29 Weeks

Okay, I am starting to count down. Only 11 weeks left to go!

Baby Registry

I finally registered at Target and Walmart for baby stuff. A lot of stuff is only available online which I didn't notice until afterwards. I might add more later but was too lazy to walk around at the store so spent last saturday doing it online. I don't have an exact date for the shower yet but know for sure it will either be the end of April or the first part of May, for all you who have been asking. We decided to name him Keldon David. I am not sure if I want to spell it that way yet or not. Kelden, Keldin, or Keldon. What do you think?

Confessions of Counterfeit Cookies

DEFINITION of Counterfeit:
A counterfeit is an imitation (ie, a fake) made usually with the intent to deceptively represent its content or origins, thus increasing sales appeal due to the reputation of the imitated product. The word counterfeit most frequently describes forgeries

I have a confession to make, a hilarious one at that. Have you ever been asked to do or help with something that you didn't want to do, but that you felt obligated to do? Of course you have, we all have right? Well, sometimes we find ourselves saying yes to things that are way over our head. Yes I have made sugar cookies before, yes I know how to make them, no I don't have the room or the supplies or the patience or the time, but "Sure I would love to bring sugar cookies for our mutual girls New Beginnings on Wednesday.

Tuesday night- I am at winco....... the list in my head says "EGGS!" You have to have eggs to make cookies. Pink frosting means food coloring which you don't have Melanie. Oh well, do white and add red sprinkles. You can get away with that. I head down the baking isle and suddenly there is a gleam of light shining down on this glorious lifesaver. Are you kidding me I say out loud? In a package, they make this in a package? Where the crap have I been? Oh that is right? My mother didn't believe in making things out of a box and I am committing Carver food tradition suicide if I purchase this. To understand my guilty conscience, you would have to understand how I was raised. My family made fun of people that made stuff only from a box and who always brought store bought stuff to potlucks. My mother had a conniption fit every time someone brought home a store bought pizza or dessert. Frosting in a can is nasty people. I don't care how hard you try to justify it, it is just plain nasty. BUT, did you know they made cream cheese canned frosting? I managed to swallow my pride and put it in the cart. I roll over to the dairy section and pick up some crescent rolls. While browsing the section I notice, refrigerated sugar cookie dough in a roll!!!!!!!!!!! I read the direction which say "GREAT FOR ROLLED COOKIES." Rolled cookies? Oh yes, when you make sugar cookies you need a rolling pin. DUH. Do I have one, of course not, I live in a trailer so small I store half my glassware on top of my microwave! I purchase a rolling pin. Half way home, half way home I realize that I am suppose to make heart shaped cookies. The deserts are supposed to be all heart shaped. I have a snowman will that work? Ha. I go to another store to frantically search for a heart shaped cutter. It is now 8:00 p.m. and I still have to make dinner, mind you I haven't been home from work yet. No heart cutter. After dinner, my optimistic husband says, Melanie who cares, just cut out your own hearts. Um okay, let me just whip out some imaginary talent Chris and bust out the best ghetto counterfeit cookies ever made. Laugh, Laugh! Sooooo..............................................................................................................................................................That is exactly what I did. I took pictures to prove it.

As you can see, I have no counter space. I hardly have enough room to butter my toast when it pops out of the toaster on that counter and I managed to roll out a dozen cookies on that bad boy. If you look closely, you can see my very updated and classy wallpaper as well as very crooked and ugly hearts with the exception of the one on the top left side of the pan in the picture on the bottom. That was the first one. I had the same feeling making those cookies as I did in middle school T-Ping some one's house. It is just wrong, but it is exhilarating knowing that who will most likely get away with it. I felt bad though, would my mother roll over in her grave? Definitely! Would my sister laugh hysterically, for sure! The best part of the whole story is the end result. All the cookies got eaten. The other person that made cookies used white frosting and red sprinkles as well. Mine were bigger, but there was less of them. After the program I went in to the kitchen to help. Mind you, everyone that I am in Young Women's with make up the Suzy Homemakers of my ward. I love all their cooking, and they make practically everything homemade and its good too. So back to the story.

