ABC Tag

I was tagged by Kimmy and Megster, so here we go:


A: Addiction ~ Nothing. I am addiction free, thank you.

B: Breakfast (what you eat) ~ Usually cereal. Sometimes eggs, toast, fruit, oatmeal, creme of wheat, pancakes, waffles, french toast, german pancakes, eggs golden rod, or anything else that I feel I want to eat.

C: Chocolate or Chips ~ Chocolate...I guess. I was never a chocolate fan before I got pregnant, but ever since, I kinda like it.

D: Dessert or Appetizers ~ Dessert FOR SURE!! Bring it on!!!

E: Essential Items ~ uh....food, Devin, Hallie

F: Favorite Color ~ Yellow

G: Gummy Bears or Gummy Worms ~ Gummy Worms for sure. Especially when they are frozen or in ice cream. Yum.

H: Hometown ~ Idaho Falls. I do love it there. If only it weren't so windy...

I: Indulgence ~ Dessert. Need I mention that again?

J: January or July ~ July for sure. Fun holidays, good weather, swimming, parades, parties.

K: Kids ~ If you haven't noticed, the subject of this blog is pretty much my daughter who is adorable and rolly polly and super duper cute and also looks nothing like Devin or myself.

L: Life isn't complete without - Sleep, family, church, nice weather, books, good movies, friendships that last

M: Most exciting memory ~ Um that is a very difficult question. I would have to say my wedding, giving birth, being in Ecuador (the whole thing), sky diving, many funny random things in high school

N: Number of Brothers and Sisters ~ 1 sister, 2 1/2 brothers

O: Oranges or Apples ~ Apples (with peanut butter)

P: Phobias or Fears ~ Death, snakes, reptiles of all sorts, fire burning down my house, electrical outlets when I was a kid were a huge phobia of mine. I used to make my brother Michael plug the vacuum in for me every time.

Q: Quote ~ "If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so that I never have to live a day without you." Winnie the Pooh

R: Reading ~ Nothing at the moment, but I do love biographies and true inspirational stories.

S: Summer or Spring ~ both

T: Tag 6 people ~ Ashley H., Emily, Beth H., Jaime the Cheetah, Nataley, and Jennifer my sister

U: Unknown Fact About Me ~ I hate to exercise. Okay everyone knows that

V: Vacation I want to go on ~ I want to go to Philly to see Che, DC to see Camille, and TN to see Hayes this summer!

W: Walking or Running ~ Walking for SURE

X: X-Ray or Ultrasound ~ Ultrasound, I had a few of those once.

Y: Your favorite food ~ Turkey, mashed potatoes, etc.

Z: Zoo or Bowling ~ Bowling, zoos smell.

Rock On- Love, Hals

No, this is not posed. Hilarious, though, right?!

Also, since Meghan won't leave me alone, (just kidding Meg), here are 10 honest things about me. I know I just did 25 random things, but hey, you all love learning more about me, right?

1- I have a really hard time dealing with change. Although I may seem to be fine with it, in reality, I long for days past and miss old friends that I haven't kept in touch with. I secretly still get really sad about not working at LAWL anymore, for example, even though I nearly hated that job at the end. I get very nostalgic very easily.
2- I still sleep with my baby blanket. Poor Devin. Enough said.
3- I sometimes think that Hallie got switched with another baby in the hospital that was actually ours. I just look at her and think there is no way that we could have created something so beautiful. She just doesn't resemble Devin or I really. She has such gorgeous blue eyes, and she certainly didn't get those from either of us brown-eyed parents of hers. Her hair also seems to have a reddish tint to it and curls at times. Weird.
4- I have very sensitive feelings about infertility. I know I am not infertile myself, but working with people who are makes me very sensitive to the issue. I get really riled up about it when I hear people make dumb comments and I get really sympathetic when I hear of people who have infertility issues.
5- I knew I was going to marry Devin very close to when I met him. We didn't even date until after his mission, but I knew.
6- I have a one track mind sometimes. When I want to accomplish something, I have to dedicate myself completely to it or it drives me crazy if I have to quit and come back to it later. For example, I have been wanting to make our wedding album and found a great deal on a book and some supplies yesterday at a craft store. I started the album in the morning and finished it last night. That's pretty much all I did all day long.
7- I wish I hadn't been so unsure of myself in high school. I never thought I was good enough and I constantly worried about what others thought. I wish I could go back and tell myself, "who cares what other people think?! Be yourself and live it up!"
8- I had a LARGE obsession with the band NSYNC when I was in Jr. High.
9- I take great pride in being a good, loyal friend. It means a lot to me when people feel comfortable enough to confide in me. I have a large variety of friends, I think, and it is important to me to maintain my friendships.
10- I have never gotten over my nail-biting habit. I have ALWAYS been a nail biter, bad. I know it is disgusting, I know. But I just can't help it. My grandma even paid me $10 to stop when I was in 3rd grade. Of course I took the money and ran, but did I ever quit? Nope.

