Tuesday

Last night my mashed potatoes turned out a little more paste-y rather than fluffy. Anyone know what I did wrong? Well, I know what I did right- the flavor. I think they were the best tasting potatoes I've ever had!! I used golden (I tossed the package so I'm not sure which variety) potatoes, milk, butter, salt, chicken broth, evaporated milk. Oh so good!!!
Oh, and my baby has been kicking, dancing, swimming, moving pretty much non-stop since about a week ago. It is so fun. Not as much fun when he seems to wedge himself under my right rib. You can feel him from the outside now. Feel free to touch my belly next time you see me, he'll probably promptly kick you.
Had my two 5th graders do a word scramble during the last five minutes of tutoring instead of the regular hangman. It was a hit. Here try your luck, the topic is history:
PPRAE SWA IEVTNNDE NI CAHNI.

Today

Today was my first day back at work in a week and a half. (Last week our school district has Thurs and Fri for "Fall Break"). I can't tell you how therapeutic (sp?) it was to spend time with my mom. I didn't realize how starved I was for family-time. I miss my siblings and my parents, maybe even more now that I'm pregnant. It sucks not to be able to see them every week and to be low on cellphone minutes so I can't even talk to all of them. I should have called them all over the weekend, especially Robin, but somehow I wasn't in a talking mood on Sunday. I did try calling Sarah several times in the past week, but I can't ever get ahold of her. Please keep her in your prayers as she is having severe medical problems.
Anyway, back to today. It's been a good day. I slept in, checked my email, did the dishes, and looked good for work. English and History went well with my high schoolers and tutuoring with my elementary kids was less frustrating than usual. I must have needed that break from them. We are on to the Middle Ages in history and that should be fun to research and teach.
I have a turkey roast in the oven and I'm making real mashed potatoes, gravy, and peas to go with it. Or I could do cooked carrots, or salad... but peas would be easy and good. Brandon gets home from The Good Shepherd Clinic around 8:00, so we will eat a late dinner while watching Heroes, my current favorite show. Have you seen it? You've got to. Brandon even watches it every week and I don't know if he's EVER followed a show before.
Orson Scott Card, one of my favorite authors, writes a weekly column on his website (www.hatrack.com) called OSC Reviews Everything. I don't read it very often, but I love it. He talks about the Fall TV season and said this about Heroes, "Since the actor playing Hiro, Masi Oka, may be the most infectiously enthusiastic human ever to appear on television, he alone would be reason to watch this show. But he's not alone. " My sentiments exactly.

Off to whip some potatoes! (I'm gonna have to have a sampling of those before B gets home).

Pregnant Traveler

Here's me and Mom on Boston's Freedom Trail. Some of it is a red brick line like you see here (this part at the beginning had these cute ground markers) and some of it is a red paint line on the sidewalk/road. It is about 2 1/2 miles long and goes past a lot of historical sites, like Paul Revere's home built in the 1600s, the site of the Old North Church where they hung the "one if by land" lantern, and the building where the Declaration of Independence was written, etc. Very cool walk.
This one is in front of the Mayflower II, a replica of the ship the first Pilgrims came over on. My ancestor, William Bradford, rode on the original.

New England

Well, we stayed in Massachusetts the entire trip except for a night in New Hampshire, where the leaves were admittedly even better colors than in Mass. My favorite places in eastern Mass? Here's photos of each.

Nantucket Island. Here's the harbor.

Lexington was a quick stop but it was lovely and full of history.













Plymouth was adorable.











Concord was stunning.

To my loyal readers

Thank you for the comments and emails. It's good to know that people are still reading this. Just got home 2 hours ago from my vacation. Here is my favorite picture of me from the trip. It's at a flooded cranberry bog in Nantucket. Mom and I had a great time!

