Baggie Taggie

I have seen this tag going around, praying that it would never come my way. I must say that my purse is one of my greater weaknesses in life. I see all these cute Coach purses being toted around, amongst other great designer names, and I have decided that I should be forbidden to own such a luxury item. My current purse was purchased at Kohl's a year and a half ago for 12 dollars. It has been working for me thus far, even though I know it is not trendy or cool by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, it is probably so infested with germs and who knows what, it should be doused in Lysol. So I should actually thank Jessica for tagging me because I think that tomorrow during Julia's playgroup I will go and shop for yet another inexpensive purse (because honestly the cheerio crumbs, smashed crackers and lingering stale cracker odor of the current purse does not allow me to have a fancy expensive purse). Oh the shame! I feel like I am a person that from the outside appears to have it all together but once you start digging you realize the truth. Then again most probably full on realize I do NOT have it all together. Anyways, here are the contents of my nasty purse:


Pile of trash including three receipts, two empty cheese stick wrappers, a fortune cookie wrapper from Noelle Bastian at the basketball game Friday night (sorry Phil for stealing your cookie), empty Pony fruit snack wrapper and a wrapper from a cereal bar that I give Julia for breakfast at aerobics.
wallet
checkbook
coupon for an Italian restaurant I want to remember to use
hand sanitizer
a smashed bag of grapes from the basketball game Friday night. Yeah that was an exciting find.
Three tubes of lip stuff that are probably like three years old, except for one that my sister gave me that is my favorite. Thanks Carli.
four crayons for distraction purposes
a little princess purse filled with Ponies for Julia's entertainment.
pen
the remote car opener that I still need to get programmed for my car and by keeping it in my purse I am under the false impression that one day I might actually get it done.
And last but not least a pack of gum, total necessity.

I know many of you may be thinking, cell phone? Ipod? Yes, Bryan and I live in the eighties and are without such luxury items. Hey, but here pretty soon we are going to making an income so maybe a cell phone is in the near future! Exciting times. Many more of you may be thinking wipes? emergency pair of panties for Julia? Tissues? Yes, these items would be practical, and yet...

So now that I have shared the embarrassing contents of my purse I now tag, if you actually read this long post, Heather T., Heather L., Kiki C., Kristi G., Aimei P., Renee C., Laurie A., and anyone else who feels up to sharing the contents of their purse.

On to other things....
I wanted to thank my Mother in law for the adorable Easter package she sent Julia this week. It included a big duck that quacks various songs. Julia LOVES it and has not stopped playing with it. It really makes her laugh and it is so sweet for you to be thinking of her! Bryan also appreciates very much the birthday money. We already bought him a new watch, which he desperately needed. Thanks again!

As you can see the duck is not the only thing she loved. I had her open the package right before lunch, which was a mistake. I don't think M&M's and jellybeans are an appropriate lunch, so we saved them for dessert, much to Julia's great disappointment.
Julia playing with the duck.
Just a cute picture of Julia this week. I am anxious for spring and have been layering her spring clothes and I thought this was cute, so of course I took a picture. 3 dollars at Target, woohoo!

Eggs Galore

Easter came quickly this year, and I wish the weather was warmer, but on Friday we had an Easter Egg hunt with some friends in the ward. Julia was very excited about it and never complained about the cold. She just ran and found as many eggs as she could and ate pretty much all of the candy inside before we even got home.
Julia and Hannah getting ready to hunt for eggs.
Yesterday we dyed eggs in anticipation of Easter today. I don't know if this is uncommon, but our Easter Bunny hid real eggs when we were growing up. We would dye several dozen eggs and they would be hidden in the morning. With Julia, we've requested that plastic eggs be hidden just because of the crushing that might occur on the real eggs, but maybe next year we can hide the real eggs. We decided to dye eggs anyways, and I spoiled Julia rotten and got her princess egg dye. It came with a crown and tons of princess stickers.
Julia is dying the eggs. I am not a very brave mother, and so I didn't let her do too much with the dye. I wasn't sure if I wanted her to have green and pink hands for several days, so we let her be in charge of the princess stickers, which she was very happy about.
Our finished products with the shirt back on. Our eggs turned out beautiful covered in glitter, Belle and Cinderella. I hope you enjoy the fact that you can tell Julia is yelling, "CHEESE" in every single picture. We are making effort to get her to just smile, but this is about all we can get.
Proudly displaying her creation. I think that pink is her favorite.
Julia looking oh so cute in her Easter dress. Her Grandma gave it to her at Christmas time and I have been saving it for Easter. I made flower barrettes for her hair and though I'm sure they looked huge, I thought she looked very pretty. Thank you Grandma for the adorable dress!

