Pictures of our House

This is in response to a request from my mom, who is serving a mission for our church in Texas. Here are pictures of our house! First up, our beautiful bay window! I still love it, but we are really wishing for some curtains.

This would be our hallway. First open door on the left is the bathroom, across the hall is our linen closet. All the way down the hall on the left is our tv room, the room next to that is our computer/baby room and all the way at the end of that hallway is our master bedroom.

This was taken on the 2nd day we moved in, so understandably, everything is still in boxes. Our house is looking so much better today than it has for awhile, because we're finally getting things put away! We might be able to have people over soon! :) Anyway, this picture was taken from the kitchen table, so this room is much larger than it looks, especially since it is adjoined by the front room.

Surprise!

Well, we told everyone that we were waiting for Christmas, but we couldn't wait! I know, we're weak. But at least this way we have time to get used to the idea that we're having a baby . . . . . girl? Wait a second. Evidently our order came in wrong, because we were both so sure it was a boy! Oh well. We're grateful that she's healthy and active. Merry Christmas to all!

How do you tackle a whole house?!?

Moving can be so frustrating! I know, we officially moved in about a month ago, but our house is still a huge, scary mess. It wouldn't be so bad, except that we keep bringing things into the house, and they get piled on top of the other piles in the house that need to be put away. It felt so bad to me that today in church, I just kept thinking about my house and how messy it is and how much it needs to be organized. It really ruins your Christmas mood to have a messy house. That said, I won't be able to work on it for at least another day! Oh well. All I want for Christmas is an organized house! :) I know we've all been there, it just feels like we're never home long enough to really focus and make some sort of a dent. Thankfully, both Reed and I have Wednesday through Friday off, so we'll have time to work together on our house and get lots done. Keep us in your prayers. :^P

Christmas finally came !!

Today we went and purchased our real, live Christmas tree. What a pain! :) I think I prefer the out of the box kind of Christmas tree, because you can put it up anytime, don't have to tie it down to your car, and then worry about watering it. But, I must admit, the smell of a real Christmas tree is awesome. That's why I love them! So I can start wrapping presents and putting them under our tree. It makes it feel just a little bit more like Christmas is actually coming now. I love it.
In other news, Reed and I have decided to put off graduate school for another year. This way, Reed has more time to look into schools, study for the GMAT, and find a job in the meantime that might be in the field that his bachelor's degree was in and maybe make enough at it that I can stay home with our baby and not have to work! That last part would be well worth it to wait another year. Plus, it really helps our lives to calm down a little bit and not feel so rushed. Still no callings yet in our new ward, but we've been warned that the bishopric is looking for a couple to work in nursery. :) Who knows. . . . . I was kind of looking forward to working with the adults in this ward in some capacity, but we will be happy to serve in whatever way we can.
I'm not excited or anything, but Christmas is only a week and a half away! And that means we'll know whether we're having little John or little Jane! :) (Don't think for a second I'm actually giving away our baby's name. That will continue to be a surprise for the next 5 1/2 months or so.) Everyone have a great week! Remember the real reason we celebrate this time of year!!

December 22nd is our big day!

Okay, to all those waiting with me to find out the sex of our baby, we go to our ultrasound on December 22nd around 3 pm. But alas, I cannot share the sex of our baby until Christmas Day! Won't that be a great present for all you faithful followers of our baby saga?! Hopefully our little guy/girl will be sitting as improperly as possible so we can get a good look to see what he/she is. Something I'm almost more excited about is that I don't have to fill my bladder to exploding! They can do the ultrasound without a full bladder. :) I love it.

A funny thing happened as we were getting ready for church . . .

Okay, so I completely forgot about this funny housewarming present we received last Sunday. Reed and I were getting ready for church and were just about all ready when we remembered that all of our shoes were out in the garage. Reed remembered this first, and so he was the first to walk out in our freezing garage, barefoot, to go and get some church shoes. Since I didn't want him to think he was waiting for me, I rushed after him to get my shoes too, so we could be ready about the same time. Also barefoot. As I walked out on the cold concrete, I heard the door shut behind me, thinking nothing of it. Until I tried to open it, just to make sure that Reed had unlocked it. Which he hadn't. And then Reed said, "Did you unlock the door?!" To which I responded, "uh oh, I thought you did." We were locked in our garage, on Sunday morning, with no keys to start our cars, and no keys to get back into the house! We were locked out of our house! Our very new house!! Luckily, Reed had packed my bike, and one of his best friends lives down the road. So, he hopped on my bike, no socks, only shoes and no coat! Luckily, I guess this happens to everybody in the neighborhood, so his friends wife knew how to get us back into our house using her old debit card. They were just piling into their car as Reed rode up, and the first thing his friend said was, "You locked yourselves out of the garage, didn't you?!" Oh, thank heaven for people who make the same mistakes we do! I was pretty chilled after that whole experience, but luckily while I was waiting for Reed to ride to his friends house, I found our winter hats, scarves and gloves, and half a bag of carmel corn! :) I was okay! Directly following this incident, I put our extra key in our garage so we couldn't get locked out again, and now I check 2-3 times that the door isn't locked before I ever let it close behind me. Yikes!

Our internet is hooked up, and we're moving high speed!

Woo hoo! I love high speed internet! It certainly makes life much easier. Not much has been going on with us. We're trying to get all moved into our house, and that seems much harder than in the past for some reason. Maybe its my lack of energy that's not helping. I went to my check-up yesterday, and got to hear the baby's heartbeat. It was nice and strong. Next month, we will be answering that long wondered question: what sex is their baby? I don't have a date set for it yet, but I will be calling Monday to set it up. And then I can begin the countdown. :) Well, I need to get back to unpacking, or else my house will continue to resemble a pigsty. Later!

