The Bevans Family

Alexa's New Shirt

2012-02-07T10:42:00.000-08:00

She was very excited when it came in the mail today :)

Alexa's been busy...

2011-12-13T09:52:00.000-08:00

...trying out some new shoes...
and hats...

painting with yogurt...

being an animal ambassador...

except when she accidentally decapitates one!

On her down time she likes reading in the tub...

playing videos games with her friends...

and trying to ship herself to Grandma and Grandpa!

Abby Cadabby

2011-11-01T11:23:00.000-07:00

I had no plans of making Alexa's costume this year, but we just couldn't find anything that we liked/that was in our price range, so I decided to attempt it. It turned out way better than I thought it would! I'm really quite proud of myself. Mike was Cookie Monster and I was Elmo to complete the theme.

Pumkyyyyns?

2011-11-01T10:23:00.000-07:00

It's amazing how at this age kids pronunciations change so quickly. But, it's getting closer, so that's good. Mike and I carved our pumpkins Sunday night, finally. We like doing themed jack-o-lanterns.
We had Alexa paint her pumpkin after her nap on Sunday, figuring that she was a little young to carve her own :) She had a grand time.

And got so into it that one paint brush just wasn't enough.

And once the paint was about 3 inches thick all the way around the pumpkin, I took it away and let her paint on the 'drop cloths'.

This is a picture of the paint right after she started, it was a brand new set when we started, and there was no paint left by the time I made her stop.

My 4 pumpkins:

And Mike deserves a shout out for cleaning both out pumpkins, since I can't do my own. Thanks, hun!

Pumpky Picking

2011-10-21T16:03:00.000-07:00

Typo? Nope, just Alexa language. Picking pumpkins was quite the project between Alexa and Daddy. Mommy picked hers quickly, and Alexa consented to let Baby watch the pumpkin in the wagon.
Alexa and Daddy wandered the whole pumpkin patch looking for a likely bunch...

When they spotted one they went closer to inspect them...

And considered carefully the pros and cons of each...

Until the very best was found!

Sweet success!

Of course...

2011-10-19T15:02:00.001-07:00

... one of her favorite parts of the new potty is the box it came in....

Maybe we need to buy a new fridge or something to get her a box she can fit in...

The newest addition...

2011-10-17T20:35:00.001-07:00

Lately Alexa's been wanting to sit on the potty, but as I have to hold her on it to keep her from falling in, we decided it was time to get her a mini potty. She hasn't gone in it yet- I'm not sure she's figured out how to know she needs to go before going. She does, however, always announce when she is going and then wants to sit on the potty. I figure it's a good start seeing that she's not even 2 yet. Hopefully this bodes well for the future months!

Current Loves

2011-10-13T09:33:00.000-07:00

Playing in water while Mommy does dishes
Tutus ( I converted her!)

Her entourage- Cookie, Baby, and Doggy (we're not creative with names yet) go eveeerrrywhere with her!

"Sharing" food, ie eating everyone's food.

Elmo AND balloons. Daddy hit the jackpot with this one.

'Winging!

Eating breakfast with Daddy before he goes to work

Ranch!

And hamming it up for the camera. That's right folks, she looooves pictures now. The only difficulty now is getting a picture of whatever she was doing before she sees the camera and comes to smile for it!

Trip to VA

2011-09-28T11:32:00.001-07:00

In August Alexa and I went to visit my family in VA. Sadly, I didn't do a very good job of taking pictures, so maybe more will come if I can get copies of the ones my parents took. Alexa had a great time helping Grandma make dinner.
She also liked watching Grandpa cook on the grill.

She did not like the baby gates banning her from going upstairs by herself. Luckily, they were only needed the last day or so when she figured out that she didn't need to wait for anyone to come up with her.

She looooved playing with the cars and trucks. Apparently we need to get her some of those!

She also loved having a chair that was her size, although she still hasn't figured out that she can just turn and sit rather than climbing up onto it and turning while on it to sit. We're working on that.

Last, she discovered her love of jelly beans. She'd go pick up the container and bring it to someone, then follow them around pushing it until they gave her some.

We got her some here, and they are certainly her treat of choice, although she calls them stars for some reason. Her talking has gotten so much better lately, and it is so awesome when she suddenly says something that I've been trying to teach her for days. The latest example of this is "thank you". I've been trying to teach her please and thank you for a couple of weeks now, and we're still working on please, but she's a champ at saying thank you. Babies are so amazing at this age!

County Fair

2011-09-19T11:32:00.000-07:00

So, I'm a bit behind on the happenings around here, so I'm going to be trying to catch up in the next few days. First up, the County Fair that we went to, like, 2 months ago. Whoops!

Alexa loved looking at all the animals, although she was terrified to touch any of them.

Of course, who would want to pet the demon horse?

She did love the "elephant ear" which, thankyouverymuch, is NOT the real deal. I was disappointed. I haven't had a real one in a looong time, and by a real elephant ear, clearly I do not mean like, off the animal. Growing up in Massachusetts we had the REAL elephant ears. Basically flaky layered pastries that were delicious. This thing was pretty good too, though.

The Harvest of Grace: Review

2011-09-19T11:13:00.001-07:00

The Harvest of Grace is another Cindy Woodsmall book, and is the conclusion of the Ada's House series. It mainly follows the story of Sylvia, a young woman who is betrayed by both a sister and a man that was to be her fiancee. She leaves home to go work on an older couple's dairy farm, to help them save their livelihood after their son abandoned them. Aaron, the wayward son, returns home in hops of convincing his parents to sell the dairy farm and run an appliance store with him. His father has a hard time forgiving Aaron for the pain that he put them through, and does not trust Aaron to not leave again. Sylvia, also, does not trust Aaron and wants nothing more than to save the farm. Their story is intermingled with the stories previously introduced in the earlier novels of the series, all of which come to terms in this last book.

This book is very well written, and it's nice to see how the other stories end and how they are all connected in this small Amish community. I also found this book easier to relate to than Woodsmall's other books, because of the type of problems that these characters must overcome. Failing farms relates to bad economy now, familial drama, and boy troubles are all things that most people (girls) have experienced. I would recommend this book to anyone really, but more to females because of the more romantic tendencies of these books.

*I received this book for free from the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Random

2011-08-12T19:46:00.000-07:00

So I was thinking about how I should update the blog, but then realized I had nothing to update about. I started looking through some old posts and I thought of 3 totally unrelated, unimportant things that I thought I'd share.

Well, I kinda lied, the first one is VERY important, and I wanted to update about it, it just wasn't long enough for a post of its own.

MIKE IS OFFICIALLY GRADUATED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yup, it's true. Today was the day of BYU's August graduation, and so Mike is officially 100% done with school (unless he decides to go further later, which is likely). Yay!

Have you ever been uninvited to something? Once, about a year ago, I confessed to blog stalking. This one girl I knew from my days in a singles apartment has a blog that I happily stalked. Then she went private and told people to give her their email addresses if they wanted invites, so I did (after much angst- as Joanna commented on the old post, do I admit to blog stalking even though we never talk anymore?), she added me and it was all good. Then, a good year later, all of a sudden I couldn't see her blog. I emailed her again, thinking that maybe blogger was having issues, but never got a response. Granted, we do never talk anymore, and weren't great friends to begin with, but why allow me to see it and then randomly decide not to anymore? Weird. I'll have you all know, if I ever invite you to anything, I will never un-invite you!

The third thing is another confession, this time a bit more serious one. I have been rather ungrateful lately. I have been so tired of being Miss Susie Homemaker 24/7 and of not getting things done that I wanted to get done, and I was letting it get me down. I felt like I was always entertaining a baby, cleaning, cooking, entertaining a Mike (love you!) exercising/eating healthy and not losing weight, and trying (and failing) to get a good nights rest. It was depressing and stressful and I was starting to wonder if I'm just not cut out to be a stay at home mom. And then, as I was looking over those old posts, and looking at all those pictures, I am so grateful that since Alexa was born I've only had to work a few weeks. And you know what? During those few weeks, I wanted nothing more than to be at home with my baby. I'm so glad that I have a wonderful husband that supports us (in many ways) and that encourages me daily. I'm grateful that he doesn't mind being a bit on the poor side and that he realizes the importance of having me home with our daughter. I'm so lucky to have Alexa and to spend so much time with her, to teach her, and play with her, and be amazed by her when she says a knew word suddenly, or counts to 2 by herself. I can't imagine missing all this and having to hear about it from someone else! Sometimes, I just need a new perspective! The weight thing is still getting to me though. I gained so much when I was pregnant with Alexa, and lost almost nothing after she was born. The past couple of months I've really been trying, but nothing. Any tips?

Beach Bums

2011-08-04T13:28:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we went to the beach! It was on the Columbia, so it was only about 15 minutes away, and it was much warmer than the coast normally is, even Alexa didn't mind standing in the water-although it took awhile to convince her to try it.
She had a great time playing with the sand and all the little rocks.

I just wish we had found out about it sooner, because I plan on spending a lot of Saturdays there for the rest of the summer!

We have a winner!

2011-07-29T15:40:00.000-07:00

It literally took me about 5 minutes to notice her there, because the whole time I was looking she just laid there quietly watching Elmo as I checked in all the other rooms! And for those of you who guessed between the couches, she does indeed hide there as well, but she's always so pleased with herself that she laughs and comes out grinning as soon as I call her.

Find the baby: Part II

2011-07-28T11:24:00.000-07:00

Mike's going crazy because I won't tell him where Alexa was in that first picture, so here's the second of the series. Any new guesses?

Find the baby

2011-07-24T19:52:00.001-07:00

Alexa and I were putting her clothes away (as in, I was putting them on the shelves a little faster than she was taking them off) when she heard Elmo's World come on and went in the family room to watch. When I finished re-putting the clothes away, this is what I came out to. Can you find the baby?

Book Review: The Dragons of Chiril

2011-07-18T15:12:00.000-07:00

The Dragons of Chiril, by Donita K. Paul, is the story of a young girl, Tipper, who is left to take care of a failing household when her father mysteriously disappears. Her mother, though loving and kind, is quite eccentric and seems to think that the missing man is still around. Eventually Tipper finds out that her father is visiting her mother, but only sporadically because his body is trapped between two places, and Tipper unknowingly broke the gate when selling sculptures to pay for household costs. She, along with an unlikely group of friends must journey to reclaim these missing statues to save her father, and the world.

