Getting bigger every day

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

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

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

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 potty 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

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

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

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 it's 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.