p.s.

Did I mention that the other side of this picture:

Looked like this?

Yikes. I get tired just thinking about cleaning up that mess. I'm not the cleanest baker. And I wish I would have taken a picture, but when I was getting the flour out, I had a full on "Home Alone" moment. (It seemed like this happened on "Home Alone" but I might have made it up.) The giant Costco flour bag slipped from my hand and as I was catching it, it dropped and exploded everywhere. All over me, my face, my clothes, the floor, the wall, you name it. It was classic and flour in the eyes is no bueno.

pps- In our defense, the dishes in the dishwasher are clean. So it's not completely slob land.

Tis the Season to be Jolly

December is already zooming by. Michael has been super busy with school. He has a bunch of finals before Christmas break. But puppy helped me get Christmas decorations up. I'm sure our little lady will be willing to help me and puppy next year, right?!

This weekend, Michael had a class/final on Saturday from 7 AM- 5 PM, so I got going on the traditional bread making. I made 16 loaves and I am exhausted. Baby made sure I knew she was not happy with me standing on tile for most of the day. I went to bed at 9 PM more stiff and cramped and more uncomfortable than I have been for a long time. Getting our Christmas gifts out to neighbors before it's too late is worth it though.

So I'm a little over 24 weeks which means at the end of the month, I will be in my 3rd trimester! Yikes. So by demand of some family members, here's the belly. After all the bread making, I wouldn't change out of my flannels even for the picture. sorry.

Still Thankful for Thanksgiving

A little late, but we had a Thanksgiving extravaganza. Wednesday my family (minus Annie) came to town. We had dinner, went and saw "Puss in Boots," and picked Will up from the airport. Thursday morning Will and Michael played in the ward Turkey bowl and came home with torn clothes...jeesh.

My mom and I started getting Thanksgiving dinner ready. Boy, did I feel out of my league. My mom makes cooking a feast for 15 look easy. Finally, everyone was here, tables were set and dinner was ready.

We had both sets of my grandparents, my parents, my uncle and 3 of his kids, Will, Melanie and Camille all at our house! Dinner was delicious if I do say so myself. And the wonderful thing about AZ is that after dinner, we all sat outside to share what we are thankful for and play some games before we had pie.

Thanksgiving day was not the end of our adventures. The next morning we drove to San Diego for Melanie's soccer tournament. It was a huge tournament with lots of college recruiters. It was exciting to see Mel's team advance and win Semis! While Michael and I were driving back to AZ, her team went on to become the "Best of the Best" Champions! She's awesome.

My dad got us an awesome room right off of Torrey Pines golf course. This was seriously our view from our room's giant balcony.

In between all of the games, Michael, my dad, and Will somehow managed to find time to play a round of golf. I'm pretty sure they all felt like they were in heaven that day. My hubby was pretty giddy about it...

While the boys were out golfing, my mom, Melanie, Camille and I went for a hike to the beach. At first, I thought it was a quick walk. Luckily, I changed into comfy hiking clothes because it really was a hike. 3.4 miles to be exact. It was beautiful though. We were walking through pretty foliage and around cliffs that dropped us off on the beach at sunset. Picturesque? I think so.

One night after dinner, we stopped at the San Diego temple. Man, it is so beautiful. We were bummed they hadn't turned on their Christmas lights yet though. We missed them by a couple of days.

On our last night there, we went to Old Town and had some nice Mexican food. We also did the Mormon Batallion Visitor Center. I'm pretty sure it was my first time going there and I thought it was so fun. Michael liked seeing the footage that was filmed at his old job and we all loved our family picture!

It was an amazing weekend! This week was definitely rough to come back to reality, but we have a lot to be grateful for. That makes the tough days not as hard.