I really enjoyed the book, the only complaint I have is that although it takes place in a different world, there is little to no explanation of the different creatures and hierarchies and countries. The ending is also rather abrupt in my opinion, but I found out that this is the first of a series, and is also a follow up of another series Paul wrote. I assume that she expected people to read the other series first, and that everything that I didn't know about the world is explained in that first series. I liked the characters and storyline, and am eager to see how it continues to develop in the rest of the series!

*I recieved this book for free from the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Keeeck

2011-07-14T15:11:00.000-07:00

I may just sign Alexa up for soccer next fall just because it would be so funny to hear her announce "keeck" every time she kicks the ball. Skip to about the middle, that's when you can really hear it. She doesn't really say it either, she squeaks it. Just makes it funnier in my opinion!

Our first 4th

2011-07-07T16:27:00.000-07:00

This year we enjoyed our first family fourth of July. Since we've been married, I don't think I've seen Mike on the fourth for more than maybe 10 hours total (as in, out of all 3 24 hour periods, I saw him for maybe 10 of those) because he was required to work from before the parade/run in the morning, til long after the fireworks ended and stadium of fire emptied out. Needless to say, it was really nice not to have to do that again this year! Anyways, we went to Todd and Alli's house and had a lot of fun. We went to a parade (with no marching band, does anyone else find that odd?), had a cook out, hung out and played games, then watched fireworks. It was a nice, relaxing, although long day.

Alexa surprised Mike and me when she grabbed my cup and started drinking out of it-without spilling.
Mike and I brought desserts for the cookout, and Mike wanted to contribute this time, so he decided to make a patriotic version of his favorite dessert, trifle. It turned out beautifully, and was a big hit. Mike took the picture, and I didn't notice until I uploaded them on the computer the next day that I should've turned the bowl around for him.

I made a cake (and back up cupcakes in case the cake failed-but that's a whole other story).

I was pretty proud of myself. Mike deserves a big thanks for not letting me throw it out when I was having issues. Word to the wise- do not attempt unless you either have a cake leveler or you are amazingly good at leveling them by hand.

These pics are from later Sunday when we were prepping the desserts. Alexa hasn't been a big fan of sitting on Mike's shoulders, so she never really has before, but she has recently decided that if someone is in the kitchen, they must hold her. It makes dinner prep every night bundles of fun. Mike's solution this time was to stick her on her shoulders, and I thought it was hilarious how she laid on his head because she was scared to sit up.

Eventually she sat up a little...

Official Nursery Sunday

2011-07-03T14:30:00.000-07:00

Today was Alexa's official first day going to nursery! I can't believe how big she is! I decided I needed a picture to document the big day, and this was all I could get, clearly she was ready to go!
It's so fun to see her personality grow! As well as everything else. Lately she has started to say some more words, and it's been clear for months that she's understood pretty much everything we say. She's such a cheese, she's got the head tilt and smile pose down:

And thinks it's hilarious to wear things in odd ways, such as headbands over her eyes:

and her new favorite, pants on her head:

And even though she doesn't talk a whole lot, she has ways of subtly hinting at what she wants to do!

We're slowly getting moved in and making this new place feel like home, and thankfully we're all becoming heavier sleepers thanks to our upstairs neighbors!

Boxen!

2011-06-24T09:13:00.000-07:00

This is how our apartment looks:

I'm amazed that Alexa hasn't gotten lost among the maze of boxes and furniture! We're slooowly getting things unpacked, but it's more of a puzzle than normal because we went from a 3 bedroom house with a garage to a 2 bedroom apartment with almost no storage. Luckily, we were able to get rid of some stuff (thank you craigslist) before we moved, but we still have a loooooot of things to figure out where to keep! Good thing we like challenges!

Some cute pics

2011-06-15T13:35:00.000-07:00

Like mother, like daughter...

Why are sleeping babies so cute?

Our daughter, the stripper.... who needs shirts, right?

This week will be super busy, as we're moving on Saturday. Mike is actually already living in our apartment in Vancouver since he started work today at his new job. He'll come back down on Friday to pack the truck, and then we'll all go to Vancouver. We're excited!

We're Moving!

2011-05-31T15:54:00.000-07:00

To Kelso, WA. We're relatively excited- excited for the job, although not so much for the town. Wish us luck!

The One Day Way Review

2011-05-25T08:31:00.000-07:00

The One Day Way, by Chantel Hobbs, is a book about Hobbs' theory on weight loss- that if you tackle it one day at a time, it will be easier and work better. She tells a little bit about her weight loss journey of losing 180 pounds, and tells the stories of a few others who followed her plan. She also includes a meal plan, some exercises, and inspiration.

Honestly, I didn't like this book. It was incredibly repetitious for the first (many) chapters- yes, one day at a time, I get it- and yet she contradicted herself a few times about this like setting goals- if tomorrow doesn't exist in her plan, how are you supposed to have goals to work towards? She also talks about how you need faith, but not necessarily religious faith, and yet then throughout the book it feels like she's trying to convert you to Christianity, and she keeps referring to how the reader believes in God. This really only seems like it would be a useful book if you need to completely change your life and lose 100+ pounds, which I don't. All I need is to lose baby weight from my pregnancy, and this book doesn't even address something like that. Overall, I would not recommend this book.

*I received this book for free from the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Happy Birthday!

2011-05-09T13:41:00.000-07:00

Mike's birthday was yesterday, although it was the second day of his celebrations. Friday we just relaxed and played some games, and then last night we had his homemade birthday dinner, and cake with his family. On Thursday we will go ice skating, to a movie, and to his favorite place on Earth: Mongolian Grill.

I'm so glad that he was born, and am so lucky that our lives have been joined as they are. Enjoy these pictures from our years together:

I love you Mike!

Project #3

2011-05-04T14:36:00.000-07:00

Office curtains are done! Probably, at least. I haven't decided if I'm going to make a ruffle at the top like I did with the bathroom valance. What do you think?

Please ignore the hideously mangled blinds, they are what made this project so necessary!

Easter Weekend

2011-04-28T11:20:00.001-07:00

Saturday we celebrated a cousin's birthday, and Alexa had her first experience with a pinata, I'm not sure how sold she was, although she enjoyed the candy that one of her cousins shared!
She was rather puzzled when it came to egg dying....

But she did have a great time Sunday afternoon with the egg hunt. Mike hid 24 eggs for her, and she LOVED running around and collecting them. I was surprised at how good she was at it, and how that she was interested in it the entire time.

Sunday night we went to Grandma and Grandpa Bevans house for Easter dinner, and another Easter egg hunt. This time Alexa was too shy to really join in. Lisa snapped some really cute pics of her that night, as well as Saturday night with the pinata, thanks Lisa!

Holidays really are more fun when you have kids, and when they're old enough to really enjoy it! I can't wait til next year when she can enjoy dying eggs, too!

Project 2.5

2011-04-25T13:55:00.001-07:00

This is our "office" closet. Since we have moved in, it has been FILLED with boxes, like all the way up to the bar, and then on that shelf. All boxes, all of which were still full. You see, our big bookcase broke in half while we were moving, and lets be honest, it wasn't big enough anyways. So, we had boxes full of books and other things just sitting in the closet. I have recently claimed the desk in the office for my sewing machine, so since I'm turning the office into my craft room (slowly but surely) I decided the time was coming to start cleaning it up. Plus, my parents are coming out in a couple of weeks, and they'll be staying in there...... So all the boxes were opened, sorted though, then stuck in the garage. I put my sewing projects and such in the bottom and the random things from the boxes that we didn't want to put in the garage up top. Now I just have to do some more projects, sell a couple of TVs and a computer, and then the room will be parent-worthy.

Book Review: Departures

2011-04-25T12:57:00.000-07:00

Departures, by Robin Jones Gunn, has 2 separate short stories of Christy Miller and Sierra Jensen. Both are young women with strong beliefs in Christ that are trying to figure out where exactly they are in life. Christy returns to the town she grew up in for her Grandparents anniversary and how much things, including herself, have changed hits her. Sierra tries to figure out if she is ready to be a woman, or if she wants to keep her childlike view of life (especially of boys) and gets confused when her best friend is emphatically ready to grow up. Both use their faith to guide them and come to terms with themselves.

I really liked these two stories, they were cute. They had a little romance, a little faith, and some innocence about them. They can stand alone, but I found out that both characters are actually main characters in two series that Gunn writes, and the short stories made me want to read the series to see how things continue to develop. I would recommend these stories to women, especially young Christian women. Those are the people that would probably be able to relate best to the characters.

* I received this book for free from the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review

Project #2

2011-04-19T12:09:00.001-07:00

It's by no means perfect, but for the very, very, VERY little sewing experience that I have, I'm pretty proud of my little valance!
In real life it's not uneven, it must just be the angle I took the picture at.

DVD Cabinets

2011-04-08T12:05:00.000-07:00

Many of you have been over to our home at one point or another (or one state or another) and know that we had those open shelved DVD racks. Those have been very inadequate for awhile now. Not only were they too small, but we had to have our couch cut off the corner of the room that they were in because Alexa likes to pull the DVDs off and destroy them. I had been looking for something big enough to hold all our movies and video games that had doors so Alexa at least wouldn't be able to see the movies, but everything was really expensive. I always watch craigslist, though, keeping an eye out for good deals and found 2 of these- for $10! Not pretty and not matching our other furniture, I sanded them and painted them and got this:

I'm quite pleased. And so far, Alexa hasn't figured out that they open and the fun that they contain :)

Happiness

2011-04-06T12:15:00.000-07:00

For my birthday my parents gave me money so that I could buy things for the sewing machine that my mother-in-law got me for Christmas, and I finally got around to spending it! I bought lots of stuff from JoAnn's online to do several little projects that I've been wanting to do for awhile, including 2 window treatments, 2 shirts for Alexa, hemming some jeans, and making myself a tote for primary. I'm excited! Now I just have to teach myself to sew! Stay tuned for another project that I'm completing!

Aquarium trip

2011-03-28T17:25:00.000-07:00

So, these pictures are pretty much all backwards because I didn't feel like thinking out the order and blogger sucks with moving pictures. Anyways, on Wednesday we went to the aquarium in Newport and had a lot of fun. Alexa did great and actually really enjoyed it! Here she is touching anemones (don't mind how weird her hand looks, apparently this was a very hard shot to catch because she'd only reach in for half a second) Looking at fish...

