Happy Halloween!

I love this holiday! And I'm feeling much better today than I was yesterday. Turns out my blood sugar was a little low yesterday. As soon as I had some orange juice and a muffin I felt 100% better. It turns out that I'm not eating enough in the mornings.

***

The To-Do List on this Awesome Halloween Day

• Go grocery shopping
• Clean the house
• Go to Kohl's and spend some gift cards
• Have a Halloween party at our house and hopefully pass out candy to trick-or-treaters (We're not sure if anyone will come over ha ha)
  

I love Halloween! I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable day!

image via bedandbreakfastsguide.com

One of Those Days

I feel just about how this dog looks.

I woke up this morning and felt awake, but I had a stuffy nose and felt very weak. After eating my daily dose of Rice Krispies without the milk, I started getting ready for the day. And it was a struggle! I kept having to sit down. Driving to school was tough, and it didn't help that the highway was really wet and foggy. (I think some people forget how to drive when it snows and it actually sticks for the first time.)

I just took my HR Management test and thought I was going to fall over the entire time I was taking it. Have you ever had that feeling where your face feels really hot and you can feel your pulse coming out of it? That was me. And just sitting here typing this has been a struggle. I'm trying to keep munching on crackers and trail mix, and taking occasional sips on water. But all I want is to go home and get in my bed. Too bad I don't get out of class till 4:15.

I get worried every time I get remotely sick. Especially when I feel so weak like this. I had a seasonal flu shot about a week or so ago, and this week I received the H1N1 vaccine. I'm hoping I'm in the clear in those two areas. But it still freaks me out to be sick. Hopefully this is just something my bed and a hot drink can fix.

On a happier note, Halloween is in about 12 hours. Woo hoo! That's something to smile about!

image via beautyology.com

Our Weekend in A-Town

Tyson and I spent Friday night and Saturday in Ashton, ID, at my grandparents' cabin with Amber & Che' and Aaron & Britney. Amber and Che' came up on Thursday for their 2-year anniversary and wanted the four of us to join them for the rest of the weekend. We had a great time!

We brought the Nintendo64 up to the cabin and played some serious Mario Kart and Mario Party.

Aaron & Tyson focusing intently on the game.

Che', Britney & Amber watching Tyson & Aaron

Che' & I playing Mario Kart

Later in the evening the boys decided to show us their Kung Fu skills

Then Che' started juggling.

It was probably 2 am at this time.

The next morning the boys went out and raked the leaves for Grandma & Grandpa.

After a great day of lounging around on Saturday, we decided to head over to Big Jud's on Saturday night. It was delish!

Aaron & Britney

Tyson & I

Amber & Che'

The girls! I love my glisters.

Good times in Ashton!

Seven Somethings So Far

I sure love all you friends and family! Everyone has been so wonderful and supportive during this crazy time in our lives. We're just so excited about a little baby blessing our lives in May.

I started keeping a record of memorable experiences during this first pregnancy and I wanted to share some of those. Most of these have to do with food ha ha.

***

1. My stomach has been very sensitive to how certain foods look and smell. When I walk through the Clarke buidling on campus I have to go through the culinary arts hall to get to my family relations class. On one occasion I was walking up the stairs toward that hall when I saw someone with a blueberry bagel. I had a sick feeling in my stomach just looking at it. As I reached the hall and continued down it I noticed EVERYONE had one of those darn things. And they were all talking about them. Plus, the further I got down the hall the scent of them got stronger because the students were making them. Talk about overload!

2. I've had to either eat a sucker, munch on crackers, or sip on something like diet pepsi on my way up to campus or my gag reflexes go crazy. There have been a couple of times when I thought I was going to lose it all over the sidewalk.

3. Every morning before school I have to pack up snacks for the day. I'd rather snack all day than eat actual meals. This normally consists of:

• half peanut butter sandwich
• saltine or ritz crackers
• a string cheese
• some baked cheetos

Pretty much a good mix of things to munch on throughout the day. On one particular morning I was running really late and Tyson packed my food for the day. Here's what he packed for me:

• a whole peanut butter and jelly sandwich
• gold fish crackers
• saltine crackers
• a raspberry jell-o pack
• a baggy of dum dums
• fruit snacks
• raspberry newtons
• carrot sticks
• diet coke

It was so thoughtful and sweet! He definitely didn't want me to go hungry. Needless to say I ended up eating half of the sandwich and a few of the other things. But he has been so supportive during everything, and I've really appreciated all of his help.

4. One night I randomly craved a Subway turkey sandwich on white bread. I don't normally get this ever, but it sounded so good! And it was. I told Tyson about my craving and he took me right over. That sandwich was amazing!! The funny thing is that it hasn't sounded good since. I guess that's how the craving thing works!

5. Brushing my teeth was REALLY hard for a while. It still is a little bit, but not as bad as it was before. I was a little worried about my teeth for a while because I couldn't keep the toothbrush back there for very long. Flossing was also hard.

