Thorley Delicious

December

2011-12-12T18:45:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we took Cambria to see our favorite Santa for her holiday pictures but unfortunately she had a complete breakdown and wouldn't go near the guy. So after lots of tears (some of my own hormonal ones mixed in) I took her to the park to "play" in her dress and attempted to take a few myself. I didn't get anything spectacular but I'm still glad I have some in her dress.

We are getting really excited for Christmas at our house. Today I was having Cambria help me plug our tree in and after she got it plugged she stepped back to admire the lights and then ran over to give me a big hug and said "Oh thank you for Christmas Mommy!" I loved it.

I'm still rapidly growing. Getting excited for the baby but have yet to get anything ready. I'm finding the biggest difference between my first pregnancy and my second is the first time around I worried mostly about the pregnancy and birth and the second I'm well aware that giving birth is a one day event and that I have the next 18+ years to worry about. But we are still really excited to see how different a boy is from a girl. Happy Holidays.

Cambria's Owl Party- 2nd Birthday

2011-10-04T16:16:00.000-06:00

Cambria turned 2! We had a little owl themed party

My incredibly talented sister-in-law Shauna made Cambria's cake. I don't even want to guess how long it took to make those little guys but I love them! It matched perfectly and tasted delicious!

Nikolas my nephew made this ensemble out of clay. I really love it. Something I'll always save for Cambria.

We had a build your own grilled cheese bar. It was a huge hit and there were some pretty creative sandwiches thrown down.

Thank goodness I had Sam to man the grills for me.

Lots of other tasty owlish snacks.

There was also a Smores bar with plenty of choices.

The kids did their share of sampling the goods.

Other goodies and treats were available as well. It's not a great shot but I made those little owl suckers with a mold I found on Amazon. Every day leading up to the party Cambria would ask for one.

Of course we played the Guess How Many game. The Dumdum trees were the prizes. Great little project to make during tv/nap time.

For an activity there was a painting table with ceramic owls and owl aprons to wear during painting.

The kids hit the pinata for much longer than I expected. We definitely got our monies worth.

I appreciate everyone who made the effort to come. It meant so much to us. Cambria loved seeing her cousins and getting a chance to play. Thanks.

Also a big special thanks to Cambria's favorite Godfather Jeremy for coming and helping for hours before and after. She loves it when he comes to play. This little owl bush was his own personal creation.

To my mom for her mad sewing skills. She yet again whipped up hours worth of ruffled crepe paper and table cloths for the party. And was willing to give lots of last minute help.

And most of all my niece Chantel. I think we were identical twins in another life. She kept me laughing all day long in spite of spending hours in the kitchen trying to help me achieve my insanely ocd standards.

Summer time

2011-09-06T17:59:00.001-06:00

I guess I better post since its been so long. Summer time has been busy around here. I've recently become more interested in photography and man am I glad I did. I'm LOVING it. But I'm very much still learning so No Judging Allowed (unless of course it's secretly). We've spent lots of time at the ranch relaxing.

I got a couple shots of my mother in laws humming birds I thought were pretty cool.

But mostly we played with cousins and had a good time.

I, in a pre-pregnancy fit of insanity, decided to plant a garden this year.

It seems to be surviving in spite of me avoiding it. Maybe it's because of all the tlc my mom gives it when she comes to town?
Cambria has been begging to go on lots of walks. I think this girl would spend all day outside if I'd let her.

We got super classy and blew up the air pool to play in the backyard. I did the crazy mom thing and packed pots of hot water out and it was still freezing.

The next time we were smart and let the water heat up in the sun for a while then invited Andrew over for a mini pool party.

I'm pretty proud of my shots of Jared providing the entertainment.

We went to Alpine days and had a really good time.

Cambria and I have gone to Alton more than we've stayed home but honestly I don't take a lot of pictures when I'm there because I know that area is already covered. ;-) And I'm too busy laying around enjoying my baby of the family status. Boy am I ready for fall. It's been nice to just stay home for the last few weeks.

Glazed Orange Marmalade Pork Tenderloin

2011-06-05T21:59:00.003-06:00

I made this today and it is SO YUMMY I couldn't not share. I wish I had pictures because it looked delish too!

Orange Marmalade Glazed Pork Tenderloin

INGREDIENTS:

1 pork tenderloin- patted dry, salt and peppered

1 tsp chopped garlic (I just used the minced jar kind)

1 tsp ginger (jar as well)
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup orange marmalade
2 tablespoons Dijon-style mustard

I don't measure usually so I'm just guessing on amounts. That's the great part about this recipe you can just dump it in and walk away. I seared the loin in an extra hot pan about four minutes each side to give it a "crust" and lock in the flavor. Place the seared pork loin in bottom of Crockpot. Mix all the rest of the ingredients and make a sauce. Pour the sauce over and cover. Cook in crockpot/slowcooker for about 5-6 hrs on low. After the pork was cooked I poured the sauce into the same pan as before, thicken it up with a little cornstarch water combo and reduced it down to a thick glaze. Glaze over the pork and serve it up. It's so tender and yummy. Mine was a little sweet so when I make this again I'll hold back on the juice. Green beans and Roads rolls made tasty side dishes....and of course the obligatory jello salad ;-)

Happy Easter (Sunday)

2011-04-27T16:13:00.002-06:00

Easter Sunday started bright and early for Cambria. The bunny left her a basket full of goodies.

I didn't get a picture but her Grandma Roundy made the most adorable lovie blanket for Easter. It's pink and fluffy and just yummy. It's the perfect size for Cambria to pack around and believe me she's already getting her use out of it. Super sweet Easter gift from Gram.
The Thorley's had a tasty lunch together then geared up for the treasure hunt and egg hunt. Grandma Thorley plans individual treasure hunts for each kid with prizes at the end. I (jokingly) dressed Cambria in the full nine yard Easter best. May as well get maximum usage out of her dress since she doesn't get a lot of chances to get all fancy. I bought gloves and a hat because she was going to be in Valley's prom fashion show but we never did it. She was hysterical when she walked upstairs for the hunt. Everyone made a big fuss and she just smiled and twirled. Here she is with one of her clues:

Yay! Found the treasure. Full of cute Piglet treats and prizes!

Finding goodies in the backyard egg hunt:

We tried to take a quick family pic but due to no nap and way too many late nights Cambria just wasn't going for it. As a joke we all started fussing with her. She wasn't quite sure what to think.

What an enjoyable Easter. We really appreciate our families for providing such fun things for us to do!

Happy Easter (pre-Sunday)

2011-04-26T23:10:00.004-06:00

What a fun Easter we had! Cambria and I went down to my parents house a week early just to get the party started. She, like usual, got spoiled non-stop at my parents house. Thanks to her Auntie she now has enough clothes to dress a small village. I'm still going through them with a big grin. Cambria and my dad can entertain each other for days. I picked my dad up some pine nuts on the way down and one day he was eating them at the table so Cambria climbed right up and he cracked them while she ate them for over an hour while he and I chatted. She was in heaven. I wish I had taken a picture but sadly I didn't get any at my parents house.
On Wednesday Jared joined us and we headed down to St. George to finish out the week. Friday we went to Zions with Jeremy and walked to the lower Emerald Pools. I've always taken Zions for granted growing up by it but the scenery is truly stunning.

On the way home I looked back and saw this:

These two wore each other out. How cute is that?
Saturday Morning we took Cambria to Washington park for the local egg hunt with most of the family. Here she is getting ready to go in. She was excited to get candy.

She knew right away how it worked. Lol. This girl understands her treats.

She only needed a few breaks for sampling.

Thanks for the help Daddy!

A pic of the kid's after their hunts: (Poor Claire wasn't feeling it)

Later that night we had egg decorating and dessert at Grandma Thorleys. I knew right away there was no way Cambria was going to let me dip her eggs to dye without her help since she's all about helping lately so I pulled out some markers to "color" the eggs. Both her and Claire loved it.

She may or may not have tasted the marker. What a cute Grandma these kids have. So lucky.

Hit and Stagger

2011-04-26T22:20:00.001-06:00

Our poor car has had a very rough year. Both Jared and I love our car and want to drive it to it's death but unfortunately its death may be sooner than we would like. (knock on wood) Our doorbell rang at 430am last week by the SLCPD to inform us our car had been hit and the other car was abandoned, basically a true hit and run (on foot). Jared recognized the other car as a neighbors which was weird. Thank goodness for insurance. He had hit it so hard the tires popped up onto the curb. I never saw but the cop said his car looked much worse than ours. I'm glad our car was the only thing the guy hit. We picked it up yesterday and hopefully that's the last of our car troubles for a while. Here's a few pics of the damage.

We just used Cambria's car to get around for the rest the day until we got our rental.

Public Again

2011-04-06T10:53:00.001-06:00

Hey Everyone! I'm so sorry for being wishy-washy but I decided to go back to public. A lot of my invites weren't being sent properly and many of you were unable to log on. Also I realized it's a huge pain to log on and off even just for me. Since my main reason for wanting to go private was to post "summer" pics of us playing at the pool, etc. without creepers seeing Miss C I decided it's just easier for me to set up a flicker link and when I wanted to share those type of pics I could blog my private link. I also have a YouTube channel that is private as well I sometimes post home movies on that I can share with those that are interested. I obviously realize everyone isn't dying to see Cambria whistle and dance but want to have them available for grandparents and aunts who have asked since it's easier than trying to email them around. My other reason is because this has become entirely a family update blog and I know it's not the most interesting thing to read but it defeats the point if family members are unable to log on and enjoy. Thanks for your patience. Speaking of whistling.... Cambria learned a new trick! This was a few nights ago and she's already better.

This second video is a little longer one of her playing in the snow the other day. Nothing exciting just thought I'd share it as well.

4 yr Anniversary

2011-03-21T19:03:00.000-06:00

Jared and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary last Thursday. Unfortunately I'm a freak when it comes to holidays. For some unknown reason I completely spazz out and create all sorts of unnecessary stress for myself and Jared. I think I just have an idea of the "ideal" birthday or whatever and I want it to be perfect and what usually happens is I end up ruining the day and making it worse than it every would have been if I had gone into it with no expectations. So about a week ago I started my usual windup and things were rapidly going down hill. I called my sisters and they both put me in check. (thanks guys!) I was thinking about what to do and realized DUH if I want to have a certain type of experience then I needed to be an active part in planning it and not putting it all on Jared. I decided to do a "treasure hunt" for Jared and Cambria and made some clues for them with my Cricut... any excuse to use it lol.

The clues got a little beat up but it turned out really fun. We went to various places around town that had sentimental value to us. On the back of each clue I wrote Jared a note about my different memories from each place. It was so funny because at every location Jared would get out and start looking up high. I finally had to remind him I was only five feet tall and didn't scale any trees. I wanted to end the hunt by getting take-out and going up one of the canyons and having a picnic but the weather was yuck and we had started later than I planned so we ended up eating at Porcupine Grill and coming home to watch a movie. It was such a nice anniversary. I wasn't stressed and I really did appreciate that Jared walked down the street to the store and brought back all my favorite treats, coffee, jerkey and caramels.

Frenzied

2011-03-15T14:45:00.002-06:00

Cambria is officially going through her "terrible two's" even though she's only eighteen months. She wants to be big SO BAD. If she sees bigger kids doing something then she has got to try it. Sunday we went to the park to play and she was dying to climb on the monkey bars with the big boys. I guess its a good thing but its left me a tad bit frenzied.
We went grocery shopping the other day and I had a true "Yep, I'm a disheveled stay at home mommy" moment. It was one of those times when we just wandered around for a couple hours loading all sorts of random junk in the cart that we may or may not have needed. No rush just enjoying shopping. We finally got to the check out counter and started buying our food. I handed the cashier my keys that have my Smiths card on for her to scan and then turned to play with Cambria. For some reason in order to earn multiple gas points at Smiths you have to split the transaction into two. So after we finished the first one she asked for my keys for the next one. I started looking and looking....and looking and soon she was done and I was still looking. Since there was people behind me I just gave her my phone number and moved out of the way. By this point I was a little frantic in my search. I got her trash and looked in it to see if the keys had been thrown away. I started emptying every bag in my cart. Pretty soon the manager and two baggers came and started helping the search. It got to the point I checked Cambria's diaper. I kept patting myself down. Then I had a complete DUH moment and reached down my shirt and pulled my keys out of my bra. SERIOUSLY??? Couldn't have been more embarrassed. I made a brief thanks for the help and a speedy exit. Thank goodness I had showered and got dressed somewhat cute for the day. (and thanks mom for teaching my to put stuff down there in the first place) Gah.Well I guess I gave them a bizarro story to laugh about.

