All aboard!

All aboard the Polar Express!

Every year my family likes to go to a Christmas concert or play to celebrate the season. This year we decided to take a ride to the North Pole on the Polar Express. Ok - so it was actually the Heber Creeper and we rode to Soldier Hollow, where they had some houses with lights in the distance and Santa was standing in the middle of sage brush waving and waiting to board the train. It was actually a lot of fun. The kids all wore their PJ's. The elves and chefs serve cookies and hot chocolate and we read the story of the Polar Express. Then we picked up Santa at the North Pole and he came on the train and gave all of the kids a bell and asked them what they wanted for Christmas. The whole thing was magical for all of the kids. We just wish that our new little one would have been there to enjoy it with us. Maybe it's something we'll have to do again in a couple of years! It was a fun way to get into the Christmas spirit.

Pregnancy Update

I thought I'd give a little update on how this whole pregnancy thing is going. Up until these past couple of weeks it really has been somewhat uneventful. It really just started out as me being really tired and getting stomach aches. Everything really has been smooth, a fairly normal pregnancy - except for one small, well I guess it's not so small, exception.

When I had my first ultrasound they found that I have an ovarian cyst (I'm convinced it's been there for several years). It's a fairly common thing, not a huge worry it happens to a lot of women. Usually the are 5-6 cm and will often take care of themselves. Mine happens to be about 20 cm (for you Americans out there it's about 8 1/2 inches). When they found it they gave me a couple of options. First option was to have surgery right away and get it taken care of. It would have been a fairly major surgery with a lot of risks to both the baby and me. I would have had to stay in the hospital for a couple of days. Second option was to just let it be, for now. There is a chance it could rupture and cause me a lot of pain, but will not harm the baby. If it doesn't rupture then they will do surgery about 6 weeks after I deliver. So that's the choice we made -wait it out and see what happens. The one good thing about it all is that we have had an ultrasound every 4 weeks. They have been watching the cyst to make sure it's not getting bigger and to make sure it's not affecting the baby. It's been fun to see the baby a little bit more than we normally would have and check up on his growth. He has been on schedule and has been developing wonderfully. The cyst has not changed, which is good. I asked one of the technicians if she knew how much it weighed and she guessed it's probably somewhere between 6-8 lbs. It's bigger than the baby! The doctor is confident that we made the right choice in waiting to take care of it. My stomach is lopsided, but other than that the cyst has not caused any problems thus far. There was a small concern that the baby wouldn't have enough room to turn, but he's done his job and turned on his own.

I've been really lucky and not been sick up until last week. I caught a stupid cold that was going around. It started out as a chest cold and moved to my head. I'm afraid now it's a sinus infection. To top that off on Saturday I think I overdid things a bit and strained a muscle in my lower back. It didn't hit me until church on Sunday I could not get comfortable on the bench - so I snuck out a little early. My back would not stop hurting. I tried getting in different positions and nothing would help. I started worrying that I was going into labor because I started having some contractions, and I think that made things worse and I couldn't get comfortable. To make things worse I either worked myself up so much or ate something that didn't settle so well and ended up throwing up all day. It was really bad. Tylenol wouldn't touch the pain. I asked Nate to give me a blessing and when it was time for me to go to bed - after building me a fort of pillows and hot pads I was able to relax and sleep and the pain is somewhat gone. After the blessing I knew that I indeed was not in labor and was able to relax which is what my body needed. After such a horrible day/evening I was exhausted and called in sick for work today. The first time in three years that I've been working that I called in sick. I've always just bucked it up and dealt with it, but I think that yesterday was my body's way of telling me to slow down.

So anyway - I really have been lucky. I know a lot of people out there have it much worse than I. I'm just so grateful for the modern technology and doctors that keep us safe and healthy. I'm also grateful for a worthy husband to give me a blessing when I ask for it. I'm now heading into my 36th week and time is flying by. Before we know it our little guy (still nameless, suggestions anyone?) will be here!

4th of 4th Tag

I was tagged to post my fourth picture in my fourth picture folder. This is a picture of Nate and their family dog Belle about a week before they had to put her down. It was a very sad day for the Morley's. It was about a year ago. Nate's sister Maegan recently got a new dog and their dad can't call him by his right name. He is always referring to the dog as Belle. They all still miss her.

