Kasie, Jer, Kaiah, and Maisie

Pregnancy Number 2!

2012-01-16T21:03:00.000-07:00

There are so many things that I want to remember about this pregnancy. I can't believe that it is almost over, yet I am so ready for it to be over. It has been so different the second time around, yet the most important things are still the same. I still feel 100% completely and utterly connected to my little girl already. I still feel ultimate amazement every time I feel her move. And I still spend my whole day and night dreaming about holding my baby girl. Time flies so quickly; I know I need to capture my thoughts about this pregnancy now, or I never will!

While Kaiah was a surprise, this pregnancy was definitely planned. Jer and I are both under 18 months apart from our younger siblings, so we knew that we wanted our kids close together, too. We had been trying for several months, but I didn't wean Kaiah until she was 1 year (March). On Jer's birthday I was thinking that I might be pregnant, so I went and bought a test while he was at work and, sure enough, it came back positive! I couldn't believe it - I was thrilled. I bought a birthday card for him and wrote that he would have to wait 9 months for his present. :) We were living with Jer's brother while we finished buying our house, so we had to be careful to keep it all under wraps. We waited until about 12-13 weeks before telling our friends and family.

Everything happened so much quicker this time. I got sicker quicker and bigger faster. I was really nauseous the whole first TWO trimesters, but I dealt. It was definitely harder this time - between working full-time and being a mommy to a toddler, I was much more worn out. Thank heaven for a fantastic hubby!

There was a little scare in there. At our 19 week ultrasound, the tech found that baby's head was not measuring right compared to the rest of her body. We scheduled another ultrasound a month down the road, and the same concern was present again. They referred us to the Maternal and Fetal Medicine specialty unit to do a third ultrasound. We were terrified. I have a history of Down Syndrome in my family, and all that I could think about for the weeks leading up to the ultrasound was how we would change our lives if there was a problem with this baby. Luckily, after months of worry, everything came back normal from the specialists. It was literally one of the best days of my life.

Since we did have three full ultrasounds, there is absolutely no question that baby number 2 is a girl! Both Jer and I were thrilled - I wanted Kaiah to have what I had in Kamie growing up. It seems so right to be adding another girl to our family.

One thing that makes this baby different from Kaiah: She is definitely a little mover! She has always moved more and bigger than Kaiah did. It is nice - gives me one less thing to worry about! One thing that makes her the same: stubborn as ever! Today is my due date, and the baby is not here! We will see how my appointment tomorrow goes, but up to now my doctor has repeatedly said that she was "way" high and "no where near coming." I couldn't be induced because she is so stubborn!

It has been weird - Jer and I haven't decided if we will have another baby or not. This may be my last time being pregnant, which makes everything so much more . . . I don't know. It is just weird.

We are so excited to have her join our family. Kaiah can say her name and is now constantly pulling at my stomach and telling her to come out! I can't wait to see how she completes our family!

6th Anniversary

2011-07-29T12:53:00.000-06:00

Six years tomorrow. Six truly fantastic years. I really can't believe how far we've come in those six years. I was looking back at the blog posts I've written for our anniversaries (3rd on, since I didn't blog before then), and I just couldn't help but laugh to myself.

3rd anniversary: I said that this was the year that we really and truly became best friends, and I still agree. Funny. I've said over and over how lucky I am that you turned out to be such an amazing guy - you are a lot better than the man I thought I was marrying. We were just kids. We barely knew each other. We were still shy and embarrassed and said what we thought we should. That third year was when it all changed. We learned how to be us.

4th anniversary: No blog post this year (sad). Probably because we were busy living by ourselves across the world in Australia, vacationing in New Zealand, and becoming pregnant with little Kaiah! What a crucial year this was! Living on our own, away from all of our friends and family - I think that is what prepared us for parenthood. We really grew up that year. We learned how to save, we learned how to rely solely on each other, and we learned how to have fun on a Friday night by ourselves with no money. We became unselfish. We became a family.

5th anniversary: To this day, we still cannot remember what we did for our anniversary last year. I know it was nothing big, but I am sure we at least went to dinner. The thing is, it really didn't matter. This 5th anniversary blog post still is probably the most true thing that I have ever written in my life. I meant every single word of it, and I still do. Starting a family with you changed my whole perspective, and the most important thing was that confidence that I had in you, our marriage, our love. I've never questioned it. Ever.

And now, as I reflect on our 6th anniversary, I just have to chuckle to myself. I feel like we've grown so much and come so far, and yet it is clear that we are still just learning about these things called life and love and family. We are still trying to overcome our tendencies and focus on priorities. I found myself this year reverting back to those first two years of marriage - our anniversary needs to be big! We need a night in a hotel, La Chaille ($200 meal?!?!?!), gifts. I insisted that we needed those things to be happy. Then, the new, mature Kasie finally emerged from this regressive state. I remembered that we don't need to be someone else. We are okay just being us. People can laugh that we love drive-in movies - who cares? There is nothing more that I need than to just celebrate us the way we do it. So, our plans for the night: dr. appointment (almost 16 weeks!), Cheesecake factory (plenty of a splurge for us!), and a drive-in. Sounds perfect. Just like us :)

And, yes, this year has been our best year yet. I say that every time, and I always mean it. I was thinking about our Scrabble game last night - I killed Jer. Super won. Jer was pouting and said that he would never play with me again because I am opportunistic (isn't the point to win?) and that I leech off of him (I'm sorry if I can turn your 10 point word into a 30 point word with just one letter). Later, before we fell asleep. I told Jer that I love him and that I wouldn't change anything about him. Not even his issue with board games and competitiveness. Why? Because we are perfectly matched. If I wished he was better then he would no longer be my perfect equal. Instead of one person pulling the other forward or us wasting our time trying to fix each other, we get the wonderful, wonderful blessing of working together towards our common goals at equal speed. Nothing feels better in the world than having a perfectly equal companion, in the true sense of the world, to live life with.

Well, except maybe raising a baby (or two) with that companion. Now that is good.

This week

2011-07-25T11:16:00.000-06:00

I feel like this summer is just FLYING by. Seriously. I don't think I have ever been so busy in my life! My sis and I were just trying to schedule a two-day camping trip for my family (the first one EVER), and we only have two options - one in Sept. and one in Oct. Yes, that means that every single day and weekend through July and August are completely full (and not of fun stuff, either). Ugh. Jer and I decided that we HAVE to go on one vacation every summer because if not, then, well, it pretty much sucks. This is what I get for becoming a coach.

On happier news, we just had a housewarming party on Saturday that was awesome! Thanks to everyone who stopped by to celebrate our new home with us! We absolutely love it and it feels so incredibly wonderful to finally have a place of our own! Pictures to come (umm . . . maybe. No guarantees).

To celebrate the 24th, we went to Tucanos with my fam, then just hung out. No fireworks (which made Kaiah happy). Then my little clan went driving around the Alpine Loop and walked around Cascade Springs - beautiful! It was super fun just to let Kaiah get filthy and play outside.

This is my last week home with Kaiah this summer (sucky) but Jer and I celebrate our 6th anniversary this weekend! Yay! Details to come. Then I leave for a conference in Seattle on Sunday :(

Here's to looking forward to a great week!

Update on Kaiah

2011-07-19T21:43:00.000-06:00

Kaiah is spending the week at Grandma Wewe's house because I have to be at this stupid Common Core thing all week long - so, obviously, this leads to me seriously missing my little girl. I thought I would take this sentimental mommy moment to write down some adorable memories of my Kai.

Her favorite movie BY FAR is Tangled. I have no idea how this happened, but she is obsessed with it. Every time we get in view of the video cabinet, she runs over and searches through it until she finds her favorite movie. Then, she'll just sit still for at least the first half - usually more. Sits still. That never happens!
She still doesn't say a ton except, of course, for "No!" Jer, being ever clever, made this a little better by teaching her to say "Oh No!" It just seems a little cuter and a lot less ~~bratty~~ stubborn.
She has learned how to say "Elmo" and "Grandpa" and "Side" (for outside or slide). I love every new word and think that she gets so much more adorable with every one.
She is still fiercely independent - seriously. She tries to do everything, and I mean everything, by herself. She hates help and needing mommy and daddy!
Plus . . .
She is going to be a big sister in Januray! I am 14 weeks along, due January 16th! We can't wait! :)

Still Alive

2011-07-06T21:57:00.000-06:00

Yeah, I haven't blogged in over 2 months. I wish I could say it was because nothing exciting was happening, but it is actually the opposite. Tons of exciting things have been going on, and I have missed blogging all of them. Living with my brother-in-law's family for a whole month while homeless - missed. Kamie and Alex moving away - missed. Jer's 29th birthday - missed. Getting the drill job at Wasatch and our whole first month of practice - missed. Stephen finishing his bout with chemo - missed. Buying our first home and moving in - missed. Kaiah growing up before my eyes - missed. So, so ridiculously sad.

I don't really know what kept me from blogging. I guess it just felt like I always had so many more important things to do. But, really, it is those important things that were the most important to blog. I can kinda tell how my life is going by the frequency of my blogging. You can guarantee that if my blogging has slacked, something else in my life has, as well.

So here's to a new, committed approach to blogging!

Oh, and I also missed BYU going Independent - can't forget that!

Being a Mom

2011-05-09T09:39:00.000-06:00

Being a mom is . . . well . . . it is everything. It has completely changed, not only my life, but my whole perspective on life. Jer and I will sometimes reminisce on the five years we had together before babies. We miss being able to just leave and go out to eat or to the grocery store or to the movie. We miss staying up late and sleeping in. We miss spending money on anything we want. We miss quality time together.

But, we have completely realized that those five years, while wonderful, were nothing compared to this.

Our lives had no importance. Nothing we did mattered to anyone but us. While we did love that time together, it really didn't mean much.

Now, our lives mean so, so much more. Our lives have meaning. Our lives are important. Kaiah makes them that way.

And it is the best thing in the world.

12 months

2011-03-09T21:12:00.004-07:00

One week from her birthday, Kaiah had her 12 month checkup! She is 22.19 lbs (67%) and 28.75 inches (36%). Still short, but super healthy. The doctor said that everything looked great with her, but she hated her shots. After the nurses finished and I picked Kai up, she glared at them and chewed them out until they left - such sass!

My Kai bug, at 12 months:

Walks, runs, and stamps her feet all the time. She never crawls - ever. She is happiest when she has plenty of space to run.
Her favorite foods right now are peas, gold fish, pizza, cheese, yogurt, grapes, and raisins.
She usually sleeps from about 8:00 pm- 7 or 8:00 am and takes two naps.
She just started this weird dance thing - she kinda spazzes out just the right side of body and runs in circles!
When she sees something that she likes, she "oohhhhhs" sooooo cute!
She loves to open her dresser drawers and pull out every outfit that she owns.
Her favorite show is Juno Baby (junobaby.com)
She strongly dislikes grass - like, it is the best baby sitter ever. Put her on a blanket in the middle of the grass and she won't leave.
She is finally, for the first time, starting to get a little cuddly. Little being the key word.
She is our complete life. We love her more than we ever thought possible!

Happy birthday, Kai bug!

The birthday

2011-03-05T15:13:00.005-07:00

My family has a tradition of having extremely drawn-out birthday celebrations - and our little Kaiah's has been no different!

Tuesday, March 1st my baby turned one year old!

Mom and Dad both had to work, so Kaiah spent the day with Aunt Kamie and Cousin Ari. She got to take up one of her new toys to play with, and Jer and I bought her "fun" food - toddler meal, apple juice, and some toddler cereal bars. Kamie planned a fun edible craft project, which Kai loved until she got the frosting on her feet! Our baby girl HATES to be dirty or anything fluffy/slimy.

When we got home, we played for a bit and then went to Pizza Factory for dinner. Kai loved sharing our breadsticks and ate her own cheese pizza!

Then we came home and let her break open her "new" Christmas toys - the ones that were too old for her at Christmas time. She loved each and everyone.

Finally, we went to Kneaders to get her a birthday cupcake. Being our little prissy girl, she didn't eat it at all because she didn't want to get her hands messy. Dad didn't mind doing her a solid by finishing it for her :)

Then off to bed in some new jammies!

Today we took her one year pictures and I think they are going to be amazing!

Tuesday is her doctor's appointment, so we will see then how her stats are.

And one week from today, next Saturday, is her birthday party! We can't wait to see everyone there!

One

2011-03-01T21:11:00.002-07:00

My baby is one . . .

Oh. My. Word.

Happy birthday to the most beautiful, intelligent, hilarious, adorable little girl in the world. You are everything.

We love you bigger than the sky and more every day!

Sunday Lessons

2011-02-20T12:53:00.003-07:00

Most important thing that I've learned while Jer has been gone - I do, in fact, as Jer has been trying to tell me for 5 1/2 years, steal the covers. I never believed him. Not once. But since he has not been here to tug and pull all night, I wake up in the morning with every last inch of our giant and heavy comforter transported someone onto my side of the bed. Who knew? Well, besides Jer, of course.

Second most important thing I've learned - I stink at keeping in touch with people. Okay, lie, I already knew that I stunk at it. If you call, don't expect me to answer. Just leave a message. And if you do, still don't expect me to call you back. Because I probably won't. I guess Jer is my conscience when it comes to phone etiquette. He leaves, and my ability to return phone calls leaves with him. So I apologize Stacey and Clark and Natalia and Sara and anyone else who has called who I have ignored. I just stink.

Most annoying thing right now - since I am currently teaching a grammar/punctuation unit, I find myself evaluating every single comma that I put in my writing. You see, the comma in the previous sentence is correct because it separates a dependent clause from an independent clause. There is a fragment earlier in this post, though, that is driving me insane. Those commas are correct, fyi. That one, too. And that one. See the problem?

Hardest thing to think about - my baby is almost one. Yeah . . . um . . . let's just hold that conversation another day. I am not emotionally ready for it yet!

Best news of the day - only one more week till I can smoother my hubby in kisses :)

Dad's gone and my feet smell

2011-02-12T22:08:00.006-07:00

Daddy is in Australia, which means:

Kaiah seems to stay in her jammies much longer than normal.
I'm on a tivo freeze - not allowed to watch any of our shows until Jer gets home, so . .
I've started watching some great new shows (Cake Wars, My Life as Liz)
Kaiah and I spend our Saturday night at the high school making copies
My computer screen has slobbery Kaiah kisses all over it from her kissing daddy over Skype.

It has actually been easier than I thought it would, thanks almost entirely to Kamie. I never feel lonely because my bestest friend lives just upstairs. One week down, two to go.

On another note - Spring! :) What a beautiful day.

Oh, and I really need some new shoes. Mine stink. Literally. Jer always tells me to wear socks with my flats - but socks with my flats? I just can't. My toes like to be free. So, yeah. My shoes smell bad and I need new ones. Wear do you shop for shoes?

My sister's mud

2011-02-07T12:44:00.002-07:00

My sister is . . . I wish I was her. She just posted her thoughts on everything happening in my family, and, of course, it is much more optimistic and beautiful than what I could muster in my last post. So, if you want to read what I wish I could say about our trials, go here.

P.S. Thanks Kamie for being the best big little sister ever.

Sad x 2

2011-02-04T22:11:00.002-07:00

#1:

It happened. My hubby is officially gone. Baby and I sent him off to Australia today. Three weeks. Three weeks without him to chase Kaiah around and wear her out before bed time. Three weeks without him taking out the garbage. Three weeks without him snoring in my ear. What will I ever do without him?

#2:

Stephen (mom's hubby) has lymphoma and started chemo this week. Non-curable, but treatable. 69% survival rate for 5 years. He's 47. Mom shaved his head today.

I know I should be saying that everything will be okay and things are good and we are so blessed, but I just don't feel like it.

11 months

2011-02-01T07:25:00.002-07:00

You, at 11 months:

Not only walking everywhere, but also trying to run!
Can say "daddy" and "bubba" (Ari).
Love playing "E.T." - we touch pointer fingers and say "ouch"!
Still love bath time and anything with water!
Learned how to not only take things out, but put them back in! This has been fantastic for when you "help" mom with the laundry.
Are becoming a little pickier with the eating, but still love cheese and yogurt.
Just learned how to wave "bye bye"
Love to dance to any deep, soulful music! This can be really embarrassing if we go to any restaurant with a blues track (think Fuddruckers or Happy Sumo). The waitresses love to laugh at you rocking out in your high chair!
Are happiest when you have something in your hand and free reign to walk anywhere you please. You are happy to spend hours holding your plastic egg and walking all around the front room, to you bedroom, and back.
Give the best, slobbery kisses ever.

