B&B

Video Debut!

2012-01-27T18:00:00.000-08:00

Home again, Home again

2012-01-26T21:44:00.000-08:00

We (Ben, Ethan! and myself) made it home! Leaving the hospital was sort of bizarre. I kept expecting someone to come tackle us and tell us we couldn't take Ethan home with us. Turns out, we can ... and we did!

Right now, Ben and Ethan are cuddling on the couch. Ben has been so amazing through all of this. I'm still so proud of him not passing out during the labor! And he even managed to cut the umbilical cord. His exact words were, "Yeah, it wasn't that big of a deal". (What I've been telling him for 8 months now!)

Anyway, I'll write more about the "birth story" later but I wanted to share a quick update and let people know we are alive.

Now, to try and get a nap in before Ethan realizes it's time to eat.

I got crafty

2012-01-25T08:55:00.000-08:00

I've been planning to make this for months but it's seriously been too uncomfortable to spend that much time bent over a piece of fabric. On Monday I finally forced myself to go to the fabric store and I grabbed some okay fabric that was on sale. There were cuter patterns but I had a feeling this would be a very subpar quality product when I was through so I didn't want to buy expensive fancy stuff and end up ruining it.

Turns out I was right. I think it definitely turned out okay but my sewing machine is old and doesn't do a very good job. ... Or else I don't know how to set it to the right settings. Or maybe both. The stitches are never even so I couldn't add the "finished look" around the edges because that just made it look like a tattered rag instead of what it was supposed to be.

I also realized I have no idea how to sew on velcro. And, once again, my sewing machine did not want to help me out with this. I had to sew, unstitch, sew, unstitch and sew at least a bazillion times. And it was seriously a total of maybe 4 inches. Who would have thought it would take me 3 times as long to sew 4 inches as it would to put together the entire rest of the project. Blah!

Anyway, I'm glad it's done. I really need to figure out how to sew velcro though. It's still bugging me. I tried watching a you tube clip which made me think it really must be my sewing machine and not me because the demonstrator made it look so easy! Is it normal for a sewing machine to hate velcro so much? It is sewable velcro after all.

Anyway, here is my final product:

An Infant Car Seat Canopy.

I figured the hassle of spending one day trying to sew two velcro straps was still worth the amount we saved in making this. Even if it isn't as pretty as the ones you can find online.

And Another! Plus an update on "How I'm Feeling"

2012-01-24T21:44:00.000-08:00

Well, no one has guessed the name yet, although I purposefully posted those letters first since they were also in the other name we were considering. The name we chose and Hans just happen to have several of the same letters. Plus it entertains me to throw people off. Mwahaha (That's my evil laugh for those of you who didn't know I had one). I also figured I should post another letter "just in case" since I'm having contractions about every 5 minutes right now. Luckily, they don't hurt very bad at all. Just a little bit of back pain and then it goes away. Honestly, I'd take this back pain over the stretching muscle/rib pain I've been feeling for the last 6 months any day.

If these contractions go away then I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow and we'll figure out how much longer my doctor thinks it'll be before the big day.

I am still crossing my fingers Baby N will wait until Saturday but I told Ben yesterday that things were finally starting to feel "different" so I didn't think he'd actually wait until then. I've also noticed a lot more of those "signs of labor" that we were told to watch for.

Aaah. So crazy.

Anyway, enjoy the letter "E".

39 Weeks!

2012-01-20T09:21:00.000-08:00

Let's play a little catch up - First, there was me at weeks 3-22.

Then there was me from 23-29 weeks.

Since then my stomach, for some weird reason, has kept growing. So, I'll be a little narcissistic for a moment and share the last few weeks of pictures of it with you.

Week 30

Week 31

Week 32

Week 33

Week 34

Week 35

Week 36

Week 37

Week 38

Week 39

!!!!

And I just got an email saying my baby is now the size of a Watermelon. Yeah. I'm definitely feeling like that is about right.

Living, Learning and a Touch of Perfect

2012-01-18T23:30:00.000-08:00

Last year it snowed just a few days before Thanksgiving and UW closed it doors for classes. Well, the snow stopped and Seattle turned into a sunny snow-covered paradise. Seeing that the snow had stopped and the sun was shining bright, Ben (being used to walking to school, uphill both ways, in the snow), woke up early and hopped on a bus and headed to class. He didn't even notice anything was different from a normal school day until he pulled on the doors leading into the building where his classes are held. He probably even tried the door next to the one he pulled on just to make sure. Then he pulled out his phone and realized classes had been canceled yet again despite the fact that the sun was shining and the snow had stopped. (The roads, however, were still pretty icy and terrible)

That's when we learned.

This year - Tuesday night to be more precise - the snow came down. And it came down a lot (for Seattle). It was all over the news. Warnings to stay home and avoid the snow-ocalypse. So we figured UW would once again cancel their classes and we'd have a nice relaxing day at home.

Turns out we were right.

The best part was, this time we were ready for snow closure day two (Thursday!) even though the snow has stopped and a wintery peaceful Seattle wonderland has settled over the area leaving a nice sheet of ice over pretty much every surface you can imagine. So, learning from years past, Ben will not be waking up early and trekking to class. Instead, he'll wake up and figure out where his bus has been re-routed to in order to avoid hills and he'll head to the pharmacy he interns at.

I was secretly hoping he'd just skip it but then I reminded myself that the whole reason we are in Seattle is for him to get this experience, so I can't really complain. Besides, it was really nice to have today to just hang out. And, as we sat on the couch cuddling under blankets and chatting, napping, and reading books, I realized that today might be one of the last days we have where it was just the two of us before the little one joins our family. It was at that moment that I really wished I could pause time and make it last just a little longer. Without being too cheesy, but probably still a little cheesy, I hope to remember today for a long time. It's definitely going down in my book as "perfect".

Hooray for well-timed snow days and happy memories.

Another Letter

2012-01-18T20:28:00.000-08:00

Here's another letter in Baby Newman-to-be's name!

The Showering of Baby Newman

2012-01-15T21:32:00.000-08:00

A couple of wonderful gals from our ward threw me a wonderful baby shower this last week.

Thanks Emily and Liz! It was so much fun and absolutely adorable!

The pie layout was beautiful!

And they made Peanut Butter Oreo Ice Cream pie just for me.

I always feel a little self-conscious when things are so centered around me but everyone that came was so sweet and Emily knows me so well! That oreo pie proved it.

And a few more pictures just because I loved how cute it all looked.

Yep. I'm starting to feel really big even if everyone says how "small" I am.

As I look over these pictures I'm reminded again and again of how much I love our ward. I've made so many great friends since we moved here and I know that I'll be taken care of if there ever happens to be a need. I can't imagine living so far away from family and having a baby without this sort of support. It seems completely overwhelming.

Lucky for me, I don't have to worry about that. Instead, my biggest struggle thus far was narrowing down which pictures to include ...

And there are lots of first time and experienced moms in the ward that have either gone through, or are going through, the exact same things I am. It's just nice to know I have so many people to go to when questions come along.

I actually left off quite a few of the pictures because I already posted them on facebook but it was so fun to be surrounded by so many friends for a few hours. And now that the baby shower is over, Baby N can make his appearance any time. Although, if he'd wait until after this snowstorm passes, I'd really appreciate it.

And, on a random side note, I thought these blocks were adorable so I decided to make them for future Baby N. Also, this letter just so happens to be in his name.

I'll post the entire block set (which will spell his name) once it's "official". And by official, I think that means on the birth certificate.

We'd probably just decide now but committing to it just seems so surreal. Do we really have the power to name a human being? I still can't fathom being a mom yet. Guess we'll see if things change come "B-Day".

The twelve months of 2011

2012-01-08T21:39:00.000-08:00

I thought our 2011 was pretty eventful. Some events more welcome than others but it made up our year and I wanted to compile it all in one blog post. These are the things I remember about 2011. (And some catching up from our Christmas and New Years).

JANUARY

We started off the year having a weekly game night with our friends. Bang was usually the game of choice so Ben and I obviously had to dress up.

We also spent Martin Luther King, Junior day serving our community at the local food bank with some friends. While it may not always be easy to get in the car and on our way, once we're serving we have a blast and we never regret it.

FEBRUARY

Turns out I didn't take a single picture in February. At least not that I can find on my computer. But I do know that February was the month I started training for my Triathlon that I was planning to run at the end of August. I worked really hard for the next few months trying to keep my knee from hurting every time I ran and eventually, after several spin classes and elliptical workouts trying to strengthen it, I was able to run on the treadmill for an hour straight without it swelling and bothering me so much I couldn't walk for a month. And then, shortly after this accomplishment I found out some exciting news that put all my hard work on hold. But that's a different month's recap..

MARCH

In March, the sun came out and we got to do all sorts of exciting things. Like ... I tried to donate blood but they turned me down ... again.

We spent an afternoon rollerblading along Alki Beach and I even got Ben to smile for a picture. I think this may be my favorite of the year.

We also tried out a restaurant several of Ben's classmates often talked about - XXX Rootbeer.

Turns out neither of us was hungry enough for what they were about to put in front of us. This food was HUGE.

Exhibit A: Cheesesteak the size of my head.

Exhibit B: Rootbeer float one and a half of my hands high!

And then came the joys of service. I was babysitting for a couple of families in the ward pretty regularly at this point. It was nice being able to help out others in need but at the same time I was just having a blast doing it. I don't know how helpful I was to the parents but I know I enjoyed every minute spent with these families.

Ben even came some days to help. This was the day Ben realized you have to be really careful what you say around kids because they always remember the one thing you don't want them to. For example, "Let's water these plants so they don't die". Of that statement, this little man decided he wanted to focus on the word "Die". Soon everything was dying and Ben felt horrible.

And finally, just going back to the start of this month, the sun was out and life was good. I never get tired of how much water there is around us. It's so relaxing and I could spend all day every day in the sun on one of the rocky beaches reading a book.

It's even more fun when Ben tags along.

APRIL

I was still hard at work training for my tri and Ben rewarded me with an amazing birthday.

We spent a lot of this month just going on bike rides and enjoying nature in between Ben studying for tests and getting his internships set up for the summer.

MAY

Oh May. What unexpected adventures you held. I spent a lot of this month helping out a friend at high school track meets. This was what I looked like after one extra rainy day on the field:

And, since the rain delayed the track meet I got to go straight from there to a little girls night at the Melting Pot. Luckily, I have great friends who brought me a comb and elastic so I could try to look some what decent out in public.

Ben was inducted into the Rho Chi Honor Society - an honor he gets to keep for life even if he does fail his classes once this baby comes:

This was the month we finally made it out to see the Mariners play. As you can see, Ben kept the sticker on his hat to keep from getting beat up by gangsters. ... Or, just to look cool. I can't remember his exact reasoning for it.

Then, the middle of the month brought some shocking news! We found out we were going to be having a baby! It didn't start to seem real for several more months after this since I managed to get off easy the first trimester. A few days after we found out the news, I got in the car and drove down to Utah for my sister's graduation.

And, of course, I had to get a picture of my Grandpa doing what he always did in the spot he always did it. I wish I would have known that'd be the last time I saw him. I'd have taken him up on the offer to go see a movie.

After the graduation festivities were over, Keri and I climbed into the car and quickly discovered my battery was dead. Luckily, it was before our journey started so we weren't stranded in the middle of nowhere.

JUNE

Since Keri was visiting we did all sorts of fun things.

There was kayaking:

And hiking to Hidden Lake(s):

And a visit to Leavenworth:

As well as a quick rainy trip up to Vancouver, BC and the suspension Bridge:

Which inspired Ben to produce this video that you may or may not remember.

And then Ben turned the big 2-9 on the last day of the month. His birthday was full of excitement and we got a chance to go on a camping trip with friends the very next day and he was able to use his new present - an inflatable Kayak!

JULY

We went camping a few more times and got a chance to take the Kayak out on the Pacific Ocean.

We spent a lot of time just hunging out with friends and enjoying the sun

and saw some amazing fireworks.

Then Keri headed home for a family reunion. I was hoping Ben and I would get to go as well but the apartments just weren't renting. Unfortunately, they rented two days after the deadline for us to make it back to Utah for it.

Oh well. Life is funny like that.

AUGUST

We celebrated our 4th Anniversary a few weeks early and headed up to the Salish Lodge where I got an amazing massage and, in the morning, enjoyed their 7 course breakfast. Uncle Brett, you were not mistaken, their hot chocolate was delicious.

A few weeks later (on our anniversary) my Grandpa was called back to live with Heavenly Father. And, while I've been struggling with this ever since, it was great to be surrounded by family and to feel their love.

It also gave me the opportunity to see several of my cousins that I'd either never met, or that it had been several years since I'd seen them. It was definitely a bittersweet month.

SEPTEMBER

Was a month I'd been counting down to for quite a long time.

We took our 'babymoon' to Hawaii! I've already shared lots of blogs and pictures on this so I'll just share one of my favorites.

And the day after we got back from Hawaii we found out we would be having a baby Boy in January! Of course the day after the ultrasound was the first time I was certain I could feel him moving. In fact, he was moving all over the place. It was the most amazing feeling. I decided that he'd rested up the day before (since he refused to move for the ultrasound tech) since he was exhausted from getting tossed around in waves for a week straight.

OCTOBER

I think my favorite October event was driving down to Corvallis, Oregon to watch the Cougars play Football. The only downside to the trip was driving back after the game. We were all exhausted from our cheering.

And then there was the annual Halloween Party (Theme "Hollywood") where we made our debut on the red carpet as Edward and Bella from Breaking Dawn - Twilight Series. (It has to be Breaking Dawn because that's the only one where Bella is pregnant and drinks blood to keep her vampire/human fetus alive).

NOVEMBER

We spent Thanksgiving here in Seattle with a bunch of friends. It was a blast and I made a pretty delicious turkey (at least I thought it was good). But I, once again, forgot to pull out my camera so I have absolutely no record of it. After dinner was through, all the girls in attendance helped make beaded bracelets for the Children's hospital while the guys played some crazy billiards game (I can never remember the name of it) downstairs. (The deal was that they could play without the kids around as long as they cleaned up all the dishes after dinner). It was such an enjoyable day that, while I missed being with family, it still felt like we were surrounded by people we love and care about. I realized that I had a lot to be thankful for.

DECEMBER

This month was actually pretty laid back and relaxing for a December. Of course, since I've all but declared myself on bed rest it sort of has to be.

We decorated the house

And finally decorated the gingerbread house:

Then, the night before Christmas ...

we had a Christmas Eve dinner and a program with several friends from the ward.

The dinner was delicious and the program was perfect.

We all took turns contributing.