Explanation

Ok so here's my explanation for my last blog entry. I didn't want to say much until it was official. I've been pretty stressed lately and here's why: not only am I 34 weeks pregnant, but we've decided that it's time to leave our cute little apartment and move into a house. That's right. Today we bought a house! Can you believe it? We're growing up all at once. It's a little bit farther north than we are now which I don't mind. It puts us in the middle of my family and Nate's. But that means Nate will have to commute to work now. The nice thing is that it has good freeway access. We figure on a good day with no traffic it will take him about 30 minutes. Luckily he seems to be ok with that. 

It's a new house that was built in 2007. We think there were renters in there for a little while but for the most part it is brand new. We are very excited to get in there and make it our home. First on the list is to change to paint color. It's yellowish and I just don't do yellow. My mom has graciously offered to help paint so we'll get going on that ASAP. Nate promised me that we would take it slowly in moving out because let's be honest I don't think I could move out of our apartment and into our new house in 5 days with all that needs to be done. We'll take our time and get things the way we want them. Plus we both have commitments in our ward that would not be fair to spring on people at the end of the year. Our plan is to be moved over before the end of the year and before the baby comes. Let's just say this little guy had better stay in because there's just too much going on for him to come early! Crap, I just jinxed myself, didn't I?

Time Keeps on Ticking

Sorry no posts lately - where is time going? We've got a lot on our plates right now and it's only going to get worse I'm afraid. My stress level has been through the roof these days and Nate is being amazing handling an emotional basket case for a wife. No time for details. I'll explain later.

Uncle Nate

On Saturday Jake and Sylvia asked us to watch Tori while they went to their ward party that they were in charge of. Nate is Theo, their dog's buddy because he'll play catch with him for hours. Theo always likes to be by Nate. Tori likes Nate too. She would crawl over to him and want him to hold her. Uncle Nate had a lap full! I know it's not the best pic because I took it with my phone, but it was just too cute!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year! And I'm not talking about Christmas. That's right folks - it's that time of year when all the stars align. Baseball playoffs are on, college football is in full swing, and don't forget the NBA preseason is getting started! Who could ask for anything more? It's ESPN 24/7 at our house these days!

Have you done your civic duty?

For never having had much interaction with the court system I sure have had a lot of experience with it this year.

Yesterday I had the "pleasure" of being summoned for jury duty and doing my "civic duty". I was summoned back in June but the case was settled out of court and I didn't have to go in which was nice because we were going out of town that weekend. My name was put back into the pool to be randomly selected. Well it came back up this week and I had to go in this time. The jury selection was an interesting process. I was a little annoyed because it seemed like a lot of people were trying to get out of having to be on the jury. There was another pregnant lady there and she raised her hand and said that she physically wouldn't be able to be on the jury because she has to get up every hour or so. I was so bugged - yes I'm pregnant, yes it's good to get up and move around, but really? Just let me shift around in my chair and I'll be fine - which is what I told the judge. However, I was not selected to be on the jury - which I was somewhat relieved about although it wouldn't have been the end of the world. When they said that it was a jury of 4 I knew my chances of being selected were pretty slim with 40 other people there. I was surprised that the defendant was involved in the jury selection and was discussing with his attorney who he wanted to be on the jury. I thought he would have to be out of the room.

Earlier in the year I had to testify as a witness in a preliminary case for some fraud that I caught at work. The judge ruled there was enough evidence to go to trial. I was subpoenaed again in July to testify in the jury trial, but luckily the dumb guy decided to plead guilty the day before his trial. Thank goodness!

Even though the court system isn't perfect - I'm glad that I've had some opportunities to understand it better and to see how it all works. I've been very impressed with the judges and do not envy their job one bit!

Working Mom vs. Stay at Home

So we have a lot of change and decisions coming our way. One of the choices I'm debating with is whether to stay at home and be a full time "Mom" or whether to continue working. I have no intention of working full time because it really wouldn't make a whole lot of sense for us right now, but I've thought about working 10-15 hours a week. I've worked so hard to get to the point that I'm at in my job and it's hard to just throw it all out the door. Nate and I could probably work our schedules out where he could be home while I'm at work.

My mom was around when we were younger and still worked, but our situation was somewhat unique - because we had the family business we just went to work with her when she went. Nate's mom teaches piano out of her home so she was around as well. But things are so much different from when our parents were raising young kids.

