Day #23- Prophets

I am thankful for prophets in our day. My favorite prophets being the ones I know they best, Gordon B. Hinckley, President Monson and of course my all time favorite Joseph Smith. 

The prophet I grew up with and he will probably always hold a special place in my heart. After all who couldn't love him, he was always so cheerful and happy, such a great example. 

I am thankful for the example they set for us. Joseph Smith is probably the best example of facing your trials with hope and overcoming them. Since I started seminary in 9th grade and we studied the Doctrine and Covenants one of my most favorite passages is in Section 122 verses 5- 9. Whenever I feel like I am going through a "hard" time I will read these verses. I'm not going to post all of them just the end. 

 7.  And if thou shouldst be cast into the ^apit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the ^bdeep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to ^chedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of ^dhell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee ^eexperience, and shall be for thy good.

8 The ^aSon of Man hath ^bdescended below them all. Art thou greater than he?

9 Therefore, ^ahold on thy way, and the priesthood shall ^bremainwith thee; for their ^cbounds are set, they cannot pass. Thy ^ddaysare known, and thy years shall not be numbered less; therefore,^efear not what man can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever.

I remember the first time I read 5-9 in seminary and our teacher told us that every last "if" (there are 14) happened to Joseph Smith, I was surprised. It was at that moment that I decided if he could go through all that then I could handle my trials with a little less complaining. Those verses definitely gave me a little perspective.

I am so thankful for our prophets and being able to hear them speak in conference every six months. I was able to hear President Monson speak at women's conference in 2008, right after President Hinckley had passed away and Monson was called as the new prophet. All I can say is he IS the latter day prophet and he truly cares about the members of the church and even in a room crowded with women I could feel his love for me. I am thankful for prophets. 

Day #22- Christ

I am thankful for my Savior. I have had so many instances in life where I have been able to directly see his hand in my life or in the lives of those around me. While I was going through my pregnancy with Colin there would be days on end when praying was the only time I would feel good, or have comfort. It's a relationship that I will never be able to fully comprehend and I will never be able to take full advantage of in this life but I am so thankful for it. I think I was about 14 when I really started grasping the concept that Christ was our one true friend, he would never let me down and he only wanted what was best for ME. I'd have to say the hymns Abide With Me Tis Eventide and Abide With Me are two of my favorites and I can not ever sing them without crying they just fill me with such happiness. 

I know that my Savior lives and loves me and each and everyone one of you. I am eternally thankful for my Savior.

Some Thanksgiving

This is our Thanksgiving. I am happy to say that our day was completely chill and that all of our food turned out. We watched Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving special and Cars 2. We got to hang out together and basically the entire day was a day to relax, it was great!

David and his bird

This is how he really felt

David insisted that I got his turkey tooth pick sutures, he was very proud. 

Luckily for David and I, we are both purists and we don't really care for casseroles so we had some good old steamed asparagus and mashed potatoes with gravy. It's not that I hate the casseroles I'll eat them (a very small amount sometimes) if they are present, but I don't care for them and since David doesn't either we weren't about to make any. We took the pure vegetable route instead. 

David finishing up the rolls.

Besides when you only have two people feasting you really have to pick and choose what dishes you are willing to slave over. 

Our special slush drink for dinner

It was really pretty

This is me modeling my new purple coke glass. Also this is probably the worst picture of me pregnant thus far. I think that pregnancy takes away all of my cute-ness in candid shots, basically I look like a tired chub in all my pictures haha. I swear I didn't look like this when I looked in the mirror.

Some napkin folding

Dinner is served, do you like our O so fancy plastic dishes? I thought you might :)

Day #21- Health

I have always been a very healthy person. I have never had the flu, as far as I know I have only ever had strep throat once and I feel like my weight is something I can be ok with. I am so thankful for a healthy body, so many people in this life suffer from physical and mental problems or just get sick a lot. I never realized how healthy I was until about late junior high when I started noticing that I hardly ever got sick and that meant I had to go to school more often than my friends; haha and of course at that time it bugged me. I'll never be an athlete, an amazing runner, or have any kind of work out addiction but I am healthy and happy and so thankful for what my Heavenly Father has given me. 

