The Clements Clan

Thanksgiving in San Diego

2011-12-07T17:35:00.000-08:00

We traveled down here to good ole' San Diego with Thomas' family for Thanksgiving break. I must say, a 20+ hour road trip with a newborn and a toddler went much smoother than expected but it was still quite an ordeal. It was so nice to be able to spend so much time together. It wouldn't be time with the family without an argument (or three...), and a change in Audrey's sleep schedule made for a grumpy girl some days... But all in all, I'd say we had a really good time!I didn't get a ton of pictures while the family was still here (yes, we're still here!) so I'm hoping Ashley posts a bunch more!

The whole gang before we left. It's SNOWING! (don't mind my gut...)

DISNEYLAND!!

The whole group at Disneyland!

Justin and Jess in the Treehouse

This girl seriously loves her Great Grandpa Clements.

Brody's umblical stump fell off the 4th day of our trip so he got his first bath in a hotel sink :)

And he loved it! :)

This is how Audrey spent all but our last 10 minutes at the beach

Brody too

Nice rears!

Sea World!

Trying to un-bury himself

If you look to the right in this picture, Jess, Terrah, Ashley, Justin and Elsie are about to get soaked!!

Audrey kicked Thomas... and she's smiling under her binky...

I love her face in this picture :) haha

Ice... her favorite

Once again, Audrey's hilarious face...

Ok, so that was more pictures than I thought... and I actually had to edit some pictures out because I had too many and Blogger picture uploader is stupid and slow.
I'll post more about the rest of our California trip when we get home... After December 28th :)

Welcome Brody Lee Clements!

2011-12-07T16:06:00.000-08:00

We welcomed baby Clements #2, Brody Lee Clements, at 9:57AM on Saturday, November 5th, 2011. He was 9 lbs 2 oz, 21 3/4 inches, and looked exactly like a larger version of Audrey. I will apparently have a fun little story to go with each of my births. With Audrey, I got induced - but got sent home because I wouldn't dilate. With Brody, I almost didn't make it to the hospital. Literally. We left the house at 9:15-ish and he was born 40 minutes later. I went from 8cm dilated in the triage room to 10cm and ready to push as soon as they got me to my room (less than 10 minutes later). I never knew that a woman could actually give birth and be ready to go home later that day. That was completely the case with me. I'm glad now that that wasn't the case, but I seriously felt GREAT! I tested positive for Group B Strep, unfortunately, so we had to stay for 2 more days. The thing we hated most about the hospital was their rule about child visitors. Audrey was only allowed to come visit / be on the L&D floor from 4-8pm. Thus, the reason we almost didn't make it to the hospital because somehow almost everyone who we planned on watching Audrey (plus our back-ups) were out of town. All in all, it worked out great. Thomas' cousin, Ruth, watched Audrey until my mom's flight made it into town and then my mom stayed at our house for a week.
Audrey likes Brody. Doesn't LOVE him, she likes him though. Likes to give him kisses and hold him sometimes. LOVES to say hi to him. Especially when he's sleeping. Zeus loves to smell him. So do I :)
Brody is a much easier baby than Audrey was. As my mom says, any baby would be easier than Audrey, but it's a nice change for sure. Brody really only gets super fussy when he's tired or hungry or you've been messing with him too much. He sleeps like a dream, is a GREAT eater and is growing like a champ. We're very happy with his addition into our family. I honestly don't know what I'd do if Thomas wasn't at home right now. Audrey's energy level has (at least seemed) to exponentially increase, making it hard for me to get anything done in between feedings. Audrey has become a BIG Daddy's Girl the last few weeks, which has been bittersweet for me. It's been helpful because I can focus on Brody and any other tasks that need to be done, but she's been a Momma's girl from the time she was born and I wasn't ready for her to transition so quickly. Definitely bittersweet.
Now, without further ado, PICTURES!

First meeting! First thing she wanted to do was kiss him :)

First family photo (best one - and Audrey looks like a goon)

My mom and her new grandson

She decided SHE needed to wear Brody's hat

Proud Daddy!

Thomas' grandparents with their Great-Grandkids

Big boy!

Hi, I look just like my sister :)

Little brother going home (he pooped out of this outfit as soon as we got home)

My parents

My parents and all THREE of their grandkids!!

Audrey-isms

2011-12-07T15:22:00.000-08:00

Playing in the leaves with Daddy :)

Our first snow of the season!!

Audrey has been quite the chatterbox lately. She has an opinion on everything and is not afraid to share it. Not unlike her dad. We constantly hear "yeah" or the cutest "no" you've ever heard (that is unless it's the 5th no you've heard while trying to make her something for lunch...).
Here are a few other things I've heard this week:
"Bubbos" = bubbles
"Dod it!" = Got it!
"Away" = Usually means "throw away" but today her bubbles were flying away
"Bassoff!" = Blast off! From her favorite show, Little Einsteins. We also hear "pat pat pat" as she gets ready for blast off... :)
"So" = show. If she had it her way, she'd either watch tv all day, or spend the entire day outside. Her favorite things to watch are Little Einsteins, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse ("Mimey"), Finding Nemo, Rio and Tangled.
"Weeeeeeeee!" = She said this this morning while she was pretending to slide in the bathtub. She also says it every time she sees a slide or swings. :)
"Bobey" = Brody :)
"Size" = outside. Her favorite place at my parents' house (where we're currently staying) is behind the tree in their backyard. There, she can dig and eat dirt in peace.
"Sose" = horse. My parents kept my [very large] collection of toy horses from my childhood and Audrey has been in absolute heaven.
"Tayt you" = thank you. Sometimes she even says it without a prompt. :) Warms my heart.
"Nanee" = Candy. She's been getting M&M's for going potty in the toilet. We had too many poopy panties and then everyone got sick. So we kinda put the potty training on hold, but she still goes on the toilet when she's asked if she needs to go potty. She thinks every time she flushes the toilet (even if she wasn't the one who went) or washes her hands that she gets a candy. Whoops!
"DA-DEEEEEEEEEEEEEE" = She LOVES to run into her room and hide and calls for her dad to come and find / scare her. She gets the hugest smile on her face after she says this. :)
"Mamah" = Grandma
"Papa" = Grandpa / Papa
"Fasis" = Memphis, her cousin
Those are just a few of the things Audrey says. She actually says a lot more than just this, but these I thought were the most noteable.

Oreo face

Kisses for "Fasis"

Eating "Ice" during our first snow!

There's still dirt under the snow...

Look at that form!

Loving the water

(I hate Blogger's photo uploader. This was the best I could do)

Warning: You will cry.

2011-09-28T21:04:00.000-07:00

I found the most amazing thing posted to Facebook earlier today. It's called: 50 Rules for Dads of Daughters. It can be found HERE. I honestly cried through most of it. And I know it's not because I am pregnant, Thomas cried too (Don't tell him I told you. In fact, he didn't make it through the whole list. Said he does this stuff - and yes, yes he does - and didn't need to know the rest).

And as I was looking at the list, I found THIS. The author of the list continued the list. He's currently at 150 things...

Glad to know there are still uplifting things to be found on the internet. :)

P.S. My daughter is kind of a genius. Details to come later.

More random pictures

2011-08-31T17:26:00.000-07:00

Just some more random pictures from July-ish.

What does Uncle Justin say?? Hehe her favorite face.

Yes, she is naked. Yes, she is (mostly) covered. Yes, she is fabulous.

Standing in a cooler full of ice. She got in by herself. Because she loves ice.

Wearing Terrah's garter...

Fourth of July

2011-08-31T16:54:00.000-07:00

This year, we spend the Fourth with Thomas' family, and Terrah's in-laws :) At the Barney compound in Wapato. I only got pictures of the pool, slip-n-slide and Audrey running around... :)

Toa!

Not all pictures can be happy. :)
This actually makes me smile. Shows her true colors!

Pictures from... June/July?

2011-08-31T16:02:00.000-07:00

How she ALWAYS sleeps in the car. One leg over.

I went a little camera happy this particular day...

I love that HINEY!!

I win, Molly. :)

2011-08-31T15:35:00.000-07:00

This isn't just for Molly, but I thought she'd appreciate the fact that I'm due 6? 8? weeks later than she is... and she has not gotten as big as I am now. And yet, I keep growing.

31.5 weeks along with baby Boy Clements

I'm using Audrey's nap time to get some more blogs posted... We'll see how many more I get done. She should wake up in 20 min or so...

Big news!

2011-06-22T17:53:00.000-07:00

I know I have a million things to update on, but I figured the most important would be announcing that we're having a baby BOY in October/November of this year! I'm really excited for this guy to come out. Haha not just because I'm already getting uncomfortable, but I'm really excited to see how Audrey interacts with him. She does so well with her cousin, Memphis, that I just can't wait to see her so excited about a baby that lives at our house. :) We're thinking of going with a "B" name to have all our kids' names be in alphabetical order. I thought I'd be more disappointed with the fact that this one isn't a girl, because I'd hoped Audrey'd have a sister close in age to her like me and my sister. But I'm so excited to have someone that will not only keep up with Audrey's extreme amounts of energy, but will be an excuse also to let Audrey be a little girlier :)

Anyway, here are some pictures of the little bugger:

I love this one because he's turning away, but you can see Thomas' upper lip :)

10 months!!

2011-03-02T09:21:00.000-08:00

Are you kidding me?! In two months I will have a one year old TODDLER?! Wow. Well this girl is most definitely keeping us on our toes. Just like she did when she was a newborn, as soon as we get comfortable with some kind of routine, she throws us in a whirlwind and changes it up. She is walking everywhere and gets into absolutely everything.
Her favorite things to get into trouble for include: Pulling Kleenex out of the box and ripping several of them up while eating a few chunks, turning the knob on our receiver thereby changing the audio stations and settings, pulling every single magnet she can reach off the refrigerator and throwing them everywhere, ripping up and eating any and every piece of paper she can find (this includes our and her books), getting into every cupboard and drawer she can reach and try to pull out as much as she can, throwing anything she doesn't want when she's throwing a fit and hitting Mommy.
Although she is a huge pester, that doesn't mean I don't find most things she does quite adorable. Audrey is smart. She learns things very quickly and from the time she was able to, she has been very observant and alert. She is constantly watching other people's interactions and reactions. Just a few things that showcase her adorable intelligence include: signing - and learning signs after just a few examples (wave, fan, light, more, all done, bath, please, clapping, high-5), she also can actually say "dog" and "uh-oh" - although "uh-oh" comes out as "uh-uh", but she does it whenever anything falls on the ground, so she understands the context. She LOVES dogs. Whether it be a cartoon dog in a book, a dog we see while we're running errands or our own dog Zeus, she is absolutely fascinated. She climbs all over Zeus who, usually, will let her without a fight. She LOVES books. She will pull all the books of her shelf in her room, sit in the middle of them, and start reading. For a few months now, she'll turn the page after we look and talk about the pages. She also loves babies. And kids. But when we look at her reflection or pictures of babies, I say "baby". She gets the hugest smile on her face and loves to watch my lips say it. She says "dada" when she tries to say baby. It's adorable.
Audrey also loves FOOD. She gets really excited at mealtimes and lets me know she is hungry by signing "more" and "please" over and over. She isn't that picky of an eater, but her favorite foods are: BANANAS, fishy crackers, bagels, oatmeal, yogurt, cheese, puffs and animal cookies - and usually whatever Mommy is eating. She drinks from a sippy cup (mostly because she never caught on to the whole "bottle" thing) like a champ and eats like nobody's business.

I am so happy to have such a fun-loving, challenging, silly, observant, nosey, happy little Momma's girl. :) Even on her worst days, she blesses us immensely!

8 and 9 months

2011-03-02T08:00:00.000-08:00

Well, here are some pictures from the 20th of December on. I'm having problems adding her 8 month photo session though, so I'll have to add it later. At 8-9 months, Audrey could sign more, fan, light, wave (hi/bye), give kisses and was a crawling champion! She started to pull herself onto everything and get into EVERYTHING! We spent most of the entire month of December at Thomas's mom's house to help her around the house during the healing process from her knee replacement. She took her first steps a week before she turned nine months, but it took her over a month to master those skills!! This has been my favorite age so far, her personality has just blossomed into a silly, "gezinta" (gets-into-everything), opinionated mommy's girl. Love this little Punkin!

