FreeRice

I was given this website by a friend at work today. It's a fun way to test your vocabulary. http://freerice.com/ Mom, I think you should really try it, I want to know what level you would get to.

Holiday Success

Well, I must not be such a horrible christmas baker. I made Wassle, Mexican Wedding Cookies and Glazed Nuts for my work's "12 Work Days Until Christmas" today and everyone loved them. That helped my confidence in making Christmas goodies. Maybe I'll get the guts up to try that fudge again. :) (P.S. That is not a picture of my real cookies, but I'm putting the blog up at school before class and I thought I would at least include something that looked like what I made) Heehee

The Wheels on the "Hummer" go round and round

Better watch out I have a new drive in town. It's yellow and it's big. The only thing that's missing is me in it. Christmas came a couple of weeks early for me. I won this bad boy in a drawing at work. Look forward to having some fun.

Oops! I Did it again

Charity came over Sunday night, just in time for us to make holiday goodies. So we made some delicious caramels, cute little Mexican Wedding Cookies (minus the powdered sugar), and a sorry excuse for fudge. My sister and I about wet our pants because we were laughing so hard at our fudge. We had to take a picture to prove how ugly it looked. We wanted everybody to laugh with us. I think we must have cooked it at just the right temperature for the sugar to crystallize and separate from the butter. It still tasted really good though. We put it back on a low heat to see if we could get the sugar to redissolve and it did help a little. We decided to call it a chocolate crumble rather than fudge. Que Sera.

Christmas

The Christmas holidays are here. Faith and I decorated the tree and our apartment. What a wonderful time of the year see christams trees and lights. City Creek Park up through Memory Grove have their lights decorated like this. It is very pretty at night, especially with the snow we've recieved.

Linton's Thanksgiving

We gathered for the annual Linton's Thanksgiving dinner. We had a great time with family members. Although we did miss Vaughn who ended up having to work. Thank you for the smiles.

10 Things I Find Strange About Being Pregnant

1. Still managing to feel hungry, yet full, every minute of the day despite eating at least every two hours.
2. Lacking the mobility to get out of bed without rolling out.
3. Constant movement inside my belly. Often resulting in a jump of surprise from me and weird looks from those around me.
4. There is a real live person growing inside my stomach!
5. The inability to launch myself from off the floor after putting my shoes on without help.
6. A closet full of clothes, yet very few items that are long enough to cover my belly. I am loving the excuse to buy new clothes.
7. My sudden interest and enjoyment in reading parenting magazines.
8. Constant exhaustion and sporadic weeping.
9. Buying cute and adorable things for a baby.
10. My husband's sudden and adoring interest in little girls. I have to admit that this one is my favorite!

Two Peas in a Pod

I've always heard that girls end up marrying someone like their dad, but I didn't believe it. I didn't even believe it when I was dating Spencer. Come to find out, Spencer and my dad are like two peas in a pod. They love spending time together. I think the thing that reminds me the most of my dad are their goofy personalities and their love for serving in the church.

I never have to worry about making sure Spencer feels comfortable when we are hanging out with Mom and Dad. He fits right in and I'm greatful. I am thankful how they both have been there to take care of me and support me through hard times, even when I'm crying. Big hug to the two most important men in my life. I love you both!

Pirated!

Silent films and talkies collided tonight in the play Pirated!. The play was about the making of the film Pirates of Penzance and was put on by Davis High School. Our very own Nathan starred as one of the silent pirates who were forced to keep silent as others dubbed their voices from a sound booth. The play kept us laughing all the way through and it was exciting to see Nate up on stage. He did a fabulous job!

The Blogging Connection

Yea! My mom and sister have joined the crew of bloggers! As my mom says, it's a great way to stay connected!

Surprise Charity!

We had a surprise birthday dinner for Charity, thanks to Ginny and Morley who were in charge of it. The Durfee family all showed up and sang happy birthday to her. We had burritos and tacos for dinner. We played a fun game that involved making animals voices and disguising our voices. We then had strawberry shortcake for dessert. We hope you had a great night and a happy birthday Chairty.

