Monday, December 25, 2006

Merry Christmas!!

We would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! We had Christmas Eve with the Bodine's last night and ate a delicious dinner, watched the Nativity story (Luke 2), and exchanged some presents. We feel especially blessed this year! It's been a great Christmas weekend so far. Here are some pictures from last night:
Rob's older brother Warren with his wife, my inlaws, and my cute nephew and 2 nieces. (And another girl on the way in May)

Rob and I with his parents

Rob's older sister Brett with her husband Brian and 3 of my other cute nephews.

Saturday, December 23, 2006

Celebrity Look Alikes

I saw this link on Jessica's account and since I am just waiting for Rob to wake up from his nap - I thought it would be fun to try it out.

Here's Rob and his celebrity look alikes. He gets told all the time that he looks like Michael Vartan but I was surprised that that wasn't the highest match on here!



And then mine - a very random collection of people!



I think I need to try it with different pictures and see what happens!

Friday, December 15, 2006

Christmas Season or the Pregnancy?

Lately I've had the pleasure of many random strangers talking to me and being really friendly. I first thought it was maybe just because it's the holiday season and people had the "christmas spirit" but now I'm pretty convinced it's due to my unmistakable pregnant belly. It's kind of funny! I really don't mind because people overall seem very happy and excited for me and it's always fun to have people ask you how you are doing. It just throws me off every time it happens because I'm not used to it. And it seems to happen everywhere from going out to eat to the grocery store! Although it does lead to some experiences that I would rather not have .... .take for example my trip to the post office yesterday: I headed there around lunch time to pick up mail for work and needed to stand in line to get some certified mail. I'm standing there wearing a purplish shirt and this nice lady behind me starts talking about my shirt and how much she loves it. Then it moves on to my pregnancy and when I'm due and what names we have in mind, etc. Now she was a very sweet old lady but REEKED of cigarettes and body odor and insisted on standing there talking to me with her hand on my arm. And to top of it off - she had a big booger hanging out of her nose. I wanted to tell her about it but she just kept talking and to be honest - I was doing everything I could not to pass out or throw up from the smell of her! The joys of being pregnant and having the supersonic nose. :) It was a good story to laugh about later and I think next time I go to the post office I'm going to make sure this lady isn't around . . .. .

Other than having some funny experiences - things are going pretty well. I'm down to the single digits of weeks left! Only 9 (if she arrives on time). I'm panicking a little bit but trying to just focus on Christmas for now and then worry about the baby stuff after.

Pie Anyone?


So yesterday I get home to Rob asking me why I ordered a pie. I was a little confused since I knew I hadn't ordered a pie. I mean I am not even a pie person! But sure enough - we had this fresh pie from Pioneer Pies (pioneerpies.com) that had arrived. We inspect inside and find a Christmas card signed by CottageLiving. I looked them up on the internet and apparently they are a magazine but not one that I subscribe to! So I'm a little confused as to why they would be sending me a pie . . . We're not even sure what kind of pie it is but we think it's an apple! It was dropped off at my in-laws house last night so we'll have to find out what they thought of it. It looked really pretty but I don't really like pie so we figured we should pass it along to people that do. Now if someone would just mail me a cheesecake . .. . .

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Christmas Poll

Since I have gotten this Christmas Poll/Survey from quite a few friends recently - I figured I should just post it on my blog. Then everyone else can answer it and post it on their blogs too! :)


1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?? I like them both! Only light egg nog though - it tastes different to me.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Santa wraps the smaller presents but leaves the big ones out next to our stockings.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? Haven't put them up yet this year but white on the tree and outside.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? no

5. When do you put your decorations up? After Thanksgiving. Since I traveled this year - it was the Monday after Thanksgiving. I'm waiting for Rob to get done with finals so we can get our tree up and the lights on the house!

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Cornflake potatoes (or funeral potatoes)

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child: Getting our new ornaments and pajamas the Saturday after Thanksgiving and decorating the tree.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I was about 7 when my friends told me and then I found the presents hiding downstairs. Although I still never said anything to my parents!

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Yes

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? Only Hallmark ornaments and plain colored balls are allowed on my tree and white lights.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? I like going to the snow and skiing, etc but I'm sure glad I don't live in it anymore! Yay for Arizona.

12. Can you ice skate? Not very well at all!

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? I've had a few but my senior year in high school my parents sent all the kids on a scavenger hunt around the house and at the end we found tickets for us all to go to Hawaii.

14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Enjoying time with family and friends.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Too many of them! I love all the Christmas goodies.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? I have too many - I love the ornaments and pj's tradition and my parents always had us do the 12 Days of Christmas which was always fun! And Christmas morning we always had a special Christmas cereal, cinnamon rolls, and hot chocolate and egg nog.

17. What tops your tree? A big red bow

18. Which do you prefer giving or Receiving? Both! :)

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? Love the Dean Martin version of "baby, it's cold outside"

20. Candy Canes! yuck or yummy? Yummy - I even love the other flavors besides peppermint.

21. Favorite Christmas Movie? Elf and Polar Express

Sunday, December 03, 2006

Christmas Pajamas

My parents have had this tradition for as long as I can remember where the Saturday after Thanksgiving we would spend the whole day decorating for Christmas, go and cut down our tree, and then end the night with a pizza party. At this party we would each get a new Hallmark ornament that represented that year in some way and also we got our Christmas pajamas at this point since my mom wanted us to wear them the whole month.

Last year was the first year that I didn't have Thanksgiving at home but instead we met at my aunt's house in Utah. With my mom being the one that always did this stuff - I helped my dad so we could continue the tradition. So we got Misti and her family to join in on the ornament and pajama idea and have done it with them these last couple of years. It was only my dad, Tysen, Kevin and Rob and I since two of my brothers are on their missions right now.

Here are a couple of pictures of us in our pajamas. They aren't the best pictures but we were all pretty tired at the point we were taking them! We decided Rob probably has the funniest faces in both of them. He was pretty sick the whole weekend and nursing a tooth he got pulled that week also so he was a champ! Misti and I have matching maternity pajamas since we are both expecting in 2007. Everyone else went with some variation of black and red.


Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Rise and Shout the Cougars are Out




It's been a few years since I've been to a BYU football game (I think fall of 2001 before I graduated in the Spring) so when my dad suggested getting tickets to the BYU vs Utah game over Thanksgiving weekend - I was pretty excited. Due to the big rivalry . ..tickets were pretty hard to come by! But my dad found some on ebay. We were only able to get 6 tickets though and since Rob really isn't a big football fan and definitely not a BYU fan ... he opted to not go with us. So I went with my brothers Tysen and Kevin, my dad, my uncle Bob, and my Uncle David. We were stuck in the Utah student section which made things quite entertaining to say the least! We had a lot to cheer for in the first quarter but then BYU seemed to fall apart and I was getting a little worried and upset that BYU football was going to fail me. Apparently there were a lot of prayers said because in the last 1:19 of the game BYU was able to come back and score on the final play of the game! They won 33-31 and opted for the knee instead of kicking a final field goal. The best part was the almost silence that fell over the crowd. It was definitely a majority Utah crowd and I think they were all stunned! I loved it. By far one of the best BYU games ever (if only for that last minute and a half) and the best one I have ever witnessed! GO BYU! :) And I felt pretty good that I was able to remember all the words to the fight song even after I haven't sang it in 5 years.


Thursday, November 16, 2006

3D Ultrasound




Rob wasn't fully convinced that we really are having a girl and I heard everyone rave about these 3D ultrasounds . . . so I found a place in downtown Phoenix that had good reviews and would do it at a reasonable price. We had the appointment yesterday and we both just loved it! We were able to see how much she has grown, receive definite confirmation that she is really a girl, see that she has all her fingers/toes, etc. She was a little stubborn though and didn't let us get any really good face shots! She was either hiding behind her own hands or the placenta. We tried everything to get her to move from toe touches, to lots of sugar, etc. and she was moving plenty but just didn't want to show us her face. I'm a little worried from the glipmses of her face that we did get - that she is going to have the White/Robins nose combo that I inherited! I'm really hoping she comes out with the Bodine nose. She had her ankles crossed the entire time and kept sticking her hand, fingers, or her arm into her mouth which apparently is normal at this stage. It was fun to see though since I was a thumb sucker from birth! Rob loved the ultrasound so much that he asked if we could pay to go again in a few weeks. :) I'm not so sure about that one since she should be making her arrival in 13 weeks anyway . .. but maybe we'll break down for another view of her!


And in other exciting news - I start the 3rd trimester today!! Wow.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Primary Program


Sunday was a happy day in my life since the kids in my ward (congregation) finally did their Primary Program presentation. For those that aren't familiar with it - the Primary Program involves all the kids in our church from ages 3-11. We are given a theme at the beginning of the calendar year that we study all year long. They learn songs and other things to go along with the theme and on one Sunday in the fall - they present this program to everyone in the ward. Being in the primary presidency - it was my job to be in charge of the program this year. I must have been clueless growing up because I had no idea that each ward wrote their own program! And last year I was in charge but someone else had already written the program so it was a lot easier. This year I have been stressing about Sunday November 12th since July when I first started writing the script. Luckily, we have a fabulous music leader and the kids learned their parts and sang the songs so well that I really had no reason to worry! Many people told us it was the best program that they had ever seen and although I don't believe that - I know the kids did so well and they even got me teary eyed because I was so proud of them. And now I can breathe a little sigh of relief! That is until this weekend when I need to get the Sharing Time ready for Primary. There is always something, huh?

Skydiving


Rob has always had a dream of going sky diving. We had actually talked about doing it together when we first got married but never saved up the money to do it and then being pregnant - it obviously was not an option. Plus I think I lost my daredevil attitude over the years. In college it sounded like a great thing but I value my life a little more now! lol. For Rob's 30th birthday in September - his parents present to him was to take him sky diving. My mother in law Diane has always wanted to go and that was her Mothers Day Present. So last Saturday, her and Rob headed to one of the top sky diving schools in the state (Skydive Arizona) and did a tandem jump from 13,000 feet. Rob's instructor let them do a back flip out of the plane since they were the last ones to exit! He loved it and my mother in law loved it too. I was a little worried since in the last few months two people died on a tandem skydive but luckily it all worked out and they had a good time!

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

99 and Counting

I really just dont have that much to blog about lately! But I have a little pregnancy ticker on my desktop that told me today that if I deliver on my due date - it's only 99 days away. Kind of crazy to know that it's below 100 days now.


I do need to ask my blogging friend community a question though! Do you have any girl name suggestions? Rob and I are still nowhere near coming close to picking a name (besides the middle name of Colleen). So we've gotten in the habit of asking everyone around us for suggestions. I think we're both hoping that one of these times - one of the names will just stand out to us and we'll know that it's the right one to us. At this point though - I would take just having a limited amount of options. We want something that is somewhat unique but not totally off the wall. And we'd like it to somewhat go with Colleen too! :)

So please - offer any and all suggestions of names! We need some help.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

24 Weeks Down

I apologize in advance for this really unflattering picture but Rob is not the best picture taker (he has no patience) and I'm not exactly photogenic (especially in my current condition). But I had to take my every 4 week picture tonight since I've made it to 24 weeks. Can you see how much I have grown in just 4 weeks?!?

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

The Crib

We got the crib up last night! Or should I say Rob and our friend Andrew put it together last night? My friend Christine came over with her two darling foster kids and we chatted while the boys did the hard work. Afterwards we had a yummy toffee, caramel, chocolate cake. Only problem is we didn't even eat half the cake so I might be polishing up the rest on my own! Not good for me but it sure tastes good. :)

Anyway - here are a few pictures of my crib with the bedding that I'm using inside it. Now I just need to get the rest of the furniture in that room and figure out what to do on the walls. I have curtains to put up that match the bedding as well but I need to get them hemmed.




