Christmas Tree

Last year, my love bought us my very first live Christmas tree. Well, Christmas is here again, and we got another beautiful live one! Woohoo! I love it! When I was putting lights on it, I got to the top and realized that I had way too many lights left over. So, what did we do? Just scrunched the excess up and made a star/modern piece of art for the top. Classic.


Oh yeah. And this is how we're keeping the tree from falling over. For some reason it didn't like being straight in the stand, and thus is now balancing by this string.

From President to Coach

Am I the only one who recently realized that BYU's football coach is named BRONCO Mendenhall and not BARAK O. Mendenhall? I spent all season trying to figure out why everyone always used his middle initial. I mean, he's not a general authority or anything.

Don't Tell My Mom

We woke up late this morning.... Which explains why we were rushing around getting breakfast and lunch/showers/mediocre car scraping/my love eating in the car/my realization about 6 blocks from our house:

me: Oh. I shouldn't be driving.
my love: why not?
me: ummm.....I'll tell you when you're older.
my love: Oh no. You don't have your contacts in do you!?!??!??!!!?!

*pause*

Now, seeing and I haven't been friends since before I can remember. It was like good vision was the team captain, and I was always the one waiting and to be picked for the team, but never made the cut. Seriously. I had to wear a pirate patch taped to my glasses for a year or two. I think that added a lot to my awkward stage....

*play*

me: well....no. But you have better than perfect eyes so it's good that you're in the passenger seat.

hehe. Not a good rationalization as he was dropped off for school a few minutes later. Needless to say, I'm glad for the aimless wanderers walking around Provo this morning, (and for myself) that somehow, I made it home without killing someone.

Cows: the Provo variety

Driving around BYU campus at 8 am, is like driving through cattle. The pedestrians just saunter around on the street like they have all day and the world revolves around them. The only difference is, cows will occasionally respond when you honk at them.

Halloween

Well, another Halloween has come and gone. Our costumes last year (McCain and Palin) ended up being convincing enough that we felt like we needed something extra good this year. We also wanted to include our offspring in the costume, since who knows if I'll ever be pregnant again on Halloween.

So, this is what we came up with. (For those who can't tell, we're Humpty Dumpty and a King's man)


And, I cooked Halloween pizza. I couldn't get this picture to rotate, so you'll just have to turn your head.

Homecoming

My friend Kendra and I have been doing our best to keep in shape during our pregnancies. So, in honor of homecoming week at BYU, we ran the 5k. We didn't do amazingly, but I'm pretty sure we beat all the other 6 month pregnant ladies. (We only beat the 65 year old lady by a minute, but you should've seen her! )

Here's some evidence:

MIlestones

Well, we've made it to the third trimester of this pregnancy. And, I'm excited to say, that I think my morning sickness is finally ending. It seems that I've said that a few times and always end up being really sick the next day, but really, this time, I'm feeling more confident. I haven't thrown up since Sunday!!!! I can't believe it. Heavenly Father sure is nice.

Husband Appreciation Day

Have you ever known a person who has influenced your life so much that you're no longer the same person, but much much more than you ever thought you could be? Yeah. Me too.


Confession time once again.

I have this boy that I like...a lot. It seems that blogs are the best place to share your secrets. After all, no one reads this blog right?

So, this boy that I like is absolutely drop dead gorgeous PLUS he is superman. Here are a few reasons I love him, I love him, I love him, I love him, I love him...and no, there is no murderer of love in this story:


He goes to school and is studying basically 17 hours a day, and still makes time to make me feel special

He cleans up my barf bowl almost every day and doesn't complain or get sick himself!

He is absolutely hilarious

He's an awesome dancer (he even impressed all the Latinos at the Hispanic conference dance party he went to)

He isn't picky (i.e. he says I'm a good cook)

He loves cheesecake

He plans on being really rich some day so we can go on missions and give all our money away

He has amazing grammar

He is optimistic

He is super frugal. Example: Our conversation at his school conference consisted of something like,
Me: How was it? Did you get any interviews?
He: No, But you wouldn't believe all the free stuff I got!!!

You never know how many free pens you'll need in your life.

He tells me how cute I am at least 5 times a day even though I'm blowing up like a balloon

When he plays his cello or sings, it melts my heart.

He's basically perfect. No, really.


