Christmas '08

This Christmas was a little different then most xmas's. My Christmas usually consists of waking up with the family opening gifts, eating breakfast, getting dressed in our new nice outfits then going to grandma Starks for presents and lunch, then to my dads for more presents and then hanging out. I don't really remember what we did with Clarke's family the first two years we were married how sad huh. Last year we were in St. George though with his family, that was really fun. But no snow. So this xmas we stayed home together. We woke up opened gifts and then went over to our friends house who also stayed home together for some yummy breakfast. We had crepes and french toast with milk and egg nog. It was awesome. Later on in the day we had prepared another awesome feast which consisted of Roast Beef and potatoes and carrots. we invited my dad over to eat with us and we had a great time. We watched Christmas movies and went for a sorta bumpy ride around town in the snow in hopes that we could end up in Labor and Delivery, but obviously that didn't happen. I can't believe how much snow we got. It was awesome though.
The day after is always my birthday and I had to wake up early and go to work. How lame....no just kidding it wasn't bad. There were hardly any patients and my co-worker Carrie would not let me work, she made me sit and do nothing. Which I guess was pretty cool of her, she also bought me one of my favorite lunches, Juniper take out. Turkey Steak Sandwich with their amazing steak fries. And We got to close early we went home at around 1pm. Heather came by with Kade later on to visit, that was really fun to see her again and chat. Thanks againd Heather for coming over and for the gift I love it. I can't believe how big Kade is though, he is growing so fast.
Last night Clarke took me to Hamiltons for my Big Brithday dinner, Thanks to Dr. Matt from work for the B-day dinner (He gave everyone a $40 gift card to Hamiltons/Cafe Sabor for xmas. What an awesome guy). On man that was awesome. I loved every minute of that experience. I had the prime rib with sweet potatoes and veggies and Clarke had ter. Chicken with garlic potatoes. It was also really good. Then they gave us some Creme bu' la (i don't know how to spell that) on the house, Holy cow that was also so dang good. And you know when you eat cheesecake and you feel even more full and fat, well this lovely creme bu' la does not make you feel that way, even Clarke said he didn't feel really full after eating it. It was such a fun night to just hang out together and eat at a nice resturant. We went and saw Eagle Eye at the Cinafour after dinnner, which by the way is the worst movie theater ever. The speakers were all fussy the whole time which made it really hard to understand what they were saying at times. The movie was great though and it was cheap, so I guess you get what you pay for. We had a blast needless to say. It may be our last time out on the town by ourseleves for a while so again it was nice to get out. I hope everyone else had a great Christmas!

Nursery

So we finished the Nursery a while ago and I never posted any pictures of it. So here is a little preview, Before and after pictures. I love it, I think it turned really awesome. I'll grab another one with the crib and some decor. Clarke did most of the finshin work. I came home from work one day and it was all done. I was so shocked and so very excited. He is the best husband ever, I love you babe!

Belly at 37 Weeks

Here is an updated belly shot. My great friend Kassandra took some really awesome pictures of me in my nursery the other day and this is one of them. She did a really great job. Thanks Kassandra you are the best!

Thanksgiving.........a little slow I know

A little behind.....

Never before have I ever wanted to cook a turkey by myself since this Thanksgiving. I don't know maybe it's the motherly instincts kicking in, who knows but we sure took on the task and made our very first 21LB Bird. I was a nerd and totally forgot to take a picture of our masterpiece. It was awesome though. Clarke gutted it and I stuffed it with butter. Great team work. On the sunday before thanksgiving we had my dad, brother bryce, Bro Tyler, sister in law Debbie, and their two kids, Jett and Kati over for a great feast. It was so nice. IT was like old times when mom would have all the good stuff waiting for us to eat. We had rolls, vegs tray, cheese and crackers, veggie casserole, cranberry, yams, stuffing, homemade gravy(first time ever making gravy as well, and it turned out pretty darn good if you ask me)and of course Turkey. There was alot of food. We had some friends over the next night. Leslie and Kimball and their little boy Caleb, Tyrell and Whitney, Paul and Kristy, Abby and Dustin and their little boy Jona, and Brian and LaShelle. It was a house full of peps. IT was interesting situating everyone in our kitchen with patio chairs and stools. It was pretty fun though.
On Thanksgiving day we went to my mom's house for the first time since we have been married up in Idaho Falls. It was a nice drive there. Clarke and I listened to Christmas music (which, I wont lie, we had been listeniing to christmas music for a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving) and looked at all the adds in the paper. (well I looked at them and kinda showed Clarke every once and a while, while he drove). We had a really nice time with my family. My mom hadn't seen me since July, so she didn't know how big I really was. It was fun to be there.
I am so thankful for Clarke and my family. I don't know what I would do without them. I don't know what I would do with Clarkeee, I love him so much and everyday I feel so blessed to have found him and married him. We are truely best friends. I always want to be with him, maybe it's because I only see him early in the morning for like 5 mins and at night somedays. We both have been so busy. Clarke is almost all done with his finals....YAY! Then he has one more semister to go, that is until Graduate school. But he will have his Bachlors degree. I'm so proud of him he is such a hard worker, I couldn't ask for a better husband and friend, and Almost Father of my baby......wow 20 more days.....what am I going to do with myself! I am way excited for sure. I can't wait to be a mommy....But I am a little nervous, which is to be expected. Any day now I could call you and give you some sweet news...but for now you just get some boring story about our lives. Enjoy! Love you all

