Great Deals for Memorial Day

Okay, so I decided to actually do something for Memorial Day. Yes, I didn't decide this till like yesterday. That's how I roll.

So when we received the weekly ads for the local supermarkets, I started looking through them for good prices on Memorial Day type items like hot dogs, steak, watermelon, and ice cream. Mostly, I wanted to see if I could get a good deal on steak. I thought about going to a few different stores when I remembered that Walmart has price matching!! So instead of going to a few stores, I just brought the ads with me and went to Walmart.

Crawling, Christmas, and Everything

Well, a lot has gone on in the past couple of weeks. First of all, three days before Christmas, Alex really started getting the hang of the whole crawling thing. He now can get anywhere and everywhere (well, except he's not going up stairs yet). This is frustrating because he doesn't want to be kept in his play yard (not surprising) and yet if I'm doing something (like pumping or cleaning), I need to know he's safe. Luckily he can be very patientat times. But it is exciting to see him crawling around everywhere. He's growing up so fast.

Merry Christmas 2007

So yeah, I know that this is REALLY late, but I pretty much have justbeen too lazy to write my Christmas blog.

Essentially, Christmas was AWESOME! I took a week and a half off of work and it was so nice to have a break. I spent most of it either relaxing (read being a lazy bum) or "nesting" (which according to my pregnancy book, I'm doing about a month early). I mentioned this in my last blog, and the urges continue. This time it was going through our second bedroom and basically getting rid of anything/everything I could convince Aaron to get rid of. Luckily, Aaron was very cooperative and we got rid a whole bunch of stuff including clothes he doesn't wear, a box of ties from his mission, a garment bag we never use, and whole bunch of little stuff. Basically when we were done (and this took a few hours a day for three days), we had a lot more space and things were way more organized. It will still be really tight trying to fit the crib and such in there (the room isn't very big), but I think that it will all work. I also got some plastic storage containers with drawers and put them in the closet, which will work as a dresser for baby clothes and such. Doing all this gave me a huge sense of relief.

Christmas itself was really great. Though I was tempted to open the presents we got from relatives before Christmas (since there are no parents to say no), I restrained myself and waited till the day of. Aaron was nice and let me wake him up semi-early so I wouldn't have to wait too long to open (he actually got up only about a half hour after me). We had a lot of fun opening presents from my dad and step-mom, his mom and step-dad, and each other (the rest of the parents just sent money). Aaron did very well at picking out my present: he got me soothing bubble bath, lotions, and a hot pink bathrobe from Bath & Body Works, as well as a jigsaw puzzle and a pink sweatshirt with Tinkerbell.

I got him a white noise machine (he has trouble sleeping and I hoped it would help drown out noise from neighbors to help him sleep better). I also got one for the baby's room. We've been using it every night since and it seems to be working really well for both of us. It basically just creates a fan sound, but doesn't blow around like a fan does, so it doesn't make your room cold.

Other gifts for us included a statue of a father and mother holding a baby (so cute!), gift certificates to Outback Steakhouse, earrings, a t-shirt, a traveling jewelry case, and baby clothes. It was a very fun Christmas.

I thought our Christmas tree turned out rather well this year. Here is a shot of it:



After presents were opened, the Christmas pudding was done. This is a breakfast that we have had in our home since I was a kid. It's a recipe created by my mom that is made with brown rice, apples, canned milk, sugar, and raisins and, when baked correctly, has a custard top to it. It's very yummy, and I'm excited to make it a tradition in our home as well. This was the first time I had attempted to make it on my own, so I was a little worried about it turning out. Overall I was really happy with the results. Since my mom doesn't really measure, she had to estimate when she gave me the recipe, so it did end up having too many raisins, so next time I'm going to half the amount I put in.

The rest of the day was spent pretty much relaxing and spending time together.

