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Why have I been feeling so 80s?
I feel like I need a pick-me-up, because it seems as though my emotional and mental state is declining. I'll just go ahead and blame it on the hormones, I guess.

But, really... I need advice. What do you do when you feel like.. perhaps.. you want a do over? Or, you just feel down and don't really know how to find the energy to feel happy again? I hate being in a slump. It always seems to take something grand to pull me out of it. Maybe my trip home to see my family over Christmas will do just that. They are my rock.

Right now, my beautiful gummybear of a son is helping me stay sane :) I just love feeling him move and knowing and reminding myself that in just a couple of months he will be laying in my arms.

I guess a little update, and a moment in Alise's mind-.
We're having a boy.
We for some reason thought it would be a good idea to add a puppy to our family. Her name is Oakley, and she's a cutie patootie.
I really want to go to school.
I'm actually enjoying work.
I pee my pants at least once a month.
Thanksgiving was different, to say the least. I hope that in the years to come it will be more of a family event... with my mother's cooking involved.
I want to eat 24/7.
It's getting bitterly cold here.
I want a womens carhartt jacket.
Oh, and some thai food.
I miss my family.
I miss snow.. and sun.
I'm about as pale as a dead person.
I want to get a Christmas tree up in my house already!
I heart Christmas music.
I want pie.
I have so much to do.
but I really just want to sleep.
I miss running.
I want a gym membership.
and an electric blanket.
and this cute sweater from my work.
I hate my hair.
I had the best girls night last saturday.
I'm currently in a phase where I'm convinced I want to do a natural childbirth.
I absolutely loved Harry Potter... and the fact that my sweet mother-in-law took me to see it.
I wish I was crafty. Because if I was, I think I would have a lot more fun.. and a lot more cutsie decor.
I want to make something for my son, but I don't think I will because I'm lazy. Lame.
My laundry needs folding. Who wants to do it? Not me.
I heart maternity yoga pants. They complete me.
I love the Gospel.

Sleep.

Pop, lock and drop it.

My trip to California was absolutely glorious. I loved every second of it.. and I'm already counting down the days until I get to go back for Christmas and see my family again.
I am back in Salem now. Actually, I have been for about 2 1/2 weeks now. It's a bittersweet feeling. I am so happy to be reunited with my cute hubby. I missed him a lot. But-- I'm ready to move. I feel like there's nothing keeping me in Salem. I'm not progressing (other than my waist size)- no school, career, baby (that's coming soon, but still). I want Phill to be happy with his job and finish what he has started.
I've come to find out what I want to study in school- dental hygiene! I have a good 2 years left for me.. and that's if I'm in school full time every semester for those 2 years. I don't know how I'm going to do it with a baby, but I hope that I can find a way. As the saying goes, where there is a will, there is a way.
I'm exhausted. I know I shouldn't be- I'm in my second trimester and apparently that's supposed to be the best one. But I'm not sure what is going on.
It might be the blues that seems to be ruling me for the last little while. I don't feel cut out to be a mother yet. I am certainly not ready for it... but at the same time I just want my little gummybear to be here already so I can hold him and love love love him. I know that it will be challenging- especially with the lack of sleep. I don't do well on little sleep... but I know the Lord will help me.
It's hard for me to find a reason to just keep on going. I'm tired. I feel like a planet. I'm unmotivated. I miss my family and Kelly. I'm sick of rude people (customers) at work.
On the upside of things, I am starting to get in the groove of things at work. I feel more motivated to give my 100%. I decided that my stinky poo poo attitude about it wasn't helping anyone. Especially me. I should be thankful to even have a job. There are many people with college degrees that can't even find a job, yet I'm just me.. pregnant at 20 and have a concrete job with people I love working with. I need to be grateful for what I have, not wishing for things I don't.
I'm grateful for:
1. The gospel. How could I make it without my knowledge of the Church? We have the plan of happiness that I know without a doubt is true.
2. My job. It doesn't bring in a ton of money, but it helps us to pay the bills, and have a little left over to save. I love most of the people I work with. It keeps me busy, so I don't have too much to dwell in my own head.
3. My miracle inside of me. I feel him move more and more often now, and Phill can feel him occasionally. As much as I'm not fond of pregnancy, I sure am thankful to have the ability to be creating my son's life and know that I can hold him finally in just a couple of months. What a blessing.
4. My silly husband. As nerdy as he has proven to be, I love his with all of my heart. He tolerates me most of the time and is the face I want to come home to every single day. I miss him while he's at work, or hunting, or out doing whatever he does. I'm thankful to have him for the rest of eternity.
5) My mom. Whenever anything happens, who is the first person I want to call? My mama. She's the ultimate example of what I want to be as a mother. When I was in California last, She took me to some restaurant to get salad and buffalo wings (our tradition :D) and we talked and talked for hours. It's the best. I love her to death.
6) My dad. He has taught me so much throughout my life. He's one of the strongest men I know, and a great role model for everyone. He has taught me what hard work is, and what it can do. He's really very hilarious. And for some reason people don't ever expect him to be funny.. He has taught me the importance of physical health. I love going running with him. He has yet to not be able to kick my toosh every. single. time. Someday, dad.. I will be able to kick YOUR butt.
7) My sisters. I miss them I miss them I miss them. They are the best. Smelly and I are so much alike which is pretty entertaining. I love being around her. It's my favorite. Anne Marie is the fashion diva. She's always getting cute stuff, and I always feel outdated when I'm around her.
8) My twiner. Oh, how I miss him. He doesn't miss us as much because he's off on a mission, but I'm counting down the days until I get to see him. I can't wait. I miss his sarcasm and retarded dorkiness.
9) My house. My husband works so hard to provide for us. I'm blessed to live in a beautiful condo that keeps us warm and dry from the rain and cold outside. It's my safe haven.
10) Music. The power of music is amazing. Whenever I'm having an 80s day or need to calm down or need to be motivated to run, I turn to music. Phill gets sick of it because I put so many songs on repeat.. but I absolutely love it.
11) Kelly belly. She's the best friend anyone can ask for. She has done so much for me, I can't even express. She took me in when I strayed and helped keep me in line. She ceases to make my day with her silly texts or calls. We are so different, but we definitely are the best friends people can be.

I have so much to be thankful for! I just need to focus on that :)
Now I have to go teach some church girlies to fold napkins (which by the way I think is silly. Why would someone ask me to do that? I just told them hotdog style... and set it on the table.. or I don't fold it at all. baha!)

Is it Christmas yet?

California Lovin'