They had a bunch of art exhibits made out of plastics that they got off of beaches.

And tubes that you could walk through where the fish/sharks swam all around you.

We had a lot of fun, and were impressed with Alexa for lasting the whole time and actually looking at the fish. Now we'll have to try the zoo sometime!

When the Heart Cries

2011-03-23T11:13:00.000-07:00

When the Heart Cries by Cindy Woodsmall is the first of a series that leaves you wanting to finish all of it! Hannah Lapp knows who she loves, but she also knows that her father will be hard to convince that the match is good because the man does not belong to the Old Order Amish. Then something happens to Hannah that makes her question everything- her belief, her family, and whether or not she deserves to be loved. Her family is almost torn apart from jealousies, blame, grudges and shame, and everything is falling down around Hannah. Whether or not she will be able to fix things is not even concluded in this book, which is why you will want to read the rest of the series. This book is very interesting as you learn things about the Amish and Mennonite communities and what happens when unthinkable things happen in them. You come to really know and like (or dislike) the characters in the books, and while some of them are rather one dimensional, the main characters are definitely round. Really, try reading these books. Even if you think they sound lame and boring because they are about Amish, because that is what I thought at first. It is one of those things though, people are people, no matter the religion.

*I received this book for free from the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

2011-03-18T10:23:00.000-07:00

This is the little devil getting into areas we've blocked off specifically so that she can't get into them. Clearly she's quite proud of herself.
Alexa hasn't really been introduced to TV. I mean, she's seen us watch it sometimes, but we've never turned it on for her before. Then I decided to see if she'd like Sesame Street. Look for yourselves.

This attention certainly doesn't last the whole show, in fact it only lasts a few minutes at a time, but it's kind of nice. And I don't feel too bad since this is really the first time I've introduced TV to her and it's at least semi educational.

And sorry for the delay, but we haven't picked a winner for the book yet. We've been pretty busy this week. Hopefully we'll do it this weekend!

A Giveaway?

2011-03-09T09:52:00.000-08:00

The Blogging for Books people sent me an extra copy of Judgement Day, and when I emailed them about it, they told me that I could keep it and use it for a giveaway or something. So, since I don't really need 2 copies of the same book, I was wondering if anyone wanted it? It really is pretty good, and really, you can't beat the price! So, leave a comment if you'd like it, and on Saturday we'll pick a winner out of a hat and mail it to you!

(Wow, this makes me feel like I'm trying to be some sort of official blog!)

Babies are gross...

2011-03-08T11:18:00.000-08:00

She looks so sweet and innocent doesn't she?
Yesterday morning when I went in to get her out of bed, I noticed that her hands and face were dirty. Upon closer inspection, I realized that she had reached into her diaper and pulled out poop to play with. It was on the sheets, her pillow pet, all over herself, and consequently all over me when I picked her up. Needless to say, it was bath time. Never again will she wear a nightgown to bed.

On a less disgusting note, here's a 4 generation picture! As Mike mentioned, Alexa and I went to Illinois for a few days because my grandfather died. Although it was for a very sad reason, it was nice to see all the family and introduce Alexa to all her great-aunts and uncles and second cousins, not to mention her great-grandmother.

And I've mentioned before how hard it is to get a good picture of the terror, so pretend she's smiling!

Ode to my wifey

2011-03-01T05:26:00.001-08:00

Alicia has been gone to Illinois for months now. Actually I just looked at the calendar and its only been two days. But I could've sworn it has been months...
Since she has been gone, my days have been extra long and meaningless. Earlier today, my first real day without her, I have vivid memories of sitting on the couch bored, thinking of things to do, and coming up with nothing. So I would continue to go through idea after idea until I came to one I decided I would try. Then I would notice the clock. A MINUTE had gone by. That was it. A MINUTE. And I would have bet the farm that I had been trying to figure out what to do for at least ten.
So what happened next? I went to do what I decided to do. Five minutes later I was back on the couch going through more possible options.
Here is what this experience has taught me: there was no life before Alicia. At least not one that I have any recollection of. Seriously though, I had to have entertained myself somehow before her, but for the life of me I just can't figure out how. Now, I love video games. But even they don't have savor, unless she is playing with me or doing something else in the room watching, anymore. Watching movies is the same. I believe it is safe to say that she is my addiction of sorts.
Well, I decided to write this post out of boredom (surprise, its the flavor of the years she has been gone) and desperation for something to do.
Also, I guess I want to let her know how much a part of me she is. Life just isn't life without you hun. You make EVERYTHING much more fun, and without you experiences just feel drab. Silly things become memorable experiences when you are here, and I miss you terribly. If anyone has seen my wife, please send her home. (I miss you too Alexa...but this isn't ode to alexa. But please come home too)

P.S. Craig...don't be jealous. We can do yours next. :) and Kim....are you really surprised? :)

Pretty Toes

2011-02-18T17:46:00.001-08:00

This is what happens when Mike and I can't decide what to do.
He made 2 suggestions knowing that I'd turn them both down, so I rebutted with one I knew he would turn down, except he didn't. Oh well, at least it's a source of amusement, because now every time I see his pretty pink toes I crack up.

Judgment Day

2011-02-16T14:28:00.000-08:00

Just as a warning, this one is a total 180 from the last book I reviewed.

Judgement Day by Wanda L. Dyson is a gripping story about a sensational reporter who suddenly finds herself in a situation that she hadn't bargained for. Suzanne Kidwell has a slot on TV in which she exposes the dirty secrets of religious leaders, politicians and other high profile people. The problem is that she doesn't check her facts before airing the stories, and has been known to ruin innocent lives. When her boyfriend dies borrowing her car, she becomes a suspect, and when his secretary is murdered in Suzanne's living room, Suzanne realizes everything is connected to the case she's working on. This is certainly a non-stop book, although it is predictable and a little redundant in parts because the reader finds out who is behind everything long before the characters in the book do. Overall, it's worth a read, but probably only in borrowing it from a friend or library.

Please tell me it gets easier...

2011-02-12T12:22:00.000-08:00

...to photograph children.

Snack Containers

2011-02-03T12:05:00.000-08:00

Who needs those snack containers that are shaped like whatever they're supposed to hold? You know the ones I mean; the giant goldfish containers for Goldfish, the Oreo ones for Oreos.... All you really need are these link-y toys.
What could be more perfect for holding Cheerios? Granted, you'll never be able to eat said Cheerios, because they're forever stuck in there, but at least it was fun putting them in there, right?

On another note, I'm so glad this wasn't a one time thing:

The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From the Tree

2011-01-31T12:10:00.000-08:00

If there were ever any doubts that Alexa isn't our child, let the following pictures dispel them.
The intensity! Don't break her focus or she'll have to start all over!!!

Just look at the joy she gets from eating those delicious, totally unhealthy, ridiculously processed cheese balls. I'm sure my mom would agree that she's seen that joy before. :)

And the weirdness. Of course she had to inherit a healthy dose of that. I mean, look at me and Mike! How could she be normal? By the way, she also enjoyed using the strainer as a hat, but once she figured out the mask, she found it much funnier and so wouldn't do that hat again for a picture.

A Book Review: The Bridge of Peace

2011-01-29T12:59:00.000-08:00

So, I don't know how many of you have heard of this thing called Blogging for Books. It's pretty sweet, I have to tell ya. You sign up on their website and fill in a little thing about what types of books you like and based on that they give you a list of books that you can choose from. You choose a book, they send it to you for FREE and then you just have to read it and write a review on it! I found out about this from an old friend (Thanks Angela :)) and just read my first book. I'll be honest, I was really skeptical because apparently the site was having problems the day that I chose my book, so all my choices were Amish! But it turned out really, really well.

The Bridge of Peace by Cindy Woodsmall is an engaging story that has every aspect a person might want in a book. There are several story lines happening that are all interconnected in some way. It is the story of an Amish community and some problems that specific people have in it. The main character, Lena, is a young Amish school teacher that has a large birthmark on her face that she feels holds her back from the life that she really wants. She loves her job, but from it incurred the wrath of an unstable man. Lena's childhood friend, Grey, suffers from an unhappy marriage in a religion that has little to no flexibility. Grey's work partner is engaged to a woman that is joining the religion for him so that they can be married, and she struggles to leave everything from her former life behind. She, in turn, helps two women who run a bakery. One of these women was engaged to the other's son when he ran off and left them both.

This book was really good, full of good old-fashioned drama. It was easy to relate to because while Lena has a mark on her face that holds her back, I think everyone has something about themselves, whether it's visible or not, that they feel has that effect on them. I would highly recommend this book to any women (men might find it a little too romantic) even if she has no knowledge or interest in Amish life.

(I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review)

Stats & Christmas

2011-01-23T10:31:00.000-08:00

So we finally got Alexa in for her 12 month appointment, so here are her stats:
19 lbs 11 oz -> 25 %
30.5 in -> 75%
So she's still our tall skinny baby!

Now, here are some pictures of Christmas morning at our house. The major "Christmas" happened at Mike's parents house, but I don't have pics of that yet.

Mike and I helped Alexa open some presents...
She did some (kinda) on her own...

Enjoying the spoils in her new Tinkerbell pjs...

I believe it was Christmas Eve when Mike called me right after he left for work and told me to look out the window. It was a minute or so before this truck rolled into sight.

It was all decked out! It had the moving reindeer pulling Santa's sleigh, a family of snowmen, a life size nativity, and eeeeverything was covered in lights. It stayed outside the house for about 20 minutes, and all the neighbors came out with their kids to take pictures with/ on it. The sleigh was a real sleigh that they covered in lights, so people could actually get in it. It was pretty cool!

2011-01-03T11:27:00.000-08:00

(Sorry about the poor lighting and resolution, I took the video on my phone...)

Where has this year gone? In the beginning of 2010, Alexa was a newborn. By the end of it, she's a full blown toddler! When did a year become so darn short??? I remember back in the day it took foreeever to get back around to Christmas time, or my birthday, or summer vacation. Now, when I want to go slowly, it flies by!

