Russ and Adri Lee

Craft 2 of 5

2012-02-11T11:28:00.005-07:00

When I was pregnant, I said I wasn't going to get very many of those baby headbands and flowers/bows. That was silly of me. Sophia doesn't wear them very often (mostly because her head is still too small for most of the headbands I have), and they are so cute when she does. I made a simple hair bow holder before she was born, but it was not nearly big enough. I searched etsy and pinterest for hours, and almost bought one. I'm SO glad I didn't because I LOVE how the one I made turned out.

It's still not quite big enough for all of her bows, but it's very cute. The best part about it is that I could personalize it with her name and the same fabric I'm using for her curtains and crib skirt (2 more of the 5 on-going projects).

This project was so much cheaper than it would have been if I bought one. I just got a canvas, fabric, ribbon, and hot glued it all together. I was going to put hooks on the bottom to hang headbands on but decided it might look too cluttered. We'll see how long the hot glue holds up, but it seems very sturdy - a lot more than I had expected it to be.

I first tried using an iron-on....stuff for the name, but it was causing me grief so my friend, Sara, graciously helped me use her silhouette to cut Sophia's name out of vinyl. I think it looks very classy.

PS I think the person who invented hooded towels is a genius. Babies look SO sweet in them! (Can you tell she's a little mesmerized by the camera?)

PPS The picture below is my version of Goldilocks. Daddy. Mommy. Baby. :D

Craft 1 of 5

2012-02-03T21:39:00.001-07:00

I planned on doing one big super-post of all of the craft projects I have half-finished for Sophia. I finished one this week, but despite my best intentions, I find myself kicking back and relaxing most days after work while Sophia is taking her afternoon nap. I'll show them off one at a time, starting with her Christmas ornament.

Tying bows is NOT one of my talents. I think I'll need my mom to fix it sometime when she comes to visit.

I originally got the idea from Pinterest, and although it's not perfect, I like my version a little better. It was very easy! Glass balls from Hobby Lobby, strips of pink scrapbook paper, a little pink tissue paper (to fill in the holes), letter stickers, and ribbon. Now I just have to make one for every child I have. :)

Sophia's New Year Resolution...and Our Weekend

2012-01-16T22:18:00.001-07:00

Sophia recently came to us and told us that in 2012, she wants to get more fit. Here is a video of her and daddy working on that goal. Also in this video you can see her hair balding stripe, which only started happening last week. :(

And tonight, Sophia played a brand new game, and may also think she made a brand new friend.

Here are some other pictures we've taken, chronicling our marvelous 3 day weekend...

SATURDAY: Sophia and I getting ready to go to a birthday party. That's why she's wearing her party pants.

SUNDAY: She looked adorable in her church outfit. Her dress is so pretty, the shoe-socks are awesome, and I always really like her in that long-sleeved onesie. Here she is, once again, helping me make Sunday dinner in the kitchen.

MONDAY: Getting ready to go for a stroller ride/family walk in the coooold January weather. When we bought this outfit for her, Russ was not a fan. When I pulled it out to put it on her today, he still didn't like it. I told him we could return it, but then as soon as she tried it on - he decided she looked so cute we had to keep it. Her giant paw-hands are my favorite part!

3 Months

2012-01-13T17:38:00.003-07:00

She looks almost the same as last month, but has chunked up a TON since her one month picture.

I was a little bummed that the only picture she *sort of* smiled in was blurry:

At 3 months, Sophia...
...weighs about 11 pounds (according to our scale)
...smiles and coos
...holds her head up very well
...sleeps about 6-7 hours at night, eats, and then sleeps another 3-4 hours
...takes 3 naps during the day
...loves eating her hands
...spends lots of time sitting in her bouncer while I work in the kitchen. She is perfectly happy because there's always something to look at or listen to in there!
...has blue eyes (no longer the dark newborn eyes)
...cries almost immediately when she's on her tummy
...gets very possessive of her pacifier when she's tired, but doesn't want it most other times

I used to tell myself that I wouldn't ONLY post about my baby. Well. That was silly, and I will tell you why:
1. The primary people who look at your blog are family members and friends who live far away
2. When you have a baby you really don't do much else, and you certainly don't take pictures of much else.
So, here are some recent pictures:

We always thought she was a little serious. This proves it. She's probably pondering the world's problems.

One of our friends was kind enough to offer the use of her swing. Sophia loves it, and she especially loves the mobile on top. She watches it and smiles at it.

Hangin' out in the kitchen while I made Sunday dinner

I have two apologies about this video. One is that I set the camera on the back of the couch since Russ wasn't home and you can't see us very well. The second is to Ashley for copying her baby noise. What can I say? Sophia enjoys it too!

Photo Shoot Bloopers!

Big eyes. Surprised that she leaned over :)

First she tipped over. Then she slipped onto her tummy. Finally, she cried and needed mommy to rescue her (not pictured).

And one more smile, just for Grandma:

Sophia Smile

2012-01-05T22:46:00.000-07:00

When Sophia was first born, we took hundreds of pictures of her sleeping.

Then we became obsessed with taking pictures of her awake and alert.

NOW we are obsessed with making her smile and capturing that moment of complete adorableness on camera.

I love all of these pictures, but I especially love the top left. She was talking and Russ would repeat back what she said. She LOVED it and we love playing that game with her :)

ANNND just to prove I am a new parent, here is a video!!!!

Christmas

2011-12-27T22:00:00.000-07:00

This was our first Christmas (out of our 4 together so far) that we spent at our own home. We saw my family last week, and we flew here to Arizona on Christmas Day, but for the first time we had to decide what our Christmas Eve and Christmas morning traditions would be.

Baby's First Christmas

Here's the blend of Lee and Carson that we ended up doing this year:
1. Having a fancy dinner on Christmas Eve using my Christmas plates from Germany.
2. Reading the Christmas story in the Bible and acting it out. We also sang several Christmas hymns while reading (like "Away in a Manger" when we read about Christ's birth). This year we acted it out with my wooden nativity pieces, but only because we thought it might be too much to have Sophia dress up and act as every character. :)

Adri acting it out, Tyler listening, Sophia watching and Russ reading

3. Opening one present each on Christmas Eve.

Sophia loved her pants from Aunt Lissa. They look SO cute on her!

The first picture is Tyler's reaction to me saying, 'Tyler! That's a girl hoodie!" But I was just messin' with him so he could smile in the second picture. I have a handsome brother!

Sophia was sad she only got to open ONE present on Christmas Eve!

4. Brunch on Christmas morning after opening presents.

Sophia looked ADORABLE in her Santa suit from Jamie, and she was very interested in watching me open all of her presents for her.

Cuddling her doll from Great Grandma

Russ, Sophia and I flew to Arizona on Christmas day, so while we were packing, Uncle Tyler played with Sophia ONE LAST TIME, since he is - as I type - driving/moving to Alabama. We are sure going to miss hanging out with him!

Sophia was a CHAMP on the airplane! She took over a 3 hour nap before we got on the plane (including sleeping while I carried her through security), had a bottle during take-off, was VERY interested in looking around at everything, and dozed off before we landed. Plus she charmed everyone with her outfit. :)

By the way.....guess who (FINALLY) started smiling!? She started smiling the DAY after all of my family left, and loves to smile - especially at inanimate objects (Christmas tree, lights of any kind and bassinet mobile are her favorites)

2 Months and Baby Blessing

2011-12-19T15:05:00.002-07:00

Sophia is already 2 months old, and getting to be more and more fun every day. Although our girl has gotten a lot bigger, she's still pretty small. Here are her 2 month stats:

Height: 22" (25-50th percentile)

Weight: 9lb 15oz (25th percentile)

Head: 13.7in (25th percentile)

Look at that cute belly! That's the last time we squeezed her into that newborn onsie.

Sophia got shots this week and was SUCH a trooper. Before they did it, she was cooing and so happy. Then they poked her and for a split second she looked confused, and then she just CRIED! It was heartbreaking. Afterwards, I didn't want to put her down. I wanted to cuddle her until everything was alright. I've heard that usually babies either sleep after shots or get cranky. She slept. Poor girl. I'm very grateful my parents were in town so that they could help cuddle and hold her too.

At 2 months, Sophia...

enjoys baths! She is very calm, but I think she's still a little stressed out about them because she balls up her cute little fists and locks them to her side, above the water. It's adorable. Most of the time she just looks around, and afterwards she is always very cuddly and falls asleep more easily.
is able to hold her head up very well. She looks like a bobble-head doll, but she's got a strong neck!
sleeps between 4 and 6 hours at night when she first goes down, then wakes up about every 3-4 hours the rest of the night.
likes getting her diaper changed. It's one of the only times she smiles.
coos a lot, will coo back and forth with you, and is starting to watch and imitate us - especially mouth movements
is SO much more alert. She will stare at us and track us and look straight into the camera (hooray). It's so cute!
has quite a bit of gas. She'll put her little hands in fists and grunt a little. I wonder at what age it switches from cute to bad manners to just let one rip whenever you want. Unfortunately, she also gets gassy pretty bad at night, which means lots of crying and daddy having to stay up with her for about an hour a couple times a week.
We are still waiting for big smiles; I say she takes her life very seriously. :P She does, however, do lots of adorable little ones, like this...

Most of my family was able to come to Provo this week. It was fun to spend time with my little nieces (and their parents, of course), and it's always fun when Grandma and Grandpa come to spoil and cuddle.

Sophia cuddling with Grandpa after her 2 month shots.

Sophs hangin' out with Uncle Tyler. Sorry you aren't looking, Tyler, but I loved the picture of her sticking her tongue out. That's another one of her favorite things to do.

Grandma and Sophia

Aunt Lissa and Sophia at the school baby shower

Sophia's baby blessing was December 18, 2011. Russ was very nervous, but he did a great job. He got a little choked up in the beginning, which made me start crying. It was a very special day, for our very special little daughter. She was awake but calm during the blessing, took a nap in my arms afterwards, and woke up for pictures. The men in the family were involved in the blessing and my mom, sister, and I sang a musical number.

The whole gang

Just the family

3 generations

On my baby blanket

On the blanket Great Grandma made her

She has fists almost all the time. Is that a normal baby thing? Does anyone else's baby do that?

I am so obsessed with that sweet little face!

She was an angel the ENTIRE day.

Savannah (5 months) and Sophia (2 months). What a difference 3 months can make! They really are mommy's favorite gift. Savannah sure smiles a lot! I hope Sophia watched her and learned how to do it. Maybe they were cousin friends in heaven because when we laid them next to each other, they put their hands on top of each other. :)

Sophia's biggest fans!

I love our little family!

The baby blessing wasn't the only reason family came into town. My big brother, Tyler, also graduated from BYU and commissioned into the Army. He leaves in a week from today to report to Alabama. He's going to fly helicopters, his dream since he was a little boy. The commissioning was a really cool ceremony. I think somewhere back in history, a woman must have started the Army because of all the traditions and organization involved.

with smiley Savannah after the commissioning

Our family (minus Russ, who had to go to work as soon as it got over and minus Garrett, Krystal and Daniel who couldn't come because of Garrett's own training in the Air Force)

Everyone left today. :( It sure was fun for everyone to visit. (Lissa's family probably wouldn't agree because from their first day here until their last they passed around a stomach bug and spent half the trip sick at the hotel!)

Photographic Evidence

2011-12-07T19:42:00.002-07:00

Russ and I have very impatiently been waiting for Sophia to smile at us. It is one of the most popular topics in our home.

Well, Monday night while Russ was working, Sophia did it! She smiled at me. I got SO excited that she immediately switched to her concerned look and got scared. A few minutes later, she did it again.

I called Russ and was so excited he couldn't even understand what I was saying. He denied it. By the time he got home, she was fussy and tired. No more smiles. When I got home from work yesterday, Russ said it must have been gas because he had her all morning and she didn't smile once.

Last night, (again while he was working), Sophia did it again and this time I caught the end of it on camera.

Admittedly, it's not a full-fledged smile, and it wasn't like she saw me and her face automatically lit up in a smile. It took a lot of coaxing and making a fool out of myself for her to turn her face to the side and smile. But I'll take it.

We can't wait for smiling to become a regular occurrence! Today was also an awesome day as our niece, Allison, entered the MTC. She'll be serving in Peru, and she's going to be a GREAT missionary! :)

6 Weeks Old!

2011-11-21T18:36:00.000-07:00

Can you believe our little cutie is already 6 weeks old? We can't either!

Height: 20 6/8 inches

Weight: 8lb 9oz

I took the picture at one month, but didn't get an official weight until Friday...when I took her to the doctor with an goopy green eye! Luckily she's not sick, but likely has a clogged tear duct. It's so sad to see her when her eye gets crusted over! It was mostly only green for one day and is better (for now).


check out that left eye (and her cute mitten hand paw)

If you have a baby, you understand the necessity of taking 20 pictures to get the ONE shot you want. These were 2 of my favorite "blooper" pictures.

I love her whole body sneezes (as well as her cute little toes).

