Allison Wonderland

Griffith Observatory

2010-07-09T16:29:00.003-07:00

It is a little hard to see in this picture, but that is the Hollywood sign. The observatory is in the Hollywood hills and you can see the sign pretty well from the grounds. We went to the observatory as part of Father's Day. Rick loves space so I wanted to take him because it is a world renowned observatory. my parents came too since my dad also likes space and my mom volunteered to watch Jett for part of the day.
Here is Jett and Grandpa hanging out in front of one of the telescopes up on the roof of the building. Jett was a trooper to have such a long day out with us.
Here are my mom and I up on the roof. Somewhere in the background there is LA, but it was really sunny (and slightly smoggy), so it is really hard to see.
Here are all the men on Father's Day weekend. Earlier in the day I made Rick blueberry muffins and on the actual Father's Day we gave Rick a card that Jett helped me color and a new belt (boring, but it is what he wanted).
Grandma watched Jett while Dad, Rick and I went to see a show. We watched a show in the planetarium about the Northern Lights. It was really cool, but I'm glad Jett didn't come in, it was a little disorienting at parts. We all got to go inside and look at the cool displays about the sun and moon and different stars etc. It was a blast and something I've never done before. After the Observatory we went out to dinner, but it was a little rough because on our way to the restaurant Jett fell down and smashed his face pretty good. Since he was already tired he was really upset. The saddest part for me was seeing his huge swollen lip the next day. Overall, we had a great weekend though (and doesn't Jett look so cool in his sun glasses?)

Jett's POV

2010-07-09T16:25:00.003-07:00

If these pictures look a little odd, its because Jett likes to play with our camera. I have more on the other camera, but these are good for now. I just think it is cute to see our house from his perspective.

2010-06-08T13:46:00.004-07:00

Jett loves to play with blocks, he especially likes to play "dump". That is when you dump the blocks out of the bucket into your lap, then push them off the chair. I guess it is a blast because he plays it daily!
Jett has been very anti-diaper lately. He has been tugging and pulling on them whenever he can, and this is what happens.
Such a cutie posing for the camera.
Where's Jett?
Trying to put on mom's shoe. He loves taking peoples shoes off and trying to put them back on. He also knows that when it is time for a walk he needs shoes and he knows right where they are and brings them to me. Such a helpful boy.

Hanging out around the house

2010-06-08T13:35:00.003-07:00

It has been getting pretty hot here in CA, and our apartment gets hottest at night. So I put Jett in a large t shirt as jammies one night and here's what he looked like in the morning! Somehow he got one of his arms out, it was really cute. The day before this we went to pick him up from a nap and he had taken his diaper off and thrown in out of his crib! Silly, silly boy.
Jett has finally started to figure out how to climb up onto things in our house. This chair is his chair, he usually yanks us out of it if we sit in it.
Wrestling with Ooo-Ooo (he calls his monkey the sound a monkey makes)
I think it is so cute when he makes this face. He gets so happy and he crinkles his nose, he's just a happy guy.
Just a cute picture of him.

Just a little update

2010-06-03T14:51:00.000-07:00

These pictures are a couple of months ago, when it was cool enough to wear long sleeves, but all the other pictures wouldn't export of the card, so this is all for now. Jett is still a cute cute boy and is now also talking like crazy! He knows a lot of words and speaks pretty clearly. In just the last week he's started saying "copter" (like helicopter) "siter" (sister) "rhyne" (rhyme) "later" (like see ya later) and has begun to use short phrases like "up peeze" (up please). A few of his favorite toys right now are plastic Easter eggs, batteries, cars and blocks.

He has also started being a great helper. He throws things in the trash when we ask, he puts laundry in the basket and he likes to help in the kitchen when he can but not around the stove. He also loves reading, which is really great but after reading his nursery rhymes book a dozen reads in a row, it gets a little old, but I guess not for Jett :)

Rick is doing well at work and for the next 8 weeks or so will be working on a project here in Pasadena, which will be great. I have been running and it has been really great, Jett likes it too because we go fast! We've been having fun just hanging out, visiting with "Guma" and "Gupa" in Redlands and doing all the regular day to day things. It is crazy that Jett is going to be a year and a half soon! But I think Jett can't wait to go to nursery!

Random

2010-03-29T17:29:00.003-07:00

Here are Daddy, Jett and Monkey working on the computer. Jett has been playing more and more with his monkey, and it is so cute.
Eating his bottle on the step. He loves that thing.
Really getting into eating his oatmeal.

Bathtime

2010-03-29T17:20:00.003-07:00

Jett used to hate bathtime. He would scream as soon as he touched the water until after we got pjs on him. It was miserable. I'm glad that has changed. He loves the water now, especially running water. When we're filling the tub up, her likes to drink water from his cup that he gets from the faucet. Here he is filling up his bath cup.
Cups aren't the only drinking option though. He likes to suck water from this sponge of his too. Behind him are all his other toys, including the net that Aunt Holly got him, which he loves. He likes his squirt-y toys too, but he gets frustrated because he hasn't figured out yet how to fill them back up.
Just being silly with his tongue.
Posing for the camera. What a nice smile!
I couldn't resist. He's got cute little buns!

Catch that Truck!

2010-03-29T17:08:00.002-07:00

This is a routine we go through at least 3 times a day. First, (and I don't have a picture of this) Jett takes his dump truck outside and then pushes it under our porch fence. Then, as is pictured above, he goes to the gate and says "uh oh, guk (truck) out(outside)". Which means we need to go save it from the scary outside world.
Next (and yes this picture is from a different occasion than the first) we go get it. And now Jett is free to be outside, and he knows it. He loves the outside so much, we go on many walks during the day.
Sometimes he makes a side trip up the stairs, now that his truck is safely in his sight.
But after that, the truck just keeps running away, further and further. It is a rascally little dump truck (and a rascally little boy pushing it).
Then it makes it out to the sidewalk and usually up and down the block a few times. In this picture Jett is waving to a garbage truck as it drives by. He loves any vehicle, bikes, motorcycles, cars, buses and trucks. And the louder the better. If he hears a truck in the distance, he looks at it and keeps looking at it from one end of the street until he can't see it anymore. He LOVES trucks.

Doin' the Dishes

2010-03-29T16:59:00.000-07:00

Jett loves to do the dishes with me. It gives him a chance to be in just a diaper and to stand on the step stool. Oh, and to splash in the water, so really it is one of the greatest times of the day.

I usually just let him play with his bottles, they're plastic and so don't break. He likes to fill them up and pour them back out, sometimes he even puts them on the bottle rack, but they usually end right back up in the sink. Sometimes the rack comes in with them.

You can see my lousy attempt at straightening my hair this particular day. Check out those waves!

Life lately

2010-03-17T08:47:00.003-07:00

Well, here are just a few pictures, I have more I might put up later, I just need to get them off the camera. Jett is such a little ball of sunshine, he is the happiest little guy around. He just plays and is so fun. The above picture is him playing peek-a-boo. He prefers being outside to being inside, so peeking around the screen is fun!
I left the broom closet door open while I was vacuuming and this is what I found when I went to put the vacuum away!
"Please Daddy, can we take the truck outside one more time?"
We keep some of our exercise equiptment in the living room, and Jett watches us use it sometimes. Lately he's been doing his own "workouts" and pushing around Rick's push up bars or lifting these 3 pound weights. He even makes a "oooooooo" heavy lifting sound.

Seattle Trip II

2010-03-04T11:14:00.002-07:00

An up close look at the Space Needle.
On our way to Olympic National Park we drove through Port Angeles, and for all those who don't read the Twilight books, this is the "big city" where the girls in the book do their shopping etc. I took this picture for my mom, and was sad to inform her that we didn't drive the extra 50-ish miles to Forks. Rick was willing to if I'd wanted to go, but we'd done a lot of driving already.
Okay, in the previous post I showed the snow in the Park; at the bottom of the mountain was this. It was so green, trees and plants and moss everywhere. We went on a little hike through it and it was beautiful. Honestly, I don't think I've seen anywhere as green as this (I've lived most of my life in the desert). Except for the trail, you couldn't see the dirt because there were so many little plants. Olympic Park is home to La Push (also from Twilight) and the only rainforest in North America.
This is an animatronic Donatello the Ninja Turtle from the live action movies. He lives in the Science Fiction museum in Seattle. I thought I wouldn't enjoy myself there (we went for Rick) but it actually was pretty cool. They had lots of first edition sci-fi books, props and costumes from TV shows and movies like Star Trek, Star wars, Dune and Blade Runner. I actually came away wanting to read some of the books and see some of the movies, which is shocking since usually I'm not into sci-fi at all.
Another picture from the National Park (don't know how they got out of order).
I know these posts are out of order, just work with me.

Seattle Trip

2010-03-04T10:55:00.003-07:00

Rick has been doing a lot of traveling lately, San Francisco, Tacoma WA and Washington DC, just since the New Year started. He's spent the most time in Tacoma and actually is going back in a week. He's been enjoying his time there and told me how pretty it was. Even though he has been working in Tacoma, he and his co-workers stay in Seattle since Tacoma is "too boring". So I decided to go visit Rick for a weekend up there. Here he is on top of the Space Needle, and behind him is downtown Seattle
On our trip we did many things. One day we rented a car and drove a few hours to Olympic National Park. We drove up about 20 minutes and found tons of snow! It was freezing too, but so so so pretty. The view was spectacular. You can't tell from the picture, but all those mountains you see are simply covered in trees. And those are only a fraction of the mountains we could see from up there, it's insane!
Back down in the city, we just walked around a lot and explored. A few blocks from our hotel was a glass blowing studio (we forgot to take pictures). It was my first time seeing it and it was cool, but looked so dangerous to me. I'm glad we didn't end up taking a class like we'd originally had planned, because it would have freaked me out. The glass is around 1000 degrees, too hot for me thank you very much. But a little further was this Market, which is in my 1000 places to see in the US&Canada book. It was awesome. So many vendors and shops that sold handmade things and fresh veggies and fish. There were also fun trinket stores, used book stores and a magic shop that we spent quite a bit of time in (and Rick almost bought quite a few things, too).
This is a picture of Olympic Statue park, down by the beach (or one of the beaches, there is so much water around Seattle). Rick actually didn't go here with me, since I spent most of my first day in the city alone. I walked just about everywhere by myself and it was great. Rick joined me late that night after flying in from D.C.
Here is just a cute shot of Jett being the man of the house while Rick was away. Usually Rick gets to come home on the weekends, but wasn't able to for the two weeks in D.C. Luckily for me I have family close by and Holly and Carlie came to visit too.

Halloween!

2009-11-07T15:54:00.000-07:00

Jett with our pumkin the actual evening of Halloween. Right after we took these pictures we went down to our outdoor mall area where they hand out candy for trick or treaters. We didn't get any candy, we just wanted to see lots of kids in their costumes. We had a great time and a relaxing Halloween.

Jett being a circus monkey doing tricks on the ball.

In his costume Jett looked a lot like a stuffed animal monkey we have. Here they are wrestling to decide who is the cuter monkey. Jett won, hands down

2009-11-07T15:26:00.000-07:00

My boys in their costumes. I think Rick was ninja or assassin, but I'm not really sure.

He just always wants to reach the camera.

I wanted to get a back picture so we could see Rick's sword, and Jett's cute tail.

Rick let Jett have an actual banana, and he was pretty happy about it. You can't really tell he's happy in the picture though, the flash always gets him.

2009-11-07T15:16:00.000-07:00

My little monkey boy and me as a hippie. This wasn't actually Halloween, we dressed up for our ward Trunk or Treat. He was really great about the head piece, he never once tried to take it off.

2009-10-27T21:04:00.001-07:00

Jett is quite the accomplished sitter now. He can get himself up to sitting and now is a little more content to play by himself because of it

I think the flash was too much for him in this picture, but I thought it was cute that he is still smiling!

His tounge has been one of his favorite discovories lately. He likes to stick it out a lot, and he pushes it up to the roof of his mouth when he is thinking or looking at something.

His clothes are another fun toy. He chews on them all the time, especially during meal times, which means he is constantly getting food all over his clothes.

2009-10-27T20:56:00.001-07:00

Hey Jett, what is that in your mouth?

A ball of Mama's yarn! I swear, we got a puppy by mistake somehow. He isn't potty trained, he carries things around in his mouth, he chews up everything and he likes to play fetch (okay, so he likes us to fetch things he throws, but its close enough).

And a happy face!

2009-10-27T20:48:00.000-07:00

Trying to grab the camera!

Jett loves to help Mommy in the kitchen.

2009-10-27T20:43:00.000-07:00

Jett after a little fall. He cries even when he lands on his bum. He just doesn't like falling down

But here is daddy making it all better

Then the fun busy box that Grandma and Grandpa Chatfield gave him helps take his mind off the pain. That is the same toy that most of my sisters used as babies too!

2009-09-19T20:43:00.002-07:00

Just some cute pictures

2009-09-19T18:11:00.003-07:00

Here is a good picture of Jett's two bottom teeth. Now he's got one top tooth and another that just poked through today. All the better for eating with!

Here is Jett helping me out again with crocheting. This is a baby blanket (or soon going to be) for a friend of mine. Jett is just making sure it is baby proof.
He is always so happy and excited to be eating. And it is a little hard to see, but he's got some cereal pieces stuck to his chin and chest. He doesn't let many get away though, his aim is pretty good when it comes to putting food in his mouth. Or anything in his mouth, really.

And besides just how adorable Jett is, Rick and I have been keeping pretty busy too. We've been apartment hunting, which is so hard. There are about a zillion places for rent around here, but a lot of them are kinda pricey. We really like where we live now, but we need to move somewhere a little more inexpensive so we can save up to buy a house. We found some options today, but we'll see what happens.

Rick has been assigned to his longest project yet-from now until March! Luckily, he will get to rotate his traveling with two other people, so he will only be gone to Indiana 1 or 2 weeks a month. Because it is such a long project and he wants to use the rest of his paternity leave before it expires in January, he is wanting to plan things now so he can let his fellow project people know in advance. So we'll see what we end up doing, it would be fun to visit all our Allison family, but that depends on what everyone is doing.

I got a haircut yesterday and I am kind of regretting it. I got some of those side-sweepy bangs, and for the past 24 hours they have been kinda driving me crazy! Also, she cut off a little more length than I wanted off, cause I'm trying to grow my hair back out long, but oh well, hair grows. Also, Rick and I are planning on going to the LA county fair and I'm really excited! I've never been to a fair before, but I think it will be fun, and Jett will have a good time because there will be so much to see. And Rick will get a funnel cake, so everyone wins.

Crawling baby

2009-09-12T20:15:00.000-07:00

Jett crawling! This video is a little old, be on the lookout for more videos soon!

2009-08-26T20:34:00.000-07:00

One of Jett's favorite toys is his toothbrush! It looks like a Crayola marker and is super cute. I am hoping he learns good dental hygiene early in life so he doesn't have bad teeth like me.

This has become one of Jett's favorite passtimes- standing in his crib. We set him in there and he just holds on and stands and stands. Today he did it for almost 30 minutes solid and only lost his balance once, and he was trying to grab his blanket with both hands when it happend.