New Vehicular

Goodbye Civic Hello Jeep Liberty
So we went out on a limb and decided it was time to trade the good old Honda Civic in. I have had the Civic since Jan. of '05. It has really been a great little car, I'll be honest I was kinda sad to see it go. We were planning on waiting until next spring when we could get something that had air conditioning and that was a little newer but we just couldn't pass up the incredible deal that was handed to us. We ended up taking home a Red---YES I said RED,(not my favorite but I do love it) JEEP Liberty. It has been such a blast. It has four wheel drive and does very well. It has been so nice to have something new. This is the biggest purchase Clarke and I have ever made so it was a little scary to sign all the papers and put down some money on such a huge thing. But we have felt nothing but good feelings about our decision and have been in love with it. Even Clarke loves.....what am I talking about of course he loves it, IT's a JEEP and is has four wheel drive. Going up the mountain and trying out the four high and low was the first thing we did that night. It does pretty dang well if you ask me. Anyway we are so grateful we have something so relible and something that will hold up in the snow with a new baby. The only draw back is that it does use up a lot of gas. But it's a 15 gallon tank and gas prices have been so nice it only costs less then $30 to fill it up. We feel very blessed. :) I'll post some pictures of the JEEP in a few!

Crazy Pain

So today was my first offical day of feeling the Braxton Hicks. Oh my gosh let me tell you it hurts so much. It could be something else but It hurts. This morning I was walking down the hall at work and my ligaments felt like they were being pinched to death I had to slow way down and breath it hurt so bad. Then later on I felt this tighting in my stomach and a sharp pain for a few sec then it went away. At around 5:20pm I was sitting at work at the computer and I got this very painful feeling in my stomach. I had no idea what it was, but it lasted forever, maybe a good 20 mins or more. The pain got pretty bad then kinda eased up a bit, off and on for like 30 mins. I called Labor and delivery to make sure everything was ok, because it's my first baby and I don't know what to expect. They told me it was probably just uterin pain and to go home and take a nice warm bath and drink a big glass of water or something and if it still hurt to call them back. Well I did just that. The pain did ease up a lot but I still have a little bit of pinching and sharp pain every so often. It is the weirdest thing in the world. I guess my body is just preparing itself for Labor. It's good to have this pain though, I think, so I can feel better prepared for that day when my water breaks and I have to deliver the babe. I have really enjoyed being pregnant, it's been pretty easy so far. This is the most pain I have had the whole time and I only have 8 more weeks left. It's crazy. I feel super blessed. I'm very excited and scared to have a baby and be a mom. I have no idea what to expect but it will be so awesome.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Happy Halloween everyone. I hope everyone had a great day and has a great night. Love ya all

Belly Check

Here are some fun pictures of my changing belly..for those of you who would like an update. I will post more later.

Very 1st BaBy Shower.

Last weekend on the 18th some of my bestest friends in the world threw me the best shower I could ever ask for. They went all out.....Seriously....I told them that I didn't need another shower because they had gotten everything I needed, well pretty much. I love them to pieces. I got so many sweet things, I really almost started crying. It was so fun to see all of our buds and hang out all day chatting and catching up. Thank you to everyone who came and for the gifts I love them all and I'm sure Brooklyn will too. Here are some pictures of the awesome day and who was there.
names of who came: Andrea Taylor, Krystle Fredrickson, Kassie Spens, Kristen Topance, Stacey Jones, Heather Ashcroft, Sharalee Hall, Shawnee Griffeth, Rachel Orneales, Debbie stewart, Julie Kendell, Kalee Eddy, Katie Mock, and Karla and all their beautiful kids.

Happy Anniversary To Us......