This is the last one I took, which is fitting because it looks like Sophia got so fed up with pictures she decided to put the lion in a headlock. :)

We've really started slowing down with the pictures lately. What terrible parents, right? We're no longer taking 100 per week! :P

This past Saturday, Russ got tickets for the Vocal Point concert, making it our first date without Sophia. The concert was a lot of fun and really good, but I MISSED my little girl. As we walked into the concert hall we realized that was the first time since walking out of the hospital that it was just the 2 of us going somewhere. Strange thought. Now we normally have to spend an extra 5+ minutes getting Sophia strapped in and bundled up, like so:

Seriously? How cute is that little face?

I had to go back to work today. If you ever want to feel popular, just teach kindergarten! Being back wasn't as hard as I had anticipated it being, but it's VERY hard to adjust to having 27 people need me constantly. 1 is must easier to handle! Behavior-wise, I feel like we're starting all over again. Hopefully part of their craziness was because they were excited I was back and because of Thanksgiving, and I hope I have the energy (without getting much sleep) to get things back under control very soon. Overall, I think the person who had it the hardest today was Russ. Sophia is going through a growth spurt so he had a fussy, hungry baby all morning by himself while I was gone.

Sophia has already found love...with her reflection! She'll stare into that little mirror forever

Just since yesterday, I think I've noticed a *hint* of a smile. It melts my heart. I don't want her to grow up, but I also can't wait to have her grow up and do new things - does that make sense?

Right before I took this picture, Sophia was holding her head up really well...that's why Russ is so happy :)

The girls after church :)

36 Weeks

2011-11-14T13:25:00.002-07:00

**I never posted this because I was waiting for my 37 week appointment to take a picture. I never made it to that appointment, and I never took that picture! Sophia was born the night after I wrote this draft. It's funny to look back and read it now.**

We're going to be parents THIS MONTH! As in - I no longer have to turn the page on the calendar to look at her due date. Holy cow.

It seems that in the past couple weeks, everything symptom-wise has been kicked up a notch: heartburn, waking up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, leg cramps, not being able to sleep because I can't get comfortable or because it's too hot, nasal congestion...all that fun stuff.
As far as I can tell, I haven't had any contractions. Russ and I joke that it means she doesn't know how to come out. Funny now. Maybe not so funny if she ends up being late.
Russ and I started going to the gym together once a week. He lifts weights (which I think will come in very handy for carrying a car seat), and I jog/ walk. Honestly, I think this is a great time to start working out because when I stop my ultra-slow jog and start walking, no one can judge me because I figure people will just be proud of me for being there.
I have more stretch marks now, or they're the same 3 that have gotten much longer. They look like flames coming up all around my belly button (I know. You're welcome for the visual). I REALLY don't want to get too many more of them.
Gained 27 pounds total now.
This week at my appointment, I was dilated to a 1. Basically, that means nothing, but the doctor has been saying for the past several appointments that baby's head is sitting very low so maybe that means something?

This past weekend, I had a wonderful baby shower. Although I forgot to get a group shot, I did get pictures of all the wonderful food!

Check out these cute pacifier cupcakes!!

For one of the games, everyone had to guess how many toilet paper squares around I am. Turns out it's 10.5 squares. :)

Here I am NOT winning any of the baby shower games. :)

Adoration

2011-11-02T19:51:00.000-06:00

Russ and I have truly been learning the meaning of adoration these past 3 1/2 weeks. We can't get enough of our little Sophia! Here are some of the 742 pictures and videos we have to prove it!

First of all: Happy Halloween!

We celebrated Halloween by going to my classroom to see my students in their costumes and introduce them to Sophia (from afar, that is). The night before Halloween, Sophia had a REALLY rough night. She was up with either Russ or I literally all night. SO one day when we're all rested and a little less cranky, I may pretend it's Halloween again and take another picture in her in the second outfit for the scrapbook.

Sophia looks so TINY in her first church dress!

The video is Sophia and I hangin' out after church, waiting for daddy to get home (since we girls only braved the first hour).

I can't get enough of this picture. The part that keeps her strapped in is so huge I felt like she was getting strapped into a roller coaster. Plus I love the look she is giving the camera.

This is supposed to be of her cute hiccups, but she was also suffering from a dirty diaper at the time:

This afternoon, I took Sophia over to my friend's house, and Sara set up a little photo shoot. We both have nice cameras, but I for sure don't know how to use all the cool features on it, but with the two of us snapping away, we got some pretty dang cute pictures!

Russ just likes this one because he said she looks like she's running :)

We love, love, LOVE our tiny little one

Love the personality :)

Tricks to calming her down: pacifier, mom, and food

We tried to take the pacifier out for this one, but she was holding it very tightly

I think she looks so grown up in this one

Almost smiling for the camera!

Two Weeks

2011-10-25T22:34:00.001-06:00

We went to the doctor on Monday, and I found out just how little my "bitty baby" is! Here are her stats:

Height: 20 1/4 inches (50th percentile)

Weight: 6 pounds 15.2 ounces (25th percentile)

Head: 13.3 inches (5th percentile)

I am a little sad that she still isn't quite back to her birth weight yet, but I love the head size. I guess that's why I didn't need any stitches! When I look back at pictures from the hospital, I realize she is already starting to look different, and I can't believe she's growing up so quickly!

This week we noticed that Sophia is more alert and studies our faces. She is also still a very calm baby. She's a little cuddle bug and loves to be held. One of her favorite things to do for the past couple nights is to be wide awake from midnight to 2am and play with mommy and daddy! We LOVE playing with her and doing nothing but gaze at her. She still isn't a big fan of baths, but she calms right down when we are washing her hair. We've decided she secretly loves the spa treatment on her scalp. Basically, we just love our little girl!

I love her personality showing in her expressions.

On Thursday, Grandma came to visit for a few days. She cooked, cleaned, cuddled Sophia, helped me with sewing projects, ran errands with/for me to get the rest of the things we need, told me to take naps, and went with me to my classroom to officially finish all of my sub plans. Luckily, Sophia sleeps well in her car seat and is a little angel baby, so we were able to get so much accomplished. My mom brought a couple of outfits from when I was a newborn and some of my favorite books from when I was little. It's sure sweet to see little Sophia wearing clothes that were mine! Hopefully you can click on the picture below to get a sneak peek into her second week of life. :)

On Sunday night I was doing the dishes and heard Russ singing Primary songs to Sophia. It was so cute that I had to sneak in with the camera.

As for us, we are getting sleep when we can and it's an adjustment to plan out errands and have one of us stay home with Sophia instead of going places together, but we honestly couldn't be any happier. We love having our little daughter in our family.

One Week

2011-10-18T01:11:00.001-06:00

It is extremely hard to believe that our little girl is already a week old. I didn't think I would post so often, but I did want to post about how the first week has been - especially all of the adjustments. Sorry it turned out so long.

Sophia:

For the first couple of days, nursing was really hard. Part of this was because we'd try to keep her to our schedule instead of the other way around, especially when we were in the hospital and had lots of visitors. Once we got home and I put myself on her schedule, things have gone much more smoothly. Plus, now I think we've got this eating figured out.
I took her to the pediatrician on Friday. First of all, that was a scary drive. I felt like every car on the road was a major threat who could hit us and hurt my baby. haha But going to the pediatrician 2 days after being home was sort of an "okay. I've been on my own for a couple days, NOW I have questions I didn't have in the hospital, and AM I DOING OKAY?" Our pediatrician is excellent. He rested all of my fears, answered all my questions, and Sophia is doing great!
This may be the fluke of her being so little still, but this girl is already sleeping for 2-3 hours at a time during the day and 3-4 hours at a time at night. The first couple nights home, we were up every hour, but now it's me who wakes up to make sure she's still breathing because she's been sleeping so long! So besides being confined to the house, I've been able to get a lot done (and get some naps in too).
She hated her first bath. Screamed the whole time. Last night she seemed better about it. She is so sweet after her bath because she's wide awake but super calm. We just snuggle, and that is one of my FAVORITE times with her.
Babies are learning just like us, and they are very forgiving. Three times now, mommy did not put her diaper on tight enough and she ended up wiggling around to where her diaper was half way down and she'd pee/poop all over. Poor girl. I must admit the first time this happened, I laughed hysterically at her cute little plumber's crack while Russ cleaned poo off of her, her clothes, her blanket, her bed, and her BACK.
So far, she doesn't fuss much at all and she doesn't really spit up at all. Maybe those things will come later though, but for now, she's spoiling us just as much AFTER birth as she did during pregnancy and labor! We sure love our little angel girl.

Me:

Physically, I feel good. I am tired, but not needing stitches has made recovery fine. I do periodically get backaches, feel swollen, and sometimes my stomach hurts (or is it my stomach? Where is my stomach anyway? Has it already gone back to it's previous location or is it still shoved up wherever it was?). I feel less than my best, but you feel that way when you're pregnant too, so I'm used to it.
To be honest, maybe it's because Sophia's arrival was unexpected and happened so fast, but sometimes I miss feeling her move around inside me. I'll feel a little pop or something and automatically think it was her, but she's not in there anymore! I didn't expect that feeling. I guess being pregnant had just become my "normal".
I am terrible about sleeping when she sleeps. I have no idea how being in my apartment 24/7 can keep me so busy.
Nursing is probably the strangest thing my body has ever experienced. I had no idea it would be such a high learning curve or be so wet. It's really cute, though. Sometimes while I'm burping her, she'll fall asleep and then I'll just fall asleep too. I call it our special mommy and Sophia nap and make sure we have it at least once a day.
Perhaps this is because the sleep deprivation hasn't kicked in yet, but I was telling Russ that being woken up in the middle of the night really doesn't bother me at all because there's nothing else I'd rather be doing than helping my baby feel better.
The biggest adjustment for Russ and I is not being able to go places together. We don't want to take Sophia out while she is so little, but we have tons of shopping to do still since we were SO unprepared for her to come 3 weeks early. It's hard to coordinate that.

Now for some pictures! (Disclaimer: after I uploaded these, I realized just how many pictures we take of her either in her bed or sitting in her boppy, but always swaddled. I guess it's a good representation because she hasn't really been anywhere else the whole time we've been home!)

Yawn! Look at that cute button nose.

During bath

After bath

Watching the BYU game with quarantined daddy

At least when she escapes from her blankets she is usually useful with her hands :)

The club-like toe we laugh at, but still think is SO CUTE

My attempt at posing her

We love it when she's awake!

hahahha. Maybe it's still a little too big, or maybe I didn't put it on correctly.

Uncle Tyler decided to turn her into a unicorn. He took advantage of her while she was sleeping!

We hold hands a lot :)

Sophia's Birth Story

2011-10-13T18:04:00.000-06:00

This is the looong version of what is probably the most important day of our lives so far. The beginning is pretty detailed and the end is pretty mushy, so if you would like the cliff notes version, scroll down to the end. :D

At about 12:30am, Russ and I were saying prayers and getting ready for bed. He hit me lightly with a pillow and said, "Pillow fight with Sophia!" to which I replied that that was unfair because she couldn't fight back! He challenged her to come out and fight him. Literally a minute later we heard a POP. An actual pop.

Russ: ....What was that?

Adri: I think it was just a really big gas bubble.....in the middle of my stomach? (I jump out of bed) Russ! I'm leaking! (Now this was not like in the movies. I didn't pee my pants or anything, it was just a little. In fact, my first thought was back to CJ Carter's post about her last baby being born, how she kept getting up in the middle of the night because she thought she was peeing, but really her water broke)

I jumped up and went to the bathroom and Russ (after calling his sister-in-law to confirm what we thought happened really just happened) frantically began packing. We weren't even packed!!! Russ got out my packing list (at least I had made that or we would have been too frazzled to do anything) and I sat in the bathroom, shaking and thinking that I wasn't ready yet and that my long-term sub plans didn't cover October! Good thing we had her going home outfit hanging by the door! About 30 crazy minutes later, we were on our way to the hospital. Russ kept saying "10-10-11" (her birthday) and smiling as we packed. He also tried to really rush us out the door, but I was still a little in denial and assured him we had plenty of time. By this time I had started having contractions, but I almost wouldn't have even noticed them because they just felt like cramps.

At 1:25am I had walked myself into Labor and Delivery, we had checked in, and I was in my hospital gown. The nurse checked me and said, "Wow. You're already a 5. You are definitely having a baby tonight!" WHAT!? Half way there and I still didn't really have any pain? This was not what I had expected at all. She hooked everything up so we could hear our little girl's heartbeat and watch my contractions. That was kind of fun. At first I told her to hold off on the epidural because I wasn't really hurting. That lasted about 30 or 45 minutes before I decided I really did want it now. It's funny because I kept trying to tell myself that some people have really bad cramps EVERY month, so I could deal with this for now, but as they increased to every 2 minutes very quickly, that logic made less and less sense.

At 2:45am I got my epidural. Right before he put it in, I had the worst contraction yet. It was ridiculous! Russ was so hyper. Pure adrenaline. He was crackin' jokes and taking pictures and during that contraction I said, "Russ. I need you to stop talking to me and just hold my hand. Thank you, honey." That was as dramatic as I got, and he was great. He just held my hand and told me to breathe. Okay, I think I may have been heard to also mutter a couple of, "This sucks. This sucks. This sucks." too, but that's all! The epidural worked like magic. We'd watch my contractions on the monitor and while I could feel something, it was not pain.

