Great Minds Think Alike

I have seen these ADORABLE car seat covers everywhere! Maybe its a Utah thing, but I'm in love with them! The other day Jared and I were walking around the mall in Provo (trying to encourage this baby out) and I saw them for sale. I got so excited! Yes I am that much of a nerd. I started looking thru all the designs and options and none were really jumping out at me like "I am gorgeous pick me!" but I found one I was luke warm about and was about to go pay for it when I looked at the price tag. $50!!!!!! No joke! I just about cried! Its a dang blanket for goodness sakes, who would pay $50 for it? (while I was watching 2 other women purchase them) My wonderful husband, seeing how distraught I was over the price, suggested I just take a good look at the model on display then we go to JoAnns fabric and I make my own. He has such confidence in me haha So I figured why not, and if mine sucks I can always just suck it up and live without it (but lets be honest, I would go back and buy it haha)

When we got to JoAnns we found four different fabrics that we liked (2 for each cover) and it took me forever to decide because I loved them both! I finally decided on these two (much to the relief of Jared). I was in LOVE with them! I could hardly wait to get home and make a cute cover! None of the covers at the store were this cute! =>

Here is the almost finished product.
Again, one of the almost finished product. (yes I used a teddy bear my sister bought for our baby to practice the stupid complicated car seat buckle. I almost have the hang of it haha)

I am actually REALLY proud of my cover! It is almost perfect! => And I did it all without a pattern! I am so proud of me! haha

So it is still not finished, I want to put something cute on the handles like in the sample picture (like a bow or flower or something). So I googled 'car seat canopy' to see what the "pros" do for their cute touches. I almost died laughing! At one of the main sights for these canopies (supposedly the inventors of them but who really knows) there is MY cover! Check it out: Car Seat Canopy It is the same pattern and everything!! The site calls it the 'Lauren', and they sell it for $40, plus sales tax and shipping (so almost 50). This discovery really boosted my pride in my cover! Not only did I make a cover that can pass as professionally made, but I also have the same taste in fabric patterns! I feel so talented and artistic! haha I was seriously laughing so Jared came over and I showed him. We were both laughing so hard! Not only because of the fact that I unknowingly made a replica of a professional one, but because I did it for $10.38 and about 45mins of my time! Oh I scooped out of that money trap! haha And Jared pointed out they might get their fabric wholesale since they need so much, so their cost of making it would be even cheaper, and they make a lot of them, so they need less time. This is just another one of his points he uses to try and convince me to get a booth in the Quilted Bear. I don't know if I am that confident in my work, but this definitely was an ego booster! And when I finish my finishing touched on my canopy I'll have not as unique, but still oh so cute cover for this little one! (if she ever decides to come out!)

Baby Shower!

My Utah Walker Aunts (aunts from my Dad's side that live in Utah) threw me a baby shower on March 20th! I could not believe how much fun it was, and how delicious the food was!

These were the cute invitations they made! One of the cutest ideas I have ever seen! =>

Liann directed a fun matching game! All the words had something to do with pregnancy, and if you got the match you got the candy that went along with them. (ex: Breastfeeding=milk duds, Umbilical Cord=twislers, Conception=fun dip, Third Trimester= Chunky, etc etc) So fun!Some of my Pommerville aunts (and cousin) that came!

Some of the delicious food! (Probably the best chocolate covered Strawberries I have ever had!)The cute quesadilla makers!Look at that delicious dessert!! So Yummy!!!Present time! Our little one got so many cute things! I am so excited to use them all!! These were the gifts the Utah Walker Aunts got the baby. What a cute way to display them!!All the attendees. Thanks for coming! You made me feel so loved! =>My Mom and one of her sisters! They look so happy, I love it!Me and my Mom! She came up from CA for this! I am so grateful she could make it! I LOVED having her there!Me and my four aunts that threw the baby shower! (and little cousin). Thanks so much again! I really appreciated it, and had a blast! I love you all!! Now if I can just get this baby out to use all the cute baby things! =>

Sunbeams!

Last Sunday Jared and I substituted one of the sunbeam classes (our ward has 5). We got a class with four 3yr old boys.

The lesson was on the creation. So how to teach three year olds about what God created..... Jared's iPad to the rescue! He was so excited to use it! We Googled all sorts of animals, insects, and stuff having to do with earth (sun,etc) and made a slideshow-ish thing out of them. The game was to have the kids say what the picture was of (ex:lion, ant, hippo, etc) and sometimes even make the sound of the animal. Then we would ask "Who made the __(insert animal)__?" and they would answer (super excitedly) "Heavenly Father and Jesus!"
It seriously was one of the cutest things I have ever seen! I couldn't stop smiling the whole time they were playing the game! And in the middle of the game one of the little boys decided he was brave enough to touch the screen to change the picture (you just run your finger along the screen and the next picture appears. Again, the iPad is frickin sweet!) That brought a whole new level of excitement to this game! And Jared was cute and let each boy take turns changing the picture on the computer.

