The Bienz's

The Last 3 Months

2011-08-07T16:13:00.007-07:00

Well, having a 5 month old has proven to make me want to sit and do nothing whenever I have a few minutes to myself; which is the cause for my lack of updates over the past few months. I'll do my best to catch up with everything we've had going on.

I have started working again part time at a variety of different places. I work as a hygienist what has turned out to be 1 Saturday a month in an office just down the street from my house. They advertised it to be more regular than that, but I'm ok with what it's turned out to be. It's still some nice extra money once a month.

I also went to Baskin Robbins in May and am now managing the store here in Queen Creek. I still am working very part time there, but it's very flexible and easy work for the money.

I had a working interview at a dental office in Mesa about 3 weeks ago. I loved the office and the staff probably the most of any office I've been in yet. The position would be every Thursday, every other Saturday and eventually (in about a year) Fridays too. The pay is awesome. They had 2 or 3 more interviews after me, and since they're looking for a Thursday hygienist they only do the interviews on Thursdays. So, I'm still waiting to hear back either way from them. We're really praying so much that I get it.

Dan and I celebrated 4 years of marital bliss on May 25th. It is crazy to think that 4 years has gone by already, and just as fun to think about everything that's happened in that 4 years. We didn't do anything especially exciting for our anniversary. We had lunch at one of our favorite places, Tia Rosas, then did a little shopping, took some "family pictures" outside the temple, and then had dinner at the Landmark restaurant. We had Tyler with us all day except for dinner which was actually perfect. We enjoyed spending the day together with our little family.

Our ward was realigned in June which has been an adjustment to the new ward we're in, but it's getting there. We loved our old ward, and we didn't think the realignment would affect us that much since we'd only been in the old ward for 6 months, but we were wrong. We didn't realize how much we really had acclimated to the old ward and made lots of friendships in the short 6 months we were there. But, we are making new friends little by little in the new ward and still have lots of our old ward members with us now. Just like anything though, it will just take time.

Tyler had a great time for his first 4th of July. We spent the day at my mom's visiting my grandparents, relaxing and swimming. Ty also enjoyed his first swim. He was quite tuckered out from a day full of activities and was kind of out of it, but he loved it nonetheless. He was more interested in looking at the fruit trees, grape vine & sky while in the pool.

We were able to get tickets from an old co-worker of Dan's in Tucson for the All-Star Game Fan Fest down at the Phoenix Convention Center in July. We took Tyler and rode light rail downtown and really enjoyed celebrating the All-Star Game being here in Phoenix this year.

The next weekend, we took a day trip up to Snowflake & Taylor with Dan's entire immediate family. Tyler LOVED going on the trip and being outside with so many trees and nature things to look at. (He loves anything to do with outside. Trees, flowers, the sky, birds, etc.) It was a lot of fun to spend the day with family and get out of the heat.

Our little man is growing so much so fast. He started solid foods at the beginning of July. He loves eating now haha which is pretty comical to watch sometimes. When he sees a bottle being made he starts quivering and chuckling with his mouth as wide as he can make it, until he gets it. He loves pretty much all solid foods except peaches. He'll only eat peaches if they're mixed with cereal.

At his 4 month dr. appt. at the beginning of July, he was 15 lbs. which was the 46th percentile for weight, he was in the 50th percentile for height and the 86th percentile for his head size. We've always known this kid was a smart boy, but he proves it to us more and more everyday! He goes back to the Dr. September 2nd for his 6 month check up and shots, and I'm excited to see where he's at with height and weight now after 2 months of solid food and increasing his formula amounts too.

Dan is starting school again for what will hopefully be the last time. He wants very much to have a degree and is pretty set on going until he's done this time. Hopefully he'll be able to finish in the next couple of years. He is such a good husband to me, and daddy to Tyler and really wants to do this for himself. It will be difficult I'm sure to balance everything he does already with school again, but I know he can do it if he puts his mind to it and he definitely has.

We're working more and more on landscaping our backyard and little bits in the front yard too. We planted a new little tree on the side of the house in the front to replace an old dead tree that's been there since we first walked through the house last fall. It's doing well so far and has already grown a bit. We're excited to watch it continue to grow into a large shade tree for the eastern side of our house. We're planning to lay down some grass seed in the backyard as soon as it gets a little cooler and the monsoons pass. We're also planning to plant a large ash tree in the front of the house once it cools down a little.

We're also planning to paint the inside of the house room by room starting somewhat soon, and to refinish two dressers for our room once it cools off. So stay tuned for lots of updated pictures as we start working on these various projects!

Our Growing Boy!

2011-05-16T17:07:00.005-07:00

I have so many things to post about Tyler, mainly pictures from the past couple of months since he was born, so I decided to just lump everything I would have posted about him into one big post.

Our little boy is growing so fast! I know everyone says how fast they grow, but you really don't realize it until it's your own. Especially within the first few months. Tyler is now 2 and a half months old, and has changed so much since he was born at the beginning of March!

He is so strong already and tries to pull himself up to sit and/or stand up all the time. His legs have always been really strong (since he was in my tummy...I felt them all the time!), and his neck and back have been pretty strong too since he was born. He was trying to hold his head up on his own at just a week or two old. He still is a little ways away from sitting on his own, but he's getting there and loves practicing. We joke about how he likes to "work out" because he loves to go from laying down, to sitting up, to standing up, to laying down, etc. etc.

Over the past 3 or 4 weeks he has started smiling and cooing/baby talking. Now over the past 2 or 3 days, he has been talking it up ALL the time. Pretty much anytime he's awake he's trying to talk and making all kinds of noises. He also loves when I imitate the noises he makes. He is getting to be much more interactive, which is SO much fun!

We made it through the short colicky period he had towards the end of March and into the first few weeks of April. It seemed like much longer than it actually was, but nonetheless we're so glad it's over and that he has become such a happy boy over the past month.

We blessed Tyler in church on April 10th. We had a ton of family come out to attend church, including my dad, step mom and maternal grandparents all of which are not members. My dad has actually been avidly against the church for pretty much my entire life (well since I was baptized at age 11), but he came and sat through a portion of Sacrament meeting, and was even asking some questions about the logistics of the church to my father in law. Dan gave a beautiful blessing to his sweet little boy. It was short and sweet, and only included the most important things, which I think was absolutely perfect for Tyler. He was asleep for about an hour, even while Dan carried him up for the blessing, and then Dan said he woke up just for the blessing, and as soon as it was over, he fell back to sleep. What a sweet and special boy I have!

We went for Tyler's first round of vaccines on April 29th. I was pretty nervous since I had to take him by myself, and I knew he'd be getting multiple needle sticks. Not to mention all of the controversy about vaccines in general and what they can or can't cause, etc. etc. I was questioning the whole morning whether it was the right thing to do or not, but I finally just decided to suck it up, remembering that we all had all the same shots and have all been fine. Not to mention how terrible I would feel if he caught one of these horrible viruses that could have been prevented if I would have vaccinated him. He actually did stellar at the appointment. Of course he cried, but as soon as they were done, I picked him up and he stopped crying right away. He was even talking a little in the car on the way home.

Now, without further adieu, here is a collection of pictures of Tyler from his first 2 and a half months of life! What a precious son I have been blessed with!

Easter

2011-05-07T15:47:00.003-07:00

We had a wonderful Easter holiday this year. Saturday evening, we had dinner at my dad's "burger stand" style. Hamburgers and fries in plastic baskets with milkshakes to drink and ice cream for dessert. We got an Easter basket there with a bunch of things for Tyler (a polo onesie, a couple of toys, hand & foot print kit with frames) and a Nerf type gun for us. It was very enjoyable to be able to spend some time with my dad and his side of the family.

We attended church Sunday, during which Dan played a piano solo and sung with the ward choir for their program. What a spiritual feast that was! He did a terrific job.

After church we headed to my mom's for lunch and visiting with my grandparents. Again Tyler got Easter baskets from both my mom and my grandparents. Both were filled with goodies for him like bibs, books, toys, etc. He made out like a bandit and it was only his first Easter...I can only imagine what it will be like for his first Christmas!

Tyler with Great Grandma & Papa Miller

Tyler with one of his Easter baskets

When we finished at my mom's we went to have dinner and visit with Dan's grandma Lanette. She made a delicious meal and we had fun going on an Easter egg hunt in her front & back yards when we were done eating. We were at her house for quite a while visiting about all kinds of things. Tyler did a great job for his First Easter! Being out all day and traveling from place to place can be tough, but he took it like a champ. It was really nice to be able to spend time together with our families and enjoy each other's company while rejoicing in the resurrected Savior.

Tyler with Papa Bienz

The REAL Royal Wedding

2011-05-05T14:24:00.011-07:00

On Saturday April 2nd, I was honored to be a bridesmaid in my step sister Andrea's wedding as she wed her best friend Loren Royal. The ceremony and reception were held in downtown Phoenix at the Sheraton hotel. The ladies spent the afternoon on Friday getting manis and pedis, which I was totally stoked about! Then Saturday we took a limo and spent the afternoon at Dolce Salon & Spa getting our hair done. The ceremony was beautiful and Andrea & Loren looked so happy. I can definitely say that Loren has been such a good thing for Andrea. They complement each other very well, and we were all very excited and honored to share their special day with them.

We were all a little nervous about whether or not I'd be able to be in the wedding; even since last year, since my due date to have Tyler was exactly 2 weeks before the wedding and then the weekend before the wedding I was in the ER with Impetigo...

But all in all, everything worked out. My little boy was born 2 weeks early and my recovery (from pregnancy and impetigo) was much quicker than anyone expected (thank goodness). I was looking and feeling enough like myself again by the wedding that I was able to take part in it as planned. It was also so nice for Dan and I to have time out together again, while my mom watched Tyler for the evening. Everyone had a blast!

My dad's side of the family (from left to right: My brother Alan, my dad, my step mom Ana, Dan, Me, Andrea, my step brother Adam, and the groom Loren)

Love Antibiotics!

2011-03-29T14:28:00.003-07:00

It's amazing what can happen when you're on the right medication and actually know what you have...

This was taken last night after my shower...

Leaps and bounds better than I was just 48 hours before on Saturday.

Here's to getting back to normal!

Chickenpox...or maybe not?

2011-03-26T14:12:00.003-07:00

Last Saturday, we were hanging out at home and I noticed a few red spots on my neck. Since I have a pretty severe case of Eczema that I've dealt with my whole life, I didn't think too much of these spots and passed them off as probably just another eczema flare up. Sunday afternoon though, we gave Tyler his first bath, and then I started feeling sick. I got the chills real bad (fever), and was really sleepy. I took some Tylenol, ate dinner and laid down on the couch to rest. I woke up Monday feeling a little better, but not completely. Monday was a weird day though with all the rain, it was dark outside and Tyler slept most of the afternoon so I got some good naps in that afternoon which helped me feel a little better. My spots however hadn't gone away and in fact had spread a little more and were starting to look like something other than Eczema. I decided I probably should go see a doctor just to be sure.

(Monday afternoon)

Since I'm not an established patient at any primary care office I knew it was going to be quite the chore to get in same day or even next day, and that was only if I could find an office around here that took AHCCCS. I did find an office who took my insurance, but their first new patient appt. wasn't until April 5th... not going to work. I finally called the Dr. my parents see who is in their ward, but forgot they only do same day appointments and it was already 3:30 pm. They said if I called back the next morning, I should be able to get in then.

So I did. I went to the doctor's office, where I was loosely diagnosed with chickenpox. They weren't anywhere else on my body except my neck and a couple on my face, but they said "yeah those look like pox to me". So I left the office crying the whole way to the car in fear that my precious 3 week old baby was doomed to get the chickenpox. I was running the awful thought of him suffering with them and there being nothing I could do about it, plus it being my fault he had them in the first place all afternoon. They gave me a prescription for Acyclovir which would supposedly "clear it up quicker", but I was also told there was no research on taking that medication while breast feeding, so I would need to "pump and dump" for the time I was on it. Being that the antibodies in my breast milk was the only chance Tyler had at avoiding this awful virus, I wasn't too excited about taking him off of it. I researched the medication a little more and everywhere I found said it was really only effective if taken within 24 hours of the rash developing... and since it had now been 4 days that I'd had these lesions, I figured it wasn't worth it to take Tyler off breast milk so I could "clear up quicker". So, I didn't fill the script.

Wednesday, I was starting to feel pretty bad. I was so exhausted, I felt like I couldn't do anything. But I had to make a trip to downtown Phoenix to get fitted for my bridesmaid dress for my step sister's wedding next weekend. My friend Marie was nice enough to come and drive Tyler and I down there to keep us company and keep me from having to drive. We got home, our wonderful friends Wes and Tiff brought us dinner and when they left, I just fell apart. I was just laying in bed sobbing because I had no energy to care for my baby, I felt like I couldn't do anything, and the skin on my neck and lower half of my face felt like salt was being poured into an open wound. I was in so much pain, no medicine was working to take it away, and I was exhausted. I was out of options for what to do. My mom came over around 11pm that night with a bunch of hopeful remedies to make me feel better. I had tried Calamine lotion, Aveeno Hydrocortisone cream, A&D ointment, and nothing had worked. My skin felt so dry (which is usually is on my neck anyway from my Eczema) almost like it was crawling, and I didn't know what to put on it that wouldn't bother my lesions but would moisturize my skin. My mom brought some Vitamin E oil that actually worked wonders that night. I was so relieved, and went to bed soon after.

The next few days just seemed to get worse and worse. I kept thinking to myself that this couldn't be just the chickenpox. I never remembered being this miserable as a kid when I had the chickenpox. I knew they say it's worse when you get it as an adult, but I had just had a baby 3 weeks prior, and I felt like that was a walk in the park compared to this.

We had various family members out to help me during the day while Dan was at work. Finally on Friday late afternoon (Dan had worked a half day and was home taking care of me), after receiving a Priesthood blessing, my fever spiked. Throughout the week I'd been taking Tylenol as needed for my fever and it always broke it within 30 minutes or so. But Friday around 4, I took Tylenol and by 5, I didn't feel any better. I then took 2 Ibuprofen, and still felt no relief. Dan then took my temperature...104.2. He then called his mom to come watch Tyler so he could take me to the ER. By then, the few spots I thought were Eczema and the Dr. thought were Chickenpox had progressed to this...

(Friday Afternoon)

We went straight to the hospital and after getting checked in, the Dr. said he wasn't sure, but he thought I probably did have chickenpox at the beginning, but that I had a large staph infection of the skin known as Impetigo. They hooked me up to an IV and started giving me large amounts of fluids to help get my fever under control, and also some IV antibiotics to begin the treatment of the infection. I was discharged after about 3 hours total, and after filling my prescription for the antibiotic as well as Vicotin for the pain in my skin I showered, drugged up (Vicotin & Benadryl...I was out) and went to sleep in the rocking chair that Dan had moved into our room for me.

This morning when I woke up after a bag of IV antibiotics, a nice warm shower and a full night of sleep, this is what I looked like...

(Saturday Morning)

So, I suppose I'm on my way to healing. It's just going to be a slower road then I'd like I think. The nurse said the infection should be cleared up in about 10 days, and that I should start to see improvements in 2-3 days. The only other bad thing, is that this infection is also highly contagious. Only through direct contact, and the bacteria has to enter the skin through an open wound or scratch. So, I'm basically quarantined to our bedroom and am washing my hands 20 times a day at least. We'll see once all the infection clears up, if there really was chickenpox underneath or if it was just Impetigo the whole time.

I'm just anxious to be back to normal, to look like normal, and regain control of my house/family/life. I am so grateful for all of our family who has been willing to come help do my dishes, clean my house, get up with Tyler in the middle of the night to feed him, etc. I'm just ready, after 4 days of sitting in bed looking like an Ogre, to get back to taking care of my own family. I'm anxious to get back to my little boy, who has done very well with everyone else caring for him but I can tell that he knows it's not mom and it breaks my heart that it can't be.

I'll tell you, I don't get sick very often, but when I do...

