It's a Girl!!!!

I had an ultrasound today and discovered (after an hour) that we are having a little girl! I was so excited, and Nick, well, will learn to be excited. It was pretty funny because she was in a breech position the whole time and she wouldn't move at all. She had her legs crossed (a lady, just like her mother). I tried walking around a few times and going to the bathroom to get her to move positions, but no luck. I finally did a head stand and she flipped onto her stomach.

You can see in these pictures her little foot and her profile and hand across her belly. She's already a chubby thing. At one point during the ultrasound, she was waving, and her fingers were pretty fat, and she has some fat on her neck. I guess I better lay off the ice cream! But overall, she's a healthy girl who likes to kick quite a bit. She also likes to be curled up in a ball. The technician was making fun of her because she had a ton of room to move around in the uterus, but she was tucked away in one corner. I can't believe how cool ultrasounds are. I saw her open her mouth, and make sucking movements with her mouth. We also obviously saw her lady business close up, her kidneys, the chambers of her heart, you name it. I could have sat there and watched her for hours.

Still the thought of labor freaks me out, so I'm just fine with her staying tucked away in my tummy for a little while longer. Now Nick and I need to start thinking of bedroom colors and names :)

Oregon and Snow is funny

It snowed here on Sunday and watching the news ever since has been just as good as watching any comedy show on TV. People freak out in Oregon when it snows, because it doesn't happen very often.

But when you have to be on the road driving with people, that's a whole other story. I drove back from Portland to Salem on Sunday night, and they don't scrape or salt the roads here, so I almost died. I spun a bunch of times, doing 360's in the middle of the freeway across all lanes, and I thought for sure I would run into the median in the middle or go off the freeway, but I didn't. It was a miracle. Since I was fine, I just kept on driving and Nick keeps making fun of me that I wasn't more upset or didn't pull over.

The good news about the weather is that because they freak out about the snow here, they cancel and shut down everything. Tomorrow is my third day in a row off from school, which means no work and sleeping in! I very much have needed it because my growing fetus takes it out of me (tomorrow I'll know the gender!!!)

What We're Doing During Christmas Time . . .

1. Making Nick put up lights on our house.

He almost died doing it. We're too poor to buy a ladder, so he got on the roof to put them up, and he fell off the roof. I came outside and the first thing I said, was "You almost died putting those up?" Now, I'm pregnant, so I tend to be even more blunt and rude than usual.

2. Decorating the house with Christmas stuff.

These are cute little wreaths that my Mom made me. Nick and I also cut down a tree on a tree farm. There's about 5 of them within a mile of our house (gotta love Oregon). We felt like we were ruffin' it, cutting down our own tree :) It was fun. However, we decided that we are never paying for a tree again in Oregon. We're just going to go in the middle of the night and cut one down on the side of the road. They're everywhere!

3. Nick studying for finals.

I'm so glad I'm not him!!!

Nick is being grouchy that he has to study for finals, take care of a pregnant woman and endure me making fun of him nonstop. The last few days I've had a hard time sitting next to him because he has a weird smell to him (I have an unusually heightened sense of smell). It's the fetus, it's not me (That's my coin phrase recently)!

4. Working on my growing belly.

I'm trying really hard to have a cute little baby bump, but so far, its just my middle getting fatter and splurging out everywhere (thought you'd like to know). The last few days I had some bad cramps, which my guess is that my uterus was growing, and I've noticed a little bit more of a bump, so hopefully my dreams will come true. P.S. I generally do not wear shirts this tight. Luckily, I have like 1,000 baggy sweaters from high school, so those have come in handy.

P.S.S. The baby now looks officially human (well, minus the clear skin), and its head is getting even smaller, so Carly, I think you may need to write a new letter, your old put downs are no longer accurate.

Thanksgiving Recap

Nick and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving, mostly because we had a nice little break. First Nick found time to organize a little turkey bowl with our ward (of course!) while I slept. Then we went to the Kuykendalls in Eugene, which involved, eating a lot of food, watching the little boys run around, and watching many many old home movies (Nick's favorite part). But it was nice to see and spend time with family. Its especially fun to have the little kids around during the Holidays, it makes it much more entertaining, even though all my my male cousins hate me because I'm a girl - they much prefer Nick.

Here is Nick, Sierra, and some of the cousins: Nash, Hudson, and Jaxon.

Here are the boys harassing Nick.

We then spent the rest of the weekend in P-town with the folks, Sierra, and McKenna. It was pretty low key, with again, more home movies. But it was pretty nice weather, so we were also able to go running and go golfing (it was a big day for me, I was exhausted). It was McKenna's first time golfing ever, so needless to say it was some good entertainment. She had the habit of chasing the ball to pick it up after she hit a bad one.

