Awww man!!!

Personally, I am not a big fan of the whole blog tagging thing. In my opinion the only place where there should be any tagging is on a school playground or a laser tag arena. However, Kristine tagged me with some sort of photo thing and people keep getting after me about how I don't post on this blog anymore. All I've got to say is that I live with a woman who has a degree in English and is on the verge of becoming a professional author. Now I ask you, who do you think would do a better job of detailing our adventures, the author or the computer nerd? I rest my case. Stacy says that this should be an easy post for me so here it goes. This is the 4th picture in my 4th folder of photos.


This is a sheep. Neat, huh? I knew you'd be impressed. This was taken last year for a book that Stacy wrote for our friends and family as a Christmas present. We went to the petting zoo at Gardener Villiage and I had to be very carefull not to get any of the kids there in the pictures as I didn't want any of the parents thinking that I was some sort of petifile. Another fun part about our trip to the petting zoo was the little billy goat that kept trying to put the moves on Stacy. At least I think that's what he was doing. He kept head-butting her in the butt. Pretty funny. Anyways, this is the part where I'm supposed to tag someone else, but I'm not going to. Tagging someone would be against my morale principes. Till next time. Keep reading our blog and keep your pets away from grease fires.

Cookies, Movement and the Flu

Keep in mind, this isn't even all of the cookies.

Here's a closer look. Some of them are really cute, but notice the amount of candy and frosting on some of them. Its like a cavity waiting to happen!

Saturday was our final primary party with this year's Valiant 11 class. Every week the kids get points (1-10) based on how well they behaved during class. Then when the class reaches 100 points, we have a party. Our first class party was games at our house, then we combined two parties and had a swimming/pizza party, and on Saturday we decorated holiday cookies and brought them to the primary presidency. So Friday after work, Matt and I made 116 sugar cookies. It seems like a lot, I know. We wanted to have enough for the kids to be able to eat some while they decorated, plus enough for them to bring some home to their families, and enough for the five people we were taking them to in the ward. The kids had a blast! Although the cookies started out with so much frosting and candy on top, the average person would not be able to fit in in their mouth! The goal among the boys was "I'm going to make this so gross that no one will want to eat it!" Awesome. I think the favorite part of the day was leaving the cookies on the porches and getting to doorbell ditch the primary leaders. Then we played Catch Phrase at our house until their parents came and it was hilarious! Watching six kids, hopped up on sugar, screaming out details to get the rest of us to say a word. Sobaka and Kutse also enjoyed the party very much! Not only did they get a special treat of chocolate chips (stopped that one real quick) but the kids had a blast playing tug-o-war and wrestling with them. Sobaka was passed out for the rest of the night. Whereas Kutse seems to gain strength from being played with and was bouncing off the walls the rest of the night.

I wasn't feeling very good on Saturday, and had to sit down a lot, but I put on a happy face so we could enjoy the party. But as the night progressed, I felt worse and worse. I couldn't keep anything down (which hasn't been a problem for weeks). Matt went to the Real game with his sister that night and Breezy came over to have a girl's night. I felt bad she spent the evening having to listen to me vomit instead. But, thinking it was just a bad pregnancy day, I pushed through and we did end up having a good time. We got some dinner, played Mario Party, and then watched a few episodes of Gilmore girls. After Matt got home from the game, I got a lot worse and ended up crashing in bed. Sunday I woke up with a fever and spent the next two days in bed. Turns out I had the stomach flu. And yes, I even followed the advice from my doctor and got a flu shot a couple weeks ago. But as she explained to me at my appointment, the flu shot is for the respiratory flu and I got a different strand of the stomach flu. I'm just lucky I guess! Now I really hope, after making all those cookies the night before, that six children in my neighborhood don't come down with a case of the flu. However, as Matt pointed out, their parents will just think they got it at school. =) But now Matt is sick in bed today. He wasn't feeling good yesterday or the night before, but was so sick this morning he couldn't fight it anymore and had to stay in bed. Poor guy!

