After working, comes relaxing

After being such big helps with the yard work the kids took a break and sat on the driveway and Sheila read Timmy a book.

Timmy was one dirty little boy.

A cute precious moment I had to record.

First doctor's appointment

Tuesday we had our first doctor's appointment and we got to see the baby for the first time. It makes it real for me once I see that little body moving on the ultrasound. He/she was kicking his/her legs and waving his/her arms. I was right on with my dates and my due date is October 11. I was 11 weeks and 2 days.

Here is one of the 3-D images we got. She/He has her/his little arm over her/his face.

I felt Timmy very early kicking and so I think within the next few weeks I will start feeling this little one.

Fat Lip

Timmy was running around the recliner the other day chasing his sister and he fell and bit his lip. He got a nice fat lip from the incident. But like a little kid, he healed very quickly and there is hardly a sign of it now.

Landscaping finally done for now

It's that time of year again to take back control of the yard from the weeds that have overtaken it since the fall. The winter does not kill the weeds around here and so they sometimes have free range on the yard during the time the grass is dead. Well, about a week ago we started gathering supplies. I got some Bonus S to put all over the lawn to help feed it and kill off the nasty weeds. We got mulch, castlewall stones, dirt, plants, and weed proof fabric. Two years ago we put down a walk way and those last two years weeds have worked there way up and see for yourself what it looked like before.

Our yard was also becoming a thistle forest. A few days before we started this project we went out and pulled over a hundred of the little suckers. We got all the big ones and most of the little ones. I hope the Bonus S gets the rest. Ray had Monday and Tuesday off so this became our two day project.

Our beautiful magnolia tree that we planted the year we moved in was rather plain out in the middle of the yard by itself.

Now it is outlined and stands out with the castlewall stones around it.

Here is the finish project so far. The Bonus S still has to work it's magic. I put it on the yard before it started storming yesterday so I hope to see the results within the next week. I use it every year and it works wonders.

We shortened our walkway but widened it. It looks so much better. With that weed proof fabric we put down hopefully no weeds will come up and ruin it again. We put it down all over and the only place weeds might sneak through is around the plant stems. I planted some hawthorne by the walkway. I loved the crotons I did two years ago but they don't like the cold and the last two winters we have gotten a lot of freezes and they did not survive, even being covered. The hawthorne should thrive since they can take the cold.

We did most of this while Sheila was at school so she didn't get to help too much but Timmy sure liked helping and the kid is tough. He took off his shoes and walked all over the thistle forest and it didn't even phase him.

Sorry I haven't blogged much lately

Okay, so this may be difficult to write with a two year old on my lap typing on his keyboard (our old one) over me but I will try since I am feeling okay this morning. This pregnancy has been a lot harder on me. My first two I was able to take naps everyday and that helped but this one I am lucky if I get a small cat nap while Timmy is down and before Sheila gets home from school. I also have spells of nausea that comes in late morning/afternoon and last the rest of the day. Somedays it is not so bad but other days I am wrapped in a blanket with a book sitting in my chair all day while I watch the kids destroy the house. Ray has been keeping up with the dishes but the rest of the house could use a good cleaning so when I do have energy that is what I try to do. I haven't been on the computer, scrapbooking, sewing, or anything like that in weeks. I have been teaching sharing time this month so my extra time when I feel good is used up in planning those. I hope the second trimester will bring some more energy and that the nausea will get better. I will continue my year in the life of me blogs as I can and also try to write some blogs about our happenings now when I get a chance but they may be few for awhile.

1995

1995 started my second semester ar Ricks. I moved in to the same bedroom with Marianne and that was a turn around with my roommates and I. Marianne's boyfriend left for his mission and she and I became like best friends. I even went home with her one weekend and got to know her family. One of our other roommates was her twin sister Marilyn. Marilyn started dating a boy from her dance class and they ended up getting married over the summer.

After the semester was over Marianne and I moved into another apartment (since ours were used for the snowbirds/sunbirds during the summer) and attended summer school. I got a job with the gardens on campus. At first I was just the water girl. I went in during the weekends and sometimes during the week and watered the greenhouses. But during the summer they also put me on the garden crew. I enjoyed that job and discovered I like gardening.

One of my favorite classes during the summer was geology. I became friends with a group of girls and we hung out during our labs and our field trips. One had been a cheerleader and was recovering from an eating disorder. Her parents had pulled her out of school the year before to get her help and she was catching up and another girl was deaf but could read lips. She taught me a little bit of sign language. She and I also took the same art class the next summer session and we sat near the front so she could read the teacher's lips and so he often picked on us.

I was going to attend all three sessions of summer school but Marianne moved out after one session (she graduated) and so I got another new roommate. Several of my new roommates were either engaged or not around much so I never really got close to many of them. After two sessions I started to get home sick. I quit my job and moved home for a break.