News for November

Only 6 days left now until we sign on our house, unless there are some unforeseen issues. We're super excited! We went and got a nice second-hand fridge, and we still need to find a washer and dryer set, hopefully also second hand. We've been checking craigslist a lot. That is a very helpful website. :) In other news, Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat. :) Actually, I am officially 3 months today, and I believe that I will be entering my second trimester next Saturday! Woohoo! 11 weeks seemed to be the magical number in this pregnancy because that was the week I felt back to normal, no sickness, and my energy level seemed to be back to normal as well. I am feeling really good and have already noticed my baby bump to be bumping itself out there. Not much other news, other than the fact that I am really excited for the holidays and have already started my Christmas shopping! I need to help support our slowing economy by sharing what little wealth I have and putting it out there in the stores! I suggest you all do the same. :) Thank you and goodnight!

Just as I promised . . . .

WE GOT THE HOUSE! ! ! We are so excited! I believe we can move in November 14. Luckily, the builder took our counter offer, after we rejected theirs. I was VERY worried, but I'm so excited now that it makes up for all the worry. For all those who haven't heard, it's a 3 bdr, 2 bath, 1040 sq ft home in south Nampa. It has a bay window. I'm so excited to decorate for Christmas! :) I know, I'm weird, but I can already see our pretty Christmas tree in front of the bay window so you can see the lights twinkling at night as you drive by.
By the way, my pregnancy due date is officially May 25, 2009. I'm hoping for May 15th, but I'm not totally sure that will happen. That will be a miracle, or a nice late birthday present for myself. We shall see. My sickness/nausea comes and goes. I'm not sure why, but I'm really trying to figure out what seems to trigger it, and no, Laura, I know, I'm pregnant and that's what's triggering it, :) but I think that stress might make it worse. I'm still trying that theory out. I haven't figured anything out yet. :)
I'll try and keep you all posted as our house news happens. Less than 3 weeks now and hopefully we'll be up and running again with HIGH SPEED INTERNET! *Angels singing the Hallelujah Chorus*

Our first dr.'s visit

Reed and I went to our first doctor's appointment yesterday! The best part was the ultrasound where we saw the baby's heartbeat and saw its little body wiggling up a storm. It was really active! I felt like that was really a blessing, that in its own little way, all that movement was to help Reed and I feel like everything was okay with our baby. So, in about 8 weeks, we will find out what this little one is, even though I'm still leaning toward it being a boy. I would just like to go on record with that prediction. Any other predictions about our baby's sex?

Pregnancy News!

I am excited to announce that I have not had morning sickness for 4 days! Hopefully that's a good sign - I've been able to keep the sickness away mostly by sucking on sugary candy, like mints, anytime I start feeling even the least bit sick. This is pretty exciting news to me - to only have morning sickness for a little over 2 weeks would be the best news in the world to me! How long have others had it?

I miss blogging!

I know, I know, it's been a whole month! Well, be glad, because now this can be a very newsy blog. Our lives have just been moving on this past month, so I will give you highlights of what we've been up to!
1. Reed has been out of town for a week at a time, 2 times. Yuck!
2. We think we've found our house! We will be hopefully putting an offer on it this week if our realtor decides to share his time with us. That's another story, and I'm probably just more frustrated about it because I'm ready to have my own house again.
3. Okay, for all who don't already know, Reed and I are going to have a baby! :) We're due in May, I believe the 24th, but I'm hoping to be wrong and be due earlier. ;) We have our first official dr. appointment this next friday, the 24th. And yes, to all who want to know if I have morning sickness, the answer is yes. Yuck! I think this is one of the main reasons I'm ready to have my own house again b/c there's nothing worse than being sick in someone else's space.
4. We've been saving money like crazy thanks to Mom and Dad Bishop's hospitality in letting us live with them.
5. We have a calling in our new ward. We're the Sunbeam teachers. I think it's good for us, and it has its fun moments.
6. Thanksgiving is a little over a month away! I hope I don't still have morning sickness by then.
7. Christmas is coming! Yay! I'm hoping we will be able to find out the sex of this baby around Christmastime!

Okay, it's been short and sweet. Hope this is enough to get you all by until next time.

Hey, we're still alive!

Sorry, but Reed and I moved in with my in-laws this last week, and promptly left for a 5 day camping trip. It was fun! We went up to Red Fish Lake and visited his aunt who worked the summer up there. Now that we're back, I have to actually get used to life, totally appreciating the kindness of my in-laws in letting us live with them until we find a house. One small problem is they have dial-up internet. It's quite slow, and I'm not sure I will always have the patience required to blog with this internet connection. I will try to find other solutions so everyone can assured of our existence. :) For now, though, we're just working and enjoying life.

Life is hectic!

Sorry that I have been negligent in keeping our blog updated. Today, I have come to update you all. Reed and I are in the process of moving, and it's supposed to happen this week! We also got pre-approved for our mortgage this week, so we are just waiting for our realtor to find us lots of houses to look at.
Some sad news I just got today is that my one remaining grandpa died yesterday. This is very surreal to me, because I've never really had anyone close to me die. Anyway, so we will be attending his funeral this Saturday, and in the meantime finding time to move. Sounds like our life is staying the same - running faster than we can keep up! :)

We met with our realtor today!

