Kari and Steve

Dr. Appointment and life

2011-12-05T00:17:00.000-08:00

Both of the boys had a checkup last week. The Boys. I have two boys and it's so fun to say the boys. But anyways, they both got to see the pediatrician. Simon passed the quiz from the doctor. It involved:
Question: "What is your name?" Answer: "Stephen Simon Buccambuso" close enough...
Q: "How old are you?" A: "I'm three years old!" He then turned to me and said, "I'm three years old mom!"
Q: "This ones the most important, are you a boy or girl?" Me internally panicking before he answers, please get this one right, please get this one right. A: "I'm a boy." Oh thank goodness!

Simon is 35 inches -5th % for height. 29 lbs- 25th % for weight (this one surprised me, he is so small I was sure his weight would be a much lower percentile than that.) I guess they don't do head circumference anymore, but it still seems a little large for his body. Everything looked good. The dr said she could only understand 50-75% of what he says and at this point people outside the family should understand at least 75% of what he says, I think his speech is normally pretty clear, but he was talking about random bizarre crap while we were there, so I think he confused the pediatrician and that was probably part of her opinion. I'm talking strange like telling her we were going to go to the museum and shoot the animals. Awesome.

Desmond. 12 lbs 8 oz 75th % for weight 23 1/2 inches 75th % for height. Head circumference was 50th %. He is a big boy my little Desi Buck. Gained more than 4 lbs in the past two months. He is such a sweet baby. He is already good at tummy time. Smiles a ton when you talk to him, I can't get over his smiles.

Only tough spots right now are he hates the carseat and being in the car, and he doesn't take a bottle yet, he doesn't get it. So I am currently not working on Thursdays and am going to try to bring him to work on Wednesday, we will see if it works and I can still get a lot done. If not, I don't know what I will have to do, maybe take some time off for a while until we can get him to take a bottle and keep working with him in the meantime. I don't want to quit my job, I love it and my coworkers and Simon loves going to spend two days at his Vovo's house playing with his cousins.

Anyways, I feel like we don't do a whole lot, but I also feel like we are always super busy. We try to go to the Discovery Museum every week with my friend Erin and her daughter, was working 2 days a week, football games (last home game was Saturday, we had season tickets and it was a blast), and holidays. November was the kickoff of nonstop celebrations for our family. We had Simon's birthday, Pie Day, Zane's birthday, then Thanksgiving, and Thanksgiving #2, Tree decorating tonight, Tree decorating tomorrow night and Grandma and Grandpa's, then coming up Relief Society Christmas party, Chorale concert, friends Christmas party, dinner with Erin and family, Ward Christmas party, Family Christmas Eve party, Midnight Mass maybe?, then Christmas day festivities: presents at our house, Steve's parent's house, then to church with Grandparents, then to their house for the rest of the day. Then New Year's and January 1st we are going to be blessing Desi at church, and hopefully my family is coming up for that. Whew just typing the already scheduled things for the rest of the year makes me tired, not to mention everyday life with a three year old and two month old has to fit in there somewhere. Did I mention I only have Steve's Christmas shopping halfway done, the boys almost done- need some stocking stuffers, and none of the rest of the family done yet... I better get busy!

And just for fun a few of my favorite pictures from a photo shoot Mel did for us shortly after Desi was born, there are several more I like a lot but I just picked these because I only feel like doing one set of downloads. My sis Les and her kiddos came to stay, after Desi was born, for a few days . They are adorable.

This one is my very favorite. Steve looks so happy and the lighting and everything are just awesome.

"Macaroni!"
Love!

I had a baby! (Three and a half weeks ago!)

2011-10-19T16:19:00.000-07:00

Desmond David Buccambuso
8 lbs 4 oz
19 3/4 inches long
September 26th, 2011
3:53 a.m.

I was planning on typing up the story right now but I am typing one-handed with my laptop perched on my right knee, a sleeping babe in my left arm, and an almost-three year old clinging to my right arm while having a melt down. I think he might have just fallen asleep... Yep he fell asleep, still clinging to my arm with his face shoved into the sofa.

The most important part of my birth story- I DID IT! I had my VBAC, and had amazing support from my husband and all my family that crazily hung out in the waiting room til 4 in the morning just so they could all meet Desi after he was born. And my awesome amazing SIL Mel documented the whole thing with her camera. Here are a couple pictures that she took. (and she took the top one too)

and just for kicks, one my dad took of Mel taking a picture. and yes, she is standing on my bed!

Best Husband Ever

2011-09-09T21:29:00.000-07:00

I have the best husband ever! It's true. A couple of weeks ago he turned 30. We had a party to celebrate. There was hot dogs, all the toppings, root beer, and homemade lemonade. It was pretty good. He got spoiled, but that's okay because he deserved it.

Then he came home to this wonderful sentiment from his sis and bro-in-law (they had to miss the party because their little one had been puking his guts out all day, no fun at all.)

The best part about his birthday might have been that it was his first day off of a much needed week and a half vacation. We decided to travel the world during his vacation and with me 36 weeks pregnant at the time! So we tried a few restaurants in town that we hadn't been to, or hadn't been to for a while. We had grand plans of going to several different countries but only made it to Ethiopia (Zagol) and Spain (Fuego). Fuego could possibly be my new favorite place to eat. My favs were the asparagus straws and their hot chocolate and churros. Spanish hot chocolate is amazing. We had to eat it with a spoon, it was basically melted chocolate in a cup. I want to go there every night for dessert nowadays. Steve loved it so much he took his mom there the next day for a special treat. It is seriously heaven.

The majority of the vacation was spent at home having lots of fun as a family. Simon got spoiled because he had a parent home with him who had energy to take him to do fun stuff. We got some of our house ready for the baby, but not all of it, our room still looks like our washing machine threw up all over the place, but at least its all clean!

We also went camping. Steve and I were at Winco grocery shopping and they had coconut covered marshmallows, I told Steve we could only buy them if he promised to take me camping. So in order to fulfill his promise, he took us up to Lassen Volcanic National Park. We spent two nights there, went on a little 3 mile hike, and just kind of bummed around and drove around the area. We didn't want to do anything too strenuous as Steve didn't want me to go into labor so we didn't hike as much as we would have liked, but it was still a fun little trip. My husband is awesome, and took good care of us while we were camping. He did all the cooking and the clean-up, played with Simon so I could take a nap, and even did all the driving even though he hates driving. Like I said, best husband ever! I love my husband and am so grateful to be married to such a fun, kind, amazing, hilarious man.

Steve and Simon on a self-guided trail about the devastation in the area from the most recent volcanic explosion.

Me, our campsite, and my one match fire

Simon and I at Bumpass Hell- this was our 3 mile hike, but it seemed longer than that to me.

me on a pile of rocks, and the mountains. Click on this one to see it bigger- Steve is such a good photographer!

Two more little brags, he got himself all sleep deprived to help his little sis move last weekend, and he also got sleep deprived to go with all his sisters and us to the water park the other day, it was a blast. I didn't go on a single slide, and didn't do much looking back on it, but I had a good time. Mel and Jared were talking about buying season passes next year, and if they do I think we will too. And last night at work he (thankfully) had a slow night and read an entire book about things to do as labor coach, he is going to be the best coach ever, and I am so grateful to have such a supportive partner in labor and in life who is willing to do tons of preparation and studying to try and have the kind of birth experience that we would like to have with this baby. (Which is especially impressive because he hates labor and delivery thanks to nursing school, and an experience he had during school when a woman and her baby almost died during childbirth.) So on that happy note, goodnight!

Disappointment

2011-08-31T16:19:00.000-07:00

I had a doctors appointment today. And for the rest of the day was feeling pretty sad. Today was the day my dr wanted to schedule a c-section "just in case" the baby didn't come by it's due date. Turns out he won't even get until his due date, because it's scheduled for September 23rd. My due date is September 24th, a Saturday. I asked if we could schedule it for the following Wednesday because Steve will get three days off and I wanted to stack them with his normal days off so he would get to be home for 5 days if the c-section was to happen. My dr didn't want to do that because she doesn't like when women trying for a VBAC go past their due date. So she suggested the Wednesday before my due date, seriously, not even going to let me go to my due date before she tries to take him out!?
Needless to say, I am pretty pissed. This whole time she has been leading us on giving us all this false hope that we were going to be able to do a VBAC and now it looks like we can try to do a VBAC as long as the baby comes early. What happened to the days when I was pregnant with Simon and your due date was plus or minus two weeks, and a baby wasn't considered overdue until 2 weeks late? What will it hurt to go 4 days past my due date before we try to take the baby by c-section?
I never thought I would be someone who is praying for her baby to be born early, but I am, and if any of you reading want to pray for us, I would appreciate it. Having this baby naturally is so important to me, and to our family. I really hope this baby isn't stubborn and wants to come out early. In the meantime I am researching ways to induce labor naturally, and ripen the cervix, etc.

Child Photographer

2011-08-30T20:18:00.000-07:00

Simon has had a huge interest in taking picture with our camera lately. I have been letting him because I think it is fun for him, and interesting for me to see what he finds through the lens that he feels is worthy of documenting. I mean come on, who doesn't want to know what a 2 yr old is fascinated with? One of his favorite things is his feet, and also the camera strap and lens because they tend to fall into view because of the way he holds the camera. Here are a few of my favorites he has taken the past couple of weeks.

P.S.- I have a facebook album of pictures he has taken.
Sad fact: When sorting through these I couldn't always tell which ones he took and which ones I took. Does that mean he is just really good or am I that bad with our camera?

These last 4 were all taken by Simon with his "new" camera this past weekend at Lassen Volcanic National Park. I think that is seriously the best picture I have ever seen of Steve, better than any I have ever tried to get.

two boys

2011-08-18T23:32:00.001-07:00

Tonight Steve and I got to babysit our little nephew Phineas. It was a lot of fun and I have to say that having kids two different ages is a lot easier than having two kids the same age. This makes me hopeful for my impending future. Phin turned 1 in March and Simon will be turning 3 in November. Simon did pretty good sharing with his cousin, and even tolerated being sat on and squished by him, even though Phin is almost as big as Simon (and over a year younger), Simon just laid there and let him and wasn't even mean and didn't push him off or anything.

As we were walking to the Food Co-op I realized we looked like a crazy baby making couple, two little boys and a third one on the way, and they all were aged so that they technically could have been ours! I couldn't imagine having my third kid on the way! So as much as I love Phin, and as good as he was for us, I am so glad I am only about to have baby #2 and not baby #3. And I am pretty sure his mom and dad are crazy about him and wouldn't want to give him up anyways.

Today I took a really long lunch and went out for Awful Awful's (Awfully Big and Awfully Good hamburgers with a pound of fries) with Steve, Simon, Mel, Jared, Phin, and Cindy to celebrate "the last day of Steve's youth." By the time I finish typing this my husband will be turning 30! He thinks he is getting old, but I don't think so. (Probably easier for me to say because I just turned 26, and on a tangent realized I never posted about my awesome party with family up at Tahoe, so I will post about that and my FIL's 50th bday soon) Happy Birthday Steve (you will get your own post too)

But anyways back to babysitting. We walked to the Co-op and bought yummy little organic suckers (for the boys and me) and ate them on the way home, and the boys loved them and so did I, and Steve got a yummy fancy Root Beer.

Notice in both of the previous pictures the boys have their suckers in their mouths, and they didn't remove them until they were completely gone and even then it was hard to get the sticks away. Mel and Jared- I am kind of sorry I gave Phin a sucker- but it was organic, and Aunt's and Uncle's can spoil their nephew right? ...Right? Anyways- two boys- FUN, two boys at different stages- even more FUN. Good thing too, I am excited and a little less fearful for my future now.

It was a fantastic evening and I can't wait to do it again, hopefully very soon- hint hint Mel and Jared- go on another date and let me watch your son!

P.S.-I took several pictures and Simon took tons tonight with the camera but they all turned out blurry like a few that I posted anyways. What do you expect with two toddlers- it's nearly impossible to get them to stay still long enough for a picture, so we got some fun, blurry, action shots! and a lot of blurry pictures of random stuff that Simon took.

comments

2011-08-16T00:27:00.001-07:00

Is it bad that I am always a little sad when no one comments on my posts even though I am really bad at commenting on other people's posts? My favorite post so far, the letter to the baby had 0 comments. Normally the only to people to comment regularly are my sis who has a broken wrist and my mom, so I really shouldn't be that bummed right, only 2 less than normal... but I am a little bummed, I feel like have done better with blogging, at least for the past week, let's see if I keep it up. And if there are any lurkers out there, feel free to comment, although I don't half the time, so I totally understand if you don't want to, or don't have time by the time you are done reading. But you really should, because it will make me feel better!

Here- Enjoy some pictures I took on a walk downtown the other night. With it being hot during the day and me being pregnant, our outdoor excursions seem to happen at night when Steve can accompany us and carry Simon if he gets tired.

and this last picture wasn't taken the same time as the others, it was just one day when Simon decided to take a nap on the sofa after burying himself under a bunch of pillows.

Cleaning

2011-08-08T15:47:00.000-07:00

Steve and I have been talking for a while about making a chore chart (really more of a division of labor chart) so we finally sat down last week and split up chores and officially who does what. It is nice to have it written down on paper what each of us is primarily responsible for. It's been difficult for me getting into a groove with keeping up with the house. Me becoming a mostly stay-at-home mom coincided with becoming pregnant, so it's hard to know what things are going to be like when I am not pregnant and also have a second kid. I hope I can keep everything balanced and be as good of a mom and homemaker as I want to be.

It is seriously amazing how quickly your house can go from dirty to clean and back again. Our house was a wreck yesterday and my amazing husband was off last night so he was awake and not only did his "chores" but even helped with some of mine, and our house looks fabulous right now! I just gotta keep it that way because we are having our friend Courtney over for dinner tonight, and it's much nicer being in a clean house.

And he let me sleep in until 11 today and got Simon breakfast and played and read with him for a while. (In my defense I was up until 2 watching a movie with Steve, so I really didn't sleep in that late.) Then, when I woke up we went to eat at the Gold 'n Silver Inn and had breakfast/lunch. I love my husband and feel so fortunate to have such a great man in my life. I am currently watching Teen Mom (can you believe I admitted that!) and it makes me grateful for a great husband, son, relationship, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ and belief in eternal families in my life. This post was just supposed to be about cleaning so here is a fun little picture. (I am trying to post more frequently and smaller and with pictures.) Simon was helping me vacuum earlier because he found a spot that needed to be vacuumed so he got it out and plugged it in and turned it on so I let him help me vacuum after I vacuumed everything up (the vacuum was actually on and in use in this picture).

Dear Baby

2011-08-05T12:23:00.001-07:00

Dear Baby,

Please stay inside of me 'til close to my due date, but not past my due date. If you don't come by September 24th, the doctors are going to take you out, and I don't want that to happen. I would like you to come out all on your own in an amazing non-medicated, natural birth kind of way. September 16th would be a good day. That is your Grampy's birthday, and even though we don't know what we are going to name you yet, we think your middle name is going to be David after your Grampy. If you came on his birthday that would be awesome, and I think it would make everybody happy. My doctor told me today that she will start encouraging you to come out at 37 weeks. That is in just 4 weeks! (But you do have until Sept. 24 to choose to make your debut on your own.) I can hardly believe you will be here soon, but I am so excited to meet you and I know you have lots of family members that are excited to meet you too.
Love,
Mom

P.S.-Please have a slightly smaller head than your older brother, that will make things much easier for both of us during labor and delivery.

Post

2011-08-02T13:15:00.000-07:00

I realized today I am lame. I haven't updated in a really long time. When I do post there are too many words and not enough pictures. A lot of stuff has happened since May. May? Seriously, I haven't posted since May? (shakes head at my self) So sad.

This evening Steve and I went to Walmart. There was a nice summer storm, lightning, and wind, and lots of clouds, during sunset, and a rainbow. It was beautiful. I wish I'd had my camera with me and could have taken pictures. I love storms.

Since May Simon and I went home to Illinois for two weeks, then we came home for a week, and then we went to Utah for almost a week to see my friend Arielle. Steve didn't get go come with us on any of the trips because he couldn't get time off work. He gets 5 paid weeks off a year, but it's nearly impossible to get the time off because he is at the bottom of the ladder and has no seniority. Now we are home, and I don't want to go anywhere else for a long time. I just want to sit around the house and be a lazy bum. Lazy pregnant bum. Who decides to get pregnant in January anyways? Honestly last trimester during July, August, and September... not smart. Here, look at some pictures I like from the last couple months. It took me a long time to narrow these down. Enjoy!

P.S.- My favorite blog is by my Sis-in-law Mel. If you don't read her blog, you should. She writes incredibly well, has good pictures, and updates frequently, her blog is awesome and entertaining!

