THANK YOU

The shower went well! Thanks to Rena, Jan, Dorothy, Mary, and Wendy for coming out to the shower! It was so much fun and it's was so great for you to meet Angie. Your gifts were adorable! Thank you Thank You THANK YOU for helping to support her during this time! I'm sure little Matthew will look absolutely adorable sporting all his new comfy cozy clothes.

Thank you to my mother-in-law who helped me get everything ready, ran errands for me and then stayed after to get my nursery all set up. The Blue room-as we call it, has gone from catch all junk room to a cozy nursery for new little guy. Without your help mom, I'm sure that room wouldn't have been ready until he needed to move in. Ava walked in there today and said, "ahhh cuuuuuute!" which in and of itself was way too adorable for words.

Thank you to Mindy for having a play date for Ava yesterday. I dropped her there about 4:30 and Chris got her about 8. She had a BLAST with her boys-Caydon and Davis and crashed on the way home. She woke up so happy and ready to tell me about their adventures...although she's so excited that I didn't understand much of it. It was nice to know she was having fun and being well taken care of so that I could focus on things here. Thank you!

And now....breakfast.

Katherine Tagged Me...here goes












7 random facts about me:

1. I can pop my toes without touching them and do it habitually about 7 billion times a day
2. When I am singing in a group of people I like to sing the tenor line up an octive. My choir director in college--Ms. Meg Chapman had me do it in Nearer my God to Thee and I've been addicted ever since. It's so awesome.
3. I had my first real growth spurt at 18 while in college. I grew 3 inches in a summer. finally passing that 5' mark
4. When I was a teen, I would pray for boobs. I mean, every night. My sister got them at 14, and by 16 I was still passing as 12. Well ladies and gents, be careful what you pray for! Height isn't the only thing I got in college.
5. 2 of my teeth are fake. I had "peg" teeth, which means they only grew in 1/2 the width they were supposed to and died. I pray every night that Ava gets Chris's teeth--even though they are HUGE!
6. I am double jointed in my thumbs and can bend them all sorts of disgusting ways.
7. last one..hmmm better make it good. I belong to a band that doesn't really exist. It's called 2 SHORTIES AND A MORMON. It was formed my junior year of high school of myself and my 2 best friends. at the time we were all about 4'10-4'11. We were inseparable. Our friend John created the name. One of them, VAL, is coming to my house for Thanksgiving. It'll be the first time I haven't seen her since my wedding reception in 2005.


The seven people who I tag are Becca, Nat, SaJ, Travis, Leah, Blake, and Kira.

Angie's baby shower is tonight at my house. 7pm. Please Come!!!

yesterday was my 20 week ultrasound. Simon is very healthy and very big already. He's already 14 ounces. His tummy measured at 21 weeks 5 days--the biggest part of his body--a whole week larger than the rest of his measurements! Chris was sure that the head would be the largest, since his noggin is above average in size ;) Ava has started grasping onto our statements that Simon is in my belly, and sometimes will lift my shirt, hug my tummy and kiss it and say HI SIMON! It is SO adorable <3

I want to take a minute to brag about my friend Ash. She moved here from PA with nothing but motivation to work herself ragged to become debt free and become the owner of her life. She's been out here a little over a month and is now working 2 jobs--average 60 hours a week. One is days and one is graveyard. She picks up any and every extra shift she can and is literally working harder than she has in her life. Her goal is to have her debt gone by late spring. She's spending 6 months of her 24th year of life working like crazy, so that the next 80 years can be free from the stress of payments. HOW AMAZING IS THAT?! Not many 24 year old cute girls would sacrifice family, friends, dating to become the owners of their lives. She is literally spending nothing so that she can get out of this mess ASAP! I am so proud of her. I wasn't excited about how she was coming to Utah, but she has proved to me, as well as everyone back home, that she meant business when she packed her bags and headed out here. She's fighting for her financial freedom...and is winning every single battle! Ash-you inspire me!
Thanks for embracing the nerd in me, and for giving me the privilege of being your accountability partner! I'm excited to see you pay off your first debt next month, and the next one the month after that...and scream with you the day we both become debt free!!!! Your life will NEVER be the same...and the memory of exhaustion that it took for you to get debt free, is VERY likely to keep you from slipping back into it. wooooooooooooooooooooooo hoo.