This year was amazing though. It marked our 3rd year of marriage, Alexa's first birthday, graduation, moving, travelling, new jobs, some really hard times, and some really great times. I think my favorite memory was when Mike. Alexa and I were driving the moving truck to Oregon and stopped at the top of some mountain in middle of the night. It was kind of scary because it was so dark that someone could have been standing right next to you and you wouldn't have seen them. But we stopped, got out of the truck and looked up. I have NEVER seen that many stars in my life. When I was in high school I took astronomy and in our planetarium sometimes the teacher would turn off "city lights" to make the constellations harder to see and planets easier to see. On the top of that mountain, that's what the sky looked like. It was beautiful.

What are your favorite memories? (You don't have to share, I'm sure some are personal)

Here's to a new year, and many new memories!

Shout Hooray!

2010-12-28T08:59:00.000-08:00

Eventually I'll get around to posting about Christmas, but as there's so much going on this week, who knows when? Christmas, Alexa's birthday, our anniversary, all within a few days of each other!

Alexa turned one yesterday. Wow, I just can't believe it! It seems like just yesterday that she was just a little bundle of cuddles, and now she doesn't stay still long enough to cuddle! This past year has been wonderful. We are so lucky to have Alexa in our family, and can't imagine it without her!

We had to resort to giving her a cupcake because she was so shy about digging into the cake. She finally got around to eating the cupcake, but it took quite awhile. So the pictures are in reverse order, but pretend they're right, ok?

A Non-Christmas Related Post

2010-12-26T14:17:00.000-08:00

In honor of her upcoming birthday (and the fact that she's totally outgrown her infant seat) we got Alexa a new car seat. She was a little weirded out that she was facing the wrong way!
And not only was it a car seat that she got, but also a box! Woohoo!! I have plans to get some spray paint and make it look like a cute little house.

Also, since we always just carried her in her car seat, this was the first time she sat in a cart while we were shopping. This whole trip she just sat there gripping the bar in front of her. Since then, she's loosened up and keeps trying to climb out of the cart.

She has taken her first steps, and is fully capable of walking, but is too chicken to actually do it. We're getting there though. Pretty soon she's going to be running circles around me and it'll be even harder to make sure she doesn't get into things that she shouldn't be!

Alexa's first snow

2010-12-13T10:25:00.000-08:00

So, it wasn't really the first time that it's snowed since Alexa was born, but it was the first time this season, and the first time we let her play in it. She wasn't very impressed...

She made her first snow angel on our car... and yes, it really does look like Mickey Mouse. She wouldn't put her head back or her legs down.

Snape Snape Severus Snape...

2010-11-21T15:29:00.000-08:00

Two things. First off, this movie is amaaaazing! Second, movies are so cheap in Oregon!

Weird child...

2010-11-15T18:56:00.000-08:00

So I was doing something on the computer and saw this:

Apparently she doesn't like the label as mommy's little alarm clock?

All is Right Again

2010-11-09T09:08:00.000-08:00

So, for the past few weeks I've been working because basically, the economy out here is terrible and Mike couldn't find a job. Needless to say, I was not very happy to leave my baby and husband all day to work retail again (ugh). But, thankfully, Mike found a job this weekend! Nothing great by any means, but a job with 40 hrs a week and higher paying than mine certainly was! So, I got to quit yesterday, which was perfect timing because yesterday was just a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. So, in honor of being a stay at home mom again, here are some cute pictures of Alexa:

(By the way, ponytails? Total pain in the rear. It's next to impossible to do her hair without her squirming to try to see whats going on up there.)

Thanks for noticin' me.... :)

Halloween Festivities

2010-11-04T18:14:00.000-07:00

Normally we don't do a whole lot for Halloween, just carve pumpkins and hand our candy. This year, being around family and having Alexa be able to enjoy her first Halloween we did a lot more. We went to a pumpkin patch and did a corn maze:
We went to our church's Trunk or Treat on the 29th. Alexa enjoyed her spoils very much:

We dressed up and went to Grandma's house for cider and doughnuts after things quieted down Sunday night:

We handed out candy to Trick or Treaters and Alexa greeted them as a cow:

And were worn out by all the partying and sugar crashes:

Which is quite different from how we started the day off:

And of course we had carved the pumpkins from the farm we went to:

Mike came up with the theme all on his own. And sorry for the random order of the pictures, I don't really think out what I'm going to say and what order I need to upload them in.... and then it's just a pain to reorder it all. Anyways, we had a great Halloween, and were so glad that Alexa was here to share it! I can't wait until next year when she can walk up to doors and say "Trick or Treat"!

Welcome!

2010-10-19T15:20:00.000-07:00

Welcome into our home! This is what you'd see walking in (ignore the bookshelf, it was a casualty of the move and we haven't figures out what to do with it yet).
This is looking into the front room from the end of the entry:

This wall isn't finished, the couch needs a slipcover, and the pictures aren't hung yet, but just imagine them hung the same way as they were in Wymount.

We love how much bigger this front room is than the Wymount apartment. Alexa can crawl around without having to go in circles, and when we play the wii there's plenty of room to move around. So that's almost half the house!

Home Sweet Home

2010-10-16T20:57:00.000-07:00

So, we have finally moved in to our house, and for the most part have started making it into a real home. I'm working on finishing it one room at a time so that I can blog about it little by little. Today's feature is the kitchen! The entry is slightly odd, as you'll see. This picture is from the wall that separates the kitchen from the entry way:
This is from the garage door:

That wall with the banisters is the entryway wall. That's why it's kind of weird, I've seen houses where there is no wall separating the entry from the kitchen and I've seen houses where there are complete walls, never one where it's a partial wall like that.

A close up of the counters (aaaah, counter space!).

I love my Halloween decorations :)

And that's the kitchen! Next up, the front room!

Slacker...

2010-09-24T22:34:00.000-07:00

So, I meant to update with this last week.... and then didn't. I don't have a good excuse, I'm just lazy, I guess! This was Alexa's first "injury", at least the first time that she hurt herself and it left a mark. (In case you can't tell, there's a bruise right above her eye). She's going to be walking really soon, I think. She's been trying to stand without holding onto anything, which is how she got this bruise.
Still no news on the job front, but if all goes as planned, we will be in our house tomorrow! Wish us luck!

Swing Swing

2010-09-10T18:39:00.000-07:00

Today we took Alexa to a nearby park, and she had a ball. We were pretty sure she'd love the swing, and she certainly did! In this picture she's actually laughing hysterically.
It's hard to get a good picture while trying to get her to smile at the camera.... hopefully I'll get better at that.

Mike was excited to take her on the slide.

Also, we also took her on the spinny thing... it's not a merry-go-round, it's just a flat thing that has handles and you sit on it and spin. I have no idea what they're called, but they're a lot of fun. We also took her on the teeter-totter, see-saw, whatever you prefer to call it. She like them both as well, but as I was participating, I couldn't take pictures.

Labor Day Weekend

2010-09-09T15:35:00.001-07:00

So first I have to apologize for the lack of posting, I just haven't felt like it since there have been no updates in either the job search (although Mike does have an interview tomorrow) or in the house department....

For Labor Day the whole Bevan's family always goes camping on the coast for the weekend. The first evening Mike, Alexa and I were all ahead of the pack so we stopped by our first beach of the weekend. Alexa loved it even though it was freezing cold and she was wrapped up in a blanket the whole time.

No pictures of the second beach, but this is the beach we hit up on our way back to Eugene. Mike lost his phone on this beach, but luckily someone found it and turned it in to a nearby campground and the rangers called a bunch of people on Mike's phone trying to get in contact with him. When we got it back it didn't even look like it had been in the sand.

And last but not least, Alexa enjoys smushing her face into the side of the pack n play, which makes for some very fun faces.

Goodbyes

2010-08-16T01:32:00.000-07:00

I don't like goodbyes. In fact, I kind of hate them. This weekend, therefore, has not been fun (Not that saying goodbye has been the only thing to make it so). We're moving tomorrow, so yesterday a bunch of good friends came and helped us pack the truck and clean the apartment.

So now this is what we're living like. Mike and I are sleeping in the main room, to be by the AC, in a sleeping bag, which by the way, is ridiculously uncomfortable. Wymount apparently thinks padding between the cement and carpet is an unnecessary luxury. Alexa has been loving the lack of furniture because since there's nothing for her to get into, she can crawl pretty much anywhere she wants.

Thus ends a huge chapter in our lives. College, engagement, marriage, our first child; all have happened here in Provo. This apartment has been our home for 2 years, and we've made many good friends here. It's sad to go, but exciting to move on and enter "real life", or as a couple of friends say, become "real people".

Get Ready to Cry

2010-08-11T20:36:00.000-07:00

Hopefully this will work, I'm just copying a link that a facebook friend put up. Warning: Have tissues ready!

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=455621345922&ref=m

Poor girl!

2010-08-02T22:17:00.000-07:00

Look at this little angel.
This poor little girl gets blamed for so many things. Have you ever seen that commercial (I think it's for diapers) where it's the baby's 1st birthday and he gets a sock puppet? He then proceeds to tell his parents some major problems with their parenting- "Dad stop blaming me for the gas, so not cool" and "Mom, if my diapers sagged anymore I wouldn't be able to move" or something along those lines. It's a funny commercial, especially when you realize the truth of it.

Alexa gets blamed for:

Her father's gas (I know, right?)
Her father's mistakes when playing video games with friends online
Stains, oh the stains. Carpets, couches, clothing, although many of the stains really are from her.
Her mother's laziness in not getting showered and dressed before about 2pm most days
Making us miss things because she's grumpy or tired (very convenient)
Her mother's dumb moments (oh, sorry, the baby was up late last night...)
Her mother never doing more than wearing her hair in a ponytail anymore

And I'm sure there are more things the poor kid gets blamed for, but I'm sure the day will come all too soon when she can defend herself. ("Dad! That was NOT me!") She's already growing up waaaay too fast! She's crawling like a champ and pulls herself to standing on pretty much any available surface. She can even put herself in a sitting position from laying down. I'm pretty impressed with her.

And, thanks to those of you who took the survey for me. And don't worry, like I said, it's about usage, so you're not being judged on right or wrong, it was more just to see how many people used the standard and how many people used the technical. If you happen to want to know what the "correct" answers are anyways, let me know!

Who wants to help?

