The Castleberry Family

Resolutions

2012-01-31T16:30:00.000-08:00

Cooper is napping, taxes are done, banana bread has been baked, bathroom is clean and dinner doesn't need to be started yet...Looks like it's time to write a post :-)
Since it's the end of January, I thought I would put a to do list up for the year. I titled it resolutions, but it's more like a to do list.

1. Be nicer to grandma (she does give us a house to live in)
2. use my silhouette cameo and be the crafter I was meant to be
3. Spend the time Cooper is awake teaching him new and fun things (can't wait for warm weather!)
4. This could go along with #3, I've been reading more books...read to Cooper
5. Keep Paul motivated in school
6. Keep making delicious healthy meals (done! love cooking for my family)
7. Be more aware of others and their needs and serve
8. Enjoy every moment
9. Learn photoshop and take more pictures
10. Get active and workout (I miss jogging in the parks in Georgia!)

Well now it's time to get dinner ready so I'll leave you with a picture of my favorite little man!

Love my little man!

Blast from the Past

2012-01-20T10:36:00.000-08:00

This post was inspired by my brother who posted on facebook a video of Kwajalein, An island my family lived on in 1990-1993 when I was 4-6 years old. Brought back memories of riding bikes around the island, burying ourselves in sand on the beach, my sister and I would rub sand on our legs and call them tights, my dad pulling us around in a little inflatable boat that had a little window to see into the ocean, playing the playground by the beach, workers climbing palm trees and grabbing coconuts, playing in the rain with my sister, watching my parents play water polo at the pool, taking swim lessons, our fish my dad caught from scuba diving and would put in the tank and so many more.

This is Emon Beach where we played

I have been blessed to have been able to see different places around the world. While we lived on the island we were able to travel to Hawaii and New Zealand. In my high school years I traveled to England, Scotland, Cancun and the Mayan ruins and Mexico City. Then when I graduated high school, I volunteered with international language programs and taught english in Moscow, Russia for 4 months and was able to see St. Petersburg, Russia as well. After I was married we spent our honeymoon in St Lucia. I LOVE to travel and miss it.

It has been over 3 years since I've been anywhere, but we do have a goal to go somewhere awesome when Paul graduates to celebrate all this hard work, perfect for our 5 year anniversary. Doesn't matter how much money we make in the future, traveling will be a priority. I could care less about all the fancy stuff you can have; lots of stuff doesn't give you life experiences. I want our children to experience and learn about other cultures so they appreciate what we have in the U.S. And there are tons of places to see in the U.S as well.

I think it would be amazing to travel to Japan with my dad and brother, Brett since they speak Japanese and My brother, Nathan to Germany since he speaks German and my all time wish is to go to Italy!! A note to dad, please take us on one of your amazing trips sometime. Mom can fly out here and watch Cooper and Paul and I can take a trip with you. Remember that one time you took Mom and Brittany to Japan and I had to stay home....let's not repeat that mistake. haha!

Thanks Mom and Dad for giving me life experiences! And to Paul, Let's go have more adventures with our little family :) Love you

Cheers to 2012!

2012-01-03T14:15:00.001-08:00

I hope this year goes by fast. Paul and I are getting so antsy! We want him to be done with school which won't be til spring of 2013, move back east and get settled. This broke college life and living in grandma's basement is getting really old! At least having Cooper learning and growing will make this year fun!

I do have to give a shout out to my awesome husband for being awarded a scholarship!! He will be working together with others in getting the Weber State TV channel set up! Go Paul! You are such a hardworker and I love you!

So cheers to 2012! Hard to beat 2011 for that's when Coop was born, but I am hoping for a great new year!!

A Southern Christmas

2012-01-03T14:10:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful trip in Georgia for Christmas! Nice and laid back visiting with family and a few friends. There were plenty of people we wanted to see, but just not enough time! So fun to see my nephew Colin; they came out from Texas. He is such a cutie and very much a mama's boy!
Cooper was the cutest little Santa and even tried to open his own gifts with alot of help from me. He is after all only 3 months old. I think his favorite toy was freddy the falcon and the floor gym that I can't wait to be shipped out so he can play with it. Cooper is getting very good at grabbing toys and almost can roll over from back to tummy. He likes laying on his side. He has been able to roll from his tummy to back. He is just growing so fast!!
The weather was wonderful! There were a few cold and rainy days but overall warmer there than in Utah. Even though today isn't to bad since the sun's out. Cooper adjusted to time difference very well going out there, but coming back not so great. He is waking up at 6 instead of 8; guess it gets me going in the morning and get more stuff done, but still 6 am!! And he is being really fussy during the day. I think he is starting to teethe! He is now sleeping in his own room in the crib; just two nights so far, but he is doing great!! I just love our little man.
We had an awesome time and love being spoiled by family!

Best time of the Year!

2011-12-13T13:06:00.000-08:00

I love the Christmas season! The decorations, the music, the FOOD, family, giving and of course the real reason for Christmas, Our savior Jesus Christ!
We don't make lots of money, but I do enjoy giving gifts! We gave some gifts to a couple children who were on the angel tree at Paul's work and at church. I really hope they feel loved on Christmas! As I was coming home from buying one of those gifts, I couldn't help but feel so much gratitude toward everything and everyone that we have in our lives. Family, friends, amazing husband, cute and perfect son, being baptized in the LDS church and the Book of Mormon, knowledge that families are forever, a place to live for free while Paul is in school, plane tickets to go home to Georgia for Christmas and be spoiled, a working car though it may be a pain getting a carseat in and out, clothing and food though it may not be top dollar stuff, our health, our talents and abilities (Paul got straight A's this semester), being debt free and I could go on and on. We are truly blessed and to top it off someone was so generous to leave a wonderful gift on our doorstep that will be very helpful. We have no idea who it was, but I wish blessings upon them.
I definitely want to teach Cooper that Christmas is a time for giving and to remember the birth of our Savior. Merry Christmas!

Cooper's First Thanksgiving!

2011-11-29T12:49:00.001-08:00

We had a great time going up to Idaho and visiting with Jenny and Ben Steinmetz. We had Thanksgiving dinner with Ben's parents and family; the food was delicious! I enjoyed making an apple pie for everyone to dig into. We also had a great time looking through the black Friday ads. Ben's mom and sister went at midnight, but there is no way I was doing that. I'd rather be snuggled warm in bed with my husband. We did go to Target on Saturday and got a 6 ft fake tree for $30. I love sales!

Cooper had a great time! He spent those few days sleeping, cooing, smiling, nursing and being held by everyone. I bet he can't wait to have Thanksgiving food next year.

Paul got to take a nap after our Thanksgiving meal while I tended to Coop. Lucky guy! I took a small nap later curled up in Paul's lap while Coop slept too. I loved it!

We got all bundled up and went for a wagon ride pulled by Clydesdale horses! So fun! yummy apple cider and cookies too! Coop was fussy at the beginning, but once we got going he fell right asleep in my arms. I will admit I kept checking to see if he was breathing because it was pretty cold. haha! It's a first time mom thing I guess...gotta make sure our kids are still alive. I don't do that anymore when he's sleeping at night, but those first 6 weeks I was always checking.
I'm so glad the weather was great this year to go up to Idaho. Driving on ice last year was scary! I am really looking forward to Christmas in Georgia! I just love the holidays and it's even better with Cooper in our family!

7 weeks old

2011-11-08T12:50:00.000-08:00

Cooper is getting so big! He went to the Doctor when he was 5 weeks old and measured 11.6 pounds and 23 1/8 inches tall. And now at 7 weeks I'm sure he has grown even more. He is more alert and focused looking at everything. He is smiling alot more now and loves to be tickled! He catnaps through the day; 15 min here and 20 min there. Some days he will sleep a couple hours during the day, but mostly just catnapping. He is sleeping way better at night, so I am feeling more rested. He usually sleeps from 11-1 or 3 feeds, sleeps til 5 feeds and then every hour after that and is fully awake by 9. His neck is getting stronger; He loves to sit on my lap and be bounced and that's when he practices holding his head by himself. He either gets fussy during tummy time or falls asleep.

Breastfeeding is going well and I really enjoy our bonding time. I don' spray him in the face as much anymore haha! And since he's getting bigger, he is not choking it down anymore and getting upset. Happens a little bit, but it's more enjoyable for both of us. I just love my little boy!

Staying home with him is so nice! I love being able to cook more, our space is kept clean and laundry is always done. When I was working I never wanted to do anything around the house when I got home. It's sometimes hard to get out and about with him since he feeds frequently, but we make trips to the grocery store or to the mall. It's starting to get pretty cold, we had our first snowfall over the weekend :( I am really looking forward to when it gets nice out again so I can spend time with him outside :) I will probably be hibernating this winter and keeping Cooper warm though we are going to try and do more holiday festivities around town since we have Saturdays free from work now, yay!