At 3:10am the nurse checked me again and I was completely effaced and almost a 10. It was going by so fast! At 3:50 I started pushing. Pushing wasn't so bad either. It was hard at first because I didn't know how to push, especially when I was so numb. But it was also a lot more calm than in the movies, just holding your breath and pushing harder than you ever have in your life and hope it's enough. By 4:10 the nurse said she was seeing dark brown hair. I don't remember much of what Russ said to me, but I do remember him telling me that she had straight dark brown hair, just like me. The nurse told us it was about an inch long. YES! Hair! Although I swore during prenatal class that no one should ever have to see a birth, they kept getting excited about seeing hair and I wanted to see too! So they got a mirror for a couple minutes, and that helped me push in addition to seeing her cute hair. TMI? Okay. Moving on.

At 4:25 our awesome nurse told me I was doing too good of a job and needed to stop pushing until the doctor got there. He arrived at 4:30 and Sophia arrived at 4:41! Right before he pulled her out, he was sucking out her mouth and nose and she made a little squeak. Russ and I just gasped and looked at each other. Our little girl was here! Russ looked so excited, but all I could see were little fingers. She was very purple and had the cord wrapped tightly around her neck, and they called the respiratory therapist to make sure her transition to breathing air was good since she was early, but Sophia was perfect!

I was completely surprised at how quickly and easily everything went. Don't worry. I know it's not normal. The nurses told me I was probably in the top 5% for dream births. I also didn't need any stitches! It was all so surreal. I watched them cleaning her off and it didn't quite hit me that she was OUR baby.

They brought her over and had her lay on my chest, and that was so incredible. A tiny little baby looking around. She had a perfect little Lee family nose, tiny little fingers and toes, and when she gets mad she turns into a bright red cherry tomato from head to toe. To be honest, the next bit is all a bit of a blur, but I remember having them wrap her back up after a few minutes so that Russ could hold her for the first time. I had been trying to call my parents ALL NIGHT long and they finally answered, so I was talking to my mom and my sister on the phone and Russ was taking lots of pictures. She quickly settled down and fell right to sleep. Russ said while she was in the nursery getting her shots and bath, she'd wake up to cry for a minute but mostly slept through that too. Being born was lots of work!

The days spent in the hospital went by much too quickly. I hardly slept at all, partly because of the adrenaline, and partly because I was trying to call the school to arrange a sub. I really hope I'm not working when I have our next baby because being so preoccupied and worried about work was not fun at all. Yesterday when we got home from the hospital, I went to the Bean Museum literally 30 minutes later where my class was on a field trip so I could meet my sub and give her my plan book. I think I left my class in very capable hands, but I still feel bad she hadn't been able to come in and observe or ask any questions beforehand. Anyway, back to my baby!

Labor and delivery seems like the easy part. Nursing has been hard and emotional because I feel directly responsible and it's a learning process for me and for her. The night before we went home was especially rough and in the morning the nurse said she was so jittery from low blood sugar that if she didn't eat well, she wouldn't be able to go home! Sophia must have heard her because she ate like a champ and together we're getting better at it each time.

We just hold her and stare at her all the time. Every time she's fussy, daddy holds her and she'll immediately calm down. With me, she's a sucker for laying on my chest or in my arms and taking a nap with me. I love that snuggle time! While I've been writing this, I go back into my room every couple minutes to check on her and look at her. She is, in every sense of the word, perfect. There are no words to describe how much we love her. I miss her even when I'm just putting her in her bassinet so I can eat. Sometimes when she's really upset, I can talk to her and she'll calm right down and pop one eye open to look at me.

My own recovery has been as easy as the birth itself. I feel quite good, all things considered, and the doctor told me that I would be okay to resume exercise and activity by next week. Now I've just got to learn to sleep when she sleeps. Russ has a cold that's gotten consistently worse since the day Sophia was born, so he sleeps lots and can't help much with Sophia. Please pray for him to get better so that he can hold his baby again and I don't have to do it all by myself.

I never thought I could love her so much. I thought I loved her when I was pregnant, but it's so different. It's like everyone says, it's like a new part of your heart opens up and everything else in the world is less important. About once a day I go into a cry fest just looking at her and telling her how much I love her and how I want to protect her and make sure no one ever makes her sad. One of the best moments in my life was when our whole little family was on the hospital bed together, just cuddling and knowing we'll be together forever.

37 weeks

Before epidural

After epidural

She's here!

Totally captured her first "smile"

Yawns and sneezes are our favorite!

This is one of my favorites

She makes the cutest faces. We call this one the cccuurrraaaaazy eye!

Our first family picture. Unfortunately, this was before my shower and after Russ's.

Daddy daughter bonding without spreading germs. It's like visiting animals at the zoo!

I'm in love!

In her "Daddy Loves Me" outfit. It was so big. I think it was 2x her size.

Heading home!

Cliff Notes:

12:30am on Monday, October 10 Russ challenges Sophia to a pillow fight and she responds. Water breaks. I was 37 weeks and 1 day - thank goodness she waited long enough to be full term!

1:25am at the hospital, just very small contractions, already dilated to a 5.

2:45 epidural (the contractions had really picked up, so I was grateful!)

3:10 fully effaced and almost dilated to a 10

3:50 begin pushing

4:30 doctor arrives

4:41 Sophia born!

- She has lots of dark brown hair, everyone says she looks like her daddy, she turns bright red when she's mad, she's soo soft and adorable, she has a GIANT big toe that we laugh at every time we see it (unfortunately, we decided it's my feet...so hopefully she'll grow into that big toe).

- I am recovering really well. I didn't need any stitches and I was able to get up and walk around our room later that day. The nurses said I must have a high pain tolerance because I didn't always take my pain medicine, but really I just don't have much pain!

- Russ was a great help at the hospital and as far as I can tell, he got lots of sleep there! He has a cold that has been getting worse and worse so since we got home he hasn't been able to hold our girl much. :( Sometimes we just put her on a pillow so they can look at each other from afar. ;)

Welcome, Little One!

2011-10-12T06:07:00.001-06:00

Sophia Anne Lee

October 10, 2011

7 lbs 0 oz

19 inches

4:41am

Your mommy and daddy already can't (and don't want to) imagine life without you, sweet baby!

Our little girl responded to a challenge from her daddy to come out and have a pillow fight with him and was born 3 weeks early! The whole birth story will be coming very soon...

General Conference and Projects

2011-10-07T00:11:00.000-06:00

We had a busy and exciting General Conference weekend. One of Russ's brothers and his wife (Ben and Vicki) came to visit and were our first house guests! My brother and his wife and baby (Garrett, Krystal, and Daniel) also came into town. It was great to see everyone, and we got lots of baby projects done! These pictures are mostly for the members of our family who weren't here - especially the ones who missed out on seeing Daniel!

Lees and Carsons before the men went to Priesthood Session


(Mom, this picture is mostly for you)

Russ working on the baby dresser/changing table

Daniel helpin' out with his very own hammer!

Daniel and mommy read books.

He's so good at turning the pages!

Daniel posing for the camera

I made pillows for our new couch

Russ and Ben also assembled the crib, now I need to girl-ify it

I made a cover for the boppy pillow.

Here's a close-up of the fabric. Over the past few months, I've been looking for an excuse to buy it because it's so cute!

Finished! Russ did such a great job assembling it! (It's just missing the changing pad)

My mom helped me sew this car seat cover a couple months ago. Russ and I finally bought a car seat to put it on!

Inside of the car seat cover and showing off the car seat pattern.

This is baby's outfit to wear home from the hospital. Russ really did hang it up right by the door because he wanted to see it every day and so we could grab it on our way out the door to the hospital.

I think I know why he likes the outfit so much. :)

I Know We Shouldn't Compare Ourselves to Others.....

2011-10-01T23:03:00.001-06:00

...BUT I CAN'T HELP IT! (and I got permission)

My sister, Lissa, 36 weeks pregnant with her first:

Me at 36 weeks:

The pictures aren't complete copies, but it is the same shirt. What can I say? I was blessed with the long torso in the family. :) (It also looks like my arm is twice as long...weird. Maybe it's the angle?)

VICTORY!

2011-09-25T18:49:00.000-06:00

Every time I've made bread in our bread machine, I put everything in and turn it on while we are at church. When we come home, the bread smells wonderful, but then ends up looking something like this:

Seriously. Every Time. My bread machine HATES ME! Well. Today I decided to make the bread BEFORE we went to church so that I could watch it, and this is what happened:


The bottom right picture is me telling the bread how proud I am of it :) The top right picture is to show my belly...filling out the maternity shirt my mom got me and I swore I'd NEVER get big enough to actually fit into it.

You have no idea how proud of myself I was. It actually turned out!!!!! (okay so it deflated a little on the top, but it's a million times better than the other attempts) I basically ran around all morning proclaiming to Russ that I was making bread that looked like bread! I also talked to the bread a couple times, giving it pep talks. Maybe I was a little too excited.

By the way, it tasted good too!

Whoa. WHOA!

2011-09-24T22:38:00.000-06:00

Russ and I went to prenatal class today. It was 5 hours long, and even with one break, that's a loooong time to ask a room full of pregnant women to sit on uncomfortable chairs. My tailbone is still so sore.

As contractions and dilatation were being described, I got really light-headed. I used to make fun of my sister for having a weak stomach, but I've developed it too over the past couple years. Russ has to watch me very closely every time I get my blood drawn or get a shot. I'm sitting there in class thinking, "Great. I am going to pass out during the birth of my own child!" The hardest thing for me is to hear a medical procedure being described. Maybe I have too vivid of an imagination.

So I was fidgeting on my hard chair and breathing so I wouldn't pass out. All of this made it very hard to focus UNTIL they turned on the oh-so-wonderful Miracle of Birth video! Oh my. Russ and I had both seen it before, but it's QUITE different when you're actually going to have a baby very soon. I just kept looking over him in panic, being so grateful that I do not have to see what is happening during delivery, and wondering how in the world anyone actually DOES this!

Despite all of that, however, we both cried a little when the first baby on the video was born. We can't wait to meet our own perfect little girl! I have a feeling that when our little family is together for the first time, we'll all be crying! (although, the baby will be just because that's what babies do)

34 Weeks Down, 6 To Go

2011-09-22T20:12:00.004-06:00

6 weeks left. I can't decide if that's short or long. Considering the amount of things we still need to buy and learn and do, it's short. Considering that it's still a considerable amount of time to chunk up and grow out of my clothes, 6 weeks feels long. Russ and I both feel like she's going to come early, but don't know if that's inspiration or panic talking.

I kept waiting for a day when I thought I looked good to take a picture, but after 2 different attempts, it didn't really happen. So you just get the real-deal, post work, post afternoon nap Adri! Sorry about the lighting. We couldn't get the flash to cooperate so I look like I have a black eye!

I don't miss the brick or cinder block of our old place, but they did make a nice backdrop for these pictures :)

STATS TO REMEMBER:

Although I have very few complaints because I feel mostly normal still, it's strange to have a body that doesn't react the way I want it to. Reaching for things is hard and bending requires an embarrassing amount of effort. If I drop something or have to sit down and stand up too much, I first heavily weigh in my mind if the movement is really worth it.
The doctor said baby is already head down. Yay!! That's one less thing to worry about later.
When I look at pictures of how scrunched up the baby is at this point, I feel so bad for her! Her movements are much bigger and pronounced. There are arms, legs, elbows physically sticking out of my stomach, (every time I try to push them back in, Russ says, "You could be pushing on her brain!") and sometimes they're a little surprising and painful. I figure that no matter how uncomfortable I am, she probably is too. We're in it together!
38.5" around at what was formerly known as my belly button.
Teaching school is a really great distraction because I don't have any time to think about being uncomfortable. Being on my feet isn't bad either, but I do feel stiff and drained when I get home.
I do have a couple stretch marks now. 3 of them to be precise.
Between my 28 and 32 week appointments, I only gained 4 pounds. BUT yesterday I went in for my 34 week appointment and gained 6 pounds in 2 weeks. 26 pounds total in pregnancy.
I blame some of the extra weight on swelling. Within the past week I've noticed that my wedding ring is much more snug, and this morning I only had 2 pairs of shoes that would fit!

I've been thinking about all this awareness I have about my weight. It's hard to wrap my head around. My weight has only fluctuated about 5-10 pounds in the past 5+ years. Then all the sudden, bam! multiple pounds a week! It feels weird. I'm starting to feel better about it though, now that the baby actually accounts for a portion of that weight.

Bllleeehhh. I mentioned to someone just this week that I hadn't had a cold while pregnant. Of course, now I have a cold. It's getting worse and worse every day, and I want so badly to take a Dayquil! It was probably all those germy kindergartners...

Compare the belly from yesterday and my birthday 9 weeks ago (25 weeks).

