Happy Halloween!

Jake and my dad and mom came to visit town this weekend, and Jake got plenty of opportunities to dress up in his costume and terrorize people!  We went to DMU's kid halloween party and then our ward trunk or treat the next day, he pulled off Ironman pretty well...

And thanks to Damon's quick thinking, we had a costume for Trunk or Treat as well...

Remember to...

Appreciate life.

craigslist love to

been searching high and low for a good dresser on craigslist to refinish and put in the nursery/office/guest room.  My mom and dad and Jake  (and my mom's truck) came to visit this weekend and  we found one today- for $30!  After just a couple of hours and a little blue paint and sandpaper later...

Before:

After:

And my garage sale mirror for the room ($5) and $2 of acrylic paint at walmart...

Before:

And after:

Woohoo!  2 room things down!  We just need to order our crib and I need to figure out bedding...  We're already almost 25 weeks!

crap.

"DO NOT BUY THAT!" I pointed at the huge tub of Nestle cookie dough he had somehow picked up while I was at a sample and was now carrying to the bagged cheese..
"YOU CANNOT bring that home!  I will eat that and it's dangerous!  Go. Put. It. Back." I said even more emphatically.

yeah right.

it actually went like this:

Damon walks up to me (yes, i was at a sample) and has the tub in his arms.

Damon sees my face light up.

Damon knows that face and immediately turns back to put it in the freezer again.

I grab Damon's arm and beg, plead, pull, "PLEASE BUY IT PLEASE KEEP IT I WANT THAT SO BAD PLEASE DON'T PUT IT BACK!!!"

My tone is that of a 4 year old in Toys 'R Us after the newest Whatever has just hit the place...

"NO!  I am NOT buying it anymore!  You'll eat it raw! I KNOW YOU WILL EAT IT RAW!" -D

"NO I WON'T PLEASE DON'T PUT IT BACK I PROMISE I WON'T that much!"-T

"NO I don't believe you! You can't eat it raw!  Promise me you won't eat any it's only for baking!"-D

"I WON'T I PROMISE I WON'T eat it raw! Only one spoon if I bake them."-T

"Pinky swear. Pinky swear to me right now that you won't eat it raw."-D

.....


He turns away

"NO!!!! I WON'T I PROMISE!!! It's only for baking!!!" -T

"OK but you promised!"-D


...then he went back to school to study for more hours tonight.  I was only walking to the front door to go to Walgreens and redbox How to Train Your Dragon.  IT was in the freezer. there was a fork left out on the counter.  There was a plastic seal under the lid that wouldn't come off. I had to use my teeth. I just wanted to see it. But with my nose so close I got a wiff.

ing

listening: the crickets and the squirrels outside our balcony.  there are more squirrels and wild bunnies here than in fairy tails. one sunday on our drive to church we counted- the drive is about 3 minutes- maybe a mile and a half down a neighborhood street. we counted 11 squirrels frolicking in the street and in yards. we didn't count the ones smashed on the road. 

hurting: my back. it's amazing how much a barely over a pound infant can take a toll on  your body.  during the night it's the worst- flopping from side to side has gotten harder- the in between hurts like crazy but you can't move fast- and sleeping is impossible even on your side. with 5 pillows.  my ribs are sore constantly, nonstop throughout the day.  when you lay down your stomach pulls away from you and it HURTS.  i don't know what 9 months is going to be like, but possibly traumatic, if this is just 6. 

pondering: what is the person downstairs cooking that smells so good?  

calendering: my mom is coming next weekend for a few days... and my dad and jake might drive up with her... ward halloween party, maybe a corn maze/corn pool?  fun...

craving: costa vida sweet pork salad.  i'm thinking if my mom drives through dallas at an hour when they are open, i'll make her stop and get me one and i'll eat it cold. 

reading: eat pray love, anna karenina (still, i am getting distracted with other books), more natural birthing books, and i'm in helaman of the BOM

shopping: went grocery shopping yesterday. i wish i was in in minnesota so i could go to nordstrom and h&m and all those wonderful stores. target will do for now.  and etsy. always etsy. 

not missing: work. got off of work an hour early today, which couldn't come any faster... i hate this stupid temp job.

deciding: what i'm going to do tomorrow. damon has a big anatomy test monday so his whole weekend is studying at school. lame-o.  there is a huge antique/collectables/etc mall (like the quilted bear or cabbages & kings in utah and texas) that is about half an hour away, i hear it's great and it may be my saturday plans. after garage sale-ing... michelle, come back! (don't though, live it up in utah, i'm so jealous... wait, maybe YOU could get the costa vida...)

kissing: i'm trying to convince damon to grow out a beard. our young mens pres has an awesome one, and i just love beards. he says it's too uncomfortable though. boo. 

ok, maybe i have a crush on zac brown. damon has a crush on megan fox, so it's ok.

see the potential?

running: ha. yeah right. i move too much at work and am so sore when i get home, like i'd do anything else.

planning: our anniversary weekend in 2 weeks... hopefully to chicago, as long as the weather holds up. so excited- deep dish pizza anyone?

hoping: the next 16 is weeks goes by fast, i'm ready for a baby and to have my body back.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday TARA NICOLE SALINAS!!!!!!!! oh this is damon.

For those of you who know Tara, her birthday is June 6th, and now you are wondering why we decided to celebrate her birthday now in the middle of October. It was actually a sudden decision that started after a brief conversation. 

It started by Tara saying, "I couldn't remember how old I was today." I replied to that by saying, "how old do you think you are?" 

