Harris Family

I'm Not Pregnant Anymore!

2012-02-04T12:53:00.002-07:00

I just can't get over it! I love sleeping on my back at night, in fact, some nights I just can't fall asleep because I get so excited about the fact that my due date hasn't even come yet and I am super comfortable. When I was pregnant and would mention how excited I was to not be pregnant people would respond, "Are you sure you're ready to have two kids?" or, "Just enjoy the sleep now", etc. Though I only sleep 2 to 3 hours at a time now, at least I am comfortable and when I sleep, I really sleep! I just feel like sometimes it is nice to trade one challenge for another.

Rebecca came early!

2012-01-28T15:29:00.004-07:00

Tuesday afternoon I told myself (after complaining for the last few weeks about being pregnant), "I can do this for 2 more weeks. It won't be that bad" Tuesday night, my contractions started. I should be more positive more often! I had my prenatal massage that Brian got for my Christmas present scheduled for Thursday, but I guess it wasn't meant to be!
Rebecca Harris was born 1/25/12 at 4:35 pm. She is a great baby. We don't have hospital pictures because I didn't think I'd be admitted because my labor slowed down on our way there, so we left my bag in the car. Right before Brian was going to go to the car to get our stuff, I was ready to push. I was admitted to the hospital at 1:30 (dilated to a 4), my water broke at 2:30, I got my epidural at 3:30 and at 4:00 I was at a 5 and then by 4:15 I was ready to push. The doctor got there at 4:25 and Rebecca came 10 minutes later. I hope the rest of our kids come that fast and easy! Here are some pictures (I'll get some with Calvin). It's been rather busy here with no moms, so pictures have been on the back burner for now.
Calvin loves his little sister. He gives her lots of kisses, and he laughs at all of the funny squeaks, etc that she makes. I never told Calvin how the baby came out, but today he said "Mommy has a hurt tummy from pushing and pushing Rebecca out." I thought it was pretty cute.

Class clown

2011-12-28T19:30:00.000-07:00

Today Calvin kept asking us to cuddle with imaginary porcupines. We did this over and over during dinner, and then after a while he gave us "softypines" so we wouldn't get poked. We're not sure where he picked up the idea of cuddling porcupines, but it is very similar to the game where he says "Fire... BURN!" as he throws imaginary fire at us. Popular variants include "Stove... BURN!" and "Beach water... COLD!"

Lately, he also enjoys saying "Daddy has whiskers just like Michael Finnigan has whiskers."

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T18:43:00.019-07:00

Merry Christmas everyone! What a wonderful time to stop and ponder the significance of the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for the sacrifices that he made to give me the chance to return to my Father in Heaven. I'm grateful for the atonement, as it continues to help me to become more whole and has brought more peace and joy into my life.

This has been the best Christmas I have experienced, and will probably be one that I look back to for a long time. This was the first year Brian and I have spent the Christmas holiday away from family and friends, and it was fun to decide on which traditions we would like to keep and add to our holiday celebrations.

In preparation for Christmas, we used an advent calendar to help count down the days until Christmas. In my family growing up, we would put a small figurine in an old wooden coke crate each day. There are 24 slots, so it counts down until Christmas eve. A few years ago, my mom gave one to us that she found, and we've finally gotten around to decorating it and putting it up. but we didn't have enough figurines accumulated yet. We used candy instead, and Calvin got to take one out each day. I took this as an opportunity to teach Calvin how to count (he had to count the empty spaces every day). This is good, because now he can count all the way to 15 by himself! I have a video, but he gets stage fright whenever we pull the camera out.

We really like music in our house. We decided that we would make sure to go to at least one Christmas concert each year, and make sure to sing Christmas hymns (and play them someday when we have a piano). A few weeks ago, we went to a neat concert in our stake center. Calvin's favorite part was the handbell choir. We also went to a christmas light boat parade in Newport beach. There were some cool boats, but we went early to get parking and a seat, so by the time it started, Calvin wasn't interested in sitting around anymore.

For Christmas Eve, we made pizza and (ginger)breadstick-men. After dinner, we enjoyed watching and helping Calvin act out the nativity using our nativity figurines. I thought this would keep his attention better than just reading Luke 2. We sang some Christmas hymns too, but since I've had a wicked cold for 6 weeks, my throat got tired pretty fast. Calvin opened a present (an "I Spy" book from my mom and dad). After Calvin went to bed, Brian and I couldn't put the book down. It brought back a lot of childhood memories for both of us. The most exciting part was Getting Calvin's stocking and "big" gift ready for him to see in the morning.

We had bought some fake food and pots and pans to give to Calvin for Christmas, and we had an old table thing sitting on our patio for the last 3 months. I almost threw it away 3 different times, but I couldn't help but think there would be some cool thing I could do with it. On the 23rd, Brian and I decided to turn it into a play kitchen for Calvin to use with his food and kitchen set. I borrowed some white paint from a friend, and I had all of the other paint on hand from previous craft projects. We bought a few things (the wooden J for the faucet, the wooden knobs are toy wheels from the craft store, and we bought the curtain rod and the cream colored felt for the "cupboard". The table costed just about $5.00 to make after using coupons!

This is Calvin's pillowcase from Grandma Mower. He thinks it is the coolest place to play with his trucks and cars!

After all of the fun presents, he just wanted to play in that box. :)

Calvin wasn't the only one to get some cool gifts! Brian bought a prenatal massage for me, which made me very happy, because this pregnancy has been more uncomfortable than I anticipated. He told me that he didn't get me any games this year (we usually get a game for each Christmas and birthday) but he actually got me two. I also told him that I didn't get a game, but I did.

Needless to say, this was a very fun Christmas that we were able to spend together as a family. It's been nice to have Brian home for a few weeks as a last hurrah before the baby comes. Having a whole month off from school is awesome. We miss being near family, but we have grown much closer and learned to depend more on each other as we've been by ourselves. We've also had some nice visits from family, and are looking forward to seeing both grandmas in February!

Family Update and Calvin

2011-12-14T20:29:00.008-07:00

For more pictures, click here
Sometimes I use bath time as a babysitter when I don't want to play with Calvin. Tonight I asked if he wanted to swim like a fish and crawl like a crab, and he got really excited. I helped him undress and sent him upstairs, but got distracted for a few minutes before I remembered to go help him. When I finally went up to help him, I found him sitting in the bathtub in a pitch-black room waiting patiently for me to come turn the water on. I thought it was funny and worth sharing.

We've taken Calvin to see the tide pools a couple of times recently, and he loves the starfish and crabs. He's not a big fan of the anemones, especially when Brian pokes them to make them move. He likes the beach, but is still nervous about the ocean (it's huge and it's kind of loud where it breaks on the rocks). He's getting a little braver each time we go. He asks to go to the beach every few days, and now he usually asks to touch the ocean even though he rarely lets us get close enough. He's pretty content with getting in the bath and pretending we are at the ocean.

Last week Brian took Calvin to the beach and they had a great time together. They did all the usual beach stuff and actually got to touch the ocean (on accident). Brian took Calvin out onto some rocks when the waves were low so that Calvin wouldn't suspect anything. Then the waves came up and surrounded the rock so they were on an island, all part of Brian's plan to help Calvin get comfortable with the ocean. Calvin liked seeing the ocean come up so close but was also glad that he didn't have to stand in it. When they got down, another wave came up and they tried in vain to outrun it . Calvin was wet and cold and not too happy about standing in the waves. Not part of the plan. Then his sandal fell off and started drifting out to sea, so Brian lunged to grab it and pulled Calvin over, into the ocean. Oops! Also not part of the plan. He took it pretty well but he did beg to go home after that.

In other news, Brian finished his first quarter last week and doesn't have to go back until the beginning of January. We've decided to stay in California for the Christmas holiday (too many weddings this year). It's been fun talking about different things our families have done for Christmas, and things we would like to do with our own family. It is kind of sad to not see the pretty snow that comes with the holiday season, but I have been enjoying the fact that Calvin and I can go outside without jackets during the day still. I think I am going to enjoy California. The baby is due 8 weeks from now, and I'm down to appointments every two weeks. We're getting pretty excited about having another child, but nervous about the lack of sleep that comes with it. It's fun to feel and watch her squirm. My stomach moves in all kinds of different directions, and I get a lot of comments at church about how much my stomach moves.

Funny things Calvin says

2011-12-10T11:59:00.001-07:00

"Calvin put the cars in time out, them wouldn't roll"
"The itsy bitsy spider climbs up the water spout, the rain comes down and the floods come up and the house on the rock stood still"

Jeungabread Man

2011-10-09T20:00:00.002-06:00

Sometimes Calvin mixes up the different stories and nursery rhymes. If you listen closely, he starts reciting the five little monkeys.

We have a mouse...

2011-10-05T15:19:00.005-06:00

Ok, we don't really have a mouse, Calvin just decided to have a snack while I was making lunch the other day.

I haven't been updating the blog much in the last year, mainly because I don't feel like there is much going on. I've realized today, that's just how my life is, and I like it that way! I hate being so busy I can't even think, and this is that calm before the new baby storm (getting used to not sleeping again, and whatever else I don't really know is going to happen with her arrival). With that being said, Calvin and I have been taking it easy and just enjoying our time alone each day. What do we do all day? Most of our days include reading books, coloring, playing at the various play areas in our housing complex, cooking, cleaning and crafting. Each day we do some other random errand or something, but these are our constant activities.

Calvin wants to read all the time. He brings a library book to me, plops down on my lap and we read it. Then he does the same thing with every library book and then each book that we own. This takes about an hour, but he is always disappointed when we don't have any more books to read. I think we'll have to make more library trips.

After reading time, he wants to color. We are running out of coloring book pictures to color. It is pretty fun to color with him. His coloring is still crazy, but now he colors over the picture he wants to color instead of just coloring random lines all over the page. When he gets tired of his coloring books, we get paper out and he tells me what to draw, and then he colors over that. This too takes up about an hour of our morning, and then he'll do it one or two more times throughout the day. If we are outside, all he wants to do is color with chalk.

There are little parks throughout our housing complex, and they are all fun for different reasons. He especially enjoys playing with the abandoned toys (bikes, mini-tramps, cars, play kitchen, and chalk). This has been a nice way for me to meet other people and get some social interaction. I am slowly making friends, but that usually takes a few months to really feel comfortable, and to have one or two really good ones. We have also found some neat parks in the city. One of them is a few city blocks big with many play structures, a lake, a bike trail and lots of neat birds that I've never seen before. The other one we like is near the library and it has sand and a lot of grass to run around in. I'm slowly learning how to get around the city.

I've been enjoying cooking again, now that it doesn't make me want to throw up. I try to make dinner every night by 6, this hasn't happened much since January, so it's been really nice to have a reliable routine.