Well, the title says it all. We met with our realtor today, a really great guy from our ward. Reed has a calling with him in our ward and felt that he would do a great job for us, which I totally agree with after our meeting today. I'm so excited to start looking for a house! One of the un-fun things about moving though is that our landlady wants to be able to show our apartment while we're living in it, which means we feel pressured to keep it pretty spotless so people coming in don't think we're actually living here or anything. :P Oh well. It's the price you pay, right?
On to more news, Reed will be out of town again this week, not ALL week, but for a few days of the week, which will hopefully mean that I can focus on getting things packed into boxes, because we have approximately 21 days and counting left here.

32 days and counting . . .

Reed and I have finally decided the time to move has come ~ and we're both very excited! We don't know where we're moving, or what we're moving into, but we are moving sometime in the next 32 days. Just thought we would include you in our news. It seems to be in the Bishop blood lately, as 2 others of Reed's siblings have just recently moved, along with one of my siblings. Why all this moving and tumult I wonder ?!?

It's the middle of the week!

So, guess what time it is. That's right folks. Reed is out of town again this week, and so it's time to post a ridiculous picture of him that I normally couldn't get away with but since he's gone I won't get in trouble! Woohoo! :) Really, it just gives me a good opportunity to talk about Reed and distracts me for a few minutes about how much life is really not fun when he's gone.

All right, so back to this picture. Do you know what Reed is guilty of in this picture? That's right, stealing my bag of chocolate yummies called minstrels, instead of giving his full attention to the phone guided tour we were getting of the Britannia! If you notice the slight lump in his left cheek, that would be minstrels. Those minstrels were actually a life saver - we munched on those between meals and probably spent less money that way. Man they were so good.

Here's Reed in Scotland. It's surprisingly green there in the wintertime. Notice Reed with his proper English scarf. He's crazy about that scarf, but when we were in Scotland we got a cooler one that was patterned. Reed loves to travel, in case any of you readers didn't know. I'd be shocked if someone actually didn't know that. This is just a park we found in Scotland right by Edingburgh castle. In fact, I do believe that's the castle above his head.

Okay, one last picture about Reed. This is one of the sports he loves to play.

Who could that mysterious #21 be? That's right. Reed! He loves him

some church basketball. :)

Hopefully, you all have found this to be an insightful post

about Reed and you have all learned a little more about him

and about me. #1. I'm a goofball AND

#2. I LOVE Reed. A lot. Which would explain

why I have so many pictures of him and very few

of myself.

Okey doke. Carry on.

Family Reunion Time!

So, this past week we have been enjoying 1. Brian and Kamber's arrival from England! Yay!
AND 2. The Bishop family reunion.
Brian and Kamber arrived Tuesday evening around 7 pm. We were there with Reed's dad to see them arrive, and then followed them back to Reed's parents house. We had a nice time visiting with Reed's cousin Tate and her son Zane and Aunt Colleen.
Wednesday, the family reunion was kind of supposed to start, I think, or at least people were supposed to be arriving. I don't think anyone did. Can't remember, but we went over just to visit more with those who were there. And to set up a very large canopy type thingy that people ate under for the reunion. And we went out for blizzards at DQ. Yum!!
Thursday after work we went to the Snake River Stampede where I tried to sneak in fruit snacks in my purse and got caught at the gate and had to THROW THEM ALL AWAY! What a waste!!!! I was very upset. :) Really. The Stampede wasn't too bad, especially since I had a baby all cuddled up to me and sleeping on my shoulder. I love babies. They are so sweet and smell so good. Sorry, that's a little off topic.
Friday we took the day off work so we got to go and play with the rest of the family. We had a picnic in Melba and swimming at Givens Hot Springs, I didn't go, but I heard it was lots of fun. Then we had dinner and made a movie that included all of the family. Fun! And funny. :)
Yesterday was the last day. Reed and I stayed home most of the day to clean our house and get it back up to where it should be since we hadn't been spending much time in it as of late. Later, we went and had dinner with the family and participated in the talent show. It was really neat to see/hear all of the talent that his family had. We had magic acts, piano playing, joke telling, singing, juggling, photography and much more. Overall, a very fun and satisfying reunion because the point of it was realized which was that we spend time getting to know each other more and make memories and learn to love and appreciate each other more and more. I know it was great for me to get to spend time with Reed's siblings and nieces and nephews who live out of town. So, that's what we have been up to this week!

Our night at Starlight Mountain Theatre!

Well, Reed and I were going to try and go out of town this weekend on a little trip for our anniversary. Since that didn't happen, I decided that it would be really fun to go to Starlight Mountain Theatre instead, and so last night we did. We went and saw "Crazy For You", and even though I didn't know anything about the play, or that it also happened to be its opening night, it was AWESOME! I was really impressed. They actually had some really cool dance numbers that looked pretty difficult! I also enjoyed the music, because it was music that I knew, but didn't actually know that it came from this play. Overall, I would HIGHLY recommend going to see this play! It is totally worth it. Reed and I would absolutely go and see it again with anyone who wants to have company.
By the way, they announced while we were up there that Starlight Mountain Theatre is actually having some financial difficulties (because of the fires in their area, patrons have been scared to come) and some of their financers are thinking it should be closed, so they decided that if 5 people buy a brick every night(you know, the ones that sit out in the courtyard of the theatre with peoples names on them) then they will make it. So, I'm making a bid. 1 smallish brick costs $100, and Reed says we can't afford to just throw away that kind of money, but he will let me spend $25, so I'm just wondering, does anyone want to go in on a brick? I am dead serious about this. I like Starlight Mountain Theatre that much. Just let me know, k?

