One and Two Make THREE!

So, I was going to be good and not post this until I was three months along (12 weeks) because thats when its more normal to post, and we might have an ultrasound by then....but I decided to post now, two weeks earlier. Our baby will be #35 on the Rasmussen side, and around # 3 on Sterling's side...but I think both sides of the family are REALLY excited! (everyone already knows, so its not like this post is a big shocker) We are due August 7th, 2011.

So, I keep getting asked how everything is going. Pretty ok. I'll be able to get on my parents insurance July 1st, so for check-ups, we're trying for Medicaid (hopefully we qualify) and since we haven't been approved yet, I haven't been to the doctor yet. So lets just say, a HUGE THANK YOU to all of my wonderful five older sisters who have been AMAZING at giving me advice and tricks for getting rid of nausea.

I had an entire week of throwing up 5 times a day, but thanks to my oldest and wisest sister and some wonderful modern medicine, I only get nauseous about twice a day now, and haven't thrown up since. I have lost 10-15 pounds-ish, which is a little annoying. I lost fifteen pounds before my wedding(on accident, not on purpose), happily gained about ten of it back, and have since lost it all again. The annoying thing is, now that I'm losing weight again, none of my pants stay up. Hmph. I did go out and buy one pair of a size smaller jeans just to make myself feel cute, but its kind of a waste, since I'll probably never fit them again in my life. Sigh.

The below picture is the DAY we found out I was pregnant....before losing all the weight. I should do another picture now, of me 13 pounds lighter. Haahaa. One more month and I'm out of the first trimester, and hopefully not sick, and hopefully gaining weight by then!

Sterling has been an absolute angel. He sat with me on the bathroom floor after the first time he was home to hear me throw up several, several times. He's not too annoyed when I tell him not to touch me, not to breathe on me, not to sit by me (I know, I'm a cuddle-monster and I feel this way sometimes????) And he's been a saint about not cooking meat in our kitchen. The smell kills me. Other than that....we are SO EXCITED!!!!!!! We planned it for the summer so we can adjust before another semester begins, and we feel like it is perfect timing! Welcome baby Haws!

Oh yeah, and Christmas was great! Yay for our first Christmas together! We had lots of traveling and lots of family fun. Sterling got a fish tank...so I guess that means we're getting fish, and I also got him a razor and I cut his hair today all by myself for the very first time!!!! It turned out pretty good too.

Fun things in our Neighborhood

I have a really cool cousin that posted on how to make your pictures bigger on your post. By following her tutorial, I managed, and it worked just perfectly! I'm pretty excited. Last night Sterling and I went to SLC with the institute marrieds' presidency (of which we are over activities, so you should all come to our Valentine's dance in February because it will be stellar. Plus, its on our anniversary) and we went to an INCREDIBLY delicious restaurant(Market Street Grill), where I managed to keep down all my food, which was a plus, and then we wandered temple square.

These are our good friends Brittney and Eric. They live in our apartment complex, climbed the 16mile Ben Lomond with us over the summer, play games with us frequently, and I had Brittney's dad for an 8th grade teacher at South Ogden Junior High. We also just found out we had the same teacher for Kindergarten (I was AM and she was PM) and we were in the same 1st grade class at Wasatch Elementary before I moved to North Dakota (she's in my scrapbook! hahaa). They're pretty much awesome, so I thought I'd add a picture.

I was really, really cold. But the lights were beautiful!

And this is a Christmas present, that I got really excited to open on Sunday night when we were playing games...so we opened it. It was one mean game of Jenga!

Shocking

Yesterday we went to a reception for one of Sterling's really good friends from high school. We were scared we wouldn't make it in time to see them, as Sterling barely got off work in time to run there. We made it just as they were about to make their escape, and we gave them a big hug. Then we stood around and talked a little bit with some of Sterling's old buddies. His friends like to joke a lot, and they were chatting about something while I kissed Sterling several small times (honestly, I didn't even notice it that much until it was pointed out). His friend Cameron pretended to be all disgusted, so I took Sterling's head in my hands, wrapped my leg behind his, Sterling lifted me up a little (you see, I'm too short to actually kiss him without some sort of compromise) and we REALLY kissed. I think all of his friends were rather shocked. It was quite fun. To all of their hoots and hollers I merely said "My dad would've called us amateurs." To which Sterling laughed and said "I have some pretty sweet in-laws."

Sterling said they probably were so surprised because if they had the same idea of what I was like, as he did when they were all in high school, he didn't think that was at all something I would have done. Apparently he thought I was task-oriented, driven, and not very fun. Hm. He never partied with Aleesha and me.