6. Walking through Walmart was hard until yesterday. For the longest time I couldn't even walk through the grocery section without getting super nauseated. Specifically the Great Value box of lasagna made me sick. There were moments where I came close to ripping open a box of cereal or crackers to help calm it down. Instead I bought something that sounded good and waited till I got to the car to rip into it. Yesterday was the first time I have gone to Walmart without feeling nauseated once the entire time. Woo hoo!

7. The other day I woke up from a nap and was SO hungry. Then I remembered we had chips and salsa from Cafe Rio. So I decided to eat some. Wait, let me rephrase that: I decided to eat it ALL. And I was so sick afterward. It was great at first, but I over did it!

***

I'm sure I'll do some other strange things in the near future that I'll be sure to keep record of ha ha. In the mean time I have loved being pregnant. The first appointment was a wonderful experience, and I'm so excited to continue this journey!

The One Where We Turned 25

First of all I just want to say a big

thank you

for all of your wonderful comments about the baby! And also all the Facebook birthday wishes. I have such wonderful friends! We are thrilled about the baby. I will be bringing more details about the little one on a later post.

***

Amber and I had a great birthday weekend full of family and good times. I received really fun birthday presents that I'm so excited for. And I just loved spending time with my family and Tyson's family.

***

First off, I received these two cards from two little boys, ages 4 & 5:

The green one was from my nephew Cooper (5) and the pink was from a boy named Clark (4) in my sunbeam class. He loves volcanoes so he drew one for me on the card. Talk about two thoughtful little boys!

***

The Cake

Friday Night to Saturday Morning

After eating at Olive Garden on Friday night, Amber & I went witch Che' & Tyson to pick up stuff for our birthday cake.
We went with a white cake and turned it orange. Very festive!

(Just ignore my messy kitchen ha ha)

We ended up with chocolate frosting, pumpkin candies, Halloween sprinkles, and candles to make "25".

And here's the final product!

***
Saturday Afternoon

Tyson wanted me to open my presents from him on Saturday before the party at my parents' house. He got me a new Kathy purse with a matching wallet, a new fall candle, the "Ichabod Crane" movie, and a bag of Halloween M&M's. So fun!

***

Saturday Night

Party at Mom & Dad's

Opening presents

We ended up with great stuff! Hair products, gift cards, money, diet pepsi & candy...It was great! Thanks again, everyone!

Getting ready to blow out the candles

And here's what our Halloween cake turned out to look like. We loved it! And it was delicious.

Tyson & I

Dad, Amy, Aaron & Britney

Mom

I liked this picture because of the mid-yawn I caught Amy in. I love these kinds of pictures! Classic.

***

Sunday Afternoon

Party at the Miller's

We went to Tyson's parents' house on Sunday for a birthday party. It was a lot of fun! Steve, Angie, and the kids were also there.

I got some great things here as well! Jewelry clothes, a gift card to Motherhood Maternity...and Erika had dropped off a bag of maternity clothes while she was in town this weekend. Thanks again, Erika! And also thanks everyone else for the fun presents!

Easton & Cooper helping me blow out the candles

We missed one so Easton blew it out.

***

Thanks to everyone who helped make this a great birthday! I had a great weekend with all of you!

I still can't believe I'm 25. Wow!

It's Official!

The due date is May 8th! We're so excited!

Blast from the Past

I love going out with old roommates!

Last night I went to dinner at Chili's with my old roommates

Kayla and Sydney.

Two of my favorite roommates ever! I love these girls, and it is always a ton of fun being able to get together. I miss them!

The One Where Jack was Born

We have a new nephew!

Jack Dustin Miller

born October 10, 2009 at 4:13 pm

6 lb. 8 oz.

20 in. long

Proud parents

Dustin & Erika

with their first son

They have a 2-year-old daughter, Lillie, but the hospitals set an age limit on visitors this weekend - due to all the flu going around. Visitors have to be over 18.

We were able to watch Dustin through the window give Jack his first bath. It was so fun to watch! I cried a little. :)


The nurse was taking pictures of him for Erika.

Bundling him up

A proud daddy

It was such a great day! Thank you, Dustin & Erika, for the first two pictures I borrowed from you guys. Your baby is darling and we love him!

And for clarity, I noticed a lot of confusion with them at the temple when she went into labor. They were getting ready to go into the session when she felt like she needed to go to the hospital. She turned to Dustin and said, "I don't think we're supposed to be here right now. I think we need to go to the hospital." So that's what they did!

Congratulations, Dustin & Erika! We love you guys!

Busy Busy

It seems like we've been running non-stop today! Today was orginally going to be pretty laid back, but it has turned out a little differently. And for the better!

I woke up this morning and was getting ready for the day when Tyson's brother Dustin called with some exciting news. They were on their way to the hospital because his wife Erika (who is 37 weeks pregnant) was in labor. Very unexpected! They had been at the temple to do a session when she started having contractions.

She wasn't too far into the labor so I went with Tyson's mom and Dustin and Erika's daughter, Lillie, to Tyson's cousin's wife Calese's baby shower. (That was a mouth full!) It was fun seeing Tyson's aunts and cousins on his dad's side. He has great family on both sides.