Sorry the pictures is so blurry, but the sunset was gorgeous. I blame it on McKenna and my crappy camera (shout out for a Christmas present!!!)

My one regret for the weekend was not going back to our ward in Salem on Sunday. Napolean Dynamite's parents are in our ward, and he came to visit. I could have met Napolean!!! And then I could have said to him. "Napolean, what's up with your new Gap commercial?" In case you haven't seen it, here it is. It's weird.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQDGvzsWY44

I'm Thankful for . . .

So here is my attempt at scanning pictures. Sorry about the lack of pictures recently, Nick and I's lives are just same ol' same ol', so we don't have a lot of fun pictures to post. Not to mention the fact that I'm not a big fan of getting my picture taken these days.

But here are some small pictures of my first ultrasound at 12 weeks. The thing still kind of looks like an alien, and the one in the middle kinda freaks me out, because you can see the outline of its skull. It's like staring right at the camera. I am almost at 16 weeks now and it looks a little bit more human. So that, I am thankful for. Its legs are no longer fins, hallelujah! And I am also thankful for sleep this Thanksgiving break. I have another ultrasound in a few weeks and that's where we find out if Nick's dreams will come true or he will be greatly disappointed (boy or girl in case you didn't catch that).

3 months down!

I am 1/3 of the way done with my pregnancy! I know everyone has said how slow pregnancy goes, and there have been days that have definitely gone by slow, but overall, I can't believe I only have 6 months left. I have been very lucky and have had a pretty easy pregnancy so far. And now that I'm in my second trimester, I already have more energy, so its great. On the downside, I feel like I'm eating all the time! And I definitely hate the feeling of my clothes not fitting. I find out the sex of the baby in a little less than a month.

On another side note, I just want to say that I have great friends. They really are the best. Carly is coming to visit me in January and Amander is coming in February. I can't wait to see them (and to see everyone else over Christmas break). Thanks guys for taking the time and spending the money to come see me! It's going to be so much fun. Now you will get your chance to go clubbing with a pregnant woman, just like you always wanted.

Dum da da dum . . . I'm pregnant!

I already posted something on facebook, but I couldn't forget about my blog. About two months ago, Nick and I found out that I am pregnant and I don't think that we could be more excited. We were really surprised because of the timing. And we feel like it is a little miracle in our lives. It is just crazy the way things turned out and the Lord has blessed us.
The last year Nick and I were struggling with a lot of changes and life decisions, and they were almost all answered in a week! I got my job, bought a house, and got pregnant (although I didn't know it) in one week. I guess when it rains it really does pour (a very appropriate metaphor now living in Oregon). Thank you to everyone who prayed and supported us through some of these changes.
I am 12 weeks along and am due May 20th. I am already feeling like the first trimester is coming to an end, thank goodness. Now I don't have to worry about falling asleep while I listen to kids talk about their problems :)

The Husband Brag Tag

I do not normally use my blog as a venue for bragging about my husband. I am a mean wife, and making fun of him just comes much more naturally. But I did get tagged by Kristi, so here it goes . . .

1.Where did you meet? Nick and I first met at stake dance in Lake Oswego the summer of 1998.

2.How long did you date before you were married? We dated for almost a year before we officially got engaged, but this is of course not counting the time we spent over the summers during teenage years and the months of talking on the phone.

3.How long have you been married? We've been married for almost 4 1/2 years. Crazy how fast time flies by. We're coming up on 5 years, and that seems like such a long time to be married!

4.What is one thing he does that surprises you? It still surprises me how much he teases me. He seriously never lets up. Even when I'm extremely moody, you would think he would censor it a little bit, but nope. It also still surprises me how much energy he has. He's either sleeping really hard or going 100%.

5.What is your favorite feature about him? I love his smile. I can't help smiling when he's smiling (unless he has an evil grin). But really, I love every feature. He's a handsome guy who is not able to put on weight no matter what crap he eats!

6.What is your favorite quality about him? I love his outlook on life. He's so confident and positive and steady. Things don't change him very easily.

7.Does he have a nickname for you? He calls me Lou. I'm so used to it, but people who haven't heard it think its kind of funny. My family calls me Lexie Lou, or Lou Lou. So he just started calling me Lou.

8.What's his favorite color? Orange. Duh.

9.What's his favorite food? He really likes oreos and milk late at night. For a meal, he loves Italian food, like lasagna and chicken parmesan. It works out perfectly cause I really don't love Italian food.

