Butter...

So Brandons family NEVER puts the butter in the fridge. At first I thought it was weird because in my family butter belongs where it's cold but they leave it out by the toaster so that it's always soft for bread and toast. Now there are 2 things I've been trying to train Brandon to do since we got married....

1- don't put ANY food in the sink when you put your dishes in there and

2- put the FLIPPIN' butter back in the fridge!!!

Last semester I watched a movie in my health class about food born illnesses that scared me SO BAD I never wanted to go into my kitchen again!!! Now i've long since given up on enforcing those 2 rules because "old habits die hard" but now that I'm pregnant and still having nightmares about food born illnesses I'm trying a new approach to the butter by the sink problem...

now every time he takes the lid off the butter and leaves it open by the dirty sink he can just know that he's passing more and more food born illnesses on to me and the baby every second that it sits there :)

 ha ha ha

we'll see how it goes...

Spring Specials

Hey everyone! since life as a portrait photographer is rather slow during winters gross transition to spring i'm offering a special on spring Mommy & Me sessions! I read an article in a photo magazine about how moms LOVE these sessions and I while reading it I thought "wow, I feel like i'm never in photos and I don't even HAVE kids yet!!" I'm never documented on any trips or vacations because i'm BEHIND the camera! I'm jealous of all those dads that have a million cute photos with they're kids because YOUR the one taking all the pictures with the camera your husband can't figure out! Well I'm here to help!
Book a fun spring session with me and your kiddos! Spring gets filled up with Senior Photos and weddings really quickly so hurry and grab a slot!
thanks guys!

What Happens In Vegas...

This weekend we FINALLY got OUT of the house!! yahoo!!! We drove down to Vegas saturday for Pat, Kevin and Brandons birthdays! They are all cousins, born with in a week of each other and really good friends. They both live in Provo now so we don't get to see them a ton anymore :( 

When we go down to Vegas  we have this place we go donate blood at and they give us free tickets to go see a show! This time we got tickets to 

"Defending the Caveman" 

it was a comedian so I was a little worried but it was actually REALLY funny! It was all about the differences in men and women, How men are hunters and can only focus on one thing at a time and women are gathers and we collect TONS of information everywhere we go! 

It was SO HILARIOUS how much what he said was JUST LIKE mine and Brandons marriage!!

 I came away from it loving Brandon even more then when we walked in and not feeling like I went to a yucky comedian so that was good :) 

While we were waiting for the show that night we went shopping for most the morning. We walked around Caesars Palace and the outdoor mall. We went to the Mac store twice while Brandon tore his brain apart about whether to get the Iphone4 or and Droid or the Thunder or the Evo or whatever all those phones are. His phone is up for a renewal and his parents gave him some money for his birthday to get a sweet new phone and you'd think he was trying to decide on cutting the red or blue wire!! 

HE CANNOT PICK A FLIPPIN PHONE!!

I don't do well with phones. I'll probably never get a touch screen or "smartphone"  because it would be broken in 2 months. 

As soon as I can make through my full 2 years with a 20$ phone I'll THINK about spending the big bucks. 

 Since we walked around the strip for hours we HAD to stop and win a buck or two at the video poker machines :)

It was Chinese New Year recently so Brandon was loving the decor the gardens at the Bellagio chose

when we came out of the Bellagio the boys saw this car and about died ha ha ha we HAD to get our picture! The next day we went back to St. George to spend some time with Brandons family, we of course had a HUGE family dinner and then Brandon made me watch E.T. .... yes.... E.T.

My FAVORITE name for our little girl is by far Elliot

 (copy right and all rights reserved on that btw ;)

Brandon keeps saying she's gonna get teased because of E.T and the whole "ellliioootttt" thing but

WHO has seen that movie in the LAST 20 YEARS!??!

 I've never even SEEN it before and most people I talk to about it have never seen it either but he insisted we watch it so I can at least have an idea.

I honestly don't understand why that movie was such a "hollywood all-star" it's really slow and there is nothing really SUPER exciting that happens in it?

but it did make me like the name Elliot even more after hearing it in context so much!

SOLD!

now I just have to convince Brandon that thats her name :)

GOOD NEWS MINUTE!!!

I am celebrating a 1 year anniversary this week! I have not been pulled over since Valentines Day

ONE YEAR AGO!!