Our Very First Anniversary!

Reed and I had a very nice anniversary. We went out to dinner at Gino's, the place where we had our first unofficial group get-together. You couldn't call it a date that night, but I think a girl in our ward thought Reed and I should date, so she threw together this get together, and invited us both. It worked, because I sat by Reed all night, and only 2 long months later, he finally asked me out! Anyway, back to last night, we had a great time, ate lots of food and reminisced about life. And thought ahead to where we might find ourselves in a year. Overall, we had a nice evening. Reed also brought me home flowers from his parents house!

We have had a very eventful ( in our opinion) past week, and would now like to share some of these most exciting events with you! To start off with, I got a new bike about a week and a half ago, and I am in love! Compared to my old bike, which took a lot of work to ride, this bike is a breeze! It seems to take about 4 minutes less to ride to work, and now with my new comfy memory foam seat, no more sore fanny muscles! ( Sorry if that seems indelicate.) For those who don't know, which would be quite a few people, I've taken to riding my bike all over to save gas, and since Reed and I are sharing my car b/c of issues with his, sometimes he has the car and I have someplace to go, so I ride. It's great exercise and saves us a lot of money on gas.
I have had the good fortune of taking care of my sisters house (while she and her family went on vacation) which is just a short drive or ride from our apartment. I say good fortune because she has a wii (sp?) game system. Hopefully this makes sense to someone spelled out, because it just looks wrong. If you know anything about wii's, you have to use your arms to play the games. A lot! I haven't been this sore in my arms in a really, really long time. After the second day, I could barely lift my right arm, and it's not as if I was playing it for all that long. Oh well. It's probably good that their family is back or I might actually do myself some harm! :)
And last but not least, we had the 4th of July! We had so much fun at Reed's aunt and uncles house with his brother Mark, wife Dalana and their kids, and Reed's parents and other aunt. Very nice to get to spend the 4th with family as it is tradition to spend it with family! By the way, you missed out on my first homemade potato salad! Yum. And missed seeing our first (and hopefully not last) family treading water competition in the swimming pool! Mark conceded to me (Alysa) because of family obligations. He felt obligated to go and entertain Seth and Ella. :) Since we didn't time it, we don't know how long it truly went on, but there were some guesses that it was easily over 20 minutes? I don't know, it's just a guess.

I'm all fired up!

So, I have a hard time being the person who complains or simply states the truth about bad service, especially with places that provide me a service, aka the dentist or the gym. I have had some really nice experiences at a lot of places, and really try to go out of my way to let people know by saying thanks or if I deem it necessary, to write a thank you letter. I never have deemed it necessary yet, but I would if the service was that awesome. Anyway, back to my point. Golds Gym. Now, I am not one who would necessarily jump on the band wagon and say, "they're so prestigious, they must know what they are talking about, I'm going to join there!" No, first I joined the YMCA. Very family friendly. I liked it. But it was too far away from where we now live, so I started looking for a new gym that was closer, hence Golds Gym. Also, I knew some people who worked out at Golds, and thought it might be a nice change to actually work out with someone other than myself, because that gets a little lonely sometimes. Wow, sorry if I'm rambling. Anyway, had a bad experience when I went in for a free meeting with a personal trainer. The personal trainer was nice, but the guy who came in to pressure me to sign up for multiple personal training sessions was a pushy jerk who even said something degrading to me. Rude! So, I came home and immediately wrote a letter. 6 weeks later, I finally had the guts to go and give it to the gym. That was 4 days ago. I got a phone call from them yesterday and called them back today. The guy I spoke with was nice and simply LISTENED, which made me feel validated and like the person I should have been treated as in the first place. So, the moral of the story: I didn't need any compensation, I just needed to be validated that my problem was important to them, it was worth listening to, and that they valued my business. I just felt the need to share my experience.

PLEASE DON'T - - ->

- - -> IN OUR POSTS.

Here we are already in the last 2 days of June! Wow! 1 month of the summer already gone, and what have we done with it? Well, let me tell you:

- Done our visiting and home teaching

- Bought me a new/used bike to ride to work

- Had a weekend vacation/ family reunion

- Spent several nights watching movies together

- Performed with our ward choir together a couple of times! (Reed is a bass, we found out, and we like singing together!)

- Attended the temple together

- Reed has gone out of town 2 times for work

- Made a list of goals to help us realize bigger goals

- We've made from scratch 3 pictures TOGETHER! Reed is a quick study on the saw, staining

wood, puttying, and pretty soon will be v-nailing pictures himself. He's very proud of his abilities, as am I.

I think it sounds like we've had a pretty full month. How exciting it will be to see what will happen NEXT month! :)

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Well, Reed had a safe trip, and made it back on Friday night. We had a full and fun day on Saturday doing our various errands, finished up with an 11 o'clock run to the store for our weekly groceries.

I can honestly say, we LOVE our Sunday. It generally follows the same schedule. We get home from church around 1, eat, and then proceed to take a couple hour nap. I know, we are spoiled, and hopefully won't get to enjoy this schedule for too many more months.

Anyway, after our naps, we have dinner together, followed by the making of our weekly homemade treat, mountain bars, or no-bake cookies, whichever name you prefer. And we usually follow that up with a rousing game of speed, or monopoly, whichever one we're in the mood to play. We love the time we get to spend together on Sundays! And just to mix it up and keep it fresh, we like to go and visit family. Or ward members. It's the one day we have time to do everything we want to while keeping the sabbath day holy.