Later, Cameron told us he thought we were a really great couple. I wonder if the kiss had anything to do with it. HAHA

Cocktails in Heaven

I really like the dentist I work for semi/part/time. I used to assist for him before I went to hygiene school, and if he wasn't retiring and only working 3 days a week and already had hygienists working for him, he always tells me he'd employ me full-time. Thanks for the thought, at least.

Yesterday I was working there, and the assistant that was working with me was telling a patient about a blessing her bishop had given her on Sunday. The assistant has been inactive for a long time and still has a hard time getting to church, and I assumed she must know the patient, or at least that the patient was LDS. I was listening to their conversation when all the sudden the lady said "Well I'm not LDS but I believe their religion! I'd be a Mormon, except I can't live it." The dentist, who was in the operatory by that time asked why, and she said because she liked her weekend cocktails too much. So the Dr., being sneaky, said "Well, I believe that God doesn't mind too much if you drink your cocktails." And that kinda took me by surprise, because I know he's a solid LDS member.

The lady was also surprised and asked him what he meant. He continued to ask her about what she believed in. She said she believed their story, the Book of Mormon, and thought they were really good people. She thought their standards were good, but she just couldn't see what was wrong with a cocktail over the weekend.

The dr. agreed with her, and said that even when Christ was on the earth they drank wine and there was no problem. Again he said that he didn't think God minded that we drank a cocktail here or there, but then he explained to the lady that when Joseph Smith received revelation that we shouldn't drink alcohol, it was because we had to have standards that set us apart from the rest of the world in the latter-days. He said that God foresaw how many tragic things could happen in the world from alcohol and knew it was a good thing for His people to stay away from, and that is why we don't believe in drinking alcohol. But not because it was something terribly bad for a person to do in moderation always and forever. And then he said he thinks she'll be able to drink cocktails in heaven, and when she does, and two Mormon missionaries come up to her in heaven, he hopes she'll listen. And she said she definitely would.

It was an awesome conversation.

My musical ability...or lack thereof

An old man in our ward asked me to accompany his saxophone solo at a rest home a while back. I, of course, said that would be just fine. He asked, and I told him that I could play pretty much anything, especially because he was giving me so much notice.

Let the world be told: I retract that statement. I used to think I could play pretty much anything with enough advance notice. I no longer think that.

Now, I know I didn't major in piano performance, and that I am not an especially grand piano player, but for most intents and purposes, I can pretty much sight read anything. Bad habit, I know, but I rarely practice even when I know I'm a little off, because most people never notice.

This guy is a musician. And he asked me to accompany Harlem Nocturne. I have no problem with the notes. No problem with the playing everything just perfect...but thats just my problem. Sterling came and listened to us. I play it too perfectly. It's a jazz piece. And no, I never really played a jazz piece before when accompanying, and this is a new experience. Sterling came and listened to us practice, and told me to just chill and play around a bit, slow down, and enjoy the blues. I appreciate blues music, I even did a HUGE report on blues music in 10th grade, and I really enjoy it. Apparently I have a really hard time playing it.

Sterling gave me a small lecture on the finer points of jazz music and I just can't wrap my head around it. In my mind, the accompanist's role is to be steady, on beat, and kind of background music so that the soloist can do whatever they want, hold whenever they want, play it however they want...and I just follow along. Sterling got very frustrated that I couldn't see beyond this viewpoint. I just can't ad lib very easily on the piano, or make stuff up, or jazz up whats written in front of me. I'm sorry honey, its all I've ever known. And I thought I was pretty good at it too!

Alas, hopefully tomorrow goes well and I don't have to accompany a saxophone jazz piece again anytime soon.

Sick

Dad used to quote a Shel Silverstein poem about beards growing to toes:

My nose runs to my toes

I never stops my blows.

I wraps my blows arounds

my nose, and through the days

I goes.

I am so SICK of my cold. I have been sleeping and sleeping, I have been blowing and blowing, my nose is raw and skin is flaking off because I have been blowing it so much, I cough and hack and cough all day long, and that kills my sore throat that hurts every time I swallow. Yes, I am whining, but really? Aren't colds supposed to go away after four days? I am SICK of this.

When You Have a Gratitude Attitude...

I really need to buy those tapes, my children HAVE to know those songs!