So, a while ago I was feeling really overwhelmed and alone and homesick for my family. I was expressing my frustrations and worries to my best friend Kelly, and she took it upon herself to plan a mini vaycay for me to come to California and visit her and my family. She's the best.
I decided that I would surprise my family because I love surprises, therefore planning surprises for others is always super fun for me. I kept it a secret for quite a while (which was really hard, so I just kinda stopped talking to them very much to lessen the urge and temptation). hehe. Anyways, my parents broke the news that they were going to be in Monterey that week (SO not cool).. so I tried to sneakily tell them to change their plans because that sure as heck wasn't going to work for me. Of course, they questioned me about it and got down to the nitty gritty and I had to tell them so that they would believe me that it was important for them to change their plans. So rude. They did change their plans, but I only get to see my dad for about 24 hours, which is really sad, but I'm so looking forward to it on Friday night!
We decided to continue keeping it a secret from my sisters. Kelly picked me up from the airport on Saturday and we went to Sharkies and enjoyed some delicious, much craved nachos, and headed to my parents house. We hid in the tiny coat closet until they came home.. it got hot in there.. and poor Kelly was pretty much doing a squat that entire time. When Smelly found us, she jumped and about peed her pants. It was so much fun.
That night we all went and visited Anne Marie at work, and then hung out at Kelly's and then went and all slept in Anne Marie's room. On Sunday we went and watched the primary program at church. Kelly's sweet mom was so nice to invite us over for a linner. It was delicious soup and corn bread. mmm :).  Then went to the rainy, cold beach for a couple hours with Anne Marie's boyfriend (I swear they're inseparable).  We entertained ourselves with a volleyball.. just throwing it to each other. It was so fun, and I was scraping sand out of my hair for days. Then we went back to Kell's and watched shows as I napped.
Uhh- on Monday it's kind of a blur to be honest. I woke up super early and took Danielle and kiddos to seminary, waited in the car for an hour, and then drove them all to school. We picked my mom up from the airport later that day.. it was so exciting to finally see her. We went out to red robin which was absolutely delicious.. then we all fell into a deep food coma.
Kelly spent the night that night again and we went hiking the next morning. It was a fun hike in Malibu! it was kinda hard considering there were a lot of up hill and dumb downhill. But I vented and talked poor Kelly's ear off. Gosh, I've missed talking to her. I will confidently say that she's a great listening ear.  She never interrupts, and she always tell you the truth. That's right, I have a fantastic best friend, and you don't.
After that we went to the beach and it ended up being a gorgeous day. I just laid there on the beach relaxing and taking somewhat of a powernap while Kelly played her guitar. I have to say that listening to that is one of the most relaxing and comforting things to me. Kelly then realized that we had a whole flock of seagulls crowding around us.. She had serenaded them to us. It was really funny to watch. We got a good kick out of it. After our beach time, we went to Smelly's volleyball game which I really enjoyed. She always came to my school and sport events and it was nice to support her for once and to watch her in action. I absolutely love being a big sister. I wish more than anything that I could support her more. uuugh.
We spend the rest of the night just hanging out and watching TV. It was really relaxing.
Wednesday my mom and I hung out all day. I have really missed that. We took smelly some lunch and then went and had lunch ourselves. We talked and talked forever :) It was nice to catch up. We then walked around Home Goods for a while. My mom gave me lots of pointers on how to decorate my place and things to add onto what we already have. I also found the most divine yankee candle. I wish it would have only cost me 5 cents or something.. because I really wanted it.
We then went to her work while she finished up a couple things that needed to be done. I talked to Gabrielle for a little bit, and then talked to my Gmiddy (Grandma) on the phone too. She's so funny-- I never realize/ remember how funny she really is until I talk to her again.
Mom and I went and picked Smelly up from school, then I took her to Young Womens (who supplied some absolutely delicious apple cider), then we went and got frozen yogurt. YUM! So delicious. I have leftovers that I will happily eat today.
Last night for some reason was a little rough for me. My sister, Smelly is so beautiful, but she thinks she's not at all. She talks down to herself ALL the time- just like I always have to myself ever since I can remember.. when I was younger I tried this that and the other to change myself to feel better- but obviously it never worked. I feel like my poor example has rubbed off on her.. which I don't want. I want her to feel like what she is- beautiful, smart, intelligent, motivated, athletic, loved, she has a happy, bubbly personality that is absolutely wonderful and contagious- especially when she laughs, funny, cute, spiritual, strong emotionally, physically and spiritually, talented, brave, etc. She sees the opposite and I can't help but take a little blame for that. I don't want her to beat herself up like I do and did. It's really one of the worst feelings ever that feels like can never be overcome. It's this thing where you are just continuously digging yourself deeper into a hole where there are distorted mirrors everywhere and a soundtrack replaying reminders of every mistake, flaw and bad gene you have. How awful is that! I don't think many people read this blog, but for those of you who do- what do I do? How can I change this and feel better about myself, and therefore be a better example? Or- how do I help her?

"Always be a first rate version of yourself, instead of a second rate version of somebody else." -Judy Garland

I was able to talk to Phill last night, which was one of the best conversations I've had with him in a little while. I love that man with everything I have. I couldn't ask for anyone better that I would rather spend my eternity with. We talked about our little one on the way, and I can't help but be a little overcome with excitement and happiness knowing that this is MY child. Heavenly Father has trusted ME to carry him and for Phill and I to be parents to His precious son. What a privilege it is to be a mother. I hope I can be at least half the mother my mom was to me. I want so badly to hold my little gummybear close (partly so he's not kicking my bladder anymore :P). Phew- I'm nervous with the responsibility I know follows. Yikes! Hopefully there will be a lot of you that will grace me with your advice.
Today I plan on relaxing and seeing some old friends, hanging out with my best friend, Kelly, going to lunch with my cute mamasita, and screaming from the stands at Smelly's volleyball game as my poor butt falls asleep on the hard, uncomfortable bleachers. :)
I can't wait to see my dad tomorrow. We have a lot of catching up to do! Plus, he's doing the whole barefoot running thing and is going to take me running with him (I hope you have enough patience to run with me, dad!) so I get to see the 5fingers in action!
Being here in California has been such a beneficial experience. Just in the past week I've had lots of changes to my poor body from pregnancy that my mom has explained and taught me and laughed with me about. It was a good week to come! I've needed this break so badly. It's such a refreshing thing to literally have NOTHING to do. I don't have to cook, clean, work, stress, blah blah. If anyone knows me they know I'm 1) not the most talented at cooking.. at all. and 2) I am not really that organized. well, I'm an organized mess. I usually have a weird system to things that makes no sense to anyone around me-including my husband. So having to try to be organized and super duper clean has been quite the journey for me... and it's a good break to just relax and not worry if the lines from vacuuming have been walked on and messed up or that there is just another dirty dish in the sink. It's also nice to not have to go to work and feel a little worthless and frustrated that I'm stuck in a position that takes me nowhere. Phill and I have talked a lot about our future plans- and are planning on moving to Logan in a year or less where we will both finish school and hopefully start a new chapter in our lives. It will be nice because I'll be really close to Anne Marie when she goes to school (WHICH BY THE WAY SHE GOT ACCEPTED INTO BYU-IDAHO!!!! I'm soo so very proud of her), and then my brother when he gets back from his mission and then we will be closer to my parents, and Phill's grandparents and sister and my aunts. It'll definitely be a giant step in the right direction.
We get our cute puppy in a couple weeks. Aww :) I'm sure he'll be our baby until the real one pops out.
My belly seems to grow a little bit daily. I'm still squeezing into my regular jeans, but not comfortably by any means. I'll put it this way- It feels like the baby is always upset that I'm wearing jeans that are tight around my stomach so he punches and punches until I reluctantly unbutton them or change into glorious sweats :)
My next appt is Monday-- we will officially find out the sex of the baby!!! Horray!
I miss my dear husband, and am excited to reunite with him on Saturday, although I wish I could bring my family with us.. actually scrap that. I'm ready to get out of Salem... so.. I wish I could drag them all to Logan with us right this very second.
We are having Christmas in Monterey (where my family is moving in 5 weeks).
I wish I hadn't forgotten my sudoku books.
I really wish I was asleep right now.

Sickness can end in relief and happiness.