Sorry, ladies, he's taken. I hate to break it to you, but there's little chance you'll find someone as amazing as the boy I like, but here's to trying!

Of fortune telling and parenting

Well, I was hoping to get some good mileage off the mullet picture. Unfortunately, not all good things last, and its time to move on to a new blog post...

about telling the future.

Sunday, I was lying down and reading the palm of our baby (technically, it could have been any part of her, but this is my blog, so I'm just going to say it how it most likely happened). Now, I haven't read many people's palms, but I like to think that I sometimes have a knack for predicting the future.

I learned that our child's future either consists of a love of kick boxing, or tango. (It's hard to tell the difference.)

She even gave her daddy a good strong kick (his first one!) to which he promptly sent her to her room and told her to put on her jammies.

And, by popular request, here's a picture of her (taken by my computer...so it's not the best. Still, you get the idea).


I know it doesn't look too impressive, but there really is a baby in there! It's not just the three boxes of doughnuts I ate this morning.

Not a complaint, just an observation

The other morning I woke up feeling like Autumn had come. There was a change in the air or something. It was like the seasons had gotten a hair cut, and had gone with a good ol' mullet. While summer is still in front, its only there on the way to the long, neglected part in the back that is fun, but gets old really fast.



I mean, let's face it. Does this guy look happy?

The Already Rebellious Child

This morning I felt my stomach tightening in the normal way as I sneezed.

Twice.

Now, if I were living in someone else's uterus, I can't imagine it being very comfortable having them squish me like that. Especially if I were trying to sleep.

So, I said "sorry" to try to make it up to her.

That was my attempt at being sympathetic and nice.

Turns out, when I woke her up with my natural bodily functions, she decided that she would start kicking at my stomach to try to make me uncomfortable and lose all the food that I had been eating all night.

Which was nothing.

Luckily I'm a master dry heaver.

I sense a child with her mother's sense of rebellion already. 21 weeks down, an eternity to go.

Favorite moment of the week

As I was sitting in the doctor's office, waiting for my name to be called, a couple with a 2-3 year old girl came out of the office.

Little girl to her dad: Daddy, daddy!! Look! (pointing to me) It's Taylor Swift!!
Dad: Why hello Taylor Swift!
Me: Hi
Dad: She loves your music!
Me: Well, I do what I can.

The little girl was still jumping up and down as they exited the office.

Mystery Baby

Well, we went to the doctor yesterday and got some pictures of our baby. They're all really cute, but I'm too tired to post them on here. But, just to let you all know,


......



It's a GIRL!!!! We're very excited! Now, for a name. The only name we had somewhat decided on was a boy name. The best we've got for a girl is Allison Wonder Lund. Any suggestions?

Our last hurrah before...the rest of our lives

Okay, okay. I know I've been really lazy and haven't blogged in a really long time. I was just hoping that the excitement of my last post would last me for a while.

So, if any of you are still out there, reading this blog, here's the latest.

My love is at orientation right now the the MBA program that officially starts on the 31st. We figured that this would be our last chance to do something crazy before we have to start being responsible adults.

I'll let the pictures tell our story after saying that we love our cousins S and A who let us stay with them in Washington DC, and G who met up with us for a fun day in New York City.

(These pictures are NOT in chronological order)

Vietnam memorial with cousin S

Lady Liberty


D.C. temple: John E's commentary, "did you get married there?...no? then why are you hugging?" Little did he know that we were both just hiding our bellies.


Phantom of the Opera on Broadway

Mt. Vernon. Home of George Washington, Martha and their grandson Washy

Apple Store

On the ferry

Central Park

Ground Zero. Can't see much with that big fence in the way and a construction worker guarding it.
Chocolate World in Hershey, PA. Yes, they have a tour with singing cows.

We were really hungry after the singing cows.

Air and Space museum in the Smithsonian

Cool fountain by the statue garden

Arlington Cemetary

Tomb of the unknown soldier

New York Pizza. My brother Jason said to make sure we got some

Lincoln

Where Martin Luther King Jr. Stood to give his famous speech (right in front of the Lincoln monument)

Washington monument (and a rather apparent shot of our baby)

The Cat's Out of the Bag

What does that mean anyway?

Whoever made that phrase up is probably giggling in their grave that we still use it and have no idea that it was just a joke in the first place.