Home Sweet Home

2011-09-11T23:57:00.000-06:00

Here is your virtual tour (minus the 2nd bedroom):

Front door and entryway. It branches off into two rooms:

The door to the left leads to the kitchen/living room. Door to the right leads to bedrooms/bathroom.

We literally don't have any shelves in the bathroom, but we do have this sink area in the middle of the hall (makes it feel a little like a hotel, but would be great for people with roommates). I love the space, but don't like that this particular part of the house is so OPEN. For orientation purposes, I'm standing in our bedroom doorway taking the picture.

Our bathroom is big and nice, but not even a towel hook on the wall! We have a sweet granite shower, but no bathtub (again, makes sense for freshman, but tough for us with the baby).

Niiiice storage space at the end of the hall. Luckily we have more storage in the basement for the shocking amount of stuff we've accumulated (and I'm a professional declutter...er too!). This closet is between the bathroom and the 2nd bedroom.

View into our bedroom from the door. It feels soooo spacious to us!

Check out that pack and play! We bought it this week, (I honestly had so much fun putting it together. It's so cool and efficient - it's something my engineer dad would have designed) and we have the bassinet portion set up right now to have baby girl sleep in until my mom brings my old baby buggy. Having in it our room makes it feel very real that we're going to have a baby sometime next month.

Have I mentioned yet that this apartment has tons of OPEN space? Even the closets! It's nice to have our own closets, though! If we were planning on living here more than a year, I'd probably find a way to close them off, but it's not a priority right now.

It took me until now to realize vinyl lettering is REMOVABLE! Best thing ever! We love it.

The seemly random light switch right above our bed is actually really great because we have 3 sets of lights in the room: main lights and smaller lights on each side (in case you want to read while your roommate is sleeping - genius for dorms). So we no longer have to decide who's going to get out of bed to turn off the lights after we read scriptures!

The only picture I'll show in the baby room: all her tiny cute clothes and hooded towel. The rest of the room isn't set up yet and still has some boxes in it that need to go down to basement storage. When it's finished, I'll take lots of pictures.

Now to the other side of the apartment. The kitchen is so magnificent. So many cupboards, and the right side of the picture is a bar/peninsula with so much counter space I want to cry with happiness. Something about having my Kitchen Aid nestled in the corner makes me feel like a real wife/homemaker.

This picture is funny because it looks so empty, and I think it's just because the ceiling is high. I'm so happy to have all of our furniture out of storage and back in our lives! We have ONE more picture to hang (hooray! Hanging them without using nails was a huge amount of work). The frame on it broke after a previous failure in putting it up so we need to fix it and then put it up above the TV.

Here are the beautiful new additions to our family: meet couch and recliner. Russ is modeling the big, luxurious recliner that we got for when we're rocking the baby. All that's left to complete the look is the pillows! I bought pillow forms last month and keep going to the fabric store, but just can't find the right fabric for the pillowcases. By the way, our old uncomfortable futon has been banished to the baby's room (to serve as a guest bed).

There it is. I honestly feel like we're living in a condo. Well, except maybe the industrial-grade carpet. I am determined to buy a nice fluffy rug to put in the living room before our little girl starts crawling. This is quite the upgrade. We love our new home. We're so blessed to be living here.

Lucky I'm In Love with My Best Friend

2011-08-30T21:33:00.003-06:00

August 16 was our 3rd Anniversary! I love my husband. He's my very best friend and selflessly gives me waaay more back scratches than I ever give him. :) Russ is a hard worker and is so good at encouraging me when something happens that feels like the end of the world. I've really enjoyed having him to myself for 3 years, and now look forward to seeing him as a daddy. He's going to be such a good one! I love it when we're going to sleep and he'll roll over and put his hand on my tummy to see how his little girl is doing (she's very good about kicking on demand, which makes me think she'll be an obedient daughter....maybe). Russ is also very thoughtful about getting things done - especially when I actually ask him to do something rather than expecting him to read my mind (funny how communication helps in a marriage!). He's also a wonderful Priesthood leader in our home.

On our actual anniversary, Russ was at RA Training from 8am to 5:30pm, and I went to get a haircut and celebrated my last day of not having to be at school by taking a long nap! It may not be overly romantic, but that's what a typical anniversary will be like anyway: hubby at work, me with the kids (Hey. Just because I took a nap doesn't mean I wasn't with the kids. This baby goes everywhere with me!). We did go on a dinner date to Sizzler (a tradition begun during our Honeymoon). Someone laughed when we told them that was our anniversary tradition, but we love it. Plus, you can't argue with tradition - especially when it comes in the form of steak wrapped in bacon. We also rented a movie and reminisced about our 3 years together, and talked about how excited we were for our future.

To really remember the occasion, we took a picture to remember that we were living in a temporary place, sharing it with custodial and construction all working to get our new home ready:

The hard hats are a nice touch, don't you think? :)

Last, but not least, we found the disposable cameras we put out during our reception and got one of them developed as a little anniversary present to ourselves. We just did one to see if the quality was good enough after so long to get them all developed (they said to do it before Dec 08...oops). Russ thinks the pictures people snapped...mostly of themselves making some weird face...were total gems. I am inclined to disagree. You can decide for yourself:

Russ's childhood best friend.

This family picture would probably be really great to have, but the "ancient technology" known as film just doesn't cut it.

PS Pictures of our new apartment are coming soon! Just need to hang a few more pictures on the walls and unpack that infamous last box filled with the random things you don't know where to put.

30 Weeks or 6 3/4 months :)

2011-08-21T19:48:00.000-06:00

While grocery shopping about 2 weeks ago, we were trying samples, and a man asked, "How much longer do you have?" and I thought, ".....for what?". OH YEAH. People can tell that I'm pregnant now. They can tell enough that they're comfortable asking a total stranger when I'm due or if I'm having a boy or a girl.

The reality that we're going to be parents soon keeps hitting us at different times. This cute little exchange happened while we were looking at strollers and car seats last week:
Russ: Oh my gosh
Adri: What?
Russ: (moving around the little head cushion in the car seat) HER TINY HEAD IS GOING TO BE IN HERE!

Gained another inch on the measuring tape this month. I'm now 36.5" around at my belly button (which has passed outtie stage and now looks completely pulverized).
Another 5 pounds at my doctor visit a week and a half ago. That's 16 pounds total folks! Russ assures me it's all going to the baby and nowhere else, and it's true. I know I am very lucky to still be so small and not have gained weight/swelling anywhere else, but it still sounds like a lot!
Current craving: sausage. When I look back at this pregnancy, the only other thing I would really call a craving was CHEESE. Months 3-5 I could not get enough Colby Jack cheese.
At my appointment, the doctor asked if the baby is active and Russ replied that she really likes to kick. Sure enough, as soon as he tried to listen to the heartbeat, she kicked the doppler stethoscope. It was pretty cute.
Only threw up once in the past month, and that was this morning (I tried to get away with not eating breakfast. Baby would have none of it).
Hello heartburn. Luckily it's one of the most manageable symptoms I've had.
My sister will be happy to know that the hair tie through the button hole just doesn't cut it anymore (and hasn't for about a month). As I predicted in my last post, I have indeed stuck to my 1 pair of maternity capris, pj pants, dresses, or skirts. Russ keeps encouraging me to buy maternity pants, but every time I look at them, I just can't do it. They look so funny!
I guess I passed my glucose test because I never heard back about it. I think I'm having a really easy time with pregnancy. I keep getting lucky by not having any of the worst stuff!

I didn't mean to take this picture - I was looking at where I wanted to put my hands, but I think it's sort of sweet :)

7A Maeser Hall

2011-08-12T21:45:00.005-06:00

Let me give you a little timeline of our lives last week:

Mon: Lamenting that in 2 weeks I'd have to go back to school, Russ would have a busy week with RA training, and we would probably be moving all at the same time. Bored now. Stress coming. No actual move date.

Tue: New Maeser Hall Advisor needs to move in so we're going to move to a temporary apartment. I started packing!

Wed: Had to do all the big moving in one day. Tyler and Russ moved everything. I packed and set aside things we'd need out of boxes/storage for the next 2 or so weeks.

Thur: Spent most of the day moving little stuff with our car and cleaning our old apartment.

It ended up being a really crazy week, but it did feel good to be doing SOMETHING, even if it was only a temporary move. It all happened so fast, however, that I never really got a chance to say goodbye to our apartment. Maybe that sounds weird, especially because if you've ever been to our old apartment you know how tiny 20'x20' really is and all the quirks it had (including but not limited to: accordion church-style door to our bedroom, 5 ft wide kitchen, bed in the corner because the bedroom was narrow, cinder block walls, cable coming out of a vent in the floor). That being said, it really was our HOME! We lived there for 32 out of our 36 months of marriage so far.

Here's a little nostalgia to break up all the text in this post. It seems like most of these were taken when we first moved in. The longer we lived there, the more claustrophobic I felt, so I started putting more and more extra bookshelves and decorations into storage to open up the space.

Russ modeling the accordion door

Bed against the wall - one tiny closet for both of us

Maeser Hall. Our apartment is the one sticking out in the front left.

Hallway kitchen. You couldn't get to the fridge with the dishwasher open, but at least it HAD a dishwasher!

Russ's office when we first moved in (it is so clean!)

View of the living room from the couch

We'll probably tell our kids about the days when our kitchen table folded out of the wall but not because we lived in some terrible dingy basement apartment because we're poor college students. It was a free apartment that we got with Russ's job - a job that may not pay a ton, but it has allowed us to save quite a bit of money because of perks like a free apartment, a meal plan, and Russ essentially working where we live so that we could have one car. That being said, am I happy that now, with that same job and those same perks we're getting a BRAND NEW 2 bedroom apartment!? Why yes I am!

Thanks for the memories, Maeser Hall!

Texas Visit

2011-08-05T17:12:00.001-06:00

For the first time in my life, I accumulated enough airline miles to fly somewhere for free! I decided to go to Texas and visit my sister after having her new baby. I had a lot of layovers, but other than a couple uncomfortable hours with a very sore back, being 6 months pregnant and traveling alone wasn't as hard as it could have been. Plus the trip was worth it, so thank you Lissa and Jason for letting me visit!

I looooved holding Savannah. She is so precious and tiny and she loved being curled up next to anyone with a heartbeat for her to fall asleep to. Poor Lissa though, now that all the help has left, Savannah won't sleep without being held.

I love how she curls up her legs and sticks up her little bum!

Savannah having quality time with grandma!

One night I was there, we celebrated Savannah's 0th birthday. If you know me, you know that I'm very good at making up reasons to celebrate...especially when there is dessert involved.

Kiera helping me bake a cake. After about 3 stirs, she declared it was ready for the oven!

Savannah slept through her own party! Luckily her big sister helped blow out the candle. I just don't think the party would have been as memorable if we hadn't of worn the party hats!!!

When I wasn't hangin' out with the nieces, I was sewing...and sewing...and, well, reading books too. It was sure nice to get things done with my mom's sewing wisdom and help. I made lots more bibs (and fixed a couple of my first ones) and made a car seat cover, which I love! Mom was busily sewing Savannah's blessing dress, and Kiera wanted to sew too. She kept busy by cutting fabric scraps and 'organizing' the pin cushion over and over. :)

The cute girl and the beautiful dress!

The happy family. Well, by this point Savannah was already tired of the paparazzi.

The girls - I just love Kiera's face in this one. Kiera is wearing a dress my mom made for Lissa when she was little.

Sometimes when I'd hold Savannah, my baby would go to town kicking her. I hope she was trying to bond with her cousin, not trying to fight her! :)

Babies are so cute when they're all rolled up like a burrito!

Although Russ and I missed each other and talked a lot of the phone, while I was gone he went to movies, played golf, hung out with his brother who came to town, hung out with my brother, washed the car, and had a regular "guys weekend" (not a 'boys' weekend, he said, but 'GUYS').

25 Weeks

2011-07-22T17:46:00.004-06:00

We looooove our little girl. We talk to her and about her all the time, and I've got about half of my sewing projects for her done! Can't wait to move to our new apartment next month and set up her nursery.

I'm in Houston right now visiting my big sister and her family. She had a sweet little girl 2 weeks ago, and I love holding her and looking at her. I especially love when she falls asleep on me. She's so adorable! It sure makes me anxious to hold my own little girl!

Here are some symptoms and stats:

My sister recommended measuring my stomach at my belly button. Right now, I'm 35.5" around. Scarlett O'Hara was 18.5" in Gone With the Wind...unnatural, huh?
My legs, back and tailbone are sore. I suppose that even though I don't look that big, there are still lots of changes that my body has to adjust to.
Russ and I go on walks almost every day, and I have to walk SO slow and rest often.
I enjoy lots and lots of kicks from my girl each day. You can see them on the outside now, and sometimes Russ and I just watch my stomach jump around.
Still throw up once a week.
People can definitely tell that I'm pregnant now, and the options in my normal wardrobe are getting smaller and smaller. I've got a few maternity shirts now, but luckily when I wear those I still have lots of room to grow into them. I can still put a hair-tie through the button hole on my pants, but can't really zip them up anymore... I guess it's almost time to switch to skirts and dresses.
No stretch marks (yet?) Hooray!
Happy to report that I'm not as super sensitive to smells as I was earlier. Russ may disagree with that, however, since I still tell him almost daily that he is too stinky.
Gained 5 pounds in the past 4 weeks again; 11 pounds total since my 8 week appointment.

