The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear

Jake is apparently a Christmas music enthusiast. Every time I get into the car after he's been driving, I am forced back in my seat by Christmas songs cranked up to deafening levels of volume.

My ear drums have been blasted by Handel's Messiah, Rocking Around the Christmas Tree, Joy to the World, and so on and so forth.

Some people crank up the volume and bass for 50 cent and Jay-Z.

My husband does for Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.

I love him.

Turkley Lurkey

Thanksgiving was 23 days ago, I know. Some how between finals, job searching and throwing up everyday, I failed to write about our holiday adventures.

So here it goes.

1. We drove 16 hours to Coos Bay, Oregon (Jake's home) to surprise his family. They had no idea that we were coming .
2. We spent the night in Caldwell Idaho with Jake's cousin and wife. In the morning, their little boy, Mason, ran into our room, stopped mid run, stared at me and slowly started to back away. Apparently 18 month olds find me intimidating.
3. We went and visited all of Jake's favorite beaches. It was so windy so the waves were HUGE. We kept getting misted with wave water.
4. One morning we went for a run. Jake was Mr. Athletic that morning and I almost puked even though I was barely jogging. This was my first hint that I might be pregnant.
5. On Thanksgiving morning I took a pregnancy test. It had two lines. Some how we still didn't think we were pregnant till Jake's mom confirmed the test.
6. We told all our family we were pregnant!! Lot's of screaming and excitement. :)
7. There was a battle between watching football and the "Say Yes to the Dress" marathon on TLC. Football won.
8. I didn't eat any turkey or pumpkin pie. It wasn't appealing.
9. We cleaned out Jake's grandma's basement and found tons of his toys. We will never have to buy our boys action figures. Jake has plenty.
10. We drove home and in the end put almost 2,000 miles on our car. It was worth it.

:)

P.S. We somehow did not take any pictures. Sad day.

Pregnancy 101

How I know I'm pregnant...besides the fact that the pregnancy test was positive.

• 90% of the people I meet have B.O.
• I can't wear a scarf or hoodie or turtle neck. They aggravate my gag reflex.
• The other night I craved pizza. The next morning the smell of the pizza made me throw up.
• Last night I took a four hour nap, woke up, and then slept another 9 hours.
• I saw some little birds playing in some leafs. It was so cute it made me cry.
  
• I've lost weight, yet I feel fat.
  

As an update, our baby is the size of a rasberry.

:)

Tender Mercies

Sometimes we all receive a blessing that we know we don't deserve. From the shadows that are staring to overwhelm us, comes a beam of light to lifts us...and we know that it is a tender mercy.

A week ago I was paying a health center charge on my BYU financial account and I noticed a charge for almost $4,000. Confused, I asked BYU's financial services why this charge was on my account. As it turned out, we had been given too much Pell Grant money a year ago and we now owed them the money.

4,000 dollars. That is a fortune to a newly married couple. Paying it would wipe out our savings and leave us nothing for the baby. The shadows started creeping in.

We were confused as to why it had taken a year for this charge to show up. We petitioned for a inspection of the claim. We waited. Called. Prayed. Waited. Worried. Prayed. Called.

Then today came the tender mercy. The charge was because BYU had not submitted some of the necessary paper work we had filled out, so we had been awarded too much. It wasn't our fault and BYU accepted responsibility and paid the debt for us. Our $4,000 debt.

Thank you Heavenly Father. Thank you so much.

Flattery

A friend told me today that if I was an older, slightly balding man I would look like Ben Linus from Lost.

This is Ben.

(He only looks grumpy because he's stranded on an island and no one will do what he wants. You would be grumpy too.)

This is me.

Honestly I'm not offended. I think Ben is one of the greatest characters on Lost. Jake doesn't. It's one of the few things we fight about.

But I still don't see the similarity.

The Bun in the Oven

This is just a quick little update.

I am prego which means we are having a baby!

A real, breathing, little, cute, snuggling baby.

He/she will make it's debut on July 30, 2010.

And we already know it will be the cutest baby ever. Ever.

