I'm so sick of being preggo.

*WARNING: this is me venting. I'll try to make it brief.*

I have 4 weeks left and I'm at that point where I don't know if I can make it.
I can't sleep at night.
My back aches.
I get sick after I eat anything.
I am exhausted.
I look like a whale.
I can barely fit into clothes, hallways, booths at Pizza Factory (haha, laugh it up girls).
To top it off, I have a horrible cold. The only medicine I have at home is Nyquil which I desperately wish I could take but know I can't. So I'm just sucking it up for now; tomorrow morning I have a dr appt and I'll ask him what I can take.

Everyone says it gets even harder when the baby is here (especially the whole no sleep/exhausted part) but I'm pretty miserable now and with 4 more weeks I'm sure I'm only going to get more miserable before baby comes. Grrrrr.

Oh, and we got our new carpet which is AWESOME but we haven't put our house back together so it's a mess and the nursery isn't even started and I haven't gotten any of my school-sub-stuff put together like I wanted to and DAAAAHHH!!!!!

I want my epidural now, please.

CHS Pizza Factory Reunion REMINDER!

Hey high school buddies!
Just a reminder, anyone who will be in Cedar for the holidays is invited!!

Friday, Dec. 26
Pizza Factory, 1:00 pm

We would love to see you all!!!

Update on our busy lives.

Friday was the last day of school...HOORAY! I made it to Christmas break without having a mental breakdown!

Not that it feels like a "break" yet...

We spent all day yesterday moving furniture, packing things in boxes, hauling stuff up and down 3 flights of stairs, and ripping out our disgusting white carpet. *Since our house is carpetless and in shambles, we spent last night and are spending today and tonight at Jay's parents' house in Spanish Fork.*

TOMORROW MORNING WE GET OUR NEW CARPET!!!!!!!! WOOHOO!!!!!
I am totally ecstatic! Plus, Jay and his dad are going to *attemt* to finish our bathroom addition!
What awesome Christmas presents!!!! That's all I want for Christmas is to finish some of these big house projects before baby comes next month.

Speaking of baby... future NFL lineman in the making for reals. He is so rough on me!!! He'll be like 3 years old and benchpressing 50 pounds I'm predicting.
I can't believe I only have 5 weeks left. 5 weeks until we have a baby!! YIKES!!! I continue to describe my feelings as an even mix of excited and terrified.

Natalie & Kiersty threw me a baby shower last week and a bunch of Alpha Phis showed up. It was so fun to see everyone again and I got some super cute stuff! My sisters are so good to me. I always say joining Alpha Phi was one of the best decisions I made in college. I got some cute pics but don't know how to get them small enough to post them on here *Natalie HELP!*

Here's this week in a nutshell:
Tomorrow (Monday): Carpet installation
Tuesday: Put house back together
Wednesday: leave for Spanish Fork for Christmas eve and Christmas day
Friday morning: leave for Cedar City early enough to make it to Pizza Factory by 1:00 to see all my old high school friends.
Saturday: celebrate Christmas w/ my family. Also it's Jay's 30th birthday. I'm wrapping his presents in half christmas, half birthday wrapping paper!
Monday: drive home

BUSY but fun. I'll try to keep yall posted more often.

Lonely

Jay left for Cleveland at 7:00 am. We texted back and forth for like an hour after his plane landed this afternoon which was nice but really only made me miss him more.

Most of the day I've been fine... the times I haven't been busy, I've actually enjoyed just chilling with my doggy and watching Harry Potter movies.

But nighttime is different. I know once I go snuggle down into my warm blankets I'll fall asleep and be fine, but this moment right now of forcing myself to go to bed alone is hard for me. It's funny that we've been married over 4 years and been apart lots of times (we even lived 4 hours apart for 3 months when Jay first got his job up north!) going to bed alone is still the hardest part. I keep telling myself I'm not really alone... I have my doggy to snuggle with and my baby boy bouncing around 24/7... but still...

I'll wake up tomorrow at 6:00 am, go to school, be busy all day long and be totally fine on my own all week long. I'm sure of it. I'm not even worried about myself this week. I have LOTS of plans to stay busy!

I guess I'm just feeling particularly lonely tonight.

Frozen Yogurt Junction

Jay is leaving for Cleveland tomorrow for work. He'll be gone all week long! What am I gonna do?? Actually, I have a few plans, most of them dealing with school stuff and house cleaning.

So today we went out to lunch at Chilis and ate chips & salsa w/ ranch, my favorite thing on the planet. Sounds weird, but don't knock it til you've tried it. AMAZING!
Then we went to a place in AF called Frozen Yogurt Junction that my friend Natalie told me about. They have different flavors of frozen yogurt, a billion different toppings, and you just get whatever size cup you want and assemble your own, then they weigh it and you pay by the ounce.

