Blog? What Blog?

Sorry for not posting for soo long. I didn't want to get family flack for blogging instead of spending time with them! Besides, I've created this blog for my family to check on how we're doing. Since we are here there's been no need! But, I am sorry to those of you who have been checking it hoping for an update, only to be disappointed!!! Here is a brief update.

We are flying home tonight. Yes, New Year's Eve. Our plane arrives at 11:30 pm, so if any of you want to come celebrate the New Year with us at the airport you're more than welcome to! :S

We are ready to be home. Conrad has gone from Mr. D (or Mr. Delightful) to Mr. Emotional or Mr. Tantrum. He's had enough of new faces and new places, and even his diapers show the proof. He had 2 baths yesterday (not because he wanted to, but because he needed to due to a major blow out, which hasn't happened since he was a teeny baby). This morning he woke up early crying because he had pooped and it was burning his butt. So, we took a bath this morning before anybody else was up. I'm anticipating more baths today so I'm not as upset when it happens. Needless to say, pray for our airplane ride to go without any blowouts! (and for Conrad to be good, too of course!)

Happy birthday to my mom yesterday! She's 29 and a couple of years. ;) At least, that's what I overheard her say to someone. She got some new clothes and she really looks like she could be 29 (give or take a couple of years)! Way to go, Mom. I love ya, and thanks for doing such a good job at making sure all your kids are loved! All 8 of us. Plus our spouses! And your grandkids. And their dogs. We sure appreciate you.

I will post pictures once we get home and I can easily upload them to our computer. Until then, peace out!

We're here!

We are here in Utah now! We made it on the plane, with one layover in Denver, no lost luggage, and one tired boy who got woken up at 6:30 this morning. We are in the process of trying to get him to take a nap!!! (Ok, he took a cat nap on the drive from airport to house).
Josh is soo good for me. I am losing my patience at the drop of a hat (due to lack of good quality sleep), and he is the one dealing with him. So I am blogging. I feel a bit guilty though, I need to go relieve him! ANYWAY, we are here safe, sound and secure!

I'm leaving on a jet plane

Tomorrow morning, at about 8 am. So, we're waking up dark and early at 5 am to make sure we have everything in order before we leave!

If I don't post for a while, it's because I'm in Utah spending time with family! Goodnight!

Happy Anniversary!

It's been exactly 4 years to the day that Josh and I got married and sealed in the Salt Lake Temple! Happy Anniversary to ourselves! We've decided to wait and celebrate our anniversary on a different date every year (because December 16th is a crazy date to just go and celebrate our anniversary, with Christmas so close!). We could perhaps designate a certain date our "Love-iversary." Ahh, how cute. lol, j/k

Um, I don't really know how to explain this picture. There's a lot of explaining behind it and why I chose to put this one on here. (Let's just say all our wedding pictures are on a computer other than the one I am working on! And this is the only one on this computer!) oh, that was easy.
We gave each other high-fives today in celebration that we've made it this far! hee hee.
I love you, Josh. I'm so grateful to have you as my eternal companion, my true best friend. Without you I would be lost, and foolish, too! Way to go!

Josh's Question of the Week, ANSWER!

The Question was:

If a person were to smoke 1 pack a day for 20 years, how many years would be taken from their lifespan?
Correct answer: 10 years
Sorry, only 2 of you got it correct!

I know that this number can change, if the person were to quit smoking soon enough and live a healthier lifestyle.
So, Don't Smoke!

Josh's handiwork!

Yesterday after his test, Josh decided to paint a wall. We had this paint in our basement leftover from the previous townhome owners and decided to try it out! I think it's grey, but Josh says it's more of a tan color. We painted it on one wall, to accent it. :)
This is a picture of pictures Josh actually took while we were vacationing in Portland (the summer of '06). Each picture is a different place in Oregon, but each including the Pacific ocean in it. Didn't he do a good job?!? He had them developed, then he went and bought the frames, and hung them up. He is so good. And yet he asks me for advice. (He's crazy in that area).
This is me. Standing on a couch, trying to show you just exactly how it all fits together. (And of course so you could maybe catch a glimpse of a bump... I pulled out my maternity storage tonight, and I am so grateful for 2 sister in laws that gave me a ton of their maternity pants and tops, Jamie and Lea, thank you!)