Quick Update

Even though it appears that nobody is still reading my blog from the lack of comments. Robin and Jill care, so this is for you two (Have you seen the Sonic commercial about the guy's blog that only his mom reads?).
Anyway...
On the 19th my cousin Jill, a flight attendant, had an overnight layover in Oklahoma City. I haven't seen her in probably 5 years, she is 3 years younger than me and we've never been very close. Well, we are good friends now! I picked her up at her hotel and she took me out to dinner as a birthday gift. We pigged out at the Spagetti Warehouse and then I showed her around Bricktown and the OKC Bombing Memorial. We talked a lot. It's amazing how having dad's that are brothers (with similar personalities and tempraments) gives you plenty in common. Love you Jill!
More recently:
Just finished teaching the Chinese Dynasties for history to my two high school students. Teaching history is SO fun, more fun than English lately.
Last Friday Brandon got to go down to Dallas with his cousin Jamon. They met up with Alan (B's dad) there and had a blast golfing the day away. The next day they went to the OU vs. University of Texas game. It's the big rivalry in this region of the country. There tickets were $300 each. Good thing Alan was paying. Too bad OU lost. Brandon hasn't been to a single OU game since he started going to school here three years ago. Alan decided to make his senior year memorable. They all had a GREAT time!
This past Saturday I went to my friend Jenny's wedding. It was held outdoors at a B&B in Norman. Lovely setting! There were only about 40 guests and I felt privledged to be there . I've known Jenny less than two years, but we really enjoy eachother's company. It was a beautiful ceremony and a very delicious reception.
Saturday evening, our friend Ryan, a pilot, had an overnight layover in OKC. I spent 1 1/2 hours chatting with him and two of his co-workers at the Cajun Kitchen. It was great to see him. Maybe some pregnancy hormones will have transfered to him, he and his wife Elaine, my dear friend, have been trying for a baby even longer than us. I'm glad he got to see my belly cause I don't know if he'll get another chance.
Sunday I taught in Relief Society. The lesson went really well, I ended on time, and I didn't get as nervous as last time (no sweaty armpits) and I made it thru the lesson without crying but still had the spirit there. I hope it's always that good.
Pregnancy update: my belly is steadily growing, my baby is fairly active. I've had two horrible charlie horses so far and two recent days of outrageous hormones. Overall, everything is fantastic.
Well, I gotta run pack for my New England trip. More when I get home. (Can't get photos to upload ANY way right now, sorry).

Slide Show

I made my first slide show on slide.com, very easy. I posted it on my myspace page. I will do one for on here later. Go check it out at: http://www.myspace.com/listlady
I also suggesting hitting the play button on the screen twice to hear my profile song (I don't know how to make it play automatically). It is performed by my second-cousin-in-laws, two cute BYU students with a lot of talent.

Just some ramblings

I miss my long hair. Right now my hair is at that really ugly middle stage as I try to grow it out. My pregnancy and prenatals seems to have no effect on my hair (color, thickness, or growing rate). These pictures are from last September when my hair was still long. Boo hoo.

I also must make mention of birthday season which is upon me. August was two of my sister's birthdays and one of my sister-in-laws.September was my birthday and two of my brother's. October is Grandma Donna's (pictured above), Dad's, a sister, and a brother-in-law. November is my other 3 sister-in-law's birthdays and a brother and my anniversary and Thanksgiving. Wow!

Lastly I must mention upcoming trips: New England, Illinois, Utah, and Arizona. Mom has agreed to be my travel companion for my final vacation (not a trip to see family) before I have children. We went to New York in October of 2003 and always talk about making a tradition of taking fall trips. I guess we'll plan to go again in October 2009. We are spending 5 glorious days traveling around the Boston area. Pictures and stories when I return on the 18th.

We will be spending Thanksgiving in Illinois with Brandon's mom's family. We will probably drive since the flight prices are ridiculous. Hopefully we'll get to spend a day in Milwalkee or Chicago while we're there. Grandma emailed me that all her kids will be in Mesa for Thanksgiving. Wish I'd known that a few months ago, I'd love to see my extended family!