We love you more than we can even begin to explain. You are our life. And yes, we are still learning how to be the parents you deserve. Here's the proof:

Happy 11 months, baby!

Me, at 26

2011-01-10T11:47:00.003-07:00

Disclaimer: This idea is 100% stolen from my my beautiful aunt Jenny.

Every year I expect to feel like I am finally getting old, but it just doesn't happen. I like my age. I do not want to be any younger. I think it is because I am committed to making every year better. I honestly feel like I am a better person this year than last year, so there is no desire for me to turn back the time. I love that I can look forward to new years and ages with hope and optimism instead of dreading aging. I know that I am still in my twenties, so this may change when the thirties hit, but I hope not. I look forward to growing older.

My philosophy: Birthdays (holidays, dates, parties, . . . and life in general) are what you make of it. If I want to have a great birthday, it is my job to ensure that it happens. Also, my family doesn't really just celebrate a birth-day . . . more like a birth-week!

My festivities began on Saturday with a date with my hubby. I bought a new temple dress (sadly, I don't see anytime in the near future when the one I was married in will fit) and it is perfect. Then we went to the temple for an endowment session, followed by dinner at my current favorite restaurant, India Palace (thanks Clark and Natalia!). We ate some Chicken Coconut Korma and Naan bread, with my usual staple of Diet Coke. Best. Food. Ever. I can't believe that I only discovered Indian Food last year!

Today I don't have to work, which is both fantastic and a little sad. I love teaching and I love my students, so I would be perfectly happy spending my birthday with them. But, even better, I get to spend the day with Kamie! We ate lunch at Red Robin, and both the food and company was fantastic.

Jer and I will go out to dinner tonight, followed by family evening with Kamie, Alex, and Ari.

Friday my family will all be going to Tucannos to celebrate both mine and Alex's b-days, followed by a visit with my Dad on Saturday.

See . . . I told you it was a week long thing.

I don't really care about presents at birthday time. I would much rather spend our money doing something that I love - hanging out with good food and good friends. Things don't make me feels special or appreciated, people do.

My favorites at 26:
TiVo shows: Biggest Loser, House, Bones, Big Bang Theory, 30 Rock, Fringe
Diet Dr. Pepper, everyday
Ludo and The Graduate
Eclectic furniture and decorations
Great online deals
My baby's laugh

What I am most proud of: My marriage. Call me conceited, but Jer and I have the marriage people dream of. Better than the movies. It may not be all that flashy and romantic, but it is comfortable and solid. Jer is my best friend. We consider each other complete equals on every sphere, especially intellectually. I am so grateful to have found someone that I can talk about politics, ethics, psychology, science, and life with. Jer pushes me to think deeper, feel more, and reach further. He is my confidant, my counselor, and my teacher.

We don't have very many assigned roles (except that Jer usually takes out the trash). Instead, our philosophy is that we both work together, and then we both play together. We take turns changing diapers and feeding Kaiah her solids, Jer and I cook and do dishes about equally. We clean together. If I have a lot of grading, then Jer does the housework, and vice versa when he has homework. It works for us because it makes us equals.

How I have changed the most since my last birthday: I became a mom. I was terrified that I would be a terrible mom - that I wouldn't know what to do or, worse, that I would hate it. Not the case. I love it. Love love love it. Kaiah is worth every second of missed sleep or stained clothes or stressful night or lost romance. She is more than worth it. She is worth everything. I am proud of my mommyhood. I have worked hard to learn what I need to learn and do my research. I follow the advice of experts and try hard to do what is best for Kaiah, not for me. Plus, motherhood fulfills me. I feel more comfortable in who I am as a person now that I am a mom.

My current views:

I think that life is good if we make it that way. I choose to be happy with my job and the things that I have. Plus, I can choose to help other people feel good, too. That's why I love teaching so much. It gives me an opportunity to influence the way that my students think and the philosophies that they will blog about someday.

I am becoming more comfortable with the way I look. I have finally found a hair style that I like, which is a huge accomplishment for me. I don't think that I have ever really liked my hair until this year. I still have a long way to go with my weight (both physically and mentally) but I am getting better. It has definitely been a roller coaster. I lost 34 pounds in 2009, got pregnant and gained 52 pounds, and now have 10 more pounds to go until I am back to that slimmer Kasie from 2009. This is still not a weight that is healthy for me, but it is getting closer. More importantly, I think that I am coming to terms with a lot of the mental aspects of my issues with food. It is a work in progress, but I am getting there.

Jer and I are finally starting to save for a house - for the first time in our marriage. We aren't close, but we actually can now see a way to accomplish that goal. Hopefully in 4-ish years we will have a place to call our own.

I feel more fulfilled as a person than I ever have in my life before. My marriage fulfills me, my work fulfills me, and my baby fulfills me. I am growing stronger in my testimony every week and progressing closer to the person I want to me.

Life is good, and always getting better, at 26!

Top 31 of 2010!

2011-01-01T21:02:00.002-07:00

So . . . I kinda failed and missed several days of my gratitude list. But the best part of this blog being for me . . . it doesn't matter! Next year I will try again and hope to make it all the way, but for this year I will be satisfied with just ending with my top 31 things that I am grateful for in all of 2010! So my top 31 blessings of the year, with no numbers because I can't even begin to put them in order:

Graduating Summa Cum Laude
Choosing the Heber job over the online charter school job
Getting assigned Honors 9th grade classes
Finding a job that I love every single day
Celebrating 5 years of marriage with Jer
Kaiah being born healthy
Watching Kaiah grow
Feeling my baby moving inside of me
Buying our Jeep
Finally being done with school for as long as I choose!
Getting cousin Ari
Getting cousin Ciara
Watching Josh and Jessica get sealed
Moving into our house with Kamie
Kamie staying home to watch Kaiah
Our new married student ward
Learning how to coupon
Finally developing a close relationship with my mother-in-law
Having almost a full 6 months as a stay at home mom with my baby
Being able to breastfeed
Choosing to home make my baby's food
Getting to know Elizabeth and Braxton
Seeing my baby's face for the first time
Watching Jer turn into a daddy
Jer being a better dad than I could have ever imagined
Being able to finish college before Kaiah was born
Jer going back to school
Experiencing our first Christmas with Kaiah
Feeling fulfilled as a teacher
Experiencing motherhood
Learning how to love more than I ever thought I could

Christmas! 25th and 26th combined (in pictures)!

2010-12-27T08:28:00.001-07:00

1- Santa Clause, and that he came to our house!

2- Pretty Christmas Trees . . .

3- and scared/excited faces! (I really can’t tell which emotion this is!)

4- This face (surprise!)

5- And this face (what’s that? . . . I think I might want it!)

6- And this face (gimme that camera!)

7- And definitely this face (what’s going on here – said super slow mo)

8- And yes, even this face (your ear is mine!!!!)

9- And that I finally uploaded those pictures to the computer! (From the Festival of Tress the first week of December)

10- I’m grateful that we get together every year for a Christmas party with my dad and his family.

11- And that their house is freaking amazingly beautiful and their Christmas decorations spectacular.

12- And that, for the first time, Kaiah was able to spend Christmas with them, too!

13- And how cute she was with the present bows in her hair . . .

14- And that of all the bows stuck to her, she chose to pull out the one that was actually suppose to be there!

15- And this face (how could you do this to me, mom?!?)

16- One of Kaiah’s new Christmas outfits . . .

17- And that we got a HUGE bag of rice for Christmas, to go along with our . . .

18- Brand new gigantic and super nice rice cooker! (Thanks to Ashley and Megan, my Canadian Freshmas roommates for introducing me to rice cookers for the first time!)

19- Thing 1 and Thing 2 outfits from Grandma and Grandpa Bright

20- My mom’s animated hand motions

21- And this face (really, another picture?)

22- That we were able to spend Christmas with Cloe and Noah (Stephen’s kids).

23- That Cloe is the BEST babysitter I have EVER met! She had Kaiah entertained crawling away from the evil “humans” and giving her “victory cheerios” for hours! Then she entertained Caleb (4 yrs old) by zapping the evil witch (my mom) and obliterating her brain. LOVE CLOE!

24- That Noah pretends that he doesn’t like Kaiah, but then he giver her kisses and calls her Kaiah Bug and plays with her when no one is watching! It melts my heart to see the look in his eyes when he plays with Kaiah!

25- That Kaiah has two more people to call aunt and uncle

26- That Cloe prepared a beautiful song to perform for us on Christmas Eve – complete with her own homemade song book!

27- That she has a KILLER voice!

28- That I don’t find them near as annoying as I used to! (no offense ). They are getting older and I grow to love them more and more every year!

29- That Kaiah was able to spend Christmas Eve with my immediate and closest family . . . Jer, Kaiah, Grandma We We, Grandpa Bright, Aunt Cloe, Uncle Noah, Aunt Kamie, Uncle Alex, Cousin Ari, Uncle Joe-face, and great grandma Jaylene!

30- That they all wanted to capture the action, except for my grandma who would have the slightest clue what to do with a camera!

31- And that my grandma is priceless . . .

32- Kaiah’s first Christmas present (from Aunt Cloe and Uncle Noah)

33- And this face! (Presents . . . please!)

34- Christmas pajamas

35 – And cousin kisses!

36- New big girl convertible car seat (thanks grandma we we!)

37- And big girl Tinkerbell bean bags!

38- Stylin hats

39 – And shoes . . .

40- And clothes!

41- Entire new wardrobes – Kaiah is set for the whole year!

42 – And new storage bins – Kaiah loves pulling things out of them!

43- Stuffed animals and books

44- New froggy rockers

45- And more toys than one girl could possible need!

46- Gloworm toys from Grandma and Grandpa Payne. I had one when I was a baby and I loved it, and Kaiah loves hers, too!

47- That we were able to host Christmas this year. Thanks to both my family and Jer’s for coming to our house!

48- And that we didn’t have to drive all over the place (we usually do Heber and Tooele all on Christmas day!)

49- That becoming a mom has brought on a whole new level of Christmas – it is so much more exciting!

50- And that I get to do this all over again next year.

51- And that even though Jer and I only bought Kaiah really cheap essentials (hangers, bowl, and hair clips), she got PLENTY from all of her grandparents! It is nice to know that Kaiah can still get spoiled even though her parents are poor!

Christmas Eve Gratitude

2010-12-24T16:32:00.001-07:00

1- Today I am grateful for Christmas, and for everything that it stands for. Specifically, I am grateful for:

2- A Heavenly Father who loves me. Me, personally.

3- That He loves me so much, He sent his Son to atone for me.

4- That His Son, Jesus Christ, was not only willing to die for me, but embraced that task and did it willingly.

5- That because of this sacrifice, I can be forgiven of my mistakes.

6- Because of this sacrifice, I can live with my Heavenly Father again.

7- And, that because of this sacrifice, I can pray to someone who knows and understands everything that I am feeling and going through . . . everything.

8- I am grateful that I know that prayers are personal communication with someone who loves me. I don’t have to recite memorized prayers or pray through a 3rd party saint. I can pray directly to my Heavenly Father who wants to hear from me.

9- And that those prayers are heard and answered.

10- I am grateful for the lessons that Jesus taught while He ministered to his brothers and sisters.

11- And that I have been taught to read those words.

12- I’m grateful that Jesus set up His church, delegating responsibilities to prophets and apostles.

13- And that His true church was restored to Joseph Smith, who was willing and worthy to do the things needed of him.

14- And that the power of the Priesthood was restored, too.

15- And that I have that power in my home.

16- I am grateful for everything the Priesthood can do

17- And that, through that power, we have modern day prophets

18- who love us

19- and receive continual revelation specific to problems we face today

20- from a Heavenly Father who is never changing and, therefore, loves us just as much as those in the past, so He sends us revelations, too.

21- And that I can receive personal revelation for myself and my own family.

22- And that this guides my life

23- And gives me peace.

24- And I am grateful that I know these things – without a doubt. I know.

Thursday 23

2010-12-23T22:45:00.001-07:00

I’m starting to lose track of what I have already included on my list! I swear my brain worked better when I was younger! If I accidently repeat – forgive me!

1- Our new cinnamon roll recipe – most delicious thing I have ever made! (besides Kaiah)

2- “While You Were Sleeping.” Favorite. Movie. Ever. I watch it every Christmas and I love love love it.

3- That Jer found our DVD of the above. I thought that were threw away the VHS and didn’t have a copy anymore, but Jer found our DVD! Yay!

4- Sandra Bullock – best actress ever.

5- That every time I watch “While You Were Sleeping” I am reminded of all of the time I spent watching and rewatching it growing up and basing my life around it. Pathetic, a little. But true.

6- That Jer hasn’t ever seen “While You Were Sleeping,” so he is experiencing its majesty in its fullness now. I love it.

7- Watching the bottom of our tree fill up with presents.

8- Vacuum cleaners. I wonder what people did before them.

9- That tomorrow’s Christmas Eve!

10- The tickly feeling I get at the end of a great movie!

11- Clean bathrooms.

12- Big living rooms that can host my whole family!

13- Recipes that can be made early and put in the fridge.

14- Sugar

15- Fat free sour cream

16- That my hubby always tries to suggest things about himself that I should add to my gratitude list.

17- Big storage space. I finally have a place for all of my wrapping paper!

18- My collection of cards. I always have at least a couple different birthday, Christmas, thank you, etc cards on hand.

19- That I recycle gift bags. Never spend money on bags!

20- That my mommy knows that I love recycled gift bags, so she always buys me really cute ones for my birthday.

21- For McDonalds. Hate it if you will, but every once in awhile I just got to have my two cheeseburger combo meal.

22- That my husband has long arms. He is average height, but his arm length is huge! Works well for a shorty like me :)

23- That when my hubby goes on rants about work and goes into lots of details that takes hours – seriously, you should hear them. Kamie and Alex call him “Buzz Killington” from Family Guy because his stories are so boring. Anyway, I am grateful that when he goes on and on about these stories, I can reply with “I’m sorry honey” and then kinda tune him out and everyone ends up happy in the end :)

Wednesday 22

2010-12-22T21:42:00.001-07:00

1- Days off of work. There is nothing better than a little extra time with my bug.

2- Extra long naps. Kaiah slept for a whopping 3 hours this afternoon! I never check on her during her naps because she wakes up really easily, but I checked on her several times because I just couldn’t believe that she was still asleep! But sure enough, she was sleeping soundly . . . which leads me to . . .

3- Kaiah’s adorable sleeping face. I never get to see her asleep because she wakes up when I step one toe into her room, but today I actually got to admire her while she slept. Priceless. Her checks look all fat and hang down ever lower than usual.

4- Our home teacher. We haven’t ever had consistent home teachers until this ward – we have a winner! His companion is never at church, but our home teacher still comes every month by himself, with his wife, or someone else. He is awesome.

5- Cleaning. Our house is always a disaster and I am definitely not a cleaner, but every once in awhile it is nice to take a break from the mentally draining work and just get my hands dirty.

6- That I am typing this without looking at the keys. Embarrassing, but I just never really learned how to type correctly. I used to be really slow and always looked at the keys, but over the past 3-ish years I have really improved! Life saver!

7- Toe nail polish. Amazing how it can make me feel so much better.

8- That someday Kaiah and I will be able to paint our toes together.

9- That you can buy gift cards at the grocery store! We got two more Christmas gifts done today while shopping.

10- That Kamie uses us as her taste testers/garbage disposals! Yes! Kamie and Alex are picky eaters, so they bring all the goodies they don’t want down to us. Tonight it was Kamie’s trail run of her Christmas dessert. Yum!

11- My bread machine. I definitely am not a huge baker, but the bread machine has been used a zillion times. I would be lost making recipes that call for yeast without it.

12- That I use the wrong fingers when typing. It drives Jer nuts and I think it’s funny. I hold my hands correctly, but I use my pointer finger for the space bar instead of my thumb!

13- That Utah is getting slaughtered. I don’t really like Boise State either, but I am happy that the Dirty Utes are losing!

14- That heads fit so well on shoulders. Bahaha. You know, like when you lay your head down on someone’s shoulder and it just fits so well? Yeah.

15- That Kaiah’s toys have taken the place of presents under our tree. We knew that if we put presents under the tree then disaster would occur, so we just put her toys under the tree instead.

16- Rechargeable batteries. Genius.