Well, that's all folks.

You KNOW you want to win!!

I commented on my friend Ashleigh's blog...this is super fun, I can't wait to use my creative juices to make YOU something extraordinary!

The first FIVE people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!

2- What I create will be just for you.

3- It'll be done this year. (might be a little while)

4- You have no clue what it's going to be.It may be a story. It may be a joke book, autographed picture of myself, handmade bag, or a little invention of my own! I may create you a blog header or paint something for you with my food. (That would be scary). I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows?

5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange. Believe me... it may blow your mind!

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must re post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it! Sounds like fun, right? So, let's play!

25 Random Things

My friend Calie tagged me and since I am bored and also have nothing to blog about, I thought I would do this. Here are 25 random, un-inspiring, useless bits of information about me: (If you knew all of these before, I am going to have to say either you know me too well or you are a stalker).

1. I hate, hate, hate feet.
2. I one time drove my mom's minivan right into a dumpster with 6 girls in the car with me right after I got my driver's license. And I will never live it down.
3. I have had 5 surgeries.
4. I used to live on a road named Barney Dairy Road.
5. When I was young, I had a bad habit of saying inappropriate things, so my kind aunt Linda assigned me the motto, "When in doubt, don't shout it out!"
6. I met Devin at Jamba Juice
7. I have been skydiving
8. 2 of my co-workers from LA Weightloss came up with Hallie's name
9. I have been pulled over 8 times and never gotten a ticket
10. I have always been a huge fan of the Atlanta Braves. When we were younger, my siblings and I would make charts and keep track of all sorts of statistics, along with attempts to "call" homeruns.
11. Devin and I wrote his whole mission- thought not seriously
12. I lived with my friend Camille for my entire college career, that is until I got married.
13. I am a mustard freak, but hate mayo
14. I also hate milk, rootbeer, and grape juice
15. I don't really know how to iron. Devin does it.
16. I used to have to scrub my bathroom weekly with a toothbrush. My mom was hard core!
17. I have dressed up as a bag lady and paraded around town with a wagon full of treasures.
18. I worked helping a girl with Down Syndrome all through high school. I would go to her house two days a week and help get her ready for school, then help after school until 6. I loved it and I miss her so much.
19. I was never a rebellious teenager, but I did get kicked out of my physics class a number of times.
20. In junior high, I begged my dad to hire me as his professional "shredder" at his job.
21. I once fell asleep with my head on a random man's lap when I was on a plane ride home from EFY in Virginia when I was 14. None of the 3 friends that I was with woke me up, but let me spend the whole flight like that.
22. Devin and I sometimes play "Memory", you know the kids game, after Hallie is asleep.
23. My dad was a travel agent while I was growing up, so we got to go lots of fun places.
24. I had a pen-pal from Slovakia that I wrote to for years.
25. My favorite meal is turkey and mashed potatoes.

I tag anyone who is having blogger's block!

Crazy 8's

Well my cousin Shawna tagged me and since I have had major bloggers block (nothing, absolutely nothing to blog about), I thought this would be fun.

8 fav. TV shows:
1. Jon and Kate plus 8
2. What Not to Wear
3. The Amazing Race
4. Biggest Loser (though I never get to watch this)
5. uhhh...baseball?
6. Murder shows (you know, like 48 hours mystery, Snapped, etc...I know its a little weird, but I really do like them- that's probably not normal)
7. Dirty Jobs on Discovery
8. Cash Cab also on Discovery

8 places I love to eat:
1. Cafe Rio has to be #1
2. Zupas
3. Kneaders
4. Chili's
5. Mexican...Puerta Vallerta in IF
6. Sandwich places, Subway, Sensous Sandwich, etc.
7. Olive Garden
8. Wingers

8 things I did today:
1. Spent the morning at LDSFS working and dealing with many things happening all at once (mostly good things)
2. Ate cottage cheese for lunch
3. went to the doctor where I got a flu shot and some nice medicine for heartburn
4. put gas in the car
5. talked on the phone alot to one of my adoptive couples and a caseworker in Centerville as we are trying to facilitate an adoption-yay
6. Went visiting teaching and chatted with the girls for too long
7. Went back to LDSFS for a Halloween party with our birth moms where I ate pizza and decorated cookies and watched "Thriller"-doesn't get better than that!
8. Went to the temple with Devin to do sealings. The sealer informed us that we might have to make a stop at the hospital on the way home. Apparently he thinks I am going to pop soon.


