Romney News

Oh, life has been so eventful lately! A little too eventful for my taste, but things are hopefully finally settling down!

Here's a little update as to what's been going on with our family:

I got mastitis again a few days ago... either that, or it was the same bout of mastitis as before, and it just never got completely wiped out. But I'm on new antibiotics and am starting to feel better again, so hopefully this will be the last time! I've been to see a doctor 5 times in the last 18 days, to 3 different buildings, to see 4 different doctors, so I'm really hoping that things are finally taken care of.

Jacob started classes for his spring semester at Mizzou last week, and he had his first day of his clinical rotations yesterday. Naomi decided to wake up at the break of dawn (we don't have curtains yet for her room, so that's what happens), so I was already up when Jacob left in the morning. Our camera's battery is dead, but I got a picture on the cell phone of my studly man in his scrubs & lab coat! (Sorry the quality and lighting is so crappy... I should have gotten the real camera ready, but I was too sick to care at the time! Also, please excuse the mess... we are still not unpacked!)

Naomi is now sleeping in her very own twin bed! She had been sleeping in the pack 'n play (because we already raised the mattress in the crib to the highest setting for Aleta), but on Wednesday night when we put her down for bed, she somehow climbed/fell out of the pack 'n play and sat there on the floor crying until I came in to get her. So Jacob & I decided it was time for her real bed. We were both expecting her to have a hard time adjusting to the new bed & new room (she had also been sleeping in what will be Aleta's room), but to our surprise, she has transitioned very easily to sleeping in her new bed! On Wednesday night, Jacob laid down with Naomi for a little while before leaving her room. When he left, she cried for a few minutes but then fell asleep. When I checked on her later, she was curled in a ball on the very bottom end of the bed, which was the only part of the bed that didn't have a wall or a bed gate blocking her from falling to the floor. Luckily, she didn't fall out! Every time since then that we've put her down for bed or for a nap, she has gone to bed happily without crying at all. So we have been very happy with how well Naomi has adjusted to her new sleeping arrangements! Right now, Naomi's room has no furniture except for her bed, which has no cute bedding--just white sheets--but as soon as we get her room looking prettier, I'll take some pictures.

Aleta has started smiling and cooing a lot, which I am enjoying! I think she sleeps better at night than Naomi ever did, which has been nice for me. Naomi woke up so often to nurse for the first year of her life, and I never got any sleep... it was awful. I'm hoping Aleta will continue to be a little easier on me as far as sleeping goes!

Our new place is still a disaster... I'm actually surprised we've gotten as much done as we have, considering I've been sick almost the entire time we've lived here. My amazing sister-in-law Rachel spent a few days here with us when I was sick with mastitis and we had just moved in, helping with the kids & helping us get things unpacked. We wouldn't have gotten anything done without her, so we really appreciated having her here with us! Naomi loved having someone to play with and give her attention, too, since I had been too sick to play with her. Thank you again, Rachel! You are awesome!!

Once we get all of the boxes & bins unpacked and put away, I will take & post some pictures of our new place. But it may be a little while, so be patient with me!

I will leave you with a few more photos of terrible quality from our phone from the past few weeks... I wish I had had our camera charged & good to go, but that just was not a priority at the time with everything else going on!

This is the bedding I ordered for Naomi's bed from Target (on clearance!! 29.98 for the whole bedding set)

This is a picture of part of our living room in our new place, right after we moved in. Our box spring sat there at the bottom of the stairs for 3 days before we finally asked the maintenance guys to help us. They had to take off our front door and scrape up the walls/ceiling a bit to get it up the stairs.

Naomi started sitting in the stroller in the living room to watch her movies. Jacob finally folded it up and put it in the kitchen so it was out of the way, and I walked in to find her trying to sit in it while it was still folded up!

Naomi has also started crawling in the basket under the stroller and trying to hide.

