Joined the Club

I have had it pretty easy so far. I am only sick to my stomach. No actual throwing up, up to this point. I finally have joined the ranks of all the other pregnant women! I knew it was bound to happen, but I was not so thrilled about when it happened.

Yesterday morning we got up early and headed for the highschool. The girls basketball team have a tournament in the valley Thursday-Saturday and Trevor had to go, and I was invited to come along. I decided to go, because I really didn't want to be at home by myself for the next three days. In Payson we stopped to get a quick breakfast at McDonald's. The girls all know that I am pregnant and they were asking me how I am feeling. I told them pretty good. I don't really throw up, I'm just sick a lot. About one hour later the bus has to be pulled over for me to throw up. How embarassing. Of all the times, it had to be while we were with a ton of people. I hate to throw up, but now that I have had that initial throw-up over with, it's not so bad. I felt good all day long. If throwing up will make me not be nauseaus all day, it might not be too bad.

I told my mom about it, and she said, "Welcome to pregnancy."

Merry Christmas

Today we woke up nice and early to start the day off. I woke up first and got dressed followed shortly by Trevor waking up and taking a shower. Because we got new floors this year we really didn't plan on a very big Christmas at our house. We had stockings filled with candy, and my favorite-chocolate orange!!! Plus, we each got new toothbrushes. Trevor got some razors, and I got Carrie Underwood's newest cd in my stocking as well. Then we opened a few gifts each. I mostly got Trevor little things to help fill his toolbox: a level, a razor knife, a staple gun, and a tire pressure thing. Really just a few things that I knew he could use, but hadn't asked for. He gave me a couple cd's and a little tiny boombox to play them on. I also can't ever go one Christmas without getting some form of Bonne Belle Lipsmackers. He did really well and got me this little bag with like 6 different kinds. I was VERY impressed.

By 7:30 we headed to my mom's house. We had a few gifts for Kade and Taylor and my mom, plus a few that I had wrapped for my mom to take. We opened gifts there and got a big surprise. Well, I had known about it. First of all, let me tell you about me and gift giving. I am great at picking out stuff for people, but I am terible at keeping it secret. I hint majorly, and I usually end up letting whoever is getting my gifts open one or more early. I am like a little kid about it. It slightly drives Trevor crazy. Anyway.....this was the ultimate gift and I didn't even hint about it. I have kept it secret forever. My mom wrapped this in like 4 boxes before Trevor got to it. Inside was a Phoenix Suns ticket!!!! We have been wanting to go to a game forever. Neither of us have ever been to a professional basketball game! He could not believe it. My mom had wrapped my ticket seperately, so at first he thought he was going to have to go by himself. It was so exciting to see his face. After the gifts we ate stuffed french toast. Yum!

Soon after breakfast we excused ourselves to Trevor's parents house. There was us, Trev's parents and two of his three brothers. Mike and Adam were there, but not Dustin and his family. They had waited for us before even opening one gift! We really thought they would have opened theirs and then opened whatever we brought when we came. Trevor and I both got desperately needed G's. Then Trev hit the motherload with clothes. He really needed them so it was great. I got quite a bit of money for clothes via gift cards. I am so glad about it too. I need pants so bad. I was going to get money for clothes from Trevor, but I was really down hearted about it because I don't want to spend a bunch of money on clothes that I will be growing out of fairly soon. Now I don't feel so guilty if I buy them on gift card money. We also got a pressure cooker that we have wanted for a while. We really felt like we got way more than we had even thought we would. We left later and went home so I could take a shower and actually get really ready for the day.

Once we were home I got ready, and Trevor turned on the double header of basketball games. Nothing says Christmas like basketball, right??? At least, in Trevor's world it does. I couldn't take that much b-ball so I took a good nap. Late in the afternoon we got one of the best things in all. We got to talk to my brother, Elder Spenser Chance Garner on the phone. It was so exciting. And so weird. He has been out for 7 months already and we've only communicated through emails and letters, so to hear his voice was crazy. We had major problems getting through though. My mom had bought a phone card because it is way cheaper to call Brazil with one of those than just calling directly there. Five different times we called and he would say hello and then the call would disconnect. We didn't know what to do. My mom tried calling the operator and the phone card hotline. Finally one time she called somebody when our phone rang and it was him. I answered and he was all stressed. He was spending someone else's money by calling us, but he needed to give us another number to reach him. He tried to tell me the number, but he was saying it in Portugese. He got frustrated and turned to someone and something like I can't! Finally, using the little Spanish I know I said the numbers to him in Spanish. He was like yes, yes! Then he said repeat it. So I did, and we finally had the right number! I hung up and my mom called him right back. It was so good to talk to him. He bore his testimony in Portugese to each of us individually. He also was so excited about me being pregnant. He knew from an email, but he told me about telling his companion. He kept calling it a "He" but I said no we want a girl. He said no it's going to be a boy. I think he is the only one that wants us to have a boy. (We'd really be happy with either, and it probably will be a boy, but I want us to have a girl.) We only got a half hour to talk and then my dad got to call him for a half hour as well. It was so fun to talk to him and I can't wait to do it again.



Finally, we went back to Trevor's parents house for dinner. It was a really yummy ham dinner. I am still so full. All in all, a really fun Christmas. The suns game on tonight is most likely the ending of our day, but oh well. It wouldn't be normal if we didn't have a day of some sort of basketball going on!



