And The Light Goes On

Do you ever have one of those moments where the light goes on?  Where after years of not paying attention you finally notice something that you never had before?  An epiphany?  Well I did the other day. 

Remember my post about nicknames?  Where I talked about how much my family loves nicknames?  We don’t just love them, we need them to survive.  They are addicting to make up and give out and once you start you just can’t stop. 

Well when I told my 4 year old niece Peanut that I was having a baby she quickly asked if it was a boy or a girl.  I told her that Nana thought it was a boy and asked her opinion on what I should name him.  She thought for a few seconds, giggled and then said, “I think you should name him Candy Bar”.  Of course her giggling and thinking she was so clever made me laugh and I totally agreed with her, Candy Bar it was.  So since then I have referred to the baby as Candy Bar, which is only fitting since I call her Peanut Butter.  But notice that I said I have called the baby that, not WE. 

So it was a few days after Peanut bestowed this name upon my unborn child when I was laughing with my Dad over her great choice.  I mentioned to him that John never calls the baby Candy Bar and then it hit me.  My light bulb moment.  For the last 8 years we have been together, not once has John ever called anyone in my family by their nickname, EVER.  I sat there on the phone with my Dad stunned at my new revelation.  My husband doesn’t do nicknames, why had I never noticed this?  I mean he doesn’t even call my brother Ralph (Clint) by his, and of all the people you really should call by their nickname it is Ralph. 

My mind was boggled, I couldn’t even fathom how for the last 8 years I had missed this.  Honestly how do you miss something like that.  It was hilarious once I finally realized it and started thinking back.  This poor guy had to marry into a family with a raging addiction to nicknames and he never uses them.  He sees no point in calling someone something other than their given name, perish the thought I know.  We had a discussion about it that night and I let him know that Candy Bar was just the first of many, many nicknames to come, and most of them were going to be from me.  Good thing for me he is ok with that.

Monday Night Confessions

Monday again, I can’t believe how the weeks fly by.  Here are my confessions.

• This swine flu thing is freaking me out.  I have been reading and watching too much about it.  John has finally had to start censoring me.  I am paranoid about getting sick and even more so now that I am pregnant.  So we now have a bottle of Purell sitting by the door so as soon as we walk in the house we use that while we put our things away and then we have to go wash our hands to make sure the house stays clean.  Mostly I don’t want to get something called Swine Flu.  The Black Plague sounded lots cooler than Swine Flu.
• I am a sucker for marketing, I find it so intriguing.  I love to see what companies do to reel people in and then after telling John how genius their tactics are I go out and buy their product.  It really works on me.  2 cases to prove my point, 1) the other day at Safeway I was in the checkout line when they wheeled over the hot fresh french bread right by my line.  I couldn’t take it, I bought a loaf and ate a huge chunk in the car on the way home.  It smelled so stinkin good.  2) Last night watching Grey’s online with John the commercials were sponsored by Nesquick, you know that yucky chocolate milk stuff?  Well as soon as it was over I begged John to go to the gas station here and get us some chocolate milk.  He did. 
• I ate at the Pita Pit for the first time last week, and I guess I don’t get it.  I didn’t think it was that great, it was like a subway sandwich on a pita instead.  Did I order the wrong thing?  People rave about it and I don’t understand why.
• This weekend we went shopping in the “big city” that is a little over an hour away.  We first stopped at the real Mexican market they have there.  That place never ceases to amaze me.  The meat in the “cooler” looks green from sitting out too long, and the smell in the place about kills me dead.  The best part had to be the big open deep freeze that was full of honest to goodness spoiled frozen meat that they were trying to sell.  How does Code Enforcement not shut them down?  We only buy prepackaged food so I feel a little safer. 
• At least one of my pictures, and maybe more made it into the top 10 of one of the catergories for my photo contest.  Public voting starts today and I can’t wait to go and see which picture(s) made it!   

Happy Monday Everyone and THANK YOU ALL AGAIN FOR YOUR GOOD WISHES ABOUT BABY!

March 5th 2009

“I took a pregnancy test and it’s positive” I sobbed into the phone.  “Did you hear me?” I asked.  I wasn’t understanding why my husband wasn’t saying anything back to me, this was big news.  “Did you say it was negative?” he asked.  My sobbing had muffeled what I was telling him and he didn’t hear that I was indeed pregnant. 

It was a wonderful Thursday in March that I will never forget.  You see we had been trying to have a baby for 6 long years.  In fact it had been our 6 year mark in February, and this had come as a total shock.  After you pray, try, beg, plead, and cry your heart out for so many years and nothing happens you tend to give up hope that it will just happen like you see on the movies, you think that a magical moment like that will never happen to you.  I had resigned myself to this fact somewhere around year 2.  Never in a million years did I think I would get my moment, my turn.  When it finally came I wasn’t prepared, I was so caught off guard I could hardly think. 

