By the way

For those of you who want to know. My due date is August 24th. When the nurse told me my actual due date, she said, "I am so sorry!" Oh well, I knew what I was getting into. I am actually looking forward to not having a baby right in the middle of winter.

I would love to have a little girl and right now I have a feeling that is what it is and plus everyone around me says they feel it is a girl (due to the fact that I am sicker with this one than I was with my boys). Justin and I were talking and we think it would be great to have another little boy. Corbin and Taylor are such opposites that it would be interesting to see another boys personality and see who he was more like! (How is it Christina?)

Either way, we will be so happy with a healthy beautiful baby!

Isn't life funny? (A.k.a. Andrea's plans, or lack thereof)

I was determined to graduate from high school, attend 2 years of college majoring in who knows what, and then serve a mission. After the mission, I was going to finally decide what to get a degree in, date someone for a year and get married at 23 years old in the Salt Lake Temple. Then I was going to finish college, have some kids, and just be a mom and wife in Utah.

Here's what really happened...I did go to college (BYUI). I was supposed to be out of here in 2 years and moved back home to finish my bachelors. Instead, I met the man I was going to marry at age 19. We got married in the Bountiful Temple when I was 20 and I finally decided what to major in when I was almost 21. I graduated in Early Childhood Education/Special Education at 22 years old and taught special ed preschool for five months before Allie came along. (I really wanted to be a kindergarten teacher and have nothing to do with all the special ed. paper work). Funny where the jobs lead...

I did what I swore I would never do (once I had kids) and finished teaching the school year. Thank goodness Cody was off of work for those 2 months to take care of Allie, or else I probably would have just resigned without finishing teaching. Teaching was a blessing. I am grateful for the experience I had teaching, but I am so grateful to be done for now and raising my baby.

I should have moved back to Utah 4 years ago and be living in a starter home raising a few kids by now. Instead, I am married to the love of my life, we have the best baby I could ever wish for, and we are still living in an apartment in Rexburg. We have since applied to 6 grad schools, and been invited to interview at 1. We are in the process of applying to 2 more and hopefully we will get more interview invites soon. :)

I think what I have learned the most is to totally rely on the Lord. He puts you where He wants you when He wants you there. Hence, I am still in Rexburg enduring the snow ;). Our temple was dedicated last Sunday, and I have the opportunity to see it everyday out my kitchen window and attend as frequently as I want. There's a reason for everything and I hope that I can just have the faith to press forward when I don't see that reason.

I thought I might put some future plans here just to see what really happens. I would like for Cody to attend grad school this fall, graduate in 4 years with a doctorate, move back to Utah, practice for a few years with a collegue and then open his own practice (in Marriage and Family Counseling). I woud like to have at least 3 more kids and live in a comfortable home in a nice neighborhood with a good school district. I would like to serve faithfully in the church and raise a righteous family. After my children are grown, I would like to continue teaching in an elementary school and eventually serve a mission with Cody. We'll just see what actually happens... :)

The Plan

Well, I thought that Heather's question was very thought provoking. It is very interesting how our life "plans" change all the time, well at least mine do. I guess that is the wonderful thing about life is that you really never do know what is around the corner. The time in my life when I had the most definite plan was my last year in college. I was going to graduate, teach for a year somewhere besides Utah, go on a mission, come home and teach and date and then get married. Well it is funny how the year that I thought I had things figured out I met Ryan and all plans changed. (Of course for the better!) I ended up getting married right after graduation moving to Arizona and teaching. I never thought that I would ever live here but it is just how life turned out. (this was in Ryan's plans however, to graduate date and move back to his "home".) Now the girl who would have been completely content to live in good old Brigham for the rest of her days live in Busy Hot Arizona! (Yeah today it was 79 degrees!) I have had so many learning and growing experiences and I know that it is the best decision for my family.
Now we are making other plans, having a baby, buying a house, quit teaching, Ryan taking his last CPA test (WAHOO!!) Who knows if these plans will all work out. I do know that if we have faith in Heavenly Father, he will lead us to the best plan that we could ever dream of!
Thanks Heather for asking this great question! Like you I am very interested in others response! Take Care!

Plans

This is such a great question - I am probably the only one who did what I really planned on doing. Start going to college, meet someone, get married, and start a family. The only thing is that I really didn't think it would happen to me(of course you know I never dated anyone in High School - I only wished!!!)

I had several different ideas of what to do after graduation. Luckily Cindi asked me to move to Salt Lake - which (thanks to her) was where I was suppose to be. I started dating Justin weeks after sending off a missionary (Cindi would always tease me - "you couldn't even last two months!") But it was right for me!

