Thanksgiving and other stuff

I'm finally getting around to blogging about Thanksgiving and well. . . other stuff. I haven't really rushed to get on and post about it because I think the main people who read this blog are the same ones who I was with for the holiday anyways!

My mom had signed all of us up for a race Thanksgiving morning called "Run to Feed the Hungry". There was the option of doing a 10k, 5k, 5k walk, or 1 mile walk. Collin did the 10k (overachiever), Paul, Tonya, Andrea and Alex ran the 5k, Mom did the 5k walk, and Dad, Ashlyn and I did the 1 mile. Except, we totally didn't even walk more than one block. I personally wasn't very impressed with this race this time around. We did it about 2 years ago and this time I felt like it was more crowded but way less organized. I was super bugged because the people putting it on made it sound like the race started AT 9. But no, all their pre-race crap started then and it was really cold! We all had to hop around to keep warm for the next half hour while they had weird zumba ladies up on some stage doing a work out. Dad did the best at keeping warm:

When the race finally started, it was still so unorganized. There were about two thousand people supposedly there, I think. And yet they had no signs for what route you should be doing depending on the race you signed up for. I think that would have made things a lot easier! So Dad and I had no idea where to go for our 1 mile walk so we walked a little bit with everyone else but realized if we kept going this way we were going to have to do a 5k walk, and yeah right like either of us wanted to do that! So we turned around and went back to the car and sat in the nice warm heat and let Ashlyn play with the steering wheel and waited to see everyone else come across the finish line. Not bad, in my opinion.

Anyways, after that fiasco the festivities began. Dear little Alex participated in no shave November the best he could while still following BYU's honor code:

Doesn't he look like someone from the 70's? That whole outfit. . . . 

And yes, asking Dad to say cheese while he carves the turkey results in a picture like this:

We all had fun with Ashlyn, of course. She is so funny and sassy. And loves to play with whoever will play with her. One in a while she actually called me by my real name, and didn't think I was Jodee! 

She of course still loooved Paul. He seems to be one of her favorites.

And I made a craft! Tonya brought us leftover stuff from a craft night she did with her young women and we all made these cute turkeys. 

Of course the day after Thanksgiving we helped Mom put up all the Christmas decorations! That's how it should be in my opinion, but being married to a SCROOGE I have to wait until December 1st. But not at my parents!

The tree decorating crew. Tonya and Collin and co had left earlier that day. :) Notice how Paul isn't part of the decorating crew? Refer to my comment about being a scrooge above. He wants nothing to do with Christmas until December.

Aaaand here's my parent's house with all the lights. My dad and Alex were so confused as to why 3 fuses blew out in this process and couldn't figure out why. . . . . hmmm. . . . let's all think about that. . .

It was a fun little holiday gathering. 

Luckily since Thanksgiving was so late this year, by the time we got home it was December 1st, so I brought out all our Christmas stuff! (which isn't that much, but my goal is to add to it every year, despite my SCROOGE.) I dragged Paul to Home Depot for us to get a nice little tree. It was the last warm-ish day before the freezing nasty cold weather settled in.

We've also been making some Christmas treats. These were supposed to be those cornflake wreaths, but we didn't bother molding them to look like wreaths. They looked more like Christmas tree poops. Still tasted good though! I also made some tasty toffee that is my FAVORITE christmas treat, but misread some of the directions and added double the amount of brown sugar I needed to for the cookie crust. So they turned out really gooey, but still really good! I took them to work and they were gobbled up right away and no one even thought about it!

So that's the run down. I can believe Christmas is less than 2 weeks! 

Visitors

I feel like this past month or so I've been able to visit with a lot of family and friends down here at various times. It's been great!

First we had the pleasure of hosting brother Sam and his wife Megan and their little cutie bug Grace. They stayed with us on a Sunday night while on their way up to Idaho Falls to see my parents. Sam had just finished management training with Jamba Juice out in California for 4 weeks and Megan and Grace went along for the ride. They live out in Tennessee so we don't get to see them very often. We had a tasty dinner of beef burritos and then were entertained by Grace until she went to bed. After she was in bed we played a ravishing game of Guillotine! One of our favorite card games now. If you haven't played it, let me know and we'll set up a game night. :)

I asked them both to say cheese and smile and this is what I got. They must be related.

Super crappy picture from my phone, but we tried to capture how much fun we had playing GUILLOTINE and eating Halloween Jell-o jigglers.