Things I am Thankful For, Thanksgiving 2010:

• THE SEXIEST HUSBAND ALIVE!
• warm apartments that are cozy and have beautiful CHRISTMAS LIGHTS!
• lots of dental hygiene subs jobs to supplement my part-time/as-needed job at Dr. Adam's
• My wonderful hubby that made a whole song in the car on the way to school today, and I can't remember what it was about, but it was hilarious.
• popcorn and butter with white cheddar seasoning...I've been on a kick
• my roommate's wedding--she was so beautiful and it brought back so many wonderful memories of our two years that we lived together, and my own beautiful wedding(I think mine was much more beautiful than hers, but hers wasn't red, so what can I say?)!
• I am thankful I am graduated for college. Poor, poor little friends that are still in Dental Hygiene. Brutal.
• A husband who is insanely kind and loving ALWAYS
• Build-A-Bear. Sterling got $20 for volunteering at Marrieds Committee last week(!!!!). We made a date to build-a-bear, because I have never been and really wanted to go. I had an idea of making bride and groom, but wasn't in love with the dress...so we made old bears in sweaters: Norman and Louise. They sit on our bed and I am in LOVE! It was an awesome date.
• My husband, who studies so hard.
• My family! Someone at work today said they were having a HUGE Thanksgiving dinner, I asked how many? and she said 8 adults, 4 kids...and then looked at me like she expected some enormous response. HAHAHA!! Try something like 18 adults and 30 kids!
• My best friend Aleesha telling me about the new tv series (??I think its called An Ordinary Family) because its clean, and its fun, and I like to watch it on hulu after dinner when my husband is studying.
• My best friend Aleesha and her husband Adam. We have so much fun!
• A car that keeps running. Even though it does odd things, I think it just likes to make us appreciate it.
• my piano. I love it.
• The gospel. This is my last bullet, but definitely not the least. I am so grateful that I am married in the temple to the most wonderful man alive and that we have our own little family for eternity. And that he holds the priesthood and takes such good care of me.

Like my...

Sterling told me the other day that I am always saying he is "like" someone in my family. Mostly Kami and Wyatt. He reminds me all the time of Wyatt because he does(or forgets) something and gives you this wide grin thinking that frees him from any responsibility. I have received MULTIPLE such grins from Wyatt in my lifetime. Or the fact that when the two of them get together they're like little boys all over again. Or that they both have this odd obsession with fish or other little animals. He reminds me of Kami all the time because he likes to create things, either artistically, or on the computer, or any sort of thing like that. And any time he wants to watch a Star Trek episode I think of Kami. Or the fact that he loves the National Geographic and tells me random facts all the time, and asks if we can get the magazine subscription sometime soon. Or that he comes home and tells me all the interesting things he learned in class, that I probably wouldn't have found too interesting. All in all though, I think I say he is "like" someone so often because I have so many family members, with such a wide array of interests, that practically everything reminds me of my family a little bit.

But yesterday, during a fireside, he reminded me a lot of my dad. He's done this before, often when he makes up random words to tunes in the car(off-key, just like my dad, even though he can really sing like an angel), or whistles aimlessly, or pulls funny pick-up lines(reminds me of the funny 'foxy chick' lines dad pulls on mom), or even how he calms me down sometimes by mocking me(my family is strange, I know).

So, back to the fireside. I don't even remember what he was doing, but I know he was making it hard to concentrate, and we were on the stand because I was playing the piano and he was leading, so I handed him the book I was taking notes in, so it would make him less disruptive(and less hilarious, because I was trying to not be a disruption). I had been writing notes in bulleted points, so these are the bullets he added:

• Obey your husband!
• Respect his authority!
• Go to Disney Land.
• Go to Hawaii.

When I pointed out that even though these topics were discussed, I didn't think that was quite the message the speaker intended, he protested "I was just being guided by the spirit."

I was laughing, probably much to hard for being on the stand. Sigh. I LOVE MY MAN!

Happy Days

Yesterday Sterling took his last Chemistry test until the final. He did really well on it. Which may or may not get his grade as high as he needs to. The lamesauce professor has never said how much he'll curve, only that he will, and has never given them a grade for the class...so he really has no idea how he's doing overall in the class. His labs always went great, and luckily thats over, so he has three extra hours of free time on Wednesdays now until the semester is over!!!!!

To celebrate the end of that particular Chemistry test, and because Sterling--through some amazing miracle--had very little other homework due this weekend and none of it due Friday night, I planned a little getaway, with the help of my older sister Andrea. Sterling said he could smell the candles at the bottom of our apartment stairs. Oops. But our apartment was decorated amazing, let me just tell ya. And we got to sleep in this morning, and now Sterling is working on his little bit of math homework and we'll have the WHOLE DAY together! So we are going to the Draper temple. Because we think thats cool. Both of us went through the open house, but have never been back inside.