Five years later and I have the most wonderful husband, two of the greatest boys, and (I guess this is a great time to announce - I am pregnant with a third child!!!) I am 12 weeks along and that is why no one has heard from me for a while - but I am hoping the sickness will soon be over! We couldn't be any happier. I know to some people this is not leaving a dream, but to me, it really is.

I do plan on going back to school and graduating in health and nutrition. I would love to be a dietition when all my kids are in school. Of course this is a few years down the road so as we have all said - anything can happen!

This was a fun idea! And I will be sure to keep you posted on the pregnancy and when we find out what we are having in a couple of months!

What was your "plan"?

I was reading on one of my friends blogs the other day about what she had "planned" to do with her life and it made me think about how what I "planned" to do with my life has changed since high school.
I knew I wanted to be a dental hygienist about junior year. I finished my dental assisting program the summer after high school and then I was going to take the fast track to my dental hygiene degree which included (I thought) getting into school the first time (even though only 1-2 people out of the class of 30 get in on the first try). And then I was going to be a hot young well-off dental hygienist living the single life, dating and having fun. Then I was going to go on a mission. Then I was going to come back, date a couple more years, get a cute red sports car and then find Mr. Right.
Alas I did not get into my program on the first try, but it ended up being one of the best things that ever happened to me as I moved to Salt Lake and got to live with Em for two years and was the reason I met Jared. And as I got preggo I never did get to live the well-off hygienist dream as my belly got in the way of getting hired. But I've got one of the hottest husbands (who we hope will someday be a successful MBA), one of the most beautiful, sweet babies around, a temple marriage, and a happy( if crazy) life here in Indiana.
So the question for all of you is, "What did you "plan" on doing with your life and what have you actually done?" To answer this question add a new post, not a comment. I think it will be fun to compare!

Great recipe!

Hey all,
I have a great recipe for you all if you need something to take for your Super Bowl party tomorrow (J/K)! We have a recipe night once a month for Relief Society and I got this great spinach dip this last time that I wanted to share with you all. Super easy and way yummy! I made it for my playgroup and a party the other day and everyone loved it!

Spinach Dip
2 packages chopped, frozen spinach
2 cups onions
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
12 oz mexican Velvetta

Thaw the spinach and put in crockpot with onions, salt, and garlic powder on high for 1 1/2 hours. Cube velveeta and add to spinach mixture, cooking on high for an additional thirty minutes. Serve over crackers or baguette slices.
Hope some of you try it! It is soooo good!

Dear President Hinckley

I'm sure you all know by now that President Hinckley passed away this evening. Jared just came in and told me and I started crying. I'm so grateful to have had President Hinckley as long as we did. I feel so fortunate to have had his influence in our lives as we went through our adolencent and young adult years. He was put in just before I turned 12 and was made a beehive and the General Young Woman's meeting was the first meeting he attended as our new prophet. I was able to be there in the tabernacle in Salt Lake for the meeting with my mom and my sister. When he walked in the door everyone stood up and without music started singing, "We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet." The Spirit was so strong that we all were crying and young as I was then I was so grateful to know that I stood in the presence of a true prophet. That our chruch will always have a prophet. I loved President Hinckley and I'm so sad that I can't be there in Salt Lake at this time to pay my respects. He was such a great man. I pray that we can all (especially myself) do honor to his memory by living the priciples he taught. I love you all, -Heather

Nap time help??

So Miles is standing! In fact that is all he wants to do is pull himself up to a stand! So my perfect little napper has now turned into a holy terror at naptime, standing up and crying instead of sleeping. The last two days he has only had one nap because he cried during the morning nap and would not go down no matter if I nursed him, if I rocked him to sleep and then put him down or if I went in repeatedly and layed him back on his back. He would just stand up and cry. He has been crying now for a half hour and my heart is breaking but I don't know what to do. He is so over tired. He was fine when I first put him down--just sucking on his thumb, but after a few minutes he decided to get up and he's been crying ever since. Does anyone have a method that they used to get their child to sleep? Do I go in and lay him back down and will that eventually work? Do I just leave him alone and let him cry it out the whole time? I tried to put toys in there that he could play with but he hasn't wanted that? ANY advice would be helpful!

Old Navy Sale!!