Twenty-Three

2011-07-18T12:15:00.010-06:00

Every year on both my and Russ's birthdays I think, "Oh yeah. Don't forget to take a picture!" and then I do. So this the only picture of Russ and I together on my birthday :)

Highlights of 22:

- Teaching Kindergarten and LOVING it
- Trips to Houston, Coeur d'Alene, Boise, and Mesa
- ~~Car accident on icy freeway~~
- 2nd Anniversary with Russy-poo
- Our baby girl who is just negative 15 weeks old

Things to look forward to at 23:
- Meeting our little girl!
- Russ getting into grad school for fall of 2012
- The 2 bedroom apartment we move into next month
- Family coming to visit for baby blessing
- Teaching Kindergarten again
- 3rd Anniversary

Birthdays are the best. There's nothing like saying, "It's my BIRTHDAY!" over and over during the course of a day ... for no apparent reason ....which I did. It makes you feel special, especially when you have a husband who cheerfully responds with, "Yeah! It's your birthday!" every time. If saying, "Today is a GREAT day" instilled half as much joy, I would say that too.

I was a little nervous about this birthday, however, since Russ had to work and he was studying for the GRE (which he is taking right this very moment), but it was still WONDERFUL! We were able to go out to breakfast at Kneaders before he had to work, then I sewed and shopped - mostly for fabric to make more baby projects. The shopping wore me out so much it's embarrassing (3rd trimester must be near) so I took a 2 hour nap. When I woke up, Russ was done working, and I had a pile of presents Russ had surreptitiously been hiding. [That's right: surreptitiously. Can you tell I've been helping Russ study for the GRE vocab? We bust out big words every now and then...and probably use them incorrectly half the time.] For dinner, Russ took me to Texas Roadhouse...mmmm....so good (I should mention that both meals were paid for by gift cards I've had for months :D), and then we had some friends come over for cake and games. If you ask me, that's pretty much a perfect day.

This cake took way too long to decorate, but I really enjoyed doing it.

Here's a sneak peak of the 25 week belly until I post a better one. Russ snapped random pictures of me throughout the day. What I really want to know about this is what I'm doing and why I have my arm around my dresser (in the mirror).

Family on the 4th

2011-07-06T21:53:00.003-06:00

We went to Portland for a wonderful family reunion over the 4th of July weekend. In the 5 days we were gone, we spent time with almost all of my extended family, and Russ even got to see his brother (who was in Portland for business - at our same hotel!) All of the Carsons were there except Lissa, Jason, and Kiera since Lissa is due to give us another niece any day!

One of the highlights of the reunion for me was a joint baby shower for my cousin and I. We're due on the same day; she's having a boy. I could not believe how many outfits I got! I absolutely love how cute and tiny the clothes are - especially the little ruffles on the bum. I also think the little polka dots, flowers, butterflies, and animals are so precious. I don't think I'll have to buy clothes for the first year, and she'll be the best dressed baby ever! :) All of my aunts and cousins were so generous! We had to split everything up in multiple suitcases to get them all home.

Blue and Pink - in honor of a baby boy and girl!

A very small sampling of the baby shower loot!

Our 6 month-old nephew, Daniel, was DEFINITELY the hit in our family. :) We all took turns holding him, playing with him, or just being around him so as not to miss a single cute moment or facial expression!

He's such a happy little guy!

Garrett and Tyler helping Daniel swim. He loved to kick and splash in the water.

The boys doing target practice

Playing volleyball with the fam

The 4th of July!

Russ and Tyler practicing their reactions before the fireworks began.

Daniel was a champ during the fireworks. He actually wasn't phased by them at all.

Russ, Tyler, and I were supposed to fly out on Thursday afternoon, but we missed our flight! I've been on a lot of airplanes in my day and never done that before. We literally got there 1 minute late. After spending 40 minutes on the phone with Delta, Russ got us flights for the next day and despite some of the charges being waived, we'd have to pay $150 each. As I lamented about that, Tyler gets this grin on his face and decides he's going to play 'bad cop'. He spent the next 40 minutes on the phone with Delta, doing things like calling them crooks and asking why they'd just leave him behind and he sounded like some mix between a redneck and a guy from the ghetto. I kept telling him that being a jerk would take away his chances of ANY "discount" at all. Instead he ended up getting booked on the same flight as Russ and I and paying $0! Russ was shocked because he played the nice guy and still had to pay - so he spent about another 30 minutes talking to a Delta representative at the airport about the situation. The rep could NOT believe Tyler actually got the fees dropped, so he decided to help us out. Nearly 2 1/2 hours later, we left the airport, giddy because although we'd missed our flight, we had seats booked for the next day, and we didn't have to pay anything. Plus we had a great story to tell! We decided to celebrate by going out to dinner.

As a side note, to keep myself busy since school has been out, I've been working on a couple projects. I made some file folder games for my niece who just turned 3 and have been sewing bibs and burp cloths. I have lots of sewing projects planned for the baby. This has been my first solo sewing project, and it's been a lot harder than I expected, but I still love how they've turned out.

Awwww, So Cute!

2011-06-26T22:26:00.002-06:00

The other night Russ and I were looking at our baby pictures to try to imagine what our baby will look like. Based on pictures of us as newborns, we think she might be a little pudgy (but grow out of it).

With us as parents, though, she's bound to have blue eyes.

We're Havin' a GIRL!

2011-06-16T21:26:00.106-06:00

Yesterday was our ultrasound appointment; we were so anxious/nervous/excited. We didn't really care so much about whether baby was a boy or a girl, but we just hoped everything was developing and growing the way it should (and it is). It was so exciting to see our little baby, and it's incredible what technology could show us. What it showed is that we're having a little girl! I was shocked. I totally thought we were having a boy. The good news with a girl is that we don't have to come up with a name, because we have 2 girls names we like (but NO agreement on a single boy's name).

Russ was SO CUTE during the whole appointment. He was so excited and teary-eyed. It was almost like it made this baby seem very real to him for the first time, and last night when we said our prayers, it was cute to hear him bless our "little girl". :) But if you know Russ, you know how excited he gets about things, and it was hilarious. He was just 'ooh'ing and 'aah'ing and laughing and saying, "Look at that!" the whole time. He is going to be such a good daddy to our little girl. I can't help but smile when I envision him at a tea party or trying to put her hair in a pony tail. :) For the record, I also know he'll be an incredible daddy for our little boy(s?) in the future.

Now for the belly picture. I thought I'd wear pink this time in honor of our baby girl. I'm still pretty little, I think, but people are starting to notice my baby bump when I go out in public.

The heart necklace is from one of my students - he told his mom he HAD to get me a necklace. Russ was jealous. ;)

The first thing the ultrasound showed was the head and then when the nurse looked at the face, our little girl immediately put her hands over her face to hide. It was so cute. She also did TONS of kicking. I was nervous before since I hadn't felt lots of movement, but when I actually saw her kicking, I realized the little pops I have been feeling really were kicks. She was laying with her feet all stretched out, kicking away the whole time (which is funny because a few nights ago I was pretty sure I felt kicking and it was in the same place, so I guess she has a favorite position :D). I loved looking at her tiny little feet too.

Covering her face :)

This was taken in the act of kicking, which is why there is only one foot. I can't believe you can see all the bones! It's so cool!

For memory's sake, I'll write a little about the past 4 weeks, symptoms-wise. It has been really calm, but I'm glad it hasn't been this easy the whole time because being sick really made me appreciate this wonderful 2nd Trimester.
- Since I only throw up now once a week or less and I have my normal appetite back, I've gained 5 pounds in the 4 weeks since my last visit! I hope I don't get too huge before the end!
- I didn't really start feeling kicking until this week. Last week I think felt "fluttering" like I had swallowed a very active butterfly, but for the most part I just feel little pops deep inside my stomach or a series of distinctive thuds. They are hard to describe and different than I expected, but still pleasantly surprising every time. One night I knocked on my stomach and said, "Baby! Are you in there?" so any movement is reassuring for me.
- During the 1st Trimester I had to nap every day. Now I can handle a more 'normal' sleep schedule, but sometimes I'll just wake up at about 5am and I have no idea why. I'll usually just lay there, eat something, and fall back to sleep after about an hour. Is that normal?
- None of my pants button anymore. I usually tie them with a hair tie (thank you, Britney) or wear my pajama pants (thank you summer vacation). I did buy some maternity pants yesterday! They're actually really cute and since they just have an elastic waistband, I'll probably still wear them after pregnancy. The shirts were all tent-like, though so I'll hold off on buying those for a while.

Russ and I are so in love with our little baby girl and can't wait to meet her in October!

June 9, 2006

2011-06-09T11:37:00.000-06:00

The other day I realized that it's been 5 years since I graduated high school. In the past 5 years, I've been pretty busy, but accomplished a lot:

Completed a Bachelor's Degree from BYU - including a study abroad in Jerusalem and a year as a Resident Assistant.
Taught for 2 complete school years.
Got married to the man of my dreams.
Having a baby later this year.

At high school graduation, I was the Salutatorian so I got lots of bling. I also got to make a speech, which was fun because back then I liked being in front of tons of people.

Kaiserslautern High School had a tradition of the departing seniors leaving their handprints and a quote on the wall. Here are the quotes from the 3 of us who graduated in Germany:

Annnnnd here is quote from the kid who HONESTLY believed he was a Star Wars character. I took this picture mostly for Tyler because he may or may not have convinced this poor guy that he too was a Star Wars character. Oh high school.

Kindergarten Graduation

2011-06-02T22:13:00.002-06:00

I can NOT believe the school year is already over. In some ways I am really ready for summer (especially taking a 2 month break from the commute to Lehi), but I know I'll be bored and that I'll miss my cute students. At least I'll get to see them in the hallways next year. I've decided to teach again next year, even with the baby, but I will stay just half day.

Today was our kindergarten graduation. Russ graciously came to school with me and served as man-power to get our chairs to and from the cafeteria / photographer (He took 370 pictures! haha). My class looked SO precious. They were supposed to wear "best school clothes" and some showed up in a full suit or a flower girl dress and then as if that wasn't adorable enough we made graduation hats. I could not stop smiling at them during their program (even though I did have one student who spent at least 5 minutes inspecting his tassel in front of 200 parents...there's always one, right?). It was just such a cute love fest of a day that I had to post some pictures.

Prepping the class for the day's events

Check out those adorable hats! (Hopefully you can click on it to see it bigger)

Of course the silly picture

The cutest part of the program was singing "God Bless the USA".

me and the class

Making my little end-of-year speech before handing out diplomas. Check out that baby bump, eh?


I made their diplomas, and I think they are pretty dang cute...if I may say so myself.

I made some cinnamon bun caramel popcorn for my parent helpers. It was a TON of work for a finished product that was probably not worthy of a full year of devoted parent volunteering, but I was still pleased with how they turned out

This is a close-up of the labels I designed - mostly for my mom to see since they were her idea.

BTW - In case you were counting, I only used "cute" 4 times in this post, but that's only because I tried to use lots of synonyms.

I'm Okay With That

2011-05-30T22:16:00.002-06:00

Here are just a few of the reasons why I am excited with the prospect of getting bigger over the next 5 months.

Some of the other reasons will include getting to buy tiny baby clothes.
Most of the reasons we are excited though, are simply because we're having a baby!

Here is an example of how Russ and I talk him/her:
Russ: I can't believe we'll have our own baby. We've babysat so many, but we've never had our OWN!
Adri: Our baby will be pimpin'.

17 Weeks

2011-05-25T16:13:00.006-06:00

Wow. I can hardly believe I'm almost half-way through this pregnancy. The second trimester has been so calm that I am almost nervous it's too easy. With only a week left of school, I am looking forward to spending the summer sewing and making other crafts and decorations for this baby and the nursery - after we find out what we're having on JUNE 15th!

If you look close, you can still see the sunglasses burn on my nose....2 1/2 weeks later

Other than the growing tummy, here's how the last 5 weeks have been since I last blogged:
- I hardly throw up anymore. In fact, it's been over a week! Whoohoo!
- Although I no longer feel EXHAUSTED all the time, I do sleep much more.
- My appetite is pretty much back to normal, although I've noticed that I don't crave sweets as often as I used to. The smell of super sweet things makes me sick. Perhaps that's a good thing.
- Sometimes I experience cramps when I move too quickly or just feel stretching in general as my abdomen is - as the doctor said - "blossoming"
- I've started to have some low back pain (mostly when I sit on our uncomfortable couch)
- The almost constant need to use the bathroom didn't hit me at first, but it is starting to now. It's kind of fun. It makes me feel pregnant more than almost any of the other symptoms, but I'm not sure why.
- In my past 8 weeks of appointments, I haven't gained a single pound. Since I am definitely bigger in my tummy than at 8 weeks pregnant, Russ says I must just be losing muscle mass. He always knows just what to say! :P

Russ really likes this 2nd picture. I think I'm bigger in real life than in these pictures. A friend at church said to me, "You don't necessarily look pregnant. You could just be bloated." Hm. Thanks? Who knows what I'll look like at 40 weeks, but for now I just have a little pooch sticking out all the time - and it's getting harder to button up my pants!

