Pictures!!

I've decided that it is Troy's computer and not blogger that is being dumb. I can normally copy and paste the pictures in the order that I want but it's just not working. I only uploaded the pictures you can actually tell what they are. The first picture is of her cute little feet, the second picture is the top of her head and you can see her little brain and her little fingers. She was sucking on her thumb! and the last picture is of her beautiful little profile!

I'm literally laughing out loud at myself. I used to look at my friends ultrasound pictures on facebook or on blogs and when they would leave captions like "look how cute he/she is!" I'd think to myself, "it looks like every other ultrasound picture I've ever seen." I guess you just have to wait until you have your own and then you can ooh and ahh over how cute their brain is or how perfect their little fingers are.

She sure is cute.

I am starting to sound like a mother. Yikes!

In case you haven't heard...

we're having a girl!!!

It was so much fun to see her on the ultrasound. My favorite part was seeing her and feeling her at the same time. I could feel a jab and realize that was her foot or her head. Already she's a stubborn little thing. She moves around like crazy in my belly all day so the ultrasound tech had hard time getting all of the pictures that she needed to get. The doctor had to finally come in to check for the gender and it took her a good 15 minutes to get a somewhat distinguishable picture of her girl parts. We never did get a good picture or her spine because she literally kept turning around in circles every time the doctor tried. The doctor said that based on how much she was moving around and that everything looked great in her brain that most likely everything with the spine was perfectly normal. Other than that everything looked great!

After the appointment they gave us a few pictures and a DVD of the entire ultrasound. That was really cool. I've already watched it twice!

I've fallen in love with her.

I tried posting pictures but blogger is being dumb and not letting me. I'll try again later!!

30 things catch up, Days 22-30

I haven't posted because the charger on my laptop decided to commit suicide. I was catching up on a missed episode of Teen Mom online when I heard a very curious "zap zap!" sound. I investigated and found that my power cord was smoking. I quickly unplugged it. Luckily my laptop is fine, my charger is not. I have yet to buy a new charger. Those things are expensive!! That's when I realized that I have the use of Troy's laptop at my disposal. So voila!

Since it's been a while I don't really remember which "day" I did each day... My apologies.

Day 22: Today... I will spend time with a friend.

I got to hang out with my good friend Angela. I haven't seen her since her cute daughter Emery was a few months old. And she's almost 2!! We went to lunch at cafe rio and caught up on each others lives and gossiped.

Day 23: Today... I will finish something I started.

I finished reading Eat Pray Love. It was a really good book but the part where she was in India was really hard for me to get through. It was really dull to me. It was all about her struggle with meditating. I had quit reading it for awhile. And normally I read really fast. I was going to see the movie with my friends and wanted to read the whole thing before. I powered through that book!

Day 24: Today... I'll make good use of my time

Since graduating. Quitting my job and the end of my internship I've had a lot of free time and I admit that a lot of that time has been well wasted. Sleeping in, tv watching, blog stalking. I cleaned our bedroom and our bathroom. Did 2 loads of laundry including folding and I made dinner. I feel so much better about myself when I'm not a big lazy.

Day 25: Today... I'll get moving.

Just like I admitted on Day 24, I've been pretty lazy. I went to the gym and did an hour of cardio. I got nice and sweaty. It felt great!

Day 26: Today.... I'll put money into perspective

Since Troy and I are entering into a new chapter in our lives I've come to the disappointing realization that "fun money" will not be as easy to come by for the next 20+ years. We've been needing to re-budget. So I did. Goodbye money. It was nice having a little bit of you for awhile.

Day 27: Today... I'll appreciate where I live.

Living with my mom wasn't exactly how I pictured my life at 23, married and expecting a baby. And I've had a bit of an ungrateful attitude about it. When I think about it though I'm really so lucky. Troy and I have decided to stay longer than just the fall. In fact, we're planning on living here for awhile when the baby is born. In January we'll have a new baby, hospital expenses, Troy will be starting his first semester at the University of Utah (and the tuition that goes along with that), and I will be out of work caring for our baby for a couple of months. My mom is so kind and generous. She has offered us her bedroom since its upstairs next to the office and is letting us turn the office in to the baby's room. Our little bedroom down stairs is barely big enough for the 2 of us. No room to put a baby. I really do appreciate all that my mom does for us.

Day 28: Today... I will learn to cook something new.