I hope all went well with everyone else's Christmas. Hopefully next year will be even better with our little one. We can't wait!



P.S. The picture of Spenser was the only one I had on my camera. I think I have used it before, but it was taken at Kade's eighth grade graduation a few days before Spenny left on his mission.

Christmas Eve

Tonight was my family's annual Christmas Eve party. It is always spent at my Grampa Stradling's house with all of the extended family. I absolutely LOVE it! We really don't do much except eat Mexican food. There are always home made tamales and enchiladas made by mom and aunts. It is just fun because we are all there together. Of course, we never have everyone there at the same time because there are just too many of us, and we are all spread everywhere, but we are excited with whoever does show up.

My cousin, Cliff and his wife Lisa were there and that was really fun. They live in Utah so we don't see them often. They filmed everyone and we took a picture or two with them.

The picture of the little girl, is Kenady (Jaymi's little girl). We could not get her to smile at all. She wasn't mad or upset, but just very solemn. She was spread out between Trevor and Ariel just making this serious face!

One of my favorite pictures I took was of my sister, Taylor and our Grampa. He was just sitting there with his arm around her so I grabbed my camera as quick as I could and snapped a picture. He just kind of sat there and took everything in last night. He was really quiet. He finally said, "My mom always wanted a big family. She would be so proud." My great-gramma, or Nan as she was called only had my grampa. Her second baby died and a few weeks later her husband died, so that is why she always longed for a big family.

We missed those of you who couldn't make it, but we hope to see you next year. Of course, that probably means that most of the ones we did see this year won't be there next year. I guess that's part of growing up!

Christmas Break

D-day has finally come! Okay, not really, but it is finally my last day of work for two weeks. I am so excited! I really and truly do love my job. The kids are so fun. I know a lot of people wouldn't want to work at a school, and especially not at a middle school with 7th graders, but I really love them. Of course, they are teenagers and they have their moments, but don't we all? They can be held accountable for their actions, and they are figuring out who they are. It is just lots of fun to be around them.

People don't realize how much work goes into being a teacher or a teacher's aide like me. I have heard it called a cushion job, but I don't think you would call it that if you did it everyday. My husband always gives me a hard time because we have the summer off and then Christmas break and also half-days of school often. What some people don't realize is how much those days are needed!!! Not only are the kids sick of the everyday hum-drum of school, but they are sick of us. Likewise, we need a break from them too. Bring on the break....

I fully intend on sleeping in every morning (anything past 6:30 is sleeping in for me), and just lying in bed on those days when I feel so sick to my stomach. I have two weeks of not having to fight the morning sickness at work. YAY!

Merry Christmas everyone. I hope you all have a good one. Travel safe. I hope all my kids at school will come back rested and ready to get back to work.

What Season is it?

The weather here has been so crazy. I don't think the weather is sure what it wants to do. For a few days we saw nothing but fog and drizzly weather. It would sort of rain, and then look like it was going to snow, but it felt more like it was the end of October than the middle of December.

Then last week it all of a sudden started to snow! I couldn't believe it. We never get snow here. I still remember when I was in highschool I would get ready in the morning with the radio on just listening for them to say St. Johns had a delay or no school. Every school would be out or have delays but us. But we had snow several days. Last week we even had a big storm that hadn't been predicted. The stove at our house has been going all night long to keep us warm! It finally feels like winter. (yuck!)

Now the last two days it has been warmer. It feels like the start of spring. It's still really cold in the morning and at night, but it warms up in the day and you don't even need a jacket. All the snow is pretty much melted. You can't hardly tell we even had storms.

Although winter is not my favorite, and I don't mind a fairly dry winter, I do hope that we have a white Christmas. If it would just be snowy on Christmas eve and Christmas day I would be a happy girl. Of course, we could use the moisture.....

Sarcastically Sweet

I am a firm believer in not letting yourself get completely walked on because you are too afraid of saying something mean. I have almost perfected saying what I want to in semi-nice way. I truly believe that it is an art. My mom sometimes tells me things just so that I will say something to people. Really though, I sometimes wish that I could be a little nicer and not let things bother me, but then I look at some of my friends that just deal with their circumstances and in the process don't ever get their way. Let your voice be heard my friends!!! Let me give you a for example of what I am talking about.



Setting: St. Johns High School basketball games. St. Johns vs. Alchesay



Main Characters: Narrator (a.k.a me, Taytum)

3 girls from Alchesay



Scene: There's a big messy problem, and narrator decides to fix it.



While sitting at the SJ vs. Alchesay games I look down the row from me, and there are sunflower seeds EVERYWHERE! First of all, ew. Second of all, the gym (although it may smell like it sometimes) is not a barn! Not only were there seeds on the row down from me, but on the two rows in front of that. Gross, spit-out-of-the-mouth seeds covering three rows of bleachers. I look, and sure enough it isn't any of our fans that have created the mess, it is three reservation girls from Alchesay. Not only does it bother me because it is a germy mess, but they are on the HOME team side. Go sit on the VISITOR side! Someone needs to post signs to direct people to their appropriate areas....in Taytum's "perfect world" there would be. But, moving on.