Things that make the preggy pessimism fade...in no particular order

• The knock on Ava's door every morning followed by "hewo??" and a big hug when I open it!
• The hugs from Chris when he gets home from work
• Surprise visits from Chris during the afternoon
  
• The huge hug I get on the mornings that Chris gets Ava and brings her to me, because I have no desire to leave my lumpy mattress--despite its lumpiness.
• Sunny days that mean Ava and I can venture outside for extended periods of time shoeless
• Lana and Hayden's greetings to Ava anytime they see her...big hugs and lots of energy and excitement to tell us all about their exciting adventures of that morning.
• Phone calls from Chris --his voice always soothes me.
  
• Random and totally sweet kisses from Ava. Sometimes she grabs my face and lays one on me like she's from a 1940s movie...it's so hilarious and totally sweet.
• Angie, Becca and Mindy being farther along than me...and therefore totally with me on my ironic and somewhat dark sense of humor that I have whilst pregnant.
• Ava singing "I am a Child of God" and telling me that I can't sing with her.
• Ava instructing me with an intensely furrowed brow "NO! A NICE!"
• Ava insisting that I "SEEEET DOWN!" next to her while she colors, eats, and doodles on her doodle pro...she loves to have my attention.
• FALL LEAVES!!!!!
• Dave Ramsey podcasts that aren't about government bailouts
  
• Feeling my baby move...even the kicks to the bladder aren't all that bad.
• a million other things that I'm too tired to remember. Mostly, this is for me to look up on days, hours, moments when I'm not feeling so swell.
  

Paper clips are officially banned from my house

Ava got up from her fabulous 4 hours nap--i love the fall by the way--and started playing. I was getting set to start up dinner, when she ripped off her diaper. So, we played the put the diaper back on game.
What I didn't realize...is that she had found a jumbo paperclip and had been hiding it in her mouth. She started choking when I put her down on the floor to put the diaper on. I flipped her over and started the whole "SPIT IT OUT!!!!!!!" routine. Usually, she does. In this case, she continued to choke for a good 4 seconds--which is painfully long in terms of choking. Then, it stopped...she looked at me for a moment got up and started running. I looked and looked for senior paper clip and he was NO WHERE. She SWALLOWED HIM!!!!!!!!

I had no idea how large the paperclip was, since the only time I saw it, was when it was 95% down her throat! We phoned her doc and they told us not to feed her anything, in case it got stuck somewhere or it may have been untwisted somehow when she swallowed, and to take her straight to the hospital. Chris took us to the ER and they X-ray her. It safely made it to the stomach and we were told to feed her and bring her back in the morning--or if she started to freak out. She was starving by the time we left the ER as it had been about 8 hours since she'd eaten or had anything to drink. She ate pizza AND noo-noos and milk and slept soundly. We took her back today and it's now in her colon. I suppose this is good news, as it looks like it will pass. They said if it had been any larger, they would have had to take it out with a scope--ewwwww.

p.s. the paper clip fiasco...happened right after I vacuumed my living room. Irony?

Eight Tag

Eight Tag

8 T.V. Shows I love to watch:

1. HOUSE
2. Gilmore Girls
3. Lost
4. Law & Order
5. HOUSE
6. Little Einsteins
7. Between the Lions
8. Micky Mouse Club House

8 things that happened yesterday:

1. Budget meeting with Ash to update her bill progress.
2. Riley brought me the food of the gods--cinnamon pull apart bread that her mom made
3. I made rice with 1 cup of water instead of 2...making it totally uneatable
4. Drew pictures with Ava
5. Tweaked my December budget--I'm a massive budget nerd
6. Loaded the dishwasher
7. Ignored the obvious need my carpet has for a good vacuuming
8. accused morgan of stealing my ultra fine point sharpie 23 color set...i know he did it!