I got Cheesecake fro-yo w/ graham cracker crust and strawberries (and a couple swedish fish on the top just so I could eat them first!) It was SOOOOOOO GOOD!!!!! I got a huge cupful, I'm talking HUGE! Way bigger than Jay's cup! His only cost like $2.50 but mine was almost $4! It was really yummy and I am definitely a huge fan. If you haven't been there and want to go, let me know and I'll go with you!! Heeheee!

Old-School Cedar High Gang

I dunno who will be in Cedar over Christmas, but everyone is invited so spread the word.

Friday, December 26
Pizza Factory
1:00 PM

Whoever shows up, it'll be fun to see anyone and everyone!

I don't feel like blogging, but...

It's been a week so I guess I need to.
I'll just list some random stuff since that's what I'm best at.

Last night we saw Twilight. There were a few things that could've been done better, but overall I loved it. Two thumbs up.

Since we didn't get home from the movie til 2:30am I slept in this morning til almost noon. I woke up to the smell of pizza in the oven. A pregnant woman's dream, let me tell ya.

We gotta get our bathroom done. Argh. Did I tell y'all we're adding on a bathroom on the main floor of our house? It's such a pain. Everything takes forever. I'm starting to freak out because there are so many PROJECTS that need done in the next 9 weeks before baby gets here.

Baby Name: Jay Christopher Dixon. We're about 84% sure of this. I'm calling him Topher.

I'm so excited for Thanksgiving. Mostly because I need a break from school, I'll get to see my family, and of course I'm totally stoked for THE FOOD! Yum.

The End.

We graduated from Childbirth Class!! HOORAY!!

Today Jay and I went to a class that teaches all about what to expect in the third trimester of pregnancy. It went from 9am - 5pm!! Yikes!! But it was really informative (somewhat scary... the video about "active labor" and "pushing" was quite graphic... and the slides about breastfeeding and circumcision were a bit frightening, but INFORMATIVE!!) Plus it was fun for Jay and I to sit in the back and be the class clowns. With all our giggling and inappropriate comments I thought for sure we'd get kicked out! We're so immature! HA! But I'm pretty sure all the other couples appreciated our humor. Plus we got a certificate at the end of the day... hooray! We're totally gonna frame it and put it on the wall.

I told Jay as we left the hospital that I feel like I'm more anxious about all the STUFF we have to do before the baby comes than I am about the actual childbirth experience. I feel so overwhelmed by all our necessary projects. Only 10 weeks left -- We're running out of time!!!


After our long day at the hospital, we went to some friends' house to watch the Ultimate Fighting Championship on pay-per-view. I didn't think I'd really get into it, so I was surprised at how cool it actually was to watch. Especially when accompanied by a big screen tv, lots of food, surround sound, and a few drunk friends that shout profanities at the television. Seriously good times!!!

Halloween Fun.

We had some friends over for Halloween. It was a very chill night: pizza, Wallace & Gromit Curse of the Wererabbit, and terrorizing trick-or-treaters.

Jay's best friend Chris would run to the door whenever the bell rang and seriously mess with the little kids. It was very entertaining to watch. The best was when he opened the door to 2 boys, maybe 10 or 12 years old. When they said Trick or treat, Chris responded with: "So to get some candy you have to do a trick, huh?? Okay, then do a trick!"
The two boys stood there confused for a sec, then one turns and punches the other one in the face!!!!! Muahahahahahaha!! HILARIOUS!!!! We gave them both a handful of candy. That was a very creative trick.

The only other thing I remember was falling asleep on the couch and then waking up to Jay spraying canned air in my face with everyone else laughing. Jerks.

What a fun night. We are so immature. I love it.

Joke of the day, compliments of my mom.

Two brooms hung together in a closet. Time passed and they decided that they would get married.

One was the bride-broom, the other the groom-broom. On the day of the wedding, the bride-broom looked beautiful in her white broom-dress and the groom-broom looked very handsome in his broom-tux.

After the ceremony came the wedding dinner during which the bride-broom leaned over to whisper to the groom-broom:

"I think I'm going to have a little baby-broom."

"WHAT?!?!" exclaimed the groom-broom.
"That's impossible!!! We haven't even SWEPT together!"



HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
C'mon, you know you wanna laugh!

Saturday Rambling.

It's 11:00 and Jay and I should be doing something productive like sanding/mudding/painting our new bathroom. But no. He's laying on the couch watching cartoons and I'm blogging.


Have you ever felt like you work sooooo hard to be good at your job and right when you feel like you're doing a really awesome job, that's when other people start to knock you down??

It was such a tough week for me. I feel like I'm a better teacher this year than ever, and yet it's now that suddenly parents are mad at me and my principal tells me I didn't do so well on my observation. I try to chalk it up to just being a bad week, but still... it kinda stings my over-emotional heart.


Now on a positive note: HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3. Wow. Wow. Completely amazing.
I was a little worried since the 1st one was so awesome and then the 2nd one kinda sucked, but GEEZ it was so good last night. Best by far. I absolutely loved it. It was close to perfect.
****Feel free to mock me publicly, I can take it.