What's happenin' at our house.

Guess who is out of town this week.

I'll give you a hint.

He said he had to go out of town for work, but I

found this incriminating picture from a few months back.

She looks pretty pleased with herself. I'm not worried though. I hear she's as cold as ice. ;)

My Dad . . . . a tribute

I stole this idea from Amanda's blog, but it was such a good idea! My dad was a hard-working man, from what I remember growing up. Honestly, he had to be because he had 10 kids. He taught us all the value of work and made sure we knew what was important in this life, our family, the gospel and our Heavenly Father. I can remember my dad whistling every morning as he got ready for his day. I loved watching him tie his shoes, maybe because his feet were so large. Most of all I love the time that I got to spend with my dad, just making memories. I loved designing pictures with him and working with him to help finish a picture. I loved it when he would try and teach me things. He always was supportive and loving, in spite of my stubborness ( who me ? :) Never! ) and genuinely wanted to help others learn. Most of all, my father taught me so much and I am grateful to him for that. I am so proud and happy for my dad and mom as they serve our Heavenly Father in Corsicana, Texas. I know that my dad is having the time of his life getting to do full time that which he loves the most, which is sharing the gospel and sharing our Heavenly Fathers love for all of his children.

Our short weekend at Down-at-a Hot Springs

Well, it was short and sweet. We just got back! It was super fun. And sadly, I never got the chance to put new batteries in our camera, so there will be no pictures of us going down their 3 fun slides. Luckily, my sister took this one picture of us swimming, I think we spent most of our awake time doing that. That's us in the lower right hand corner with my niece swimming between us with a yellow swimming noodle. We had so much fun! We recommend at least stopping there for several hours for some good swimming, but don't waste your money on the very cramped camping conditions.

We're going away . . . . for the weekend !

My Dad's family is having a family reunion up in Downata Hot Springs for the next 2 weeks. I am so excited because there is a pool with a slide! Woohoo!! I'll try and post pictures.

Something to think on . . .

I have a great new analogy I want to share. Teaching primary is like having a baby. When you're going through the pain (of trying to teach a class that can't seem to focus) you think, is this worth it?!? But then, by the next time (or next week you get to teach) you've forgotten the frustration and pain and you think " this is gonna be great!" Think about it, it's true. :)

Much ado about nothing . . .

Let me tell you about this idea I have had for awhile. I want to perm my hair. I know, scary idea. After all, it could turn out looking like this perm I got when I was about 11.

Do you see the look of pain on my face? Yeah, I had that type of perm for a large majority of my elementary years. Thankfully, I think my hair was longer most of the time. That time was just unfortunate. By the way, notice my twin sister has the same perm and cut. We were big believers in share and share alike. :) Plus, I think my mom thought it was cute.

Anyway, I know more about perms now, I'd like to think. For example, you should always interview potential hairstylists before you get the perm, and you should always bring pictures of the types of curl you would like from your perm. Here's my picture. Minus the shoulder baring shirt and the straightened part of her hair. You gotta love her full glossy lips! :)

So tell me, what do YOU think?

Not much to write . . .

But! I can probably think of a few things. Most of all today, I am grateful for family. Grateful for the family I have through marriage, my biological family, and for my ward family. I am grateful for the kindness and love that are shown me, and for the opportunities I am given to reciprocate. I am grateful for the experiences in my life, both the hard and the happy. I am grateful for our Heavenly Father's love and for the generosity that is shown to us all by Him. My heart feels very full of gratitude. ". . . and my grateful spirit sings. " (a really pretty song by Sally Deford we sang in the first month I directed ward choir.)

Good news!

Well,
I didn't have to have a colposcopy! Yay! The doctor walked in, looked at my chart, asked me a few questions, and then said she thought it was hormones. Hormones! And pretty much said that she thought the miscarriage was a fluke, (unless of course it happens again and then I will have go to an infertility clinic and have my progesterone levels checked) and that I should be fine with further pregnancies. She didn't recommend putting me on hormones, so maybe since it has gotten so much better since the last time I went and saw her last year, maybe it will only continue to get better. We'll just wait and see.
Good news for today, tomorrow is Reed's last final! Yay!! And, I think I've convinced Reed that instead of going to Iceland we should go to the Oregon Coast, specifically Cannon Beach for a week. I've been getting more and more excited about it, so maybe when Reed's done with his final tomorrow we can start seriously talking about it and looking into it. I think we would like to invite people along because I know my sister Laura would love to come.... so if anyone wants to come along, I'll let you know what dates we come up with.
AND .... my race is this Saturday! I have decided to run the 5k instead of the 10k, but I'll be running a 10k next month instead, and hopefully follow up with my half marathon the next month. I'm so excited!!!

Mothers Day and all that stuff :)

I am so grateful for my mom, especially this year with her and my dad driving to Texas so they can begin their mission. I am grateful for her love and support of me through the years. I am grateful for her example. Its a little different this year celebrating mothers day with her through a phone call, but I know that she knows how loved she is. I have so many memories of her. She was the one who first taught me how to play the piano. I think my first song was I am a child of God. I remember she was the one always encouraging us to sing as a family. I remember her doing my hair for school and how much I hated it, but can now appreciate the time she put into making sure our hair looked good every day. I remember having family home evenings and singing as a family, especially singing Families can Be Together Forever, and knowing that I wanted to be with my family forever. My mom is and was amazing, and I hope to be able to share as much with my kids someday as she has shared with me.