This Is The Place

I can hardly believe it but we actually got all caught up on the things we needed to do and had some free time to do whatever we wanted to. So, I left it up to Spencer to decide on what to do. We decided to hit up a virtual cach at This Is The Place Heritage Park. It was a multi-cach were one hit would then lead us to another. We were suppose to find answers to questions along the way. We got to see the different monuments they have at the park. My favorite was the Pony Express, the statue was beautiful and it was interesting to read about the contrast and symbolism built into it. We also saw a monument for Anson Call, an ancestor of Spencer's. I'm looking forward to the day when we have kids and we can take them up to see a monument dedicated to one of their ancestors. I wish that we had remembered our camera. It was a beautiful day and the view down into the valley was wonderful.

A A A

I'm so proud of Spencer, I just had to post this up. He got his 3rd A grade on his paper for Communications. He gets his 4th one back this Thursday and I know that he is going to keep up his streak. I'm so greatful to him for going back to school against all his fears. He has been putting a lot of time and effort into doing well. Just like Spencer does with many things in his life, when he sets his mind on a goal he works hard at it and that's what he is doing with school. I knew he could do well. I love ya Spence!

Both of us are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. With our Thanksgiving break quickly approaching and semester end on the tail of that, we just might make it through this sememster! For me this is even more exciting, only one more semester to go after this! April is seeming closer all the time.

"Our" Saturday

After weeks of day after day non-stop going, Spencer and I decided to do whatever we had to this week to free up our Saturday. We dedicated it as "our" Saturday, a day to focus on spending some relaxing time with one another with no worries about homework, housework or grocery shopping. We took the opportunity to start the day with a yummy breakfast at a packed IHOP. They may be unhealthy, but oh, I love their Cheese Blitzes! We decided to explore the new Wally World in Centerville and amazingly enough it was pretty much empty. So, we did a little bit of shopping there and at other stores entirely for baby stuff. (Do we seem excited?) Look at the cute stroller we found today! It even came with the car seat and base. Wahoo! We ended the day with a fun ride on the Trax to the Sandy Expo Center. While walking around we found a little pumpkin patch. I couldn't resist buying these little pumpkins to use to decorate my work area. I think they will make a festive addition to the spooky decorations that my co-worker brought in to share. Did I mention that Halloween is almost as big as Christmas at my work?

Our Little Aine

Without a scanner, this is my lame attempt to take a picture of an ultrasound picture. I just couldn't resist putting it up on our blog. We had our first ultrasound on Tuesday. Both Spencer and I were excited and nervous to find out if the baby was going to be a boy or a girl. Of course we both had our preference, but most of all, I was excited to just be able to call the baby by name instead of "it". I will admit, I was so excited and nervous that I was shaking the whole way to the doctor's office. For those who haven't heard yet, we are having a baby girl. (Yeah! I'm looking forward to dressing her up in adorable pink dresses and doing her hair.) The plan for now is to name her Aine Bonnie. Although it was wonderful to finally know that we are having a girl, it was even more amazing to watch the ultrasound and see the different parts of our little baby and to watch as she moved. I got a little emotional watching it. At the beginning of the ultrasound the doctor did the standard measurement and our little Aine is right on schedule. So the due date is still February 27. The picture above is one of the first the doctor was able to get after the measurements and Aine is looking straight at us, like she knew we were watching. Although it is hard to see, there are two eyes, a mouth and nose and even some little fingers in that picture. To help, the crown of her head is right next to were the flash is on the picture. I am about 20 weeks along and yes, Dan, I'm finally starting to show it. We took a picture as evidence. :)