After songs had been sung and stories had been told it was time to reenact the Nativity story.

We made due with whatever props we could find around the house.

That adorable spotted kiddo is, of course, a sheep.

Then, after the evening came to an end and it was time for kids to get tucked into bed, Ben and I went on a drive to look at Christmas lights around Seattle.

I love Christmas lights. There's just something about them that makes me smile. Ben doesn't really care about them all that much but he knows it makes me happy so he humors me and that just makes it even more enjoyable.

When we got home there was a Christmas Eve present waiting for us to be opened. Traditionally, my sisters and I used to open one gift on Christmas Eve and it was usually pajamas. This year it was a story book called Snow Angels.

It was perfect and just made me think of how excited I am to start our own family traditions in the years to come.

On Christmas we were able to Skype with both my mom and dad and Ben's family so it almost felt like we were with them all. We also took a long nap and spent a few hours over at a friends house chatting and enjoying some amazing food despite them having an unexpected power outage for a few hours.

Then, on New Years Eve we went to yet another friends' house and rang in the new year eating some delicious food and playing Quelf. If you haven't played this game you should. It's a perfect party game and made for a very entertaining evening.

I also lucked out and got to kiss the the love of my life as the ball dropped. Life doesn't get much better than that.

All, in all, 2011 was a great year and I know there will never be another year like it; but part of me can't wait for all the trials and adventures that 2012 is about to bring.

Stay tuned ... the countdown is in the teens!

Happy Sunday

2012-01-01T21:46:00.000-08:00

I stumbled across this video today and of course it made me cry (it doesn't take much lately) but I loved it so much I had to share it with you.

It's short but sweet. And there were so many cute little comments. It just makes sense that it'd be forever. And, for some reason, I love that facebook was mentioned. Maybe because it makes it sound that much simpler to show your love?

I especially loved "Not just a spoonful, a ladle full of love every day".

I looked in my freezer and what did I see?

2011-12-26T16:58:00.000-08:00

Two ice cream cartons just waiting for me!

Ben had brought me such a nice surprise!

Two cartons of ice cream right before my eyes.

It wasn't really so, but it seemed to me ...

turns out Ben just put back an empty carton and got my hopes all up. (Sorry I couldn't make this last part fit into the song)

Luckily the other carton of ice cream had enough in it for me to get a decent bowl full.

Four Years Later

2011-12-23T21:28:00.000-08:00

... And we finally did our Gingerbread House Kit!

In fact, it actually ended up being quite a learning experience.

I learned that Ben and I think very differently when it comes to things like mixing frosting. Ben thinks he's really funny. (Okay, I admit that he is really funny and even when a mess is imminent, I can't help but laugh at his antics ... eventually).

But in the end, all that matters is that our little candies could finally come together after sitting in our Christmas box for four years to make a happy gingerbread home!

I love watching Ben at work on creative projects.

And then Ben was standing in the kitchen with the camera and I knew he wasn't really taking a picture of the finished house from a "good angle". ... Yes, I'm attached to that cord. I've resorted to attaching a heating pad to my back. And to add to the warm awesomeness, I can't reach the sink or dishwasher so ...

After a short while our masterpiece was completed and I can now present to you the final work of art:

(in case you can't tell, that's a snowman out front with little chocolate twig arms ... unfortunately, he doesn't have a face)

And then, in the process of taking this picture, I discovered Ben doesn't like "leaning in" in pictures. So instead I wind up with a picture of half a husband!

Luckily, we were able to compromise and pull the house forward so he didn't have to lean and I got to see his whole face in the picture.

I'm glad Ben humors me sometimes. I've been wanting to decorate this house for years but I'd usually forget about it until after Christmas. This year he was nice enough to sit down and do it with me.

I definitely appreciate the time he spends with me. There's never a dull moment with him around. But I'm sure anyone who knows him, already knows this. It's just one of the many reasons that I love that he's my family now. And even when we can't be with our families during the holidays I still feel very much at home with him no matter who we are with or what we're doing, especially when it's things like decorating gingerbread houses, looking at Christmas lights and watching cheesy Christmas movies.

I wish we could see all our family this Christmas but I'm very happy with the one person I do get to spend it with. I'm still trying to process that this will be our last Christmas just the two of us. But that's a blog for another time.

Merry Christmas! ... in a day and a few hours

Likes and Dislikes at 34 weeks

2011-12-17T17:48:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, our little guy turned 34 (prenatal) weeks old!

Some things he likes:

laying sideways in my stomach. (I'm pretty sure he spends most of his time in this position and not in a head down position as shown above)

Sleeping

Moving

Kicking

Elbowing

Nutrients

Christmas music! (Or maybe that's just me getting excited for Christmas)

Some things he really does not like:

Me laying on my stomach

Me lifting heavy things

Me trying to clip my toenails

My ribs

Weird names that Ben and I pretend we're going to name him.

And I'm pretty sure he gets annoyed at his hiccups since they usually inspire several of the things on the "things he likes" list.

I'm guessing there are lots of other things that he "likes" and "does not like" but I'll have to wait to meet him before I can tell you for certain.

Now we know it all...

2011-11-30T21:57:00.001-08:00

It's official. We've graduated. We now know everything there is to know about giving birth, breastfeeding, and taking care of our soon-to-be newborn.

Game on.

.....

Or not.

Although, we definitely know a lot more than we did a few months ago. We finished our seven week birthing class yesterday and I do feel a lot more prepared for the events that are going to unfold here in about 58 days but ... at what point do I gain the inspiring knowledge that makes me all-knowing when it comes to raising my kids?

I know my parents had this while I was growing up so I'm just waiting for mine to kick in any day now.

Pumpkins!

2011-11-24T11:35:00.001-08:00

I thought the hard part of getting pumpkins carved was actually buying the pumpkins.

Turns out I was wrong. A month after buying them, they're still sitting on our kitchen table ...

Oh well. They make a nice "harvest" decoration, I guess.

So many projects ...

2011-11-15T22:58:00.000-08:00

Normally the next line would be "so little time". Unfortunately, that's not really the problem.

In my case, the problem is that anything that involves me sitting and working on something in my lap results in intense lower rib/upper abdomen pain. It almost feels like my ribs are bruised or like I did way too many crunches (of course I haven't done crunches in 7 months so I know that's not really the problem). I try to be good and write in my journal but I get a quarter through my entry and I'm already dying. I bought a ton of fabric so I could make some cute burp cloths. I've managed two but those were not exactly delightful experiences since they require leaning over my sewing machine to make.

I want to make homemade cards, sew a ton of different things, scrapbook, write in my journal and the list goes on and on. Unfortunately, the only things I can really manage are sitting in a reclining position on the couch or lying in bed. Actually, lying in bed is my only really truly comfortable spot. Even the couch is a bit too restricting for me. For the last ... well, since about week 13 this has been going on and I'm just so tired of it. I hate having to go lie in bed at 8pm because it's the only place to go where I'm not "dying". (Why yes, yes I can be a bit melodramatic).

I guess I should be getting a lot read since I can definitely read in this position but, for some reason, I can't even do that. I've been reading books but they're all so "three star". I need to find another book that I can just tear through. Or at least one that keeps my interest peaked from start to finish.

Oh well.

I have to keep reminding myself that there are things worse than being uncomfortable. I was not throwing up constantly for the first three months. I am not on bed rest. I'm not experiencing skull crushing headaches every day, I don't crave paint chips or clay, I get to sleep in when I have restless/sleepless nights and I have a wonderful husband who tries to help make me as comfortable as possible. And, most importantly, at least I get to experience the aches and pains of pregnancy as there are many people out there who would welcome the opportunity but just aren't able.

I guess I just needed to complain for a minute so I could put everything else into perspective.

Hm. I guess finishing those burp cloths isn't the most important thing in the world after all.

Turns out I'll probably survive this minor inconvenience.

The Watch: A modern day fairy tale ... sort of.

2011-11-14T13:31:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time there was a watch. The most beautiful watch in all the land. One day, the fair maiden walked into a store to buy some jeans and her eyes fell upon this beauty and she couldn't look away. What made this watch even better was that it was on sale!

The fair maiden quickly paid for the watch and went on her way. She wore the watch day in and day out. Where she went, the watch was never far from her. Then, one tragic day, she looked down and the watch had stopped. However, she didn't let this small flaw deter her. She continued to wear the watch but after a few weeks she started to leave it behind. And then one day, she put it in a drawer and that's where it called home for a long long time.

Years passed and one day she was cleaning out the drawer and stumbled upon her most beautiful watch. Instead of tucking it back into its spot she restored it to its rightful place on her wrist. Of course it still didn't work but she was hoping that wearing it would remind her to get it fixed. And then ... her prince charming (whom I am sure we'll hear more about in other fantastic fairy tales) surprised her and somehow got a hold of it and got the precious piece of metal (also known as a battery) replaced at the local store of Fossils.

Now she not only had the most beautiful watch in all the land but it worked! And then, just when she couldn't be happier, the little leather strap that held the watch band broke. But this didn't keep the fair maiden from wearing her watch, it just made it get caught on a lot more things and made it slightly less convenient but it was still just as beautiful. And then another part broke but the fair maiden was not to give up on her watch yet! She used a magical mixture dubbed "Monster Glue" and went back to wearing her watch day in and day out.

Then one day, she decided just to see what other watches the world was offering. And, as she browsed and browsed and browsed and browsed, it turned out that her sort of broken but still wearable watch was still the most beautiful watch in all the land. ... Although, there might be one possibility that is nearly as beautiful. Too bad it's $130 which is waaaay out of the fair maiden's price range. ... Even if she does have a prince charming.

The end! Or is it?

Epilogue:

Also, I'm just wondering why they quit making watches that I like. ... That's all.

Baby Newman's Video Debut

2011-11-13T15:17:00.000-08:00

I was laying in bed about a week ago trying to fall asleep and the little guy was just kicking up a storm so I pulled out the video on my phone and decided to record it for a few minutes.

To other people it is probably not an exciting video but it's something I'd like to remember for a long long time. I love the feeling of him kicking me. I hope it's a sign that he's growing bigger and stronger.

Every time I watch it I giggle a little because I can't help but imagine those movies when an alien parasite starts to grow and move underneath the person's skin. Or, for example, in The Mummy when those beetle bugs burrow in. These movements I feel and see definitely remind me of that. Luckily, I know what sort of parasite I have living under my skin. And it's one that I'm already completely in love with and I haven't even met him yet.

So before you watch this video, I just have to say that I apologize for the fact that in order to see Baby Newman's kicks you also have to stare at my side/stomach for a full minute and a half. Right around :30 he gets really active and then dies down towards the end so ... watch it at your own risk. If you dare.

Third Trimester!

2011-11-12T21:25:00.001-08:00

So you may have looked at the blog that showed pictures of my growing stomach. That blog showed me at weeks 3-22.

So first I'll do a quick recap:

Me at week 3

Week 13

Week 19

Week 22

Now on to the never before seen ...

Week 23

Week 24

Week 25

Week 26

Week 27

(Still 27 weeks but I wanted to show off my tummy in a different shirt)

Week 28

Week 29

I just had another doctor's appointment on Tuesday and it sounds like the baby is growing at all the right rates and his heartbeat is where it should be. Those appointments are always a huge peace of mind. I love my doctor and she's so great about answering my questions and making it so I don't feel silly for some of the things I do ask.

I still can't believe we have less than 11 weeks until our little guy is due!

Glucose Test

2011-11-08T15:01:00.000-08:00

I have my Glucose Test in about an hour and 15 minutes. So what am I doing while trying not to think about food and especially trying not to think about that bowl of cookies in my kitchen?

Reading food blogs.

Yeah. I guess I like to torture myself.

On the plus side, at least this test is keeping me from eating that entire bowl of cookies we have sitting in our kitchen.

A little Hawaii is the perfect cure for any rainy day

2011-10-21T11:39:00.001-07:00

This isn't a recap of our most recent trip to Hawaii by any means. But I was thinking about all the stuff we did during our trip to Maui and I have decided that everyone needs to experience a bamboo forest.

I know I posted a lot of pictures to facebook so instead of re-posting them here, I'm going to let you experience a "chase" through a bamboo forest.

Also, If you ever get a chance to go in one, I'd highly recommend it. I couldn't quit taking pictures. It was definitely something I'd never experienced before and I'd gladly hike two miles to experience it again.

In a Dark, Dark Room and the book of Other Scary stories like ... The Green Ribbon

2011-10-12T12:25:00.000-07:00

I thought this post was appropriate for two reasons. First, it's almost Halloween and it is a book of "scary" stories. Second, I grew up on this book. I don't remember why or how we got it but I have almost all the stories in it memorized. It is a book written so that kids can read the stories so they're all short, easy and sweet.

My family still tells one of the stories from this book around campfires. Both because it is super cheesy and because it's easy to remember.

Let me share this story with you:

The Green Ribbon!

Once there was a girl named Jenny.

She was like all the other girls,

except for one thing.

She always wore a green ribbon around her neck.

There was a boy named Alfred

in her class.

Alfred liked Jenny,

and Jenny like Alfred.

One day he asked her,

"Why do you wear that ribbon

all the time?"

"I cannot tell you," said Jenny.

But Alfred kept asking,

"Why do you wear it?"

And Jenny would say,

"It is not important."

Jenny and Alfred grew up

and fell in love.

One day they got married,

After their wedding,

Alfred said,

"Now that we are married,

you must tell me about the green ribbon."

"You still must wait,"

said Jenny.

"I will tell you

when the right time comes."

Years passed.

Alfred and Jenny grew old.

One day Jenny became very sick.

The doctor told her

she was dying.

Jenny called Alfred to her side.

"Alfred," she said,

"now i can tell you about the green ribbon.

Untie it,

and you will see

why I could not tell you before."

Slowly and carefully,

Alfred untied the ribbon,

And Jenny's head fell off!

... ahaha. I laugh every time I read this story. And sometimes if you ever see someone in my family tie a green ribbon around their neck and walk around the house, this is why.

It's funny how childhood memories can make a pretty lame book of scary stories into something you have to buy when you see it at the bookstore.

Food: More specifically, Hamburgers

2011-10-11T18:39:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I ate this:

Here's Ben eating his:

As you can see he's really enjoying that Hamburger.

This place, Uneeda Burger, was suggested by a few different people and we knew we needed to try it out since Ben is a big hamburger fan (as in he orders hamburgers at almost all the restaurants we go to even if it is a Seafood/Italian/Greek/Mexican restaurant).

