The Shipp Family 2012

DIY: Fabric Covered Wooden Letters

2012-02-06T13:51:00.005-07:00

At the beginning of my nursery-creating journey, I was brainstorming how I wanted little man's nursery to look. There were two things I knew: I wanted owls, and I wanted those cute letters on the wall that spelled out his name. Once my mom started to create the beautiful owl quilt of my dreams, the idea came to me: Use leftover fabric scraps to cover wooden letters so the letters match the quilt! But I had my doubts: Will it work? How do you attach fabric to wooden letters? How will I hang them in my apartment where the use of nails in the walls are not allowed? Will it look okay?

Well, with the help of my mom, I decided to just jump in with both feet and go for it! What's the worst that could happen? It turns out awful and I wasted $20 on wooden letters and Elmer's glue? The good news is that it turned out wonderfully, and I'd like to share it with you!
So, anyway, here's the step-by-step on how it all came together. Forgive me for not having pictures of the earlier steps of the process. I forgot to take photos!

PART 1: Apply Fabric to Letters

1. Purchase 9" wooden white wall letters from Michael's. (The hardest part was finding all the letters I needed! Had to go to two different locations). You'll also need a washable fabric marker, fabric scissors, a 1" foam paintbrush, and some Elmer's glue (for homemade Mod Podge!). If you plan to hang the letters with ribbon, you'll need some of that too :)

2. Pick out which fabrics you want to use for each letter. I'm a very visual person, so it took a while for me to be happy with which colors and patters would look good on which letter.

3. Place the fabric face down on the table, then the letter face down on top. Trace around the wooden letter with a washable fabric marker. I then had to wipe the marker off the sides of the white letters with a wet paper towel.

4. Carefully cut out each letter with fabric scissors.

5. Create your homemade Mod Podge by combining one part Elmer's glue with one part water (i.e. 1 cup of glue with 1 cup of water). We ended up making nearly two cups and didn't need too much, so we stored the extra in a glass mason jar.

6. Using the foam paintbrush, brush a layer of your Mod Podge onto the surface of the front of the wooden letters. Carefully place your cut out fabric piece on top and smooth it out. Remember that it's probably not going to fit 100% perfectly because fabric likes to stretch, but do your best! It will look great when you're finished.

7. After about 10 minutes, you'll then want to brush/dab a heavy layer of Mod Podge on top of the fabric to totally seal the fabric to the letters. This was the longest part of the process. It takes patience, but it's doable. The letters will be very wet and will look milky, but it will dry clear.

8. Let the letters dry for a while (we just set them out of the way for a day) to make sure they are finished. You can see one finished letter in the picture below. Notice how the edges of the fabric sort of hang over the edge. At first I was concerned that it wouldn't look good, but it ended up being fine. You can't really tell when the letters are hung.

**Tips: My letters aren't perfect. I learned the hard way that it's probably a good idea to avoid cutting the pieces of the fabric out of any part of the fabric that has been folded up. Find a good, smooth portion to cut from without folds. Also, some of my letters ended up having air bubbles that hardened (so if you get really close you can tell, but it looks fine from far away). I'm not sure if there's a good way to avoid the air bubbles. Perhaps while the letters are initially drying, you can make sure to push them out. Or perhaps sanding down the surface of the letters will help the fabric stick a little more smoothly. You'll have to let me know if you ever try this and figure it out :)

PART 2: Hang Letters on Wall

1. Lay the letters out on the floor in the approximate layout that you want them to be on the wall. Measure the distance between the center of the letters (and, in my case, the distance between the varying heights).

2. Cut the ribbon to the length you want to use to hang the letters. Keep in mind that some letters, like the letter "L" shown above, will require a little extra ribbon. It's not an exact science, though, so don't fret the millimeters ;). The wooden letters at Michael's DO come with holes in the back for hanging directly on the wall with nails, so you're always welcome to do that. Since I can't use nails in my apartment, I decided to hang the letters with ribbon.

3. Hot glue each end of the ribbon to the back of the wooden letters (you can see the nail hole in the below picture). Again, it's not an exact science, but you do need to try to make sure to glue the ribbon on at two points that will help distribute the weight of the letter evenly (so you don't end up with crooked letters).

4. Using a measuring tape, measure out where to put each nail (or, in my case, sticky hook - I used the small clear ones pictured below) in the wall. I started with the last letter and worked my way backwards, doing one letter at a time and seeing how I liked it visually before proceeding. You can do it however you feel works best for you. Each of my hooks was about 9 inches from the next hook, and the lower hooks were 4 inches below the upper ones.

Once you're finished, feel free to stand back and enjoy your hard work, and straighten out a couple letters, if needed.

Happy Crafting! :)

The Nursery Version 2

2012-02-01T12:51:00.003-07:00

So last week, I FINALLY finished Charlie's nursery, complete with wall letters, photos, and the amazing quilt made by my mom. It was a long, slow, process, but I LOVE it now that it's done! It's so much cuter compared to Version 1 and I hope you like it!

Tutorials on how I did the letters and how I hung the quilt are coming soon :)

Three Months Old

2012-02-01T11:55:00.007-07:00

My sweet Charlie man turned 3 months old on January 25th, 2012. Here is the most recent comparison picture:

Some stats about Charlie at three months old:

Favorite toys are the owl and giraffe toys that hang down from his play gym and have lots of things to grab onto.
Is very good at grabbing, holding, and bringing toys to his mouth
Basically sleeps through the night. For a week he slept from 11:30pm until 9am without a feeding. Over the last few days, he's been going to bed earlier (about 10pm) and waking up to eat around 6am, then sleeping more until about 9:30am.
Eats about 5 ounces at a time, and a total of 24-26 oz per day
Still wears size 2 diapers, but frequently poops out of them :)
Rolls onto his side purposefully and more often - he is getting so close to turning over onto his tummy from his back!
Can move around on his playmat or crib - he knows how to rotate now, so I'll often find him in a different place and laying a different direction from where I left him.
Coos even more. Has recently discovered more sounds and different pitches in his voice.
Still LOVES to smile!
Enjoys sitting in his Bumbo while watching Mom make dinner or do other chores.
Can stay awake during the day for up to 2 or 2.5 hours at a time without getting cranky for a nap.
Wears mostly size "3 month" clothes, but fits in some 3-6 month items.

We sure do love our little man. Every day Trevor and I tell each other how blessed we feel to have such a cute, sweet little boy. He really is the light in our lives :)

Christmas 2011

2012-01-29T20:14:00.010-07:00

For Christmas this year, we were able to spend a lot of time with family both on Trevor's side and mine!

To start off the festivities, we had a Christmas dinner with friends (at Heidi & Dave's house) on the 23rd. It was so nice to be able to have everyone together in one place!

Our first family photo since Charlie's newborn photoshoot:

Everyone and their kids... I can't believe we have 7 kids among just 5 couples already! And I'm sure it will continue to multiply!! ;)

Then, on Christmas Eve, we went to Trevor's parents' house to spend time and exchange gifts with all of his siblings and their families (minus Mical who lives in Las Vegas). I didn't get any pictures of the occasion other than this one of Meghan's family:
Then, early on Christmas day (like... 6:30am) we flew out of Salt Lake and landed in Raleigh, NC around 4:30pm. It was definitely an experience flying with a 2 month old (Charlie turned 2 months on Christmas day!), but it actually turned out to be a lot better and easier than I thought it would be. We have a really sweet baby, and for that I am soo grateful! The only hiccup was a major diaper blowout on the second leg of the flight back to Utah... who knew that those tiny airplane bathrooms had changing tables!??!).

After landing in NC and eating a delicious dinner with my parents and brother, we got to open lots of presents! One of the best gifts we received was the start of a ceramic nativity set--the same exact set that my mom and all of her siblings have. Theirs were hand painted by my Grandmother (Mom's mom), but she has since passed away, so my wonderful mother spent the time to paint all of the pieces by hand (with all of the amazing intricate details) as close to how Grandmother did it originally. I was so excited! In the picture below, you can see Trevor holding Joseph, and I have the cow. We also got Mary, baby Jesus, the manger, and a donkey... I believe that's all for now, but eventually I will also have shepherds with sheep and the wise men with camels too! Such a BEAUTIFUL nativity... I can't wait to display it next year :)
Then, all of the extended family from my Mom's side began to arrive (her three siblings and their kids). Here are the two youngest of my cousins, Lauren and Meredith, getting to play with Charlie:

And now... the moment you've all been waiting for... let the Charlie pictures begin!! Haha! My Mom (Kimma) and Dad (Bebop) are probably two of the proudest new grandparents you'll ever meet. And they took tons and tons of pictures of our cute little man. There's way too many to put on this blog, so I picked just a few of the best to display!

Bath time

Cute reindeer bum!

Charlie & Kimma

Charlie & Bebop

So many faces...

Santa Charlie... such a cutie!

One of his favorite places to nap... I can't get enough of those cute little sock feet hanging down!!

A few days later, after everyone from my Mom's side had gone, we traveled a couple hours west to Albemarle (where both of my parents grew up) to see my Dad's side of the family - his parents and his two brothers and their families. We ate delicious food and enjoyed the company.

All the cousins on my Dad's side (plus Charlie & Trevor)

Everybody together!!

Everyone during the trip was SO generous with the sweet gifts they gave to Charlie. He is seriously SPOILED ROTTEN... being the first grandchild/great-grandchild/nephew/great-nephew... etc etc on BOTH sides of my family.

We arrived back in Raleigh on New Year's Eve with just enough time to hit up a couple of New Year's parties. We partied so hard that Charlie was a little wound up and had a rough night that night... I guess he just didn't know how to make the party stop.

The rest of the trip was nice and relaxing. I got a massage, and we just hung out as a family and enjoyed each other's company. When it was time to go home, I was ready, but not ready... all at the same time. I definitely was not excited to get back to "real life". And I knew everyone would miss us (well, mostly just Charlie, haha) when we were gone.

I hope everyone else had a Merry Christmas (and I'm so sorry it took me over a month to blog about it!!).

A Macro Kind of Day...

2012-01-27T21:03:00.010-07:00

So, as usual, I've been slacking a little with the blogging. BUT! I have taken pictures and have a list of things to blog about. So, the following pictures will serve as a teaser of things to come...

My list of things to blog about:

1. Charlie turns 3 months old

2. The finished nursery!

3. Tutorial on wall letters and how to hang a quilt

4. My Instagram photos, all in one place

Our Growing Charlie

2012-01-06T16:35:00.005-07:00

Time for some updates on my sweet little Charlie! (It's been quite a while!)

Today he had his 2 month doctor appointment (even though, officially, he's 2 months and 12 days old today). Poor thing had to get 3 injected immunizations as well as 1 oral. He's been really sleepy and sad today... and I don't blame him!

His stats as of today are:

Weight: 11lbs 15oz - 40th percentile
Length: 23.4 inches - 52nd percentile
Head Circumference: 15 inches - 7th percentile

Here is a picture of his one month and two month comparisons with his Brown Bear that his uncle Mike bought for him:
Charlie turned 2 months exactly on Christmas day, and that's why there's a little Christmas present in the picture there with him.

Facts about Charlie:

He loves books - his favorite is definitely the "Gallop" book because he likes all of the colors and black and white shapes.
Favorite toy is Mr. Buzz Bee - a fuzzy bee rattle
He gives us HUGE smiles every day. He is such a happy baby! He especially loves his daddy and will just light up every time he sees him :) The picture below illustrates how happy he is when Dad comes to play with him.
Gets very cranky when he is hungry or tired, OR if he doesn't get a chance to play. He really hates to miss play time.
Eats about 4 oz every three or so hours
Sleeps well at night! Goes to bed around 11pm or so, wakes up around 4am to eat, and then sleeps to about 8am! It makes for one very happy Mom :) He also gives some of his biggest smiles when he first wakes up in the morning! So cute with his sleepy puffy eyes :)
Wears size 2 diapers since just before turning 2 months old. Also enjoys getting changed into fresh diapers :)
Loves bath time and getting his hair scrubbed in his whale tub.
Has recently started liking to be held upright over the shoulder - he didn't used to like it, but now that his neck is getting stronger he enjoys it much more and doesn't squirm as much.
Can kind of roll onto his side (usually when he's trying to go #2).
Loves to nap in his swing.
Loves when mom helps him dance to music :)
Generally he's a wiggle worm and rarely ever fully relaxes, even when eating.
Has recently discovered his fists and will stare at them for long periods of time. Working on opening and closing his fist and reaching for his mouth or toys hanging overhead.
Coos a lot - and it's SO CUTE!

Charlie in his party shirt on New Year's Eve:

Charlie's hand and foot print at Christmastime:

We can't wait to see how he continues to change and grow over the coming months. We seriously couldn't possibly love him more than we do now, and yet we love him more every day :)

Merry Christmas 2011!

2011-12-21T19:20:00.009-07:00

For those of you who didn't get a physical card in the mail, I wanted to share one with you here.

Thanks again to my wonderful sister-in-law, Meghan, for taking the pictures and putting the card together!!

Merry Christmas from the Shipps!

Also be sure to check out the other two blog posts I did today! :)

Our Place / Christmas Decor

2011-12-21T18:59:00.004-07:00

So, I just realized that I never actually posted pictures of our current apartment, which we have now lived in for over 6 months... So, as I was taking pictures of my Christmas decorations this evening, I decided to take pictures of the whole place (minus our bedroom, which is rather boring and quite messy at the moment haha). So, please enjoy the tour!

First, the living room. As you walk in the front door and look to your right, this is what you'd see:

More close up of my little Christmas tree:
Since we don't have a fireplace, our stockings were hung by the window, with care :)

Second is the kitchen (my favorite!!). As you walk in the front door and look to the left, this is what you would see:

Third, if you walk in the front door and walk straight, you'll go back into the hallway where there's a washer/dryer closet in front of you, and to your direct left is the bathroom:

Then, there's a bedroom on either side. They are about the same size. The bedroom on the right is ours, and the one on the left is the combination baby/office/piano/storage room :) Here are the pictures of the baby's room. I've got some nice framed pictures of Charlie ready to go up on the wall above his crib, I just keep forgetting to go out and buy the sticky velcro to use (since they don't let us use nails here):

And for the wall over the dresser, my plan is to find wooden letters that spell out Charlie's name and then cover them in the different fabrics of the quilt that my mom made for Charlie. Which, by the way, I will take a picture of and show you once I get it at Christmas!! It's the cutest quilt I've EVER seen. My mom has some serious skills! :)
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the little tour. It's simple and humble, but I love it. And it's definitely much more spacious than Wymount was.

Oh! One last picture - my fridge in its current Christmas-y state (I LOVE getting Christmas cards to display!!):

Trevor's Birthday

2011-12-21T18:48:00.005-07:00

This year on November 26th, Trevor turned 27 years old. In typical Trevor fashion, he didn't really want a party... or a cake... or any gifts for that matter! But, knowing me, I HAD to get him something (or a FEW things)! So, for his 27th birthday, Trevor got new white dress shirts, a pair of jeans from American Eagle, a gift card to Cold Stone, and a frame for his BYU diploma!! :)

He's so different from me in the regard that he doesn't like to party... but if that's how he likes it then that's okay with me! :)

Happy 27th Birthday Hubby!

The Birth Story

2011-11-21T12:40:00.005-07:00

Since I'm really bad at actually keeping a separate journal other than this blog, I figured it would be smart to write down the events of Charlie's birth so I don't forget!

Also, I'm a bit specific with some details and there's one picture of Charlie fresh out of the womb, so just warning you if you're a bit squeamish. :)

The weekend before he was born, I noticed I would have very mild, very spaced out and sporadic contractions... mostly when walking or standing for any extended period of time. At my 39 week doctor's appointment, I was dilated to about a 1.5, which wasn't saying much (but it was more than the week before when I was "almost a 1").

Perhaps it's the cynic in me, but I was fully prepared to be pregnant for 41 weeks and get induced sometime during the first couple days of November. With my history of needing help getting pregnant, I figured my body wouldn't go into labor on its own either. Well, luckily, I was wrong. ;)

Monday night the 24th of October, my mom and Trevor and I sat down to eat dinner around 7pm and I realized I was having those same contractions I had been having on occasion throughout the weekend, but this time they were coming consistently every 6-10 minutes. I still didn't think anything of it, though, because they weren't too painful. They just made my belly feel pretty tight.

As the night progressed, they didn't stop and they started coming a little closer together (4-5 mins) and they slowly became more sensational. At about 10pm, curious as to whether this might be the real thing, I called the after-hours line and left a message for the doctor on call to call me back. He called back around 10:30pm and said that the contractions would have to get much more painful and closer together before I could consider it to be "the real thing".

So, I waited. At about 11pm, I decided it might be a good idea to try to go to bed and sleep. If it was false labor, then sleeping would help the contractions subside. Laying down caused the contractions to come every 15 minutes, but when they did come, they had become quite painful. Every time I was about to drift off to sleep, a new contraction would come and wake me up. At about midnight I realized that sleep was not going to be an option, so I might as well watch TV and time my contractions.

And they got closer. And more painful. I kept telling myself "okay... just get to 1am, 2am, 3am...". Each time a contraction would come I would close my eyes, and breathe deeply about 10-15 breaths and by then it would be gone. The pain was usually the worst around breaths 6-8. Once it was 3am, I decided to rinse off in the shower to pass the time and help with the pain. It was so nice!! And I even took the chance to shave my legs ;)

At 3:30am, once I had dried off and gotten dressed again, I decided to wake Trevor up. I wanted to wait as long as possible before going to the hospital because I did NOT want to be sent home. But those contractions were hurting! So, I quietly nudged Trevor and told him he needed to wake up. He sleepily replied "Mmm... I'm sleeping". Haha. I said "I know, honey, but you need to get up. I think we should go to the hospital". So, he eventually got up, and we finished packing our hospital bag (yes, I procrastinated doing this task... oops).

We pulled into the hospital at about 4am and I was in a room getting checked for dilation by 4:15am. I was only dilated to a 2.5!! A 2.5!?!? All of that pain and work for not much reward, it seemed. So, I had one hour to dilate at least a centimeter or else they would send me home. In fact, when we were checking in at the Labor & Delivery desk, Trevor asked what percentage of first-time parents were sent home because it wasn't time yet. The lady said 90%!! Geez, thanks for making me feel optimistic here (as I'm breathing through a contraction with my head and arms resting on the desk). I resolved to be one of the 10% that got to stay :). But when I heard I was only at a 2.5, I felt a bit discouraged.