Delish!

2010-12-04T16:17:00.000-08:00

I made this for dinner today, and it was amazing. I just roughly mixed together a couple recipes, and added in what I thought I would like. Just thought I'd share!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

a la Courtney Clements

I roughly estimated the amounts of spices I put into this. I put in enough to where I liked it. Please don’t take these measurements literally, as I’m not sure it’s too much. :)

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts
2 Tbs olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced (I used my garlic press)
5-6 baby carrots, sliced
2 32oz cartons of chicken broth
1 can (14.5 oz) beans (I used pinto because that’s what I had, but black would probably be better, and I’d use two cans next time)
1 can (14.5 oz) roasted tomatoes
1 can (7 oz) diced green chiles
1/2 - 1 cup frozen corn
3 corn tortillas, shredded
1-2 Tbs cumin
1-2 Tbs Mrs. Dash Southwest Chipotle seasoning blend
Dash (or two) of your favorite hot sauce (I used Valentina but I’m sure Tabasco would be good too)
Handful of cilantro
Salt & Pepper to taste

Garnish: Shredded cheese (Used cheddar, but it melts funky so I’d suggest Monterey Jack or Mexican Blend), crushed tortilla chips, cilantro (optional)

Boil chicken until done. Shred and set aside.

In a large pot, sauté onion, garlic and carrots in oil on medium heat until onions are soft. Pour in chicken broth, and mix in rest of ingredients. Let simmer on medium low for 20 minutes.

Ladle into bowls, top with garnish. Enjoy!

5 Months!!

2010-09-21T18:20:00.000-07:00

We're obviously a little behind... so here's my attempt to make up for lost time. :)

Here are the only pictures from 5 months I could find...

Growing like a weed - 4 months

2010-09-08T20:54:00.000-07:00

Holy cow. This girl is full of firsts these last few weeks.

My new most favorite picture ever. She's so cute! 4 MONTHS OLD!!

With the exception of a few onesies and most of her pants, this girl is officially in 3-6 month clothes. I finally put away the newborn clothes, mostly because Thomas put her in some NB jammies the other night, and I wanted to be sure that didn't happen again. This girl is growing like a weed. Her feet no longer fit most of her socks either, so we're going to have to remedy that pretty soon since it's getting colder outside.

"Good morning, Mommy." :)

This girl is full of smiles. Her favorite time of day is morning, right after she gets up. You can get her to smile the best right after she wakes up. I love to just sit and talk with her in the mornings (meaning, anytime after 7:30am. Anytime before that, I try to get her back to sleep as quickly as possible) and get the hugest grins and sweetest coos you'll ever hear. She really does have a smile that melts my heart. I could just sit and stare at her, and have her stare right back and smile, all day long!

Funny Mommy!

This girl is LOUD!! I made the mistake of going to the library the other day to find some books for Audrey and myself, and to get out of the house. Halfway through our time there she started making her loud screeches. I finally had to leave because she wouldn't stop. Our library is two stories, so every time she'd make a noise it'd echo. Thomas says her noises sound like a bottle rocket. Well, her happy noises anyway. This girl is not too proud to tell you when she does not like something. There may be two or three whimpers, then a full out scream. There was one night a few weeks ago that I could not get her to STOP screaming. I literally tried everything. We went for a walk, we tried eating, we sat and rocked, played with toys, went for a car ride... NOTHING. Finally we got back home and I gave her some Orajel and Tylenol and she was out in a matter of minutes.

What ARE you doing?!

This smile and giggle melt my heart!

"Oh, I see you have toes too..."

He he he he he

Speaking of Orajel... In the past week, this girl has had not one, but TWO teeth come in. I have tried and tried to get a picture of it, but she's very stubborn. Or maybe she's shy. :) One morning, the 2nd of Sept to be exact, she bit my finger, like she always does, and I felt something hard and pointy. I tried looking, but didn't see much. I could tell that the left and right bottom front teeth looked like the gums had teeth behind them. The left one came first, the right came 5 days later. They're still pretty close to the gums, but I'm assuming we'll have two full fledged teeth within the next week!

"WOAH! ARE YOU SERIOUS?!"

"If I say 'Go Cougs!' will you leave me alone?"

Things Audrey LOVES: Biting any and everything (and one), screaming, grabbing faces and clawing them with her nails (Her favorite is the skin right at the top of my cheek right below my eye. Thanks, Baby), trying to eat anyone's nose, looking at anything that moves or makes noise, hanging upside down, trying to play with Zeus, scratching rough surfaces to feel the texture, anything that's cold, taking walks with Mommy, her toes, baths, laughing at Mommy (Daddy hasn't figured out that niche yet...), pulling hair, getting her diaper changed, and giving Mommy a hard time when she's tired.

LOVES to hang upside down!!

Big girl with her car seat straps moved all the way up
and no more room for her newborn head rest!

Mommy looked away for two seconds, and this is how she found me in the tub.

THEN I moved all the way around!

Audrey's tricks: Smiling, laughing at Mommy, rolling back to front AND front to back (we're still working on the continuous motion), grabbing things, tracking things with her eyes, pulling herself up (ALMOST able to pull herself to sitting by herself), standing like a pro with little help, moving in a 360 degree circle - just by lifting her feet and moving her bum little by little, singling out one big toe to chew on (so cute!), make the cutest (and loudest) raspberries you've ever seen - she does them almost constantly now - and she's just starting to make more CV sounds (Consonant Vowel) and answer back when you talk to her.

Big pretty eyes :)

Chillin with mommy on the porch outside.

What's coming up: Going to start working on Baby Sign, going to move to the crib soon, and going to make her take a bottle(!)...

Mommy just loves this outfit!

In a nutshell, this girl is adorable. She is a huge pill at times, but I still love her to death. I'm glad Thomas is letting me to get more sleep and helping me out with Audrey in the mornings. It's HUGELY appreciated! We've seen less of Demon Baby lately, which has been appreciated... I like laughing, sweet Audrey more than I like Demon Baby... ;)

Three months!

2010-08-08T21:39:00.000-07:00

I plan on now at least posting monthly to keep tabs on how Audrey is doing. Really, I promise.

Right now, Audrey is 3 1/2 months old. She is so full of energy, and also quite cranky this month. We started teething, so our house is not so fun 50% of the time. Here are some fun things we have been up to this month:

First trip to the pool!

First plane ride sans helpers

Teething :(

Mormon Battalion in Old Town San Diego

First time at the beach!!

Blowing bubbles at the airport

Nap time with Daddy

Long Beach looking like chemo patient baby

Fell asleep sitting up at lunch

Fishing trip!

This is how she spent 80% of the time on the boat :)

I can smile!!

Rolled over for the first time! (this was actually the third time)

Three Months

Some fun things about Audrey this month:

Started teething. Both bottom teeth. Both have yet to actually come through.
First plane ride alone with mommy.
First time in California to visit Papa and Grandma Stevenson
Last time seeing Uncle Phillip for two years - Brazil gained an amazing missionary
Found her feet. Now, as seen in picture above, her feet are almost never out of sight or within grasping distance.
Rolled over from front to back, three times in one day!! ...Has yet to do it since.
Has started to belly laugh. It's hard to get her to do it, but it's hilarious when she does!
First big Clements family vacation to Long Beach - where she had her first trip on a boat, and slept both fishing trips :)
First trip to the pool and the ocean - she LOVES water! This girl splashes through all of bath time. The bath is our fall back to any mood she's in. If we're having a bad day, I'll throw her in the bath and she is instantly happier.

Love this girlie girl. Even though we've had some pretty bad days (and nights) around here because she's teething, her smiles and laughs make up for all of it! :)

One and Two Months

2010-08-08T19:59:00.000-07:00

In no way are these pictures in order. I hate Blogger's new photo uploader thingie. It's retarded. I didn't add captions to all of them, but you can figure out what most of them are about from the ones I did. Nevertheless, here are some pictures from one and two months old :)

One Month Old!

Two Months Old!

Uncle Richard's Army Graduation!

Obviously riveted about Richard's Graduation Program

Don't like sink baths

No more pictures, Mom.

One of the best pictures ever.

Uncle Richard is so handsome.

Uncle Richard and Aunt Sarah

At the Peace Arch

Perfect timing to look like I'm sitting on my own!

Papa Richard's favorite outfit :)

Welcome to the Gun Show :)

Lake Coeur d'Alene

Grammy Sarah and her sisters singing at Granny's birthday

Aunties Allison and Holly Erwin

Welcome home, baby!

2010-08-08T18:26:00.000-07:00

Audrey and Mommy had a difficult first few weeks. We had a lot of trouble getting the whole feeding thing down. This kid is truly stubborn. If conditions are not exactly to her specifications, she refuses to cooperate. Fortunately we worked it all out, for the most part.

We had LOTS of visitors the first two months of this girl's life. Especially within the first month.

Four Generations :)

Audrey's Blessing Day

She's here!!

2010-07-28T16:34:00.000-07:00

Little miss Audrey Belle Clements joined the world on April 20th, 2010 at 3:15am at 8 lbs 1 oz and 20 1/2 inches. After (literally) 33 hours of labor, Audrey finally decided to make her debut.

I originally had a huge post about her full birth story, but for some reason Blogger decided to delete it.

Therefore, I will share pictures of our hospital stay, because it took me several hours to type and I don't have the patience to do that again. (Thank you again, Blogger)

Wrinkly (huge) feet! :)

Update coming soon!!

2010-06-11T00:34:00.001-07:00

Stay tuned for details of our sweet little punkin girl...

Something else that helps :)

2010-04-13T19:45:00.001-07:00

The Lord always knows how to give us what we need when we need it. Fortunately, the Lord knows how much I love quotes and love to read. That's why he has given THIS to me. :)

Come what may, and love it.

The best words to live by. :)

Due date come and gone...

2010-04-13T18:39:00.000-07:00

Well, here I am. Still pregnant. A bruised rib, less heartburn (since she dropped this weekend), lots of anticipation and lots of time to do pretty much nothing. Thomas hasn't been working recently, he started selling again for Pointe Pest Control a couple weeks ago, so we have a lot of time on our hands. He keeps telling me to have the baby already - lovingly of course. We watch tv, watch movies, watch him play video games, take Zeus on walks (I do at least), take Zeus to the dog park, go shopping, go to dr appointments... The charmed life, I'm telling ya.

We went into my dr appointment last Monday hopeful we were making at least SOME progress. Unfortunately I had made none. Even more unfortunately, my dr was going out of town that Saturday, so he decided he wanted to induce me so he could be there for my delivery. We set an induction up with the hospital on Wednesday at 9pm. I was so nervous and excited all at the same time. I was going to have a baby by the weekend!! We got to the hospital, they switched rooms for me since I wanted one with a jacuzzi tub to labor in and my mom got there as soon as we got into our room. I was put on monitors, we watched a little tv, I was given my first dose of meds and we all went to sleep. Four hours later, they gave me my second dose. At this point, nothing had happened, which they said may very well be the case.

In the morning, my dr came in to check on my progress - NONE MADE. Great. So he decided to go a different route with the medication, and decided to check back on me after lunch. Mind you, he put me on a clear liquid diet so all I had to eat was chicken broth, juice, jello and 1/2 a popsicle before I was put back on ice-chips-only. As lunch started nearing, I started to get really hungry. I was craving all sorts of things, which I was obviously unable to eat. I also started getting some contractions. Not many, but a few. Made me hopeful that things were progressing at least a little. Noon-ish comes around, dr returns. Checks my progress. Gives me a dirty look. Sits in a chair and discusses my options: 1) Go home and hope I go into labor on my own (I hate this option). 2) Try another dose and see from there. 3) Keep trying and hope I go into labor before Saturday. After discussing, and pushing back tears, I decided to go for at least one more dose and go from there. He gives me one more dose and tells me he'll come back after work to check back and we can discuss what we're going to do after this dose. My doctor and nurse left the room and I started bawling. I was so frustrated at this point. My contractions were making me uncomfortable, and walking around the halls had obviously not been helping. I was hungry, disappointed and tired. I hadn't gotten a lot of sleep the night before because the bed was super uncomfortable, I was excited and nervous to be in the hospital, Thomas was snoring, and I had to get up to pee every 15 min. It took all my will power to not cry for the entire hour before I fell asleep.

