HOUSE!

Yesterday we said goodbye to this place: And said hello to this place! Our NEW house!!

We own a house...well ok we have a mortgage, but really, who wants to get technical?

We spent almost the first two years of our married life living downtown. I will miss it so much. We have had a lot of good memories and fun times. It has been an adventure. But there are also things I won't miss so much about downtown. So, to celebrate/reminisce, here is a list of things I'll miss, and things not so much.

Things I'll miss:

• My big bathroom and walk in closet. The new house, although I love it, doesn't have those...even though I have a TON more room everywhere else!


• My red wall. But I will eventually have one again.


• The swimming pool. I feel like I didn't take nearly enough advantage last summer with it, and now I'll have to pay if I want to swim...which this summer I will probably want to do a lot of seeing as I'll already be whale-like. (joke)


• My walk to work. The park by our house was always so pretty no matter the time of year. And the ducks just came back for the summer. Last summer, there were ducklings that I wanted to snatch. Sam said no.


• Late night walks around town. There was always some place to go, and later at night was more fun. Although Saturday afternoon walks were great too.


• Memory Grove. I love living at the mouth of it. One direction you go, you have city. The other direction, the mountains with the river. I loved peacful walks up there. (But don't go out at night...the vampires come out.)


• The homeless man who sleeps under a tree in City Creek Park. I could always count on him being right there.


• Living so close to a Temple, and going to church at the JSMB, where you would look at the window and see the Temple. It was nice walking there just to sit and talk.


• My ward. I have grown to love my ward so much. More and more young people were moving in and it was great!


• The Avenues Smiths. I love that place!


• Living close to Temple Square during an event like the Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert or Conference. I always had a parking spot.

Things I won't miss:

• My tiny closet of an apartment. We didn't have room to store stuff, spiders were lurking around every corner (from the basklisk) and weird black stuff grew on the walls.


• Not having a landlord. That will be the BEST!


• Not worrying about my car being towed. (happend only once, and it was the WORST)


• Being able to go to the library with out worrying where I'll park and weather or not I will get pillaged by the people that hang out outside the library.


• Same thing with the gym, minus the creepy people.


• Not having to commute to see family


• I for sure won't miss the Walmart. That one is where all the "people of Walmart" pictures are taken I swear.


• Paying for laundry and having to wait for other people to move their laundry before I can do mine.

And to top it off, things I'm excited for:

• Having room to store things


• Having a yard


• Painting/fixing up my NEW house


• Making Abby's room super cute


• Mowing. I love mowing.


• Being as loud as I want in my house and not worrying about the neighbors


• Having my own washer/dryer


• TWO toilets. (one full bathroom, one half)


• A basement

I feel very blessed to be in a house already. I know that times might get hard. The payment is obviously more then we were paying for rent, but it is sure worth it. I am glad I am able to be in my grandmas house, to keep it in the family. I just feel like her and my grandpa are watching over me even more. I love and miss them, and now I will always have a part of them.

On other news, I have been craving bright crawlers since MONDAY. I decided last night when I had a dream about eating them, I'd better give in.

And so these are in my desk at work. Mostly gone. And I'm enjoying every minute of them. I mean really, if a pregnant girl DREAMS about food, that justifies buying it no?

"Big" Reason Being Pregnant is Fun?

The cute new clothes I get to fashion my baby bump with. Happy 23 weeks to me!

The one baby to rule them all.

"Frodo: I can't recall the taste of food...nor the sound of water...nor the touch of grass. I'm...naked in the dark, with nothing, no veil....between me...and the wheel of fire!! I can see him...with my waking eyes!"

"Sam: Then let us be rid of it...once and for all! Come on Mr. Frodo. I can't carry it for you...but I can carry you!"

Nerd alert! Frodo and I have a bit in common, and perhaps only a nerd like me can see this fact. Dramatic? Yes. But let me 'splain.

Now, I am not comparing Abbigale to the ring. I don't want to be rid of this little baby that is making me more dramatic by the day. I don't want to toss her into Mount Doom. (I do however want to toss her up and down to make her giggle) So no. I won't be rid of her once and for all. And let's be logical. Sam can't carry me anyway...

It is true that I can in fact recall the sound of water and the touch of grass. I am not being ruled by the ring, just a cute little baby. No. These aren't the reasons. So what, may you ask, is the correlation between me and Mr. Frodo? Simply this: I can't recall the taste of food either.

I remember once upon a time when food delighted me. When we would go out to eat and it was the best thing ever. I miss loving Olive Garden breadsticks and salad. I miss hot dogs, steak, FRIES, burgers. I miss making food and enjoying the finished product. I miss when i looked forward to eating my lunch. I miss liking chicken. Now the thought of most food (junk food excluded of course) turns my tummy. I only eat now because I have to, but it's very rare when I finish a meal and am satisfied. I miss enjoying my meals. I can't recall the taste of food.

But to end on a less dramatic note: It's all worth it! My mom bought these cute little bows for her and I got them today! (the only part of my lunch I really enjoyed)I can't wait till I can put them in her hair. I can't wait to hear her giggle, to feel her move in my arms, to see her smile. Even to comfort her when she cries. I can't wait to see my little Abbigale Naomi.

And truthfully...I can't wait to eat.

Be careful what you wish for...

A few weeks ago, Sam and I were talking about being sick. We wanted a day where we were just sick enough to stay home from work. A day when we didn't do anything, and we get away with it. A mini vacation day if you will. For some reason, we just wanted to be really sick. I guess an excuse to lay around.

Well, we both got our wish.

It hit Sam first. Last Monday, he had to go home from work early with what I believe to be the flu. (he thought it was food poisoning) He was so miserable all day long, not being able even to sleep. He asked me"why did I wish to be sick." By Tuesday he was alright at back at work.