For Cute

I spent most of Friday trying to just make up my mind on a carseat stroller travel system. No we didn't get any black Friday deals but there also weren't any; trust me I looked. It doesn't sound like a very big deal but once I realized I would be spending 150+ dollars it became something I had to research so I could get a system that is both safe and I liked.

There it is the infamous stroller travel system that I have been studying, obsessing over and worried about for the last month... or more, probably more. I originally wanted to get a baby seat that could hold up to 30 pounds but they were more expensive and many of them had that fuzzy material or fake suede type fabric on them and I HATE that; also the thought of cleaning up baby mess from the fuzz stuff seemed really gross to me.

This is the little teddy bear I decided to practice with because it was just so darn cute! We really liked this set, the colors were prefect for being gender neutral and there are cute little forest animals on it that remind me of Bambi. 

Day #20- Work

As much as we all hate work, I am thankful for it. I love it when I can sit down at the end of the day and see that I have accomplished something. This Thanksgiving weekend was full of work for David and I. I spent most of Friday morning working on the baby travel system, reviews, pricing, stores, colors, etc; then David and I spent a great deal of our afternoon/ evening sorting through all the things in our second bedroom that need to be put else where. We also took down his desk, he will be spending much more time at the library now. This is both good and bad, it means more un-bugged study time for him at the library and more lonely time for me at home; I just hope it ends up with the two of us being more productive. Then on Saturday we spent the whole day painting and spraying texture spray on our walls to help with the lumpy-ness of our walls after removing our wall paper. I was so tired Sunday morning! However when I go into our kitchen or take a peek at our second bedroom I can be happy with the work we did. Now if only I had worked on my research paper and studied my Math I could consider myself really successful!

Day #19- Shelves

What would I do without shelves?! Especially where we are right now. I think I would go crazy! Actually I'm almost 100% sure I would, after all wading through our belongings would get old fast without somewhere to put every thing. Shelves, the perfect way to clean up a room.

Here are some shelves that David installed in our entry way closet. Our kitchen was just way to small to hold all of our dishes, pots, pans and small appliances so I convinced him we needed some shelves for our food. It's worked great!

Twilight

I am not a super fan of Twilight. I read all the books and after I read some other series and quickly decide I liked them a whole heck of a lot more than Twilight. Once you read the books though you have to see the movies, I will never buy them but I have to see them. 

While David's Mom and Dad were here they bought us two sets of tickets to go see some movies. David and I decided one set I would choose the movie and the other he would. My first choice would have been Hunger Games but that isn't coming out until March (sad day!) AND I am having a baby in January; basically that was right out. The only other movie I really even knew of that was coming out any time soon was Twilight so last night David graciously came with me to the Twilight premier. It was a good date night, and to be honest our first in a while that was actually on a weekend evening and was the whole evening. I have to say that this movie was better than many of the other ones because it had more going on. It was worth seeing and we got a good spot so I am calling it a success. Oh, and it helped that we sat in front of a group of tweeny boppers and next to a funny black lady, it was like our own personal rift tract during the movie, pretty funny.

Our Twilight faces, haha 

Day #18- Music

I love music, just about every different kind and from just about any era. That doesn't mean I like every song it just means chances are I will like at least one from any era or genre. Music is one of those things that can make your day. For example, have you ever had kind of a crappy morning and all the sudden you turn on the radio or your iPod and a song that you love comes on? Doesn't that make your day better?! It can do the opposite as well. I can't tell you how often I would find myself SOOO annoyed when I was working at TJMaxx or Kohl's when certain songs would come on that I had already heard once or twice during my shift. Especially when my shift was only 6 hours long and it was a song I already basically hated.

 I know it can easily lift my mood. Also the older I had gotten the more I find myself tearing up when I sing different hymns, there are just so many that I can no longer sing without feeling the spirit and nearly tearing up. Of course I feel silly so I try not to let people see me but it does feel good to have such uplifting music during the day. 

Day #17- Dogs

Dogs are my favorite animal hands down. In my book they don't even start to compare with cats and there is NOTHING anyone could do to make me change my mind. I love just about everything about them. They want to be with you, they are playful, you can get ones that don't shed but still have hair and best of all they come in every shape or size you could imagine. We can't have ANY pets (or kids technically) where we are living but I wish we could, haha I always tell everyone that it's because David won't let me. Which is only half true mainly because I would probably try to buy a dog and keep it here anyways if David wouldn't stop me :) I'm a bit of a rule breaker at this local. Anyways I have been so grateful to have dogs in my life they always seem to come around at the right moment to cheer you up. 

