Scott and Melody

Only in Utah...

2012-02-13T14:37:00.000-08:00

I had a good chuckle today. While the babies were sleeping I decided it was high time that I paid some bills over the phone, as they have been nagging at me in the back of my mind for about a week now. While on the phone with Abby's doctors office paying her bill the woman needed to know our address in order to make sure I really was Abigail's mother. After the bill was paid, she said, hhmm...I'm looking at your address and you live around the corner from me but I'm trying to figure out which house is yours. So, being cautious, I gave a very bland description that could have fit almost any house in the neighborhood. She then chimed in with a few more detailed questions about the house that showed she did know the neighborhood super well and then mentioned that she had known the previous owner (who has passed away) and that she had been her visiting teacher. And then she said, WE ARE IN THE SAME WARD! Now, this is wonderful news as I am an active member of my ward congregation and need to make friends in the area but what if I hadn't even been a member? Only in Utah would you get comments like that over the phone from a complete stranger. It made me smile and chuckle to myself a little.

Scott's quilt

2012-02-02T08:03:00.000-08:00

Some of you may remember the "project" I was working on last fall that took me about three months. It was a quilt for Scott's birthday that I finished the day before his birthday. I was worried I wouldn't get it done and it was a close call but I made it. So, here is the finished product. Not perfect by any means but definitely the most complicated blanket I've attempted. I can make clothes, but quilts are a little intimidating, I'm not sure why...

It's called a colorbrick quilt. I used the same blue flannel that is the sashing between the bricks on the back of the quilt because Scott really liked the idea of a flannel back when I made Abby's birthday quilt with a flannel back so it would soft against her skin. The instructions I found online were for a lap size blanket but I wanted to make it a twin size so Scott could use it for camping and road trips and such so I had to make some calculations and guesses but in the end I was pretty happy with it and he loved it so that's what really matters.

Kisses

2012-02-02T07:51:00.001-08:00

Last night after we read with Abby and she winding down for bed she came over to give me kisses on the cheek while I was lying on the living room floor. She has given me a "kiss" twice before but not really knowing what she was doing. So, it was super cute when she came over, bent down , stuck her lips next next to my cheek and waited for something to happen(her best guess at what a kiss is). After a moment she got a huge smile and climbed back into her chair. A moment later she back to do the same thing and again another big satisfied smile. What a doll!
Some days I am just overwhelmed with how adorable she is and I just want to hold her and squeeze her. I went in to check on her before I went to sleep last night and she looked so peaceful and sweet curled up in bed with her cheetah I just wanted to scoop her up and snuggle with her. She loves holding hands and she will come up beside you and hold her hand up in the hand, opening and closing her fist until you put your finger in there for her to hold so she can take you somewhere. Usually it's into the kitchen so she can ask for more of something she wants to eat or if we are playing in the backyard she will want you to walk her over to the fence to see if the neighbor dogs are outside so she can bark at them.
Now, I just have to remember these moments on the days when she is driving me crazy ;)

Double Trouble

2012-01-28T09:54:00.000-08:00

I feel like I am the mother of twins. Starting the beginning of January when BYU started a new semester I began watching a little boy who is two months younger than Abby. My friend is a teacher and so the baby comes over to play during the day while his mom is teaching and his dad is in class. I have gained a lot of respect for mothers who have twins. It is double the work! It seems like when one has a dirty diaper the other one also has one at the same time! When one cries, the other one cries. It has been really nice for Abby to have a friend to play with during the day besides me. They communicate in baby code. Whenever they are in different rooms they start jabbering as loud as they can and the other baby responds and starts looking for them. Abby is a very proficient walker and her running skills are looking good. The little boy has mastered the army crawl and he is quick! He can usually make it through the living room, kitchen and hallway and into Abby's room where I'm changing her diaper before I have gotten her clothes back on.

Some days Abby is quite maternal towards him. A couple weeks ago she kept trying to "blow" his nose. She hears us blow our noses and so she will take a tissue or a baby wipe and rub it across her nose and make the noise she thinks we are making when we blow our nose. It's pretty cute to watch.

Will we ever be moved in?

2012-01-28T09:33:00.001-08:00

For those of you who were wondering, we have finally purchased and moved into the house we were looking at. It was a long drawn out infuriating process but we loved the house, flaws and all, and so we stuck with it. It has been such a nice change to have enough space to store everything we own. There is even room for the kayaks so they aren't hanging on the wall in Abby's room anymore. When people told me how long it would take to get moved in I didn't really believe them but I am starting to. I though it would only take a few weeks but it's been about three weeks and being all moved in and knowing where things are is still way off on the horizon.
We ended up purchasing a house built in 1929. The basement is mostly unfinished but there is a cold storage room with shelves which is turning out to be a nice pantry/food storage room.
Despite being so close to our old apartment we are in a different ward. If the house was on the other side of the street we would have stayed in the same ward. This our third ward in the same stake! Ironically, an old mission companion of mine bought a house a few blocks from us and they are in a completely different stake! Welcome to Provo I suppose.
I am looking forward to being all moved in eventually and getting all set up in the basement with office/study space for scott and craft/sewing space for me! It will be so nice to be able to leave out a project that is being worked on and not have to put it away every time. Maybe I will get more things done since I won't have to take the time to set everything up every time I want to work on it.
We are looking forward to having a housewarming party once we feel a little more settled and we are excited to see all of you!

Questions

2012-01-28T09:33:00.000-08:00

Are there ever weeks where it just seems like things are harder than normal?
Are there ever moments were you just know that you aren't the best mother that you could be?
Days when you know you aren't as creative as other moms?
Moments when you feel like you should be doing better with everything that you are responsible for?
Are there ever times when you should be motivated to lose the baby weight you've been carrying around but you just can't find that motivation at 6 in the morning?
In the really lonely moments do you just want to cry but can't and when you do you don't feel better because there isn't a best friend's shoulder to cry on?
Do you ever feel tempted to call your husband and ask him to come home in the middle of the day because you need a friend but then you decide that's more selfish than you are capable of?

When my husband walks through the door at the end of the day so many of those silly questions are answered with the look on his face and the flutters that still happen in my stomach when he kisses me. The look on Abby's face that is accompanied by squeals of joy let you know that her favorite person has walked through the door. Seeing Scott's eyes light up when he sees his daughter is a pretty priceless moment. I do have a great life with a wonderful, caring, hardworking husband and a sweet, fun lovable daughter. I have beliefs that run deep that have taught me that I am God's daughter and that he loves me and watches over me and hurts when I hurt. Those things don't mean that the moments mentioned in the beginning never happen, but it does mean that those less than wonderful moments and feelings are made far more bearable and happen less often than they probably would otherwise. I am so grateful for the loving wonderful family that surrounds me with love, I would be lost without them.

Halloween

2011-12-21T16:14:00.000-08:00

Halloween was exciting this year because we got to dress Abby up in a cute costume. She wasn't super thrilled about it but we loved it. We did a little neighborhood get together in a friend's yard and had games and food and a costume contest. Abby is the ladybug(of course), I am the man with the amazing facial hair and Scott is the blond pregnant woman. We won the best costume award by a landslide.

Santa?