Christmas will be spent in Utah. We will probably hole up for several days in Heber at my father-in-law's enormous cabin there. I wonder if I can snowmobile really slowly at 33 weeks pregnant? We will be spending Dec. 28- Jan. 1st in Mesa with my family. Can't wait to show off my huge belly!

Halfway Through!

My pregnancy is halfway over! I can't believe it. Here's my belly at 21 weeks. As of last week I had gained 10 lbs. How will I be able to carry 15-20 more?! I love my belly. I like the size bigger boobs too. Things have been pretty easy up to this point, let's hope they continue that way.

28

For those of you who asked about my birthday.

I had an absolutely fantastic birthday this year. It started about a month ago really. I'd told people I was shopping for a new blender. My mother-in-law told me she loved hers and that she would get me one just like it for my birthday. About a week later I got a blender, a mortal & pestal, a Led Zeppelin cd, and a dvd in the mail from amazon. She said it was much easier to do it in August than to wait til the beginning of the school year when she would be swamped. Thanks McBrides!!

Last week I decided I wanted a birthday party. I haven't had a party in a couple years and I wanted one. I decided to do a girl's night, just good food and games (It's my birthday and I'll do what I want, nobody came up with anything more appealing and I'm a geek and a homebody). I invited my five best Oklahoma girlfriends, several gals from church that I've been wanting to get to know better and about 3 other friends. I posted an invitation on evite and didn't have to do much else.

Wednesday was my actual birthday. Friday I received a great birthday package from my best friend, Jen, in Utah. Tuesday I received a birthday card and spending money from my parents, a cd from my sister Robin, and a big box from my husband's dad's wife, Linda. Wednesday morning I didn't have to work and B didn't have to be at school. We slept in late, had waffles for breakfast, and enjoyed a lazy morning. I opened my package from the Jensens and was thrilled that it was stuffed full of new maternity clothes and a few other treats. I taught all afternoon and when I got home Brandon took me to Shogun Japanese Steakhouse, a Hibachi grill place where they cook your meal right in front of you. It was highly entertaining and very tasty. He got me an amazon gift certificate (which I already ordered a dvd and cd with) and a camelbak:) I got phone calls all day from my loved ones and several seranades of the Happy Birthday song. It was a GREAT day.

Last night was my little party. Eight people (my favorite party guest #) showed up (Lacey, Megan, Alisha, Jennifer, Victoria, Jenny, Rachel, and Sandra), all my favorites, and we had a great time. There was great conversation and food (especially Alisha's from scratch chocolate cake) and we never even bothered with the games. Three of my guests were over til about 2 am! That's a late night for any of us. The birthday is finally over and I am completely satisfied. Thanks!

Best Day

Yesterday Brandon and I went in for my sonogram. We both agree that it was truly the most fun, exciting thing that has ever happened to us. It is indescribably miraculous to get to see the baby inside your uterus moving around and to see the organs and bones and experience the wonder of life inside yourself.

Our little boy has 10 fingers and 10 toes, a working liver, 2 kidneys, bladder, healthy spine and tailbone. He is very wiggly.

Some Perspective

My 19 year old brother is currently serving a full-time mission for our church. He is living in Madagascar. Here is some perspective from people halfway around the world in a developing country. This is a blurb from his last email that I found extremely interesting:

"kids here have some of the most ridiculous games. 1)little girls are always playing the rock game. they take a few fist sized rocks and make a family and talk in different voices for them, and when one is talking to another they hit the one listening with the one thats talking in rythm. funny. 2)boys play karate fight. not just wrassling, but taking karate stances and making chinese sounds when they kick or stomp and roundhouse kicking all the time. 3)playing soccer with balls that are so worn out it would definitely have been trash in the states , or with balls made of plastice bags smushed together and held with string or rubber.
funny experiences---walking around people always say "good morning" to us in english (even if it is 8 at night ) and every now and then they want to try to talk more english so they stop and either say the normal hello how are you doing stuff or just random english. but they slur alot together and we cant tell what they are saying so we are like, "what? i dont understand" very slowly and clearly for them and like 3 times this week teenage guys have just been like "yes. i am not very good speak english" and then just walk away without saying anything else. its pretty funny and sad too, cuz you can tell they thought they were pretty good, but im pretty sure the teachers are the problem. we have 2 former investigators that taught english classes that were horrible at english. haha and all the teenage guys sound like kermit the frog when they switch to english, but just normal in malagasy. nice people.
---another story. the other day we went to an investigators and talked with his family and the mom had the funniest things to say. she asked where we were from and we told her Amerika and she was all, "Oh, from Paradise" (which is just paradisa in malagasy ) so that was pretty funny, then we talked about why its not exactly paradise and her argument was "Well, there arent any poor people in America" and when we explained that there were she was so gaga, or astonished or baffled, and then said, "Well there aren't any ugly people in America." pretty much how they know about america is through big films and music videos, especially pop and rap ones. so its a little one sided. its kind of a joke with malagasy's that all they do is eat rice, pray, and sleep. haha. rice is their life essence. i love it. oh, alot of malagasy's are blown away when they find out that Amerikans eat rice too. haha alot dont know that you can get it in amerika. haha. i love their simple minds. anyways, then the mom was talking about our eyes and she thought that all blue eyes could see perfectly and elder blaylock said "That not true. I'm blind almost" they all laughed like it was the funniest thing ever until he started explaining about contacts. man, she was seriously blown away by that. by that time she was pretty much yelling everything just cuz she was so amazed and then after we explained them i took one of mine out and showed her and she threw her hands up and just held her head for a sec, then pretty much yelled, "AMERIKANS ARE SO SMART. THATS GENIOUS. THEY ARE SO ADVANCED. GLASSES IN THEIR EYES." then she was asking if we could still see off to the sides and she was just so amazed. that was probly the funniest night ever since i have been out here. plus it just makes it that much funner to understand her in a foreign language and to see her face, and in malagasy the word for glasses means literally "eye replacements". somehow in the context that just made me laugh harder too. whoo-wee."

Snot

Sniffled 2 or 3 times yesterday. Last night my throat started really hurting. This morning I woke up miserable! My head aches, my throat hurts, snot is dripping, my body aches... It's my own fault, I've stayed up late too many nights in the past two weeks and that always does it to me. I just had a bowl of cream of wheat and a cup of hot mint tea. The humidifier is on in my bedroom and I'm heading back to bed after I take some benedryl. My boss says I shouldn't, but if, after I've rested and been drugged, I feel any better, I want to go to school for my 2 high school kids and give them the Romeo & Juliet tests I worked so hard on. They each get their own. ANYway...

Photo Shoot

In six days we will find out the sex of our baby. We are SO excited!!!

States I've Been To

http://www.world66.com/myworld66/visitedStates/statemap?visited=AZARCAFLHIIDILLAMONVNMNYOKORTXUTWY">
> your own visited states map

Stole this idea for a blog from my cousin-in-law, Stephanie. Hers was a world map, but since I've only stayed in four countries, it looked pretty bare. Singapore isn't even visible on a map that small. My state map leaves a lot to be desired in the east.... Someday!

Four Months Along

Today I am at my 18 week mark in my pregnancy. Everyone comments on my belly now. I like to rub it and poke at it and talk to it. Tomorrow I will schedule my sonogram for sometime in the next 3 weeks.

My Wish List

I used to have a huge 200-and-something item ongoing wishlist on Amazon. It felt like retail therapy just to put things on the list and imagine having all of them. Now I keep my list down to 25 items, in case someone actually wants to shop from it, which my in-laws often do. Whenever I want to add something to the list, I make myself either remove something else from the list or not add it.
Here are 15 items off my current list. I think people's desired possessions are revealing into their personality. What's on your "wishlist"?

