Hazel's going to be a . . .

Todd and I are jumping out of our skin dying to announce our great news. I am pregnant! I am 11 weeks along. We were planning to wait until the first trimester ended, but we can't stand it a second longer. We are so stoked to have another delicious baby in our family. I am due December 31st, so all bets are on for whether or not we'll get a 2010 tax deduction. ;)

If you've been having a hard time getting ahold of me in the early afternoon, it's because I take a nap every single day while Hazel snoozes. I absolutely would not survive without that respite. I have been a lot more tired this pregnancy, but in all other ways it has been an easier first tri. We'll see how the rest of the journey goes!

"Keep Me Even!"

I've got a slight obsessive-compulsive tendency to be even. It has plagued me my whole life. I remember walking home from elementary school concentrating on taking three steps in each sidewalk square- whether or not the square was the appropriate size for three steps - so that my left and right feet would get equal opportunity to walk behind and in front of the sidewalk cracks. When I passed a crack that was especially big or thick, I had to walk in place for a couple of steps to give both feet equal opportunity.

I've still got it. When Todd kisses my neck, I make him kiss the other side, too.

Something happened today that makes me wonder if Hazel may have inherited this trait from me. (Heaven help her.) Both of her bottom front teeth broke through her gums.

It pleases me to think they will probably grow at a similar rate and be even in her mouth, instead of one being taller than the other. Am I crazy?

Confession

Blue has been my favorite color for as long as I can remember.

But green has been creeping up on it for years.

I've been in denial for quite some time now; when asked my favorite color, my response has been blue, but that green comes in a close second. I haven't been able to admit what has become the truth.

Until now.

I've got to post it, make it official and public, so I can stop fooling myself.

I'm in love with green.

There. I said it. And it's true. Sorry, Blue. But you're a close second!

Celebrating the Love of My Life

Today is mine and Todd's four year wedding anniversary. Kind of a bummer that we're not together, but at least Todd will be here in just seven days!
In honor of the occasion, I have made a compilation of interesting facts about us, each with four answers, one for each year we've been married. Some are quirky, others more serious - they are all a part of the experience.

Songs We Always Bust Out Singing to Each Other:
(Please enjoy the links to the music videos!)
1. Straight Up - Paula Abdul
2. Elvira - Oak Ridge Boys
3. Love of a Lifetime - Firehouse
4. Wind Beneath My Wings - Bette Middler

Fun Places We've Been Together:
1. New York City
2. Hawaii

3. Scipio
4. San Diego

Pet Names I Call Todd:
1. Babe
2. Lover
3. Hottie
4. Todd Floyd

Ways We've Celebrated Our Anniversary:
1. Power parachuting in St. George (honeymoon)
2. Sunset sail in Santa Cruz (one year)

3. Kayaking at Morro Bay (two year)
4. Weekend in New York City (three year)

Things Todd is Really Good At:
1. Running
2. Taking breathtaking pictures
3. Basketball
4. Working hard

Activities We Love to Do Together:
1. Read books - I read aloud, Todd listens (especially great for road trips)
2. Body boarding at the beach
3. Indoor rock climbing

4. Traveling

Physical Features of Todd's That I Love:
1. Dimples that only come out when he really smiles
2. Gorgeous eyes

3. Washboard abs
4. Big, strong shoulders

TV Shows We Like to Watch Together:
1. 24
2. The Office
3. Lost
4. Gilmore Girls - it's true! One of Todd's most embarrassing moments was during lunch break while working at Lockheed, when a girl mentioned she was excited to see what happened on Gilmore Girls that night, and, without thinking, Todd chimed in and said he was, too. Imagine the looks he got from all the other guys! Ha ha ha!

Things I Nag Todd About:
1. Did you take a shower today?
2. Come eat your dinner while it's still hot.
3. When's the last time you flossed?
4. Please, please, please, let me get the tweezers and pluck the hair on your ears!