2011-12-21T12:01:00.000-08:00

Christmas this year has just been so different than what I am used to. We thought we would have closed and moved into the house by now and so I decided to put off decorating for Christmas because I didn't want to have to decorate twice and try to move a tree. But, over the weekend we visited my in-laws and I while sitting next to their Christmas tree I finally felt like it was Christmas. So, two days ago I got out our little Christmas tree and decorated it and put up the nativity yesterday and it has made a huge difference. I can feel that sparkle in the air, that little extra zing that just means Christmas. I can hardly believe Christmas is this weekend!
A couple weekends ago we took abby to the mall in Provo and Santa was there. Scott took Abby up the stairs behind Santa to sit on Santa's lap. When they came around the side of Santa and Scott set her on his lap and she looked up at his face this was the instant response followed by a frantic attempt to climb off his lap accompanied by screams of terror...

Priceless, right?

Finals are over!

2011-12-21T12:00:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted in a while (it isn't my greatest strength) but yesterday I met someone who has inspired me to update the blog a little bit.( I stalk her blog but had never met her in person :) So, here goes...
I needed to finish one more class this semester in order to qualify for the Bachelor of General Studies Program at BYU. My transfer credits will count toward the final degree but not towards getting accepted, I have to have a certain number of credits at the BYU-Provo campus to get in. So, I signed up for a class that is offered on campus but also with an online option which appealed to me. If you know me very well at all you know that I am a horrible procrastinator (or maybe a great procrastinator since I am so good at it ;) and so I ended up doing the entire class in a week and a half. My poor family was terribly neglected but they survived. Abby is still going through some attachment issues since I didn't get the chance to spend much time with her while cramming and taking quizzes and tests. But, in the end I finished the class with a B, which feels pretty good considering the circumstances. I can slowly feel the stress leaving my body!
The house is continuing to progress towards closing and we are just crossing our fingers that we can close and settle in time to clean the house, move in and clean our apartment. We can hardly wait to have a place of our own.

Buying a house!

2011-11-13T15:16:00.000-08:00

Some of you may heard rumors that we have been trying to buy a house. And yes, those rumors are true. A few months ago Scott saw a house online that was for sale in our neighborhood that he liked. I looked at the pictures and took Abby for a walk to go see what the outside and yard looked like. I fell in love immediately. We walked through the house and the love only deepened. Not only did the love deepen but the realtor told us that the house qualified for a down payment grant for certain neighborhoods that are considered somewhat historic that the city wants to upgrade and have families live in instead of renters. That only sweetened the deal for us. We had to attend 6 hours of classes with the city where you learn all about mortgages and lending, buying a house and the paperwork involved and what to look for, etc... It was a lot of information and it felt like information overload at the end of each 3 hour session but it was invaluable information. You also attend a one on one budget counseling session with a counselor before you get a certificate saying you graduated from the class and can apply for the grant. I would recommend this class to anyone who wants to ever own their own home, no matter how far in the future it may seem.
We looked at house again with Scott's parents who liked it. Eventually we decided to put in an offer and discovered that they had dropped the price of the house the day before we met with our realtor and wrote an offer. The process has been very drawn out and frustrating over the last two and a half weeks(it's an estate sale)but we finally were able to get the seller to sign an offer yesterday! So, we are under contract and now have to get an inspection, etc... to find out what condition the house is really in. After a trip to the county offices and some time spend looking through the big books of old records written by hand in spidery cursive we discovered the previous owners had lived there since 1965. So, the house definitely needs some updating. We are pretty excited about the idea of owning our own house. So, we hope to be moved in by the new year if everything works out with the inspection, grant, etc..!

The nice backyard was another draw for us.

The house has a lot of character! I don't know if you can tell from the pictures but it has a round door and cove ceilings. It is on a little over an eighth of an acre and 2,000 square feet. There is a bedroom and a den upstairs (it's really a bedroom but the closet is outside the bedroom door) and two bedrooms in the basement. The basement is half finished and that was done at least 50 years ago so it needs a major update! It will be nice to eventually get a washer and dryer in the basement so I won't have to lug our laundry and Abby to the laundromat and try to corral her while doing laundry. There is a detached garage which will nice for all of our outdoor equipment.

First Snow!

2011-10-11T18:22:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday we all went up the canyon for a little hike to see the first snow of the season. We drove up until the road turned to dirt and then drove some more. I think our Corolla must have been a jeep in a prior life; it seems to get us there no matter the conditions. This time it was mud that would rival some of the meanest looking rally car courses! (for those concerned for our safety, even though it looked like a rally course, we drove more like it was a drivers ed practice area.)

We found a spot and went for a walk up to the top of near-by hill and enjoyed the view. There is something so refreshing about going for a walk in nature; the crisp fall air, getting away from the rush of the city, making memories with the people that mean most to me. It was a lot of fun! It gets me excited for winter to make it's entrance; we just got some snowshoes to help us keep hiking through the coming season.

We also got to test out the new Abby carrying backpack! I left the canopy that came with it back at home but with a little on-the-fly engineering, we were able to keep the sprinkles off our smallest adventurer.

Medicine Cabinet Storage

2011-10-01T20:48:00.000-07:00

Our medicine cabinet has never been very organized and I have been on the lookout for a solution that would store our miscellaneous medical supplies in a way that would make it easy to find what you are looking for in a hurry. Lately I have been feeling more urgent about getting everything organized. I received several suggestions that I considered. Some suggestions included a fishing tackle box, small plastic boxes with labels, an over the door shoe organizer and turntables. The over the door shoe organizer was at the top of my list because I liked the smallish compartments that were see through and it would be within eyesight. The problem with that is that Abby is cruising around the walls and furniture and would be able to pull on it and take things out. I contemplated cutting one in half and double hanging it from the top so there would be two layers but it seemed like more work than I was looking for and not the most ideal solution. While at Walmart looking at what my options could be I stumbled across an item that I ended up purchasing and using. I still need to label each pocket but for the moment I am pretty happy with this solution.

I like that it spins around so I can access everything. The pockets are small enough that I can compartmentalize things the way I like it to be. The large shelves in the middle store larger items such as our heating pad, etc...

First Teeth!

2011-09-23T21:13:00.000-07:00

Poor Abby has had a hard time lately. When I took her to her 9 month check up they discovered an ear infection (which explained a LOT of things) and put her on antibiotics. Well, antibiotics do some great things and also have some side affects that are not so pleasant for the one changing the multitude of stinky diapers every day. BUT, she made it through all right and then over the weekend started getting super cranky and chewing on things, sucking on ice cubes in her self feeder, etc... On Tuesday I discovered not one but two teeth! The one on bottom is a little farther out than the one on the top. They finally broke through her gums and stuck around. For months they have been moving around and Abby's NP thought she would have teeth by 6 months but she waited until she's almost 10 months. The last day or two she has been chewing on spoons and clicking the spoon between her teeth, up and down and up and down...
Abby hasn't mastered the art of the classic crawl but for the last month or so she has become very proficient at the booty scoot or the monkey crawl. She puts one foot in front of her, scoots the other leg forward a little and pulls herself forward. It's hard to explain but it's oh so cute! And she's quite speedy, especially if the front door or the refrigerator door is open.
I will include some recent pictures of Abby, Scott and I...

