Vacation Time Again!

Yes, we are having a GIRL! I finished the entire nursery in two weeks, with the exception of putting up pictures (still need to do that). For our vacation this year me and Chewy went home to Washington and spent a weekend in Leavenworth, WA just the two of us. Leavenworth is this little German town in the mountains. Chewy served his mission in Germany (for those who didn't know) so he LOVED the town. But I personally just loved being home. It was a long winter semester of being sick and pretty much home ridden. I love going home to beautiful Washington and just being with family. We did some shopping, laughed, hung out, went on walks, saw my Dad's work, Debby sewed--a lot, it was great.

While at home my mom, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law Tiffany threw me the greatest baby shower. It was so fun. I can't thank them enough for doing that. It really made me feel special and everyone that came was so generous! I'm still working on thank you cards! Needless to say it was hard to leave. I might shed a tear or two while driving away at 5 am to go back to Rexburg (what can I say I am pregnant, I was tired, and it was 5am!) But it was fun to get back and get ready for summer semester. Now I am just anxioulsy waiting for our little girl to get here. She is INSANE! She never stops moving, NEVER. Chewy thinks it is great, but seriously she is getting stronger some of those upper cuts and round kicks are starting to get vicous. Three more months!!!!!!

T.V. or No T.V.

As of now, and the past two months, I have not been going to school or working. Yes, my days are spent in the apartment doing what I do best--television watching. In the last two months I have managed to memorize show times from 10am to 8pm, watch all of the seasons of Friends, become obsessed with Big Cat Diary, and learn all the laws in Miami, Philadelphia, and Phoenix of animal cruelty. I have become an expert in the daytime shows.

While I was sick this was of course expected but since late February I have been feeling MUCH better and I knew there needed to be a change. So I started to cut my hours down of television watching to just about 4 (two in the morning and two at night) and it is amazing how much you can get done! Along with just myself cutting down my hours me and Chewy also decided to try something new as well....no television, video games, or media stuff on Sundays!

This all came about one Sunday Morning when I told Chewy that growing up in my family the rule was no t.v. on Sunday before church, after church it was fair game. For some reason he did not get this and said "We either get to watch television all day Sunday or not all, your rule doesn't make any sense." "okay", I said "Then we won't watch any t.v. on Sunday, or video games, or Internet t.v." hahaha I think he was a little surprised about that, but we tried it. Our first Sunday it was a little hard, but since it has actually been quite nice. We have begun doing all the important things we have been neglecting lately. I highly recommend that you try it at least once and see if you like it. If you are wondering about what to do, don't worry I have plenty of ideas....starting with...

1. Scripture Study- alone and together. Especially with cutting down my t.v. hours during the week

2. Prayers- Seriously, it takes 2 minutes yet we had to cut out the boob tube just to get it done

3. Journal writing- I managed to find all my old journals (5 in all) starting from when I was 7 all the way up until now. I never knew that I kept so many. Really if you need something to do go find your old journals and read them-- so entertaining.

4.Conference Talks- If you have the Ensign from last November it should have all the conference talks from last general conference. Every morning I pick one and read it. This is probably one of my favorites!

5.. Cleaning- Mostly this is for me during the week. I had no excuse for not cleaning, our apartment is small and it really takes about 20 min.

6. Book Reading- Besides reading church stuff Chewy gets tons more homework done and I get to read more books too. Lately I have been reading the book my Dad wrote "Onward Christian Road Warrior", and it is great! Back when he wrote it I didn't really understand it and didn't know how to apply it to my life, but now it is a great read, a great manual for someone to add to their life. Go look it up!

7.. Games- Now this is something me and Chewy do together a lot. Our favorite game thus far is "Guess What I'm Thinking", and yes that is exactly right; you guess what the other person is thinking. Usually we play with movies, one person thinks of a movie and the other person has to guess what movie they are thinking of. This can be played with songs (we usually hum the song) or animals, anything really. One game we really enjoy is "How Well Do You Know Me?". We each ask the other questions about ourselves like; "What was my favorite television show growing up?" or "How many of my pets died?" stuff like that.