But anyway, I had the "opportunity" of laying there and contracting every 2-3 minutes for the next hour and a half. Near the end, I stood up to intensify the contractions and hopefully help myself dilate a little more. That was probably the most pain I felt during the entire process. Fortunately I had my husband to hold on to every time they came. At about 5:45am the nurse came back and checked me again. I held my breath and waited to hear the news. I was at a 3.5!! It was a miracle. No, but really, I'm sure it was a blessing from God. I felt a giant wave of relief when she said that meant I got to STAY! I was going to have my baby! And most likely on his due date, too!! :)

From that point, everything got a bit easier. I opted to get my epidural as soon as possible (especially since I hadn't slept all night), so I started feeling less pain after receiving the drugs at about 7am. Then I got to SLEEP. Ahh it was just wonderful. Thank heavens for epidurals. Although the whole "I can't feel or move my legs" thing was a little unnerving. I couldn't help but feel sympathy for paraplegics.

Playing the waiting game after getting my epidural:

The doctor came by and broke my water at about 12 noon (I think I was dilated to about a 5 by this point - slow progress!). But after that, things sped up quite a bit. My mom and Trevor went to lunch around 2pm. I asked them if they had their phones on them, just in case I was suddenly at 10 and ready to push (joking, of course). My nurse, Julia, came to check me while they were gone and I was actually dilated to an 8 and the baby was at 0 station (aka moving down...)! I texted my mom and Trevor and they were actually really surprised, and decided to eat their lunch a little quicker ;)

By 3:30pm, I had entered transition and was almost fully dilated to a 10. They informed me that I'd probably start pushing around 4pm. I was definitely freaking out... and totally not sure if I could do it! I mean, I HAD to do it, but I was soo nervous. This was IT!

So, with my mom helping hold one leg and Trevor helping with the other, I started pushing. 3 sets of 10-count pushes with each contraction. And my contractions were coming VERY close together. Probably every 1-2 minutes at most, which made the whole process extremely tiring. And I was starving (hadn't eaten anything since 7 the night before!). Oh the humanity. Luckily they gave me oxygen to breathe between contractions so I didn't pass out :) During the first hour of pushing, I made quite a bit of progress and the doctor came in to help finish the delivery. Then, the next 30 minutes or so weren't so productive. My little man was "stuck" near my pelvic bone. Every time I'd push him forward, he'd just slip right back and wasn't making any progress.

Dr. Broberg suggested using the forceps. I was so exhausted from pushing, I thought that sounded like a fantastic idea ;). By this point, my epidural had worn off just enough that I could tell when I was having contractions (without having to rely on the computer screen). And if I didn't push through a contraction, it was rather painful. I think it's neat that the pain goes away when you push. It's like nature's way of making you get that baby out! But anyway, since I could feel more, it was pretty darn uncomfortable when he put the forceps in, but it was really neat when I could actually FEEL my little man move past that pelvic bone during the next push, when the doctor was pulling. Great! He's farther. We (me, Trevor, my mom) all assumed that I'd still need to push for another 15-30 minutes before he'd come out.

But, to our surprise, out came his sweet little head during the NEXT push! I remember my mom saying "Alex - look! There's his head!" and, not really believing what I heard, I said "What?". She repeated "Look! His head is out!". By the time I looked down, Dr. Broberg had finished helping little man's shoulders through and Charlie was officially born!

That moment - 5:48pm on October 25th - the moment I saw him arrive - was one of the most unforgettable moments of my life. It was the BIGGEST relief I have ever felt. I remember just letting my head fall back against my pillow, hands on my face, and overcome with tears of joy and relief. I DID IT! And when I finally heard that little cry for the first time... it was just insane. Surreal. And it was worth every single stitch and ounce of recovery pain that I would feel for the next couple of weeks.

I can't remember how long it took for them to clean him up, do his APGAR tests, and finally let me hold him. Probably 20-30 minutes or so, but that was okay. I was excited that Trevor was getting to enjoy him and revel in his first moments of Daddy glory. And my mom was the real-life paparazzi taking tons of pictures and video. Thank goodness she did, though, to document everything!

He has strong lungs:
7 lbs 9 oz:
Dad getting to enjoy:

And then I got to hold him, skin-to-skin, for the first time. My sweet little Charlie (although he didn't actually have a name until the next day). It was love at first sight.

And, after a very rough first week and a half, it's gotten better every single day. My little Charlie will be 4 weeks old tomorrow, and officially a month old this coming Friday!! <3

Charles Trevor Shipp

2011-11-08T15:16:00.005-07:00

Charles Trevor Shipp - "Charlie"
Born October 25, 2011
at 5:48pm
7lbs 9oz
20 inches

Meeting him for the first time:

I can't believe he's already two weeks old today. Life has gotten a little bit crazy thanks to this new bundle of joy, but I'm ready to tackle the challenge! Many more pictures to come. Also see the album on Facebook by clicking HERE.

The Nursery Version 1

2011-10-11T22:51:00.004-06:00

So, I'm not very creative, nor am I very good at utilizing small spaces, but I AM good at putting self-assemble furniture together. Hence showing you the beginnings of my little man's nursery. The walls will change once we have some pictures to put up and when we know what his name will be. I'd like to find a sand/tan colored linen bedskirt for the crib, and my wonderful mom is making and bringing me the quilt that's going to pull it all together. It's going to be wonderful!
The "It's a Boy" hanging on the wall was a cute decoration my sister in law put together for my baby shower. I figured I'd use it for the time being to give the space a little "love". We'll see how my sweet man's little corner turns out in the end!

Also, just for the record, here's a picture of me today at 38 weeks. Please forgive how tired I look. I took this picture at 10:30pm and, geez, I'm very pregnant! Haha ;)
Also-also, a little joy of today is that my sweet husband cleaned the house for me before I got home. Ahhhh that really does put a giant smile on my face! Coming into a clean home (that I didn't clean by myself) really does mean a lot. Cheers to kind, caring husbands!!!

I'm Officially Full Term!

2011-10-04T18:08:00.003-06:00

As I was getting ready to make this blog post and I was uploading new pregnancy pictures, I realized that I could show some comparison pictures to REALLY show how big I'm getting. That will be my celebration of the fact that today is 37 weeks, which marks that I have officially reached "full term" and baby can come any time now and be completely ready for the world! Yay! Any bets on when he'll actually be here? My 40 week due date is October 25th.

So, some comparisons! Here I am back at about 27 weeks....
And this is what happens in about two months... WOW! I was shocked at the difference:
And here I am back at 28 weeks:
And 9 weeks later... holy baby bump! I guess you really do grow a lot right at the end!!:
Ready to meet this little baby boy! Getting the nursery ready and I'll post pictures once it's done, which could be a while ;)

Quick Pregnancy Update

2011-09-22T12:57:00.004-06:00

So, as usual, I'm a little behind. But here's a quick blog post more for my own memory than anything else :)

As of today, I'm 35 weeks and 2 days along. WOW! Here's a picture I took last week of my belly at 34 weeks:Facts about my pregnancy:
1. Baby boy still kicks a LOT. He doesn't like it when I try to sleep on my left side. It riles him up and he starts punching me. So, I sleep on my right side mostly... haha
2. I had my first bout of feet/leg swelling on September 17th (the same day of my Utah baby shower). It was rather uncomfortable, so I think I'll just lay with my legs up the wall as much as possible ;)
3. I have my crib! It's still in the box. Got to get nesting!
4. Sitting too long makes me crampy. Ouch. Gotta stretch things out.
5. I'm totally in love with tiny little man shoes. So is Trevor. :) Why are tiny things so adorable?
6. Still no name, but I'm not too worried. Definitely growing tired of suggestions, though ;)
7. I've gained about 21 lbs, to date, in my pregnancy (6 of which were gained in the last 2 weeks!)
8. No stretch marks yet and trying to keep it that way... I've got good genes in this department, so hopefully I'll make it through without them!
9. Doctor thinks I'm going to have a smaller baby. Probably 6.5 to 7 lbs. I'm not complaining!

I am just getting SO excited to meet this little man! 33 days to go until the due date!!!! <3

Fun with Friends in August

2011-09-08T20:17:00.004-06:00

I'm once again a little behind in blogging about the recent happenings in my life. Oh well. At least I'm doing it :) In August, Meghan and Cole Ballard flew to Utah from their home in Texas and we were able to visit with them. Well, actually, it was really hard to get all of us five couples (Trev and 4 of his buddies from high school and all of our families) in the same place at the same time, so we planned two visits! :)

First, on August 19th, Trevor & I went over to Dave & Heidi's house and had a nice dinner with them as well as Meg & Cole. We had so much fun talking (especially the girl talk - isn't that the best!?!), catching up, and eating delicious food and dessert. Thanks Heidi for hosting! It was wonderful! (Unfortunately no one remembered to break out their cameras for this event, so we'll all just have to have mental memories, haha).

Then, a week later, on August 26th, Meg and I (Cole had left for TX already and Trev was feeling under the weather) went to Shawn & Jana's house for dinner and Randy & Jenny were able to be there too! It was so much fun to get to see all of my friends within a week's time. We definitely don't get together enough! The good news is that I actually took pictures to show you. And I hijacked one of Meghan's too ;)

Jana and Meg cheering on Luke (Jana's oldest) and Henry (Jenny's boy):
Me playing with Luke & Henry. They really enjoyed it when I put the toy rings on their heads and they would balance them for a minute and then shake them off and just laugh:
Cute couple Shawn & Jana:
Luke again (haha, cutie!). His little brother Crew had gone to bed for the night:
Henry again. Funny how kids totally give you the "deer in the headlights" look when you're taking their picture:
Cute Henry with his mommy (I'm so sad this picture is kind of blurry!):
Little Lily (Meg's cute little girl) was there too, but I didn't get any pictures of her, darn it. Anyway, it's so much fun to play with all of my friends' cute kids. It makes me really excited to have my own!! Once I have my sweet little boy, we will all officially be parents!! :D

Thanks for the fun memories friends, and Meg & Cole you better visit again soon!

Kelan's First Birthday Party

2011-09-01T23:20:00.005-06:00

Caution: This is a "Proud Aunt" post. You've been warned :)

On August 17th, my youngest nephew, Kelan, turned 1! He is Trevor's sister Meghan's youngest. I'm pretty sure we all can't believe how fast he's growing up already! On Saturday the 20th of August, they had a family get-together to celebrate his first birthday. And I actually remembered to break out my camera and take some pictures :)

The little birthday boy getting ready to get his first taste of the cake. He had one little candle on top and his siblings and cousins got to "help him" blow it out after we sang:
And then he got to "dig in". I'm pretty sure Kanyon was more excited about this moment than anyone else (look at his reaction in these pictures - Kanyon's on the left). With all of his siblings and cousins crowding around and getting excited, I'm pretty sure Kelan was a little gun shy about diving into his cute little basketball cake. He probably would have been a lot less shy without the audience, haha. But, he did get a good taste of the icing:
And here was the other cake that my talented sister-in-law, Meghan, made for the party. A jersey cake to go with the basketball cake, of course!
After we gorged ourselves with pizza, cake, and ice cream, Kelan got to open presents. Well, actually, Kelan got to remove the tissue paper from the bags while his helpful siblings showed him how to open his presents ;) Trevor and I gave Kelan a book called "Swing". I'm not sure if you've ever seen or heard of the "Gallop" book, but this is just another book created by the same author. It just has a sports theme instead of animals. I was really glad that Kelan actually really liked the book:
He got some other fabulous toys and outfits as well. One of the biggest hits of the day was this little, soft bowling set. There were 6 little animals shaped like bowling pins and a ball that the kids could throw at it. All the older siblings really enjoyed taking turns setting up the pins and then throwing the ball:
And finally, I had to include a couple of pictures that really just melt my heart (especially because we have a little boy on the way). Here's Trevor practicing to be "Dad" as he was playing with Kelan:

Kelan is just getting so big, and really enjoys showing off his new walking skills. It's become a fun game for him to walk back and forth between us with a huge grin on his face and arms stretched straight out in front. So cute to watch him learn. I love my nieces and nephews so much. In fact, I'm surprised how much I love them. And I can't wait to see how much more I'm going to love my own little man.

Happy 1st Birthday Kelan man!

Trevor Graduates from BYU

2011-08-21T20:30:00.009-06:00

I am very pleased to announce that my husband, Trevor Russell Shipp, graduated from BYU with an Undergraduate degree in Business Management (Finance) on August 12, 2011! Congratulations sweet man! You're officially done! :D

Graduation pictures are always tough to take (poor lighting, far distance, moving people, etc) but please enjoy my captures of the day:
The undergrads walking in (above) and seated (below). Trevor is second in on the right.
The Dean speaking. I love seeing the cool robes that many of the professors have. You can see some of them if you look closely in this picture:
At the end, the Dean had the graduates turn around and applaud their friends and family who helped them through the process. I'm so sad this picture turned out blurry because Trevor is looking at me, smiling, and clapping. It makes me feel like one very proud wife!
After the ceremony, we took some pictures in the lobby/atrium of the Marriott Center. That's one handsome couple if I do say so myself ;) -
With Kanyon and Scarlett, Meghan's oldest two:
With Grandma Deanna and Grandpa Kayle (his mom's parents). I had a hard time getting Kayle to look my direction haha:
With all of his siblings except Mical (we missed you!) who had a busy weekend in Las Vegas where she lives:
With his parents, who have been great influences to him throughout his life:
And another picture of us. I requested to have my belly in the shot, so I can remember that we were a family of three :) I was 29 weeks and 3 days in this picture:
Oh, and I must not forget to mention that I bought Trevor a used bike for graduation and surprised him with it! Thanks so much to my friend Anna who was selling it :) He's excited about it because he had taken up running as a hobby and was really enjoying it, but it made his knees hurt pretty bad. So, biking will be great because he can still get the aerobic activity without the impact on his knees. Plus you can go farther and see better scenery!
Like I said, he was pretty excited :) And I was excited to give it to him because I've never surprised him before. And that picture is an actual shot of his first reaction when he saw it!

Anyway, it was a fun day. Trevor even wore the same cap and gown that I wore at my graduation over two years ago. Different tassel, though. I told him it probably wouldn't work if he wore my old '09 tassel to his 2011 graduation ;)

I also filmed the actual moment that he walked across the stage, got his name called, and accepted his diploma. Hopefully the video uploads... 45 MINS LATER.... Nope. It didn't work. Lame. Good thing there's Facebook: Go HERE to view the video :) Enjoy!

Oh, and don't forget to check out my post from earlier today, below :)

Belly Pictures!

2011-08-21T19:48:00.007-06:00

Wow, so SHAME on me. I just realized I haven't posted a belly picture on my blog since I was 23 weeks along. Ooooops! And now that it's Sunday, which seems to be my weekly day of choice to update my blog, I figure I better update some pregnancy pictures. Today I'm 30 weeks and 5 days along. Sooo, it's about time! :)

Watch me grow:
(Above pic taken in my parents' bathroom in NC, below pic taken at beach house bathroom in NC, both on vacation woo hoo!)

And that very last one was taken today, August 21, 2011. So it's how I currently look. I feel like I'm growing, but definitely went through more of a quick growth spurt from 26-28 weeks.

Some fun pregnancy facts about me:
1. I get twinges of sciatica in my left butt cheek (yes, only the left side).
2. I've learned how to avoid getting charley horses in my sleep. If I feel one coming on, I pull my foot back and flex it toward me as quickly as possible, and, so far, I've avoided getting one for a while!
3. Passed the glucose test, which means I don't have gestational diabetes. In fact, my score was a 76 (normal is 60-140), so I'm actually near the lower end of blood sugar levels. I have used this as an excuse to eat more sugar! But having lower blood sugar does cause me to feel lightheaded occasionally, mostly in the mornings.
4. Little boy is VERY active still. More rolling around now than punching, but he's definitely excited to be awake and moving most of the time.
5. Yoga saves my life. My body would probably break apart without it! :D And it also means I can still touch my toes!!
6. Sleeping is starting to get a little more uncomfortable, but I'm still pretty darn good at getting to sleep and staying that way :)
7. Most days I have lots of energy and I feel great. Pregnancy has really been easy for me, and I definitely don't take it for granted!!

Trip to NC! (Baby Shower)

2011-08-14T22:34:00.004-06:00

Well, you've waited long enough - here's the final chapter to our trip out to NC this summer! My mom and some friends from church were kind enough to throw me a great big baby shower. It was great not only for the generous gifts that were given, but also so I could catch up with friends from NC that I hadn't seen in a year or more! While the girls got together and ate desserts and talked, the guys (my dad, brother, and husband) escaped the house and grabbed some food. :)

The colors/theme of the shower was based around these cute plates that we found at the party shop:
Earlier in the day, my mom and I worked hard on a couple of the desserts, setting up the displays, and, most importantly, creating tissue paper "poof balls" to hang from the ceiling in the colors of the theme. We were running out of time, so luckily Trevor and Mike were kind enough to chip in and help fluff the poof balls (somewhat to their dismay, however, considering that was a very "un-manly" thing to do, haha!):
The gift table in the kitchen displayed collages of both Trevor and I as babies, perhaps to give us all an idea of what our little man might turn out like. Trevor was a pretty cute baby, so I wouldn't mind at all if ours looks just like him :)

Here is the dessert table in the dining room. Everyone brought such DELICIOUS desserts! A couple of my favorites were the fruit trifle and the milk dud cupcakes (which we adorned with tiny little blue pacifiers). Yummy! Too bad I didn't get a close-up!
And we also had a "keepsake" display table next to the gift table where we showed off my blessing dress as well as Trevor's cute little blessing outfit. We also both had framed cross-stitched announcements of our birth that our moms made for us a long time ago, so we showed those off too! It turned out to be a really cute idea (and I'm totally taking credit for it!):
I felt so loved as I had probably 40 to 50 friends show up for my shower. Luckily there was plenty of dessert to go around! Here's a little collage to show just a portion of the guests who were there:

Since it was a pretty big shower, we did it more "open house" style, but still had some fun activities for the guests to do while they were there (other than eat sweets and talk!). One such activity involved 8 containers of different flavored baby foods. Guests were invited to write down on the provided paper what flavors they thought each one was. Some were even mixed flavors (like peas & carrots) to make it more challenging. And yes, some guests DID taste the baby food:
Another fun activity that we put together was we bought a pack of newborn size diapers and provided markers so that everyone could write notes on the diapers. It'll be really fun to use these diapers as my first set - especially because I'll have fun little notes to help keep me cheery and to remind me how fun changing diapers really is (ha!):
It was a really fun night and I was so glad that I had so many of my friends from high school (and even as far back as elementary school!) attend. Here I am with 4 of my friends from Wakefield High (still looking good, ladies!):

The boys got back near the end of the shower and actually spent a little bit of time socializing and saying hello. Although they did remark later that it was a bit crazy - like estrogen overload! Haha!