Full view of the crib with all the bedding





Close up of the inside of the crib bumper and the sheets




View of the bumper, sheets, and crib skirt



Another close up view

Monday, October 23, 2006

Weekend Projects

I don't know if anyone else is like me and crams tons of projects into the short weekend time span . . but it is starting to wear me out! I'm in the second trimester or what everyone seems to call the best part of pregnancy. As a result - I am already starting my major nesting phase. I'm working so hard at taking care of things around the house and getting projects done before I get too big and uncomfortable!

This weekend was no exception! I was feeling really ambitious and decided it was time to paint the nursery. So on Friday I went and picked up the paint and supplies from Home Depot and Rob helped me with the taping of the room. My doctor okayed me painting as long as I kept the room well ventilated, used latex paint, and took plenty of breaks. Rob's rule was that I wasn't allowed to stand on a chair. He said he would take care of the high parts of the room.

With those rules in play - I woke up Saturday morning and did the priming coat and Rob took care of the top portion before he left for work. I managed to get both coats of paint on and then had to wait for Rob to get home that evening so he could finish the top portion. I'm happy with how it turned out. It matches a green in my bedding perfectly! And with all my pink accents and white furniture - it should turn out to be a very cute and girly room. I'll post pictures on here but it's really hard to tell what it looks like from the picture! Tonight we're supposed to put together the crib so I will continue to take more pictures as the room comes together. :)



Sunday, October 08, 2006

Locked Out


When Rob and I were first married about 2 years ago, he didn't understand why I always locked the doors! He would leave to run and errand down the street and would come back to find the door locked on him. I've been working on him the whole time to get in the habit of locking doors for safetty reasons. As we kind of live in more of the ghetto part of Mesa and we've had things stolen from our cars and our yards - he has come to understand the importance of locking the doors.

Yesterday Rob went paint balling in the morning and then stopped by the house for a few minutes before heading out to work for the afternoon. I had been working outside on refinishing some furniture for the nursery. I was just doing the priming coat and asked him to bring the glider outside (I have decided to refinish that chair white also). He brought the glider outside and left for work and I finished up the priming coat on the changing table.

I went to go inside for a quick break before starting on the rocker. Much to my surprise - the sliding glass door was locked! I had him trained him so well that after putting the chair outside for me - he had locked the door. So here I am in my paint clothes and locked out of my own house. Of course I don't have my cell phone out with me at the time either. I proceed to check all the windows on the back of the house on the off chance that they were unlocked but no such luck. I figure that I'm going to have to go to the neighbors house and call Rob to come home and let me in. I walk around the side of the house and go to push open our side gate only to have it met with much resistance. That's when it dawns on me that our work trailer (Rob has it for a separate part of the pool business) that hasn't been there for months is currently pushed up against that gate! I can't even get out of my backyard!! I'm going to have to climb the fence only it's not an easy task when you're 21 weeks pregnant and have this little belly that gets in the way. Not to mention it's still a good 90 degrees outside. I finally manage to climb up the fence and onto the top of the trailer but now I have to get off the trailer. I'm a little scared to jump that 8-10 feet and harm the baby but I really see no other option here. So I said a quick little prayer and jumped. I landed on two feet on the gravel part of our yard but seemed to be ok. My neighbors were home and had a good laugh at my predicament but I was able to call Rob and have him come home and let me back in the house.

Lesson learned: 1) Make sure you remind your husband when and when not to lock the door 2) Always keep your cell phone with you - even if you are just going in your back yard.

And I have felt the little girl kick a few times since yesterday so hopefully I didn't startle her too much! :)

Monday, October 02, 2006

Pumpkins


Now that October is finally here (although you would never really believe it living in Arizona where it is still in the high 90's) . .. my thoughts are turned to what else - pumpkins! I love when stores start having pumpkin items out. I love the smell of pumpkins. I think it just reminds me of the fall and the upcoming Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. I enjoy carving pumpkins each year (Rob usually humors me since he thinks it's kind of crazy of me). And most of all I love baking pumpkin flavored items. I can't stand pumpkin pie but other than that - I love pumpkin bread and cookies. Anyone have any good recipes they want to share with me?

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Half Way There!!

So today marks the end of week 20 of my pregnancy - which means I am officially half way there! I have to admit that everyone was right about the 2nd trimester being so much better. It took me a while to believe it though since I still have major food aversions through week 17 and was still throwing up a lot. But my doctor gave me the go ahead to just take Flinstone Vitamins and since then - I seem to be getting better each day and haven't been losing my stomach as much! I still can't eat Mexican or BBQ food which were two of my favorites before . . . but at least most other things sound good and I can start to make dinner again.

My little belly seems to be growing a lot more rapidly in the last couple of weeks which is obviously to be expected but still surprising to me how fast it changes! I had my first comment from someone who didn't know I was pregnant. A cute little lady at church (who I don't see very often since I am in Primary with the kids on Sundays) came up to me last Sunday and asked me and followed quickly up with "well you were just so little before - I had to ask". Well thanks lady for making me feel HUGE! lol. I know I just need to be prepared since my belly is just going to keep on growing!!

I am still getting tired pretty fast but I'm trying to get a lot of things done while I have the energy - since I keep on being warned that it gets harder as you get further and further along. I've already started getting pieces of my bedding set (found new on ebay) and am working on getting some of the other accessories as well. I'm trying to get a couple of pieces of furniture refinished in the next couple of weeks and then I will get to work on painting the bedroom (my doctor gave me the go ahead). Over Rob's winter break - we will be putting up a beadboard panel around the nursery which I think will be really cute! So I will do as much as I can without his help since he is super busy with a full schedule at school, 6 hours of student teaching a week, working full time and the first counselor in Young Men's (in charge of Varsity scouts).

I have other pictures but it won't let me post them . .. . so sorry - this is going to have to do for now!

Friday, September 22, 2006

Happy Birthday to Rob!


Rob turns the big 3-0 today! I think it's a little bit of a rough birthday for him but hopefully it turns out to be a great day. I know I am lucky to have found such a wonderful husband!