Daniel Tyler Bienz

2011-03-08T20:36:00.003-07:00

The day we've been waiting 9 months for finally came on Tuesday March 1st. For those who enjoy reading about the whole story (I know I do), I'll start from the beginning. (Beware: I don't spare many details)

Monday night (Feb. 28th) was just like any other normal night. I had gone to Target that afternoon to exchange a few things for the baby and pick up some odds and ends. We had dinner, watched one of our favorite shows "Castle", I was lining the inside of the dresser drawers with contact paper, etc. We decided to go to In N Out Burger at around 10 pm after I saw a commercial of a delicious looking cheeseburger. On the way home, we were even pulled over and given a speeding ticket for going 63 down Ironwood just north of Guadalupe, which is still Apache Junction and the speed limit is apparently 45. (Anyone who drives that road regularly knows that if you were actually driving 45, it would be a safety hazard since everyone drives at least 65 from the 60 south along Ironwood). Anyway, we got home, ate our late night snack, and went to bed about midnight.

I woke up around 2:45 with some cramps in my stomach, indigestion and not feeling too great; but I assumed it was just from the In N Out Burger I'd eaten right before bed. I got up, went to the bathroom and laid back down to go back to bed, like normal as my cramps had gone away in that short time. Just as I was about to fall into a deep sleep, the cramps came back again... I continued to lay in bed, still thinking my stomach was just a little upset from the food. But just the same, the cramps came and went 2 or 3 more times over about the same amount of time. I looked at the clock for the next one just out of curiosity, and realized that these slight cramps were coming every 10 minutes almost exactly. It wasn't anything really painful though and felt just like normal cramps at that point, so I decided to just lay there and see what, if anything, would come of them.

By about 4:30, after about an hour and a half of tossing and turning, wondering if I should get up and do the load of laundry I had planned on doing the next day with all the baby's clothes, sheets and blankets in it, Dan looked at me, wide awake, and asked how I was feeling. I told him about what I was feeling, and he said "yeah, I don't know why but I feel really anxious, like before something big happens, or before you give a talk in church." He got up, and went to watch some TV in the living room. I laid in bed a little longer before deciding it wouldn't hurt to do my load of laundry, since I wasn't sleeping anyway. Finally about 6 am I fell back into a light sleep after just getting used to the predictable discomfort every 10 minutes. Dan came back in around 7 and asked what I wanted him to do. If he should go to work and wait for me to call, or if he should just stay home. I told him to just go to work but to keep his phone close, because at this point, the what I knew by now to be contractions hadn't gotten any stronger or closer together for the previous 5 hours or so, and I didn't want him to miss a whole day of work if we wouldn't need to leave for the hospital until late that night or even the next day.

So Dan got ready and left for work around 7:30, and I continued to try to sleep a little until around 8:30. At that point I got up, tended to my laundry, and started making sure our hospital bag was pretty much completely packed with everything we had. I folded a few blankets and a couple outfits and got the diaper bag ready to go too. About 10 am, they started getting to be about every 7 minutes, and I'd even had one that was 5 minutes from the one before. I texted Dan, and told him to head home and get ready to leave for the hospital in the next couple of hours because they were getting closer together and gradually getting stronger and stronger.

I took a shower and tried to get a few more things together while I waited for Dan to get home. He did finally get home about 11:30, and by then I was in pain. I could no longer walk or talk through the contractions which were coming every 5 minutes, if not even quicker. He changed into some jeans, threw a few things into the hospital bag, and we left for Banner Ironwood around noon.

We got there, were checked in and up to triage by about 12:30. They hooked me up to the contraction monitor and saw that I was indeed having contractions, and that I was dilated to a 6 and fully effaced. The nurse agreed "yep, today will be a birthday party day!" as she prepared to transfer me up to a labor room. They wheeled me over to labor and immediately started my IV of fluids in preparation for the epidural. About 5 minutes or so later, the anesthesiologist came in and started talking with me about the epidural and preparing to give it. I received my epidural around 1:30 Tuesday afternoon, and then just laid and waited for a few hours. Around 3:30 the nurse asked if I was ready to start some preliminary pushing. We did a few pushes, and while he was already down low, he wasn't quite low enough yet for the full on pushing. After about 20 or 30 minutes of prelim pushing, the nurse checked and found that our little boy was upside down, with his face down instead of up. By this time, my epidural was not working hardly at all anymore. My legs were still numb, but the pain of my contractions was just as great as it was before I had the epidural. After deciding I couldn't just "push through it" anymore, the anesthesiologist came back to give me a 2nd dose, this time of something much stronger. Man, was I ever grateful for that. After laying for about 20 minutes with a large peanut shaped ball between my knees, the baby had rotated enough that they could turn him the rest of the way as he came out. My doctor then came to check on me, and after discovering I was dilated to a 9 broke my water and got the party started...

We began the real pushing then, around 5:30 pm. After about an hour of hard strong pushing, I could see in the mirror what everyone else could see, that his full head of hair was very close. At that point, I was pushing and pushing and seeming to get no where. His head seemed to be stuck between my pelvic bone and my skin which was not stretching anymore, and wasn't tearing on it's own. The doctor asked, after sensing my frustration and fatigue at this point, if I wanted her to cut a little bit to help him out a little easier. I declined at that point, not wanting to have an episiotomy if at all possible. I guess I still had some hope that with the next 1 or 2 pushes, he'd be out on his own with no cutting. But, after another 10-15 minutes of pushing unsuccessfully, my doctor made the decision (which looking back, I'm glad she did at that point) and said "ok, I'm going to cut just a little, only because the babies heart rate is dropping now". Knowing that my child was beginning to suffer made me not care anymore about what I wanted. Sure enough, after making a small cut, and 1 or 2 more pushes, at 6:52 pm he was out and laying on my chest. I instantly had forgotten about the excruciating pain I'd just been in for over an hour. Tears ran down both of our faces as the joy and love they say you never know until you have a child filled our hearts.

Dan was by my side, encouraging me and talking me through the whole thing. He cut the cord, and went to watch the nurses wash his newborn son off on the other side of the room, while I got stitched and cleaned up. They brought my little boy to me all wrapped and cleaned up and I couldn't help my just admire with awe the perfection of this infant that was sent to me from my Father in Heaven. I was overwhelmed with gratitude to Him for the blessing of giving me this little boy to nurture and care for here on earth. Never in my life had I seen anything more beautiful, or more perfect than the child I held in my arms that night.

We were greeted with many excited visitors over the next 2 days in the hospital before returning home on Thursday afternoon. Just as with my pregnancy, everything went and is continuing to go wonderfully and with no complications. Tyler was born healthy at 7 lbs. 12oz. and 21 inches long. My recovery has been probably about as good as I could have wanted, with minimal pain. All of Tyler's testing and monitoring came back normal and healthy. Dan and I have been blessed with a beautiful, healthy baby boy and could not be more grateful and overjoyed!

My Dresser Project

2011-02-27T16:49:00.010-07:00

We finally finished refinishing the dresser for the nursery by adding new hardware and putting the finishing touches on Friday night. I have to say I am very happy with how it turned out and love how it completes the room!

Now for the long awaited pictures of the project from beginning to end:

The final before and after...

Before...

After!

Here's a few pictures of the finally completed nursery. We love how it turned out!

The nursery is now finally complete, and it feels so much more real now that everything is ready and set up just how we want it! I'm so excited for our little boy to get here and be able to put all of this stuff to very good use!

He could be here any day now. Hopefully it'll be sooner than later. Stay tuned for the soon to come updates!

Lots of Preparations & A Baby Update!

2011-02-20T12:05:00.008-07:00

We've been spending a good majority of our spare time getting things set up and ready for the arrival of our little boy.

The nursery was one of our two biggest tasks. It's finally done being painted, having moulding installed, the crib is set up and in place, the walls are decorated except for one thing and it looks pretty darn cute if I do say so myself.

You may notice that there is no dresser in the room, which leads to our second biggest task. We bought a dresser from our friends Jon & Sharianna with the plan of refinishing it to match the color of the crib. It has been quite an undertaking, but a very fun project for me nonetheless. It pretty much became my project since I do all the work on it during the day when Dan is at work. As of now, the dresser is almost done being stained (we're trying to decide how dark we want to make it, i.e. how many more coats we want to apply) and will just need to have new handles put on the drawers. Stay tuned for before, during and after pictures of the dresser in the next few days!

Meanwhile, we've set up the swing, which you can see in the nursery pictures (it'll come out of there when the dresser gets moved in).

The bouncer, which is the same colors and design as the swing.

The bassinet, which is set up in our room and ready for our little one's first few weeks home.

The stroller and carseat are both out of the box and ready, we just haven't installed the carseat in the car yet (that's on the list for this week).

We're getting so excited and even more so now that we know from the Dr. last Friday that his head is down and ready, I'm dilated to 3 cm already (I'm just 36 weeks), and my cervix is pretty thin (effaced). I have known multiple people who have been dilated to 3 cm for 2 or 3 weeks before anything happens, and I also know that it's just all about this little boy and when he decides he wants to get outta there. Dan and I both feel like he's not going to wait until the 19th of March to come though. Not to mention that he's been consistently 1 week ahead of normal at every ultrasound we've had and each time they measure him. If I have had contractions, I haven't know about it. I have various cramps and pains from time to time but nothing so over the top that I've been like "oh yeah, that's a contraction". The Dr. said that not everyone feels them though, so maybe I'll be one of those lucky people? I won't hold my breath though :).

It's just getting so real now, and I'm starting to feel the pressure of getting everything done before he gets here. We seriously need to finish this dresser because as of now I don't have a place to put his clean blankets, towels, sheets, etc. For this reason, everything is still in bags with the tags on them. Nothing has been washed yet. I did boil a few pacifiers and a couple small bottles on Friday so at least those will be ready when he decides to make his debut.

It won't be long before we're blessed with a sweet baby boy in our home. We're getting so excited and anxious to meet him! Keep an eye out for an update on the finished dresser, which will hopefully come before the update on the birth of our son!

House Projects

2011-01-28T22:09:00.005-07:00

We have had many different projects going on between the new house and the baby coming.

Things like...

Adding lights to the front of the house on each side of the garage, since there are no street lights and the front of the house gets very dark at night

Putting up a ceiling fan in our room, where there was previously no light fixture whatsoever

Putting in a light fixture in the office where there was also previously no light whatsoever

Adding a light fixture to the ceiling fan in the nursery, so there could be light and not just air...

Putting up a shelf in the laundry room where there was previously nothing to hold laundry soap, etc.

Putting a sensor in the light switch in the laundry room, since the switch is on the opposite side of the room from where you walk in (this is probably our favorite thing so far)

We love making these little additions to our home to make it feel more homey and make it a little more "ours" with each thing.

Many more projects are in the works, so stay tuned for updates and pictures from them too!

Christmas 2010

2011-01-26T09:29:00.005-07:00

We ended up having a wonderful Christmas this/last year despite all the stress from the house that had been going on for weeks leading up to it.

Christmas Eve Dan worked until 1 and then came home to get ready for Christmas at my dad's which we do every year on Christmas Eve. He was suddenly very excited and very "in the spirit of Christmas" like he usually is but hadn't been much this year. I was feeling pretty down and not really into Christmas at all since we had absolutely zero decorations up (not even a tree), and hadn't really been thinking or focusing on Christmas since we were putting so much time and energy into buying our house. I spent about 4 or 5 hours Christmas Eve morning cleaning out our fridge we'd bought off Craigslist the night before, and just wasn't in the Christmas Spirit. Let me explain a little further why I was feeling so down...

About a month before Christmas, when we were scheduled to close on our house on December 15th, we agreed that since there was so many things going on (Dan's brother was getting married on the 17th and there were many festivities to go along with that) and realistically knowing it might be a day or two later (not a week and a half!), we agreed our first night we'd sleep in our new house would be Christmas Eve. We would set up a few decorations, including our smaller size tree and stockings, and would wake up on Christmas morning in our new home which was the ultimate Christmas gift. So, on Christmas Eve, when I was sitting in the garage of our rental, cleaning out a fridge, knowing we wouldn't even have the keys to the new house until Monday at the earliest and 3/4 of our house was packed in boxes, I was definitely disappointed.

Dan loves Christmas, and frankly so do I. It's our favorite holiday and we love that time of year. Dan turns into a little kid the day after Thanksgiving when we put up all the decorations. He loves looking at the Christmas sections at all the stores throughout December. But this year, none of that happened. Which honestly, looking back on it wasn't THAT big of a deal, but at the time it really was. I didn't really feel like celebrating anything.

I made kind of a big deal about not going anywhere Christmas morning (which this year was the first year we didn't spend Christmas morning at someone's house) because I wanted to start the tradition/habit of having our own Christmas together at home first before going out celebrating and visiting family. I didn't have anything major planned, just opening a few small gifts and having a hot breakfast together in what I thought would be our new home. When none of this panned out, again I was a little disappointed. But I tried to just get over it and enjoy Christmas Eve as much as I could.

We went to my dad's for dinner and gifts around 6 on Christmas Eve. Had a wonderful Christmas dinner as usual, and then sat around the tree and opened gifts. We received a lot of great things and were so grateful for them. We returned home that night, and I was in a slightly better mood and a little more in the Christmas spirit. By this point I was trying to just let everything else go and not worry about it anymore because I didn't want to bring Dan down too. We went to bed that night in anticipation and excitement for the next day and the time we'd get to spend with our families.

Christmas morning we woke up around 7 and laid in bed awake for about 30 minutes. It seemed as though Dan was trying to stall for some reason, but I couldn't be sure. Suddenly around 7:30, Christmas music started playing from the kitchen/living room area of the house. We got up and came out of our room, and this is what I found...

My sweet husband knew how much I just wanted a little bit of a normal Christmas at home, got up in the middle of the night after I'd fallen asleep, and set up our smaller size tree, put lights on it, got out our stockings and a few decorations so we could have a little Christmas at home, just like I'd wanted. It brought tears to my eyes when I came out to find all of this. I was so surprised! This shows just how wonderful of a husband I have.

We sat and exchanged the few things we had for each other, and then had our hot breakfast at home.

We got ready and then went about our usual Christmas Day festivites with our families. My mom's was first, like usual. We had a wonderful lunch and opened gifts. We were so blessed this Christmas, as we didn't ask for much and still received so many gifts of things we needed. 3 or 4 Home Depot gift cards that we could use for the small things we needed for our new house, Dan got a gift card to JCPenney to help him pay for a new suit for church. (He's been wearing the same one since his mission...It's dirty, well worn, and now is finally getting too small) I also got an entire bag of stuff for the baby from my grandparents. Diapers, wipes, bottles, pacifiers, clothes, etc. You name it, it was probably in there. We were overwhelmed with gifts and were so very thankful.

After my mom's, we headed over to Dan's grandma's house where we were to do our Christmas trivia with his family. Every year my dad does Thanksgiving and Christmas trivia and it always is so hilarious and fun, so we thought we'd do that this year as a fun way to distribute our gifts to everyone in his family.

As expected, Christmas trivia was a hit. Everyone enjoyed it, and there were many laughs shared. We sat out back and drank some Kool-Aid while playing darts. It was a great way to relax and enjoy the weather and each other.

After finishing up with his grandma, we returned to his parents house to pick up some gifts from them and of course play a few games. Dan's brother Jared and his new wife Amber gave us the game Pictionary Man, which we played right away. By the end of the game, I was laughing harder than I can remember laughing in a very long time. It was a great way to end a busy and emotional weekend.

Overall it was a wonderful holiday spent with our families that we love and appreciate so much. Everything worked out, as it always does, and now this years' Christmas will not only be our little boy's first Christmas, but our first Christmas in our new house too! We can't wait!

The Big Move

2011-01-24T23:07:00.005-07:00

After weeks of worrying, praying and stressing over closing on our house, we finally did close on Wednesday December 22. We were hoping because of Christmas being so close but still far enough away that we'd get the keys sometime by Friday so we could move over the holiday weekend. Turns out, we were wrong.

Again, since we bought the house from Fannie Mae, we had to wait for them to sign the paperwork and send it back before the loan could fund, and since someone at the title company attached a note saying not to fund it until Monday, that's what ended up happening.

We were quite disappointed as Dan had taken the day off work on Thursday because we were planning on that being our biggest moving day. We ended up spending Thursday searching for a refrigerator on Craigslist since the one my mom was going to give to us ended up being full of mold. We ended up finding a really nice Samsung side-by-side in black (which matched the rest of our appliances that came with the house) for $300.

It is only a couple of years old, and hadn't been used that much. The only catch was we had to drive to North Phoenix/Scottsdale to get it. We ended up making the trek out there with Dan's dad in his pick up and stopped by the mall for some last minute Christmas gifts on the way.