I got a picture of me the week before Christmas with my prego-belly:

Nothing much exciting happened the rest of the break. I just spent it organizing other portions of the apartment, taking things over to DI that we didn't want, and getting a better idea of what I wanted in terms of baby items: the crib, bassinet, car seat, stroller, etc. I also starting checking out Craig's List to see if any cribs and such were put up for sale that I liked. I think I've found a crib that looks promising, but the seller lives quite a ways away so she's trying to figure out a good way to get together (her husband works in Salt Lake City, so we're planning on meeting around there some time this week). It sounds like the crib is in good condition and comes with a mattress; in fact, she said her husband didn't want to sell it, but seeing as they aren't having any more kids, it would be awhile before they would need a crib again and she didn't want to store it. And I'm going to get a stroller and car seat today that has good reviews on Consumer Reports and by users.

So things seem to be coming together in terms of having things for the baby when he arrives (I know it's still 8 weeks or so away, but I think it will go by fast). If anyone in Utah County has any extra baby things that they don't need, let me know. Especially if you have boy clothes in good condition that you no longer need.

That's pretty much what's going on with me, and even though it's way belated, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Happy Halloween!

Hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween. Mine was mostly uneventful. I wore my costume to work--got quite a few compliments. The kids of employees were allowed to come by from 3 to 5 p.m. to Trick-or-Treat, which was fun. Then tonight, my husband and I watched a movie in between getting up for Trick-or-Treaters. We didn't get a ton--around 20 or so. I was pretty beat by the end of the night, but it was a fun day.  I think Janci will be proud. After just one sewing lesson over two years ago, I sewed this cape. Granted, it was an "easy sew" pattern, but I added an extra liner, and think it turned out pretty good. Lot of work, though!

Happy President's Day

Well, Happy President's Day, everyone. I especially enjoyed the day off from work. This last week I was sick with a cold. I usually get over illnesses quickly, but this one lingered and though I started feeling sick Wednesday, I still haven't quite gotten over it. What's weird is I had a sore throat last Wednesday that was gone by Friday, yet I still have had a runny nose, aches, and fatigue. Whatever.

I still went to work on Thursday and Friday, but left on Friday at 2 because I was so tired I couldn't concentrate.

Friday night I went to take some nitetime cold medicine and found out we don't have any (or at least none that I could find). I thought for sure we did. So at 10:30 p.m. I was headed to the store to buy some. I wanted to ask Aaron to go, but he had gone earlier in the day to get other things and had asked me if there was anything I needed to help me feel better (trying to be the loving husband he is), so I didn't feel I could ask him to go again. So that was fun. I was frustrated when I got there, though, because all cold medicines no longer have Sudafed in them. They've changed their formulas because medicine with Sudafed has to be sold behind the Pharmacy counter. Not that it would have helped if they did have Sudafed since the Pharmacy isn't open at 10:30 p.m., but it'd still be nice if some kept their formula the same. Sudafed just works the best for me. But I figured as long as the medicine helped me sleep, I'd be happy.

I grabbed some orange juice for Aaron (which he had forgotten to get when he went earlier) and then went to check out. Aaron called my cell to ask if I could get him orange juice, if it wasn't too much trouble (he knew I wasn't feeling well). I informed him that I had already put it in my cart. He was like, "Oh, you're the best honey ever." (My hubby can be so cute.)

So that was my weekend—being sick. It wasn't enough to keep me from getting stuff accomplished—I still went fixed the tail light in the car, sent out a package, and went to church on Sunday—but I really just wanted to lay in bed. I even slept 12 hours each night.

Yesterday for my day off, I cleaned. I know, not very relaxing, but after not doing any house work for 5 days, I was way behind and at the end of the day, I felt very good to get that stuff done. I washed, dried, and folded 5 loads of laundry; cleaned the bathroom; mopped the kitchen floor; gathered up items to take to Deseret Industries and put them in the car; and generally picked up around the apartment. By 5 p.m. I felt very good about just relaxing.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone. I'm so thankful for the people who I love and who love me. I hear complaints about Valentine's Day. It's too commercial. Why do we need a day to celebrate love--we should do that every day.

This is my answer to you: It's your choice whether you make it commercial. You don't have to celebrate love by buying cards, stuffed animals, or chocolates. For my husband, I gave him a love letter and then made him dinner. And although we don't need a special day to celebrate love, I don't think it hurts. Just like we don't need a special day to celebrate Christ's birth, we can do that all year, but it's good to have a day as a reminder anyway.