8 favorite places to eat:

1. Ciotti home--haven't been there in YEARS
2. G & Pap Mancini home--also many years, but man the memory won't fade.
3. HDS in PA...the best kraut dogs and chili cheese fries in the whole world please come to UTAH
4. Sandi's house (my inlaw's) it's always amazing
5. The Prairie Schooner-so so yummy and I can actually hear what Chris says.
6. Red Robin-they custom make me a Buffalo Chicken Salad
7. Russ's house, because I love that house and secretly and openly covet the floor plan
8. BRUSTER'S ICECREAM

8 things I am looking forward to:

1. CALLING DAVE RAMSEY AND SCREAMING...I'M DEBT FREE
2. fall continuing...i like not having to use my AC or heater for days at a time. keep those utilities low
3. Trick or Treating with Ava and the massive tummy ache she's sure to incur
4. Finding motivation to cease ignoring my carpet's need for a vacuum
5. VAL COMING OUT FOR THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!
6. BLACK FRIDAY SALES
7. this migrain ending
8. Not being pregnant

8 things on my wish list:

1. Life without a car payment
2. A pair of black or brown flat boots that don't say "cowgirl" or "Indian" to wear in winter
3. Chris to graduate!!!!!!!!
4. A ranch style home with open floor plan and main floor laundry room
5. Better house wife skills
6. A date with my husband
7. An Osh Kosh outlet within sane driving distance aka in Davis or Weber county
8. A 350Z for Chris

Well, we made it! We had a great time in Montana with my grandparents. We hit I -15 about 2pm on Thursday, and pulled into their driveway about 9:30 that night. We made 3 stops on the way to let Ava, Chris and myself stretch our legs and run around a bit...also to gas up the SUV. It was a really pretty drive, and didn't feel as long as I thought it would.

I'll update with pictures soon with our adventures. The ride home was only 6 hours, because we only made one stop. Having the DVD player that Matt lent us, really made the trip MUCH easier on Ava. She watched Carebears and Veggie Tales--veggietales was her favorite though. She wasn't much into the Barbie Diamond Castle movie we rented--the sound was too low on the DVD to really hear it. SAD.

We are happy to be home! We stopped by Chris's folks house on the way home, and Ava got to play with her "boys" Caydon and Davis...her favorite people in the world. She played cars and horses with Davis and Caydon read her some stories...it was a really nice break for her to have some fun time with her favorite cousins and for Chris and myself to see his fam.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY today to DAVIS-who is 6...and my MOM who is "29 for the 23rd time"-direct quote from my dear mommy.

Missoula

So I've
cleaned the kitchen
completed all laundry
vacuumed out the car
packed up clothes for chris and myself
purchased trip food and ice
bagged up food into ziplock baggies so that they are trip friendly
attached the dvd player donated by Matt and Angie--THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

to do:
pack ava clothes
crap!! run dishwasher--should have started like an hour ago
pack stroller
pack cooler
loan cooler into car
check oil-fill if needed along with wiper fluid if needed
redbox movies for ava-word world anyone?
vacuum living room
close and lock windows
shut down electronics
give hil a key.

crap my to do list...is still longer than my already done list. I need a vacation from preparing for the vacation.

Yeay for hilary and rants

Today has been an extremely stressful day. My abililty to handle said stress, by the way, is ever more diminishing, only making the ever growing stress, seem all the more---stressful.
Thankfully, Ava took her nap today without any coaxing. I have been so busy. Due to yesterday being Columbus Day, most of our clients came in to work today, thinking...gosh, I need me some leads and county info...and I got SLAMMED. Everything was needed by the end of the day...or end of the hour...and of course that meant that none of my programs wanted to function, resulting in the restarting of my computer about 15 times today. GA!
END RANT

Props to Hilary who took about 30 seconds to fix my blog. Wow. Seriously. I played for days..and I mean...about 4 hours total trying to fix this stupid thing, and 30 seconds at her computer and it was back to being not boring. She's amazing. I'm pretty sure she has magical powers. It explains everything.