I spent most of the morning/afternoon on Christmas Eve in our garage cleaning and disinfecting our new fridge. I took out all the shelves, drawers, etc. and ran them through the dishwasher after being wiped with Lysol and Clorox. (It was a pretty clean fridge, but had still had someone else's food and who knows what else in it. I didn't want to put our food and stuff in it, let alone baby food, etc. before I gave it a good cleaning).

We had somewhat reached a stand still in our packing since our rental was pretty small, and even though we had more boxes to pack things into, we didn't have anymore room to put packed boxes. So we patiently waited until Monday, when everything happened all at once. The loan funded and everything by noon and our realtor was going to meet me at the house to give me the keys at 5:30 pm.

Dan met me at the house at 5:30, and was followed close behind by his two brothers and dad with our fridge and a few other big items in the back of a truck. We got the keys, thanked our realtor, and then started hauling...literally.

What I haven't mentioned yet is the fact that we got the keys at 5:30 pm on Monday, and our walk through at the rental was scheduled for 4:30 pm on Wednesday... and Dan had to work all day Monday, all day Tuesday and all day Wednesday, I'm 7 months pregnant, and we were doing this entire move with no moving truck...

Luckily we have great family who was able and willing to help us however and whenever we needed. We moved what we could Monday night, and finally stopped to sleep around midnight. Tuesday, Dan left for work in the morning and his dad and 2 brothers came back around 10 am to continue the move. I felt horrible because being as pregnant as I am, I couldn't do much moving myself other than a few small things. I mostly just sat and told them what to take in each load and where to unload everything to when they got to the house. I felt like a drill sergeant. Luckily, Dan was able to take a "long lunch" and came to help with a couple loads of stuff.

It was so hard for us to just sit back and let his family move pretty much all of our stuff; but since Dan had taken a couple of days off the week before in anticipation of moving, he had no more sick time to use and had to go to work. His family left soon after Dan got home from work, and the two of us went back for what little bit was left at the rental. We loaded the rest into my car and the Trailblazer and finally got home again around 11:30 pm.

Wednesday, I got up and was at the rental by 8:30 am to start on the cleaning. We had tried to do some cleaning along the way, but since there was so many boxes everywhere, it was hard to clean much. The good thing was that we had only lived there for 6 months, and it was just the 2 of us. Needless to say, the cleaning could have been much worse. I finished cleaning both bathrooms, kitchen, laundry room, backyard and vacuuming by about noon and the house looked like it did when we moved in.

The walk through at 4:30 that afternoon was the last step of the move. Once that was done, we could just worry about our new house and focus on getting settled and unpacked. The walk through went well, and I bid farewell to the house and neighborhood that had surprisingly a lot of memories for the short 6 months we lived there.

Little by little things have gotten put away, organized, and set up the way we want them. We still have a ways to go before it's all done, but we're very happy with the progress we've made. We feel so incredibly blessed to have been able to purchase this home and have somewhere to call home that's our own. No more landlords, no more asking permission to change or upgrade things, etc. etc. We have worked very hard for the past year at least to get to a point that we could purchase our own home. The timing was absolutely perfect. We're so happy and excited to have our own home to bring our son home to in March. We love our home and have more than we ever could have asked for here. It is perfect for us and our needs. We hope to have years and years of memories and experiences in this home that we've waited for and worked towards for so long!

Stay tuned for updates about the various improvements/projects we've embarked on in our month of living here, as well as the current projects that are underway in preparation for our little boy!

Thanksgiving/My 23rd Birthday

2010-12-16T10:36:00.006-07:00

I realize that this is about 3 weeks late, but we have had SO much going on that I haven't had the time or energy to sit down and write about it. (Post about what exactly has been going on to come soon)

My birthday was Nov. 24, the day before Thanksgiving. The day itself was pretty low key which was ok with me. Dan worked in the morning and had an eye dr. appt. after work. He got home around 1:30 in the afternoon, and we went to Souper Salad for lunch. Then, I remembered that I'd been wanting to go to Buy Buy Baby for a few weeks, but have never gone because it's so far out of the way from everything else over by Chandler Mall. But on my birthday, we were going to be going to dinner with my dad and step mom, who live in Chandler not too far from the mall. So I decided to take advantage of being in the area, and we went check out Buy Buy Baby. Dan didn't really want to go looking at baby stuff (not that he doesn't care, but he kinda doesn't lol, and just likes me to pick out whatever stuff I want), but since it was my birthday, he tagged along with me and took a pit stop in the glider section.

We went to Tia Rosas in Gilbert (our new favorite...we think we even like it better than the Mesa location) with my dad, step mom and my brother. We had an enjoyable dinner together and then returned to my dad's house to open a couple of gifts. Generally I get mostly cash for my birthday because everyone knows I am a crazy woman who does 3 am Black Friday shopping. This year was very much the same. I got 1 or 2 things, and the rest was cash.

Thanksgiving was the next day. It is usually a somewhat stressful holiday for us every year because we have so many places to go throughout the day and family we don't want to leave out. But this year wasn't too bad in the end.

We always start Thanksgiving at my mom's. We eat there usually around 11 or so when my grandparents get there with the food and everything. The other thing about Thanksgiving at my mom's, is that it's also a birthday celebration. My birthday is on the 24th, my younger brother's birthday is the 29th, and my grandma's is the 30th. So we always have an ice cream cake and open all of our gifts together on Thanksgiving. For this reason, we generally spend a little more time at my mom's.

We then make our way to Dan's family celebration which is always held at his grandparents in Mesa. All of his aunts, uncles and cousins gather together for football in the front yard, board games, and other fun activities.

After a few hours with Dan's family, it's on to my dad's for our 3rd Thanksgiving dinner. (Thankfully Dan's family has a buffet style meal so we can just eat what we want and can handle) Thanksgiving at my dad's wouldn't be complete without Thanksgiving Trivia, and sitting to look through the Black Friday ads after dinner. This year, I looked through the ads myself for a little while, but we were able to have many good laughs during trivia. Can't wait for Christmas Trivia!

We returned home around 11:20 that night, and waited a few minutes before heading to our local Wal Mart to pick up a few Black Friday doorbuster deals at midnight. Dan had never experienced Black Friday of any kind before, and didn't really want to go, but he didn't want me to go by myself that late to Wal Mart. I think by the time we left Wal Mart (around 12:45 am), he was glad he went to experience it. You can read about his experience here

Overall it was a successful Thanksgiving shared with our families, and it was fun to catch up with everyone. Round 2 of the holidays comes next week...Christmas!

We Got the House!!!

2010-11-04T08:33:00.005-07:00

After a week of waiting (which we were told would be 1-2 days, go figure), dealing with agents that are not the easiest to work with, and battling 2 other offers along the way, our offer was finally accepted on the home we loved most!

Dan and I have been looking for houses for over a year. Trying to see what was out there, get a feel for different areas and neighborhoods, etc. to try to figure out where we were supposed to be. Where it was that we were supposed to raise our family.

Our original plan was to purchase a home right away as we moved from Tucson back to the valley. But when the stars didn't quite align for that to be able to happen, we found the rental we've been living in for the past 5 months. All in all, I think it was better that way because we didn't pay rent in Tucson at all, so this was a good chance for us to get used to paying all bills, including rent.

Even back in May when we first starting looking at becoming pre-qualified, we talked to a few different lenders who all said pretty much the same things. We knew what we needed to do if we wanted to buy a house, and so we started working towards it.

When Dan was offered the job he has now at the bank, he said that he didn't know why, but he really felt like there was a reason he needed to work there. As things have unfolded, his bank has been absolutely crucial in helping us get to the point we needed to be in order to get pre-qualified. Not to mention the fact that because they're so small, and they all know Dan from working in the same branch with him, it has been such a smooth and easy process almost the whole way through. I still think there is more to why he works where he does, but I also believe this was one reason.

Dan has also said the whole time, since probably a year ago, that he really felt like once we were prequalified and seriously looking at houses, we would find one and then BAM it would be ours and we'd be closing all very quickly. He said that all these months of looking and working toward it would end very quickly when we did finally find "The House".

And so it has, so far...

We were pre-qualified 2 weeks ago tomorrow. We went the very next day (Saturday) to drive by some houses we'd found online and do our usual peeping tom routine, looking through the windows and backyard, etc. It just so happened that one of the houses we were going to look at was having an open house. So we went in, looked around, didn't really love it but we were ok with that. While we were there, the realtor who was running the open house started talking to us about some other homes in the neighborhood (which we were also going to look at) and said that he could take us through them too. So we did. We walked through probably 6 or 7 houses that day, and came home knowing 100% that we were not going to play the short sale game. There was no way we could risk waiting for 4-6 months to hear anything when there are plenty of bank owned homes out there now.

The next day (Sunday), we met up with this realtor again to look at a few more houses. We ruled a handful of them out. But last on the list were 2 homes in Castlegate, a neighborhood that we had previously completely ruled out. We drove through this neighborhood almost a year ago for the first and only time, and agreed we didn't feel quite right about it. Something felt weird about that subdivision. So ever since then, we've just ignored any and all homes that have come up in there. But Saturday night, we drove through just for fun, and had a totally different feeling about it. This time, it felt the most right. It felt the most like us of all the neighborhoods we'd looked at.

So Sunday we decided to walk through a couple houses in Castlegate that looked like beautiful, nice homes. Sure enough, we loved them! I originally liked one more than the other, simply because it was huge! It needed some work (new carpet, paint, some patching of a few small holes, a new door jam, etc.) but it was 3000 sq. ft. for $110,000! How could I pass that up?! Well, I could once we found out there were a bunch of other offers on it that we just waiting to hear back from the bank. Dan and I agreed that we didn't love it enough to fight for it, plus it did need some decent work.

The other home we looked at in Castlegate was Dan's favorite from the first time he walked in. It is just over 2000 sq. ft. and the asking price was just under $100,000. This home literally looks brand new. It would not surprise me at all if no one has ever lived there. It was built in 2007. The carpet is brand new, the paint looks brand new. There are no scuffs on the tile or walls or anything. The kitchen appliances are new. The backyard is a good size, and it also has a pretty large front yard. I think that was part of what made Dan love it so much, a big yard has always been at the top of his priority list and plus, who wouldn't love a brand new house? One that won't require anything to move in except a couple of ceiling fans for the bedrooms. (Whoever owned it took them before they turned it over to the bank) It is a 4 bedroom 2 bathroom home that is 2014 sq. ft and just east of Ironwood and Ocotillo. This will make Dan's commute to work about 10 minutes shorter (only about 20 minutes instead of 30), and put us closer to everything and everyone than we are out across from Johnson Ranch.

We decided that we love the Castlegate subdivision and felt that is where we needed to be. We went through the home once more a couple days later, and submitted our offer last Wednesday 10/27. We were expecting an answer by Friday, as the banks generally move pretty quickly. Then we learned of the sluggishness of the selling agent. She moves at her own pace, and doesn't care how long anyone waits. We didn't hear anything more until Monday of this week, when we found out there were multiple offers on the house. Apparently since we put in our offer on Wednesday, there were other people who submitted offers also. We had until the end of the day to submit our best and final offer. We sent in our best offer that we were comfortable with and willing to pay and still have a chance at getting the house. We expected an answer either that night or the next day, but of course, it never came. So we just waited...

We found out yesterday that the woman from Fannie Mae who makes decisions on the homes was out sick...she was expected back either today or tomorrow...

We weren't expecting an answer until Monday with the rate everything had been going.

Then my phone rang at 8 am this morning. It was our realtor with "good news"!

The bank accepted our offer out of the 3 that were submitted! The house is ours! (Well, as much as it can be until we're holding the keys in our hand) We have a closing date of December 16th, or hopefully a little bit sooner, depending on how quickly our loan is processed at Dan's work.

My goal was to be moved before Christmas, so we can set up our Christmas decorations (even if it is a little late) at our new house! Sure enough, if everything goes according to plan (which I'm not holding my breath...this is the home buying process...) we'll be able to do just that! Also, our lease here is up on Dec. 31, so it'll be perfect timing for us to clean up this rental and move out without having to rush or pay another month's rent. The timing couldn't be more perfect, and we couldn't be happier!!

Here's a picture of the front of our new home!

Baby Sale!

2010-10-26T09:07:00.004-07:00

Last week on my way home, I stopped at Target to pick up shampoo, a shower liner, and a few other basic necessities. Well, each time I go to virtually any store, I can't leave without glancing through the baby section.

So I meandered through the aisles of baby gear and accessories and caught a glimpse of what looked like a sale tag underneath the display of the crib I'd been wanting. I stopped to take a closer look and saw that not only was the crib $20 off, but you got a free mattress when you bought the crib!

I realized what a great deal this was, but didn't give it too much thought because I didn't know that we had an extra $250 to spend that night. Not to mention the reason why I'd been holding off on buying the crib up until now, because if/when we move in a couple of months, I didn't want to have to move it. I went on to work, but I just couldn't forget about it.

I came home and told Dan about the sale. He agreed that it was a great deal, but asked where we would get the money from. After figuring out a way to make it work, we headed out to Target to take a look. By the end of the night, we came home with this...

and this...

Also as part of this big baby sale Target was having, they had a smokin' deal on the swing and bouncer that I wanted. The swing was $7 off (not that much I know, but just wait), and then you got the $50 bouncer for free when you bought the swing!! I couldn't believe it. I called my mom, and she almost couldn't believe the deal either. She told me to call my grandma and let her know, because she knew my grandma would want to get something bigger like that for my shower and she is always ones for big bargains.

So I did, as soon as I got home from work (before we left to get the crib), I emailed my grandma and told her about the swing deal. Being that this was all happening Thursday night, and the sale was only good through Saturday, I needed to get on it quickly.

My sweet grandma emailed me back the next morning and said she would go to her Target in Surprise, AZ that afternoon to check it out. Friday night, while I was at work, I received a call from my grandma saying that her Target was out of the bouncer and asking if I could check at my Target and get it if they had it. So I did.

I went at 9:30 on Friday night and picked up both the swing and the bouncer for $135!

What a deal huh?

We're having a...

2010-10-22T09:41:00.005-07:00

I know this is a little late in being posted, but for those of you who have not already heard...

We're having a baby BOY!

We went in for the ultrasound last Thursday (the 14th) and he looked so wonderful! It was so exciting to see a baby inside instead of just a small gummy-bear like shadow. He is growing very well and was even a few days above average in his weight. The tech said everything looked great, the only thing she wasn't able to see was his feet because he had them jammed into my cervix the whole time. His little legs look so long and crammed in there already! From this ultrasound at 18 weeks, it looks like he's going to take after his dad in height, but we'll see.

The tech looked at all of the organs and everything like usual, and then told us to just tell her what else we wanted to see. When we asked if she could tell if it was a boy or a girl, she went right to it, and pointed it out to us. Dan squeezed my arm and was so excited to hear he was going to have a little boy. I had a feeling since the beginning that it was a boy, but never had anything more than that to go on. Turns out, my gut feeling was right!

Probably the neatest part of the entire appointment was at the end, just as she was getting ready to turn the machine off, she was holding it still over his little face so we could see him. He had been squirming around so much during the entire ultrasound, but had finally settled down right at the end. Then, just before she turned it off, he looked at us and smiled, then yawned a HUGE yawn. She was able to take a picture of his little smile real quick, so I have it in a little frame next to my bed.

This ultrasound made it so much more real, and made us so much more excited. We were already overjoyed to begin with, but seeing our little boy in there, and having him look at us was an unbelievable experience. We can't wait for him to get here!

(If you tilt your head to the left, or counterclockwise, you'll be able to see his nose and mouth, and his hand over his eyes)

(Side profile)

Baby Update

2010-10-07T11:38:00.003-07:00

I had my monthly OB appt. last week. I obviously had one last month too, but it was pretty uneventful so I didn't really have anything to post about it.

This time, I was finally able to hear my baby's heartbeat again. That sound is honestly music to my ears; I don't know if I can think of a better thing to hear right now. The first and only time I had heard the heartbeat before this was when we had the first ultrasound done, and at that time it was at 175 bpm at 7 1/2 weeks. Last week, at 15 1/2 weeks it was down to 136 bpm. It was so neat to hear and kinda cool to hear how much slower it was this time. All that means is that the baby is getting bigger and the heartbeat is slowing down to a child's rate instead of a tiny embryo's. They said the heartbeat was great and sounded good.