I took a nap, hoping I would stop freaking out. Eventually, we did go back out to walk the halls. My feet have gotten SUPER swollen lately so that helped with that too. I started having pretty painful and long contractions, and they were pretty close together. I started to get somewhat hopeful, but also started realizing that I may be going home without a baby. I started being more and more ok with that idea, especially since I was SO HUNGRY and didn't want to continue on an ice-chips-with-the-occational-chicken-broth-and-juice diet for days. My mom and Thomas were such a great support to me. Lots of hugs, back rubs, foot rubs, conversation directed away from the situation at hand and hands to hold. When my doctor finally did return around 6:30, I was prepared for the fact that I had most likely not made any progress. When he walked in, my mom was giving me a back rub because I was having a pretty gnarly contraction. He got kind of excited about that. :) He grabbed a nurse, checked me and found.... I had dialated 1/2 a centimeter. I was ready for this news, actually I was ready for no news, so this actually seemed like good news to me! We decided I was going to go home, eat, and we scheduled a LAST induction date of April 19th (after he returns) which will be my absolute last option. I found myself to be actually somewhat happy to be leaving, I was sick of not having any progress and I really wanted to eat!!

After we checked out, we went to dinner and tried not to talk to much about what had happened. I had decided I didn't want to talk about it because it made me start crying again each time I did. Thomas texted family and friends telling them to not call me or ask how I was doing. I put a facebook status telling everyone I would tell them news when there was some. My mom decided she needed to go home, but there was snow on the pass so she had to stay the night anyway. I cried a little here and there, but was starting to be ok with the fact that I was the only person I knew of that was ever sent home from an induction because nothing happened. I had contractions all that night, and all the next day. It was sad to see my mom go, but excited that I KNEW that the next time she came I would be having a baby. We decided to go get our baby (i.e. Zeus) from Thomas' mom's house and I told him I didn't want anyone to talk about what had happened. The last thing I wanted was to be coddled and have to think about how disappointed I was again. And cry. A lot. Again.

We spent the weekend at Thomas' mom's house, which turned out to be the best medicine for me. And Thomas. Who was really worried about me, but glad I had shared with him how I felt. I was the only person who brought up going to the hospital. I had an entire 2 days to think about other things, and to not stay mopey in the house. It felt great. Just what I needed.

That brings us, more or less, to this week. I have been walking, shopping and sleeping most of my hours away. I had a dr appointment and a non-stress test (NST-where they hook you up to fetal and contraction monitors for an hour to check how the baby is doing) on Monday. The NST went really well, she moved the entire time I was there, during which I watched tv and drank ice water to my heart's content. The doctor appointment was what I was really worried about. I had to see a dr in the practice who was not my usual dr and I had to worry about what had gone on progress-wise over the weekend. When the nurse got me all prepped and such we were talking about why I was seeing her dr today and she said, "Oh, that's you! I heard all about you!" Haha, apparently I'm a legend in their office or something. :) The dr came in, we talked for a bit and he checked me out. I was still only dialated to 1/2 a centimeter, but the baby had dropped and I was 75% effaced which was almost as good of news as if he would have told me I was 5 centimeters. Yes, I was a bit disappointed, but I was glad we were at least getting somewhere. Oh, and my baby is somewhere in the 8 - 8 1/2 lbs range. Meaning if I don't have this baby this week she will 100% be 9lbs+. Awesome. Also, in no way surprising.

So here's the plan for the next few days: Tomorrow is my birthday. Apparently everyone thinks I'm going to have this baby tomorrow. I have no idea, we'll see. Thursday I have another NST scheduled as well as an ultrasound to check the fluid levels around the baby. If, I don't go into labor beforehand, the fluid levels are low then they'll induce me on Thursday. If everything checks out, and I haven't gone into labor before then, they'll send me home and I'll have to wait it out until Monday. Truly, as much as I REALLY don't want to wait another 6 days to have this kid, that is what I feel most comfortable with because my dr will be able to deliver her. At this point though, I'm ready to roll with the punches with this kid. If I go into labor, I'm not going to be freaking out. I will not be nervous to go into the hospital, and I am not nervous about anything that will happen there. The only thing that I am NOT ready for is a c-section. I know I have said to people in the past that they should only care that they will have a healthy baby, but I've known too many people have this major surgery lately to be so ignorant to the fact that it would majorly suck to have to heal and deal with a new baby at the same time. I am NOT ready for that. I am ready for labor, painful contractions, and a long hospital stay if need be - but I am not ready to have to deal with an incision site for 3 weeks.

That's all for now. I fully apologize for lack of updates. It will be my new goal to blog at LEAST once a week to update family and friends on our life. I'm glad I don't have to work any more, that seriously tired me out beyond all belief. I didn't want to do anything other than sit on my butt when I got home everyday. Anyhoo, here's hoping my goal actually sticks!! I give any and everyone free reign to keep me to my goal!

HERE'S HOPING FOR A BABY SOON!! :)

Ultrasound pictures

2010-04-13T18:36:00.001-07:00

Here are the long overdue pictures of our little one...

Great giveaway!!

2010-03-12T08:09:00.001-08:00

Before I update everyone on life, I wanted to post about this great giveaway on my friend Heidi's blog. A friend of hers is giving away custom lettering blocks!! Personally, I think these are adorable. I've always wanted them in my nursery. I was actually thinking the other day about how I was going to get them done myself, so this would be perfect!! All you do, is pick the style, paint, color and ribbon and her friend Andrea does the rest! Seriously, these are SO CUTE!!

The contest closes March 15th, and there will be two winners. There's still time to enter!! All you have to do is go HERE and follow the rules Heidi posted on her blog post. Plus, you get to check out her ADORABLE kids while you're there. :)

Good luck!!

slacking...

2010-02-01T09:05:00.000-08:00

Of course I'm slacking. It wouldn't be something of mine unless it sat forgotten for a month... Well, not forgotten, just un-posted. I have been thinking about my blog, I promise. In fact, I'm at work right now blogging. Bad right? Well, when you don't have the motivation to do it when you get home because you're so tired... and you don't have the motivation to WORK when you're at work, the only logical explaination is to blog, right? :)
So, since our last post, we have moved. We looked, and looked, and looked, and looked for a house to rent. No one wants to take big dogs. So we finally gave in and got an apartment in Richland. Seemingly the only apartment complex (with the exception of the other ones across the street) that allows great danes. One apartment complex said that great danes were on their restricted breed list. Because of their aggressive nature. Right. My dog who sleeps all day. Actually, the few times I have seen him aggressive have been within the last few months. Our neighbors downstairs have an English Bulldog. Zeus has gotten very territorial with said bulldog. So, when Zeus goes potty outside we have to make sure the other dog isn't outside. Also, we had our friends over the other night, and they brought their 2 year old daughter. This little girl is adorable, but she has never really had good experiences with dogs (with the exception of one), so she was a little wary of a huge dog. Zeus is really interested in things smaller than him. He loves my sister's chihuahua. At one point in the night though, she was getting off the couch for something and Zeus came up to her and started to nip her bum!! He got put into the bedroom for that. When we finally let him out, he was put on time out on his bed. We (the adults) were playing a game at the table, and the little one was watching tv on the couch. Zeus gets off his bed and starts growling at the girl! Holy cow!! We thought he was good with kids, but turns out we need to watch him like a hawk. I know he just needs to get used to them. My grandma's dog used to always bite us. But being around us for so long, she finally got used to it. It worries me though, I don't want to have to get rid of him. This dog already has separation anxiety to the point that he howls and whines and even runs into walls (according to our neighbors) when we leave him... :( Anyway, back to our apartment. We got a 2 bedroom 1 bath apartment in Richland. We only signed a 6 month lease, hoping we'll either find a house to rent or possibly be able to buy something after 6 months. BUT, we're kind of thinking we might just renew for at least another 6 months. Sucks though, after being used to living in a house all summer and half of this year, we're used to more room. Zeus is unable to have a yard, which is hard for a dog who practically lived outside all summer. The time will come though. We're hoping it comes sooner rather than later, but who knows.
Pregnancy wise, things are going pretty well. Doctor says we're on cruise control for now. Just trying to stay pregnant and stay comfortable. Comfort is becoming a big deal. For the most part, I'm not THAT uncomfortable. I'm just getting to the point that I can't sit or stand comfortably for long periods of time. Unfortunately, I tend to sit for long periods of time at work and at church, and my back starts hurting. If my back starts hurting, it's really hard for me to sit still. I know it's just going to get worse from here on out, which makes me not want to work that much more. My ribs just started hurting every once in a while this last week. Baby hasn't started really kicking them yet, which I'm grateful for. But, I can feel them starting to separate to make more room, which is not very fun. My breathing capacity is lowering as well. The weirdest feeling is having baby punch my bladder. It's almost like having the feeling of needing to go to the bathroom, but then it goes away really quick. Kind of like a mix of that and someone elbowing you in the bladder, but on the inside. I'm getting very ready for this baby to make an appearance, but we're so not emotionally or physically ready for this kid at all. I'm so scared to become a mom. I feel like I might be too young, I don't have enough energy, I won't be able to handle all of this. Plus, the fact that we will only have COBRA insurance through my work for a relatively short period of time before we have to get private insurance, AND we don't have anything for this kid yet. I think I'm going to buy her crib and the material for her crib bumper (that my sister is making) tonight. We need to get some stuff set up! I'm supposedly having 3 baby showers, but I have no idea when they're going to happen. Wait, maybe 4, if one of my schools does one for me. I better get a whole bunch of stuff, or we're going to have to spend lots of money on this girl!!

I'll post updated belly pics and my promised ultrasound pics next time I'm on my home computer. :)

All right

2009-12-16T13:31:00.000-08:00

I suck at blogging. But hey, I have the excuse of not being near a computer that can post pictures to my blog until I get home around 4pm. At which time, I am dead beat (and SORE) from working all day (even if that just consists of working on my computer at work doing paperwork... which I hate). I also try to help my aunt out with dinner (yes, I'll get to that in a moment) and I try to get some much needed hubby bonding - which has been pretty hard to come by recently. So really, I've been finding almost any excuse not to blog, other than the obviously false one that nothing has been going on around here. We sure have been busy the past couple of months!!
First, yes, we are still living at my aunt's house. We found out a couple of weeks ago that we weren't approved for mortgage insurance, so we couldn't get a loan. No loan=No house (obviously) so we are currently looking for a rental that will allow small horses, I mean our dog Zeus. :) It's kind of a disappointment, but it's not like we weren't expecting it to be a possibility especially because pretty much the same thing happened with our last mortgage broker. We'll buy a house someday. Hopefully sometime in the next 3 years...
Now onto BABY!!! Baby is a girl!! For those of you who didn't know, we found out last month that we're expecting a little girlie!! She has been more than happy to show me how much she is taking after her father by not being able to sit still for long. Although she may not play football (although she might), she is definitely one active girl! As we speak, she has tired herself out by kicking and punching me as hard as her little limbs will let her for the past 15 minutes. Doctor says her heartbeat is great, she moves a ton (you can hear her moving in the doppler), and she's measuring right on schedule! Actually, the ultrasound said she was measuring 5 days ahead of due date... but they some dates incorrect, so doc says we're keeping our original due date of April 6th. Happy day!! Speaking of doc, we found out last appointment that my doctor served a (LDS) mission to France, I forgot to ask where, but I'm pretty sure the reason why I've felt so comfortable with him is because he is also mormon :) I dunno, maybe I'm a dork, but it's a pretty good feeling knowing that not only your hubby but your doctor who can give you a blessing if you need it. Good thoughts. :) But yes, pregnancy is going well. Starting to get sore upper and lower back as well as a certain bone "down there". Heartburn is prevalent almost 24/7, but that's why I have my TUMS! Here are some prego pics... in reverse order... (I'll post ultrasound pictures next post)

24 weeks :)

20 weeks! Halfway there! :) (i hope!)