Aleta had her first real bath here in our new house. I expected her to scream the whole time, since that's what Naomi did when she was a baby, but she actually was pretty calm. She didn't seem to like it, but she didn't even cry or fuss... she mostly just lay there in her tub looking like this:

Noodle Necklaces

Naomi had a lot of fun on Friday night playing with some necklaces at a friend's house, so we made our own necklaces on Saturday with cheerios and penne pasta. Sadly, Naomi wouldn't wear hers, but she did enjoy helping me put the noodles on the yarn. She also had fun treating her necklace like a candy necklace and eating the cheerios off of it.

Since Naomi wouldn't wear the necklace, Jacob was kind enough to model it for me. Doesn't he look lovely? And so thrilled? (By the time this picture was taken, Naomi had already eaten half of the cheerios off of the necklace.)
In other news, Naomi went to nursery for the first time on Sunday. Jacob dropped her off, and she was fine at first... But about 5 minutes into Sunday School, I heard familiar screams coming from the hallway. Apparently, after her initial excitement wore off, she realized that Daddy wasn't there anymore. So I spent all of the second hour of church staying in the nursery room with her, and Jacob spent the third hour with her. We're hoping after a week or two, Naomi will get used to the other kids and start to enjoy nursery by herself. We'll see!

Jacob's Birthday Weekend

So, when I made my goal to do one fun new thing with Naomi each day last week, I forgot that we were leaving for the weekend to go to Jacob's parents' house. Thursday was spent being a little sick and doing laundry and packing and then working, and then we left early on Friday. So I will have to finish my week of homemade fun this week.

On Thursday, my husband turned 28!! Since we were leaving the next day to celebrate with the other Romneys who live in the area, I didn't make or buy a cake--we would have eaten a couple pieces and then had to throw the rest away. Instead, we had birthday eclairs! I stuck a candle in Jacob's and sang to him all by myself so he could make a wish. Sadly, we didn't get any pictures. I did take a video, but since I'm the only person singing (and it sounds terrible), I won't be sharing that video with anyone!

We had a fun weekend eating German Chocolate cake and root beer floats and lots of other treats, but I didn't get any pictures of the weekend activities, either. I will leave you with a picture of us on Jacob's birthday last year... we were going on a hot date to Fogo de Chao in Kansas City. Isn't he handsome??

Happy Birthday, Jacob!!

Sheet Fort!

Today's fun activity was building a reading cave... also known as a sheet fort! With some sheets, a little yarn, a bunch of clothespins, and our kitchen chairs, we had a pretty nice-sized fort. Naomi eventually discovered the clothespins and then destroyed our little cave by pulling half of them off and then pulling down the sheets, but we had fun for an hour or so! Jacob even surprised us by coming home to play during a break in his school day!

This is the face Jacob made when I told him to smile:

This is the view of the fort from the stairs:

This is what happens when I ask Jacob to dress Naomi:

He dressed her in a striped summer dress with striped pants from another outfit and purple socks (which is the one color that wasn't on the dress or the pants).

She is still as cute as a button, but what an outfit! I love the dress & pants separately, but they were not meant to go together.

I'm pretty sure that this is what husbands often do to get out of a task in the future--they think that if they do something badly enough the first time, they won't get asked to do it again. But I know your secret, Jacob! You still have to help dress Naomi. :)

We've got class.

Last week, I decided that Jacob and I needed a designated date night. We don't get to spend a lot of time together anymore, and for the little time we do get, we are usually taking care of Naomi. I feel like I never get to just be alone with my husband anymore. So I told Jacob that at least every other weekend, we are going on a date. By "date", I don't mean we're going to dinner or a movie every other week--we can't at all afford to do things like that. I just wanted some time set aside for Jacob and I to do something together without Naomi.

Saturday was our first bi-weekly date. Jacob's mom watched Naomi for us, and we went out to rent a movie from the redbox at Walgreen's and get dollar burgers at Wendy's (classy, huh?). But it gets even better... the only Wendy's close by was a Wendy's in a truck stop/travel center. So basically, we went on a date to a truck stop!