8 things I am looking forward to:
1. A new baby!
2. Neil Diamond concert!
3. Christmas!
4. Dressing my baby in cute clothes that have been sitting in the closet for months
5. My sister's baby in February
6. Seeing long lost friends over holidays...whoever makes it home!
7. fitting into my old clothes
8. getting rid of heartburn forever! (I wish!)


8 Things I love about FALL:
1. hot chocolate
2. crunchy leaves
3. Fall decorations...though of course not my own since I don't have any
4. My birthday, Devin's birthday, and soon to be Hallie's birthday will all be in the fall
5. Turkey dinners
6. Seeing family around holidays
7. scarves
8. pretty colors everywhere


8 Things I WISH for:
1. World Peace
2. the carpet in my kitchen to be removed
3. Devin's graduation to come as soon as possible
4. happiness for all my family members and friends
5. to be more domesticated
6. more ability to love and serve others
7. a new coloring book
8. to eat all the cookies and candy I want without seeing the consequences



8 people that I tag
the first 8 people to read this blog. Yep. Thats you!

And since posts are boring without pictures, here is a picture of last year's Halloween. I am sure I posted it before, but its always good to reminisce. Can you tell I have a problem with ratting my hair too often? This is my good friend Meg Meg and me as dead people last year as we were working together at LA Weightloss (RIP LA). Devin and I went to a party that night and I believe there is a picture of us on my sidebar with him dressed up as a pioneer woman. Good times.

Getting to Know You Alphabet- Devin

Since I feel like this blog is all about me sometimes, I thought I would have Devin do this so that everyone can get to know him a little better!

A. Attached or single? Attached

B. Best friend? Kim

C. Cake or Pie? Cake

D. Day of Choice? Saturday

E. Essential item? BYU football

F. Favorite color? Yellow

G. Gummy bears or worms? Worms

H. Hometown? Fairview, Utah

I. Indulgence? Sometimes

J. January or July? Both

K. Kids? One on the way

L. Life isn't complete without? Kim

M. Marriage date? April 26, 2007

N. Number of brothers and sisters? 2 brothers and 5 sisters

O. Oranges or apples? Depends if they are good

P. Phobias? None

Q. Quotes? "Enter to learn, go forth to earn!" - An assignment from class

R. Reasons to smile? Yes

S. Season of Choice? Winter

T. Tag some peeps: I don't have chickens

U. Unknown fact about me? All are known

V. Vegetable? Carrots

W. Worst habit? Watching football all day on Saturdays

X. X-ray or Ultrasound? Can't say. Never had one of either.

Y. Your favorite food? Meat and potatoes

Z. Zodiac sign? Good question

Bag Tag

My cousin Che' Lyn tagged me and so I must post the contents of my purse. I think this is funny since what people have in their purses might just tell you a little bit about them. For example, Che' had a vest in her purse. What that says about her, I do not know, but it's funny. I have no vests, but I do have the following:

• checkbook


• Purel lotion for pregnancy (free sample, it came in the mail. How friendly)


• camera


• wallet


• massive keys on massive lanyard that I have had FOREVER. I get this bad habit from my grandma who has always had her keys on ugly red and green ribbons so that she can find them at the bottom of her purse (also known as the "national bank"). It's not cute, but it sure is handy


• Vantage Point lanyard with my photo id badge thinger on it.


• A letter for Che' that I opened and read (with her permission) that I need to return to her house


• cow lotion in an un-identified bottle


• sunglasses


• Two cd's (Baby Lullabies from the Children's Songbook and Yoga for Kids) so kindly burned for me by my friend Erin who works at VP with me. I have them in there because I took them to work at LDS with me to listen to them and so far they have not made it out yet


• mini planner (my life these days)


• two pictures


• a pen


• an applesauce cup (you never know when I might get hungry)


• two cell phones (one is my personal one and the other my LDSFS one)


• carmex


• chapstick


• tweezers


• two batteries


• chewed gum in a wrapper
  
• a bobby pin
  
• a bunch of crums

Now that I have pulled everything out of the purse to sort through it, I will proceed to clean it all out! This post has now served a dual purpose. You can learn about what I carry around with me and I have been inspired to clean out the purse!