Simon and I went to So. IL for 2 weeks because my cousin got married. All of my sisters were there. I havent seen of them for 2 years so it was good to see my family. We did some sightseeing in St. Louis, went up in the arch and went to Grants farm where President Grant once lived.After being "home" for two weeks and hanging out and going to Garden of the Gods and Dixon Springs and my cousins wedding and spending time with family Simon and I went back home to Reno. We flew in on the 4th of July, Steve picked us up at the airport we ran home, dropped off stuff and picked up Zane and beach stuff and headed up to Lake Tahoe.After the lake we headed home, got the boys all cleaned up- you would not believe how much sand was in their hair!- and then headed to a park in Sparks to watch fireworks with Steve's sisters, and Endri and Dorina. His parents weren't there because they were on their way to Hawaii!

Mel bought glowstick swords and necklaces for everyone to play with. The boys loved it! (and Dorina too) We had a blast snacking, playing, and watching the fireworks!

Simon and I were back in Reno for about a week, just long enough to do laundry and repack our bags and then we took off to Salt Lake City to go see my friend Arielle for 5 days. We stopped in Elko on the way there and back to see our friends Zach and Kristin and their newest baby Oliver. We had lots of fun on this trip.

With Arielle we went to the zoo, aquarium, and aviary, ate Thai food twice, saw Harry Potter, experienced a real bomb threat at the movie theater, and had dinner with her family who feels like family to me. Also got introduced to my new favorite salad, Margarita Shrimp Salad from Allrecipes.com. If you happen to make it, do it the way Nikkie687 did in the comments, that's the way Arielle made it, and it was incredible! I even requested it for my bday dinner.

Ultrasound results and my feelings on it

2011-05-15T16:19:00.000-07:00

I am sure most of you know about this by now, because I am pretty my readership is mostly family, and if you aren't family, we are probably friends on facebook, but we had our ultrasound last week. It was actually supposed to be on May 4th but my ob/gyn office called me that morning because their tech called in "injured" and they had to reschedule their appointments. The next opening they had in their office was 4 weeks later! 4 weeks, they seriously wanted me to wait a whole 'nother month to find out what that little baby is, I think not! So they got me a referral to Imaging at Renown Hospital for the following Wednesday at 8:15 in the morning with an appointment arrival time of 7:45! I am so not a morning person and I couldn't take Simon to the appointment so had to get him to Cindy's before that. Thank goodness I have good family, Mel and Jared came and got Simon on their way to drop off Phin, and took him too, so luckily I didn't have to get up even earlier and drop him off in Spanish Springs before my appointment.

So ultrasound day, I get to appointment a few minutes late (of course, we are late to everything) and they are doing remodelling on the floor where my appointment was, so where I had to go to check in wasn't even on the same floor as the ultrasound itself. Steve was supposed to get off at 8, and rushed over to my appointment, and because of the remodelling had to go on a bit of a wild goose chase to find someone who could take him to where I was, he got there a few minutes after the tech had already started checking things out.
The baby cooperated pretty well for the appointment. Part way through it flipped over though and had it's back facing out, so I commented that it would make it harder to tell what the sex was, then the tech told us he knew already, as soon as he started he did a quick scan over my whole uterus and saw right away what the sex was. He also said he wasn't going to tell us unless he was 100% sure of what it was, if it wasn't definite he didn't want to show us and then be wrong. He was a funny guy though, he joked how bad did we want to know the sex and how much cash we had on us to find out, then proceeded to show us our little boy! Very much a boy, parts were very prominent and definite, no mistaking what they were. The tech did lots of measuring and scanning, making sure things were symmetrical and where they should be, we got to see all 4 chambers of the heart working like they should, cute tiny little toes and hand waving around, it was really cool.
But when he told us boy, Steve and I were both kinda like "huh, really, a boy?" We were both pretty sure it was going to be a girl or at least maybe we were convinced because we wanted one so bad, and so did all of our family, we all thought it was going to be a girl, so boy came as a shock and is taking me some time to adjust to, but I am almost there now. Another boy will be a lot of fun, I love my Simon and they can be buddies and share a room, and no teenage girl drama right? Right? I'll be okay with another boy. I just don't get to go out and buy all those cute girl clothes, no pink and purple, and flowers and ribbons and bows, no cute dresses and tutus. But I guess that also means I don't have to learn to do girl hair and fight with her about combing her hair and girly attitude. I also don't get to spend tons of money to buy all the stuff I had planned for her room, we have a lot of cute stuff at my work that I kept saying, I'm going to buy that for my daughters room, it was going to be cute. Shabby chic owls, and birds, and outdoorsy animal kinds of stuff. Birdcages and antiqued furniture, and a bit Victorian feeling, oh Lucy's room was going to be so cute! I will survive, it was just a little sad at first, but I am already almost over it. Almost.

P.S.- new post below, my super duper yummy awesome fiber-filled waffles.

Kari's Awesome Waffles Recipe

2011-05-15T15:48:00.000-07:00

Lately, I have been trying to eat healthy and try new recipes and all that kind of stuff. And with Steve's new iPhone and the crashing of our computers, I have gotten to put new apps on his phone. One of my favorites is Spark recipes (which has a website too), and it is mostly healthy recipes. I used two recipes that I liked to make my own recipe and then made some other adjustments too. The ones I used were Grandma's Awful Waffles and Honey Flaxseed Whole Wheat Applesauce Waffles. I liked the base of the Grandma ones, but I also liked the idea of adding in Flaxseed meal for some extra fiber, and applesauce instead of using butter or oil. And then I added some personal things like extra cinnamon and vanilla! The first time I made it I only measured some things, and then afterwards decided to write a recipe for it, so the next time I made them I followed my recipe amounts exactly to make sure it tasted alright and that my guesses for amounts were okay. Such as the first time after my first waffle I decided it needed sugar, so I just threw in a handful of sugar, not really a good measurement for telling other people how to make it. Anyways, we love it, they are very filling, and they are going to my standard waffle recipe, they aren't boring like other waffles. Here is my recipe.

Kari's Awesome Waffles
Yield 7 waffles (7 being both sides of the waffle iron, or 14 square ones if you want to count it that way)

2 cups whole wheat flour (or any combo of flour you have, last time I ran out of whole wheat and had to use white)
3 tsp baking powder
1/8 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup flaxseed meal
2 eggs
1 3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup applesauce
2 tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup blueberries
1 cup chopped walnuts

Mix all dry ingredients (except nuts), make a well in the middle for wet ones to go into. In seperate bowl beat eggs, add milk. Pour into well in dry ingredients and mix well. Stir until smooth, also add the applesauce now. Stir in blueberries and walnuts. Use with waffle iron or as pancakes.

When I made these I used the Del Monte fruit Naturals blueberries that are in little plastic containers in juice in the salad section at the grocery store. I saved the juice from them and used it with mapleine to make fruit syrup. Just use the juice to replace the water in the recipe and follow the direction on the box for the quick method. It was really yummy though I was scared to taste it at first because it smelled like cough syrup!
Another note- it may sound like a lot of cinnamon and vanilla, but we love both of these in our family, and the cinnamon gives it some great flavor, if you are scared to use that much, then don't, you are the one eating, it needs to be to your liking too!

Getting bigger every day

2011-04-04T11:17:00.001-07:00

So for some strange reason, I have been really putting off blogging or posting about this on facebook. Why? I'm not really sure, but for some reason I am just being really weird about announcing to people that I am pregnant. We went to the doctor today and got to hear the heartbeat. I had another appointment a month ago and they did an ultrasound and we got to see the little baby in there waving it's arms around, it was so cool. I think maybe it still hasn't sunk in for me. I mean its obvious, I am very much showing, I throw up every morning if I wake up before 10, I've seen an ultrasound and now heard the heartbeat, so why I have been so weird/scared to tell people?

Maybe it's because it was so easy for us. We decided we were going to start trying in Belize, and in Belize it happened! Maybe it's because I know a lot of people who have had miscarriages lately and so part of me thinks, it was so easy, it must be too good to be true, look at all these other people I know who are struggling to get pregnant, it's almost not fair. Maybe it's because I know like a billion other people who are pregnant right now and I feel like I am just another girl who got pregnant. Basically every girl at my old work is pregnant or had gotten pregnant this year. It seems like every day on facebook someone else I know is announcing that they are pregnant, and I don't want to steal anyone's thunder and be like oh me too, I'm pregnant too, "look at me, look at me." (Bonus if you know what movie that quote is from) I really am excited about this pregnancy, don't get me wrong, I am just being weird about it.

I really want a girl, we will find out in a month! My ultrasound is scheduled for May 4th, so stay posted then and hopefully we will be able to find out what the sex is at the ultrasound. I already have all kinds of cute ideas for little Lucy's room, or Lucia as Steve wants her to be, but I will call her Lucy. Man I really want a girl. Either way though, boy or girl, the room is going to involve cute owls and a tree on the wall. The girls room will be a little more shabby chic antique looking and the boys room will be bright colors, but both with owls, birds, foxes, deer, just kind of foresty, I am so excited. We are hoping we will have a house by then. Oh did I forget to mention, my due date is September 24th, or should I say the baby's due date, though I guess I am "due" to go into labor around then. With Simon I had to have an emergency c-section, with this one I am going to try to do a vaginal birth after Cesarean, or VBAC. So hooray for being super huge pregnant through all of the summer, I can't wait! (little sarcasm there) At least I am only working part-time so I plan on taking Simon to the lake a lot this summer and plopping my by then very pregnant self into the very cold waters of Lake Tahoe. So yeah, I'm pregnant!

Mini cheesecakes- Oreo Cookies 'N Cream

2011-02-28T21:26:00.001-08:00

So I decided I wanted to make cheesecake and found this post of a recipe from Martha Stewart. But I didn't have sour cream, so I searched for other cupcake cheesecakes, and found these terrific recipes for mini cupcakes.
But they weren't quite what I wanted, so I combined them and made my own recipe. This is what I came up with:

Kari's Oreo Cookies N' Cream Mini Cheesecakes

Ingredients:

2 8 oz packages of cream cheese room temperature (I actually used Neufchatel because it is 1/3 the fat and tastes just as good)
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp lemon juice
12 oreos smashed up (I put them in a sandwich bag and beat them with a Lincoln Log)
1/2 cup? chocolate chips (I didn't actually measure, I just dumped the rest of the ones from my almost bag into the bowl
18 whole oreos for cheesecake bottoms

1. Using hand mixer on medium-high speed mix cream cheese and sugar
2. Add eggs, vanilla and lemon juice- mix some more.
3. Stir in crushed oreos and chocolate chips. (The recipes all specified stirring them in by hand, but honestly, I used my mixer and it turned out fine, just don't tell the recipe people

4.*This is the point when I preheat the oven to 275 degrees because I am a little slow, if you are amazing fast you can do it at the beginning, but I am so slow it preheats and then I am normally still mixing for like 10 minutes after it's hot!
5. Put cupcake liners in muffin pan.
6. Place a whole oreo (filling and all) into the cupcake liner, center if possible.
7. Add cream cheese mixture on top of the oreos- I used an ice cream scoop and it worked perfectly, no drips even, and one scoop was the perfect size to fill each cupcake! Go ahead and fill them almost to the top, the cheesecake actually settles a little while cooking, so it's not going to overflow if you go to the top.

8.Put your pan in the oven, wait about 20 minutes until the filling has set and is no longer jiggly, then remove.

9. Put in fridge for 3-4 hours trust me on this one- you want them to be chilled before you eat them or they DO NOT taste as good!
10. ENJOY!

If you look at that last picture you can see the row in the middle is a lighter color- those were my first batch in the oven that I cooked on 275 for 22 minutes- Different recipes gave different times- the browner ones were done on 375, unfortunately I just found out I burnt the bottoms of these ones, so you could go for the middle and take the advice of the recipe that said 325 for 20 minutes. I just tasted the first batch ones- the pasty whites at 275, and they taste delicious and the middle is a little more moist and gooey- this one is just a matter of preference but I will stick with the 275 when I make them again, that Martha really knows what she is talking about!

One of the recipes also suggested keeping the cheesecakes in the pan while they cooled and then keep them in there to chill, I took mine out so I could use my pan again- I think the main benefits to keeping them in the pan is so they hold their shape slightly better and so you can cover them if you want- important if you need to clean your fridge- but if your fridge is funky-smell free, then covering them shouldn't be necessary.

Video Games

2011-02-25T18:08:00.000-08:00

Me and Steve both have a problem. We are video game addicts. Last night I stayed up with him until 4 a.m. playing video games. What is wrong with me? He has to stay up all night to stay on his same schedule on his days off because he work nights. It was really fun to keep him company, and the game we were playing was really fun- Borderlands- but man am I tired today! Steve was so nice, when Simon woke up this morning he was still up and he let me sleep in until noon and he hung out with Simon. What a nice break!
I have the best husband. We have so much fun together, he is my best friend! I wasn't sure how much I would like his new schedule, but I am liking it pretty well. It is nice because we will lay down in bed together for an hour or two so he can take a quick nap before he goes into work, but we end up just laying in bed talking the whole time. I feel like we talk a lot more now. I think before we would text all day long, but since we are on opposite schedules we can't text each other all the time anymore. I really enjoy our "pillow talk" every night.
I just put more pictures from Belize up on facebook- one of these days I should blog about that trip before I forget about everything.

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T15:23:00.000-08:00

Today I am feeling very un-Valentiney. It may be because I am sick with an upper respiratory infection and ear infection. It may be because I haven't had a chance to go shopping for a present for my Valentine (been potting training Simon since Friday and I am a procrastinator so that is when I would have started shopping). It may be because I only saw my Valentine for about 20 minutes today- but he did bring me really pretty roses! It may be because I am not even wearing pink or red. It may be because I didn't decorate my house for Valentine's Day- not a single heart hanging anywhere.
So with that last statement typed, I just decided I will have to cut out some hearts and stuff and hang them up. Me and my Valentine are going to celebrate on Wednesday, so I figure I have a good two days to get really decorated and buy him a present- but I already know what I want to get him and have for a while, so that counts for something right!?
Although I am feeling un-Valentiney, I am very grateful for my husband today. I am so grateful that was able to marry such an amazing man, and then be sealed to him for time and eternity. He is stuck with me forever and I wouldn't have it any other way! In the year we were married before we were sealed I was always so scared that something would happen and one of us would tragically die before we were sealed, I must say that once we went to the temple, I was so relieved. Not to say it wouldn't really suck if one of us died, but now I have the comfort and knowledge that if that did happen, we would only be seperated for a little while and then we would be together forever after this life. What a comfort to be sealed in the House of the Lord.
I am grateful to be married to such an amazing man. He has sacrificed a lot for our family and has had to deal with a lot of stress from school and working and internships, and having a kid before we were planning on it, and all kinds of other stuff, but through it all and all the stress, he has always been good to me, and to our son, and for that I am grateful.
Last night as we were laying in bed for an hour before Steve had to leave for work we got a text message from a friend whose spouse had left them. It was so sad. Almost all of the couples that were at our wedding are now divorced, including some of our LDS friends. And this latest one is a dear friend who was sealed in the temple. It is so sad for me to see people not take that covenant seriously. How can you promise to love someone and be with them forever, and then after a year of marriage leave them. Does marriage mean anything to people anymore? Do people not realize what they are signing up for or something? Are their expectations not realistic? I am also grateful that one of the classes I took at BYU was Preparation for Marriage, it may seem cheesy, but that class was one of the best I ever took. It makes you realize what to expect from yourself, your spouse, and the whole institution of marriage. It was fantastic.
So Happy Valentine's Day everyone and Happy Valentine's to my husband (even though I am going to pretend Valentine's Day isn't until Wednesday for him so I feel like a better wife). I did buy him a really cute gift bag already to put his present in, it has a robot on it holding a heart- so cute!
P.S.- I was going to put a couple of cute pictures of Steve and I in here too, but my computer is having some issues accessing my libraries right now. :(

Happy New Year

2011-01-21T15:49:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! I know I am a little late on this, but New Year's Eve was spent sleeping in the San Francisco Airport. (We did get to see some fireworks though!)And as many of you know, the next two weeks were spent in Belize having an awesome time! (Pictures going on facebook as I type- but only the first batch so far.) So I must say I am looking forward to this year more than any year I have recently. I really feel like things are finally coming together for Steve and I as individuals and as a family. We have a lot of really big things going on this year and this month already! I am just so excited for all of these changes and looking forward to all that the year has in store.
Some of the main things I am excited for this year (in no particular order)
1. We finally went on a trip outside of the country!
2. Steve is a nurse and started at the VA (technically he still has to take the NCLEX)
3. I no longer work at Ashley Furniture.
4. I get to be a stay-at-home mom!
5. I am starting a part-time job at a new store called Graples Home Decor.
6. We are trying to expand the size of our family.
7. We have the potential to start looking for a house later this year.
8. Steve will be home every night for dinner and home from work in time to have breakfast with us!
9. We get to go "home" this summer for my cousins wedding and take Simon to the property.
10. I get to stay home with Simon. I know I said that already, but I am looking forwward to spending so much time with my super sweet Simon-son!
That's all for now, gotta go run some errands.

