Yay for Christmas!

Our camera is pretty terrible. For some reason every picture we take is super blurry, so this is the best one out of all the ones we took. Christmas was great in our family because it is the first year that Noah hasn't had to work on either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. In fact, I thought he had to work both of those days until he told me on those days that he got them off. I was pretty excited. Noah's siblings came over on Christmas Eve night and hung out while we finished getting all our gifts put under the tree and Noah had to put Dagny's wagon together. She loves her wagon and sits in it every day in the living room while watching cartoons. Noah surprised me with a Paula Deen brand of pots and pans. I really needed some so I was really excited. We went down to my mom and dad's for Christmas dinner (more like lunch because we ate at about 2). We exchanged presents and hung out for a bit and then went to Noah's parent's house. It's fun to go to two different Christmases because our families do them entirely different from each other. But it has been so fun having Christmas in our own house this year. It really was a great year. I didn't think Dagny would get into the presents that much but she loved opening presents and wanted to help everyone else open theirs. This year has been a great year for our family and we're really excited for all the upcoming events of next year. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Ear Tubes

Dagny with her daddy.

Dagny had tubes put in her ears on Monday. I definitely think the experience was harder on Noah and I then it was on Dagny and luckily everything went well. I was pretty much holding tears back the entire time because I am a forever pessimist and could only think of all the possible bad things that could happen. When they put her in the little wagon and wheeled her through the double doors I nearly collapsed right there. She was so funny because she didn't even look back at us, she kept saying hi to all the nurses that met her. She looked super cute in her hospital gown even though she didn't like it very much. Thank heavens it's all over and hopefully her ear infections will diminish in numbers as well.

Dagny in her wagon.

Mr. Fix-it Man

Ever since we moved into our house I've been slowly going insane by our leaky faucet. I kept asking Noah if he could figure out how to fix it and he said he would when he found the time to do it. We moved in in June and it's almost the end of October. The leak mutated from a drip to a steady stream of water. I got the water bill for the past two months and it seriously went up $20 and I think the leaky faucet was the culprit! So I thought I would be Rosie the Riveter and fix the sink myself. I watched three videos on the internet and was ready to go. I turned the water off and took the handle off and thought I found the piece with the worn down washer. I went to Home Depot and the plumbing guy looked at me with pity and asked me if I'd forgotten a piece to the part. I insisted that I did not and he handed me a package of washers. I'm pretty sure he knew I'd be back shopping for an entire new faucet, but he was nice enough not to say that. I went home to attack the sink again and found that I could not figure out how to put the sink back together. I admitted defeat and woke Noah up with the statement, "I can't figure out how to put the sink back together". Needless to say, he wasn't that happy. Eventually I started crying because I thought he was mad at me for breaking the faucet. He insisted that he wasn't mad and went to Home Depot to buy a new faucet. After an hour of figuring everything out, my Mr. Fix-it man fixed our sink with a brand new faucet. It has the little detachable hose so that I can bathe our babies in the sink! I'm very excited. The best part was while Noah was trying very hard to wedge himself underneath the sink I looked down and noticed that he very fittingly had a plumber's crack! So the moral of this story is to get something done in the house all you have to do is break it and then cry. If your husband is anything like mine, you'll always get your way:).

Furnace Fiasco and Ear Infections

So last week I called a furnace man to come turn our pilot light on and green sticker our furnace and water heater. After his inspection he comes back upstairs and notifies us that by law he cannot turn our heater on because there are a number of things wrong with it, including a gas leak. Mind you, our house was built in 1979 and our furnace is the original furnace. I was bewildered because I figured when our house was inspected something like a gas leak would have come up in the conversation. But it didn't. So I called our home warranty company and of course they couldn't get a guy to come out until after the freezing cold, snowy weekend. We've been freezing. Luckily some awesome members of our ward donated space heaters so we wouldn't become people icicles during the night. Finally the warranty man came and told us that we would need a brand new furnace (YEAH!), but that it won't arrive until next week. Luckily the weather is warming up somewhat this week. Also, our home warranty covers the purchase of the furnace, we only have to pay for minor parts and service. So I guess it's good news and bad news. I'm thinking, why didn't I call a furnace guy when we moved into our house in June? I'll tell you why, I'm a retard.