Consignment Sale finds

2011-09-23T15:24:00.000-07:00

So, this weekend is the huge consignment sale in Sandy that happens every six months. I got up this morning and took Abby to my inlaws so I could shop first thing in the morning while there was a good selection and good deals. In the past I have gone on Saturday when you can get 30% off but you get the picked over things and so I was surprised at how crazy it was when I went this morning right after they opened the doors. It was packed! People were very polite and so there wasn't any trampling but it was busy. Of course, the very best stuff goes at the pre-sale Thursday night that is available to those who volunteer but I had to cancel my volunteer shift this time around. I got some amazing deals and I have to share because I am so excited. Abby's birthday and Christmas are almost completely taken care of and I spent less than fifty dollars. Hopefully some of the things I took to sell will be purchased and offset what I spent at the sale. I went with a list of what abby needed and I didn't deviate very much which took a lot of willpower considering all the super cute clothes and toys and book, etc... they had. Also, they screen items very carefully so it's good quality items which makes it even harder to exert the willpower. :)

The breakdown:
4 pairs of shoes
2 winter sleepers with feet
1 pair pink pants
1 ladybug halloween costume
black shirt and pants to go with ladybug
1 lion halloween costume
1 winter outfit
Shape shorter
3 books
piano with song book
see-n-say
flip flop alphabet-block toy

The halloween costumes ate up almost one third of the total price but they were great prices for costumes and the way they are designed they can be worn by children of several different
sizes and genders.

Making up a pattern

2011-09-16T07:12:00.000-07:00

Abigail is becoming quite the little mover and so we had to do some serious baby proofing about a week ago. In the process I realized that we needed to be able to store some things in the bottom part of our entertainment center (which doesn't have doors) and still keep Abigail from playing with them. As a solution we decided to make some fabric panels to hide things so they wouldn't be as appealing for Abby to get into. I am not a terribly great sewer and so I am rather proud of how my project turned out. (I borrowed my mother-in-law's sewing machine) We used small tension spring rods on the top and bottom of the panels to hold them in place. Scott helped me pick out the fabric and it turned out beautifully. The fabric I had semi-chosen would have worked okay before but the same weekend we also got rid of our loveseat in favor of a smaller one that is more to scale with our apartment. The color of the new loveseat would not have worked with my fabric but goes beautifully with the fabric Scott found. I am so grateful for such a wonderful husband! Hopefully this keeps those curious little hands of Abby's out of the entertainment center. Now I just need to do something cute to her box of toys on the bottom shelf in the middle.

Small towns

2011-09-11T20:50:00.000-07:00

I've always felt drawn towards living in a small town but couldn't explain why. Last week I spent a few days with my mom while my dad was away on a business trip. She lives in a small town that wants to stay a small town and so they reject the big businesses like Walmart that want to build there. I happened to be there for the first two days of a three day celebration based on the local produce. This is not just an average celebration, it's a big deal and people come from all over for it. I witnessed a few things that helped me better put into words the charm of a small town. For example: they were having a parade on Saturday and people were laying out their blankets and camp chairs along the road on Thursday. Laying them out and leaving them there for two days with the faith that no one would steal them or take their spot, etc... My aunt said they have been doing this for years and nothing has ever been stolen. Example #2 As I was driving home I passed a lot of big produce stands run by businesses and then I passed front yards where residents had put out a bushel of fruit with the price and a can for people to leave their money in. What trust. Being able to live in an environment where you know your neighbors, the children play together and people help each other out on a regular basis is just appealing to me.
Of course there are pros and cons to small towns verses bigger cities but these are some great pros!

2011-08-21T08:46:00.001-07:00

Chocolate cake with a delicious salted caramel frosting. Mmmm...

2011-08-17T08:59:00.000-07:00

About a month and a half ago I decided I needed to get started on a blanket for Abby since I hadn't made one yet. After many trips to the fabric store and hours agonizing over which fabric was best and which fabric went with the others I finally purchased some. After a few trips up to see my mother we finished Abby's quilt! I would never have been able to accomplish this without the help of my very talented mother. I am VERY happy with how it turned out(I've never made a quilt before). We decided not to give it to Abby right away but to wait until her birthday in a few months.

On a less happier note, here is a picture of what happened to my windshield on one of my trips up to work on the quilt. Still waiting on the trucking company's insurance to let us know if they will pay to get it fixed.

Recent cakes...

2011-08-08T14:56:00.000-07:00

Just thought I would share some of the cakes I have done in recent weeks.

This simple birthday cake was done for a friend who is an inspiration to me.

An 88th birthday celebrated at a family reunion. The tree represents the birthday "boy"s love of creating new apple varieties in his orchard and also his posterity who came to celebrate with him.
(Farther down the cake it does say happy birthday!)

This cake was also for the birthday/family reunion but was an option for the gluten free eaters in this family.

Perspective

2011-07-09T08:42:00.000-07:00

I finished re-reading The Fire of The Covenant last night since Scott is at the ward Priesthood retreat/campout and I wasn't ready to just go to bed. There is nothing like reading about the sacrifices and experiences of the handcart saints to give you a new perspective on life and your challenges. My ancestors were in the handcart companies and without them, I don't know where I would be. Would I be a Latter-Day Saint? Would I be married to this incredible man who brings so much meaning to my life? Would I be as close to my family as I am? Would I have the desire to be a great mother?
Since becoming a mother I am gaining a greater understanding for the struggles the pioneer families went through. The struggles and heart ache of losing children and spouses I cannot understand but I can understand the deep love of family and desire for your family to be following the prophets counsel. I know what I feel barely scratches the surface of what the saints felt and went through but their stories have given me more strength and more focus to make it through my trials and to find the fire of my covenant inside me when times are tough.

Maui...

2011-06-13T14:59:00.000-07:00

I realize that's it's been quite a while since I have posted anything.. There are periods in life where you feel as though the everyday things that are going on just aren't blog worthy. But, no worries, the Twichel family is alive and well!
We took a fabulous trip to Maui a few weeks ago.

Our flight from LA to Maui was delayed because once the plane pulled onto the runway area a large puddle appeared under the plane. Turns out there was a hydraulic fluid leak. 3 hours later we left. Abby slept on both flights to Maui and then on both flights home. The flight from Maui to La was also 3 hours late.
Abby didn't take to the ocean AT ALL but she loved the swimming pool! Those cute chubby little legs and hands were just going and going! It won't be long before she's swimming laps. Her face went into the water several times, sometimes by accident and sometimes by her choice but she just sputtered a little and kept on going. Her little pink ducky was a friend for her in the water!

We spent a LOT of time in water and on the beach which was one of the things I looking forward to. I conquered some fears and had some new experiences that really showed me a few things. One: I am capable of far more than I have allowed myself to believe. Two: It's okay to put myself out there with the potential to fail and look like a loser when I try something new. Three: I married the most amazing, supportive, understanding and self confidence building man. He has helped me to have the confidence to try new things and to know that I can do it but if I do fail he will always be there to hold me, love me and put bandaids on my scrapes (literally).

Scott body boarding

We had an amazing time snorkeling (one of those new experiences). There were two beaches right by our condo that we could walk out to and swim and snorkel. There were amazing fish and we saw huge sea turtles. The turtles were so close we could have swam up and touched them in seconds but we were smart and didn't swim closer.

One of my most memorable experiences was Stand up paddleboarding with Scott(another new experience). Scott scraped up his leg while surfing on his board and I jammed my toes pretty bad and it was still incredible!