18 1/2 weeks!!!

17 weeks!

Also, we got a new car! I'll post pictures of that later too. Thomas came home last night from spending the day car shopping with his grandparents with a bouquet of roses and a dealer key in his hand. Let me tell ya, I've never been happier to have my husband surprise me by making a major purchase without telling me. It's an '07 Jeep Commander. Kind of looks like an H-2 (Hummer) but prettier. Champagne colored. In fact, here it is:

That's all for this post. I think I've made up for lost time :) Next post: Ultrasound pictures!!

WAAAAAY behind...

2009-11-18T18:44:00.000-08:00

So, I've been slacking. I feel like everyone says that though. Let's say, I was procrastinating posting because sitting here with a computer on my lap while watching TV is not as entertaining as one would think. It does, however, keep me warm to have a laptop on my... lap. Anyways, back to the point. We still have no house. We may not have a house until March at this point. If we get the loan approved, we decided we're just going to forgo the house we no longer want, and build. There's a development going up down the road and my uncle's nephew's girlfriend (did ya follow that?) is building one. They're really nice and fairly well priced... so we'll see.

Baby is doing well! I'll post next time about our ultrasound and such!

17 weeks!

2009-10-27T09:47:00.002-07:00

So we're at 17 weeks now! Our next appointment is on the 10th and he said we can set up an ultrasound after that! Yay! Baby is doing well. Not a whole lot of movement, but my belly is getting bigger and it's starting to feel firmer if you press it. I took a pregnancy picture last night, and I apparently don't look as big as I think I do. I had a dream Sunday night that we got an ultrasound and found out it was a boy. That would come as little to no surprise to me, knowing Thomas' family history of boys, but I've been feeling like it was a girl. So now I'm just officially confused and really can't wait for our ultrasound!
Here's what our weekly email said today: "How your baby's growing:
Your baby's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone, and the umbilical cord — her lifeline to the placenta — is growing stronger and thicker. Your baby weighs 5 ounces now (about as much as a turnip), and she's around 5 inches long from head to bottom. She can move her joints, and her sweat glands are starting to develop."
As for the house, we still have absolutely no idea when we're going to get it. At this point, Thomas is telling our loan company (since our loan officer QUIT yesterday) that if we don't know anything by tomorrow we're going to go with another company. Not sure if that will help at all, but it's worth it to us because we've been waiting a month for good news. So for now, our pretty house is sitting empty, waiting for us to move in and repaint the walls. It sucks because we have to wait to do anything until we get our house. Can't start baby shopping, can't make big purchases, can't spend almost anything because we need our down payment money. Here's hoping we get it at LEAST by the end of next month so we can still get the tax credit!

16 weeks!! Picture to come...

2009-10-20T10:31:00.000-07:00

Still haven't gotten the house... I can't wait to sleep in my own bed, have my own kitchen and get to snuggle with hubby and Zeus all the time!!! Ugh! We haven't even heard when we MIGHT be getting it either. Hopefully I will need to take off early today to sign papers!!! Then Thomas gets to paint! Yay!
Baby is good. Got lots of maternity clothes this weekend. Feels like I'm wearing pj's all day long :) Love it. I got my 16 week email today and here's what it said:
Get ready for a growth spurt. In the next few weeks, your baby will double his weight and add inches to his length. Right now, he's about the size of an avocado: 4 1/2 inches long (head to rump) and 3 1/2 ounces. His legs are much more developed, his head is more erect than it has been, and his eyes have moved closer to the front of his head. His ears are close to their final position, too. The patterning of his scalp has begun, though his locks aren't recognizable yet. He's even started growing toenails. And there's a lot happening inside as well. For example, his heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, and this amount will continue to increase as your baby continues to develop.
Yay for toenails!! Haha. Can't wait to find out if it's a boy or girl in just a few weeks!! I've still been really tired lately. Seems like no matter how many hours if sleep I get I'm still sleepy! I wake up like 1-2 times a night, especially if I end up on my back. I'm worried I'm gonna need one of those pregnancy pillows that cost like $60 just so I'm comfortable enough to sleep through the night! Maybe I'll talk to Thomas about getting a body pillow...? I don't know. I think I'm getting headaches and getting super cranky from lack of sleep :( Any suggestions??

Celebration dance!

2009-10-15T12:57:00.000-07:00

Woo hoo!! We finally got ok'd on the mortgage, which means.... We got the house!! Thomas made sure of this by asking our loan officer about 600 times if that's really what he meant. Unfortunately, of course there's always an unfortunately, we still have no idea when we get to move in. I'm still hoping that the bank underwriter (or however you spell that) will just magically decide that we have waited long enough and we should close Friday so we can have a place to call our own this weekend. Who knows if that will happen or not though. I think we may actually be leaning in the probably-won't-be-til-Monday direction, but I'd rather not think of that.

We went out to dinner last night with our good friend Elder Godinez. He's a missionary serving out here who spent about 9 months in Thomas' mom's ward and became a very good friend to our family. He's now the Zone Leader out in Pasco, and had 19 missionaries set up and ready to help us move in today. Bless his heart. I love that kid. His birthday was yesterday and we went out to dinner with him, his exchange companion, a new member, an investigator and a couple in their Pasco ward. It was a lot of fun meeting these new people. I realized I know more Spanish than I thought I did. I think I understand more Spanish than French and ASL combined, which is weird because I only took 2 years of Spanish... in middle school... 10 years ago.

Pregnancy wise, I'm doing pretty good. Been feeling crappy with my cold, but it's been getting better. I have started feeling nauseous lately, however. Felt almost to the point of actually "getting sick" several times.

Oooh, wanted to share what baby is up to... :) Here's what my email this week said:

Your growing baby now measures about 4 inches long, crown to rump, and weighs in at about 2 1/2 ounces (about the size of an apple). She's busy moving amniotic fluid through her nose and upper respiratory tract, which helps the primitive air sacs in her lungs begin to develop. Her legs are growing longer than her arms now, and she can move all of her joints and limbs. Although her eyelids are still fused shut, she can sense light. If you shine a flashlight at your tummy, for instance, she's likely to move away from the beam.

Yay for fruit sized babies! Haha. And although it says she, we still have no idea if it's a boy or girl. Find out next month though!! Yay!

Pitter patter of little...

2009-10-12T12:53:00.000-07:00

Heartbeat. We heard baby today :) Went to my new doctor today, and I love him! Super nice guy and Thomas and I got along with him really well. Can't wait to set up my ultrasound after next month's visit!

Unfortunately, I have been sick as a dog all weekend. I'm still miserable. My doctor did give me a list of the safe meds, which was good. Haven't strayed from that yet. Stupid head cold. I'm ready to rip out my sinuses. I'm pretty sure they hate me anyways, so it won't be a big deal :)

The house stuff is coming along. We've hit a couple of bumps. Apparently since I'm only on a one-year contract with the school district the bank sees that as unstable. So, now we're putting Thomas's work stuff on the mortgage and I had to get notes from my contracting company and the school district saying there's a high probability that I'll have a job next year. Wonderful. Therefore, our house may not close until Friday. We're HOPING we can move in by the weekend. Everyone keeps asking me if I'm nervous or excited about the house, seriously I'm just ready for it to be over. Let me move in, then we can talk. I just want my husband and I and our dog to have our own yard, our own kitchen and our own bed(s) -- since Zeus will no longer be allowed to sleep with us. Poor kid, he doesn't know what's gonna hit him. He tried to get into bed with us last night at Thomas' mom's house, but she had just washed the sheets so we didn't want him to get them dirty. So, I had to ignore his many cold, wet nose jabs into my back this morning, or tell him no. We compromised and let him sleep ON the bed instead of IN it like he usually likes to. We're getting him 2 dog beds, one for the bedroom and one for downstairs so he doesn't get onto the new couches we are most likely going to purchase. I think I may get him a doggie blanket too so he won't want to get under our covers 6 or 7 times a night. (Thanks for Saturday night, buddy. I sure appreciated you stepping on me 40 times as you decided to climb in and out of bed every 5 minutes)

That's all for now. Going to take a nap then go work out a little and hope it doesn't kill me. :)

Life changing events!

2009-10-05T18:59:00.000-07:00

So, I have been slacking in the blogging department. In my defense, I have been here in Pasco with only my iPhone, which does not allow me to post pictures on blogs. Therefore, I have not had the ability to post things like this:

Surprise!! This was how I told Thomas we were expecting!

Zeus sporting his contribution in the news

Unfortunately, it was significantly too small

and he couldn't walk, sit or stand normally

Our new house!!

So, yes. We have been quite busy around here! With me starting a new job, finding out we're expecting, and buying a new house there's a whole bunch of new things in our lives!

My job is going well. Every morning I work with 3 Deaf high school freshman. Although I'm working towards being fluent in ASL, this has been quite a challenge for me to not only teach these kiddos, but to also understand what they're "saying" to me! I have really really grown to love these kids, and the language of ASL. I am also working at an elementary school, where I have decided that I love 5th grade boys, they crack me up. Doing speech therapy with them is so fun!

Baby Clements is due April 6th, 2010. Not sure yet if it's a boy or a girl, right now I don't care either. Just want a healthy baby! :) Oooh, exciting note: I felt baby for the first time, twice, today!! Feeling better everyday, as long as I remember to snack throughout the day, drink lots more water than I'm used to and eat some kind of protein for breakfast. Very, very excited for a new member of our family that doesn't have a long, whipping tail. ;)

We move into our house in 9 days! Tentative closing date is October 14th, and we're hoping it actually closes soon. Had a few hiccups lately, but noting too serious. Now we play the waiting game for the papers to process. It's a 3 bedroom 2 1/2 bath out here in West Pasco, just off Road 100... About 2 minutes from Richland. Just right across the river, actually. We have the missionaries all set up to come help us move in, and we are so excited to get settled!!

So, there we are in a nutshell. Thomas is now actually living within the same zip code as I am. We're still staying with my aunt, Lana, until we move into the house. We love the Haws family. Lana makes great food. Glad to be in the same area as our Lana Momma again.

I promise to update more often now that I actually have a computer :)

So much has been going on...

2009-08-23T16:36:00.001-07:00

...and I don't think I'm going to get through all of it in one blog!

First off, I got a JOB!! Even better, it's in the Tri-Cities, which is where we decided to move to anyways because Thomas is working there next summer!! I got an actual Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) job with the Pasco School District, which not only gives me more responsibility and more kiddos, it also gives me GREAT experience to add to a resume and grad school apps! Like last year, I am contracted through a hiring agency, only this is with a new one. Insurance kinda stinks though, so I'm contemplating private insurance. I start this new job with training THIS TUESDAY!! I got hired WEDNESDAY and I already start in 2 days!!! Eeek! I'm not sure whether or not I'll be working the rest of this week or not, but school starts the next Monday, which is scaring me to bits!! I'm super excited to start working, but so worried since I haven't really worked all summer... :)

As for moving, we started looking at rental houses. We wanted a 3-4 br house with a fenced yard that allowed large dogs who like to sleep all day ;) After looking and finding NOTHING... Thomas decided we should start looking a buying. Although we still do not have a place to live, and haven't even gone to look at the properties we like, I feel really good about buying. When we start to grow our little family, it will be less worrisome finding a place. We have about 6 places that we really like in the West Pasco area that we're probably going to go see within the next two weeks. If we could even move in before a closing date, that would be wonderful as well!!

