Our Life

2011-12-11T16:14:00.000-08:00

Another year has gone by...

2011-12-11T14:41:00.000-08:00

Soooo, I've made several attempts to post to our blog only to never finish any of them and now I've spent a whole year with a resolution to be better at keeping up with it and I'm pretty sure I've actually done worse. :-) Resolutions are not a good idea for me. I have such a hard time making a resolution that I can follow through on. Oh well....

So our review:
It seemed like the year went by so slow but here it is mid-December and I can't believe the year is almost over.
Little A turned 3 this year. He's gotten so BIG and tries to be a good helper most of the time! He loves to go to Disney World aka "Mickey's house". He rode his first roller-coaster about two weeks ago and he LOVED it!! I was scared the whole time that he was going to fly out of the seat so I held on to him for dear life, but once it was over he didn't want to get off. He also loves to go play at his friends house, but recently got into a scuffle with their dog. He had two cuts on his nose and one on the inside of his upper lip - it was very traumatic when it happened, but the next morning he was ready to go back over to their house. :-) Little A also loves Disney/Pixar movies, trains, cars, and reading books. He has recently taken to daddy's ipad and Alex is afraid that he's lost some ownership of it! A's favorite foods are Nutrigrain bars, cheese, and yogurt; and he LOVES apple juice and milk shakes (I might add that he hasn't yet figured out that chocolate milk and a milkshake are two different things!! This definitely works in my favor!). But I often find it very hard to get him to eat much of anything else. He is very mischievous at times - but he's a boy, right?! He is too smart for his own good (this does not work in my favor!!).

For Alex... well he's down to only having a year left to finish his Bachelors degree and then we are unsure what we are going to do, but our hopes and dreams are to move back towards Athens :-) He recently got a promotion at work. He is now the Guest Care Coordinator for the Orlando World Center Marriott... so he spends his evenings mostly dealing with complaints ha-ha. He and his friend Jared are also in the process of starting their own business: DormBoxes. Their website should be up and running soon as they would like to launch and have everything ready to open doors beginning Summer 2012. He stays pretty busy with work, school, church stuff, and this business venture but he loves those crazy shows about pickin' and gold digging and buying storage space.... it beats me..... :-)

As for myself, I have to say this year has been pretty good. Nothing amazing happened but nothing terrible either. I got prepared and took my teacher certification test early in the year, looked all summer and fall for a job and finally just last month I decided to take the Sub-workshop... so far I've had no luck what-so-ever. Things got pretty bad at the center where I was working so after much deliberation, and prayer... and a few in depth discussions with Alex... we decided that it would just be better if I left. I quit and am now at home with A. I am waiting to either find a position somewhere or possibly have another baby... I am just not sure what the Lord has in store right now. I love getting to make cool clothing and accessories, baby gear, blankets, home decorations... but I wish it could be profitable. My good friend Nikki and I have opened an etsy shop: OliveandPomegranate though we have hardly any merchandise yet. If interested keep looking out for new things, we would definitely appreciate the business!! Otherwise, I am just looking to enjoy this time with my little boy :-)

Though I am often a pessimistic person or what I like to call a "realist" lol I do like to look back and think of what I have to be grateful for... especially at this time of year. My good friend lost her dad in November and I can't even imagine what that is like, but I know that this life isn't the end and they will see each other again. I'm grateful for my family and that I have them everyday - I often take them for granted and hope that they know how much I DO love and appreciate them. I'm grateful for health, for the place and the lifestyle I get to live. I am so thankful that Jesus Christ was born and that he was willing to be our Savior.

My hopes for the New Year are:
To definitely keep this blog up at a much better pace, but I'm not making it a resolution!!
To possibly get my feet wet in the school system so that where ever we may end up I will be more prepared for a "real job" IF that is what Heavenly Father has planned for me.
To possibly welcome another little Perschka to the world... ?!
To "settle down" somewhere... fairly close to home (in a home of our own?)

Those are just a few... Check back soon for photos and hopefully I will promptly post about our Christmases with the family :-)

New Year, New Resolution

2011-01-18T20:04:00.000-08:00

Since I have been so terrible at blogging the last oh three months I have decided that now would be a good time to write. Our year in review has been a good one. Not the best ever, but definitely not terrible. We moved to a new place and though we miss our family and our "hometown" we've grown as a family and Alex has grown as a student and as a professional. I got a job and made some new friends which I am SO grateful for, we are active and involved in our church and have met some amazing people through that medium as well. All in all we are so thankful for everything the year has brought us and for all the blessings we've received.

I have never been one for new years resolutions but I feel inspired this year to make a few. A couple years ago Valerie had this idea to make a resolution for each month ~ not necessarily something that HAD to change or be "resolved" but just things to work on. While I have come up with no where near 12 things I have thought of a couple.

First and foremost, I want to take my certification test and become certified in Florida to teach Kindergarten through Third Grade. I want to find a position in a school close to Celebration though it would be even better if I were lucky enough to land a job in Celebration!! I have gotten my study materials and the funding (thanks to Oma and Opa) and I will be registering soon for my exam. Wish me LUCK!!

Other goals I have made for this year are to cut down on the amount of soda we drink. I am sort of ashamed to say it but I definitely drink too much coke. It is something I have been thinking about a lot lately because Avery knows what it is now and though he doesn't generally ask for it I don't want him to start wanting it regularly.

I would like for us to get out more with people here from our church. I think we never get invited to things because we are always busy. Alex is a student and so he works at night and most weekends - generally when activities are being held... therefore when we are asked we generally have to say no... and people stop asking after a while. I also work during the day so it's hard for me to go to play group and all that. I thought moving to a new place would allow us to make more friends at church but it's been pretty much about the same as back home :(

I would like to get into better shape. I know, cliche resolution, huh? It's not that I really want to loose weight because I've lost about 6 lbs in the year we've been here - how and where from I have no idea - but I'd just like to be more fit.

We have one other goal and that is to use our Disney Annual Passes at least once a month!! What are some of your resolutions?

Happy Birthday Avery!

2010-11-07T12:38:00.000-08:00

We have had so much going on lately that I have to write about! So, can we talk about Disney?! We took Avery to Disney for the first time on his birthday and it was a lot of fun. Alex and I have not been since we got engaged there in March of '07. My family came down and Alex and I took the day off on Friday and we spent a good part of the day taking Avery around Magic Kingdom to see characters and ride on the kiddie rides. Can I just say that he LOVED it?! I guess that's probably typical for a child visiting the most magical place on earth, right? I think he liked the rides more than anything... every time it was time to get off he would either cry or try and make a break for it to get back on! He LOVES Mickey and all the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse characters and he was so excited to see them until we got up close and they were life size - then he got a little freaked out and wanted to hide behind me. :)

Here are some pictures from our day!

Samie and I on the race cars

Avery "driving" his and Alex's race car

Food and Wine Festival at Epcot!

Alex and I, three years and several pounds later :)

With Mickey and Minnie!

Us with Frontier Donald.

What a Great Day!

2010-10-21T19:32:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe that it is already the end of October. Avery's birthday is next week and he will be 2 years old!! Time literally flies by. I am shocked everyday by how much he has grown, how smart he is getting, and how much he is talking. Our families will be coming to visit soon for Avery's birthday and we are taking him to Disney for the very first time. We are all so excited - I just know he's going to love seeing all the characters and the rides. I will post all about it and pictures as soon as possible!

So, just a little update on what we've been doing recently. We got Avery's Halloween costume - he is going to be a giraffe and it is SOOOOO cute. I will post pictures after he officially wears it (we have tried it on him, but I feel like I can't post pics till after Halloween)!! We went to the Pumpkin Patch here in Celebration and got a small one for Avery. He carries it around every where; it's like his little best friend ha-ha.

Here are some pictures from recently

Avery and daddy

This is the one we picked!!

Surprisingly, this only took two tries!! I can't believe it actually turned out because Avery was too short and I am holding him LOL.

Avery and Pooh Bear :)

Disney on Ice

2010-09-16T19:16:00.001-07:00

Earlier this month I got the amazing experience of taking Avery to see Disney on Ice: Toy Story 3 at the Amway Arena here in Orlando. Our neighbors are so amazing - they couldn't go and so they gave us three tickets to see the show for free. Unfortunately, Alex had to work that night and I was really hesitant to take Avery by myself because it was a 7:30 showing... so I called a few family members that live relatively close. Because of such short notice no one was available and I decided that we had gotten really lucky with these and I didn't want the tickets to go to waste. I thought I'd just take Avery to see the first half and then we could leave at the intermission.

For a drive that is usually about 30-45 minutes, the traffic was really light and it took hardly no time to get there. We got there about an hour before the show was supposed to start and Avery had a lot of fun just watching people. The show started and it was SO exciting!! Avery got to see his favorite Disney Characters: Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Donald and yelled out their names as they skated into the rink. He also recognized Woody, Buzz and Rex. He did so good! He sat on my lap the whole time and was almost entranced by the show. We actually ended up staying for the whole show and luckily, we had REALLY good seats and were parked close to the door and the exit; we got home in good time and we had so much fun together. I am SO glad I didn't decide not to go and SO thankful our neighbors thought of us when they couldn't use their tickets. :)

These are some of the pictures. Unfortunately, our camera was left at my parents house when we were last back home so these are taken with my blackberry ~ considering that I think some of them actually turned out pretty good. Enjoy!!

A Day to Remember

2010-09-11T19:27:00.000-07:00

It seems I am writing on a Monthly basis now....? I actually have a bunch to write about which I will do tomorrow but I just wanted to say that I am SO thankful for our men and women who are in the service of our country. What a selfless thing to do. I wish I had half as much courage as so many who are in our armed forces.

I also wanted to take a minute to reflect and think about all the people who have lost their lives not only at the World. Trade. Center but all those who have died for our country since then. I'm thinking about our good friends Jared and Katy and the Reeves family who lost a son and a brother during his service.

I remember I was in the car with my dad on the way back from a Doctor's appointment; he was taking me to school. I was irritated because, as usual, he was listening to talk radio - something about planes - and I just wanted to listen to music. It was my Sophomore year and when I returned to school I was sent to French class. Every room had their TV's turned to the news coverage of planes flying simultaneously into the two World Trade Center towers. We all just sat there our eyes glued to the television and I realized that this must have been what my dad was listening to in the car.

Every year I think about that day and all the things that we sometimes take for granted. All the people that died that day in 2001 and all those who have died fighting for our country.... they can't be mad at their dads for not letting them listen to music, they can't enjoy little moments with their spouse or child, they can't read a good book or have a much needed cry. I think that one of the greatest things we can learn from what happened on this day 9 years ago is that you never ever know what the next day brings or when it will be your last day and so... carpe diem people!!!

Oh and congrats to previously named friends on the new digs. What's next..... a baby?! ;)

The Flipside!

2010-08-15T20:18:00.000-07:00

So... after my last downer post I thought I should make this next one about something happy. In most recent news I accepted a job... well two jobs actually. So I interviewed at these two places one really close to where we live and another about 30 minutes away. I interviewed at the first place on a Monday and then the second place a week later on Tuesday... well the Tuesday place was so quick to get back to me that I had to call the Monday place and find out what was happening with the position I interviewed for. Needless to say, they didn't want me :( Something about me not having a CDA (which is just an Associates... and I have a Bachelors...?? Weird, but whatever).

So, I'm thinkin I'm goin with the Tuesday place and they call to tell me when I need to be here and how little I'll be making and what class I'll be working in and that I have to basically buy a new wardrobe because their uniforms consist of Navy Blue pants and White shoes and their special Red polos - which I have none of, plus the 30min drive and toll money if I want to get there sans traffic. BUT I am just happy to have found something, so I swallow my pride and accept.

And here I am the Wednesday before the Saturday that I am supposed to report for my new employee orientation/training at the Tuesday place and I get a call from the Monday place. WHAT?!?! They now want to know if I am still looking because now they want me. :) (still don't have a CDA, but whatever). Well..... considering that this place is just five awesome minutes from home, and is going to pay better and I already have half my uniform in my closet... I just felt like it was a no-brainer. Plus Alex told me to take it LOL.

Even though I was considerably hurt that they gave me the cold shoulder at first AND that I had to call the Tuesday place and tell them I wouldn't be coming (which was very hard, I felt terrible!). I will now be starting at the Monday place on a Monday (the 23rd)!! Avery will get to have some social time with other kiddos and he'll also still to get to stay home part time with daddy!! And, the extra money we'll be making will help out TONS.

SO thankful that everything worked out for the best. And now.... I will be working on getting my certification. I am one PreK-3rd test away from being Florida Certified to teach. Yay!

Debbie Downer

2010-08-10T09:58:00.000-07:00

This post is pretty much just going to be complaints... I know that our blog shouldn't really be an outlet for that sort of thing, but I just need to get some things off my chest so bare with me and thanks for listening slash reading.

I've felt like this for kind of a long time but... for some reason I think that people don't like me. I mean, do I give off a bad vibe or something? Do I seem snobby to others? I don't know, maybe it's my imagination but It just seems like people avoid me or that they know something bad about me that I don't know and they stay as far away as possible. And, this plague follows me. :(

I have a new found dislike for the State of Florida. Just, a lot of experiences I have had here left me with a bad taste in my mouth ranging from grocery shopping to the state departments (DMV) to the job market and all the stupid requirements and hoops you have to jump through. I feel like that is just another reason why unemployment is so high. Sheesh. And on top of all that....

TOURISTS - need I say more? ok, not all of them, but the vast majority act like they own the place. You go to the store and they expect you to drop everything and move outa their way, not to mention driving up the wrong way in the parking lot and walking in the middle of the road. They drive terribly. They are EVERYWHERE!!!! Ok, but I do understand that without them this place would probably be in even worse shape...ugh.

The weather - BAAH - I mean, I know it is just as hot in GA and that rain is good.... but seriously everyday? And somedays it rains ALL DAY long. Ok, and then it's still SOO HOT even after it rains - like the rain doesn't even cool it off a little. Unreal.

THE END.

ok so now that I'm done with my rant.... PICTURES!!

I've been busy.... for real this time...

2010-06-17T20:04:00.000-07:00

I haven't done anything to my blog in such a long time I felt like it needed a face lift... I'm still not sure I really like what it looks like now but after playing with it for a while I decided I'd leave it as is for a little bit and see how I feel about it in a few weeks. Feel free to share your thoughts!
As far as life goes for us right now, we are doing well. We've have a great past few weeks. My parents came down and spent a few days with us for Memorial Day weekend and we also drove down and spent a few hours at St. Augustine beach. My dads side of the family has been doing this for as long as I can remember; it's a tradition! Unfortunately, my parents and I haven't been able to make it the last couple of years. Anyway, it was nice to see everyone and get to spend some time at the beach. :)
The following weekend our friends Jay and Shelley stopped by for a night on their way back from a cruise... it so much fun to hang out with some friends from home; even though we didn't do much it was a great a time. Thanks to Jay and Shelley for Upper Crust pizza, Night at the Museum and amusing our little boy for hours on in!! P.S. Shelley, there are still tons of teaching jobs here. haha.
This past weekend the Perschka's came down for the shortest trip EVER! But, we got to do some amazing things. Valerie is going on a mission (to Arizona) for 18 months, and she came down here to go through the Temple for her first time. Although Alex and I weren't able to go with them (for lack of having a babysitter), we heard it was a great experience for her and we are so happy!! Congrats Val :) Alex got lucky enough to have Saturday off so we were also able to go out to dinner with the fam and Alex, Val and I played putt putt golf. Such good times. BTW - I'm going to need some of those pictures from the Temple, VAL................
Shelley inspired me, so I applied to the School District down here in Osceola County to try and get a job teaching next school year. I also applied for my Educators Certificate for the same reason lol. Earlier this week I sent letters, resumes, references, and transcripts to six different elementary schools that have one or more openings for PreK through 3rd. Let's hope that everything somehow falls into place and works out. I need a job.... and teaching is something I love doing and it's family friendly!
On Tuesday, Avery and I are flying home to spend ten days in Athens. I'm going to miss Alex and the pool :) but I cannot wait for some long overdue girl time, barberitos, shopping with mom, inokos, and a Twilight party and Eclipse with a few of my besties. It's going to be great just to be in the Classic City once again!! If only it were football season already~
But, it's not all play and no work... I am also going to have to stalk some people I know to write me references -
I will definitely keep updated about our trip and will hopefully have some pictures to post soon.

