A Social Network Christmas

IgniterMedia put this together. It is the Christmas Story told through Facebook status updates. I liked it and thought I would share it here. Merry Christmas!

Babies and adults

So I get to watch Ella during the day right now. It is hard. I wish I could be doing something else. Everyone says it gets better. It tends to get worse before better though. All the stuff you read in books is mostly crap. You see, they tell you what a normal baby should be doing, and then they say there is no normal. Hmmmm whats up with that?

Ella is doing well. She has a double chin, chunky legs, and a long torso. This is problematic when it comes to onesies. You see, weight wise she fits the 0-3 months onesies. They are just short. So to you entrepenuer out there, start selling onesies in tall settings. It would make this baby happier. She is just starting to smile, and has giggled at me. She found her reflection in a mirror and got really excited. She isn't fond of her crib, but we're working on that, and she love sleeping on her side.

Another observation: Ella behaves like a few adults I know. Does that mean she is mature for her age? or are the adults behaving like babies?

Ella has some pretty amazing presents to open on Christmas Day, too bad she won't care. I still like them.

Oh, and I finished my first semester of graduate school. I hated a lot of it. I persevered, got really good grades, and have decided that graduate school is a necessary evil.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas or Easter?

Last Christmas

I gave you my heart but the very next day you gave it away.

This year, to save me from tears, I'll give it to someone special.

Happy Hanukkah!

Here is a song to celebrate.

The start of the Christmas Season

At the start of this Christmas season I thought I would post the funniest version of "O Holy Night" ever recorded (Although Ella does not appreciate parts of it). I have also posted a video of the person who created this version explaining where it came from etc. in case you are interested.

Stay tuned for some Hannukah songs in a week or so.

Another Reason Sesame Street is awesome

and Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

She's here

Ella Mae Carlile arrived on November 5th. We are debating how to share pictures, without broadcasting her image to the world, so this blog might go private in the near future. For more info, please email us.

Final Countdown

Okay, so as of today, I am 38 weeks and 3 days along. That's right, there are less than 10 days till my due date so I wanted to blog one more time before the big day arrived because, let's face it, that could be any day. According to a lot of people, I seemed to have "popped" in the last week or two. I've learned that a lot of the older women at work love to watch me walk down the hall. One woman said that every time she sees me waddle along, she thinks "Oh you're almost there! You can make it!" and she remembers those last few days of her pregnancy.

One thing that has definitely increased is my number of trips to the bathroom. For those of you how have known me for years, you can only imagine how many times I am waddling my way there every day! And if you have ever seen the movie "Where the Heart Is", I fully understand why she makes those sounds in the Walmart bathroom at the beginning of the movie.

Other than pregnancy, Halloween was very uneventful this year. We had all of our normal decorations up but between my bulging belly and the fact that Halloween was on a Sunday (seems totally wrong when that happens), we didn't get to do much besides have donuts and watch "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." Of course, next year, we get to go trick or treating and eat someone else's candy.

So at this point in the game, everything seems to be going well. I am packed for the hospital, we have car seats installed in both cars, Chase finished writing all his papers this past weekend and the baby's room is about as put together as it will ever be. Chase is hoping the baby doesn't come on election day so we are still keeping our fingers crossed and now we wait for my water to break or contractions to really kick in.

Speaking of which, yesterday at church, a woman told us a great story. Her sister-in-law was grocery shopping when her water broke and she was embarrassed by the mess. She looked around and saw a big jar of pickles. So she picked up the jar, smashed it on the ground and told the store cleanup on aisle five. I'm thinking maybe I should start carrying around a jar of pickles....

More baby stuff

I think it is safe to say that this blog is turning into a blog about Baby Girl. This past weekend we bought a mobile for the crib and Kerri finished knitting Baby Girl's baby blanket (and this was Kerri's first real attempt at knitting). Baby Girl can come anytime and we're ready for her, but it would be really nice if she would wait at least a week or two.