With the cost of everything increasing it's getting harder and harder to live only on one income especially if we are going to try to buy a house in the somewhat near future. I'm curious how you all came to the decisions that you did about whether to work or not. If you don't have kids yet what do you intend to do, or what did your mom do? It seems that everyone has an opinion on the matter, I'd love to hear yours!

Just for the record I don't think there is a right or wrong decision. I think everyone has a unique situation and that what works for one family doesn't work for another.

Tres Anos

Wow! I can't believe it's been three years since Nate and I were married. Yesterday we celebrated our anniversary. Unfortunately we both had to work all day so we didn't get to do a whole lot of celebrating. Nate did surprise me with 3 dozen roses for the 3 years we've been married and a Willow Tree figurine to add to my collection. I got him Scene It the ESPN Sports edition. (What do you get boys for anniversaries? Luckily he liked it!) We did go out to eat at the Cheesecake Factory and didn't even have to wait 2 minutes. It was super yummy. I am so lucky to be married to my best friend. Thanks for 3 great years! I look forward to forever with you!

Quirky Morley's

So Ash tagged me and I'm supposed to list 6 of my quirks. Nate and I were trying to think of some for me and we went on to list his as well- So I'm going to write about both of our quirks.

Wendee's Quirks:
1 - I have to have an even dollar amount in my savings account. Once interest is paid every month I have to transfer money from the checking so it's an even amount usually to the nearest dollar. This probably stems from the fact that I can look up my account multiple times a day at work.
2- I get pleasure from using things up like using up the ink in a pen, using up a chapstick or using up a bottle of lotion. There's some sort of crazy satisfaction that I get from finishing it up to the very last bit.
3- I do not like driving jokes. Let me explain. Nate thinks it's funny to joke about swerving around the road while he's driving, running lights, or speeding up suddenly. I guess I'm super sensitive to it. Let's just say that he doesn't joke around about it much anymore.
4- I will only put my out going mail in the box inside the post office. I won't even use the blue box outside the post office. I guess I'm paranoid someone might steal the mail.
5- I have a pattern I use when I vacuum the floor. It has to be straight lines and no foot prints. I'll back up and go over my foot prints of where I just walked. Silly I know.
6- I have to keep our movies and books in alphabetical order. I even alphabetized my parents movies. Well just their DVDs. They have too many VHS tapes to put in alphabetical order (our family used to have a movie rental store as part of my dad's auto parts store and they have a ton of movies) but the VHS tapes are sorted into categories.

Nate's Quirks:
1-If there's junk mail in the mail box he'll just leave it in the box. If there's something else with the junk mail he'll bring it in. But if it's just junk he'll leave it in hopes that it will magically disappear.
2- He gets very upset if an electronic device doesn't work properly. It happens with a lot of different things, the computer, the TV, power tools, etc.
3-When ever he flies he orders a ginger ale. He NEVER drinks ginger ale any other time, but when he flies that is his drink of choice.
4- He will usually eat one thing at a time. If we have hamburgers and french fries he will eat the french fries first and then the hamburger. He won't mix it up and take a bite of one and then the other.
5- If we are going to a sporting event he has to be there for the opening play and cannot leave early.
6- He is obsessed with cleaning his ears with a Q-tip. Everyday, some times multiple times a day he cleans his ears.

So there's just a little bit of our quirkiness. At least we are willing to admit we are a little odd but we still love each other anyway!

Rise and Shout!

Well football season is upon us. That's right folks. Our lives once again revolve around BYU football. Every single one of my Saturdays from now until the middle of November is booked. I had to rearrange my work schedule so that when there's not a football game then I'll be at working so that I can go to the games. It's fun, don't get me wrong. I just hate that the game takes up the whole day. Also in their attempt to cram as many people in Lavell Edwards Stadium as possible it feels like you are sitting on top of all of the people around you. Also, I know I'm not huge yet, but I do get uncomfortable sitting for long periods of time and I had to get up a couple of times and just walk around a little.


OK sorry I didn't mean for this to be a rant. I really do enjoy the games and love how much Nate gets into it. He is so cute how he has to be there for kick off. We were literally running to get there on time yesterday - he made it though so we lucked out. I love how he gets so annoyed by the dumb fans that sit around us that don't know the rules or think they should be the coach. He really is a smart guy and knows his stuff.


This year Jake and Sylvia and Tori have season tickets. We weren't able to get tickets right by them because apparently people hang on to their season tickets until they die, but they are in the same section as us. Sylvia had Tori dressed up so cute for the game. I had to steal this picture from their blog, but she's just too darn cute! We are working on her "Ra Ra Ra! Go Cougars!" She just smiles. So cute!

