16 and pregnant

Sixteen weeks pregnant that is. I haven't really been taking any bump shots because well, there wasn't much of a bump to shoot. Till now. Some of you out there are going to be inclined to maybe break out the magnifying glass and maybe ask, "what bump?" and maybe quietly wonder if I really am prego. But I am, and it's there. Here, see for yourself:

I'm trying to look happy in that picture but right then, I really just wanted to crawl into a hole somewhere. This is the best happy that Mikka could drag out of me in spite of the way I felt. That's what Best Friends are for after all, right? Plus they know what kinds of bad pictures are good enough to put on a blog and the ones that ought to be deleted el pronto.   

When I went to my last appointment I remember the Midwife telling me some things like "this is the best part"  and "now eating wont seem as much like a chore." and somewhere in there I could have swore I heard the phrase "more energy."  Lies. All lies. I feel the same as trimester one and now my pants don't even fit as well. Seriously, I don't know what I would do if I had a job that I had to wear real clothes instead of scrubs. I <3 stretchy pants. and tums. It's not that the pants are much tighter, I think it's just that its tight enough in all the wrong places, like right over my bladder. 

But I can't wait to see the little guy or gal. I decided I hate being pregnant (and reserve the right to change my mind at anytime) but I'll do it over and over again to have kids because I LOVE THEM. alot. I think Ben is thinking about maybe getting excited sometime soon too. It's hard to blame him too much though. As soon as he can see or hear or feel it, then it will be more real for him. I've had non-stop reminders that there's something there for months and he's just had a hungry, nauseous, tired, cranky wife with mood swings to remind him. 

{moral of the story}

The second trimester isn't as good as you think it will be. 

Oh yeah! and while you're here, take my poll. It's just to the right up there somewhere.

Spilling the beans

So, firstly I'd like to say that it's not all my fault that I haven't posted in a while. Our internet has been out for the past month. Secondly, I'd like to say that I'm pregnant. 

Yep. You can go back and read it again, but It's still going to be there. March 11th (ish) Ben and I are going to be parents. :) I guess if we haven't grown up by now, we have a deadline.  At the moment I am 13 and a half weeks along. We won't know what it is until about 19 weeks. I don't really know how I feel about calling my unborn child an "it"... but saying "the baby" every time also seems a little weird. 

I think the best part of being pregnant is getting to tell the husband. They got to propose in a fun way and I get this. What's even better is that he only got to propose once; who knows how many times I'll get to tell him we're having a baby!

Anyways, this is how I told Ben

 I waited to take the test until July 7th, not just because it was my birthday but also because it was my day off. Nobody wants to go into work after finding out one way or the other. So I woke up in the morning when I had to go to the bathroom and took the test, then I crawled back into bed with Ben and he asked me what it said and I told him, "error."  So now I had to wait till I had to pee again... while I was doing this, Ben went somewhere for a few hours, maybe work but I don't remember. When he was gone, I took another test and when he got home he noticed the extra trash from a second test and asked me about it and I told him that I think we had the tests under the sink too long because I got another error code. I told him to take a shower so we could go get some more. After opening birthday gifts and him still not getting in the shower I told him again that I wanted to go buy some more tests and that he needed a shower first. So, he got in the shower. Then I made my move. While he was in the shower I had set it up. The second test wasn't really a dud. After he got out of the shower he went to his underwear drawer, as you might expect, to get some clothes on. However, instead of finding his Gs he found another sort of underwear...

 Also, I think it's funny that he found out when he was stark naked. ;) His reaction wasn't what I expected at all though. I thought he would jump up and hug me and there would be lots of kisses and smiles all around. But, this is Ben we're talking about. What I got was. "hu? OH! cool." and a smile still looking for where his Gs are. And I was the one to initiate the hug. I should have just made him find his underwear on his own. I guess I'll have to take him by complete surprise next time. I won't even let on that I might be pregnant. 

{Moral of the Story}

Don't watch YouTube videos of other men finding out there going to be dads before telling your husband.