I also haven't done any crafts since May, so it's been fun to do little things here and there just to relax. I've been working on my wreath I mentioned in the last post. We'll see about that. I've been using an old sheet that had a tear in it, and cardboard, so if it doesn't look good, I'm not too concerned because I didn't spend any money on it. I had a black box thing that goes on the wall, and I wanted to use it to add a splash of color to the wall, so I glued some random scrapbook paper that I had around to it, put mod podge over it and then some glossy accents. It isn't much, but it added some much needed color to the room (everything is so white/creamy). It was supposed to go in my living room, but I decided I don't want to do blue in here, so it is now in the kitchen. I may do the same thing to my other one, with a different color. I have some left over fabric from another project, so I'm attempting to make a skirt or two for the baby as well.

Brian is adjusting to being back in school. He hasn't had classes for a year now, since he was working on his thesis, and for the last 2 months, he has been home all day with no job. It's been kind of weird to not have him around all the time, but it's been really fun for him, and kind of nice for me to get some alone time. He likes his classes so far and his TA job. Calvin sure misses him when he is gone. He asks for him all day, and I have to find ways to distract him from the subject of dad.

Pictures

2011-09-25T23:20:00.003-06:00

Brian found the Camera cord! We keep forgetting to take pictures, but we have a few. In our last post, Brian mentioned some trees that look like the Trufula trees in "The Lorax".

We don't have very many good beach pictures, but here are the ones that we do have. Calvin is afraid of the Ocean, because it is loud and it moves fast. He will NOT go in, and he whines when Brian or I go in. He says, "I want (mommy or daddy, depending on who's in) to get out!" He really enjoys the sand though. He will play in that stuff forever. I cannot get it out of his ears. I think I get it out, and an hour later I find more sand in his ears.

Crafts help me relax. The past few months have been pretty stressful for us, mainly because my morning sickness turned our lives upside down, but also because of the move and all that comes with that. Now that the house is unpacked, I've been able to do some fun crafts. Fall, as many of you know, is my FAVORITE time of the year, and we don't get one here! Because of that, I'm trying to make it look like fall inside our apartment. I made some pumpkins that I think are pretty. I just got some foam pumpkins from JoAnns for 50% off and then I cut the stems off, wrapped the pumpkins in yarn, glueing where it needed to be held better, and then I glued the stems back on.

I have been wanting to make this wreath since March, but I wasn't sure what our apartment was going to look like, so I've been waiting on it. I started working on it the other day. Mine will be brown, and without the picture frame. I've also wanted to start doing "projects" with Calvin, especially since he's been ignored since June. He has liked monsters lately, so here we found some supplies I already had in my craft box and made a few monsters. He is mostly interested in the eyes, and has already pulled them off of the picture we made.

I want to put pictures of the apartment up, but I kind of want to get the walls decorated before I do it, but I do have pictures of the kitchen.

This is looking into the kitchen from the living room.

This is Calvin's backyard, complete with tons of space to run around, kids to play with (most of them are 2 years old), and lots of abandoned toys that he enjoys. It is really nice because that is also the view from the kitchen, so I can make dinner and do dishes while he is outside playing! You can't really see our patio, but it's there (full of empty boxes waiting to be broken down and recycled). If you look at the neighbor's patio, you can see the storage "shed". It is only half that size though, because our water heater (which we don't share with anyone!) is on one half of it. It is the perfect size for some boxes and my huge jogging stroller though.

We live in a town home style apartment on campus. It is really nice to only have neighbors to the side instead of above or below us. There is a lot of storage space (I really like the under stairs closet, and the outside "shed").

We really like it here. It is kind of exciting to be on our own little adventure by ourselves. I've never really been anywhere other than Idaho and Utah (with a few short vacations here and there), so it is neat to experience different dynamics.

Our First Earthquake!

2011-09-15T21:15:00.000-06:00

Last night we woke up to a little bit of shaking, and we have officially survived our first earthquake. We looked it up in the morning:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsus/Quakes/ci11006789.php

It was really small and did no damage at all, so it was kind of fun. It lasted about 4 seconds by my sleepy estimate.

And I've been thinking about things I like and dislike about living in Irvine so far. Here's my list; Erin might have a few others, but I'll let her write them down.

Things I like about Irvine

BRAND-SPANKING NEW CARPET! They replaced it the day we drove down here, and it smells so fresh and clean. Our apartment overall is very nice and we're happy with it. Pictures to come soon.
Driving in Irvine and Newport is way better than driving in Provo/Orem. The roads in Irvine are almost empty all the time, and people don't honk as much. Some of the freeways are kind of intimidating and we've gotten lost at least once, but the traffic was not as scary as I expected.
Our neighbors are really nice and neighborly. It's really easy to meet people and everyone is very friendly. We got invited to dinner three times in the first two days we were here.
There are a lot of kids where we live, so Calvin has lots of friends to play with. In Orem we had a hard time getting him to play outside ("It's too sunny out"), but here, he begs to go out with his friends all day.
The weather is perfect. The high today is 72, and the low is 60. Yeah baby.
We live closer to a temple here than we did in Orem.
We also live closer to a beach than we did in Orem. We went yesterday and it was awesome.
The plant and animal life here is unlike anything I've seen before. I don't recognize most of the trees and plants, so there's always something new and interesting to see no matter where we go. We have truffula trees near our apartment, just like in The Lorax.
It's easier to run at sea level than at 4,500 feet.

Things I dislike about Irvine

Food is expensive- $11 for 4 chicken breasts, potatoes actually cost something here, milk is almost $4/gallon, and the list goes on and on for this category
The door handles in our apartment are the kind that you grab and pull down instead of turn, and now Calvin won't nap or go to bed because he can open the door. He is back in his crib tonight.

In other news, Erin isn't sick anymore! She is celebrating these first few days of the sick-free part of the pregnancy by baking. A lot. I fully endorse it. When I find the camera cable, I will add some pictures.

Calvin's new found entertainment and some complaints

2011-07-19T13:09:00.004-06:00

Calvin has been coming up with ways to play with himself. I have been so sick with this pregnancy that we have only left the house maybe 10 times since the beginning of June. He likes to empty his toy boxes and then throw them on his head while running around saying "box monster! ooo ga booga booga booga..." He also likes to sit in them, count to three and then fall backwards. He likes to stack them and then kick them down. He's taken up falling off of the couch headfirst. He started by putting his head on the ground and then falling, then he just started to fall off headfirst, and now he puts his head on the couch and then falls (which looks like he is going to break his neck). He does sommersaults and calls them donkey flips. It's been quite entertaining. Here are a few videos of Calvin playing.

On another note, I have been feeling a lot better the last 3 days! I still feel really gross, but I don't stare at the clock all day waiting for Brian to come home and give me relief! I tried to keep exercising even while I was sick, but every time ended up in disaster. I would have the shakes for the next few hours, and my nausea would kick into high gear until bedtime. I was sad to give it up for a while, but Yesterday I was able to get out for a nice hike in the morning, and today I went on a good brisk uphill walk with the stroller without it ruining the rest of my day. Now that I just wrote that, I'll probably get super sick again, but it's been nice so far the last few days.

My stomach is starting to get bigger (mostly from just gaining weight), but I am starting to show as well. Because of that, I can no longer sleep comfortably on my stomach. I HATE sleeping on my sides! But on the up note, I get to hear the heartbeat tomorrow, which is always exciting for me.

Re-Designing

2011-05-08T23:00:00.003-06:00

My blog is un organized and boring, so for the next little while, I'll be fixing that (by the next little while I mean probably never, but I'll try). Don't be surprised if you click on my links and there is nothing there, I'm playing around with it...

2011-04-16T16:39:00.001-06:00

I came across this article while reading the LDS church news yesterday. I thought it was an interesting article and I wanted to share it.

Nothing but blue skies and sunshine!

2011-04-13T15:53:00.005-06:00

This is where Brian and I will be living for the next five years starting in August. If you ever come to southern California, don't forget to visit us!

Calvin's Bed: Day 2

2011-04-13T14:52:00.003-06:00

I went in to see if he fell asleep on the floor, couch or his bed and I found him like this with his knees barely hanging onto the mattress.

Calvin's new found freedom

2011-04-12T13:58:00.003-06:00

We decided to transition Calvin to a bed this morning. I put him down for a nap at 12:15 (It is now 2:00). He loves not being stuck in his crib and has been awake the whole time. I decided that I would just let him do his own thing, sleep or not, but that he would have to stay in the room for the full 2 1/2 hours that he normally naps. He is so funny today! I have been listening to him talk to his stuffed animals for the last 2 hours. He has knocked on his door about 6 times asking to get out. Each time I go in, he opens the door and says (with a gigantic smile on his face) "hieee mamma!" I proceed to say "time for sleeping Calvin, lets get in your bed." As I lay him down, he grins and says "bye mommy, sleeping". Now when I walk in he says "hieee mamma!" and then I say time to sleep and he runs to his bed, climbs in, and makes the funniest face ever. The -I am going to pretend like I will stay in my crib, and you have no idea that I am just playing- face. This is so much fun. He cried the first time I made him get back in, but now it is just super fun to be alone with his animals in his room. I am sure night time won't be as fun because I will be trying to sleep, but that is ok. It will be nice when he can just play in his room for a while in the morning while I get a few more zzzzz's.

A kind gesture...

2011-04-05T21:18:00.005-06:00

During Calvin's nap today, I decided to go outside and work on the yard. When I was pulling weeds, an 11-year-old girl came up to me and said, "Are you gardening?" me: "yes, do you like to garden?" Her: "Oh, can I please help?". I was so excited by her gesture to help because just 10 minutes before I was hoping I would get a youth calling because I miss activity days. It was really fun to have an awkward pre-teen to hang out with for an hour. She talked like a machine, and told me some funny things that happen at home and that her mom would be so embarrassed if she knew. We talked about flowers, and our favorite fruits and vegetables for a while. I told her that I love bright red flowers. When I went inside to change Calvin's diaper, she told me she needed to run home to check on something really fast. I was surprised when she came back because she had gone home to cut some flowers out of her mom's flower bed (a bright red flower). The cutest part was that she tied the flowers together with a pony tail holder (the kind with weird marble things attached to them).
I am writing about this because it was an answer to my prayer today. I am having a hard time adjusting because there aren't many people in my situation that have time to go to the park with their kids, or go on a walk, etc., and Brian takes the car to Provo every day, so I can't just go to Provo whenever I am feeling like I need a friend. I am just grateful that Heavenly Father sent somebody to say hello, even if it was a little girl. She was so sweet, and kind. I am reminded of the talk given in General Conference about the power of children.

Below are pictures of my flowers from Katie.

Back to my thinking about a calling. We just got our new callings, and I am super excited because I got just what I was hoping for... A youth calling! :)

School Spirit

2011-03-21T08:19:00.000-06:00

I've been wanting to teach Calvin to say "BYU", so I tried again this morning. I was exercising in a BYU t-shirt and he seemed interested in the letters, so I took a break to teach him BYU. He knows all the letters but hasn't ever put them together in the right order. Sometimes he just says "B." I showed him each letter and said, "B, Y, U." Calvin looked at me for a second and then pointed at each letter as he said "U, Y, B."

Almost had it that time.

