Charli and Me

The Cutie Pie

2011-10-25T21:20:00.001+10:00

After 52,548 minutes worth of dirty diapers, tears, laughs, and cuddles, this is what I have to show for it!

I think I'll keep her. Pictures of the party will come soon. (Whenever I get them from great grandma anyway...)

Sneak Peek

2011-10-18T13:04:00.001+10:00

A sneak peek of what I've been up to and will be up to soon. :)

6 Months

2011-04-25T16:43:00.000+10:00

Not only was it Easter this weekend, but it was also my baby's 6 month mark! How did that happen? It's hard to imagine her any different than she currently is, but it never ceases to amaze me how fast she grows. For example, she is now:

weight - 18 lbs 12 oz
length - 27"
head circumference - 18"

There's a baby in our ward who is almost exactly 4 months older and they are the same size. People very commonly guess she's 10 months old, so at least she's proportionally big!
Has anyone tried more of a baby-led-weaning approach with their kids? I've never really been a fan of the whole purée thing and found this option. Now, I'm not a gungho one way only person, so I've tried a bit of a mixture of ideas that seem to work for my munchkin. She also doesn't like purées too much, but loves chewing. Normally I don't give her anything very big so she won't choke. However, because she grabbed what I was feeding her, we got this cute shot of her.

She just loves melon!

As for celebrating her first Easter, I wanted to make her a cute dress. I didn't want to go shopping for fabric, so this is a refashion for me. Turned out pretty darn cute if I say so myself.

Bassinette cover into Easter dress!

Not too bad for my first try and I think she liked it too. :)

Can't say it was quite as fancy or nice as the dress my mom made for her though. She loves that one too. Am I going to end up with a girly girl who loves dresses? Who knows, but she is darn cute!

Thanks Grandma!

Define 'ME'

2011-03-24T21:53:00.000+10:00

One question I have always been frustrated with in life is the guaranteed "Tell me about yourself," whenever I'm in a new situation. First day of class every year in school, job interviews, meeting new people (generally older than myself), new wards, new neighbors... Everyone expects you to explain who you are in 10 words or less, right there on the spot.

For children, the response is usually about what they like. 'I like (specific princess/superhero), I like (favorite food), I like (favorite color).'
For teens it's what they are into or want to become. 'I drive a sweet car. I'm in a band. I'm going to be the best (insert career/sport star here).'
Then comes the young adult. The perspective on what's important is still changing and evolving from the favorite-color days. Young adults describe themselves by what they are currently experiencing. 'I'm studying (pick a degree). I work at (pick a place). I like to go (play with friends, swim, bike, etc.).'
Next are the newly marrieds/married without kids. First thing out of the mouth, 'I'm married.' Then back to the things mentioned in the young adult category. This is the first point in which life is not completely revolving around you. It's revolving around you and your hip attachment.
Now we're to the married with kids. It is all about your family. 'I'm married, have (#) kids. We like to (whatever comes to mind).' Life now revolves around the family unit.

Have you also ever noticed that your definition of 'me' changes by circumstance? Interviews it's all about your strengths and weaknesses, career ambitions, not what you like to do on the weekend. First dates are trying to bring up things that you may have in common with your date (works for married couples 'dating' potential friends as well). We sensor the definition of ourselves to match the situation.
So, at this point I want to ask: what is your definition of 'me'? Can you describe yourself in 1 sentence? Would you be able to convey your uniqueness in just a few seconds? What do you really want to hear if you ever ask that question?

As for my definition: I am a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister. I love languages, music, books. I am independent, adventurous, stubborn, confident, reserved, outgoing (make sense of that one), work well in a team and on my own. I sew, paint, build, design, create, cook. I want to learn Italian, photography, graphic design, interior design, cake decorating, flower arranging. I love to laugh, sing, dance, learn, teach. I am thrifty, creative, adaptable. I love the smell of rain, bacon, grass, lilacs, lavender, dawn. My favorite color is seagreen. My favorite foods include most fruits. I quote movies ALL the time. I love spending my time: in nature, on my own, with small groups of friends, with family. I am a perfectionist. I know how to fold fitted sheets. I love playing ultimate frisbee, rubiks race, killer uno, cranium, pool. I have an unusually good memory in most cases. I think most bugs and snakes are cool, but HATE spiders. I don't have a green thumb. I don't like scrapbooking. I don't have a ton of shoes. I am a nerd, a critic, a dreamer.

I know who I am, but who are you?

Never Grow Up

2011-02-24T15:39:00.000+10:00

Today is my beautiful girl's 4 month birthday. Can it really be that long ago that she was brand new? I can't believe time has passed so quickly. I love watching her grow up and become more independent (yes, mom, she is a lot like me), but at the same time I wish she'd never grow up. I know not all of you are country buffs, but have you listened to Taylor Swift's 'Never Grow Up'? Let me tell ya, being a mom is wreaking havoc on my emotions. I cry every time I listen to it. I know she'll have to grow up, and one day she won't need me anymore, but for now, I get to love and play with my baby.

At this 4 month mark, she sure has grown. In just about every way. She is:
16 lbs 14.5 oz
26 in long
and has a 17.5 in head

So, for those of you who don't/wouldn't really know, this is on or above the 97 percentile graph for every measurement! Aka... big baby! We have to go in for her shots tomorrow and I can only hope that she'll react similarly to her 2 month shots. Sleeping. *fingers crossed*

As her measurements have changed, so has her personality and abilities. I turned away from her the other day and turned back to see her with her pacifier in. I know I hadn't put it in. She's not a pro at it quite yet, but if it's in sight (not right next to her head) and she can touch it with her fingers, she'll figure out how to grab it and get it in. Only problem is she isn't the greatest at letting go, so she'll get it in and then pull it right back out. It's adorable to watch, though, as it can take her 2-3 minutes to figure out how to get it in right. What happened to the helpless, dependent infant?? She has also become a picky sleeper. Dang it. She used to be able to fall asleep just about anywhere, but ever since I put up her crib, she will only sleep in the crib or on the middle of our bed (when the front of the house is too noisy for her to fall asleep). She loves having her own space and doing her own thing. Sound familiar? ;)

I've taken a few videos as proof of her adorableness (word?), and will continue to do so, but as it takes forever to upload them here, they are on Vimeo. If you want to see them, you'll have to put in a little effort and go check them out. I know I enjoy them, so you should too. :)

Perfect Afternoon

2011-02-10T21:32:00.000+10:00

What is your recipe for a perfect afternoon? Is it being out with friends, hiking up a mountain or other such nature loving adventure, inside with a book? I've had a lot of really great afternoons, but it has been a while since the last one. Then, almost out of nowhere, I had a completely peaceful, perfect afternoon. We have been rearranging/decorating/cleaning to sell our place and have therefore created a great place to live. Doesn't that always happen? Why do we always do this to ourselves? We rarely upgrade our homes for ourselves and only do it for others to enjoy. I almost hope we don't sell immediately so we can enjoy this for a while, but having room for a crib would sure be handy. But back to why I had a perfect afternoon... My baby was peacefully sleeping, there was a nice breeze and perfect temperature, it had just hit the golden light of the afternoon, everything was clean, and I didn't have anything I had to get done. Just sitting on the couch, I was completely at peace. I really believe there is a lot to say about feng shui in a home. I don't think we have it perfect, but it is worlds better than any previous arrangement. What do you think?

Think we've done alright? Especially for those of you who have seen it, it's worlds different isn't it. So, although I wasn't out doing anything, it was great to have a peaceful afternoon to r&r and find a balance again.

And for closing pictures, I found these on my camera...

The day of labor

14 weeks and a couple days later

I like her much better out of my belly. Especially when she sees me after a nap and gets super excited with smiles and lots of kicking. Love my baby.

Say Wha?!

2011-01-24T19:51:00.000+10:00

Can you believe this?! Isn't it amazing?? And since you have no idea what I'm talking about.... it's Charlotte's 3 month mark! Where in the world did that time go? So much has changed in the past 3 months and yet it's still hard to believe we have a daughter. Someone that depends solely on us taking care of her every whim. It is amazing, exhausting, entertaining all rolled into one. But first things first:

~How my life has changed~

Before:

Slept in till at least 8 or 9

Stayed up till midnight

Showered daily

Went out window shopping all day

Went out on dates with the hubby at night

Played around with photoshop for hours

Sewed any projects that came to mind

No cravings

Now:

Wake up at 6 daily

Go to bed no later than 10:30

Shower every other day more often than not

Plan ahead at least by a full day before going out shopping for an hour with the baby

Spend nap-times catching up online, with laundry, with dishes, and eating

Imagine lots of projects and have a stack of incomplete ones just waiting for their nap-time turn to be finished

Major sugar cravings

Sounds down right terrible eh? There's a lot to say about this "after" life though. I am much more productive as I have to plan ahead for almost anything. I have a better body now than I did before thanks to waking up early and exercising till the baby wakes up. And I don't waste water! ;) jk

~How Charlotte has changed~

Birth size:

8 lbs 8 oz

20.5" long

Current size:

15 lbs 6 oz

24.5" long

She sleeps from around 8 pm till around 8 am with one feed at midnight. She also has about 3 naps of 1 1/2 hours each during the day. She eats about 35 oz a day. She smiles 90% of the time and giggles and talks a lot. She loves bath time, but HATES getting out/dried/changed. She can entertain herself for a good 30 minutes straight or watch a disney movie with us for about the same amount of time before it loses her undivided attention. Going shopping, she'll just stare at her daddy the whole time. I'm actually not too afraid of taking passport photos as she's so good at simply staring at anything and everything.

To show her size change, here's a picture we've randomly managed to take every month.

Month 1

Month 2

Month 3

Month 4

Some how she still can pin her daddy for her favorite spot. ;)

Now, imagine how you wake up in the morning or after a nap. Groggy, grumpy, etc.? Wouldn't it be a fun world if we all woke up like this?

Or laughed at such simple and silly things just like this?

I love this girl, and the guy is not so bad either. ;) Now back to that pile of unfinished projects...

That is SO Last Decade

2011-01-21T10:27:00.000+10:00

Time to show you how we ended the year! Yeah, I realize this is super late, but I don't mind and I figure you won't either. :)

Thanksgiving!!!

I decided that I really did still want to celebrate Thanksgiving this (last) year, so even though I had a wee one, I did my best. I sent Blake out for our bird, walked to the grocery store and then cooked all day. Challenging with a 1 month old babe I can tell you that. However, when all was said and done, it turned out pretty decent. Blake and I even managed to eat that whole bird all by ourselves! Impressed? You should be...

The...

Huge....

Bird.....

Yeah baby. Okay, so when he said it was a small chicken, I figured a relatively normal size and not turkey size. However, turned out to be more like a cornish game hen size. Still yummy though! (doesn't look it, but it was I promise!)

The rest of the spread

Talk about a gigantic meal eh? Well, there are two of us eating. At least we have the pomegranate and apple pie right?

And this is me. (duh) The crazy lady who won't try this at home... again... with a tiny baby... on my own.

Baby Blessing!!!

We decided to bless our beautiful baby the first week of December. We had some great friends come and support us as well as some of the family. The bishop keeps making comments to us about how good she must be because she fell asleep right before her blessing and didn't wake up until just after. Didn't make a noise at all! My mom also made a beautiful dress for her. Talk about talent. :)

Watching the rain on the way to church.

The great guys who came to help bless Charlotte.

Being so good at church.

The beautiful dress on the beautiful baby.

My favorite picture of all.

Christmas!!!

Last year I made a fun cake-like advent calendar that you can see here. However, it was a pain to store and made a bit of a mess as we were counting down, so I made one that was very reminiscent of my family's old one with a new twist to it.

So, as we count down the days (and turn around the bags), Merry Christmas appears. Very little in the way of leaving a mess. However, making each bag, cutting out the numbers and letters, creating christmas paper, pasting on the christmassy paper to show through the cut outs, etc. turns into a pretty time consuming project. We didn't get to start opening them until about the 6th, but that's okay. The great thing about it though, it can store in a pretty small package for next year! Yay!

We didn't take any pictures of post present unwrapping, but here is one I took Christmas morning prior to the unwrapping frenzy.

Although Charlotte only has 2 presents under our tree, she sure took the lot after visiting Nana and Grandad's and Great Nana and Grandad's.