The shower was on the last Tuesday night that we were in town. It was the day I turned 27 weeks :) Since we were leaving on a plane the next night, we had to figure out a good way to pack up all of the baby "loot" that I received. Fortunately my dad had a box big enough to fit everything and we just put it on the plane as a second carry-on! Considering it probably weighed 40lbs, that was probably a lot cheaper than shipping it all across the country, even if Continental charges $35 for your second bag ;)

We were sad to leave NC, but after 2 weeks we were also glad to return to our little apartment home. It was nice to be back (except for the whole going back to work thing!). Anyway, I must remember to take pictures of our new place (when it's clean) so I can show it off on the blog! That will come soon, promise!

Trip to NC! (The Beach)

2011-08-07T21:55:00.007-06:00

First of all, I might start by saying two things: First, WOW I'm bad at blogging. Second, I'm hoping that will change now that I've downloaded the newest version of Picasa to my computer. Seriously... Best. Program. EVER. I can make collages easily with just a couple clicks, add text, sort the pictures around, edit photos... you get the idea. It's wonderful! And I suggest it to EVERYONE looking for an easier way to post a billion pictures to their blog (and you don't mind compromising a bit of quality and size). Anyway, thanks a ton to Kasee Thomas for teaching me how! I owe you, big time!

Second of all, on to my second (of three) posts from our vacation to North Carolina! We spent just over half the time we were there at an amazing beach house just a row back from the beach at Emerald Isle, NC. Just a little piece of heaven. And I've got lots of pictures I'd like to share with you!

For the first half of the week, we had the entirety of my Mom's side of the family come to the beach with us (this includes her 3 siblings, their spouses and children). But don't worry, our beach house was spacious and awesome enough that the 15 of us fit happily and comfortably and didn't drive each other crazy ;)

This is how we all looked most of the time - just hanging out under our rainbow umbrellas:

I usually took to sitting in a beach chair and soaking in the rays on my front (since laying on my tummy is a bit of an issue these days!), but I didn't want to be totally uneven, so I got smart and used the malleability of sand to my advantage. Lo and behold, I dug myself a belly hole in the sand and placed my towel on top. It was actually so comfortable, in fact, that I fell asleep laying on my towel at least twice. Ahh I sure do miss sleeping on my stomach! Do they make beds with belly holes? :)
Anyway, here are a couple pictures of the beautiful ocean with some of my favorite people. Like my brother, deciding which wave to skimboard next:
My husband and my brother, both playing the role of "beach bum" marvelously:
Later in the week, about halfway through, the Kepley (mom's) side of the family left and my Dad's side (Hopkins) of the family came in. This includes his parents (my Nana and Granddaddy) as well as his two siblings, their wives and kids. The total count for this side was also 15!

This next picture is pretty special because it actually shows my Nana dipping her feet in the ocean! They weren't on the beach too much, but I think she really enjoyed her time out. From L to R: Taylor, Brittney, Mike, Lauryn, and Nana:

Also, I did snap a shot of my Granddaddy Frank during his approximate 15 minutes of beach time. You've got to document these things, you know! :)
So, now I'd like to share with you (via some of my awesome new collages) some of the beach activities we did all week! Feel free to click on the pictures to make them a lot bigger.

Bocce ball was a huge hit. I don't think there was a single day that we weren't up playing it. And yes, I played a couple of rounds. Although throwing a heavy ball sometimes made my belly hurt since I no longer have abs to support anything haha!
Going on walks and spotting jellyfish! The one of the left we identified as a Portuguese Man O' War jellyfish. You want to stay away from those suckers! The one of the right is a less-threatening, normal, boring jellyfish (official name unknown):
We did a lot of reading. In fact, my mom and Trevor were reading the same book at the same time (book 2 from the Hunger Games series - Catching Fire), so they had to play nice and learn how to share:
We built a sandcastle! And spend most of our energy just keeping the huge waves from washing it away. It's kind of a lame sandcastle, but that's what you get with a tiny shovel and a shortage of creativity ;) Although I do have to say my Dad's ideas to add the "tennis court" and "pool" were pretty awesome!

And for the most part, the girls usually took to their favorite activity of sunbathing! :) Here are me and all of my cousins on my Dad's side (minus 7 year old Lauryn). Yes, we are all girls, which is why it's even MORE fun that I'm adding a boy to this family! From L to R: Me, Brittney, Morgan, and Taylor:
Oh yes - I have to prove that I was a part of this beach trip too. And my baby bump. Please enjoy this lovely self portrait of me and my belly:
I also thought you could appreciate my view at the beach. Hey! I can still see my toes down there! :)
Also, I really love the above picture because it shows how much the change in weather changed the beach while we were there. Earlier in the week (on the left), it was really clear, dry, and breezy. It was gorgeous beach weather! Starting about Wednesday, some offshore storms caused the wind to pick up and the ocean became really choppy and the waves were much bigger. It also caused the air to become very humid and the sky looked hazier. With all the wind and waves, a lot of seaweed (and jellyfish) washed up onto the beach, leaving it looking like the picture on the right in many places. Cool, huh?

Anyway, I'm about done with this very long post, but I did have to include our beach heart, which is a family tradition that I can't ever remember not doing. It includes the dates we were at the beach and the names of everyone who was there with us. This beach heart has quite a few names, since it includes everyone on both sides of my family (minus my Mom's late parents). It really was great fun to get to see everyone!

Anyway, now that it's done, I'm glad I made this post. And I'll be glad to make the next few posts I have on my list. Let's just see how long it takes me to get to the next post. Hopefully less than a full week this time ;)

Trip to NC! (Mike Returns Home)

2011-07-31T22:54:00.010-06:00

Wow, I can't believe how much of a blog slacker I've been this month! It's definitely not because I have nothing to write about. I think it's more because we went on a two week vacation to NC, and now I have so much to blog about that I'm feeling overwhelmed! Whew. Well, I guess I'll just start at the beginning of the trip.

Trevor and I flew out on Wednesday, July 13th. The very next day, at 7pm, my brother Mike (Elder Hopkins) was getting off a plane from Atlanta, returning home from his two year mission to Boise, ID! We were all VERY excited to see him! But we were all gathered at home, preparing to leave, when my Dad looked up his plane on flight tracker and realized that it was going to be 30 minutes EARLY!?!? How does a plane coming from Atlanta arrive 30 minutes ahead of time? That never happens. But it did this time. So we frantically got in our cars and rushed to the airport. We definitely didn't want Elder Hopkins to get off the plane and have no one there to welcome him!!

The good news is we made it in time! And actually we were there for about 15 minutes before he walked down the exit toward where we were all congregated. And it really was wonderful!!

Below are some pictures of the big moment. I tried to upload the video, but after waiting 2 hours for it to upload, I had to go to bed. And in the morning it was just gone. I guess it didn't work :( Sorry! So frustrating. But anyway...

Elder Hopkins being, well, himself. With a nice lei of candy!
My youngest cousin on my dad's side, Lauryn, and her homemade poster:
One of Mike's best friends, Tim. He almost knocked Mike over with his running start of a hug!
Another one of Mike's best friends, Geoff:
More of the welcoming committee. Or, erm, paparazzi? Haha. Poor guy was probably thinking "wow... so many cameras!!". Anyway, there's Trevor in the picture. It's proof that we were there :)
After the in-airport celebrations died down, we walked out to the car. He was REALLY home. It still seems surreal.
Also, I had to get a picture of how worn his shoes were. I believe these were one pair of the original shoes he left with:And just to prove how worn they really were, he gave me the pleasure of showing me his insoles. With holes!
It really was awesome to get to see him again! And then we all went on to our next adventure... the beach! That will be for next time! :)

Fourth of July 2011

2011-07-11T00:09:00.004-06:00

We had such a fun and busy fourth of July weekend that I left my camera accidentally at my sister-in-law's house and just barely got it back today! So, I've got to get a quick post in before we leave for vacation to NC on Wednesday!

After reading my short little post, if you'd like to see more about our festivities, I highly recommend seeing the awesome post that my sister in law Meghan did on her blog HERE.

On Saturday July 2nd, we had our traditional family reunion in Heber City with Trevor's mom's side of the family. I didn't take any pictures, but we ate lots of good food and the kids all got to have fun collecting candy that uncle Shane shot from his candy cannon. Always a good time.

On Sunday July 3rd, we ate dinner at Trevor's parents house and then all had family pictures made. These pictures turned out awesome! And they are also all on Meghan's blog. But here's one for my blog and for posterity (so you can see my little baby bump):
On Monday, July 4th (my day off work woo hoo!) Trevor and I had a lazy morning, but we joined everyone again in the early afternoon for a delicious barbecue and then to go to the park up Springville Canyon for the kids to play and for the boys to have a homerun derby. Of course, it's always more fun when everyone gets to participate! :) Please enjoy my very low-quality collages of the event:
The boys pitching and batting:
Steve was the victor this year. Trevor was a bit ashamed to say he tied for last, especially because he was the reigning victor from the last homerun derby, two years ago. I guess a king can't keep his crown forever, right? ;)

But he sure did look like a winner when he was helping Kelan, my youngest nephew, take a few aided steps. Getting in some practice before our little man arrives. There's nothing more attractive than a man acting like a daddy. Hmm.... maybe those are the pregnancy hormones talking :D
The night of the fourth we shot off fireworks. The kids all loved to sit on the curb and watch them and they just looked so cute all lined up:
And here's another collage of some of the fireworks we shot off. The fireworks setting on my little camera isn't bad. But seriously, check out Meghan's blog! Her pictures are AH-MAZING! *Sigh* One day I'll have a camera like hers and hopefully the picture-taking skills to go with it.
Anyway, it was definitely a riotous night to say the least. The first firework that we shot off that went up in the air decided to tip over after the first or second shot, and started shooting up the street and then right towards all of us! Needless to say, everyone began running and scrambling away. Somewhere in the process of getting up off the sidewalk and trying to run, I fell back down again, scraping up my elbow and putting a few small scratches on my camera. Lame :( Haha. Oh well. I completely blame it on pregnancy and me not realizing that my center of balance is a little off these days :) That will be one moment I'd like to replay in heaven one day and just look back and laugh! It bet it looked hilarious. And I only say that because we all came out unscathed (well, mostly...). If anyone had been hurt, it probably wouldn't be quite as funny, now would it?

Happy Fourth of July! I hope yours was grand as well. Thank heavens we live in a FREE COUNTRY! :)

In's and Out's

2011-06-29T11:28:00.008-06:00

Life has been changing a lot lately. There are lots of new things happening and it's been really fun. I wanted to show you some of these changes in terms of things that go "out" and things that come "in".

Things that go OUT:

1. My belly, of course!! :) Yesterday I was officially 23 weeks along! And boy is that belly popping OUT fast now! Along with my belly, my belly button is making it's way OUT. It hasn't popped yet, but over the last couple weeks I've watched (to my dismay) as my once very deep "innie" belly button has sneaked closer and closer to the surface. It's only a matter of time at this point until it becomes an "outie"...

2. My brother-in-law, Troy, who was OUT like a light during our family vacation to Las Vegas this month. Sadly, this is the only picture I snapped while we were there, but it definitely deserved a spotlight on my blog, don't you think? He was so out that we were able to decorate him with a pretty little bow :) .... Blackmail much!?
But anyway, Trevor and I made a quick trip to Las Vegas on June 18 & 19 for my nephew, Caden's, baptism. He is the second oldest of Mical's kids and it has been fun, so far, to make a tradition of attending their baptisms when they turn 8 years old. For more pictures of the baptism day, you can see some pictures that Mical put on Facebook here. We had a lot of fun just eating, talking, sleeping (as you can see), and just being with family. Trevor got to go to a local baseball game with all the guys and I had a chance to lay out by the pool for a little while. It really was a fun weekend! But way too short!!

3. My poor old car, Ethel, has made her way OUT of our family. I was hit by another driver while driving to work on June 9th, and I'm pretty sure that the insurance adjuster is going to call me any day to let me know that the damage exceeds the value of the car (Blue Book estimates probably around $1,500 with the current condition and mileage of my car). So, here's my old friend sitting in a little junk yard, waiting to be taken to... umm... car heaven? The dump? Where do old cars go? I have no idea.
Anyway, you can see where the other car ran right into my front driver's side wheel area. Tilted the wheel (probably bent the axle) and caused pretty good damage to the area all around the wheel well. My driver side door wasn't able to open after I was hit because of all that "crunchage" either. Here's a closer look:
While I am a little sad to see Ethel go (I mean, she did tote me around for 4.5 years... even if she was the least reliable car I've ever driven), her absence means there is room for a new car to come in... and that brings us to our IN list. :)

Things that come IN:

1. We have recently welcomed (as of Monday) a new car INto our family, to replace Ethel. This car is a pretty little 2007 Honda CR-V with about 57,500 miles on it. It may not have all the bells and whistles, but it drives beautifully and we got it for a great deal! Here's a picture I found online of one that looks exactly like the one we purchased. I haven't had a chance to take pictures of our actual car yet, but they probably wouldn't be much different than this one:
Anyway, we haven't named this little beauty yet, but I am so glad to have finally gotten through the car buying stage and now I have a nice, smooth, safe, reliable car to drive - extra important for when baby boy gets here!

2. Baby boy is IN my belly. And he will be coming INto our family in just about 4 months! I can't believe how quickly time is flying! I can't wait for him to arrive, but I'm glad I have time to get some things together.

3. We will be flying IN to North Carolina two weeks from today for our big summer vacation! Oh, and did I mention that my brother, who has been on a mission for two years, will be flying IN to the RDU airport the day after we get there!? I'm so excited to see him and welcome him back!

4. About a month ago, the company I work for went through a split, and we recently moved IN to a new office just down the road. I once again have my own office (instead of just a cubicle yay!) and I love the change of scenery. I can even see the bank of the Provo river outside my window. Nice :)

5. There are lots of other things that we are expecting to see come IN throughout the coming months (i.e. baby furniture, Trevor's diploma, income from Trevor's businesses as he has a chance to really work on them, etc.). I'll be sure to keep you all updated!

Decisions, Decisions...

2011-06-20T14:01:00.008-06:00

Many of you may not know this unless you know me pretty darn well, but I seem to have this problem with being indecisive. Especially when I'm trying to make a decision within a certain time frame. And it really does cause me some self-inflicted stress sometimes.

Let me give you a couple of examples that I will take from my current life situation.

Example #1: Baby Stuff. Like, you know, all of it. Do I buy new or used? Which kind do I get? There are SOME things I know, like I really love cute little owls and I really think I want a dark brown crib that converts into a toddler bed and a twin bed (probably a lot like the one pictured below). Here's a picture of a cute bedding set that I love with branches and darling little birds and owls:
I love it because it's neutral enough it could easily go either way for a boy or a girl, so if I have a girl second I don't have to buy all new things. But then I start thinking to myself, "Well, wait! Should I get something a little more 'manly' for my little man? You know... like cars or footballs or something. This is really cute too:
I guess I just have to decide what I like (and factor in the price) and then go for it. And I haven't even started thinking about strollers and car seats and high chairs and... you know... everything else! I just need to take a breath and remember I don't have to do it all today. **Breathe in... breathe out**

Example #2: A Car! Well, as you may know, someone recently hit and totaled my car. I've been driving my rental for about a week and a half now. And since it was a little out of the blue, Trevor and I haven't had much time prior to the accident to decide what kind of car we want. And how much to spend. And how much mileage is too much. Etc... So anyway, there are SOME things we do know: We think we want a crossover, with lower mileage, not much wear and tear, pretty decent gas mileage, and within the price range of $9-15K. Oh, did I mention that those are really difficult to find? So car shopping stinks. Especially because there are so many options. And especially because I'm (erm... WE'RE) so indecisive!

Example #3: A name for our sweet baby boy. I seriously have minor mental panic attacks when I realize that I have to pick a name that I am going to love FOREVER. And that suits my child. And goes with my last name. And has a nice "ring" to it. And that Trevor agrees with. And doesn't mean something weird. And.... and... **breathe in, breathe out**. I'm sure we'll figure it out. Right?! Right!?!!!

Anyway, thanks for indulging in my indecisiveness. And I WOULD appreciate your opinions on the matter - especially if you have experience in the realms of buying baby stuff, buying cars, or naming children :)

Love,

Indecisive Me <3

21 Weeks

2011-06-15T14:46:00.004-06:00

It's that time again: time for an embarrassing picture of my ever-growing belly. I really should start cropping out my head... for example: what's up with my lazy looking eye? Anyway, I was on my way to yoga without any makeup on, so please don't judge. Thanks :) He sure is starting to make an external appearance. And there's no shortage of kicks and punches and rolls and swim strokes that I feel from him daily. He's an active little one, and I love him :)

Last week, when I went to the hospital to get checked out after my minor car accident (just in case, right?) they kept me there for 4 hours and came to check his little heartbeat every 30 minutes. They'd press on him with the monitor to try to find him and I'm tellin' ya, he didn't like it at all! They'd finally catch him in a good spot and start recording the heartbeat, and then he'd decide he wasn't happy at all about being poked at, and he's start wiggling and "swim" his way to another part of me... just trying to get away from those pesky nurses. I don't blame him! They pushed too hard :) Whenever I got a chance to hold the device and find his heartbeat, he'd generally hold a lot more still. Good thing - he's already learning to be cooperative for his mommy :D

Name update: Still working on it. Boy names are soo hard!

I seriously love how he has a little personality already. I can't wait to learn more about him and to meet him later this year.

The BIG Appointment!

2011-06-05T22:16:00.006-06:00

So, Trevor and I went to the "big" ultrasound appointment at 2pm on Friday, June 3rd. I've looked forward to this appointment ever since I set it a month ago. I just couldn't wait to find out if baby Shipp was a boy or a girl! Both Trevor and I had feelings that "it" might be a boy, and there's been many times that I've slipped a "he" while talking about the baby. So, I was excited to put an end to the mystery ;)

Well, the good news is that Trevor and I were RIGHT! We will be welcoming a baby boy into our family in late October! And so far, everything looks healthy! Here's a picture of me a day after the ultrasound (looking less big in this picture... it fluctuates based on the day and hour... what I ate and how full my bladder is!):
So, yeah! It's a boy. I guess the blue colors don't really go along with my hot pink camera. Haha. Anyway, I'm sure you'd also like to see the ultrasound pictures, eh?