We've moved

2011-03-17T14:09:00.002-06:00

A few weeks ago, Brian and I moved to Orem to save about $300 on rent per month. We really like it here, but I miss my friends. It is interesting that you don't quite realize how good (or how many) friends you have until you don't see them all of the time. The ward that we live in consists of that whole group of people you miss in Provo because of the high volume of students there. Most of the members are middle aged, some are old and there are about 3 or 4 families that are our age. That is quite different from our ward in Provo. I miss going to the park and running into friends. I went the other day and made a friend, but she is the only person (other than pre-teens) that I've seen at our park, and I only saw her one time. It is kind of lonely, but I'm sure things will pick up when it gets warm right? Hopefully. There isn't much within walking distance from our house here and Brian has the car most days, so I am going to have to figure something out. When I find that box that has our camera cord in it (can't find it anywhere), I will post some good pictures.

A carnivorous imagination

2011-02-22T20:33:00.003-07:00

We went to Panda Express tonight for dinner (first time for all 3 of us). Standing in line, we showed Calvin the pictures of the pandas on the wall, eating bamboo. During dinner he got really distracted and pointed at the pictures.

On the way home he sat in the back saying "Panda. EAT! Um, um, um, um (chomping sounds)." It was so cute. I love when he makes up his own sentences.

He does this with his stuffed animals too - he puts one on top of the other and shakes it around and yells, "EAT, um, um, um." His tiger always eats his pig, and his dog ate a picture of Jesus at church this week.

Rarrrrr

2011-02-18T21:19:00.000-07:00

Does anybody want to help me figure out how to make one of these hats?

Switching

2011-02-09T14:02:00.002-07:00

Brian got an acceptance letter from UC Irvine today. This whole time I haven't thought much about where we will end up in August, and Brian has been nervous about hearing back from schools. Now that we have heard back from a school, we've switched. I am now the one who is impatient and Brian is feeling peace of mind. Funny how that works huh?

Date from home

2011-02-06T18:39:00.002-07:00

We go to the marriage and family Sunday school class in our ward. Our teacher is so cool. Sister Myrick does midweek activities, and a few weeks ago she did one for the ladies. We just talked about different ways to create a romantic evening on a budget. I was so excited about this that I did it the very next day.

It was pretty simple, but fun. I used a sheet for a table cloth since we don't have one, scrap book paper for the placemat, I borrowed dishes from friends to make it a little more different and elegant than our everyday dishes. It was a lot of fun. I dropped Calvin off at my friend's house (thanks Rachel!). This was really fun. Way cheaper than going to a crowded, hot and overpriced fancy restaurant, and MUCH quieter.

Here is a picture.

Staying up way too late...

2011-02-05T21:01:00.003-07:00

I really enjoy my sleep. That was the hardest adjustment I had to make after Calvin joined us. I had NO idea what it meant to be sleep deprived until I was up at night every 2 to 3 hours for months! Brian and I usually go to bed between 9 and 10 and wake up between 6 and 7. I love that feeling when I wake up to Calvin growling at his stuffed animals and being excited to wake up and play with him because I feel well rested. It is a rare thing for me to choose to go to bed late and sacrifice my precious sleep, but I just can't help it lately! I got a sewing machine for Christmas and I have been trying to teach myself how to sew. The only problem is that I have to wait until Calvin goes to bed.

I have been working on a few random projects and I want to share them with you. The first thing I did was sew a bag. We have been trying to teach the activity day girls how to sew a bag. The only problem is that I have only sewn straight lines on quilts with my mom there to re-thread the machine, replace broken needles, telling me what to do, etc. Task one: Learn how to sew a bag.

My friend Sam showed me how to do it on a Saturday afternoon, and then I ventured home that evening wanting to practice before that Wednesday (activity days). I quickly printed off a coupon for JoAnn's and bought fabric. It was agonizing having to wait until Monday to actually start it! During Calvin's nap and after he went to bed, I started the bag. The bag that took Sam 15 minutes to sew, took me a good 2 to 3 hours! I think it turned out pretty well for a person who does not even know how to sew on a curved line. Here it is!

My second project was bean bags for Calvin. I wanted to start another sewing project, but I didn't want to buy anymore fabric, so I used the scraps that I had from the purses. I know, Calvin has blue and pink flowery bean bags, but it is all that I had. :D At least most of them are blue right? These were a hit for most of the toddlers at stake aerobics the other day. They were all sitting with in a few feet of me just playing with them.

My current project is much more time consuming and HARD! We have been using cloth diapers here and there for the past few months, and they have been saving us a lot of money. Surprisingly, they aren't much different than disposables, and the only difference is that you have to dump the waste into the toilet and launder them. After realizing that I could save tons of money by making my own, I decided to take on that project. I made my first one yesterday and today. After about 8 hours of cutting and sewing and being paranoid, I have completed my first one! I thought that black thread would look awesome on bright orange fabric, but that is only true if you can sew straight lines! I promise, my mom taught me how to sew straight lines, I just can't seem to remember how! So here is a picture, just ignore my terrible seams.

And of course I can't blog without adding a picture of Calvin...

Cabbage

2011-02-04T22:18:00.002-07:00

I really like cabbage! I remember growing up, my mom made a cabbage salad that everybody liked a lot. I don't remember ever eating cabbage before my mom made this salad, but the word cabbage made me want to hurl. I don't know why, I just didn't want to try it. I don't think she knows this, but up until today, I have never tried her cabbage salad! Lately, I have been putting cabbage in just about everything that I make. I love it in soup and I like it in my rice dishes. I think that it is about time to ask her for the recipe. Mom, I promise that next time you make that cabbage salad, I will eat it, and probably enjoy it...

Harris Family Update

2011-01-24T12:05:00.008-07:00

I think it is time for an update on how things are going in the Harris home. We are moving to Orem in one month to save money on rent. We found a sweet deal that will save us about $300 a month and we couldn't pass it up. In August, we will pack up and move once more to one of the following places. LA area, North Carolina or New Jersey.
Brian finished applying to PhD programs, and we'll hopefully find out in February or March where we are going. He started school again at the beginning of the month and has been working hard on his thesis. With all of his free time (now that I am done with school), Brian likes to read books for fun, and is thinking about joining the BYU bowling league or playing more racquetball.

I am enjoying being full time mom. My days consist of waking up early to finish up the last half of my independent study class, exercising, playing with Calvin, and whatever else I feel like doing. I got a sewing machine for Christmas and am teaching myself how to sew. So far all I have done is make a bag just big enough to carry a wallet and the few toddler essentials. Like Brian, I have been enjoying a few books myself.

Calvin's days consist of eating and playing and laughing. As you can see in this picture, he laughs so hard that he turns red and cannot breathe.

He absolutely loves going to the library. There are tons of giant stuffed animals on the bookshelves, lots of space to run around, and his favorite part is the statue of a boy reading. We take numerous long walks outside, and he will crunch snow under his feet for hours if I would let him.

His best friends are his stuffed animals. Today, he was so kind, he let the pig and tiger ride on the vacuum.

Only in Provo...

2011-01-21T21:28:00.002-07:00

Playtime

2011-01-14T14:41:00.000-07:00

A proud owner of...

2011-01-12T15:47:00.002-07:00

THIS!

Family Search

2010-12-06T09:37:00.003-07:00

Family search is so cool! I found this cool website yesterday in the family history class. pilot.familysearch.org. This is a searchable site with information from death records, marriage records, census records, and all kinds of other documents that are very helpful for family history research. You can even see a scanned image of many of the documents so you can see the information for yourself. We found some names to add to my family line that we didn't have any record of previously, and it was way fun!

Calvin learned a new funny word

2010-12-02T20:32:00.003-07:00

Wishlist item

2010-12-02T15:17:00.000-07:00

Ok, so Erin was looking for Christmas presents on my Amazon account, and told me not to get on for a while. But I just found this book that I want, and I don't want to forget about it. So now you get to read the first 40 pages if you want to, because I'm uploading a sample. Enjoy.

Lost my wallet! :(

2010-12-01T10:57:00.004-07:00

Monday night I lost my wallet. The last place I saw it was on the desk by the computer. I had just used my credit card online to order some test scores for my PhD applications, and then I went to pick Erin up from class. When we got home I couldn't find my wallet anywhere.

I checked the car a couple of times, and we turned the living room upside down looking for it. It wasn't in any of the places it should have been. Then this morning (it sounds cheesy I know) we said a prayer, and five minutes later we found it at the bottom of the garbage bag that Erin had already taken outside but hadn't put in the big dumpster yet (which is good because it's been emptied since Monday). It had settled to the very bottom of the bag and it was so gross. It was covered in pork and cabbage from the egg rolls I made for dinner on Monday, and I might have to get a new wallet because I'm not sure it will clean up very well. I guess that's what we get for praising Calvin when he throws garbage away, but it was also an opportunity to see that prayers really work and that my losing my wallet matters to God, who helped us find it. We might have to get a smaller garbage to keep under the sink though, I'd prefer not to need any more miracles for a while!

Fall 2010

2010-11-24T19:38:00.007-07:00

As stated a few posts back, fall is my favorite time of the year, and fall 2010 is no exception. Calvin has grown up so much in the last 3 months and he talks so much I can hardly believe it. In an effort to prepare for Christmas this year, Brian and I have been doing family history work, attending the temple more frequently, and teaching Calvin about Jesus and the temple. He now says "pemple" and "sheesus". The cutest thing is that when asked what Jesus says, he responds "I uuuh oooh" for I love you. I finished my internship 2 weeks ago. That was a great experience and I learned so much. I have developed skills that will help me throughout my life in many different situations. I am much better at communicating with people, teaching, and public speaking. School has been great and relatively un-stressful. Brian has been busy working on his paper and thesis as well as applying to PhD schools. We're applying to 3 schools in the LA area, one in Texas, North Carolina and New Jersey. We should find out where he gets accepted sometime in February. Here are some pictures of fall 2010. Sorry about the sideways pictures, I don't feel like rotating them right now.

The videos below are of Calvin "helping" with the chores and he is so proud of himself.

baby slings

2010-11-24T15:41:00.002-07:00

Right now, Sevenslings.com is offering free slings. You have to pay shipping but if you enter the Promo Code: THANKSGIVING, the cost of the sling is subtracted from your total. I just wanted to share this in case any of you were interested. Here is the information ;

www.sevenslings.com

The code is "Thanksgiving".

Go to www.sevenslings.com , click on “Shop Now” and select the correct size sling or gift set you would like (be sure to visit the sizing page for instructions on how to select the right size carrier for you). Once you have selected the sling or gift set you would like - enter the promo code Thanksgiving into the promo code box and click “Apply Code”. This will bring your total from $39.00 to $0 for one of the carriers or from $44.00 to only $5 for a 3-piece gift set - all you are required to pay is the shipping fees.

This promotion code is valid once per transaction. You can use it more than once –you just have to open a new window to do so.

Did you borrow?

2010-11-22T19:16:00.001-07:00

Hello readers! I have a list where I write down who has borrowed what, but I forgot to write down who borrowed our game "Quiddler" Did any of you happen to borrow our game? It is my favorite new game...

On the verge of addiction...