Then a week or two later my mom came to visit! I got a flier for the local giant craft fair that was going to be held down here at the beginning of November and remembered how I would go to the big one up in Idaho Falls with her growing up. I called to see if it was an open Saturday for her and it was! She came down that morning and we hit up the fair that afternoon (it was HUGE, by the way. It took us a good while just to get through everything!) I stayed within my budget and came back with some new cute holiday decorations, which was what I was hoping to find. And she got a cute baby blanket for the little nugget. 

After that we went home and relaxed a little (and she cleaned my living room. I protested, but she said "that's what Moms do, we clean!" or something like that. I was grateful.) and then took Paul along with us out to dinner at McCool's. We love that place! Great Irish food and it's hardly ever crowded. After that she helped us register for baby gear at Target. It was really nice to have her along to help me know what's really useful and what's not.

Then we got some frozen custard at Nielson's and as you can see, really enjoyed it.

Then Sunday morning she headed back home. Short trip, but it was a lot of fun. Thanks for coming Mom!

The Friday night before Mom came down, I got to see my bestie Katie! Ever since she married her military man a couple years ago she's moved across the country and it's rare we see each other in person. But she was in town for the night so we met up for dinner downtown. We had a lot of fun catching up in person and I don't know the next time I'll see her!

Once again, another crappy quality picture and not all that flattering, but whatever.

Then last Friday my high school bestie Rachel stopped by for a lunch date during her travels! She lives in Oregon right now with her cute little family and this was my first time meeting her second baby Bennett! He had the most kissable cheeks and her other boy Logan was a lot of fun too. It was so good to see her in person too and catch up!

All those visits were so wonderful. Thanks friends and family who came and saw me!

Other random happenings:

We went down to Provo to see an art exhibit with Paul's parents. I couldn't take pictures in the actual exhibit, but it was really cool. It was sacred works from 18th century or so artists like Carl Bloch, and I love his work. BYU had the option of renting ipads that had extra information about each piece displayed and it was really neat to have that. 

Below is Paul outside the exhibit holding all our ipads.

And I finished the baby's dresser! Below is the before picture. It wasn't in bad shape when I bought it, but I just wasn't a fan of the colors.

And after. I really like how it turned out. I think it is now very kid-friendly.

And there you have it. Have a happy Thanksgiving!

Cory and Alex

Remember how a while ago I did a post about my two older siblings? Well, this is now a continuation. Onto the next 2 siblings, little brothers Cory and Alex.

Yep, I grew up surrounded by boys. Sam, Cory and Alex were my main childhood playmates. We made up the coolest games and also had some pretty good fights, just like most siblings.

Anyways, Cory.

Cory, Cory Cory. What a weirdo. I say that in the most loving way, of course. If you think I'm obnoxious, you obviously haven't met my younger brother. He is one of the most creatively annoying talented people I know. 

And when I say talented, I really mean talented. Talented at observing each one of us and figuring out what exactly it is that bothers us, and then doing it a million times until you are ready to kick his hiney out of the room. Talented in figuring out the most annoying noises possible to make and doing them over and over and over and over again. Talented playing tricks on you and manipulating you into trying something. He can be so persuasive. Or maybe it's just pushy, I don't know.

Talented in music like no one's business. This boy can fiddle around on the piano and accompany you on probably anything. He's majoring in organ performance and really, I can't imagine him doing anything else. The louder and faster the song, the more he likes it. 

Talented in making me laugh like no one's business. I'm sure we made quite a pair when we were younger- he put on the show and I laughed and egged him on. We shared a room for probably about a week when we were little. I know it didn't last too long because I think our parents realized what was going on- we weren't getting much sleep because he would keep me up laughing while he danced around our room gargling "YMCA"  late into the night. That's how much of an entertainer this guy is. 

I hope you notice what is going on in this picture above. He obviously did something obnoxious right in my face and my hand is poised ready to smack him. Yep, this happened a lot. And I'm glad it's caught on camera.

There are too many childhood memories to count with this little brother of mine. And even though I can think of plenty of times when he drove me nuts, there are also memories of him being a sweetheart. Of being loyal. And like I said, he could sure make me laugh. He now has a beautiful wife and cute baby and I'm so glad he's my little brother.

So thanks, Cor. For the memories. I'm sure my childhood would have been A LOT more boring if you weren't around.

And now onto Alex. AKA the Kid. Or Kidothy. Lex. Lexkins. Alington. This brother had a lot of nicknames.

I think of Alex as the nicest of the boys. So naturally, he was the most picked on. I don't remember ever really getting into fights with him, all I remember are the not so nice things I would convince him to do. Like "superhero training" where I made him him carry me up the stairs or around the house pretending he was the superhero saving me from a burning building. Or pinning him down and tickling him over and over again until he bucked me off because he couldn't handle it anymore. 