Other than that, the appointment was pretty uneventful. I knew that at my next appointment, we would be doing the ultrasound to find out if it's a boy or girl. According to our schedule of appts. that ultrasound should have been scheduled for the end of October. But, since I am very anxious to find out and we will be out of town for almost a week, and really just have a lot going on at the end of the month, I decided I would ask my Dr. if we could do it in 2 weeks instead of 4. Turns out she's going to be out of town and is getting married, etc. at the end of the month too, so it worked better for both of us to move it up a little. She said the ultrasound should be done between 18 & 20 weeks, and in 2 weeks I would be just a day or 2 shy of 18 weeks. (At my first appt. last month, she said they try to do it between 16 & 20 weeks, so I think I should be fine). She told me to just schedule the ultrasound for the end of the week so I will be just a day or 2 shy of 18 weeks and it should be all good. She also said if for some reason we can't see everything we need to, we'll just do another ultrasound after we all get back into town.

So, the moment Dan and I, and probably a lot of other have been waiting for is finally scheduled! We are having the ultrasound on Thursday October 14th at 10:10 am! Which yes is 1 week from today. I am so excited and can't wait to find out who it is that's growing inside. I'm so excited to see the little human inside of me that doesn't look like a peanut anymore like it did on the first ultrasound.

If you haven't already, and you'd like to, post your vote as to which you think it will be at the top right of the blog. Also, if you're interested, I have set up a baby website where I am uploading all of my baby bump pictures as well as many of the ultrasound pictures and post any new updates about the baby/pregnancy. The website is http://babybienz.shutterfly.com/ if you'd like to check it out.

Stay tuned next week for an update on if it's a little boy or a little girl that will be blessing our lives shortly!

Garage Sale Find!

2010-09-25T23:23:00.003-07:00

This morning, for whatever reason, I woke up fairly well-rested with Dan at 7:15 am. He was getting ready to go to work for the morning, and I decided that I would go around to the hundreds of garage sales out here on Saturdays.

I didn't really have anything specific in mind that I was looking for. Of course, I knew any real cheap baby stuff would be good if it was in good shape. Otherwise, I was just going to see if I could find any hidden treasures.

I got out at one of the first sales I went to, and then the next probably 25 after that, I just drove by slowly and kept going when I didn't see anything of interest. I was starting to get a little disappointed at my lack of garage sale luck for the day, but I decided I would go through one more subdivision and then head back home.

Boy am I glad I did...

The first and only sale I ended up driving past had something I've been searching for months for. You may or may not remember the table we bought from Craigslist back in January. I posted about the refinishing we did to it shortly after getting it, as we were planning on it being our kitchen table after we moved out of Tucson. Up until now, we have been using it as our kitchen table, but have had an office chair and a folding chair as the chairs since it didn't come with any.

I've been searching Craigslist since January for a certain style and design of chairs that I wanted to go with it. I've found a few sets, but they have all been well over $100 for a set of 4. I also knew that if worse came to worse, I could either buy new chairs from the store for about $150 each, or just buy a new kitchen table and chairs set from Craigslist and use the table we refinished as a scrapbooking table or whatever. This has been my plan for the past few weeks, as now we have a baby coming and need to have an actual kitchen table with real chairs to sit in.

Until today...

I pulled up to this sale, and was immediately in disbelief. The exact style and design of chairs I've been wanting for our table were sitting out on the driveway for sale. 4 of them. In black, just like our table. I ran across the street and up the driveway to see they were priced at $10 each! $40 for the set of 4 chairs!!! I couldn't believe it. They were used, but still in good shape. Honestly they just need a little touch up and they'll be good as new. Even if they were a little used...they were the chairs I'd been wanting forever... 4 of them for $40...and we've been sitting on a folding chair (which hardly works at a counter height table) and an office chair for 3 months now.

I paid them all the cash I had ($20) and luckily the lady was super nice and said she'd hold the whole set for me since she knew I'd be coming back for them and that I could just bring the rest of the money then. I had to wait until Dan got home from work with the Trailblazer so we could go get them, but as soon as he did we ran right over. I was so excited.

They look SO good with our table, and I'm so excited that it actually looks like we have a kitchen table and chairs set instead of just random stuff all thrown together.

Here is a picture of the table with 3 chairs around it. (For now, with the placement of the table, that's all we can have. Eventually when we move, all 4 will be used :))

(I know it's a little dark, but don't worry. There will definitely be more pictures to come when I get a tablecloth and some halloween decorations put together on it :D)

My Favorite Thing About Sundays

2010-09-20T11:05:00.003-07:00

Dan and I were called a few weeks ago to work in the older nursery. We were actually excited because we really do love being in nursery and love those kids. We were in the nursery before in Tucson for about 9 months and loved it. I mean come on, when 2/3 of your Sunday meetings include playing with toys, coloring, eating snacks and blowing bubbles, what is there not to love?

While I love those little ones in our class, and have a lot of fun with them each week, I do have to say that this is my favorite part of our Sunday meetings...

I absolutely love watching my husband play and interact with these children. He has such a sweet spirit about him that draws the kids to him and are they are so comfortable with him. Many of our screamers settle down within a minute or two after Dan holds them, talks to them and sits down to play with them. He has such a love for children and I have never met a kid, of any age, that has not been completely enthralled with him. Kids love him. They think he is so fun and are just drawn to him.

This has always been one of the things I have loved most about Dan. His love and knack for children has always been one of his most attractive qualities. The fact that he doesn't mind when he has kids climbing all over him, and has no problem sitting down, kicking his shoes off and playing whatever toys or books they're interested in at the time. He makes it so fun for them.

It makes me so excited to see how he will be with the baby coming. He is going to be such a wonderful dad. I have a feeling when it comes time for "play time", whether it's a boy or a girl, Daddy will be their first choice of play time buddies.

Promotion!

2010-09-13T22:50:00.002-07:00

I received a promotion at work today.

I have been somewhat expecting it, because I knew they were going to be looking for at least 1 person to promote within the first month or so. My boss has asked my opinion on many things and has left me in charge of things many times when he has to leave for a while. I am the oldest employee in the store and the one with the most experience.

So, it wasn't a complete surprise; but I wasn't expecting it today.

I won't have too many more duties than what I already do, which is just about everything. Only now I will make more and will be given the responsibility of opening and possibly closing the store on my own from time to time.

I'm kind of excited. I have really enjoyed getting to know my boss and his wife. We have a pretty good friendship and it makes working so much more relaxed. This job really has been just what I was looking for. It's a great extra income for the extra things we like to buy occasionally. It will also be wonderful when it comes time to start buying baby stuff.

We went to Texas Roadhouse tonight for dinner to celebrate. Then to continue our family night, we went to Target to get me a body pillow for sleeping. Last night I was in so much pain with my lower back, I could hardly move. Hopefully the body pillow helps.

It made for an exciting evening and a gave us a reason to celebrate.

Major BARGAINS!

2010-09-09T17:04:00.003-07:00

I went to Superstition Springs Mall today (for probably the first time in 2 or 3 years...man it's changed a lot since I worked there in high school). I went to pick up a few things at Clinique that I've been out of for a while since they were having a bonus! (Spend $21.50 or more and get $60 worth of stuff free!) I love Clinique bonuses!

Dan came and met me for lunch in the food court. But after he left, I walked over to JCPenny to look at some baby stuff. Since I never get to the mall, I wanted to take the opportunity to look at some of these stores in person instead of just seeing everything online.

I browsed through some sale racks, and saw a ton of cute stuff of course. But since we haven't found out whether we're having a boy or a girl yet, it makes it kinda hard to buy clothes...

I looked around a little more on the other side of the baby section, just mainly getting ideas of all the cute stuff I'll want to buy as soon as I do know what we're having!

Then...in the back corner, on a small clearance rack, I found these 2 things!

They were both things that I thought could be worn by either a boy or a girl, which is pretty hard to find anyway. Plus, the prices on them was something I just couldn't pass up!

I have usually have mixed feelings about "Baby's 1st..." things because they will probably wear them once or twice, and that's it. But since this was a bib, I figured you can never have enough bibs, no matter what they say on them. And, even though this bib has an adorable bow on the side, I decided we'll either deal with it or cut it off if we end up having a boy.

The shorts were just adorable. And while they were probably meant to be boy shorts, I thought since they were khaki, and they didn't have anything particularly boy-ish on them, I could definitely put them on a girl with maybe a longer shirt and be ok.

Now for the deals...

The bib, was originally $9.00. I paid $1.97 for it!

The shorts, were originally $36.00. I paid $2.99 for them!!

Full price, I would have spent about $50 for these 2 things, and today...I spent $5.19!

I absolutely love finding deals like this, and usually just can't pass them up! This time was no different...

Labor Day Weekend

2010-09-07T07:58:00.003-07:00

I think everyone would agree that long weekends are never long enough, however they are still very enjoyable while they last. This weekend we were able to enjoy time together as well as with family while relaxing from the cares of the working world.

Friday night, we started with this guy in our closet right by my shoes...

Since it was in the groove, we didn't really have a good shot at killing it with a shoe or anything else for that matter without risking missing and it running to hide somewhere else in the closet. So...we decided to vacuum it up. Dan is good about killing virtually all bugs, but he hates spiders about as much as I do. But he got out the vacuum and sucked it right up. Good-bye Mr. Wolf Spider in our closet.

Saturday morning, we had a meeting with the 2nd counselor in the bishopric. We were called to work in the nursery again and also asked to speak in church next Sunday. We haven't given talks in church once since we've been married. I was trying to remember back to the last time I spoke in church, and I'm pretty sure it was when I was in high school. Our topic is Elder Nelson's talk from last conference entitled "Generations Linked with Love". I'm kind of excited that it's on genealogy because I have a deep love and appreciation for the family history efforts of the church, as well as the blessings that come to the family through the temple. We'll see how excited I am though when I'm sitting on the stand this Sunday...

After our meeting, we met up with Dan's family and took all of his siblings except his sister Lacey (who was camping for the weekend), plus a few more and headed to Safford to see the Gila Valley Temple. Dan's been wanting to go for months now and we just haven't ever had a good opportunity. But Saturday was free, and it was fun to go and spend time with his family. We had fun walking around the temple grounds and taking pictures. We were going to go to a park nearby that has a lot of hands-on space like stuff, but it was closed. It was a quick trip, but still very enjoyable.

Sunday, we had fun in the nursery and then came home for lunch and a nap before our evening of family visits. We spent the evening with my dad and family for dinner. It was an interesting night considering there has been some drama on that side of the family lately and we haven't seen or heard from some of them since. It was still nice to be able to catch up and visit.

Monday we spent an hour or so at my mom's visiting with my grandparents and having lunch. They always enjoy coming over to visit for the holidays and we hadn't seen them in a while. It's always fun to be able to catch up with them and for them to see how we're doing. We hadn't seen them since I've been pregnant, so I think that was fun for them too.

After lunch, we headed over to Chase Field for the Diamondbacks/Giants game. We got tickets free from our friends Benson and Sarah Garner, and enjoyed sitting next to the suites and having the fancy restaurants outside. Unfortunately, the D-Backs couldn't pull it off and lost 2-0 in 11 innings. It was still fun to go to a baseball game for free and spend some time together.

After the game, we went to Dan's parents' for a BBQ and some whiffleball (which I did not partake in). The boys always love to play whiffleball, especially on these summer holidays. We visited with the family and played a few games before returning home last night.

Overall it was a great weekend. We're excited for the upcoming holiday season, that always seems to be kicked off with Labor Day, and to spend it with family and friends. We were mentioning this weekend how much better this season will be now that we don't have to drive to and from Tucson for each holiday when we have to be back for work the next day.

Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend, and good luck on getting back to reality this week!

August in Review

2010-09-03T17:50:00.002-07:00

I realized today that it has been almost exactly a month since that last time I updated. August sure was a busy month around here. Most of it has been work related, as Dan and I are both working 2 jobs at the moment.

We are still trying to catch up on all of our bills and the higher-than-expected costs we incurred during the move back in June. It was tough right when we moved because Dan was still working for the company he did in Tucson. Which was fine, at least it was a job, however it was a 75 minute drive one way over to west Phoenix, costing about $15 in gas per day, and he was not given the "cost of living" raise he was expecting since it costs more to live here than in Tucson. So, not only was he not making anymore, but he was spending about 20-25% of his paycheck on gas. This was not conducive to our catching up.

Dan started a new job at a small bank based out of ND that is located in east Gilbert. This cut his commute time from 75 min. down to 30 min. which is about average for just about everyone who lives out where we do. He loves his job and the people he works with. It is a very laid back environment, which took him a few weeks to get used to, but makes for a much happier Dan when he gets home. This has been key for me. So often at his old job he would come home beyond frustrated and at his wits end. Naturally, he would need to vent it off to someone, which I didn't mind until it became almost a daily occurance. I can't express how much better this new job has been. Not to mention the fact that he's making about $3 more an hour and there will hopefully be room for advancement eventually.

He also started a part time job with the Town of Queen Creek Parks and Rec during mid-July. He has been refereeing/site supervising 6 & 7 year old basketball for the past 6 weeks or so, and has thoroughly enjoyed it. It's good exercise for him, and it's an easy job working with kids, which he loves. He's looking forward to the fall league of adult co-ed softball that will be starting in the next week or two. He's even making more at this job than he was at the job in west Phoenix...It has been a nice supplement.

At the beginning of August, I was hired for a part-time position at a brand-new Baskin Robbins store that was opening in Queen Creek. The store was not yet open when I was hired, and we actually just opened about 2 weeks ago. It is just a small part-time thing that has been a good way for me to get out of the house and earn a little extra money for baby stuff/black Friday shopping/Christmas. It has definitely been hard for me to tell people that I work at Baskin Robbins, when I have 2 college degrees and am a Registered Dental Hygienist. I am the oldest employee at the store, and I am 98% sure I am in for a promotion/raise in the next few weeks. However, at the same time it is hard to fathom that all my hard work and dedication to school has gotten me to Baskin Robbins, making minimum wage.

Let me explain my thought process behind getting this job for those wondering, and partially to help remind myself also. Right after hygiene school, I waited for my license to come and then immediately began putting out resumes to just about every hygienist position I could find. I submitted probably 10-15 resumes within a week or 2 and had 1 office call for an interview. I went to the interview, but was not so hyped on the office or it's practices. They never called back. I wasn't too sad about it...The day after that interview, I found out I was pregnant. I immediately knew that any small chance I had in finding a job as a hygienist would be pretty much out the door as soon as they found out I was going to need 6 months of maternity leave in less than a year. The office manager of the office I interviewed at said she had over 150 resumes that came in for the hygiene position. People who were willing to move from out of state for the job. Somehow I made it to the top 3 who got interviews, but I knew that if that was the case in her office, there was a very good chance that's how it was everywhere. She said her temp agency contact told her she has hundreds of hygienists call everyday looking for work. Then, when I was pregnant, I knew I needed to and felt good about just giving up on the search for a job as a hygienist right now. Not only would an office not want to hire me when I was pregnant, but I didn't know that I wanted to start a new job in a new office when I would only be working there 6 months at the most before going on leave. As much as the salary of a hygienist would be SO incredibly helpful right now, and as worried as I am that I will lose the skills that I worked for 2 long years to build, I felt good about that choice.

But I knew I needed something. I knew I couldn't just sit around the house all day, everyday for the next 9 months waiting for the baby to come. That's when I found the job at BR. It was just what I wanted. Easy, fun, close, flexible, and somewhere that I wouldn't feel bad leaving in 8 months or so if I needed to. So yes, I am making minimum wage, working with mainly high school students in their "entry level" job, but it's enough of a supplement for our needs and frankly is exactly the type of position I needed. I will soon be promoted to a shift leader, which will come with a pay increase as well as more of a managerial role than just a general employee who does dishes and scoops ice cream all day. It's tough. It's tough to tell people, and it's tough to hear our customers say "oh yeah, I worked at a Baskin Robbins years ago when I was in high school". But I just have to remember why I'm there and what I want out of it.