2010-11-15T09:54:00.002-07:00

Brian a I have been going to the family history class in our ward for about a month now, and I am on the verge of being addicted to doing family history. In an effort to focus more on the savior and our purpose in life, I decided to work on family history work before church on Sundays. Yesterday right before church I found a TON of names and was almost disappointed that I had to get ready for church. I found 14 male names and 12 female names in less than 2 hours and I couldn't wait to get going again. After dinner I started up again and I just couldn't stop. Brian had to tell me on google chat that I can't do family history right now and we can do it for family night tonight. Ha ha ha. So since he said I had to wait to do it, I guess I'll blog about it and avoid doing my homework. :)

Halloween

2010-11-01T20:27:00.003-06:00

Snickers anyone? Brian was a King size, I was normal, and calvin was a bite size. I had to clarify because you can't see the details of the costume in this picture.

Calvin's birthday (way late)

2010-10-25T13:02:00.000-06:00

This post was started over the summer but we kept forgetting to finish it. So here it is.

The first picture is Calvin asleep sitting up in his crib (of course with his pig).

The second picture is Calvin eating spaghetti. It's a little blurry because we took the picture with our phone. He usually doesn't get messy, he's a really clean kid usually.

The third picture is Calvin's birthday cake and cupcakes. That was a lot of fun to build together. We still have lots of yellow coconut in the pantry.
This is Calvin eating his pig cupcake on his birthday. Really, can you think of a more appropriate cupcake for Calvin? He didn't really seem too interested, he sort of picked at it for a few minutes and ate it really slowly and carefully.

Hope you enjoyed these old, old pictures.

100th post and Calvin again

2010-10-25T11:19:00.000-06:00

It took 3 years but we put 100 things on the blog. Woot!

I've been blowing my nose a lot the last couple of days, and this morning Calvin did something really funny. He saw my roll of toilet paper on the desk, but couldn't reach it. He asked for it (he says "toilet paper" now, btw) and tore off a square of toilet paper. He then stuffed it up my nose and blew in my face. I think he's got the right idea.

Calvin's Latest and Greatest

2010-10-12T09:47:00.000-06:00

1. Calvin stacked 8 blocks today. His previous record was set yesterday at 5.

2. Calvin ate a whole box of strawberries (except for the two that Erin and I ate).

3. Calvin likes to kiss with his mouth open. And full. Yuck! Cheese kisses are the worst.

4. Calvin thinks that slides are for running down. I've caught him mid-air a couple of times going over the side headfirst.

5. Sometimes when Erin is in class or at work, I give Calvin a picture of her. He likes to kiss her picture when he misses her. And Erin likes it when she comes home and sees the video.

6. Calvin loves our flashing red and yellow bike tail light. Sometimes we turn off the lights when we give it to him and turn on our 80's tunes and we have a little dance party.

7. This is Calvin swinging like a big boy. He hasn't quite figured out pumping but he does kick his legs when I tell him to. He also likes it when we stand in front of him so he can kick us. He giggles until he can't breathe. We only play that game in the baby swings though because I'm sure he wouldn't hold on laughing so hard.

8. Calvin likes to take care of his stuffed animals. When he's finished with his bottle, sometimes he takes it and feeds the rest to tiger or piggy.

The role of a mother

2010-10-06T06:05:00.000-06:00

Last spring, when I was in the young women's presidency (a youth group in the Mormon church designed to foster faith in Jesus Christ and to help the youth learn good decision making skills, among other things) I decided to work on personal progress with the girls. While working on "Faith" I did some reading in the Book of Mormon about some mothers who instilled a deep amount of faith in their sons, and "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" and a talk entitled "Mother Told Me" by Elder Bradley D. Foster (a leader in the mormon church). His talk was very inspiring. He spoke of how his father died when his mother had four young children, and that even though she felt alone, and I am sure was scared and discouraged, she faced her adversity with faith and courage. She promised her children that if they stayed on the road of truth, the end would be better than the beginning. He also related a story of a friend who read a book to his son that had no words, only pictures. The dad would make up the story as he went, and the son kept stopping him and saying things like "dad, it isn't a coat, it is a jacket". The dad was perplexed and said, "Eric, there are no words in this book, just pictures. Why do you insist that it's a jacket?" Eric answered, "because mother told me". From reading these two things from the talk, a question came to mind. "What qualities do women (young and old, married or not married, mothers or those who are not mothers) need to teach children to have faith and to base their decisions on gospel truths?" I decided that a mother needs learn about the Savior and develop faith in her own life. Why? Because her role is to teach her child by both word and deed. I have watched so many women teach children about the savior by telling them about Him, and by loving like he loves. I am grateful for their example. I have also seen women who do not have children of their own love other children with the love of Jesus and those children (my best friend from home for example) will be grateful their whole lives I am sure.

*** What do you think are essential qualities a woman should develop so that she can teach her children to make good decisions in life by developing faith in Jesus Christ and His message? ***

Brian is a geek

2010-10-04T17:20:00.000-06:00

http://mysite.science.uottawa.ca/rsmith43/Zombies.pdf

Calvin and I listen to NPR's "Science Friday" podcasts almost every afternoon. Today I found out that there is an article that mathematically models a zombie apocalypse. Enjoy.

Hey!

2010-09-16T08:37:00.001-06:00

We got Calvin a little Shrek toy last week that says "Hey!" every time you move it or touch it. Really annoying, but Calvin loves it. Calvin picked up the word "Hey!" and now walks around with Shrek saying "Hey!" back and forth. So cute.

Reflections

2010-09-14T21:32:00.000-06:00

Provo has a distinct and pleasant smell that accompanies the arrival of autumn, and the smell brings many memories. Here are a few things I am reminded of when I "smell fall in Provo."
Year 1: If I am driving on University Avenue, I am reminded of my bike and car rides to my very first job. I think about how awesome it was to get paid to create masterpieces on paint, watch movies, study for tests, and best of all, to take naps because nobody ever called our company. I think about my first semester in Cox apartments with my super fun roommates. I had this one roommate that would get mad if she woke up and our roommate was showering when she needed to use the bathroom. I think about this every fall because it was one of the funniest things that ever happened in that apartment. I think about always knocking on my neighbors door asking if I could use their bathroom because ours was always full. I also remember walking past (is it passed or past?) my brother's truck on the way to class and writing him little notes just to say hello.
Year 2: I think about the first few months of being married to Brian. We used to stay up until midnight studying in the library because we had completely different schedules and we didn't have internet at home. Sometimes I wish we could go up to the library late at night together. I also think about our first trip up the canyon to see the beautiful fall colors and we ended up just 2 yards away from a giant moose (so scary). Of course I think about our gross ear wax candle home evening.

Year 3: I think about when we lived in that tiny house on 3rd north and seventh east. This was a great end to our first summer with a garden. We made so much spaghetti that fall with our tomatoes. I think about when we carved pumpkins for the first time together in that tiny house. I also think of my attempts to use real leaves, etc to decorate the house for fall and dressing up as grapes for Halloween. I always think about my stress management class that I took fall '09 because I loved to sit in the sun shining through our kitchen window, with the cool fall breeze blowing on my face and the smell of baking cookies while I read my stress management book.

Year 4: I think about taking short walks with a sleeping ball of a baby in the moby wrap, Brian starting his first semester of grad school, me starting what I thought would be my last fall semester of school, speed walking to class with a stroller and thinking "how will I ever get through 9 more months of school?!"

Year 5: This is my fifth and last fall I will be spending in Provo. I have really come to love this place. I love the sweet memories that hopefully I will always remember with the arrival of fall. I have enjoyed my education here, and although I thought I would never say this, I am REALLY going to miss being a student. I have enjoyed just about every detail of my life here. I have learned and grown so much as an individual, wife and mother and I am excited to see what is in store this next chapter of our lives. I hope that next fall I will remember this as the most rewarding and enlightening fall I've had in Provo. I hope I will have sweet memories of walking up and down the sidewalk with my sweet son Calvin, while holding hands with Brian (since we do this almost every day). Oh, and we can't forget chili, cornbread, pie, squash and apple cider. :D

I feel so blessed to have a simple reminder (the smell and scenery of fall) of the sweet and simple things in life.

When the bough breaks...

2010-09-08T16:00:00.000-06:00

Calvin enjoys rocking. When he was really little he liked it when we put him on the rocking chair and he would rock and laugh and rock and laugh. That was a lot of fun.

He also has a blue rocking toy that we got him for his birthday. He enjoys playing on that too, and it's also a lot of fun.

What's not fun, however, is when Calvin decides he's old enough to climb onto regular chairs and use them to rock. Do regular chairs rock? They're not supposed to. Calvin learned that today.

Ok. So he had a good time. I shouldn't say that it wasn't fun.

I recognized the danger and pulled him off of the chair. Not one minute later (after I turned my back) he was back on the chair again. Not two seconds later, he was off the chair, flat on his back. He fell off the chair twice today. I'm not sure what to do to keep him from climbing on it again.

And this is Calvin after he fell the first time. He sure was sad.

beans, laughing and swimming

2010-08-30T20:36:00.000-06:00

Calvin at dinnertime...

Calvin and Everest

2010-08-30T20:26:00.000-06:00

Within 6 months, there were at least 6 boys born in our ward last summer. Everest is just a week and a half younger than Calvin. Today, Erin was babysitting and she got some good videos of the boys playing together. The first one is of the boys playing peek-a-boo with each other, and the second is of them dancing together. She got the dancing one at the tail end so they were a bit distracted in the video.

Question

2010-08-26T16:46:00.001-06:00

The question I have been asking myself for the past few months is...
"What will Calvin do first? Cut a tooth, walk, or wean?"

Answer: All three at once

Bakers man...

2010-08-05T21:08:00.001-06:00

Calvin likes to be involved in the cooking process. Today while making bread, I got the flour out to put some from the big bucket into a little bucket. This was the result...

He had been doing this for 20 min. at this point and continued for another 10. What a cutie. Calvin has been doing so many new things lately that make us laugh. He barks every time he sees a dog or is asked what a dog says. When he masters a new skill such as stacking blocks, he gets a shining face full of glee and then squeals with delight. Calvin learned how to tickle me the other day. He can't quite figure out the finger movement of tickling, so it is mostly him scratch/hitting me. Every time he tickles me I laugh. While I was cleaning the kitchen, I heard a joyful squeal and wondering what it was, I walked into the living room to discover Calvin tickling himself and laughing. Ha ha ha! I thought "Is Calvin tickling himself or just being weird", so I proceeded to ask him if he was tickling himself. As soon as I said tickle, he started doing it again and again for 30 min.

Calvin's birthday is on Saturday. He still doesn't have any teeth although I can see 5 of them through the gums. He's been enjoying reading and taking items out of one bucket or basket and putting them into another. This will keep him entertained for a very long time. He started standing up by himself, but no walking yet. Not that I mind, he is perfectly content with life as it is.
I LOVE CALVIN!

Being wise stewards...

