:(

This is what we woke up to . . . And it didn't stop all day long! I hate that! Even more than I hate eating fish. (And I really hate fish.) Any how, I've decided to pretend like it didn't snow today. Imagine with me, if you will, a beautiful day in a far off place called Provo last Wednesday. . .

Today (last Wednesday) it was finally windy enough to fly kites. YAY! I love flying kites and we were especially anxious to go because we had two, never-before-been-flown specialty kites. One is a pirate ship and the other is a World War II fighter plane. So we packed them off to the park to see how cool they would look up in the air. We ended up not getting a very good idea because we couldn't get them to fly. Apparently the pirate kite takes more wind than we had. It would stay in the air for a minute or two and then slowly sink to the ground. It was pretty sad. The WWII plane wouldn't fly either, but we think it wasn't put together quite right. It stayed in the air for about 15 seconds, and it looked great while it was there, but then it took a nosedive like it was off center or something. We're going to have to see if we can't fix it before next time. Fortunately we had one of those cheap, triangular kites that flew really, really well. All in all it was a good day.

Consequences

So I've been crocheting like a mad woman ever since I started that first baby blanket. I'm halfway through blankie number three, which is by far the best. In exchange for the countless hours I've spent working on those things I got . . .

my very own wrist brace. That's right folks, crocheting can give you carpal tunnel. YAY! I woke up yesterday to a cold, swollen, achy, tingling hand. It was slightly frightening, but more annoying than anything. And now I get to wear my stylish new brace for several weeks while I let my wrist rest. That's not the worst part though. What's even more horrible than having to keep my wrist practically immobile is how incredibly bored I am! Since I've been pregnant I've felt like I should spend every waking moment doing something. It doesn't matter what, as long as it's something. As soon as I run out of things to do I get incredibly, out-of-my-mind bored. Since I'm at home most of the time this has become something of a problem. I found that I ended up doing the same things over and over again. (Clean, crochet, read, watch a movie, repeat.) At the beginning of the week I reached the point where I didn't want to do any of those things ever again. Seriously, the thought of doing any one of those things was enough to make me want to cry. So instead I started coloring. That's right, I've colored dozens of pictures of Disney Princesses including, but not limited to, Halloweenderella. (That's Cinderella in black and orange in case you were wondering.) Any how, now that I'm temporarily disabled I can't crochet at all and coloring is even getting difficult. I think I might drive Ty crazy with "what do you want to do now?" moments. At least it's only two weeks.

And I did have another form of distraction this morning. There was a bridal fair at Provo High School. I went with Ty's sisters Krystal and Melissa. We thought it would be funny to tell everyone there that I was engaged. (Keep in mind I'm six months pregnant.) It ended up not being that great because everyone was too mature about it. No one acted shocked or horrified. I was hoping that someone would at least give me a "what a dirty tramp" look, but no one did. Oh well. At least I got to get my hair done and sample lots of yummy, free food.

Jealousy

I've been reading a bunch of blogs lately and I got jealous of the super cute, scrapbook paper backgrounds everyone else had. So I decided to get my own. Thus the new look. Ta-da!

Any how, I'm having one of those "I'm fat and lazy and disgusting" mornings. There are a bunch of things I could be doing, but instead of being productive I've been playing Solitaire and hoping this day would end quickly. I kind of want to cry, but I decided that I'm too lazy for that too.

Instead I'm going to think up 25 things I love and hope that puts me in a better frame of mind. Here they are (in no particular order):

1. Cookies (doesn't matter what kind)

2. Windy days for flying kites

3. Little things growing in my garden

4. Watching/feeling Leo moving around in my tummy

5. Sunshine

6. Watching movies

7. Making stuff (sewing, cooking, crocheting etc.)

8. Hanging out with Ty

9. Singing

10. Good books

11. Taking walks when the weather is nice

12. Eating*

13. Finishing the laundry (even though it's only finished for a day)

14. Playing Games

15. My family

16. Roller skating

17. Dance Dance Revolution

18. Flying instead of driving

19. Thanksgiving

20. Anything that makes me laugh

21. Coloring books

22. New crayons

23. Organization

24. Pictures

25. Indoor plumbing

Hey, I think it worked. I don't feel quite so much like a slobby blob. Have a great one!