Pedestrian

The annual automobile misfortune came a bit early this year. If you remember, last July, my car broke down and we had to resort to walking everywhere. This year, the first week in June, our car pooped out on us again. For the past few weeks we've had to return, once again, to this mode of transportation:

yep, still my feet...

 As it turns out our alternator gave out. (or at least that's what I'm told.) Thankfully, we live in this really awesome ward full of awesome people, including one very handy guy with tools and a buddy that are willing to replace it for us. Yay! Now we don't have to figure out how to get it out of the parking lot and to a mechanic. And I'm about 100% certain he isn't trying to rip us off. I'm thankful for helpful people like him, we don't even know that family super well-they're just awesome. 

Oh and I have a funny story to share, you'll just love it:

 On the day that our car broke down, I met Ben at his work and he told me he didn't have the car for me to pick up because it wouldn't start. great. So I walked my happy butt home and as we decided I would try to take it to the automotive store to get the battery checked. Once I arrived I decided to try to start the car and if it went I would go right to the automotive store. Welp, it started. I was on my way and I made it all the way the point where I would be blocking  one of the ENTIRE entry ways to my apartment complex before it died. So... not very far at all. I then called some friends to have their husband come out to help and this one guy in a ferrari (I've never had occasion to spell that before, I had to goolge it.) stopped to give me a jump. So with all that assistance I was able to get my car out of the entryway, I didn't make it between the lines or even all the way to the curb, but people could get in and out of our complex just fine. So we left it there while we (me, ben, and the awesome guy noted earlier.) figured ou our next move; this took/is taking longer than expected. We'll it wasn't very long until I needed to do some grocery shopping so I asked my friend, Mary, if should could give me a ride to the store and on our way she told me that her and my other friend, Abby, had found a note on our car that said, "learn to park."  That was just not very nice so they took it off and a little while later when they came back there was another note that said the same thing only it was taped around all the edges, we guess so that it wouldn't blow away. They took that note off too and considered having a stake out with Nerf-guns to catch the culprit in case they came back for round three. After hearing this I went and put a note on my car that  read, "Our car actually broke down. Thankfully we were able to get it out of the entryway for you. 'be kind. everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.'" 

{Moral of the Story} 

Some will go out of their way to be kind and others will go out of their way to be harsh.  The sort of person we are is determined by the choices we make.

that dam 10k

At the begging of this semester Mikka and I decided that we would start training for the Teton Dam 10K. (and you thought I had a potty mouth, shame!) Welp, that was this weekend! for the two week period before hand I had run a whopping 2 times! Admittedly, not exactly the best method of training  for a running event...I probably could have done better but all things considered, I think I killed it! 

In the morning before the race Mikka came to pick me up we stood around a waited for our race to start, snapped the beauty below, then waited around a bit more thinking about the dreaded hill I would be running up.  

  

 Then we all gathered behind the start line in no particularly organized fashion and waited for the starting gun. The we were off! I started off at a pace slightly faster than what I would normally pick for a long race like this and was almost immediately distracted by the 6ish year old boy that was passing me (who, by the way, I never caught up to. my pride is a little sore...) 

Mile 1 was pretty easy because it was fairly level and I was still just warming up a bit. Mile 2 was nice a level for the first bit but then we turned a corner and There it was.The hill that would not stop for another 2 or maybe it was 3 miles. I can't be too sure since I've worked hard to try and blot that from my memory. Anyhow, it's safe to say that the second half of mile two and all of mile 3 and the first half  of 4 SUCKED. (it's over now though.) Then I got to the part that i knew it was going to be easy so I picked a good fast pace and cruised through the rest of the race. 


I finished with a time of 58 minutes and 6 seconds. So that's  an average of 9:22 per mile. (we all know those first miles were way slower than the last.) This is me after the race, but clearly not JUST  after because I am smiling.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Here are some cute crafty things that I made for our kitchen!  

 The most time consuming was actually all the little magnets. 

