Free... Free... $20?!

Today was more eventful than most, and i'm definitely feeling the after effects of it.
The next couple months of rest from work are going to be amazing.
Anyway, back to today.
First thing in the morning, the two children I've been nannying were dropped off at our apartment.
Their parents were meeting with a girl about being the new nanny, so I happily agreed to watch them for a couple hours.
After they got picked up Brad left for a group project meeting and I got ready to go bowling!
Our ward was having a social at Teton Lanes and everyone got to bowl one game for free, and since i've been wanting to go bowling for months, going for free was even better!
I got there and none of the people from the ward that I really knew were there!
I felt so alone and was texting Brad about how lonely I was and whatnot.
My hormones started to get to me as I was sitting by myself at one of the lanes and I was about to start crying when the Relief Society second counselor asked me to come play with her and her husband.
Thank goodness.
I really did NOT want to start crying in the middle of the bowling alley.
Soon after I joined her and her husband, Stephanie and Hans showed up (my visiting teaching companion and her husband) and I started to feel much better.
People I knew!
Yay!
So they joined our team and we bowled away.
It wasn't my best game, a 99, but my first game never is.
If we had been able to play a few more games for free, I guarantee I would have gotten a good 150 at the end.
I always get better later, but oh well.
Brad and I got home around the same time and I was planning on going to SnowFest here in Rexburg for an hour or so, but then a movie came on that we both wanted to watch, and you know...
We didn't end up going. Haha.
BUT, if we had gone, everything would have been free!
-Free is the key word in this blog-
Around 7:30 we decided to go play some pool at a billiard place that recently opened up in town.
The place is owned by Cajun Bob, this crazy old man who talked to us all about how plastic cards are the reason for bankrupty and how women shouldn't be in the workplace, and his disappointment in women who can't even boil water.
He also talked about the 4 missions that him and his wife went on and how he's a high school drop-out who is now a multi-millionaire.
It was all pretty entertaining.
Anyway, he told us the cost for playing pool was $8 a person for 2 hours and since we didn't have any cash (which led to the credit cards are evil discussion) he let us play for one hour for free.
There's the word free again!
Brad won every game, of course, but it was still fun.
The first game, I hadn't hit in a single ball while Brad was just going for the 8 ball.
I ended up scratching and also hitting the 8 ball in on the same shot and therefore losing the game.
The second game I scratched on the break, so I lost again.
Haha!
The third game however, Brad scratched on the break so technically I won, but we continued to play and Brad ended up winning.
In my defense, the last game was pretty close at the end.
We stopped playing after only 30 minutes because I wasn't feeling very well and we were both starving.
To my surprise, Brad took us out to eat at an actual restaurant!
Let me tell you, I am still shocked an hour later.
We went to Gringos and the bill, with tip, was $20 which we thought was a little pricey, but the food was pretty good so we didn't complain.
I guess I just feel like Mexican Food should always be $5 and under, you know?
Not $8 or $9 for a burrito, but oh well.
Anyway, it was the only thing we paid for all day, so I don't mind.
Unfortunately, now i've got a hundred things that feel icky but one fun day was worth it.

As far as work goes, the parents have found a new nanny!
The one they met with earlier today.
The only problem is that she can't watch them from 7:30-9:30 on Tues and Thurs mornings.
They asked me if I would be willing to watch them for those days, but I finally stood my ground and said no.
Waking up early to drive 20 minutes in the ice and snow to watch the kids for only 2 hours is definitely not worth it.
They found a friend in Rigby who could watch the kids for those couple hours, but since that family is out of town this upcoming week, I said I could do it for just this next week.
We'll see how it goes.
I need to do some laundry anyway since after I stop nannying for them, we won't be able to do it for free anymore.

Don't Take Me Shopping.

I had a bit of an emotional breakdown today.
And poor Brad was there as my hormonal, emotional victim.
This next bit might be TMI, but it's vital to the story, so I apologize.

I've REALLY been needing to go bra shopping lately.
Being pregnant, my body is getting bigger and bigger, you know?
Well, the thing is, I HATE bra shopping.
Always have.
The only thing that ever made it bearable was going with my mom and little sister, but since I don't have them up here with me, I was a little lost.
My good friend Ana is out of town and I just didn't have anyone to go with besides my husband.
We went to Ross, since we're poor, and I just kind of got upset and left the store after only a few minutes.
Brad was just wandering around on his own and thinking about walking over to Best Buy and I just really wanted someone to support me!
To help me find the right size and say what's cute and at least stand with me.
But Brad isn't really that kind of person and I ended up being a bit of a baby about it all and we left.
He drove over to the mall and I asked him to leave me alone for a bit, so I sat in the car and cried my eyes out for a while while he walked in the mall.
After practicing how to explain to Brad how I felt without crying, I walked into the mall and told him and it was all just dramatic and dumb and whatnot.
We ended up at Victoria's Secret where I got something (my first purchase at that store ever) and everything was ok afterwards.
I just needed to blog about this to remind myself to warn Brad about my hormones next time i'm pregnant.
I've become a bit of a crying crazy person.