I've decided to take my blog private now that Cambria is getting a little bigger. I truly don't mind sharing with anyone but just want to be a little more careful about the creepers out there on the net. Please email me if you want to be invited- Kate_Snickers@yahoo.com

Carnival

2011-03-10T22:25:00.002-07:00

Last week was Jared's spring break and we decided to go on a quick cruise with our besty Jeremy. I thought I'd share some pics.

At Long Beach right after we got on the ship.

I can't help myself. These two were in their mid-forties and dressed up like washed up sailors. I tried to sneak a pic so the quality is terrible. I was hoping they would dress in a different theme for each day but they only managed the first day. CLASSY!

Our ship parked about a mile off Catalina's shore and we had to get on little boats to go to the island. We went mid-morning and there was hundreds of dolphins swimming by. Our captain drove around and let us play. It has to be my favorite part of the trip. Really amazing. They swam within touching distance at times.

Us riding over to Catalina.

This pic cracks me up. It reminds me of Horton Hears a Who. Why am I always shocked when I see how much taller Jared is than I? Selective Shortness Memory Syndrome?

Catalina is so small everyone travels by golf carts.

The residents deck theirs out in their personal style. This "Maynard" tow truck was hilarious.

Our ship.

We found this random swing that went over the edge of the cliff. Jeremy and Jared were brave...me...ahem notsomuch.

Us at the formal dinner that night. These boys clean up nice.

That night the towel animal on the bed was an elephant. I loved it!

Can you imagine having to share a room with these two? Endless entertainment.

The next day we went to Ensenada and took a tour bus to La Buffadora.

On the way there the tour guide said she was going to take us to the Water Distribution Plant. Then they stopped at a random gas station with a massive Corona bottle out front.

It was supposed to be a restroom break. All I can say is thank goodness Jeremy had hand sanitizer. This picture fails to capture the full gross out factor.

Perfect weather.

This restaurant we stopped by had a slide to get downstairs. Of course these two tried it out. Jared was not into the little haggle shops but Jeremy and I were having a blast. We both were sad we couldn't have an extra hour there.

Our sweet Mexican wresting mask we had to have. Lol.

For some reason I didn't take any pictures the last day of the trip. We most slept and ate though. It was so much fun and even though I missed Cambria like crazy I'm glad we went. I know she was SPOILED ROTTEN at my sisters and it made enjoying the trip much easier.

First Ice Cream

2011-01-10T23:53:00.000-07:00

The other night my sister invited our fam and Cloyds out for BBQ at a new place in Lehi called Dickies. Super good and great prices too. The kids could hardly wait to finish their dinners and get some of the free ice cream. Cambria loved every drop.

(If you're wondering- Yes, I do make her wear a painters smock while eating. They are a couple of bucks at Ikea and one of my favorite things. I'm not very good at stain removal. Every time someone will tell me what a cute boy I have. )

Still Celebrating

2011-01-09T12:36:00.000-07:00

Once Upon a Princess Paperdolls

2010-12-19T18:49:00.000-07:00

I debated blogging about making these dolls but since I searched all over the web for inspiration on making them I thought maybe they would be fun for others to see too. I used the Cricut cart Once Upon a Princess to and used THIS idea as my main fuel.

A little modge podged box to keep them in.

The castle

There are three different dolls to dress. First is the blonde doll.

Cute doll with glasses (My mom drew on their faces and I just adore this one!)

Red (pink) haired doll

And lots of different outfits to mix'n'match between the girls. Sunday best and a dress with an apron.

Shopping outfit and pj's with slippers.

Raincoat and umbrella.

Western and rock star.

Two party dresses.

A more "casual" princess dress.

Mermaid.

Angel.

Fairy and ballerina.

Sleeveless dress with gloves and tiara.

The big kahuna princess dress.

Third princess dress with wand.

Lots of random accessories.

A little unicorn to play as well.

They are kept together on card stock pages and bound by rings. The clothes are all laminated and have Velcro on to attach. I was picturing playing with the book during church or getting a sheet of felt to play with them on. I gave this set to my cutie niece Claire who is just a little older than Cambria but I can't wait to make her a set as well. She was dying to play with them every time I got them out to work on them. My niece Olivia saw them during the process and is begging for a set of her own too...hmm it is Christmas time... Hope you enjoyed!

Vegetarian? Not so much.

2010-12-16T15:03:00.000-07:00

Ohhh yeah.

Tea for two

2010-11-15T15:42:00.000-07:00

Little Red Riding Hood

2010-10-31T09:46:00.002-06:00

Cambria dressed as Little Red Riding Hood

And of course that meant Jared had to be the Big Bad Wolf and I was Grandma

Every year my brother Sam and his wife Shauna have an awesome party. It gets bigger and better every year. Here is some pics from the night:

The Burger King (aka Jeff)

Wendy (aka Cindy)

Phantom and Christine (aka Steve and Sherri, Shauna's parents)

We played a little Rockband

Here's Yo Gabba Gabba's DJ Lance getting down (aka Sam)

Jared won Best Overall Costume!

Thanks to my super crafty mom helping me out. Thanks again mom!

Cambria just snuck around and ate the cookies her Grandma Roundy stored in her basket for her.

Last night we got in some Trick or Treating with Viola Swamp (aka Grandma R)

Cambria knew right what to do.

She would dive for the bucket to get her treat!

Hope you all have a Happy Halloween!

St. George Marathon

2010-10-22T20:53:00.000-06:00

I've been meaning to post about the SG Marathon for a while now so I figured better late than never. Last January Jared and I were casually talking about New Years resolutions and he said he wanted to run a marathon. (I don't want to talk about mine) He trained all year long a few times a week. I'm so impressed with his dedication to his goal considering he's working and going to school also.

Two Saturdays ago was the BIG DAY. He was nervous but excited. We drove the race route and made plans. I even made some support shirts for his family. The shirts said "Team Jared" on the front and "He's got the runs" on the back. I made Cambria a special one that said "Team Daddy" on the front and "He's number two" on the back. Pretty punny huh? Jared thought it up. Thankfully his mom took some pictures of the event:

Here's Jared right after. He looked so happy but tired when we finally found him among the thousands of people there.

Ice and a popsicle! The perfect after marathon treat!

Cambria enjoying daddies spoils. He always brings us big plates of goodies after each race. It almost makes the hours of waiting worth it...Just kidding honey!

Jared and his mom. His parents were pretty proud too.

The supporters sporting their "Team Jared" shirts.

He ran the race in 3:40:15. I asked him what his goal time was on the drive down and he said he wanted to beat 3hrs45. GREAT JOB HONEY. We are all super proud of you!

Eating and Playing

2010-10-18T22:38:00.000-06:00

I've had so much fun playing with Cambria's new camera. Good birthday gift for a one year old, huh? We were eating breakfast today and I though it would be fun to record a little of Cambria's personality at this age. She cracks me up all day long.

Its not the best quality because I'm still trying to figure all the settings out.

Swinging

2010-10-18T22:11:00.002-06:00

This is just a random video of Cambria and I playing at the park. She LOVES to swing! She is at the best age, super silly and fun.

Here Comes the Circus Birthday Party

2010-09-29T00:47:00.009-06:00

Cambria's first birthday couldn't have gone better. It was such a blast to plan and to see everyone come and have a great time! I have an overload of pictures (thanks everyone!!!) so I think the best way to share is to go on a little tour of the party. Sit back and relax because this is going to be a long one.

Cambria wore her number one birthday shirt with a tutu and birthday hat that my mom just "whipped up" for her. She's super crafty like that.

My sister-in-law Shauna made an ADORABLE cake.

Cute toppers I made for the cupcakes.

We played the traditional "guess how many" game with gumballs.

Jeff was hoping to win again!

The guest each got their own hat to wear while singing Happy Birthday.

For a party favor the guest each got a lollipop that said "Thank you for making my party sweet, Cambria" or a twirly pop that said "Thank you for a roaring good time, Cambria"

It was super easy and quick to make tissue pom-poms using Martha Stewart's tutorial to decorate our stair rail. Jared and our friend Jeremy helped SO MUCH getting ready. Jeremy had the great idea to put balloons everywhere. They really were just the touch the party needed.

I used my mom's projector and downloaded some basic kids coloring pages to make posters to go around for decorations. My niece and nephew helped color them- Thanks guys!

We had lots of yummy snacks including fresh popped popcorn, raspberry lemonade, cotton candy and nachos in their own cute little containers.

I worked really hard and made lots of fun games. We had a ring toss and ping pong toss, but unfortunately we didn't get a good picture of them.

Every circus needs to have a "freak" show element. At first I wanted to have a box people had to put their hand in to touch creepy stuff but the logistics just wouldn't work. I finally thought of a "peep" box. There was random jars of creepy stuff inside for people to peep in and see.

The was a tight rope and a strong man bar. Here's Madi doing both at once!

I painted a bean bag toss out of a massive card board lid. It was windy so all the signs were blowing all over.

We also had a tattoo and face painting table. My mom was so great and painted all the kids faces. This was one of the best parts of the party for the kids.

My brother Sam dressed up as a clown. He even learned how to make balloon animals for the kids! All the kids LOVED him and his creative balloon skills. Having our very own live clown was the best!

Pin the Tail on the Monkey (can you tell it's a monkey???) I painted it onto a big piece of styrofoam Jared found while dumpster diving for cardboard for me outside of Staples. My mom (again) whipped up a monkey tail. Who knows where that lady gets all her ideas.

There was a juggling table but Sam was the only one with mad juggling skilz.

Darts to throw at a Balloon Pop. The adults seemed to enjoy this the most.

There was two Bounce Houses that we borrowed from Cloyd's in-laws and Cindy. Thanks guys! Here's me getting tossed around by my 16yr old nephew. Sheesh!

The kid's favorite part was the Prize Dive. It was just a blow up pool with a couple packs of shredded construction paper and tons of candy and toys, then the kids got to wear a blind fold and "dive" for 10 seconds. It became more of a prize free-for-all towards the end. But it was a blast.

My personal favorite was the Photo Booth. I painted dots onto a huge refrigerator box and had a bowl full of silly props for people to take pictures with. I was SO BUMMED when I realized my family didn't take a picture in the booth after the party was over. Oh well.

Cambria's Happy Birthday Banner. All the invites, signs, nacho holders, water labels ect. from Dimple Prints Etsy Shop. It was a HUGE time saver and very cute.

It was the best time ever hanging out with family. We really appreciated everyone coming and having a good time! THANKS GUYS!

Coming soon...

2010-09-20T11:53:00.002-06:00

Cambria's birthday post is coming soon I promise. I'm still trying to recover and gather all the pictures everyone took. It turn out FABULOUS and I think everyone had a blast. In the meantime I wanted to show some pictures my sister Nanette took pre-party Cambria playing with her "Clown in a Box" Grandma Roundy gave her for her birthday. They are some of my favorite pictures I have of her. SO ADORABLE!

Shh

2010-09-16T16:28:00.004-06:00

Yet another story. I just don't want to forget how funny Cambria is at this age. Doesn't everyone think their kids are adorable? SO if she isn't the best thing ever super star to you sorry. They other day I brought Cambria in our bed to eat and snuggle in the morning. Jared isn't usually home when we wake up but he was that day. After I got done feeding Cambria she laid back and closed her eyes and was sucking on her binky. Jared started whispering to me so Cambria rolled over, popped her binky out, looks up at Jared and goes SHHH SHHH. We both started laughing.

Jared has been training really hard for the St. George Marathon all year. I'm super excited and proud of him. I've been wanting to make support t-shirts for him and if anyone wants one let me know.

ha ha

NO NO!

2010-09-04T13:27:00.000-06:00

I know I know. I go for months with no post then post five times in two days but I'm cracking up at Cambria lately and thought I'd share her silly stories. (mostly just for myself to record them) Cambria has been a very picky eater lately so we've been doing headstands trying to get her to try new foods. The other day I had a bunch of roasted veggies left over from the last nights dinner. There was eggplant, mushrooms and tomatoes, with strawberries. I cut them all into little squares and went into the kitchen to clean while she was eating. When I checked back on her she had picked out and thrown all the tomatoes on the ground. I said to her No No and wagged my finger at her. She just looked at me and then leaned over to see the tomatoes and started wagging her finger down at the ground and saying no no no no. SO SILLY. Like "What? Its not me- its them."
Also her new fave thing is to completely remove every item from my wallet. She had it all spread out on the entry rug yesterday and I came over to start cleaning it up. As I was picking them up she was grabbing the cards and shoving them under the rug to hide them. I couldn't help but laugh. NAUGHTY GIRL.

