This is a line from a mormon pioneer hymn that's way popular in our church.  The full hymn goes:

Come, come, ye Saints, no toil nor labor fear;
But with joy wend your way.
Though hard to you this journey may appear,
Grace shall be as your day.
’Tis better far for us to strive
Our useless cares from us to drive;
Do this, and joy your hearts will swell—
All is well! All is well!

There are plenty of other verses that are just as inspiring but I started to think about the words in this hymn especially the fourth line.  The background of this hymn is that it was sort of the motivating anthem that the mormon pioneers sang as they traveled across country over mountainous and wintery terrain with wagons/handcarts.  The rule was if anyone started singing it, you had to join in.  It's a beautiful song.  I guess because I've sung it so much in church it's easy for me to go on auto pilot and not really think about the words.  Is this song beautiful sure, but in my mind it was always a pioneer song singing about physical pioneer- type things that happened in the past.  Now sure, I could see applying the general concept to modern day life too-I mean, life is hard no matter when you live it's kind of the point.  For some reason though, this line stuck out to me the other day as I thought about this hymn.  I had never given this line any attention before and frankly didn't know what it was referring to-all the other lines were far more obvious to me.

Grace shall be as your day.  Now it's not a stretch to believe in the grace of God if you're a Christian.  After we do our part as much as we can, only through the Grace of God are we saved, and it is grace cause technically we can never save ourselves-will never be perfect.  And this line is saying that no matter when or where you live-just as God helped and lifted up the saints in their trials across the plains (and there are miraculous stories) He will help us whereever and whenever we are-there's no difference.  Not only that, but how different are our needs from day to day?  One day I may be feeling great and ontop of the world, the next I could be a hormonal mess in a minor panic worried about some little thing.  It doesn't matter though, however little or much grace I need that day He will give it to me.  The grace never will run out-there will always be enough that we need.  Now THAT is comforting.

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awww Valentine's Day...I remember the days when I didn't really care about this holiday- and it wasn't cause I was bitter and single, meh, just wasn't really that exciting to me.  I'd prefer to get surprised on a random day when I REALLY wasn't expecting it.  Since marrying the love of my life I'm able to appreciate it as another great opportunity to express my love and appreciation for code so I can deal with it :)  Plus I will always love chick flicks so how bad could it be?

So we, like most married veterans, went out to eat the day before Valentine's Day-not necessarily to beat the rush but because there was a SWEET group-on, yeah it was ridiculously good.  We went to Merche which is just off 290 and huffmeister near the cypress medical center/hospital there.  It was pretty good-itallian/spanish fusion place.  Small, intimate setting-had to have been no more than forty tables etc.  I got this rotissary chicken with a chocolate/chilli sauce.  It was pretty good, but I'm lazy and would have preferred boneless-less work, but still good, and Code got the filet mignon.  I also got my beautiful bouquet when Code came home Monday evening.  I'll admit shopping for me on Valentine's day is hard cause I don't like the whole cliche rose thing...they're way expensive and they're not even my favorite flowers.  However my favorite flower, the daisy-especially gerber daisies, are nigh-impossible to find on V-day, atleast in a big bouquet of them, so he managed to find a bouquet that was more daisies than roses and I love it :)

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On Valentine's day morning I woke up to find my kind of chocolates (if I have to go fancy chocolates I prefer See's but I'm kind of See'sed out lately) and a beautiful card that I'll admit got me a little teary-eyed

Then this is what code came home to when he got home from work:

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I got these cookies at a local bakery: frosted -off of 529- because they said the cake I was ordering didn't cost enough or something and I had to buy something else...yeah....so whatever I went a long with it.  That was my big surprise for Code-we always talk longingly about our wedding cake on the day of our wedding-how yummy it was and how we weren't able to freeze it since both our parents traveled to be there etc.  So I ordered a replica.  It was so cute and to be honest kind of how I originally envisioned our cake looking-a little more modern and fun.  I gave them a pic of our cake so they had an idea of the color schemes and polka dots etc. and wrote on that pic that I wanted a white cake, with white butter creme frosting and raspberry filling.  I'm pretty sure one of our teirs from the wedding was white with raspberry and we never got to try that one-we had the chocolate teir with raspberry.  So I got the cake was so excited-finally found two gerber daisies to put ontop just like our cake even though they were the wrong color and presented it to cody after dinner:

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You can imagine my dissapointment when we cut into it-I was waiting for the bright red strip to show and it was boring vanilla filling....no offense to you plain lovers out there-but why would I want a vanilla cake with vanilla frosting and vanilla filling?! I sent an email to the bakery today-I posted it on facebook so let's hope they take me seriously.  Sometimes I feel like I have to be a 50 year old woman with a temper to get attention in these types of situations.