I just wanted to post and say that It is Clarke and I 3rd Year Anniversary TodaY! It has been a great day. Full of such Joy and happiness. At work today Clarke stopped to see me to say hi...He also brought with him a dozen colorful roses. THey were GORGeous. I had butterflys and my arms got all tense and tingly. It was like we were dating again..it was awesome needless to say! Clarke is such a wonderful husband I don't know what I would do without him. He does so much for me and always puts me first before himself. I LOVE you Babe!
To be contin......

Labor Day Weekend

This last weekend for Labor day Clarke and I went to visit my brother and sister in law in West Point. My sister in law (Debbie) just had a baby girl, Kati, on July 30th so we wanted to go see her again and hang out with our fam. Clarke had just had knee surgery on tues the 26th so we couldn't really go anywhere like camping...But we really needed to get out of our house. It was pretty fun just hangin around with them. They are so funny and are always way cool. I just pretty much followed Debbie around while she bathed Kati, changed her diaper, watched her change her clothes and helpt out where I could. It was so much fun, really, to watch and learn. I was really really excited to be a mom and take care of my baby girl. Being there and having her teach me all sorts of things has helpt me realize that I can do this and that I really am going to love being a mom.

Here are some pictures of how my belly is looking these days. Depending on what I am wearing makes the difference in how big I look.
Brown shirt: 16 weeks
Pink shirt: 15 Weeks
Yellow shirt: 19 weeks
Greent shirt: 19 weeks

Boy or Girl

Most of you know already but On wed. the the 6th of Aug. we went to the doc again to find out what we are having, a Boy or a Girl. I was pretty sure it was a boy. Every time we went to the store all I would look at is the boy clothes because I was set on having a boy, just a feeling I had. However during our ultra sound the lady told us it was a GIRL. I was like what, are you sure. She said Oh Yeah, I am 100% sure, I would defantly buy pink for sure she said. She explained all we needed to know about how she figured it was a girl to help us see for ourselves. It was absolutly insane and so incredible. Clarke wanted a girl first and I really was fine with whatever gender it was, as long as it is healthy. But I was totally wrong, hahaha Oh well maybe i'll have a boy someday. We are way way excited needless to say.

St. George

2 weekends ago we took a much needed trip to St. George. It was so much fun! We left on Friday after work and then came home on Monday. We didn't do a ton, just mostly hung out with family and shopped. We did drive to Zion's Canyon; it's only 25 miles away from Clarkes parents house....how did we not know that before? Anyway it was a way pretty drive, The mountains there are incredible I never seen such beautiful peaks and mountains we loved it. We didn't drive through the canyon because it was sunday and we didn't want to pay $25 to go through, Maybe another day. We also didn't have air condtioning so I thought I would be dieing of heat or get way sick, but we had lots of cold water and stayed pretty well dehyradted, I was just fine, it wasn't bad at all. We had a blast. It's always fun to visit places like that. Here are some pictures of the beauty! Oh and there was a field of Moose. It was awesome!

MEMORIES

I got this from Heather's blog and it sounds fun. If you have anything memorable to say about me, now is the time. I would love to hear what people remember about me. Here are the instructions:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a lot or a little, anything you remember.

2. Next, repost these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you.

This is fun and I hope you all will share your memories with me! So start thinking hard! Also when you leave a comment, you are tagging yourself, so repost the instructions on your own blog and see what people have to say about you. Have fun!

Our Frist Dr Apt

On July 1st I finally went to the Doctor(well kinda)...YAY! This day was just to get my blood drawn and talk with the Nurse. It went really fast and I was excited to go back the next day to see the Doctor for real. On Wed the 2nd of July at 8:45am I went and saw Dr. Kirkman For the first time. Everything was going great with the pregnancy. We had an ultra sound and got to see the baby for the first time. It was incredible. I couldn't believe it was really there, it was so werid and so cool. I thought when this day came I would cry when I saw the baby but I think I was still in shock or something because I didn't end up crying, oh well though no big deal! We got 4 pictures that I will post when Clarke gets home with the camera (he's at scout camp). It was the most incredible feeling to know that this 3 in baby is growing inside of me. I'm pretty sure it's grown a lot more since the 2nd. I am really excited for our next apt on the 30th. I will be about 18 in a half weeks then so hopefully we will be able to know what we will be having. I really think it's a boy but you never can be to sure. I'm also excited to see what it looks like if anything has changed from the first time. This is so exciting and so crazy at the same time. I can't even put it into words.