2010-07-30T22:24:00.000-07:00

So, I'm taking an English Language class that is primarily about usage. For this class I need to get people to take a couple of surveys through out the class, and it's best when the people aren't all from the same place/age group/etc. so I thought that putting them up here would get me a good range. So, if you don't mind and have a spare minute- literally, it will only take a few minutes- please take this one for me. Also, please email me your responses instead of putting it as a comment so that your answers don't influence anyone else and their potential answers. Hopefully I don't get a bunch of spam from this, but here's my email address: snowanglp (at) hotmail.com Thanks so much everyone!

1. The quarterback played______ today. A) good B) well
2. If I_______ to win the lottery I would buy a new house. A) was B) were
3. The reason I am tired is _____ I stayed up too late last night. A) because B) that
4. I feel _____ that you didn't get to go to the party last night. A) bad B) badly
5. Hey, _____ I use your car tonight? A) may B) can
6. His vote on that issue is different ____ mine. A) from B) than

Virginia!

2010-07-21T15:04:00.000-07:00

So I'm finally getting around to posting about our trip to Virginia, so be forewarned that there are ridiculous amounts pictures in this post.

Alexa has started sleeping with her rear in the air.
Alexa's first drive, and she loved it!

Alexa with various family members:

At Chuck E Cheese (that was exciting...)

And lastly, with the cousins.

The sad thing? I was there a week, and these are pretty much all the pictures that I took. I'm terrible. But we had a great time, and although I really wish Mike had been able to come, I'm so glad that Alexa and I were able to go and she could meet the rest of my family.

In other news, since we still have no job, it's looking like we'll move to Oregon after graduation.

Fifth of July

2010-07-17T10:20:00.000-07:00

So, the day after the Fourth, Mike, Alexa and I went to the Freedom Festival with a couple of friends from the ward. While we were there we took a lot of pictures of Alexa, hoping to get her to smile in some, which she did! We had a lot of fun, and the Freedom Festival is going to be one things we'll miss when we move!

On Tuesday we got kicked out of the apartment for a bit because they were cleaning our carpets. We just went outside to hang out and read, and Mike managed to get a picture of what we like to call The Turtle Face. She loves to make this face, although the bottom lip doesn't always do this.

Stadium of Fire

2010-07-04T15:12:00.000-07:00

Mike and I were hoping to go to Stadium of Fire together this year, but when he got his promotion, I invited an old roommate to come with me instead. I felt bad for him, but there was no way he was getting out of work! That's why his week has been so crazy. The whole week before the Fourth, the traffic officers have to watch the fireworks all night, so he had a few nights of little to no sleep. Then he worked from 11am-2am yesterday, has to work 7-10 tonight, and goes in tomorrow (a holiday for everyone else) at 5:30am til about 1 pm. Alexa and I have seen very little of him recently, so it's been sad and really weird. Anyways, Stadium of Fire was awesome! I'm so glad I got to go! Here is the main attraction:
That's right folks, this year's star was Carrie Underwood! Now, I'm no country fan, but her music isn't really very country, and is pretty rock-ish, so I like her quite a bit. Here are a few videos from her performance for your enjoyment. :)

Hopefully they all work; I don't really know what I'm doing....

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bananas!

2010-07-02T16:09:00.000-07:00

First off, I'll start with a super cute pic of Mike and Alexa napping...
Here's the little bed head getting ready for her first taste of bananas...

Clearly, not impressed...

Trying to get it all out...

Being forced to take another bite...

So, I guess she takes after me and doesn't like bananas much, but I have to say, it was quite amusing watching her expressions!

We had her doctors appointment this morning, so now she's a grump because of all the shots. And apparently, since the stranger anxiety isn't supposed to really start until 9 months, she's ahead of the game, because the doctor and nurses totally flipped her out! She's 26.6 in long putting her in the 78 percentile, 15.56 lbs- 39%, and her head is 16.75 in around, putting her in the 51%. So she's still our long skinny baby, but she's starting to even out more.

I would post more about how this week has been crazy, but like I said, she's a grump!

Six Months!

2010-06-27T17:42:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that it's been six months since this:
(Ignore the unattractiveness that is me, I am clearly not one of those girls that goes through labor and looks completely normal after- not to mention, I went in at 10pm and didn't have her til morning...)

She was so tiny and has grown so much! It's hard to remember her being that small in my arms.

From the moment I saw her, I loved her more than anything, and now that I've spent 6 months with her, I love her even more. I wouldn't have thought it possible, but I think that hearts must grow in order to hold all the love mothers come to have for their children. Her six month appointment isn't until Friday, so I'll update with stats then. Oh, and as a Happy Half Birthday present to her, she is cutting her first tooth!

One Great Weekend

2010-06-21T21:09:00.000-07:00

So, Mike pretty much had his perfect weekend these last few days. Friday was our friend Tanya's birthday, and it was also the day after the semester ended, so he didn't have to work. Friday afternoon a few friends came over while I was napping and they played games. Then we did some errands, came home and had a game night (that included Papa Murphy's pizza) and then night games. Saturday we all slept in and then went to Tucano's for Tanya's birthday, then came home and then he had another game night while I slept again (I had a pretty good weekend too-lots of naps!). Sunday he got cards that Alexa and I had made together, and I played Halo with him. Then for dinner he got Panda Express, except homemade. He was one happy camper!

Tonight for our activity for FHE we went to the duck pond to feed the ducks. It was a lot of fun! Here are a bunch of pictures from it:

She loves to scrunch her nose at us now!

Look at these cheeks! And that expression!

There were at least fifteen baby ducks around.

She was not impressed with her taste of bread.

Oh Utah.... (and a plethora of pictures)

2010-06-14T00:04:00.001-07:00

This was taken just a few days ago. I know it's hard to see, but that is in fact hail. In June. In Utah. It's just plain wrong.
Saturday night we played night games with a bunch of friends, and Mike gets really into it. This is him camo-ing his face with my eyeshadow (someone may as well use it, right?). Alexa and I were cops all night because I'm too paranoid to let someone drive our car with her in it, but we had a lot of fun and caught a lot of robbers, or fugitives as some people may call them.

Alexa loves her spoons, so I gave her this one to have as a toy. My favorite part of this picture is how the spoon matched her outfit. I always color coordinate baby outfits and toys, doesn't everybody? :)

Nap time in the Bevans house. Everyone is asleep except Mommy, although not for lack of desire!

I thought it was hilarious that our lazy baby found a way to sleep and eat without having to hold her arms up to hold the bottle in place. It's especially funny since she HATES to sleep on her stomach. I think this may have been the first time, ever.

Who needs toys when Daddy has shoes to play with?

Our first attempt with rice cereal. She liked it but didn't quite grasp the concept of swallowing it. This was a few weeks ago, so I think I'll try again this week, maybe since she's been playing with her spoon she'll have figured it out?

Isn't she just adorable???

A Sad Realization

2010-06-08T20:19:00.000-07:00

So, one of my new addictions that has come about from being home all day with Alexa is my love of blogs. I love reading blogs. Ever heard the term "Facebook stalker"? I'm not one of those, I'm worse. I'm a blog stalker. But it's so interesting! I love seeing what exciting things are going on in other people's lives, or just the differences in our lives. I like seeing what people do in their spare time and how they decorate their homes. And I love reading and don't ever go to the library....

Anyways, my realization is that this addiction has made me a hypocrite. Whenever someone goes a week without updating their blog, I always find myself wishing they would do it asap. And yet, this post, this very post, is coming about 3 weeks after my last post. Another way it makes me a hypocrite is that I almost never comment on people's blogs. For some reason I'm self-conscious or something (maybe because about half the people I blog stalk don't know that I read theirs....). But, I love getting comments. See? Hypocritical. So my new goals are to blog more often, and to comment more often, at least on the blogs of people that already know that I read their blogs.

And because no post would be complete without a picture of the newest and cutest member of our family, here's Alexa in her new Memorial Day dress from my mom.

Mother's Day

2010-05-14T17:05:00.001-07:00

So I guess this year was my first "real" Mother's Day, although I still count last year since I was pregnant. Either way, it was great! We didn't really celebrate on Mother's Day itself because with everything going on that weekend, Mike didn't have time to prepare, but he did make me dinner.

On Monday night we had his birthday meal (the home cooked one since you really don't need another meal after Tucanos) and then on Tuesday night he made me a wonderful Mother's Day meal and got me an ice cream cake! It was delicious! He also got me a collection of Nicholas Sparks movies, and I'm so excited to watch them! I love Nicholas Sparks books, he's one of my favorite authors, even if he isn't the most creative person ever.

My mom sent me a card and a Willow Tree figure, which prompted me to rearrange the ones I have and put them together in this order:
It's my life in Willow Tree! And I think all of these came from her! I have one other one, a little plaque from one of my best friends that is of two friends sitting together that should be in the front of the line, but it doesn't stand up by itself. I'll have to find a stand so the series will be complete.

In other good news, I'm excited to go to VA for a week in July with Alexa. She'll get to meet the rest of my immediate family (none of my brothers have met her) and I'll get to show her off to some of my old friends! I am sad that Mike won't be able to come with us but he'll be working and in classes still, so he is staying here. It will be the first time we've been separated for any real length of time... the closest was the 4th of July when he worked for about 24 hours straight. I'm still trying to convince him to come, but he isn't budging, stubborn man!

Mike's Birthday

2010-05-14T16:56:00.001-07:00

For Mike's birthday we continued our tradition of a lunch/dinner at Tucanos with friends. We got a big group together, and it was a lot of fun! It was also nice because since his birthday was the day before Mother's Day, Tucanos was having a special that included chocolate covered strawberries! :) I, of course, did not bring my camera and only remembered to take pictures while we were outside waiting, but here's everyone, minus one who came late...

After that we went back to our apartment with several people and played a lot of games. I had decorated the apartment that morning to surprise Mike, so I think it was pretty festive. Of course I decorated in Bronco's colors! Again, I was a slacker with taking pictures, so no pics of them or the cake, which I was actually really mad at myself for not taking before we cut it at the game night. I've got to get better! He got several good presents, and I think he enjoyed his birthday a lot! And, now that he's 5 years older than me again, all is right in the world :)

4 Months!

2010-05-03T18:17:00.000-07:00

Today we had Alexa's 4 month appointment which means that she's been a grump all afternoon thanks to immunizations. We have a long, skinny baby, go figure! She's 13.03 lbs, 25.9 in long and has a head circumference of 16.4 in. This puts her in the 31.8% for weight, 94.01% for height and 66.6% for head size. I was surprised she hadn't gained more because it seems like she's always eating!

