happy hot mamas day.

Every Mother's Day, my family gets together at Uncle Todd's and eats a delicious dinner.  All of the men contribute to making dinner (though this year Uncle Todd decided to do it all on his own...).

This year we ate orange chicken, meatballs, egg rolls, potato salad, chicken salad croissants, asparagus, corn, and cookies for dessert.  And my favorite drink.  You can't forget my favorite drink mixture that Uncle Todd makes.  He spoils us all rotten when he makes food!

Grandma Madsen even got to come over this year and spend dinnertime with us until her oxygen started running out!

We definitely all enjoyed the food.  Especially Grandma Billings.  Uncle Todd made all of her favorites this year, I don't think I've ever seen her eat so much and go back for seconds... and thirds.  

Mama and the Brain...

Two awesome women in our lives.  They're both extraordinary in the service and love they give.  They're selfless with their time and energy and would do anything for anyone.

They're the perfect examples of how a mother should be.

These gals are my besties.  Baby Girl is going to have some incredible aunts (including T's sisters!) fighting over her all of the time.  She's already been spoiled rotten by both sides of the family and I can't wait to see her bond with both sets of grandparents and aunts and uncles!

We had to get a picture of the man behind the camera for most of the day.  He was a good sport to take pictures while I chowed down on food and yumminess.

Toad and the Brain.

After Uncle Todd's, we went over to mom and dad's to give mama her gifts.  We bought her a rocking moose this year and Toad and Myst put it together (thank goodness someone remembered to!).  She was pretty surprised and loved it.  Good thing my sisters are the geniuses behind the Mother's Day gift this year.

We were sad that Melanie wasn't there this year, but at least we got a picture with 4 out of the 5 girls in the family (soon to be 6 girls!).  My mama is one incredible woman who is beautiful on the inside and out.  She's a natural beauty who doesn't makeup and has always taught me to be confident in who I am and how God made me.  She magnifies her church callings and her calling as a mother, wife, and daughter.  It seems like her energy never runs out- she could give the Energizer bunny a run for its money!

She's been my rock during this pregnancy and I can't wait to see her become a grandmother.  Both she and Mama Becky are going to be the best grandmothers for Baby Girl- which is why Baby Girl's middle name will be the same as both of our mothers (who share the same middle name!).  It couldn't have been better if we'd planned it that way!  Now to only figure out what Baby Girl's first name will be...  

We can't forget about Mama Becky!  She's always either laughing or smiling.  She absolutely loves life and embraces it wholly with optimism and love.  She always has a new "favorite" song and couldn't love her family more.  She's one incredible woman. 

So Happy Mother's Day to both our Mamas!  T and I reminisced about both our moms today during church and as we watched some of the Mormon Messages about mothers.  We both have fond memories of growing up with mothers who showed their love for us in countless selfless acts and we only hope to follow their examples when Baby Girl gets here.  

Happy Mother's Day to both of our Hot Mamas!

38 weeks {and approximately the size of a small whale. maybe a ship.}

I think I've gained at least 5 pounds since last week.  No joke.  This belllay is getting humungo and we're packing on the pounds!  Suffice it to say that I'm getting ready to have Baby Girl out.

I talk to her every morning on my way into work about how if she really wants to come early, she can only come the weekend before she's due (4 days early).  No earlier.  

I'm only taking two days off before she's officially due and I refuse to make anymore sub plans for my class while I'm gone.  I don't see how other teachers take their full 6 week maternity leave and do sub plans for a sub.  It's been exhausting planning my regular days along with the last 2 weeks for a sub!  

Add in end of year testing, and getting my standards reports in before this kid comes and I get a little grumpy.

And the fact that I have an entire classroom to clean out and pack up as much as I can so I don't have to do too much after Baby Girl comes.  And yes, T and I have decided that I'll take at least a year off of teaching.  I'm officially not going back to teach at Rock Canyon next year.