Thank you Josh! I love my wall!

Showing the Ultrasound Pictures to Conrad

He got a little confused on the video, but his latest word is "baby." (he actually said "Jesus" first). He says it all the time. (And I really don't think I've been pushing it that hard, he's just picked up on it.) It started when I baby-sat a little baby girl, Jane, and he thought she was the cutest thing in the world. He would just sit and stare at her, adoring her. Me, being all emotional, thought "Oh, he can't wait to have his baby-sister here!" It makes me think he remembers her and misses her. I've had a lot of moments like that with him, with particular things he does. He saw the ultrasound pictures and before we even told him that it was the baby he said, "Baby!"

I've been a marshmallow anyway lately, and then to have him do things like this make me melt. I've heard the well-known saying, "out of the mouths of babes," but to experience it multiple times a day is very reaffirming.

And the baby is a .....

I've decided to post the gender on here because I've already told all our family members. I decided to tell all our family members because there are a lot of people that live around me that would be asking me what it was. I didn't think it would be fair to tell all our neighbors before we left, and not our family members!
So, here's how it turned out! The sonographer or u/s (ultrasound) tech told me when she was scanning it's parts so I covered my eyes. She took a picture of it, typed up what it was on it, then put it in an envelope!
Once I got home from the appointment Josh was home from his final Final, and we sat down and opened it up. I really wish I would have recorded us opening it on camera, because that would be a cool post.
I read it, and shouted, "It's a girl!" Yeehaw! Yipee! Right on! I was right! I'm 2 for 2 now with predicting what our kids are. I must have good motherly intuition or something.
The cute little ultra sound pointed to the cute little labia's our little "she" has. She weighs in at 7 ounces as of today, and her measurements were very good. She's about 60-70th percentile for her head, belly and femur measurements. And the measurements say that the baby is due May 20th or May 21st. My original due date was May 22nd. So, it's pretty consistent!

I'm praying I'm able to keep her in until at least May 21st. Josh's birthday is May 19th (so that would be a nice little daddy gift!) but he also has 8 hours of Finals that day!!!! So we don't want her to come on that day. And then I'm sure he would like a day of resting, and then we could have the baby on the 21st! I'm gonna have to find a nursery sub for that day. ;)

I also took Conrad in for his 15 month check-up today. (busy day!) He is growing well. At least, he's growing consistently. He's still small, but he's consistent. His height is around the 25th percentile, and his weight is the 10th percentile. I don't remember what they said about his head. The nurses loved his blue eyes, though, when they were giving him 5 shots! One at a time! He was crying his head off. Talk about torture? (In case you are wondering, the 5th shot was a flu shot, normally there's only 4 shots.) So, he's gone to bed with some tylenol in him and I hope he sleeps well tonight. He is my angel baby, though. So, I'm sure he will.

Thanks for reading my blog!

More "outside" pictures

Today a nice neighbor friend was outside when I was scurrying inside out of the cold and she said, "Ali, go get your camera and let me take your picture with those beautiful trees!" I was totally set on hurrying inside and feeding my starving pregnant stomach, so I told her no. Can you believe me? How rude was that? I quickly realized how rude it was and grabbed my camera, ran back outside and we took each other's pictures. Thanks Jen!!!
I'm afraid you can't quite see how beautiful the trees looked. They're coated in ice. Though,they were loudly melting, too. So, this won't last for long!

Cool picture

I stole this picture from my friend Aubre's blog. Sorry Aubre, it's too cold for me to take any pictures outside! She lives 5 doors down from me, so we pretty much experience the same weather pattern. This is a picture of a tree branch coated with ice from the recent ice storms. Luckily, we haven't had any problems with the weather. (Our power has stayed on, no car wrecks...) Josh even put plastic up over our windows to help keep the heat in, and the cold out. He is such a good husband!
I just wanted y'all to see a tid bit of what kind of weather we're going through. And give Aubre some credit for this picture! Go see her blog and leave her a present!