Anyway, I have an announcement!

This is only for those of you who don't already know.

Which is probably none of you.

Because my love already announced it in his testimony on Sunday.

And for those of you who have seen me barfing every time I think about moving.

Which is probably all of you.

We are excited to announce...

Our 12 week old fetus.

Yup, that's right, I'm PREGNANT!!!


It seems to be an active child already--kicks so hard that all my food wants to come back to where it came from...every time. And it's kicking a bunch of zits out on my face. And its heartbeat was nice and speedy yesterday (could be the candy I ate right before I went to the doctor).

I have a feeling it's going to be a long 18 years and 6 months until he/she is out of the house.

Still, you gotta admit. It's pretty cool to be creating life.

Thanks for all your prayers everyone. Here's a picture of an ultrasound done at 9 weeks--for those of you who know how to read these things. The heart-shaped thing is my uterus (just because I love my baby so much), and the really cute thing with arms and legs is our little kicker.

Be Careful What You Pray For

This week, my love and I have been praying for missionary opportunities. We find that our problem is that we don't do too many things out of our regular schedule, which doesn't make for many chances to meet new people. Especially in BYU territory.

Well, Wednesday started out just like a normal day, plus a prayer for a missionary opportunity.

Here was our answer:
(This is not an actual photo. But, I'm sure our accident was just as dramatic. At least we were holding up all the traffic!)


No kidding. We were hit on the freeway, going 65 mph. Outcome? We're all okay, the cars are relatively okay, and guess what! The guy that hit us hasn't been to church in years and said that he would consider it now because of all the bad luck he's been having.

Are you serious?

Let's just say that we haven't prayed for missionary opportunities since. We've decided to stay safe and just pray that our food doesn't kill us for a while. Maybe in a week or two we'll get brave again.


*Note: In all seriousness, I consider it all worth it for the chance to share the gospel. I don't have any regrets about prayers of asked. Check out this post for more on my religious beliefs.

Okay, okay I know

It's been a few days... okay, I know. It's been practically 9 years since I last wrote on my blog. Why? Well, I've been struggling with some personal problems, among them is a huge amount of laziness and lack of creativity. Despite this, I'll have you know that I swept and mopped my floor yesterday for the first time in (can it be) basically a month. Don't tell my mom. She'll make me move home so she can take care of my hygienic habits (or lack of).

I just wanted to share this with you. It's one of those really old, classic, been-around-the-block things that everyone's already seen, but I watched again this morning and basically laughed my pants off.

Enjoy. (Oh, and it's much funnier if you know Spanish.)

First Semester of Spanish love song

Evening With Lil' Bro

Guess which one is John E, and which is me.

Eesma lashes

I woke up from my nap just now, and check this out!

Yes, my eyebrows need some work. But this is about something completely different! I slept on my eyelashes funny and they're all bent and twisted towards my nose! Wow. I look like Eesma gone wrong.

Yum

I got a free bagel this morning. It was good. I'm so glad for coupons.

Hippie Town

Boulder Colorado

Population: 91,685

Elevation: 5,430 ft

Liberal capital of the United States

Qualifications for residency: Caucasian. Very wealthy and/or hippie. Own really expensive shoes and spend 80% of your time participating in/talking about rock climbing, mountain biking, running or kayaking.

Yes, my true love and I trekked the 8 hours through Fruita, Colorado (home of Mike the headless chicken), through the beautiful mountains


and the not-so-beautiful wasteland


and arrived in Boulder for Memorial Day weekend. Purpose? To run the infamous Bolder Boulder. One of the craziest 10k races that I know of.

We spent the weekend watching street performers, walking/people watching in pearl street mall, driving up the canyon, bike riding, drinking soy milk and eating purely organic foods, and watching drunk people dance like it was 1999. (I'm pretty sad that we forgot the camera for that part.)



During the actual race, you'll always find crazy costumes, Elvis impersonators, belly dancers (2 groups this year), and thousands of spectators added to the already 50,000+/- runners. Here's a bit of evidence.



If you can't read his sign, it says, "Tuggie my Snuggie." And yes. He ran the whole 6 miles in a snuggie. Why didn't I think of that?

The race was fun with spectators handing out cups of beer, bacon, tater tots and spraying us down with water guns to keep us all entertained.