Pregnancy-isms

I'm almost 22 weeks along! That's more than 1/2 way. It feels weird that it's almost December and that I'm on the down hill to baby's due date. Life can be so surreal sometimes. I feel like as we get further, I get more excited about being pregnant. So far, we have had pretty crazy/funny pregnancy moments that include but are not limited to:

-Having zero control over my gag reflex. As far as "morning sickness" goes, I don't feel like I had it bad. I had minimal actual throw up moments. But my gag reflex was super crazy and I was nauseous if I didn't eat every 2 hrs. Now that I'm further along, I will forever be grateful for having control over my gag reflex!

-Snack time. Because my gag reflex was out of control and I was nauseous, I cannot tell you how many ritz, saltines, and wheat thins I have eaten. Those were for the most part, my snacking basics. There were a few times in class where I would be in the middle of the lesson and I would have to have crackers right then or get sick in front of my whole class. Which would then result in the conversation why I was the one who got to have snacks in class and the others couldn't. To this, I always respond, "If you go to college and graduate, then you can have snacks too."

-Cravings. I don't feel like I've been too cravings crazy. There have been a lot of things that I DO NOT want to eat. But some things were REALLY good in that moment like Steak, Gala Apples, Cafe Rio (yum), Chocolate Milk, Chinese food- one night, I had to have it. I also like spaghetti noodles (not any other kind of noodle), Granny Smith apples, and tuna fish. One night I had pickles and waffles for dinner. That's all I wanted. I'm sure this list will continue to be super bogus. I cannot wait!

-Hormonal Psycho. So this one is pretty recent. I can cry and laugh and be super grumpy in 2 mins. Prime example, we went to Cafe Rio (yum) which is 40 mins away. It is definitely a treat when baby get's her Cafe Rio. So we get there. Michael and I share a salad and have found that it's the perfect portion for us. Except he gets beans in one corner because I do NOT like beans on my half. As he says beans in one corner they splatter the beans EVERYWHERE. I was in the bathroom as he was ordering (see below) and when I got there he felt so bad about the beans he asked if we should get me a salad of my own. But I was too upset to talk. I started crying and had to go back to the bathroom to avoid a scene. Crying over beans? Really?!

-Potty Breaks. I have to go a lot. It's a new concept for me. I usually don't have to go that often. I'm sure this will be more fun as we get further along.

-Zero Memory. This one has been pretty recent as well and it DRIVES ME CRAZY! I would ask Annie a question. She would respond. I would hear. Two minutes later, I would ask Annie same question. She would ask if I were on crack. There were many incidents very similar to this. I hope this is not permanent.

-Belly button. I have never seen my belly button this wide before! It is quite the surprise every time I see it! I'm worried it will become a VERY obvious out-y button soon

-Off the wall dreams. Last night, Michael was the one who birthed our baby because I was busy doing something else. I asked him if he got an epidural. He said heck yes. Very interesting. There's more where that came from too, but due to zero memory (see above) I can't remember them all.

So many good times! I'm sure glad I got Michael to agree to eternity with me. We are both grateful baby girl is growing strong. This little profile (that looks less and less alien-ish) makes all the crazy stuff worth it, right?

Pretty in Pink

Today we are seeing things in 99.99% pink! We went in for our official ultrasound which they wouldn't let me schedule until now- I'm 21 weeks!

From day one, Michael has said it's a girl. He kept saying, "Why are we even going to the Dr.? We already know what it is." He calls it his father's instinct. I guess he's right. It is pretty funny because before we got pregnant, I always thought we would have a boy first. When we found out we were pregnant, I had this overwhelming thought of, "...OR it could be a girl!" So when Michael kept saying it was a girl, I would secretly agree and stubbornly say if it's a boy, he's not going to be happy that you called him a girl.

We did have a sneak peek at week 15 because a friend's brother is an OBGYN so he invited us in to see if we could see what baby is. Baby was coy and the umbilical chord was between her legs, but the dr. said he was 90% sure it was a girl. Which was perfect because I flew into Utah the next day and was able to give our moms these gifts...