Also who couldn't love a face like this?

Or fluff like this?

You can't help but cuddle it!

Day #16- Brothers

I grew up at odds with both my brothers, especially my poor brother Jordan. We were the perfect age distance to not get along. Everything he was doing was childish and behind or beneath me when I was little and then on top of that he was a boy and well I was a girl. Looking back I often feel bad that we didn't get along better but it's one of those things that just happens. Sometimes siblings get along really well and sometimes they just don't. 

My other Brother who I am farther in age from was alway MY baby. I was nine when he was born so I was old enough to carry him around everywhere and want to help. As I have gotten older I have learned to love both of them in their own VERY unique ways. Jordan is a social butterfly who always had a group of followers as a little kid. Brandon on the other hand can entertain himself and doesn't necessarily need a bunch of people around him to have fun. However true to our family's genes they both can talk your ear off if you get them onto a subject that is interesting to them. The older I have gotten the more thankful I am that I have siblings. 

For example, when I was originally looking for a family to place Colin with I had one couple who didn't have any kids and they didn't sound like they would have anymore after Colin. It was during that time that I realized how important my own siblings were to me. As much as they drove me CRAZY, broke my stuff, bugged my friends and my boyfriends, it wasn't worth not having them around. Family is so important and I am definitely thankful for mine. 

Day #15- America

I managed to make it half way through the month before falling behind, I'm going to say that is not too shabby. On Tuesday I was thankful for America. Like I said I have been watching a lot of US history shows to help break up the monotony of studying for my history CLEP test. I have enjoyed it so much! Everything about America is so amazing, we as a nation have been so blessed and it always makes me feel so proud to be an American. The free spirit and faith that the US has as a nation is so different from every where else in the entire world and when I watch these movies I can see it so much more clearly. For example there is almost no such thing as a country who is as unified as we are after having any kind of a civil war. That isn't to say we don't have our troubles still and we didn't at the time directly following the war but the kind of unity we enjoy as a nation is a true blessing. I am so thankful to have been born in America and to be able to enjoy the many blessings it gives so many. 

God Bless America, land that I love.

Day #14- Umbrellas

Yesterday it rained, a lot. We carry around about 3 umbrellas in our car. One being the pretty green one you see below, a big black one and a little black one. Surprisingly David uses them more than I do. Yesterday as I pulled into Kroger it was feeling pretty muggy outside and as I walked into the store the sky rumbled. It had been a gray day (like usual) and it had already rained on and off a couple of times. Part of me thought about the umbrella in the car as I was just far enough away from my car to know that I wouldn't go back and get it at that point. After some small grocery shopping I go through the first automatic door and I see an absolute down pour. Shoot. I really need to just start carrying that umbrella with me when I know it will most likely rain. It is one of those small blessings that I am still trying to get myself to realize is important here in Toledo. Like when I bought a pair of rain boots last year. I almost took them back for style reasons before I realized, "hey it rains here enough for these to be useful"!

Here is an example of probably 80- 90% of my problem. In Idaho this is the kind of use my umbrella got. And let's face it a shield from the sun makes it more of a luxury item. I need to embrace my inner umbrella carrier, I think if I would do this my rainy days may not bug me so much. At the very least I won't feel as soggy. I am thankful for umbrellas.

30 Weeks

Wow there it is 30 weeks, and I am FEELING it!!

The other day I was putting lotion on my stomach and David says "wow your skin is like way tight," yes thank you David for pointing out the obvious, haha. On that same note, whose idea was it to make pregnancy be 40 weeks? I remember feeling this exact same way about this exact same time with Colin; DONE! Alas there is no solution but to let the bump continue to take over. I find myself getting more and more annoyed when I have to sit down to do anything that involves my feet, like putting on socks and shoes. Today I asked David to pass me the remote to the TV as he left the room and he set it on the ottoman in front of me. I was quick enough to say "Nope, closer"before he could walk away. Initially I think he was a little annoyed, but I think he realized there was no way I was going to be able to reach the remote any easier on the ottoman than where it had been on the opposite arm rest of the couch; he is slowly catching on :)

Let's see what else.... I had my glucose test, but I don't know my results yet.