Chris is in charge of dinner tonight. I can't possibly handle anymore stress. We're leaving for Montana this weekend, and he almost wasn't able to come with us--yes this is why my day felt so stressful, because I was thinking...oh goodness a 7 hour drive with Ava all by myself. Or the $1200 ticket to Montana. SERIOUSLY??!?! it's a 1 hour flight. WHY IS IT $1200?!?!? If I go in two weeks it's only $400. What's the line in Toy Story 2? You are seriously taking advantage of people in a hurry? my gosh! What a racket--I mean REALLY!!! Shouldn't they WANT to sell the empty seats?? Shouldn't the price go DOWN the closer to the date you schedule? I mean...given the option of leaving Thursday for $1200 or in two weeks for $400, I think you're goin to have one very empty seat. GOSH!
END RANT #2

Laundry
Clean out Car
Pack clothes that are able to become smoke filled without remorse--my g-ma is a chain smoker
Get Snacks
Fill Gas tank
Kill the fly that keeps appearing
Rent DVDs like MAD for never ending road trip
...

yesterday i made a batch of rice krispie treats, and ate more than 1/2 the pan myself. today i'm making chocolate chip cookies. danger will robinson...the sweet tooth has set in. Baking is occuring on a daily basis. I was flipping through my better homes and garden cook book going...mmmm cheesecake brownies, maybe I'll make those tomorrow.
My mother-in-law makes the worlds--and i mean hands down--the world's best chili. she made it for conference sunday and i had probably 4 bowls. I've been craving it since. There's nothing like a bowl of Sandi's chili on a cool fall day. I think Becca and I out ate our hubbies that day. I want more!!!
Ava wakes up about 7am these days and immediately wants to go outside to play. She walks right up to me and says COME ON!!! and grabs my hand. Unfortunately I do not function properly before 9am. Yesterday, Hayden came over to play. It was really nice for her to have a friend here. I could work guilt free. They played blocks and colored and danced to Billy Idol. Today, ava went running out the door. I followed closly behind as she walked around the corner, and up the street, turning down Hilary's street. I asked where she was going. She said "Hayden House!" She knew which one it was!!! She walked right up to the door and knocked. We played again for about 45 minutes and then left for lunch...because I was suddenly starved at 11am. WEIRD! They play so well together. I love it!!! oh COOKIES are done! want a plate?

SAVE THE DATE!!!

WHEN: TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28th
WHAT: BABY SHOWER FOR ANGIE BLACK
TIME: 7:00PM

Angie is having a baby boy in December. Her due dates keep changing, so I'm not sure the exact date.

Come join us for an awesome time! There will be a game or two, but not to the annoying extreme.

She will be registered--most likely WalMart, Target, BabiesRUS...the usual.

You will receive a real invite, just wanted to put out an announcement. If this is a bad day for ward activity reasons, someone please clue me in and we'll reschedule.

I've never thrown one of these, so if you have tips, please feel free to share them! <3>

taggety tag tag

I was Tagged!

I was taged by Mary.

1. I am left handed-but play sports with my right leg, arm, hand etc


2. I met my husband in PA while he was serving a mission. My boyfriend at the time would go out on splits with him. My BF came back one day from splits and told me that I would marry Elder Cope. I said "Ugh first of all...no. he's a missionary and that's just weird! Secondly, he lives in Utah, and I'd never live there!"


3. When I was a little girl I would pretend to be Debbie Gibson and watch her live concert over and over. ELECTRIC YOUTH!


4. I do not eat fish unless it's prepared by my father-in-law. I hate fishy foods.


5.I do not like to take time off of work. Even though I have like 3-4 weeks of PTO hours built up, it really bugs me to know that I could be bringing in more money to pay off my stupid car, instead of ....

6. I'm very anal about keeping Ava's nose clean. I worked at a daycare and got my fill of gross runny noses. I can handle the pewk and the poop, but the snot makes me sick!

7. I love to dance with Ava to Billy Idol. I turn it on my itunes "Dancin with myself" and she grabs my hands and says DANCE! it's so fun!

I tag hilary, bec and nat--copy and paste and fill in the sentence...!

god news minute

CONGRATS to my Inwest BFF and boss-Lissa lou--she got engaged to her beau, Justin this weekend!!!

CONGRATS to Ashley for getting hired on at Target full time for her 2nd job. This will mean she can really roll that debt snowball into a monstrous avalanche of debt destruction.

GOOD NEWS ALL AROUND

Ultrasound photos by Fetal Fotos in Salt Lake 16 weeks 5 days

SIMON HEINER COPE