The hamburgers we got here were pretty good but I don't think they beat out my favorite Seattle hamburger place. However, on the plus side, the dining area was a lot more atmospheric than "our" hamburger joint, mostly because that place is about the size of our closet. Either way it was fun to be in Fremont for a little while to see the weird things people in Fremont do -- I've decided that taking this short trip to Fremont (a neighborhood in Seattle) is practically like going to the moon as far as experiencing oddities and the unnatural.

Anyway, if you're ever in Seattle and want a good hamburger I'd suggest Rain City Burgers. If you like hamburgers a bit on the spicy side, definitely go for the Sounders Burger. That's what I get every time and I've never been disappointed. Ben doesn't remember what he's gotten but he's thoroughly enjoyed each them all.

If you're vegetarian ... I can't really suggest anything for you since that's so far beyond my comprehension.

Amazon

2011-10-10T10:15:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to let everyone know how much I adore amazon. And at the same time I, or at least my wallet, loathe them for making me adore them so much.

Now, not only can I add things from their site to my wishlist, but they've given me a button for Chrome that lets me add all the randomness I find while browsing the web that I want to remember to buy some day when I'm rich, to my Amazon wishlist as well.

Talk about best thing ever.

Now, when Ben wants to know what to get me, he'll see that iPad at the top of my list! ...

... Hey, they don't call it a "wish"list because it's realistic.

On Drugs

2011-10-04T15:39:00.000-07:00

This is a normal textbook (weighs in at about 3 lbs or 700 pages or 1 and 1/4 inches thick):

This is your book on drugs:

(weighing in at 10 lbs, over 2600 pages and a whopping 3 and 1/8th inches thick)

Further evidence that you really should just stay away from drugs. They're bad for you.

And in case you want to see them side by side:

Unfortunately, this picture just makes my textbook look tiny instead of making Ben's textbook look as large as it really is.

Is Pregnancy Brain a Thing?

2011-10-02T19:03:00.000-07:00

Ha ha! We've been doing dishes in this machine for quite some time now. Out of the blue, today Brooke decided to use different soap for some reason. Again, ha ha! She blames "pregnancy brain" for the incident.

About me: A-Z

2011-09-25T23:31:00.000-07:00

I saw this on yet another fun, creative blog I found called A Sorta Fairytale. And since I'm trying to be better about getting back in the habit of blogging, I thought I'd give this post a go.

A. Age: 26
B. Bed size: Queen. But I sometimes wonder if we should downsize to a twin since Ben ends up crowding me to the edge almost every night. (Not that I"m really complaining. I'm glad he likes me enough to cuddle with me in his sleep!)
C. Chore that you hate: Cleaning the bathtub. And dishes. I really don't like dishes. They never end.
D. Dogs: I like them better than cats. Probably because I'm not allergic. But my family has always ended up with really dumb ones. And I mean really dumb.
E. Essential start to your day: Internet. ... Some might go as far as saying I'm slightly addicted. They wouldn't be wrong.
F. Favorite color: Purple. But when pairing multiple colors I really love pinks and browns and greens together.
G. Gold or Silver: Silver. Or white gold because then it's gold but it still looks like silver. Win/Win
H. Height: 5'4 3/4"
I. Instruments you play: The Clarinet. Although it's been more than a few years since I pulled it out to practice.
J. Job Title: Apartment Manager/Resident Manager
K. Kids: Little Guy aka Baby N aka I promise we're trying to think of a name
L. Live: Seattle!
M. Mother's Name: Teri
N. Nickname: Little Stream and Brookie
O. Overnight hospital stays: Only time I was in the hospital so far is when I was born. That'll change in a few months when I go to give birth. It still seems so surreal when I think about it all.
P. Pet peeves: Blinkers that get left on. Blinkers that don't get used. ... Seattle drivers in general.
Q. Quote from a movie: Pretty much everything Flynn Rider says in Tangled. (I really love that movie)
R. Right or left handed: Right handed.
S. Siblings: Three younger sisters. They are 24, 19, and almost 8 (in January).
T. Time you wake up: I usually wake up at 7:54 to shut off my alarm and then I go back to sleep until 9:30 or 10. .. I live a hard life.
U. Underwear: Yep?
V. Vegetable you hate: Olives. Okay, technically they are a fruit but I dislike them so much that they needed to be mentioned. I did try to like them once. That attempt resulted in gagging and spitting out the offending "vegetable".
W. What makes you run late: Sleep. I love sleep.
X. X-Rays you've had: I had an MRI once. That was fun. At least now I know my brain is not full of tumors. This was actually a real concern of mine since I was old enough to know what tumors were.
Y. Yummy food that you make: I think I make a lot of yummy food but that's just because I've been lucky enough to find yummy recipes.
Z. Zoo animal: I love the sleek looking cats -- Jaguars, Tigers, Lions, Snow Leopards. And if they're actually doing something other than sleeping when we visit, I could spend all day watching them.

This is my hair

2011-09-24T16:56:00.000-07:00

It's been 9 months since my last hair cut. I decided to go a bit shorter than usual. I'm pretty happy with it but I'm sort of wishing I'd asked for more layers. Maybe next time.

Over half way!

2011-09-23T15:25:00.000-07:00

I've been taking pictures of my tummy every week since I found out I was pregnant.

I may find it way more entertaining than everyone else to see my tummy grow but I'm sharing my pictures with the blogosphere anyway!

Week 3:

Week 4:

Week 5:

Week 6:

Week 7:

Week 8:

Week 9:

Week 10:

Week 11:

Week 12:

Week 13: (I think the stomach makes its first appearance this week)

Week 14: (And then I think I may have subconsciously been sucking in for the right picture below)

Week 15:

Week 16:

Week 17:

Week 18:

Week 19:

Week 20:

Week 21:

Week 22:

And I'm getting a haircut tomorrow so I guess you can sort of see my hair growing and then getting to the point where I no longer want to deal with it being down anymore.

Anyway, I guess we still have another 18 weeks to go so I'll continue taking pictures for my own enjoyment and sharing them with you.

I sewed ...

2011-09-23T14:38:00.000-07:00

a rectangle!

I am planning on filling it with corn for a hot pack since my good hot pack just randomly got shredded somehow and now the corn is spilling out of it.

And while my new hot pack is way cute ... my old ones were definitely really old and ready to be replaced. I think I've had them for at least 10 to 12 years.

I'm excited to finally re-know how to use my sewing machine even though it took signing up for a class at the local sewing and vacuum store. Luckily the class was free. Unfortunately, the fabric and thread is not.

My next project is burp cloths and/or a cover for the hot pack. We'll see how it turns out.

My Visual DNA

2011-09-20T09:12:00.000-07:00

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

When you've been married for as long as me ...

2011-09-19T19:46:00.000-07:00

Once you've been married for 4 years, 1 month and some days you learn a thing or two about your spouse. Something I've learned is that when Ben starts saying gibberish I should just agree or else it will continue and continue until I just give in and go with it.

One such example:

Me: "Ben, I forgot to tell you. I bought you some grapes."
Ben: "You got grape juice!"
Me: "I put the grapes on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator"
Ben: "You got me grape gum! Mmm"
Me: "Yep, I got you grape gum and you will find your grape gum on the bottom shelf of the fridge."
Ben: "Coo'."

I am pretty sure this grape conversation could have continued a LOT longer (I know from experience) but I decided to give in before we got much more into it.

One thing is certain, there's never a dull moment here in our Newman household.

Baby steps

2011-09-19T14:17:00.000-07:00

... or kicks, rather.

I just wanted to document somewhere that Ben felt the baby kicking today. And it wasn't just a little one. He kept doing it over and over for a good 3 or 4 minutes.

Yay. Now Ben knows it's real. Although, hopefully he knew it was real before this point.

I loved Ben's response, "Maybe I should move my hand. It might be making him uncomfortable!"

Me: "...."

Ben: (as I start to laugh) "Don't laugh! He doesn't like that! You just have to sit there completely still."

Me: "That's not going to happen."

A new favorite blog to stalk

2011-09-17T19:22:00.000-07:00

I don't usually do this but I'm sort of in love with a blog I stumbled across the other day. She has crafts and sewing projects and food and all of it seems doable. I'm excited to figure out my sewing machine so I can get to work!

Here's a glimpse at her home page:

And in case you want to take a gander for yourself, her blog can be found by Clicking Here!

The only downside is that there is so much awesomeness that you can literally get lost in it all. One minute it was 10:30pm and the next it was almost 2:00am and I'd bookmarked over twenty different projects I want to work on sometime. Talk about overwhelming!

Great deals!

2011-09-17T12:15:00.000-07:00

I was so excited about how well I did at the JC Penny sale yesterday that I had to share ... again.

I came home from the store with 19 different items and some of those item had 2 outfits or an entire outfit including shirt, shorts and socks. My total out of pocket expense on this "shopping spree" was $21 and a few cents!

Buying clothes made this all seem even more real for me. It's weird finally buying stuff for our kid and not everyone else!

And because pictures are better than words, my shopping trip as seen in picture form:

I promise I'll try to make the next blog post completely unrelated to babies.

You've probably heard...

2011-09-16T18:56:00.000-07:00

So Wednesday morning we didn't know if we'd be using this:

or this:

Either way they're pretty awesome.

But it looks like the pink is getting packed away or returned because our Baby Newman is going to be a BOY!

In case you missed that, we're having a boy and I'm terrified! On the down side, girl clothes are waaaaaay cuter. On the plus side, supposedly boys are easier; although ... I wouldn't really know, which is the reason for my terror. Luckily, each day that passes, and it's only been two, I'm getting more and more excited and less and less terrified for our little guy to be a little guy.

Now for the hard part, coming up with a name that we both like.

Soon!

2011-08-31T18:33:00.000-07:00

I'm getting excited for all the things coming up. And loathing a few of the others.

I really need about 5 or 6 countdowns going on right now but ...

Soon we will be in Hawaii relaxing and enjoying the sun. No more stress ... hopefully.
Soon we will hopefully be finding out if our growing baby is a baby boy or a baby girl.

Soon Ben will be starting up his third year of pharmacy school. (Which means a lot more after school couch naps)

Soon we will be getting end of summer/beginning of the school year move out notices.

Soon we will be putting together our halloween costumes ... Which reminds me, if anyone has a leather ammo belt that I can borrow ... I'd love you forever. (Also, I love Halloween)

Soon we will be paying our medical bills for all our doctor's appointments. (I'm still not sure why it takes 3 to 4 months to get the final bill)

And soon, but thankfully not that soon since there is still a lot to do, we'll be introducing our baby to the world.

Lots of things I can't wait for and a few I wish would just not happen at all but I guess I can't get the fun things without the not so fun stuff.

Grandpa

2011-08-19T11:23:00.000-07:00

Warning: Jumbled pregnant woman's not quite coherent thoughts lie ahead.

It's funny how death works. A few years ago, my Grandpa Huddleston passed away. Of course I was sad that I would no longer get to hug him and give him a kiss and have his mustache tickle my cheek every time I went to his house, but at the same time I knew he was in a better place. He'd been really sick for quite awhile and he was confined to a wheelchair for as long as I could remember. Towards the end of his life he had a hard time remembering things and he just looked ill. Sometimes it was hard to see him because I knew he had to be in pain and he just looked so sick. It was a reminder that soon he wouldn't be with us anymore.

We spent the Christmas Eve and Christmas morning that year just before he passed away at my Grandparents' house. And I remember when he found out that I'd gotten married earlier that year. He was so excited. It was fun to share the events of my wedding with him again, even though he'd been there and experienced them himself a few months before.

At his funeral he looked so healthy. I can't remember a time when I went to a viewing and the person looked like themselves, but my grandpa looked so happy and healthy it was hard to be sad. I knew he was in heaven without his wheelchair enjoying all the wonderful things heaven has to offer.

But yesterday I got a phone call that literally knocked me off my feet. I'm pretty sure I stopped breathing for most of the day. My mom's dad had passed away in his sleep at some point the night before. While my grandpa Gardiner had had some previous medical complications and he'd had diabetes over the past several years, he wasn't sick. He looked just as healthy as any other mostly healthy person in their late 60's, early 70's might look. The wind has just been knocked out of me.

On that side of my family, I'm the oldest grandchild. I spent a lot of time with my grandparents growing up. Each summer I'd get to go out to Las Vegas for two weeks and it'd just be me and them. At some point he tried to teach me how to do crosswords but I don't think I had the attention span necessary at the time. And I remember making him dinner with my grandma and how we made a salad once and making that salad is the reason I love purple cabbage. (Memories are so funny sometimes!) I was so excited when he got home from work during those weeks I was there. I'm sure he just wanted to sit and relax but I just wanted him to play with me and do all the things Grandpas do! I'm so glad I had those weeks with them growing up.

Before they lived in Vegas, they lived in Price, Utah - that's where my mom and her siblings grew up. Back then my grandpa used to climb into his little red pick-up truck he had and take me to go get ice cream. I'd say that's why I love ice cream so much but ... it's ice cream. I'd love it even without that memory.

Anyway, ever since I was 12 or 14 he's been telling me that I'd be singing at his funeral. I always just nodded and laughed and said, "Whatever, Grandpa. You don't need to worry about that for a long time." I think I said the same thing to him back in May. I thought it was so obvious - my grandpa is invincible! I expected him to outlive me.

Occasionally I'd remember that all of Ben's grandparents have now passed away and I'd try to picture my life without my grandpa and I just couldn't do it. I'd decided it was because he'd live forever. He was supposed to live forever.

In more recent years he lived just a few minutes away from my mom's house. Every time I'd go over I'd run my hands over his military style buzz cut. It was always so soft! And then I'd give him a head massage while he told me about how much he loved head massages and how they were the only reason he went to a salon to get his hair cut. Some times, on rare occasions, he'd even share a story about his past. I wish I would have written those stories down because I'm trying my hardest to remember even one and I can't right now.

The last couple days have been a struggle. I keep trying to tell myself he's in a better place but I don't think I really believe that yet. I thought being here with his family was a pretty dang good place to be! I'm sure everyone else in my family feels a little bit of the same way but ... I was so excited to introduce him to his first great-grandkid in a few months!

He'd just gotten home from a trip to Hawaii on Wednesday night. He went to bed and just never woke up. Ben says it can't get much better than that. The only place better than Hawaii is Heaven. Ben's probably right.

I miss you Grandpa. Tell our baby hi for us.

Boy or a Girl - One Month to Decide!

2011-08-14T22:07:00.000-07:00

In exactly one month Ben and I will hopefully know whether we should start buying all frills and ribbons or action heroes and cars.

I don't have any idea what it'll be although according to one Chinese calendar calculator it should be a boy. And according to another, a girl.

Looks like the Chinese are just as torn as we are about what we'll be having!

