$1.00 Date Night

Last night Scott and went on a fun date...for just a $1.00! For Macey, I go to Madison Women's Clinic. At my 28 week appointment, probably because I had to drink that nasty glucola drink for diabetes testing, Scott and I got a free date night. The 3 doctors in the practice gave us a date night on them! It included two free movie tickets, 1 free medium pizza, and 2 free medium

drinks!

We decided that we had to do the date night right. On Friday, we went to the temple...for a real date night, and then on Saturday night we did the fun date night! (Not that the temple isn't fun :))

This is Scott and I getting ready to leave:

We got to the movie early and purchased our tickets, and then we ordered a pizza and drinks. We ate while we waited. We got a pepperoni pizza, and it was good! Scott and I had no problem finishing it off... :)

When we got done eating, we realized we had some time left before the movie. Scott had a dollar in his wallet, so we decided to play some arcade games. My favorite game of all time is ice ball...so we had to take advantage of that! ...Scott may or may not have creamed me though... :)

Because we are pro at ice ball, we were able to win some pretty sweet prizes! Scott bought me some more bling:

And Scott got a chinese torture device. These toys were obviously for kids...there was only one that would fit Scott's fingers :)

We finished off the night watching "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Roderick Rules". It was a great movie! Scott and I secretly (well, not so secretly any more) love anything that has to do with Diary of a Wimpy Kid...and this movie didn't disappoint! It was definitely a see again!

Thank you Madison Women's Clinic for a fun night out on the town--we had a blast!

Crafts!

Yesterday I decided to get a head start on bow making! I had too much fun...and made a really big mess! I went tutorial hopping to find the bow patterns that I did. I'll attach the tutorial links, in case someone out there wants to make them :) As you can see, I still have room on my bow holder...I guess that means I'll just have to make more!

This is the tutorial for the red flower with white button...that is on the bow holder: http://ribbonflowers.blogspot.com

This is the tutorial for my favorite flower! This is for the purple with white button or the white flower with white button: http://www.burdastyle.com/projects/diy-fabric-vlower/instructions/1

This is the tutorial for the brown/black flower with beads: http://hello-refabulous.blgospot.com/2009/08/pretty-little-flowers-for-your-hair.html

This tutorial is for the small bow clips: http://www.poshnpretty.com/index.php?main_page=page&id=8

When I was done with the bow making, I decided to make a spring-y looking wreath for the door. I headed to Porters to get a $1.00 wreath and a bundle of flowers. I then made the flowers that are attached.

Yesterday was a fun day off...just because I got to work on crafts ALL day! (Who wouldn't love that?!)

28 Weeks

This isn't a very exciting post, but here is a life update with out pictures :)

I can't believe that I have made it to 28 weeks. I receive weekly email updates about my pregnancy--how big the baby is, what is developing in the baby this week, how to cope with how large I am getting, etc :) My update this week said I have entered the 3rd trimester--crazy! Scott and I are in the home stretch.

Mom and Macey are doing really well! I did my diabetes test with the doctor's office this week, and I am diabetes free--yay!! At this appointment, Macey's heartbeat was not hard to find at all. It's strong and perfect. Every time I hear her heartbeat I can't help but smile. The doctor measured the baby and told us that she is measuring big...like 2 weeks ahead big. When I was born, I was 9 lbs. 13 oz. and 23 1/2 inches long...I guess those genes have passed on :) My middle sister was the smallest baby at 9 lbs even...jealous? :)

I am getting bigger by the day. I am starting to enjoy this stage of pregnancy. I have passed the "Lisa looks like she is packing on the pounds" stage, and I am emerging in to "Lisa is pregnant" stage.

I started having Braxton Hicks contractions a couple of weeks ago. I didn't know that's what they were when they started! I described the tightening I felt in my belly and the gas pain feeling I was getting (oh, the joys of pregnancy) to my sister and she clued me in! I talked to the doctor about it this week, and he said that they are normal--just to monitor them.

One more thing I get to monitor is baby movement (who wouldn't love that?!). I get to set aside an hour a day to just focus on the baby's movements! I am supposed to feel the baby kick 10 times in an hour. I did this for the first time a couple days ago, and I am even further convinced that I have an active child! She reached her 10 times after 15 minutes :)

Macey is still a joy. She wakes right up at bed time. I am famous for being able to sleep anywhere and through everything--just ask Scott! I go to sleep feeling her kick every night...with no problem. Now I just need to get used to nightly heart burn...yuck.