Here's the first one, proof that he's a boy. I actually feel a teeny bit bad showing off his little man parts on the world wide web. But, it's still fun to see! The u/s tech froze the screen at this shot and I was almost 100% sure I knew what I was looking at before she told us. She was showing us his leg bone, and I said, "it's a boy, huh?". I don't know, but I feel like if I were trying to not find out, I would have been disappointed. For me, it was pretty hard to miss ;)
This next one is a frontal face shot of our baby. It's what Trevor and I call the "creepy picture". It's very fun to see the shape of the head and face, but really, it looks like something out of a horror movie. Don't stare too hard for too long ;)
The last few are harder to make out. This one shows both arms. I can't really tell how to make out the picture on the left (this arm was laying down by his side and it was hard to find). But, the arm on the right is really neat! He had this arm up near his head and we got to see an awesome shot of the lower arm bone as well as those little fingers and a thumb. I guess it does kind of look like a "thumbs up", huh?
Here are his legs. The leg on the left is bent and he's upside down. The foot is at the top of the picture with the toes facing toward the left, then his little knee bends down near the lower left-hand corner. See it? Good :) Again, the other leg was hard to find and capture, especially because he was kicking so much at this point! :) Totally a future soccer player. No question. I started feeling him around 17 weeks and it hasn't stopped since ;)
Last one. So cute. He put his little feet together. This shot is looking from the bottom of his feet and you can see his little toes (pointing toward the right). So sweet. I can't wait to squeeze those baby feet in real life :)
Anyway, it really was wonderful. We are so happy and I can't wait to meet him, although I'm sure the next 20 weeks are going to take a loooong time. :)

Oh, and just for fun, here's an "artistic" collage of Trevor and I goofing off in front of the mirror. But I thought it was fun because you can kind of see my belly from more of a front angle. It seriously just looks like I've been eating too many burgers and cookies. (Which I probably have, but shhh don't tell anyone!)
Hope you enjoyed! :)

18 Weeks

2011-05-24T18:40:00.003-06:00

Here's the 18 week picture! Also, don't miss the blog post below, also added today :)

Date Nights in May

2011-05-24T18:23:00.007-06:00

As usual, I'm a bit behind, but I wanted to write a bit about some of the fun date nights Trevor and I have been on this month. Just enjoying that time we have together as a "childless couple". Oh freedom :)

Date #1 - On May 7th, we were able to join Dave and Heidi in SLC for some good tepanyaki (perhaps spelled teppanyaki?) style food at Benihana Japanese Steakhouse! Ohh man was I ever craving this food! And I wasn't disappointed, although I still favor Kanki back in Raleigh :)
The pregnant ladies:
After dinner we wandered around Salt Lake City on foot until we found some dessert. It was just really fun (as usual) to get to spend some time with friends and travel to the "city" :)

Date #2 - Last Saturday the 21st we FINALLY had a pretty, warm day and so Trevor and I took off to Saratoga Springs (west of Lehi) so he could hit 9 holes at Talon's Cove at the twilight price. These pictures were taking around 6:30 pm. Can you believe how light it still is outside? This is why I LOVE summer!! The scenery was great with Utah Lake behind us, draped by the Wasatch Mountains.
About to take the swing...
You really gotta love how pretty it is... it makes me wish I had a wide-angle lens and a wider blog so I could blow up the pictures nice and big for you :) I might have to update to Wordpress soon, especially with all of the annoying issues with Blogger recently. It'd be worth the few dollars a year.

After golf we hit up the local Chili's restaurant. I'm definitely noticing an increase in my appetite as of the last couple weeks. Baby is ready to grow GROW GROW!

But yes. I ate a lot. And it didn't even hurt. ;)

I just love the chances I have to spend time with my husband. I'm glad we enjoy being together after 3 years of marriage. And the best part is things have gotten even more fun and easier as time has gone on! Can't wait to see where the future takes us! And I hope you're taking time to have fun date nights as well :D

Cohen's Second Birthday

2011-05-17T15:10:00.005-06:00

Oh dear. I'm so behind on blogging. It's probably because (1) I never make time to do it and (2) Blogger has really been acting up lately. It deleted the first comments I got on my last post and it's totally messing up my boy/girl poll. I give up. Vote if you want but I have no idea if your vote will still be there tomorrow. What's the fun of having polls on your blog if they mess up?

Okay... ranting session over. But like I said, I'm a little behind. Trevor and I went to my nephew, Cohen's, birthday party on April 30th. I got a couple cute pictures so I thought I'd post them :) But you can see more pictures of the festivities on Meghan's blog here.

Anyway, the birthday boy was as cute and fun as ever. Here he is getting ready to blow out the candles on his cake. I've never really seen him act shy before, but he did seem a bit taken back by everyone standing around looking, singing, and cheering at him. His face below is priceless: happy, but not-so-sure:
But he was VERY happy to blow out his candles. And an expert, too! :) He got it easily in one try. And then he got to play with his new car and truck on the cake, which he was very excited about.
Anyway, it's always fun to do things with family. I'm always grateful for birthdays and other excuses to get together. Happy Birthday Cohen, little buddy! :)

Cast Your Votes!

2011-05-11T11:27:00.000-06:00

Great news! Our 20 week ultrasound is scheduled for Friday, June 3, 2011 at 2:00pm MST. You have until that time to cast your vote as to whether we'll be having a boy or girl. Check out the poll over to the top right of the blog -->

We can't wait to find out!! We're so excited! :)

Vote vote vote!

Oh - and here's the 16 week picture:(Please pardon the awkward pose and huge-looking arm. It's hard to take these pictures without the help of Trevor, who was at the gym). :)

Catching Up...

2011-05-01T21:45:00.002-06:00

I've been meaning to blog about this... but I kept forgetting after I posted our good news :)

Back on Monday, April 4th, Trevor and I had the chance to drive up to Park City (Deer Valley, really) to see my Aunt Kristen, Uncle Scott, and cousin Lauren who were visiting from South Carolina to go skiing before the awesome ski season was over. Aunt Kristen is my mom's sister (if you couldn't tell!) and it was SO great to see them because that really only happens once or twice a year if I'm lucky!

Anyway, we got to see the AWESOME house they were renting with some friends. It was exactly what you'd expect up in Deer Valley - made of large beams of wood, luxurious, and HUGE!! They just loved staying there and had to give us the tour when we arrived. There were even TWO indoor saunas in the basement!!!

We were able to go out to eat at the Riverhorse on Main street in Park City. I was extra excited about this because it's the restaurant Trevor and I were GOING to go to on Valentine's day before we got stuck driving in a blizzard for two hours...

Anyway, it was delicious - almost worth the price ;) But the company was grand and we even had a picture taken of all of us:You can tell they'd been skiing by the nice color on their faces. And Trevor, he's just lucky I guess. It makes me look like a pale ghost!! Eeek.

Anyway, we're excited to get to see them again in July when we go to the beach in NC!

In other news, I figured I'd update you with a 14 week picture taken last Tuesday on the way out the door to yoga. I'll be 15 weeks in just a couple more days. It's actually going by pretty fast, although overall it feels pretty slow. I know, that doesn't make sense, huh? Trust me, it's just weird :) Before I know it I'll have a little baby to take care of, and I'm SO excited. It still doesn't seem real (except for my pants not fitting) so I'm excited to continue growing and eventually feel the little baby move and find out if it's a boy or girl! Can't wait til June ;)Anyway, happy Sunday... and we just heard on the news that Osama bin Laden was found and killed. I think we all thought this day would NEVER come. Way to go USA! Now we just need to deal with all his angry, loyal, radical followers... we'll see how that goes.

Happy Easter 2011

2011-04-26T11:22:00.002-06:00

Easter this year really was just wonderful. Although we didn't participate in tons of Easter season activities (like dyeing eggs and hunting for them), we really enjoyed the time we got to spend with family.

Playing it low-key, Trevor and I each got an Easter "basket" with a chocolate bunny:
So, it's not the most extravagant basket you've ever seen, but I'm telling you, that solid, dark chocolate bunny is the best I've ever purchased!! Yummm! Dove chocolate really is delicious!

I also continued with tradition and made my bunny cake this year:
No, it's not the best one I've ever done, but I still did it nonetheless :) For past bunny cake pictures, see here and here. After quickly icing the cake after church, Trevor and I stopped by Meg and Steve's house for dinner and to see the family for a couple hours, and then we traveled down to Elk Ridge to see Trev's parents for a couple more hours. We came home with only half of the bunny's round head left. I'd say we did pretty good! :)

Oh, and, another tradition, you've got to wear an Easter dress on Sunday, so here was the one I chose this year:
I'm guessing this is probably one of the last times I'll be able to wear this dress on Easter. I guess it just depends on how my body changes during pregnancy. ;)

Anyway, I really am so grateful for Easter and for the ability we have to remember that Christ was able to overcome the grave and rise again! He suffered and died for us, so that we might repent and live with Him again, and then he rose the third day. What a wonderful message for us all to remember throughout the year.

Also, I'd love for you to read the Easter message written by my wonderful missionary brother. It's on his blog, HERE.

Happy Easter!! I hope yours was wonderful as well :)

Dear Everyone (Version 2)...

2011-04-13T22:35:00.015-06:00

Hi! It's me again!

So, you may remember my last letter I wrote on January 20th where I had kindly asked if you could all stop getting pregnant and having babies because I was having a difficult time watching everyone achieve what I had been hoping for for a while...

Well, I just wanted to let you know that you may resume your baby-making because Trevor and I are

proudly...

happily...

excitedly...

and successfully...

GOING TO HAVE A BABY! :)

I guess I should have been patient just a teeny bit longer :) We found out on February 20th (at almost 5 weeks) which means I am officially 12 weeks and 1 day along today!
That doctor's appointment I had and the medication I took worked miracles in the first month of trying! I'm so grateful for all of your prayers on our behalf and for the power of modern medicine!

Allow me to tell you a little bit about our adventure so far. Because I took Clomid, a fertility drug, for a month, I was able to have an early ultrasound soon after my 8 week doctor's appointment. Since the baby was so small, they couldn't hear the heartbeat using the hand-held dopplar and they couldn't quite tell if it was just one or if there might have been two (one's chances of multiples increases quite a bit when you take Clomid.)

Well, I was pretty sure it was just one because I hadn't been feeling very sick at all - just tired (ok make that exhausted) - and I just felt like one was the right number :) So, to make sure, we had an ultrasound. Please indulge in these next four pictures of our little bean:At 8 weeks and 2 days our "little bean" was just about 2 cm long! And yes, JUST ONE :)
You can sort of see where the head area is and also the umbilical cord!
Baby had a heartbeat of 166 beats per minute, which, by the way, we were able to both see AND hear! It was truly the most amazing part of my week!
Just a little blob of a fetus, I guess :)

Well the good news is that we're now 4 more weeks down the road since the ultrasound was done!! :) The doctor was easily able to hear the heartbeat (now 150 bpm) today with the hand-held dopplar and told me he thinks everything is going great!

Honestly, I've been so un-sick so far that sometimes I forget that I'm pregnant, or I worry that I don't feel "pregnant enough" (whatever that means). So, whenever I get a chance to hear that little heartbeat and remind myself that it IS real, I just get so excited :)

And yes, I've been documenting the belly a little bit. I'm really not showing too much, although my pants and I now have a love/hate relationship. Rubber bands have become my friend! And some days (and times of day) I'm WAY bigger than others. I think I just get food babies right now ;).

So now, if you're interested, please excuse my cheesy pregnancy belly pictures. Trevor says he's just not a fan, but I'm sorry, I have to document the belly (or lack thereof!):

Anyway, I again wanted to thank all of you for being so supportive for us. We had a rough year last year with Trevor being sick and with us just not being able to get pregnant. It was definitely hard, but looking back I'm realizing that God sometimes really does have impeccable timing. Again, I know many of you prayed for us and I really am so grateful for the miracles that God works every day.

We're definitely not taking this adventure for granted. We're loving every minute of it!

Oh - and because you're all dying to know...

Little bean is due October 25, 2011!!

Love,

Alex, Trevor, and "little bean" Shipp

Crazy Weather

2011-04-09T12:43:00.003-06:00

I think Utah is still trying to decide if it IS, in fact, April, or if we are freakishly stuck in January. I mean, it IS spring now, right? And it has been for almost 3 weeks, right?

Well, it's April 9 and it's been snowing all morning (fortunately not really sticking this time!). But, that isn't all! Last Saturday, April 2nd was a GORGEOUS day... think of nice 70 degree weather and sunshine. Then, overnight, we got 5 inches of snow, and it continued to snow on and off all day Sunday. See, I have proof:Tree branches had fallen on cars because the snow was so heavy and unexpected. But, I will say it was a really gorgeous Sunday drive up to Elk Ridge to watch General Conference with Trevor's parents.

I felt bad for all the spring birds, though, as they all had no where to stand except the roads where the snow had melted. All of their nests and branches were covered in snow and too cold to stand on. So, we tried not to hit the hundreds of birds that were hanging out on the roads as we drove up to Elk Ridge. It was kind of creepy, actually. Think of Hitchcock's "The Birds"...

Spring weather, please come soon! I miss the warm and the sunshine!! And I have some really cute new shoes I'd like to wear.

Sincerely, Alex

BYU Rugby & HOT Krispy Kreme Doughnuts

2011-03-16T22:52:00.004-06:00

For date night on Saturday, March 5th, Trevor and I went to the BYU vs. UofU Rugby game up at Rio Tinto stadium (where the Real Salt Lake soccer team usually plays). We got in for free courtesy of my company (thanks Property 23!!). All we had to do was wear our free "Warrior Rugby" t-shirts to support and advertise for my boss' new rugby team here in Utah. They are new, but they are awesome and they're going to be big!
So, even though we're in a red stadium wearing red, white, and black t-shirts, we were NOT rooting for Utah. We rooted for BYU! And it's a good thing, too, because they won! Woot woot!

Rugby is seriously such a cool sport. I don't know too much about it (at all, actually), but I'm starting to learn. The night before we went to this game, we watched Forever Strong on Netflix, which is about the Highland rugby team here in Utah a few years back, I think. It's a pretty good movie, and it gave me a very basic understanding of how it works. Sort of :) All I know is that they often do the weird "huddle" thing above when they are putting the ball back into play whenever it didn't go out of bounds. It's kind of fun to watch because it's like a mosh pit until the ball suddenly pops out and they begin running and/or slamming into each other in order to get it in their possession.
I couldn't get any great shots of the crazy tackling and man-on-man impacts that happened, but you can kind of see above where they just got hit. And seriously, they SMACK into each other - no reservations - and they don't even wear protective pads! It's seriously exhilarating. I would go again and again just for the tackles... it's like waiting for the big "wreck" watching a Nascar race, but better! :)

Afterward, Trevor had a craving for hot Krispy Kreme doughnuts. When we got close, we hoped that we would see the nice, red glow from the "hot now" sign. Well, we got lucky! So we pulled in and I begged Trevor to let us actually go inside instead of drive through so we could see them making the doughnuts. I felt like such a little kid again, but it was just as exciting now as it was then! I love it.

They had just started making a fresh batch when we got there, so I got to document the first couple rows of doughnuts "plopping" out of the rising compartment. You can see below that a couple of the doughnuts had a little issue and one landed on top of the other. Those went into the "reject" pile :)
After they float and cook in the oil on one side, the "flipper" flips them over and they get to cook on the other side. Perfect and goldenly delicious!
And then, the BEST part... the "icing on the cake" so-to-speak. Or, at least, glazed icing on the doughnut! They are so beautiful and shiny when they come out the other side! I could watch the waterfall of sugary deliciousness for hours, probably!
Even though Trevor didn't want to get out of the car and walk in at first, by the time we left he was really glad he did and admitted it was way fun to go inside and watch the doughnuts cook. Yay for simple, spontaneous fun at Krispy Kreme. And yes, they were DELICIOUS. And yes, we had to buy a bottle of milk or else we wouldn't have survived :)

I hope you're drooling....

California in Feburary

2011-03-16T22:33:00.005-06:00

Argh. I really am a binge blogger. Here I go missing another month, practically! Shame on me! I'll try to catch you up on some of my recent happenings! On February 23 and 24th, for work, I got to go on my second trip to California. It was definitely nice to escape the cold and snow for a break of moderate temperatures and sunshine!

We flew into Long Beach airport on Wednesday the 23rd. This is the smallest airport I have EVER been in. Seriously. What you see in the picture below is... the whole airport. You get on and off the planes by walking out to the tarmac and going up the steps! It was awesome! But it's a good thing it was sunny that day!
After we met with our client, we had a few hours to kill before our flight and we were able to travel down to Long Beach to see the ocean. Oh man. It's been way too long since I last saw an ocean (okay, maybe only last July, but it seems like FOREVER!).

Here's us driving through downtown on Ocean Drive:
And me out by the Pacific Ocean. They had two or three of those facilities you see behind me... I'm still not sure what they are. The water was cold, but I was just happy to feel the sand between my toes and the wind in my hair and sun on my face!
And yes, please excuse my nice business pants rolled up for the occasion ;)
Ahh.... water, sand, and sunshine.
Walking back to the car along the sidewalk high above the shore level. You had to walk down a ton of stairs to get to the actual beach. Almost sunset time. This is heaven on earth:
That night, we said goodbye to SoCal and got on a plane up to Oakland, CA and went straight to sleep. The next day, we had a mid-morning appointment with a client in Tracy, CA (about 45 minutes east of Oakland), so we drove out there. On the way, we saw some of the most beautiful, unique scenery. There were green rolling hills dotted with windmills and grazing cattle. I just couldn't believe it was so green in February! See?:
About mid-afternoon, I returned to Oakland and waited (aka napped in the hotel) until our third appointment later Thursday night. By this point, it started raining, and the slow, persistent storm continued until we left northern Cali on Friday morning. Right at dusk on Thursday night, we got to drive over the 6 mile long San Mateo Bridge into San Mateo (imagine that!) on the other side of the bay. In this picture (sorry so blurry!) you can kind of see where the bridge takes a left turn and raises up for ships to pass under:
I had so much fun in California. I hadn't been to Northern California in a really long time, but I have decided I think it is just GORGEOUS. It's got a different vibe than any other place I've been in the U.S. and I seriously think I could live there if it weren't for the outstanding taxes, house prices, gas prices, and oh yes, taxes!

For now I'll just enjoy the memory from the pictures. And I hope you enjoyed them too! :)

Skullcandy is Delicious!

2011-02-19T23:56:00.004-07:00

My latest bargain purchase were some new headphones from Skullcandy (because, let's be honest: the standard headphones that come with iPods are AWFUL and they make my ears hurt!). Also, it helped that the COO of Skullcandy came to visit Trevor's lecture series class recently and handed out a 50% off coupon for a purchase up to 3 items from their website. So, I happened to go on the website when it was "free shipping on all orders" day (YAY!) and purchased two sets of headphones for $15!!