2010-08-03T11:36:00.001-06:00

Brian and I have been working really hard this past little while on creating and actually implementing a realistic budget in our home. It has been very fun and rewarding trying to be wise stewards over what Heavenly Father has blessed us with. We've been trying to figure out what kinds of things we can do to save a dollar here and there. Some of the things we've thought of are; turning off the lights each time we leave a room and only using them if we need to, walking more often, not using hot water as much as possible, purchasing used clothing, and donating plasma (a great second income if you ask me). We've felt a great urge to get our house in order and it has been a lot of fun. What kinds of things do you do to save money? We are very interested to see what others do and to get some ideas.

I was thinking of making my own cleaners, have any of you done this before, and have you found that it saves money or just makes more work for no return?

I'm proud of my wife

2010-07-22T20:22:00.000-06:00

Erin doesn't know I'm writing this, but I just wanted to say that I love her and I am proud of her for working so hard and accomplishing so much. She is a wonderful mother to Calvin and I feel like she always pulls more than her fair share of the weight at home. She really is incredible. It's been really hard to manage a baby and full-time school, but she just keeps working and doing her best and is now very close to the end. I don't know how she does it, but she even takes time to watch Calvin so that I can work too. She somehow scrapes together enough spare time to read about parenting and budgeting, and then finds time to implement some of the things she's learning. She really is superhuman.

She is just one class and an internship shy of graduation, and we were both very excited to find out today that she was accepted to do an internship with the Utah County Health Department in tobacco prevention and control. It was a little stressful writing letters and resumes and interviewing, but she did it! I'm so proud of her! She's as smart and talented as anyone I know, and I'm sure she'll do a great job. Congratulations, Erin!

Erin's birthday is this weekend too, so I suppose there's no better time to say...

She's the BEST!

Utah State Hospital 8 am alarm

2010-07-07T11:39:00.000-06:00

So every morning at 8 am an alarm goes off at the state hospital. Ever since I moved to this part of Provo (about 3 years ago), I've wondered what it was. A few months ago, I was running up by the hospital and one of the buildings started steaming. Proceeding the steam, an alarm went off. An aside: I didn't realize it was 8 am, and not expecting it to go off I jumped and almost wet my pants. My suspicion was correct. There was in fact a steam alarm going off at 8 am at the state hospital. Brian and I got online to find out why it went off but we couldn't find an answer. To put our curiosity to a rest, we emailed the superintendent to ask him about it. I am sure he has PLENTY of real work to do, but I just couldn't stand to hear the alarm another morning not knowing why it was going off. This was his reply.

"The steam is from our boiler plant. Years ago, the "horn" or whistle was sounded whenever a patient went AWOL from the hospital. In the early 1900's, it was used to alert the community. Due to the old system, it had to be sounded each day to keep the steam pipe working. It was tested each morning at 8 am. Later, when the system was upgraded, we stopped doing it. We had many complaints from the community because they liked the whistle to tell them it was 8 am. So, we decided to keep testing it. The last few years we have used it also as part of our emergency management system to alert staff of emergency (disasters). Though we have never had to actually use it we sound the whistle each day to make sure that it works.

So....to make a long story longer...we keep sounding the whistle for many purposes."

*** Just in case you were also wondering what the alarm was for, you now have an answer all because Brian and I are dorks and bothered the superintendent of Utah State Hospital with our annoying question. ***

2010-06-11T08:33:00.000-06:00

So, Erin made muffins this morning and thought it would be fun to let Calvin play in the flour bucket while she baked. These are the results.

We had fun, and it was really easy to clean up. Looks like Calvin has a new toy!

Family Update and Calvin

2010-06-07T16:39:00.000-06:00

I mean to blog regularly... Really I do! A lot has happened since the last update.

We finished the craziest part of school (hopefully). I didn't get any of the internships I applied for, so I've been enjoying a TON of time at home with Calvin and Brian. Our schedules are wide open for the most part, and we've been able to travel a little bit. We went to American Falls for Mother's Day and to Boise for Memorial Day (and Michael's graduation).

Calvin wants nothing but to be outside. For example, yesterday I took him for a walk at 8:30 am. He fell asleep on the walk and as soon as he woke up at 10:30 we were back outside until 12:00. We had church from 1 to 4, and he spent another hour and a half outside before bed. He also likes playing in the bath and going swimming. He likes to splash and watch for our reactions. So cute! We just bought our season passes to 7 peaks water park. Hopefully I remember to take my camera with.

Brian is almost done with his class. He teaches one more time, then all that's left is grading the last of the homework and the final exam. He had a good time teaching and feels like it was a successful term overall. We're not sure yet what his schedule will be like during summer term, but he's trying to get hired on again as a research assistant.

Brian's paper on marathon runners finally got accepted for publication. It will be showing up in Journal of Leisure Research in the first issue of 2011. It's been over two whole years since he started developing interview questions and finding people to talk to, but it's finally finished!

Calvin knows three words now. He started saying "mama" and "dada" the week before Mother's Day, and while we were in Boise he learned the word "up". Now he crawls up our legs and says "up" (sounds more like "uuuuuu... bph") several times a day. He's so deliberate and careful. Sometimes when he's feeling a little more timid it comes out as a whispered "uh puh puh".

Calvin Eating Spaghetti

Calvin and Family Pictures!

2010-05-20T20:38:00.001-06:00

We had some pictures of Calvin and some family pictures taken last week. Our friend Laura Morris took these pictures for us as a baby gift. She is so kind! Thanks Laura. :D Here is a link for you to see more if you would like to. http://laurasphotographyblog.blogspot.com

Beef-Eye

2010-05-01T17:15:00.000-06:00

So... we're trying to sell our housing contract, and we have been cleaning a lot lately. We have been staying on top of the dishes really well in case anyone comes by to look at the apartment, and it looked really good all day today.

Calvin has been grumpy, and we have had a hard time figuring out if he's hungry, tired, or both. He missed his naps today and he's been a real handful.

I decided to try to feed Calvin this afternoon, and I grabbed a jar of baby food pureed beef out of the pantry and stuck in the microwave for about 20 seconds. When I pulled it out the jar felt really warm, and I thought I'd stir it so that Calvin didn't burn himself.

Instead, as soon as the spoon hit the surface of the pureed beef, the whole thing exploded in my face. The beef cooked onto my right eyeball, and my face, and my hair, and the table, and the walls, and the refrigerator, and the pantry, and the floor, and the ceiling...

So we cleaned again.

Last leg!

2010-04-19T16:27:00.000-06:00

So I finished my last final for Winter 2010 semester this afternoon! I am so happy to have just a small break before I start again. I have 2 classes: Writing in the Social Sciences and Consumer Health). I need to do a 300-hour internship before I can graduate as well. Pray for me because I have my interview for the internship tomorrow afternoon and if I get it I can graduate in August! I am super excited for it. The activities I get to work on (IF I get the internship) are: promotion of women’s cancer screening, community survey and assessment of barriers to physical activity and nutrition, tobacco prevention curriculum update, as well as other health promotion assignments. It will be in Heber which is going to be a better drive than if I were to go to Salt Lake.
Calvin is so much fun lately! He learned how to crawl 2 weeks ago and it is so much fun to watch him crawl around. He gets so mad when he gets stuck in weird positions in the corner or between two pieces of furniture. He cracks me up.
Brian is really excited because he gets to teach one of the sociology classes at BYU spring term. It is Data Analysis and Presentation. It looks like we'll be busy for the next few months and then a break... wait, I'm pretty sure life is always going to be busy. Wishful thinking huh?

Down Time

2010-03-26T14:02:00.000-06:00

Brian and I have been so busy with family, school and work lately. Yesterday, we couldn't handle it anymore, so we decided to ignore all of our responsibilities (except for Calvin) for a night. We made homemade pizza and watched a movie. It was so much fun! I went to the store to buy some ingredients for the pizza and I saw the flowers. I've been wanting to make an arrangement for the house for a few weeks now. I decided to buy some flowers and make a cube design. These sell for $20 to $30 at the stores, but I just bought some flowers for $9 and made my own. This dropped my stress level significantly. It made me think of President Uchtdorf's talk create. If it's been a while since you read it, this is a good recap of his talk... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhLlnq5yY7k
I am so glad we had this little time to enjoy our life. I highly suggest not letting things get in the way of quality family time!

Great recipe!

2010-03-07T12:03:00.000-07:00

If any of you are Cafe Rio or Bajio fans, this recipe is very similar to that and it is GREAT! My friend Rebecca made a cookbook for her sister-in-law and used my computer to email it to somebody and saved it to my desktop. I am so glad she did this because I'm always looking for more fast recipes and it is full of them. I made this for Brian last weekend, and today. Pork is his favorite food, and the way to his heart is definitely through his stomach. I like to make burritos out of this with whole black beans, tomatoes, lettuce, etc.

Sweet Pork
3 lb pork roast(butt or shoulder cut) Brown roast. Make 1st sauce and pour over roast. Leave roast in crock pot for 1 hour on high and then turn to low for 6 more hours. Turn roast halfway. Dump juice and shred pork. Place the shredded pork back in the crock pot. Cover in 2nd sauce and leave in crock pot for 1 hour on low. Good with rice, black beans, lettuce, cheese sour cream.

1st Sauce
1 c Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp salt
1 tsp chili powder
1tsp garlic powder
2T dried onion
2nd sauce
1 c brown sugar
1 c enchilada sauce

Blog may be put off for a while...

2010-03-05T22:08:00.000-07:00

I am taking 2 independent study courses this semester in addition to my on campus classes. Because they are paid for by my pell grant, I have to finish them with a passing grade by the last day of classes this semester instead of taking a whole year. I've been pretty busy and haven't worked on them for 3 weeks and realized tonight that I only have 4 weeks to finish them. Because of this, I probably won't post anything on weight loss (sorry everyone who keep asking about this) and I'll probably only post once a week at the most on normal things. Sorry if you enjoy reading my blog and you get no updates!

Family History

2010-03-03T09:34:00.000-07:00

I got onto the new family search website the other day to familiarize myself with it. I have an uncle Bob who lives in Spanaway, Washington that does a ton of family history work. His wife's name is Patricia. While I was on family search, I noticed Bob Mower edited some information on one of my ancestors. I had been meaning to call him to ask for some family names to do work for, so I just looked at the email address and emailed him. This was his response...
Dear Erin,

I did not know I had a niece. I’m so happy!

I am proud of your efforts to attend the temple regularly. You will be blessed for your efforts and service. My wife (Patty) and I try to attend the temple every week. Since we started this routine, we enjoy blessings beyond my current comprehension. In other words, we both experience new dimensions of spirituality that transcend my ability to express.

Now, the sad news, although we are probably related, I have no idea who you are. Who do you suppose our common ancestor is? I don’t know of any Mower relatives active in the church (other than myself and one of my sisters.)

I am glad and excited to meet you. I would like to send you baptisms and confirmations.

Uncle Bob

When I read this post, I was confused at first, wondering if my uncle forgot about his brother Ron, who has been active since he was a kid. I thought maybe he was getting sick and losing his mind, but it turns out there is another Bob Mower who lives in Washington with a wife named Patty that happens to do a ton of family history work and attends the temple frequently. I thought this was very funny! It wasn't until I remembered what city my Uncle Bob lives in that I realized they weren't the same person.

