Stupid

I saw this article on facebook and decided to read it since it seemed to cause quite a stir. Read it here. Elizabeth Smart said that she didn't escape her kidnappers because of what she was taught in the church about sex. I understand that rape is a traumatic experience and it is normal to feel worthless but that's not the church's fault! Then to go and say that certain verses in the Book of Mormon need to be removed?? Are you serious? Some people are so stupid. It's not the church's fault. What's so wrong about teaching young women about chastity and virtue? Nothing that happened to her is considered a sin in the church. It wasn't her fault. So it pisses me off that she would speak out against the teachings of the church and blame it on them. Any opinions are welcome. Just had to vent about it.

Psalms 56:4

 "In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my ^atrust; I will not ^bfear what flesh can do unto me."

I was thinking the other night about all the madness in the world. The bombings, the shootings, etc. I keep seeing people say how scared they are now because of how far gone this world is. But when I think about it, we were told in the scriptures to fear God, not man. What are we doing? We're fearing man rather than trusting in God. In the Bible Dictionary under fear it says, "Sin destroys that feeling of confidence God’s child should feel in a loving Father and produces instead a feeling of shame and guilt. Ever since the Fall God has been teaching men not to fear, but with penitence to ask forgiveness in full confidence of receiving it." While the focus of that is on sinning, I think it applies to more than that. I think in general fearing anything causes us to lose confidence in our Heavenly Father's plan. Sure, all the stuff that's been going on is scary and I understand how none of us want that to happen to us and we feel bad for those affected by it. However, I don't think we need to dwell on it and be afraid of living life. Whatever happens happens. As long as we trust in God and are living righteously we'll be okay. So in my mind that means there is no reason to fear. We just need to have faith. Unfortunately, things are only going to get worse. Worrying about what's happened won't help us progress, fear will only hold us back.

I didn't explain that as well as I wanted to but it was hard to translate my thoughts. Oh well, I hope it made sense. If not, it makes sense to me!

Chicken Casserole

I loooove this stuff so I'm going to share it!

• cubed chicken
• 1 can cream of chicken
• 1 cup cheese (I use cheddar or mozzarella)
• 1/2 cup mayo
• 1 Tbs lemon juice
• 2 tubes refrigerated biscuits
• melted butter
• seasoned bread crumbs/stuffing mix

Mix the first 5 ingredients until cheese is melted. Then pour into casserole dish. Then dip each biscuit in butter then bread crumbs and place on top. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

I've been thinking...

I've been thinking about blogging...I just haven't done it until today :) I haven't really had a lot of time and I haven't had much I felt like talking about. My blog is like me in person: if I don't have anything to say, I keep quiet. Last week we took a last minute trip to Battle Mountain, NV. Rick had to drop something off for work so it was just there and back but I figured Jade and I could use some fresh scenery. Plus it was nice practice for our long roadtrip to IA and MI in August! The good thing is, Jade will be a little older by then...or is that a good thing? Haha. She mostly slept which is probably why she didn't sleep too well once we got home. Oh well, such is life. Speaking of sleeping, she's been doing well. She slept through the night once last week -- the first time! Other than that miraculous night she's back to her normal sleeping habits of waking up once after about 7-8 hours. I can handle that :) The other night I heard her fussing so I figured she was hungry. I went into her room to discover that she was still sleeping but she was trying to roll over in her sleep which is why she was fussing. Silly girl, if you don't want to roll over, don't do it! She woke up around 4:45 this morning so I went to her room and found that she had turned sideways, rolled over, and had a leg sticking out of the crib. I fed her and put her back to sleep. When she woke up for good at around 8:30 she had rotated sideways again. What a silly girl!

Here's something else I've been thinking about: family history. I started doing some work on www.familysearch.org and I've come across a troubling situation. I think about it every day...I have a relative I'm stuck on! His name is Albert Seeley and he is my Great Great Grandfather. We know who he was married to and we know who his children are. We also know when and where he was born. As for his parents...all I know is his dad is from Scotland and his mother is from England. You would think I could find a birth record of Albert that would have them listed but no...there is nothing. There isn't even a census that has them together! The only census Albert is on is with his wife and that's how I know where his parents are from. Where do you go from there?? Why is there no record?? Has it just not been indexed yet? I guess I better start indexing again if that's the case (good thing I LOVE it!). All I can really do is pray and be patient and hope that someone with more knowledge of stuff like this can help me out!

