I really, reallly, REALLY like watching t.v.

Currently we only have free antenna channels, online t.v. episodes, and Netflix. We will shortly be loosing one of these options. It rhymns with "set chicks." I'm pretty disappointed that they are raising their rates by almost double in September. Grandma Racine says that I am "protesting with my pocketbook." I feel good about this. If I suddenly doubled my hair salon prices and didn't offer any better service, I'm sure a lot of people would go somewhere else. I wouldn't blame them either. It is pretty ridiculous.

Anyway....this opens up an interesting possibility for our household. We (myself and baby...) are thinking about getting satellite. I want to wait and see how busy I can keep myself without it, but the long winter days might be too much to handle and I might need a supplemental form of entertainment.

I'll have to see.

Enough with the television talk.


These tools have been on my office floor for two days while the I.T. guy tries to fix my computer. It has been a very boring time at work. My computer was so broken that I couldn't even log-on to play solitaire. He is done now so that is why I can blog again (yes...I blog at work. Don't judge me until you have my job and just sit here all day...).

Next Photo
Observe this hummer:

The lady that drives this hummer was in the check out line ahead of me at the grocery store. She was wearing Rock and Republic jeans (expensive!), used WIC and her Food Stamps debit card to pay for her groceries, and then went out to load them in the afore mentioned vehicle. 

I'm glad that my husband and myself both work full-time and pay TONS of taxes to help those "less fortunate" to survive.....

Coming down off my soap box.

Speaking of the hubby:

This picture is really bad and white-washed, but I mostly just wanted to show you Ryan's headpiece. That would be my headband. He decided that he wanted to wear it and then he just fell asleep like this. I couldn't resist taking a picture! I never would have thought that the incredible hunky "Hot Stuff Stubbs" that I met almost 3 years ago would someday be sleeping next to me wearing my headband :) You just never know where life is going to take you!


Okay-a few exciting things that I want to tell you all about.
1- My feet are no longer swollen from this weekend. I don't know why, but something about the Wasatch Front made my feet swell. Ryan thought they looked like little kid feet because they were all fat, the skin was really smooth, and you couldn't see any bones. Luckily they are a normal (pregnancy normal) size again. They literally shrank as we drove home yesterday.
2- We got the baby swing down from my parent's attic a few weeks ago. My mom got it all cleaned up and I replaced the batteries, only to find that it didn't work. Ryan took a look at it and got it swinging again! However, he then decided to play with it and now is really broken. I didn't ask details, but I would imagine that he tried putting something really heavy in it. Oh well.
3- Because of item #2, I went to the store Kid to Kid this weekend and found a gently used swing! It was only $60 and it works a lot better than our old one. I also found a few maternity shirts for just a couple bucks. I was really happy about this. I didn't want to buy new shirts for the last 3 weeks just because I have turned into a blimp. I want to save all my money for clothes shopping AFTER the baby comes! I really liked my shopping experience at this store. I will definitely be returning in the future!
4- My mother-in-law threw me a baby shower this weekend and I loved everything. I have two sister-in-laws, Mindy and Vanessa, that are nurses and they got me a whole bunch of children's medicine and ointments that I will need in the future. Go figure---nurses thinking about the health of the baby! I loved it and I thought it was really funny:) I got a lot of other things and I had a ton of fun! We made pages for a quiet book and Mama Stubbs is going to put them together and then bring it back to me when the baby is born. Cute!
5- My little sister got home from Germany! Yay! Yay! Yay! I am just so excited about this! She then promptly left for school up in Logan, but I'm glad that she made it home for a couple hours:)
6- Labor Day weekend is coming up! Do ya'll know what this means? Swiss Days in Heber and the Ft. Bridger Mountain Man Rendevous in Wyoming! Best weekend ever! Swiss Days has tons and tons of booths that you can browse through looking at home and holiday decorations, clothing, accessories, etc.. The Mountain Man Rendevous has tons and tons of booths that you can buy a lot of junk at. We don't go for the booths. We go to walk around and see all the outfits. Pretty much everyone and their dog dresses up. Its pretty intense. One of these years I am going to get my nerd on and find an indian dress. My sister wants to wear a leather bikini. To each their own.....


Wow! My brain just wants to keep telling you about little things, but I will stop right here. I'll try to get some fun pictures this weekend and put them up ASAP.

Oh---and please pray that I don't go into labor while up there. I'm sure it would make for one heck of a story to have our baby at the Rendevous, but I don't think they can offer the same comforts as my little hospital in Roosevelt.