The place wasn't quite as ghetto as it sounds. It was a really nice truck stop. In addition to the Wendy's, it had Dairy Queen, a restaurant, a Verizon Wireless store, a laundromat, showers, an arcade, and a movie theater. By movie "theater", I mean a room with a huge screen where they projected dvds. (What did you expect? It was just a truck stop.)

Jacob wore his exercise pants, and I didn't do my hair or makeup. But even though it wasn't the most exciting date we've ever been on, it was fun! I have missed being able to go out with Jacob and spend time together without Naomi.

P.S. We redboxed "Robin Hood". It was really good.

My Man

This is my man:

I would like to take just a moment of your time to brag about this awesome person that I married almost 15 months ago.

First of all, isn't he a stud?

Second of all, did I tell you he got a job a few weeks ago? Well, he did! He applied at a Nissan dealership for some type of temporary thing--we didn't know any details about it--but the managers were so impressed with him that they hired him on the spot, not for the temporary position but to be a full-time salesman. I'm so proud of him!

He's also an amazing husband. He gives me back rubs and foot rubs all the time without me having to ask. He often helps me with the dishes (or basically just does them by himself) even after he has worked all day because he knows they are my most hated chore. He will kill spiders for me when I wake up in the middle of the night to find them building a web in our bed. And he has always made me feel beautiful--when we were dating, he told me how pretty I was on a daily basis, and he hasn't stopped since we've been married.

And he is an incredible father. Naomi just adores her dad, and he adores her. No matter how exhausted he is after his 12 hour work days (14 hours with the commute), he has energy to play with his baby girl when he gets home. Until he started working, he changed as many of her diapers as I did. And he lets her get away with pretty much anything... even I don't let her suck on my nose. Gross.

I love you, Jacob!

How do you train your man?

I have come to an important realization about my husband this past year: Special occasions/holidays are not his forte.

Valentine's Day was the one holiday on which he remembered to do something nice. But for my birthday, Christmas, my first Mother's Day as a mom, and now our first anniversary... nothing. It's not even that he forgets that it's a holiday... that fact, he remembers. He just forgets that on those days, you're supposed to do something special for your wife. I've even tried being so direct as to say, "Jacob, for my birthday I want this movie on DVD," and still, nothing. I love Jacob with all my heart, but the man is hopeless!

Are all husbands this clueless when it comes to special occasions? Mine is in need of some serious training... and my birthday is coming up! ;)

little family update

I started this blog so that I could keep my family and friends on the other side of the country updated on our lives, but I never update the blog, so I've done a pretty crappy job of that. I'm hoping that after I have the baby, I will be more motivated to take pictures and post updates... we will have to see. For now, we just have a couple pieces of news:

Jacob was offered a full-time job about a week ago at Provo Canyon School, where he has been working on-call for the past 6 months or so. He is also now the lead supervisor on his shift, which comes with more responsibility, but sadly, not a pay raise. We are both extremely grateful that they were able to finally hire him full-time, because we've been worried about what was going to happen after I have the baby and quit my teaching job. We're relieved to know that Jacob will have a guaranteed income and especially that we can get benefits through his work!

Jacob also passed his third and final exam to become certified as an EMT, so they should be sending him his certification soon. He aced the EMT course he took last semester (despite not buying any of the textbooks/materials), and I am so proud of him!

Even though we've been worried about how we will survive when I stop teaching, I cannot wait for my last day at work. I have really hated my job this year, which is sad, because last year I really loved it. My dad's advice to me has always been "Do it for the students", but the sad truth is that the students aren't always enough to make it bearable. Every other aspect of the job has sucked so much this year that helping my students hasn't been enough to make it worth it. I'm so relieved that I only have to make it another 6 weeks, because I don't think I could make it to the end of the school year. I really hope that if I go back to teaching someday, the work environment and the politics won't be as bad as they are right now at my school.