My favorite food is italian. My favorite restaurant is the Olive Garden. I found the recipe online for Capellini Pomodoro. And I made it. It was SUPER easy and pretty darn healthy. And tasty :)

Day 29: Today... I'll live in the moment.

I've struggled a lot with always looking toward the future. I'd find myself saying things like, "I'll be happy when I graduate," "Tomorrow is going to be so much fun." What's wrong with today? I focused on being happy with today. Focusing on enjoying whatever is going on around me. Hanging out with my mom, enjoying the company of my dogs, spending the last dwindling moments of "Leslie and Troy."

Day 30: Today... I'll be creative.

I regularly read two blogs All Things Thrifty and The Frosted Gardner. I've been wanting to refinish some old furniture for a while now and these two blogs inspire me every day! I've never really gotten around to it. So I finally did! I went to DI and bought me a little dresser for the baby's room. And I'm so excited to refinish it!! The same day I bought the baby's dresser I got offered 2 free MATCHING dressers. An offer I couldn't refuse! Troy and I have mis matched bedroom furniture. I've been wanting a matching bedroom set since we said "I do." Unfortunately, we're poor as crap students. So now I've taken on not ONE but THREE re-finishing projects. I've never re-finished anything in my life. I'M SO EXCITED.


Sorry this post was forever long.

But we find out if we're having a boy or a girl on Wednesday!!! wahoo!!

random thought.

I was very contemplative today.
I've been trying to figure out what i'm supposed to do next now that i'm all graduated.
I was seriously so frustrated.
So I said out loud to myself
"I wish someone would just tell me what I'm supposed to do next!"

and then...

My baby kicked me.

I literally laughed out loud.
duh.

I suppose God does let you know what your next move is.
sometimes its a really really REALLY big surprise.
Thankfully for me
he's letting me know 9 months in advance.

30 things: Day 21

Today.... I will not complain.

I think I'm a chronic complainer. I do it all of the time. I think mostly because I've enjoyed getting my way pretty much my whole life (but honestly who doesn't?).

Yesterday I had plenty of opportunity to complain. I wanted yesterday to be a learning experience and to not be about me being a martyr and taking one for the team in silence. I think as a human being I can use the practice at telling people what I want versus complaining about something I'm not getting.

Sadly my dear sweet husband gets about 90% of my complaints.

"Why did you do this?"
Why didn't you know I wanted this? I always do _____ this way"
"How come you're not doing that?"

I really need to master the art of "Thanks for your help, next time would you mind doing ____?"

So yesterday I did not complain. Which took a lot of self discipline. I think it helped a lot though. It opened communication a lot more and I think that Troy was even more willing to do things when I asked nicely or made suggestions instead of complaining that he was doing something wrong.

Grad

I'm so excited to say that I have graduated from College!! I'm the first in my family to graduate from college. My mom only got her high school diploma and my dad only got through one semester of college. Even in my extended family there haven't been too many grads. So it's a pretty big accomplishment to me. I'm so thankful to all my family and friends who've helped me reach this goal. Especially my mom who has been there for me through every finals week melt down. She's been such a huge supporter of my education. And of course to Troy. He's been there for the melt downs as well. Both of them have given me so much support.

Here are some random thoughts about me graduating...

I looooved my minor (nutrition) I wish that I would have majored in it but alas the U does not have a major... only a minor and a masters. Strange I know. I love that it is something practical that I literally use every single day, multiple times a day.

My major (psychology) is a little impractical from a job stand point. But it was fascinating to me.

My freshman year I was horrible at school. My sophomore year I was pretty bad too. I had to retake classes.

I've been to 3 different colleges.

I discovered that school is sooo much easier when you actually go to class.

If you talk to your teachers and let them know you're struggling they'll practically bend over backwards to help you out. I had a teacher once raise my grade on a test from a D- to a C- just because I went in after hours.

Some classes are beyond boring. Environment and Behavior, Language of Color, Intro to Jazz. Avoid them if you can...

The international requirement at the U is completely bogus.

Parking at the U is a joke.

I still have no idea what I want to do.

I can't wait to go to graduate school! whenever i can figure out what I want to do... and whenever I can actually make that happen.

30 things: Days 18, 19 & 20

Day 18: Today..... I will work on my sense of humor.

I like to think I'm a funny person. I probably think I'm more funny than I actually am. I think my friends tend to laugh at me more than they laugh with me. And that's ok. I do dumb stuff a lot. It's just fact. One thing I appreciate about my husband is that he genuinely thinks I'm funny.

