The Belnap Family

2011-07-01T10:54:00.002-06:00

This blog had died.

At least, I'm pretty sure but you can still see my happenings here:

www.gomamarun.blogspot.com

Follow me there.

the girl that grabbed the hornet's nest

2011-05-27T11:11:00.005-06:00

I've realized that when I am very sleep deprived, there tends to also be....hallucinations. When Jack was first born, I was very much in need for a good sleep plus the anxiousness about the 8lb 6oz bundle of fragileness that slept in his crib next to our bed was almost overwhelming. When I did get sleep, it was only hours at a time and the quality of the sleep wasn't all unicorns and rainbows since waking up at random intervals to check on Jack was a regular occurance. Consequentially and because of the very little sleep I had gotten, I tended to, hmm, imagine things that weren't real.

These hallucinations weren't like I-see-people-telling-me-things type of hallucinations. They were the in-between feeling of being asleep and dreaming but also awake and aware of my surroundings. I would often wake up and it would take some time and very hard thinking to understand where I was and more importantly, where Jack was.

All new moms know the eating habits of babies when they are young. Just in case you don't know, babies eat all. the. time. Jack ate every 2-3 hours, 24 hours a day. At night, I found that by nursing him in bed, I could catch some z's and he could eat some food.

This is where the first set of hallucinations began. I would wake up in a frenzy thinking I had been nursing Jack and fell asleep. I would be pulling the covers off of me thinking I was smothering the poor bean. As I was pulling covers and searching the bed for a good minute or two,I realized that Jack was safely tucked away in his crib.

This happened for several nights. Try every single night. Like, every single hour of the night. To me, it seemed so real and poor Tyler had to deal with the mommy mental patient for many, many nights. This brings us to Tyler. Oh, Tyler... what a saint! Soon he was pulled into my frenzy's against his will and to his confusion.

When Jack got old enough, I soon began to nurse him while laying down. But again, sleep deprivation + nursing Jack while laying down= sleep hallucinations. Sometimes I would even fall back asleep for a minute while nursing him only to wake up, place him back in his crib and go back to sleep. However, sometimes I would forget the "put him back in his crib" step. Then I would be waking up like a crazy woman thinking I was smothering my little pickle.

There was an incident where I was SURE Jack was under the covers. So as I repeatedly tried to uncover him and pick him up, I slowly woke up and realized that I had been groping at Tyler's leg in an attempt to pick "jack" up. I was fully prepared to do mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on Tyler's thigh! Poor Tyler woke up wondering who the heck was trying to swaddle his leg and like a good husby, forgave me and we both went back to bed.

That experience was way back when Jack was barely a month old. So, you would think that by now, 8 months, my hallucinations would be gone, right?

Not, exactly.

We are actually right in the middle of a move. So let me set up another equation for you. Homework + vinyl shop + moving + farmer's market + taking care of Jack = one tired mother

Because of the move, Jack had been waking up multiple times in the night. His schedule was way out of whack and it was showing when he would wake up 3-4 times a night to nurse. In order for me to catch up on some much needed sleep, I would nurse him in bed again. I should have realized that the combination of such events would result in a mishap at Tyler's expense.

It was very early morning and I was just convinced that Jack was sleeping next to me. In fact, this time, I was positive. I heard Tyler shifting his weight to roll over in his sleep and in an attempt to save "Jack", I grabbed "him" and told Tyler not to move or else he was going to roll on top of Jack. Tyler continued to shift a bit and so I held on tighter to "Jack" and pushed Tyler with my arm in an attempt to keep him from rolling right on top of the Mr.

Me: "Tyler, don't move! Jack is right here!"

Tyler: "What are you talking about? What are you doing?"

Me: "He's right here, sleeping! I'm holding him"

Tyler: "Jessica! You're holding my crotch!"

That conversation was enough to really get me to wake up and I realized, like so many times before, Jack was fine and Tyler had gotten the short end of my psycho hallucinations. Once I realized this, we laughed pretty hard at the fact that I had grabbed Tyler's manhood thinking I was grabbing Jack.

So seriously, when you have a kid, take advantage of as much sleep as possible for your husband's sake.

i can do anything good

2011-02-11T13:24:00.006-07:00

I don't think it's ostentatious for me to say that I am proud of myself. Let me start at the beginning.

Having a baby really effs up your body. I kind of knew that beforehand but I didn't really know. My stomach is COVERED in stretch marks and my poor lady melons are not looking so hot due to the breastfeeding and engorgement.

So after not doing much physical activity for the extent of the pregnancy, I decided to whip myself into shape a couple of months after Jack's birth. I failed miserably.

I tried running but I couldn't even go once around the track without getting all breathless and feeling like my side was going to explode. Needless to say, I was discouraged and I didn't know where to go from there.

After a while, I regained my motivation and I started to work out. First, I did the elliptical which was great. It made me feel like I was physically fit without all of the soreness but it was still difficult even at a resistance of 1.

Slowly, I worked my way up and it became pretty easy to do the elliptical. While during my various workout endeavors, I came across an advertisement for a Valentine's Day 5k.

Yikes, I thought, I hope someday I can do that. Then I realized that maybe, just maybe, I was already there or pretty close. So I talked to Tyler and asked him if he wanted to complete a 5k with me and I was surprised when he agreed.

The first time I stepped on the treadmill, I was really nervous of how much I would totally fail and I am embarrassed to admit that I was worried about what people would think of me. My goal was to be able to run at least half of it which is 1.68 miles (I think). I ran the first lap and then the next and the next and the next! With ease! Soon, I completed my goal and I was on my way.

Fast forward to the week of the 5k. That Monday I decided to push myself to see if I could run the WHOLE 5k (that's 3.25 miles, mind you. It's a big deal to me). I pushed myself HARD and at last, I ran the whole 5k in about 40:00 min. I thought that was a good time until I went online and I realized that it sucked. People run these things in like, half that time. I didn't really care though because the important thing was that I finished.

Buzzerp-buzzerp-buzzerp. Fast forward again to the day of the race. I was so nervous for some odd reason. I guess it was because I was envisioning unrealistic scenarios. Here's how one of those scenarios went:

I start off and everyone instantly passes me up in which, lap after lap, I am finally the only person left on the track. Then as I try to finish each lap lamely, the people in charge yell at me and ask why I even thought I could do this and that I was really slow. Then as I finally finish, I trip and fall on my face to which everyone laughs and points fingers at me because I so obviously soiled my pants. You know, because the running jumbles your stomach around and I had an "accident" at the point of the fall. Then for the rest of my college career, I am known as the "5k Soiler" which only sends me into a downward spiral of hatred towards racing and everyone that does it!

Now you can understand how I was nervous.

As I started the race, it was great! I had a guy keeping track of how much I had already run and would encourage me to keep going by telling me how many laps I had left. However, since I had only trained on a treadmill, I soon found out that running in real life is a lot harder! I was able to run 2.00 miles before I had to stop to speed walk. Then after .50 miles, I stepped it up and ran the last .75 miles until I finally finished with a sprint and at a time of 38:08!

Here we are, in all our sweaty glory, just after finishing the race.

Jack came along for the ride too!

Even with the walking and running in real-life versus the treadmill, I was able to beat my training time. It was exhilarating to finally finish! I had completed my first ever 5k and it felt so freakin' good. What's best is that I wasn't last and I didn't fall on my face or soil my pants.

Now, I am looking for another 5k to train for. My next goal is to be able to run it in under 30 minutes. That comes out to be about a 9-minute mile but I know I can do it. I can do anything good.

i think it would be okay if spring came

2011-01-25T11:45:00.005-07:00

I have discovered that I live life through addiction after addiction and I think you may be surprised that many of you do as well.

When I was in jr. high, I was addicted to IMing my friends. Looking back, I realize how ridiculous this was seeing as I was just around my friends all day at school. Yet, day after day I would come home and chat with my fellow school-mates online. In reality, I didn't care to chat with my girlfriends too much. In actuality, I just wanted to chat with my crushes and my ulterior motive was mainly to find out if they liked me too. This was pre-texting days, so give me a break.

IMing died away and then I discovered the awesomeness of The Sims. I'm pretty sure every single girl who loved playing house as a child was in LOVE with Sims. I know I was. I could play it for hours, then kill off my family, and create a new one where the cycle would thus continue. Actually, I'm still obsessed with Sims...

But it wasn't only computer technology that would consume my life. I get into my food addictions as well. Right now, I have been eating oatmeal and bananas for breakfast basically everyday since Jack was born. It's good and filling and keeps my milk production up (because you all wanted to know that). Yes, it's true, that equals to a lot of freakin' oatmeal and bananas but that isn't the worst food addiction I've had. I've been known to eat beans for a month strait for lunch. Mainly bean sandwiches and homemade bean burritos. Gotta love that fiber! Good news is that I'm sick of beans now and have moved on to tuna. Gotta love those omega-3's!

Now I have discovered a new addiction. It fuels my life. I think it has moved on from an addiction to an obsession. What's great is that it has taken possession of Tyler as well so when it comes time for an intervention, you can kill two birds with one stone and bring both Tyler and I back to reality. But for now, our obsession is:

SUDOKU
SUDOKU
SUDOKU

But this isn't just a mindless, random sudoku puzzle. This is the Sudoku puzzle in The Scroll! The Scroll is BYU-I's weekly paper which is usually filled with random and pretty lame articles like the top three places to visit in Rexburg (which happened to be 1. DI 2.The Gym 3.The sand dunes). On the last page of The Scroll, there is a Sudoku puzzle which if completed correctly and turned in by Friday at 5:00PM, has potential of being drawn as the winning puzzle and that person gets a prize.

A PRIZE!

So Tyler and I started the last couple of weeks in the fall semester and we continue to this day and we take it very seriously. In our life, the week starts on Tuesday, when The Scroll comes out. Every week, we do the sudoku. Let me just tell you, these aren't your grandma's puzzles. These puzzles are meant to weed out the men from the boys (or so to speak).

Tyler and I have actually gotten into fights about these puzzles. I'm sure you are envisioning a playful banter-like fight. Oh no! The kind of fight that your Bishop advises to work out before you go to bed. THAT type of fight.

It is not uncommon to have shredded remains of The Scroll on our living room floor and I'm pretty sure there are no more erasers in our home anymore, only eraser shavings...

Yet we are determined to get that prize and we're not even sure what "the prize" is. Often times couple's fantasize about what they would do if they won the lottery, we fantasize about what the prize for the Sudoku could possibly be. Tyler thinks it's some brand new BYU-I gym clothes. I think it's a gift certificate to a restaurant. Either way, we ARE going to win before we graduate because we HAVE to know. It is our obsession and addiction.

2011-01-18T14:50:00.002-07:00

He's the cheese to my macaroni.

I'm dead?! Oh yeah...I'm dead...

2010-12-18T14:29:00.001-07:00

This blog needs some serious resurrecting

2010-10-21T16:27:00.005-06:00

For all of the mothers out there that still somehow find ways to blog, I admire you. I feel like I don't even have time to eat but maybe once I am finished with school, it will become easier to fill my time with "mommie" activities like blogging and cooking instead of homework.

Jack is now 1 month old. I know every mother says this but it really is crazy how fast time goes by. It seems like just yesterday I was in the hospital with my baby boy but now Jack weighs 9 lbs and is finally starting to fit in 0-3 mo clothes. He can almost follow objects with his eyes but he is still a little slow. Jack also likes to have one hand by his face when he eats that he constantly opens and closes. I guess he just likes to feel that I'm there. He also LOVES his baths and hates getting out. Who can blame him? It's cold sometimes!

Let me just say, taking care of a newborn can be so confusing! For the first week, I drove myself crazy keeping track of feedings, diapers, and schedules. Now, I am much more relaxed and I realize that Jack WILL let me know when he is hungry and he is NOT going to just sit there and starve. Now that I have gotten this very basic fact ingrained in my head, life has been much easier and I realize that I have an extremely well-behaved child. Right from the start, Jack got his days and nights on track and he continues to do very well. He sleeps anywhere from 5 to 6 hours at night and then I get him back on his 3 hour feeding routine afterward.

Then, this week, Tyler and I made a breakthrough! Normally Tyler and I try to soothe Jack to sleep with rocking, walking, pacifier, and just about anything else that could settle him. Well, the other day, I just KNEW Jack was tired and decided to let him cry it out to see if he could get himself to sleep. Let me just say, hearing your child cry is just about the worst torture for a first time mom. But I was determined to try so I watched the clock and decided that after 10 minutes, I would go soothe him. Miraculously, after only 3 minutes, he stopped and went right to sleep!

What did I tell ya? I pretty much have a perfect baby.

But what about my "other" baby? I hate it!

Two weeks after having Jack I had a follow up ultrasound to check to see if the cyst had decreased. Nope. Still there and still the same size.

So I scheduled the surgery. Unfortunately, Medicaid is not going to cover it since they now know that because it didn't shrink, it was probably there before being pregnant and therefore not pregnancy related.

I go under the scope next Tuesday in which I will update soon thereafter how it went. The only thing I am nervous about is recovery but then again, I don't think it could be any worse than recovering from a baby.

Wish me luck!

Birth Story

2010-09-24T15:22:00.006-06:00

For a while I had known that Jack could be born any day, but as the due date got closer and closer, the possibility got higher and higher that I would meet my son that day. However, my due date came and went and I was disappointed to say the least. By 40 weeks, I was done and ready to have my baby boy!

When I went in on Monday for my 40 week 1 day appointment, I was even more disappointed that I was still only 1 cm dilated and 75% effaced. I had made no progress within the week and as much as I tried to hold it together, I broke down and cried right in front of the doctor just like any ol' pregnant lady would do.

So I had a choice. There was an opening for an induction that evening or I could wait. The thought of seeing my son THAT evening was very enticing but in the end, I realized that since my cervix wasn't very compatible, an induction would just put me at a higher risk for a c-section which wasn't what I wanted at all. So I decided to schedule one for Friday instead and give my body time to make up it's mind.

As cliche as it sounds, I really felt as if I was going to be pregnant forever. The doctor wasn't even able to strip my membranes since he said it would just be more painful than helpful which makes me realize that the other doctor the week before that "stripped my membranes" probably didn't get too far but also didn't want to let me down. So all I could do was wait. That or drink castor oil but I didn't really want the after-effects of that.

The next day was uneventful until lunchtime. I had just eaten and gotten myself all nice and full so that I could sit around and mope about my situation. That's when I noticed this intense butt pain. There is simply no other way I can describe it except by calling it "butt pain". I know this may be TMI but this is a birth story, for heavens sakes and to put it in relatable terms, it felt as if I needed to poop NOW! So, I did. But the butt pain was still there and cramps were soon following.

I started to get excited thinking this was the real deal. Never before in my pregnancy had I felt this kind of pain but I felt that if I starting timing them, I would jinx myself and it would go away. However, I just couldn't ignore the butt contractions. I called my doctor and they said that when they started coming 5 minutes apart, to go to the hospital. Well that was motivation in of itself to forget about jinxes and start timing these bad boys. I watched the clock all night but they were coming every 10 minutes which was far from the goal of five. I decided to wait it out until morning and if they were still there, I would call my OB again and go from there.

That night I did not sleep at all! If it wasn't the pee breaks, it was the contractions and if it wasn't the contractions, it was my insomnia from excitement that was keeping me awake. I was able to get an hour of sleep at a time and I could not wait until morning.

I was woken up suddenly by an odd kick/pop noise right as Tyler's alarm clock rang 7:00 o'clock. He woke up and we looked at each other both thinking, "Well, he didn't come last night." As we sat there waking up I felt a small gush and thought, "Okay...was that my water or just discharge?" I waited to see what would happen. More gush. Wait, this was more than just gushing now, I had turned into a leaky faucet. As I stood up to verify that this was not just discharge, I turned into a hose and the water was coming out fast!

I looked at Tyler, wide-eyed, and said, "My water just broke! I think my water just broke." As I was bookin' it to the bathroom, more just kept coming out and Tyler was saying, "Are you sure? Let me see!" I was sure and after he saw my soaked pants, he was sure too and soon we were scrambling to get last minute things packed to go. As he loaded the car, I loaded my pants with a towel, called my OB and we were off!

When we arrived at the hospital, we walked through the double doors of the labor & delivery unit expecting to find a front desk or at least someone to welcome us. There was no one to be seen. So we wandered the hallways looking like quite a pair what with Tyler carrying all of our stuff awkwardly and me with a soaked towel in my pants. Finally we got pointed in the right direction by my OB and found out that we needed to take an elevator to the second level. A sign might of been helpful, especially since it is the labor and delivery unit so women might come by, Oh I don't know, leaking amniotic fluid and need help!

Soon I was checked into my room and my awesome nurse, Michelle, got me all hooked up and settled in. Since my water broke, the contractions were coming on hard. It was the same contractions as the nigh before. I was in butt labor and boy did it hurt! I was trying to breathe through them but they became so intense that it was hard to do anything but resist the temptation to throw everything within my grasp. Michelle offered a birthing ball to help get me through the contractions which I accepted and do you know what that birthing ball did?! Nothing! Well, it did help some but I was wanting relief from pain not just a small relief from the butt pressure. I wanted to throw that ball out the window.

Soon I was taking any drugs that were given to me. Michelle gave me some pain meds to take the edge off and it worked pretty well where I could talk through the pain but after an hour, it wore off. Before that, she checked my progress and said that I was 2.5 to 3 cm dilated. Woot....

After hearing the bleak news that I was only at a 3 and the pain meds just starting to wear off, I told her that I would take the epidural now. Even though I was only at a 3, the doctor said I was progressing fine and that I could have my precious, precious epidural.

In no time, the anesthesiologist came in and started to explain to me all of the possible complications while I'm having these intense and very painful contractions. I wanted to yell at him, "I don't care, just give me the dang epidural!!!" but it wasn't his fault I was in labor so I couldn't take my frustrations out on him.

Let me just say, getting an epidural is WEIRD! When he first inserted the needle, there was this crackling noise as if someone had broken a glow stick in my back. It was quite the feeling as he pushed through the ligaments to get to the epidural cavity but as soon as it was in, and the meds were flowing, it was amazing! I felt as if my legs were in a warm bath and my contractions were gone even though I could still feel the pressure.

After that it was a waiting game. I got the epidural at 11:00 AM and by 4:30 PM, I was progressed enough and feeling the urge to push. Before going into labor, I has this vision that Tyler would be up by my head the whole time, holding my hand and stroking my hair as I pushed. In actuality, it was the complete opposite. I had the two nursing students hold my legs while Tyler watched the whole shazzam going on down there. Looking back, I wouldn't of had it different. It was so much fun seeing Tyler's expressions go from disgusted to amazement with every push. It was exciting to have him update me with the progress I was making. He was so excited with every contraction to see the head come out a little more.

Soon they called the doctor in and now it was really crunch time to deliver this baby! I would have never imagined pushing to be so hard. Even though I had the pain meds, I was still tired from it all since before the doctor had come in, I had been pushing for an hour.

Soon, I could feel the stretch and oh boy, did I stretch! I pushed for 30 more minutes until I felt this incredible relief from the ring of fire Jack's head did on my perineum. When I felt that relief, I remember thinking, "Oh my gosh, my baby's head is RIGHT down there!"

Two more pushes and Jack came into this world. Daddy cut the umbilical cord and soon a slimy and gooey baby was placed on my stomach. An incredibly cute, slimy, and gooey baby and what made it the best was that it was Tyler and I's slimy, gooey, cute baby! I couldn't believe that I was finally meeting our son.

After they cleaned him up, Dad got to hold him first while I got stitched up.

We are completely enamored by our little boy and now that he's here, our whole word has been turned around but we wouldn't have it any other way!

Happy Birthday

2010-09-22T07:27:00.006-06:00

Jack Belnap

8 lbs. 6oz
19"
Born on September 21st, 2010 at 6:01PM

Here are more pictures of him today and looking less like he just emerged from a hole the size of a grape and more like the cute kid he is!

Point A to Point B

2010-08-30T17:17:00.005-06:00

What does a pregnant lady who has 20 days left in her pregnancy look like?

Like this.

What does she feel like?

Like this.

Notice the gaping group of people just staring at the beached whale? I get a lot of those these days. I think some of the looks are looks of sympathy but most are amazement that a woman could grow to such proportions and still be mobile. I know they think this because that's what I think of other women who have been in the same situation.

With three weeks left, I'm excited to get this whole idea of parenthood going. I'm a little sick of thinking about how I am going to take care of this baby and I am ready to start doing it. However, I know that before I can go from point A to point B, there is going to be a lot of pain but you know what? I don't care.

I'm not scared about labor or the pain from labor and maybe that's a rookie mistake but I think that's why God made pregnancy last so long; so that by the end, we are so beyond ready to have our baby that we don't care what is between point A and point B.

