Valentine's Day

Well the Valentine's festivities started Friday night with the ward party. They had lots of good treats and even some dancing! The video I took was of one line dance that I thought was hilarious. It almost looks more like a cardio routine, and for some reason, "old" people dancing like this is so funny to me. (Rach- you aren't included in the "old" category! :)

Here are the Shaw's showin' us up!

You've heard of the youth being told to keep it "a Book of Mormon" apart? Well, a baby belly does the trick too.

Trav found it easier to just dance with my protruding appendage.

On actual Valentine's day, Trav and I both woke up pretty sick. We had been fighting it for a few days, but it finally got the best of us. Thus, a morning in bed was deemed necessary. Although, we got up enough energy to make it to Cheesecake Factory for lunch. Delicious! Trav got my favorite: Chicken stuffed tortillas and I got the Navajo Taco. My mouth is watering all over again! Here are my presents... The book is one that was recommended in our birthing class about how to calm a crying baby. I was SO excited for my rain boots! I've been stylin' some pretty cute moon boots this winter. :) And then Buzz Word will be a nice addition to our game collection! Thanks babe!

I decided on giving Trav a week's worth of surprises, each tucked into his backpack. On Monday, I cut his sandwich into a heart and left a note... On Tuesday, he got his favorite candy bar, Toblerone and an N'SYNC valentine! (He was so excited =)

On Wednesday he got a box of chocolates...

On Thursday he got a mailbox full of his favorite heart-shaped cookies- Snickerdoodles.... and Friday's gift will not be shared! :) Our last gift for ourselves is a camera, but we can't decide on a good one. Any suggestions!!!! I want one that recovers quickly after taking a picture, so it's ready to take another one fast. We just aren't sure what brand or style is best... help!

Saturday night we were invited to a V-day party thrown by Crescent and Dave. We had a delicious "Thanksgiving" dinner and lots of good V-day candy and treats! (Crescent is due just a couple weeks after me with another girl! )

Here's the whole gang.

During dinner we were each given two words that we had to develop into a poem to read for everyone. Here is Doug, delivering his poem in a rap. Trav's two words were: snoring and hot. His poem went as follows:

Sitting through class that's oh so boring...

Trying to pay attention over Jacob's snoring...

I picture my hot wife, and my thoughts turn to scoring!

Needless to say, my face was bright red with embarrassment. Luckily, he wasn't the only husband who had a unique imagination. His poem wasn't even the "worst" of the night!

Then we played some really fun games, like the Newlywed Game and tried to win some sexy prizes! Katie was SO excited her husband picked out a book from the stack of presents! Not such a bad book after all! :)

We played a game where you try to unwrap and eat a piece of candy with just your mouths. Not our best sport, apparently! We had such a fun time with everyone. Thanks so much Crescent and Dave for a great night!

INTRODUCING......

DIR-TY! That's pronounced "Dear-Tay". Yes, I name my cars. It runs in the family. My mom's suburbans have successively been named, Old Nelly, Michelle, Celeste, and last but not least, Sharon. (That happens to be my mom's name). We roll our eyes, but we admit it's endearing. Well, we have owned this Pathfinder for a few years and I never could think of the right name. After enduring this Buffalo winter, he is now appropriately named Dirty. (Yes, I stole it from Joe Dirt) Now, don't you worry, our car definitely fits in around here. A major casualty of snow is disgusting cars. You just can't help it. He did get a bath last Saturday when the temp. warmed up and rain finally started washing away the snow. Of course, then we drove to Palmyra later that day and his namesake came back to haunt us. :)

On to more Buffaloness... (is that a word?) When we first flew out here to look for a home, our mortgage guy told us of Buffalo's pride and joy when it comes to Mexican food..... The Mighty Taco. Trav and I exchanged looks. Did he just say, Mighty Taco? Well, as much as Trav wanted to go all four years without succumbing to East Coast immitation Mexican food, I made him try it last weekend.

He's smiling for the "before" shot, but he was not impressed with his burrito. I personally don't mind it. I guess the meat drips with grease, but I just get a plain bean burro. Oh, well, we tried. Taco Bell wins.

Valentine's Package!
Yesterday, we got a package in the mail!!! Woohoo! Trav's mom has two other children on missions so we seem to luck out and get holiday packages along with the missionaries. For Christmas she sent a box full of her famous caramel corn. Trav had barely opened the box when I snatched the corn away from him and chowed down. SO GOOD!!!

Well, our Valentine's package was sure not to disappoint! I got some awesome furry slippers and extra long socks! We also got some yummy treats and a gift card to the movies. This time, it was the Cinnamon Bears that I snatched out of Trav's hands and started devouring. Oh my gosh.... SO GOOD!! It's only been a day and the bag is half gone. I'm appropriately ashamed of myself. Thank you Paula for a great surprise!!!