As I sit fuming, I decide something should be done about this. I don't think Mr. Holden, the custodian should have to clean up that kind of mess. If you were to look at the rest of the stands there are a few wrappers and soda cans here and there, but no mess like this. I decide to take action into my own hands. Mr. Holden is down by the door closest to me so I get up to go talk to him. As I go, I pass the three girls. I stop and say in my nicest school teacher way,

"Ladies, would you like me to get a broom for you to clean up this? We don't make these kinds of messes here."

They look at me completely dumbfounded. I don't think they could believe someone said anything at all to them. Partly because they mess up their own places and the other reason they were in disbelief was because I don't think they ever thought they would be held accountable for their mess. Surprisingly, they all shook their heads or said yes they would clean it up.

I continued down to Mr. Holden and told him about the mess and that if he would give them a little broom or something they would clean it up for him. He was like, "Really?" And I said yes. I showed him which girls, and they had already gotten on their hands and knees and were picking it up with their hands!

The End.

I was so proud of myself. See if I hadn't done that, it would have been left there. Totally rude. I figured I'd rather take a chance and have some girls I don't even know think I am mean, then to sit there and fume and know that someone else would have to pick up their spitty seed shells.
If I had to do it again, I would.

A Poet but I didn't Know it

No sound will ever be as sweet,

As the pitter-patter of little feet.

Join the excitement of Trev and Tayt....

'Cause in August they'll welcome BABY Waite!!!!

Embarassing Moment

One of my fears is that while being at the school with all the kids that I will slip and fall in front of a bunch of them. I can trip over just about anything so it really is a worry. Plus, I think it is way worse to trip and eat it in front of kids than it is adults. Especially kids at school. These are the people you are in constant contact with. They look up to you as a leader and someone older and wiser. Today I didn't trip, but I am sure that it was worse.

The seventh graders are getting all geared up for their annual balloon launch. They build hot air balloons out of tissue paper and than they are later launched. They get so many points for their grade depending on how well the balloon does. Part of the tradition is to watch this old movie called Night Crossing. It is based on a true story and the kids have to answer questions on it as another part of their grade.

While sitting their in between a break they had, we were getting ready to start the movie up again. All was quiet, and I was sitting in the back in this chair. One side of the chair has been broken all year. The arm wasn't attached at all. I have sat in this stupid chair all year with no problems, but just a little annoyed by the precarious chair. While leaning back in the chair the silence is completely broken by the snapping of the other arm on the chair followed by a loud crash! Because I had been leaning back the whole back of the chair fell off! On top of that, I was so far back in the chair that the rolling bottom on it slid out from underneath me and I fell completely on the floor!

Kids heads flip around and they are all staring so to try and save a little face I start laughing. Granted the situation was really funny, but not so much if you are the one falling. I couldn't believe my luck. Of all the times for that stupid thing to break, it had to in front of the ENTIRE 7th grade. Not just one small class. EVERYONE!!!!

I call Trevor to let him no that his wife is in fact a fat a$$. Yes, those were my words. He laughed and then told me not to break anymore chairs today. Believe me sir, if I could have helped it, I wouldn't have broken ONE in the first place! I went to take pictures of the evidence, but the picture above is all that's left of the aforesaid chair. Now I am left with a bruised ego, and slightly sore body.

Good Ole SJ

I know that I live in a small town, but I never really think much about it until certain things happen. When one comment can spread like wildfire or when a school bus accidently runs into the dollar store is the biggest news. Even better news is when Corky's has 25 or more ice cream flavors-which by the way, they have holiday flavors like eggnog and I dream about it on a daily basis.

Today as I am driving to work low and behold there are three huge black cows making their way down the side of the road. Now in St. Johns that isn't anything out of the ordinary, but these were almost to Brides. I would expect to see those more out towards my house, but they were almost to the main road! I had to laugh as I pulled into the grocery store wondering where they came from. When I got back on the road less than ten minutes later the cows were gone! I thought that maybe the owners of the cows had shooed them off, but while looking I see that the cops had been called in on the scene.

I love this small town even if it is called a "hell hole" by some (cough, cough Bailey). Where else are you going to have your very own personal Barney 5 type of police squad???

New Floors

Our new floors are almost all the way installed. Trevor and I have been so excited about the change. He has done all the work. I definitely can't take credit for any of it. We just had plain linoleom floors. These have totally changed the way the house looks. The floors just make it seem so much warmer.

We have been checking out floors all over the place. We have practically stalked the floor installation aisles at Home Depot for months. Everything has been too expensive. We kept thinking that we would buy a little bit at a time, but then we were afraid that whatever we finally picked would stop being ordered after we bought like half of it. Finally, we found a flooring that we liked at Sam's club. It really wasn't too expensive and we knew it was going to be in stock for a while. When we were in the valley at one of the boys football games we bought half of what we needed. Then two weeks later when we were down again for another game we bought the other half.

As we got home from our first trip I told Trevor he wouldn't be able to wait for all of it. Sure enough, when I got home from work one day he had put in all the flooring through the dining room. We stayed like that with it half done for two weeks. Now that we have it all, Trevor has put it through the kitchen and down the hallway. He only has to put in a few final pieces that have to be cut down for the hallway.