Kerri's Birthday

Due to circumstance I was not able to get Kerri 27 roses and 27 balloons for her birthday this year. But I think what I did get her was even better. I got her this:



She has been wanting one of these for the past 36 weeks, so I decided a Petunia Picklebottom diaper bag was the perfect gift. The only unfortunate thing was that this wasn't a surprise. I wasn't about to pick a diaper bag our for her, and Kerri knew ahead of time that this was her present. But I still think she's happy she got it.

Since her birthday was over conference weekend we didn't do much. We went to lunch between sessions and then after priesthood session we caught up with some of my friends in my program and went to Oktoberfest. It was fun. We enjoyed our lemonade while watching my friends drink beer from all over the world. On our way out we had some of the best apple strudel ever and then we out to dinner.

Hopefully next year we'll be able to something more extravagant.

The Great Lecture Takeover of 2010

In my Tuesday night class there is a girl who, bless her heart, has problem with sharing too much information. For example, a few weeks ago we learned that she has trouble keeping jobs because she has trouble with authority, which stems from issues with her dad. This fun fact about her had nothing to do with what we were talking about, and I'm not sure we needed to know about her issues with her dad. Comments like these happen at least every class period, and usually include 5 minutes of back story.

Well, last week the professor asked for a volunteer to write on the board. She enthusiastically volunteered (which I was grateful for because I hate volunteering). We were discussion Maslow's hierarchy of needs, and the girl was supposed to draw the hierarchy, and then right down our comments. Well it didn't take long before she not only had the hierarchy drawn on the board and our comments written. She then proceeded to draw lines and arrows and cross things out and make connections to concepts that had nothing to do with needs theory and soon the board looked like a mad scientist's board. It got to the point where my professor stopped talking, and sat down with the class and just watch her go. That's right, she took over the lecture, and made a fool of herself as she tried to act smarter than she is. I'm not saying she's stupid, but there is a reason we are taking this class: we don't know everything.

My professor is a great guy and really smart in knowing when to let us explore idea's, and when he needs to control the discussion, so he didn't let this girl lecture for long. I just thought it was really funny that this first semester grad student, who never says anything really on topic took over the lecture. I wish you could have been there. I sit in the back of the room and when she took over the lecture it was funny to see all the heads turn away from the board with looks on their faces like "Oh my gosh, is she really doing this?". It was a good laugh.

And that is the Great Lecture Takeover of 2010. I hope it doesn't happen again.

Well, I need to get back to writing a paper. I have major writers block so I decided to blog. Too bad papers don't write themselves.

This made me laugh today

Watch until the end, and be sure your sound is on.

Baby Stuff

So I just realized that there are only 5 more doctors appointments until Baby Girl arrives. Kind of scary isn't it.

The good news is that we have the baby's furniture set up. Below are some pictures (the crib does have bedding, I just haven't taken a picture of it yet). I have also included pictures of Kerri at 33 weeks.

If You Could Hie to Kolob

Fun fact about Chase: I love the banjo and any bluegrass music.

Well, today, thanks to cjane, I found the musical group The Lower Lights. They have taken LDS hymns and arranged them into good old southern bluegrass revival songs. My favorite is If You Could Hie to Kolob (It is track number 6), but all the songs are great. Enjoy

This made me laugh today

Job Follow-up

So I just wanted to mention that one of the tough parts of my new job is getting to used to all the acronyms and not laughing at some of them. For instance, "ED" now stands for Emergency Department instead of what is commonly used on tv and I now know what "Rack-ti-poo" means. I should be more mature but I have to keep stifling my laughter!

Working Girl

I'm back in the game! Today was the first day of my fabulous new job. After two months of unemployment, I am earning my keep again. Now some of you might be thinking that I got a job a little while ago. There was a teaching position I was looking at but in the last two weeks, I was interviewed and offered my current position and I couldn't be happier. I'm basically a statistical analyst for a company that analyzes the quality of healthcare that people are receiving and I'm really excited about it. I'm finally getting the chance to use my masters degree. I just wanted to share the happy news with everyone!