Follow up: I managed to pull off a surprise party for Rob this year! He asks for one every year which is pretty funny to me anyway. But this year I had him convinced that I was doing the party on the 23rd (the day following his birthday) and that I had something special planned out for him. With the help of some friends - we decorated this little park pavillion and then I ran home to get Rob. I made him wear a blindfold and we drove out to the park where we had friends and family yell surprise at him as he took the blindfold off. We had pizza and cake and candy and the kids played on the playground and flew kites. I was pretty proud of myself for pulling it off! But also learned that I really dont like planning surprise parties. So good thing he only turns 30 once!!!

Monday, September 18, 2006

Anniversary!

So two years ago today is when Rob proposed! I am starting to think that we should start celebrating this date since our anniversary is right in between Christmas and New Years and we're starting to realize that it's going to be hard to ever celebrate that one on it's date due to the holidays and traveling, etc.

Two years ago - I had spent the day with my friends Nicole and Jen running around to different wedding reception locations. I knew Rob and I were going to get married so I needed to get somewhat of a head start since most people take a year or longer to plan a wedding, but Mormons like to pull it off in much less time! :) Well Rob had me convinced that the ring wasn't done yet (he picked it out) and I believed him. For weeks we had been talking about going to the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix but hadn't made it there yet. So he came to pick me up that evening to walk around there right around sunset time and then we were going to go and eat. He was rushing me though and I didn't know what the big hurry was! It looked like it was about to rain so I was seriously questioning why we were still going to this place. We got there and grabbed an umbrella and he was hurrying me through the gardens since it was starting to rain. I am still clueless at this point even though we were practically running through the gardens and not even looking at anything! We finally get to this overlook point and I see a HUGE bouquet of roses with a ring box in the middle of them. I stopped in shock and then saw Rob get on one knee and propose. I didn't even cry because I was in such shock! Nicole and Jen had been in on the whole thing and had been talking to Rob all day long without me knowing and set up the arrangement. So they were there to take some pictures afterwards for us since they didn't have time to sneak out of the gardens without me seeing them. At this point it was totally pouring rain! It was a cute spot that he proposed at but to this day it still seems like a blur since I was shocked. I guess he had planned to propose on his birthday (the 22nd) but couldn't wait another 4 days. :)

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

It's a


GIRL!!! I am so excited. We just got back from the big ultrasound. She was wiggling around like crazy and not crossing her legs or anything but the doctor still had to move around a bit to get a good view between her legs. I think Rob is a little doubtful still since the first words out of the doctor's mouth were "I am pretty sure it's a girl". But upon closer inspection we were able to see the 3 little lines that indicate girl and no boy parts anywhere. She is growing right on schedule with everything looking good. We weren't able to see her little hands and feet clearly so hopefully she has all those body parts! The name hasn't been picked out yet although her middle name will be Colleen after my mom since she passed away last year. Now I can finally start shopping!!!

Saturday, September 09, 2006

Ode to Craigslist.org

So I just have to comment on how Craigslist.org is one of my favorite sites! I've used it a lot over the last year but this last week has been an extremely eventful one with the site. I sold my wedding dress (for half the original price to a cute little Mormon girl who is getting married on my same wedding date), sold a matching dresser and desk from my spare room, and found a glider/rocker for a 1/4 of the original price and in great condition!

The last one is my first "official" purchase for the new arrival. I kind of jumped the gun on buying it so soon but it was such a great deal and in such good condition that I couldn't pass it up! The chair is super comfy although the distressed pine wood really isn't my favorite. I'm trying to decide if I should paint it white (since I plan to do an all white furniture nursery no matter what the gender) or if I should just leave it alone and just have this one piece that doesn't match - what do you think? The cushions are a really light tan so I'm a little hesitant on how they would look against a white wood finish.

The new rocker/glider chair (the chair is in the future nursery but that room will be undergoing some major updates soon)

A closer view of chair

Friday, September 08, 2006

States

So I am stealing this from my friend Kristen's blog. And it's Friday and I'm super bored at work. So I decided to stop with the baby shopping/daydreaming and fill out this state map.

create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

It's kind of fun. Apparently there are two portions of the USA that I still need to visit!

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Vote!

So the big ultrasound is one week from today. Take your vote on what we are having!


Is Baby Bodine a boy or a girl?
Baseball loving boy
Gorgeous little girl
  
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Sunday, September 03, 2006

Wicked


Along with many other thousands of people across the country this year, I had the chance to go and see the musical Wicked on it's way through Arizona. Rob has no interest in musicals so we ended up making it a girl's night. My coworker came, Jen flew down from Utah, and we met up with Nicole, her little sister Colette, and Stacey and Britney. I thought it was absolutely fabulous! I've been listening to the cd for months now but I never really understood the completely story line! It's definitely one of my most favorite musicals and two days later - I'm still singing the tunes!

Friday, September 01, 2006

Children of the 80's

I thought this would be a fun post for a Friday. And don't worry - I'm still singing some of the songs mentioned here!


You Know You Grew Up In The 80's or Early 90's If:

1. You've ever ended a sentence with the word SIKE.


2. You watched the Pound Puppies.


3. You can sing the rap to the Fresh
Prince of Bel-Air and can do the Carlton



4. Girls wore biker shorts under their skirts and felt stylishly sexy.

5. You yearned to be a member of the
Baby-sitters club and tried to start a club of your own.




6. You owned those lil' Strawberry
Shortcake pals scented dolls.

7. You know that "WOAH" comes from Joey
on Blossom

8. Two words: Hammer Pants


9. If you ever watched "Fraggle Rock"


10. You had plastic streamers on your
handle bars... and spokey-dokes or playing cards on your spokes for that
incredible sound effect

