More pics! Well, one more.

I don't know what the deal is with the picture situation, I really am trying to put more on. But I guess we'll take what we can get right? So for now, here's the one picture I got to load. Richie is one proud daddy! He is already better at being a dad than I imagined, and I imagined him to be pretty good. I'm so lucky I married such a patient man who can keep a sense of humor especially when it comes to dealing with a crying baby and an emotional wife :) Love you babe!

Welcome Miles Thomas!

We finally have our baby here and life is good! This post won't be long, but I know everyone is waiting for pictures and I don't blame you, he's dang cute. But I guess we're kind of biased. More pictures are coming, but the computer is giving us problems. Sorry!
The stats:
8 pounds 7 ounces
20.5 inches long
He was born right before midnight on the 30th, so now he'll share his birthday with his Uncle Jeffrey from Richie's side and his Uncle Ben from my side. Must be a good day! Labor and delivery couldn't have gone better. It was fairly short and there were no complications. We feel so blessed, for lack of a better word, although we feel so much more than just blessed. We can't believe it. I'm finally understanding a little bit of how much our earthly and Heavenly Parents love us and it's incredible. My mom is here for a while to help out which is so nice and we have a lot of support from the ward. I'm feeling pretty good, Richie is the best dad already and elated beyond reason, and Miles is healthy and happy. Life can't get much better.

Book reviewS and Recipe!

Well, I've had adequate time to read these days, although I still feel guilty just sitting and reading too much. However, I managed to finish "The Chronicles of Narnia" by C.S. Lewis, "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens, and "Yellow Star" by Jennifer Roy.
Yellow Star
This is a young adult book about a Jewish girl named Syvia who is one of 12 children to survive the Lodz Ghetto in Poland during WW2. It's a true story about the author's aunt. What's really interesting is that the entire book is written in poetry form! I was a little turned off by this at first thinking it would be harder to get through, but the poetry is just more a matter of format and it reads just like normal text from the perspective of a young girl. It also has a historical timeline in the back of the book that goes through all the major events in world war 2. You can tell the author has been a teacher:) I think it would be fabulous for a classroom, but it's a really great, short and powerful read for anyone!
A Christmas Carol
Classic, obviously. Richie and I started reading it together in December, but never finished it and then he suggested that I had better finish it on my own. :) He loves the story, but getting through all the 'wordiness' is not his thing. Everyone seems to know this story about change and becoming a better person, but actually reading through the text was so insightful The 'wordiness' brings description and humor to the story that is totally lost in the retelling or video reproduction. I highly recommend reading through it. It's a short book. After coming to know Scrooge and his visit from Jacob Marley: "You are fetered," said Scrooge rembling. "Tell me why?" " I wear the chain I forged in life," replied he Ghost. "I made it link by link, yard by yard; I girded it on my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it." - you are so relieved to watch him change. "I am not the man I was."
The Chronicles of Narnia
Man, C.S. Lewis knows what he's talking about. I know everyone talks about how these books are symbolic, but I had no idea how symbolic they really are until I read through them. I never read them when I was younger, so maybe I appreciate them more now. There are 7 books in all, and I read them in sequence which I would definitely recommend. In the first book it explains how Narnia was created and why all the animals talk. It makes the rest of the series make so much more sense. The books take you through the adventures of the Pevensie children, their cousin Eustace, his friend Jill and finally the last king of Narnia in "The Last Battle". Definitely worth reading and rereading if you haven't done so in a few years. Not only was is so entertaining I wanted more at the end, but it made me think deeply and it strengthened my testimony.
Recipe!
Ok, this gal in my ward gave me this recipe and it is to die for! Just a warning, you don't want to make this unless you have people around to help you eat it. Otherwise you will eat the entire pan and gain 15 pounds.
Cookie Bars!
1 C Butter
2 Eggs
2 1/2 C flour
2 t soda
2 C brown sugar
2 t vanilla
1 t salt
3 C oatmeal
Chocolate filling
1 Can Sweetened condensed milk
1 pkg milk chocolate chips
2 t vanilla
(Melt the choc chips and milk together, then add the vanilla)
*Layer a little more than half of the cookie mixture in a greased 9 by 13 pan. Then put chocolate filling on top of the flattened cookie mixture. Let cool for a minute. Then flatten the rest of the cookie mixture on top of the chocolate layer. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes until cookie mixture is a light, golden brown.