I don't know how one really goes about working on their sense of humor but today I spent a good 20 minutes watching clips from Fail Blog off of youtube. If you can't laugh while watching this video I think YOU need to work on your sense of humor. I would start off by watching fail blog... HILARIOUS.

Day 19: Today...... I'll do a "secret service"

Sorry kiddos. I can't tell you what I did. Then it wouldn't be a secret. You're supposed to do one nice thing for someone, anyone and not tell a soul. It can be leaving a nice anonymous note for someone, leaving flowers on a door step, some sort of donation. My lips are sealed. But I dare you to try it!!

Day 20: Today...... I'll learn something useless

I know thats weird. Why on earth would knowing something useless make me a better person? It probably won't. But I'll be way more fun to talk to! Troy's friend Nick knows useless information about practically every topic you could ever come up with. I'm convinced he actually makes up like 94% of these facts. For instance, he once told me that scientists were looking into using cat urine as a new possible fuel for cars... cat urine? i don't think so. It definitely makes conversation more interesting... so here is my useless knowledge I have learned today...

A hump back whale's milk is 54% fat. This could one day prove useful... If I'm ever faced with a decision such as trying to decide between Orca or hump back whale milk while stranded on a desert island? maybe?

p.s. I am going on a camping trip the next 4 days and I am therefore on a temporary 30 day hiatus for 4 days because I will almost probably, most likely forget. I may do one... I make no promises.

30 things: Days 12-17

um... So I officially sucked at blogging this week. Considering I've been schooling it up like crazy since i GRADUATE from COLLEGE on wednesday I forgive myself. I hope you can too.

I'll make these fast except my favorite one I did this week...

Day 12: Today.... I will do my part to stop world hunger.

I know as a member of the LDS faith that I have helped contribute to this quite often through tithes and fast offerings. I was wondering what I should do on Monday for this challenge and I read a blog article that I will not link because it just really made me upset. Some lady (who I've never even met just a random blog I came across) was on some rant about how she thinks that things such as free lunch programs at school are bogus. And how the government should not be apart of helping hungry people get food and that people should have to rely on themselves and their families if they are starving. I understand being upset at people who take advantage of such programs but REALLY? If i'm happy about being taxed at all it's to help others get a meal.

So it really got me thinking about people who might be poor and may not have access to the bishops store house or other things the church has to offer those in need. I wanted to help those people. So I got a box and went to my food storage in search of unexpired canned/dry goods. I got my box of food and headed to the Bountiful Food Pantry.

I have decided from this experience that not too many ordinary people must walk in with box of food to donate on a regular basis. I went right before the pantry closed and it was packed. I'd never been before and had to clue what I was doing. I was dodging people left and right who were darting to get what little items were left on the shelf. I mean there was enough food there for everyone but it was surprisingly or not so surprisingly bare. Except for bread. They had A LOT of bread. I kept looking for someone to take my small (yet incredibly heavy) box but everyone there thought I was there to pick up food. "You need to go sign in before we close if you want food." and I kept saying "No i just want to donate this." so they would give me a shocked look and say "oh! well then you need to go over there!" Finally someone took my food.

I felt pretty good. I would like to make this more regular. I think a lot of people only think about donating food around the holidays and I can tell you...the Bountiful pantry needs food. Go donate some!


Day 13: Today.... I will read for no reason.

I love reading. But lately with school, work, internship my leisurely reading has been cut to zero. I made time for myself and read some of Eat, Pray, Love. I want to finish it before it comes out in the theater in the next couple of weeks. I've missed reading.

Day 14: Today... I will study (my scriptures)

I gave the kids the challenge of just studying for school or whatever. Since I already study pretty much every day I decided to do some scripture study which I admit I have not been doing every day.

Day 15: Today... I will meditate.

Meditation is freaking hard. I wasn't even sure how to do it. I felt like an idiot doing the "omm" thing since I don't even know what "omm" means. So I decided to lay on my bed and try to be all zen. I completely fell asleep. It was nice though.

Day 16: Today... I will enjoy nature.

I went up to Mill Hollow with Troy and his parents for a couple of hours to pick out a camping spot for our trip next week. I've never been to Mill Hollow but can I just tell you that it is THE most beautiful part of the Uintas that I have ever been too? Wild flowers EVERYWHERE, a herd of sheep, rolling hills and meadows, streams, a lake. I'm so excited for camping next weekend!

Day 17: Today... I will relax.

Best. idea. ever.