Life

2010-12-06T23:18:00.000-08:00

Today while I was at work I stepped outside to make a couple of phone calls that I didn't feel comfortable making at work, some things you just don't want people to overhear, like trying to get a new job. So I stepped outside to call Steve to find about the two job offers he got today, and he accepted one of them! Yay! He interviewed at Renown today and they told him they would give him a call back within the next three weeks, he got two different calls about two hours later- two job offers the same day! He accepted the better one- an internship with a two year contract. I don't remember all of the details but the gist of it is that he works in almost every unit of the hospital for about 4 or 5 weeks and at the end goes back to the first one he worked at and stays there for the remainder of the year, and then for the second year he works in whichever one he wants. He will also get to be on some committees which means better positioning to get into better jobs. I might not have all of that correct- but it's how I understood it from Steve explaining it to me in his very disjointed don't give all the information at once kind of way. So yay! A JOB! Did I mention he graduated on Saturday? Yep- done with school and has a job, he starts on January 24th!
Oh, I am so relieved, we I was really starting to get worried about if he was going to get a job, most of his other classmates from nursing school already had jobs so I was getting kind of panicky because I've had big plans for the next year that all depend on him getting a job. You see, I have been the main breadwinner the whole time he has been in school, and frankly, I am so tired of it. It is so hard to be a mom and to be a working mom at that. The hardest part is probably the guilt- but that is a whole 'nother post on its own. So yeah, getting to spend about 3 1/2 to 4 hours a day with my son has been tough. I love him so much and he is just the most incredible little boy, of course I am a little biased (what mom isn't), but my son is just so cool and fun and exhausting. After working and driving all over town everyday, by the time I get home with him I am tired, and I still have to make dinner and play with him and it gets very stressful because once I am home with Simon he wants my undivided attention so sometimes we don't even eat dinner until 8 because I am doing things like spending time with him instead of making dinner for him. So back to my original point... I have been the breadwinner for all this time (4 years) and I am tired of doing it. I am ready to stay home and be a full-time mom, to play with my son all day long, to be able to teach him things, to want to pull my hair out because he is driving me crazy all day long instead of for just 4 hours a day, to be there for my family mentally and physically and emotionally, because lately I haven't been.
So if you caught the little comment up there about me trying to get a job, you might be wondering why I am talking about wanting to stay home and getting a new job in the same post. Well, that is because, frankly, I am a little scared of being a stay-at-home mom. So one of my co-workers told me about this home decor store that is opening soon in Reno and it's only open one day a week, Thursday, and the store gets set up every week on Wednesday. They are planning on opening in January, but it's looking more like it is going to be in February. Perfect! I love decorating, I love accessories, and I still want to work a little bit, and two set days a week would be awesome. Just for the sanity mostly, not for the money. I just want to feel like I am doing something else, that I am contributing to something, and I want to have time around other adults still (I am in nursery at church so I don't even get a lot of adult interaction at church). And it also gives me a break from the stresses of being a stay-at-home mom, it gives Cindy time to spend with her grandson every week still, and gives him a chance to play with other kids. So about a month ago I interviewed for a position at this store, and it went really well, and the guy called me back this morning about it. I am going to meet with him again this Saturday. Pretty sure I have a job, he just wants to make sure we both know what it is going to be like. I am so excited! This all works perfectly. It coincides so well with when Steve will be starting his job and be bringing a REAL paycheck! My anniversary with my work is Dec 15, so after that I get 2 weeks paid vacation to take sometime in the next year. I am planning on using it in early January so Steve and I can FINALLY go on a trip to somewhere cool. We have always planned on Malta, but we realized it is winter there- in the 60s, but if I am flying to the Mediterranean I want to swim in it, and you can't really go swimming there when it is cool outside. So we are thinking its going to be something different, but I don't want to talk to much about that because whenever we do it never happens, and I am sure our families are both thinking something along the lines of "Oh, that Steve and Kari, they keep talking about traveling the world, but who are they kidding? They make all these plans, they buy plane tickets, but they're never going to go anywhere." But this time we are, and it's going to be for two weeks, and it's going to be awesome!
So yeah, today has been the best day I have had in a while, I came back in from those two phone calls (with Steve and the new job guy) and I had the biggest smile on my face, a smile I never have on my face while I am at work, and one of my coworkers knew something was up and since he is the one that first told me about the new job opportunity I told him what was going on, and it just felt so good to be able to say that all these plans that Steve and I have been making for a while now are finally becoming a reality. I just can't wait! Less than three weeks to Christmas, and then about two weeks after that is our 4th anniversary, our vacation, and our plans to start trying for another baby while on said vacation. Life is good, and I can't wait!

Megaman

2010-11-08T01:06:00.000-08:00

Simon was Megaman for Halloween, he looked really cool, got lots of candy, and I did an awesome job on his costume! Cindy helped sew the underwear looking part after I cut and pinned it from a pair of shorts, Steve made the blaster, and I did the rest. All parts included (clothes, blaster, helmet, everything) we spend about $20 on it. A large portion of that was the helmet we got for a steal from ToysRus for $8 with elbow and knee pads, and its Wolverine so he can use it when he gets a bike someday!
I have tried three times now to post pictures and it won't work, blogger keeps telling me it is a "bad request" :( I think it is a good request, everyone wants to see a cute Megaman right? So after adding them one at a time it worked! Enjoy! and a couple more nights I will put up a few faves from his boat/ocean themed 2nd birthday, but in the meantime you can see them all on facebook.

Funny Steve

2010-11-04T00:19:00.000-07:00

Steve has been working really hard lately. Last night he only got 2 hours of sleep because he was finishing a paper. In his delirious state this is what he sent to his teacher as he e-mailed her his paper- and by teacher I mean professor, who is a doctor, and who goes by Stephanie not Steph if they were on a first-name basis, which they aren't...

Steph,
I hope this paper is the most amazing paper you've ever read, ever. Be inspired, and impressed. Thanks!
Steve

Can you believe that!! I couldn't believe it when he showed me, and I don't think he could believe he would send that to his professor either.

Like Peter Design

2010-10-27T23:39:00.000-07:00

I really want to win this amazing owl necklace. So I am posting about it so I can get an extra entry and win a giveaway, I really want it... and this girl has a blog, a cool new place in Virginia, and a cute etsy shop, so check her out!

it's almost winter

2010-10-23T17:47:00.000-07:00

Today is a cold, overcast day, and on days like today, I just want to stay in my jammies, drink hot cocoa, and read a good book. Instead, I slept in, made me and Simon breakfast, dropped Steve off at the doctor to get LASIK done on his eyes, came home took a really long shower, got dressed, went back 2 hours later to pick up Steve, watched most of his procedure because two hours later he was still waiting, stopped at McDonalds, came home, put Simon down for a nap, ate, put Steve to bed, sat downstairs on the computer while I listened to Simon playing with his toys instead of napping, waited for him to start crying for me before I got him out of his bed (is that awful), made sure Steve was still breathing enough, got Simon out of bed, came downstairs, had him eat some of my leftover nuggets and pumpkin pie thing (awful I know!), turned on the tv, got back on the computer, checked to make sure Steve was still breathing enough, got back on computer, let Simon watch the baseball game, check on Steve again, and here I am still on the computer. I should really start thinking about dinner... It is almost 6.

So yesterday Simon started doing this thing where he will look at me with his tilted down make a mean face at me, and then look up and smile huge and start laughing, it is so adorable, I am going to have to try to get a video. Another he has started to do is to tell me to go away. If he doesn't want me around or I am bugging him, he will push me away and say "Go away!" It makes me kinda sad, but at the same time it is really hilarious because he is asserting himself so well and telling me what he wants (or doesn't want).

The past couple of weeks Simon has really been starting to favor Steve, I guess I always knew this was coming, but it is still hard for me. He is almost two and he has always been my little buddy. He always wanted me when he was tired, or hungry, or hurt, but now he "want Daddy, want Daddy!" most of the time and he doesn't want me anymore. If he wants Steve and Steve is holding him and I come over, he pushes my face away with his hands and says "go away!" So sad. It breaks my heart. I need a new baby, one that has to have me to survive.
Another thing Simon does lately that I find cute (I find everything he does is cute) is he will tell me if there is a mess- he points at whatever it is and says mess, mess. In fact he is doing it right now. We got a new tv stand that has sliding doors that we can hide junk behind when company comes, and one of the shelves is Simon toys and the rest is video game systems- yes plural- ur tv stand must have room for a ps2, xbox, xbox 360, wii, computer, cable box, router, and soon a ps3 (steve gets one for graduation) bu anyways, in this we have totes that hold the controllers and games for each system and he grabbed one of them and it started to tip and he started to yell mess, mess, and managed to get it back onto the shelf without dropping it or anything in it.
I am starting to wonder why I am typing of this play by play of my day. I think it is because I am bored with Steve being in bed and Simon yelling at me to go away everytime I try to play with him. This makes me worrry about what it will be like when I am a stay-at-home mom. Am I going to truly enjoy like I think I will? Will Simon hate being with me all the time? Will I go insane without interaction with people all day? Will I be a good mom and do all the fun things I plan on doing with him every day? Am I going to get depressed because it is going to be cold and wintery outside? Am I going to feel like taking Simon on walks in the wagon he got from his Grammy and Grampy? (we are going to give it to him for either his bday or christmas- it is currently still in steves parents garage) Will I survive and be happy? Will I do as good of a job keeping Simon on a good schedule like his Vovo does? Will we do arts and craft projects together? Will he still take naps? (oh please, oh please keep taking naps, please don't stop at 2 like your cousin Bryant did) Will I be good at feeding him balanced meals and snacks? I'm good at planning them...Will I discipline him enough, too much? Will I be a good stay-at-home mom? I think I have been a really good working mom... so many things to worry about, but in the meantime, I am going to put down the computer, publish this post, play with my son, make dinner, and do my best to make sure that I won't become the crappy mom I worry about becoming and just enjoy my weekend with my son. and stop him before he throws all of my sewing supplies onto the floor, what is the point of a baby gate if your son can climb around on the steps? he just goes up the first step- out through the gap, onto my sewing machine table, and up and around to the next step, oh gotta go for sure, he found nail clippers and is trying to cut his nails!

??

2010-10-18T02:13:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to make a quick post, but now we are going to bed. We have been super busy like always, just trying to keep caught up with work, school, and taking care of our family and our home. Steve and I have been having a lot of fun the last few nights playing the newest Halo game. I love that we can still play video games together because that is how our friendship started that eventually grew into a relationship. I have been trying to cook a lot more lately to help ease the load Steve has with work, work, internship, and school. I recently made chile rellenos which were delicious, and last night I made avocado egg rolls similar to ones at BJ's Brewery or at Cheesecake factory- they were AMAZING! and the dipping sauce, oh my goodness, could totally eat that by itself. Well the computer just informed that there are 16 minutes remaining on the battery, and the cord is upstairs, and its after 2 am and I work in the morning, so I really should go to bed. Other things keeping me busy- getting ready for Simon's 2nd b-day, only a month away! less than that! planning decorations, menu, presents, etc. and also getting ready for Halloween. He is going to be Megaman- so cute! So far we have spent $4 on his costume- we bought the clothes-pants, shirt, and shorts at Kohls I had two $10 coupons that I got out of the newspaper, and only had to spend $10 to use them, so that was about $1 over we went on that, and then spent two dollars at the dollar store buying a helmet to recover, a pair of gloves, and an LED pushlight to use for his blaster.

new background and post below

2010-08-07T01:18:00.000-07:00

I am trying to change my background and its not showing on my computer except for about 1/4 inch on the left side. can you guys see the background? It should have a swirly thing and a cute little owl. I love owls!! I got owl flip flops for my b-day, and my friend Christy got me my first Life is Good shirt with a little owl on it. LOVE IT!
So background? Yes? no? half of it?

blog

2010-08-07T00:04:00.000-07:00

I have a blog! That's nothing new, but the fact that I am posting is kind of a big deal. We have been super busy. I went to Vegas for a week (July 19-23) for work to help decorate a new store we are opening down there and have been home for two weeks now?? Not even sure, but my clothes are still in my suitcase from that trip. We hung out with friends from church the next day. Sunday went to see Amy talk at church, went to a friends babyshower, and then I had an awesome birthday party up at Tahoe two days after I came back, got some terrific awesome presents from Steve's family! Went back to work had a birthday dinner with Steve the day of (july 27th) and went out to Sushi for the first time since before I was pregnant with Simon. Went to Club Tahoe the next weekend, had work all week long.

And now here we are, its Friday night, Steve and Simon have both been asleep for two hours, I am posting pictures on Facebook, and updating my blog. I really should be cleaning because my parents are going to be here on Tuesday and my house is a wreck. It really isn't that bad, I basically just need to load the washer, pick up Simon's toys (Again), and do laundry (wash the dirty and actually fold and put away the clean stuff instead of leaving it in totes at the foot of our bed). But here I am, in blogland, because I never have time on the computer because Steve is always using it to study and do homework, and I could use the computer hooked up to the tv but that is hard because the fonts don't really blow up really well and it really hurts my eyes, not really good for typing up stuff but good for reading because I can enlarge the text. But anyways, I am majorly rambling!
So the past 3 weeks have been incredibly hectic, and the ones before that were too, though I can't tell you much of what happened except I switched days off at work at the beginning of July because my sister was driving through town with her husband and two kids so I took them up to Lake Tahoe to go swimming and play in the dirt, but most of you already know that because you are friends with Leslie too, and besides the only people that really read this blog are my sisters and my mom, and me hoping there are comments!

Anyways, rambling again. Needless to say, we have been really busy. People ask me when Steve will be home on any night and I always say I have no idea, could be 6, could be midnight. How sad is it that I don't even know my husband's schedule and when he will be home at night. This semester has just been so ridiculous and I am so glad that in less than a week it will be over!

I have posted some picture albums on my blog of 4th of July, Lake Tahoe with Steve's family, and I am about to post Virginia City with my dad when he was here with us for a few days, and in a couple days my mom and dad will both be here!! Yay! and after me and Steve make it through this coming week and survive through his finals we are going to Glacier National Park! I think, Steve is having second thoughts now just because I want to cut one day out of camping... But we will get all worked out, I just have to get him to realize it will still be worth it and a lot of fun, and we should bring Simon with us. So, now that you are done reading my frazzled disjointed blog about our hectic, superbusy lives go to facebook and check out my albums from our latest mini-adventures and funness!

updates

2010-06-24T22:02:00.000-07:00

So there has been a lot going on lately, but at the same time, not a whole lot, that's life I guess!

Simon is growing up so fast these days. He just started calling our daycare lady by her name he says "Cawol", so cute, but sadly she only gets to hear him do it for 3 days because we are switching to Steve's mom next Monday. I am a little nervous for this, not because it's his mom (she is an awesome lady and will do a terrific job and help a TON with his development) but because of the driving every day. On I-80 and 395 every day and through the spaghetti bowl, both ways in traffic- SCARY! I CAN NOT be late for work, so that makes it even more nerve wracking, one wreck ahead of me on the road and I am screwed. And did I mention they are road construction on 395 right now, ugh, orange construction cones- the State Flower of Nevada.
Simon is so stinking cute I can never get over it. He said "see ya later" on Wednesday. And says all kinds of stuff that never ceases to amaze me. Right now we are working on learning the parts of the face. When he is in the mood to do it with me, he knows nose, mouth, and eyes. And we are working on chin, cheeks, and ears.

Last week I went to a jewelry party at my friend Christy's house, it was fun, I bought some really cute jewelry, Steve was asleep when I got home and so I think he forgot all about the party. He never did ask how much I spent, so that is a good thing he forgot about it. But I bought the jewelry out of my personal allowance account anyways. This necklace is my favorite of my purchases, he just made me very happy, and giggly. I bought him!

We went to Elko after I got home from work the day after and hung out with our friends Zach and Kristen and their 5 kids. We had tons of fun there hanging out with them, Simon especially, he grew up a lot over the weekend, and became much more independent and less reliant on us for stuff like holding hands while walking down steps. He doesn't need me anymore, would rather just do it by himself like a big boy! While there Steve got to be a cowboy and help herd and load a couple of bulls into a trailer, then went up to Twin Falls to take them to the butcher, Kristen and I stayed home with the kids and had a lot of fun, went to the park, and hung out. It was what I imagine being a stay at home mom will be like as long as I have other stay at home mom friends to help keep me sane!