Dagny's nose started running last week so I took her to the doctor a few days later when it turned into a yucky cough and she has double ear infections. That makes number 7 or 8 for her (I've lost count), so lucky her, she gets to go to an ENT (ear, nose, and throat specialist) and get tubes put in her eyes. That really wasn't much of a surprise considering nearly every sibling in Noah's family had tubes put in their ears. But I hate seeing Dagny sick and I am not excited for minor surgery. I have become a skeptic of the medical world and don't really trust them. I think it's just a big money making conspiracy that takes advantage of poor ignorant people like myself. But if it means that Dagny won't get as many ear infections and save her hearing then I'll give it a try.

New Calling

Ok, so I'm really excited about my new calling. The bishopric kept calling me and talking to me about callings, but it took forever for our records to get transferred and they can't extend a calling until you're "officially" in the ward. So finally, after some false alarm callings (activity days leader and piano player-I can't even play the piano!) I receive the calling of...the laurel advisor! I absolutely loved young women's in my ward growing up. I had some of the most amazing leaders and for the most part all of us girls were friends. This is super lame, but I have dreamed of this calling because I am such a firm believer in the inspiration behind the Young Women's program. My first Sunday in Young Women's went pretty well except the first thing that I found out from one of my laurels is that she knows my husband's little brother. I called him when I got home from church because I just knew that he had probably made out with her and broke her heart or something. I won't tell the whole story, but some drama occurred between them and is still unresolved. I hated boys like my little brother in law when I was in high school, but I love him to pieces now, and I could have punched him right in the face when I found out what went down with him and this girl. I already feel so protective of these girls and I don't even know them. I'm really nervous for this calling because I am by no means a perfect example for these girls. I have to remember that it is important to be their friend, but most importantly I'm their leader and there's a line that can't be crossed. I've developed the bad habit of swearing and I'm nervous that a cuss word is going to slip out in the middle of my lesson or something. Anyways, I'm excited and nervous and so many other feelings, but first I need to start being an example and hopefully I can be the same type of leader that my leaders were to me when I was in young women's.

A Reality Check

So I guess I got a little dose of reality today and it frightened me quite a bit. A friend of my husband's lives in Texas and is a cop. Yesterday he was managing traffic during road construction on foot and an 18 wheeler crashed into him and fell on top of him. His left leg is crushed and runs the risk of amputation, his left arm is broken and has 3rd degree burns on it, and he had bleeding in his brain. His wife called and said that the doctors are optimistic about the situation and he should be ok. But oh my gosh! I guess you never really know what could happen until it happens to somebody else. Now logically I know that Noah doesn't run a huge risk of getting hurt like that because his job description is basically a security guard for the major government buildings. I've never been nervous about him going to work and getting hurt. But then I just thought, what if he does? Our family would be taken care of financially because Noah works for the state and has really good benefits, but still, it's a scary thought. Cops are targets for those crazies out there. Noah wears a bullet proof vest every day, but one day I asked him what would happen if they shot him in the face. Do you know what he said? He'd die. I wish he could walk around in some sort of bullet proof suit. No worries there. I guess when it comes down to it, life is really fragile. We could die at any time. I suppose when it comes down to it we're all constantly in the process of slowly dying. Way to have an optimistic outlook on life, huh?

Happy Anniversary!

On August 12 Noah and I have been married for 2 years! Wow, time sure does fly by so fast.  I hate to be so cliche but it really has been an amazing couple of years.  Let's take a walk down memory lane to the day when Noah and I first met... It was a hot summer day in beautiful (NOT!) Rock Spring, Wy and I decided to mosey on down to a back to school BBQ. And there Noah was with his roommate scarfing down a plate of BBQ spare ribs.  I have to admit that I noticed his roommate first, but I do remember being bugged by Noah tilted baseball hat, so I wrote him off as a retard.  I often wonder what would have happened had I hooked up with Noah first instead of his roommate. Anyways, after much chasing, persuasion, and the 4th Harry Potter movie Noah finally asked me out and the rest is history.  I really don't know what I would do with him. He is my rock and stability in this crazy world.  He is so supportive and always makes me laugh.  He literally took care of Dagny the first two months of her life, all I did was feed her.  And when I recently miscarried our baby, he was right there to pick me back up again.  I love him so much and look forward to the next however many years we have together.  Here's to you love.