That fact alone has made the past couple of months a little hard.  It's hard to not feel pushed out of your job or the workplace that you've worked so hard at (especially with the pregnancy emotion rollercoaster going on) when you announce you won't be working the following year.  I'll be the first to admit that this year hasn't been my best teaching year.  I had to accept the fact that my energy levels just weren't up to par, but I don't think my students have suffered for it!  I've made sure of it!  These kiddos are ready for 3rd grade (with the exception of a couple tricky ones).  And that, in itself, is quite the accomplishment for any teacher to be able to say.  Much less one who is pregnant.  

It's a little bittersweet, but definitely for the best.  I'll certainly miss teaching and I wonder what on earth I'll be doing at home that will be productive besides feeling like a cow (yes, yes, I know I'll be feeding our child and raising her, it'll just be an adjustment).  BUT I know that T and I want to be the ones who raise our children.  Not a family member, a friend, or a random daycare stranger.  We decided to bring this baby into the world, so it's kinda our responsibility to make sure she turns out to be a decent person!

Our last prenatal class was last night- a whole 2 hours on breastfeeding.  Interestingly enough, it was interesting!  We both learned a little and T says he's grateful to understand a little bit more about what will be happening with my body.  I am too!   

{yoga pants and comfy shirts are becoming my regular home attire...}

We may have felt some Braxton Hicks contractions lately, but they're pretty mild.  I don't even notice them.  I do feel my belly get tight sometimes during the day, but I always think it's just Baby Girl pushing up against my belly.  So who knows if it's actually contractions?  

No matter what, this kid needs to remember she has to stay in for another 1 1/2 weeks.  T keeps trying to convince her to come earlier.  She's totally going to listen to her mother.  Not her father.

Right, Baby Girl?

Sleeping is a little hard about every 3 nights or so.  It's not that I'm uncomfortable, my body is actually doing pretty well at night!  The silly problem is that I wake up around 4:00 with the wretched "Let It Go" song from Frozen stuck in my head.  My students sing it every. single.  day.  I've come to detest the song because it's keeping me up at night!  I snapped at Tyler the other day when he started singing it as a joke to get me to smile.  Let's just say that song isn't allowed in our house anymore!  I'd ban it from my classroom, but I think I'd have a mutiny on my hands.

These past two weeks have also made me realize I have a problem.  An unhealthy addiction actually.  

Ice cream.

It's my downfall.  Ice cream in any form these days is much appreciated.  Waffle cone form with two scoops of ice cream is best.  Though the ice cream sandwiches T brought home yesterday were quite tasty too.  They might be my new favorite.  Ice cream makes me happy.  

And so does a good-looking husband.  Who, bytheway, has exercised almost every weekday morning of this entire pregnancy.  I made him promise he wouldn't gain any sympathy pregnancy weight so he could be my motivation during the summer to lose some baby weight.  He's definitely kept his promise because he looks goooood!

Exhibit A:

Yep, I got lucky with this one!

He even made asian chicken with an asian salad last night.  He's made this pregnancy as easy as possible for me.  Not many women can say their husbands come home after their own long day of work and roll up their sleeves to help make dinner and do the other household chores around the house.

He's a keeper.

bits and pieces of the weekend.

Last weekend was busy busy!  T and I couldn't have been home more than an hour here and there.

On Friday my incredible colleagues threw me an awesome Baby Shower at school.  They had cute little pinwheel sandwiches, waffle cups with yogurt and fruit in them, chips and salsa, and yummy brownies and drinks.  They went all out and I'm ever so grateful for them!  Susan, Debbie, and Danielle have been my besties since I started teaching and I couldn't have asked for better teammates.  We definitely had to learn how to work together, but they really bent over backwards to make this shower nice for me.  

They were gracious enough to skip over the baby games (by my request...) and after everyone ate, we opened gifts!  And my oh my did we get some of the cutest stuff from the faculty and staff at Rock Canyon!  Blankets, baby girl clothes, diapers, wipes, and cute little stuffed animals were among the awesomeness we were given.