And Ryan would say something like, "I told you so!"

Things I Want.....

I want......

1-To not go into labor during my baby shower. My mama-in-law is throwing me a shower 3 weeks before my due date out on the Wasatch Front (yay!) and I thought last night that it would be VERY inconvenient if I had my baby that weekend.

However,

If I look at this situation through rose-colored glasses, these could be the upsides:

a) lots of family members able to come visit immediately without finding special sleeping arrangements

b) having baby shopping stores close by in case I remember something that I need

Speaking of rose-colored items....

I want....

2. A rose gold watch.

I've been drooling over this Michael Kors 'Runway' model, but at $175, there was NO WAY I was ever getting this watch!

It made me sad that I couldn't find anything that closely resembled the color (I don't care if it is real rose-gold!) but the other day I found a glimmer of hope! Candice Morris had just gotten this watch for her birthday and at more than HALF the price of the Michael Kors, I can again dare to hope! Christmas is just around the corner!

I want.....

3-To wear my high heels again.

I desperately miss my platform heels! I'm pretty sure that they miss me too. Sometimes I catch them gazing at my feet with longing as I come into the closet and select which pair of flip-flops I will wear for the day. They think they are being punished and they don't understand why.... 

I've heard of women that couldn't wear their old shoes after having a baby because their feet never shrank back to their pre-pregnancy size. If my feet don't get small after I have this baby, then so help me....! Someone will have to pay. Seriously. Ryan will be paying for my entire new shoe collection. He talked me into this whole baby situation in the first place (and I'm grateful that he did!), so he will get what is coming to him.

I think he owes me a new pair of shoes whether my feet return to normal or not. These are first on the list:

I want.....

4- Pretty much every single item on the Shabby Apple website. Especially this dress (they are tricky with their pictures, so you have to click on the link!):

http://www.shabbyapple.com/p-386-fifth-ave.aspx

Back before the baby-belly, I was DYING to own this dress, but I needed a size medium and they didn't have it. I was devastated :( But just this spring they restocked and they now have my pre-pregnancy size! Too bad I don't have my pre-pregnancy size anymore....

Have you guys noticed that most of my wants center around shopping??? Coincidence? I think not.....

BUT MOSTLY......

I want....

my baby to stay in my belly until I am full term. I want to go into labor without being induced. I want to have a natural birth and not a c-section. I want him to be healthy. I want him to grow up to be just like his dad.

And after all of this is over, I want to wear a size 6 dress size, not have stretch marks, and still be able to jump on a trampoline!

And harsher punishment for parole violators.

34 Week Doctor Visit

I just got back from my 34 week doctor appointment. Things are going SOOO good! My blood pressure was a little high, but let me tell you about getting to the appointment, and I'm sure you will understand.

Here is how my morning went:

Reason #1-I had "Sponsor's Meeting" at work. I have to organize and conduct this meeting and I HATE IT!!!! All the counselors from Department of Workforce Services, Vocational Rehabilitation, and the Ute Tribe Education attend, along with our adult teachers and a few administrators from our school. We all sit around and talk about changes that might happen/have happened and any problems that we have had in the last month. I'm expected to have awesome information to give out every month. I never do. Nothing changes that much in a month (I'm fighting for a quarterly meeting!) and I feel like it is a waste of time. It totally stresses me out and I dread going to work when we have one scheduled.

Reason #2-I needed to leave work at 10:00 to run home and grab a few papers for my doctor to sign before making it to my appointment at 10:15. At about 9:59 a lady walks in and needs a few questions answered about getting started in school. I quickly tell her that I have to leave immediately for a doctor's appointment, and still she proceeds to sit down and start asking questions. My pregnancy hormones almost strangled her just to make her stop. She didn't leave until 10:12

Reason #3-On my frantic drive home, I realize my phone is completely dead so I have no idea whether Ryan is meeting me at the doctor's office or if he is staying at work. I had to plug in my phone at home and wait for it to start up before I could call him to check. He didn't answer.

Reason #4- Thinking I am oh-so-wise, I take a back road to the hospital to avoid the road construction. They now have all the back roads closed with detours that just turn you in circles. I'm seriously thinking about toilet papering and egging the Roosevelt City office building. I felt like a rat in a maze trying to find my way to the hospital.

Reason #5-Got stuck behind Farmer John who seemed to be taking the same route through town as I was. Only he was going mmmuuuuccccchhhhh ssssllllooooowwwwweeeerrrr. Top speed was 12 mph. Pregnancy hormones again take over and I think about ramming my car into his back bumper. I also need to repent for a few foul words that I screamed in his general direction.