I don't know how much these little guys got out of our lesson, but it was fun to attempt to teach them! And I love seeing Jared play with kids! He is AMAZING with kids, and that makes me excited to have one of our own and get to see Jared play with her all the time! =>

Chocolate Easter Eggs

I might be a tad addicted to the DIY blogs out there. => And a couple weeks ago I came across an article on how to make a "grown-up" Easter treat ( here http://www.howdoesshe.com/easter-tradition), and it looked sooooo good, so I decided to make it. =>

The first step was to dip balloons in melted chocolate. Not that hard. => I then put it in the fridge to have the chocolate harden faster. The problem came when we (Jared and I) tried to take the balloons out. I guess we should have sprayed PAM on the balloons or something like that because there were definate pieces where the balloons would just not let go of the chocolate (but I couldn't really blame them, this chocolate was goooooood).
Out of the eight balloon eggs we did only 2 made it complete enough (with just minor holes) to be able to hold things in. The original recipie/blog post put chocolate mousse in the egg, but I wanted to put fresh fruit in it. So I bought some strawberries, but sadly they did not last long enough to make it into the chocolate eggs (I ate them => )
Jared came up witht he idea of filling them with bananas. It was yuummy, but something was missing. It lacked that "OMG!" part of it.
We will keep working on this because it is actually pretty fun, and one day we will have out little treat hit all the spots and be oh so delicious!

Baby Baking Update

Well this baby is cooking nicely, I am now 9 months pregnant. It feels like I have been pregnant FOREVER! But I hear the end is in sight.... i guess its just not clear enough in sight for me haha. I went to the baby doctor on Friday and found out I was 1cm dilated and 50% effaced. While that is fun to say, pregnant women can stay 1-3cm dilated for a month. I will not be a happy camper if that happens haha. But I have lost my mucous plug, I know that is no tell-tale sign but hopefully it means our little one will come soon! We are anxious to see how much I progress (if at all) when I go back to the doctors next week. And hopefully this little one will come out soon (but not so soon that my Mom is still across the pond =>) We (ok mostly I) would love an April baby =>

Lazy Boy..... Person

My Mom and three youngest brothers came up for my baby shower a few weeks ago (my baby shower was on Sat. March 20th). The friday before was our "errand" day, we were going out to buy a sewing machine and a lazy boy chair. That morning we were telling the boys the plan/schedule and when we got to the lazy boy chair Kaden commented "Oh I am so offended". That brought the other boys to actually listen (because lets face it, we know they were not really paying attention). Then the comments became "Why does everyone assume that just because we are boys we are lazy" and "As boys we are not lazy, we do PLENTY of active stuff" and so on and so on. And for the rest of the trip, and probably still now, they refused to call it a lazy "boy" chair and instead renamed it a lazy "person" chair. =>

Just FYI, the shopping day was a HUGE success!! Not only did I get a great sewing machine, I got the comfiest lazy "person" chair in the WORLD! Just look at it, how can you not just long to sit in it? It even rocks and reclines! Oh, I might be in love.... and I definately know Jared is. HE is a big fan of this chair! Thanks again Mom! (and baby shower pictures will be up as soon as I get them. I forgot to take pics so I have to get them from my Aunt that took some =>)

R.I.P

So this morning was one of the most traumatic mornings of my life, I committed a double bird-icide. =< I have never run into any animals with my car before, and today my car decideds to hit TWO of them! I swear all the birds are out to get me now.

The morning started off ok, I was at least out the door on time (6:15am, a great accomplishment) and I was driving to work minding my own buisness. When I get off the freeway and start going down the long street to my work building there was a line of about 10 cars a little ways in front of me. I may sound like a nerd but that made me very happy; because the only people who drive down that street that early in the morning are people I work with, and since I saw a lot of them that meant I was on time/early (which is an AMAZING feat). But then these two birds fly right into the middle of the road (i think they were too busy flirting to pay attention) and I couldn't miss them and they didn't fly away. I ran right into both of them with the front of my car (heard big thunks) then ran over one with my wheel. The other one was the most traumatic one. It bounced up onto my hood then bounced again and hit my windshield before it flew over my car.