I have been cooking a lot this week. It has been pretty fun, we eat dinner kind of late but that is OK. Steve grills the meet and I try to find new creative side dishes. This week I made mango salsa, "best ever green beans and potatoes", green beans and potatoes with bacon, and that's all I can remember. But a couple of weeks ago I made a cabbage salad with cucumbers and carrots and a vinaigrette type dressing. I love to try out new recipes and think of different ways to make the same old stuff. Amy came over the night we had the best ever veggies and the manog salsa, and she it was the best dinner she had in a long time, that made me feel good. Once again another thing to look forward to- one day being home and actually able to get dinner on the table before 8 o'clock. Tomorrow I am going to make stuffed bell peppers!

So while in Elko, Simon was playing on the kids bikes and tricycles a ton, so I decided I want to buy him so I was perusing Amazon earlier and came upon this beauty. Definitely not for Simon, but for future Lucy maybe. It really makes me think of my friend Arielle though, and since tomorrow (today by the time most people read this) is her birthday, I am posting it in her honor. I sent it to her on facebook today and told her she should get for her daughter. They make it in red too, for boys, but it is just so much cuter in pink! Isn't it adorable?

In other news, Steve and I are both speaking at church on Sunday. Steve's topic is healing the sick, and my topic is personal revelation. Both perfect for each of us, Steve with the nursing thing, and me because I have been praying alot lately about the whole daycare thing, it has been a very difficult decision to make but very necessary. I still feel kind of nervous about it, but we got to a point where it became necessary to switch, and with Steve's mom opening hers up at this same time, we had to switch to her. I am very nervous about all the driving, and I'm wondering if that is why I am getting the nervous feeling, but it worries me even more because I am going against the feeling and answers I have been getting to my prayers. My most recen desire is for Steve and I to figure out a way that I can be a stay-at-home mom. With switching Simon to his 3rd daycare provider in just a year and a half, it has made me realize that I don't want someone else to have to raise my son, I should be doing it. I had a good talk with Kristen about this while we were in Elko and I feel very strongly about figuring out some way to make this happen, but I also get the feeling like it is something we need to wait a few months to let happen, it's not quite the right time for it yet. But soon, soon I hope! I gotta go to bed, I am supposed to be studying for my talk, but I hadn't posted in a while, and wanted to do some updating!

feathers

2010-05-28T22:50:00.000-07:00

Tonight, Steve and I got to go out on date and see a movie! Steve's mom watched Simon for us, and while at the house she and Mike heard something dripping, so they located the source, behind the fridge, and pulled out the fridge and there was a little puddle of water, and in this puddle of water was feathers, nasty bunch of feathers. I was freaking out because I thought that somehow there was a dead bird behind our fridge, but upon closer inspection with the flashlight, we discovered it was an old nasty feather duster from a previous renter. It was pretty gross, but at least it wasn't a dead bird! I was trying to figure how a bird could even get back there and had decided it must have been the previous renters pet and somehow it got back there and died... anyways. We went to see The Prince of Persia, I really liked it and so did Steve. My only complaint was the cheesy music everytime there was a possibility that there might be a kiss, but like 80% of the time that didn't even happen so it was just really annoying.
And for those wondering about The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. Really really weird and strange like I thought it would be. I didn't really like it, but Steve really liked and "thought it was creative and fun."
It was very nice to go see a movie. I think we will be going to a lot this summer because there are a few coming up that we want to see. Some on my personal list of movies worth seeing in the theater this summer (and this a big deal because mostly we rent movies b/c we have unlimited Blockbuster rentals every month): Avatar: The Last Airbender, Robin Hood, Twilight: Eclipse, I guess those are the main ones. But that is a lot for us. There are a few more that I am excited to rent.
happy blogging! can you believe all these posts I've had this week!?

Grits

2010-05-25T21:09:00.000-07:00

I had a couple of really good ideas in my mind for some things I wanted to blog about, but I forgot what they were, and we were without internet for a few days, but are up and running again thanks to Steve's Uncle Mike! Anyways, Saturday I got to hang out with my cousin Michael for a couple of hours because he was in town for a state track meet. He was up from Vegas, and it was snowing when he had to run. I'm sure that was not very much fun for him, but I enjoyed chatting with him before he goes off to the Air Force Academy, I haven't seen him for 3 years, and that was only for a couple of minutes. But for breakfast that morning Simon and I had grits. Does anybody know how to make grits taste good? I tried adding sugar, and strawberries, and butter, but it just wasn't doing the job for me. Was I just not adding enough?
Oh and in other news, I have stooped to all new low in girlyness. I read my first Nicholas Sparks novel, I had seen a few of the movies based on his books but never actually read one. So yesterday I read Dear John. I started on it at work and read the first two hours while I was the greeter and read for 30 more minutes during my breaks, and decided to finish it up at bedtime. I stayed up until 2:17 reading. So much for that becoming a morning person thing. Maybe next week. But I really enjoyed the book, and I am such a sucker I cried my eyes out the whole last half. There is no way I could have read that in front of anyone, it would have been incredibly embarrassing, there were tears streaming down my face. Luckily, not even Steve saw me because he was asleep, but I am sure he heard me sobbing and sniffling.
Anyways, time to get Simon ready for bed so Steve and I can finally watch the movie we rented last week, I'm not too excited for it, but Steve has been wanting it so I rented it for him. We are going to watch the Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. It has Heath Ledger in it and a bunch of other stars. It looks weird to me, but we will see how it is... Love you all lots!

mornings

2010-05-20T22:37:00.000-07:00

I have decided I need to become a morning person. Maybe I will do it next week.

I've realized that it is much easier to get stuff done when Simon is asleep, but if I wait til he goes to bed at night, I am too tired and don't feel like doing anything but vegging out. But if I wake up say an hour earlier in the morning, I can do dishes and make lunches and whatnot before he even wakes up. I still get as much sleep, but I get more accomplished around the house. It only took me a year and a half to figure this out... Now if I can just get motivated enough to actually do it, I am such a night owl, and have always hated mornings, so this is going to be very difficult for me. I am thinking that if I get my balcony all comfy and decorated like I want to, maybe I can sit out there in the morning for a few minutes eating some fruit for breakfast and just have a few minutes to enjoy being outside. It is an idyllic scene in my mind, the hard part is just implementing it. For someone who loves nature and being outside, I really hate it when the sun comes peeping through the curtains in the mornings and I can hear the birds singing outside. It makes me angry, like they are spoiling my sleep, when in reality I should be like Cinderella when she wakes up in the morning, so happy to hear the little birds singing, and then they can help me make my bed and do all my chores and life will be just like a little fairy tale, that is in until the wicked stepsisters arrive in the scene, the stepsisters being reality.
I can't wait until the day comes when I can be a stay-at-home mom and can focus on the things that really matter in life- my family. I enjoy my job, but it isn't meaningful and I feel it is just something that I do so our family can survive, but I feel like we aren't always thriving. Don't get me wrong, we are doing pretty dang good considering our (and by our I mean Steve's) hectic schedules, but I just know that it isn't as good as it can be, and I can't wait until the day when I can really focus on nurturing my family the way they deserve to be nurtured. Although when that is happening, if things go according to plan, our family will be one member bigger when it does happen. And no, I am not pregnant, and won't be this year, no worries there. Anyone else notice how everyone and their sister is pregnant right now!? I would say everyone and their mom, but I think it would be really weird to be pregnant at the same time as your mom- too weird- so I said sister instead.
Anyways, that was quite the interesting ramble. I hope you enjoyed it, totally unedited, from my mind right onto the keyboard... So yeah, I need to become a morning person, wish me luck- next Monday I will start, and if you run into me and I am grouchy, I apologize, I really hate mornings and it normally takes me a good hour or two at work before I am ready to talk to people.
On a blog-related note, check out this article from Reader's Digest.

Oh and by the way, I can wait to see the new Twilight movie next month!!

fabric and internship!

2010-05-16T02:48:00.000-07:00

this pink one reminds me of Arielle
perfect for me and steve!

I can't remember who all of these are, but I like them! I just decided I am going to make a facebook album of fabric I like!

Michael Miller patterns below!

this would make a cute apron for baking in!

cute for backing on a boys quilt!

another cute apron one!

i love owls, love love love them!

I have decided that some day I would really like to sew. I actually have a sewing machine down in our basement that Steve brought home for me. His client is getting rid of some of her stuff, so we are inheriting some cool stuff from her including some cool cookbooks, and now this sewing machine built into a table. So I have decided that some day I am going to sew and will start a cute fabric collection similar to my cute scrapbooking paper collection. I was looking on fabric.com and finding some cute fabric patterns/designers that I really like, so I have decided to blog about it and post some pictures of some of the ones I REALLY like, and can just dream of making the cutest quilts out of. I may just be a quilter in the future (not sure about clothes unless I have a daughter then I will make dresses maybe), quilts and aprons- I am addicted to aprons- not sure I will make much else, but those two things for sure!

So far (from my 30 minutes of searching) Michael Miller is a favorite, Moda, and Robert Kaufman are on the top of my list. I love cute retro modern patterns!

sorry all the pictures on the top, I still can't figure out blogger, I guess I need to put pictures in first and then do my typing, because I can't even cut and paste these words to put them at the top. GRRR! Anyways, I am sure not too many of you care about fabric so I am going to stop posting pictures of a million different patterns. I am so excited to one day have a little bit of time to learn how to sew. Oh and something that deserves its own post, but I am out of time to do that...

STEVE GOT THE POSITION AT THE VA HOSPITAL!! He just got accepted as an intern at the hospital for their Valor Program. It is a paid internship, 200 hours, and he acts as a nurse from the start, and they told him that they want him when he is done with school! He already has a job and he doesn't even graduate until December!! I am so excited, and this is such a blessing for our family. It is definitely going to come with a lot of trials and stress because it adds 20 hours a week to Steve's already very busy school schedule and 8 hours at his other job, but we have to keep telling ourselves it will be worth it. Like my friend Tiffani told me the other day- we need to ask God for a stronger back not lighter burdens. This will be tough for us and very stressful, so I am definitely going to have to pick up a lot more of the work and make sure I take care of my family and husband especially during this stressful but crucial stage of our life. Congrats to Steve on his hardwork and good grades that made it possible for him to get this internship, oh and did I mention it's a paid internship!! This is so awesome for him, he really wants to work at the VA and take care of our Vets and he also wants to work with seniors which will be great in our area, we have a lot of homeless vets who end up in the va hospital needing care, and Steve is just the guy for the job. He is also on the Student Nursing board as the Community Outreach Director. He has been taking care of the Ronald McDonald house once a month, and has recently expanded the program and volunteer work to cook meals for people staying at the Veterans Guest home. He is an awesome man that husband of mine!

Vaccinations/autism

2010-04-26T23:37:00.000-07:00

I am really starting to realize that I am a HUGE believer in childhood vaccinations. I mentioned a few posts ago that a large part of it is Simon and the Rotavirus. While doing some personal research on vaccinations and autism I came across this article that I read back in January at my sisters house. It is from Wired magazine, and is a very interesting, informative article. I believe in getting your child vaccinated, I believe in the Rotavirus vaccine, I wish I had known about it a year and a half ago, and I do not believe that autism and vaccinations are related. If anyone can come up with some good scientific research to the contrary, I would love to read it. I am thinking that in the future this is a cause I would really like to get more involved with and would like to be able to spread the word about vaccinations and stop some of the damaging hype/hysteria about autism and vaccines caused by paranoid people who just haven't done research and are basing their opinions on what other paranoid people think instead of scientific research and data. That's my short rant for tonight. To be continued some other time...
If there are any readers who do believe the autism/vaccine link, I would really be curious to know what kind of evidence or information you base your belief on, seriously, this isn't just an attempt to bash, I am very curious to know why people believe what they do. If it's just because Jenny McCarthy said so, or because so-and-so thinks so because their kid got a shot and then started acting weird, or if there is more to it than that.

There are two new posts below so read them both!

2010-03-15T01:04:00.001-07:00

my free time

2010-03-15T00:04:00.000-07:00

Sorry for new posts in a long time, I have been spending most of my free time either playing with Simon (he is so incredibly fun and the most beautiful boy ever) or painting! I have been painting a lot and loving it. I did one for Simon's room (see it below) a series of three abstracts, then I started one for a coworker but decided I like it and am keeping it for myself, and now a series of two or three huge abstracts for our living room wall (2 or 3 depending on how big they look on our wall and if I run out of inspiration after just 2). The one for Simon's room I used 2 different size cars, a monster truck with nice tread on the tires and matchbox car with tread on the tires (surprisingly hard to find, most of them have flat wheels). I dipped the wheels in paint and drove them all over the boards. This one took for freaking ever because the type of paint I was using took a long time to dry and the tires had to be redipped almost constantly. But it was fun to do, I like the way they turned out, and I like how they look on Simon's wall.
I have also been on a home decorating kick as of late thanks to our recent cable acquisition and a few HGTV shows for free OnDemand. I bought some new bright +-orange throw pillows, and orange picture frame and orange flowers to put in the cool red vase I got from my sister Heather for Christmas two year ago, and an area rug that is brown with green leaves. The living room canvas I have started on is a mostly red textured background and I am going to put a green leafy pattern on it, the next canvas will probably be blue, and the third one... I'm not sure yet...but all have leafy patterns on them.
Talk to you soon! or not, I might just be having too much fun in the real world to spend my time online.
Updates on Simon: I hate my pediatrician, Simon is a tiny boy but I think he has awesome mechanical skills, he is a terrific climber, is incredibly affectionate and cuddly, is a total night owl (he's awake right now playing in the living room) and just is so much fun. He throws balls back and forth, plays fetch (like a dog he picks up the ball puts it in his mouth and carries it to us, we didn't teach him to do it, I think maybe he learned from Eliza-liz), he says UH-oh,dada, mama (sometimes) ouch, bird, ball, boo, hot, no (but only repeats it doesn't use it on his own.. yet), and other words I can't think of right now. Oh and did I say he is a good climber? Really good. like time to bolt furniture down to the ground, climbs on top of everything, can get on the couch even though it's taller than him (he lifts one lg up above his head puts it on the couch and then shimmies himself up onto the couch, it is amazing because he is so short. Anyways, I really need to get him to bed and he is hitting a 3 inch bell around the floor with his stick horse and it is really loud and starting to get annoying...
Love you all!

this one also has a car on it, but simon ripped it off the painting right before we hung them up and so I had to glue it back on after we took the pictures.

sick, sick, sick

2010-03-14T23:50:00.001-07:00

Simon was sick again. We are pretty sure it was Rotavirus again. Same symptoms. I stayed home with him Thursday because he had vomiting and diarrhea. Friday morning I woke up and threw up the previous nights dinner and also had vomiting and diarrhea all day long. Saturday we all slept in until noon. Woke up, I was feeling mostly better, just needed to eat, and Simon was doing better until about 4 when the diarrhea started up again. Sunday he has been good. It was not fun at all and Simon puked all over the new area rug I had just bought for our living room and so now it smells like vomit, so we are going to have to get it cleaned. Bummer. We are all doing better, mostly, Simon hasn't had much of an appetite today, but hasn't been puking and his BM are starting to firm up.
I really wish we had gotten the rotavirus vaccine when he was born, it would have saved us a lot of grief and worry and money. I didn't even realize there was a rotavirus vaccine until I was at my sisters back in January and read an article about it in a magazine that they had. I was pretty bitter because Simon's miserable and almost deathly experience with it back on Halloween night oculd hav prevented with a simple vaccine. Luckily we didn't have to take him to the hospital this time, just kept filling him up with Pedialyte and tried our hardest to keep it under control and keep enough fluids in him that we didn't have to go to the hopsital. Oh and it helps that with each time a kid gets it their immunity builds up a little more each time, so maybe by the time he is 5 he won't be symptomatic anymore. Let's hope.
Anyways, I really wish we had known about this vaccine when Simon was born and that he had gotten vaccinated for it. The AAP recommends it and there is a lot of helpful info about it on the CDC website. If you are wary about vaccines, don't be afraid of this one, there is also a link to the scientific research study on the vaccine that should ease any vaccine-related fears you may have for this one in particular. Our next kid is definitely getting the Rotavirus vaccine.
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/rotavirus/default.htm

simon and his tractor

2010-01-23T11:08:00.000-08:00

My parents got Simon this John Deere tractor for his birthday. Sadly, my dad was working and sick on Simon's birthday, but the next day we drove my mom down to where he was working and had lunch together and Simon got to open his birthday present with his Grammy and Grampy. Here he is playing with it less than a week after his birthday. He still loves it! At the end he starts playing with his ball popper, another birthday present, from Auntie Mel and Uncle Jared.