I also was hired by a company called Rise Services, which is a company my mom works with to get respite and habilitation services for my 9 year old Down Syndrome sister, Annie. Now that we live back in town, and hopefully by the end of the year will be moving even closer, I wanted to become qualified and certified to provide these services for Annie. For the past 9 years, my mom has taken Annie to other people's homes where they have provided respite (essentially babysat her) for a few hours a day. It was a great arrangement, until a few years ago when the girl my mom had been taking Annie to for years got married and didn't want to do it anymore. Since then she's gone around to different providers here and there, but it's gotten even more difficult as Annie gets older and harder to manage. My mom never felt comfortable having other people/strangers come into her home to watch Annie, even though it would have been much more convenient for her and much easier on Annie. But now that can be the case. Now, I can go to my moms and watch Annie while my mom runs errands, takes a shower, and does whatever other motherly things she needs to do around the house. I have been doing this for Annie's whole life really, but have just done it as a sisterly/daughterly duty and have never been paid. But now, I get paid by the state to watch Annie. The best part for my mom is they could even go somewhere overnight if they needed to, because Dan and I can just go stay at my mom's and Annie still sleeps in her own bed, etc. It's been a great arrangement, it's just a little difficult to do often right now because I still live 45 minutes from my mom. But soon, hopefully we will take advantage of it even more.

Essentially, this has been our August in a nut shell. A lot of working with a few small things here and there.

I had my monthly OB appointment yesterday and finally met the Dr. herself. It was a very short visit, but she did ask if I was interested in having the NTS testing done. I told her I had thought about it, but still hadn't made a decision. She explained the procedure to me and what it looks for, and told me I had until my next appointment to decide. So, this is the big question in my mind at the moment. I'm not sure if my insurance covers it. But if so, I'm leaning towards having it done. Being my first pregnancy, I want to know all I can about the baby that's growing inside of me. If there is something that isn't right, I'd like to know about it now so I can prepare for it for when they get here. I think of my mom having an Amnio done and finding out Annie had Downs. Those were some very dark days for probably a good month, followed by intensive reading and research to find out all she could about it and be as ready as she could be to care for it. I couldn't imagine if they wouldn't have known and had to try to cope with it and research the condition and everything after she was already here.

What do you think? Did you have the NTS done? Were you glad you did? Would you do it again?

2nd Ultrasound

2010-08-04T21:31:00.003-07:00

We went for a follow up ultrasound today after the one 2 weeks ago showed just the embryonic sac, but no baby. Last time they said that I was most likely just much earlier in the pregnancy than they originally thought. We left a little disappointed though because we were expecting to see our baby and even hear the heartbeat.

So, today we went back to have another ultrasound done to check again and try to get a more accurate date on the pregnancy. She turned the camera on, and I was slightly nervous since I only saw the same thing we saw last time but it was only because of the angle she was at with the camera. She moved it over my stomach to the other side, and sure enough, there was a small little being over in the corner, just hanging out.

It was such an amazing experience to be able to see the tiny person that is growing and living inside my belly. She zoomed in and we could even see the tiny heart beating on the screen! Then she turned on the volume and we hear that little heart beating so incredibly fast! Talk about an amazingly special experience. We just looked at each other in awe that there was really a tiny person in there living, and we were the ones who made it.

The tech said based on the size of the baby now and everything I am 7 weeks and 4 days along. I finally got passed week 6! My new due date based on that is March 19, 2011. We are so excited again and were so happy to hear our baby is alive and doing well. I go back in 4 weeks for my next appointment and will actually be meeting with a doctor this time.

Here is a picture from today of our little one!

Revenge of the Mosquitoes

2010-07-29T22:37:00.004-07:00

Last summer, while we were still living in Tucson, we suddenly had an infestation of mosquitoes in our neighborhood.

We could only let the dogs out for just as long as it took them to go to the bathroom and come back inside because they were getting eaten alive. My poor Shadow's entire snout from eyes to nose was literally covered in bumps/bites. I would have to stand at the door with a towel to swat off as many as I could as they came inside to control the number of mosquitoes in the house.

We went to Home Depot and bought a bug zapper...and had it on in our living room overnight!

It was miserable. One night I recall turning off all the lights in the house, taking the dogs, going into our room and closing the door all night because it was the only place in the house that didn't have mosquitoes buzzing in our ears. We couldn't even be comfortable living in our own home.

It was about mid-late July that these mosquitoes quickly wore out their welcome...

Eventually after about a week or so they were gone. All of them.

I didn't know if there was something in our neighborhood that had standing water, i.e. an empty house with an unkept pool, the wash behind our house, etc. All I knew was that I was so thankful they were gone. I then began the quest around the house wiping up all the dead mosquitoes off the walls.

Well, last night we took what hopefully will be our last trip to Tucson related to our move. We had a handful of random things that needed to be donated/thrown away in the garage, and we hadn't quite cleaned up all of the dog poop from the backyard. So, when Dan got home from work, we changed clothes and drove down. We started in the backyard with the dog poop with hopes of getting it all finished before the sun was completely set, or it started pouring...one or the other. We stepped out back, ready to go, when I felt a pinch on the side of my head...I scratched and was horrified at what I saw...

A dead mosquito...

I was suddenly taken back to all the miserable days and nights we had with last summer's mosquitoes. I knew we needed to make it quick before we caught multiple strains of West Nile... Here's how it turned out...

Though it may not seem like it, Dan actually got it much worse than me.

How glad we are to not have to deal with those mosquitoes anymore. I'll take our 2" long field crickets over them any day.

Good riddance mosquitoes.

First Ultrasound

2010-07-21T10:18:00.003-07:00

Yesterday we went to have our first ultrasound done.

We were expecting to see our little peanut and hear it's heartbeat.

We got in, and first the tech said that because the baby is so small, my uterus was still moving away from the camera. She said to get some better pictures, she'd like to do a vaginal ultrasound.

No biggie.

We did see my uterus...and the small black circle which will turn into the amniotic sac...but that was it. She asked about my periods and whatnot, and then she said that it just looked like I was earlier than they originally thought. She said it looked fine, that everything was developing, but it was just too early still to see the baby. She said from what it looked like on the ultrasound, I was probably more like 5 1/2 - 6 weeks instead of 7 almost 8 weeks which is what they told me last week when I was in.

We then went to talk to the PA who had the results from my blood work. She said everything came back normal. No anemia, no foreign antibodies to attack the baby, no HIV...

In case anyone suspected I might have HIV?

She agreed that I was just a little earlier than they originally thought. She said it's not uncommon that women ovulate later than usual and it was no big deal. I told her it wouldn't surprise me with how thrown off and irregular my periods have been for the past year and a half. She told me to come back in 2 weeks and we will do another ultrasound, and by then we should definitely be able to see the baby and hear the heart beat. Then at the next ultrasound, when we see the baby, they should be able to give me a more accurate due date and gestational age.

So, it wasn't what we were expecting, and I was disappointed, but everything is still ok according to them. I will just look forward to August 4th when I will for sure get to see the little one growing inside of me.

Big News!!!

2010-07-13T21:44:00.003-07:00

That's right...

The much anticipated announcement that so many have been wondering about for months...

We're PREGNANT!!!

We are so happy and excited words can't really describe our feelings now! I took the test Saturday morning after discussing my increased eating habits, weird feelings in my abdomen, not to mention my being almost 2 weeks late.

I didn't think much about being late because after going off the pill last March (2009), I had only had 3 periods in almost a year. So, when I didn't get one in June, I didn't give it too much thought...until I started having some of these other symptoms.

The timing could not have been better. Honestly, I have been off the pill for almost a year and a half, and since that was our only form of birth control, I technically could have gotten pregnant anytime over the past year. I have no doubt that this came when it was supposed to. It was too coincidental that I went off the pill in March 2009, and then was so annoyingly irregular for a year that it would have been just about impossible for me to get pregnant anyway. Then, all on it's own, my body just went back to being regular this April. Normal April period, normal May period...then no June. I know that Heavenly Father was waiting to send this little baby to us at the right time so that we could put all our effort and attention on him/her and not be so distracted and bogged down with school, moving, etc. I am now completely done with school, we are totally moved out of Tucson, I had an interview for a job as an RDH on Friday, Dan just started a new job that pays more and is much closer to home yesterday...the timing really couldn't have been any better.

I have been waiting to go to the Dr. to make an official announcement to the world, and today was the day. I went and had my first OB visit/exam and it was confirmed. Without having done an ultrasound and just going on dates and what my body feels like to the Dr., I am 6 weeks along due on March 3, 2011 I have to go get blood work done sometime this week, and we go back for an ultrasound/sonogram next Tuesday!!

I cannot describe the feelings I have running through me at this point. There is so much of everything; excitement, happiness, joy, gratitude, humility, nervousness, love...just to name a few. I feel so incredibly blessed and honored to be able to nurture, love and raise one of Heavenly Father's precious children. In some ways I feel so inadequate to be a mother, but at the same time I know and have committed to do everything in my power to raise this baby the best way I know how. I know that if I can do that, He will make up for my shortcomings.

I am excited for this journey in our lives. I know that we will grow immensely from it and find such great joy in starting our family!

Watch for more updates next week after the ultrasound & sonogram! As for now, I'm off to sleep/eat. :)

Pinning

2010-07-02T10:20:00.000-07:00

It is tradition for a Dental Hygiene class to have a pinning ceremony to celebrate their accomplishments as a class with their program faculty.

We scheduled ours for about 2 weeks after our graduation with the school. It was held June 1, 2010 at the Westin La Paloma Resort. It was quite the celebration, with everything from discounted hotel rooms to $55 tickets for our guests. My class paid for all of us and 1 guest for each of us. Everyone else had to buy their own tickets.

My grandma was in town from Chicago, and was very excited to attend. I also had my mom and brother Alan come along with my sweet husband, of course. I bought a new dress and shoes for the occasion and had a very enjoyable time with my classmates and family.

It was a little bit unfortunate because by the time June 1st rolled around, I had been done with school, boards, everything for almost a month and was pretty much moved on with my life. It was nice to spend the evening with my classmates and our families, but at the same time I had thoughts of finding a house, moving, getting my license, finding a new job, my husband finding a new job, etc. running through my head all night. I tried to just let all those things go for a few hours and just enjoy the evening.

I was recognized for being the Hospitality committee chair. We watched an adorable slide show of our two years in school together. Listened to a few speeches from some of our faculty and colleagues. Ate a dinner that was very good (I'm not sure if it was $55 good, but it was good). Enjoyed the ice cream bar, as well as some dancing and catching up.

We all left around 10 pm since everyone except Dan and I would be driving back to Mesa/Chandler that night. Alan and my grandma left together, and my mom left shortly after them, probably around 10:15 or so.

Dan and I returned home, put our PJs on, and were sitting in bed on our computers (facebook, etc.) when I got a chilling phone call.

It was my mom.

Mom: "Jill? It's Mom. I got in an accident and I'm sitting in a ditch on the side of the freeway. I didn't know who else to call since everyone at home is probably asleep."

Jill: "Ok mom, it's alright. Are you ok? We're putting our shoes on right now. Where are you?"

Mom: "Yeah, I guess I'm ok. My right side hurts, but I'm not bleeding or anything. I don't really know where I am, I'm sitting in my Jeep and all I know is that I'm looking at the Toltec bridge from where I am. I called 911 like 15 minutes ago, and no one is here yet."

Jill: "Ok, we're leaving right now. We'll get there as fast as we can."

First of all, for those of you who may not be quite as familiar with the stretch of I-10 between Phoenix and Tucson as we are, Toltec is in Eloy, AZ which is about 5-10 miles south of Casa Grande. She was about half way home. This also meant that it would take us about 45 minutes to get to her.

We got in the car and drove as fast as we could without being pulled over. I called my step-dad's cell phone in the process. My mom hadn't called him in fear she would wake up my 9 year old sister with Down Syndrome who only sleeps about 4 hours per night.

He asked me what happened and I explained to him what my mom had told me.

She was driving in the right lane of I-10, after just stopping the exit previous to get gas and a Coke. Then, out of no where, there was a huge noise, almost like an explosion, and something slammed into the back of her Jeep Grand Cherokee. Due to her speed (75 mph) and the speed of the car that hit her (at least 75 mph) the impact sent her into a violent spin in the middle of the interstate. Luckily there were no other vehicles around at that point, because she said that she spun completely around at least twice and remembers seeing the headlights of the oncoming traffic behind her. Upon seeing that in the first spin, she closed her eyes, kept her foot slammed on the brake as hard as she could, and held onto the steering wheel for dear life. The next thing she knew, she was sitting in her Jeep in a cloud of dust along the side of the interstate. The vehicle that hit her...on the other side, in the median of the interstate.

The car behind her, which was a small Chevy Malibu or something similar, had a tire blow suddenly, which projected her car into the back of my mom's Jeep and sent them both spinning like tops on the freeway.

No one is really sure how it is that my mom's Jeep did not roll. If no where else, it should have when it went off the road and down into the ditch on the side of the road. It was a pretty steep drop from the interstate down into the ditch, and if she was still spinning like she was, which all the marks in the dirt and on the asphalt say she was, there should have been nothing stopping her Jeep from toppling over and rolling into the ditch.

She definitely had Angels watching over her that night...

My mom's Jeep was towed into Casa Grande and left at the repair shop there until her insurance had it towed back to Mesa. The other girls car...just had the blown tire changed, and she drove away...

We took my mom, who was very shaken up and still in a state of shock into Casa Grande and waited at iHop for my step dad to come pick her up. She just kept saying "I'm so thankful I'm alive".

We got to my mom around 11:45 pm, left for iHop around 12:30, and my step dad got there to pick her up around 1 am. Putting us all back home around 2 am.

Now, after a month and $3700+ worth of damage (luckily the girl had insurance), my mom has her Jeep back. She is ok, and is pretty much fully recovered.

It was a very scary and eventful end to the evening. We were just so grateful everyone was ok.

Mountain View High School Class of 2010

2010-07-01T18:40:00.003-07:00

I totally forgot to mention this in my list of events from the past couple of months!

My brother Alan graduated from High School a week after I graduated hygiene school.

I was able to go sit with my family as we beamed with pride for Alan that Thursday. It has been a tough couple of years with Alan and his group of friends and him thinking he can do/doing whatever he wants no matter what anyone else says. Many phone calls home about him not being in class, etc. But he finally made it.

There was no gold tassle that he always swore he would wear simply because I didn't; and it was his quest to be better than me. But he did walk and receive a scholastic diploma from Mountain View High School.

We were all so proud of Alan that night and frankly still are today. He is preparing for his big move to Tucson and into our old house in the next few weeks. He will begin his Freshman year at the University of Arizona in August.

It has been a joy for me to attempt to help Alan along throughout much of his life, not just high school. Many times when he was younger, he would tell our family "Jill's the only one who understands me". I am honored to hold that place in his life. Often times the only one he will talk to about his girlfriend problems. Many times he will tell me things that he would never tell anyone else. I am so grateful for that love and that trust that he has in me as his big sister. Although he can be one of the biggest jerks on earth sometimes, he is my only full brother and I am grateful for the relationship we share.

Many times throughout his high school career he consulted with me about what classes to take, what activities to become involved in, etc. I was always happy to help guide him through and give him my opinion based on my experiences.

And now, as he moves away from home and ventures off to college, it has been the same. I attended his 2 day orientation with him as his "parent" at the beginning of June. I assisted him in registering for classes and jumping through all of the hoops necessary prior to starting college. I guided him and showed him around campus and the student union; pointing out the many important landmarks he would need to remember. In the next few weeks, I will be traveling with my mom back to Tucson to help Alan set up the house, hang his pictures on the wall, buy groceries, find the bank, etc. As trivial as most of these things sound, I am so very grateful for the opportunity to share them with my little brother.

Until his next big accomplishment...

Go Cats!

Dental Hygiene Class of 2010

2010-06-29T21:59:00.003-07:00

The day we had been anticipating for 2 long years finally came on Thursday May 20, 2010. Myself, along with about 75% of my class (and about 2000 other graduates) lined up and walked into the Tucson Convention Center to the tune of Pomp and Circumstance.

We were graduating Dental Hygiene School.

What a relief!

It was a very long ceremony, especially when the 2 speakers before the name were read took about 45 minutes on their own. One of them had come from the White House (?) and essentially turned her speech into a political campaign. She even was bold enough to bring up border issues and the new SB1070...at a community college graduation...in a city less than 100 miles from the U.S./Mexico border...

I just went to graduate, not to choose a political party or a side in the great border issue debate.

All in all, I walked across that stage and was so thrilled to have finally completed and accomplished a goal I had been dreaming of for at least 10 years.

Here are a few pictures from the event:

(My bestie from hygiene school Jessica and I)

While it wasn't a huge celebration like my UA graduation was, with only my dad, step mom and hubby attending the ceremony this time, it was still extremely satisfying for me and my classmates. This is what we'd been working toward for 2 very long, arduous years, and we finally made it to the end!

Congrats PCC Class of 2010!