It's Raining Men!

Ok so I thought I'd put you all through a little suspense. Sorry forgive me in just getting to the post to reveal the big news. It's been quite busy these past couple of days. Well -

It's a BOY!!! Yeah! We are super excited. We would have been happy either way, but we're excited to have a boy. I think I was leaning slightly towards liking the blue shoes better anyway. My dad has always worn slip on shoes like that since I can remember (without the blue argyle). He says that he just keeps wearing them and they just keep coming back into style. We tease him that they are prison shoes because they're like the shoes they give the inmates. Well any way Baby Morley will have some Grandpa Wayne shoes. :)

To explain the title of this post - I have a couple of friends from high school (Tawny and Angie) that are also pregnant and we are all due within 1 week of each other and we're all having boys! It'll definitely be raining men in January - well it'll probably be more like snowing baby boys! Ha ha! Sorry, that was lame.

So anyways let me get to the part you've all been waiting for - the giveaway. I've been trying to come up with somethings - and am still gathering some things but the theme seems to be headed towards some of my favorite beauty products. And now to reveal the winner - Nate will attest that this was done fairly and squarely. And the winner is.... Emily Judd! - Emily, you must have some good blogging karma because didn't you win Shelly's giveaway? Well congrats! Give me a week or so to finish gathering somethings. I think I have your address but I'll email ya just to make sure and I'll get this out to you as soon as I can.

Thanks to everyone for all of your love and support!

What's it going to be?

We find out on Tuesday the 26th what kind of baby we're having. The suspense is killing me! I've tried to tell the baby if it know's what's best for it, it will show us what sex it is - and if it doesn't show us, we just might not have anything for it come January. :) I really think if the doctor would have known what good knowing what kind of baby we're having would do for stimulating the economy she would have scheduled the ultrasound weeks ago! I'm not sure who's more anxious - my mom, my sister or myself! The only thing that I've allowed myself to buy is a pair of boy shoes and a pair of girl shoes. They were both the last pair and were even on sale so I couldn't pass them up. Plus I figure that which ever we don't need will make excellent gifts! :)

So what's it going to be? I would love to hear your guesses. I know some of you already put a guess on the previous baby post - but if you put a guess in the comments on this post by Tuesday at 12 noon Mountain Time and you guess correctly - you'll be entered in a drawing for a giveaway. I'll put together a package of some of my favorite things. :)

Thanks!

The Big Read

The Big Read, an initiative by the National Endowment for the Arts, has estimated that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they’ve printed. How do you do?

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you LOVE.
I added this next one because apparently I'm really bad at not finishing things -
4) Books (or series of books) I’ve started and not finished in red

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen – just last night!
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 The Story of Tracy Beaker - Jacqueline Wilson
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince- Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo


I found this on someone's blog and thought it was very interesting - It actually surprised me how many of them I've read and how may that I should have read.

The Morley Clan

Well the time has come to start expanding the Morley clan. No, none of Nate's siblings are getting married yet... I'm talking about our little Morley clan. Yes, that's right. We are pregnant! The baby is due January 10th. I am just about 17 weeks along. We don't know what we are having yet and our next doctor's appointment isn't until August 14th and then they will schedule the ultrasound. We are anxious to find out what "kind" of baby we are having. Although it's probably the best for our bank account that I don't know yet or I would be out shopping all of the time.

I have really been lucky and not gotten very sick. I've gotten stomach aches, and only thrown up once (knock on wood). I should be past that stage now. I'm just exhausted! I cannot get enough sleep. I go to bed early, sleep in when I can, and still need to take a nap! I've heard that it's ok to sleep as much as you can on the first one because you probably won't get that luxury later on so I am taking full advantage.

I know it's almost unheard of to wait so long to tell people. We just told our families last weekend and they are very excited. My sister-in-law Sylvia posted this on her blog about five minutes after we told them! :) It's been fun to having it as our little secret and our little inside joke. It has been seeming more real though now that we've been telling. I hope that no one is offended that we didn't call to tell you, but it's a little easier making one general announcement. Please forgive us!

Happy Birthday Nate!

Ok so this is a day late. I didn't get a chance to post yesterday, but Happy Birthday to my amazing husband! I really can't say enough about how lucky I am to have found such a great guy. We get along so well and I love spending as much time as I can with him. I hope that he had a good day yesterday because if any one deserves it, it's him.