She's also a genius, we've come to realize this week. Yes, this is a picture of her sitting up, all by herself, on daddy's lap. By the time we got over our amazement and I got the camera, she was leaning over in order to throw up on her father. See? Pure genius! Notice his flailing arms and the white spot of spit up going down onto his shirt? I have awesome timing with a camera :)

This morning after the doctor's appointment I laid her down on her floor gym. I laid her on her back with her feet under the little monkey and bear, like you're supposed to so she can kick them. Then I got online and was wasting time and when I looked back at her she had spun 270 degrees and was trying to roll onto her stomach! She rolls from stomach to back all the time, but never the other way around! She hates tummy time!

I kept watching to see if she could figure out how to get her other arm out from under herself...

And she did!!!

Then, she was on the couch later playing with the rattle (the little green frog in the picture) and her pacifier was off to the side on her burp rag. I got a drink, came back and she had gotten the pacifier and was trying to figure out how to get the right part in her mouth while keeping hold of the handle. I was impressed that she had gotten a hold of it, was holding the right part and was trying to put the right part in her mouth!

And then there's my husband....

Yes, that's about 15 grapes shoved in his mouth.... He did this purely for his own entertainment one night while we were watching a movie and looked up at me with a huge grin. And of course I put it on the blog so everyone can see! :)

He did it!!! almost....

2010-04-26T20:32:00.000-07:00

So this weekend was graduation, and since we have no idea if we'll still be around in August, Mike walked even though he has about a month left of school. The end is in sight, and we are SO excited to be done and out of here!

Of course because Dad Bevans was here, it was very well documented, but I tried to limit the pictures to the classics.

Here's everyone, besides the camera man himself, that came for the first day.

Alexa had the cutest outfit ever, if I do say so myself. We got her a little BYU cheerleader dress at the bookstore as well as a really cute BYU headband.

Easter

2010-04-06T22:15:00.000-07:00

So, I'm supposed to be doing homework right now, but I got tired of it, so here are Easter pictures!

Dying her first egg. Clearly she is super interested in it.
(why are her eyes always red??)

Our little Easter bunny! Too bad the ears were gigantic on her!

Her first Easter egg hunt, again, clearly we were doing this for her, not for ourselves :)

First Easter basket! So what if she has to wait a couple of years before she's supposed to play with her toys... and we'll eat all her candy...

3 Month Photo Shoot

2010-03-31T13:31:00.000-07:00

Birthday Weekend

2010-03-20T18:49:00.000-07:00

Ok, here comes a ton of pictures, although I did cut down a lot. Last weekend we celebrated my birthday on Saturday since we couldn't really go do anything on Sunday. First we went to the aquarium in Salt Lake. We had seen billboards for it, and so were curious to go see it. It was pretty small, but Alexa had a great time!

After the Aquarium we drove around a little while to kill sometime because Mike said it was too early for dinner. I was kind of confused because I thought we were just going to the Red Iguana, a place we saw on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives (I love the Food Network...) buuuuut it turns out Mike was taking me to The Melting Pot, which I had been wanting to try for a long time! It was sooooo good! This is a picture of our dessert right before we finished it. Oh my goodness, it was so good! Mike was really impressed as well. I even got him to try a bite of salmon! He didn't really like it though, so I guess I wait until next year to have it again :)

This is just a shot I got of it as we were leaving.

Sunday some things came up, so he didn't end up making my birthday dinner then, but I think he's making it tomorrow! I'm excited!

I'm ashamed...

2010-03-10T12:51:00.000-08:00

So it took me this long to finally get around to reading Twilight, and I did it purely out of curiosity. I wanted to know all the fuss was about when it sounded like a written soap opera that was badly done. And I have to say, Stephenie Meyer is a terrible writer. Being in the same program that she graduated from, I don't know how she passed. The teachers I have are all pretty strict with grammar and sentence structure. Meyer pretty much completely ignores any and all rules in the English language. That being said, the books are ridiculously addicting. I told one of my friends "As an English major I cringe while I'm reading it, but I just can't stop!" And it's true. I've only read the first two, so no one ruin anything for me!

On another note, I forgot to update with Alexa's 2 month stats. She was 23.5 inches and 11.4 pounds. The nurse actually had to come measure her again because she was so surprised she had grown that much already! We just got back from getting pictures done, and as I was picking ones to buy, it really hit me how much she's grown. It really does happen too fast!

Playing and the nursery

2010-03-05T22:27:00.000-08:00

Alexa's latest achievement is that she really plays with things now. This Winnie the Pooh stuffed animal is her favorite. If we put it in her reach she actually reaches out and grabs him now. She's a lot more interactive, which is a lot of fun!
I just loved this outfit, so I had to take a picture. This is thanks to Aunt Kim and Aunt Shauna! Kim got the outfit, which happened to match one of the bows that Shauna got perfectly!

Her changing table is just about her favorite place to be. She'll lay there and play by herself for quite awhile. Go figure!

And lastly, I'm rather proud of the nursery. I think we did a good job with what we had to work with. The pictures in the frames are my next project, so they'll change soon. Right now they're just fantasy pictures.

I'll post more pictures when it's done, especially since our crib is coming this week! I'm so excited! I'm really looking forward to getting it, as I'm hoping it will be easier to get her to sleep in it. I'm convinced the bassinet is just to small because she wakes herself up when she flings her arms out, which she loves to do. So, if anyone wants or knows someone who wants a bassinet, let us know!

Coos

2010-02-25T00:09:00.000-08:00

Alexa has become quite the little talker lately.

Hopefully the video thing works.... I've never put one up, so we'll see. She also doesn't seem to have the typical first child camera love. She's interested in it, but stops doing whatever she was doing to look at it. Thus, getting this video was hard. Just ignore me talking in it, please.

Besides talking a lot more, nothing much has changed around here. As you may notice, I'm blogging at 1:15 am, so obviously Alexa still stays up all night and sleeps all day. At least she sleeps one long period (like 5-7 hours) so I can still get a good amount of sleep, even if it is at a really odd time. I haven't been very productive otherwise though. It's hard to be motivated to clean or do homework in the middle of the night, especially when trying to keep the baby quiet so Mike can get sleep for his classes.

Speaking of classes, our history class ended today, so I only have independent study classes left! Yay! Mike still has a full semester, although this will make his schedule a lot easier because it gives him built in time to work in the lab. We really are going to finish school this year, this time! We promise! We'll both be done in June, and Mike will be walking in April. This time, nothing is going to stop us! We both are doing well health-wise for once, and we really want to get into the real world and have a real job/income now that we have a baby, so the motivation is really there! Family is the best motivator out there!

Smiles and Laughs

2010-02-07T23:06:00.000-08:00

So this isn't quite her full smile, but they're always really quick so they're hard to capture on camera. I'll keep trying though. Anyways, Alexa has started smiling at us when we entertain her, and even laughed once this week! We have no idea what she was laughing at since she was staring at the wall at the time, but it was exciting anyways!

This wasn't her first bath, but I felt a bath picture was necessary...

As you can see, she can be quite the bed hog, but at least she'll lie there quietly while we get dressed and put away laundry and things like that.

I just thought this one was cute :)

And Mike, once again multi-tasking. Who says you can't feed a baby and look things up on a lap top? Oh, and he wanted me to mention that in the last post, he also has a controller in his hand that's holding Alexa.

Our sleeping schedules have gotten all messed up thanks to our little bundle of joy. She's taken to sleeping all day and staying up all night, and we haven't quite figured out how to fix that. We've tried to keep her awake during the day, or at least wake her up often enough that she should be tired at night, but that hasn't really worked so far. Babies can sleep through pretty much anything, we've decided. The worst part of it is that around 6 or 7 in the morning she usually has a tantrum, which isn't that bad except that it's for no reason at all, lasts at least half an hour and the person with her is going on very little sleep since she hasn't gone to sleep yet. Hopefully she'll get over this soon, though, so we can have a little more sanity!

A long overdue post...

2010-01-26T14:39:00.000-08:00

So I was all proud of myself because I had gotten pretty good about blogging regularly, and then I went and had a baby... I suppose at least that's a relatively good reason for not having blogged in about a month. Yes, a month. Alexa is now just over a month old, and that time really flew by. I can't believe she's that old already! She's gotten really good at grabbing things, and really looks at and focuses on things now. She's still trying to figure out the whole hand sucking thing, but we have high hopes for her. Now she just has a hard time not poking herself in the eye while getting fingers in her mouth.

Sadly, I haven't gotten much better at taking pictures, but I'm making it a goal to start! So, here are some old and new pics:

Her goggle eyes from the light for her billirubin.

Mike has figured out the art of holding a sleeping baby and playing the wii at the same time.

Her little present outfit that you can kind of see around the swing straps.

And her at this moment, asleep in her second favorite place, the boppy. Her first, is of course, on people.

A Few More Pics

2009-12-27T23:25:00.000-08:00

I had taken a few more pictures of Alexa before bed tonight, so I thought I would put them up. Here they are for your viewing pleasure. :) The first two are from when I was holding Alexa and she was just looking at me. I loved it. The last is Alicia holding her.

Alexa Catherine Bevans

2009-12-27T18:38:00.000-08:00

She was born this morning at 9:19 at 8 pounds 11 ounces, 21 inches. She was quite a big baby (seeing that I was told she would probably be 7.5 pounds). She was also born with a full head of black curly hair, which the nurses styled after her bath and put a bow in. The only slight complication that occured was that she had some fluid in her lungs, but she was able to cough it all up ok, so all is well. Mike and I are doing well, we're both just exhausted, and I'm a bit sore. Thank goodness for epidurals is all I have to say.

Counting down the minutes eagerly....

2009-12-26T23:10:00.000-08:00

This is officially my first post. Till now I have let Alicia do all the blogging. She is the more creative one, and the trend seems to be that the wife is the blogger. There will have to be an exception made this time, however, because she is currently lying on a bed with a tube sticking out of her back and two monitors strapped to her belly...and is 8cm dialated! This is an exciting time! And as I sit here and wait excitedly, I thought I would update the blog so that everyone who happens across it knows that the big event is finally happening. Our baby is coming! Assuming all goes well, we should have pictures and stuff up here tomorrow...unless this becomes a marathon pregnancy. Hang in there...if I have to wait so do you!