Gotta love birthdays!

Although it may seem I am writing under the ruse that it's my birthday, I have so many other things to share! I have had a pretty exciting week. Here are some highlights :
- I did a backbend! This is an amazing feat coming from a girl who from elementary age thought that she would never be able to do this. I thought that if you didn't do flexibility exercises from a very young age, that you would never have that flexibility. I am so excited to be wrong!
- I got sung to in primary again for my birthday. It's been 15 years since the last time that happened. I love birthdays. I can't help it, it's been engrained in me to celebrate them at all times, in all ways, and in all circumstances. :)
- Reed didn't have to work this last Saturday, so for the first Saturday in a long time, we got to spend most of the day together! While we were together, we went and looked at some duplexes, a condo and a house. We were so excited and happy! I can't wait until we can get a little more serious about buying.
- My parents entered the MTC yesterday. I hope to be receiving a phone call from them today and I can see how they are doing. It seem a little surreal to have my parents in the MTC when they're always the ones waiting with the rest of us at home for the person on the mission.
That's it for now. We are SO happy and grateful for the great weather we have been having the past few days. Warm weather is finally here!

Psyche!

You know, just when you have plans laid, something always happens. I will actually be waiting approximately 2 weeks and then having my colposcopy. Sorry about the mis-information. I actually had to re-schedule because of some bad scheduling on my body's part. So, May 14th it is to be. I'm already starting the countdown all over again.

I have been substituting for about 2 weeks in the CTR 6 class at church, and have loved it! The last time I taught in primary was when I was 18, I team taught with my sister Alyson a large class of Sunbeams. Challenging, but pretty fun. I remembered my passion for primary again when Reed and I were visiting Brian and Kamber in England and I played the piano for primary since Kamber needed a pianist. I loved it and have longed for it since then and have been able to snatch little tidbits of enjoyment by filling in for the primary pianist in our ward when she's gone. Today I even convinced Reed to come to my class with me today to see if he could help me temper all the kids, there are 9 or 10 normally I think, but today there were only 8. It's amazing to me that even the most rambunctious, distracted kids seem to get the right answers when it might seem they aren't listening. I love that! I love that they listen long enough to get the message of what I'm teaching . . . I'll take it even if it's not perfect.
Reed and I also attended my parents ward to hear them speak before leaving this Friday to go visit family in Utah and then report to the MTC on Tuesday. Our family pretty much hung out all day, and made lots of memories. It nearly broke my heart when one of my nieces left sobbing, crying because Grandma and Grandpa were leaving and she had just realized it. But other than that, I know my parents are excited to go out and serve and I'm excited for them.
Reed just realized that he still has 3 weeks, not 2, left of school! He was VERY relieved. Understandably.
Last bit of news. I am having a fun (sense the sarcasm) medical procedure done this week, Wednesday, that will hopefully help with the viability of our next pregnancy. I'll be glad to get it done and see what the dr. says about what's going on with me. If you all could pray for Reed and I, I know I would appreciate any extra prayers. Thanks to all!

Alysa and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day...

I had "that day" today. You know, the one where you wake up grumpy, you get to work late, you don't feel good, and everything just snowballs from there. It wasn't down in the dumps, it was just me feeling mad about stuff happening in life, and not really dealing with the emotions associated with it and then just feeling GRUMPY! This doesn't happen often, thankfully, otherwise, I would need a counselor or something for more permanent, long term help in figuring out my emotional dilemmas. And Reed might need one too, poor boy, for having to deal with me. :) Anyway, thankfully that day is over and tomorrow is Friday and I'm trying to come up with a good reason to ditch work tomorrow . . . . anyone got any bright ideas? :) I already tried to convince Reed that I could try Mark's ipicac idea . . . . but Reed convinced me that there was more associated with that than just throwing up, so it's out of the picture. I could call in saying a have a fever . . . . . spring fever?? I think it might work. :)
Reed needs some credit for a talent not all may know about. Reed is a top rate kitchen cleaner. I came home today to dishes all done, floor swept and mopped, counters and table cleaned and wiped off! Wow! What a guy! This is only one of the many reasons that I love him.
He sacrificed his study time for school in order to do that. So I returned the favor and made him dinner. :) We make a good team.

What a week!

Last night was the cherry on top as this week of taxes finally winds down. Good news on taxes: we're getting money back. Bad news: it's a pain in the rear having to file them. :) I took it upon myself to fill out the forms, which was stressful especially since I was filing for myself for last year too. So, I filled them all out, had Reed check them, and then we signed, problem was it took most of the night to get that far. Thank heavens it only happens once a year.
Last night we went to see John's play Oliver!. I love plays! I have been taken to them since I was probably about 8 years old, when the Morrison Center had Music Week and everyone got free tickets. My mom would always secure those for us. I remember the first one I ever saw was Annie, which was already a favorite of mine. John did a great job, and Reed said he could hear him singing a few times, which is amazing in acast of over 100 kids.
Anyhoo, today we have stake conference. And a planned visit to both sets of parents. :) Sounds like a nice leisurely day to me. This week officially starts the panic of birthdays in my family, starting with my sister's birthday and then just a few weeks later starts the onslaught, including my own, many of my nieces and nephews, Mothers Day in the middle, and topped off with my mothers near the end of May. Busy time of year. Only this year, my parents will be leaving on the 3rd, for the MTC, I think, so they will be missing out on a lot of them. That will make it different this year.

Exercise week!