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Afterwards we curled up and watched Return to Me which is just what I needed after a hectic day of running around :) 

But it was a great day and I am just so thankful for cody and his love and support-never questioning or thinking I'm weird for random bouts of emotion etc but just accepting me and loving me through it all.  I am so lucky and am so excited to go to the dr's this friday for our ultrasound and who knows....finding out the gender??? what are ya'll's guesses?  Code says boy and I say girl so we need some tie-breakers :)

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So Code and I have names that we like for both a boy and a girl already, but the other night we thought we should have back ups in case we change our minds etc.  I should have known that it wasn't going to turn into a true brain storming session since we were already in bed and drifting off.  Cody started with Everest-I wasn't sure about that one and suggested Everett (sp?) then he said we should name our kids after mountains like K2.  The conversation took a particularly silly turn when he suggested kilamanjaro.  How could you go wrong with a name like that? the nick names would be great- kil.....kil-a-man.  perfect.  We never regained a serious tone after that one, but if we're particularly feeling cruel or the labor is awful we have a list of ways to get back at the unborn now:

Shustaker

Philemon

Waddily winks

Willow

Ambrosia

So we might be in trouble if we have more than one boy or girl, but for now we're good...at least we had a good giggle fest.  Cody woke up later while I was still tinkering online, giggled, and said: "binkie"  I naturally responded huh? " ya know, like a baby's name"  So we had so much fun he apparently kept it going in his sleep. :)

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What an interesting month I've had....it's amazing what you learn about yourself when going through transitions and adjustment phases. 

Now, first things first-I'm feeling much better these days.  The morning sickness has definitely abated and I feel really good when I first wake up though I better eat something quick otherwise I'll be so hungry I almost feel sick, but things are good, and we are excited to go to our next appointment on the 17th.

Now, back to my realizations and growth over the past little while.  With the combo of constantly feeling crummy, tired, "meh" just plain unmotivated, plus the hormones making me have irrational reactions to things (no anger mind you, just the water works and I hate not having control over my emotions)- really started to ware on me after awhile.  I started to get scared that i'd feel like this forever.  I thought to myself, " oh my gosh, is this what depression is like?  do people feel this way all the time?" (not that I really could count what I was feeling as depression because I knew exactly why I was feeling the way I was feeling-I was pregnant). 

So anywho, while I'm not depressed, what I DO have a problem with and have to watch out for is: Worrying. I'm a worrier.  Even though I actually have a very rational brain (thus I'm fine 99.9% of the time)- every now and then I can still worry about the "what-ifs" of life.  So I started worrying, what if I'll always feel this emotional roller coaster-it won't go away even after pregnancy and I go crazy???  (yeah...apparently my rational brain decided to take a vacation.)  And even though I know that everything will be fine and it will pass I still have those feelings of anxiety over the "what-ifs".

This is of course not the first time i've had anxiety over seemingly unlikely things.  In looking over my life and when I've most freaked myself out (and by freaking myself out I mean feeling anxious and eventually crying and feeling better afterwards) I've noticed patterns- it seems it happens during times of transition or instability (I know-duh) and it's usually worrying about the unknown (again duh).

-When I was little (we're talking around 9-10) I used to freak myself out worrying whether or not I'd make it back to Heavenly Father after this life (essentially whether I'd get into heaven or not).  I mean, can you imagine? my mom trying to comfort and reassure a little innocent kid about that? But it seemed like a pretty big deal that was not necessarily written in stone.

-The summer after we graduated college we drove around for a month and a half on a huge road trip-it was way fun but after awhile not having stability (a home, sleeping in different places every week, a regular schedule etc) started to make me feel anxious.

-When we moved into our apartment on the first day-that awful first few days when it doesn't look like a home until you unpack and decorate-and that first night there were a lot of roudy loud kids messing around right in our stairwell-not making it feel too homey etc. yeah...cried-of course, a few days later we  were pretty much moved in and I was fine.

So big shocker when we are in the middle of this huge transition in our lives that will not have an end until 9 months and even THEN we will be transitioning to deal with actually having a baby in our lives- I'm a little anxious. pretty heavy stuff.  Life changing.  Honestly looking at it like that I'm amazed that I haven't been freaking out more.  (see? things are never as bad as you think).  Anywho, I like to feel in control, well put together, etc.

Things that have helped though, are learning to not just brush my feelings aside like they don't matter or ignore them til they go away, or-let's face it, build up and explode in an emotional moment, but I accept them.  Accept the fact that i'm feeling anxious and that it's ok-in fact it's normal.  Nothing to feel guilty or ashamed about. 

Also, my testimony of prayer, scripture reading, temple attendance, and priesthood blessings has grown SO MUCH!  I'm so greatful that in times of personal struggle I am able to turn to the Lord for the support, comfort, and strength that I need, and as a result I am stronger for it.  I'm so greatful that He understands how I feel and knows exactly how to help me rise above it.  I'm also EXTREMELY greatful for Code who is ALWAYS so kind, compassionate, willing to listen, lovingly reassure, be the shoulder I can cry on, and never thinks I'm silly-just loves me.  It's really helped us become even closer.