As for the baby update, since I get asked several times a day, I felt it move for the first time last week. Very cool! But weird too. I've felt it move a few times since then. It always happens at night when I'm laying in bed. Probably because I'm holding still enough that I can actually notice it. I had a few people describe it to me like a butterfly in your stomach. But it didn't feel anything like a butterfly to me. I can't describe it, but it felt stronger than that.

Well, that was our weekend. How was yours?

Vote to Win!

Wow, I feel like such an intense blogger! Three posts in two days! So Matt and I find out the sex of the baby in 12 days. YAY!! Anyway, we want to share our excitement with all of you so, through the inspiration of my sister, we thought it would be fun to make a game out of it. Here is what you do:

1. Vote on the right column whether you think we are having a boy or a girl. (If you've already voted, don't worry about it. Or if you're like my sister you've voted several times, hoping to make the baby a girl through sheer willpower.)

2. Then, leave us a comment telling us what you voted for. (If you don't know how to leave a comment, e-mail me! I don't want anyone to miss out due to "technical" difficulties.)

3. On the 25th, after our ultrasound, we will have a drawing. If the baby is a girl, all those who voted girl will be entered in the drawing. If its a boy, all those who voted for boy will be entered in the drawing.

4. We will then announce the winner on our blog! The winner will be receiving the fabulous prize of assorted pink or blue items! (They won't be baby items, just a basket of fun things to match the 'color' of the sex).

If you live further than driving distance or out of state, don't let that stop you from entering! There is a fabulous newfangled system called UPS who is more than willing to deliver your prize right to your door! Tell your friends and family to vote. The more who enter the merrier!

Girl's Day

Every three months the women on my mom's side of the family get together for a girl's day. Its always a lot of fun and relaxing! For November girl's day we thought it would be fun to have an over-nighter. On Friday I met my aunt Bonnie and Grandma at my mom's house around 5:00. The four of us drove to Park City to get settled into our room. We turned on a movie and snacked and chatted while we waited for my two sisters, Kristine and Julie, to arrive. Once all of us were there we went out to dinner. The food was super yummy, but I did feel jipped on my salad. I ordered a side salad that consisted of lettuce and cucumbers. No tomatoes or nothin'! But my steak was excellent and the horseradish mashed potatoes were super good. Anyway, after our meal we went back to the hotel room and just talked and laughed for a long time. This is one of my favorite things about girl's day! I love sitting around with the girls talking, and getting away from all worries and stress. We finished the movie we had started earlier and then got to bed after midnight.

Saturday we got up and brought breakfast back to the room so we could visit more while we ate and got our things together. Then we went to the outlet stores and enjoyed shopping for a couple hours. I wasn't too interested in the clothing stores, since I can't buy anything right now, but my mom and I had a ball in the baby store. They had a really cute baby store and everything was on sale for really good prices. If Matt and I knew what we were having, I'm sure we could have bought the kid's entire wardrobe there! My mom did buy us a really cute, soft blanket that matches the baby's room and a cute puppy stuffed animal that rattles. Those two things are the very first baby items we have gotten. Yay! After we were done shopping we decided to head to main street for lunch. We took a nice walk down the length of main street (it was cool to check out all the shops) but decided in the end that we were ready to go back to Salt Lake. My only regret is we never made it into the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.

We drove back to Salt Lake and had a late lunch at Marie Calenders. When we got back to my mom's house everyone was ready to head home. I realized I had left my pillow at the hotel in Park City, so my sweet sister Julie offered to drive me back. (Thank goodness Park City isn't very far) She dropped me off in Layton on her way back to Logan and thus concluded our trip. Thanks ladies! It was a blast!

Celebrity Look-alikes

I'm not sure what I think. Do you think its very accurate?