In baby news, I am about 34 weeks along with 6 more to go. Everyone tells me that I'm not very big, but I feel so huge compared to how small I was just 8 months ago. Jacob likes to make fun of my belly and laugh at me when I can't sit up from a reclining position (although he always helps me up after he's had a chance to laugh). Our baby moves around all the time, especially when I am trying to sleep, but most of the time I love it! I like having the reassurance that she's still ok and moving around. My back hurts constantly now, but Jacob has been a good sport and will rub it for me whenever I ask. He has also given up fighting me for his pajama pants... I wear them all the time when I am home because I have no pajama pants of my own that I can fit into. He has also been a huge help with cleaning around our apartment, and grocery shopping, and all of the other little things that I haven't felt up to doing as often as they are needed. And he's been very understanding with my crazy emotions, which have been out of control lately. I don't know why... I guess it's a combination of a lot of different factors... but the past few weeks have been incredibly hard. There were a couple days every week where I came home from work and sobbed for no good reason, and every time, Jacob came into the room and laid on the bed with me, rubbing my back and listening to my rantings, even though most of them were ridiculous. And for the few things that were legitimate worries, Jacob knew just the right thing to say to help me put things into perspective and stop stressing out so much. I'm so thankful for my loving, helpful husband! Being pregnant has been a thousand times harder than I expected, both emotionally and physically, and I would never be able to get through it without him.

With Valentine's Day coming this weekend, I was feeling a little bummed because Jacob and I weren't going to get to spend any time together due to opposite work schedules. Unknown to me, however, they cancelled Jacob's Friday night shift, so he made plans to surprise me with flowers and candy! He left the house before I got home from work, and he led me to believe that he was at work and was going to be there for his entire shift. So when the doorbell rang an hour later and I saw someone standing to the side with flowers, I honestly thought that it was someone who just had the wrong address. I was pleasantly surprised to open the door and find my husband holding flowers and chocolate, not only because I thought he was supposed to be at work but also because I had told him that we should probably just stick to cards this year to save money. So I really hadn't been expecting anything!

Jacob managed to surprise me last Valentine's Day, too, not with the fact that he got me roses, but because he snuck into my apartment in the middle of the night to leave the roses and chocolates in my room. My first thought when I woke up and saw them was, "Who are those for?!". It's funny to me that both times he gave me flowers, my first thought was that they were sent to me by mistake.

So there is our update! Happy Valentine's Weekend and Happy Birthday (yesterday) to my wonderful mother!

Halloween

I know I've been a horrible blogger lately. Pregnancy has been kicking my butt and making it hard to do anything besides work. But here are a few pictures from our Halloween!

Ok, the rubber ducky isn't from Halloween, but we ate dinner at Pirate Island a few weeks ago, and we used the tickets we won in the arcade to get the rubber ducky. We were way excited. Jacob plays with it in the tub. :)

Happy October!

Jacob and I have been having fun this month. We took an evening (before the colors died) to drive up the canyon and look at the pretty leaves. I love fall! Although it is not at all like the fall I grew up with... someday I want to visit the east coast again for fall, where there is REAL green to turn into pretty fall colors. It's just not the same here.

This week we had planned to go to Thanksgiving Point to go through the corn maze and buy a pumpkin on Wednesday night, but it ended up raining all day. I had been so excited to go out and do something, so I was bummed that we had to cancel. So I convinced Jacob to take me to Pirate Island, a new pirate-themed restaurant in Orem. It was really cute. We ate in the Tiki Room, and afterward we spent some time playing games in the arcade. It's meant for a much younger crowd, but we loved it. We even got a pirate rubber ducky with the tickets we won from the games!

This was painted on the wall by our table.

This was our awesome pirate rubber ducky!

The husband :)

Me & the hubby!  This is after I stopped wearing makeup due to pregnancy sickness & lack of caring. :)

Jacob forgot that UVU had fall break this week, so when he realized he didn't have his Thursday night class, we decided to go to Thanksgiving Point that night instead. He has been working every night that he hasn't had class, so it was a nice surprise that he had a night off and we were able to go. I didn't realize that they had so many different things to do there. Jacob and I went through the kiddie corn maze (and got a little more lost than we probably should have, considering it was made for children), and Jacob raced a bunch of little kids on these bikes around a course they have. Regrettably, I left my camera in the car, so I don't have any pictures of him on the little bike. He seemed to be having as much fun as the little kids.