Michael's mom craved ice cream when she was pregnant.

(I can't tell you how many lemon meringue pies we ate when my mom was pregnant with Mel)

But it is nice to have the verdict go from 90% girl to 99.99% girl! When I told my dad it was a girl, he said, "Of course it is! That's what we do in our family!" Well, we are carrying on the tradition!

I'm pretty excited about it and still a bit shocked. I'm going to be a mom to a little girl! That's a bit of an overwhelming feeling sometimes! But then I feel her move and see her pictures, and I just cannot wait!

Tally-Ho Taliesin West

Annie (click here for her fun blog) was here for a week and it was sure fun! I felt bad that I had school and the blow out, but I was sure glad she was there. We went shopping where I found Forever21 maternity jeans for $15. (Best day ever.) We went to the ward trunk-or-treat and Annie gave us the best idea to decorate our trunk. (Too bad we left our cameras at home but it was awesome.) We had a huge bbq. We went to some fun restaurants.

And on Annie's last day here, we went out to Frank Lloyd Wright's winter home and architecture school- Taliesin West...

(her camera is awesome...thanks for the photos, Annie)

The weeks before I was married, my family took a trip to see Falling Water which was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

They really are amazing places especially considering he designed them in the early 1900s and during the depression.

Annie and I had a lot of fun. Here is us being posers of Frank Lloyd Wright's favorite pose in his dinner theatre room...

Annie was also good at being my baby bump monitor. She says I'm still in the "Is she fat or pregnant" phase. Looking at some other pictures, I realized she is right. But, this one looks like a real baby and not just too much ice cream. (Yummm, Ice cream...)

It was a fun week even though I can't tell you how many times we were asked if we were twins. I can't see it, but I'm glad Annie came.

What nerve...

I actually had the nerve to recently say I didn't have anything to blog about. Life's been getting into a mellow routine. Or I forget to take pictures of the fun stuff. Or I get too tired to type. Which is not completely a bad thing. But the second the thought of 'I have nothing exciting to write about' crosses my mind, life is like 'Want a bet?'

Yesterday, Annie (who is visiting from VA which is awesome) and I were driving home from school. We were on our way across the valley and Annie was taking pictures of this:

And the next thing you know, she started taking pictures of this:

My tire had a blow out on the freeway and it was pretty scary to me. It wasn't the worst it could be and thank heavens we were back in civilization and that our insurance has road side assistance. The tire messed up my front side of the car a bit.

Good News: Annie was there keeping the psycho, pregnant lady calm. Michael was able to leave work and rush to my aid. And we were right by my house so I didn't have to drive far on the spare.

Bad News: We bought 4 new tires today- OUCH! And we haven't even fixed the body of the car yet. Spending money on cars isn't exactly the way I pick to spend my money. Do you know how many outfits you could buy for the cost of tires? What a wonderful treat!

(PS Don't you love my teacher Halloween shirt since costumes aren't allowed?)

To Be a Teen Again...

Don't be too jealous, folks. But, my hubby and I are off to her concert tonight...

I'm actually really excited. Hubby surprised me with tickets for my birthday and now it's here. I've heard her shows are actually really good and the teacher in me loves that she is actually a good girl. I also like that she writes her own songs. That's a talent that I wish I had. Anyway...we will see how much squealing teens we get to sing with tonight. Don't worry though, Michael wants to get binoculars for me just in case our seats are really far away. (That's what he says.) I think he wants to get a good look of Taylor. It's ok. She's cute. I approve.

Happy Friday!

Grumpy Gills...

I like to pretend that I'm a pretty positive person that doesn't get upset too easily. Sometimes this is more true than other times. However, I became very frustrated yesterday. It's my fall break! I'm in Utah with my family! Why would I be SO frustrated? Well, I will tell you. It's because I had only been in Utah for a few hours when my throat started to burn. My brain became cloudy. My nose started to run. And there was major sinus congestion. I was getting sick! Yep. By the end of the night, my headcold was in full force! Therefore, my wonderful fun filled Fall break has turned into me feeling like death and my mom taking care of me with hot lemonade and other mommy tricks. (Being babied by my mom is nice, but still not what I had planned.)
So, pray for a miracle that I will be able to not be sick anymore so I can play. Until then, I will keep on blowing my nose! Hooray!