Yay for new floors! The only sad thing was, we were at Home Depot on Saturday, and one of the floor choices that we had liked was on sale! We could have got that flooring for like 7 dollars a box cheaper!!!! Oh well. We love what we have! Thanks, handy man Trevor for putting in all the labor!

Pizza Hut Hissy-fit

After being a waitress for about a year I have come to either be the most understanding customer when things are going bad or the worst critic ever if you are a crappy waitress for seemingly no reason. That being said, let me tell you about our lunch at Pizza Hut on Saturday....

Pizza is by far one of my favorite foods. It's right up there with chips and salsa and bean and cheese burritos as a food I could eat nearly every day. Here-in the middle of nowhere-you can't really get pizza. There used to be Hot Stuff pizza, which wasn't that great, but it changed to Noble Roman's and has gone completely down hill to freak nasty if you ask me. Pizza Hut is such a treat to me. Plus, of all the pizza places (dominos, little caesars, etc)it's my favorite. But if any of you plan on eating at the Pizza Hut in Show Low, beware.....they suck.

Last time we ate there, the stupid people put on too much cheese and the pizza was all doughy...ewww...We got another one cooked that day and the pizza itself half off, but Trevor swore that even that one was still doughy. Another time, I ordered myself a personal pan pizza to go and the sauce tasted sour or something like it had gone bad. I know there was something else wrong another time we went, but I can't remember what. Saturday was the final staw for me.

We get there and order our pizza right away. I ask for extra sauce with the breadsticks. Our drinks come and the breadsticks, but no extra sauce. The waitress runs by later and we ask for sauce again and she says okay...it never comes. I'll deal with the loss fairly well and then when our pizza comes she drops it off and leaves. Trevor finally goes up and asks the manager at the front for the sauce we asked for three times. This is not the end. We look at our pizza and there is like no sauce on it and hardly any cheese! What the HELL! I am so ticked! All I want is a good pizza. We would have told our waitress, but she never comes and checks on us once! We were so hungry, we figured we would just deal. Then we both run out of drinks. I hate not having something to drink with my meal. She finally comes by to give us our ticket and two take-out boxes. Why two boxes with only like 3 pieces left? Who knows. Then the lady has the nerve to ask if we want refills. Why would we want refills when we are leaving? I am not at all happy. Trevor says he's going to talk to the manager.

We go to leave and the manager wasn't at the front so Trevor was going to let it go. Not me. I couldn't. I was mad. She comes out and I just tell her how it is. First I say don't you guys use scales to measure out your ingredients? She tells me that they do and so I said that they must not be because the last two times things were wrong. One time too much toppings another time not enough. Then I tell her, I have waitressed before so I understand when things are busy but this has happened more than once! Then no drinks no sauce. Not one good thing happened. Poor Trevor is standing there looking at the ceiling like, "um...maybe I'll go stand over here.." He told me later that I was kind of loud. I didn't think I was loud, but maybe I did raise my voice a little. Finally we got our meal for free, but that really wasn't the point. I kept saying I'm not trying to be rude, but I just think you shoud know. I think this shouldn't happen everytime we come. What are the odds of having everything screwed up everytime we come? Better luck next time? If I didn't love Pizza Hut so much, I would say I wouldn't ever go there again.

Be of Good Cheer

....for it's the most Wonderful time of the Year! That's right...it's the season for giving (or receiving) again. I love Christmas time. Last week we put up our tree, and I have loved every second of it. When it gets remotely close to dusk the lights are on. We bought this tree last year, and I swear it looks even better than I remember. Trevor is actually the one who picked it out and I think that he made a wise choice. I picked the decorations, and I think that I did a pretty good job. I still have the goofy Charlie Brown tree that I bought for 20 bucks when I was in college, but I would much rather have this tree anyday!

We just bought new wood floors for our house and we are counting those as our Christmas present. If there are any presents under the tree, they will be what we are buying for our families. We did agree to do stockings though. It may seem a little childish, but I still get all giddy at Christmas. Stockings have always been my favorite things, so we definitely couldn't NOT do them. I can't wait for the day when we have our own little ones. I say this now, but I actually think it would be fun to keep kids out of the presents and away from the ornaments on the tree. I think it is so cute! They are so excited and trying to figure out what everything is all about. It's almost like reliving your own Christmas's as a kid. I am so envious of those of you that have kids!

All I have to say is bring on the lights, the music, hot chocolate, Christmas eve at Grampa's, the movie A Christmas Story and How the Grinch stole Christmas (along with all the others, but you can't have christmas without those two), and of course the two week break I get from work!!!! Woot-woo! Life doesn't get much better.......

Turkey Hangover?

Being that neither Trevor or I have ever been drunk, we really don't know what a hangover is like except for what we've been told, but is it possible to have a hangover from Turkey....or just Thanksgiving itself? Or could it be from the overload of relatives?

Trevor had to work both the day before Thanksgiving and the day after, while I had a relaxing 5 day weekend. That being said....Trevor got up at like 3 in the morning on Friday. I know-way to early for the normal human being. Anyway, he usually can function just fine. If he gets at all tired he just pops a piece of gum in his mouth, rolls down a window, or turns up the music. This day though, nothing could do the trick. He could not keep his eyes open. Eventually he made it through the day, but he said it was rough. That's when he said it must have been a turkey hangover.