WORST FORTUNE EVER!

Need I say more?

"I'm pregnant, not fat"

So lots of things are happening right now. We will update you soon. But we have some pictures to post of Kerri. Baby Girl keeps getting bigger.

Below is Kerri at week 25:


Here is Kerri at week 28:



That's all for now.

Fire and Kicks

Two pregnancy stories for you. First of all, it is true that you gain weight everywhere. One of the places that has grown is my butt which has become so big that when I bent over to fill the dishwasher yesterday, my butt turned the gas stove top on all by itself. I almost caught my butt on fire.

Second, Chase felt the baby kick today. When this happened, I asked him, "Did you feel it?" and he said, "Whoa! She's going to bust out of you!" It was a rather strong kick.

A Pregnant Lady's Lunch

So Chase convinced me that I should start posting more baby updates since this blog is like a record of everything that is going on in the pregnancy. Today I am 26 weeks pregnant and this week will wind down my second trimester. The most recent excitement is feeling the baby kick. I've been feeling it for more than a month now. It feels a lot like there are butterflies in my stomach and sometimes like there are ten babies in there doing acrobatics! A few weeks ago, I started noticing in the shower that I could feel the general area the baby was. I could look down at my belly and notice that it sloped to one side. Then if you felt one side, it would be hard and round while the other side of my belly was squishy and flat. I really enjoy feeling where she is sitting and find it kind of fun to get her to try and move. About two days ago, as I was lying in bed, for the first time, I felt that hard spot above my belly button. My womb has in fact taken over my whole torso. I have idea where other things have moved to but for certain I know that our baby girl has the rule of the roost.

Now just because I don't know where my stomach is located anymore, doesn't mean that I don't want to eat all the time. I haven't had too many weird cravings. I think the cruelest I've had so far is the need for Maryland blue crab in all its forms. This is cruel for two reasons: I can't get Maryland crab out here and if I could, I am limited to the amount of seafood I can eat in one week. But if I could, I would be eating it every day. The other huge craving I have had is fruit. Poor Chase has seen a lot of fruit in our fridge lately. So today for lunch I filled my fruit fantasy by having a fruit smoothie and apples with peanut butter and craisins on top. I thought I would share my smoothie recipe on here because it was so delicious. Enjoy!

Fruit Smoothie

1 c frozen fruit (I used a mix of strawberries, mango and pineapple)
1/2 c yogurt (I used strawberry)
1/2 c milk
1 tsp honey
Blend until smooth.

So ever since we let everyone know that we were having a baby, we haven't updated you very much on that front. Granted, we've been pretty busy with moving to Arizona and job hunting but we should catch you all up to speed on that front as well. First of all, if you haven't heard yet, we are having a baby girl. :) The exact words of the ultrasound technician were that she couldn't see any boy parts, only girl parts. We don't have a name picked out for the baby but until we do, we are calling her Shaniqua LaQuonda.

Now some of you might also be wondering what exactly I look like these days. The picture below is from July 4th when I was 21 weeks.



Still not looking pregnant really. We'll take another picture here is a few weeks but I'm 25 weeks along and still looking about the same. Chelsea threw me a baby shower right before we left Utah and that was lots of fun. We had everyone guess just how big I will get and we'll have to wait till November to see who gets the prize! Everything is going well with pregnancy though. No weird cravings or sickness. The most I have to deal with is a baby who kicks a lot. She also likes her room and won't let me slouch much anymore. Chase has encouraged her to keep making me stand up straight.

