Thursday Confessional

This is the only photo you get. I don't feel like uploading any off the camera.

August 06. Right Before I had Trey.

I don't feel like confessing anything today.

Maybe I'll have two next week.

I do have to say that I LOVE how incredible a woman's body is. MY body. When I was getting into the shower last night, I thought to myself... man, my body is amazing. Then I called Seth in to come look. He only noticed other things (Large aereolas), so I kicked him out.

The ability to carry a child is phenomenal. Seth and I have admired my growing belly the last two nights, and watched it literally move in every direction.

This baby won't stop moving. But I love it. I can feel all kinds of body parts sticking out. I just don't know what they are exactly. They feel like bones.

My belly has never had this shape before. This baby is growing straight out, and super, super low. I can barely bend over.

Have I mentioned I LOVE being pregnant? Even when I can't breath after trying to get my shoes on. (Yeah, I already can't get my shoes on at 7 months. Pathetic.)

GIVEAWAY

Dearest Followers:

We need more room in our garage, which means some of my Scentsy stock has got to go! I have quite a few warmers in stock, and scents as well.

So, for my followers that love Scentsy, I will be giving away a warmer, and some bars. I will post the warmers you get to choose from when Seth does the drawing for me next week.

How to enter this SCENTSATIONAL (get it) giveaway? Make sure you have added yourself to the Follower link, and leave a random comment.

The drawing will end next week.

Don't know what Scentsy is? Go here.

Women vs. Men

In a recent conversation with friends, we were talking about one difference in men and women.

We were talking about the way each man/woman reacts to an attractive opposite gender.

My favorite eye candy.

My girlfriend and I argued that when MOST woman see an attractive man, she appreciates his good looks and maybe a special talent he has........Singing/Dancing/Sewing/Cooking/Lifting Weights etc. Ha Ha and basically that is it.

Then we argued that when MOST men see a sexy, attractive woman, they often fantasize about her for a moment, or longer than a moment.

Seth's favorite eye candy.

This is where I find men different than women.

I know it is hard for some of you to imagine your husbands doing this, but I am willing to bet that it is true on occasion.

My husband will admit it happens on occasion. Even though his wife is incredibly sexy and hot. 8)

My friend's husband will admit it, but he still doesn't believe that women don't think about sex when they see an attractive man.

So my question is this. You don't have to tell me if you think your husband does this or not, because some of you may be in denial. Lol. Seriously though...

I just want to know if you ladies are turned on sexually when you see a hot guy. I am not judging, I am just curious because I am not like that. Don't get me wrong I appreciate good looks and that is pretty much it for me. BUT, I am just curious if some women do get turned on when they see a hot guy.

Take my poll.

That is all.

Adorable

I want these. If it's a boy that is. Aren't they adorable?

Reviewing

Mykelle's birth story.
(Especially for Jaime and Jaquelyn. I hope you guys feel joy after you view pictures of my chubby, pregnant face. And P.S. I didn't use the best of language in 2008. I'm not apologizing, just giving you a heads up. Ha Ha)



You can kind of see my double chin in the following photos. I hope you believe me now that I have humiliated myself.

P.S.

OLD NAVY WILL BE THE DEATH OF ME!

Don't go to Old Navy when you don't know the gender of your baby, and when you are broke.

Appointment Four

THIS BEAUTIFUL BUMP JUST KEEPS GETTING BIGGER, AND BIGGER! I AM LOVING IT!

Today 26wks. 6 Days

My doctors appointment today went great! We reviewed my Ultrasound, and she does not want to change my due date at all. She thinks the baby is still big. Well, big enough not to change the due date. I measured 27 weeks.

My doctor told me I was the cutest pregnant girl, and a little Fashionista today. Instead of correcting her, I just smiled and said thank you! Ha Ha. (Candice don't worry, this isn't your hat. I bought one for me too! Not that you would care if I wore it!)

I have to go in next week to do my glucose testing. I was supposed to do it today, but she was running behind, and I had to get back home.

I mentioned to her how low the baby was, and she mentioned being concerned about it being breech. It doesn't worry me yet, but I hope it corrects itself. I don't know what exactly the baby being low has to do with the baby being breech. I think I'll look into it.