Wait a SeCoNd! Time for a close up! Yes, what you are seeing is not an illusion. Travis decided he missed AZ so much that he would start growing his own cactus. Sigh. Men are funny. My Freudian conclusion was that I was just getting too much attention with my large belly and he needed the spotlight for a while. :) Good news... after two weeks of scratchiness, the intruder is gone!!! In my book, a clean shaven husband = happy wife! :) I guess I will admit though, beard and all, I still think he's the cutest looking guy around!

You HAVE to watch this!!

YouTube - All the single ladies

I just saw this video tonight and laughed my head off. It may be a bit risque, so I apologize if any are offended, but I think it is hilarious! Just his facial expressions crack me up! Just click on the link and it will take you to You Tube. If you haven't seen this Beyonce music video, you may have to watch it first, to fully appreciate the moves this guy pulls off! EnJoY!! :)

Gotta Love the Grand Slam!

I'm a fan of Denny's. So when I heard they were giving away free Grand Slam breakfasts last Tuesday (that's right- sorry if you are just learning about this!), I was all in. I met up with my three breakfast-lovin' friends at 8am, expecting mayhem. We only waited 15 min. to be seated and not too much longer to actually get our food. I gracially shared my bacon and sausage :) and scarfed down my pancakes and eggs. Now granted, a Grand Slam is only 6 bucks, but free food is free food, right? I later found out that our friends (who are BIG Denny's lovers and who shall remain nameless :) woke up at 4:30AM to get to Denny's by 5:30AM (the deal started at 6am), just to be sure and score their free meal. Now that is dedication! (I didn't say worth it, but dedicated- definitely!) Gold star to you- Jacob and Katie! Oops, did that slip :) Haha, we so love you guys!

The Cardinal Sin....

... having a Superbowl party on a Sunday. Well, what other day would it be?! Now, I'll be the first to admit that I'm a fair weather fan, but we had to show our Arizona pride out here when the Cardinals made it to the Superbowl! There are several other native Arizonans out here, so we invited them and anyone else that would support our Cardinals, over to watch the game. The guys went downstairs so they could focus without the wives distracting them :)

My main concern was the food, of course. Everyone brought yummy treats as you can see...

Don't be jealous, but I had to show off our new deep freezer! Haha, when we ran out of room in the freezer we realized we could store the ice in... well, the ice! Or snow, I guess. :) (Check out the depth- that's at least a foot :(

Camille was awesome and brought a fun cake! (Even though her husband gave her grief over the aesthetic quality :)

Us ladies stayed upstairs to watch the game and visit. (I should have taken a picture!). It was fun to chat, but I was surprised at how into the game I got. During the last touchdown, I lost my head and jumped up out of my seat to scream..... I seriously thought the baby had half dropped out of me. I was much more careful about my cheering after that. Oops. I couldn't believe they lost- but at least they gave them a run for their money. Thanks to everyone that came to party with us! We laughed away our tears afterward with an hour episode of The Office (I know, we are such sinners!) It was HiLaRiOuS! If you don't watch this show, I suggest you repent now, an get on it! :)

Can Ya Feel the LoVe?

I really don't know how lucky a girl can get! My friend, Rachel, threw me a baby shower this afternoon and it was WoNdErFuL!! I seriously felt so loved. I'm truly so grateful to everyone that came, brought yummy food and wished me well. It was such a fun afternoon!

Tiffany was so thoughtful and got us all together for a group photo. She's the one taking it, so she's not in it, but I got her in a pic down below :)

All the delicious food....

Melissa Nielson made these adorable cupcakes! She's so creative!

Rach made me a DiApEr CaKe! I was so excited! (I know it sounds dumb, but I've always wanted one)

Tiff took some candid shots of me opening presents, which I'm SO grateful for! Although, I'm not too photogenic so here's the only one I don't look weird in :)

If you can't read the outfit I'm holding up, it says "My dad is Mr. Strong"! Trav loved it! Too cute- thanks Carli! I got sooo many cute clothes and items that I've needed. Thank you, thank you everyone!

Ok, so here's the baby update- I am officially nine months pregnant *silent cheering* and it's finally gotten to be not-so-fun. The baby dropped on Tuesday so I started feeling a bit more pressure, but by Wednesday night the pressure was pain. Not all the time, but a significant amount when I tried to stand up, bend over, or just move in general. First time mom here, so I called my doctor and went in to see him on Thursday. He acted like everything was fine when I explained what I was feeling and then he checked me. Not to be too graphic, but he didn't feel very far in when he asked if that was where my pain was. Yes, definitely. "Well," he says, "that's the baby's head". Ahhhh. I direct my next comment to my stomach. "You still have 4 more weeks kid- whatcha think you're doing?!" The doctor assured me it didn't mean he was going to come early, he was just getting ready. SO- I now have the privilege of acting like a waddling, slightly- invalid, 9 month pregnant lady! The worst is laying in bed. I wake up just to change sides because its quite a painful ordeal. It's nice when Travis is awake when I need to get out of bed, because he gives me a good push and I don't have to use my stomach muscles. Sigh. Side comment: Why do we refer to a pregnancy as nine months?? HMMM? Cuz It's truly TEN months. Why is the last, hardest month left out? I know I can't complain because I've had such a good pregnancy so far, but it's just some food for thought! :)