Clinical Boards

2010-06-29T00:24:00.005-07:00

I had the great pleasure of taking my clinical board exam in downtown Phoenix on Mother's Day... at 8 am.

Dan and I drove to Phoenix for my "orientation" to the clinic the day before. It was nice because it was at the same location that I took my anesthesia boards at back in March. I was familiar with the layout and location of the clinic which eased my stress a lot. Dan waited in the lobby of the clinic for me while I sat through a 45 minute orientation to the exam and it's specific protocols and procedures.

When we got out to the car to leave, I had a voicemail waiting on my phone. It was from my patient...

My patient Maya, was supposed to drive from Tucson to Chandler that day also (the day before) and was going to stay with her aunt overnight so she would be sure to be to the clinic on time the next morning.

While I was in orientation, she called and left me a message saying that she was on her way out of Tucson and her car overheated. There was no way she was going to be able to get it fixed that day and she was thinking of anything she could to get to Phoenix.

At that moment, I almost had a heart attack/mental break down. I was then intending to turn around and drive back to Tucson to pick her up. She was the only patient I had, and there was no way I would have been able to find another one in 12 hours.

A few minutes later she called again and left another message saying "don't worry Jill, I know I told you my car overheated, but I'm on my way to the bus station now. I will be there. I promise. Don't stress. I'm doing absolutely everything I can to make sure that I'm there for you in the morning. Don't worry, I'll be there"

At that moment, I almost started crying. This sweet girl got herself to the greyhound station in Tucson (which is scary enough as it is), bought a round trip bus ticket, got on a Greyhound and rode all the way to Phoenix, had her aunt pick her up from the greyhound station all just so she could be there for me the next morning.

I had only talked to this girl like twice before this. We didn't know each other hardly at all, but simply because she is a good person she did all of that for me...to come sit in a chair for 3 hours, have 4-5 people poking around in her mouth, get her teeth cleaned, on Mother's Day.

Did I mention she is a single mom of a 2 year old girl?

I was so touched.

Sunday morning came, she was there, on time and all. Just as she promised. The exam went well. I was slightly nervous because I had never seen the inside of her mouth before (a classmate of mine referred her to me as a board patient), and I was doing a section in the mouth that can be hit or miss board quality. But she was golden.

She was incredibly patient and cooperative. Didn't complain at all, about anything. The only thing she asked of me at the end was if I could give her a ride back to her Aunt's house in Chandler. I told her I would take her anywhere she wanted.

Overall, I felt pretty good when I walked out of the clinic that day. I felt like I had definitely done my best and was pretty confident that I would pass. Much like the written exam, I was mostly just relieved to have it over with.

A few days later, I got an email with my results...

I passed!

I needed a 75% to pass this exam as well. All in all, I was very glad that I scheduled my board exams at the beginning of the month and didn't wait until the end like 75% of the girls in my class. By May 12th I had received my results from both exams, and could rest easy and let go of everything while most of my classmates were still cramming.

What a great feeling it was to know that all the sweat and tears I put into hygiene school had finally paid off! It definitely made graduation so much sweeter knowing that I was 100% on my way to my long-awaited career.

National Boards

2010-06-25T18:11:00.004-07:00

The last time I updated this blog of mine, I was amidst the daunting task of studying for my National Board exam. Just to give you an idea of what this exam is about, it is like the NCLEX for nursing, the bar exam for lawyers, etc. It is given by the American Dental Association, is 350 multiple choice questions (200 normal MC questions, and 150 case study questions), and includes material from our entire 2 years (or 4 in a University setting) of school plus anything else the ADA thinks we should know relating to hygiene...

I was studying for a good 3-4 weeks straight before the exam. I wish I'd taken a picture of our kitchen table that was basically non-functional as a kitchen table thanks to all of my notes, books, notecards, etc. spread all over it. I went to a few review sessions on different topics that I felt I needed some serious review of (Pharmacology...the only class I got a C in during all of hygiene school, Dental Materials, etc.). By the week before the exam, I was just about studied out. I hated feeling that way, but I was at the point where I knew what I knew, which was a lot, and studying anymore probably wasn't going to do me much good.

The whole week before the exam, I went over my notecards, etc. from the more difficult topics I had reviewed, and just tried to relax. At that point I had learned all the material I was going to, and deep down inside my brain I did have most of the information stored from the previous 2 years of school. I wasn't going to learn anything new in the 2 or 3 days before the exam.

The day before I went to class, where we had a combined baby shower for one of our instructors and one of our clinic front desk girls who were both due to have a baby this summer. I tried to just relax and not think about the exam too much. Many of my classmates asked if I felt ready and if I was nervous for the next day. I replied that I was nervous of course, but I felt as ready as I was ever going to be.

(There were only 5 girls in my class, including myself that took the NBDHE that day. Most of the other girls in my class scheduled theirs for the end of May because they started freaking out around mid-april that they wouldn't be ready by May 6th)

The exam started at 8:30 am on Thursday May 6th. It was all given on the computer, which did make it a little easier I think than if it would have been on paper like it has been for years. We had until 5 pm to finish the exam. We had 3.5 hours for the first 200 questions, then an optional hour lunch break, and then 3.5 hours for the last 150 questions.

The beauty of the computer method also is that you aren't required to take any breaks if you don't want to. Most people would want to take a break anyway just to keep their sanity but it isn't required. I suppose I am one of the crazy ones because I didn't take any breaks. I sat down at 8:30 am and went straight through all 350 questions. I walked out at 1 pm and was completely done. It was rough, but I'm glad I did it that way. When I finished the first 200 questions, I was feeling good and was anxious to keep going. I didn't feel like I needed a break. Generally I am a fast test taker anyway (I was usually the 2nd or 3rd one done in my class everytime). Plus, at 1 when I was done, I was able to go home and spend the rest of the day with my husband (who happened to have that day off) relaxing and celebrating being done with that awful exam.

I felt like I did the very best I could. I surprisingly felt much better about the 150 case studies (which everyone always says are much more difficult). There were quite a few questions that I didn't know, but most of them I could narrow the answers down to 2 and then just take a good guess from there. There were only about 5 or 6 that I completely had absolutely no idea and had never seen the material before.

The exam is graded on a National curve, and we have to get a 75% to pass. Generally this works out to mean we can get a 65% before the curve to pass. They also say (whoever "they" is) that 90% of people who take the exam pass it the first time. I just kept telling myself that and prayed that I passed.

A couple weeks later I received my results in the mail.

I PASSED!!!

It was such a HUGE weight off my shoulders when I got this in the mail and knew that I was done and never would have to endure that exam ever again. All my hard work paid off and it was such a great feeling!

Where to Begin?

2010-06-25T17:31:00.003-07:00

Wow. This has been a very much needed update that I have just not had time to sit down and do for the past month... or 2. SO much has happened in the last 2 months and there is so much to post about!

I'm going to have to write individual posts for each event because they are just way too long to put all together. So, in the next few days watch for posts about...

1. National Boards

2. Clinical Boards

3. Hygiene Graduation

4. Pinning Ceremony

5. New House

6. Moving

7. New House Trials/Adventures

8. Job Interviews/New Jobs

Plus anything else that might happen between now and when I get to the end of that list. Things seem to happen around here just about everyday, so it's very possible that list might grow in the next couple of days!

Small Blessings

2010-04-30T14:40:00.002-07:00

Sometimes, when you feel like everything is falling apart, and no matter what you do you're going to drop the ball on something because there are just so many things that have to get done...

There are little miracles that come out of no where and completely change your outlook on everything.

It's things like having our checking account pull from our credit card to prevent overdrawing when it never has before.

Things like the trailblazer check engine light turning off on it's own yesterday allowing it to pass emissions without us having to pay $130 to repair it and have the light reset.

It's the little things like this that remind me that I have a Heavenly Father who knows me, who is watching over me, and who will bless me, even in the smallest things, when I am doing what I should be.

*Side Note to this story: Dan and I began faithfully praying together every night last week...*

Coincidence?

I think not

Stress is:

2010-04-29T22:37:00.003-07:00

a. Internal forces of a material that are unable to counteract external forces resulting in a dimensional change of the material

b. Being 1 week away from taking your National Board Exam

c. Being in the process of working with mortgage lenders/pre-qualifying/buying a house while being 1 week away from taking your National Board Exam

d. Internal forces of a material that counteract an applied external force

e. Trying to find a job in a city you don't currently live in

f. Praying for a job to come along so that you will be able to move within the next 2 months

g. Knowing the difference between Pemphigus and Pemphigoid

h. a, c & e

i. b, c, d, e, f, & g

j. All of the Above

k. None of the Above

Overwhelmed!

2010-04-16T09:16:00.002-07:00

I officially have 3 weeks until my written board exam...

This exam encompasses all the material I have learned over the past 2 years in an 8 hour, 350 question exam. Yikes!

There are around 15 different subjects included on this exam including things like Pharmacology, Dental Materials, Anatomy, Oral Pathology, Microbiology, etc. These are all huge topics that had a semester long class for each one, and now I have to study & remember all of the information for this exam which is 3 weeks from yesterday.

It seems to be such a daunting task that I keep finding other things to do besides studying. Which is HORRIBLE. I have so much studying to do, but I also have a ton of other things going on also which seem to just work their way up on the to-do list faster than studying...

I have a review book that my big sister used and she said she mostly studied just from that and then took a few mock tests online, and that was enough for her to pass. I'm hoping it will be the same for me. I went through the entire Microbiology chapter last weekend and made about 50 notecards to study. I was most worried about that chapter and a couple others, mainly because I took microbiology in the spring of 2006...that was like FOREVER ago. It was also long before I was in the hygiene program and didn't save any of my notes. The next chapters on the list for today's studying include Dental Materials, Head & Neck Anatomy, and Morphology.

Not only do I have this huge board exam coming in 3 weeks, but I have a project for another class due on Wednesday, my jurisprudence exam for the state at the board of examiners next Friday, a final a week from Wednesday, patient requirements to finish in clinic, my clinical board exam 3 days after my written, and I need to find a job, somewhere for us to live, and pack up/clean my house in order to move out mid-late May...

I don't want to sound all whiny, I just needed to get it off my chest as to how much I have on my plate right now and for the next 3 weeks; and how I long for it to be May 10th so I can just be DONE with EVERYTHING and move on to the next chapter in life!

So, if you don't hear from me here for the next 3 weeks, I apologize. I will be back on May 10th!

What does everyone else have going on?

Because I have 20 other things to do...

2010-03-25T14:00:00.004-07:00

I decided I would spend time blogging!

I really should be studying for my national boards that are coming up on May 6th, but I just can't seem to find the motivation... Maybe when I realize I have 2 years worth of material to study in 6 weeks and that the outcome of that exam decides our future... then maybe I'll find some motivation to study :/

...Still not coming...

This past weekend, Dan has gotten really interested and intrigued by this Project 365 idea. I don't know if you've heard of it, but you take 1 picture a day for an entire year of just the everyday things you do. Then at the end of the year, you can look back and really see what you're life is really like, by looking at all the trivial things you spend your time doing.

He hasn't really been totally into blogging or anything like that, so he's trying it out to see if he'll be able to do it before officially starting it up. If you'd like to see what he has so far, and maybe even leave a comment, the website is here.

My gardening has started to come to a sad close...since the other day I came home to my daisies outside, and they looked like this

I'm not sure what happened to make them get that way? They were perfectly fine, standing up straight and blooming when I left that morning...but then when I got home, they looked like that. I suppose I just need to wait to plant anything else until I can do it outside and really spend the time they need to get them growing strong.

I started another project over Spring Break, that I haven't decided if I really know what I'm doing. I have been wanting to make a quilt out of all of mine and Dan's old t-shirts. We have so many just laying around and taking up space in our drawers, and we never ever wear them. So, since I didn't feel like I just wanted to cart them off to DI, I got the idea to make a blanket out of them.

Well, I don't have a sewing machine...or the knowledge of how to sew more than a button on a pair of pants or a small hole closed...but I figured "hey, it's Spring Break, why not try to figure it out?" So I borrowed an awesome sewing machine from a sister who used to be in our ward. Dan teaches her early morning seminary class occasionally and is scheduled to teach it toward the end of April. So I figured I would try it and see how it goes/how much I can get done by then, and then he can bring it back to her at the end of April.

I brought the machine home, got it all set up, went to Joanns and bought a rotary cutter and a cutting mat, and then came home and didn't really know where or how to start. I ended up just starting to cut the shirts into 12x12 squares, using a piece of scrapbook cardstock as my stencil. I have 5 shirts cut...

and probably about 20 left to do...

I am really excited about it, and am enjoying making it, but I seem to get a little overwhelmed sometimes because I don't want to mess it up or have it not end up working when I get ready to put everything together. Have any of you ever made a tee shirt quilt before? Have any pointers? Any just basic sewing knowledge that you can share? I think the cutting of the shirts is going to be the easy part. Once I finish all the cutting and get ready to use the sewing machine to sew them all together, then I think I might freak a little. We'll see...more updates to come.

We have planned and are getting ready for our annual April Conference trip to Utah next weekend. Dan always has a mission reunion the Friday before April Conference, and they insist that he comes to play the piano for it. They say it wouldn't be the same without him. Every year he says it will probably be the last one, because most of the elders he knows have been home for 3 or more years and generally don't come to the reunions anymore. But every year we go back for one last time. I enjoy it though. Since I had never been to Utah until I married Dan almost 3 years ago, I enjoy going everytime and being able to feel of the spirit that is there. We figured it out, and realized since we've been married, we have only been home for 2 General Conferences. We have been in Utah for every other one. This year we are planning to take his 15 year old brother Kyle, and his 12 year old sister Lacey with us. It should be an adventure!

Well, I have finally run out of time, and need to go get ready for class and clinic tonight. May can't come soon enough...

Gardener?

2010-03-18T11:32:00.006-07:00

A couple of days ago, I had the idea come to me that I wanted to learn how to grow flowers. I love flowers and they bring so much color and beauty to the earth; so I decided I wanted to learn how to grow and cultivate flowers so when we move into our house later this year, I'll be able to plant a flower garden in the backyard and maybe even some in the front to add some color and life to our yards.

I had no idea where to start. I have no experience with flowers to know what flowers grow at what time of the year, which ones need constant sun vs. shade, which ones grow well in pots in the house vs. in the ground outside, etc. So...I called my grandma.

My grandparents in Chicago have different types of flowers and ferns, etc. growing all around their house outside. They have the sun needing ones on the south side of the house, the part shade flowers on the east and west sides, etc. I knew she'd be able to help me, and always enjoys when I call to ask her how to do different grandmother-ish things.

She advised me to get some geraniums, petunias and a few marigolds to put in a pot out on the porch. It sounded like a good plan to me, so I went to the garden center at Target. I didn't realize how big those 3 plants would be, and realized my grandma was thinking of a medium-large sized pot to go outside. I was wanting more something to grow inside in a small pot to prevent any of the random animals & people that roam around my house outside from eating/knocking it over, etc. So I looked around for a good 30 minutes, reading the cards inside the plants, looking at the different sizes of pots, and deciding what would be best for me.

Here's what I came home with...

I saw the African Daisies, and fell in love. Daisies are my favorite flower, but I wasn't sure if I could grow Gerbera Daisies inside... So, these white African Daisies were perfect!

Then I saw these cute pink primroses that were $1.29, so I thought why not? I wanted to have a couple different kinds to get some good experience, but didn't want to spend a ton just in case I ended up killing them.

The primroses are supposed to be in partial shade, and therefore sit on my kitchen table next to a western window. The daisies are supposed to be in full sun, but are a hardy type of flower, which means they will grow even in less than perfect conditions. They sit on our new kitchen table in front of the other western window.

When I bought them on Tuesday, they each had 3 blossoms on them. Now, as you can see, the primroses have about 5 open, and a couple more that will probably be open by tomorrow. The daisies have 5 or 6 open today and a couple that look like they might be open by tomorrow.

I'm very excited about my new found love for growing flowers, and am excited to move into a place where I can actually make a garden for them. Also, in this exploration of growing things, I decided I'd like to try to grow vegetables in a garden as well. That I won't attempt to start until I have somewhere that I can plant things in the ground, but I think it would be a good hobby and a great way to save money on vegetables!

Do any of you have flower or vegetable gardens? If so, what do you grow in them and can you give me any advice?

Anesthesia Certified!