Simon's first birthday

2010-01-17T00:14:00.000-08:00

On November 7th, Simon turned one! We had his party at Steve's parents house (THANK YOU!!) My Mom and I made the cake, but mostly my mom (THANK YOU!!) Steve made the gift bags, I didn't have a good picture of them but you can see them somewhere below. The theme we ended up picking out was a Dr. Seuss theme. So we had green deviled eggs, ham subs, goldfish crackers, pink lemonade, Simon had a Thing bib, and lots of Suess colors and a guestbook for everyone to sign that was "Oh the Places You'll Go", people signed in the front and back cover and wrote a little note to Simon. I thought it was a lot of fun, there were kids there which made it feel more like a party, and the food was pretty yummy. The decorations didn't turn out quite like I wanted, I found lots of good ideas online months in advance, but time still got the best of me and I didn't get everything looking the way I wanted. Oh well, we still had lots of fun!
The pictures are in reverse order.

All of the kids that came

Time for presents, he looked so excited, I LOVE this picture!!

Simon finishing up his cupcake

Simon's cupcake my mom made and decorated for him

Cake with the fish from The Cat in the Hat

My mom molded the fish out of orange candy melts and made all the little scales! The fish is in the fish bowl and my mom made all the fondant and we dyed it and cut out different shapes and stuff to decorate it.

Presents and guestbook table

Green eggs! So cute, I got the idea online and Cindy made them!

Food!

Steve working on the gift bags, a combined idea by both of us, the Cat in the Hat's hat!!

The cake was multi-colored inside kinda like the way the cover of "Oh the Places You'll Go" looks. We took white cake mix and dyed it all different colors.

My mom mixing all the colors

She's so cute! and did an amazing job on the cake!!

This is all the updating for now. Blogger is being really slow and annoying, stay posted for more and don't miss my superlate one below about Halloween!

Catch-up... several new posts

2010-01-16T23:28:00.000-08:00

So what has happened since the trip to the ER you might ask? Well, quite a bit actually so I am going to try to catch up while Simon is in bed sleeping and Steve is happily playing video games during his last hours of freedom before nursing school starts back up...
Well the ER thing happened on Halloween and Simon had a wonderful Halloween. He dressed up as Link from The Legend of Zelda. Steve's mom made Simon's costume and Steve made his shield and my mom made his sword.

Simon was walking already so he actually got to walk up to some houses. His first house was our neighbor Marie. We also met Sarah Palin! Simon was Link and his cousin Zane was a monkey. They went trick-or-treating in Vovo's neighborhood. My parents were also in town and got to go trick-or-treating with us. It was really fun!

Trip to the ER

2009-11-01T20:10:00.000-08:00

Early this morning Steve and I took Simon to the ER. He had been sick throwing up and having bad diarrhea since Thursday night. I weighed Simon when we were at Steve's parents for trick-or-treating and he weighed 17.8. On our way to load him up into the car he threw up. Then we we got home we went to sleep and I had Simon in bed with me because he has been so sick. In the middle of the night he woke up crying, so I rolled him over onto my chest and he started vomiting. So after throwing up on me three times and having a lot more vomit come out of him than Steve and I thought was possible, we took him to the hospital at like three in the morning. (But first I took a shower because my chest, neck, back, and hair were all soaked in vomit.) Yuck! We were seen immediately and they weighed Simon who was now down to17.6 lbs. (On a side note at Simon's 9 month check-up, nearly three months ago he weighed about 19 lbs I think, so he has lost a LOT of weight.) So, long story short. Turns out Simon is severely dehydrated, they hook him up to an IV, get some fluids in him, find out he has rotavirus, and he will probably be sick for another week. We have to take it easy on everything. Stuffing him not-quite-full of fluids (if he gets full it makes him vomit, so I can't nurse him for as long as I normally do, or nurse him to sleep or he will throw it all up). And it means changing a TON of nasty diapers. Luckily my parents are here to help me with him. Because he is so miserable and not feeling good he just screams if you put him down. And he is contagious so I can't take him to day care tomorrow and I already called in sick to work on Friday because both of us were sick. Once again, very grateful my parents are here because they are going to watch him tomorrow for Steve and I. It is going to be a rough week, but everything will be okay. We just gotta keep him hydrated.
This last picture was taken this evening, he is already doing better.

Apple Hill

2009-10-13T23:34:00.000-07:00

On Saturday Steve and I decided to go to Apple Hill, it is right outside Placerville, CA. We meant to leave at 10, but didn't leave until 11:40 so we started out kind of late, then on the way there, about 15 minutes outside of Placerville, we got a flat tire! A nice man and his son stopped to help us because our jack was missing from the car, but the guys tire iron didn't fitour lug nuts, so Steve left with them to go buy a new tire iron. On the way they met a hunter from Sacramento, so he came back with them with his tire iron, which fit. Theytook our tire off, put on the donut, and then we continued on to Placerville. We found a Les Schwab and got a new tire because we were both kind of nervous about driving on the donut for very long. The drive that should have been just two hours and east turned out to be a lot more time-consuming. By the time that all happened it was about 4:30 and almost all of the orchards close at 5:00. So we ran to one (Boa Vista) for caramel apple pie, but of course they were all out, so we got two classic apple pies, one for us and one for family dinner. Then we went over to Abel's Apple Acres (they didn't close til 6) and got dinner and took some pictures. We didn't actually buy any apples at Apple Hill but we got some Asian pears, the pie, and a new tire!!

some little snippets of the past couple months

2009-10-11T23:20:00.000-07:00

Steve and Simon playing tag
Steve had a birthday back in August, the 19th! (That's how far back I am going then getting more current)
Nope he didn't get lingerie, it was thongs though, lol, the flip flop type.
I love these two pictures with the cake, amazing what can happen when you turn off the flash.
Then we went to the fair August 26th.
We took Simon and Zane on the carousel.
Steve on the "Torando" it was a fun spinning ride like an intense version of the teacups.
Both of us on the "Silver Streak"

This ride they shoot you up into the air and without any warning they drop you back down, freaky, we went on it a bunch of times but had to take turns to watch Simon because this time we were the only ones left from the family. Steve's parents and Mel came too, but we were the only ones that got rides passes so everyone else went home and Mel was getting tired so we took her back home and then decided to go back for the last 45 minutes and take turns watching Simon and going on rides by our self. It was really fun and we definitely got ours moneys worth for the rides!

Then we had our friends the Triggs' stop by. They went to a concert down in South Lake and we babysat their kids for the night so they could enjoy their concert, the next day we went to the park and out to eat, it's always fun getting to see them and play with their kids.

Their youngest daughter Lily absolutely loves Simon, all their kids do, but her especially.
Alaric and Natalya.
Steve's Grandma and I both ordered pears from the church's orchards up in Oregon, so we decided to get together and can them! It was a lot of fun, this is when I discovered Simon loves pears. He sat on his butt on the kitchen floor spinning in circles and eating a Simon sized pear, it was so stinkin' cute!!
A few of the beautiful pears we got to can and eat!

Just my little boy being adorable!!
I cooked cabbage rolls with the cabbage from my sister Heather's garden.
Simon in his mess of books he pulled off the bookshelf
We went rock climbing about two weeks ago with Steve's dad and sister Amy. Simon loves piggyback rides from his daddy!

Me and Simon playing together

We got some apples a couple of days ago from one of Steve's clients and Simon was really liking them. One bag was all peaches, and the other bag was half peaches half apples from trees in their yard.

On Friday night we went to a football game and saw Nevada crush La Tech. Go Pack!!
Simon was all dressed up in his Wolpack gear from his auntie Na.
And so was his daddy
The end... for now. Saturday we went on a mini-adventure to Apple Hill, but those pictures will come later a long with some of Simon walking!!

a couple of pictures...

2009-10-04T22:51:00.001-07:00

I stole these pictures from Renee...

at an aces game, that mascot scared the crap out of simon and made him cry.
we are such a cute family!
My adorable son in his Auntie Na's sunglasses
All of us at the game
Grandpa with his two grandsons. Zane on left, Simon on the right.

walking

2009-10-04T22:43:00.000-07:00

So just a quick little blog. We have been kinds busy lately and kind not. But I never did post about my birthday, vacation in Colorado, Steve's birthday, and countless other little things going on in our lives that seem mundane but really make up our life.
In new news though, Simon is now officially a toddler!! He took his first steps on Friday, his max was three. On Saturday we got him to take 5 in a row, and today his new record is 10 steps in a row all by himself!!
We have no video of it because our cord for our camera is gone, completely gone, we have searched our entire house for it and can not find it anywhere, so I guess until we find or buy a new one we will have no new pictures to post on here. Sorry, but I do have some older ones to post when I actually have some free time at home. But most of that I like to spend with my beautiful, adorable, fun little boy, and my husband too.
Love you all! Hope to post again soon, but definitely don't hold your breath for it.
...and to put in a little plug for where I work, we are having a "white sale" this week and selling a lot of our disontinued bedding, lamps, and accessory lines for super cheap, up to 75% off! kids comforter sets for $40 and even some king and queen ones for around $60, so if you are in Reno come in this week and buy some accessories, they are super cheap and can make good Christmas presents! oh yeah, Ashley Furniture Homestore. 750 E Moana Ln in Reno!!

4th of July

2009-07-18T18:46:00.000-07:00

Pictures from the 4th of July are now up on facebook, with a select few here. It was quite an eventful day for us. To start the morning off Simon fell off our bed (about 4 feet from the mattress top to our hardwood floors). We aren't going to go into how that happened, but let's just say he will be barricaded into the bed if he is still sleeping when we have to star getting ready for the day. (And I already beat myself and Steve up enough that I don't need anyone else to do that) Luckily he was okay, nothing wrong, and stopped crying pretty quickly. Then we went up to Lake Tahoe to Chimney Beach to swim. (Simon hates the water, Lake Tahoe is COLD!) While at the beach we ate lots of food, Simon really loves eating cherries!After that we went back home and napped and then went to Sparks to watch the fireworks. We did all of this, except for the nap, with Steve's family. It was a blast. Simon loved, loved, loved, the fireworks, he didn't cry at all, just sat there and stared up at them.

Earlier that week we went up to the Lake to swim at King's Beach, and took some really cute pictures of Simon, he loves playing in the sand, but just hates the cold water. I took him to a pool last weekend, and he really liked that once he got to used to it.
Today we have had a nice day, Steve has the day off. We went to the Planetarium and Historical Society, then met up with a realtor to look at two houses, in the area we want. We fell in love with both of them. One is really old and is probably haunted, and has cool rooms off of rooms through doorways and closets. So cool, but would be A LOT of work. The other is pretty large, not as old, 3 bedrooms. Nice huge kitchen with double ovens and two fireplaces. We will see if anything happens, not sure if either will be FHA-approved. Anyways, we have been having a lot more fun as a family the past few weeks because Steve has had Saturdays off because his client he took care of all day on Saturday passed away. Sad, I know, and a bit morbid, but I sure do love having time to go have fun with my husband!!

New calling

2009-06-30T20:42:00.001-07:00

Steve got a new calling at church. Sorry to ALL of my family who is finding out about it right now as they read, because I haven't yet called them and told them. So Steve's new calling is....... 2nd counselor in the Elder's Quorum Presidency!
For now we are still teaching our Sunday school class, not sure what will happen there, it may end up that I teach by myself, which will be hard for me because I haven't actually participated in the lesson teaching in, oh, about seven and a half months. So maybe a new calling on the horizon for me?? Though I shouldn't speculate or hope for such things. I do love the kids in our Sunday school class, I am just terrified to teach by myself.

pictures from my dad visiting

2009-06-12T21:43:00.000-07:00

Home today

2009-06-09T11:04:00.000-07:00

I am home today. Not because I was late and got sent home (which happened a couple of weeks ago), but because I have to work at Ashley on Saturday because we are having a tent sale, and I am not allowed to get more than 40 hours a week, so I took today off. Simon is still in bed sleeping (weird) but I will let him sleep as long as he wants to. His sleep schedule doesn't really seem to be affected if he sleeps or if he doesn't. Last night we even put him in his bed when he was still awake. He cried and whined off and on a little for about 5 minutes and then fell asleep, but then at 4:30 there was a really loud sound in our house like blinds slamming down so he woke up and then came to bed with me.
In fun stuff I have gotten to see my dad lately. He spent the weekend with us and I really enjoyed it even though we didn't do a whole lot. I feel kind of like a lame host because I didn't have stuff planned for us to do while he was here, but I had fun at least, hopefully he did too. It was raining all weekend when he was here so we didn't get to geocaching like we wanted to. Of course it stopped raining on Sunday when my dad had to leave to go to his next job. But we will probably get to see him again in two weeks, and on Father's Day, so that is really exciting. I love my dad so much and I hardly ever get to see my parents. Last time I saw them was when Simon was born and my mom stayed with us for a month and my dad got to come for like two days for the blessing. Simon loves his Grampy and they had fun together. My dad is teaching Simon to raise his hands in the air and say "I am the best!" Of course Simon can't talk yet, but he still looks cute doing it, and maybe if we do it now, it will be one of the first things he really does learn to say. We also taught Simon the chicken dance. Mel took a video of itwith her camera, so I will have to get it from her to post.
Simon is insane lately. That boy can army crawl like none other, I can no longer leave him on the floor to play by himself and leave the room because I haven't baby-proofed our house yet and we have a lot of cords on the floor that he can get himself tangled up in. Yesterday Steve and I were on the computer and Simon was in the living room and he crawled across the floor to us and was playing with the computer and the headphones on the floor. Later he started out on his blanket and made his way over to his dad's Xbox 360, definitely not a Simon toy, so I had to move him away. We really need to get a small pack'n'play for him to be his new bed and play place, Steve's sister had one at their parents house on Sunday and the cousins played in for a little while, Simon didn't seem to mind being stuck in baby prison, and it let them play without getting trampled by the four dogs that were at Steve's parents house on Sunday. Simon is such a mama's boy. It makes Steve really sad, and I don't know what to do about it, but Simon just always reaches for me. Yesterday I got home and Simon was crying on the bed so Steve rescued Simon and then Simon heard me talking because he didn't know I was home yet, and he started looking around and reaching out of Steve's arms for me and he couldn't even see me yet, he just knew I was there. I feel so bad, because it is really hard on Steve. I try to tell him it's just because I have the booby juice, and that's why he wants me, but it doesn't help. Any suggestions on how to make your boy less of a mama's boy and want to play with his daddy more, I would really appreciate them. (and I'm sure Steve would too.)
I have a new addiction. Tangrams. Kyle brought them over on Thursday night, and I was doing them nonstop on Saturday, very fun! Anyways, this is it for now, I'm gonna go get Simon up aso we can play together, it is almost 11:30 and he is still in bed, so I should probably get him up and change his diaper at least!!

It's that time again...