Yea, I'm a Homemaker! - part 2

2010-05-11T19:09:00.000-07:00

Guys, our living room totally needed something - a pizazz, a little boost, some color, personal touch, you name it - our living room needed it... so, I took it upon myself to resolve the problem and I was able to do it fairly inexpensively. It was easier than I thought!

If you've been to our place you know that there is a huge empty wall in our living room. We have our "entertainment center" on this wall but that consists of a tv stand and our flat screen lol so the wall from the top of the tv up has been blank for the last few months. We have been wanting to hang something up above the tv but haven't really found anything that we were in love with.

We had bought some canvas' when they were on sale an made a "headboard" for over our bed by covering them using some neutral fabric (in case we wanted to change our bedding). It turned out really nice and we hada couple canvas' left over so we thought this same concept may work well in the living room.

We have a HUGE JoAnns a few miles from us so we went to see if we could find some fabric that we liked and that would work in the living room. We wanted something that was colorful but not over the top and I have to say, we got extremely lucky!

Here's how it turned out:

Up top: Here they are up close - As you can see the wall is not completely covered, but it definitely makes the blank space smaller. Below: this is the overall view. I really think it turned out nicely. We wanted to have two contrasting fabrics that matched and, like I said, we got really lucky. I found this striped fabric and there was only a yard left - once they gave me the slip for check out I realized it was on clearance - YAY!! It was only $2. Then the polka dot fabic just happen to be a perfect match with all the colors and they looked Soooooooo good next to eachother. Guys, tell me what you think - and be honest?!

So, after the canvas was covered I had enough striped fabric to make one pillow and only enough polka dot fabric to make a half.... I went back to JoAnns and got a little bit more polka dot fabric and then decided to stretch what I had and do pattern on one side and solid on the other. I bought a yard of tan and a half yard of brown. I used polka dots on one side with tan on the other and then I put brown on backside of the stipes. Pillow covers are actually not that hard to make and way cheaper than buying throw pillows. They turned out really good.

On top of the striped fabric being on clearance, the other patterns were on sale! We were able to add some color and comfort to our living room for less than $20... YAY for style!

Patience is a Virtue!!

2010-05-09T15:36:00.000-07:00

If some of you shop at Target as avidly as I do you have probably seen Merona's "Collection" in the womens slash misses - I'm not sure what I'd call it except not Juniors. It's like the kind of stuff I'd buy all the time if I had an exceptionally well paying job... haha :)

Well, generally I never buy this stuff because I just can't see myself spending that much money on a dress that I'd probably only wear to church or an occasional (and I stress the word occasional) nice evening out. I DO however love to shop the Target clearance racks!! The other day I found these two great Merona Collection dresses that I had been eye-ing since they came out a several weeks before Easter. They were on clearance for 75% off; I couldnt believe it. I actually didn't buy them right away, I went back the next day and luckily, they were both still there in my size!

I also just want to mention that this has never happened to me - living in Athens, all the good stuff is usually long gone before it goes 75% with all the students and two counties shopping at one Target Store. Here in Florida there are two Super Targets relatively close to me and generally the clothing doesn't go as quickly since tourists usually aren't there for that.

Here are the two dresses:

I like this one because it's modest, I can wear it without having to worry that I'm not covering everything up. It will look great with just a few accessories such as white heels and belt.

This one is strapless but it has a lot of colors in it - yellow, an orangey pink, seafoam green - all I'll have to do to make this one work is add a colorful cardigan!!

This is the best part - I got both these babies for ten bucks each. love love love TARGET!!

yes, yes I am reading ECLIPSE again... and, of course, I am sucked in!

2010-05-05T19:15:00.000-07:00

I'm sure those of you who are Twilight fans already know that the next movie, Eclipse, is coming out next month in JUNE! I am kind of surprised that they are releasing it earlier this time around.

I am generally not one to re-read books, but my friend and I wanted to read Eclipse again before the movie came out, sort of as a refresher - so I decided to give it a whirl; we are reading it together and discussing it as we go. I'm not usually one to blog about these sort of things, but since a lot of my family and friends do the whole Twilight thing I thought I'd share...

We are about half way through and I've found that as into this book as I was the first time reading it, I don't really remember a lot of the things that happened... When I think of the stories I think of them as a whole, I remember the big significant parts throughout and the in-betweens seemed to have slipped away. I read the book and its almost like I'm reading it for the first time, I can't put it down. I've found that there are things I didn't notice in the book the first time I read it because I was in such a hurry to find out what happened that I missed them.

This time through I am annoyed with Bella; I feel like she should have more of a backbone and stand up for herself to Jacob and Edward who both seem (at times) a little bossy to me. And, I was completely Team Edward the first read and (though I think I am still for Edward) I can kind of see where Jacob is coming from and I sorta feel bad for him. Bella seems selfish to expect that from Jacob, but I have to say that I can also totally relate to her not being into Jacob that way, but still wanting to have a relationship/friendship with him.

This book is definitely High School.

April

2010-05-02T18:57:00.000-07:00

So, I guess I need to update for journaling purposes if nothing else though I feel like there hasnt really been anything major this past month. I know there are moments that I put off writing about so here's an overview of what happened with us in April...

It was actually quite a busy month... my parents came down the first weekend of April for Easter and it was so much fun!! This was really Avery's first Easter... I mean, he was around last year but unable to participate in the fun so I'm not sure it really counts?! Anyway, they always do way over the top things for Holidays here in Celebration so you can imagine that a huge Easter Egg Hunt took place. And the best part? It happened right across the street from where we live - do you believe that?! We got incredibly lucky because they were going to have the hunt at another park closer to downtown Celebration, but it had rained and stormed pretty hard for a couple of days prior; they moved it to our park because not all the water had drained from the other one as quickly as expected.... it was amazing. Avery was completely into it and he was so great at "egg hunting!" It was literally just a field full of eggs... but, pretty logical for a 0-3 age group, right?! He picked up the eggs and put them in his basket, as if he was a pro :)

He took a picture with the Easter Bunny and didn't shed one single tear. I guess I just couldnt believe it because my parents always talk about how I freaked when I was a baby taking pictures with the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus.
So my parents left on Sunday and on Monday morning my very good friend Brooke flew down for a visit while she as on spring break and stayed for four days. We had an awesome time hanging out at the pool pretty much every day and making a trip to the beach one day. It was sad to see her go! Brooke left Friday and about two hours later Alex's mom and Valerie arrived... does it get any crazier?! Val and I went on bike rides, all us girls (and Avery) went shopping, we played putt putt and enjoyed a couple of dinners out.

(Alex and I love it when our parents come, it's about the only time we ever get to enjoy dinner at a restaurant. Thanks to our parents to treating us to a few delicious meals every once and a while!! )

So, Alex's family left us on Wednesday morning - Avery and I in tow. We decided to hit home for an extended stay!! It was sad to leave poor Alex by himself, but since I've never been away from my family for very long I was in desperate need of a trip home and was provided the perfect opportunity. I got to enjoy 10 awesome days in Athens. Avery and I were able to spend time with both sides of the family as well as being able to see some very close friends while in town. I had so much fun playing cards with my family, watching the first ten episodes of Glee with Valerie, going to the movies - twice, being able to go back to KRK and visit with some of my favorite ex-co-workers (lol) and Barberitos - twice :) We do not have a Barbs or anything close here in Orlando... so I really had to get as much of that as possible. Delicious.

So ten days later Avery and I flew home. Alex picked us up and we went straight from the airport to downtown Disney to meet our friends Nicole and David... we are SO committed to our friends!?! They were in town for the weekend and luckily we were able to have a little visit with them before they headed home on Sunday. Really great to see you guys, and we will be taking you up on your offer to let us stay with you!! Next time, you'll stay with us?

That pretty much hits it for like, the whole month.... It was insane but really comforting to have all those people around me. I'm lucky that we can afford to have me stay home with Avery right now... but it definitely has it's drawbacks at times. With Alex in school and working full-time adult interaction is at all time low for me... having people here visiting every once and while helps me keep my sanity and it definitely makes me appreciate our families and everything they do/have done for us.

I'm now officially a HOME-MAKER!!

2010-03-31T20:01:00.000-07:00

A few years ago I was able to go out west and had the opportunity to stay for two days with my dear friend Addy Cagle. The Cagles were living with Addy's family at the time and so I had the opportunity to meet her family and stay in their home. They were so welcoming. One of my favorite things about their home was all the amazing paintings they had of scenes from Christ's life. Every room I went in touched me in some way because of spirit their art evoked. Ever since my trip there one of my biggest temporal wants (LOL) have been to have paintings like this in my home. HOWEVER, since in no way can we afford anything that luxurious at this time I decided to get a little creative! Here is what I did...

Some time ago we were lucky enough to get a Greg Olsen calendar for free through the church. I don't really remember how, I think he donated a bunch of box loads. Anyway, we didn't actually use the calendar and I didn't want to thow it away because he has some really beautiful work. Since moving, our place has some pretty bare walls - we have just never had this much space before!! So I finally decided to do something with the calendar. I took it completely apart and picked some of my favorites out of the paintings. This is one of them...

The size was a little too big for an 8x10 so I bought a fairly inexpensive document frame 10x13 matted with an 8.5x11 opening. I just think that these look WAY better and more professional when matted. I don't usually like to go too cheap on frames because they generally fall apart pretty easily but these seemed to work out fine. They were six dollars at WalMart (where I usually don't like to go, unless absolutely necessary!).

Inserted the "painting." And, I was so surprised at how amazing it turned out. I mean, in no way does it compare to the Huge immaculate slash wonderful paintings that the Holladays have, but for our small budget I think it's A plus. :)

I did two more and hung them over our cubes. To hang them I actually used the new 3M Command picture hanging strips and I have to say, I was a little hesitant but they do work really well! This is what it now looks like....

This one is a litte bit more of a close-up. It looks as if the one to the right is smaller than the other two, but they are actually all the same size.

I have to say that for $18 dollars plus tax this little project turned out better than I expected AND I get a little bit of the feeling that I have some beautiful paintings of Christ in my home. Maybe one day I can upgrade haha, but for now I can be more than happy with this!

Thanks to the Holladay family, again, for their hospitality AND for displaying some of the most spiritual yet stunning pieces of art I've ever seen.

I'm pretty sure this counts as a tutorial, so now when people ask me my job... I can say homemaker!! :)

Oh, How the Times Change

2010-03-28T11:21:00.000-07:00

And SO quickly too! Our little boy is growing up so fast that I can’t even keep up. It’s like he literally learns 1,000 new things a day. His vocabulary and his speech are different and better everyday…

Now, I know that he is not special in this and that it just happens… I mean, I studied Child Development in college so in no way am I really surprised at many of the things he can do and how fast he learns. I guess it’s just that no matter how much you know about children and development, when you become a parent you really get a whole different perspective. Do I know that children are sponges and they pick up things and learn everything incredibly fast? Yea but, I am STILL surprised when I see Avery doing something that I only showed him once. … absolutely!

Guys, I know I am just UH-mazed, because this is my child… so, pardon me for tooting my babies horn LOL but I can’t help it!! Plus, some of his grandmas have been asking about all the things he can do now

Here are some of the things that Avery has done recently that may not be all that special, but they were big in my book!!
~ Just a few weeks ago he didn’t want anything over him when he went to sleep – now he asks for a blanket: “bankie, bankie, bankie” : )
~ When we are going off, he goes to the driver side door and says “mama, mama” then to the back door and says “bebe, bebe”
~ He can tell me what the dog, the sheep, the cow, the fish, the cat and Lady GaGa says…. he can say a few colors: orange, blue, yellow, brown, red, and pink
~ He knows the members of our family – including some extended family and he can look at a picture of a different family and tell who the mommy, daddy and baby are.
~ He can blow his nose : )
~ And for a while now he’s known all of his body parts

AND last but not least – I think I am going to try and start potty training him as SOON as he hits 18 months because 1) he knows when he is going, he points to himself and tells me; and 2) when he’s in the bathroom he goes to the toilet, points inside and says “pee, pee”

Anyone got any tips on how to make it a smooth and relatively quick transition?

Here are some recent pictures of our little guy!

I feel like he looks so grown up in this one

I don't think it gets much goofier than that...

We took a trip to the beach this past Friday and Avery LOVED it!! The water was SO cold, but it didn't really seem to phase him...

After just a few waves, our feet were buried - Avery had sand up to his shins!!

Every time a wave would come he'd stick out his tongue and scream!

Little bit of Everything

2010-03-02T09:44:00.000-08:00

So first I wanna start off by saying this was my first season watching the Bachelor. Jake picked Vienna in the end.... I keep having to say it to believe it. It's not my place to judge Vienna; I don't truly know what kind of person she is. And who knows what Jake really felt toward either of the girls... Maybe it was just a more special feeling with Vienna. All I wanna say is how she was portrayed (either by her own doing or by ABC's, I don't know) was not a person that seemed ready for something long term and just a little immature. I felt as if the only reason he didn't feel the same thing for Tenley was because she wasn't all over him everytime they were together. There is NO difference between physical and sexual chemistry. Tenley deserves better.

Another thing I want to say is that I am SO glad that Ali is the next Bachelorette, although I thought it should be Ella, I do feel like Ali deserves it. I think if she hadn't gone home, she would have ended up being the one with the ring.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In terms of how we are doing here in Celebration, FL things are going about as well as they can be. I am not working, but I have started babysitting for a family here in Celebration. They are really nice, quirky organic people and they have two kids - a 3.5yr old girl and a 2yr old boy. So, I am putting my very expensive education to good use! I am planning to look for a pre-k position maybe during the summer, but I guess all that depends on a few different variables. I do LOVE being at home though. I have been trying to work on several different crafts to sell at a boutique shop owned by a friend of a family member. I will be meeting with her here in a couple weeks, and I am a little worried because Avery is at the age where if I am doing something besides giving him my attention he cries for me. SO, I can only work on things when he's sleeping. Plus, my sewing machine does not always like to cooperate with me...

Alex has finally started working at Marriott, once he got offered the job we ended up having to wait like three weeks before he started. Yesterday was his first day and today he starts his regular schedule of working late nights; we are looking at him being gone almost 60hrs week between his two jobs and school. We will miss him!!

The one thing that I really wanna share though is about some really great blessings that we have recieved.

I was asked to be a part of the Women at the Well for our Relief Society birthday celebration coming up here in a week. I never really got into Reflief Society functions back home; I have to say that I didn't really feel comfortable there. Let me explain: I converted to the church right before my 18th birthday, so I wasn't ever really in Young Womens and I was almost immediately called to the Primary, so I didn't make a home in the RS and I always felt like the youngest person in the room. To be honest, I still feel a little like that but I am so excited to be a part of this and I feel like it will be a great opportunity for me to start feeling a little more at home in the Relief Society.