I screamed for dear life and then started shaking and uncontrollably balling! I have no idea how I managed to drive into the parking lot of my work, but somehow I did and I was hysterical. I called Jared and I am sure I freaked him out. No one in the world could have possibly understood what I was saying thru my huge sobs, but as soon as he established that I was ok he let me cry-talk and even told some random jokes to get me to not think about it and calm down some. Then he was able to get me to understandably talk and tell him why I was crying. He is such a wonderful husband!

So eventually I calmed down, and what started out as a promising day of me being early to work actually ended as me being six minuted late => And all day I was worried that some part of a bird would be stuck to my car when I got out of work and birds would be sitting there waiting to attack me. Luckily my car was bird-less, except for blood on the windshield (I will make Jared clean it off when he gets home) and no bird gangs. I have no idea why that made me cry so hard. I blame these stupid pregnancy hormones that have been showing up lately. And I have had a headache all day because of my little over reaction. Oh well, at least I didn't try and hit the two nearly mating birds. Serves them right for doing such inappropriate PDA haha. But seriously, it truly freaked me out, and now I am sure all the other birds are out to get me; if not peck me then definitely poop on me. I just hope thy take compassion on this hormonally challenged pregnant lady haha.

Boys Session

My family has a tradition of taking each kid to Salt Lake to watch their conference session when they turn 12. (girls go to the YW session there and boys go to the Priesthood) In Febuary Kaden turned 12! Holy cow he is getting so old! But that meant that he, my Dad and Trey came up for the April conference!! They were going to stay at the condo in Park City, but Jared and I (and probably mostly my Mom) were able to talk them into staying with us => It was so much fun! I LOVE playing with my family!! I miss not being so close to them!Here are the boys off to big old Salt Lake for their Priesthood session! I love that they were all able to go! And I think the height stair step is funny (Jared = 6'6, Dad = 6'4, Trey = 6'1.5, then Kaden...... still int he 5 foot range) => They enjoyed conference very much, and Kaden loved that he was big enough to go! While they were at their 'boy' session I went over to play with my aunts at Nikkis house! I had a blast! We just love family!!

My Weakness

I have many weaknesses, and I will be the first to admit it, but I am pretty sure I can tell you my biggest fault......stress. I stress about anything and everything, but the thing I am most anal about it cleanliness. I HATE dirty! I am a complete stress-freak when it comes to cleaning my house, and this can drive Jared crazy. Although I am not perfectly cleanly (what can I say Im pregnant, work at a physically demanding full time job, and am lazy) I dont deep clean my home on a daily basis (which I probably should) but whenever anyone comes over my house HAS to be spotless!!! And whenever we go anywhere for a vacation, no matter how long, my house HAS to be spotless!!! And if its not..... well you don't even want to go there.

Due to this "condition" of mine, Jared deals with a lot of my anal crap at times. For example, I don't mind having people over for dinner or a game night, in fact I LOVE it, but when Jared pops the fact that some people are coming over in an hour its like a switch goes off in me. I start cleaning like a mad woman and get super stressed, and if Jared tries to talk to me, I am afraid I am not very nice. But as soon as the guests get here (and the house is clean) I am back to normal.

I do not know why this is. And I do not know how I can "fix" myself to not freak out if one little thing is out of place, or if I have not vaccumed or dusted before friends come over. I suppose I could steadily clean every day (I already do it every Saturday) but lets face it, I am too lazy for that. As for now, I am working on evening out my stress-cleaning monster. But I am so grateful for a husband that does not take it personally, who does all he can to help me, and who shows me how much he appreciates that I value a clean house. Hopefully I will be better soon and I can take the stress monster down to a lesser weakness =>

Jared and his Ipad

Today Jared came home with a little toy..... and Ipad. (picture is of him configuring some programs)

His company is going paperless, so they needed a tablet for customers to sign contracts and collect payments. He and his buisness partner have been researching many different brands of tablets (Archos, Blade, HP, etc) but Jared did not want to go to Mac (he is a die-hard PC), I on the other hand think Macs are way cute, therefore I am an advocate. => After trying various tablets they just were not cutting it. So Jared and Jermiah decided to just look at the Ipad.....
Needless to say, thye fell in love. It is far superior to anything they had previously looked at. Jared brought his home and is practically in heaven playing on it! I have to say, it is dang cool! I played with it for a little while and I was in awe! And I have brought Jared over to my side-knowing that Apple stuff is amazing! One of these days I will make a post using the Ipad, as for now, I will let Jared have quality time figuring out his new buisness toy. =>

Dear Hormones.....