Paul is doing well in his classes; keeping up those A's! And it's been so nice for him to work on campus! No more filling the car up with gas three times a week, jeez! That alone saves us tons of money. It's been nice staying in one city throughout the week and not driving hours everywhere. No more sleeping in in the car or commuting to salt lake anymore. We are blessed in many ways!! Well little one is waking up...I need to go be a mom now :) Just wanted to say I'm grateful that my grandma has this house for us to live in so I can stay home with Cooper and Paul can focus on school and he can spend time with our little family. We are truly blessed.

Fall is here

2011-10-17T11:24:00.000-07:00

Cooper is One month old today! He is such a sweet boy and we just love him to pieces! His neck is getting stronger; when he lays on our chest he will lift his head up and look around. I do give him tummy time, but he tends to just fall asleep. When it comes to sleeping at night we have some good nights and some bad. He gets fidgety every 2 hours for me to feed him. I've grown accustom to sleeping a couple hours here and there. I don't even remember what it was like to sleep more than 3 hrs at a time. I really think he is so curious about his surroundings he doesn't want to sleep in case he misses out on something. Such an alert little booger, but I know he is going to be super smart and into everything!

Nursing is going well for the most part. It comes out fast for him and he sometimes chokes on it and I end up just drenching him, poor guy. I'm hoping that will get better. He is growing so fast! I can tell he is going to be tall and lean just like Paul and I.

This past weekend we went down cornbelly's cornmaze at Thanksgiving point with Kurt, Heidi and Dave to celebrate one year of meeting Heidi. This time last year we did the same thing before Kurt and Heidi were official and now they are married! We just love them! Great little tradition we are starting. I love that we are having a fall this year; the leaves changing color, apple yumminess, hot chocolate, light jackets and pumpkins! Winter you can stay away please.

I am a mother!

2011-10-12T13:05:00.000-07:00

I am a mother! It really is the best occupation. I finished reading the book, I am a mother by Jane Clayson Johnson. Very inspirational to women, even to those who have not been able to bear children yet. My heart does go out to my friends who are struggling and I pray for you every night, but you are still a mother, an influence to all those children out there to live righteous lives. They need good examples. The author was working in network news and left her prestigious job to be at home with her children. Anyways, good book to check out.

Cooper was blessed Oct. 1. Usually it's done at church during sacrament meeting, but my parents were going back to Georgia that weekend so we decided to have it done at the house and just have a member of the bishopric be there. It was really nice to have a few family and friends there. Paul really knows how to bring the spirit into the room before he began blessing Cooper speaking about how his life has been blessed. Just a couple days before was his 4 year anniversary of being baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Days Saints. We've been greatly blessed since; meeting me and being sealed in the temple, doing really well in school, Cooper entered our family and he was able to bless him by having the power of the priesthood. I love having the knowledge that our family will be together forever. You can visit http://mormon.org/ if you want to know more about what brings joy into our lives.

Oh I can't believe I almost forgot to mention our Anniversary! Oct. 9 We celebrated our 3 year Anniversary of being married! The day before on the 8, we went to Taggarts for lunch and it was delicious! I have the best husband ever. It's been a remarkable 3 years and it just keeps getting better :)

Cooper!!!

2011-09-22T15:15:00.000-07:00

COOPER DALE CASTLEBERRY

arrived Sept 17, 2011 @ 8:18 am

7 lbs 11 oz 22 1/2 inches long

We are extremely happy our little boy is finally here! He is such a sweet boy. He has his fussy moments, but for the most part he's pretty chill and just loves to snuggle with mom and dad. It's amazing how much he is like Paul. His dark hair, mouth, facial expressions and they are startled the same when someone wakes them up. I just love my boys :) Paul is such a great dad. I love seeing coop sleeping on his chest. He feeds like a champ even though lately it's been more of a comfort thing for him to go to sleep, but I enjoy breastfeeding. He latched on within 20 min of being born. Our pup Ellie may pretty much ignores us right now, but i think she'll come around when she gets used to cooper being around. my parents have been such a great help being here to walk the dog and take care of some of our other needs. Such awesome grandparents! It will be sad to see them go back to Georgia.

Labor Story

Weds the 14th I started to have labor pains. Wasn't sure at first, but then started to time a bit and they were about 20 min apart all day and night. This is the beginning of no sleep. Thursday they were 5-10 min apart and were all in the back. Horrible pain! That night or I should say friday morning at 3am I thought it was time to call the midwife at the birth center. They said to come on in so we headed down and they checked me. I was at 1cm. That's 2 days of labor and no progression I was disappointed. I asked if it was normal and they said yes for first time moms and for baby's that were posterior and I was like, "Wait, what? What does posterior mean?" They said that his back was against my back and he should be turned the other way so he is face down when he comes out. I was getting frustrated with this midwife. It's like I had to pull the information out of them. They gave me techniques to try and move him and said things will progress faster when he moves. So we go home feeling like this baby won't come out unless he moves. Keep in mind, I am 5 days overdue at this point. This is the beginning of stress and also more lack of sleep. All day friday i'm trying these techniques, praying and thinking. I'm still having back labor, contractions every five minutes.

Around dinner time I decide it's time I should go to the hospital and see what they say and I'm mentally preparing myself I might need a c section because again the midwife made me feel like this baby wasn't coming until he moved and that it may take a week of labor because it's a slow progression. We call up the University hospital in salt lake city and they say to come in at 9pm. We go in and they check me. I'm now at 4 cm! I was surprised something was finally happening after 3 days of labor! They take me to the delivery room and they gave me the option of an OB or a midwife. I decided to do midwife and so glad I did because she was amazing!! So helpful, open with information and just great! She helped me with techniques to move him and didn't just expect me to do everything on my own. He was stubborn though; liked where he was.

I sat in the tub a couple times. I was thinking to do this all natural and loved the encouragement from the nurses and midwife that it's possible to have this baby posterior. By 4 am I finally got to 6cm, but I was absolutely dying! Contractions were coming every 2 min and alot stronger and still in my back, I've probably had like 4 hrs of sleep since weds, I was shaking, fatigued and anything else you can come up with. I decided to go with an epidural because who knew how much longer this was going to take since it's already been 3 days! I don't regret that decision I was able to sleep to have energy to push. They did a low dose of pitocin which in two hours of me sleeping put me from 6 cm to 10 cm. I woke up to feeling more pressure and she checked and said I was ready to push. we started some practice pushes and tried different positions for me to push. The epidural started wearing off, I began to feel all the urges of when to push. It was so challenging! They had to give me fluids and an oxygen mask. I think I pushed for an hour or hour and a half.

There were so many specialist coming into the room and I can't remember all the reasons. One was because of the baby's heartbeat and the other for me. They kept encouraging me though and Paul did an awesome job of holding my leg and keeping me going. When the baby's head started to show they gave me a mirror and that's what really motivated me that it was almost over and I could do this. With one last hard push he finally made his appearance and I felt such a relief my first words were "I did it!!"I just started to cry and Paul as well. Our son is finally here! He came "sunny side up" and his right hand came out with his head. Paul cut the cord and they set him on my chest. I had some slight hemmorhaging they were concerned about and they stitched me up, but all I could think about was our sweet baby Cooper lying on my chest. We are so blessed to have him in our family and he truly is a child of god with a sweet spirit.

Ghosts

2011-08-29T12:16:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we were sitting in the basement watching our tv and underneath where our tv is sitting is a cupboard and heavy too, can't just fly open. Paul watched it open all by itself from close to wide open and he pointed to show me. I freaked out! Heavy cupboards aren't supposed to do that. Freakin ghosts!! So now when anything seems out of place I get nervous.

For example, two nights ago my phone light was flashing and the fan turned off by itself and it's 3:30 in the morning! I was freaking out, but soon caught on that the power was out. All over South Weber, not just this house. That was one miserable night! Being 9 months pregnant in August with no fan or air of any kind. Paul went up to the freezer to get me an ice pack, that didn't help much even though he's a sweetie! So we went upstairs to sleep in the spare bedroom where we could open the window. Grandma was frantically running around the house stressing me out. I just wanted to sleep somewhere cool! The window open helped some; Woke up startled because the door slammed shut, maybe the wind from the window...I hope. Scared us to death, had me thinking about ghosts again and it looked so eery outside took forever to go back to sleep plus it was hot! I was dripping with sweat when I woke up a few hours later and found out the power was back on. We went back to the basement and put the fan on full blast and I was finally able to sleep. Grandma had to comment how she slept so good with the windows open, even got chilly. Woo freaking hoo for you!

Oh man! so yes, ghosts out there please don't bother me. And baby, we are more than ready for you :)

just waiting to become an official mom!

2011-08-22T08:56:00.000-07:00

My last day of work was saturday! Paul started classes today and new job at weber state so he doesn't have to commute to salt lake city all the time. good way to save on gas money since I won't be working. I have some projects to keep me occupied until baby castleberry decides to arrive. I want to get his room more organized and decorated and work on our wedding album. we have been married almost 3 years and still haven't put one together; now is a good time!

And I get to hang out with our sweet pup!