Attributes of Todd's That Made Me Fall in Love With Him:
1. Persistence/very goal-oriented
2. Adventurous (he had just joined the Skeleton club when I met him)

3. Good cook - his crock pot roast really put my mac and cheese to shame!

4. He's the Nicest Guy in the Universe. I kept waiting for him to let the guard down and be a regular guy (you know, sometimes they can be jerks) but it NEVER happened. It was hard to believe he was sincerely such a good person. Once I figured out it wasn't an act, there was no way I was letting this guy out of my sight!

Todd, I love your guts.

Quiz: Take Four

4 Random Things I Love About My Husband:
1. He flirts with me all the time
2. He's easy to brag about, because he does cool things all the time
3. I LOVE how he smells right after he puts on his deodorant - it makes me go crazy
4. He drools over tools, but hardly owns any

4 Jobs I've Had:
1. Daycare supervisor
2. Burger flipper at the Cougareat (BYU food court)
3. Early morning custodian at BYU - cleaning urinals is always fun, but especially at 5 AM
4. Teacher - easily the best job ever

4 Movies I've Seen More Than Once:
1. Princess Bride
2. Deja Vu
3. Arsenic and Old Lace
4. Pirates of the Carribean

4 TV Shows I Watch:
1. Lost
2. The Office
3. American Idol
4. Gilmore Girls

4 Places I've Been:
1. Oahu, Hawaii
2. The Bahamas
3. New York City
4. Seattle, WA

4 Places I've Lived:
1. Provo, UT
2. Mountain View, CA
3. Enterprise, AL
4. Midway, UT

4 Favorite Foods:
1. Lasagna
2. Ice cream - it doesn't even matter what flavor (I can't resist the stuff)
3. Green peppers
4. Raspberries

4 Places I'd Like to Visit:
1. Italy
2. Washington D.C.
3. Ireland
4. New Zealand

4 People I Tag:
1. Amy N. (when you get a sec to catch your breath)
2. Courtni M.
3. Jamie J.
4. Stephanie H.

Quiz of Threes

3 Joys:

1. Todd, especially when he pays a ton of attention to me instead of his homework

2. Knowing there's a baby growing inside of me

3. Family


3 Fears:

1. Taking care of a newborn

2. Cockroaches

3. Being alone outside in the dark


3 Goals:

1. Find the perfect rocking armchair

2. Stay sane for the next year and a half

3. Appreciate every single day I get to spend with Todd


3 Current Obsessions/Collections:

1. Obsessed with watching LOST online. Thanks, Amy Naseath. Your post made me curious. I had never watched it before. Now I'm squeezing in two episodes a day and falling asleep each night thinking about the plot twists.

2. Slowly collecting maternity clothes. I think I'm going to have to start moving faster if I don't want to wear the same shirt and shorts every day next month.

3. Collecting a large pile of pictures I want to scrapbook, and yet, haven't made a page in months. I'm thinking about forcing myself to do 45 minutes of scrapbooking for every LOST episode I watch.


3 Random Surprising Facts About Myself:

1. I love to pluck face hair. I prune my eyebrows thrice weekly, and am always looking for random hairs Todd missed when he shaved so I can pull them out with my tweezers. He also grows prickly hair on the ridges of his ears, and I get to pull those out, too.

2. From 8th-12th grade, I led a group in a week-long celebration titled, "National Spy Association Appreciation Week." I initiated new members each year. We dressed up in wacky clothes and went by spy names, carried around little notebooks and wrote secret observations in them, and had a spy breakfast Friday morning outside the school. I was the Queen Mother Spy. I wish I had pictures of it all, but at the time, I felt it was "confidential," so - nada.

3. I used to HATE to exercise. Now I do it almost every day. Some days I really don't feel like it, but most of the time I crave the energy I get from it. The key is finding activities you like. I prefer pilates, aerobics, and biking.

Great News!

Well, the time has come for Todd and I to make a very exciting announcement. I am pregnant! The baby is due December 1st.