One of our last mornings there we got up super early and drove to the top of the volcano to watch the sunrise. It was a two hour drive in pitch blackness and it was extremely misty with hairpin turns all the way up the volcano. I don't do well with heights but since I was the only one of "the kids" who was old enough to drive the rental car I couldn't just close my eyes and ignore the scariness since I was driving. It was white knuckle for a bit but I made it! It was so cold and wet at the top of the volcano!! The mist never receeded so we couldn't even see a hint of the sunrise. But, it was still a great trip and I accomplished something hard for me!
Another day Scott and I took a day trip up to Lahaina to go snorkeling and explore the area. We snorkeled at Black Rock and saw amazing fish! Some of them glowed in the light. Alas, when we went back to the van we discovered that Scott had gone snorkeling with the car keys in his pocket. They happened to be electronic keys and so the chip inside was fried. There is only one guy on the island who can fix it. So, we had to wait for him to drive out to fix it and then pay his exhorbitant fee because we had no choice. Ggrrr.... lesson learned...don't buy a car with electronic keys!
It was wonderful to get to spend so much time with family! Mom and dad Twichel were wonderful and watched Abby for us so Scott and I could get out and not have to worry about Abigail. She tried blueberries for the first time and she loved them. The blue mustache was pretty cute!

Diet Update

2011-04-09T10:31:00.000-07:00

So, today is the middle of day 5 in the diet. AND.....I've lost five and a half pounds!!! I would have lost more if I hadn't been cheating. I wasn't at home for a day and a half and hadn't planned on being gone so the diet didn't go exactly as planned on the day by day schedule. Yesterday was supposed to be the soup, bananas and milk day but it ended up being more like bananas and veggies day. But still, with all the cheating and alterations I am pretty happy with my progress. I may not lose the 10-17 pounds the diet is supposed to help you lose but at least I'm losing something!!! Yay!!!
And also the soup wasn't as bad as I thought it would be!! It's edible :)

Cabbage Soup Diet

2011-04-06T15:55:00.000-07:00

So, I started the army diet/cabbage soup diet yesterday. I've never done "extreme" diets before because I don't do well with being completely restricted from certain foods. Yesterday was the fruit and cabbage soup only diet. I didn't have all the food to start off the day but even so I did really well the first half of the day. The second half was hard because I still needed to cut up veggies, lots of veggies for the soup. Dealing with a teething baby who gets crankier as the day progresses is not helpful when starting a new diet that requires a lot of willpower. The soup ended up getting put on the stove around 9 and then exploding not to long after that. So, I still need to pull out the oven and clean the wall and floor next to it where the cabbage and other ingredients ended up. Yuck, not looking forward to that. So, by the time I finished making Ranch burgers for Scott's dinner I was starving and a bit frustrated so I ate half of a burger(on a whole wheat bun). Also, later that night I ate half of a graham cracker. So, my first day on the diet wasn't a huge success but it also wasn't a huge failure. So, I have decided that cutting myself a little slack if I cheat a tiny bit every day is necessary for my mental state. Now, I'm talking about the half a graham cracker kind of cheating, not the half a hamburger cheating.
Lest anyone think Scott expects me to make him dinner while I'm on the diet, he doesn't. He has told me several times that he can cook for himself. But, I had already bought the ingredients for this weeks menu and I wanted to try a new recipe and make the ranch/mozzarella burgers.
Today has been equally hard. Mostly because I haven't been able to force myself to try the soup because of it's looks. But, it's on the menu for tonight and I have committed to myself that I will eat it if it kills me, which I've heard isn't a possibility. Today I ate a whole graham cracker and a spoonful of Nutella. Sigh, so shoot me for cheating. It could be worse though. I started at 161 pounds and I will weigh myself in the morning and see if I've lost any weight. I don't anticipate losing as much as quickly as the diet says you can simply because I haven't been eating the soup and I cheated. But, any weight loss will be exciting! It may take a few extra days and that's okay.

Project for my final night of cake class.

2011-04-02T21:17:00.000-07:00

Made for the anniversary of Barnum and Bailey forming a partnership.

St. Paddy's day Cake from my Wilton class

2011-03-19T19:32:00.001-07:00

Abby's blessing and other moments...

2011-03-06T18:28:00.000-08:00

Abby this past week. She pulled out her soothie and was holding it above her head when she dropped it. I just had to take a picture.

Abby, Scott and I at our apartment after Sacrament meeting where Scott gave Abby her baby blessing.

The cakes I've made this past week :)

2011-03-06T18:20:00.000-08:00

Abigail was blessed in church today and I finished this cake early this morning, and I mean early so it isn't as perfect as I would have liked it to be. But, it didn't last long! (Buttermilk white cake with a lemon curd filling)

We had a wedding planning night for mutual and so I made a mini wedding cake and loved doing it!(Lemon and Devils Food cake layers with a strawberry/raspberry filling)

Snowman Cake

This past week in pictures

2011-02-27T18:50:00.000-08:00

Sneakiness...

2011-02-23T02:47:00.000-08:00

Have you ever done something and felt so extremely sneaky that you wanted to tell everyone about it, but then it would cancel out the sneaky things you did? Well, that's how I felt Monday and yesterday.

I've been looking for a specific decorating tip for the cake class I'm taking in March with another girl in my ward. The only way to buy said tip without ordering it online (and paying 3 times what it costs in shipping fees) is to buy the whole cupcake decorating kit. So, that's okay except that when I went to buy it last week at michaels with my 50% off coupon they were completely out! I already knew that Hobby Lobby doesn't carry it. So, I tried Roberts Craft and Walmart. Roberts was out and Walmart doesn't carry it. I start to get a little desperate and so I tried Joann's on Monday and I found a stray cupcake kit sitting in the midst of a completely different display but it appeared to be the only one in the store. Now, I had a Michaels coupon for 40% off that I wanted to use at Joann's but it wasn't active until yesterday (Tuesday). So, what do I do? I hide the cupcake kit behind other stuff on the bottom shelf of the cake area. Yesterday I drop by Joanns and calmly dig the kit out from the very back of the bottom shelf behind the large boxes of cake decorating supplies where I hid it and pay for it with my coupon. I felt extremely sneaky and thrifty and wanted to share with everyone I saw in Joanns but I didn't think that would go so well....

Thoughts for the universe

2011-02-22T05:33:00.000-08:00

So, it's early and I'm still up after putting Abby down for Scott after he fed her. I would like to be sleeping but it seems best at times to stay up after she goes down because it doesn't usually take long for her to cry because her soothie has fallen out or something else is wrong in her tiny universe. If I go back to bed I will have just reached that almost asleep state where I get EXTREMELY cranky about having to get up with Abby again and I don't like the way it makes me feel toward my family.

So, the purpose of my post. I have come to realize that it is ok and probably even healthy for me to admit when I am struggling. I come from a family where admitting weakness and struggles isn't really done but I am trying to move past that. So, here goes:

I STRUGGLE WITH FEELNG REALLY DEPRESSED SINCE I'VE HAD ABIGAIL.

I thought for a long time that it was just the baby blues and that it would pass. And just when I would get to the point where I was thinking about asking for help I would have a couple of good days and think that things were going to be fine. This is me saying that it's okay to struggle. If you know me then you know how hard that is for me to admit to myself, to Scott or to even say out loud.

I have been struggling with feeling like I am inadequate at fulfilling my responsibilities as a wife, a new mother, a daughter of God and as the first counselor in the Young Womens Presidency. I have wondered how I could do any of these things when I could barely make it through the day without crying, manage to do at least one of the following: look presentable, have a fairly clean house, make meals, read the scripture, put in the time to have meaningful prayers, write down Abby's milestones, exercise, etc..

Today my visiting teacher (and YW's president) and I talked on the phone for a few minutes and the thoughts I have had about the baby blues perhaps being a little more serious than I thought were solidified. AND IT'S OKAY. I have to keep telling myself that. IT'S OKAY TO STRUGGLE AND IT DOESN'T MEAN THAT I AM A BAD WIFE OR MOTHER OR ANYTHING ELSE. IT's just the way it is and perhaps I need to cut myself a little slack.