On another note, this weekend is my baby shower and I am so excited! I feel as if this is the last thing I really need to do in my pregnancy and then the baby can really come. So I will update again soon with pictures of my awesome baby shower with the awesome guests and the awesome games/decorations so that you can all just bask in the awesomeness of it all. Ciao.

None Of The Above

2010-08-26T20:08:00.003-06:00

Monday was the doctors appointment where I was to discuss how the whole cyst situation was going to be handled. But before I delve into that, let's make time for an awkward pregnancy moment in relation to my appointment.

It was a pretty regular, non-ultrasound, boring appointment (I admit, I have been extremely spoiled with ultrasounds). The nurse called me back and she did the routine blood pressure check and weight measurement. After that, I asked if she wanted me to go ahead and take a urine sample. She said yes but that I was also to do a group strep B test while I was already in there.

A what?

Yes, it's a very basic swab test where you basically, um, swab your lady parts and "other" areas. Not a very hard medical procedure for an inexperienced person like me to do on my own.

So I pee, I swab, I seal the container and, like always, I place it on the counter for the nurse to grab.

So as I wait for the nurse to come back in and collect my plethora of samples, I am surprised when at the next I-hope-you're-not-naked-because-I'm-coming-in knock, the doctor walks in. Sweet, I think, get my questions answered faster and get this mundane appointment over with.

But then the doctor sees my urine and strep sample and reacts as if I had left a terd on the table for him. Seriously, I thought he was going to start dry heaving, he was that dramatic saying stuff like, "OH!....Oh gosh...nurse, come take care of this...".

Geez. I don't have AIDS or leprosy. I'm not a diseased woman.

Then as the nurse picks up the swab sample and proceeds to dip the standard urine strip in my pee, the doctor is still appalled saying, "Oh gosh....are you sure you don't need gloves?!"

Um, excuse me? I'm sitting right here! Besides, it's not as if I rubbed the whole tube down there. This guy delivers babies and when he delivers them, his whole face and hands are going to be in the area that I only slightly swabbed with a q-tip. What a baby!

.....................................................................................

Anyway, I ignored his reaction and we discussed birthing/cyst options. What I didn't know is that I was making a big deal out of nothing. He said that there was still a possibility that after the placenta is out, the cyst may go down because of the decrease in hormones. Cool.

So I am going to just let this kiddo come when he wants to come which is probably the best decision and will probably not be until I am a full 40+ weeks. I did like the idea of KNOWING when this kid was coming with the option of induction but oh well. So from any readers, please send cervix dilating, water breaking, effacing thoughts my way, I want this kid outta me!

A, B, or C?

2010-08-17T17:20:00.002-06:00

I realized that throughout this pregnancy, my blog has turned into a series of lame, last-minute picture updates and statistics. I haven't really given any insight to my thoughts all that much. However, this post will be different. Buckle up. Some of this may be TMI.

I am having a bit of an internal struggle. While, yes, that may be due to the fact that this kid loves to roll his foot up and down the right side of my ribs and the fact that my stomach send me hate notes of heartburn and diarrhea (TMI?), I have a hard decision to make and I need all the insight that is offered. Unless, of course, I disagree with you. Then your insight is not welcome.

I only have 5 weeks left in this pregnancy. Actually, it is 4 weeks and 5 days until I am 40 weeks full term. Coincidentally, school starts 10 days before this bugger is to make his debut. Now I know this may be hard for some to understand but kid or not, I really want to graduate from college which is why I have chosen not to take this semester off. Instead, I am taking all online courses which I have found I am very good at and I am only taking 12 credits which should be pretty easy.

I am pretty confident that I will be able to handle 12 online credits and take care of a baby as well. Although, I think that will be my limit. It's going to be hard and tough to adjust a baby into the schedule of a college student. Not to mention Tyler will be working part time and going to school full time (16 credits! Can you say crazy?) so I'm not counting on having a whole lotta help from him. I have accepted the fact that I am pretty much going to be lone wolf with this adjustment.

However, one thing I haven't accepted is how effed up my lady parts are about to become after giving birth. I am still in denial about inevitable grossness of the whole situation.

So amongst altering my sleeping schedule, getting down the basics of breastfeeding, and trying to complete school, you can add the whole healing process of my muffin to the list.

Am I starting to sound overwhelmed now?

Up until recently, I thought I had this taking-care-of-baby business all figured out until I realized something.

My other baby....

I had been concentrating so much on how I was going to parent my bugger that I had completely forgotten about my cyst. Oops...is that still inside of me? Yes, yes it is.

I don't know how it happened but my cyst had completely slipped my mind even if it was still firmly snuggled and taking up 10 cm of my body cavity. I realized that I had surgery to add to my list of adjustments which brings me to my decision.

A. I can go full term and let Jack come when he's "ready" and try to deal with taking care of a newborn, learning to breastfeed, healing up my lady parts, healing from a surgery and going to school all with very little help from Tyler due to his full time school and work schedule.

or

B. I can opt for a C-section and have the baby and the cyst taken out all at once before school starts so that I can recover from baby + surgery with the help of Tyler and without the added pressure of school and then deal with the decision of a VBAC when child #2 comes along.

or

C. I can be induced before school starts and have Jack vaginally then have the cyst surgery right after in which it will give me time to heal and give me the much needed help from Tyler without the added pressure of school (just like option b).

I really like option A because its about as granola as I get and the thought of him coming "naturally" appeals to me, even if I am going to bathe my spinal cord with epidural medication. On the down side, I just can't see myself handling baby, surgery, and school all at once.

Option B is my least favorite because if I don't have to slice my uterus, I wouldn't. Plus I would have to deal with the complications that could arise from a VBAC with my future kids. However, it does kill two birds with one stone AND allows me to basically choose when this kid comes.

Out of all of the options, letter C appeals to me the most because I can choose (more or less) when the kid comes and I would get to have him vaginally (which would help with future pregnancies). However, I am not sure how I feel about pumping my body with pitocin since that is a huge no-no with the granola crowd and is less natural. Although will the epidural and all of the other medications from general anesthesia, I'm sure an added drug wont make much of a difference.

I go into the doctor on Monday in which I will discuss the options with him and I will give an update on what he says. What is a pregnant lady to do?

13 Weeks Late

2010-07-31T15:47:00.005-06:00

I am so bad at updating belly pictures but I guess it's better late than never. I remember thinking I was huge at 25 weeks...Oh how I underestimated the unholy proportions that my uterus could grow to. Here are a couple of shots of me at 34 weeks and I still think that I can't get any bigger but I'm sure I can (and will):

Today I went to the doctor and got an update on Jack. He's a hefty 5 lbs. 1 oz baby now. I told him that I had been feeling crampy lately and he did an *ahem* internal exam to check if there was any activity going on that we should know about.

Now, I may just be a wimp when it comes to uncomfortableness in my hoo-ha area but that doctor has HUGE hands! Looking back at my reaction, I realize that I was a big baby about it and I'm eventually going to have to go through many more internal exams before this baby is due, not to mention the ring of fire, but hopefully I will be under the influence of an epidural for that.

Unfortunately, I am not dilated or effaced at all. :(

Is it bad I feel envious of all of the women that have gone into pre-term labor? I find myself reading a lot of birth stories and hoping that something similar happens to me ending in an early but healthy baby! September can't come fast enough!

On another note, I finally figured out how to convert my ultrasound DVD into a file format that is actually recognizable on the computer. So here it is a little late, my 20 week ultrasound video.

I wish I could illustrate it as it goes but I'm afraid you are just going to have to use your imagination. Have fun!

29 Weeks

2010-07-05T20:26:00.004-06:00

First off, the things unrelated to baby news: We are moving into a two bedroom apartment! What's even cooler is that it has a dishwasher, a washer & dryer, and a garbage disposal! I know, I know. I can just feel all of you guy's excitement for me! We move in July 26th-ish.

Now on to fun, baby-related news. I went in today for my ultrasound and here's the jist:

The baby weighs 3 lbs now.

The cyst is the same size and obviously still there.

The little stinker was face down so we couldn't get any good pictures.

I passed my gestational diabetes test (I actually liked the drink except it totally knocked me out for a couple of hours afterwards).

He is kind of transverse/down but kicks me all over the place.

He get's the hiccups...A lot.

And finally, my baby has HAIR! The ultrasound technician pointed it out and sure enough, I was able to see it sticking up on the back of his head. This is the one I was super excited about since I was just thinking of it the other day. He still has 11 weeks to go so that gives him more time to grow more hair but the real question is, will it be blonde or brown?
His cute fist.

Snips & Snails and Puppy Dog Tails...

2010-06-12T18:58:00.005-06:00

There are a lot of expectations with having a baby. In fact, there are a lot more than I ever could have ever imagined before getting pregnant. What with all of the choices of natural birth vs. medicated birth, breastfeeding vs. formula, cloth diapers vs. disposable, it's quite easy to get lost in the transition of woman to mother. Maybe even losing a part of yourself (most of all, your sanity) in the process.

So, let me be the first to admit, I was 100% sure that this baby was a girl. Every mother would love to have a mini-me that she could dress in cute outfits and do cute hair styles and with 4 sisters, how could it be any different? At least, thats what I thought.

So imagine my shock when, at 14 weeks, the ultrasound technician said boy. Then at 16 weeks, still a boy and even at 20 weeks, still a boy! What happened to mother intuition? What happened to the Chinese lunar calendar? I was so confused and I admit, a little disappointed at the way my 50/50 turned out. Mainly because I had no idea what to do with a mini-Tyler. I mean, I still have trouble with figuring out the regular Tyler and with my faulty mother intuition, I was a deer in the headlights.

I just knew girl ways. I understood girl ways. Freak, I am a girl!

Before I found out this baby's gender, it was so easy to get caught up in the expectations of this:

and this

and this

But then I think about my boy. My little boy and whether he'll have my nose or his dad's eyes or if he is going to be loud and rambunctious or quiet and shy. That's when realize that, boy or girl, I am going to have a baby and that baby will be mine. That's when I realize that there are many couples out there that can't have children of their own. That's when I realize that I wouldn't mind a little mini-Tyler running around after all, even if he does have the same obsession with pizza as his dad.

Then I get caught up in the expectations of this:

and this

and this

and despite all of my previous expectations about babies and what I thought I knew, every time he kicks, every time I see him on the ultrasound machine, every time he stretches, I get even more excited

for this.

25 Weeks

2010-06-05T22:08:00.004-06:00

Tomorrow marks my pregnancy as 25 weeks. Yay! So I'll update with some pictures and whatnot.

This is a face shot. Definitely a Belnap chin!

We caught him mid-yawn. Notice the cute chubster cheeks ;)

Another mid-yawn except this one is just freaky.

...AND another face.

I had a ultrasound tech that was new and didn't really get the usual good shots that my girl Hilary does but it's okay. I still got to see my baby. He weighed 1 lb. 12 oz so I can at least say that I've only gained 7 lbs and 4 oz so far (plus the weight of my uterus that has grown to unholy proportions and my ever increasing boobs that itch like the 4th of July!)

So finally his is me at 25 weeks. I feel like I look HUGE for only 25 weeks and it is kind of freaky (what ISN'T freaky about pregnancy?) since I really, really, really, want to stay within the 25-30 lb weight gain. However, it says I am on track for my weight gain on BabyCenter.com and everything that can be found online is true, isn't it?

That's it. Oh and I consider it a success that I still fit in my pre-pregnancy pants. Yay me!

Sweet Child O' Mine...and Tyler

2010-05-25T15:44:00.007-06:00

I am now 23 weeks along and I have definitely "popped". It really is still hard to believe that I actually have a tiny person inside of me that is about a pound and looks like a mix of Tyler and I. Amazing!

So I have been getting increasing comments of my budding belly everywhere I go and I have reached that stage (finally) where I actually look pregnant and not bloated. In fact, just a few of weeks ago I asked Tyler if I looked pregnant or just fat. I'm happy to say that I have an honest husband which replied, "Eh...you're in the in-between stage." Thanks dear, at least you're honest.

However, just last week I was getting groceries with hubby making our usual rounds. You know, wife making sure she's getting the cheapest price for the most/best food while husband adds it up to make sure it's within the budget? Well mid-noodle-buying time he stopped for a while and said, "Wow! You've really gotten bigger." Awww, the things that would register as offensive before are now so sweet!

So here are the 23 weeks and 2 day pregnancy pictures:

Also, I forgot to post my 20 week ultrasound pictures so here they are:

His cute little face!

His cute little footsies!

His cute little manhood!

And another cute face

In other news:
1. I have a cold. I am a snot factory.

2. I signed up for a booth at the Rexburg Farmers Market. My first market day didn't go so well and I only sold 2 things. :( The hotdog man sold more than me. Then again, I contributed towards one of his sales...they just looked so good! But, I still have the rest of the season so I am going to try, try again!

3. Yesterday was the SERIES finale of 24. I have seen every, single episode that has ever been made and I will be sad to see Jack go. May the memory of Jack Bauer live on through my kick @$$ baby, which will also be named Jack!

4. After freakin' jumping through loops and hoops, I finally got my vinyl blog giveaway up and running so people can view the blog and leave comments so go check it out at www.sayitwithstyle.blogspot.com and click on blog-cicle.

5. For those who really care all that much, my cyst is still there and basically the same size but I'm not worried about it. With my kid's name being Jack (and especially after Jack Bauer), I'm confident he will neutralize the enemy before the deadline of his due date.

Ugh...

2010-05-10T21:28:00.003-06:00

I just realized the link for the giveaway didn't work. You can view the real giveaway at:

www.sayitwithstyle.blogspot.com

then click on "blog-cicle"

GIVEAWAY in all caps

2010-05-05T21:41:00.003-06:00

I'm not much for advertising my Etsy business on my blog but I figured why not seeing as I'm doing a GIVEAWAY!

That's right, you read correctly. I just capitalized the word "GIVEAWAY" just to show you my excitement in it.

So the reason for this giveaway is because I have added three, yes three, new calendar designs so that my calendars can really be YOUR style! So no more unorganized days when you have one of my calendars by your side. You can view them at:

www.sayitwithstyle.etsy.com

So this giveaway is in celebration of beauty and thus, I am giving away this:

"Be Your Own Kind of Beautiful"-In brown

Now here is how to enter:

Go here and you will have all the details you need to enter for a chance to get your free vinyl. DO IT NOW!

Baby Prep 101

2010-04-26T17:06:00.007-06:00

This Sunday I hit my 19 week mark which means that I'm practically halfway there!

Which really got me excited and nervous. I've really got to start preparing for this baby!

So I've compiled a list of my "must have's" for this pregnancy and baby and went out and bought them as fast as I possibly could. Seriously, these are going to be on Oprah's favorites soon.

First off, I'm going to be counting on you readers to have seen the movie Baby Mama. You know the part where the Lamaze teacher tells them to just rub a little EVOO down there to prep their perineum? Well, EVOO is for grandmas now (not to mention, Rachel Ray)! No, I introduce to you the Epi-No. Basically it's an an inflatable balloon you stick up your wah-who to pwepair for da gweat stwetch! On a level of 1 to 10, I'm pretty much already at a 9. This baby is going to slide right out of there!

Then, when my baby is born, I'm wanting him to feel as soothed as possible. So I'm going to try to replicate a womb-like experience with these pillow hands. I mean, what could be more natural than a pair of severed hands cradling your baby?

But why stop there? I want to replicate womb life for the baby even during bath time by using this Tummy Tub cause nothing says security like holding your baby's head above water level to keep it from drowning in a freakin' bucket!

But why should I have all the fun? Tyler needs his father-son bonding time too! So that's why I'm getting him the Mr. Milker. I think he'll really go for it and with him breastfeeding too, I can give my milkers a break.

I haven't had my baby shower yet but you can obviously tell which products I'm going to hope to get!

Cutest Bear On The Block!

2010-04-15T18:31:00.005-06:00

So the other day I was wasting time on the computer when a thought struck me.

I want to learn to crochet.
My mom already knows how to crochet and tried to teach me but since then, I'd forgotten how. So seeing as she was 800 miles away, I called up my friend Emily who came over the next day and taught me. Isn't it great to have crafty, amazing friends that can teach you their mad skills? Well, if you don't have friends like that then let me just tell you, it is great!

So she came over and the first thing I wanted to make was a hat for my sweet bugger boo. Let me just say the first one didn't turn out as I imagined it. It was more square than I hoped and I make it too long. Also, it's all dark blue so it was kind of blah.

But I did not give up hope! It was my first try so it was bound to be a little sucky. So I tried again but used a different pattern. Yes, this amazing friend not only taught me the single stitch, double stitch, and slip knot maneuvers, she also taught me to read patterns online. So thankful!

Next, I looked online to find a picture of how I wanted the beanie to turn out and found this as my inspiration:

Thank goodness I had my smarts with me yesterday and bought two colors that go great together. So I started crocheting like crazy so I could finish my masterpiece. Let me just tell you, crocheting seems like an old lady activity, but there is nothing old lady about it. My fingers got sore and the stitches were hard to see sometimes. Seriously, it should be an Olympic sport.

Finally, I finished and I am so proud of my work! It took me basically all day but I can't help but beam at my newly acquired mad crocheting skills. I know bugger boo is way excited for it since he was kicking and squirming the whole time...or maybe it was because of the 24 oz, pure sugar, Icee I had yesterday...Either way, all I need is my baby's head to nicely try it on.

P.s. Don't worry, I've decided to unravel the bla blue hat and make another one similar to the yellow one except opposite. Thank you for your concern for my kid's popularity sake. We wouldn't want him to be made fun of in the hospital nursery because he has a fugly hat, now would we?

Oh Baby!

2010-04-08T15:57:00.006-06:00

Well today was the big ultrasound day. I was so nervous/excited because this was the appointment to determine if I was going to have surgery to remove my cyst. I've had two weeks since the last appointment to come to terms with my cyst and the fact that I could have surgery, I could lose an ovary, a would have a huge scar, and I might (small chance but still) lose the baby. It wasn't a pleasant experience but I came to terms and decided there was nothing I could do about any of it. So I went in to the office with my heart a-pittering and a-pattering from nervousness and a lack of sleep the night before.

I was also really excited because I am now 16 weeks which is the so said week that an ultrasound tech could tell if my freaky fetus is a boy or girl. I was a little worried going in since last time I went in, I was only 14 weeks and I asked if she could possibly tell what it is. She looked only for a split second and said snobbishly, "Well it looks like a boy but it's too early to tell..." and promptly started looking at the boring cyst again.

However, today, she asked if we would like to know the sex of the baby to which I replied, "Heck yes!" and she looked. At first we were unsure. She said it looked like a boy but I said that it kind of looked like a girl with the "three lines" thing going on. We both said oh well and moved on to look at the profile but when she froze the frame, we got a bonus as well.

Can you see it? It's a BOY!

Tyler and I were just grinning from ear to ear at the thought of a little boy in our lives. Now I can start concentrating my thoughts towards blue baby things. I'm so freakin' excited!

Oh and the other good news was that I don't have to have surgery!...(yet). The doctor said that as long as it's not causing any pain, we shouldn't worry about it. I'm immensely relieved that I don't have to go under the knife so close to when school is going to start.

Today was just one of those lucky days. Now I can't believe I lost sleep over it.

A Hairy Situation

2010-04-06T11:59:00.003-06:00

Well I said I would blog about all of the crazy shiz that goes on whilst being pregnant (you know? About poo and crotch pain). Well the news is, for all of you very interested in my bowel movements, that I am pretty regular and proud of it. I'm just going to put it out there, isn't constipation the worst? Let me tell you, it seriously is.

In other news I had another OMG-I'M-REALLY-PREGNANT moment. When I was only about 8 weeks pregnant, I was getting ready for my bedtime routine when I noticed something.

A grey hair

Yes people! A freakin' gray hair! I couldn't really believe what I saw so I plucked that sucker out and chalked it up to a freak accident.

Now, I am 16 weeks and as I was looking in the mirror again, what did I see? ANOTHER gray hair. Now I'm a freaking out a little. I never get grey hairs so I'm thinking pregnancy hormones = hair problems...?

Grandma's are supposed to have grey hairs and I'm not even a mom yet. Oh and besides the fact that I'm only 21!

So please, someone, somewhere out there, please tell me that you had weird hair problems that disappeared after your pregnancy. I need reassurance or else I'm breaking out the hair dye!

If You Just Realize What I Just Realized...

2010-03-28T21:44:00.006-06:00

I realized something this morning as I was getting ready for church. I probably didn't realize this before since all of my tops still fit me but as I was putting on my skirt, I noticed that it wouldn't zip up. It couldn't zip up.

This is big news! I have been wearing my pants unbuttoned/unzipped ever since I was six weeks just because it felt comfortable but now I have to keep them unzipped out of necessity.