Stevie Wonder - The Definitive Collection ~ Stevie Wonder


Screen Adaptation: A Scriptwriting Handbook, Second Edition by Kenneth Portnoy


Hoover U5269-900 EmPower Bagless Upright Vacuum Offered by Allergy Be GoneHoover


Wives and Daughters DVD ~ Nicholas Renton


Extraordinary Machine ~ Fiona Apple


Frommer's New England's Best-Loved Driving Tours (Best Loved Driving Tours)

Thankful ~ Kelly Clarkson


Art of Homemaking by Daryl Hoole


Arrested Development - Season Two DVD ~ Jason Bateman $19.88


Pafuera Telarañas ~ Bebe $9.99

Prokofiev: Greatest Hits ~ Dimitri Mitropoulos $9.98

Rock of Ages: 30 Favorite Hymns ~ Mormon Tabernacle Choir


Catch a Fire: The Life of Bob Marley by Timothy White


Men Fake Foreplay ... And Other Lies That Are True by Mike Dugan

Greatest Hits ~ Red Hot Chili Peppers

Unique Gifts

I stole this idea for this blog from Robin. I also have a friend who makes wonderful and unique gifts. This is the picture of the bracelet and earring set I bought last week. It was handmade by my talented friend, Sara Jane. You can find her website at: http://www.sterlingandstonesjewelry.com/ it also has a link to her e-bay shop. My favorite pair of earrings is also something I bought from Sara Jane. I am planning to use her for gifts in the future. It will be nice to give people something one-of-a-kind.

17 Weeks

Today I felt my baby move! Yep, there was definitely something weird going on in my stomach area, something I'd never felt before (though similar to gas pains) and then suddenly there was a shifting of weight to the right side of my body. It actually felt harder on the left then on the right for a few minutes. Several minutes later I felt it again. Today's belly movements are big excitement in my life. Now I will top off my evening with a gigantic bowl of Taco Rice, which I will probably have to eat in two sittings an hour apart, because my stomach seems to have shrunk (though my belly size is considerably un-shrunk).

Fhqwhgads, etc.

(Photo courtesty of http://www.johnrandallyork.com/ )

All sorts of thoughts in my head tonight and things I want to blog about. Seems like everyone blogged today, all my relatives here on blogspot and a bunch of my friends on myspace. When you comment on people's blogs and it has you type in that "code" of a jumbled bunch of letters, it always makes me think of "fhqwhgads." If you have not heard the word, fhqwhgads (pronounced fhuwgods) before, then you haven't browsed the homestar runner webpage enough. Click on my link to "Strongbad emails" which actually takes you to the Homestar homepage. Then click on "toons" at the bottom, followed by "Powered by The Cheat", and finally click on "Everybody to the Limit." Be prepared for some complete nonsense, silliness, and surprisingly, a bit of entertainment.
Second: I went maternity shopping on Saturday. Got some great stuff (on sale) at Target. Also bought a few shirts off e-bay and some pants from oldnavy.com.
Also went into TJ Maxx and discovered they have no maternity clothes but do have great Halloween and fall decorations. I snatched up some cute mini-lantern lights to go in one of my windows. Halloween decorations go up at our home promptly on September 1st as to take advantage of two full months of spookiness. I don't have nearly enough Halloween decor, but I also don't have many places to PUT decorations. I would like to put spiderwebs up somewhere this year. We'll see... Fortunately on Saturday the girl I was shopping with (we'll call her "Lacey", cause her name IS Lacey) shared my glee over holiday decorations. We decided to make one final stop on our shopping trip. We popped in at Hobby Lobby just to enjoy the aisles and aisles of "harvest" decor:) Oh joy!
And lastly, I'd like to mention that stretching Romeo and Juliet out to 22 one and a half hour lessons is a lot of work. And it is to that work that I head again now.