I am just coming out of the first trimester now, and am amazed that it went so smoothly. It took us so long to get pregnant that when it happened, it didn't seem real, and we were so afraid I would miscarry. It was too good to be true. But Heavenly Father has blessed us with this incredible miracle, and now that I'm 13 1/2 weeks along, we're finally feeling at peace that "The Bean" is going to make it after all.

My belly is just starting to poke out a little bit, and I've been using a rubber band to hold my pants together because the button is a little tight. We had an ultrasound at 9 weeks (a month ago) and heard the heartbeat again yesterday. The little tike's heart is just pumping away. All sources say "The Bean" is doing great.

I feel really fortunate that my doctor's office puts the ultrasounds on a DVD for us to keep. Is that common, or am I super lucky? Anyway, we added commentary to the video and sent it to our moms for Mother's Day, but there are some out-of-town family members who have been wishing they could see it. So for any who are interested, check out the ultrasound below.

How I Know Todd Loves Me

This past weekend, Todd took his boy scouts deep-sea fishing down at Panama City, Florida. Apparently, they had a very successful time. Many red snappers were caught. The good side of this is that the group had a great time, and were able to pass off a fishing merit badge and a camping requirement. The bad side is that Todd came home smelling very fishy.
Saturday night I kept waking up to a strong fish smell. It was because I'd be lying on Todd's shoulder, and he'd have his arm around me. His stinky hand would be dangling right by my face. It made me feel a little bit like barfing. So I'd roll over. Hours later, the same scene would repeat itself.

Yesterday, Todd asked me why I'd kept rolling away from him, and so I had to reveal the smelly truth: The smell of his hands made me want to hurl. We've been trying to get it out with salt and lemon juice (any other great ideas, guys?!) but it's still there.

So. . . guess what Todd did last night? He wore stretchy gloves to bed. For reals. It was seriously funny, and it actually made us get really hyper for a while. We both laughed so hard we cried. But he kept them on all night. And I was able to cuddle up with my man even though he went fishing.

Your Secret Side

Over the past couple of months, I have learned a secret about Todd that I don't think he'll mind if I share. When we're little we all dream of being something else; some wish they were a bird so they could fly, others a dolphin to glide gracefully through the ocean. As we grow older these desires slowly fade from our minds. However, for some, these desires never seem to fade out completely, and occasionally they come bubbling to the surface. One of Todd's secret animal wishes is that he were a Flying Squirrel. He wishes he could run around in the forest, gliding from tree to tree. He occasionally demonstrates this wish at random times by mistaking ME for one of these trees. Just last night he climbed up on the back of the couch and glided across the living room - and pounced on me.

So my questions are: What is your Secret Animal?
and does the Instinct still remain inside you?

.

A Devious Weekend

Our friends Troy and Rebekah invited us to a high school musical last Friday. After a bit of deliberation, we declined. As Todd walked out the door Friday morning, he gave me an assignment: plan something awesome for us to do tonight. No pressure.

Well, after some thought, the perfect plan came to mind. All I had to do was convince Todd to try it out. I made it sound really convincing when he came home and asked what we were going to do, using intriguing words like "blast from the past," and "something a little retro."

After getting him to commit to whatever I had planned, I revealed my vision: prank Troy and Rebekah while they were gone! We already knew our window of time - the play started at 7:00 and would go until at least 9:30. Beauty.

We threw on dark clothes and tossed our equipment in the car: sidewalk chalk, toilet paper, and the camera. Hold your breath: here it comes!

First, the dead body trace. We don't have a good shot of it, but we wrote "There was a mighty duel" (from Princess Bride) next to it.
Then we toilet papered Troy's motorcycle. We didn't want to hit the trees and stuff, because the next-door neighbors were outside and probably already suspicious of us. We played it cool and stayed in the carport and backyard.

