Ward Camp Out minus the Camp Out and Other Short Stories

Ward Camp Out minus the Camp Out : This weekend was our ward camp out.  We are on activities committee, so we were quite involved.  Everything was well thought out and planned, but some things are completely unavoidable.  Thursday night we found out that the Bishop had a death in the family so he could not attend or do his little talk.  We also found out that there was some MAJOR miscommunication with our reservation at the campground.  We had the pavilion, but NO campsites.  It is not any one's fault, but there was some serious issues with how the place is ran and organized.  Anyway, we had the Ward Camp Out without the actual Camp Out part.  Ryan was the MC as usual.  All of the activities, program, and food turned out really good (except the fact that we had to deal with frozen solid meat at the time of cooking....hahah). 

I didn't take any pictures this year, but I do have pictures from last year.  It looked pretty much the same, but just imagine everyone looking a year older. 

Candy Jar Guessing Game : So everyone played this in elementary school.  We did this at the Ward activity as well.  The couple who put the jar together put in king sized candy bars mixed in with tiny candies just to make it really hard to guess.  I guessed 84 pieces.  They announced that they were going to reveal the winner in 1 minute, so a few more people put their guess on the list.  The last guess was the ACTUAL number of candy pieces in the jar.  87!!  I was so close.  In fact, I was runner up.  I didn't really want the entire jar of candy, I just really wanted a Kit Kat.  It was pretty funny.  But the really funny part was the fact that we heard our door bell ring at 11:00 pm that night.  It was our friend who was dropping off 4 Kit Kat bars for me. It was pretty funny.  Thank you Jeff.  

I totally already ate the Caramel Kit Kat.  I had never eaten one before.  I still like the original one the best.  

When do you ask for help? : So I totally have been getting that nasty pregnancy mouth taste.  To me, the taste is a combination of throw-up, metal, and blood.  Nothing really helps, but drinking Gatorade is a slight improvement.  We usually have a few bottles of it in the fridge for me.  Ryan was at work and I was dying of the nasty mouth plague.  I tried and tried and tried to open the TWO Gatorade's we had in the fridge.  I don't know why, but I totally couldn't open it.  I seriously spent probably 30 minutes trying everything I could possibly think of to open those stupid bottles.  I finally gave up, but I almost went to ask my neighbor for help.  I was too embarrassed, but if it ever happens again, I totally will.  So, instead of the Gatorade, I took a sip of grape juice.....it was horrible.  I just waited it out until Ryan came home from work and saved me.  

"Orange Toes. Orange Toes. Orange Toes." : I went to Liesl's in Lehi the other day to hang out with my sisters and nieces for the day.  When the twins took their nap we decided to give each other pedicures.  Jana started on me and Liesl went to satisfy her sugar fix for the day for making the awesomest oatmeal cookies with fudgy centers.  My feet have been neglected for like....ever.  I never really do my nails.  So, it was taking forever.  Jana worked on them......Liesl worked on them.  Then the girls woke up.  Liesl was in the middle of painting my toenails orange and both of the girls kept saying "orange toes.  orange toes.  orange toes."  It was really cute so they got their toenails painted as well.  Overall, we were all going to do pedicures, but it turned out that my feet were so nasty, that I took up the whole time.  Sorry.  I'll try to keep up so it is easier next time. 

Also, my feet have been SUPER swollen because of the pregnancy and the heat.  I actually can't put on ANY of my shoes right now.  Ryan adjusted my chaco sandals for the second time, but I also bought these lovely flip flops at Old Navy for just $1!  It's not very often that you can find something worthwhile for only $1.  

Do I look like I have to pee that bad? : I was at a public restroom the other day.  (I am forced to frequent public restrooms more than ever now-a-days.)  There was a short line.  I wasn't about to wet my pants or anything, but the girl at the front looked at me and say, "oh, you can go next."  I said I was fine and could wait my turn, but she completely insisted that I go first.  It was nice of her and I guess that is just one of the perks for being enormously pregnant but, I mean, really, do I look like I have to pee that bad?  