Lately when Russ and I talk about baby, we accidentally say "he". Hm. Maybe that means our subconscious minds think it'll be a boy, despite what we said before about both thinking it's going to be a girl. We'll be overjoyed with either one.

Google Game

2011-05-11T16:08:00.001-06:00

Favorite Color:

Yellow

One of your favorite places:

Mesa, Temple

Age:

First job:

Anthony's Pizza

Birthplace:

K-Town, Germany

Cool place I've been:

(I couldn't choose just one)
Neuschwanstein Castle

Taj Mahal

Pyramids

Place you want to visit:

New York

Where you live now:

Provo

Favorite animal:

kitten

Past love:

Spice Girls - I'll admit that I was obsessed...when I was 10

Favorite Object:

Storage bins :)

Nickname:

Russ sometimes calls me "Peaches"

Easter is Almost as Good as Christmas

2011-05-08T22:01:00.003-06:00

I LOVE Easter. I love it because it means that we can remember and celebrate the Savior and His Resurrection. I think it means even more to me after being in Jerusalem and being in the Garden of Gethsemane and visiting His tomb.

If I'm totally honest though, I love Easter for other reasons. For one it's in the Spring, which doesn't seem to mean much to us here in Utah (since it's still chilly), but it means flowers are blooming, and I love being warm. ALSO - I love dying Easter eggs and having Easter egg hunts. I also loved that when I was little my mom made me an Easter dress every year. I can't wait to do that for my future daughters (or...maybe buy them a dress...? We'll see).

This may or may not be Easter, but since we all match - I bet it is.

Our first Easter egg hunt - when Russ and I were dating (check out that hair!)

During my Spring Break, about a week or two before Easter, Russ and I drove down to Arizona to visit the Lees. It was a WONDERFUL visit - but much too short. In addition to relaxing, visiting family, and sitting by the pool to get a tan/try out my new swimsuit, Russ and I went to the Easter Pageant at the Mesa Temple. It was SO good. Seriously. If you've ever been to the Manti Pageant, Mesa's puts that one to shame.

This year for Easter, we invited Tyler over to help us dye eggs and have an Easter egg hunt. I don't know how well I'll handle Easter when I have kids, because I like finding the eggs too!

I loved using the face stickers :)

One of the bunnies is not like the others

And since Easter was 2 weeks ago, here is a picture taken today - Mother's Day. We are finally getting some sun in Provo! Unfortunately, Russ and I got a little too much of it at an otherwise very fun BYU baseball game yesterday! (I guess you can't really see how pink our faces and arms are, but we sure feel it!) Also, Russ bought me the dress for Mother's Day, and I LOVE IT! It goes all the way to the floor and will (hopefully) help hide my little baby bump.

I Know What I'll Be For Halloween This Year...

2011-04-24T21:49:00.001-06:00

...I will be a mOmmy! (get it....like mummy? :D)

I'm pregnant! Russ and I could not be more excited about our little baby on the way!!! I am 13 weeks.

My due date is October 30, but I hope baby comes early. Several months ago I decided if I wasn't going to have a baby in the springtime, I REALLY wanted to have one in October. It's such a FUN month! Pumpkin patches, hay rides, fall colors, Halloween, decorations ....I just love October, and now I love it even more!

It took Russ and I awhile to believe that this baby was really real, but we are in looooove. We both feel like it'll be a little girl, but only time will tell.

I am sure I will post about pregnancy many more times in the future, but here are some things I've noticed:

I haven't been TOO sick, but I have enjoyed face-time with the toilet 26x in the past 39 days (TMI? Well. When you actually keep track of that, you might as well share it!)
Between naps and at night, I sleep about 12 hours a day
I have a nose that a bloodhound would envy. My least favorite smell in the world right now: Russ's deodorant - 2nd place goes to the kitchen (sink, trash can, fridge, pantry - you name it!)
I haven't had too many cravings, in fact, the only food that really ever consistently sounds good to me is fruit.
Although I've only had to miss one day of teaching so far, I feel worst in the evenings and right when I wake up. For about a month I would just come home from work, take a nap, and then sit on the couch and move as little as possible in the late afternoon and evenings because everything ignited my gag reflex.

Those things probably sound familiar to most other pregnant ladies or mommies, so I think I am having a pretty average pregnancy. Oh yeah, and have I mentioned that we are SO EXCITED? Also a little nervous, but definitely could not be happier.

Real Bride Wars

2011-04-02T07:27:00.000-06:00

I have a policy that after a really emotional dream, you can't do anything about it for at least 30 minutes. After that time, it fades and you realize how silly you were to feel mad/sad/excited by a dream. But oh no. This is the worst dream ever, and I am going to blog about it (since I can't go back to sleep).

The dream took place at the sealing of Russ to 3 other women. I was sitting there among the guests as he stepped next to each one to take their wedding pictures and made sure not to kiss one more than the others (so he didn't show favoritism).

Then we were at the reception in our huge house, and I had a conversation with Russ. The end of it went like this...
Adri: Um. So did the sealer realize there were 3 women on the other side of the alter?
Russ: You need to control your jealousy.
He walked away; I ran into our room, crumpled on the floor and started crying. I looked around our bedroom at all of the pictures we had of just each other and realized he would have pictures like that in each room, like none of the other wives existed. Like he wanted to live lots of different lives with women who didn't have the "bad" qualities, like jealousy, I had.

I figured that eventually I had to be seen at this reception, but everyone looked at me with pity or like I was getting in the way of the happiness of the occasion. So I sat down next to the secretary of my school (of all people) and asked if she had ever been to a wedding like this. She said no, but now I was the 4th wife. I said that I was the 1st wife and started wondering what that made my role. She pointed out that now we were living a lifestyle that was against the law and how were we going to make it look legal and on and on.

When I woke up, I was grateful to be awake. I was whimpering, which woke up Russ. I told him I had a bad dream and then he tried to cuddle with me, but after a few minutes I told him he had to leave me alone because he is in trouble and I am mad at him. He rolled over and groggily said, "Okay. I love you."

There it is. The worst dream I've ever had. Does anyone care to share a bad dream they've had (or analyze what mine might mean)? :P

Happy Birthday to the Best Husband EVER!

2011-03-28T23:12:00.004-06:00

Russ's birthday was 2 weeks ago, and it was a wonderful day. He awoke to a trail of chocolates (most of which I ate) leading to the kitchen where delicious homemade Kneader's french toast awaited him. MMMmmmm

Trying to fix the candle because it kept falling over.

Russ turned 2 again this year since I didn't realize we didn't have a 9 until too late (he had a Sunday birthday); he didn't mind. We had enough friends over to overfill our apartment, and had a pineapple cake. It looked nothing like the Spongebob one below, but since pineapple is his favorite, I've gotta find a way to make it cuter than putting it in a 9x13 pan, so maybe I'll use this as inspiration next year.

Other than being throughly entertained by the toddlers during cake and ice cream, one of our friends suggested a game where we all go around and say something nice about Russ. He really liked that and wants to make it a tradition in our family. In fact, you can leave a comment with what you like about Russ and continue the game! (hint. hint) It was a pretty low-key day and weekend filled with friends, family, gifts and lots of yummy food. Hey wait, that's exactly what a birthday is supposed to be!

I am sure glad I get to be with Russ on his birthday: the best and most special day of the year. Back before we were dating, he told me that he wanted to have his birthday party at Chuck-E-Cheese's, and I made some comment about how he and I probably wouldn't even hang out by the time his birthday rolled around. HA! We had 2 Chuck-E-Cheese birthdays for him, and now we've had 2 hang-out-at-home birthdays - making it 4 birthdays that we've been together. Every year, he just gets better!

I love you Russ!

Yep. That's MY Husband

2011-03-02T20:40:00.001-07:00

No. Not Jimmer. Look to the left of Jimmer's hip. Yes. THAT'S my husband.

This picture was stolen from the CBS College Sports website. Russ is usually very close to the sideline during the games (courtesy of his internship with athletic marketing for the past 3 years), so look for him on TV or while you are at the Marriott Center...ya know...instead of watching Jimmer. Russ is cuter anyway!

In other news - it's Russ's birthday in less than 2 weeks. We've got the Tucanos card in the mail, and we are ready to par-tay!

Rookie

2011-02-22T21:36:00.002-07:00

Tonight while I was at my book club, a lady came to the door selling treats or asking for donations. She had an elaborate story about trying to bring her kids here to Utah from Ohio. None of us were very interested, but she went on and on about how if we didn't want her treats, we could still make a donation or she even had a credit card machine and could swipe our credit cards. We still declined and she left. Then one my friends at book club said that lady came by every year with a different story (and to 4 different apartment complexes). I kicked into RA mode, especially about the credit card machine since we recently had a possible credit card skimming scam at the dorms last month.

So I did what I thought Russ would do and called the:

It was intense. They asked me lots of questions and while talking to them I realized I would be a terrible eyewitness to a real crime because since I tried not to look at her too much during her pitch, I couldn't really remember what she was wearing (although I could tell about her physical features).

Anyway. The police got there and couldn't find her. We were just wrapping up when she came to the door so on the way back to the parking lot we looked up and down all the hallways to see if we could find her, but we didn't. I felt pretty useless. Russ told me I did a great job calling but I should have followed her. I guess I didn't because I'd never done anything like that before, and I wouldn't know what I'd do if I ran into her again, and I was on the phone with the police for a good 5 minutes and only kept track of her until she turned the corner (I guess I should have had someone else go talk to her to stall or else follow her, but that's a little scary).

The police told me they've gotten DOZENS of calls about this same lady, but no one can ever catch her. That makes me feel a little better. If Russ was there, he would have just found her and made small talk with her until the police came, but I am a rookie, and not brave enough for that. Maybe some day.

Finally! A Name for Our Car

2011-02-13T12:13:00.001-07:00

Two Face because that's what it looks like right now:

I was driving to work on slushy/icy roads on Tuesday, and while trying to switch lanes, lost control. It was just long enough that I remember thinking, "Okay. I am back in control. No I'm not. I'm going to smash into the median." After that, I just remember screaming as my car slammed into the median in the front, fishtailed and hit in the back, and then righted itself and stopped just 3" shy of scraping the whole side of my car against the median. I am fine, I didn't hit anyone else (a miracle considering the amount of spinning and the number of cars on the freeway), the damage was mostly on the body of the car so I still drove it to school and back home that day, and the Highway Patrol was really nice.

I didn't know what to do. The car behind me also stopped so I thought, "Oh great. I hit them." but after a minute they drove off, so my guess is that they were calling the police for me. I was too busy trying to call Russ to find out who to call. I couldn't get a hold of him so ended up dialing 911, and by the time I did they were already there. They were the ones to let me know my car was still drivable (since I couldn't get out - a median was on one side and the other lanes of traffic was on the other. I was just sitting in the fast lane with my hazards on) and had me get off at the next exit, with not 1 or 2 but THREE police cars escorting me. :)

Despite being shaken up, I was okay, so I drove to school and got there about an hour late. I was really out of it all day at school, but the class was very concerned. We even took a "field trip" out to look at the damage since I had told them there was a huge hole in my car. One student just said, "YOU can DRIVE? YOU have a CAR?" He thought I walked to school each day. :P

Now we have a rental car, and I bought some bus tickets because there is no way I am driving in the snow for a while. I am way too scared. When I took a job that required 17 miles of traveling each way every day, I suppose the chances of an accident happening went up. I don't doubt, however, that I was greatly blessed and protected. Thank goodness we pray for my safety every single morning in our couple prayers!

HAVE YOU HEARD? Where the old DT buildings were, an extension of Heritage Halls is being built. Right now they are doing construction on one girl's building and one boy's. All I've heard about them is how NICE they are going to be. They are set to be completed on August 1st, and they've asked Russ to move up there and be the Hall Advisor. So, that is our current plan. I must admit that even though I am tired of living with freshman, I am VERY excited to think of living in the brand new apartments. I haven't seen a floor plan, but Russ thinks it's 2 bedrooms on the 2nd floor and he'll have an office on the 1st floor. After living in our 230 square foot apartment for over 2 years, I don't know what we'll do with all that space! :P

In other - less exciting - news, thank you for voting in my poll! By the time I got around to ordering, the only one left in my size was this one:

I really like it, and it was the one I liked the best originally when I made the poll. It didn't win in the poll, but it is really cute and fits perfectly. I recommend that website to anyone

Blog Stalking

2011-01-25T23:11:00.002-07:00

I admit that sometimes, but not very often, I blog-stalk people I either don't know very well or haven't talked to in real life for a long time. Every time I read those other blogs I think, "They are so good with words" or "They have so many interesting things to write about" or "Someday I'll be like that crafty/bubbly/insert other adjective here"........... and, frankly, it makes me inspired and a little jealous at the same time.