I have already been given a calling. I will be assisting with the activity days for the girls age 8-10. This is an age group that I'm not really experienced with and I am glad that I will be getting to know some great girls and also learning a lot for myself as well. Wish me luck!

Some of my favorite testimonies are ones that have inspired me. I find myself in the same situation as some of those sisters that have touched my heart. Since we moved we have barely been making it because of Alex not starting at work till yesterday; of course he had no control over it but we just didn't know how we were going to pay these bills that we were going to have for two months. We are so greatful that our parents could help us but certainly we couldn't keep asking them for money when we know they are struggling too. We got a bill for our car insurance and we just didn't know how we were going to come up with 221 dollars by the 1st of March. We'd been praying for help but we still couldn't find a way to come up with the money. Yesterday, the bill was due. Alex walks in with the mail and shows me something we'd recieved from our previous insurer from Georiga. A check for 278 dollars. There is no other way to explain it except that Heavenly Father was there when we needed Him most. Listening to testimonies of faith and paying tithing have strengthened my testimony of these things and my family has blessings to show for it.

Quiet Book

2010-02-01T09:26:00.000-08:00

Good News Minute: Alex has gotten a job!!!! He will be working for a company called Casa Latino. Their office is located in downtown Cele.bration and it will be about 3 hours every morning, but hes getting paid pretty well. And, that also gives him the opportunity to work somewhere else after class. He's had two other great interviews and he will hear from both of them this week. We are keeping our fingers crossed for Marr.iott!!!

On the other hand, I have not heard back from anyone about interviews and I haven't heard from the one place I did get an interview with (which was almost three weeks ago) :( So much for that college degree, Huh?! SOOOOO, I have decided to try and see if I can possibly work from home creating cutesy things for kids!!

I would like your guyses honest opinions on these too...

One of my creations that I absolutely love is the Quiet Book I made for little A. I have made a total of two of these. One for Avery and a woman I used to work with bought one from me for her grand-daughter. Both were personalized. Here are some pictures of Avery's; unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to get pictures of the other one so I'll just have to tell you a little about each of the pages.

Here's the cover. On the other one I made I put her name on the inside of the cover.

Alex wanted Avery to have a sports page in his book, so on this one there are different balls that are connected to ribbons (so they dont come off the page) and the activity is to put the balls in/out of the bucket. It can als be used when Avery gets a little older to recognize different kinds of balls and their names.

This is a fun page for Avery right now... it is basically just a variety of beads on thin ribbon attached to the page. He can slide them back and forth, count the number of beads on each row and also recognize the different colored beads.

On this one I took the picture without the actual shapes attached - so, the attachable pieces are made of felt and on the page the shape is outlined with the name of the shape written in. On the other book that I made I put the names inside the shapes in English and Spanish.

This is one of my favorite pages. The page has a flower pot and the flowers are button on - so the center of the flower is a button and the actual flower has a button hole in its middle and they detach. I also did this page on the other book that I made and that one actually turned out better than this one because I made the flowers reversible, so she had four different style flowers.

I love, love, love this page too!! So I made the page look like it had a cheese pizza on it and then I created three different types of toppings - pepperoni, onions, and peppers! So, Avery can create a pizza with which ever of the toppings he wants. Another option could be making a hamburger, or ice cream cone.This one is less of an activity and more for just the different kind of textures. The kids are made out of felt, the eyes are button and the scales are sequines that are tied on with embroidery floss. This is definitely a page that is great for smaller children.I hate to keep saying it, but I love this page!! I put this one in both books - the ladybug's spots detach - they are snap on/off. This can be done with really any other animal that has spots - cow, giraffe, etc.This is Avery's counting page. I love the pyramid and that they are sort of color coded, though that wouldn't be necessary it's simpler. This page was in both books I made but for the other one I did the pyramid and I wrote out the numbers in English and Spanish on either side of the row. In Avery's book the color page is pretty simple because I was in hurry to finish it. In the other book that I made I did the colors page similar to the shapes page but wrote the colors in English and Spanish instead of the name of the shape. So, the page could really be done either way!This is the last page in Avery's book. I didn't write a caption, but I do think it needs one. This activity is a puzzle of the airplane and two clouds. As you can see, the Airplane is traced and each piece of the puzzle is a different color. I also did a puzzle in the other book that I made, but her's was a little more difficult because of her age. The puzzle was a large castle, with 13-15 pieces in four different colors.

Both books also had pockets on the two inside covers, great for storing book pieces, stickers, crayons/markers, small spiral paper, etc. I made a couple pages different for the other book because I was making it for a little girl and she was bit older than Avery.

The mother wanted at least one page having to do with bible stories, so I made two. One page was a Noah's ark and on the actual page I put a boat with an open top and ramp. I found some cute animal buttons and decided I would do a two-by-two activity. One animal was attached to the page while it's match would fasten next to it or be stored inside the boat. The other bible page I made was about the Creation. On the page I put a blue circle of felt, and tied a couple of animals to ribbon and attached them on the sides of the circle. I made green felt pieces for land and a velcro sun/moon at the top of the page.

Other pages I did for her were ABC's, where she would match a letter to the object whose name began with that letter; and I also did a tic/tac/toe page for her - a simple game that she could play with parent, sibling or friend.

So, I am thinking about going out and seeing if there are little boutiques that would display a couple of my books and maybe some business cards for a small portion of each one I sell, I was also thinking of posting them on ebay, etsy or something like that.... I am also thinking about doing a few other things such as hooded towels & bath mitts, hair bows, and maybe some of those "wellness bags."

Please tell me what you think. Will these things sell, the books in particular? What do you think they are worth? What's your advice on marketing them? Do you think I could also target child care centers? Any and all comments are welcome!! Thanks everyone!

Jobs?!?

2010-01-28T11:19:00.000-08:00

So, most of you know we just moved to Or.lando for Alex to go to school here at UCF. We have been here about a month and things are going pretty well... except for we have no income!! We have both been searching fervently for jobs in this area but so far not much has come of it. Did we make the wrong decision in moving during a time where jobs are so scarce? This is what Alex really wanted to do but now we are thinking maybe we should've compromised for a program at a school closer to home.... and not that I'm think I'm too good for some of the jobs that are "advertised" but now that I have my degree I'm at the point where if I have to get a job I don't really wanna settle for something with crappy hours and pay. Not to mention that daycare is also something that I have to consider when job hunting.... Guys be honest - am I expecting too much??
If you have an job hunting tips that you care to share - please please please feel free to do so, we appreciate any help we can get!!

iGraduate

2010-01-22T18:40:00.000-08:00

So, as you know from my previous post, I graduated in December. I know it's taken a long time but I feel like 5.5 years is pretty good considering I got married and had a baby through it all.... Here are some pictures for the ones I love who couldn't be there - I'm not sure why, but these pictures posted a little bit smaller than usual...

This one is one of my favorites...

These were actually taken about two weeks after graduation but there was no one else around so it was nice. It felt so weird to be standing there at the Arches in my cap and gown, I am so ecstatic that I have finally accomplished this huge goal! Yay me!! Believe it or not, I have been thinking a little bit about graduate school.

Many know this, but there is an old legend that if you walk through the Arches at the University of Georgia before you finish school, you"ll never graduate. So, here I am finally walking through in my cap and gown - it's official!!

Me with the fam

You can't finish out your college career at UGA without ringing the Chapel Bell!! This thing has been here for over 100 years and was originally used to call students to classes - nowadays its rung to toll Georgia football victories - what a sweet sound!

Nap.Time

2010-01-12T08:57:00.000-08:00

Hello all. It's nap time and I feel like this is the best time to get around to this! It's already middle January and I have posted in almost three months, I thought it'd been longer so I was a little relieved but still disappointed in myself for not documenting some really big moments in our lives from the year 2009.
For one, Alex got accepted to UCF so we had to prepare to make this huge move right at the end of the year; we both graduated - me with my Bachelor's degree from UGA and Alex with his Associates from Gaines.ville State... so trying to get ready for the end of the year and graduation also brought a lot of additional stress. But, we made it!!
Then there was the holidays. Of course the shopping and insane traffic is also stressful, but what a great time of year! This year was not technically Avery's first Christmas, but definitely his first Christmas being aware of what's going on. I have to say even at 14 months he really got into the ripping of the paper and unwrapping of gifts, but once that over with he could have cared less about what was inside!! :) He did get a lot of cool things that he will be able to play with when he gets a little older... because my mom always gets awesome stuff for almost nothing at work he is one spoiled kid. On the other hand we get everything new for yardsale prices!!! What a blessing.
SO, we made our huge move right before Christmas and stayed with my parents through New Years and now we are in Or.lando and Alex has started school. We have learned how to be extremely tight with our money because neither of us have found jobs yet - its a blessing and a curse. I LOVE staying at home with Avery all day - and also being able to get household things done that I was always too exhausted to do during the week back when I was working. Though I have checked into working at a center here thats really close to Cele.bration, because well... we have to have some form of income, right?! Some good news is we are living at the Perschka's condo here, so housing is one expense we don't have to worry about right now - also a blessing. I told Alex he just needs to go out into the community - door to door - and ask people if they will be his sponsor. My sister actually had a room mate once who did that and it was her only source of income.... but I think she also ran some sort of youth group so maybe that was her job.
I have to say the one thing that I don't like about living here is that our close family and friends are so far away. Luckily, I have some extended family that live close by ranging from about 30 minutes to 3 hours away so that's a plus.
Avery seems to be adjusting ok to this new place; he loves to be outside, so I know he will love it once it warms up a little - we have been stuck inside the last week because it is "exremely" cold here haha. He is starting to get to that age where he wants to throw fits when he doesn't get his way.... what the heck - he is NOT two yet!!!! He has a crazy temper, and I think I know where he gets it from (...Alex...) I shouldn't complain because all in all, he is a really good baby. We have been spoiled.
Well, we miss everyone back home and hopefully we'll be coming for a visit soon. In the mean time, I've got to go finish The Time Travelers Wife before Avery wakes up!!! Bahh!!

Vote For AVERY!!!!!

2009-10-28T05:20:00.000-07:00

Guys, I have so much to tell you about Avery's birthday and the little party we had for him ~ BUT, this is kind of important right now so I'll get to that later. We entered Avery into the Gap/Disney Family casting call and we want/need you to vote for him!! You have to register to vote, but it doesn't take that long - seriously.

Here is URL: http://family.go.com/gapcastingcall/entries/jperschka22/901564480/

OR http://family.go.com/gapcastingcall/entries/jperschka22/401564614/

Thanks so much for your votes!!

llama, llama lots of drama

2009-09-03T18:30:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to lie folks, I do like to hear gossip - I don't really like to talk it, but listening is not so bad. Though it's probably not a good choice (to contribute by listening), but you can't always control what people around you are talking about - can you??

I don't really want to get into details cause that would be gossiping, right?! =) but I do want say that over the years working with about 40 other women one could hear a whole heap of gossip.... enough crazy stories and drama to be like a reality show, or a soap opera {they are practically the same, right?} -
Or maybe like a Grey's Anatomy without all the sexual tension and more catty-ness; without all the Derek and more of the Christina; without all the cool lab coats and more of the ugly krk shirts..... you guys catching my drift here? Seriously, I wish I could be making money off of it.

And, if it wasn't gossping, I would tell you some of the stories that are going around right now!!

not crazy, but weird... kind of.....

2009-09-01T17:40:00.000-07:00

guys - can you believe it? there's another alex n jess on blogspot!! ok, I guess its not really that surprising, but seriously - I just realized the importance of little symbols like the dashes in our blog address because otherwise they are exactly the same.

I'm wondering if this is stalkerish - because when I accidentally found theirs, I read some of it!!!! We are kind of similar, but so different. We have the same names of course and we are at the end of college/graduated.... but they are like world travelers and we are more settled and have our sweet baby boy. Both obviously blessed. It was interesting to see, definitely.

so guys, even though you probably link to our blogspot from either your own or someone elses, if you ever happen to type it in make sure you remember our dashes!!

totally behind, i know... but i'm back now - so be happy!

2009-08-26T05:44:00.000-07:00

oma-gosh guys.... I haven't blogged in such a long time - I feel terrible!! It has been like two months... so much has happened I don't know where to begin to catch us up so we'll just pretend that I didn't take a major break and that I've been keeping this thing updated all along. okay? So if you haven't heard by now, little A is WALKING, and into everything might I add. The other day, he went into the bathroom and started playing in the toilet water. EWWWW. We will be keeping bathroom doors closed at all times from now on.

Alex and I are back in school - last semester, WHEW. I am so pumped that after this I will be done with school forever... unless I decide to go grad school or something later. I'm not sure what I'm going to do once I'm done though, specially if we gotta go to Florida. Anyone know about some stay at home jobs that people with four year degrees can do and get paid a lot of money? :) Wish I did.

Little A will be officially ten months tomorrow - and guess what? He's getting two more teeth!?! Wholely Moley. That'll make 10. He is growing up so fast, it's sad. And, he is such a ladies man - the other night I took him babysitting with me and he totally attacked the little girl and kept kissing her!!! So blessed that I babysit for a couple of awesome families that are totally ok with me bringing Little A - I am going to miss that when we leave... tear : ( which reminds me of the fact that it seems like there are some people who are bankin on us leaving so that they can take our jobs - and thats just wrong people!! And, those are all my thoughts for now. : ) guys, promise it won't be as long next time!

Ketchup

2009-06-26T19:23:00.001-07:00

So... I have been so bad lately about updating the blog. I am just going to quickly write about some of the things that we have been up to lately and post a few new pics.

Last major thing that we did was tak a trip to Florda for Memorial Day weekend. Both Alex and I had off of work Monday and we always like to try and take advantage of those free three day weekends. We didn't actually get to do much while we were there, in Orlando, but a short getaway is always nice - even if you can't or don't have time to do much. One thing we did get to do though was drive to St. Augustine and see my oma and opa at the beach and spend the day with them!

It was not a long drive and Avery got to see his great grandparents, aunt Vanessa and uncle Mike AND he went to pool and the beach for the first time. I am not sure he is crazy about the beach yet, but he does LOVE the pool. We had SOOOOO much fun visiting with the family and spending a wonderful day in the sun. Thanks to oma and opa for having us and for feeding us!! We love you!!

Also in BIG news... Avery has eight teeth now, he wants to eat everythig that I am eating and he will stuff as much as he can into his mouth until he looks like a little squirrel with big cheeks!! :) He is crawling completely on his knees now. He wishes he could walk but he's still afraid to let go if hes standing up. He pulls up and stands and bouces on everything he can reach and he's already trying to get into everything. He loves to get his hands on our cell phones or lap top, but one his favorite things is pulling items out of a box or basket looking at them or playing with them for a few seconds and then moving on to the next thing in the pot. He is a HUGE flirt and will literally look a girl up and down as she walks away..... I am wondering who taught him that.... He is doing just great.
As for Alex and I, we kicked it into third gear this summer and we're busting our tails!! So, we should both be done with school in December. I will have my Bachelors and Alex will be finished up with his Associates in Business and if things turn out the way he wants we will be moving to Orlando, FL for Alex to finish his degree in the hospitality field. Who knows where we'll be after that...... :)

9 hours!

2009-05-18T18:32:00.000-07:00

So I'm sitting here watching the season finale of Ax Men working on my foul language, haha. I love DVR I record all the good shows so I can watch sports and then watch primetime in the morning time. BAM! So this morning I listed the Rodeo on craigslist... I sold it in 9 hours, and for more than any trade in offer we got. I told Jess I should get a lot and sell cars...No thanks! I think too many times people, dealerships included, ask too much in order to maximize their profit. I believe that in business you have make the customers think they are getting a deal. So what if you don't make as much as your "need" you still make more than what you had.