This picture was taken at the sonogram I had three weeks ago. He seems to have quite the schnoz! We don't know who to blame that on yet :)

Ok, I think this is last pregnant pic you're gonna get! Reason: Trav took five others with me looking at the camera and I have a fatty-fat face and can't stand it! Ugh. I know I've been a bit addicted to the chocolate lately, but I didn't realize the toll it was taking on my body! Anyhoo, if it was possible, I'm even MORE excited to have this baby now! We got a crib this morning (Trav is SO excited to have another piece of furniture to refinish!) and we started going to our birthing class this past week. There are 3 sessions stretching over 3 weeks. During this first one they showed two birthing videos. I felt like a guy watching another guy getting clubbed in the "bad area", while I was watching those heads crowning! Yikes! That DOES NOT look fun. Of course, no one said it would be- but still. Don't know how that's all gonna work out. My mom always told me she just tried to remember that millions of other women had done it, so she could too. Still doesn't make me feel better. Anyway, update over. Nursery pics coming soon! :)

Glückwünsche! (Or congrats in English :)

Today is the big day for my little brother and his new wife, Jael! They were married civily yesterday (Swiss law) and were sealed in the Switzerland temple today. My parents flew out for the event, but sadly the rest of us poor and pregnant folk couldn't make it. Ironically enough, they met in Boise, ID (Jael was born and raised in Switzerland) and have dated for over a year. They will be living in Switzerland for the next two years while she finishes medical school and then... who knows?! I am excited to have a new sister-in-law, even if we won't be seeing a whole lot of each other for a while! I hope everything goes well for you two- we love and miss you!

Wind Chill Advisory....

So we have had some pretty nasty weather this past week and I saw on my friend's blog that she posted the National Weather Service warnings, and I thought that was a good idea for our friends and family to see back home! Hope ya don't mind Crescent! :)

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BUFFALO HAS ISSUED A WIND CHILL WARNING... WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 4 AM FRIDAY TO 12 NOON FRIDAY.

WIND CHILLS ARE EXPECTED TO DIP TO 20 TO 25 BELOW ZERO FROM LATE TONIGHT INTO MIDDAY FRIDAY.

A WIND CHILL WARNING IS ISSUED WHEN WINDS COMBINE WITH COLD TEMPERATURES TO CREATE DANGEROUSLY COLD CONDITIONS FOR EXPOSED SKIN. THOSE PLANNING TO VENTURE OUTDOORS SHOULD USE COMMON SENSE AND DRESS WARMLY.

I took this picture on my way to work last Thursday ( I actually got to go in at 7:45am so it was light outside!) I thought the trees looked really pretty!

Trav was in the mood for a tongue piercing :) We have ice on top of snow on top of ice out here! It hasn't melted once since we got back from AZ!

Trav handed me an icicle, that I would've loved to suck on, had it not been water from our roof! :) This past weekend was heinous! I've never felt cold like I did on Friday. It felt like it was biting your skin off! The weather has been around 20 degrees for a couple of days and we joke that we should break out the shorts!

Ok, on to some more random happenings of the past two weeks...

1. Napping
Not that I get these too often, but Trav thinks I sleep funny, and thus decided to document a nap I was having. I dunno... it's comfortable! :)

2. Studying
I don't know if it counts as studying when you and your friends get on the web cam and and screw around with the view, cracking jokes.....

3. Dougie's birthday

We enjoyed wings at Duff's and cake and icecream at the Shaw's. Doug benefited from a slow postal system and got one of the remote control helicopters that we ordered for Christmas, but didn't come until Jan. 5!

4. Obama, Obama, Obama, ... sat on a llama, a llama, a lama,... where was his momma, his momma, his momma...! Haha, if you don't get that, then you haven't heard the story about my 5th graders making up a song about the new president. You'll have to ask me to sing it sometime :)

I just had to take a picture today of my coworkers crowded around the cubicle of the only person who was able to get the CNN live coverage of the inauguration. So yes, I watched it, and I'm just glad no shooters got in and it all went well, minus his slip ups on the oath. :) I was not at all jealous of the masses of freezing people. Kinda reminded me of an experience... :)

5. Baby Time!

I'm not posting pics yet, but we spent the weekend FINALLY getting ready for this little guy to come! We painted the nursery, did some shopping and got a play pen/bassinet. It's starting to feel more real now and I'm getting excited! Also, getting extremely big! I really don't remember what it was like to be thin or a non-pregnant person. Sigh. Anyway, when we get the crib done and some decor up, I'll post some pics!