On another note, I found Sterling's last Christmas present yesterday, and since I couldn't think of anywhere to hide it, I wrapped it and put it underneath our Christmas tree. I am SO excited for Christmas!!!! And I am DYING to know what Sterling got for me. I have no idea. No idea, and and its driving me crazy! And this is how I want to cut my hair. But its getting SO LONG lately, that I can't quite convince myself to do it. So I'm going to dye my hair instead. I'm excited.

Christmas Tree!

We have been VERY excited for Christmas at our house....Sterling has been looking all over the place for these "singing Christmas tree lights" that he remembers having on his tree when he was really little. I told him it was some weird Kentucky thing and they didn't exist anymore because we couldn't find them anywhere. After much searching, he finally found some on the internet...and so we set up our Christmas tree the night they came! We also have lights around our big window...aren't they so pretty? This is our "H" ornament that we bought for the Haws family. We only bought one package of nine ornaments because we have a little tree and it doesn't really need any more...but we both liked this H and decided we'd have one odd-ball ornament.

Isn't it beautiful? Sterling's family always put candy canes on their trees...I think it looked really classy beforehand, and not so much with the candy canes, but I think its kinda cool too. I love our star. And I love our gold beads that wrap around. You can't really get the effect of having the lights on, but unfortunately my camera is lame and whenever I tried taking pictures of the lights without a flash, all you saw was dots of color, and with a flash it made the room look bright. Sigh.

And now, just because I never posted this picture...this is us at our ward halloween party. Paul Bunyan, and cowgirl. It was awesome.

Rainy Days and Mondays

I LOVE the Carpenters, and I love the song "Rainy Days and Mondays Always Get Me Down." Not that I necessarily agree with it, I just love the song. This morning it is raining, and it is Monday. So this morning I am subbing at another office, one that I have not been to before. I got up nice and early and arrived fifteen minutes early. And my first patient cancelled. This is hard because I haven't even completed one patient yet, to know what to do to fill in my time. They showed me around, and I looked through charts, figured out their machines, etc. And now, I am just waiting. Sigh. Hopefully its a busier day than this.

In other news, my beautiful niece Lynnaea got baptized this weekend and she was so cute! She just got upper braces and they are adorable! I was sick all weekend, but felt better Saturday night and proceeded to stay up WAY TOO late with our friends Adam and Aleesha, and pretty much went back to being sick on Sunday because I was so exhausted and my stomach couldn't handle food. Stupid flu bug.

Sterling put up Christmas lights around our windows and they are so beautiful! He is also annoyed at FedEx because they brought our musical lights, that he looked EVERYWHERE for, to the wrong apartment number on Saturday, so now we won't get them until Tuesday. I'm excited for them though, our first little Christmas tree is going to be amazing! I will post pictures as soon as it's up!

Funny Stories

Today was voting day. And since Sterling has been in political science all semester and very involved in everything, I was all primed to go vote and feel like I actually knew what I was voting for. The place to vote is right next to where I work part-time (luckily...I couldn't work there full-time, and besides, I'm starting to like subbing all over creation although I am getting sick of deciding last minute what my day will be like....anyway....) and because we only have one vehicle, Sterling actually walked to my work and took the car midway through the day so he could get to work. When this happens I usually go to my friend Chantelle's and hang out for the evening because both our husbands work and her apartment is on the same corner as the dental office. Nice. Anyway....voting is also a block away. So I walked to vote.

I gave the nice volunteer lady my ID and then as she searched for my name I watched her finger on the paper until she mumbled "sterling haws" and I said "That's my husband! I should be right here." And then another lady said "You know Sterling Haws?" and I said "That's my husband." And she got really, really excited along with another lady, because...lo and behold, Sterling had left his drivers license there when he had voted earlier on in the day, and they had planned on mailing it to us, but they were happy to give it to me. They thought it was hilarious that I wasn't too concerned that he had lost it. What can I say, it's Sterling! It was even funnier because our next-door-neighbors in our apartment complex were voting and they heard the whole story and had a good laugh. Really though, I think God decided that because he wouldn't create a perfect man, he invented the trait of forgetfulness. Every single morning I ask Sterling as we walk out the door if he has his wallet, phone, and keys. Every single morning he's missing at least one of them. Its his most often forgotten items. I suppose I can live with that.