I made my first attempt at a birthday cake. Don't look too closely because there are alot of flaws. It was my first experience with fondant. It actually turned out better than I thought. It's made out of marshmellows, which is a lot cheaper and tastes better than the other kind of fondant. I just googled marshmellow fondant for the recipe. Hopefully with some practice I'll get a little better.

Happy Birthday Babe!

My How Time Flies!!

I cannot believe it has been over a month since I have posted. I think I get caught up in reading everyone else's blogs that I forget that people are probably curious about how we are doing. Well it has been a pretty full month but not a whole lot has happened of great significance. Work as usual has kept us busy. We've had a couple of nice weekends with family though.

A week ago we went up to Solitude with Nate's family and extended family and stayed in some condos. It was a very nice weekend and very relaxing. My weekend was almost ruined by jury duty, but luckily the case was settled and I didn't have to go in. No need to worry though my name gets put back in the random drawing so I may still get my chance! Thanks to the Buntings for a fun weekend! It was full of good food, games, swimming, and we even busted out some glow sticks. Who knew glow sticks could be so much fun?

Our 4th was too short. We went up to Paris, Idaho with my family to our property. I had to work until 6 pm on Thursday so we didn't get up there until super late. Nate and I both had to work on Saturday so we had to drive home on Friday night. It was lots of driving for only 24 hours. But it was fun. We just relaxed, played some games and even hit the parade in Paris. (Which was surprisingly bigger than we expected for such a small town - Hannah and Sylvia got quite the bag of candy.) On our drive home we went through Evanston, WY. We got to the outskirts of town at about quarter to 10 and from horizon to horizon all you could see were fireworks, tons of fireworks. I don't think they even do city fireworks. They just set off their own. As we drove through town there was a park that was packed with people and left and right they were just shooting fireworks off. It was unbelievable. I tried to get some pictures with my camera phone but the flash was not cooperating. I just thought that people went across the UT/ID border to get fireworks - but I'm pretty sure the town of Evanston pays a pretty penny for all of those fireworks.

I hope everyone had a Happy 4th of July!

Tagged by Sylvia

Sylvia tagged me so here it is:

Four jobs I have had:
1. My Family's Farm Supply Store
2. Die Cuts With a View
3. Credit Union
4. Joe Morley's BBQ

Four movies I have watched more than once:
1. Pride and Prejudice
2. Sydney White
3. High School Musical - Hannah was just here to watch it w/me :)
4. The Princess Bride

Four places I have lived:
1. Hooper, UT
2. Provo, UT
3. Midvale, UT
4. (I've only lived 3 different places...sad)

Four TV shows I watch:
1. The Office
2. Grey's Anatomy
3. Jon & Kate Plus 8
4. Gilmore Girls - Even if it is only reruns... :(

Four places I have been:
1. Hawaii
2. North Carolina
3. Canada
4. Florida

Four people who e-mail me regularly:
1. Shelece
2. Kimmy
3. American Eagle
4. Bath & Body Works

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Chicken Strips
2. Fresh Hamburgers
3. Cafe Rio Pork Salad
4. Cantaloupe

Four places I would like to visit:
1. Italy
2. New York
3. England
4. The Grand Canyon

Four things I am looking forward to in the coming year:
1. Harvesting our garden
2. Spending time with my hubby
3. Moving to a house - hopefully it will be w/in a year but who knows?
4. Summer/Warm Weather

I'm not gonna tag anyone specific but feel free to do it if you'd like!

Snowie!!!

My favorite thing about summer is... Snowie's!! (Well, any kind of shaved ice/snow cone for that matter.) I got my first one of the season last week. Maui Wowi was the flavor of choice to celebrate. Yummy! Yeah for warmer weather!

It's A Small World After All

So a while ago my cousin Dan started dating this girl named Emily. I knew she was a returned missionary and older than him, but that was pretty much all of the info I had because I'm sort of out of the loop as far as family gossip goes. My mom, aunts, cousins and sisters decided to start a book club (which unfortunately I have yet to attend) and my cousin sent out an email to all of us about the book she had chosen. As I was glancing at the email addresses I noticed one name that stood out to me, Emily Kucera! I couldn't believe it. I know her! Emily, Dan's Emily, used to be in our ward at the Riv and was actually pretty good friends with Nate and I. It's such a small world. It's an even smaller Mormon world. Dan and Emily actually served in the same mission. And now they are getting married tomorrow! Congrats you guys! Welcome to our crazy family Emily! Best of luck to you both!