Does anyone else feel that way?

Dreaming of Summer

2011-01-17T21:12:00.000-07:00

My friend, Michele, posted about a cute modest swimsuit store: Lime Ricki Swimwear. Well, their suits are on sale right now, and I am in need of a new swimsuit. I put a poll on the right of the page (Michele's good idea again). Please vote in my first-ever poll! :) Here are the options:

End of an Era

2011-01-16T20:55:00.000-07:00

In at least 2 blog posts, I mention that Russ steals my pillow in the mornings because it is longer. better. faster. stronger. (is that how the song goes?)

Christmas came along and I gave Russ a new pillow. It is probably 2x as fluffy as his old one. Now when I leave for school in the morning, he is peacefully sleeping on his very own - superior - pillow.

We Must Have Been Good This Year...

2011-01-01T13:11:00.001-07:00

...because we had a wonderful Christmas! "Santa" brought us a couple of big and EXCITING presents:

Kitchen Aid

Nice Camera

The story with this is that I wanted to get professional pictures done of us, and Russ decided it would be better to just buy ourselves a nice camera and take all the pictures we want! It's a funny story, but we love the camera so much that it was totally worth it.

We also got to spend Christmas in Houston with my family (minus Garrett and Krystal - who had a baby two days after this picture was taken!)

It was a relaxing trip, and it was very nice to be in some warmer weather. We even went to the beach one day (it was only about 50 degrees, but we just went to test out our great new camera):

We also went to San Antonio and saw the Alamo, the San Antonio Temple and walked along a riverwalk.

You can kind-of see the lights behind me.

Oh yeah, I also got to spend lots of time with THIS cute girl!

We feel very blessed indeed this Christmas. Besides our big gifts and getting to see family, we got other great things as well...

Thanks to your voting, we got this temple picture :)

Our tree was PACKED since almost every one of my 29 kindergarteners got me a gift. I couldn't believe how generous everyone was!

I made this apron for Russ. It won't win any awards for beauty, but I am pretty proud of myself for one of my first sewing projects.

My mom - the master sewer she is - made me the middle bag (with the black). I LOVE it. Now I have the church bag big enough for scriptures (left), school bag big enough for a binder (middle) and purse.

We also got lots of wonderful gift cards, movies we really wanted and other things like that. I also just have to brag that I now have the complete Hunger Games series (my mom even stood in line for 2 hours to get one signed) and if you haven't read it yet, come borrow it from me because it is the best series ever!

Now on to 2011!!!

Crafts: A Year in Review

2010-12-13T19:55:00.000-07:00

This has been a rather productive decoration year. Last year I did the cake and floral design classes, this year I've updated my scrapbook and made crafts.

4th of July Blocks

St Patrick's Day blocks

Springtime blocks

Valentine's flowers for my students

"BOO" blocks I designed myself

Christmas Countdown blocks

Designing these myself was WAY more work than it should have been, but A LOT of fun!

Neat, Nostalgic, Nutritious, Nonstop NOVEMBER

2010-12-01T21:12:00.000-07:00

This has been quite the fun-filled month! My cute "decoration tree" shows that it's Thanksgiving!! The ornaments are much cuter than anything I could have made. I pretty much adore them. Anyway, in addition to this month being Thanksgiving and the beginning of the holiday season, Russ and I had an extra fun month because we took not ONE, but TWO trips together.

I will tell you about the trips after this turkey picture because blogger is being difficult :)

For my Primary lesson this month, we were talking about the way we could serve our families, and I decided to make a service turkey! It turned out pretty cute.

Our first trip was to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Russ went for a Housing conference. I tagged along, and we had a really great time. Russ served 4 months of his mission in Coeur d'Alene, and we actually found his old apartment! Grandma and Grandpa live just 30 minutes away in Spokane, so it was really nice to spend a day visiting with them in their cute new apartment, and I got to meet Russ's really nice cousin, Adam, and his wife. They were both really friendly and kind to me. I loved hanging out with them. Basically, while Russ was in meetings, I got to hang out with family!

Russ, Adam and motorcycle.

I also got to visit Great Grandma and Grandpa Bates. Great Grandma is 96 years old, but still really sharp!

One of Russ's favorite places to meet investigators. (Just kidding...but he did get really excited that this place was still around.)

Russ's first apartment on his mission.

The most massive dessert Russ and I weren't able to finish.

Our room was really nice. We loved the steps leading down to the balcony, overlooking the lake (or mostly, the parking garage)

Looking at our dessert (in the picture before) and wondering how in the world we would eat it all.

The view from our balcony.

When we got home, I came home to report card deadlines and Russ came home to a couple of messes his residents caused. One involved police and, well, freshman aren't always the smartest....especially in groups....or late at night.

A week after our first trip, we braved the BLIZZARD to drive up to the Holden's for Thanksgiving. The drive really was scary for a while. It wasn't snowing that much, but the wind was blowing so hard that we could hardly see the car in front of us. Then when we got out of the storm, the roads were big sheets of ice. We've decided we'll probably fly to Boise from now on. Once we got there, however, we had a great trip. It was really relaxing, the food was great and the company was better! Thank you, Holdens, for letting us invade your home for Thanksgiving! We loved our time up there!

Russ got a black eye playing "church ball" while we were in Boise. Apparently there is someone else out there tall enough to elbow 6'4" Russ in the eye.

Russ, Steve and Andrew went to their ward's turkey bowl (sorry - I cropped Andrew out because he was blinking. Probably better to have no picture than a blinking one). We were pretty surprised at how long they played, considering it was about 10 degrees that morning.

Last year when we were in Boise, we went to their Festival of Trees, and we went again this year. It is really fun to see all the trees. This "Hungry Catterpillar" one was my favorite.

Britney and I made a pretty incredible turkey again. I think we've got the process down to a science now. I actually really like to cook Thanksgiving dinner. Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls.....mmmm. Here are my annual turkey prepping pictures (I guess I didn't take one last year):

2006 - Acting Natural


2007 - Just Chillin with my Headless Friend


2008 - Meditation


2010 - My Beautiful Baby! (This turkey was too heavy to hold in some funny pose)

We Want to See the Temple

2010-11-18T21:30:00.001-07:00

Russ and I have been looking for a good Mesa Temple picture to hang up. We have 2 finalists (unless anyone else knows of any other great ones). What do YOU think?

$7.95 for an 8x10 / $14.95 for an 11x14 - maybe we'd get that since it's so inexpensive

$28.50 for an 8x10

Because I Can!

2010-11-09T22:25:00.001-07:00

I have nothing to post about, but if I write these things in a journal, I wouldn't get to see if anyone else thinks the same way as I do about things. So here I go.

Wow! I got lots of responses to my blonde or brunette question. I probably won't do anything, but if hair coloring was free - I totally would.

I was thinking today about times you stick your foot in your mouth. Personally, I am just bad at small-talk. I always have been. When I meet people for the first time, they probably walk away thinking one of two things: that I'm really quiet or really awkward. If I see you in the store or somewhere, I may go out of my way NOT talk to you because I get anxiety about what to say. As you can imagine, this makes it somewhat difficult to talk to parents as a teacher...or people at church....etc, etc, etc. My lack of this particular social skill may be why I like to have a tiny group of close friends.

Also. The BYU grounds crew worked hard today to blow together all the yellow and red fallen leaves, but no one came to pick them up. Russ and I rustled though them today! Fall is so beautiful in Provo because of the colors changing on the mountain. As I drive to work every day, I get good mountain views and see a couple temples too. It's always beautiful.

Something else I've been thinking about is the future. Now that Russ and I are both finished with college, we're feeling ready to "move on" with life (the freshman this year were born in 1993!). I also understand, however, that for all things there is a time and a season. Right now happens to be our season of living in a free apartment, having a meal plan so I don't have to cook every night, being able to get by with one car, saving money, and teaching the world's sweetest kindergartners. Not too shabby, eh. I am certainly enjoying it, BUT I must admit that I still dream of these things (although, who knows when they'll come along):

our own vegetable garden

a SWEET kitten

a blue-eyed baby

a CUTE kitten

sewing

OUR VERY OWN WASHER AND DRYER!

(I would probably do laundry every day. I love clean laundry)

A CUDDLY kitten.

(We don't really want 3 kittens, but the pictures were all so cute that I couldn't resist.)

"Let us relish life as we live it, [and] find joy in the journey"

-President Thomas S. Monson

"Magnificent is your future, if you will take control of it."

-President Gordon B. Hinckley

Blonde or Brunette?

2010-11-05T21:18:00.000-06:00

What do you think? Russ says I should go blonde.

Thanks to Ashley for the hour of entertainment I just had from putting celebrity hair on my face. haha.

Showing Off

2010-10-19T22:28:00.005-06:00

Here are a couple cool things I wanted to show off:

First, the INCREDIBLE (according to me) Halloween blocks I designed and made. I can't take all the credit because my friend, Michele, gave me the idea to do it and helped me find the paper and had most of the supplies I used. I especially love the glittery black paper for the letters!

Russ says it looks like "B Q O". What do you think?

Second, the firemen came to kindergarten to teach us about fire safety! It was the dad of a student in my class, but he brought the whole crew. We got to go inside of an ambulance and firetruck, they gave a great presentation, and even dressed me up in all the gear. I pretended to be embarrassed, but was secretly having a great time.

The kids thought this was pretty hilarious

Third, a cool thing our PTA did to kick off Red Ribbon Week was have each student in the school let go of a red balloon with a sticker on it saying, "I pledge to be Drug Free". They also had a hot air balloon launch from our school field. It was really a unique and breathtaking sight.

I Learned Something New!

2010-10-10T23:49:00.000-06:00

While cooking dinner today, I learned this:

Noun

garlic clove - one of the small bulblets that can be split off of the axis of a larger garlic bulb

This would have been good to know BEFORE chopping up the entire garlic bulb into my 2 cups of rice. :) Oh well - now I know!

Cafe Rio At Home

2010-10-03T16:04:00.001-06:00

I love Cafe Rio. I love it even more after making it at home. It was a LOT of work, and honestly probably not QUITE as satisfying as the real thing, but it was still totally worth it. I made the sweet pork burritos with pinto beans. I was stuffed after 1, but Russ had 2 - so they must have been okay. I certainly can't take credit for the recipe. I found it at this blog, but then made some of my own alterations. Here are pictures and recipes.

Burritos
1 LARGE tortilla shell (we got raw ones and cooked them on the stove)
1 large scoop cilantro lime-rice
1 large scoop pinto beans
1 large scoop sweet pork
Shredded Mexican cheese
Green Enchilada Sauce (we used mild from a can)

We served it with a romaine lettuce salad, but we just used ranch dressing - you can find recipes for the cafe rio dressing, but it was even more work :)

Russ was modeling the assembly :)

Sweet Pork
2 pounds pork

3 cans Coke or Dr. Pepper (NOT diet)
1/4 cup brown sugar
Dash garlic salt
1/4 cup water
1 can diced green chilis
3/4 can red enchilada sauce
1 cup brown sugar

Put pork in a heavy duty zip-lock bag to marinate. Add about a can and a half of Dr. Pepper and about 1/4 cup brown sugar. Marinate overnight in the fridge.

Drain marinade and put pork, 1/2 can of Dr Pepper, 1/4 cup water, and garlic salt in crock pot on high for 3-4 hours. Remove prok from crock pot and drain liquid. Shred pork with a fork.

In a blender, mix 1/2 can Dr Pepper, chilis, enchilada sauce, and 1 cup brown sugar. Put shredded pork and blended sauce in crock pot and cook on low for 2 hours.

Lime Rice
1 cup uncooked long-grained white rice
1 tsp butter
1 gloves garlic, minced
1 tsp freshly squeezed lime juice
1 - 15oz can chicken broth
1 cup water
1 Tbl lime juice
3 Tbl fresh cilantro

I just threw the first 6 ingredients in the rice cooker. When it was cooked, I squeezed the rest of the lime on top and added the cilantro.

Pinto Beans
2 cups dry pinto beans
2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp dried oregano
4 cups water
1/4 cup salt
2 Tbl pepper

Wash the beans and soak them for at least 4 hours. Drain and put into crock pot with the spices and water. Cook on high for 5 hours until beans are tender. Make sure the beans stay covered - I had to add more water while it was cooking. (One thing I didn't think about is that the beans EXPANDED in the crock pot. I did 4 cups of beans and my little crock pot was overflowing. Also, making the pinto beans is TONS of work, but they are really tasty!)

When Things Look Bleak...

2010-09-29T23:25:00.002-06:00

Count your blessings. This hasn't been a great week. I have to remind myself that there are good things in my life. Lots and lots of them.