I'm a cheater. The DH Tag

I saw this tag on my friend Em's post. I decided to take matters into my own hands and just do it!!! It's mostly about my husband, but I'm afraid a lot of the answers involve me.

what's his name? Joshua Max
how long have you been together? almost 4 1/2 years
how long did you date? from the time we met to the time we were married- 5 months. Classic mormon story. (Which I vowed never to do! Oh well, "when you know, you know!")
how old is he? 26
who eats more? him. unless I'm pregnant or nursing, then he thinks I eat more!
who said 'I love you' first? meeeee!
who is taller? him, of course.
who sings better? sorry but I'm gonna have to say me. (I come from a family where we grew up singing!)
who is smarter? Definitely him- he married me!!! (ha ha, just kidding). But seriously, he is smarter. Opposites attract, right?
who does the laundry? me (unless he's out of "underwear" then he'll do that load).
who does the dishes? meee. 2-3 times a day. And my hands show the proof. However, he did do them on Sunday when we had company over and I asked him to do the pre-dinner dishes. So I got off easy. (No big pots and pans to wash!)
who sleeps on the right side of the bed? we change it up. If I am going to exercise in the morning then I do, otherwise he does. (The alarm clock is on the right side of the bed).
who pays the bills? mostly me. A month or so ago I forgot to pay 2 or 3 bills until a day or two before they were due and he threatened to take the "privilege" away. I promised I wouldn't do it again, so I'm back on duty. So far so good.
who mows the lawn? he used to, now the townhouse management does. Let me put a plug in for me, though. When Conrad was 2 weeks old Josh was crazy busy and dying to mow the lawn, but couldn't. So I did! He felt horrible. I, on the other hand,was SOO happy to get out of the house and be active! (I'm telling ya, I felt great!) Sorry Josh, I had to tell!
who cooks dinner? meee. And I'm learning to love it more and more. Especially now that our food budget is more than I got for the EVERYTHING budget before we moved out here.
who drives when you are together? Josh. He insists. I can be a control freak, though, so it's not always a pleasant situation. (I have back seat driver syndrome)
who is more stubborn? hmmm. We are both stubborn about different things. He's stubborn about who drives when we're together, and I'm stubborn about him putting his dirty clothes in the hamper. He's a good stubborn, I'm an onery stubborn. But, he's a better debater about EVERYTHING.
who kissed who first? I am not sure. We both kind of went in for it. (But I was the one that opened the door to Mr. Opportunity!)
who asked who out first? I asked him out first! Only to find out he was about to ask me out. So, it was a very close call.
who proposed? Of course he did. But I told him I loved him before he told me. He makes up for that every day.
who is more sensitive? Me. At least, I show it more openly.
who has more friends? I am more friendly than he is, but I think the relationships he has with his friends have more quality to them. He's a tight-circle kind of person, yet, I thrive meeting and making new friends.
who has more siblings? me! I have 7 siblings, he has 2!
who wears the pants in the family? Of course he does. I wouldn't have it any other way!

That's all! By the way, what does DH stand for anyway? My guess is "Dear Husband," but I don't know for sure.
I'm opening the door for any and all of you that read my blog and have a blog to do this too!

In Reply

Yipee! I did feel the baby(s?) move!!! Ha ha, just kidding. I'm pretty sure there's only one baby (sorry Grandma W.) because my doctor/midwife lady told me that I was measuring right on for a singleton. (That means one baby).

Yesterday I was crouched down and there was no mistaking feeling a baby. Later on in the evening I was resting on the couch watching TV with Josh and I felt it moving so I made Josh try and feel- and he felt it too! With Conrad I was 18 weeks along before I felt him moving, so I'm happy I didn't have to wait that long until I officially felt "it" moving.