4 Months!

Jade is 4 months already! Time definitely flies! She is just shy of 13 lbs and is 25 inches long (in the 78th percentile)! She gained about 3 lbs since last month which means she jumped from the 13th percentile to the 34th in weight :) YAY! She's growing! I wasn't too thrilled about having to switch to formula (mainly because it isn't free haha) but it's been so wonderful ever since I've switched. She's so much happier and she's gaining weight. I don't know how I put up with such a fussy baby for so long and it honestly makes me feel bad for basically starving her :( But all is well now and that's all that matters! She was sleeping really well but lately it's been rough...I'm going to blame it on teething because I honestly don't know what else it could be. I just stopped swaddling her since she can roll over now but she started sleep regression before that so the tooth it is! Her pediatrician said she's ahead of the game since she's already got a tooth breaking through but I've heard lots of moms who had early teethers so I wasn't too surprised when I noticed a tooth (I was surprised how close it was to breaking through when I noticed it though haha). She's lost a lot of hair too which could either be from cradle cap or her head growing...or both...but it looks like it's starting to grow back so that's good. She's cute either way though :)

I think that's about it for the updates...I'll eventually post the pictures on my camera from the Jazz game...maybe I'll go do that now...

I haven't quit yet!

I know it's been a few days but I haven't given up on blogging yet! I've just been busy and haven't had much to say anyway. Rick's family all got together for Easter weekend and that kept us busy. Jade is getting more active each day and I love it! I love that she can entertain herself for good chunks of time and now that she's getting enough to eat she's napping a lot :) She's finally getting the hang of rolling over but she usually screams the whole time, silly girl. Every now and then she sits up on her own too! I'm excited for her 4 month appointment on Monday so I can see how much she really has grown! This weekend is General Conference which is always exciting. It will be interesting with a baby -- she's so distracting haha. Oh, and the Jazz game with Briana was really fun!! She lost though :( It was completely chance how they picked the winner. They each picked a number and then one by one they would eliminate a number. She got a year's supply of coke products though! I told her she's in charge of drinks for every party haha.

Also, if anyone can find cute baby shorts for sale let me know! Jade gets so hot but I don't always want her just in a onesie -- I don't mind just onesies but little outfits are so much cuter! I looked at walmart the last time I was there and they only have shorts in toddler sizes :( I'm also looking for a bumbo for a decent price...it doesn't matter what color, they sell cute covers now!

That's all for today, I'll try to write more tomorrow.

Higher Education

I am going to share my honest opinion on college -- and I'm allowed to have this opinion because I actually went to college, so you can't tell me that I don't understand. I went to college and all I got out of it was a piece of paper and debt. I think college is only worth it if you are going for something that is in demand like a doctor, a teacher, an engineer. I got my bachelor's in Home and Family Living. What's that? Basically it's the major women who were married and still going to school got. Why did I do it? I wasn't married. I did it for the interior design emphasis. I didn't want to transfer schools and have to start all over, and it's the only thing I was interested in. Bad choice with such a crappy economy. Who has money for an interior designer? And if they do have money why would they want a newbie? Don't get me wrong, I met a lot of awesome people while at school and I'm glad some of them are still in my life but really, all I got out of my education was debt. As Rick always says, higher education doesn't mean going to college -- we have the internet! With the internet we have access to so much information and all we need is a connection! There are also loads of books you can read to gain a higher education. No one ever said you have to pay thousands and thousands of dollars to go to college to learn. Plus there are all the general classes you have to take that you'll never actually use. What a waste of time... Having a degree made it harder for me to get a job because I was overqualified for everything and employers assume that you want more money if you have a degree so they'd rather higher some high school student even though I would have been much more reliable.

Here's another thing I don't understand: why do mother's of young children (infants especially) feel the need to go to college? Especially when their long term goal is to be a stay at home mom. What is the point? If you want to be a stay at home mom, then be one! You don't need a degree to do that! Be at home with your kids -- they need you! Mothers are responsible for nurturing and you can't nurture your kids while you're away at school learning something you most likely won't use and you can just learn on your own at home. I understand some moms do need to work and in some cases a college education is needed. But in most of the cases I know where the mom is going to school it isn't necessary.

Alright, rant over :)

Jazz

I love the Jazz, even when they suck. I can't help but love them. There aren't any thugs on their team like on all the others. Anyway, the reason I'm writing about the Jazz today is because in one week Briana and I will be attending a Jazz game in the Coke suite!! Briana is a finalist in the sleepover contest (you can win a sleepover for you and 9 friends, dinner and a movie, breakfast, watch the Jazz practice, then get another free Jazz game) so we get to go to a game where they will then pick the winner at half time. I'm SO EXCITED!! I really really really really hope she wins! How fun would that be?! I'm positive we'd meet the whole team and that would be freakin awesome! So you should all start praying that she wins so we can have a center court sleepover :)

Here's me, Briana, and Darcy with Gordon Hayward last year!