Vote in the poll at the top and let us know what you think we'll be having. In a month we'll let you know if you were right!

Pregnancy Widget

2011-08-13T13:58:00.001-07:00

I feel like I'm failing as a blogger and as a pregnant person for not having one of those widgets on my side bar for the countdown to B-Day.

It's not that I haven't thought about it. I have. It's just ... I will either have to use one that everyone else has used or use one that makes our unborn child look so creepy I'd probably end up having nightmares about it.

I'll probably eventually just relent and end up using one of the generic ones but ... for now our blog will remain widget-less.

I used to blog a lot

2011-07-28T16:56:00.001-07:00

What happened?

I think my creative writing thoughts went out the window with Ben's desire to paint. But I miss him painting, even though that usually means our kitchen table is covered with paints and a canvas for weeks at a time. So I'm going to blog today about ...

My pinky!

If you look at a certain branch in my family, whether we look alike or not, we all have something in common.

A crooked pinky.

It's not quite a "C" but it's definitely part of a cursive "I" - not to be mistaken for a lower case "L".

All my fingers are a little crooked but I think those might be from when I used to play basketball every day and come home with jammed/purple and blue fingers. In this, my crooked pinky is unique from its constant companions. I was born with my lovely crooked pinkies. Although, should you wish to know, my left one is a lot worse than my right.

So now you know my family's little secret.

Maybe if your pinky is crooked we're related too.

Now to keep your interest peaked in regards to our blog - Stay tuned for a post about my toes!

Just kidding.

Or am I?

Dear Husband

2011-07-24T16:31:00.000-07:00

You've been breathing really loud when you sleep lately - especially today while I'm lying here trying to take a nap. I wonder if you're getting sick? I would wake you up as previously instructed by yourself but...you had to get up so early for your meetings that I can't bring myself to do it. So I'll just continue lying here trying to nap while I listen to you ~~snore~~ breathe. Very romantic, right?

Love always,
Your sleepy and definitely not deaf wife

About a Baby...

2011-07-22T11:14:00.000-07:00

It seems like I've been waiting for this day forever. (The announcing)

Lots of you already know this story but I'm sharing it again since this blog has become almost as much of a journal as it has become a way to let our families know what we're up to.

About 2 years ago Ben and I decided we really wanted to bring another member into our family. I, admittedly, planned everything down to the date I wanted this kid to be born. (October through February but not mid/late-December or early January because of Christmas) Turns out life, and Heavenly Father, have other plans for us.

We tried and tried and there were probably a few emotional break downs and lots of frustration, especially when it literally felt like every other person on the planet was having a baby and we'd been trying longer! (Okay, I don't actually know if this is true but it sure felt like it). And finally, after -lots- of persuasion I convinced Ben it was time to go to a specialist.

I made the appointment and they were booked out an entire month - the longest month of my life. And then I got a cold. A horrible, horrible cold. And we almost had to re-schedule but I sucked it up and acted like I was not sick (which I am sure the doctor would have frowned upon - a lot) and we went.

We discussed our genetics, our lifestyle, etc. - it was a pretty normal doctor's appointment. Then they sent me downstairs with a prescription to start a treatment and to get some blood drawn to make sure everything was okay with my thyroid, I think. (I don't remember these details exactly)

Well, later that day or the next, the nurse called and, in what was a shock to us, told me kindly not to take any of the pills I'd just bought because I was indeed pregnant! It turns out this doctor's office is magic! All you have to do is schedule an appointment and things just fall into place.

Anyway, we went in for two separate ultra sounds to figure out how far along we were because the first one the baby wasn't even actually a baby yet so they couldn't measure it to figure out how far along we were. Since then we've forgotten and remembered that this is really happening. I've been able to see the baby's heart beating twice. And the baby is now the size of a peach!

I don't know. Maybe if I was sick this would seem more real. Not that I'm complaining about my lack of sickness. I haven't had a day of nausea. Mostly it's just random pains that last a half hour at most. But I have yet to realize we're really going to be a family of 3 in a few long months.

So, even with all our "planning" falling through, we are having a baby January 27th and we couldn't be more happy.

Thanks to everyone for your support and well-wishes!

To Clip or to Tie

2011-07-08T23:52:00.000-07:00

To :

Or to:

That is the question!

A couple of days ago I noticed that the bread we bought didn't have a clip on it. Instead, it wore a long slender twisty tie. Usually, our bread is topped with a white plastic clip but we didn't have time to go to our usual grocery store. Anyway, this situation got me thinking, is one type better than the other? Maybe there's hidden meaning in which is used on what types of bread. Does one type of bread sealing tool secretly tell us which types of bread are better?

Probably not. But...then again, I'm not bread connoisseur.

Either way, I think I prefer the clip. The twisty tie takes FOREVER to twist on and off each time I get a piece of bread.

... This random blog post was brought to you by sleep deprivation and some small amounts of boredom.

Canada Visit - Capilano Suspension Bridge

2011-07-04T11:41:00.000-07:00

We made it up to Canada a couple weeks ago and Ben decided to compile our adventure into a video. You may think the song choice is odd, but it was done to match the old Irish folk songs the park performers were singing...only in Metallica form.

Ben keeps telling me to blog

2011-06-12T15:09:00.000-07:00

We've been doing so much and I have so many pictures that it makes the thought of blogging almost overwhelming. It's hard to decide which ones to blog about so I'm going to try to sum it all up with one picture from each adventure. We'll see how it works out.

Some of our May 2011 adventures include:

First, my sister Keri graduated Seminary on May 22nd

and high school on May 23rd.

So I woke her up early and made her go to breakfast with me and my mom.

The next day we drove 12 hours back to Seattle and got a good night's rest.

The first thing we did the next day was experience a dreary, rainy day in Seattle at the Fremont Troll.

A few days later, we gave Ben a break from studying for finals and headed to the Ballard Locks.

Unfortunately, the weather was deceivingly schizophrenic and couldn't decide whether it wanted to shine sun on us or shower rain. So we got a lot of both.

A few days after that we decided to head to UW for some good ole campus fun. Ben met us for lunch and then he showed Keri around and we stopped by the 'Harry Potter Room' (dubbed by Ben himself for it's likeness to the great hall in Harry Potter movies) and we got a picture of Keri and the world's largest book - which I actually think looks like a reflection of her inner self. (Just kidding Keri! I love you)

Then Ben's classmate, Troy, invited us to go sailing so we quickly agreed and headed out for an hour of intense fun. There were a few minutes we spent staring straight down at the water because the sail boat was at such a steep angle, but don't worry, we made it out alive and we were never really worried because Troy acted so calm and collected. Turns out he was freaking out inside but he did a great job at hiding it!

Later that night we met up with some other friends at Buca Di Beppo, an Italian restaurant I've been wanting to go to for years!

Great times were had. And the food was Excellent!

On Memorial Day we headed to another friend's house for a BBQ and some Minute To Win It games. (I had to include more than one picture for this because ... I just did)

We had a lot of fun hanging out with friends and eating good food while enjoy one of the first, of hopefully many, Sunny summer days.

And that was our May 2011!

Stay tuned for what we've been up to this June!

Up close and personal

2011-05-27T10:33:00.000-07:00

As promised, I give you a blog dedicated to Ben's pharmacy pin:

And on the back, personalized with the year and his initials:

And, on a sort of related note, because of Ben's pharamacy studies I never see a medication commercial on TV without listening or watching for the actual drug name. Oh the joys of being a future pharmacists wife.

Happy Friday!

Be Smart and Never Show It.

2011-05-22T22:11:00.000-07:00

Ben failed that quote by Louis B. Mayer and I don't blame him even a little. I'm not exactly sure what she was going for when she said it since I found it as just the quote itself and taken out of all the context that it should probably be surrounded by. Anyway, I'm distracting myself from the real reason for this blog.

BEN IS SMART!

On Friday we had the opportunity to attend the Pharmacy Banquet for Rho Chi, aka Rx, the Pharmacy Honor Society. As it turns out, only the top 15 percent of Ben's classmates were asked to join. Of that 15 percent, three were guys, 10 of the girls were of an Asian background, and only two of the people were over 5 feet 8 inches. All of those things can be seen in the picture below:

We were able to drink drinks and partake in "Savory Appetizers". This is Ben very excited about his savory delights.

And then they called Ben up and told us all a little bit about him and something that made him unique.

He looks so proud of himself standing up there while we all learn that he enjoys rollerblading with his wife (amongst other things that I can't remember) and that he grew up on a small dairy farm in Southern Idaho.

The room we were in had the most breathtaking view but ... I failed to take a decent picture; although, I did manage to capture this:

The main speaker was so great to these 17 new initiates. She made each of them a butterfly and talked to them about important stuff that people talk about at these sort of things. ... Maybe Ben should do a follow-up post to fill you in on the details I've forgotten.

And last but not least, Ben with his new Rho Chi Pin. I'm so proud of him!

I realized I should have taken a close up shot of the pin. I'll have to do that when I get home and I'll post another blog dedicated just to his pin. (Which has his initials engraved on the back).

Congrats Ben!

Food, Friends and America's Pasttime

2011-05-18T23:02:00.000-07:00

Take me out to the ball game.

Ben still has the sticker on the underside of his hat which makes him cool? I didn't exactly understand why he wouldn't let me take it off but ... He's Ben. That's the only explanation anyone really needs.

We finally made it to a Seattle Mariner's game! And we wore our Mariner's gear (which was purchased about an hour before the game started) so we looked like real fans.

Also, Jane really wanted to be in our picture so she made an appearance just above my head. Of course she wanted to play it cool so she made sure not to look at the camera.

Sunset behind the SafeCo Field sign.

And the most unexpected thing happened while we were there. The Mariner's won!!

That alone required documentation. This photo may someday be worth millions if the Mariner's continue playing the way they have been lately.

Sick

2011-05-16T17:23:00.000-07:00

You know I'm sick when tissues litter the apartment and every drug we own is on the bathroom and kitchen counters.

On the plus side, I only used half a tissue box today so I think I'm getting better.

Gray or Blonde?

2011-05-01T13:47:00.000-07:00

I found this on my a completely random person's head today during stake conference. I She can't decide if it's a gray hair or just a blonde hair.

So, since I definitely don't care at all whether this is blonde or gray since it's definitely not my hair ... what say you?

Turns out I'm 26!

2011-04-24T12:42:00.000-07:00

I think my birthday came at just the right time this year.

After a not very warm summer and then a particularly cold and snowy (for Seattle) winter with short days and not a whole lot of sun, I was feeling particularly gloomy and down. And then, on my birthday, (and yes, I'm aware I'm about to make it sound like the Universe revolves around me but ... one of my nicknames in high school wasn't "Center of the Universe" for nothing), the sun came out! And it was an absolutely beautiful day. Obviously heavenly father was celebrating my birth right along with me. And then things just fell into place. My primary class behaved and listened to 95% of my lesson as opposed to the 25% I feel like they listen to most weeks. I was overwhelmed with birthday wishes from people in our ward and I even received cards from a couple of the kids that I babysit for. Then I came home to even more birthday wishes from family and friends in my email, on my facebook, through text messages, and phone calls.

I don't know. Maybe it was the added kids' cards, or the fact that I'd just been so down in the few weeks leading up to my birthday. But either way, hearing from so many people that they were thinking about me, even if it was just long enough to write "Happy Birthday" and hit enter, elated me! I'm still living on a high from it. So, thank you everyone! It was such a gift to be reminded about how loved I am.

And in other Birthday related news ... I got a new bike! And it goes up hills SOOO easily. (Which, as it turns out, is VERY important when living in Seattle).

Also I got Tangled, the Disney movie. Which is possibly my favorite movie ever. Or at least tied for favorite with Beauty and the Beast and Mulan.

Oh. And Ben "made" me a cake.

According to the candles, I turned 3! Woo hoo!

Earthquake

2011-04-07T17:36:00.000-07:00

I moved to Seattle to get away from the constant, "We are hundreds of years over due for a massive earthquake! Are you prepared?" scares.

Ever since Japan's earthquake, what do I hear every time I turn on the TV/news? "We are years overdue for a massive earthquake/Tsunami! Are you prepared?!"

...

Great.

Love notes from my husband

2011-03-15T12:04:00.000-07:00

I'm sure many of you have received a note of endearment from your significant other but I bet none of them are quite as ... unique as Ben's.

I came home today from the gym and found Ben's form of flowers and a love note.

This is Ben's way of saying "I love you" and "Haha I know you so well I can annoy you with a few simply placed bags of bread and a post-it with 5 words"

One (yes, there are now 3 opened loaves of bread on our counter):

Two (this is just another example so you can better see the note he left with his gift of pulling out all 3 loaves of bread and putting them on the counter for me to find when I came home)

Three (This is so you can better see just what exactly his wonderful love note had to say)

Oh, did I forget to mention that one of my many pet peeves is opening a new something before all the old somethings have been finished?

Well, dear Ben. I'll see your love note and raise you a blog post! My way of saying, "I love you too".

It must be finals week

2011-03-14T13:21:00.001-07:00

Ben's favorite post-test activity:

Only two more days left until Spring Break begins!

Help!

2011-02-14T08:30:00.001-08:00

This is not a Valentine's Day post. I just got the pictures from my phone finally put on my computer so I can ask for internet help.

You see, there's this wall:

And it's the wall you see right as you open up our front door. It's next to the kitchen and there are some pretty good sized nail/screw holes in the wall that you can see in this picture if you look closely.

So here's the thing, I went shopping to fix this wall and make it more welcoming. I came home with a few things which fixed this wall:

And made it look like this:

And then our window which had some huge screw holes by it was fixed up and made to look like this:

And I even found a little something to add to our kitchen:

(in case you were wondering, I am not talking about the shelf above the sink, I was talking about the sign above the cupboards)

But ... after finding all that, the one thing I thought would work for that blasted wall was too skinny. Sooo ..... Help me figure out what to do with this wall:

Please?

Sounds of Sunday

2011-02-13T16:17:00.000-08:00

Here are a few sounds that are becoming trademark sounds of my Sunday:

1. Alarm Clocks going off at 6am
2. Happy/Chipper morning Ben trying to wake me up enough that I can drive
3. Alarm clocks going off at 7:56am
4. Alarm clocks going off at 8:06am
5. Sunday Hymns/Primary Songs
6. Kids (screaming, screeching, giggling)
7. The kitchen timer telling me that lunch/dinner is ready
8. Ben "breathing loudly" during his midday nap (I think this one is my favorite)
9. The chime of my gmail telling me someone wants to chat (usually my mom)
10. My space heater's constant whirring - which sometimes results in me joining Ben in a midday nap but then I end up staying up til all hours of the night so I try to avoid that if at all possible.
And ... Just for today, I have another sound: Superman 2 is playing on the TV while I organize files and type up this blog. It's either been a really long time or I've never seen Superman 2. I always thought that Louis Lane never knew who Superman was. Turns out I was wrong.