The highlight of my night was my foot-long hot dog! I have been craving a hot dog for the past 4 months, and it's been driving me crazy. I wanted one SO badly. So I gave in and got one for dinner. It was DELICIOUS. Sadly, though, it hasn't eased my cravings one bit, and I still really wish I was allowed to eat hot dogs on a regular basis. As soon as this baby comes out, I am going to eat a hot dog a day.

We also got to go through the haunted corn maze, which really wasn't a maze at all. It was more of a haunted path through the corn. We were a little bummed that it wasn't a real maze, but we still had fun with it. We had to wait in line for a little while until it got dark, so we talked to the two girls behind us for a few minutes. I get scared really easily, and I was a little nervous, so when I found out that they were only 12, I felt a little better. By the time Jacob and I were at the end of the maze, the girls had caught up to us, and I guess they felt like we were buddies since we had chatted in the line, because when one of them got scared, she grabbed onto the back of my jacket and held on until we were completely through the maze.

Note:  This is being posted over 2 years later, but I just now found it in my drafts.

Why everyone in our home HATES cops...

As most of you know, Jacob was arrested last November, about 3 days before we started dating. I had the wonderful honor of being with him when it happened... I even got to call his mother, whom I had never before spoken to, to tell her the fantastic news. It was highly exciting. Jacob's account of the night can be found on his blog here.

For those of you who don't know the story, Jacob had two warrants out for his arrest, which he had no knowledge of. The first was for a taillight violation, and the second was for expired registration. He had taken care of the taillight violation right after he had gotten it, but the records were flawed and for some reason didn't show it, and he thought he had taken care of the expired registration, but apparently he hadn't. Anyway, he had no knowledge that either ticket was a problem--he never received any notices about them. Because they weren't taken care of for such a long time, the fines skyrocketed and the warrants were issued. They also suspended his license... all without bothering to inform him. So then when he got pulled over on our way to the hot springs (for going barely 10 over on the FREEWAY! Give me a break...) he was promptly arrested and hauled off to the local jail. And this kind, considerate cop left my roommate and I stranded on the side of I-15 at 10:00 on a Saturday night in the middle of nowhere, because neither of us could drive Jacob's car (it was a stick shift). The cop knew this, just as he knew that we were an hour away from anyone that could help us, but he stranded us anyway. I started bawling as soon as the cop drove off. But that has nothing to do with my point tonight.

I thought that this whole ridiculous situation was behind us. Silly me! Today, I find out that because of this whole idiotic incident, our car insurance has skyrocketed to $4000 a year! We can't pay that! I'm a freakin' first year teacher, and I don't even make enough to pay our bills as it is, so using 2 months of my income to pay for car insurance is not a possibility. So now we have to talk to an attorney or some other fantastically intelligent person who charges a lot of money so that we can find a way to get affordable car insurance.

Obviously, my husband is a maniac who should not be allowed on the roads. Forget the drunk drivers and the druggies out there... who cares about them. We need to punish the decent people like Jacob, because those taillight violations and expired registrations... those are some real problems.

Labor Day Weekend

Sorry for the belated weekend post! Our weekend was just so busy that it has taken me most of this week to recover. Luckily, I was quite ill last night and had to call off work today, so I have had a day to rest and relax, and I have been enjoying it! Other than the being sick part, of course. But I'm feeling pretty decent right now. :)

Friday night I had a girl's night out with some old roommates. We went to dinner at Shoots in the Riverwoods, and it was DELICIOUS! I loved it. Someday I am going to take Jacob there. After dinner we went to Color Me Mine and painted pottery. We did the same thing for a night out when we were still roommates a few years ago, and it was way fun. You have to pay for your pottery and then a studio fee to paint, but you can stay as long as you want. So we sat, talked, and painted for a few hours. It was so great to catch up with friends that I haven't seen in such a long time. Katie took a few pictures and posted them on her blog here, so check them out!