I LOVE FOOD.
Would you like to know why? Oh, alright I'll tell you. So, This last Saturday I think I go to work, hate my life, and am so relieved to go home and spend time with my love. I'm walking to my super intensely white-trash-80s- wonderful volvo and my stomach starts turning. I figure I'm just super hungry or something. My drive becomes more and more uncomfortable for me and I am sure that I'll upchuck any second. I get home and my cute husband is making me an egg dinner with all the leftover food we had. I was sitting in the kitchen, talking to him.. smelling eggs.. and thinking about eating.. and WHAM. barf. I felt better and was content that I had just made room for dinner and didn't feel nauseous anymore. I went upstairs to finish my homeowork that was due that night while Phill finished dinner. He brought it to me, and I took one bite and couldn't bare to eat anymore (it wasn't gross at all.. but my stomach was being twisted in my stomach.). I run to the bathroom just in time to throw up again. To make a long story short, ever 5-10 minutes on the dot, I would throw up.. even when I had nothing left, acid and bile came up. This lasted from about 7pm-5am. Poor Phill tried to get me Sprite and water and pepto bismol and hold my hair back. He even tried to put my hair in a ponytail for me. aww. Nothing worked. I couldn't keep anything down, nor did I want anything to go down. Phill's brother Caleb graciously came over to our house at midnight to give me a blessing. (Thank you, Caleb). I dont'think I've ever gotten a blessing from Phill before, so I think it would have been a special moment if I had been so focused on not throwing up.
I decided to sleep on the floor of the bathroom because I became too weak and nauseous to move anywhere else. Phill tried to make it as comfy and cushy and warm as possible for me. I was laying there just waiting.. waiting for the Lord to be like.. WAZAM! You're healed and can go eat and sleep and drink water. I waited for forever, pleading that it would just be over. I was miserable and exhausted and worried that my baby would suffer for me eating bad zucchini. (yuck, I can't even think about it). I felt ashamed that I expected so much and gave so little to Heavenly Father. I started thinking about how I earn the blessings in my life.. and sometimes I had to suffer. I just became grateful for my usual health, and knew that this would pass... eventually.
Finally at around 5am, I was laying there and still felt nauseous, but nothing as bad as before. I figured I would go lay down in my comfy, not tile, bed next to Phill. I slowly made my way in there and was able to sleep a while. It was nice finally being able to sleep. I woke up sooooo sore from being tense all night and tired and laying in awkward positions on a tile floor. We didn't go to church.. Honestly I couldn't, but I was so sad because fast sundays are my favorite each month. It's funny going from a quiet, super spiritual sacrament meeting in college... to a family ward where every child is talking, crying, pouting, screaming. They are still meaningful and exciting for me though. Maybe I like them more now because I get to eat while everyone else is starving in church :P
I couldn't keep anything substantial down for the next couple days, but now I can't get enough.. kinda. Phill got sick too, but only for about half a day, thank goodness. My stomach doesn't fit much in it at a time, but it's back to cravings and hatings. My recent craving is mac-n-cheese. Or chinese food. (Good thing I don't always give into my cravings.. I would probably weigh about 300 pounds by now).
Work is going better than ususal, which is good. I got to have a shift with Michelle which was really fun and we got to talk because it was so slow. We decided we are going to go bowling one of these days :) It's been quite a while since I've done that! I'll need the bumpers.
Last night Phill and I laid in bed thinking about all the things I wish I wish I could say to people. It was a good venting session. He helped me form a couple good, and not rude/ job-ruining paragraphs to say to some people at work if they gave me a hard time again.
I really have to say- Respect is huge. And I hold grudges. I had a manager tell me I was a worthless piece of s*** a couple weeks ago. That's unacceptable and uncalled for. That's fine if you don't agree with something for thing I'm annoying and can improve on things I do at work. You can talk to me respectfully, because I have never once disrespected him.. except in my mind, but that doesn't count. Who agrees with me that I should become owner of Dicks and fire him?
Anyways.. I want to finish school.
Last night I went on a 3.5 mile run with my sister-in-law. Ah, best run ever... well.. it was enjoyable. I felt good the whole time, except when she was killing me on the huge hill back to her house. Phew.. I about didn't make it! I love running and I miss it so much. In just 5 months (I think) I can be back at it, and get in good shape again!
I'm 16 weeks! Slowly, but surely, my pregnancy is starting to go by (not fast enough, though). I feel the baby a lot more often now, which is really exciting for me. I'm still not showing a lot.. although I feel like i look like more of a cow every single day. I can't wait for the moment where I wake up and am like.. Where in the holy pasta did this belly come from?!
Someone is at my door... and I've decided not to answer it. I tried to spy out my window to see who it was.. but I couldn't see. Hmm.
Anyways-- I found a stink bug in my house the other day. I covered it with a cup and let Phill deal with it when he got home from work. :D
I want my puppy already.
I think my house is haunted.
And 8 days from now should come sooner.

butt shots and revenge.

This week has been a great one so far.
We had our friends Tara, Liliya, Jerry and Sam come for dinner (well, linner to be exact), which was really fun. Phill and I have great friends.
Tara stayed with me that night since Phill and Jerry decided to go hunting. I was so happy that she agreed to stay, because I knew at some point, I would probably freak myself out and not sleep at all. It was a fun night full of girl talk and laughs. We even came to the conclusion that she's going to move in with us at the end of the month! I'm excited. It's definitely a win-win situation for the both of us.
I had a doctors appointment on Monday with my new OB doc. My good friend Liliya referred me to him, and I really like him! I'm good at making things awkward by making stupid comments during embarrassing procedures, like I did this time. I kinda begged him not to do his OB job, but it didn't work. Ugh, not one of the joys of womanhood.
He did measure me and listen to the baby's heartbeat and such, which was so cool. He showed me how to find the top of my uterus and see how the baby is growing. When he was doing that, he was saying how I was measuring a bit bigger than what my previous doctor had said (I then proceeded to get offended and asked if he was calling me fat). He said he thought I was 1 to 2 weeks ahead of what they had told me.
I sneakily told him he is more than welcome to do an ultrasound, and I wouldn't be opposed to it a bit! He agreed, and I happily walked down the doctors office in nothing but a gown knowing I was about to see my child on camera. Yay!
So, he starts the ultrasound and was like WOAH! (In my head, I'm like saaaaayyy what?! is my baby deformed and has two heads? What's going on?!) Then he said "Wow, you're baby is big!". Thank you, thank you.. mah baby takes after it's mama. Anyways, so I'm 15 weeks, not 13. That does make me a little happier that I'm further along. That means that my due date changed to April 1st. I do hope that my little one is born then. It would be awesome to have an April Fools baby. (And easy to remember for family and my husband). So anyways, I bugged the doctor about finding out the sex of the baby because I'm dying to know. He looks and looks and we have an idea, but will find out for sure on November 1st. :)
The rest of the appointment I had the biggest smile on my face and I absolutely loved watching the ultrasound. My baby was moving SO much. It was surreal. It was opening and closing its little hands, and squirming and kicking a lot. Haha, actually to be exact, the baby enjoyed doing flips. Baby C wouldn't sit still long enough for Dr. Dalinsky and I to get a good facial shot. Also, everytime the doctor would move the ultrasound thing, my baby automatically would stick it's behind right there in the way. It had the doctor and I really laughing :)
Just seeing our baby there made it a little more real to me.. not 100% (I don't think that'll come until the baby is in my arms in the hospital), but it was so fun and put me in the best mood the rest of the day. I was really sad that Phill couldn't be there, but I don't let him forget, so that's okay. My revenge is, and continues to be, sweet.
We can't come up with baby names. Good think we have 25 more weeks to go (Aye, that's a long time). I have found that I love a lot of names, but not enough for my child. I over analyze every name, like what people like nickname them, how it could be made into a dirty joke, etc. I want a simple name, but not one that 100 other kids might answer to.. Eh, we'll see. Maybe I'll make a contest out of this.. to entertain my readers and to benefit my lack of imagination.
Tara, Jerry, Phill and I are going to a pumpkin patch tonight which I'm quite looking forward to. It'll be really fun! I think we are going to carve them afterwards too. :D I love October through December. It's the best times of year because you've got the beautiful weather changes and Halloween, Thanksgiving and CHRISTMAS.. and New years.

Who wants to clean my house for me? I sure as heck don't.

Woah.