2010-03-17T18:54:00.003-07:00

Last weekend I finally took my Anesthesia Board Exam. I had been studying for close to 2 weeks straight, and was SO ready to get it over with. My sweet husband was helping me study almost the whole week before, including taking a packet of practice questions with us to Oregano's on Saturday night for dinner and quizzing me all through dinner. I love when he helps me study because he often doesn't know how to pronounce half the words, and even if he does, he usually makes some random hilarious joke about the material that I could never forget.

Friday night we drove to Mesa after leaving our dogs with Dan's brothers for the night. (They came for a spring training game and took care of our dogs for the night) I wanted to keep studying that whole night, but I didn't really know what else to study. I felt good about all the material I had studied and felt like I knew it pretty well. But I just felt like the night before a huge exam I should still be studying. Dan was good at keeping my mind off of it and talking to me about other things like spring break that I was excited to get to.

I had come down with a cold the week before, of course, and had an extremely stuffed nose and a slight cough. I had called in sick to school 2 days that week in hopes of resting enough to get over the cold before the test. Unfortunately, it didn't work as well as I had hoped...

I hardly slept at all Friday night, between the nerves, running through all the material I had studied, not being able to breath through my nose, which meant sleeping with my mouth open (which I hate more than most other things), and my queezy stomach. I think the amount of sleep I got the night before amounted to about and hour and a half. I finally got up at 6 am on Saturday and got all ready to go. We left around 7:30, and drove to downtown Phoenix to the Hygiene clinic at Rio Salado.

The test was at 8:30 am. 55 multiple choice questions, and I had 60 minutes. I opened the test to the first page, and immediately thought "oh no, I'm done for"... Good thing I think they put the 4 hardest questions on the first page. I skipped the first page and went onto the rest of the test. I finished the entire exam with about 15 minutes to spare. I was actually the first one done, but didn't want to be the first to get up and turn it in. So I checked, and double checked, and triple checked my answers until one other girl got up to turn her test in.

I came out and waited for the results...As some of the other girls started filing out, I could hear a lot of them saying "that was so much worse than I thought it was going to be!" I hoped I wasn't just over-confident, and wondered why I thought it was overall a fair exam and was over exactly what I had studied, just not as in depth.

The results came out about 10 minutes later...The examiner brought out the stack of white envelopes with each person's results and sat them in basket. Most of us just sat there, almost too afraid to get up and look at the results. After a few seconds, I got up and found my envelope...

I had passed the written exam and could move onto the clinical portion that afternoon!

I was so relieved! I knew that the written was the more difficult part and that if I could get through that part, I would be ok.

Dan came back and picked me up, and we went to eat lunch and share the good news of my passing before we had to be back for the clinical at 2 pm.

Dan, his mom (my back-up patient in case I failed the first set of injections) and I arrived back at the clinic at about 1:45 pm. I was sitting in the waiting area filling out my paperwork, when they called my number. I scrambled to get my things together and head into the clinic to set up my operatory. I brought my good husband back into the chair and got him all ready.

*Side Note: Dan volunteered to be my patient for my anesthesia board exam. He knew it involved getting 2 shots in his mouth for no reason other than for me to be tested on it, but he agreed to do it anyway. What a wonderful man I married*

The 2 examiners came over and I gave the 2 injections as practiced. After a minute of talking, they instructed me to dismiss my patient. I knew then that I had either passed both injections and could go home, or I would have to bring my mother in law back for a 2nd attempt at the injection I failed.

I cleaned up my operatory and walked out to the waiting area to find my envelope, the same as that morning, with my results from the clinical exam...

I PASSED and was ANESTHESIA CERTIFIED!!!

It was such a relief to have it all over with and know that all my studying and sleepless nights over the previous couple of weeks had paid off. I was and still am so grateful to Dan for all his love and support in helping me prepare and for allowing me to use him as my patient.

I could finally relax and enjoy my Spring Break!

(A few of the girls from my class and I after a long, but successful day!)

Exciting Times!

2010-02-07T09:44:00.002-07:00

There has been many fun and exciting things happening around our house the past few weeks, and there will continue to be more to come throughout the next few months as we wind up our time here in Tucson.

Exciting Thing #1: A couple of weeks ago, I registered and paid for my board exams. As small and insignificant as that is, it actually means so much to me! The fact that I have a date set in stone for my final board exams before I am a registered Dental Hygienist is very exciting to me. All of the non-sense and stress that I have dealt with over the past 18 months of hygiene school will soon all be worth it. When I am able to provide for my family on my own so that my husband will be able to completely focus on school and put all of his effort there without having to worry about keeping the lights on.

May 6th is when I take the written/computer board exam for the ADA here in Tucson. It's a 300 question exam that takes 8 hours.

May 7th-10th is the weekend that I will take my clinical exam in Phoenix. I still don't have an exact date on that weekend yet, but I do know it will be sometime during those 4 days.

Exciting Thing #2: I have 5 weeks until I take my Anesthesia board exam! I go to Phoenix for the written and clinical board on the same day, either March 12 or 13. This is the first weekend of Spring Break and it will be nice to have it over with and hopefully be Anesthesia certified before Spring Break really starts!

Exciting Thing #3: We found out on Friday that some of our best friends, Wesley & Tiffany Webster are coming to Phoenix again next weekend! We get so excited when they come to Phoenix and always try to do what we can to see them. Next weekend we were planning on going up to the valley to go to the temple on Monday morning anyway. So, it will be fun to maybe go to the temple together and be able to spend some time together. We're not quite sure if we'll even have a Valentines Day really since it will be on Sunday and we'll be driving to Mesa, but we'll see...

The exciting thing about it is that they are moving to Queen Creek or thereabout this summer also! Wes graduates from Dixie State in May and then they will be packing up to move so that he can start his MBA at ASU in the fall. We are very excited to live so close to them and not have to drive to St. George or them drive all the way here just to see each other. The other exciting thing is that their sweet baby boy is due April 4. So it won't just be the 2 of them moving but they'll have a sweet new baby too!

Exciting Thing #4: Dan was readmitted to ASU for this coming fall! We weren't worried about it per se, but were just anxious for it to happen so we would be all set and ready to go for August. Some un-expected changes have come about in his school plans, but interestingly enough we feel good about it instead of being discouraged or upset. It has changed a lot of ideas that we had, but I think that it will end up working better anyway. I'm actually kind of excited about this new change... I'll have to wait to get permission from Dan to share it with everyone, but in the mean time just know that we're excited about it!

Exciting Thing #5: We started working on our kitchen table last week. One night, we took it apart and brought the pieces into the garage to start sanding. I did most of the sanding with my dad's power sander. (It would have taken FOREVER without it) Then yesterday we decided we were going to try to get as close to finishing it as we could. We went to Home Depot and bought stain, paint, brushes, and a little more sand paper. We finished the rest of the sanding, stained the whole thing and painted the first coat of paint on the table top/sides, and 2 of the sides on each leg. It is starting to look really good and will look like a whole new table when we finish. Pictures to come...

There is sure to be many more fun and exciting events to come in the near future so stay tuned!

Odds and Ends

2010-01-19T09:13:00.006-07:00

Today is my last first day of school! Unless I decide to go to grad school later on down the road, this will be my last semester of college! I don't know if I can actually describe how exciting that is for me, all I can say is that I am so ready to finish and be totally done in May.

This semester is mostly clinic, only a couple of lectures one day a week, and then studying like crazy for boards! I looked at my class syllabi last night and seeing my board exams scheduled into the class schedule is VERY exciting!

In other news, I teach the sunbeams in our ward and I absolutely love it! Those kids are so sweet, and so innocent and real. While I don't have kids of my own yet, I love my sunbeams as much as I think I would love my own kids. Definitely probably the best calling I've had yet.

Update on my Clinique products...
The cleanser, etc. is still working wonders and I love it. The powder face make-up however, I had to stop using. It was working, and I loved it, but it drys out my face so much and makes my skin look like I'm about 85 years old. I have come to the conclusion that I just can't wear make up on my face. But now that I've found a cleanser that works, it is helping the blotchy redness in my face go down, so I shouldn't need much make-up anyway. I just have to fix my face up again from being so dry for 5 days with make up.

On Saturday, we went to the Coyotes game in Phoenix with Dan's cousin Jamie and his dad. It was a lot of fun and a very exciting game! I even got made fun of for eating Dippin Dots ice cream while sitting in a cold hockey arena!
On our way to Phoenix, we stopped in Maricopa to pick up a new kitchen table from someone I found on Craigslist. The kitchen table we have now has to stay with the house for my brother when we move. So, we had to find ourselves a new kitchen table. We wanted a counter height table and chairs, since we really like the one my dad has, and the one that our friends Wes and Tiff have in St. George. This table I found was just the table, no chairs, and has a few scuffs on it, but it was...$20!
Counter height sets of tables and 4 chairs sell for between $500-800 new in the store! We're going to sand it down, fix it up and paint it, and then it'll be like brand new! It's in great shape except for the few scrapes on the top. More pictures (before and after) of that project to come later...

After the game, we went to another stop in north Phoenix to pick up a new La-Z-Boy rocker that I also found on Craigslist. It is in perfect condition and doesn't look like it was ever even used. Still very plush and comfy. It also matches the rest of our furniture. I put my foot down and said that the old pink chair that we've had that came from my in laws, will not be coming with us to our new house. It is probably at least 10 years old, probably more. It doesn't recline anymore, it squeaks when it rocks, and it's disgustingly dirty. But Dan loves to sit in a rocking chair while watching TV, doing homework, etc. So we had to find a replacement... Well here it is! (Excuse the dog in the pictures...she wouldn't move)

Old pink chair...

Awesome new chair!
We went to see The Blind Side last night in celebration of our last day of break before crazy madness school starts again. What a wonderful movie! I can't think of another movie that I like more that I've seen in a long time. Such a great story and was played so well. It is now one of my favorite movies.

Anyway, I need to go get ready to leave for school. Thanks for reading, and keep watching for more updates, as I'm sure there will be many more to come throughout the semester and our last 4 months in Tucson!

Clinique!

2010-01-14T10:28:00.004-07:00

For Christmas, my step mom got me this set of cleanser and moisturizer from Clinique.

I absolutely LOVE it! I have terrible eczema, so my skin is horribly sensitive to just about everything! Up til' now, I have only been able to use Aveeno hand lotion on my face because it's the only thing that doesn't burn and make my face feel/look like it's going to burst into flames.

But my skin is still always red, dry, flaky and blotchy. Until now. I asked for this set for Christmas because people were getting desperate for gift ideas for me. I had heard about it from a couple girls at school, and had done some reading about Clinique online that it was made for sensitive skin and is fragrance free, etc. I even read a few comments from people who had eczema who said that Clinique was great for them. So I decided...what the heck? If I don't like it and it doesn't work, then I won't feel bad that I spent $50 on it.

I completely love this cleansing regimen, and use it everyday now. Before this, I have tried to wash my face everyday, but wasn't too strict on it because my face never felt that much different afterward.

So, now I'm like totally addicted to Clinique products. I want to try everything now. Anyone who knows me, knows that I don't wear much make up, and what I do wear is just on my eyes. The reasoning for that is because my skin is always so dry, no foundation or face make up ever looks good. It always looks flaky and gross. So, I just don't wear any because I've never been able to find a make up that works with my skin.

Well, after using this cleanser and moisturizer combo for a week or 2 now, my skin is much more soft and controlled, and much less dry. So i've been intrigued and wanting to try Clinique's pressed powder make up to help with the red and blotchy problem. It is their top selling make up and is very lightweight, natural looking and mineral enriched, which is a plus for my skin. (Another reason I haven't been too hyped about face make up is because I hate feeling like I'm wearing 10 lbs. of make up and like my skin can't breathe)

I have also been needing new mascara for a while now, and they are almost just as much at like Target, so I figured I'd try Clinique's too.

When we went to get Dan's textbooks in the UA bookstore on Monday, I remembered that there is a Clinique counter in there. I went to look, and the girl told me they were having a bonus that started on Wednesday, so if I could wait until then, it would be much more worth it.

So I did. We went back last night to get my make up, and a couple of fun reading books for Dan. I bought my pressed powder make up...
and got all this, plus a compact mirror and cosmetic bag FREE! (Notice the mascara, which I would have paid for otherwise)

The lipstick is a dark purple color, which I'll never wear, and the eyeshadow is a purple since that was all they had left, which I probably won't wear too often either, but it was good to try the stuff and I do want to go get a brown palette of eyeshadow now that I will wear regularly, and a light blush to go over my new make up! The mascara is awesome. The make up remover is also great and doesn't burn my eyes!

If anyone is unhappy with their skin care system or their make up, I highly recommend Clinique products! They are wonderful, and are actually good for your skin unlike most products out there. Coming from me, who never wears make up, and who has terrible skin...you know it must be true!

(I just re-read this entire post, and it really sounds like an advertisement for Clinique. But really, it's 100% true. This is a GREAT product line, and it works wonderfully! I'll have some before and after pictures to post shortly)

Christmas...

2010-01-14T08:56:00.005-07:00

I apologize for being so horrible at keeping up with this. I always say that I'm going to be better, and I update once or twice and then I slack again...lol I'm really going to try to be better, but we'll see what happens when school starts.

Our Christmas this year was definitely one to remember. We debated back and forth (and by we, I mean I did) about what we should do for "our" Christmas.

Our first Christmas together ended pretty rough because we spent the entire holiday running from house to house, visiting everyone, and never had our own Christmas together.

Last year, we stayed at Dan's aunt Rita's vacant condo over Christmas. We brought our small fiber optic Christmas tree to set up on an end table, and woke up a little earlier on Christmas morning to open each other's gifts and have somewhat of our own Christmas morning. Boy, it made ALL the difference! We were so much happier and enjoyed Christmas so much more just because of that extra 15 minutes we spent together first.

So...I was debating, because the vacant condo is no longer vacant, and we didn't really have any other options of places to stay alone. The thought of staying home, and driving up to Mesa on Christmas Day crossed my mind...and quickly left. I did not want to make that drive on Christmas morning, plus we always spend Christmas Eve with my dad. Which in turn alleviates some of the demand for us on Christmas Day.

We decided to have our own Christmas on Christmas Eve, here at home before we left for Mesa. Dan worked until 1, so I made a small lunch to tide us over until we had dinner at my Dad's and then we opened each other's gifts and let the dogs open their stockings. We also decided to stay at my mom's on Christmas Eve. Our dogs would be there also, and we would be able to keep them calm and sleeping well, so as to not disturb the rest of the house on Christmas Eve.
Well, it didn't really work out quite as we'd hoped...

We spent Christmas Eve at my dad's like usual. Everything went well there. We got back to my mom's around 9:30 or so, and did a few things before going to bed.
My brother Alan, after the festivities at my Dad's went to meet a couple of his friends to play basketball for a few hours. He got back to my mom's around 1am, and went immediately into the restroom. He was SO sick. We weren't sure if it was something he ate, but since none of the rest of us got sick, it wasn't very likely. He ended up sleeping on the bathroom floor because of his frequent vomiting. With the bathroom being right next to the room Dan and I were sleeping in (which is normally Alan's room), we didn't get much sleep either. I kept getting up to see if there was anything I could get Alan to help him feel better. I felt awful as he laid on the bathroom floor with one hand sticking out into the hallway as he moaned "Jill...help me". He just kept begging me for water, since he was getting so dehydrated. He could hardly keep it down though.

Finally around 3:30 am, I went up to get Alan some more water, and my mom was standing at the top of the stairs. She looked like she had been hit by a truck, and said "Annie started throwing up about an hour ago"...

My 9 year old sister with Down Syndrome was also in her room throwing up, the same as Alan. My step dad was in her room with her, holding a bucket underneath her, since she doesn't understand throwing up in the toilet.

Obviously this wasn't something Alan ate. My other brother Leo, had come down with a bad case of the stomach flu himself the weekend before Christmas; and it was becoming obvious that this was the same thing...All on Christmas Eve.

I finally fell asleep at around 4 am on Christmas Day. We woke up at 7, and I went to see how everything was going. My mom was still at the same place on the stairs, but sitting now with her head in her hands. She said that she was starting to feel really nauseous and she didn't know what to do about Christmas? My grandparents were scheduled to come over around 11am with a full meal and gifts. So my mom asked me to call my Grandma and let her know what was going on and see what she wanted to do. Grandma decided they would drive over (from Sun City) and leave the food and gifts at the front door, but wouldn't come in. (My grandma has COPD, and is incredibly frail and weak. If she caught something like the stomach flu, she very easily could die from it)

Dan and I wanted to get out of the house as quick as we could, so we didn't catch this stomach flu that was spreading fast. We got dressed (somewhat), loaded up our stuff, grabbed our dogs, and went to his family's house to have Christmas morning there. I was so exhausted that I could hardly function. After we opened gifts, I went to Dan's grandma's where we normally stay, and took a 3 hour nap.

