Oh Wow.

I really really really want to like Sarah Palin but I can hardly stand to watch or listen to her. She seriously needs some lessons on how to handle an interview. She might also need some vocabulary lessons to increase her word base from "um","I don't know", and "Alaska".



What the heck did she just say?

Our Attempt at Camping

Last night, Berkeley and I tried to go camping with some of Berkeley's family. We went to American Fork Canyon, but there were no camping sites left. We decided to just find a fire pit and do dinner over the fire. It was tons of fun.

Real Men Clean...and Have Fun Doing It.

Today Berkeley kind of combined exercise with cleaning. He worked out and then immediately began mopping our living room floor.

And then he did the laundry...

Thanks for all your help today Berkeley. Sorry if this post totally embarrasses you.

Ahh-choo!

I had to steal this from my friend Lexi's blog. It is too cute and too funny not to share! Enjoy!

Cross Dress For Less.

Berkeley and I love Ross Dress for Less, especially Berkeley. In fact, he went to Ross two times yesterday. Once on his own and once with me. Even though he loves it, he still insists on calling it Cross Dress For Less. It is kind of funny. Anyway, last night while at Ross (or Cross) we had a great time together. We shopped around for ourselves and checked out some baby stuff. That was fun because it was the first time the idea of having a baby has felt real and exciting. Berkeley used to be obsessed with the character "Strawberry Shortcake" when he was little. He thought she smelled good and was hot or something. Anyway, we saw a Strawberry Shortcake baby outfit last night and Berkeley wanted to buy it so bad because "what are the chances first of all, of coming across a Strawberry Shortcake outfit? And in Ross for so cheap?" We did not buy it because we don't even know what we are having and then we realized that the outfit was 4T. We obviously haven't learned how small an infant is yet or how to read the sizes on baby clothes. Oh well. Then, we got to the section in Ross where they have all the weird vases and animal statues. Berkeley decided to put two animal statues (an elephant and a duck) in a dirty position. I was laughing so hard and it was too funny for me to fix, so we left it there on the shelf just like that. We continued on our adventure by looking at pictures, pillows, rugs, laundry baskets, etc. It was weird, but it was like we needed eveerything. We left Ross with a kitchen rug, a tie, and a beer boot for our neighbor who doesn't drink beer but is always drinking water out of a mason jar and is a huge sports fan. It was such a fun low-key night. I recommend going on your next date to Cross Dress For Less.

Sleeping is Supposed to be Peaceful!

I woke up so frustrated this morning because ALL night long I had the worst dreams about work and school. My neck and back are all tense and it feels like I went for a push ups all night. Here are three of the many examples I could share from last night's escapade.

Dream 1: I am at school getting ready to do an oral presentation on an article about literacy (which I do have to do on Monday). My turn comes around and I can't find my article anywhere. The professor sends me to the hall so I can try to find my stuff. It is no where. She then tells me to just explain the article to the class. I stand up and I can't remember a single thing about it. I start trying to fake it and all I can think to say is a bunch of junk about boats. What the...
Dream 2: I am at work. An irate customer comes in and starts screaming at me because her house is being repossessed. (I work at a lawn service company. We have NOTHING to do with real estate.) I continue to tell the lady I am sorry but there is nothing we can do for her. She is freaking out saying it is my our fault and we have no right to repo her home. My manager hears and comes out of his office. He calls me to the back room and tells me I am terrible at customer service and that is if I don't figure out something to do for this lady then I am fired. Awesome.
Dream 3: School again. I am running super later and it is a huge final day for one of my classes. I can't find my shoes anywhere. I decide to go barefoot. My car won't start and when it finally does there is traffic backed up for blocks so I can't even get out of my driveway. I try calling some people from my class and their answering machines all say, " I am in the middle of a final right now. I will call you back." I call my professor. She tells me there is nothing she can do and that I should have allotted myself more time to get there. The dream went on and on FOREVER.

Awesome night, huh? Hopefully tonight will be better. It is the weekend. I shouldn't be plagued with stressful work and school dreams for 8 hours straight. Wish me luck.

Time for a Pick-Me-Up

I was looking over my blog and realized I had like 3 downer posts in a row. One about my attempted car jacking, one about the charges the criminal incurred, and one about how much money we had to spend on cars. Downers. I decided it was time for a pick-me-up post. I have been thinking about the things I am most grateful for in my life right now and I have made a list. Her goes:

1. Berkeley. He's great. He keeps me laughing and is always the best of company even when I may not be. I still feel like the luckiest girl in the world because he chose to marry me. Plus, he is going to be a fantastic dad.
2. Friends. It is so nice to know that there are people out there who care about me. People who I can call anytime and always get good advice or support when needed. I want to take second and thank those who have been so generous to us the last couple weeks. Jeff, Lexi and Chris, thank you so much for letting us use your cars while ours have been out of commision. You saved us from quite a headache.
3. The opportunity to be a mother. I am scared to death about a lot of things when it comes to the idea of having a baby but when I relax and really think about it, I feel so blessed.
4. Our jobs. As much as we like to complain about work, we both have great jobs that provide the means to support ourselves and live comfortably. Berkeley's work is providing us with great medical and dental insurance. My work is so flexible with my full-time school schedule and I am so grateful for that.
5. Family. There is no way I could leave out our families. In our prayers, Berkeley and I are always thanking our Heavenly Father for the incredible families that we have. We are blessed to have parents that raised us in the gospel and always showed their love and support for us. We both have brothers and sisters that we consider our truest friends even though we may not see a lot of eachother.
6. The Gospel. Of course we can't leave that out. Our religion is the center of our lives and is what makes our lives so rich. We have been blessed beyond measure by simply living by the docterines of the gospel. We understand eternal truths that give us hope and encouragement especially when things don't always go our way. I am especially grateful for our temple marriage that seals our family for eternity. There is nothing better than knowing you are a child of a loving Heavenly Father who knows you and has a plan and purpose for your life.