I can't believe it's October already. This summer has gone by SO SLOW, but September went by superbly fast. That's what I'm talking about! I'm ready for it to be April already.
Well.. Okay, that's an exaggeration. I don't want it to be April, because that means that I'm back to not knowing what in the heck I'm doing. I'm so nervous to have a baby. I'm impatient, dumb, clumsy, selfish... Not a great combination. I keep having dreams that I have a baby girl in my arms and it's so so fun. But then I also have ridiculously scary dreams, like my baby being born dead or mutated or .. that I' haven't been pregnant this entire time. That scares me.
School is going well.. my online class is easy peezy pumpkin squeezy. I got up at 7 this morning to get everything done on time (the study guide due today). I thought it was going to take me forever. uhhhh... yeah, it took me about 30 minutes to do.. and now I'm awake and wishing I wasn't. So, I'm doing my laundry and pretending to do something useful on here.
I am excited for General Conference this weekend. It's a great time to catch up on lost sleep ;) Just kidding, but I'm SO excited to watch/listen. Phill and I were watching talks yesterday about the Proclamation of the World for my class and I love doing stuff like that with him. We always get into good discussions... and I politely and discreetly hint how much I hate my job and how much I'm looking forward to quitting when we have our baby. :D I don't want to talk about the possibility of going back. Ugh.
I'm always tired lately. It's gotten a little better the past couple of weeks, but not really. I get headaches that take over my life now, when exhausts my body. It's so weird. I can't take any medicine for it, (well, technically I can take Tylenol, but I will only take half of one when my headache is so bad that I need ice on my eyes and all lights off, and a bucket for my dinner I will soon upchuck.
Prenatal pills make me super sick, I've come to find. I always thought it was because I took them right before bed, but I have since found that even if I take them in the middle of the day, it makes me really really sick to my stomach. Worst feeling ever. I don't really know what to do about that. I've talked to a couple of friends and they said that since I'm through my first trimester, I can stop taking them if they make me sick. I'll confirm with my doctor on Monday.
Talking about doctor on Monday, I'm really excited for the possibility of an ultrasound. But lets be honest here... I'm not prepared to be super invaded.
Today I'm going to a Beavers game with my friend Marie. That should be fun. It's been a long while wince I've been to a football game. I'm just really hoping I can stay awake for the game... or not get an insane headache as we cook in the bleachers.
I need to go get Beavers attire.
I also want to take a nap before I leave at one. How sad is that?
My newest food obsession is cucumbers with cheese (sorry, hunny. You're gonna have to buy your own cucumbers from now on).
I really want Cheetos.
Or watermelon.
Or coffee? I don't drink coffee and I am craving it. I think that's so weird. It's the same thing with squash. I had never had it before but I wanted it sooo badly. So I got it, liked it for about 2 seconds, and now will probably hate it with a burning passion the rest of my life. Ew, I'm getting nauseous even thinking about it.
Phill went running with me the other night, which was a miracle. I didn't think he would! (Sorry for doubting you). It felt good, but he was going on about barefoot running and how ridiculous it was. Haha, we all have our own opinions. Me, however, I think it's awesome and i would love to do it. I hope that one day I will be able to. As of now, my feet hurt if I walk for extended amounts of time or run without my supportive shoes one. They help me walk right. When my foot was still healing, I would walk on the inside of my foot, not putting pressure on where the break was. Ever since, I can't quite walk on my foot right. I probably look retarded.
The other night I was invited to go to dinner with my friend Tara from work and her friends. I of course decided to go, and dressed up in my sparkly heels, a flower in my hair and my hair actually done. It was so fun to get dressed up. (okay, it wasn't in a dress or anything, but I felt sassy). We went to a Moroccan restaurant. I can say that I had a lot of fun getting to know the girls there, but i will confidently say that I will never eat that type of food again. The hummus was good, but that was about it. Even the bread tasted funny. Aaaand my back was killing me from sitting on the floor for four hours. Plus it was hella expensive. Yikes. I looked at my CC statement a couple days later and found out that our lovely, greedy waiter had charged my card $80. Okay, that restaurant was expensive.. but not THAT expensive. I called and kinda threw a little fit. They refunded me (thank goodness). Phew, I was about to go haywire on someone.
Okay.. I want to nap now.
Peace out scouts.

uhh...new post.

Lately things have been a little difficult for me. Work, friends, life, money, future.
Where to start...
My deep hatred for work continues to grow and cultivate all inside my brain. Don't get me wrong.. I'm so thankful to have my job, and I love some of the people I work with. But retail is NOT my thing. It's really kinda made me hate people. They're messy, rude, smelly, snobby, stupid, needy. I do love some of the customers I've had the fun opportunity to help and get to know a little bit. I don't like working somewhere where everything you do goes unnoticed. You could work on something for 4 hours straight... just to come back from a 10 minutes break to realize some jerks messed it up in 2 seconds without thinking twice about it. I hate it. I have nothing to show my hard work and time that I put into something.. and it doesn't really matter anyways, because it'll all change the next day anyways.
I don't know how I always attract drama everywhere I go. People are gossiping to me, about me, with me, blah blah. I hate it.
I had this one guy that worked in the footwear with me. He's this marine man who thought he was hot stuff and the hardest worker on the planet. Well.. he would never listen to me because I'm a woman. How ridiculous is that?! He wouldn't let me train him, or give him tasks to get done because he thought I didn't know what I was talking about. Psht, dude I could do your job and my job together and do a better job. I know what I'm talking about (most of the time-sometimes I BS it and get away with it just fine) and it doens't matter that I'm a woman. Ugh. Men. Can't live with them, can't live without them.

Friends.
I haven't had many opportunities to make friends. I'm too shy and awkward, and so is my husband (even moreso than me) so that makes for some ridiculous social situations. I hang out with dudes all the time when they are having their wang time talking about cars, off roading, and man stuff.. uhhh.. can I go paint my nails and complain to someone how fat I am and talk about the fact that my cute gummy bear is currently stretching out my stomach? haha! So anyways, I've learned that there are a lot of flakey, flakey people here in Oregon. I hate it. If you don't like me, or don't want to hang out with me.. that's totally fine. Just don't cancel on me EVERY TIME or.. just conveniently not tell me you're not going to show up.. and I call you saying what the he!! homeslices. It's annoying, and really disrespectful. It hurts too. I already feel pretty alone here, that doesn't help any.
I have met some awesome people though. Phill's best friend Jerry is awesome! He's always over here and we're always doing stuff with him. He's a great friend, and honestly we feel he's more like family than anything. His sister in law Liliya is awesome too. I've been able to get to know her more, and I think I've finally found a married friend that I can talk to about everything. Then there's Tara from work. Friends don't get much better than her. Never flakey, always loyal, super nice. It's fun talking to her cause she always makes me laugh.
So, now that I've expressed how much I had flakes, I do have to say I'm grateful for the people I do have in  my life. I also have my best friend Kelly just 10 digits away if I ever need her :)
I'm hoping to do the Hood to Coast next year with my Dad. I think that would be so much fun. :) He'll whoop me pretty good considering I would have only been able to maybe train 3 months after giving birth... but I don't care. I love doing stuff like that with him- even though it always ends in him getting uber frustrated in my stupidity :) Hehe. Sorry, dad.
Hmmm.. I got in a car accident last Saturday. That was pretty sucky. I got distracted, which isn't new.. but I got distracted at a super bad time. Ugh. Good thing I have an amazing husband that was able to bend my car back into it's almost normal shape. He's so good to me. And if anyone can fix/ build/ do anything with their hands... it would hands down be him. Gosh I love him to the moon and back.
:D I WENT RUNNING FINALLY!!!! It was the best feeling in the world.. It was an easy run with my sister-in-law, but I loved every second of it.. even though my lungs begged for air and my legs burned. It was a feeling I've so badly missed. Now, I have negotiated that Phill will run with me 3 times a week.. we'll see how that one turns out- but I can't wait. I can only do 2 miles right now... but hopefully I'll be able to get up to at least 5 before I'm not allowed to run anymore.
I have my second ultrasound next Monday. I can't wait. Apparently my baby is about the size of a small lemon? :D It'll be way more developed this time, and it'll be able to move it's fingers and yawn. I hope hope hope My little one with wave at us and start saying Mommy. Okay, I know, I'm a dreamer with unrealistic dreams. Don't hate.
Phill will probably go hunting this weekend. I'm excited for him. He loves that kind of stuff.. But I don't think I'll tag along. I get too tired, and hungry all the time. Let me tell you.. I went 10 hours without eating yesterday and just about passed out. Worst feeling in the entire world.
My amazing Sister and brother in law gave us their swiffer and vacuum. AH! I'm so excited. We won't have to borrow Phill's parents every week! If I do like doing one thing, it's vacuuming because I like seeing the clean vacuum lines it makes. Makes me feel accomplished. AND Phill loves a clean carpet, so he always compliments me when I vacuum. Haha, weird.
Anyways, I should probably get some homework done.
soo... kbye!