And here's one of Charlotte in the outfit Nana bought for her, at Nana's.

Blake's Nana also took a family picture, so some day I'll have to get on her computer to steal a bunch that I know she has.

As for New Year's.... Well, we took a nap till 11:55, woke up, drank some fizzy grape juice, watched the Sydney firework show, and went back to bed. We.. are... awesome. :)

Hope you all had a great 2010!

One Month Ago

2010-11-24T14:43:00.001+10:00

My baby is a month old today. Whoa.... Now that time FLEW by. Thankfully in some ways (especially the sleep department). It's so fun to watch her grow every day and become more alert, understanding, etc. Unfortunately it is so sad to see her outgrow some of the cute outfits that she wore right at first. Then again, she never was a teeny tiny baby anyway. Which, in a way, leads up to the topic of today. Don't worry, it's long winded and full of details. ;)

Charlotte's Birth Story

If you aren't interested, scroll down to the bottom for the pictures.

Saturday morning, at 2 in the morning I might add, Charlotte decided to let me know that she was on her way to join in the craziness that is our family. With contractions every 15 minutes, sleeping wasn't one of the easiest tasks, but luckily the pain wasn't too bad. Blake had a phone interview at about 8 and a doctor's appointment at 8:30, so I figured I wanted him to be able to focus on them without being distracted, so although Mom was in on the secret, we didn't tell him till after he got back home. However, I knew I wasn't going anywhere for a while, so not too much panic ensued.

After a long day of trying to distract ourselves and make sure everything was ready, contractions got down to about every 4-6 minutes and we head to the hospital at about 9 pm. They hooked me up to a monitor to see how Charlotte was dealing with the contractions. I guess she thought it was a party as she kept on dancin and playin around inside. They gave me a clicker for me to mark every time I felt her move, but shortly came back and told me that I shouldn't be pushing it so much. Well, can I help it that she was moving that much?! After what seemed like a good hour of this, they checked me and as I was only at 2-3cm, they had to send me home. Awesome. By this point there was a decent amount of pain, so they gave me a sleeping pill and a pain killer. Talk about a trip! I was definitely not able to walk on my own. Weee.

A couple hours later, again at about 2 am, we headed back to the hospital. The midwife didn't want to check me in case she'd have to send me home again, so she just hooked up the laughing gas machine and left me to it. Yup, you read right. Laughing gas. Not that it makes you laugh, but it does help make the time seem to go faster; which during a contraction is definitely a positive. After another couple hours, she decided to check me and surprise, I was to 7-8. She wouldn't have believed it from how I was acting, but I guess that's what comes from crappy periods....

At 7 am, the midwives changed and the new one decided it was time to break my water as it hadn't yet. After that the story changed. I didn't want any pain relief other than the gas prior to that, but I jumped to a 10 almost immediately and it HURT! Both Blake and I asked if there was anything I could have at that point, but she pushed back and said it wouldn't be long. Definition of long when in labor must be different for the midwife than the woman with a baby! However, it was true. I started pushing at about 8:30 during which point you don't get any pain relief. Shoot. I even mentally stopped a few contractions because I didn't want to push *if you do this, the next one is just double the pain and length... dang it*.

Charlotte finally arrived at 9:18 am on Sunday morning. A beautiful 8 lbs 8 oz, 20.5 in long, 14.5 in head, dark brown hair'd baby.

After having her here in Australia with this healthcare system/type of care, I'm pretty interested to see how having a baby in the US will be different. A few things that I found interesting that they do here are:

The nurse was in scrubs, I was in a sexy hospital gown (not backless), but Blake was just in normal street clothes.
It was just us, no doctors, and only a second midwife for about 1 minute to give me a shot to help with the afterbirth.
Going natural is pushed pretty hard and you have to practically beg to be given an epidural.
The baby is put straight onto mommy's stomach to try and breastfeed, then only wiped off when getting weighed. No baths for at least 24 hours.
You deliver in the birthing suite, then, after you shower and get dressed, you get moved to the maternity ward in a room with 4 beds. (I was lucky as the others were all discharged from my room for the early evening till about midnight when another girl was brought in.)

After delivering such a ... healthy sized... baby all natural, I felt pretty good about myself. Especially when I kept getting comments from the midwives about how I didn't look like I was dilated to a 10, or that I had just given birth, etc. I'm one tough chick! Now next time, GIVE ME AN EPIDURAL!!! :) It was a good experience, but I don't think that I need to go through it again to help me bond more with my baby.

So there you have it folks. And now we'll move on to the aforementioned pictures. Hope you enjoy. :)

Really ready to have this baby!

The classic screaming while being weighed picture.

Such a loving new daddy.

Finally! She can stretch out at home.

Posing before she's even 1 week!

1 week and first Halloween costume.

About 2 1/2 weeks old.

3 weeks

Today, staring out the window. She loves doing that. All 10.5 lbs of her. :)

Until next time.

It Is Time

2010-11-23T13:37:00.000+10:00

Okay, so I admit to being a slacker on this; however, sleep generally outweighs posting... But, I have finally taken pictures (thanks to some prodding) and can show you the finished product of our nursery! Yay! Made with love and care (and some blood, sweat, and tears), I present to you:

The Nursery Nook

Any guesses to how much this would cost to buy everything? Honestly... I'm a little curious. :) As for how much it cost me, let us guesstimate.

Items with a Price Tag

Wood (board & letters) - $10

Frames - $8

Lamp - $20

Buttons - $7

Fabric (boxes, bassinette, pictures) - $60

Paint - $10

Cubby Shelves - $80

Bassinette mattress - $40

Items for Free

Cutting of letters and plastic for boxes - Love you Dad!

Bassinette frame - Thank you Jodi!

Sheets and quilt - Love you Mom!

Plastic to create boxes - Regional Supply, thank you for not wanting to run a cc for such a little amount!

Stuff - Thank you family and friends for filling up those cubbies!

Creative Ingenuity - Thank you for not running me dry while creating my masterpieces! ;)

Total Estimated Nursery Cost - $235 (give or take a little) I love being cheap!

Sorry the pictures are fuzzy. I took them with the lesser of our cameras and we get terrible lighting in the room. And yes, I am making excuses for my lack of ability in that area!

And for a final couple pictures to get you by till next time.....

He said I couldn't put this on Facebook.... Never said a word about the blog. ;)

Thomas and Rachael - I used the money to get her this little dress. She looks adorable in it! Thanks!

P.S. I'm sorry if this comes across as a bit of a Thankimony.... Oops.

Finished!!!!

2010-10-06T16:47:00.000+10:00

The biggest project that I took on for this little one is creating my very own diaper bag. Crazy you say? Well, so does my husband, mom, sisters, brain, etc. However, I'm done and I'm rather proud of my achievement. Wanna see a picture? Well? Do ya?

This is what I saw and decided to create:

Now I know this is a little extreme, so I did leave out things like the insulated side pockets...

But, from a pattern created by my imagination and Mom's skill set I put together this:

And since I don't want to carry around my purse at the same time, I made this:

Just big enough for all the necessities. :)

Talk about one BIG sigh of relief. For around $15 (the hardware cost the most) I made a bag that retails at just over $100. Awesome.

It's Official

2010-09-04T22:37:00.000+10:00

I waddle.

And this time I'm okay with it! Granted I'd still prefer people not pointing out that fact to me, but it is painfully obvious. I figured once I hit the 30 week mark I would be okay with waddling. At least you're far enough along by that point to be counting down and not up! However, it is not from size that I waddle. I still get pretty frequent comments from doctors/other pregnant women/people that have a clue about how women grow during pregnancy that I'm pretty tiny for how far along I am. The rest...... yeah I get that in the past 2 weeks I must have grown maybe...... 2 inches or so. Definitely huge. (slightly sarcastic tone) The waddling instead comes from the fact that my back and hip muscles have decided to go on strike. Gee thanks guys, leave it to me to figure out how to swing one leg in front of the other without your help. :P I hate to admit it, but besides being super excited to meet my absolutely gorgeous little one, I can't wait to have my body back!!! But anyway, enough of the moanings and groanings (other than when I try moving off this couch) and on to a picture! I know it's been a while, but here goes.

33 weeks

and no, I can't see my feet anymore

By the way, the nursery is coming along quite nicely! However I failed to take before pictures, so you'll just get hit with the After's once it's all done.

Busy Busy Busy

2010-08-11T17:03:00.000+10:00

I have been extremely slack with this blog lately, so to catch everyone up and share a few pictures (some day I'll share more), here is 'Jess & Blake in a minute':

July 7-23rd, Jess was in the US!!!
Had a great time with family and friends, but missed Blake a lot. While I was gone, he kept busy with work, but had time for a few house chores as well. Since he was such a good husband, I had to bring him presents.

Charli and me at Grandma's

Blake replacing front screen door!

Blake's presents (he was VERY happy)

While at home I had a great time with almost my whole family (sorry we missed you Jen & fam!!!) up in Idaho, then an all too short time in Logan with friends (pictures will come eventually), a fun lunch with some ol' work buddies, a baby shower with the high school girls, and lots of fabric shopping with Mom. Not enough time or pictures to do the trip justice, but it was Great!

August's Fun and Games:

New dishwasher and a Babymoon! You don't need pictures of our dishwasher, but anyone have any ideas for the box? The little kid (not Charli) inside of me is going nuts with trying to come up with a fun way to use it... As for the Babymoon, it was a much needed break! Blake hasn't had a good break since we got married, so it was fun to have that as a good getaway before this baby comes. Plus having him work for a hotel promotions company makes the monetary issue much less painful (and we got VIP treatment...)!

The room and view

Definitely buying a tub like this some day!

It was a bit on the rainy side, but we still had fun out playin.

The beach.....

Yup, all to ourselves!

It was an almost perfect trip! Other than the rain and chilly weather, we had some great meals, fun shopping, lots of relaxing, and even got lost on our way back home. A trip just isn't a trip unless you get lost at least once! Now back to work and nesting till the little one comes...

More pictures are on the picture tab or on Facebook if'n you're interested. :)

Jump In

2010-06-27T16:04:00.000+10:00

Have you ever looked at the sky and seen its depth. I'll admit to having a very vivid imagination, but I'm sure I'm not alone out there. On a peaceful day, laying out on the lawn staring up at the sky, have you ever wanted to jump in? Too often life gets so busy that taking a few minutes to do something as simple as laying down on the lawn doesn't happen. I get that craving pretty frequently now days, but we don't exactly have a patch of grass to relax on. Last night I was reminded of the beauty above us all the time and how much I used to want to "jump in" as a kid. I took a few pictures to try and catch it, so you'll have to make do with some imagination and patience with my photography. :)

The cloud cover had the coolest patterns and waves that it reminded me of the ocean. What do you think? Want to jump in with me?

BUTTONS!!!!

2010-06-25T11:49:00.001+10:00

I decided on a theme for the "nursery" part of our bedroom! And if you didn't guess, it's buttons. :) Yup, no Winnie the Pooh, no Mickey or Minnie Mouse; in fact, NO trademarked characters if I can help it. If my child at some point begins to have an affinity towards a specific character, okay, but I'm not going to start them out with a ...pre-conceived?... obsession toward a certain one. I have also always wanted a sophisticated/chic look, so I am going with buttons. They are colorful, cute, simple, streamline, and I personally think lots of fun. You can buy a bag of buttons at the craft stores here, and I found a collection that has classy colors without being dull or neon bright. :)

Dumped out of the bag

Organized by color

I have fallen in love with these colors! No baby pastels or bright primary colors, but a fun mix. Raspberry-a little more pink than the picture looks, Sage, Peach, Yellow, and Grey Blue. It's called the Shabby Chic collection. Now, I'm not a fan of lots of....stuff. Especially when I know that the baby will have plenty of it anyway. Shabby Chic tends to use a fair bit of stuff to create the right look, so although I love the colors, I think I'll go my own way with it.

Here are a couple sites I've found that show some ideas of what I'd like to do with them...

Lamps

Picture Frames

Picture - I'd probably do a couple flowers or something instead of a wreath...

Peg Rack

Let me try to illustrate the nursery for you so you have an idea of what I get to work with.....