There's much more I could write, but I probably already lost most of you. This post was mostly for myself. I need to be better about remembering all the good I have in my life.

Boy or Girl?

Today I went in for my 3rd doctor's appointment. I am 16 weeks and 4 days along. So far, all is going well with the pregnancy. The babies heart rate has been consistently between 153 to 163 bpm. I haven't gained any weight yet as far as the scales show. All I know is that I feel like a total chunk all the time. I have felt somewhat crummy at nights since I was about 8 weeks along so working out has been a real challenge. Maybe that adds to my negative body complex at the moment. My 20 week appointment is on October 6th at 1:30. This is the baby wellness visit where I get to have an ultrasound and we find out the gender or our baby. I am really hoping for a boy. Berkeley used to want a girl but I think he is neutral on his opinion now. Either way, we will be so excited. Take a minute and vote on what gender you think our baby will be. 4 weeks till the big surprise.

Alms for the Poor.

Berkeley and I have had the worst week as far as spending money on things that we don't want to goes. First of all, the whole car jacking ordeal left us having to pay our $250 insurance deductible. Lame. I get car jacked and we pay. Insurance did end up paying about $600 for repairs/cleaning/detailing. I am grateful for that. Next, I needed to get my car registered again, but in order to pass safety and emissions, I had to get two new tires and a new windshield wiper motor. My alignment was off so I got that done as well. Today's total bill to Firestone: $ 545 big ones. Next, Berkeley's truck is also due for new registration. His front headlight would not work, so we assumed that it was an easy fix. We bought a new light, replaced the old one, and it still didn't work. Turns out it was an electrical problem. Yesterday's bill to Orem Electric: $170 big ones. Just when we think we are done, we're not. Berkeley's truck needs a new windshield. We thought that our insurance would cover it because we already paid our $250 deductible. Nope. The deductible is $250 per car. On Monday, we will pay Safelight Autoglass $120 big ones. Last but not least, both of our cars have to have safety and emissions tests done along with the $90 registration fee for EACH. Gosh. We are broke.
On a good note, we lost the key to Berkeley's truck a week or so ago and had no idea where it was. We tore our house apart and found it nowhere. I looked into having a replacement made and the cost to do that would have been about $190. Finally, Berkeley said we should pray. We did. We thought through the last night we had the keys and remembered we had eaten at the Olive Garden. That was last Friday. Berkeley called them anyway and they had our truck key in the lost and found! Yay. It was an answer to our prayers to not have to pay that extra amount of money. Then again, Berkeley got a ticket last week for driving his unregistered vehicle to the repair shop. At least they did not impound it. You win some you lose some. Mostly we lose some. Or a lot.

Flashback Friday. "The Thing."

This is a picture of Lexi and I on a jet-skiiing adventure we will not soon forget. About a year and a half or so ago, the Ward family had a reunion at Priest Lake, ID. It was incredibly fun and the scenery was beautiful. One day, Lexi and I decided to go out on the jet ski together. We got pretty far out in the lake when we noticed a pink thing floating in the water. We thought it was a balloon or something so we drove up to check it out. When we got close we both starting screaming a freaking out because the object was definatley NOT a balloon. It was unidentifyable. The thing looked like a rotting piece of human or animal. Maybe a stomach all swelled up and floating there. We were just so curious that we kept driving in circles around it. We made up stories about what it could be. We had to figure it our. Lexi thought that if we could somehow turn the thing over, then we could figure out what it was. We tried to make waves big enough but nothing could flip the thing over. Finally I decided to drive straight forward into it in a effort to turn it over with the front of the jet-ski. I went a little too fast. The thing rode right up the front of the jet ski and almost into my lap! I slowed fast enough that the thing skidded right back down into the water. We were both freaking out. We left it alone after that but to this day I wonder what the thing really was. Weird, I know.

The Rap Sheet.

Thanks everyone for your love and concern. Berkeley and I are both doing just fine. I thought you all might be interested in the rap sheet that the crazy guy incurred as a result of that night. It makes me happy to know that he will be stuck in prison for quite some time. Keep note that some of them are multiple charges. Awesome.

Desc:
ASSAULT ON A POLICE OFFICER X3

Desc:
RESISTING ARREST X2

Desc:
FLEEING ON FOOT FROM POLICE

Desc:
Drugs-Marijuana-Possession

Desc:
AGG ROBBERY

Desc:
Criminal Mischief

Desc:
AGG KIDNAPPING

Desc:
EVIDENCE TAMPERING

Desc:
TRESPASSING

Desc:
DUI