After the baby shower Tyson and I went up to the hospital to see Dustin and Erika. She had just received her epidural so she was feeling pretty good. We visited for a bit before leaving and going grocery shopping, where we just got back. We just received word from Dustin that Erika is all ready to go and they are just waiting for the doctor to arrive. So anytime now we're going to have a new nephew! We'll be bringing them dinner later tonight.

A friend in our ward, Debbie Grigg, passed away last weekend and her funeral was this afternoon. She was a very sweet lady and her family is wonderful. We love the Grigg family. And we know that the Lord will be watching over them at this difficult time.

This has been quite the eventful day! But we're just so excited to be gaining a new nephew. We love him already!

A Service Opportunity

A sweet little Utah girl named Taylie has cancer. By posting this link to her website on your own blog, you can help. For every person who posts her link on their blog there will be $2 donated to her cause. What a great and easy way to help!

I Knew It!

A couple of posts ago I was pretty frustrated about a certain business 101 test that I so easily failed this week. It was one of those moments where I had no idea what was being asked on the test, and only a few questions looked familiar to me. Needless to say I had a pretty rough afternoon in the testing center and I was worried about my grade.

My reason for confusion was identified when I checked my e-mail yesterday afternoon. I received an e-mail from my business teacher with the subject line saying, "Test Information / Urgent." When I opened the e-mail I was excited to read what was there. Everyone who had taken the test in our class had failed it. Some approached him on it, so he decided to go check things out at the Testing Center. He came to find that he had given the wrong test to the Testing Center. All of us who had taken the test took the one he had assigned to one of his 300-level business classes.

I knew that had to have been the wrong test! There was almost nothing on it that looked familiar to what we had been talking about in class. He has extended the correct test till next Wednesday so we have more time to study for the right one. Woo hoo! Talk about an answer to prayers.

Thanks again for all your good advice! It was comforting and uplifting. I'll be sure to use it if I happen to bomb another test this semester. :)

image via ct4me.net

Thank You!

Last night at around 9:30 my doorbell rang. When I opened the door there wasn't anyone there. But there was a present sitting on the mat:

I just want to tell the person who left this for me that they truly made my day. I appreciate all the nice and uplifting comments after my horrible testing experience yesterday. And for those who didn't read the post, at the end I mentioned I could use a diet pepsi and a Reese's peanut butter cup. And look at what was sitting on my step last night beaming up at me. I was so excited to see these sitting there! What a great surprise. That was so incredibly nice of you, whoever you are! I feel so blessed to have such wonderful people in my life who care so much. Thank you SO much. I can't even tell you how much it means to me.

Frustrated

This is about how I felt in the testing center today. I had two tests (business and media planning) that I studied for like crazy the last couple of days. We received study guides for both so I was feeling pretty confident.

I decided to take the business test first because I felt like I knew the information a little better. But when I opened the test booklet I realized I didn't recognize some of the information in the questions. I got really nervous as I started flipping through the pages realizing I didn't know a lot of the questions. At first I thought I was given the wrong test. So I looked at the front of the booklet, only to find that it was the right test. And I was in trouble. I struggled through almost the entire thing, guessing the answers that seemed to fit the questions the best. What a disaster. A lot of the details from the test weren't on the study guide. I felt like a complete failure.

And that I was! I completely failed that test. I won't even tell you the exact percentage. And the media planning test grade was frustrating as well. A lovely D+. I don't think I've ever scored that low on a communication test before. Needless to say I'm not having the best day ever on campus. At this point I'm worried for my business grade. I NEED to graduate in December so I can't fail any of my classes. But this test grade was horrible. I just hope it doesn't do too much damage to my overall grade or I'm in trouble.

Please tell me there is light at the end of the tunnel! Has anybody else ever completely bombed a test but turned out ok in the class? I have to get a C- in all of my classes to graduate. And right now I'm just feeling sick to my stomach knowing that I did so bad on my first test in that class. I could really use a diet pepsi, a Reese's peanut butter cup, and a hug right now.

image via commiechink.com

My Husband the Baker

A couple of Sundays ago Tyson wanted to bake something. His first idea was bread but I told him that for someone who doesn't bake very often bread might be a little too difficult. Not to mention that it takes a while and he wanted something sooner. So then he wanted to bake some cookies. I shot that one down as well because I knew I'd be taking care of them and I really didn't feel like it ha ha. Finally he thought of brownies. It was actually a good idea and the recipe isn't difficult. But he decided he didn't really feel like brownies. So I gave him the idea of making a box of Jiffy blueberry muffins. It was quick, easy, and they also sounded good. But I have to admit, it was more that I didn't want him to mess up on something from scratch. I know, that's terrible. But it was my thought at the time.

Yesterday after the first session of conference he mentioned that he wanted to make M&M cookies. I was a little apprehensive and wanted to tell him to make something else. But I decided that he deserved a chance and that he should give them a shot.

And he did a great job! I helped him with one step and guided him through a few others, but they turned out great and he took care of all of them.

I sound like I am talking about a 6-year-old. I admit it, I doubted his ability to bake. So I guess that's the lesson. He deserves some credit. I think all of our husbands do. If they want to try something they should just do it. And if they mess up...oh well! It was a good experience anyway. Good job, Tys! I love you!

But I'm going to help when it comes time to make bread. :)