It's a Lemonhead (a boy one)

Ok, I am a slacker. The ultrasound was over a month ago and I am finally getting around to posting the pictures. My favorite is the one of his little feet. And...apologies for the graphic shot. Lamoni insisted it be there. Enjoy!

Afternoon About Town

Yesterday I spent time running errands around town. Here are some of the things that happened. Enjoy:)

Upper Left: I was in the Macey's parking lot and loved the site of the American flag snapping in the wind. That is always my favorite site upon arriving home from a foreign country.

Upper Right & Lower Left: As I sat at a stop light on my way to pick up Lamoni, I noticed this little boy. He would run to the top of the hill then throw himself down and roll to the bottom. I think he did it 5 or 6 times while I was at the light. It was hilarious!

Lower Right: I have only seen this once before in my life. If you look closely you can see steam (fog? mist?) rising from the parking lot surface. The sun was out and very bright but there were snowflakes falling from the sky. The result was this steam or mist rolling across the ground. It was amazing!

Good Friends and Good Food

Today was a special day in that we were able to attend a birthday celebration for our good friend Maritza. We ate delicious pozole and cake and had a good time talking with friends!

(Oh my photography skills have a long ways to go...)


The yummy fixings for pozole.

Scrumptious dessert! Fruit and jello in a sweet creamy sauce. I love Mexican parties.

Soccer Saturday

I love Saturday mornings. Lamoni and I get to sleep in and make delicious breakfasts. Then we clean a bit and do some laundry.

This Saturday was special because it was the first time we got to go play soccer! Lamoni used to go to the park to play soccer every week during the summer and fall. However, the weather may not have been quite ready for us...


(I realize that it is a horrible picture of both of us but it was SO cold!)

The Bad with the Good.

A sale on Etsy I was really hoping would work out did not go through. However, my boss notified my that I got a raise today. It may be a super frustrating job that drives me nuts, but I sure am glad I have it!

Diaper Bags

Here is an Etsy treasury featuring totes that I think would make good diaper bags. I realize that it is not the best matching collection but I ordered then from most to least favorite, with accessories on the end (don't forget to check out our Frills & Bils blog here!)

Treasury

Here is an Etsy treasury featuring totes that I think would make good diaper bags. I realize that it is not the best matching collection but I ordered then from most to least favorite, with accessories on the end.

But Still...

Ok, now that I ranted, there were definitely good points about yesterday:

1. I shipped my first order for Etsy! While it didn't make too much profit it was a good learning experience.
2. I had to parallel park our car and did an AWESOME job. Quite full of myself, I told Lamoni I was ready for the city-life. Maybe not Mexico City.....
   
3. We got free dinner on campus.
   
4. I got to relax for a few minutes and read a book outside in the warm weather. It was nice.
   
5. I realized how needed I am at work. If I'm not there, things fall apart. I guess this is a blessing, right?
6. Lamoni made delicious icy pineapple drinks for dessert.
   
7. We fell asleep watching North & South. We still have to finish it but we like it so far.
   
8. Not only did I sell some items from my shop on Etsy, one of my masks in our artisanmaskers shop sold too. :D
9. At one point I was mean and said hurtful things to my husband. He was very quick to forgive and forget, like always.
   

All in all, everything balances out. Just another day in the life:)

One of THOSE days....

Do you ever have just one of those days? Where everything seems to go wrong? Let's start from the beginning (don't worry, I'll write a post about what I'm grateful for later)

1. I woke up sick and called in to work, telling them I wouldn't be there.
2. I went with Lamoni to school. He was very grumpy because he had to take a test and needed my help to study.
   
3. During the class my phone rang 3 times because apparently the office blows up if I'm not there to keep things together.
4. I spent an hour on the phone with various people from work in order to put out fires.
5. I shipped the orders from my Etsy site and realized that I did not charge nearly enough for shipping. Stupid postal fees.
6. While Lamoni took his test I went to a meeting in which an immigration lawyer came to talk about the residency through marriage process. It was very informative and very daunting. I came out in tears, certain that a tiny mistake in Lamoni's visa is going to get him deported.
   