Here is the pair I got for myself:Yes. It's hot pink. To match my camera. Well, not on purpose, but I must have a subconscious obsession with hot pink! :) It also has a MICROPHONE so I can talk on the phone hands free. I have already tried it out and I'm obsessed!! I think talking on the phone is much more fun when you have two hands to drive (if you're in the car), or do dishes, pick things up, type on the computer (when you're at home/work). Yep. This was definitely a good investment. I'm also just excited to have a more comfy set of headphones to use while jamming to music while cleaning up my house (it's honestly the only way I can get things done).

The second pair that I got are exactly the same but they are silver. I'll probably give those to my brother, Mike, when he gets back from his mission this summer!

I'm sure you're also wondering about sound quality... right? Well, I'm surprised, actually! The first thing I noticed is that they fit so snugly in my ears that they actually cut out a lot of outside sound (even without any music playing). So, you really do get the full experience of the music straight to your ear without any interference from outside noise or just... air!

It truly is "candy" for your skull, and I'm in LOVE!

Household chores... here I come!!!!

Valentine's Day 2011

2011-02-18T12:15:00.007-07:00

Well, I have to say that this Valentine's Day wasn't the most successful one that we've ever had. In fact, we really struggled to make this one work. But that's okay, right? It's our 5th Valentine's Day, and I guess since 4 out of 5 were very successful, it was time for something to go wrong. So, I'll tell you about our night, and then maybe you'll understand why we never had a chance to get a picture of ourselves! :)

I made dinner reservations for us to eat at the Riverhorse on Main street in Park City for Tuesday night (the 15th) because, due to us waiting too long to reserve a spot, Monday was full. But that was okay, we figured, because it'd be less crazy anyway! Well, about a half week before our planned dinner, Trevor found out he had to make a last-minute trip down to Las Vegas on Monday evening and he wouldn't be back until late Tuesday when he had to go take a test. Well, my feathers were ruffled, but we just changed the reservation to Wednesday night at the same restaurant.

Okay. So things are set and I am SO excited to go on a fun little date with my husband and eat at a great restaurant with fabulous reviews!! Wednesday, I got off work at 5, headed home to touch up and change, and Trevor and I exchanged Valentines. (This part of the day was great, and made the whole adventure worth it.) I gave Trev a Carrabba's gift card (for a future "schfancy" date) and he gave me the palm tree necklace with emeralds and little diamonds :)
He's been pretty excited, lately, about colorful gemstones. And I can't say I'm complaining at all because I get to wear very lovely jewelry! And yes, I did change my outfit to match that necklace! :) I also got Trevor the cutest Valentine's Day balloon I have ever seen:
Shortly after exchanging valentines, we decided to make our way up to Park City early to stop by the Tanger Outlets before dinner. On the way up, we could see that there was a rather dark cloud looming above Timpanogos mountain (Park City is on the other side). We were a little worried that it would snow, like it always does, but we were still prepared to go up and have some fun!

So, when we were getting close to Park City, it did start to snow, but it wasn't too heavy nor was it sticking to the ground. We still weren't too worried. We stopped at J Crew first (which, by the way, I have never shopped at before, but had to check out per the recommendation of my friend Corinne Davis - she raves about it on her blog). Well, I think I fell in love at first sight. And I would have had a harder time if the cardigan and shirt I bought weren't 40% off plus a 15% off student discount (yay for Trev still being in school!!!). See exhibit A:
I just love love love the black 3/4 sleeve cardigan. So classic. It will never EVER go out of style :). And, like many other women lately, I am somewhat obsessed with the cute ruffle shirts!

Then, we visited Banana Republic (where Trevor had a gift card) and he got a few shirts. However, the outlets were completely empty, which might not be too weird for a Wednesday night, except we started to figure out that it probably had to do more with the quickly accumulating snow outside. After 20 minutes in J Crew, it had started to stick to the roads.

We had about a 20 minute drive to main street, but we quickly realized that we were in big trouble. It was a BLIZZARD outside, the roads were covered, and there aren't any street lights to guide your way. After about 15 or so minutes of trying desperately not to drive off the road, I called to cancel our dinner reservation. We didn't want to risk the snow piling up more for the next hour or so that we were eating.

We started feeling so upset at ourselves for not checking the weather beforehand. When we finally pulled up the radar on Trevor's phone, we realized that the storm was reaching from Idaho all the way to Provo and was traveling south quickly! The storm was honestly about 1/4 the size of the state of Utah, or bigger, and it was right on top of us.

Dreading the long drive back (usually about an hour without weather issues) on the winding roads and through Provo Canyon, I contemplated just getting a hotel for the night. What we had already driven through was scary, and it wasn't going to get any easier. But Trevor really wanted to go home, so off we went.

We struggled through almost two more hours of this:
Combined with this:
Sometimes we would follow the tail lights of the car in front of us, and just hope they could see where they were going and that we wouldn't follow them straight off the side of the road. But most of the time, there were no cars and no lights to show the way. We relied on reflector sticks or barriers on the side of the road, and if we could see the road lines, we would just follow them. I also followed along with the street map on my phone, just to make sure we were still on a road. And I said about 10239348 prayers. But we couldn't see more than 5 to 10 feet in front of us for most of the drive and there were moments when the road lines would disappear that we had no sense of direction whatsoever. It was a level 10 out of 10 stressful. So this is how I feel right now, about the weather in UT:
Needless to say, we DID make it (somehow) safely back to Provo. We pulled into Happy Sumo as soon as possible (because, by now, I was STARVING and it was 9:30pm) and got some yummy sushi.

So, no, it didn't go as planned. And, no, we didn't have a nice relaxing dinner at an amazing restaurant in Park City. But, you know what? We definitely had an adventure. Granted, it's an adventure I don't ever want to repeat, but we helped keep each other sane when we were close to losing it, and that definitely brought us closer together. And we learned our lesson that we should always, ALWAYS check the weather before traveling to Park City in the wintertime.

So, HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! And I hope yours was wonderful and much less crazy than ours! :) <3

Playing with Color

2011-02-08T23:27:00.002-07:00

When I was out in NC, I was showing my parents my new camera and how it could pick out colors and leave the rest black and white. Here are just a couple of the pictures I took to show them. I'm still getting the hang of it, but it's pretty fun! This green themed one is my FAVORITE:
And reds/oranges:
Yellows:
Let's play a game with these pictures!! Okay?! I spy, with my little eye: two wedding rings, a picture frame, some pearls, four oranges, a wedding announcement, a fake plant, a knife block, two bananas, and a newspaper.

Happy hunting :) And make sure to check out the other two posts I did today, below!

Trip Back East

2011-02-08T23:17:00.003-07:00

So, with the new year came a new job title for me! I have been promoted, in a sense, from the "Client Relations Manager" to the "Client Success Director". What does this entail, exactly? Well, for one it means I no longer have the responsibility of listening to clients' concerns and problems and having to figure out to remedy these situations. Hallelujah! A year and a half of that will just do you in. So, now I work directly with our successful clients. I get to speak with them, get testimonials from them, and sometimes I get to meet them in person!

That's where my recent trip back to the east coast comes in! On Friday, January 28th, I was able to fly out to Raleigh, NC (yay! my hometown!) to meet a client. LUCKILY, this client lives 10 minutes from my parents' house, so I got to stay with them for the whole weekend while I did some work on Saturday! Hooray!

It was so fun to see them, talk with them, go out to eat with them, and go to church together at my old home ward. Lots of awesome people and memories! I didn't get many pictures from the occasion, but I have some awesome memories of just laying in front of the gas fireplace and talking for hours with my parents. I love how you just become friends with your parents as you get older :)

After NC, I got to fly up to Connecticut to meet with a second client. I'd never been to CT before, so that was another awesome adventure! The stories and feedback I got from these two clients that weekend will soon be posted on my work's website. They aren't up yet (as of today), but if you want to check out the awesome company I work for, you can visit our website: Property 23

Anyway, I wanted to share with you a couple of pictures that I took from the plane as we originally took off from SLC the morning of the 28th. It was a really foggy morning in the valley, and as soon as we broke through the very low clouds, I could see why:
Yes, those are the tops of the mountains in the background. The layer of clouds was so thick and low that the mountains popped out from above them and you couldn't see one spec of the huge Salt Lake Valley that's hidden below those clouds.

It's crazy - almost like you'd never even know there's a large city underneath all of that! It was even more awesome in real life! I just had to share!!

Long story short, I really think I'm going to enjoy this new job. I rather like traveling and exploring new places! Next stop is probably CA before the end of the month! Hooray :)

My Half Birthday (Yes, I'm Serious)

2011-02-08T23:09:00.004-07:00

So it's confession time: I really like reasons to celebrate, and so sometimes I just do a little mini-celebration for my half birthday (you know, the 6 month mark between birthdays). My half birthday always falls on January 20th. And no, I don't expect gifts or anyone to sing to me. That would be crazy. But I DO use it as an excuse to make myself a half cake. No. I'm not kidding. See the evidence:
Okay, so I'm not the world's best cake maker, but YOU try frosting a soft, three-layer cake, okaaaay?!
The next day, I took it to work to share the goodness with my co-workers. Here's a picture of what the inside looked like (I was so excited that it looked like a legitimate layer cake!!):
And I used a box (gasp!) cake mix, but it was some sort of luxury kind, I'm CONVINCED, because it was amazing and moist! If you look hard enough in the above picture, you can see the little moist dark chocolate chunks that were in the cake batter. Good heavens. I love chocolate :)

Happy delicious half birthday to me! :D

Relief Society Dinner

2011-01-26T12:48:00.004-07:00

Last Wednesday, January 19th, our ward Relief Society held a "Resolutions Dinner" for the new year of 2011! We ate some delicious food (salmon and pasta, yum yum!) and learned a lot about what goals we can set for ourselves this year.

We were assigned, by name cards, to our tables. It was nice because I got the chance to talk to and learn about new people (which I always love to do!).

After it was over, I snapped a picture with most of the girls at my table.From L to R: Me, Katherine Ellis, Mary Herrington, Karina White, and Jessica Stuart

Thanks ladies! It was fun :)

Dear Everyone,

2011-01-20T13:39:00.002-07:00

Okay, hi!

I was just wondering if you could all stop getting pregnant and having babies :)

You see, it's not that I'm NOT happy for you, but it sure would be nice if I could join you someday soon!

But not to worry! I have a doctor's appointment today and the nice doctor is going to give me some awesome medication that (*fingers crossed*) should help with all of that!

Wish me luck and pray for me!

Oh - and congrats to all of you who are pregnant or just had your babies! I really AM excited for you! I promise! :D

With love and a bit of jealousy,

Me

Recap of 2010

2011-01-13T19:12:00.005-07:00

I was reading through my old blog posts the other day, and then I realized that last January I did a re-cap of all the great things that happened in 2009, so I thought it would only be fitting to do the same thing for 2010. Now, I have to qualify that 2010 wasn't nearly as "peachy" as 2009, so I'm going to have to include a couple of negative things that made 2010 the way it was. But, here goes:

Trevor fell really, really ill and had many visits to the doctor, resulting in having a colonoscopy that showed that he has the digestive disease called Ulcerative Colitis.
I had to deal with a major flood at one of the apartments I manage.
I was called to be the Ward Music Chairperson and Choir Director in our ward and I did it for the entire year, meaning I put together my first ever Christmas Program!
We were able to welcome cute little Kate Kimball into the world and spend a lot of time with her (congrats Dave and Heidi!)
Got to go skiing with my friend Melanie!!
Trevor and I celebrated our 4th Valentine's Day!
I became a certified yoga instructor after completing a 200-hour training at It's Yoga.
Stopped using the birth control pill!
Got to visit Zion's National Park and the Grand Canyon with my parents (including hiking Angel's Landing - the most intense and awesome hike I've ever done!)
We celebrated our 2 year anniversary!!
Trevor spent every week of the summer months (not including weekends) in Las Vegas expanding his parking enforcement company.
Heidi and I drove to Vegas with a 4-month-old (Kate) and survived! We visited our hubbies for the weekend and we got to go to the M&M factory on the strip! Trevor and I also dined at Cheesecake Factory and got to putt some golf balls at his golf club down there.
Traveled to NC for 10 days where we got to go to the beach, see lots of family and friends, and just enjoy vacation!
I turned 23 years old and Trevor turned 26!
I laid out by the pool A LOT with my friend Christina! Trevor played a lot of golf with his friend Dave.
Welcomed our sweet, sweet nephew Kelan into the world. He is so sweet! Congratulations to Meghan and Steve! I also got to spend a lot of time helping out at Meg's house since she now has 4 little ones! :)
We changed health insurance (again!)
I got a raise!! And a 401K!
Happily welcomed Henry Buck into the world (proud parents are Randy and Jenny)
Found out the Ballards are pregnant, due this coming March!! Congrats you two!
Found out the Porters are pregnant AGAIN, due sometime next year! Yay again!
Welcomed my aunt Kelly and uncle Jim into our home for a couple days while they were traveling and we got to hike to Timp Caves together and also went out for dinner at the best restaurant in SLC!
Got to see the lead singer of Dashboard Confessional in concert with my friend Miriam!
Halloween at Meghan's house (for me) and at home (for Trevor because he was sick). At work, I dressed up as a bumble bee!
Got Trevor feeling better (FINALLY) by him taking prednisone. We also changed GI doctors and found one we like much better!
Tried for months to get pregnant, and failed :(
Had Thanksgiving at Trevor's parents' house with lots of yummy pies!
Great time shopping on Black Friday with the girls and lunch at Pizza Factory.
Changed positions at my company
Discovered the wonders of Amazon.com
Trevor got 10 cavities filled! Wow! Thank goodness we finally got to the dentist!
Made our first Christmas cards ever!
Spent Christmas Eve at Trev's parents and Christmas day at his sister, Meghan's house playing with Lego's and the Wii!
Learned a lot about patience, temperance, love, sacrifice, and enduring.
Read the first book of "The Hunger Games" series
Had our New Year's Eve dinner at CPK and watched the ball drop on TV in the comfort of our home!

Wow! As I was making this list, there were so many things that we did! Even though I would consider it a tough year overall (or at least one of the toughest I've had so far), we sure did make some great memories still! I can't wait to see what unfolds for us in 2011!!

Love,

Alex

BYU vs. Air Force Basketball

2011-01-09T23:34:00.003-07:00

Yesterday (Saturday), Trevor and I spontaneously decided to walk over to the BYU vs. Air Force basketball game going on in the Marriott Center. Yes. I said spontaneously. I know, I'm shocked too. Anyone who knows Trevor well at all will attest to the fact that he has a very VERY hard time being spontaneous. He just really likes to plan for things, and there's nothing wrong with that, but it can definitely cause disagreements since he's married to ME - and I tend to like to be pretty spontaneous.

Anyway, we went. And there were TONS of people there. I mean full-house! We got there a little late and ended up sitting at the VERY top row of the student section. At least we got a nice wall to lean back on and didn't have to stand up at all! It was an okay game, but BYU was winning by quite a bit the whole time so it got a little boring. So I started playing with the settings on my camera.

This is reason #3028918 why I love my camera:
So that first picture is just a normal picture... but the next two show the magic - you can select a color that you'd like to pick out and have everything else be black and white. Take a look:
Yellows are cool, but I LOVE this one of the blues. In fact, I think BYU should put it online as an advertisement for BYU Basketball. Haha
Anyway, it was fun to get out and get to a game. It's "free" with the all sports' passes we purchased this year, so the more games we go to, the cheaper each game will be! Go BYU!

New Year's Eve!

2011-01-09T23:27:00.004-07:00

For New Year's Eve, Trevor and I played it pretty low-key but it really was so wonderful! First, we got dressed up and went to dinner at California Pizza Kitchen. We were able to walk right in and get seated immediately! It was awesome. (Although we did plan to go to Texas Roadhouse and there was a 3-hour wait ... I guess we know where everyone in Provo was that night!!).After dinner, we got the movie "Salt" from a nearby Redbox and watched it. After that, we still had an hour and a half until midnight so we watched "The Crucible" on instant Netflix. It's a pretty thought-provoking film. But yea, trust me, I wish Netflix's instant movies were a little more main-stream.

Anyway, we watched the ball drop on TV at midnight and shared a New Year's kiss! Oh - and since we didn't have our own noise-makers, we just imitated the noise with our mouths. It sounded pretty real and we just couldn't stop laughing!! Sooo funny and just wonderful! Betcha didn't know we were such nerds, did you?

HAPPY 2011 EVERYONE! :)

Dinner with Friends

2011-01-09T23:14:00.003-07:00

On Thursday, December 30th, we were able to get together with friends. These are not just any friends... these are, like, the greatest friends ever! They consist of 4 of Trev's closest high school buddies and their wives and kids. Namely: David and Heidi (and Kate), Randy and Jenny (and Henry), Shawn and Jana (and Luke & Boy #2), Cole and Meghan (and Girl #1).

Fortunately, Dave's parents were out of town so we got to use their nice, spacious house to host the dinner. Heidi and I were in charge of the main course of the meal. So, we each made our favorite mexican soups. Mine was a Chicken Tortilla Soup with a salsa/water/tortilla chip base and Heidi's was a Chicken Corn Chowder Soup with a bit of a kick with a cheese/cream/corn base. Both very different and equally as delicious. The 10 of us literally finished off two large potfuls of soup!
I didn't take a lot of pictures, but I'll show you the ones I did have. This one is Jana and little Lukey looking awfully darling :)
And here's Cole and Meghan with a foreshadow of things to come... haha :) They are holding Henry, Jenny's son, and Luke is at their feet. Meghan's due in March with her first little girl and we are SO excited for her!
Here are the Porters again - Jana and Shawn and Luke. Luke must have been cute that night because apparently he made it into ALL of my pictures. Sadly I didn't get a picture of anyone else. Shame on me! I even had my new camera! :(
Long story short, it was a VERY fun night full of food, friends, games, and laughter. I seriously love when we are all able to get together. We never know when this will be impossible to do anymore (Meg & Cole already live in TX but were visiting UT that week), so we have to live it up while we still can!

Love you guys! XOXO

New Camera!

2011-01-09T23:07:00.003-07:00

Okay, so like I said, I am going to dedicate a quick post to my new camera. I love it. And I want to show you why. First of all, this is the camera:
I really don't think you need more explanation than that, right? I mean, c'mon - it's GORGEOUS. And hot pink. And if you know me, then you know I'd pick hot pink. Duh :)

But just in case you needed MORE convincing that my camera is wonderful, here's some more proof. First, let's take a look at my old camera:
Okay, don't get me wrong. It was a great camera while I had it. Lots of good photos and memories with that camera. But it was time to move on, and here's why... the next picture is a picture of my actual new camera taken with my old camera:
See? Not the best quality ever. Note the difference between the picture above it (the one of the old camera) that was taken with the new camera. Night and day! I'm still not sure why my old camera decided to focus on the keyboard in the background instead of the camera in the foreground. Anyway. That's point number 1.