See? Even above (this was about 5 years ago) he let me bother him and just laid there and waited until it was over. (By the way, check out Andrea's AWESOME nightgown!!!!!)

He and Cory were always known as "the little boys". Those two were peas in a pod. Whenever Cory and I would disagree, Alex would always side with him, even if my side of the argument was totally right. Didn't matter.

He also can make me laugh so hard because he is also so weird. Except instead of being weird in the obnoxious sort of way, he's just weird in the nerdy literal way. Actually, I feel like he and Paul are the most similar out of all of my siblings. They share the same love for nerdy things, like superheros and catching people making grammar mistakes. 

And he's the one who entertains me by doing things like this:

This little sweet nerdy boy has really grown up and it's a lot of fun having him not too far away in Provo. 

These two brothers sure did add a lot of excitement and fun to my childhood, and they still crack me up to this day. I've been really blessed to have some amazing brothers. 

Pictures with explanations

It snowed here last night. And I can't say I'm too sad about it. At least it didn't happen until Halloween was over. In my mind, once Halloween is over, it is officially OK to snow because it's Thanksgiving/Christmas time and you need snow for those holidays! Just not giant blizzards while you are driving. And you better believe I'm listening to Christmas music while typing this post. Paul is gone doing a sacrament meeting at the hospital so he can't get annoyed at me. I win.

Anyways, here's some pictures from stuff that's been happening lately. They are out of order but I don't want to take the time to fix it. Does any one else get annoyed at how hard it is to move pictures around on blogger once you've uploaded them into your post? Maybe I'm just a little slow when it comes to that sort of thing. . .oh well.

Anyways, this past Friday night we made a little trip up to Logan for the evening to go to a reception of one of my old coworkers from the eating disorder clinic I worked at. And yes, I totally forgot to get a picture of her on her special day. But trust me, she was a glowing bride and looks very happy!

I was excited to be able to catch up with some of my other friends/old coworkers from that place. Even though by the time I quit I was burnt out of that place, I made some wonderful life long friends working there who share the same insanely strong views about body image! It's nice to know I'm not alone. 

Anyways, Sara's reception had an awesome photo booth set up while you are waiting to talk to them. That's why the bottom picture is so amazing. 

It was a really fun reunion and I'm glad I made the trek up there.

Below is a picture that really doesn't have much to do with anything, but I just found it on my phone and it is WAY too good to pass up. Cory, you sure are a cutie.

And of course, Halloween! Most of you already saw my costume from the pictures posted earlier. This was by far the easiest costume I have ever done and was the most successful! Who knew that drawing on a a little facial hair would make such a difference? I don't know if it's comforting or not to know that I can look like one ugly dude, but it was a lot of fun.

By the way, the shirt I wore is Paul's! Ha ha! He claims he has no idea who gave it to him and I'm pretty sure he tried to stash it away years ago at his parents' house. But when we were visiting them a couple weeks ago his mom and been cleaning out some parts of their house and found this gem! As soon as I saw it I knew it would be the perfect fit for my costume idea. It really helped disguise my pregnant belly to look more like a beer belly, so it really worked out great.

I'm annoyed that this is sideways, but this is the side I made for our Halloween potluck lunch at work that day. It was an almost sob story and got close to not turning out. In fact, by the time I was finished it had taken me 45 minutes longer than planned and my mood matched my annoyance! It was supposed to be A LOT more upright. But as you can see, that did NOT work out. I've made this recipe before. It's pizza balls. But I tried stacking them in a bunt cake pan so that when I decorated it, it would look more like a pumpkin. Well, the top and bottom cooked just fine, but the middle was still really doughy! And I didn't realize that until I plopped it out of the pan. It immediately spread out and I was seriously so bugged. I just cooked it again for a lot longer and the top and bottom were crispier than I wanted, but whatever. People still said it was really good and it didn't taste bad at all, just looks crappy in my opinion. Needless to say, I did NOT win best side like I was hoping I would. Boo.

Ok, and just a couple more costume pictures. C'mon, you know it's so ugly you just can't look away. . . also, I convinced my boss to dress up like a nasty rockstar too! She went all out and even won best costume. I am so proud. She's totally one of the cool grandmas.

And a picture of the pregnant ladies at work. The other two are sisters. And a lot cuter. But you know, it's all good. Maddy on the left is due to have a girl about 3 weeks after me, and Anna in the middle is having a boy in December. This means that we have a giant drawer in our office packed full of snacks that we all contribute to and eat out of every day. It's awesome.