And now we come to the after race bag they give out to the runners.

Contents: Organic chocolate silk, Powerbar brand energy blasts, Rice and Adzuki bean snack chips (made with all natural ingredients and natural salt flavor), apricot and mango soy bar, rice crispy treat (finally something I recognize!!), "Bear Naked" organic, all natural granola, and an orange. And don't worry. The bag reminds us that the athletes were powered by 100% renewable energy.

I've never felt so organic in my life.

Sonnet 18

I just found this poem that I wrote during my last final's week of my college career. I thought it was too good not to share.


Shall I compare thee to my geography book?
Thou art more strong and more intelligent
Rough exams to try the patience and the will,
And schools' lease hath all too long a date.
Sometimes too complicated the text's rambling seems
And soon is the shiny newness dimmed;
And every theory and current event out dates
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed.
But thy eternal wisdom shall not fail
Nor lose that witty charm thou possess'st
Nor shall the passing of time change thy truth
When gray hairs invade thy precious scalp.
So long as men shall reason, or dreamers dream,
Thy words more interesting than my text shall seem.

56th post

Yeah. This is it. I've finally reached my 56th post! I know you all are as excited as I am to see what I have to say on this momentous occasion.

Our printer is out of black ink

My OTL* gets super vision today

I made a yummy gooey chocolate cake last night and when I woke up this morning, it had fallen over

We're going to Boulder, Colorado next weekend for the Bolder Boulder! I love the Elvis impersonators and the belly dancers. Boulder is truly where my heart lies. :)

I love the sunshine.

Hope you're all having a happy day!

*Only true love. My dad's invention I'm pretty sure.

my baby substitutes

Despite my yelling of "Who's your mama?" every chance I get, as well as my constant babying of my husband, the sad truth is, we don't have any children of our own. It's not out fault! Have you seen how infrequently those Kmart blue-light specials come around?

Anyway, while my family was in town a few weeks ago, my brothers kindly lent me their son's for a photo shoot. (For some reason, I only got pictures with my nephews.)





Is it my imagination, or do they look either completely bored (i.e. falling asleep) or slightly panicked. Yes, I am they're favorite aunt (and I don't let them forget it!)

Classic Quotes

Some people write quotes about their kids. I have a husband. His quotes are almost as great as our children's are going to be.

"Cute cloud!"

"Cute mountain!"

Yes. These were said on two different occasions.

p.s. we were almost attacked by the main characters in the Alfred Hitchcock film "The Birds" as we were driving to the temple the other day. No joke. There was a huge swarm of them, just flying towards us!

Hard Core

"Hard core" is relative.

My friend "S" told me she was going to run 6 miles this morning.

I had my reputation to take care of.

I said I would accompany her (must've been a sudden stroke of insanity).

Despite my anxiety that I hadn't run that far in a few months probably, I went.

It was raining the most it's rained in (this isn't the exact number, but pretty close) somewhere around 5 billion years.

We ran and ran and I was feeling great. The rain was pounding on me so I strapped my hood to my head and continued. The pioneer children being chased by Indians had nothing on our running and running and running and running.

And then, I saw her.

There was a girl, also running, coming towards us. She was wearing a similar outfit to mine, she looked like she had jumped in a swimming pool with her clothes on, and on her face was an expression of pure loathing for life, the exercise, and the rain. She looked ridiculous.

That's when I realized that I was looking at a reflection of myself. Blast! I even looked stupider because of my hood tied tight around my red, splotchy, swollen face.

I guess that's why those people in cars were honking, pointing and laughing at us. I just thought they were impressed by our dedication.


*note: okay. I didn't really see people pointing and laughing. I wouldn't actually know if they were or not, because the rain was messing with my contacts.

LASIK

L--lately we've been feeling spendy and blind

A--and the doctor's office gave us WARM cookies

S--so I guess there may be a slight possibility

I--If you can call it that,

K--kind of think Barney may be getting super vision soon.

Senior Moment

The sun is shining and it's a beautiful day!

This morning when I left the house without a jacket, it was basically euphoria. So, the next logical thought in my head was to go running! I ran inside to change my clothes as quickly as possible so as not to miss any of the sunshine. As I opened the door to run outside, I felt a slight breeze, and looked down. When was the last time you forgot to put on a shirt before leaving the house? I'm just glad I noticed before any of my neighbors did.