On Saturday, Jacob and his friends Craig and Eric hiked the Y, so the wives all hung out. We went to the mall to get maternity clothes for Sarah. The outing completely wiped me out. I was so tired, I couldn't stand for 10 minutes in the store. I kept having to sit down. I am just not used to this pregnancy exhaustion. I don't like it. :( Even simple things like going to the mall are too much for me.

The rest of the day was full of cleaning and getting the house ready for company. Jacob's brother Benjamin was coming to stay with us until Monday from BYU-Idaho, because his mom was bringing Mary out for school. Mary is starting this semester at BYU-Idaho as well, so Benji came down to pick her up. Which worked out well because we were going to have cake for Jacob's birthday on Sunday, so his mom, Mary, and Benji ended up all being in town for our little celebration. I say "little", but we ended up having 12 people over. It was fun to have so many people over, but the get-together was really draining for me. It had been thrown together last minute when we found out everyone was going to be around, and I wanted everything to be perfect so I tried to do too much. I ended up having an emotional breakdown in front of most of Jacob's family that was here. So that was fun. Hopefully they don't all think I'm nuts. :)

On Monday, Jacob worked and I cleaned up the house a bit from our party. Then we went to an early dinner at Tucanos. It was sooo yummy. Jacob's been wanting to go since we first started dating, but we just didn't have the time or money until now. We splurged and even got dessert. He got some kind of Raspberry cheesecake, and I got the Snickers cheesecake. Yum! But my favorite part of the meal was the sirloin steak. I am not even a steak lover, but oh my goodness! Theirs was so delicious. Our meat guy was so great, he even tracked down well done steak for me (I can't bring myself to eat bloody steak, it's just gross!). Even our drinks were fabulous. I had a Strawberry Brazilian Lemonade, and Jacob got a Passion Fruit Brazilian lemonade. All this talking about our food is making me want to go back! The whole dinner was just superb!

We went mini-golfing Monday night at Trafalga in Orem, which ended up being a pretty sad excuse for a mini golf course. But it's the only place around we knew of, and it was still fun. We went with our friends Craig and Sarah. Craig won the first game and tied the second with Jacob, so he won the honor of being declared "Mini Golf Master of the Universe".

And finally, some pictures!

Jacob & Me at the mini golf place

Jacob doesn't like to look at the camera... or smile!

Jacob eating at Tucanos
And another one at Tucanos

Oh, and on Wednesday afternoon we also went to see the movie 9 for Jacob's birthday. I think Jacob liked it, although he seemed torn as to whether he really liked the ending or not. I liked it, too, which surprised me, because I am not at all a Tim Burton fan.

My Favorite Time of Day

I am NOT a morning person. I never have been. I wish I never had to get out of bed before 11 AM. But I don't live in a fantasy world, I live in the real world, where I have a job and responsibilities, so I have to get up at 6:30 each day instead. And although I still dread the moment my alarm goes off every morning, I have realized that I actually really enjoy the half hour block of time right after I wake up in the morning.

I used to wake up and give myself an hour and a half to shower, do my hair and makeup, and get ready for work. That usually didn't include breakfast... breakfast was a slim fast that I would drink as I drove to school. But when I got pregnant, I had to change my morning schedule. To reduce the effects of morning sickness, I had to set aside a half hour block every morning so that I could lay in bed and nibble on graham crackers, cheerios, or some other dry food. Jacob is still asleep during this time, so I get to lay in bed and cuddle with my husband for a half hour every morning. I love it! I don't worry about anything--I have zero stress for that half hour. I usually feel pretty good, because I haven't gotten out of bed or even sat up yet. I just lay in bed, eat food, and snuggle my husband. And he usually snuggles me back, even if he's asleep when he does it. What could be better than that? :)

Lonely

My husband left me today to go to Colorado and go camping with his family. I feel so lonely. We haven't been apart since we got married, and I hate it. I don't like coming home to an empty apartment and knowing that it's going to stay that way. I don't like knowing that I have to sleep by myself. I think I cried for about a half hour last night because he was leaving me. And then I cried this morning when I said goodbye (he was sleeping). And then I cried when I came home. I'm sure being overly emotional because I'm pregnant has something to do with all the tears (I also cried while watching Bride Wars today after work... multiple times). Now I want to cry because I feel incredibly sick, and he's not here to complain to or to rub my back and make me feel better.