So I may have no idea what's ahead, and I may have hard days when I don't feel that great (they are getting fewer and farther in between!), but I take peace in knowing that it's not forever and in the end, everything will work out just fine.  Code and I are so excited for this crazy adventure we're embarking on!

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ok, so hopefully most of you got that the title is a song and a fairly recognizable one at that.  If your heartbeat quickened as you thought of the movie and a chill ran down your spine as you thought of how scary it is to swim in dark water etc, then I acurately recreated the feelings we had during our totally cool night this past weekend.

We went to the Houston Pops who performed john williams' music from spielberg films including: E.T., Jaws, Close Encounters of the 3rd kind, Jurrasic Park, 1941, saving private ryan, schindler's list, Indianal Jones, the NBC Nightly News theme that is actually a full march, Hook, Terminal, and Catch Me if You Can.

My Personal favorites were definitely JAWS-they had a helium shark float out and swim above the orchestra as they played the theme-so ridiculous how effective that theme is and there's so much more than just a minor second going back and forth.  They said that when Williams played the shark theme for Spielberg on the piano-spielberg laughed and said, no really- what is it? Yeah...Williams later won an oscar for that score.; Hook was really good, during close encounters they played with the track lighting above the orchestra like they do in the movie to comunicate with the aliens and shined a concentrated beam down on the conductor like they were opening up etc.; of course saving private ryan's hymn to the fallen and schindler's list's themes are way moving and make you want to cry; Jurrassic park was awesome and the original Indiana Jones was good-though they played a bunch from the newest one that was frankly a little overkill, for the encore they played the starwars main theme which was of course not Spielberg.  Apparently Lucas had gone to Spielberg asking for a good symphonic composer for a score and he recommended Williams. Everyone clapped and cheered for that one.

It was an AMAZING night and I really enjoyed the quality of the theatre and the demographic (though we were prolly close to the youngest there not counting teens who came with their parents)

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Other things that we've been doing to keep busy-way back in the day we went to a Rockets' game here in houston when the Kings came and got to see Jimmer play for about 5 minutes so that was pretty cool.

Cody and some friends started some blogs that I REALLY like and think are helpful: notintosports.com and notintotech.com 

so you can find daily highlights of the MAIN things going on in the sports world that will be the most useful to use in a conversation with your peers/coworkers etc so you atleast have an idea of what they're talking about.  There are also some interesting basic explinations of different concepts, rules, organization, etc so you can understand, for example, the basic differences between the NBA and NCAA basketball etc.  It's updated every day so you can check it and get the most info with the least amount of effort-which is what I like about it.  Sites like ESPN etc can be intimidating and overload to people who are casually interested in sports OR who are married to, dating, etc sports fanatics and want to have stuff to bond over without having to learn EVERY little minutia about sports.

anywho, and it's the same with notintotech-tech sites are notorious for using crazy hard jargon and being specific to people who actually understand and love tech-is that me? no, but I'm married to a tech guy and tech does come up in every day conversations whether it's news or ideas for future ventures that I need to be the sounding board for, so this is helpful to me.

Feel free to check them out! and tell your friends :)

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So we were very excited for our first appointment.  Based on basic pregnancy calculaters and my last missed period it put me at 8 weeks.  During our first ultrasound I think I held my breathe until I heard the heart beat and then they found the tiny tiny jellybean.  Based on the size and development of the fetus and despite my LMP they moved me to six weeks along with a due date of Aug 3.  It was cool to hear the heart beat and all but it was still so surreal cause other than feeling tired and crappy, you don't really look any different so you wonder if something is really in there. 

 Well that was confirmed yesterday for our 12 week check up.  We had an ultrasound and pin-prick for genetic testing etc and I could not believe how much more real it felt this time.  Maybe it was cause it actually looked like a person and not a jelly bean or maybe cause it was moving independently of me.  It was so crazy! I mean the mouth was opening and closing and the tech called him/her a rascal cause it kept moving throughout the whole thing so it took her awhile to get good pictures etc.  I can't explain the surreal feeling of being ever-so-slightly weirded out that there is a living thing inside of you (kind of like alien) and yet it is so cute that you can't help but get the warm fuzzies....

Maybe it's too early to tell but I feel like this little one already will have code's eyes and my little button nose.  Here's some pics:

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Here's a pic of me-I have a small bump now, though it seems bigger in this pic cause I'm wearing my new favorite thing: a belly band so I don't have to zip my pants and these particular pants seem to give my bump more volume than it actually has but who knows...maybe I am getting bigger...but let's be honest we ate at Applebee's last night (thanks ashley!) and got appetizer, entree, and dessert so maybe that's why I look bigger, haha.  I just feel like it will take a while for me to get big cause the baby is so small and I have a long torso so it can kind of fill up before it sticks out but I guess we'll see.

signs/symptoms:

When are you due: How many weeks?: Aug 3, 2012 (12 weeks)

How much weight gained: umm...2-4 pounds?