Alan was texting me around then (about 11am) asking when we were going to open gifts, and saying that he voted this the worst Christmas ever. I felt awful. He was still in bed, terribly sick. Annie was at least down on the couch, but was still sick, and my mom was up in bed with horrible nausea, aches and pains. The worst part, was Leo, my 13 year old brother who had the stomach flu the week before, was having to just sit around and not really do much of anything on Christmas Day because everyone else was so sick. They didn't open gifts or anything in the morning, so for him it was just like any other day.

We had lunch at Dan's grandma's, which was most enjoyable. We were able to spend some good time with her and even play a game or two. She loves having us over now that she's a widow and lives on her own.

We then went back to his other Grandma's (where I had slept earlier), and met up with some of his cousins and other family. I was finally able to shower and put on clean clothes. Which after the night and day I had, made me feel like a million bucks! We played "Loaded Questions", and had fun visiting with family.

Finally around 9pm, Alan called and said Leo couldn't wait any longer and that they were going to open gifts. He was feeling well enough to at least come sit out on the couch, Annie was asleep, and my mom was also able to at least come sit down and open a couple gifts. We were nervous to go over there, and my mom was "scared to death" for us to come, in fear that we would catch it. But we wanted to spend at least a little bit of Christmas with my family, since we had been with Dan's all day. So we went for about an hour, and opened gifts and were able to enjoy some Christmas together.

It was definitely a rough Christmas, and not one that you would wish on anyone. But, at the end of the day, it will definitely be a Christmas we will never forget.

Thanksgiving

2009-11-30T23:47:00.002-07:00

Dan and I had a great Thanksgiving weekend that was spent together with family and friends.

It started on Tuesday, which was my birthday. I sat home most of the day by myself because Dan was at work, but I was able to get some things done which was nice. Tuesday night we went to dinner and rented "The Proposal" to watch together at home. Overall it was a nice, relaxing birthday, which was exactly what I needed after such a hectic couple of weeks at school.

Wednesday evening we drove to Mesa, where we stayed for Thanksgiving. My step dad's father has finally arrived from Mexico with is visa, and spent Thanksgiving at my mom's also. It was fun to be able to visit with him a little bit, and I was grateful for my husband's spanish speaking so that he could hold conversations with Leo's dad and help him feel included.

Thursday, our Thanksgiving started at my mom's house. We ate there around 11:30, with my grandparents and my step dad's father. I always enjoy getting together with them since we really only see them on holidays. We also always celebrate birthday's together on Thanksgiving since my birthday is the 24th, my brother's is the 29th and my grandma's is the 30th. We had a nice ice cream cake together, and were able to exchange gifts and everything.

We then moved on to Dan's grandparents house, where his family attends Thanksgiving each year with all of his aunts, uncles and cousins. This year many of the cousins were not there, since a lot of them have moved out of state recently. We were there for 45 min. or so, and then had to move on to our next stop.

We went to my Dad's house next, for another full Thanksgiving meal. It was nice to be able to visit with my step sister, her boyfriend, and my step brother. My dad graced us with the presence of his "trivia", which is apparently the new holiday "tradition". He comes up with the most random questions and goes around the table asking each of us our own question. It's always complete with prizes and everything. It is actually quite entertaining, and often the 5 of us kids end up roaring in laughter by the end. We celebrated my birthday again there with cake and gifts.

Thursday night, we picked up Marie, and came back to Tucson since Dan had to work on Friday. Marie and I looked through the Black Friday ads, deciding where all we wanted to go, and what we wanted to look for. We ended up getting home to Tucson around 11:30, going to bed around 12:30, and Marie and I got up at 2:30 am to be at Old Navy when they opened at 3 am.

It was crazy at Old Navy, and I was very much taken off guard by the line of people 3 stores long waiting to get into Old Navy at 3 am. We went to Old Navy, then Kohls where we got most of our stuff and waited in line for almost 2 hours. We also visited Wal Mart, Sports Authority, Target, Sears, K-Mart, Ulta, and McDonalds at 4 am for breakfast.

Marie and I finished up shopping and came home around 11am, and took a nap until about 1:30pm. We then got up and went to see NEW MOON!!! I've been waiting for Thankgiving weekend to see it with Marie, since my husband refused to go with me. It was SO good! We LOVED it, and also loved the fact that we walked up to the ticket office 5 minutes before the movie started, got our tickets, got into the theatre and got great middle seats all before the movie started.

We took Marie home Friday night after Dan got home from work. We stayed the night in Mesa again on Friday night, and were able to watch most of the ASU vs. UA football game on Saturday. This game is always a hot topic around the house since we are definitely a house divided. Saturday night my mom and sister Annie came to visit while my step dad and brother took his dad back to Sahuarita to stay with my step dad's sister. It was nice to be able to visit with my mom for a while while Dan set up the rest of the Christmas lights out front.

Overall, it was a great weekend spent with many of our friends and family. We are so very grateful for our families and all that they unknowingly do for us all the time. They are very much a blessing in our life. We are also grateful for great friends that enrich our lives also. We have been so blessed and enjoy reflecting on all of the things we have been given.

TGIF!

2009-11-13T12:00:00.003-07:00

I am very excited that it's Friday, and even though I do have to work off and on throughout the weekend, I'm so glad to be able to have a few days off from school.
(The weather, and the fact that I slept until 11, may be helping my wonderful mood)

Work is really simple and doesn't require much from me mentally.

I'm going to take the dogs to the park today before work.

Tonight is Dan and my date night...Not sure where we'll go or what we'll do yet, but it's sure to be an enjoyable and relaxing time with my husband!

Tomorrow morning I have to work but only for an hour or 2. I'm not sure what we'll do tomorrow either, but I would bet it will have something to do with setting up more Christmas stuff. I know my husband way to well to assume it would be anything else. Although he did say he wanted to go to the temple tomorrow...maybe we'll do that instead of Christmas?
(We set up our 3 christmas trees on Wednesday night, the big one has lights, but the other 2 are bare, and there are no ornaments being brought out yet)

I hope to clean up the backyard tomorrow as well as give the dogs a bath, and maybe take them to the park again tomorrow (not in that order).

I also need to prepare a lesson for primary on Sunday. I haven't even looked at what it's about...

Sunday will be a wonderful Sabbath day. Dan wants me to help him with Stake Choir rehearsal at 4, and then I have to work from 6:30-11.

So while it definitely will be a weekend full of things to do, I am so happy for the weekend to be here and to be able to work around my house, spend time with my sweet husband and our dogs who are starved for attention sometimes when school and work get crazy!

Hope all of you enjoy your weekend as well!

Mock Board Disaster

2009-11-10T23:22:00.003-07:00

Tonight was my night for Mock Boards.

10% of our semester grade depends on our performance on these mock boards. They also help to get us more familiar with the paperwork and procedures for the real board before we get there in May.

In theory it's a great idea.

The only problem is that we all get so stressed out over it that we get 5 cold sores all at once (one of my friends), and have anxiety attacks over it.

Tonight, my patient just flat out didn't show up...

No call...

Nothing.

I was stressing about him all weekend, because he came in and was screened by one of my friends at school, and was then told he would be a good patient for mock boards.

That night, for the screening, he showed up 20 minutes late for a 40 minute appointment.

Needless to say, I was freaking out.

We told him to be there at 5 even though he didn't need to be there until at least 5:30.

But, he decided to just not show up...period.

I called both his crazy wife who runs his life, and their house phone. Answering machines at both places...

I swear this semester is out to get me.

Now, I have to use one of the 3 clinics I have left to do my mock board again, on top of finishing 2 or 3 more patients, and now finding another mock board patient (after it took me 3 months to find this guy...)

All by November 30th, which is my last clinic for the semester.

May can't come soon enough!

Holiday Wreaths

2009-10-19T11:09:00.003-07:00

For our Holiday Fundraiser at school, we are selling these beautiful holiday wreaths and centerpieces. The money from them will help us provide toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss, etc. to the community, and will also help fund our pinning ceremony at the Westin La Paloma in May.

These items are made from real live evergreens, and smell wonderful! They last longer than you might think since they are real. Last year the people who bought them said they lasted even past Christmas!

They will be delivered to me the week after Thanksgiving, and I will distribute them as soon as possible to you so you can enjoy them as long as possible.

I would SO much appreciate anyone who is interested in purchasing one. The orders are due by November 2nd though, so let me know ASAP if you're interested so I can take your order and collect the money.

Thanks for reading!

Tough Times

2009-10-13T10:27:00.003-07:00

I'm not quite sure why this week is insisting on being so difficult so early...

Last night in clinic I had a pretty big yucky situation arise with one of my instructors and ended up getting written up 3 times by 3 different instructors...all for helping one of my classmates and doing something that we've been encouraged to do and have been doing the entire time we've been in school!

I am still so angry about it a want to scream.

Talk about unprofessional! She chewed me to bits in front of my patient (which happened to be my brother), and then neglected the rest of the students and their patients while she filled out my write up form.

I am SO over school, and just really want to be done already. I am tired and fed up with all of their shananagins and their insecurity. They have to get us in trouble and take points off our grades to make themselves feel better.

My poor brother now has to come back for a second appointment, when it was something that could have all been completed last night if we wouldn't have had everything happen that did.

I have to go to work this afternoon, and then back to clinic tonight and tomorrow night...hopefully nothing else happens because I might just go off on someone if they try to go off on me about anything.

This is so unlike me to feel this way, but last night got under my skin so much, and I can't shake it. Not yet at least. Not until I talk to the head honcho instructors and they tell me that I was right in what I did and agree that it shouldn't have happened the way it did. Hopefully that will make me feel a little better...

Thanks for the vent...

Love is in the air...

2009-10-11T19:30:00.005-07:00

A few weeks ago, Dan and I had the opportunity to attend our good friend Heather Richter's wedding in Phoenix at the Desert Botanical Garden. It was an absolutely beautiful ceremony with perfect scenery. Her new husband is from Washington, so having the wedding the Botanical Garden was a perfect setting to introduce his family and friends to where she's from.

We love being able to attend our old friends' weddings and see them so happy. It's always fun to see other old friends and catch up with them also. Here are a few pictures that Dan took at the ceremony & reception...

Longing for Autumn...

2009-09-29T10:24:00.003-07:00

I had a thought last week that I want to move to Minneapolis, MN...

Not necessarily because I want to live there specifically, but because I want to actually experience the 4 seasons! I brought out my fall decor last week and was somewhat disheartened because it is still 100 degrees outside and I'm setting up my fall decorations. I want so much for it to be in the 60s and 70s, cooling off. I want to see the leaves change colors and fall to the ground. I want to wear long-sleeved shirts and jeans with maybe even a light jacket. It doesn't feel like autumn outside at all, and for whatever reason it is really bothering me this year.

It's been the same around Thanksgiving & Christmas time the last year or two, and I'm sure it will be this year as well. I want to wear cute sweaters and jeans with cute winter boots. I want to learn how to actually wear a scarf the correct way. I want to wake up in November and December to 40 degree weather and maybe even some snow!

Dan wasn't sold on the idea of moving to Minneapolis. He doesn't want to be that far from family and everything we've known for our entire lives. He's also not as into it because he lived in Philadelphia for 2 years, and got to experience the change in seasons. For me however, Arizona is the only place I've ever lived. Not that I don't like it here, I think AZ is beautiful and I am almost immune to the 110 degree weather 8 months out of the year. I'm just ready for a change...

We won't be able to move anywhere for another few years at least. Dan still has to finish his Journalism degree at ASU, hopefully by 2011. But I don't think I'm going to be able to just let it go. So, I wonder...

Where else could we move that would satisfy both of our wants? (i.e. somewhat close to AZ, but still has 4 distinct seasons?)

One Last Trip

2009-09-15T11:06:00.011-07:00

I have realized that I got way behind in my blogging toward the end of the summer when we go so busy, and then school started and everything just went haywire! So I'm here to catch you up on what we spent the end of our summer break doing...

For Dan's birthday, we went to Minneapolis, MN. We both love to travel so much, and we realized that this would probably be our last chance to have a bigger vacation for a long time, so we decided to take advantage of it.

Dan's aunt Rita works for Alaska Airlines and was able to get us VERY cheap tickets. (She did the same for us when we went to Seattle last summer) She came with us along with Dan's brother Jared. We spent a week there, Monday-Friday and had a great time! We each took a night for dinner and were able to do everything we wanted to do!

Monday we spent mostly traveling. Our flight left Phoenix at 6:15 am and we flew to Seattle for our layover. We ate at a Chilis in the airport for lunch at 10:30 am and then after a quick nap on the floor at the gate, got on another plane to Minneapolis. We got into Minneapolis around 6 pm on Monday night. We were so exhausted by the time we got there that we went to Applebees a few blocks from our hotel for dinner and went to bed.

Tuesday morning we went exploring downtown a little bit, as our hotel was right downtown also. We went to the downtown Target, which is 2 stories and has an escalator exclusively for CARTS!! We were SO amazed, I'm sure all the people shopping there thought we were pretty weird just standing staring at the carts go up and down the escalator. We stood and took pictures and video with our phones for a few minutes before getting what we needed (trying to spend $20 so they would validate our parking and we wouldn't have to pay for the underground parking) and heading back to the hotel.
That afternoon we went to the Minneapolis Sculpture Gardens! Some of us were kind of skeptical about going to a garden full of sculptures, but it ended up being a lot of fun and a great photo op! We also went to drive by the St. Paul Temple to get a picture with all 4 of us there. That evening we went to drop off rental car #1 and came back to eat dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe while watching the crowd assemble for the Rod Stewart Concert that night at the Target Center across the street. We got back to the hotel and played a bunch of games like Battle of the Sexes, where the boys learned what sling back shoes were, Uno, and other fun card games that we bought at Target that day.

Wednesday was my favorite day! Mall of America Day! We agreed to spend the entire day at Mall of America on Wednesday so we would only have to go 1 day. We got to the mall around 11 am, and stayed until about 6 or 7 pm. We went everywhere, including the American Girl store, where I brought one of my dolls to have her hair re-done and styled back to the way it was when I got her. You truly need 2 or 3 days to be able to go to every store and do everything there. It is 4 stories with an amusement park in the middle, and is shaped like a square. There is probably every store you could ever think of, all in one mall. I was good and didn't go crazy. I did get a few things, including a pair of black sandals from Skechers, a pair of Ralph Lauren sunglasses, a shirt and a pair of earrings from Nordstrom Rack, and a couple shirts from Old Navy. Even Dan shopped a little, getting a pair of jeans and 2 polos from Old Navy with a gift card my grandma had sent for his birthday. We took the light rail/bus back to our hotel and again crashed from shopping all day.

Thursday, Dan and Jared went on a tour of the Metrodome. They walked to the lightrail and got to walk down on the field and through the stands the day after Brett Favre officially signed with the Minnesota Vikings. That afternoon, Dan and I went back to Mall of America to find him a Minnesota Twins hat, since much to his dismay, the Metrodome does not have a team shop. We met Jared and Rita at the airport to pick up rental car #2 before heading out to the temple. Dan, Rita and I were able to go do some work in the St. Paul temple on a very rainy evening. It did rain all day Wednesday and most of Thursday as well, but it was beautiful. Not hot or humid at all, just a light drizzle most of the time. I even walked outside barefoot for a short while because it was such gorgeous weather. We went to the only Texas Roadhouse in Minnesota that night for dinner because Rita had never been, and then came back to the hotel and packed up our suitcases to get ready to fly home on Friday.

Friday again was mostly traveling. Our flight out of Minneapolis was delayed because of the rainy weather on the east coast and midwest. But it turned out ok because we were supposed to have a 3 hour layover in Seattle that ended up only being 2 hours. We got back into Phoenix around 9:30 pm on Friday night and just about crashed as soon as we got back to Mesa.

It was a very successful, fun and relaxing trip. It was a great opportunity to rest up and enjoy some time off before school started again. Minneapolis was a wonderful city, and of all the places we've traveled to, it's one of our favorites! We'll just stick to the summers there though...