I already had a bit of a fat pooch before I got pregnant and when I would look at pictures of pregnant ladies that looked like they were 30 weeks pregnant when they were only 12, I chalked it up to them having an extreme pooch fat as well. It couldn't be the actual baby. However, now the baby is as big as an apple so for all you non-pregnant ladies, try fitting an apple down your waistline and see how your pants feel.

So here is a picture of my updated baby bump. I feel safe to call it a baby bump now that I am 15 weeks pregnant. I still have a while to go but this time the pants (well..skirt) tells it all.

My Other Baby: Update

2010-03-25T20:33:00.006-06:00

Well I figured I should do an update on my little bundle of cyst.

I went in for an ultrasound today which was so much fun because I got to see my little creepy alien again! He/she has grown a lot since it was an overgrown gummi bear. Now it had distinguishable arms and legs and I was able to see the face. It wasn't very cute because it was all skeletal-like.

However, the baby was not the main point of the ultrasound. They checked my cyst and it hasn't decreased in size which means. DING DING DING! Another ultrasound! Although this time I only have to wait two weeks instead of another month to check up on my little/big cyst.

So if it hasn't decreased significantly, I am going to have to go under the knife in 2-4 weeks from now. Yes, I am a little worried about surgery but if it means that my baby will no longer have to compete for space, I think it's worth it especially because he/she already looked pretty squished to begin with.

But hey! There's always an upside to hospitals such as:

1. Sexy, sexy hospital gowns. My bum will look so fabulous in it!

2. Tasty hospital food! I think the best part is that I wont have to cook or do any of the dishes afterwards (as if I do dishes when I'm NOT in the hospital).

3. Instant gratification. In pain? No need to wait 20-30 minutes for a pill to dissolve!

I'm actually not so sure about all the things I listed since the sterile hospital smell is a negative. Oh and the part about them cutting me open....and I've never really been hospitalized before...

But hospitals can't be all that bad since they do deliver lots of cute (and sometimes not so cute) babies there, right?

My Other Baby

2010-03-17T19:52:00.007-06:00

Well, I promised I would update with lots of ewy-gooey pregnancy happenings and update I shall.

I am now 13 weeks and 3 days along and only look pregnant at the end of the day when I've eaten food and my pooch of fat kind of sticks out. But what I'm more excited about is that I am so close out of my 1st trimester, I can almost taste it! And by "taste" it, I mean me eating more food instead of the other way around.

Yes, I would consider my womb to be a top notch place to live in if I were a baby.

On another note, at week 10 Tyler and I were able to go in for the first ultrasound! I think it definitely made it more real for Tyler to see the heartbeat and to see the bugger boo move. It was actually a little creepy (but mostly relieving) to know that it was an actual person alive in my womb!

But I think the best part of it all was the 2 for 1 deal I got! No, I'm not talking about the make one baby and get another baby for free. I'm talking about the much more cooler deal that only the fun pregnant ladies get. Yes, I'm talking about the make one baby and get a cyst the size of a large grapefruit for free! I feel so lucky to house yet another foreign object. The doctor said that if I wasn't pregnant, they would have to do surgery. So here is a list of a couple of things I would do with my swank of a deal:

1. The doctor said it was fluid filled so once I get that sucker out from surgery, I'm going to ask to keep it and go out on the streets and yell, "CYST FIGHT!!"

2. Keep it in a jar and put it on my mantle to proudly show off my specimen to every guest that comes over for dinner. I'm also considering having it mounted with an engraved, gold description but I'm having a hard time finding the right words to illustrate my "other" baby.

3. Get it sun dried and then take a mortar and pestle to it to grind it up into a powder that I will later fill pill capsules up with and get me on a schedule for the health of future cysts.

These are only a couple of ideas that I have for our little bundle of fluid and I'm sure there are countless ways to use this once in a lifetime deal. Sadly, the cyst will shrink as the placenta takes over the hormones but a pregnant lady can dream right?

The One To Top Them All

2010-02-04T19:23:00.002-07:00

I think this post tops all other posts except for maybe my fear of rods post...I'm still convinced they're out there. But enough about freaky rods. Let's talk about freaky fetuses!

Well, in this case (meaning my case), probably only one fetus. In actuality, I think it's still considered an embryo.

If you haven't guessed it now, I'll just have to spell it out to you.

I'm pregnant!

I'm only 7 weeks and 4 days along which means that there is still 32 weeks and 3 days to fill up this blog with a ton of boring pregnancy blurts like, "I haven't pooped in two days!"

Don't worry though, this blog can't get any more boring so to my little loyal readers: It can only go up from here!

Adoption Smadoption

2010-01-07T16:24:00.003-07:00

Who are these people you might ask? Only my oldest sister and her husband of almost 5 years!

I believe a congratulations is in order when I say that they were just approved for adoption!

I am sure you are wondering why I would be mentioning this on a blog entirely dedicated to my musings and random thoughts. Well, wonder no longer because I am hoping that you, as a reader, will help my awesome sister and her hubby find the perfect addition to their family! You can read all about them at their blog here along with contact information and everything.

I know that there is someone out there who knows of someone who is wanting to put their child up for adoption. I just know it! So help a sister out here and start getting out the word!

All I Want For Christmas...

2009-12-21T14:58:00.004-07:00

{Frunkiss}

This is all I want for Christmas.

Now how do I convince my landlady to let me have him?

Seriously taking suggestions...

The End is Near

2009-12-12T17:30:00.012-07:00

Do you see it? No? Well maybe you could if you stepped into the shoes of 13,759 BYU-I students this fall semester. Now you can see, the fall semester is almost over; the end is near!

Wow! I can't believe I've almost finished another semester of school. One more semester down to going on to graduating. I can't wait for that blessed day and it seems as if it will never come but alas, people obviously graduate. What's also great besides the warm, fuzzy feeling of the spirit confirming to me that this semester was a success, is the awesome life lessons I've learned this school year. Here are a few:

Thanks to my Fit for Life class, not only will I be fit for life, but I can also now hover/squat in mid-air over an unsanitary toilet. Never underestimate the power of a wall sit.

Because of Physics, I now know that it doesn't take very much impact to get killed and how to effectively conduct a search on YouTube.

The reason why Water Aerobics changed my life was the amazingly awkwardness of not only wearing a bathing suit with no pants but also how awesomely disgusting the guy's mole the size of a quarter could make me feel nauseous, grateful of my husband, convulsion-ness, saddened and motivated all at the same time.

But enough of hearing MY experiences, let's see what other BYU-I students say about not only this semester, but this awesome school as well:

Kate W. said, "BYU-Idaho is great because I get to participate in things like FHE and devotional or they won't let me go to school next semester for lack of ecclesiastical endorsement!"

Jared H. said, "I wish I would have known about the great insurance BYU-I offers. Why go with MedicAid to pay my wife's maternity bill when I can at least triple the costs with the school's insurance?"

Erika A. said, "If I could change one thing about BYU-I, I would make Devotionals every day instead of just Tuesday and build a huge auditorium for every single student on campus to have one to themselves. That way, we would really have the spirit of ricks!"

Tyrone S. said, "My favorite part of my day here at BYU-I is going to Q&A with President Clark and asking inspired questions like, 'should I use the term 'devo' or 'devotional'?'"

Abby W. said, "Thanks to the bio and chem teachers at BYU-I, I now know to never pick on the nerdy kids in elementary school cause they grow up and make your life miserable."

Steven C. said, "I just love the prices and the food at the new Crossroads. I feel confident I will not get diarrhea from the noodles now!"

What more proof do you need?! If you don't believe me, (or Kate, Jared, Erika, Tyrone, Abby, or Steven) just come and see for yourself.

Let's Be Honest...

2009-12-03T16:00:00.004-07:00

This is the best day of my life! Why? Well, I'm glad you asked. This is the day I am finally going to accept my "Honest Scrap" award. I was awarded this way back on November 18th by the Intern-iest and cutest blog, Mom, the Intern. So, without further adieu, here is my list of 10 honest things about me:

1. I procrastinate way too much. What can I say? It's just comes naturally to me.

2. I love twisted relationships. Of course, not in my own life but I love to watch, read and hear about unusual loves. For example, I think the relationship between Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling is beautiful. So complex!

3. I'm attracted to most of my male teachers. I can't help it, as the semester progresses and I know the teachers better, I can't help but think they are attractive!

4. I have a guilty pleasure of watching and reading fantasy genre related things. For example, I love Legend of the Seeker, Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter, LOTR and pretty much any other things similar.

5. Sometimes, I have this crazy urge to shave my whole head of hair off but then I remember that I don't have a perfectly round, pretty head and decide against it.

6. I'm obsessed with food! I will eat pretty much anything if I have to and my preferred taste isn't really all that picky.

7. I can't smell very well and when I think I smell something, it's usually a psudo-smell; therefore, I like strong flavored food.

8. I waste time by window shopping online at places like www.modcloth.com and www.anthropologie.com

9. Sometimes, I will just randomly get sweat tacos. It's not because I'm hot or I have bad BO, I just get them. They used to be really bad in high school but they are way better now.

10. I play with Webkinz. Webkinz is where you buy a specially Webkinz stuffed animal with a code attached to it. Then, you use that code to play games and take care of your pet online. In HTML it sounds lame but in reality, it's actually really fun.

So there you go! Now, I have to nominate 10 others to recieve this award and the nominees are:

1. Becky: Maynard Moments

2. Emily: Big D, Emdizzle and Ashman

3. Sascha: Bursting at the Seams

4. Ashley: Ash & Andy

5. Tara: Brad & Tara

6. DaNelle: The Wolfords

7. Ryann: Ryan & Christian

8. Ann E. B.(eautiful): The Life of Ann E. Barlow

9. Becky: The Larsons

10. Kate: Kate the Great

Domestic Housewive

2009-11-23T23:37:00.006-07:00

This week is Thanksgiving break which means that for a whole 9 days, I don't have to go to school and even though homework is still optional, I choose to ignore it. After all, things you ignore tend to just work themselves out or go away!

Although I am loving the fact that I don't have to look at my professor's faces for a whole week + two weekends, I am a bit confused as to what to do with myself. Without the thought of homework making me feel guilty when I watch Legend of The Seeker, what else is there to do?

So what else is a housewife to do except be a housewife? Behold, I have only been on break for one day and my domestic-ness would even make Martha Stewart jealous. Here's what I've done:

On Saturday, I was completely bored out of my mind but then I remembered how the other tenants were allowed to paint their apartment. Hey, I was bored and thought why not! So I went off to Wal-Mart to pick out some paint colors to show our landlord. She approved and at 8:00 at night, I started the painting project.

Here is a before picture:

As you can see from the picture above, the room was pretty fugly and really needed to be painted before the winter months where I would be stuck inside all day and probably fall into a deep depression.

Here is a during picture:

And here is an after picture. I guess the camera decided to NOT be in the spirit of thanksgiving and take a shizzy picture. Nevertheless, you get the idea.

So in less than one day I had painted my humbly small living room and I am still trying to get used to the bright look of it all. During the day, I don't even have to turn on the light!

Also, we are going to the Belnap's for Thanksgiving and I know that even though I will help as much as possible to cook and clean whatever Mama Belnap wants, I will still feel like I didn't really "cook" anything like a 50's housewife should. So I decided to try something new and make up my own recipe for homemade chicken pot pie!

Can you see the resemblance?

Here is an after. It was pretty good looking at the fact that I made up the recipe

I know all of you feminists out there are probably aghast of how I willfully allow myself to be labeled, act and embrace the typical "housewife" label but I can't help it; I love being domestic.

I Do Because I Can

2009-11-11T12:10:00.004-07:00

Hey to all my 3 readers out there.

Well, I guess it's a little too late to post some Halloween pictures since it's basically Christmas already (I skipped Thanksgiving cause it's the "it" thing to do)! In actuality the Halloween pictures are om my MIL's camera and I just haven't really gotten around to getting them. Just to let you know, Tyler and I's costumes were very successful even if we didn't get the reactions that we wanted.

Tyler was The Red Baron (the pizza box dude) and I was Mr. Tumnus off of Chronicles of Narnia of course! I though being Aslan would be too sacrilegious so who better to be than the man (or goat-man) who betrays Aslan but then repents only to have it cost him his life?!

In other news, I went in for my routine haircut and left with purple in my hair. I feel so rebellious breaking the honor code and all.

I also went to amazon and ordered some thick-framed nerd glasses. They are quite awesome and I can see so much better through the plastic that I otherwise could have.

I also realized something as I walked to class. I give copious opportunities for people to judge me. So, in a way, I give you countless opportunities to get your one way ticket to the Celestial Kingdom or to Hades; it's your choice, really.

So here are some pictures of me and my glasses AND purple hair. It is, really, quite awesome.

Living Proof

2009-10-21T10:25:00.007-06:00

Tyler and I get bored; a lot. I also like to procrastinate; a lot. So when I usually get into my do-anything-but-study-for-a-test mood, Tyler gets sucked into it as well and he is suddenly involved in some pitiful experiment.

One night this happened to be the kind of mood where all I wanted to do was redecorate. However, shifting the furniture around would have to suffice because of the lack of funds. I have actually been wanting to do just that for a while and what better time than when you have piles of homework?

So we began to move our furniture in a silent horror at what we would find under them. So far, Tyler found my stash of wrappers I was too lazy to throw away that were wedged between couch cushions. He wasn't too happy. Then we found some dead bugs and a few pens and pencils. Nothing too horrific.

Yet, however much we changed the angle of the couch or pushed the entertainment center just a bit farther, there was no ignoring the mammoth of a dresser ominously and quietly sitting in the corner of our living room. This dresser was a piece of furniture that was included with out apartment along with a lousy, faux 50's diner table with all the legs broken and a box of smashed plastic plates. These were left by the previous tenants and probably left by their previous tenants as well. There was no telling how old these artifacts were.

So we decided to take on the Herculean task and move that sucker into our dead end hallway. Let me just tell you that even with the noticeable bulk of upper arm strength I have, it was unreasonably hard to move. Yet, inch by inch we slowly moved it from the wall. However, the horror that we found behind there trumped every bug and pen we found under our other furniture. It even topped my secret trash in the crevices of the couch. Our conversation went like this:

Tyler: What the heck is that?!?!
Me: What?
Tyler: That, right there!
Me: WTF? Let me get a flashlight
Tyler: (yelling after me) I think it's a dead snake.
Me: No, its not...
*after turning on the flashlight*
Both: WTF?!
Me: It's like a pipe-thing.
Tyler(picking it up): I have no idea what it is.
Me: IT'S A ROD!!!!!!!!!!!

From my previous post found here, you can remember that I have a totally irrational fear of rods. Aparently they don't exist in real life...but they do in my nightmares. Not really, but seriously...

I was kind of excited that I had actually found a rod in my apartment and to think it had been behind the dresser the whole time! However, this didn't even begin to calm my fears at all. In fact, I was even more creeped out by the prospect of finding such a creature . It was if it was looking at me and watching and this reaffirmed to me that rods are, in fact, evil and you never know when you will find one.

In all seriousness, we still don't know what it is or how long it has been there. What do you think it is?

Punk'd

2009-10-08T16:08:00.004-06:00

If anyone knows me, they also know that I love awkward situations. I think one's true character comes out when they are put in a weird and unexpected situation. I'd like to think that I am cool when it comes to crazy happenings in my life but that I also can have a sense of humor too. I never knew how valuable my outlook on awkwardness would be until conference weekend.

First off, I need to explain that I am in a beginner physics class that is basically killing my acceleration due to gravity in hours of homework per grade in the course; or to put it in English, ticking my keister.

So what's a girl to do in a physics class of about 30 boys? Well, one thing for sure is not to make yourself look like a fool because you can't to basic algebra, but that's besides the point. What I really did was get tutor help. Seriously, if BYU-I didn't have free tutors, I would be re-taking many, many courses.

Because the homework was due on Monday, I needed help fast. So I scheduled an appointment with a tutor on Saturday at 1:00 PM which was perfect because it would be right in-between Saturday sessions. However, I often forget that BYU-I is a holy school and 1:00-2:00 PM on Saturday the 3rd of October is obviously meant for students to re-watch their favorite talks that they recorded on their Tivo. I am such an idiot! How could I forget that?

Well, I did forget just that and began to make my way down to the library and of course, the doors are locked. No worries, I thought, I'll just wait here on this bench and hope that someone will come along and want to tutor me.

Indeed someone did come along. However it was not Matthew Tang, my tutor. In fact, this guy definitely didn't have any typical Asian characteristics. Nevertheless, he came up to me and asked, "Can I sit here?"

"Sure", I said being the gracious person I am. Then I thought, there are 4 other benches he can sit on, why does he want to sit here? . This guy, he didn't just sit next to me, he sat next to me. As you can see in the diagram below, he was well into my intimate space.

No big deal, I thought, maybe he's from Canada or something.

But soon it became a weird deal because he scooted even closer and rested his arm on the back of the bench so as to appear as if he was trying to put his arm around my shoulder.
Okay, I thought, maybe French Canadian

I was polite and made small talk and every so often he would make remarks like, "You smell good. What kind of perfume do you wear?" Nevertheless of his apparent creepynees, I remained cool and collected but that didn't stop me from checking the clock every 2 seconds until it was 1 o'clock and I could weasel myself out of that situation.

About 5 minutes later, he actually puts his arm around me and says, "Will you do me a favor?"

WTF

He then says "Will you look over there?", pointing to a girl on a bench, "and over there?", pointing to a guy on the stairs, "they've been filming you for a prank. For our iComm class we were trying an experiment to purposefully make you uncomfortable. You did good!"

Oh.

I got punk'd.

Tea For Two & Two For Tea

2009-09-10T11:55:00.004-06:00

One day as I was watching Anne of Green Gables with some of my friends, I sat to ponder why we, as a society, don't have tea parties anymore. I mean, think about it; a bunch of ladies dress up nice, eat yummy food and get to talk with no manly guys to interrupt their conversation. Yay woman talk!

So I decided that I was going to throw a tea party and I wanted to invite everyone but seeing as that was impossible, I had to painfully limit my guests to 5 other ladies.

I wanted this to be legit. So I went to DI and started looking for tea cups in all their variety and I found some pretty cute ones that would do the job yet look elegant.

Next, I just HAD to have ~~metal~~...uh, I mean silver serving platters for all of our dainty tea food.

Let me just say the set-up was amazing and we had so much fun sipping tea and talking like old gossipy ladies. Except we didn't gossip. We have modern class.

We All Know One

2009-08-17T16:15:00.001-06:00

Rags To Riches

2009-08-15T21:46:00.006-06:00

I walked into the room and saw this bleak wall:

So I found this canvas at DI for only $1.00!

But with every good deal, there is always a downside. I got to be followed around all day by two Mexicans in a red van. They were standing by the canvas originally and when I asked, "Is this yours?" and it obviously sounded like I said, "I'm single so please follow me around creepily". A simple mistake that anyone could make, really.

So I went to Wal-Mart to buy some red paint and transform the canvas into this:

Then, with my magical vinyl skills and using knick-knack decorations around the house, I clothed my naked wall:

Now before you all go into a six month depression because of my creativity and your lack of, I should probably take the DI price stickers off everything before someone notices my cheapness.

Modern Technology Is Awesome

2009-08-14T23:06:00.001-06:00

I have been preparing for motherhood since my Beehive counselor first taught me of my divine purpose. Babysitting also helped me in my learning process as I prepared bottles, changed diapers and ate everything in the pantry (hey, we ALL did it.)

However, after all my preparing, I still feel uneasy about one thing. What if Oprah does another special on polygamy and my baby won't stop crying? What if it's sacrament meeting and I'm getting judgmental looks from other women because of my screaming baby?

Well now I have no need to fear due to this new product:

New BabySafe Ball Makes Shaking Your Infant Guilt And Injury Free

I think it's a winner and it will be on my gift registry.

You Think You Are, But Your Not.

2009-07-17T10:19:00.009-06:00

Today while I was busy catching up on homework, and by homework, I mean watching Reno 911 clips on Hulu, I had an epiphany. It was as if the gods of all trashy celebrities was speaking directly to me and it came through this picture:

and thus was born my segment called "You think you are, but your not."

Take Kate Walsh, for example. She was a character on Grey's Anatomy which evidently was liked so much, that she was allowed a spin-off and thus Private Practice was birthed from the vajayjay of Seattle Grace drama. Why shouldn't she get a spin off? The strong jaw-line, the perfect red hair (is there such a thing?), the immaculate eyebrows. I mean, a girl like that deserves a TV show based solely on good looks. Who needs good acting? Sorry, Kate Walsh, you think your a good actor because of your DNA, but your not.

This got me thinking about other actors that deserve to be in my segment. Here are a few:

Dear George Lopez, you think you're funny, but your not. Please quit now.

Tom Cruise, you think you know everything because of your "Scientology religion", but you don't.

Mario Lopez, you think you've convinced everyone that your strait, but we know you're gay.

Kiera Kightly, you think that you're tricking everyone by saying you actually eat food, but your anorexic.