2009-05-16T07:24:00.000-07:00

Well everyone it's that time again. Time for my monthly blog update. After writing that title I realized the words "that time" is often used to mean something else, but that's not what I mean. So I am already awake and it's not even 7:30. I am so disappointed, I hate waking up early, and I love to sleep in until the last second possible. Steve just left with Simon to take him to his mom's while we both work this morning so I have the house to myself for an hour before I have to leave for work. Normally I go back to bed for about 45 minutes but I was feeling rather alert and decided to just stay awake. So I am sitting here typing away at my computer and listening to the birds outside my window. It is a beautiful spring morning in Reno.
I really don't have too much to blog about. Besides the joys my family brings me, my life is quite dull. This is how a typical day goes: I wake up, lay in bed and feed Simon, shower, get dressed, get Simon out of bed because he is crying, get my things ready for work, drop Simon off at daycare, go to work, pump three times during my breaks, go pick up Simon from daycare, go home, feed Simon, watch a movie feed Simon and eat dinner, go to bed and nurse Simon to sleep. Not too exciting, but now that the weather is warming up we can throw in something like go on a walk in the evening, or go in the backyard and grill.
Last night we were able to attend a fireside/type meeting for 9 stakes in Northern Nevada. It was for young single adults and young married couples and Elder Bednar and Elder Andersen of the Quorum of the twelve came to speak to us along with ElderZwick and one other Elder from the 70 I think but I already forgot who. It was very cool. Instead of doing the typical talks thing, they let people ask questions and they would answer. Very cool to have two apostles and get to pick their brain for guidance and counsel. They concentrated a lot in their answers on telling their opinions but also on making sure that we would seek out our own answers through prayer and study and personal revelation. I thought that was very important that they put such a focus on personal revelation because even though they are apostles of the Lord, they don't know what is best for each and every person in attendance that night, and so we all need to search for our own answers and go to the Lord in prayer. After the conference was over, we got in line and got to go up on stage to shake their hands. Simon already has first General Authority brag story, he has met two apostles already and they even shook his hand too!
In other news. Simon had a doctor's appointment Wednesday to get his 6 month shots. He started Army crawling on the table which was really exciting. He showed stranger anxiety for the first time. The doctor was checking out his eyes and ears and he couldn't see me or Steve and he got this terrified look on his face and he started crying (and this was before shots or needles) but as soon as he could see us he was fine again. He now weighs 16 lbs 1 ounce. Is 25 3/4 inches tall and his head circumferenec is 45.6 (I am guessing centimeters). So height and weight are 25th percentile, head circumference is 90th percentile. The doctor always gives us a paper with normal developmental things he should be doing between a certain age group, this time it is 6 to 9 months and he already does everything on the paper. I may just be one of those moms that thinks her child is the most amazing child in the world (which I do think) but Simon just seems so advanced to me and Steve. We are always comparing him to other babies around us and at church, at the store, everywhere, and he seems so different from them. Simon is so aware of everything around him. If he sees something he reaches and lunges for it and tries to wiggle/roll his way towards it so he can get it and put in his mouth. It is impossible to eat food when holding him, he wants to eat everything! You also can't get a drink without him trying to take your cup from you. He already knows how to dirnk out of a cup. The first time he tried he would have his tongue on the outside of the glass, but he learned quickly it doesn't really work that way and now drinks the right way. When I get a drink while he is in my lap, he will reach up for the glass and try to grab it out of my hands, then he will put one hand on each side of the glass and pull it up to his mouth so then I just tilt a little bit so he can get a little drink of water. And then if I try to take it away before heis done he will not let go of the glass and it is so hard to pry his little hands from the glass. Perhaps we will start a sippy cup soon... I'm not sure because I am kinda scared to because that means my little baby boy is already growing up.
On Monday we had a pretty bad scare. I was holding him while at the computer and I let him hold a piece of paper and next thing I know he had chewed up a lot of it and was choking on it, I didn't even notice, luckily Steve was ther. So he starts choking on it and throwing up and stuff and couldn't really breathe because these bits of paper were stuck in his throat. It was really scary but I just kept him leaned forward and was patting his back while he threw up all over the floor. He is fine now, but I was terrified.
For Mother's Day Steve got a potted orchid. It is a Phalaenopsis Rochid, and Leslie says they are the easiest, so I am going to try my luck with it, I hope I can give the attention and care it deserves. Then, for part of my mother's day present, we went out for lunch and on Thursday Steve had a massage therapist he knows come to our house and give me a one hour massage. It was sooooo nice! It was my first massage ever, and I loved it! Most amazing thing in the world. I would like to make it a regular habit, but it is expensive and we are saving up for a down payment on a house so its hard to justify that 70 dollars. Allthough I hope it becomes a regular part of my Mother's Day present, kind of like how flowers and a card are necessary for Mother's Day, for me it will be a card, potted plant, and massage! Steve also made me breakfast in bed Sunday morning, and got Simon a cute bib that says "I love Mommy", I think there was something else too, but I can't think of it right now, and I gotta hurry and go get ready for work since I have to be there in less than an hour and haven't showered yet, Yikes!! I have to hurry!

Pictures of Simon

2009-03-18T18:47:00.001-07:00

Last night I started to post the picture and video of Simon rolling, but it wouldn't download, so I finally got it to work today. It shows that I posted it last night, because that's when I started working on it. I hate that about blogger, they put the time you start working on a post as the time it is published instead of the time you actually publish. For that reason no one ever saw my Christmas pictures, but they are down there. Here are some pictures of Simon in no particular order.

Simon helping me with laundry

Sleeping in the car, holding my hand, and chewing on his giraffe.

Simon on the left, Zane on the right. Cousins just hanging out in their carseats.

Just hanging out gtting his diaper changed. He did this all by himself, no posing involved!

Vovo playing with her grandsons. Simon is the lower one, Zane in the middle.

The men playing chess, Simon seemed so interested in the game.

Rolling and pictures

2009-03-17T20:41:00.000-07:00

Sp immediately after I posted that last blog, I took Simon over to the blanket for some tummy time, I reached behind me to grab the camera from the computer desk and before I could get it turned on, Simon rolled over! I turned him back on his tummy while I turned on the camera and didn't get it on fast enough for him to roll over again! I got this picture, took a break, changed his diaper and then went back to the blanket, turned the camera on first, and got him doing this! 5 times so far today!!

What?? A new post!?

2009-03-17T19:42:00.000-07:00

Yes, believe it or not, I am finally updating my blog! So what is new you ask?? Just a few things... Last week we skipped church Sunday, it snowed Monday, Simon had the flu Tuesday and Wednesday, Steve had midterms, Steve started his second job on Monday, we all got very little sleep, I missed out on 5 hours of work, and in good news Saturday Steve found out he got accepted into the nursing program.
So Sunday we were bad and skipped church. It was stake conference, a broadcast from Salt Lake with President Monson and Elder Bednar speaking. It was a wonderful, relaxing day. All three of us slept in late, I cooked us breakfast and then we went on a nice walk, borrowed Eliza from Mel and Jared, and went down to the river. The rest of the day we just hung out around the house and relaxed. If we hadn't had such a relaxing Sunday we probably would have killed each other or our selves later on in the week.
So Steve started a second job on top of school and the 20 hours he works for Comfort Keepers. He was hired to work Monday, Wednesday, Friday from 6 pm to midnight. Last week he worked Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. They were nice and gave him yesterday off, right? Wrong, he went in today to get his check and they told him he has to work tonight. That sucks. Alot. On top of that he stayed home most of Tuesday and Wednesday with Simon because Simon had the flu and couldn't go to daycare. So his new job is at a place called "The Perfect Donut" and he makes donuts.
Steve got accepted into nursing school at UNR!! he is now a nursing student officially!!
and in other news Simon rolled over today for the first time, twice! We didn't actually see it because he did it at daycare, but it is really exciting for us!
I am getting sick of typing with one hand.

Super Cute pictures of Simon

2009-01-27T21:23:00.000-08:00

I love my little boy so much. He is such a joy in my life. It's impossible to have a bad morning with him around because he is totally a morning person. When I change his diaper first thing in the morning he just smiles and "talks" to me the whole time, I love it! Simon is just wonderful and I love being his mom. I wish I could stay home with him, but unfortunately our finances do not allow it, so he spends a good part of the day with "Miss Whitney" in day care. We really like her though, and so does Simon so that makes it a little tiny bit easier. I have never felt love the way I feel love for this boy. He is the best thing that has ever happened in my life. Now, don't get me wrong, I love Steve, but this is just something different and special and it is such a strong overwhelming feeling. Sometimes I just stare at him and it brings tears to my eyes. I never knew it was possible to love like this, I think that it is what unconditional love feels like.
It has been really hard on me not getting to see him a lot. I basically get to see him evenings and Sundays, so on Sundays I am super clingy and hardly let anyone else hold him. I spent last Sunday sitting on the couch with him almost all day and cried for like two hours because it is so hard for me to not to get to see him all day and spend all day with him.
Luckily, I am still breastfeeding him and that is going very well. I am fortunate to have a boss who lets me spend my breaks in an unused office pumping, and Simon is finally getting much better at taking a bottle, though he still doesn't like to take one at home as much as he will at other places.
He is still sleeping a ton at night. We typically go to bed at about midnight and he will wake up at about 4 to eat and again around 7:30, but by that point I am normally waking him up trying to get him to eat so I can get my day going. He will sleep in his bassinet, last night we put him down in it while he was awake and he fell asleep and didn't wake up til around 4:30 because he was ready to eat. He was freezing though!! His little hands were so cold like little baby popsicles, I felt so bad. Most of the time he sleeps with us in the bed though, because it is just easier with feeding him, and because like I said before, I am super clingy lately and want to spend as much time as possible with him.
P.S.-You can click on these pictures to make them bigger!!

Six Fours

2009-01-08T22:56:00.000-08:00

Since everyone in my family has tagged me on this (I think) I figured I better do it. Steve is playing Wii, Simon is sleeping, and I should be washing dishes, but if Steve gets to have fun, so do I!!!

Six Fours
1. Four places that I go to over and over? Work, my bed, the couch, the water fountain

2. Four people who e-mail me regularly? I would have to actually check my e-mail to know, let me log in and see... babytobee.com, babycenter.com, Donielle, work stuff from Rich and Mary.

3. Four of my favorite places to eat? Little Caesar's, Panda Express, Bangkok Cuisine, India Kebab,

4. Four other places I would rather be right now? In bed, on vacation, at any of my family members houses (But especially Leslie, no offense to my other sisters, I really want to see my niece and nephew), Steve says in Malta

5. Four people I think will respond? no one, everyone has done it already!

6. Four TV shows I watch? Heroes, used to watch Lost and would like to finish, that's it, and Heroes is online. We don't have cable or even bunny ears.

HI!!

2009-01-08T20:11:00.000-08:00

I just really quickly wanted to say hi and let you all know I am still alive. I am working again (40 hours) and am super exhausted, I feel like I can never get enough sleep and a m very tired (hence the no blogs for three weeks). Steve is on winter break and goes to Death Valley next week for a geology class, the whole class is 2 credits and involves 4 days of being gone camping in Death Valley and not really sure what else but he needs hiking boots and it sounds fun. Simon is as good as ever, he has gotten to spend a lot of time with his daddy and enjoys coming to see me during lunch so we can eat lunch together. He is currently going to daycare two times a week :( and a babysitter once a week. I hate it and it makes me very sad. Once every few days he will take his bottle, when he doesn't he cries all day (poor Steve) and then eats non-stop when I get home. I have been home an hour and a half and he is already eating for the third time, and he eats for a long time! He is such a mommy's boy and it breaks my heart to leave him every morning. We had a wonderful Christmas and maybe if I have the time and energy I will post about it later.

Christmas at our house!

2008-12-19T13:00:00.001-08:00

Snow!!

2008-12-13T11:57:00.000-08:00

It snowed last night! Yay!!!! It finally feels like it is almost Christmas. That's all for now, hope I didn't disappoint too much with the short post, later today I will add some pictures if the snow doesn't melt before then.

Finals Week!

2008-12-11T16:15:00.000-08:00

Today is the first day of Steve's finals week. I have to take a second to brag about my husband, I am so proud of him, he has just been an amazing husband, dad, and student. Steve is taking some really hard classes this semester including chemistry- yuck, and Anatomy. We made a deal that if he gets all A's in his classes then he can buy an XBOX 360 at the end of the semester. Well, we already bought the Xbox because we found a really good deal, so he better get all A's. I have no doubt that he will, so far he has gotten A's and even some 100's on his tests throughout the semester. The past couple of weeks Steve has been staying on campus late to study because it's been kind of hard for him to study at home, which has been hard on me because I am at home all day long, and I really come to miss my husband. But as soon as he walks in the door after a long day of work, studying, and school, he is the Dad and Simon is his. They play together for the rest of the night. Last night I actually ditched Steve to run to WalMart for a minute, and he stayed home with Simon who has been really cranky. So cranky Steve even had to give him a bottle, luckily I have lots of milk stored up in the freezer. But anyways, I am so proud of Steve. He has been doing such a good job with his schoolwork and still finding time in his busy hectic schedule to play with his son and take care of his wife, and even get straight A's in his classes. I know he can pull off all A's, in one class he just has to get at least a 64% to get an A in the class... I don't think that will be a problem. So here's to Steve and final's week, and getting straight A's to earn the Xbox 360 we already bought!!

UPDATE: Steve just called me and he got a 94 on his Anatomy final!!!!!

Some Firsts

2008-12-08T17:27:00.000-08:00

First bath- very unhappy

First Swing ride

Simon Santa

2008-12-08T16:55:00.001-08:00

Cindy and Amy bought Simon and Zane these little Santa suits. Cindy wanted to use her two new grandbabies for her Christmas cards so we got them all dressed up and did a little photo shoot. Sadly, by the time we had both babies ready to take pictures, they became quite unhappy and were both crying, hence the pictures with the fingers in their mouths. Kristy and I would stick our finger in our baby's mouth, and once they both stopped crying we would count to three then her and I would pull out our finger and duck so everyone else could take pictures. When I first found out about the Santa suits I have to admit I was a little skeptical and thought it was kinda cheesy, but once I saw them in their outfits, it was adorable. I love my little Simon-man, he is just the cutest baby ever!!! And little Zane is cute, sadly he lost one of his little booties, so he ended up going barefoot, but he is just so cute and tiny. Simon and Zane are cousins, Zane belongs to Steve's sister Kristy and he was born 10 days after Simon!

Have I had a full life??

2008-12-02T12:37:00.000-08:00

49 so far, 52 if I cheat. The bold ones are things I've done. I stole this from one of my sister's old roommates. Once I go to Europe I can check off several more. I think I have had a full life, what do you think??
1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris -in Las Vegas!!
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run -on the Wii
32. Been on a cruise -does a ferry ride for a few days count??
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job- kinda, I couldn't work anymore because I wasn't a student, and had no warning that it would be happening
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Totally copied a post from someone else's blog to your own

More pictures of Simon, finally!

2008-11-20T22:07:00.000-08:00

I think I have the most handsome beautiful baby ever, and here are more pictures of him. Just enough to spike some curiosity and satisfy those who might be wondering what he looks like now that he is almost two weeks old! and then a link to my facebook album with even more pictures of him!

These first two are my favorite, I was laying on the couch and he was laying on my chest and moved his arm over his face, and it was just adorable and beautiful, and perfect lighting, so I had to take a picture of him from my viewpoint.

This next one we were getting ready to go to pie day I think, he looked so cute in this hat even though its way too big, and then he kinda half smiled, I love it!!

Taking Simon for his first walk in the stroller, in the background is the duplex we live in.

Getting his first "bath" a sponge bath, he was not happy!

Daddy holding Simon, he looked so cute with his little finger in his mouth

Steve and Mel at Pie Day, they traded babies and seemed quite content with the others baby.

Me and Steve taking Simon for a walk (mom was taking the picture and went with us)

Simon was wearing a sleeper that said "First Teddy" on it, so we had to take pictures of him with his first teddy, given to him at the hospital from Great Grandparents Buccambuso

Blah

2008-11-19T15:50:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to post something new because I haven't for a while, but I really don't have anything to say. Every day just kinda blurs into the next one, the only way I can tell what day it is is if I think really hard about what time Steve gets home. Tonight it's not until 9, which means it is a Wednesday. Right now I feel like life is a blur of trying to sleep, feedings, and just sitting on the couch. I don't do a whole lot, but I am just exhausted all the time. I have been recovering very well, I can walk around great, without any pain or soreness, I feel really good physically, I am just so tired all the time. We are very lucky to have a baby who will sleep from when we go to bed at about midnight until 4 or 5 in the morning before he needs a feeding.
I am very fortunate to have my mom staying here, she helps out a lot with Simon, changing him, and holding him so I can have a little time for myself, and then she is just taking care of me in general, I feel very spoiled. She has been making meals for us, cleaning, doing dishes and laundry, helping us get organized, preparing my plate at lunch and dinner and bringing it to me at the couch, refilling my water, bringing me my phone, just all kinds of stuff, I feel like a little princess who can't do anything on her own, but I am very grateful I have such a wonderful mom here taking care of me, and a husband who is so excited to see his son at the end of the day. As soon as Steve walks in the door and puts down his backpack, Simon is his for pretty much the rest of the night. Steve wakes up in the middle of the night, gets Simon out of his bassinet and passes him to me for feedings. I don't how he is doing so well in school right now but am glad that he is, and am glad that he can and wants to spend so much time with his son during the evenings.
Today mom and I were getting ready to go on a walk and had a nice surprise, Steve came home for a little break!! So he got to go for a little walk with us. Part way through Simon got a little fussy because he was tired, so Steve took him out of the stroller and carried him the rest of the way. He is just so cute with his little son. And now he is in the kitchen making me lunch when he should be studying between classes, my husband is smart, incredible, handsome, and the best father ever!

Baby contests

2008-11-16T10:55:00.000-08:00

Cindy won the contest for when Simon would be born.
Steve and his Grandma both guessed the right weight.

In other news, I think I am going to start a new blog on being a mom where I can complain or talk about things most people won't really want to hear about like breastfeeding, and leaking, that type of stuff.

More pictures of Simon

2008-11-13T09:36:00.000-08:00

I made a photo album of pictures of Simon on facebook. You can see it HERE! I am posting a couple of them on this page for kicks, but if you want to see them all go to the facebook link, it's public so you can see it even if you don't have facebook.
THIS ONE is more of the labor, delivery, and recovery.

I am still alive!! and I had a baby!