Size of baby: just over 2 in (half an once) about size of lime (why do they always compare to fruit?)

Gender: We don't know! (Code's leaning boy and I was leaning girl but now I don't know)

Latest food craving: FRUIT! DARK CHOC MALT BALLS! the puffed cheeto's spirals

Aversions: just over all "meh" attitude when it comes to meal time

Sleep: For the most part awful- can't get comfortable, my lower back is ALWAYS killing me and I'm constantly tossing and turning and trying to break any habit of sleeping on my back. 

Worst Thing about being pregnant: the low energy and tough mornings (i'm not a morning person to begin with)

Best Thing about being pregnant: feeling the excitement and love for our future and seeing code get more and more excited

The first person you told was: Code

Are you more scared or excited: excited

Happy or mostly moody: hmmm...I'd say 70% happy 30% moody (hot buttons: technology not working)

Last time you cried over something ridiculous was: last night-just wanted to feel comfortable

You pee an estimated __ times a day?: I used to go a lot more when I first found out but it's kind of tapered...I need to drink more water

Weirdest dream you've had since pregnant?: I had my baby-it was a girl and it was by c-section and my stomach was all loose and flabby and weird and the dr told us the baby weighed 9 pounds-a reality for some I realize but i really dont' think it will be for us...we're small people.

Movement: can't feel any yet but it's definitely moving as seen by the ultrasound yesterday

other symptoms: achey back, havic on my digestive/gastro side of things, crazy surge of emotions are possible but not regular, get winded easily, sense of smell, slightly more frequent headaches, more acne, and though I'm still petite little ol' me- parts of me are growing that well...frankly never grew which is exciting.  Now I know how all my friends felt at ages 13-15.  I always wondered...

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So if you're reading this and going "WHA?!" then you are not connected-the only positive aspect of facebook. 

It's true yours truly and code are about to be up to our elbows in cute and cuddly toys, onsies, and hopefully not headaches :)

I figure I'll start from the beginning with how we found out.  We had been "trying" for a month when I was late though I tried not to get my hopes up cause getting off birth control seemed to have thrown off my usual schedule the previous month.  It was a friday morning and it found me checking out at walmart with pregnancy tests and a bag of chocolates- still wasn't sure whether they would be celebratory or comforting yet.  First test- positive.  I had been so preparing myself for a negative that I never thought of preparing myself for a positive.  It's a crazy rush of feelings: like, really? are you sure cause it would be just too good to be true...

Looking back I guess there were signs.  At the daycare I worked at (emphasis on workED) we were having a turkey lunch for the parents and their kids a couple of weeks before thanksgiving.  The daycare was cooking 10 turkeys and the smell was everywhere and so HEAVY (not that a smell needs to be intense for a pregnant nose to catch it).  Now naturally I don't like the smell of turkey, frankly I think it smells like wet dog, but anywho, so I felt kind of nauseus from it all and my coworker who I had told of our parent aspirations to, gave me this knowing look.  Two other girls had recently found out that they were pregnant at the daycare and my coworker said it comes in threes, but I tried to not get my hopes up.  I cried during Regis' farewell show....that was weird....

After the news sunk in a bit I cried (happy tears) but it was short-lived and then I just got excited.  I instantly started thinking of ways to tell Cody who was at work.  I got a box to put the pregnancy test in and planned to give it to Cody like I had gotten him something.  When he came home that day we were rushed to go visit Nate and Andrea in college station but I DEF had to tell him before we went there so I wasn't the only one carrying the news.  At first he tried to feel inside and guess without looking but he had no idea and then when he looked he sort of laughed and said, "no way!" and the usual hugging and sinking in of news.  I have it on video and would post it here but Code is self-conscious about how he reacted so I'll spare him, but it was cute.  He didn't seem as blown away as I thought he would though and when I asked him, he shrugged and said "I had a feeling."

Now it wasn't the best going through all the major holidays during my first trimester but it really hasn't been too bad (except Christmas-being sick enough to need antibiotics while pregnant is not fun).  As far as morning sickness goes around 5 weeks I felt queezy off and on throughout the day but never bad enough to actually get sick and then the day we went to the dr for our first appointment and ultrasound at 6 weeks I totally lost it out the car window in driving into the parking lot of the medical center-yeah.....not the best feeling but at least a lot of people weren't around.  It seemed that I mostly only got sick on the days of our appointments cause I was up earlier and eating faster than normal.  Now I know better- I get up and take my anti-sick pill right away and veg on the couch until my stomach has stabalized.  Then I eat my standard breakfast of wheat toast with peanut butter and honey-the only thing in the morning that seems to steady my stomach.  Then I continue to sit there and let that settle for awhile then I take my prenatal.  By now it's normally close to 11 or if I slept in noon, but I don't throw up.  I figure that's what Live with Kelly and the View are for.  Then there are days where it's nothing...shrug, hopefully it's fully gone in a few weeks-once i get passed bfast I'm good though.