I think that I will go with the no television. Besides it just being a distraction and mostly stupid shows anyways we both agreed that it gave us more time together and you just get more done. Of course there are some 8:00pm shows we will probably continue to watch (who am I kidding of course we will) but for the majority it is out. If you try this and think of anything else fun to do let me know!

Moms...My Mom

Isn't she just SO cute?

There is nothing like a good Mom; especially when you are sick. Don't get me wrong husbands are wonderful, but a Mom just has the touch. My Mom has been here in Rexburg since Friday; and I can already tell you that I have gained one pound (chewy has gained 5), I have taken a shower, and our apartment has never looked cleaner. Chewy really has done a great job at taking care of me, the house, working, and of course going to school and all of his homework. But having my mom here and has really allowed us to relax and allow Chewy to focus more on his school work and me to focus on eating and keeping it down.

This is just one example of how wonderful my mom is. She has given up a whole week of her life to come to freezing cold snowy Rexburg and just sit with me. My Mom has been a blessing in my life and I'm so grateful for everything she does and is doing right now (right now she is making banana muffins). So this is a little shout out to all the moms, including my mom, a huge THANK YOU Moms for being so wonderful and of course so dang cute!

My Dad isn't that bad looking either

Girl's Trip to the beach

She always looks good in blue

General Conference 09'

Trips, Vacations, Holidays--I love them all!

So, the pregnancy has not quite gone as I had expected. Nausea turned into morning sickness, morning sickness turned into all day sickness, and all day sickness turned into 24 hour sickness. Needless to say I ended up quiting my job and deferring the semester. Now I spend my days in our apartment trying to drink (sometimes eat) and doing what I do best...looking up vacations.

I am in my 14th week now so I am hoping to see some improvements soon, but meanwhile I will keep trying to plan future vacations for me and Chewy. In case you didn't know me well enough I LOVE vacations, trips, holidays, weekend getaways, love it all. This is probably because growing up my parents made a point to always take our family on a vacation every year. Sometimes it was big vacations to Hawaii or Florida. Other times it was a short fun trip to Wyoming or the Oregon coast. Either way these were some of my favorite memories; our vacations.

It is only natural now that we carry this tradition on in our own family. Me and Chewy have decided that our family will go on a vacation every year, and of course one little trip just the two of us :). Our first Vacation was our honeymoon. An excellent cruise from LA to Ensenada Mexico. Our next vacation was last April and we went too Disneyland. This was an absolutely fabulous trip, and I can't wait to go back. Now that I am pretty much on bed rest and locked in our apartment I have made a point to look up future vacations ever morning. I have gone from Las Vegas, Florida (Disney World), Hawaii, Canada, Cruises, New York, North Carolina, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, San Diego, etc. Chewy thinks that this would be depressing for me, but I enjoy every minute of it.

I would (and have done it) give up a year of shopping, going out to eat, going out to the movies, and other fun activities to save up for a vacation. This year we are taking things a little slower and going to Leavenworth, WA for a weekend in April. Chewy served his mission in Germany so hopefully this will be a home away from home. So for now it is up to me to plan our vacation for next year. I'm pulling for Disney World. Anyone have any GREAT vacation ideas?

Our first vacation...Honeymoon Aug, 2008!

Second trip DISNEYLAND April 2009

Third little trip--1st Anniversary Day to Lagoon!

This was just a mother daughter trip..sorry Chewy. Lincoln City, Oregon Aug, 2009

Fourth trip home to WA, mariners game, wicked, Rachael's wedding September 2009

Like I said, I love vacations, trips, holidays, new places, new sights, hotels, free breakfast, etc. I can't wait for our next one!

Pregnant or Not Pregnant?!

The answer is.....

YES!

I am about 11 weeks along and...surviving. I have been wanting to call a lot of people to tell in person, but it has been hard enough just getting up in the morning. It was definitely hard to keep this a secret since my family is VERY good at spilling the beans. Mostly it was by accident, my mother however just went crazy and told anyone who would listen (don't worry I still love you mom). Anyways here are some answers to the many questions that everyone probably has.