Conference Weekend

It seems that every Conference weekend Dad always had some kind of road trip planned for Sunday. I think his original idea was to get us stuck in one place where we would have to listen to at least one session of Conference, but it became a tradition that many of us loved. This Conference Mom and Dad where preparing for their trip to Missouri and had no plans for the Conference road trip. Spencer and I, on the other hand had planned in advance to take a drive to Midway to visit his grandparents grave. So, we invited Catherine and Abraham along for the ride. The roads in the canyons where beautiful. The pine trees had a fresh frosting of snow and they were complimented by the gold changing leaves of neighboring trees. After arriving in Midway we decided to continue on driving. We made it out to Duchesne where we stopped at a park and had some lunch. At that point we decided to stretch some legs a bit and held a race between Abraham and Spencer. It was fun to have Abraham and Catherine along for the ride.

Midway Visit

Conference Sunday we drove up to the Midway Cemetary for the first time for me and the first time for Spencer since he dedicated Grandma Schueller's grave. The weather was cool but clear.

KeyBank Implosion

We went for a walk last night to see the aftermath of the Key Bank Building Implosion. I was surpirsed by the height of the pile of rubble that they are sorting through now. They have started to make piles of salvagable steel that they can sell or use elsewhere. The building fell into a relatively small, compact space and left the rest of the space where Crossroads mall used to be wide open. We woke up early Saturday morning to watch it all happening on the news. They imploded the building around 6:35 am. This was about ten minutes earlier than planned due to an incoming thunderstorm. They advised people in the downtown area to stay in the homes until around 10:30 to allow the dust to clear. But due to the storm coming in the dust was all settled within the hour. The church headed up the giant task of imploding the Key Bank Tower to begin making room for the new City Creek Center that is projected to be complete in 2011. Although the new City Creek Center looks like it will be beautiful, for now the task is just to clean up the mess.

School is Here!

Congrats to Spencer! He has been officially accepted to LDSBC and is now registered for three classes. That's right, he's made the decision to go back to school and I am so proud of him! He is going to do a good job. We both will be starting school again this Monday and we're excited! I admit balancing work, school and pregnancy is going to be a challange but I love it! I'm in the race to the finish to graduate from school. True I won't have reached my goal of getting my associates before we start having kids, but at least our baby will only be a couple of month old when I do, if I can make it. :) I've missed sitting in a classroom with other students and friends and learning new things. I'm excited to have Spencer along for the ride this time around. Now he'll be understand when I'm trying to do homework, hehe. He will be taking some general classes that I have already taken and I have given him a heads up on what to expect. He is excited to give school another try.

No Turning Back Now :)

Well, we met our OBGyn at our second doctor's appointment. She seems to be a pretty busy women, after waiting an hour to get in we talked shortly about how things were going, she answered a few of my questions and then she checked for the baby's heartbeat. We didn't get to hear it at our first appointment with the nurse practitioner (sorry I don't think that is spelled right), but she said it was probably to early. But we did get to hear the baby's heartbeat this time around. I can still hear the fast paced rhythm. The doctor seemed relieved to be able to hear it and said it was a sign that we had passed the miscarriage stage. Then she announced that there would be "No turning back now". Were we going to be able to turn back before? :)

Spencer is My Hero!

Spencer is my hero! We had my Grandma Durfee, Charity and Morgan over for dinner on Friday before we went to a bagpipe concert in the park. When I got home from work the whole apartment looked tranformed. Spencer spent his time after work moving things into our storage unit and putting away everything else that we had packed. Then he vaccuumed and wiped down the whole place. It looked amazing and my heart was so full! He saved the day! He also happily and gladly washes the dishes after nearly every meal! This morning he took some time out of his daily run to run with me to make sure I was safe and to encourage me! I am so grateful for my wonderful husband. I can't imagine life without him and his happy smiling face. Thank you Spencer! I love you!

Boondocks

We went to Boondocks for my company party last night. Neither one of us had ever been there before. They have a lot of fun things to do, like rock climbing, race karts, miniture golf and arcades. My favorite was the Bumper Boats. We got to ride around on these boats and squirt other people. We all got so wet, I even got to squirt some of my new co-workers and thier kids. :) (Hopefully, I didn't leave any bad impressions) The night was a blast and the food was good.