This is another favotire bathtime passtime- playing with the kitchen faucet. He has turned the water on a few times before too. It is a little harder to wash him while he's leaning over the side of the bath, but it is also really funny.

2009-08-26T20:29:00.000-07:00

This is one of Rick's favorite pictures of Jett ever. Look at those crazy eyes!

A happy face.

Getting sleepy after playing hard. He's really good about letting us know when he's tired, and then falling right to sleep once we put him in his bed. I think he's like his dad that way

pictures of life lately

2009-08-26T20:25:00.000-07:00

Jett loves to play with the blinds, they make such fun sounds. He also loves his blanket, so this was the perfect combo.

Jett helping me do the laundry.

After eating a big dinner...Dessert!

What a happy boy!

2009-08-02T17:33:00.000-07:00

This is a little baseball cap I found as I was cleaning out Jett's dressr, but it looks a little more like a beret.

Ooops, the cap slipped a little bit, and he doesn't like having his eyes covered.

My sweetheart

2009-08-02T17:29:00.000-07:00

A couple of shots of our eating machine. He is liking solid foods more and more, like rice and oatmeal cereal, peas,carrots, squash, green beans and sweet potato, but he still loves his bottle best.

Jett, demonstrating the way to really suck on a pacifier.

2009-08-02T17:25:00.000-07:00

Here is our little monkey boy, he likes to hold his bottle with his hands and feet.

A little blurry, but super cute!

The best shot I could get of his teeth by myself, he's got 2 coming in. My little boy is growing up!

Just a cute face.

Life Lately

2009-08-02T17:19:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of pictures of Jett helping me crochet.

Here are a couple of the birthday cake I made myself: yellow cake with ganache frosting and strawberries

Coming Soon

2009-06-23T11:53:00.002-07:00

a post with all our recent adventures!

But here is a picture that I stole from Julie's Facebook, it is just soooo cute!

2009-06-14T18:22:00.000-07:00

2009-06-14T17:34:00.000-07:00

2009-06-14T17:31:00.000-07:00

2009-06-14T17:25:00.000-07:00

2009-06-14T17:21:00.000-07:00

2009-06-14T17:15:00.000-07:00

100th post

2009-04-30T10:52:00.002-07:00

I noticed as I signed in that this will be my hundredth post, today is just full of celebration. It is also Jett's 4 month birthday, I can't believe it has been 4 months already. We went to the doctor today for his checkup and some shots. Our big guy is 16 lbs 13 oz. and 25 inches long. He is totally healthy and totally cute, so we're pretty lucky. Rick and I also went to the doctor this week just to get some physicals and to meet our doctor for the first time. Our blood work will be done next week to check for cholesterol etc, but of what we know right now we're healthy too.

Rick was going to go to NBC to do a presentation today about their security, but it got canceled last minute. Too bad, I was hoping he could get me an autograph while at the studio, but I guess I will just have to wait. But that does give us time to go look at glasses frames, Rick has been wanting some new glasses but we just haven't had time to find any he likes.

Next week my dad turns 50, which finally sounds old. I'm gonna have an old dad, which is weird, cause I've always thought of my parents as young, especially compared to my friends parents growing up. My friend Alia has a brother only a few years younger than my mom. Then in 2 weeks Carlie turns 18, which is crazy! That makes me feel old. Carlie has always been one of the "little" girls, so that she is going to be an adult is just kind of hard to wrap my brain around. There are a lot of big birthdays this year in my family. Dad turns 50, Carlie turns 18, Kellie turns 16, Julie turns 21 and Mom turns 45 and Jett and Jack will turn 1. Plus my parents are going to be celebrating their 25th anniversary. Too bad I'm turning boring 23, I guess I'll take what I can get though.

This Week...

2009-04-26T15:00:00.002-07:00

Has been pretty great. Jett laughed for the first time, and my heart just about melted. I'm pretty sure I would do just about anything to make him laugh again, cause it is so cute! I haven't been able to catch him yet on camera, but I hope I will soon. We had miserable weather the first part of the week, our high on Tuesday was 102. It cooled off during the later half though and it was great, perfect actually and made going on walks just so enjoyable, well even more enjoyable than usual.

I made coconut chocolate chip cookies which turned out so yummy and we are making home made chili, which I hope turns out good. It is a vegitarian recipe, so we'll see how that goes. We did have to change it up a little cause we didn't have chili powder, so we used a bunch of other spices. We also hung the humming bird feeder we got a year or so ago from Tim and Alexa (Thanks!) and in the two days we've had it up we've already had tons of little visitors!

Rick did have to work some really long days though, which was a little rough. But over the next few weeks to lighten everyone's load they are working in shifts, and for 2 weeks Rick doesn't have to go into work until 3:30-10pm. It'll be a fun change to have him home during the morning, but hopefully working at night isn't too crazy. Then the next week he is taking the morning shift and coming home at 3:30 which will also be fun. Unfortunately, he also has to work the next two Saturdays, so maybe I'll go visit my family in Redlands. Rick is also only one class away from finishing his golf class. He's been enjoying it so far, and I'm glad.

Well, congrats to Cari and Shyla for graduating this week from BYU, that is so great!

our beach pictures

2009-04-10T11:03:00.000-07:00

Beach Day

2009-04-09T22:17:00.002-07:00

So it has been a long time since I posted anything, I'm gonna try and do better, but most days I don't really have anything to say. I pretty much lead the most boring life ever, but boring in a good way. I don't have any difficult struggles to overcome, no dramatic happenings in the day to day. I eat three meals a day, shower, go on walks, clean the house (when I can) and play with Jett.

We did have a pretty exciting day today though. Rick took the day off of work and we went down to Santa Monica beach. It was a beautiful day, not too hot or too cold. We had a picnic lunch on the sand and just soaked in the pretty beach. Then, we went on a walk along the beach near the water, but not in that stinking cold Pacific Ocean. We got our feet wet and that was good. Jett stood on the sand awhile, I couldn't tell what he thought, but that's what happens when you have a baby who scowls all the time. Then Jett fell asleep so Rick and I took the chance and played some frisbee, which was really fun. The last time we played I was 8 months pregnant, and it is much easier to play frisbee sans gigantic belly. After feeding Jett we went for a walk along the Pier, which was really cool. Then it was time to head out to try and beat rush hour because we have to drive right through downtown LA to get to the beach. We did take pictures, but those will come later.

It was really fun having Jett's blessing a couple of weekends ago. I will post more details later because we did a lot. Julie, Holly, Jack and our friend Whitney all came down from Provo and it was so fun to see them. I miss you guys a lot, so just move to Pasadena so we can all party all the time. Jack and Jett didn't seem too interested in each other yet, so we'll give them a few months. Steve and Cindy came from Arizona, which was so nice and fun. It is always great when they visit, even though they could only stay a couple of days this time. Judith and her family came as well as my Bird family. And of course Kellie, Mom and Dad were there. Sadly, we had to miss Carlie, but I'm glad she went and had a good time on her tour in NYC. Sunday was a great day and the morning wasn't even too rushed, which was a nice feeling. Rick was pretty nervous before the blessing but he did a great job. He loves Jett so so so much and I think that came across in what he said. Jett made his first public vocal performance, and started crying as soon as Rick started talking, luckily I sent Rick up there with a pacifier. After Sacrament meeting we all came back to our apartment and had lunch and hung out. It was really great just getting to talk with everyone. And I got a look into our future with Judith's three boys, I hope our kids are able to play together like that. It was a great weekend.

Monday was great because it was Holly's 24th birthday and so she let us celebrate with her at Disneyland. It was a really fun day, even though Jett was cranky on and off all day long. Mom was great and watched the boys while we went on the rides. Jett really liked Small World, and I would have taken a picture if it would've come out, because I don't think he could have opened his eyes any bigger. It was also a great day because Holly shared the good news with us: She's having another baby! I will post more about this later, but now Jett is in bed, so I'm going to bed too.

Here I come Abs of Steel

2009-02-11T13:33:00.002-07:00

So I had my six week check up today, and I've got the all clear for exercise etc now. I'm pretty excited for being able to use the little gym our apartment complex has, I need to lift some weights so I can lift my large baby. Jett had his six week appointment last week and he's doing great. He's 12 pounds now and is just as cute as can be. My favorite part my my doctors appointment today was hearing "see you in a year". The last few months have been pretty doctor filled and I'm not really a huge doctor fan. I still have to take Jett to all his appointments but I'm happy to do it.

This week for Valentine's Day Rick and I are gonna go on a hot date to the California Science Center, a cool science museum in LA that has lots of space, technology and other science exhibits that sound cool. One I'm excited about is one of their current rotating exhibits, it is an interactive CSI place where you get to solve a crime. It is probably more geared to kids, but I don't care because it sounds fun to me.

The last few days have been pretty good because I think Jett just might be hitting his stride with sleeping. He still goes to bed late, usually around 1am, but the last couple of days he then slept for 6 hours. He wakes up, eats, hangs out wide awake for a couple of hours, eats again, and it is time for a nap. I'm okay with this schedule, cause I am used to being up late and the morning nap is good cause if I feel tired I sleep, but I can also use it to shower and feel ready for the rest of the day ahead. My relief society president, who is a maternity nurse, told me the other day to not get too used to this schedule because he is going to go through another growth spurt soon.

Another highlight of the last few days is that Jett is starting to smile when he's awake (he smiles tons in his sleep) and he's starting to use his little baby voice more and more. I'm a little jealous because he usually does it more when Rick is holding him, but it doesn't stop it from being totally cute. He's also enjoying baths a little more, which makes our job a lot easier.

Sleeping like a baby

2009-01-27T11:44:00.002-07:00

Jett has decided 1 am is a good bedtime and that waking up at 7:30 is good, with a nice break from sleeping around 3:30 or 4 for about an hour and a half. I don't really approve of this schedule, but I'm not sure what I can do about it. Rick and I have tried the bath/eat/rock/bed thing, but he doesn't stay asleep.

Aside from me being tired, most things are going well. Jett is super cute. We hang out together all day and really don't do much of anything. I try to take him on at least one walk a day, but sometimes between eating, cat napping and screaming there really isn't time. I do take him even if he is crying sometimes, because a walk normally puts him right to sleep, this little guy just loves moving.

Jett has had some exciting things happen to him this week. He got his social security card, his health insurance card, and Rick and I opened up a savings account for him. We're going to add a little money every month for him, and I'm excited to do it. My parents did if for me and it was a big help. And it was a good place to put all my cash from all the babysitting I did and from the money I got from my afterschool jobs.

Other adventures like going to the library have been fun too, well, more for me than for Jett. I just finished reading 1984, not my favorite book, I spent the whole time reading it being depressed but hoping for a good ending, which it isn't. Luckily I also got the Scarlet Pimpernell, which I love, so hopefully they balance out. I also got a collection of mystery short stories, I need to branch out my mystery authors, so I hope this helps.

I know I have a lot of back-blogging to do, it has been over a month since I posted, which is crazy. I want to post about my labor, time with all the grandparents here, Christmas and just other things, but I don't really feel up to it now. I think I'm gonna ease back into this whole blogging thing. Especially because Jett never wants to be put down except for about 10 minutes at a time. Even when I'm holding him just sitting or laying in my lap isn't good enough, he insists on being held, and one handed blogging is a little to much for me.

Just stuff

2008-12-21T23:35:00.004-07:00

Just a shout out to Megan Hatch, who I just found out reads this: holla!

Things have been going pretty well around here, no exciting labor or anything yet, but probably pretty soon. Since my last post, some exciting things have happened. The Saturday right after my last post Mom came to Pasadena to help do some things around the apartment we hadn't gotten around to yet. We hung pictures and did some heavy lifting that needed to be done but Rick wouldn't let me help him with. We had fun and capped it off with a trip to Souplantation where my favorite thing was the blueberry muffins, they were soooo yummy. After Mom left Rick and I put the finishing touches on our talks which we gave the next day. Sunday morning Rick and I were both really nervous, and no contractions to keep us away we went to church. I spoke first and did most of the introduction of us as a couple and my talk was about joy. It turned out pretty well, but I ad-libbed a lot and probably sounded a little crazy, but at least I didn't cry. Well, I guess I sounded really cheerful, a guy in the ward told me that I came across as very cheerful today, so I guess that is a good thing. The primary sang a couple songs in between and then it was Rick's turn. He did a really great job speaking about the importance of families all the time, but especially at Christmas. He didn't do such a great job introducing himself because he talked a lot about me, but it was really sweet.

The next day December 15th was very exciting because Holly had her baby, Jack Flanagan that morning. He is so cute and looks a lot like his daddy. The Flanagans are all doing well and are now at home. My mom drove up Tuesday to Utah to be with the Flanagans, and she's been having a ball playing with them and Julie. Our week here in Pasadena was not full of any sort of excitement, Rick went to work and I've just been doing things around the house. I did pack my hospital bag and we installed the car seat, so just a couple more things to get ready. Saturday we went on a date, maybe our last one before the baby. We got some really yummy pizza from a little Italian place in town, which I think we will definitely return to in the future. I was especially surprised I liked Rick's Tomato basil pizza, it was olive oil based, not pizza sauce based, and just topped with a little mozzarella, tomatoes and some fresh basil, it was really good. Then we went and saw a movie. It was really fun just to get out and do something that was not baby related, which most of our dates have been. And as we were driving around we saw more preparations for the Rose parade, there are bleachers set up sporadically up and down Colorado Ave and there are more and more decorations going up. Today has been a good day, with the Christmas presentation during Sacrament meeting and good lessons in gospel doctrine and relief society.

Rick and I have been trying one new recipe a week just to expand our eating horizons. Today we made some apple chicken and it turned out pretty well, maybe next time we'll add some more apples just to kick up the flavor a notch. And I made pumpkin muffins this week, which are so good. I made plain, raisin and chocolate chip pumpkin muffins, and they all turned out well. I got Rick and Ableskeiver pan for Christmas, so I think we might do those this week sometime.

This week will be exciting because Julie is coming down for winter break. I haven't seen her since August, so I'm excited to hang out. And she just wants me to have my baby so she can be the first person to hold both the babies. We'll see how that is going tomorrow at my doctor's appointment. And of course this week is Christmas, which is awesome, but a little weird since our family already celebrated, I'm not exactly sure what we'll do, but I hope it is something great. A lot of people at Church today speculated that we'll have a Christmas baby, which is entirely possible, but I hope doesn't happen, that would stink for poor little William.

Having no topic is a bad topic

2008-12-11T23:13:00.002-07:00

So this week I had another doctors appointment, it seems like I've been to a million lately. She checked the baby's heartbeat, gave me tips on how to not have swollen ankles and feet, and just did the normal stuff. All is well with me and the baby, and I'm not in labor yet so I'll see my doc again next week. I also picked up some info on pediatricians, so we'll pick one and have that big step taken. Tuesday we took a labor class at the hospital and it was a good learning experience. We talked about the stages and phases of a normal labor and the symptoms/emotions that come along with each one, and we watched a video where we saw a baby being born. I assumed we were all adults in the class, but about half the people giggled when we were watching the baby actually come out. Rick and I didn't learn a ton of new info, but it was a good class anyway, and the only one available before my due date.