*Funny story about how much I like to eat. Ty and I went to Bombay House last week. They have such amazing Indian food, and we were hungry. Any how, our food came and we proceeded to eat every last bite of it. It was so yummy! Just as we were finishing the waiter came up, looked at our plates and said, "So, would you like a big box for all of this leftover food?" I just smiled and said, "No, thanks!"

Random

When we first got married Ty would always use my toothbrush "on accident." When I would get mad at him he would say that it wasn't his fault because they were both green. They didn't look the same they were just both green. He said that he didn't pay that much attention, he just reached in and grabbed one. So for Christmas I got us both a new toothbrush. His was blue and mine was hot pink. Problem solved. Then I walked into the bathroom a few days later and he was using my toothbrush again! He said he didn't know how it happened, and I didn't know how he could still mix them up when they were now totally different. Well, in the past few weeks I've caught myself using his toothbrush two different times! I have no idea how I did it either. I told Ty that pregnancy makes you slightly retarded, but he thinks I'm making it up. Oh well, huh?

Happy Updates

This is a follow up of several things I've posted earlier, plus a few bonus happy thoughts.

*First of all our garden is growing! Yay! It's covered in little, clover-like sprouts. So far we have peas and radishes coming up. And an onion, but I don't think that really counts since it was sprouting before we stuck it in the ground. (Apparently if you leave an onion on the counter for a long time and it gets wet repeatedly it starts to grow. Who knew?)

*Secondly, van man moved out of our backyard. Yay again! We actually went over there and checked the van out a couple of times. There was never anyone in it, nut it was set up like a tiny little motor home. It looked pretty nice. Any how, on Saturday there was a man in the lot clipping tree branches. Then there were two men, and then there were a whole bunch of people. They cut down some trees, clipped off some dead branches and cleaned up the lot. Then they moved the van and we haven't seen it since.

*Third, we had the most amazing pizza tonight. It was shockingly good. I'm not kidding. We went to Papa Murphy's (only because we had a coupon) and got their five meat stuffed pizza. It's four pounds of meaty, cheesy, crispy-crusted deliciousness. And we cooked it ourselves! It only took 25 minutes. It made me really happy. I don't think we'll be getting pizza from anywhere else ever again. It was really that good. And cheap. (Which is also very important.)

*And last, the thing that made me even more happy than the pizza, I made the yummiest cookies ever completely on accident. I was bored and I decided I wanted cookies, but I didn't want to go shopping (which eliminated chocolate chip). So I pulled out my Betty Crocker Cooky Book and started browsing for anything that didn't require ingredients that we didn't have. I came up with Canadian Oatmeal Shortbread. It was so, incredibly easy and so very yummy. It might be my new favorite cookie. (I know they don't look that good, but they really, really are.) And they don't have eggs in them so I can eat the dough even while I'm pregnant. YAY! Speaking of eating dough, it's Ty's favorite part of anything, including bread and pancakes. (Sick, I know.) Any how, I'm such a mean wife and I never let him eat the dough/lick the bowl until I'm done making whatever it is that I'm making. Poor man! At least I let him have some of the cookies.

Random Easter Thoughts

I'd like to start out by mentioning that we got tickets to General Conference today. Hooray! I've never actually been to General Conference before, at least that I can remember, and I'm super excited. This is me being excited:

(I'm really excited.)

Also, I wanted to include a picture of our super-cute and kind-o-scary Easter eggs.

We didn't actually do anything with them. I mean, we had all these plans to hide them and other fun things. Then we ended up coming home from church hungry and deviled them instead. (They were really good!)

And finally I'd like to list a few things that I'm extra grateful for today. For some reason I've been thinking about my blessings and I thought I'd write them down. So, here they are:

~An amazing husband who loves me even when I'm crazy

~A healthy, strong baby boy and an even stronger uterus to keep him in when he's trying to kick his way out. (He's been quite the little kicky pants lately!)