I just spent the week with my in-laws and remembered exactly why I love them. I can't wait to be closer to them so Terrah can come over for sleep-overs and I can spend the weekend in the Wapato/Toppenish area, but only drive an hour to get there :)

Oh, and our dog is huge. Literally. I believe he's taller than my hip. I took pictures with my phone for proof. Love this guy, and he loves to snuggle and give loves.

Eyes on the kitchen

Yes...?

Pretending to just be interested in the kitchen

without actually going in it... :) silly

He's so LONG!!

I think that's all I'm gonna give for now. I'll give you guys more info when we figure things out!!

NEW BLOG!!

2009-08-21T21:44:00.000-07:00

My friend Whitney is amazing. She just redid my blog. If any of you are looking to get a new layout, she is GREAT to work with and she does great work!!!

Love it!!

Thanks a million more times Whitney!!

P.S. I have like a million things to post about that are happening within the next week including a new job!! (and we're moving!)

Finding a job sucks... again.

2009-08-07T14:42:00.000-07:00

So, for those of you that haven't heard, we're planning on making a semi-permanent move to the Tri-Cities area of Washington (Kennewick, Richland and Pasco). This is something that was actually in our plan for later in the future, but an opportunity made it self available in the near future so we're taking it.

Now, all I have to do is find a job. Easy, right? Haha, yeah right. SLP-A (my official title, "Speech-Language Pathology Assistant" or "SPEEEEECH!" as I was referred to as by my kiddos last year) jobs are pretty hard to come by. School districts usually have an SLP ("speech therapist", "Speech-language Pathologist", "speach teacher", etc.) or 2. Or 3 to take their case load, and if they need more help, many times an SLP comes with an SLPA. I did already apply for a job only to find that they had hired someone a few days before. Bummer.

Right now, I'm applying for Para-educator positions at the schools, helping teachers to help students in classrooms and such. More I've been thinking of it though, that's really not what I want to do. I know beggers can't be choosers but... I'd rather work with kids in a situation I'm not only comfortable with, but would enjoy, ya know?

So here I am, googling "slp assistant jobs kennewick, wa" trying to find SOMETHING. I'm working with a hiring agency right now, but they have yet to let me know of anything they have found. Bum bum.

With all these life changes happening right now, and all the planning that we're going to be making in the coming months, I can't help but get kind of freaked out. I'm a planner to the point that I actually have an idea of what I've got going ahead of me. Since I have nothing really planned ahead, I can't help but be a little scared. I know things will work out and I know we're going to have more than enough money until Thomas starts working next summer, I just wish I had a little more direction.

Fortunately, I'm applying to grad schools next year. I HOPE I at least get in SOMEWHERE. I'd love to get into an online school that would allow us to stay put in the area, but who knows. Once I get my degree though, I will have almost NO problem finding a job. SLPs are so in demand in this country that I'm sure I can work a day or two a week, make enough money for us to live off of, AND be able to be a mostly-stay-at-home-mom at the same time. Dream.

That's all I have for now. We're going to go see GI Joe tonight, and I hope I'm not completely wasting my time by agreeing to see this movie. I should finally get out of bed though. It is 2:55 pm after all... :)

Last week

2009-08-05T10:15:00.000-07:00

So, this last week I went on a mini-vacation by myself. On Thursday, Thomas suggested I head over to Wapato to spend time with his mom and our stinky puppy (who is staying there for the summer since we're living in someone else's house) since I was planning on going home this weekend anyways for my friend's wedding. So Thursday I headed over in our A/C-less and radio-less El Camino (yes, an El Camino). I spent the evening with our huge dog, who has stitches because he walked through barbed wire, and my wonderful mother-in-law.

The next day, after doing some yard work around the property, I headed over to spend some time with my mom before she headed over to Cali to spend time with my dad. I love my mom. I missed her so much. It was nice to spend some much needed time together, even if it was short lived.

Saturday, I spend time with my sister and her husband. We went to lunch at the best sandwich place ever, then I started getting ready for my friend's wedding.

Literally, this was probably one of the best weddings I have ever been to. My friend Stephanie looked AMAZING, which was to be expected because she's gorgeous. Her crazy personality shown through the whole day. Their first dance was nothing short of unexpected from the two of them, it was funny as heck. They starting off doing a slow, sweet 80s ballad (which so totally fits them) then they switched to a fast song which they had a choreographed dance to. SO FUNNY!! We danced the night away and I got home at 11:30, when I noticed I didn't have my apartment keys... Great. I had to call maintenance to let me in.

I headed back to Wapato the next day, where I found out Grandpa Clements put an A/C system in the El Camino!! YAY!! It was super exciting because I really wasn't in the mood to drive 70 mph in the desert with my windows down.

I got home 11:30pm and got to see hubby dearest!

NOW, I'm making like a million plans for the rest of the month and I'm so excited!

Finally, some pictures!!

2009-07-29T12:18:00.000-07:00

Here are pictures from our recent happenings here in Spokane! (apparently in no particular order, thanks uploader! -centered pics are from our trip to Silverwood, pics on left are from company boating trip to Lake Coeur d'Alene in Idaho, pic on right is in our friend's backyard). None of these are from our camera, however, I still have tons of pictures waiting to be set free!

ENJOY!

My new favorite picture of the summer

Having fun on the water ride!

Getting ready to get wet!

Trying to keep his feet out of the water since he decided to wear tennis shoes

Our good friend John, who just so happens to be our

favorite form of entertainment

Almost lost his sunglasses!

The water was SO COLD!! But it felt nice seeing as how

it was about 90 degrees for most of the day

We got SOAKED before it even started! The

sprayer got us good!

Waiting for the boys to get back with more rocks

so we could finish working in the yard for the day

(this is John's girlfriend Molly who just so happens

to be my new wonderful friend!)

Boating and taking pictures! (isn't he handsome?)

Superman off the jet ski!

We didn't need clean underwear for this ride (Tremors)

but my eyes were watering the whole time.

We did, however need new shorts for the new ride at Silverwood

called "Aftershock". Holy poop that was redicalis.

(yes, I spelled that incorrectly on purpose)

Yay for new friends who like to do fun things with us!!

That frickin' sprayer SOAKED Molly and I before we even started the ride.

My super studly RM brother-in-law

(yes, ladies, he's single!)

Luke and Jordan on the front of the boat

This is what happens when there are too many people

in the front of the boat and you let 18 year old Mo drive...

You get a huge wave that comes over the top

and soaks everyone in the boat

Mo and Justin having fun!

I love this.

2009-07-25T11:43:00.000-07:00

Man, I'm on a roll... I haven't posted this often since I MADE my blog, and I love it! :)

In all seriousness though, I found this video online, and it makes me so happy!! :)

I happen to be one of those people whose testimony of the Lord is strengthened the greatest through song. I was on the verge of tears through this whole video (but managed to keep it in since I'm sitting with my brother in law). I love men who are so strong in their testimonies of the Lord and are willing to share it with any and all they can. I hope that one day my boys are like these guys in this video, striving to be like the great Prophets. Personally, I love my Savior and am so grateful for all that He has done for me. I am so grateful to have the beliefs I do. I, unfortunately, am one of those people who knows the difference between living with and without the closeness of the Holy Ghost. I love having a Prophet and other General Authorities on the earth today who lead and guide us based on actual revelation from the Lord. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to live with my family for Eternity. I love my Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ. I am grateful for the gifts of the Holy Ghost to lead and guide me to
choose the right. I urge those to want to learn more to head on down to mormon.org or lds.org to listen and read more about my faith.

Cool Giveaway!!

2009-07-24T16:55:00.000-07:00

Hello blogger friends...

I am here with a wonderful deal from my friend Whitney. She is a great designer and is doing a really cool giveaway. She's doing designs for peoples' blogs and she's really really good at it!

All you gotta do is go to her website and follow the instructions to be entered into her drawing for a free header with purchase of a background. It's a really good deal and, seriously, worth the money.

So check it out guys!!

HOW CUTE!!

2009-07-22T13:42:00.001-07:00

This (aside from my own, of course) is the best marriage proposal I have ever seen!!

Imagine the planning and rehearsing it took to make this happen!!

Oh, and P.S. I have watched this 5 times already :) haha

I did it!

2009-07-21T13:43:00.000-07:00

So I finally did it. I officially joined Gold's Gym and went for my first day with my gym buddy Molly. I feel really good, although I KNOW I'm gonna pay for it tomorrow.

Example of what we quite possibly looked like, except we're cuter and no one used the tread mill.

Luckily, when we did weights (yes I know, we're cool like that), I made sure not to work everything, so I will actually have strength to work out other parts of my body tomorrow. The one thing I learned from Women's Weight Training at EdCC. :)

I am hoping that working out for the next month will cause me to lose 20 lbs so I can fit into a size 6 again, but... you know. One can dream though.

Oh, man.

2009-07-20T21:02:00.001-07:00

Thomas and I decided to start a low/no carb diet today (decided yesterday). From what he told me, he did really well.

I, unfortunately, completely and utterly failed. For starters, I started my day with a bowl of the pasta salad I made yesterday for our friends' bbq. PASTA! Ugh. I tried to make up for my failure with a salad, which was a good thing. THEN, after I go to the store to pick up a few things to help me (Horrible idea, by the way. Just reminded me of all the things I couldn't eat. Had to walk slowly past the breakfast aisle.), our friend's mom (in whose house we are staying as of right now) so kindly offers to make me a plate of what she made for dinner. I love Bice. I want to be a nice house guest, and I always feel bad turning down food offered to me... so I said yes. Steak, baked beans (both still part of our diet, score!)... a small baked potato and a slice of french bread. I lose, which means I will not lose.

I have no self control. I will never lose the 20+ pounds I need to shed (ok, seriously it's more like 30). I also have no motivation to work out. I have been running once in the 2 months I have been here. John's girlfriend Molly and I have said we were going to work out for about a month, and have yet to do so. Fault on both of our parts.

Bottom line, I will never lose weight, which really sucks.

Camera cord has vanished

2009-07-10T13:47:00.000-07:00

I cannot find my camera cord, so I can't post pictures. Pictures are the best part of blogs. Therefore I'm gonna try to find it so I can post pictures of my family reunion in Utah. There's also like a million pictures that haven't been taken off my camera forever... so I'll post those too. Until then... I have the weekend off and nothing to do! :)

Lame.

2009-06-27T16:24:00.001-07:00

That is what I have become. I am so lame. I have slept in until 12 or later 3 days this week. I have revamped my iTunes, watched a few shows on the internet, eaten more than my share of fruit snacks and granola bars (Chex Mix Turtle flavor, fyi = amazing), and gotten little to nothing done everyday this week.

I am.

officially.

a slacker.

(yet, I find little to no motivation to do anything else... weird.)

Start o' the summer...

2009-06-23T16:40:00.000-07:00

So, here I am, at 4:40 PM still in bed, unshowered, still in my pjs and loving it. I know I'm going to hear about it when Thomas gets home, but it's nice to have a day to do, quite literally, absolutely nothing.

I bought a book yesterday, along with way too many other things, and I still have yet to read it today. It's a good book too, it's called The Memory Keeper's Daughter and I'm already hooked... yet I have still to find the motivation to pick it up and read it today.

My day today has officially consisted of: Eating dried mangoes (delish), 2 granola bars, and some fruit snacks (oh and water), checking Facebook at (the most) 15 minute intervals, re-doing my blog (and I think it turned out mighty cute, might I add...), watching videos on TLC, helping out John's mom fix a breaker, talked with John (who probably thinks I'm a huge slob by the looks of our room and... well, myself), talked with Thomas very briefly and.... I'm pretty sure that's about it, folks. I think I've been up since about 9am too... haha.

I do know there are many things I could be doing like: Showering. Cleaning our room. Unpacking my suitcases. Applying for a job for next year. Exchanging Thomas' pants back to Costco like I said I would. Working out, like I said I would. :) Anything. (including not being in bed all day like I said I wouldn't do...)