{Moral of the story} 

Somethings we do if only to show ourselves that we can.  

better choices

I've always heard the same excuse for eating junk , "I'm so busy, I don't have the time to eat anything else." well, that's a load of poo. (that's right, I'm callin' you out!) If you have time to watch a movie or one of the shows that takes almost as long, you have time to set yourself up with some healthy snacks that you can take with you to school, or work, or whatever the heck you're all doing to occupy your precious time.

Here' s what I do:

Once a week, or sometimes I can stretch it to two weeks. I go to the food store and I buy stuff. (in some cultures this is called grocery shopping.) Now, before you walk in to one of these "stores" I should warn you: the food there will usually take some effort before it is ready to eat. This is not a good place to satisfy our need for instant gratification.

When I am here I buy things like fruits, vegetables, cheese, wheat crackers. Believe it or not, I then take these home and turn them into snacks! All week long Ben and I take these and water or Green₂O to work and to school and often go ALL DAY without potato chips and candy bars and soda pop. Whoddathought?

When I get home I cut up all the fruits and vegetables and then put everything into snack sized baggies. Here's what I put in the last snack bowl (well, we have two. One for the fridge and one for the counter top):


Baggies of cucumber
Baggies of carrots 
Baggies of sugar snap peas
Baggies of wheat thins
Baggies of apple slices. (if you coat them in lemon juice they don't turn super brown and gross.)
Babybel cheeses (they were on sale!)
Fruit leather
Honey sticks (sometimes you just have a sweet tooth)
granola bars
Grapenuts peanut butter bars (shout out to Jon and Stacy for the tip. We used brown rice syrup instead of light corn syrup. Healthier? Not likely. But I can pronounce both of the ingredients.)
Simply go-gurt. (I freeze it. Then it's a cool pack I can eat later.)

All the best stuff is gone by now (fruit leather, and Babybel cheeses) but you get the idea.

As for "real food" sometimes that happens, sometimes it's just another run by the snack bowl or pasta (again). We have some crockpot meals in the freezer, if only we would remember to put them in the crockpot before meal time roles around... The point is eat better!

We also make an effort to work out regularly. Ben goes and lifts weights often and I go for a pretty lengthy run most every other day as well as try to pump some iron of my own everyday. 
Oh, here's a link to an interesting article I read recently about being fit vs. being skinny. 

So hopefully I've inspired at least one of you to re-up on the new years resolutions that may, or may not, have been neglected.  

{Moral of the Story}

Everyone can make their body better, why not start with what you put in it? 

 

not-so-newly-weds: {1 year anniversary)

They took my wisdom...

Today I went to the dentist bright and early. Before I was supposed to be there for my 7am appointment, I was supposed to fast for 12 hours. BUT, little did they know that the day before I had my lunch break at 3:30 and didn't get off work until after 7:30. Therefore I had a 10 and a half our fast! I figured it rounds up. And my dinner of choice? Donuts and hot cocoa, of course!

What happened when I got there this morning:

I walked up to the reception desk and the lady hands me a paper to sign saying that if I die or need a bigger surgery because they screwed up, at least they warned me. Then she asked if i was fasting. Without missing a beat, I said, "Yep, I'm hungry."

After that the dental assistant or hygienist (I'm not really sure which.) asked if I was ready to go back and I said something along the lines of "only if my husband comes with me."

Then I sit in the chair and they put some pads on my chest and to the bottom of my rib cage to monitor my heart while I'm under sedation. My confidence in this office was almost shot when one of the ladies setting me up asked the other if she ever figured out how to do this. 

Next they put this blue thing over my nose so that I would breath in the nitrous oxide. Shortly after my body started to get all tingly and it was hard to visually focus on anything and the chick asks me if "the gas is helping me to relax" All the while I can hear my heart rate increase on the machine. Yeah sure I'm always relaxed when I loose my functionality, stupid head! Of course that's not what I said- never let em' see ya sweat. Next the doctor that is doing the IV comes in (nice man) and asks if I've ever had an IV or donated blood. I told him "Yes and I used to donate plasma all the time, I'm a pretty easy stick."