A wonderful sense of joy

What an incredibly wonderful day. I have had such a spiritual uplifting day. Today in sac. we sang 'As we take the sacrament' I couldn't help but cry with an overwelming feeling of joy. The spirit fell upon me like I have never felt before. Our ward has the best people in it. We are always singing so strongly as if we are all so excited to be with our heavenly father someday. I always feel so lucky to have such a wonderful ward family. Esp. our great friends Lindsay and Brad. They are so kind and fun to be with, not to mention their beautiful kids. They are always so happy and so sweet, They just melt your heart. We love you guys! I love Sundays. I love the gospel. I love the way I feel when I am apart of it every day. I love all of you. I hope you all have a great week.

Long Long Week

So this week has already been way crazy.. I worked a 15 hour shift yesterday. I have never done that in my life. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I, surprising was not even tired until I got home. Tomorrow I have to work from 3 til midnight. I am really not looking forward to that at all. Plus i'll be by myself. But I get friday through monday off and we are going out of town..Yeeah! I couldn't be more thrilled. I have been looking forward to this trip for weeks and can't wait to get out of here. Anyway it's already been such a long week I just want it to be Friday. I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Our new side business

Here are a few things we have started with. We can do pretty much anything you would like. If you would like us to make you something just let us know. We love doing it.

one more thing.....

I am due on Dec. 30th and I am 9 weeks along.

For Realz

For those of you who don't know yet I am Pregnant. This is for real. Clarke and I are so excited and very nervous. Things have just fallin into place for us and we feel the lord knows what is best for us. We couldn't be more happy. I found out on April 28th and have wanted to post so bad but we had to inform the family and friends first. So that is why it's been a dang month since my last post. Sorry about that. We love all of you!

GOOD NEWS

I am so excited...I got the job! It is a phleb2 position; And I seriously get Beneifts. That is what i'm most excited about. I was walking out to my car after work today and I starting crying, I was so HAPPY and full of gratitude. I feel so blessed. I also got a huge raise, and once I pass this coding class that i'll be going to next month I'll get another 5% raise. I can't believe how everything just works out piece by piece and in it's own time. I am so excited I can't tell you enough! Thank you all for your support. I love you all!
This week in class, actually tonight. I had another 4 successful draws and 4 finger pokes. I hate the finger pokes. I'm so glad we don't do those in the lab. Anyway class is fun and I have 6 weeks left.

Good Week in Class

So this week went a lot better in class. I had 4 successful draws and wasn't scared at all. I was steady and i did a good job. I drew a guy and his veins were so amazing so i'm sure that helped. I really am loving it now. It's so weird how you can be so completly terrified of something and hate it and then the week or so you are totally the opposite. I'm so glad that I am doing better. I had an interview for a phleb/recep on Tues. I really almost threw up I was so nervous...that has never happened to me before. I really shouldn't of even been nervous b/c I know all the ladies who interviewed me, two of them were my supervisor's, But it went well. I will find out if I got the job today or tomorrow. There are 4 canidates and 2 positions. If I get it I will start training right away and work down in the Budge Lab.

Phlebotomy AHHHHH!

So I started my Phlebotomy class last wed.! It is going to be a fun class except I can't seem to stay calm when ever my prof. talks about drawing blood. My heart literally starts beating so fast I have just breath deeply. So The class runs every wed. night and last night we had to start drawing eachothers blood. It was really terrifing for me. I was shaking and had to take several deep breaths. I don't know if I'm going to make it. I really want to be able to master this art but It's going to take a lot of work. I am willing to put the work into it but it's just getting over my fear is the problem. I did pretty well needless to say for my first time ever drawing blood. Let me tell you, it is a definant coordination process. Thats why I call it an art. Last night I also had a nightmare about phlebotomy. I was drawing blood and while I was trying to puch out the tube of blood the needle pulled up not out and forced the skin to rise with it creating a pocket full of blood. I thought the vein was going to explode. I woke up to my heart beating so fast. I was so scared. (I know this sounds weird but i was really scared). I tryed to think of something else but everytime I closed my eyes all I could see or think about was drawing blood. I could barely stand it. I was so mad and frecked out. I finally got back to sleep and woke up and got ready for work and when I thought about drawing blood I was amazingly calm. So maybe the dream just helped me get over my fear. But we will see when the time comes again to draw blood. Sorry this post is so long.

This last weekend Clarke and I went to my brothers house in Syracuse for the third weekend in a row. It was a blast. We went for bike ride-(motorcycle ride) Watched conference and just hung out. I also got a free old vintage sowing machine from my sister in laws parents. It is awesome. I have been wanting a sowing machine FOREVER and now I have one YAY! Plus my friend Jem from work is going to give me sowing lessons. Here are some cute/cool pictures of the weekend of family. Mostly my cute nephew Jett. He's going pro....(basketball).....when he gets older. Tee Hee!