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.