And that's all the pictures I have right now.

A few other things:

-I found a dresser that will work as a changing table as well. I painted it yesterday (and was actually sweating while doing it outside! That's how warm it was yesterday, and then I woke up to snow today. Typical Utah!) I just need to put nobs on it and Paul is going to cut out some boards to put up as side barriers so the little nugget won't roll off while on there. When all that's done, I'll take pictures and post them. So far I'm really liking how it looks. 

-We are also slowly dejunking/organizing our house. Nesting is really coming out in me. Mostly because the room this little lady will be in has been our designated "Hmmm. . I don't know where to put this, so I'll just toss it in here" room since we've lived here. Now we have to actually put that stuff away and that means organizing all the other rooms to do that. I'm just trying to do a little each week and it's already looking a lot better.

- I think that's all for right now. Life is just plugging along! 

Some thoughts

I feel like I should blog. . . . so. . . here I am!

I know I haven't posted very much about how this pregnancy is going, and that's half been on purpose, half I've forgotten. The half on purpose part is because I feel terrible saying this, but in the past I would get so annoyed by a lot of blogs I would read when the author was pregnant. Mainly because one they found out they were pregnant, that was all they would post about! I do understand that it is obviously a major life-changing event and is constantly happening for 9 months, but other things happen to!

I also haven't been posting about it on purpose because I have guilt. I don't know if it's the hormones or what, but I feel like I already am struggling with that a lot because even though every day I am grateful to be pregnant, I'm not always in the moment appreciative of it. Insert the guilt right there- I know plenty of wonderful people who would love to be pregnant and have children right now and for some reason Heavenly Father is working with them in different ways. So I shouldn't complain that we have not (yet) struggled with that.

But since this is my blog, I guess I can say what I want, and I will tell you what I have been struggling with. I am human, and even though I wish I could just feel like one of those pregnant women who are constantly glowing and bursting with joy, I feel like many days I fall short of that.

The first trimester was really hard for me. Never in my life have I felt that constantly sick for that long of a time. I was already wishing away the upcoming weeks of my pregnancy and praying constantly every day that I would not be one of those women who felt sick the whole time. I kept thinking in my head every day thoughts like "Just make to next week, you'll be one week closer to the end of your first trimester" or "You can do this. You did it yesterday. You can do it today."  The rough 6 weeks I went through seemed like an eternity at the time. I remember just going to bed crying many nights because I was torn between being so happy to know that a baby would be coming into our lives, and then also crying because I felt so sick and no matter what I did the nausea was always there. Going into work was so hard. I did thank Heavenly Father every day that I worked at a place that was understanding when I called in sick for a few hours every once in a while because I had just thrown up my breakfast, or lunch, or snack. There were quite a few days when I remember telling my boss "I don't know if I'll make it much longer here today." Somehow I always did and thankfully I never got sick at work. It was always at home. But still. Labor Day weekend was the first weekend I woke up not feeling so sick and I'm pretty sure I cried because I was so relieved to start to feel somewhat normal again.

And throughout all of that I had guilt because I wasn't appreciating my pregnancy like I felt I should.

Now that I'm well into the second trimester I do feel almost completely normal, except for the constant hiccuping, heartburn, and bloating I experience every day no matter what I eat, or the fact that I am still so hungry and I'm annoyed that I'm so hungry because I'm just sick of eating food. Or that my hips hurt and wake me up in the middle of the night because I can no longer sleep on my stomach. Or the fact that my acne has been the worst I've ever experienced, or that Paul pointed out I had two dark hairs growing on my cheeks. Or that milk, yogurt, cold cereal, and apples so far make me feel sick still. Yeah, other than that, completely normal.

But then there are amazing things about being pregnant that I really do appreciate and am in awe about. Like the fact that every ultrasound I've had so far I know if I was allowed I could just sit for hours and watch her wiggle around in there. Or the fact that every day I now feel her moving and I love that it's a constant reminder that she is always with me, wherever I go right now. Or feeling so blessed and relieved that so far everything is developing just how it should and she is healthy. Or seeing how excited Paul got when we found a rocking chair over the weekend and how he now refers to us in the plural whenever we are going somewhere, like "Alright ladies, let's get going."

I am terrified out of my mind to be a mother. I have no clue what I'm getting myself into and I know that's how every parent feels. But I'm still terrified. And yet at the same time I'm so excited. I know Heavenly Father is blessing me immensely and has trust in me that I will take care of His daughter, and that's what I plan to do.