I had awesome baby showers last week and the week before and all the ladies at the salon were super generous as well. We did some shopping this weekend so I believe we are ready!

My parents came in town a week ago because my dad had some work clients come into Utah and he entertained them a few days and spent some time with us which was nice. Got to spend some daddy daughter time driving around the utah mountains and chatting. They will be driving out here from Georgia when we announce the baby is here! My mom will be making curtains for the baby's room and bringing them out. I am now 37 weeks, full term and just waiting for him to come. I have no idea what to expect and but who does when you're a first time mom! I just want him to be happy and healthy!

I have some pictures of the baby's room, but I'll put them up when I completely finish the room. and I don't have pics of the family baby shower. But don't you worry, when baby castleberry comes I will have lots of pictures!

where does the time go

2011-07-21T14:25:00.000-07:00

I am terrible at blogging lately! We are almost done with July and this month is my favorite here in Utah. The heat comes, summer activities, 4th of july, pioneer day, cookouts, etc... and Paul's best friend, Kurt was married 4th of july weekend to Heidi; We just love them. It was an awesome wedding! The spirit was so strong in the temple, not one dry eye. And being pregnant and emotional doesn't help, I was just bawling! Their reception was fun and laid back with an all American cookout theme. The rest of that weekend we spent in Provo for the freedom festival. We shall spend the weekend with them for the 24th, a holiday that only happens in Utah!
As for updates on baby Castleberry, he is growing as he should and everything is good so far. I am 32 weeks and 4 days, getting big and awkward and swelling. But thats ok because we will soon have a little rockstar, our little miracle and we are so excited to meet him in just about 7 weeks. Im so curious as to what our little guy will look like! I hope he gets Pauls dark hair and our green eyes. We shall see.

family

2011-06-27T16:05:00.000-07:00

Here is the whole family (Matt and Brittany, Paul and I, Amanda and Nathan, Brett, Mom and Dad). This was taken on Nathan and Amanda's wedding day May 21st. Oh we don't have Matt and Brittany's baby, Colin in the pic; so almost the whole family.

Anyways, We haven't been up to much really. We invested in a nice dslr, the canon t2i; Paul has been having fun learning how to use the camera and I'm just excited to be able to take awesome pictures when our baby comes! That will be our last big purchase for awhile; we have to get ready for baby castleberry. We still have to do alot! Stuff we have to get, room to paint and prepare and so on.

Recently, our little dog, Ellie Mae went to the vet to be spayed and stayed overnight. I felt so bad for her and missed her so much! She's home and doing really well. She was lethargic for a day, but now she's her spunky little self and her incision is looking really good.

We have been enjoying the sunshine as much as we can; I wish they had neighborhood pools out here like they do in Georgia, but whatever. I'm just glad it's finally getting into the 80's and sunny! 8 more weeks of work...hooray!

May festivities

2011-05-31T15:15:00.000-07:00

It has been quite the month; besides all the rain it was great! May 21st my brother, Nathan and new sister in law, Amanda married in a small backyard wedding. It was beautiful and the weather was perfect for that one day. We had all the family together again plus Colin (nephew) and Amanda. September the family will just keep on growing!

After the wedding a very full house just emptied within a few days. Nathan and Amanda headed to Vegas for their honeymoon and they will be living in Riverdale. My parents flew back to Georgia the Monday after. my sister and her little family moved to Texas the next day with my brother, Brett tagging along for the ride. Its now just me, Paul, Ellie May and grandma in the house which means we took over the basement! We now have the bigger room for our new bigger bed we purchased, a babys room we are starting to put together and the Castleberry family room. If we will be in South Weber for a couple of more years at least we will be comfortable. Thank you grandma.

This past weekend all we did was move furniture around , clean and organize!

Other good news of May...we are debt free! Hooray! We have budgeted our butts off to get to this point and its a great feeling! Perfect time too so we can be prepared for baby Castleberry and not stress since I won't be working when the baby comes! We will be continuing to budget our butts off though...that never ends. I'll have pictures up of the wedding soon.

We finally know!

2011-05-02T15:30:00.001-07:00

It's a BOY!!!

Paul and I are so excited!! Can't wait for him to get here in September! I've been starting to feel him move, like a little fish swimming around is what it feels like. I laugh every time because it feels so weird. It will be fun when I can get full on kicks and Paul can feel him too.

As for names for this little guy, we are still working on it. Honestly I don't think anyone will know the name until the day he is born, but that's just the way it goes. He is a little healthy boy and he will be our little rockstar!

I am an Aunt!!

2011-04-13T14:05:00.000-07:00

April 5th my sister, Brittany and her husband, Matt had their baby boy Colin Lee Galloway! He was 9 lbs 5 oz and 21 inches long; a big boy! He is the cutest and I love being an Aunt!

We have had a busy few weeks with family being in town, work and Paul finishing up his semester at BYU. We should be hearing from BYU soon if Paul got into the film program, but now it doesn't matter if he's in or out because this past weekend with lots of pondering and prayer we have made a tough decision that Paul will be transferring to Weber State and we shall be sticking it out here at Grandma's house until he graduates in two years. It's funny how we have been trying so hard to get down to Provo pretty much since we moved to Utah, but it just has never worked out and I think it's Heavenly Father telling us Ogden is supposed to be our place for now. And it is in fact a better plan; Paul will keep his job at West High tutoring and now I can stay home with the baby and not have to work. Paul will be able to focus on school and get good grades and just shine! He will be able to take more credits per semester since we won't have that strain of having to pay rent and he can spend more time with me and the baby :-) So all in all it is a better plan and Heavenly Father is watching out for us, but It will be a big bummer to not have a place to call our own for awhile. And Grandma does drive us nuts, but we'll just have to get over that and look at the big picture. At least everyone will be moved out and we can make the basement our own space. So after Nathan gets married, it will be a fun project to get the basement more livable for our little family.

And a very exciting day is coming up that I will blog about next week, we have our 20 week ultrasound and I get to find out if it's a boy or a girl!! yippee! And I shall post more pictures of my belly because I have just popped these past couple weeks!

I am blessed...

2011-03-29T12:31:00.000-07:00

...to have the best husband ever! Yesterday was the worst day; I had a terrible headache Sunday night and had it through the night so I did not sleep well and woke up Monday with this headache. After eating breakfast I threw it all up, took a shower, ate a piece of bread with butter and threw that up. Sat on the couch all day feeling terrible; I think I got up once to put our sheets in the washer. Then my hero, my husband, my sweet Paul comes home from work and rubs my head and shoulders and cuddles with me. I ate a little salad and thankfully kept that down, but that's about all I could handle. Later that night Paul makes a cold compress for my head and I fall asleep on the couch. And while I'm sleeping he makes the bed and puts away the laundry. when he's ready for bed, he picks me up and carries me to bed where I fall asleep again snuggled next to the best husband a girl could get.

Oh the joys of life

2011-03-02T17:20:00.000-08:00

I am 12 1/2 weeks pregnant now and loving it, but not being nauseous ugh! I have only thrown up a few times which is alot better than some friends of mine, so I should be grateful I can still function. For catch up, we had our first baby appointment Feb 10th and we thought I was far enough along to hear the heartbeat, but nope we were wrong. She figured we weren't as far along as we thought, so we had an ultrasound on valentines day to be sure everything was okay and to see how far along I truly was. They told us we were week 10 day 1, which just put us a week ahead of ourselves and now I'm 12 weeks and 3 days! Almost done with the dreadful first trimester! I can't wait to actually start showing and people can tell I am pregnant.

We have decided to go with a birthing center because first it is what we can afford and second I want to go all natural and we are so excited to try this option of doing a water birth. The midwives are very experienced and we just love this place and atmosphere. The care will be so much greater than what you get from a doctor.

On to other topics, it looks like we won't be moving to Provo until August; we don't want to rush this move. We want Paul to have a good job, find just the right place and be completely out of debt. We are so exhausted everyday from our commute, hard work, school and stress of just about everything. Paul has submitted his application to the film program, so now all he has left is his interview at the end of march and then we find out in April if he gets in. And I'm not even going to think about plan B because I just pray he gets into this program. It is so competitive to get into any major at BYU.

We still have fun on occasions don't you worry. We have our date nights to the dollar theater and spend time with our friends and especially each other. Most of the time we just crash at home in the evenings and cuddle up. Come on summer; I am ready for you to come so at least I can go walking outside. Oh the joys! We have another baby appointment next week and I am so excited that my sister will be having her baby this month :)

Best week ever!

2011-01-14T17:35:00.000-08:00

This has been an awesome week! Last weekend we found out I am six weeks PREGNANT!!