My parents even came to support me at the school shower.  Something they definitely didn't have to include in their already busy schedules, but that did because they're cool like that.  Even my Dad showed up!

Cierra, my buddy and friend who used to vacuum my room so nicely, brought her bird with her so he wouldn't have to roast in the car.  It took a liking to my Dad.  It stayed on everyone else's finger when we held it, but it climbed right up behind my Dad onto his shoulder.

Cute.

Tyler and I convinced my parents to let us take them out to Tucano's to celebrate my late birthday and Dad's birthday on Monday.  They needed a break.  They've been putting in overtime taking care of both sets of grandparents, working, doing their busy church callings, and attempting to leave time for themselves and other things.

I don't know how they do it all nor do I see how they stay so happy.  But they do.  And they hardly ever complain. 

I think we enjoyed ourselves a little too much at Tucano's this time around.  Surprisingly enough, T was the first one to get full.  That never happens!  Baby Girl certainly got her fill of iron that day.

 After a scrumptious dinner, we walked the Riverwoods in search of a birthday gift for Mama Becky's birthday on Easter.  It was a relief for all 4 of us to just be walking with nowhere certain that we had to go or be.  It was nice.

Saturday was spent at the Baby Shower my family threw for us.  We got PLENTY of clothes for this little one to start out with and some other fun essentials we were hoping for.  We went and picked up the Stroller/Carseat travel system with the money we'd been getting and saving, along with a few other items we found coupons and deals on.  

Easter morning brought a battle of the Easter Egg Roll between T and I.  We usually join in with my family, but this year we did it between the two of us so we could head up to the Kussee's for Easter dinner.

Let it be known I've never won the Easter Egg Roll in my 25 years of living on earth.  I was convinced that this would be my year.  T was going down...

That obviously did not happen.  My darn egg cracked and T came out the winner.

Next year.  Next year.

After a great Stake Conference, we headed up to the Kussee's for yummy food and to celebrate Mama Becky's 50th birthday!  Papa Kris took us out for a Sunday Drive in his "new" bug.  T and Papa Kris have a thing for Volkswagon Bugs and I was in heaven.  A sunday drive?  In a red bug?  Can't get much better than that.  

I've always wanted a red bug.  I asked for one for my 16th birthday and my mom got me a toy-size version.  Maybe I can convince Papa Kris to give it to me down the road...

We got to visit with the rest of the family and see how much Baby Dylin has grown!  Sometimes a sunny day and good company is the perfect way to spend a Sunday.  Especially Easter Sunday!

We had a fabulous weekend with family and friends.  

Only 4 weekends left until Baby Girl is here!

a conglomeration of a birthday, spring break, conference, and IKEA

It's Spring break this week.  

And it has been greatly needed.  Getting enough sleep and being able to finally give into my nesting urges has done wonders for this baby mama this week.  

T, of course, was included in the baby plans as usual.  We made our last IKEA run today and setup the last of the baby room.  With the exception of a changing pad and the crib mattress, Baby Girl's nursery is finito!  Finally.  

We're hoping to that we'll can cover the last costs of the essentials (i.e. the carseat and stroller and crib mattress) with what we get from our Baby Showers next week.

We're kinda excited.

AND I went shopping for baby quilt material with my buddy Dana who's making the baby quilt for us.  She kinda rocks and I'm super excited about what she's doing for it.  It's going to be awesome!

{soft serve ice cream at IKEA for $1 total?  Yes, please!}

I also celebrated a birthday last week.  It was a hard week, which made for an ornery and emotional Jamie on her birthday.  But I had my awesome colleagues take me out for some Cafe Rio and make me a neat-o sign in front of my classroom door.  

T also made me a sign at home, bought me yummy mini Cocoa Bean Cafe cupcakes, AND a fruit bouquet from Edible Arrangements.

Can you tell I'm pregnant and really just wanted some good food for my birthday?

He even made me crepes Saturday morning with toppings galore.  I pigged out and probably gained a couple pounds.  

T got to go to the Priesthood Session with his Dad and brothers.  He loved it.  They don't get to hang out very often with the four of them.