Tell me I don't want a kitten

Cats have never appealed to me before. I've never minded them, but being allergic has always kept me at a distance. Then I got married and we moved into Matt's parent's basement. They have two cats. Suddenly, I'm not allergic anymore! At least not to the extent I was before. Its totally true what they say, if you spend enough time with something you are allergic to, you can build up the immunities you need to handle being around it!

Now Matt loves cats. He's always grown up with them and I've promised him we can have a cat someday. But suddenly, everywhere we go I see adorable kittens and he is the one who has to be the grownup and tell me "not now". Tell me I don't want a kitten!

I don't know if its my nurturing instincts kicking in and I just want another tiny animal to care for, but I seriously want a kitten! Matt tells me to think logically. Wait till we have a house with a garage, for the litter box. Wait till you are home all day and can watch the kitten and care for it. Wait until you aren't pregnant, so you don't have to worry about the germs and cleaning up after it. Tell me I don't want a kitten!

If we got a kitten, my family would never come over again! Most of my siblings are allergic to cats and would have problems being in our house if we got a kitty. Tell me I don't want a kitten!

I need some help, because my will power is almost gone! I have come very close to calling a few people with ads on KSL for adorable little kittens. Every time we drive by the Humane Society sign I pick out which cats I think are the cutest. And every time we go to the pet store to get dog food, I stroll by the kitties for sale and ache to take one home. Tell me I don't want a kitten!

What's in a Name?

As everyone knows, one of the biggest questions you get asked while pregnant is "So what names are you thinking about?" Some people have their names picked out from the moment they find out they are pregnant. "If its a boy its going to be ____ and if its a girl its going to be ____." That is perfectly fine and works well for some people. Matt and I, however, are not those people. I firmly believe you can't know the name for sure until you see the child. Don't get me wrong, Matt and I have names picked out. We have it narrowed down and will probably be 99.9% sure of the child's name by the time we find out the sex. But we are not going to tell anybody the name, or any names we like for that matter, until the baby is born. We have many reasons for not wanting to share the name until his or her birth day and here is why:

I had a friend who was trying to decide between three names she liked. She told her mother-in-law the names and her mother-in-law really liked one of them. So she went out and bought a whole bunch of stuff with that name on it. Well, then my friend was stuck. I probably would have changed the name out of spite, but she was nice about it and her son was thereby named by his grandmother.

I have another friend who told her family the name they had chosen. The family then spent the next two hours making fun of the name. Coming up with nicknames and ways that child could be tortured for having that name in elementary school. After that, the name was ruined for them and they ended up changing it to something else by the time the baby was born.

Bad associations. When my sister told me they were naming their son Joshua, I was less than thrilled. I dated a guy named Josh and he turned out to be a really big jerk. So until little Josh was born, I had bad associations with that name. The minute I held my new tiny nephew I knew the name Joshua was perfect and I've loved it ever since. But I almost wish I hadn't known his name until I saw him. Then I wouldn't have had those bad associations to begin with.

Another person I know had her little girl's name all picked out from the time she knew what she was having. She loved this name and had wanted to use it for a daughter for many years. Her little girl was born and she looked at her tiny little face, and the name didn't fit. She just didn't like it for her daughter once she had seen her.

Matt and I went out to dinner with his family Saturday night and it was really funny because when the name question came up, we started like we usually do and threw out ridiculous names. "We're thinking Rastis Bo-didilly or Thadeus for a boy and Christina Miss for a girl." (Chris Miss Carroll, get it?) They laughed but didn't drop the subject like most people do when we throw out funny names. They wanted to know what names we were thinking of. So we told them how we wanted to keep it a secret until the baby was born. They didn't seem to like that very much. We told them a few reasons why we weren't sharing our choices with anyone, but they still tried to convince us that they wouldn't do or say anything to ruin a name for us. Nor would they name the child for us. I don't really believe they would do anything to ruin a name for us, I don't really believe anyone would, but I still want to keep it a secret, sorry. So you can ask, you can suggest, and you can pester all you want. But I'm sorry, no names for you.