I realize this post may be way random and probably sounds whiny, but I just felt like sharing my thoughts. .  . . .hopefully some of it makes sense and you don't take away that I am not grateful for where I am in life right now. Quite the opposite-I am so overcome with gratitude that I don't even know how to express it.

Picture Dump

Ok, a lot of catching up is needed, so let's get down to busniess! To defeat. . . the Huns! (Ha ha ha only if you're part of my family and have the Mulan songbook memorized will you probably find that funny.)

Let's start with the weekend visiting family for Jodee's farewell. Little sis is now in the MTC getting ready to go out to San Antonio Texas! I can't believe she is old enough to go on a mission, but at the same time I'm not surprised because she is so spiritual already and full of light and love that I'm sure she will bless many people in Texas. So happy for her!

Friday night I rode up with little brother Alex because Paul stayed behind for a show he played in that night. I really wanted to get up there Friday night for the EMOTION BOWL! I tried to convince Paul of it's coolness, but alas, he just doesn't get it. The guy is already not into any team sports. In fact, I watch more sports than he does on TV, and all I watch is the Olympics. Maybe that give you an idea. Anyways, it was fun to go with the siblings and put on my Tiger pride sweatshirt again and cheer for the winning team! It was pretty cold though and windy. But still, fun times.

Yep, we sure are pretty.

 Saturday morning Grandma and Charles were nice and took us out to breakfast at a 50's diner. I actually worked there one summer and it was horrible (that is another story for another day), but going there as a customer was great! I only snagged this one cute picture though of my beautiful sister-in-law Hayley, and her cutie little baby Adalyn. Seriously, I'm obsessed with her cheeks. Adalyn's, not Hayley's.

I don't really remember what else we did on Saturday, not much I think, or else I would remember! Oh, we helped my Mom get everything ready for the little lunch thing they planned on doing after Jodee's farewell. Exciting. 

Took this picture during the festivities on Sunday after Jodee gave a wonderful talk. Her sweet spirit really will be missed around here! I can't believe the next time I will see her I will have a one year old.

We tried to get a picture of all the girl cousins together. Below is just one of many attempts to get them to cooperate. Ashlyn did great because she had a cookie. Grace though, as you can see on the left, would have none of it. Adalyn just cried because everyone was in her face trying to get a decent picture. It was hilarious, actually.

Monday morning Paul and I headed to Sun Valley for a little anniversary trip. It's been three years! Wahoo! We didn't really plan much, just wanted some much needed rest and relaxation. We rented a cute little studio condo for two nights and it was glorious! 

We were really boring on this trip, which was just how we like it! We visited off season so there wasn't a lot to do anyways, and everything closed at like 5 each night! But it was gorgeous and wonderful.

 We did venture out and eat at a lovely little place called Perry's. If you're ever in Sun Valley, go there! Reasonably priced and awesome delicious food.  As you can tell below:

I tried to get a good picture of the bright red leaves behind us. The sun was so briiiiight though. And I couldn't find my sunglasses for the whole trip. . turned out they were in my backpack the whole time that was with us on the trip. I found them when we were unpacking. Go figure.

And that's all the pictures I took. I know, I'm really awesome about picture taking. Oh well. We really enjoyed our time there! 

Labor Day

Yep. . . a few weeks later I am finally posting about our Labor Day weekend!

Since I have been married to Paul, we've been spending every Labor Day weekend up at his family's cabin by Vernal. Yes, by Vernal. Meaning, it's like an hour outside of Vernal. Middle. Of. Nowhere.

No neighbors, just us and the cows. It's so quiet out there, I looooove it.

It's also our zombie apocalypse plan. If we ever have to leave town and the human race, we're going there. The electricity at the cabin is solar powered, they have running water from a local spring, and a wood stove to keep the inside heated. Pretty neat.

View from the front of the cabin. I love it!

Ah camping. . .really brings out the best in people.

Paul just adds so much to this picture.

This dirt road was made by the Siddoways driving up here year after year. 

 There's not really a lot to document about what we did while up there. I was finally, finally feeling better and not constantly nauseous anymore, but I was still tired all the time. So I just read and slept while Paul went out the four wheeler without me. (Boo! I was sad about that.) We played music together with his family, played a lot of card games, ate good food and just really enjoyed a relaxing weekend away from everything!

Enjoying our food. It was so nice to be able to eat whatever I wanted again without feeling sick!

Doing Sudoku. Yep, we are that cool! I beat Paul  though so I am really proud of myself.

Doing what we do best. . photobombing.