 votes that we got on our blog, plus many other friends and family votes who said GIRL....

We will be going with all things PINK in June.

Jared and I are very excited to get one of these precious girls in June.

We had the ultrasound on Friday. She was a kickin' and a movin' like crazy. She was curled up in a ball with her legs crossed but moving like crazy at the same time. The ultrasound technician joked that it would be a girl because of how stubborn she was being letting him get the images and measurements that he needed to. Finally we did see that she is a girl and Jared said "I told you so!" From the beginning I said it was a boy but before Christmas I had changed my mind and thought it was a girl. She promptly went back to her legs crossed position and stayed there until for a brief moment she moved and put her bum up in the air at us, then went back to her favorite position. Also she is REALLY low. She is nestled in comfortably between my hips right on my bladder. Like from 2 inches below my belly button up there is nothing but my normal organs. The ultrasound technician was laughing and saying "come on you are in there for many more months, you will get more cramped then so you might as well stretch out now!" Our ultrasound technician was really nice and kept making us laugh. We are so excited to meet this little girl and pray she keeps growing healthy and strong. I have had some friends who have had heartbreaks lately and it reminds me to pray for this little girl daily. After texting a good friend what we were having she responded "I don't mean to sound weird or anything, but I wish you the best of luck during your pregnancy and everything... I don't know what I 'd do if something like what happened to ____, happens to you. :) love you girlie!" It was the sweetest text and made me cry. I have my next Doctors appointment on the 17th so we will get more updates then.

Enjoy the Journey.

Family and Consumer Sciences Education

"A Well Rounded Profession"

I am officially a graduate from BYU-Idaho with a degree in Family and Consumer Sciences Education. As my husband and many friends have been returning to school for another semester I have been thinking about my time spent on my education. Truth is I wouldn't change my degree for anything. I have become who I am through what I have studied. I have learned more things than I ever could have imagined about many different subjects. I often get "Now what was it that you graduated in?" To which I reply the name of my major and get a blank stare. Then I continue on with how they changed the name of Home Economics over TEN years ago, people just don't realize it. So then I get the "Oh you got an MRS. degree." No, I did not. I got a degree that I can educate your children. I can teach them how to do all of the practical things that many aren't learning at home. I didn't just learn how to "cook and sew," but so much more. These are just some of the classes that I had to take:

-Home and Family Management

-Introduction to Foods

-Meal Management

-Food Science

-Essentials of Human Nutrition

-Clothing Construction I (in which we made a women's button up shirt)

-Clothing Construction II (in which we made a mens long sleeve plaid shirt, pants with a fly, pencil skirt with an invisible zipper, learned how to be perfectionists in quilting)

-Fashion Merchandising

-Fundamentals of Fashion Design

-Textiles

-Money Management

- Interior Design

-History and Philosophy of Education

-Education Psychology

-Chemistry

-Early Childhood Practicum (In which I, with a team of 6 girls, taught preschool 2 times a week)

Plus other classes on teaching, as well as generals.

It irritates me when people stereotype my degree into something that is "easy" or a "cop-out", when they would have no idea how to sew the shirt that they are wearing, how to cook the meal that they are eating, or how to manage their time, home, or money effectively. I am not saying that this is everyone, sometimes I do get respect and people ask me more because they are genuinely interested, but not all of the time. I was asking Jared the other day if he thought my major was all fluff, and he went on to explain that he remembers all of the projects I have told him about plus was there for my last semester on campus as well as my student teaching. 

I am not saying I am a master of all of the things above, sure I forget sometimes what kind of a table leg, or shirt sleeve, what the rule of 72 is in investing, which theorist is which in education psychology, but then when I take a second to look it up I remember and understand WHY.

I am thankful for those who think that what I studied in college is interested and worthwhile. Who realize that I actually worked hard for my grades and graduated with my associates Magna Cum Laude, and with my bachelors degree Summa Cum Laude. The only A- that I received in college was in Chemistry and I worked my behind off with the tutor before every test to be one of the few in my class who even got an A. 

So I once again I thank those who ask questions and don't stereotype. I am thankful for my family and husband who supported me in my choice in education, were there for me every step of the way. I am thankful for BYU-Idaho and the amazing teachers that I had many many classes with in my major. To them I owe much, but I can only give back through helping educate others.

Enjoy the Journey.

Grandma's One Liners

• "Well you are just a little midgetimate."
• "I was never married, I just told you that we were to make it look better."
• Me: "Grandma-that color just add a little black to it" Grandma: "I don't know... negro.... italian?" (Keep in mind my grandma grew up in the south during the depression)
• Me: "Grandma-when is this baby coming?" Grandma: "June 21, 15? 13?" Me: "No" Grandma: "When it wants to!"
• "When I get old... well you'll wash my nightgowns for me won't ya? Well I will just sit and let you collect all of my money, and I want my door cut in half. If I am nice you can leave the half open, if I am mean and hollarin' you can just shut the top and tell me not you aren't listenin'" 
• " Oh Mercy."
• "TOIET" (skip the L)
• "I don't have any homeroom teachers or visiting teachers."
• "I like broccoli by itself, then I like cheese by the hunk. There isn't much I don't like except vegetable soup. You give me that and I will spit on you."
• "I don't care who takes me home, I'm not gonna walk."