Two Beautiful Sights...

1: Me not having to cook...

Plus, he's pretty good looking.

2: SERIOUS meat...

Come to mama!

For the record, we split the steak, so I'm not completely heading to obesity. Also, I don't feel like I have real "cravings." It's just really amazing to me how NOTHING will sound good and some things just hit the right spot. This was one of those moments! Well played, Michael!

Oh What a Beautiful Morning...

It's here! It's really here! October is very welcomed in this house...

Best way to start off this wonderful month:

We are having some technical difficulties today and I threw a mini temper tantrum about getting to watch Conference. Luckily, husband got it semi up and running. It's so satisfying!

In October, we get to spoil this guy...

He's totally worth it!

I get a full week off of school to fly back to this beautiful place...

We get to finally find out what color will soon be dominating our lives. And yes, there is only one color. Michael's dream of having both didn't work out for him this go around.

October is finally the start of average temperatures in the 80s. It's a very welcomed cool down. So visitors can start coming anytime!

I just can't tell you how excited I am!

Even Baby is looking super festive for Halloween as a skeleton this year...

If you know me, you know my baby should have plenty of calcium. In our last ultrasound, the dr. said that the calcium is starting to strengthen certain bones and that's why it's "glowing" in the picture.

What a great month!

The Life of a Princess...

To start, thank you for such nice comments about our big news! We are pretty darn excited. It still feels a bit surreal, but some things keep it very real. Like the fact that I'm super tired but for the most part, I haven't been too sick. Last weekend was the worst that I have had which made me a little nervous to go out for the best night ever. I was afraid it would be ruined by visits to the toilet, however, baby likes baseball games as much as me and no nausea!

Tuesday evening, I was planning on being home alone (since Michael had class) and watching Netflix, cleaning a bit, and blog stalking. You know, the usual. But that would not make the best night ever. On my way home from school, I got a message from a friend in my ward that she had Diamondbacks tickets for that night. Given the previously mentioned schedule, I jumped at the chance.

When we got to the game we went to the SUITE level! AWESOME! We then asked the friendly usher man which suite was ours. He informed us that our suite is called the Batter Box Suite meaning we needed to go much lower! Like, this low...

(Inside the box. Behind the batter. Get it?)

Seriously! This next picture was not from our game, but it was to show you how elite these seats are. My head was directly underneath the Fireworks Friday banner-which scrolls to different ads throughout the game- just so you know. Awesome!

This was my view...

The writing on the red strip says to avoid distractions like excessive waving and cell phone use. I could easily see why that would be there since every time I saw myself on camera, I wanted to wave so my dad and the rest of ESPN watchers could see me. Plus, I was taking pictures on my phone and sending them all to my dad so he could appreciate the awesomeness! I will admit, at this view, it was a lot easier to pay attention to the game because you could really tell if those 78 mph pitches were balls or strikes! Awesome!

On top of that- yep. there's more.- The company that had given my friend the tickets had an open tab during the game! Furthermore, to avoid distractions of people coming and going into the batter box, they had menus for us! That's right, MENUS! So we could order and a few seconds later a worker would bring us our order from their secret entrance. I had a bottle of water. Pink Lemonade. A cheese burger with fries. (We all split up our entrees so we really had cheeseburgers, chicken strips, supreme nachos and taquitos.) Then I got popcorn in the souvenir helmet that I got to keep for my neighbor boys. (I didn't eat much of the popcorn because of how full we were by this point.) But to top it off, we got Coldstone Ice Cream after the 7th inning stretch! It was AWESOME! Totally worth all the calories!