To avoid an INSANE long blog post I'll do our 12 weeks check up in a separate entry so...to be cont...

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Ahhh College...a time when you're up late into the night studying, practicing until you get everything down just right...is it worth all that toil and dedication?  haha....well...you tell me:

OkGoDanceFinal.wmv Watch on Posterous

vs.

And then there was the classic Ninja Rap learned to secure our victory in a costume contest for halloween....priceless...

NinjaRap.wmv Watch on Posterous

I don't know which is better, the fact that I had so much fun with my friends in college or the fact that I still sort of remember these things and can one day MORTIFY my future children with them...it's the gift that just keeps on giving...

have a tubular night!

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So, with all of the different social and political things going on right now the subject of gay marriage vs religion and how religious people feel about it has come up a ton in the media.  I was watching the view the other day and they were reading an offical statement put out by the pope of the catholic church.  I watched in shock as they basically called the catholics unchristian...the pope....  I mean...it was a very carefully worded statement-it's not like the pope condemned all gay people to hell-they just simply stated their beliefs and doctrinal facts. 

Whoopi Goldberg used the story of Jesus and the woman taken in adultery in the bible and how He had turned the stoners away and showed compassion for the woman etc., i.e. how "christians" shouldn't judge others etc.  This is true BUT those called of God have an obligation to proclaim His word- just as Christ did.... if you would continue on with the story, Whoopi, you would remember that Christ also acknowledged that she was a sinner and told her to stop.  While He always showed love and compassion, He also never condoned or tolerated sin, and would lovingly correct and teach the will of the Father...and let's face it we will be judged by them in the end so shouldn't it matter what their opinion is? It's the principle of hate the sin, but love the sinner.  True, some christians have hard time distinguishing this fine line but just cause some people are imperfect doesn't mean that they are wrong.  And just because I don't condone the actions of gays does not mean that I hate them.

I just am sick and tired of hearing about Christians being attacked for proclaiming their beliefs when gays are encouraged to follow theirs....a double standard going on that is hypocritical.  Now I understand that there are mean-spirited people out there who are extremely judgemental and negative in what they have to say about our gay brothers and sisters, and I don't condone that either, but I do know what I believe.  And if push comes to shove and I have to choose between believing what society is telling me "is right" or God-I'm going to choose God everytime.  Sorry, Whoopi but I'm going to support a prophet of God who was inspired to speak out on this issue long before it ever really was an issue. This is the official statement of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and Mormons everywhere on this issue:

                                                        THE FAMILY

                                             A Proclamation to the World

"We, the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.

All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose.

In the premortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshipped God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan by which His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize their divine destiny as heirs of eternal life. The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave. Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally.

The first commandment that God gave to Adam and Eve pertained to their potential for parenthood as husband and wife. We declare that God’s commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force. We further declare that God has commanded that the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife.

We declare the means by which mortal life is created to be divinely appointed. We affirm the sanctity of life and of its importance in God’s eternal plan.

Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. “Children are an heritage of the Lord” (Psalm 127:3). Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, and to teach them to love and serve one another, observe the commandments of God, and be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and wives—mothers and fathers—will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations.

The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities. By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners. Disability, death, or other circumstances may necessitate individual adaptation. Extended families should lend support when needed.

We warn that individuals who violate covenants of chastity, who abuse spouse or offspring, or who fail to fulfill family responsibilities will one day stand accountable before God. Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.

We call upon responsible citizens and officers of government everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society."

I'm not judging gay people or calling them out to repentance or condemning them.  I don't know how this is all going to work out in the end, but I believe that God has his commandments and that He also loves his children-all of His children.  I'm just glad I don't have to be the one to sort it all out in the end.  If I see a gay couple will I run up to them and tell them off for using their free agency in this way? No.  I'm sure they're nice people and I wish them well, but if asked I won't deny my stance on this issue, and not changing my standards to avoid standing out in today's society does not make me unchristian-in fact, it kind of makes me more of one.

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Thanks to Cody's nocturnal wanderings I now know exactly the face our future children will use against me cause I know they are going to get his eyes.

He rolled out of bed clutching his pillow.  "Cody...." in my normal warning tone.  He turns around and gives me the most innocent, sad, and pleading eyes I've ever seen as if to say: "please don't make me get back in bed".  I couldn't help but bust out laughing.  He toddled over to the closet, looked in side, stood there for a minute....then said, "I forgot what I wanted to do..." and came back to bed.  It was just so funny and sweet all at the same time.  I hope my kids don't think I'm mocking them when they give me the puppy face and I laugh-it's just so funny and sweet :)

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I have always enjoyed the novelty of staying up late.  Even now when i'm not my rambunctious teenage-self anymore and get easily tired at the end of the day-I still like to stay up.  This explains why I'm up writing a blog post about being up-it's a well known fact that there's not a whole lot of productive things to do when up late.  Though I must say, when staying up late one starts to get hungry which, coupled with checking out a couple of my fav cooking sites, def inspires me for meals/things I want to try in the upcoming week- which is a miracle since lately i've been in a cooking rut.  It's fun to get excited about recipes and grocery lists-takes the chore out of the fact they have to get done.