11. You can sing the entire theme song
to "Duck Tales" (Woo ooh!)

12. It was actually worth getting up
early on a Saturday to watch cartoons.

13. You wore a ponytail on the side of
your head.


14. You saw the original Teenage Mutant
Ninja Turtles on the big screen..and still know the turtles names.

15. You got super-excited when it was
Oregon Trail day in computer class at school.

16. You made your mom buy one of those
clips that would hold your shirt in a knot on the side.

17. You played the game "MASH"(Mansion,
Apartment, Shelter, House)

18. You wore stonewashed Jordache jean
jackets and were proud of it.


19. L.A. Gear....need I say more?

20. You wanted to change your name to
"JEM" in Kindergarten. (She's Truly Outrageous.)


21. You remember reading Tales of a
fourth grade nothing and all The Ramona books.

22. You know the profound meaning of
"WAX ON, WAX OFF"

23. You wanted to be a Goonie.


24. You ever wore fluorescent clothing.

25. You can remember what Michael
Jackson looked like before his nose fell off and his cheeks shifted.

26. You have ever pondered why Smurfette
was the only female smurf.


27. You took lunch boxes to school...
and traded Garbage Pailkids in the schoolyard.

28. You remember the CRAZE, then the
BANNING of slap bracelets.


29. You still get the urge to say "NOT"
after every sentence.

30. You remember Hypercolor t-shirts.



31. Barbie and the Rockers was your
favorite band.



32. You thought She-ra (Princess of
Power!) and He-Man should hook up.



33. You thought your childhood friends
would never leave because you exchanged handmade friendship bracelets.



34. You ever owned a pair of
Jelly-Shoes.



35. After you saw Pee-Wee's Big
Adventure you kept saying "I know you are, but what am I?"



36. You remember "I've fallen and I
can't get up"


37. You remember going to the skating
rink before there were inline skates.



38. You ever got seriously injured on a
Slip and Slide.



39. You have ever played with a Skip-It.




40. You had or attended a birthday party
at McDonalds.



41. You've gone through this nodding
your head in agreement.



42. You remember Popples.



43. Don't worry, be happy


44. You wore like, EIGHT pairs of socks
over tights with high top Reeboks.



45. You wore socks scrunched down (and
sometimes still do..getting yelled at by younger hip members of the
family)



46. You remember boom boxes and walking
around with one on your shoulder like you were all that.



47. You remember watching both Gremlins
movies.



48. You know what it meant to say "Care
Bear Stare!!"



49 You remember watching Rainbow Bright
and & My Little Pony Tales



50. You thought Doogie Howser/Samantha
Micelli was hot.


51. You remember Alf, the lil furry
brown alien from Melmac.



52. You remember New Kids on the Block
when they were cool...and don't even flinch when people refer to them as
"NKOTB"



53. You knew all the characters names
and their life stories on "Saved By The Bell," The ORIGINAL class.



54. You know all the words to Bon Jovi -
SHOT THROUGH THE HEART.



55. You just sang those words to
yourself.



56. You remember watching Magic vs.
Bird.



57. Homemade Levi shorts.. (the shorter
the better)



58. You remember when mullets were cool!




59. You had a mullet!



60. You still sing "We are the World"


61. You tight rolled your jeans.



62. You owned a bannana clip.



63. You remember "Where's the Beef?"



64. You used to (and probably still do)
say "What you talkin' 'bout Willis?"



65 You had big hair and you knew how to
use it.



66. You're still singing shot through
the heart in your head, aren't you!

Sunday, August 27, 2006

Visiting with Elder White

Here are a couple of pictures of our recent lunch with Elder Kory White (my little brother) who is serving in the Phoenix, AZ mission. We took them to Fuddruckers (their choice) and had a quick visit before getting him back so he could get ready to witness a wedding of a guy who would be baptized the following week. He is working hard and although he's had to deal with people throwing things at him while he rides his bike . ... he is doing great. They have already had a couple of baptisms so work is going well. And he's almost made it out of the hottest time of the year!



Rob, Kory "aka Elder White", and I in front of his apartment




Kory and his companion

Clean House



My mother in law came over on Saturday and did the nicest thing for me. She spent 3-4 hours cleaning my house for me! Mainly scrubbing down both of my bathrooms (tub, sink, shower, etc) and my kitchen. It was such a great gift! Rob likes to tease me and call me "Monica" from Friends because I can be a little nazi like about a clean house (which is funny because growing up I had the messiest room ever). But I do really like my house clean. Probably because it's finally "my house". Ever since I started getting morning sickness (which still hasn't fully gone away) - I haven't been able to clean my house like normal. In my rare moments of feeling well - I did your basic surface cleaning but not my normal cleaning. It is amazing to me how much of a pick me up that was to have a clean house. I feel so much better! Granted - the office and the soon to be nursery are a disaster zone! But at least I can close those doors and enjoy the rest of my clean house.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Father's Day 2006

Sorry to go in reverse order here but our new computer finally arrived and a good friend was able to salvage our hard drive so my pictures survived!!

We happened to be in Washington State for Father's Day since it was the same weekend that my little brother Kevin graduated from high school. I found these frames at Hallmark that said "The best dads make the best grandpas" and inside the frame I did some playing around with clipart and had a picture of a stork holding a baby and the words "Picture arriving February 2007". I wrapped it up and on Father's Day we gave it to my dad. I wasn't sure he got it at first but then it seemed to click and he got a little emotional since it was his first news that he was going to be a grandpa. We thought it was a great Father's Day surprise! We did the same thing with Rob's parents when we got back to Washington but it wasn't nearly as climatic because they already have 7 grandkids.

Monday, August 21, 2006

Broken Windows . ...

So yesterday I went to church like I do every Sunday. Meetings start at 9 a.m. and I'm usually out the door by 12:15. Yesterday though Rob got a new calling (actually the same calling in the Young Men's Organization as the Teachers Quorum Advisor/Varsity Scout leader but with a new president so they had to release him and put him back in again) so we stayed after church to deal with that business. So I went out to my car (we drove separately since Rob needed to be there early) only to be met with the site of my drivers side front window completely smashed in with glass everywhere!