Point number 2 is the size. I had to take these next pictures with my iPhone so I could compare so these pictures are bad too, but they get the point across. So, from the front you can see that Pink is a little smaller than Silver.
But, the true shocker lies in the overhead shot:
I seriously think my new camera is 1/3 the size and weight of my old camera. AWESOME!! It doesn't even take up half of my purse when it's in the case, thank goodness!

Oh, and did I mention I love it because it's PINK!!?? :D

Christmas Festivities

2011-01-09T22:41:00.005-07:00

Wow, okay... so I realize I'm two weeks late getting this posted. I haven't even been that busy. I guess laziness is just taking over. That tends to be how I get in January. Gah. Anyway, onto our Christmas this year!

First, we spent Christmas Eve at Trevor's parents' house in Elk Ridge, UT. I've stolen a couple of pictures off the blog of my sister-in-law, Meghan, to show some of the happenings:
We spent the evening eating a tasty Christmas ham, playing with all the kiddos, talking, snacking, eating desserts, and present opening of course! Trevor and I got mostly gift cards, but we were also able to add some dried apples to our food storage collection! Trent (Trev's little brother) had my name this year, and instead of being boring and just giving me money, he folded two 10-dollar bills into origami boots and even added a little price tag! So creative!!
The above picture is me holding up the "money boots" after opening them and the below picture is a close-up so you can see the detail he put into it! The back of the price tag had the Macy's logo on it! :)
After some wonderful festivities, Trevor and I traveled home to snuggle up and spend Christmas Eve in our own wonderful bed. :)

The next day, we woke up to find all the presents that Santa had left for us under the tree! (Picture is courtesy of my phone, sorry for the bad quality.) We spent the morning opening up all of our gifts and our stockings! It was a bounteous Christmas for us! We feel so blessed!
Trevor opened his main gift - a new touch-screen iPod Nano! :) Thanks Santa! It's SO tiny!!
Here are some of Trevor's stocking stuffers: golf tees, candy, deodorant, gum, iTunes gift card, travel toothbrushes, chapstick, more candy.... you get the picture, no?
Here are some of my stocking stuffers: candles, candy, socks, lip gloss, hand sanitizers, an AWESOME homemade bookmark by my mom, more candy..... again you get the picture right? :)
One of my favorite Christmas gifts is pair of yoga pants from lululemon. Talk about nice tush! ;) I seriously love love LOVE them! And a headband to match, of course!
Some of the other gifts we received included a gym membership for Trev, a really pretty pink sapphire necklace for me, and a NEW CAMERA! (Some of the pictures in this post were taken by my new camera, but I'm going to dedicate a whole post to this new item of mine because it's so AWESOME!!).

Oh! I forgot to mention that before we opened presents we got to Skype with my parents and other extended family in NC for about an hour and a half! We also got to be on Skype with them when they got the Christmas phone call from Mike (he's on his mission in Boise, ID). It was SO much fun to have us all together, even if it wasn't EXACTLY in person :).

So later, after Skype and present opening and getting ready for the day, Trevor and I went over to Meg and Steve's house at about 1:30pm. It was honestly the most fun day getting to play with their 4 kids' new toys! The highlight was getting to put together Kanyon's new huge Lego set! Oh man! Talk about fun! It took hours, but I hope I never get tired of putting together those things! :) Hopefully I have a kid who wants me to do it for him too! He he he....

For dinner they served us delicious cheesy potato soup and then after the kids went to bed we got to play a heated game of Pictionary on the Wii! SOO fun! Trevor and I pulled through and won at the last minute, but I will say it was a CLOSE game! :)

After the game I free-handed this wonderful landscape on the drawing pad :) Hahaha. Seriously, Christmas is about being a kid again, right? Well, it's a good thing I got in touch with my inner child!
Overall, it was the best Christmas I've ever had away from home in NC. It's sad that I wasn't able to be there, but I look forward to a fantastic Christmas celebration with my WHOLE family next year!

Merry Christmas 2010!

2010-12-21T22:47:00.002-07:00

So I know you can currently see this as the header of my blog, but I wanted to make a post about the Christmas card I had made this year! It turned out beautifully thanks to the help of my WONDERFUL sister-in-law Meghan. Yes, she took the pictures. Yes, she made the layout. Yes, she got them ordered and delivered asap. Yes, she IS amazing. Thanks for asking! :) Anyway, more to come about Christmas as the festivities begin, but until then, MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE SHIPPS!

(And hopefully it will be a White Christmas for you, as I'm hoping it is for me!)

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

2010-12-16T22:32:00.005-07:00

Finally! Seems like I was just a little bit behind on everything this year... shopping, sending, decorating, enjoying! :) But guess what! I got it done!! :)

I just wanted to share with you some of my Christmas decorations. They may not be big or fancy, but they fit my little apartment perfectly. And I love them!

Especially this nativity scene, which I think I've had since I was born. I'll have to get my Mom to tell me the story on it. For the longest time I always thought it was a Precious Moments set, but upon further inspection this year... I'm realizing that it might not be! And if it is, then it's an ancient/retro Precious Moments set that must have been made before they had the signature "Precious Moments" eyes... Regardless, I just LOVE this nativity:And my little snowman and Christmas tree countdown calendar that sits on top of my TV:
And a fun little doorknob hanger snowman jingle bell thingy. I got this last year from Trevor's grandparents, I believe:
And this I know I got from Trev's grandparents Kayle and Deanna... it's a fun little winter rug. Cute little penguins all wrapped up in hats and scarves:
Here's my typical Christmas tree shot. You might be able to see some of my Precious Moments ornaments. These are for SURE legitimate Precious Moments items. I guess my Mom made me into a collector (it started with my "Baby's First Christmas" ornament and I get a new one almost every year!), and I'm grateful. I think they are such sweet, darling little figurines! Anyway,this is honestly my favorite corner of the house this time of year. Sometimes I just turn off the lights and let the tree just glow. It's such a peaceful and yet exciting feeling to sit by the glow of the lights on the tree! One of life's little pleasures, I guess:
I just LOVE Christmastime, and most of all because the whole world seems to turn their thoughts to peace, love, happiness, and, most of all, Jesus Christ. What a wonderful gift He gave all of us by laying down His life so that we might also overcome death and live again and have the opportunity to return to the presence of our Father in Heaven. No other gift given was greater than this gift that Christ gave so willingly to every man that would ever walk the earth. It's amazing that such a gift can be so universal, but so personal all at the same time.

I hope you take time to enjoy the true meaning of Christmas this year. Read the Christmas story in Luke. Listen to Christ-filled songs! Just enjoy every single minute of it and try not to get too caught up in the "busy" and the "buying" of this season.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Temple Square - November 27, 2010

2010-12-16T00:19:00.009-07:00

On Friday November 27th, during the long Thanksgiving weekend while Mical and her family were in town, we all went up to Temple Square to see the lights. It was gorgeous, but it was also SO cold! Below is the whole crew less Meghan (taking the pictures) and Kelan, her youngest, who was sitting bundled up in the stroller next to her.For this next picture, everyone had been getting pictures of their families, so I asked if we could get one of our little "family": Me and Trevor .... :)
Like I said before, it was SO cold - almost too cold to enjoy our visit. Almost. It was still great. And the best part is that they were selling cups of hot chocolate to help warm us up! Good news! The hot chocolate worked... I felt much warmer after drinking it. That is, everything except my VERY cold/numb toesies. Poor little digits. I can still remember how much they hurt! :( But, at least that was the only really cold part of me, thanks to hot chocolate and awesome earmuffs: And, finally, a bit of family history for all of you... apparently this next picture is one of the first pictures the "original" Shipp family has taken (just them) and all together in a long time! From L to R: Mical, Meghan, Trevor, Jill, Troy, Russell, and Trent. Oddly enough, I just noticed all the "kids" are standing in order of age from Mical down to Trent! Such a good lookin' family I married into!! :) Hope you enjoyed these AWESOME pictures, courtesy of Meghan. Thanks Meg! Also, please forgive me for taking forever to post. More fun posts to come in the next few days and weeks!

And an early Merry Christmas!!! :)

Birthday Boy!!

2010-11-26T21:20:00.002-07:00

Today is very special (and its not just because it's Black Friday). Yep. There's something even MORE important than shopping that happened today - and that's Trevor turning 26 years old!! Happy Birthday to my sweet husband!!!The best part, to me, about this picture is how you can genuinely see how much happier and better he is feeling now!! That's probably the best birthday present he could have been given. However, I did get him some other fun things like new light-colored jeans, socks, scarf & gloves, and a very yummy-looking ice cream cake (we have yet to try it)!

I am so grateful to have such a great husband (and good-looking too!) who is willing and able to not only provide for our family, but also to help out around the house and make sure I'm happy too. He's one of the biggest blessings in my life and I really do love him.

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!!!!

Why Do I NEVER...

2010-11-23T22:13:00.005-07:00

... have anything interesting to write about!?!?

Oh well. I guess for now you get to be entertained with recent life updates!

#1 - Trevor is feeling SO much better! After nearly 6 weeks of feeling AWFUL, we got him to a doctor again who prescribed prednisone (a steroid) to treat his UC flare-up. And guess what! They work soo well and he's so happy to feel back to normal. Of course, you can guess that missing over a month of school was not going to work, so he also discontinued from classes for the semester. Good news? We get at least 50% of his tuition back and have applied to get up to 85% back! Other good news? He'll continue classes next semester so Wymount is letting us stay where we live and not kicking us out! Whew! Talk about blessings :)

#2 - By the end of December, my entire department at work will be completely different. I recently had to let one person go (it just wasn't the right job for him), one is moving back to Arizona, and one is ready to move to a different department within the company. Sigh. It's stressful just thinking about finding, hiring, and training 3 new people in the next month. Wish me luck and pray for me!

#3 - Still LOVING Netflix! I think I'm on disc 6 of season 1 of Charmed. I just LOVE that movies show up in my mailbox. Also love the instant movies! Ahhh, definitely one of the best decisions I've made in a while.

#4 - Getting ready for the Christmas program at church. It's coming up in less than 3 weeks now. I'm trying not to panic. ;) I'm sure it will all turn out fine, right? RIGHT?

#5 - Got some more NEW BOOTS! Cute, huh? Very similar to the gray ones that I love, minus the wedge heel. That's my very favorite part of cold weather - the excuse to wear boots and other cute sweaters and such!

#6 - Finally picked up my yoga training certificate. Haha. Yes, yes, I know - I finished the training in March. For some reason I kept thinking they would mail it to me and finally figured out I had to go in and grab it. Good news? They still had it! I took it home and framed it! It all feels very legitimate and complete now. I'm still up to teach you some yoga if you're interested!

#7 - Just REALLY REALLY excited for Thanksgiving and the fact that this week is a 3-day work week! Woo hoo! Ready to spend time with family and eat some goooood food!

Peace out for now! And comment, please! Because I don't even know if anyone even reads my scarcely-used blog anymore! :(

Quote of the Day

2010-11-07T23:36:00.013-07:00

Well, really, this has kind of been more like my quote of the week/month/year. It is exactly what I need to remember on a daily basis as I travel through a particularly tough time in my life:

"Patience is not passive resignation, nor is it failing to act because of our fears. Patience means active waiting and enduring. It means staying with something and doing all that we can--working, hoping, and exercising faith; bearing hardship with fortitude, even when the desires of our hearts are delayed.

Patience is not simply enduring; it is enduring well!"

- President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

I hope this week, as you find you must exercise patience in your life, that you will remember this new and improved definition of patience. Don't just sit there and wait for it to end - get up and DO something!

Good night!

Happy Halloween! 2010

2010-10-31T23:00:00.005-06:00

Well... it seems that Halloween 2010 turned out much more fun than I thought it would! :) Since Trevor has been sick all month, we really didn't make any plans and so I didn't expect anything special out of Halloween this year. But - surprisingly - I made lots of good memories!

The first memory begins at work, where we had a little Halloween party on Friday where we all had the option of dressing up. The next couple pictures are some of the people I work with, all in our costumes.From L to R we have: Elias, the Indian; Sally as Luna Lovegood, Anna as the P23 Client Relations Witch; Me as the "Queen Bee"; Alyssa as another saucy Witch; and Rosie as Octomom, expecting her ninth child. :) In the second picture, Ben decided to join in. He was a Police Officer, but you can't see his costume because he's hiding.
Elias, Sally, Anna, and Me make up the Client Relations department that I manage. We have fun pretty much all the time :)

On Saturday, most folks in Utah went trick-or-treating. So, I decided to decorate our door for the potential passers-by. We left candy out because I was going down to my sister-in-law Meghan's house for the evening while Trevor laid low at home, and I knew he wouldn't want to keep getting up to pass out candy.
Please note the un-carved pumpkins. We sort of ran out of time/energy to carve the pumpkins, so I quickly drew a face on one of them before I left. Haha :)
Then, for the rest of the night, I got to spend time down at Meghan's house. I got to walk around the block trick-or-treating with her kids and my in-laws. It was so much fun except for the -19238 degree temperatures outside. Well, ok, so it wasn't THAT cold, but a storm blew through right before the night began, leaving everything wet, sleet-y, and verrry cold. Especially with the winds blowing out of Springville Canyon. Regardless, I had fun and I know the kids did too.

Please excuse the VERY poor quality picture of the kids grabbing their candy. I figure an awful picture is better than none? I was too far away to get a good picture with or without a flash, so I had to use a photo-edit program to make it brighter and that, of course, makes the pictures very grainy. But anyway, I hope it's worth something to someone :)
After trick-or-treating, I got to eat some pizza, lots of candy, and we all had a fun time visiting with each other. To see my ADORABLE niece and nephews, feel free to visit Meghan's blog HERE.

Trevor's been begging me to watch a scary movie with him for years. I always chicken out because I HATE scary movies. So, this year, I told him I'd watch one I've already seen before, namely "What Lies Beneath". Well, I went to blockbuster to grab it a couple nights ago and the last copy had been rented right before I got there! Oops! :) I guess I lucked out. But then, Trevor and I decided just to give in and purchase Netflix when we realized we could stream the movies on our Wii console. So, we are now proud owners of some of the newest technology and I am SO excited. I'm waiting for Disc 1 of Season 1 of Charmed to arrive in the mail any day! Eek! I love that show :)
But anyway, on with the story - so we purchased Netflix and we decided to watch "The Sixth Sense" because What Lies Beneath was a mail-order only instead of instant movie. Needless to say, it was scary enough for me, and hopefully Trevor will be satisfied.... that is, until Halloween NEXT year!

Hope yours was fun as well! :)

I Learn New Things Every Day

2010-10-25T14:22:00.002-06:00

I learned something new late last night! Apparently, 1/2 a cup of baking soda mixed with 1/2 a cup of vinegar and then about 6 hours of soaking and a hot-water flush cleans out pretty stubborn, nasty drain clogs :)

Still going to get some Drain-O today, but thank heavens for household remedies and the power of SCIENCE! :)

Peach Freezer Jam!

2010-10-02T17:08:00.007-06:00

Well, it's General Conference weekend and, I don't know about you, but I sure need things to do to keep my hands busy while I listen to the wonderful words and messages of our Prophet and his apostles. (Click here to find out more about or to watch General Conference and here to find out more about the LDS church). Over time, I've learned that my brain functions better when my hands have something "mindless" to do. So, what's a Mormon girl to do while conference is in session? Make peach freezer jam, of course!!

This is the second time I've made freezer jam. See the strawberry jam I made back in May. Trevor and I went through the 2 1/2 jars of jam in the matter of 5 months and so this time I decided to get ambitious and do a double batch of peach jam.It all began on Thursday when I was driving home from work and I spotted a local farmer's market being held in the BYU football stadium parking lot. I went home, grabbed my friend Charisse, and we went to take a look. Well, I ended up getting 4 lbs of delicious peaches for only $4! And those 4 lbs were exactly enough to make a double batch of freezer jam!

So today, while listening to the Lord's servants speak about faith, agency, love, and patience in trials, I spent 2 full hours making the peach jam you see above! 14 peaches, 1 lemon, 2 boxes of pectin, and 9 cups of sugar later, I've got jam to last us all next year! :) I love that making jam is really not that hard and it's only mildly labor-intensive. The hardest part, I think, was preparing the peaches: washing, peeling, pitting, dicing. Everything else after that is a breeze.

Anyway, it's too bad the internet isn't scratch-n-sniff or even scratch-n-taste because this jam is going to be DELICIOUS tomorrow evening at 5pm once it's had time to set for 24 hours.

Yum yum! I LOVE fall! :)

Wake Me Up...

2010-09-30T22:49:00.007-06:00

...when September ends!

I just had to get one more quick blog post in before September was gone. I can't believe how quickly time is flying! Just week after week of work. I guess that's just how life goes sometimes ;)

But, just for fun, here is a potpourri of pictures from the last little while:

This picture should be added to my post about seeing Chris Carrabba perform at Thanksgiving Point. But, if I put it there, none of you would ever have seen it... and my friend Miriam and I look so darling that I feel it's worth showcasing:
At the BYU football game against Nevada last Saturday (we lost). Please pardon my awful squinty face as it was very hot and bright where we were sitting:
These next pictures are ones I took when Trevor and I went on our annual fall drive up the canyon two weekends ago. Most of these pictures are taken up where Sundance Ski Resort resides. Please enjoy the pictures in all of their slightly-enhanced beauty ;)

Anyway, HAPPY AUTUMN! And, welcome, October. We are ready for you and all your Halloween-y glory! ;)

True Love

2010-09-20T18:01:00.003-06:00

Oh it sure is wonderful.

Danny & Annie from StoryCorps on Vimeo.

It sure makes you reflect on your own life and what's important, huh? I definitely shed a few tears over this one, especially because of Trevor's life-long disease. Although not terminal, I can still relate. "Sweetie, please drink more water!" :) I hope one day we will find ourselves where these two find themselves.

Love is so beautiful.

Timp Caves, Etc.