I'm so excited to see her little personality emerging. Even if it is a bit mischievious.

COME ONE! COME ALL!

2010-09-03T21:46:00.001-06:00

Yay! It's coming! I can't wait. I want to invite EVERYONE but I don't want people to feel pressured to attend so I'm just putting it out there. Come if you can. We would love to see you!

Sorry

2010-08-31T22:28:00.000-06:00

Sorry I haven't posted in so long but we've been pretty busy around here...

What with places to go...

People to see...

And teeth to brush?

There just hasn't been a lot of blogging time.

Actually I lost my camera playing marshmallow tag at the ranch and haven't been able to document our fun summer but now I'm back on track. Note the still total lack of hair??? Is there Rogaine for babies? I had SO hoped for a little pony tail at her first birthday.

I wish I'd known...

2010-08-31T03:00:00.001-06:00

10 things I wish I'd known a year ago.

10- Don't buy one.single.pair. of size 01 or 02 baby shoes. They'll never get worn. Not even from the house to the car. Save the money and get yourself a massage.
9- Enjoy every meal like its your last. Because quite frankly it is. One year from now you'll be too busy tricking a baby into each and every bite they eat to even notice you have food.
8- Prepare yourself to be taking your shirt on and off 5-8 times a day in front of all sorts of people. Including your father-in-law.
7-Take a big whiff. Yep. Because for the next year you're going to be not only smelling but also wiping and viewing something foul 2-3 times a day.
6- Enjoy your hair. It will soon start falling out in fist fulls and clumps. In fact there will be so much hair everywhere you'll probably find it in your babies diaper...(see #7)
5- Hop out of bed in the morning and shower right away and get dressed for the day. There will be days where you'll only be changing from last nights pj's to tonight's.
4- Exercise. Or at least look fondly on when you could exercise good and hard for a few weeks and see results. Most likely you'll be exercising for the next year and not loose even one teeny tiny pound.
3- Relish that when your husband walks in the door you're the first one he kisses. You can kiss that bye bye.
2- Don't walk or run out the door SKIP. You will never ever be able to just jump up and grab your keys and go. Plan on spending a minimum of 10 minutes gathering the 200+ things you need to even think about leaving the house. Let alone juggling a twenty pound car seat in the other hand.
And #1-
SLEEP. It's not going to happen for a year. In fact there will be a night about six months in where you wake up in a panic and realize you just slept the entire night and you'll worriedly check on the baby to find her all snuggled down.
And when I say sleep I'm saying go crazy... sleep in until at least 9.

Summer time

2010-06-07T13:34:00.001-06:00

Summer is in full swing around here and we are loving it. We went to SG for memorial and had a great time with Jared's family. Cambria had a blast swimming.

I loved it too but Jared was a bit of a wimp and said the water was too cold. I guess that's what growing up in SG does for you?

Like the afro? He's growing it out until after the SG marathon. I told him I'd be waiting at the finish line with a shaver. Um yeah I can't wait to see what that baby looks like in October.

We also went with my family out to the sand dunes to ride atv's and bbq. It was a awesome. Uncle Clint smoked racks and racks of ribs. Since Cambria is SO into trying big people food lately she was dying to try one.

Now that's one happy girly. She kept making nommm nommmmm noises the whole time.

Also this past weekend Jared ran the Draper Trail Run.

It was a beautiful day. He came in second in his age group and tenth overall which I was pretty impressed with! He's becoming quite the runner.

Charlie Chaplin

2010-05-22T11:24:00.003-06:00

Cambria made a new friend at Uncle Sam's house...

It's scary how quickly things went wrong with Uncle Sam and Uncle Cloyd calling the shots...

Birthdays

2010-05-22T10:56:00.001-06:00

Last weekend Jared's friend/Cambria's godfather Jeremy came to visit us. We love having him around. He came up for his big 3-0 birthday.

We went on a little "hike" that turned out to be more of a stroll than anything. Its hard to find trails that are big enough to push a stroller on. The next day they guys had to go on a real hike just to redeem themselves but Jared forgot the camera. He said there was still tons of snow on the top of the mountain so I was glad we stayed home.

I'm so happy its almost summer time so we can get out and do outdoorsy stuff as a family!

Jareds birthday is also coming up this Sunday so we went to a Real game to celebrate.

Cambria kept turning her tongue upside down and everyone around us was laughing. She can turn it all the way over!

Happy Birthday guys!

Clapping

2010-05-12T10:25:00.005-06:00

Cambria learned how to clap!

Random Pics

2010-05-10T22:29:00.000-06:00

We are LOVING the weather and have gone to the park to feed the ducks almost every day.

Cambria's cute bum in her CK jeans. I think she is starting to get the idea behind crawling.

She gets super excited when Jared is flossing his teeth and wants to help.

And the only picture I got of her on Mothers Day. We went to brunch and I wanted to drive up the canyon afterwards to take pics as a family but as we were leaving the restaurant she had a little "accident" in her outfit and on me. Such is the life of a mother?

Happy Mothers Day to all my mommy friends and family and most especially my AMAZING mom who taught me what it means to be a mom.

GO DADDY GO!

2010-04-24T11:55:00.005-06:00

Saturday was a big day for us. It started out very early for Cambria and I. So early we couldn't even get out of our jammies. Jared ran his first 1/2 marathon! The Salt Lake 1/2 Marathon.

See how dark it is still? But look how excited he is. We were so excited to cheer him on.

I made Cambria her Marathoner In Training shirt using freezer paper and fabric paint. SO CUTE!
Straighten up Missy running marathons is serious business!

Much better. We hurried down to the corner to cheer Jared and the others on when they ran by. The runners started trickling by.

Cambria started hooting and cheering right away. Soon the road was packed as far as you could see with the 10,000+ runners.

We were worried we wouldn't see Jared in the crowds but there he was. And he had a big grin on his face.

He was loving it and making good time too! He stopped for hugs and kisses then was off again.

Cambria and I hurried down to the Gateway to cheer him across the finish line. It was packed with food and music and lots of people. He beat his goal time coming in at 1:45.33. Very fun and we are SO PROUD of Jared! GREAT JOB!

This is Easter???

2010-04-07T16:16:00.001-06:00

Cambria is not impressed.

Dr. Seuss Half-Birthday

2010-03-29T13:49:00.003-06:00

This last saturday we had a little barbeque for Cambria's half-birthday. Pretty silly I know but I have been wanting to have a house that was comfortable to have guest over in a long time and we finally do. The weather was warm enough that it worked out just right. It turned out so cute and I think people had fun. Since it was just going to be low-key we only invited our families that live close.

While I was down in S.Utah a few weekends ago my mom made Cambria a little 1/2 shirt, tutu, and her adorable party polka-dot dress. She got a little half-birthday tiara from her Aunt Cindy as well so she was ready to party:

Mmm, look at those juicy legs.

Jared grilled hotdogs and burgers and I made some yummy salads.

I even made some green deviled eggs... They didn't taste as good as I had hoped but they were really more of a novelty than anything.

Thanks to my mom for getting me the cute Dr. Seuss stuffed animals and books from Kohls. I put those around the room to decorate. I also filled a bunch of colored balloons and placed a red feather boa in my light. Pretty simple but I thought it looked pretty cute.

We had some interesting characters show up.

In true Thorley tradition we played the candy jar game.

Jeff was pretty excited about his win!

People even brought gifts which I was not expecting at all but Cambria loves.

And we just had a good time.

So Sweet

2010-03-25T10:20:00.002-06:00

Aww, Cambria loves her Uncle Cloyd.

Already???

2010-03-22T23:20:00.003-06:00

Cambria is 6 months old!!! I can not believe it. I love my lil bambbino soooo much. She is such a good girl. She is ALWAYS smiling and happy. Some of her latest "tricks" are: sitting up, rolling around, eating her feet, trying to eat mommy's feet, blowing raspberries, laughing hard, mixing consonants and vowels, picking up tiny things with her fingers, putting her binky back in by herself, being fascinated by fabrics and textures, screaming for attention, trying new foods, actually growing out of her clothes, preferring mommy and daddy, playing with her aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents and much more. I can honestly say I have never been happier in my life. I love everyday with her. She makes me happy even on tough days. Jared is such a great and supportive dad. Cambria loves patting his beard and snuggling him. He spoils her. We are so blessed to have such a happy, healthy, beautiful baby. What a fast and amazing past 6 months we've had.

Kiss me

2010-03-21T23:06:00.002-06:00

Happy St. Pat's!

Seriously

2010-03-17T00:22:00.002-06:00

It doesn't get any cuter than this:

Oh wait, I lied.

Too Much?

2010-03-02T00:01:00.007-07:00

Okay, I have a confession. I'm addicted to making little felt hair animals. Don't look too close my stitching skills are still very primitive. This is another one of the cute dresses Cambria's auntie gave her from Ebay. Aren't those little sandals so cute???

I made this butterfly tonight while watching The Bachelor. Can you believe that guy? Did anyone else groan when they had Jeffery Osborne come on to sing On The Wings Of Love? Even Jake looked like he could go without ever hearing that song again.

On an even more random note I took this picture of Cambria one day and it makes me laugh so hard.

She looks like Mj's son Blanket.

Penguin Hair Bow

2010-02-28T22:35:00.001-07:00

I've been scouring the Internet for cute home-made hair bows and accessories. Mostly because I realized that Cambria is almost 6 months and still bald. Actually balder than when she was born. It's similar to when I realized I'd never be tall. Which unfortunately didn't happen until I was almost 20. My whole life I just assumed I'd be taller when I grew up, then one day it hit me it wasn't happening... Jared teases me that it took me that long to figure it out. Hey, nothing wrong with a little case of denial?
So bald. Yep, completely bald. And after being told what a cute little boy she is one too many times I figured I'd better do something quick. Cambria and her dad have been resisting the extra-large bows but I'm going to have to use force.
I wanted to make one to match her penguin outfit while she could still wear it. I cut a lil penguin out of felt and stitched in the eyes, nose and feet. Then I went around it in a blanket stitch.

I glued it onto some orange polka dot ribbons and a clip. Cute huh? Matches her outfit too! Hmm, just noticed I forgot to seal the ribbon.

Cambria was almost as excited as me when the new Pottery Barn mag came!

I'm linking to Susan from Between Naps on the Porch.

Flower Mobile

2010-02-28T19:55:00.010-07:00

I know, I know. I promised pictures of my baby mobile weeks ago. This whole computer situation has been really slowing me down. I do have great news though! My uncle was able to recover everything off of our hard drive. Yay! So without further delay my FAB mobile.
Supplies:
Small flower bunches, I picked 2 different types that match her room.
Gardeners wreath, the metal kind.
Fishing twine, which Michaels did not have so I ended up using stretchy jewlery cord.
Ribbon.
First I wrapped my wreath in ribbon-

Please ignore my hideous rug. I finally replaced it this weekend. Then using your string and a needle, thread flowers making a knot after each flower. I still wish I had used fishing string it would have been easier and stronger.

Then you just stitch the flower strands onto your wreath. I staggered and did one strand every other ribbon wrap if that makes sense. I used a cute pink ribbon to hang it from the ceiling above her bed. She loooves it. I'll put her into bed and she just starts cooing and smiling. So cute.

I'm a little shy to share my crafts because I see how creative everyone else is but one of my new years resolutions was to push myself creativly and try more stuff. My next projects for her room is painted shelves and curtains.

I'm linking to Met Monday on Between Naps on the Porch.

There is a light!

2010-02-10T23:02:00.001-07:00

Well, we are still suffering without our computer. But Jared had a brilliant idea and remembered our old computer in storage. Granted the hinge broke on the screen so it flops over and it has to be plugged in to work but hey, beggars can't be choosers right? I mean it is better than the library. SO... while I've got the screen propped up on my knees I thought I'd do a short post.
I know that sometimes the only pics some of you get to see of Cambria is on here and because my sisters blog is private I thought I'd pull some more from our impromptu photo shoot from her last post. (also all my photos are still in limbo... please let them be recovered!!!!) Those of you who are readers of both please forgive for the repeat.
I don't know why I love this picture but I do. Me, no make-up, no shower, just au naturale, snuggling my bebe. Or mini-me.

Josh teaching Cambria the beauty of television. This girl loves big tv's.

We kept trying to get her to look at the camera. And when she finally did this is the face we got:

See? Avoiding intentionally.

We got a little giggle:

But once we opened up our little "treats" she cheered right up. Mmmm I love eBay. Sick little addiction. This is my favorite picture of the bunch:

But this is a close second:

You think the hat is cute you should see the matching sweater...and romper...and maybe we got the shoes too. Just maybe. (Thanks again Auntie!!) Ohhh I can't wait for spring!