I think my night-owl tendancy is stemmed from two things. 

One: i'm an introvert.  And as an introvert I really enjoy being alone-not that I, or any introvert, am/is a loner or anti-social (trust me I wish I had more girl friends all the time), but I can recharge my batteries by having time to think, ponder, have some quiet time-thus the late hours when all else is quiet and I'm left to my thoughts is a positive thing. 

Two: when I was growing up my parents always had bed times-strict conservative ones- but ever since i can remember, we could stay up another thirty minutes or so if we were reading in bed.  Thus started my love of reading and staying up late-frankly it was a win win situation for me, and why you can always find my nightstand piled high with books.  Currently I have The Best of Sherlock Holmes (highly recommend it! so interesting and witty-not that far off from the movies) and John Adams by McCullough.  Don't get me wrong-sometimes I read during the day but i'll always love reading at night.

Another perk of staying up late is that inevitably cody will do or say something that will either give me warm fuzzies (*sigh* "I love you so much...") or laugh:  For example, just now he opened his eyes pointing at the ceiling saying, "that's gonna get everywhere" or something like that as he started to get out of the bed.  Turns out he thought there were cups filled with fruit on display?.....that were up high.....and going to spill? shrug, I dunno but it was funny as he mumbled things like "danger will robinson" and then finally said, "I'm not sleep talking I'm just trying to be funny"  he's always very defensive if he thinks that I think he's sleep walking/talking which I find adorable.

Final perk of staying up late: when it starts to rain outside (which it is right now!) and you feel all warm and secure in your bed and can just listen to it-cause  let's face it, with my luck chances are it won't full-on rain tomorrow when I'm up to enjoy it.  Rain has gotten sneaky in houston lately.

So for whatever reason you're up...happy reading/internet browsing fellow night owls!

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I don't know what it is about odd-numbered years but I never quite get into remembering them-like even towards the end of 2011 I still had to stop and think of what year it was.  Low and behold the second it turns to 2012 I feel like it's always been 2012 and am instantly ok with it.  Clearly I prefer even numbers to odd or something. 

We traveled to Georgia for Christmas this year and had a great time.  Sadly I barely had come down with something the day before we left so I was pretty out of it through Christmas day.  Christmas night was spent at a local ER (the only place open) getting some antibiotics and the rest of the trip was spent feeling a heck of a lot better :) Honestly can say it was the first Christmas I was ever sick for.

But we did lots of fun things other than laying around and blowing our noses:

We went to the Atlanta Museum of Art-they had a cool exhibit Picasso to Warhol.  One of my favorites was probably a statue in their permanent collection pictured below-so amazing how they get stone to look like delicate cloth!  There was a cool statue outside that we all posed with.

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After the museum we went to the Varsity which apparently is famous for being the biggest drive-in.  The food was ok but cool to say we've been there.

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Later in the week frank, don, code,and I visited the family in Brunswick as well as grandpa Nolden's grave along the way. It was fun going back to the beach, ice cream shop, and the shell shop.  Walking along the beach we found some interesting critters too:

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3 generations of Noldens:

Along with lots of games of zion's check, a Lord of the Rings marathon, and lots of good food we had a blast in Georgia!

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So I had a long day at the daycare.  A long day keeping track of 15 three year-olds (luckily with the help of another teacher or I would have lost my mind).  I started to feel like I was coming down with something half-way through the day.  I pull up to home feeling so tired and "blah" and worried that I will be sick for christmas break.  I open the door to this:

(Indiana Jones theme is playing in the background)

Perplexed?  I was and then I looked down and saw this:

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I walked through the makeshift wall to see this:

string everywhere!  As i followed it, there were messages along the way:

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And finally was led to the closet and this:

yes...he sat there for a good ten minutes til I found him.

He then surprised me with this gift for "saving him":

If you know me at all you know that this is THE perfect gift for me!!!! I love plays, symphonies, etc but on top of that I truly love soundtracks.  I am SOOOO excited! It's gonna be a night full of star wars, indiana jones, jurassic park, etc etc etc LIVE!

i am so greatful to have a friend/husband who isn't afraid to have some fun and think outside the box :)  It was all I needed today and I didn't even know it :)

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I can't believe how fast this month has gone! I also realized that I have gotten into the habit of only posting when I have a zillion pictures.  What happened?? I used to actually enjoy sharing just my thoughts without using the crutch of pictures.  So this is me trying to get back to true blogging.  (whatever I love pictures). 