A great game and deal!

2010-02-23T20:33:00.000-07:00

I bought this game for Brian on Amazon. When we got it a pawn was missing, so I emailed amazon and we got a full refund! I am really excited because pawns are easy to replace with a penny or some other object. Anyone want to come and play? Give us a call! Maybe we can get another new game now?

Stir Crazy!

2010-02-17T13:33:00.000-07:00

Calvin and I go nuts sitting in the house all day so we've been going on a lot of walks. Today we went to the park and I put Calvin in the swing. He loved it! Every time he went down, he giggled. Of course I started to giggle too. I love being a mom! I think it is the best job in the world!
It's nice that he is taking regular long naps now because I don't have to spend his awake time trying to ignore him and do homework.
Calvin has taken up scooting lately. The funny thing is that he can't go forward. He gets so angry when he doesn't get to that thing that he wants. I laugh at him and then he looks at me like I am the biggest jerk in the world. I love him!
On a side note, I ordered a book "The Volumetrics Eating Plan" by Barbara Rolls, Ph.D. It is finally here! The author is a well known researcher of Nutritional Sciences at Penn State. She's served on the advisory council of the National Institutes of Health's National institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. She's published more than 200 academic research articles on nutrition. I am so excited to read this book! It talks about how you can feel full on fewer calories. Not only this, but she includes 125 recipes in it! This is a book that my teacher recommended for us to read. I got it on amazon at a low cost. You can read about the book on http://www.volumetricseatingplan.com

Happy Valentines Day!

2010-02-14T10:09:00.000-07:00

This valentines was fun! I wanted to do something extra special for Brian this year. We played a board game "Pandemic" over the Christmas break, and Brian loved it. Ever since then he's been asking if that could be the next game we purchased. I had it mailed to our friends' house so that he wouldn't see it, but if any of you know me, I cannot keep a secret. I tried really hard for about a week and a half, but just a few days shy of today, I let Brian open it. He got a huge smile on his face, like a little boy opening his Christmas present, and the first thing he said was "when do we get to play?" He is so excited that we get to play tonight. I've been working really hard at not eating a lot of fat and sugar lately, so much to Brian's dismay, I haven't been baking much lately. Since his language of love is goodies, I made him sugar cookies last night.
A few nights ago, Brian said he needed to stay up late to finish some homework, so I went to bed at 9 and he didn't come until midnight(he wasn't doing homework). He also said he needed to make a phone call and needed the car, but I couldn't come with him. I knew something fishy was going on. For valentines, he wrote the story of how we met, put a picture of us on the front, and had a mini book made. It is sweet.
On the last page he wrote... I still smile myself to sleep when I think about how much you love me. Thank you for being my wife and letting me spend the rest of my life with you. It only took you a few days to become my best friend, and no one will ever be able to replace you. I have never loved anyone so much. Looking back, I can start to realize how little I knew about happiness, love and perfection before I met you. Thank you for promising to be with me for all eternity I know we can't understand how long eternity is right now, but just knowing that we will be together through all of it gives me hope and courage. I am so excited to raise our children together, grow old together, and spend the rest of my life with you. I know that we will be happily married even after our lives are over because we were sealed in the temple. Our family is a forever family that no one can take away from us, and that means everything to me. I love you, Erin!

Yours Forever,

Brian

How do I know how many calories I should consume each day?

2010-02-10T13:55:00.000-07:00

This is a long post, but is VERY helpful in deciding how you can lose weight. If you don't care, don't read it. I hope this helps you. It has helped me. In the last 2 weeks, I've lost 10 pounds!

Metabolism is basically the energy used to keep your body's major organs functioning such as the heart, lungs, kidneys, livers, etc. and to keep your body at a normal temperature. It is mostly a function of body size, and despite what people say, the BIGGER your body is, the HIGHER the metabolism you have. It is like gas mileage, it takes more gas to run a large vehicle than a small one.

WHY is this important to know and understand? This is important because many people lose a certain amount of weight and then they experience the plateau effect where they aren't losing anymore. When you reach this point, you need to increase your energy expenditure and decrease the calories you take in.

How do I know how to create an energy deficit?
1. Calculate your 24 hour resting metabolic rate or REE (this is how many calories your body needs to support your body if you were just sitting on a couch for 24 hours doing nothing).
a) WOMEN: 10 x weight (kg) + 6.25 x height (cm) - 5 x age -161
b) MEN: 10 x weight (kg) + 6.25 x height (cm) + 5 x age -161

Example: I am 161 lbs (73.2kg); 5'8" (172.7 cm); age (21 yr)
(10 x 73.2) + (6.25 x 172.7) - (5 x 21) - 161 = 732 + 1079.4 - 105 = 1706.4 or 1706 rounded.
My Resting Energy Expenditure (REE) is 1,076 kcal
1 kg = 2.2 lbs; 1 in = 2.54 cm

So If I sat around for 24 hours, my body would burn 1, 076 calories.

Now you take your REE and multiply it by your physical activity (find that number below)

Physical activity
1.3 very sedentary -- mostly sitting, no exercise
1.5 sedentary -- some activity, but no regular exercise program
1.7 physically active -- active person, little sitting, regular moderate to vigorous exercise
1.9 very active-- extended intense exercise virtually every day (college athlete)

1,076 x 1.7 = 1,829 kcal
This means that because I am physically active, my body burns about 1,829 calories a day.

*** If you breastfeed, your body burns 500 calories just to produce breast milk and if you are pregnant, your body burns an extra 300 calories (you should not try to lose weight when pregnant, but you can use these principles to keep yourself from gaining too much. If you are in the normal BMI range pre-pregnancy you should only gain 25 to 35 lbs). ***

So in my case, I'd add 500 calories to that (1,829 + 500 = 2,329) To lose weight it is wise to cut 500 to 1000 calories per day but *** if you are breastfeeding it is NOT wise to consume under 1,500 calories in a day!!***

IN REVIEW to know how much you should consume each day you need to calculate your resting energy expenditure using the formula above and work in the amount of physical activity you do each day. To lose 1 to 2 pounds a day, you need to cut 500 to 1000 calories a day. Weight loss isn't something you can do just by making small changes, rather it is accomplished by being passionate (not obsessed) about it and by making EXTREME changes. For most adults, the only long-term solution is to consume a low fat, low sweets diet with emphasis on vegetables and fruits, complex carbohydrates, and fiber, and significant amounts of regular aerobic exercise.

In my next post, I'll talk about how you can cut that many calories and not be hungry all of the time.

Erin Releases New Line of Blog Posts!

2010-02-09T19:41:00.000-07:00

I'm taking a weight management class this semester. With this class and the nutrition class I took a few semesters ago, I've developed quite a store of knowledge that I would like to share. I wish I could update my blog every few days, but I am so busy with being a wife, mother and student, I don't know how often I can. For now, keep reading my blog and I'll try to update it at least once a week.

BMI: This isn't the most accurate way of measuring your body fat, but it is the most commonly used just because it is the least expensive and simplest way of getting at least a ball park guess. TO CALCULATE your BMI... [(704*weight in lbs)/(2*height in inches)]
Less than 18.5 is underweight
18.5 to 24.9 is normal weight
25-25.9 is over weight
Greater than 30 is obese
If you are a BYU student, you can go to the Y Be Fit office in the Richard's building and get your body fat measured via bod pod (way more accurate measure of body fat) for $15. I'm not sure what the rates are if you are a spouse of a student or employee.

Why is it important to keep a healthy body weight? Overweight and Obesity have many negative consequences such as high blood pressure, Coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes and much more.

This is just an introductory post. I will get into the more meaty material in the next post.

REMEMBER: Success in weight loss and keeping it off is like quitting smoking. It takes many failures before mastering the process.

2010-02-03T10:18:00.000-07:00

I came across this quote this morning and thought it was worth sharing.

"If we want to give effective service to our families and our neighbors, as we are commanded to do, we must develop ourselves to our full potential. We need to enlarge our intellect and perfect our character...My feeling is that each of us has the potential for special accomplishments in some field."
- Camilla Eyring Kimball

Also, I am taking a weight management class at BYU right now and it is so interesting and fun. I decided that I would share what I learned from the class. Keep checking my blog in the future!

Family Update

2010-01-22T14:58:00.001-07:00

Brian is in his second semester of grad school and he is enjoying it thoroughly. He is still working for the same professors on the same projects he did last semester. Last week he resubmitted his article on marathons to the Journal of Leisure Research. He is super exited about that. In addition to classes and work, he has been preparing for the PSA conference coming up April 8th through 11th in Oakland, California. He is presenting twice. One presentation is on MTV's "True Life" as a type of qualitative research and the other is on how people talk about immigration in public forums. In the short time we've been married, we haven't spent time apart. It is right before finals week, so if anybody wants to come and stay with me for a few days (mom?) to help with Calvin while I finish up my semester, that would be awesome! Brian is a great husband and dad and I enjoy life with him. He always wants to take Calvin, even when it is an inconvenience so I can get things done. I am really grateful for all he does.
I am enjoying myself a lot lately. I started exercising regularly again. We don't own a scale so I don't know how much weight I've lost but I'm looking and feeling a lot better lately. I am almost done with school! I'm taking 12 credits this semester. I like my classes a lot! I'm taking 2 history classes, a literature class, teachings of the living prophets, weight management and... my favorite, beginning swimming. I have always hated history and was not excited to take these classes, but I realized that is because of my BORING high school history classes. My swimming class is a lot of fun. I have always been terrified of going under water without plugging my nose, but after going to class twice a week and practicing on Saturdays, I'm almost comfortable with the idea. After this semester I have 300 hours of internship and 2 classes. I am shooting for an August graduation and I think it might actually happen!
Calvin is as cute as ever. He has been sleeping 10 to 12 hours a night and he takes good naps now. He LOVES to eat bananas and gets mad if I don't share mine with him. We can't get enough of his gummy smile and all the joy he brings into our lives. Sometimes I start to think "why didn't we wait to get pregnant, I would have only had one more semester of school," but then I am reminded of how special Calvin is and being super busy is worth having him around.
I could write all day, but I'll save you the reading. Until next time, have a super good day and remember how much you are blessed!

We like Calvin Because...