Still Learning

We've been married almost 11 months...an eternity I know. :) Yesterday I was overly stressed and overly emotional. We came home and my depressed mood was obviously noticeable to Jake. He asked me what was wrong and tried to cheer me up, but despite his loving actions I was still feeling low.

As I sat in our arm chair, cuddled into a ball, I was thinking about marriage. It's not always fun. It's not always full of lovey-dovey feelings and flowers. It's so much more. It's about supporting each other even when you don't know how to help. It's spending a few extra minutes in bed, even though your hair won't look as nice if you do, because your husband like to cuddle. It's being OK with eating egg rolls and popcorn for dinner, because your wife really doesn't want to cook.

I'm so grateful for our marriage. I'm so grateful for a husband who sings in the shower, who puts ear plugs in my ears every night, who holds me when I'm scared, who tries so hard to be good, who tells me he loves me multiple times a day, who is always the optimist, who helps me overcome my challenges and who, in the words of Sister Hinckley, gives me wings to fly.

The Modern Housewife

Sometimes I think I would like to be a '50's housewife. I find the idea charming. Fiesta ware, little checkered aprons, hair curlers, waffles in the morning, kissing my husband good-bye when he goes off to work, vacuuming the house and watering my plants while listening to Dean Martin. How quaint... lovely.
Last night when I was doing the dishes I realized how grateful I was for a 1950's hero, Josephine Cochran.

Don't recognize the name? Well I'm sure you appreciate what she contributed to the kitchen. The dishwasher.

The dishwasher ranks on my top 5 list of best inventions ever. It's right up their with indoor plumbing, soap and centralized heating. The dishwasher is amazing because you can fill it full of dishes and run it, or just put a Wok, a frying pan, a mixing bowl and a plate in, (as I did last night) let it do it's thing and go cuddle with the husband.

So last night and every night from now on, I plan on paying homage to Josephine Cochran. I invite you to join me.

:)

The Next Best Thing

Last night I was spending quality time on the phone with computer tech guys trying to diagnose our laptop's current aliments. I was transferred to different departments a least 5 times, so I made a lot of new friends. I met Nahj from India, Won from China and Jabar from Pakistan. I was finally transferred to the right department and from the other end I heard "Welcome to Lenovo computer support center, this is Brad Pittman how may I help you?"

Brad Pittman

Very similar to Brad Pitt don't you think?



So while I never actually meet Brad Pitt, I can say I met the next best thing. Brad Pittman, who helped me solve our laptops aliments.

Brad Pitt might not have been able to do that.

Christelijke Kerk van Laatstgenoemde Dag Heiligen

We have a tradition in my family. We go on missions. My Dad, Japan. My Mom, Brazil. Me, Germany. John, South Africa. And the most recent addition to the list - Jane who will be serving in the Belgium/Brussels/Netherlands mission. YAY!!!

(In 18 months she'll be in this picture:))

She reports February 10, 2010. I couldn't be more proud of her. Her decision to go was a challenge for her. We talked frequently and I was always amazed at her confidence in Heavenly Father. She never doubted that she was supposed to go on a mission, although at times she was overwhelmed with the idea. Jane has a unconquerable spirit. During her struggles, she said to me, "If I didn't go on a mission, I would feel so terrible for all of the people I could have told about the gospel." She will be a great missionary because she cares about others and their happiness.


I will miss her because she is my sister. But she'll come back an even more amazing women.

Alma 17:11 And the Lord said unto them also: Go forth among thy brethren, and establish my word; yet ye shall be patient in long-suffering and afflictions, that ye may show forth good examples unto them in me, and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls.

True Story

So the other day I was in Walmart looking at their movie selection, when all of the sudden I hear, "Bella, Jacob..."

Immediately I think, "Edward???"


I turn around and an older man is calling for his two little kids, Bella and Jacob (whilst in Walmart's movie section, ironic?, I think so). I thought it was so funny. I started laughing to myself.

I think it is incredibly sad that those books/movies will forever change the way I think about the names Bella, Jacob and Edward. (Especially in succession like so. I mean, I give the man credit, his kids are over the age of five, so his wife couldn't have gotten the names from Twilight. Well, hopefully not)

And that's a true story.