Garden time!

Well we are going to make another attempt to plant a garden this year. Grandpa Morley is letting us plant it in his yard again. We're trying to get a better start on it this year. This is our first attempt to grow peas. We started them in cups in the house and transplanted them to the garden. In our laziness we decided to just use tomato cages instead of concocting some sort of apparatus for them to grow on. We'll see how it works. Hopefully soon it will stay warm enough that we can get everything else in the ground.

So I've never really loved the look of Crocs. They are only cute when they come in tiny sizes. (I hope no one takes offense.) I must admit that they are my favorite gardening shoes. When we're done all I have to do is hose them off and they are as good as new!

Proud Aunt Wendee

My brother Jake was over at our apartment the other day and noticed that I have pictures of my niece Hannah displayed and no pictures his daughter Tori. I quickly told him it was because I didn't have any pictures of Tori. They just got her pictures done and the day I got one I put it out to display. Here's your proof Jake! Now we just need to work on getting her to look at me! The girl won't make eye contact! It's so funny!



I know taking pictures of pictures really doesn't do them justice but I think they are super cute girls!

Chop, Chop!

So I finally did it! I've been talking about cutting my hair for who knows how long. It's so embarrassing how long it had been since I'd cut it that I'm not even going to say. It got to the point where my hair was down for maybe an hour and then it was in a pony tail the rest of the day. I had my friend Ali cut it for me. She was my personal stylist in high school and miss her doing my hair all the time! She's super talented. I had intentions of going a little shorter and still may, but baby steps right? I had to post all of the pictures of my attempt to get a good shot of how long my hair was. Nate had already gone to work and I was running late. I didn't have time to mess with all of the angles in the mirror. I was laughing and getting frustrated at the same time. It took one shot to get the short hair picture with Nate's help.

Just to be fair I thought I'd post a picture of Nate's new hair cut. I did it myself! It's definitely not perfect so don't look too closely but he's not super picky. Plus we figure it saves us at least $150 a year.

And the Madness Begins

I was just wondering if anyone else's TV is stuck on one channel, Channel 2. I believe it started on Thursday and hasn't changed since. I've tried to change the channel but it seems that I have lost control. I must admit I knew exactly what I was getting into before I married Nate - so I'm not complaining really. I'm just worried about his mood if his team doesn't win. After the Jazz lost to the Laker's this week I can only imagine the mood he'll be in if North Carolina loses!

P.S. Happy Easter!

The Longest Day Ever?!?!?

Today felt like the longest day ever! I was subpoenaed to appear in court as a witness. I don't want to go into too much detail, but it has to do some fraud that I caught at work. I had to be at the DA's office at 8:15 am to speak with the prosecuting attourney and he gave me a run down on how things would go down. Then I had to go over to the courthouse to wait for the preliminary hearing to start so that I could testify. One of my co-workers was there as well and we sat and waited and waited.

We were told that the defense attourney had a busy morning and it would be a little while. I brought a book to read but couldn't concentrate because I was so anxious. I was supposed to go into work at 12, but that didn't happen! We sat around and waited for about 4 hours when we were told we could go down to the cafeteria and get something to eat or drink. When we came back up we were told that there was a possibility that the case would be continued on a different day. Luckily the judge decided to just reschedule for 3:00 pm.

So we headed off to get some lunch and waste a couple of hours. When we returned we went right in. It was very nerve wracking. I think the 10 minutes I was on the stand were the longest 10 minutes ever! I've never had any encounter with the court system. It was definitely an interesting experience. The judge decided there was enough evidence to go to trial - so unless the defendant decides to plead guilty we have to do it all over again but this time in front of a jury. Everybody say your prayers that he decides to plead guilty so I can put this mess behind me!

I finally got home around 4:00 pm and haven't been able to stop thinking about the whole thing since. Hopefully writing about it will get it out of my mind so I can sleep well tonight! The best part about the whole thing is that I get paid for my time. I think it's $18.50. Just think of all the things I could buy. :) I guess it's better than nothing!

Florida!!

We recently returned from a much needed vacation to Orlando, Florida. We went with one of my friends from high school Ashlee and her husband Jeff. We had fun checking out Disney World, Kennedy Space Center, the beach, warm weather, and Nate's highlight - a spring training baseball game the Braves vs. the Tigers. We had a blast! It's hard to come back to reality and cold weather. Here are a few pictures of our trip.