Instead, I'm off to see if I can check out some reruns of Grey's Anatomy or the Office or some other show I haven't actually seen that I would like to. :) What a wonderful day this has been! :)

Happy (late) Father's Day

2009-06-22T20:49:00.000-07:00

To all of the great men in my life, I hope you had a wonderful day to celebrate the current and future great things you do in your life as a Father.

So cute

2009-06-19T11:34:00.001-07:00

Nothing is cuter than 200 kindergarten through 2nd graders clapping and singing to "Celebration!" ("Celebrate good times, Come on!), and "We are Family".

Our last day assembly had a slide show that all the kids were singing along with.

I love those kids. :)

Last day of school...

2009-06-19T07:23:00.000-07:00

As my mom would say... well, sing actually....

SCHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLS OUT FOR SUMM-EH!!! SCHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLS BLOWN TO PIECES!!

Yes, my mother does her best Rolling Stones impersonation making her, officially, the coolest mom ever.

On my hard day of work today, I plan on cleaning up my room then going to our district staff BBQ (despite the rain) at our Intermediate School. Plan to come home quite tired after such a hard day. ;)

Then I head over to my in-laws' to drop off my little buddy Zeus. We're staying with a friend's family in Spokane so he's gonna stay over there in Wapato. :( My sweet buddy boy has keep me busy and entertained for the past month while our favorite guy has been across the state. I'm going to really miss him. I know he's going to get huge and I'm sad I'm gonna miss that too. I know it will all work out for the better though. He'll have fun with their rottweiler Ryah and Zeus' girlfriend / Ryah's mix-breed daughter Picolina (means "little girl" in Italian). Boomer, Thomas' cousin's dog, will also make appearances as well.

Off to see my husband Saturday for a whirlwind summer!

Still no job yet for next year. I emailed our new Special Services Director in hopes he will email me back. Also found a job in Richland, which makes me excited because we're going to be in Tri-Cities next summer anyways... I will persevere. I will find a job.

Well, this post has turned out more of a random thought post, but oh well. When you hear from me next, I will be in Gotham City, AKA Spokomton, AKA Spokane. :)

Oh, and one more thing. Our servers have blocked Facebook at the school, AKA my main mode of passing the time when I'm bored. Therefore, I am stuck waiting for someone to update a blog or searching the internet. I need my Facebook back!

The end.

Winding down...

2009-06-16T09:22:00.000-07:00

As the school year comes to an end, I can't help but look back on this amazing year...

A year ago, I had a wonderful boyfriend who was in Minnesota for the summer. We had already talked about getting married, and had only been dating for just over a month, but I knew that before we were even official that this was the man I was going to marry. Around this time, Thomas' grandpa died and we attended his funeral/participated in a family reunion where I met the WHOLE family. As overwhelming as that was, I was glad that I fit in and had a lot of fun. To this day, I still don't know the names and faces of 75% of Thomas' cousins. (at least I have the Compton family down pat, that's the most important part, right Eric and Cara?) On Thomas' return trip to Minnesota after that long weekend, he asked my dad for permission to marry me. I heard from several sources, including my dad and Thomas, the next day... but had no idea that I would be engaged a month later.

After what seemed like forever, finally my man came back home. Our engagement was very stressful, and looking back now, I realize most of our fights and my absolute "must haves" didn't really matter. Our wedding day would've gone by much smoother had I just relaxed and taken the day for what it was... and realized it wasn't really "all about me"... :)

Finding a job (well, both of our jobs) was super stressful. Where were we going to live? Were either of us going to find jobs? How were we going to pay for the growing number of bills? Luckily, we both met with the coolest Special Services Director ever, and she was the reason we both took our jobs. (Unfortunately, she won't be here next year though...) We got to commute to work everyday, eat lunch together at least 4 days a week, and I got to watch my man in action as an assistant baseball coach for our high school.

Then, we got Zeus. I don't know what we did without Zeus. He has been a constant friend and family member since the day Thomas brought him home. He has grown well over 50 pounds and (I'm guessing) almost 2 feet since 2 days before Valentines day, and watching him do so has been more than entertaining. I love having a dog that snuggles with me on the couch, keeps me warm in bed while my husband is away, actually listens to me (and only me. ok, well maybe about 75% of the time), and has a heart of gold.

My husband has been everything I've needed and all the things I've wanted that actually matter. ;) He loves me more than I ever thought possible and I love him more and more everyday. Talking about the future seems more than just daydreams and wishes, we're discussing things that ARE GOING TO HAPPEN. Whether they happen tomorrow, a year from now or 20 years from now they're things we are working towards to strengthen our bond and grow closer to the family that is yet to come. He calms me down when I'm high strung, tells me the things I need to hear even when I pretend I'm ignoring him, and strengthens me when I don't feel like I have anything more to give. I have a man who is not afraid to cry as much as I do, who rolls with the punches and gives me motivation to NOT ALWAYS HAVE A PLAN, and who genuinely wants to spend every minute of his day with me just because he wants to. I couldn't have married a better man. ♥

Now as this school year is ending, and I'm making preparations to move to Spokane to be with my love for the summer, my mind automatically drifts forward. Once again, our plans for next year are up in the air. Who knows what we'll be doing or where we'll be next year around this time. All I know is, as long as I have my studly man of a husband, and my becoming-high-maintenance dog, my life will be complete. :) Love you, boys!

John Schmidt is a piano genious.

2009-06-09T12:13:00.000-07:00

'Nuff said.

I need a haircut

2009-05-22T09:38:00.000-07:00

I think I'm going to get a haircut today. Seeing as how I live 45 min from my hair girl, and it would be way too much trouble to figure out a time to do my hair, I'm going to be adventurous and get my hair done somewhere else today! I think I found a cute place in downtown Auburn, so wish me luck! Not going too different with the style... mostly just shorter... maybe some more bangs.

Also, we got family pics last weekend thanks to the Clements Grandparents. The last one we took at the Barney Compound was of our little family of 3 (including Zeus), which we actually got to look at, and it's freaking adorable. I can't wait to see them. We're supposed to get to look at them this weekend so we can order the ones we want. Can't wait!! :) :)

I get to see hubby tomorrow!! WOO HOO!!! A weekend with my loves. ♥

Likes and dislikes of the day

2009-05-21T10:57:00.000-07:00

So, I realized that I'm actually having quite a good day today! Since today is such a nice day, I thought I'd share my list of the day (I'm totally a list person. I make them for everything.)

Likes of the day:

The SUN IS OUT!! It's so beautiful today and it's been putting me in a really good mood!
I've had some much needed breaks today! I've had 3 kids sick today so far, and an assembly to take place of therapy for another! Although, yes, I do love my job, I am SO ready for the next 4 weeks and 1 day (but who's counting, right?) to go by. I need to get my mind organized by giving it a much needed break for the summer.
I get to go home to an adorable, yet huge, puppy today. I think he'll be especially happy to see me today since all he wanted to do was play with me this morning. :)
This is going to be a really great summer. Much, much better than even we thought, which really excites me! Now, if only we could bring Zeusy boy along... :/
I get to see my hubby man this weekend! We're meeting at the Barney Compound and spending the long weekend together with fam!
We got treats in the staff lounge today, and they're amazing! Lots of different kinds of chocolate, yogurt covered raisins, cucumbers and hummus (which is freaking amazing btw), lemon cookies with chocolate drizzle (holy cow, amazing) and CHERRIES!! I had no idea they were in season yet! I think I'm going to make a trip to the fruit stand in Selah on my way home in the hopes that I get me some CHERRIES!!! (and maybe I'll share with my mommy, if she's nice)

Dislikes of the day:

Hubby is too far away. I greatly dislike loving from afar.
My heart has gone all baby-wanty lately. Seriously, we haven't even made it to 6 months yet (a week and a day!). Ugh, I don't need a baby right now. Stop it heart, you'll get your turn.
I have been so freaking lazy lately. I cannot get the motivation to do almost anything anymore. My brain needs rest. I'm also really really tired, which is probably why I'm so lazy. But, no matter when I go to bed, I'm still super tired at work. It's no fun, especially when you actually do love your job. :/

Anyways, just thought I'd share those little thoughts of the day. Have a wonderful (and SUNNY!!) long weekend!

Hmph.

2009-05-11T15:27:00.000-07:00

After today, I have realized this week is going to be very long. I am hoping, to a large extent, that it IS long... so I can spend more hubby time as I possibly can! I realized this last weekend that Thomas leaves this next weekend for Spokane.

I'm not moving down there until mid-to-late-June! And, although I'm going to spend at least 2 weekends over there during our apart-ness... I didn't realize until our standing lunch date today just how freaking long that period of time is!! I had to do all I could to not bawl my eyes out over Subway today (which was only slightly successful).

Poopy. I seriously don't know what I'd do if I didn't:

A) Have a cute dog to keep me company

B) Live pretty close to my family

C) Have friends who also live pretty close by

I'm sure I'm going to spend many nights curled up with my puppy bawling my eyes out to phone hubby (it wasn't much fun having a phone fiance, so I know this is most likely going to suck more). Oh, well. Short period of time in the long run, I guess. Plus, it's worth it financially and I know that's the whole reason we're doing this in the first place.

For the time being, I'm going to deal with the fact that today seemed like it was 400 hours long, and just hope that this next week follows suit... although it would be better if it lengthened AFTER I get home from work. K thanks. :)

Happy Mother's Day!!

2009-05-10T14:55:00.000-07:00

As my mom says, "Happy to you!!"

Happy Mother's Day all!! Just wanted to give a big shout out to my Mama. She's awesome. I'm really glad that I have a mom who not only gives me motherly advice and is there for me in all the "mommy" ways, but is also my best friend. I love finding more and more things that make me more like my mother. She is such a great mom, and has given me a wonderful standard to live up to. What a great example of a loving wife and mother you have been, Mom! Don't know what I'd do without you Mom! I love you!!

I'm also grateful for such a wonderful mother-in-law who is such a great example of all the things I'm not. I know I'm not perfect, and my husband knows this all too well, so it's great to have someone to look up to that exemplifies many things my husband needs in his life. :) Thanks Mama Clements!! Love you too!!

I'm also blessed to have a step-mother-in-law who is a lot of fun to spend time with. She is also many things I am not, and has a house that is always perfectly in order. I'm so grateful to have her as another motherly figure in my life.

(the only pictures on my computer are wedding pictures... and I couldn't find one of my sweet step-mother-in-law so SORRY TAMMY!)

And Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there in Blogger Land!! Happy first, tenth, fiftieth or millionth Mother's Day to all!!

Life Updates!

2009-04-28T20:18:00.000-07:00

We are alive!! Not a whole lot going on, but thought I'd update anyways!

Updates on our life:

1. We went to VEGAS!! We had lots of fun (on the drive down) in the car with our friend John, and our new friend/his girlfriend Molly! We saw lots of stuff, but realized that (at least for us)... Vegas is for people who gamble, drink and have lots of money to blow on seeing shows and eating food. Fortunately, we did have fun with the things we did go see... and also a relaxing vacation just hanging out in our hotel. I did read a whole book!

On our way HOME from Vegas, we got to go to the Saturday morning session of conference! We stayed the night at my aunt's house in Farmington, then drove back down to good ole SLC for conference! Had to trade a couple tix but got inside with more than enough time to get seated and settled before it started. It was my first time, so I though it was really really amazing! I took lots of notes and took a lot of things to heart (especially the one about budgeting... yikes! Thomas always tells me "We don't need it." "We can't afford it.")

2. Zeus is growing up to be huge. He's 4 1/2 months old, 46 lbs (yeah, I know) and is becoming less vicious and destructive day by day (although he was gnawing on my finger not too long before he fell asleep). Plus, he's so freaking adorable that it's hard to get mad at him. Oh, which reminds me... He just so happened to have injured the INSIDE of my eyelid last week. He was walking over my face and clipped me with his back toenail. Awesome. I went to the eye doctor the next day with an infected, swollen and sore eye. All is well now. Fixed and happy. He still eats like he hasn't been fed for years, but we're fortunately seeing less of the looks-like-we're-not-feeding-him-because-he's-so-freaking-skinny dog. :) I'm pretty sure having worms was part of his problem, but no more. He's happy, cuddly and really really cute!