Pregnancy Brain

You've all heard of Pregnancy Brain, right?
Well, i've got it.
I can't remember all of the specific "incidents" of my forgetfulness and general absence from the world, but a rather funny one happened yesterday.

Brad leaves for work a little before 4 every morning and always comes in to kiss me goodbye while i'm still in bed.
Yesterday morning, he came in and asked me where the car keys were.
I told him that they were probably in my coat pocket, since that's where they usually are, and he didn't come back so I guessed he found them right where I said.
When he got home at 7, right before I was about to leave for work, he told me exactly where he found the car keys.
In the lock on the outside of our front door!
I guess when we got home from grocery shopping last night, I left the keys in the door after I unlocked it.
Oops.

"What to Expect..." calls it absentmindedness.
I just call it funny.

It's a Girl!

Sorry it's taken me so long to write about this!
It's been a pretty busy week.

Tuesday was a pretty life-changing day!
First, I had my 20-week ultrasound that revealed that mine and Brad's little fetus is a little GIRL!
Everyone has been rooting for a boy (besides me), so it was nice to have won all the bets. :)
Not that I wouldn't have loved a little boy to dress up in little clip on ties and shiny shoes.
Buuuut, could anyone really imagine me starting out with a boy?!
Plus, it would have been a statistical miracle for me to have a boy, considering the vast majority of girl's in both our families.
Anyway, it was really exciting.
Brad didn't come with me (he stayed at the apartment to watch the kids I nanny since I didn't want to have to take two kids with me), so I texted him the gender and he Facebooked it and the news got out pretty dang fast.
Other than being a girl, she's doing really well.
Getting bigger and bigger everyday.
Although I never felt any of the "flutterings" or "butterfly wings," as everyone kept describing, I sure feel her a lot now!
It's almost like muscle spasms... so weird.
She is definitely trying to make some more room for herself.
You can even feel her move on the outside!
Though very faintly.
Brad was able to feel her a little bit one time and it was really neat.
The second big thing that happened on Tuesday was that I finally talked to the people I nanny for.
For a few weeks now i've been considering quitting my job as a nanny.
It's really been wearing on me, physically, mentally, and emotionally.
At first I thought I could just barrel through it, since the "hard part" of pregnancy was supposed to be over around 16 weeks, but things only got worse symptom wise and it's been really hard for me.
I mean, I would come home from work crying, depressed, physically exhausted...
It was pretty awful.
Unfortunately, I have a hard time expressing my emotions sometimes and just couldn't make myself to the parents about how I can't seem to do it anymore.
Luckily, they were the ones who brought up the subject of me leaving after noticing my rather depressing demeaner everyday.
I had Brad with me during our talk and he was really supportive and helpful and I was finally able to tell them how I feel and that I just can't be their nanny anymore.
They were very understanding and sympathetic.
It was SUCH a relief to get everything out in the open and to know that after this week I no longer have to pretend to have more energy than I actually do.
A lot of people were rather unsupportive of my decision, mostly for financial reasons, but I know this was the right decision, and I think our federal grant money that came at the same time as I was making the decision really helped to solidify my reasoning.
So, that was Tuesday.
Haha.

Since then, things have just been so much better.
I can finally call our baby a she.
We've decided on a first name, but not a middle name yet.
I can enjoy the last while at work because I know I won't have to keep going back for the next 4 months.
I can go grocery shopping for healthy food! (Thanks US government!)

In fact, because I just feel so much better, i've actually been doing things like cooking!
We've been having a lot more real meals lately due to my improved mood.

Also this past week, we were able to play laser tag with our friends the Ensigns as well as some of their friends as well.
It was LOTS of fun and it took a full 3 days for my leg muscles to recover after all the crouching and shooting the other team, but worth it.
I've also been spending more time with Paul and Ana, which is so fun.
I don't know how I would continue to survive in Rexburg without them.

Well, this post has gotten pretty long, so maybe I should try to just blog more often to avoid these long-winded ones.
:)

365 days of Brad.

