ALL iN a DaYs WoRk...but not anymore

Today was my LAST day of work—I am retired now...as my sister put it. I am happy to be done…but sad to leave good friends behind. I really wish I’d had found that job earlier—I really loved it. It was a good fit for me, and I feel like I really contributed a lot with my talents and skills—old and learned.

I’ve had lots of jobs. And most of them I hated, but endured.

*Before formally working I seriously babysat A LOT…good motherhood prep I guess.

*I worked 2 summers at the Kirtland Historic Village back home in Ohio as a gardener/custodian

*An early morning (as in 4am-7am) custodian on BYU campus at the JFSB.

*I worked about a month at New York & Co at the mall. I was in charge of the fitting rooms mostly. Though I have to admit, I didn't mind the days they stuck me in the storage room unwrapping and tagging clothes...SO glad that job was only a month!

*Jamba Juice was my next job—I stayed there 7 months until the other workers drove me to insanity and I quit. Probably my second favorite job though. I was dang good at it too.

*I worked a month as a telephone surveyor for the BYU Business School. By far my highest paying job at $10 an hour

*I worked again as an early morning custodian for about 7 weeks before I got married (this time it was 5-8:30am) at the Fletcher Building. I made nice with the head student custodian and ended up spending a lot of time just talking to people she knew in the building (they get there at 6am)

*THEN, I found my amazing secretary job in the Civil Engineering Department and I’ve been there for 8 months. My longest ever held job…besides the new job that I will have in about a month… Being a mom…duh! And don’t try to tell me that’s not a real job. It’s more than a “real” job; it’s for forever, underpaid, under-appreciated and the hardest yet most rewarding job I will ever have. I am both terrified and excited for it.

Anyway, regardless of how many jobs I’ve had, I’ve learned valuable lessons and skills that helped me grow and develop into a better person. I’m sad to leave my friends at the CE department, but it was inevitable. I will definitely be going back to visit though! (they’ll probably hunt me down and kill me if I don’t bring in my baby boy to show off)

Baby Newsies

O-K Folks--Baby Updates!

This is me and my huge belly--man I hope I don't get too much bigger! I have about 7 weeks left just til my due date!

Week 33 Or about 8 months (OnLy 44 days Left!)
Complaints: Swollen feet and hands :( I try to put up my feet as much as possible but it's not that easy when I have to get to work and class and I can't put my feet up there. Sore back is also another problem--mainly because the chair I sit in at work isn't very ergonomically comfortable.

[i'm going to take a picture of my feet in the morning and then my feet at night--to shock and amaze...so look for that soon]

I can tell that the poor little guy is running out of room...I can feel every move, stretch, punch and kick. I've even felt when he has hiccups--which is fun (for me at least)

I'm excited, yet nervous about how quickly the weeks are going by! I just hope that in a couple weeks I really will feel more ready and not as anxious about the upcoming events that will be taking place concerning this little guy.

MTC Drop Off

Yesterday my "little" brother (he's the tall one in the middle) went into the Provo MTC to start his mission. Lots of us were able to come which was really fun. Steve is going to Frankfurt Germany and will leave the MTC on July 28th (my anniversary).

We had a hard time getting that darn cell phone away from him...

I managed not to cry this time--though i did get choked up a little and had to fight the actual tears--the pregnancy hormones would have kept me crying longer than I would have wanted so I fought it. As Steve was leaving the room out his special "missionary" exit Al yelled "Bye Elder Fathead" That's Al's nickname for him--I call him Squirt. Either way we'll miss our big little brother.

PS. We ran into our good friend Fernando who works there too--always good to see Fernando. He's currently waiting for my good friend Melissa to return from her mission in Taiwan (though she only left in October--so it will be a while) I wish I got a picture with Fernando...

SmugMug

After so many computer glitches around Christmas time, we decided we better start backing up important pictures via the Internet. Scott did some researching and found Smugmug...Which is pretty much awesome. He wrote a very detailed blog post about it HERE...so I will spare you the same details of why we chose it and why it's awesome. [his post says you need a password, but right now we've taken off the passwords, but feel free to let us know if you have troubles viewing it]

Anyway, we've put up pictures from our Wedding, our trips to Europe, Vegas, other events--graduation, baby shower, etc. And we will continue to put up pictures--from last year and new ones from this year.

Go ahead and check it out ... feel free to comment also!

Our Smugmug Galleries

EarLy Anniversary Trip

Scott & I spent the Memorial Day Weekend in Las Vegas !!

It was a blast! Just so good to have a little roadtrip together away from work & woes. The weather was pretty good too--it rained off and on as we drove there..it did the same thing the second day we were there. But other than that the temperatures were in the low 70s and it was very pleasant!

***

We did T-O-N-S oF fun stuff:

The MGM Grand was the first hotel we explored and we were in awe of just how huge it was! There is a lion habitat--which we arrived at just in time to see 2 lionesses come out. One of them came right up to the window--literally inches away from us--and showed us her teeth. It was awesome!