Then it hit me. It walloped me. It laughed at me in the face. Yesterday I woke up feeling sick, but I just thought it was morning sickness. As the morning went on, I was feeling worse and worse, finally throwing up in my garbage can at my desk. Thinking that would be the end of it (as it usually is with morning sickness) I continued to work, and continued to feel like crap. Finally, I asked my boss to go home and by that time I was miserable. I couldn't keep my food down, I had a fever, and I ached everywhere. It's continued on today. Not as bad granted, but boy, I got it good. And just like Sam, I asked myself "Why did I wish to be sick."

So, be careful what you wish for.

Hair: The Bane of my Existence.

Hair. I have always had an image in my mind of what I wanted my hair to look like. I have tired to do various hairstyles. I've tried growing it out. I've tried keeping it short. I've thinned it, I've dyed it, I've flipped it, I've curled it. And I've come to the conculsion that my hair has a mind of it's own.

Oh sure, somtimes it actually goes the way I want it to and those times I truly do love it. Take my hairstyle Tuesday. It was fantastic. But for the most part, I greatly dislike my hair.

Right now I am in the process of growing out my hair. I don't know why I do this to myself except I'm sick of having the same ol' short hair do all the time. It is at that awkward "I do what I want when I want" length. I simply tried to straighten it this morning. It looked great for about 10 minutes, then I left the house and lo and behold it turned scraggly, therefore making me feel very frumpy and beraggled today. Is it too much to ask for to have beautiful hair much like this?:

I dream of long locks of beautiful hair. Like my BFF8's hair. I have ALWAYS been very jealous of her hair. It's so pretty and always looks fantastic. She curls it, she straightens it, she pulls it up. And never once has it looked bad. And it will probably look even better seeing as she is now preggers. (Sooooo extreamly happy for her!!!) So here's to your hair Mel. My dream hair.

Isn't she Purdy?

So here is a plea: what can I do to my hair till it gets past this awkward and very annoying stage? Pulling it up all the time would be nice...if I knew how to pull it up without acutally having a ponytale at all times. My hair has never looked great in a pony. Go figure. Any tips will help. Or I just might shave it off. Or probably not.

20 Weeks and a Baby Girl Too!

Tada! Me at 20 weeks. I have made it halfway. I'm slowly starting to feel better. Slowly being the key word. I hope though that the next 20 weeks, no more throw up for me!!

Also, you all obvioulsy know that Sam and I are having a baby girl! We are so thrilled. I wanted a girl so very bad. (but really, I knew all along it was a girl. Mothers intuition I suppose.) Sam wanted a boy, but he was very excited when he found out she is a girl and he gets more and more excited every day! Sam has always been super cute with little girls. He loves the nieces on both sides (and of course the 3 nephews we have too.) He is going to be a great dad to our little Abbigale. Yesterday our nephew Ammon was blessed and it was the first time we were with kids since we found out we were having a little Abby. He went picture crazy as our niece Lydia was opening her birthday presents. He is super cute with her and her cousin Emery. It made me so happy to see him playing with them and made it more real. In July, he will have his own little girl to play with. He is going to be such a wonderful dad. I can't wait!

Abby, you continue being a good little girl while you're cooking. And keep those little wiggles coming. They make me feel so close to you my little girl.

I already love her so much. More than I ever thought was possible. Back in my pre-pregnant days, I didn't know how much you loved the little thing inside until I experienced it. I always thought the real love came after. But I was so wrong. I love Abby more and more every day, and I can't wait to meet her.

Married to an old man...

I am not good at planning things. For some reason, it stresses me out more than it should. I like the after fact of planning things, I like when they go smoothly, but I just am not a good planner. So you can imagine how now that my mind is even more jumbled, I just couldn't wrap my it around planning something. I know. Worst Wife Ever. So to make things easier on me, and make it seem like I really thought things through, we decided to go to St. Geroge for his big day and made a fun weekend out of it. It was a much needed little get away!! Here are some highlighs of the weekend:

• Snacking, sleeping, and gabbing Sam's ear off on the way down




• Stopping in Cedar to have lunch with Jessica P. Stoneman.




• Finding out our hotel room was a lot cooler than we thought it would be.




• Buying myself a swimming suit on HIS bithday (It was on sale!! I already mentioned I was the worst wife ever)




• Having the whole pool to ourselves the first night




• Sleeping in everyday. (though not as late as I would have hoped....they stopped the breakfast at 9)




• Getting hooked on a Lifetime Movie, "The Party Never Stops."




• Going on a super fun hike, stumbling over my own feet and falling, then laughing so hard I just about wet myself. No joke.




• Eating at Jack In The Box




• Sam seeing Just Dance 2 was on sale and chose that as his birthday gift. (ya...didn't even pick a surprise gift for him. Boy, hit and miss this year on my part)




• Not getting sick after EVERYTHING I ate. Just a few things.




• Watching the BYU game at Wing Nutz with his friends. Ok so I don't like to watch sports, but at least I did something nice for just him on this weekend right? And I had fun with the peanuts.




• Driving to Vegas (sleeping the whole time) walking the strip, finding the cheapest foods to eat, and driving back late (again, I slept the whole time)




• Walking around the Temple grounds talking about our future.




• Finding a sacrament meeting where lo and behold, Sam knew someone there.




• Not having a set schedule. And just enjoying each other.

It was hard coming home. We really had fun. And even though I don't feel like I made this trip special for Sam, he seemed to be having a fun time. In fact, I just confirmed with him and yes, he did have fun. So Happy 25th Birthday Sam. You are the best husband and I promise: next year I'll be better. Maybe I'll even get you a cake. Or a pie.

I love you!!