WOOT WOOT! now to most of you this is not a big deal but I
(sadly)
have NEVER gone a full year with out getting pulled over since the day I turned 16!

I've even been pulled over by the SAME COP 3 times!!

The 3rd time he got me I was in our families "new kids car" and not the old exploder and when he came to the window and got my license he looked at me and said

"new car?... it's nice..."

 HA HA OFFICE WINKLER!! SOOOO FUNNY!!!

When I was single I would get lectures from my parents and had to pay my tickets

(which stunk)

I've even had my license suspended once!

...okay twice...

But honestly what scares me more than getting my license suspended for 6 months, going to court OR having to pay huge tickets is actually TELLING my husband that I got pulled over!!

IT'S TERRIFYING!!

Scarier than telling my dad ever was!!

Brandon gets mad and lectures

(which is the WORST coming from your spouse)

then he acts all disappointed and grumpy at me

and THEN comes the disappointed silent treatment...

It's like chinese water torture but last longer!!

Last year when I got pulled over Brandon was in the car with me and during the "disappointed silent treatment" phase he asked

"so how much is it for your insurance a month?"

...... yikes......

I never had to pay my insurance in High School and I didn't have my own car now so I honestly had no idea how much it would be but I knew the chinese water torture would only be triple what it was now if he ever found out!

So that day I made a goal,

I'm not going to get pulled over for (at least) 3 years!!

I PROMISE!

 Then my name will be cleared and my insurance is gonna be awesome! I'll just avoid getting a car put in my name until that time and we'll be fine...

I can do it! WISH ME LUCK! keep me in your prayers and ask that officer Winkler be retired by now!

So remember that AMAZING pillow that Brandon got me for Valentines Day?...

yeah it's been commandeered...

As SOON as I'm out of it Charley steals it and THEN acts like she's asleep and won't move when I ask her to!!

I have SNEAK out of bed in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom because if I wake her up she's in it and asleep again before I even get back!!

I have to physically PICK HER UP and move her over to get her out of it!

GET YOUR OWN SNOOGLE!!

*As a side note*
I have made a FABULOUS new blog button to direct more traffic to my website!
 it's up at the top of this page so go grab it!!
add it to your page!
The BEST business I get is word of mouth from my loved ones!!
Thanks for all your support!
xoxo

ValAntines Day!

So as most of you know Valentines Day is a BIG DAY in the Valantine home! It's Brandons parents anniversary, Brandons birthday, and (before we got married) was our dating anniversary! I never know how to go about Valentines Day because Brandon does stuff all day long for me on HIS birthday!? I made the rule YEARS ago that it is HIS BIRTHDAY UNTIL 5 P.M and THEN it's Valentines Day but he's not very obedient to this rule...

This year for ValAntines day our stake was putting on a dance and I decided to go and take pictures because I'm the ward bulletin board person AND the ward photographer but that meant I needed a date and Brandon has always told me he's "shy" about going to dances .... ummm have you MET my husband!? YEAH RIGHT HE'S SHY!! So I decided to ask him High School style so he couldn't tell me no :) 

The dance was way fun! A bunch of our friends went and we there was even an awesome old guy band!

 But Brandon was right! I COULD NOT get him to dance!! He just stood and laughed and enjoyed everyone else and was too shy to even shake his hips!! 

He was FINE with slow dancing, he can even waltz and stuff but I had to use physical force when it came to anything like a swing dance! What I don't get is his mother is the Snow Canyon Dance Company Head Coach AND teaches all the social dance classes at 2 schools!!? HOW DOES THIS BOY NOT DANCE?!? looks like we'll be taking some dance classes from mamma Valantine this year! lol it was still way fun. (even though I looked UBER pregnant in my "valentines day dress" that I BARELY got zipped up ha ha ha)

FOR ValAntines day we made a nice big candle light dinner at home and exchanged Birthday/Valantines day gifts! I got brandon a "man gift" for his birthday complete with a king size Reeses, the movie Red and a gun cleaning kit lol. I was really REALLY excited about what I made brandon for Valantines day though! So Brandons nickname for me is his
Ukrainian Love Tank
... don't ask....
and before we got married I made him read the 5 Love Languages (IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THAT BOOK READ IT!!) In the book they use an analogy called your "love tank" and as you do things for your spouse they're love tank fills up! You need to be sure to always keep your spouses love tank full otherwise thats when your marriage can go south.... Brandon thought that was just HILARIOUS and now is always GREATLY concerned... "sweetie... how is your love tank doing?..." 