2010-09-18T15:49:00.006-06:00

So, great news! Trevor and I recently purchased a new desktop computer, which is going to make it a whole lot easier to blog! Now I just need to take pictures more often and have interesting things to blog about! Haha! :P

Here's a recap of last weekend, when my awesome Aunt Kelly and Uncle Jim came to visit on Saturday! We spent most of the day hiking up to the Timpanogos Caves. You may recall my previous post from last July when Trevor and I hiked up to the caves but it was too late in the day to actually do a tour. Well, I was more than excited this year when we made plans early enough to be able to go through the caves. Here are a picture of Kelly and Jim during the hike up to the caves. This is looking down the valley back toward Alpine, UT.
The inside of the caves was SO cool! Right now, this is the only picture I have of the caves (courtesy of my Aunt Kelly):
They called that first formation the chocolate waterfall fountain or something like that. It kind of does look like falling chocolate huh? Something like you might find in Willy Wonka's factory! This second picture is of a stalactite called the Heart of Timpanogos Cave. It literally weighs more than 2 tons. And it looks a lot bigger than this in real life:There were SO many cool formations! Trevor was working that day, so I'll have to make it a point to take him back there one day soon! :)

After the caves, we stopped by DI (my aunt and uncle are big fans of thrift shops, and DI is HUGE so we had to go) and they made some very thrifty purchases! :)

That night, Trevor joined us and we had dinner at Lamb's Grill Cafe - the oldest restaurant in Salt Lake City! It was pretty darn tasty! We took a late stroll around temple square and finally stopped for desert at another recommended local restaurant.

Overall it was a GREAT day and I hope we didn't wear my relatives out! :)

An Ad-lib Acoustic Adventure

2010-08-28T15:36:00.006-06:00

Last Saturday night, an evil headache sneaked up on Trevor just a couple hours before we were supposed to leave to go to my company's summer party. He's never had a headache like that before. At first, I was bummed, but then I decided to make the best of it. I let him nap and then made him dinner (and yes, cooking dinner is a special occasion for us!).

At about 7:15pm I got a call from my friend Miriam who lives in my apartment complex and she wanted to know if I wanted to go to an acoustic concert at Thanksgiving Point where Chris Carrabba (lead singer of Dashboard Confessional) would be performing.

Could I pass up the opportunity? Uhm... NO! :) So, off we went, last minute, to enjoy some music I've loved since I was in high school! Please enjoy the pictures and videos:

Trip to NC - Part 2: Family & Friends

2010-08-22T11:50:00.010-06:00

Warning: LONG post! But it's a good one! So read it if you have time :D

Sorry it took SO long to get to Part 2 of my vacation! I guess it's only appropriate to have this post done now, as it's been a month ago today (the 23rd) that we left for NC! This post will include some of the other fun activities we did outside of going to the beach!! :)

After the beach, we got back to my parents' house only to have visitors in town from my Dad's side, including my grandparents, my Dad's two brothers and their families (minus my cousin Morgan). So, in typical Southern fashion, we HAD to cook a pork butt and make cole slaw. Here are Aunt Kim, (Trevor), Granddaddy, and Uncle Todd working on the cole slaw:
You've gotta taste test, you know!
In the meantime, poor Trevor was fighting off a flare-up of his Ulcerative Colitis, so he did a lot of veggie juicing in hopes that he could feel somewhat better. Notice the nice deep green color of juiced spinach:Uncle Todd and Trevor, waiting to eat:
Later, after dinner and other various dessert fiascoes (see below), we wrote cards to my brother Mike on a mission:
And took another photo for Mike too, with the infamous yellow signs!
So, I've got to tell a little bit of our dessert fiasco story. So, my Granddaddy Frank has diabetes, and because of this we always make this delicious sugar-free banana pudding for him as dessert. This year, my Mom and Dad made it, and we were so excited to break into it after dinner. After a few bites and a couple of comments about how good it was, my Mom finally took a bite and realized something was wrong. Very, very wrong. I had tasted it too, but just wondered if it was me, or what. Something tasted... well... off. Plasticky, perhaps? Sour? Bitter? After a bit of speculation and a group consensus that "Yea, we thought it tasted funny", we realized it was the MILK that we had added to the dessert. Although it was the day before the expiration date on the carton, it had gone sour!

So, following the lead of my Nana who tends to get her way with issues like this, eight of us (ranging from age 70+ to age 8) marched our little behinds into Harris Teeter to speak with someone about the banana pudding that was ruined by their milk! And yes, we DID take the rancid dessert with us, just in case they wanted to taste. :)

After a short discussion with the manager (who so boldly asked us why we didn't SMELL the milk before pouring it into our dessert - whaat!?!?), we walked out of there victorious! Not only with a new carton of milk, but ALL of the groceries it took to create a brand new, delicious pudding. Hence our victory photo:
Thanks, Harris Teeter, for treating us like important customers! :) That night, we went home and created - and ATE - a very very delicious banana pudding!

The next morning, Sunday, we got to take a picture with Granddaddy (who wasn't in the picture from the night before due to his insanely early bedtime of 8:30pm):
Sunday night, after all the family had gone, I invited some friends over from high school for dinner. Afterward, we partook in MORE of the good banana pudding and then played Corn Hole, a very fun, social party game.

Basically, the idea is to get the bean bag sacks into the hole of the board (3 pts), or to land it on top of the board (1 pt). However, if you get one in the hole and your opponent does as well, they cancel each other out! Same with two on top of the board! So, it's more than just accuracy - it's strategy too!

So, enjoy some pictures of our Corn Hole tournament! Here are Katie and Blaire (pardon the blurry picture!):
And Catherine and Alaa:
Here's Trevor - definitely MVP of Corn Hole (and my teammate, I might add!!):
Focus Mom! :) We were playing against each other - tough competition!
A closer look at what the board might look like in any given round:
And here's a great shot of me with my friends. From L to R: Katie, Trevor, Blaire, Alaa, Me, and Catherine. It was seriously a fun night and I'm glad I got to see them again! :)
Okay, so I'm sorry for the longest post EVER, but just a few more pictures of us boating later that week. Trevor had gotten sicker, so he stayed back to rest up, but we sure did have fun! :)
Me waterskiing (I got up on my first try even though it's been 2+ years since doing this!!):
And me kneeboarding - my FAVORITE! (Ignore the awful nerdy goggles. Please and thank you!):

My Mom also got up on the kneeboard in just two tries!! It's not an easy task, so give her LOTS of kudos!! :) Skimming the water with her fingers like a pro:
And she's also a pro water skiier:
My dad was on the boat with us too, and he's the awesome, amazing boat driver that made all of this waterskiing and kneeboarding magic happen! Thanks Daddy!

Overall, it was a much-needed, fantastic vacation! It was hard to come back to real life, but also nice in it's own right. Now summer's getting close to ending, but hopefully we'll have some good fall memories to come!!

Trip to NC - Part 1: The Beach

2010-08-03T16:16:00.007-06:00

Trevor and I took our big yearly trip this year for over a week and a half to North Carolina to visit my family and go to the beach. Many more pictures will come, but this post is dedicated to the fun we had at the beach. The first 2 1/2 days it was just Trevor and I with my parents and we had a lot of fun just laying out and boogie boarding in the wonderful ocean.

On Wednesday afternoon, my Aunt Kristen, Uncle Scott, and cousin Lauren joined us. That night, we all went out for dinner at Amos Mosquitos (also known as Skeeters) for dinner. We sat outside on the patio and got to enjoy the sunset and good food.

Here we are at dinner:
And our view from our table out into the sound: Thursday it was rainy, so all the girls went swimsuit shopping. Then we all hung out and played games. On Friday, it was a nice sunny day, and my mom and I got to sport our new swimsuits:
Trevor enjoying his beach lounge chair:
Me and my sweetie at one of the best places on planet Earth:
Drawing the traditional beach heart in the sand. We always include the dates of our trip with all of our names in the heart so we can remember:

The whole gang. From L to R: Trevor, Me, Dad, Mom, cousin Lauren (11 yrs), Aunt Kristen, and Uncle Scott:

And of course, a silly picture! It would be wrong if we didn't act silly, because that's how we really are normally:

It was a wonderful beach trip. So relaxing, getting to soak up the sun, read books, and float in the ocean!

More of the NC trip to come!

My 23rd Birthday!

2010-07-30T20:53:00.006-06:00

I felt like this was my first real, "adult" birthday. Trevor was in Las Vegas, I went to work and stayed late, and then watched the Bachelorette as a treat to myself :) However, it wasn't completely devoid of fun!

At work, my friend Alyssa had her birthday on Sunday July 18th and I had mine on Tuesday July 20th. So, the week before, we planned to make each other birthday cakes and celebrate on Monday the 19th! Below are a picture of the cakes we made-

I made the cake on the left: white cake with fudge chocolate frosting and hand-done flowers! Haha, okay, so it was my first time, but I was pretty proud of them!

Alyssa made the cake on the right: chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting and awesome decoration! And pink, of course! How did she know my favorite color?!?

Here's a closer look at my birthday cake with two candles on top and three on the bottom for "23":
Here we are in the break room at work with our candles lit. After a lovely rendition of "Happy Birthday", we got to blow out our candles and share our cakes with everyone. I was surprised at how good white cake is!!
On Tuesday, my actual birthday, despite having absolutely no plans to celebrate, my best friend Chris Kyle came to my rescue and invited me to lunch at her work at APX. They have a really cool "cafeteria" of sorts on the bottom floor of the office building. It's really contemporary and had pretty good food, but the best part was the company! I love you Chris, thanks for making my day!
Also, you can notice in the above picture that I'm wearing a bow in my hair that was the actual bow wrapped around a present I got from my in-laws. Haha. I try to celebrate in STYLE, baby!

Anyway, about a week-ish later, when I was at the beach in NC with my mom's sister Kristen and her family, we got a cake and sang again. Aunt Kristen's birthday was about a week before mine, so we had a joint cake!

Blow out those candles!

My Aunt Kristen's nickname is Boo and here's our cake!!
So, I guess, overall, it turned out to be a pretty good birthday - spread out - but good!

More for my record than yours, here's a list of my gifts (so far):

Lip gloss and a cookbook - from Trev's parents and crew
Rook cards for playing Nertz - from my parents
Beautiful silver bracelet - from Aunt Kristen and fam
A great birthday lunch - from Chris Kyle

And I still haven't gotten my gift from Trevor yet! He says I'll have to wait until next weekend to find out and says I won't expect it and I'll love it. I just can't wait to find out what it is, and I'll keep you posted! :)

Happy (Third) and Fourth of July!

2010-07-05T10:41:00.004-06:00

Trevor and I had a lot of fun this year celebrating Independence Day with his family. On Saturday the 3rd, he went to play golf in the morning while I spent a few hours at the pool with some friends. Then, later in the afternoon, we went to his family reunion in Heber City at the park. It's always a really fun time, and this year the weather was perfect! All my cute nieces and nephews were there. I only have pictures of a couple of them. Most of the girls got their faces painted. Here's Callie looking so cute as usual: And my cute little buddy, Cohen:
My uncle-in-law, Shane, had made a candy gun so he could shoot candy at the kids at the reunion. In this picture, you can see the end of the pipe of the gun, the kids, and if you look really hard over by the gun, you can see the smoke and the candy where I caught it shooting in mid-air. It was so fun because the candy would rain down on the kids' heads!
Collecting the candy:
I had a lot of fun going out in the field with Cohen to help him try to collect his candy. Whenever he'd find a piece, he'd pick it up and then try chewing on it. I bet the wrappers didn't taste very good! I finally taught him to put the candy in the paper sack that was provided. Here's Cohen with his daddy Steve:
After the candy collecting, all the kids put on bathing suits and participated in the forming tradition of having water balloon fights. This year, Trevor got involved and got his butt kicked by Caden and Kanyon! Haha. I haven't seen Trevor smile that big and have that much fun in a long time!

On the way home, we drove back through the canyon and it was just gorgeous how green it was! Almost like we weren't even in Utah!
I have to take a car shot of myself at least once every six months ;)
That night, we went to Meg and Steve's house to do fireworks. We had a couple small illegals, including firecrackers (who knew they were illegal??) and a cop came and took them :(. Oh well. It was still really fun. And then after the kids were in bed, we watched some UFC fights on TV that Steve had ordered and recorded. So fun!
On Sunday, I conducted my choir at church and we sang a really pretty rendition of "America the Beautiful". After church, we went back to Meg and Steve's for a barbecue (aka grilled steak and chicken yum!) and just hung out with the family for a few more hours. It was a really great way to enjoy the holiday.

My red, white, and blue outfit:
Happy Fourth of July!! I hope yours was as fun as mine!

Who Needs Kids...

2010-07-01T00:49:00.002-06:00

When you have a Trevor? :)

The other day, I was walking around my house, picking up clothes and other such clutter that had found its way onto our floor, when I almost stepped on this little friend, left behind by my wonderful husband:Yes. That's a Cheerio. Most women don't experience cheerios on the floor until they have young ones running around the house. But I had to smile, and realize how happy this little Cheerio made me. I mean really, who needs kids when you have a Trevor?

Double Decker

2010-06-10T22:03:00.003-06:00

That's right. I just discovered that my steamer can be a DOUBLE DECKER steamer! :) Talk about steaming mushrooms and asaragus at the same time -- Yum!And thanks to my lovely steamer, Trevor and I made this wonderful, healthy meal full of vitamins and Omega-3's:
Yum. I LOVE Salmon. To cook, I just rubbed the top in olive oil, sprinkled on lemon pepper, and broiled it. And it was AMAZING! (This picture looks ALMOST good enough to be in a food magazine!)

How do you like to cook Salmon?

Alex's Adventures

2010-06-09T23:33:00.002-06:00

So May kept both Trevor and I very busy, but since he was in Las Vegas during the week every week last month (and he will be in Vegas during the week every week this summer as well), I had to work on figuring out things to do during the week to keep me busy and happy. Some of those things include:

Yoga classes
Working more
Church activities
The occasional mingling with friends

On Saturday May 22nd, I attended the baby shower of my practically-lifetime friend, Victoria Bramwell. We grew up in NC together and now she's all "growed up" and havin' a baby boy! :) I'm so excited for her and I was glad to be a part of her shower, and to give her a Lamaze Moose toy that will surely provide hours of entertainment for baby Bramwell for years to come! Here are the NC girls, Allyse, Victoria, and me at the shower:Then, on Memorial Day weekend, Heidi and I drove down to Vegas to hang out with our guys for the weekend (and to give them a break from having to drive up to Utah). Although I can't say it was easy driving 6 hours with a 4-month-old who hates her carseat, it sure was worth it! It was fun to "live it up" in Vegas for a few days!

One fun thing that Heidi and I did was visit the M&M Factory off the Strip. It's 4 stories tall and we explored every one of them! Kate (Heidi's little girl) just loved it, and she provided many "ooohhhs" and "awwwwws" and "oh how cute!'s" for the other patrons in the store :) Here are Heidi and Kate smilin' for the camera:
And here are the girls in front of the big colorful M&M wall. Heidi and I couldn't help but spend FAR too much money to make a pack of our own color choice of M&Ms. Heck, why not? It's Vegas! :)
I'll make sure to keep you updated on some of my other recent life adventures, like attending a MMA fight night up in SLC last weekend. I saw 7 fights - lots of blood, broken noses, knock outs, bruises, and good times. A girl like me shouldn't like things like that.... but I really really do! :) Haha!

April Showers Bring May Flowers...

2010-05-21T19:10:00.005-06:00

... and I planted them on my porch!
They really do bring beauty and happiness to my plain cement porch, and I love them!

From pansies...
To petunias....
And more!!

I really really do love spring! :)

Strawberry Freezer Jam!

2010-05-16T09:36:00.006-06:00

Just to prove to the world that I can be domestic when I feel like it - here's some proof:I made homemade strawberry freezer jam! Mind you, it's really not too hard to make. Just buy the yellow box of pectin, some sugar, and strawberries, and follow the directions! Then, VOILA, you have very cheap, tasty jam that you can store in your freezer for up to a year. And it really is so tasty without all those preservatives that you get with the store-bought stuff! For mine, I used a potato masher on the strawberries instead of blending to get those nice-sized strawberry pieces! SO good on Great Harvest bread or homemade yeast rolls. MMMMMM!

Are you drooling yet?

Two Wonderful Years

2010-05-14T21:37:00.005-06:00

Trevor and I have been married for a whopping TWO YEARS! We had our second anniversary on Monday, May 3, 2010. That morning, I got up early, took my parents to the airport, went to work for about 9 hours... and then came home to spend the rest of the evening with my handsome date who had just gotten a fresh new haircut! That's probably the best gift he could have given me that day--it was about time! :)

So, to celebrate, we kept it low-key and went to have a FABULOUS dinner at Carrabbas in Orem. I stuffed myself full of fried zucchini, an amazing cheese/chicken/sundried tomato entree, a free dessert, and lots of wonderful conversation with my hubby.

It's nice to know that the second year was, in fact, easier than the first... and that they'll probably only get even better from here! :)

Back to Zion

2010-05-09T22:32:00.005-06:00

Day 4 of our trip, we decided to stop back through Zion for one last day of beautiful scenery, hikings, and fresh air. We went on the Emerald Pools hike -- not to long or strenuous, but still highly rewarding! On a bridge overlooking the river:

The first stop of the hike, about 0.6 miles in, is the lower pool with its gorgeous waterfalls:

So, we took lots of pictures, of course! Here's Mom and Dad:
And me and Trevor:
Takin' a quick drink ;)
I guess I got thirsty too!!
Starting the second leg of the hike -- another 0.3 miles to the middle pool. There was some pretty cool parts to this hike... like this one:
We finally made it through all three legs up to the upper pools where there was the very tall waterfall that started the whole beautiful process:
On the way back down, we decided to do some REAL hard-core rock climbing! Up on the cliffs with no ropes! Here's my Dad:
Me, reaching the top!:
Don't fall Trevor!! Just pretend you can't see the ground here, please and thank you :)
My Mom can even rock climb! What a daring mother she is!
One more picture of me.. looks pretty legit, huh? ;)
Our wonderful vacation was so much fun that I actually started to have mini anxiety attacks the Sunday before I knew I had to go back to work. BLAH! WORK! But, hey, I survived. Life is good!

The Grand Canyon!