This one makes me want to go get her out of bed just to play with her:

My beautiful bambino:

Now that I have a computer I can post about my ad-DOR-able mobile I made for above her crib.

2010-02-08T00:22:00.000-07:00

It looks like the blogging gods are punishing me. When I was down in southern Utah Jared had the computer die on him. We have been without the internet for what feels like forever now. And sadly when our computer died we lost our hard drive. That's including all our pictures. Especially since Cambrias birth. Sob. Its on its way to Las Vegas to see if my uncle can fix it. Pray for our little laptop. In the meantime I've completed some craft projects I want to share. Hopefully all will be better soon. Note to others- don't buy a HP. Particularly one with vista. And from Costco.

Bloggy blahs

2010-01-20T23:47:00.003-07:00

I've been feeling a bit of a burn out of the old blog lately. I'm just not sure what to post anymore. I've also been a little busy with my...ahem... resolutions. I considered shutting it down. I even pulled it for a few days. But then I realized that if I did I wouldn't get to post adorable pics like this:

Photo by my amazing sister

Now if that doesn't melt your heart I'm not sure what will. Cambria and I came down to S. Utah to see my family and we have had a blast. She received TONS of adorable dresses from her Auntie N. and they provoked a spontaneous photo shoot. She has been so silly down here. Also spoiled rotten. My mom and dad both have hogged her all week. My dad has got her raising one eyebrow and pushing to crawl. If she even hears him in the same room she breaks out in a grin. And her cousins have cuddled her all week. She was being so funny today because we were playing with the camera and every time it was pointed at her she would hurry and look away. I thought she wasn't really trying to do it but without fail she would look down. My sister got stealth and took beautiful ones. I'm so impressed. We'll be sad to go home but happy to leave the 10 billion feet of snow that got dumped here.

Oh how I wished my internet was fixed...

2010-01-07T00:48:00.000-07:00

I can sort of post from my phone but it's just too much effort. Tomorrow is Jareds day off and hopefully when we go to Comcast it won't be standing room only like earlier this week. Wish me luck.

Dollar Store Christmas

2009-12-09T13:21:00.002-07:00

I found a new store I've never been to. The dollar store! Yep. I know. Classy. But you would not believe the sweet finds I came across. Every year Jared's family goes up to his ranch on Kolob after Christmas and cuts down trees. Very nice. Buuuuttt..... I hate "real trees" I LOVE the look of "farmed" trees. The perfect symentry of them. The hundreds of branches. The lovely bushy-nes. Unfortunately Jared is partial to his ranch trees. So we made a compromise. One year we buy the tree and the next we get a ranch tree.

As you can see this year was not my year. (For a "real" tree this is one of the better ones I have seen. Thanks Brian and Ang!) I knew I was going to have to get crafty. And I didn't have a lot to spend. I started perusing crafty blogs looking for good ideas and came across a lot of great ones. The goods:

Last year I bought this "tree in a box" decorations from JCP. I love them but its basically only ornaments so I wanted to suppliment some different things in. I found these cute bows and stars:

About 5 in each box for... $1. Lots of cute ribbon rolls for $1.

I also found these candle stick holders and glass pillars. I whipped out my handy glue gun and came up with this:

Total cost of cuteness? $8 including candy. I bought a variety of swag as well and made this lovely:

The wreath cost $1.99 at Michaels so I again got to use my trusty glue gun. Total cost? Less than $5. This is in our hallway. I had a problem with hanging our stockings though. We have this huge blank wall in our living room. I didn't want to just tack them to the wall. While I was at Michaels I wandered around and came across the dycut letters. I decided to spell JOY in the really big size. But they didn't have any O's. I racked my brain and couldn't come up with any other three letter Christmas words. I came up with MERRY. I wanted to do the big letters again but that would have doubled the cost of the project. I got the smaller ones, some gold spray paint, three hooks and went to town:

The final poduct:

Jared's mom crossstiches everyone in the family a stocking. It's so special. I love Cambria's. I also found this cute frame for $1.

I'm pretty happy with all the results. Jared said it all makes our house a home. Too bad I'm too big of a commitment-phobe to decorate the rest of the year. But I won't need to because we are moving after Christmas again!

Hats

2009-12-08T01:12:00.006-07:00

Cambria does not like hats either. I need to stop trying to sneak stuff on her head. Guess this cutie won't be coming home with us.

5 Day Giveaway

2009-12-07T17:57:00.005-07:00

A blog I enjoy reading is having a 5 day giveaway.

Monday- http://www.etsy.com/shop/bellasbowtique2008Todays give away is from:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/LeenTheGraphicsQueenIf I blog about it I get entered to win! Go check out how crafty and cute this blog is!

Muffin Man

2009-12-03T23:04:00.005-07:00

Things have been really good around here. Cambria is GROWING. I wanted to put up a few cute pictures I've taken lately.

Is it considered abuse if you put your babies diaper cover on her head and call her muffin man? Because it's so funny I couldn't help it.

All bundled up ready for our walk around the park.

Olivia and Cambria after we had our Santa pictures taken.

Isn't that the cutest face? Neither one of them quite know what's going on.

Watching some soccer with dad. Always a favorite passtime.

I really just want to gobble those cheeks.

As much as mommy likes her outfit she's just not feeling it.

A little quality time with Grampa. She really loves him. He was so nice and stayed in the car to watch her while we did some black friday shopping. She is always smiling when he is around.

I did a short video tonight of her talking back to me. I love it.

So funny!

2009-11-21T23:34:00.003-07:00

I can watch this for hours.

2 Months

2009-11-16T13:43:00.002-07:00

Saturday is Cambrias 2 month birthday. She is growing fast! We just got home from spending the weekend in St. George with Jareds family. I noticed that she was picking up new things everyday down there with so much going on. She started "talking" a lot more lately. And she started falling asleep a little better too.

Here is what she's been up to: At 2 months she smiles a lot and loves to talk. She has always been able to sleep through the night. She LOVES showers.

She likes to go for rides in the car. She hates being on her tummy. She knows how to hold onto toys now. Her favorite thing is to cuddle with mom. If she is fussy at night all I have to do is wrap her up tight and cuddle her and she falls asleep. Her favorite book is Guess How Much I Love You that her Grandma Roundy gave her. I read it to her before bed and she stays awake looking at the pictures until the last page then will fall right to sleep. She also likes her Baby Faces book that her cousin Andrew gave her. She will smile and stare at the babies.

About a week ago we went somewhere and by the time we got home it had been a little too long since she had ate. She started crying and I was in the kitchen doing some things really quick. I heard Jared say AWW thats too sad. I came to see and Cambria had little tears going down her face. It was too sad. I started to cry a little too. It just breaks your heart.

I love her so much and even though its cliche I really can't imagine what it was like with out her!

Oh dear.

2009-11-04T18:35:00.001-07:00

This is going to be my downfall during the holidays...

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-01T21:48:00.000-07:00

From Mario, Princess Peach, and Baby Peach

(more details to come)

My Feelings Exactly...

2009-10-29T13:42:00.001-06:00

Cambria thought we were going for a ride.

Then she found out we were going for a walk.

I mentioned some light jogging.

I'm right there with her.

Getting ready for the PAR-TAY

2009-10-27T23:30:00.000-06:00

She is loving her first holiday. I made her and her cousin Olivia matching tu-tu's. So cute.

Cambria is still struggling with the whole "pose for the camera" thing. Ahh well, she'll get it.

This is so funny because we were going to pick up Jared from work the other morning at 7 and she couldn't figure out what was going on. She was so confused.

Sorry if it's getting old all the post about Cambria. She is just so dang cute.

Duo photo shoots

2009-10-19T21:25:00.007-06:00

This past weekend Cambria and I went down to Southern Utah to celebrate my sisters birthday and spend time with my family. I was very nervous about my first road trip with a baby especially since Jared had to work and couldn't come along. Overall it went really well. It is so strange and hard but equally fun and rewarding having a baby. Everything has gone so good for us and I feel very blessed to have such happy healthy baby. But one thing that isn't so fun is always having to feed and leave the party to sit in a room/the back of a car every three hours. I was kinda bummed one night while I was there and my mom came in to talk to me. After she left I was thinking about my mom and sisters- they truly are my best friends. I know its sappy to say (and we all know I'm not sappy) but I'm very lucky! I know I always have a friend to call. Even though I'm sure they get sick of me always calling.

Cambria had a few photo shoots lately. Both my sister-in-law and my sister are into photography so we are lucky to get professional pictures when we want. Last Thursday night Shauna took pictures of Cambria at my sister Cindy's house. It was so fun and funny. Cambria wasn't quite as compliant as I envisioned. But we got some great shots and I can't wait to see them out of the camera. Then my other sister spent the entire rest of the weekend working with Cambria to get some more photos. She again wasn't quite as compliant as we had hoped. For someone who sleeps most of the day at home we could not get this girl to sleep. At one point I even laid on the couch with the "scene" all set up so when she fell asleep we could just pull the blanket back and start shooting. Ha ha that was hopeful thinking. See her little eye peeking out?

This girl may look like me but she's got her daddies personality. She wasn't performing for no one. Every time she heard the camera click her eyes would pop open. We kept thinking eventually she would give in but nope not once. Right until she got into her car seat to go home then... sound asleep.

Too bad my car seat isn't exactly the look I want framed on the wall. But we did get some amazing pictures and I'm sooo happy to have them while she is small. Thank you both for humoring me and Cambria and letting me use your skills. And thanks to Cindy who is a skilled photog scene setter. She is responsible for all the cute bows, flowers, and posing. Even though Jared claims she was so naughty because she didn't want big flowers on her head.

This is just a preview of what my sister did this weekend. Isn't it stunning? I'm in love.

Nap time

2009-10-13T13:53:00.001-06:00

Heres a little glimps of what we've been doing lately.

Two Weeks

2009-10-07T01:39:00.003-06:00

Cambria had her two week appointment today.

She weighs 7 lbs 11 oz

and is 20 3/4 inches tall

Autumn

2009-10-05T21:52:00.002-06:00

My sister Cindy usually host Sunday dinner at her house. It's actually where Jared and I were when my labor pains started kicking in. She made dinner a few Sundays ago and invited us. Unfortunately Cambria was only one week old. So we decided not to attend. I was really bummed out because I had been going more than a little stir crazy in the house. Jared suggested going for a drive up Cottonwood Canyon and it was just right.

Doesn't Cambria look even smaller in her car seat? She hates to get in it but once she is in she falls asleep and will stay sleeping until we get to where we are going.

All the leaves are turning and it was the perfect breezy temperature. We brought the sling to get out and walk around a little. Cambria really liked it. She is a big snuggler and the sling is just right for snuggling.

Look at how pretty the orange leaves are. I love autumn but always feel the impending doom of winter so I hesitate to love it too much.

This girl is on a tight schedule though and when it's time to eat... no more nature hike.

.

2009-09-27T22:16:00.008-06:00

Beautiful Cambria

Daddy is so sweet with her

I love her little toesWorn out

Cooing for Grandpa

Meeting her cousins

Thanks so much to my sister for these amazing photos. I will cherish having nice hospital pictures forever.

Ta-Da!

2009-09-26T10:59:00.001-06:00

Cambria Morgan Born September 21 at 9:33pm

Weight 7lbs 15oz

Height 21in

Maternity Photo's

2009-09-18T20:53:00.007-06:00

My amazingly talented sister met me halfway in between her house and mine last Sunday to take some maternity photos. I was a little hesitant about it after googling maternity shots and seeing what other people had come up with. I was worried we would have to go all nude with a black sheet. But they turned out awesome! Thanks so much, I love them!!! I love it in B&W:

I'm Ready!!

2009-09-18T19:22:00.008-06:00

I know I still have a week but I'm ready. Well, almost. I've been working on the baby's room pretty much non-stop since we moved. So far I: Painted a rocking chair soft green, painted a dresser and night stand shabby chic off-white and brown, painted 3 pictures to match the crib bedding my sis Cindy helped me pick out, and tonight I made a diaper changing pad out of terry cloth. All I need left to get is a little hanging shelf for the diaper holder, a night stand lamp, and a few little decorations to go around. YIPPEE! I think it's going to be SO CUTE when it's all done.