3. Had my birthday on the 14th, and unfortunately realized that my birthday is no longer a big deal. 23 is no biggie, my husband hates celebrating birthdays, we have 2 couple friends here, and my family is 45 min away. So, it wasn't horrible, but I know not to expect a lot next year which may very well be hard for me to deal with... :(

4. Thomas officially has his job for next year, he'll be working directly for the school district instead of being contracted. I'm still waiting for my interview. I'm almost 100% sure I have a job as well (also working directly for the district), but have yet to hear when my interview will be. Keeping my fingers crossed that it will be quite soon.

5. Thomas leaves in 18 days to go to Spokane for the summer. I'll only be here for another month after that before I head on over that way myself, but living a month alone (ok, with the dog) is going to really suck. Thomas and I haven't spend a whole day apart since we got married. I have yet to sleep in a bed without him, and since neither of us really go anywhere/do anything without each other... It'll be the first time we've been apart for more than a few hours at a time! I'm not quite sure how I'm going to survive, even though I know it's only for a month!

We're most likely working out a deal with our ward couple friends to let them sublet while we're gone. It's going to work out really well and I don't have to freak out about our apt getting broken into while it sits for 3 months!

Unfortunately, during that time period, our little Zeusy baby boy is going to be in the loving care of Thomas' mom, sister and brother. He will be in no want of playmates with 4 other dogs on the property, plus the ones next door... but I'm going to freaking miss that boy so much!

Unfortunately, I believe that is it! We don't lead very exciting lives and our life mostly revolves around Zeus, work, church, baseball and sleeping. Oh, well and each other... :)

Here are the only pictures I could get on here because I can't find our camera cord :/

These are from our road trip to Vegas!! Enjoy!

sleeping on the car on the way home

Happy Birthday to MEEEEEEE I'm twenty-THREEEEE!

2009-04-14T09:42:00.000-07:00

Yay! It's my birthday! That is all.

Have a wonderful day all, on the day we celebrate my birth!

You never imagine something like this will happen...

2009-04-06T09:23:00.000-07:00

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/42523302.html

No one, no matter the circumstances, should ever endure the pain and hardship this mother is going through.

I never, in a million years would think I would ever be in a situation where something like this would hit so close to home. I had one of the children for speech. It's weird walking by his classroom, and even weirder to call his class and not ask for 2 kids to come down to speech. To make the situation worse, his teacher is out of the country and our staff refuses to ruin her trip by telling her what has happened. What a sad situation to return to.

I had one girl, who was friends with both of the kiddos that went to our school (and has speech with one of them twice a week), keep telling me how sad she was for them. I encouraged her that it was ok to be sad. She told me that she was going to buy their mom a present, or two, with the $20 her dad gave her for winning a bet during a game they were playing. I love kids who think of others with so much love and care. I got a lot more info from another boy (who also had speech with him and was in the same classroom) who lives in the same trailer park.

There's a memorial service on Thursday that I'm going to make sure I make it to.

My love and thoughts and prayers go out to this poor mother. No matter the circumstances that led to this horrific tragedy, she does not deserve to live with this the rest of her life. No one does.

Thank you Zeus.

2009-03-25T11:36:00.000-07:00

I am so grateful for a dog who decided that, while we were gone yesterday gone to a movie (which we were late to and there was a huge line so decided not to go!! Sorry Eric and Cara!!), eating a near fatal amount of chocolate kisses (including wrappers) and my Cougar color M&M's was a good idea.

Yes, thank you dog for making me take you to the emergency vet last night and getting to bed super late.

Thank you for letting me freak out because we got lost on the way there and I thought you were going into a coma instead of falling asleep in the car like you usually do.

Thank you for freaking out while we were in the vet's room making me think you had to go to the bathroom when you were just bored and wanted to leave... so taking you outside was a waste of time.

Thank you for costing us the amazing emergency vet bill.

Thank you for having WAY too much energy because you were hopped up on caffeine AND sugar.

And, of course, thank you for eating all of the chocolate in the house. And my jelly beans 3 weeks ago.

You're such a big help. Thanks.

Update on our Zeus

2009-03-17T10:22:00.000-07:00

What do you want?!

Just thought I'd give an update on our little... ahem... not so little 3 month old. Zeus i

s 29.4 pounds, he has doubled his weight since we've gotten him. He is so tall he can stand in the back seat of the car and lean his head on my shoulder. With little reaching or straining. He's eating THREE cups of food a day, and is more than willing to remind you that it is time for him to eat. He understands the commands "sit", "shake", "come" (mostly only if he wants to or you really really mean it), "lay down" (sometimes), "bang" (pretends to die. recently started to do this. mostly only does it for thomas), "out" (because he really needs to sometimes), "food", "go

outside", "go potty", "go poop", "no", "up"... and of course, his name.

We took him a few weeks ago to my parents' house, where he met "the dogs", which include our golden retriever "Tucker", our Chesapeake Bay retriever "Lady" and my brother's/his girlfriend's pit bull "Bruno". Zeus had a great time playing with Tucker. Lady is way too much on the dominant A personality, so Zeus didn't get to do much other than look at her without her trying to stand on top of him or running over telling him he should not be doing whatever he was doing. Bruno, who has just as much spunk and energy as Zeus, was just WAY too strong to play with Zeus, and the fighting got a little out of hand. We did get to go play at the neighborhood Christian school and got some pictures. :)

Running out of the woods because he was either

scared or in trouble.

I love this picture. My 3 favorite tails.

Note the size difference. Tucker is a chunk and Zeus is tiny.

Let's go PLAY!!

Last weekend we went to Wapato to celebrate Thomas' cousin's wedding and Thomas' sister Terrah's Birthday - and took Zeus with us. We came home from the reception to our dog's body and tail wagging. But alas there was no head to be found.... because he had stuck it in an old dryer vent hole leading to the hallway/laundry room. It took 4 of us and about 20 minutes to figure out how to get him out of the hole, because he was really stuck. After we pulled his gigantor ears and most of his head skin (seriously, he has a lot) through the side to where his body was, it just took wiggling and maneuvering to pull him out. He was immediately put into the bathtub to wash off the plaster, and possible insulation, that were on his face and body. My puppy is not a lover of baths, and especially after his being stuck in a wall ordeal (and us not knowing how long he was like that) he was not happy.

Stop feeding those puppies and play with me!!!

Poor, stupid dog. I love him, but he is too smart for his own good. He has learned to open the doors in our house. So when we leave him, Thomas had to remove the handle to the inside of the door where we leave him. Unfortunately, he has also learned how to: open up the cupboards and pull things out of them, open up the door to the laundry closet and take out the broom, eat all of the toilet paper unless we take it off the roll and put it on the counter top, take the towels down from the rack and try to pull them apart, get from the toilet to the counter top... and most recently (my personal favorite), how to pull the entire shower rack and bar down so he can chew on them. What a little sweetie.

He is now totally in love with playing with this jack-o-lantern bell necklace I got from my pseudo-sister-in-law. He thrashes his head around while walking and hits himself in the face. Sometimes, he'll hold the string in his mouth and the bell will hang on the ground so he will kick the bell so it will make noise. I attached a video so you can watch. Such a dork.

10 Honest Things

2009-03-06T09:34:00.000-08:00

Tagged by Beth, so here we go...

1. I am a huge sucker for reality type shows. Not the kind where they have to compete like in Survivor, but where cameras follow people around and you watch them live their lives.

2. I used to always make fun of people who got engaged very soon after dating. Even though Thomas and I knew each other for a long time, I still kind of find it weird that I knew I was ready to marry him almost immediately after we started dating.

3. I am a very avid blog stalker. I love to read anyone and everyones blogs whenever I get a chance. I know other people are too, but sometimes I think I'm as crazy as my husband thinks I am.

4. I was really worried that getting a dog, I would somehow replace my (parents') dog(s) in my heart. I was worried I couldn't love another dog as much as I do Tucker because he saw me through many hard times in my life. Fortunately, I was wrong :)

5. I am almost always late. Doesn't matter if I got up early in an attempt to not be late, I always end up leaving either at the exact time I did before... or 10 min later. I'm almost positive this is due to the fact that I have no concept of time whatsoever.

6. No matter how warm it is, I have to sleep with a blanket on me. I have taken naps in the middle of the summer, with no A/C and a blanket and woken up sweating and thirsty beyond all belief... but would not have fallen asleep otherwise.

7. I wish there was no such thing as "graduating" from speech because I love all my kids so much I want them to hang out with me all year long!

8. I am way too much of a brat at times. Luckily, I have a husband who loves me in spite of my faults, and for that I am eternally grateful! :) ♥

9. I am a huge pack rat. I keep things that do not need to be kept, but still feel an emotional attachment to. Luckily, all of the things I have kept are in my parents' garage and not mine :\

10. I am not one of those people who thinks that they wouldn't change anything in their life. I would most definitely change decisions I have made that turned out much harder than they could have. Even though I did learn lessons, I'm not sure I needed to learn those lessons. My life would be much simpler if I had met Thomas a year earlier and started dating him very soon thereafter.

I tag... anyone who wants to do this. :)

Tagged!

2009-02-19T09:18:00.000-08:00

Here are the rules:
Post rules on your blog
Answer the six '8' items
Let each person know by leaving them a comment (Yeah, probably not going to do this.)

8 favorite TV shows:

1. Grey's Anatomy

2. That 70s Show
3. The Hills
4. The Office
5. Jon & Kate Plus 8
6. Friends
7. Scrubs
8. Planet Earth

8 things I did yesterday:

1. Went out to lunch with my extremely good looking husband ;)
2. Talked with my mom
3. Took the puppy out to potty
4. Cleaned up pee and poop from my carpet from said puppy ;)
5. Took a long nap
6. Learned my sister-in-law's dog had 6 puppies!!
7. Obtained many scratches and bite marks from Zeus.
8. Had a really good therapy session with one of my preschoolers!!!

8 things I'm looking forward to:

1. Zeus to grow up
2. Eventually having kids
3. Going to grad school
4. My meeting with my boss next Tuesday, hopefully it goes REALLY well!
5. Vegas for spring break!!
6. Going to the temple
7. This weekend - spending time with Thomas' family and getting to know Justin better
8. My standing lunch date with my husband :)

8 favorite restaurants:

1. Red Robin
2. Almost any teriyaki place
3. Cabo San Lucas (mexican place by our house)
4. Almost any Indian restaurant
5. Wendy's
6. Minor's
7. Dick's
8. Old Spaghetti Factory
9. Cougar Country

8 Things on my wish list:

1. Zeus will house train himself within the next week - he really is getting there!
2. I get to keep this job next year and it gets even better...
3. We continue to have enough money to live off of and use
4. I lose more weight
5. It gets warmer outside very soon
6. Zeus could stay with us during the summer :(
7. My dad gets his new project and gets to stay with his company for many more years
8. Our family gets to be together for Eternity :)

8 people I tag:

1. Amy

2. Beth

3. Arika

4. Ellen

5. Sarah

6. Heidi

7. Krystal

8. Jessica

I HAVE THE GREATEST HUSBAND!!

2009-02-12T08:26:00.000-08:00

THOMAS GOT ME A PUPPY!! AAAAaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!! He's so cute too! He was going to wait until Valentine's Day, but we're leaving this weekend and he couldn't even wait until today when we're "celebrating". SO so so so AMAZING!! Our puppy's name is Zeus, aptly named because this petite Great Dane puppy has the hugest feet!! Pictures to come, since I don't have my camera or a way to upload the pictures at work. :)

Holy freak I'm so excited to go home today!!!

Actually, I just realized... the 4th picture on my last post is of Zeus!! With his cute little beard. I think if you click on it you can see the whole picture.