That seemed to make him feel a lot better. He did a good job, I almost didn't feel it at all, then again they do use a teeny tiny needle for it. shortly after he gave me "The Stuff" He asked how I was feeling and I said "fine" meaning, the same as before you did anything. Then I don't really remember anything except a few exchanges like "two down two to go" and the doctor pulling my teeth asking for some dood-a-ma-dad. Then I was good. I had bloody gauze hanging out of my mouth for the next few hours. But i was good. 

These used to be in my mouth. Now they are not.

After that was all over, been and I went to the store to get some extra strength Tylenol and food that I could eat. Then I had the grand idea to go to Deseret Book to get something to keep me entertained. I sat down to look at this book about Greg Olsen's Paintings. Almost instantly after I decide that I want it but probably better not spend that much on a book of paintings I see a drop of blood hit one of the pages. So I tried my best to wipe the drop off the glossy pages. I walk over to Ben and say (as best as you can say anything with a very numb mouthful of soggy gauze) "We have to get this. I bled on it." He expected me to say something a little more profound, like "We have to get this, It's phenomenal." 

Lastly, we go home and I change the gauze in my mouth to something a little less soggy. and take a nap for more than a few hours. when I woke up to take the ibuprofen and extra strength Tylenol and eat something, I was surprised. I think that my mouth had gotten even more numb. About three hours later I took another long nap and woke up to take more pills and go back to sleep, then I woke up again for even more pills to find 1) I was starving to death and 2) the numbness was gone. I know you're thinking, "that stinks." But really my mouth doesn't hurt that bad. I bet I could even go to work if I had to. But I don't, so I won't

{moral of the story}

When having a numb mouthful of bloody gauze, don't carefully inspect anything that you're unwilling to pay for. 

Chocolate Covered Tuesday

As I'm sure many of you were probably aware of, and a few remorseful souls were completely oblivious of, Tuesday was Valentine's Day. You know, that special time each year you either:

1) Celebrate the fact that you are with someone that you care so much for that you will buy them lavish gifts like, roses, chocolates, teddy bears, or (for the high rollers) jewelery. Nothing says "I Love You" like credit card debt.

OR

2) "Celebrate" the fact that you are free to do whatever you want whenever you want, like single-handedly eating a half gallon of ice cream in your pajamas while watching "He's Just Not That Into You."  Love: pshh- who needs it.

Last year on Valentine's Day Ben and I were engaged but in two different states. He sent me flowers and I made him some brownies for when I saw him a week later. I remember thinking, "next year we'll do something great because we'll be together." Fast Forward 1 Year- Nichole works 11am to 7pm + Ben works 5pm to 12:30am = not a whole lot of the togetherness. And throw a head cold in the mix and you've got a Valentine's for the record books.

Yet, I was determined to have a great Valentine's day. So I got off work, picked up the car, plopped some Alka-Seltzer Plus and chugged it down, then off to the store! There I found everything on my list plus some. Shortly thereafter I decided that "yeah, sure. I can bake that. everything I've ever baked in the past has failed, but this time it will work." Actually it did! I discovered the secret: Follow the directions like a Nazi soldier and use a cake pan for cakes. Although they are similar, pie pans are not good substitutes. 

The final product was a set of chocolate bowls filled with strawberry flavored whipped cream and fresh strawberries, chocolate covered strawberries, Ferrero Rocher things, sparkling cranberry apple cider, and chocolate strawberry truffle cake (covered in chocolate ganache.) That is a lot of chocolate, people! 
  

So when Ben got home shortly before 1am and saw this:

It's no surprise that we were in a sugar-coma 30 min later.  

{Moral of the story}

Next year: Less Chocolate. 

Profoundnicity

A Few Things I've Learned

Now, I realize that I've only been on this earth for 21 or so years, but through the course of my lifetime I've picked up on a thing or two. Now, I'd like to share them with you. Hopefully, you already knew most of this, but just in case I picked up on something you might have missed I wrote some of it down for you. Most of these, I've learned through experience, while some I've decided to take on faith. I hope you find something that will help you right now.