Dear Hormones,
We have had a good relationship throughout these almost nine months; you dont come out except in sad movies/songs and you remain mild/almost non-existent the rest of the time. What happened to that? You dont go around making me cry in the middle of Wal-Mart because they no longer have my Easter candy, nor do you go and make me get upset with Jared for having a different view on things than I do. I would appreciate it if you cut the excess-make me crazy crap and return to normal. Thanks.

New Craft:Cute Wipes

So, I like to think I am crafty but the sad truth is I am far from it. I like to look at the craft blogs and say "oh yeah, I can do that project, no big" (I forget that the women that write those blogs are insane and not human) Well I tried one the other day. I see these cute decorated wipe holders everywhere and figured they were easy enough to make. They are definately not hard, but they are not as easy as I thought. haha

To start out, stores are dumb and organize thier products strangely. I went to at least four stores looking for portable hard wipe cases, and none had them in their baby section! Finally, at my fourth store I called my mom to enlist her help in looking at her stores. She informed me that the hard wipe cases (not the plastic portable packs) are in the travel-sized section and not the baby section. Why? I have no idea, but there they were. So I bought three, just so I wouldn't have to go on the hunt again =>
I have only decorated one and this is how it turned out.
It is not exactly how I invisioned it, and it took me about five times longer to do than I had anticipated, but I do not think its that bad for my first try. => And at least I have two other cases to perfect my cute-tening skills on =>

Jared's Baby Song

This morning Jared felt like playing his guitar, and that is what he has been doing for the last 45mins while I look up how to do things online. Then he started singing playing the honikah song and it tunred into the Pregnancy Song. This song must have gone on for a good 10 mins before I decided I wanted to record it, so here is the last couple verses of his song. => hahaha

I Guess I Need To Put A Ring On It

I kid you not, this is the conversation I eaves-dropped on while waiting in line to get dinner at Cafe Rio (Saturday, while the boys were playing Star Craft)

Little Girl (about 4 years old): Daddy where is that ladies pretty ring?

Dad: She is probably not married yet honey

Little Girl: But she is going to have a baby, isnt she?

**by this time I have looked around the whole line and yep, I am the only pregnant person*

Dad: Well sweetie, people dont HAVE to be married to have a baby, they are just naughty. But you have to be married to have a baby right?

Little Girl: Right, no babies until after I get married, like you and Mommy.


Can I just say, What The Heck? First of all, what a dang observant and smart kid! Second, as a parent shouldn't you try to explain things in a more appropriate way? Like "she must have left her pretty ring at home" or "when your pregnant things fit differently" SOMETHING! For heavens sake! I AM married, and I am too fat for my ring! Goodness, now I am a little floosy to some 4 yr old girl out there......

Jared's Addiction

For over a year of marriage Jared and I enjoyed a life free of video games. Then this surgery hit, and what is a poor boy to do all day when not allowed to do anything physical? Video games. When Jared was a youngin he liked to play the game "Star Craft", so thats what he resumed playing during his incapacitated months. Now that the house ridden months are over I figured we would resume our video game free life, not quite so. It seems this game is very addicting. Anytime we don't have a play plan or are just lounging around out pops the computer and on comes the Star Craft. I don't mind really, because its always at appropriate lazy times. I just find it amusing.

This Saturday was no different. Jared and his friend Jermiah were out getting things set up for their buisness resuming in April. I get this call asking if I was ok with Jermiah coming over and playing Star Craft with Jared when they were finished. Again, no big deal. So they finish their buisness stuff and come home.

They, almost immediately, get so sucked into their game. Thinking of it now I should have video taped it. I was more entertained listening to their comments and collaborations than what was on TV. But then, tragedy struck.....

Jermiahs computer overheated and shut down, thus ending their reign of terror on the Star craft world. but Jared, being the determined little conqueror he is would not have any of that and devised a plan. They took newly purchased bags of frozen fruit and set his computer on top of it (with extra plastic bags to make sure moisture stayed out). It actually worked, and they were so proud of themselves.

So then the games could continue. I have to say, the games lasted the rest of Saturday. They did pause for about 20 mins to eat the dinner I had gotten them, but then it was back to the games. Oh boys and their toys. haha THey played more than 6 hours of Star Craft that day. And after they had had their 'fill' they vowed never to do that again => The whole time I was just laughing to myself that I had married such a nerd and never knew it until now. Jared swears he can "stop playing any time I (he) wants" but I have doubts. Both of these boys will probably need to go to 'Star Craft Annonomous' to fix this little desire to take over alien bases. As for now, I will just laugh and make fun of them. =>

Purchase of First Baby Thing!