I wasn't going to post again until my next baby appointment, but since today IS mine and Brad's anniversary, I suppose I could do a mushy love post.

I bore a short testimony today in Relief Society about what a blessing it is to have been sealed to my companion for eternity and to be able to be starting our family and know that our children can be with us forever.
I almost started to cry up there just thinking about how wonderful and blessed my life is because of Brad and our marriage and the knowledge that we have of God's plan and eternal families.
But, since I was already up there with tired eyes, a sore throat from puking all day, and bare, swollen feet, I figured that crying would just add to the pregnancy cliche too much.
So I sat down before I got too emotional.
Anyway, I am just so grateful for the life that we have and are going to have for the rest of forever.

The past year seems to have flown by so quickly, but when I read over our Christmas letter for this year (which never did get mailed out. :( I'm going to get on top of Christmas cards early next year!) I realize just how much we've done, where we've been, how we've grown, and how we're (mostly my tummy) is still growing.
I feel like we made a lot of effort to spend time with our families this past year and i'm so glad we did.
California, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Utah....
It's just been son wonderful to get closer to those we hold closest to our hearts.
I'm even more thankful that we tried to devote so much time to our families, because this coming year we'll be able to spend even more time with our own little family.
A family that we have created and built together, as one.
It's going to be such an exciting, albeit trying, time but we are so looking forward to it.

To some people, one year is such a long time.
I mean, celebrities get married three of four times in the span of one year!
To me though, this first year is only the very teeny tiny tip of the beginning.
And i'm very excited to continue our journey into infinity.




Now that my random, mostly nonsensical, blurb is over, I can tell you about how much I love Brad!
Well, it's quite a lot so I couldn't really write it down, but I can express my appreciation for him here!
The last couple months, mostly the last couple weeks, have been really hard for me.
Let's just say that pregnancy does NOT agree with me.
Thankfully, Brad has been there for me at every moment.
Although the apartment isn't quite as clean as it used to be, and we seem to be eating a lot more frozen pizza and mac and cheese, he does make such an effort to make me feel better and try to cover my "housewife" kind of duties.
Honestly, even though you'd think I would really enjoy the break, it hurts me so much that I can't cook up a nice dinner every night, I can't do the dishes for more than a few minutes, I can barely stay awake to watch a movie with my husband.
I have such a need to cook and clean and care for my house and my husband but it's so hard lately and I can barely stand it!
Luckily I have such an amazing supportive guy there for me.
He's the only one that is keeping a smile on my face through everything and I feel more and more grateful for him everyday.
I can only imagine what a great father he is going to turn out to be.
I love you Bradley!