Today, I felt EXTREMELY ANXIOUS. I felt like 3 months is going to take forever to meet this baby. I know it will go by fast, but it will take forever all in the same. I don't know how people can not find out the sex of the baby. It is hard!

I really feel fantastic most days, but I am getting to the sleepless nights. My back is starting to hurt so bad at night, and I wake up all night long to switch sides. I am so sick of sleeping on my sides! Other than that, I feel great! :)

26 Weeks
Mykelle took this picture. I guess she thought it looked better with my head cut off :)

Then my kids wanted a belly picture too. Cute huh? Notice Kel's chipmunk in the shot.
25 Weeks
Going out on a hot date. With my sexy husband. And my 2 adorable kids.

24 Weeks

On my way to work out!

One of the MANY Hair ties I made. Thanks for teaching me how to make them Emily! I love them!

Just a few pictures that I found on my camera! Kids are so cute! My kids love taking pictures!
Mykelle being so creative with Trey's train tracks! Notice that our floors upstairs STILL have no carpet.
This week for Family Night, we started a dinner journal. I kind of got the idea from Family Fun magazine, we just changed it a little.

Every night at dinner, we talk about our favorite thing of the day. We have since I can remember. It's one of my favorite rituals. Some days, it is just little things like, Seth usually says he is so happy to be home with his family. Almost every night. Mykelle almost always says going to school, or playing with her guniea pig.(Did I mention we got another one form my parents for Christmas?) Trey usually says he liked playing trains, or playing with his mom and sister. Mine changes daily, but there are those days when we all say something different. When we feel so happy that we don't want to forget what we did that day. so, we decided to start keeping track of all of them. Not every night, but every night we sit down together at the table for dinner. Which is usually 5 nights a week.

I also write what we ate for dinner. I don't know why, but I think it might be fun to look back on. I'm odd like that. I love looking back at things. I still remember things we ate as a family growing up. Shepherd's pie, ham fried rice, beans and corn bread, Roast, and my mom's potato cheese soup.

Anyway, that is what we did. We read about how important writing in journals are, then after dinner, we wrote in our own journals, and each others. I wrote Seth a really sweet, admiring note, and he wrote in mine, " I love you. Lets do it." It was sweet. Isn't he such a romantic? Oh, I love him!

THURSDAY CONFESSIONAL:

I looked at the scale today at the doctors! I've gained 13 pounds. I smiled though. My body feels strong! I feel like I have this incredible body that is going to give birth to a baby. I asked Seth if he can tell I gained 13 pounds, and he said kind of. I laughed, then I asked where. He said in my butt. LOL. Baby got back. I just DON'T want to get a double chin again!

I also must confess, that I like having a goal to get my body back in shape after each baby, and I like working towards getting my six pack back each time.

If you give Melissa a Blog

Today my brother was commenting on my blogging style. It was the funniest thing that happened to me all day! Mostly because it is so true. I'm proud of it.

If you have read the book "If you give a mouse a cookie" you will understand!

Martin Luther King Jr.

What an AMAZING, INSPIRING, WISE Man. Next Year, I think I will have a Celebration in honor of him. Who wants to come?

Why we celebrate today is not forgotten in my heart. Although I went about doing daily things, I thought about him often. What I really thought about was how hard it would have been, and how wonderful Martin is for being so uplifting at such a hard time.

I honestly cannot even contemplate living at a time like that. Not saying that racism doesn't still exist, but thankfully I have never witnessed it personally. Well, not to my face anyway.

So let's REMEMBER SEGREGATION, and what Martin Luther King did for us! He is a man, who even after death, is still helping our nation to change the way we view others!

Here are some of my favorite quotes...


• Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.

• Let no man pull you low enough to hate him.


• The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. –"Strength to Love"

Without a doubt in my mind, I believe God sent Martin Luther King to earth for a purpose.

What a Weekend

This weekend was great! We enjoyed many things, but here are 3 of them!
A Texas Rose from Lonestar =Greasy Goodness

Emily taught me how to sew up some of these! They are my newest addiction! They look so cute in Mykelle's hair!
I made a batch of some grasshopper cookie rice krispies. They are sooo good.