Phew! I just needed to put those thoughts out there in the universe and admit that I'm struggling. While I may never ask for help from people other than family (which is hard enough) just being able to "say" that I am struggling is a huge step for me.

A few more pictures...

2011-01-28T10:06:00.000-08:00

Just a little smattering of pictures from the last few weeks!
Isn't Abigail just the cutest things ever? (The answer of course, is yes!)

Update

2010-12-23T19:58:00.000-08:00

So, a quick update on the Twichel family. After Abigail was born they discovered she had picked up the fever I had when she was born, they thought she might have an infection and one of her lungs looked cloudy on the x-ray. so, they kept her in the special care nursery for five days on antibiotics. They also kept me in the hospital for four days while I healed and regained the blood lost during delivery of my little cutie. Originaly they thought I would need a blood transfusion but my body managed on it's own and so I was spared that experience. Coming home from the hospital has been a crazy experience to say the least. When Abby was in the hospital all she did was sleep and eat and poop. Now, she only sleeps when I don't want her to, eats constantly it seems and poops on my hand when I change her diaper.
I realized something lately. I was frustrated about why my baby was so challenging and then realized that most of the time you don't see newborns. You see the happy smiling baby at church AFTER the first few months have past and the baby has matured, gotten a little bit of a schedule and the parents have regained some of their sanity! I WILL make it to that point before I rip out my hair. And I've raealized that it's ok to cry when you are tired and overwhelmed. It's healthy to let it out.( I bawled the other day while holding Abby during her colicy time and she just stared at me with these big eyes!)
She makes the funniest faces! REALLY, I have to keep myself from laughing while she is falling asleep because I don't want to keep her awake! Every emotion you could possibly imagine and then some cross her face. I often wonder what she thinks about and dreams about that causes such expressions. She wears "the thinker" face quite often. She has gotten to the point where she will just stare at your face and stare and stare and stare. Right now, she is sleeping in Scott's arms while he plays a video game(what a talented guy). I'm amazed that he got her to sleep and without her soothie even. Her colicy hours tonight were much shorter than usual and Scott held her while I ran a couple of errands for my church responsibilities. She fell asleep in his arms and we are afraid to move her because she will wake up and start screaming again. And that girl has got lungs! Despite the screaming each night for hours when I am at my most tired(Scott does a great job of watching her during that time), challenging nursing experiences, etc.. I am falling in love with a little baby girl named Abigail. She holds onto our fingers now with such a tight grip! She loves being sung too, especially the songs we sang to her while I was pregnant. I look at her and can hardly believe that not to long ago she was in heaven. She is such a precious gift! (this is of course much easier to remember when she is happy and cooing or sleeping peacefully). One of my favorite things lately has been watching Scott hold her. He is so gentle and sweet, a real softy. He talks to her and makes me laugh when he says the things I think when she's being fussy. For example, during her colicy hours or while changing a diaper on a screaming Abby he sweetly says, "oh put a sock in it" or something along those lines! I cannot imagine going throught this wonderful and yet highly challenging experience without such a great guy by my side who watches Abigail at night so I can sleep even though he's tired and has to go to work in the morning. I love my family so much!

Abigail Elyse Twichel (aka cutest baby ever!)

2010-12-23T19:37:00.000-08:00

New Baby!

2010-12-23T19:32:00.000-08:00

(Written on Dec. 2nd) Our baby's birth from Melody's perspective(which is rather fuzzy and probably a little inaccurate about times, dates, etc..): As of yesterday, December 1st at 2:10 pm Scott and I are the parents of a beautiful baby girl named Abigail. Abby was 7 pounds 14 ounces and 19 and a half inches long when she was born. When I get the chance to spend time with her and hold her and look in her beautiful dark blue eyes I am amazed at how blessed we are. The look on Scott's face when he holds her is just priceless. It looks to me like a combination of awe, shock, love, disbelief and more awe.
Abby had a rather traumatic birth so if you aren't prepared for what may be To Much Information discontinue reading! I am still finding out more details of how it went and what happened as time passes. I started having contractions fairly frequently late Monday afternoon between 6 and 8 pm. The pain was pretty severe and lasted through the night so on Tuesday morning we headed into the hospital in Orem(Mt. Timp Regional) to be checked. They observed for an hour and said I was effaced almost 80 percent but still only dilated to a 2 which was where I had been at my last appointment a week before. Needless to say, I was pretty disappointed but I think it was almost a relief for Scott as the birth of his daughter was looming nearer and becoming more intimidating and this gave him a little break. So, they gave me a shot of morphine to keep the pain at bay a little and sent us home, but told us they expected to see us back later that evening with how my contractions were going. I was able to sleep a little bit in between the really painful contractions which still woke me up.
On Tuesday we headed back in and were checked again, Much to my continued dismay, I wasn't making much progress in dilation. So, more morphine and back home to rest. At this I am beginning to wonder why this process is so difficult and painful.
Wednesday morning I had had it! I hurt so bad I wanted to just curl up and die. Scott was great at holding me up and coaching me on my breathing through the contractions. It helped so much! He was super supportive and poor guy had no idea what I was feeling. I tried to explain what they felt like but if you've never had menstrual cramps it's a little harder to understand the similarities. They put me in a room to be checked and low and behold I was dilated to a 5!!! I was so excited to finally be making progress! Not only that but the midwife I had seen the most during my appointments had just come on call so she came in to see us. We called my folks up in Brigham City to get them prepared and waited and breathed through the contractions which I have to say is much harder to do when laying in bed doing nothing that when you are moving around being distracted. An hour later I was dilated to an 8. They called the anesthesiologist to come and give me my epidural and he instantly became my best friend! Turned out he only had about 5-10 minutes before he had to be in surgery and so everyone was rushing around trying to get it all ready for him. It was quite the whirlwind! I had heard a lot about how painful it is to get an epidural but that it's worth it once you do have it. Totally not true in my case. The epidural was almost painless to get and made such a huge difference. Luckily I had the chief anesthesiologist and he was good at what he did. At this point I had been in labor about 36 hours with almost no sleep and was very tired and getting a little cranky.A few more hours went by( so they tell me) and there was no more change in my progress. I don't remember exactly how it all happened but I wasn't feeling well(felt like the flu - sweaty, headache, dry throat, fever, etc...). The midwife consulted with the doctor on call from the same clinic sometime during all this and it realized that not only did I have a fever but my body was too small for this baby to fit through the birth canal. Apparently they had waited much longer than normal to come to the conclusion that I needed a c-section.Well, that was devastating and very upsetting. Scott wiped away my tears as I cried.
So, they called in the anesthesiologist again(who by now was out of surgery) and they gave me even more drugs to be completely numb. They would spray my skin with an icy cold substance in one spot and then in the spot that was numb to see what I could feel which I think was interesting. Before I knew it Scott was kissing me goodbye as I flew by as they were wheeling me into the hallway and we went to the O.R. What felt like less than five minutes later Scott appeared at my side all scrubbed up and they attached the blue sheet in front of me so I couldn't see what they would do. Scott was more nervous than me and I really dislike being cut into! But somehow I just felt like everything would be fine.As soon as things started to get going(from what I could feel) Scott started talking to me and asking me lots of questions and trying to keep up a conversation. While you may think this was for my benefit, really it was for him. He forewarned the staff in the OR that he might end up on the floor and they showed`him how to "fall" so his head would end up next to mine on my pillow. When I would stop talking or asking him a question he would get a little more pale and worried looking. He did a great job of conquering his fears and at the same time it kept me distracted as much as possible from the pushing and shoving being exerted on my poor tired body. I heard someone say, "Happy Birthday" and then a very healthy cry from my little girl. She has some great lungs! She cried for the next little bit and Scott went over to see her and take some pictures while she was getting cleaned up. In the meantime they started trying to put me back together. Scott came over and showed me a picture of our little angel and then I started to want to die again. They weren't sharp pains, it was more like every part of body in the affected area was being ripped and stretched apart. This is what the anesthesiologist called "the uncomfortable part". Apparently I wasn't taking it well because that's the last thing I remember. I woke up hours later in a recovery room with my parents and Scott. So, the pictures of Scott showing me Abby in the O.R. are a complete mystery to me, I don't remember it at all. I started to freak out a little in the recovery room when they said they were still running tests on my baby and so I couldn't see her. After sending people to find her several times they brought her in to see me for a few minutes (against the rules, but I was desperate and about ready to demand seeing her). Scott and I got to have a few minutes with just the three of us and I held her and fell in love. A baby couldn't be more perfect than that. She is such a miracle.