So this year I wanted to do a good job at showing my love for Aaron. I feel surprises are fun, so I figured that I would act like I wasn't going to do much (just a love note), but while he was in class, I cleaned up the downstairs and made dinner with cupcakes for dessert. The plan was to clean the whole apartment, which would be part of his gift, but I didn't have enough time. So I cleaned up downstairs, made a pasta pizza with garlic bread and salad. I took fabric rose petals and made a path from the door to the kitchen. I picked Aaron up after he took a test, and made him close his eyes before coming inside. Then I lit some candles, turned off the lights, and had him open his eyes. He was very grateful for the dinner, especially since he didn't expect anything. After dinner we had fun icing the cupcakes and putting Valentine's sprinkles on them. Overall it was a good night.

For me, he got me roses. They are very beautiful (one day I want a rose garden).

 

Merry Christmas (really late!)

Well, I hope everyone had a great Christmas. I went home for Christmas and was without Internet for the majority of the time. I definitely felt withdrawals (mostly whenever I thought of searching for information online or checking email. How can people live without the Internet!).

So anyway, here are the highlights of my trip.

For fun my mother-in-law invited me and my mom to make our own jewelry. She had gotten into it recently and had all the supplies: beads, fishing line (to make the jewelry on), a beading board (this is a must-have. It allows you to lay out how you want the beads so you know you like it before you put it on the wire), bead glue, and crimping pliers. We had a lot of fun making necklaces and bracelets. I think by the end of the trip I’d made around 10 necklaces. Some for me and some for others (Susan wanted to make some for co-workers and friends. I was having fun, so I made some for her. I also made a necklace for my mom). We decided to have it be a tradition when I come to visit.

On the 22nd we had a family gathering at my Mom’s house. My step-siblings were there (except for one). We each had one other person/couple to buy for. Aaron and I had Amanda and her husband, Bryant (who was a no-show for unknown reasons). We got them a nice microfiber blanket and two nice pillows. In turn, Jennis and her husband, Justin, got a basket with goodies including a Phase 10 game, deck of cards, electronic 20 questions, soda, popcorn, and more. Justin was not there; he was out fixing electrical poles that had gone down in a recent wind storm, which was very similar to a hurricane and had caused over a million people to lose power. I felt sorry for him; I guess he’d been working pretty much 18 hours a day, and sometimes more. I got my mom some slippers and lotion from Bath and Body Works and some chocolates for Roy (Mom doesn’t eat chocolate, so he doesn’t get it much).

All in all, it was a good evening. Mom prepared a nice dinner and I got to meet two nieces and a nephew that I’d never met. (Pictures soon, hopefully.)

My nieces Kayla and Natalie came with their dad to visit while we were home. They spent a lot of their time away with other relatives. On Christmas Eve, we opened presents while they were away. They wouldn’t get to open their presents till they got home a week later and although they would other presents from relatives, Susan didn’t want them to feel real left out.

Susan gave me a photo box, keepsake box, wallet, a necklace (made with the beads), and a butterfly pin. Aunt Tammy gave me a bead bracelet that she’d made (which was very cute). And Aaron got me a heart pendant with diamonds (picture to come). It was quite a nice Christmas and I was proud of Aaron for getting me something without prompting (even if I did give him a list of possible gift ideas). I was even more proud when he thought of a creative way to give it to me. He wrapped (rather badly, but cutely) a box and inside put a card saying the gift wasn’t there, but to look in the desk of our bedroom. Then there was another card leading me to under the dining table, which led me to the couch and then to the master bedroom where my gift was sitting on the bed. Plus on each card he had written a compliment (like about how smart or pretty I was). It was creative, very cute, and very sweet.

The day after Christmas I made a killing at the After Christmas sales. I got these tall black boots at JC Penney that were regularly $130 for $30. They’re really gorgeous! Also some sweaters at Old Navy for $15 each (as well as some knee-length shorts for $12). I also got a pair of Tink pajamas at the Disney Store for only $15, which I love! So I had a good day.

On the Thursday after Christmas, Aaron and I went down to Vancouver to attend the wedding of his cousin Jason, which was on Friday. When we got there we realized we had a flat tire (my first one).