 {Papa Kris and Kole}

{Nanner and T}

My favorite thing this Spring Break so far, though?  Visiting one of my favorite people and heroes.  My Grandpa has had a tough couple of months and is definitely making some improvements and getting more optimistic.  

This is the man who took me on some of my very first fishing trips, taught me how to have a close relationship without even needing to talk to the person sitting in the boat next to you, and taught me pure, unselfish love.

He's always been one of my favorites.  Always.  I feel like we have similar personalities at times when I just like to listen to the conversations going on rather than have to contribute to them.  We're both listeners.  We both love a good joke and we looooove chocolate.  

I've always had a special bond with this man and it's no big secret that we're each others favorites.  Who else would've gotten this guy to go on a walk outside for the first time in months (okay, so maybe my mother had a great deal of influence on that too...)? 

It was a great day talking with him about my Aunt Carey's birth (he says there's not much to tell since he wasn't allowed in the delivery room back then, BUT the doctor didn't show up until after Carey was born.  Someone else had to deliver her), watching parts of a basketball game, talking about fishing, eating chocolate shakes (compliments of my mother who makes one for him every. single. day.), and enjoying the sunshine. 

If you've never met this man and don't get to hang out with him, you've led a sad, sad life...

Happy Spring Break... it's not over yet!

Oh, and Danie and Dustin left this week.  I still don't like to talk about it.  It makes me cry and pregnancy hormones really kick in.

Cali is lucky to have them.  Provo sucks without them now.

sometimes even your favorite food can't make you feel better.

This week's been a tough one.

Even my leftover mac and cheese didn't hit the spot at lunch today.

Call it pregnancy hormones, but the tears just keep on-a-comin'.  But God makes us so we're able to withstand the storms and do hard things.  Even if we're tossed around a bit in the process.  

Tomorrow will be better.

anniversary.

Our 4 year anniversary was perfect for where we're at in our lives right now.  We decided that for this year we'd keep it pretty low-key compared to other years where we've gone to places like Daniel's Summit and gone snowshoeing, Johnson's Mill (where we honeymooned and spent our first anniversary), or the Castle Creek Inn and enjoyed yummy chinese cuisine.

This year, we settled on Apartment #5 in Provo, UT.  We stayed home!  And hey, we've only lived here for a couple of months so far so it's pretty much a new place to stay at anyways.  

We started the morning off with yogurt and granola parfaits (compliments of T) and exchanging gifts.  Every year I expect to give T his gift the evening of our anniversary, but every year he's too excited to give me mine so we end up exchanging the morning of!

This year, T handed me one incredibly thoughtful gift.  An "angel caller" necklace similar to this one.  Baby Girl was kicking at it all day long.  It has the most beautiful little chime/bell sound in the ball and it will be fun to see Baby Girl play with it and listen to the familiar sound when she's outside the womb.  

T does a pretty awesome job with surprising me with thoughtful gifts.  He knows I'm all about the thought behind a gift.

With that in mind, I handed him my super thoughtful gift of running shoes (that he picked out last week!).  At least it was my idea to get him shoes.  He needed some badly.  

We both headed off to work and I rushed home to get some of the house chores done and put up a sign before T got home.

T walked in the house while I was finishing cleaning the toilet.  Yep.  Super romantic, right?  He had a beautiful bouquet of flowers in his hand and I was holding a toilet brush.

Nonetheless, we both laughed and I got to smell my flowers.  He'd put in the order a while ago and made sure there were certain flowers in the bouquet that the knew I'd like.

Man is he a keeper!

Then it was off to Texas Roadhouse for some grub.  We definitely could've gone somewhere a little more romantic, but we both were in the mood for some down home cookin' and some meat!

It was actually pretty busy for a Wednesday night at 6:00, so we were happy we called ahead and got a reservation.  We were seated and served by the nicest waitresses (who got a nice tip from us at the end of the night) and we pigged out on peanuts.

Then they brought out the famous Texas Roadhouse rolls and we pigged out some more...