Black Friday

2010-11-28T04:41:00.000-08:00

I have never had enough of a desire to save money or buy something on the big sales to prompt me to attempt black friday. However, this year, for some strange reason , I felt compelled, yes, compelled to brave the masses in a very limited way. There were three things I wanted at the Walmart midnight sale. The ad didn't say how the sale would work exactly but I had been told by a Walmart employee that they wouldn't be closing at all. This was encouraging because I wouldn't have to stand in the cold but also confusing. How do you stand in line for something? So, I thought we would check it out. Scott drove and was just going to wait in the car for me. I got inside about 11:35 and the place was crazy! Turns out that they had the big palates out and you were supposed to stand by "yours" and then when midnight struck you could grab your item. They had a walmart employee stationed by each palate to monitor you and keep you from cheating. So, I found the first item I wanted and then headed for the area where they had put the video games. Unfortunately, this is when things got a trifle nasty. There were people in that area than any other, of course, and they were wielding their elbows in such a way that you couldn't even discover what games they had. I stood up on the bench conveniently located next to the mob just to see what the layout was, etc.. and was immediately flagged down by a frowning employee who then promptly ignored me. I started walking back toward the first item, deciding that I would just get that because I didn't that I would die in the process and was pretty well assured to get what I wanted. On the way I asked an employee about the location of the third item and after a blank stare, she said she didn't know and asked two other employees, who, I am sure where on some sort of mind altering substance as they never completely responded and sort of stumbled around "their area". Giving up on that tactic, I asked a woman walking by who had the aforementioned item in her cart. She directed me to it and informed me that they were almost gone because people were sneaking them into their carts when the employees backs were turned. Turns out the palette for it was about 15 feet down the isle. Why the employees were so clueless about the location I don't know. When I reached the palette I discovered to my dismay that there was only one layer left on the palette. This was a moment of discovering your own human nature and that you aren't perfect. I had the immediate thought that since everyone else was taking them early I better do the same so I could get one. Thankfully I made myself keep walking, without succumbing and went back to my first item where I called Scott and asked for reinforcements. After he came in and discovered the location of item number 3 he decided to take a look at the situation with the video games and later reported to me that people were being very territorial with their hands on the game system box they wanted or video game or whatever. They had staked their claim to box #xyz and you better not think about taking it from them when midnight struck! At about 11:55 someone down in is normally electronics yelled, "They're grabbing stuff!!" And the grabbing frenzy began and it wasn't long until things were stripped bare. In the end, we got 2 of the 3 things I wanted, were third or fourth in the check out line and back to Scott's parents house by 12:40. Overall, a success for a first timer who is also 9 months pregnant, but I have devised a plan for any future black friday escapades :) Lest you be disappointed in my families ability to protect me from the mobs, they did try to keep me from going but short of tying me up there wasn't much they could besides send Scott with me. Scott and I both went out at later points in the day to pick a few more items but the 6 am (Scott), 11 am(me) and 1 pm(Scott) runs were extremely calm and almost disappointing after the Walmart experience. One black friday down and not to shabbily done!

Lately...

2010-11-24T23:06:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since we've updated our blog so here we go. Life has been pretty crazy busy lately with school for both Scott and I, work for Scott and a baby on the way! The baby is due next Monday and I've had such a roller coaster of emotion over the last few months. The last month the baby has grown by leaps and bounds (at least so it seems by the lack of space) and gotten very heavy. The days that she feels light and doesn't have her feet stuck up in my ribs on the right hand side are the days that I'm the most excited and happy about being pregnant. The other days when my bones and muscles feel like they are going to split apart and my back is on fire are the days when I just want to scream and wonder why I got into this whole having a baby thing. BUT, most days have been pretty good. The other day I saw a commercial for pampers with the cutest sleeping babies and I started crying because I was SO EXCITED to meet the little girl in my tummy! Sometimes we have "conversations" about what she's thinking about, what she'll look like, what kind of personality she has, I tell her about her daddy and how funny he is. Sometimes I feel the bumps in my tummy and try to figure out what's what. I was amazed at my appointment last week when the midwife could tell right off the bat where the babies little tush was and her head and her feet. One thing I have noticed and really love is the little one's tendency to kick and move around a lot when Scott calls on the phone or sits next to me and talks to me. I don't know that it's the sound of his voice or if the baby can just tell how excited I am and so she gets excited. Either way, it makes me smile every time it happens. I have the feeling that the two of them are going to be very close when they meet for real. Scott is going to be the best dad ever! Sometimes I listen to Scott's stories about the way that his dad parented, and the things that he thinks are important and I see those same things in Scott and it makes me smile. Sometimes I feel inadequate about knowing what to do with a little baby but with her coming soon, I can hardly wait to meet her and snuggle with her and watch her daddy hold her.

eye-opener

2010-10-03T19:19:00.000-07:00

I have had quite the awakening lately. Being pregnant has definately not been a walk in the park for Scott and I, which was a surprise. There have been many ups and downs, lots of "losing my cookies", some scares and checking in to the hospital and some REALLY cranky emotional days. Some days it's been a real challenge to be optimistic. Don't get me wrong, I'm always happy to be having a baby but there are some days that I wish it wasn't so hard. Then I run into people who didn't have a single pregnancy symptom and loved the whole experience and I feel a little resentful. But, in the last month or so, which has been the easiest part of the pregnancy for me, I have discovered something that has helped change my perspective. I had no idea until recently that a handful of my friends are unable to bear children. What an eye -opener. They have talked on their blogs about how they would give anything to be having the experience that I am, including the misery, pain, soreness, crankyness, etc.. Wow! How narrow-minded have I been.. I am so blessed to be having the experience that I am. I have to remember that on days like today when it's a rollarcoaster. Scott and I have been given the opportunity to bear a child and help her become the person she is meant to be and I can't forget that. I have a wonderful loving husband who takes care of me and worries over the little things that could posssibly go wrong with the baby and is there to hold me when I cry about badly worded sales ads, sleepless nights and sappy tv shows. I wish so much for my friends to be in different situations but I am so grateful that they were able to remind me of the wonderful opportunity I am having and help me to have more perspective. So, factoring in everything in our pregnancy that has been a disillusionment and been miserable, I would still choose to be having a baby and am grateful to those who have helped open my eyes and wish I could help them as well!