I didn't even really look at anything inside - I just ran back inside to find Rob since I didn't have my cell phone on me or anything. He had just stepped back into a meeting so I had to wait a few minutes. I grabbed him as soon as he walked out and we ran out to my car again. Turns out someone was trying to rip off my stereo but they weren't successful. They had ripped out the whole area around the stereo but my face plate and stereo were still there. Now keep in mind - I don't have a fancy stereo by any means! It's one step up from the stock stereo that Toyota puts in. And I do have a detachable face plate but I havent really taken it off in 3 years or probably the last time I lived in an apartment complex! I was lucky because it seems like the thief was scared off. They probably have no idea how often people come in and out of an LDS church building! Anyway - I guess I should count my blessings since they didn't even get my stereo. But I had to wait around 45 minutes for a cop to show up and have him write a report and tell me I could drive home and call the Crime Scene Unit to try and dust for fingerprints. The Crime Scene Unit took 5 hours to show up at my house and got some fingerprints but I'm not very hopeful that it's going to result in anything!

Of course this had to happen on a Sunday in August in Arizona. Let me tell you how hot it is to drive with no window on the drivers side - even with air conditioning going full blast! No glass shops were open yesterday so I have to try and find a company that will come out today and fix my window for me. Then I have to find someone who can tint that window for me! Rob laughs at me because one of my first thoughts was how I'm going to find someone to tint my window to match my other windows in the car. My front windows are tinted a little darker than they are supposed to be legally (not that cops really are in Arizona) but you have to find people that do jobs on the side in order to get it taken care of. . ... Anyway - fun day for us!

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day preparations are in full swing at the Bodine house. Many of you know I love holidays and like to plan really early . .. but this one is extra special because it's when Baby Bodine is expected to make its arrival. :) We are very excited about this! And my actual due date is really February 15th but everytime I tell someone that - I get "oh you are having a Valentine's Baby"!

So far things are moving right along. I'll have finished 14 weeks as of tomorrow and start into the 15th week. The first trimester was pretty rough on me. I have never been so sick and had a really hard time keeping anything down until my doctor put me on Zofran and Phenergan. Thank goodness for modern medicine! I still don't have my appetite completely back but I must be doing something right because I've managed to put on 4 pounds after losing quite a few at the beginning. I haven't quite figured out how when I feel like I'm eating less than ever but as long as the baby is healthy - that's all I care about! My clothes are struggling right now - I can only fit into two of my pants these days and had to go buy some longer and bigger shirts. But maternity clothes are still too big so I guess I just have to get used to feeling frumpy all the time. :)

We've had one ultrasound already and the baby was wiggling around like crazy at that appointment at 10 weeks and confirmed that there is only one in there (thank goodness!). And we've heard the heartbeat which was at 163 as of August 15.

So now we're just waiting for the big ultrasound which is scheduled in 4 weeks on September 12th. I'm already counting down the days until then! Rob is convinced we are having a boy and I think we are having a girl. So we figure one of us is right! And obviously we will be happy with whatever "it" turns out to be. I just am ready to find out so I can start shopping and decorating!

Anyway - for those of you that have been through this . ... any advice? I'd love to hear it!

Excuse the blurry picture - but this is the first real sign we got!

Friday, August 11, 2006

Update: Computer is Dead

So we recieved word yesterday that our computer is dead and not coming back to life. I am very sad about that. Although my brother in law is still optimistic that he will be able to retrieve the hard drive and transfer files to a new computer. So I'm still holding out hope that some of my pictures are not lost forever! But now the hunt is on for a new computer which really isn't in the budget but kind of has to be since Rob starts school in two weeks and if I ever want to see him .... we need to have a working computer in the house! My dad notified me of Dell Outlet though where they sell refurbished, scratch and dent, etc type of computers. I'm checking everything out. So if you have any ideas - let me know!

Monday, August 07, 2006

Week 2 of No Home Computer

So the computer is still in the process of being fixed (hopefully). I'm so grateful that I have my computer at work during the day but I really miss my home computer! I didn't realize how much I actually did use that thing for little things like looking up directions, movie times, etc. Now if I need the computer at home - we either have to go to someone else's house and borrow theirs. Or I have to use Rob's Palm Treo phone to access information which takes forever and usually likes to cancel out on me half way through.

This weekend we were able to take my brother Kory (who is serving his mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Phoenix, AZ) and his companion out to lunch. It's nice since his only 30 minutes away right now. We got permission from the mission president and we were able to see his apartment and enjoy a quick lunch with him and hear how he is doing. I took a picture with him but obviously have to wait to post it until my computer is back! He seems so happy and surviving the heat (they have to bike everywhere). It was good to see family for a little bit!

Monday, July 31, 2006

Problems with Electronics

This weekend was not a fun weekend at the Bodine house. There will not be any pictures to go along with this post and it will be explained why later on. On Friday night we came home from dinner with our friends to find out that our DVR was not working. To be honest this really was not a huge surprise to me since about 8 months ago we canceled DVR but it continued to work (along with movie channels). I notified the cable company but they never did anything about it . .. .so then we just kept quiet and enjoyed it! So Rob played with that machine for a few hours on Friday night trying to revive the shows he had saved up on there and had not watched but it was to no avail. I'll have you know though - that we are calling today to get DVR connected again since Rob has gotten so used to it then he can't imagine life without it. Makes me laugh.

On Saturday I got up and cleaned my house, went grocery shopping, got ready and then was sitting around wasting time watching some tv while I waited for a friend to pick me up to go to a baby shower. All of a sudden out of the blue - the tv just turns off! My dogs were sitting next to me so it wasn't them knocking something out. I fiddled with it for a little bit and Rob stopped in to pick up something he forgot (he works most Saturdays) and he played around with it a bit but we determined that it was a goner. Once again - not too surprised about this because it was a huge console tv from the 80's at least. Not my favorite tv by any means but it was a tv and it worked.

Rob turns 30 this September and I wanted to do something really nice for him so I've been saving up all year to get him a nice new tv. So when ours broke on Saturday, I agreed to let us get the new tv early but it was going to have to be a 32" inch instead of the 44" inch that he wanted because I had not saved up enough money yet. He agreed and off we went to Costco to get our new tv. We also made a stop at Walmart to get a basic black tv stand to hold our tv until we find the furniture that we really want.