PS. Thanks for those of you who gave me such grand advice about the Rhogam shot. I am happy to report that I had the shot yesterday and it was about the easiest thing I have ever done. I am such a useless worrier (Devin will attest to that!). I made him go with me for moral support and it was kinda hilarious that he was even there. The needle was tiny and it didn't go into my rear end at all...it went into my hip so I just had to pull my shirt up slightly and my pants down slightly. No big deal! It didn't even hurt. HAHAHAH. All that worrying for nothing. So...Rhogam Shmogam. If you have to have one, don't even worry.

Tag-a-thon

So my sister Jennifer tagged me. I actually like the tag things because it gives me some ideas of things to blog about that I probably normally would not. So here we go!

joys:

1. I am going to have to echo my cousin Cortney on this one. Sitting in the bathtub with a good book. In fact, here is a secret for you. Last week, we went to mow the lawn at Che's and while Devin was hard at work, I was sitting in the bathtub the whole time. Ha ha ha.

2. Spending time with my husband. It doesn't matter what we are doing, I just love being with him.

3. Working. I love putting in a good day's work. There is just something so satisfying about it. Especially when I feel like I am making a difference in someone's life (which isn't that often, but still...)

fears:

1. After the hard year that our family has had, I am going to have to go with losing family members as well.

2. I fear that I will be a horrible parent or that something terrible will go wrong with my children.

3. I also fear rodents of all sorts. Nasty, icky. Oh yeah, and I will add worms and snakes to the list too.

Goals:

1. Become a good parent. See above. I want to love my children, yet teach them the value of hard work and the joy of earning what they have.

2. Continually work on my marriage and proudly say that I have succeeded when all is said and done.

3. Serve a mission some day. Some of you may not know this, but I was fairly certain I was going to go on a mission before Devin came home, but apparently my bishop knew otherwise. I went in to see him to get mission papers about six months before Devin came home and he told me that I needed to go pray about it some more. Well, good thing I did, because I came to the answer that then was not the right time. I wonder why... :)

Current Obsessions:

1. SNO CONES, SNO CONES, SNO CONES. I am currently on the lookout for the best sno cones in Provo. Sad to say, they just don't make them like they do in Idaho. Good old Idaho.

2. The show "Jon and Kate Plus 8" On TLC. Don't ask me why, I just can't get enough. In case you don't know, its a show about a family who have a set of twins and then a set of sextuplets. The sextuplets (thats six) are almost 4 and the twins are 7. It is very entertaining.

3. Free Cell. What a gem of a game. In my down time, I find myself playing Free Cell like crazy.

4. I am going to add grocery shopping to this list, simply because I cannot get enough of it.

Random, Surprising Facts:

1. I out-eat Devin. (that's for when I am not pregnant too). It's sickening.

2. I know more about baseball than most guys, particularly the Atlanta Braves. I was at work one day and two male staff found out that I knew a little something about the Braves, so they challenged me to a contest to see who could name more Braves players from any time. I beat them both.

3. When we were little, my siblings and I, along with the neighbors, were quite creative. Some of things we played/invented were the human board game, jump rope concerts, mud pits in the dirt with a hose for a slide, selling the neighbors painted rocks that we had gotten out of their own yard, dances to the Beach Boys, making our own plays complete with sets made out of cardboard, and imitating the Folk Dancers who came to Rexburg every year, costumes and all. Where have those creative genes gone?

Here is a pregnancy picture for good measure, since posts are often times boring without pictures. This is 19 weeks.

I tag uhhh...Nataley I., Haylee, and Emily! Have at it.

Looking back...

My cousin Shawna did this on her blog and I thought it was so fun that I wanted to do it too! It is fun to reflect back on your life and see where you have come from and where you are going. So here goes

20 years ago:

• I was a unruly 2 1/2 year old terror. My parents called me the "corkscrew" because I never sat still. My Grandpa Ed would hold me during Sacrament Meeting to try to keep me contained during prayers, but inevitably I would end up on the stand waving at the family.
  
• It was probably about this time that I was receiving my first or second surgery for my kidney/bladder.
• I was also probably receiving my very first mushroom cut, which was the staple haircut that I would have for the next 5 years. Haha...gotta love it.

10 years ago:

• I was a 6th grader going through the awkward stages of bangs and purple glasses. We all loved our bangs so much in fact, that it was probably around this time that Haylee, Anneka, Camille, and I signed a pact that we would never get rid of our bangs. Well...that sure didn't last.
• The boundaries changed so I had a choice to stay at Sunnyside Elementary or go to Longfellow Elementary. Haylee and I chose to go to Longfellow and we never regretted it! That is when the two of us hooked up with Anneka and Camille and we became best friends through the rest of our school years.
• My rebellious nature had not yet subsided...this was the year that I cut a boy's hair in class, wiped dog poop on another during recess, and left books under my desk at night on purpose so I could fill out a "refocus" form in the next classroom.
  