7. After the meeting I walked to the testing center to meet Lamoni. As he would not be done for another hour, I decided to write him a cute note and stick it in the stairwell where people leave notes for their friends who have just come out of tests. I ALWAYS wanted to get one when I was in school, but as I had no friends and was a loser, I never did. So I thought it would be nice to write one for my husband. When he finished his test, he walked right by it and didn't see it. Unfortunately, you cannot go back in once you've left the door. It was sad.
8. I dropped Lamoni off for work, then went back to campus to check my email and ended up helping Lamoni's brother do his homework (more like doing his homework for him....)
9. I picked up Lamoni and we went to another meeting about a business competition that made me feel small and insignificant.
   

Date Survey

Apparently the Limon house has got survey fever! Lamoni has to do a business survey for one of his classes. If you would, please take a few minutes to complete it. I promise it's not super boring, as it is about dating:) Thanks, we appreciate everyone's help.

The survey can be found here or just fill it out below.

My husband is hilarious sometimes.....

Here is a snapshot of a question Lamoni answered on a midterm exam for his financing class.

In case you can't make it out the question reads "write a brief description of the following terms:malfeasance and nonfeasance."

Lamoni does not know so he breaks up the word into Spanish syllables. For example:

"Mal = bad, fea = ugly, sance = a name"

Therefore, he concludes that the word must mean "a bad ugly lady named Sance."

Amazingly, his teacher still gave him 5 out of ten points! :)

Lover Diaries

My friend Diana Smith is doing a "Lover Diaries" series on her blog in which she asked people to send in cute stories about their relationships. I feel honored because I was the first one she featured! Check out "Lover Diaries: Amy and Lamoni" here!

Diana's blog is so cute and fun, just like her! She always makes people feel welcome and comfortable and she has a great sense of humor. She also has a beautiful Etsy shop here.

New Blog!

Hey all. Take a look at our new blog for our Etsy shop, Frills & Bils. We are still in the design phase so bear with us as it may go through some changes. However, there is a survey on there about one of our products. It would help us out immensely if you could fill that out. Enjoy!

"We're gonna need a bigger boat..."

Ok, I am the first to admit it. I have an obsession with sharks. It's kind of a love-hate relationship. Shark Week on the Discovery channel is one of the highlights of my summer. I check out shark films from the library and have to hide them from my husband because he is convinced they give me nightmares. According to him I recently yelled "Shark Attack!" in my sleep during the middle of the night. I've seen Jaws a million times and simultaneously love and hate it every time I watch it. I'm even considering doing a shark theme for the nursery of my first child. It's that bad.

Books Read in February 2011

4. Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm (2/1/11

5. Moon Over Manifest by Claire Vanderpool (2/26/11)

"For Bitty Bumsty" by Abby

Abby did this awesome treasury on etsy, inspired by my nursery theme for our new baby boy, aka: "Bitty Bumsty." It is so adorable!

"Dreamy White" by Bniche

Here is a beautiful black and white treasury of items on Etsy. The maker was kind enough to include my rolled paper roses. Check it out!

JAM Productions

My two oldest nieces and my little sister are joining the ranks of amateur filmmakers! They are officially making a sequel to their awesome movie they made a few years ago and this time they are including the public and their adoring fans through a blog! The title of their film is Reign of Leonora. Click here to read about the process.

I just want everyone to be aware of their soundtrack contest. They are getting together music for the soundtrack and need suggestions. All you have to do is leave a comment with at least one suggestion and you'll be entered to win.... an official Reign of Leonora movie poster! So click here to enter now!

Smashed Potatoes

Hopefully after this post, no one will think I'm a super dork.