Anyway. My blood pressure was just a bit high when I finally made it to the hospital. Ryan was there (yay!), and the doctor didn't seem to mind that I was a full 15 minutes late, so everything worked out.

On to the appointment!

I still haven't gained any weight. I have no holy idea how I can not be gaining weight. I've been eating my little heart out. This now puts me at 8 (?) weeks for not gaining anything. Weird eh? Maybe it is because I gained SOOO much at the beginning of my pregnancy or my body is just waiting to puff out in the last few weeks. Hopefully it is the former...

Our little dude is still growing and measuring right on target! Although I am not gaining any weight, he just keeps getting bigger. Maybe he is eating the fat off my thighs. I would be totally good with that.

His heartbeat was about 130 beats per minute. Nice and relaxed. No stress.

He isn't breech anymore!!! He is now in the proper head-down postition and everything is good. I was so scared that he would have to be manually turned around, or worse, that we would have a c-section! Now I can rest easy until the delivery. I understand that things happen and c-sections are sometimes necessary, but I didn't want to go into the delivery room knowing that he was breech and cutting me open was a huge possibility.

And that was it. We have one more appointment in 2 weeks before we start going every single week! OH MY GOSH!!!  This has all happened so fast!

Anyway....

Today is Ryan's 29th birthday! He asked for nothing. Well...he did ask for dinner.  But he didn't really want me to buy him any gifts. I didn't listen to him. I told him that for a present I was going to SQUEEZE into long-forgotten piece of lingerie. This isn't really going to happen. Have you seen me lately???? Ha ha!
But seriously. I got him hiking boots. I think he will like them and they are a gift that I KNOW he will use. 2 years ago I bought him a fly fishing rod and reel because he was DESPERATE to go fly fishing. They are still in the box tucked under our bed. Never been used. Argh. Do any  of your husbands fly fish and want to take my hubby for a bro-date? It would be awesome:)
For dinner I am making bbq ribs, herb potatoes, and corn on the cob. Ryan thinks I make a mean rack of ribs and he always wants me to make them for special occasions. This is all I do:

MY SPECIAL AND NOT-SO-SECRET BBQ RIBS RECIPE!!! *patent pending*
Spread large piece of tinfoil over baking sheet. Place thawed ribs on tinfoil. Sprinkle both sides with a generous helping of a mysterious white powder that came in a decorative bottle with your home. It is either garlic powder, onion powder, or arsenic. I've never found out. My bet is on garlic powder. Wrap the tinfoil tightly around the ribs so the juices cannot leak out, using more foil if needed, and put in the oven on a low heat. Leave them in there while you go somewhere. It doesn't matter where. I probably wouldn't recommend being gone for longer than 4 hours, but feel free to tempt fate. When you get back from where ever it was that you were going, quickly pull them out of the oven PRAYING that you haven't been gone too long and burnt them to a crisp. This is an important step. I do it everytime.
Carefully open the tinfoil. You might have the urge to just yank it open and satisfy your curiousity of seeing if your ribs are toast, but you will be rewarded with a large steam burn all over your face and hands. I said carefully and I meant it!
Once you discover that your ribs are just fine and the overwhelming feeling of relief has passed, pick your favorite bbq sauce and proceed to drench the ribs. I use a mixture of Famous Dave's Sweet & Sassy and Famous Dave's Rich & Hearty. Or whatever I can find. This isn't rocket science. Just pick your favorite and slather it on! Re-wrap the ribs and put back into the oven for about 30 minutes or until the hubby comes home from work. He should then take them out of the oven, turn on his barbeque grill, spread a little more of HIS favorite bbq sauce on the ribs, and then quickly place both sides on the hot grill just to give them that right-off-the-grill flavor.
Viola! You are done!

So that is what I am doing tonight. Oh, and I also have to bake a chocolate cake sometime.

Comprehensive Update Post Mostly for the Benefit of My Little Sister

So....I got to talk to my little sister on the phone on Sunday! For those who don't know-I have a little sister named Cassie and she is currently livin' it up in GERMANY!!! She took German in high school, lived in German housing while at BYU and now is doing a study abroad. It has been amazing to follow her travels through Facebook and her blog, but sometimes I forget that she is trying to follow my life (especially my pregnancy fun) while she is over there! I promised her that I would update my blog with all the stuff she should know, so please forgive me if this is boring to you. Just imagine you haven't all seen me in a couple months, you love me deeply because I'm the coolest older sister you've ever had and you don't have a clue as to what is currently going on:) Thanks.