My grandma is one of my favorite people in the world and always has been. I would go to her house almost daily and spend time with here. Thankfully she loves Jared just as much (if not more) than she loves me. Another reason I knew he was perfect for me. Every time I am with her she makes me laugh and Jared and I quote her for the next few days. The other day when we went to her house I walked in and she was sitting in her chair reading her scriptures. It was a priceless moment for me. I wish that I had a camera so that it wasn't just in my head, but that will always be in my head. It was such a tender moment for me.

Enjoy the Journey.

Utah Life

"Evanna" drinking her sparkling cider, she loves it so much!

 Sunday naps were a regular occurrence through the month of September.

 For the Elders Quorum party we got to go to Jack and Jills Bowling and have pizza and bowl for free. It was a lot of fun!

Enjoy the Journey.

Memory Card

So I have been using our little camera lately and found a bunch of pictures on the memory card that never got blogged about. Here are a few updates about our life the past few months!

Pictures from my birthday!

 Conference bread breakfast.

 We went to see the Bodies Exhibit and loved it! Karissa and Adam came with us! Jared and his smashed pennies!

 Party at Martineau's lucky Steph with her arm all bandaged from collar bone surgery!

 Grandma rockin the night gown

 My dad.

The lovely Cake and Ice Cream ladies.

Enjoy the Journey.

New Poll

Make sure you cast your vote if our baby is a boy or girl! I have it set up so that you can cast multiple votes, (I was making sure to think specifically of the Banks, Cahoons, Martins, Martineaus.... etc. those with children who might want to vote.) January 6 is the date! We are excited to find out!

Enjoy the Journey.

Family Pictures

Over Thanksgiving we did family pictures with the Fieldings. This is just one of them. I think we look rather good myself. :)

Enjoy the Journey.

1st Trimester

I am 14.5 weeks pregnant today. Student Teaching ended at the end of my first trimester, which was hard. The early mornings were hard for me, as well as teaching because I have been completely exhausted. I haven't been extremely sick, but I have been nauseated. The mornings haven't been great, but if I force myself to get up and get moving, eat something then generally I am okay. There have only been a few mornings when I have called my mom crying until I got on the freeway on my way to school. I did get some kind of flu bug for about 2 weeks at the beginning of November and that knocked me down bad. I was so sick and miserable. It is more of a game of what does sound good to me rather than what doesn't sound good to me. The smell of meat cooking makes me want to lose it though, even the Turkey at Thanksgiving. We told people over Thanksgiving which was a lot of fun. Jared and I had made shirts to tell people so we would just wear those to go "visit" people and see when they noticed. My favorite was Jared's aunt Lori. We went to go and "see their new addition to their home" which we did want to see. We walked in and Dale started giving us the tour, then we saw Lori and we stood in front of them talking for just a minute. Lori asked to read our shirts, and Dale said "Is this an announcement?" Lori responded with "Yes, they are making a new movie!" I said "Yes" and held my shirt out further for her to read. She finally finished reading it and screamed with excitement. It was so funny because she really thought we were just announcing a new movie. 

Jared took this today, I found these shoes at Old Navy for super cheap so I bought them. He put them on the tree because he thinks it will be a girl. I think it will be a boy. :) We shall see in January! (YES we will find out what it is... with me wanting to sew and 2 Grandma's wanting to purchase... how can we not?) Under our tree we have a stroller. We found a great deal on a Phil and Ted's. They are awesome. We don't have the double attachment yet, but when we need it we can get one. I am just excited about the stroller itself! 

Enjoy the Journey.

Thanksgiving

I got to leave school at 11 on Tuesday. Jared picked me up and we were Idaho bound for thanksgiving! We loved our break and spending time with our families. It was nice for me to be able to sleep and not have a specific time to get up the next morning. My schedule switched from 8-5:30/6 being asleep to 11-12 being asleep and waking up between 9 and 11. It was heaven. We did have our camera but sadly we didn't take any pictures. I will have to collect them from our families and then put some up. We enjoyed 2 Thanksgiving dinners, one at 1 and one at 6/6:30. Saturday after bowling with Jared's family we headed to Rexburg and picked up the lovely Felicia. It was so good to get to see her. She came and spent the day with us and went to the Forgotten Carols with us that night. We missed Adam-he had to work- but it was so good to see Felicia. On Sunday we went to two sacrament meetings. Jared's friend Kyle came home from his mission and my friend Tayla was leaving on a mission. Then we made trains, and wrapped up the evening with dinner and waxing. It is always a good time when I come into town with my wax pot. :) 

Enjoy the Journey.