Concert at the Park

Spencer and I went to a Peter Breinholt concert at the Brigham Young Park right down the street from our apartment. It was such a blast and there were a lot of people there. Peter sang a lot new songs and a couple of old favorites, like "Grow Old With Me" and "What About". On some of the songs he invited the kids to come up front and dance. They were so adorable that I asked Spencer to go up and get a picture of them. We had a lot of fun and clapped through his music.

We're Here

I didn't want to take any pictures of our new apartment until we had gotten some of the stuff put away, but at the moment our storage unit is occupied by another tenant. So, I finally broke down and took some pictures. This is the moving mess of the front room and truthfully it is the worst of it. We have set up most of our kitchen, bedroom and bathroom, so there are parts of the apartment that are livable at this point. :) With the move, finals and starting a new job I have been overwhelmed with it all, but Spencer has been right there helping out as always. He truly is my knight in shinning armour, here to save the day!

Accounting Clerk

Well, I've officially started as a full time Accounting Clerk. I have been training on and off this past week while I finished up with school finals. Last week I just wanted to cry, but I'm thankful for Spencer. He was right by my side during all the big changes and stress to try and help in any way he could. I now will be working everyday, all day. It's nice to have work so close. I'm taking my lunch break and I decided to walk back to the apartment and have it here. :) I have never worked so close to home. The company I work for is awesome and I love all the people that I work with! Spencer and I are looking forward to the company party this week... it will be held at Boondocks. :)

Connected Again!

We have internet connection again! After moving into our new apartment we have been unable to access the internet...at all! We started moving in last Friday night and first off our phone didn't get connected until Tuesday. Spencer and I enjoyed a weekend of solitude until we could talk to people again. :) Really, we enjoyed the one on one time together and the chance to get things moved in undisturbed. But we are excited to talk to people again. Then once our phone was hooked up the internet still wasn't working. We were on and off the phone again with our internet provider to get our wireless set up. I guess they didn't have wireless set up in our area...maybe because there seems to be a lot of older people in this area and I guess they don't use wireless??? We don't know... but we are excited to be connected tonight so that we can stay in touch! Look for more coming up about our move into the city! :)

Chilling In Park City

Spencer and I are spending some good quality vacation time with my family in their Park City resort. We came in yesterday right after work and school. Mom, Dad, Spencer and I went out to dinner at Spencer's Smokin' Grill. They had hats with their logo that said "Spencer's". I think it would be so much fun for me to wear one around and let everyone know that I belong to Spencer. :) We also dropped by ColdStone, thanks Mom and Dad! When we got back we played in the pool with Abraham and Catherine. Poor Spencer has to work from 11 to 7 today and I am missing him. We are having a birthday dinner for Dad tonight and we are looking forward to it. Spencer and I will be up here chilling out until Sunday morning. I love this place!

Flowers!

I know I'm a little slow on getting this up, I've been trying to get homework done before the weekend (Park City here we come!) Tuesday I went to Red Butte Botanical Garden with the crew. It was a prefectly beautiful day for walking around the garden. Earlier this spring I visited Red Butte for the first time in hopes of getting some ideas for my own garden. Unfortunatly, we went to early and there were not a lot of flowers in bloom. Greatfully, this time the whole garden was in bloom. I even got to see one of my mission favorites, the Dogwood. I have to admit it caused me to feel a mission sick. Part of my heart still lives in Virginia. The Wisteria was also in full bloom and it was gorgeous. It was growing over the top of us in many different parts of the garden. The wild lilacs had a strong fragrant smell and where also all over the garden. (Did I mention lilacs are my favorite fragrant flowers? mmm...they have the best smell.) Plus, I got to hang out with my cute neices, aren't they adorable!Thanks Mom and Charity for bringing me along and giving me a little break from school work!