I initially came up with this treat, when I was getting rid of girl scout cookies last year. And Guess what? It is girl scout cookie time again!

You make rice krispies as normal. Well, my normal rice krispies I add extra marshmallows. Like 2 cups extra. So they are soft and gooey. And you add ground up grasshopper cookies at the end when you are almost done mixing up the marshmallows. I also add a handful of marshmallows that weren't melted in. I will add a picture next time I make them, but they were all eaten before I could!

Our weekend was great!

Thai Coconut Soup

Emily, this is the recipe I went off of. I obviously don't measure anything, or go by a complete recipe a lot of times, but this is what I did differently.

As you know, I do not like any sort of seafood, so I DID NOT use the fish oil, or the shrimp. I sauteed chicken in a little bit of oil, and curry paste, and then added it to the soup. I also added baby corn.

I am also picky about mushrooms, and wished I would have sauteed them a little first.

I couldn't find red curry paste at the market, so I used just regular curry paste. I didn't use fresh ginger either. I used the spice.

The directions below are totally different then mine, but you saw how I did it in the crock pot. ( I added the coconut milk, milk ( I added less broth, and milk to make it creamier), broth, mushrooms, lemongrass stalks, ginger, curry paste, brown sugar,lime, cilantro,baby corn, and salt and pepper into a crock pot and let in simmer for a little over an hour) Next time I make it, I will saute the mushrooms with the chicken. Also, remove the lemongrass stalks before you eat.

It was DELICIOUS!

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
1 stalk lemon grass, minced
2 teaspoons red curry paste
4 cups chicken broth
3 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
3 (13.5 ounce) cans coconut milk
1/2 pound fresh shiitake mushrooms, sliced
1 pound medium shrimp - peeled and deveined
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
salt to taste
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions
1.Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Cook and stir the ginger, lemongrass, and curry paste in the heated oil for 1 minute. Slowly pour the chicken broth over the mixture, stirring continually. Stir in the fish sauce and brown sugar; simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in the coconut milk and mushrooms; cook and stir until the mushrooms are soft, about 5 minutes. Add the shrimp; cook until no longer translucent about 5 minutes. Stir in the lime juice; season with salt; garnish with cilantro.

Serve over Rice

Mother Teresa

"People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway. The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. For you see, in the end it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway," -Mother Teresa

2 Things

ANY BODY ?? Help!

What kind of garments do you wear with jeans? I got some of the 3/4 silks, but my pants will not stay up for the life of me! I am wondering if the spandex, or the cotton are any better. Please Help.





Also, I am getting spider veins this pregnancy so bad! I always get them a little, but I feel like they are starting to get worse. Got any tips?

Thursday Confessional

I have a serious flaw.

It comes with my personality of always being Happy.

Sometimes I am so happy, that it is hard for me to deal with things that would make me less than that, and I just stay "comfortable".

Well, not with everything. Most things can't bring me down. I'm just meaning when it comes to my marriage.

I find myself not fighting hard enough for things that I want, and most importantly deserve. But that feels selfish sometimes.

This week it hasn't felt selfish (and it really never should), and I have felt.....not so happy on the inside.

Secrets

Did you guys read POSTSECRET this Sunday. They were interesting. They are coming to Salt Lake in April. Who wants to go??

Things I love

Just a few things I love, and want to create on my own, and with different fabric. Well, with some help from my friend Emily.

What a Family Wants

This is how we found our kids one morning beside our bed. Precious little stinkers that won't stay in their beds.

This week for our family night, we talked about what we wanted to do in the New Year. Together. For Ourselves, and I also asked the kids what they wanted from Seth and I.

These are what the kids wanted for themselves.

• Trey wants to learn how to swim and ride his bike!
• Mykelle wants to learn how to read even better!

As a family this is what they wanted us to keep doing, or begin doing. (Kids are so neat.)

• Go to the Mountains
• Go Camping
• Eat together
• Pray Together
• Read together
• Play together
• Have fun together
• Cook together
• Swim together
• Have movie theatres at home (Turn off the lights and have lots of blankets and pillows, and make popcorn)

What they wanted Seth and I to change were these two simple things. Things that to me mean so much coming from my kids. They are honest and true.

