Yup...

She's still PREGO.

Please enjoy...

Your thoughts???

Pop!

Hubba Bubba bubble gum = h-u-g-e bubbles! This little bubble is ready to pop, too! Mom's been in town for a week now and is just a *little* anxious for this little baby to come! She's currently having a little give-away on her blog...check it out over here. Katie's official due date is this coming Sunday, so we'll see if baby Claire will make her appearance on schedule!

Vote YES on Prop 8!

The discussion of Prop 8 in California has become a pretty debated topic among members of the Church. We have been counseled by our leaders to support this proposition, and while I am not currently a resident of California, there are things that I--and all of us--can do to support this proposition. We attended a broadcast tonight where Elder Ballard and Elder Cook encouraged us to join the conversation and talk about the issue on our various blogs/networking sites. I've added a few links on the side that are excellent resources to turn to when discussing the issues with our neighbors, friends and family members.

Here's a quick summary of what voting YES on Proposition 8 does:
• It restores the definition of marriage to what the vast majority of California voters already approved and what Californians agree should be supported, not undermined.
• It overturns the outrageous decision of four activist Supreme Court judges who ignored the will of the people.
• It protects our children from being taught in public schools that "same-sex marriage" is the same as traditional marriage.

Check out the links, join the discussion and (where possible) vote YES on Prop 8!

Conference Weekend!

Marshall and I looked over at one point during the Sunday afternoon session of General Conference and found Chris, his roommate Aaron, Katie and Joe all asleep! We thought it was pretty funny!

Some highlights from Conference:
• President Monson announcing 5 new temples, including one in Rome, Italy!
• Elder Perry's talk on the benefits of a simplified lifestyle
• President Uchtdorf's message of how hope, faith and charity work together (hope strengthens faith and leads to charity)
• Elder Holland: angels, whether seen or unseen, are always near
• Elder Wirthlin's story about his daughter and the blind date
• President Eyring: we must be unified; the Lord wishes that we become one, and as we do this, we will be blessed.
• Elder Hales: we must respond to those who criticize us in a Christ-like way; conversations should be marked with the fruits of the Spirit
• President Monson: there is no tomorrow to remember if we don't do something today; distinguish between what is and what isn't important; what is most important often involves those around us--we must show them that we love them; what would you say if you only had 25 words to use?; find joy in the journey

Happy Birthday, Sarah!!

Chris came into town this morning for General Conference so we had a little sibbling reunion--minus Sarah--during the afternoon session! We miss Sarah, and because it's her BIRTHDAY today, we had a little birthday party in her honor!

pictures from the party:



Happy Birthday, Sarah!!

Mad Skillz

Friday night found Katie, Carly (my roommate) and me putting our mad baking skillz to the test in Katie's kitchen whipping up a batch of cookies! Three hours later, we had a counter full of black and white cookies...they didn't quite turn out like we had hoped they would, but it was still fun making them!

Is that you??

Yes, that would be me in all those pictures. Ever wonder what you'd look like had you grown up in a different decade? Mom has told me on more than one occasion that I was born in the wrong decade, and I've always secretly wished I lived in the 50s! I've seen yearbookyourself.com on a few different blogs, and we've spent probably a *little* more time than we should at work playing on the site! The pictures that turn out the best are the ones the distorted ones that you take on the webcam!

It's probably a good thing that Marshall doesn't really look at this blog, because he'd probably die if he saw that I put his picture up here, but I think it's too cute not to! He was over a few weeks ago, so we were playing on the site and he thought it was pretty funny! This is what Marsh would look like in 1998!

Ganschmalfos...

Yes, "Ganschmalfos." It's one of our very limited options for lunch at work. For the most part, they do a good job, but there's my "special" friend that works there that does a number on the sandwiches he makes. I've started joking around with him about the quality of the sandwiches he makes, but I don't think he gets it. There's typically avocado smeared all over the wrapper, so my hands are covered in green goo by the time I carry it back to work. Everything is usually falling out of the sandwich by the time it gets unwrapped. Does this happen to anyone else's sandwich? Never. It's always my sandwich that is totally destroyed and it's kind of become a joke in the office!