Thanksgiving day had a totally different affect on me. I hear that one of the cures for a hangover is to have another drink the morning you wake up from being drunk. Maybe that is what I was thinking. Anyone that knows me, knows that Thanksgiving is not my favorite holiday. I don't really like turkey all that much. Stuffing is overrated, and pie is not that great. This year was another story. I didn't feel like I ate all that much at either of the Thanksgiving dinners we went to, but the next three days were a different story. I seriously ate all day Friday and Sunday and all night Saturday when we got home from the game. Monday I didn't know what to do with myself at work. I was going through food withdrawals!

Now I am stuck daydreaming about mashed potatoes and gravy, apple pie, cheeseball, hot rolls, and ham. When will the madness stop? Hopefully not 20 pounds later.....

2007 State Champions!

On Saturday, Trevor and I drove to Tucson to watch the St. Johns High school football team compete for the state title. Talk about one of the most exciting games I have ever seen in high school football. It was definitely between two very worthy teams. Either one could have taken it, but St. Johns prevailed!

The last time St. Johns won the football championship I was a senior. There were so many talented people both from my grade, but also kids from the junior class. I really don't think they could have won without the talent from both grades. That year though, the game before the championship we had to play Phoenix Christian and that game was so intense. Honestly that game ended up being way more exciting than the actual championship. I don't know whether I was more nervous at that game against Phoenix Christian or this one against Arizona Lutheran!

For those of you that weren't there, this game was played on U of A's football field. There were instant replays and the refs on the field had microphones to tell us what the calls were. It really made it feel like the big time. This game came down to the wire. It was tied up at the end of the 4th quarter so they had to do overtime. They put the kids on like the 15 yard line or something and they get 4 downs to try and score. We won the coin toss so we chose to go second. Arizona Lutheran scored a touchdown and then the extra point. Now it was our turn. We scored a touchdown as well, but here's where it got tricky. Do you kick for the extra point and tie it up, or go for the win with a two point conversion? We went for the win.....and it WORKED!!!! It was so exciting. My cousin Sterling played one heck of a game. We were so proud! Back home people were listening to the radio and I guess my cousin Julie said that one station was saying towards the end that they were going to have to get a shovel to dig this kids head out of the ground after a really hard hit by Sterling!

Those boys could not have been more excited, and I don't blame them. It was such an awesome game. No one thought we would win. We were ranked like 9th, but they did it. One of my favorite things was write after they came off the field I saw Shad Bride say, "where's my mom and dad?" They wouldn't let the fans out on the field so they were lined up along the fence. Shad's parents were just a little farther down and they rubbed his sweaty head and hugged and hugged. It was so cool.

This team is also a young team. There were only a few seniors. The one picture is of Sterling and Randall Raban, two seniors with their golden football trophy! The one near the beginning is of Sterling and his dad hugging after the game. Now both Sterling and his older brother, Preston, have won a state championship. I wish everyone could have been there. These boys have come a long way. They started the year 0 and 3. They came together and did service projects each week as a whole team (mormons, catholics, and everything) to work on unity. They committed Coach Morgan to not swear around them, and Coach Garcia to not chew around them. I think that because of all those things they were blessed.

Way to go State Champs!

No More Camping

The Christmas before we were married Trevor bought us a really pretty bed. We had gone and looked at furniture and it was one we both liked. The bed has always been pretty, but the actual manufacturing of it, wasn't very good. This bed has been a problem since almost day one. It really wasn't built solidly underneath. The side rails have cracked the headboard where they connect and Trevor has tried multiple times to fix it.

One day a little over a month ago Trevor sat on the bed or something and it broke. He was so mad and started to blame it on his fat ass (excuse the cussing). It was actually really funny. He was so mad! He put something to brace it and figured it was okay. Later on though we found out it wasn't. You see, we were both sitting on our side of the bed just talking when the whole end that we were on collapsed to the floor! It was not good. There was nothing we could do to fix it this time. Trevor took apart the headboard, side rails, and footboard and we moved our mattresses to the floor. This was not a great comfort to me, because I started to remember the snake that we had in our house in July and so I just imagined all sorts of stuff crawling on me in the night.

The next day Trevor called the store we got the bed from and luckily they said they would replace it for free! We were so happy. We seriously didn't know how we were going to afford a brand new bed, they are so expensive. We even were told that we could pick out something different if we wanted. I always like to change things up, so it was a temptation, but we ended up keeping what we had.

Unfortunately, we were stuck "camping" until we could make it over to Show Low. When at long last we were able to pick up our brand new bed, but as luck would have it, it was not so simple! We started loading up when they discovered that the footboard was defective, and they had no more in stock. It would be at least two more weeks before we got it. We took home what they had and they said (or so Trevor says) they would call when the footboard came in. They never called us! Finally after a month since the camping started we have a bed all put together! Yay. But if anyone asks how are bed broke Trevor just laughs and says we are still in the honeymoon stage. Boo....he is such a guy! Now you all know the real story.

P.S. We do have a nice bed, but check out our make-shift nightstands. Mine is a plastic bin with two drawers. haha. Maybe someday that will be changed. I also need to buy some pillows with blue in them to match my blue wall. Homes are seriously a constant work in progress. Just when we finish one thing I swear I find something else to fix!