In lieu of our anniversary (and our very first date where I almost died of embarrassment eating onion rings in front of T), we ordered the Bloomin' Onion Appetizer.

Mmm hmm!  Yum!

Then came our main dishes.  The waitress handed T my order.  I think she saw the stack of ribs and BBQ chicken with a side of mashed potatoes and immediately thought it must be the mans dinner.

Nope, sorry.  Hand it over to the pregnant lady!

[and these were dang good ribs!  I only shared a bite or two with T...}

T ordered the roadkill steak with steak fries.

No worries though, we both ordered our salads beforehand too.  We got our rabbit food in.

We spent the meal laughing and talking about our past 4 years.  It's always fun to review the past and how we both think the years have gone.  Holding hands with T across the table always makes me excited to see where the future takes us.  I know we've had some difficult times that has brought us both to tears, but man oh man have we had some goooood times that we've made incredible memories with!

Happy 4 years to us!  Here's to seeing the exciting changes year 5 is going to bring!

happy st. paddy's day.

We wore our green today.  T would make any excuse to wear his TMNT shirt to work any day.  

Our St. Paddy's day was pretty uneventful, albeit super windy, day.  

Until we got home that is.

You see, my mom would always, without fail, color our food for every holiday.  St. Patrick's day was no exception.  She went all out.  Even the mayo on our sandwiches would be dyed green.  I'd get some pretty strange looks when I'd pull my sandwich out of my lunchbox in elementary school. 

So it's always pretty natural to me to turn food colors on holidays.  T's gotten used to it and actually gets pretty into with me now.  What a good sport.

Homemade mac and cheese was on the menu for tonight... we even added some green dye to the milk while it was cooking so it would turn the noodles and the cheesy sauce all green.  

It was kind of our best idea ever for St. Patrick's day.  Add a bit of broccoli to the mix and we were set for one yummy dinner!

T's contribution was green milk in a green cup.  You can't forget that.

 Sportin' our green and eatin' our green food.  Holidays are our favorites.

Events not pictured include FHE with some of our favorite friends and mint chocolate chip ice cream cones for dessert.  One of these days I'll remember to take pictures with them amongst all of our talking and fun...  

AND T finally shaved off his week-long spring break growth.  I'm sure if we would've given it another couple of weeks he would have had quite the beard.  

He is one attractive stud- clean-shaven or otherwise.

Today isn't the only day I consider myself a pretty lucky girl.

culinary masterpieces, school updates, a passed test, and a lot of love.

Sometimes life can be overwhelming.

Sometimes getting ready for a baby can be overwhelming.

Sometimes my teaching career and T's job can be overwhelming.

Sometimes our church callings and responsibilities can be overwhelming.

This past weekend we found that we need to really try to take some time out for each other and focus on our marriage sometimes.  Because sometimes, we let the overwhelming parts of our lives completely take over every other moment of our lives.

We're definitely a work in progress.  No, our lives are not perfect.  Nor would I want them to be.  This weekend I've finally realized I'm kind of a crummy communicator when it comes to my marriage relationship.  Now Tyler, he's pretty amazing at communicating.  Me?  Sometimes I bottle things up and let them explode once they all add up.  

I'll tell ya now, that's not exactly the correct way to communicate ones feelings.

I'm workin' on it.  And T is being patient.  As always.  I married a good one.

On another note, this school year is whizzing by!  It's almost mid-March already and my students are ready for their Quarter 3 testing already!  Say what?!  I feel like we just finished Quarter 2!

Some activities as of late have been related to geometry and shapes...  

Some of their ingenius ideas crack me up... Like the monsters with side ponytails or bright orange hair?  Yeah, these kiddos of mine are hilarious.

Speaking of school, I passed my teaching relicensure Praxis 2 exam!  Otherwise known as the test from hell that put a good strain on our marriage and my career for a good month or so. 

I overstressed way too much for this dang test.  My poor husband put up with many weekends of stress, studying, and meltdowns.

