my husband is hot and talented.

Ya know how T graduated a couple of weeks ago?  He's already showing the company he works for exactly what he's worth (not that they didn't know that already...). 

Although he does do most of Arellia's finances, he juggles and wears a lot of different hats.  He loves it, which is one reason why he loves working for a small company.  He sees how the entire company runs and where his efforts are making a difference.

One of the hats that he gets to wear is being a graphic designer every so often with the company newsletters and now, designing the screen-printing of the company shirts in lieu of the new Arellia 8 product that's coming out!

And because I get my own personal photo shoot once a week with this belly of mine, I told him he had to show off his shirt a little.

He happily obliged his pregnant wife!

{front}

 {side- helloooo muscles!}

{back}

What a good sport.  I think he thought I was a teensy bit crazy when I told him to do these poses.  But hey, I'm pregnant and he can't tell me no right now.  It's like a rule for husbands who have pregnant wives.  I can only use that excuse for another couple of weeks.  Might as well use it while I can!

But for reals, is he not just so talented?  I think he rocks and I'm oh so proud of this man of mine.

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.

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!

4 years married to my best friend and lover.

Today we've been married for 4 years.

1,460 days to be exact.

4 years ago I arrived at the Bountiful temple with nervous flutters in my stomach, but oh so ready to be married to T.  After a year and a half of dating/engagement, we were pretty ready to just be married.  Our wedding day was perfect.  We kept it pretty simple and basic (due to the fact we got married in the middle of my student teaching and in the middle of the semester). 

The weather was awesome- sunny, cloudy, overcast, light sprinkles, and even a light snow at times.  It was fun to get pictures done with all the different weather going on!  AND props to my cousin who took our wedding pictures after having a baby less than 2 weeks before our wedding.  She rocks.

Our sealing was one of the most spiritual moments of my life.  Kneeling over the altar from my soon-to-be eternal companion and holding his hand was both humbling and exciting.  We were sealed by one of T's family friends in their stake.  Brother Sargeant gave us beautiful advice and made us laugh and cry.  I will never forget the moment we got our glimpse into eternity looking into the forever mirrors.  Our first kiss as husband and wife makes me smile thinking back on it.  T and I had both talked beforehand that our first kiss as a married couple would not be a wimpy peck.  Getting sealed for eternity meant sealing it with a dang good kiss.  At that it was!

I remember walking out of the bride's room in the Bountiful temple and walking out to meet T for the first time in my wedding dress.  He was sitting on a bench, leaning over with his hands clasped between his legs and looking at the floor.  He heard my heels on the floor and looked up and got the biggest grin on his face and just said, "Wow."

Walking out of the temple together and meeting our families was amazing.  We both couldn't stop smiling and laughing!

T's mom did a great job with our luncheon (we just showed up a little late due to having too much fun taking pictures!  Whoops...).  Our reception was fabulous.  My old catering teacher made our 3-tiered cake, my mom along with aunts and grandmas made some dang good food, and we got to reconnect and meet with some of the most amazing people.  One thing about our reception we'll never forget is the fact that we had people coming constantly.  They never stopped.  We never sat and hardly got to eat much!  We were both so grateful for the amount of time and money people spent to come see us and join us for our day.  It made it that much more special.  

Our cake was delicious.  The garter toss was rockin' and so was the bouquet toss.  

Then it was onto the honeymoon.  

Suffice it to say, we enjoyed ourselves.

Now, 4 years later, I still get nervous flutters in my stomach when T comes home from work.  Our marriage is soaring and we can't wait to meet this Baby Girl of ours.  It's amazing to look back on what we've done and accomplished together in the past 4 years and even more exciting to look forward to the future and see what's in store for us.  I may not know exactly what the Lord has in mind for us, but I do know I'll be doing it with my best friend at my side.