This has been a great week for me. First of all, it went really quick! Yay! Secondly, I worked out every day thus far, and I feel fantastic! I am trying to whip myself into 10k shape because the 10k I want to run is May 19th, and I want to do well. Well meaning at least as well as I have run my past 2 or maybe a little faster. That would be awesome. Reed has been keeping busy with school. He had a test this week, which kept him stressed and busy. He is currently playing tennis with a bunch of guys that include my brother Jon and some of his friends in his ward. Reed loves Saturday mornings because of its tennis possibilities, as long as the guys don't wimp out about it being too cold. :) Men! Anyway, tomorrow he is giving a talk in church, and I am teaching a primary class. Fun stuff! Oh, I had the funniest thing happen this week. I thought it was funny. I had to go to my ob's office to give blood so they could test my hormone levels to make sure they are coming down from the pregnancy, and they called me the next day to let me know the results. The first thing the nurse said was " You did miscarry." My first thought was, duh! Sorry, and not meant in a rude way, but that was not in any way surprising, and I didn't expect to have them confirm that for me. I just wanted to know if my levels were coming down. I could have confirmed the miscarriage for them already in so many ways!! :) Oh well, maybe it's still a bit of a sensitive subject. Really though, I feel that having already made new goals and having something else that's positive to focus on has helped me not to get depressed or really all that sad. I think I just have felt a little frustrated with my dr.'s office over the whole thing. que sera sera. Positive note: I'm going to go work out now and get some more frustration out. Reed should be home soon and we can have pancakes! Our Saturday morning tradition. :)

It's been a WHOLE week....

Sorry it has been so long since I updated my blog, but I have had good reason. Really. After much deliberation, I have decided to share what has kept me so busy. While I was having so much fun in Michigan with my sister and her family, I found out that Reed and I were going to have a baby! We were both so excited. It was an indescribable feeling of elation and happiness, and yet caution on my part because I have been having some issues with my body, but I figured everything must be okay, because I was feeling pretty good. Things were good for about a week, and then, last Sunday, on that last Sunday in March, I started having some really heavy bleeding, and just knew that I was having a miscarriage. I read about them online, and from a doctors website read that there was nothing you can do to stop a miscarriage. If it was going to happen, it was going to happen. So, finally on Thursday, I started having some very painful cramping and bleeding, and my doctor confirmed that I was most likely having a miscarriage. It really happened. It wasn't the way I would have liked the whole thing to end, but sometimes things happen without our permission. I have been in a lot of physical pain since Thursday with cramping and other types of pains, but today was the first day I can say I had no cramping. I feel back to my normal self, and Reed and I are planning on trying again in a few months per doctors orders. We are okay, but sad, about the miscarriage. I just figure that we had something to learn from this situation. We may not know what it is now, but if nothing else, it helps us to be more compassionate of others who may experience the same type of loss.
So, today, I got back to my exercise routine that I gave up the day after I found out I was pregnant. I am PLANNING on running a half marathon this summer. For sure. I am excited about being able to start again with my running goals, and for now, it will keep me motivated and occupied long enough to get past the next couple of months until Reed and I can start thinking about babies again. By the way, today is the one year anniversary of the day Reed proposed to me. That was a sweet day. :) And it's also our 9-month anniversary. Only 3 more months to go and it's a year! Reed just got home from school, so I'm off to catch up on his day.

The end of another week . . .

Well, this week has flown by in many ways! Reed will hopefully be driving back tomorrow from California, but won't be home until really early Saturday or very late Friday. I'm just hoping for a safe trip home for him. I've had a pretty uneventful week. I'm going to try and get my taxes done before the deadline gets too much closer. After this week, Reed will only have about 2 more months left of school! WOO HOO!!! I am so excited about that, and I'm sure he is too. It's about time for us to start making decisions about what's happening afterward.
One thing I want to bring up, because it's a pet peeve of mine and it's something everyone has to deal with. I have made a lot of visits to the dentist lately, and just had a cleaning done this week. Well, in spite of just having seen my dentist 2 1/2 weeks ago and already knowing any and all future work my teeth will need because of my frequent visits to my dentist, after my teeth got cleaned, the hygienist sent in a dentist, which I thought nothing of until I looked at my bill. They charged me $38 for 5-10 minutes of visiting with a man who told me everything I had already heard at every other appointment with my dentist! So I talked to the billing person up front, and my dentists assistant told her that I shouldn't have been charged for it. Hallelujah!! It made me feel good to stand up for myself because I already pay my dentist enough, I am not willing to give him an extra $38. No sirree! Anyway, just wanted to vent that out. Tomorrow's Friday!!

Back at home

Well, I (Alysa) made it back home today, gratefully. I am awfully sick of flying in airplanes for awhile. Literally. Yuck. Reed picked me up and we've enjoyed spending the day together. Now Reed is leaving tomorrow, most likely, to go work in So. California for the week putting a scale in and fun stuff like that. But after this next week, things will get back to normal for us. Back to school for Reed, and back to work for me. Exciting news this week: my parents got their mission call to Dallas Texas! My brother and his family down in Austin are so excited to have them so close.
I really enjoyed my trip to see my sister Alyson and her family. She and her husband are good parents, and it's so fun to see my 2 year old nephew Logan and little niece Samantha. She is so sweet, and she smells so good and she is so soft and such a good little baby. She hardly ever cries! And Logan is soo cute! He has such a funny personality, and he calls me "Litha". Now that he knows who I am, he gets so excited to talk to me on the phone and he tells me that he loves me. What a sweet little boy. I can't wait until they move back from Michigan so I can spend more time with them. This has been a good Easter for me. I wonder where I will be next Easter?!