And I think Cambria is ready. I went to the CNM last Thursday and she said I'm dilated to a 1+ almost 2 and 80% effaced. But Cambria has her back against my back so she isn't pushing down very well. If I can get her to roll over I think she would come right out. So... the advice was to spend lots of time on my hands and knees. Hmm, exactly what I want to do. And what Jared wants to look at. Ha ha. But, hey I'll do what I gotta.
Last night Cloyd's family, Cindy's family, Sam and I all went to dinner for Kimmy's (my sil) birthday (Happy birthday Kimmy!) and decided to all make bets on due dates and height and weight. So I decided to post them and then if anyone wants to add theirs to the comments I'll add to the post. We didn't decide for sure what the winner gets so if you have good ideas about that then comment on that as well. The only rule is you can't guess what someone has already guessed.

We'll do birth date first:

Cindy: 9/23

Jeff: 9/29

Sam: 9/27

Cloyd: 9/25

Kimmy: 9/24

Lynette: 9/25

Lindsey: 9/28

Height and weight:

Cindy: 7.3lbs 19in

Jeff: 7.5lbs 19in

Sam: Forgot to guess

Cloyd: 8.2lbs 18in

Kimmy: 7.7lbs 19in

Lynette: 6.8lbs 19in

Lindsey: 7.9 lbs 20in

Oh my WORDY

2009-09-14T22:47:00.011-06:00

What started out as a really crappy week actually ended as a great week. I have been trying to be positive and keep my head up towards the end of my pregnancy because I have been feeling SO overwhelmed lately. But... when Jared called me last Sunday night to tell me his bike was stolen from his work I wasn't too happy. The bike was the first "real" gift I got for Jared. I spent a lot of time looking into it and finding one I thought he would like. And he has used it pretty much every day since for getting around. It's how we survive with only one car. He's rode it to and from school and work for the past three years. I think when people steal from you it's such a violation. I can see how people justify shoplifting (and I don't agree with it) but have a harder time seeing how to justify stealing from a stranger. I wish I could find the person who stole his bike and say to them "By the way I'm due to have a baby in two weeks and we just moved and we have one car and oh p.s you stole the bike from a CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL YOU ASS. So- you know that the owner either works there helping sick kids or was visiting a sick kid. Do you need the drugs/money/whatever that much? I sure hope so. Enjoy the $50 tune-up we finally had done on it Friday. Hope it serves you well." But eh, I guess life is all about being a good person and doing good to others and hopefully we will keep our own good karma and they can have their bad. And maybe, just maybe, they really did need it more than we do.
If that wasn't a good start to the week then Jared stared having troubles with his eyes and still is. We have been in the doc's office a few times. One of the days I had a midwives appointment at the hospital across town during his appointment. I had to leave Jared at one hospital and drive to the other. When I was there my midwife recommended doing fetal monitoring because Cambria hasn't been as active lately as normal. I was stressed about that and it was the first appointment I had been to without Jared. When he found out he rode the bus system over without being able to see.... fab. It's times like that when you know how much you love your husband. After he got there I calmed down so much and Cambria started kicking like a monkey. Her heartbeat dipped a little low a few times but they say she is doing great and is as active as she is supposed to be.
I was feeling really down and we just kinda chilled around the house for the next few days. But on Friday one of Jared's favorite musicians Sam Payne, who was also his seminary teacher in high school, was doing an outdoor concert. We went and had a really nice time. And then on Saturday Cindy invited us to go to the Utah state fair with them. It ended up being everyone in the family living up here but Kimmy (who had to work, sad). Cindy and Jeff's kids LOVED this silly pirate ride. We just loved the pirate out front. At first I only wanted a shot to show the size and MASS of my belly. I can't believe how large I'm getting. Then Cindy took a picture with the pirate. He was very PG with her but for some reason...He got all sorts of naughty with me.Good thing Jared was busy enjoying the ride. These are some of the reasons we are so happy to have made the move back here:
James and Cloyd in their U spirit.
Sam and Shauna being silly, enjoying the Fair.Beautiful Olivia ridding the ride for, oh I don't know, like the tenth time? And of course the gratuitous shot of me eating a foot long corn dog. What? You didn't think I walked around all day for the scenery did you?

Discovery

2009-08-13T09:12:00.010-06:00

On Monday I got lucky and Olivia and Andrew spent the day with me. We had a blast. When I got to their house in the morning we discussed where we wanted to go for the day and after some silly (Andrew did mention a super secret cave that was invisible) and creative suggestions we decided to go to The Gateway and play at Discovery Gateway and in the water feature there. I've taken them there before but I think that this was the best time yet. They are the perfect ages to enjoy all the attractions.

In the upstairs area they have a little stage with a bunch of costumes. They tried them all on and we were laughing pretty hard at some of them.
Liv showing off the cool magnetic ball the girl who worked there helped her make. It lasted for about five minutes then fell apart.
Andrew showing off the "tower" he made all by himself.
When we got done at the museum we went to the water. By this point they were both really tired and I considered calling it a day. But when we saw the water they re-energized. On a funny side note when I told Andrew to go get his swim suit he said he wanted to wear his silly suit. I didn't know what he was talking about but when I saw his suit it was indeed silly. I had him bring a backup suit in case he changed his mind but when it came time he was even more sure of his choice. Liv was horrified and kept trying to talk him out of it because "it's embarrassing" but he went for it. And I must say he got lots of good comments from all the trendy teens at The Gateway.
This is one of the reasons we missed Utah so much and I love being able to spend time with family more. I'm happy these two still find me cool enough to let me play for the day.

Baby Shower

2009-07-28T10:40:00.007-06:00

Cindy hosted a baby shower for me last weekend and it was so fab! It turned out really nice and we had lots of people show up. Some of my family traveled up from So. Utah and my mom even came and stayed for half the week. She brought Nanette's kids and Reisha's girls with her to help and play. It was lots of fun to have them around.

Cindy made a diaper cake that is so cute I don't even want to take it apart. I love elephants and when Olivia was little she had that same elephant that is on the top named Woobers. She would bring it everywhere we went. Cindy got on e-bay and found a special one for Cambria to have to. I know she is going to love it.

My mom helped play some games that were lots of fun. One game was guess how much it cost to wash the babies clothes and she had a laundry basket full of laundry products... Um, let's just say I'm glad I got to keep all the stuff because it cost a lot more that I thought.

Kimmy helped Cindy make wraps and salads for the lunch part and everyone raved about how good they were. I loved the shrimp dip. Yum! While everyone was eating I started unwrapping the gifts. I got the cutest stuff. My mother-in-law got us the stroller car seat combo we have been wanting and I want to take it out of the box and try it out now. But we live in a tiny place and I'm not sure there's a lot of room to be getting stuff out yet.

Cambria got lots of pink outfits and toys. I especially love these little pink shoes. Aww. I'm in trouble this girl is going to be pricey. Good thing some people just went with cash for their gifts. Ha ha.

Nanette helped with the party favors and she got these adorable egg timers for the adults and baby pens for the kids. The timers have a little tag on them that says "About to hatch" So cute. She left one on my parents kitchen counter for my sister-in-law Lindsey who couldn't make it to see and when my dad woke up he thought my mom had left it for him. He called in a bit of a worry about what exactly was about to hatch. He said he tried and tried to get it open to get the chocolate out and it wouldn't ever "hatch" for him. Funny guy. It was such a nice shower and I really appreciate everyone who helped with it. Especially Cindy who let the guest have full wandering of her home and did all the planning. It was one of the best showers I have ever been to. Cambria is lucky to be coming into two families that care so much about her.

Luck

2009-06-26T20:04:00.008-06:00

We have had some good luck and some bad luck lately. We went to Utah all of last week to look for a home to rent. Both Jared and I are so excited! We found a great place in Sugar House that is in the prime location we wanted. It was fun and relaxing to see our families. Cindy and Jeff are always so generous in letting us stay with them. And Kimmy and Cloyd took two days to drive us around house searching. We were in an awful car accident one of the days that smashed up their car pretty bad. Luckily no one was hurt but it still sucked really bad. They now have a rental car and are waiting to get their car fixed. We were all pretty sore the next few days. Thank goodness we all were buckled. Jared's sister Ang was so nice and dropped everything to come give us a ride home since we were all stranded.

We thought that would be all of our bad luck but the next day Jared and I were on our way to see the last place in Jeff's new car he got for father's day and we got a flat tire. Sam came and helped us change it. He got it done in under 15 minutes. He's so great. But Jeff had to buy all new tires for the car because that one was ruined. I was pretty embarrassed about the whole ordeal. I didn't dare ask anyone else if we could drive anymore cars for the week. If you have a car you need ruined give us a call.

We're moving on the 5th and Jared starts at Primary's on the 13th. Ahhh, back to Utah. The nice weather, the mountains, and family. We really can't wait.

Le Decor

2009-06-26T14:27:00.008-06:00

I still haven't picked baby bedding yet because I'm having decision paralysis. There are just so many options out there and I want something that is both a good deal and not too cute-sey. But I keep seeing these photo boards that I love and I want to make one for the babies room. I got a little anxious and decided I would make one for my sister Cindy as my guinea pig. I saw this one while I was blog hopping (wish I knew where I would link it) and loved it and knew it would match her decor. She has an amazing french country look going that I love. My mom and I play a game to see who can find the most roosters in any given room. Good fun. Unfortunately, I couldn't find material even close to as cute with roosters. But she also likes toile so I went with a soft green and red print. I over bought tools because I didn't know what all I would need but here is all I used. Cork board, batting, fabric, staple gun, scissors, ribbon, upholstery tacks. Pretty cheap and simple.

First you cut your batting to fit your cork board and staple it around the backside. I wish I would have bought a smaller cork board so she could have used it as a recipe holder in her pantry but it was too big. We found a good use for it anyways.

Then you cut and staple on your fabric. Make sure you leave about 2 inches around the entire board to give you room to pull it tight and staple it. Make one staple in the middle of each side pulling it tight then work your way out to the edges. I rounded out the corners like this:

Next flip over to front side and upholstery tack your ribbons in the center. It's best to tack it out before you start cutting and stapling the ribbon to the back. I wish I owned an iron I would have taken that crease out of the material. But we dry clean because there is no way I can live up to my mother-in-laws mad ironing skills.

Working your way out from the center just tack on the rest of your ribbon. This is SO EASY and looked really cute. Cindy decided to use it in her closet to hang earrings and jewelry.

Walmart wants your soul

2009-06-15T22:44:00.008-06:00

I honestly hate Walmart. And loud talkers. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me start by admitting that it has been one of those days... well, couple of days. You know the ones where you secretly want to kick someone in the teeth and you're not sure why? I have been wanting to do something crafty (more on this to come) for a while as a gift for someone and decided that I would try and do it today. I have been boxing up our house for the past few days and just needed a break. I have a small window of time before Jared wakes up that I like to run errands in the morning. So I took off for the area that I thought the fabric store was in.

After driving around for about an hour looking for the fabric store I found Michael's Crafts. I figured maybe I could get some of the things I needed in there and while there get directions to Joann's. I went in and found nothing I needed but asked for directions. For some reason I'm still not clear of the associate proceeded to tell me in quite possibly the loudest voice I have ever heard the worst directions ever given. As in you take a left down on the corner and go to the other corner and take a right no wait left hmm maybe right and drive 5 or 10 miles, and wonk wonk wonk. I tuned out because instead of hearing the directions I was trying to decide why I was being yelled at. I felt like the bird on Charlie Brown. I clarified that I wasn't from the area and needed actual street names. She then yelled that I wouldn't need street names because I just couldn't miss it. HMMM... I had for the past hour.

I got back into my car and decided that I was starving, hot, and grumpy. Never mind crafts I'm going home. I came home, cried to Jared a little about various nonsense things, and ate some lunch. Later Jared left for work I map quested the fabric store and headed out again. After only getting lost twice (Did I mention I love AZ???) I found the store and the things I needed. I came home and got crafty right away. Half-way finished I ran out of staples. And realized the ribbon I bought was about 4 yards too short and sticky on one side for paper. What is it about being pregnant that makes focusing on the little stuff hard? It was now almost ten p.m. and I really wanted to finish my project.

As many of you know Jared and I do not shop at Walmart. Ever. For various reasons. And while I understand some people love the place and want to be buried there (mom) I can not stand it. So imagine how desperate I was after trying three other stores on my street because I don't want to drive across town to Target, the only other place still open, to go there. When I got to the parking lot I first noticed that there was shopping carts everywhere, in the parking stalls, in the driving area, everywhere. I didn't particularly want a dent in my car so I parked in the back 40 and hiked into the store. When I entered the "greeter", a 20-something girl, looks up from her texting and yells (not joking about the loud talkers, can not stand it) WELCOME TO WALMART. Behind her is the cavernous area where carts would normally be but alas, not one. I said, "Thank you for the welcome now put that damn apron to use and go get me a cart". I wish. I just frownsmiled and walked past sans cart.