Breaking Dawn Concerns

Ok, I've read a couple of other blogs about the whole Twilight thing, and yes, I am quite obsessed with the books as well. I didn't do the whole midnight party thing, but I did wait in line the next morning to get my copy. So far, I don't like it at all. I won't go into too many details because some might not have read it yet and I'm a firm believer in not spoiling books for others. I don't know, it's not like these books are anything like the Harry Potter series, but I still feel a little connected with the characters and I'm really disappointed with everything so far. I mean, obviously Stephenie Meyer couldn't please everyone, Bella had to either pick Edward or Jacob. I'm a huge Jacob fan. How sexy is it to know that if you're cold you can be immediately warmed up by a sexy Native American werewolf? Ok, I'm a little biased because although my husband isn't Native American, he is huge and his body temperature is always super hot. Not to mention that he is outrageously hairy everywhere except his head. I just think I might be married to a werewolf. It is a little ironic that he always opts to work graveyard shifts...hmmm...and maybe that's why the dogs next door are always making noise too. Definitely something to think about.

47 Cars

So we found out today at church that the boy scouts washed 47 cars. Yep, that's right, 47 cars. Do the math, that's $94 we forked out to those boy scouts. Enough said.

A Michael Scott Moment

I don't know how many of you are familiar with The Office, but Noah and I watch it religiously and HIGHLY recommend it to anyone with an ounce of a sense of humor. Anyway, I recently had a Michael Scott moment that I'm slightly embarrassed about so I figure I'd blog about it to make myself feel better. So the other day the cutest little boy scout came to our front door and was such a nervous pervous about collecting donations for a car wash fundraiser. The basics of the fundraiser was we pledge a certain amount of money for every car they washed. The car wash was free. The kid was just so dang cute, I couldn't deny him my money to go to scout camp. Boys learn valuable things in scout camp, right? So I ask the kid what the average pledge people gave to him that was on his list. He only had one pledge so far and that person pledged $5. So I figure, hey, if that person can pledge $5, then I can at least pledge $2. I mean, how many people actually pull over to get their car washed when they see kids in some parking lot washing cars? So he writes down my name and runs along on his merry way. After Noah wakes up from his nap I tell him what happened and he freaks out slightly. He explains to me that of course people will pull over for a free car wash. He proceeds to ask me if I understand what it means to pledge money and of course I say yes, I'm not a retard like Michael Scott then it hits me, what if they washed 40 cars? That means I have to fork out $80! I can't afford that, we just bought a house, we're broke! Well, the kid hasn't been back yet so I don't know how many cars they washed. But what do I do? Do I claim stupidity and tell the kid I didn't understand the whole pledging thing and offer $10? But then I'd look like some cheap shrew who takes back a charitable donation. That won't do. Maybe I'll receive extra blessings. So the moral of the story is beware of super cute boy scouts asking for donations at your door. They're out to get you!

Couple Tag

How long have you been together? Noah and I met in August '05 and got married in August '06 so we've been together almost 3 years, but married for almost 2.

Who kissed who first? Funny story, Noah kissed me first while watching Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and I thought he was burping on my cheek! His ego was bruised for a second, but then we made out for a good long time!

Who eats more? This is a close call because I definitely eat a ton, but I think people can guess by looking at the two of us who eats more: Noah weighs in at nearly 300 lbs and I weigh 120. I give him a pretty good run for his money though.

Who is taller? It's hard to tell, but Noah is taller than me. I'm about 5'9" and he's 6'. If he's shoeless and I'm wearing shoes we look the same height. Good thing he weighs a ton more than me.

Who is more sensitive? Definitely Noah. He is a bawl baby and we can't get into a fight without him crying because he feels bad about hurting my feelings or something. I'm pretty sensitive too when it comes to movies and such though.

Who does the laundry? I figure it's the least I can do since Noah works so hard everyday. He's a cop and I'm a mom, my job is to do the laundry and I'm totally ok with that. In fact, I'm doing some right now. :)

Who cooks? Well, I would have to say that I cook 60% of the time and Noah cooks 40% of the time. He's really particular on what he eats so on those days I let him cook. Plus it's hard to cook when you're living with someone so once we move into our house I'm sure I'll cook more.

Who drives when you two are together? Definitely Noah. I have a complex about driving. I absolutely hate it. I would be happy if for the rest of my life I had a chauffeur.

Who is more stubborn? That's a tough one. I think I am because I'm pretty good at getting Noah to do whatever I want to do. He doesn't want to piss me off so he's pretty good at caving in.