 I can remember Colin rustling around a lot but this kid is seriously a soccer player. I still feel like baby is a boy, but David and I both tease that baby is going to be some timid gentle little girl after all this kicking and punching (seriously this kid is a little violent sometimes). Our family, on both sides is becoming increasingly annoyed or rather impatient about our decision to wait to see what the baby is, and that is fun. The nursery, is well, still 100% a work in progress. David has had test Armageddon the last two weeks and other than basic chores not a whole lot has been accomplished around here; yikes. I feel like I should be more worried than I am about how un-far along that whole project is going but I'm just too lazy to care right now. Hopefully the nesting thing (i.e.- motivation) will kick in before there is any real need to panic.  

The other day I managed to buy some curtains for $4.97. I used a gift card to Pottery Barn David and I had gotten from Colin's Mama for our wedding, but lost immediately after because of moving. That is why gift cards are so handy, you never know when your recipient might lose it for a year. The curtains are a little more "girly" than I had hoped but they are green and honestly by the time it would matter to this kid he won't even live in this house, so I'm not concerned. 

The style is supposed to be wrung up so they came all wound up in a little pouch. I didn't really like that because it looked like a pleated skirt, but now you can see the flowers better. I didn't realize the pattern was so flowery. Online it looked more like paisley stuff, which I guess is also kinda girly but I only had so much I could spend and I wasn't about to go crazy on baby nursery curtains. Once they are hanging up and they have a little movement in them I'm sure they will look fine. 

I'm not really sure what else to say except that waiting two more months is a painful thought. I really don't want to get much bigger, I'm already freaking out haha. I feel like by the time I really got completely over the anxiety of telling everyone and them possibly NOT being excited about David and I having a baby, I was far enough into pregnancy that it was starting to get to the uncomfortable stage. I'm hoping that with our next baby I will finally be able to relax and really enjoy the whole experience from beginning to end. Not that this one has been bad by any means but seeing as how this is my first baby and second pregnancy I still had some hang ups from last time. We are starting to get excited the closer we get. Today I signed us up for our babies, childbirth and more class at the hospital now which will start in about 3 weeks. Also we have been rather terrible at remembering to tear off the chain links on our count down every night. Instead we end up tearing off 3-5 links a couple of times a week :) 

Lastly I have a story to share. I'm leaving out some details so as not to dish too much on David but the general idea is all it takes. David has had a lot of time to himself lately because he has had to study and I needed to not bug him. During a lunch break together (lately meals is all we really get) this weekend he told me that he had been thinking about how little our baby will be and that it made him get all choked up. I think it embarrasses him to share things like that with me but I LOVE it, he is going to do so great when the baby gets here.

Day #13- Veterans

I don't have a lot to say about this one because the service that our American Veterans provide America is in and of itself self-explanatory. I have been studying for my History CLEP test recently and much of it is for American history and government. This means that I have been reading all about the revolutionary war, civil war, WWI and WWII. There have been many moments for me to ponder about the service that our veterans provide, so many amazing men and women are willing to serve our great nation. I'd love to say that it's just hormones that get me teary eyed, but thinking of all the MANY sacrifices (especially personal ones) that are and were made to create and maintain America is deeply moving to me, and always has been. I am very thankful for American Veterans. 

Day #12- Hair Products

Saturday I was thankful for hair products. Some of my most favorites being deep conditioners (especially Pureology ones), Hair spray (anything that will freeze it stiff), and Moroccan oil (smells SO amazing!). 

 

The golden bottles are just shampoo and conditioner but they are like liquid gold; and they are about the same price. I'm still trying to decide if I want to spend what it takes to get them but they smell SO good and every time I have used them (I have only ever bought travel size bottles haha) my hair smells amazing for days AND is so soft I can't stop petting my own head. 

The same is true when I use these two conditioning treatments, I LOVE Pureology!!!!