As you can see, I have about a 3'x8' gap next to my side of the bed in which to have the "nursery." Therefore, very limited room in which to decorate. I would like to hang the letters of her name above the bassinette, but any creative ideas are welcome. Especially any simple/cute button usage ideas. Ready.... GO!

The Lime Light

2010-06-23T11:00:00.000+10:00

He's almost done!!!! Wahoo!!! My hard-working husband just finished his second to last semester of school! The amazing thing is, he managed to do this while working full-time, working on a contract job after hours, and doing all the cooking/cleaning/shopping/laundry/etc. while I couldn't. Can you say my own personal Superman? Now he only has two classes left to finish and he'll have that lovely piece of paper that says he knows what he's been doing for the past....oh.... 7-8 years or so. Let's just hope that having this baby a month before the end of the semester won't cause too many problems!
We're so excited as this opens quite a few more doors, especially in finding a good job back in the US. Sometimes (and by this I mean most/all of the time) I think the corporate mumbo jumbo about hiring people with a degree but not those with actual experience and no degree is ridiculous. If you have your degree, they complain you don't have the experience (how on earth are you supposed to get that if they won't give you a chance?!?!), but if you don't have the degree and have loads of experience, they turn you aside just as quickly. Oh the power of that piece of paper.
Second reason I'm excited.... TIME WITH MY HUBS! As you can probably imagine, Superman doesn't have much free time to spend with his wonderful, magnificent, marvellous, mad mad mad mad, *cough* wife. Especially when her bedtime sneaks up mighty fast every night. So, with me being able to do a lot more with maintaining our house life, and him not having to work on homework (and hopefully contract work as "typically" you can get a higher paying job with a degree), I might actually get to spend time with him after the standard work day! Either that or take a nap and let him watch the baby..... ;) Either works for me!
........................................And done bragging.
An unfortunate side tangent to the school semester just finishing, I'm taking a short vacation back home! Okay, let me 'splain. No no, let me sum up. Blake has no school, aka some free time, and I'm leaving until the Friday before the next semester begins. Say it with me..... Bad timing... However, I am very excited to get some good family/friend social time! It will have been just over a year since I've seen any of them (except Matt) and will be a nice break for me. Let's just hope the energy levels don't drop off the face of the earth, eh? :) So, for the next two weeks (where did that time go?!), quality time with the husband, making and freezing meatloaf (the only request he's had so far), creating patterns and figuring out fabric amounts (much cheaper in the US), and making sure Primary can run smoothly while I'm gone. I'm so excited *dancing* and I just can't hide it.
And a sneak peak for all of you who will be seeing me in the not too distant future...... and everyone else who cares.....

This is what you're getting! Bwahahahahahaha

Oh, and this too.

Yay for 23 weeks gone!

*Btw, how many movies did you catch? :) *

Thorns or Flowers

2010-06-01T10:24:00.000+10:00

As promised, here is a picture of our little one! Isn't she cute? ;)

Not only did we get to celebrate knowing who our little one is, we also got to celebrate being married for our first year! Wow time flies!

One of my counsellors has been married for 21 years and she made an interesting comment that made me think. Right now, most of us are dreaming of our future. Where will we be? What will our children be like? What will we be doing? What have we accomplished? She and her husband were married here (Gold Coast) and then moved to the Cook Islands to where she was from. They only recently moved back and she finds it interesting to be living in her "future." Once we get to our future, will we be excited that we're there? Will we have gone through life loving every minute, or always dreaming of the next step? It is so easy to think, "Once we have a bigger place, we'll be happy." "Once we have the perfect jobs, we'll be happy." My guess is that happiness will continue to elude us until we figure out how to enjoy the little things around us. I'm not going to lie and say that I enjoy my challenges in life, but I can at least hope that I've learned something that will make my life richer and deeper. I also hope I learned enough that I won't have those particular challenges again!

So, after a year of marriage, is it all I ever imagined? No. Was it as hard as I thought it would be? Harder. Have I enjoyed every minute of it? No. Who ever made marriage out to be a 'Happily Ever After' *cough Disney cough* must have been living in their own fairytale. However, along this trail surrounded by thorns are the flowers that can be simply overlooked by all the scratches and dreariness, or they can be focused on to see the happiness surrounding us. Flowers like spending an afternoon running in and out of the waves to collect rocks while trying (failing) to keep our pants from getting wet. Coming home from an evening of meetings to find the dishes done and the house cleaned up. Curling up together under a blanket to get warm and falling asleep. Phone calls asking if it's okay to buy me something. Almost giddy excitement whenever dinner happens to be meatloaf (I make one killer meatloaf). Being told it's a girl (notice the flower on her head?). No matter what we do, life will continue to be its trail through thorns with scratches here and there, but the great part of marriage is that now there is someone else to help point out the flowers if we might have missed one along the way. Some day I hope it will be like a rose bush, where the thorns are forgotten, or at least completely disregarded, and the flowers be the complete focus. Maybe that's why roses are such a symbol of love. There are always the thorny parts, but the beauty makes it all worth it!

And for my very own reminder.......

Thank you, Love. It has been a great year through it all. Looking forward to a life full of roses!

Sore Belly

2010-05-27T13:08:00.000+10:00

I'm not the biggest fan of ultrasound technicians anymore. After almost 2 hours of poking and prodding, slathering and poking again, I feel like my whole stomach is bruised! Hopefully baby didn't mind too much. Oh wait.... did I say baby? What I meant was Charli!! We are indeed having a girl. :) Took her a while to get over the shyness, but she cooperated in the end and let us know who would be joining our little family. We'll get the pictures on Monday, so I should be able to post her little profile then.

Beware of Steam, You Will Get Burned

2010-05-20T22:31:00.000+10:00

This last week has been interesting. I've had a few really really bad days, and a few really really good days (yay!!!). However, mixed in with my own physical state have been little things nagging at me mentally and emotionally, so warning: the vent has been opened to release the pressure.

First, the most common comment I have received during the past week is along the lines of, "Wow, when did you get so big?" or "You're really popping out now!" Although I'm sure these statements are all meant with the sweetest intentions, they do tend to grate on my nerves a bit. For one, yes I am pregnant and will continue to "pop out" until the baby decides to make its entrance. For two, thanks, I didn't notice on my own and appreciate you pointing it out to me! Okay, so maybe a little harsh, but I do realize that I'm getting larger with each passing week. Some of my loose fitting clothes don't even fit anymore, so that's a pretty big clue. Oh, and I do look in the mirror on a daily basis. Even full length ones as our closet doors are mirrors. I'm at the point where I do realize I have a baby growing inside of me, but I feel more on the getting fat side than the miraculous growing a baby side. I've had to start going through my clothes and putting aside some of my favorite things that no longer fit. And to go along with that, I've had to look at buying maternity clothes. If you're trying to live on a budget and can't afford to spend $100 on a shirt and $200 on a pair of pants, you will be wearing a mu-mu and sweat pants. Great, not only do the clothes I love not fit, but I will look and feel like I'm wearing a tent for the next 5 months. *To keep myself in line, I will be making some shirts that I found online that I think are super cute (hope they turn out so I don't spend $100 on one!!) and I just bought a pair of comfortable, but not lounge type, dark grey maternity pants that are kind of normal/cute* Oh, and the next person that mentions that I'm waddling before I get to at least 30 weeks will probably not appreciate my response to their "well intentioned" comment.

Next, although EVERYONE notices my belly now, I personally have regained my invisible status. I'm sure people are a little tired of me responding that I'm still sick whenever they ask how I am, but guess what. I think I'M a little more tired of it than YOU, but I still appreciate it when people genuinely care about how I am doing. I'm sure this is a bit on the selfish side, but I want people to care about me before my life becomes my baby's, and there isn't a whole lot of time left for that. If someone asks how I am doing, (or going as they say here) I may respond that I'm fine or that I'm still sick depending on the day/person asking/sincerity of the question/etc. However, when I get asked how my belly is instead, I may start responding with the exact measurement of that day, amount of gas cramps, or what I've eaten so far. Those must be the details in question, right?

Finally, to go along with my invisible status, (just on a different tangent) I believe I still have the same name that I had before I was pregnant. ***Disclaimer-some of my best friends and family members may fit into this category and I have NO hard feelings towards any of you, so please don't take it personally.*** I realize that major events during life's course cause nicknames to pop up, and said nicknames tend to disappear once the novelty wears off. Examples would be the Graduate, Newly Weds, Greeny/Newbie, etc.. We are all typically fine with these nicknames for a short amount of time, but would prefer for the novelty to wear off a little quicker than it sometimes does so we can get back to our real names. I'm sure most are familiar with the names most prevalent in a pregnant woman's life, but my main two are Mummy-to-be and Prego. Now, I do resemble those remarks, so to a point I don't mind. My only complaint is when these nicknames become more dominant than my given name and my physical state becomes who I am. I am pretty sure that last time I checked I wasn't in elementary or jr. high where Fatty, 4-eyes, Pimples/Zits, Baldy, Shorty, and the like became the person's identity. I'm sure there are plenty of other names that I could be called that would be worse, like stretch marks or cankles, (don't have either yet thankfully) but if you feel so inclined to use my name versus one of the nicknames, I guarantee it will be taken as a more sincere interest on my behalf and a welcome breath of fresh air.

Now, on a more pleasant note, Prego would like to share a glimpse of the "popped out" belly of which she has recently acquired.

HAPPY 18 WEEKS!

Food, Glorious Food

2010-05-18T10:41:00.000+10:00

With the wonderful condition of being sick almost endlessly, *seems that way anyway* Blake and I don't get to go out much. By the end of the day, the last thing I want to do is move from my comfortable spot on the couch and go navigate my way through jostling people. However, for Mother's Day this year I managed to convince Hubs that as I have a growing baby inside me, I deserve to get some special treatment. And, lucky for me, the day before Mother's Day I actually felt mostly decent and could go out.
Now, in the raging free spirited artistic loving realm that is Utah...*quilting, etc. not included* .. there aren't many novelty food hot spots. Yes, I love my Leatherby's and Iceburg and the likes, but it's just not Quite the same as Max Brenner. Now if you're lucky enough to frequent Philadelphia or Broadway in New York, then perhaps you have seen a Max Brenner! Have you ever stopped at one? I have passed the one here quite a few times and never really felt the desire to go. You see, the novelty that is Max Brenner is chocolate. I might offend a few of the female kind by saying that I would prefer some fresh fruit to chocolate, but the last thing I have on my mind is eating anything of the processed sweets category. However, it is a very 'hip/cool/in' place to go, so we decided that would be my Mother's Day treat.

Mine

Blake's

Um.... yeah it was good! I probably couldn't have downed my belgian waffle without all that fresh fruit, but it was SO good. Blake's was a chocolate souffle that was so rich he had to keep stealing my fruit to help it go down. Now that I've gone, would I go back again? Unless baby starts craving some serious chocolate, I'll stick to one of the dishes that has something other than chocolate as it's base and add some fruit for good measure, but yes.

On another food note, I have gotten a little sick of the pop and pour dinners that are pretty common around here, *Hubs has been doing the cooking and it's one of the quickest meals to prepare so he can get some school work and contract work done* so I challenged him to make me something from a recipe instead. I personally think he enjoyed creating something like he did. Maybe I'll get recipe meals more often?

Dinner last night

Up close

It was prosciutto wrapped lamb with mozzarella, sweet potatoes, and garlic bread. First time I have really had a meal with lamb or prosciutto and it was pretty good. I'm not sure he's making me want to get back into the cooking shoes if he can pull out some dishes like this one. :) I think we'll have to start taking turns once I can stand the smell of cooking again.

*Sorry for the camera phone pictures. We wanted to eat and didn't want to try and find the real camera.*

Say Cheese!

2010-04-23T09:38:00.000+10:00

Alright, it's picture time! Taken at 14 weeks, I know that I have a long way to go still, but sometimes I feel big even now. Then again...

Look at me from the side. Do I look different to you?

See Nat. I TOLD you I was jealous... Okay okay, so maybe I don't quite look this far along. Not yet anyway, but someday you'll see a picture of me pretty similar to this! However, I do look a bit more like...........................................

...............................................

................................................