Monday night the bishop called and asked Rick and I to speak this Sunday. It would have been nice to have a little more time to get ready, but the bishop likes to use the second Sunday of the month to have a new family in the ward speak and introduce themselves. However, he didn't give us a topic, and thus far that has been the hardest part of preparing our talks. I think I have finally nailed down speaking about joy, particularly joy in the Christmas season and Christ, but it has kind of also spread out to be joy in just all the things that go on in our family in December, including the baby, Christmas, Rick's birthday, our anniversary and everything that goes along with all of those things. I'm afraid I'm gonna end up telling way too many stories about us and not using enough scripture/doctrine. And I'm either gonna talk very fast and finish early leaving Rick too much time, or just gabbing forever and boring the congregation. Rick just barely thought of a topic, Family, and is having a hard time thinking of what exactly about family he wants to talk about. This is my first talk since being a youth speaker in Redlands and his first talk since his first couple months at BYU. I know I'm gonna end up getting teary because when I'm nervous I get teary and I'm pregnant. I almost hope I go into labor Sunday morning just to miss having to speak.

More Me and More me!

2008-12-08T23:32:00.003-07:00

50 things you didn't know about me until you read this...

1.What color is your tooth brush? Orange, Blue and White
2. What were you doing 45 minutes ago? Tucking Rick into bed, then answering a spanish question for Kellie
3. What is your favorite candy bar? Twix
4. Have you ever been to a strip club? No way, Jose
5. What is the last thing you said aloud? OK, talk to you later (to my mom on the phone)
6. What is the best ice cream flavor? depends on the day, but right now brownie fudge
7. What is the last thing you had to drink? Water
8. What are you wearing right now? capris, a green t-shirt and my new wedding ring
9. What was the last thing you ate? some baby carrots
10. Have you bought any new clothing items this week? No
11. When was the last time you ran? Probably March-ish
12. Who was the last person to send you a message/comment on your blog? Cindy
13. Do you take vitamins daily? mostly, but sometimes I forget
14. Do you go to church every Sunday? yes, unless I'm feeling too sick
15. Do you have a tan? yeah, still have the freaky tan on my ankles from my last beach trip
16. Do you like Chinese food over pizza? I like both, so it depends on the day
17. Do you drink soda with a straw? not usually, but sometimes I do
18. What does your last text message say? It is a special offer from Verizon, I didn't actually read it though
19. Are you someones best friend? Hopefully
20. What are you doing tomorrow? Grocery shopping, ironing, and writing my talk for this Sunday
21. Where is your dad? Redlands, probably in bed right now
22. Look to your left, what do you see?My kitchen table and Christmas wrapping paper
23. What color is your favorite pair of shoes? pink
24. Do you use chap stick? yes, I'm addicted
25. Whats your favorite thing to do in your free time? hang out with Rick
26. Do you go in at a fast food place or just hit the drive thru? Go in, I'm scared of the drive thru
27. Do you have a dog? No, but we have a lot of cute neighbor dogs, especially Hamlet and Sparticus
28. Last guy you talked on the phone with? Rick
29. Last girl you talked on the phone with? Mom
30. Any fun vacation plans soon? Not right now
31. Do you dye your hair? nope
32. Can you say the alphabet backwards?I tried to once recently, and it took a long time, but I did it
33. Do you have a maid service clean your house? Nope
34. Are you jealous of anyone? Right now, anyone who can sleep without heartburn and who can lay on their back
35. Do you love anyone? Lots of people
36. Do any of your friends have children? yes
37. Do you use the word Hello daily? Most days, I think
38. Do you like cats? They're alright
39. Have you ever been to six flags? Yes
40. How did you get your worse scar? Do stretch marks count? If not, than from stabbing myself
41. What is your favorite smell? Apple cinnamon, or baking goodies
42. What is the last DVD you watched? Disney's Robin Hood
43. Have you ever been to Disney world? Sadly, no
44. What is your favorite number? 7
45. Do you toast your pop tarts? yes, but only the S'mores ones
46. Have you ever waited tables? Yes
47. Where did you have your first kiss? In a car outside the boy's house
48. What should you be doing? Sleeping (I wish)
49. Do you enjoy wasting time blogging? mostly reading other people's blogs
50. Who do you want to tag? anyone who wants to,

Children's Theater Festival

2008-12-07T22:24:00.002-07:00

For those of you out there who do not know what Children's Theater Festival (CTF) is, I'll fill you in. At our high school the winter theater production is actually three half hour children's shows directed by students. The student director picks the script, helps design the sets and costumes etc, and picks and directs the cast. Then one Saturday each show is done twice and outside of the theater is a carnival for the kids to play at between shows. It is tons of fun and is pretty much the best show of the year.

It has been a Chatfield tradition since Holly participated in it her freshman year. For me it was always a blast, especially the year I played Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty and made some kids cry because I was so scary (I had to tone it down after that). Holly, Julie, myself and now Carlie have all directed a show our senior year. Holly did Goldilocks and the Three Bears, I did one about a witch's first birthday, Julie did Aladdin and Carlie also did the Three Bears.

I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to go down to Redlands this weekend and see all the CTF shows, including Carlie's . I went with mom, dad, Kellie and Kellie's friend Marshall who brought his (totally awesome) six year old sister Tessa. First we saw Beauty and the Beast, which was pretty good, but definitely pulled most of their script from the Disney movie. The best part, to me, was the fact that a troop of girl scouts sat behind us and made hilarious comments during the show.

Carlie's show was next, and it was really good. Her cast did a great job and I especially just wanted to eat up her Baby Bear, he was so adorable. And it was really interactive with the kids, and the audience did a great job participating. Even though Holly and Carlie directed the same script, you kinda can't compare the two because they were sooo different, each good in their own way. I think Carlie was happy about how it went, even though there were some rough patches along the way.

Last we watched Peter Pan. I'm glad I knew the story before I watched it, because besides the boy who played Peter, I couldn't understand a word. The costumes looked great though. It was a fun day, including watching Tessa eat her cotton candy. I think cotton candy is gross, but watching her enjoy it and in such a messy way almost tempted me to have some myself.

I spent most of the rest of the day in Redlands doing some laundry and just hanging out until the Christmas Parade. Also a long beloved tradition, the parade goes through downtown Redlands and is just fun. We sat with some families from the ward and the parade was awesome. There were cute dogs, cute kids, some awesome horses, awesome cars that were antique and some new (like all the corvettes) and lots of cute floats. I was a little bummed because when RHS marching band walked by I couldn't see Kellie and they weren't even playing. Probably the best part was watching the Mortensen children eat tons of licorice, candy canes, cream puffs and be wacky.

Thanksgiving/Christmas

2008-12-01T18:37:00.008-07:00

This is me 36 weeks pregnant

Here are just some baby toys we have, plus the baby monitor Kellie got usHere are the diapers and diaper wipes we have, it looks like a lot to me but mom says that they won't last very long.
Our bassinet
The bouncer seat
Rick testing out the baby carrier we got with the awesome monkey for the Jungle themed room

Cute little clothes hanging up in the closet, with much more where those came from in the drawers of the dresser, we just didn't think we needed to hang up onsies and sleepers.

Well this last week has been action packed. Rick and I drove down Tuesday night to Redlands to spend the holidays with my family. Wednesday we slept in and relaxed for awhile enjoying the rainy weather. It was the first time Rick has experienced true winter in California. I think we maybe even wore coats. He much prefers CA winter to UT winter. We spent the afternoon doing errands around the town. Our biggest errand was a trip to Babies R Us. We've been doing a lot of research and finally picked a carseat and stroller. We also picked up a diaper pail and some more bassinet sheets because my mom said that one set just wouldn't cut it. I'll put up pictures of the carseat etc when we take it out of the box. I'm really excited that we also ordered a glider rocker for the baby's room. It is a cherry wood with beige padding and is super comfy, and is short enough where I can put my back all the way on the chair and still have my feet touch the floor. They didn't have any in stock or in their warehouse, so it'll be almost a month till we get it, but that will be just about when the baby comes, so it is perfect timing.

Thursday was Thanksgiving, and it was a fun day. We woke up and watched the Macy's parade and then watched the dog show. It was a great show this year and there were so many cute dogs. And to my (happy) surprise, no poodles. We all had our food assignments and I was in charge of mashed potatoes and yams and Rick had drinks and gravy (and I laughed and said that if Julie had gotten that assignment the gravy would have been the drinks). Dinner was really wonderful, and the stuffing (my favorite) was extra tasty. We then went on our traditional walk and it was really nice. Friday was Christmas eve for our family because we celebrated Christmas early so the girls could have a Christmas before Mom went up to Utah to be with Holly and baby Jack. Mom and Dad did last minute shopping and everyone wrapped their presents. We played an awesome game of croquet which I completely dominated. We also played Apples to Apples which was a lot of fun. To get into the Christmas spirit we watched Mr. Kruger's Christmas, read the story of the nativity in the bible, and read Christmas stories.

Christmas morning was Saturday and we woke up to fun filled stockings with lots of presents and candy. When mom and dad woke up we opened presents. It was a lot of fun and I think most everyone really enjoyed everything they received. It is fun to see Carlie and Kellie be such thoughtful gift givers to each other. Rick and I got fun gifts for each other, and Santa got me Pride and Prejudice on DVD, which means I must have been pretty good. We spent the rest of the day at Oak Glen where we bought apple cider, had a fun picnic, played Frisbee, and fed and pet lots of animals at the petting zoo. I would put up pictures, but they are all on Mom and Dad's camera, so I'll have to get them next time I'm down there which will be this next weekend because it is Children's Theater Festival.

Sunday was church, hanging out and I actually completed a Cryptoquip (which I usually fail at miserably). Today we are back in Pasadena and I had a doctor's appointment. We had another ultra-sound and it was awesome to see his heart beat, watch his lungs in action, and find out that he is super flexible because he had on of his large baby feet near his face. He is about 7 lbs. and 20ish inches. She said everything looked healthy, and she didn't say I am diabetic, which is good. And I'm dilated to 1cm right now. My appointments will now be weekly, which I will hopefully remember. Now here are some pictures.

Glucose Test #2

2008-11-21T14:48:00.001-07:00

I guess I should have explained why I needed the second test. For the first glucose test they are just seeing where your blood sugar levels are, weather or not they are in the normal range or not. My levels were a bit high, which means I have to take test #2. If 2 of the draws for the second test are high, it would mean I have gestational diabetes. Luckily, most women who have it don't need insulin shots, just a very strict diet. And they monitor the mommy's blood sugar all during labor so that everyone stays healthy and there is no danger to baby or mommy. Since I didn't finish the test, the nurse told me that they will probably just treat me as being diabetic, but I won't know for sure till I hear from my doctor.

Awake

2008-11-21T03:27:00.002-07:00

So, here I am at 2:30 wide awake. I was really sleepy after kinda a yucky day. Rick and I had dinner, we sat around for awhile, and then went to bed at about 9:30. I woke up about an hour ago wide awake and just cannot fall back asleep, and I'm not super pleased about it.

This last weekend I went to my parents house for a sleepover party that Kellie was having, the M&M party. It was really fun. The girls were all excited to be there and I think they all had a good time, and mom and I had a good time too. I taped most of the hearts for the heart attack to the skewers, and I helped think of a few of the names, but the girls did most of that. I was a party pooper though because I didn't wake up to actually do the heart attack, I just wanted to keep sleeping. I did go to breakfast the next morning though, where we kidnapped Marshall and took him to breakfast. I had delicious pumpkin pancakes. Marshall was a sport and was really nice about the kinda wacky presents he got, and the girls were being quite girly. The part about breakfast that made me laugh was when Mom offered Emily Lawrence my hashbrowns because she wanted some. I got other things done that weekend too, I shopped around for a rocking chair, did a few loads of baby clothes since I guess you have to wash everything before the baby wears it and in special baby detergent. I also just picked up a couple of things for our apartment that we haven't been able to get in Pasadena, like a good trashcan.

This week has been kinda blah. I had a doctors appointment on Monday, but I didn't actually see my doctor but one of her associates. She made sure I picked up my iron to help the anemia, and she gave me my paperwork for the 3 hour glucose tolerance test. She also just measured my tummy and felt the baby, whom she said is huge and asked if I was really only 34 weeks along. I have my ultrasound next time, so we'll see how the baby is doing. Not much else going on this week, I secured the bookshelf to the wall so we could actually fill it, I folded a million baby clothes, our dishwasher is broken so I've been doing lots of dishes, and just other random stuff around the house. I had one lazy day cause Rick stayed overnight in Thousand Oaks so I took a me day. Mom came over Wednesday night so she could take me Thursday to do the glucose test. The 3 hour test means 4 blood draws, and Rick forbade me from going alone. I'm now really, really glad mom was there because I was less than the ideal patient, I didn't even make it the 3 hours. And I'm really glad I didn't have to walk there and back, really glad. She brought me home afterward and made sure I ate a little and left when I got in bed to take a nap. I never really felt better for the rest of the day, so again I was a bum. And now I'm awake.

Delicious Chocolate Chip Cookie

2008-11-13T10:47:00.002-07:00

Well, I was going to try to write this post yesterday, but blogger wouldn't let me sign in, which is weird.

I went and got a glucose screening done yesterday. There are 5 labs in Pasadena and luckily for me one is just about half a mile away up my street. The weather is so nice here and it is such a pretty place that I really don't mind walking most places. And I calculated it took me only about 10 minutes ( at a relaxed pace) to get to Colorado St. from my house, so if anyone wants to see the Rose parade, we're pretty darn close. Anyhoo, for some reason I totally did not have in my mind that the glucose test would be a blood test, so I was a little taken aback when they took me in to do the fasting draw before I drank the sugary stuff. I told the nurse I am a fainter, but she wasn't too worried. I don't know why, I just faint. I don't look while they're doing it, I make sure to breathe evenly, I relax my limbs (as best as I can) but I usually still faint, which was the case yesterday. I have never had a blood test by myself before, there is usually someone there like my mom or Rick, so I was trying to be brave. I started drinking the sugary soda stuff they give you, but I had to put it down a little later and just put my head down. A few seconds later (I think) I woke up hot, sweaty and yucky. The nurse was like "wow, you're really pale. You weren't kidding when you said you're a fainter". Luckily I felt well enough to finish drinking the stuff and walk myself out to the waiting room to wait the hour till the post sugar test.

I was still feeling hot, but a little better. I read some of my book, Emma, and then a magazine for a little while. When my hour was up another nurse was going to do the test. I sat down in the chair, closed my eyes and leaned my head back. She laughed and commented that I must really not like needles, and I told her that I'm a fainter and was just taking precautions. She was nice and let us go into another room where they had a bed so I could lay down to do the draw. I felt hot afterwards, and she told me "Your lips are really pale, you don't look so good" She got me a cold compress for my forehead and a glass of water, which really helped. This nurse was weird though, and was pretty entertained by the fact that I nearly fainted. She laughed a couple of times and asked "so what are you going to do during labor, pass out?" How am I supposed to know? Luckily since I didn't faint again I was able to walk myself out of there fairly well. Only half a block away was a deli, so I stopped in for a snack just so I could eat something on the rest of the way home. I ended up getting half a sandwich and a chocolate chip cookie. The sandwich was alright, but the cookie was Amazing! It was really chocolaty and kinda gooey, it was a perfect way to end a doctors appointment.