• Hay, Anneka, Camille and I played YMCA basketball, started calling boys, took group counseling to get out of class, and rode our bikes to McDonalds for lunch from time to time.
  
  5 years ago:

• I was 17 years old and a junior in high school. I hated junior year because I took a lot of hard classes, including honors English, chemistry, and trig. I loved sophomore year and I loved senior year, but junior year? UGH.


• By this time we had expanded our group of friends a lot and we had all sorts of fun together.


• I moved to Rigby with my mom. That was really hard for me, but needless to say, I started "living" at my friends' houses instead.
  
• I was working at "Options Inc" where I worked with developmentally delayed children. I started doing a "home base" assignment that year with a sweet girl named Amy who had downs syndrome. I went to her house in the morning and got her ready for school and then I went back after school and worked with her until 6 pm when her dad came home from work. I learned so much from that job and I miss Amy like crazy.

1 year ago:

• I was engaged to Devin and we were going to school and preparing for our wedding


• I was taking the bulk of my social work classes and a marriage and family class with Devin


• I was living with Kylee, Camille, and Steffy...my favorite set of roommates. We had a great time together


• I was about to be promoted at work (finally!) after our manager transferred to another center.

So far this year:

• I have been as busy as ever, getting ready to graduate in April.
• I have been loving my internship at Wasatch Mental Health. It has been a really good learning experience
• I have enjoyed spending time with Devin and our friends and family

Yesterday:

• I went to my internship from 8-2
• Went to look for new housing with Devin at 2
• Did some homework
• Went to class from 4-7
• Came home and got ready for Valentine's Day
• Spent the evening with Devin eating dinner and relaxing

Today:

• Going to one Loooong class from 11-2:30.
• Calling my best friend Haylee to wish her a happy birthday!
• Going to work from 3-7
• Take Devin to dinner to finish off our Valentine's Celebration

Tomorrow:

• What a boring life I lead. I work from 8-1
• Go to my internship from 2-6
• Write a paper
• That's all I have planned! Whoopee!!!

In the next year:

• Hopefully Devin and I will move to a larger apartment where we actually have storage space
• I will finally graduate!
• Maybe I will get a new job
• Maybe I will get pregnant
• The rest of the future is a mystery!

I also tag whoever is reading this. I would like to learn more about EVERYONE! I think this is an interesting way to do it.

Tag-a-bag-lag

Megan tagged me, so here goes my 6 fantastically fascinating facts about myself!

1) I still sleep with a baby blanket. Yep, for those of you who have known me for many moons, it is the same one that I am slept with since the day I was born. This blanket I named "pinky" when I was little since it is a pink blanket (well, not anymore, but what can you expect after 22 years?). Then once, when I was probably 5 or 6, my blanket got lost and I cried for days and days and days. My dad thought he would help me out and replace my blanket, so he got me an identical one, except this one was blue. Well, a few days later, I found pinky in the inside of a sleeping bag. I refused to give up bluey, so then I had pinky and bluey. My dad *lovingly* nicknamed them stinky and pooey instead of pinky and bluey. Well, who knows where bluey is, but I still have pinky! That is probably far too many details...so moving on.

2) I once played hide and seek in a funeral home. That was the weirdest and most disturbing thing I think I have ever done. In high school we had some friends whose dad owned the local funeral home, so they invited us to play and my friend and I were chosen to hide first. We hid in a coffin. Creepy.

3) I hate milk, grapejuice, rootbeer, mayonnaise, and barbecue sauce.

4) I met my husband at Jamba Juice, where he worked. One of my best friends, Kylee, worked there with him right after we graduated high school. She felt bad for him since he was not from the area, so we started to invite him along when we went places. He didn't talk to me for a solid two months, even though we hung out nearly every day. He was just shy and Kylee and I are definitely a loud and obnoxious combination. However, one day the three of us were driving down the street, and out of the blue he announced, "I watched a man on ESPN today eat 90 hotdogs in 8 minutes." That broke the ice and we were married nearly 3 years later.

5) One time at my job at LA Weightloss, where I have had many many many weird experiences, this lady told me that my voice reminds her of "Matilda's". Apparently I sound like a little girl?

6) I have been pulled over 8 times by the police, but have never been ticketed.

Now my turn to do the tagging. I tag Haylee, Stefani, and Shawna. Go to it!