I am slowly pulling together her baby room, and with each decoration everything becomes more surreal! In less than 3 months, we will have a little girl to care for. I am ecstatic for a girl--I love pink, frilly, flowery everything! She is so loved already.

Oh, and did I mention we only have 82 days left? :) Bring it on :)

Be Prepared

The world we live in is a crazy one. By turning on the news, one can only be led to believe that we are in the last days.

Before Scott and I were married, I had a little bit of food storage saved up. I would buy a little extra here and there, just in case something were to happen. Since we have been married, I have used up a lot of my storage and not replenished it.

When the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan about a week ago, my first thoughts were food storage--if a disaster were to strike, would I be prepared? I thought about it for days succeeding the disaster. I thought about our little family. We aren't very big, but we will be growing in a couple of months. Am I prepared to provide if a disaster were to strike? What if a family financial disaster were to strike--where we didn't have money to buy groceries--would we be able to survive?

When Hurricane Fran hit us in Raleigh, North Carolina, we were in shock. We had no electricity for 6 days, so our family lived off our food storage. The grocery stores in Raleigh emptied quickly, and people were running out of food. People's freezers/fridges wouldn't work with out electricity, so people's food went bad. I remember our family was able to cook a meal for our neighbors. Our neighbors brought whatever food they had to share, and we put everything together. I still remember our big meal to this day. With our food storage, we were not only to help our family, but we were able to help our neighborhood as well.

Scott and I discussed what we should do. We quickly decided that we needed to create a storage of food. Right now in our lives we are in a good financial situation, but we aren't naive enough to think that things will always be this good! We discussed things we ought to buy, and we set out to do it! We set aside a budget, and we stayed within it.

Yesterday we set up our new supply! We have a storage unit right by our apartment that holds all of our seasonal and camping stuff. It isn't a big unit, but we got a shelf and organized all of our supplies: canned foods, bottled water, ramen noodles, soap, first aid kit, toothpaste, deoderant, diapers, toilet paper, etc.

Things aren't always as easy as they look. We got all our cans on the shelf and realized that the door wouldn't close--it needed to be reorganized. It took us several hours to finish getting everything set up--and it wasn't easy! It was a great feeling to stand back when we were done and know that we could handle things if a hard time was thrown our way.

Last night as I sleepily crawled in to bed, Scott woke me up to tell me that The United States had ordered a missle attack on Lybia. I shot up awake, and he explained to me what was going on. We talked about our decision to get food storage and be prepared. We talked in anticipation of gas prices rising even more and consequently food prices rising (because of the price to ship food in to our grocery stores). I'm so grateful that we heeded the prompting to prepare our little family. We now know that whatever disaster comes our way, we will be able to handle it.

If you are thinking about creating a little food storage for your family, I would encourage you to do it! There is stability that comes within being prepared. If I'm not enough to convince you, I love this quote by Elder L. Tom Perry:

"Aquire and store a reserve of food and supplies that will sustain life...As long as I can remember, we have been taught to prepare for the future and obtain a year's supply of necessities. I would guess that the years of plenty have almost universally caused us to set aside this counsel. I believe the time to disregard this counsel is over. With events in the world today, it must be considered with all seriousness." (If Ye Are Prepared, Ye Shall Not Fear. Ensign, November 1995.)

Getting Ready

With all the big decisions in my life, I have just felt comfortable--like everything is good and right. I think that is just the way that the Holy Ghost calms me down and lets me know that the decisions I am making are good ones!

My family moved from North Carolina to Utah when I was 19. It was a rough move, but strangely, from the beginning I felt like it was right. I just felt comfortable about the whole thing! Who would have known that 2 months later Scott and I would go on our first date...our first of many dates?

Literally, all the big decisions have been accompanied by a peaceful/comfortable feeling: graduating from BYU-Idaho, transferring and graduating from Utah State University, writing to Scott and waiting to him for his entire mission (even when letters were sparse), dating Scott when he got home from his mission, deciding to marry Scott,

moving to Rexburg so Scott could complete his schooling at BYU-Idaho...the list could go on!

One of the most recent decisions that has impacted our lives was our decision to start a family! It just felt so good, peaceful and right. You get the point, right?