3 Thoughts on a Friday

1.) I'm watching my dog Rusty scratch his ear and bite his foot at the same time. What a multi-tasker! My dog is way cooler than me.

2.) I'm leaving for Cedar in a few hours. I'm driving down by myself but I'm okay with that. It means I get to make as many pee stops as I need and I get to listen to my own music!
I'm so excited for Alpha Phi initiation tonight!! I haven't been to an initiation in probably 4 years! A bunch of alumni will be there and I'm stoked to see everybody!! It will be tons of fun!
Then I'll just hang with my mom & dad and maybe go to St. George tomorrow to see my sis. It'll be a fun weekend.

3.) I already blogged about how excited I am for November 21 for the TWILIGHT movie to come out, but I need to express my excitement for OCTOBER 24!!!! HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3!!!!!
I am so dang excited!!! Jay would never go with me, so I'm meeting a friend in Provo on opening night! We'll be right smack in the middle of hundreds of screaming 12 year old girls and I'm so ready!!!!!!!!

*I mention this in every blog, but I seriously am such a 13-year-old girl.

I Love Fun Games, Too!!

A LIST OF EIGHTS

8 TV Shows I Watch:

-American Idol

--Dancing with the Stars

---So You Think You Can Dance

----The Office

-----Family Feud

------Family Guy

-------30 Minute Meals

--------America's Got Talent

8 Things That Happened Yesterday

-Almost crashed into a big orange cone in the middle of I-15. Scary.

--Watched a cool movie about Ancient Egypt in school.

---Ate a huge awesome salad for lunch.

----Taught a really fun math lesson about problem solving.
----Met the new superintendent of the east side district.

-----Ate a huge chocolate bar doughnut and drank the most amazing apple cider ever!

------Saw Rocco get kicked off Dancing with the Stars.

-------Went to bed REALLY early!!! (technically, I fell asleep on the couch at 7:30, woke up at 9:30, watched a condensed version of DWTS, fell asleep in bed around 10)

.

8 Favorite Places to Eat:

-Cheesecake Factory

--Cafe Rio

---California Pizza Kitchen

----Olive Garden

-----PF Changs

------Chilis

-------Wingers

--------Applebees

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To:

-Fall Break
--getting Rusty completely trained

--Thanksgiving Break

---Christmas Break

----Baby Boy Dixon's arrival in late January!

-----Learning how to be a mommy (hopefully I'll be a fast learner!)

------June... school getting out

-------Jazz games and American Idol starting up again!

8 Things On My Wish List:

-*Everything* on my Babies R Us registry (only counts as one!!)

--to have lots of awesome baby showers

---Get to play a lot with our friends in the next few months before baby comes

----Get to SLEEP a lot before baby comes!

-----Finish the bathroom!

------Landscape the backyard!

-------Travel lots of cool places

--------Have Jay continue to do the dishes (like he does now) for life!

That was fun, you should try it too!

Addresses!

Hello friends, I need your addresses.
With baby showers and birth announcements in my future, I'm trying to compile a list now so I don't have to scramble later.
Don't assume I don't want and/or need your address. I want/need EVERYONE'S addresses!!! Thus the purpose of this blog.
Either just reply to this blog with your address or you can email it to me at ashley_dixon@hotmail.com.
Muchas Gracias!

Is it November 21 yet???? ((((((((TWILIGHT)))))))

I am such a 13-year-old girl.

Today a few of my fellow "young teacher colleagues" and I sat in the faculty room during lunch continuously watching the TWILIGHT movie trailer and giggling. Loud, obnoxious giggling for at least 20 minutes.

I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I loved the books. I am totally loving the guy they got to play Edward. He's exactly what I pictured Edward would be like.

Jay says I can't go back and read the first book again before the movie. He thinks if the book is too fresh in my mind that I won't like the movie as much.
I might sneak the book to school and read on my lunch break so he won't know.
We shall see.

NOVEMBER 21!!! Who wants to go with me?!?!?!

My Bittersweet Friday.

Yesterday was a very interesting day emotionally for me. I woke up, got dressed for work, and everything was relatively normal until I got in the car and started driving. I was about halfway there when that song from TARZAN came on the radio, "You'll Be In My Heart." I started crying as I remembered that it was October 3. If I hadn't miscarried last spring, October 3 would have been my due date.

I got to school and my wonderful coworker Trudy consoled me and reminded me that it was completely normal to feel sad about my loss. I guess I was kind of feeling guilty since I've got this healthy, overly-athletic baby bouncing inside me now and I felt like there shouldn't be room to be sad, but it was nice to hear from somebody that no matter what, you never really get over the pain that comes from losing a child at any stage of life.

So, school starts. I've pulled myself together and I'm ready for a very average Friday. I realize something is very odd in my classroom. My students are acting very strange, even for them! What is going on here??? I know that something fishy is going on.

I get called down to the office around 9:10. When I get back to my room at 9:15, it's covered in streamers and balloons. Cookies & soda line our reading table. There's a banner on the wall that says "It's a Boy!"