2010-01-09T15:18:00.000-07:00

Brian's List:
I like Calvin because he thinks I'm funny
I like Calvin because he sucks on his toes
I like Calvin because he has a great belly laugh

I like Calvin because his clothes are cooler than mine
I like Calvin because I can give him a mohawk
I like Calvin because he dances to hip hop beats
I like Calvin because he recognizes his name
I like Calvin because he has dimples
I like Calvin because he likes when I read philosophy to him
I like Calvin because he loves frosting and whipped cream
I like Calvin because he is a ball hog

Erin's List:
I like Calvin because he makes me feel important
I like Calvin because he chats with me on Gmail while I'm at school
I like Calvin because he always rolls onto his side when I am changing his diaper
I like Calvin because he has the cutest gummy smile
I like Calvin because he thinks his Tylenol is a pacifier
I like Calvin because he has a cute little naked body
I like Calvin because he likes to play "Where's Calvin"
I like Calvin because he looks like his dad
I like Calvin because he likes Dr. Seuss
I like Calvin because he changed my life
I like Calvin because when I have a bad day, everything changes when I look at him
I like Calvin because he likes to dangle upside down while I hold his feet and legs

Letters

2009-12-17T14:37:00.000-07:00

So, we're trying to help Calvin learn his letters. Every day we pick a letter and start listing all the words we can think of that start with that letter.
I have to admit that it doesn't really help Calvin learn anything, and really it's just a game Erin and I play in front of him. We take turns thinking of words until we get bored. Sometimes he laughs at us.
Today's letter was "T", and we taught him the words: truncate, teleological, transformer, Turabian, theology, Trajan's Column, and trash compactor. He didn't seem to catch on very well. Couldn't even use one of them in a sentence. Oh well.

Nursing Strike

2009-12-16T13:05:00.001-07:00

Calvin has a cold and an ear infection and won't eat. He is really fussy because his throat hurts and won't eat. He won't sleep because he is hungry, and the cycle continues. Any suggestions on getting him to eat?

Oh Calvin...

2009-11-16T12:33:00.000-07:00

Calvin watching me sort the laundry. That seems to be his favorite thing to watch me do.
Last week we got to go to the family ward because our single's ward was having stake conference. It was so fun to have Brian home all day on Sunday! Not to mention somebody to sit with at church. :)
He thinks I'm funny. (I think)
How can you be in a bad mood with this guy?

He rolls over!

2009-11-04T19:04:00.000-07:00

A look at our busy lives!

2009-11-01T19:58:00.000-07:00

Life has been pretty hectic in our house but we are surviving! Brian is really enjoying his master's program. He has about the same amount of work to do but more is expected of him so it is hard in that sense. His favorite class is "Race and Ethnicity" because he gets to read a lot of interesting books and they have good conversation. One of the guys in his cohort makes lunch for them every Thursday. He goes all out (I don't know how he has the time). Last week he made ribs, potatoes and creamed corn. I'm so glad he does that because we don't have to worry about making a meal that packs well as leftovers. GREAT NEWS! The paper Brian has been working on for a year got a revise and resubmit from the editors. His paper should be turned in before the end of the year and published sometime next year. He is super excited. He is also working on 2 presentations for the pacific sociological association conference in April. This is good because he can meet professors from other schools and get some experience. Brian has been keeping busy with his calling (only 10 more months).
School has been moving pretty fast for me. When people ask how school is going I respond by saying "it isn't stopping". I thought it was unbearable being a senior in high school, but I have senioritis WAY worse than I did then. I got really sick for about a week and got behind in school and bombed a test, but I'm almost caught up now. :) I have 5 classes and a 300 hour internship left and I will be done with school. I'm taking my last 2 health classes this semester and then all I have left are some generals that I can take independent study. I am going to try to wiz through them next semester (we will see). I heard the history classes independent study are super easy. This makes me happy because I am not excited to take those ones. I am kind of sad to be done with health classes because I really liked them a lot. I had a really good weekend because I decided to clean the house really well and finally decorate and I feel like I'm at home now instead of just in an apartment.
Calvin is as cute as ever! Last week he rolled over a few times, but hasn't done it since. I bought him a mirror to lay against the wall and ever since he LOVES tummy time. He will just stare at, smile and talk to himself. It is way fun to watch. I can't believe he is already 3 months old though!

Calvin just after church in his white shirt. I have been wanting to take a picture of him dressed up with Brian, but by the time Brian gets home he has pooped on or messed his shirt in some way.

He had gas yesterday morning so I bunched his legs up. He farted and fell back asleep. What a silly little boy. The gas drops don't work very well. Any suggestions? He won't stay asleep because of gas lately.
What can I say? He likes to eat.
Sometime I just give him a bath because he likes them so darn much. Isn't he a cutie?
Below are some videos I took of him playing with his new toys (a mirror and a junkie homemade toy that I made).

That is all I have time for. Enjoy your week!

Sweet sleep!

2009-10-17T17:00:00.000-06:00

Calvin has been sleeping 8 to 9 hours the past 4 nights. It is so nice to wake up and realize it is 6 or 7 in the morning instead of 1 or 2 and then 4 or 5!

Pictures of Calvin "Shmalvin"

2009-10-13T13:29:00.000-06:00

I don't feel like uploading pictures to the blog, but here is a link to see them. :)

http://picasaweb.google.com/erinharris824/CalvinHarris?feat=directlink

The perks of attending BYU

2009-10-12T18:09:00.000-06:00

I was thinking about how hard it is to go to school with a baby, but as I was thinking about it, I realized that I have it pretty easy being at BYU.
1. Class- I haven't had to take Calvin to class yet, but my teachers have all said it would be ok if I had to bring him. Some even ask why I never do. I have heard so many people who went to different colleges talk about how their professors always say to never even think about bringing their babies to class with them.
2. Understanding teachers- My infectious disease teacher is so nice and understanding. I have only gone to class 3 times and have only turned in one assignment on time. I had a big research paper due 2 weeks ago. He gave the class another week to get it turned in. After that, he gave me another week. What a good guy. He hasn't docked any points for my papers coming in 1 week late every week. I've never had a professor this understanding before the whole time I've been here. Now that I have a baby, it is all of a sudden ok to do poorly.
3. The family history library. This is my favorite part. Today I was looking for a loud place to study, but there weren't any computers in the loud zone of the library. This was kind of frustrating, but then I remembered the regional family history library is in the library on campus and people are always talking in there. Calvin got kind of fussy, so I was holding him and typing one handed. The next thing I knew, a cute little old man missionary said..."I know 4 grandmas and 3 grandpas sitting behind you that are just dying to hold that cute baby of yours." I had 7 babysitters for 3 whole hours today! It was so nice to get some things done. As I was leaving, they were super bummed that I took Calvin away from them and they made me promise to come back. I think I might!

Only at BYU!

Pictures of Calvin

2009-09-21T14:07:00.000-06:00

I just wanted to show some pictures of Calvin. He is 6 weeks old now and super alert! He just wants to take everything in. He has been smiling quite a bit lately, but every time I try to take a picture, he doesn't smile or the camera is too slow. Enjoy!
Calvin is getting so big! He weighed 10 lbs 1 oz a week ago.
Brian is the best at putting Calvin to bed.
He must have fallen asleep praying.
So precious.
See how skinny he was just 2 weeks ago?!

Lots of Changes

2009-09-02T20:52:00.001-06:00

This has been the wildest and happiest month I think we have ever had. Calvin joined our family just shy of 4 weeks ago and it has gone by very fast. He is getting bigger, stronger and smarter every day. Last week we played a game where Calvin stared at us for 30 minutes and eventually copied me as I kept sticking out my tongue. He seemed to be concentrating very hard. Now he just sticks it out like it is the easiest thing to do. He loves tummy time and can move his head from side to side without a fuss. It is so fun to see him learn new things and become stronger so quickly. We gave him his first bath a while ago and he LOVES it. I think being naked or in a diaper is his favorite part of the day. He doesn't even cry when he pees on his face. We are so grateful Calvin is finally here. He really is a blessing. It is wonderful to think that I am fulfilling the role Heavenly Father has given me.

Brian is a wonderful father. He has been from the time I got pregnant. He never complained and even made me 3 dinners a night when I was sick (of course I didn't even eat one of them). Every night when I'm feeding Calvin he comes in to ask if "we need a dad". He is wonderful.

School started on Monday. It is a lot harder than we anticipated. Brian started the Masters program. We only have one class that overlaps on Tuesday and Thursday mornings (babysitters anyone?) so we are trying the switching method of babysitting.

Brian also just got a new calling. He is the 2nd Counselor in a singles ward bishopric. We are sad to have to leave our ward for a year, but I'm sure we'll learn a lot and have fun while we're there.

So, in summary, we've had a really crazy month.

Happy Calvin

2009-09-02T14:57:00.000-06:00

Calvin

2009-08-20T15:39:00.000-06:00

Calvin will be 2 weeks old tomorrow! He is a really good baby and we enjoy having him around. It definitely beats being pregnant! I looked down at my ankles the other day and I didn't recognize them because they weren't swollen and pudgy. Calvin likes to sleep a lot and he especially likes to eat. Most of the pictures are taken right after he ate. I think he is finally getting the hang of this eating thing. Now that I said that, we'll probably struggle for the next day or two. Yesterday he was so hungry he started sucking on Brian's nose. It was so funny I had to take a picture of it. I know that is kind of gross, but still funny. He is getting chubbier. This is a good thing because he has had a lot of blowouts due to his legs being only half the diameter of the diaper leg holes. We are very happy to have him in our family.

Calvin!

2009-08-11T14:48:00.000-06:00

Calvin Brian Harris is here! I went into labor Thursday at noon and had Calvin at 6:43 am on Friday. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. They broke my water at midnight and I didn't get my epidural until 2:00. Other than those two hours, I felt pretty good. We came home Saturday evening and are doing well. Calvin has had a hard time burping and farting, but seems to be doing better today. We're happy and healthy! We love Calvin and are very excited.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Update

2009-07-18T18:23:00.000-06:00

What's new? We aren't in school, Brian is working full time and I'm waiting. 3 weeks left!

Bridal Bouquet

2009-06-11T15:12:00.000-06:00

Today in class we made hand tied bridal bouquets. We got 5 roses and 5 carnations and some other flowers to work with. I'm a dork and broke 2 of my carnations. I don't really like my bouquet very much, but I still wanted to show it to everybody.

My Cube Design

2009-06-03T15:33:00.000-06:00

This is what we made in lab this week. I really liked making this one.

Floral Design

2009-05-28T13:58:00.000-06:00

Last week in my floral design class we made boutonnières. This was really fun. Brian and I took one to a lady from our ward who has been in a nursing home for the past few months. For mutual last night we had a stake dance and I saved the rest for the boys in our ward. I thought I'd post some pictures of my work. I made a wild flower boutonnière, but I don't like it because I made it way too big. My favorite pictures are of Brian modeling them for me. I hope you enjoy.

Update

2009-05-26T15:13:00.000-06:00

I think it is about time for an update. We are half way done with spring term and we only have 10 weeks until our due date. Brian started working for a new professor about 3 weeks ago. He is doing research on Utahan's views on immigration and he really enjoys it. He liked doing the marathon and families research, but he is more interested in race and ethnicity. He's taking 3 classes(two history classes and one sociology class) right now and feels like they are all the same and only likes one of them.

Other than school, Brian loves his calling as ward clerk. All of his clerks except for one have moved or been giving other callings, so he is trying to get other clerks called. Brian doesn't have much time for leisure, but he's counting down the days until spring term is over. He really likes to play racquetball and has found a few guys that want somebody to play with. As soon as classes are over he will be playing all of the time.