With this great feeling that I have received rarely comes giddy excitement. I think I shocked my sister the night before my wedding when I wasn't noticeably excited. I was happy and just so ready for the next step that I didn't need excitement--I just enjoyed all the happiness :)

Ha. I sound pretty lame, huh?

Well, I am trying to pump myself up for Macey to be born!! I'm 27 weeks and 1 day pregnant...and growing daily...see? :)

Her room is still being pulled together. My dad (aka Ethan Allen) made Macey a bookshelf for her bedroom, and it matches her furniture perfectly!See how beautiful it is? All I need now is more books!!

I decided today that we needed to have a countdown for Macey! I'm well aware of how stubborn first born children are and how 1st time expectant mom's bodies are...so she probably won't be born until after her due date, but it will be fun to count! I counted the days today--90 days--can you believe it? That's less than 3 months! Here is our fun countdown chain:

I feel so good/peaceful about Macey, and now I'm looking for more ways to get excited/prepared! I'm open for any/all ideas...trust me :)

It has been a while, so...here is an update on us!

SCOTT: Scott is a busy student! It's getting to be the end of the semester, and he is getting restless to end the classes he is in and begin new ones. Scott is on the Winter/Summer track at BYU-Idaho, so he'll be in school this summer. He is already having nightmares about me going in to labor while he is in class! I'm sure he'll be fine :) He signed up for classes last week, and he'll be taking Interpersonal Communications, Applied Statistics and Research, Ethics & Legal Issues, Digital Imaging, Practicum I, and Professional Presentations.

Scott is also now working part time as a seminary teacher. He was invited to teach 1 class for a trimester, and he is thoroughly enjoying it! He is constantly thinking about his class and new ideas. He'll work until the end of May...when school gets out. I'm so proud of him, and I'm so glad he gets to do something that makes him happy :)

Scott is also still working part time at our apartment complex. He is still doing part time maintenance. The snow has slowed down in Rexburg--fingers crossed that it stays that way! They are predicting temperatures in the 40s for the next couple of weeks. That white stuff that was everywhere is now disappearing! Maybe the blisters on Scott's hands from the snow shovel can finally heal.

As you can probably guess, Scott doesn't really have the chance to slow down! He wakes up and is out the door by about 7:00 every morning. He walks back in at 6:00 every night, we eat dinner, and he heads to do homework and plan his seminary lesson until about 11:00.

LISA/MACEY: We seem to be one entity these days. The last couple of weeks my body has expanded beyond belief! My poor body is stretching to make room for this girl. My right hip is always sore. Everywhere I go I sit on pillows and I get to sleep with a pillow in between my legs. Ha...I sound like a blast, don't I? :)

I am convinced that Miss Macey will be the next female Mohammad Ali. Everyday that girl has a dance party in my stomach. I feel her move constantly, and I love it! I can always tell when she sleeps because it is the only time she stops moving. You can see her kicking and punching from the outside...it's great :)

From the beginning of this pregnancy, I have struggled with cooking. Let's be honest: I haven't really been the greatest cook. But I have tackled the task of cooking new and exciting meals every night again. I'm learning to enjoy cooking :)

I am still working full time. Some days are better than others! I'm sure I am just like everyone else in the workforce :)

I have also gotten in to pulling together food storage...but more on that later! Scott and I are organizing our new supply on Saturday in our storage unit.

All in all we are busy but happy :) We are working hard to provide a life for our family--hopefully an enjoyable life! It's not easy, but there is satisfaction in being good parents. A good example :)

Hair

A couple of weeks ago I told Scott that I was born with hair. Ever since then, he has been convinced that Macey will be born with hair! He talks about it quite a bit--how cute she will look with hair. I'm not as convinced. You see, Scott's genetics are fighting against us. So the debate is left open...

will we have a Scott...?

Or a Lisa...?

Either way I'm convinced we'll have a pretty cute kid!

As soon as I found out we were having a girl, my mind flashed to cute, frilly easter dresses and hair bows. So I found a tutorial to make a hair clip hanger...and here is the finished product!

 

My bows are looking a little pitiful right now, but I am in the process of making more! I hit a huge deal at Wal-Mart this weekend. I got a bag of about 25 scraps of ribbon for $1.00. I am super excited to fill up the bow rack--whether or not Macey has hair for the first 2 years of her life :)