'Toot'sie & Rolls

Pregnancy has really not done me very many favors. Maybe once I have a real baby bump and feel it moving all the time I will appreciate it and be more excited. Don't get me wrong.. I'm so excited for this munchkin to come meet the world.. but that's just it.. why can't pregnancy be a delightful, blissful experience where women look skinny and beautiful and they magically find awesome talents and sweat the sensual amber smell, and toot flowers?
My poor husband. I can't ever contain myself. literally no matter how hard I try. We'll be laying in bed just talking about how much we hate our jobs or how much we love each other, and..whoopsie. Was that me? Phill-Oh my gosh, Alise. REALLY?! Sorry, hunny. I hope this passes soon. I know, TMI. But seriously, everyone always talks about how wonderful pregnancy is... but I'm here just to give it to you how it is. You'll be a rootin tootin', peein your pants, chubster that wants to eat and sleep all the time. That's it. That's what your existence will become! At least in the first trimester. I heard the second trimester is the best one.. so now that the 2nd trimester is here... Bring it :D
I'm also always hot. Especially at night! I feel so bad cause I always kick the covers off and then Phill wakes up absolutely freezing while I enjoy bathing in the freezing cold air. It's nice because I used to always be cold no matter what, I would find myself getting the chills. But now, I overheat like it's my business and I can go outside when it's pouring rain, 40 degrees and windy and enjoy myself with a short sleeved shirt. I have to say.. I'm grateful for being mostly pregnant during the fall and winter.. I don't know how women do it during the summer. Yikes.
I do have to say that there is one amazing thing that has happened. I FELT THE BABY MOVE! Now, it's not big enough to kick yet, but I could feel it doing circles in my lower stomach. It was really exciting. I was at work when it happened, and I wanted to tell everyone I saw.. but I decided to wait and tell Phill and then my family. It was a great moment.
My foot is doing so much better. No more scab. Just scar. I was running around yesterday and my foot didn't hurt until the very end of the day.. I think that this means I'm going to try to go for a run today. I hope everything is okay, because I want to start running again before it just becomes a slow waddle.
Phill's getting sick, which I'm not okay with. His work doesn't really let people take sick days, which I think is absolutely ridiculous. So I hope he can get better soon.. or he'll be able to get time off to just relax and I can take care of him :)
We finally have internet in our condo, which is exciting. Now I don't have to steal Starbuck's or my in-laws. I will no longer have to drain a quarter tank of gas to do homework... or waste time writing on this blog.
Lately my hormones have been super funny. The weirdest things set me off. For example a couple weeks ago I was just paroozing through my itunes, and a Christmas song came on.. and I totally started crying and thought to myself.. ahh I LOVE Christmas! hahahahah.
The other day Phill and I went to Oktoberfest with our friends Tara and Jerry. It was so much fun. I loved people watching. I swear one day I'll go and wear one of those goofy outfits. We ate way too much food, but it was all so delicious! Phill got to brush up on his german, and we even drank german malts to get in the spirit beforehand. Most people go to get drunk, but we on the other hand go to eat. oh yes, oh yes. I did get one picture of all of us.. but will not be posting it due to the very bad quality of my face :)
Anyways, it was fun spending time with friends and even watch a dumb movie afterwards...
I think that's all I have for now.
I wish it was Christmas.

Affairs and fanny packs.

I figure I'll do an official announcement on here...
I'm Pregnant! I'll be 10 weeks on Sunday! Phill and I are really stoked about our little gummybear making it's way into this world. We are nervous and stressed beyond belief, but we know it's going to be such a blessing. I think it's going to be a girl, he thinks (wishes, prays, hopes) it's a boy so he'll have a little bud to pass down all his manly hobbies to. That way, I won't have to help skin or prepare deer meat. Uh, gag me. But, I will do it until our future future boy comes.
6 weeks...

Life has been good lately. My foot is healing well, and there is a nice scar starting to make it's ugly appearance all over my foot. I've been walking on my foot a lot (which I'm not supposed to be doing) and it's created kinda a bump of bone on the bottom of my foot.. not good. So, I'm going to be going into the doctor here pretty soon to get that checked out to make sure everything is okay. I would absolutely die if I ruined my foot to the point where running will never be the same.
Curse motorcycles, and having fun.

I really have to say that Phill and I have been blessed beyond measure lately. I can't even begin to explain it. We got the bill(s) for my lovely ER foot trip and about peed ourselves. Close to $2000 that we did not have in spare change.  I didn't have health insurance at the time (mind you, it kicked in 3 days after the incident. Great timing, huh?) so the bill was outrageous. We were devastated about it, and on top of that were trying to figure out how we were ever going to pay my pregnancy bills on top of every other expense. We prayed and prayed for help and guidance and that Phill's hours at work will increase, and I'll be able to go back to work soon to help out.

Lo and behold, I find out about financial assistance through the hospital. I signed up.. and on my birthday I found out that we were accepted and the hospital waived the entire bill for us. I cried right there (okay, okay it doesn't help that I'm hormonal). It was such an amazing gift from the Lord on the day! It was such a boulder lifted from both of our shoulders...

Now, in August, Phill and I tried signing up for OHP (it's a state insurance plan specifically for pregnant women and people that especially need it. We didn't get accepted at first, but we figured the blessing of having our hospital debt forgiven was blessing enough.. FALSE! A couple days later I get a call from Katie and she says.. you know Alise I was taking a second look at your file, and we have reconsidered your application. I would love to inform you that you have been accepted into the OHP program. I just about died with happiness right there! I just got my insurance card and everything in the mail a couple days ago. I was accepted for the OHP plus, which covers absolutely everything medical and dental for me during my pregnancy and 2 months after.. and covers our baby for a whole year. Wow. I'm so grateful... I can't even express how much that strengthened my testimony. We had been pleading for help and guidance for us to know how to handle our finances to be able to handle so many things at once. God didn't give us a million dollars, but He certainly did enough through little things. <3

I have gone back to work.. finally.. it's really hard being there because my foot is constantly in pain now. I walk around a lot at work. My heel is black and blue from putting all my weight on it on hard floors as I walk (Yes, you are right. I'm sporting the sexy one-shoe look at the moment and trying to set a trend. Come on now, people. You know it's cool). I've stubbed my broken bones about a million and a half times and I even had a customer (300 pounds costumer at that) step on it. That can't be good for the healing process.. I'm enjoying being with my friends at work again. I was starting to get a little lonely.. just laying on my back with my foot up... for 3 or 4 weeks straight. Movies seemed less appealing to me. I have no internet. Nothing to do... but lay there... So being mobile again is fabulous. I can't get enough of it!... well, until my heel turns black and blue, and i can't walk on it anymore. Good thing I have an amazing husband that is not grossed out by the disgusting appearance of the current state of my foot, and will rub it for me. :)

Twin and myself turned 20. Lovely lovely. Now, people can't be too disgruntled and think I belong on the MTV show- 16 and pregnant. Psht. Forget it. It was hard for me! I'm used to my sisters putting up happy birthday signs all over my door. Have my parents come and sing to me.. my dad making french toast for us and having a delicious mama home-made dinner of mine (and Dereks) choice. Oh, delish. I didn't see my husband all day, which was so sad. But, he did set up a surprise dinner with family and friends for me the day before <3 His mom made my moms famous spaghetti sauce that I wanted so badly. It was wonderful. Thank you Wendy!

Pregnancy is going well. I'm missing my family like crazy. I crave them all the time.. along with MILK, thai food, nachos, chicken broth and Olive garden. I wish so badly that I could just pack up and go see them for the weekend. Too bad gas costs and arm and a leg.. and I would probably be frightened for the endurance capability of my awesome, 80s volvo. I'm starting to get fat. I get comments from people like- Oh.. you're rounding out. Nice. Just what a pregnant lady wants to hear- might as well just yell at me "hey obeseoid, you suck". It's become somewhat of a joke at work. This is how I remember it going...
"Hey, Alise are you wearing a fanny pack?" -Cameron
*look down, get confused* "What??" -Me
"Oh, nevermind it just looks like you're wearing a fannypack under your shirt" -Cameron
"DIE!" -Me

SAY WHAAAAAT?! It's all in fun in games though until someone touches my belly.. Lemme tell you.. unless you have permission, the belly is off limits. The only people that have permission would be my mother, mother-in-law, my husband when he's not poking at it, and my sisters (including Kelly). Ehem.. otherwise, ask first. I've had strangers touch it and I feel all invaded, and I have to go cry and rock in a corner for a while.