And finally,

Joan Rivers, you think you are fooling everyone, but we know you're a saggy, old lady under that botox. Too bad they didn't have that in your time when you lived on Pangaea.

I'm A Target

2009-07-16T11:33:00.005-06:00

Do you feel like you're missing something in your life? Are you dragging on throughout your day feeling tired and worn-out? Well, I have a solution for you!

It's called riding your bike to school at 7:30 in the morning in the crazy town of Rexburg!

It's simple, fun and it will change your life.

This package includes:
Dorky Basket
Helmit
No make-up on
Frizzy Hair

What are you waiting for?

Act now, and we'll throw in a crazy lady in a car that will almost hit you as you cross the road ABSOLUTELY FREE

Don't wait to have the most fun in your life, and by fun, I mean have the shiz scared out of you.

Fourth of July Babies.

2009-07-09T19:07:00.004-06:00

Let me just begin by saying that the 4th of July weekend was a much needed break. It gave me that patriotic spirit to carry on, carry on, carry on! It also gave me a legitimate excuse to be lazy but that's besides the point.

However, while I was busy being lazy, little did I know on the 3rd of July, Sierra was actually busy being, well, busy.

I woke up the morning before and found this in my gerbil habitat.

Quite frankly, it was kind of gross. I felt bad for the pathetic excuses for baby gerbils and wanted to put them out of their misery. Okay, I'm joking PETA.

What was weird, however, was that I was worried about them as if I had birthed the little pink jelly beans strait from my canal!

Here is a video of my babies:

Don't you just love the music? I couldn't find the Hallelujah chorus so Jon Schmidt playing Sacred Ground was the next choice. I had to put music over it in the first place because of my atrocious voice in the video.

Well they are growing bigger and look a little less like cancer/burn victims and more like the cute gerbils they are supposed to be.

Things I'll Never Live Down.

2009-06-26T21:25:00.004-06:00

Since this is my 100th post and since I am all about awkwardness (and 100 would be too much) I have compiled a list of 10 of my most awkward and funny moments from a lover and supporter of all that is ,well, awkward. Enjoy!

1. One day in Chemistry, I was assigned a lab partner who also happened to be in my ward as well. However, seeing as I was new in the ward, I didn't recognize him despite his attempts. He then said, "My wife is the short blonde gal that leads the music in Relief Society." and I responded, "Oh yeah! She's expecting isn't she?" to which he replied, "Um....no, she isn't."
Woops!

2. On my first day back to BYU-I college, I was so proud and slightly self-conscious about me riding a bike. I was so nervous, in fact, that as I was riding behind someone, I accidentally gave him a flat tire with my bike tire. Sorry.

3. One day I was introduced into the wonderful world of Chewy/Fiber Bars. When I read that one bar was equivalent to 35% of my daily fiber needs, I figured that if I ate 3 bars, I would be more than good on my fiber. Don't. Ever. Do. That.

4. One day while I was surfing Facebook, I found someone whom I hadn't seen in a while and requested to he friends. Things didn't end good for us but then again, things didn't end bad either. I figured that since he had served a mission, we would have put our differences aside. He bluntly ignored my friendship request.

5. Whenever I go shopping I have a strange quark where even if I hate the clothes and they don't fit me, I rarely give it to the people to put back on the rack. No thanks, I'll put it back myself.

6. For my health class, we have to do a presentation on something health related or another. My friend was having a hard time choosing a topic and since we could work in groups, I offered her to work with me on my topic. She refused not so politely in front of the whole class.

7. When I was in high school, I wasn't really "cool" despite my attempts to be every day. So when my mom came to pick me up in the front of the school with old Jessica Simpson music blaring, I wanted to crawl under a rock and wither away.

8. When I was first dating Tyler, I had to use his bathroom. Well, he pointed me in the right direction (past the chastity line, I know!) and I was confronted with a door 1, door 2 option. I choose door 1 and luckily, that toilet doesn't flush in that one. Pretty much, I was panicking thinking of the horror of just having to leave my excrement for everyone to see.

9. Once Tyler decided to take me skiing for my first time. The snow was like powdered sugar and there was probably 20 people there total. It was a great course for me to learn on. However, as I got better, Tyler would purposely try to run into me and knock me down. Well once I dodged him but over shot the course and ended up skiing all the way to the other side of the ski lift. The employees had to help me back up. Then, to make it worse, I hit my head on the lift chair as it came around and I lost my ski's so they had to send them up with the next person.

10. When I worked at Red Robin, I would often go to T.G.I.F afterwords with my work pals. Well, once I went with my friend, Bryson, and he brought along his sister's brother-in-law with him. I was telling a story and sipping water in between breaths when Bryson said something that made me laugh. However, I had just taken a drink of water and it immediately started going down my windpipe and out my nose. I didn't have anything to spit it into so I kept it in. But since it had gone down my windpipe, I had to also fight the urge to cough. I was coughing/choking/laughing/spewing water everywhere until I finally decided to spit it out on my seat. Then, to top it off, because of all the air a swallowed in the process, I let out a burp. They just stared at my dilemma in shock.

There are so much more I could have written and I know there are countless ones to come but as for now, you'll just have to wait to here those.

The picture above was borrowed from www.awkwardfamilyphotos.com

We're a bad pair of genes.

2009-06-22T22:36:00.002-06:00

Tyler and I are coming up on our 2 year anniversary and we know what you are all thinking.

When will be have babies?!

I get asked at school, in class, at church, and basically everywhere else I go. Well, there is good news. No, I am not preggers, but I do have a preview of our children.

Okay...so maybe our boys wont be blessed with good looks but perhaps our girls will be more attractive.

NOPE!

Good Gandhi. We should adopt.

Skool is Funner in Colledge

2009-06-18T20:28:00.009-06:00

My health teacher is a bit of an extremist.

Actually, how can someone be only "a little bit" of an extremist? It's an all or nothing deal and with her, it really is all or nothing.

I am sure you have seen her previous comments on the side of the blog and let me just tell you, there are many more that I can't even remember to write down.

Since I am not much of an exerciser, I couldn't really argue with her beliefs of 60 minute workouts for 6 days a week. However, when we started talking about nutrition, I had a bone to pick with her. Every 206 bones I had in my body.

She was preaching false doctrine. Here are some of her "truths":

1. If you eat more calories, you won't gain weight. If only this were true! I was shocked at how wrong she was so I let her know.

Teacher: "If you eat more calories, will you gain weight?"
Class: "mumblemumble..no.mumblemumble."
Me: "Yes!"
Teacher: "Who said yes?!"
Me: "I did! It say's right here in the book 'Karen eats an extra 200 calories of snacks a day. If she keeps eating this way, she will gain weight'."
Teacher:"......well, yes....If you don't use your muscles!"

Oh geez. So you're pulling the "use your muscles card"? Again. Like every day.
It's not like everyone can find time to work out. If you do, great but you still need to watch what you eat. Except maybe Michael Phelps.

2. If you don't work out, your brain with atrophy. Um....Actually, no, It won't. According to wrongdiagnosis.com, there is a list of 64 causes of brain atrophy and not one was due to lack of exercise. Not one. I guess you can argue that brain atrophy will occur when you have Huntington's disease and by exercising, you will decrease the progression of it but even then, it is still only indirectly related.

It would be like me saying, if you don't shave your legs, you will die. Perhaps you will, since maybe no guys will like you and you probably will become depressed and die young but because it is so indirectly related, it really isn't a valid argument.

3.If you exercise, your brain cells will increase. Good news Ozzie Ozbourne! You can be cured with a little bit of running to nowhere! I believe that you can constantly re-connect your existing cells, otherwise, we couldn't learn new things but as a matter of brain tissue, it's absurd. If this was true, why aren't professional football players also quantum physicists as well? Because they don't get more brain cells when they exercise!

4. Olive oil is the best oil for you. Actually, false. Although olive oil is a healthy alternative to vegetable oil, canola oil is still your best choice.
Many people believe that by eating olive oil, it will reduce your LDL (bad) cholesterol but this is only if you replace it with the existing oils in your diet. For example, if you consume 60 g of other oils a day and then replace it with vegetable oil, your LDL's will lower but not because the olive oil made it go down, it's because it just never got high to begin with.
Olive oil can actually reduce your blood flow as well up to 31% whereas canola oil does not.

These are only 4 examples of her craziness that ensues during class and I am sure there will be many more to come. I thought college was supposed to make you smarter.

My favorite superheros

2009-06-16T14:49:00.000-06:00

It's only 12:00 O'Clock

2009-06-15T12:06:00.011-06:00

This morning I woke up feeling like this.

And outside it looked like this.

But I held on to hope that the day would be this.

So I wore these to look adorable

Little did I know that my day would be ruined with this

And that because of it, I would end up doing this.

And get huge, puffy, these.

All because I

And I had a lab partner like this.

Modern Technology Is Awesome

2009-06-10T19:47:00.009-06:00

Let Me Show You My World

2009-06-08T16:21:00.001-06:00

Get With The Times

2009-06-07T23:01:00.002-06:00

What is up with Conon O'Brian's hair?

Like, seriously, it irks me.

So when me or my sister are having a bad hair day, we say "Your hair looks like Conan O'Brian's."

It's that bad.

Travel Anyone?

2009-06-02T14:12:00.003-06:00

I woke up one Sunday from a wonderful dream that I was in Paris. It was one of those dreams that I wish were real but by the time I wake up, it's gone.

Tyler was sitting in bed and reading a book when I woke up and I started to tell him of my dream.

"Tyler, let's go to England."

"Okay..."

"Sweet, I'll look up plane tickets"

And that's how it was decided. We were going to visit the mother land. Perhaps not anytime soon, but eventually.

So we looked over our finances and calculated that if we set aside $250 a month, we will have enough to visit England/Europe next August.

Neither Tyler or I have ever been out of the country so this would be something amazing for both of us. Tyler also has an old mission companion that lives in England which we will stay with during our trip.

So, since neither of us have ever been to Europe, we will need your help. We want to visit the whole she-did and go to England, France, Germany, Italy...everything.

How long do we need to stay for?
How much souvenir money do people usually spend?
What do you spend on buses or taxis?

EVERYTHING!

We only have a little over a year left to prepare, help us out!

Random Thoughts

2009-06-01T16:15:00.002-06:00

Do you ever just have random thoughts? I'm not talking about thoughts like, "Oh...we need some milk". I'm talking about full out random thoughts.
I have those thoughts all the time but when I have them, there is no one around to listen to it. I mean, what's the point of having a random thought if you never get to voice it?
Well, here was my random though:
I wish I was handicap.

There are two reasons why I would want to have some sort of bodily ailment.

#1 I could win tons of scholarships because I could milk how I have had such a hard life because of my retardation. You may be thinking this is a mean thing to say but if you have ever lost a scholarship in which you were fully qualified to have only to have it be given to an under-qualified tard? I have...it sucked. In this case a simple case of cured pancreatic cancer would suffice.

#2 I would get the best parking spots. Especially since parking at BYU-I is so limited. People would be nicer to me because I would walk with a cane. My teachers would go easier on me since I can suck them into my "oh woe me" life. Maybe I could even get rides on the campus police golf-kart.

Those are my reasons...

don't judge me.

or them.

It's Easy As 1,2..1,2,3,4.

2009-05-30T11:32:00.003-06:00

I have a secret.

A deep, dark secret.

I have only told 1 person before in my life and now all of you will know as well.

I think it will explain a lot.

I never learned addition!

Yes, you read correctly. I have never learned how to add two numbers together. What's that? Yes, I am in college and still do not know how to add! There. I said it and now you know.

Let's begin at a land far, far away called Utah Public School Systems. I lived in Utah for about 8 years of my life. I endured K-2 grade school until I moved to Arizona and started 3rd grade there. While I became learned (but maybe not so wise) at Sprucewood Elementary of the "point" number system, I never knew that throughout my entire life, I would carry this embarrassing burden and now, I am going to teach you.

On each of the numbers, there are specific "points" that you touch when you count. For 6 and up, the dots right next to each other are supposed to be overlapped but if I did that, then you would think that I really had a counting problem. To you it might look like foreign random-ness of messy dots and numbers, but to me, it was how I learned.

So while the rest of you were busy doing timed addition tests in your head by memorization, I was busy pointing away on my paper.

In fact, to this day, when I add, I point in the air. It has been quite embarrassing throughout school when someone asks you to add 13+6. I would say in my head "13, point, point, point, point, point, point" while everyone else was busy yelling out 19.

Just yesterday I was studying chemistry with my pal, Brenna. As we were calculating the charges of a redox reaction, we came to a point where we had to add 16 + 4. I said it was 18, she corrected me by saying it was 20. Oh cursed points! How could you have failed me?!?! So I indulged her on my little secret and as expected, she laughed at me. Hard. I just had to laugh along with her. It really was ridiculous how I had learned to count. I still mis-added 16 + 4 three times that night.

However, I have gotten quite fast at my counting points now and I am almost up to speed with all the fancy people who memorized their numbers. It only took me 17-something years but hey, at least my secret is out. So please, please, please don't judge me when I add 5+7 on a calculator, some days I really just don't want to point.

Dotties and Dreams

2009-05-20T12:11:00.006-06:00

When I was an infant, I got extremely sick with the croup. If you have ever been confident enough to watch Anne of Green Gables with someone (or by yourself), you may or may not remember when Anne saves the day by nursing back Diana's little sister from the croup while her parents were away. That painful cough/groan that she experiences sounds just as uncomfortable as it actually is. Even though I must have been only 2 or 3, I still remember parts of the experience.

Because my croup was so bad, the doctor gave me some steroids to help fight off the obvious sort of virus I had. Luckily for my parents, I was unknowingly allergic to some component of that steroid and hallucinated. For 8 hours strait. In the middle of the night.

My poor parents would take turns trying to calm me from my inexplicable fear of imaginary "dotties". What are dotties? No one knew.

I don't remember any dotties walking around but I do remember the wallpaper animals coming to life. It was like an acid trip for a 2-3 year old. This was probably partially due to the allergic reaction and my lack of sleep from the hallucinations.

Months later, as my family was doing yard work, I knelt down, pointed and said "dottie!" in my barely understandable 2-3 year old voice.

It was a toad.

Now, 19-ish years from then, I had a similar disaster.

Yesterday night, my husband and I were studying chemistry on the bed. It was late and I was pretty tired; my eyes were heavy and it was even hard to talk.
Out of nowhere, a bug fell from our ceiling and landed on our bed.

GROSS!

It was only a rolly-polly bug to everyone else but to me, it was my dottie! I hate bugs in all forms and even the bugs that people dub as "cute" such as butterflies and ladybugs freak me out. So when this potato bug decided to crawl on our ceiling and land directly by my foot, one of my worst nightmares was coming true; it was raining bugs!!

That night I had only a slightly hard time going to bed thinking that any minute, a bug would fall on my head. However, I eventually fell asleep and my troubles were over....

...or so I thought....

At about 4:45 AM, I woke up to see a huge spider dangling from the ceiling only about a foot away from my face. I sat strait up and maneuvered my body around the beast to turn on a light. When I turned around to face my dottie, it was gone!

It must have fallen on the bed, retracted back to the ceiling or landed on my head. I quickly brushed my hair about 20 times and began to look for the spider but it was nowhere in sight. I climbed back in bed and studied the ceiling some more, but as my brain was waking up, I started to think about it logically.

To me, it looked as if it was inches from my face and the size of a dinner plate. Obviously, a spider that big couldn't just scuttle off somewhere in a matter of seconds.

False alarm!

I wonder what my husband thought I was doing when I suddenly sat strait up, said, "What the f, that is so disgusting!", moved out of bed in a contortion like manner, turned on the lights to brush her hair out and go back to sleep.

Once again, my dottie had proved to be only a figure of my imagination. Nice to know some things never change.

Lets Hear Some Chatter!

2009-05-13T13:45:00.006-06:00

I like all animals: dogs, cats, turtles, mice, rabbits, goats, cows, horses. You name it, and there is a 98% chance that I will like them.

Obviously you can see that in my life since in the year and 9 months that Tyler and I have been married we have had:
-2 birds
-lots of fish
-Turtles

and now something else to add to our list.

GERBILS

I know I am crazy but they looked so fun and chipper so I got them. The craigslist people I go them from said that they were all girls to choose from. That was okay with me!
Call me crazy but one day I decided to see just what a girls gerbil parts looked like. Gross? I think not. After all, I'm a girl so what's the big deal?

Uh-oh....

They looked different... noticeably different.

Like 3 major things, different.

Sure enough, I soon googled and found out that I have a boy and a girl gerbil which means.

Babies!

I still am unsure about it being a boy so I guess if I have baby gerbils in my cage, I'll know for sure.

For a while they were Sierra and Olive but I guess it is now Sierra(tan) and Oliver(gray).

Does anyone want to be on a waiting list for gerbils?

Let's Go Fly A Kite

2009-05-12T17:52:00.005-06:00

Why is the sky blue? Why to the trees grow up? Where is the sun? Why are there colors? How does the wind blow?

These are some questions that you may hear your child as you in some point in your life. I know this because I was once a child and wondered these very things. Since I have gone through years of public education, I have accumulated answers to these simple questions but today, I still wonder why the wind blows.

I knew it had to be something with the sun but I didn't know exactly how. Normally I wouldn't care about stuff like this but today is an exception.

Idaho wind has fallen over Rexburg.

I checked the weather forecast for today and it is a beautiful, sunny 53 degrees today with wind from WSW at 41 MPH gusting to 53 MPH! Yup, that's right. Imagine trying to hang on to a wing of a plane as it is flying and that is what it feels like right now.

This wind means business.

Tyler and I were hunched over as we walked to class against the wind. My hair is pretty crazy and I have dirt in my eyes and teeth.

Darn you wind!

Coincidentally, it is also devo day and a lot of girls wore skirts. Suckers.

8th + Ann= 21!

2009-05-08T08:56:00.004-06:00

HAPPY
HAPPPYBIRTHDAYANN

Okay, So I think it's safe to say that Ann is my best girlfriend in the entire world! I consider her to be my sister and can confide ANYTHING in her. She's that awesome and today is her 21 birthday. even. more. awesome.

I met Ann my first semester in college. We lived in the same apartment but weren't rommies for a while. I thought that she hated me because she was quiet but I soon found out that I was just kidding myself. We instantly clicked and would stay up until 2:00 in the morning laughing at totally stupid stuff. So since today is her 21st birthday, I am going to make a list of 21 things I love about my Ann:

1. She calls me grandma despite the weird looks people give her.
2. She loves listening to Phil Collins with me late at night.
3. She is great at sticking with something, like working out.
4. She always gives the best advise ever
5. She can do a banshee-like scream out of nowhere
6. She loves watching funny you-tube videos with me.
7. She is all British at heart.
8. She loves the soft glow of lava lamps
9. She has lived to tell the tale of the Galley food epidemic
10. She dreams of Bear World
11. She has amazing red alligator shoes
12. Her leg is hurt and it scared me really bad.
13. She always mourned with me when I did bad on a test.
14. Her face doesn't look like scrambled eggs...mine does
15. She loves to paint her nails black with me
16. She introduced me to my love affair with Hob Nobs
17. and my other love affair with Nutella
18. She is really good at popping balloon games
19. She can sing the entire theme song to Arthur
20. She loves bubble baths
21. She can look at me and I instantly know what she is thinking

There you have it. 21 things I love about my BFF forever Ann.

New Hair Post Just For Ann.

2009-05-06T12:43:00.003-06:00

Sorry it has taken me so long to post pictures of my new hair on the blog. I left the USB port to upload the pictures to the camera in AZ and my mom had to ship it to me.

Anyway...

Here is a before picture

I really wasn't freaking out this much, I was just mid-conversation. Although I felt like this on the inside

During....

Almost finished......

My new hair! and I turned 21

All in all, it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. I was so ready to chop it all off because I never wore it down. I am very happy with it and I get compliments all the time (not to sound conceded or anything). If you are thinking about snip-snapping your hair off, I'll give you the pros and cons to mine, to aid your decision:

Pros-
1.It takes me 5 minutes max to do my hair.
2.I don't have to worry about it messing up because the more messy it becomes, the cuter it is.
3.I totally rock earring now
4.It is a lot less hot. Which would be a plus if it would change to summer already.

Cons-
1. If I sleep on it weird, it sticks strait up. I accidentally sprayed Tyler with a water bottle one morning in an attempt to flatten my hair. What a rude awakening.
2. There is very little versification. I either wear it messy or more messy.
3.If I wake up late, I can't cut shortcuts and just put it in a ponytail. It has to be done.
4. I have to get it cut more often

There are still days when I look at girl's hair and long to put mine in a cute bun and I panic slightly but then it goes away. I'm happy with my summer hair.

p.s. Ann, I miss you so much and I hope you are doing well. Come visit in June!