True Love #4

For everyone out there, this is the boring true love post...just humor me. True Love #4 is learning.  I love school and I love learning. Whether I am pursuing formal education or not, I am constantly researching and learning about anything and everything.   I found a quote that sums up how I feel. 

We have a hunger of the mind which asks for knowledge of all around us, and the more we gain, the more is our desire; the more we see, the more we are capable of seeing.~Maria Mitchell

sand, ponies, & strollers

Breakfast in Bed

So this morning, Megan woke up at around 6AM and then I slept in until 7:50 and then all of a sudden I woke up to Megan coming in all Bright-eyed and bushy tailed. She then jumped up on the bed and as I looked up she had a plate of food for me (Eggs, sausage, toast, apples.... the works) and she said, "Happy I Love You Day." I said, "Wow, thanks." Anyway, so I started eating my fantastic breakfast and then went into the kitchen and got a drink and came back in and she was asleep. It was pretty funny.

b r o k e n

The number one thing I have 'nagged' Ryan about since we got married is..."don't break your glasses."  It all started when he went through 3 pairs of glasses in the first 6 months of our marriage.  (I do have to mention that those glasses had a weak spot in the design and LensCrafters did not live up to their warranty on the frames.)  Since then, he tried to wear contacts for sports to protect his glasses.  We have loved his current frames but they were having signs of dying because they are 3+ years old now.  Ryan just wanted to wait to get out to PA and get new glasses at the school because he gets a killer deal as an Optometry Student.  Well, it looks like we can't wait until then.  Last night Ryan came home from basketball and said, "Megan, I have some bad news."  They were broken.  To give him credit, he didn't get hit in the face, he just took them off to wipe sweat off of his face and they fell apart.  Ryan is a pro at repairing glasses, but these are unfortunately beyond repair.  

Anyway, we went up to Jessica Graham's practice a week or so ago to visit and check her practice out.  While we were up there we tried on frames and now we are thinking that this is the perfect excuse to get the frames that looked really good on him.  We are thinking that we will just get super cheap lenses here for now and just replace them once he is at PCO.  

These frames are actually pretty similar to what he has been wearing.  We are planning on doing some checking around in the Provo/Orem area before going up to Dr. Grahams.  We don't care about the fancy-smanancy brand, but we do want something that holds up to lots of wear.  This is just a little frustrating because we have had so many unexpected big expenses come up lately and we were really hoping to wait on getting glasses until the fall.  

Everything

Change: My last name is officially Hayes.  I FINALLY went to the Social Security Office and filled out the forms after 4 years of marriage.  I'm not sure what took me so long.  

For Sale:  Our condo is up for sale now.  It's not listed, but there's a sign out in front.  Also, our Jeep is for sale (along with old textbooks, random CD's, and some other stuff that we don't want to move).  Any takers?

Jury Duty: Thursday was jury duty.  The selection process took up the entire morning.  From 30-40 people they selected only 10 for this case and I was NOT one of them, so I was able to leave around 12:30 pm.  It consisted of sitting on a really uncomfortable folding chair, waiting, reading from my book, waiting, filling out a questionnaire, waiting, answering a few questions verbally, and more waiting.  Once I was there I wanted to be chosen so I could see how the rest of the day would go, but by noon or so I was not feeling well and really wanted to go home.  It all worked out for the best.  Glad that's over.  

Week 34:  This week has been filled with sleepless nights, swollen feet and hands, gradually more contractions, and a routine of anti-viral medications to get rid of the shingles.  I have had some days that I felt fine most of the day, but I have had some dizzy spells and some periods of nauseousness.  But, at least the medications is done and over with.  Hopefully things are good from here on out.  

I didn't actually get a side pic this week beside this one that I stole from Melanie.  We are about 9-10 wks apart so it is fun to see our bellies grow.  

True Love # 6: A good night sleep.  I haven't had one of those for quite some time and I don't think I will be getting one for a while.  Sorry Ryan, but hopefully you will get a good night sleep when you are in Philly without me and the baby.  