Everything is going great and he's putting together the tv when he decides to go and look something up on the internet. Now keep in mind I have been using the internet all day to work on my primary sharing time for the next day and had used it right before we went to Costco. Well, something had happened to our computer now too! What are the chances of all this happening in one day? I was beginning to think that maybe we got hit by lightning with the storms last week but I know that didn't happen. Our brother in law is a computer whiz so he stopped by and thought perhaps we had a power surge which could fry our computer and other electronics. Great. Not a good thing. There was even a surge protector on the computer but it might not have been strong enough. So our brother in law took the computer for us and is looking at it this week. I'm praying he is able to fix it! The computer is less than a year old and was working fabulous! Not to mention it's really not in the budget to get a new one. And I have pictures that weren't saved to Snapfish yet. Not good. School starts in 3 weeks for Rob so we have to figure out something. I'm still hoping for the best! Luckily I have my computer at work but that doesn't help Rob out much.

As you can see - we had some adventures this weekend!

Friday, July 21, 2006

Some reasons to live in Mesa, AZ

With the addition of a Cafe Rio now in Arizona, I have started to be reminded of some more reasons why it is good to live here. Most particularly - why it is good to live in Mesa, AZ! In the news this week - Money magazine's top 10 list came out of places to live. Coming in at number 3 on the list was Mesa, AZ (for cities over 300,000 people)! They did the rankings based on job opportunities, good schools and activities. It was especially nice to see that Mesa was above San Diego even! And then later in the week - I saw on the headlines that Mesa, AZ was number one for the safest city to live in the US. Meaning Mesa, AZ is one of the cities least likely to be affected by a natural disaster. Now if this is the case - please tell me why a microburst managed to hit my neighborhood in Mesa, AZ last year and tear off a section of my roof? Overall though - it's pretty true. So today I'm proud to be a Mesan (I don't know if that is the right word to use - but oh well!).


Monday, July 17, 2006

Another Reason to Live in Arizona


In these hot summer months - it is really hard to remember exactly why I live in Arizona ....but I found another good reason to stay here. They finally opened my favorite restaurant - Cafe Rio!! Those of you who went to BYU or who live in Utah are probably really familiar with this very popular Mexican restaurant. The food is hard to describe since it seems to be a cross blend of different tastes. But basically it's very yummy and addicting! During my senior year at BYU - I know my friends and I ate at Cafe Rio AT LEAST once a week - if not more! I would usually skip my lunch meal on the days we were going to Cafe Rio so I could try and eat even more of the wonderful food. And afterwards even though we were stuffed full - we would usually head off to Sonic for a root beer flurry! Good times. Since moving away from Utah - I have craved the food from Cafe Rio and missed it more than anything else. Every trip I have made to Utah since graduation I've managed to fit in a stop to my favorite restaurant! And over a year ago we actually got a Costa Vida restaurant which was pretty similar to Cafe Rio but not quite as good. It worked to help fill the cravings though! But now this girl is one happy camper and perfectly content to stay living in Arizona since I know there is now a Cafe Rio in town. So if you get a chance to visit Cafe Rio and you haven't been - I can give you a few suggestions! The shredded chicken salad with the creamy tomatillo ranch dressing and the chicken burrito with smothered in the green enchilada sauce are my personal favorites. But I've never heard of anything bad at this restaurant. Now I'm just counting down the days until Wednesday night when Rob and I have some free time in our schedule to head over to the new Cafe Rio on Gilbert and Baseline in Gilbert, AZ.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Thieves!


I'm sorry that this is going to be more of a venting post than anything else! But as I reviewed my checking account this morning (a daily event for me in my morning routine at work) . . . I noticed that there was a semi-large charge for some Amazon Gift Certificates. Now I haven't bought anything on Amazon in a while nor did I buy any gift certificates. But I called Rob to see if he might have bought any (I didn't know why he would either but we share the account so I had to make sure). It was an unknown charge to him as well. So I started getting pretty upset. I called up my bank and got a hold of a customer service rep who helped me file a claim and was only able to tell me that whoever did it - used MY debit card or at least my debit card account number. I canceled the card and now have to go to my bank and pick up a new one. The bank will decide in a few days whether or not to credit me back the money that was taken out due to this purchase that I never made.

Arizona had the highest number of cases of identity theft in the US last year. A really scary statistic. As a result - I feel like I'm on the overly cautious side! I bought a shredder a few months ago and shred everything that has personal information on it and have a locked file drawer for the important documents that I need to keep. I am really not sure how someone was able to get my bank account number and make a purchase! I try and do all my online bill paying using a credit card with identify theft protection on it even.

Nothing really angers me more than people stealing. It just makes you feel so violated! We had a couple of things stolen off of our back porch last year (Now keep in mind that we have a high fenced in yard and we only had the items on our back porch for 2 days while we redid flooring in a couple of rooms of the house) and filed a police report on them. A few months after that - Rob's truck was broken into and things were stolen from it. And a few years back when I was on vacation with my family - our rental van was broken into and I had my whole back pack (journal, purse, wallet, etc) stolen. Now that thief really upset me because items were stolen that were only valuable to me - they had no monetary value. As a result of these things - I have become an extremely paranoid person in regard to anything that could be potentially stolen from me.

Friday, July 07, 2006

4th of July Weekend

It was very nice to have a 4 day weekend! Although I had so many things planned out to get done and I maybe got through a quarter of them . ...I guess it made for an even more relaxing weekend! Rob's family had some relatives in town from NYC so it was a busy weekend!

Saturday morning there was a birthday party for my nephew Steven who just turned one. Due to the heat - the party was a breakfast swim party from 8:30-10:30 in the morning. The weather was probably in the high 80's even at that time of day but nice enough to enjoy breakfast outside without being too uncomfortable!

On Saturday night - the Bodine clan met for dinner at Tia Rosa's (a popular local Mexican food place). After dinner the girls headed off to watch the Devil Wears Prada movie and the boys went to Superman. I thought the Devil Wears Prada was a pretty good movie although with all the cute clothes in the movie - it just made me want to go out and do a bunch of shopping!

Sunday night - the Bodine clan again met for dinner but this time at my in-laws house. We had a fabulous Sunday dinner and afterwards the adults played the charades like game of Guesstures and then ventured over to my brother in law Warren's house for a few hours of karaoke. Quite entertaining with the Bodine's not being the most musically inclined in the voal area!