Lego Lingo

2009-05-01T11:32:00.006-06:00

Everyone is a spirit son or daughter of Heavenly Father. This is what they have always been trying to teach me and I am not here to tell you any different. Everyone really is a spirit son or daughter of a Heavenly King. However, me being mortal and human, I loose sight of that and I often have to remind myself of this principle.

In my English class, I have a girl that kindly reminds me to remind myself of the principle every day. To put it in blunt terms, she gets on my nerves.

From day one I judged her and I feel bad about that. I guess what you could call it, is trying to figure her out, instead of judging. I never settled on a single statement like, "she's weird", I just kept saying to myself, "give it another chance". I was sure that she was a really nice and cool girl. Now, I know she's a really cool girl! As for nice...I'll let you decide.

This is what happened to change my mind:

Today, we were experimenting on how to give good directions. Our teacher gave us a Lego figure and told us to write directions on how to put it back together. We could only use words and no pictures.

As the teacher said, "split up into groups", I evilly tried to get into any group but hers. However, the Lord spited my evil ways as I heard her voice say, "Hey, Jessica, can I be in your group?"

Now, I'm not that evil. So I complied and our group got together at explaining how to put together a Lego duck.

We began to examine the shapes so that we could put down specific terms instead of, "that one white Lego piece". Three of them looked like the red and blue connected pieces below.

But what were they called?

So I began to pull out the old dusty 3rd grade lessons about shapes from my brain. What was it called?

Finally, I remembered just as my teacher was coming along to check on our progress.

Me: "A trapezoid! I think that's what it is."

Girl: "That is NOT a trapezoid! Trapezoids have two parallel lines with angled lines on the sides. You must be thinking of a trapezium and if so, that is not this shape either."

Such passion!!

Oh yeah! I love people that take things too seriously because that means I can fake-take seriously along with them.

So I said:

"Wow....well I won't make that mistake again."

All the meanwhile, my teacher is laughing so hard.

So, in the end, I have now figured out what this girl is made of:passion!!

Considering that she is a math major, she should be passionate about her subject she knows best about. GO YOU!!

Just for the record, I looked up both a trapezoid and a trapezium.

I am not very good at math but from my calculations, I think she should change her major

It's The Real Deal...Just Ask Aslan

2009-04-30T14:11:00.003-06:00

Have you ever started to read a Harry Potter book and not been able to put it down? Then, when you do, your leg hairs are inches longer and 3 months have gone by without you knowing. What then follows is you muttering incantations and spells under your breath and carving a wand from a branch you found outside.

Yes, I have been there too. It was a bittersweet moment reading the last book and realizing that Harry Potter, as I knew it, did not exist anymore. If you were like me, you fell into a Harry Potter depression because you knew that there would never be another book series that you would love so dearly.

I am here to tell you that there is a remedy. It's the Chronicles of Narnia (you thought I was going to say Twilight, huh?).

I have recently decided to take on the quest of reading the Chronicles of Narnia. I had read them when I was in 5th grade but my understanding level was way below average and the story plot went in one ear and out the other. So I started again.

I already knew what happened in The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe from the movie so I decided to skip that one and go strait to The Horse & His Boy.

Let me tell you... adventure, adventure, adventure! I couldn't put them down and would go through a book in 3 days.
Just in case you were wondering, you can find out about the books here

As I read each one, something began to happen, I started to believe.

I believed in Narnia.

I believed in Aslan.

I thought that I was from Narnia.

I despised the Calormen for believing in Tash and not Aslan.

I fell in love with Prince Caspian

I was sad when I found out he married someone else.

I wished I could sail on the Dawn Treador

I had tears in my eyes at the end

I believed in Narnia

I was so excited that I just had to tell someone. So I told Tyler. This is how our conversation went...

Me: Tyler........I think Narnia is real. I want to move to Narnia.

Tyler: *scoffing laugh*

Me: No! I'm serious! I think I am going to go there someday!

Tyler: Jessica...there is no Narnia-

Me: -*GASP!*

Tyler: ...and there is no such thing as Aslan

Me: *GASP* Tyler! Don't say things like that!

Go read the books and see for yourself. That way, we would have a double chance of finding Narnia if we both look.

p.s. Dear Aslan, please help me find Narnia

My Resemblance

2009-04-28T09:08:00.006-06:00

Tyler says that I look like the Korean kid off of The Goonies when I ride my bike.

I do have short hair
and I wear my pea coat everywhere I go
my bike does have lots of gadgets on it, like a basket and a odometer
some people do tell me I have slanty eyes like the Asians do.
and my backpack is huge like his...

All I need are some cool Nike sneakers and I'll be set.

but he isn't wearing a helmet, so I guess not.

Gasoline+Cut Grass= Love

2009-04-27T13:44:00.005-06:00

I can feel it. It's in the air and on the ground. It's springtime and although this last weekend, it snowed again, it hasn't got my spirits down.

After spending a sweltering summer in Arizona (partially with no car AC) and moving into a winter wonderland of Idaho, I am ready for some perfect weather. It's about time. So with it being in the 60's last Saturday, Tyler and I jumped at the opportunity and headed to Pocatello.

It was a little chilly for my taste but it was bearable. I couldn't wait to start doing yard work. Yes, you read correctly. I love to do yard work. Why, you may ask?

For one, I grew up in Arizona where the best thing to grow were weeds, cacti and sunburns. Yard work consisted of raking rocks and pulling weeds all while plugging your nasal ducts with desert dust.

Second, I love the perfect weather Idaho offers and so I jump at every opportunity to go outside even if it means me working up a sweat.

Third, I don't like just running or just doing the elliptical but if I can go do something that benefits the beauty of a yard and benefit my body as well, I'll take it.

This particular Saturday was important because I passed another Belnap milestone. No, I've already tried the yeasty root beer (and loved it) and I have already taken a ride in the Malibu. No, what I did was I push-mowed the entire (most) of the yard and guess what? I liked it!

Tyler advised me not to say that out loud or else I would be stuck with it for the rest of the summer. Bring it on.

Maybe he has a point. My shoes were dyed green from the grass and my hands were scratched up from the pine trees but I can't help but overlook those minor discrepancies. I am sure that once it heats up and the birds start attacking me from the trees, I will recall this blog post and wonder how I ever thought this way but for now, I'm enjoying my new hobby.

Music Review

2009-04-24T15:47:00.004-06:00

Everyone has a band or some that is totally weird but they love it all the same. The Cranberries is that band to me. Yes, I was only 5 years old when they had their debut success but I had always liked the song "Dreams" and when I heard "Linger", I was in love.
Lately, I have discovered another song of theirs called "Zombie". At first, I thought it was retarded because of the crazy way she sings in the song but I found out that I couldn't stop listening to it! Soon, I knew all the lyrics even if I didn't know what they meant. Now, I think I do know and I love them.
Here they are:

Another head hangs lowly,
Child is slowly taken.
And the violence caused such silence,
Who are we mistaken?

But you see, it's not me, it's not my family.
In your head, in your head they are fighting,
With their tanks and their bombs,
And their bombs and their guns.
In your head, in your head, they are crying...

In your head, in your head,
Zombie, zombie, zombie,
Hey, hey, hey. What's in your head,
In your head,
Zombie, zombie, zombie?
Hey, hey, hey, hey, oh, dou, dou, dou, dou, dou...

Another mother's breakin',
Heart is taking over.
When the vi'lence causes silence,
We must be mistaken.

It's the same old theme since nineteen-sixteen.
In your head, in your head they're still fighting,
With their tanks and their bombs,
And their bombs and their guns.
In your head, in your head, they are dying...

In your head, in your head,
Zombie, zombie, zombie,
Hey, hey, hey. What's in your head,
In your head,
Zombie, zombie, zombie?
Hey, hey, hey, hey, oh, oh, oh,
Oh, oh, oh, oh, hey, oh, ya, ya-a...

Yeah, kind of morbid and even though it applies the the Easter Rising of 1916, I think it applies to most of us today since we have been at war with the middle east for how many years?

I am not one of those war hating hippies but I do have to remind myself about our troops fighting for us and the troops that have fought for us over the years.

I know to many of you, the music is not to your taste so I don't have it playing anywhere but if you want to watch the music video, you can watch it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyp5we2ySDo

Sisterly love

2009-04-23T09:09:00.003-06:00

So I feel bad.

Tuesday was my birthday all my sisters called and wished me a happy day. Also, Wednesday was DaNelle's birthday, so I called her to wish her a happy birthday as well. I would like to be one of those people that are on top of it all. The people that send greeting cards for every occasion and call just because. Unfortunately, I am not one of those people. Although I am getting closer on my infinite scale of perfection. Even though I am trying to do better, I forget sometimes. Like how I forget to call up my other sister, Becky, and wish her a happy b-day. I seem to have this sub-conscious motto, "I'll get it done tomorrow" yet never do. Sounds familiar? Hopefully not. Hopefully you are better than me.

So the reason why I feel bad is because when Becky's b-day rolled around, I didn't even call. Some sister I am! I could blame it on my busy schedule (you have to say it the English way) or I could just suck it up and admit that I failed!

So, in order to make up for my mistake, I am going to make a list of 25 things I love about Becky just because!!

So here it goes
1. Her theme song while she drives is "She's A Maniac"...and I love it.
2. She gives the best hugs in the entire world
3. She has a rockin' bod. I always longed to be tall and lean like her.
4. She has had braces so many times, I can't even count.
5. She would get into fights when we were little which would scar me for life.
6. She is not afraid to say anything which got us into a conference session once.
7. She can get ready entirely in the car. Just like Mr. Bean can
8. She is really good at making horrible motorcycle burns go away.
9. She is deathly afraid of the band "The Hush Sound"....That CD haunted her.
10. She has unexplained medical mysterious.
11. She has a laugh that is contagious
12. She loves chips and dip of any variety
13. She is always the life of the party
14. She had an awesome mushroom buzz cut through high school and lived to tell the tale.
15. She is fascinated with American sign language and is pretty good at it.
16. She scares her nieces and nephews with her toes
17. She can do a wicked Irish jiggity-jig
18. Her knees make a sickly popping noise when she bends down.
19. She loves musicals like Phantom of the Opera and Wicked
20. She can make kids stop crying just by looking at them.
21. She always has the coolest technology.
22. She has hook-ups in Orthodontics
23. She can rap to most Eminem songs
24. She loves watching America's Funniest Home Videos with me about dogs being scared my godzilla
25. She loves being married but doesn't love when people ask her "How's married life going?".
26. She can count really well.

The 28 Things I Love About You!

2009-04-22T11:49:00.004-06:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANELLE!!!

Today is my sister's birthday and she is turning 28 today! Even though we are 7 years apart, I still feel really close to her. She has done so much for me like:

Read up all about the nursing program for me when I was first going to college. I would have had no idea how to do that if it wasn't for her. She must have spent hours calling people and looking up stuff on the internet.

She helped a ton with my wedding getting all the centerpieces designed and everything. I am sure that wasn't a walk in the park since I was in Idaho while they planned my wedding.

She helped me work through all my decisions on what to do in college and convinced me to go back.

She would dedicate a vinyl enrichment just to our family for fun vacation money. Doing vinyl now, I know how difficult that would be to do all that work for everyone.

She helped Tyler and I get into a way awesome basement apartment which saved our bacon. That apartment was so nice and we miss it terribly.

There are a lot more but it would take forever to list them. Thanks DaNelle.
I am also going to steal Tara's idea and list 28 things I love about DaNelle:

1. She isn't afraid to tell people no or confront people.
2.She teaches her kids to be just as weird as the rest of us so that when they grow up, they'll fit in with the rest of us crazies
3. She chews on her lips, just like me.
4. She loves to watch sci-fi movies and Tv shows including Dollhouse
5. She makes a mean bean salad.
6. When she is scared, she makes awesome noises.
7. She can breed some pretty radical shih-poo puppies.
8. She totally rocks the mom bob.
9. She has a love/hate relationship with vinyl
10. She is allergic to everything but eats it anyway.
11. She can pick out really good deals on houses to buy.
12. She always encourages me to be healthier
13. She loves all the same TV shows as I do.
14. If she want's to learn how to do something, she can find it online.
15. I am pretty sure she is a professional at spray-painting metal signs.
16. She has an eye for designing
17. She has great medical advise and can suture a puppy
18. She has a knack for always being the bystander to horrible accidents with handicap people
19. She get's incredibly dizzy on elevators and any other moving object.
20. Her ring tone on her phone is Gob's magic show music off of Arrested Development
21. She can make the best salsa in the world with any ingredients. I swear she's half Mexican.
22. She loves her black shoes she has had since high school.
23. She can drink Keifer strait from the bottle
24. she secretly wants to watch the Hannah Montana movie and wear her Hannah Montana shirt there.
25. She walks around Wal-mart in her pj's and doesn't care.
26. She has a sweet Ethan-boy that got the sweet side of her.
27. She has a fiery Lydia-girl that got the wild side of her.
28. She is a fun and sweet sister!

2009-04-21T15:35:00.003-06:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!

This day only comes but once a year so I think I should be able to secretly jump and shout about it. This one is especially special because I am 21 on the 21st. Now THAT only happens once in your lifetime.

So in honor of my birthday, I am going to tell you about my mom's birthing experience of having me! Just kidding.

But I will tell you some stuff about it, just not the discovery channel version.

1. I was a lard baby. I weighed 8lbs. 15 oz. I couldn't even imagine the pain associated with giving birth let alone to a Hindenburg of a baby.

2. Because of my extreme fatness, they had to use forceps on me which sprained my neck and bruised my face. My aunt said that I cried so hard when I was born. I guess things never change.

3. I was named "Jessica" because my mom "liked" it so the story behind my name is pretty much non-existent. However, my middle name "Clare" is my mother's maiden name.

Favorite Birthday Memory

I don't remember how old I was turning but GameWorks had just opened up at the Arizona Mills Mall and me and my dad went and hung out all day. It was awesome. He took me somewhere cool to eat and then we had fun playing on all the games. I don't remember what I got for my birthday but I know that I had a blast.

Favorite Birthday Gift
When I was 6 or 7, I got a rabbit for my birthday. Since DaNelle's birthday is right after mine, what ever I got, she did too. Kind of like kill two birds with one stone deal or if you want a less morbid idiom, a buy one get one free. I named it Thumper. Talk about original. He was fun until we stopped playing with him and he got all wild. I would have to wear a coat to hold him because he would bite me.

Well happy birthday to me. I am one year older now and actually do feel older since 18 is when you graduate, 19 means your still a teen, 20 isn't much better but 21!!!! That means something even if I don't know what it is. I guess I have a year to find out.

First Day Of School

2009-04-21T09:00:00.005-06:00

Well yesterday was my first day of school. I was a little nervous about it since I haven't gone full time to school in 1 1/2 years. Yikes! Of course, Belnap adventures ensued.

My first class was at the Ricks building which is all the way on the other side of the campus!

I had to switch off riding and walking every other block. Yeah, I'm pretty much out of shape. Good thing I have a fitness class that will require me to work out. I was 1 minute late but the teacher didn't care or if he did, he didn't show it.

He then began to explain his policies and such. I admit that my mind started to wander and I realized that I forgot my calculator for chemistry! I had lab that day as well and I was worrying that my teacher might mark off points for forgetting. Chemistry teachers can be like that but I would soon find out that he wasn't one of those teachers.

As soon as class was over I hopped back on my bike and tried to get to my Chemistry building. but since there is so much construction, I had a difficult time finding a way through. I ended up having to take this route:

Yes there is a shorter way but obviously I didn't see it. I also kindly game some guy a flat tire with my bike tire because I was following his so closely. Ooops. I said sorry probably 20 times and he said it was okay but I don't think he meant it. I could tell he was pretty pissed. My next class was English but I really needed to print off stuff for Chemistry so I purposely was late to print off some papers but non-purposely lost my way in the wrong building. I was about 15 minutes late but he didn't seen to care either. He probably thought I was a freshman...diss.

Next was uneventful. Chemistry class. Library to study. Home to eat. Back to chemistry for lab. Back home to get laptop. Back to library to study until 6:00. Back home.

I feel like I biked a marathon and throughout the whole school experience, I lost my cell phone. Thankfully it was somewhere at BYU-I so I knew I would get it back soon. Time to shine ye faithful BYU-I students.

What a fun and crazy day! I loved feeling like a student and riding my bike everywhere like I was an environmentalist even though I had a car. I guess Tyler had an eventful day as well because as soon as I was able to talk to him, he told me of his experience where he saw some motorcyclist get hit by a car and fly into a trash can. He was wearing a helmet and was okay except his shoes flew off and were pretty scratched up.
What's ironic is that just the other day, I was talking to Tyler about how a lot of people at BYU-I ride bikes but I never see anyone with a helmet and I was feeling like the only person who did. I don't want my brains on the cement form getting hit from a fat lady in her car who is not paying attention. So to all the students and anyone who rides a bike or motorcycle: wear a helmet!

All Hell Breaks Loose

2009-04-18T12:17:00.005-06:00

I don't mean to brag or anything but I think a lot of wife/mom's/managers/owners of any sorts would agree that when you take a holiday, all hell breaks loose. I know I am right because I have seen it many times in my life. Heavens forbid my mother went on vacation. The house would become a mess, we would eat cheese quesadilla's for breakfast,lunch and dinner and would stink from not showering for a week. I am not saying that the men can't handle it...but....we can do it better.
This last week I was able to have an awesome visit to Arizona and hang with the fam. I had so much fun cutting my hair, cuddling with the puppies and laughing at all the goofy things us Daley's say. It was over too soon and although I miss them, I know I will be back soon enough to visit again! I was also looking forward to visiting Arizona because then I would be able to take a break from vinyl. It's not as if I don't like doing vinyl, it's just that sometimes it can be tiring. I think that applies to anyone who works. I love my job, but like everything, it has it's ups and downs.

So when I returned to Idaho, I was not surprised to see a bunch of angry emails, a house in wreck (from moving) and a starving husband.

The emails consisted of people asking where their orders were with about a million question marks and explanation points mixed at the end of each sentence. I tried to make it as easy as I could for these people and I thought I did a pretty good job. I put my shop on "vacation mode" so that whenever they emailed me, an auto response would reply saying something to the sorts of:

Hey-
Thanks for your interest with Say It With Style. I am on vacation right now and will try my best to answer your questions. I will be back on April 17th. Thanks!

There was also an announcement in my shop that said:

Hi, I'm on vacation this week but will be back on April 17th! I'll try my best to answer emails though! Thanks!

just in case they were too lazy to email. All they had to do is look! Just read the simple tiny paragraph and then you'll know, 'Hey, this lady is on vacation. Maybe my vinyl decal will be delayed since she is gone'.

No, instead I got rage. Of course, when I put that my store is on "vacation mode", I really mean that I am sitting at home on my butt laughing maniacally at all the fools.

Seriously? I am on vacation. 800 miles away from my vinyl stuff...think about it.

As for my husband, he came to a realization that he either ate something crappy or nothing at all. Kind of nice to come home from work and have a clean place and dinner on the table, huh?

I don't want to sound like I am complaining but if you ever want to be flattered, just go on vacation for a week and come back to see for yourself and for many of you that have done this, you'll know what I am talking about.

Elasti-Girl

2009-04-08T16:21:00.012-06:00

Vacation is fun!
Tomorrow I am leaving for Arizona. I am also moving in the same week that I will be visiting. I decided to do it the smart way and let Tyler do all the moving. It wouldn't be the first time and as much and I feel bad for him, I also want to visit AZ too. To make the transition easier for Tyler, I pre-packed a lot of stuff for him so he can just take it and go. I still feel bad but that's besides the point.
With less than 24 hours until my plane leaves, I had very little time to get stuff done. So this morning I left for Rexburg to do taxes, mail vinyl, drop off more vinyl and email about more vinyl.
As I was driving back to my humble abode in Rigby, I was rocking out to Across The Universe soudtrack. I was really getting into "Hey Jude". It's as rock and roll and I get. As I am rocking my way to the curb and to my front door...I realize that I locked my keys in the car.

Awww shucks....It's just like me. I had previously locked myself out of my apartment earlier that week and luckily the bachelors upstairs came to my rescue and let me in. They were both gone. I decided I could either wait outside until the car magically opened itself or I could try my luck and just walk in and get the spare key in my apartment.

Just like Idaho, it was open and I got halfway into my place. I felt like I was in a Mario Bros game because as soon as I got through one door, I had another locked one to get through.
So, I had an awesome idea to get on my knees and pray. So I asked Heavenly Father to give me the knowledge of how to pick the lock. I don't think I prayed correctly because I did not become a mastermind of locksmith. Nevertheless, I knew I would be okay and he would help me. By this time, I was also reminded of Elder Worthin's talk, Come What May & Love It. It actually was pretty funny.

I then got another idea. I had my bike by the side door. I could just ride my bike to Rexburg and get a spare key from Tyler. Even though it was 12 miles, I needed the exercise.