~Beautiful, sunshine-filled spring days

~Snow that's way up on the mountains and not in my yard

~Our little garden (Things are actually growing and we're pretty pleased with our mad gardening skills.)

~Cheap flights from Salt Lake to Phoenix so I can spend extra time with my family

~Pie
(That one's kind of random, but we're having it for dessert tonight and I'm really looking forward to it.)

Any how, that's all for now. Happy Easter!

Flashback

Today we ran after the ice cream truck. We literally chased it down. It had been circling our house for quite a while and we could hear it but not see it. I finally saw it on the street behind our house heading away from us. Then it turned towards our house again and we took off. (Ty ran quite a bit faster than me because he doesn't have a baby in his tummy. He slowed the guy down enough that I made it though.) Ty got a really yummy strawberry shortcake ice cream. I got a really weird mango one. It had chili powder in it. Not really what I was looking for in a mango ice cream bar. Oh well. Any how, happy day for us.

Adventures in Bread Land

I'd like to introduce you to my new friend, Breadmaker.

When I first got Breadmaker I thought to myself, "I'll probably never use him. I mean, I can cook and I really hate the big hole he leaves in the bread." Then one day I thought, "Well, I suppose I should use him at least once so I can tell my sister (the one who gave him to me) that I actually opened the box." So out he came and made the most yummy tasting Hawaiian Sweet Bread. And there wasn't even a giant hole in it! I was very excited by this and began to look through the recipe book. It turns out you can make all kinds of things with Breadmaker. So far we've made white bread, french bread, cinnamon raisin bread, garlic herb bread, carrot cake and today we made . . .

Soft Pretzels

I have been craving soft pretzels for about four months now and every time I get close to having one, something happens. Usually it's my husband saying, "I don't think you should get one. I mean, do you really need it?" Twice I went past a pretzel place in the mall when Ty wasn't around, but both times I had just eaten. Then, to crown it all off, when I was in AZ in January I went to Sam's Club with my sister. I was complaining all about my soft pretzel woes and she offered to buy me one. So we get in line, wait our turn, order a pretzel and the woman says, "Oh, the pretzel machine is broken." Can you believe it!?! I'd just about decided that soft pretzels were just nowhere in my future when I found the recipe in the bread book. It was complicated. Did you know you have to boil them before you bake them?

I didn't know either. It's kind of a lot of work, but it was so worth it. We ate them all today. Sick, I know, but I am one happy camper.

Planting Day

It finally came. Planting Day. YAY! We planted up our little garden yesterday morning. It was a lot of fun, and not really all that much work. (I guess it would take a lot to seem like work after what we already did though. Especially since Ty did most of the planting!)

We're pretty excited for our little veggies to start growing. Right now we're waiting on squash, carrots, green beans and radishes. I'm a little nervous that we're going to get a revival of the satan grass. In fact, we planted peas in the small planter a few weeks ago and something is starting to grow there.

We're hoping it's peas, but we aren't really sure what baby peas look like. I'm so tempted to pull
it up by it's little roots and see if it's a pea seed at the end. Ty thinks that's a bad idea, so I guess we'll just wait and see. The best part of the whole event . . .

Matching St. Patty's Day headbands courtesy of my best friend Becca. Yay for Irish people!

It snowed last night. Enough to stay on the ground. Huge, fat frown on my face. The most dissapointing part is that I actually believed it was done snowing. I should know better.

The Garden

So, a few weeks ago we decided that we would start a small project. It involved replacing the hideous plants/woodchips/random bits of garbage in front of our house with delicious, homegrown veggies. YAY! We went to Walmart on a Monday and bought topsoil, gloves, garden tools, a variety of seeds and a frozen pizza. We thought we would dig out the planters while the pizza cooked, eat and then plant away. Funny story . . . it's been two weeks and we still haven't planted. Not that we haven't been working on the garden every single stinkin' day, it's just taking an eternity! Holy cow, I never thought something as simple as a garden could be so much work! It turns out that the majority of the planter was filled with this satanic grass that just won't die. It grows from clumps of bulbs that were seriously up to six inches deep in the dirt. The rest of the plants were the hideous spiny bushes you can see in our header picture. They have roots as big as my thighs! (Not an easy thing to get out of the dirt.) Any how, we did finally manage to get the planters cleaned out and we're now just waiting for the last chance of snow to pass this weekend before we plant.

