More Aspen Photos

Our friend Ellen came over this evening and took some photos of Aspen. Unfortunately she was fussy and most of the photos were of her crying. We think she looks cute when she cries though so we still like the way the photos turned out.
So now that our little one has finally come I understand what all you mothers out there are talking about. I've never been so excited to get up at 2:00 a.m. for anything in my life. My favorite thing to do is put her on my chest and snooze with her after she nurses. She is definitely one little miracle!

She's a girl!

For those who haven't heard yet, On February 20th Chelsi gave birth to a baby girl. Her name is Aspen Rae. She was 7 lbs 9 ozs and 19 inches long. Here is a video of her hiccuping right after she was born.

Still Pregnant

41 weeks and counting......

Two of my favorite books

Have any of you ever read The Culprit and the Cure? It's one of my favorite books. I read it last year and it changed my life. The book is about poor lifestyle being the culprit to bad health and disease, and how a healthy lifestyle is the cure. I absolutely loved it. A couple months after reading it Eric and I were flying from Utah to Massachusetts, and we happened to sit next to the author. I happened to see one of his business cards and we started talking about his book and it's concepts. Since I was such a fan, he sent me a free copy of his second book, The Stop & Go Fast Food Nutrition Guide.
This book is awesome! It lists a large percentage of restaurant chains, their menus, and organizes each food order into green (good choice), yellow (so-so), and red (really bad for you) categories. I take it with me whenever we go out so I know exactly what I'm ordering. I remember the first time I read through it I was so shocked! I couldn't believe how fattening some of the food was that I used to eat. Stuff I ate without thinking about. For example:
When I was growing up, whenever my family went on vacation we ate breakfast at Denny's. Well, a Denny's Grand Slam Slugger with hash browns has 1190 calories, 57 grams of fat, and 3250 mg of sodium. A sampler (appetizer) has 1405 calories, 80 grams of fat, and 5305 mg of sodium. Crazy!
An Arby's deluxe double cheeseburger weighs in at 720 calories, 42 grams of fat, and 1370 mg of sodium. Their chicken sandwiches are a little better, and a plain hamburger is actually considered a green option.
I'm a huge Domino's Pizza fan, especially since I've been pregnant. I could eat pizza every night! Their ham pizza is my favorite. Let's see, half of a ham pizza (assuming Eric eats the other half) has 792 calories (oh that makes me sad!), 24 grams of fat, and 1968 mg of sodium. Good thing I've resorted to homemade pizza! My favorite part of this book was the great news I found out towards the end. One of the best places to eat ever is.....
Panda Express, one of my most favorite restaurants. They don't cook any of their foods in trans fats, so almost everything on their menu is a green option. P.F. Chang's was pretty healthy too. Other restaurants that were good choices were sandwich shops, such as Blimpie and Subway, as well as In-n-out Burger and Chick-fil-A, because none of them cook with trans fats. Okay, I'm off to make pizza! This post has made me really hungry!

Women's Peeing Apparatus

My sweet, wonderful husband has been talking about this heavenly contraption for the last couple weeks. Now let me say that I love Eric very much and I think he's the cutest thing ever, but he wants to buy me this w.p.a. (women's peeing apparatus, as I call it) to use. I have to admit it would be pretty handy while camping when there's no bathroom around! I guess it's the closest I'll ever get to having manly convenience, but what I won't agree to is using the w.p.a. in the car, while traveling. Let me be more specific: while the car is in motion. Every school year we drive back and forth across the country, and he is convinced that this wonderful tool will shed hours off our driving time (all right, I do have a very tiny bladder, but come on!). It makes me think of the movie Rat Race where the little girl is made to do her business in the back seat because her father's in too much of a hurry to pull over. Well, I laughed and laughed when Eric suggested this to me. I think he's given up on the idea by now. Of course, the next time we go out west we'll have a baby with us, so as far as I'm concerned there's really no point in trying to "save time," am I right?

29 Years Young

Today I celebrated my 29th birthday. I can't believe it! Has is really been over 10 years since I graduated from high school? I've been home from my mission for over 6 years. The really scary part is that next year I can honestly say I'm in my thirties. Yikes! I was looking at some photo albums today that I hadn't looked at in a while, and found some fun and frightening pictures. The one above was taken around 2000, with my sisters Sasha and Demri. My parents had just purchased some four wheelers and we were getting them warmed up. My brother was on his mission at the time and was pretty jealous.
Here's me in high school with my friend Michelle. I don't know if it wasn't cool to smile or if I was too cool for photos or what. Actually I think our friend was taking pictures for their photography class and used us as subjects. I wonder what Michelle is looking at.....
Okay, I seriously debated whether to add this photo or not, because it's really incriminating. Can you guess which one I am? Here's a hint: I'm wearing spandex shorts! I have three other photos like this, all from different teams, and I'm always wearing these shorts! What's even worse is that I'm pretty sure someone sewed them for me. Double yikes. By the way, my dad's the guy on the left.

Here's me with my roommates several years ago at BYU. I remember that I'd had to work late that night and didn't get home until after 11:00. I figured everyone would have forgotten my birthday but when I got to the apartment everyone was waiting for me with an oreo cake. That bath and body works bag contains lavender vanilla lotion; my favorite! I have a lot of great memories of my roommates from the Y.





Okay, this one I just had to add because come on, look at my bangs! I wonder what I was thinking when this photo was taken. I look pretty tough, don't you think?