Then when Sterling came home from work he had a hilarious Norman story to tell. Norman and Eleanor are my favorite people at Mountain Ridge Assisted Living because every single night Sterling has some funny story to tell about them, and he loves working with them. Sterling is a med tech so he takes pills to all the residents all day long in rounds. So he was talking with Norman and Eleanor while Norman was taking his pills (Sterling has to watch him take all of them) and I guess my homemade bread made it into the conversation, and Sterling told them that I always make homemade bread and that its delicious, and that I'm amazing...hahaaa. Norman said "Wow, that is amazing." So then Sterling said I was the perfect wife. "Yeah, but if she's perfect than why the hell did she marry you???" Haahaaahaaaa

So that is the funny little stories from our little lives. I could post all the CRAZY voicemails that my impatient sisters left all day long. They even left some on Sterling's phone, and Sterling said "Your sister called you 'goosey' on my voicemail today. I'm not even sure what that means." Haahaa. It was pretty funny. Also, today I watched a girl get fake eyelashes and it looked painful. I don't know if its worth it, and its especially not worth the money. The end.

Date Day

Sterling has had a TON TON TON of tests lately...which has greatly reduced our amount of time together. Thursday is one of his most free days, and his tests were all over...so when I got off work at 1:00, we went to the mall together. We weren't really buying anything, but it was so much fun to spend all afternoon with him!!! We spent an hour and a half at Quilted Bear. Crazy, I know. Initially we went in to see if they had any of the knitted stockings that I've fallen in love with. They didn't. But then Sterling noticed they had a whole corner of hot sauces. He spent FOREVER pouring over the labels. I even went and used the bathroom and came back and he was STILL reading them! (and yes, they have hot sauces 600x hotter than jabanero peppers....it says you have to dilute the sauce before using. Crazy.) It was funny too because later that night we were at marrieds committee and they fed us dinner (clam chowder, yum!) and Sterling turned to Eric (he lives in our apartment complex, is in our ward, and was on institute council last year, so we know Eric and Brittany really well) and said "We found the greatest thing at Quilted Bear today!!!!" and everyone just started laughing because, really, who gets that excited about Quilted Bear??? Haahaa. He actually bought some Dave's Insanity popcorn. Anyone's welcome to come and try it when he decides to pop it!

Then we went to the dollar theater and watched Toy Story 3, and can I just say, that movie is the best! I love it more than the other two! And I cried through the whole ending. Pathetic, I know. But hey, it was touching! Even better, now whenever Sterling flips through channels on the radio, he stops at the Spanish channel and says "I'm going into Buzz mode" and starts swinging his hips! Its the best. I love, love, love that man!

Then we went to Married's Committee and had a shortened lesson so we could all eat dinner! It was a fabulous day, and I'm so happy I got to see my hubby so much! Now....I should probably do something about the massive piles of scrapbooking paraphanelia and pictures all over our living room floor. Is it bad to just glue pictures to a plain-colored page so that you can have all your pictures from college and going to Chicago in order and stop worrying about it? Because really, I just want to do everything digitally from now on...but I still have these pictures to scrapbook, and I am so sick of them! That is all.

Marriage

I find it really annoying that every single time I compliment my husband in front of people they just smile and say "you're still newlyweds". It's not so annoying when its someone who actually knows us, but yesterday someone told me that at a dental office that I was subbing at, and she had never even met me until that day. I was saying that my husband is very, very, incredibly patient about everything and we were getting free massages and I said that if he was taught where my muscles are sore after a full day of hygiene, he would rub it for me at night. And they all just laughed at me. But they really didn't get it. Sterling wouldn't even care. He'd do it every night. Maybe some nights with less attentiveness than other nights, but its one of those things that wouldn't even bother him at all. Now, there's other things that he might not do for me, like pick up his socks(EVER!!! He leaves his socks EVERYWHERE, no joke, I found a dirty pair of his socks in our trunk once. How did they get there?) or any other number of things that don't need to be written down. Point of story-it just really bugs me, cause I hear that phrase ALL THE TIME. And aren't we supposed to be happily married? And is it so incredibly impossible to have a happy marriage after your supposed "newlywed" stage? Does it have to be something that is commented on so negatively? Can't they just say "That's so sweet that he would do that for you" or something like that?!?!?!?! Instead of acting like being happy is a one-time thing and will never happen again? And maybe we will do nice things for eachother less frequently when we've been married longer, but I'm sure we'll still do SOME nice things for each other. Bah humbug on everyone who shoots down happily married newlyweds.

Chocolate

Last night my hubby walked into the kitchen (following the smell of my beautiful loaf of banana bread) and started to laugh and said "I can tell you went shopping." "Why's that?" "Well, there's chocolate covered raisins on the counter, there's oreo's in the cupboard, and there's icecream in the freezer." Now, I ask you, why is that so hilarious? I think it shows that he had impeccable taste in a wife who really understands the necessities of life.

The night before last I made cheddar and ham soup---I always forget how much I love LOVE LOVE LO---VE that soup! I only made the recipe because usually I end up with excess amounts, and so we only had enough leftovers for one meal, and Sterling was very disappointed.