..... (eye roll)...... 

If I ever say something snarky or snappy to him 

"sweetie do we need to fill up that love tank of yours?".. 

anyways so since he calls me his Love Tank and he's SO CONCERNED about our love tanks I decided to make him one! :)

I filled it full of candy and TONS of little notes that he can read everyday to  "keep his love tank full"! Things like
 -thanks for always helping with the dishes
-you are the best husband!
-I am so proud of all of your achievements!
-keep working hard! We love you!!
-thanks for supporting my love for football and golf
(had to throw a few funny ones in there...)
It'll never be empty because i'll keep putting notes in there as I think of them throughout the next few months and he'll always have a little pick me up! 

Now Brandon, being the amazingly thoughtful person that his is, always knows JUST what to get me! This year for Valentines Day he got me the BEST PRESENT!! 

 laugh all you want but my SANITY is on the brink here and this pillow is the answer!! Let me explain... So with pregnancy comes LOTS of crazy hormones and it's a vicious VICIOUS cycle! we'll start from the top...

long day or working and bending over = back pain and uncomfortable pregnant woman > 

going to bed early > 

3 MORE hours of laying in bed with now even more noticeable back pain > 

a bad morning > 

a bad day and MORE back pain and MORE crazy hormones from left field > 

after 18 weeks she's not allowed to lay on her back anymore>

not sleeping AGAIN > 

more bad days and hormones > 

which leads to more stress and more back pain > 

more of the grumpies because you haven't SLEPT in weeks!! >

NOT A PLEASANT PERSON TO LIVE WITH!! 

So as you can see I think this may have been a gift to both Brandon and I :) Now like every good husband Brandon will come home on Valentines day with flowers.. this year was different... this year he walked in with this..

He could tell I was confused because he put it on the table and said 

"LOOK! I got us a love fern!" ha ha ha ha I love him!! 

he said at the store he was looking at all these flowers and thinking "wow... these will all be dead in 2 days" and then he saw the plant! 

In his embryology class he learned that plants are good to have in the house for babies and pregnant women, but then he added 

"plus I figured if we can keep this plant alive we'll be FINE with a baby! PLUS if it dies we at least come away with a cool vase thing?..." 

ha ha ha ha So the love fern it is! 

We'll see how this little experiment goes I guess :) 

after the gift exchange and dinner we went to see a movie!

We actually QUIET liked it! As with all movies now days there were a few lines or scenes we REALLY could have done with out but all in all it was really good! We had free movie tickets too so that made it even better! So that was a really long post but I think we sufficiently covered Valentines Day! Stayed tuned though we MIGHT be going to vegas with Brandons cousins this weekend for they're birthdays (they were all born within a week of each other) So that should be a fun one!

Hope you all had a good Valentines Day with your sweetheart!!

Day 5

So Day 5 is post a picture of yourself 2 years ago but I wanted to do something different. 

I was looking through my facebook profile pics for one of me 2 years ago and came across a profile pic I posted 2 years ago but was actually taken my jr. year of high school! Now in high school my mom INSISTED that I be a blonde! INSISTED!! so one day I had a hair appointment and (after fighting all morning about hair color) I went to the salon and told my hair dresser
"if my mom wants blonde, i'll give her blonde!!"
 So I came home with this....

YIKES RIGHT!?!
 I was so excited about her being FURIOUS I could hardly get home fast enough! ha ha ha when I walked in the door she looked at me and GASPED!! I said something snarky like "aren't I the CUTEST blonde mom!!?" and she replied ..."OM MY WORD I LOVE IT!! see you are SUCH a cuter blonde!!" ..... So she wasn't even mad AND I had ugly hair... great..... well I learned from my mistakes and the next time I went to the salon I put BRIGHT purple underneath it and highlighted throughout the WHOLE thing! buha ha ha! she didn't like that one so much and unfortunately the ONLY way to get purple out quickly is to cover it with brown :) ...
and thats probably the most malicious thing i ever did as a teenager lol

p.s (I'm in SERIOUS need of an eye brown plucking in this pic) but on this particular day my sister asked if she could do my makeup (Nice way of saying: "you don't know how to do your makeup PLEASE let me teach you!!") So this was the result of my makeover that day (I don't usually sport this much pink either)

20 weeks and Grandpas farm

I've had a bunch of people asking me to post a 20 week photo so here it is! 