Well, just that morning, I took the key to my bike chain out of my pocket and put it on the key ring holder...in the apartment. Darn.

The only thing left to do was to go down the the library and research how to pick a lock. So I walked a mile down the the library and got on one of the computers. I have used these computers before but this time, a librarian came up to me.

Madam Marian Librarian: Do you have a library card?

Me:...No...

MML: Well, I can let you use the computers once and then you will have to get a card.

Me*thinking to myself*I just need to get into my car so I don't really care about your library policy and shtuff!***............okay.............

WikiHow made it look so easy! I tried for about 30 minutes and made a new plan.

I was just about out of ideas until I looked into my washroom and saw this.

and I squeezed back there and then found this

It was my only way in and I had to take it! So a sucked it in and squirmed in.

Here is a view from the other size.

And I am free!

Tattoos and Gloves

2009-03-31T17:56:00.003-06:00

Your Mom Goes To College

2009-03-28T20:02:00.003-06:00

I usually don't do "updates". Usually it's just my random thoughts that I think need to be put on my "paper and ink" blog. However, this Saturday certainly had a lot to blog about.

Well if you didn't know or you forgot, my birthday is coming up on April 21st and it's my golden birthday. I am going to be 21 on the 21st! Sweet! I am more excited for this birthday because I'll be able to gamble, drink and buy guns......what I've always dreamed of.....

Even though 21 is going to be the oldest that have been in my life, I think it is still pretty young. In fact, I know it is still young and I also know that I look young.

However, I was dropping Tyler off to go on a paintball expedition this morning and had not showered or done my hair or makeup. Yeah, I probably looked gross but it was 7:30 in the morning! As I came back to pick Tyler up from his games, he told me that the guy who gave him a ride thought Tyler was 16 and I was his MOM!!!

SERIOUSLY?

I am only 20 and although Tyler may look young, do I really look like I'm in my forties?

Please at least confuse me as his sister or something (which has happened).

Back in the cortex of my mind I knew that someday I would have the assumed authority of a mom or that I may look older than I am but this soon? All before I am 21? I don't even have little kids let alone a grown one!

I now check for wrinkles and liver spots...

2009-03-25T17:03:00.003-06:00

So I've been thinking.....

which can be dangerous

about how I want to cut my hair.

It is getting too long because all I do is put it up in a pony tail. Boring! Boo!

My husband doesn't care either way and I like trying new things. Hair will grow back, right?

So, lets just hope I don't get cancer. Although, I don't think I would have ANY problem shaving my head. In fact, I've always wanted to do that.

So...here are the options

1. Playing it safe and getting a cute bob with bangs.

2. Go wild and get a pixie coif! I am leaning towards this hair because it's totally new and wild and I love it.

Now the other question is: to bangs or not to bangs?

I can do either because I have a good forehead so no need to worry about that!

Also, I like both. However, both are very different....

.................But I'm scared.................

Of my hair looking like THIS!!!!!

(Will Beethoven's 5th please play now?)

So I need your help. I have put a poll on the side of my blog and I need you to vote. It will be anonymous so you needn't worry about hurting my feelings or being judged.

Also, help from people who have ventured out and accomplished this endeavor. Any words of advise?

By the way...

My hair is NOT thick

OR curly.

It IS very strait and pretty much the easiest hair ever....just in case not knowing that dissuaded your opinion.

St. Pinch Me Patrick.

2009-03-17T17:53:00.005-06:00

In our household, we never really got in minor holidays. Most, in fact, were considered lame. My mom hated Halloween and never decorated. I think we convinced her to buy fake spider webs one year.

I hated how tradition-less we were on minor holidays but now that I am older, I see how it could be annoying to have to go out and do something special for each one. However, I still look forward to when I can find new traditions on the holidays. Especially minor ones. Even St. Patrick's day.
So in honor of the saint that brought Christianity to Ireland, I will share my favourite memory of the holiday.

I was probably only six years old and I was getting ready for school. I lived in Utah at the time and as I was putting on the last part of my outfit, I remembered that it was St. Patrick's day!
I was so relieved and reminded my mom about the intense need to wear green.

"You'll be fine. You don't need to wear green" she replied.
"But I have to!" I insisted.
"Jessica, you're already dressed for school. You'll be late." She insisted back.

I was a very very sensitive child. This to me was as if my mom was disowning me. The tears welded up and I kept on insisting. I just HAD to wear green. If I didn't I would get gang pinched which would make me cry even more (I was a very sad child).
I begged and begged. I even knew which shirt I wanted to wear.

My mom told me that the shirt was dirty and I couldn't wear it. I was getting downright depressed at my dilemma. I just knew I was going to be pinched over and over again.

Finally, after my wailing and moaning, my mom came up with a solution.
"Fine," she said.
My hopes lifted! I could see the sun! A day of NO pinching!
She pulled out the smallest bow possible and pinned it on my shirt right over my heart. Right as she did, my heart broke. I knew we were already late and since my only green shirt *was* dirty, I just had to take the inadequate bow.

Of course, since it was still chilly outside, I also wore a jacket so the bow was completely unnoticeable. I wasn't coordinated enough to pin it on my jacket and I think I would have blacked out if I asked my teacher to. So, all day long, even though I had my green on, I STILL had to ward off pinches. I ran a lot that day and had to do the FBI here's-my-badge-inside-of-my-coat flash to everyone.

Hopefully this year will be better that that one and although I am not visably wearing green, I do have on a green thong. Or do I? You'll never know...If only I'd thought of that when I was 6.

What I Wish I Would Have Known...

2009-03-16T16:10:00.003-06:00

When Tyler and I were first married, it started off different then we were expecting. Sure, when we were engaged we would try to spend every waking moment together but when we got married, we DID spend every waking moment together. It wasn't more than we could handle, it was just different than we expected.

For instance, our first married ward was a traumatizing experience. I was so proud that I had only been married for three weeks so I would be the VERY newly newlywed in the ward. Well, I was disappointed when another girl stood up to introduce herself and she was only married for 1 week. I think I am imagining things, but I could swear we exchanged evil eyes to each other that day. It was as if everyone was trying to beat each other out. I waited for someone to run into Relief Society an announce that she had been married for only hours, just to spite us all. By the time I was married for 4 weeks, I was old news ans so was everyone else. In our little newlywed society, we were all oldlyweds. Except that some people still acted like they were dating.

This would be the scene. Tyler and I would be in sacrament meeting and patiently waiting for church to start, maybe even holding hands. Now, Tyler has never been one for public affection and neither have I but after looking at the couple sitting next to us practically on top of each other, making out and gazing into each others eyes, I kind of longed for SOME sort of affection. It wasn't as if Tyler completely ignored me, but just as all the couples were competing to see how newlywed you could be, they were also having a secret contest, "Which couple looks like they're the most in love?" I missed out on the memo.

Tyler and I were (and are) in love, but we didn't think we had to show it to the world 24/7. Apparently, we were wrong and I couldn't wait to get out of that ward.

Then, we had a hard time accepting different family traditions and habits. Tyler had one very specific way to clean and I had mine. In fact, we are still trying to work on how to delegate the habits and traditions.

For instance....

Tyler's way of "saving" leftover food is putting the entire pot in the fridge and cover it with a cloth. He also does this with rolls and anything else we need to "save". Also, if there is about 4 bites left of something, he will "save" it in the pot instead of chucking it. If I am missing my flour sack towels, simply look in the fridge.

I like to save things in containers and plastic baggies. I think it keeps the freshness in and is more space efficient. I hate when I need a pot or pan to cook and there is a tablespoon of spaghetti left in the caked pan. Yucky!

When Tyler is done with a towel after a shower, he takes one corner and wedges it between the wall and the shower rack.

If it's going to be hung up, fold it and make it look nice.

After I am done with a shower, I like to get dressed in the room and don't want to put the towel on the floor, so I put it on the bed...and then usually accidentally forget about it...

Tyler thinks I should "wedge" the towel because then when we go to bed at night, the blankets are all damp. He hates that. I can't tell the difference.

Tyler thinks it's suitable to wash the dishes with a plain ol blue sponge. However, he also washes the toilet with a plain ol purple sponge...and he's color blind.

I will break and let him clean the bathroom with a sponge, if that's what he wants, but I will NEVER allow him to do the dishes with one he finds laying around. The dishes sponge HAS to be textured even if it costs more pennies.

When Tyler get's bored, he sneakily follows me around and undo my actions.

ex. I go into the bathroom to turn on the light and straightener to do my hair, but then realize that I left the hairspray in the bedroom. As I am in-transit to getting the hairspray, he will turn off the light and straightener.

Just because I am not using it right this second does not mean I am done with it...sheesh!

We had trouble working out our "system" for a while and sometimes got in disagreements about the little things. I could never understand where Tyler thought some of this was acceptable and I am sure Tyler thought the same thing with me until our recent move to Arizona.

The more we hung out with my family, the more Tyler understood. He knew why Tupperware was a must and that sponges just had to be textured. He figured out where I got my towel folding fanatic and many, many other things.

Life began to get better for us as we soon learned to accept each other, the good and the bad.

Then we moved back up to Idaho and guess what I saw?

When we were finished with dinner, Stan would save the rolls with a flour sack towel!

There would be plain ol yellow sponges in the bathrooms!

When Sylvia would turn up the heat, Stan would follow her and turn it down!

It all made sense and now *I* was understanding all his quirks.

I realized that it is truly amazing what we, as children, pick up from our parents. So, in the end, what we really needed to realize was that when we married each other, we also married a part of each other's parents.

Creepy Little Crab, Etc.

2009-03-09T19:48:00.003-06:00

Tyler though it would be cool to get a crab. Jessica didn't really want a crab but humored Tyler.

So we got a crab to put in our fish tank and there it lived.

It sulked in his home like a pedifile from Child Protective Services. It sulked and sulked and sulked. It only came out to eat. So we decided to call it Shelob. Soon we decided that Shelob was a creepy little crab and we did NOT like it.

One day, I did not see the crab come out of it's lair for a while and then I looked on the FILTER!!! It was perched on top of it and was too close to the lid and too close to getting out for my comfort. It sat up there for days until one day, it was gone and it left behind a crunchy outer shell replica of itself. That's when I told Tyler that crabs shed their exoskeleton. This made us like him even less. Then, just yesterday, I find him perched up on my tank separator! Nasty Nasty Nasty!

I don't think I like him very much. Good thing we have a lid so I wont accidentally crunch him as I walk to the kitchen...Words of advise, the African dwarf frogs are so much cooler.

Also! Here is Tyler and I. We found the stairway to heaven. Yup! All the way up.

AND! Here is Ann and I eating Nutella strait from the jar. Mmmmm.

Also! This is our pot of lemon brown sugar. We boiled it so we could make homewade wax. We must have not boiled it for very long because it didn't really work.

And it took forever to boil

All in All, don't buy a pet crab and don't try to make your own wax. DO eat Nutella

What's that sound?!

2009-03-06T15:57:00.003-07:00

There are a lot of pros to renting. I especially love renting basement apartments for many reasons. One, is that I love renting privately, it seems that they care more and are faster at responding. To me, it just seems most apartment complexes are rude and take forever to call you back with the housing problems. You're just another name on the list.

I also love how cool basements are. While, yes, they are cool in an 80's rock band sort of way, they are cool temperature-wise as well. I would rather put on more layers than sweat like a baptist reverend in boyscouts. However, there are some cons to living in basements as well. Here are a few I have noticed over the year.

First, all the bugs love to hide out where you conveniently live and that is not okay with me. Mostly in Arizona I was worried about scorpions but now I am worried about hobo spiders. While hobo spiders may not be as harmful as a scorpion, they just look nasty! The bugs have got to go.

Next, it's inevitable that there WILL be people clanking around upstairs. Yes, even if you want to sleep through a headache, there will be someone upstairs walking around like King Kong. I've gotten used to this one however and I can usually sleep through the creaks and thumps.

Lastly, house noises. This one bugs me most of all because since every house noise is different, I have to adjust and reprogram my memory for each one. However, this basement that we are living in now is by far the worst!

Since our kitchen is right next to the laundry room, the pipes are connected. Whenever we do laundry (or the guys upstairs do) and the water drains, it comes up through our kitchen sink. Not, "up" in a gross way where it floods the kitchen or fills up the basin, just "up" enough that you will hear a gurgle of sweaty laundry water. Although it doesn't stink and you can't even see it to say it looks gross, it sounds like a 2 o'clock sacrament meeting on fast Sunday or someone after eating at Beto's or Filliburto's.

Also, because all the pipes seem to be connected, whenever you turn the water on for a long period of time, say, for a shower or to do the dishes, something begins to knock in our kitchen. It's like Ayun-yung from Arrested Development is in our walls sending us Morse code.

Normally this wouldn't bug me but when it goes off at 6 AM and I get woken up by a *click...click...click...click..click.click.CLICKCLICKCLICKCLICK!* It's enough to drive anyone bonkers.

Another thing that is seriously moving me to make an appointment with a psychiatrist is the high squeaking I hear. I think there is a little kid next door that has got a hold of a dog whistle. The kind that is unhearable to the human ears. When I have vinyl to do, I usually just sit at the kitchen table and quietly try to weed. Then, I hear a noise that sounds like the charge to a defibrillator. At first, I try to ignore it but soon it goes off over and over again. Next, I figure that I must be my nose whistling so I sniff a couple of times to disrupt my nasal acoustics. When it STILL doesn't go away, I breathe in and out of my nose steadily to see if it is REALLY making the noise. It never is, yet I still hear the defibrillator noise over and over again.

I have now lived in this basement for 2 months and I am still not used to the clicks, bumps and squeaks. The sad part is that I am moving to another basement apartment in a month and that means new noises to annoy me!

What I Wish I Would Have Known...

2009-03-02T17:56:00.007-07:00

Tyler and I were (and are) in love, but we didn't think we had to show it to the world 24/7. Apparently, we were wrong and I couldn't wait to get out of that ward.

For instance....

When Tyler is done with a towel after a shower, he takes one corner and wedges it between the wall and the shower rack.

If it's going to be hung up, fold it and make it look nice.

After I am done with a shower, I like to get dressed in the room and don't want to put the towel on the floor, so I put it on the bed...and then usually accidentally forget about it...

Tyler thinks I should "wedge" the towel because then when we go to bed at night, the blankets are all damp. He hates that. I can't tell the difference.

Tyler thinks it's suitable to wash the dishes with a plain ol blue sponge. However, he also washes the toilet with a plain ol purple sponge...and he's color blind.

When Tyler get's bored, he sneakily follows me around and undo my actions.

Just because I am not using it right this second does not mean I am done with it...sheesh!

Life began to get better for us as we soon learned to accept each other, the good and the bad.

Then we moved back up to Idaho and guess what I saw?

When we were finished with dinner, Stan would save the rolls with a flour sack towel!

There would be plain ol yellow sponges in the bathrooms!

When Sylvia would turn up the heat, Stan would follow her and turn it down!

It all made sense and now *I* was understanding all his quirks.

Never Go To Bed Angry...

2009-03-02T17:56:00.004-07:00

I am so happy to say that Tyler and I have been married for a year and a half. The reason why I am so happy is not because of the "great" accomplishment in years, it's because we have exited one stage in our marriage. The "because-we're-newlyweds-you-can-give-us-all-sorts-of-crappy-advice" stage. However, as we move out of the shizzy advice stage, we move to the "so-when-will-you-have-a-baby" stage, but that's for another blog post.

Yes, I will look forward to not listening to people tell us intimate secrets of how their marriage works. One particular piece of advice that I hated to hear was "Never go to bed angry at each other".

I admit, Tyler and I have gone to bed angry at eachother. We have broken the #1 rule of a happy marriage and guess what? We still have a happy marriage!

Usually when we get in a fight or we don't see eye to eye, I feel so frustrated and angry inside that I just want to run around naked and scream my head off. I am sure that Tyler feels the same way and I know that many of you married people out there do too.

Then, I feel like making him sleep on the floor or on the couch but then I think about him going to work the next day and how much it would stink to walk around all day with a sore back, so I don't.

After that, I feel like doing something totally irrational like hiding his book or putting a beef bullion cube in the showerhead. But that would mean that he would be even more upset about "misplacing" his book and he would smell like beef the whole night.

Next, I feel like running away to the nearest ice cream store and eating a whole gallon by myself. However, I then realize that me gaining weight and wasting gas would only hurt me in the long run and not him. So I change my mind.

Finally, I feel like really punishing him by not talking to him for the entire day and totally ignoring him; dinner and everything. So, I fall asleep with the plan of giving him the silent treatment all day so he can see what he is really missing out on.

Usually, I will then have a dream about Tyler becoming a polygamist or him saying that he wants a divorce and wake up in such unbearable sorrow that all I want to do is hug him and cuddle him and hold him. By the time I wake up the next day, we have both forgotten what the argument was all about and we move on with our life.

So If I could give any advice to all the more newlywed couples, it would be to not listen to anyones advise and do what works for you.

Eat this, not that....

2009-02-27T10:46:00.003-07:00

Finding motivation is really tough. Finding motivation to lose weight is even tougher. A while back, I set a goal to lose a couple of pounds by following a simple solution. Eat less, move more. While it is easy in theory, it is hard in practice.

Last year when I moved to Arizona, I weight 135-140 ish and I though that was a lot. Oh how the perspective of "good" numbers change in even a year! By the end of the year, I was at 152-155! YIKES. Here are some reasons why I gained weight in AZ.

1. It is so freakin hot, you stay inside all day long and sit around. It is SO freakin hot. Unbearable.

2. Because it is sweat-taco weather 90% of the year, who want to go out and exercise in a sauna? Not me.

3. Also, I drank 50% more water in Arizona than when I lived in Idaho.

4. You know the sticky hot weather that feels like you opened a 500° oven? Who want to walk around or better yet, go play outside? I sure didn't.

So, the poundage bulked on and I felt miserable. I would see moms who have had children be skinner than me!

Well I quit the complaining and tried to exercise. It wasn't until this recent Christmas and our recent move to Idaho that I began to see improvements!

This Christmas (upon my request) I got a book called Eat This, Not That... It is an amazing book! It shows you how to cut out the extra calories that you unknowingly eat. There are three kinds on the market:

1. Eat This, Not That for Kids

2. Eat This, Not That Fast food

3. Eat This, Not That Supermarket

Since I don't have any kids, and the Supermarket one came out in January, I have the fast food book. Here is an example of a couple of entries of the places I used to eat out at a lot:

Taco Bell:

Eat This-2 Grilled Steak soft tacos, Fresco Style= 320 Calories, 9g of fat

Not That- Baja Beef Chalupa=410 Calories, 27g of fat.

I know you may think, that's only a 90 calorie difference. But look at the fat difference! You save 18g of fat!

In-N-Out:

Eat This=Double Double Hamburger Protein style= 350 Cal, 22g Fat

Not That= Double Double Cheeseburger= 670 cal, 41g Fat

I think this one speaks for itself.

Panda Express:

Eat This= Broccoli Beef, Mushroom Chicken and Steamed Veggies= 350 Cal, 17g Fat

Not That= Kung Pao Chicken, BBQ Pork and Steamed Rice=1,060 Cal, 40.5g Fat

Hello! Now the others might not be that much of a difference, but if you add up all the calories that you saved from these three places, it equals to 1120 calories!!! Almost (not quite) a half a pound!!!!

However, now that I live in Rigby, ID, The only fast food available is subway and Wendy's so Tyler and I don't eat out often and that has helped tremendously. The book has become somehwhat redundant because of this but I've read it so many times, I know exactly what to eat at every fast food place if the opportunity comes up.

So, all I did was follow the book's simple swaps and now I am down to 144! I am pretty sure that when I left, I was around 153 so I lost 9 pounds all by still eating what I like, but just cutting out the dead calories.

The book also has what to eat on holidays, supermarket (a little), what to drink, and what to eat when you a feeling stressed, fat, sleepy, etc. It is awesome!

I would totally recommend buying this book because it has taught me not to be afraid to go out to eat and not feel guilty afterwards. It uncovered the good (and very bad) side of fast food that few would not know about. In fact, I love it so much, I am now considering being a nutritionist so I can help other people educate themselves on what is healthy to eat and what is not. Even if I don't become a nutritionist, at least I can help you by telling you to check out this book. Good luck!

The Adventures Of Octo-Mom!

2009-02-20T17:13:00.003-07:00

One particularly crazy day, I invited my best friend in the entire world over to play with me. I mostly weeded and taped vinyl up while we sat and talked. I had taken Tyler to work earlier in the day so that I could have the car but he specifically reminded me to pick him up at 8:00 Pm SHARP! This was because last time I had the car and needed to pick him up, I forgot my cell phone and he ended up waiting for about 20 minutes in 10° weather. So, I was determined to get it right this time and even be there early.