Cross your fingers everyone, because I subbed for an office today and I'm HOPING they want me to come back in January to cover a maternity leave. It would be 2 and a 1/2 days a week for eight weeks and that would just be really, really happy. I loved the office, loved the people, felt really comfortable, except for some reason I had a TERRIBLE time trying to figure out their xray machine. The dr. said that you can't just use the xray holder (like any other xray machine in the world) to direct it, you have to judge by the xray head. Which, yes, I assume we learned in school, but I have never had to use again because xrays are usually my easiest thing that I have no problem with...and you usually can use the xray holder. On bitewings I was fine. It was the PA's for full mouth series that I was having issues with. Luckily, the specific patient also needed a pano and so he told me my xrays were ok to keep, since he could see everything on the pano anyways. Sigh. Hopefully the dr understands that I would figure it out if I had to use it more and I'd be just fine!

Thats all folks. Wish me luck playing as the background music for a wedding tomorrow night!

Recent Happenings That I Have Been Too Lazy To Post Until Now...

This first picture was taken on my way to my mother's house, in Sardine Canyon. I was very disappointed in this canyon this fall, because it rained all week and got really cold all of a sudden, and so none of the leaves really changed colors, they just fell off. But I got a couple neat pictures.

This is what the sky looked like when I came out of the canyon. I pulled over and took pictures. It was amazing! These are the pumpkins that Sterling and I painted...and the pumpkin house and headstone. We had a lot of fun!This was one afternoon when Sterling wanted to put off homework for a bit, and we went a flew a kite. He flew the kite and played his guitar, I read my book and occasionally took pictures. But he is INCREDIBLY good-looking, especially here.Story of the collage: Sterling seemed very far away...so I got closer. Then he got camera-shy and tried to ignore me, when that didn 't work, he pouted, and when I took a picture of that, he smiled, hoping that would be enough. Then he started jamming out. Then he pretended nothing eveer happened. The end.This is the beginning of our "camping" party at Sterling's mom's house. (It was Fall Break this weekend). We were originally going to be at a cabin...but when that didn't work we decided to camp in the backyard (even though a tent was set up, we all ended up in beds, haahaa). This is everyone making tinfoil dinners. I think Jenny was trying to show off that she just got her braces off, but her tongue is kinda in the way!

This is all of us getting really excited to start the fire! (okay, mostly Jenny, but everyone really was excited)

Ethan was posing. As what, I'm not quite sure....haha!

I absolutely LOVE this picture of Cindy (mom) because she NEVER smiles big for the camera! You have to catch her off-guard!

Everyone warming up by the fire... We went to a pumpkin patch earlier in the evening, and everyone got to pick out a little pumpkin, they looked so cute on the mantle!!!

Jess took this picture for us, because she thought it was HILARIOUS that Sterling fell asleep while Jenny was trying to read him a story.

Grandma Ball was also reading stories!

This is a craft we did the next morning...mine looks a little shabby because some candy corn fell off on the drive home, but they were a lot of fun, even though we had a major homemade chicken noodle soup catastrophe mid-craft (not saying I was in charge or anything...)

The next night we stayed over at the Rasmussen household and Sterling stayed up with Wyatt and Tim until 4am playing the Wii. Sigh. The next morning Sterling did Chemistry homework while we went to the American West Heritage Center Fall Days. This is a man helping Emeline get the kernels off her corn cob.

Miriam made a corn husk doll, and I thought it turned out really pretty. Oh and that belly is Andrea's pregnant belly. Just so ya'all know.

This is Emeline's corn cob completely devoid of kernels. We tried to do that to Eli's, he got very upset. Later on, his kernels came in handy because he ate them. Haahaa.

This is Andrea's kids in a Model-T. I thought it was pretty nifty.

They gave train rides...it was awesome!

The only reason I have so many pictures to post is because Andrea had me take pictures for her of her kids...this is them riding in the caboose. Somewhat like a jail...which is why Andrea liked it so much! Haahaa After the jail, we put some kids in stocks...

We tried a corn maze, but we all were pretty tired and decided to cut through the corn and not follow the trail to get out. All in all, it was quite fun. Not quite as exciting as the first time I went there, but still fun to see the kids watch everything and get rides.

So, these have been our fall activities! Sorry you had to look at so many pictures!

Pic for Kayli

My sister decided it was post pics of your wedding day. Not that anyone is terribly interested in my wedding pictures, since it was only 8 months ago, and I still post pictures of it fairly reguarly. But here are some fun ones I've found since working on my wedding book in the last two days.