We also explored the New York, New York--which looks like downtown New York inside (and outside i guess also. The Excalibur--we had our first buffet (it was one of the cheaper ones in LV) We also explored the M&M store and bought tickets for Madame Tussuad's Wax Museum at the Venetian for the next day. We got a prime spot for watching the Bellagio Fountain show our first night.

We went to the learning tables at Excalibur one morning--Scott learned Craps--I was overwhelmed by its complexity and gave up to go sit in a nice comfy chair in front of a slot machine nearby. We also went to the learning table for Texas Hold'em--we were the only ones who showed up. The dealer was really funny and we did learn some stuff we didn't know about the game--especially the etiquette.

We went to the Venetian--gorgeous--it made me want to go back to Venice. While there we went to Madame Tussuad's Wax Museum and at first it was a bit creepy cuz they look SO real! Scott didn't want to go near them at first because he was afraid of touching a real person by mistake. Down below are pictures of Scott golfing with Tiger Woods and Me on the American Idol set. It was so much fun!

Scott and I also went to Hoover Dam and took the Power Plant Tour. I'm glad we went--we learned a lot and it was fun to see the inside and know all the little background facts.



We also explored a bit of the Mirage, the Bellagio, and Treasure Island. We had an amazing buffet dinner at Treasure Island--complete with Cotton Candy! That was by far the best place we ate at. [sidenote: We wanted to go the the buffet at Planet Hollywood--but didn't make it over there. There's just way too much to do in Vegas and a pregnant lady can only walk so much :S We'll just have to go back sometime ;) ]



We did have one minor tragedy on our trip...We got separated on the monorail! We weren't at the right doors when it arrived and had to run a little to get down to it before it took off--Scott made it and I was right behind him but the doors were halfway closed and I didn't think I could squeeze through without getting severed to death (irrational fear of monorail doors). It was very unlucky that only I had my cell phone--so we had no way of communicating! At least, though, we'd just talked about where we were going to go next...so I jumped on the next one (they come every 5 minutes) and went to that stop. However--Scott had gone back (thinking I was mad at him and would stay there) ...anyway there's more jumping around...but after 2 trains went by with no Scott I was teary and sad because we got separated. Finally, he jumped off the 3rd train--caught me red handed crying a bit--and I just had to laugh. Pregnancy hormones. I knew he'd find me eventually, but I was just so sad that I couldn't stop crying! Anyway, we had a nice evening at the car museum at the Imperial Palace (which we got into for free with passes off the internet) We saw some famous cars--the actual red mini cooper from Italian Job, the car from Starsky and Hutch, and the ultimate famous car--Herbie aka the Love Bug!



Scott and I also had tickets for a Magic show--it was pretty good--had tigers and everything. It wasn't David Copperfield, but he still did some pretty cool stuff. Anyone know just how they do all those extreme magic tricks? Some of them just blow my mind at how fast they are done!
We also got our caricature done---it was fun, but I think we were a little disappointed at the final result. We decided next time we'll get a portrait done instead. I think we would be happier with something that actually looked like us. I haven't taken a picture of it yet so I have nothing to show you--sorry.

I'm sure there's a bazillion other details we could tell you...but to prevent further boredom of anyone who may be reading this and wanting to drill a pencil in their head...I will cease.
I had a great time--best of all was just spending the weekend with my best friend. I wish my feet hadn't swelled up or hurt as much so we could have done more (I ended up buying gel inserts for my shoes to help a bit--but by the last day I just had to wear my flip flops anyway because my feet wouldn't fit in my shoes anymore.)

P.S. Next time I go I want to spend at least one night in a fancy-pants hotel--like the Venetian or the Bellagio! It would be awesome!

[More Pictures (with captions) can be found in our Smugmug Galleries]

hApPy HApPy BiRthDaYs

Scott is 25 yrs OLD today ! !

Happy Birthday, Sweetie !

my hubby

i L-O-V-E HiM

wHy??

He’s sweet, clever, & brilliant

He makes me laugh like no one else

He has red hair

He does the dishes

He takes me on walks just so we can talk

He’s handsome

He makes my dreams come true

—like buying me a guitar

& taking me in a hot air balloon

He explains difficult things like

computer programming

in a way that i can understand it

…even when i don’t want to know!

He’s just as excited to be a dad

as i am to be a mom

He finds joy in challenges & works hard

He makes life more fun—we love to annoy, tease

and poke each other

He gives the best hugs &

doesn’t care how long i hold on

He’s understanding, he listens & comforts

He is every bit of comfortable

He is everything to me

& i am so much better a person

with him by my side.

Sealed the Deal

...that is what my brother Al did on Saturday with his fiance Stephanie. It was a simple wedding altogether, but it was perfectly what they wanted and it was good to have all the family here for it. We're happy to have yet another member to our family. Congratulations & Good Luck!