No freaking way... my class threw me a BABY SHOWER!! HA!!!!

My kids were so dang cute. About 8 kids had brought presents which I anxiously tore open as they watched. Blankets, teddy bears, baby lotions... I was ecstatic! It was exactly what I needed exactly when I needed it.

And thus the emotional rollercoaster of a pregnant 6th grade teacher continues...

New Haircut

I chopped my hair off today!!!
I didn't plan on going this short, but the funny quirky gay hairdresser talked me into it. I needed a change; my hair was so long and stringy and took hours to do every morning. I needed something shorter, easier, and faster. And even though this is not what I envisioned when I walked through the door of the hair place, I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!!! I'm so excited to play with it tomorrow!

I'm trying to get a pic on here, but I don't know how to resize it to fit! Grrrr!

http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee105/ashley_dixon_chattychick999/NewHaircut.jpg

Aaaw, How Sweet!!!

Isn't this the cutest thing you've ever seen?!? It makes me smile!

My first BYU football experience

Jay's grandpa turned 87 last week and said all he wanted for his birthday was to go to a BYU football game. He's a huge sports fan but has never been to a college football game. So Jay's parents bought 4 tickets: 2 for them, 1 for grandpa, and they figured either Jay or Andy (Jay's brother) could take the 4th ticket.

I'd better take this opportunity to mention that although Jay and I are big sports fans, we are NOT nor have we ever been BYU fans. I have a lot of friends that have gone to BYU; I have tons of friends that are die-hard BYU fans; but I have never been into it. Too many things about BYU just rub me the wrong way (I'd give details, but #1) I don't want to lose friendships and #2) I don't want this blog to be 8 miles long).

So when Jay's parents approached him with the ticket, he said he would go IF and ONLY IF they couldn't find anyone else.

Well, let's just say my in-laws are a little bit, umm, "slow".

Jay's brother Andy finds out and wants to go. This should be great news for us, right? But no. Jay's parents run out and buy TWO MORE TICKETS!!! *I guess you have to buy them in even numbers*. So now Andy & Jay could both go. Yippee Skippee. What didn't you understand about the whole "I'll go if I HAVE to go" part??

New problem: Who can fill the 6th ticket??
Me, also being "slow", I say: "I'll go if you can't find anyone else." Duh! Look what happened last time when Jay said that!!

Long story short, I get suckered into going to the BYU-Wyoming game Saturday.

It wasn't completely awful. As a matter of fact, here are my top 3 parts of the day:

1.) I got to eat a completely heavenly treat called a "Cougar Tail". It's basically a maple bar doughnut that's like 2 feet long. YUM!!!
2.) The dad 4 rows down that keeps lifting his 3 year old son in the air and letting him do cheerleader tricks, not to mention tossing him probably 10 feet in the air much to the crowd's enjoyment.
3.) The fight between 2 grown men about 8 rows down. A fist fight at BYU?? Gasp! It was entertaining for me though!

So YES my friends, I can now say I have been to a BYU football game.
Will I ever be a BYU fan? No. Will I ever go to another game again? Probably not.
But was it the most miserable experience of my life? Eh, not necessarily.

The *JOYS* of Pregnancy.

We are sooooo excited to have a baby. It's been a LONG time in the making and finally its here. So I hate to complain, but....

My BACK hurts
My HEAD hurts
My FEET hurt
My NECK hurts
My BELLY hurts (baby boy is getting stronger every day!)

I'm completely exhausted. Today was one of those days.
The good thing about today being miserable was that there's a 97.3% chance tomorrow will be much better.

A couple randoms...

I am listening to The Rainbow Connection by Kermit the Frog right now.

I hate laundry. Seriously. It's never ending. Washing & drying it isn't the problem; putting it away when it's done is.

My dog is so cool. He eats my shoes and throws up on our carpet and hides things under the bed... geez I love him so much.

Baby is moving every day now. It's the coolest feeling on Earth. He's still not strong enough to feel him from the outside... hopefully soon.

Speaking of baby, ready for names? Some of our ideas (and by "our" I mean MINE!) include Jay Christopher Dixon (I'd call him Topher) and Zachary Evan Dixon (Zac). I keep telling Jay to come up with more names but he's a slacker. He's come up with one name: Killer Instinct. How awesome is that?? Hi, my name is Killer Instinct Dixon. Heaven help me.

Jay got a new job, he'll start in 2 weeks. It's still with Sherwin Williams, now he'll be the Sales Rep for the entire Utah County area. Some job perks include a cell phone, a car, and unlimited gas!!! Woohoo!! A step up the Sherwin ladder!! We're stoked!

School is going good. I have 28 really cool kids. A couple trouble makers, but still funny kids and nothing I can't handle.

What else? I guess I'm done. Shoot, that means I have to go fold laundry. Blah.

IT'S A BOY!!!!!!

YAY!!! It's finally my turn to post results!!! I'm sooo excited!!!!