Happy Anniversary!!

Yesterday was our anniversary and it has been five years since we were married. I can't believe it has been that long! In some ways I suppose it seems like we have always been married, but in some ways it seems like it was only yesterday. I must say I think Bryan and I definitely look younger in our wedding picture, but we have had the best time being married. We often reflect on how lucky we are to have each other and how blessed we've been in our marriage. I made the very best decision of my life five years ago and I am so blessed with such a wonderful husband. I couldn't ask for a more devoted priesthood holder or better father. He is my best friend and no one makes me laugh more than him. I could spend hours talking to him and I just can't believe how lucky I am. So Happy Anniversary Bryan! I love you and can't wait to spent the rest of eternity with you.

Bryan took me out to dinner and to Dave and Buster's to play a little ski ball and arcade shooting games. I know it doesn't sound very romantic but we get sick of just going to a movie, so it was actually really fun. He also got me a gift card so I could go and splurge on clothes after I have the baby. Best of all, yesterday I wasn't feeling very well, and he cleaned the house up and down and did all the laundry. Can you believe it!? I am such a lucky girl.

Match Day!!

So today is the big day! We finally found out where we will be spending the next four years of our lives. We will be going to.......... Riverside! We are staying here in Ohio and we are so excited about it. I can't believe that we will be living in Ohio for eight years! That seems like forever. We are so happy and have LOVED it here so we are very excited. I am so proud of Bryan! It is so nice to officially know where we will be going!
Here we are at the reception following the match. They passed out the envelopes and sounded a really loud horn at exactly 12:00 noon. We had our envelope for like ten minutes before we could open it. It was a really long ten minutes. They then fed us and we were able to find out where all of our friends matched. I can't believe medical school is almost over and Bryan is just months away from becoming a doctor. It has gone so fast and I hear residency goes even faster.
Also, I think this is one of the first pictures I have taken since I've been pregnant, yikes. I am 31 weeks and we had our growth ultrasound today. I was expecting 99th percentile because that's what Julia was, but they actually said she's in the 60th percentile. Yeah, I'll believe it when I see it. I am expecting a good solid eight pounder at least. I am doing great and I am doing even better now that we have matched and are on our way! This is a video of Bryan opening the letter and reading it. This will make you feel like you were there with us! We love you all and are so thankful for all the support you all have given!

Can You Say SPOILED!

I went to Enrichment last night and so Julia and Bryan had a little daddy daughter time. Bryan has been on an easier rotation this month and has been home much more frequently, so he has quickly become Julia's very favorite person. He is the person she asks for first in the morning and the person she wants to put her to bed at night. I love it and am not complaining at all. So they were both very excited about their date while mom was away. The night started with an exciting game of hide and seek. Can you find Julia? She comes up with such clever hiding places, and she makes it even more difficult by hiding in the same spot every time. When Bryan goes looking for her she just giggles. She can't stand the anticipation. He'll look in the closet, "Is Julia in here?" The giggles begin and don't stop until she reveals herself and runs in circles.