I went to the school supply area for staples and since the sign hanging from the ceiling said staples along with other supplies I assumed that staples would be on the isle. I walked up and down it three times looking for staples but found none. After checking the nearby isles I still found none. Keep in mind I'm trying not to notice how filthy the place is while dodging all the stuff thrown on the floor. I spot an employee with a roll of tape re-sealing boxes customers had ripped open nearby. I have worked in retail so I get that when you are busy it's hard to stop and help. I don't expect a back flip when I walk up. But when I asked about the staples and was told "I'm stock" I wasn't exactly pleased. Maybe don't wear your name tag then?

Screw the staples how about the ribbon? After finding the ribbon isle with yet another sales associate, frankly the only two I saw in the whole store, I started searching for the kind I need. I wanted a red color but the couldn't look at the reds because she was in my way. I did the whole stand nearby and be kinda obvious look around to no avail. I spoke up and said excuse me. Still just stood there. I waited and looked at the other colors. After saying excuse me twice more she moved without a word. I found what should have been where the one I wanted was but the spot was empty. Grrr. Never mind. I'll finish tomorrow. I left and took note that the still texting greeter was still standing in the empty cart area took the time to yell "HAVE A NICE DAY" Oh I'll do just that. Now that it's ten-thirty at night.

I guess I'm in that pissy preggo stage? I'm really not that upset more stressed out. And for a very good reason. Jared got a job in Utah! We couldn't be more excited. We are moving on the 5th of July and it couldn't come sooner. I think I have just mentally checked out of this hotbed of hell. Sorry about the vent but I do feel much better now.

Good things

2009-06-02T20:02:00.005-06:00

Good things happened at our house today. We went from this:
To this:And although he says it's not because of this:I would guess so. I was tempted to do my own head. Either way it makes for a sexy Jared and how can I not love that? I know he was well on his way to this:

But maybe next time?

I'm having a WHAT?

2009-05-29T12:47:00.008-06:00

We had our ultrasound last Wednesday to find out if we are having a boy or a girl and when the image came up on the monitor I was shocked!!!This whole time I thought it was a puppy and it turns out I'm having a baby elephant. Which makes sense considering the size of my belly and the amount of kicking going on there. But then we tried again and saw this:

Aww. But unfortunately the baby was sitting on it's foot so we had to go to our other appointment to try and and give it time to move around a little. When we got back the second time we got a definite:

And now all I can think about is little pink outfits with matching shoes. Yay! Little Cambria is half-way baked and will be here in September!

Advantageous?

2009-05-21T01:13:00.006-06:00

22 weeks:

Benefits:
Unlimited napping
Husband suddenly more helpful
Desire for snacking at 4 a.m. acceptable
Excuse for chubbiness
No periods
Strangers nice and excited for me
Extra pillows on bed not seen as indulgent
Hours of online "browsing"
Desire to take better care of myself
Ready made excuse for anything I want to get out of
Adorable baby soon to be here

Downsides:
Gut that doesn't quite look "pregnant"
Constant heartburn
Anxiety for future
New found bathroom needs and concerns
No caffeine or sushi now that I inexplicably crave them daily
Hands and feet tingling hourly from lack of circulation
Concern of tiny alien or puppy living inside me
Back pain and cramps
Guilt about not eating enough veggies or fruits
Unable to get comfortable with idea of person coming out of me
Incessant worry over material things baby will need that we cannot afford

Best Intentions

2009-05-18T15:47:00.008-06:00

I have had overall happiness a lot on mind lately and wanted some input. I feel like I set myself up for failure. For example setting goals. I have been wanting to make menu plans for myself for a while now. And I don't know why I don't just do it. I have all the time in the world and could easily do it but I never seem to get around to it. It would be easier to do at this point in my life and get in the habit than any other. Unfortunately, I can think of a hundred and one reasons not to. First because it would be just for myself. Jared's work makes it so he usually isn't hungry at home for more than breakfast and Clint is a big fan of the drive through. I talked myself out of that excuse but then my computer broke. When it was finally fixed a week later I ran to the grocer and only grabbed the necessities. So here I am. Still wanting to make a menu plan and still not having it. Not wanting to make a second trip to the store this week. And how lame.

Another thing is exercise. I always want to do it but never seem to actually do it. I wake up and think hmm I'm going to try and exercise today and go to bed thinking well, maybe tomorrow. I am working on this though. I decided that I'm going to do 20 minutes before I shower. So no matter what time I shower I know that before I do I have to work out first. But even writing that I think to myself 20 minutes? Is that all I got? But I realized that 20 minutes is better than no minutes because that's what I have been doing lately. When we talked about moving here I thought of how great it would be because the weather is so nice and I could go walking everyday. And I did. For about two months. But then the weather got to be over 100 and I can barely make it to the mailbox without getting heat rashes.

I know that we all have things we work on. And I know it's a good thing because that means we are improving as humans. In a recent conversation with my sister she said "I can do anything perfect for two weeks" and I thought yeah, so can I. But what is it that gets us past that two week hump? If you have something you do well how do you push yourself past that point? I think that since I moved from St. George to SLC I have wanted to get healthier. So we are talking about 4 years now. How sad. For 4 years I have given myself excuses on why I can't take better care of myself. It hasn't been all bad. I have had months of good intentions. But yet I don't feel like I have really established good habits like I want to. I'm further down than I am up. I will say one good thing is I don't eat fast food hardly ever since not working. Or drink soda. But I think that's more of an environment change than a good effort choice. And it does count as something but I want to be HEALTHY. I want to go hiking with my hubby and have energy to get out of the house. I want to cook from scratch and not use boxed products. I want to get all my fruits and veggies. Most of all I want to quit making excuses and get off my butt.

So what do you do? How do you get over your humps and bumps? The picture is one of me when I was working out five times a week in S.G. It's not the most attractive but I love it because it reminds me of how great I felt at the time taking care of myself.

Au Naturale

2009-05-11T13:41:00.008-06:00

Happy Mothers Day! I'm so glad for the mother I have and what a strong example she is. She is a great friend and I always look forward to spending time with her. Jared was sweet and got me a potted orange star plant for mothers day. Even though I really didn't expect anything it was a nice treat to wake up to.

Jared and I went to S. Utah again for the weekend and had a nice time with our friends and families. Everyone is really excited for our baby and we are getting lots of questions about it. Something that I've noticed is confusing for some is our choice to have a Nurse-Midwife help with the birth. I think that there are a lot of misconceptions about Nurse-Midwives and I wanted to try and help people better understand the role. Even though I realize many are educated on the subject so this is partially to better help me as well.

A Nurse-Midwife is a certified health care professional who is trained in both nursing and midwifery. In the US they are advance practice nurses (Nurse Practitioners). They specialize in low-risk pregnancies. They generally strive to give a natural birth experience. They work closely with an Obstetrician and only deliver in hospitals or birthing centers. (No, sorry, I won't be giving birth at home in the bathtub) The CNM we have now works in an office with four doctors and five midwives. They all deliver at a nearby hospital in an area set aside as the birthing center.

Some of the reasons we chose to have a Nurse-Midwife is because they assist with the entire birth from prenatal to post. I wanted consistency with my care and a more focused care that I feel is sometimes lacking with MD's. When I go to see my CNM I know if I have an hours worth of questions she will take the time to answer them all. And if my labor is hours she will be there for each hour. But possibly the biggest reason we chose a CNM is because it is very important to me to have a natural birth. After seeing both types of birth I just strongly feel that natural is the better choice for me. My sister was receiving an epidural for her daughter and her spine was punctured causing years, if not a lifetime, of problems for her. I know she could have avoided this. I'm not naive in thinking that things can't go wrong and I will have a perfect labor. But I want to do everything I can that will help me have a successful natural birth. And if something does unfortunately go wrong we will be at a hospital with plenty of people on hand to help with that as well.

I do want to say that although I feel this is the best choice for us I don't feel the same for everyone. I want everyone to make the choice based on what is best for their circumstances and comfort level. I am very aware that you can receive exceptional care from the right MD just as well.

Wistful Thinking

2009-04-28T19:17:00.009-06:00

I'm getting into crafty mode again and it is not always a good thing. I keep thinking about what I want to do with the babies imaginary nursery (whichever state that may be in) and having dreams regarding decor. Today I was bored and started thinking about Ratemyspace.com from HGTV. I guessed that they would have nurseries on there and they did! I found two that I absolutely love:

This first one was done by a professional decorator so it's a lot more polished but I love that she used blacks, grays, and tans for a boy and still kept it sweet and babyish.

Some of the aspects of this second one I'm not in love with (the ballerina picture above the bed) but I do love the shabby chic look of it overall. And how can you not want that bunny picture? I'm mostly in love with that crib.

I originally wanted a big cherry convertible sleigh crib to match the bed Jared got me for Christmas but after realizing the hefty price tag and considering it will probably have to be purchased right after or before paying for a cross country move I gave up the dream. I'm now leaning towards an older metal one I can paint and make it look antique and cute. So if anyone is out and about and happens to see one in a thrift store or antique store keep me in mind.

The Utah Way

2009-04-26T21:25:00.004-06:00

Jared loves Sunday dinner... especially when it's pot roast. Yummy! Oh, by the way, that orange jello salad? His mom's specialty. After making it possibly 30 times, today was the first time I was told it was as good as his mothers. At last!

Spoiled

2009-04-21T10:52:00.018-06:00

Mmmm. I'm fully relaxed. I had such a nice week last week. A month ago my sister Cindy called and wanted me to come to Utah and play with her and the family during their spring break. I jumped at a chance to cool off and have some fun. I arrived to a little more "cool off" than I expected. It was snowing when my plan landed and didn't stop until we took off for New York. Ahh well, at least the company was great. The first night I got there we went to Cheesecake Factory and the spa for facials and massages. The perfect treat after a flight. Her house has a guest room that is better than any five star hotel. I love staying there because I can throw my stuff everywhere and sprawl out on the bed. Wednesday was Andrew's fourth birthday. He had a fish themed party and it was so cute. Everyone came to the party and rocked out. Isn't James so cute? I wanna eat him. The next day I woke up with the MOST INCREDIBLE SORE THROAT IMAGINABLE. It was awful. My mom had come to say hi to me when I was in St. George and had strep at the time so I thought maybe she shared. I was already on antibiotics from an ear ache I had the week before so I hadn't been too worried about catching it. I spent the day in the insta-care getting strep tested and trying to decide what was acceptable to take or not. After all the test came back negative it was just a matter of deciding if I wanted to go on to NY as planed or home to recover. Well, I figured if it's just a sore throat I can invest in bags of cough drops and forge on. Thank goodness I did. Cindy upgraded my flight to first class and I gotta admit it is a pretty sweet ride up there behind the curtain. I drank about six bottles of water trying to get my throat to stop hurting and enjoyed a yummy dinner. We stayed a the Sheraton in Times Square. It was exciting to be right in the middle of everything. Our first day there we slept in and then walked around the city a little. Our suite had this blue velor couch that we couldn't resist. Ha ha.
Cindy had been to this Asian restaurant Tao that all the celebrities go to and we decided we wanted to walk over and see if we could get in. On our walk over we passed a Destination Maternity and went in to check stuff out. I guess Cindy could see how desperate my clothes were looking because she SPOILED me. In fact the sales girl laughed at the pants I had on when we got there. She told me it looked like I was packing heat if you know what I mean. Niiice. Just the look I was going for. She also tortured me with the try on belly and some silly shirts.
After getting spoiled rotten we went to the restaurant and got in. It was such a cool venue. They have a massive Buddha statue, glass floors, and huge tapestry's on the ceiling. The food was delicious too. We shared a dinner but decided we each needed our own desert. Good thing because once that came I was not sharing. Coconut chocolate and coconut ice cream? YUM!
When we got back to our hotel there was some girls all ready to go out in front. They were stopping traffic. Classy. Please don't let this be my daughter one day. Or this:Gotta love New York.Saturday we went to breakfast at Fred's above Barney's with Cindy's friend. Fun to see the high society and enjoy brunch. We also had tickets to go see Chicago later. It was good but I'm not sure why it's been on Broadway for thirteen years.We walked around some more then went back to our hotel and relaxed. We went to this Indian restaurant for dinner and again the food was divine. (I'm telling you food can make or break my vacay, sad I know) Cindy was loving it. I guess they just can't get that in Utah? ha haOn our way back to the hotel we passed a Pedicab and went for a ride. Our driver rode us through central park and even stopped at some red lights to take our picture. Not sure how safe this was for the baby but it was a blast. We couldn't stop laughing. The last day I was there we went to see Mary Poppins. LOVED IT. They had amazing costumes and sets. We didn't take pictures because we were running late and after I had to catch my flight home. What a great week though. I'm so glad Cindy invited me along. It was perfect get to spend time with my sister.