In the last few weeks this guy has frequented my dreams. Once he was delivering my baby, once he was flirting with every girl in the room except me, and once we were locked in a supply room together. According to my husband this means I have a secret crush on Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce. According to me however, it means that we have been watching too much "Smashed Potatoes."

I own every season and every episode of one of my favorite shows, M*A*S*H. A few months ago I started watching them again. Lamoni resisted at first but he was soon hooked. He loves Radar the best and laughs at Klinger's crazy antics and even cries during touching scenes. For a few weeks, almost every day after dinner he would turn to me and ask excitedly, "Smashed Potatoes?" (apparently the word Mash is just not good enough). Lamoni and I have since watched every M*A*S*H episode together.

While it's been fun, I'm ready to throw the TV out the window. This week we are on a TV Fast. We did ok yesterday. Hopefully we'll be able to hold up today.

Hockey Game

This past Friday Lamoni and I went to a BYU hockey game. It was quite the event because not only was it last game of the season but it was against our biggest sports rival - Utah! We dressed in our BYU t-shirts and hoodies and headed out. We were told to get there very early as they were expecting a big crowd. The game started at 7:30pm so we got there at 6pm...and were the first BYU students there. The BYU ticket people hadn't even shown up yet. So we enjoyed some concession stand hot-dogs and watched a little-league (or whatever you call them) hockey players and cheered for the zamboni guy as he went over the ice two or three times. However, around 7:15-ish the crowds started pouring in and we were glad we got good seats.

We have never been to a hockey game before and it was so intense! Lamoni recognized his single's ward 2nd counselor on the ice and he was MVP for the team. But man, was he brutal! That sweet member of the bishopric turned into a body-slamming, face-punching ice warrior down there! There were several tense moments between the UofU and BYU players but the most intense was when a full on fight broke out. I would like to say that our gentle BYU players had nothing to do with it...but they started it. The fistfight lasted about a minute and the referees let them fight it out. I was surprised by the refs and how little padding they wear. They were dodging players left and right to avoid being flattened against the walls.

We very much enjoyed the halftime events, the rowdy crowd, the tension among the players, and the final score: BYU 4, Utah 2. Go Cougars! Lamoni took pictures and video but they're on his ipod so as soon as I get those, I'll post some on here.

Some Baby Nursery Ideas

We don't know what we're having yet but I decided that whether the baby is a boy or a girl, I wanted to have a tropical beach themed nursery. Click on the picture above to see some color schemes and ideas I had in mind :)

Book Read in January 2011

1. Circle of Quiet by Madeleine L'Engle (1/19/10)




2. One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia (1/22/11)




3. Where the Heart Is by Bettie Letts (1/26/11)

Martin Luther King Jr Holiday

Lamoni and I didn't not have to work on Monday so celebrated by trying something new. In one of his classes Lamoni heard about this new place in the Riverwoods. It is called Provo Beach Resort and it was quite the experience. They have a ropes course, an arcade, a beautiful carousel, a bowling alley, miniature croquet, and an indoor wave! The wave was definitely our favorite and we didn't even try it out (too expensive). It was really neat to look out the glass windows at the snow but be nice and warm and humid watching people surf in their swimsuits.

Then we decided to walk around Riverwoods and we (foolishly) went in to Williams Sonoma. Lamoni repeatedly asked me, "Why did you bring me in here if we have no money?!" I think it is his new favorite store and he wanted a full set of copper cookware and all the little gadgets that make you raise your eyebrows with incredulity. We ended up spending about 15 minutes in front of the discounted item table and bought some yummy fancy ingredients.

After that experience we were both starving so we decided to try out Malawi's Pizza. We loved it but decided that one personal pizza would have been enough for both of us. We liked the decor and were pleasantly surprised to find out that it is a non-profit restaurant and helps to fight hunger in Malawi. Who knew?

Eating some delicious Malawi's.

Lamoni took about 50 pictures in Williams Sonoma but I did not want to post them all.