Well, after our u/s today it is official...

I'm joining Team Blue!!! My baby has a penis!!! AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!

No freaking way!!! I was like 90% sure I had a girl, but WOW was I fooled!!!!!

Jay is completely ecstatic!!! He's been praying every day for a little boy!!!

We are just so happy today. Everything went really well, the lady doing the u/s was totally cool. And you should've seen our baby!! Holy Cow! Flopping & Flipping and Diving all over the place!! He sure wasn't shy at all! His legs were spread eagle the entire time, like "Hey everybody, look at my big baby wang!!"
It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen. 10 fingers, 10 toes, we even saw little teeny ears sticking out!
Everything looks great, he's real big, measuring just over 20 weeks (I'm just over 19 weeks now).
The only sad thing is the pics didn't really turn out all that great. They're pretty fuzzy. But honestly, I am just so happy right now I couldn't care less!!!

Whodathunk it, eh?? I'M HAVING A BABY BOY!!!!!!

Reduced: 90% of original size [ 567 x 425 ] - Click to view full image

MOVEMENT!!!! Hooray!!!

Hi, I'm Ashley, better known as "that girl who keeps complaining she'll never feel her baby move."
Well guess what??

WE HAVE MOVEMENT!!!

I am sooo excited and all I wanna do is lay down and feel my baby all day long!!

Starting last Tuesday I began noticing little twinges but told myself it was probably all in my head.
It wasn't until Saturday morning that I was like, "OMG!! I KNOW that was the baby!!"
After I eat/drink I lay down on my back and can feel it. It's hard to explain, kinda like sudden little flicks of pressure. But I know that's my baby. I'm sooo happy!!!!!!!! After all that waiting, it was totally worth it!!! I'm so excited for it to get stronger and stronger so Jay can feel it, too!


P.S. Our BIG ultrasound is Thursday! Hopefully baby will cooperate so we'll know it we've got a HE or a SHE!!

The Hot Dog Hello

We just had our version of back to school night called The Hot Dog Hello. I suggested calling it the Weenie Welcome but got shot down.

Parents and students came, ate hot dogs, had a short meeting and met their teachers. I only had about 10 kids show up out of the 30 on my roster. But the night was still a success. Here are a few things I learned:

1.) Don't mix grapefruit juice with rootbeer and think it will taste good. It won't.

2.) People from New York are nice but talk really fast.

3.) She who has the candy makes the rules.

4.) 6th Grade Drama 101: Given the choice, do you stay in the cool teacher's class alone, or do you transfer into the not-so-cool teacher's class to be with your best friend? The agony!!!

5.) Birthday cake always tastes good no matter how old you are.

6.) I love Costco.

7.) I don't love floppy hot dogs.

8.) I am actually excited to start school on Monday!

Random Babbling.

*I just finished BREAKING DAWN. I don't know how I feel about the ending. Sort of anti-climatic for me. The highlight of the ending was Garrett's speech, totally awesome. Overall I completely loved the book. I cried, I laughed, I gasped, I cried, I cheered, I worried, I cried... Oh, and I cried. Fabulous.

*I'm just over 16 weeks pregnant now. I want to feel the baby move so badly, but I have a feeling I'm gonna have to suck it up and be patient. With all the crap that comes with pregnancy (fatigue, morning sickness, dizziness, and stretch marks just to name a few), it could always be worse... one thing is certain: I'm glad I've got a human baby inside me instead of a vampire.

*We've been watching the Olympics, mostly swimming, gymnastics, and beach volleyball. Those effing Chinese gymnast girls are SOOO underage. It makes me angry to watch them win medals. Oh sure, let's give the gold to a 13-year-old chinese cheater instead of the USA girls. Grrrrr.

*I have to go back to school next week and I'm kinda freaking out. I'm not ready!!! The official first day of school is August 25, only a week and a half away. What the H happened to summer?

Breaking Dawn.

I started reading it this morning. I'm only like 200 pages into it and completely obsessed! I can't believe how much I've bawled so far. I'm talking intense, uncontrollable sobbing.

I can't stand this confused feeling. I honestly have no idea what is going to happen. I can't even guess where it's going next.

If anyone wants to bring me a box of tissues, I'll be home for the next 12 hours (or however long it takes me to finish).

*And those of you who have finished the book are laughing at me right now.

Being Thoughtful

The optimist looks up and counts the stars;
The pessimist looks down and counts the cracks.

I'm PREGNANT.

No joke. It's for real.

I'm knocked up.

HOORAY!!!

I can't believe I held out this long without telling anyone! But after the unfortunate experience we had last time we thought it'd be best to wait as long as possible before breaking the news.

I'm 15 weeks along and due January 27. We're ecstatic and terrified.

We find out if it's a boy or a girl the first of September. I'm thinking it's a girl, but Jay prays twice a day for a boy. Either way we're pretty happy campers.

We heard the heart beat last week which was awesome.
I'm starting to get a big preggo belly which is pretty freaky.
And life is good.