On Friday, my brother-in-law came and changed the tire to the spare (which is a full-sized tire). This enabled us to be able to drive down to the ceremony in Portland. We decided to go to the sealing only and then head down to my grandmother’s in Salem rather than go back to Vancouver for the reception and then down to Salem. Before heading to Salem, though, we went to Les Schwab, where the tire was purchased, and got a replacement tire. Lucky for us, the tire had a road hazard warranty on it, so it was replaced for free! Yay! We got some Subway for dinner and then headed to Salem.

The visit with my grandmother was very nice!! I think she’s the best grandma, and I have fun seeing her. She was so accommodating while we were there, and she has a very nice house with a great guest room. So we visited with her on Friday night and then on Saturday morning we went out for breakfast, which was fun. We left soon after we got home since we had a 3-hour drive to my mom’s.

On Sunday we packed up, went to church, and then went straight from there to the airport. Boy were we happy to get home! It was a great trip, but I am always ready to once again be in my own bed.

Happy Thanksgiving!

In honor of Thanksgiving, I want to say what I'm thankful for. I'm thankful for my husband who loves me and gives me lots of affection. I'm also thankful for his hard work in school so he can do well in his classes.

I'm thankful for my job that pays the bills (although I look forward to when I won't need to work). I'm thankful that it's close to where I live and for my boss who is understanding and who doesn't micromanage.

I'm thankful for my apartment that has covered parking (essential in Utah where you would otherwise have frost or snow on your car every winter morning). I'm also thankful for it having a laundry room and a second bedroom.

I'm thankful for my family who loves me and supports me. Especially my mom who I feel lets me live my life and trusts me to make good decisions.

I'm thankful for living in the United States where I have freedoms and where the economy is good. I'm thankful that I don't live in a third world country and that I speak English. And I'm thankful for military personnel who work every day to protect us and help those in other countries who need help.

I'm thankful that I will be able to go home for Christmas (it's been three years).

I'm thankful to have good health and to not have any chronic illness (such as diabetes, depression, or chronic fatigue).

I'm thankful to be such a blessed person. This is not to say that I don't have trials or anything bad in my life, but I think it's better to focus on what is good and right rather than what could make it better. I am grateful for what I have.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Halloween!

Okay, so I decided to actually dress up for Halloween. I like the dressing up, but I hate the deciding and getting things for a costume. But I was inspired and decided to be a . . .

mime!

It was something I could without much planning. In fact, I decided to do it last night. White shirt, black pants, black jacket, add to it white gloves from my wedding and face make-up I got at the store and voila. I got the make-up when I thought I might be a geisha, but I decided against the geisha idea when I realized I couldn't get me hair to look like that and a wig would be expensive. It turned out to be a good decision, though, since a woman in my church decided to be a geisha and I wouldn't want to be a repeat. Anyway, so I used the makeup to be a mime instead.

Next time I have a costume with make-up, I want to get stage makeup instead. I hated working with this stuff. The pictures on the packaging looked all wonderful with thick makeup, but this stuff is so thin. Definitely not thick enough to be a real mime. I hope next time I'll be able to get good stage makeup and use that. It looks much better!

Great Weekend--Great Labor Day!

Can I say that I LOVE paid holidays. Since I'm still a temp (which will hopefully change soon), I look forward to the six holidays a year that I get off WITH pay; I love it! To add to that, I completely did nothing yesterday--well, pretty much nothing. I got up pretty early and went over to Wal-mart to beat the rush. We needed groceries pretty bad and I decided I need to do better about planning out some meals and buying the ingredients for them. So Aaron and I picked out some meals that we both like and I made a shopping list. The meals the we picked are French Bread Pizza (so easy), chicken enchiladas, Rio Ranch Chicken Wraps (really good, pretty easy), and Twice-Baked Potatoes.

So that is what I did first. I was really frustrated because I was looking for coriander and couldn't find. I was pretty sure it was a spice (and I was right), but it didn't look like they had any in the spices aisle. I might have to go somewhere else to get some.