Nelson

During our quick visit to Boulder City for Grandpa Sargeant's birthday we took a small motor home trip out to our favorite desert mock ghost town, Nelson!

Grandpa Sargeant's Birthday

We very much enjoyed our quick weekend trip to see Grandpa Sargeant for his birthday! Unfortunately, I forgot my camera so all we had was Lamoni's ipod. And we didn't even get any pictures of Grandpa but we got some good videos!

(singing to Grandpa. We had a Chinese food feast - his favorite!)

Included in the festivities (but not planned) was a costume party and an animal parade. We got a video of the animal parade but I didn't post it because I'm making an awkward bird cry - supposedly a tucan....anway....





(Lamoni and I crack up every time we watch this. We call it "Sydney vs Aubrey")

Amy Mosaic #3

Here's a little fun project that I decided to do again. This is what you do:

First you go to www.flickr.com/search. In the search box you put your answers to the questions below. Once you have chosen your fave pic, copy and paste the URL to the mosaic maker found at www.bighugelabs.com

1. First Name
2. Favorite Food
   
3. Your School
   
4. Favorite Color
   
5. Who is your Celebrity Crush
   
6. Favorite Drink
   
7. Dream Vacation
   
8. Favorite Dessert
   
9. What you want to be when you grow up
   
10. What you love most in life
    
11. One word to describe you
12. Your Nickname

First Appointment

We went yesterday to our first prenatal doctor appointment. It was so exciting to hear the heartbeat and to meet our doctor. We are still pretty nervous but we have a long way to go still.

Big News!

I believe mostly everyone knows by now, but if you have not heard Lamoni and I are expecting our first child! We are pretty excited and nervous but we consider it a HUGE blessing. I'm secretly hoping for a boy just because we only have one boy among my siblings' children (Tyler). But, Lamoni thinks it will be a girl and the only names we can agree on are girl names so that may be a sign...

The thing that has been worrying me lately is WHERE and with WHOM I am going to have this baby. I am pretty set on having as natural a birth as possible. I would even do an at-home birth with a midwife but when my husband races to the ER every time one of us gets sick it is a little hard to get his support on that one. That is why I am putting a word out, especially to those of you in Utah. Do you have any suggestions as to clinics, birthing centers, hospitals, and even providers that are known for their emphasis on natural/low-intervention births?

Is Anyone Still Out There?

Ok, so it seems that every time the leaves start changing I slack off on blogging. My life has been increasingly hectic and stressful but I have resolved to start keeping track of it all. If anyone is even still out there that cares, there will be a post coming very soon. A good post, that is:)

Books Read in September 2010

34. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon 9/3/10


35. Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson 9/10/10

36. Mockingjay Suzanne Collins

Books Read in August 2010

31. Towers of Brierley by Anita Stansfield

32. Seven Daughters and Seven Sons by Barbara Cohen and Barhija Lovejoy


33. October Sky, or Rocket Boys by Homer Hickam 8/30/10

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Fun Summer

I was complaining to Lamoni the other day that I feel like summer has passed me by. Therefore, to get out of my funk I decided to make a list of all the awesome things I did this summer. If I have missed anything, please let me know! I must add it to my gratitude list;)

1. Went to Mexico
2. Got married!
3. enjoyed raising a new kitten
   
4. Went to my cousin Jacob's mission farewell.
   
5. went to see the midnight showing of Eclipse and then had an awesome vampire party/photoshoot.
   
6. watched most of Shark Week
7. played tennis every week with Abby
8. moved into a new house
9. celebrated July 4th with the Morris family & watched fireworks with my hubby
10. attended the wedding open house for Jenny
11. went 4-wheeling in Mt. Pleasant and watched fireworks for the 24th
12. saw the Perseids meteor shower at 1:30 in the morning...on a work night!
13. saw several good (and not so good) movies at the dollar theater
14. enjoyed many orders of "soft as a cloud" Hawaiin Ice
15. watched Jaws I-III. Didn't make it to Jaws IV. Didn't really make it through III either...
    