Where to start.....

"So, let me 'esplain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up."

I. I threw up yesterday. This is not really normal for me. I didn't throw up at all in my first trimester, but lately I will just have these random mornings that my stomach flips me the middle finger and I'm running for the bathroom. This morning it happened right after I was done with my last bite of cereal. Then it force-fed me a chocolate muffin cuz that was the only thing that I could grab to eat and still make it to work on time. Ha ha!

II. I bought an AWESOME dress this weekend at a yard sale. It is a hand-made dress from the 1930s-1940s. It has a nude colored lining with green lace and ribbon flowers all over it. I figure that if I can't get small enough to wear it after pregnancy, or if it is too short, I can always give it to Cassie or my friend Holly (she totally loves vintage clothing) because they are shorter (and skinnier!) than I am. Here it is:

I love the little diamond cut-out in the neckline!

I can just imagine wearing it with a pair of nylons and my white platform heels! Ya'll know how much I miss my heels but I don't think I've told you about missing my nylons. I wasn't a big-time nylon wearing girl, but I do find myself wishing I could throw a pair on every once in awhile.

III. We went to the Vernal Demolition Derby last week. I freaking LOVE demolition derbies! I think it was the reason I was born a redneck in the Basin :) Ryan didn't get any pics of the derby part, but they did have this pre-show of motorcycle trick riders:

At the Derby we were sitting behind this extremely social little 4 or 5 year old girl. She was chattin up everyone around them, playing with everyone's babies, cheering really loud for the cars and pretty much just having a good time. She was adorable. Towards the end of the night she turns around and just places her little tiny hand on my pregnant stomach!

She looks up at me while rubbing my tummy and asked, "Are you going to have a baby?"

I replied that I was.

She then looks between Ryan and me (while still rubbing my tummy!) and asks, "Are you two married?"

I said, "We sure are."

She gets this confused look and says, "Why don't you have a wedding ring?"

At this point her mom is a little mortified. She hasn't been able to get her little girl to stop touching my baby belly (I didn't mind. She was just so funny and cute!) and now her daughter is wondering about our marital status and lack of wedding rings.

I explained to her that sometimes when a lady gets pregnant, she swells up a bit and gets bigger all over. I told her that I was unable to wear my wedding ring because my fingers had gotten too big and it wouldn't fit anymore.

She gets this look of epiphany on her face and exclaims, "OH! So you get bigger all over so your belly doesn't look as big, right??!"

And then her mom passed out from embarrassment and Ryan and I just laughed our heads off!

IV.  At my 32 week appointment my baby was measuring at 33 weeks. This doesn't really mean anything, but it seems really cool. I also haven't gained hardly any weight in the last 6 weeks (1 pound to be exact). Dr. Syndergaard was a bit worried, but as long as I am eating enough and the baby is growing, he says he won't think on it too much.

V.  At week 28 we went in and got our 3-D ultrasound. The first thing Ryan said was, "What happened to his nose??"

I think you will agree that it looks a little funny. I went home and looked up pictures of myself and Ryan when we were babies and I found something. Ryan has the same nose!!! He looked like a little piggy until he was about 3 years old, and then it just straightened out. I'm not as worried now.

VI.   Roman (nephew) asked his mom the other day, "Mom....am I a man yet?"
Kinda inwardly chuckling she replied, "Do you think you are a man now?"
He thinks for a little bit and says, "Yeah...I think I am getting hair on my legs...."

Oh....and I wish I had a picture of a couple weeks ago when Ryan and Roman went on a bike ride! Roman insisted that they needed helmets so Roman put on Katie's pink motorcycle helmet, made Ryan wear his own motorcycle helmet and away they went! It was so funny to watch my big, strong hubby and our little, tiny nephew riding down the road on bicycles wearing motorcycle helmets!

VII.   We've gotten almost everything down from the attic and cleaned up in anticipation of the baby coming! My dad and Ryan were both skeptical about doing it so far away from my due date (they might have just not wanted to help....lazy blisters....) but my mom and I insisted, so it is done! I was the most pleased by the car seat. Once the fabric part went through the washer, it looks good as new! It is a really nice car seat and I am super grateful that my awesome older sister is letting me use all of her old stuff! Yay!