Jade's Birth Story

First of all, let me just say that I did not enjoy being pregnant. I was always really excited to be pregnant and I hoped I was one of those glowing, perfect pregnant women...I wasn't. I may not have looked awful, I didn't gain a ton of weight, I was all belly, but I did not enjoy it. I was sick just about the whole pregnancy and it didn't matter if I ate or not. Zofran was my lifesaver! I would have died without it. I was also always tired...whoever said you get your energy back in the 2nd trimester is a liar. I never had energy -- ever! It's probably a good thing I stopped working so early so I could keep my sanity. I would have loved to just sleep all the time -- everyone says to sleep as much as you can before the baby comes but I had insomnia the last month. I guess my body was preparing me for no sleep once Jade arrived haha. Some of you may be thinking "I never heard you complain, I didn't know you didn't like it" (or maybe you did, I'm not perfect) that's because I figure complaining wouldn't make it go away, so why annoy everyone? It would only make things worse!

I went to the doctor for my 39 week check up on Thursday, December 6th and I was dilated to about a 2 and he said I was pretty effaced. Since he was estimating that Jade would be about 7.5 lbs and I have a narrow pelvis we decided to schedule an induction for early Monday morning. I was relieved, I didn't want to be pregnant anymore, but I was also nervous and a tad bummed because I really wanted her on 12/12/12. Turns out, Jade had plans of her own! I don't remember much, just that that night Lisa, Landon and Claire came over and I was laughing really hard because Claire had put like 10 bows in her hair. I remember feeling a strong cramp and it hurt to laugh but it was so funny I just couldn't stop. I had trouble sleeping that night because I was cramping on and off. Finally around 1:00 am I couldn't sleep through them anymore so I started to time them. They were pretty regular, about 1-2 minutes apart, so I called the hospital. The nurse wasn't very helpful, she told me that I could come in but since it was my first they'd probably send me home. So she told me to take a bath, wait an hour, and see if they go away. They didn't. They got much stronger and more painful. I woke Rick up before my bath to tell him I might be in labor. After the bath I called the hospital back and she said "so...are you going to come in?" I was annoyed...I thought she would be more helpful. So we decided to go in around 3:00 am. I have never wanted an epidural, but as soon as I got to the hospital I changed my mind. I could hardly walk I was in so much pain -- and I have a very high pain tolerance, so you know it was bad. I had to have Rick help me get undressed and into the robe because I couldn't move! It got so bad that I was shaking violently and I eventually threw up. I was only at a 3 when I got to the hospital but they said my membrane sac was bulging so there was no way they were going to send me home. Thank goodness! Finally I got the epidural just after 6:00 am. I dilated 1 cm each hour and before I knew it Dr. Ferguson broke my water. I had to wear an oxygen mask because Jade's heart beat wasn't where they wanted it to be. It was so annoying...they don't make those to fit small faces haha. Then it came time to push -- I think around 11 maybe? I can't remember. I didn't push for long...Jade's heart beat started to drop and they got Dr. Ferguson back ASAP to get her out. As he lubed up the forceps he asked me if he had permission to use them (even though I'd signed the permission slip earlier). I said yes and before I knew it she was out! I started crying, I didn't know what else to do. I had a baby! Rick cut the cord and blood splattered all over the blinds and on the floor and even onto our jackets! She didn't cry for a long time so they were nervous and I didn't get to hold her right away. Apparently the placenta had detached from the umbilical cord so Dr. Ferguson had to remove it manually, piece by piece. I am SOOOO glad I couldn't feel any of that haha. I guess I ripped pretty bad too, I never asked but I was told it was bad. Finally I got to hold Jade! It is truly a miracle! Just thinking about how I had this little baby inside me is insane! I am so glad that she's here and that she's healthy!

Although I didn't have much fun I'm still excited for the next one :)

Jade was born December 7th at 12:02 pm, she was 20 inches long and weighed 6 lbs 10 oz.

She's so cute!

Daddy's Girl

I don't have much to say today but I wanted to write something so I get in the habit of blogging. Today we went to the garden restaurant in salt lake to meet up with some girls we grew up with in our Michigan ward. I only remembered a few of them since most of them are older and I was young when they were in the ward. It was fun but, to be honest, Rick and I didn't enjoy the food. Mine was flavorless and Rick's was too greasy. The fried pickles were good though. And Jade did not have fun unless daddy was holding her. She's definitely a daddy's girl!