I'm glad, actually, that I didn't realize it would be blood tests, or else Rick would have banned me from going by myself or from walking. He knows I don't really like needles, and he would have felt so guilty for abandoning me in my time of need. When I told him after the fact I tried to emphasize how good the cookie was and how it made it all worth it, but he still felt bad. He is a sweetheart and too good to me. That was my biggest adventure yesterday, other than that I just took a nap (I crashed after the sugar high of a cookie and sugary drink) did some dishes, and made dinner.

Week in Review

2008-11-08T19:19:00.004-07:00

Monday: I had a doctor's appointment, it was just the basics: heartbeat, tummy measuring, taking my blood pressure etc. I walked there and it was really nice outside, but it was looking pretty stormy by the time I was done so I took the bus home. I've taken public transportation more here than anywhere else, it has been taking some getting used to, and I'm sure I'll feel more comfortable doing it when I've got more practice. I tweaked my back at the doctors, so I had a limp the rest of the day, and I didn't get much done. Some laundry, and packing a bag to get ready for sleeping over at my Mom and Dad's house. When Rick got home he changed and we left for Redlands because that is where we registered as voters. We had El Burrito for dinner and it was so tasty, my chicken tacos hit the spot.

Tuesday: First thing we did was go vote. It was raining and a little chilly, but luckily we didn't really have to wait in a very long line. It was exciting for both Rick and I because it was our first time voting. After that Rick just dropped me off at home and headed out to Thousand Oaks. Luckily he could be late to work because CA has a 2 hour paid window of time for voting days, employees can be 2 hours late or leave 2 hours early and not be penalized. The rest of my day I spent going with Mom to vote and than going with her to do Christmas shopping for Carlie and Kellie. It was fun to go to the Mall and hanging out with mom. I think the girls will like what we got them for Christmas. I picked up a couple of things too, which is always nice. We went to Motherhood Maternity and I got some pants to get ready for the coming winter months. I also got a dress because it was too cute and too comfy to pass up.

Wednesday: While the girls were at school and Mom and Dad were at work I helped get ready for Carlie's cast party. She wanted to have a party to help her cast bond, but she hadn't really made any plans. I baked some cookies and cleaned up the house. Mom got home from work and we got some more food ready and then her cast came. Mom and Kellie ended up taking naps and dad was either sleeping or reading a book in his room, so I just hung out in the back of the house to give Carlie and friends their space. I talked to Julie too, which was fun. Rick had to stay overnight in Thousand Oaks so I just stayed to play with my family. We went to Mervyn's because they are closing so everything is on sale. I got a cute jacket that fits over my pregnant tummy but will also totally work for post-baby too.

Thursday: Mom and I ran some errands and also had just some fun hang out time. We watched a movie, ate ice cream and just relaxed. That night everyone had somewhere they needed to be except me, so I was just chilling for awhile. Later Mom and I went for the last hour of band practice. It is fun to get to watch them march on the field.

Friday: I packed up and cleaned my room because it was finally time to head home to Pasadena. When mom got home from work I helped her dip pretzels for the other band booster parents for the REV v. RHS game. It was fun, and I had to eat a couple of the pretzels that were too ugly, so it was delicious too. After that Carlie got home from her festival, which meant it was time to leave. Mom was taking Carlie to the Inland Center mall, which is right near the train station, so they took me on their way. The train has been a pretty fun experience so far. They are double decker trains, and I like to ride on the top and look out the window. There isn't a ton to see because the Metrolink rails are out in the boonies, but I did get to watch the sun set. It is an almost 2 hour train ride, then I waited a few minutes for the Metro, and from LA to Pasadena it is about 25 minutes. Rick picked me up at the station and we had dinner. Rick looked exhausted so after dinner we watched an episode of the Office and than went to bed.

Saturday: It was fun to get to see Rick after being apart almost the whole week. I woke up with a headache, I think because I slept like a rock and barely moved all night. Rick had a physical first thing in the morning, and the guy came to our house to do it. It was for his life insurance, so now that is finally done. After the guy left I was feeling so yucky from my headache I took some asprin and fell asleep. I took a longer nap than I thought I would but when I woke up I felt much better, so obviously my body was trying to tell me something. After lunch we headed out on a fun adventure to the Huntington Library. It is an old property that has now been converted into museums, a library and mostly botanical gardens. It is on over 200 acres, so there is alot to choose from. We were there for almost 3 hours and we saw only the English art (which is in the old house) and parts of 4 gardens. We went to the Greenhouse, which they have part of laid out like a rainforest and another part we went into was the learning garden. It was so fun because they have tons of interactive learning stations. We went to the Children's garden which had fun areas to run around and play in, and lots of pretty plants. Next we headed over to the Chinese and Japanese Gardens, which were huge! They were so pretty and it was fun to just walk around and enjoy the nature around us. By that time it was closing time, but on our way back to the exit we passed through the Rose Garden (so many beautiful roses!) and part of the Shakespeare garden, which had english plants and near some of them were quotes from his plays and sonnets that mention the plants, it was cool. We also peaked into a garden with tons of statues, but I don't know what it was called. We are definitely going to have to go back because we saw only a small fraction of what there is available. After that adventure we went grocery shopping and came home and made dinner together. After that we curled up on the couch and did some reading, then we watched Wall-E. It was cute, but not my favorite.

Sunday (Today): Woke up and got ready for church. This is our second week in our new ward and it is fun getting to know people. Sacrament meeting was good, a newly married couple spoke and they were obviously both super nervous. It probably didn't help that the bishop only called them on Wednesday night to ask them to speak. We tried the other Sunday school class today, and not many people were in it and the teacher got off track, so we only made it through about 1 of the 5 chapters in the lesson. In RS we read letters from Joseph Smith to Emma, and they were sweet. One lady who was asked to read a letter was crying before she even started reading, she was so moved by how much Joseph obviously loved his wife and children. The rest of our day will be making bread for dinner, taking a nap, maybe go on a walk and talking baby business. I hope you are all having a great day!

8 Things

2008-11-03T14:11:00.003-07:00

I thought I'd do this as a kick start to my blog, since it has been so long since I posted last.

8 Favorite TV Shows:

The Office
30 Rock
Life
Kitchen Nightmares
So You Think You Can Dance?
Ugly Betty
Pushing Daisies
Grey's Anatomy

8 Favorite Restaurants:

El Burrito
The Old Spaghetti Factory
Carl's Jr.
Olive Garden
Delia's
Panda Express
Carraba's
Hogi Yogi

8 Things that Happened Yesterday:

Went to our new ward for the first time
Started reading Emma
Took a nap
Watched an episode of Ugly Betty
Admired our new Venus Fly trap
Put together the lamp for the baby's room so it finally has light
Planned my bus trips for today and hoped that they are more successful
Took my Week 32 picture

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To:

No more heartburn!
Making Banana bread for Rick
Voting!
Going on walks around town with my baby
Back to back Thanksgiving and Christmas
Making some friends here in Pasadena
Holding my baby
Finishing the apartment and making it look cute

8 Things I Love About Fall

The perfect weather: sweaters and flip flops
Pretty leaves ( even though we don't see much of that here)
Getting to celebrate Thanksgiving
Pumpkin cookies
Apple pie
The Dog Show on Thanksgiving day
Going to Oak Glen
Anticipation for the holiday season

8 Things on My Wish List:

A glider rocking chair
Home decorating skills
My baby to not be born on Christmas or Dec. 30th
A season pass to Disneyland (someday...)
To see a concert in the Disney Concert Hall
A puppy
To see a production of the Nutcracker
Every good recipe in the world

Teaser

2008-09-29T00:06:00.002-07:00

Here are mom and I on the tram to Disneyland! We look a lot alike in this picture! We had hopper passes and started our day at California Adventure where we went to a show, rode a couple of rides and just enjoyed the really cute Halloween decorations. I'll post more pictures later, these were all I could find for right now.
This was one of the cute halloween hats, they also had one which looked like a pumpkin. They had tons of cute Halloween costumes too, and we saw so many little kids all dressed up, mostly as princesses.
Our day was really great, I'll post more about it later when I'm not so tired.

And all the rest of my pregnant belly pictures on on another laptop, so here is my 26 week picture. I just finished my 27th week and now I'm officially in my third trimester. I'm in the home stretch now, and I am having a hard time imagining my tummy getting too much larger, but my mom assures me I'll probably double!

Happy first day of Fall!!!

2008-09-22T11:49:00.004-07:00

Rick was able to come home this weekend and it was really nice to see him. I picked him up Friday about 10:30pm, so obviously we didn't party hard that day. He'd had a full day of class and traveling, so we just ate together and then crashed for the night. Saturday morning we woke up and ate breakfast, and after being awake for only an hour we both went to take a nap. Pretty much Saturday we spend doing some small errands and we picked our health care provider. We also had El Burrito for dinner, yum yum! Rick went to bed pretty early because his body is set on Florida time, so by 8:30 he was out. I spent the rest of the night watching Becoming Jane with my mom cause the girls were at the stake dinner/fireside/dance. Sunday morning Rick and I woke up about 5:30 and just hung out and Rick got ready for his flight. I drove him to the airport but when I got home I was feeling so gross I missed church. It was a nice time just to see him, and Rick enjoyed having a nice boring day where he didn't really have a schedule.

His flight back didn't go very well though. His flight should have left from Ontario airport at 10:30, but it got cancelled. So he had to go to the Orange county airport and took a flight from there, but had to wait awhile. And that flight instead of going to Dallas like his original flight, it went to Chicago. There they switched planes and then flew down to Orlando, so he had a long day of flying.

In other news, I had a doctors appointment last week. It was very, very basic since the doctor was doing it as a favor for my mom. It was with the same doctor who delivered me, so it was weird. But he just measured my tummy and asked how I've been feeling. He then did a sonogram so my my and Kellie could see the baby. Even though my last one was only 6 weeks ago, he looked so different! This time he looked way more like a human baby, and he was moving a lot more. We saw him playing with the umbilical cord, which was funny. Kellie finally felt him move this weekend too. And I promise I'll post some belly pictures of myself when I'm on the right computer.

Big News!

2008-09-17T10:04:00.002-07:00

Well, we did it. Rick and I found an apartment to live in and I'm excited. It is in Pasadena and it has many good things about it. It is only like 3/4 of a mile to a metro station, it is only about 11 miles to Rick's office if he needs to drive the car, it is in a quiet and pretty neighborhood, it comes with a dishwasher and it is just cute. We got it at a great deal too, especially for this area. We signed a year lease, and we'll probably just keep our eyes open looking for a place to buy. I don't really have any pictures of it right now, but as we move in I'll post some.

In other news it has been an action packed couple of days around this house. Carlie and Kellie have band, choir and drama to keep them busy. Auditions for Carlie's show start next week and she is so excited. Kellie has been learning to love her new barritone and they've been working on their show, which consisits of Cirque de Solei music. Mom has work and she's been helping me get started on some of my projects. I bought fabric for making the baby a cute outfit, and I'm really excited! We're also going to get down the fall/Halloween stuff to decorate the house with, which will be fun. I really want to dress up as something for Halloween, so if anyone has any ideas for something a pregnant person could dress up as, let me know!

Well, everyone have a great day and Julie I hope you are feeling better!

Saturday is a special day

2008-09-13T11:52:00.002-07:00

It is a pretty quiet Saturday around these parts. Mom, Kellie and a friend are at Disneyland today. Kellie had planned a fun weekend for many friends because they were going to be at the football game, have a sleepover, and then all go to Disneyland. But, last minute, most of her friends cancelled and only one was able to make it. I'm sure they'll have fun though, I mean, it's Disneyland. Mom is taking me in a couple of weeks and I'm so excited. It is a little bit of a bummer though because a majority of my favorite rides I probably shouldn't go on in my condition. So I'll do it "old lady" style and we'll watch lots of shows, go on the little rides, and probably go into all the shops. It will be fun.

This week has been a fast/slow week. Each day is kind of short, I am a bum and don't really do much each day. It is hard to get myself going and doing when I don't really have any major deadlines or anything. Generally I've been practicing my knitting, doing a lot of reading, and helping the girls with school stuff. I went to Mom's store yesterday and bought paper, stickers and buttons to make my baby shower announcements. We're going to make an example tomorrow and see how my vision works out. The paper is cute with jungle animals, which I think is the direction that we're going to go with the baby's room. I'm soooo excited, and I just am itching to start getting stuff for the baby. But I'm trying to be patient because there is no reason to buy it now, store it, then move it. I've done other things to, but not really that exciting or anything.

Rick left Monday morning and I've talked to him every day. They didn't even really get any rain or anything off the edges of Ike, which I am very glad about. His classes have been pretty interesting so far; they've been talking about generally how to be a good advisor/consultant and some general skills they need to learn. They also have been talking about some general PWC policys etc. Until Friday night though he hadn't even left the hotel, they eat, sleep and go to their classes in it. Friday night they finally got out and had time to be social. I hope he gets the chance to go to Disneyworld though, it would be so disappointing to my mom if he was in Orlando and didn't go.

California

2008-09-05T00:17:00.002-07:00

Wow, I didn't realize how long it has been since I last posted! I'm not on the computer nearly as often as I was before because I don't have to be, no more Blackboard to check or emails from teachers. I thought I would stranger for me to not be in school, but because we're here in CA and it is still really hot outside, it still feels like summer vacation. I'll probably start to miss school more a little later. For now, it has been nice to just spend time with the family, hang out with Rick and so some relaxing.

The last two days Rick and I have spent out in Pasadena, Downey, Hacienda Heights, Montebello and El Monte doing some house hunting. When we came out a few months ago we went to way more cities and highlighted the areas with apartments, and the nicer neighborhoods so we don't end up anywhere scary like where we lived in Long Beach. This time around we went to actual apartment buildings and had some appointments with real estate agents to tour some houses. One house we went to was totally gross, with goo of some sort splashed on the walls and ceiling and dripped all over the carpet. It was also missing kitchen cabinets, had an old, empty pool in the back and was just generally very much a "fixer upper". We definitely don't want to have to do so much work to a house just to make it liveable, so we passed. A condo for sale was much better, a little old fashioned but with a relatively new kitchen, two bedrooms, two bath and a fireplace, which Rick loves. We drove around to many houses with for sale signs in the front too. In Downey there were tons of for sale/forclosed houses, so we're definitely going to keep our eyes out in that area. We found one house that I really like, it had a nice look to it on the outside and was in a nice neighborhood, but when we called the realitor, they didn't have the info on it anymore because it had just been foreclosed. I told Rick we'll have to check on it again pretty soon to get the foreclosed price, I think I would really like it there. Pasadena turned out to be too expensive to buy in, but if we rent an apartment we most likely will do it there because most of the apartments are within walking distance to metro stations and it is a comparitively short drive to LA than from other cities. All in all, no decisions made, but we made tons of progress and are definitely a little more savvy than we were before.