This

Then again, maybe this is just my good side and it's all just an optical illusion! ....... er somethin'. Not too much of a baby bump goin' on quite yet, but some days it sure seems bigger than others. I'm hoping for a basketball baby, but I guess we'll see in which directions 'Out' decides to go.

Can You Hear Me?

2010-04-18T15:18:00.001+10:00

"Baby, baby, I can hear your heartbeat. You're the one I love..... you're the one I love."
Yup, I heard the baby's heartbeat this week! Blake wasn't too happy that he wasn't there for it, but maybe next time. :) Seeing baby in the ultrasound was amazing, but hearing the heartbeat was even better. I even heard baby flop around a little bit; made some funny noises even though I still can't feel it. Only a couple more weeks now though and I should be able to! It will be 14 weeks this week and I can't believe how fast time is flying by. Let's just hope that 15 is the magic number for the lousiness to be gone...

On a different note, our ward council had to host the stake's youth dance this year. Primary and Relief Society were put in charge of the food/couple activities to get to the food. For a fairytale theme we had some fun ideas, but after a few budget cuts, we ended up with some really really good fruit. Mmmmm fresh pineapple... SO GOOD! The decorations were awesome too. However, on to the point of putting this in the blog. One of my counsellors and I were put in charge of the activities, so we had pin the lips on the frog, quiots (ring toss), and about 30 fairytale questions for the kids to answer. The best part of all, we are both at the same point in our pregnancies! Luckily she's been mostly hit with just the energy loss, so we didn't have two sickos trying to keep it up all night. Chairs came in very handy though and we got to chat the night away about our ever changing lives.
Question. Since when did the youth get so big?! It may be that we were trying to think we were way past that stage in life, but some of those kids... However, the youth go to the dances up until they are 18 whereas the region dances back home you stopped at about 16. Ah well. But, as this was a fairytale theme, some of the kids did dress up. One of my favorites (2 girls did this) was a glowstick fairy. These girls used lots of glow sticks and connected them into rings and then used something like velcro or laces or something to space and connect about 8 rows of rings as their skirts and then had glow stick antenna headbands and wings. They wore all black underneath, so it looked really cool. As a leader I was supposed to dress up as well, but didn't want to go all out as I had very little energy/desire to do so. So, peasant look for me! Every fairytale has peasants doing the royalty's dirty work, so I figured it would count. Now, I've worn this outfit before, just in a different way to make it normal. For one, the skirt wasn't inside out and the tank top was under the puffy shirt. But, I think it worked out pretty well with what I had, don't you?

This is also your very first pregnancy picture, although there isn't much of a bump to see quite yet. (real reason for this second half of the post) We'll get a real side shot here soon though. Hopefully a clearer one as well. :) Oh, and possibly a less messy house shot too!

Celebrate The Good Days

2010-04-11T21:38:00.001+10:00

In a French accent singing, "Those unsick days, where have zey gone? Where diiii...........iiiiiiiid zey go? Eh bien, eat your crackers, for some unsick days......."

Okay, so it's not really 7-years-of-famine depressing, but a good day would sure be nice! For those who haven't heard, yes, I am pregnant! So far, I'm at 12 1/2 weeks (due October 21st), but unfortunately no let up from the quote/unquote morning sickness quite yet. We're hoping for it to pass here quickly though. Blake has been amazing through it all and has taken over the kitchen duties so I won't get sick more often than necessary. Something about smells........?..... ;)

We are getting more and more excited as the threat of miscarriage lessens with time and get to tell more and more people the fun news. It will be Blake's family's first baby and so far the only other kids in his extended family are his cousin Jodi's. She has 2 1/2 boys, so if we happen to have a girl, I think she'll be pretty spoiled from all around. If we have a boy, he'd get pretty spoiled from my side of the family as we have only had our special angel Solomon for a short time and no other boys.

As we have been asked by quite a few people that have found out, we have picked out some names, and I think the only thing that may change them is if we meet the baby and find it doesn't quite fit. However, the plan is: Boy - Mark Lyle, Girl - Charlotte Marie (aka Charli). We both have an idea of what our Baby Sprout will be, but to make things fair, we'll let you vote as well. Upper right hand corner if you will.

Acrophobia Mixed With Some Vertigo = ...

2010-02-15T10:12:00.002+10:00

I've been told it's not being scared, it's a medical condition called vertigo. Sure..... According to wikipedia (which we all know to be a very accurate source of information...): "Vertigo" is often used, incorrectly, to describe the fear of heights, but the correct term for this is acrophobia." Now I do have a small issue with heights, as in I don't think it would be beneficial to my health if I fall from a great height, but my dear hubby feels otherwise. When we lived on the 10th floor of our apartment building, he was rarely on the balcony unless he was sitting down right by the door. So, I want you to imagine being up on the 77th floor surrounded just by floor to ceiling windows. How well do you think that went over? ;)

View to the North

View to the South

Matt playin at being Spider Man

Blake secretly holding on to the pillar and running inward as fast as possible after. ;)

Matt gazing dreamily at the many islands and huge houses on the waterways.

Oh, and where he'll place his future home... on Paradise Island.

The blue arrow is where Blake's nana and grandad used to live (before they built 2 houses in it's place).

"X" marks the spot on where we live. See the mountains too? :)

And the boy's tryin to look tough.

Oh, and do you like my photoshopped picture? :)

My hair isn't that light, tank top didn't match my shoes, oh, and I wasn't sitting there. :) We took a couple pictures to try and "fit" us all in and then I had fun. That's why my hubs doesn't look too cuddly if you will...

We also have 1 picture to prove we went to Wet N Wild for an entire day.

Didn't even get burned thanks to loads of sunscreen!

And now you all know a little bit more of what it looks like where I live. We even discovered new fields and islands that we never knew existed.

Commercially Enforced Celebration of Love

2010-02-15T07:48:00.001+10:00

Not that I'm really complaining or anything though. :) As V-day was on Sunday, and Matt is here, we didn't go too all out with the love shapes and what not, but we started the process. I don't know of a much better way to start out either. Check this out.

By the way, that card down at the bottom.... Yeah, back massage and a facial. I think he was trying to get me over the whole, "You've had one and I haven't," idea. No complaints. :)

He's not very picky himself, so I got him........ drum roll................

Krispy Kremes! He loves them (as you can tell with one missing before I could even take a picture).

I think we've done our part for making sure we've supported the commercial love. Here's looking forward to the rest of the week and hopefully year worth of celebrating!

I Once Was Lost, But Now I'm Found

2010-02-07T22:43:00.001+10:00

Time has quickly been slipping away, and I have failed to stay up to date! I do apologize for my slacking, and also for the extremely long post ahead of you. :) To play a little bit of a catch up for time gone by, Christmas was great. We bought a house and moved in. I lost one of my counsellors and gained another (so still at 2). My youngest sister-in-law was baptised, my slightly younger than me sister-in-law went through the temple and got married yesterday, and my mum-in-law went back to the temple after decades of being away. We also went to a Taylor Swift concert last week. Oh, did I mention my brother is here to visit and play as well? :) So, amidst all this, I hope you don't mind my slacking.
I don't want to completely gloss over all these major events, so here are some summations and pictures of what I have.
Brittany's baptism-
YAY!!! I'm so proud of her! She has been living life the way she wanted to and never really had much interest in the church. However, one Monday a few weeks ago, she was talking to me and asked how she could learn more. Stunned silence ensued. Quick prayer, deep breath, and told her I could introduce her to the missionaries if she came to church that next Sunday. She came, met them, and set up an appointment for the first discussion at our place. By the time they came (only a couple days later) she had already read multiple chapters of the Gospel Principles book. Better than most of the rest of us eh? They gave her a Book of Mormon and she dived into that as well. We had a few more discussions and she was baptised! This all being of her own choice. I have loved watching her transform and grow in peace, love, and understanding as only the Spirit can bring to her life. Congratulations Britt!

Taylor Swift

This was a fun date night for us that had been planned since October. Tickets across the country were sold out (mostly to young girls and moms) so we were lucky to know ahead of time and bought some good seats. Her song Love Story is, corny as it may sound, Blake and my song. It was our first dance when we went up to Logan for country swing. It came on the radio constantly while he was out visiting me. And it pushed us in the direction of getting engaged. We are frequently caught listening to her music while doing other things and couldn't wait to see her in concert. I personally think that she's probably the most down to earth star there is, especially at her age. To hold on to her own personality and to write her own music and play the guitar while singing/performing takes a lot of talent. And guts. They wouldn't let anyone bring in a camera with an attachable lens, so I'm pretty proud of the pictures I managed to take with my camera. Not too shabby for being on the opposite side of the stadium eh?

Yes, we look fried. That's cause we are! You'll find out why later down.

She came to the back of the stadium to perform as well. How sweet huh!

This is her Love Story costuming.

The very last song had words spelled out in the falling water. It was really unique and pretty awesome.

It was a fun night spent together although it was a very very long day and we both wanted to immediately fall asleep. Luckily he stayed awake long enough to get us home to sleep in our comfy bed.

So, you may ask why it was such a long day. And why we were so fried. Two words: Sea World.
We bought my little brother a 14-day pass to the 3 local theme parks and hit up Sea World as it's a pretty easy going park that you can go through in a couple hours. We didn't want to get worn out before the concert, so we went there instead of one of the others. It was a lot of fun and Matt enjoyed it, but we sat in direct sunlight for about an hour. Let me tell ya, we were all hurtin. Iced aloe spray here we come! But I will have to say, I am getting quite a good Aussie tan. :) Here are some pictures of our day at Sea World.

Waiting for the dolphin show. It was such a long wait.... like 1 minute. :) Good timing if I say so myself.

The pretty dolphins. I get a little emotional every time I watch them. They are amazing creatures!

Then where we got our lovely red war paint. It was a pretty fun show with acrobatics and diving and such.

Luckily there is about a 4" wall between us and that sucker.

All in all, it was a pretty good day; even though long. We'll just have to make sure we smear on the sunscreen for the other parks!

That's not all we've done though. I also took Matt and Britt to Currumbin Sanctuary to see all the "wild" aminals. Britt had never gone, so it was even a first for her. We pet the roos, held a koala, fed the birds, and looked at some crocs. It was great fun. Matt even made a friend and named him Squishy.

Lorikeets are very pretty birds. Just takes a while for them to warm up to you and come down for food.

This fella came right over and wanted some attention.

This lady is a very large salt water croc. In other words, don't mess with her.

And for all of you freezing your patooties off, here's some greenery.

And last but not least, Bree got married! It was a great day and the rain even held off until just after the ring ceremony. Here are some of my favorite pictures.

Men giving them an entrance.

The back of the custom made dress.

And the front of the dress.

Britt lookin all pretty in her bridesmaid dress.

Me laughing at all the people taking pictures....

The boys and their toys... They enjoyed those swords way too much.

Kimmy looking very pretty with her fancy makeup and hair and clothes and such.

Branch/flower wreath at the entrance to the ring ceremony at the beach.

The bridesmaids and flower girls coming down the beach.

Bree getting escorted to her hubby.

These are my favorites cause I think they are more unique pictures.

The fancy decorations at the reception. It was an enchanted forest theme.

The sweet place setting poem.

It was a beautiful wedding and I'm very happy for Bree and Xander. It's was a great start to a new life together. And if rain on your wedding day is a sign of good luck, they got buckets of luck for a present from the man upstairs.

I'll try to keep a little more updated with the rest of the fun things we'll be doing over the next couple weeks. It should be lots of fun and great to spend some time with a member of my own family!