2010-09-30T13:06:00.000-07:00

My birthday was this past sunday and it was a great day. I've been wearing the great maternity clothes that my inlaws gave me earlier in the month which has been such a nice change! I've been enjoying my sunday birthday gifts of perfume and a great cake decorating kit from my wonderful husband! I'm also excited to get to use my new glue gun as I get ready to decorate the house for the upcoming holiday season!(I'm making what should turn out to be a fabulous wreath)
Today I gave in to the temptation that I've been fighting all week and used my cake kit for the first time. It was SO FUN!!! Still not perfect but for the first time with these particular techniques and tips I don't think it's too bad :)

Weekend Off!

2010-09-28T14:14:00.000-07:00

Life has been pretty crazy lately and so Scott and I were both excited for a weekend off from life! Scott had a mandatory retreat for work over the weekend. Friday morning we drove the scenic route(aka long route) up to the Tifie Ranch because I was tired of driving on the freeway all the time and Scott humored me. The Tifie Ranch is part of a nonprofit group associated with Goal Zero (the company Scott works at). The ranch was amazing! It is all completely powered by solar, wind and hydroelectric. They have paintball, archery, shooting range, super close to the reservoir for boating, etc... You can stay in a room in the lodge(which we were lucky enough to score because of the little girl who's on her way to our family), in a small cabin, in a tepee or your own tent. Even the bathrooms out by the tepees were nicer than most that I've seen in people's homes. Definately not your normal camping experience.

For it being a required company retreat, it was super relaxed and fun. Taking a tour of the ranch and learning about it's self sufficiancy was the only part that seemed remotely required. Everyone played minute to win it games with some great Goal Zero prizes in the morning the rest of the day was full of haning out, going to the archery range, eating(of course!), roasting marshmallows for smores(gourmet s'mores with dove chocolate no less).

Throwing and catching LOTS of pencils! Scott did great!

Scott racing to drop different colored m&m's into different cups!

Scott trying to jostle ping pong balls out of an empty tissue box!

The marshmallow roasting master!

Trying to move a cookie from my forehead to my mouth without using my hands....unsucessfully!

The elusive fish....

2010-09-14T22:24:00.000-07:00

Experiments, experiments, experiments...
I am so lucky to have a husband who is so supportive of my dreams and aspirations and who encourages me!

Banana Strawberry Freezer Jam

2010-09-08T11:13:00.000-07:00

So, this is the jam I made the other day that y'all requested the results and recipe for. This recipe comes from the Ball Blue Book for canning and preserving.

Recipe:
3 large bananas
3 cups crushed strawberries(about 1 1/2 quarts)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 pouch freezer jam pectin

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place bananas on baking sheet; do not peel. Bake for 15 minutes at 400. Cool. Peel and crush bananas. Measure 1 cup crushed bananas. Combine bananas and strawberries in a medium bowl; set aside. Stir sugar and pectin together in a large bowl until well blended. Add fruit mixture to sugar mixture and stir 3 minutes. Ladle jam into plastic freezer jars, leaving 1/2 inch head space. Let jam stand 30 minutes to thicken. Lable and freeze.

Results: So, the jam TASTES great! The only thing that bothers me is that it froze solid. Most freezer jams maintain a semi liquid state so you can spoon out jam. With this jam I had to cut out a chunk from the freezer to defrost and try. If anyone has any suggestions they would be appreciated since I've never done freezer jam before! (The regular strawberry freezer jam recipe turned out fantastic!)

Gingerbread!

2010-08-29T15:37:00.000-07:00

I made this gingerbread cabin a few years ago and just found the pictures again and I was super excited so ya'all get to see them! I have been making gingerbread houses for many years, it's something that my mom and I enjoyed doing together when I was growing up. With this particular house, realistic looking was my goal. Everything on the tray is edible, from the chimney down the sugar water stream with floating "ice" chunks. Imagine that the door is broken and standing open because a bear scared away the people while they were roasting marchmallows outside because he wanted to hibernate inside....yup..that's what MUST have happened!
Now, the only question is...what kind of gingerbread creation should I do this year?

More baking!

2010-08-22T19:46:00.000-07:00

Yet more baking adventures! I'm learning as I go along and enjoying it, even when things go a little haywire...we had a few cupcake misadventures today before the final product was captured on film..... I probably shouldn't have a favorite since I made all three but the butterfly is my favorite!

Why “Siftables” (They’re New Digital Blocks from MIT) Are Not, Not, Not Better Than Regular Blocks.

2010-08-21T08:15:00.000-07:00

I found this article while doing "research" for a new cake idea I had and it resonated with me and the way I want my children to learn. Give children a large cardboard refrigerator box, pots and pans and some crayons and let them play! (Somewhat simplified view, as my children will have other toys, I assure you!)

Why “Siftables” (They’re New Digital Blocks from MIT) Are Not, Not, Not Better Than Regular Blocks.

2010-08-17T12:42:00.000-07:00

More random pictures from our past!
Scott and his dad did 99% of the move when we moved into our new apartment!

Scott posing while we were in Las Vegas on our honeymoon, what a hottie!

This picture is from FHE in the singles ward where we met, right when I was starting to really like Scott! Scott is in the stripes and I'm in the blue shirt and khakis.

Also right after we met, I was unemployed and Scott found me a job as the manager of the Easter Bunny photo shoot in the mall(like the Christmas photos with Santa). When my bunny quit I had to be the bunny unexpectly. Needles to say the outfit was made for a taller, bigger person! I had hoped that Scott would come and see me because he knew I was going to be the bunny but I never saw him and was super disappointed. Then, at the end of the day my coworker gace me a bunny bouquet Scott had dropped off and I had been too distracted to notice. It was a large carrot and carnations wrapped up together. What a sweetie! Part of what attracted me to Scott was that he was unusual and thoughtful in his dating and that's a classic example!

2010-08-17T12:24:00.001-07:00

As I have been uploading all the pictures from my camera onto the computer I decided to share a random mix of pictures from our past! Don't expect a lot of order!
This picture is from our honeymoon. One of our day trips from the house we stayed in was to Las Vegas!

This is right after we were married and moved into our first apartment!

Christmas eve my brother Jon and his wife Amy did a christmas eve dinner where you sit on the floor and eat traditional food from the "east" and read the Christmas story.

Right after my dance competition this past spring. Don't I have a handsome husband!

One long night!

2010-08-17T12:11:00.000-07:00

Last night was a first in my life. I picked up Scott from work about 12:30 and we drove home. We worked on a few things that needed to be done before we turned in for the night and then Scott says, would you come over here and see if you smell something. So, I walked into the kitchen and it took me a minute to smell it but I could smell gasoline. The window was open and so we oepned the door and were hit with a big wave of gasoline smell. Scott got the flashlights and started to investigate. Our apartment is on the end on the building on the middle floor and the smell seemed to be coming from the fence area that separates our parking lot from the neighbors. The closer we got to the fence we heard a dripping sound. It sounded like liquid rapidly dripping onto metal. That was a little frightening combined with the smell. I DON"T WANT MY APARTMENT TO BURN DOWN!! Scott climbed onto the dumpster but couldn't see anything. So, he called the police department and they said they would send a fire truck over. Scott waited on the sidewalk for them and you could hear them coming even without the sirens. Some of the neighbors woke up but much to my disappointment our annoying downstairs neighbors slept through the experience. The firemen checked things out and were a little worried by the dripping noise and after throughly checking our side of the fence and using their cool little gadgets to check the fumes they headed around the block to check the other persons yard. Not sure what happened after that but I did the fire truck on the other side of the block. I do feel bad for the people who live across the street, where the fire truck was parked and let running with no explanation to them. I guess we'll have to wait and see if anything else comes of it.