Hope everyone is having/has had a great weekend!

All MLKD Out!

2011-01-18T11:11:00.000-08:00

It's a good thing I have Ben. He convinces me to get out of bed early on a holiday to go serve my community.

We woke up bright and early and picked up some friends and headed down to Northwest Harvest in Kent to sort food donations and create variety boxes for 3 hours. It's amazing how physically straining that sort of work is. I can't imagine being someone who does that all day every day. My back is killing me from all the bending and lifting I did.

Maybe I shouldn't be admitting this to the world wide web but --- sometimes I have a hard time serving. I grumble and complain about getting up early and I drag my feet out the door. But, and it's never failed, every time I'm there I have a blast and I feel so great after the fact. I'm happy and energized (even if it's only temporary) by the fact that I was able to contribute to the greater good of the world.

Anyway, after this laboring service we stopped by Subway then headed home. A couple hours later we met up with a few couples from the ward and ate at Matador for Happy Hour. I should have taken a picture of how big the nachos were and they were only $4! I'm sold! We were also able to get better aquainted with one of the couples and I found out that one of them was from the Ogden Area, "West Haven" .. which actually meant she was from Taylor! AND she went to Roy High. I couldn't believe what a small world we have! Taylor is such a small little unincorporated city out in the middle of nowhere that you just never expect to run into someone from there. Maybe from the cities around it but never actually from there. Anyway, it was fun seeing how close we were to knowing each other without ever actually meeting.

After our dinner we headed back to our place for an Open House (boo we have a vacancy here at the beginning of next month) but Adam and Hilary brought us some ice cream and raspberries and we made milk shakes and played games until we were all too exhausted to think properly (I think that was at about 8:30 ... we're getting so old!).

All in all it was a great MLKD and I even learned a new acronym so ... HAGS!

New Years Resolutions, Part 2

2011-01-02T14:24:00.000-08:00

Ben is brilliant. I'm sure you all already know that but I thought I'd say it again just in case.

Last year I had one New Years Resolution - go a month without sugar.

Guess what, I kept my resolution!

Well, this year my list is a little longer and I'm attempting some things that are going to require a lot of dedication so Ben has come up with an excellent idea.

We're going to make a "Resolution Jar". For each day and each resolution we keep we get to put a dollar in the Jar towards a vacation. I love vacations so this idea is perfect.

Just to give you an example, I'm doing a month of no sugar again. So, each day during the month that I go without sugar I get to put a dollar in. I also have a goal to read 52 books this year so each book I finish I get to add a dollar. I'll also be training for a triathlon so each time I train I get a dollar, etc. etc.

If I happen to read a book, train, eat no sugar, read my scriptures, AND buy shoes all in one day -- we just got 5 bucks towards our vacation! Okay ... I told Ben that buying shoes won't count since I don't really need a whole lot of motivation to keep that resolution, but I think this will help keep me motivated a bit longer than I usually am.

Here's to hoping this works.

New Years Resolutions, Part 1

2010-12-26T23:30:00.000-08:00

New years resolutions can be daunting, pointless, scary, seem impossible, etc. etc.

I started making a small list for potential resolutions (I still have a few days to edit and tweak my selection) for the new year. Here's a sneak peak into one of those resolutions:

Resolution number 5: Buy more footwear

Yeah. Ben doesn't like the sounds of that one but I decided my shoe selection was getting monotonous and I think I only bought one pair of shoes last year (and if you know me at all, you know that's quite the feat).

I plan on posting the finalized list, or at least a few more of my resolutions, at some point so I feel more accountable and hopefully I'll be better about sticking to them if the "internet" is aware of them.

Guess we'll see in a few weeks if that works out.

Learning

2010-12-13T14:48:00.000-08:00

I'm learning how to figure out if a pipe is leaking or if it's a bigger issue like a water heater leaking and flooding two floors.

I'm learning that nothing ever happens when you want it to. In fact, most issues are going to happen after I've put the pajamas on for the night or before I get dressed for the day.

I'm learning that I can surprise people by being a girl and knowing how to shut off a water heater or fix a garbage disposal.

I'm learning how to respond when things don't go my way.

I'm learning that some people really don't know how to use a dishwasher. (This still sort of blows my mind but I'm trying to accept the reality of it).

I'm learning that sometimes people just need to complain to someone, anyone, even if there's nothing that can be done.

I'm learning.

I wouldn't say my job is all bad or all good. But it is fun, most of the time. Unless it's not.

It gives me stuff to do and it keeps me entertained. I could be sitting at a desk right now, bored out of my mind, counting down the hours until I get to go home; instead, I'm sitting in my living room, with a book and my space heater. I've spent the day emailing a few people, exercising while watching a documentary, talking with our maintenance guys, getting apartments dry from the "flood" and replacing window blinds.

I'm not saying 'this is the life' but ... I never would have guessed being an apartment manager would teach me so much about every day things that are really useful to know.

Jury Summons

2010-12-09T11:17:00.001-08:00

I think that the blog post title says enough but .. that makes for a boring blog.

On January 4, 2011, I'll be arriving at the Municipal Court of Seattle at 8:20am.

I have my suspicions that this is for a DUI case but I guess we'll have to wait and see. As much fun as this seems, I'd be a lot happier if I could show up at 10am.

Oh well. I'm doing my civic duty and fulfilling my role as an American citizen.

My Guilty Pleasure

2010-11-28T13:13:00.000-08:00

I didn't think I actually had one of these until after having a short conversation with some friends on Thanksgiving about my new pair of jeans.

I'm grateful for Jeans. I was very grateful for my "cute butt" jeans while they lasted and I was even more grateful for my "Skinny leg" jeans. Those jeans are not to be confused with skinny leg jeans. These jeans were perfect. They made my legs look long and slender. Unfortunately, I outgrew them for about two years but I was determined to wear them again because I loved how I felt in them.

Then one day, I pulled them out of storage and they fit. Let's just say they are now on their last leg of life so I was desperate to find another pair I loved as much.

I'm not sure I found ones that can truly replace my favorite pair, but I did find a pair I feel good in and price didn't matter once I put them on and looked in a mirror. It took me a week to realize that's exactly what happened but, jeans are definitely my guilty pleasure. If I could find a pair of jeans that filled the role of my "cute butt" and "skinny leg" jeans ... I'd probably spend a substantial bit of money. I guess it's a good thing I'm so picky when it comes to my leg wear. And it's probably an even better thing I don't really like shopping a whole lot.

And now, because I wrote way too much for only one picture, I give you the a pair of jeans I wouldn't even pay a penny for. In fact, I wouldn't even wear them if someone offered to pay me for it.

Turns out it does snow in Seattle

2010-11-27T22:51:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately.

This is what I woke up to last Monday morning when I opened the blinds in our front room. I was not a happy person. I was even less of a happy person after I had to shovel the walks four times that day. Grrrr.

The day after the snow fell it was all blue skies and sunshine but the University of Washington canceled classes because it was still only about 20-30 degrees outside so nothing melted and the roads were treacherous.

Ben and I enjoyed our free day by addressing several apartment issues that popped up as a result of the freezing weather. Frozen pipes, broken heaters, leaking hot water tanks, you name it.

Luckily, it was absolutely beautiful outside so I didn't mind too much. It was a shame that the streets were awful. We were planning on seeing Harry Potter that day but we had to put it off until today (It was awesome! So awesome that I've already started a count-down chain until the next movie comes out).

And I'll leave you with a picture of my beautiful, shoveled walks and the rarely seen blue sky.

Pumpkins!

2010-10-31T12:20:00.000-07:00

Ben and I went over to our friends' house last night and carved pumpkins and watched a "scary" movie: Night of the Living Dead (the 1990 remake version). I would definitely suggest the carving pumpkins. The movie ... it was ... interesting. Although, we sort of figured as much based on the description. I think it went something like, "In the old classic the blood was black and white but in this remake you can count on the blood being red".

And now for the important part of blogs, pictures:

Ben's pumpkin is the middle one and mine is the one on the right. We waited a little long to buy pumpkins so all that were left were pie pumpkins and 50 lb carving pumpkins. Don't worry. If you get a big enough pie pumpkin, you can still carve it.

I love Halloween.

Halloween Party

2010-10-30T13:28:00.001-07:00

We went to an 80's themed Halloween Party last night. It was a blast. I even won a trophy for best hair. Anyway, the highlight of the night was listening to the guys sing to a Spice Girls Song:

(It actually sounded a lot better in person but the dancing is what made my night)

So I decided I didn't like the slide-show video and have now uploaded some of my more favorite pictures from the evening and added a bit of commentary.

Princess Leia is my favorite, easy go-to costume:

Princess Leia had a fan: (I am so glad Amber got this picture)

This is my favorite candid shot of the evening:

And what would have been my favorite candid shot if it hadn't been blurry (Yes, we were having a dance party with glow-sticks!):

And then the group shots which we had to break into guys and girls:

(From left to right (back): Ben, Dustin, Adam, Jedd, John, Johnny, Matt, Jeremy (front) Richard, Seth, Kevin, Allen)
(Left to right (back): Leslie, Kathy, Amber, Ricki, Emily, Hilary, Jana (middle) Debbie and Jen (Front) Michelle, Brooke, Sally, Jessica, Ashley)

And .. awesome decorations are awesome which means I had to take a picture of them and post them. Sally and Dustin really went all out with this party:

The wall

The Ceiling (the ceiling is really impressive because usually it's vaulted and they used colored CD cases to make their normal lights more 80's worthy but you can't really tell from this picture)

And, just because I couldn't end my blog with a picture of decorations:

Happy Halloween everyone!

Things that make me happy

2010-09-30T11:03:00.001-07:00

Today, tomorrow, the nexy day ... they're looking kind of stressful so I am trying to focus on unstressful, relaxing things that make me happy. I give you my stress free indulgences:

Ben

Double Stuf Oreos

Good Books. Or the smell of old books.
Hot Chocolate

Cuddling

Vacations

Peach smoothies (except we're currently out of yogurt, with no way to get to the store)

Rain. I love the sound of rain. The smell of rain. The feel of rain. It's always so relaxing.

Sunshine (a little ironic since I seem to love rain so much)

And freshly cut grass.

Hmm. I'm feeling less stressed already.

Daydreaming

2010-09-29T15:56:00.000-07:00

You know that scene in Beauty and the Beast when Belle gets to see the library for the first time? I want to have a library that inspires that sort of awe each time I walk into it. I've been daydreaming today about having a house with a library like that one. (Okay, maybe not quite that big). Here's the closest picture I could find to what my daydreams created:

There are so many books in the world. Reading through a list of suggested books at the library, or online, always leaves me feeling overwhelmed. Someday I'd like to look through a list of books and be able to say I've read over 75% of them. Until then, I'll dream about cozy fireplaces with walls and walls of books accompanied by sliding ladders as accessories.

Girls Night: Dierks Bentley/Guys Night: Chili Cook-off and Wii

2010-09-27T10:55:00.000-07:00

I've never been a huge fan of Girls Night. Either I was too interested in boys (pre-engagement/marriage) or I'd just rather spend time with my awesome husband. But a few weeks ago we had a few couples over for dinner and Kub (Ben, correct my spelling). We ate the dinner, we played Kub in the dark, we came back to our place for dessert.

While eating dessert we found out that all the girls enjoy country music and none of the husbands do. (What's up with that?! Country is awesome). So we decided to go down to the Puyallup fair and see one of the performances they had. As it turned out we ended up going to Dierks Bentley.

I haven't been to a concert in a -very- long time but this one was awesome. He's a really good performer. He knows his stuff. Most importantly, he knows how to keep the crowd entertained. I love it.

We even managed to get a little turned around on our way to look for some food and ended up about 10 feet from him on his Harley Davidson when his caravan drove past before the concert.

While we were away, the husbands went to our wards Chili Cook-off then headed back to someone's house to play Wii Tetris and Mario-Kart. Also, it turns out one of the guys won best Chili at the cook-off. Guess we know who's house we'll be eating at from now on.

I was going to add pictures but ... I'm sleepy and I have too many to choose from. Maybe later?

Razorbacks

2010-09-24T15:02:00.001-07:00

I went to Roy Jr. High. I think it was 2 years, maybe 3, before I went there that a lawsuit forced all the schools to change their mascots from Indians to something else. I believe we were the Redskins prior to the change.

Anyway, as far as I know, the 9th graders were able to vote on the new mascot. That's right. The people leaving the school, never having to be plagued with the mascot were the ones who got to pick.

Why in the world did they choose to make us Razorbacks?

Part of me wonders if it was their version of a "senior prank". Another part wonders if this rumor of how the mascot was chosen is an urban legend. Either way, Tigers, Lions, Bears, Rattlesnakes, Cougars, Cheetahs, Ogres, Darkspawn, Geth - all of these would be better than a big giant pig. That's right, I never learned the meaning of school pride with that horrendous mascot hovering over me.

Oh well. At least I got the best mascot imaginable during College. Go Cougars. Win a few football games this year ... Please?

Relief Society Interview/Spotlight

2010-09-15T00:48:00.000-07:00

I was spotlighted in our ward's relief society monthly bulletin for September. I think most of what was said, the people who read our blog already know, but I thought this was something my mom might enjoy reading and so I'm sharing it with anyone that comes along:

"It was noon on Saturday when I went to interview Brooke
Newman. Her husband, Ben, was just leaving. He soon returned
however, to find out which vacuum cleaner was smoking.
Brooke explained that a short while ago she and Ben had taken
over the management of the apartments and Ben was off to
vacuum the building. Brooke loves the out-of-doors and
apartment management allows her to mow and garden and
enjoy leisurely time outside just reading.

They have been married 3 years and 3 days. Brooke announced
proudly and with great enthusiasm that their anniversary had
been on Wednesday, 3 days earlier. They met at BYU when
Brooke’s current boyfriend at the time moved into Ben’s
apartment. She told me that Ben can appear shy in a large
group, but in truth he has a great sense of humor and life is
never boring when he is around. She and Ben were friends for
three years before it began to occur to them that their
relationship may have long term possibilities.

Ben is from Idaho where he was raised on a farm and is one of 6
siblings. Brooke is from Utah. She has three sisters the youngest
of which will be going into the first grade this year.