There have been other exciting California adventures too. First off, we've eaten at El Burrito, which Rick just loves, so that is a good thing. Rick is also on book 9 of the Wheel of time series, and he checked out numbers 10 nand 11 already from the library, so thanks Caleb for suggesting them. We got to clean the Temple, which was pretty awesome. It was a little hard to do some of our assignments because it involved bending over, but it was still fun. We've also both been enjoying helping Kellie with her Spanish homework and getting to hang out with the girls. We've only been to the beach once so far, it was really fun and the water was so clear! I did get a pretty sweet sunburn too, which has turned into a pretty sweet tan, I'll have to put up a picture, it is very artistic around my ankles. That has been a fun adventure too - since being here I've had my first (and second and third...) experience with my ankles and feet swelling. It isn't as bad as I thought, it is just uncomfortable.

A big adventure we've had was this past weekend. We were helping do a fundraiser for Kellie to earn money for marching band. We each got $60 to help do work at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana during their big NASCAR races over the Labor day weekend. Most of the volunteers (including Mom, Dad and Rick) worked inside the stadium doing different jobs. Our family had positions as ushers. Pretty much they had to stand and look official, break up any fights they saw, take away any aluminum cans or glass bottles and remind people to smoke in designated smoking area. From what they've told me they really didn't run into any problems and most people were very understanding. The worst parts were the heat, the noise (race cars are LOUD) and the long day of standing there from about noon to 9:3opm.

Kellie and I had a different job. They were nice enough to find me a position driving a shuttle van so I didn't have to stand all day long. Kellie was my assistant/shotgun and her job was to open and close the doors of our 15 passenger van. I thought I was going to be miserable all day because I've never driven a van that big, I hate driving, and I thought the people would be hard to handle. Our route was from the furthest away RV lot, so they are the fans that camped for the whole weekend and are hardcore fans. I had a pretty good time though. It was airconditioned in the van and I learned to handle the car pretty well. Many people we met were very nice and helped teach us about NASCAR since I know absolutely nothing about racing at all. Some people were rude or annoying, but luckily it was only about a 7 minute car ride, so it was bearable. Kellie had some fun experiences though. Many people thought she was older than I am and they voiced some concerns about my legality to drive. She also got bribed by a guy for us to take him to a different drop off spot. She also got her first experience being around drunk people, which many of our passengers were after the race. Only a few were loud, obnoxious drunks, most were pretty tame. The funniest parts of the day for Kellie was that she got hit on a lot by adult guys. One guy offered her his shirt, one guy drew a heart in the air and mouthed "you're sexy" to her, and other guys were just telling her how cute she was. Pretty good for a 15 year old. I only thought I would have to tell one guy to back off her, because he was a little creepy, but the other guys were just flirting and I thought it was awesome. We drove our shuttle from about 12:30 to 10:30 pm, so it was a long day but not too bad.

Wow, this has been a long post, but a couple last things. I've been able to feel the baby move for probably about a month, but he usually just kicks once or twice and stops, so it has been hard to get someone to put their hand on my tummy fast enough to feel him. Just in the last few days has he been moving around more, and kicking a little harder. Tuesday Rick felt him kick for the first time and he was pretty stoked. In his words it was "really, really, really cool" and now he can't get enough of it. The baby still doesn't move an awful lot though, but that will probably change as he keeps getting bigger. In other baby news, Rick and I finally started playing the name game and have been coming up with some pretty funny ones, but also some actual possibilities. We've made some first and middle name combos, nothing is set in stone or anything, but here are some of the first round results: Jeffery Richard, Corey Logan, William Jett, Alexander James, Jason Howard, Jeffery Tyler and Joshua Stephen. We came up with a list of names and then just kinda stuck some together, so these are a very rough draft, but Rick has fallen in love with Jett as a middle name and thinks it would be a sweet nickname to call him, but we'll see what happens.

A little bit of everything

2008-08-14T00:28:00.002-07:00

A lot has been going on lately, I may or may not be able to remember everything I want to post about. Just some random things first. I went to visit a couple of my old roommates on Sunday, it was fun. There were a lot of their other friends there too, so it was fun to hang out. It was also fun to catch up with Steph, who got married not too long ago. The random part that comes from that trip though is that she mentioned on of her hubby's favorite new foods: pizza sandwiches. I had never heard of them before, but Rick and I tried them and they were actually really good. It is pretty much just like a grilled cheese sandwich, but add some sauce and desired toppings and use mozzarella instead of cheddar cheese. Also, today we hung out with Steve and had delicious Indian food. I'm glad I didn't get mine too spicy, Steve's dish made my nose run it was so hot! I also went with Holly today to get my birthday present: a pedicure. It was pretty magical, there was massage chairs, they massaged my feet and calves and I got a cute pink nailpolish. Only one of the things they did made me giggle, usually my feet aren't ticklish but I guess sometimes they are. Then we went and got some Coldstone ice cream and it was too yummy. I got chocolate cake batter ice cream with strawberries, carmel and chocolate chips, yum yum!

One of the biggest things that has been going on in my life recently has been.......the Olympics! I love them soooooo much. I have them on pretty much as often as I can, and I'll watch any sport. The opening ceremonies were absolutely amazing! I can't wait to watch them again with Rick, it was just a beautiful display put on by the Chinese. And since then I've been keeping up with as many sports as I can get my hands on. I've been missing a lot of the morning sports though, I am usually still sleeping. The Olympics are pretty much the only time I watch sports, but it is just so amazing what people can do, and the way the world can come together to do this is just so great. It is pretty much the only time the international news has happy, positive things in it.

I guess the other big thing going on is moving. We got an extra week which made it so we can take it slow and steady for packing. Our living room is pretty much full of boxes and we have another stack in the bedroom. I've been cleaning slowly too, but there is still a good amount to do. Rick has been great and has been doing a lot. He has some more packing experience than I do, but it is still nice of him to take so much on himself. The walls are looking pretty bare, which is really wierd. The reality of moving hasn't hit me yet though, so hopefully when our truck arrive's tomorrow and the big furniture moves out the move will hit me as real. Right now it just feels like we'll be visiting CA, not living there. I'm excited to spend time with my family. I'm also excited to look for apartments some more, I think that will make it even more real.

Another exciting thing, I've been able to feel the baby move, it is pretty awesome.

Two Odd Days

2008-07-31T23:54:00.002-07:00

This whole week has been a little weird for me. Now that I don't have homework to do, I really don't know what to do with my time. I do some cleaning and I've been reading lots of library books, but besides that I just don't know how to spend the day. The last couple days have been especially strange. Wednesday I woke up and just lazed about for a little bit. Rick and I got some business done when he got home from work. We reserved a storage unit for the time we'll be staying with my parents, I made reservations for Julie's birthday lunch, Rick made an appointment to get the car all checked out, and we reserved a truck for the big move. I was bummed when we tried to rent the truck, cause they didn't have any available for the weekend we wanted to move. So now we are moving almost a week later. It really made me sad cause that means Julie's trip to CA is going to basically be cut in half, I won't get to hang out with my sisters at all before they start school, and I was just ready to be done with this whole waiting game. I got really sleepy and took a nap at about 5, and I told Rick to not let me sleep too long. After an almost three hour nap I woke up. We had a delicious dinner of breakfast burritos and Rick went to bed not too much later. Unfortunately, I haven't been sleeping well at night anyways, and the late nap took a heavy toll. I didn't get to bed unitl about 8:30 Thursday morning. I slept till about 3 in the afternoon and didn't have a super productive day.

Tomorrow is going to be action packed. It is Julie's 2oth birthday and we're going out to lunch to a Brazilian restaurant called Tucanos. I have heard great things about it and I'm excited to try it. Later I must sacrifice my blood to the vampires at the Health Center to make sure the baby is doing alright. Then (if I'm not feeling completely sick from whole needle-in-my-body thing) Rick and I are having dinner with Steve.

Happy Birthday to me!

2008-07-23T23:16:00.002-07:00

Turning 22 on the 22nd was pretty awesome, and I had a great day. It all starts the night of the 21st. Rick took me out to dinner at the Italian restaurant Carrabba's. We got some zucchini fries to share and I got a delicious chicken alfredo and Rick got some grilled chicken. For dessert, which we could barely squeeze in after our yummy food, was a double chocolate brownie topped with chocolate mouse. Tuesday morning I woke up and did some accounting. Rick came home from work early and made me waffles with strawberries and whipped cream. He stayed home with me for the rest of the day and we hung out and did some chores around the house. I opened my presents in the afternoon. I got 4 new CDs, a Willowtree statue of a pregnant woman which is beautiful, a computer reformat, a cute Alice in Wonderland purse filled with a baby name book and tons of cute and colorful socks and a date for a manicure/pedicure.

Then Rick and I made a fun picnic lunch and headed up into Provo Canyon so we could hike up around Bridal Veil Falls and eat our picnic dinner. We saw a really cute raccoon during dinner. Then we hiked around for awhile in the cooler beautiful weather and just relaxed. After that we headed home to bake my birthday cake and my sisters and caleb came over to play games. We played Whoonu which was pretty funny, especially when we played the "What you would want most on a desert island" version. Holy and Caleb left then and Julie stayed and we played Disney Sorry. I suffered a crushing defeat. I had three people in home and Julie had all her players in start. She came from behind and took it all. It was a great and relaxing day. One of the best things about it was that I was able to get to sleep before 1 AM.

Today was also a good day. I woke up early in the morning (for me) and got to spend some time with Rick before he went to work. I picked the hymns for Sunday and answered some emails before getting started on my accounting. I did accounting pretty much all day with some breaks. I read some Animal Farm, played online and talked to Holly and found out that she's having a baby boy and I get a new nephew! For dinner Rick and I made french toast and we used up some fruit that was just about to go bad and made some smoothies. Mine was sooooo good, I used strawberries, pineapple and passion fruit juice , it was cold and fresh, perfect for a summer night. Rick's didn't turn out as well, so I think we will definitely have to try again. I only have two more days of accounting left before I am DONE WITH SCHOOL.

Doctor's appointment

2008-07-10T10:58:00.002-07:00

Well, I wasn't able to get to sleep until a little after 6:30 today, so I only got a couple of hours of sleep before my appointment, so I think I'm going to take a nap today, just earlier than yesterday's nap. My doctors appointment wasn't too action packed today. Turns out I've only gained 2 pounds which the doctor says is great. He listened to the baby's heartbeat again. This time it was way easier to find, he barely had to move the little doppler thing around before we heard that heart pumping away. It was a little slower this time too, and it sounded different because the baby is bigger. He measured my belly and laughed when he saw that I was wearing my shorts unbuttoned. Then he gave me a paper so I can go get the triple blood test done for the down syndrome etc. Another highlight of the appointment was a very friendly toddler who was in the waiting room with us. As soon as we walked in he walked right up to us, he loved my Alice in Wonderland purse. Then he brought us a book and came up to us again to say hi, all to the embarrassment of his parents, but he was super cute.

The rest of my day holds a nap, accounting, laundry and going to get ice cream with my friend before he leaves for the rest of the summer. And maybe hanging out with my sisters to watch So You Think You Can Dance. Tomorrow I'm really looking forward to going up to Ogden to my friend Megan's Open House. I was sad that I missed her wedding, but I'm glad I get to see her and her cute hubby all dressed up.

Rick and I made a list of things we want to do in Utah before we move, and this Saturday we are accomplishing our first item off the list. We are going to Thanksgiving Point to visit the Dino Museum and the gardens they have there. Other fun Utah activities include playing with friends who live here, sessions in the SLC Temple, possibly going to Arches, a picnic at Bridal Veil Falls and hiking the Y.

Late Night Nap

2008-07-09T22:28:00.002-07:00

After dinner today I felt sooooo sleepy I couldn't keep my eyes open, so at 7:30 I fell asleep on the couch. We were supposed to go have ice cream with a friend at 8:30, but Rick rescheduled hoping I would just sleep through the night. Well, at 10:30 I woke up hungry, hot and thirsty, so no sleeping through the night for me. And now I'm afraid it will be another late night since I got a nice long and late nap in. I'm gonna do some accounting hoping that it will make me so bored I get sleepy.

Today was a good day all around though. I went over to Holly's house to hang out with her, Julie and baby James who Holly baby sits a couple times a week. He was so cute and chubby and he (eventually) fell asleep on me, it was fun. Then I came home and just hung out with Rick for a little bit, ate dinner, and the rest is history. The last couple days have been weird since I am not working anymore or actually going to classes. I've been doing that for a long time and the change is going to take awhile. It was nice not to think about how many missionaries went into the MTC today though.

The fourth of July was a blast. We got together at my Grandma Chatfield's house with Holly, Caleb, Shyla, Russell and Julie and had a fun lunch. Then we played a couple games that Russell brought, which were pretty fun. Then Holly, Julie and I played some killer Uno while everyone else played this Robo Rally game which looked confusing. Afterwards we went swimming in Grandma's pool. We swam around, played with the frisbee and cooled off. Afterwards we played more games and had a barbecue, which was delicious. We all went home for a bit after that then got together again to watch the fireworks, which was really fun. I love to watch fireworks a ton. I wanted to use my chemistry degree to make fireworks, I always thought it would be so cool.

Well, tomorrow is my 4 month doctors appointment. Rick has been really great and come to all my appointments, and wants to come to as many as he can even when he starts his new job. Obviously he'll miss a few because we'll be in different states, but thats fine. I was filling out my pregnancy journal (the Belly Book) that my mom gave me and it will be fun to do for each pregnancy, see how each one is unique. I just can't wait to find out weather or not it is a boy or a girl, then we can really do some planning. It will also be nice when we find a place to live in CA, that will help the whole planning thing too. But, at least Rick has a job and I'm excited to stay with my family for awhile. It will be weird getting used to living with my teenage little sisters, cause sometimes I still think of them as little. But living close by will give my fun opportunities like seeing their performances, hanging out with them and having my baby have two aunts nearby.

Tagged...

2008-06-26T18:00:00.000-07:00

Here is the survey thing Caleb wanted me to do.

1. Last kiss? Richard Stephen Allison the 26^th.

2. How do you flush the toilet in public? Hands, I am completely not afraid of germs. That’s what soap is for.
3. Do you wear your seatbelt in the car? Always when I’m the driver, but only if I remember to if I’m the passenger
4. Do you have a crush on someone? Besides Rick, probably Dr. McDreamy

5. Name one thing you start to get tense about if you are close to running out of it: food

6. What famous person do you (or other people) think you resemble? In high school a guy I knew said I looked like Cindy Lou Who, not a celeb, but a character at least.

7. Favorite pizza topping? Pineapple

8. Finish this sentence: If my life was a sitcom my theme song would be... an original composition written for the show and performed by Maroon 5
9. Do you pop your knuckles? Yup, ever since elementary school

10. What song do you dislike the most when it gets stuck in your head? Anything right as I’m laying down to sleep.
11. Did just mentioning that song make it get stuck in your head? Nope.

12. What are your super powers?
13. Peppermint or Spearmint? Peppermint, hello people, just think candy cane.

14. Where are your keys? On the microwave

15. Who's answers to this questionnaire do you want to hear? Whoever would want to do this
16. What's your most annoying habit? I talk too much.

17. Where did you last go on vacation? Maybe California for apartment hunting. If that doesn’t count, than Payson AZ during Christmas break.