Tip of the day: If you list an item on craigslist avoid any email you get that asks for personal info, mentions a moving company picking up the item, or anyone that "lives overseas". There are tons of scams out there. I look for clues that shows they are local. That goes for when you are looking to buy on there too. Look for a specific area in town mentioned, a local phone number, and/or pictures that look like the town you live in. I've seen cars that are listed in Athens but are pictured next to palm trees. Craigslist is great just be careful.

Strasburg...a soon to be household name.

2009-05-12T19:06:00.000-07:00

1.24 , 11. 87.1, 48, 17, and 164. No those are not my winning Mega Millions numbers. But they will get Stephen Strasburg millions of dollars on June 9th at the MLB Draft. The only thing the Nationals have going for them is that they have the first pick, and man do they need it. Strasburg has a 1.24 ERA which for a college pitcher is great. He has 11 wins in 12 starts. His 11th win came last Friday were he threw his first no hitter of the season. Strasburg has pitched 87.1 innings that's an average of 7.25 per start. It gets better...these last three are the "money balls". 48 - that's the number of hits he has given up - yes that 48. Now 17 what could that be....how about walks. The Braves pitching staff has given up the same number of walks in the last 5 games. This stat is by far my favorite...164 strikeouts! That's almost 14 a game. (I hear K-mart is looking into an ad campain). He has faced just 299 batters so far and 164 have made a slow walk back to the dugout. Keep an eye on this kid. I can't wait till next season when the Braves and Nationals meet and Tommy Hanson faces Strasburg.

I don't write on here much but I could talk sports all day and night long. There is a lot going on right now with MLB, the NBA playoffs, NHL playoffs, and all the other sports. I need more TVs or what about a sport talk radio show...I like that. Then I would have to watch all the game for work and get paid for it all. Untill then I'll just vent here.

Best. Mother's Day. Ever.

2009-05-11T18:24:00.000-07:00

So, I know this past Mother's Day was my first, but I have to say it was better than I could have asked for!

As many of you know, we have been a one car family for about three months - and it has been almost the worst three months yet. Not that one car families are bad - but right now Alex and I have such different schedules and we are both always running around for school or work or appointments... I'm still not sure how we managed for as long as we did. But, for as long as we've been a one car family, we've been a car shopping one. We hadn't found anything that we liked that fit what exactly what we wanted. We test drove and really liked a few different ones and after research and consumer reviews, everything just kept pointing to the Kia Rondo and we felt like that was the best fit for us right now. Only thing was, we couldn't find one it seemed like the dealerships just try to take advantage and do whatever they can just to make a sale. After a lot of contemplation I told Alex that since school was getting out and our schedules would be less hectic we should just wait till the end of summer and try looking some more then.

Of course, being of the male gender, he did not listen to me! ;) He kept looking online and one night he showed me something he'd found on craigslist. A 2008 Kia Rondo with about 13,500 miles. It was listed for sale by a man from the Blue Ridge area that has a small car business where he mostly sells Mustangs. He said he bought the Rondo at a dealers auction and used it for traveling so as not to put the miles on his other vehicle. It was perfect, it was like the answer to our/Alex's prayers =)

The best part is..... the guy was selling his Rondo for almost $4,000 cheaper than a Rondo almost identical, down to the miles, at a dealership in Athens. Alex went to the bank and talked to some people he knows and they gave us the money. The bummer part is that we now have another monthly obligation, but the great part is that it was just a deal that we couldn't pass up. We would have never found another car even close to being in the same shape as this one for the price we got this one for, it gets awesome gas mileage and it's still under one of the best factory warranties there is out there for a little while longer. I really feel like this just happening to fall in our lap at the right time was a great blessing, and also a good lesson to learn about not loosing faith that things will happen when they are meant to... I know that it didn't work out for us at any of those other places and dealerships because Heavenly Father knew what we needed and what we could afford and He came through for our family. So we have another car payment, but it's less than what we expected to spend and I know that we will be blessed with ways to earn or find or recieve that extra money.

I want to say thank you to everyone who has helped us in this little chapter of our lives - "the car buying experience."
The people at the bank who loaned us the money and said "we didn't need to go through the trouble of running a credit check..." they are so great there.
The people who help support us by calling us regularly to babysit and are always telling us to make sure we bring the baby and people who just donated to our "new car fund" because they care about us and want to help.
Our family who is always willing to give advice or help or whatever we need.

This was the best First Mother's Day because it reminded me of all I have to be thankful for, besides my beautiful baby boy.

This is what it looks like for those of you who are wondering!!

Seriously?!?!

2009-03-20T18:57:00.000-07:00

I have to say I L.O.V.E. that word. First, because it's like a Grey's staple and second, because it's in the title of one of my favorite reading materials! :)

I had my own "seriously?!" moment on Thursday this week. It was literally the worst day. EVER.

So, I started out by having to get up for 8 a.m. class - which is usually not that bad - but was way worse this Thursday because Avery kept having these moments where he'd start fussing in his sleep and I had to keep getting up to quiet/settle him down again. So I was way exhausted and sluggish throughout class. Left class and then went home and had to get ready for a dentist appointment. For this, I have to start a whole nother paragraph

I DESPISE the dentist. I've never had a good experience at any dentist ever and I hate going to them becaus they scare me - and I'm not embarassed to say so. I absolutely loved my orthodontist - I wish he could have just been a general dentist, not that he's in GA - so I guess it's beside point.... anyway - So, Thursday afternoon I went to the dentist and got my teeth cleaned and all checked out. I hurt SO flippin' bad. I mean, I guess it wasn't as bad as I had imagined and the Dr. was really nice. But after going densist free for the last six or seven years I'm sure you can imagine the news..... it wasn't good news. And, it's definitely going to be like an arm and a leg and maybe a few fingers and toes to get everything done. Bye-bye new car fund. Hello filling fund. Good news is I don't have to get any root canals. Thank the Lord for that.

So after my amazing trip to the dentist - my whole mouth aching from the experience... I had to go to work. Once I got there they let me have it. Guess I shouldn't really elaborate. And I guess that getting "a talking to" Thursday wasn't the worse I've ever gotten from my boss - At least she let me explain the situation. I think it was just a misunderstanding. But it couldn't have come at a worse time.

Maybe I'll move to Austrailia.

Yay for free Sharpie's

2009-03-16T17:20:00.000-07:00

Spring break was awesome. Alex, Avery and I went down to Orlando to help Valerie get packed and come back to GA. We left early on Wednesday morning and spent the days just taking a break from it all and having some fun. Here's some of the things we did!

Here is our little man doing so good in his car seat for such a long time - 8 hrs... :(

This was our first time going down to the boardwalk. So pretty and really nice to walk around.

Downtown Celebration - right before we met Nicole for dinner at Marketstreet. (Totally a tradition to go there everytime we are in town!)

SOOOOOOO Cute!

Avery absolutely LOVED riding in his stroller and looking at all the sights. He thought the breeze was funny. He is SO nosey.

L.O.V.E. the picture of Nicole and the Dancing Hippo. Fantasia mini-golf was way fun and so much awesomer than any other mini golf because we got half price AND Free Sharpies!! Plus also, we got free golf balls - which was cool, but not as fun as mini-sharpies!

I also must mention that some people took way more than one ;)

Thanks Nicole, we had so much fun hanging out with you!!

On the way home we stopped and visited my Oma and Opa who live in Chiefland. So good to see them since my Opa had his surgery. Thanks for the way yummy pizza.

The drive home wasn't that bad, but the getting home and realizing that we had a big mess + laundry to clean was a bummer.

Taah Daah

2009-02-09T18:18:00.000-08:00

We've got some news!!! Avery now has two little teeth poking out on the bottom. They have not fully come in yet, of course, but WOW... so exciting. Once we can actually get a picture of them I will post it for everyone - our little boy is growing up! :(

We can't believe he's already got teeth coming in and we are going to miss the cutest gummie smile EVER, but it will be so much fun when he can start having more yummy things to eat.

P.S.

We are looking for a walker - if anyone has one they want to get rid of or knows someone who does please let us know!! Thanks.

Blow Out

2009-02-03T09:23:00.000-08:00

... And NO I do not mean Sale!!

So, today - this morning - Ave had his first blow out ever. I am sure there are more, and a lot worse ones, to come but I figured the first time it ever happens is the time to share.

This morning I get home from class and find my precious boogie sitting in his chair waiting for a yummy bottle. Wl aout half way through it he decides that he doesn't want anymore. Fine, so I sat him back in his chair to clean up a bit and there starts the pushing and grunting. I know whats happening, so I wait - there has bee too many a time that I was eager to clean his little bottom and find that he's not finished yet. gross.

SO, I take Avery to his room to change him only to find that its all down the side of his pants. and all over his leg. In telling this I have to add that Alex has somewhat of a weak stomach.... so I had to show him!! Of course, he hacked and gagged and choked and what not, Avery was laughing the whole time - I admit, it was quite humorous.

I'm not sure I'm going to be ready for the HUGE blow outs that I am expecting to come at some point in time, because this one wasn't that bad (in comparison to others I've seen at work).... so, we will see what little Avery has in store for us. :)

Here is our little poop monster - chillin' on his changin' table.

Behind

2009-01-24T18:39:00.000-08:00

I entitled this post BEHIND because that's what I am, behind on keeping all you updated. I just realized how terribly long its been since I actually wrote something. Avery has grown so much since my last post and he is doing so many things now.

The Holidays went great. We don't actually have alot of pictures of Avery from Christmas because he didn't really get "excited" about gifts or anything!! Haha he really had no idea what was even going on - he just got passed around a lot and tons of toys he can't even play with yet. We basically just pointed at the toys and said, "this is for you!" while he stared into space.

In other news. Avery has been sleeping through the night for a while now, lucky - I know! :)

He is smiling and talking (well, babbling) SO much. He can almost laugh - right now its like a grunt/scream while smiling! He can recognize us and look around the room to find us if he hears our voices. He HATES it when we lay him on his tummy. He LOVES it when we hold him up so he can stand and look at everything; he is very nosey. He tries to fight sleep, and always loses!! Out little man wanna be can hold things in his hands and play with them, he's started putting toys in his mouth. And, he tries to fit his whole hand in this mouth - if he could he'd put both of them in there! Instead he just shoves as many fingers as possible into his mouth and a lot of the time he ends up gagging himself.

Yay!!! Here he is sitting in his chair in his jeans - I love those on him. And I didn't realize how much I like this color green on Avery until I really looked at this picture. He's so handsome!

He does ok in the excersaucer. He can't really keep his balance yet and he hasnt figured out he can stand if he puts his feet down.... so we have to stuff a blanket around him so he'll stay upright, otherwise he wobbles. But, he seems to like the toys.

Here is Avery enjoying some bananas. This was not his first food experience. I still regret not getting pictures from the first time cause he made some awesome faces... but these are what we have and I love this one, I think it's so cute.

The mad face. I think it's as cute as the happy face, which may be a bad thing but - here it is. Awwwww :(

P.S. i'll try to be better about posting more - but we are SO busy with school AND work AND a baby now, sometimes posting is the last thing on my mind!

Sweet Exposure

2008-12-08T10:26:00.000-08:00

So, before we had Avery, my mom wanted us to get some photos taken. "You'll regret it if you dont have some pictures of when you were pregnant," she said. I wasn't that crazy about the idea, but she said she would pay if we got some made. Okay.....

We found a photographer who did a great job. We actually went to high school with Courtney. It was nice to have someone that we knew taking our pregnancy picture - the whole process wasn't as akward as I thought. When I looked at her gallery though, I was a little worried. I DID NOT want pictures with any of my clothes off!!! BAHH. But, it turned out to be just fine and our pictures - I wouldn't say (because I was the HUGE one...) but our families say - were beautiful!

I won't post all of them, but here are some of my favorite pregnany photos:

I didn't really realize how big I looked until after these pictures were taken. WOW. At least it was just my tummy!! This is probably one of my most favorite ones.

strange angle... but I think that's what makes this one a cool picture.

I really like those pictures that are all black and white except for one image in the frame. So, you can bet that this one is at the top of my list.
I love the tummy to tummy ones. If we had waited any longer, Alex's tummy might have been as big as mine! ... Just kidding... :)

Notice how we're never looking at the camera?! She couldn't get one of us where I wasn't blinking!! BAHH
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After looking at some of Courtney's other galleries, we decided we'd like to have some done at the hospital. Not of the birth and what not, but of Avery after his birth - being cleaned and them taking his height and weight and all that. Turns out, he took SO long and we had SO many false alarms that we ended up not getting the pics done. Courtney actually had plans that night and her back-up had a restless baby herself... so we sent her home. No Pics of Avery's birth.

Since we didn't get those, we thought the newborn ones would be a really good alternative. SO we decided to have Courtney take those for us. What an experience.

Avery was naked for all of the pictures and he loved every minute of it. Not only that he decided that being naked makes for the best time to go the bathroom. He did BOTH. I'm sure you can imagine... The worst ON me and the not so bad on one of Courtney's sheets. Thanks, Avery

Here are some of my favorite newborn pics:

He is so photogenic... didn't get that from me.... Cute little butt.... It took us SO long to get him to keep his feet crossed long enough for her to get the shot. Unbelievable.

One of my most favorites. Again, you notice how we're NOT looking at the camera... that whole blinking thing - dang it!

I'm pretty sure Alex had most of Avery's weight in this one!!

I absolutely LOVE the ones with the wedding rings - problem is.... Alex wasn't wearing his!!! So, we could only put mine on his little toes!

(Alex has to take his ring off at work, so it wont get scratched and ruined - so, it was still in his pocket in the pants he had changed out of at home...)

He is so long that his legs were all scrunched up and his head was almost hanging over my knees.... so crazy.

Love It.

Except when we put him on this bench he was inch worming across it. Hello... you're too little to crawl yet, Avery!!

And if you're interested in having Courtney take some pictures here is her web address:

http://www.courtneyrosen.com/

http://www.courtneyrosen.com/index2.php?v=v1

Car Chat

2008-12-04T07:07:00.000-08:00

We have recently realized that my vehicle is probably going to die soon. This morning I was leaving to go to school and it wouldn't start. We are thinking it may just be the battery and we can jump it off.... but who knows what will follow that. This could be the beginning of the end. We never know. When things come up, we try not to talk bad about it because when we do - things usually get worse! Does any one else believe that cars have their own personality!? :)

So, with this realization every now and then we'll check around and see what kind of deals are out there... especially right now when dealerships are trying to get rid of cars left and right. Unfortunately, we can't afford TOO much. It's a real bummer when something like this happens and you're both poor college students with a new baby.

Anyhow, while I was at school this morning Alex spent some time looking online to see what he could find. Not that we are car shopping, we'll probably just jump my battery and go from there. Whatever happens, happens. But, he was looking around and when I got home he thought he'd show me. We've found that places that list cars online dont always put the price because they want you to contact them - of course. Well, we don't really want to contact anyone, we just want to know the price - you know, why get your hopes up for something that will just let you down. If I have to call to get the price, I may just be really disappointed when I find out its WAY out our price range....

Moving on.... we were at this one site and it had this icon that you could click on to talk to a representative. Alex and I looked at eachother and then he clicked. What the HECK!! It was totally an instant message chat box. Alex was chatting with this lady about the car. Unbelievable. It ultimately came down to her asking him for his information so she could call him, but I thought it was really funny that they talking in this chat like ol' buds. Haha. It's amazing the things you can do these days.