{engagement #1}

{engagement #1}

{engagement #2}

 {engagement #3}

{first picture as a married couple!}

 {a favorite}

 {we still need to make this one into a canvas...}

 {another favorite}

 {nose kisses}

 {T's hands.  They truly are the best hands. *sigh*}

{love.}

 {jumping.  my feet hurt pretty bad after this one!}

 {a top favorite}

Happy anniversary to the love of my life.  I hold every moment close to my heart.  We've had some struggles, we've been at odds sometimes, but man oh man has the good always overshadowed everything else!  Here's to my patient, caring, loving, and ever attentive husband and soon-to-be father.  

I love you and I always will.

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.

a late night antacid.

It happened.

"It" being heartburn.  I've never had it before and then last night it hit.  Like a train.

My poor esophagus burned for hours last night while I tossed and turned until T woke up and I very unpolitely asked/told him to go get me Tums.  Not exactly something I want to experience again.  

Suffice it to say, we were both nice and ornery at 2:00 a.m.  Not exactly the way we wanted to start the morning off...  

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...

29 weeks. shots, shots, and did I mention shots?

29 weeks has us sitting pretty.  My body has finally figured out this whole pregnancy thing (at least, for this week) and I don't have to take Unisom anymore or wake up with lower back pain.  Hoorah!  

I find myself accomplishing a lot during the day and getting a lot done at work and at home.  I'm staying on top of lesson plans and activities at school and the house is staying clean (props to the hubs for being supportive in helping it stay that way-thank goodness I married a man who likes a clean house and isn't a slob) AND planning and making healthy dinners.  We're pretty much rockstars down here in Apartment 5.

We also had our 28 week appointment last week!  All appointments from here on out will be in 2 week increments.  Gulp.

Baby Girl has a heart rate of 152 bpm and this belly of mine is measuring right on where it's supposed to.  I also got an updated Tdap shot at our last appointment.  T got off the hook again because his last Tdap booster shot was before his mission.  He's still got a few years before he has to get it updated.  Lucky duck.  

We also headed over to the hospital Outpatient clinic to get my blood drawn so they could give me my Rhogam shot 72 hours later.  Good news is- they didn't have to put it in my little tushie! Rather,  I got it in my shoulder muscle (apparently now you can choose which injection site you want).  So now, my right arm is sore from the Tdap shot and my left arm is sore from the Rhogam shot.  Even better news?  The nurse giving it to me was the B-E-S-T.  We were laughing like best friends when I left and she gave me a Bugs Bunny bandaid.  I do love the awesome bandaids I get after getting a shot.  Last time, I got a pink camo one.  

I am getting a little sick of getting poked and getting shots left and right.  No, I'm not complaining that we're pregnant.  I actually find myself very lucky and blessed to be carrying this Baby Girl of ours.  We have many friends who we love dearly and who we're closer than close to that have had a hard time conceiving a child.  Heck, that was our fear when we first started trying for a baby and nothing happened as fast as we wanted it to.  I wouldn't trade being pregnant for anything.  No sirreeee. 

But I will say that this pregnancy has made me face my biggest fears almost every 4 weeks- needles and doctors.  

I think I'm slowly getting over those fears.  Needles don't bother me too much anymore, I just stick out my arm and let them have at it and I love my doctor and her nurses.

Knock on wood.

Pregnancy has also brought about a few changes to our marriage.  I love seeing the father side of T's personality start to kick in and he's definitely got the whole "protective father and husband" thing down.  I don't think I could be treated any better than how he treats me (and how he always has treated me!).  He's the ever attentive husband, but gives me my space to still do things.  

For example, he doesn't treat me like an invalid.  Yes, he does expect me to take it easy when lifting and doing certain things, but he doesn't aggravate me and tell me I can't do something just because I'm pregnant.  I think it's my "I-Can-Do-Anything" Madsen genes kicking in when people tell me I can't do something.  Obviously I'm not stupid enough to endanger my own child by doing something the doctor has told me not to do while pregnant, but it's also not going to kill me or harm Baby Girl if I lift a gallon of milk or mop the kitchen floor.  I'm not usually one to sit back and "take it easy."  Even if pregnancy is an awesome excuse to use.  