17- Allrecipes.com. I use it ALL the time!

18- That I have a heart. I know I said that I wanted Utah to lose, and I do, but I also feel so bad for them. I wish that everyone could feel good about their performance. Poor stupid Utes!

19- Clean sheets.

20- That Jer always helps me make the bed.

21- That Jer doesn’t steal the covers.

22- That I still have another shopping day before Christmas Eve. We are NOT ready yet. Oh dear. Here’s to last minute shopping!

Tuesday 21

2010-12-21T22:09:00.001-07:00

1- Harry Potter – of course! I love it all – the books and the movies! We finally saw The Dealthy Hallows today and we both thought it was awesome!

2- Buying presents. Best. feeling. ever. oh wait . . .

3- Buying presents with my sister! Now that is the best feeling ever!

4- Thinking of a good surprise present for my hubby – I never surprise him, but I think I actually will this year!

5- Slobbery kisses from Kaiah

6- Playing in the mirror with Kaiah. She thinks it is so funny to look at me in the mirror, and then turn her head really fast and look at me! Adorable.

7- That I know have an excuse to wait in the car while Jer runs into Walmart – Kaiah is sleeping!

8- Dessert pizza. Yum!

9- Watching trailers before the movie. We always get there before the trailers because we LOVE seeing what is coming up!

10- Men’s razors. They work really well on my legs!

11- That my OCD doesn’t bother me too often. I am pretty terrible and if something bothers my OCD-ness then I use my fingernails to push my gums up until they hurt really bad – weird I know. Anyway, I am grateful that I don’t resort to the gum pushing too often.

12- The way my hubby looks with short hair – yowza!

13- Cold water.

14- And hot water – when I am showering!

15- Surprise groceries from mommy.

16- Getting a good ab working through laughing with Kamie.

17- That when Kamie is making fun of me she uses the voice of that dad on “King of the Hill.” Apparently I sound like a middle-aged white trashy male when I am speaking?

18- good head scratches.

19- That my baby is a girl and I can put her in cute dresses whenever I want.

20- New windshield wipers.

21- That I grew up in a generation that was still taught how to savor things. I knew had to use a pay phone and that I needed to plan ahead. I didn't have a cell phone in high school. I learned to cherish the good things. Kids today get so many things thrown at them, they are always filled with instant gratification and don’t have to hold on to what they have now since something new is always around the corner.

Monday 20–Love from students!

2010-12-20T21:26:00.001-07:00

Today my Christmas gift to my students was a pass-it-forward gratitude opportunity – I gave them “Thank You” cards to fill out for a teacher, coach, or worker at our school. Little did I know that at the end of the day I would find a whole stack of Thank You cards in my box! It wasn’t really my intention (I wanted to spread the joy around the school!) but I must admit that hearing their nice words did make my whole year! So, today I am grateful for my favorite segments from the letters:

Mrs. Payne,

1- “You are always so happy and energetic and whenever I come here I can’t help myself but to be happy. And you have made me realize that I can do hard things.”

2- “I am thankful you are a really good teacher”

3- “I am so thankful that you are my teacher. I was dreading English this year but then I got your class and we are learning real fun things.”

4- “I would like to thank you for all the support you gave me on our one on one interview. Many of the teachers expect us to get what they teach us on the first try, but you get that we need time to get things right. Many times I have had doubts about something and haven’t had the guts to ask you but after our talk I feel that I can ask anything and you would help me. You are a rare teacher . . . Thanks to you I feel that a teacher actually cares about what we think and feel.”

5- “I can honestly say that you have been my favorite English teacher that I have ever had.”

6- “I really do enjoy this class and learn something new every class period.”

7- “Your crazy side is my favorite because you say weird things and act hilarious and it’s the best to watch because you’re in a really good mood and it affects everyone else.”

8- “I like how you write comments on each of our papers. They are always so nice and informative. I always learn something new from every comment that is written.”

9- “You really have taught me how to put the stuff we learn into my life.”

10- “Thank you for helping me with my reading, like suggesting The Hunger Games (which is a great book).”

11- “Thank you for teaching me how to use MLA format. I’ve been using it in all of my classes and I’ve been getting much better score on my papers . . . these are things that I will use for years to come.”

12- “You have really helped me reach my learning potential. You individually help each students and it really makes a difference.”

13- “I learn a lot more because class is enjoyable.”

14- “You are without a doubt my favorite teacher. You explain everything so clearly and you make learning fun.”

15- “I have hated classical literature my whole life, until I have gone to this class! I was talking to my friend, and she just moved. Right before she moved she had to read Romeo and Juliet and her whole school despised it! She told me that the teachers here are “brainwashing” us into loving it! Isn’t that a good thing? That’s my point! You are such a great teacher and you are so into it, so that makes the rest of us into it!”

16- “Even though I thought you were crazy in the beginning of the year, you really show that you care about your students by really thinking about our seating choice. When I sat in the back with --------- I didn’t do so well, but you changed my seating to the front where I actually learn. I’m also grateful of you as a teacher that you took the most boring story that almost everyone hates to a story that sounds like the most interesting thing ever.”

17- “Before this class I felt like I was really bad at writing anything . . . I feel that now I am not terrible at English. I really want to express my gratitude more, but I can’t find the words.”

18- “You make Honors English so much fun even though it’s a very hard class.”

19- “You are such a happy person and you’re one of the people that just make me want to be like you . . . I love how you connect everything to your life and make everything understandable.”

20- “Thank you for unfolding the amazingness of Romeo and Juleit. It kills me to stop watching/reading/talking about Romeo and Juliet.”

*Bonus - “I really enjoy your class because it is the only class that I feel I can really express myself and feel comfortable in the class. I’ve realized that your teaching style is much much different from the other teachers, and that is why I am so excited to come to your class everyday. You’re not afraid to express yourself . . . you are not afraid to put yourself out there and that is why so many students love you.”

*Bonus – “Even though your class is one of my hardest, it has been one of the funnest classes I have had!”

Sunday 19

2010-12-19T20:28:00.001-07:00

1- Finding a dress in my closet that I didn’t think fit, trying it on, and Yes! It fits!

2- Watching my baby smile in the rain.

3- Temple Square lights – it’s not Christmas without them.

4- Comfy boots

5- Canceled appointments = extra time with family!

6- Jeremiah’s homemade breakfast burritos. Well, any breakfast burritos. Actually, let’s just go for anything with the word “burrito” in it at all.

7- Hats in the winter.

8- Jer’s nicknames for Kaiah. Specifically . . .

9- Kaiah burnaners . . .

10- Kaiah papaya . . .

11- Squirtle . . .

12- Kaiah swerte . . .

13- and muffin top.

14- that Kaiah was pulling her “stink face” at the guy behind us in church (whole face scrunched up), and the guy was pulling the same face back at her.

15- That we have always believed in playing the same with Kaiah as we would with a boy. She gets thrown around and hung upside down all the time!

16- That Kaiah talks to herself in the backseat.

17- That Kamie’s baby likes to “fist pump” . . .

18- And shimmy . . .

19- and pretty much anything else that Aunt Kasie makes him do!

Saturday 18 (BYU, 9-1-1, and death by snow)

2010-12-19T13:12:00.001-07:00

1- BYU Bowl Games – even if they aren’t against fantastic teams, I am still extremely grateful for ANY chance to watch my cougars play.

2- Football jerseys – Yes please! :)

3- Jared and Shana – Jared has been Jeremiah’s best friend for over 21 years! I haven’t had anything for 21 years – let alone a best friend! Jared and Jeremiah not only have history together, but they went to the same place for their missions, got married within a month of each other, and just seem to share a brainwave. Luckily, Jared’s wife is really similar to me – so it all works out!

4- Days when Kaiah gets entertained (and exhausted!) – Jared and Shana brought over their two kiddos who just love Kaiah, and she loves them! She spent hours following them around, and she has the shortest attention span ever!

5- Pizza Pie Café – never tried it before. All-you-can-eat salad, pizza, and pasta that isn’t gross? Are you serious? Delicious!

6- A clean floor.

7- Cell phones. What did we do before?

8- Being in the right place at the right time – and 9-1-1. On the way up the canyon the car a bit ahead of us flipped unto its side. We got there just in time to see the driver climbing out of the passenger side window. We pulled over and called 9-1-1. He was okay and they got the car flipped back over. Crazy. I’m glad that I was able to help.

9- Finding gift cards I had forgotten about.

10- Windshield wiper blades that work.

11- That Kaiah enjoyed her first jam sandwich!

12- Wuthering Heights – my favorite book of all time. I try to read it once a year and I just started it for the millionth time tonight.

13- Reading in bed.

14- Cold sheets.

15- Ari in a BYU hat – bahahahahhaha

16- That I have never been stuck in the middle of nowhere in a blizzard with my 5 month old son and had to walk in the cold and spit snow into my son’s mouth and been stuck for 9 days and then rescued but had all of my toes cut off. Yeah, we watched “I shouldn’t be alive”

17- That immediately after the show ended (even though it was midnight), I went directly into the kitchen, grabbed some plastic bags, and started packing them with water bottles and cans of food and blankets and then couldn’t find any matches . . .

18- That Jer giggled a little at my frantic emergency kit packing at midnight and that I was so upset we didn’t have matches, but that he promised to buy some waterproof ones for our car anyway . . .

Friday 17 (and why I love being from a "broken" family)

2010-12-17T22:27:00.003-07:00

1- Laughter. There is nothing better than a dinner full of laughs. I don't laugh near enough, but my awesome family can always pull it out!

2- The fact that my hubby can't stand being alone. I grade papers in the car, and he HATES that I'm not talking to him, so he has me read them aloud to him so that he can discuss them with me. Work is a lot easier when your spouse gets involved!

3- That I come from a "broken" family (that's not all that broken) because . . .

4- Duh - more presents! Growing up Kamie and I got two birthdays and two Christmases and we LOVED all the gifts . . .

5-Plus I got all the benefits of having a "big brother" without actually having him around to so those terrible big brother things . . .

6-And now I get a little brother and sister (12 year old twins) that I get to see during all of the holidays, but they weren't there to do all the annoying little sibling things . . .

7- Plus we have a huge amount of extended family to lean on . . .

8- And my relationship with my mom and sister is so fantastic because we had to stick together . . .

9- And being from a "broken" family made me more independent . . .

10-And motherly . . .

11- And realistic . . .

12- And considerate . . .

13- And capable of understanding what my students are going through while their parents get divorced . . .

14-Plus, now Kaiah has three sets of grandparents who love her immensely . . .

15- And I have the knowledge that there is no such thing as a perfect family . . .

16- And that families are dynamic. They move and grow and change and can expand to engulf anyone in love

17- And that my family is getting bigger and bigger and will forever, as long as we keep our hearts open :)

P.S. I need to add a bonus one for today. I am grateful that my husband just googled on his phone "cute robots" and is looking at pictures, for absolutely no reason at all.

Thursday 16

2010-12-16T20:36:00.001-07:00

1- For my healthy baby. She had her 9 (and a half) month check up today and everything looks great! She is still short – 33% for height, but still a little chunk – 81% weight (21 pounds).

2- The good ole days when we were behind in our T.V. shows. We are all caught up now and it STINKS because when there are re-runs on, we just don’t even know what to do with ourselves!

3- Student D – he’s moving on Saturday and before he left, he wrote me a note. I guess he actually does listen to me. I told him in a one-on-one meeting that he was frustrating because he hides his intelligence. His note said that my class is his favorite, that he hopes he likes his new class as much, and that he plans on being “less deceivingly smart and more just smart.”

4- Kneaders’ parmesan chips – too bad they were sold out today!

5- That Kaiah can now use her sippy cup by herself! Since she has never used a bottle, she was a little behind in the holding-a-cup-skill. I am so glad that she can do it alone now!

6- That when Kaiah is having a bad night, when can throw her in the car and she will be super happy!

7- For serious school days. We usually laugh a lot in my class, but every once in awhile we hit on subjects that are true and deep and raw and today was one of those fantastic days.

8- For the History channel.

9- For comfortable pants.

10- For Leonardo di Caprio. Laugh if you want, but I LOVE him! I think he takes on the hardest roles and does the best job! What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? The Aviator. Catch me if you can. Shutter Island. Inception. Yep – L.O.V.E. And – oh yeah – I definitely think he is the best Romeo!`

11- Kaiah’s early bedtime. I love my quality time with baby, but I love my quality time with hubby, too! Since Jer and I both get home at 4:00, we both get four good hours playing with her before she goes to bed, then 1 1/2 hours of marriage time!

12- My laptop. I love it. It is fast and has Windows 7 – love love love!

13- Thursday comedy night. Big Bang Theory, The Office, Outsourced, and 30 Rock all in one night? Genius!

14- Mint flavored lip gloss that tingles.

15- My wedding ring. Jer chose it, and I am so so so so so in love with it. We decided that we didn’t want to start out our marriage with debt, so it is modest, but beautiful.

16- That tomorrow if Friday.

Wednesday 15

2010-12-16T19:44:00.001-07:00

To steal from my cousin Mallory – today I am extremely grateful for all of my siblings and their kids!

Kamie, Alex, and Ari

1- Kamie. Best. friend. ever. Really. I don’t even know how else to explain the sister that has shared everything with me and created who I am today. Soul mate.

2- Alex. Even though I hate to admit it, you really have completed our family. Kamie needed you more than you can even imagine. Thanks for loving her the way she deserves to be loved. I couldn’t ask for a better uncle for Kaiah. You are the missing link in our family and it wouldn’t be complete without you.

3- Ari. Cutest little baby boy in the world. I love that you are exactly opposite of Kaiah – you are sweet and she is a monster! I love your fat cheeks and worried face and slow-motion talking!

Sara, cousin Braxton, Caleb, baby Kaiah, and Ben (not pictured – baby Ciara)

4- Ben – the brother I hate to love, or love to hate? :) Thanks for giving my hubby someone to talk all nerdy with! And, even though you were a little mean at first, I am also grateful that you (eventually) helped me to feel like part of the family.

5- Sara – Oh Sara . . . what to say? I am grateful that you gave me a friend in the family. I am grateful for someone to fight with and laugh with and drink soda with :) Even though you may not believe it, I really do consider you one of my very best friends.

6- Caleb – Smartest four year old I’ve ever met. I am so glad that Kaiah will have someone to teach her everything and keep the boys away.

7- Ciara – I am so incredibly grateful that Kaiah will have a sister-cousin to grow up with. There is nothing better than two little girls who can share secrets, play dolls, and do all those other girl things!

Marnie, Dave, and Caleb

8- Marnie – I’m grateful for Marnie in more ways that she can ever know. In a lot of ways, you were a solid connection between Me and Jer. You helped us to understand each other better, and I am eternally grateful for that!

9- Dave – Thanks for loving Marnie the way she deserves to be loved! I am so glad that you found each other.

10- Caleb (yes, we do have 2 Calebs) – Thanks for being the first little kid to make me an aunt!

*No pictures for the rest – apparently I need to take more family pics!

11- Josh – Thanks for giving me an intellectual opposite for debates! I love talking with you!

12- Jessica – Thanks for loving me and my baby. Thanks for caring about our family and helping me try to plan the Payne events. Thank you for calming down Josh!

13- Aaron – I’m grateful for your willingness to listen. Thank you for being always optimistic and the best person ever to go to Tucanos with!

14- Braxton – Cutest. Smile. Ever. Thanks for letting my Kaiah beat up on you!

15- Jake – Thanks for caring so incredibly much about us. You have the biggest heart ever and I know that Kaiah will just love you as she gets older!

Tuesday 14

2010-12-14T21:51:00.001-07:00

1- Bad days. Without them, the good days wouldn’t feel so good.

2- Tall students. Comes in handy being a semi-short teacher. Plus it is handy when those tall students aren’t afraid to stand on desks.

3- That I know the first two steps of troubleshooting – restart, check the plugs. Fixed my projector issues today!

4- Helpful students who offer back-up plans (and know how to hook up dvd players to tvs)

5- Corny souvenirs – especially from mom!

6- Spell checker – I was way off on “souvenirs”

7- Having grandma go on vacation for a week = one week where Kaiah isn’t spoiled rotten

8- That my husband finished all of his stupid freaking annoying and death to me projects for the worst art class ever!

9- That I no longer have to spend my nights gluing little stupid pieces of paper on a giant board to create Jer’s stupid mosaic.