No baby....

2009-12-20T19:02:00.000-08:00

How depressing. Here it is, my due date, and no baby yet. Hopefully soon, because I don't want her to have a Christmas birthday. And I'm pretty tired of bing pregnant. Next time I post, hopefully it'll mean that she's here!

The loss and regaining of respect for man-kind

2009-12-10T15:49:00.000-08:00

Mike and I have had an emotional couple of days. Well, the emotional part was mostly on my side, although, one part did get him as well. I blame hormones. And being a girl. And stressed and a big lack of sleep. Anyways.

My mom's company threw her a grand-baby party, right? Well, one big chunk of that was a $230 gift card for Babys R Us. Last night Mike and I went to get all those little things that you need and were definitely spending the entire amount, and then some. When we got to check out, two other gift cards were fine, but that $230 one had nothing on it. We figured that someone messed up when ringing it up and just didn't put the money on, or something like that. We called customer service, but they were already closed for the night, so we just put everything on hold until we figured it out.

Today Mike called them again and found out that the money had been put on correctly, and that on Nov. 29 someone checked the balance and used the card. This opened a whole can of legal worms for the store, and they said they'd try to figure it out and let us know if we could get a new card with the money on it. Needless to say, I reacted emotionally, Mike not so much. I tend to panic more than him about stuff, and the other afore mentioned factors caused me to pretty much lose it. Both of us were just disgusted because the customer service person guessed that someone used it online and just sat there typing in numbers until they hit a real card with money. How can people do something like that? Apparently there's some scam where people have managed to duplicate gift cards and make fake ones and use them after the real card has been activated.

Now here's the really good part. The part that restores our faith in the goodness of people, and then some. We happened to have the receipt for said gift card, and Babys R Us wanted us to fax it to them. Not having a machine ourselves, we went into work at the traffic office a little early to use the one there. Naturally, it raised a little curiosity, and we ended up telling a couple of people what happened. We don't actually know if that is connected to the next part or not, but we think it probably does. Sgt. Vest called Mike into his office and gave him an envelope. He said that someone put it on his desk and told him to give it to Mike. In that envelope was a blank card and a $100 bill.

With the job that we work we see a lot of selfish and self-centered people every day. We see tons of people that think they're the most important person, that they're the exception to everything. Today I feel like the exception. I feel like in a world where so many people just don't care and where so many people feel unloved, we are the exception. Someone really did care, and not just that, but they did such a wonderful act of service and don't even want recognition. That is the true meaning of charity, and the best part is that I know it doesn't have anything to do with the time of year, it's something they'd do if it was summer time. All I can say is, Merry Christmas, and remember what this season is all about!

Snow/ 38 weeks....

2009-12-08T15:18:00.001-08:00

Ok, so this isn't a picture I took myself, but it gets the point across. Mike's winter was made happy this weekend when we woke up to snow on Sunday, then to more yesterday, and then even more today. I heard it's supposed to snow more this week as well. The snow is certainly pretty on the mountains, but my biggest peeve with it is that Provo is terrible at clearing roads for some reason. You would think Utah would be on top of things, wouldn't you? Mike and I agree, however, that our hometowns in OR and VA are both way better at clearing the roads.

On other news, I am just over 38 weeks now. At my appointment this week the doctor told us that he never lets people go over 41 weeks, so Dec. 28 would be the latest I could possibly go, and because of the heart issues I've been having with the pregnancy, he doubted that they'd let me go that long. So, I'm still hoping and assuming that we'll have her before Christmas! That would be especially nice since delivering on our anniversary would be kind of a bummer.

We're still rather nervous, but I at least, am feeling more prepared in the baby stuff area. I worked at my mom's company (API) for several years through middle school, high school and college, and since it is not a very large company, I knew everyone that worked there, and they all pretty much considered me a daughter. So, when they found out that I was pregnant, they planned a Grand-baby shower for my mom. We got so many great things from them, it's amazing how generous they were! That helped a lot with making me feel more prepared! We still have to go to Baby's R Us sometime this week to use gift cards and get the last things we need, and then I think we'll be set! Any recommendations of things that you've really liked having or wished you had? Or things that have a lot of hype but aren't really that great? We'd love any help and advice!

37 weeks...

2009-12-01T18:14:00.000-08:00

And counting. Boy, people aren't kidding when they tell you that by the end of the pregnancy you really don't care about labor anymore because you're just so ready to have the baby out of you!Don't get me wrong, there's some great things about being pregnant. I feel so close to her, but really, 40 weeks? That's enough!

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. We had three friends that we work with come over and we all split the cooking, which made it a lot easier and less stressful for me! We didn't get much of a vacation though, as there were two basketball games on Friday, plus the big U of U vs. BYU game on Saturday, and we had to work on Sunday as well. But, it was our last football game, which is good because I'm definitely to the point that working for 8 hours and being on my feet most of that time just isn't good. (have I mentioned that there's only like 3 weeks left?)

Yesterday we started putting up our Christmas decorations, finally! I'll take pictures and put them up later, as the decor is not complete. We got an artificial tree this year since we'll be staying in Provo, and started decorating it, but neither of us have our ornaments out here. Hopefully we'll get those soon so we can finish and our apartment will be officially festive! I've been able to get most of my Christmas shopping done as well (thanks largely due to Black Friday) which is nice because it will be less to worry about later. Just three more weeks!

Costumes!

2009-11-09T15:09:00.000-08:00

We thought we were pretty creative/innovative this year. I figured, hey, I have a huge belly, may as well use it, right? Right! So, I was a pumpkin and Mike, deciding that he wanted to match me, was a pumpkin farmer. We were pretty proud of ourselves.

Besides that, not a lot has been going on here. Some of you may know that I was wearing a heart monitor for 2 weeks because my doctor was pretty sure I had developed SVT. We got the results back from the cardiologist a few days ago, and apparently everything was "normal". We're not quite sure what "normal" means as of right now, because something is definitely going on with my heart, but I guess it's just not diagnosable? Or something like that. My next doctors appointment is a week from today, so hopefully he'll have some more ideas and we'll be able to figure this thing out, because right now it's just really annoying. My graduation once again is being pushed back another semester, and once again its because of health. It's just getting old!

On other news, we finally have the baby's room cleared out of everything that needed to be cleared out. I'm pretty happy about that, although Mike is sad because it meant selling our love seat. That's the problem with small apartments though, no room for anything! I'm eager for her to come and to, some day, be able to have a full nights sleep again. I know, I know, it will be awhile in coming, but, it will come!

Halloween

2009-11-02T15:30:00.000-08:00

Those are our really cool pumpkins. Mike's is the one on the left and mine is on the right. We have a lot of fun doing things like that, although Mike gets kinda sick of cleaning out the pumpkin goo, since that's his job for both pumpkins. Of course, when we have a kid next year, he'll get to do three then!
Once again he didn't quite make the openings on top big enough to easily light the candles inside, but at least this year neither of the pumpkins became a flaming inferno (although that was hilarious). Maybe next year he'll finally learn and make it easy on himself by making them wide enough to fit his hand and then some.

Did you know when you save a draft of an email on hotmail, it doesn't save attachments? I just found that out, because I don't have a picture now of our costumes with me. So, our awesome Halloween costumes will just have to be posted later!

Ivan Spudnik and Barby Q

2009-10-26T17:32:00.000-07:00

So, I have to start off bragging a little bit. Ever been to Olive Garden for their soup, salad and breadsticks deal? We love it. Mike's favorite soup there is the Zuppa Tuscano. Last night I tried a recipe I had found online for Zuppa Tuscano, and it turned out great! Mike said it tasted just like Olive Gardens', which I take to be a huuuuge compliment because Olive Garden is a place of happiness.
Next is a belly shot. Taken today, I am 32 weeks. Almost there! And let me tell you, until I was picking a picture to put up of my belly, I had not realized how much weight I've gained in my face! So, ignore the face and focus on the belly!

Now the main reason for the post! Thursday night Mike and I went up to Kaysville because our friends Rachel and Craig were hosting a murder mystery dinner party thing. Mike was Ivan Spudnik, a Russian scientist, and his accent was the hit of the night. It was pretty bad.... I mean good, it was good! Haha, he practiced all day and got some tips from a friend that served his mission in Russia, so he actually did pretty well.

My character was a bombshell divorcee named Barby Q, but my costume wasn't nearly as entertaining as his, and like I mentioned before, I'm suddenly a lot more self conscious about putting pictures of me on the blog! The party was so fun though! I had never done one before, so it was a new experience and I was kind of nervous about it at first, but it was totally worth it. And no, neither of us was the murderer.

And now on to a question. I'm rather naive when it comes to all the blogging stuff, and I've been trying to figure something out. When I leave a comment on someones blog it makes the name all funny. It shows up as "Mike & Alicia" and I have no idea why. Ok, and the new and weirded thing is that I can't get it to show up how it looks when I leave a comment. Just imagine that after the and sign it has "amp;" For some reason this post keeps automatically taking that out, but it definitely shows up in the name on our comments. (Just to let you guys know, this is also why I don't leave a lot of comments, it always just looks weird) Anyone know how to fix it?

Work, work, work

2009-10-23T15:17:00.001-07:00

So, here I am at work, being extremely bored because things got very messed up today and so I wasn't prepared to be where I am. This weekend is Homecoming at BYU, which you can probably imagine means a lot of work for Mike and me seeing that we're both working for BYU Traffic. As if Homecoming and all that it entails (Spectacular on two nights, a parade, run and game tomorrow) isn't bad enough, ESPN Game Day has also decided to come this weekend. Which means closing down parking lots and guarding lots and trucks all day/night today and tomorrow as well. So, basically there are a ton of posts that no one wants. So what do they do? They mess up our shift to cover things, and half our shift isn't here anyways.

The "flu" has been going around big time in the office, and so literally only four people on our shift came in today- keep in mind that both Mike and I came in, so that's half the people right there. Some of these people were signed up for posts tonight as well, so now there's no one to cover those. So, just to make this confusing, I'll explain a little of what happened to our shift. There are three traffic booths that get manned during our shift, then there are usually 4 people on patrol, including the FA (the person in charge of us). So, three of the people on patrol called in sick, and one was told that he had to work a Homecoming Spectacular post instead of working his normal shift. So basically we had the booth people and that was it. Mike and I came in seperately, and when I was walking in to the locker room another girl was coming in and said, "Oh, you're here! They had me close down 2V, so I figured you were sick, too!". At this point I was quite confused because no one had told me they were changing where I was supposed to be. After finally finding the person in charge, he told me that he was putting me in the booth that Mike was supposed to be in and putting Mike at a barricade for the ESPN thing. So right now, there are 3 people on evening shift officially, and one of them isn't even from our shift because they put two of us on special events posts.