Who will be the next American Idol? Not me!!

We got back from our 2 week California vacation. I'll post pics and more info when I get time.

I went to American Idol auditions today. I had to wake up at 3:00am to get ready and get to Salt Lake by 4:30am where we waited in line for maybe 3 hours. If you watched the morning news you might have seen me with Big Buddah, I was right there in front of the camera. Really cool.

They finally let us all in the building, we sang some group songs, filmed some shots, and I got to see Ryan Seacrest, Justin Guarini, and Jon Peter Lewis up close which was exciting. My section had to wait FOREVER to audition! We didn't get our chance until around 4:00pm. I was first to sing in my group and when I stepped up in front of those producers I guess I was more nervous than I thought because my mind went completely blank; I started singing and forgot my words!! Oh no!! So I had to start over! DAH!! Oh well, once I remembered the words I didn't do too bad. Unfortunately they told everyone in my group none of us were good enough to advance to the next round. I talked to a lady on the crew who told me that out of almost 7,000 auditioners only about 120 moved on to the next round, then they sing for producers again who cut it down to around 60, then those 60 get to go to Randy, Paula & Simon.
Only 120 out of 7,000??? Whew!! Let's just say A LOT of us got cut.

But I am so glad I went. It was seriously a ton of fun!!! I made a ton of new friends and we were so crazy and loud the entire time. The whole experience was totally worth it and I'm really happy I went through with it.

Memories.

I stole this from a friend...
1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you! Reminisce away...

We're leaving tonight.

Our trip officially starts at 8pm tonight when we go to spend the night in Spanish Fork. Then to Vegas. Then all over California.

We'll be gone 2 weeks til we get back to Utah.

Then the day we get back I go do American Idol tryouts.

Then the rest of the week I go to Girls Camp.

So basically I'll be totally MIA for about 3 weeks. But rest assured I'll have a big long blog to write when I get back!!

American Idol... Who's coming with me?!?

American Idol auditions in Salt Lake City!!!
Tuesday, July 29 @ the Energy Solutions Arena!!

I am going. 100% for sure. I always said if tryouts came to Utah I'd go. Not that I expect to go far, but I just think it would be cool to go be a part of it. One more life experience. One more thing I can say that I've done. If I don't go I know I'll regret it forever.

But I don't think it would be nearly as fun of an experience if I go alone.
It would be much more fun with friends!!

Sooo.... who wants in?! Come on!! You know you want to!

Jor, you need to be more specific with who you tag.

Jordan might have tagged me. I don't really know for sure. She tagged "Ash", but she has like 5 friends named Ashley, so maybe it wasn't me. Who knows? She never left a comment on my blog. Oh well. I'm doing it anyway.

How To Play This Game of Tag:Post these rules on your blog.List: 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 random surprising facts about yourself.Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog!


THREE JOYS
1. My weenie dog Rusty. I just love playing with him even though he's the neighborhood bully and terrorizes all the little kids and other animals.

2. Moulin Rouge. I watched it for the 97th time last night and remembered how much I adore that movie.

3. Summer! I am soo loving summer right now. I love being able to sleep in and just have time to do stuff.

THREE FEARS
1. the people I love dying
2. rubber bands
3. childbirth

THREE GOALS
1. Get my classroom done early in August so I don't have to stress out at the last minute.
2. Pay off debts/cut down spending.
3. Get better on the piano.

THREE CURRENT OBSESSIONS
1. Joe Jonas. Oh yeah, he's one of the Jonas Brothers. I am seriously such a 12-year-old girl.
2. The Food Network. I watch it at least 3 hours a day it seems like. My favorite is 30 minute meals w/ Rachel Ray. My other favorite is Semi-Homemade w/ Sandra Lee. My other favorite is Tyler's Ultimate. My other favorite is the Italian one with Giada. I have lots of other favorites too, Paula & Ina & Bobby... Yep, obsessed.
3. Temperature control. Now that it's summer and HOT, I am ridiculous at keeping the house a particular temperature at all times.

THREE RANDOM SURPRISING FACTS
1. I can juggle.
2. Despite my love of the Food network, I can't cook. I try, but usually fail.
3. I don't clean. I just don't do it. My house is disgustingly dirty at all times.

Okay, I'm tagging these five people:
Natalie
Kiersty
Tricia
Jen
Marie

good advice from The Sunscreen Song

Remember the Sunscreen Song? The one that came out like 10 years ago that feels like it's 8 minutes of some guy just giving advice?
I was cleaning out closets and found a bunch of my high school stuff. On a page in my scrapbook I have the words to that song. As I read over it I realize how much of it really is great advice. Here are a few of the parts I really like:

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and in the end it's only with yourself.

Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either - your choices are half chance, so are everybody else's.

Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.

Understand that friends come and go, but for the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.

Busy Weekend!

Okay, I don't know how to resize the pics to be smaller so you can see them. As soon as someone tells me how, I'll come back and edit them so you can see them better. I suck at this blogging stuff!!