Confessions of a closet baker!

2010-08-16T10:20:00.000-07:00

I have always had an obsessions with baking that I tried to hide. BUT, no more! I WILL NOT HIDE MY PASSION!! I have done a lot of thinking and decided to open my own cake and cupcake business next year out of our house! I want to specialize in cut-up cakes like the ones I remember my mom making when I was growing up and cupcakes.

This snake cake was made last summer on the spur of the moment for my nephews birthday party and the boys all thought it was pretty cool. Not too bad for a beginner...

Over this past weekend my brother Jon and his wife Amy hosted a homemade root beer tasting party and so I took the opportunity to work on my cake skills.

I have to say that these cakes aren't the prettiest or the most perfect but I am pretty proud of them when I consider that I made them without any professional supplies(used sandwhich bags for piping words, table knife for frosting the cake) and no room in the freezer to freeze the cake before shaping it. There are, of course, things I would do differently next time, but overall I am pretty happy with it! I am super excited to start taking the Wilton cake classes and getting more experience and tools to improve my baking!
I have the most supportive husband who has given me the go ahead and wants to help me in any way he can, who could ask for more than that? Thanks Scott!!

IT'S A GIRL!!!

2010-07-19T01:48:00.000-07:00

22 Weeks!

We have some exciting news we wanted to share! On Thursday we went in for our first ultrasound(which was surreal, by the way). It was strange to see the little person inside, Melody could hardly believe it. Scott was glued to the monitor( it was like the discovery channel for him). The baby had the hiccups the entire time we were being ultrasounded. At first the baby didn't want to cooperate with the technician trying to determine gender. So, they moved on to measuring bones, etc...They couldn't see all four chambers of the heart and tried to get the baby to roll over so they could see better. After prodding my belly a little the baby did move and then promptly rolled back to the previous position and continued kicking those beautiful legs! And then.....they discovered IT IS A GIRL!! So, until we hear different we are working on that theory.(the picture was pretty clear though). We are pretty excited! So, one more girl will be added to the family November 29th!

A Growing Belly, 11 and 16 1/2 weeks!!

2010-06-28T20:32:00.000-07:00

2010-02-19T17:43:00.000-08:00

Recipes have become a new hobby of sorts for me. I enjoy trying out new recipes and Scott is always so supportive and eats everything I make! So, I thought I would occasionally post some of our favorites, especially the easy to make ones. This sunday we tried out a recipe for Chicken Tortilla Soup from a book called "Missionary Meals for 2".

Chicken Tortilla Soup:
1/2 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked and chopped
1/2 15 oz can of whole kernel corn
1 14.5 oz can of chicken broth
1/2 15 oz can black beans
1/2 14 oz can diced tomatoes, drained
1/2 4 oz can diced green chilies
1/2 tsp cumin
salt to taste

Garnish:
tortilla chips
shredded cheddar cheese

We didn't add any salt and instead of torilla chips and cheese we had tortillas and guacamole on the side and it was so wonderful! I tripled it, approximately and would recommend the same for anyone else making it.

A few weeks ago we also started having Hawaiian Sandwiches, the recipe is from another missionary cookbook of mine.

Hawaiian Sandwiches:
Toast 2 slices of bread
Layer sliced ham, sliced pineapple and cheese on top of toasted bread for an open faced sandwich and broil until cheese melts.

We like to use white bread and white cheese. I personally like to heat my pineapple in the microwave before I put it on the bread so it gets really hot and toasty but Scott doesn't mind either way!

New Growth

2010-01-12T19:02:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of the semester (around september) I bought some little houseplants and replanted them all together. I was very excited to have plants because it makes me feel very wifely and nurturing. Sadly, they didn't last long. As the temperature droped they began to wither one at a time until all three had shriveled up into little black sticks. I had almost given up on encouraging life in the apartment when I had some inspiration while looking at an avacado. We toothpicked the avacado pit and put it on a cup full of water to help it sprout into a tree. For a long time the pit didn't do anything and I was about to give up when it began to crack open so the roots could come out. A few weeks ago it began to grow in leaps and bounds and sprout out the side(it's supposed to come out of the top but it was in a place where the light was coming from the side). I was so excited that it was finally showing progress!!

2010-01-05T14:29:00.001-08:00

So, after ignoring the messy bed you will see the finished blanket folded in half!

Christmas was a very busy time for us, with school, work and making Christmas presents. In my family we are assigned one sibling and their family to give gifts to because there are too many of us. This year we had Ben and Athena and their two darling little girls. About three months before Christmas we decided to make a blanket for them and after much thought and several brainstorming sessions with other siblings and my mother we decided on a cream color for the yarn and got to work. After three months of work a rather large and impressive(at least to me) blanket was produced from my crochet hook. I have to say I am rather pleased with it and thoroughly enjoyed the learning process that I experienced!

2009-12-13T19:58:00.000-08:00

2009-12-13T17:31:00.000-08:00

This has been a momentous week in the life of two "first-time" married renters. On thursday, Scott's birthday I took him to work and ran a few errands. When I came home, I walked by our kitchen windows on the way to the mailbox and I could see the light shining through a crack in the curtains. I walked down the stairs to the apartment as quietly as I could and the door was slightly ajar. If I had been smart I would have called 911. But, I eased the door open and peered in to see a strange man with his head under the kitchen sink. I assumed it was the landlord because I had seen a familiar car outside and we needed our sink fixed. He didn't introduce himself but just said he was trying to fix the sink. I didn't want to leave him there alone in our apartment so I changed my schedule to stick around. I was irked!! Scott was even more angry than I was, what if I had been in the shower or something!
Scott called the landloard and he was thoroughly uncooperative and said he'd "try to call first next time". So Scott looked up the law online and it's illegal to enter our apartment without 24 hours written notice! Scott emailed him and we haven't heard back but next time I'm calling the cops!!!
The adventures of being newly married never end!

2009-10-16T15:55:00.001-07:00

I have to say that I have what may possibly be the coolest job on campus. I work in catering at BYU and for some reason I seem to work the jobs that are interesting and fun. On home football games I work in the Blue Zone which is so easy and fun! We have different themes every week. Yesterday I catered for the President's Leadership Counsel dinner. The food was incredible(we get to eat the leftovers) ,the people were so nice(these kind of wealthy people tend to be, in my experience) and the decorations were fabulous! I only feel bad when I come home and tell Scott what wonderful food I ate for dinner and he had a PB&J....

2009-09-25T14:16:00.000-07:00

Well folks, this is the debut post of one who has never blogged or done anything remotely close to it. My sister in law Audrey posts and I love reading about what's happening in her life(especially since I'm terrible with the phone, I hate it) and laughing at the pictures of her children so I thought Scott and I could give blogging a shot :) We've both had a lot of new beginnings lately. I'm back in school for the first time in years and still trying to adjust. Scott and I have been married for 2 months today!! Wahoo!! I never thought married life would be this amazing, maybe it's because my husband is so thoughtful and lets me be a dork without making me feel stupid...but I digress...new beginnings. Scott is still working at Fedex Office, just at a new store and I have started working at BYU Catering. So far, it's been a good experience, challenging and tiring but good nonetheless. We are in the cutest little basement apartment a few blocks south of campus that I am loving making it our own. So, all in all life is going pretty good!
You'll probably see a lot more of Scott on here than me but you never know...