Jacob... don't ever leave me again. :(

Mis-matched Socks

I have been having more trouble than usual finding two socks that match to wear each day. Yesterday, as Jacob was sticking his feet in my face, I realized that the reason for this is because he has been wearing my socks! And the man never wears matching socks, thus making problems for me in finding a matching pair. When I asked him why he would want to wear my socks (which say "Hanes Her Way" on them in pink) he said, "They're so comfy!"

I think on my next trip to Walmart, after I pick up a pair of men's pajama pants for myself (Jacob is getting annoyed with me always wearing his), I'm going to have to pick up a package of women's socks for my husband.

We suck at keeping secrets.

Well, we weren't going to tell anyone yet, but since we got too excited and already told all of the three people who read our little blog, I guess I can make the announcement now: We're pregnant! Because of the higher risk of miscarriage in the first trimester, we wanted to wait until closer to the second trimester to tell people... but as I said, we got too excited! Here is the picture of the lovely stick I peed on:


I was surprised that it even showed up positive the day I took the first pregnancy test (I took 3... we got them all from friends as gag gifts, so I figured I may as well use them all). My period could easily still have been coming--it was no more than a couple days late. But I had just had this feeling for the previous week or so that I was pregnant, and I didn't want to wait any longer. Besides, we had 3 tests, so I figured I could waste one and take the test early.

I've been feeling SUPER emotional lately. I hate it. I tear up at the most ridiculous things. I was reading a Pregnancy magazine at the doctor's office yesterday because I had been waiting forever and was incredibly bored, and I read this story about a pregnant woman who started tearing up as she was unloading the dishwasher because she was thinking about how she would someday teach her child to unload the dishwasher. It sounded completely ridiculous! And yet as I sat there, thinking about how ridiculous it was, my throat started feeling tight, and I started tearing up! I hate not having more control over my emotions.

On a different topic, Jacob made dinner yesterday! I was very impressed. I have begged him to make us dinner a few times lately because I've been so exhausted, but he always tells me that "It's impossible!" and that he is "incapable of cooking". I always tell him that his excuses are ludicrous and that anyone can follow a recipe... but I did get a little worried when I asked him to make a can of tomato soup once, and he dumped the can in a bowl, stuck it in the microwave, and called it good. The first thing it says on the can is to add a can of water! But somehow he didn't even see that step. Silly boy.

Anyway, I have been sick for the past couple days, so I begged him last night to make dinner for us. He sent me to lay down on the couch while he made pasta and mashed potatoes, the two things in our pantry that he felt he could handle. Every few minutes I would hear a strange squeal or yelp coming from the kitchen, so I would jump up and run in to see what I could help with, but he would just send me back to sit on the couch. Despite whatever happened in there to cause all of his yells, dinner was delicious! So thank you, honey!

After dinner, we watched Rat Race and snuggled on the couch. Jacob laughed SO hard during that movie. I loved it. I love it when my husband finds something genuinely funny and laughs really hard... for some reason, I find it adorable.

Pictures of the hubby making dinner: (Please excuse our messy kitchen/table... I've been sick.)

4 weeks ago today...

I married this man!

Oh, how I love him!

He is perfect for me in so many ways. He tells me I'm pretty at least 10 times every day, and he makes me feel beautiful even when I've just woken up, and I haven't showered, or brushed my teeth, or put on any makeup, or even run a brush through my hair.