Anyways, I'm about 10 weeks now... 2 more weeks and I'm out of the horrid first trimester. & 10 weeks(ish) until we find out the sex!!! I'm so excited. Hopefully no more all day sickness and weird, stupid cravings, and maybe I'll actually start looking pregnant instead of just fat. Phill says I've gained no weight, but I beg to differ.. and he's just being nice. "It'll come right off when you have the baby, hunny". Yeah, it better! Baby weight.. I challenge you.

I love having pregnant friends. We went over to our friends, the Risenmays, last Sunday. Marie is 23 weeks pregnant I believe and we had fun bouncing off funny stories and cravings and such. I asked her questions, and we had a blast with it. It was so fun visiting with them! Plus, they know how to make a delicious dinner. Yummm. Granted, I DID make the salad ;) I know, I know. I should be on Top Chef.

Let's see.. Phill and I are figuring out all of our school plans (shout out to ma and pa). We are hoping to move to Utah here pretty soon (January most likely). That stresses me out with pregnancy. I'll be 6 months pregnant. No doctor is gonna wanna take me on there! Yikes.. Plus I think it's so much cooler saying  (for the baby) saying you were born in Oregon instead of Utah. Yuck. Oh well, I'm excited about it. We'll see how it all works out. Just dive in...

Anyways, there's an update. Phill wishes he was firefighting instead of working at Talecris. I wish I had a real job. We want a dog. We're excited for baby. I'm slacking in my womanly cleaning duties. We now have deer meat to last us a million and a half years. It's actually delicious when Phill cooks it. Please don't bring canned fish.. or fish in general-especially clams and crab (other than shrimp) near me. Or car oil, fruit, chocolate, squash, or tomato pastey stuff near me. ohhh yuck. We want iPhones. and internet, non-conflicting schedules and a million dollars. But as of now, we are very, very content with all our blessings we have. We both are having affairs and have a mutual understanding it's necessary for us. Him with his jeep, and me with sudoku.

WARNING- icky, but awesome pictures.

So, while Phill’s parents are out of town, we have been taking care or watering their plants and his dads plants at the greenhouse every couple of days. On Sunday, we decided to go and take care of the greenhouse because we were working crazy hours this week.

While we were there, I was playing around with the motorcycle/ dirt bike that they have there. I asked Phill to teach me to ride it. We were having a lot of fun with it. I was in the front, and Phill was behind me. We were doing wheelies and everything. Anyways, after riding for a little while, we decided to ride back to the jeep and head home. We made a sharp turn in some long grass… and guess what... my foot decided to be conquered by a tree stump. It really didn’t hurt that bad at first. But I looked down at my foot, and saw blood and bone and tendons, and I flipped out. Choice words came screaming out. Phill felt so bad and carried me to the car and put a towel over my foot so I couldn’t look at it. I went into shock and my bp dropped really low. That didn’t help things because I felt like I was going to pass out and throw up everywhere until they had me laying down with antibiotics flowing through an IV and my foot nice and numb.

No health insurance, 18 (I think) stitches, antibiotics, and fractured bones later… I’m laying here for the next two weeks with my foot up. Then after that, I’m hobbling around on crutches for a couple months, and then after that I get to perhaps go back to work, and gain my leg muscles back.

They have me on painkillers that help my foot feel better.. but I can’t seem to keep food down.. and I never go 5 minutes without feeling nauseous as heck. Ugh.

I’m just so thankful to have Phill. He has carried me everywhere. He moderates my medicine intake to make sure I’m taking it on time. He wakes up at all hours of the night to help me move, or pee, or get medicine. He even set up a place for me in our spare room by the tv, with all I need right there while he’s at work. J He’s so good to me.

This is my foot when we first got to the ER

Phill helping the nurse clean out my wound correctly.
They found rocks, grass, seeds and everything in there. Ew.

This is when Phill and the nurse got done cleaning it out.

Now swollen and stitched up.

Oh, the anticipation!

Phill and I have been married one day less than three months! Time has gone by so slow but so fast. It's been a great 3 months with a lot of adjustments, happiness, and learning responsibility and adulthood. It's pretty much awesome.

With a lot of changes coming our way, we have been trying to make some decisions. I'm 2 classes away from getting my associates at BYU-Idaho. One, is offered online, and the other is not. So really, I have to move to Rexburg at some point and finish this ONE class. Of course, I won't let 4 months go to waste, so I would take other necessary classes for my Bachelors. Anyways,  we are trying to figure out if now is the time to move there together so I can finish, or for both of us to keep working, save up, be sure to have health insurance, etc. Anyways, we're leaning more towards the latter, but we'll see in a couple weeks I guess.

Let's see.. what's interesting in the life of the Coombs?

We've been doing some fun activities on weekends when we have some time off  of work. Our new favorite place is Salmon Falls. We especially like the druggies who try to sell us stuff :P Anyways, it's beautiful there. The water is clean and clear.. There is a tunnel that you can walk up with about a million little waterfall things.. it's intense. I am ashamed to say that I am so incredibly wimpy. Yes, I'm probably one of the 3 girls that has ever tried and succeeded.. but it was hard, and I saw my life flash before my eyes a couple times, but it was fun, and I'm glad I can say that I did it. It was funny because there were a bunch of other guys doing it and they cheered for me at the end.

My friend from High school came to visit with her fiancée a couple of weeks ago which was pretty fun. We got to go to Seattle.. which was a pain in the butt to get there because it took us 8 hours instead of only 3 or 4 because of traffic. Yuck. The car was small, so Phill and I were crammed.. but it was okay. We got to go up the space needle. It was fun :) Good thing I'm not afraid of heights! We also saw the movie Inception with them.. and went to Salmon falls. :) Like I said.. it's our new fav place.

Phill and I are just working a ton, loving hanging out with his family, plannin our life...

:D

We're just happy!

Uhhh

Ugh.
My life is so 80s sometimes.
Phill and I have been having issues with the place that we live since we moved in. It's nice and newly remodeled and just over 1000 sqft. Buut when we got back from our honeymoon a skunk crawled underneath our condo (which is where the crawlspace is) and died. So, our house smelt like death for weeks. It was disgusting. On top of that, our house got infested with fleas. Those things have no purpose to be in this world.. along with spiders, but that's beside the point. We think that it was either from one of the 100 cats our old lady neighbor has.. or from the dead skunk. Either way, we didn't like it. Phill got bit like crazy- probably because he has hairy legs.. I, however, only got bit a couple times and it was a good excuse to not be lazy and continuously keep my legs nice and slick. We flea bombed the house a couple of weeks ago, and found that it really didn't do a thing. THe fleas got into our bed and we were just about ready to move. Our landlord finally got better fleabombs and we bombed our place again a couple of nights ago. We've been staying at Phill's parents house while they are out of town to 1) housesit, 2) enjoy the comforts of an air conditioned home and 3) to get away from the toxic fumes of the bombs. I went back yesterday to grab a couple things and not once did a flea jump on me.. this is most definitely progress.. But then guess what? All our electricity no longer works on our upper floor. AND the outlet doesn't work in the bathroom downstairs. We are having an electritian stop by tonight to hopefully fix it.
Aye. Let's hope this is the end of our bad luck until our year contract is over...
While we are on the subject of little pests, I would like to mention how bad of a pranker Phill is... He's cruel. If anyone knows me at all, they know that I hate spiders with a burning passion. Seriously, I have panic attacks from them. They're gross and want to eat my face off... I know it!
So, anyways. I'm doing laundry yesterday and I'm taking clothes out of the dryer, when I see this vile at the bottom of the dryer. I pick it up hoping it was nothing from Phills work that would damage our load... so I look at it and see a freakin spider in there. I thought it was dead.. that thing would have never been able to survive the washer AND dryer.. but alas, I tapped on the glass, and the spider freaked and tried attacking my finger. I mention this to Phill and he about pees his pants from laughter. I guess that everytime he is at work and sees a spider, he pits it in a vile and brings it home to scare me with... so That plan failed, and he gets major turd points :P
Anyways, Things are going good... My job makes me so exhausted. I'm even falling asleep writing this. Phill and I are going camping on the coast this weekend and such. I'm really excited to be outdoors and just be with him. It'll be great. I've never camped on a beach before...