♫♪ Tradition.... tradition. Tradition.... tradition ♫♪

2009-12-24T18:55:00.001+10:00

So one MAJOR tradition with my family is making graham cracker houses at Christmas time. Every year we have about one normal "house" and then the rest are more of graham cracker creations. These range from Mater to a plane to San Fran (yes a likeness of the city). Now that Blake and I are on our own and I can't just hop on a plane to make a house and then come back we decided to give it a shot ourselves. Let me tell ya, another ingredient search for sure.
First thing you need is a big box of graham crackers. Well, sorry folks but no graham crackers in this hemisphere... However, they do have some similar tasting crackers. That's what matters right? Only issue is they are only slightly rectangular with completely rounded corners. But, what's the point of making a creative creation without having to be creative all around? Bought.
Second is the icing. Now this is very important as it has to stick to the cracker as well as harden relatively quickly so your creation doesn't completely collapse within 30 seconds flat. Lucky me, my mom put the final result from years of practice and suggestions in our family cookbook. Sounds good to me. Now where to find meringue powder... Checked a few stores, nada. Thought about maybe trying a new recipe, but when you have something tried and true you don't want to vary from it. So, off to ask the helpful store clerks. Guess what! Nobody has even HEARD of meringue powder. Luckily, one smart manager was passing and asked if it wasn't the same as pavlova. Of course!! So, instead of coming home with a can/box of meringue, I come with this funky egg-shaped pavlova magic container. Whatever works though, right?
Third is candy. Okay, I'll be honest, no real issues there. :) Not many of our standard materials at home, but m&m's and chocolate chips and the like go a long way.
I also decided to be super creative and make some fondant for cut outs and the like. Now I'm sure you think that is pretty impressive, but it's pretty much straight marshmallows with powdered sugar. Works for me!
Ready... Begin.
Go Blake Go! For a first timer, I will admit he did a pretty good job. It never really collapsed on him and I know for a fact that that has happened to just about everyone in my family at least once (one wall fell and one ceiling tile went crooked). Here's his creation during, well, creation!

And here are my intermediate steps:

And of course, here are our completed creations:

It was a fun adventure (although it took me much longer than Blake....). Hope you enjoy and have a very Merry Christmas!!

In Honor of the Season...

2009-12-11T16:35:00.001+10:00

That is....weather season, not holiday season.... I cut my hair... again. Yes, I know it wasn't too long ago I chopped it all off, but it was getting to that 'I can't do anything with this' stage. Let's just say I really don't like that stage, so I either pull it up as much as possible, or chop it off again. I'm far from a pro, especially on my own head, so it takes a good portion of my day to accomplish this feat. However, after much drying, trimming, retrimming, washing, redrying, styling, and trimming again, here is my completed task.

Ta Da!

Now, I hate the pictures that look like 'here, I'm taking a picture of my hair front view' so I do apologize for that one. What do you think? Is it the perfect fit, or should I be waiting till it grows out and everything will be all better? ;)

Cold and Frothy, I mean Frosty...

2009-12-09T16:08:00.002+10:00

Blake and I went to this Italian restaurant to celebrate surviving the last 6 months together and I got a fantabulistic drink! It was rather addicting (and they don't have free refills) so I decided to figure out how to make it for myself. Talk about sugar rush, but it was very very close to the restaurant version, so here you go. :)

Lemon Granita
3 lemons (or a bottle of lemon juice works, just not quite as fresh)
2/3 cup water
1/2 cup sugar (I'd cut this down to at least 1/3 if not to 1/4, but it is supposed to be sweet....)
Zest the lemons and put in with the water and sugar in a saucepan and heat until simmering.
Strain and cool to room temp.
Add in the juice of the 3 lemons (or a Tbsp of juice per lemon) and put in the freezer.
Check on the mixture every so often and if it starts freezing, blend it and throw back in the freezer.
Keep doing this till the mixture is nice and slushy.
Makes about 12 oz or so, so it was a nice small treat for us, but I'd double it next time for more joy

*Now for how I did it....
zested 1 lemon and added a tablespoon of lemon juice to the sugar/water mixture
strained as well as I could with a colander... put in the lemon juice while still hot and put it in a metal bowl in the freezer
stirred it with a spoon every 20 minutes or so until it started freezing and then used the blender
**I also did it with raspberries the other day, but I used about 1/3 cup of sugar and put some whole raspberries in the pan to boil
I then put some raspberries in an ice tray, covered with water, and froze.
Once the mixture had cooled in the freezer, I put it in the blender with the raspberry cubes
Also a very tasty treat (a little better with some lemon juice mixed in too...)

So, for all of you freezing your tooshes off, sound good? I'll make sure to enjoy it for all of you too cold to give it a shot. ;)

And by the way, aren't the flowers so perdy?! I love lilies, so he did good.

♪♫ I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

2009-12-09T15:27:00.002+10:00

Unfortunately, the dreaming is going to be the only way I see snow this year. Not that a green Christmas is all that bad; I loved Seattle Christmas's, but it wasn't exactly HOT there either. It should be fun to see all the palm trees decorated though. :) And yet, everyone still has pine trees in their houses. You can't really go out and cut your own down, and I don't think you could buy any fresh ones, but they do have pine trees! I saw a picture perfect moment one of my first evenings here and I'll try to recreate it one of these days, but it was of a sunset and you could see the silhouettes of both pine and palm trees. It was a very cool shot (darn me not having my camera handy!!). Oh well.
But on to Christmas! We have a tree, presents, decorations, stockings, and even an advent calendar. Sounds impressive right? Right?! Well, I'll let ya keep thinking that. ;D However, I do want to share my advent calendar as I find it kinda fun and never-before-seen (by me)! So, here you are:

Each little box has a note to Blake, so he has something to look forward to each day. You can fill them with candy as well if you want. Fun isn't it?

And for all of you newly wedders or tight wads... ;) I found a cute decoration idea that is pretty inexpensive. Now, we're great at our own specific artistic abilities, but.... it's the thought that counts. So, I went and found some medicine cups and the glitter glue and what not and look at what we created!

Bells

Nativity

Can't complain about cheap and creative/cute... We do have other decorations, but those are our more entertaining ones. :)

And now you have had the first of the Christmas posts. How do you feel? ;)

I Give Thanks...

2009-12-03T13:33:00.004+10:00

For my last post before Christmas takes over, I wanted to share my thanks.

I am thankful for a loving husband who supports, provides, and cares for me.
I am thankful for an accepting in-law family who have welcomed me into their family tree.
I am thankful for the knowledge of eternal families and the ability to remember my nephew with service and support my friend and her sister's recent loss.
I am thankful for my calling to work with the sweet young spirits and help them gain their own testimonies.
I am thankful for the freedoms the United States has to offer and the chance to realize them now.
I am thankful for the trials that bring us closer together with firmer stances for the next wave to hit.
I am thankful for the ability to believe how I choose.
I am thankful for the knowledge I have received over the years and the usefulness it brings to my life.
I am thankful for the daily blessings sent down from above.
And lastly, I am thankful for Blake's family in helping me to enjoy my first Thanksgiving out of the country.

It was a great night and really helped me get into the spirit of the Holidays!

*Stay tuned for upcoming Christmas posts!*

Remember Remember the ...Month... of November

2009-11-08T20:03:00.006+10:00

I miss Fall!! The beautiful color changing canyons, the smell of pumpkin and apple pie, the crunch of leaves on the ground, being able to wear a light sweater, feeling and smelling the crisp air... I could go on, but I'll spare you. Although November here means heat and humidity instead of crisp, dry, cool air, we've had a lot to enjoy and be thankful for already.

First off (in no particular order) it was Blake's birthday! This is almost our first meeting anniversary as he flew over last November two days after his birthday. *So technically today is... ;) * Plus, it's his big QUARTER OF A CENTURY (loud booming voice) year. Of course I had to do something for him so he wouldn't feel too old, so I bought him finger paints. Well, not quite. But I did buy him oil paints and most of the doodads that you need to create a work of art. And lots of nice socks so I don't have to do laundry quite as much. He also had some birthday money from my mom, so he decided to expand his collection and bought some acrylic paints and another canvas. I'm excited to see what comes of this!! It's pretty nice living close to his family too as we were able to throw together a birthday dinner at our local Hogsbreath stake joint. Gotta love the prime rib. ;) It was great having a good turn out and celebrating a little extra with the family. I'll have to beg and plead for the pictures of dinner as they were taken by other family members, but here are some of our apartment and him/presents.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Another great thing to be thankful for this month is my friend Julie and her husband have been approved for adoption!!! Congratulations you two!!! Amidst the struggles that come from not being able to have children, they have been strong and have grown in so many ways. I wish I were closer to help promote them more, but most of my friends who read this are in the US anyway, so check them out. Here is a link to their site:

The best way to find a birth mother is through word of mouth, so if any of you know anyone, pass this along! They are an amazing couple and I know would make wonderful parents for any child lucky enough to be adopted by them. Julie and Lance, I wish you the best!

And last but not least, I have been called to be our ward's Primary President! I'm nervous, excited, apprehensive, etc. We had our primary program today (planned and carried out by the previous president thank goodness) and these children are amazing. I will miss teaching my own class, but now I will get to help them all find their testimonies. As one teacher said, I hope this calling won't act as a natural contraceptive. And as Blake says, does this make him the first husband? The ward was a little shocked as I'm pretty young, but the Bishop stood up at the end and testified that I was called by God, and that they all need to support me. I hope they will look past the age as the Bishop is only about 26 himself and they all love him. So, if any of you with experience or good ideas could pass on some helpful hints, I would really appreciate them. :)

So far it has been a good month and I hope it will continue to be one full of thanksgivings!

Days of Our Lives, the Not-So Dramatic Version...

2009-10-27T22:42:00.008+10:00

Alrighty, here's a translated version of my previous post.

Lately we have been house hunting so we don't have to rent anymore. Mortgage payments will be cheaper than our rent at the moment. So far, we have found a couple houses, but none have been right. We are still looking and following the Spirit best we can. For those of you worried, this doesn't mean we will be here forever, but will actually make it easier to come back to the states and buy a house there in a couple of years.

I finally got my driver's license! Driving legal is much more relaxing than otherwise. However, the card looks like a library card anyone could make. It's really nice to have ID that doesn't shout "not an aussie resident." No word on the visa though.

Aussie weathers heating up though. Most of my clothes were perfect for winter, but not summer, so we have been searching for summer clothes. Let me tell you, you think it's hard to find modest clothes else where.... try in a beach town. Even the hubby is getting frustrated. We are tempted to open a store that only has modest clothes and call it "Garments." Only select people would understand.

As for us, nothing new. We are just living life, and trying to enjoy all our time together without going too crazy. Not that this post is any indication of that... The next few weeks will be a bit more crazy as my sister-in-law is having an engagement party and I have to make a great deal of cinnamon rolls and lemon rolls for it. Wish us luck and no weight gain!

So, how'd you do? ;) Even give it a shot? And yes, I know I'm crazy, but it keeps life interesting. Since the engagement party is on Halloween, we really won't get to do anything for it. I did want to carve pumpkins at least, but then I saw this:

If you can't see it clearly, it's a medium-smallish pumpkin for $24!!! So... we're not going to carve pumpkins... We'll be too busy helping to set up and make all the cinnamon rolls that we wouldn't have time anyway. But, we do get lots of good food, so that makes up for trick or treating.

And for an extra special treat for all of you.... after downloading all the pics from Blake's phone, we discovered he had taken some pictures from our honeymoon, so here's what it looked like. And by the way, they were taken from inside. That whole wall was a window. :)

It was kinda chilly, but we had nice robes. :)

As we don't celebrate it too much here, I hope all of you have a great Halloween and party a little extra for me!!

Story Time Sunday

2009-10-18T21:29:00.006+10:00

Last night I discovered my poor husband has never heard the tale of Ladle Rat Rotten Hut. Now, I'd love to share that whole story, but to avoid copying and pasting the entire thing, I'll leave it to your imagination and share Marry Hatter Ladle Limb instead so you get the idea.

Marry hatter ladle limb
Itch fleas worse widest snore.
An ever-wear debt Marry win
Door limb worse shorter gore.

Now, my husband has challenged me to pull this "Anguish" off, so here's what's goin on in my life at the moment... if you can understand it anyway. :)

Larkly weak hive bean horse haunting sew weak doughnut hive toe rinse handy moor. Mart gouge penance wallaby chipper thin hair rinse adore moan aunt. Sew fore, weak hive floured hay corporal horses, butter nutter hive bean rote. Weak hoar style lurking hand furloughing deers pirate beast weak end. Ford owes off yore war heed, tease dormant meed weak wallaby hare flow river, butter wall arctic alley market easeled coma bark torrid starks hand buoy hay horse tear hint corporal ears.

Oi finale gut might ivy's incense! Diving eagles mulch mirror axing tin otter lies. Hoe weaver, dear chord lick slick hay low berry chord handy won cud mark. Hits rally noise toe hive high-deed hat dormant short "knot horn hussie risen den." North ward horny vista dough.