10- Teeth brushing – I love the feeling of brushing my teeth!

11- A more healthy focused America – I am so grateful for the new focus on healthy eating, exercise, and green living. There is nothing more important than our health and our world and, while I still have a ways to go, I am grateful for the help that the media is giving!

12- YouTube and how much it helps me with teaching!

13- That mullets went out of style . . .

14- Alex’s relationship with Kaiah. He freaking loves my little girl. He may call her a hurricane and tease her growling noises and tell her to get out of his house, but it is SOOOOO obvious that he loves her to pieces. I definitely know that Kaiah, no matter what, will grow up loving her uncle Alex.

Monday 13

2010-12-14T21:12:00.001-07:00

1- Making up my own words. I do this all the time. For example, I just said “splouting” – as in spouting out with extra spit? Love it.

2- Forgiving babies. Our child has been slightly neglected the past couple days because of Jer’s finals, but she still loves me!

3- My three professional pictures of Kaiah on the wall. My mom spent tons of money getting me these precious portraits, and I love them! Thanks, momma!

4- Kamie and Alex’s Netflix – we “steal” their movies all the time (shhh . . . don’t tell them!)

5- Along with my cousin Mal, I am grateful for hand-me-down furniture. We have never bought a new piece of furniture. Our bed, couches, dvd cabinet, kitchen tables, etc. is all hand-me-downs/garage sale! Okay, so Jer just pointed out that we did get one of our couches as a graduation present. The point is, our furniture is low quality. It has stains, rips, and NONE of it matches. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. It has personality. And it is free.

6- Speaking of hand-me-downs, I am grateful for my Christmas tree, which I am not sure if I stole or was given from my Grandma Jaylene. Either way, I am super grateful to have my nice fatty tree (unlike Kamie’s – sorry, but yours is kinda crappy!)

7- Straight teeth – even if they are as big as a beaver’s!

8- Belly button lint. I didn’t know that it actually existed until I met Jeremiah :)

9- New computer skills. Jer has taught me a ton about computers – more than I ever thought I would know. It is kinda nice to be able to out-computer a lot of my students.

10- I’m grateful that I know that “a lot” is two words – because it is.

11- Fast forwarding annoying commercials.

12- Auto-body shops that care for their customers. We got a thank you card in the mail from the one that fixed our Jeep!

13- Little Caesars Pizza. Yummy – especially at 10 pm!

Sunday 12

2010-12-12T22:15:00.002-07:00

1- Sleeping in. Kaiah will now sleep in until between 8-9 am. After many night time and early morning baby calls, this is the best thing ever!

2- Teacher perks. There really aren't a ton, but today Jer was in desperate need of a paper cutter, so we drove to the school and spent the afternoon cutting the smallest, most annoying squares ever for a stupid mosaic project that my hubby has to do for finals (which I am not grateful for). Without that paper cutter . . . ugh.

3- Our ward. Last night we had our ward's Christmas party, and it was super fun. Catered by Costa Vida - yummy! I love being in a student ward - I wish I could stay in it forever!

4- Sunday drives up the canyon. I love the trees, the mountains, everything about it. Kaiah loves it, too. She will just stare out the window!

5- Speaking of Kaiah - she is gettin another tooth! One is popping out the top and I am grateful for my baby growing up!

6- Left overs and no cook days.

7- That my baby loves tangerines. She will suck out all the juice and then spit or throw the rest.

8- Fringe. Jer has turned me into a total sci-fi geek. I love it! But it is moving to Fridays - t.v. death night!

9- My long hair. I've had lots of different hair styles and colors, and I am now back to my traditional long blond. My hair hasn't been this long since, like, 9th grade and I am loving it!

10- That Kaiah got my eyes. I definitely see a lot of Jer in her, but there is nothing better than looking into my baby's eyes and seeing a little, tiny bit of me in them.

11- The feeling right at the height of a yawn.

12- Mondays that I don't have to work.

Saturday 11

2010-12-11T20:40:00.001-07:00

My gratitude list today completely revolves around a fight that Jer and I had last night. Here’s the story:

Jer and I really, really value honesty in our relationship – almost to a fault. For Christmas, I asked Jer for some cereal bowls. Jer picked some out on Amazon and showed me before he order them and, to be honest, I really didn’t like them at all. I felt like it would be ungrateful to tell him that, so instead I just told him that I liked them and then kept my mouth shut for a couple days. Jer ordered them, they arrived in the mail, I still didn’t like them, but I still told Jer I did. I mean, it was a present, and I am grateful for the time, money, and thought that went into it. I was raised to be grateful for every gift given to me – no matter what – and that it is better to keep your thoughts to yourself than to hurt other people’s feelings. The problem? Jer and I are so honest with each other that I felt like I was betraying his trust by not telling him my honest feelings. I kept telling myself that it was for his benefit, but I just couldn’t get rid of the guilt. So I told him. And obviously he was upset because I didn’t tell him before we ordered them. So today, I am grateful for:

1- Honesty. It really is the most important thing in our relationship – so much so that I can’t even keep one opinion secret from him. We always talk about how the worst thing ever would be for one of us to have an emotional affair on the other one – we go to each other first for everything, and anything else would be cheating.

2- Jer’s ability to naturally calm me down. When I fight with my mom or sister, we yell our lungs out. Jer and I never yell. I don’t know what it is, but he just naturally makes me not want to yell.

3- Patience. Jer never gets overly frustrated with me, even though there are plenty of opportunities to.

4- Understanding. Arguably, the thing that I love most about Jer is that he honestly wants to understand me. Instead of getting mad or defensive, Jer sat down and starting asking me how and why and all the ifs ands or buts about how I feel. He wants to know more than just my current feelings. He wants to know how those feelings came to be.

5- For cuddling while fighting. We always do this. It’s a little hard to be mad at someone when you are cuddling with them?

6- For our ability and desire to examine our relationship. Jer and I love picking apart our marriage, discussing all of its intricacies, and then making changes.

7- That I married my true partner. We consider each other intellectual equals, and we like to use logic and analysis to improve our marriage.

8- That Jer and I are able to talk about the ways that our marriage has both lived up and failed in comparison to our ideals of what marriage should be.

9- That we can do all of the above without getting offended or hurt.

10- For making up

11- For Amazon’s return policy . . .

Friday 10

2010-12-10T21:54:00.001-07:00

1- Crazy haired babies. Yum.

2- Jeremiah’s work. While he works for a large company, I think that they try hard to focus on the individual workers. Jer started this job as just a way to “get through” school, but he has been promoted in the company enough that he can now support our family. AND they sent us to Australia, which I believe was the reason we had our Kaiah bug! Thanks Dentrix!

3- One of my students said that they always do my homework first because it “actually matters and has a purpose.” Fantastic

4- Lori and Jeff. They are fantastic grandparents and will drop anything to babysit our baby if we just ask. They drove the canyon to watch her tonight and she just loves it when they come – they play fun games with her! I feel so grateful to have them in both mine and my baby’s lives!

5- Serial killer shows. I admit, I am just a little (lot) obsessed with serial killers. Awesomist shows ever.

6- Coffee tables. While ours never hosts coffee, it does serve as a foot rest, laptop desk, dinner table, and (most importantly) Kaiah throw everything off-of toy.

7- Bread pudding. Especially chocolate bread pudding.

8- Windshield wipers. And windshields. They pretty much rock.

9- While we are on that subject, how about free rock chip repairs? I think they pretty much rock, too.

10- That I never, ever have to go to bed alone . . .

Thursday 9

2010-12-10T21:31:00.001-07:00

1- Early mornings. I wouldn’t really say that I am a “morning person,” but I love being awake when the world is still asleep. This is especially true when driving to work, when the sun is just coming up over the mountains in Heber. Heber gets a lot of fog, but when the sun shines through it – most peaceful thing ever.

2- Nice cashiers. Being a couponer, I hate it when the cashiers treat me like I am cheating the system or something. The stores get paid for all of the coupons that I use, so I don’t see the deal. Today I had an extremely nice cashier who went out of her way to help me. I love how strangers can have such an impact on my day!

3- No make-up days. I admit, when I don’t have to work, I don’t get ready. I love it.

4- Students who actually “get” it. We are working on writing reflective paragraphs and usually I read the same junk over and over. But today I had two students who wrote things so real, so true that I wanted to jump up and down and scream!

5- My babies’ laugh. She doesn’t laugh very often, but when she does it is well worth it.

6- That I have been able to breastfeed. I was really nervous about it, but I am still going strong. I must admit, I cannot wait until the day when I don’t have to pump anymore, but right now I am relishing the one-on-one time with my baby girl.

7- Cheerios. Best thing for babies ever. Kaiah could munch on them all day be super dooper happy.

8- Bath time. Kaiah loves her bath time and splashing in the water. It is pretty much the only time when I feel like she is completely entertained and not board!

9- That tomorrow is Friday . . .

Wed. 8

2010-12-09T07:39:00.001-07:00

1- Homemade baby food. Sure, it’s been time consuming, but it just feels so nice to feed baby something that I made, just for her, with love. And I think that, now that she is getting older, it will be easier for me to make her nutritious meals instead of grabbing something prepackaged or frozen, since I am already in the habit!

2- Our apartment. Best. Move. Ever. We live below Kamie and Alex in a nice house. Although we are still renting, it feels like I am able to take more ownership in this place. Plus, I have my best friend 10 steps away! I cannot even begin to relate how grateful I am to have my babysitter just up stairs. No car seats at 6:00 am for me!

3- Breaks from the norm. Whenever Jer and I are feeling completely stressed out or overwhelmed, instead of tackling the problem head on (like we should), we blow off the world and just head out the door. Tonight we went to Wingers and then did some Christmas shopping even though Jer has 7 more projects/tests to do for finals before Wednesday! I think Jer and I kinda have this philosophy that when life gets hard, you show it your passive-aggressive side and say “What? You think this is hard? I’ll show you! I’ll get all of this stuff done and spend a night having fun!”

4- Blogs. To quote my sister, “what did we do before??? Scrapbook? Pah!! ;)”

5- Water. Yum.

6- The Biggest Loser. Lame that I am grateful for a T.V. show? Maybe. But I really am! I had never really watched the show before, but in Australia they had their own Biggest Loser and, since we didn’t really have anything else to do, we started watching it. I really do attribute my ability to lose over 30 pounds in 5 months to this show. It gave me the daily (in Australia it was on for 30 min ever day!) motivation to continue doing those things that were good for me. Although I don’t love the American version quite as much, it has been a nice weekly reminder to keep pushing. It has been hard for me to get back to where I was right after Australia, and I still have 15 more pounds to go until I get to that point (I don’t even want to discuss how far away I am from my real goal!), but I know that week by week, if these people can do it, then so can I. I just wish that they has a “medium loser” competition for those of us that need to lose 30-50 pounds!

7- Babies in hats . . .

8- Homemade baby blankets. See that stash of blankies in the pic above? Kaiah has about double that! From a blessing blanket bought at the Festival of Trees, to ones from aunts and co-workers, to amazing quilts made by my mommy (who I don’t think had ever touched any kind of needle except the kinds that give shots before I got pregnant!), to Jer’s baby blanket that his Grandma Payne made for him when he was a baby. Kaiah has all the blankets she could ever want, and they were all made with love!

Tuesday 7

2010-12-07T20:04:00.003-07:00

1- For my calling. I am the Literacy Coordinator in our ward. While I haven't really done anything yet except for the monthly newsletter, I have high hopes! I feel really passionately about literacy - obviously. I believe that our spirituality is directly related to our literacy - our ability to read and understand the sacred texts, as well as comprehend the modern-day revelations we receive from prophets. The ability to read is one of the very greatest gifts we can pass on to others!

2- Christmas trees. I love ours. And I love it more and more every year because every year it tells our story a little more. Yes, we do have an overall color scheme to our tree, but no, not all of the decorations match. We have ones from all of our big vacations, from important events in our lives, and special presents. And I have already decided that all of Kaiah's ugly handmade ornaments will definitely go front and center on our tree. Who cares if it isn't perfect - it is ours.

3- Speaking of decorations, I am also grateful for all of the decorations we have in our house. Like our Christmas tree, none of them match. There is not one single room that sticks to any sort of theme or color scheme. But each room does have one thing in common - it represents us, all of us. Why should I decide if I like simplistic or boisterous, black and white or color? If I like it, it goes on our wall. Simple as that.

4- Christmas music. I am not a listen-to-Christmas-music-in-the-car girl, but I definitely love it while I am cleaning or grading. There is nothing that puts me in a better mood than "The Christmas Song."

5- Chocolate count down calendars. My mom has gotten us one every single year of our lives - and still does! I look forward to the day when mommy brings them down (plural, because Jer and I can definitely not share our chocolate). It wouldn't be Christmas without them!

6- That Kaiah has my feet. Seriously - mirror image. Her toes are all square and even and she can spread them way far apart, just like me! Plus, she always has her feet up on something. Every time she is in her high chair or swing - left foot up on the tray just a' chillin. Love it.

7- For my husband's amazing communication abilities. Kaiah was doing her growling noise, and Jer just asked her why she sounded like a "mating elk." Yep, that's my husband for you.

Monday 6

2010-12-06T18:48:00.002-07:00

1- My job. I am fully aware that people think that I am naive, that I am still in the honeymoon phase of my career, and that, given time, I will become just as jaded as every other teacher out there, but to all of you pessimistic judges I say "plewwwwww!" (that's my very mature, sticking-tongue-out-and-blowing-noise). I freaking love my job and nothing, I mean nothing you say will change my mind about that. I love spending my days with teens who laugh at the word bosom and debate about their ability to fall in love. I get excited to go to work. Just keep your negative comments to yourself - because I LOVE teaching.

2- Pandora on the Tivo. Heaven. Seriously. Ludo Station for the win!

3- Kamie's babysitting. There is no way that I would have been able to leave my baby with a stranger. Kamie made my dream of teaching a reality by deciding to stay at home with the babies. I am so, so, so grateful that I can leave my baby with someone who I know will respect all of my wishes, spend every moment entertaining my baby, and sing her Disney songs all day. I am so grateful that Kaiah gets to spend every other day with Ari, her cousin, and that Kamie is teaching her to share, be nice, wait her turn, and care for others. Most importantly, I am so grateful that I get to leave Kaiah with someone who honestly, deeply loves her.

4- Romeo and Juliet. This is turning out to be my very favorite thing to teach EVER! I love talking about teenage boys doing the equivalent of flipping each other off, families who kill because of someone's blood, fate, grudges, and (of course) love! I am grateful that I frequently feel inspired while teaching and that I can explain things in a way that makes my most hardened student walk into class saying, "Can we read more Romeo and Juliet today?" It happened!

5- Diet Dr. Pepper. Nector of the gods.

6- That my mom thinks that because she is across the country from me (instead of across the State), that she must call me twice as much. Apparently the number of phone calls I receive a day is directly related to the amount of miles between us?

Sunday 5

2010-12-06T18:31:00.002-07:00

1- Jer's extended family. I come from an extremely small family with only 4 cousins (whom I love dearly!). Jer, on the other hand, still has cousins being born! Today I am especially grateful for the Orchard side of Jer's family. They typify what I believe a family should be. All of the aunts, uncles, and cousins get together once a month to celebrate birthdays, etc. They support each other. They love each other. They make time for each other. Today we went to Aunt Kandi's annual Christmas open house and enjoyed good food and good company. I love that when I married into this family, I gained true friends. I have leaned on Jer's extended family for many, many things, and I am forever grateful for them.

2- Cheese potatoes (my way awesome version of funeral potatoes), chocolate chip cookies, yummy rolls, fruit salad with snickers bars in it, and pretty much any other food out there.

3- Pregnancy talk. I don't know why, but I love talking about when I was pregnant. Thanks Natalia for being pregnant so I have a reason to reminisce.

4- Relief Society. I feel honored to be a member of the largest woman's organization in the world. I am so grateful for inspired leaders who take the time to get to know me personally and for prayerful teachers who know exactly what I need to hear. Today's lesson was about gratitude!

5- My faith. I am so eternally grateful that I was born in Utah and given the chance to learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ. I have had a lot of religious talks with various un-believing friends and family, and the thing I just can't get over is why in the world they wouldn't want to believe! I know that the Church is true, along with all of its principles and teachings, but before I had that knowledge, I just simply wanted the church to be true because, I mean, who wouldn't want the idea of an after-world where almost everyone is sent to a place much, much better than this world. A church that teaches that families should love each other, that women are valuable equals to men, that children are loved by a Heavenly Father who knows them personally, and that we are each important enough to God to receive personal revelation from him. As a parent, I shudder to think what it would be like to raise children, and try to teach them correct principles, without having the answer the all those "why" questions - the Church answers those questions! And for that, I am eternally grateful!