So, I'm pretty sure we are asking our families for donations to our new (well, new for us) car fund this year for Christmas... Keeping Avery safe is a lot more important than gifts, and I certainly don't want to be stranded on the side of the road with a baby and a dead car.

Wish us luck, that my little clunker doesn't die soon. :)

The Holiday

2008-11-30T19:11:00.000-08:00

So this holiday week has been a pretty good one. I started it with a trip to the movies with my mom on Tuesday afternoon - we went to see Twilight. I have to agree with the majority and say that it wasn't that great... but there were definitly things about it that I thought were good, its just that after reading the book, there was a degree of disappointment. I am willing to believe that the next one will be better :)
On Wednesday Alex and I dropped Avery off with my parents and went to see Four Christmases (for free) with Jared and Katy. We really liked it a lot - as a funny holiday movie, I would recommend it. Afterwards we went to Inoko and enjoyed some awesome Japanese food - unfortunately it was bad that Thanksgiving was the next day because they give you SO much food. I was still full the next morning. But it was nice to have a little break and hang out with our friends. Thanks Jared and Katy!
Ahhh.... Thanksgiving Thursday. At 11:30 we went and ate Thanksgiving lunch at Alex's parents house. Honey baked ham instead of turkey - SOOOOOOO delicious. BUT, I had to refrain from eating too much because at 4:30 we went and ate Thanksgiving dinner at my parents house. Traditional. But ALSO, very delicious. Thanks to the Perschka's and the Austin's for making such yummy food!
Black Friday Alex and I took turns going out into the MASSIVE crowds. Alex bought himself a nice little christmas gift and I came home empty handed. It's probably better I didn't spend the money anyway! We got a few things on really good deals for some gifts and that was it. Friday night was leftovers at my parents house. Most def. a bribe to see the baby! :)
Saturday was Georgia/Georgia Tech and what a DISAPPOINTING game to walk a mile in the cold rain for. My only game of the season was such a bummer, and it'll be even worse if Stafford and Moreno leave. After the game I went babysitting and Alex took Avery to spend the night at my parents while he worked on the TON of school work that he had piled up. It was sad once I got home and my little munchkin wasn't there.... we almost went and got him. It was nice to get a good full nights sleep though.
Today we missed Avery so, although we felt terrible, we left church early to go and get him. And it has been a really great holiday. I can't wait for Christmas.

Road Trip

2008-11-29T17:48:00.000-08:00

Since I am out of work for a few weeks and gas is so cheap right now, we decided to take a little trip down to Florida. The weekend before Thanksgiving seemed best because we figured not a lot of people would be traveling.

We went to Celebration in Orlando and stopped in Chiefland on the way home so that my Oma and Opa - Avery's great grandparents - could see him for the first time!

Here we are getting ready to go for a stroll at Downtown Disney! So much fun. Avery Slept through his first trip there.

He has almost found it.......................... the thumb! DUH-DUH DUHH

Opa holding his great-grandson for the first time!! I think they were both really happy.

YAY! Group pic....

MMMMM...... breakfast!

What a great trip. Very cost efficient and fun too. Thanks to Oma and Opa for letting us stay with you AND for some delicious food.

Picture Mania

2008-11-18T06:00:00.000-08:00

It seems like once you have a new baby you're always taking pictures of everything they do. Of course, we have been taking tons of pictures of Avery - So, I thought I'd post some of our favorites for our family and friends who don't/wont get to see him often! ENJOY

Avery is watching College Gameday!! Only a few weeks old and he's already into Football!!

Watchin' the game with dad....

He looks so funny right here. Not happy at all, even though he is sleeping. This was one of his first nights.

We got newborn pictures taken. We haven't gotten them back yet, I will post them once we have all of them - but this was one of my favorites... so I jacked it off the web!! Alex holding our new baby. So precious.

First bath.... It was a sponge bath - what an experience.

He looks so comfortable in MY bed.... why can't he do that in his OWN bed!!

Oh... to nap. I think this one is funny because it reminds me a little of my grandfather. He used to nap like that too - lounging on the couch with his head resting on his fist....not a care in the world.

Avery's Birthday

2008-11-11T14:28:00.001-08:00

I haven't written in a while.... I've been a little busy! :) BUT, I wanted to update - and write a little something about our experience bringing our little bundle of joy into the world!

Since Avery decided that he was not ready to come into the world we made the decision to give him a little push! On Wednesday morning (10/29) we had to be at the hospital at 6am to be induced. My doctor made plans to meet us there to break my water. We get to Athens Regional and go to through the whole check-in process. It wasn't too long because we had already registered... but when they tried to get us to our room they realized that we were supposed to be at St. Mary's. Apparently, there had been a little mix up with the doctors office!! ... thirty minutes later we were on our way to our room. Thank goodness they got it worked out.

We get to our room and they have me put on the hospital gown and check my vitals and get everything situated and we were set. The nurse put an IV in - both of my arms - and then we waited for the doctor..... Well, we went in with the intentions of just breaking my water to try and get things going, but my doctor was in surgery so she decided to have them go ahead and give me petocin (or however you spell it!) to induce labor. At 8:30am they started the petocin. At 9:45am - and with not much progress - my doctor finally came in and broke my water. Weird feeling... having your water break. Shortly after I started having pretty frequent and painful contractions. My mom called for an epidural and after they gave it to me everything STOPPED. Abou thirty minutes later I couldn't feel a thing, I couldn't move my legs and the word contraction meant nothing. About 10 hours later the nurse thought it might be a good idea to turn down the epidural a little bit and once she did things started ROLLING!!
I wont go into details on that.... :) I'll just say approximately two hours later we had a baby!

Here he is!! PERFECT, but huge!! 9 pounds 2 ounces and 21 inches long.Our new family. They are lucky I let them take my picture - Bluck!New dad. He had an IV put in his right arm because he had a slight fever. So they put this splint on his hand so he wouldn't tear out the tube. AND, they put a sock on his other hand so he wouldn't scratch his face... Poor thing! Oh, and what is with those paper shirts they put on babies now...?? :)Here he is all bundled up and ready to go home. SO... quick story on that - we get him out to the car and attempt to put him in the carseat, which we had on the smallest (newborn) setting. Yeah, he didn't fit. we had to take him out AND take the carseat out and change it to the next setting. The whole time he's screaming mad because we tried to squeeze him in and he was too big! People were staring.... Alex and I were so embarassed! But, we finally got it together and thirty minutes after we had been discharged we were on our way home...

Late

2008-10-26T18:08:00.000-07:00

So.... yesterday was Avery's birthday. Well, it was supposed to be Avery's birthday. Where is he?! Why does he not want to come out and meet us yet? We don't know what the deal is - after we went to the docor last week she was sure he would come on Wednesday night or sometime Thursday - but here it is, Sunday... and still no baby. I feel like we have tried everything and we are merely at his disposal.

Fortunately, our doctor won't let us go more than a week past our due date, so at any rate the lastest will be next Saturday. Any bets on when he'll be here? :)

Boob Pillow

2008-10-15T19:26:00.000-07:00

So.... in the midst of getting ready for Avery to arrive we have been trying to organize everything and pull out the suff we are going to want/need right away and not worry about the stuff that we'll need a few months down the road. We have also been in the process of moving all the baby stuff we have been collecting from my parents house - where we have stored it all - to our new place and into his room.

Through all of this, Alex has fell in love. No, not with the idea of bringing a baby home... or with all the adorable things we have for our new family member.... he has attached himself to a boppy, which he calls a "boob pillow."

The funniest thing is that it's not even a nursing boppy, its one of those play ones that you can lay the baby on and attach toys. Alex doesn't care - he still calls it a boob pillow and he thinks its the best invention they ever made - for him, not for babies.

Here he is!

He thinks he's so cute. He's actually been sick the last couple of days so I'm surprised he's smilinglove the new hat!!

trying to hide...... probably because I told him I was putting these on the blog and he got all embarassed!!

I think in this one he is showing how he's really been feeling lately.

Finally.... A New Post!

2008-10-07T05:59:00.000-07:00

I have gotten bad about not writing on the blog lately. We have had so much going on that eveytime I think about sitting down and writing something I realize that I have 1,000 other more important things to do. So, I have been putting our blog on the backburner for a while and I just decided (while sitting in class this morning) that it was finally time to write another update.

So.... I have been thinking lately about how close it is getting to the day that Avery arrives. Two and a half more weeks... and he could potentially decide to come at any time between now and then. Of course we are super excited about finally getting to meet him in person and to see what he looks like and what his personality is going to be. I have had such an easy pregnancy that I am afraid of what the payback for that will be once he gets here!! haha.

I hope that he is going to be as good to us once he's here as he has the last eight months! Besides all the excitement and getting ready that we've been trying to do, I am starting to get a little nervous. I feel like women who have C-sections are lucky in that they know exactly when their baby is going to come into the world... they know the date and the time and they know pretty much what to expect.... I have no idea when Avery is going to decide he wants to come out. I don't know what day or what time... or how long its going to take or what to expect. It's a little bit scary to be in the dark about something so important and life changing!

Other than that, I think I am ready to be done being pregnant. :) Like I said, it hasn't been bad for me at all; however, I am at the point where I can't do anything without it being a struggle!! I cannot wear shoes that must be buckled or tied..... I cannot put on socks....... we do not have a shower with a tub - so most of the time I can't wash the bottom of my legs and feet.... (don't worry, they do get cleaned!).... getting off the couch or floor is a workout..... I spend about half of my time out of breath..... I have to lean over or stand sideways to give Alex a hug! I am excited for the day when I will not be afflicted with these things!!

So.... we moved into a new place. We felt like the teeny tiny one bedroom would be a little tough with a new baby. Don't get me wrong, I know people do it and they survive - and I'm sure we would have too, but we are lucky enough that we were able to get something a little bigger and alot nicer. I have been running around like a crazy woman trying to get everything the way I want it before Avery comes because I know after that I won't have any time to do anything. Every day my mom and Alex yell at me that I need to slow down, but if you know me well enough you know that I am not patient and I don't like waiting for things when I can have the satisfaction of having them done when I want - if I just do it myself. We've gotten everything done, but the baby room. Luckily though, we have been blessed enough to have people give us things and get things for us and we have everything we need for him - we actually probably have more than what we need - so a big THANK YOU to everyone who got us something or gave us a piece of furniture. I tried to make sure I wrote cards to all, but I am sure through the excitement and the moving and school and work I probably forgot someone.

I guess I am done for this update. I will post pictures of the new place hopefully within the next couple of days and We'll post pictures of our new family member hopefully within the next couple of weeks!!

....overwhelmth.....

2008-08-17T06:04:00.000-07:00

Its Sunday. As Alex sleeps on the couch I sit here and think about a million things. I have a new group of four year olds to whip into shape at work. School starts back tomorrow. In five weeks we are moving to a new place. In approximately ten weeks we are going to have a new baby. The holidays are almost immediately following that.... and, my car could die at any possible moment. I have been feeling so overwhelmed by all of these things lately. I feel like I have so much to do and not nearly enough time to do it in.

Everyday I have so much to do at work. I have a new class of 24 "afterschool" prek children and a new employee who will be working with me for this year. We have some kind of drama every single day with the children, and although my "help" is getting better - I have to do a lot of things myself. In general, I do have a pretty good group of little ones but because I have so many of them it makes the day a lot harder and a lot longer. As far as my own schooling - I am a little concerned about class starting back. I am really glad I decided to only take one this semester, with the baby coming in October and all - but it is an 8 o'clock. I haven't had one that early in a pretty long time. I am so worried I might oversleep and not make it!!
Luckily, I found out I have a friend taking the class; so, once Avery comes and I miss - I will still be able to get the notes!! YAY!
Alex is also starting back school tomorrow and he decided to try and take ten hours this semester. Not quite full time, but it might be hard for him to get everything done that he needs to once Avery arrives. I hope that he will be able to manage going to school and work everyday on not a lot of sleep. I am a little worried for him. At least we'll only have about a month and a half of school left after Avery. With our families here to help I am sure it won't be too bad.

So.... since we are moving soon, I have recently been spending my mornings packing up things that Alex and I either do not need or do not use... as well as organizing the things that we use regularly. This turned into about a week long event which left our apartment looking like a trashy goodwill center! We came home from work to a mess everyday, which frustrated Alex (- I try to explain to him that we need to do this now rather than the week we move!!). So I would try and clean up a little - I just kept going and going and going. By the end of the day, I felt so exhausted and my feet would be killing me! Why do I do this to myself? Fortunately, I just got everything cleared up and back to normal... I moved all of our unused junk to my parents house!! Hopefully, this will lead to a successful yard sale where I can make a little extra money to get some things for our new place. Which when we move in, will leave us about five weeks to get everything ready for our little Persch. We are so lucky to have gotten so many things from other people already, but we still have to get a few more important items. We haven't gotten a crib yet - which is a necessity!! But, with no where to put it - we couldn't really get one before the move. I really wanted to get a glider rocking chair - but I am not sure that's going to happen this time around... :( thats ok. With a list of other things and two baby showers in the next couple of months, I am hoping that we are able to get everything we need. We are excited that he is almost here.... he moves so much I think he wants to get out....
The one thing we are not so ecstatic about is the holidays. Don't get me wrong we love the holidays and spending time with our families, but with the holidays comes colder weather, which won't be a great thing for Avery. We are planning on keeping him home as much as possible, so that he doesn't get sick. Besides that, I am kind of excited about Thanksgiving and Christmas - except for the insane traffic and all the crazy people that will be out shopping. Plus, I'll be off of work for those two months which will be a nice break from work, but a really busy life at home with Avery.

On top of it all, there is the topic of my vehicle. My 1995 Rodeo is trying to hold out as long as it can for me, but Alex and I are unsure about how much longer that will be. Since we can't really afford another car payment, we are hoping that my poor worn out little SUV will last us at least until next summer. But, we also have to put out alot of money each time it needs to be fixed - so we can't really decide which is the lesser of two evils :) - either fork out extra money each month or pay an insane amount every six or eight months. Say a prayer for us friends..... because either way - it sucks.

I just wanted to share some of those things we are experiencing right now. Althought Heavenly Father always blesses us with the things we need when we need them, its hard not to think about what might happen or how things might turn out and then try to have the outcome we would like. I guess it doesn't always happen the way we want, but it happens the way it's supposed to. I feel so overwhelmed sometimes, but I know that everything will end up being ok - that's probably not going to stop me from stressing out though!!

Countdown to Kickoff

2008-07-22T12:08:00.000-07:00

So, this past Saturday Alex and I attended the Countdown to Kickoff at the pactice fields on campus. There were alot of Georgia's past football players there that play for the NFL now, and a whole bunch of the guys that are on the team now. Unfortunately, niether Knowshon Moreno or Matthew Stafford were there; and coach Richt wasn't there either - BUMMER. But, we weren't going to let that keep us from getting a whole bunch of autographs!!

Here is Alex!! - We stood in line for such a long time before they even let us inside the field. It was this crazy set up where we had to stand in one line to get a stamp on our hand and then get into another line once we got out stamp to get into the field.

Alex thinks he's so cool with his sunglasses... :)

Alex with Thomas Brown. Look at his little belly pooching out!! :)Here we are with David Green - yes.... it is really him!! There was this HUGE line to get autographs from previous players and he was the first one the line went through - well, we weren't in the line... there was this lady there serving as like the "line gaurd" and she totally pushed us in front and THEN she offered to take our picture with him!!! AWESOME!