Lately...

Life is absolutely wonderful.

Phill and I were married almost 2 months ago in the Los Angeles Temple. It was a perfect, beautiful day. My reception went amazing. My cheeks were killing me by the end of the night and I absolutely loved seeing so many of our family friends. My mom did an absolute amazing job. All the credit goes to her. The food was scrumptious (Macaroni Grill). All the floral arrangements fit perfectly. Our location was outside in a beautiful backyard with fresh roses blooming and a view of grassy hills. The cake was to die for – looks and taste-wise. All the colors matched perfectly. I couldn’t have asked for a better reception.

Okay, maybe I should back up a little bit. Phill and I were married the 7^th, and had our reception on the 8^th to help calm the whole process down a bit. I would recommend doing it that way to anyone and everyone. It made it more relaxed. One thing, though, is that I think it would have been kind of fun to be scrambling around trying to get everything done. But, I think I say that now, but in the situation I would be awkward and stressed.

Anyways, everything flew by for me. The whole day was surreal and I couldn’t get my mind around the fact that I was finally getting married to my best friend for time and all eternity. I was so excited. I still am. A funny thing though is that when I was getting my hair done that morning, I was an emotional wreck. I had so many emotions running through me that I was starting to get the jitters (not cold feet, just the jitters).  The girl kept messing up my hair and I finally had to have my mom and then my sister come to help settle me down. With a little diet coke from my mom, and encouragement from the both of them.. I was just fine J

I remember being in the temple and not knowing what to do with myself. I was nervous, happy, and sad that my brother couldn’t be there, excited… Phill seemed so calm and collected and I just was going bezerk! I couldn’t sit still, yet I was so tired from not being able to sleep the night (well, a couple nights) before. The ceremony was beautiful and we just had our immediate family there with us, plus the Daley family who are our really great family friends. Afterwards, we went outside and took a million pictures. That was crazy. It’s really kind of a blur to me. I do remember how heavy my bouquet was though. The weight plus how I had to hold it for pictures and such was torture. Don’t get me wrong- the bouquet was gorgeous. It had a ton of white roses in the middle with diamond looking things in the middle of the flower, with blue flowers surrounding it. But, I should have worked out my forearms earlier to be prepared for that!

The car ride from the temple to the luncheon was funny. Phill and I zonked out which my lovely mother was our chauffeur. 

The luncheon was great. I was so hungry. I wasn’t able to eat anything the whole day because my stomach was in knots and everything was go-go-go. We had Thai food, which is always a favorite for me. Yum!

My parents paid for us to stay in the Four Seasons Hotel in Westlake for two nights. It was wondrous! Everything was comfy and beautiful. We had a view of the Gardens from the wall that was made of a window- (does that make sense?). We got chocolate roses which were gone pretty quick between Phill and I.. It was so big that I couldn’t find where the bathroom was for a while… Aye. Anyways, we loved it.

The next day was the reception that we loved and really enjoyed. I have never been to a reception before I had no idea how it was supposed to go. We were so wrapped up in everything that we forgot to throw the bouquet and such. It was kind of disappointing, but I just gave it to my best from Kelly instead so it worked out.

The next day was Mother’s day so we got to talk to my brother for about an hour. Phill and him talked in Portuguese for a little bit. Talking with him made me miss him even more. I’m ready for his 2 years in Brazil to be over! After the phone call, we left for Hawaii. We got to go to the airport in a limo, courtesy of my parents. I was so dang tired, I could barely keep my eyes open. One suggestion for anyone who rides in a limo- don’t ever sit on the side where your back is facing the front. I was pretty dang carsick by the end of the drive. Phew.

The flight was so long. Phill and I tried to sleep as much as we possibly could we talked and talked. We got bored. It was freezing, then super hot, the freezing, and then super hot. We had to fill out agricultural paperwork to enter into Hawaii… blah, blah, blah. I’m so used to California and Idaho dryness that when we stepped outside and humidity hit me, it was a pleasant surprise. I loved it! We were able to stay at Phil’s friends house for a couple days and he served as our personal tour guide. We got to go snorkeling which was my favorite part, The boys went spear fishing, we saw lots of touristy places… it was fun. I wish we could have seen more of the island by hiking and such, but we’re saving that for another trip J

We are now living in Salem, Oregon where Phill grew up. Most of his family lives here, which I absolutely love. My sister and brother-in-law along with their kids Shelby and Calvin live right up the street from us. I always love their company and am so thankful for them- especially my sister in law. Moving here was really hard for me for the first month. Phill worked long hours, so I was lonely about 95% of the time. I was working hard at finding a job. I got a couple leads different times, but every single one of them didn’t work out. It was frustrating. I missed my sisters. I missed my dad. I missed my mom. I missed having friends and knowing the people and the area (Seriously, I got lost every day without fail). I missed the idea of going back to BYU-Idaho. I missed my sister’s graduation. It was just a trying time for me. I think everyone knows that when I’m going through a weird, adjusting time that I become severely awkward. I’m sure that didn’t help with making new friends or finding a job.

Anyways, one day my mother-in-law asked if she could fast for me to find a job. I said of course, and Phill, Wendy, Eric and I all fasted for a day. Guess what happened? The next day I got an interview with Dicks Sporting Goods! I nailed the interview and got accepted to work full time as their running specialist. I’ve been working there for a couple weeks now. I enjoy it… I definitely still have a lot to learn, but I like it. I love the people I work with. They’re funny and really easy to get along with and talk to.

Everyday gets better here. I’m enjoying the bi-polar-ness of the weather- the rain and the shine. We’ve been able to do some fun outings like camping and off-roading and going to the coast. My love grows for Phill every single moment. I always heard of couple saying that, but didn’t really believe them. I just figured they said that to try to convince themselves that their spouse wasn’t annoying the bajeeze out of them. But now I know and understand what loving someone is. It’s not a conditional thing. It’s not- I love you if or when blah blah blah. It’s I love you because and always. I’m so thankful for him. He works so hard for us. He hates his job at the plasma-processing center, but he chugs along anyways.

I’m excited to see where life takes us. We have so many opportunities and paths we can take... right now it’s just a matter of trying to choose wisely and in the right order.

I miss home; I miss my friends and family. I especially miss my sisters. I hope that there will be visitations sometime in the near future.

With that being said, does anyone possibly have a spare million dollars we could have? I promise we’ll keep it safe.

Hotel Rooms

To our wonderful guests coming from out of town for our wedding:
We have a block of rooms at the Courtyard by Marriott of Simi Valley under the "Sloan-Coombs" Wedding Group". The rate is #104 per night, which is a great discout (even more than their AAA rate! Plus this place is just minutes from our house. Below, I will provide the information you need to book one of these rooms. Please let me know when and if you book them, so I can keep a tabs on how many rooms we have left and such. Thanks so much and we are really looking forward to the big day!!!


Courtyard by Marriott of Simi Valley
191 Cochran St., Simi Valley, CA  93065
Phone   805.915.5000    Fax     805.915.5019

Mermaid or Whale?

My mom came out and spent a little over a weekend with me, which was so much fun. It was definitely a productive, but awesome time. We got the finishing touches on my dress (took it to a seamstress), got shoes, got more of an idea with the invites/announcements, ate delicious food, etc. I am really thankful that she was able to come out and spend time with me. This engagement has been a lonely experience without my family or fiance here with me, so seeing her was just what I needed!!  :D I miss my family a lot and am looking forward to seeing them again in late April.
Anyways, I got a kick out of this post that my friend put up. I hope you enjoy it just as much as I did!! :)

WOMAN'S THINKING FOR A HAPPY LIFE.....
Recently, in a large city in a poster featuring a young, thin and tan woman appeared in the window of a gym. It said, "This summer, do you want to be a mermaid or a whale?"

A middle-aged woman, whose physical characteristics did not match those of the woman on the poster, responded publicly to the question posed by the gym.