Monday night was the large Bodine family home evening. I am still not sure who all of the people were there! But then again - I don't think Rob did either and they are his relatives.

Tuesday (the 4th) was a busy day. Rob got up and went quad riding bright and early while I slept in. That afternoon we headed out to the Arizona Biltmore where the Bodine cousins were staying and relaxed in the cabana and pool for the afternoon. We hurried home from there to get ready for a barbecue with some friends in the ward and then headed out after that to Tempe Town Lake to watch the fireworks. Rob's family met up with us there. Now keep in mind it was over 100 degrees still at night and humid due to a storm that was rolling in. The fireworks show was probably 50 minutes but I think all of us were ready for it to be done after 20! It was so hot and stuffy outside. And we were in a very crowded place. It took us over an hour to get home which is crazy since it is normally only a 15 minute drive home from there. I decided that next year we are either going back to Seattle for the 4th of July or we are staying inside and watching the fireworks on tv. It just wasn't a good experience with it being that hot and crowded out!

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Name Twin

So I'm stealing this idea from another blog but I thought it would be fun! The idea is that you go into google and type in your name and see what your name twin looks like! Well, I tried this first with my married name and got no pictures or really anything besides stuff that is on the internet about me! So that wasn't too helpful. So I then input my maiden name and still came up with no pictures of my name twin but found out my name twin was a National Merit Finalist in Memphis, TN, another name twin is a cheer coach at Crowder College and another on some public boards for a city.

Rob was a little more fun! His name twin is practicing law in Alexandra Virginia. This is what he looks like:



Also - this man on the left in this picture is a name twin (sexy!)





Kind of fun. So who is your name twin?

Sunday, June 25, 2006

Scrapbooking

Back in January when our ward switched over to 9 a.m. church (I had been at 1 p.m. or later church since I was probably a sophomore at BYU) . .. I daydreamed of all the things I could do with my free time in the afternoon of Sundays. My biggest dream was that I was going to get back into scrapbooking! My logic was that it's "personal/family history" so it would be appropriate. And I figured it would be good use of my time rather than taking a really long nap which would then keep me up late and ruin my whole week of sleeping. I had completed my scrapbook through most of my senior year of college but hadn't done anything since moving to Arizona. None of my trips were documented and of course I still have the wedding scrapbook to eventually get to!

My aunt Misti (when I was visiting her family over Thanksgiving) showed me these little 9x9 scrapbooks that her kids had started doing. I thought they were so cute and would be perfect to use for the trips I have taken over the last few years! So off I went to research more about these small books. I actually then decided to use the 8x8 size scrapbooks and found a good deal online and proceeded to order them. I went to my favorite scrapbook store (Scrapbooks, Etc in Mesa, AZ) and stocked up some cardstock and decided on a theme and found a few things to go with it. My first task was to document a trip I had taken with some girl friends to NYC in 2004. It was only a 4 day trip but we packed a lot into that 4 day trip and since there were 4 of us with cameras - we ended up with a TON of pictures.



It has taken me about 6 months but I finally finished my New York City scrapbook today! I am a very simple scrapbooker so it really shouldn't have taken me so long but my ideal Sundays often were interrupted by a much needed nap, or church meetings, etc. I have to admit that I love the 8x8 scrapbooks! I don't see myself using them for everything but for a small "theme" book - they are just the right size. I like it because you put just one picture on a page if you want to and it doesn't look too bare or you can crop pictures and fit more than one. So now I'm on to my next theme back - a trip to Washington DC in 2003. Hopefully this won't take me as long! :)

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Graduation

The last of my brothers graduated from high school last weekend. (Made me feel really old to realize that I'm only 2 years away from my 10 year High School Reunion!) And Kevin had to show all of us up by being the senior class president and the only Senior they asked to speak at graduation services! He gave a great funny speech that drew lots of laughs and ended with kids sending beach balls around the graduating class. I think he was pretty relieved when that speech was over!

It was a good weekend - my brother Tysen also came up. But Kory and Trent are both on missions so they obviously couldn't make it!

We went to dinner for graduation on Friday and then the graduation itself where I was able to see some of my old friends from high school that had siblings graduating also. Saturday we spent the majority of the day watching the World Cup. And then Sunday we celebrated Father's Day before having to come back to Arizona.

The weather was in the high 60's which was a little cold after the 110+ weather of Phoenix but a nice break from the heat also!

Kevin walking in with his buddy Mike - the second set of people in the picture (who was the vice president of the Senior Class)





Kevin giving his graduation speech




The only family photo we took that night (For some reason I look really tired and wasn't having a good hair day!)

Friday, June 09, 2006

Landscaping - FINALLY!

Please excuse all the house posts lately but really this is the only other thing we have been doing lately besides going to work and church responsibilities. And this one we can't even really take credit for! After fighting our front yard for months with the out of control weeds and bushes, etc. - we were at a loss. We just didn't have the time or energy to figure out what to do! So we broke down and hired a landscaping company. The first company we hired actually went out of business before they even started our job (luckily we got our deposit back) but then we found this husband and wife team that we hired and we were so glad we found them. If any of you are in Arizona and need lanscaping work - I highly recommend calling Landscape Plus, Inc. Here are some before shots of the yard. Notice the ugly bush and the out of control bogavilla plant (I have no idea if I spelled that right but it's the one with the fuschia flowers).


Before Shot


Notice all the weeds? Oops



I don't know if you saw the huge out of control bush in the before shots . .. in that same spot you now see a tree. Apparently our bush was a tree this whole time and we had no idea! I am not a huge fan of the desert landscaping (I love my grass) but we decided for the front yard we'd rather have some low maintenance that looked nice. I can't wait for my new plants and trees to start growing! We added a new border as well but I didn't take a close up of that yet. Maybe when my plants start blooming!


So much better!


These plants will add more color when they start blooming




Finally I can not be embarrassed to have people see my house! Now we just need to get our carport enclosed to make a garage. And next year the project is the backyard.