17 weeks

2009-04-20T11:47:00.007-06:00

Well, at least the heart beat is 17 weeks. The belly? You can find that in the fitting room at the maternity store. I'm not that big yet thankfully!

(if you want to hear the sound you have to click on the pop-up at the top and say yes you want to run the active-x control)

The name game

2009-04-14T22:45:00.012-06:00

Happy Easter everyone. Jared and I had such a nice time. We went to St. George and spent time with his family and friends. It was really nice to see everyone. I always stress myself out about stuff and then when I do it it's usually better than I expected it would be. We went to the most amazing steak house, Anasazi, with Jared's friend for dinner. If you're in St. George you have to try it. They bring your steak out on a stone that is 700 degrees and you cook it to your preferences. Honestly one of the best I have ever had. I hear their fondue is yummy too. My sister and her family came down to see me and we had lunch at 25 & Main and got some of their cupcakes to go. I have to recommend them. I'm glad to see that St. George is growing and getting more choices.
My mother-in-law has the neatest stuff that I want to steal when I go there to visit (ha ha) for example this set of lamps that is in their guest bedroom. She even gave me that cute elephant toy that was probably around when Jared was little.

His family has great Easter traditions that the grandkids love. Jared's mom plans elaborate scavenger hunts for each of the kids. At the end they get a personalized prize. It is so fun. After the hunt they have the traditional on the grass hunt with candy and eggs we had decorated the day before. I can't wait to have a baby next year that will be able to take part.

Tim and Heidi, Jared's little brother and wife, was there with their little boy and he made me even more excited to have a baby. He is such a cute boy. They are expecting their second baby one month before us so we all started talking about names and which ones we like. Tim was asking me about boy names and I told him to say which one he liked first. Well... we both really like Isaac but its okay neither Jared nor I are really set on it. We are having a really hard time deciding on a boy name. We decided we like Cambria for a girl way before we were even pregnant but have never settled on a boy. (if anyone steals our name I will shave your head in your sleep) I like Thomas a lot but it's Jared's middle name and he doesn't want to name the kid after him. Some other names we like but have vetoed for various reasons are: Oliver (too British), Ethan (nephew), Gavin (the singer), Samuel (uncle), Zachary (again nephew), etc. We really like traditional names and I hate nicknames for boys. I don't like weird spellings of names for boys at all or naming kids after objects of any kind. I'm also not a fan of names you can shorten i.e Will for William. We are leaning toward Jack but keep getting negative feedback from my side of the family. I also like Max. So I need help. Suggest boys names that you like that are traditional. Give me ideas.

Go little fishy

2009-04-06T22:21:00.003-06:00

I'm really not looking too pregnant yet, and it's starting to get me down. Instead I look like I've downed a few too many holiday treats and abandoned my new years resolutions. I've actually lost weight which is strange. Well, maybe I look a little preg because the other day at the grocery store the lady in front of me offered to let me go first even though I had a bursting cart and when I got all done the bagger offered to "help me out" even though she was easily ten years my senior. But maybe I just look deranged and they were trying to hurry me along? Hmm, could it be the velor tracksuit that my husband is embarrassed by?

I kept reading about these fetal heart dopplers online and decided we needed one. Most people just rent them for the pregnancy but Jared helped me research and we found one online that was actually a better deal to just buy. So if after the baby comes (or before) anyone wants to try it out we can share. Its kinda hard to get used to but we were trying to figure it out and the baby got mad and kicked with both legs. First time I felt the baby. It was such a cool feeling. But funny too. Like the baby was thinking alright you heard me already, let me go back to sleep. I recorded a little tonight and the baby wasn't having it. It's hard to record and find baby at the same time. A little like patting your head and rubbing your tummy at the same time. The recording is terrible but I'm going to put it up for now and then try again in the morning. If you listen really hard you can hear it swimming around.

Baby Heart Beat
(Many thanks to Sam for helping me get this up! He is my new hero.)

The other day I was on the phone with my sister and we were talking about the baby. Some how we got to the subject of moms who put their toddlers on the phone and how annoying it is. I was making fun and said I couldn't wait to put my little speech impaired two year old on the phone with her and go on with my day. Also it was later at night and she was trying to help her daughter to finish up a school project and kept talking to her. I kept "pretend" talking to my kid whenever she did. As in "get in here boy so I can beat you" and other abusive comments. We were laughing pretty hard and I said the dreaded words... that will never be me. Well, lets say not even ten minutes later we were wrapping up the conversation and I started messing around with the doppler. I got a really clear heart beat and held the phone up to it. And then in a baby voice I said "Hi, Auntie Naners". HA HA HA We started laughing so hard. The thing isn't even out yet and I'm putting it on the phone. I am that mother!!!!! Oh dear, help me.

We have a situation

2009-03-28T14:01:00.002-06:00

This is what flew into my house today while I was on the phone. I had to abort the call and run screaming into the bedroom for Jared to wake up and come help me. Unfortunately he was on about three hours of sleep and couldn't comprehend what I was yelling about. Luckily it flew back out after sniffing the tv and the blinds. Guess I won't be sitting with the porch door open anymore? I stole this picture- there is no way that menacing bugger would be sitting on my hand.

Philly, oh dear, Philly

2009-03-27T22:24:00.009-06:00

I know if I wasn't peeing in fifteen minute intervals, sick from not eating well, and had brought my own bed to sleep in I probably would have had a better time in PA but as it was- just not good. After driving all day we got into the hotel. In an attempt to save money Jared had pre-booked all our hotels online. Which is tricky because no matter what pictures they put up there it is nothing like seeing the gem in person....

Yep, that's the classy joint we arrived to. In Jared's defence I went back online later and the pictures had to have been from at least ten years ago and five paint jobs. And any good reviews were about as old. It was on the Jersey side of Philly if that helps explain. So after some convincing I went to the room. It was actually worse than I expected. I immediately texted my germaphobe sister and she agreed that I would need a full body condom to stay there. There was a thin layer of filth on everything. Including the bedspread. It said non-smoking but... lets be honest I think the cleaning lady had just finished off a pack in there. Also I think it was one of those joints that have people living full time, never a good thing. Jared went to try and get out of staying there and all he had to say ways "Uh hey man, my wife is pregnant, and she won't stay here." The guy didn't even ask any questions. Which makes me think I'm not the first wife who wouldn't stay there.

I don't know what people used to do before blackberry's and wifi. I scrambled to find a Starbucks so we could get online and find a new hotel. We found one downtown but found parking a few miles away. Okay not miles more like blocks but it felt like miles. After trekking in we realized we only had a half hour to find a hotel before they closed. We looked around and saw that Penn has a hotel on campus. It was almost triple the cost of our Jersey hotel so it had to be nicer huh? A little? Just a tiny? Nope. Well, maybe a tiny. It still smelled of smoke but not nearly as bad. The place hadn't been remodeled since it was built. And no Internet. That's a deal breaker. It DID come with the first ever blow dryer built into the wall. No, I did not use it but Jared tried.

The next day we got up and after touring the campus we decided we needed to find another Starbucks and some wifi to find yet another hotel. After getting all that done we decided to drive around the neighborhoods to see where we would be living if we did end up going to Penn. Some of the houses looked scary but some were cute. I was trying to talk myself into thinking I could push the baby down to the local market without getting mugged. I think if I carried pepper spray I could get away with it.

That night we checked into a decent and acceptable hotel, crashed and called it good. The next day was Jared's interview. He got back and announced that he no longer wanted to go to Penn. Nice honey. But after talking it over I agreed. PA is just not for us. We decided not to let the trip be a total bust and try and do some touristy things. I don't know if anyone else watches food network compulsively like me but I had seen a show about "the best Philly cheese steaks in the country" once and wanted to check it out. It's basically two shops facing each other competing. I did my research and decided we would try Geno's. It was not only not the best I have ever had. It wasn't even in the running. Awful. They used canned mushrooms that were soggy and partially grilled cold onions. Somethings just are not worth the hype. Or the twenty dollars.

We spent the rest of our day driving around checking out all the neighborhoods we can't afford to live in. Oh and trying to find the museum only to get there and find out it was closed on Mondays. We ended up back at the hotel where Jared fell asleep and I watched crap cable for a few hours. By the time he woke up I was starving and it was getting late so we decided to try and find somewhere for dinner. After going back and forth about it for about an hour we realized we just needed to get in the car and go somewhere before everything closed. We ended up in the town near our hotel, Springfield, at a joint called Mo's. I guess they had a thing for the Simpsons? They only served bar food because it was so late. I settled for soup and Jared tried this monstrosity. I got sicker than hell and we had to rush back to the hotel to find a bathroom. After I got done being sick I realized in the meantime my phone had called my friend Alison. Alison, please forgive me for being sick on your voicemail.

By the last day we were just ready to get the heck outta dodge. It's good to be home. Migraine and all.

Ouch

2009-03-27T13:58:00.002-06:00

This is how you feel after you have had a migraine for THREE DAYS. There is nothing worse than going to bed with a headache only to wake up and find its still there....

Boston

2009-03-25T20:36:00.013-06:00

Sometimes you go on vacation and it's so nice and relaxing and lovely. And sometimes not. Jared and I went to Boston and Philly last week and it was one bad thing after another. Before we left Jared got a letter from Boston bypassing the interview process and accepting him into Boston College. Unfortunately after looking into it some more we realized their program is primary care and not acute. We had a flight, hotel, and car all in Boston and we knew we were not going to move there. So we had three days to kill before we were driving up to Philadelphia for his interview on Monday. It started out nice enough. We got into Boston and took naps to recover from our flight, then went downtown to the Faneuil Hall market. Lots of places to eat and shop. We arrived late and was hoping to find something good but not too pricey. Inside is a bunch of food stands but neither of us were really into fast food. So we walked around in the 40 degree weather looking at all the restaurants. We overheard a touristy looking family ask a security guard were to find Wagamama. Wagamama? I'm intrigued. We follow them to this restaurant that is an asian noodle house. It sounded so good. Unfortunately it seems whenever I decide to try something different it never is as good as I hoped. I ordered a spicy shrimp soup in coconut broth. Sounds good huh? Made me really sick. I couldn't sleep very well that night due to the taste in my mouth and burning heartburn. (the things people don't tell you about being pregnant)

On day two we decided since we had a car we would drive down to Plymouth and look around then onto Provincetown. Plymouth is so cute but Massachusetts is not for people who haven't experienced cold weather in months. I literally had to take my pictures from the car I was so cold. I don't know why but a really important part of a good vacation is good food for me. Plymouth was pretty lame on the off season. Maybe its from growing up in the middle of nowhere and having to travel to eat out. I really wanted to find some kind of tasty lobster shack type thing and get fresh seafood. Instead we ended up at some little lunch joint that had terrible salads and even worse sandwiches. When we got back into our car we drove about fifty feet and saw ten or more little shacks just like I was looking for. Hmm. We drove on to P-town. It's on the very tip of Cape Cod and is known for it's gay and lesbian culture. I pictured lots of cute shops and art galleries.Which is what it was, sort of. Except it was a ghost town because its March and anyone with brains is vacationing in Mexico not the east coast. I actually liked this day the best. Jared took some time to throw down his gang signs. And he was brave enough to touch the water. I was too busy getting pelted with sand.

Day three started out lovely with a phone call from the front desk at 5:30 am asking if the facets were leaking in our room. The first time Jared just picked up the phone and hung it up thinking they mistakenly were calling for a wake up call. The phone rang every fifteen minutes until we finally woke up enough to realize the room above us was flooding down the walls and into the rooms beneath us. A maintenance man came and checked out the bathroom and ceiling. Which is pleasant when you are still in bed. We didn't think any had got into our room until I woke up much later to find the floor on my side of the bed was completely soaked and the bottom of our suitcase was soggy. We had no idea that was just the beginning of our hotel nightmares. We decided to get some breakfast and move on. We spent the whole day driving up to Philly. All in all Boston wasn't terrible but it definitely wasn't good. Now Philly was terrible...

This is how I hope Jared is feeling lately

2009-03-25T20:17:00.000-06:00

CRREEEPPPYYY

2009-03-16T15:01:00.004-06:00

AHHHH my worst fear has come true. I uploaded pictures of Jared and I on Makemebabies.com (because really isn't that just good clean fun?) and guess what!!! EEEKKKK! It's a red-head.