Hey everyone! Old Navy is having a 75% off sale! Yay! They had this last year while I was preggo and I got maternity pants for $5 a piece and maternity shirts for $3. As I had just found out that I was having a little boy I stocked up on 6-12 month boy clothes for this winter at $2-3 dollars for shirts and pants (which Miles is currently wearing) Anyway, I just got back from ON and I got a little winter coat for next year, 5 heavy cable knit sweaters, 4 shirts and 2 pairs of jeans and some socks, all for $50! Not as good as my Sears deal this fall, but still pretty darn good! Especially the sweaters- its cold in Indiana! I wish I had a girl, they had so much more girl stuff! But if any of you are in a shopping mood tomorrow I would check it out! I've definately learned that it pays to plan ahead and buy things for next year when there are close out sales! Yay for being a poor college student's wife again!

Oh and on that note, a big "Good Luck" to all of you that are either applying for graduate programs or have husbands that are applying! This time last year was very stressful at our house, waiting for decisions! A special "Good Luck" to Emily and Chelsea and to Cody and Jason and whoever else that I don't know of.

Baby Names Poll

Hey everyone! Andrea happens to love polls and she suggested, as Savanna is having a hard time coming up with names, that we put a poll with the top baby names and vote for the ones we like. So here you go! It would only let me put five answers on the poll. Here are the top five baby names of 2006 according to the Social Security Administration!

Good News!!!

Allen and I have some good news. We are having a baby boy, he is due on May 9th! We will see if he feels like cooperating then. We haven't decided on any names, in fact we can't even seem to think of any. If any one hears a cute name they don't want to use pass it along. I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and I hope next year is better than the last.
love, Savanna

Christmas Party

Okay, so sorry about the delays with regards to the Christmas Party, but with three family schedules it gets kind of crazy. Anyway here are the details for our Christmas Party. I'll also email them to everyone.
You are all invited to a Christmas Party
When: December 27th
Time: 5:30 p.m.
Where: The Moore's Residence, 73 N Highland Blvd.
Please bring a side dish, rolls, salad or dessert that will feed 8-10 people. Jared and Heather will be providing a ham and all the plates, napkins, cups and silverware.
Please call if you have questions (435) 734-2477

I hope everybody can come(Holly we will miss you so much)and I hope you all get home to Brigham City safely without too much trouble(Not like us, we missed our connection and spent most of Saturday in St. Paul, Minnesota)!

It is a.....

Well we have been looking forward to this day for a long time and we finally found out that we are having a GIRL!!! We are so so excited! I did not really care what we were having but Ryan really wanted a girl, so he is really excited! The baby was cooperating very well and the Tech did not have any problems with figuring it out! This whole experiance has become very real for me now. It is just the most amazing thing seeing your little one on the that little screen! We are very blessed that there does not seem to be any problems and that she is developing normally! This is truly one of the most special Christmas presents I have ever recieved! We are just so thankful! We are still considering a few names. The one that I really like no one seems to like that much so we will see what happens! We will just have to see her and then decide for sure what her name will be! The due date has been revised a couple of times, but it is now May 1.
I know that everyone is busy busy with getting ready for Christmas and holiday travel, so stay safe and have the Merriest of Christmas! I wish we could be at the holiday party, but I hope someone will post the pictures! By the way, I think that all of you have the cutest kids! It is fun to see pictures of them all!
Thanks to everyone for being such a great group of friends! Happy Holidays!
Love ya,
Holly

More Christmas Party Questions

I think the best date will be the 27th, but the next question is what time should we have it? I know Jared and Jess are on Eastcoast time, as our we, and it's 2 hours earlier than most of you guys. So for the sake of our kids we probably should do it a little earlier. Is 5:30 too early? Maybe 6:00? Maybe the kids will be used to the time change by then. Also do we want to do a potluck dinner or just have desserts. Everyone please vote on the poll and then we will go from there! We can't wait to see you all!

Christmas Party

So it being December 1st, and hopefully everyone has there Christmas plans nailed down, we really need to start planning a Christmas Party. If everyone could reply and tell me when looks like a good date that would be great! I don't want to interfer with family time, but I really want to see everyone. For me the best date looks like the December 22nd or December 28th(Chelsea's B-day) or 29th.

Enchanted

So a friend and I took our girls to go see this movie. It is excellent! We laughed through the whole movie! If anyone else has seen it I would love to hear there comments. If you haven't seen it I would definantly put it on your 'to see' list. We didn't take our hubbies, so who know if the boys would like it. I hope everyone is having a happy holiday season! I love reading everyones comments and looking at everyone's blogs. It is great to have a site dedicated to each friend!

Happy Birthday

Myspace Happy Birthday Comments & Graphics Happy Brithday Jessica!

What a Bunch of Turkeys!

Kayden

Xander

Landen

Hope you all have a Great THANKSGIVING!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

We hope you all have a great turkey day!!! :)

Happy Birthday Heather!

Heather,

We all hope you have a fabulous birthday! Love ya tons!