There is a box sitting on the counter of left over, unfrosted cookies. And next to the box........is a can of cream cheese frosting, which happens to be the exact brand and flavor that I used. What did I get myself all worked up for? Mine turned out to be more homemade!!!!!!!!!!! I WIN. Moral of the story- Don't get flustered over stupid stuff, that won't matter a year from now and makes an excellent and entertaining blog post!

Valentines Day & 27 weeks

27 Weeks Pregnant (BEFORE DINNER :)
I had an awesome Valentines Day! We celebrated Friday night. I decided to make it all about my husband instead of whining and moaning that it wasn't all about me this year. I got him a card, knowing he wouldn't get one for me because he isn't a card person, but still got him one because I love cards. I made a dinner reservation for Cedars. Chris ate their once with a friend and has compared every steak he has even eaten since then to their "Filet Mignon!" It is the most expensive place ever and we are the cheapest people ever so I don't know how I got away with taking him there. I told him to be ready to leave by 6:30. When we were dating I made a cd of all the oldies love songs we listened to while working together remodeling trailers. I popped it in the cd player and started our favorite Beatles song about love as he walked in the door, me curling my hair and all gussied up. I told him that since we were going on a date, he had to open all the doors for me and so on. (Has never happened before you see?) He even put on a collared shirt, took off his hat and combed his hair. He opens the truck door, "Here you go my dear, " or some silly comment. As we drive down the road, I recognize the song we just heard. He had taken the cd out of the player and put it in the truck for our little drive. Slick eh? We go to dinner and we go all out for the first time ever. I did an hour and half massage- cash client earlier in the day and told myself I couldn't spend more than what I had earned. We had salmon artichoke dip as an appetizer, raspberry Italian sodas for drinks, Chris had clam chowder and I had salad. Then we both ordered the Biergarten Steak
House Specialty 8 oz. filet mignon basted with beer and spices, at a small price of $33 a piece!!!!!!!!!!!! Not only that, but we were feeling rich cause we added coconut shrimp to the side of that! No dessert folks, we had orange cream bars calling our name at home. I had just enough cash to cover our meal and the tip, unfortunately not enough for the oxygen machine I was in much need of after inhaling that much food. My ribs are already expanded to the max and when we got done, my deep breaths were these pathetic little puffs. So the best part is to come. I went to the bathroom and when I came out, Chris is opening the door to go outside. We walk out and the pickup is running and parked right in front so I didn't have to walk to the parking lot :) It is getting good now, I am not freaking out about the $100+ I threw down on dinner as much as I was before. We get home and I put the cd back in and put it on the old classic "Stand by Me." Jokingly but not really, I asked Chris to come dance with me. We laughed and joked about half way through it but it was the best ever. Afterwards we snuggled up to a chick flick and enjoyed orange cream bars in the comfort of our own little cozy bed. I fell in love with my husband all over again in one night. This morning when we woke up he asked if he could make me breakfast! Ha ha...... That is too long of a story to tell. I ended up with egos and burnt bacon! It is hard to put trust in a non-carver bred man to cook. He did redo the bacon and I was quite pleased to be served breakfast. And the day went on happily ever after. Great Valentines Day, I hope everyone had a good one as well!