One more month and it would have been a year of us trying to get pregnant. It was hard to see so many announcements of other friends and family getting pregnant. What is wrong with us I thought at the beginning. I would research stuff online and get sad, so I gave that up and realize I need to have more faith. We just prayed and relied on heavenly father that he would bless us with a child when the time was right. Last saturday I was two weeks late and I'm pretty irregular recently so, I thought, I'll just take the test and ease my mind, if it's negative I can move on and if it's positive which it probably won't be, we will just see. After work I bought a test, took it home and it was positive!! I was shocked. Went into the other room to tell paul and he was like, what! I had tears come to my eyes and my hands were shaking. The day is finally is here! Monday we had it confirmed and started telling everyone, which I've heard is not a good thing, you should wait till 12 weeks just in case, but we were too excited and I pray everyday that nothing bad will happen. On the plus side, my boobs are getting bigger and I'm not feeling sick, just a little queasy here and there. I am now seven weeks and can't wait when I can hear the heartbeat. We are still figuring out healthcare and when we do I'll make an appointment.

And on top of that, my boss chopped off all my hair. I told her to do whatever she wanted and it turned out great!

christmas and new years!

2011-01-03T09:36:00.000-08:00

We had a nice christmas! Awesome gifts, great food and good company. Here is my silly, but cute husband cutting the pineapple for the ham.

My sister, Brittany and her husband, Matt who are expecting a little boy the first of April.

Our wonderful puppy, Ellie May with her christmas sweater!

My brother, Nathan and his fiancee, Amanda. They just got engaged christmas morning!

Also, Grandma who is not pictured was also there. Our yummy christmas ham!

During the holidays, Paul had off two weeks from work and school whereas I still had to go to work and come home to paul just wearing sweats from his busy day of playing xbox, watching movies, taking naps and snuggling with our puppy. I do like to give him a hard time, but he deserved the break from his hard work this past semester. Also during the holidays we enjoyed shopping and hanging out with friends.

For the night of new years eve Paul and I had a date night, dinner and a movie. And welcomed in the new year of 2011 with a kiss!

What we are looking forward to in the new year:

- Paul going to BYU

- being debt free

- moving to provo and having our own place

- our first nephew

- nathan's wedding

- christmas in georgia

among other things

I am hoping for a great year and

Hope you all have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Life is Good

2010-12-13T11:35:00.000-08:00

We are getting ready for Christmas and birthdays! If you don't know already we have my birthday on the 20th and then christmas and Paul's birthday on the 26th. To keep it simple we celebrate our birthdays together like twins. haha! I don't know why, but turning 24 this year seems rough. I know it's not old, but it's like "really! 24! geeze!" Paul is relieved he is turning 26 and not 27...haha! For a minute he forgot how old he was. Anyways as the picture shows, I am a redhead now. It's so fun.

Here, Ellie May is curled up sleeping. She is the best puppy ever! We just love her! she is so warm and loves to give kisses. Right now she is tucked under my arm staring at the screen; what a smart puppy! and she is licking my fingers making it hard to type.

This is Paul's last week at the LDS business college and we are so excited!! I am getting along better with my boss; understanding her a bit more and changing my perspective of her. She really is a kind and generous woman. Overall, life is good and we have lots to look forward to.

November

2010-11-29T12:11:00.000-08:00

November has been such a busy month; it's been nice to do more than just work and school for us, the routine. My parents were in town for 2 weeks and I didn't even take a single picture I just realized. bummer! We had a great time hanging out with them in the evenings after work watching movies and eating dad's cookin'. They left and a blizzard came the night we were going to drive to Idaho so we left the following morning to Jenny and Ben's house where we got stuck in a drift right outside their driveway and luckily there was a truck to pull us out. We stayed overnight and had Thanksgiving dinner with them and jenny's brother and cousin and Ben's sister and her family and Ben's brother. We had such a great time despite the cold!

Yesterday was a nightmare of that dreadful time of the month. As soon as we arrived to church I was in so much pain and Paul told me I was losing color in my face. I was getting very light headed and told Paul I needed to leave so we got up and I could barely walk down the hallway and then I passed out. He said I Just slid down the wall and was moaning and then woke up. I just remember Paul holding me and people starting to come towards me and my shoes fell off. They found someone in the ward who was a nurse and she was so nice, I don't even know her name. My body was tingling all over and it definitely took me awhile to recover. When I went to the bathroom I threw up. It will be awhile before I eat sausage and eggs again. Paul is such an amazing husband to take care of me! He drove me home and I was taking my clothes off all the way to the bathroom and ran a hot bath and there paul was picking up everything and getting me some water and ibuprofen. I never want that to happen again! It was miserable and now word spread all over the ward and I hate the comments "is she pregnant?" NO I'm not, that's not the only reason for someone to pass out. pretty far from it. So anyways,

today will be a good day. We are going to see Harry Potter with my sister and her husband and get a christmas tree and start the festivities. and our new phones should be coming in the mail today. Happy day!

Fall fun

2010-10-24T20:18:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago we went to cornbelly's cornmaze at thanksgiving point here in Utah with Paul's best friend, Kurt and his new girl, Heidi and their friends Dave and Paige. We had a great time running through the maze and having the guys hide in the corn and jumping out to scare us and having huge shakes at jcw's. yum! good times and will see more of them when we move to Provo.

Last night Whitney and I had a blast at Witches Night Out at Gardner's Village. We spent a couple of days making our costume beforehand. So that night we shopped, which means looking at stuff that we want to buy that are really cute but can't afford, and ate carmel apples, carmel popcorn and scones. mhm yum! danced to the music played by the hosting radio station and what I mean by dancing is nodding our head and swishing our skirts. :) I love hanging out with whitney and I love dressing up. perfect girls night I say.

We gave Ellie a bath today and I had to post a picture of our cute little family. Right now she is sprawled out on my legs sleeping. What a snugler, just like Paul.

Happy Fall! but still looking forward to summer again!

bizarre nightmares!

2010-10-16T20:26:00.000-07:00

So just to let everyone know I get these bizarre, vivid nightmares quite alot and it could be because we watch shows like heroes. So last night I dreamt Paul and I were going to a concert and I believe it was a hannah montana concert; I have no idea why. We meet our friends Jazmin and Dustin there, chat and so on. I can't remember everything. Then I remember us trying to get some food at a cafe and purchased a sandwich; we were so irritated that it costs so much. Then this woman comes after us and ties us up lying on the floor and she is cutting off Paul's fingers and toes and I am HYSTERICAL, screaming and pleading her to stop and she comes towards me. somehow we get away and run and we end up in some woods by my grandmas house (she doesn't have trees by her house in real life). The woman finds us there with some friends and we are freaking out! my grandma watches through the window and runs out to us and is like "this isn't what she's really like, she's a good person. you just need to pray" so we do and the woman softens up and says she sorry and goes away and that's when I wake up. WEIRD! whenever I remember my nightmares I tell paul and I bet he thinks "how does her brain come up with these things?" I have no idea. I've had more bizarre dreams, but you know how it goes, they are easy to forget. It would be nice to have some sweet dreams instead of nightmares all the time.

It's been 2 years!!

2010-10-08T21:30:00.000-07:00

October 9th marks 2 years of being married which was the BEST day of my life. My sweet husband, Paul, is absolutely the best husband out there times 10 billion and I get to keep him for eternity!! He has been such a blessing in my life and every moment has just fallen into place since the first time we met. I just love him!

Tonight, we went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse because we wanted some delicious steak and oh man was it good, but something out of the ordinary happens as we come to the end of dinner...I pass out. Seriously, fainted! All I remember is I had a small pain in my chest like when you eat a chip and it's the wrong way, poking you as it goes down. I got really light headed and the next thing I know Paul is standing over me looking very concerned and I was so disoriented and shaky, but figured out my surroundings and asked "did I just pass out?" It scared paul to death. So he told me what happened in the 15 seconds I was out. He said that I put my hand to my forehead, my face went pale, landed face down on my plate and went limp. He got up to come to my side of the table and three waitresses came up panicking and he felt like the whole restaurant just froze while he was calling out for me loudly. I fell to the one side of the booth and came to. It felt like I was in a dream state and I heard paul call me sweetie like I was waking from a nap. Then I noticed all the eyes on me and my hair feeling greasy, which was from the butter that was on my plate. gross! It's the most bizarre feeling to pass out. Paul is the sweetest ever making sure I was ok and the waitress was sweet to bring me a cup of ice and a cup of coke to get my sugar level up just in case that was what triggered it. I still don't know what triggered it. Now that it's over it's kinda funny to imagine myself face planted into a puddle of butter on my plate. It will make for a good anniversary story.

We go home so I can wash my hair real quick and take our puppy out, then we head out to Boondocks fun center where we played mini golf and arcade games where we earned 600 tickets!! That was fun; we got a bunch of candy and silly toys.

Heading out to the car paul tries to recreate our first kiss which just melts my heart. I can't tell you how incredible our first kiss was; sparks really flew. It was Feb of 2008 on our second date, we were at walking out of Jillian's at the Discover mills mall back in Georgia and we get to our cars where we say goodnight and give a hug and as we pull away we find ourselves inching closer and bam, lips lock, fireworks, perfection; he has me then pinned to the car and whispers "when do I get to see you again?" Hallelujah!! I don't even remember what I said but believe me I knew I had to keep him. I hit the jackpot! And now we've been married two amazing years!! Thank you for answering my prayers and giving me a man I needed and wanted.

what do I say...