G-Day

I graduate from college in just over a month. On month and then my almost 18 years of formal educational experience comes to a screeching halt. I don't know how to feel about this. Should I feel a delirious cocktail of imagination, confidence and new freedom raging through my veins? Should I feel nervous, anxious, apprehensive? For the past few days I've thought maybe the freedom will be great, no homework, no staying in the library till and unhealthy hour, and then came the Ally McBeal moment; my theme song comes to a screeching halt in the middle. What NOW?

How can I go on from here if I don't know the answer to ANYTHING?

Have I even figured out WHAT I WANT TO DO WITH MY LIFE?

Then I thought to myself: "Give yourself a break; turn your theme song back on."

And then the thought came to me, "Newsflash: There is no such thing as graduation, only a series of small graduations, continually."

Hopefully, there will never be a time when I wake up and say: Now, I'm finished. Now, I'm ME.

I've realized we are always graduating from something, and moving on to something else.

So carpe diem to the future.

:)

We iz da Millers in the hood

We've goddit all. Our bling, our tattoos, our walk. Don't mess wiff us. We may be whitey, but we've got uh different side too. You bettah believe it.

Got sumfin ta say ta us?

Just cuz We be gansta don' mean we's don' like no doughnuts.



This doughnut's wack.
Word to ya motha. Peace out yo.

Remember, Remember the 5th of November

As yesterday was the 5th of November we attended the annual V for Vendetta party. (Don't worry mom, it was the clean flicks version.) Rarely does a movie produce a character that motivates us with a desire to stand for something. The title character, known only as "V," is a masked avenger of sorts, wearing an all-obscuring mask of a smiling Guy Fawkes, the would-be seventeenth-century revolutionary who attempted to blown up the houses of the British Parliament with gunpowder. V's crusade is against the British Parliament for a series of terrorist-like attacks that the government had committed against their own people.

V exemplifies commitment to the greater good. His ideals and commitment center around to freedom from fear. He inspires, teaches, and loves those who are trapped by bonds that others have subjected them to.

I loved this movie. V's character touches your conscious and motivates you to stand for something. Regardless of how seriously some may take the messages in V for Vendetta, the film can be taken in many ways - as allegory, as a thriller, as a fantasy, as an action flick. Or maybe it's all four. It succeeds, to one degree or another, in every way. Whichever way you see it, you can't lose.

"Beneath this mask there is more than flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea, Mr. Creedy, and ideas are bulletproof."

In Memory of the Snails

Jake and I have been on a unintentional killing spree. We feel so bad about it. Seven snails have lost their lives to the bottom of our shoes. We apologize to the snail community for not looking where we step. We promise to tread a little lighter and watch where we walk.

Our condolences to the snail's families.

A Defect of my Kind

I can't open my Nalgene bottle. Jake put the lid on too tight. I'm straining, and struggling to open the darn thing, but it's not budging. If I were about to die from thirst, I would die a parched, thirsty death. From this, I have concluded that I have weak arms.

Dwight was right, weak arms are the defect of being a girl.

I'm going to the gym.

Don't Trifle with our Trifle

When we were engaged we registered for a trifle bowl...because every newly married couple needs a trifle bowl for all the trifle they make. So after 10 months of marriage we finally got ours out and helped it fulfill it's purpose. We made trifle.

Chocolate, brownie, trifle.

At 1:57 AM.

Trifle at 1:57 AM. Yum.

:)

Jake' s Hair

Jake and I have been having a debate about his hair. I would like it if he did something a little different with it, some thing will a little more texture. A little more va va voom. We just watched The Proposal (Loved the movie. As I side note I have a crush on Sandra Bullock. Love her) and when the male lead, Ryan Reynolds, came on screen, it hit me, that's what I want Jake's hair to look like.



Jake is already a ten on the handsome scale, but with va va voom hair he would be a 12. Minimum.

Jake's argument against the change-the thickness of his hair. He said, "My hair is too thin. I have anorexic hair."

Anorexic hair...

Arches

Gorgeous red rock + 80 degree weather + time with the husband = SUCH a great trip.