I don't know what I'm doing in this picture, but all I know is that if I'm leaning even a little bit, with no heels on...I am REALLY short next to my hubby! And I think its funny, because Marlowe looks so dead in the background. Oh, gotta love the line!This is another lovely picture of us standing in line, which I think is hilarious! Apparently, we weren't all too enthused at the moment about being there. Which is funny, because looking back it seemed to go by in such a blur! And I loved saying hi to everyone who walked through! Just not right then, apparently.
This is me and all of my stellar sisters, minus Kayli whom this post is for because she was far away in Switzerland. It's ok. Red's not her color.

This is me and all my stellar brothers. I don't know why the coloring is so bad...but this one I've touched up, and I promise...its a lot better than the older version! I feel especially short when I remember I'm wearing two inch heels in this picture.

That's all folks! Have a wonderful day!

My Honey

Once upon a time, my sister Kayli was engaged (or almost engaged?) and home for the holidays. While playing a card game, she was on the same team as dad and we had taken a break and I can't remember what she said but she referred to dad as "honey". We all laughed really hard for a long time. On Wednesday, I had flashbacks of this experience.

I had spent the morning canning applesauce with my mother and my little brother Ethan came upstairs for lunch. I was really excited about my applesauce so I said "HONEY! Look how good my applesauce looks!" Then I realized what I'd said, and Ethan had a little smile on his face, and mom was laughing. Hm. I think I call Sterling that. A lot.

Last night at the temple we saw the Hahn's, the family Sterling lived with before his mission, and it was super fun to see them. I love the mom, Melanie, she's always so interested in our lives and so happy for us, and tells us that we are so amazing. I love people like that.

Last night after the temple we went to Marrieds Committee at the institute (my favorite part of the week, mostly because I get to socialize with other young wives like myself) and a couple was asked to come up and role play an argument that they might have had. They sat down in chairs and then the husband got all choked up and said he was ruining the role play because he honestly couldn't remember what any of their arguments had been about, and that his wife was so sweet and that they always stayed in the same room and talked until they understood each other. It was the sweetest thing in my life. And I don't think it killed the role play at all.

My husband is the best man and husband in the whole entire universe of worlds. And he talked to me the whole drive to work today because I thought I was going to die on the freeway because it was raining so hard and hailing that I could barely see, and I was going 20 mph, and every truck that went past me sent water over my entire car. It was more than a little nerve wracking. I'm done with the rain. Really, really.

Holding Hands

I was telling someone as I cleaned their teeth about how I met my husband. (She told me she tried institute council, and it didn't work for her...haahaa) And for some reason the subject came up of the first time we held hands, and I remembered how cute of a story it was, and thought I would share the memory with everyone.



Last year I told my oldest sister Megan that I would babysit for her on Conference Sunday because her and her husband had to work. Five kids, trying to make them watch conference...no sweat. Only.....I was seriously dating Sterling at the time and I thought, what a wonderful way to spend a whole day with him! So I cautiously invited him, warning him that five kids are disruptive and crazy during conference and he might not see a lot, and that was a lot of kids and I didn't want to scare him away, and that I really wanted to see him if he could come! Well, of course he did.



So Conference morning came, I had to be out there at 6:30 am, but Sterling came later, 9ish I think. Anyway, morning session went fairly well, dinner went decently between the sessions, and the second session was...a little rough. While we were getting dinner ready Sterling was wrestling Myles and Danica was helping me, and she asked me if this was a "friend" or my "boyfriend". Danica was pretty up on my social life, understanding that some of the boys she had seen were just "friends" and that one recently had been a "boyfriend"..she was ten I think at the time. I told her that we were mostly just friends. He hadn't even held my hand yet. I said something like "Maybe when he holds my hand I'll call him my boyfriend, but we aren't very serious yet." She nodded as if that was very wise and she understood completely. Then we had the last session. Mostly we colored and someone fell asleep on my lap while Sterling tried to convince the kids to work on the conference coloring pages that Megan had printed out for them. After the session Sterling had the brilliant idea to go on a walk up the mountain and look at all the pretty fall colors.



It was somewhat raining, but we put all the kids in rain boots, took umbrellas, and went off. While on the hike we had lots of fun, and after a while, Sterling held my hand. Then Anders fell and Sterling went to help him up, so Danica and I were quite a ways further back on the trail and Danica says "I thought you said you'd never held his hand!" and I said "I never have! This was the very first time!" and she looks at me with big, wide eyes and says "I just watched you hold hands for the very first time? Really?" It was so adorable! I was laughing so hard! Then throughout the whole night she kept looking at him and giving me meaningful looks. It was so, so funny!