16. Ikea shopping cart racing with Abby.

New House

Ok, so I may be stealing a line from Sarah, but we moved during the same weekend so what can I say. Lamoni and I just recently moved to another house. It is a duplex and although it is not as spacious as the house we were living in, it is pretty nice for a newly married couple. Thanks to Lamoni's brothers and a borrowed truck from a friend, we managed to get everything moved over the weekend. It was a LOT of work but we managed. My camera is not working so I don't have any pictures but Abby has been practicing her interior design skills and has helped a lot with decor and my husband is being a saint about all the fuss. We've also been harboring our cats underneath the house as we our in the process of finding them a good home. We would like to have house warming party soon but we'll make sure to schedule that on a different day from the Andersons' :)

New Movie Poll

Please check out the new polls. Also, please let me know if there are any movies you think should be on the list. I'm open to suggestions!

New Polls

There are two movie polls today so please vote in them both!

New Movie Poll

Thanks for voting in the last poll. Please check out the new ones!

Top Ten Best Summer Movies

Okay, I'm going to try something new on here. Now presenting...

Amy's Top Summer Movie List Tournament!

Here's how it works. I will post a poll every few days that gives the options between two movies. You must chose which movie you would rather watch during an awesome summertime movie bash. Then we will eliminate them one by one and see what the ultimate movie for summertime is.
Feel free to suggest any movies that you feel should be in the Tournament.
Let's get started!

Carter Beats the Devil

Suspense, mystery, historical accuracy, romance, character development, internal struggle: I recently finished this book and I must say, I loved it. It took me longer to finish than it should have because I've been super busy this last month but I absolutely loved this book. I loved Carter's character (based on a real person but I don't know how much is accurate on his persona). I won't go into too much detail because it was a complicated plot but for anyone that is a fan of historical fiction, mystery, magic and suspense, I highly recommend this book. The reason I thought about it today is that I had a dream last night that I was married to Carter (who looked like Lamoni) and he was putting on a professional magic show for my home ward in Boulder City. It was an amazing show and everyone kept saying how attractive Carter was and I kept thinking, yep - that's my husband:) Anyway, I hope my silly dreams do not detract from the awesomeness of this book. Carter Beats the Devil was one of the best reads for me this summer.

Happenings This Week...

Monday 7/26 - I was sick with a fever and had to stay home from work. My awesome husband stayed up all night with me making me soup at four in the morning and generally just being wonderful. In the afternoon I ran some errands and we house hunted.

Tuesday 7/27 - Went to work a little later in the day (still not feeling too well) and then house hunted like crazy.

Wednesday 7/28 - I felt substantially better and went to work. Lamoni picked me up and I took him to work. Afterwards I went to play tennis with Abby and we went to get Iceberg. It was delish. Then Abby and I house hunted for a while.

Thursday 7/29 - Lamoni received a raise in pay! We were so excited and decided to celebrate by going out to eat at a new restaurant called The Shabu Shabu House. It was very good. Then we went to the park to meet Abby and Anthony and did conditioning.

Friday 7/30 - After work, I met Lamoni on campus and we called a guy about a duplex we were interested in. He said to meet him there at 6:30. We did and made a deal to move in! However, we were too late to go turn on the electricity and the gas so we have been living in a cave all weekend. Then we went on a date and saw Shrek 4. It was ok but I haven't stopped thinking about the plot all weekend. This was a conversation from yesterday:
Amy: "Lamoni, am I your true love?"
Lamoni: "Yes."
Amy: "So, are you saying that if I hadn't come along to rescue you from the tower, someone else wouldn't have come? And you would have had to rescue yourself?"
Lamoni, after a pause: "....I believe that is correct."