10.What's his favorite sport? Any sport that he can play, and as far as watching sports, whatever is on Sports Center (maybe minus Nascar, Hockey, and boxing).

11.Who said, "I love you" first? He said it. I think he told me on my birthday when we were going out. I broke up with him that night. I was a little freaked out.

12.When and where was your first kiss? Our first kiss was when I was 14 and he was 16 (I was almost 15!) at the Portland Oregon temple. Awwww . . . It's pretty embarrassing, but hey, its the truth.

13.What's your favorite thing to do as a couple? We like to play sports together, mostly tennis. We like to play games, even though he always beats me at everything. I've learned to get over it a little bit. We love to watch tv shows on DVD, particularly Friends and Arrested Development. And really anything I plan, he's generally up for it. Sometimes we like having debates, unless its about politics because that always ends up in a fight.

14.Do you have kids? Not yet. Hopefully soon.

15.What's a hidden talent of his? Well I don't know if its hidden, but he's really good with people. He's an excellent salesperson. But he's also particularly talented in coming up with business ideas and thinking of ways to grow businesses. He gets really excited about it (kinda nerdy if you ask me). He's also a really good teacher. He can give talks or lessons on the spot. He also is an amazing athlete. Seriously I've never seen anyone be so good at every sport he tries. He played on an intramural soccer team with all of these international students, and he scored more goals than any of them (I had no idea he knew anything about soccer).

16.How old is he? 26

17.What do you admire most about him? His consistency in the gospel. He is extremely obedient and is always volunteering us (which sometimes I complain about) for service. He is also so outgoing and friendly with anybody. He can make friends with practically anyone. He is also a very hard worker, particularly once he sets his mind to something.

18.What's his favorite past time? Anything active. Teasing people. Not being able to smell.

19.What's his favorite type of music? Nick is weird. He doesn't like music. In fact, he makes fun of me all of the time because I'll quiz him and ask him, "What song is this?" or "Who sings this?" And he always responds, "Do you really still not know me at all?"

20.Do you think he'll read this? Probably not. I think he forgets we have a blog unless I'm typing up a new post while he's sitting there. But he might because I'm going to tell him I wrote about him.

The Papworth's Visit

Michael and Kristi and Will flew all the way from Denver to visit us in Oregon this last weekend and we had a lot of fun. The goal of the weekend: get Kristi as excited about moving to Oregon as Michael (probably never going to happen). We spent a few days in Salem and then spent the rest of the weekend at my parents house in Portland. We showed Kristi and Will around Portland and Lake Oswego, and the weekend was absolutely beautiful.


I couldn't believe how much Will has changed and how cute he is! Nick and I are planning on taking credit for his improved walking skills.

Look how cute they are!

Of course Nick and Michael had to bring a football or frisby everywhere.

Beautiful view of Portland. And oh yeah, the family is pretty attractive too.

Tag, Picture Version

I was tagged and had to post my fourth picture in my fourth folder. This is one of our many classic family pictures where we are all in color coordinated outfits. I am about eight years old I think and I think I am getting impatient, which might explain the look on my face. My other favorite things about this picture: Landon's outfit and pose, McKenna's bangs and sailor dress, the awesome bows that Bri and I are wearing.

The following people now have to pass on their fourth picture in their fourth folder on their computer: Amanda, Carly, Meredith, Sam.

It's Raining Men! Hallelujah!

This was us last week, but . . .

Thanks to our Young Men's President - Brett - and the priests in our ward, the tree got cut down. They were so nice to come chop the thing down. And I do mean chop, because the chain saw wasn't working. I would have helped, but I was watching the Presidential Debate, and I don't trust myself with an axe. But now we have lot of firewood laying on the side of our house, so anyone need some firewood?

A Tree Fell on our House

This Friday, in the middle of the night, a tree in our backyard fell onto our house. Luckily, it didn't do much damage, it just bent the gutter. But at about 4 a.m. I thought there was an earthquake. I tried to wake Nick up to explain to him that a tree fell on our house, and his response was, "What do you want me to do about it???" He's a little delirious in his sleep. It's still there, and now we have to figure out how to get rid of it. Any ideas?

Family Visit

Briawna, Palmer, and Portia came to visit last week from Utah. McKenna decided she felt left out, so she flew up from L.A. I was pretty busy during the week, so I didn't get to see them until the weekend. We went to Eugene on Friday for a family company bbq, and then we were in Portland on Saturday and Sunday. I had so much fun with them, and was very proud that even though I don't live in Utah, I'm still their favorite. Portia calls me YuYu, always with a big smile. So I apologize, but be prepared for a lot of pictures.