Hussie wet hers he tin cup habit doe. Moist off might close ware prefect floor wind tear, bet nods hummer, sew weak hive bean stitching firs hummer close. Lit meat hello, yachting hits hoard tow fine mow this close elf swear... tray tin hoe bleach down. Heaven dare hub bias gritting fast rated. Weak hoard imp tattoo hoppin' as torque tart hole knee harsh mow this close hand colic "Gore mince." Hole knee sea licked paper wood hunter stank.

Has floor dust, noting nude. Weak arm juice lifting laugh, hand tying true androidal art mime toga weather wet house goring toe craisins. Nod hat hiss posters handy indite caption oft hat... Door necks flew wicks wallaby habit moor cruisin asthma sustainin-lore shaving hen gord mint potty endive toe mark arrogate day old oft cement tum riles hand lament riles forage. Vicious duck hand oh gate wane!

Did you get all of that? ;) Maybe have someone read it to you like Mad Gab if you don't. Not quite as good as whomever wrote Ladle Rat Rotten Hut, but it's a start and something fun to post about!

Mars Attacks

2009-09-24T11:07:00.004+10:00

Some of you may have seen the pictures of Sydney in all it's splendiferous red glory, but for those of you who missed it, check out www.news.com.au/galleries and look at the Red Dawn pictures. Some of them were absolutely amazing!

Unfortunately, the cause of the red sky (a massive dust storm) moved north and hit us as well. Here are a couple pictures from inside (didn't want to go out in it). Please excuse the dirty doors.

It didn't last all night, but our balcony grout is now officially orange, so here's hoping it rains soon to wash it all away!

Crap, I Always Thought 24 Year Olds Were.... Well.... OLD!

2009-09-24T10:35:00.006+10:00

I have reached the point in my life where the age now goes backwards; until you reach 20 and then you bounce back up again.... At least I think that's how it goes anyway. But, although I now officially feel old, I had a pretty good birthday. My hubby is good with always wanting to do the best possible to make me happy. We didn't have much fun money this month though, so it was pretty simple.

Saturday night we went to his mum's and had dinner and ate strawberry cheesecake with strawberry topping. Not quite as good as cheesecake factory, but it was still good. We also got to celebrate with Bree who is now engaged! Yay! They'll be getting hitched at the beginning of next year.

His mum also wanted to get me something, so after much hidden discussion with Blake, I got a Clive Cussler book, Spartan Gold (yes written with someone else, but still really good), 3 blocks of smelly soap (honeysuckle and the like), a small wall/door hanging that says Family is Forever, and a $30 gift certificate to Spotlight (the fabric store/bed bath and beyond).

The party singin-Brandon, Me, Bree, Xander, Kim, Alicia, and Blake behind the camera.

The pie- the year I used up all the candles in the pack.

Me opening my gifts from the family. He took forever taking the picture, hence the "you take it yet?" face.

On Monday, Blake gave me his present at lunch. It was a super cute jacket that we keep passing but never buying. I'm still in the debate of whether to go see if they might still have one size smaller or keep the current one as it still fits, just slightly loose.

I didn't really feel very Happy Birthdayish, so I went and bought some crepe paper streamers and balloons and a table cloth. Made the apartment kinda fun for a while.

After Blake changed out of his work clothes, we went to my favorite fast food joint, Noodle Box. It's pretty much just lots of different kinds of lo mein. The small box is enough to fill you up! Then we went to see UP. It didn't come out till the beginning of the month down here, so after hearing everyone else rave about it, I wanted to see it too. It's definitely a cute movie and made for a fun birthday evening.

Thanks for all the well wishes!

Shakin' It Up A Bit

2009-09-11T19:24:00.005+10:00

Today, for us, is Friday. Normally on a Friday we head on down to our local Pizza Hut and get a Hawaiian for me and a Spicy Pepperoni for the hubby. It's a great chance to spend some time talking together as it takes about 10 minutes to walk each way, plus it's pretty cheap considering it generally lasts us 2 meals. This month, however, we have a smaller than usual fast food budget, so because of this (and the fact I forgot) I made dinner tonight.

I am glad I did too. This week has had some ups and downs for me and I felt like crap for 2 days and did.... well.... pretty much nothing. I loved that my hubby took care of me, but he is also pretty stressed with work right now and I wanted to help him out. As a result, yesterday and today I've felt like I have accomplished Wifedom. Cleaning the apartment, doing dishes (which I HATE and he generally does), making meals, cleaning up after..... yeah, I will admit it made me feel pretty good. So, in one of my spectacular Wifedom moments, I decided to make us one tasty meal for dinner. It goes as follows:

Bacon wrapped chicken with cream cheese stuffing

Salad greens with raspberry basalmic dressing

Seasoned rice with.... seasoning?

Above meal received some very satisfied compliments and grunts followed by a food coma (he's just sleep deprived right now though), so ladies, here's how to make above meal. ;)

Chicken-

partially cook bacon in frying pan, still want it flexible

pound chicken breasts till thin, around 1/4"

mix cream cheese with herbs of choice, I used some garlic/onion powder/chili flakes/and a tich of basil

spread cheese filling across chicken, roll, wrap with the bacon, skewer with spagetti (you don't have to worry about removing it like a toothpick and don't even notice while eating), and toss in the oven

cook for about 35-45 minutes at 375 till the chicken is done

*I know I didn't include measurements, but this is truly up to your taste. I used a little less than half a package of cream cheese for a chicken breast cut into about 3 pieces and probably about a half teaspoon of each herb, give or take a little*

**I also want to try it with sour cream instead of cream cheese**

Rice-

chicken broth instead of water

garlic

oregano

chopped onion

butter

and of course, rice

I just threw them all into my rice cooker and it turned out well. :) It looked like the bottom was burnt, but didn't taste it, just a little brown from the broth cooking down.

Salad-

I just had packaged greens and then made the dressing as follows

1/4 cup olive oil

1/8 cup basalmic vinegar

1/4 tsp onion powder

sprinkling of salt

1 heaping tablespoon of raspberry jam

mix with fork till smooth and OH SO GOOD!

It was one of those meals you kind of expect for something fancy, but really not very difficult to make as each leaves you plenty of time to do the next while it's cooking. I started at about 4:15 and finished cleaning up same time as the chicken finished at about 5:40 or so. Give it a shot and I hope you like it!

3 Months Have Gone By And.....

2009-09-03T14:23:00.004+10:00

We feel like we're getting somewhere! My visa has been sent in and acknowledged. They are giving me a bridging visa as my current one is up today; which means I can stay until they make their decision on my formal visa. However, I can't work until the formal one goes through, so I have about a 6 month wait starting Sept. 1st. As I mentioned before, this stack of papers was the size of a book. Some of you may think I exaggerated a bit, but here is proof.

I think that's a pretty fair sized book, don't you? The bottom envelope is also full of all my health checks I went through (aka, more paperwork). I am getting my FBI check probably tomorrow and will send that on as well, but it's only 1 page of trouble. But then, I'm done with paperwork!!!! I'll still have to interview and all that jazz, but we are definitely on our way.

Also, to celebrate the passing of 3 months, Blake decided to spoil me. He woke up bright and early and said we needed more medicine (which we didn't) and ran off to the grocery store. About 20-30 minutes later, the store is 5 minutes walk away, he returned with flowers and chocolate and tim tams.

What he didn't realize, the origami box I had been working on was not for primary. Oh no, it was for his present. So, when I finally completed it, I stole off to our room and filled it with a present. I had also made a smaller one earlier and filled it as well. Here's the picture before he noticed them.

Pretty cool huh? Well, in the larger "box" there was a 5 meter network cable that he has been mentioning for a while, and in the smaller box-a pair of skullcandy earphones. He has an issue with the guys at work eating all the time, so these babies are to block out all of those joyful noises. He has promised to not wear them both when walking home, though. Don't want someone honking because they're going to hit him and have him blissfully unaware.

So after presents were handed around, he worked for a few hours, I wrote a talk and prepared my primary lesson, and we got ready to party. Now, we have an issue where he struggles to surprise me. I just catch on way too quick. So, he decided to walk me around a bit. I knew we were going to dinner and there are plenty of restaurants all around the neighborhood, but we crossed the street to the convention center. Walked up to the front, curved around to the side, and got on the skywalk over to the casino. By this point, the 'just wear jeans and high heels' were really getting to my feet. I don't mind walking a little ways, but when you keep going and going...... If we weren't going to the casino, I was gonna make him give me a piggyback ride to wherever it was. Lucky for me, we stopped. Let me tell you, all you can eat buffets are fancy out here. Not Upchuck-a-rama for sure. I have never had lobster before, but it's right there on the buffet. Eat as much as you want. :) Plus there were lots of other great eats all around. Definitely one high-class buffet. After eating, we went downstairs to the theater and sat front row for a Irish dance-Dance of Desire. Not quite Riverdance, but it was still pretty good minus the fog machine putting out in our direction.

It was a pretty fun night all in all. Even better when we took the direct course home. :) Three months have gone by and it feels like no time at all. That's what we have Eternity for! By the way, did you notice our cool rug in the pictures? :D Feels much more homey now.

Our Lives, According to Great Bands

2009-08-26T13:18:00.005+10:00

I had a friend fill this questionaire on Facebook and it intrigued me, so I gave it a whirl. The band I chose was Simon and Garfunkel, and these are my answers.

Are you a male or female?
I am a Rock
Describe yourself:
Think Too Much
How do you feel:
Why Don't You Write Me
Describe where you currently live:
Somewhere They Can't Find Me
If you could go anywhere, where would you go:
My Little Town
Your favorite form of transportation:
Slip Slidin' Away
Your best friend is:
The Boxer
What's the weather like:
Leaves That Are Green
Favorite time of day:
Wednesday Morning, 3 AM
If your life were a TV show, it would be called:
A Poem on the Underground Wall
Life to you is:
Bridge Over Troubled Water
Your fear:
Fakin' It
The best advice you have to give is:
Keep the Customer Satisfied
Thought for the Day:
Go Tell it on the Mountain
How you would like to die:
Late in the Evening
Your soul's present condition:
Still Crazy After All These Years
Your motto:

I Know What I Know

I figured it would be funny to see Blake's as well, so he chose New Found Glory with these answers:

Are you a male or female?
Boy Crazy
Describe yourself:
Taken Back By You
How do you feel:
Tell Tale Heart
Describe where you currently live:
Familiar Landscapes
If you could go anywhere, where would you go:
Radio Adelaide
Your favorite form of transportation:
Boulders
Your best friend is:
Oxygen
What's the weather like:
I Don't Wanna Know
Favorite time of day:
Winter of '95
If your life were a TV show, it would be called:
I Do It For You
Life to you is:
Never Ending Story
Your fear:
Standstill
The best advice you have to give is:
No News is Good News
Thought for the Day:
All Downhill From Here
How you would like to die:
Black and Blue
Your soul's present condition:
The King of Wishful Thinking
Your motto:
Over The Head, Below The Knees

It's a bit of a fun game. Try it out with one of your favorite bands and see how creative you can get. :)

A Pretty, Lucky Day

2009-08-24T21:43:00.005+10:00

On Saturday Blake and I had a pretty good day. We started off by waking up at the crack of dawn to get ready to go to the temple and made it for a 10:15 session. Only about 12 people were there, so it went pretty quick. After completing an uplifting morning, we headed out shopping for a little while. We found me a cute pair of shoes and..........

.......

................

A Pastry Blender!!!!!! :D :D :D SO EXCITED! Now to find the shortening to make pastries with. :)

After our successful exploration of the local shopping centers, we started heading home through Robina, land of the roundabouts and I saw this:

Now, I haven't mentioned how many times we had to go around said roundabouts to get this picture and how dizzy/sick we both felt by the end, but it's a pretty sunset and was definitely worth it.

I Caved...

2009-08-14T15:03:00.005+10:00

With both of my sisters having short, cute hair, and my sister-in-law just cutting hers as well, I've felt a little pressure to fit in. Okay, not really pressure, but I think they all look super cute and I missed my short hair. Getting headaches daily and having to always wear ponytails to keep my neck cool were also contributing factors. So, I gave in. I decided that I would do it. Here's where my hair was prior to the 'new do':

Yeah baby, check out that natural wave....