Work has been crazy lately but they're in the process of hiring a new assistant to help out in my room which will be amazing to have someone over three feet to talk to :)

Cody and I are getting ready to drive down to Atlanta for christmas which we can't wait for. It's been awhile since I've had a christmas where there are still a bunch of kids to get excited etc-christmases at the Richards home have been very mellow for a long time now. 

I'm almost done with a project that I took on this summer-digitalizing and editing all of our family's home videos.  I'm currently rendering and burning the 5th dvd installment of it and it's only up to 1997 so I have a little ways to go.  It's been really cool though-kind of cool to get back in touch with your inner child.

Oh yes, and a very sad event has happened since last blogging.....Magellan P. Finn has passed away.  Yeah...it's depressing to look at our fish tank now-he was my favorite.  He was so full of life and personality.  sigh....I have to remind myself that just because I don't care about the rest of our fish doesn't mean that I should forget to feed them every day but really, the desire is gone.

And on that note...Merry Christmas everyone!  Hope that you will be able to have the joy and peace that your families and this season can bring.  and be ready for a post full of pics when we get back :)

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There are few times now when it feels surreal.  I remember when we first got married and moved into our first apartment it felt so weird-like we were playing house.  Last night code and I went out and bought our first christmas tree.  We took it home, played christmas music and started putting it together. I just couldn't help but feel how surreal it was.  I remember growing up and my family always putting together our christmas tree the first monday after thanksgiving while listening to christmas music.  It was always so exciting to unwrap the ornaments and remember all the memories associated with them.  My mom collected ornaments for each of us kids throughout our lives. 

 Last night code and I unwrapped them and I told him where I got each of them etc. I just thought about how our future children are going to help us decorate the tree every first monday after thanksgiving as we listen to music and it'll be just as comforting secure to them as it was to me.  Then I realize that my parents were figuring everything out just like code and I are figuring everything out-we dont' have all the answers, dont' know exactly what we we're doing but we're making memories, and our kids will have all the confidence in us just like we had in our parents.  shrug, just cool to think about.

anywho, here are some pics:

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Our first christmas tree lesson:

ornaments don't come with hooks-apparently you buy them seperately. noted.

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Here are some of our more special ornaments collected over the last year:

an ornament from our first christmas, one I got on my trip to scotland, one from the bahamas on our honeymoon, and our ornament from college station.

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it was a great night and we capped it off with charlie brown's christmas.

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MERRY CHRISTMAS!

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I think we have set a record in the past few months of visiting our friends in college station.  They've been there for a year now and before the past few months we had been up there....once? maybe twice? now we're up there or they're down here every other weekend it seems like.  (this is a good thing btw-not complaining)

We have really been getting into the spirit of the holidays lately-except decorating the apartment, really need to get on that.... (listening to delilah, recording old classics off of the different family channels like the old clamation movies and the santa clause etc., and taking every opportunity to see pretty christmas lights).  The latter is what had us up in college station this past weekend.

There's a Santa Wonderland just outside of college station where you drive through this park full of lights and listen to a special christmas radio station etc.  It was so much fun! We took a lot of pics so bare with me:

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And of course it couldn't be christmas without cattle, and battle of alamo reinactments

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whoops...just realized the longhorns weren't photographed-i took video and their heads would rock back and forth, just too lazy to upload the video-pretty much all of these things would move in some way with cool effects.

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There was this cool light river that went throughout the whole park:

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Driving through the tunnels reminded me of a space mountain and they even had a pseudo-ballagio fountain effect with lights

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This was the personal carriage ride that was touring the lights behind us.

It was a really fun night and we topped it off with Arthur Christmas that's out in theatres now-I would highly recommend it to everyone-it was way funny, cute, festive, the perfect xmas movie for the family to go to. 

Other highlights from the weekend include some rousing games of monopoly and I do mean rousing...the girls went to a craft fair while the boys got some work done saturday afternoon where we saw this ingenious invention: 

I give you: the teddy tank.

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 I got two little ornaments for our future christmas tree.  The byu games were great games-(basketball and football), and the last night we went to a community christmas festival where there were cute dance numbers from local youth, hot chocolate and cookies, a hayride, and fun photo opps like this:

but it must be said the absolute highlight of the trip was....the puppystore.  yes....there is such a magical place.  It was full of college dates-the guys trying to show their warm and fuzzy side I think, but I found a little kimchi....no, we didn't buy him but I sure wanted to (it's good that code is there to reign me in sometimes)

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All and all it was a great weekend and we're lucky to have such good friends nearby

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I've never really done Boy Scouts. When I was in Young Men's I think I attained my Tendertoe merit badge or something like that... but then the program just kind of died. I didn't like scouts anyway, so that was good enough for me then.