2008-11-10T14:09:00.000-08:00

To make a really long story short... Friday morning I woke up at 2:23 a.m. because I was feeling contractions. I tried to go back to sleep all morning but couldn't because I was just really uncomfortable because I was having labor pains and having really bad back labor and couldn't get comfortable . So I kind of relaxed and got stuff ready for the hopsital until my scheduled doctor's appointment at 9:15 that morning. At my appointment my doctor said I was dilated to a four and would be heading to the hospital, but she wouldn't be coming with me because she was about to leave to go out of town for the weekend. So we left, ran over to Jack-In-The-Box for our last meal as just a couple, and then went to the hospital. We got all checked in, went to a labor and delivery room, and stayed there for hours and hours and hours. Doctor Enrico came in about 11 a.m. and broke my water to get things started and then left because the on-call doctor was suposed to be heading over, and he just happened to be there doing a delivery. About 1 o'clock I was in so much pain I wanted an epidural. Never got it. So I was in active labor and dilated to a ten. About 3 o'clock it was still just us and our awesome nurse Yvonne, and it was time to start pushing (still no doctor). So I pushed for 40 minutes with the nurse with my mom and Steve coaching and holding my legs for me. No progress. The baby wasn't descending and he was facing the wrong way (sunnyside up). So we waited, because there still wasn't a doctor. I was in major pain with the back labor and was not very happy. I kept saying "give me and epidural and cut this thing out of me!" So about 5:30 the doctor shows up, decides its time for me to try pushing (ok already done that, it doesn't work) so we all got it postition he felt for the baby had me push and said the baby isn't going to come out he's stuck in the pelvis, we need to do a c-section. Thank You!! So Steve got changed into scrubs, they gave me drugs to stop the contractions which made me shake really really bad, took me into the OR and got me prepped. I got a spinal- most amazing thing in the whole world!!! I was so happy and smiley in the Operating Room, a completely different person the non-drugged up person I was just a few minutes before. Twenty minutes later Simon Stephen Buccambuso was born. (Although at first his name was Andrew, but we changed it)

Simon Stephen Buccambuso
November 7th, 2008 5:52 P.M
7 lbs. 2 oz. 21 inches
Brown hair Blue eyes (so far)

"Heelarious" and other ridiculous things

2008-11-02T22:27:00.000-08:00

I saw these, and am so disgusted by them I feel it is necessary to share them with everyone. Heelarious Heels is what they are called, and these ones I came across advertised on craigslist for 0-6 month old babies. Babies!! High heels for babies!! I just think they are utterly disgusting and disturbing, but perhaps there are some out there that think they are cute??? Let me know what you think, I am just so blown away with these things and appalled by them. I can't even really say anything, I just stared at the computer monitor and shook my head and made Steve come over and look at them because I had nothing to say about them. Seriously, what do you guys think about them? Would you buy them for your little girl or a friends girl? If you like them, good for you, someone has to like them and buy them or they wouldn't make them, that someone is just not me. Oh, and they have a website where you can buy them. heelarious.com

So after I posted this originally I continued looking on craigslist for stuff and came across this Jeep pet stroller. There was a lady in the store the other day with one of these things, hers was hot pink. This is just ridiculous though, I thought it was bad enough that people would bring their pets into a furniture store, some loose, some on leashes, then I saw people with pets sticking out the top of their purse, or in their own little doggie carrying bag, and now they even have strollers for pets!! Honestly, what type of dog needs a stroller, can't it walk? Ugh. This second one is more like I saw at my store the other day. I googled pet stroller, and under images alone came up with 101,000 results. This brings a whole new meaning to taking your dog for a walk.

Pumpkin Carving

2008-11-01T10:48:00.000-07:00

On Monday we had FHE at Mel and Jared's house. We carved pumpkins, and by we I mean most people, I helped scoop them out, then separated out all of the seeds so I could cook them, and then I left them at all at Mel's house. Whoops. Here are some pictures from that, but first I will post one of my Halloween "costume" that I wore to work. I knew none of my coworkers were going to dress up and I didn't want to be the only one dressed up so I semi-dressed up. I cut out the shapes and taped them on my shirt when I got to work.

My little "Jack"-o-Lantern (baby's name might end up being Jack)
Notice the little green stem or leaf in my hair

Steve starting on his huge pumpkin

Cindy showing Steve her finished product

It's Obama!

Cindy's Obama pumpkin

Renee's traditional cute jack-o-lantern

Mike's scary artistic pumpkin

Steve's asian pumpkin complete with Fu Manchu

The whole line up

Pregnancy Pictures: Week 37

2008-10-26T23:06:00.000-07:00

Yep, still pregnant. Here are some pictures we took today.

Still not that big considering I only have 2 1/2 weeks left.

I made it through almost entire pregnancy with no stretch marks on my belly. About two weeks ago these appeared. They really aren't that bad, and you can barely see them in the picture, it's just mostly the bottom half of my stomach going in circles around my belly button. Although they have faded some the past couple of days, it still kind of makes me sad, I made it so far, but I shouldn't complain, these are nothing on what some people got.

Pumpkin Patch Date

2008-10-26T22:27:00.000-07:00

A couple of Fridays ago, on the 17th, Steve and I went on a date!! We went to a pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins, and also went through the corn maze at the place, Ferrari Farms! This was my first time ever going to a pumpkin patch (that I can remember) and it was a lot of fun, although the pumpkins at these places are EXPENSIVE! or maybe I am just cheap. Steve's pumpkin cost $8 and mine was $2. Then it was $5 each to go through the corn maze, I think the maze was a reasonable price. The corn maze was not scary, the paths were very narrow, and after some searching we finally found the end!! After the pumpkin patch we went out to dinner at the Grand Sierra buffet, yummy! It was a very fun date. On the way we bought a wind-up flashlight which worked way good, I was very impressed! We had tons of fun and enjoyed our little fall date together and hope to start this as a family tradition. Anyways, enjoy the pictures!!

Heritage Makers

2008-10-21T18:37:00.000-07:00

So, last night I went out to eat with my best friend Christy, we went to Washoe, a steakhouse, and I think it was probably the best steak I have ever had, it was perfect and delicious. But, that's not what this blog is about.
Christy is a consultant for Heritage Makers and they make personalized books, cards, calendars, and other cool stuff, so while we were at dinner she showed me her latest book which is about her pregnancy with her son Joshua, and it was very cool. Basically, if you want to make a book you use this program they have to custom-make everything or use already made templates, and then they send you your book! Or if you are into digital scrapbooking, but want to put your 12x12 pages into a traditional scrapbook, you can just print out your 12x12 digital pages. They are perfect if you like the idea of scrapbooking but don't want to deal with the mess, and they are also beautiful wonderful quality hardbound books. I love these books, and wanted to put out a little blurb for Christy and what it is she does. She does workshops to teach other people how to do online storybooking, and does them online and at people's homes.
I will be hosting a workshop sometime in November (just in time for the holiday season, I think these books can make a perfect gift for family members and friends), depending on when baby comes, so if you are interested please let me know and I will let you know when it is. Anyways, Christy will do a much better job letting you know what it is she does, so here is a link to her storyteller blog and her heritage makers website to see what it is all about! I also have a link to her own blog on the left side of my page.
http://beastoryteller.blogspot.com/
http://www.heritagemakers.com/245975

Photo Tag

2008-10-19T13:52:00.000-07:00

You are supposed to look in your photos on your computer and post your 4th photo in your 4th folder and tell what is going on in that picture.

"Gene Simmons and His Studded Package"

I thought this was too hilarious, and wanted to die when I opened up our pictures to figure out what the winner would be. Totally not representative in any way of the pictures we take, but that's what it was. Too funny if you ask me. So our 4th folder is Steve's pictures from his disposable camera when we went to Seattle. This was at the Experience Music Project. This is an outfit that Gene Simmons from KISS wore.
I tag: Arielle, Mom, Erin, and Jodi.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

2008-10-10T20:58:00.000-07:00

Today it snowed all day long. Not kidding. I loved it. I went outside for a second just to stand in the snow, and it made me very giddy and giggly. I am really excited for winter now. I think it was especially nice because they were the big fat wet snowflakes, and it was still pretty warm outside, so it was just perfect kind of like a cold spring rainstorm. Don't worry though, it will be back in the 70s next week!
Here is a news video on the weather today, hopefully the link works ok.
http://www.ktvn.com/global/video/flash/popupplayer.asp?ClipID1=3014229&h1=Local%20Friday%20Night%20Weather%20at%20Your%20Desk&vt1=v&at1=Weather&d1=243167&LaunchPageAdTag=Homepage&activePane=info&rnd=3786936

Baby Shower

2008-10-07T18:59:00.000-07:00

On Saturday afternoon my sister-in-law Melanie threw me a baby shower. It was so much fun, and had very very good food, fun games, and cute decorations. It had a fall theme, and it was a perfect beautiful fall day. It even "showered" right when the shower was starting kinda cute I thought. Lots of people showed up (family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers) and I got lots of good presents. Thanks a lot to Melanie for throwing the shower and to Jared (her husband) who helped her out a lot, and everyone who came and helped in other ways!

Melanie got me a bunch of onesies plus the shower, they looked so cute over the fireplace!

My due date!

All of the yummy food Melanie prepared. She made a butternut soup-delicious!!!!

Caramel Apples

Some of the guests- Aunt Donielle and Candella, Vicki, and Marie Cousin Matthew, Nicole, Melanie, and Grandma, Renee standing

This gift is from Cindy, it is actually the outfit Steve was blessed in as a baby.

From Steve's Grandma, a baby book and blanket that she knitted.

Cute snowman pajamas with snowflakes on the feet and another one that said "SMILE" from Monica

A high chair from Cindy and Mike

Nicole and Me eating the good food.

Me with the presents!Renee and I with the presents

There are more pictures but I forgot to turn the flash on on my camera and they turned out a little blurry, so those will be in a photo album on facebook sometime in the near future...

Baby-ness

2008-10-02T18:40:00.000-07:00

Quite a while ago someone (I think maybe one of Steve's sisters) decided we needed to have predictions for when the baby would come and how much he will weigh. I have had the list on a bulletin board in our room since then, and am finally going to publish it for all to see. Right now it only has Steve's family on it, and my mom, so if other people want to put in predictions I will add them, but only people who will be in Reno are eligible for the prize, sorry but I don't want to send a candy bar in the mail! The winner, which is whoever is the closest to the real date he comes, will win a Baby Ruth candy bar. And also whoever is closest to how much he weighs will win a Baby Ruth candy Bar. Just a little background info. I weighed 7 lbs 11 1/2 oz. Steve weighed 7 lbs 13 oz. Not sure about how early or late we were, but I think we were both a little bit early. My official due date is November 12th, but when they did that first ultrasound the tech said it looked closer to November 6th, but its not enough of a difference to change the date, and then they say plus or minus two weeks anyways. But almost everyone thinks he is coming early and hoping for Halloween or Nevada Day as it is called here. We will see. Here are the predictions (names are as I know people not how baby will know them), wish I could put them in a calendar, but I'm not that high-tech.
Wednesday October 29- Melanie
Thursday October 30-
Friday October 31- Grandma (Naomi)
Saturday November 1- Grandpa (John)
Sunday November 2-
Monday November 3- Kristy
Tuesday November 4-
Wednesday November 5- Renee
Thursday November 6- Jodi
Friday November 7- CindyMom
Saturday November 8- Mom (Cathy)
Sunday November 9- Amy
Monday Novemer 10-
Tuesday November 11- Mike
Wednesday November 12- Official Due Date
Thursday November 13- Kari (ME!)
Friday November 14- Leslie
Saturday November 15-
Sunday November 16-
Monday November 17- Steve
*It's interesting that Steve and I are the only ones that guessed anything past my due date, perhaps everyone else is quite anxious for this and reality is hitting us that we aren't quite ready yet... Like my sister Leslie says, they are a lot easier to take care of when they are inside of you then out.

And For the weight guesses, a separate competition.

6 lbs 5 oz- Renee
6 lbs 6 oz- Mike
6 lbs 9 oz- Grandpa
6 lbs 13 oz- Cindy
7 lbs 2 oz- Steve and Grandma
7 lb 5 oz- Amy
7 lb 6 oz- Jodi
7 lb 7 oz- Melanie
7 lb 8 oz- Mom
7 lb 9 oz- Leslie
7 lb 11 oz- Kristy
8 lb 3 oz- Me
*What kind of person guesses a weight this high for herself, you would think I hate my self or something, I should be wanting like 6 lbs or something little!

And one last little note... Baby names... coming soon, a topic I am bitter about so it will get its own post.

New Background

2008-10-01T19:09:00.000-07:00

I have a new background!! I found out that even though I have a background from a different website, I can still customize the colors of my text and stuff, so I have been messing around with that for a while. What do you think? Are all of the different colors too much? I love fall. We have one tree at the end of the street that has already changed colors, and the others are soon to follow I am sure. It has cooled down significantly, and this is what I consider perfect weather. Warm during the day and just cool enough in the evenings that all you need is a long sleeved shirt. Not cold enough for heat or warm for AC. I love it!!!

Christmas Advent Calendar

2008-10-01T18:16:00.000-07:00

So at Sunday dinner Melanie was talking about how she found the avon advent (is it an advent calendar if it doesn't have candy in it?) calendar on Ebay that their family had growing up and she bought one, and I decided that I wanted one too. My family had the same calendar to count down until Christmas and Steve had it too so I thought it would be especially cool to have one since we both had it growing up. So I went on to ebay, found the calendar and then did the make an offer option to buy my very own. It ended up being 22.80 with shipping and handling, I think I probably could have gotten it for 20.80 but oh well. I paid less than the guy was asking, and less than their starting auction bid if I was to buy it from the store that way. It should come in a couple of days!! I am super excited to have a family tradition for our little family that we both grew up with, and think it was totally worth the money I spent on it! If you are interested in buying one I got it from the seller twiceirish511 or search for "Vintage Avon Christmas Countdown Calendar with Mouse"

Picture from http://www.crwflags.com/page0383.html who also sells the calendar, they say its $10 plus at least $7 for shipping, and their slightly confusing page made it look an additional $7.50 for paying with your credit card... not sure though, so that could be a cheaper route to go...

I'm Sick! :(

2008-09-26T08:56:00.001-07:00

So I am just wondering if anyone has any really good home/herbal remedies for colds. I have a major killer cold right now and it is making me miserable. I have cough syrup but it's really hard for me to take, and I don't really like taking drugs especially since I am pregnant. So if any of you know of any good things I can do, please please let me know!!

World's Largest Ice Cream Social

2008-09-25T20:31:00.000-07:00

Tonight Steve and I went to the World's Largest Ice Cream Social at Cold Stone. We were all about the free ice cream so we went to two different places to get some, and we were able to both have our own helping of each flavor and didn't even have to share! We did donate money though at each place for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Thanks to Leslie who was my source of info on this wonderful promotion. Here are the details about it off of the Cold Stone website:

Celebrate the 7th Annual World's Largest Ice Cream Social and Support the Make-A-Wish Foundation® with Cold Stone Creamery

Throughout the month of September, Cold Stone Creamery will be selling Make-A-Wish wall stars to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation, an organization that grants wishes to children with life-threatening medical conditions. Be sure to visit your local Cold Stone Creamery to try two new flavors, Nutter Butter^® and Marshmallow, and the very special “Make-A-Wish Creations” inspired by Jack and Emily, two Wish Children.

Jack's Creation - Marshmallow ice cream with OREO® Cookies, Chocolate Chips and Fudge
Emily's Creation - Nutter Butter® ice cream with White Chocolate Chips, Kit Kat® and Yellow Cake

To cap off this special month, don't miss the 7th Annual World’s Largest Ice Cream Social at participating Cold Stone Creamery locations nationwide, a special night to join together and share the simple pleasures of life with a FREE ice cream and family fun. On September 25th from 5:00 - 8:00PM, guests will be treated to a 3 oz. serving of Jack or Emily's Creation. All donations will benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Tagged by Arielle

2008-09-23T22:32:00.000-07:00

So the questions can only be responded to with one word answers.

1. Where is your cell phone? recliner
2. Your significant other? Steve
3. Your hair? curly
4. Your mother? silly
5. Your father? Papa-bear
6. Your favorite thing? ice cream
7. Your dream last night? nonexistent
8 Your favorite drink? water
9. Your dream/goal? Stay-at-home-mom
10. The room you’re in? living
11. Your hobby? sleeping
12. Your fear? the dark
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? family
14. What you’re not? tall
15. Muffins? blueberry
16. One of your wish list items? WiiFit
17. Where you grew up? everywhere
18. The last thing you did? walk
19. What are you wearing? PJS!
20. Favorite gadget? body pillow
21. Your pets? MoJoNo
22. Your computer? ill-situated
23.Your mood? sleepy
24. Missing someone? family
25.Your car? new brakes!
26. Something you’re not wearing? earrings
27. Favorite store? Ross
28. Like someone? Steve
29. Your favorite color? blue
30. When is the last time you laughed? today
31. Last time you cried? today

I tag: Whoever wants to do it! My family might kill me if I keep tagging them on these things!