Who has more siblings? Noah. He has 3 brothers and 3 sisters, I have 2 brothers.

Who is more daring? NOAH! I am the biggest weenie. I don't like taking risks at all. The fact that Noah is a cop speaks for itself I think.

I tag Krystle, Amy, and Shayla.

The Leading Scientist in her field

My little niece Clarion has had a rough go on life ever since she was born in March. She got RSV when she was a week old from her brother and sister, who got it from my little girl. Just recently she got some type of virus in her lungs which make her cough until it seems like her little eyeballs are going to pop out. She's pretty much been sick her entire existence so far. Unfortunately because she has been sick, when anyone else gets sick they blame it on her. I admit I've done it myself. Dagny has had croup for the past week and a half and I was sure that Clarion gave it to her. And for the past few days I've had an ear infection and really yucky cold, which I assumed that I got from Dagny. However, when I went to the doctor he told me that there was no possible way that what I have I got from Dagny. I must have gotten it from the store or something. When I found that out I felt terrible for blaming my daughter for getting me sick and even second guessed my assumption of Clarion getting Dagny sick. My mother in law, the leading scientist in the field of hypochondria, was convinced that everything has been coming from Clarion. But what does she know? She's never been to medical school and the fact is that there are millions of viruses and bacterias in the world and they're everywhere. So basically no one really knows anything, only God and we have to rely on him for everything because he ultimately controls everything. We're just a very small part in the big scheme of things.

The Smell of Death

So I hate saying this, but right now we're living with my in laws and the downstairs bathroom is getting remodeled. The bottom of the shower had large cracks in it and the water was leaking into the laundry room. It was a big mess. So the Mr. Fix it man came exactly one week ago. The man is a retard. He spends maybe 2 total hours working on the bathroom and 3 hours taking unnecessary breaks. Then he leaves and says he won't be coming back until today, one week later. After he was finished last Monday he put all the old fiber glass out the window into the window well for some unknown reason instead of throwing it away. We wake up the next morning to discover the two dogs had torn all the fiber glass out of the window well and spread it all over the back lawn. Moron. So for a week all 10 of us have had to use one bathroom. He came back today and finished the shower, but tore up all the linoleum and found that the water had leaked underneath the linoleum and rotted on the cement. It smells like death in the house. Wait, not just death, but moldy death. I can't function. My whole existence lies in that basement and I can't spend 5.2 seconds down there without gagging, literally gagging. Dagny is down there taking a nap with her door shut and the window open, and luckily the smell hasn't leaked into her room. Mr. Fix it man said that the smell shouldn't harm us because it's not that kind of mold, but don't be surprised if you watch the news tomorrow morning and see that a family of 10 was found dead in their home, dying from mold inhalation. In the meantime, we're all slowly dying of mold inhalation...

Taking a Stroll in the Fabric Store

I really should know better by now, but for some reason I always get sucked into shopping at fabric stores with my mother in law. I hate shopping at fabric stores, but my mother in law told me about this really cute fleece that matches Dagny's crib set (which still isn't finished by the way, and Dagny is 9 months old) so I thought, you know, I really would like to tie a fleece blanket for Dagny.  So against my better judgement, I went.  Now, first off, my mother in law is crazy. She knows it, I know it, everyone knows it. But when she enters a fabric store it's crazy x ten. She insists on looking at every single fabric in the store and tries to convince anyone that's with her how that particular swatch would look incredible on their son/daughter.  She insists that she could spend an entire day at a fabric store if she had the time. Heaven help us!  Today I took Dagny with me and she was fine at first, but after the 3rd fabric store she was not a happy camper. In fact, she was a downright pissed off camper.  She was screaming and throwing her little tantrums because it was naptime.  We finally bought what we went for, but Dagny and I were so pissed off by the end of the journey that I could have cared less about that stupid fleece. We bought it and all is well in the world, but now I'm thinking to myself, does Dagny really need another blanket? I swear she has a gazillion of them already and that's only one baby down, many more to go. So the moral of the story is, if I ever mention that I'm considering going to a fabric store with my mother in law, please, please remind me to say NO!

Best Mother's Day Ever!