Four things for today

2010-12-04T21:26:00.001-07:00

1- One of the packages I received yesterday . . . this amazing pack - for free! I saw the EA Sports Active 2 commercials and I wanted to try it out, and then I saw a chance to host a House Party and get the game for free! I signed up and was chosen, so I got the full game, an accessories pack, and a bunch of other stuff for free (over $160 value). Jer and I tried it out for the first time last night and it was awesome! We challenged each other to a mountain biking competition - and we were sweating hardcore afterwards. Yeah for free, awesome, amazing presents!

2- A weekly babysitter. My mom LOVES being a grandma and is more than willing (now that's the understatement of the year!) to babysit for me at least once a week. I never even have to ask. And because of that, I get one-on-one time with my hottie hubby every week.

3- Beautiful blog backgrounds. My cousin, Missy, runs Lily Puff Designs and she always has the very best backgrounds. I get happy just coming to my blog because of her amazing designs.

4- This adorable, adorable baby. She is my life. I really don't even know what else to say. She is just my whole entire world and I don't know how I lived before her.

2010-12-03T22:22:00.002-07:00

3 things I am grateful for today:

1- Festival of Trees. We go every single year to support Primary Children's Hospital. My life time goal is to be able to donate a tree. Someday . . .

2- That I only work part-time. Today was my day off so I was able to hang out with my amazing little sister and her adorable baby boy. We went to the mall, bought some Christmas presents for free (I just love couponing), ate some lunch, and just hung out. We don't do that near enough! My schedule is perfect right now. I still get to teach, but I also get days off like today!

3- Getting packages in the mail. There is no better feeling! Stay tuned to tomorrow to find out what those packages included!

I know this is a short one, but I am tired and can't wait to hit my pillow. Maybe I will add an addendum . . . I am also grateful for my pillow!

Day 2 Gratitude

2010-12-02T20:58:00.002-07:00

Today I am grateful for:

1- Rental cars. A couple weeks ago while I was driving the canyon to work, a metal something-or-other flew off the truck in front of me and hit my windshield/roof. It did a number - tell you what! Luckily, the truck driver was extremely nice, pulled over, gave me his insurance, and now my jeep is in the shop (and I don't have to worry about the $1,600 in damages). His insurance set me up with the BEST rental ever - 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee with keyless entry and awesomeness built in every crevice. I love it. I want to keep it. But most of all, I am just so extremely grateful that I have a nice car to drive around while mine is getting fixed.

2- My husband's enthusiasm about the strangest things ever. His eyes lit up, he smiled huge, and got all jumpy when he told me about NASA's discovery of a new life form that uses arsenic and looks like a Baby Ruth cut sideways. Do I care about this new discovery? Not really. But I love, love, love how excited he gets about random facts that no one else knows about - uh oh. Now he is off researching more about this new discovery. Guess he'll be coming to bed late tonight!

Thanks!

2010-12-01T20:33:00.002-07:00

One of my biggest pet peeves is people who don't say thank you. I hate it when I give someone a gift and they shrug it off. I know that they like it. I know that they are grateful. I know that they are just embarrassed and don't want to make a fuss about it. But it still drives me crazy. And it has always driven me crazy! I would personally much rather be over-the-top, gooshing over with thanks than shrug off someone's kind gesture.

So, about 12 years ago (wow - that's a long time!) I started an annual gratitude list that I create every single December in preparation for Christmas and the New Year. And, because of my over-the-top-obsessive-need-to-do-everything-ridiculously-huge-ness, my list consists of not one thing that I am grateful for a day, but a corresponding number to the current date. So, on December 1st I write one thing I am grateful for, on the 2nd I add another two things, and so on. By the time the 31st rolls around, I have accumulated 496 things I am grateful for! AND each of these things HAVE to be unique - while I may be grateful for my husband most days :) I can only include him once.

I love reading back through these lists. They just speak so much about me and the person I was at the time. From being grateful for "the smile from that cute guy at the store" to being grateful for "my first Christmas with my eternal companion," these lists define what is really important to me. Plus, they help me evaluate my year, my priorities, my life, and prepare for the new year.

So, instead of writing my list this year in my thought book (yes, I have a thought book. And yes, it is different than a journal), I think it would be nice to publicly share my gratitude list this year. This way my list will have more permanence.

I invite you to give thanks along with me. I love, love, love this time of year, and this list helps me really get into the holiday spirit and reminds me of how much I have. It may be hard at first, but it is something that I am so glad I have done for all of these years! Join me and share your gratitude!

So . . . without further adieu . . .

1. For Stephen. My mom and dad were divorced when I was extremely young (like 2), and then my mom spent the next 14 years of her life in a marriage that stunk, followed by several more years divorced and alone. She had pretty much resigned herself to growing old by herself. My wedding day was bittersweet because while I was excited to be married, I felt like I was leaving my mom behind. Then came Stephen. He changed my family in more ways that I can ever explain. He provided a patriarch for my family. He loves my mom the way she deserves to be loved. He made her feel confident enough to be herself, her true self. He changed all of our lives. And every day, every single day that I talk to my mom on the phone and she tells me about how he got up at 5 a.m. to make her lunch or picked out another toy for Kaiah or got up with her at 3 a.m. so that she could go to the bathroom without being scared, I thank my Heavenly Father for allowing me to finally have both a mom and a dad who love each other. And today is their 4th anniversary. And I am so deeply, deeply, grateful for that.

Family Pictures!

2010-11-28T12:50:00.001-07:00

We have NEVER had family pictures all together – and I am SO glad that the grandbabies have finally convinced my mom to get pictures all together! Priceless.

A really long post about nothing (or everything)

2010-11-20T22:48:00.003-07:00

I just started teaching Romeo and Juliet, and I am pretty much freaking out about it. This is my students' first time with Shakespeare. Do you know what kind of pressure that is? I could singley determine their entire outlook on Shakespeare. Wow. Especially because they are the Honors kids - I want them to understand how amazing these texts are. I have nightmares about teaching this unit. I know that I am a perfectionist, but this is just so important to me. Any suggestions? What do you remember most about learning about Shakespeare?

We went to the very last home game today - sad. I love football, but I especially love these home games because it gives me time alone with Jer. I will forever be grateful that Jer and I have so much in common. It wasn't always that way - we actually started out liking pretty different things. But we strongly believe that to have a fantastic marriage, it is important to learn to like the things that matter to your spouse. So I play video games and am a huge fan of football, and Jer tries new restaurants with me, reads classics, and watched sytycd (and likes it). I never feel like I have to make sacrifices with my time anymore - what Jer likes, I mostly like. We can share our favorite things with eachother without feeling like we are forcing eachother to participate. The only thing I miss now is playing board/card games. I used to LOVE playing games, but Jer HATES playing them :(

I was chosen to host a House Party for the new EA Sports Active 2 game - which means a FREE game ($100!) Woot woot! If anyone wants to check it out - party at my house Dec. 11 at 11:00 a.m.! I could definitely use another outlet to try and loose the rest of the baby weight - another 15 lbs to go! Plus, I just feel like my body is all weird now. My legs and arms seem back down to normal, but my stomach is completely different than it was before Kaiah. I guess that babies change everything!

Speaking of babies - I know that most of you will think that we are crazy, but Jer and I have always planned on having our first two babies close in age - like just one grade level apart. Kamie and I are 16 months apart and Jer and his brother are 15 months, and we both absolutely loved growing up with a gauranteed best friend. I can't imagine growing up without Kamie there every single step of the way. We did everything together. I want that for Kaiah. So, we started trying again in August, but we haven't had any luck yet. I know that it hasn't been very long, but now baby #2 won't be one grade level behind Kaiah, but at least two. It may seem silly to you, but it is such a big deal to me. I have always imagined having two babies growing up together and every day that Kaiah gets older and learns more and changes more is one more day that she is doing it without her younger brother or sister. This isn't what I imagined - it isn't what I had planned. I am definitely a planner, and I don't know what to do when my plans fail!

Watching the U vs SDSU game - ugh. Why, oh why did you give up the win, SDSU?

I know that this is a long post about nothing, but I just feel like I need an outlet. I used to be a huge writer, but that has stopped. I never write anymore. Writing is so cathartic - it really helps me to release the things that keep mulling over in my head and refocus. So, if you are still reading this post, then I am sorry. Really, I am. But this is what I needed. This is what I need more of. Feel free to ignore, because (once again), this blog is for me.

Now off to bed.

Like Mother, like daughter.

2010-11-14T18:32:00.001-07:00

When Kaiah was first born, everyone always said that she looked just like me. Then, as she got older, more and more people began to compare her to Jer. My mom just found a picture of me around Kaiah’s age, though, and I can definitely see the resemblance!

Kasie, 1985

Kaiah, 2010

This picture doesn’t really do it justice. When I hold my picture up to Kaiah, it is so similar! I love my little mini-me! She is at such a funny age right now and I just know that it will fly by – and I hate, hate, hate how much I have already forgotten about her earlier months! Things I love about baby now:

She pulls the most stuck-up snob face every time she is super happy. We can never get pictures of it, though! She scrunches up her nose and wrinkles her forehead. I call it her stink face.
She is a little monster. She doesn’t cuddle and she doesn’t coo – she creeps and she growls.
She still doesn’t crawl, but she army crawls like a pro!
She has just started standing up in her crib – and now doesn’t ever sleep because of it!
She will eat anything and everything we give her.
Her laugh isn’t a laugh at all – but a half-cough half-growl exorcist type thing.

She is just too much. I can’t believe that I get this little entertainer every day! I am so grateful that I have her and Jer to bring me all the joy in the world. When everything else goes to pot (like it always seems to), I know that I can come home and feel safe and wanted and loved and needed and respected and encouraged and like a part of something so wonderful, so absolutely wonderful, that everything that happens outside of my front door doesn’t seem to matter anymore. That is what family is to me!

Lily Puff Design Giveway!

2010-11-11T17:40:00.002-07:00

My amazingly talent cousin, Missy, has a great website called Lily Puff Designs! She does amazing FREE backgrounds for blogs, plus she also does great custom work! ALL of my blog backgrounds have come from her FREE collection (including my current background!) Right now, Savy Moms Save is hosting a giveway where you can win a HUGE custom package to make-over your blog! Go check it out!

Moo

2010-10-20T07:47:00.002-06:00

Hot Christmas Deal!

2010-10-18T12:51:00.002-06:00

Christmas shopping is so much fun now that I have my little bug to buy for! I just bought her this adorable hat for less than five bucks shipped from HauteLook! Click here to check out their awesome deals! Right now if you use the coupon code ENJOY10OFF at checkout, you can get $10 off a $10 purchase AND it can be applied towards shipping! I just LOVE scoring awesome deals on Christmas gifts!

Grateful

2010-10-17T21:31:00.003-06:00

1- For my family - all of them. I feel absolutely blessed to have so MANY family members who love me. I feel grateful that my mom is so young - Kaiah will have lots of years to get to know her grandma! I am grateful for wonderful in-laws who care with all their hearts. I am grateful that Stephen became my dad.

2- For Sunday - even though I don't think that I heard a word at church between Kaiah's fits, I am so grateful for the spirit that I feel from just being at church, knowing that I have a ward family who loves me, and, more importantly, that I have Heavenly Parents who love me, too.

3- For good blogs and true feelings. I am grateful for people who make me think and feel and remember the important things. I just finished reading my Kamie's blog, and it made me cry. Her husband lost his father last year and is now losing his mother, too. At 27. Wow. I am in awe of their strength and just so unbelievably grateful that I have never been to a funeral that I remember.

4- For my job. I love it. No, I really love it. And I know that it sounds so cliche, but all the time I can't believe how lucky I am to be paid for something that I love so much. Thank you to all of you who pushed me to become a teacher. Definitely one of the best decisions I have ever made.

5- For my husband. I could go on and on. I'm grateful that I found someone who loves analyzing our relationship with me - we spend hours talking about why our marriage is so great. I am grateful that I found someone who honestly thinks of me as an equal in EVERY aspect. Someone who is disgustingly loyal and completely faithful. Someone who is confident enough in our marriage that he never gets jealous. Someone who respects me. Someone who still makes my heart flutter.

I Heart Fall

2010-10-13T21:22:00.002-06:00

Soup, boots, jackets, pumpkins, squash, candy apples, colorful leaves . . . There is no time of the year that even competes with fall! It has always, always been my favorite time of year, and now it is even better . . .

because now I have this little girl and her adorable hats.

Thank you, Kaiah, for making all of my favorites even better.

Sticking up for my Cougs

2010-10-06T22:58:00.000-06:00

This is the second year that Jer and I have had season tickets to BYU football, and I am pretty sure that this is a tradition that is going to stick. We love football. No, we love football. I wish I could do double-italics or something – that is how much I love, love, love football. I know more about football than I ever thought I could, and learning more all the time. Best. Sport. Ever.

I know. We lost. I know. We have lost a lot. And yes, I know that we will lose some more. But I am a Cougar fan through and through and I will be this season, the next, and the one after that. And yes, I also know that we have lost because we have played crappy. But I know that we will get better, and I will be there watching, and cheering, the whole entire difficult-heart-wrenching-and-oh-so-hard-to-watch way. Because that’s how I roll.

Now, if we could only get Kaiah to stop screaming every time people cheer so that she could come with us to the games . . . now that would be great.

My beliefs

2010-10-01T22:20:00.001-06:00

Lately I’ve been thinking how truly wonderful it would be to have a record of the things that are important in my life – more than just pictures and captions for the month – but the things that truly define me. I guess I have been inspired by some amazing family members’ blogs who take the time to really document their thoughts, feelings, fears, and beliefs. I want to do this, too. I want Kaiah to be able to look back and read about who her mom really was.

One thing that I am really upset that I haven’t been recording are my beliefs. I want my baby to know that I have a testimony of the gospel. I want her to know that her mom believes, with all her heart, that we are children of a Heavenly Father who love us more than we can even understand. One thing that I have been especially grateful for recently is the Priesthood. I still have a hard time believing that I am lucky enough to have a worthy Priesthood holder in my house – what an amazing blessing! Kaiah will have so much that I never did – Father’s blessings and a worthy patriarch in the home. What a wonderful gift!

We have definitely had our struggles. For some reason Jer and I have had some hard times since we have been married. We still struggle with doing the daily things that will strengthen our family. But we are trying. And we are working, together. And we know that we need to continue to do those things to be worthy of our eternal family. Because I love my baby and hubby too much to not have them forever and ever. We will work together to create our own happily ever after.

What a life.

2010-09-11T22:06:00.002-06:00

So much is happening in my life right now - I seriously feel like I live in a whirlwind with no chance to even get my bearings. But things are good. Like really good. Seriously crazy, but good.

I am love, love, loving being a teacher. I am also hate, hate, hating it, too. I hate leaving my baby - I can't even count how many tear-filled drives to Heber I have had after leaving her. I also hate that I spent my Saturday night grading. How lame. But I love that I lucked out and got the Honors kids. And I love that I only work every other day. And I especially love that at the bottom of the last quiz I gave my students I got nice notes telling me that they love everything from my class to my bangs. I feel super blessed to be working with the 9th graders. I think that teenagers are at such an important stage of their lives, and I get the chance to watch and (hopefully) help with those important changes. The kids are hilarious and my work is so entertaining. I definitely have my highs and my lows. One day I am stoked and super happy about the amazing day I had, and other days I feel like I am the worst teacher in the world and that I should just give up. This first year has been hard, so far. I feel like I don't know near enough and I definitely do not have enough time. And I am freaking out because I never am more that one day ahead in my lesson planning. But I am lucky to have this job, and I know that, and so I remain grateful and positive.

Jer is taking three more classes (and still working full-time) and that, combined with me working, and resulted in a house of disastrous and stress-inducing lack of order. We are still not unpacked from moving. We have a half-painted piece of furniture in our back yard. But we play with our baby, and that, I say, is way more important.

Speaking of baby - what an adorable little monster. She is such a little babbler. I can't believe I ever lived before her. She sits all by herself and stands if she is holding on to something (sometimes) and loves her solids! Jer and I are making her food and, so far, it is going ok. She is a chunk and I love it.