VIII.   Ryan put together the glider rocker that Mom bought me for my baby shower gift. I hauled it all the way up the stairs (I'm so tough!) and now our nursery room is one more step toward completion! About all that I have to do now is find a little table to put next to the glider, a lamp to put on the table, and decorations on the wall. Yay! I promise that when I get this done, I will post a picture! Until then, I will just put up a picture of the glider that I got:

IX.  I had my baby shower last Saturday! I thought it was a lot of fun and I'm so glad that we have such wonderful friends and family to support us! I don't have pictures yet (they are on my Mom's camera) but I will try to tell you a few of the gifts that stood out to me. We got everything from the basics (like diapers and baby wash) that you can never have too much of, to all the fun little things that you never think about (Aunt Betty gave/is giving me a certificate for a spa treatment over at her store)! I absolutely loved everything! Mom bought me a "Deedlie Blanket" that has satin on the binding. She thought the baby definitely needed this because Dad started the tradition of a "Deedlie Blaket" and they are very comfortable. As it turns out, 2 other friends had the same idea (they just didn't know those blankets are special!) and so now our little guy will have 3 "Deedlie Blankets!" I got 3 little bow ties for him to wear to church. These are seriously the cutest things I have ever seen!  They are kind of like this little cute thing here:

Hmmm....what else? I got 2 nursing covers that are ridiculously chic, a car seat cover, a car seat cocoon to keep him warm in the winter, a few adorable outfits and a plethora of other items! It was so much fun! We also played this game of guessing celebrities from their baby photos. I'll see if you can get one....


Any guesses? He is kind of older and he has an earring in his left ear....

You may have seen him play a rich dorky kind of guy in a movie titled 'Sabrina'......

Or he might need to put on his leather hat and bull whip for you to recognize him.....

Yep! It's Harrison Ford!

I loved this game!

Okay. This post has gone on quite far enough. I know there are other things that I probably should update so that the lil' sis doesn't feel left out, but I just can't remember them.

Cassie....give me some ideas. What would you like to know in the future?

To everyone else-thank you for enduring through this. At least you got to play a guessing game at the end! Love ya'll!

Where Have You Been All My Life??

I was playing around with Ryan's camera yesterday and realized that I had a bunch of pictures on it! They reminded me of some fun times and I thought I would blog about them first and then I will do a seperate post of current events:) I will number each different event....
1).

This was from wayyy last summer. My headband thing looks funny.....oh well! Ry, myself, and a few of his brothers hiked up into the Uinta's and went fishing for a few days. On our first morning my brother-in-law Benson did a fly-over in his plane. I wish he would have dropped candy bars or something!

 2).

We had to drive up to Heller Lake above Altamont to look for Ryan's phone that he had lost on a backpacking trip. We never found it, but we carved this into the tree:

We put the year 2010 since that was the year we got married. We want to go back whenever we have a kid and add their initials. It will be our "family tree!"

This pic is pretty blurry but that dark spot is a moose. I had been despereate to see a moose all summer and I had been vigilant about looking....and it finally paid off! We went into the Uinta's the next weekend and I saw another one then too! Totally made my weekend:)

 3).

My nephews ice fishing at Brown's Resevior this last winter. I like going to Brown's to go ice fishing because it is just 10 minutes away from my parents house. When I get sick and tired of the cold and the ice and not catching anything (I've caught 1 fish in the 3 years I've been ice fishing), I can just pack up and drive to a warm place. I love it.

Roman with his frozen dead fish. I think he looks a bit cute and a little demented in the picture. If my memory serves me correctly, he licked this fish. Gross!

Brandon with his dead frozen fish. He always looks innocent, but I will not be fooled....

4).

Out to dinner with the "Pregnant Friends." This was the first time we had gotten together and it was the best thing in the world to just sit down and talk about everything we were going through! Amy is in the middle and she is due on September 12th and Ashlee is on the right and we are both due on September 20th. It is so funny that the "Neola Girls" are all pregnant at the same time! Such fun!

 5.)

My pregnant belly at 26 weeks. Ryan saw this last night and he said something like, "Ahh..look at your tiny pregnant belly." I remembered that I did not feel tiny at this point. I wonder if at 39 weeks I will look back to today and think, "Ahhh....I remember when I was just tiny at 33 weeks!" Getting bigger each week really puts past weeks into perspective.

Okay! That is all that I needed to really catch up on! I promised my little sister (she is in Germany this summer) that I would put up a very detailed and comprehensive blog post about everything that has happened lately so I will move back to the present in my next post :)