Monday, September 29, 2008

a v e r y

So my cute friends at work threw a shower for me last Thursday! Can I just say how wonderful the people I work with are!! I have loved every minute that I’ve had getting to know them – they are some of the kindest, sweetest, most fun people ever! I got so many cute, fun little gifts!! A group of people even went in and bought her bouncer! I was completely blown away by everyone’s generosity.


I have to point out one gift in particular. 5 of the girls each took a letter of Avery’s name and they decorated a wood letter. Being that I work as Stampin’ Up where the walls are bursting with creativity, I shouldn’t be surprised that they turned out so adorable! I absolutely LOVE them and they will shortly be adorning her room as décor. I just had to show everyone their creative talent and thank them for the darling gift!! So a gigantic “THANKS” goes out to Glenda, Leah, Melissa, Sheila, and Kristen!! You gals are the best!



Wednesday, September 24, 2008

6 Unspectacular Quirks

So I got tagged by my friend Chelsea to write 6 weird things about me. I may be doing it wrong, but oh well - here goes nothing.

1. I love birds! Mostly parrots or birds of prey. I have a strange little desire to someday get a falconers permit and own a peregrine falcon. Coupled with this love of birds, I have a unique stupid human trick. I can whistle like a parrot without using my mouth – it comes from my throat. I have used this on many occasions to ‘woo’ the hearts of many beautiful parrots into being my friends. I know – I’m weird!

2. I get WAY excited about the silliest things. For example, last night we were just about to eat dinner (which I had to snarf because I was already late for YW because I work so dang late) when the doorbell rang. Since we don’t often have unexpected company, and since I had informed him that there had been a salesman on the sidewalk when I pulled into our neighborhood 5 minutes earlier, Neil didn’t want me to answer it. I didn’t want to be rude if it happened to be someone else, so I went to get the door. The salesman was nearly to the sidewalk when I opened, and the minute he turned around and I could read his hat, I yelled for Neil to come quick – it was the COMCAST guy!! We have made numerous calls in the past year to Comcast to see when they would be available in our area, since all other options for TV or internet SUCK. And there they were! Finally in the neighborhood and getting people to sign up! To make a long story short, I was even more late for YW but on cloud 9 the rest of the night knowing that we would have MUCH faster internet as well as the Discovery channel and BYU football on The Mtn. by Thursday! (Too bad BYU has a bye week) What can I say, I guess I’m just easy to please!!

3. I’m slightly OCD. Not in the ‘germ-a-phobe’ way, but in the sense that I am picky about making sure things are uniform and even. An extreme example would be that all through middle and high school if I had a paper that I had written my name on (with pencil of course, since if I messed up in pen, it couldn’t be fixed) and I didn’t like the way it was written, I would erase it and re-write it. After 3 attempts, the previous writings would remain visible because an eraser couldn’t get it all completely, so I would throw the entire piece of paper away (even if there was nothing else on it.) I’ve calmed down a bit and am not that bad any more, but even playing Yahtzee with Neil the other night, I had to make sure all of the dice that are set aside are facing the same way. Once again, I know – I’m a freak!

4. I hate for my food to touch. This is a weird little pet-peeve, I know. People say all the time “It’s all going to end up in the same place anyway.” But the greatest part about eating is the chewing and tasting part. And when two things that were not intentionally put together end up touching on my plate, the whole bite transforms – often into something not as pleasant as the two bites would have been had they remained separate. Some things are tolerable, but most of the time I make every effort to not let them touch in the first place. I mean seriously, who wants jello in their mashed potatoes?? (Anyone who can answer ‘me’ to that question has some serious taste bud deficiencies!!)

5. I sleep with a humidifier on every night. Sadly, it generally doesn’t even have water in it. It started as a way to drown out my husband’s snoring when we were first married. (Sorry to disclose that fact Neil.) But I have now been conditioned to the noise and frankly, I can’t sleep well without it. I’m going to have a very rude awakening soon when I need to leave it off in order to hear Avery wake up in the night. I’ve tried numerous times to practice sleeping without it, but end up having a miserable night and generally end up getting up and turning it on before morning even comes. I’m in trouble! And I’ll learn exactly how much trouble very soon.

6. I’ve been stung by a jellyfish. Well, it’s technically not a true species of jellyfish – it’s called a Portuguese Man-of-War. It was while we were on our honeymoon in Jamaica. We had done all the sight-seeing we wanted to for the day and still had a little while before we had to be back on the boat. So we decided just to go to the beach and relax. We were a little more than waist deep in the water when it felt like something bit my hand and wouldn’t let go. I jumped because it scared me so bad, and then started frantically shaking my hand to get whatever was on it off (this made things worse, as I was dragging my hand back and forth through the tentacle.) Neil carried me to shore as a bunch of locals were running over trying to offer something for relief. As I’m screaming and bawling in pain, all I can think to say is “Someone find my camera!!” We had drifted from where our towels and backpacks were on shore, and I wanted to get a picture of my hand because despite being intensely painful, it looked really cool. We rushed back to the boat only to have the infirmary tell us that if we wanted to see the doctor, it would cost $150 JUST to have him paged – let alone the fee to see him, and any treatment he would do. So we bought a $5 bottle of hydrocortisone cream and went back to our room. On the way up, the toxin glands in my armpits kicked in to keep the poison from spreading to my body and they felt like they were on fire. Then I started going into shock as I could no longer move my hand or fingers. Luckily we had met another couple our age (who actually got married in the sealing room next to us at the exact same time in the SL Temple) that same day and he and Neil were able to give me a blessing. The paralysis went away by the next day, and the numbness subsided shortly after that. We even swam with stingrays the next day (What was I thinking?!) The welts lasted a few months, but the memory will last a lifetime. And frankly, I look back on it as a humorous experience now. How many people can say they’ve been stung by the second most poisonous jellyfish in the world??