I need a dog

2009-02-06T12:25:00.000-08:00

Now that I have become an old married woman, there has become an ever-growing place in my heart that I thought would not grow until I had been married for at least a year or so, or at least until I was actually ready; this place I refer to is my heart's ache for a baby.Yes, yes, I know. I have been married officially for 2 months and 8 days. Somehow though, last month my heart decided it wants a baby. My brain, however, does not share this sentiment.Firstly, I have officially been married for 2 months and 8 days. Seriously. The LAST thing I need in my relationship with my NEW husband is to through someone else into the mix. Secondly, although we do have money, and are actually seeing the benefits of a double income

household, I don't think now would be the good time to through our savings account down the drain. Babies are expensive. Far too expensive. I want to spend money on actually decorating our apartment or replacing my needed-to-be-replaced-years-ago-but-I-was-too-poor

wardrobe. Lastly, just because we are the second of, literally, TWO couples who do NOT have kids in our ward does NOT mean I need to jump on that bandwagon. (Side note: That couple is our new (and/or only) friend(s?)). Also, I realized this morning, I'm not really sure I'm ready to BE A MOTHER yet. I'm sure most women also feel this way, but I'm not gonna push the issue if I don't need to.

The solution I have come up with to resolve this situation is to get a dog. Seems like a reasonable enough order, get a dog first then a baby... right? Lots of people I know have done this. Quite a few in fact. My husband and I have even talked about it.

Unfortunately, a small detour stands in our way of getting a dog as soon as I would hope. We are going to be living in Spokane over the summer. Not only living in Spokane, but living in our very dear friend's family's basement. I'm not about to negotiate rental agreements by bringing a dog into the situation. For one, that's rude. And two, well, that's just rude.

We talked a few days ago about possibly having the dog stay somewhere over the summer while we're away. Most likely a family member. My parents' (not likely) or his mom's.

We've been looking at puppies online too. Even went to the (ridiculously TINY - 6 cages) pound to go look at dogs, hoping this would satiate my heart's need to be a mommy. Alas, I wanted to take ALL the dogs from the pound home, most being pit bulls who were SOOOOOO sweet

which our apartment complex will not allow--big surprise there.

The other day Thomas said he needed $700 dollars because he forgot to pay a bill. I didn't think anything of it until the next morning. We were just looking at puppies online a few hours before that, as well as the day before, and I had found the puppies I wanted that were... $700. I totally thought I had Mr. Casanova figured out for Valentine's Day. I couldn't handle it anymore and confronted him about it. He felt really bad but had to say the answer was no, he was not getting me a puppy for V-Day. Not enough money to buy it, no room to keep it for the summer and worry over if we even have money to take care of it required a final decision of: We cannot get a dog RIGHT NOW.

Doesn't hurt to love and look though does it?? :)

Oh, and if you haven't figured it out already... we're getting a Great Dane. Cute puppies, huh? Even cuter when they're all grown up!!

SOOO HUNGRY!

2009-01-27T10:23:00.000-08:00

So, our school district decided to have a 2 hour delay this morning due to snow. Unfortunately, they decided to do so AS we were pulling into the parking lot of my school! The high school and middle schools had already started, so just the 2 elementary schools were late. How odd though, to call a school delay at 8:10am when school doors open at 8:50am. Weird.

Our life has gotten quite boring and predictable lately... Come home from work, work out, shower... eat dinner... and Thomas plays his video game. Constantly. Being the loving and wonderful wife I am, I usually don't complain. I like that

he's doing something he likes to do, and I can usually find something else to do in the same room (i.e. Facebook, Blog... anything on the lappy), or I take a nap. Our lives have become consumed with this ridiculous game. It's called "Civilization Revolution". Thomas loves it. He has to beat the game with every world leader every kind of way on every level of difficulty. Last night, after I fell asleep on the couch, I get a nudge and a, "I almost did it Courtney. I beat it by 1150AD." Oh Thomas. He's trying to win the game by 1000AD, and you start at 4000BC. Every turn is like 100 years or so. Seriously, I know way too much about this game and give him tips and suggestions that most often he actually takes. We even find ourselves saying the nonsense things the characters on the game do, such as "Fallum fallum!", "Onem Pru!", etc.

My latest pet peeve

For some really odd reason I am craving Dick's. I'm not quite sure why, but greasy hamburgers sound so amazing right now. Oh, no. Even better, MINER'S!! How amazing. Oh my gosh I'm making it worse thinking about it... I brought spaghetti for lunch and I'm going to eat it!

Obama Nation (no pun intended)

2009-01-22T10:23:00.000-08:00

Obama being sworn in, the FIRST time... :)

We officially have a new president and changes are already in order for our nation. What a wonderful day it was on Tuesday to see our first African-American President, Barak Obama, sworn into office. It made me proud that our great nation has come so far from where it started.

Even in his first few days, it seems Obama has been trying to clean up the government ethics that have been sub-par for quite some time. Freezing paychecks for White House employees, closing Guantanamo Bay and requiring all White House Staff participate in ethics training. Lots of changes bringing hope for a better government whose infrastructure holds true to the values held by our forefathers.

Even though Obama was not my first choice for our national leader, I am confident in his abilities to uphold the promises he made during his candidacy. I mean seriously, if you listened to his speech, and I'm hoping he's not our wolf in sheep's clothing, he seemed confident, truthful and trustworthy.

I look forward to a leader who may possibly be the FDR our country needed to get out of the rut we are currently in. Someone who understands the problems our country is facing, who will do the things we need to sustain our people.

So today, I proudly say I am an American citizen, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and a new Obama supporter.

Oh, and I forgot to tell you

2009-01-15T15:16:00.000-08:00

It is so freakishly cold outside today. Dry, cloudy, cold days are a waste of time. If there is no snow, it should be at LEAST 48 degrees outside. It is currently 37 degrees. This is dumb.

Stupid Mother Nature.

Oh, and P.S. There is an air stagnation warning for Orting right now. More proof that dry, cold, cloudy days are a bad thing.

Courtney: A-Z

2009-01-15T14:47:00.000-08:00

A-attached or single: Attached at the hip!
B-best friends: Thomas, Erin, Amy and my mommy
C-cake or pie: Either... No, actually BOTH!
D-day of choice: Saturday because I get to sleep in!
E-essential item(s): Curling my eyelashes (not sure why, just is), my wedding ring, my phone, my planner, and Thomas (he's not an item... but oh well.)
F-favorite color: Pink!
G-gummy worms or bears: If they're the sour ones then gummy worms, if not then gummy bears
H-hometown: Lynnwood, WA
I-indulgence: Cookie Dough ice cream, ranch Doritos, The Hills, Grey's Anatomy and juice
J-January or July: July!
K-kids: Thomas and I both are... but none of our own yet...
L-life is incomplete without: Love
M-marriage date: November 29th, 2008.... It seems like so long ago but it wasn't more than a month and a half!
N-number of siblings: 1 sister 2 younger brothers
O-oranges or apples: Oooh, that's a toughie. Probably apple. But it has to be sliced. Pink ladies or Fujis.
P-phobias or fears: Bees and spiders, driving in inclement weather, being smooshed in tight enclosed spaces (i.e. under the bed)
Q-quotes: I don't really have a favorite quote, but I do have favorite poems. My 2 faves are: i carry your heart with me by E.E. Cumings, and A Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes.
R-reasons to smile: My adorable preschoolers and my super fun second graders, Thomas making up stupid jokes, daffodils.
S-season: SPRING! Daffodils are starting to bloom which is making me hopeful that Spring is coming soon!!!
T-tag friends: Anyone who wants to! This was fun!
U-unknown fact about me: Oh yay I thought of two: I secretly miss taking math classes because I actually like them, I am a huge High School Musical fan... Dorky I know but they're so ridiculously wonderful!
V-very favorite store: Target. Love love love Target. Also, Forever 21.
W-worst habit: Being messy. Causes too many stupid fights.
X-x-ray, ultrasound, or mammogram: I think I've had only one ultrasound and I don't remember it that well, but the million x-rays I've had for my broken arm(s) weren't too bad.
Y-your favorite food: Chicken croissants, most Indian food, candy :)
Z- Zodiac: Aries

Horton

2009-01-14T20:36:00.000-08:00

K, one of my new favorite movies in the world is Horton Hears A Who!!! Holy freak Thomas and I just watched it and I think it's one of the funniest movies ever!

My favorite line is: "In my world, everyone is a pony and eats rainbows and poops butterflies!!!"

If you have not seen this movie you MUST!!! Here is a clip of my favorite character and quite possibly the best part of the entire flick:

Hubby Tag

2009-01-13T15:51:00.000-08:00

My lovely husband and his sexy sister

*What is your husbands name: Thomas Lee Clements

Christmas Eve at the Clements'

Sexy husband of mine!

*How long have you been married? 1 month and 15 days :)

*How long did you date? Dated 10 weeks :) eng

aged 4 months.

*How old is he? 24

*Who eats sweets? Me. Well, both of us... but I eat more. I'm a compulsive sweets eater.

*Who said I love you first? I did! He got mad at me, or at least pretended that he did because I said it over the phone.

*Who is taller? THOMAS!!! by 4 inches.

*Who can sing best? Definitely Thomas.

*Who is smarter? We are both very smart ;)

*Who does laundry? Thomas does about 75% of it.

*Who pays bills? Both of us

*Who sleeps on the right side? Moi.

*Who mows the lawn? We don't have one... at least one we need to mow.

*Who cooks dinner? I do most of the time, but he does every once in a while.

*Who drives? He has been lately. He doesn't like it.

*Who is first to admit they are wrong? Me.

*Who kissed who first? Hahaha, oh what a funny story for another day. He did.

*Who asked who out first? Truth be told, we never really went on a date until we got engaged.

*Who wears the pants? Umm... I don't know if we have a real pants holder... We're both equally stubborn and "in charge".

Ummm.... I tag Amy and Arika.

Hooray!!

2009-01-13T10:38:00.000-08:00

I was officially able to get to work (on time, might I add), while putting on make-up in the car. How is this possible without getting into a horrible accident, quite possibly ending up in the still quite fast and full Puyallup River? My husband drove US to work today.

YAY!!! He finally started today and, although I don't actually get to see him much if at all today, we got to carpool to work today. How wonderful is that?!

I'm so glad other people find Thomas as amazing and smart as I do... :)

FIRST POST AS A MARRIED COUPLE!!

2009-01-08T21:30:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I am finally starting our married blog! I'll start by telling about where we are and such and add a ridiculous amount of pictures for everyone to see how gorgeous we are!! :)

Thomas and I have known each other for about 2 1/2 years now, met at school and became good friends. We dated for 10 weeks, got engaged and were married 4 looooong months later. We went to Cabo San Lucas/Cabo San Jose, Mexico on our honeymoon and had a blast!

I have worked for the Orting School District (Orting is near Auburn and Tacoma, close to Mt. Rainier - It's the place with quite a bit of the flooding this year!) since October as a Speech-Language Pathology Assistant (mouthful!). I absolutely love it! I am doing what I will be doing after I get out of grad school, with less paperwork and less responsibility. I LOVE my kids and have been so sad I've been on break and missing school! Thomas just got a job with my district as well (!!!!), he'll be working as a School Psychologist (not sure of his actual official title) and starts next week! So excited for him to actually start so we can officially have a double income!

Lately, we've been spending our time hanging out at home or with Thomas' cousin and his wife (Eric and Cara) during our FHE nights on Mondays or our date nights (which have been indefinitely postponed due to a calling Eric got at church that conflicts with our nights). We've also started working out everyday, which has actually turned out to be quite refreshing. I'm really not tired on the days we get to do it!!

Right now, I am sitting on the couch as Thomas plays this ridiculous video game that he has been playing for a week now. Same game, over and over. Needless to say, it's definitely not my first choice to watch him try and take over the world over and over again.

Ok, that's all for now but here are lots and lots of pictures!! (oh and shout-out to our photographers, Daniel and Laura Koenig (Koenig Photography)!! They did such an amazing job with our wedding pictures! Thanks guys so much!!! You are amazing friends and photographers!)