I too am taking 3 classes right now. Floral design is a fun class. I really enjoy making floral arrangements, etc. and giving them away. The last project I did was making Boutonnieres. My teacher said that if we do something with them where they were worn in public, we could get extra credit. There aren't any dances going on right now, so I couldn't give them to any of my young women. I decided to take one to a women in our ward in a nursing home. She really liked it, and we've been meaning to visit her so it worked out great.

I am also taking a program planning and evaluation class for my health major and I love it! Right now my group is working with Utah County Health Department on coming up with a program or enhancing an existing program aimed at reducing obesity rates among Utah adolescence. Our major project for this semester is coming up with this program and then writing a grant. The health department gets all of our work and if they like it, they will use it. I really like these projects because the health department really does use the work that we do. Knowing these projects are real and not just a grade gives me motivation to work hard.

I was excited to take environmental health, but the class is really long and the teacher shows too many videos. It doesn't help that it is 2 1/2 hours long right after another 2 1/2 hour long class. One thing I do like about the class is the assignments he gives. He will give us a senario and we have to gather information and write a "brief" that in real life would be given to the health department. This week we are looking at adverse health effects associated with living close to high voltage overhead power lines.

I had a hard time exercising at the beginning of the pregnancy because I was throwing up too much to stay hydrated. I've been doing really well for a while though. I have been walking with a friend from the ward which has been pretty enjoyable. Other than this, we haven't had much going on.

***I'll add pictures when I remember to bring the camera to campus.***

Floral Design

2009-05-13T10:43:00.000-06:00

I am taking a floral design class this term for my arts GE. It is really fun. I took some pictures of my designs and thought you would like to see them. The first one is a wrap I made. I decided to give this to the lady who gave us a couch. The second one is my favorite. I made it yesterday. I decided to give this to one of the young women in the ward. I really like this class because I get to give flowers away all the time! I have been getting a lot of requests for a pregnant picture of me so I decided I'd add one. It isn't the most flattering one, but that is ok. I also thought it would be funny to share a picture of Brian pretending to be pregnant. He's funny.

What do we need?!

2009-05-01T14:29:00.000-06:00

So I am going to start hitting the yard sales and craigslist for baby needs. Here is the question. What do I need? We don't have a ton of space, and we don't need to spend money on unnecessary things. I don't want to go and buy things that I don't end up using and take up space. I just want to get the necessities and then if we feel we need to get something else, we'll get it after the baby comes. Any advice?

A new couch, a sprouting onion and more.

2009-04-09T09:06:00.000-06:00

First off, I hate thinking of titles. They are always so lame. Brian and I had to get rid of our couch when we moved into the house because the doors weren't wide enough to fit one in. The house had a couch in it, so we had one then. Since we moved to this apartment we haven't had a couch and our living room has been sporting a squeeky and really uncomfortable rocking chair the last month. We didn't start looking for a couch because we wanted to wait until people started moving in hopes that we would score a free one. I had the young women over during priesthood session last week and they had to sit on the floor. The next thing I know, one of the mom's called and said she had a couch she was planning on selling, but her daughter told her we didn't have one. She just gave it to us. She is such a nice lady. Here is the great part about it. Both of us can lay on it at the same time and have plenty of room. It's longer than Brian and it is VERY comfortable.
We had an onion sprout and instead of eating it right away, we wanted to see how long our sprout would grow. It's getting really long. We decided to share it with you.
Our last day of classes is April 14th and then finals will be over on the 21st. We are excited to start new classes in the spring.

Life Update

2009-03-31T16:32:00.000-06:00

It's been a while since we've posted last. Since then, a lot has happened for us. Brian is very excited for his classes to end and for spring term to start. He's been busy taking classes and working. His paper is almost done and in the final editing stages before he submits it for publication. He is starting on another one, also about marathon runners. And for the BIG news... He got accepted to BYU's Master of Sociology program beginning in August! He got a stipend of $15,750 per year. I think we might not starve. Starting at the end of April, he'll be working for a different professor studying immigration. He is really excited about that. It is more interesting than marathon running.
As for me, life is busy, but not bad. All of my major projects, papers and midterms were all due within the last two weeks, so I've been writing papers non-stop for two weeks. I am grateful Brian is a good writer because he edits all of my papers for me. My tests haven't been too stressful, its just been the fact that everything was due at once. I'm taking a break from writing a paper right now because my brain is fried. For one of my classes, we've been working with WIC to find hospital induced barriers for breastfeeding. This has been fun. We will be presenting our findings to WIC tomorrow.
I'm half way through the pregnancy right now and I'm actually enjoying it. I really like the second trimester because I'm not sick anymore, and even better, I'm not fatigued all the time. I actually feel quite normal. I think I'll just enjoy that while it lasts. My favorite part is that I can feel him move. A lot of people say it is annoying after a while, but I think it is fun. My mom sent us some baby blankets, some onesies and a sleeper today. That was a pleasant surprise! Other than that, we don't have any other news.

The poll is closed

2009-03-16T16:46:00.000-06:00

We had our ultrasound today and... Our baby is a boy!

It's time for an update.

2009-03-06T10:22:00.000-07:00

After many requests, I've decided to post a picture of myself and my growing belly. I'm 2 days shy of my 18 week mark and I'm really excited to find out what we are having in one week and 2 days. I've been feeling the baby move a lot the past few days. Now that I know that is the baby moving, I realize I've been feeling it move for about 2 weeks. Now that I am not sick and tired all the time, I've really been enjoying this pregnancy thing. I still fit in my regular clothes pretty well, but I think it is almost time to retire some pants.
We moved to our new place last week and we really like it. I didn't realize just how small that little apartment was until we moved out. I'll miss the yard and garden, but we have a lot of planter pots to plant things in.
School is going really well. Brian is still just as busy as ever, but he's learning a lot. They submitted a summary of the paper for a sociology conference coming up in November, and he's working to finish writing the actual paper here soon. The graduate admissions committee meets on Monday to decide who to accept and who to offer funding to. Please pray for us. We're getting a little excited to find out.

Hmmm....

2009-02-16T14:39:00.001-07:00

We have our appointment to find out if we're having a boy or a girl on March 16th. We made a poll so you can guess what we're having!

Mia continued.

2009-02-14T13:07:00.000-07:00

I just saw this picture of Mia. I HAD to post it because she is so grouchy it makes me giggle.

Mia Pozernick

2009-02-12T16:20:00.000-07:00

I was tired of doing homework today because I had been doing it for a long time without a break. I decided that I would get on face book to make my boredom worse (hoping this would make me want to do homework again). Usually this works, but this time I had so much fun because I was looking at pictures of my hilarious niece Mia. This made me check Saralyn's blog to look at more pictures. I couldn't help but create a post with my favorite pictures of Mia. She is so funny!

Life Update

2009-01-30T10:56:00.000-07:00

Brian and I started our semester about a month ago. It's really busy and we are already excited for it to be over.
Brian is taking 17 credits, working 20 hours, is the ward clerk, and he just finished applying for grad school. His job is pretty neat. He's a research assistant for one of his professors. He's been doing that since April and he really likes it. From August to December he conducted interviews and transcribed them. He then had to read through the interveiws and see what kind of findings he could come up with. Originally he thought he would be helping with the writing process of the paper, but it turns out he gets to write the whole paper on his own. They are looking to have it completed and submitted to sociology journals by March. He is also planning on presenting it at a Sociology conference in March. He is REALLY excited/nervous! This has been a busy and difficult task for him but great preparation for grad school and his career.
I am taking 17 credits as well. I like some of my classes, but there are a few that are extremely boring. I chose the wrong teachers for three of my classes. Two of them I chose because they worked better in my schedule and because I heard they were easier. Let's just say that listening to a teacher read the slide word for word is not very entertaining. Oh and the classes are 2 1/2 hours long during dinner time. I don't feel like I'm getting anything out of the classes. I've definately learned NOT to chose a teacher because they are easy. The other teachers may be hard, but at least you learn from them.
I'm really excited for my other classes because we're doing a lot of group projects promoting health in the community. We are working with Utah County's WIC program. They want to know what kind of practices in hospitals are discouraging mothers from breastfeeding such as the formula samples they give out during your stay, how many nurses are lactation specialists and what type of hours they are working, etc. We get to find that information out for WIC. I am really excited to work with this group.
Outside of school, there isn't too much going on. The apartment we live in is pretty small and we would like a little more room when the baby comes so once again we are going to move. If we weren't planning on being in Provo for another 2 years, we would just stay in our apartment. Our contract ends in August when I'm due and when I'm in the middle of finals for school. We decided it would probably be easier to move sooner. Our landlord was really nice and said that as long as we could show the apartment to people(he lives in Texas), and give them his email address, he would take care of the rest. We posted it on craigslist and people won't stop calling. He's sending a contract to a couple and once they sign it and pay the deposit we're good to go. We'll be moving back to our old apartment complex. The apartment will be ready in February. We asked them about it. They haven't started showing it and said they would just save it for us and we can move in in March. We sure got lucky.
This post is really long so I'll stop writing.

When will winter be over?

2009-01-19T15:34:00.000-07:00

I am very sick of winter! I don't mind it usually, but this one is seriously depressing! I just want to go outside and play frisbee with shorts and a t-shirt on. I miss wearing sandals, I hate wearing socks. I want to mow the lawn, plant some flowers and vegetables. I really miss the warm sunlight hitting my skin! I want to open my windows and get some fresh air in the house without freezing! Aarrrrrgggggg... When is this going to end?!

Memories

2009-01-08T09:17:00.000-07:00

I was just thinking it has been 2 years since I met Brian and decided I would share our story. We were in the same Biology class and lab. In lab we sat next to each other and we didn't really talk much at all. We also happened to study in the same section of the library at the same time almost every single day. Still, we didn't talk much. Two months went by and I invited him to play ultimate frisbee with some friends (and a few of my crushes). He seemed to be excited, and I was ecstatic! Right after class we both went to the library to study (not together). When I came out of the bathroom, Brian was standing there (totally waiting for me). I said hello and asked what he was doing, and this was his cover up. "I've walked past this display case every day and I've never taken the time to look at it." He was actually walking over to ask me out to lunch and I got up and walked to the bathroom right before he got to my computer. I'm so glad he didn't chicken out when he saw me walk away!
Both Brian and his brother Andy were in my lab. This was a little confusing because I couldn't remember if his name was Brian or Andy. I was pretty sure it was Brian, but I wasn't sure enough to say it. I had my roommate introduce herself to him and instead of saying I'm Brian, he said "nice to meet you." By the time we finally played frisbee, I still wasn't sure. This tortured me for a while, but I finally found out by the end of the frisbee game. How embarrasing! I went on 2 dates with him before the game and I didn't even know his name!
We spent every spare minute we could get together and we had a lot of fun. In May, I went to Michigan to visit my brother Ben and his wife Michelle for about a week. I was so excited to go, but when I got there, I was bored out of my mind. All I wanted was to be with Brian. Michelle kept saying I was going to marry him, but I refused to admit I loved him that much. Although I denied it, I knew we were going to get married.
We were married August 24, 2007 in the Idaho Falls Temple, and we're VERY happy!