HALF WAY!

 I have been getting maternity clothing for my Birthday and Christmas so I went through my closet to make room for my new stuff and got rid of all the shirts I already don't fit in :( goodbye till July wardrobe... I can still BARELY fit into my regular jeans and I'm pushing that for as long as I can! I can't breath as easy and I can't bend over even slightly but they still work!

I have however found a pretty good use for the baby bump! It doesn't JUST cause problems!

p.s that taco soup i'm eating is AMAZING! Thanks cousin Emily for putting the recipe in the family cookbook :)

 this is random but now that I have a desktop computer i'm at my desk a TON so i've moved charleys bed under my desk and this is  how she was sleepin today :) I thought it was pretty stinkin cute.

 THIS WEEKEND WE WENT TO MY GRANDPAS!! It's his birthday so we went down to help out with chores and around the farm work.

 Grandpa is a die-hard farm boy and believes that dogs DO NOT belong in the house so charley was out in the sheep yard for most the weekend. This is her saying "take me inside it's cold! please!!" She sure had fun chasing sheep around all weekend though!

Heres dad and Ryan cuttin up wood for the winter.

Me and Charley mostly hid in the shed during the manual labor part of the day :)

The boys went shooting and mom and I hit the "town" for a girls afternoon, antique shopping, pedicures etc. It was a lot of fun. Nice to have a day with my mamma :)

So for Grandpa's birthday mom got a red velvet cake from Costco and IT IS SO GOOD!! We had cake and ice cream on saturday night and then I made everyone have cake and ice cream AGAIN on sunday! My mom sent me home with a big chunk of it and i'm SERIOUSLY having to pace myself about eating it!! They are 10$ at Costco and HUGE, go try one!!

anyways i'm late for class so there is a VERY abbreviated update on us.

BOY OR GIRL?????!

So as a lot of you know we had our 19 week ultrasound yesterday to find out what the baby is!! I was SO excited I could barely sleep the night before! I went out and bought orange juice (a friend of mine says that helps to make the baby active for the ultrasound) I made sure my WHOLE day was full and busy so that 5 p.m would come faster and I even planned my entire outfit around going to the doctors that evening lol. Then my mom called me around noon and dropped the bomb... 

We are putting a "Maternity Rider" on our insurance but it won't kick in until April 1st! So EVERYTHING we do up till April will be FULL PRICE and ultrasounds are $400!! 

Needless to say my ENTIRE day was ruined. Nope! My entire MONTH was ruined! This meant I either had to wait till April to get an ultrasound and find out or I had to wait 2-3 weeks until Brandon and I could go up  north to Fetal Photos in the mall! I was crushed. I wasn't even excited about going to my doctors appointment anymore and when we got there my dr. asked me if I had my ultrasound yet! I told her the insurance situation we were in and she said "well you know? we have that little ultrasound machine in the other room and one of my assistants is AWESOME at finding the sex on it? wanna give that a go?!" I almost didn't want to because her machine is really old and I wasn't even sure if it would be accurate enough to even bother. She bought it just for her assistants to play around on and she does them for free so I wasn't even sure if I would take what they decided on seriously? But Brandon said we should do it because of how bummed I was so we went and had a look and...

IT'S FOR SURE NOT A BOY! 

ha ha ha ha

 Me, Brandon, Dr. Hansen, and 3 of her assistants all packed into the little ultrasound room and for 20 minutes looked at our little baby :) We couldn't find ANY evidence what-so-ever that it was a boy but she would NOT hold still long enough for us to get a good enough shot! Dr. Hansen would be half way through the sentence- "OH YEP THERE IT IS! IT'S A GIRL!!" but then she would move!! So according to Dr. Hansen and her assistants they are 90% sure it's a girl but CAN'T say 100% because they don't want to be liable if they are wrong ha ha ha. So there you have it! We're REALLY REALLY excited!! We're going to go to one of those "Fetal Photo" places in a week or so and getting another ultrasound so i'll let you all know if anything changes but until then 

IT'S A GIRL!!!