Jake's so tall.



And I'm so strong.



This was our America's Next Top Model fashion shoot.







:)

Confession

We have a new favorite song.
It's been stuck in our heads for the past few days.
So what's the confession?
The song is Party in the USA...by Miley Cyrus.
Shake'n my head like yeah, move'n my hips like yeah.

Dance party at our place.

10 Reasons Why My Wife is Awesome

1. She loves to dance

2. She's a human ice-cycle

3. She genuinely loves just about everybody she meets

4. She's given up on going to bed early

5. She has the most beautiful big eyes

6. She loves me unconditionally

7. She wants to have a family

8. She could win a cereal eating contest against anybody

9. She makes me laugh

10.Her dad secretly was a baker because she's got nice buns ;-)

The Happy Show

That's what we call the most warm-fuzzy show ever, aka Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. It gives us goosebumps of happiness. We LOVE it.

Why do we LOVE this show? Well, we don’t know about you, but it is what’s lurking behind that big bus which keeps us absolutely riveted from week-to-week: a house pimped out to the extreme. It's an extremely uplifting show, as the renovated home always belongs to a deserving family. It's extreme transformation. And it’s extremely community-oriented.

You’ll see dingy kitchens get completely tricked out, spa-inspired bathrooms built where icky ones once were, and Olympic-sized swimming pools installed in what were once shabby overgrown yards. It's stuff we know you’d want at your own home - and then some. And Ty and his crew do it from the ground up, adding five-star luxuries and the occasional theme park attraction.

And one of the most astounding things about the show is that it’s a race against time. What they under take is a project that would normally span several months, involving a team of designers, contractors and hundreds of workers. But the glitch is they have just seven days to totally rebuild an entire house!

Before you start getting all jealous, the lucky homeowners always have a heartening back-story: Heroes, community leaders, and a plethora of inspirational families are truly the heart and soul of the show. There's that saying, "home is where the heart is," and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition puts the heart right where it belongs. (USA Today)


Keep a box of tissues handy for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition because the tears of joy WILL flow.

*Sniff*

Now excuse us while we watch this weeks episode and have a good cry.

Countdowns

Days till our one year anniversary: 78

Weeks until Christmas: 11

Tests left to take in the testing center for the rest of my life: 10

Days till Lost Season 6 starts: About 94

Weeks till I turn 25 (gulp): 11 1/2

Ways I can procrastinate studying for my Adult Development test: infinite

Our 15 Minutes of Fame

When I found out that Obama had won the Nobel Peace prize, I decided to flex my political voice and comment on the situation via my Facebook status bar. I wrote, " Someone needs to pull a Kanye West, and tell Obama someone else desrves the the Nobel Peace Prize". I felt pretty clever, mixing pop culture with political savvy. I wasn't expecting any response. I was just one comment on the subject. But then people started commenting on my status. Comments like "If I could hit the "Like" button a million times for that status, I totally would! By FAR the best status I've seen all day!!" and "Amen sista! Where's Kanye when you need him!"

And then came my real 15 minutes of fame. On someone elses Facebook status I read, "favorite quote regarding Obama Nobel Prize: "Someone needs to pull a Kanye West, and tell Obama someone else desrves the the Nobel Peace Prize""

I was quoted. I felt just like Glen Beck.


Jake's 15 minutes came at the testing center. He got a 96% on his test and next to his ID number it said "GREAT JOB". He got the covented testing center words of praise. The words that everyone longs to see next to their score...my hubby got.

:)

Jake's Special Talent

I have a very talented husband. He never ceases to amaze me with his vast array of hidden talents such as imitating a vulture, creating amazing marinades and spaghetti sauces, and being an amazing shower singer. This week we discovered a new talent. He can talk just like Ms. Piggy.



:)

The Small Things

There are some weeks when Jake and I don't see each other for more 3 hours a day before we go to bed. This is isn't our favorite situation, but we make it work. One night when we get home and after dinner (at 9:30 PM) we decided to color in Jake's birthday coloring book.







Jake is amazing at coloring. He stays in the lines and everything.

:)