He tries to cheer me up even when I'm grouchy and acting like a brat... at our open house in PA, I came home from getting my hair done, and it looked so awful that I started bawling. Jacob just laughed and tried to crack jokes to cheer me up as he helped me take out the bobby pins and even tried to help me re-pin it. It didn't look any better, of course--my sister-in-law fixed it for me later--but it was the thought and effort that meant so much to me.

I can always count on him to help me with the dishes, which is the household chore I hate more than anything else. I think he does them more often than I do. If I make us a meal, he will usually do the dishes for me, and I appreciate it more than he knows.

He makes me laugh on a daily basis. One thing that I knew the man I married would have to do was make me laugh. And he does not disappoint! And he enjoys the fact that I think he's funny (not everyone else does?), so I guess it works out for both of us.

He ALWAYS opens my door for me when I get into the car, and if I'm slow enough getting out that he can make his way around the car in time, he'll open my door when I get out as well. He's such a gentleman. :)

He helps me to relax. I worry about everything and cause myself so much unnecessary stress, and he helps me to wind down when something is making me up-tight. He's so non-stressful and calm that he helps to balance me out... and I hope that I help him to worry a little more about the things that he needs to worry more about. ;)

I love that he is always learning! He loves to read up on different topics and learn seemingly random facts that he has been wondering about. He will sneak out of bed at 2 in the morning to research topics online that he has been wanting to know more about.

His scriptural knowledge intimidates me, but I love that too, because it makes me want to learn more. Any questions I have when we're reading our scriptures together, he can almost always answer for me. I learn so much more when I read with him because he is such a great resource.

He helps me to be a better church member. I feel like the things that I am weaker with in life, he is a little stronger with, so he helps me out.

He knows me so well. He knows my moods, and my facial expressions and what they mean, and how to judge my tone of voice, even the differences in the ways that I cry... Tonight I burned my thumb trying to take a baked potato out of the oven, and when I dropped it and it smashed on the floor, I just started sobbing. So Jacob laughed and sat me down on his lap, hugged me for a few moments, and then kissed me on the cheek and cleaned it up. He looked and me and said, "That was just the last straw for you today, wasn't it? That is one of your cries of frustration--when too many things have gone wrong, and this one was the last straw." And he was right. It had been such an awful day, and I was tired, and I was hot from trying to cook dinner in a 450 degree oven in our non-air conditioned apartment in the July Utah heat, and that stupid baked potato was just too much. I love that he knows me well enough that he can tell by the way I cry what is really upsetting me.

Jacob truly is my best friend, and I feel so lucky to be married to him and to spend every day for the rest of my life and beyond with him. I am so excited! Life is good.

Two of my favorite things!

Today I went to Barnes and Noble with my love! I love bookstores, and I love my husband, so it was a good trip. I could spend hours in bookstores, and I have, on many occasions. I usually spend the majority of my time in the children's section, and today was no exception. I started picking up a few books that I really, really wanted, but my pile kept getting bigger and bigger, and when I remembered that we are poor newlyweds, I had to put them all back. So I settled for making a Wish List of all the books I want... for my classroom, of course! (Actually, I buy the children's books for myself... I use them in my classroom, too, but I read them more than my students do.) Someday when we aren't quite so poor, I will use my awesome teacher discount and buy some of the books I want.

My Wish List (so far):
"Chocolate Fever", by Robert Kimmel Smith (I've never read it, but I love chocolate, and I'm always looking for fun, new chapter books for read-a-louds.)
"The Wednesday Wars", by Gary D. Schmidt
"Number the Stars", by Lois Lowry (I love books that take place during wars and other events in history so that I can teach my students about history as we read. I read a story like this with my 6th graders last year, and I taught them about the Nazis and the Jews as we read. I loved it!)
"The True Story of the Three Little Pigs", by Jon Scieszka
"Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs", by Judi Barrett and Ron Barrett
"The Spiderwick Chronicles", by Holly Black and Toni DiTerlizzi

I'm sure this list will get longer as the summer goes on...