All of these pictures were taken at one of my favorite places, the Portland Rose Gardens:

Bri was trying to get Palmer and Portia to sit still to take a family picture. But Portia enjoyed hitting Palmer too much. Here she is slapping him on the back. He's very disturbed by it, as you can tell. She gets particularly violent every time Palmer tries to hug her or kiss her.
They're singing along with Papa to Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes.
Palmer smelling the roses with Papa.Nona taking Palmer for a walk.
Cheese!
Again, singing head, shoulders, knees and toes. She likes that song. But it's still not as entertaing as the Wiggles Song.

My Belated B-day

It has taken me a while to post about my b-day. But I have been pretty tired, recovering from the party that it was. Actually, no, I've just been lazy. Nick took me to the coast for my b-day. It was so fun and relaxing. I love the Oregon coast, even if its not the warmest weather! The fact that it was sunny was pretty much all we could ask for.

Nick and I bought a 99 cent Ninja Turtle kite from Walgreens. We were very impressed with its high flying abilities. While we flew our kite, we watched the local surfing competition.


This was our cute hotel we stayed on, right on the water. Our hotel room was the bottom one on the right. It was so relaxing sitting on our deck, reading, listening to the ocean.
This was our view. We were on a little bay right off of the coast.
I got really warm after playing volleyball with Nick, so I decided it was worth the pain, and I went in the water. Once my feet got numb, it wasn't even cold!

Mo's has the best clam chowder!
There were a ton of sealions out on the coast just hanging out. Nick is imitating them.

We took a long walk on the beach, and watched the sunset.

On my actual b-day, we went to my parents house and my Mom cooked me a fabulous meal. It was mostly fabulous cause I didn't have to cook it. I opened presents and Nick gave me a beginning of the school year blessing. The best present I got was a new brown, leather, loveseat. I'll have to post a picture of it. But it is SO nice. The couch in our office so I can start my counseling business. I had a great b-day and felt very loved.

I am cheap

So don't take my title to mean the wrong thing, but I really am cheap. It's something that I am very aware of and it can be a bad thing at times. But I pay attention to money and find eternal joy when I discover that I have saved money or gotten a bargain. Today I was driving to work and I realized that I have not had to fill up my car in over a month!!!!

The last few years, I have been commuting up and down Utah, driving anywhere from Salt Lake to Orem. And now, I drive five minutes to work in downtown Salem. I seriously almost cried for joy when I realized this. Not to be sacriligious, (or sacrilicious as Meredith would say), but it's truly a "tender mercy" from the Lord. My lean green Honda machine has served me well. And now I don't have to fast for gas prices to go down (although it couldn't hurt).

My Serious Tagging

Notice the pun with grafitti? I spend too much time around gang banging high schoolers.

8 things that i am passionate about
1. Counseling kids
2. The gospel
3. Nick/my marriage
4. Friends
5. Sleeping
6. The Ducks and BYU football
7. Being outside and active, for any excuse
8. Politics

8 words or phrases i use often...
1. Get your butts down! Stay on the balls of your feet! Watch your foot work! (I'm helping coach girls volleyball)
2. One more episode (of Arrested Development/Friends)
3. I'm tired (every night after work and practice)
4. I'll see you tomorrow night, maybe (to Nick when we go to bed)
5. Yeah, that's frustrating (kids being in a class they hate or some other problem)
6. Hi, I'm Lexie (I've met a lot of new people in the last few weeks)
7. No! (to kids and to Nick)
8. I can take a look at it (working with teachers, administrators, parents, kids, etc.)

8 things i want to do before i die...
1. Have a family
2. Travel to a lot of different places, as many as possible
3. Learn Spanish well
4. Start my own counseling business
5. Go on a mission
6. Do a triathlon, at least a sprint
7. Let people know how much I care about them.
8. Sky dive

8 things i have learned from my past..
1. Life sucks as a teenager.
2. Living in the moment is what true peace is. Worrying about the future does not do any good (still trying to get better at this :))
3. Trust in the spirit and have faith in the Lord, even when things don't make sense.
4. Everyone else has their own insecurities too.
5. Be nice to your parents.
6. In high school (well and pretty much most of their life) boys are only really thinking about one thing.
7. The older you get, the less you really know.
8. Get your will in order before you die (this is a shout out to my madre).

8 places i would love to go or see..
1. Australia/New Zealand
2. Italy
3. Jerusalem
4. Costa Rica
5. Southeast Asia
6. Seattle!!!! (can you believe I've never been)
7. Portland Rose Garden (one of my favorite places ever)
8. Anywhere!!! Honestly, I will go anywhere and see anything (I mean, within logical reason).