Movie Madness

I think it's a sign you have bad cable channels when you watch one hour installments of various movies every single night.

That's what Scott and I have been doing for a couple weeks now. We're going to need netflix or something soon because we will have watched nearly every movie in our collection soon. Ok, a little exaggeration. But seriously. We have BYU cable, and I guess though it has the main channels like ABC, FOX, CBS, we just never really watch anything. I'd rather play Lego Starwars on the XBOX for an hour than try to find something to watch. (By the way, they are coming out with Lego Indiana Jones, and I SO want it! Birthday?)

At least we got out and saw a brand new movie for once in ages and ages! Jen and Greg gave us movie passes for baby sitting for them on their anniversary last minute, and we took total advantage of them and went to see Iron Man! Which was simply awesome. I loved it. It seems that there are just so few good movies out right now...it was so refreshing to finally see one! (Last really great movie I saw was Dan in Real Life).

Baby Newsies

Last Saturday was my Baby Shower!

It was lots of fun to have all my very good friends and some of my family there to celebrate this wonderful time in my life with me!

My sister was the master organizer, and she is simply marvolous, when it comes to this kind of thing. She did my bridal shower last year and worked wonders then too!

It started around 10:30-11am, so our little food goodies were yummy muffins, caramel french toast, grapes and berries! There was juice and milk as well. Her beautiful Hydrangea bush made the table look simply gorgeous.

People arrived at all different times, but mostly everyone was there by 11:30. The first game we did was a baby-food guessing! It was both fun and disgusting! The more fruity flavors are by far the better ones! I guess if you are baby you don't really know what your missing with the real stuff!

The next game was a playdoh baby contest. We got a bunch of cute ones! While people were making their babies, there were two other guessing games going around the circle. It was loads of fun. Lots of laughing, stories and conversation. I don't know about anyone else but I had a blast with all my friends and family there that could come!

While I was opening my presents they cut the cake. It had a blueberry filling and the frosting was my favorite--a white chocolate cream cheese frosting. To-Die-For! I got to eat my piece afterwards.

I got so many adorable presents! Of course I took pictures of everything I'll spare you and not post them all--am i a new mom or what?! I feel so much better now-having some more necessities to help me feel ready for our baby boy! I'm so excited for him to come...only 2 more months!

Anyway, Just a shout out to all those who came and made it so fun! And of course, Thanks Jen for being simply awesome and taking the time to make it memorable! I love you all!

A Place to Call Home

Scott and I have spent the last two weeks looking into potential houses to put offers on. With a huge help from Bill & Brenda (Scott's Parents), we found a few that we are definitely interested in. There is a neighborhood in Lehi, UT in which many of the houses are pretty new (2007) and are under foreclosure. They are really great houses, in a great location--about 5-7 minutes from I-15 which will make a fairly fast commute for Scott to work, as well as being close to all the important shopping locations ;) in American Fork (it's practically in American Fork itself).
These are the houses we're interested in. The first one we're actually going to go see again on Monday, and then on Tuesday we're going to put in our offer! The second one is our next favorite (we'd have to fix the garage door ourself because the house is sold As Is, but we're not worried--it's a great house). And then the rest are ones we like, but not as much as the first two. We've learned SO much about houses and buying houses in so little time! It's pretty crazy! I just hope we find a house before we have to leave Wymount at the end of the summer. I don't want to have to try and find a month-to-month apartment contract :P Nightmare!

They all look very similar don't they...

[UPDATE: we put an offer on the house in the first picture--we call it the Bonus Room House or I call it the Dreamhouse. It's exciting to have one offer in, but it's going to be a long process, and there is another offer on it as well. In the meantime, we will look into other houses and get our finances--including getting our loan nailed down. Still all very exciting though!!]

Baby Newsies

We got a crib!

Scott's parents bought us a beautiful crib and a matching changing table. Wanna see a picture???

Here ya go!

Oh, they're still in the boxes!? Oops.
We'd love to set them up, but because 1) there's no space in our second bedroom right now for it and 2) if we move before July, it would be pointless to have it set up and get damaged during the move!

Here's what they look like though...


These aren't the exact color--it's probably in between these two wood colors, though. We're excited! Thanks Bill and Brenda!

Katie's KLipBoard

This is pretty much the sweetest artwork I've ever seen!

(This was an email forward)

Julian Beever, an English artist, is famous for his chalk art on the pavement of England, France, Germany, USA, Australia, and Belgium. Beever gives an amazing 3D illusion to his work!!
Just see for yourself!






Notice how even the hose and the water are fake?!



The people are actually avoiding the hole!





His feet are both FLAT on the ground.
This second picture shows the opposite side of the drawing.

Now isn't that the sweetest artwork YOU have ever seen?!