In the News

Every week the 7th graders have an assignment to find a current event in the world or U.S. (depending on the week) and write a summary on it along with a few other questions. It is really a simple grade, unless you are a 7th grader and you still aren't very good at navigating the internet. To help with their plight I usually go online and print off a few articles. They then can pick one they like and just worry about the summary and the questions.

This week I found a love story about a New York guy. I guess he was riding the subway when he saw the girl of his dreams writing in her journal. He tried to find her when they got off the subway, but in the hustle and bustle of everything she was lost in the crowd. He turned to the internet for help. He created a website to try and find her. He drew a picture of her, posted his phone number and email and then asked people to pass on the website to anyone they could. He got all sorts of feedback! People were overloading his inbox with messages like, "I'm not the girl you're looking for, but I think you are adorable...pick me instead."
Finally a girl found it, and knew that it was her friend. She emailed this guy, Patrick with a picture and her confirmed that it was her! Talk about finding a needle in a haystack.

For those of you that are a little on the cynnical side you are probably thinking, "what a freak!" but for those of you that are a romantic at heart like myself you'll think this is the ultimate romantic gesture. I checked out the website and thought it was pretty funny. The site is posted below for all of you to see. When it uploads the top part will say that he found her, but the bottom is the original picture he drew. Way to cute!

http://www.nygirlofmydreams.com/

Correct Spelling

Okay, so I am not trying to nag or anything, but I think this is something many people probably feel the same way about. I really really really dislike (notice I am trying to be nice and not say hate) when people misspell my name. The especially bothers me when people that have known me forever spell it wrong, or when it is clearly written and someone still spells it wrong. If you have ever had your name repeatedly spelled wrong you would understand. So for anyone who isn't sure it is Taytum with a Y, not Tatum. Really and truly I am not trying to be rude, but if you have me as one of your links and my name is spelled wrong, would you please fix it? Thanks!

Enrichment Project

Last Tuesday was enrichment night (or better known as homemaking to some) in our ward. I love when there are cute projects planned, but I always hate it at the same time. It kind of stresses me out. Silly, I know, but I really am not the creative type. People are always saying that I am, but really I'm not. I just don't know how to put things together, and I have to have serious help. Even after the help I am left with severe doubts about whatever I have just made.

This week we made these really cute signs. There were different choices of what your sign could say. I picked the one that said family, but I know one other choice was the word joy. A lady from our ward provided the boards and cut out the letters for really cheap. My sign cost me only 16 bucks! You did, however, have to go buy the paper or whatever you were using for your letters. Tons of toll paints were already there, but anything else you had to bring.

When I was in the valley at the volleyball games I made Trevor take a detour to Michael's. He really wasn't thrilled and you should have seen him leaning on the aisles with the most bored look on his face. I tried to pick out stuff that I thought would go in my house without being totally bold. I finally found some, but I wished that I had gone to a scrapbook store instead, because I think I would have been able to find single sheets of paper that were way cuter, but oh well.

At the bottom of the entry is the end result. You can't really see it all that great. I don't know if it is cuter in person, or uglier but you get the general idea. The letter 'a' has a little button type thing on it that says inspire, which I think is something a family really does for each other. On the letter 'l' there is cute polka dot ribbon and a pretty little button type thing. Of course, I don't have this have it up on my wall, because I am still doing what every perfectionist does and am trying to fix all the little things wrong with it like sanding edges and stuff. I already have a designated spot for it, but when I hold it up, I am a little worried it is too big for the space! I'll post pictures when it's hanging to get your opinions on whether I should move it or not.

Wanted by Many

Basketball practice has started for the highschool and Trevor helps coach the girls. I'm not going to lie. This does make me a little, not worried, but not very confident about myself. You see, Trevor isn't that much older than these girls, and not that I think he would do anything ever, but these girls are all young and cute and skinny. There are a few that seem a little bit flirty with him too, and we joke about it, but I still don't like it all that much. That being said, let me tell you about a story I heard the other day...

This lady, Lenora (some of you know who I am talking about), stopped me just this week to tell me about her niece. A few nights ago we ate at El Camino and as we were leaving Lenora and her daughter came in to pick up a to-go order. We talked for a few minutes and then left. I guess that her niece had been in the car and she saw me through the glass door. She asked, "who is that?" And everyone in the car answered Taytum Waite. Then she sees Trevor and asks who he is. They then tell her and she proceeds to say, "I don't like Mrs. Waite."

At this point in the story I get a little offended. I'm thinking why does this eighth grade girl not like me? I don't even really know her and it's not like I worked with her at school last year so I couldn't have offended her, could I? I really hate when people don't like me...especially when it's for no reason, or they don't know me.

Well, Lenora said they tried to ask her why and she just kept say she just didn't like me. When Lenora and her daughter get back in the car and start home they are still bugging her in hopes of getting it out of her why she doesn't like me. Finally it dawns on Lenora and she asks, "Do you not like Mrs. Waite because she married Trevor?" Everyone in the car was like ooohhhh! The niece got all embarassed and tried to deny it, but Lenora had hit the nail on the head. The niece was all quiet and then finally spoke up and said, "Well, you are all telling me that age doesn't matter!" And Lenora said that in this case it did!