Life is as good or as bad as you make it out to be.

When you are uncomfortable in a group situation, odds are you're not alone. 

Life is hard, that's the way it was meant to be. Deal with it. 

Life's biggest battles reap the biggest rewards. 

There are too many good friends out there to waste your time with bad ones. 

It's not a matter of how you screwed up, but how you plan to fix it. 

You can't always do it alone.

They're your family for better or for worse. And you know you'll always love them. 

You're never as alone as you feel.

If you want a hung, give a hug. 

When you feel weak, it's usually because your being made strong. 

Sometimes you need to let go of your pride and just cry. 

Be a good friend even when you don't want to be. 

Always be true to who you are. Eventually you'll find someone you don't have to try to impress. 

It's better to say "I don't know" than it is to pretend that you do. 

Don't complain about things you can't change. It's just a waste of energy. 

It's OK to feel sad sometimes, just don't make a habit of it. 

Find joy in the little things. 

Look for the good in people, but don't let it blind you from reality. 

Give people more than a few reasons to love you. 

It's good to have focus, but remember to look up at the big picture every now and again. 

With my faith and the gift of the Lord's power, I can do hard things. 

Don't expect anyone to love you if you don't love you too. 

At any given moment, you're at least twice as strong as you think you are. 

Pray for help and go to work. 

Do what you have to do when you have to do it. Then someday, you can do what you want to do when you want to do it. 

You can do what you want, or you can do what's right. But hopefully, what you want is what's right. 

Be thankful in thought and in action. 

Work hard to be someone worth being. 

The Most Wonderful Time of The Year!

{Yes I'm talking about CHRISTMAS!}

Everyone Know that the very best thing about Christmas (next to celebrating the birth of Christ, clearly.) is the presents! Now don't go making me out to be some kinda greedy guppy. I LOVE LOVE LOVE gift giving! More specifically, gift WRAPPING! (not the kind Lil' Jon be doin') This year I discovered the absolute COOLEST way to personalize each package to give to my loving family. (aww... sweet.) It all started when I decided, after wondering around the craft store for a good hour or more, to make this! see picture:

It's a Christmas (rhinestone) M to hang on our door! M stands for our last name, but mostly for Merry. As in, "have a Merry Christmas!"

 After that came along Ben's birthday. I had to wrap the gift that I got for him. As AWESOME as it was, I had to follow my theory: It's not about what is it. It's about how it's wrapped. So I had to get creative. I was puzzling till my puzzler was sore (name that movie.) Then it hit me! I'd thought of something I hadn't before. (still with the movie, same one though.) I looked down and there were all the left over rhinestones. So I used then to put a B, stand's for Ben, on the gift. Now it's turned into this. See picture:

Letters of the first name of the recipient. :) clever ay?

 Now at long last we will have beautiful gifts to put under our Christmas tree. See Picture. Maybe by the time Christmas Eve rolls around it will be strong enough to hold up a piece of glitter for decoration. Worth a shot at least!

If you look closely you can see that there are actually TWO "trees." However, after this picture was taken, tragedy struck and the blinds took out the smaller of the two. He had no chance. 

{MORAL OF THE STORY }

It's not what it is, Its how it's wrapped.

The Natural Blonde Strikes Again.

Today when I woke up I was Convinced  that today was going to be awesome. But as it seems to go, (more often than not) I was wrong. Yep. Today = less than awesome. Okay, Okay. If I'm going to be perfectly honest, only one thing went wrong. But it was a pretty big one thing. I bet right about.... NOW you're wishing you knew what happened. Well, don't get your panties in a bunch, I'll tell ya!

This morning I woke up to Ben telling me he was off to school. His first class started at 6:00 in the morning. As he gave me a kiss goodbye I thought, "Sure glad I don't have to be anywhere at 6:00 today." So I rolled over and resumed my peaceful slumber. Then, about two hours later, I woke up. and got ready to go to the grocery store before I had to be at work at 11. Right before leaving I grabbed my keys and my phone however, my phone seemed to have died sometime during the night. "No biggie," I thought "I'll just plug it in to charge while I'm at the store." 