2010-09-28T19:03:00.000-07:00

I really don't have much to say, but thought I would post something anyways. Paul has been in his final semester and the LDSBC for a few weeks now and he's liking it except his statistics class; he had a hard time sleeping last night because of his homework. He is such a trooper though! Went to the school early to find a tutor to help him. He will get a A in the class I'm sure.

Yesterday, I worked out to a Jillian Michaels workout video. I am extremely sore all over and it feels GREAT! As soon as I can walk, I'll do it again! It's been awhile since I've done a hard workout and I enjoy every minute of it. Call me crazy, but I love to work my body. haha!

Ellie is still the cutest puppy on earth and is curled up next to me. I am looking forward to this weekend for General Conference so my spirit can be lifted and I am looking forward to our two year anniversary coming up in a week and a half!! Can you believe it's been two years since we've been married. It just keeps getting better :)

Food Inc.

2010-08-31T17:40:00.001-07:00

If you have not seen the documentary Food Inc., It is about time you did. It's nice to know where our food is coming from. They really do believe in "out of sight, out of mind" but we do have a right to know. I want meat from cows that eat grass like they are supposed to, not corn! And chickens that can be in the sunlight. I can't eat fast food anymore or from those companies who treat animals that way and who don't really care about the people, just money. I want to grow my own garden, eat organic and buy from local farmers markets.

4.0

2010-08-30T15:00:00.000-07:00

My husband is pretty freakin awesome! Just told me today he got a 4.0 for the semester, straight A's! This next semester will be his last at LDS Business college; now he is working on his application to BYU! He has to apply to the school and if he's accepted then in January he will take a film prerequisite class; during that time he has to work on his application to get into the film program at BYU and then once he gets accepted into the program means we will be in Provo next year! long process and lots of ifs, but we are confident and excited!

We had a really nice weekend; saturday one of our friends, Lindsay and Dan, got married so we went to their reception that night and we are so excited for them And now that the wedding madness is done we may actually get to hang out with them! And Sunday afternoon we went to Provo and hung out with some old friends from Georgia, robbie, seth, jenny and ben, mark and danielle, and marcelo! it was so nice to catch up and I didn't get a picture dangit! After we left robbie and seth's place we headed a few blocks down and visited our homeless friend, Kurt! seriously he lives in his broken down van by choice. He is even blogging about his experience.

More news to share, my little sister is pregnant, which means Paul and I will be an Aunt and Uncle! She is due in April. In a few weeks I believe they will either hear the heartbeat or ultrasound or something like that. anways...little sister is all grown up.

Well I am going to take some chicken out of the freezer for Paul and I to have dinner and hopefully I'll go for a jog or bikeride tonight.

p.s. our little puppy is doing great. she is snuggled up by me right now!

I miss my sweetie!!

2010-08-21T17:57:00.000-07:00

This has got to be the hardest weekend ever! My husband left thursday morning for huntington beach, california with several guy friends; a man's road trip you could say. I am excited for him to have fun and take a break and i'll admit I'm a wee bit jealous cause I have to stay home and work at my job ugh while he's getting tan. Believe me he owes me!! So here I am on saturday night hangin with our pup. I did hang out with a friend last night; dinner and pottery painting! We had a good time; Christi Zirbel is a riot to be around. The hardest part though having Paul gone is sleeping at night! jeez it is so lonely! At least he will be back tomorrow! Did I mention this is the first time we have been apart since we've been married and that's almost two years!! Anyways...I just needed to get that out there that I can't wait for Paul to get home!

cake decorating

2010-08-06T19:19:00.000-07:00

Don't judge to harsh; It is my first experience with cake decorating. I hope over time I can get better. It was fun to learn the basics, maybe in a little while I'll try the fondant classes.

where does the time go

2010-08-03T16:59:00.000-07:00

Summer is going by way to fast! I don't even have a good tan yet dangit! At least I spent more time outside this year than I did last year. It's nice only having one job!
Well in the last month not must has changed except that our little puppy, Ellie is growing up and because of that we had to buy her a collar and leash so she doesn't run away, she's becoming rebellious. She hates her leash! One time it got out of my hand and I would have to run after her and as soon as I would get close she would run the other way. If puppies could laugh I know she would be; it is such a fun game, she thinks. We still love her and cuddle her!
And also this past month, Paul's mom was generous enough to give Paul an Xbox and when that happened we had to get a nice TV of course. So we splurged, but it's fun and we love it. I even have some games I like to play and Paul just laughs at me when he catches me playing my kung fu panda. haha! Together, we play Lego Indiana Jones and I hope to get the harry potter one soon. I sound like a nerd! jeez...
I swear I've read three books this week so that's not all I do when I'm not working. I have been taking some cake decorating classes with my friend, Cami, that has been alot of fun! Tomorrow night is the last class where we learn a few more flowers and show off our skills of what we have learned. I already make my buttercream frosting from scratch, but soon I want to start making some cakes from scratch and not just use a box mix. I love when Paul is proud of me and my cakes! He is such a great husband! I'll post some pictures of my cakes after my class tomorrow. July has been great so now we'll see what August has to offer!!

Fourth of July weekend!!

2010-07-07T17:39:00.000-07:00

Can I just tell you...Paul and I had a blast in Provo this past weekend! We spent it with Kurt, Paul's friend growing up and a bunch of his friends in his ward. What a great crowd and our puppy was a hit!! It was last minute because my boss was going to make me work Saturday even though no one was working that day, but then changed her mind late afternoon on Friday! jeez... So Saturday morning we hung out with my Aunt Wendy and cousin Max because they are in town. And then...headed down to Provo. For some reason people don't like Provo, but we love it! Great experiences every time we go down there. Hopefully Paul will get into BYU and we will move there. Maybe it's because all those people down there are in the same boat as us...poor college students...just maybe.
Anyways, We walked through the freedom festival, ate food, then went to the stadium where we sat on the lawn right outside the entrance to listen to the stadium of fire concert performance of Carrie Underwood and watch the awesome fireworks!! Why pay to get into the stadium when you can almost get the same experience for free! So much fun. and then, only in Provo will you find a dance party in the street with a DJ waiting for traffic to die down. I loved it, but Paul doesn't like to dance. poopy shmoopy. Sunday after church we had a BBQ and 8 hour game of risk that I'm pretty sure I fell asleep near the end. Kurt defeated all, but we were pretty close. Monday walked through the festival again, ate some food and headed to Mona lake where we ended our awesome weekend with rope swings. Paul amazed me at his back flip off the tree branch, what a stud! The water was freakin cold, so I enjoyed my time sitting in the sun watching it all happen. We met some great people, had tons of fun and can't wait to visit Provo again.

Ellie May

2010-06-19T21:08:00.000-07:00

So we have an addition to the family...a puppy!! We named her Ellie May; she is a mix of pekingese, maltese, dachshund and something else. What a cutie! We got her Monday at the age of 7 weeks! She has added lots of happiness to our little family of Paul and I. The first night was awful with her being locked in her dog crate whining all night long. It was sooo hard not to take her out and comfort her. It worked though; she has been sleeping in her crate with no problems after that. It's funny to keep track of how much she eats and drinks. She's been pretty good at going outside to do her business, very few accidents in the house. She has to be the perfect puppy! These past couple of days she's been more playful chewing on her toys and rolling in the grass. Right now she is snuggled behind me. What a cuddler...I love it!

back to school...

2010-06-07T14:14:00.001-07:00

Well Paul is back in school for his summer semester! He hasn't made any judgements on his classes yet; it is only just the beginning, but soon we shall know which classes he likes best. I am curious to know if he is enjoying his cultural anthropology class since he wants to maybe major in anthropology when he gets to a bigger university.

As for me, I have quit Victoria Secret so I no longer work nights which is going to help with stress levels for both Paul and I. I am still at the salon job working tues-sat 9-5. I am hoping to enjoy my summer a bit more and spend some time out in the sun!! Some really great news...we paid off the car! Now we just have my school loan and Paul's dental bill and we will be debt free. woohoo! we are so close! Eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches everyday will be worth it in the end.

our visit to home in Georgia

2010-05-24T15:55:00.000-07:00

Well Paul and I got back from Georgia just over a week ago and had a
great time visiting our friends and family! The day before we flew out
Paul got a dose of dizziness and nausea and the day we flew out it wasn't
as bad, but still awful for him walking around the airports like he was
drunk I had to keep a hold of him. Our first full day in Georgia was
spent goingto the doctor where he was diagnosed having vertigo, then the
pharmacy, chiropractors and just chillin around his parents. Saturday and
Sunday were a bit better had some cookouts with the families and seeing
everyone at church. It was a nice and relaxing weekend! Monday we
went with our brother and my bestest Cara to see this documentary in
Atlanta called Exit through the Gift Shop about street Artists; It was very
interesting. Gladys nights chicken and waffles was an excellent dinner!
Just melt in your mouth delicious. That night we went bowling with some
of my awesome friends from back in the day atMacaroni Grill.
Tuesday we spent a bit of time at Stone Mountain just to be outside and
walkaround. The weather was so nice, sunny and 80 degrees. It was so
nice not to wear a jacket! Wednesday we enjoyed some time with the
Andersen Family and Thursday we went to the pool at our oldapartment
complex and got toasted! Our skin hasn't seen much sun living in Utah
so it didn't take long to get red and now my skin is peeling off. Our last
night there we had a great time visiting with the Coopers at Stony River.
They are so awesome and very much missed.We miss our Family and
Friends and quite a bit, but we do have a nice little life here in Utah
with new friends and new adventures. We like Utah, but hate the snow.
If Utah didn't have snow it would be perfect because It really is a
beautiful state, but the south will always be home.