To Whom It May Concern,
Whales are always surrounded by friends (dolphins, sea lions, curious humans). They have an active sex life, get pregnant and have  adorable baby whales. They have a wonderful time with dolphins stuffing themselves with shrimp. They play and swim in the seas, seeing wonderful places like Patagonia, the Bering Sea and the coral reefs of Polynesia. Whales are wonderful singers and have even recorded CDs.
They are incredible creatures and virtually have no predators other than humans. They are loved, protected and admired by almost everyone in the world. Mermaids don't exist. If they did exist, they would be lining up outside the offices of Argentinean psychoanalysts due to identity crisis. Fish or human? They don't have a sex life because they kill men who get close to them, not to mention how could they have sex? Just look at them ... where is IT? Therefore, they don't have kids either. Not to mention, who wants to get close to a girl who smells like a fish store?

The choice is perfectly clear to me: I want to be a whale.

P.S. We are in an age when media puts into our heads the idea that only skinny people are beautiful, but I prefer to enjoy an ice cream with my kids, a good dinner with a man who makes me shiver, and a piece of chocolate with my friends. With time, we gain weight because we accumulate so much information and wisdom in our heads that when there is no more room, it distributes out to the rest of our bodies.
So we aren't heavy, we are enormously cultured, educated and happy.
Beginning today, when I look at my butt in the mirror I will think, ¨Good grief, look how smart I am!¨

:) Much to be Thankful for

I find myself really grateful for so much today. I've been having one of those weeks where everything seems way too overwhelming to handle- even though I found out I've got A's in all my classes, I am able to see Phill this weekend and things are going so well.
I'm so grateful to be able to have the opportunity to be sealed to Phill for eternity in the temple. It's something that I have wanted to do and worked towards for my entire life... and knowing I'm worthy (and of course that he is worthy!!) and able is such an amazing thing. I think it's such a huge blessing that we as LDS members have the church and the knowledge of eternity and the importance of family.
I'm also so thankful for my family. They have been such a great support system as I've found my weak points and made them strong. My mom is awesome and you don't get a better mama than her. She is pretty much planning my reception... she's so organized and always has such awesome ideas (I definitely didn't get that creativity gene). She's frugal and on top of things. I'm lucky to have her as my mom and my 'wedding coordinator' :).
Also, I want to share kinda a cool experience I had today. It might seem like something so insignificant, but I know it was definitely the Lords hand in my life... So today, I was on the phone with my mom in the bathroom and I was shedding a couple of tears from being overwhelmed. This girl comes in and she-you know- does what she came there to do... she's washes her hands and just kinda stops and thinks for a second. Then she turns around and gives me such a big hug. She said... "Just remember I love you even though I don't know you, and the Lord loves you too. Try to have a better day". That's all that she did, and she walked out of the bathroom. (This is just one of the reasons that I am so thankful to have the blessing to attend BYU-Idaho. Only here would that happen!) I was so overcome by the spirit I can't even explain. That simple gesture of kindness and service turned my entire week around and helped me to really put my priorities and thoughts in order. I hope that someday we will cross paths again and I can thank her for her kindness. Thank you, kind stranger.
Anyways, I just know without a doubt that the Lord hears and understand everyone. I also know that everything happens for a reason... and as long as we learn to look for the good in our trials and try to figure out/ understand the lesson to be learned, we would be much happier and wiser.
Also- I'm so excited to have my family at my wedding!!! My Aunt Ginger is coming with her family... I just can't even wait. I'm so happy that they are becoming a big part of our lives. Also, Phill's Grandma is able to come with Jen and Kurt as well! I'm so happy she gets to come! We didn't think that she would be able to make it.
Anyways... PHILL AND I WILL BE JUXTAPOSED ONCE AGAIN THIS WEEKEND! happy day :)
Oh, and only 85 days until the wedding!


Congrats to Laura and Carl on their engagement!!! May you have only happy moments! We love you guys!

the wedding date has been changed!

Growing up, I would always hear of how the couples who were getting married would change the date at least twice. I thought it was ridiculous and I didn't understand why. Well.. now that it's my turn, we have decided to change the date and now I understand why! We are changing the date to May. We are having the sealing on the 7th, and the reception on the 8th. That way having everything on the 8th isn't so exhausting and it can be more relaxed.

Also- I FOUND MY WEDDING DRESS YESTERDAY!! I'm so excited. I thought that this process would be much more discouraging. I saw this dress online the other day, and fell in love with it... so today Megan, Stephanie and I went and checked the place out in Idaho Falls. I got to try on the dress, and it's beautiful. I absolutely love it. You want to see it? Oh okay, fine I'll show you! Sheesh. ;)

It's absolutely beautiful and it fit really well.. just a couple adjustments will have to be made :D

So now the date is officially set and we have everything figured out, the wedding planning is taking off! My mom is coming to Idaho The weekend after presidents day to help me pick things out, and we'll find the EXACT color to match everything with.. and hopefully we'll get a lot done. I'm really excited to have her here! She's super organize and talented with things like this, so I know it's going to turn out amazing.
Also, My amazing friend Sam is doing our wedding invitations for free.. How awesome is that! She's really talented with photography and design- check her out.    http://samanthahannyphotography.blogspot.com/ .. She's great! We are really thankful that she's so nice to design them for us.
I'll be going out to Oregon in 2 weeks to spend the long weekend with my future husband!! I'm really excited to be able to see him so soon (even though it feels like the ridiculous Rexburg winter days go by SO slowly). His dad is so kind and will be taking our engagement pictures hopefully up near Mt. Hood. I've never been there but I have heard that it is absolutely beautiful there. I can't wait! We'll also be going apartment hunting- I'm really looking forward to have a place to call ours and to decorate the way we want it. Phill is so talented with his hands... he can really make everything and anything so we're already trying to figure out what fun stuff he can make for our little future apt. We've also been figuring out ways to have fun there. We're already planning different fun things to hopefully do with the other couples in our future family ward. :) I really hope we'll be in a great ward. I think it'll be really weird for me. I've always thought I would be in a married student ward here in Rexburg, but I'm assuming we'll be the youngest there... and I'll probably be close to the ages of some of the young women there. Wow, weird!!! Haha, that's a weird thought to be running through my head. Hmm.


Alrighty, that's about it! Any suggestions and tips would be super helpful as always! Love you all!

Wedding Planning

Okay. So...
I have no idea what I am doing here! I figured it would be super easy to plan a wedding, but it really isn't. We find that we have different tastes in things and there is always the issue of what we'll be able to afford. My parents have been such a blessing. They are completely helping us with the CA reception and wedding. How lucky we are for them! (Thanks mama & fadre).
Although we don't have 100& similar taste, Phill and I have made some decisions with some things.. like the color scheme. We want royal blue and white. Like this:

I think this is a beautiful bouquet, and I'm thankful that my grandma will be able to make a silk one for me!
I'm thinking that the bridesmaids could have a similar bouquet, but with more blue, and white speckled in? Thoughts?
For the boutonnieres, Phill wants edelweiss in them. (For those who don't know what that is, it is a german flower. It has specific symbolism of love, I believe. He explained it to me, but I don't remember the exact story).
As for the Bridesmaids dresses... I'm having a pretty tough time finding modest, cute ones. I don't even know where to look! I don't really know where I can find cheaper ones.. The ones that are one ldsbrides are over $200!. No way, jose. Even though I'll only be having 3 bridesmaids (all my sisters- Anne Marie, Smelly and Jenny), 200 is still quite a lot.
Phill also wants a ring ceremony for our friends and family that cannot go through the temple with us. That would definitely be lovely for my dads side of the family that comes and my friends as well. Do most people do ring ceremonies? I haven't really been to many receptions, so I'm not quite sure how it works.

As for my DRESS- I absolutely love this dress.. It's simple, modest, classy and beautiful. I found that I can order it online.. but it would be made in China, and I'm very hesitant about ordering from offline... What if it turns out horrible and I can't get a refund or anything? I'm pretty stoked to have my mom come out and help me pick one within the next couple weeks. I miss her like crazy, and I really don't like planning this without her (well, we're doing it long-distance, but it's hard).
Cakes?

Anyways, Phill and I are so excited for our wedding (well, once the planning is done! :D)! I'm so thankful to have him in my life... He's my best friend, and I couldn't ask for anyone more amazing than he is. I love him and can't wait to call him my husband!