On Holiday

I'm not sure why I'm not being allowed to post pictures lately, but I'm sick of not posting. So pictures or no pictures, here's the rundown of our Christmas vacation!
Richie and I got to take a good chunk of time to see both of our families this holiday season. It was so fantastic!! We loved being with everyone and there being lots of food around all the time. :)
Here are some highlights:
Going through the temple with Richie's brother Ross

(I guess this picture is special, cause it's the only one that turned out! :)
Spending my first Christmas with the Garners and waking up before 9 to open presents!
Getting to see Sam, Denise, Marci, Ang & TJ at the fine establishment of IHOP- come hungry leave happy.
Having a baby shower with all the girls! It was such a blast!! (Especially that game Ilah and Zadi!)
Going out to lunch with some of the exec sisters
Hanging out and playing games
Watching Richie teach my nieces and nephews how to swing dance and then dancing at first night. Awesome band. What can I say, Richie is just awesome. He was the 'go-to-guy' for fun and had many a wrestling match, dance lesson, frisbee golf game and a bazillion other things.
Having another shower in Bluffdale! We are pretty much ready for baby now! Bring it on!
Mostly we just loved being around our family. I can't believe how much everyone grows up in such a short amount of time. It's crazy to me. I miss everyone already. Although it's nice to get back into a routine and be in your own space, it was such a blast and I wouldn't mind doing it all over again tomorrow.

Baby Update

I have been trying for a few days now to make the post about our fantastic Christmas vacation, but for some reason, I'm having real difficulty getting any pictures on. I know, I know, the suspense is killing you, but you'll have to wait for that post for another day. In the mean time, let this tide you over. I actually do have a picture of my gigantic swollen feet that I could post with this, but darnit, the whole picture thing just isn't working like I explained earlier.
I had a doctor's appointment on Monday and everything is still lookin good! Less than 4 weeks! Can you believe it!? I told the doctor that we have rather large babies in my family, so he said that in 2 weeks at my next appointment (assuming I haven't had the baby by then) then we'd look into inducing maybe after an ultrasound to see how big he really is. Those of you who have seen me recently would probably not doubt the possibility of there being a 15 pound child inside of me. If he's going to be that big, we expect him to come out walking, talking and fully potty trained.
Since we've had 2 showers now, I feel like we have most of what we need. Now it's just kind of a waiting game. I had the baby room all organized and cute once upon a time, but it's once again turned into somewhat of a storage room. So, I would rather baby hold off for at least another week. Richie and I are going to a class this weekend that is going to teach us how to be good parents for a "small" fee. And next weekend my friend in the ward here wants to do another baby shower get together/diaper drop. Wahoo!! Only one small worry now, excited as I am.... Can I really handle this??

An Early Christmas!

Richie and I have been planning on having a VERY low key Christmas this year. But the other day, to our surprise, we found a lovely check from my Grandma Crosby in the mail. Hallelujah! So, we decided it was a perfect excuse to go buy some necessities. Richie has really been needing some new work boots and we needed a space heater for when the baby comes. Thank you Grandma!!!

Other than that, life is goin good. I'm loving just being able to chill and get things done around the house, and today is Richie's official last day of school this semester! WAHOO!! He's more than ready for this semester to be over, so I'm glad that he'll get a nice break before one last semester. I'm so proud of him for getting school done. What a stud.
We are so excited to see our family for Christmas! Congrats to my sister-in-law and her husband who are moving to NYC on the 27th! And congrats to my bro-in-law who just got his mission call to Armenia! Go Ross!
Love you all!

The End

Yesterday was my official last day student teaching!! Wahoo!! I called Richie when I was driving home and he asked how I felt. I'll tell ya, it was kind of anti-climatic. I was expecting to be.... I don't know crying, yelling, grinning ear to ear. But instead it just felt good. :) It was probably one of the hardest things I've ever done, but one of the most worth-while. That's usually how it seems to go right? I may go back every once in a while to help with centers or to show off our baby though. We'll see. On Monday night after dinner, I wanted to eat something sweet (as usual) so I decided to make a cake, but not just any cake. A "Congratulations to me!" cake. I figured since that was the first time in ages I actually had time to do something like that, it was kind of a celebration. :) A really yummy celebration!