Thank goodness this pregnancy is pretty healthy so far.  I'm not so sure a bedridden pregnancy would exactly be my cup of tea...

There have also been quite a few changes mentally, emotionally, and physically in our marriage.  Being the pregnant wife, I've gotta hand it to my husband.  He's one patient man.  He always has been, but I think I've really been testing his patience during some days of this pregnancy.  I'm sure it's gotta be hard to see your wife in tears over nothing and be able to smooth things over.  He's quite the catch and I'm ever so grateful that he's all mine.  

Baby Girl is pretty lucky to have such a cool daddy already. 

Even though I thought it wasn't possible, we're even more in love today than ever.  My love for this man is ever increasing at the end of every day.  

Perfect.

The St. George Temple is breathtakingly beautiful.

I loved the intimate setting inside and the friendly temple workers.

The stark white exterior against the blue sky was phenomenal.

Don't you think?

Then throw a hot hubby into the mix who's a heart-stopping kisser and the day becomes perfect.


I had to stick the sister picture in too...

Yes, we're related.

And we're okay with that.

Speak no evil. Hear no evil. See no evil.


Thank you, St. George, for a wonderful weekend.

The Princess and The Frog

Except in this case it's The Brain and The Toad.
And they're married now.
The Toad really did look like a princess and the Brain didn't look too bad himself.
But seriously, my sister was beautiful!


Yep. They're awesome.
And it was kinda cool to basically handpick my brother-in-law.
I should set up a matchmaking business.
I'd make bank.

Oh, and guess what?
Today I had an interview with a government official.
I thought I was getting audited.
Turns out he was only doing a background check for a friend of mine.

Who knew that the government did that for anyone who works in the Department of Homeland Security?

That was a cool experience.

This Is a Wink Directed To You, T

Sometimes, it's easy to get lazy about your relationship.

Sometimes, there's so much going on and you kinda-sorta-definitely expect your spouse to read your mind because they are with you all the time so shouldn't they just know what you are thinking and how you don't want to do that or do this or can't we just go to sleep tonight because I am really tired and how I have too much to do to go on a date right now or how about we order pizza because cooking takes too much time.

Yeah, I do it, too.

But you know what? My husband may or may not just be the best communicator in the history of marriage. He is continually making sure our marriage is on the right track and that the two of us are understanding each other and feeling loved.

Before I met T, I was not the most selfless person out there. I thought I knew what charity, love, and compassion were before I met him. Obviously not. I'm learning that what is important to T should be important to me. I've never had better communication with someone else in my entire life (which in itself is a giant feat for me). T has taught me that my thoughts, ideas, needs, are important and that he wants to hear them; just like I want to hear about every little detail he does.

Everyday I ask myself, "What did I do to deserve such an incredible man?" Today I realized that everyday I should be asking myself,

What do I need to keep doing in order to deserve this incredible man?

I love you, my lover.

New Adventures

Remember all of those posts of complaining about BYU and the classes there?

Well, those days are over!

I am officially graduated!

T was there of course, along with my family and his parents. It was great to have that support from everyone and to see some old friends there also!

These two girls were my lifesavers during my 2 years in the elementary education program.
Thank you to Julie and Lisa.

After the graduation, my Grandma let me and my two cousins who also graduated, have a party at her house. Doesn't my grandma just look like she's the most fun woman ever?

The day after I graduated, one of my best friends got married. After the sealing, we went to grab our shoes from the lobby.
Mine were there.
T's weren't.
Apparently someone decided to walk off with his shoes, thinking they were theirs.
So T walked around the Temple grounds in his socks and drove home without any socks.
An hour before the reception started, we bought T some new shoes and didn't have to go to the reception shoeless.

Us on the Temple grounds.

Isn't my husband just so good looking?!
We're excited for this new adventure in our lives as my job search begins and T starts a new job.

Life is great!