Nate touching a moon rock!

Nate and a shrimp guy at a yummy seafood restaraunt Dixie Crossroads.

A Fun Filled Day

So I realized that when people ask what we're up to I usually say nothing much - To prove my point I'm going to fill you all in on my exciting fun filled day...

7:00 am - Wake up. Look at clock. Remember I don't have to go into work. Roll back over and drift back to sleep happily.

8:35 am - Finally decide to wake up and think about getting out of bed.

8:54 am - Kiss Nate goodbye as he is off to work for the day.

8:56 am - Head to the living room. Turn on TV and flip back and forth among the morning news shows. Try to talk myself into being motivated and start on my to do list.

9:31 am - Answer cell phone. It's Nate telling me to take his Jeep into his uncle's shop ASAP.

9:32 am - Frantically throw on some clothes. Brush my hair and teeth. Apply some make up and run out the door and drive to Draper.

10:14 am - Stop at the store to buy a Pepsi to thank Nate's Uncle Perry for working on the Jeep.

10:20 am - Wait while Perry adjusts the brakes on the Jeep so that we can get it to pass the safety inspection.

10:40 am - Arrive at the emissions/inspection place to have them test the brakes on the Jeep for a 3rd time. Prayed that they would pass so it wouldn't end up costing us more money. Held my composure as the inspector guy told me that they brakes needed to be adjusted more. Refrained from yelling at him because I had just come from getting them adjusted! The last thing he decided to tell me was that they did pass.

11:10 am - Stop at the restaurant to tell Nate the good news.

11:25 am - Search the Seagull Book from top to bottom looking for the Primary Partner Singing CD ROM for 2008. They have everything but the one I need.

11:55 am - Stop at the nearby Deseret Book and search for the CD ROM. Can't find it. Ask the lady to see if any of their other stores might have it. She tells me that all of the stores at least 15 minutes away have several copies.

12:20 pm - Decide to stop at the Seagull Book that is sort of on the way to get on the freeway to go to the Sugarhouse Deseret Book where I know they have 5 copies of the CD ROM I'm looking for. Luckily they had what I needed plus they had DownEast Outfitters Basic T-shirts that were 20% off. (I hope my father-in-law doesn't read this or I'll be in trouble for not getting it at Deseret Book, but I really wanted to hurry and grab it.)

12:45 pm - Realize that I haven't eaten anything all day and decide to go home and eat my Texas Roadhouse leftovers from last night. Mmmm, I love their rolls!

1:30 pm - Print off the pictures from the CD ROM so I can teach the kids the song "If the Savior Stood Beside Me" on Sunday. Put in "Sydney White" (my new favorite movie) and color the pictures.

4:00 pm - Throw a load of laundry in the washer and decide to start going through some clothes and start packing for our trip next week. We are headed to Orlando! Yeah for warm weather!

5:00 pm - Nate comes home from work to the messiest apartment ever. My pictures and markers are spread throughout the living room and the bedroom is strewn with all of my summer clothes.

5:30 pm - Finally get a hold of Jenn Dean after literally a month's worth of phone tag. It was fun to talk with her and catch up.

6:30 pm - Nate and I head to Steve and Barry's, my new favorite place to shop. Everything in the store is $8.98. No joke. They have everything from shoes to coats to any t-shirt you could possibly imagine. They carry Amanda Bynes, Jessica Sara Parker, Venus Williams, and Starbury lines. It was Nate's first trip and he loved it! He usually hates when I drag him on shopping trips. I think I actually like there guys line better than there women's. It's great for Nate's work clothes where he gets so dirty and greasy. We also made a pit stop at Super Target to pick up some groceries and look for sunglasses.

8:30 pm - Make dinner. Spaghetti and salad. Not too original but it tasted really good tonight for some reason.

9:00 pm - Nate is off to play basketball but he had to take a detour. His Grandpa Bunting had fallen on some ice and broken his arm. Nate went to the hospital to help his dad give him a blessing. I'm so grateful for a husband that honors his priesthood and will go and give a blessing when I know he would rather go play.

9:15 pm - After straightening up the apartment, put in an old episode of Gilmore Girls and finish coloring my pictures and decide to make a posting on my blog.