18. If you could punch one person in the nose and get away with it, who would it be? Moises Acevedo, a coworker.
19. What is your best physical feature? Lots of people compliment me on my eyelashes.
20. What CD is closest to you right now? Probably all of Ricks computer games.
21. What 3 things can always be found in your refrigerator? Milk, water, jelly.
22. What superstition do you believe/practice? I like to pick up lucky pennys.
23. Does size matter? Nope, cause great things come in small packages.

24. Paper or Plastic? Plastic, usually

25. Do you talk on your cell phone when you drive? Not often, it is dangerous.
26. What are your favorite sayings? I don’t really have sayings.

27. What song do you sing most often in the shower? Songs from the Scarlet Pimpernel.
28. If you could go back or forward in time would you, and where would you go? I would go back, and date Steven Nguyen in high school, just to get the experience.
29. What is your favorite Harrison Ford movie? Anything with the title Indiana Jones.

30. What CD is in your stereo? My Maroon 5 CD

31. What OCD qualities do you have? I like the cabinet doors to be closed, but I’m not really that OCD about it.

32. How many kids do you plan on having? 5 or 6, but however many we’re supposed to have we’ll be happy with.
33. If you could kiss someone famous who would it be? I don’t want to kiss anyone famous

34. Would you really want to kiss someone you didn't know? No, it would be weird.

35. Would you rather die in a blaze of glory or peacefully in your sleep? Sleep all the way.

36. What is your favorite movie? I don’t really do the favorite thing, but Pride and Prejudice is always good.

37. What candy from when you were a kid do you miss the most? I can’t think of any that they don’t still have around.
38. Favorite musicians/band you've seen in concert? Never been to a concert.

39. Have you ever been in love? Of Course!

40. Is there anyone who you wish would just fall off the face of the earth? Not specifically, just people who make me angry, like dictators who keep money away from their poor countrymen or really violent people.

Mission President's Week

2008-06-25T11:34:00.003-07:00

Today is the last day of the one week training that new Mission President's get at the MTC and I'm so glad. Work has been crazy and exhausting. In the four days I've worked mission presidents week I've worked 35 hours. My arms are sore from all the lifting I've had to do. Today is going to be just as busy, but at least it is the last day. Today we have two big set ups. We are setting up 7 rooms as dining rooms and only have an hour to do it. Then we have to change to whole building back to the way it usually is, which will definitely be a lot of hard work. But, thus far I've seen/met: Elder Oaks, Elder Perry, Elder Holland, Elder Hales and Elder Scott, and all the apostles will be in the building tonight for the special closing dinner the mission presidents get.

In other news it was really great to take my final last week, I'm so glad it is over. It was also really fun to get to see Rick's parents, it is always fun to have them in town. I was sad we couldn't really spend more time with them, but finals were the same time and I had a lot of studying to do. What has also been pretty nice is that I've been feeling better for the last few days. During the day I've pretty much felt fine but nights are still just a little rough.

2008-06-15T23:11:00.002-07:00

So, Holly tagged me for this thing, here goes nothing.

Four places I go over and over:

The Tanner Building-where my last class of college is!
The MTC
Grandma Chatfield's - for Sunday dinner
Smith's Grocery Store- Rick and I manage to eat a lot!

Four people who e-mail me regularly:

Tara Hall - we communicate about the hymns I pick for Sacrament each week
Facebook - updates etc
Cindy Allison - I get to see pictures and hear updates about their adventures
America's test Kitchen - cooking tips and yummy recipes!

Four of my favorite places to eat:

At home with my hubby
Olive Garden - I love pasta!
Carls Jr - one of my favorite fast food places
Grandma's House - the food is always great and the company's not half bad either

Four places I would rather be right now:

In Bed, sleeping soundly
At the beach
At a delicious restaurant, I just got hungry again and toast, crackers or cooking for myself really don't sound good
Hanging out with friends

Four people I talk to on a daily basis:

Rick
Myslef, I need a lot of encouragement these days to get things done!
Mom, well, almost daily
Holly and Julie - see Holly, you're not the only one who is gonna make her sisters share

Four TV shows I watch over and over:

Law and Order
Grey's Anatomy, except the latest season
The Office
Ugly Betty

Four people I’m tagging:

Rick Allison
Julie Chatfield
Alexa Allison
Jen Houston

Well in other news I just finished taking my last quiz for my finance class and I got 100%. Finals are this week and I can't wait to be done. I've been a bad student this semester, at least attendance wise because I often sleep through class, but I've been doing alright grade wise. It feels so nice to be so close to the end of school, but I'll miss it too. Geography classes have been so fun and I love learning all the new things. I want to keep learning even after school, so I have plans to read up on my favorite countries and religions and just keep the mind going. I also am going to work on my baking, sewing and knitting skills, which I haven't gotten to do much of with school being so busy. We also are going to start hunting for specific apartments when school gets out, we want to find a place we love and will be happy in for at least a year or two, if not longer. It will be hard, but I'm looking forward to it.

Also, as we've already told most of you cause we are so excited, Rick and I got to hear the baby's heart beat this week. It was soooo awesome! It made it real that there is an actual little person growing in there, and that I'm not just sick all the time for nothing. I couldn't believe how fast it was, about 157 beats per minute. The doctor said that fast heartbeats usually mean a girl, but we'll see for reals when we do the ultrasound. And I just am at the end of my first trimester, so hopefully the sickness will die down so that I can get a good nights rest. Work is getting pretty hard on me though, so I might stop working a little earlier than previously planned. Rick wishes I would stop now, but extra money never hurt anyone.

Success!

2008-06-14T16:21:00.002-07:00

Rick and I just got back from a pretty fun afternoon. We started off at Olive Garden for their soup, salad and breadsticks lunch special thing. Rick loves, loves, loves the breadsticks there, and he pretty much filled up on them. Then we headed off to the mall on the quest for new pj pants for Rick. He's had the same ones forever and they're looking pretty rough, so for a Father's Day present I took him, cause I knew I wouldn't pick the right ones if I shopped alone. We covered the mall end to end and finally in the last store found a pair he actually found acceptable. He pretty much just wanted the exact ones he has now, just new. The ones we got are a little different, no secret pocket and they're a little thinner, but he likes them. I also brought home a few things. Working at the MTC lately has been making me so hot! I do a few jobs and wish I could go find somewhere cool, but the whole building is warm, so no such luck. Part of the reason is we have to wear pants and closed toed shoes, and I am not the worlds biggest fan of shoes. So today I bought some closed toed shoes that are also mostly meshy on the sides, so hopefully my feet will be able to breath more which will hopefully help me be cooler overall. I also went and partook of the summer sale at Bath and Body works. I love bubble baths and I ran out a couple months ago. One is normally $9.50, but they were having a sale, 3 for $10, so I got three.

Pretty much now I'm really tired though, so the rest of my day will probably be me taking a nap, doing some homework, and spending an hour or so at work to set up for church tomorrow. Fun times.

Nocternal

2008-06-12T00:19:00.003-07:00

I'm pretty sure I've become part vampire, because my sleep pattern is waaaay off. Laying down makes me feel sicker, and it makes it so I can't sleep. I've tried propping myself up, but I just can't sleep that way. So I stay up most of the night, and sleep all morning and into the afternoon. I feel like a bum, but I need the sleep, everything makes me so tired!

I'm really posting because it has been so long, and a lot has happened. I'm only a week away from finals for my Cooperate Finance class, which is very exciting, it hasn't been a fun class so far. But, it has taught me one lesson, I think I'm going to shy away from the entrepreneur thing, I cannot imagine handling the finances by myself. Then all I have to do is finish up my independent study class and I'll be officially done with college! I do still want to get my travel agent's license, even though people are spending less on travel because of the economic slump, I just think it would be fun. We'll see how ambitious I feel when the baby comes. Other exciting news, one of my very best friends got married this last weekend, and I'm so happy for her. Another very good friend is getting married in a couple of weeks, and I'm excited for her too! Even though it is busy, I'm excited to host all the new Mission presidents at the MTC next week. It is our busiest week of the year, but it is cool to be able to meet general authorities and such. Last time I worked Mission president's week I met elder Holland, Elder Scott and Elder Perry. I probably won't be able to work as much as I used to though, all the lifting and moving of furniture tuckers me out pretty well, and it makes me sore.

Friday celebrates the official end of my first trimester, which is really exciting. I want to start doing tummy pictures to see my progress. This week we've also been doing some more planning for our pending move because we have to turn in our 60 day notice, which is crazy! This has been our house pretty much since we've been married. It is a scary but exciting change that is coming upon us. I'm really looking forward to the change though, I love California and I can't wait to be able to see my family more and do things with my sister's like go to their performances and stuff. But I'll miss my other BYU sisters, it has been fun having them here to hang out with.

This post is getting long, but in other fun news I found an old blog I used to keep, it spans from half way through my senior year of high school through the first few months of my marriage. Some of the posts make me laugh out loud to see how crazy I was about Rick before we even went on our first date! It is a great find because I'm horrible at keeping a journal, so that blog is pretty much what I have to go on for that time period. I'll have to post some of the old entries, they are pretty classic.

A quick Summary of Events.

2008-05-02T16:12:00.003-07:00

So here I am at work just waiting until I can start my next cleaning assignment. And my co-worker hasn't shown up yet, but I don't really mind. Fridays aren't busy until after 9pm, there's a lot to do around here at night, but the afternoons are pretty chill. So California was great, we've narrowed down our options to three cities: West Covina, Pasadena and Downey. We found all the nice looking areas of town and found where metro stations are, both great things. Hopefully after our classes are over we can have the time to look for apartments, but Rick has training starting on September 8th and will be gone for about 6 weeks, and it wouldn't really be super fun to be in an apartment all alone for that time, so we'll see what happens.

Graduation was really great. It was fun to have both sets of parents in town, and to see my grandparents and my aunts, uncle and cousins. Thursday was commencement and it was alright, except for the fact that it snowed. But it was fun to do the processional into the Marriott Center and Elder Bednar gave a great talk. Early the next morning I had my convocation, which was pretty good, except for the 7:00am arrival time. But we got to do another processional, and this time I got a better seat. The student speaker was pretty good, and the professor who spoke also did an excellent job, he even did an amazing cow impersonation! Then the reading of the names and walking. It was long, but it was really fun to walk across the stage, hear my name, and get to shake hands with all the college big wigs. My friend from work was there and she said I had a little swagger across the stage, which I didn't do on purpose, but I think its cool. After that was over we all split up and I went home to take a much needed nap and Rick went to take a final. After that we all met up again for Rick's convocation which was alright, but by that time I was kind of done sitting through speakers etc. Rick had declared, on the bright side, that he was planning on leaving right after his name was called, which I think most of us were excited about. And they had the undergrads line up alphabetically, so Rick was very first after all the masters students. We then had to part ways with Steve and Cindy as they started their drive back home.

Since we got home from California I've been to my first day of my spring term class, and I definitely shouldn't have saved this one for last. It is a finance class and it, thus far, has been booooring. I know I shouldn't really judge until a little later, but I should have saved something good for last, like cultural geography or my survey of world religions class. Oh well, I'll just stick it out until the end of June and then be done! And I was happily surprised by my grades for winter term: 2 As and 3 Bs. I had a hard time focusing, so I'm glad they all turned out so well. Okay, well it is time for me to get back to work.

Adventures in Southern California

2008-04-28T10:05:00.002-07:00

So here I am sitting in a Motel 6 just hanging out. We graduated Thursday and Friday (more about that later) and then on Saturday we drove down to California with Mom and Dad. Rick slept the entire drive and most of the evening afterwards. He had stayed out all night with Matt, Bill, and Ben playing on the computer, so he needed to catch up. Sunday we left to look for apartments, we looked in Hacienda Heights, West Covina and Montebello. Today were going to look in Glendale, Pasadena, and Downey and possibly Artesia. Its pretty exhausting, but we've been having a good time too. Well, we got pretty lost in Montebello because we couldn't find a map of the city anywhere, we finally had to go to another city to get a Thomas Guide of Los Angeles county. I think rick is ready to go, so where going to head out.

Decisions, Decisions, part 2.

2008-04-02T12:05:00.002-07:00

Well, Rick finally heard from PWC about his start date for work. Turns out it is VERY different than we were anticipating. We were thinking he would start mid to late July. Turns out it is actually September 8th or something like that. So that changes our plans considerably. Now, we could take classes in summer. Or we could just stay up here and work and play until the move. Or do we move in June as planned, take our time finding a good apartment and play in California till Rick starts working. Just a lot to think about.

Well, only two weeks left of classes, and then finals for a week. I have one short paper, one long research paper and 6 quizzes left before finals, so I'll be busy. But I'm excited about conference this weekend, to hear our new prophet speak and to hang out with friends and family.

And I'm glad the snow melted, thats a good thing too.

Decisions, Decisions.

2008-03-18T20:07:00.003-07:00

There are so many weddings coming up, I just don't know what to do! I just found out from my friend Steph that she changed her wedding day. . . by over a month. I was planning on going before, because my July is pretty empty besides finding an apartment, and I was going to make a big trip out of it. Niagara Falls, possibly NYC and a wedding, a very fun trip. But now she's getting married in early June, during which time will be the weekend right before the last week of my last term in college. If I did go, it would be a quick trip, just a couple of days because it would be hard to miss school. And I would miss some time getting ahead on the packing up since we would be moving a week and a half later. Two weeks to the day after Steph's wedding is Megan's wedding. That is looking like more of a possibility now because finals actually end the 19th, and I'll probably take mine on the 18th, so plenty of time to pack the truck and make the drive. I just hate when things are complicated, especially when it has to do with deciding between school and a good friend.

Saturday is a special day

2008-03-15T11:24:00.002-07:00

Today is going/has been action packed. I got up early and wasn't feeling too hot in my tummy, I think I ate dinner too late or something. But watching dance 180 was fun, and I saw a lot of people in my dance class, which was awesome. I kind of had totally forgotten about the Rex Lee run cause I just assumed Julie would get called back. But she didn't so we decided to run. We had to change really quick and then they weren't letting any cars near the starting point, so Rick dropped me off kind of far away (or so I thought). Turns out that I went the long way, but we started only 5 or 6 minutes late, thanks for waiting Julie. And Julie, we did take the wrong route, but it wasn't too different, so we're okay. With my tummy not feeling too hot, I think I did okay. We jogged and walked on and off, and It was really fun. I don't run as much as I should, and I'm way out of shape. But I had fun, it was cool to do at least once before I graduate. Then I came home and helped Rick with the dishes and have been studying for my Organizational Management test, not fun but necessary. Then later I'm going to take the test, and read some of both the books I'm reading, Road to Sata and Do (Not) Feed the Bears. One is for Geography the other for history. The first is about a man walking the complete length of Japan through back roads and villages, and I like it a lot so far. The other one is about the history of Yellowstone park, and about the interaction between bears and people, interesting topic but not well written. Tonight we are going back to Dancesport to watch the finals and the amateur dancers go at it, I'm so excited! we have great seats and the dancing is just so fun to watch.