They both graduated from BYU. Brooke studied business
management and marketing and worked as a financial assistant
for the College of Nursing. She was very interested in doing
advertising but, as with many professions, there are positions
one needs to fill before they acquire their dream job and sales
was one of those positions that Brooke had no interest in. I
personally believe she would be great in sales. She is very
outgoing, positive, and vivacious. Eventually she and Ben went
to work at the University of Utah and Ben decided that he
wanted to go to Pharmacy School. The question then became
where to go to school. Since Brooke’s family was in Ogden and
they were already at the U of U, logic would say to stay where
they were. However, being believers in prayer, they prayed and
received true peace about coming to Seattle and UW. When they
arrived they were able to spend their first month here just
sightseeing. How many of us have actually seen the sights
around Seattle? Brooke had wondered what it would be like
leaving “the familiar” and moving into a whole new community,
but says that ward has welcomed them with open arms and
many invitations. They really feel at home and have a lot in
common with others in the ward.

Brooke is very interested in traveling outside of the U.S. and
feels she had her first real opportunity when she and Ben
recently went to Canada to see The Lion King, which she
described as a wondrous experience. She also said she knew she
was out of the U.S. when she discovered that she couldn’t quite
translate the MPH on the speed limit signs. She dreams about
going to places like Italy and Greece. Her interest in Greece was
perked when she was quite young and learning about Greek
mythology. She was so fascinated by it that, as a youngster, she
and her friends, while playing, used to act out the Greek myths.
Brooke and Ben both love things like hiking, camping, cycling,
and roller-blading. Ben’s family was here last week and the four
of them cycled the Burke Gilman Trail together. Brooke is
looking forward to canoeing in the Arboretum area with Ben.
One of their favorite ways to pass time is playing video
games together. She told me that video games today are almost
like watching a long, exciting movie.

In high school Brooke participated in a variety of sports, but
was particularly good in track and the long jump. At one time
she was the best at the 400-meter run. She had also been a
cheerleader. A few of her hobbies include scrap-booking and
documenting her life with photographs. She is in the process of
learning to use Photoshop. That’s going to be useful considering
the fact that she came back from one trip with over 700
photographs.

I asked Brooke what was important to her about the church. Her
answer was prayer. Since she was very young her mother
reinforced the idea of prayer. Whenever she would go to her
mother with a problem the first thing her mother would ask is,
“Have you prayed about it?” To this day she remembers that
whenever her hamsters would get out of their cage, which was
often, her mother and she would pray about finding them and
she said they always did. What wonderful memories to have.

Thanks Brooke for a great interview and I would really like to
see some of those photos once you’ve learned Photo Shop.

Pat Goninan"

Primary Lesson and reminiscing .. sort of.

2010-09-12T21:36:00.000-07:00

Last night my co-teacher for our primary class emailed me and asked if I could prepare the lesson for today since her little boy was throwing up and she wasn't sure what the morning would bring.

I grumbled a bit and had nightmares about it (which doesn't really make sense since I teach every other week anyway so it wasn't some huge undertaking) and then this morning I prepared my lesson. The more I prepared the more I reminisced. It's funny that of all the lessons I've taught this year, "I will tell the truth" brought back the most memories.

I don't know if I just lied a lot when I was little but I a few very defining moments centered around lies I told. None of these lies were awful lies but I think they sort of defined me at a young age.

When I was little I was lying in my parents bed, where I should have been taking a nap but instead I was playing with a lamp - turning it off and on and on and off. A lamp I was told several times not to touch. At some point my playing with the lamp, resulted in it tipping over and the light bulb fell on my cheek. It hurt so bad but I couldn't do anything because then I would be in trouble for touching it. So I think I finally just fell asleep. I don't recall how much time passed but when my mom came to get me up from my nap I had a huge welt on my face. My mom asked me what happened and I decided it would be best to play naive and innocent. After a trip to urgent care, it was decided that a spider had bitten me and we were sent to the pharmacy with an expensive prescription.

As my dad was in the pharmacy paying for this antibiotic I started to feel really guilty and I confessed to my mom what had actually happened. Unfortunately, we'd already had to pay for the doctor visit and it was that exact moment that my dad exited the store with my prescription. I will always remember that. I think I was four or five at the time but I remember my mom explaining to me how we didn't have a lot of money and my little lie had cost them money that we'd usually use to pay bills and groceries.

My other defining moment/lie was when I was four (if memory serves me correctly). Me and my sister kept turning the power on the computer on and off. My mom was already frustrated with one thing or another and she asked us to quit playing with the computer. But ... being a kid I decided to push my luck and turned it back on again. Just at that moment my mom walked in and noticed the computer was back on. She got upset and I started to get in trouble so I immediately surrendered my sister. Insisting that it had been her who'd done it. My mom sent my sister to her room with an unusual spanking. (I only remember my mom ever spanking me once so watching my sister get spanked over something I did was traumatic, to say the least). I don't recall much of what happened next but I know eventually I told the truth and my mom felt awful about the whole thing as well.

It's funny the memories that stick with us. I guess I've shared my two worst lies. Or at least the two lies that stuck with me because of what happened as a result. So teaching this lesson was actually pretty fun. And getting to hear of times when kids in our class chose to tell the truth was even more fun. They are a bright bunch of kids.

So the moral of today's blog --- Tell the truth.

Anyone can cook...from a recipe

2010-08-30T20:17:00.000-07:00

I guess I'll admit that cooking can be fun. I pretty much never make anything more complicated than German pancake which is like five ingredients and you just have to mix them all and pour. So it was odd when I had a sudden urge to try something more involved. The urge came when Brooke asked what we should do for dinner. It popped into my head that I should try to make something. I went online, found some recipes, and told her that I would make dinner but we'd have to go get ingredients. She took out the shopping list and asked what we needed and was surprised by the first thing, a butternut squash, and further perplexed by dill weed and white pepper among others. Surely she was expecting me to say peanut butter or frozen pizza.

As an aside, our grocery store is finally selling two things you always want together in one convenient package. Batteries and glue sticks! Of....course?

When we got back I realized it was going to be a bigger project than I expected so I told Brooke she needed to help me, but I still wasn't going to tell what we were making. She could mostly figure it out but couldn't look at the recipe and had to just blindly do the tasks I said we needed to do, without knowing how it all fit together. Then I would do the finishing touches at the end. We were already hungry and it was six o'clock when we went to work. Then, with both of us doing stuff non-stop, TWO HOURS LATER we finally got to eat.

First was butternut squash soup. You're supposed to be able to write on it with cream but my lines obviously aren't very sharp. Maybe the soup's supposed to be thicker, but it was already pretty thick in my opinion. So that's a B for Brooke. The B for Ben on my first try turned out...let's say more abstract.

This is the entree. Chicken and a yam souffle deal and a chopped zucchini side that looked way better online than the green mush pile that mine was. Brooke says I minced when I was supposed to dice. It still tasted good. In fact I loved every single thing we made!

The dessert was a frozen strawberry/egg white/cream thing but I cooked the crust in a pan that was too big so the strawberry stuff spread out thinner than I wanted. But again, still good!

If I'm coming across as overly proud of an ok bit of cooking-that is spot on! Remember, I don't ever do this. I thought it was quite fun and maybe it tasted extra good because we were hungry when we began two hours earlier, but I really liked the whole experience regardless of the reason.

In conversations with Brooke, I have always insisted that, like that chef in Ratatouille says, anyone can cook. Then I clarify, anyone can cook...from a recipe. I suppose, like most things, there's the science and then there's the art. Well I now feel like I can recipe cook! And I liked it. Perhaps I will try it again sometime, maybe even without Brooke's help.

We left the country! But it sure was cold and wet.

2010-08-23T14:05:00.001-07:00

I may have forgotten to finish the story about our trip to Vancouver. So let's see if we can wrap things up.

After much ado I give you, part 3:

After our wonderful lunch, with our Australian sounding waitress, we drove around the park to see what it had to offer. One little find, were these beautiful totem poles.

If you look closely you can see that almost every one of them is topped off with a bird of some sort.

There was one totem pole that didn't have one but this bird must have sensed something was askew and decided to rectify that by proudly perching on top for all to see.

After observing the totem poles we wandered a little to the ... south(?) and saw a lighthouse in the distance. (I love lighthouses) You can also sort of tell how wet it was and how dry I was not.

And another view of the bridge and more importantly ... the fog.

Then on our way back to the car I tried to trick Ben into kissing me so I could get it on camera (because who doesn't like a kiss in the rain). But I was highly unsuccessful and mostly ended up nearly falling several times. My closest attempt looked something like this:

Then we got back in the car and drove closer to the lighthouse for some up close shots.

After which our parking slip expired and we headed back to downtown Vancouver to explore the city a bit before the show.

We parked under the Vancouver Public Library which, once inside, reminded me a lot of the Salt Lake City Main Public Library:

Made me a bit homesick for SLC.

Then I saw this and wondered if we'd really ever left Seattle at all:

So in an effort to convince myself that we had indeed crossed the border I had to take several more pictures as proof:

And then there was this sign. I still have no idea what exactly it means, so if you have the answer, please feel free to enlighten me.

After exploring and browsing shops to stay out of the cold, Ben and I headed back to the library and made it there just in time for it to close. So we went and rested a bit in the car then went up and headed to the Queen Elizabeth Theater to watch The Lion King.

Unfortunately, that is the only picture I have as proof that we actually went to The Lion King. It was an amazing performance. The first act was so beautiful and creative it actually brought tears to my eyes.

I wish it wasn't so expensive because it really is something that I think every person should get a chance to experience. Just thinking about the show fills me up with emotion. I think it probably has a lot to do with the fact that my sisters and I watched The Lion King movie at least once a week when we were little and it has a lot of memories tied up in it. But this trip was all around great. Full of lots of things we don't usually get a chance to experience.

Thanks Tim and Fran and Ben for making it so memorable.

We left the country! But things still looked the same.

2010-08-17T23:38:00.000-07:00

And so I give you Part 2:

Once we crossed the Canadian border things still looked pretty much the same. The only difference were the speed limit signs - which I never took a picture of! Oops. And yes, they do in fact make it slightly harder to drive, according to Ben. It was something he was grateful to get back to the US for. MPH is so much simpler!

Anyway - once we'd made it to Vancouver we stopped so Ben and Tim could help someone move their car to the side of the road. While we waited, I watched several people going into this church for a wedding:

I managed to snap a few of the Vancouver buildings in that picture as well.

And then, while waiting a little longer, I decided I needed a picture of myself to see if I looked any different now that I've managed to make it into Canada. What do you think?

I think I look about the same. Oh well.

Once we'd scouted out our final destination, the Queen Elizabeth Theater, we decided to become tourists and headed over to Stanley Park.

It was about one o'clock by now so we decided to find somewhere to eat. Not only did we find somewhere to eat but we found somewhere to eat with a very leaky roof . Half of the tables were soaked from the rain but we managed to find one with just one wet spot. The picture below - if you look real carefully - sort of shows the water dripping from the ceiling.

And then we got our menus and things were good. Warm sea food here we come.

And most importantly, my hot chocolate. I have to order this wherever I go. Whether it be Hawaii, Bahamas, or Canada - hot chocolate will be on the menu.

Then we snapped this shot before heading off to see the rest of the park. (I love self-timer)

This was at Prospect Point. And in the background is a bridge which I cannot remember the name of but I find absolutely beautiful even though you can barely see it with all the fog.

Yes, I love bridges.

I also love random signs: (We need one of these to put outside our apartment door. We get to see a raccoon run past our patio at least once a week)

Alright. I was going to make this post longer but I want to go to bed because it's later than I thought it was. So ... Part 3 will hopefully be posted tomorrow.

We left the country! But we had to make it past the border first.

2010-08-15T10:33:00.000-07:00

In an attempt to keep from posting a hundred pictures in one post I've broken up our trip to Vancouver into a few parts.

I now give you Part 1:

On the way up to Vancouver we stopped in .... a place that starts with a "B" ... and we found this monument made for those fishers lost at sea.

The inscription was really rather depressing.

Then we wandered the docks with the fishing boats and we all got nice and wet and I managed to snap a shot of my traveling companions. I'm pretty sure we were all thinking about how much we wished we worked on fishing boats. In fact, there was even an old boat that was for sale. Too bad I "forgot" to write down the phone number.

And then, a good 30 minutes after we left this fishing town, we found the US/Canada border.

And as we waited in line to cross, we ate two of the most splendid things ever invented: Peanut Butter M&M's and Jerky.

Finally, I'd just like to say that we never once got lost between Seattle and Canada and we owe our easy navigating to Pressly (Yes, I've named our GPS).

Stay tuned for our adventures on the other side. (Insert Twilight Zone music)

Rupunzel

2010-08-14T19:18:00.000-07:00

Every time I see this picture I can't help but think of Rupunzel. This is what I imagine her tower looking like. Too bad once you go inside it's full of cobwebs and is nothing but a water tower.

There's also an amazing view but I decided to focus on the spiders this time since I've got a previous post from when we first moved here with all the other pictures.

Now that I stop and think about it ... Maybe Rupunzel's hair was really just a bunch of spider webs collected in her hair from being in a tower for so long. Those things sure are strong ... and sticky and annoying. I think I ran into about 30 of them today while I was mowing the lawn, sweeping, and just going outside to read.

This may be why I decided to post randomly about spiders, sort of.

Who knows. My mind works in weird ways sometimes.

Something to walk about

2010-07-23T12:42:00.000-07:00

With our trip to Utah and Ben's family reunion we have lots to blog about and as a result I'm finding it hard to blog at all. So ... I'll blog about the most inconsequential thing we've done all month.

This morning we woke up at 6am and went on a walk around the neighborhood. Ben described it perfectly. It felt like we were camping. There was that cool crispness in the air and not a whole lot of anyone else out and about. It was something I haven't experienced a whole lot since we moved to Seattle but it was very enjoyable.

Now, I'm sleepy and ready for a nap. I guess that's what getting up early does to a person.

Chantey Singing Anonymous

2010-07-02T21:46:00.000-07:00

You thought you had a good Friday night? Well, wait until you see what we did!

But before I tell you the secret I must show you a flier we found. That's right. A songwriting contest for Tugboat themed songs!

So if the title of the blog and the flier above wasn't a big enough hint then maybe this will help you figure it out:

Still nothing? Here's another hint:

Alright, you won't understand until I show you a video. For your viewing pleasure I give you Chantey singing on the Adventuress.

Ben jumped right in. He was very into the singing.

Thanks Jessi for coming to visit and giving us an excuse to find this awesome event. You can always come up again next month and we can go again!

The songs inspired Ben to join a ship. He got right to work doing sailorly things. And no, that's not just his belt .... It's a real ... rope.