Punk-a-bye Baby

Rick and I LOVE the baby clothes on Sourpuss Clothing but they are so darn expensive! They have good sales now and then, but only on a few good things. So we decided we're going to make our own baby clothing line!! For now it's called Punk-a-bye Baby. I've got some good networking with mommies so I think we can really make a killing by selling cute, unique, cheap baby clothes! If you have any ideas, I'm open for suggestions!

That's all for today :)

Till Death Do Us Part??

Heck no! We're in it for time and all eternity! This brings up a pet peeve of mine -- it may offend some of you, but it's my opinion and I know I'm not alone in my feelings. It reallllly drives me nuts when people announce every month how long they've been married. It's like they're shocked that they're still married or something. Once a year is fine, but every freaking month is annoying. As I stated at the beginning, we're in it for time and all eternity -- I don't think it's necessary to remind everyone every single month that we're still married. I mean won't it be ridiculous once you get past 2 years? Imagine someone posting "Happy 300 month anniversary!" It's just silly and annoying. Like I said, are you surprised you're still married? I don't need a reminder and neither does anyone else.

That's my rant for the day. I'm doing alright at this blogging thing! 

Here's a cute Throwback Thursday pic of Rick to make up for any hurt feelings that may have come from my personal opinion :)

Farewell!

Once Upon A Time...

I figured I'd start at square one with my blog stories. How about how Rick and I met? It's a pretty short story, but I like it :)

Once upon a time I was working at Vivint. Rick's old mission companion (Andy Guest) worked there too and told Rick to apply. He wasn't thrilled about the idea, but he applied, got the job, and accepted it. It happens that Andy sat across from me and when I stood up to leave Rick stood up too (he was training with Andy). He asked if we'd met before and I was pretty sure I'd never met him before but he insisted it must have been at a concert or something. I doubted it, but said "yeah, maybe." Then anytime he saw me he'd make a point of saying hi and chatting for a bit if time allowed. He mentioned to me at lunch one day that he hadn't been home too long from his mission and I thought "dang...he's younger than me." But he seemed older, so I asked Andy and found out that he was older than me. YES! I could tell he was interested in me, why else would he go out of his way to talk to me? I knew his training would soon be over and we would be working opposite hours so I decided to give my friends permission to give him my number -- otherwise we probably would never see each other again. They did, and he texted me that night. We went on a date that weekend -- hiking...I hate hiking... It wasn't bad thought, it was more of a "nature walk" as Rick had said to convince me to go. We hiked to Stewart Falls. Then we ate at Noodles & Co and got cookies 'n cream milk from the BYU creamery. We went back to my place and watched Nacho Libre. Classy, right? Haha. We didn't kiss, but we did hold hands and cuddle a bit and Rick may not remember this but he said "I'm going to be around for a while, is that okay?" I think we both knew after that that we'd probably end up getting married. 

About a month and a half after we started officially dating we got engaged. I knew it was coming -- we picked out a ring -- but I didn't know when he bought it. I started to get angry with him for not proposing (he didn't know that) but it turns out he wanted to, it just took them a long time to size the ring. We went to Riverton I think to meet with Bryce about t-shirt stuff. Then we stopped at graywhale and then we ate at Weinerschnitzel -- again, classy, right? Haha. As soon as he started to drive to the Draper temple, I knew it was happening. We sat outside on a bench and talked and then he went on this weird rant about the priesthood and such and once that ended he pulled out the ring. I don't remember how he asked, I just remember I cried.

We got married on December 17th, 2011 in the Draper, UT temple and went to Mesquite and Vegas for our honeymoon. And now we have a baby! Time flies but it's been fun!

Lame

I'm terrible at writing in my journal and I'm terrible at blogging...but I'm going to try to stop being lame and get my act together! Now that I have a baby I need to stop telling myself that I'll remember everything. Chances are I won't! I want to be able to tell Jade stories about when she was born and when she was growing up. It makes more sense to write things down as soon as they happen, I don't know why it's so hard for me to do it. I mean...I can hardly remember anything about the day before I went into labor now...all I remember is I had a doctor's appointment and Lisa came over with Landon and Claire and I laughed a lot (I'm pretty sure I felt my first real contraction while laughing -- I remember it hurt really bad but I couldn't stop laughing haha). Anywho...I don't have much time to write now but I'll try to get back on soon and start sharing stories and feelings. Adios!