It's now 10:45 and I am starting to wonder how late my husband is going to play basketball tonight, because I'm starting to get tired after a long day of doing not a whole lot.

I hope you enjoyed a day in the life of Wendee!

10 Hours a week...

Well I've finally done it. I dropped from 40 hours to 30 hours at work. I've wanted to do so ever since I've started working, but could never really justify it. We finally felt like we were at a point where it wouldn't make a huge difference. I still get benefits, I just don't acrue vacation hours as quickly. It's tough seeing my paycheck lower; however, I take comfort in the fact that I make more at 30 hours than I did when I first started out at 40 hours! Plus it all comes down to the fact that I am in a much better mood about everything. It ends up being an extra day off every week. Take this week for instance... Monday was a paid holiday - Happy President's Day! :), Tuesday (today) is my day off, Wednesday I go in from 12-6, Thursday I go in from 12-6, Friday I work all day (9 1/2 hours), and Saturday I have the day off. That's right I only work 3 out of 6 possible days of work. I love it!! I have something to look forward to insteady of 5 full days of work. I've tried to be more productive around the house. I have a plan to tackle some of the deep cleaning that I never really felt like getting around to do. I figure if I break it down and tackle one thing at a time there's a possibility it might actually get done. I'm also trying to be better about taking care of myself. I also have a few craft projects that I've started that I plan to finish. My biggest challenge is going to be staying away from the stores so I don't spend my time spending more money!

Other than that we have no exciting news in our lives. Thus the lack of exciting posts this month!

Kimmy tagged me and I thought it was kinda fun and different. You answer the questions with images from Google image search and you have to pick a picture from the first page of pictures.

Age I'll be at my next birthday:

Man I'm getting old!!

A place I'd like to see or visit:


New York City. Someday...

One of my favorite places:

My hometown :)

My favorite object:

My Chi flatiron is my favorite object. It is the best straightener I've ever had! I wish I had a pink one - maybe someday. I've had mine for about four years now and it is slowly dying on me I have to hold the cord just right for it to heat up. Thankfully my mom got me a new one for Christmas but I don't want to bust out my new one until the one I have is completely dead!

My favorite food:
My favorite color:

My favorite animal:

I'm not really an animal person. I guess if I had to pick one it would be dogs. I prefer stuffed animals because you don't have to clean up after them! :)

Name of a past pet:

So we never had any pets growing up. Not even a fish. We weren't pet people. My parents always told us we were too busy to have pets and it wouldn't be fair to the animals. We did have a cow in our pasture that we named Bandit. But then the slaughtering guys came and took Bandit away and a couple of weeks later we were eating "Bandit Burgers." Needless to say we never named the cows in our pasture again.

Where I live now:

My middle name:

Marie

My college major:

Finance!

A bad habbit I have:

Me and sugar have this love hate relationship. I love it so much. I hate that I can't stop eating it!

My favorite holiday:

Ok so if anyone else wants to do this tag feel free but I guess I'll tag Alyse and Emily. Have fun!

It's a Girl!

My brother Jake and his wife Sylvia just had a baby girl! She was born on Monday, January 28. She weighed 6 lbs 8 oz and is 19.5 inches long. Her name is Tori Rae. I went down to Orem last night to see her. I can't get over how tiny she is. She looks a lot like her daddy.

My amazingly talented father made this little cradle for her to sleep in. Unfortunately, the picture doesn't quite give it justice.

Happy Football New Year!!!

Merry Christmas! I hope that everyone had a good holiday season. I can't believe it has come and gone! Please forgive my lack of Christmas cards being sent out. Believe me, the intentions were there. We had a nice Christmas. It was fun to actually spend time with my husband. December is the busiest month. The week before Christmas was the busiest ever with all of the catering they did. I even put in a couple of late nights to try to help ease their stress and see some of Nate. We spent Christmas Eve with my family and spent the night so we could have breakfast with them and open some presents Christmas Day. Then we spent the rest of Christmas Day with Nate's family. We were both spoiled with lots of nice presents from our families and from each other. It was refreshing to spend time together and not worry about work.

We had a very low key New Year's Eve and I bet you can't guess what we did New Year's Day! I'm not sure how many football games were on, but I'm sure we watched all of them. OK strike that - I'm sure Nate watched all of them. I spent most of the day in and out of consciousness grateful to not be at work for the day!

My New Year's Resolution is to be more faithful to this blog - but I'm not making any promises!