When we first found out we were pregnant Jared made me promise I wouldn't buy anything until I was six months pregnant. That seemed logical to me. It would be after we found out the babys gender, only three moths left, and would give us plenty of time to prepare for that expense. Around the fourth and fifth month it was SUPER hard not to buy anything. I wanted to buy baby things so badly, I resisted, but counted down the days until I was six months. Well, I am over seven months and I have just purchased our first baby item!! A four piece crib bedding set! (called bananafish, even the name is cute and fun!)I don't really know what happened, the baby stuff desire just faded away I guess. This is not our first baby item though. Over Christmas my Mom bought us a couple baby outfits and baby odds and ends (she wanted to be the first to get us baby things, and she was =>) and some of my aunts gave us their old baby stuff that they were done with (thanks again!) So we have accumulated baby things, which tripped out Jared at first (walking into a room and seeing baby things is definately something that takes getting used to), but this is our first purchase! I love it! I am so excited to set it up and admire it in real life! (its still in its package). And it is kindof a daunting thought, that a baby could be here in as little as 8 weeks and be considered full term. Ahhh!! I am definately not ready! I guess I will just have to continue getting cute baby things to get me excited and hopefully push out the scareds. haha

32 lbs!!

Yes thats right, seven months pregnant and I have gained 32lbs, THIRTY-TWO!! I like to think of myself as a little heifer. haha But I have had a hard time getting used to the number on the scale going way up and my movement continually becoming more limited. Now I have pretty much accepted that I will gain weight (seven months into it mind you) and am grateful that my body does not hurt more. That was one thing I was very worried about when I found out I was pregnant. Even just gaining five pounds would send my hips and knees into a world of hurt, so bad it would make just walking hard. So you can imagine how painful I thought being pregnant would be. Amazingly enough, my body (hips and knees) do not even hurt as bad as they do when I gain 5 pounds, and I have gained 32! I like to think of it as my little miracle!!

I had a thought of taking a "now and then" picture of pregnancy. I decided to mimic a picture from the 4th of July 5k I did in Denver. I think it best shows off my size, both then and now. The fourth of July was a month before I got pregnant, and its safe to say I did not gain or lose any weight in that month. I weighed 118lbs in the first picture, and 150lbs in the second.

As for news on Jared: He got the green light for chewing from his doctor on Thursday! Wahoo!! He was so excited about it, all night he was eating just so he could chew! There are limitations tho. He has to keep it "about the same consistency as a McDonald's hamburger". So no chips, steak, anything that really needs hearty chewing, but anything is better than nothing!

This weekend we went tot he Park City condo for a relaxing vacation! Friday night we went out to dinner for the first time since the surgery! Yippie! Jared ordered a hamburger (he has been dying to bite one of these forever!) He tried to bite it normally first but only got half the burger (he still can not open his mouth very wide) so he ended up cutting it up and eating it with a fork. But hey, chewing is chewing no matter how it gets in your mouth. =>

He is also getting his feeling back! He still can not feel soft things on the left side of his face, but he can feel hard things! And that is a HUGE improvement! And he can feel medium-soft things on his right side. As for talking/communicating, that has improved greatly too! He almost sounds normal (its the annunciation tripping him up, but who can blame him if he can not feel half his face?) And the swelling is still there, but not nearly as bad as when he first came out of surgery. And this is how swollen he should be for the next couple months, according to his doctor. The sad news is that he has to go under the knife again. Some scar tissue is not forming the way it should and the doctor needs to go and cut it out. The doc says it should be a simple procedure and he will have about as much swelling as pulling wisdom teeth. So, we get to go through this whole lovely putting under/surgery experience again, but it shouldn't be as intesnse, which we are grateful for!

Family Night

So, it has been a while since the last update and I have had many requests for belly pictures and updated photos of Jared. But sorry to disappont, this post will contain none of that. => Yes I am vain enough to not take a picture unless I feel at least a little cute, and I just haven't taken any updated pictures of Jared, so those will have to wait for next post.

As for this post...

Jared and I have a difficult time doing family night. Its not that we dont spend time together, its the planning and lesson and all the preparation (ish) that go into having a "family night". But last night we succeeded! We had family night! => Yay us! And our activity was picture exposure. I have decided that I really want to be a photographer. I love taking pictures, and I take them all the time. So I figure if I could get good at taking pictures, my memories and decorations can be better, and I can even make a little money on the side as a mom if I choose to. And being in my beginner/novice stage my husband is teaching me the basics (he took some classes) and then I can move on to studying with a professional photographer.

But back to family night. Jared taught me about photo exposure, and how to set different exposure times on our camera.

He would get various light sources and I would capture the movements he made with them. Then I had an idea to make our name out of it. I think it looks pretty cool, and I can say I am proud of it! => Yay for family nights and knowledgeable husbands!!