Saturday 7/31 - We spent all day moving things from the old house. It took several truckloads (4 people's accumulated junk) and one trip to the dump ($17 to dump 2 TVs?? Ridiculous! Needless to say, we did not dump our TVs.) Then Abby and I went to Ikea and I bought a couch, a chair, a kitchen table, a desk, and an office chair for the new house. We then spent all weekend organizing our food storage. It took forever. Then we organized our things and set to work on putting together our furniture. Once that was taken care of we went to the old house to clean. While we were there I broke down and cried because of a sudden and overwhelming sense of nostalgia and homesickness.

Monday 8/2 - Woke up to discover that my bike has been stolen. I hate our neighborhood.

Books Read in July 2010

27. Jaws by Peter Benchley 7/2/10


28. At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon 7/7/10


29. Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold 7/16/10


30. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins 7/28/10

Yard Sale!

What better way to pass the summer days (and get ready to move) than a huge yard sale? It was a lot of work but fun.

We especially enjoyed David's stunt with the kitties:)

Princess Fashion

As I was browsing around I found these awesome articles on Disney princess inspired outfits. The outfits would need a little bit of tweaking, but isn't this the cutest ever?

From this...

...to this!

(so cute!)

Check out all the articles here:

Sleeping Beauty

Snow White

Little Mermaid

Toy Story 3

We went and saw this on a date. It was very good, quite funny, and surprisingly poignant and intense. Good ol' Pixar does it again.

Books Read in June 2010

25. A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson 6/3/10



26. The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith 6/8/10

How To Train Your Dragon

We saw this with Maddie when she was in town. Even though we arrived late and had to sit in the very first row (argh) we thoroughly enjoyed it. It was so good! Thanks Maddie for coming to hang out with us!

A Dream Come True!

When I saw this on Kelly's blog I thought this was something straight out of Willy Wonka. This great chocolatier is opening up in our very own Orem, UT. Amano Artisan Chocolate has won several national and international awards for their chocolate and I am so excited to go and check it out (Kelly, we will have to make a trip out of it).

However, the most exciting part is that with their opening, they are giving a chance for someone to win a year's supply of chocolate! That is 10 chocolate bars a month! All you have to do is go to their place and guess from which country their beans come from. Check it out here:

Amano's "Guess the Origin Contest"

Books Read in May 2010

22. The 5 Love Languages of Children by

Gary Chapman, Ph.D & Ross Campbell, M.D.

23. Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan 5/28/2010


24. The Lady of Palenque by Anna Kirwan 5/31/2010

Scandinavian Festival

We enjoyed going down to Manti for the Scandinavian Festival. I enjoyed seeing cousin Sarah at her booth, selling the most awesome crocheted viking hats! We also got some delicious food and met a real viking! Then we walked around the temple and saw the sites.

(Lamoni, David, Gabo, Moises)

200th Post!

Bring out the cake and party hats! It is my 200th blog post...well, more or less. It has only taken me 3 years to do it but 200 posts should get some sort of commemoration. To highlight the event I have gone through all the previous posts and chosen some of my favorites throughout the years.

• 2007
  
• Aug 24, 2007 "The Beach"
• 2008
  
• July 5, 2008 "Independence Day"
• July 17, 2008 "Funny Faces"
  
• July 27, 2008 "Pioneer Day Weekend"
• 2009
• February 23, 2009 "A Very Moo-ey Road Trip"
  
• November 3, 2009 "Some Old Pictures From May 2009"
• November 12, 2009 "Hee-Haws"
• November 12, 2009 "Sailing with Uncle Dave!"
• December 11, 2009 "Sydney's Birthday"
• 2010
• April 2, 2010 "Home For Easter"
  
• March 28, 2010 "Holi Festival of Colors"
• January 14, 2010 "A Much Belated Christmas Letter"
  

In conclusion I have decided that I need to take a lot more pictures. I have also noticed that I have turned someone boring and cynical these last few years. Time to make a turn around and get this blog kicked into gear!