Friday night we got a call from Jay's brother Andy saying that his wife Kati had gone into labor. This was a surprise cuz she wasn't due until June 25. She gave birth to their second child, another little baby boy at 12:04 am (meaning he just BARELY missed being a Friday the 13th baby!). They named him Kade and he weighed 7 pounds 3 ounces and was 20 inches long. We went to the UofU hospital Saturday morning at 7am to meet him. He's the cutest thing ever!!



Then Saturday night we went to Megan and Brian's wedding. Megan is my sorority sister and Brian is Jay's fraternity brother! It was fun because we got to see a lot of our old college friends that we don't see that often. The food was good and there was an open bar which was awesome, cuz hey, even though WE don't drink, it's always fun watching totally sloshed people on the dance floor! It was a beautiful wedding.

I hate bad news.

My mom called today. She told me that Shane Tripp died.

Shane was a friend of mine from high school/college. Well to be honest, we didn't really hang out a lot in high school, but our first year of college we were basically family considering I was dating his identical twin brother Scott. That entire year my life consisted of hanging out with Scott, Shane, and whichever girl Shane was dating at the time (the best was the summer while he kinda dated my best friend Jaclyn, the four of us had SO MUCH FUN together!)

Memories have been flooding my mind today: Lagoon, Lake Powell, Red Cliffs, SUU dances, late night Sonic runs, all-night-movie marathons, listening to Brian Regan over and over and over again until we could recite each line verbatim. I dated Scott cuz he was the sweet kind caring guy that I desperately needed at that time in my life, but Shane was the comic relief. Shane was always the trouble maker, the adventurous one. Man we had fun.

Unfortunately once Scott and I broke up and he left on his mission, I didn't really stay in touch with Shane. I kinda went off and lived my life in a totally different direction. I found Shane again a couple years ago on Myspace, but the occasional random comment was about all the contact we had. So I don't know why I'm so heartbroken over his death.
Maybe it's because he's only 24 and had so much ahead of him.
Maybe it's because I've never had anyone close to me die before.
I dunno. But I'm sad and I can't believe he's gone.

I've been MIA.

Wow. I haven't blogged on here for over a month.
I suck.
But honestly, do you even understand how completely CRAZY-BUSY the month of May is for teachers?? It's been NUTS!!
School just ended last week. Wednesday June 4 was our last day. Unfortunately I'm still going back every day to move into my new classroom. I have so much crap and I have no idea where it all came from!! I've only been teaching 3 years and by looking at my pile of teaching junk you'd think I'd been teaching 20 years!! I definitely have some downsizing to do.

What else is going on?
We went to VIVA SLC yesterday at the Gallivan Center, but it wasn't nearly as good as last years. I knew it wouldn't be. But on the upside, I'm REALLY looking forward to WARPED TOUR the end of the month. I've always wanted to see All-American Rejects, plus there's some other really good bands playing so that'll be fun.

I missed the Miss Lehi Pageant which I'm totally sad about, but the saddest part of all was that my good friend Natalie's little sister Noel was supposed to be in the pageant but got really sick and had to have emergency surgery. How bad does that suck?! You prep for a pageant for months and months and then don't even get to be in it?? Dah!! I am totally heartbroken for her. She totally would have been in the top 4 too, guaranteed. Why do bad things happen to good people? Character-builders? I don't know.

Anything else happening? Not really. Not that I can think of. Now that it's summer I should have a little more time so I'll try to blog more often.
**Not that anyone really cares about my "exciting" life. But oh well.

Don't be mad, Natalie!!

Nat gets mad at me when I don't blog for long periods of time, so I thought I'd better get on here and say something.

SOMETHING.

There you have it folks.
No but seriously, my kids finished their end of level science test today! WOOTWOOT! I think they all did pretty well too! Math and Reading are up next then we'll be done with testing! HOORAY! I hate stupid testing. I probably hate it more than my kids do.
Wish us luck!

Health Problems Hittin' Hard!

We've always been relatively healthy people... that is until this month! It seems like suddenly all these bad things keep happening! First was losing the baby which landed me in the emergency room at 4:00 am last week...

and now yesterday we took Jay to the E.R. thinking he might have had appendicitis! Yikes! He just had so much pain in his side that he could barely move!
They did a bunch of blood tests and cat-scan and all that and everything looked okay, so we went back this morning for his follow-up and they said everything still looked okay, just to take it easy for a few days and hopefully it will resolve itself.

But what is going on here!?? Neither of us have had health issues our whole lives and suddenly in one month we're averaging an ER visit almost weekly?! This needs to stop RIGHT NOW!! ARGH!

The V.L. Club Official Constitution

So I was cleaning the office and found the V.L. Club Official Constitution that I believe Jen wrote when we were like 13 or 14 years old. I laughed soooo effing hard! Here's what it says, word for word.


The V.L. (Virgin Lips) Club, also known as the Never Been Kissed Club, will follow the rules as constituted in this here Official Constitution of the V.L. Club.