It's hard to find good face shots but here is what it would look like if it was a girl:

And here is what it would look like if this baby just happened to be Brad Pitts and mine:

Visitors

2009-03-11T13:43:00.008-06:00

I thought moving to here we wouldn't get to see our families as much but it seems like we actually see them more. Well, mine at least. I love it. So far this year I have spent a week at C.'s loving her new house and a week in Alton relaxing and enjoying N.'s family. And we have had lots of visitors too. N. brought her family down around cmas and we got to drive around and see all the lights and shop. This past few weekends my brother Lane has been staying with us because he is taking some classes down here. Last weekend he brought his three boys and it was so fun. They are silly boys. I know I'm not ready for three yet. One will be fine. We did some fun things though. Well, at least Jared and I had fun, they were probably like who are these people and how did we get stuck with them? Their three yr old was cracking me up the whole time. He was fascinated with Jared and Clint. He followed Jared around and watched everything he did. He wanted to help with anything he could. Clint has pictures of his kids on the counter and he kept asking him are they Jared's? And then he would ask where is Clint? Where was his room? But I think the best was when he asked if Clint and Jared showered together. Ha Ha. Lane's kids are full of it. Lots of humor.

We took them to the bird sanctuary to walk around and they just wanted to know if they could catch the birds or shoot them or throw rocks at them. Hmm. Not so much. I think they are used to their family ranch. We also decided to go to this place downtown "Enchanted Island". It's like a little mini theme park inside of the city park. Just ten or so rides. It was pretty fun for us. I think they had fun. They rode all the rides they could then we rented at paddle boat and took it around the river. It was geared towards younger children but at least it got us out of the house. By the time we were done though they were over having their picture taken.

Preggo Cravings

2009-03-05T22:59:00.017-07:00

I have a confession to make. I dream about food. Every night. I'm past the nausea and into the super hungry stage. Last Thursday I had a dream about a burrito from Cafe Rio. Mmmm. So I woke up and told Jared today we were going there. But unfortunately some things happened and we didn't end up going. I woke up the next day and it was the first thing I thought about. But again we didn't get a chance. Three days later I was still craving it so on Sunday we went for lunch and had take-out. It really didn't hit the spot. I think they made it too soon or we were slow getting it because it got a little congealed and although it was good it just wasn't like my dream.

SO... fast forward to this morning. Well, lets be honest, the whole pregnancy, I CRAVE SUSHI. Every day I think about it. But if I had to pick one sushi in particular it would be the spicy tuna tempura roll from Thaifoon at the Gateway in SLC. Divine. When I worked at Gymboree I would order this roll almost weekly for lunch. The cashier/greeter knew me by name. I had yet another food dream last night about this roll. I woke up sad because there is no way to get the roll here in AZ. (believe me asking them to ship it did cross my mind) During the day my brother and his wife text me to tell me they were at the Gateway shopping and I jokingly said to go order me a roll and send it. Which got me thinking.... I decided to google Thaifoon and just make sure there wasn't one in Arizona. I look around and find out that there is only one other location and it just happens to be in......SCOTSDALE!!!! Jared worked tonight but Clint was just hanging around and I didn't give him a choice he had to go find this place with me. We got all ready, found the address and were on our way. I was so excited I could not sit still. We drove over to Scotsdale and drove up and down, one strip mall to the next. No Thaifoon. Hmm. We stopped at a resort and asked the employees if they knew where it was. Sure about eight miles further down the road. Down the road we go. No Thaifoon. Hmm. So I call 411 (cause you know I'm not giving up that easy) ask for the number, get connected and well, the number is disconnected. Tears. Honest tears came to my eyes.

Clint is the person you want with you if you want to get stuff done. I'm saying anything. Lots of little suggestions about everything. He will make stuff happen. So he suggest I call the SLC Thaifoon and just make sure its closed down. I call. Yep. Closed. But they do have a sister restaurant nearby that has some of the similar menu items- less "ambiance". I don't care about the same menu or the ambiance. I want the spicy tuna tempura roll. Ling and Louie's here we come. Twenty minutes later we find the place. It looks shut down. Dark outside. We park and go over anyways. Its open!!! And it smells just like Thaifoon. Yay! We get seated and can't stop laughing. I think Clint was laughing at the sheer madness of it all but me? Sheer joy.

And guess what I saw walking in on someone else's table? Not one but two rolls! I note that not only is the price $2 less than SLC but it is THE SAME EXACT ROLL BUT BIGGER. So I order then after we order Clint notices a Monday thru Friday specials sign. Guess what Thursday is? All you can eat sushi. Yep. Best. Day. Of. My. Life. (and don't worry I have left overs in my fridge right now)

I must put a disclaimer least you think I'm slowly killing my baby with raw fish this is the first sushi I have had all pregnancy.

Jared, entertaining himself

2009-03-04T14:52:00.004-07:00

We clearly need friends. The other day Jared and I were really bored and decided to play a little Guitar Hero. The only thing I like to do is play the guitar so that leaves Jared to play the drums or sing. We started playing and I had to go to the bathroom. I came back to this:

Yes, this is exactly what you think it is. Jared stuffed the mic into the back of the couch so he could multi-task and do both parts. Obviously, we need either a mic stand or some friends.

Where to go, what to do

2009-03-04T14:07:00.004-07:00

We had our second midwife appointment yesterday and got to hear the baby's heart for the first time! I almost started bawling when I heard it. 170 bpm and its only ten weeks old. My midwife said that she predicts a girl and even wrote it on our chart. Hmm, I don't know why but I keep feeling boy. Maybe I'm just mentally prepping myself in case it is a boy because I've always wanted a girl. I think having girls first just sets a nice relaxed tone for the whole family. None of those wild boys. Ha ha. I probably feel that way because I have five brothers. I remember when Cloyd and Kimmy were pregnant I really wanted them to have a girl and so did Cloyd. I think he even teared up a little when he found out boy but oh my gosh their little boy is SO CUTE. So I think its best if I just say I want a healthy baby. It took her forever to find the heart beat and I started to freak out a little because I keep reading horrible things about how your body can just grow an abnormal mass and you think its a baby. The Internet has all sorts of nonsense.

I'm having a really hard time visualizing the baby at all. We are not living where we will live when the baby is born so I can't go into the babies room and look around. We haven't bought anything and I know its early to but who wants to drag more stuff cross country? Jared has finished all his grad school applications and I am so nervous to see where we end up. He applied at five schools. I'll list them in order of where I want to live: Boston (BC), Philly (Penn), San Fran (UCSF), Denver , and Chicago (Rush). I really wanted him to apply to Yale because its in CT and I want to move back there but I guess I'll just have to settle for anywhere on the east coast. Jared has an interview with Penn in the middle of March so we are going to take a little trip while we are there and drive down to Boston and tour both schools. I'm proud of him for even getting an interview. It should be a fun trip to take.

I'm not moving anywhere else without seeing it first. Arizona was a mistake on that part. Had someone told me it was just like Las Vegas with out the strip and the fun parts I'd like to think I would have thought first. It was 89 degrees two days ago and we decided to go walk around the bird sancutuary by the library. I thought I was going to die of heat stroke. Of course Jared thinks I'm a whimp. Life really just isn't the same without the winter. It feels so strange. But it is nice to go out and go on walks in the morning and not be cold.

Is it a fork or a spoon?

2009-02-14T01:07:00.005-07:00

I found out what my baby is. Yep. I had a dream about it last night. I'm having a.... puppy. Well, I guess. It looked just like the one from Marley and Me. So at least it's going to be cute. And when the doctor put my brand new wet puppy over the blue tarp well, it was just the happiest day of my life. Wondering about the blue tarp? Well, that's what happens when you start tivo-ing A Baby Story and all the moms have to have c-sections and they cover them up with tarps. Its fantastic. Oh and I just want to put the word out for other pregnant women: Do not go see Coraline. Let me say I loved it at the time but the dreams afterwards are very intense. That metal hand pulled me down into the covered well and you do not want to know what was down there. I think the dreams are a consolation since you aren't actually supposed to do lsd while pregnant? I'm not sure but when I wake up (three, five, seven, ten) I feel like I'm coming down from a pretty good trip.

I wanted to mention a blog I adore since it is Valentines and we all love a great love story. http://nieniedialogues.blogspot.com/ She began her blog in September of 05 and it is just beautiful. It its written from such a romantic and tender point of view. But if you do read it you MUST start at the beginning, or at least the middle. I promise if you do you will fall in love. I read it over the course of this past week and towards the end I was so addicted I had to stay up until two to finish it. And when I got done I sat with tears streaming down my face and the realization of how much I love my family and how lucky I am. I admire her simplistic views on life. Thank you to my sister N. for turning me onto this wonderful blog.

I get to spend all next week in Alton seeing my family and I can not wait. I just went up last week for a quick trip and I was very sick the whole time so I'm hoping this time will be better. I can't wait to spend some time with my mom since she was traveling while I was there. And N. has lots of crazy fun activities planned so hopefully it will distract me from the sick. Alton is like a little private island. I feel like when I go there I fall off the map. I love it. Except for the snow... especially since the only pants fitting me right now are capris. Not sure what I'm going to do about that. But maybe I'll find something fun to blog about since life has been pretty tame lately. Happy Valentines Day everyone.

Introducing...

2009-01-31T14:29:00.012-07:00

My little peanut. When this ultrasound picture was taken I was six weeks one day. The little alien didn't even have a heartbeat yet. I was supposed to have a ten day follow up when we could possibly hear the heartbeat but we ended up having to change insurance this past week and found out that my ob-gyn doesn't accept our new insurance. During all this we also found out that since technically I didn't use any fertility treatments my doc was planning on dropping me at nine weeks anyways. Hmm. Wonder when they were going to mention that? I'm actually pretty glad because the office I was going to had a case of a too well oiled machine. There are tons of people who work there and they all have very specific jobs so no one communicates with each other and therefore no one communicates with the patient. It was confusing to have appointments not knowing what they were for until you showed up. And then to ask questions and have them answered by oh well I'm the ultrasound tech I don't cover that and so on. We found a birthing clinic that has both docs and nurse-midwives nearby. Since I have wanted a nurse-midwife all along I'm glad we found it. I have my first appointment on the 5th and I hope we get to hear the heartbeat then. Its frustrating since the person we find won't ultimately be delivering the baby anyways considering we are moving in June or July. If you ask me the sooner the better. I'm ready to get out of the desert. It's 72 right now and we have the windows open and the fans on. Welcome to Arizona in January. As far as I'm feeling, well, not so great. I guess last time I wrote about being sick I didn't realize that was just a warm up. I now know what sick really is. Oh and tired. Today I woke up at ten starving had a bowl of cereal and then layed down on the couch to relax and woke back up at twelve thirty. I'm sure all this sleep is burning lots of calories. I feel like a hibernating bear. I took a six week photo that actually looks like six months but I want to have this record for when I really can't see my toes. And so everyone can see my progress.

A little Crafty

2009-01-24T23:01:00.007-07:00

The last few weekends Jared has been working nights at his job so I've been SO BORED. He leaves for work at seven and doesn't get home until eight the next morning. It would be okay if he could hang out with me during the day but he usually ends up sleeping until two to get up and eat and get ready to go again. I'm either home by myself of I'm home trying to be quiet so he can sleep. I'm not someone who needs constant amusement usually but lately without having a job I feel like I'm verging on needy. I'm sure its a lot of fun to live with. Well, tonight he got ready and left for work and I started watching some tv when randomly the tv pops up with a warning for a scheduled recording of the x-games. That's fine you can watch another channel while one is recording so I keep watching when about a half hour later it pops up with a soccer game recording. WELL... I had been somewhat warned this would happen but I guess I didn't realize he meant from seven until ten at night. If I thought it was something he could live without I would just cancel it but we all know how Jared is about his sports. But I was now locked out of the tv. I decided I needed to get out of the house anyways so I went to Michael's Crafts to browse around and see what I could come up with to do since I keep having all these crazy dreams that I'm super artsy. Um, not so much. With some help from my mom and N. (thanks guys!) I decided I wanted to buy a canvas and paint an elephant to match the bedding I want. Who knows if I'll actually use it I just thought maybe it would be fun to try. I grabbed some acrylic paint and went to work. It turned out pretty much how I thought. Amateur hour at the Thorley's. But it was fun to try and a good challenge for me. I really enjoyed it and may give it another go now that I know what to expect. This is honestly my first time ever painting since I barely skimmed by in art class at Valley (what a joke). Be gentle in your judgements.