2010-05-09T22:22:00.004-06:00

So on day 2 we woke up next to the beautiful Grand Canyon! We spent the next couple of days exploring the canyon, playing games, and enjoying each other's company. Here's some pictures for your enjoyment:The husbands overlooking the canyon and the Colorado River:
Me and my Mommy:
Breakfast, Day 3, at the nice hotel nearby:
Me and my sweet Daddy:
The fam (minus Mike on a mission) out on a rock with the canyon two feet behind us!:
My Dad had a birthday while we were at the Grand Canyon! Happy Birthday Dad!
Both my Mom and my Dad turned 52 last month, but let's be honest - They still look like they are 32!!! :)
Beautiful skies - windy - and such a great day at the Grand Canyon:
On Day 3, we decided to take a short hike (maybe the first 3/4 of a mile or so) down into the canyon. The trail continued many miles to the bottom of the canyon and lots of adventuresome people will take multi-day hikes down to the canyon, camp, and hike back up. We decided we were going to do that one day. It really was pretty! Here's part of the trail that they built through the rock:
I sure do love my family. We really did have so much fun!
Inside the Grand Canyon's watchtower near the end of day 3 -- Trevor and I were up on the third floor with my Dad taking this picture from below. Pretty awesome ceiling, huh?:
After lots of good food, playing nertz games in the hotel lobby, and plenty of outdoor adventures and sunshine, we made our way back to Zion National park to see if we could find another hotel. We were having so much fun we decided to stay one more day!! :) We found a hotel outside of Zion's for Wednesday night and then spent another day at Zion's on Thursday. Stay tuned for the next post!!! :D

Angel's Landing

2010-05-06T22:25:00.006-06:00

Well, for the last week of April, my PARENTS CAME TO TOWN TO VISIT! :) Yay! I haven't seen them since last July, so you better believe I was excited! I took a week off work and we all went on an adventurous 4-day trip to Zion National Park and the Grand Canyon! Since I have tons of pictures, I've got to spread up the trip into multiple posts.

This post is of the first day, where we visited beautiful Zion National Park in Utah:

We based our day around a hike that we had heard a lot about. It's called the Angel's Landing trail and it is AWESOME! The first couple miles up are a "normal" style hike with a wide trail that is flat at points and much steeper with switchbacks at other points. One of my favorite parts of the hike is a place called "Refrigerator Canyon" and it was cool with shade and a nice breeze, which felt GREAT after hiking in the mid-day sun for a while. We discovered a neat cave (most likely carved by wind into the sandstone) that we crawled up inside and took a picture through the natural "window" that had formed:

The hike really was enjoyable, and this part of it was really neat! It was called Walter's Wiggles, I believe, and it was made up of 20 (or so?) very short switchbacks that carried you up to the top of the cliff fairly quickly. Can you spot us? :)
We finally reached a point in the hike called Scout's Landing. This is the farthest point in the hike that Boy Scouts are allowed to go, and with good reason. The last half mile of Angel's Landing hike really is ridiculously dangerous. Observe the danger sign:
So? Did we decide to be crazy people and risk our lives on small ledges, holding onto chains, with 1000 foot cliffs on either side of us ALL just so we could experience a great view AND so we could say we did it?? Um... yes we did! :) It wasn't even a question in my mind - I HAD to do it! I was so excited and a little nervous!! The next few pictures will show you just how worth it this awesome hike was:
Yes, that's a straight drop off on the right side of that picture above. And this is what you'd see if you looked over that way. Yep. That's a river. And the road.
So, as we carefully watched our foot placement and clung to the kindly-placed chains for our lives, we pushed onward to the top. I love this next picture - it really helps show you the type of terrain we were hiking on. See the thin strip of rock and trees to the upper left hand corner? That's where we had just hiked and we were only getting higher up! Say hi Dad:
But, I am glad to say that we MADE IT! :) We ate our sandwich lunches on the top of a rock overlooking THIS:

Smile! We made it up!

Uh oh... Now we have to go back.. Down!! Gulp! This was the part I worried about. What if I slipped?! It seemed like going down it would be a lot harder to control my speed and momentum, as I was moving with gravity this time! Just take a look at THIS:

But, I'm glad to say that it wasn't as bad as I anticipated and we all had SO MUCH FUN!
Celebration kiss! :) I think he's enjoying it!

Well, stay tuned! There's more to come! If you ever go to Zion National Park, and you aren't afraid of heights, then you MUST go on the Angel's Landing Hike. AND... no chickening out for that last half mile. It's SO amazing and totally worth it! Just talking about it makes me want to go back and do it again! :)

Thank Heavens for Spring!!!!

2010-04-19T23:38:00.004-06:00

Oh! What a wonderful time of the year! It's been warm this week (almost summer-ish warm!) and FINALLY the trees are starting to bloom and make the Earth so beautiful! I'm grateful for spring for so many reasons, the most important being:

Pretty flowers on the trees in wonderful colors
Trevor and I have our anniversary coming up on May 3
No more school for the hubby for a while! (After finals)
Warm weather
Driving around with my car windows rolled down
Wearing capris and shorts!! :)
Smell of fresh cut grass
Provo's population lessens dramatically - to the extent that I actually enjoy living here because it's not so darn crowded!
The beautiful, exciting feeling of CHANGE!

Speaking of change - I got a new haircut! With bangs! I was feeling a little brave so I went for it... and I'm actually loving them! This picture was taken the night after I got it done, and my hair stylist did a great job styling it! To keep myself busy and entertained while Trevor's been swamped with finals, I did a little shopping and purchased a cute new skirt and headband for church. So, this past Sunday, I sported my new hair and clothes to church. While Trev and I were taking a quick walk around the church, he snapped this shot with his phone... Proof that the trees ARE blooming! Hooray! The pink cherry trees are always my favorite and they always smell so good!I'm also so excited because my parents are coming to town on Friday night and they'll be here a little over a week! I'm SO excited because it's been since July of last year that I saw them! Yay!

Happy Spring everyone :)

Skookies!

2010-04-12T21:29:00.002-06:00

So the other night Trevor and I stopped by Bed, Bath, and Beyond to pick up a birthday gift for his mom and we found this little treasure:We've had them over at Dave and Heidi's house before and OH MY they are so good! :) So I had to buy a set for us! Each of the two skillets makes a 5-6 inch cookie that you can top with ice cream and other deliciousness! I made the first one tonight and it was pretty darn delicious.

Shout hooray for easy, delicious desserts! ;)

Friends for Life :)

2010-03-29T22:36:00.005-06:00

Well, my wonderful, challenging, and rewarding yoga certification is over! It was so much fun and I've made some life-long friends in the process! It was great to have such a small class and I wouldn't have had it any other way!

From L to R: Camille, Nadine, Stacey, Erica, Marcus, and Me! :)

This next picture has our two main instructors in it... Amy is the one on the left in the white tank, and Monica is in the green tank near the right. We are all doing our favorite poses :)So... if you ever want to do yoga, I'll bring along my spare mat and we'll have some fun! :) Plus, I need a bit more practice before I start to charge... so come get me while I'm free!!!

Still Alive!

2010-03-18T23:06:00.005-06:00

So I promise we're still alive! I've just gotten so busy with LIFE. Full time job, part time job, new calling, Trevor's health situation, and then I started my yoga certification! It's been hectic, but tomorrow is my last day of certification, so I'm sure things will slow down somewhat for a little while!

Sooo let's back up about a month! February was a much better month than January! One of the main highlights was Valentine's weekend when Melanie came down to visit from Idaho. We skiied, we shopped, we watched movies, we played! It was really quite fun, in a nutshell and I'm glad to have a friend like her! Here we are up at Brighton in our ski gear:And of course, since I had a friend in town on Valentine's Day, Trevor and I celebrated the holiday of love - our FOURTH one, in fact! - a week later. This year we broke the tradition of going to Park City to eat dinner *sniffle*. BUT! We went to a really quaint, nice Spanish restaurant in south Salt Lake. It was recommended to us by Dave and Heidi. I had their famous steak smothered in a bleu cheese sauce. Talk about an explosion of flavor! Wow, it was good.

Just for fun, here are a couple of pictures of Trevor and I on our way out the door to dinner. We attempted to take a good one, and never quite reached a *BINGO* picture, but hey, they are entertaining, no? Oh wait - I just realized that the second one would be cute IF Trevor weren't making that face. I guess that's what happens when I say "smile big!".

Well we sure are goofy. That about sums up our relationship as of late, but I love it. I'm fairly certain I've rubbed a lot of my nerdiness off on Trevor since we've been married, and it's fun to have a fellow nerd around the house!

In other news:

Trevor finally had his colonoscopy to find out what the problem is in his intestines. Afterward, we had to wait for the doctor to come in the room to tell us what he found. As he was walking through the door, literally before he could even find a good place to stand in the room, he had informed us that Trevor most likely has Ulcerative Colitis (UC), which is an auto-immune intestinal disease. Much to my excitement, we were also given pictures of the inside of my husband's colon. Why this would ever fascinate me so much, I have no idea, but I really enjoyed getting to know my husband on a more "internal" level. Pun intended. :) So, anyway, I'll give more updates on this later. So far, since the beginning of the year, he hasn't had any flare-ups, and we hope to get him on some medication to prevent future episodes. Right now his symptoms are fairly mild, comparatively, and we hope to keep it that way! Thanks for all the prayers through this process!
Hmm... any other news? Nope. Just finishing up my yoga training certification! I've learned so much and I really do love it. Be warned - if you ever start up a conversation about yoga with me, you may be in for more than you bargained for. I could talk about it for hours, and poor Trevor has been such a trooper to listen to me blab on :)

Sooo anyway, hope this is a good enough update for now. And I'd like to leave you with a bit of inspiration for the day. My brother quoted this quote in his last letter home, and it really has stuck with me. It gives me hope for the world and all the good that is here!

"You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty." - Mahatma Gandhi

January: An INTERESTING Start to 2010...

2010-02-03T00:13:00.009-07:00

Well, 2010 came, and with it came many surprises. And by surprises I mean trials. I had a feeling they were on the way because life had been pretty peachy for a while, and sure enough! They came a'knockin' on my door. Hence the lack of blog posting for the last month.

Trial #1: A very sick hubby. Trevor started feeling sick (again) on January 1st. Long story short, he's had intestinal issues for a while, starting before our cruise to Mexico last July. After the cruise, he had a rough couple of weeks but some anti-bacterial drugs helped out until he felt generally better. Then, since August, he's felt generally fine, but just not completely back to his normal, regular self. Then, on the 1st, for some unexplained reason, the terrible symptoms came back with a vengeance! The antibiotics made him MUCH worse. He was so sick for about 3 weeks that I couldn't stand it anymore. We had to put him on a temporary no-milk, no-gluten diet until he could feel good enough to function. He's now currently feeling much better and can eat normal foods, but it's just a matter of time until this happens again. Test results from his samples showed nothing, so now we're waiting to get a colonoscopy that will hopefully shed light on what is plaguing this poor man. Anyway, needless to say, I played nurse for most of January, and there were much prayer and fasting in Trevor's behalf. Still a waiting game now...

Trial #2: One of the six apartments that I manage had a flooding incident, caused by this tiny little nut:This nut attaches the water supply line to the base of the toilet. Apparently it got old and tired, and decided to split apart in the middle of the night and start spraying large amounts of water into one of the two upstairs bathrooms, most likely for hours before one tenant woke up at about 4:30am and heard the noise and was able to shut the water off.

So, when I got the 4:30am phone call, you can imagine that I really had NO idea what to do, especially when she explained that the water was POURING down through the ceiling into their living room, and there was now a hole in the ceiling (onto the brand new sofa, too!!):So, that's about the time in my life when I learned about "restoration" companies, and gained a huge appreciation for the 24-hours-a-day ones! They were able to get over to the unit by 6:15am to start the cleanup process. Here they are, working on ripping up the sopping wet carpet padding:
A few hours later, still working on things, slowly discovering that they'll have to keep ripping out any drywall that was no longer dry. We were all pretty shocked at how much had to come down, and at the fact that puddles of water kept falling out of the ceiling as they ripped out more and more of the ceiling. That water got EVERYWHERE!
What it looked like, 7 hours later:
Well, the good news is, it's been about 2 1/2 weeks since the initial phone call, and we're just a few steps away from having everything back together! The living room carpet padding needs to be re-installed and they are bringing in brand new carpet for replacement! Here is a picture I took about a week ago when they were finishing up the mud for the drywall:They have since textured and painted everything! Hooray! This journey is almost wrapped up!

Trial #3: My laptop finally died. It has made its way to laptop heaven where it can rest from daily usage forever. I turned it on one day at work and all I got was a black screen with a white cursor. Not even "safe mode" could bring me to my desktop. I took my Dell to the GeekSquad at Best Buy and they said this was caused by either a "bad hard drive" or a "bad operating system". Okay... so what you're saying is... it's basically not ever going to be of use again. Sweet. How much is this going to cost?, I think to myself. Well, not TOO bad, considering I had to purchase an external hard-drive and then have them transfer every document and program on my computer to this device the size of a regular iPod. At least I have all my stuff. Even if it's just sitting there, in a device in a box in the corner, collecting dust. I still have the insides of my Dell!

Trial #4: I was called to be Ward Music Chairperson and Choir Director of my ward. Okay okay so this isn't REALLY a trial because I really do enjoy directing choir and spreading my love of Christ through the medium of music. The trial part came when I was informed that one week from being called to this calling, we were having Ward Conference, and the Stake Presidency wanted for the choir to sing. Ok. 1 Week! I can do this! And... I did. AND... It was probably the best choir number ever performed by a choir that I was conducting. We sang "How Great Thou Art" and I really believe that every person in that room could feel the Spirit. So, Trial #4 becomes a blessing! :)

Trial #5: Struggling with work. Needless to say, from all the stress of everything else going on in my life (even with my extreme yoga skills that help me cope with stress better), I began to struggle at work and had a hard time completing a project I was given. I essentially felt like a failure, and yet couldn't lead myself to become a success. This is not who I am! So, I'm working now to turn myself around and go forward on the right foot. February is going to be a good month! :)

Trial #6: In the course of trying to fix Trial #1, I have found out that my new health insurance is not as awesome as I thought. Apparently, when I asked my insurance company if the IHC hospitals and facilities in the Utah Valley Area accepted my new insurance, I was told that they did! This was when we were signing up for the insurance. Little do I know that, SURE, they "accept" our insurance, but they are all considered "out-of-network", therefore changing our coverage and discounts if we choose to go there. At least there's one in-network hospital in Orem that we can go to, but SERIOUSLY!?!? ... I wish I had known this before I signed up. Because I wouldn't have. Blah. Oh well, we'll make it work. Guess if I ever have a baby in Utah I'll be having it at Timpanogos Hospital because I don't really have another choice.

Trial #7: In the midst of my main apartment flooding issue, I also had to deal with these other apartment issues that popped up in January: wet spot on carpet in another unit, lower heating coil in oven burst and had to be replaced (I did this MYSELF, mind you!!), and a toilet that overflowed with really really nasty smelly stuff (aka poop). Loooovely.

Okay, so this is a long post, and enough about trials!! Now, I want to talk about the Blessings that came to visit me in January:

#1 - My love and concern for my husband's well-being grew, A LOT.
#2 - I learned a whole bunch about fixing damaged walls in homes. I also learned how to install a heating element in an oven. I learned to make sure to unplug the oven before you do so, or you could get an electric shock that's worse than a car crash (don't worry, I didn't learn this from experience, whew)
#3 - I re-learned my love for music, and was able to experience a wonderful performance by my choir.
#4 - I now spend less time on the computer when I'm at home! Yay!
#5 - I got to go shopping for the ENTIRE day with my best friend Chris last Saturday. It was very therapeutic, and seriously wonderful!
#6 - At least I have health insurance, and we can afford it.
#7 - I've been able to re-evaluate my life and decide who I want to be and what I want to do moving forward.
#8 - Trevor did laundry for me TWICE in the last month! I love that man! :)
#9 - Most of these trials have been (or will be, very soon) completely resolved!!!
#10 - I've drawn nearer to my Heavenly Father through prayer and scripture study.

I definitely believe that trials are hard, but they bring blessings. Good night! :)

My 100th Post!

2010-01-04T12:23:00.005-07:00

Wow! I can't believe that I've finally made it to 100 posts! This means I'm an "official" blogger I suppose! It's just sad that it took me over a year and a half to get to this point! Haha.

Trevor and I had our 1 year 8 month anniversary yesterday. So yeah, not a big deal, but it still blows my mind that we've been married that long! And it's been pretty fun, too, if I do say so myself!

Well, we took the Christmas tree down yesterday. It's always so shocking how empty and bare my apartment looks after all the festive decorations come down. I guess I'll just get used to it again. And I was thinking about it too - it's kind of fun to think that I keep those decorations up for a whole month out of the year! That's actually a pretty long time! So, I'm glad I have family members who kindly gift us new Christmas decorations each year, including the cute little Santa Penguin kitchen mat I got this year from Grandma Deanna.

I'm back at good ol' work and I guess I'll have to get used to it because there aren't any holidays for quite a while. But that's okay! We're moving offices today and it'll be enough of a change that I can be newly excited for my job! :)

Starting on February 22nd, I'm certifying at It's Yoga in Provo to become a yoga instructor! It will take about a month. I am SO excited about this upcoming adventure and I can't believe I'm just a month and a half away!! Here's the flier:Yesterday at church, I was extended a new calling! I'm now the Ward Music Chairperson as well as the Choir Director! It's going to be an adventure to say the least!!

School started for Trevor today! I think it's going to be a tough semester so wish us luck!! We are going to be busy busy birds! :)

Well, happy 100th post, and STAY WARM!!! (Spring, please come early this year!)

Wow... It's 2010 Already!?!

2010-01-02T15:26:00.004-07:00

Happy New Year 2010!

To celebrate, Trevor and I visited Olive Garden for dinner on New Year's Eve. It was delicious!Let's recap 2009:

Our friends Meghan and Cole got married - woo hoo!
I visited the hospital for eating a peanut and purchased my very first epi pen! :(
We had our 3rd Valentines day at a restaurant in Park City!
Finally got to visit my sister in law's house in Las Vegas!
Attended two temple dedications (Draper and Oquirrh Mtn)
Trevor and I celebrated our 1st Anniversary on May 3rd.
Welcomed Cohen Sonnenberg into the world - Congrats Meghan and Steve on having your third child!! :)
I graduated from the Business School at BYU!
Got a keyboard for graduation so I won't lose my piano playing talent!
We grew and harvested a fairly successful deck garden
Went through the temple with my entire family!
My little brother left on his mission to Boise, ID
I turned 22! And Trevor turned 25!
Went on a cruise with friends to Mexico - SO much fun!
Trevor transferred from UVU to BYU.
I switched jobs from Buckle to Empower Group, got promoted, and got a raise!
Attended a murder mystery party for Halloween
I made my very first Thanksgiving dinner! And it was a success!
Welcomed Luke Porter into the world - Congrats Shawn and Jana!!
Had fondue at least three times and sushi an innumerable amount of times!
Changed health insurance - whew... that was a chore.
Trev took up golf. And I don't think he'll be "putting it down" for a long, long time. And I learned how to swing a club and survived my first 9 hole game!
Met some truly fantastic people!

I'm looking forward to a fun-filled 2010!!!