Q: How far along are you?
A: I already said 11 weeks

Q: When is your due date?
A: August 2nd, 2010

Q: How have you been feeling?
A: Well, If I wasn't pregnant and have lost 10lbs great, but don't worry I have my drugs and I am still alive

Q: Was this planned?
A: YES, it is actually quite a blessing that we finally did get pregnant

Q: Are you still going to school?
A: As of now, yes. And plan on graduating in July

Q: Do you know the sex?
A: Nope still too early. Probably find out in February or March

Q: Are you hoping for a certain sex?
A: We will be happy with either boy or girl. But we recently got tons of cute girl clothes from a very special friend...so having a girl could save on money.

Q: Is your family excited?
A: YES! I never thought my parents would be so excited to be called Grandma and Grandpa. Debby will for sure have a fight to hold this one. (haha just kidding)

Q: Have you had an ultrasound yet?
A: Yup! We had our first one before going home for Christmas. We got to see the little bean and just today we heard the heartbeat for the first time.

I can't express how grateful, excited, nervous, anxious, and ready we are for this little person to be here (well inside me). As hard and sometimes outright awful it has been we count it as a blessing everyday. Hopefully the sickness will end soon and then I can enjoy getting fat and showing off my baby belly! Thank you for all the prayers and phone calls. I truly do have the best family and friends anyone could ask for.

DISNEYLAND

Who doesn't love a good vacation? Well let me just say... I LOVE vacations. Ever since my wonderful parents sent on us a cruise for our honeymoon we have been hooked. However, since we can't quite afford just luxurious vacations anymore we had to think small, so we thought DISNEYLAND! It actually worked great. We saved up all our gift cards from the wedding so we didn't have to spend a dime on food. We found this great hotel with free breakfast and a free shuttle to Disneyland. We brought a cooler and sandwich stuff with us and brought a lunch with us everywhere we could go.

It was the perfect break from a long winter of school and work. Chewy has never been to Disneyland (he claims Tokyo Disney, I disagree), so it was the perfect place for both of us. The weather was outstanding, the drive was wonderful, and even though every one says the park is insane we loved it. The lines were not bad at all. I guess when there is only two of any line would go by fast! Our hotel room was bigger than apartment, sad I know, and it was one of the cheapest we found! We really got lucky. Now I can't help but think about our next big adventure, which won't be for a while :(


Ever family vacation I ever went on my Dad ALWAYS made a little calendar of events. I had to keep the tradition going, so I made one too.

Our first day there. We went down to the lobby and got our DISNEYLAND tickets

chewy...very excited

After we bought our tickets it was to Huntington Beach. It was Easter Sunday, so we just laid back and relaxed. And yes, we did get burnt

stud

The beginning of getting burnt

Attempting to make a sand castle

Disneyland day! We were at the park for 10 HOURS!!! The weather was perfect, not too hot, not too cold, and it didn't rain. It was amazing.

We are about to enter the park...

Just a few of the rides we went on. Peter Pan was my Favorite, Chewy loved Indiana Jones.

It's A Small World! Fastest moving line, longest ride.

They don't allow to bring food in the park. This where they get you, the food prices. Stupid Disney

They had a petting farm?!

No, we did not get the sword out of the stone.

We stayed for the firework show, which was amazing, and we decided that we needed to get at least one souvenir. What did we get...a cupcake. And it wasn't that good.

We were getting pretty tired by the end.

Bye, Bye Disneyland

Day 3: We made another trip this beautiful beach called Sunset Beach. It was so amazing, and hardly anyone was there. Hmmm..probably because there was this massive windstorm and the sand had become like daggers. So we sat in the car, looked at the beach, and ate our homemade sandwich's. This day stank just a little bit.

Oh the wind

Chewy was mad

Our last day. We did not want to leave, but it was a blast! Can't wait for our next!!!!

It was a GREAT vacation. I highly recommend taking a little trip to Disneyland if you have never been, but I promised myself that I would NEVER take any child of mine that couldn't walk yet. Some of those parents looked miserable at the happiest place on earth!!! Take my advice, wait till they are older.