on my mind

I've been thinking a lot lately about how to be a good mom and which parenting styles work best and all that.Then I realize that even if I knew what perfect parenting looked like, I wouldn't be able to do it. The words of prophets and apostles always make me feel better, though. This snippet was especially encouraging:

"There is no one perfect way to be a good mother... Each mother has different challenges, different skills and abilities, and certainly different children... What matters is that a mother loves her children deeply and, in keeping with the devotion she has for God and her husband, prioritizes them above all else." Elder M. Russell Ballard

That I can do. 

females

 I waste a lot of time on Pinterest, and I've noticed this recurring pattern:

First a girl will pin something like this (sometimes several, but they all say pretty much the same thing).

Then she may or may not pin something like this or a quote on inner beauty.

And then a few recipes for things like this Reece's cheesecake, though this sometimes precedes the above picture.

I love it. And I know pointing out the irony is totally hypocritical because just yesterday I pinned a pile of spinach with a link to healthy smoothie recipes right before I pinned a recipe for Cadburry Creme Egg brownies (OMG.), but I still get a kick out of it.

And there's my insightful look at human (girl/women) nature for the day.

Oh and here's a little more

Semester #8, Week 28

I'm taking a pretty light load of classes this semester, because I really only needed one more class to graduate. I decided to still go full-time though, because everyone will start taking money away from us if I'm part-time.
So along with my advanced writing and an editing class, I'm taking Floral Design and ASL 101 (I've already taking all of the classes above this one). And ASL is a block class, so by the time baby comes I'll only be in three classes. I'm still a little worried about how crazy things are going to get in a few months, but I'm loving all my classes so far!

 Jacob says I need to keep posting bump pictures, so here is a 28 week update.

blehh. I hate getting dressed every morning.

little surprises

Every time we get back to Arizona, there are little surprises waiting for me at my parent's house. Not like gifts or treats. Like, "sorry you can't sleep in your old bedroom, there are chick eggs incubating in there". This year, I was greeted by a church bench in the TV room.

Can't wait to see what's new in May!

Baby Shower

Right before I left Arizona, my mom and sisters threw me a baby shower. I didn't want it to be some big over-the-top event and I didn't want anyone to go to too much trouble in the planning. It ended up being perfectly cute and simple!

These were the announcements Bethany made:



We decided to run with the "peanut" idea and do a circus-ish theme.







Even though I always feel uncomfortable opening presents in front of people and being the center of attention, I had a lot of fun getting to visit with family and friends (and eat treats of course). I couldn't believe how generous people were; we ended up with so much cute and useful stuff for baby. Every little bit means A LOT to us poor college folk.

Thanks everyone, we feel the love!


p.s. I'm around 26 weeks in these photos and getting bigger every day. whooop!

Christmas Vacation

It did happen, but we must have been having so much fun (been so lazy) that we took hardly any pictures.
First, we went to Mexico with Jacob's family for a few days. It was a little too cold to play in the water, but it was nice to just relax on the beach and search for creatures.


When we got back, we finished our last-minute preparations for Christmas, went to the Swap Meet, and went to a Christmas party with some of my high school friends.


Jacob's big Christmas gift was the new Zelda game complete with golden wiimote (which I convinced him earlier I wasn't able to get a hold of), so he spent the rest of the break playing that while I coached him or sewed or slept since apparently I get sick now. My niece, Ruby, took over my coaching position whenever I was slacking. She especially liked when he picked up red rupees, because she thought we were saying "red rubies" and gave all the other colors names (pink Ellas, green Jacobs, etc.)
My big gift was the Adobe Suite, because I always use InDesign and Photoshop on the school computers and was sad I wouldn't have them when we graduate in April. I wanted mostly homemade things from family, because I love homemade gifts!
For New Years, we went to Kami and James' for a family party. They just happened to move into the same ward as Jacob's parents, so they live real close. Yay convenience!