Lenora just laughed and laughed as she told me this, but she told me not to say anything to the girl because she was SO embarassed and was saying that she wouldn't be able to face me! I see her nearly everyday, but I don't work with her at all. In fact, I rarely even notice her until now. Now I see her and I try to not just get a big smile on my face. I find this so funny. Trevor still has game...even if they are girls that would be so illegal to even think about.

Pumpkin Time!

This year I made Trevor carve pumpkins with me. I hate the yucky stuff you have to pull out, but that really doesn't ever stop me from wanting to carve a pumpkin each year. It is one of my favorite fall activities. I don't know if that is something that should fade as we get older, but it really hasn't for me. I really believe a lot of that has to do with my mom because she made each holiday so much fun, and so I get like a little kid around holidays. I love everything that comes with them, it's just that now I am the one putting in all the work. No more just sitting back and enjoying, but I am okay with that.

Although this year carving pumpkins wasn't as fun as always, due to the mumbling slash semi-growling husband that I was having him do it with a pattern and not on his own.....I think, no scratch that carving pumpkins will ALWAYS make me think of Trevor proposing to me. He carved will you marry me in a pumpkin two years ago on October 6th.

Like I said these weren't done freehand this year, but we didn't do any carving last year, and I have never been one to do anything remotely artistic freehand. My mom always bought us patterns, and that has worked out great. Trevor's pumpkin is the one with the spider on it. He complained about making one than hurry and finished long before I did. That is generally how we work though. (he finishes dinner and waits for slow methodical me) I can't wait to have kids to carve pumpkins with. I love driving by people houses that have like 5 different pumpkins out.

Happy Halloween everybody!

I Love Food Network

As many of you know, I am the pickiest eater ever! Which is really quite the opposite of what my title means. One of my favorite things to watch is the food network channel! I love the smell of food, and the way food looks but I don't like the way a lot of it tastes. One of the other things I like to do, is scour the internet for recipes. I usually won't try many of them because of the picky-ness, but I like to look anyway. There are only two things that I am willing to try almost always and that is any kind of bread, or any kind of sweets.

My mom has a great sugar cookie recipe, but for some reason I can never make the icing turn out very good, and I found this recipe last friday. Sunday I tried it out and it was SOOOO good (that is, if you like orange flavored stuff)! I highly recommend this recipe for your cookies, cupcakes, or cake. It's great. The only thing I did different was add a little more orange juice than it calls for.

Orange Cream-Cheese Frosting

Ingredients
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup unsalted butter (1/2 stick), softened
1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 teaspoon orange food coloring

Directions:
Make the frosting: Blend the cream cheese, butter, orange juice, orange zest, and vanilla in a large bowl, using an electric mixer set at medium speed, until smooth. Add the sugar and continue to beat until light and creamy about 3 more minutes. Add the food coloring and gently stir until the color is uniform. Chill the frosting until ready to ice the cupcakes or cake.

Nutritional Information
1 serving: Calories 256; Carbohydrates 41g; Cholesterol 31mg; Fat 10g; Sodium 57mg

This is so, so, so good!

The Small Things in Life

One of my favorite things is the sunsets in Arizona. I don't think they get much prettier anywhere else. One day as I was driving by our rain-made lake I saw such a nice site. I love our new lake all the time, but it was particularly nice this day. I don't think in my whole life I have ever stopped to actually watch a sunset, because I didn't realize how fast they change. I stood on the side of the road trying to get the best picture possible, and it changed between each shot. This one is my favorite.

Not much else is going on in our busy lives right now. Wake-up, work, come home, eat dinner, sleep, and then start all over again the next day. If anything else comes up to change our daily pace, I'll post, but until then you get to look at what I see everyday!

My little Buddy!

I just love my cousin, Julie's baby. She is one of my favorite people in the whole world! Sometimes when I see her and she grins I like to think that next to her mom and dad I am her favorite person. I know that this isn't true, but she is just so dang good that it makes me think it's 'cause she just simply likes me so much. In reality, she just really is that great of a baby. I can only hope that we someday have a girl that is as sweet as little miss Kaitlyn.

If you have been on Julie's blog lately you have already seen a bunch of the pictures of her that we took just playing around the day. Eventually we are going to try and take the time to take some really good pictures of her with my nice camera and in better lighting and everything.

This other picture were taken on the first day that Kaitlyn ever got in her crib! Julie and Butch had just moved into their house and her crib was finally set up with her cute bedding and everything. Of course she was wide awake and we just played peek-a-boo, but she loved it!

Coronado Island

One of my favorite places we went besides the beach on our vacation was Coronado Island. We didn't stop or do anything there, but it was a pretty cool place. To get to the Island you have to go across the Coronado bridge. It is a two mile bridge with a 200 foot clearance for even the biggest ships to go under. It is crazy.

Part of the reason that I liked this island so much, was because of how pretty it was! As we drove all over the place in San Diego we took in a lot of sites, and looked at a lot of homes. Although there was a lot of pretty things, we were amazed at how run down a lot of the places are. San Diego is beautiful...but not everywhere. It is a lot different than you expect if you have never been there.

The homes and yards of the people on Coronado Island were so different. They actually had a yard to start with. Everywhere you went we saw a lot of military too, because there are bases like right there. A lot of the yards had big bushes of hydrangeas that I loved!