Mommy cleans too much, and should clean not so much.

(Lol. Because they wanted this to change, they have declared to help more too, and they have this week. Sometimes its more time consuming, but it is so important for us to teach our children how families should really work. I am not the type of mom that does everything for them. To me, that is not how families work! )

Daddy works too much!

(Simply stated. Since he just gave Farmers Insurance his notice to leave, and that he was going independent, this may be a little hard this year, but it is going to be SO GREAT for us in the long run, and the potential is even better! He is such a hard worker, and it is hard, because even though he is starting his own business over, and it takes time, and these our the years we will never get back from our children, and the years I know, myself personally, will miss the most!)

Another New Year

I posted Christmas Pictures, but it is posted a few days below. I'm not sure why.

Ailee I only posted this picture because you look so cute! Me, not so much!

I cannot believe it is 2010! This year flew by. It is sad to me though. My kids are growing so quickly!

So many great things happened this year though. Here are just a handful of things.

January- I had a really strong desire to start the year out great! I was ready for it. I needed it. Started out my resolutions GREAT, and you can read about them HERE. The year started out great, and I had a great attitude too!

February- Still had the same attitude, and fell in LOVE with Thai food. From then on, I decided I needed to be more open and try different foods.

March-Seth and I celebrated our 5th Anniversary. And 8th year together. I have fallen in love with him so much more than I ever thought possible this year.

Spent a long weekend in St. George with the family.

Spent the weekend in Wendover with friends, and went to Boyz to Men. It was so fun!

April-I started my calling in the Primary Presidency at Church as secretary, and was so unsure about working with ladies I didn't think were anything like me. Although, I think we are different in our own ways, I really have enjoyed my calling a lot, and getting to know the ladies I am in Primary with. Especially Stephanie, who I really didn't know before. She has this gentle, sweet, kind personality that I love.

May-We started remodeling, and my husband made our house look amazing.

We spent a week in Florida!

Mykelle turned 5!

June- I turned 25. Or 26. I'm not sure. It's 25. I love getting older. To me, it means getting wiser, and learning more about yourself. I will only say this until I start looking old. Then I might not like it.

I stopped babysitting my adopted daughters(Taylor and Brilyn), and was a little sad, although we still spent so much time together.

July- Girls Weekend with the BF's. It was one of the best weekends of the year!

I got my Temple recommend, and started going to the Temple weekly!

August- We found out we were having baby number 3, and I was so excited I jumped up and down in the bathroom before telling Seth.

September- Backpacked Havasupai. That was a hard 10 miles, but it was an awesome experience, and a really good time!

Trey turned 3!

Naomi left to Belize for her mission.

October-Vowed to have family night every week!

First Doctors appointment, heard sweet baby's heart beat, and I started getting a little baby bump!

November-Seth turned 30, and we had a great, memorable birthday! ;)
Although I wanted to throw him a party, we might have to do that this year instead!

We were very thankful during Thanksgiving, for everything that we have, and being able to live in such a great country!

December-Took Temple classes with a lady in our ward that I love! We had the best classes, and she was so great!

We got to talk to Naomi on the phone at Christmas.

If you read my New Year Resolutions from 2009, some of them went great. Even better than I had wished for. Others were not so good.

For example, I read so many books. Here are some I can remember.
My goal was to read 10 more books. I started several books, but I can't get into some books I've realized. I mostly read love stories, drama and mysteries but like any good book that doesn't make me feel like I have to think too much. Ha Ha. I usually read at night, and at the gym, so I don't want to have to think, just unwind. I don't mind a book that helps you become a better you if it is an easy read.

1. "Secret Life of Bees" Sue Monk Kidd

2. "Irresistible" by Susan Mallory

3. "Sizzling" by Susan Mallory

4. "The Last Lecture" Randy Pausch

5. " How to get the Love you want" by Harville Hendrix, Ph. D.

6. " The Memory Keeper's Daughter" by Kim Edwards

7. "My Sister's Keeper" Jodi Picolt

8. "The Voice of Knowledge" Don Miguel Ruiz

9."90 minutes in Heaven" Don Piper

10. " Twilight" Stephanie Meyer

11. "New Moon" Stephanie Meyer

12. "Promise not to tell"

13. "Dear John" Nicholas Sparks

On the other hand, I didn't finish the Book of Mormon, but will continue that goal this year.