My week started out just like all the others.  Monday morning had rolled around all to quick and I was up at 5:10 AM to get ready for work.  All that day I was sure that I should have started, but when I didn’t I wasn’t concerned.  I get my dates off and it didn’t seem like a big deal.  It would be Tuesday I assured myself.  Tuesday was a busy day that came and went with still nothing. 

By Wednesday I was starting to wonder, a lot.  I tried counting back on the calendar and I knew I couldn’t have been off by that many days.  Wednesday night was terrible.  I couldn’t sleep.  I tossed and turned all night with thoughts of “what ifs” running through my head.  Finally I couldn’t take it anymore and went out on the couch where I tossed and turned even more.  “Sleep” I screamed to myself.  You have to get to sleep you have interviews all day tomorrow and you need to be awake and alert for them.  John came out to wake me at 5:10.  I had only sleep an hour or two.

Thursday’s interviews seemed to drag on forever.  I couldn’t take it anymore, I was now 4 days late.  I had to get some answers.  I left right after the interviews and went to Kmart with the intention of buying a pregnancy test.  I snagged a shopping basket when I entered the store, I knew I was going to need more than just a test.  I wandered around the store first aimlessly grabbing things off the shelves and shoving them in my basket.  I bought a new candle, I love candles and I knew that if this test didn’t turn out in my favor I was going to need a new candle.  Oh a new soft blanket would be nice I said to myself.  I grabbed it too.  What else should I buy?  Um magazines, I am going to buy some random magazines that I never buy, and a bag of peanut M&M’s.  Once I had taken care of my comfort items I finally walked over and put a box of tests in my basket too.  You see after this many years of failed tests, and broken dreams, you learn what you need to do to protect yourself, I was going to make sure that I was prepared for the same outcome I had always gotten.  By now it was 3:15 in the afternoon.

As soon as I got home I knew I was going to take a test.  I couldn’t take another sleepless night, I had to try in the middle of the day and hope I could get an answer.  I got my answer almost immediately.  I stood there and stared.  I grabbed the box to make sure I was reading it right, and then I just stared at it again.  My whole body went numb as the shock set in.  When I could finally feel my legs again I ran and grabbed my phone to call John.  He was at school, class was going to start in a few minutes.  

I began sobbing before I dialed his number.  I couldn’t stop crying.  I was having a hard time breathing.  I think poor John was in shock too when he finally understood what I was telling him.  This was out of the blue for us.  We were not doing any medical intervention at this point.  We were planning on seeing a specialist this fall and that was what we had talked about for the last few months. 

So there it was, in the middle of my ordinary Thursday Heavenly Father gave me a miracle.

Ben + Amy (Part 2)

Here are the second set of pictures that I did for Ben and Amy.  In case you can’t tell, I have a love affair with weeds and prairie grasses, they make for the best pictures! 

I LOVE these next 2 pictures. 

I also love some great graffiti pics.

I am crazy about these next few pictures.

A little Wyoming Pride.

And a few with some great texture that I can’t get enough of.

Thursday Night Confession

I was going to wait until Monday to confess this but I just can’t wait that long.  After 7 years of marriage and 6 long years of trying to have a baby I am super excited to announce that I AM GOING TO HAVE A BABY!! 

I am due November 10th. 

8 Years Ago…

It was 8 years ago today that I met the man who would one day be the love of my life, my best friend, and my husband for eternity, and it was all thanks to a blind date. 

My BFF Terri and I were living in SLC and she was dating a kid from back home who was friends with John and they decided to set us up.  I wasn’t so hot on blind dates, in fact I think I might have sworn them off like a month before.  But being not so big on resolve, and a little bored I said yes. 

Terri and I drove to Preston to have dinner and hang out with them.  When we walked in the door John was hiding in the kitchen.  When he finally decided to grace me with his presence I was pleasantly surprised.  He was adorable and he was tall, like really tall.  What more could I ask for.  They cooked us a dinner of dutch oven potatoes, steak and cobbler.  It was delicious.

  John was the cook for the night and I figured he was really into his cooking and that was why he was avoiding me most of the day.  Over dinner I think he said maybe 1 word to me.  We went on a 4 wheeler ride up the canyon where he proceeded to say NO more words to me.  I was having a hard time getting a read on this guy.  He was so quite and shy I couldn’t beat a conversation out of him. 

But when we finally got back to the house, and right before Terri and I had to leave, out of the blue this guy who hadn’t hardly spoke to me the whole night decided to kiss me instead.  Moral of that story:  Words are overrated. 

So every year on this day John cooks me dutch oven potatoes, steak, and cobbler.  It is one of my favorite things to look forward to in April.  So happy first date anniversary to us!

 

Another Preview for Ben and Amy

When we did their first set of pictures on the dreary snowy Friday I told them that we would go out again this week when the weather was better and I am SO glad we did!  I can’t even tell you how much I love sunny, happy pictures!  Here is a preview of more good things to come.