I know that pretty much everyone writes in their blog how amazing their husbands are, which is perfectly fine, I'm sure their husbands are great to them.  But I just have to write a blog about the amazing Mother's Day present that Noah got for me.  For ages I've been wanting a Kitchen Aid standing mixer, but never thought anything of it because first, I don't have my own house yet and second, they get pretty pricey.  Well, Noah just blew my socks off by getting me my very own Kitchen Aid mixer!  Recently I have been watching The Food Network and every chef on that network has their own mixer, so now, if I wanted to, I could start my own show too!  I probably won't open it up until we have our own house (we're looking, but not having very much luck!), but I'm still super excited anyways.  Mine is very pretty and classy, and I'm very excited to mix things in it! I'm hoping that I'll become a better cook with one of these puppies!

Stupidity 101

I just read through my new classes that I'm taking online and I'm a little freaked out.  For my first assignment in adolescent literature I have to make a powerpoint of my reading experience. I can read books just fine, but asking me to do something technological on the computer is another story. Writing this blog is about as accomplished as I get on the computer. I feel really stupid because I have to ask my little brother in law who practically flunks out of every class he's in to help me with my powerpoint presentation. Definitely going to be a humbling experience...or just make me feel more retarded. We'll see.

15 Things Tag

Post these rules on your blog.
Answer these 15 questions about yourself on your blog.
List:
3 joys
3 fears
3 goals
3 current obsessions/collections
3 random/surprising facts

Tag five people at the end of your post by leaving their names .
Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

3 joys:                                               

My husband, Noah                          

My little girl, Dagny                       

Good food, really good food                                                                   

3 Fears:

Noah losing his job

Losing my figure (totally vain, I know)

Scary movies (I hate them)

3 Goals:

Earn my bachelor's

Buy a house!!

Become more organized

3 current obsessions/ collections:     

cleanliness/tidiness                                  

the Food Network                                     

books for Dagny  

3 random/surprising facts:

I pushed out a 9lb.6oz. baby girl

I recently decided I want a cat, but Noah won't let me

I get really stressed out about punctuality                                

I don't have 5 friends to tag, totally lame, I know, so I'll just tag Krystle because she's the only one I know. :)

Ode to Cheerios

I just wanted to express my greatest appreciation for Cheerios. I don't know what I would do without them to entertain Dagny. When I need to get something done all I have to do is put Dagny in her high chair with a load of Cheerios and she's entertained. Another bonus is I don't have to worry about Dagny getting a sugar high from them because they're so healthy! I'm a big advocate of keeping Dagny off sugar for as long as possible because I don't want to create a little monster who demands sugar to be happy. I'm also able to sit through most of my church meetings when I have a palm full of Cheerios for Dagny to pick off my hand one by one. Dagny reminds me of Boo from Monster's Inc. because I will put a trail of Cheerios on the ground and she'll follow the trail and pick them up one by one. It's pretty funny. So to put it plainly, thank you Cheerios, for making my life a whole lot easier.

In a Nutshell...

This is my first blog ever and for some reason I've always been nervous to blog, but here goes.  I must admit that Krystle inspired me to do this because I read all of her blogs and they made me feel good. :) I figure this is a good way for me to express my thoughts because times get pretty lonely being a stay at home mom.  I love it though.  Hopefully this will be better than myspace because I don't get very many comments or messages from people so this blogging thing will be for me and people can read it if they want to.  Life is pretty good and hopefully it will be getting even better soon. 

A little about our family at the present.  Noah just got hired on at the Salt Lake Sheriff's Dept. as a Protective Services Officer.  I must admit that I love a man in uniform.  For a while we were pretty nervous that he wouldn't make it through the police academy (he said it was worse than college wrestling), but luckily our prayers were answered and he passed everything. He loves it and I'm glad that he finally can go to work and not dread being there the whole time.

I stay at home with Dagny and we have a lot of fun.  I just enrolled in an online school called Grand Canyon University (yes, it's a legit school) and it feels good getting back into school. I only have about 2 semesters left and then I'll have my bachelors so I'm pretty excited.  I love being able to go to school and take care of Dagny at the same time.  I honestly don't really trust anyone else to take care of my child so it was an answer to many prayers to find GCU.

Dagny is crazy!  She is 8 months old and is getting into everything.  She pulls herself up onto anything she can get her hands on and she bites everything and everyone.  She's a really happy baby and I don't have too much trouble with her.  I was very blessed to have such a good baby. 

And that's about it. I'm pretty excited for this whole blogging thing and hope that it helps me to vent in a healthy way because I have a lot of venting to do.