PLUS - a big congrats to the newest members of the family! My brother-in-law and his wife had little Ciara a few weeks ago and Kamie and Alex just welcomed Ari 2 weeks ago! I am so glad that Kaiah will have so many cousins so close in age!

Finally - happy birthday to my amazingly wonderful mommy! I was lucky enough to grow up with a mom who always, no matter what, put her children first. I never for one second questioned whether I was loved. My mom had my back, and I knew it. And, most importantly, she taught me to love and respect myself. I think one of the biggest problems with people today is a lack of self-confidence, and I think that confidence comes from how you are raised. I attribute everything good I have ever done to my self-confidence, which I definitely got from my mom! So mom, please, please have a fantastic birthday. You deserve it. And no, $40 on your first "real" purse is not too much to spend on yourself!

Now off to do something productive, or not. We shall see.

Why in the world does my baby hate milk?

2010-09-06T21:18:00.002-06:00

I am at my wit's end.

My beautiful, adorable, yet extremely stubborn little baby girl has decided that she no longer needs fluids. She has always done really well with both breastfeeding and taking breast milk from the bottle. Now that I am back at work, though, she refuses. We can't get her to take breast milk or formula from a bottle, sippy-cup, or cup while I am at work, and I can't get her to take a bottle when I am home either. Plus, she barely breastfeeds - and it is a fight every time. She almost acts as if she doesn't like the taste of breast milk or formula. The only way we can get her any fluids is by mixing it into her solid foods (which she loves). I seriously don't know what to do anymore.

Suggestions?

Six months!

2010-09-01T21:23:00.003-06:00

And the love of my life!

5 months!

2010-08-15T22:03:00.001-06:00

My little Kaiah bug is 5 months old. Well, she is actually 5 1/2 months old! I know, I know, I am very behind in blogging, but I have been busy! My little girl gets cuter and sassier and funnier and more adorable every single month. She has such a strong personality - she is definitely a handful! I wouldn't have her any other way! She is so big and active for her age - today I had a labor and delivery nurse ask if she was 9 months old!

She has tried a little rice cereal and some banana, but isn’t a huge fan. We are going to try and start her on solids for real in a week or so – wish us luck! She has also been busy making lots of friends – quite the social butterfly.

Love you, Kai kai!

In other news – I am super busy decorating for a cousin’s wedding and trying to get my disaster of a classroom together. I start teaching next week – ahhhhhhhh! I am not AT ALL ready . . . (insert hyperventilation noise here). Plus . . . we moved! We found an awesome house in Orem that used to be a duplex – so Kamie and Alex are renting the upstairs and we are downstairs (own kitchens and front rooms and such). It is much bigger and Kaiah has her own room! Pictures coming soon!

Wish me luck – I think these next two weeks might be the death of me! At least I can always get a smile from my little sass queen to make my stressful days all better.

5 years and counting . . .

2010-07-30T08:08:00.001-06:00

How to even put into words . . .

Today Jer and I have been married for five years. All at once it seems like just yesterday, and yet an eternity, since we were married. We’ve come a long way . . . we’ve grown into adults together (because, really, we were just kids when we were married), and now we’ve grown into parents together. And every single day we’ve grown closer together. More than any other year, this year I am overwhelmingly grateful for the rock solid foundation that our marriage provides me. More than ever, I am grateful that we chose each other. That we still choose each other, every single day. That I never, not even once in all these five years, have for a single second worried that you might leave me or not want me or want someone else more. Not once. Because I know that you chose me. And I know that our lives are so completely intertwined now that we would both be lost without each other. And I don’t need roses or vacations or love letters or gifts or anything else to know that you love me, and only me. You don’t need to prove your love to me. You show me it every single day. Every morning when you kiss me and baby goodbye and every afternoon when you call me first thing on your lunch break and every evening when you tell me all the ins and outs of your day and every night when we lay in bed and talk about family or what the world will be like in 100 years or our own insecurities or our different political views or superheroes or whatever else is on our minds. Our love is not something that changes with our passing moods or tempers – it is the one and only constant in this crazy life of ours. And I know that you feel the same because I know you. I really know you. I know what you like and dislike about everything, even me. I know that there is no one else in the world that you confide in. I know that we share everything and know each other so well that now we just talk things over to get each other’s approval for something completely out of respect – because I always know what you will say anyway. But I respect you more than anyone else I know, so I talk things over even though I know your answer just so you can feel that respect. And I know you respect me, too. And not just as a wife or a mother or an English major or anything like that, but as a person. I respect you so much that you are my go-to-expert for everything – even lesson planning. And the same goes for you. I know that there is no one you would rather talk football with than me. I know that you truly think of me as an equal in every way. That you would never, ever, not in a million years belittle me or condescend or treat me anything less than as an absolute equal in every way – spiritually, physically, and intellectually. You truly value me, and I guess that this is the one thing that I am most grateful for in our marriage – confidence. I am completely confident in you and you are completely confident in me and that makes me completely confident in us.

And now, after 5 years, we’ve grown and changed to where we are mature enough in ourselves and our marriage that we can choose to not buy any anniversary presents or stay overnight anywhere or have a fancy night out (or all those other things that as newlyweds we planned out for ourselves. Man, weren’t we naive?). We don’t need those things and we don’t feel neglected if we don’t get those things. Because we have more than enough. More, sometimes, than I even thought possible. We have our family, everyday. We have our one, maybe two fights a year (which really just end up making me love you more). We have our shared weaknesses and our shared strengths. We have no resentments nor regrets. We have absolute and undying commitment and utmost respect. And we have a sacred reverence for our marriage.

And now we also have our daughter. And that I can’t even begin to explain.

And now your beautiful baby girl is crying, so I am going to go hold her and look into her face and think of you and see in her everything about you that I love. And that, my dear, is just amazing.

Choo choo! Coupon train!

2010-07-16T14:59:00.001-06:00

Hey there fellow couponers. I want to start a coupon train! What is a coupon train, you ask? Well, basically it is a way for people to share coupons they don't use in exchange for ones they will! Here is how it works:

I will start off an envelope full of coupons (about 50) and send it to the next person in the train (based geographically). When they get the envelope, they:

1- take out any expired coupons

2 - take ANY coupons they want

3 - add AT LEAST the same amount of coupons back into the envelope

4 - send it on to the next person in the train within 1-3 days.

That's it! Super easy and super fun! If you want to be a part of our coupon train, just send me an e-mail to kasie_jeffery@yahoo.com and include:

Name

Address

E-mail

Type of coupons you are always looking for (baby, pet, organic, etc)

Type of coupons you never use and would like to give away

Wait . . . WHAT?!?!?!?! You don't coupon! You should . . . and here is one reason why . . .

My fast, not-the-most-I-have-saved-but-still-impressive Target trip:

Bought:

2x Shout travel packs

5x Kellogs cereal

12x SoBe Life Water

I paid: $0.29 (including tax!)

I saved over $33.00!!!!!!

Seriously - you are wasting money if you aren't couponing! If you are new and interested, check out:

hip2save.com

momsneedtoknow.com

totallytarget.com

commonsensewithmoney.com

Make sure you click on their newbie links so you can learn how to save the big bucks!

Happy couponing!

Summer-lovin

2010-07-12T10:34:00.001-06:00

I love the summer. Not because I love heat – I hate the heat. But it seems like summer is the time when we get to see family the most, and boy do I love family! Jer and I always try to do our best to make it to every family gathering that we know about (think hitting 4 different Christmas gatherings in less than 2 days!) and we love being able to see all our cousins and friends.

This weekend, like all my favorite summer weekends, was filled with family! We had Kamie’s baby shower on Saturday and it was fan-freakin-tastic! We also got to see ALL of my cousins who I never get to see because they scattered to the wind and moved away. I LOVE the Wood family and it was fun to celebrate birthdays with them. Sorry, I was lame and didn’t take any pictures the whole weekend!

In other news, Kaiah is getting entirely too big! She moved to her big-girl tub and loved loved loved it! She splashed and laughed and just had a fantastic time. She is definitely our little water baby and loves to go swimming, too!

She is so alert and focused – I can never have to t.v. on if I want her to do anything, like eat or something, because she gets way too distracted. If “Man vs Wild” comes one, oh boy, there is no way to get her to look at anything else! I don’t know if she has a secret little baby crush on Bear or if she is just super in love with the outdoors, but she freaking LOVES that show. Her favorite parts are when he eats something disgusting – she laughs and flails her arms and everything! I am thinking that we have a little adventurer on our hands!

And . . . guess what? I finally found out what classes I will be teaching in the fall! I have 3 classes on
Honors 9th grade English!
I couldn’t be more thrilled! I taught Honors 10th grade for my student teaching, so I feel right at home with this assignment. Now to get preparing!

Here’s to another fun-filled week of summer family events! Jer’s got a camping trip coming up and I have a bridal shower and then a yard sale in Tooele! Yay for summer!

Homemakin my baby food with love!

2010-07-08T08:48:00.001-06:00

The past month or so I have been doing a ton of research, and I have decided to feed Kaiah only homemade baby food. Did you know that most packaged baby foods contain artificial sweetener? I don’t put sugar on my bananas or sweet potatoes, so I have no idea why my baby would need that. Plus, baby food is expensive! Why should I pay so much money for food stuffed with things my baby doesn’t need when I can have total control over what goes into her body?

Both Jer and I know how difficult it is to try and break terrible eating habits that started as children, and we both want to make that part of life easier on Kaiah. It is already getting tough, though! Well meaning friends and family push sweets on kids like crazy without even thinking about it! I was motivated recently by a Jer’s cousin-in-law who, without hesitation, said “no” multiple times to distant relatives who offered sweets to her toddler. It is hard telling people you don’t know very well “no,” especially when they offer the food straight to the kid instead of the parent. But if she can do it, then I can do it, too!

Anywho, I don’t personally know anyone who has homemade their baby food, so I am starting this journey from scratch and just using the internet as my best friend. Do you know anyone who makes homemade baby food? Any suggestions on a good food processor?

And if you are interested, check out these two websites with all the how-to’s of making baby food!

http://www.homemade-baby-food-recipes.com/index.html

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/index.htm

4 months, recovering bellies, and becoming a grown-up

2010-07-01T09:33:00.001-06:00

4 months old today.
Wowzeers. My little baby girl is a growin and a changin and a movin and a shakin and I just can’t seem to ever quite get enough of her. She is my joy and my life and my complete and utter everything. She is spoiled beyond comparison and worth every single bit of it.

Her 4 month appointment was yesterday, and boy is she growing!
14 lbs 10 ounces (75th percentile)
25 inches long (80th percentile)
At her 2 week appointment, she was only in the 6th percentile for her height – can you say growth spurt? She is super healthy and happy and everything looks great!

Kaiah, thanks for giving me four wonderful months of you.

In other news, our bout with some nasty tummy sickness is on the downswing and things are looking much brighter at the Payne residence. I must say, throwing up is possibly the worst feeling in the universe.

And, (da-da-da-DAAAAA) I GOT A JOB!

Like, a real job – no a career (as Jer puts it) - as opposed to the fake college jobs I have previously held where they don’t expect you to stick around for much longer than a year. I will start teaching English at Wasatch High School in August! It is just a 1/2 contract position, which bodes well with me since then I will still be home with my baby every other day. And no, I don’t have any clue what grade I am teaching yet! I feel really blessed to have found a job in this market and I am excited, yet terrified, to get started.

Does this mean that I am really, truly a grown-up now?

Sickie

2010-06-29T17:22:00.002-06:00

The whole family is sick - and I mean sick. Jer, Kaiah, and I are a pretty pitiful sight. Good thing I have my mommy close by - she's on her way down to watch the Bug for us while we rest. Thank heavens for family!

Happy Daddy Day!

2010-06-22T12:57:00.001-06:00

Dear Jer,

I thought I loved you before. But now, seeing you as a daddy, now I really know what love means. I cannot even begin to say how grateful I am to have you as a husband and father. You are so amazing with Kaiah – she is a total daddy’s girl. I never see her smile bigger or cuddle closer than when she is with you. You have shown me what it really means to be a Father – and a father in every situation. No diaper is too smelly or cry too loud for you. You are caring and nurturing and playful and, most of all, attentive. I know that you are involved in every single aspect of our little girl’s life and that she will always, always, know that her daddy loves her. And that makes me love you all the more.

Love, Kasie.

2010-06-17T22:11:00.003-06:00

Today my baby fell asleep in my arms

and it made me realize just how much that doesn't happen anymore.

My little girl is getting bigger and bigger
and learning and growing and changing and exploring
and holding her own head and grabbing her own toys
and putting herself to sleep.

And I love those things about her,

But I miss the cuddles, too!

So much to do . . . seriously!

2010-06-10T21:24:00.002-06:00

I know, I haven't blogged in a gazillion years. I have so much to blog about, but I just can't find the time - seriously. I feel like I have never been so busy in all of my life and my to-do list just keeps growing longer and longer. How in the world am I suppose to do it all? My house is always, and I mean always, a mess. I can't even remember the last time we mopped, let alone dusted or something like that. Have we even ever dusted in this apartment? I've been doing better and working out and cooking lately, but still not enough. We've slacked in church duties, I never do my make-up unless it is a weekend, Kaiah should probably be bathed more often, and I haven't been recording her life near as much as I wanted to. Add on to that spending time with friends and family, which doesn't happen enough. Oh, and plucking my eyebrows or shaving my legs . . . yeah, not happening. Craft projects? Nope. The days just fly by and I have no idea how I am suppose to get anything done!

So . . . what have I been doing then?

Well . . . I have been, of course, spending lots of time with my little bug - but not as much as I wish. Some days I just feel like all I do all day is shuffle her from one entertainment to the next without really being with her. Lately I've been making sure to add some cuddle time in . . . I don't want to waste these precious months because I am too busy making sure she does tummy time and has three good naps and eats every three hours. She is adorable, so funny, and has such a strong personality. I love her to pieces and I wish that I could just gobble her all up and not do anything else ever again.

I've also been couponing lately. We've had to make some sacrifices in order for me to stay home, and this is one way that I've been able to help. Not to brag or anything (ok, I'm bragging a bit), but I've gotten pretty dang good at it. I've ended up making money several times and Jer has enough deodorant and body wash to last like ten years. Yep, I rock.

I've also been doing job interviews lately. I have one offer, one maybe offer, and another interview on Tues! Stay tuned for more info on this front.

Jer is freaking rocking at school. Seriously. We're talking like top grade in his class rocking. Who knew my hubby could be so awesome at school?

So . . . see, I am doing things . . . just not enough things. I don't think I will ever catch up. I guess it is time to stop living life like in the "catch up" lane and start living it in the now. Easier said than done.

And I am sorry if this post is boring, but I don't blog for you. Heck, I don't even blog for me. I blog so that someday Kaiah can look back and read about her life and how much she means to me and, hopefully, see through my posts that I love her unconditionally more than I ever thought possible.

Because I do.

Happenings

2010-05-19T21:06:00.004-06:00

Lots and lots happening!

1. I (finally) graduated! Yahooo! I graduated Summa cum laude with a B.S. in English education. it was so fantastic to finally experience the culmination of my many, many years of hard work. While I was sitting at the commencement, though, instead of thinking about how happy I was to be done, all i thought about was how much I want to continue my education. I LOVE school and being a student, and my goal is to at least get my Master's - although it would be my dream to go all the way and get my P.H.D.! It will be a while, though, before I go back to school because now it is Jer's turn! He works full time and is taking a couple classes right now and is doing great so far!

2. My bug is almost 3 months old! I CANNOT believe it! In developments:

She can officially lift her whole upper body off the floor AND can roll from tummy to back.

Her belly keeps getting bigger and bigger.

She is developing quite the personality. She is super funny, loves to play, but is also very demanding. She knows what she wants and won't stop till she gets it. Still, she is super-dooper sweet and oh-so-yummy.

She gets more beautiful everyday. We love you Kaiah bug!

We are leaving tomorrow to go to Jer's sister's wedding in St. George and making a trip to Vegas while we're at it - so wish us luck! I am NERVOUS to travel with Kaiah, but I am looking forward to a fun weekend. Pictures to come!

Lucky me!

2010-04-25T21:43:00.003-06:00

I feel super blessed. My life is so fantastic right now . . . I just can't get over how lucky I am. I get to stay home with this beautiful doll all day long. She is growing so fast . . . I just can't get over it. She is 8 weeks today and more adorable than ever. We spend our days eating, playing, sleeping, occasionally cleaning, and cuddling lots and lots.