I don't have a lot of goals I feel like setting this year. Like I have said in the past, I make changes in my life when I feel they are necessary. I do have some things I would like to continue, but mostly, I just want to keep becoming a better me, and keep growing and learning more about myself.

As far as the rest of my goals from last year go, I want to continue all of them, and add a few.
I didn't get around to doing any photo journaling, or scrap booking, but I will try again this year, and see what happens. I think I may join a monthly photo journaling/scrap booking group, but I may just make my own with friends. I don't really scrapbook anymore, but I do want to journal and put together my photo albums.

How funny is this picture? It reminds me of my grandparents old FHE book or something.

I want to continue having family night every week. I have consistently done this since October. I love it, and my family enjoys it so much. We are all so close, and it feels so good to dedicate one night to the 4 of us.

I want to continue reading books. No certain amount. I just want to keep doing it. It is great down time for me, and I watch less TV when I have a good book.
I also want to continue to cook more healthy for our family, and continue eating more healthy. I'm still not that good at it, but I have been really good at stocking up on fruits and veggies every Monday. I also keep fruit platters and veggie trays in the fridge, so we can just grab them and eat them. I do have to say my kids eat pretty healthy, and LOVE their fruits and veggies.
I plan on continuing to go to the Temple each week, but my goal is to go AT LEAST twice a month. I went back to the Temple this Tuesday, and it was pretty Awesome. I did initiatorys for the first time. I will for sure take advantage of living so close to all the Temples in Utah.

Thursday Confessional

New Year's Eve. Going out with Chris and Ailee. 6 months.

Sometimes I am afraid to say how happy I am, or how much I love my life, because I am afraid something bad will happen.

Back to Work

When I was googling images for a really bad paycheck post, this is a image I came across, and laughed. Really hard.

We didn't start out the New Year in the best way. Seth had one of his worst paychecks in the last 4 years. It was unexpected. We spent money on bunk beds, pottery barn bedding, and other Christmas stuff that would could have saved money on.

Nothing we can do now.

I am still so EXCITED for this year, and I swear I will go into detail on this, and post about Christmas.

Good Night.

Back to work tomorrow.

New Woman

So many people came and attended my Session, and I appreciate it so much. Here are just a handful of people that were still hanging around by the time I came back out of the Temple. Mostly family, and a few good friends. Sorry I didn't get more pictures of everyone.

Doing my Endowments at the temple was Amazing.

It was a very spiritual and unforgettable experience for me.

I really only burst out into tears twice. Okay, maybe four times.

1. Doing my initiatory.

2. In the chapel when I turned around and saw all my family and friends entering the room.

3. In the Celestial room when my mother in law started crying. She was so happy for me, but I knew why she was crying.

4. A Sister working at the temple whispered to me to keep being an example to my family, and they would be at the temple with me soon. She didn't even know my situation, but I felt the spirit so strong, and couldn't help but cry.

Honestly, I prayed this week that I would not be too emotional. It seems like a silly thing to pray about, but to me it was a big deal. I was so happy to be going through the temple, but I felt so sad on Monday thinking about my children, and Seth. I was wishing he would be there with me, and that I could be sealed to him and my children. I felt peaceful the rest of the week.

I really thought my experience was amazing, and although I cannot speak of what was the most spiritual and amazing to me, for those of you that are not LDS, it is not because it is a secret, it is because it is so sacred, that we cannot speak of the things that happen there outside of the Temple.

I do have more to say about garments. (& I am not judging anyone that has ever said anything about them, because I have made my own little jokes about garments too, or talked about how I didn't want to wear them) but I do want to say that I now understand their sacred meaning, and find it astonishing. I feel so privileged to be wearing them, and I hope everyone can remember how lucky we are to be wearing them.

I feel so lucky, and loved ( By my family and friends, and by our Heavenly Father)

I also want to Thank everyone so much for being so supportive of me, and all my desires. It truly means so much to me. Thank You.

I am a New Woman today!