"24, because then I'll have the baby before I'm 25." 

My reply seemed innocent and obvious. "Babe, we were born in 1985." 

She replied, "yeah, I know so I'll turn 25 this year."

This is when I realized that pregnancy will affect all of your senses. Right now she has a sense of smell that even a hound dog can't even think of. She has lost her sense of taste and thinks that dill pickles and milk is the greatest invention of all time. She is somehow able to pee her body weight on a daily basis. Even with all of these superpowers, I wasn't too concerned until now. She is now forgetting how old she is and what happened ten minutes ago. Ok, that is a bit of an exaggeration, but she did forget that we already celebrated her birthday on the coast of costa rica eating fresh tuna and then watching game one of the NBA finals. You would think that it was an unforgettable birthday. I think that memory loss is a blessing from on high, because if pregnancy is as much pain as all women make it out to be, I can't imagine why they would so willingly do it again, unless a little of amnesia came into play. 

Back to our delayed repeat of a birthday. We decided to combine date night with a birthday and went to Chipotle mexican grill. 

I wasn't the least bit surprised when Tara said, "I forgot how good this place is."

What a roller-coaster that night was. By the end of the night she was half depressed because she was suddenly a year older. The depression didn't last long because we laughed and laughed about how sure she was about being 24. We continued our date in exciting fashion by going to Baby's R Us. We looked at a bunch of stuff and ended up sitting in two side by side gliders holding hands for a half an hour. She blurted laughing out of nowhere and repeated how she has told everyone at work and church that she is 24. Oh the laughs started up again. It was great.

Our exciting birthday party ended by watching Juno together until I fell asleep in the last ten minutes or so. No surprise there. 

Last night reminded me of a quote

"A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person."

I love you Tara and Happy Birthday

We have had a great weekend (weekends are always greater when you work during the week) and even though it's only saturday night, I feel like it's, sadly, over... we did some canning friday night and are going to do a tad more tomorrow afternoon, so we'll put pictures up to show you what we made!

This morning we got to go to the Winter Quarters Temple with our youth to do baptisms... it was fun and since it's such a small temple, we got to work the baptisms instead of do them or just sit and watch, which was new and fun...

Also, I finally updated the picture blog! woohoo!  if you want you can go check out what i've done in the last few months. the only ones not up there are catherine's, i will put those up soon though!  

happy weekend!

21

21 weeks yesterday... woohoo! it's going by fast, every week is over before i know it.

the baby is the length of a carrot.... and he kicks really hard now, not just those little fluttery nudges. i even caught it on video from the outside yesterday.  i have somewhat of an idea of what i want with a nursery (ie guest room/office/nursery space) and now i just have to figure out how to get this sewing machine to work all the time, not just some, so i can start making.

obviously no flower decal on the wall, but i am still tempted to paint a wall grey (and just repaint white when we move out at the end of next summer) so i can put a white vinyl something on it. and probably a deeper blue closer to that dresser than the blue in the background. i had a completely different idea of a nursery, with a dark crib (love those) but then i decided i love gray too much to not use it and gray doesn't go with dark wood so great, and a white crib would be more versatile now and in the future (if we ever have a girl) so i think we're back on the white crib idea.  part of me thinks it's ridiculous to even be doing a nursery, cause, who really cares, right? but i still want one, so i'll do what i can and not be as detailed as these pictures for sure. i just really like gray.  and owls.

anywho, here's me tonight. lots of nights a week i have a nighttime pickle and glass of milk. i think i've discussed this here before, but if you haven't had a kosher dill pickle with a glass of milk, you are missing out. the combination, the complementation... so good...

it looks like i'm carrying higher than i really am, i think it's just the angle. or maybe cause it's the end of the day and i've had a lot of water today. apparently i'm supposed to be drinking 4 quarts of water a day right now. seriously? i'm lucky if i get through one nalgene bottle.

Fall

The tornado sirens are going off right now. (Because the fire departments test them Saturday at noon to make sure they are ready to alert us good citizens in time of need)  We are watching General Conference, and the talks have already been so good.  We went to the farmer's market this morning and bought 8 jalapenos, 1 tomato, 1 summer squash, 1 cucumber, 9 honey apples,  and 2 green bell peppers.

 Last night Damon made chicken cordon bleu. YUM!  I haven't had it since freshman year, when CCB Sunday was my favorite Sunday of the month.  My friends and I would get there right when the Morris Center opened and go through the line, set our plate down, and then go through the line again before the rest of DT came rushing in, so we could get our seconds without having to wait half an hour in line.  That CCB was So Good. I've been craving it and talking about it since.  And last night Damon made it. And also rented the documentary Babies, which I have been wanting to see since it came out on Mother's day.  It was a great date night.  Last night he also felt the baby move finally.

I think October might be one of my very favorite months. Probably only second to that summer month when it gets warm enough to do everything outside and all the good fruit is in season and there is a holiday with fireworks- what month that is depends on where you live, I guess.  In Utah, it's July.  In Texas, it's May.  Anywho...

Man, I love having high's in the low 70's and being able to keep the apartment open all day and seeing leaves starting to change colors and hearing talk of halloween and Starbucks bringing around their Carmel Apple Spice. I could drink that nonstop all day every day.

I can't wait to start wearing these

And go to one of these:

(but don't worry, I've already been in a corn pool)

a snippet from President Uchtdorf's talk just now,

 " in family relationships, love is really spelled t-i-m-e. time"