I thought I would post a picture of my unit that I did for student teaching. We were required to teach a unit and document it like crazy. I chose to do mine on the seasons since it went along so well with the reading program that theme. After analyzing the pre and post tests, I found that 50% of my students scored a 90% or higher on the test. The rest were not too far behind! So that's good. Each lesson was on a different season and I usually incorporated some type of writing project and some type of art project. Each art project went outside in the hallway on a gigantic tree I made with 4 branches, each dedicated to a season. So for spring we made flowers out of tissue paper, summer we learned different ways to color and made green leaves, fall we did leaf rubbings, and winter we made snowflakes. It was a lot of work and a lot of fun. The kids sure seemed to enjoy it.
I'm really going to miss those kids and that age and their conversations.
"Do you know what it means to french kiss?",
"Let's pretend like I'm the teacher."
"Ok, and lets pretend like I'm the smartest kid in class"
"I love you 200 times"

Ultimate!

I know, I know...two posts in one day? Is she crazy??? It just so happens, I have the day off school today and am loving it. So, I get to blog a bit. For the past 3 or 4 years, Richie has played on an Ulimate frisbee team here at school every fall semester and loved it! He is really very good at it. I'm always impressed that I'm married to such a stud. Anyway, this semester was his last since he graduates in April! He's been on the Bruins every year and this year they made it to the playoffs! It was actually his cousin's team that they played. We lost, but it was a VERY close and intense game. And props to all the wives and I who stayed the entire game in 30 degree weather! Anyway, here's a picture to commemorate Ultimate frisbee. Richie's the one on the right doing the sexy bay-watch run. :)

Pregnant? Who me?

Richie and I took some pictures the other day to send to his family so they could photoshop us in for their Christmas card. I was looking through them and was hit with the reality that my belly is expanding at, what for me, is an unnatural rate! Go figure. So, here's some pics to update ya'll. Just in case you were wondering, we had to buy some tums and coconut cream stuff so help with some symptoms that are now accompanying my growing mid-section. :) Now, if we could only find something that cured swollen feet and ankles.....

Rolling Chair Ballet

Richie and some of his favorite roommates did this for ward talent show back before Richie's mission. He just talked to one of them, and found out the video was on youtube. Unfortunately I don't know how to post the video on our blog, so if you take this link, or go to youtube.com and type in rolling chair ballet, it's the first video that pops up. You will not be disappointed.

Brief Synopsis: A young girl on BYU-Idaho campus, goes to the DI to buy a new dress for an upcoming dance. All they seem to have is denim. Unfortunately President Bednar has spoken out against denim skirts, calling them "Jeans without a seam". They are definitely not formal enough. She is met by three young DI workers who struggle with her to find the perfect dress. In her moment of grief, they pull back the shroud of denim and uncover.......

Halloween vs Diabetes

I've been meaning to post so many things for so long now. I apologize. Time is just....short these days.
Well, I've been telling some people about the bats we made in my first grade class, so here are some pictures of how they turned out. The kids LOVED making them and they are so easy! A friend of mine gave me the link to find the instructions, but we did them a bit differently.

1. find an old, clean, black sock. Cut it off to make your bat however long you want.
2. Stuff the sock with batting and safety pin it closed at the end.
3. We used googley eyes for the eyes, and black and white felt for the mouth and wings in class. When Richie and I made them we used foam for the wings, which I liked better. I just made a pattern for the wings and mouth and had the kids cut them out. All these things are then hot glued on.
4. You only need 1 black pipe cleaner for one bat. Cut it in half, then cut the halves in thirds. Hot glue them on to the bottom and then curl them once they have dried.
Richie and I made them for FHE this week for Halloween and they turned out awesome. Even though it was a craft, I think Richie really liked doing it :) We watched Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and the old Headless Horseman with Bing Crosby as the narrator while we made them. fun fun fun.


So on Halloween, we had some really good friends of ours, Mike and Megan, invite us over to have a little Halloween shin-dig. There was another couple there and we all brought food, so between the 6 of us, there was a lot of food to be consumed. I did my fair share of helping 'dispose' of the plentiful food, especially the sweets. :) The next morning I woke up and realized I was going to the doctor's that day to be tested for gestational diabetes. Hmmm..."Not smart" I thought to myself, "to pig out on sugar the night before a diabetes test." But no worries. All is well, Halloween won and I don't have diabetes! Wahoo! He actually said my level was very low and that everything was progressing perfectly. Exactly what I wanted to hear. :) We're SO excited that it's almost painful!!
Hope everyone's Halloween was awesome!