Two Weeks of Freedom

On December 18th, 2009, Brad and I were released from work and school and real world obligations and were able to spend 2 wonderful weeks free from everything.
It was wonderful.
Unfortunately, we're entering the world again on Tuesday, but before that happens let me tell you about the last couple weeks!
We started out our vacation by heading down to my hometown of Desert Hot Springs, CA to spend the holidays with my parents.
After a short stop at Brad's sister's house in Utah to spend the night, we arrived in sunny California just in time to attend my home wards Christmas Party!
Lots of food and singing and laughing.
On Sunday was the ward's Christmas program, where Brad and I giggled to ourselves most of the time because, well, let's say my home ward is quite eccentric.
We didn't do a whole lot the following week, which was so nice.
Life had been so busy for so long that this was all a much needed break.
Speaking of busy, I tried to get a picture of my growing tummy, but nothing was working very well, so here's one, kind of.
On the Saturday after Christmas, we went on a short little hike with my parents at the Morongo Preserve.
I don't care what any of you think, but the desert is one of the most beautiful environments to me.
I took this picture of them taking a break (with my dad and his new hat).
Then Brad tried to take one of my on the bench with my parents.
Obviously i'm the better photographer. Lol.
Here's a candid shot of Brad that I LOVE.
Doesn't this look like some indie band photo shoot kind of thing?
This bird was a gorgeous blue color, but it didn't really come out in the picture, obviously.
I think it's a nice silhouette though.
We left California on Sunday afternoon and checked into Circus Circus in Las Vegas on Sunday night.
We stayed there for three nights as a kind of mini anniversary vacation thing.
Our anniversary is actually this Sunday (tomorrow. eep!) but prices were much cheaper to go last week.
On Monday, we spent the first part of the day in Circus Circus' Adventuredome, which is their indoor themepark.
I know, I know, "You're pregnant! You're not supposed to go on roller coasters and rides and what not!"
Well you know what, I'm just fine and the fun was worth the tiny miniscule risk.
These are our all day ride wristbands.
Later on Monday, we decided to walk the strip.
Probably not the best idea for a hungry, pregnant woman with swollen feet in non-supportive shoes, but it was still fun.
We had planned on first stopping at Treasure Island to watch their singing/dancing pirate show, but apparently it was closed for a few days, so we headed on down to the Bellagio for the fountain show.
It was starting at 5:30 (they run every half hour) and we got their at 5:35, just in time to catch the water falling from the very end of the show.
Lame!
We went ahead and just waited for the next one, which was awesome.
I filmed the whole thing, but it's a pretty big file, so I didn't upload it here.
Afterwards, I was feeling AWFUL.
Sick, tired, sore, you name it.
But we ended up going to eat at Denny's, where I got a french toast slam, and felt so much better afterwards.
We also got to watch the volcano erupt at The Mirage, which was right outside our window at Denny's.
The volcano was something I don't remember every watching before and it was pretty neat.
Smoke and fire going crazy!
The Denny's was across the street, but we could feel the vibrations and even the heat from it!
It was awesome.
Tuesday was Stratosphere day.
I've been wanting to go up that tower and ride the tall ride since it opened up YEARS ago, so this was a bit of a dream fulfillment.
The ride wasn't quite as exhilarating as we expecting (it's one of the rides that shoots you staright up and then lets you drop down), but still fun and what a view!
We spent a bit of time on the observation deck just looking out at the vast valley.
Here we are taking a break from observing and just chilling on some couches.
We were able to find the Las Vegas temple through one of those telescopes that you pay 50 cents to use.
Then, with the zoom on my camera, Brad took a picture of it.
See!
You can see all the little spires up against the mountain!
That night we got foot-long hot dogs at a place my dad recommended just outside of Circus Cirus called the Snack Nook.
I forgot to take a picture of em before we ate them, but you can see the remnants here.
We also went to the Midway in Circus Circus on Tuesday night to play some carnival games and watch the free circus acts.
We only had 3 quarters to spend, which didn't result in very many tickets to redeem at the pirze booth, but we ended up with lots of tootsie rolls and jolly ranchers!
The circus acts were pretty neat too.
First was a The Golden Duo who did some od the high-flying acrobat kind of stuff.
I wanted to watch the next act (which was 40 minutes away) and since the small bleachers they have there fill up FAST, we ended up finding some good seats and sitting and waiting the whole time.
The next act was pretty neat though, a kind of magic act, so it was worth it.
I knew that Brad wouldn't want to wait for the next one, so we headed back to the room.
Wednesday was our last day and we had to check out by 11, so we checked out around 9 (to avoid the rush) and headed out to Fremont Street for a breakfast buffet at Main Street Station.
It's one of the cheapest buffets, so you can see whay the poor married kids would go there. :)
It was yummy though, so everything was fine.
We then drove up to the temple, where we were married almost an entire year ago.
I had been planning on going through the temple, but since I forgot my temple clothes in Rexburg, it didn't happen.
It was overcast outside, and therefore a little chilly, so we didn't stay long.
We just walked along the grounds and reminisced about our wedding day.
It was nice.
Then we headed up to Utah to stay with Jenna for a couple days.
The drive was pretty interesting.
At one point, the car just stopped running.
Brad pulled over to the side of the freeway and just restarted everything, and it was running again.
Totally random.
Later, when I was driving, my knee bumped the keys, which turned the car off.
We got it started again and soon Brad took over driving again.
When we were maybe 20 miles outside of Amercan Fork (where Brad's sister lives) our car said "low fuel."
We wanted to see if we could make it the whole way and we were doing pretty good, until 8 miles away from the exit when our car went ahead and quit.
We pulled off the road right behind someone else who was having car trouble and called up Jenna and Travis.
After a while, the people in front of us came back and said they had a small amount of gas that might be able to take us to the next exit, which was only 1 mile away, so we poured it in, made it off the next exit, coasting most of the way, and ALMOST made it to a gas station.
This picture shows just how close we were!!
Anyway, it was pretty funny.
My sister-in-law drove up soon thereafter and gave us a gas can.
We put a bit in, then pulled into the gas station and filled up the rest of the way.
Quite the experience.
We stayed in Utah until New Year morning and then finally came home to Idaho.
Despite the cold and snow, I love being home.
Now, this post is super long and Brad and I REALLY need to go grocery shopping, so i'll end for now.
The next post, in about 2 weeks, will most likely be announcing the gender of our baby, so stay tuned!