Joy of Joys

Someone moved into a van in our backyard. Well, I guess it's not technically our backyard, it's the empty lot behind our house. But half of our back fence is lying in a heap on the floor so it's practically our backyard. I don't like it. This van showed up about two days ago and hasn't moved since. We haven't actually seen anyone coming or going, but you can see stuff through the back window so we know it's not just an empty van. And the windows are kind of dark so you can't really tell if anyone is inside or not. In fact, I had to hide behind the curtains on the kitchen window in order to get this picture because I didn't know if I was being watched or not. It was kind of funny actually. I strolled into the kitchen very casually and closed the curtains just like I do every night. Then I grabbed the camera, snuck back into the kitchen, wedged myself between the wall and tha table and peeked out through the crack in the side. It was a bit of a hassle, but rather a nice photo I think. So I guess it was worth it. Plus, it added to the intrigue. Any way, hope your weekend didn't involve this kind of excitement. I'll keep you posted.

Our Morning

So, today is the first day of Daylight Savings Time. Suprise! We had no idea. Not "we forgot," we never knew. (May I just say once again that I think its moronic to change the clock just so it can be daylight until 9 p.m. instead of 8? Whoever thought this up should be shot.) We woke up this morning at 9:30 and sat down to a nice, relaxed breakfast. We had plenty of time to get ready for church and we were going to enjoy ourselves. Then we turned on the computer and it said 10:30 and we were really confused. So I checked the cell phone, 10:30, and the clock in the bedroom, 9:30. Then we had this conversation:
Ty: Did daylight savings time start?
Me: I don't think so. Doesn't that happen in April?
Ty: I really don't know.
Me: No, I'm pretty sure it starts in April.
Ty: We should check the internet.
It started today. So we ended up rushing around like mad cows and going to church with wet, scraggly hair. (Well, I had wet scraggly hair, Ty looked like he always does. I hate that.) Any how, at least we get to eat dinner an hour before we were planning to. Happy Daylight Savings Time Day! (So stupid.)

The Joys of Being Pregnant

Sorry, no picture today. I'm feeling a little too lazy for that. Today I had this crazy craving for oatmeal raisin cookies. It seriously came out of nowhere. I was just sitting there and I thought, "I must have oatmeal raisin cookies, and I must have them now!" "No problem, self" I thought. "We have oatmeal and we have raisins. All you need is a recipe." Can I tell you how nearly impossible it was for me to find a recipe? First I looked in the Betty Crocker Cookie Book. They had a recipe, but it called for Betty Crocker potato pearls. Strangely enough, I didn't have those on hand. Then I tried the Joy of Cooking book that (Ty claims) has a recipe for absolutely everything. They had oatmeal cookies, they had raisin cookies, but they didn't have a single recipe for oatmeal raising cookies. So then I pulled down every cookbook I own (with the exception of the ones I got from Weight Watchers and my Fat Free Cooking book) and looked through every one of them. I found two recipes in the 5 or more books. One called for a pound of butter, which I wouldn't have used even if I had it, and the other ended up being delicious. So in the end I got my cookies and I am a happy camper!

Finally Finished!

About a month ago I decided that I wanted to crochet something that actually had a pattern. (Until now my projects had been limited to scarves, hats and potholders.) We got this cute little book of baby quilts (because they're much smaller than big person quilts) and the adventure began. May I just say that it's a lot more time consuming than I thought it would be. It took me forever! It turned out really cute though. Too bad we aren't having a little girl. Ty said that I could use it, but I think I'll pass. We'll have a little girl eventually. Until then I guess I'll just have to make another one.