And for the cherry on top. I got to spend the evening with my girls from the ward! It was simply the best.night. ever! I slept so well that night and was very grateful the next day at school was pajama day so I could wear my comfy pants after eating all that food. (I had a student point that out to me right after I told them about my night. He insisted he wasn't calling me fat or anything but was sure I was grateful- ha!) I am positive that is what royalty feels like.

Metaphors vs. Similes

My class and I have been discussing the difference between metaphors and similes. Similes are easy because they have the words "like" or "as." Metaphors don't. I like that it took me actually teaching to complete understand and feel confident with this concept. Lately, I have been feeling a lot like this poem...

Metaphors

I'm a riddle in nine syllables,
An elephant, a ponderous house,
A melon strolling on two tendrils.
O red fruit, ivory, fine timbers!
This loaf's big with its yeasty rising.
Money's new-minted in this fat purse.
I'm a means, a stage, a cow in calf.
I've eaten a bag of green apples,
Boarded the train there's no getting off.

Sylvia Plath

We may not be able to get off the train, but we sure are excited for March 30, 2012 in this house!

(Little Squirrel's first picture 3 weeks ago.)

A Widow's Wallow...

So... Michael just started his MBA program at Arizona State University. We are super excited that he is accepted and working hard and going back for an even higher education! I'm not going to lie, the concept of going back to school and studying and tuition and tests is not something I would volunteer for. But I do admire Michael for getting on board because he knows that it will be better in the long run.

After we found out that he was accepted, Michael kept saying that I needed to find a hobby. At the time, I would reply that there are many, many things I could do while he was at school for only two nights a week. I mean, I have school work, I can clean, I can read, I can shop, I can watch chick flicks that I can't get Michael to watch with me. The possibilities are endless. I love my husband, but having some alone time is never a bad thing...Now that he has been to a grand total of 4 classes, I realize I NEED A HOBBY!

I am so bored! I have tried many different recipes. Most of which were recommended by you all. They are delicious by the way. But that's only the beginning of the evening. He's gone all night. I get sick of correcting. Doing housework doesn't exactly count as a hobby. Shopping alone doesn't last that long. Although it's embarrassing for me to admit, I have had a few TV shows that have kept me afloat...

Oh how I LOVE Design Star! I love it! I love it! I love that they have it online so there are limited commercials and so I can watch all seasons over and over again. I feel like this season there is a lot of talent. Most seasons I don't have 5 that I want to win. It's my favorite HGTV show because I love the across the spectrum ideas and inspiration. So thank you design star for keeping me sane on Tuesdays. However, that leaves Thursdays wide open!

What's an MBA Widow to do the rest of the long nights and meetings with study groups?

Summer Eats...

One thing I miss about my summer vacation is that I had a desire to cook/plan out meals. When school starts, dinner becomes a quick/ what do we have/ what do we feel like/ how fast can it be made.

This summer's ingredients of choice were:

-tomatoes

-fresh mozzarella

-fresh basil

I just like how light they are. Perfect for the heat. So I made chicken sandwiches with the mozzarella, basil and tomatoes with balsamic vinegar drizzled on. I got the concept from "Real Simple." I thought it turned out nicely.

When my family was here in February, my mom, Camille, and I went to this little restaurant that we just seriously stumbled upon. I got this pasta dish that had none other than mozzarella, tomatoes and basil. It was amazing! I, sadly, have not gone back to get some more but one summer evening I thought I would have a go at recreating this dish that I have placed on a pedestal.

Here's my take....

Michael said there were too many tomatoes. (Waaah) But I left my plate on the coffee table to get a glass of water and came back to our puppy devouring my food. So, since she liked it so much, I let her finish off my plate and I got a new plate and fork. If she likes it, that's a compliment, right?

...Even if she does eat grass sometimes.

So now, help a girl out. I need some school year worthy/basic meals. Any tips?