I don't have any of the family pictures we took....these will just have to do.

Muse

2010-05-03T15:07:00.000-07:00

Three more days until we are on the airplane to GEORGIA!! we are way excited! It's been just over a year since we left and we are counting the days. We will always be southern at heart no matter where we end up after Paul is finished with his schooling years.

A month ago we went to the Muse concert which was AWESOME!! It blew me away, the music, the lights, the screaming and I cannot wait til we go to another Muse concert!

These past couple of weeks I haven't been working very much at victoria secret so it's been nice to have some nights off with my sweetie while he's on break. When there is a nice day we try and go jogging or go to the park and sit in the sun. Last monday we tried to go hiking on this trail in Layton, but we didn't realize it would be a long hike so we didn't come prepared with water so we are going to do that another day soon. That day was so beautiful, then 3 days later it snows and we get several inches of snow and then by night it's melted and today it's 66 degrees and sunny. I do not like Utah spring; I always have to have a coat in the car because you just never know!

Yesterday we had a dinner work party with the salon stylists and their husbands/boyfriends. It was delicious! my Boss had us meet at The wild grape and she had ordered some appetizers for us clams and then these crackers with hummus and salmon. Their salad was so fresh and good. I had the halibut with a spinach puree sauce and these little potato squares and peas. Paul had prime rib with mashed potatoes. mhm dessert Paul and I shared chocolate smores tort. My boss is very generous to take us all out for dinner. It was great company and fun. They were all drinking wine and martinis and they just cracked jokes about paul and I who don't drink. It's funny though what's the probability in living in Utah and working in a salon where I am the only LDS church member?

I do want to say that I don't understand my boss. At work and even at the party she will chat with everyone and laugh with them too. She didn't even say hi to me; I had to seek her out just to say bye and thanks for the dinner. Paul noticed too so I know I'm not crazy. I try to make an effort to be friendly and talk with her; get to know her, etc. She treats me differently and I don't get it. All the other stylist are super nice and social with me, but not her. I don't think it's something I'm doing because everyone else seems to like me. I just don't get it!

Well Paul should be getting home from work soon...I have the day off :) we are going to go for a run as soon as he gets here.

pictures

2010-03-29T11:05:00.001-07:00

Some pictures I am finally posting after several months.

October - Halloween party dressing up as rocks stars

Pumpkin we made and placed in front of someone's doorstep as halloween prank with insides from the pmpkin as throw up and bottles of ibc rootbeer laying around like the pumpkin's drunk. They never did find out who it was, but if they read this blog then now they'll know. haha!

November - my sister's bridal shower. Here she is stuffing marshmellows in her mouth

Trip to chick fil A favorite fast food and they don't have alot in Utah like they do in Georgia. Paul, brother in law Matt and Me.

December - Brittany and Matt's wedding

Family in town for the wedding so we build a fort!

Christmas Eve with us and the newly weds building candy houses

February - Paul and his best bud, Kurt go to the monster truck show representing the south.

now that's all caught up I need to get my camera out more often for the best season of the year...Summer! :)

day of rest...

2010-03-28T11:42:00.000-07:00

I love sundays! It truly is a day of rest for us. I get to sleep in a little bit because church doesn't start til 11. I get to spend the whole day with my husband! I can cook a meal and eat it at the table. It's a nice break from the week; wish it lasted more than 24 hrs. what makes this day even better is that it's sunny!! I love that it's starting to warm up. Spring in Utah is crazy..like on friday it was sunny, then snowing, then raining, hail, snow and back to sunny and snow melts. weird!

Today is beautiful!

Nothing is new just work for me and school for paul. We haven't even done anything fun to post about, but that's ok we have a muse concert we are looking forward to and trip to Georgia in may so those will be fun to write about when it comes! Well we did do one fun thing, we went and saw a movie at the theatre with our good friends, whitney and kemp...they are always a good time! And I did have my hair colored to dark brown while I was working at the salon. I shall post a picture soon. I am hoping this summer we will be able to enjoy the sunshine!

may i just whine a little bit...

2010-02-17T17:03:00.000-08:00

I should be positive, but may I just whine a little bit... skip the first paragraph if you don't want to hear me complain.

I am exhausted! Working 60 hour weeks, waking up at five, taking uncomfortable, brief naps in the car between jobs where now I have pains in my neck because of it, packing lunch and dinner everyday, getting home at 11 at night, seeing my husband only when it's dark outside, my monday nights consist of laundry and grocery shopping and Sundays my only day off which isn't even a day off because of church responsibilities I get to rest and watch my husband do homework.

I don't work Saturday nights anymore because I do need to keep some sanity. So, this past Saturday night the day before Valentines day I wanted a romantic night and we wanted to go to a restaurant which is a treat for us. I just wanted Paul all to myself and enjoy spending time with him. So, he goes to a monster truck show with a friend while I am at work til five which is fine, but afterward is what killed me. We are in Salt lake and he picks me up at five where now we give his friend a ride down to Provo. It's now 6 and traffic is terrible back to back to get out of provo to the highway. It's now 7 I am irritated, don't know where to eat and hungry. Now, I don't care where we eat. I choose chili's and we cant find it, get lost, hit more traffic. 8:30 we finally find a chilis south of salt lake. We wait twenty min to set seated, order, food is good and we leave. Get home up to South Weber at 10:30 where grandma greets us... need I say more.
And Valentines is our usual Sunday. Even though I moan I do enjoy every moment with my husband and we try to make the best of every situation and laugh with each other. For instance on that Sunday, Paul was trying to finish up his project for art history class and grandma was trying to help him, but I wanted to be the one to help...I'm the wife! So I told Paul this in whispers and so he makes me laugh. If you know my grandma she loves to talk and talk even to herself we have learned. So grandmas back is to me and shes leaning her head down towards the project and paul is standing next to her. He's making faces and egging her on to talk more and asking silly questions that she takes seriously and we aren't even paying attention to what shes saying...just silently laughing together and she had no idea. Are we awful? I think not, just trying to have fun because It can be hard living with a grandma who can't stop moving. She's up at the crack of dawn and goes to sleep at midnight and goes room to room quickly. why walk so fast?? It's like she is in a panic all the time. be at peace... and don't you dare ask her for something simple because she blows it up into this huge escapade. even if we don't ask she does the same such as we bought these pudding packs one day and then the next she bought this whole bag off instant pudding boxes we really don't need!

Anyways...I have vented, but now on to positive things. No need to dwell on the negative.

january is almost over...

2010-01-24T22:18:00.000-08:00

I am ready for the summer...

Snow is pretty out here in Utah, but when you just commute back and forth from south weber to Salt lake city monday through saturday and have to drive in it and not really enjoy it then I am done...it's time for warm weather. I am definitely a summer girl! It really hasn't snowed much thank goodness, but when it does ugh! Paul usually drives and I close my eyes and grit my teeth til the ride is over. At least I don't cry anymore; I am improving. This past tuesday morning we were on the 89 highway going up hill at 6:45 in the morning and our little car was having a hard time because it was so slippery, just kept sliding to the right. After Paul was dropped off at West high for work it was my time to drive and it wasn't to bad until I got to the parking lot of my job. It's a pretty big hill to get into the lot and thankfully there was a woman standing on the corner or else I wouldn't have made it up. The car was stuck there while I pressed the gas and she saw I wasn't moving and she came up and pushed the back while I kept chanting "come on, come on car, you can do it". I did not want to slide back into traffic!! The fact I didn't cry is definitely an improvement even though I was shaking. I will be happy when winter is over!

Other good news for warmer days is first, we are going to a Muse concert in April and then we got plane tickets to Atlanta for May 6-14th! We are so excited to visit everyone in Georgia! Lately, we have really been missing it.

Paul is LOVING this semester of school. His favorite class is survey of art history because his teacher is amazing with a great spirit and intelligence. I love when he comes home and tells me about all the information he has learned. And I LOVE when I read Paul's essays and writings. He is so incredibly talented; so happy he is all mine for eternity! He just finished reading Walden by Henry David Thoreau for fun and wrote a paper on it for his english class. I love Paul's description and perspective on ideas. Who has the best husband? That's me, I do!

wrap up 2009

2009-12-31T21:20:00.000-08:00

My last post of 2009! We are so excited for the new year, and amazed at all that has happened in 2009. We have moved out here to Utah, new jobs, celebrated our 1 year anniversary, Paul has finished one semester of school with straight A's!!, celebrating my sister getting married and have enjoyed making new friends throughout it all.