After I was done with vinyl, I noticed that I needed something to cook for dinner and also needed to pick up Tyler in an hour. So, I had the brilliant idea that we would have homemade pizza tonight with cream soda, just to brighten his day. So with my BFF and my Barney car, we set off to our neighborhood friendly Broulims market.

I quickly got the cream soda, pepperoni and cheese and proceeded to the check out. Usually, I pick the lines that are the longest just so I can cheat and have time to look through an entire magazine without buying it. However, for one, I was in a hurry and two, I was in a small Broulim's store in Rigby, there are never any lines. So I went to the nearest checkout and was tempted with all the magazines of Octo-mom!

As I looked at all the gossip and rumors, I thought out loud to my friend, Ann.

Me: "How does she afford to have all the babies?"

Just then, the check out man, perks up and says

Checker-out-man: "She doesn't! The government pays for all of it! And her mom!"

Okay, first off...RANDY, I wasn't asking YOU and second, I didn't ask "how does she afford to take care of them?" I asked "How does she afford to HAVE them?"
Meaning, how does she pay for the in-virto; especially since she has had ALL of her kids that way. So I clarified:

Me: “No, I mean, the In-virto part. That cant be-“
Checker-out-man: “She doesn’t pay for it!! We do! She has all these kids and we, as tax payers, pay for it!”

Last time I checked, I didn’t know our tax dollars went towards impregnating people with babies through in-virto and you can check out an article about it here. So I snapped back to Mr. Know-it-all-checker-outer-man,

Me: “Well, I’m going to be taxed anyway… So I guess there’s nothing I can do about it”

As we left, Ann and I made eye contact that only BFF’s make after listening to something as ridiculus as that. So, come one, Come all! There is a Broulim’s store clerk that knows EVERYTHING about Octo-mom! Never waste your time and money on a phony magazine ever again. Just talk to Randy.

Tormenting Tunes

2009-02-16T22:17:00.004-07:00

As I was sitting, surfing the Internet and listening to my array of music on my iTunes, I noticed that I love songs that suck. I think this is because in the music industry, there are a lot of good performers who can sing perfectly and belt it out without going sharp. After listening to so many "good" songs, they start to just blend into the crowd. They become just another rose song in the bouquet of music. So, in order to make my music section and pain section of my brain go off at the same time, I play songs that cause anguish as I listen. Here are some of the agonizing songs in my playlist:

1. "Barriers" by David Archuletta

This song makes me cringe because he is singing an R&B genre song but he is as white as white comes. And he's LDS. Every time he says "hey!" in the beginning and echos during the chorus, it just sends me into an epileptic seizure. A good sort of epileptic seizure...but bad.

2. "Womanizer" by Britney Spears

It didn't take me long to memorize this song for obvious reasons. I think the main reason why I love to hate this song is because of the cool repetitive lyrics. It's kind of catchy. However, when you are not listening to the chorus, she sounds like a cat that was trapped in a fire but somehow survived and now it's voice box is completely screwed up and it's in heat. Yeah...I'd say that's pretty accurate.

3. "Year 3000" by Jonas Brothers

First off, why underwater? Why? This, to me, makes so sense. Second, great-great-great granddaughter... If someone from the future came and told me that my great-great-great-granddaughter was going "fine", I don't think it would mean anything to me. What sort of reaction is anyone supposed to have? Oh! PHEW! I was SO worried! I mean, she's fine, right? Are you sure?! PHEW! Thank goodness I have THAT off my mind, now I can move on with my life! Honey, we're going out!!

4. "Love Story" by Taylor Swift

It took me about 9 listens of this song to:
1. Figure out how the melody goes
2. Get the lyrics down
Although this is a very romantic and cliche song about love, it goes on my "painful" songs because it took me so long to figure out the tune of the song. When I first heard it, it sounded like random notes to make a random song. Now that I've listened to it 9 times, it's not so weird.

Okay, so there are 4 songs that make my ears bleed in a good way. Hopefully you feel the same music pain as I do. It's a fun feeling!

The Soup

2009-02-12T22:02:00.001-07:00

If you don't already watch The Soup on E!.....you are missing out. Here is one of the clip that made me laugh over and over again.

This Is For The Fam

2009-02-11T13:10:00.003-07:00

This is how you get to our apartment. It was such a pain trying to get the couch down here and the matress.

This is our living room
Snow in the morning! We park our car where the patch of grass is. We also always slip on the ice that builds on the walkway

Yummy snow!!

Here is the backyard. It's so much fun to go and walk outside and eat the snow...

...But not when it's this cold! Yikes!I love the snow!
The people upstairs never go in the backyard so it get's really deep!
These are our snowmen that we built. Tyler's was the viking to the right and mine was supposed to be Jack Bauer on the left and we didn't finish the one in the middle. I guess that's the lady they're fighting over.
This is our game of monopoly we were playing Scott killed us with his towers. If you landed on them, it was $500!
Superbowl sunday. We don't get TV unfortunately so we just ate hot dogs and them played monopoly.

I also love icecicles! I found this huge one and kept it in the freezer.

So, there it is. The brief view of our cold life.

ChiMo

2009-02-06T12:44:00.013-07:00

With this recent election, all I was concerned about was that prop 8 passed and, well, it did! As for the person who would run this country and could possibly alter the status of life forever, I didn't really care. I knew that because of the smooth talk ways of Obama, he would definitely be the next president and there wasn't really much I could do. In fact, because there was nothing I could do, It was fun to sit back and watch everyones reaction to the election. My favorite would have to be my mom's.

My mom is such a strong-willed person and I envy her for that. I love how she can state her opinion and confront people whenever needed and not shed a tear. I would cry myself to a prune if I was in the receiving end of her confrontations. She's tough and she's my mom and I love her. What I love the most, though, was her reaction to Obama becoming president. Here is how one of our conversations went:

Me-*blablabla President Obama blablabla*

Mom-He's an evil man!

Me- Mom, I'm not so sure that he's "evil"...

Mom- Yes! Yes, he is! He's a terrorist. That's how he got elected! That's where all of his money came from!

I do not know much about politics so Obama could be a terrorist and I would have no clue. Then again, I don't think half of this country would have a clue either since he WAS elected. However, if my mom thinks he's a terrorist and he's evil, then good for her for having her own opinion even if it's not the popular one. I, however, do not think that he's evil or a terrorist, I think he's just a man who's views and morals may not be what our standards are. However, recently, it has become more and more apparent that maybe I don't know much about this Obama after all. In fact, I think many of us don't have a clue...

This may just be me, but it looks like President Obama loves his girls. Like, LOVES them.

Whenever I see pictures of them, I always get this creepy vibe from it. It's as if, they are very uncomfortable. Very. Uncomfortable. Just look at this picture to the right. Malia is 10 years old and approaching that "awkward" grow boobs and hips stage. Mind you that it might not be for a couple more years, but still, Obama needs to be more aware of where his hands are. They always seem to be all over them. I know he loves them but he needs to be careful because he is the #1 watched man in the country right now and people could read it the wrong way...or the right way, like me...

Here's another one. Look how as he is leaning in, she's backing away. Awkward! Also, he's grabbing her arm in an "authoritative" way to Malia but not Sasha...

He may just be trying to protect her from the paparazzi, or something deeper is going on......

This one looks like it was taken moments after the one before. She is still stiff and pushing away while he is not so distant and she is.....hmmm....

In this picture, everyone is focused inward and to the center however, there's Malia, again, outward and not reciprocating the affection back.

Whether you think it's parental love or fatherly protection, to me, I still get a weird and creepy impression whenever I look at the pictures. So, dear mother, I can see where your opinion comes from, all I want to know is, are we alone in thinking this?

Shopping

2009-01-26T13:37:00.003-07:00

Oh the fun of shopping: The deals! The customer service! The thrill of the buy!

I think I am just like your average girl in the sense that I like to go shopping but I also think that I am NOT like your average girl because I know my financial limits. So, in the midst of moving to Idaho, one more thing I needed to shop for besides apartments, is new car insurance. I even overlooked it and now our policy expired on January 7th. Yikes. It's now January 26th and I HAVE to get auto insurance. Therefore, here I am shopping. Although, it's not your typical shopping because, it's boring shopping. Calling to get quotes and then call another company to get another quote and so on. Here are my observations from some major companies I have called:

AMERICAN FAMILY INSURANCE:

Called to get a quote and was put on hold....for 18 minutes before I figured they forgot about me! As if that's not bad enough, there wasn't even any music. Silence. Now that's not how you treat your potential "family". After all, I am business and because of their lack of service, they might have just have a lack of a customer. I decide to call back later.

**Called back later and they still didn't answer their phones.**

PROGRESSIVE:

I LOVE Progressive commercials. I think it's the retro looking gal on them who is really quirky. I like quirky because it is never boring. What are they going to do?! You don't know...

Anyway, when I called Progressive, they had great service and were prompt in answering their phones and answering my questions. The guy didn't even get mad even when I had him explain Collision/Comprehensive for me about a million times. What a nice guy! And, when they gave me my quote, it was totally affordable. Maybe those commercials tell the truth! Overall, 5 stars.

FARMERS INSURANCE GROUP:

I called them twice. Every time I got through the automated lady, I would hear talking in the background and then I would get hung up on. Geez... I'll have to try them later too when their party is over. Sorry to interfere.

ALL STATE:

I like these commercials too just because President Palmer is on them off of 24. Awesome! Well, One positive thing about them was, the automated lady. It was like I was talking to a real person and was hilarious! Here's how our conversation went. When you say her parts, talk in a cool and enthusiastic voice.

Lady: Welcome to All State, where you're in good hands. What do you need help with, for instance, if your looking for a quote, say, "I would like to get a quote on car insurance"...

Me: I would like to get a quote on car insurance...

Lady: (pause)...All right. Judging from the area code you are calling from, you are in Arizona so you will need a quote for Arizona?

Me: No...

Lady: (pause).....Oh! (genuine surprise) What state are you-

Me: Idaho.

Lady: (pause) ....Okay, let me connect you with an agent.

It was so real/fake, it made me laugh. However, what's not making me laugh is the fact that I am on hold for 27 minutes and counting! Although, they had an excuse, their computer's are down but at least they have cool music while I'm on hold.

STATE FARM:
When I first called this company, I had a bit of a hassle trying to connect with someone who is licenced in Idaho to deal with my quote. When I finally did, the lady was very nice. Actually, at the end of every question I answered she would say "very good". I can understand how this would make sense if she asked, "Have you been in any accidents?" and I say, "No". However, she would ask stuff like, "What is your husbands birthday?" and I would reply "8, 4, 1984" and she would, in turn, say, "very good". Really? After all, she IS the insurance lady, she would know what a good birthday was. All in all, it was a good expirience she even offered to follow up the next day.

AMEICA
The main reason why I called this company was because they were rated the top insurance comapny by JR & Associates. They did have exceptional service and were very patient with me. As for the price, it wasn't cheap but it wasn't expensive either. I have nothing bad to say about them however, they didn't really make an impression on me.

So after phone shopping for a day, I decided to stay with State Farm. This is because I already understand my claim I have with them and it was the cheapest. Also, they were the only company that did a verbal follow up the next day and they wanted to meet in person. When I did go meet in person, she was very patient and did not rush us at all. Finally, I was finished shopping.

Smelly

2009-01-16T00:36:00.005-07:00

Lately I have had a bit of an insomnia spell where I can't fall asleep. One reason could be that the guys upstairs walk around like they're sumo wrestlers so I know exactly where they are in the house (they usually stay up until 1:30 AM or 2:00 AM and then wake up at 7:00 AM and stomp around). Therefore, last night I resorted to ear plugs which turned out to be more uncomfortable than it actually helped. The plugs would stick out of my ear, so whenever I turned, I would hear a *cracklecracklecrackle*. This, in turn would wake me up in which I would have an even harder time falling asleep. Plus, I like white noise, such as a fan, while I sleep and the ear plugs made it dead silent... apart from the crackling. So, I guess when you get tired and can't sleep, you are supposed to go work out..... so I have, but it didn't work. Then, the next night, I decided to just try to go to sleep and wake up early so that evening I would be so tired, I would fall asleep instantly. Next morning, I wake up completely alert at 6:30 AM. For anyone who knows me, it's impossible to get me up THAT early. So with another night waiting for me to get tired, I decided to do some research.

As many of you may know, each one of us sisters in the Daley family have some sort of abnormal medical problem. Except, I thought I was lucky because I never really got sick besides slight motion sickness and nervous diarrhea. However, the Daley family fate just hadn't quite caught up to me yet until my Junior year in high school. I can't really remember when or where it happened but all I know is that one day, I smelled something that wasn't really there. I wasn't quite sure what to expect about it because it would come and go and wouldn't really harm me. However, it was unpredictable and always smelt horrible. Well, I turned to my well trusted doctor, the Internet, and began to research. Although, how do you search for "stinky smell I smell but no one else does"? For a while, I came up empty and eventually, I began to embrace the smells.

So far, I had 3 distinct smells that would come and go in no particular order and in which I could not identify. I had never smelled anything like these smells before and believe me, I made sure it wasn't a bad fart or some BO; these were some legit mystery odors. I, of course, told my family about this weird phenomenon but what were they supposed to do about it? So I kept it mostly to myself until one day when I identified the first smell!

I was sitting in my living room reading a children's book about bushy tails, long tails, rough tails and so on. One tail in particular I came across was the skunks tail, and lucky me, it was a scratch-n-sniff. That particular artificial, natural gas-like smell was one of my mystery scents! I couldn't believe I had found it and now could identify it. My second identification came when I worked at Millhollow in Rexburg, ID. That night we had completely ran out of sliced onions and so I figured I might as well slice some. I cut so many freakin onions that the entire place stunk up! My eyes were watering and the smell was BURNED into my nose. That night, onions was the only thing I could smell. It made me so sick, that I called in the next day for work and my boss was pretty pissed. If it makes him feel any better, I randomly have to smell onions everywhere I go! As for the third scent, I really don't know what it is yet. It might be a mixture of both but all I know is that it is something I have never smelt before in my life.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, tonight I have found out the exact name for this condition... Phantosmia.

Phantosmia is an olfactory hallucination--specifically, the phenomenon of smelling odors that aren't really present.The most common odors are unpleasant smells such as rotting flesh, vomit, urine, feces, smoke, etc.

Thankfully, I think I have a mild case because I do not smell rotting flesh or feces and it only comes when I cry or when I am very stressed. However, who would have thought that phantosmia would have such high-risk causes such as :

upper respiratory infections, head injuries, nasal polyps, sinus infections, hormonal imbalances, dental problems, certain medications, exposure to some types of chemicals, brain tumors, and radiation treatments for head, neck cancers, temporal lobe seizures, depression and schizophrenia.

Sheesh! Well, lucky for me and the lack of insurance in the "health" area, I will just have to wait to check out my possible tumors or schizophrenia later. Wait...you've seen Tyler too, Right? I know I've at least smelt him!

We are alive, barely...

2009-01-11T19:03:00.015-07:00

Well we made our move up to Idaho and as a whole, we are okay. Here is a play-by-play of our entire move!

12/28/08 @ 8:00 PM- Get a call from our apartment saying that they don't have a spot for us. None. A week before we move. We look on craigslist frantically and decide to deal with it in the morning.

12/29/08 @ 9:00 Am- We call all apartment complexes and, of course, there is nothing available. Luckily, we find an apartment in Rigby on cragislist and we cross our finger's it's not a scam.

1/1/09 (day before wedding!) @ 8:00 AM- Mind you, it was the day after new years eve and all of us were tired and giddy. Without even taking showers, we drive down to the church to begin setting up for Becky & Sean's wedding. We put up the faux ceiling, set up the tables, put the center pieces up, decorated the arch (Tara), and put down the vinyl (DaNelle).

1/1/09 @ 12:45 PM- Finish setting up the wedding . Tyler and I go home to pack some more.

1/1/09 @ 6:30 PM- We go the the groom's dinner the night before the wedding and give advise to Becky & Sean (que wedding march ). I was starving and ate about a billion nachos! Yeesh!

1/01/09 @ 11:30 PM- Drive to the airport to pick up a key to our mysterious apartment. We are crossing fingers that this lady wouldn't give us a fake key and address and take our money and leave. Thankfully, she was ready with a contract and we got a real key!

1/02/09 ( Yes the DAY of Becky's wedding) @ 7:00 AM- Drive to find the budget truck rental place. While we were driving around trying to find a huge BUDGET TRUCK sign, we actually saw our truck parked right there in a neighboring lot but couldn't find the actual place. It was right there, but we had no idea how to get it! Turns out that you get it from a very small and podunk business that rents out lots of other stuff with a couple of budget trucks on the side.

1/2/09 @ 7:45 AM- We are trying to get the 16' truck with a trailer back up into our driveway. This proves to be very difficult since I have never attempted this feat and it had been years since Tyler had. After Tyler tried about 6 or 7 times to back it up I convinced him to give me a turn. Bam! First try baby. He was so shocked and embarrassed.

1/2/09 @ 8:00 AM- We (meaning mostly Tyler) start loading up everything/ packing up things/ cleaning. We were finding nooks and crannies to put all of our junk.

1/2/09 @ 11:45 AM- Starving and having all our food packed away, we go out to eat to Arby's. We must have looked like the junkiest, poor, white trash people ever. We hadn't showered that day either and we were sweaty from moving stuff.

1/2/09 @ 12:00 Noon - Being tired and full, we settle down for a nap. I let Tyler have the couch since I knew he would be driving some of the way. I try to sleep on the floor, then the chair and finally have this brilliant idea that since I was already in the Wolford's basement, I could just walk 6 ft. and sleep on their couch. Too bad by the time I got there, I had to get up to get ready for the wedding. Fool!

1/2/09 @ 2:30 PM- Arrive at the temple for Becky & Sean's wedding. It was amazing. The sealer did an excellent job and Becky & Sean looked so happy! Hooray for newlyweds. After pictures, Tyler and I hastily drive home from the wedding to finish packing and hook the truck up.

1/2/09 @ 5:30- Totally finished packing, Tyler and I then proceed to hook up the trailer to the truck and the car to the trailer. I have NEVER done this before and it took us a while. We were hurrying as fast as we could since B&S's wedding reception started at 7! Whilst we were looking like fools trying to hook up everything in our wedding attire, little do we know that I get a hate voicemail message from my sister on Tyler's phone. Mine is still turned off from the wedding.

1/2/09 @ 6:23- Arrive at the reception, take pictures and all is well. Hate voicemail was taken back and peace was somewhat restored. I take my place as the DJ of the wedding.

1/2/09 Throughout Wedding- Tried to get people to dance but how do you teach old dogs new tricks? I tried, and failed. I would even announce things over the microphone and I think one person turned their head. I was a failure. Do NOT hire me as a DJ unless I take some classes first. At least Lydia would dance. Thanks Lyia (The ethan way to say it).

1/2/09 @ 9:00- With reception over, Tyler and I change our clothes to get going on the open road. I cry. Mom cries. Tara tears up. I cry some more. Candra cries. DaNelle waves us off. Dad tears up. Mom cries some more. I cry some more, and we were off with puffy eyes and headaches.

1/3/09 @ 1:00 AM- We arrive in Flagstaff, AZ and view our first of the many snow banks to come. All is well.

1/3/09 @ 3:00 AM- We arrive in Page, AZ and stop for a pee brake. However, there was no places that were open. So when life hands you lemons, you pee in the bushes and get on your way. It was freezing and I'm pretty sure I heard a wolf howl at my back end. I sleep for 15-30 minutes every 2 hours or so.

1/3/09 @ 4:00 AM- It is still dark outside and we arrive in Kanab. I few moments later I wake up because Tyler says he had to pee. Yes, he was STILL driving. However, we were on a mountain and I told him to do his business on the road. Who else will be up? So, me being a stupid AZ person and Tyler not having a snow experience in a year, stop on a incline to pee on the road. When we tried to get going again, we couldn't. I was really scared but Tyler was the man of the day and said that all we need to do is burn a hole through the ice to get traction. Keep in mind that we have about 2 1/2 tons of weight behind us that we are pulling. As he promised, Tyler got us started again and saved our bacon!

1/3/09 @ 5:45ish AM- It was starting to get light outside just as we were going through highway 20; Supposedly the worse part of the entire trip. I think there was a heavenly angel watching over us because we were totally safe and made excellent time all through the yucky part. We went no faster than 45 MPH and we made time as if we were going 75 MPH.

1/3/09 @ 7:45 AM- It is mostly light outside and we were past the worst part of the trip and on our way. Then Tyler hits a bird (Believe it or not, he is STILL driving). We pull into a gas station to get fuel, clean our windshield and get snacks and as I walk around to clean off the glass, I trip in this 6 inch hole that is conveniently RIGHT in the middle of where everyone is supposed to walk. I fall and pretty much look like an idiot and wanted to cuss like a sailor. My ankle still hurts but I am happy I didn't snap it. Although, there would be a lot of snow to pack it with :)

1/3/09 @ 11:00 AM- We continually have to stop because Semi trucks keep on throwing snow junk on our windshield that smears as you try to clean it. New rule: Don't ever let semis pass you.