(This was taken once someone went to find my camera)

Now, here are the terms and conditions for those of you who are going to be "tagged" by me:
Link the person who tagged you
Mention the rules on your blog.
List 6 unspectacular quirks about you.
Tag 6 other bloggers by linking them.

Now, I tag Lindsey, Laura, Jenn, Tiffany, Suzie, and Loni. Have fun with this one - think hard!

Monday, September 15, 2008

Smells so sweet!

So this past weekend, our home has been filled with some GREAT smells! First was Friday when Neil gave me a giant, gorgeous bouquet of flowers for our anniversary. My favorite flower is a stargazer lily, and they are incredibly fragrant! Our whole house smells like fresh flowers - I love it!

(This picture doesn't do the flowers justice - they're GORGEOUS!)

Then on Saturday, I was feeling 'domestic' and decided to make some banana bread with some bananas that were a little to spotted for normal consumption. The bread smelled so good while it was baking and has been devoured by both of us. I'm tempted to buy some over-ripe bananas now and make some more it was so tasty!

(So this isn't my actual bread, but it looked similar.)


Then Sunday, since my previous baking experience had gone so well, I decided to make a fresh peach pie with some super sweet & juicy peaches we get from an orchard in Provo. (I've been obsessed with them lately and we're on our 4th bushel! What can I say, I'm pregnant!) I must admit, I've never made a pie before at all, so it was all new to me, but they turned out BEAUTIFUL! We baked them at my parents house last night and since they didn't get out of the oven until almost 10:30 (due to my poor planning) I haven't actually tasted it yet. But we left one of them for my parents and my dad had some for breakfast (typical of my dad!) and LOVED it! It sure did smell good on the drive home though. I must say I was quite proud of how it turned out for being my first pie ever.

(This IS a picture of my first pie! The juice made a mess of my mom's oven, but it turned out beautiful!)

Neil is probably beside himself that I've baked so much! He shouldn't get used to it though, because everyone keeps saying that I won't have time for baking once Avery arrives. I've enjoyed it so much lately (I made fresh wheat bread last week with fresh ground wheat flour!) that maybe I'll have to keep making the time for it! But our house sure has smelled good for the past few days!!

Friday, September 12, 2008

Happy Anniversary!!

I just wanted to take a minute to thank my wonderful husband! Never in a million years did I expect to end up with someone so loving, patient, strong, caring, giving, selfless - the list could go on forever! I truly couldn't imagine my life without you! You bring me such happiness on a daily basis!! These last 5 years have had ups and downs, but the ups FAR outweigh the downs!! I am so glad that I have the blessing of spending the rest of my life with you! I am so glad that together, we can welcome our sweet little Avery into this world - and other future children! You will be such a wonderful father, I have no doubt! Thank you for putting up with me at my worst, helping me through tough times, and loving me through it all! You are my one true love! Forever and for Always! Happy 5 years babe, and an eternity to come!!

I LOVE YOU!!!

Friday, September 5, 2008

Rare glimpse

So our little girl Tia is not the most social thing in the world. In fact, the opposite is more so the case! She rarely comes upstairs and when she does, she's incredibly skiddish, so we don't often get to see her get playful. I was sitting on the chair in our family room working on my laptop, when she brought up this little piece of sponge that she stole from my scrapbook stuff who knows how long ago. (This is more the personality we're used to - she's a mischievous little clepto!) She started playing with it and luckily the camera was close enough that my getting up to get it didn't scare her downstairs. So here is a VERY rare glimpse at a side of our kitty we NEVER get to see. Might be boring to you all, but I was thrilled to witness it!

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

The countdown is ON!


WOW! Only 6 weeks left! I can't believe how much time flies - it has gone incredibly fast!! A friend mentioned last night that if I were to go into labor anytime now, they would not stop me! I don't expect to anytime soon as I've been feeling GREAT, but just the thought that she could be here anytime now is so exciting! Our lives are about to change so much. I look forward to it with nothing but excitement though! I hear all of the scary, not-so-fun things like how tired we'll be, and how we can't "go out" anymore, but all I can think about when people say those things is "But OUR baby will be here." We will finally be able to see her, hold her, feel her, hear her, smell her..... I simply can't wait!