For the big date Bryan took Julia to McDonalds and Walmart-two very exciting places. He got her a happy meal with the apples and he said she ate every bite, which is very uncommon for Julia. And since the weather was so warm she even got to play on the playground. They then went to Walmart, and when I got home from Enrichment I discovered Julia had easily talked her dad into buying her this...
Bryan assured me it was only thirty dollars and he was really tempted to get her a princess suitcase as well. "I just can't help myself!" So Julia was VERY excited about her new bike, and I wasn't too upset because Bryan doesn't buy her things very often and a bike is a functional toy that she needed. She is even figuring out the pedals. While Bryan was putting the bike together, I told Julia she had to get in her pj's. She had a complete breakdown and was so worried I wasn't going to let her ride the bike. I don't think that Bryan could have possibly made her happier.
We are now displaying the McDonalds toy that Julia got. Does McDonalds secretly know the greatest desires of Julia's heart? A pony! She has been playing with it like crazy. Isn't McDonalds great that way? Not only do they fill your child with greasy food but they almost always give a great toy! Julia obviously had the time of her life and we are so lucky to have a daddy that loves her so much and is so great with her. It has been the best having him home more often. Julia would definitely agree that he is the best daddy ever.

More Snow

I forgot I had to add these pictures as well. Bryan built a tunnel on our deck and Julia was very excited about it. When it snows like this I think the child comes out in you and Bryan just couldn't resist. I was really skeptical as to whether it would cave in or not, but it held up really well. Julia was even brave enough to venture in and I got some really great pictures.

This is the snowman. We haven't built a snowman yet this year and so we thought we definitely needed one seeing as this is going to be the last snow of the season (yes that is very very wishful hoping!) We used the traditional carrot for a nose but had to get creative with the eyes and buttons. If you look closely you can see that they are sliced olives. The ball of snow on top of the snowman's head is Julia's addition. She felt it needed to be there and who are we to stop her creativity. So even though having to stay inside made us a bit stir crazy it was fun to experience a really good snowfall and get to enjoy it for a bit. I do think it is going to melt quickly, so I'm glad that we got to enjoy it.

The Big Blizzard

So it was the big one. They say the biggest storm since what, like 1910. So they cancelled everything and Columbus completely shut down. Church was cancelled and so we spent all day Sunday just hanging out. Julia did not get out of her pj's all day long. As we were sitting, getting a little stir crazy, Julia asked me about the baby in my belly. She told me that there was a baby in her belly too and she put her rubby ball in her shirt (She calls it a rubby ball which in and of itself makes me laugh. Rubby ball is a funny word, especially when it is in a two year old's high pitched voice). I am glad that my belly isn't shaped like a rubby ball because that would look a little freaky. So on to outside activities...

This was Saturday while we were getting blasted. We braved the outside and didn't make it long because the blowing snow got a little annoying. I think the drift hanging off of my car is pretty cool though. I am from Evanston, WY where it really snows, so this isn't anything I haven't seen before but it is certainly something I haven't seen for a really long time.

We have a little sled that we pulled Julia around on. She looks stylish in her sunglasses. She enjoyed being in the snow.

Here we are shoveling ourselves out. We are thankful that Bryan has four wheel drive. Well here's to the great storm and hopefully clear roads on Monday!

Short Lived

Well we took advantage of the one warm day this week and took Julia to the park. It was nearly 70 degrees one day and then raining and snowing the next two. Ohio has some crazy weather. Bryan said it was supposed to snow like five inches this weekend so I am posting these pictures dreaming of warmer days to come-hopefully! We took Julia to Hilliard Municipal and we had memories of her being so small last year and not even being able to climb up the horse. Now look at her! She's a regular cowgirl and she would have corrected me telling me it's a pony and not a horse.

I just can't get enough of that cute little face.
We have been cleaning cleaning cleaning this past week and I think Julia is getting a little worried about us packing up so much of our stuff. We took down the crib this week and she burst into sobs. She was so worried that the new baby wouldn't have a place to sleep. We assured her that when the baby came we would put the crib back up. She didn't take a nap that day and every time I went in her room she would tell me her continued concerns with the removal of the crib. I think I really planned it well by having a baby and moving all within months of each other- yeah that was sarcastic. Match day is two weeks from today though and we will officially know where we are going! So we are getting ready to move on with life and hopefully into a bigger house!