I love randomness and this evening was full of it. Hope your Fridays were equally entertaining.

Biking

2010-07-02T11:53:00.001-07:00

Finally, after a year long process, Brooke and I went biking. The process started last summer when Brooke got her bike from high school out of storage. Half a year later we got a bike rack for Christmas. Now, another half year later, I got a bike. It was indeed a happy birthday!

An Unexpected Sunday

2010-06-14T20:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday started out like the Sunday before it. I woke up, Ben woke up. Ben got ready for church. I took Ben to church so he could attend his meetings then I came home. I got ready, then I showed apartments for an hour and hurried to church and made it just before the sacrament song.

When I finally got seated in the meeting with Ben I looked over and guess who was there - Bill Benac.

Some of you may, or may not, know him.

Well, after church we came back to our apartment and threw some stuff together for food and then we decided to drive over to Gas-Works Park. We wandered around while Bill entertained us with his stories. Eventually we made our way to the top of Kite Hill where Bill asked some people to take our picture - those people had no idea what they'd gotten themselves into (in fact, neither did I).

You can tell from the pictures that I thought we were done and then he kept taking them so I moved back towards them then away from them again because I felt bad that this person was standing there forever. Although, I never once heard the camera click so I wasn't sure he'd actually taken any.

After our photo shoot we decided to wander the residential neighborhood to the north of the park. We found someone's art posted for any who may walk past. I think my favorite part is the complete randomness of this picture:

And then, on our way back we walked past this little treasure and Ben decided it was perfect for our bathroom situation so he carried it the 5-7 blocks back to our car where it actually fit without having to take apart.

And finally, I believe this was the "Wallingford Steps". If you get up close to it there are all sorts of symbols on the picture. Not really sure if there's any reason or rhyme to this little design, but I thought it was cool.

Anyway. It was a fun Sunday and it was great to spend some time with Bill. We are really looking forward to seeing everyone in July. Only a few more weeks.

(Also, just a random fact about the Seattle weather: Saturday was the first day above 70 degrees this year. It's a record for the longest it's ever taken to get above 70 here in Seattle)

Dad's Visit

2010-06-07T12:05:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed having Dad here last week. Aside from a normal visit, he was here to help us move. We picked him up from the airport Sunday evening and were planning to move on Memorial Day but got a late call that the apartment wouldn't be ready. So on Monday we were able to take it easy and enjoy the weather by going for a walk.These turtles turtles were also enjoying the weather. We were watching one turtle trying to crawl onto the log and hoping it would make it roll and dump all its friends in the lake. I guess that's kind of mean because they spend so much effort getting up there. Our little turtle eventually made it without incident though.

Then we found out that Tuesday was no good for moving either! So I went to class and then we went hunting for the mobile urban assault pig vehicle that, according to a coworker, has the best pulled pork sandwich you'll ever try.
We found it! (Mostly because they post their weekly location schedule online.)

It was quite average, which is good, but definitely didn't live up to the hype.

Then we went for another walk to pass the time and enjoy the outdoors. The park's map must have not been very clear if two intrepid explorers like Dad and me could get lost.

We were eventually somehow able to pick up the faint trail. We also apparently were mirroring each other.
Someone was as happy as a clam playing with her new camera whilst falling behind.Finally on Wednesday "we" were able to move. I guess all the pent-up moving energy exploded because when I got home from class everything was already in the new apartment except for the couch and bed and a few odds and ends. Thanks Brooke and Dad! Of course that left unpacking and organizing to do still.
Let's just say we're going to let the apartment be a bit cluttered for awhile longer. We took Dad back to the airport the morning after the move. Thanks again for your help Dad!

Can't Sleep and Bowling

2010-05-23T02:12:00.000-07:00

(excuse my grammar errors you're about to see what time it was when I wrote this)

I slept in today until 8am.

I never thought I'd say that. Does anyone remember a few months ago when I was dreading having to wake up at 6:30? I do that almost every day now completely on my own. Usually I manage to fall back to sleep until 7 or 7:30 at which point I am wide awake.

But today I slept in until 8am and now ... it' 2am and I can't sleep. What?! Seriously? I'm tired but I guess I'm not sleepy. Boo.

Anyway, Ben and I went bowling with a couple of friends. And I have to blog about the bowling because 1. great company and 2. best average bowling score ever.

Usually, I get around a 70, maybe an 80 if I'm lucky. Once, and just once I managed a 130 but I don't think I've even scored above a 100 since then and that was back in 10th or 11th grade. However, tonight I not only got a decent score once, but three times!

First time I scored a 107 (woo hoo! Second place). Then I scored a .... 93? (woo hoo! First place) Then I scored a 108 (woo hoo! Third place?). That last game was everyone's best game. It was a lot of fun. And as proof - I offer pictures: (And I just wanted to show that I'm already getting use out of my camera)

First, proof that we did indeed go bowling - the classic bowling shoe:

Proof of my score:
(in case you couldn't tell -- I'm Striker)

Proof that we do actually have friends and I'm not just making them up:

And lastly, proof that randomness exists everywhere. Even in bowling alley restrooms:

(I think I'd still use my foot even after seeing that sign)

Okay. My eyes are starting to droop. Definitely a good sign. Night everyone! (or morning).

My New Baby Has Arrived

2010-05-19T14:52:00.001-07:00

First thing I did when my battery was charged was take a picture of my new best friend. Yes. This will go every where and see everything that I see until it breaks. Now life can continue as previously planned.

(Also, my hair was up in a ponytail but I let it down to take a picture so it's not very "stylish" but I figured I should just post a pic now before my hair is back to its normal length)

Yay! I cannot even describe how happy I am right now!

What's been going on

2010-05-18T22:14:00.000-07:00

Hi Everybody!

I just felt like writing an update from my perspective because the alternative right now is studying and this is the first time in awhile that there is nothing really pressing for me to work on. That means it's likely that this will be the first of several distractions that will lead me to doing nothing school related for the rest of the evening. Let's talk about some distractions.

The weather has been awesome! We have our balcony door open still and it's 10:22pm. School here starts way later than most, Sep 30th, which was a lot of fun having a month off after we moved here but now I'm paying the price by being in school until well into June. I can't wait to spend more time outdoors. After finals are over I need to go bike shopping. We have a bike rack for the car but only one bike that we never use because we both don't want to go riding alone.

I rediscovered reading for fun! I used to say I just didn't have time for pleasure reads but it turns out I was really just wasting time in other ways. Once I started and remembered how it is enjoyable, I found that I made time. The funny thing is, it all started with a non-pleasure read. I thought I should read what I would call "conversation books"-meaning books you read so that you can tell people you read them and have enlightening conversations about them. Somewhere about 3/4 through 1776 I thought, "Hey, I'm not enjoying this at all. I'm not a history buff. I'm only reading this because someone suggested it a few months ago and it sounded like a sophisticated thing to do." So what did I turn to? Fantasy! Ha ha! Now my books often have a dragon on the cover, a map in the first pages, and appendices to explain runes or allomancy or whatnot. I like it because my reading is no longer yet another educational experience and has returned to being an escape into imagination like it was when I was younger. So if you ask me, "Read any good books lately?" I'll reply, "Yep, but you aren't gonna want to talk about them!"

We have to move soon! As managers we have to go down to live on the first floor. Dad is coming to help us move on Memorial Day which is awesome! I'm not excited about the move though. I finally get a 2 day weekend and it will be spent moving. For those who don't know, I've been doing an internship that is Saturdays 9-6 and on Thursday evenings since that's my light-on-classes day. One day weekends are lame! Then I remember how the cows didn't take weekends so I keep complaining, just not to Mom and Dad. So anyway, it's almost time to move again. It's not like I've started packing or preparing in any way, it's just in my mind now so that's a distraction.

Last note: Brooke is awesome! Even when I'm here I'm usually distracted by school work but she takes it in stride and doesn't complain. Then again, maybe that's my ego talking and a lack of my attention is a blessing and I should just get over myself. Well, whether it's easy, hard, or she didn't even notice that I left, she's still awesome.

Morning Musings

2010-05-13T15:20:00.001-07:00

Lately I've been waking up around 7 am no matter what time I go to bed. The sun just comes up and shines through our closed tight blinds and my body wakes itself up. It's left me really tired come about 6 or 7pm every night.

Well, last night I went to bed really late so I was hoping that this morning I would be able to sleep in a while longer than normal. I closed the blinds extra tight last night before I climbed into bed, just to make sure.

Then this morning came and I actually managed to continue sleeping through Ben's exodus from the bed and his taking a shower. Unfortunately at 7:33 my loving and wonderful husband decided having a sleeping wife was not beneficial for him because he had a dream he needed to share. So, he stood by the bed for a second before deciding to poke me in the forehead. I think he poked me at least twice because I vaguely remember the out of body experience of watching him do it once before my mind really woke up.

Once he'd poked me enough to get me to acknowledge his existence I think he said something to the effect of, "Hey, you're awake! Let's cuddle." Then he proceeded to tell me about his dream - he made a mistake while working at the marshmallow plant which ended up causing a worldwide shortage of marshmallows.

Was his dream worth being woken up that early? Nope. But I've been laughing about his methods for disturbing my sleep all day. Another day of living with Ben, anything but ordinary.

(Also, I wrote this a few minutes after waking up from my nap which Ben woke me from by poking me in the forehead, again, when he got home from class. So if it doesn't make sense I'll go back and fix it when I'm more coherent)

Ten Honest Things

2010-05-11T09:08:00.000-07:00

Caitlyn over at The Other Hairs. No the Other Ones awarded me this challenge so let's just get right to it. Ten Honest things about me:

1. I hate/fear talking on the phone. I hate talking on the phone almost as much as I hate spiders. Each time my phone rings I have to convince myself to answer it. Also, I have been known to purposely misplace my phone just so I don't have to go through all the tormented feelings that come when someone is calling me.

2. My biggest regret in life is deciding to throw instead of run my senior year of high school track. I finally had some stiff competition for the 400m run that year so I used my knee as an excuse to quit rather than use that competition to get better. I think it was my way of trying to keep the title of "I was the best 400m runner at my school". I don't know if I realized my reasons at the time, but looking back, had she not been so close to beating my times I have to wonder if I would have pushed through the knee pain for that last season. I am, however, forever grateful to my track coach who still let me go as an alternate for the 4 by 100m relay to the State Track Meet even though I hadn't run a single race that year. (Yes, there were several people who thought that was completely unfair and they were probably right but that doesn't change the fact for me).

3. I love math. I am not nearly as good at it as some people, but I still love it. There's something about solving an equation that just gets me all excited inside. It's like solving a little mystery every time you get the right answer and being a detective would be really cool.

4. I hate my college major. I have decided that while the classes were extremely entertaining and I enjoyed the course work, my teachers used the subject matter to lure me into a major that I will never use. That's right, my marketing teachers marketed marketing to me so that I forgot about the small detail that I would have to be in "sales" before I could really do much else with my marketing degree. I hate sales so ... this was probably the worst possible subject for me to get my degree in. I'm annoyed at least once a week for all the money I wasted on it. Oh well. Live and learn.

5. When I applied for the Marriott School of Business I only had a 55% chance of being accepted based on my grades. It's little facts like this that remind me my 12th grade English teacher didn't know what he was talking about when he told me I didn't know how to write a paragraph if my life depended on it. I have to remember that it was my essay, my writing, that got me into that program on the first try whenever I'm feeling inadequate with something I've written.

6. I still feel inadequate 99% of the time I write something that other people will be reading. It's amazing that with 11 years of loving the school subject English, one teacher and one class could ruin that for me for the rest of my life. This blog has been a sort of healing exercise for my fear of those inadequacies.

7. I love. I don't know how to like. Ask my mom. I never just liked something. Let's take Oreos for example. A simple cookie and yet, I was so in love with these treats that every birthday my friends knew what to get me and I'd end up with 7-8 packages of Oreos. Then there is Extra Spearmint Gum. I've had a pack of that stuff in my purse since I was probably 14 years old. I used to always have to have a piece in my mouth, unfortunately my jaw feels the side effects for all those years of chewing gum but it was worth it. Then there is Bread, Mass Effect, The Internet, stars, etc. I could go on for a long time on the stuff that I love and really should just like but ... we'd be here all day.

8. When I was younger and my family was getting food from the Bishop's Storehouse I remember we "got" to bag our own food. That was one of my favorite things to do when I was that age. I enjoyed it so much that for at least a few years my goal in life was to be "A grocery store worker".

9. I want to go into space. I've always been fascinated with the sky. I used to spend nights just lying on my bed looking up at the night sky counting stars. Then in High School I took an Astronomy class which was pretty boring but the days that it wasn't boring just expanded my curiosity. Nowadays with the internet, you can see so many things about space and several times those videos and pictures take my breath away. I can only imagine what it would be like to experience that first hand.

10. I was in love with a boy in 6th grade who always wore a BYU coat. That coat and that boy got me interested in BYU. As a result, I made a goal to go to BYU. Sometimes I wonder where I'd be right now if I hadn't been so ... "obsessed?" with that boy. I'm not complaining though. I made a very important goal and it has guided the direction of my life since then. I hope my sisters find something similar to motivate them.

So now you know a bit about me that you may or may not have already known. I guess the moral of the story is, I'm a little weird, but aren't we all?

Now to award this challenge to five other people. If I don't pick you but you want to do it, by all means please do. And if I do pick you but you have no desire .... well ... I'll let it go, for now.

(I used a random generator to pick the people for this based on our blog lists so .... here they are for not particular rhyme or reason:)

Maria at The Andersen Family

Rachel at Mike and Rachel

Heather at The Boyce Spot

Jay at The Life of Jay

Janell at Pictures and Prose

Also this is "our" 250th post ... woo hoo!

Now it's Officially Official

2010-05-07T13:09:00.000-07:00

So now that it's actually official I can write a little longer post.

We got the apartment management position for our apartment complex. We'll be moving down to the first floor "managers apartment" on May 31st and then the fun begins - not to mention the free rent, free parking, AND free storage plus a monthly stipend!

I can't really speak for Ben but I'm pretty excited about this. I am, however, not so excited about the moving or living on the first floor, but I guess it'll be worth it in the long run. I just really enjoy laying in bed and seeing the tops of the trees. It makes it feel like we're out in the middle of the forest camping, not in the middle of a city. Plus, the top floor has lots less spiders. Yeah. That's the main reason I don't want to move to the first floor. Anyway, guess we should start packing? ......... Nah.

Oh well. Here goes another exciting adventure in this thing we call life!