So, as you can see, it was getting quite long and to straighten it (not to mention just drying it) takes forever. I haven't had hair this long since I was in about kindergarten, and even then it was probably just because my head was small. I was pretty nervous because although it's a pain, I wanted to see how long my hair would grow. Thank goodness it never stops so I can keep trying and play with fun hair styles in the meanwhile.

I also was trying to stick to a close to natural color for my wedding. I didn't want my kids to look back and say... why do we have blonde hair, Mom? But now... my hubby's pretty partial to my hair being dark. He met me with dark hair and really likes it, so I decided to do that as well. Unfortunately they don't have the same hair dye as they do in the states. My hair pulls reds really easily, so I go straight for the ASH. Here, the best hope I had was Natural. :S It pulled red, but it's different enough that it will show no matter what as it grows out.

Now for the final unveiling.....

And the back...

As you may notice, there are no double mirrors, so this did take a while, but at least I used real hair cutting scissors this time! They were a little dull by the end though. :S

I think I look a little like Alice Cullen... Gives me an opportunity to be a little more spunky. :) It will take some getting used to, but my neck will be cool and so far, I'm headache free! No complaining about that. Oh, and the hubby likes it. That's always a plus. :)

Wake Me When the Drama is Over

2009-08-10T18:54:00.003+10:00

If only I could sleep through this wonderful process of getting a visa. We started the process back when I first entered the country, and would you know it, it's still going on. I just want to share a little bit of the frustrations discovered. Not so much for pity, but perhaps to vent a little steam and convince you all to never move to another country. :) It makes perfect sense to leave your family when first married (although across an ocean is a little extreme), but to leave your friends, freedoms, interests, money... It's not an easy thing to wrap your brain around. So, here begins my visa saga.

Step 1. Print and fill out 23 pages of 100 questions about my personal life, my family's personal life, and Blake's personal life.

Step 2. Convince Blake to fill out his own 15 pages of questions about his personal life, his family's personal life, and his financial security.

Step 3. Sigh at relief in completion of above book.

Step 4. Contact immigration to see what else needs to be included. Received checklist.

Step 5. Groan.

Step 6. Contact Mom for birth certificate. Received.

Step 7. Call immigration to find out if the "if applicable" items are required or not. They are.

Step 8. Figure out where the closest approved health clinic is for my Health Check. Thirty minutes north. (btw, I do drive around now. Thank goodness.)

Step 9. Take $310, fill out 2 more required applications, head north, miss turn (lots of construction makes it near impossible to see, lack of street signs makes it completely impossible), drive around 20 minutes or so, find a familiar street sign and figure out my way to the clinic after about 1 hour.

Step 10. The clinic takes above mentioned money and applications, takes my picture, attempts to take some blood, tests my vision, checks height and weight, tells me to go to another location for an x-ray the next day and come back in a week for a full physical.

Step 11. Attempts to find uniradiology center, does a few u-turns, goes inside, gets x-rayed, walks out 15 minutes later to drive the 30 minutes home again.

Step 12. Prints out all necessary information to get my Criminal Check. Finds police station (luckily across the street) to finger print me. They steal $24.95 and 45 minutes of my life.

Step 13. Cringe at the $18 the FBI charges to process prints. Call FBI office at 11:30 pm here and asks how to expedite or send fingerprints. Tells me it will take 3-4 weeks from time received. Also tells me the fingerprint sheet won't be accepted. Panic... They talk to supervisor, it will be okay. They ask for FedEx packaging and account number for return.

Step 14. Sign up for FedEx, look up rates. Blake does CPR, discuss rates again. Succumb to the $80 there, $80 back fees. Breathe deeply, take sheets to shipping office. Get charged $12 for the "drop off" of the package.

Step 15. Sigh at the amount of work still left to do.

We have to make photocopies -and have them notarized (costs around $50 for the Justice of the Peace's time)- of all our important documents: passports, birth certificates, Blake's tax information, wedding certificate, etc

We have to have 2 Australian Citizens who know us well make a statutory declaration (also JP signed) about our relationship.

We each have to write our own declaration about our relationship, from start to current.

We also have to include documents that "prove" that we are committed. (an insane asylum certificate may come in handy at this point) For example, bills with both our names, proof of joint bank accounts, joint loans, etc.

We then have to hope my FBI returned fingerprints with the stamped "no record" comes sooner than September 3rd.

Once we send everything in, we get to wait with baited breath and crossed fingers in hopes that they don't deny the application and kick me out of the country. Without refunding the $2500 application fee I might add.

If I get this visa, I think Blake's going to put me back to work to earn all the money this visa process took from our savings. It sure has made a dent. But until that visa is approved, I'm not allowed to work, so hopefully it won't take up to the possible 1 year to go through.

All this in the effort to live in a socialist country... I do love it here though and really hope that everything works out smoothly and quickly so I won't be making a quick trip back to the US in early September to renew my temporary visa. At least when we make our move to the states it won't be quite a hassle as Blake is a dual citizen and will only cost us the fee to get a social security number.

2 Months Along this Road of Life

2009-07-31T13:53:00.005+10:00

We have again reached a marking point of our marriage. Although not large, 2 months have gone by, but it feels like 2 weeks and 2 years at the same time. The first month seemed to be more about finding each other's idiosyncracies while this month was a little bit more of how to deal with them. We have grown just that little bit more patient and just that little bit more in love with each other as well.

I haven't posted for a little while, but now I am going to share a few things that have recently happened. I got a laptop!! My very own, and it's brand new! Blake's been wanting to get me one for my wedding present and we finally did. :D

It's an Acer Aspire 5738G. Full numeric pad (my biggest pet peeve with laptops is not having them), blueray disc drive, HD 16:9 screen, finger scanner (freakin awesome!), virtual surround sound, etc. I think I shall call him Octavius. But for short, we'll call him Gus. :) For those of you who like looking at the specs.... you'll have to look them up cause I don't want to type them all out.

I also got spoiled last night for our 2-month anniversary. With what you say? Well, again my honey knows what I like/want, so we went shopping and bought.....

A hand mixer with dough hooks, and...

A blender! :D

Personally I think this was as much for his personal gain as my enjoyment as I will now make stuff that requires such machinery, but I don't mind. :D What can I say? I like it when tax returns come in and my hubby likes spoiling me.

Sinfully Delicious

2009-07-21T19:03:00.004+10:00

After much practice, creativity, and love by the mouthful........ the idea to open a dessert shop called Sinfully Delicious came to mind. As you may have noticed, I like to cook. Moreso, to bake. The other day Blake was craving hot fudge and I was craving chocolate cake, so I went online. Allrecipes.com is a big friend of mine. I was just looking up hot fudge recipes, but what came up was hot fudge cake. Well, now I couldn't resist that. I threw the first batch together and... well... it was gone quickly. It's best to cut the recipe in half if you're only making it for 2 though. This is a picture of a full batch.

So, to fill our "shop," we would create cleverly named sins to represent banana cream pie, cinnamon rolls, lemon rolls, hot fudge cake, and lace pancakes filled with strawberries/raspberries (or a little raspberry jam)/and cream. Any takers? :)

As we continue to keep a steady schedule with our gym downstairs, we'll be adding to the menu. If you have any suggestions of things to try, let us know.

The Way to a Man's Heart is His Stomach

2009-07-14T20:01:00.004+10:00

The past couple days have been a ...quest... to my man's heart through food. On Sunday, I needed to make cinnamon rolls for my primary class as we were making a birthday gift for one of our missing girls, so I made a half batch and half sized rolls. In otherwords, 1/4 sized rolls. They were a pretty fun size and leftovers were very much desired and enjoyed by the family.

He then also wanted to make an impression on the boys at work, so I made another batch today for him to take back to work. However, half was lemon and half normal so we had to make sure they tasted good and he didn't want to take any to work. So, he took enough for the guys around him and I "hid" the rest. Hopefully they'll actually last a little while.

The other night we watched Masterchef; which is like Top Chef in America, and saw a pretty awesome dish. It was a lace pancake/crepe that you ate with shredded up curry chicken. It didn't receive the very highest rating, but it was the most normal dish and something unique. Therefore, it was dinner tonight. :) Making the pancakes was pretty fun, albeit a little messy. Eating it is also a tich messy, but not bad. You tear up the pancake and grab some meat and eat it with your hands. We also thought it would be amazingly good with chocolate flakes in the batter with fresh berries to grab... To warn you, it takes just as long to make as crepes and is a bit more messy. I used an icing bag, but I'm sure there are other ways as well. Looks pretty good don't it. :)

By the way, this was Blake's latest challenge. Orange, Pink, and Purple, with the theme "Good Luck". First thing that came to mind was Little House on the Prairie when Laura painted the little house pink and purple.... It turned out alright though.

Ode to the Machine

2009-07-10T14:23:00.006+10:00

Some day down the road of life, the projects I attempt actually take shape (hopefully a correct shape...). My latest and greatest, and time consuming, experiment has been sewing without a machine. Sheesh! How did those women do it back in the day and get anything done??

First off, Blake and I went shopping and bought him some nice work pants. However, they were a bit over 3" too long, so... hemming time! To be honest, I never enjoyed hemming, but watching my mom do it for years, I figured it couldn't be that bad. And, well, it wasn't if you consider it an all day activity. I had 4 hems to do and it took me about 6 hours or so to complete. However, not a stitch you can see from the outside of the pant! Think I can charge $20 an hour Mom? ;) So, Honey, I'm glad they fit and you like them!!

My last completed project was a temple bag. I have a shoulder backpack that I've used, but it wasn't very nice and was big and bulky, so I used some of my remaining fabric from my sister's bridesmaid skirts and made myself a pretty nice bag if I do say so myself. I won't, however, tell you how long this took to sew, but I hope you like it as much as me. :)

I still need to add a ribbon threaded through the loops and make a colorful lining of some sort, but that will have to wait till I find a fabric store and get one of those handy dandy-save you a lifetime-machines.

Coming home

2009-07-09T17:57:00.005+10:00

So, i thought i better post something here otherwise it'd just be jess's blog! People might start wondering where i'm at...

Well, what to post about is the real question, i've just arrived home from work, jess is cooking us some tasty fried rice for dinner, and well.. it's been a long day and it's wonderful to come home to jess, in refelection of the last few months it's been a crazy time but worth it, finally getting to the point where we can actually enjoy just being with each other and not having to worry about going anywhere.

Things at work are going well for me, greatful to have employment when i know so many of my friends dont. So as long as i'm prayerful and keep at it as much as i can with 100% effort, i know we wont go without.

We have this awsome pool down stairs in our building, (that's filled with tourists) from about 5-7... but after that it's pretty empty, about a 21 metre pool i think, and... HEATED. So that's nice to get a swim in now and then when i'm not working.

Im' running some contract jobs at home too, trying not to do this to much as i want to spend more time with jess when i get home, but it keeps up with the spending money and little extra things, so we don't "sit around and stare at it each all day" (NAME THAT MOVIE!!) hehe...

But anyway, i didn't really post anything did i? Kinda random... but hey i posted!!... Mmmmm and dinner smells really really good.... I love jess with all my heart... and stomach :)

Well until next time... :)

A Burning Desire

2009-07-06T11:44:00.004+10:00

Yesterday started out as a normal Sunday. I woke up, cuddled with my hubby for a little while, made breakfast (we'll make up for it next week.. :S ), showered, and then it all began.

I don't have a curling iron yet, but the other day I had curled my hair with my straightener and decided to give that a try yet again. Everything was going great until about halfway through. I have no mirror behind me, so I have to 'see' with my hands. Unfortunately, I 'saw' my straightener a little too closely with my left thumb. I now have a line a little longer than an inch and about a quarter of an inch wide down the middle of my thumb. After cooling it down a bit, I had to finish as we were now running late, so I hurried through the rest of my hair and we went to church.

Upon returning home with a hungry husband, I decided to make some good ol' chicken noodle soup with a kick. This was a first, but I figured it'd be pretty simple. Adding some rosemary to the chicken as it was cooking turned out great, but I also wanted it a little spicier, so out came some chili flakes again. Definitely did its job and gave the soup a kick. However, in the process of trying to dump the chicken and veggies (all cut with my Happy Chopper!!) back in with the noodles, I smacked my right pinky on the side of the pan. DOH! Took a few deep breaths, cooled it off, and dished up dinner.