Little Lumps of Irony

I'm not sure if anyone else has noticed, but today is April 16. One day after tax day, 3 months, 3 weeks and 1 day after Christmas, and 27 days after the spring equinox. And yet, there are little lumps all over the trees this morning, which were blossoms yesterday (blossoms of hope, if you will), and today are merely ironic symbols of the cynic's reality. I think I'm going to move to Mexico.

Flop #2

One morning, a few years ago, I awoke to the panicked thought that it was April 1st (otherwise known as April Fool's Day) , and I had totally forgotten to prepare a prank on my mission companion. Despite my attempts at "losing" her during the morning rituals (exercise, frequent trips to the bathroom, etc), I was still without a good idea, and very much with my companion--circumstances that are not conducive to pranking. Finally, she got in the shower and I ran around our apartment in desperation for something, anything that I could think of. Kool-aid in the shower head? No, she was already in the shower. Make muffins with cotton balls in them? Not enough time. Finally, I came accross a pair of XXL nylons that had been left in the apartment by a former missionary. I opened up the package, and put the nylons in my companion's drawer. She got out of the shower, got ready and put on the nylons when, to my horror, they fit! I couldn't believe it! Turns out nylons are pretty much always "one size fits all" and super stretchy. Bummer! They were a little saggy, but nothing like I was hoping.

Well, a few days ago, I was awakened by my love telling me that a close family member had passed away the night before. I was distraught and sadly trying to comfort him when he yelled, "April Fools!" Blast. I forgot again? Well, thanks to the help of my good friend Britt, I made a delicious and very fancy Italian "dip" to serve for dinner. Here are the ingredients:


That thing on the right if fish sauce. Have you ever smelled fish sauce? It's foul. So, I mixed up all this stuff, thinking it would be way gross. Here was the reaction I got:

B: Mmm...what's this? reaching for a cracker to dip in the dip
M: Oh. It's just a fancy Italian dip I made for our Italian dinner (I made pizza:))
B: Taking a bite
M: Do you like it?
B: Yeah!
M: You do?!?!?!
B: Why? Should I not like it?

this is about where my cool poker face broke.

M: It was an April Fool's Day joke!
B: Well, it turned out pretty good. Here, you try it!

I tried a tiny bit just to satisfy Barney, but really, it was too gross thinking of all the things I had put in it.

So, there you go. Next year, I'm going to start early thinking of ideas...

spending the afternoon with j-dawg

Did someone say haircut?

*note: I took these pics with my phone. Thus the bad quality...

A letter to a celebrity

Dear James Bond,

I know you're probably used to being worshiped--especially among the lady-folk around Hollywood and in every movie that you've ever starred in. However, I was just wondering how I could be more like you. You may be wondering why, instead of just loving you, I want to aspire to be you. The answer is simple. It's just that my husband wors thinks you're great (we'll leave the worshiping to those that really deserve it-no offense) and I think that maybe I could impress him a little with my cool moves and creative abilities to "protect" my family. I would try writing Jackie Chan, but have you heard about how many injuries he's acquired during his exploits?

My point exactly. Not worth it.

Anyway, a little help would be appreciated. He's been laughing less and less at my jokes.

Sincerely,
Mary

Remember that one time...

Despite my attempts at being a grown-up most of the time (and the occasional gray hair that is "supposedly" spotted by my true love), there's something to be said for the good 'ol days. I hate to admit it, but on those nostalgic days, I still miss those times when we drove around in Jennica's old convertible, singing to Celine Dion at the top of our lungs and dedicating every version of "I'm your Lady" to the boy that we had a crush on in that moment (which was basically every boy). Never mind that now we just make fun of the cheesiness of the lyrics, and the fact that Celine has been the "hot item" in Vegas for just over 20 years or so by now. (Don't worry Sara, I won't tell that you went to see her...:)). It just goes to show, I guess, that Celine's heart will go on, and on, and on....

Help!

One of my favorite brothers, whom we will call Captain Neoprene, is getting married in approximately 31 days.  He and his future wife are both extremely kind and generous in allowing me, the lowly/younger sister, the privilege of doing whatever I want with the reception centerpieces and flowers. Here are a few of the ideas that I've found on-line: 

What do you think?