Then I came home and pretty much just hung out all day. I read some from a novel I'm rereading, Mistborn, and then watched How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying (it was on Comcast's "Free Movies" list), and finally finished off the day by playing Oblivion on the computer. I can't believe I got sucked into a video game, but I have! I'm having fun with it. So that was pretty much my day. At the end of it I was feeling guilty for not being more productive, but I guess when you only get 6 days of "vacation" a year, you tend to want to just relax and have fun. Besides paid holidays, I haven't taken one day off from work for 18 months! So it was really nice to have that day off. I can't wait till I'm hired and I get a couple weeks or more every year. I'm looking forward to it (plus my company gives 10 paid holidays a year rather than 6).

Fourth of July

So the fourth was great, mostly because I got to stay home and get paid for it. Paid holidays rock! Now if I could only get paid vacation . . .

Pretty much all we did was I made really good food and Aaron and I enjoyed it. It really wasn't too hard--nothing like Thanksgiving. I made the fruit dip and potato salad in the morning and then right before we ate, I cut the fruit, boiled the corn on the cob, and cooked the hamburgers.

All together we had hamburgers, fruit with dip (cherries, strawberries, apples, bananas, and watermelon), chips and dip (although we got so full before we got there that we didn't actually eat any!), corn on the cob (cooked the perfect amount, if I do say so myself), potato salad, and ice cream. It was a great meal and what's even better is there are leftovers! Yeah! In fact, it's about time for lunch and I'm excited about those leftovers.

So it was a good, pretty easy-going day. It was kind of weird that it was in the middle of the week, but in a way that was nice, too. On Sunday night I was thinking about how nice it'd be to go to work on Monday and then  have a day off, then only have 3 more days left of work. And it was nice.

Happy Valentine's Day

Funny story: I was driving my husband to work and he says to me, "Today's the 11th, right?" And I'm like, "No, it's the 14th." I'm wearing pink cords, a cranberry-colored shirt, heart socks (not that you can see the socks cause they're covered), and a pink ribbon in my hair. He says, "Oh." No other response. I don't think he knows what day is today.

I'm not blaming him cause he's had a hard semester in school and is having to work really hard just to stay behind in his work--and he just spent all last weekend studying for two tests yesterday, but still. I have to say I was a little disappointed.

This morning I wrote him a love note on pink paper. I was able to sneak his backpack out of his office (with him sitting at his desk the whole time), take out his lunch, put in the love note (in a plastic baggy so it wouldn't get gross), and put back his backpack all without him noticing. I bet he'll be feeling bad when he reads it and remembers what day is today. Even so, I bet he won't forget our anniversary which is more important. He mentions every once in a while that it's coming up soon.

Anyway, happy Valentine's day to you all. Hope you have people to love. Today is a day to show any love, not just romantic love. Give out your love to everyone!

EDIT: Well, maybe he did forget, but he went and got me some roses that night and felt really bad for forgetting. So yea!

Thanksgiving

Oh, my gosh, I spent like 8 hours cooking today! At the end I asked myself if it was worth it. I'm not sure, but I know that I learned a lot about it, like I want to always go somewhere else for dinner where every one only needs bring like one or two dishes. It was hard to cook that much.

But I am glad that I had my new Kitchenaid pots and pans to use making it. They're so wonderful--I love them. And they're red! Not that that's my favorite color, but I really like how bright they are.

Independence Day

Happy 4th of July! (Okay, I'm a little late, but hey, I was actually busy on the 4th.) As I predicted, Aaron and I spent most of the 4th hanging out in our apartment playing video games. I was quite bored of this, even though Aaron couldn't seem to get enough. I was able to convince him to go over to the Freedom Festival in downtown Provo in the afternoon. It was fun, but lack of funds kept us from doing much. After looking around at the booths, we went over to the kid's center and I made an origami flower. I don't think I did too bad, if I do say so myself. Aaron quietly endured. Apparently he did not want to participate, but he knew I did and was very good about letting me do my thing.

That night we went out to a local parking lot and lit the one firework we had. Our hometeachers gave it to us with a scripture from Job. I'm not sure how it related, but since we have no money to buy our own, we were grateful for the gift. It was actually our first firework of our marriage (if you can believe it). We saw others lighting off their fireworks while we were out there. Well, that was the end of our wonderful Independence day. God Bless America!!!