Now I'm (mostly) grown up and they've made me the Scout Committee Chairman in my ward. Oh boy. You can imagine the awkward silence in the room tonight when I was conducting our committee meeting -- someone brought up how we need to have a court of honor next month. I paused and asked a question that seemed to catch them by surprise.

What's a court of honor?

Right now it seems my life is filled with situations like this. I'm doing so many new things both at work and at church that I'm frequently out of my comfort zone. Frequently. But I'm learning the importance of doing things I don't necessarily like... and trying hard at things that aren't necessarily fun.

And while I may never end up liking this stuff (or even having a lot of fun)... I'm slowly accepting the court of honor moments as opportunities to learn and grow. I feel like Heavenly Father is teaching me, and if I don't become a good student quickly then class might drag on forever. :-)

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This weekend we decided to take advantage of the nice texas fall weather and visited this really cool and random historical house museum that's right in the middle of downtown. 

(there are two wings that come off of this main part of the house but I didn't back up enough to get them)

Even though it's downtown you feel like you're in the country with all of the pretty gardens and the curving bayou that surrounds the property-we even saw kayakers on it.  The house is pretty cool though we sadly couln't take pictures inside so I can't even show my favorite part of the house: when you went upstairs it was all wood floors and this huge long hallway with rooms going off of it on each side with a stepdown room in the middle so there were a few steps  etc-it was soo cool looking!

Anywho, it was fun though and we got some good pics of the grounds:

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(that bridge was kind of freaky when you walked across- you could really feel it bouncing and swaying)

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And here are some gardens that reminded me that I want to go to versailles some day.

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All and all it was a great weekend.  We also had the brownings over to watch the byu game last night which was fun but really boring after the first half so we played trouble, monopoly, and wacky six.  Their kids are  so cute and it's fun to have a couple to hang out with.  I'll have to take a pic of their son's birthmark on his forehead-it totally looks like a little addidas symbol-so cool and so cute :)

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I used to go camping with my family SO MUCH when growing up. We'd pack up and go to Mount Charleston, Lake Mead, California, or even Utah... wherever we could. Sometimes we'd go on the spur of the moment.

I remember one Friday afternoon I came home from school and my parents said "Let's go to California for the weekend!" We packed up as fast as we could and hit the road... stopping halfway and sleeping in a random park in Baker, CA when it got too late to drive further. That's the place with the big thermometer, right?

Another time me, my dad, and our German exchange student Robbie were on a campout at Warm Springs Nevada. We were getting ready to cook a dutch oven dinner... I don't remember exactly what we were cooking, but it was spicy because Dad brought some fresh jalapeno peppers to cook in it.

Robbie saw the jalapenos (I guess they're not so common in Germany) and said, "I know what these are. These aren't spicy." My dad said, "Oh yes they are." Robbie still didn't agree, so we told him to eat one raw to prove us wrong.

He took a really big bite, and it was pretty spicy. So spicy that Robbie started screaming and freaking out. In his mindless fury he grabbed an empty soda can that was lying on the ground and ripped it clean in half. I was kind of scared, actually.

I wonder if there are any good spots to go camping around Houston? The weather is finally starting to turn nice...

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This year's halloween has been interesting.  At the daycare the kids dressed up in their costumes and went around to the different rooms trick or treating-all of which happened before I arrived.  I got the fun duty of getting them up from their naps and then giving them a mountain of cupcakes, cookies, candy, and juice and then proceed to watch them for the rest of the day.  I thought parents would come way early cause...hey it's halloween and the kiddos need to go home and get ready for their night of fun, but no-I still had five kids at five o'clock-and there were still a bunch of kids at the daycare at six thirty when we close-when do these parents plan on going trick-or-treating??? Don't they know people think it's rude when you go over too long after dark??? Oh well, there was a def sugar high but I took them all outside and ran them like a drill sergeant to take off some of the edge :)

Code and I realized something this year....Halloween isn't really all that fun without kids-especially now that I'm trying to make healthier food choices so even all the candy is no real perk.  Though we could have stayed home and watched a scary movie-we decided to focus on the more fun  light-hearted side of halloween and went over to my parents' house to see some trick or treaters.  As we were sitting down to this awesome classic halloween meal: (chili with ghost rolls and some dry-iced rootbeer)........

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The doorbell rang. I jumped up all excited to see the first cute batch of kiddos.  I walked to the door and hefted the seriously-too-big candy bowl and opened to.......a 30-something year old lady.  Yup.  Just her....no kids, and not even in a costume holding out her bucket smiling.....um....ok....no explination either-no shame.

I went back to our dinner feeling a little weirded out and let mom go to the door for the next doorbell-it was the lady again...somehow she had managed to forget while hitting up the four houses in our cul-de-sac that she had already gone to our house.  Happy Halloween to me!

So there might have been a slight lag in cute trick or treaters but we managed to play some rook and we borrowed men-in-black so I count the evening a success.

Here is my attempt to be halloweeny:

a cool wire spiderweb cupcake stand:

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