That night, actually, was our first kiss as well. Jared called and said he was on his way home, so we could leave if we wanted to because he would be there soon. All the kids had just been put in bed, so I checked on them all one more time and then we went to leave. Well, since we drove seperate vehicles we had to say goodbye. And he kissed me for the very first time. (That could be a story in and of itself, it took him quite awhile to work up the courage, and he was really worried because he thought I would think it was too soon.) Right after that Jared pulled in. Which was kinda funny just because Jared has been my brother-in-law since I was six, and so he is definitely a big brother of mine, and it was kinda odd to introduce him to the man I had just been kissing, have them shake hands, and then have Jared walk inside. I wonder what Jared thought, having me in his driveway, poor man! We left pretty quick after that, but it was a very good day. And fun to tell this story exactly a year afterwards!

Kids

Sterling and I are LOVING being in primary. We see all the kids for singing time, junior and senior, and we come home just laughing about all of their antics all day long. Last week I know there were several hilarous stories, but there's an even funnier one from Sacrament Mtg this week:

Riley is a 3 yr old sunbeam, who always lets Sterling know that she sang "REALLY good that time!" or that she was paying attention, or that its her turn, she's really sweet about it though. So we had a speaker that is blind and in a wheelchair, and she also sings in the choir. So they had taken her from her wheelchair and sat her on the front row of choir seats with the rest of the choir members so that she was ready for the song. And instead of trying to move her for a talk, they just gave her a mic to talk from her choir seat. She was surrounded by other choir members, so not easily noticeable. Well, the bishopric member announced who was speaking, sat down, and then this lady started to talk from her seat. I watched Riley's eyes look at the podium, and then kinda look around, and then she turns to her mom and in this stage whisper says "She's INVISIBLE!" I was laughing so hard. She could not figure out where the body of the voice was! So funny.

You should see!

You should go to.......THE TERRACE! We went to a show there a couple weeks ago with Adam and Aleesha, and the show was ok. "cute" would be the best word for it. But last night Sterling wanted to get his mind off chemistry for a minute so we went to opening night of The Scarlet Pimpernel, and can I just say it was AMAZING, INCREDIBLE, BEST-EVER, INSPIRING, WONDERFUL, FABULOUS and such a good show! They had stellar main characters with fabulous voices, stellar supporting characters with hilarious antics, and some incredible costume designs! We were laughing our heads off through the Boys scene, and touched in the distressing scenes. I have never seen the Scarlet Pimpernel as a musical...I've seen the movie, I've read the book....but I LOVED the music! I thought it was one of the best that the Terrace Plaza Playhouse has put out in a long time. Thoroughly impressed. Everyone should find a night, find a babysitter, etc. and go! Or take your kids...there were several kids there last night and they all were really intrigued. That is all.

Blow dryers and Sterling's Birthday!

My blow dryer broke this morning. I had just started blow drying my hair and suddenly it was smoking and hissing and the coils inside were turning orange and red. Since, when left to dry on its own, my hair goes in ringlets, crazy waves, and other such things, I decided this morning was just as good as any to go buy a new one. The picture below has nothing to do with this story, but was taken because I was excited that my hair is starting to fit in a pony tail again. It seems to be growing out faster this time around. This is the planet that I painted. I gave Sterling a solar system mobile for his birthday. He LOVES it. He wants to hang it in the living room when we finish. I'm not so sure about that. But so far he's let me paint Uranus and Venus. Neither of mine are as amazing as the planets he has painted, but I love the purple color I got for Venus--I was mixing paints(it was my favorite part of painting).

This is Sterling holding up the birthday cake I made him, with his solar system mobile kit on the coffee table below. I also got him a really cute shirt from American Eagle, but he hasn't really worn it yet because its long-sleeved and the weather is still really warm.

Here he is picking into the cake. Or brownie. Or whatever it turned into. I don't really understand how I can make mom's rolls and breads without any problem...but my cakes??? Serious issues. I also tried to make fudge icing, but the lid got securely suctioned to the pan. Even when I tried heating the pan up again, it was still suctioned. Eventually, after picking Sterling up from the library, he got it off by heating it up again. So I don't really feel I am to be blamed about the fudge icing not turning out...definitely the pans fault.

This is just because I was going through pictures on my camera and putting some on our new (Kami's old) computer...and I saw this one from Yellowstone this summer. I like it.

Also, I saw this picture, while skimming through my camera. I like it, too.

And this, last but not least, picture is for Kayli. To show her a cute new shirt that I got. The only thing about this picture, is that you can't see the cute buttons that hold the sleeves up. But this is it.