The savory smells and the excitement of eating this enticing experiment with some leftover naan prevailed over some basic common sense. Soup just taken out of a simmering pot is still hot! Go figure. Alas, my tongue joined the damaged ranks of the day. *It did taste really good by the way*

Lesson learned: If at once you burn yourself, don't don't DON'T touch anything hot the rest of the day. :)

Once Upon an Independence Day

2009-07-04T17:06:00.004+10:00

Fireworks, bbq's, and late night movies or games surrounded by friends and family. What can make a better 4th of July party? It's not just about the fun and games though. As I no longer reside in the good ol' USA, I realize much more my desire for independence. For those of you who know me, I am not one who likes to have my freedoms restricted in any way. Being here in Australia, some little things have come up that make me miss having all my rights, or being told I have to follow certain rules, even if I already do. I just don't like being told that I have to do them.

Helmets are required whenever on any form of a bike.
Any student loans are automatically deducted from your paycheck as the government pays for your schooling... sorta...
You're not allowed to turn left (same as our right) at a red light.
You can't wash your car or own a hose actually.
There are speed cameras that can mail you a ticket without pulling you over.

Here are also some things I just miss about the US that are different here:

You have to pay up front at a doctors and then go get everything reimbursed at a Medicare or insurance facility instead of having the insurance billed up front and paying a co-payment.
Every store layout is different. Even from one Woolworths to another Woolworths.
There aren't stores that carry everything, so you actually have to go to multiple shops.
They have bottle openers and stoppers everywhere, but no pastry blenders, magnets, or nice rolling pins, etc.

Things I do like better here:

Cars stop for you at crosswalks!
Tax is included in the retail price so you know what you're paying (Mom, you'd have to reevaluate your final ticket price guesses, but may give the rest of us a chance).
Everyone has a laid-back attitude.

All in all, it's great being 'down unda', but I hope all of you in the US recognize your rights and freedoms and honor them, because without them, life just isn't what it's intended to be.

Oooh... Pretty Pretty Pretty

2009-07-03T10:52:00.004+10:00

Everyone knows how much dread comes from an invitation to a Tupperware party. Do I go, it costs so much, it's my friend, yada yada yada. Well, this time around, it was all for me! My sister-in-law and new cousin decided to throw me a Tupperware bridal shower when we got back, so people donated to my cause as well as I earned all the hostess gifts for throwing the party. Wahoo! Free Tupperware! That's one thing I cannot complain about. So wanna see what I got? :D

What you see above:

(2) 1 liter rock-n'-serves

(1) microwaveable jug (I have a recipe for an 8-minute chocolate cake for it....)

(1) Happy Chopper (onions, you're goin down!)

(1) Quick Chef II with basket (oscar/sauce mixer/salad spinner with funnel)

Now, this doesn't seem like very much, but the retail worth in AU$ is approximately $235 give or take a tich. Now you might agree with me that free Tupperware is definitely great stuff!

Btw: I am addicted to creating new backgrounds and the like, so hope you enjoy as they get tested out! This was Blake's challenge, black-silver-white.

One Month Down......Looking Forward to Eternity

2009-07-01T11:22:00.004+10:00

We made it! So, the 1 month mark isn't all THAT impressive, but it has been a great learning experience for both of us.

Things Blake has learned about me and our marriage:

"Dont ever ever ever ever tell you what to do; just suggest it gently."
"You love the color red." (something I didn't realize actually)
"I can almost read your mind now at what I've forgotten to pick up or clean up. All you do is have to glare and I look at the floor for what I've dropped."
"I gota be careful about mentioning the words 'Video games'."
"I've learn't no matter what I do, you can snuggle next to me in bed and tell me you love me no matter what I've done."
"You can surprise me and get me excited like a little fat kid with candy with CUP CAKES!!"
"It was worth the wait, all that time apart was definitely worth it."

Things I have learned about Blake and our marriage:

He can tell when I'm stressed and tries to do something helpful for me.
Hanging up the towel after a shower will take some time to learn.
There will be facial hairs in or surrounding the sink at any given time.
I will always get a kiss when he leaves and when he comes back.
We can go to bed early some nights and stay up till 1:30 talking on others.
He will love me even when I get sick or grouchy.
He's simple to please. Just buy him a cupcake. :)
We work well together in finances, cooking, cleaning, etc.

To celebrate, we went to Hogs Breath for dinner (great steak for me and a huge burger for him) and I bought him a cupcake for dessert. Notice how his was almost gone before I could take a picture? :)

The Long Awaited drumroll please Apartment Tour

2009-06-29T12:16:00.004+10:00

After days, weeks, months, years.... okay, a few weeks, here are the pictures of our apartment. There are too many to just post, so click here to view the slideshow I have created just for you. :) I hope this satisfies the agonizing thirst for those of you just aching to see how we live our lives. Hope you like it.

New Spice in our Lives

2009-06-25T10:48:00.005+10:00

Before we got married, Blake was on his own to register for us here in Aussie land. I sent him some pictures, gave him some guidelines, but he had to do it himself. When we received one of these items, we were in for a surprise. It was a nice spice rack... that contained the spices!!! Yay for spices!!! However, there are a few I am familiar with, but have never used as I've never owned them before. New to me are the Rosemary and Chili flakes. Not foreign cooking elements, but new flavors to me, so I wanted to share a recipe I made with the chili flakes. For those of you worried about heat, I'm not a big heat person so I scraped the flakes off my piece after cooking and there was just a little flavor zing, so give it a shot. :)

*warning (or side note anyway...): the measurements below are from approximate guesses at what I used. You can add/subtract anything you'd like.

Chili-Lemon Chicken

1 or so cups cubed chicken (enough for 2 people)

1/2 cup olive oil

2 T lemon juice

1 tsp chili flakes

1/2 tsp garlic powder

salt to taste (1/4- 1/2 tsp)

pepper to taste

Mix olive oil, lemon juice, and spices to make marinade. Place chicken in marinade, turn to coat, and refrigerate for approximately 1 hour (mine was a little less, but still had absorbed the flavor). Grill or cook on stove. Great with creamy mashed potatoes, especially if you're worried about any heat.

Let us know if you give it a shot and what you think. :)

btw... made it last night with cubed potatoes, mixed both in the sauce, and put them on a cookie sheet to cook. Amazing!

My First Baking... Experience...

2009-06-24T09:04:00.003+10:00

So far, everything that has been cooked in this apartment has been on the stove, so yesterday, I decided to mix it up a bit. Blake has been begging for a banana cream pie and I was in the mood for chicken garlic pizza, so time to pull in the big guns and use the oven.

First roadblock: there is no such thing as shortening here, only cooking margarine. This comes in a block about twice as big as a normal block of margarine, but is also about as hard as if you froze the block. After stabbing myself with a fork, I successfully managed to scrape enough off for my pie crust.

Second roadblock: nobody here knows what a pastry blender is. I searched high and low in every store that sells cooking utensils with no luck, so out came the fork and a knife. Again, reminding you that the margarine is hard and in nasty clumps. After a little blood, sweat, and tears, my crust was in the pie pan and looked pretty tasty for an uncooked crust.

Third roadblock: the oven. Now first off, everything is in celcius. Not too difficult to look up online to figure out the conversions. However, they don't have a dial that says bake, broil, etc. What is depicted around the dial are little boxes with different pictures. First shows a light bulb, okay-that's for the light. Second shows a fan with two drops of water below. Third shows a fan with a circle around it. Fourth shows triangles coming down from the top of the box. And last, but not least, shows the triangles coming down with the fan. Now I'm not a major in hieroglyphics, so I put it on the last option and crossed my fingers.

After the allotted time I checked on the crust and to my dismay, there were black spots all over the inside of my crust. Luckily most were the upper layer of a bubble so we pulled them off to try and salvage what we could.

By this point in time, I had already finished kneading the pizza crust and was letting it raise (the margarine kneads in much easier when put with the warm water and yeast than the cold water in the pie crust). I had Blake's help to cook the topping ingredients of the pizza, so I put the dough in the pan and made the pizza. Unfortunately I was so distracted by the burn pie crust and worrying about the pizza that I forgot the cheese... On a pizza! How do you forget the cheese?!? We threw the pizza in the oven and Blake said that at his mom's, they always bake on the setting with the fan in the circle, so we tried it on that setting. After about 5 minutes, the top was all golden brown, but it was supposed to take 25 to cook... We pulled it out and indeed, the bottom was still uncooked dough, so it went back in on the lowest rack possible and we went to the computer to look up those darn symbols.

Fourth roadblock: Australians don't believe in baking with their ovens. After searching many sites, we finally found one that showed the correct hieroglyphics with explanations of each. None of the five settings we have on the oven are for baking! The first was the light, second was defrost (? in the oven?), third was constant fanned heat (used most commonly), fourth was static grilling, fifth is grilling. Suddenly a light clicked in Blake's head. His sister makes cakes and other such goodies all the time, but she always puts them on the bottom, with the setting on the fan in a circle, and leaves them in there forever.

The pizza came back out of the oven to avoid completely burning the top and was cooked enough on the bottom to no longer be doughy. To our joy, it tasted just fine (cheese wasn't discovered missing until half-way through the pizza). The filling for the pie is cooked on the stove, so that also turned out fine. A few bites had a slightly toasted crust taste, but overall, the night turned out alright with some pretty good lessons in Aussie baking learned.

The View

2009-06-23T09:07:00.008+10:00

Sorry these aren't the best pictures of the view, but I just couldn't pass up the rainbow when I saw it. This is from our balcony. The opposite side of the building has the ocean, but I like seeing the hills.

Aforementioned Rainbow

Pacific Fair (takes about 10 minutes to walk there and 50 to walk around inside... both indoor and outdoor mall)

The moat around the....

Casino. It lights up at night, but we have great drapes that block it out.

And the far right view of the Gold Coast Convention Center.

Not the most glorious view, but it does help with the homesickness for mountains. Next to come... indoor shots.

The First Three Weeks

2009-06-21T20:51:00.003+10:00

Welcome to Blake and my new blog. We'll try to keep everyone updated with the latest and greatest as well as perhaps uninteresting facts about our life together. We have made it to the 3 week mark, and it has been an interesting, but great, adventure to say the least. The weeks have gone by as follows:

Week 1:

Spent 2 days at the Armstrong Manor (great place with really good breakfast)

Packed and said goodbye to family

Flew 7166 miles to my new home

Took a nap, then reorganized clothing to one suitcase

Spent 2 nights at Pether's Rainforest Retreat (a 5 star bungalow in the middle of the rainforest on top of the nearby mountain)

Blake proceeded to get sick

Went to the hospital to check for Swine Flu (quarantined for 24 hours before they said he was clear)

Unpacked suitcases

Week 2:

Went shopping for furniture and bought a couch, computer chair, bookcase, and kitchen table/chairs (Thanks everyone for the wedding money to do so!!!)

Blake started back to work

I proceeded to get sick, but moved in the couch, put together the computer chair, directed Blake on the bookcase, and put together the kitchen table and chairs (everything except the bookcase was assembled while Blake was at work... :D )

Read Dune

Went shopping daily to either Pacific Fair (outdoor mall across the street) or Woolworths (grocery store below Blake's work) for food and household necessities

Attended our Aussie open house with most of Blake's family and a few friends

Organized my kitchen with my new appliances/dishes/etc

Week 3:

Blake worked

Cleaned up the apartment (really organized the bookcase and tv stand, made it feel more homey)

Started the Battlestar Galactica series

Shopped daily for more necessary food and household items

Walked from outside Blake's work on the beach up to the Q1 building in Surfers Paradise (2.5k each way) and slept all evening/night/and morning

Went to the temple in the morning, went shopping all afternoon (bought me a purse, Blake some sweet shoes and new shirts), spent the evening with some of Blake's friends playing games and chatting

Received new callings, Blake is Employment Specialist and I'm a primary teacher (don't know age group yet)

We have had a fun time together, annoying each other, falling asleep early(!!!), making amazing dishes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (Blake cleans up after :D :D :D :D ), walking miles each day (the car is driven about twice a week as we can walk everywhere we need to go), etc. Keep posted for pictures to come. :)