Unofficially Official

2010-05-03T10:32:00.000-07:00

Ben and I will be moving in less than a month to an apartment on the bottom floor ... anyone want to come help??

Another Ben-ism

2010-04-19T12:47:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know - Ben has an aversion to cameras. Yes, this is my fault. I love pictures. I'm extremely paranoid about growing old and forgetting my life so I have been documenting every possible moment since I bought my first digital camera about 5 years ago.

Well a couple of days ago my camera died. Ben and I went to a Best Buy to get an idea for another camera and talk to the sales guys there about the new camera functions, etc. Anyway, while at Best Buy I decided to write down a few camera models I wanted to look up when I got home.

Ben is not very excited about these camera models I want because 1. he doesn't want me back to taking his picture every waking moment of every waking day, and 2. they are kind of expensive.

Well, Just now I was cleaning up all the piles of mail we had on our end table and I found this list I'd made ... as I looked a little closer I noticed Ben had added his own camera idea and price at the end.

My paper now reads:

Canon PowerShot SX120 - $229.99

Canon PowerShot G11 - $499.99

Canon PowerShot S90 - $399.99

Memories in your brain - Priceless (Free)

(I would have just taken a picture of the paper rather than try to describe the whole thing but ... I don't have a camera. Bah).

I love it when I find these little treasures around our apartment! Ben sure knows how to make me laugh.

Our Trip to Isengard ... I mean Roozengaarde

2010-04-10T12:54:00.001-07:00

Yesterday Ben woke up with the idea of going to the Tulip Festival up north. This idea sounded especially fun since the farthest north we have traveled, is to a Walmart 15 miles from our place.

Ben gets done with class on Fridays at 1:20 so I picked him up and 60 miles later we were at Roozengaarde (in Mount Vernon).

Here are some pictures of the Tulip Garden and the Tulip fields:

All of these tulip fields are harvested for the bulbs not the flowers so after a few weeks of enjoying the colors a machine comes by and lops the tops off to keep the petals from stealing energy and nutrients from the bulbs.

These were some of my favorite tulips:

After we went through the tulip gardens and drove around through the tulip fields we decided to stop over at Padilla Bay for a bit.

Sea life:

After a long day of exploring and sight-seeing we did what any sane person would do, we ate. Kiwanis hosts a annual Salmon BBQ during the Tulip Festival so we headed over to a park and had some delicious smoked salmon, potatoes, coleslaw, bread, and last but not least .. ice cream. Mmm.

Here's a picture of Ben enjoying the last remaining bites of this lovely feast:

It was a beautiful day. Before we left we were worried it might rain on us but we were able to just enjoy nature without any discomforts. Perfect.

Last Day!

2010-03-26T11:15:00.001-07:00

It is officially my last day at this job.

For reals this time.

When you live around water ...

2010-03-21T19:16:00.000-07:00

Ben and I needed to stop by the library on Saturday to pick up a few books and since the library is right across the street from Greenlake we decided to go walk around the trail. Once we got to the other side of the lake we realized we were smack dab in the middle of a Rowing Tournament.

It was kind of fun to see all the hustle and bustle that I'm used to at Track Meets. Brought back good memories.

And some random pictures of the rowing event:

My favorite part was watching the teams trying to get the super long boats from the water to their parking spots and vice versa. I think that takes more team effort than the actual rowing.

They had to go back and forth and back and forth to get the angle they needed - all while trying to avoid running over people or damaging their boat.

I think this one got a good shot of how long these things are:

And after walking a little while longer we found the starting point. This was just after they said, "Go".

And then we saw a bunch of ducks just sleeping and enjoying the springtime sun:

It was a beautiful 68 degrees on Saturday and we enjoyed every second of it. I love warm weather.

What makes a good book -

2010-03-20T21:49:00.000-07:00

Someone had mentioned a book that I thought Ben might like so we picked it up from the library today and when we got home we had this conversation:

Ben (as he is about to open the book): "If this book has a map at the beginning then I'll know it's good"

(Ben opens book to first page)

"A map! Maybe Brian was right about this book after all"

Me (only kind of paying attention): "Maybe he was"

Ben (VERY Excited, like a little boy on Christmas): "There's another map of just the city! This book is going to be great!"

Ok, the last part might not have been quoted word for word because like I said before I was only half paying attention to what Ben was saying but ... Now anyone wanting to write a book knows the key to success. Awesome Maps of the world in which their story takes place.

Interesting observation

2010-03-17T11:00:00.001-07:00

I've decided that writing in cursive works the right side of my brain and in turn spawns creativity.

I never write in cursive. Ever. Well, not for anything that would ever be read by anyone but myself. On occasion, I do however, jot down musings for the beginnings of stories. I don't think I've ever been able to write down a single one of these stories without doing it in cursive. I don't know why that is. I have typed up stories before, sort of - I think?, but I think my favorite story beginnings (because I never get far) have always been written in my worst handwriting (because I was never very good at the cursive stuff) on small sheets of paper.

I never really thought about this until just now when I was, once again, jotting down the beginnings of a story on a small scrap of paper in my illegible cursive.

Random? Yes.

Now ... back to what I was doing.

March Madness Ramblings

2010-03-15T16:54:00.001-07:00

Had I known the NCAA West Tournament was going to be played in Salt Lake City this March, I never would have let Ben convince me to move to Seattle. Man! Just my luck.

If (and that is a VERY big if) BYU manages to make it past round one (which they have failed to do every other time they've made it to the tournament) then I'm quitting my job a week early and buying tickets to the Sweet Sixteen just in case.

I miss BYU basketball ... I think it was an outlet for homework related stress. Plus, it always made for a good night out since I never went to a BYU Basketball game that we lost AND when you are a girl at a sporting event you are vastly outnumbered by the opposite sex. (Double Win)

I miss the days when I could list off every player on the team and their stats ... Now, if I were to watch a BYU Basketball game, I could still yell at the players but I couldn't add my two sense about who I think should be starting, or playing in general.

Anyway, March Madness is coming to a TV near you ... and I'll probably be watching it while at work since I won't have anything better to do and even if I did ... I'd probably still watch it. (The internet just makes it too easy).

Life doesn't like to listen to my plans

2010-03-05T14:42:00.000-08:00

Not sure if it's just me or if it's every person on the planet but, I kind of feel like life thinks it's funny to throw a wrench in my plans. See below for examples:

I'm going to be a cheerleader *Wrench* (Well, I was a cheerleader but Wrench = I hated cheer-leading cause of all the other stupid mean people who were cheerleaders with me)
I am going to be an Olympic track star *Wrench* (Wrench=my knee hurts so bad after running that I can't even run around the block anymore without having to ice and heat it for hours on end)
I'm going to be HS Valedictorian *Wrench* (Wrench = 4th quarter, 9th grade Algebra 2 with Trig)
I'm going to be a family therapist *Wrench* (Wrench = Getting a horrible grade in Psych 110)
I'm going to go into Business Management and get an emphasis in Financial whatever *Wrench* (Wrench = financial classes are SOOO boring)
I'm going on a mission *Wrench* (Wrench = Ben)
I'm going to be a millionaire *Wrench* (Wrench = I can't think of anything that will make me a million dollars)
I'm going to go into marketing *Wrench* (Wrench = Turns out your job experience matters a lot more than your college degree in the grand scheme of things so I end up doing financial whatever)
I'm going to keep my job at the UofU while Ben goes to pharmacy school *Wrench* (Wrench = Not being even remotely content with that decision)
I'm going to look for a job because I've had experience sitting home doing nothing and it isn't fun *Wrench* (Wrench = I actually really like being home doing nothing. Especially when Ben is home doing nothing with me.)
I'm going to take this job and see how much I like it *Wrench* (Wrench = Well, you all know the story on this one because it's still ongoing)
I'm going to work at this job until Friday *Wrench* (Wrench = The hiring process is taking FOREVER so I still have this job come Monday, again)

Wonder what wrenches lie ahead.

Anyway, Some of these things were a little far fetched but I thought about them a lot before the wrench came around. I guess the point of this blog is, I like the wrenches life throws at me. It's kind of fun to look back and see where I thought my life was headed as opposed to where I am now. And I think it's even better than I could have expected (well, minus the Olympic Track Star part).

Still Working

2010-02-25T14:49:00.001-08:00

I realize I never publicly posted our decision about my current job and whether I'd be accepting the permanent position.

Well, here is the post to rectify that.

I turned down the permanent position but I'm still working for the Physics department, for now. They had originally thought that I would probably work until the end of February (which is this weekend if you can believe that). Anyway, things haven't gone quite as quickly as they would have liked in regards to getting the job up and posted on the UW HR web page so I'll be here at least another week.

I have a feeling they are mostly keeping me around because they feel bad about the whole situation. They could have just had me work one week and then sent me on my way but I'm trying to prove myself useful for the most part. But at the same time, it's hard to be motivated to wake up in the morning when I keep thinking that Friday will be my last day. But I've worked through two possible last days and I guess I'll have at least 2 more (if you include tomorrow). So anyway. Cheers to getting up early and being responsible.

On a side note, I did find a bus that will take me home at a reasonable hour (which means it's still light outside when I get home) without me having to leave work early so that has made the last few days much more bearable. I am now only spending 10.5 hours away from home each day instead of 11+. It makes a big difference in my moral.

Anyway, that's all for now. Over and out.

Enraptured or maybe just obsessed

2010-02-22T09:42:00.000-08:00

Technically I shouldn't be admitting what I'm about to admit. I especially shouldn't be admitting it to the world wide web. Alas, it's about time I prove to the world that I'm actually quite strange.

So there is this video game, Mass Effect. I really, really like it. The story is a Battlestar Galactica meets Terminator meets Romeo and Juliet meets Unbreakable. I am sure I could add about a dozen more movies to the list but those are the ones I thought of first.

(SPOILER ALERT: So my friend Adam made me realize that some people haven't finished this game and would like to find out about the Romance Subplot on their own. If you are one of these people don't read anymore. Also, the other things I mention are already mentioned in the previews for this game so you can't get mad at me for revealing anything other than the romance subplot. That's all)

Anyway, this video game is a trilogy. We have the first one and the second one but the third one won't come out for at least another year and it's driving me crazy. I go to sleep at night wondering how the galaxy will survive the impending doom.

I don't think I'd be as interested in this game but there were certain aspects of the second one that really left me hanging as far as the Romeo and Juliet storyline goes.

In the first game, Girl meets Boy. Girl starts to like Boy. Liking Boy is forbidden. Boy likes Girl. Liking Girl is forbidden. Despite being forbidden they like each other and that's about the end of the first one. THEN in the second one, Girl dies. Boy goes on with life (barely). Girl gets brought back to life by extremists with advanced medical facilities so she can save the galaxy but the process takes two years and Boy has no idea this is taking place.

Girl runs into boy in the middle of nowhere out on some distant planet in the far reaches of the galaxy and Boy freaks out because she's supposed to be dead (not to mention she is now working with the extremists that they were fighting against in the first game). Girl is sad because Boy doesn't really let her explain. Boy sends Girl an email saying sorry for freaking out just before Girl has to embark on a "suicide mission" to once again save the galaxy. THEN after fighting some more bad guys the game ends. No closure to the Boy/Girl story.

There is obviously a lot of other story going on that doesn't have to do with Boy liking Girl but that's my favorite part.

Anyway, since this game is quite popular and a lot of other people have been left hanging just as I, people have started adding their own additions to the story online. Reading other people's short stories is my new favorite hobby. None of these stories have given me any closure but they are really fun to read. Sometimes they are fun to read because the writing is so horrible that it makes me quite confident in my own writing abilities. Sometimes they are just really, really good short stories. And other times, they are just an interesting story to pass the time.

One of these stories sticks out the most in my mind. It's completely tragic. But the description the author gives is so moving that I can't help but linger on the final scene that they created. Every time I think about it I get tears in my eyes. I'm a nerd - I admit it.

Problem is, I'm running out. There are only a few characters I really enjoy reading about and I'm getting to the end of their stories. What will I do when there are none left?

Maybe I'll go back to normal life and start reading normal books again and just let the mystery of what is yet to come linger in the back of my brain. Maybe.

Poor Ben has to listen to me talk about this game at least a dozen times every day and then he has to deal with me randomly laughing at what appears to be nothing because of all the inside jokes I have in my head from reading these stories.

Anyway, the point of this post was mostly because I was bored and I'm trying to make the few remaining stories last as much longer as possible.

In closing ...

My name is Brooke and I'm enraptured (because obsessed just sounds so ... obsessive) with the Mass Effect Universe that Bioware has created.

B&B

Video Debut!

Home again, Home again

I got crafty

And Another! Plus an update on "How I'm Feeling"

Sponsored by the letter ...

39 Weeks!

Living, Learning and a Touch of Perfect

Another Letter

The Showering of Baby Newman

The twelve months of 2011

Happy Sunday

I looked in my freezer and what did I see?

Four Years Later

Likes and Dislikes at 34 weeks

Now we know it all...

Pumpkins!

So many projects ...

The Watch: A modern day fairy tale ... sort of.

Baby Newman's Video Debut

Third Trimester!

Glucose Test

A little Hawaii is the perfect cure for any rainy day

In a Dark, Dark Room and the book of Other Scary stories like ... The Green Ribbon

Food: More specifically, Hamburgers

Amazon

On Drugs

Is Pregnancy Brain a Thing?

About me: A-Z

This is my hair

Over half way!

I sewed ...

My Visual DNA

When you've been married for as long as me ...

Baby steps

A new favorite blog to stalk

Great deals!

You've probably heard...

Soon!

Grandpa

Boy or a Girl - One Month to Decide!

Pregnancy Widget

I used to blog a lot

Dear Husband

About a Baby...

To Clip or to Tie

Canada Visit - Capilano Suspension Bridge

Ben keeps telling me to blog

Up close and personal

Be Smart and Never Show It.

Food, Friends and America's Pasttime

Sick

Gray or Blonde?

Turns out I'm 26!

Earthquake

Love notes from my husband

It must be finals week

Help!

Sounds of Sunday

All MLKD Out!

New Years Resolutions, Part 2

New Years Resolutions, Part 1

Learning

Jury Summons

My Guilty Pleasure

Turns out it does snow in Seattle

Pumpkins!

Halloween Party

Things that make me happy

Daydreaming

Girls Night: Dierks Bentley/Guys Night: Chili Cook-off and Wii

Razorbacks

Relief Society Interview/Spotlight

Primary Lesson and reminiscing .. sort of.

Anyone can cook...from a recipe

We left the country! But it sure was cold and wet.

We left the country! But things still looked the same.

We left the country! But we had to make it past the border first.

Rupunzel

Something to walk about