However, it DID pay off.  Take a look at these scores...

Why yes, the highest score you can get is 200.  And why yes, I did get 190 on it.  I somehow aced it.  I seriously thought I'd be borderline passing it.  What a relief that it's over and I don't have to retake it.  I'm quite proud that I passed and that all my hard work paid off.  That's for sure.  It's always a good feeling to do something hard and be successful.  I just need to work on be happier throughout the journey to success... at least my teaching license is updated and ready to go for the next 5 years!  

T and I have also been cookin' up a storm lately!  We tried some crispy cheddar chicken on a bed of string beans (that's me attempting to bust out some chef vocabulary) the other day and it had some seriously good flavor.

And then T spoiled me for breakfast last week and made homemade crepes.  I mean, really?!  A man who can make a good crepe is hard to come by.  We filled those babies up with toppings like strawberries, blackberries, pineapple, peanut butter, syrup, whipped cream, powdered sugar, and even a banana or two.  

I think I know what I'm requesting for my birthday breakfast...

And because no blog post is any good without a picture of one or the both of us, here's what usually happens when we attempt nice pictures...

I love T's crinkly eyes in this picture.  Because even though he looks decent and smiley, you can tell he's holding back a laugh that would have him doubled over and cracking up.  It's times like these ones that I want more of and I need to make the effort to make T laugh just as much as he makes me laugh.

FYI: The day we were married T promised he'd make me laugh every single day of our marriage.  Guess what?  He hasn't failed yet.

We also just bought our first piece of baby furniture.  We finally found the perfect dresser to use for a changing table on KSL and it's adorable.  We'll paint it this weekend along with a handful of other projects to prep for Baby Girl.  This is suddenly becoming more real...

a perfect holiday.

T and I love holidays.  Maybe a little too much.  We especially love extending our favorite holidays.  Valentine's Day being one holiday that's easy to extend.  

We started a little early on Thursday night.  T wanted to cover the actual day of Valentine's this year and I wanted to do something, so I did a pre-Valentine's meal.

Complete with top sirloin steak (grilled to perfection) and a side salad and chocolate-covered strawberries for dessert.

Yum.

The morning of Valentine's Day, T sent me a beautiful bouquet of flowers to school.  Last year, he sent some and the delivery man couldn't figure out the address (since it was to the elementary school) and ended up dropping it off at a random house across the street from the school.  Luckily, the people living there had heard my name before at the school and brought the flowers over the next day.

Still, T was a little upset.  The flower company was super nice about it and gave him a nice gift certificate to make up for it.

This year, my flowers got delivered to the school right on time with a wonderful note.  

Score one for the hubs.  And T always remembers that I'm not a big fan of red roses on Valentine's Day.  I love the look of red roses and I have nothing against them, I just think they're tacky on Valentine's Day for me.  I have a sister and friends who love red roses on Valentine's day and I think it's perfect for them- it's just not my cup of tea on Valentine's.  And for T to remember that, it's even more special to get a beautiful arrangement like the one he got me this year.

The part of the night I was looking forward to most was dinner.  T sent me a "menu" of food topics a couple of days before Valentine's Day and I got to pick one out.  He definitely picked my favorite food topics which made it hard to decide.  Picnics, chocolate, Italian, and Texas yumminess are all my favorites.  

Suffice it to say, he did good.

Mmm hmm... a man in the kitchen always looks good.

Always a good sight to see in the evening.

{see the roses on the table?  Those were for getting through my test last weekend.  Fresh flowers at home are always my favorite.}

Always.  

Especially when this man of mine has been so excited to make the meal he'd planned.  He definitely had some fantastic plans up his sleeve...

His masterpieces that he created for the night?

Chicken Crostini's with melted Provolone

Lightly toasted bread with Olive oil

and Mini Wonton Lasagna's

Oh my was this pregnant lady happy.  Every single bite was delicious goodness in my mouth.  I mean, this guy really outdid himself this year!

Happy Lover's Holiday.  

Mine was awesome.