Oh, and she still has all of her hair.

I also feel blessed because I have the best husband in the world. He works hard all day and then comes home and smothers his baby girl in love. He changes diapers without complaining and is involved in every single aspect of her life. Kaiah loves her daddy and he loves her back.

I never knew that I could love Jer so much. I never knew that I would enjoy being a mom so much, and I definitely never knew that I would love my little bug so much.

Our lives are good. Jer is going to start school again this summer and I am looking for a teaching job this fall. The job outlook isn't fantastic, but I just keep applying for everything I can. Hopefully I will find something. It will be super hard to leave Kaiah, but at least I will have six months with her before going back to work.

I know that I only write about Kaiah, but that's because she is the only thing that occupies my life right now. I guess my days are boring - take care of Kaiah, watch t.v. with Jer, start all over - but I like my life right now. For the first time in a long time I feel content. I'm content with having only one car and an one bedroom apartment and eating in every night. Anything to spend time with my Kai.

I've been working hard to find joy in the simple things, and it is definitely working. I used to eat out at least once - usually twice - a day. I loved spending money and being busy. Now I would much rather stay home with my bug. Yep, life is good.

How I spend my free moments . . .

2010-04-13T09:57:00.001-06:00

Spring Fling Boutique is this Saturday! (See post below for more details). I have never, ever considered myself a crafty or creative person, but lately I have been spending my free time making these:

Not the best, but fun!

Spring Fling Boutique

2010-04-08T12:51:00.002-06:00

I will be selling fabric jewelry and flower onesies! Pictures coming soon! At the last boutique is where I got my car seat cover, and I LOVE it! There will be tons of vendors, as well as LOTS of door prizes AND free snacks! Come, come, come!

Being a mom

2010-04-05T18:20:00.002-06:00

I can't get over how much I love being Kaiah's mom. I never, ever, ever thought I would love anything this much. She rules my thoughts, time, and life. I had planned on uploading pictures right now, but I can't bare to be away from her for a second longer. So, if you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to go cuddle my little girl :)

4 weeks ago today . . .

2010-03-28T19:18:00.002-06:00

Four weeks ago today, I was officially 8 days past my due date and (obviously) miserable. It was, though, finally my induction day!

It turned out to be an extremely busy Sunday, which wasn't what we had expected. We went to church, then the hospital called and told us to come in at 6:00 p.m., so wanted to nap and get some rest since it was going to be a very long night. We did take a little nap, but our Home teachers came over, then Jer had to go home teaching, and then my visiting teachers came! After all of that, my mom, Stephen, Kamie, Alex, Jer ate dinner and then we headed to the hospital.

6:00 p.m. - Four weeks ago today, we checked into the hospital. They checked me at about 7:00 and I was finally starting to dilate; I measured 1 1/2 and 70% effaced. They started me on this pill thing to ripen my cervix. Normally the pill just gets things moving, but it had a HUGE affect on me. I started having contractions quickly and they began coming to close together. Mom and Kamie visited and kept us entertained for a bit and then everyone went home for the night.

3:30 a.m. - Right when I laid down to try and sleep, the pain really increased and I started having really strong contractions that were close together. I had been taking an I.V. pain medication, but it wasn't doing the trick at all. I asked the nurse for an epidural. The nurse couldn't believe that I had waited until the pain became so bad! The pain was so strong that I wasn't even really worried about the needle. After the epidural was placed, they started me on pitocin to progress the labor. Baby's heart rate, though, didn't like it at all and kept dropping really low. They stopped and started it several times, but couldn't get the baby's heart to stabilize, so they finally took me off it completely. Surprisingly, though, my body kept contracting on its own and I progressed from a 1 1/2 to a 7 really quickly.

Four weeks ago today, I was amazed by my extremely supportive husband. Everything about labor is kinda a blur, except for the single constant memory of Jeremiah constantly by my side. He was so supportive and caring and didn't care at all about his own wants and needs. He stayed by my side all day, never once complaining or turning on the tv or anything. It was really fantastic to have someone so supportive and loving by my side. It made me so much more comfortable and calm. My mom also spent a lot of the labor time with us and she was really reassuring and entertaining. The whole time I just kept thinking about the little girl that I would soon meet, and I couldn't wait to see her face.

12:30 p.m. - Four weeks ago tomorrow - Finally, they told me that I was fully dilated and could start pushing. I couldn't believe it - it felt like I had been waiting for so long and now, finally, I would meet my little girl. Jeremiah and I were the only ones in the room, and he helped me to begin pushing with each contraction. The whole experience was kinda unreal . . . I seemed like I had waited for this moment for my whole life, but then I couldn't believe that it was really here. But through it all, I just couldn't get over how grateful I was to have Jer by my side.

2:30 p.m. - Finally, after two hard hours of pushing, I asked the nurse to go get my mom because I just couldn't lift my leg by myself anymore. She helped to replenish my resolve and give me the extra support I needed to keep going. The doctors came in and told me she was close, so I had to last just a little longer. By this time the epidural had really worn off, and the cramps in my lower stomach were bad! I was exhausted, thirsty hungry, sore, and completely overwhelmed. I was so exhausted, started crying, and said "I'm losing it." The doctor asked if I wanted to use the vacuum or push for another 15 min, so I chose to push some more. I tried and tried, but I just couldn't get her to come. Finally, they pulled out the vacuum extractor and used it during one set of contractions. She still didn't come. I couldn't control my tears at this point. The doctor gave an ultimatum - if the baby didn't come this time, then they would have to prep for a c-section. I just kept thinking, "I can't wait for them to prep me . . . not after all of this work." On the next set of contractions, I pushed harder than I ever thought possible, and out came my little baby.

3:01 p.m. - Four weeks ago tomorrow, I fell in love with my little girl. They immediately put her on my chest and my tears increased a trillion times as I looked at her for the first time. She was bloody and beautiful and I couldn't believe that I had produced such a wonderful and miraculous little baby. She was 8 lbs 14 oz and 19 inches long (later, the doctor decided that she was actually 18 1/2 inches). She had at least 1 1/2 inches of dark, beautiful hair all over. She was more precious and beautiful than I could have ever thought possible - so much more than my greatest dreams of her. I was instantly in love and completely dedicated to her.

2 1/2 hours of pushing, but it was all worth it. Overall, the entire day was just more than I could have expected. Labor was harder, delivery longer, Jer more supportive, my mom more needed, and Kaiah more perfect than I could have dreamed. The first day of the rest of our lives!

Newborn Pictures

2010-03-25T21:48:00.002-06:00

She is just too much for words. I love you, little Kai-Kai monster!

I love the way you look when you're asleep.
And your adorable chubby cheeks.
I love how you always have to have your hands by your face.
And all of your hair!
Most of all, though, I love you because you are you. You are unique, special, one-of-a-kind, and completely irresistible. I will love you forever, little bug.

Special thanks to Mom and Stephen for paying for these amazing newborn pictures by Skye Johansen. I love, love, love them! Click here to see all of the pictures.

My little turtle

2010-03-19T14:14:00.002-06:00

I can't believe how fast time is flying . . . I feel like just yesterday we brought little Kaiah home, yet she is almost three weeks old! I don't know where the time goes . . . I feel like it is slipping through my fingers. She is growing up right in front of my eyes and I just want to press pause. I want to enjoy every last second of my little girl because before I know it she is going to be getting married and leaving home.

There are so many little things that I absolutely love about her and I don't want to forget, but how do I even start documenting those things? I just want to clone her at this age so I can keep her like this forever! Some of my favorite things right now:

1- She is a cuddle bug - She loves, loves, loves to be touched and held. She likes having her hair, checks, hands, and feet rubbed and to snuggle up under your chin. I wish she would keep this forever!

2- She has finally started becoming a momma's girl. She has always been daddy's little munchkin, but only a few days ago did she finally start looking at me. Now she will stare and stare at me with her beautiful big eyes and it just melts my heart.

3- She has the very best hair-do ever!

4- She still snorts like a pug when she is crying.

5- She is only gaining weight in her belly.

6- Her adorable surprised face she pulls when she is eating or looking at bright patterns.

7- She commands every single second of my time - seriously. She demands attention, and who am I to deny her? When she is awake (which is, actually, a lot of the time) she expects all focus to be directed at her and can scream with the best of them when she isn't center stage.

There are just too many things to write. I love her double chin. I love how she turns red and shakes when she cries. I love how much I love her. Yes, it is hard - some days more than others. I won't lie, there have been times when I have seriously questioned what I got myself in to. She has no desire to follow a night time sleeping schedule and has deprived me of many hours of sleep. She almost always decides to poop right after we put the clean diaper under her bum. She will lock her legs so we can't clean her properly and she will scream and scream when she doesn't get what she wants. But after all of these things, when I am exhausted, frustrated, completely overwhelmed and (I'll admit) crying, she undoubtedly will become my little cuddle bug again and fall asleep in my arms. There is nothing better than watching my little angel sleep. It makes it all worth it. I only hope that I can be the mom that she deserves.

Pictures to come! I will also try to get my labor and delivery story ready and post that, too!

P.S. She had her two week check up, and everything looks great so far. She is 8 lbs 12 ounces (so not quite back to her birth weight yet) and 19 inches. She is in the 61% for her weight but only the 6% for height! She is short, short, short!

Introducing . . .

2010-03-11T15:26:00.004-07:00

Wow. That's about all I can say right now. My life has changed more than I could have ever imagined. Everything is measured on a larger scale now. I am more exhausted than I ever thought possible, but I am also more dedicated, ecstatic, overwhelmed, and completely in love with my little girl than I could have ever imagined. She has become our life and we couldn't be more thrilled.

I have lots of stories to tell and so many things that I want to blog, but for now I will just have to settle with a couple pictures. Eat your hearts out.

We had her newborn pictures done by the same photographer that did my prego shots, and we can't wait to get them back - they are going to be to die for gorgeous. We obviously aren't the best newborn photographers and our pictures don't do her justice. She is so beautiful - you'll just have to see her in person to understand!

P.S. Mom is fine. Exhausted, but fine. Recovery is easy with a little monkey to love!

Baby Kaiah here!!

2010-03-10T08:12:00.003-07:00

This is Jer.

I just wanted to pop in and say that our beautiful baby is here. She was born 03/01/2010 at get this 3:01. She was 8 lbs 14 oz and 19 inches long. Life has been really busy since the little one was born and so the late announcement. We have tons of pictures and I am sure either Kasie or I will be on soon to post them as soon as we get a bit more adjusted to the new life with our sweet girl.

Maternity Pics

2010-02-26T10:39:00.004-07:00

For my birthday, my mom and Stephen completely spoiled me and bought me a maternity photo shoot! I LOVE this photographer and I was so excited to get the pictures done, but also nervous about how my giant belly would look. I just got them yesterday and I am sooooo happy with them! I really wanted to document my pregnancy, since it is just as important to me as my wedding and it only happens for such a brief time. I am so grateful that mom and Stephen splurged on me, and for Skye for the amazing photography.

So,some pictures from 36 weeks . . .

I love my yummy hubby!

If you want to see all of the pictures, click here

Thanks again to mom and Stephen!

In baby news - she is still not here! Today marks 6 days past due and I am definitely feeling past due! Sleeping gets harder every night and I am definitely ready for the pregnancy to end and the baby to come!

If she doesn't come on her own, then I am scheduled to start induction late Sunday night and have the baby on Monday, March 1st. So . . . look forward to baby pictures - I know I am!

Came, and went . . .

2010-02-21T13:45:00.003-07:00

Due date came, and due date went, all without baby deciding to join the world. I can't help but wonder if I brought this on myself - I mean my last post was all about how much I love being pregnant! Jer is much more positive - he says that I just did a really good job at making baby a nice home in my belly, so she just doesn't want to come out yet.

Either way, it doesn't change the fact that I want my little girl to be here now.

At my last appointment, the doctor said that I wasn't progressing at all, so I kinda knew that baby wouldn't come this weekend. I have another appointment on Wednesday, and then, if baby still doesn't come, they will probably induce me on March 1st. That would make her 9 days late, which just so happens to be the amount of time I was late. Like mother, like daughter.

Hopefully she will come on her own this week. Just in case I did curse myself, though, here is a list of things that I am tired of from being pregnant:

1- Not being able to sleep - ever. My nightly bathroom runs have changed from every 3 hours, to every 2 hours, to now every 1 1/2 hours - seriously. I look at the clock every time, so I know. Add on crazy-psycho dreams, hip pain, shoulder pain, and lots of other pains, and it all stacks up to no sleep for me.

2- New stretch marks showing up every stinking day.

3- Eating everything in my house and still being hungry.

4- Having to put my feet up on a chair during relief society because my legs get swollen during church.

5-My crazy hormone swings and how impatient I feel.

6- Going crazy with anticipation!

7- Every single person I talk to asking if my baby has come yet or if there is any change. I promise, I will tell you if there is a change. It doesn't help me at all to be reminded every second that nothing is changing.

With all of that being said, I really am okay with waiting until she is ready to come out (but not past 42 weeks- it gets dangerous then!). She is healthy and I am healthy and that is all that matters to me. If I need to wait a little longer for her to be ready to come (which will reduce my chance at having to have a c-section) then I am definitely more than happy to wait. I just want a healthy and happy baby and will do anything I need to to see to that.

It's just hard because we already love her so much. As Jer said this week, he misses her. He hasn't even met her yet, but he misses her and wants her to come so he can spend some quality time with her. We love you, baby, and hope that you are making those final preparations so that we can see you soon!

A few of my favorite things . . .

2010-02-15T16:58:00.002-07:00

My pregnancy is finally coming to an end, and, honestly, there are a lot of things that I am going to miss about it. I cannot wait to hold my baby girl for the first time and look into her beautiful eyes, but there is something special about pregnancy - something I never would have understood before getting pregnant. I am going to miss:

1- Having a constant little companion with me, 24/7, who influences all of my decisions.
2- Feeling her wiggle just as I am finally falling asleep - she seems to wake up and become a wiggle bug then!
3- Jer talking to my belly. Actually he does more than just talk, he "tickles" the baby, "feeds" her, and puts his cell phone to my belly so she can talk to grandma. I love it.
4- Daydreaming about what she looks like, what her personality will be, and all the adventures that are coming.
5- And, yes, the baby bump. Here is a little comparison:

16 weeks
38 weeks

And now, finally, I have 5 days left until the baby is due. I wish she would come now, but I think she will hold out right until the end. I will miss pregnancy, but I can't wait to meet my little bug!

Baby Shower!

2010-02-05T07:43:00.002-07:00

Last weekend we had our baby shower. It turned out so well! We decided to do a co-ed shower, since, as Jer says, it is his baby too and he likes getting presents just as much as the next person. Our families were awesome at doing a combined shower and we had so many friends and family come celebrate with us! And, of course, we got lots of fantastic presents! We got lots of homemade gifts, too, which mean a lot! Thanks mom and Kandis (and the numerous other people who helped) for making our baby shower an awesome one!

I would include more pictures, but apparently my hubby has a problem with taking pictures of anything or anyone but me. Yep - 40 pictures of just me opening presents, and not one of the cute decorations, food, or the people who were there. If I didn't know better, from looking at the pictures I would think that I was opening presents all by myself! Thanks, hun, for wanting to take my picture, but I think we need to work on your documenting skills a little more . . .

Almost at 38 weeks! Here's to the home stretch!

The refigerator is empty . . . AGAIN

2010-01-29T09:06:00.002-07:00

I don't even know how it is possible that, once again, we have no food in our house. Didn't I JUST go grocery shopping? Yes, most definitely, but lately I can't help but put everything into my mouth!

I tried so hard my whole pregnancy to be good about what I ate. I focused mostly on fresh foods and even resisted the pregnancy cravings. That is, until about four days ago. And now, well, let's just say that the stretch marks popping up on my belly have a good reason for being there.

Argh, what should I do? I know! I think there is a half-full back of chocolate chips in the freezer . . .