Thoughts on Pregnancy, Marriage & Life

PREGO THOUGHTS
I think there might just be a baby in there. Ya think? Golly I am getting big. 13 weeks to go already. I am trying to decide if I want to take pregnancy pictures. It seems that there are a lot of opinions out there about showing off your bare tummy. I guess it makes some people uncomfortable because it did not use to be fashionable to wear tight tummy shirts and be proud of that bump. However, I disagree. I think being pregnant is beautiful. I guess I work with skin all day so maybe I am just use to it. It amazes me how our bodies adapt and stretch to make room for these little miracles. It's not like I am walking around with a string bikini on letting everything hang out, but I want some pictures more for myself to look back on. My sister just got a really nice camera so if I do it, I will have her take them. I would never go somewhere to have a stranger photograph me, that is creepy to me. But my sister, heck yes! It would be soooooo much fun.
She (Kim) is moving to a new house finally. I am so excited for her. She has a big porch that wraps around the house and is excited about having my baby shower there in May. I can't wait to be spoiled rotten and talk about babies and eat food all day with all my favorite people.
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UPDATE ON OTHER STUFF
What else have I been up to? I feel like a blogging drop out. I made a promise/New Years resolution to not write about anything unless it is positive (in my journal or blog). So...... yeah, haven't written for a while. I am working on my tax stuff and its been a nightmare. I am redoing my books for the past year in a different program and I am on month 2 of doing data entry. Chris's boss gave us a scare about firing him last month, but took it back. We are de-junking and getting ready for baby. Our extra bedroom has been more like a garage for the past two years, so he has been taking loads over to his moms house to store at the shop. We are planning on painting and getting the carpet cleaned for baby's room.

I hope I can have enough patience to get through the next couple of months. I don't deal well with change and it seems as though this year has been a test of my character. I miss my mom like crazy every day, I am realizing that marriage is the hardest thing I have ever had to work at, and my dad got remarried and I am having a hard time letting him go. I feel as though we are closer than we ever have and that I am the parent right now, raising a lost and confused teenager and letting him date and make decisions all by himself and in the mix trying to be not only his mom but his friend. Overall my pregnancy has been pretty good, although the hormones and eating habits have been outrageous. I made the comment the other day to my husband that I finally think in the last month that the whole crazy prego woman thing they warn you about in the books is finally starting to present itself. He just looked at me and said, "Are you serious? You think that it is just now starting....Ha, right!
I am stressing that I am stressing. Does that make sense? I wish I could just relax and enjoy the ride. I taught in young women's the other day. "Finding Joy in Now!" Wow, what an eye opener for me. I have such a hard time with that concept. I get so stuck on the material and temporal things all the time and get into this funk. I really enjoyed teaching the lesson and challenged the girls to make a list of things that they can do now to ensure long-lasting joy in their future. I have made my own personal goal list: 1)Make a Happy Book- write down positive thoughts and reflections from the day or things I am thankful for. 2) Read my scriptures and say my personal prayers as much as possible. 3) Go to the temple more. 4) Have an escape from anger & frustration plan: go for a drive, a walk, read a book etc, instead of yelling, fretting and crying. 5) Remember who I am. 6) What would my mother tell me to do? What would she think? 7) Focus on Eternal things, not temporal 8) Pray for my Husband. 9) Instead of complaining about what is going wrong, think of solutions on how to fix it or change it 10) Don't expect perfection 11) Believe in something better 12) There are always more choices than you think.

I am realizing that it is a everyday battle to choose happiness over misery. It really is a choice, although we often feel like we are forced to feel that way by another person's actions, or something outside our control, inevitable things like TAXES!!!!! I think that each individual deals with these things differently. My husband for example is an optimist 362 days of the year, always looking at what he can do different or how to fix it. I have a harder time, because I can't even see past the problem to even think about visualizing a decent outcome so I get stuck in a depressing rut. I think everyone takes a ride on this roller coaster and we spend a lot of time trying to figure out what IT IS. What are we doing wrong, how can we do better and then in the simple quiet moments, usually when things are actually going well and going our way, we positively think to ourselves.... Duh, it's LIFE. My goal is to be able to have this attitude more often, to let things just come as they will and find JOY IN THE JOURNEY.
"Our realization of what is most important in life goes hand in hand with gratitude for our blessings...........Brothers and sisters, my sincere prayer is that we may adapt to the changes in our lives, that we may realize what is most important, that we may express our gratitude always and thus find joy in the journey." President Monson

Funny Picture

I have been getting a lot of crap from people about not having any pictures up lately so I took one with my phone the other night to send to my sister Sherri and just figured out how to e-mail it to myself off my phone. I was eating ice cream and cracking up at myself because the bowl sit right on my fat little tummy like the in the movies. It is kind of blurry......We got our new camera today so I will be back to posting pictures once again.

I tried to change my background and it won't let me. It will only do part of it. GRRRRR, I hate being a blonde!