A Very (Cougar) Merry Christmas

We had a very nice Christmas! We started out on Christmas Eve with Scotty's family. We ate sandwiches, frosted cookies, and just had fun hanging out.

We also did our family gift exchange. Scotty got his DREAM present: a silky!

And of course, it had to be BYU. What else?

And I got an I-Spy book! I love these books!! Thanks so much, Liz (and family)!

Scott and I woke up early Christmas morning and opened all our presents together. I got some nice cardigans and shirts, a candle warmer, more I-Spy books, and a bookshelf! Scotty got lots of clothes, including but not forgetting.....a BYU hoody!

Then we went up to church with our families (who are in the same ward, which makes it nice). They had a very beautiful Christmas program where both my dad and my sister had solos. They did so well! After that, we went to my family's house and had breakfast and opened presents with them.

Greg had drawn our name. He got Scotty a....(drum roll....) BYU blanket! And he got Hailey a precious little pink blanket that of course also happens to be BYU!

Now I'm sure we can add our BYU stuff up to equal:

- 3 BYU blankets (one silky, one snuggy, and one normal)

- 3 BYU hoodies (2 for Scott, one for me)

- 3 BYU hats (one cap, two beanies)

- a million BYU t-shirts

- 1 BYU banana chair

- 1 BYU Christmas stocking

- 1 pair BYU sweats

- 1 BYU license plate frame

- 1 BYU lanyard

I think that's about it. If I remember anything else, I'll let you know.

We spent the majority of Christmas day with my family, but we did stop by Scott's family's again for a couple more presents and an early Christmas dinner (1pm). We got something that I have always wanted - a Fisherprice LittlePeople toy Nativity Set!! Grandma and Grandpa Benson say this is for Hailey for her first Christmas. Yay I am so happy! Thank you Ledge and Kaydean!

They also gave us a really nice cookie sheet from the school district (trust me...these are nice!), two gift cards to Deseret Book(/the old Distribution Center) (that will definitely come in handy as I start to grow even more!), and some food storage. Thank you so much!

I don't think I ever stopped being full all day long. We just ate and ate and ate. Everything was delicious, for sure! But I think being pregnant just doubley shrinks your stomach. I didn't eat nearly as much as I usually do and I was stuffed!

We ate another dinner with my family later that day, and then we watched "Sherlock Holmes" that Greg got for Christmas. It was pretty good. After that, we played Taboo, but by then, I really wasn't feeling well. More and more my belly is growing and adding a full stomach on top of that and a sore back from having to lay on my side and not being able to get comfortable because of big hips...well, anyway, you all know how that goes. I ended up laying on the couch a lot with a pillow between my legs, desperately trying to find a good position to let my curves be curvy and let my body relax. By and by, I was just ready to go home.

- Not that going home did me any good. I had such bad heartburn, I was almost to the point of burping up vomit - you know how that goes. It was awful. I couldn't get to sleep. My back and body ached. No more sweets for me!

Now that Christmas is over, I can't believe it's almost time for Hailey to come! I know we still have a few more months, but I know those months are going to go by fast, and we still have lots to do. It will keep me busy, and I am excited for that.

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas. We certainly did. I am especially grateful that we were able to celebrate Christmas on Sunday this year and worship our Lord and Savior, and get to partake of the Sacrament on this day that we remember Christ's birth.

Oh, and before I forget, here is a picture of the new and exciting thing in our life....our early Christmas Present!! We added a new member to the family and as far as we know, Sally the Sentra is happy to have a new sister. We named her Kat the Magnum. We got her two weeks ago and has been very good to us. I hope you don't think we are crazy for getting a second car. Well, we kind of are, but unfortunately in this day and age, we really need it. Once Scotty starts flying next semester and I am working full time, there is no way we can juggle everything without having two cars. Plus, the Magnum is big enough for a carseat and more! This will be a good family car. (And sorry - this is the best picture I could get right now. I will have to get a better one later!)

Merry Christmas Everybody and a Happy New Year in one week!