To top it off, the guy in the other booth just radioed that he has to be somewhere at 6:15 (our shift ends at 7) so he wanted to know if he should try to find someone to take it or just close down the booths. The FA replied, "Well, there really isn't anyone to take it so we'll have to shut down I guess". So now I have a half hour break before my special event post, I guess. Now everyone that's here is just hoping that no one is going to call in sick tomorrow, because that would be terrible.

Anyways, I just thought I'd let everyone see a little bit of the inner workings of the traffic office at BYU. Crazy, isn't it?

Brown paper packages tied up with strings...

2009-10-12T15:42:00.000-07:00

I love getting packages in the mail. It makes me feel so special, especially since they're never junk mail. Getting mail in general is nice, but of course the bulk of what I take out of my mailbox is always advertisements and things addressed to the previous tenants (even though we've been here for well over a year). But packages are exciting, especially when you aren't expecting them. Today I got two! One I was expecting, and was excited for, the other was a total surprise.
This first one was the one I was expecting. My awesome sister-in-law, Julie, is done having children, so she's been working at clearing out the basement of all the kid things they still had, including her maternity clothes! So, she sent me a whole box full of her old clothes, which means I'm pretty much set for life in the maternity department! They're actually going to send us their crib as well, when their youngest gets his big boy bed. This second picture is of a really cute diaper cake that three of my high school friends sent me completely out of the blue. By that I mean I had no idea that they were sending me anything, obviously it wasn't totally out of the blue since I am pregnant... The really awesome thing is that it goes to show that some friends don't disappear. One of the friends and I had a bit of a fight after high school and lost touch almost completely. The other two I still talk to occasionally, but not nearly as often as I'd like. The group of us were pretty tight in high school though, and it's nice to know they're still thinking about me, as I do them!

I've started to get the nesting fever a little bit, although not nearly as much as Alli, which is probably a good thing since I can't redo my apartment like she did her house whether I want to or not. I have however started trying to really create a nursery, and haven't gotten very far yet. But, one thing that I've been wanting forever and finally got is a set of curtains! They're cute AND useful since they'll block out more light when she sleeps during the day.
On Saturday Mike and I had a spontaneous date evening. He took me for a drive up the mountains to look at the pretty fall colors, and we saw deer!

After the drive we went to dinner and then played games at home. It was a very nice, much needed relaxing day after the crazy and emotional week we/I had. I think I'll wait to update about that until we know more about what's going on, though, which hopefully will be soon.

Halloween is coming!

2009-10-05T13:28:00.000-07:00

So life here has been pretty busy lately. We just had three home football games in a row, and now that both Mike and I are working for BYU traffic, we get to work all home games! So, basically we got about an extra 25 hours for this paycheck, which is nice except that we haven't had a real weekend in about a month. We're looking forward to this coming weekend and being extra lazy.

Yesterday we brought out the Halloween decorations and went crazy. This last Christmas I really wanted more holiday decorations, and Mike's mom got us a ton! Our apartment feels very festive now, it's great! This is on the outside of our door:

And this is our table. I had the leaves from last year and got the bowl on Saturday night (yay for Priesthood session and having a long needed girls night!) on sale at the Quilted Bear. The really cute placemats were part of my Christmas present from Mom Bevans.

The big pumpkin and bat both light up and were also part of the present, and the little pumpkins were just random things I've gotten over the years.

These are our two front doors (the actual front door and the balcony door) We hadn't redecorated the balcony door since the fourth of July, so it was about time!

The great thing about having worked at the Quilted Bear for so long before getting married is that when I saw something really cute come in, I could get it with my employee discount, and so had a few cute decorations coming into the marriage.

Not to mention the Christmas bonus that bought this bakers rack and then some.

Also not pictured were a couple of cute candy corn dish towels that were also part of the present. Speaking of candy corn, have any of you tried the seasonal Hershey kisses for fall? They have a candy corn one, and a pumpkin spice one. They're so good! The pumpkin ones taste like pumpkin pie and are Mike's favorite (besides the Easter coconut ones) and the candy corn ones taste like white chocolatey candy corn. Anyways, we recommend them!

Good movie, bad movie

2009-09-21T15:03:00.001-07:00

First for the good movie: Star Trek. I was amazed, it wasn't at all like the TV show my dad used to watch all the time, and had the bonus of having an attractive main character! Mike had seen this already with my dad, but I hadn't, and he was very eager for me to see it after his first time going. Now we're just wondering if they're going to make a whole new series with these people.

Aaaand the bad movie, Night at the Museum 2. This was a big disappointment. We both loved the first one, but the second one was just lacking. It had some major discrepancies from the first movie and the things that were supposed to be really funny throughout the movie just really weren't that amusing to us. It certainly could have been worse, so it wasn't a total loss, and at least we waited until it was in the dollar theatre.

My oldest brother had given us the advice to see as many movies as we can before the baby comes because after it will be much harder to see any, and we'll get tired of Disney movies. It sounded like a good idea to us, plus a lot of movies had come out this summer that looked good, so we were excited to! This is a pretty good start, I think!

2009-09-03T11:56:00.000-07:00

So, to start, here is a picture proving that I least wore the cap and gown! :)
Ok, this next part is going to be pretty much completely random. Lately, with the baby coming, I've been reminiscing about our wedding. I'm not really sure why, except probably because that was a huge milestone in my life, and right around the same date, two years later, I'll be reaching another milestone, the birth of our first baby. I am so excited for her to come, and with the approaching birth, I find myself with a lot of the same thoughts and feelings that I had two years ago when my wedding was approaching. I am so excited for this new stage, for another level of love to enter into my life, but am so scared at the same time. Before it was, "what if I'm a terrible wife... what if I'm not actually a good cook and he starves or something... what if his family hates me... what if.. what if... what if..." Now its more like "what if something goes wrong with the pregnancy or labor... what if she never sleeps... what if we don't know how to get her to stop crying..." and so on.

Anyways, I've been looking at our wedding photos this week, and I realized that since we started the blog so late, we never really put any on here. So, here are a (very) select few.

And as nervous as I am, I really am soooo excited, and I know deep down that everything will be fine, but what kind of mother would I be if I didn't worry, right? And I'm so glad that I didn't let any of the wedding nerves scare me away, because I am so glad to be married to Mike. He is a wonderful husband and friend. I love spending time with him and surprising him with things (and I love it when he surprises me with things :)) He's being remarkably patient with me through my pregnancy mood swings and cravings, which I'm very grateful for, and he's going to be a great father!

Visits from family

2009-08-28T09:07:00.000-07:00

So, graduation was the 13& 14 of August, and it was a blast! Both sets of parents, plus my two oldest brothers came out for it. I don't have pictures yet, since I was rather preoccupied with, you know, graduating and all... But hopefully they'll come soon! Mike's parents were only here for a few days, but it was great to see them again, especially since we won't really see them again until the baby comes. Mark, Shauna, and Jackson came down for the actual ceremony as well. My brothers were also here only a few days, but again, it was great to see them. My oldest brother caused a little bit of stress because he went missing for about 8 hours, but, it'll make for a good story later, right? I also witnessed my first accident, and was glad they were in the car right behind me and knew what to do! My parents made a vacation out of it, and were here for a week and a half. It was so nice to spend the time with them! I only see them about twice a year now, so it was great. My mom and I did massive amount of shopping for maternity clothes and for the nursery. We got a glider and ordered a changing table, and I'm really excited for it to come!

My parents also wanted to do a little sight seeing, so we went to Promontory Point (isn't that super old-western sounding) which is where the Golden Spike is. Here's where East met West: Here's a belly shot for those who were wanting to see it. I really just feel like I look fat right now, not pregnant...

Here's West:

And East:

And double East:

And East meeting West again!

There goes East. I thought it was pretty cool that the trains actually run, even though they're just replicas of the originals.

So, the 19th was my parents anniversary, so we went out for dinner (actually, we went out for dinner a lot... I haven't eaten that amount of food in a loooong time) to Los Hermanos. Our waitress was my freshman roommate, Kelly, and we finally met her new husband as well. Just to warn you, if you ever feel like getting nachos there, make sure you have about ten people to share with. You will never finish them by yourself, even with your husband helping you!

After my parents left, we had one day of down time, and then Kim (Mike's younger sister) and Kelly came to visit with their kids. It was also great to see them again, since it's been a year since we saw them last. We went to the zoo one day, and had a great time. Here's Mike as a turtle:

And wrestling an alligator:

And here's our mascot about to pounce at us. He seriously sat like that just staring at me for like five minutes!

Me, Mike, and baby with the cougar.

And that's all for now! Hopefully I'll get pictures of graduation soon, so that I can prove I walked!

Cupcakes and weddings

2009-08-09T12:21:00.000-07:00

So I'm not the most creative person ever, so when I do something that is relatively creative or cool, I have to share it with the world. Our friend Brent's birthday was this week so I made him these cupcakes:

Aren't they awesome? I wanted to get cool colorful sprinkles to go on top, but Macey's has a terrible cake decorating section, apparently, and I didn't want them badly enough to go to more stores.... But anyways, I was very proud of myself, and I won't mention the number of cupcakes that I ate...

This month is a month of weddings. On Friday my old roommate, Jenn, and a boy from our freshman ward, Nick, got married. It was pretty cool because it was the first temple wedding Mike and I have actually been to, besides our own, of course. We're very happy for them, and she looked absolutely beautiful!

And, it was a beautiful day, which is great because it's been upper 90's for like a couple of weeks here.

Saturday my freshman roommate, Kelly, got married, although I had to miss her reception because the store was crazy and I couldn't get out. This coming Saturday another girl from my freshman ward is getting married as well! Tis the season!

It's a Girl!!

2009-08-03T11:16:00.000-07:00

Don't you hate it when the title says everything you wanted to say? But yes, it's a girl, and we're super excited! Everything was there and functioning that was supposed to be there and functioning, so everything is going well!