Some things I haven't mentioned since my last post in October!! Jeez, what a slacker I have become in blogging. We celebrated Halloween with my friends from SVU and one who we think is my husband's cousin. Her maiden is Castleberry and we will soon find out the connection. We dressed up as rockstars! Thanksgiving we enjoyed a yummy meal with my husband, sister, her fiancee at the time and my grandma. Paul finished his first semester at the LDS business college with a grade point average of 3.94, so proud of him! He has worked so hard and will continue to work hard. I threw my sister a small bridal shower which was tons of fun even through the stress of working so much with the holidays. My sister is now Brittany Galloway as of Dec. 12th; now married to Matt Galloway. Very beautiful wedding in the Salt Lake City Temple. Had some fun visitors to stop by and stay with us Jenny and Ben Steinmetz who live in Idaho, but knew from Georgia! Christmas was fun with sleeping in, opening presents and cooking our first christmas ham together, even made our own honey glaze. It was fabulous. We had the newly weds over for dinner and made grahm cracker candy houses. I would put pictures up, but I can't turn on my laptop so we need to purchase a card reader to plug in to this laptop to get our pictures off our camera. We have moved out of our apartment in Salt lake City as of today so we've been busy doing that the last two weeks. We are now back with grandma in South Weber and we will feel like this was a great decision on our part to save money, get out of debt, help grandma out and be closer to my brother, Nathan.

Now for the New year we will be continuing at our same jobs, just commuting back and forth. Paul will start his next semester Jan. 11th. We hope to make a visit to Georgia this year! That's all I got for right now, but I know it will be a great year because I have all I need, a great family, friends, a loving heavenly father who blesses us and especially my amazing husband who I love so much!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

1 Year Anniverary!!

2009-10-11T18:23:00.000-07:00

Paul and I have made it to our 1 year mark of marriage on Oct 9th! We had such a great time this weekend celebrating our love for each other. It has been an amazing year; we have experienced so much together and we have so many more adventures to come. Marriage is so awesome! We always are careful with our money, but this weekend we splurged and had great fun at dinner and then Moab! I'll explain along with the pictures.

Dinner at Tucano's was amazing! It's a brazilian grill where you have a salad bar and then unlimited amounts of meat that they carve off at the table, also in this picture where we had roasted pineapple. yumm! I believe we ate about ten animals. BBQ chicken, bison, buffalo, pork loin, sirloin, spicy sausage, turkey wrapped in bacon, chicken heart and beef brisket. wonderful meal with a wonderful husband :)

He ate the chicken the heart and liked it!! I couldn't try it.

Our dessert when we got home was the top layer of our wedding cake that we saved. It was so good. Being frozen for a year and traveling from Atl and SLC didn't think it would, but it was delicious and fresh!

Paul surprised me with roses! I love when he gives me flowers!

Paul's parents sent us matching Atlanta braves hats! we look good

This was the first stop through the arches national park in Moab, the balanced rock. So Awesome how the rock just balances up there.

Us being silly as usual...

The Delicate arch was AWESOME!! 1.5 mile hike straight up and I mean straight up and then 1.5 back down. Paul was nervous because we were so high up and we saw these girl taking pics of their yoga poses which I thought was a good idea for a shot. I wanted to copy, but Paul was scared for my life so I decided to be calm for once.

Paul brought my machete that I bought in Mexico a few years ago and had to pose in every picture with it..."to be a man" he says. Haha I love him! There was this guy we met on the trail from Israel that got a kick out of it. There was also this little boy that came up to us and asked why he was "carrying a sword with him" my reply..."to be silly". Which indeed he is, but I love him for it. We have some good times.

I love this shot. We climbed up this rock wall to get to this hole where you can see this view. So AWESOME!

We stayed overnight in a tent which was such a great idea! made our adventure even better. It was Paul's first time sleeping in a tent...what? yeah...his first time and he calls himself a man. haha...just kidding sweetie! It was fun teaching him how to set up a tent. Now he is all about camping...so guess what we are gonna do next summer. He's so excited that we are going to start a wishlist of camping supplies and go on a backpacking camping trip. I'm all for it!
We didn't get much sleep.... because of the cold air people! It was freezing! I had 3 jackets and 4 blankets and still shivering, but it was so fun!
We can't stop talking about how awesome our weekend was and that one year went by so fast. We are no longer newly weds; I am ok with that. It just gets better and better...

Until the day I die!

2009-09-23T19:52:00.000-07:00

So by popular demand from a couple of people, mainly Tana my beautiful wife, I have typed up one of my assignments for my English 101 class. Hope everyone likes it!!! -Paul

Summer of 2003, I'm 6'2 with shoulder length brown curly hair that waves to the ladies seductively in the wind. Dressed to impress only those that can remember me, I'm standing with authority under the green, red, yellow and blue lights that surround my aura; only to personify it with my 1970 black and white Squire Jazz bass that twinkles with excitement and sporting some battle wounds of shows before. Our band has found itself empowering the stage of the Hard Rock Cafe in downtown Atlanta to debut our newly recorded three song EP. The crowd is staggering out of control, smelling of booze, sweat and excitement as the notes rip the air in half and introduce themselves to their ears. The air is thick with a bit of fog from smoke machines, and the over whelming sensation of happiness, amazement and andreniline are crawling up and down my skin as my head unforgivably throws my hair back and forth to the beat of the music, as my body thrashes about as if trying to escape itself. This was only part of the journey. The saga continued the day after, we made the four hundred mile journey south to Tallahassee to do it all over again for the student body of Florida State University. The setting was exactly the same. That summer we were amongst the gods of rock. We owned the stages we stampeded and rode in and out of town like pirates plundering for whatever we wanted, and we found it. Many strings busted, drum sticks broken, even a few hearts, sweat stained jeans and shirts that went without cleansing for days and miles and miles of tunes that graced an unaccountable amount of ears; made up what would be the most unforgettable summer of my life. The thrill of the crowd shouting for more, the sight of people moving about amongst themselves as if to start a riot and the feeling of leaping from the stage onto a crowd of hundreds of strangers; will forever be forged into my memory until the day I die!

time goes by fast...

2009-09-14T14:13:00.000-07:00

I hadn't realized my last post was almost a month ago!! Time goes by fast when you're busy. I got off work a little bit early today :) so i get to pick up my husband from school! I'm sitting here at the school library using the computer waiting for him to get out of class. Paul is loving school! It makes me so happy to see him excited. We found out a little talent he has among all his other talents...they just keep adding on to how awesome he is. The talent is writing! I am amazed by how descriptive and creative he is; I come home everyday hoping to read something he wrote for english class. I need to post a sample of his writing when I get a hold of it. I'm so proud of my schoolboy. He is taking his general classes and it's looking like he may transfer to the U of U once he's done at the LDS business college, but it's to early to tell, things may change.
We gave talks for sacrament meeting at church yesterday on temples; I was so nervous, but it went well. Paul told his conversion story and made everyone tear up as always. Everyone is always so shocked that he's only been a member of the LDS church for almost 2 years because he speaks so eloquently like he's been a member his whole life. Such a great spirit about him. We feel like celebrities afterwards because it takes us forever to get out the door to give everyone enough time to come up and comment. I'm glad that we were able to touch the hearts of those listening, that's the most important thing. Now that we have finished that I feel like a little load has been taken off my shoulders.
My jobs are going really well! My boss at the hair salon is a bit intimidating sometimes, but I think they enjoy having me there. I try and do my best and hope that's enough for her. I feel a little on edge and timid, but over time I'll get more comfortable like I am at Victoria Secret. I love the people I work with at Victoria secret! So glad that I like both my jobs.
Need to go, but I want to give a shout out to my parents and my parents in law that they are awesome and I love and miss them!

date night!

2009-08-20T17:36:00.000-07:00

So Paul and I had a really fun date night before my crazy work schedule came to be. We went to boondocks fun center in Draper, Ut. We played some mini golf, bumper boats and some arcade games; enjoyed some ice cream at Maggie moo's (yum!) and finished off the night watching a movie at our place and cuddled. I can't even remember the name of the movie because this was a few weeks ago. Kinda late in posting.

awesome picture of the Sunset!

bumper boats are awesome. you get to shoot people with water who you don't even know!

my mad man :)

I love being married to Paul!

new job!

2009-08-01T16:52:00.000-07:00

I can finally leave the tutor job! I have a new job with more hours and more money. It's a full time position Tuesday through Saturday 9-5 at a hair salon in sugarhouse area of salt lake called Christe's Cutaway. I had my first introduction to the job yesterday and I feel like I will really enjoy it. It has a busy and upbeat atmosphere. I will be the receptionist/bookkeeping person and they don't use computers which is different; it is all old school. It has alot of older clientele so it feels like one of those small town neighborhood gossip hangouts where everybody knows everyone. It's fun and I have a funny story or at least I think it's funny. I was sitting there and this old lady was sitting down and had her walker in front of her, the nicest lady and I need to start remembering names. Anyway...this old man friend of hers walks by and she pushes the walker in front of him to try and trip him. She has quite the spunkiness to her.