True Love # 5 was going to be watermelon because I have wanted to eat watermelon since Christmas.  Last week we bought a huge watermelon for just the two of us because it was the same price no matter what the size.  We certainly enjoyed eating tons of it, until the last little bit went bad and I totally got grossed out.  That is why watermelon is not my true love.  True Love #5 IS nectarines.  It is my current replacement favorite fruit.  We even have a funny story about nectarines.....We look through the ads that we get in the mail for groceries and often Ryan will price-match it at WalMart.  Well, he saw an ad for nectarines and price matched it at WalMart.  He thought it was 3 lbs for $1......but it was really only 2 lbs for $1 (which is still a good deal).  It totally was an honest mistake, but we laughed about it when we realized the mistake.  

Baby Shower : Last weekend, my sisters and sisters-in-law threw me a baby shower.  It was really fun to have everyone get together.  My mother-in-law even flew in from WA for the weekend.  We had a blast chatting, catching up, and doing non-game baby shower stuff.  The non-game was making a mobile to hang in the baby's room.  Jana headed up the craft and it was a hit.  I can't wait to actually hang it up!  I really did enjoy myself and I hope everyone else did too.  Thanks for coming and for all of the great baby supplies!  

My oldest sister and party planner, Jana, is comparing yarn lengths.

Sister-in-law, Lori and cousin Kelly working on the mobile.

Me with my friend, Elise, from GA.

Aunt Kathy, baby Donovan, sister Liesl and Ava, cousin Heidi

This was made my sister-in-law Samantha.  I love it.  

Her husband, Justin, is quite the crafty-man as well....check it out.  

My niece, Morlie was the princess of the party.  

mother-in-law Karren, cousin Kiersten, sister-in-law Kellie

The two grandmas.  

Everyone sitting around the table working on the mobile. 

 

This is the quilt my mom made for baby Cora and the pinwheels are

 the hanging part of the mobile that everyone helped to make.  

I love how they used scraps from the quilt to make the mobile. 

Riding to work.

So this week I began to ride my bike to work.  With gas prices getting up to nearly 4 dollars a gallon, I decided to start combating our own personal gas consumption and as such I rode my bike.  It is a little over 3 miles from my house to Walmart and so I rode about six miles (as if you couldnt add).  Anyway, it really wasnt that bad.  Megan and I like to bike up the canyon and have done so on a pretty frequent basis up until this summer, and so riding to work was a breeze.  I left quite a bit earlier than usual and was surprised when I got there in about ten minutes; the same time it takes me to drive there.  All in all, it was good.  Besides, the fact that I forgot something half way home and had to go back and get it.  I got some exercise, listened to some Beethoven and enjoyed a nice cool morning with little traffic.  It is really kind of too bad that I didnt start doing this sooner.  As a matter of fact, they were saying on the news that if you were to shave about 8 miles off from your daily travel routines, you should save about 600 bucks in a year.

33 week update

 p.s.  I just got  back from the doctor and I have shingles.  Great.  

33 weeks

Less than 50 days to go!  No new news.  Here is my week 33 picture.  (If you look closely, you can totally see the profile of my belly button popping out).  

Cora Belle

Yes, that is the name we have chosen. Please don't tell us if you don't like it. We like it and that's all that matters. It pretty much is official because grandma (I mean, my mom) has embroidered it into a baby quilt she is making. Isn't is beautiful? I can't believe she somehow fit in enough time to make a quilt while she and dad are on a mission at the MTC. She is making progress on the quilt and I love it! Good job, Grandma!

More on the name...Cora is the name of my great great grandma on my mom's side. So, baby Cora is named after her great great great grandma. She has an amazing life story that I just know tid-bits about. Hopefully I can learn more about her someday. Here is her adorable picture.

As for the middle name, Belle, we just like it. We went through EVERY name starting with EVERY letter on the baby names website. It took forever. I actually started loosing interest, but Ryan was determined to read every name. There is no extra special meaning to it other than just the french word. Maybe she'll be inspired to learn French. Je ne sais pa!