...and not only that, but there was this camera guy walking around shotting video for georgiadogs.com and we checked later and we are totally on the video standing there with David Green!!

I got Kregg Lumpkins autograph on our helmet... he was so NICE!! Throughout the whole time they were out there signing, the guys would switch out and some would be doing autographs while others would be taking a breather... I think out of all the guys out there he was the only one who wouldn't say no to autograph. The rest of the guys would just walk away when their time was up... not Kregg. He stood there until he was dragged away!

At first, they had it set up where there were groups of guys all in one place and they had people standing in line to get like four or five autographs/pictures at a time. NOT a good idea - until they spread the players out, this is was the lines looked like -and there were other lines that were even longer! It was unimaginable and the heat was unbearable. I wanted to KILL Alex for making me go. I thought I was going to die. Fortunately, the clouds came out for us and blocked that hot, hot sun! It cooled down quite a bit after that. They also had free water and new flavors of powerade out for everyone, which definitely helped.

This was Alex's football and on this half are just some of the signatures he got. 14 to be exact.This is one side of Alex's helmet - I got all the signatures on this one - 17 to be exact. I WIN!!

Alex at the G right before we left. He is so excited about all his autographs. Though at first it was a miserable time, it was really cool to meet some of the previous players and ones are that on the team now. They seem so much bigger when you see them playing on the field or on T.V. and in person some of them were the same size as me!! ...except, with muscles and stuff...

This was a really awesome experience.

Stone Mountain

2008-07-20T06:00:00.000-07:00

Ok... for those of you who have prevoiously read the last post, I want to apologize for the light pink font color. I didn't realize it would be so hard to read. I have changed it - and I promise I won't use that color again!!!

So, on Friday our good friends Jared and Katy invited us to go to the Stone Mountain laser show. It had been a really long and stressful week, Alex and I both having several things to do for summer classes were really exhausted and we actually thought about not going. BUT, we hadn't hung out with Jared and Katy for a long time and we thought it might be something fun and relaxing to do after such a crazy week.
Jared and Katy picked us up around seven and we headed out to see the show. Along the way we stopped to get something for dinner. ~ let me just break off here and ask, those of you who have been pregnant or are pregnant, does it seem like people are always trying to make you pick where to eat?! ... becuase EVERYONE does that to me! ~ so anyway, they wanted me to pick where we stopped. Katy picked KFC because I couldn't decide and I am just tired of picking!! :)
After going inside and then debating on whether we should go somewhere else, we finally ordered - and it was pretty good choice. I must say that truly I am not really a KFC person, but I will admit that after going the other night I would probably go again - to a nice one.
After we were all full, we got back on the road and made it to Stone Mountain in no time! We walked for what seemed like miles, before we finally got to a great spot - it just happened to be in the smoking section - YUCK. It wasn't too bad - I mean, people weren't smoking the whole time and there was a breeze so the smoke didn't linger.
The show finally got started and WOW - because we were sitting so close to the front it was really LOUD. I hope Avery isn't going to be scared of loud sounds/fire works once he's born!! The show was really good; but it seemed to be over so fast. Afterwards we gathered all of our stuff and trecked back to the car.
On the way home we decided we wanted some ice cream and we luckily found a baskin and Robins that was open till 11:59.... but when we went up to the door to try and go inside it was LOCKED!! What?!? We looked inside and the Indian lady working there kept motioning for us to go in the drive thru - we didn't understand. No where was there a sign that said the inside wasn't open and the drive thru was - in fact, the neon sign on the door was lit up and it said OPEN!! Well, this made us a little angry and we decided that because we couldn't go inside, we weren't getting ice cream there! So we ended up going to McDonalds :)
Pretty soon we were back in Athens and the Reeves were dropping us off at our door! I am so glad we got to go. Thanks for inviting us, Jared and Katy!

Here are the pictures!

Katy and I before the show started!

Alex and Jared trying to dance....

Just a few of the pretty fireworkes!!

The mountain at night time... awwJared and Katy, dancing after the show... how sweet!

July Fourth Weekend

2008-07-08T18:24:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures for this post but I wanted to tell about our relaxing holiday weekend! Since we both had off work, Alex and I wanted to take a short trip for the weekend. Of course the most obvious place is Orlando since our family owns a condo there; we never have to pay for a place to stay - which can often be on the expensive side. We had pretty much decided to go, however my car recently had to be fixed and we pretty much used the little bit of extra money we had saved up to fix it. :(
We were sure we wouldn't be able to take our trip because of the vehicle mishap. Luckily, Alex's parents had also thought about going to Florida for the weekend as well, so we decided we would just go together. It was really nice - Alex and I didn't have to drive the eight hour trip - we just relaxed in the back of his moms expedition, watched movies, and took cat naps! I was able to work in the morning on Thursday so we left just after lunch time and got to Celebration around nine thirty. With such a long trip we were all really tired and just crashed - BUT, it was nice to get there on Thursday so that we could have two whole days to spend doing whatever we wanted.
On the Fourth, Alex and I just hung out till about noon and then we decided to head out to the pool. Since it is right across the street from the condo we didn't have to go far!! There were so many people at the pool it was unreal, but the water felt so nice - it made me miss having a pool in the back yard. We stayed at the pool for a few hours and then we decided we should head back and start getting ready to go out for dinner. That night Alex's parents treated up to Logans Roadhouse - which was SO yummy! Afterwards we headed back to Celebration where they were having a free concert and fireworks. It wasn't a long show but they were really pretty. It was a pretty eventless day, but after going to class and work everyday it was a nice break!
On Saturday morning the whole family got up and after breakfast we went to downtown Disney and went through all the shops. We found some REALLY cute things for the baby, but decided we would hold out until the next time we were in town. After walking around for a couple of hours we got some lunch at the Earl of Sandwich and it was super yummy! But it was so packed we had two or three people waiting for our table before we were even ready to get up. When we were finally finished we cleaned up our table and let the people waiting fight it out - we got back to the car and headed for the condo. Alex and I suited up as soon as we got back and went down to the pool for another day of sun. There weren't nearly as many people there as on Friday, so we stayed a little bit longer the day before and boy it was interesting.
This little girl and her aunt came to the pool - she was about eight or nine years old. She literally walked around the pool singing at the top of her lungs while dancing and stopping every few seconds to play her air guitar. When she didn't get a response from anyone she proceeded to go right outside the gates of the pool to crash a 50th Anniversary party. We could hear her from there, singing Hannah Montana and Hillary Duff songs at the top of her lungs for those poor old people who were trying to celebrate 50 years together!! :)
After the pool we took showers and went to dinner at a little place in downtown Celebration called Marketstreet Cafe - where Alex and I ate dinner the night he proposed... so, we have to go there and eat everytime we are in town. After dinner Alex and I went and played putt putt golf at a new place that opened up close to Celebration. Alex won, of course, but I got two holes in one!! YAY. Hey, that is a big accomplishment. It was a nice night out and a whole lot of fun - which we havent been able to have in a long time.
Sunday began with a long long ride home, unpacking the car in the rain and then going straight to my parents house for dinner. It was kind of a crazy ending to a relaxing weekend.
We are really greatful that we were able to still go and be able to enjoy ourselves for a few days before the July session of school started. Now it's back to work and back to school... I can't wait till the next holiday!!

HELP!!

2008-06-08T10:35:00.000-07:00

Okay... So, Alex and I have been trying to figure out when to go and register for our baby stuff... Now, there are things that I know we have to have and there are things that are just fun to have. But, we have really been debating because we know that there is always stuff that you get and NEVER, ever use for anything; not to mention when you go to register they try and talk you into all those unnecessary items, and being a first time parent you're not really sure whether you may or may not use them - and to be honest, we don't have the extra space to store all those things we won't even be using..... So, I decided it might be a good idea to post a blog and enlist the help of you guys who currently have little ones.

I am hoping that you can leave me some comments and let me know about those baby things that everyone seems to get, but no body seems to use... and, maybe some of those 'life saver' things you think you'd never need!!

Any and all advice will be greatly appreciated!

Baby Boy

2008-06-03T10:04:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, we had a big day at the doctor! We had an ultrasound and they checked out all of our baby's organs to make sure everything was on track with growth. We also got to find out what the baby's sex was.... We are having a boy! We had decided that whatever it was we were going to be happy... but I think that Alex is oretty excited, and I have to admit that I always imagined having a boy first. I won't lie... I can't wait to have a little girl - so that I can put her in cute little clothes and fix her hair!! But boys are so much fun. We are really happy. So.... here are just a few of the pictures they put on a CD for us to take home of our growing baby!!

Here are his little footsies!! They are SO cute - He has ten toes... YAY!
This is our baby boys spine. It is just so amazing...
Here he is!! His little tummy and his face. How precious.

Now we just have to get started on finding a new place to live and making sure that we have everything we need for the new baby. We can't wait to meet him!!

Blue Ridge Anniversary

2008-05-27T20:14:00.000-07:00

So, this past Memorial Day weekend was our One Year Anniversary. YAY….. Wow, it doesn’t even seem like it has been that long. But, we made it through our first year. They say the first is the hardest…. but it didn’t really seem that hard. I guess that’s a good sign!
I know it’s a little strange to take family vacation for your anniversary, but my family goes on a vacation Memorial Day weekend every year since I can remember. Alex and I kind of ruined it for them last year when we decided to get married on that weekend. :( So, this year they invited us and we went to the Blue Ridge Mountains and stayed in a Cabin. It was a really nice cabin, three bedrooms - two stories with a basement, so we all basically had our own little space. My family left Thursday afternoon, and we left on Thursday night after work and made it there around nine. We spent the evening hanging out, watching TV, and enjoying our surroundings.
Friday was a pretty low key day. We went and checked out Downtown Blue Ridge - and walked through the little shops for a few hours and then went to the grocery store. Then we had to get back to the cabin to start dinner. That night we enjoyed some delicious barbeque!! But, we had to be careful not to leave anything outside… or else the neighborhood bear might have paid us a little visit!! Yes, there was a bear…. We didn’t actually see him, but we did see his claw marks all over the chained up garbage cans and pictures of him in the cabin information book!! That night we played games and enjoyed eachothers company. They had a pool table downstairs and we played a lot of that; my sister also brought her playstation and we played Buzz - which is kind of like a game show, and SingStar - which is a karaoke game. It was so much fun - even though we couldn't convince Alex or my dad to sing!!

on Saturday, everyone except me and my mom went white water rafting. My mom and I went back to downtown Blue Ridge because they had this art festival on Saturday and Sunday. It was pretty cool, kind of like the fall festival that they have in Watkinsville - but, mostly sort of artsy stuff like paintings and woodwork. Most everything was way out of our price range, but we did get these really cool wind chimes that were made out of old wine bottles!! I was really excited because I've been wanting a wind chime for our porch, but I haven't been able to find one that I really like at a reasonable price. These were awesome, and not expensive at all!! After walking around for such a long time, our feet were SO tired. We decided to go and get some lunch. ~ That night, we were all so tired that we just decided to eat left overs and play games and be lazy!

On Sunday, it was mine and Alex's anniversary and my parents wanted to do something that'd be fun for us since I couldn't go rafting the day before. It came down to us all taking a canoe ride down the river. We called a couple of places that were closed, but finally we found a fairly new place that looked like it might be promising. We got there, and got everything in order for our trip and they talked us into taking kayaks instead of canoes. Alex and I were stoked about kayaking, and my dad and sister decided to try one too. So, we paid, parked our car at the finishing point and the guys dropped us into the river upstream. Kayaking was So much fun!!!! ...Until we flipped out of our kayak! Actually, flipping out the first time was pretty fun; the water was insanely cold, but it was so hot outside it felt good. After Alex and I flipped out the first time we got back in and tried to get back on course... but we were off balance, a good current came and BAM we were in the water again!! My dad and sister were getting a kick out of us falling out of our boat and they kept telling us they got the one that was "tip proof" - NOT!! ~~ It was probably a good thing we were traveling separately, because when one of our boats tipped we would loose everything and the other boat would have to collect belongings!! :) so... basically we all kept falling out of our kayaks and collecting eachothers stuff! We couldnt figure out why this was happening.... the guys kept yelling at us, we yelled back - and it seemed like we might have been doomed from the start. Before long, we realized that we were retaining water in the inside of our boats and we had to pull over and drain them!!! After the draining process, we all got back inside and we started going really good. Alex and I felt like we were back in the groove!! My dad and sister were coming along behind us; but soon we realized that they were stopped... ~~ We were to about the half way mark and we had already been in the water for about three hours on a trip that is supposed to take about two - all the way down. We figured out that my dad and sister's boat was taking in even more water; so, we all decided to just stop there and have the guys come and pick us up. Turns out, both the boats we had rented had holes in the bottom - it would have only gotten worse if we had kept going!! Needless to say, my dad made sure we all got our money back.. ... Even though, it was a terrible trip down a very low river - we shared some laughs on behalf of eachothers mishaps, we all got wet, I got a good story for my blog, Alex and I decided we want a kayak (free of any holes!), and all in all it was fun!!

That night, we went out to dinner at a Longhorns in town and had a really nice time together. It was our last night at the Cabin and we decided to have a pool tournament - kind of. After such an exciting day, Alex and I were pretty much dead the second our heads hit our pillows!! Monday we drove two hours home and spent the rest of our day laying on the couch watching TV. :)

Even though Alex and I spent our anniversary weekend with family - it turned out to be a really good time! Thanks, mom and dad,

** I'll add pictures as soon as I get them!

We Hate Dallas

2008-05-27T20:12:00.000-07:00

So…. Our trip home was yet another amazing adventure. We came home on Sunday night. Our flight from Salt Lake City left around 4 in the afternoon and the flight itself wasn’t too bad; but, we decided to get to the airport early so that we wouldn’t have to pay for a whole extra day on our rental car when we were only going to have it for an extra hour. Because out west the airports have security checkpoints at each terminal you get through a lot quicker. That left us sitting and waiting for about three hours.
We couldn’t get internet and we didn’t bring any movies to watch…. So we found this sports bar place and we sat and ate an appetizer and watched a basketball game. Not an incredibly bad time.
As I said, the flight itself wasn’t terrible… except for the fact that we had to sit all the way in the back of the plane - and I believe the back is where you feel bumps the most! We got to Dallas and after a bathroom run we checked the flight boards and what do you know… Our flight was DELAYED. We had already had a bad experience at the DFW Airport and this one wasn’t starting out any better. So, we got to Dallas around 6:30 and we were supposed to have a two and a half hour layover and leave for Atlanta around ten. Since our flight was delayed we ended up having about a five hour layover and would not leave Dallas until almost 11:30. This wouldn’t have actually been that bad, except that Alex’s parents had agreed to pick us up in Atlanta. With our layover, they would be picking us up around 2 am. We felt terrible… much to our surprise, they weren’t mad and they still came!! YAY… :)
We decided to find a nice place to eat since we would be around for a while - we thought we’d make the most of the situation and go for a date night… haha, at an airport restaurant! Luckily, DFW has a TGI Friday’s on every terminal and since we don’t have one in Athens we thought it was a pretty good choice. On our way to our terminal, Alex saw some soccer players coming past us. “Hey,” he says, “those are professional soccer players… the LA Galaxy.” I reply by mentioning the name… you know, his name. “I wonder if we’ll see him,” I say. As we get to the Friday’s we see a couple more groups of two or three players walk by… he wasn’t with them. While we wait to be seated, I see three more player walking towards us and about five police officers behind them… “I bet he’s in that group,” I say to Alex and as we stand there… waiting … watching… we see him - David Beckham. Where was my camera when I needed it?! Of course he walks by and about five minutes later we see so many people running by, even our waitress left the restaurant and ran down to his gate. This is insane - I kept saying. And finally, Alex decides he wants to take the camera and go down to try and get a picture.
He stays gone for about ten minutes. When I see him walking back up he doesn’t look very happy… we make eye contact - and he shakes his head. I can already tell there is a story. He sits down and tells me that he didn’t get the picture. “I pushed through all these people who were just standing there and go in a line with the camera. The lady in front of me asked me to take a picture of her son getting his autograph and then I even took a second picture of her and her son with him. After I finished, the cop said ‘Alright people, its been fun but that’s enough’ then he went into a corner and a whole bunch of cops surrounded him.” Alex was so upset he wasn’t even hungry. He just kept saying how he didn’t understand that the police officer sat there and watched him take pictures for that lady and then turned him away. He wouldn’t even eat because he was so mad. I thought it was a little bit funny, but I felt really bad for him. I just thought it was dumb that he didn’t take a picture of the guy while he was standing there… instead he was waiting to take a picture with him.
So, we ate and we went and say at our gate and Alex stayed mad the whole time. He tried to get on the internet - he couldn’t - that made him even more mad. He couldn’t get on the internet, so he decided to play games on the computer and after about two minutes the battery died - that made him even more mad. I finally just left him alone and went walking around the airport. Everything was closed, so I went to the bathroom and walked back to my poor angry husband, who apologized for not acting nice. And, in not too much longer we finally got to leave! We made it home and Alex’s parents were waiting for us in Atlanta. It seemed like forever before we got home but once we did it felt so nice to sleep in our own bed!! If we learned one thing from our trip out west…. It was that we’ll NEVER, EVER ….. schedule a connecting flight in DALLAS!!