Beautiful day

2008-03-10T12:47:00.002-07:00

It is warm (mostly) and sunny and great outside today. I just want it to be like this all the time, that would be great. Well, today I've got lots of homework, history reading, research for my Great Wall of China presentation, an organizational behavior lesson and a chapter to read about Hinduism. My hand is looking a lot better today, too. It is still a little red and sensitive, but I don't need a bandaid anymore and it doesn't really hurt, which is really nice. It has been nice to be able to do stuff like open jars, twist door handles and just generally do anything with my left hand. Also, today in dance class we learned a fun new waltz step and are continuing to perfect our cha cha for the competition this weekend. We had a chase-off, and it was pretty funny, lots of flirting. Well, Hope everyone is having a great day!

2008-03-03T21:24:00.002-07:00

Well, went back to the ER today to get the stitches out, and I'm so happy! I can do pretty much the normal stuff again, my hand just hurts a little bit. But once they took the stitches out, I looked at my hand and it looks gross! I guess a week of not washing it there and a big scab never really look cute, but still, gross.

Well, life here has been pretty good. Rick and I got our caps and gowns for graduation and ordered our announcements, which is really weird. I remember doing it for high school and how cool it was, but it is even more cool to be graduating at the same time as Rick (even if he is a less than willing participant). And I'm walking at the same time as two of my best college friends. And then I get to look forward to moving which is crazy, I can't believe we're leaving provo. I mean I'm happy, but It will be weird to have a place that will be home for a long time. And I'm excited because this summer I'm flying out to NY to go to the wedding of my friend Stephanie, and I can't wait! She is great, and her fiance seems really nice.

Well this week is going to be busy, two midterms, lots of research about the Great Wall of China, the quarterly enrichment activity and preparing for the 5k I'm running soon. I really am not super excited for my tests, but it'll be okay I think, I'm feeling ready.

Happy New Baby day for Tim and Alexa tomorrow, and happy no pink eye day to Jen!

a first

2008-02-21T09:54:00.002-07:00

sorry, no caps today, it hurts to stretch my hand that far. last night i had my first trip to the emergency room. I was cutting a pan of magic bars, and the edges were a little hard, so the (really) sharp knife I was using slipped up the side of the pan when I put a little extra pressure on it. unfortunately, i had my left hand holding the pan, and i stabbed myself pretty good in the bend between my pointer finger and my thumb. it bled, i fainted and poor rick ran all the way home from campus to come save me. he also sent caleb to check in on me, thanks for coming caleb, it was nice to have some company. then off to the er, and i ended up getting four stitches, which means (as my mom pointed out) that i am the first person in our family to get stitches. i cant extend my thumb or pointer finger too far, which makes doing things pretty dang hard. but, i'm alive, and I get to miss class today, just as i'm taking time getting used to doing things one handed. rick has been taking really good care of me, he is really great. the worst part about all of this is that i made the magic bars to take to a big dance lab for my social dance class. i'm bummed i didn't get to go. but i did look extra fancy for the er.

Seriously? Seriously!

2008-02-11T20:21:00.000-07:00

Sorry for all these short posts, but I'll post a longer one soon, I promise.

So, Rick and I went snowshoeing and skiing this weekend, and surprisingly, I had a blast! I think I am finally understanding this winter sports thing. Vivian Park is where we snow shoed and it was beautiful with all the snow and ice, really unique. Skiing was a blast, I've never liked going too fast, so I kept it slow, and it was really fun. However, funny thing, we had to fill out some papers to rent our equipment. Rick filled out most of mine but kept a few blanks that he didn't know the answer to, and guess what one of them was, my age! When I asked how old he thought I was, he said 22. 22! Then I asked him how old he was, and he said 24! How could he get both our ages wrong? Funny, and sad.

And I found out I have a thing for Vampire love stories. I read one in middle school called The Silver Kiss, and I thought it was so romantic and great. And the Twilight series is pretty good too, better than I thought it would be.

Okay, I'm going to write a book review now on Working at Play, oh the joys of being a Travel +Tourism major.

Rare occurance

2008-02-05T23:09:00.000-07:00

Now, what I'm about to post may come as a shock to some of you, but stay strong.

The snow this morning was really pretty and I liked it a lot! It was like glitter falling from the sky. The snow has been extra sparkley the last couple of days and it has been really fun. If only snow were so pretty all of the time, I might actually like it!

That is all.

Awesome

2008-02-02T12:51:00.000-07:00

Well, I just finished watching President Hinckley's funeral, and it was a very good tribute to the life of a great man and prophet. Fun stories were told, and he was described as adorable, awesome and as an optimist. I'm glad they broadcast it so many people could be involved. It was very touching and a good way to say goodbye.

The rest of my day includes homework, shopping and thats pretty much it.

February already?

2008-02-01T14:22:00.000-07:00

It seems like January just flew by. All those papers and projects due in February seemed so far away, and now they're here! February will be a good month though. Rick and I are planning on going snow shoeing next Friday, and I'm really excited. We're also going skiing next week, it'll be my first time doing that, and Rick is going to try his hand at snow boarding. Valentines is coming up and that is always a fun holiday, especially since I have an awesome husband now! this will be our fourth Valentine's together, which is crazy to think about. February also is the big dance lab for social dance, and it will be fun to practice my skills with a bunch of other people. Sadly, February also holds the funeral of our beloved prophet, Gordon B. Hinckley, but he did a lot of good work here on the earth and I'm sure the Lord will take care of him. And he is now reunited with his wife, which is happy news.

Well, this week has been pretty uneventful, just school and work. I did take my first midterm of the semester, which went pretty well. I think I nailed the essays and I only felt shaky on some of the multiple choice questions. I ran (and walked) 7 miles this week, which isn't half bad. Thank you Holly and Caleb for the use of your tredmill, it is a zillion times better than trying to run in the snow. Well, I'm gonna start reading about the history of resort vacations in America, which sounds pretty exciting to me.

Tagged!

2008-01-24T13:36:00.000-07:00

Well, Julikins tagged me, so here we go.

A: The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B: Each player answers the questions about themselves.
C: At the end of the post, the player then tags 3 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

10 years ago: I was 11 years old, I was in 6th grade at Cope Middle School and was in the marching band playing my flute, my best friend was Alison Lenox, but I was also friends with Gabby, Elizabeth Houghton, and had made a new friend, Rave Nasser. Oh, and I was probably hating math and english because I had Mrs. Kovakavitch and she was the hardest teacher I had ever had up to date.

5 things on my to-do list today: 1) write a personal travel paper 2) clean the bathroom 3) do a couple of Organizational Behavior lessons 4) Find a world heritage site I want to do a presentation on 5) sleep in my brand new bed!

5 Snacks I enjoy: 1) chocolate chip cookies 2) jumbo red licorice 3) brownies 4) nachos 5) french fries (These are all unhealthy, but I took snacks to mean treats)

What I would do if I were suddenly made a billionaire: My list is close to Julie's, I would pay off all the debt of both my families, I would take a few years to travel the world, I would set up a foundation in Africa to educate the people about AIDS and a foundation to help the people earn money and get food, I would buy a two story house with a wrap around porch and a big balcony, I would hire some company to make a cartoon movie and I would want to be one of the voices, and then I would put the rest in savings and investments

3 of my bad habits: 1) I sleep in 2) I peel/bite my nails 3) I just throw my clothes on the floor on my side of the bed

5 places I have lived: 1) Redlands, CA 2) Provo, UT 3) Long Beach, CA and thats about it

5 jobs that I have had: 1) Cleaning the Bishops' house 2) Jose's Mexican Food doing multiple things 3) TCBY 4) SAS custodial 5) Custodial at the MTC
5 Things people don't know about me: 1) I dance and sing while I do the dishes 2) I'm glad our touch lamp broke 3) broccoli is one of my favorite foods 4) I want to get my pilot's license 5) I watch movie and TV credits and look for cool names that I might want to give to my children

Alright, I tag Jen, Rick and Roxy

Thank heavens it was just a dream!

2008-01-17T22:41:00.000-07:00

So I had a dream last night that was really bothersome to me. Well, a big group of us was at this crazy inside pyramid thing, and it was like a maze but you had to go up to the top of it. At the top, I dropped my glasses all the way down, and they went down a storm drain that was near the bottom of the pyramid. I was so sad, I guess I really loved those glasses. Julie and I reached in and tried to grab them, but instead we found a bunch of other odd glasses, like glasses that measure people's heights and rectangular sunglasses. Well, later that day we were in a doorway, I think waiting in line to go do something else, and Rick walks up to me and he gives me a new pair of glasses. I was so happy I kissed him, and lo and behold, that causes outrage amongst everyone else I'm with. Then, like in a movie, I see the background before this moment. It turns out Rick and I dated, but I had some doubts, so I just up and married someone else. It turns out that my marriage was miserable and horrible (by the way, I was married to Zack Ruben). I was so sad, because we had gotten married in the temple, so I knew I had ruined the rest of my life and eternity, because I would be stuck in this miserable marriage forever. Well, I guess for the past two years of our marriage I had been having an affair with Rick, which made me even more sad because he was so great and I knew I really loved him. But we could never be together because I knew that I could never get divorced. So, in kissing Rick, everyone found out about my affair and I was even more miserable.

So when I woke up this morning, I felt awful. I woke up with a feeling a dread because I had sabotaged my own future. Only after a shower did I remember I really was married to Rick. That made me so happy! So, I'm glad it was only a dream, because an eternity of misery was not really fun to look forward to.

Now I want to Travel with Charley

2008-01-15T23:21:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading Travels with Charley in search of America by John Steinbeck and I'm itching to get out of here! How fun to drive on all the small side roads of America and meet the people and see the sights, to immerse yourself in it. If only there were time, and if Rick wanted to do it, which he says might be alright but doesn't really interest him. Provo seems so small now, I want to hit the open road. Maybe, when I finally get around to making one, this journey will be on my 100 things to do before I die list.

Well, a lot has gone on since my last post, so I'll just summarize. Finals were fine, I studied a lot and I did pretty well on all of them. I got two As, two A- and two B+. Not bad at all. Christmas break was a blast with Steve and Cindy. It was fun to just hang out and sleep in. And playing games was great because it is something that I like to do but don't get the chance to do much. Christmas day was nice, and I got a lot of great things from great people. We got back and school started all too soon. My classes for this semester will be pretty awesome though, and I get to read a lot of really good sounding books about things like American Cold War holidays and travels around Europe to where certain fairy tales take place. Plus I am taking a social dance class, and it has been awesome so far. Work is pretty much just the same. Well, I can't think of anything inspirational or witty, so I'll just sign off.

Great way to start the week

2007-12-17T18:09:00.000-07:00

Well, two finals down 3 more to go. I took my religion test last week, which was okay, we'll see how I did. Today I took my map reading and analysis test kind of on a whim. I decided I was as ready as I'd ever be, so I went and took it. I got the test and I thought I was doing pretty well, until about half way through. Our TA came into the room and said that most of the people who had taken the final already had done really poorly. I got nervous at that point because I was wondering if I wasn't doing as well as I thought. Well I finished the test and I just looked at blackboard and saw my grade. I got about a 91% on the test which means a 93% overall for the class. Not bad at all, I'm really proud of myself. Hopefully the rest of my finals go as well.

Oh, and I just want to say that my integrity is worth more than $20. I went and returned a book and our iClickers to the Bookstore and the lady accidentally gave me one too many twenty dollar bills. I returned it when I noticed, because I'm just that honest. And extra blessings during finals week never hurt either.

I'm still thinking

2007-12-15T12:48:00.000-07:00

Sorry Holly, I'm not going to write my 6 interesting things about myself until I can think of really good ones, so this post will not have those six interesting things.

Work went very smoothly last night even if I froze while taking down those dumb flags. Then I came home and had the most delicious veggie soup for dinner, it was really good. Then I felt like watching a movie, but not one we own, but I also didn't want to go rent one. So I watched some tv for a long time till I was bored to tears. I went to bed at 3am and woke up this morning at 11:30. I feel kinda like a bum. Today is going to be busy. I have 4 finals to study for, the house to clean, dishes, laundry, and we might go to Salt Lake tonight to see the Christmas lights on Temple Square. We did it last year and it was great. Oh, and we might go finish our Christmas shopping so we can get this show on the road and go to AZ. I'm really excited to go and to do fun things like hiking and just plain relaxing.

Ok, dream time again. But these are violent, so for those who are faint of heart, please don't read this.
My first dream took place at an outside cafe. I think it was my freshman ward reunion, even though none of the people there were really in my freshman class. We were all chatting and having a great time when all of a sudden, one of the guys pulls out a large gun and tells everyone to put their hands on their heads. We do so, and then we line up facing the wall like he tells us to. He then went through everyones pockets and took all our money and jewelery and the like. One of my brave friends got a call to 911 and told them our situation. The mean guy saw this and shot the girl making the phone call, he shot her like 3 times. Then we hear sirens, and we all start running around trying to get away. The police line up outside the cafe walls and they can't see the guy very well, but they decide to take the risk and just start shooting in hopes they hit him. They pull out their machine guns and start shooting everywhere. People were dying all around. It was very terrifying.

Next dream. We're all at home and getting ready for a huge party. The Birds are there helping us set up, cook, and do the other party things. From the moment I woke up I had been getting the party ready, so I hadn't showered or anything. Finally, we're all done setting up and it is time to go to the park where the party is happening. Everyone is ready except for me. I tell everyone to wait while I get ready. Mom (who looked beautiful) told me it was my own fault that I wasn't ready. Oh, and there was no more hot water for me to take a shower, so I should just come. Dad says they should just leave me, and if I really want to come that I can get myself there. I was so mad at daddy, he was being so mean. Then I turn to Rick for support, but he tells me he's taking our car and that I can just come when I'm ready, but that probably won't be for a long time and I'll miss the party anyway, so I just shouldn't come. That was the last straw. I start throwing upper cuts at Rick, yelling at him, kicking him in the face and the tummy, punching him wherever I can reach as hard as I can. Then I woke up. I apologized to Rick, cause I shouldn't beat him up, even in my dreams.

Blueberry Muffins

2007-12-08T14:19:00.000-07:00

I thought it would be a nice surprise to make muffins for rick this morning since it is snowing, but he ruined it when he woke up earlier than I expected him to. The muffins, however, were still delicious. The snow is still cold though, and it looks like a blizzard outside right now, not fun.

Today is homework day which I hope I can stay concentrated enough to actually do. I've got 2 papers, one oral presentation, one portfolio and NO GPS ASSIGNMENT! It got canceled because the units had an error an couldn't make a route using the datum NAD 27, which is what we made the points in. Sad. I had even chosen a fun one entitled "Christmas Light around Provo". It was too good to last I guess, but at least it is one less assignment.

In closing, I will type out a dream I had the other night.
I was in a mall in a bookstore and was tossing books off the shelves in a sweeping motion. Then I saw some people who I knew were bad, so I tipped like 3 bookshelves on top of them. A mall police man saw me and started chasing me. I ran out of the store (which was on the 3rd floor of the mall) and ran down a flight of stairs. I saw that I hadn't lost him so I ran down to the first floor. I lost him but decided not for long, so I wanted to get a disguise so he wouldn't recognize me. I went into a beauty parlor and had my hair permed curly and dyed brown. I obviously had them change my race to because when I looked in the mirror I was Hispanic. I flirted with a cute boy for awhile but then was caught by the police man, who I don't know how he recognized me. I was really sad, but only because I thought the boy would like me less if he knew I was a criminal. The police man walked me out of the mall (it was night) and I don't know where he was taking me. Then a bunch more police men showed up, and I noticed they had batman logos on their shirts. They tassered the police man who had me and Robin came up to talk to me. He said they could get me out of this. The bat lawyer was going to write up stuff for me for my court appearance. Robin was my representative in court, but as he read the Bat lawyer's testimony, it made me look more guilty. Little did we know that the Bat lawyer was actually in league with the Joker. Then I woke up.