1. General Conference this weekend

2. The rocking chair we got on sale.

3. Russ and I figuring out how to work new.familysearch.org (well, sort of)

4. Fresh laundry

5. Doctors and friends who have helped us this week


6. Seeing a Cally-clone at Petsmart and getting to pet it.

7. Russ stealing my pillow EVERY morning after I wake up. (This morning I tricked him - the pillow under his head isn't the good pillow)

8. Russ, our family and the Lord.

9. Chocolate chip cookies

10. My cute kindergartners' adorable gingerbread men.

We read books about the gingerbread man, and then I convinced them I had brought one to school and he ran away. They were hillarious and helped me search the school for him (meeting/ asking for help from the school helpers - principal, janitor, etc - along the way, of course). They TOTALLY believed it. In the end, we never found him, but he did leave us gingerbread cookies in our classroom. What a sneaky little cookie-man!

Happy Birthday Mom!

2010-09-08T21:37:00.000-06:00

One of these days, I'll stop posting so often, but not today because it's my mom's birthday and I want everyone to know how awesome she is. :)

I love you, Mom!

Happy Birthday!

She's my "sainted mother who gave me life" - as she sometimes reminds me.

She read my siblings and I before bedtime, even when we were in High School :)

She made my breakfast, lunch and dinner every single day I lived at home.

She loves me.

She had to get the PERFECT picture, even if that meant we'd take 50...or 500

She so talented. She made my "Three White Dresses" - blessing, baptism, sealing

I NEVER doubted that she cared about me. She was so involved with our schooling and extracurricular activities.

She took us - mostly against our will - on trips she knew we'd appreciate later in life (and we do).


Every year for our birthdays and Easter, she sewed me a new dress (and apparently Christmas on this year) :)

She taught me to play the piano


She is extremely creative. She can make ANYTHING.

Return of the Bangs

2010-09-06T14:12:00.000-06:00

Age 6

Today

Welcome to KINDERGARTEN!

2010-09-02T22:41:00.007-06:00

Two days down. I can hardly believe it. The day in kindergarten is SO SHORT. I feel very blessed to be half day though because even 3 hours is tiring, and I can't imagine doing it twice a day. I have 29 adorable kids. Kindergarten is great because I spent the first week of school doing one-on-one assessments so I met the kids, got a sense of where they are, AND met their parents. So when I went to pick them up yesterday for the first time, I was able to greet maybe 20 of them by name. I didn't even have any criers! The parents are GREAT, so helpful and giving. I also have a fantastic aid, so 29 really doesn't seem that overwhelming. I was worried about a couple, but I really feel that once they get the hang of school, they'll be awesome.

I also love Sego Lily. It's a bit of a drive, lots of gas (I miss my carpool from last year), but the staff is excellent - so friendly and helpful. Russ noted that I seem a lot more confident going into it this year, and I really credit the other teachers and principal at my school for that. I also feel empowered by being a "second year teacher" since I think a few parents were worried that I am so young.

Cutest quotes from the first two days:

Me: "How old are you?"

Student: "One whole hand!" (aka 5)

(While reading a book to the class)

Student: I REALLY like you.

Other students chiming in: Me too!

The hardest things I've found so far are:

1. They get super hungry, tired, thirsty - even though school is a little less than 3 hours.

2. We've been working on raising our hand, so I'm sure to call on people when they do, except when they say something totally random, half the class yells out their own story (example... While talking about the letter M, a student raises his hand and says, "We are probably going camping on my brother's birthday" .... 20 kids at once shout out "I've been camping" or "My dad is taking me camping today!" or "I love going camping", etc)

3. With first grade, walking in a line took practice. In kindergarten, we are just working on the concept of what a line IS! It's so hilarious. They start in a line, but all just bunch up to be the first one through the door when we get somewhere.

Now about my classroom. I added it up and think I spent at least 80 hours there (in the month after I got hired) getting ready. It was so dusty, dirty, overrun with clutter that I even convinced my mom to fly out and help me. I'm so glad she did or it wouldn't have gotten done. I also had help from Bonnie and Tyler and Russ. Just to give you a sense of the room - there was not a single horizontal surface that wasn't covered, we found posters and other books from the 1970's and we took 2 carloads to DI. So with that in mind, here are the pictures of the finished product:

FIRST DAY (Russ was playing with the camera) :)

The view from the door

These next few pictures just go around the room

Their tables and chairs are so little!

The classroom is seriously at least 2.5x BIGGER than my apartment!

Those black storage bins took me FOREVER to organize, but they look GREAT now

This is my reading corner that will one day have a little "Lion's Den" cave which Russ will build me :)

My favorite part of this picture are the 0-10 cards I made.

Calendar bulletin board and more organized shelves

Russ the Hall Advisor

2010-08-31T22:57:00.000-06:00

I must admit that this year as the freshman have returned to the dorms, I have been less than thrilled. They look younger, are louder, and ALL seem to have cars. We have to permanently cone our parking spot. So every time I'm stuck in traffic because the students are back or someone does something annoying in the name of showing off, I just tell Russ that I am ready to leave Heritage Halls whenever he is.

That being said, Russ really is a great Hall Advisor. He's a great manager of people. He goes out of his way to make people feel special and get to know them. He has a knack for "educating" those who break the rules without being mean. He also always gives people the benefit of the doubt.

Now. Here's the good part. A story. Yesterday several apartments were robbed. I can't say "broken into" because people were actually in the apartments at the time, but just had their doors unlocked and figured the strangers walking in were with one of their roommates (naive BYU). Anyway, so today Shawnne (Russ's associate hall advisor) called Russ after 2 guys today were trying to get into apartments in her building! So Russ and I (yes, I wanted to see the action) went out there and saw the two guys. They looked so suspicious. Tattoos, long hair, not to mention guiltily looking over their shoulder every 30 seconds at Russ, who passed them like he was just on his way somewhere.

Well, I decided to follow them to see where they were going while Russ acted like he was going into the Central Building. As soon as they thought Russ was gone, they changed direction from leaving Heritage to heading straight for Maeser Hall. That's when Russ came over and asked them how he could help them. They said they were out of town and wanted a tour. Suuuuurrreee. Russ just said, "Oh, well, let me walk you over to the Central Building then." About that time, the police rolled up (thank goodness Shawnne had already called them). Russ informed the officers that it was okay, they just wanted a tour, but the officers wanted to talk to them anyway. When they said they didn't have any ID, the police talked to them more, thinking that was suspicious.

About that same time, a guy came running out of another hall (didn't even have shoes on) to where Shawnne and I were, admittedly, watching through the bushes. The resident said his laptop and backpack were JUST stolen.. while he was in his kitchen eating dinner. I told him the guy they police were talking to was wearing a backpack, and Shawnne said that he didn't have one when she first saw him. What do you know? The guy was wearing the stolen backpack. The police arrested them on site and then the next hour or so were spent down at the police station while Russ filled out paperwork.

Crazy story. It's times like that when I'm glad Russ is a Hall Advisor. He handled everything really well, and he wasn't scared to go face these two criminals (one of them has 4 warrants out for his arrest). He was basically a hero today. :)

In other news, my first day of kindergarten is tomorrow. I'm nervous but feel prepared. Time to get my last few things ready, read MOCKINGJAY (:D) and go to bed!

The Best Two Years

2010-08-16T19:33:00.014-06:00

August 16, 2008

2 years today Adri promised me her heart forever, and I accepted it. This decision was the best one ever made. She is my best friend. I am so happy she liked me enough to give me a chance to date her, court her and marry her. I love her forever and ever. Amen.
-Russ

It really has been the best two years. I look forward to many more so that I can find out what every single facial expression means so that we can get our super-secret married couple language down. :)
I am lucky girl.
- Adri

Gems

2010-08-04T10:46:00.023-06:00

Wednesdays are our sleep-in days because not much goes on (at least during the summer). So my poo-poo face, as I so affectionately/strangely call him, is still asleep. I decided to take this time to celebrate the many faces of Russ Lee.

He's very naturally athletic

Look at that talent. Still holdin' the remote.

He will drop anything to serve others.

I just really like this picture. He's on the phone.

As soon as I wake up in the morning, he rolls on over and steals my pillow.

He was the world's cutest Eagle Scout at the age of (I think) 12.

He cried when he saw me in my wedding dress. :)

He's just handsome

He makes me laugh.

We're very silly when it's just the two of us. Some things are too strange for even good friends.

He naps just like my dad.

Sooooo excited about his toys.

Good with kids.

This is my all-time favorite Russ picture. When we first started dating, I had to get him to come over somehow. ;)

Big. Strong. Man.

AH! A disembodied head!

My mom doesn't like that we cake faced each other, but I LOVE this picture. In fact, the only picture I love more than this is the one taken right before it:

I just love the look of fear/trust/surprise in Russ's eyes.

Happy Almost Anniversary!

Twenty-Two

2010-07-21T19:53:00.007-06:00

My face may be shiny, but my shirt says "22". HA! How appropriate. :P

Highlights of age 21:
- Celebrating 1st Anniversary with Russ!
- Teaching 1st grade in Santaquin
- Having a "salary"
- Graduating from BYU!
- Trip to Arizona for Christmas
- Trip to Spokane for Garrett and Krystal's wedding
- Trip to India to do life-changing humanitarian work
- (Barely) Surviving Hives...
- Buying a wonderful car and NOT crashing it

Things to look forward to being 22:
- 2nd Anniversary with my handsome, strong, righteous and awesome husband
- Teaching Kindergarten in Lehi!!!!!!
- Serving as 1st Counselor in our Primary Presidency :)
- Who knows? Life is so wide open with possibilities right now.

I was lucky to have my sister in town for a friend's wedding on my birthday weekend. It was good to spend time with her. Russ pampered me and got me lots of great gifts (he's really good at just picking up on things I want). We also had a small party with family and friends....but for some reason we forgot to take pictures. I wanted to make a watermelon cake, and I could have taken more time on it, but I think it still turned out to be pretty cute.

Under the list of things I look forward to being 22, you may notice that I mentioned a new calling and a new job. I'll have to post about those some time soon. All I have to say is that the Lord really does care about us and know what we want and need, but it's always on His timetable, and it's always better that way!!!!!

I Love July

2010-07-13T17:49:00.016-06:00

I absolutely LOVE the easy and cute craft kits from The Idea Closet. That is the same place I got my Lucky blocks. Here are some my friend Michele and I worked on today:

The flag is my favorite one, but the garden one has really cute embellishments. I wanted to work on gardening this summer, and since we don't have a yard, I'll consider those blocks my gardening. :P

Last weekend, Russ and I went on a double date with Bonnie and Brian (and Avery) to Pirate Island. It's a grown up Chuck-E-Cheese because it has pizza, arcade games and a fun pirate atmosphere. We had a coupon for the Kracken, the biggest pizza I've ever seen:

It was so much food, even RUSS was full.

Avery shooting pirates:

I wonder who is longer...the pizza or the baby.

You've Gotta Try This!

2010-07-10T06:53:00.010-06:00

If you know me, you know that I LOVE chocolate and peanut butter. Last year I made peanut butter balls literally every week or so (don't worry. We shared them with the Holdens). Those are great, but lots of work. I'm happy to say I found another great recipe to help my cravings/addiction.

Here is the recipe and pictures.....

Homemade Peanut Butter Cups
1 12-oz bag chocolate chips (I've done milk and dark so far)
2 Tablespoons crisco
15 Muffin Tin Liners (fits perfectly in a 13x9 pan)
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 Tablespoon MELTED butter

For Chocolate Cups -
1. Mix chips and shortening in a double boiler. (I just boil water in a pot and then put the chocolate chips in a pan and set it on top - the point is just to let the steam and heat melt it)
2. When chocolate is melted completely, coat the muffin liners on the bottom and brush up the sides. (regular spoon to scoop the chocolate into the liner and then use a rubber scraper to push it up the sides. Don't push it up very high at all, not even to half the liner.)
3. Chill 15-20 minutes

Peanut Butter Filling-
1. Mix all ingredients.
2. Roll mixture into small balls and press into chilled chocolate cups (Like little peanut butter hamburger patties.)
3. Cover the top with remaining chocolate
4. Chill 45 minutes

These are REALLY rich. I can usually only eat one at a time. That's great though because then they last longer!

Putting the chocolate in the liner

Peanut Butter patties

Covering the peanut butter with chocolate

FINISHED! (if you can see little spots on the top - that won't happen - mine just got a little wet in the rain last night after bringing them home from Bonnie and Brian's)

Jetlag

2010-07-07T05:03:00.004-06:00

Does anyone have any ideas for conquering jet lag?

On the first night...
Russ slept from 3pm until 10:30pm and then went back to sleep from about 3am until 10am.
I slept from 6pm to 9pm. Then I could NOT FOR THE LIFE OF ME go back to bed until 5am.

Last night...
We were both so proud of ourselves for staying up until 10pm. Go to bed at a normal time and then maybe we'd sleep normal times, right? WRONG. We both woke up, completely refreshed at 4am.

Also, it sounds like LOTS of people read our blog while we were gone. I didn't know so many people knew it existed! So thanks! It makes us feel really special.

PS. While we were up this morning (or Russ really, since he woke up first), we read the July Ensign. If you haven't read it, you should! It is all about the church in India and the importance of going to the temple, which is exactly what the focus is for the mission out in Delhi. When we went out with the missionaries, they were doing a family home evening with a member family about the importance of going to the temple, and the family asked us to talk about being sealed.