Then a set of footprints leading from the carport to the patio in back. . .
. . . where they found this ransom note:
"If you want to see your potting mix again. . . come to the Mellow Mushroom tomorrow - 12:38. Bring 1 boiled egg. And oh, come alone. (And by "alone" I mean just the two of you.)"
Then we went home and popped in a movie. About 10:15 pm my phone rang. Rebekah. With excitement, we let it ring and then listened to the message. Nothing but breathing on the other end of the line!

Well, Todd got really excited about that. We spent a good portion of the rest of the night hiding outside across the street from our house, watching headlights. If Troy and Rebekah came seeking revenge, we planned to hide in their car and pop our heads up as they drove back home!

They actually didn't come that night, but it really took Todd and me back to our college days to not only pull pranks, but spend the late hours of the night together outside, a blanket wrapped around our shoulders as we talked quietly in the dark. Oh, those sweet hours of the night!

Well, the next day Todd and I made sure we were at the Mellow Mushroom before the Wykle's, so we could set up the scene. Table within view of the door, next to the window, so we could keep a watch for them. Sunglasses, tough faces, and the potting mix tied to the chair between us.
And much to our delight, they really did bring a boiled egg with them! The trade was made, and we ended on good terms. On Sunday, we came home from church to a lawn full of Tootsie Pops. What a sweet way to be paid back!

Pranks are genius!

I'm Nuts About Alabama

As mentioned the other day, here in Enterprise we honor the boll weevil because they ruined the cotton crops, which motivated farmers to try peanuts, which became a huge success. If it hadn't, we probably wouldn't have a boll weevil monument in the center of town after all.

Apparently, half the peanuts grown in the United States are grown within a 100-mile radius of Dothan, Alabama, which is the big town we drive 40 minutes to get to whenever we want to shop somewhere other than Walmart. Peanuts are a big deal in Dothan. They even hold a two-week National Peanut Festival every fall.

Perhaps the part about this I enjoy most is that there are over 60 4-foot fiberglass peanut statues decorated by local artists and scattered all throughout Dothan. It is a game to try to find them all. Perhaps we could do just that if anyone cares to visit us while we're still here. (Bonners, are you up for it this June?)

Todd's dad has already had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of the Golden Peanut, which is located at the Visitor's Center:

I believe we also spotted the Elvis Peanut when he was out here:
The locations of the rest are still a mystery to me, but here are some photos to appease your curiosity. The Sports Fan Peanut:
The Sheriff Peanut:
The Shopping Peanut:
The Policeman Peanut:
The Mona Lisa Peanut:The News Reporter Peanut:
Aren't they cute? Now, who wants to come visit?!

A Little Craziness

Todd and I have a trillion excess boxes from our move here. Seriously, the movers fill those babies up with one-third belongings, two-thirds paper. Result: tons of boxes, tons of paper. We saved a lot of it for when we move again (in case we actually pack ourselves next time), but needed to get rid of the excess. Our garage was full of boxes, so much so that there wasn't enough room for our car! Every Thursday we'd put a couple of boxes out on the curb and hope the garbage men would be nice enough to take them with them - which they did. But two a week was just not fast enough for all we had. So we came up with a plan.

Across the street, there is a dumpster. Now, technically, our garbage does not belong there. But this was an extreme case! Todd and I waited until dark, then changed into dark clothing ourselves. Now, you need to know that these boxes are five feet tall, and are FILLED with paper and tape. So we had to make a couple of trips to the dumpster, because we could each only manage one box at a time.

It was so exciting to be devious that we sort of built characters as we went along, whispering in accents (me, British, Todd, Scottish). I even added a gait to my walk. The best part was when a car turned onto our street. Hearts pounding, we hid behind the dumpster, holding our breaths, imagining that "the coppers" had found us out. (By the way, our neighbor Ray would have been just as dangerous - he would have called the cops on us, too - so there WAS some real danger involved here, people!) We were exhilarated when we made it back home safely.
Just a little fun going on here!