A member of the V.L. Club must have never experienced an anatomical suxtaposition of two orbicularis muscles in contraction, in fewer words, touched lips with a member of the opposite sex (family members excluded).

Upon any experience of the sort a member of the club is immediately terminated from all club membership and impeached from any office the member may have held.

These rules are to be strictly enforced, UNLESS the experience fits into one of the following amendements:

AMENDMENT #1: Once a member has reached the age of 16 and remains V.L., the member automatically becomes a member of the V.L. Club for life. As of the the hour the member becomes 16 and has never experienced any lip touching they will be appointed a "Member for Life." Membership may now only be terminated by participating in one of the Forbidden Practices of the V.L. Club.

AMENDMENT #2: If the kiss experienced lasts no longer than 5.3 seconds, membership is fully intact.

AMENDMENT #3: If you have kissed only "one" boy, no matter the number of times you remain a member of the V.L. Club.

AMENDMENT #4: If the person you are having the kissing experience with makes the first move, membership remains intact, in full.

FORBIDDEN PRACTICES of the V.L. CLUB

V.L. Club Membership will be terminated immediately upon any of the following experiences, regardless of age.

FORBIDDEN PRACTICE #1: If there is the slightest tongue action involved in the kiss, the slightest at all, membership is immediately terminated, even if Amendment #3 has been followed.

FORBIDDEN PRACTICE #2: If a member touches lips with more than one boy, no matter the time between the two or more experiences, membership is immediately terminated.

FORBIDDEN PRACTICE #3: If anything happens beyond step 4 on the great 7 step list of Bishop Grant, the member is automatically impeached and needs to seriously consider talking to their own personal bishop. This takes effect even if Amendment #3 has been followed completely.


This constitution is to followed strictly by all members of the V.L. Club, there are no exceptions. If there are further questions please contact a member of the V.L. Presidency in your local chapter. THE END.

Not ready.

You'd think after over a week off of school I'd be ready and eager to get back.
Nope.
Not at all.
I've loved being home (well, not while I was in recovery, but other than that) I've loved being able to do laundry and cook dinner and watch an entire movie at one time. I've loved being able to just chill and take a nap or read a book or whatever I want.
The idea of going back to teach on Tuesday is terrifying.
I just have to suck it up and go and hope everything goes okay.
Wish me luck.

Is it summer yet?!? DAH!

A to Z tag

A - Attached or Single: attached.
B - Best Friends: It's hard to say. I wouldn't consider myself to have a best friend other than Jay. We have a lot of really great friends though!
C - Cake or Pie: How about ice cream cake from dairy queen!
D - Day of choice: Friday
E - Essential Item: Cell phone, chapstick, & gum.
F - Favorite Color: pink & red
G - Gummy Bears or Worms: Worms!
H - Hometown: Cedar City
I - Indulgence(s): right now it's Reeses PB Easter Eggs and girlscout cookies.
J - January or July: January is my birthday, but July is warm and sunny!
K - Kids: No kids yet. Working on it.
L - Life is incomplete without: Jay.
M - Marriage Date: October 9, 2004
N - Number of Siblings: 3. Brothers Scott & Russell and Sister Kristy
O - Oranges or Apples: Oranges all the way!!
P - Phobias or Fears: Spiders, rubber bands, losing loved ones.
Q - Quotes: "It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to your enemies, but a great deal more to stand up to your friends." --Albus Dumbledore
S - Season: SUMMER!
T - Tag Three Friends: Umm... Do I have three friends yet?? I guess I tag Kiersty, Jen, and Jordan.
U- Unknown fact about me: I can juggle.
V - Very favorite store: Old Navy.
W - Worst habit: lying. Not big lies, just little tiny embellishments on my stories. Most of my life is lived in "creative non-fiction".
X - X-ray or Ultrasound: ultrasounds. The ultrasounds I've been having lately aren't so great, but someday I'll love the ultrasound that shows me a healthy baby.
Y - Your favorite food: Hard to say, there's so many. Right now I'd say Olive Garden salad and apple cinnamon cheerios (not together!)
Z - Zodiac: Capricorn.

Sad News.

For those of you who didn't know, Jay and I found out the first of February that we were pregnant and due in October. Sadly, this is no longer true.

We are really devastated but trying to stay positive. I just keep thinking that God knows what the big plan is for us and He will take care of us. We're hurting and we don't really understand why, but we're trying to have faith and know that things will work out.
I'll be a mommy soon I hope!

Losing a baby is a difficult thing to go through but luckily we have amazing family and friends that have really rallied around us to help us through. I appreciate all of you for being such great friends.

Fun Pictures

This was a fun and crazy night at Natalie's house. We had a Miss America party and I was the lucky winner.




This night we were having a little too much fun!







Haha! We think we're funny!

New Blog

I made this blog for Ashley. I've been telling her for months to get a blog, but now she has no excuse! I'm expecting to hear lots and lots about her exciting life! :)

-Natalie