1/3/09 @ 12:30 PM- We have arrived in Ogden, UT and now we know it is only 2 hours until we get to Pocatello, ID. You guessed it, Tyler is STILL driving and very alert. From now until Pocatello, we are going freakin nuts! This was, by far, the longest part of the entire trip and we were getting a little crazy.

1/3/09 @ 2:30 PM- We arrive in Pocatello and are so excited to finally be there. By this time, The 24 + hours of sleep deprivation is catching up to Tyler and we settle down for sleep.

1/3/09 @ 9:00 PM- Tyler wakes me up to see if I want to go burn their Christmas tree with them by shooting roman candles at it. I politely pass. Wake up an hour later, Played some games, and went back to sleep.

1/4/09 Sunday- Relax, relax, relax! Tyler sees his sister in which he hasn't seen since May of 08'. Also, Tyler tries to pack some of our furniture that was left in Pocatello when we moved to AZ. The entertainment center* about killed everyone but it was the couch that finally got the better of Tyler's toe. It wouldn't be a move if no one got hurt. Then, we ate a yummy Sunday meal and relaxed some more while we waited for Scott to come.

1/6/09 @ 10:00 AM- With a lot of help from Scott, we move into our legitimate apartment! Before we got on the road, I slipped on some ice and fell right on my knees into quarter sized pebbles. It hurt so. flippin. bad. I almost cried! When I got back up, I had a rock in my hat. Also, the EC* didn't fit down the stairs. So we stored it temporarily in the garage and accidentally broke the glass to the back door. The people upstairs were more upset about us storing something in their garage than breaking the window. So, once again, Scott came through and told up that we could take it to his apartment and he could use it for this semester. We call it a day and head back for Pocatello in our dirty, dirty car.

1/7/09 @ 12:00 Noon- Return to Rigby to drop off the EC at Scott's place and return the truck. However, we forgot the paperwork in Rigby so we drove all the way back to get it so we could rid ourselves of the mother truck. Everything looked good, so we dropped that off and partied that night with friends.

Summary-

Ailments: Toe smashed by couch, knees bruised by rocks, ankle twisted funky by hole, finger cut by knife, knuckle scratched from razor textured walls.

Tyler's amazing feat- Drove the ENTIRE way & Got us off of the mountain

Jessica's amazing feat- Backed up truck perfectly. Twice.

Best snacks- Beef jerky, twizzlers, munchies mix ( pretzels, Cheetos, Doritos & sun chips), laffy taffy, Mt. Dew and Milky Way

Best town/favorite- Pocatello/Mesa... okay, okay, It was highway 20. That was my favorite.

Must have for the trip: Books on CD

Tombstone

2008-12-21T17:21:00.013-07:00

With the days dwindling down until Tyler and I move up to Idaho, we have decided to get a move on and finish some things on our "list". This "list" consists of things we want to do in AZ before we go back up to live in the frozen tundra. Mostly they were just out-to-eat places that are not in Utah or Idaho like Organ-stop Pizza and Kwan SianPans. However, we had one very special item on our list and that was Tombstone. Yes, I am one of those people who live close to historic places but never actually go. It's like someone in New York who has never been to the statue of liberty. Well, we just had to go to Tombstone and we figured now is as good as ever since gas prices are so low. So off we went!

We left in the morning and started off to Tombstone. The drive there was pretty uneventful with only a rock cracking our windshield and us running over something mysterious which made a noise like someone threw a billion little pebbles under our car. However, the absolute worst thing that happened was when we went through Tucson. It was around noon and we decided that we should grab a bite to eat. Little did we know that once you get off the freeway in Tucson, you can't get back on for at least 8 miles!Every single entrance was closed for construction and it was so frustrating but we quickly got over it and moved on. Luckily, a couple of hours before, we had stopped at a gas station and got some snacks where we got to pose with a dinosaur statue. Tyler and I thought it was pretty cool. His claw is supposed to be stabbing me in the stomach but it just looks like he is molesting me.

We finally got to the historical street of Tombstone, AZ. There was only one place I really wanted to go see and that was The Birdcage Theatre where all the drunken men and whorish women would go and meander. Unfortunately, when we walked in, the lady told us that it would cost $10 each for us to see the remainder of the "museum". I didn't want to see the bar THAT bad. She did do a pretty good job at enticing us by telling us that you can see the bullet holes in the ceiling and that what we were standing in, was only 8% of the entire building. Really, 8%? It couldn't be rounded to 10%? She was THAT accurate? However, in the end, Tyler and I decided to only go see the gift shop at the back of the "museum". So we walked towards the back and Tyler got a big kick out of a HUGE tumbleweed. I must admit, it was pretty big but for some reason, it didn't look any bigger than the ones I would see at my high school. Then again, once I actually looked at its mammothness, those would be some pretty freakin huge tumbleweeds rolling on the football field. As you can see, Tyler screaming in fear for his life.

So, after we "Oo"-ed and "Aww"-ed at the tumbleweed, we made our way to the gift shop. I don't know what I was expecting, but 90% of the time, gift shops totally disappoint me and this one was no different. It was mostly old people stuff with a few interesting doo-dad's but nothing worth spending money for. Well, as we were leaving, the door that would lead us outside was totally stuck. Stuck like the forces of the universe couldn't budge it. Since that was the only exit, we just HAD to go through the "museum" to get out, we just HAD to. Let me just say, I'm glad I didn't pay to see the rest of it. First of all, where did this lady learn math because her gross estimate was way off. In actuality, the entrance made up about 30% of the entire museum. She totally lead me on to believe this thing was huge.

After the whole incident of being stuck in the whore house, we walked up the street about three or four times. It was as if we were hoping to see something more interesting than what was there but alas, we were again disappointed. This was mainly because everything cost something just to go look at some special dead something. I understand that these people need to make their living off of something but what if I had spent all of my earnings to go to tombstone because my great-great-grandfather had left his billion dollar will under a remote floorboard and I had to pay to get in to get my family heirloom? Ridiculous.

All in all, most of the shops were closed and the ones that were open cost $20 for a toothpick. Also, you had to pay to see historical sites which probably weren't even exciting to begin with. I don't want to sound like a Debbie Downer ( Wah-wah) or a Negative Nancy but next time, skip Tombstone and go to Fossil Springs (Wah-Wah-Wah)...

Tyler's words were "Go drink out of it like a horse." Yeah.Okay.Sure

One of the many bars

Boot hill Graveyard was the coolest place there!

A picture of our picture

*Also, as a side note, we were in fact stopped by border patrol at a road block, if anyone wanted to know....

How, You Say?

2008-12-02T21:08:00.005-07:00

I was surfing the internet one day and stumbled upon an interesting website. I am always looking on the web to find out how to do crazy, cool and random stuff. For example, I was watching "17 Kids & Counting" with DaNelle and the episode was on how they save money. Once of the interesting ways was that they made their own laundry soap. I was instantly all over this! They follow this recipe that they got from a friend and it costs about 1¢ a load. Fortunately for me I didn't write down the recipe, DaNelle deleted it and I had just bought a $14.00 bucket of soap.

Here is where the glorious Internet comes into play. You can find virtually anything in the world if you know how to work a search engine. So, I searched "homemade laundry soap" and found this:

1/3 bar Fels Naptha or other type of soap, as listed above
½ cup washing soda
½ cup borax powder
~You will also need a small bucket, about 2 gallon size~

Grate the soap and put it in a sauce pan. Add 6 cups water and heat it until the soap melts. Add the washing soda and the borax and stir until it is dissolved. Remove from heat. Pour 4 cups hot water into the bucket. Now add your soap mixture and stir. Now, add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir. Let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will gel. You use ½ cup per load.

Although I have never tried it before, in theory it should work. With only two people to do laundry for, a little soap goes a long way.

This got me thinking. This person was able to share what they know possibly across the US...I could do that! So I found eHow. eHow is a "how to" based website that has hundreds and hundreds of articles on how to do things. Some are so totally random like, "How To Fix a Carburettor on a 1989 Toyota Corolla" and some are more common like, "How To Shop Wisely For Christmas". Believe me, the possibilities are endless!

So I signed up! Better yet, if you are 18 years or older, you can be paid for what you write. Awesome!!!!! Of course, it's not just write and article, get paid $1. You are paid on how popular they are, how informative, how many views, the ratings, and how long they view it.

So I started to write on what I knew and if there was one thing I could do, it was swaddling a newborn. Yes, you read right. I was so surprised to see that many parents didn't know how to swaddle their baby without the help of the nurse or a specified "swaddling blanket". I have swaddled over 200 babies and I have it down to perfection and thus the inspiration for my first article came; How To Swaddle A Newborn.

Slowly, more and more ideas came to me about things I knew how to do just from various experiences. Some are so dumb but hey, there has got to be SOMEONE out there in the exact same position as me, right?

Here are some:

How To Properly Use "They're", "Their" and "There"
How To Know If A Fish Is Pregnant
How To Diagnose the Symptoms of a Cold

When and if you read them, you may be thinking that these are so dumb. However, those "dumb" articles have already made be $3.82. That's 11¢ a day and I do NOTHING! Plus it's a fun way to get out there and just write. So to end this all I need two things.
1. More article ideas
2. For you to read my articles ( my username is "shesaidthat")

Check it out, you may be surprised what you learn.

So dumb...yet slightly entertaining...

2008-11-23T21:17:00.003-07:00

So I know I haven't posted anything in a while and thats only because nothing has really happened in my life/ I've been too lazy to get on the computer and type. Well, I found something blog post worthy. It is seriously so stupid, yet so entertaining at the same time. Enjoy!

The Dead Sea Is Beddy Beddy Gooood!

2008-10-25T16:06:00.003-06:00

As I was sitting in my History class one Wednesday afternoon, I was pondering the concept of "style", even though my teacher was talking about WWII... I looked around my class to see what was "in style" and definitely was not helped. I saw nothing that looked remotely chic, couture or fierce! That is when my epiphany hit me like a ton of sea salt; I had a great idea!
Since it has been so long since I have gone shopping for clothes, I realized that I had no idea what was in. I also begin to think about how I could ever possibly know what was stylish, so I went window shopping. Candra and I drove out to the San Tan Village to go visit our long forgotten friends, Forever 21 and Charlotte Russe. We saw the same basic look everywhere we went but that's beside the real point. The real point is about the Dead Sea salt.
Candra and I walked out of Forever 21 only to be greeted by an over-excited Arab giving us a quarter size packet of facial cream. I wasn't really interested in what he was selling, but I felt bad for the guy so I let him talk to me. What harm could that do? He then took off my nail polish and began scrubbing my finger with one of those buffers you can get at the Walmart beauty section. He was actually pretty charming and proceeded to tell me about the ridges on my nail and how bad it was for me. Seriously? To me, the news about my unhealthy ridges was known to me when I was a freshman, so his selling technique of revealing something unknown to me to make me interested in the product, was not working. Besides, I think I'm more concerned about how certain food is bad for me rather than my nail ridges.
As he worked on my nail, he kept on talking and talking and talking! It made me so nervous to the point that no matter WHAT he was selling, I wanted to be as far away from this Arab as possible! The absolute worst part about his talking, was that he had a thick Arabian accent which made it impossible to understand what he was saying. For example:

Salesman: Dojuguotodanilsalun?
Me: Um...what?
Salesman: Do(pause)ju(pause)gotodanilsalun?
Candra: Sometimes!
Me: (mumbling to Candra) I have no idea what he is saying...
Candra: A nail salon Jessica!
Me: OH! Nail Salon
Salesman: Yis, Yis, De Nil Salun!

After that whole ordeal, he eventually got to his point. He wanted to sell me the buffer, a small 3 oz. bottle of cuticle beautifier, and some 6 oz. of special Sea Salt lotion from his hometown, The Dead Sea, all for only $69.00! Yeah. Freakin. Right. I was only at the San Tan Village in the first place to go window shopping, not even REAL shopping and this guy wants to sell me some unneeded nail stuff for $69.99! I showed my disinterest in the product but he wouldn't have it. He then said that he would give us a buy-one-get-one-free deal. After I said no, he then decided to give it to me 1/2 off... which is the exact same price for me with the buy-one-get-one-free deal...Finally, after much protest from this salesman, I was free of my hostage situation with this guy and he let me go. He stressed me out so bad, I has sweat tacos the rest of the day! Luckily Candra was there to laugh it off with me.

History Mystery

2008-10-17T18:46:00.006-06:00

The History Chanel is a great way to learn some pretty boring stuff like World War II, Hitler's reign, and The Great Depression. However, if you look closer into what shows are on The History Chanel, you can possibly find some really cool stuff.

If the only channel in the world was THC, Tyler would be in heaven and would probably be as smart as a history major. He was the one to introduce me to the channel and the ups and downs of it all. Before, I though THC was all about war airplanes, D-day and FDR. However, what I didn't know was that it is a lot scarier than that....way scarier.

For some reason, these mysterious shows suddenly pop up on our DVR. Shows like Modern Marvels and Gangland. Although I have never actually caught him, Tyler must be flipping through the guide to find these creepy shows. When he records Modern Marvels, it's usually about modern day pirates or advanced weapons of war. Let me just tell you, I will NEVER go on a cruise to anywhere tropical like the Bahama's or Mexico because of pirates. Don't believe me? Look it up.

Also, he has been trying to get me to watch this other show he recorded off of THC ; In The World Of Jack the Ripper. Yeah. Freakin. Right. I have a hard enough time trusting the male workers at Wal-mart that gather the baskets. If I watched this, I know it would totally mess me up for at least two weeks...However scary the shows above sound, nothing compares to what *I* recorded off of THC.

One Sunday, I stumbled across a cool show called MonsterQuest. I liked it because it was my kind of creepy; unexplained mysteries. I have only watched three. One was about Sasquatch, giant fish that eat small children and RODS! Yes, that's right, rods. What are rods, you might ask? Rods are creatures that fly so fast through the air, they are invisible to the naked eye. What do they look like? You guessed it, rods with creepy membrane-like strips of wings. The only reason they have been discovered is purely by mistake of filming at the right time, concluding that there are a lot more flying around that we don't discover.

I know what you are thinking, this is ridiculous that creatures could fly so fast, we can't see them except on film. I know, I thought that too but as the show progressed it got more and more creepy. They kept on showing footage over and over and over again of these mysterious like creatures. Finally I had to turn the show off. Partly because it was time for bed and partly because I couldn't stand anymore!

Going to bed that night was the worse. These rod thingies had really creeped me out and it was only right before I went to bed, did I turn off all the lights. You better believe I was joined at the hip with Tyler that night trying to concentrate on anything except RODS!!!! Our conversation went as follows:

Me:....Tyler....I'm scared

Tyler: That show was so stupid, I fell asleep

Me: I know, but still....Gimme something to think about.

Tyler: RODS!!!!!

As I relayed my rod fear with my sister DaNelle, I realized how ridiculous it sounded and we ended up laughing about the whole thing. It didn't help much when I showed her this clip

It must have been the other half of my infinished show.I fretted about it for nothing! Still....watch out for rods.....

Did I ask for Parmesian On My Puttanesca?

2008-10-06T22:10:00.010-06:00

Yes. Yes. The economy is crashing. The world is coming to an end. Bla, bla, bla. I feel cliche starting off with the line, "As you know, times are getting tough" but with this blog post, it's the basis of cold reality. Of course they're getting tough. When has it ever been easy?

Personally though? I am in a history 104 class and we are studying the roaring 20's right now and needless to say, the great depression started on huge credit debt, over-expenditures, and government mistakes. Sound a bit too familiar? But this isn't supposed to be a preachy blog telling you to all be better and have no debt and live within your means... that's your own decision.

However, as many of you DO know, times are getting tough. So with every dollar stretching as far is poor George possibly can, I have decided to find some cheap meals on the Internet that I can make. However, I am still newly married and my 5 meals I can make consist of less than ideal quality. It's not because I am not able to make delicious meals, it's because it's expensive and to be quite frank, neither Tyler nor I care about quality unless we pay for it at a restaurant. By the way, I didn't make the nasty concoction to the left.

So as I search for easy cheap dinner's on the internet, I was a little distraught by what the search engine produced. Here is one example of a "cheap" meal from http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/food/entertaining/cheap-meal-ideas Seriously?

Warm Lentil Salad with Shrimp, Apples, and Mint ( First off...Ew)

3 tablespoon(s)olive oil

3 tablespoon(s)cider vinegar
Salt and pepper

1 pound(s)fresh or frozen (thawed) shelled and deveined medium shrimp
1 cup(s)lentils
6 cup(s)water
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 cup(s)(loosely packed) fresh mint leaves, chopped
1 Golden Delicious apple, unpeeled, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch chunks
1 stalk(s)celery, thinly sliced

I don't know about you but I don't have lentils, shrimp and cider vinegar just laying around my house. What am I, upper society? Second, I am not too familiar with the price of these ingredients but starting from scratch, buying a small bottle of olive oil is at least $5.99. I might as well go and buy 5 mac n cheese box dinners that would last me a week... Okay so that's an exaggeration.

I was expecting a recipe that went something like, " take some potatoes, onions, carrots and hamburger and mix it all together with some cool Italian seasoning and cook in foil for, like, 30 mins". I guess I will have to make up my own goulash meals until I find a cheap meal website that fits our needs.

Fabulous 40

2008-09-30T14:21:00.011-06:00

Lately I have been starved of events in my life that are blog post worthy so I have decided that I will write 40 things that have happened to me this month.

1. I recently and finally took myself off of my parent's cell phone plan and signed Tyler and I up for our very own. We got average phones that fits our basic needs but we were excited about it nevertheless.

2. I applied for financial aid for CGCC school. Unfortunately we wont get it until some time in October.

3. I took a test in History and got a 96%

4. I helped Maggie deliver her puppies all night long with DaNelle. It was by far the coolest thing ever!

5. I went to a Constitution fair and was disappointed because it was super lame. If I would have been about 10 years younger, I would have liked it.

6. I searched on craigslist.com and found a lady who was giving away free turtles. So I took em!

7. Of course, the turtles needed a bigger tank so I found a 55 gal and a 30 gal tank for $25 dollars. In case you aren't that familiar with tank costs, it's a heck of a deal.

8. I finished the play Tartuffe in my theatre class and laughed my head off.

9. I babysat for a lady in my ward for about 24 hours and made some good money.

10. My fish gave birth to about 25 fry. Thankfully she didn't eat them all.

11. I had a baby at work who passed with a score of 396! Average passing is 160.

12. I got my rebate back from the cell phone company and bought groceries with it.

13. I learned "Lucky" by Jason Mraz on the guitar.

14. I sold a bunch of my old school books and bought a brand new bike with the money

15. I made a goal to exercise 3 x a week and lost some weight.

16. I taught my primary class about talents.

17. I Got out what little Halloween decorations I had which only consisted of a table cloth.

18. Borrowed my mom's black light and went scorpion hunting. We only found 1 and it was dead.

19. I made a peach pie from scratch. I blanched the peaches and everything.

20. I went to Relief Society conference and later went to the Cheesecake Factory with my sisters.

21. I finally made my way to the Social Security office to change my last name. Now if only I can get myself to go to the DMV.

22. Thought about getting a second job and I am still seriously thinking about it.

23. Finally wore my red colored scrubs that I bought way back in January.

24. Watched All My Sons by Arthur Miller and was depressed for the rest of the day.

25. Decided to start my own vinyl company in Idaho when I move back up there in December.

26. Re-arranged my furniture to fit the 55 gal fish tank in our living room.

27. I watched the season premiere of Grey's Anatomy and thought it was totally stupid. Then I watched the season premiere of The Office and laughed hysterically.

28. I got way into playing racquetball with Tyler for a while and we ended up getting all three balls stuck and unstuck in one game. It was more of a workout for Tyler than it was for me.

29. We got our AC fixed after it being broken for four days. I kinda got used to it being 86° in our apartment.

30. I looked up how to read someones palm one very late night.

31. I Figured out my Halloween costume with a little help from Tyler

32. I Drove up to Fossil Creek and swam in the clear blue water with the fishes and leeches.

33. I bought two bedside tables for $15.00 and painted them black.

34. I checked out a book from the library, read the first 5 chapters, and then returned it.

35. I discovered the deliciousness of vanilla frozen custard with gummy bears in it.

36. I had my primary class fight over an over sized pink coin that I colored, cut and drew a picture of a lame, lop-sided eagle on it.

37. I haven't eaten at taco bell this month. Pretty cool accomplishment.

38. I bought three new fish on sale to add to my aquarium

39. Discovered and considered Penn Foster College and it's programs.

40. I wrote my fabulous 40 list.