Now, I feel you should know that because I coupon, grocery shopping takes me a bit longer than it takes other people. 

Anyways, when I got back home from the store, my phone was fully charged, so I turned it back on. I had one text message, which I responded to, and one voice mail.  Here are my thoughts as I was listening to that voice mail:
 Oh, I have a voice mail. Whoever could it be from?
Oh it's my manager from work
 6? I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE AT WORK AT SIX!? That was like 4 hours ago!!

Needless to say I threw what was supposed to go in the fridge in the fridge, still in the bags. However, I neglected the items that were meant to go in the freezer. Then I there on work close and got my butt to work. Good news, still not fired, bad news I'm supposed to be eligible  for a raise in about a month that doesn't look like it going to go so well.  

{Moral of the Story}

 Remember to switch the schedule posted on your fridge from last weeks, to this weeks. 

Burnt.

And no, if you're wondering, this post is not about bulk chili. 

Almost two weeks ago (Not last Saturday but the one before. {In case you wanted to know EXACTLY when this all went down.})  my darling husband and I decided to be good members of our ward family and participate in the ward social. This fun little get together would involve canoes, inflatable rafts, kayaks, the snake river, pulled pork for lunch, and I seem to be forgetting some thing... oh of course! THE SUN!  Now being a true blue Arizona girl, you wouldn't think this would bother me, and it didn't. At least not for the first 2 hours. 

{Allow me to Explain}

For this activity members of my ward would be getting together for lunch made by our wonderful bishop (Who, might I add, teaches classes about meat and how to make it taste sinfully good. Rather the contradiction, eh?). Those that wanted to could meet up before lunch and float (a.k.a paddle yourselves using your brute strength, because clearly rivers don't flow or anything..?) down the river. Sounded just like the kind of fun Ben and I are all about!

Eventually we found the people that we are supposed to meet up with so that we may caravan to our "put-in site." Through this experience I have learned that this means either 1) an area where grievous errors are made  or 2) the site where individuals start their journey down the river. I'm leaning towards the former.  After we all got settled in our water-craft of choice (The hubs and I went with a canoe. I wanted to go on the raft, but I decided to support him in all his righteous endeavors. Later to find out that that was a good move on my part. I'd recommend it to a friend.) our bishop sent us off!

I don't mean to make this seem like it was a terrible experience the whole time. For the first hour and a half, heck, maybe even two hours it was a grand ole' time! The company was great, the river was even flowing (off and on. but mostly off) thus helping to propel the canoe (a little). It wasn't until I got hungry, tired, cranky, and sunburned that I was ready for the landing to be just around the next bend...or the next one, or the next one, or the next one, or please Zeus let it be around the next bend! (classic case: too much of a good thing.)

What was I saying.... oh right. Sunburned. OH SO VERY VERY SUNBURNED. By the time we had gotten back on dry land because we had finally reached the "yep, this is way too far point" to call our bishop, Ben and I were burnt to a crisp. So burned we cracked when we walked. On the upside lunch tasted extra good. 

Looking back on the whole thing we believe that even though we had gone too far we hadn't gone too far by a long shot so we figure we must have "Put-in" at a spot further up the river than we had intended to. After we got home, Ben google-maped our approximate distance and he estimated that we canoed (with little help from the river I'll remind you for the third time) anywhere from 12 to 16 miles. Originally planned on an 8 mile ride. Almost two weeks later, our sunburns are mostly better. However, one of us is pealing of in sheets and the other is flaking like a buttery croissant (except that instead of delicious, it's, well...not.) 

{Moral of the story}

Get out of a (figurative, and also literal) sinking canoe sooner rather than later.

ALSO

I'd probably do it again if I had a sack lunch, water, good nights rest, and lots and lots of sunscreen. SPF 3,000.