8 things i currently need or want...
1. More sleep
2. A window in my office
3. A lot of money for Nick's school (as in, not a loan)
4. A couch for my office and a couple rugs for my house
5. Free vacations all the time!
6. Nicer/new running shoes and running clothes
7. A baby :(
8. Road trips with my friends - preferrably to see any kind of theater event.

8 people i tag..
1. Amander
2. Bri Hugh
3. Meredith
4. Carly
5. Kristi Jo
6. Melinda
7. Sally
8. Megan Thayne

Labor Day Freezing!

Once again, Nick and I went to our favorite spot this weekend, our family cabin. I love going there because it gives me an excuse to not shower the whole weekend, all in the name of being "outdoorsy." We were all geared up for wakeboarding and waterskiing, but instead, it almost snowed. It was 35 degrees one night, and not usually above 55 during the day. Nick and I did jump in the water one night, but it was too cold to stay in longer than 5 seconds. But we still had an extremely enjoyable weekend with David, Stacy, Sisi, and the Kuykendalls. On Saturday, we decided to go to Crater Lake, since I had never been. Can you believe it! I went to high school in Oregon and still never went. I could not consider myself a true Oregonian until I had been there.

I could not believe how blue the water was.

I kind of think the background looks fake. But oh no, it's not. I don't know what weird face Nick is making. He's weird.

I like this picture because of the beautiful scenery and because of Nick's body language. He is telling a very engaging story. Either that, or else he just smelled something nasty.

Saturday night we went with my Dad and James (uncle) to the Oregon Ducks game, and felt very special sititng in the VIP section. We actually mostly just felt young, because there were a lot, a lot, of old Ducks fan. It was a fun game to watch, particularly Washington get the crap beaten out of them. I also enjoyed listening to the chants from the Ducks which mostly were just , "F#$% you Huskies!" Very creative! (P.S. I tried to fit in by wearing my "Duck Off! Duck You!" tee-shirt).

There was a guy sitting behind my Dad who kept rubbing his shoulders. Hahaha. For anyone who knows my Dad, you can imagine how much he enoyed this. The guy was a little drunk and was not getting the message even when my Dad told him to stop it.

Nick is teaching our little cousins (Nash and Jaxon) to shoot bebe guns. They had a full-on brawl later where they put on masks, a.k.a swim goggles and binis, and ran around the forest shooting each other.

Sunday, still being really cold, my Mom and I decided to go on a nearby hike to Fawn Lake. You might think my Mom was trying to be artsy with her picture, but she is just really bad at taking pictures.

Too much time

Here are some updated pictures of my house. I was going to post the inside, but its not that exciting, and I didn't want to clean it, so sorry. Notice anything different on the outside? Yes, that's right, we put up shutters. And when I say we, I mean Nick. I did, however, paint the door all by myself. And if you get close enough to it, you can tell (which is why I stayed far away).

I decided today that I have a little bit too much time on my hands. I actually like it, however, because I feel like the creative side of me is coming out a little bit more. I just keep thinking, is this what normal people feel like? Where you work and then come home and have a bunch of hours? I've been so busy the last few years that I think my sense of a normal schedule is slightly off. It's nice that I'm home more though, because I love where I live. The only bad thing is that I have no friends and I feel sort of like a single person because school has begun to take over Nick's life. So I have been working really hard to find things to do by myself. I don't mind spending time by myself, I think its good for me. But my problem is, I still want to share everything with friends. So, whether you like it or not, here is my sharing of things that I am doing with too much time.

These are the blackberries right next to our house. There are a ton of them and they are SO good. So I've picked quite a few blackberries. I may attempt to make jam one day, but I am taking my domestic strides slowly. Don't want to do too much too fast (Rachel Green, "You know what happened to the girl who tried too much too fast don't you? She died.")

Mmmm, I end up eating a lot of them while I'm picking. Anyone who saw me taking this picture was probably a little weirded out. I am getting pretty good at self portraits though.

Here are my latest picks.

For those of you who know me well, you know how much I love flowers and potpouri (a.k.a. dried crap), so I thought I would try to put my flowers to good use. These ones were about to die, so I'm going to take them to my office at school. I've also been picking my gardenias and letting them dry out so that I can use them as potpouri; they still smell so good even after they're dead.

Here are some annuals I put above my kitchen sink. I feel all domestic. But who knows how long it will last. I am probably going to be coaching this year, so I'm sure once kids start school and I'm up really early in the morning, my energy may wear out. In the meantime, thanks for letting me share a little bit of my life with you. And I'm still hoping people come visit me when they get a chance!