Well

Well, I know it's been a few days since I have posted, so I thought I would just post right now to keep you updated on whatever is going on in our lives. I don't want to write too much about something exciting that may be coming up in our lives, because if I do write about it right now, then I am probably going to jinx us and then it won't happen, and that would be very sad. So this is all that I am going to say about that. And that is that.

But in other news, the semester is over almost, which is nice. We just have our few finals this week and then we will be done for Christmas break. And I will be done-done, like, done with my Associates. It will be very nice. Although I will go back someday to get my bachelor's because I truly want to be a choir teacher, but right now I feel good about just getting my Associates and calling it good right there. Scotty is signed up for his classes next semester. Poor fellow is going to be working full time and going to school full time. Whatever are we going to do. However, I don't think he is going to complain that much because, well, let's face it, he is going to be living his dream about 3 times a week by flying up in the sky. I don't think he can complain much.

Hailey is kicking more than ever!! We are finally seeing my stomach bounce around - it has been SOOO exciting! Scott gets so excited when I tell him she is kicking, and he'll run over to me and put his hand on my stomach and sit and wait patiently for her to kick again. She is usually pretty good for him and will kick again at least once for him. This is such an exciting (I know, I am using that word a lot) part in the pregnancy, because even more it is so amazing to literally see that there is a living being inside of me that is, well, alive, and kicking, and moving and functioning. It is truly...a miracle!

I am desperately trying to get myself into the Christmas mood. It has been especially hard this year with NO SNOW. We have the tree up, we play the Christmas music, I mean, Christmas is in 2 weeks! But it just doesn't feel like it, no matter how hard I try. We haven't even done any Christmas shopping yet, which I know is so horrible. But I really am trying to get into the Christmas spirit. I suppose there are other places around the world and the United States that don't get snow in the winter (but still get bitterly cold? I mean, come on), so it absolutely means that Christmas does not have to include snow in order for it to still be enjoyed. I will just have to content myself right now with reading my Christmas books and drinking hot cider by the lit up Christmas tree to Christmas music playing in the background and the blinds shut tight - that way I can just pretend that there is snow outside to complete the scene.

And in case any of you were wondering, baby gifts are more than welcome as Christmas gifts for me/us this year. Just in case you were wondering ;-)

Oh, also, I suppose some of you may also be wondering about baby showers and such. To be quite honest, I have no idea when that is going to be. My sisters (and/or friends or co-workers? No idea, really) are in charge of that (those??), so I am thinking that as soon as Christmas is over, the shower planning may start. Who knows. I wasn't planning on even thinking about showers until we got into January anyway, so yeah. That's my little two-bits about a baby shower. I'll keep you posted either way.

Well, this is enough for now. I am just trying to kill time while my husband sits and reads Mockingjay. I hope you all had a nice weekend and hope you all will have a good week at work this week! And Happy Christmas Shopping!

6 Months and 1 Week

Well. I Feel Successful!

And....this is basically what my kitchen drawers looked like. That's little mice poop, mixed with some sage leaves they probably got into that I had in a little baggy. The drawer right above it had my towels. It looked about the same, and one of my good towels was all chewed up in one spot!! I forgot to take a picture - I will have to do that later.

So my AMAZING mom sacrificed her time and came over to help me clean out my drawers. Yes. We washed every one of those dishes. In the hottest water we could stand. I guess this was a good opportunity to reorganize everything anyway, right?



And we had success!! Look at that little sucka...too bad he can almost be consider CUTE if it weren't for the fact that he wreaks so much havoc in my life. We got you good, little mouse! And glue traps? You are my new best friend. Zero mess - it all goes with you. Too bad Scotty and I just barely bought the traditional mouse traps...if there are any more out there, hopefully it won't make too much of a mess in my drawer before I have to put everything back in (well, I'll have to sanitize it again anyway). We will definitely be getting glue traps from now on.

Awww....poor wittle mouse...HAHA!!

(And yes, I shouldn't gloat too much in my success. There's probably a whole family out there waiting to take revenge on me now. I really hope not! :( )