I will still be working at victoria secret 4-5 nights a week. so that has me working 60-65 hours a week!! At least it's two jobs i enjoy. I will happily do it though for my husband to go to school. I will just appreciate the time I have with him even more. He is awesome!

grandpa passed away...

2009-07-22T14:51:00.001-07:00

Today i just attended my very first funeral. my grandpa, linwood smith, my mom's stepdad passed away on July 18th which is a blessing because he was in so much pain and stuck in the house going from his bedroom to the kitchen. He had everything you can imagine from heart problems, diabetes, arthritis, skin cancer and on oxygen tanks. It was his time and we are happy he is in a better place. The service was beautiful; my two uncles spoke and did a wonderfu job reminscing about his life. Wonderful music. my mom, dad and brother Brett all sang my grandpa's favorite hymn, poor wayfaring man of grief. He was buried in Ogden and had the military tribute with the gunfire, trumpet and folding of the flag because he is a veteran that served in the Korean war. I learned more about my grandpa today than I've learned over the 15 years of visiting them here in Utah. It was a peaceful and uplifting time whereas you would think it would be a sad time. How wonderful it is to have the gospel and knowledge that life and families are eternal.
It has just been a big family reunion. My parents and brother flew out from Atanta and here for the rest of the week and hanging out with extended family I really have not been able to know since we lived in Georgia and rarely saw them. It's honestly been a laughing good time.

picture overload

2009-07-11T17:32:00.000-07:00

I finally have a chance to put some pictures up of our new place, utah and just random updates!

We are official residents of Utah; Have the tags to prove it. :)
Here is the school we work at in the mornings as tutors, West High. Hopefully we won't be here much longer, but we are glad to have jobs! Well I know in September when Paul starts school he won't be working here anymore.

The Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house was amazing to go to. We went with Brittany and her fiancee Matt. We had such a great time!

A gorgeous view of Bear Lake.

These are the pictures of our place in Salt Lake city. It still needs some work, but it's getting there. We have a little park right outiside our place with the little creek. In the kitchen Paul is being goofy wearing a polka dot apron. Living room and dining room are my favorite and just have to say the loveseat that is tan with red pillows, we spent $50 putting that together. 20 for the couch from D.I. and 30 for the cover and it's comfortable! We are pretty excited about our find. A his and hers closets I love and the door in the my closet leads to what we call the bat cave which is a huge storage area and secret door to the complex's laundry room.

A random picture that I just love. Paul surprised me with flowers one day just to be an awesome husband!

This is at Bear Lake when my parents were in town at the end of May. We had a visit in Logan and drove up here to see the view. Pretty and rainy day!

New Apartment!

2009-07-03T19:02:00.000-07:00

Quick note...

We have officially moved into our place in salt lake city and we are so excited! It's a one bedroom basement apartment in a small complex off 3rd avenue before A st. We are seriously a few blocks from the Temple and conference center, a 3 minute walk. And walking distance to the memory grove park. I will put pictures up soon. We don't have internet at our place and can't afford to get it so I come to the plaza where my sister lives in the dorms to use the internet. When I have more time I will add more details and pictures.

Some exciting news...my sister is Engaged! I love her fiancee; he is such a great guy. They are getting married December 12th. I'll put up pictures of the soon to be Mr. and Mrs. Galloway as soon as I can!

Life up to date...

2009-05-25T09:04:00.000-07:00

Paul and I moved to Utah April 2nd from Atlanta, Georgia. At the moment we are staying with my Grandparents in South Weber and we are very grateful for having a place to stay where we don't have to pay rent, but we really want our own place; it's all I want!! We have been asked over and over why did we come out to Utah from Atlanta... and here's the answer one more time, Paul is going to start school at the Lds Business College in the fall and from there he will transfer to a university in Utah not yet decided.

We just started a few jobs. We both work at West High School in Salt lake as tutors in the morning with the gear up program. There are a group of students that have trouble and fail most of their classes and they work with these same students all the way from 7th grade until they graduate then start fresh with a new group. They are currently in 10th grade. We go to their classes to observe and help also to know what they are learning. Then there are study hall classes that we go over their homework and help as needed. During the summer it's all makeup work from classes they failed so they can graduate on time. Overall it's an ok job, but it's just amazing how slack teachers can be and how students just don't care. What I can sum up from this experience so far is that I don't want my kids in public schools. (side note: just walked into a class the other day where the teacher had the kids watching Paul Blart mall cop...insane i know, not one bit of education in that movie)

Anyways, for our other jobs that we work at night would be me at Victoria Secret which is tons of fun and I stay busy! Paul's is Blockbuster which he loves. Lingerie and movies, our entertainment will never end!

I would like to get back into my Aesthetics field and work at spa sometime; I am not giving that up by any means not after all the school I went through, but at the moment it's not what I want to depend on for Paul going through school.

Even though we may seem busy now we still find some free time and enjoy every moment together.

This is our story...

2009-05-15T19:40:00.000-07:00

We met at the end of January 2008 when on just an average day I was rear ended by a car driving home from a friend's house. The following day I took the car into Hendrick collision center where Paul worked as an estimator. When he was looking at my car I thought he was extremely hot; loved his hair and funny personality. When I dropped it off the next day to have it fixed I could not wait to pick it up so I could see the hottie again. When I got the call to come pick it up a few hours later, I was so excited and didn't care that I would be a bit late to work. He walked me to my car to show me the work that was done and said "Oh look at you what are you all dolled up for?" (I am smiling from ear to ear) I told him I was on my way to work which was Macaroni Grill as a server at the time. As we get to the car he says "Well here it is..." silence...seemed like he wanted to say more so I wait. "yup you guys did a great job on the car" silence...

Paul then says "So what kind of music do you like?" I explained to him that I love all different kinds. He then says "Well I play in a band and we have a show February 13th; do you want to come?" (Of course I did!! He's freakin hot!) "Well I'm going to need your number." He flips out his little notebook from his pocket and jots down my number. Say our byes and on my way to work :)

A few days later I get a voicemail from him to call back and I do and I get his voicemail. I'm checkin my phone constantly so I don't miss his call again. Finally! I speak to him and first thing he says is "I hope you don't think I'm a creepy guy when I say this, but when I was cleaning out your car I noticed in your back seat there was a binder that said I am a Child of God. Are you LDS?" I said yes and explained that was my primary manual. Paul now says "Well I am too just got baptized four months in September." (No freakin way...how did I get so lucky!") We set up a date for later that week.

I meet him for our first date at the Oasis Bowling alley in Buford at 10pm. I have never had so much fun on a date before this one. We clicked perfectly, no awkward silences, just awesome conversation of asking each other questions. I even beat him at one game and probably because he was so distracted. I did not not want the date to end ever. From that day on we saw or spoke to each other everyday. I would be up for hours talking on the phone.

Our second date we met at Jillians when I got off work 9 or 10ish (We had some late dates). We had some food and talked. When we got to our cars and say our byes we had the most perfect first kiss. You are probably thinking how can everything be so perfect. It seriously was...everything was perfect even the first kiss (so yummy!). we have been blesssed!

Third date we went to the park after I got off work, another late date. Played with a frisbee, but we couldn't see anything and the grass was wet so we just made out on the bench. It just made sense. This is the day we became official boyfriend/girlfriend after two weeks of knowing each other. This is how it went Paul: "So I don't think I will be single on valentines day this year." Tana (lightbulb went off): "Oh really...well then I guess I won't be either." smiles and more kisses.

A few days before his band played we went to the mall of georgia to pick out our rock star outfits (taking me on a shopping spree...can he really get any better) Went to the store, Buckle...our favorite. He even picked out my jeans and shirt and I love them! We had some ice cream. As we find out later, the ice cream didn't settle with Paul's stomach for when we went to watch a movie in the theater he ran for the bathroom, but only made it a few steps down and threw up. Luckily, we were the only ones in the theater at the time.

I did go to his show the day before Valentines day and he rocked out...so impressed! Valentines day I couldn't see him because I had to work all day, but I woke up to find daisies and big stuffed bear on my windshield. I was in love!

After receiving the teddy bear, which we lovingly named Rupert, we had tons of great times together. Trips to many parks around were we lived, hiked up Stone Mountain, some trips to the gym together, swimming, playing tennis, movies here and there, Braves game, dates to downtown Atlanta and many other fun activities. March 20th....

we were engaged! We took a day trip up to North Carolina to Mingo falls where he surprised me with the beautiful diamond ring. Six months later...October 9, 2008 we were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple. I am grateful for my husband every moment. I enjoy having fun with him and laughing together. He is such a blessing in my life