Dear baby girl,

2010-01-25T13:30:00.005-07:00

I can't believe that I only have four weeks left until I get to finally look into your beautiful eyes. I have been counting down - week by week, day by day - and now it is almost time. Are you okay in there? Do you know who I am? Do you think about me? Because I think about you. Constantly. I think about your smile and little toes and the way I already seem to know so much about you. Daddy thinks you are going to be shy, since you refuse to let anyone feel you move except him and me. Maybe. Either way, we both cannot wait for you to join our little family. We can't wait until we can hold you in our arms and tell you how grateful we are to have you here. People keep telling us how much our lives are going to change when you get here. We believe it, and we are completely ready. We know that our lives will revolve around you, because they already do. You already consume all of our thoughts and dreams. We are so excited for you to come, but don't come just yet. Stay in there safe and warm and keep growing until you are ready to face this world out here. Sweet dreams, little girl, and know that there are many, many people waiting to see the beautiful girl you will become.

Love,

Mommy

2010

2010-01-23T15:47:00.002-07:00

It's a new year.

(Well, it was 25 days ago. With how fantastic I've been at procrastinating lately, being 25 days late isn't too bad . . . it's actually pretty good!)

And this new year, one of my goals is to blog more. I've been a blogging slacker, not just because I was super busy, but also because I kinda lost my motivation to blog. What's the point when only like three people read it? But I got re-inspired when I saw the awesome books that people have been making from their blogs. Considering the fact that I am not at all a scrapbooker, I think this is probably the best way to document our lives! So, I hope to use my blog as a record-keeper of our lives so that I can share it with my kids someday.

Maybe this will be enough motivation for me to not procrastinate and blog. Maybe . . . not entirely likely, but possible.

Here goes 2010!

Come one, come all!

2009-12-03T10:12:00.002-07:00

To the Holly Jolly Boutique!

While I was in Australia, I found a secret little creative side hiding in me, and ever since I have been making handmade jewelery and Christmas ornaments made from recycled cloth. Well, I finally got the guts to see if anyone else will like these items and I am going to be selling them at the Holly Jolly boutique this Saturday! Come show your support and get some Christmas shopping done!

This Saturday, Dec 5th 10:00-4:00
1237 Holly Ridge Road (12000 S.) in Sandy

This is seriously the busiest week of my life (why, oh why, did I assign so many essays to my students) or I would have posted this a lot earlier. I am going to try to get pictures of some of my products up soon so you can see! Spread the word and bring your friends!

Oh, and by the way, my stuff is cheap! Everything is $3.00 - $10.00!
See you there!

Oh, and in case you are wondering, baby is great! Pictures and info to come soon!!!

Update

2009-10-17T10:34:00.003-06:00

Update on our lives!

- I'm not sick anymore! It ended up not being swine flu, which was great. I just wish I would have known that before I filled my super expensive tamiflu prescription! I still was required to take 7 days off of all activities, but I am feeling better now!

- Baby is now officially 22 weeks - weird. Let's just hope that baby goes full term because I would not be ready to have a little one in a month! I have another doctors appointment on Monday, so we will get updates then!

- Anyone know any good maternity photographers? I have seen lots of good newborn shoots, but I don't really like any of the maternity ones I've seen. Jer and I want to get our pictures done together for the last time before we become three!

- Also, any suggestions on a good place to buy a diaper bag? I am picky, but I don't want to spend a ton . . .

- Here's a picture of me at 21 weeks!

- Well, that's about it. Nothing too exciting here! Jer is playing basketball, and I should be choreographing or planning my next unit plan or cleaning, but I think I will take a nap instead! I can always just blame it on baby, right? :) Jer always says that I don't play up the "I'm pregnant" thing enough and, I mean, if my husband wants me to use it as an excuse more, why not? hehehehe!

What?!?!?! Are you SERIOUS?

2009-10-07T15:44:00.002-06:00

So . . .

As if being pregnant isn't hard enough . . .

or being pregnant and working . . .

or being pregnant and working and student teaching . . .

I just got to add the joy of being sick to my list. And not just any sick, either - swine flu sick.

I went to the doctor yesterday because I was feeling super sick and he is pretty convinced that I have swine flu. My official test results aren't back yet, but he prescribed tamiflu for me and told me to start taking it immediately. I also HAVE to take 7 days off of all activities . . .

umm . . . remember how I am student teaching . . .

and now I have to take a full 7 days off! Sounds like a nice break - except that it is not. I have to make up every day that I miss, and every day I tack on to the end puts me further and further pregnant while still teaching.

Ughh.

By far the worst part, though, is how guilty I feel about putting my baby through this. All I've wanted is to give her a nice, safe, warm place to grow up healthy and strong. Now I'm introducing medications in and running a fever. I've been assured that she will be fine during this swine flu trial, as long as it doesn't lead to pneumonia.

My one goal now is to get better fast so that my little baby can be happy and healthy again.

We're having . . .

2009-09-25T21:42:00.002-06:00

We're having . . .

a baby, in case you didn't know.

A very wiggly baby, at that.

In fact, the tech called the baby a "stinker" and "out of control" because baby moved so much.

I like that about baby - rather a wiggly one than a boring one.

Oh, and baby likes to sing, apparently, because the mouth was a moving a ton.

And baby is a girl.

It's Almost Here!

2009-09-22T10:41:00.002-06:00

I can't believe that it came so quickly, but our official ultrasound is FRIDAY! As in this Friday, just 3 days from now - not some far off and distant, "it will never, ever come" Friday. When I scheduled my appointment it seemed so long ago, but now it is officially here!

We are so excited for the ultrasound. I haven't really been able to feel the baby move much, so I think this ultrasound is going to be very reassuring. The last time I got to see my baby, it was just a little mess of cells - more like a blob than a baby. I can't wait to see it now!

PLUS, of course, we will find out if it is a boy or a girl! Yay! So, what do you think it will be? Vote on the poll - you only have until Friday!

Maternity Clothes

2009-09-13T21:41:00.002-06:00

All you mommies out there - I want your advice! What did you guys do about maternity clothes? How much did you buy? Where did you get it from? Has anyone bought any maternity clothes from ksl.com/craigslist/ebay? I am trying to debate on how much I want to purchase and the cheapest way to get it. I have a lot of clothes that are too big for me, so I have been planning on using those most of the time. I guess I am mostly worried about shirts that are flattering to a prego belly. Thanks in advance for your advice!

Our life in pictures!

2009-09-11T15:35:00.004-06:00

I love Fridays. Well, I mean, everyone loves Fridays, but I think that I love them more! Firstly, it is the only night of the week that I get home at 3:00 instead of 6:30! How awesome is that? PLUS, I seem to always convince Jer that we HAVE to go out to eat on Fridays! Considering the fact that I just really don't like home-cooked food nowadays, that last fact makes Fridays fantabulous! PLUS, Fridays usually mean that there is a BYU game the next day! I can't wait for the home games to start so that we can put our season tickets to use!

Prego update (not like the spaghetti sauce, but like the baby in my belly - I can't believe I just had to use spell checker to get "spaghetti" spelled correctly - come on Kasie, you're suppose to be a freakin English teacher!). Anyway, update: things are great except for the fact that I am still getting sicker instead of getting better! I think I've thrown up more the past two weeks than I did my whole first trimester! Problem number 2: how is the world am I suppose to pack enough food to make it through the day without dying of hunger? I seriously feel like I am bringing an entire pantry to school with me everyday and yet I am still starving when 3:00 rolls around and I usually end up buying something on my way to work. I mean, come on! I simply do not have the arms to carry any more food to school!

On to the pictures! Here's what you missed since I've been lazy uploading my photos:

Last of the Australia pics . . . Our friends and us watching Ice Age in 3D

Camping and family reunions with the Payne family

And . . . my first prego pic! This was taken at 16 weeks. I am almost 17 weeks now, and I feel a ton bigger, so I will take a new picture and post it soon!

On a serious note . . . my thoughts and prayers go out to Alex and Kamie's family, who are dealing with the loss of Alex's dad, Roberto. He passed away yesterday from cancer. Kamie and Alex are leaving for Boston tomorrow and will be there for a few days for the funeral. I have no idea what they are going through, all I can offer is my love and knowledge that death is not the end. I know that we will be with those we love again and that while we may miss them now, they are in a wonderful place waiting for us. We love you, Kamie and Alex!

16 weeks and counting!

2009-09-07T11:49:00.002-06:00

We just made it past our 16 weeks mark and cannot wait for the next couple to fly by. We find out if it is a little girl or boy on Sept 25th! Baby is sure making itself known . . . no movement yet but I have been super nauseated and sick. Instead of getting better after the first trimester, I think I am getting worse. Oh well, it is definitely worth it. Even though I haven't gained a ton of weight yet, I feel like my belly is HUGE. My beautiful cousin Missy had the biggest belly EVER when she was pregnant with her second, and I have a feeling I may be just like her! Seriously . . . I saw pictures, and I was like, "How does she even stand up?" Her belly was so huge it looked like she should fall on her face! I guess we will just have to wait and see!

Pictures coming soon . . . well, as soon as I can find time to upload them! Oh, and congrats to Marnie, who just got engaged!

Bzzzzz

2009-09-03T20:48:00.001-06:00

I am busy . . .

Like Bee- to the usy busy.

My updates may not be as often as I had hoped.

Wish me luck!

Announcements, Announcements, Announcements!

2009-08-27T09:39:00.002-06:00

We have a HUGE announcement this week! Jeremiah passed his motorcycle test . . .

and . . .

We brought home the very best souvenir from Australia . . . We're pregnant!

I'm almost 15 weeks along, so the baby is due February 20th. Everything is going great and we are SOOOOOOO excited! We just heard the heartbeat today, and it was super strong. I'm out of the first trimester now, but still feeling a bit nauseous. Overall, though, I feel great! We'll find out if the little monster is a boy or a girl on September 25th, and we can't wait!

So, get your pregnancy and baby advice ready!

Tomorrow . . .

2009-08-25T16:26:00.001-06:00

School starts tomorrow . . .

so does work . . .

oh joy.

After months and months of not working, and not going to school, my mind may not be up to this . . .

Wish me luck.

Another post about nothing

2009-08-11T15:11:00.002-06:00

So . . . there are plenty of things I could blog about, if I really wanted to. But I don't. I definitely don't feel like downloading all of my pictures and I for sure don't feel like rambling on about my life - so instead I will ramble on about my current thoughts and reflections . . .

1- Have you ever noticed how people get super defensive about the pronoun "it"? - Seriously, it is just a pronoun. Maybe it bothers you when I refer to your cat or dog or child as an "it." I'm not sorry. Our language has a lack of a pronoun that works for both a man and a woman, and until one is added to the dictionary by the language gods, I think I will stick with my "it."

2- Lately I have been craving fruit and veggies a ton, but I never want to buy them because it grosses me out if they are in the fridge for more than 2 days. Dilemma, I know.

3- Summer is almost over but I never really feel like it started - but my feet do. I have nasty flip-flop heels. Gross. Any suggestions that don't cost a billion dollars?

4- Speaking of money, how is it possible that Jer and I have been poor college students our whole marriage and yet we have accumulated so much stuff? Seriously - how does this happen?Someday you will hear on the news that kasie and jer have disappeared in the mounds of crap stuffed around their house. Except, now you actually won't hear that story, because I just got rid of a little bit of it at a yard sale. Nice.

5- By the way, I have a new job as a tutor at the writing center. I promise I am good - just don't judge me by my blog writing.

6- What's up with all the haters? Lately it seems like everyone I talk to is SOOOO critical about everything - movies, food, people, politics . . . everything. I honestly believe that life is SOOOOOO much easier if you enjoy most things you encounter. Why spend the time being all critical about things - you can have your Twilight and classic literature, too! Especially when it comes to relationships. People become so freakin picky and critical of their friends and family members. Chill-ax, people. I promise it is less work to just let it go and be happy about it then it is to always hold grudges. I think you can tell a lot about someone by asking how many people they hate in the world. Me - zero.

Maybe the next post will tell you about all the important things happening in my life right now, but maybe not. :)

We're Alive!!!!!

2009-08-04T18:42:00.002-06:00

So, I know that it SEEMS like we have fallen off the face of the earth, but really I just haven't had internet since returning from Australia! No worries - I am now reconnected with the tech world and I promise to post lots of fun things in the days to come. But for now, no fun info. I just wanted everyone to know that we are alive and in Utah and that I will be posting more soon!

Oh, and if you have lost faith in my blog because I never write anymore, there are lots of super cool things on our life menu plan - so start reading our blog again or you will miss out! Hehehe!

Update

2009-06-24T17:59:00.010-06:00

Well, hello. I know, I have royally stunk at updating my blog lately - I guess I just feel like there really isn't anything to blog about. Isn't it funny how after awhile life in a foreign, extremely interesting and amazing country just turns into life as normal? Our days here are similar to our days back home - work, dinner, t.v., bed. We have even become accustomed to everyone's accents and we sometimes forget that we sound different than them!

But, all that is about to change . . .

We come home is just over TWO WEEKS!

I can't believe how fast the time flew. Now, all of the sudden, I have been panicking about how we have spent our time here. Did we see enough? Do enough? Experience enough? There are so many things that I am going to miss - and I am sure that list will just get bigger and bigger. I miss home, but I don't want to leave here! Why can't I just get both?

Speaking of coming home . . . you are all invited to:

Kasie and Jer's Welcome Home Party
Sunday, July 12th
2:00 p.m. (if you can't come until later, that is totally fine)
394 West 200 South, Tooele, Utah

We would LOVE to have as many friends and family members there to greet us as possible! It will be a potluck, so bring the family and bring some food to share! If you haven't told me already, please rsvp by leaving a comment below so that we can plan our food.

We can't wait to see our family and to head into this next stage of life, we just wish we didn't have to leave this one behind in order to do so . . . Oh well, there are always vacations!

New Zealand!

2009-06-15T22:23:00.002-06:00

Leaving on a Jet Plane!

2009-06-10T17:39:00.002-06:00

Kasie and Jer Return to Utah!

Sunday, July 12th
1:05 p.m.

Can't wait to see you all!

Blogging Question . . .

2009-06-04T19:03:00.002-06:00

Hey blogging friends! Do any of you know how to change to a template that is wider than this normal one, yet not as wide as the "stretch" ones? I just want my blog to be wider than this but not go completely from edge to edge. Any advice?

Happy Birthday Kamie!

2009-05-31T17:39:00.013-06:00

My beautiful, amazing, talented, insane, smokin hot, super fun, and hilarious little sister just celebrated her 23rd birthday! She is seriously my best friend ever and has been my whole entire life!

She is the sweetest and most caring person ever and gets honestly affected by the sufferings or joy of complete strangers! Everything is personal to her, which means that she would never, ever hurt anyone on purpose! She cares more about people than any other soul I have ever met!

She is also the most hilarious person I have ever met! She can have me rolling on the floor peeing my pants at the snap of a finger and almost all of my very best memories have to deal with Kamie! She has a humor that is all her own and is so true and genuine that it can never be repeated!

She is also seriously talented at everything she does - super woman or something like that! She is an amazing dancer, choreographer, coach, teacher, and public speaker! She rocks my socks off!

Something not a lot of people know . . . Kamie is also an AMAZING writer! It just all comes naturally to her! She has written some amazing poems and the funniest yet most profound short stories I have ever read! She also has a beautiful singing voice (which she never uses!)

She can down food like no one I have ever seen and yet still run circles around Jer and me at the track! She is buff and hot yet still a total chocoholic!

She is completely original and unique - and could never, ever be duplicated or replaced. She is one of a kind in every sense of the phrase and such an amazing creative person! I have never met anyone else who can clean a whole house with vinegar or fix a stain on a blue shirt with white out!

Most importantly, though, she is a loyal and true friend. There is no one in the world who would listen to my problems with more patience and understanding and absolutely no one else I would rather waste away the day with doing absolutely nothing. Kamie makes that time fly by and I feel like I can never, ever get enough of her! I never get sick or tired of her and just always wish that she could be with me 24/7! She knows me inside out and loves me anyway - which is saying a lot! There is no one who knows more just what I need and when I need it then she does and for sure no one else I can laugh with as much!

So here's to you, baby sis! Thanks for being my absolute best friend no matter what and being my true soul sister! I can't wait to see what the next 23 years have for us! And, as long as your there by my side, I am sure they will be fantastic!

Oh, and I miss you!

Jealous? You should be!

2009-05-20T02:07:00.002-06:00

Quick post to let everyone know that we are leaving for New Zealand tomorrow! Jer is doing 1 day of work, then we are having 9 glorious vacation days! Wooohooooo! It will be quite the adventure considering we don't really know what we are doing there, but it will be fun! I can't wait to share lots and lots of pictures!

Jealous? :)