That fall I moved to the same complex from my first semester. I got a job as an RA for the apartments and was over the building I lived in the previous year and some of my old roommates. I lived in a different building and had some great roommates. There was three of us sophomores and three freshman. The two other sophomores were friends from the year before and the three freshman were friends from high school. I once again lived with total strangers. I found that was easier since I seen friendships ruined by being roommates. I roommated with one of the freshman and she had the most annoying alarm clock that she never got up for. I bonded right away with all my roommates and we had lots of fun.

Susan dated Chuck off and on all semester but was determined to go on a mission but finally accepted his marriage proposal. We told her if she didn't one of us would since he was the sweetest guy. He brought us all roses once. And he would have done anything for us.

The rest of us didn't have any boyfriends and so we often would group date to the girl choice dances. I got asked out once at Ricks, that was it, so all my dating was by me asking them.

I took a dance class. Really enjoyed it even if the guys were really lame. This is what I mean. There were two guys in there that I soon discovered danced well with me so I would always choose them if it was my turn to choose and they would generally choose me. One was one of my FHE brothers. He and I did a lot of the test together since it was easy for us to get together and practice. Well, he suddenly decided he didn't want to do the final with me. The other guy had already picked a girl to do it with so I was stuck with a guy I barely ever danced with through the semester. I didn't do that well on the final (still got an A in the class though because of the other dance tests) and neither did my FHE brother who ended up dancing with a girl he hardly ever danced with. One of the last guy choice dances that semester he asked my roommate to the dance. While they were out he told my roommate he didn't ask me to be his partner because he thought I had a crush on him and didn't want to give me the wrong signal. I did have a crush on someone but it wasn't him. I didn't have a crush on any of the guys in my dance class.

I became really good friends with one of my FHE brothers, Kyle. One of my FHE sisters had a crush on him and so she and I doubled to one of the dances and she took him. He was just the nicest guy. Right after Thanksgiving when we were all back at school for the two weeks until Christmas break (Kyle was going to be leaving on a mission and wouldn't be back after Christmas) we were at a church activity when Kyle was called out of the room by the bishop. He never came back. The bishop came in to announce that Kyle's brother had been killed in a car wreck on his mission and Kyle would be going home. My roommates and FHE sisters rushed over to his dorm. We couldn't go up to his room but he came down to say goodbye. We all hugged him and cried with him. He did come back for the last few days of the semester to say goodbye to everyone. He and I kept in contact for a little while and then some years later I ran into him at USU. I was sitting on a couch reading and suddenly he plopped down next to me and asked if I remembered him. Of course I did and it was fun to catch up with him.

1994

1994 wasa big year. It continued my saga of a sad Senior year. But also had some good positive notes.

Dinece and Carrie began hanging out with a crowd that I would not normally hang out with and they began to distance themselves from me. Once I asked them why they never invited me to go and they said they knew I wouldn't want to. It made me feel good that they thought enough of me not to ask me to compromise my values but it hurt me because we never did anything together anymore.

Even though I didn't have any close friends at school I still enjoyed going most of the time. One group I hung out with had a major fight and broke into two groups and I was kind of in the middle.

I had my fantasy lit. class with Kody. It was the first time I ever admitted I was a writer and my teacher would always ask me about my stories, characters, and stuff like that. It put me on the spot but most people in that class thought it was cool. Kody and I ended up sitting in the back of the room across from each other. He and I became friends by the end of the trimester. Never went out with him though.

The year before I became friends with a boy named Jeremy (my age) and Wes (a year younger.) Our ward was learning to country swing dance and asked the girls to invite guys since we didn't have enough guys to go around in our ward. I invited both of them and Wes ended up dancing with my friend Janet and Jeremy learned it with me. The first dance of 1994 was a girl choice Sweetheart dance. I debated which of the guys to ask since they were both good friends. I decided on Jeremy since he was the one that I learned all the dances with and we were pretty good together.

Something happened though after I asked him. Some girls, I think, started talking to him and convinced him that I had a crush on him and that he would give me the wrong message if he went with me. Instead he never answered me, never told me no, and went with another girl. I found out the Monday after the dance when some of my friends told me they seen him there. He was in my other English class that trimester. A few days after this happened my friend Lee was giving a presentation on dating etiquette in the class. After he was done he asked if there was any questions. My friend Amoretta who sat behind me and next to Jeremy slowly raised her hand. I felt my face turn bright red. She was livid with how Jeremy treated me. Lee called her and she said, "What if a girl asked a guy to a dance and he never answered her and then goes with another girl to the same dance?" The room erupted in angry replies about what a jerk that guy would be and stuff like that. I never turned around but she told me that she sat there glaring at him the whole time and he was just turning red. I just sat there smiling. I had written him a note telling him how it made me feel to have a friend do that to me and he told one of my other friends I was a b**. By the end of our Senior year we had moved past it and became friends again but never as good as we had been. I regretted chosing Jeremy and wished I had asked Wes since I know he wouldn't have done that to me. He went with whatever girl asked him. I never did go to any dances that year.