Salt Lake City

2008-05-26T12:42:00.000-07:00

On Friday we went to lunch with the family and then left Rexburg. We spent the day in the car and drove up to Salt Lake City. That evening we went to dinner with one of Alex's mission companions and had a really good time. They talked about stories from their mission, some of the good times they had, and caught up on what some of the other guys were up to since returning home. I didn't really get to participate much in the conversation, but I was glad that Alex got to see his old friend and it was cool to hear them talk about some of their times together. After dinner we drove some more and then tried to find a place to stay for the night.
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Saturday was a really cool day. We toured the Conference Center and then went to Temple Square and walked around.

This is the fountain that is on top of the Conference Center. Our tour guide said it sits on the roof right above where the pulpit is inside the building. Wow.This stone wall is also found on top of the Conference Center and it represents all the people of the world that the gospel has touched and will touch - just as it says in the inscribtion that comes from the D&C. And..... if you look close enough - you can see yourself in the stones reflection.This is a picture of the Salt Lake Temple from atop the Conference Center. It looks so magnificent!This is me inside the Conference Center and down on the lower level. It is so amazing to actually be inside there - it looks so much bigger than when we see it on TV. After touring, I have decided that we are going to go to a Conference soon.

This is us... of course! in front of the Temple....... does every one who gets married there have their picture made on that little podium behind us? It almsot makes me wish I had taken my wedding gown!! :)This is the inside of the Tabernacle. It seems so little compared to the Conference Center, it's amazing to think that this is where they used to hold Conference meetings.We thought this looked like the picture of the Salt Lake Temple that they always show on TV before Conference.... and one that most people have hanging somewhere in their house!!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday night we met Valerie and Ashley for dinner at this place called Mayan Adventure. It was really cool; kind of had that Indiana Jones feel to it. here are some pictures from our night there.Alex and Val while we were waiting for our table!

when we got inside they told us we weren't allowed to take pictures becuase of the flash... so here Val is trying to find a setting on her camera that would work without a flash and actually capture a picture.... I don't think she had much luck.This.... is what we weren't allowed to take pictures of! At Mayan Adventure they do these shows that are about ten minutes long and it's these ancient people who are doing some kind of tribal ritual. The most fun part though is the next picture....There are about five or six guys, wearing these little loin cloths (which, I guess that is what they wore in ancient times!) - and they do these incedible dives/jumps off of these high rocks into a pool of water about 20 feet below... which is also surrounded by rocks. It seemed very dangerous.... yet very cool!

The food at Mayan Adventure was also very delicious... so, if you're ever in Salt Lake its a restaurant I definitely recommend going to.

Yellowstone

2008-05-19T19:38:00.000-07:00

On Thursday Alex and I caught up on sleep and then we decided to drive to Yellowstone. It was a nice trip and we had fun spending time together and seeing all the things in the park. We didn't get to see any bears but we did see some other pretty interesting things. Alex in front of the sign going into the park.
Alex tried to throw some snow on me.... so I got him back!! We thought it was pretty crazy how much snow was still on the ground in some places there.
We believe that these were female Elk. We didn't see any males which was kind of disappointing because they look cooler with their big horns!!
Me, with the Buffalo. After looking at the pictures later Alex goes, "hey Jess, you even look like a buffalo...." Thanks, ALOT!!
This one stoppped and posed for us.... amazing. They are so big and fluffy!!This is one ranger that was trying to get the Buffalo out of the road. We sat in a traffic jam for over an hour because they crossed the street once and then decided to cross it again....We stopped at this one spot that was full of these types of geysers. There were only two that actually spewed out water - this one wasn't one of them. They were all stinky, but the water was a really pretty blue color!We got to Old Faithful just in time to watch it blow!! Here I am... in front of it's sign!This is my favorite picture. We are in front of Old Faithful its smoking behind us... but it hadn't blown yet. It had just blown and Alex videotaped some of it but mostly we could just see a lot of smoke.

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It was also Val's birthday on Thursday.... So, after we had gotten back from Yellowstone and Val was done with classes, we went to dinner with Alex's parents, Val and Ashley at a pizza place called Craigo's. It was like a much nicer version of the pizza buffets that we have here - MUCH nicer. The pizza there was very delicious and we all had a really nice birthday dinner together. After we were all full Val took Alex and I to a place called the REX. It's this center where students can go and watch movies, go bowling; and, they also have an arcade type of room with video games, air hockey, and pool tables. Luckily for us, it was $3 Thursday ~ on Thursday, you can do everything for three dollars, if you are a student. WE, of course, aren't students but when we paid they didn't even ask to see our IDs.... so, we got to bowl as much as we wanted for three dollars. It was really awesome. After bowling we got ice cream at Cold Stone and then took Val back to her house. What a great day!

Turbulence

2008-05-17T18:33:00.000-07:00

I have decided to write about our trip out west in short stories... the first of which is called Turbulence. As you can probably tell from the title, this story is about our plane ride out and let me say..... it was a very interesting few hours.
We wake up at about 2:30 a.m. so that we can be at the airport two hours before our flight at 6:55 - even though it was a very early start, the beginning of our day wasn't too bad. As soon as our flight took off, it got a lot worse....
We had a connecting flight, so we flew Atlanta to Dallas - where they were experiencing some bad weather including rain and thunderstorms. Lets just say our ride was very bumpy!! It seemed like we felt every blow the weather had to give. It was the worst flight either of us had ever been on... There were brief thoughts of crashing and a whole lot of nervousness. Not to mention that our pilot did a questionable job.... it seemed like the whole flight he kept swaying the plane back and forth - from side to side - like a teeter totter; he would slow the plane down and then all of a sudden speed it up; and, he kept changing elevations - now, I feel like maybe he was trying to aviod some of the turbulence, but at the time it felt like he had no idea how to fly. Once we got to Dallas, we had to fly around the airport for about 20 minutes because the weather was still pretty bad; and when we were finally allowed to land, we were greeted by hard rain.
So, I'll briefly side note here and say that Alex doesn't like roller coasters. He hates them. He won't even go near them. They make him sick. Needless to say, our airplane ride that morning was about as close as it gets to roller coaster rides. Alex took his newspaper and made a little bag - just in case. He didn't throw up, but he was really sick after the flight and to add to it - our flight to Salt Lake was cancelled because of the weather.
The next flight to Salt Lake was full, so they put us on standby and all we could do was wait... two hours later - we luckily got on the next flight and we weren't that excited about it. though it was better than waiting three more hours for the next one. We got to our seats and Alex immediately closed his eyes. I am pretty sure he didn't open them until we landed in Salt Lake!! We did experience some turbulence at the beginning of our second flight, but it wasn't nearly as bad or for as long as the first one.
I seriously thought Alex was going to fall on the ground and kiss it once we landed!! He didn't, but that would have been an awesome picture!! We are still alive - Hooray... but after this trip - we are more likely to go places we can drive to :)
Stay tuned for more stories from our trip!

Rachel

2008-05-11T08:09:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I babysat for the Campbells and I have to say that Rachel has gotten SO big and she talks SO much now. We had so much fun on Saturday that I had no choice but to post the pictures and write about it! Even though most of the time I can't really understand what shes trying to say, we had fun communicating together and she had some pretty funny moments yesterday.

Everytime I'm there she likes to play with my phone... this time she was asking me to find Elmo on it!
She was mad at me for taking her picture, and this was the face she came up with to show me. Everytime I pointed my camera toward her she would yell "NO!" and then show me this face!
Here she is.. trying to put her shoes on my feet. She actually got the this one on pretty easily.

She had a lot more trouble with this foot, and she got really frustrated when she couldn't get the shoe on. So she told me to put it on myself!
Here I am with her shoes completely on my feet, but she doesn't understand why half of my foot sticks out of them! So.....
She tries to shove them all the way on! Once she realizes they aren't going to completely fit, she decides she'd rather wear them herself. So she took them off of me and put them back on her own feet! Here we are - I am sitting on the couch and she thinks its funny to put her Hula Hoop around me. So she takes turns putting it around me and then around herself. I'm not really sure what game we were playing...They had some Sprite in their refridgerator and Rachel wanted some. "Soda." She kept telling me. So, I gave her a little bit in this cup and it was so funny after she took the first sip, she kept telling me "this prutty good."

Of course, since I gave Rachel some Sprite I had to give Caleb some. But, when we went to get him a cup he told me he wanted a sippy cup. So, I got him out one that had pictures from the Cars movie - he didn't want that one, he picked out this one with Disney princesses on it and told me that was the one he wanted!! He's so cool.
After a little while, we decided to go outside to play. Rachel apparently has this new fascination with ants. She showed me all of her ant bites when I arrived at their house, and now I can see why... She looks for them and tries to play with them like they are pets! Here, she is using this stick to try and dig around to find some.Whenever she'd find one, she would pick it up and show it to me and she'd say "got one!" I kept telling her they were going bite her, but she didn't seem to mind that much. Once she finally got bit she told me "band aide," and showed me her finger... but went right back to looking for more ants before I had time to get up!

She is so much fun and what a big personality. It's times like this that make me so excited that I get to be a mom soon! I can't wait.

Weekend to Remember

2008-05-08T19:14:00.000-07:00

So, this past weekend Alex and I went up to Connecticut for our friend Jordan's wedding in Connecticut. We flew to Boston and then drove up. The flight from Atlanta to Boston wasn't that great, it was really bumpy and hard to get comfortable. We had hardly any sleep because we had to leave Athens at about 3:30 in the morning, and we were up late. We landed in Boston about 9:30AM and got to our rental car and decided just to drive on up to Connecticut because of the weather..... and because of poor planning, we didn't know where any of the sights we wanted to see were or how to get to them. :(

The drive up went pretty fast and when we finally got there we met Jordan and her fiance - now husband. They were still putting a few things together for their wedding the next day, so Alex and I decided to check the Wal Mart that was just down the road. When we returned, about an hour later I realized that I didn't have my drivers license. This is when our day went south!! I realized that I had stuck my license inside the little envelope they give you for your boarding pass; which, I had left on the plane about six hours earlier. Ooops...

Needless to say, Alex was raving mad and I felt horrible for doing something so stupid and careless. He called the airline and had to report it lost and they said they would call us if anything came up - but that if it didn't, I wouldn't be able to fly. I cried and cried and cried.... because of course, we both had finals on Monday morning. After we got through this traumatic experience - we went and hung out with Jordan and Michael and his family, where I became the butt of their jokes. Nothing new.

A few hours later we had the rehearsal, which went really good; then we went and ate at the Mystic Pizza. Soooooooo good, and it made me think of Julia Roberts!! That was a really good time and our weekend seemed like it was looking up. Later that night, instead of Bachelor and Bachelorette parties everyone just got together and went to this huge casino - its like the second biggest one in the nation. It was this really big place that had like six or seven different casinos and then an atruim with shops and restaurants and music. WOW. I had never in my life been to a real casino before and let me say that it was an experience all in it own. I watched Jordan and some of the other people we were with and its really interesting how those machines get you to keep playing. There were rows and rows of them and they were all filled with mostly older people and then there was a separate section with table gamling - like poker - and there were mostly Asian people in that area. Odd, I thought. When we finally left, we went back to Jordan and Michael's apartment and they let us stay there instead of getting a hotel - that was really nice of them! We were so tired, Alex and I slept so good that night.

Saturday morning we woke up to a homemade breakfast of pancakes, grits, scambled eggs, and bacon. Yummy. Then it was time to start getting ready. The wedding was at 3PM. They had it in this little chapel in an old village like place in Mystic. A cute little chapel. When we first got there, the priest hadn't shown up yet and it was time to start!! Jordan's dad asked Alex if he'd ever married anyone before - HAHA. That would have been really funny. Well, when the guy finally got there, he was really sketchy looking... and he didn't even know what to do or say. wow. The whole ceremony took like 7 minutes and then we had two hours before the reception. So Alex and I drove up to Old Mystic and went to the harbor and saw some historic landmarks. Really cool.

Time for the reception and oh my was it an interesting one!! Lets just say a few people got wasted and embarassed themselves. I don't want to get into detail, but you know that one crazy person everyone has in their family? Well, this one was there... All in all - there was ice thrown at the bride and groom... for kissing, on their WEDDING day; an argument about whether God, Jesus and Heaven and Hell exist; drunk riverdancing, two OUT-OF-CONTROL children, and an awesome couple who just took everything in stride. If that was my reception, I don't think I could have played it as cool as Jordan and Michael did.

After that, everything went uphill. We called the airport and they said I should be able to get through security with my birth certificate and a social security card. We had them faxed to us immediately and spent the rest of our time relaxing and trying to get ready for our trip home the next day.

On Sunday, we met up with Jordan and Michael and spent a little bit of time with them before we had to leave. We ate at this really cool sports bar and got some last pictures and then it was time to go. Our drive back went really good, we didn't have any trouble finding where we needed to go. However, once we got into the airport and to security we hit a rough spot. They told us my birth certificate had to be an original copy that was actually notarized and from the court house. Yea right. Fortunately, once I explained my situation, they let me through - but I had to go through every security checkpoint possible. Except strip search! Whew! Once we got through it was a breath of fresh air. Yes! I can get home!! The flight was actually alright and we got home at a pretty decent hour - we went straight to bed. It was definitely a weekend to remember.

Here we are at Boston. Alex wanted me to take the picture before those people walked by.... tourists.... :)

Our itty bitty compact car - Kia Sorento

We stopped at this Wendy's to eat in Rhode Island. They didn't even have a 99 cents menu... What?

Finally, in Connecticut! Alex was driving too fast for me to get a picture of the Welcome to Connecticut sign... so we had to stop at the information center!

This sign says it all.... a slice of heaven!

Alex at the casino. Does he look like a gambler?

On the big day! Alex is trying to show Jordan's brother, Justin, how to do a tie knot.