Pregnancy Pictures: Week 32 (and other baby stuff)

2008-09-18T21:51:00.000-07:00

Sorry these are a little blurry, I don't know what was up with our camera.

Still no stretchmarks (on the belly at least), and yes my belly button has "popped" I officially have an outie!
Lately, whenever I am out and people ask how long I have left I tell them two months (I'm due November 12th) and for some reason I always get the same reaction. Gasp, oh my goodness, are you serious, ohhh, I'm sorry, something along those lines. For some reason people are very shocked I still have 8 weeks left and they all think I am about ready to pop. I know I am very skinny, and my belly is very big, but still, it's not that big!! I think 8 weeks isn't long enough, that is so soon to me!! And everyone thinks he is going to be 2 weeks early, so that would mean only 6 weeks left! I am definitely not ready for that yet, and am not uncomfortable yet, so I am fine with baby bucc hanging out for a while longer, it seems so soon, but I am starting to feel more prepared as far as baby stuff is concerned.
We now have a bassinet with lots of extra sheets (thank you Uncle Mike and Aunt Donielle), a whole drawer of my dresser full of 0-3 clothes, other size clothes, some cute stuffed animals I bought at Cost Plus World Market, a car seat and two bases (thank you Tanya and Christy for getting it from her to me), some blankets, towels, washcloths, a baby bath, baby wipes (but not diapers yet I love costco we have a ton of wipes), a diaper pail, some baby toy/gym type things, a boppy type nursing pillow, and a huge comfy pregnancy body pillow that is my favorite thing in the world (who knew what a difference those can make!!) And I haven't even had a baby shower yet!!! Most of the stuff came from Uncle Mike and Aunt Donielle, and Steve and I are very grateful for everything they gave us, it felt like a baby shower on its own because there was so much wonderful stuff!!! My baby shower is on October 4th at 1 p.m. and Melanie is hosting it, I am very excited, she is going to throw a fun party and she has been spending a lot of time planning it for a the last couple of months.

The Five

2008-09-17T18:56:00.000-07:00

(No one actually tagged me, but I have read it and considered myself tagged, because for once I actually want to fill out one of these)

10 years ago I was:
1. Thirteen years old.
2. In eighth grade
3. I had a huge crush on Travis McKown
4. A major band geek and dork in general
5. Living in Clarksville, TN.

5 things on my list today:
1. Finish Ashley inventory
2. Make dinner for Steve before he gets home
3. Relax
4. Quiz Steve for his test tomorrow
5. Go on a walk

5 snacks I enjoy:
1. Pringles (the smart chip ones with less calories), or any chips really.
2. Ice Cream!!!
3. Chocolate, well sugar in general!
4. Fresh fruit
5. Rice Cakes (believe it or not I am trying to be semi-healthy while pregnant)

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire:
1. Buy a nice house, an older one with a lot of character and a library
2. Buy some more properties
3. Get a nice car with no mechanical problems- I maybe would splurge and get my dream car too, a Lotus Exige, possibly in Isotope Green seen here!

4. Donate to some really good charities (and pay tithing, lots and lots of tithing)

5. Travel!! Everywhere!! I would like to see Africa, and Australia, and New Zealand, and Iceland. and lots of places in South America, and even Antarctica just to say I've been there, and I would like to pay for my parents to be able to come with us on some of the trips like to Peru to hike the Inca Trail.

5 places I have lived:
1. Fairbanks, AK
2. Fayetteville, NC
3. Golconda, IL (not technically in town, so how about Pope County)
4. Provo, UT
5. Reno, NV

5 jobs I have had:
1. Babysitting
2. BYU Catering
3. Provo Marriott Hotel and Conference Center
4. Ashley Furniture Homestore
5. Comfort Keepers

I tag:
1.Steve
2. Leslie
3. Mom
4.Heather
5. Arielle- then maybe she will update her blog (hint hint)

Scary Movies

2008-09-17T18:45:00.000-07:00

I have recently (tonight) come to realize that I do not like scary movies. Steve has been wanting to watch I am Legend the past few nights and I keep putting it off, but since it's the movie we have from Blockbuster right now we have to watch it, right? So Steve is watching I am Legend, and I am catching up on everyone's blogs. It's not even really a very scary movie but it just makes me really anxious and nervous and my heart is beating faster and all tense feeling, and I don't like it. So scary movies, not really for me. Which is weird, I used to like them. Erin and I would stay up and watch a couple of scary movies in one night sometimes when she was living in Provo but we would always follow the scary ones with a light-hearted movie I think to help us sleep better. For some reason I really let movies get to me. Even Jurassic Park as a kid, I would always sleep completely under the covers after watching because I was afraid the dinosaurs would get me in my sleep (I was 8, dinosaurs shouldn't scare me that bad). Anyways, there is a glimpse for all of you into the pansy-ness of me. Not very scary movies scare me a lot, and make it hard for me to sleep for a few nights afterwards.
As an added note: I think a lot of the reason I get scared easily is from watching way too much X-Files growing up, that show will scare you for life! I remember when we lived in North Carolina the tv was downstairs (like 7 steps down) and at the end of the night whoever was the last one out would have to turn off the light before heading upstairs. Whenever I had to do it I would turn off the light and run up the stairs as quickly as I could into where it was light because I was scared something would get me.
Which reminds me of this movie about the tooth fairy called Darkness Falls. "Stay in the light and you stay alive." That movie had me scared of the dark for months, and maybe still does. Leslie and I were living together when we watched at Erin's place and man, anytime we were in the dark Leslie would say, "stay in the light and you'll stay alive," and I would freak out and scream and run or turn on the lights. That one scared for me a long time, and I think to this day when Leslie and I are together she will still say this to me just to watch me freak out.

Scholarship

2008-09-13T21:04:00.000-07:00

So when Steve and I got home tonight, he checked the mailbox and there was an envelope from UNR in it. He opened it and found a check for a nice sum of money. No letter, no explanation or anything, but he got another scholarship! My smart, smart husband, I am so proud of him for doing amazing in school. This semester is going to be his hardest so far because it is his last semester before he can apply to nursing school and he HAS to get straight A's. He is taking Anatomy, Microbiology, Chemistry, and I can't remember what else, and we will be having a baby just about the time he has several midterms to take, and then he will be finishing the semester with a crying baby at home. Poor Steve, but he is brilliant and I know he is going to well in all of his classes, and I know this check will help a lot because he has been stressing about finances and how we are going to survive when I'm not working for a month or two. But I am very proud of Steve for how well he has done in school so far and that he is able to qualify for these random scholarships he gets sometimes. He is so stinking smart and a hard worker, and I know he will do awesome this semester!

Ultrasound Pictures

2008-09-11T19:40:00.000-07:00

On Monday I had a doctor's appointment (which will now happen every two weeks ugh) and for $20 we could do another ultrasound, so we (me mostly I really wanted to) decided to go ahead and do another, basically just to make sure it really is a boy before I go to crazy buying stuff, and just kinda to make sure everything was going good. Our baby is so stinking cute already! The doctor said he has his daddy's nose, I figure we both have huge noses so its hard to tell, but I like Steve's better and think it isn't so large as mine is. Baby buck looks so cute and sweet and angelic, I think he is going to be very sweet like his dad and enjoy being at quiet places. Anyways, here are the pictures!! I took pictures of the printout with our camera, and think they turned out pretty good. Captions are under each picture.

The right half of the picture is our baby's face, forehead is in shadow then you can see two eyes a nose, and a tiny little mouth and chin, then his chest. (He is laying on his side)

The top of his head, his nose, and his little fist!!

Face again centered in the middle picture on his side, you can see his forehead in the shadow area, and then you can see one of his eyes in the light area and his nose and chubby cheeks.

This one is deeper inside, you can actually see his brain (the black area with white squiggles) and then an eye (the small black circle) and a light spot where his nose is. his head fills the whole frame.

These are his little legs!! His knees are on the left and then his legs go towards the upper right corner. His man stuff can actually be seen between his two legs!And you probably don't want to know what this is, and probably can't tell, but its his man stuff. He is definitely a he!!!!

Random Plants

2008-09-07T15:12:00.000-07:00

So I was very curious about what type of tree the pink flowering one was that I took pictures of on the California and I discovered what it is! It is a Chorisia Speciosa or floss-silk tree. I am not sure what variety mine is, because it doesn't have thorns on the trunk like most do, but there are some thornless varieties.
http://www.killerplants.com/plant-of-the-week/20031201.asp
Also, I was talking to my sister Leslie about her mystery squash in her garden and even though I haven't seen it, I am going to try to figure out what it is. SHe told me it is pale green like the color of a honeydew, but oblong, about 12 inches long and 12 inches in circumference (around). I have decided it is actually a spaghetti squash! Just a green one instead of the typical yellow we are familiar with. I never knew spaghetti squash were different colors, but it makes sense. This one will have white flesh. Pretty cool if you ask me, but then again I am a bit of a nerd and like to know and post about random things like what different plants are. Leslie, let me know if this is what it looks like, if not, I will invesigate more! This picture from wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaghetti_squash

My New Nephew

2008-08-26T19:01:00.000-07:00

My sister Leslie had a baby today! She and Carl welcomed Bryant Maxwell Stratton into this world at 8:41 a.m. He weighed 7 lbs 15 oz and is 20 1/4 inches long. This is my and Steve's first nephew! He is a cutie. For pictures and more info go to Leslie's blog (on the left under family blogs) I just got to talk to Leslie on the phone and she is doing great and Abigail is loving being a big sister and all she wants to do is hold her baby brother!

Shopping (again)

2008-08-25T23:58:00.001-07:00

Steve and I went to Ross tonight because after looking at ads earlier I decided this was a good time for him to buy a couple new ties, so after talking about it we headed to Ross instead of a department store because they are so cheap. We bought Steve two new ties, and I, being the impulse buyer I have been lately, bought a new apron (I'm addicted, I now have 6!) and a cute pair of shoes I accidentally found in the kids section. They are supposedly size 4 1/2 but they fit on my foot normally a 7 and Mel put them on too, normally an 8 I think. Interesting. Good thing I bought them or some little girl would have found them for back to school and cried when they didn't fit her. Things I love about my new stuff: the rick-rack on the apron, the beads on the bats eyes, and the heart-shaped buckles on my shoes!

Swimming in the Ocean

2008-08-25T18:50:00.000-07:00

On Sunday Steve and I flew into Ontario, California, got a rental car and drove to the ocean. We drove to Newport beach and then drove down the Pacific Coast Highway to Laguna Beach where we stopped to go swimming at Crystal Cove State Park, it was a blast! The temperature was in the upper 70s, it was a little hazy in the morning, but it cleared up by afternoon and we got to enjoy the beautiful mild Southern California weather! We had tons of fun, had a little picnic on the beach, swam in the ocean, and then drove back to the airport and flew home. We left at 7 am and were back home by 8 that night. It was soo much fun, and the most relaxing day we have had for a long time, and well deserved especially since Steve starts the toughest semester of his college career today. It was the perfect ending to summer! We might do it again next week!

The beach we normally go to- Lake Tahoe
While we were flying, Steve said we should flying over Yosemite soon, we looked out the window and right then, sure enough, we were flying over Yosemite, Half Dome was underneath us, but you can see El Capitan in the pictures, it's on the right side of the canyon.

Rich people's houses in Laguna Beach

Steve getting ready to go swimming

The Pacific Ocean

A really cool house on a bluff above where we were swimming

More rich people's houses

The beach we swam at, the house pictured above is on the cliff where you can see the top of a big rounded tree

Steve after we went swimming

Pretty flowers on a tree

More of the flowers

Esteban!

Me all pregnant and windblown

Some really nice car, not sure what it is

Another picture of the beach where we were swimming, this one taken from the car while driving

Palm Trees!

More Palm Trees and the Pacific Ocean!

I went shopping today...

2008-08-22T22:15:00.001-07:00

I went to Ross today to kill time after work and bought a few new tops for myself, one outfit for baby, some cute Wilton cookie cutters for Halloween, and this fabulous pitcher that was only $4! I only took pictures of the pitcher and cookie cutters. Maybe someday there will be pictures of me and baby in our outfits.

Steve's 27th Birthday

2008-08-20T22:42:00.000-07:00

August 19th was Steve's real birthday, but the 20th is when we had the party. I got to be in charge of it, which makes sense because I am his wife, but I wasn't expecting to because normally Steve's mom does everyone's party. So I planned his party, wasn't so sure how it was going to turn out, but actually was fun. I brought him home balloons as a surprise on his birthday since we didn't do anything really that day! And his birthday party was pirate-themed complete with pirate-ship pinata!

Steve in his pirate mask with balloons I brought home to him on his b-day

Another picture of the balloons, I was really excited about them

Some decorations (they weren't as cool as I wanted because I ran out of time decorating, there were supposed to be crepe-paper streamers everywhere)

Me working on the cake. I made a German chocolate cake (per Steve's request) and it almost was a disaster. My first real cake experience, the first layer split into four pieces when I took it out of the pan and flipped it (I didn't cut the top off to make it flat first). Then I started the second cake for the top layer and forgot to grease the pan, whoops. It actually did come out of the pan, in one piece, just had a crack down the middle, but turned out nice, then I covered it in frosting and no one could even tell I screwed it up so bad! Next year's will be better.

Me in my cute apron Mel gave me for my birthday, and Grandma who kept me company in the kitchen while I was destroying the cake.

The cool pirate-ship pinata and the pirate masks

Steve with the pinata

Most of the family on our new sectional!

Steve's presents and the awesome parrot I bought for decorations!

Steve's cake, see it turned out okay... right? The frosting was really darker green.

Renee and I bringing the cake to the birthday boy!

He got them all in one breath, hope he wished for something really good!

Wok and kitchen tools from Melanie and Jared

Root Beers

Crayons, Indiana Jones coloring book, and pirate sword and gun

Most of the family in our intimidating pirate masks!

Mike and Melanie

Amy, Renee, Melanie, and Me. Scary pirates, don't mess with us!

Me getting the pinata ready to get busted open!

Steve ready to attack the pinata and get his "booty" or loot.

There he goes, he actually had his eyes closed and everyone in the house was scared because were doing the pinata in the house (it was too dark out and we wouldn't have been able to see the candy when it broke)

Reno Tahoe Blues Fest

2008-08-20T22:16:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was the Reno Tahoe Blues Fest http://www.renotahoebluesfest.com/ . Our friend Courtney gave us VIP tickets for Saturday and Sunday, so Saturday Steve and his sister Renee went. And Sunday Steve and I went for about the last three hours. It started at noon, but we didn't go until 6 because we had a busy day even though we got out of church at noon. Just so you know we totally justify breaking the sabbath for this for two reasons (and I know it doesn't change the fact that it was the sabbath and we were breaking it) but 1. We went to see Gladys Knight who is LDS 2. It's the only day Steve and I have to spend time together and the tickets were free 3. (I know I said 2 reason) Did I say Gladys Knight, hello! Anyways, we had a lot of fun. We only got to see Betty Wright and Gladys Knight on Sunday. Betty Wright was hilarious!! Gladys was incredible. Only things that bummed me out about the whole thing: 1. We only saw two people of 5 on Sunday 2. There was no encore. After Gladys was done singing the last song, and started saying good night to everyone the crowd pretty much ran out of the place, she wasn't even off the stage before everyone left so of course she didn't do an encore.

Betty Wright on stage

Gladys Knight

Google Maps

2008-08-19T00:30:00.000-07:00

So I went to google maps just now to see how long it takes to get to two different grocery stores from my house, and discovered this cool new feature (new to me at least) called Street View. You can actually pretty much walk up and down streets instead of having the typical aerial view of things, it is like someone walked down your street with a camera. While using this feature I looked at our house, Mel's house, and Steve's parents house, and found our car parked at his parents house when they did, pretty cool if you ask me. Yep, there was our car, parked at his parents house, and judging by the picture it was last summer. Take a look and see what you can find where you live! To see our car, type in the address 3740 Comet Linear Dr, Sparks, Nv 89436 and look to the left to see our blue Taurus!

New Pregnancy Pictures!!

2008-08-15T18:15:00.000-07:00

So I am pregnant, and have been for a few months now, in fact, I have less than 3 months left. I am finally getting to the point though that not only do I look pregnant (which I have for some time) but I am starting to feel pregnant. My belly often feels like it is going to explode lately thanks to cute little baby Buck pushing outwards on it. And not just kicking outwards every now and then, but constantly pushing outwards in one spot just to the right of my belly button, it drives me crazy! Here are my latest pictures taken earlier this week sometime. 27 weeks pregnant. Enjoy!! (I think I was feeling a little silly by the third one)