What did you say?

The other day Ryan and I went to Wendy's to get a frosty.  I guess it was obvious that I don't get fast food often because I didn't know that a frosty comes in chocolate AND vanilla.  The cashier asked me what flavor I wanted and I didn't understand.  I thought a frosty was a frosty.  I didn't know of all of the choices now a days.  (By the way, the vanilla frosty was first served in August 2006).  Anyway, Ryan was making fun of me later that night about this.  I was trying to justify my position of not knowing by saying something like "I bet a lot of people don't know that a frosty comes in different flavors."  He replied by saying, "Megan, everyone on the planet knows that a Wendy's frosty comes in chocolate and vanilla, even the aliens."  

I know Ryan is a college graduate (in BIOLOGY), but I think he just told me that there are aliens on planet earth.  

true love #7

true love #7 is NOT hand quilting. true love #8 IS finished projects! 

It's not that I didn't enjoy my very first hand quilting project, it's the fact that it takes a really long time. I think I declared the quilt done three times and then I decided it still needed more. I think I am done with it now...maybe. I can always do more on it, but on to a new project to fill my evenings with.

housing options in elkins park

Here are our options.

Option #1:

            

This place was renting for $1250+utilities.  This 2.5 bed/1 bath looks like an expensive dump to me.  

Option #2:

$1190 for 2 bed/1 bath/off-street parking.  This doesn't look too bad....but if you read the fine print, you will notice that it is under renovations that are not complete.  They are offering a discount of $750 for the first year and possibly a 2nd year discount to anyone who is willing to live here while the place is undergoing the remodel.  That's why they don't have interior pictures.  haha.  

Option #3:

         

Now we possibly would consider this apartment.  This place is significantly less expensive.  $765+estimated utilities of $125 for this 1 bed/1 bath apt.  The inside pictures show that it is newly renovated and clean.  The outside pictures show that it is a first floor of a house with several units in it.  We wanted to find out more about this place so we google-mapped it and looked at the street view.  It totally looks that an old automotive repair garage or a house that has had several weird after-thought additions to it on a pretty creepy ghost-town street corner.  This is one that I would have to have Krister check out for safety first.  Maybe that is why it is so cheap.  

Option #4:

        

No outside pictures available.  It is the first floor of an old stone house that has several units in it.  Other than the weird colors, it isn't that bad.  The posting does mention that they are "pet-friendly".....that makes me think that it probably smells like dog pee or something gross.  $829 + utilities for the 1 bed/1 bath.  I guess it is not that bad, but STILL most likely over $950/month for weird, smelly place.  

To summarize our options: we can live in an expensive dump, an apartment undergoing a remodel job, a decent apartment in a scary part of town, or an ugly apartment with lots of unknown smells.  Looks like we have a lot to choose from.  

No, I am obviously over-simplifying the situation.  Although this is what I have been looking through.  It is frustrating and seemingly impossible to find reasonably priced, clean, safe rentals that are close to the school.  Everything is literally 100 years old and seriously overpriced.  Thank goodness Krister lives nearby to check out the places before we actually sign a lease.  I sure hope we can find the right place for us....at least for the first few months.  

i can't believe it

I can't believe that I got another letter about Jury Duty.  It is for the exact week in June that Jana will be in town.  I sure hope this case is resolved out of court like the last one....or at least maybe they will have pity on a visibly pregnant woman.  I guess we just have to wait and see.  

Meanwhile, I did have my last day of work last week.  THANK GOODNESS.  It was time for it to be over.  Maybe now I can actually have enough time and energy to make plans about the move, work out the details of getting ready for the baby and for Ryan starting school.  

Speaking of 'LASTS,' I taught my last Relief Society presidency message.  I recently gave a talk in church, and we gave the prayers in Sacrament Meeting 2 Sunday's ago.  I think we are winding up our commitments here.  All we really have left is to finish planning and carrying out the ward camp-out at the end of the month.  

I am feeling the stress of lots of big changes coming up.  Hopefully I can be as prepared as possible.