So we've been in AZ now for about three weeks and before I was even here a week, the Relief Society at church learned that I can play the piano. So my second Sunday in our ward, I was asked to stand in for the regular pianist. Not a problem since I love paying the piano. Now here is the interesting thing about our ward. The RS chorister is in fact deaf. She has hearing aids so she can hear a little bit but not much. She is also a very ambitious chorister. She is going through all the hymns in the hymnal and right now we are currently in the songs that are written for men's choruses. So for this hymn, she decides we will sing the first verse with the piano, the second verse a cappella and the third verse in a round (as suggested at the bottom of the hymn). First of all, we have never heard of this song in our lives. Chase has never heard of this song and he has a much better chance of having sung it since he is a man. Secondly, a capella is sketchy even if everyone know the hymn. But in a round? You have to be kidding me!

So we get through the first verse pretty good. I stop playing and the second verse goes horribly awry. I have never heard so many different pitches in my life but none of them were correct. Then comes the round. One side of the room starts off still singing horribly off music and the second side doesn't even bother coming in. The chorister is singing all by herself when the first side of the room finishes. Determined to make this work, the chorister has us sing the third verse with the piano before trying it again. One of the sisters asks if I can play the piano part in a round and I look at them like they are crazy and shake my head no. So off they go in a round again, off key but both sides singing. The chorister then says that was beautiful and sits down. I'm sure it was since she couldn't really hear us.

So that's my story from being down here. Other than that, Chase is getting ready for school and I am still job hunting. I've had a few interviews so hopefully we'll hear back from those soon. Till then, we'll just keep truckin'.

PHLUSH

I realize that over the past year, I never really talked about what I did at my internship. After reading the most recent adventures that my little sister is having down under, I was reminded of the time I was assigned to research public restrooms. Specifically the Portland Loo. Well, in the course of my research I found that Portland came up with the acronym PHLUSH to encourage proper hygiene. It made me laugh really hard. It still does. It would have been nice to have the above sign in my freshman apartment where we had an alcoholic roommate who would forget to PHLUSH (both the verb and the acronym) If you want to hear the adventures we had in that apartment, you'll have to wait for another time.

Anyway, as part of the assignment I had to research different types of public restrooms. You wouldn't believe the different models, and styles that are out there. There are some that automatically open after a specified period of time (I'd hate to be the poor sap who didn't eat his recommended daily value of fiber stuck in that loo) they also have ones that automatically sanitize themselves after every use. The balancing test is to give people their privacy so they use the loo, but to ensure that no illegal, or lewd activity goes on inside (which is why the angle and location of the air vents is so important. That way the cops can look inside and see just enough to determine what business is going on). My favorite public loo is in Europe. It is conveniently called the See-Through-Loo. It is made of one way glass, so on the outside all you see is a mirrored cube, but on the inside you can see everyone walking by.

It looks like this:




And this:




Feel free to store this in your useless knowledge folder.

We moved

We are no longer Utah residents. We successfully made it in Arizona thanks to my parents and Rob (he masterfully packed the U-haul, so nothing moved on the drive down). During the course of this move I have learned a few things.

1: Don't rent a U-Haul. There business model doesn't make any sense. You can reserve a truck at a location a month in advance and they will only garauntee the truck. I reserved the truck in Provo, but had to go to Payson to pick it up. The manager of the Provo UHaul store had to drive a half a day to pick up his UHaul when moving to Utah. You might be wondering why they don't garauntee the location. It's because Uhaul doesn't know what they have in stock until 24 hours before you need the truck. Why don't they have this information? Its becuase you could rent a truck for a day but keep it for a month and they wouldn't mind as long as you pay the $40 dollar a day fee.

2: Avoid Hoover Dam for a while. They are constructing a really cool bridge, and thankfully the wait time wasn't too bad for us, but going through Page might be a faster route.

3: Nothing exists between Hoover Dam and Wickieup and between Wikieup and Wickenburg.

4: Unloading a Uhaul in 110 degree heat isn't ideal.

5: Watch your 5 month pregnant wife who likes to work as hard as others like a hawk when unloading a Uhaul in 110 degree heat. I'll admit my wife is Superwoman, but I'm sure Superwoman even has limits.