I started applying for colleges. I applied to BYU, University of Idaho, Ricks, and an all girl school in Missouri. I was accepted to all four and given scholarships to three of them. Ricks was the best scholarship and also my friend Julie was attending that school so I decided to go there. I am so glad I did.

I graduated from High School on May 26, 1994 with High Honors. My whole family was home for it. My brother surprised us about a week before my graduation coming home on leave from the Army. That meant a lot to me to have him there. His friend Justin liked me and I liked him. We went out a couple of times before graduation and then he came to my graduation and gave me a watch.

I attended the alcohol-free all night party sponsored by the booster club out at the fair grounds. I lost one of my earrings my grandmother gave me for my 16th birthday while I was there. I forgot I had left them in after my graduation and took them off later that night and put them in my parents car but it was missing later when I went to get them. I was very sad about that. I also hit my parents jeep with their station wagon while I was trying to leave for the party. I was busy trying to avoid my sister's, aunt's, and brother's cars parked behind me and didn't realize I turned right into the jeep. I caused a huge dent in the back passenger door. I bawled and bawled. My dad was not mad, which was a shocker.

The day after staying up all night I went back to Utah with my aunt and grandma. I was going to live with her during the summer and try to get a job there in Salt Lake. My grandma had just moved from Tooele to a condo in Salt Lake.

I applied to a bunch of different places and one day we went down the block to the Hardees to get something to eat. We saw they were hiring and my grandma told me to apply. I left that day with a job. That's where I met my first real boy friend, Wayne. We dated off and on for 7 years. He was 18 months younger than me.

The first part of July I received a phone call from my dad. He told me I needed to sit down. Then he proceeded to tell me that my best friend Dinece had drowned and she was on life support in the hospital. She was swimming in a canal with her younger step-sister and must have hit her head diving in or something. Her sister ran to the nearest house and got the farmer that lived there. He pulled Dinece out while someone called 911. My father was the first officer on the scene. I had to go to work right after learning that and when I got to work I must have been really pale or something because my boss asked me what was wrong. I told him that my friend had just drowned. He sent me home. Five days later her parents made the tough decision to take her off the life support and she passed from this world. Wayne drove me home to Rupert for the funeral. The night of the viewing (for family and friends) my mom took my sister and I (and the rest of the family) to it. At first I couldn't look at Dinece but then when I did I lost it and cried and cried. My mom later told me she wanted to take us early because she knew at least one of us would have a really hard time with it. The funeral was packed and so was the graveyard service. Carrie and I reunited after that and we have been in touch off and on through the years.

I started Ricks that fall. That first semester was a real adjustment for me. I loved Ricks but I was still very shy. My roommates didn't like me at first. I later learned one told one of her friends (who later became friends with me) that she should stay away from me because I was a nerd. I had one roommate I became friends with. Unfortunately she had some issues in her life that she needed to work out and left after the first semester. About a month into the semester my sister called me and told me to tell my roommates something not very nice. I didn't know one of my roommates had answered the other phone and heard that comment. She hung up but then heard my side of the conversation. We started to talk about my sister's roommate that lived with her and her husband but from my side of the conversation it sounded differently. I went home that weekend and asked my dad to give me a blessing.

When I got back that Sunday night my roommates confronted me. I didn't know what they were talking about. Soon they got frustrated and just said it was pointless to talk about it if I wouldn't admit it. Later I figured out what they must have heard and went to each and told them what actually had happened. I don't think they really believed me at the time.

I had a really easy accounting class I was going to drop but there was a really cute RM that would ask me questions and he and I became friends. Sam was his name. Wayne and I had agreed to date other people since we were so far away from each other although around Christmas time we officially broke up. My roommates wanted to set me up with a guy I really couldn't stand for a girl choice dance but my roommate I did get along with helped me ask Sam and he said yes. My roommates were all shocked when they saw how cute he was. Maybe that is when their opinion of me began to change. I don't know. Sam and I hung out a few more times that semester and then also during the next semester on occassion.

My one roommate Marianne also started to date a guy name Jeff and he liked me. I think he influenced her changing her mind about me and during Christmas break she called and asked me if I wanted to share a bedroom with her. Her roommate and mine had moved out at the end of the semester and we were getting two new roommates. I agreed. Best final decision I made of 94.