I love GPS

2007-12-06T21:24:00.000-07:00

So I just got back from an Enrichment activity. It was pretty fun, but a lot of work. I was there for 3 hours earlier today and then I was there from 6pm to 9 for food serving, the activity, and take down. Rick was awesome though and helped babysit and then take down.

I did a GPS scavenger hunt thing yesterday and it was fun to put together. He wanted it to be fun when others do it so I gave it a theme. I did Freshman Memories and I went to some of my favorite places around campus. I hope other people think its fun. I get to do someone else's next week and I'm excited, GPS is a fun toy. Yesterday I also got my hair cut. I love it! I finally fixed those layers I never liked and it looks cute. Thank you Holly for inviting me to come with you.

This weekend I have a bunch of homework and I really need to dig deep down and find my motivation, because I'm just ready to be done.

Was there....

2007-11-29T22:48:00.000-07:00

me making out with a guy from a TV show?
the dreaded beach elephant?
Caleb working in a shady office in which no one ever knew what he was doing?
a trip to Antarctica?
the swankiest hotel room ever?

Yes to all of the above.
No that wasn't real life I was talking about, it was a dream I had last night. Many of the details are not included, these were just some of the most memorable things.

I have to take a test tomorrow and I really don't want to. But, I also get to use the GPS again tomorrow, which is fun. We went out and did a little field work on Wednesday, and it was fun but freezing! It was 25 degrees when we left the SWKT, which wasn't exciting.

Thanksgiving was really awesome. It was nice to get some sleep, see the family, do some fun things and eat some great food. It was bad if only because now I'm totally out of school mode, which I haven't really been in for this semester. I'm so antsy and ready to be done.

Okie dokie, well here is whats on my mind right now, but I'm going to go write a paper about sex.

Thank you kind stranger

2007-11-18T14:13:00.000-07:00

For the first time in my whole life I won something. It was only because a nice boy gave me his raffle ticket at the e-business competition. I got a 1gig jump drive, not an iphone, but still pretty good.

This last week was busy, but a lot less busy than I have been in the past. I could have gotten more done to get ahead, but I didn't and I will probably regret it later. This week I am so excited for! I love Thanksgiving and I love California, and I get both! It will be fun to hang out with the fam and to go apartment hunting. It will be our first real apartment and I'm really excited. I think I'll start feeling like an adult once Rick starts working full time and we have our own apartment, it will feel weird, but awesome.

Everyone out there should be thinking of what they want for Christmas. And I know I'm a hypocrite because I can't think of anything. I'm working on it though.

Today I feel lazy

2007-11-03T15:48:00.000-07:00

I slept in really, really late because I went to bed at 3am. I have been reading for most of the day, and not the school books like I should be reading but I have been reading about Narnia. I feel like a bum, and I know I should be doing school work, but during the week I do so much, I feel like on the weekends that I don't want to do anything. But alas, I am looking at my list of things to do and it is long. Just thought I would post.

Candy Corn Cannibals

2007-10-30T13:01:00.001-07:00

My shirt from Woot Shirt came today and I'm totally going to wear it to work. I'm really excited about it, because I think it is funny to have candy corn cannibals on a shirt. I should post a picture of it. But not now

It's coming...

2007-10-28T22:33:00.000-07:00

Halloween, that is. I think I'm gonna go to school on Wednesday as Batgirl, but we'll see what happens. Mostly, we'll just see if I remember it's halloween when I wake up on Wednesday morning. I don't really have anything to post, I just decided that I should. I talked to the family on the phone today for about an hour and a half, my cell phone was really hot afterwards. Mom said they are moving the washing machine out of the kitchen, that will be nice, but will look odd when it happens.

I got another calling today, which means Shelley: 2, Rick:0. When the second counselor in the bishopric called and asked to come speak with us for a bit, I was sure it was to give Rick a calling, but I was fooled. I'm now the Ward Chorister and I'm on the Enrichment Committee. I feel kind of bad, because work prevents me from ever actually attending Enrichment, but at least I'll get to help plan it. I think it will be fun.

So the semester is officially half over, and I have mixed emotions about that. I'm happy, because the closer to the end of the semester, the closer I am to finishing school. On the other hand, I still have a few big projects and papers which I have to finish. I just am ready for a break. I think Thanksgiving will be fun. Julie is driving down to Redlands with us, and it will be fun to see the family. Then it is just a hop, skip and a jump until Christmas, and hanging out in AZ with the Allison's will be fun. We might take the long way and see the Grand Canyon while we're at it, but only time can tell.

The Trees are raining!

2007-10-21T12:45:00.000-07:00

So yesterday it snowed, and my brain is not ready for that yet. There is white stuff all over the ground when the only thing on the ground should be crunchy, colorful leaves. Can't we finish one season before we start another? Well, because of all the snow, and then the warm day today, the snow is melting off the trees and dripping down, like rain.

Let me try to summarize whats been going on, but I'm sure I'll forget parts. Today church was pretty good, I was tired though, and when I woke up it was dark and cold, not good wake up conditions. Then I went visiting teaching, and my new girls are nice. One is from Korea and she's really cute. The other is an artist, but only as a hobby. She works full time as a civil engineer while her husband is finishing school. Yesterday was a kind of yucky day in the fact that it snowed and that I missed my freshman ward reunion. I was excited to go and see people I haven't gotten to see in awhile. However, because Rick and I can't seem to get to bed at a decent hour on the weekends, I slept in and missed it. And we we're late to the opera for a couple of reasons: A) I was having an emotional meltdown because I didn't get any homework done and B) Totally forgot there was a football game, so the traffic was horrible, it took us 25 minutes to get from our house to the Riviera to pick up Julie and friend. But the rest of the opera was really great, and my friend Sarah was a hoot. Everyone was so talented, it was awesome.

Other going on's in life... we're going to carve a pumpkin for FHE this week, and I'm ecstatic. I wish I had some other decorations, but a pumpkin will be awesome. I made chicken fingers this week and they were very tasty. Rick and I are going to attempt to make calzones this week, and I'm excited to make a BBQ chicken calzone. I can't stop thinking about graduation and how then I will be done and moving to CA and having kids. I really can't wait to be a mom, I see babies and I just want one of my very own. And I want to get them cute clothes, like this cute bear hat the baby in our Marriage and Family class wore on Wednesday. I thought I had died and gone to cute heaven, it was so cute.

Well, I should go do more productive things now.

It's going to be a busy week...

2007-10-14T15:54:00.000-07:00

This week ahead of me is not going to be fun. I have 3 papers due, 2 midterms and all the normal business of a regular week. Plus I haven't gotten ahead like I wanted to this weekend. I'm so busy during the week that I just want to relax on the weekends. I know I shouldn't but I just hang out and then by sunday night realize that I've pretty much wasted what time I had and have to cram a zillion things into one night. Not really a great system actually. I just am having a hard time getting back into the swing of school. This was the first summer in many years where I wasn't either going to school, working or doing both. So I really got out of the habit. And I know this is my last year, which makes it even harder.

I am looking forward to Halloween though. I want to make ghosts in the graveyard, carve a pumpkin and give candy to the adorable trick or treat-ers.

Don't want to be a hypocrite

2007-10-02T22:11:00.000-07:00

So, I wish everyone would post more often, but then I look at my blog and see that maybe I should be a little better at posting, too. Well this week is busy! My boss, Phil, is gone for the week, so I'm the boss lady, which means I have to go everyday and make sure things are getting done. That means I'm scheduled for almost 30 hours, on top of all my class and homework. But so far nothing horrible has happened, only had to clean up something gross once this week, so far at least. And we get to set up for conference, which makes it a little more busy. But we're having everyone over on Saturday, and I'm totally excited. Plus, conference is always great, and I'm really looking forward to it. But, I guess some teachers forgot it was conference which equals zero homework time, because I have about a zillion things due next week!

In other news, I entered a contest today to win 10,000 dollars for anything travel related. If I win I'm totally going to Italy, Hawaii, a train ride through Canada, and Probably go see Japan or China. I just really have always wanted to travel, but it is expensive! I've never won anything before, maybe this will be my chance.

Oh, and for those of you out there who want to see The Marriage of Figgaro with me, what would you think if I invited Grandma Chatfield to come see it with us? She loves opera, and I think it would be cool to hang out with her.

cause wakin' up is hard to do

2007-09-16T11:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was an emotional roller coaster. I woke up in a good mood, ready to tackle a bunch of homework and get some things done that I needed to do. First I made some banana bread for Rick, because I know he loves it. Then I did some homework and got ready to leave the house and get a hair cut and go pants shopping. Well, the shopping didn't get done. I went to get my haircut, and basically it looks horrible. It isn't what I asked for at all, and I hate, hate, hate it. I was so sad that I just went home and took a bath to try and relax. Then I did my hair to see how it looked after I washed it and did it, and it didn't look any better. So Rick was nice and we went out for dinner and then came home to chill. I started doing some more homework, but I fell asleep. And the next thing I know Rick is helping me get into bed. I slept through the night, from 8pm on. And that is really early for me to go to bed, but I really think I needed it. School is really roughing me up, and my new work schedule is hard on my body. But church today was great. It is kind of nice being back in Relief Society, but I still miss primary a little. And I'm excited about going to Grandma's house today, I'm glad she's feeling better.

Its a beautiful mornin'

2007-09-15T08:41:00.000-07:00

So, this week hasn't been all that exciting, just the normal school, work, homework etc. I did find out that my friend Dani is the TA for my Geog 347 class, which is pretty awesome. Oh, and I bombed an english quiz, that was exciting too... Work last night went better than the week before, no vomit to clean up. Today hopefully will be an awesome, productive day. I want to get my hair cut, buy some new pants, and do tons and tons of homework. I already feel kind of behind, and I would love to get rid of that feeling. And this week I have too much to turn in to be behind.

Yuck

2007-09-12T14:20:00.000-07:00

So, this is going to be a quick post just to say one thing, getting rid of a wart is gross. I've been putting medicine on it since Sunday, and it is killing the skin all around my wart, and the wart is hard and black. Just thought I throw that out there.

Here we go again

2007-09-06T08:04:00.000-07:00

Two days down, two days left to go (for this week anyways). Tuesday was a pretty good first day of school. I got permission to take History of Tourism in America instead of Economic Geography, which will make my schedule a lot less crazy and it sounds like more fun. And, it will be my first history class at BYU. And then I went to Adventure Tourism and Ecotourism, and it sounds like it will be a pretty cool, laid back class. Then I went to my business lecture series class, it was okay, but not life changing or anything. The best part of my day was seeing a bunch of cool people like Becky Johnson, Chris Gibson and Dani S. Work was okay too, there are a lot of new people working there and they seem pretty nice. And I found out I don't have a single shift with Moises! Hallelujah!

Wednesday was a little rough just because it was so long. I have four classes back to back, being Tourism, Marriage and Family, English 315 and Map Use and Interpretation. All my teachers seem nice, and marriage and family seems like a class where I'll learn a lot. Hopefully it isn't too bad for Julie though, he says he directs the class mostly to people who are already married. Thats okay, May is right around the corner. My geography classes seem like they're going to be fun, and my teachers are nice, and one of them reminds me a whole lot of Toby Maguire. Then I had work, for 8 hours and it was loooong. I was alone till 6:30 because the other two people didn't show up. And we trained two new people last night, and that just always takes a long time. But at least I don't have to go to work today!

Today will be a read a zillion chapters of homework day, grocery shopping day, and go to one class day. I just really need to get back into the swing of school, because homework sounds so awful right now.

Back in Provo

2007-08-26T12:37:00.000-07:00

Well, here we are back in the land of BYU, it almost feels like we never left. I have mixed feelings about being back. I did love being able to have fun and play with my family during the summer, and I just plain love California! I did, however, miss the pretty mountains here in Provo, and I'm excited to be back at school because I'm a senior and this is my last year. It is pretty crazy to think Rick and I are almost done and are going off into Grown-Up land, the real world where a whole new set of adventures begins. But I'm glad I get to start that process as a married person, it is a lot less intimidating knowing Rick is going to be there with me.

Our trip to Vegas was a blast! It was awesome, except that it felt like it was a million degrees outside, even at 2am! We stayed in the Luxor (aka the pyramid one) and it was nice. The only downside was that we didn't get our preferred room choice of a room with one king sized bed. We had a room with two beds! Oh well. We pretty much just hung out, we didn't have a schedule or anything. But we did manage to go swimming, see the lion habitat at MGM, tour a chocolate factory, go to M&M World, see Ka ( a Circ de Soilei show), and watch the fountain show and the conservetory at the Bellagio. We also just walked around and checked out a ton of the hotels on the strip. We also ate a ton of good food, which I think was Ricks favorite part. It was mostly just a fun time where we could be together and not have to worry about work or school or anything.

Since we've been back we went mega grocery shopping since our apartment had no food, plus I finished reading Angels & Demons and Rick and I went on a date with Matt and Christina and saw Ocean's 13 at the Dollar theater. It was a very good movie and it made me laugh. I think Rick was happy to see Matt, they are so funny together and such good friends. We made plans to hang out again and include Ben and Liz, and I think thats a great plan. I really like Liz and Christina, and when the boys get together it's like insta-entertainment, so much fun to watch.

Meteor Shower

2007-08-13T23:59:00.000-07:00

So my husband is in Florida today soaking in the sun and staying in a swanky Disneyworld resort hotel. I'm pretty jealous, but not too much I can do about it.

This morning I woke up at 1am so I could drive Rick to Pamona, to meet up with a friend of his from PwC so they could carpool to LAX to fly to Florida. It wasn't fun, because I had only gotten about 2 hours of sleep before that and I hate the early morning anyway. We woke Julie up at 2am so she could be my riding buddy for the trip home. I'm glad she came, cause by 3am I was sleepy and might not have made it. I told you all of that so that I could tell you this: the only good part of waking up at this God forsaken time was that Julie and I got home, went in the back yard and we watched the meteor shower. It was pretty awesome, I've never seen one before. Even from the city we saw quite a few.

After going back to sleep and sleeping till almost noon, I had a pretty bland day. Did some homework, picked up kellie from band practice and ran some errands. I got another 100% on my accounting quiz though, which already puts me worlds ahead of where I was when I took this class in the spring, so I'm pleased. The rest of my week holds more homework, some clothes shopping (cause I really need some new clothes!), having Holly come down (Yay!!!!), picking up Rick from the airport and going to a wedding. Not too shabby, actually.

Yesterday was a blast because there was so much family in town. Dad was made bishop, which is kinda weird and hasn't really sunk in yet. But it was fun to have the Birds in town, and it made me really look forward to having Brittany at BYU in a few weeks. And the Walkers came over, and they are so funny. Grandma Chatfield was there too, and she is such a nice lady and so funny when she is with Sister Peterman. We had a day full of family, excellent food and a nice 2 mile walk.