The wedding party. I was a little uncomfortable since this dress was sleeveless... but I had to get one at the last minute, and it was free. So, I just put a sweater on immediately afterward!

Alex and I at the beginning of the reception.

Jordan and Michael and Alex and I outside of the restaurant before we had to leave for our flight. :(

Lion King

2008-04-23T19:55:00.000-07:00

So this is a little bit old news, but this is the first time I have been able to do anything besides school work!! On Saturday the nineteenth, Alex took me to see the Lion King on Broadway at the Atlanta Civic Center. What an Amazing experience!! The Costumes were incredible and the performers were noteworthy - no pun intended! : )
I’ll start by saying that we left Athens at about 4pm because there was supposed to be some pretty serious road work going on . Well, turns out the road work was happening on the other side of the road so we got to Atlanta around 5:30 and the show didn’t start until 8pm. We drove around and saw some pretty shady areas as well as some really cute old neighborhoods. Their houses were all painted weird colors like bright green and blue and pink.. Kind of cool. So, we decided, we should go find somewhere to eat. Well, we didn’t know where to go downtown because they wouldn’t let us park at the civic center - it was too early. So we decided to get back on the interstate and drive up to the next exit that had food. We ended up going to Shane’s Rib Shack and had bar-b-que. We had never been there before, even though there’s one in Athens and it was in fact, pretty good. We recommend the fries, not the baked beans : ) but their sandwiches are really good.
Once we got back to the civic center we got inside and had to wait for them to open the theatre. Our seats weren’t amazing, but they weren’t super expensive and I didn’t mind. I would have liked to sit a little bit closer, but they weren’t the worst seats in the house either! We could see everything pretty clearly. Of course, no pictures allowed - so we don’t have anything cool from the actual performance!
The first scene when Mufasa is presenting Simba at pride rock was probably my favorite - as it is in the movie. For some reason, watching it that night brought a few tears to my eye. I have never really been to a show of this magnitude and this one touched me.
The show was so powerful and it made the story so much more alive to see real people acting out the characters and feeling their emotional experience as they told the story.
The show was about three hours long, an hour and a half for each Act with an intermission in between. The only thing that I might do differently if I were going to see it again would be that I would try really hard not to compare the broadway to movie. I felt like in the first part of the show I did that and once I realized that I tried to watch the show in a different way. I think that not comparing it makes it one thousand times better; because they share a story line, but they are in fact very different.
All in all I really enjoyed the Lion King and felt like it was one the best dates Alex and I have had in a really long time! Thanks, Honey!!

this is before we left our apartment ... Lion King, here we come!!

This is the little posters that were at the top of the civic center. I wish we could have taken one home with us!!

Our picture in front of the civic center. I think it turned out pretty cute.

Us in our seats before the show started. I don't really like this picture....

FAT phase

2008-04-23T19:51:00.000-07:00

So… I feel like I am at that stage in pregnancy - the most dreaded phase…. I have been dreading it and now its here. You know, that stage where you know you are pregnant and you are doing all the right things, but you have started to gain a little bit. Of course, it is natural and obviously the best for thing for the baby that growing inside my tummy…. But, lets just be honest - this is the stage where you just have those few extra pounds, yet no evidence of a baby… so people who don’t know for sure that you’re a Prego, think that you’re just getting fat!
I am at the FAT phase and I HATE it!!!
I realize that this is a part of being pregnant that everyone, and that I too must go through, but I have to admit that it is not and probably will NEVER be my favorite. :) - I wish I could skip the fat phase and just get a cute round belly! I'm a dreamer, huh?
Other than this phase where I am feeling like a whale, all other things are going great! Still no morning sickness, which my doctor says I probably won't have - YAY! I am just so TIRED all the time... We have an appointment tomorrow and if anything exciting happens I will be sure and write about it.

Surprise Party

2008-04-12T19:38:00.000-07:00

So... this weekend some friends from work decided to throw a surprise party. Another girl that we work with in PreK, Whitney, just got engaged and everyone just found out that I am expecting.... Our friends told me it was for Whitney and they told her it was for me; they had tricked us both!!! So, on the night of the party we all get there and we find that it is actually a surprise party for the both of us.... a sort of "before and after" party - so to speak!
Let me just begin by saying a couple of the women that we work with are pretty crazy... they made a "special" cake for the bride-to-be, and the party favors were the sort you'd probably only find at a place like Spencers. They had all kinds of finger foods - Zaxby's chicken fingers, a vegetable platter, fruit, chips and dip, pizza, cheese sticks, and varios types of soft drinks.
We spent the evening/night talking about experiences that happen at work and other things in general. We laughed and laughed, so hard that there were some of us to tears. It was so much fun! Then they made us sit down and open a few little gifts. Whitney got mostly gag gifts and just things that are funny... she got some edible underwear - for him, some sex dice, a fantasy coupon book, some candy, and an intimacy spinner.... yea, I think she got set for the honeymoon night!! :)
As for me, I got pampers, baby wipes, some toys, some green & yellow play jumpers, one of those cold care kits, and a gift card. I thought that was way sweet, especially since I wasn't really expecting anything - I just thought it was a party to celebrate Whitney's engagement. It was so thoughtful of those girls to do something like that - I felt so special because I've never had a surprise party before!
We usually go out to eat once every couple of weeks - those of who work in PreK, but I have to say that the food, laughter, and fun were awesome that night. I am thankful for such great friends and wonderful co-workers.

Night Out

2008-04-10T16:02:00.000-07:00

So.... last night Alex and I had a night out since we haven't really seen eachother all week. We decided we would get something to eat and then check out the baby section at Target. We went to taco bell to eat - and it wasnt as good as we thought it was going to be, but what can you expect from fast food!?! So then we went to Target and it was in interesting experience. every aisle we went down Alex had to make a joke... not funny. So, we walked around for a little bit longer and then we decided to go.... Well, when we were on the way out, I happened to see these two girls sitting in the Target food center eating ice cream. That made me want ice cream. The thing is, there are not really any good ice cream shops on the west side of town.... so we went to Wal Mart to try and find some Edy's Mint Chocolate Chip... they didn't have any at Wal Mart. I really, really wanted it - so Alex said he would take me to Krogers. Well, on the way out of Wal Mart I saw these fruit bars... they looked really good!! So then, I couldn't decide did I want the ice cream or the fruit bars...? We left Walmart and went to Krogers and they didn't have the same kind of fruit bars, but they DID have the Edy's Mint Chocolate Chip!! So, that's what we got.
This trip may not have been the best of our nights together, but... it was the first of my probably many food experiences that will come throughout my pregnancy and Alex was a pretty good sport about it. I'm hoping that he'll be as understanding for the next six and a half months! Thanks, honey - I love you!

Conference Sunday

2008-04-06T20:14:00.000-07:00

Today was General Conference and like every General Conference we went and spent the day with the Perschka family at Alex's grandmothers. We ate barbeque and watched conference and just relaxed and enjoyed the day. There were some amazing talks, but like always I am looking forward to when they come out in the Ensign, so that I can read them and fully take in the messages. This was the first conference that I fell asleep during it - I have just been so tired lately that sometimes I can't help dozing off!!
The biggest news of the day is that we told the family about that we are expecting. Alex waited until the last possible moment to tell them and actually his dad had to start it off for him!! He is so funny. He didn't want to tell his parents either.
When we got home from Grammies we decided we'd better call my Oma and Opa and tell them about the baby. They seemed to be pretty excited about it. I told my Opa first and he just laughed and he said he knew that was going to happen sometime soon. Oma was pretty happy, but I am sure she couldn't believe it! She said the thought it would happen but she didnt think it would be that soon. I dont think it happened really soon - I mean, I know people who have gotten pregnant on their honeymoon!! At least it wasn't that soon for us!! Oma and Opa said they weren't happy at all because when they become great-grandparents that means they are going to be old. I told them they can be called something else if it will make them feel less old!!!
So in the next couple of days I have to call my aunt and tell her. I wonder what shes going to say??
In other news we finally got plane tickets so that we can go out west in May and visit Valerie. We are pretty excited about that! We are also going to be going to Conneticut in May for Jordan's wedding -AHH- and then late May we are going to the Mountains with my parents and for our Anniversary. It's so crazy that we are coming up on a year being married... it seems like longer, but also that it hasnt been that long too - weird, huh? And then five months later, we will be parents. CRAZY.......

Our Peanut

2008-04-03T18:20:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, March 27 we went to our first doctor appointment. It was a really amazing experience. We went in and they did a sonogram and we got to see our little peanut and hear its heartbeat! It was so surreal, but also the coolest thing I've ever experienced. To actually see the little baby that's growing in my tummy.... wow. I was just in total aww. When we heard its heartbeat, I just felt this rush of emotion come over me and tears came to my eyes. Alex and I made that little life - we made it. I never ever thought that I could do something that is so big and so important.

Our due date is October the 25th..... YAY!! So in about 7 more months we are going to have a new little family member! One of the craziest things is that from then on and for the rest of eternity, we will always be parents. I can't even imagine what that's going to be like, but I know it is an experience I will always be grateful for.

Alex is pretty excited too. I think he gets more and more excited as the time goes on. He thinks its going to be boy, which is what my family is pulling for. I don't really care what it is.... I wouldn't mind having either a boy or a girl. We should be able to find out at our next appointment, I'll update after that!!

Orlando

2008-04-03T17:22:00.000-07:00

For Georgia's spring break Alex and I along with Jared and Katy went to Celebration in Orlando; where the Perschka family owns a codominium. We only had a day and half to spend there, but it was really awesome. We laid out at the pool for most of the day on Saturday, which was so nice. Then we went and played putt putt golf at Congo River. Alex and I both lost, but second and third isn't so bad. They were pretty close scores. Saturday night we got to spend watching a free concert in downtown Celebration. There were alot of bands that we werent really familiar with singing cover songs and then last we got to see Hootie and the Blowfish. That was pretty awesome. It was Alex's first concert ever, and you could really tell. I think he wasnt really sure what to do, so he just stood there. The band played for about an hour and we were at the whole concert from about 8:30 till around 11. We were so tired and had planned to get up early the next morning and go to the beach before heading home.

The next morning we got up around 9 and had to clean the condo and get everything together. We left about an hour and a half later. From Celebration we drove to Daytona Beach where we layed out in the sun and took walks. Alex and I went on a pretty long little walk and he got mad at me because I had took money with us so we could get something to eat and I lost it somewhere along the beach. I was pretty upset about it becuase it was twenty bucks - thats kind of a lot. I think Alex was really mad even though he pretended like he wasn't. So we just stayed hungry and ate later with Jared and Katy!!

It was such a long trip home, but an interesting one. We played all kinds of car games like twenty questions and the one where you find words on signs by going through the alphabet. It seemed like forever before we got home but finally we made it...

Even though it was a short and hectic trip with hardly time to relax and long rides in the car, we really enjoyed it alot. Thanks, Jared and Katy!

Spring Break

2008-03-05T06:35:00.001-08:00

Today is the day Alex comes home from Florida. He decided to go on a spring break trip to Orlando with some of his guy friends. Since we dont have the same Spring Break, I had to stay home and go to school and work. :(

It hasnt been that bad of a few days, but I have missed him SO much. Saturday night they left and it was so hard to me to go to sleep since we havent really been away from eachother since we were married. I stayed at my parents house for the first two nights and I think they were a little excited about that since I dont really spend a whole lot of time over there. On the first night, I got about three hours of sleep; good thing the next day was Sunday. The second night was alot better, I think because I went home and got my down pillow!!

Last night I went shopping with Katy. Jared is also gone on the trip. We had alot of fun trying on clothes and looking at jewelry. After it was too late to shop, we went back to Katy's house and started watching 50 First Dates - but we were SO tired so we only made it about half way through and then we went to bed. It was alot of fun...

So tonight I think we are going to go and watch 27 Dresses while we're waiting for the guys to get back. I know that he is having a good time with his friends, but I cant wait to see Alex again.

A New Life

2008-03-03T07:24:00.000-08:00

two weeks ago we found out that we're pregnant. WOW. what a huge thing. we are pretty excited about it, but i have to admit that its a little scary. there is a life gorwing inside my tummy. in nine months we are going to be parents. are we ready? there are moments when i'm not sure... but i feel like i just have to believe that everything's going to work out. i feel like our heavenly father gave this gift to us and we just have to take it and have faith that he will be there and make sure that we are provided for. i get worried about school and work and what im going to do about finishing school; how am i going to manage that, work, and a baby. we dont really want our baby to go to day care but i dont see how we have another choice.... we need both of our income to pay for all the things we have to pay for. i guess i should just have faith that everything is going to work out and go the way its supposed to but it is hard to not worry.

on top of all that we are so excited. i thought that alex would be alot more freaked out but he hasnt been. he seems like he is really happy, which is relieving. except he does feel weird when we go and look at baby stuff :) i think its so funny because he just stands there kind of quirky. i love him so much. and i cant believe we are going to be parents together!

on the great side... i havent been sick at all. i was a little worried about that becuase i have classes in the morning but other than that i have been feeling great. i get really tired by 5 or 6 but other than that things have been running pretty smoothly.

i haven't made an appointment with an OBGYN yet, beucase we just had to change our insurance - which was another thing we were worried about... but that worked out! so, once we get our new cards i have to go see a new doctor and decide if i like her... i am excited to get a sonogram. so i'll update once i get it!! we also have to start looking for a new place. our lease runs out about the same week that i should be due so we arent sure that exactly we are going to do... but we're trying to work that out. there are alot of people here that are able to help us, so its a worry but i know that it will work out too.

anyway, i will udate the blog on experiences throughout the rest of my seven or eight months. i have alot of things to get stressed about but there is one thing that i know is going to be the best feeling in the world.... and that is that way we are going to feel when we're holding our new born baby. i cannot wait for that day.

A Big Change

2008-02-03T11:00:00.000-08:00

about a week ago i decided to die my hair dark brown - it turned out looking almost black, but it has lightened a little bit. alex does really like it as much as my light brown hair, but he hasnt really pushed for me to color it back. so, yesterday i made another big decision - to get my hair cut. it was a very dramatic change. i took off about seven and a half inches and now my hair is to my chin. i was really nervous about getting it cut, but i felt like it was a change that i needed to make right now. it felt like a fresh start. alex was pretty adamant about me NOT getting my hair cut-he likes it long... but when i got home he really took it and i think he likes it alot. i guess its just one of things - ever since we started dating almost four years ago i've always had long hair and so he just couldnt picture me with short hair, but now he sees that it doesnt look bad at all. it actually looks cute! so, we made an agreement that if he let me cut my hair i would change it back to brown..... we'll see about that!

my mom loves it - now she wants to get her hair cut short too. and of course, my sister wants to be just like me, so she wants to cut hers as well. i'm not sure what the rest of the fam. thinks but i'll find out tonight!!!

The First of Many

2008-02-01T09:58:00.000-08:00

today is the day of our first blog. i decided to create a blog becuase of the family and friends that do not live here in Georgia - this way they can still be a part of our new life together. i plan to keep up with this on a regular basis, but who knows - i might night be very good at it!!!

a little bit about us now.....
alex and i are both in school and we both work a lot. we have been married for almost nine months and we live in a small place, we dont have al lot of money or material things, but we are rich in those things that cannot be bought with money. we have eachother and we both have families that love us! who could ask for more? well, we do have even more than that - we have our church family and we have the gospel of jesus christ. we can be together for eternity and that is something that is worth more than anything. i hope that if you choose to read our blog, that you find it interesting and humorous - because we sure do!!