6: Spending money on standardized boxes is always better than the free hodgepodge of boxes you get from the liquor store.

That's all for now. As we get the apartment set up we'll send pictures. For now ask my parental unit for a description.

Another Grand Announcement

So we know that is has been a while since you last heard any update on our lives and many of you have probably given up on us updating our blog. So, to make up for the lack of writing, we are giving you huge news to celebrate....

Chase and I are having a baby! We found out around the same time that Chase decided on going to ASU for graduate school. My due date is November 12 and I am about 14 weeks along. We are really excited to become parents even though we know there are going to be a lot of life changes one right after another. With so much coming up the in the next few months, I am sure that our blog posts will be more frequent and there will be plenty pictures of a new home, bigger belly and fun adventures. We have a lot to look forward to!

And the winner is....

Arizona State University

I finally made my decision, and will be heading down to Phoenix later this summer to begin the MPA program at ASU. They have a really good program, and gave me an offer I couldn't resist. I was offered the Marvin Andrews Fellowship. This includes full tuition, a paid internship each year of the program, and funding to attend ICMA conference. It's really is a great deal. The fact that I am getting paid to study at a university, and not have to take out $50,000 in student loans is great.

The other contender through all this was Syracuse University. They also have a great program, but it cost $50,0000 a year and after doing the math, not only would we be paying a large some of money each month, depending on the interest rate, and length of the loan we would be paying back $56,000- $73,000 of just interest. Yuck.

So there you have it, good things are happening. We'll be sure to keep you posted.

Graduate School Update

Here's the rundown on graduate school. I've applied to 6 programs and have been accepted to (in no particular order):

Syracuse
University of North Texas
George Mason University
Arizona State University

I'm still waiting to hear from:

BYU
University of Southern California

I should hear from both of these schools in the next 3 weeks or so.

Febraury

So it has been several weeks since I let you all know what is happening. I am happily settling into my job at Property Solutions. I finally received my own clients yesterday so I now have 30 different accounts that I manage. My company is such a fun place to work. Yesterday, we had a company Valentine's party. So we all decorated Valentine's mail boxes just like you do in the third grade and then passed out valentines to everyone. I was hoping to win a prize for my box but other people were just way too creative.

In other news, Chase got a new job title. He is the Small Business Liason for Salt Lake City and he is enjoying the new responsibilities. He has also started hearing back from graduate schools and it is definitely in our future this year. We'll let you all know where he ends up going and where we end up moving.

That's the most recent news. The next week has a lot of fun things to celebrate so I will probably have pictures to post later on.

The New Year

Welcome to 2010 everyone! A lot has happened since I last posted on our blog as my friends have reminded me (that would be you, Ami). We had a lot of fun times over the holidays. We flew out to visit my family and were there for the blizzard. Chase and I never expected to see more snow in Maryland than in Utah in December. Before we got snowed in, we did get to see the Washington DC Temple all lit up for Christmas and the Inner Harbor. Fortunately, the snow didn't prevent us from seeing Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Vaughn as well. I was so happy to see the whole family.

We were in Salt Lake City for New Year's and it was a blast. They had this three day party called Eve so we bought tickets and spent the night in one of the hotels up there. We saw Charlie Chaplin films, temple square, a comedy show, snowboarders and of course, fireworks to ring in the New Year.

Now after New Year's, I did something unexpected which was quitting my teaching jobs. So by choice, I was unemployed and searching for jobs. Most people would think I was totally crazy for doing it but I am so glad that I did. Long story short, tomorrow I am starting a new full time job. I applied two weeks ago, got called for an interview at the end of the week, had my first interview last Monday, a second interview on Thursday, was offered the job on the spot and accepted it on Friday. Pretty quick if you ask me. So I am now going to be an Account Manager at Property Solutions. I am pretty excited about it. So here's to a brand new year!