These are my two favorite hairsprays. One of course is Pureology and it's called InCharge Plus (not to be confused with InCharge), its almost like spray gel its pretty intense, I fell in love with it during beauty school. The second is just to prove I'm not a total product snob, it's called Frozen Stiff and you can get it at any Sally's store. I have used Frozen stiff for about 8 years now. Back in spring of 2003 Lauren and I were in the musical Annie Get Your Gun and the people who helped us fix our hair used this stuff and I have been in love with the smell ever since and it always reminds me of play practice!

yummy

Being a stylist I am definitely a bit of a product junky, for me that means I end up buying too many products a little too often. I mean really after you put about 3 products in your hair its just going to make it weighed down, which is the last thing I want. I don't have super difficult hair but mine has no real body, wave or natural volume. It tends to look a little frizzy at the ends at times and it LOVES to lay WAY flat right from the root. Girls that have curly hair often act like my hair is so great but it's only because I have learned what products and techniques work to make my hair look nice, it's not because I don't put work into it. Anyways I love product and I am very thankful for all kinds and the ability to buy the expensive stuff for a little less.

Day #11- Clearance

I am not a couponer, but I love the clearance rack. On Friday I used another coupon I got from Kohl's for $10 off a purchase of $10 or more before tax. This time I managed to only spend 63 cents! This makes my grand total for 6 baby clothing items from Kohl's 32 cents a piece. 

My receipt said something crazy like "you saved $52 today at Kohl's." After I read that I laughed turned to David and said "can you imagine paying more than $52 for the little items we just got"?! I don't know if I would spend that much on 4 items for myself, not to mention on clothes for some little guy or gal who will only wear it for a few months. David definitely agreed.

I have been really proud of myself I don't think I have spent more than $15 in cash on baby clothing. David loves it too but we have been really blessed because much of what we have is from my baby shower and a raid of the DI with my Mama before we left IF. Don't we all love getting something for almost nothing :)

David is a Weiner, I Mean WINNER!

This is a continuation of my thankful post for day #8. 

Last week the eBlade started sending out e-mails to all the UT students saying that if you signed in and read the e-version of the paper you could enter chances to win iPads and possibly even tuition. David told me he had been doing it for the last week and that I should do it too. 

On Monday evening David was studying in the second bedroom and I was talking on the phone with my Mama in the living room. That was when David came out to show me an e-mail he got from someone at the Toledo Blade (our Post Register). The e-mail was really short but it said that he had was the eBlade's first contest winner and he had won an iPad. My first impression was to be cautious just in case he was pulling my leg, but after chatting with him for a few seconds I realized he was totally serious! Long story short is that David spent the next hour or two getting all worked up about this guy from the Toledo Blade calling him, so much so that he made himself sick to his stomach and basically stopped studying. I kept trying to get him to calm down but he was just so nervous! Haha, I felt bad for him but there wasn't much I could do. 

After the Toledo Blade worker called, David was finally able to calm down but he was still sick for the rest of the night. We found out that he needed to go to the football game the next day so they could announce that he had won. Then they wanted him to come to their office at the school later in the week to pick up his prize. What a lucky duck! Am I right?! He has been wanting an iPad for a while now, I guess they are really useful as a doctor once you start doing your rotations. 

 David winning made this Tuesday our first Toledo Rockets football game. Before the game we got to use my coupon for a local restaurant called Oasis which turned out to be pretty darn tasty.  David has had test after test the last week and has one more this upcoming Tuesday so this week was a rather horrible time for this to happen, BUT I guess if that is all we have to pay to get a free iPad for the guy we can't complain. 

This photo horrifies me a little but also makes me laugh at the same time, I just hope my cheeks are so chubby because I have food in my mouth 

 I think the worst part of the whole night was when I realized I had randomly moved my student ID from my purse to my backpack the other day and that meant I might not be able to get into the game. Luckily the guy at the gate didn't seem to care too much and let us right on in. 

It was a GREAT night, we both wore long sleeve shirts and sweatshirts. There was a light breeze and it didn't snow or rain the entire time, I think it was about 60 degrees.

me 

We bought David a Rockets shirt before the game so that when he was pictured he could correctly represent his school, haha unlike the BYU sweatshirt he wears around the medical school campus all the time.

 Us!

waiting to go out on the field 

 Shaking hands, and he is done!

David after getting his newest toy yesterday

Getting a little TOO excited. After I took this picture I went to that baby shower dessert night I talked about in my previous post. As I was leaving David says "I'm probably going to be in bed when you come home I am so tired." As I walked out to the car I decided there is only a 50% chance that he will be sleeping when I get home haha, no boy could resist such a cool toy. When I got home I found him right where I left him, I asked him why he wasn't in bed and all he could say was that his iPad was almost done syncing to his computer.