FRIDAY is the ultrasound appointment. Unfortunately, I will not announce it on my blog before we let our families watch the U/S Video when we get to Utah on Monday. HECK, I am not even going to find out at first. You see, Josh has a test he can't miss during my appointment, so I am going to ask the U/S tech to warn me when she scans over you-know-what, then I'll look away, and then she will get (hopefully) a good shot of we-don't-know-yet, but you-know-what, and then have her type the gender on the video. That way, we both find out at the same time. I hope I can be strong enough to look away, because I feel this way Josh and I will get to share in our joy at the same time! Awww, so sweet of me, I know. :) ha ha.

And yes, I did grow overnight, my belly has stayed "out there," if you will . Time to pull out the maternity pants for our trip back to Utah!

Me

Alright, so this is my blog and I can post WHATEVER I want, right? Well, I am going to talk about ME for a minute.

This morning I woke up and I swear I grew last night (in the baby bump department). So, I feel like I'm showing all of a sudden. It could just be last night's big dinner remainders, I don't know, but when I lift my legs up it strains my stomach muscles, like I'm already starting to lose them. Waah.

There. That wasn't so bad, was it? I'll try to keep it to a minimum because I know some of you readers really don't care about if I can lift my legs up or not without any problems. I may do this every now and then, just as a warning, because Oh My Heck, pregnancy changes your body.

Friday Night Ward Christmas Party

Our ward this year had a Christmas Party based on Bethlehem during the time when Jesus was born. We were told to come in "period" costumes and bring canned goods to pay our "taxes." We even ate things like Baklava, pita bread with hummus, fruit kabobs, and the entree was a special (and delicious) recipe of chicken and rice (it had tomatoes, mushrooms, broccoli in it). I went back for seconds and got an enormous heaping! (I almost just sounded like my sister Erin who is on a mission in Australia and says "heaps" all the time). Here is a picture of the crowd.Josh and I were asked to be the Farmers and sit at the table that had the Fruit Kabobs. Conrad had a chocolate chip cookie, and thus I had to take a picture of his cute little messy face. Josh was patient enough to let me do that, risking getting chocolate everywhere.

Here's Conrad and Luke chatting about the latest in life, probably the topic of balls. Isn't Luke's costume CUTE? I was amazed by anybody that put their child under 3 in a costume. Where the heck do they come up with their ideas?!?!?
Here's Josh hanging out with Bobby, he's a 4th year and future orthopedic surgeon. He starts his residency after he graduates this May. Oh, how I look forward to being closer to done!!!
One of our lovely ward members brought chocolate-covered banana Kabobs. They were the first ones to get eaten, of course. So we put their tray under our table and hid the "leftovers." (Actually the leftovers were just big chunks of chocolate that the banana kabobs had left behind on the tray). As soon as everybody had pretty much eaten, I started cleaning up. I pulled this special tray out from under the table and had a few "leftovers" myself. This cute little blonde-hair blue-eyed girl named PAIGE has a good sniffer!!!

[edited to change: Kelly's name to Paige. Sorry Mrs. Paige's Mom!!! I originally had it as Paige, but then I went to your blog to double check that I had it right, and I read your post about your kids and what to say about them on Christmas cards, and I just assumed you listed your kids in their birth order. Paige is first and Kelly was 3rd and.... *sigh* oh well, I'm very sorry that I didn't just go with my first instinct!!! I know how un-fun it is to be called the wrong name. My biggest apologies!]

She was there faster than I could say "chocolate-covered banana kabob leftovers right here!" And she just started helping herself!!! I was laughing so hard. She looked at me for approval and did this thing where she nodded her head, but didn't say anything, and I thought, "What the heck. Go for it." She's only 4 years old, she can't get away with this for very long. So I nodded back to her and just kind of warned her that it was messy. She instantly asked me to find her a paper towel. ha ha ha. Luckily, there was one right in front of us. I then thought, "I'm gonna take a picture so I can blog this-and also so somebody I know in the blogging world can laugh at their "spirited" daughter! [edited to change the adjective, too. Sorry Mrs. Paige's Mom!]Here we are, our little family in costume. Well, kinda. (Sorry to my fans, ie. Mom, who want to see a "growing bump" but I'm not showing yet. So, you're not missing out on anything. However, I AM getting thicker!) I thought our ward activities director and committee did a great job! The decorations were simple, as they were trying to convey a simple Bethlehem setting. Yet, you could tell it took a lot of thought and time and work to get them right. The program was perfect! The primary children sang a few songs, and then a man in our ward read a story accompanied with guitar music. At the end, 3 Wise men (I think that's who they were supposed to be) came bearing gifts for all the children. (I'm sure the kids were worried about whether or not Santa would be there to bring them gifts, so this was SO appropriate!)