The last and probably coolest thing there was the Hotel del Coronado. We saw this huge building, but didn't really know what it was. We figured it was a hotel, but it wasn't until we got home from our trip that I looked it up on the internet and found out about it. It is a hotel built over 115 years ago, and still standing. I took this picture while driving by but it just doesn't do it justice! It covers 33 acres of beach front property, has boutiques, restaurants, and an ice skating rink...not to mention a couple of haunted rooms! U.S. presidents, a King, Marilyn Monroe, and Thomas Edison are just a few of the famous people that have stayed here! It is so crazy. Next time we are in San Diego (if there is ever a next time) this hotel is definetly a place I would like to check out better. If you want to get a better picture of it check out their website: http://www.hoteldel.com/ . It is worth looking at, if you like history like I do!

Sea World and Shamu

Of course no trip to Sea World would be complete without going to see Shamu, right? We went to as many shows as we could, but we made sure that Shamu and the dolphin show were a priority. It is so crazy to me that those big animals can jump so high out of the water!

Trevor hadn't ever been to Sea World so it was a new experience, but I still remember it from my last trip. It is so crazy because seeing it for the first time, and as a kid, your perspective is so different. Every show we went to when I was younger seemed so much longer. We did spend more time there the first time I went than this time, but I don't think there was as much stuff there now as there was then. There are more shows and rides and stuff that weren't there at all or in the process of being built. The biggest downer of the day was the heat. We could hardly stand it. It was worse this day than any other day that we were in California. Both Trevor and I got a little burnt. We didn't stay as long as we had planned due to the heat!

One of the coolest things about Sea World, for me at least, was this area where you could touch like star fish and other things. There were tons of little kids around the pool of water. Some of them were so scared to touch anything. I think that sea world would be way more fun to take little kids to than Disneyland. We heard more kids exclaiming out loud at all the different exhibits from being excited than anywhere else we went. It was so fun to see all the animals and things through their eyes! They were so cute!

If only it hadn't been so gosh dang hot we could have taken more time and seen more, but even though it was short I still loved it! Sea World is pretty cool, especially now with all that there is to do. BUT the one thing that Disneyland does have that's better, it's the food. Every stinkin' restaurant was gross.....(bring your own food if you go there).

Cirque de la Mar

One of the little shows that we watched at Sea World was called Cirque de la Mar. It is a spin off of Cirque de Soleil. We were really excited to go see this show because when we went on our Honeymoon to Las Vegas we saw a show called "O" by Cirque de Soleil (you say it like surk day sew lay). It is a show that isn't really done with much talking at all but has lots of action. There is acrobatics and all sorts of crazy stuff. It really can't be described. You have to see it to know what I am talking about.

The show in Las Vegas is done in a theatre and the stage goes down and is filled with water. They jump off of swings and way up in the rafters. They also do acrobatic stuff while being suspended in the air. Then they always bring in people that are crazy strong and flexible. The show at Sea world was on the stage in the sea. There was all sorts of crazy things going on. Of course it was on a smaller scale than the las vegas show and it was only about 25 minutes long, but it was still fun.

Here are some pictures, but I really wish that you could see it. Because this just does not do justice to the insane things these people can do with their bodies!

Happiest Place on Earth

That's right.....Disneyland! We went to Disneyland on Thursday of our trip. It was great. We decided to splurge a little and get the park hopper so that we could visit both Disneyland and California Adventures. Trevor was four the last time he was at Disneyland, and so much has changed in the nine years since I have been! We randomly chose to go into Disneyland first. We were there as the gates opened, so we were lucky. Like every day that we ended up spending in California it was hot and muggy!

We picked out all of the big rides first: splash mountain, the mattahorn, space mountain, pirates of the carribean and so on. We tried to hit all those first because we were worried about the lines. Fortunately for us, the longest we ever waited was about 12 minutes! yay! I think that it was just complete luck that we went to Disneyland first, because after we had done all the big rides we decided to head over to California Adventures, and people were still pouring into Disneyland like crazy!At California Adventures there were basically no lines. We hardly ever had to wait at all. I think that Disneyland was way more crowded because people were coming with their little kids. (on a side note...who in their right minds would spend the money to take little kids to disneyland when they can't ride half the rides, and won't hardly remember being there?)

I didn't take very many pictures at all. We were just walking as quickly as we could from one place to another. These pictures were all taken at California adventures. Half of the background behind us is an illusion! It is painted on a building. It was so cool, because you couldn't tell until you got up close.

I will say this...it was lots of fun. Trevor loves rides! I get a little freaked out. But that's no big surprise coming from someone who never liked riding on the zipper at our little county fair! I was more terrified on that stupid huge ferris wheel that was slower than tar than anything else. The Tower of Terror was really fun. I think that was my favorite. Trevor loved the roller coasters and the one that shoots you up in the air really fast. (I nearly cried on that....I couldn't believe it was over so soon! Good thing too...)

I don't think anyone has ever gone through both parks as fast as we did. It was a little rushed, and I wish we would have taken more time, but we were concerned about getting to our hotel in San Diego. Traffic was nuts. On our way there we got to see the San Diego temple off the freeway and couldn't believe that it was just right there!

Overall, awesome day....great fun....and a little scary (for me at least......what a chicken)