new background and post below

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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!