And that was that! We were on our way home by 7:30!! I was very happy about that. I was kind of thinking the program would go until 8:30, so I was dreading dealing with Conrad past his bedtime. (He goes to bed between 7 and 8 pm).

I loved it. It wasn't the traditional Christmas party where you eat dinner of Ham and Potatoes, have a super long boring program, then Santa comes and you have to wait through that whole ordeal. It was a very refreshing change. I recommend it again. Josh and my only disappointment was that we didn't get a bag of goodies. I guess we're too old (and Conrad is still too young!). :) Don't worry, we'll get over it.

Conrad Impersonating

Yesterday night I recorded this, and HAD to share it (I even had to wait about 20 minutes for blogger to "process" my video).

Here's to you, Scott R.

What the heck is that?

To quote a favorite line from my families wealthy collection of lines,

"What the heck is that? What the heck is that darn deal? What the heck is that darn deal there? I dunno.... Don't put your lips on it!"
Ok, enough Woodbury silly quotes. I made 4 pans of Enchiladas yesterday, and this is the filling. Why 4 pans? It was part of a freezer meal activity the relief society in my ward is doing. You make 4 casserole pans of the same meal, then swap with 3 other ladies in your group. And you keep the 4th one for yourself. SO, you get 4 meals, ready to go, right in your freezer! I think I'm going to do this and stockpile our freezer when I have our baby, that will be such a relief!

TODAY I let Conrad eat a Candy Cane.

If you would've offered a candy cane to Conrad 1 month ago I would've said, "No thank you," because I have been such an uptight mom about him eating meal time food. But, he's finally starting to like things like green beans and lima beans (wierd, huh?), and carrots and peas and corn. So, I've started letting him have chocolate chips, desserts, and candy canes.
It's all a prelude to the "reward" system! So, I took these pictures right before I posted this post. Now, he is finished with the candy cane and sticking his hands on his face, on and off. I think he's liking the "stickiness."

Conrad's latest fetish

Where did he ever get the idea to stuff the cup behind his neck? Every single meal, that's where his milk cup goes. I move it, and he never fails to put it back! *who's kid is this?*

A Very Good Day, according to Ali

Today was an excellent day. For multiple reasons, so I'll share the joy with y'all.
1- Conrad slept in! Not the normal sleeping in, until 8:30 am. But, like until 10 am. And we laid him down last night at 7:30! So, to say the least, I got my beauty rest last night.
2- Josh made breakfast! I haven't had the desire for anything but cereal for a very long time, so Josh decided to take matters into his own hands and made French Toast. Yum!
3- We finally cleaned the carpets! We rented a Rug Doctor, and now they just seem so much nicer.
4-Conrad took 2 naps again today! I don't know if he's just catching up or if he's getting over something.
5- Our dinner was super easy and yummy. I fixed us up some Chef Salads with meat and cheese and yummy ranch dressing. I also baked up some good old Rhodes rolls, it was very nice.
6- To top off the day, we watched Princess Bride. Actually, we are watching it right now as I blog. (Am I pathetic or what?). Oh, nevermind, it just ended!!! I must type pretty slow.

ANYWAY, today was a great day. Josh and I got to hang out watching HGTV, with all of the re-decorating programs, deciding what we want to do with our place. I checked out a book "Home Decorating for Dummies," because I am what I am. I hope tomorrow goes half as well. (Sundays with a toddler = rollercoaster ride)