Bunch of sick-o's!

This is Alysa. I have only been here in Michigan for 2 1/2 days, but have already managed to catch a pretty nasty cold from my nephew Logan! I woke up this morning with a really sore throat, in spite of the tons of vitamin C that I have already taken, and the many many cloves of garlic I have also ingested. (By the way, I believe in the power of uncooked garlic to help you get over colds, because it's a natural anti-bacterial! It helps your body naturally fight the bacteria that's trying to take it over. Really, you should try it. Reed won't. He thinks that it's gross. But if you do try it the next time you have a cold, don't chew it! You will have nasty garlic breath for a really really long time. Just cut up one clove of garlic and then, with an accompanying glass of water or juice, whatever you prefer, just put the garlic in your mouth like it's a pill, and swallow it down with the help of your liquid. In a little while, you should begin to feel better.) Okay, so anyway, I woke up early because I couldn't sleep because I feel so crummy, so I thought I would come and poste an update on our lives. Reed says he's doing well back in Idaho, and other than being sick, most of us at Alyson and Trevor's house are having lots of fun playing with Logan and Samantha. They are both really cute, and Logan is pretty funny. I get the idea that sometimes when his daddy is gone, Logan thinks I am going to be his rough and tumble playmate. You have to understand, he's 2 1/2 years old, and his daddy plays boy games with him, like pretend punching each other, and wrestling and stuff. So, several times, Logan has just walked up to me and kicked me, much to my surprise! Or, better yet, one day took a little boy doll my sister made, and just up and whacked me with it! I was so surprised, it was funny!! He is really a very sweet boy, he just doesn't know who wants to play rough and who doesn't. Anyway, I will be going home in about 3 more days, and I'll be glad to get to see Reed for about a day, and then he'll be leaving for his various jobs around the country for all of next week. We can be one very busy couple sometimes!

Alysa in Lansing, Reed in Boise

I, Alysa, arrived in Lansing after many hours of flying. I immediately went to work holding Samantha, playing with Logan, and relaxing with Alyson, Trevor and my mom. Reed had a test in one of his classes and he started his tennis class! Woohoo!! He has been looking forward to that since January! This post might be a little short, just because I'm feeling a little tired after not getting enough sleep last night. I get anxious, excited and a little stressed the night before a trip, so last night I cleaned almost all the house, did tons of laundry, folded it all, and managed to get to bed by 1 am, just so I could wake up at 4 am to go to the airport. Anyway, so that's a little of what's been going on with us.

Basketball and running

So, not much going on today, but I ran a little OVER 4 MILES today!!! Woohoo! And there was a pretty big hill I had to climb twice! I feel tired tonight, but very encouraged and excited to keep it up and go even further. Reed had his city league basketball tonight. They are in the finals, and sadly his team lost, but it was close. Only by 5 points. It was very nervewracking. I have a lot of fun cheering him on in both city league games and church basketball. Tomorrow night is church ball. I'll let you know how it goes.

So excited!

I am so excited that my sister, Alyson, had her baby girl today! Her new daughter, who they named Samantha Rae, will now get to share a birthday with my sister-in-law Annjanette. Cool! I love shared birthdays, especially since I share my birthday with Alyson, who also happens to be my twin sister. :) I am also very excited because I get to go and visit Alyson and her family a week from today exactly!
Not much going on in the home front except that I am starting to plan for my races this upcoming summer and starting to train for them. I love this time of year, because then I kick my fanny and start getting back into good running shape and then I feel happy again. I am seriously considering doing a half-marathon in September! I should know by July if it is do-able.
Most of all on this springy day, I am happy and astounded at the miracle of babies.

Reed's Birthday!

Today is Reed's birthday! I've tried to make it a special day for him, I made him breakfast, with hashbrowns and muffins, but it's kinda hard to involve more than just the two of us since our apartment is too small to invite all of our family over, and quite a few members of his family are out of town anyway. So, it'll just be the two of us having dinner, opening presents, eating cake, followed by lots of studying for him because he has a test tomorrow in one of his classes. Sounds like fun, huh? I am so grateful for Reed in my life. He is a very loving, kind, goofy man who helps me want to be a better person, helps me reach my goals, and makes my life much happier because he is in it. I love him very much and hope that this is only the beginning of many many other happy birthdays.

Yay for Friday!

I love Fridays! It means that for a whole day, I have the chance to catch up on all the things that I need to do. Tonight Reed and I are going to Boondocks to go play. Should be lots of fun. I'll try to get more pictures on my blog tomorrow!

This is our very first post!

Well, I would just like to clarify why I created this blog. I think it's fun to update family about what's going on in our life. It's fun for me to keep up on other family members lives, so I would like to return the favor. Reed is a full time student at Boise State University, and due to graduate this May! We are very excited about that, him more than I because he's been working toward it a lot longer than I have with him. He is also managing to work part time at a scales company in Caldwell, Idaho. I work full time as an assistant warehouse manager for a matting and framing company that works for a well-known artist. By the way, if anyone needs a nice calendar, just let me know because they've been giving them away for free here at work.
Reed and I have been married for almost 8 months now! Yay! We're almost out of the dreaded first year that I've heard so much about. We haven't had many rough bumps over the last few months. Reed is a very sweet, kind and patient man and makes life pretty easy to live. He even likes to help around the house, thankfully, since we both lead pretty busy lives and it's hard for me to find time to stay on top of it all by myself.