Today's sandwich? Turkey avocado bagel sandwich. Wanna see what it looked like?

Looks good, right? Oh well...they gave us large drinks for free today!

What else did we do at work today? Click HERE.

Work Stinks!!

We got to work this morning only to find that the basement had flooded--bad. Really bad. It smelled soo bad. I felt like I was dying a slow, painful death inside of a porta-potty...that's how bad it was! I wish there was a way to capture the smell. Everyone would just start laughing when they walked in the room because it was so bad! It was totally an early-out day...hopefully tomorrow will be better!

(This is me, Brenda and Josh all trying to survive in our room!)

and ps...I wasn't going to share my babysitting experience from last week on here, but per Heather's request, I'm thinking about it. Look forward to it. Oh man...I'm just kind of laughing thinking about it. Fine...I give in. Here it goes:

Let me just start by saying I've NEVER had to call the parents in all my years of babysitting. Not once. I would almost consider myself a professional, if that's possible. So Katharine called last week for me to watch Addy and Luke for a couple hours...no problem, right? Katharine and James left and things were fine for about 20 minutes, when Luke realized his mom was gone and started crying. We walked around the house to settle him down, but then decided it might be a good idea to go outside and look at the cows in the field behind them. I left the back door open so we could stand on the porch and still see Addy contently watching her movie. A breeze came through and the door shut behind me and I instantly knew it was going to be locked--and locked it was. No problem, right? Luke started laughing because I think he kind of had a sense at what was going on. We tried the windows...no luck. Front door? Locked. We were able to distract Addy long enough from her movie to see if she could open the door and she started laughing and tried her hardest, but couldn't quite figure it out.

I remembered Katharine saying her friend might stop by with a key, so of course I'm hoping she would show up. Never happened. I heard the front doorbell ring, so Luke and I walked around to the front to find a lady from the Provo City "welcoming committee" wondering why I didn't come through the front door. I explained the situation and she asked if I had called the parents. My phone was safely locked inside, so of course I hadn't! She wished me luck with the situation and left me with the welcoming packet and no offer of helping us! (Welcome to Provo, Katharine!) We went back around to keep an eye on Addy, hoping the friend would come by with the key. I'm sure Addy was loving being queen of the house! She was laughing and had to have been wondering why we wouldn't come in and play with her!

Another 20 minutes or so went by and I finally gave in and went to the neighbor's house to see if they had Katharine's cell number, or knew of someone in the ward who would have it. We found the number and called several times hoping Katharine would pick up so we could get the code to the garage door. We got the code and were able to get in the house where Addy was just laughing at us and just wanted us to come watch her movie with her!

I'm sure Katharine has moved me to the top of her babysitter list! :) Needless to say, I totally felt like a lame-head! Now you know who to call for your babysitting needs...right???

Do you had any exciting/crazy/weird babysitting stories?? Please, do share...

Check it out!

Just doing my morning blog reading and saw that my BYU Idaho friend, Lizzy, is featured today on print & pattern! Lizzy has a new fabric line debuting this fall and I can't wait for it to be available!

Weekend Plans...

...to watch THESE and begin working on my end of summer/beginning of fall project:


I've loved Heather Bailey's fabric since the first time I saw it! I've been gathering my fabric for the last month or so (THANKS Brenda!!!) and I've finally figured out what I want this quilt to look like. I'll post pictures as it starts to take shape!

The Olympics have been incredible so far! I love hearing the inspiring stories on how different athletes made their way to the Olympics. I love that Michael Phelps won 8 gold medals. I love that Dara Torres is old enough to be the mother of some of the other women she swims against...and that she won a silver medal at age 41. I love that Trampoline is an official Olympic sport...and Handball. I love hearing about the drama and I love that we still have another week to watch. I love the Olympics!