A Bun in the Oven

Life has gotten a lot busier. And all in good ways. In case you haven't heard already, Jesus and I are having a baby!! I'm 15 weeks along so far, everything is going great and the baby's heartbeat is nice a strong. Jesus is loving the fact that he is going to be a father. You can always find him rubbing or kissing my tummy.

I found out about being pregnant after taking 4 pregnancy tests (I just wanted to make sure), which all came out positive. I was so excited with all the evidence that I had to tell Jesus right away. Instead of trying to be a wife that thinks of a cute way to break the news, I ran to find him. Which was in the bathroom. (I know, perfect timing right??) Anyway, in my excitement, I couldn't wait, so I ran into the bathroom, giddy with joy and told him about the great news. He was soo excited! And then remembered he was in the bathroom, so I told him to hurry up while I wait in the other room. 

In case you don't realize it, a lot of our best moments happen in bathrooms. Jesus proposed to my while I was putting make up on in the bathroom. I told him about our new baby in the bathroom. Yep. Bathrooms are special places.

In a few days we are going to California to visit our family and spend Christmas with them. I can't wait to see them again and see our friends there. Too bad we can't stay for longer. Besides our own addition that is baking in the oven, two of my brothers just recently recently had babies. Jackson was born to Jonathan and Michelle, making it so they have four kids. Oliver was born to Brian and Liz, making him their second child. Along with our future addition, my mother will have 7 grandchildren. Not a bad number, right??

 This was at our first ultrasound at 8 weeks. 

Here's a look at the little thing. 

And for this being 8 weeks along, you can see the baby pretty well.

Anyway, life is going great, and I know it's going to get better.

Blessssssssings

Have you ever had certain years where it doesn't feel like the holiday season at all? And when you think about up coming holidays it seems like you just don't care? Well that's how I've been for a while, but this year! I'm already listening to Christmas music, Jesus and I made a Fall wreath, we've planted fall colored flowers, the whole shebang. I'm am soooo excited. And not just for the holidays, but because I love this weather. Especially after moving to Texas, I am definitely loving the cool weather. So nice. Love it!

 Look at the pretty wreath we made!!! That's right, we made it!

This is the wreath hanging on the door. Super cute, huh?

So if you read my previous blog, you'll know that we've been working on our marriage and it is working out pretty well. But I do have to admit, right after I wrote that last blog about trying to be nicer to my husband, he did something (I don't even remember what it was) but I reallllllly had the urge to kind of strangle him. Just a little bit. How pathetic am I?! But for the record, I kept my choking urge to myself and instead counted a bunch of numbers until I relaxed. And I have found that trying to count in Spanish works much faster. Who knows why? But if it works, it works. Anyway, by us being more patient and less snappy with each other, our marriage/communication/life is getting a lot better and there's hardly been any strangling urges! Yes! Obviously we are still going to keep improving since, you know, improving yourself and you marriage, basically, takes like, oh lets say, forever! But with each other and God, it's not such a bumpy ride.

Recently a HUGE blessing in our lives is that I stopped working at Target. I loved the people I worked with and it was a really good environment, but I would work just about every Sunday. Which means I never really went to church. I remember how in primary and young women's the leaders would always talk about not working on Sundays because it's the Lord's day and we should keep the Sabbath Day holy and let me just say, follow their words! They were right, by not working Sunday's, you get mucho grande extra blessings. Even though I didn't like working Sunday's I felt like I had to (for money so we can pay rent/bills/etc.), but after lots of prayer and conversations, Jesus and I decided to have faith and trust in the Lord that He would somehow help us so we can keep His Sabbath Day holy. And while it's scary taking a jump like that (after all, there are a lot of doubts. Example: What if we don't have enough money to pay our bill/rent?), we definitely made the right choice. It was actually pretty amazing. After we had a long talk about me quitting Target and how it would all work out financially,  I got a call from my old job at H&R Block and they wanted to hire me again, but this time in a better position (both in a hierarchy and monetary sense) and guess what? Weekends off! What I make there now is about double what I made at Target working the same about of hours. It is pretty amazing and I am thankful everyday. So the moral of this story is: Listen to what your leaders say in church and follow it! Because the Lord will provide for you when you are doing what He asks of you. True deal.

The Gratitude Project

I realize that reading this post title makes it sound like one of those "Oh my gosh I love this, this, and this, and I'm so incredibly thankful for that, that, and that" but relax, it won't get that sappy or boring. Because I mean really, when am I ever sappy or boring? Like, never.

Anyway, I decided to make my blog more about gratitude and less about complaining. The reason for this? No, it wasn't because Jesus came to me in a dream and told me to have more gratitude so people will follow my example (although that would've been nice), it was because, like all newlywed couples, we kind of argue a little (lot) bit.

So after this particular arguement, all I could think of was poooooor me, and how wronged I have been, and how I deserve soooo much better. I had this whole plan worked out to where I would make a new blog with an unknown identity, and write about all the problems and frustrations of marriage. In my little dream, the blog would become famous. Super famous, like Julie and Julia blog famous. And then the search for my identity would begin, it would come to light that I was the creator of that masterpiece, and I would become a celebrity over night. I would then be on radio shows, write books about marriage and how husbands just don't understand wives, blah, blah, blah. Oh, and I would become a multimillionaire. Obviously.

But then, after thinking about what a good idea that was, I thought to myself, "wait, if I write a blog like this, I don't think my husband will be too happy. And it will probably lead to another argument, but probably 100 times bigger." And I have to admit, it's a good thing I have these second thoughts before I jump into something head first. Because let's be honest, I probably wouldn't become famous, people would probably in fact think that my honesty was just a bunch of complaining (which, really, it would be). And the most important thing that I realized in my second thoughts, was that I wasn't thinking about my husband at all. I was thinking just about me, me, me (which is never smart in marriage). So instead of writing that new wannabe famous blog, I thought about what I could do to improve my marriage. And just so you know, I am not saying I have a bad marriage. I love my husband completely, and I adore being married to him. But no matter what stage of marriage you are in, it can always be improved. Always. 


I realized that it is so easy to look at our married friends, and judge them, thinking, "Oh my gosh, I can't believe she/he did that." But it's so much harder to look at myself and say, "Oh my gosh, I can't believe I just did that." Because that would be admitting I did something wrong, not the other person. It is 100 times easier to deny something than to accept it, but it feels 1,000 times better to accept it.
So here is a list of what I am no longer denying, but accepting that I do in my marriage that has a negative consequence.

1) I expect too much. I got a fortune cookie last week and do you know what it said? It said, "Keep your expectations reasonable." Seriously, it said that. I'm pretty sure God saved that cookie for me, because I really needed it.
2) I want Jesus to notice everything I do. If I vacuum/do laundry/clean the car/etc., I want him to say thank you, or some form of praise. I want recognition from him on EVERYTHING. And when I didn't get that praise, I would get my feelings hurt, and then would think, "Well. See if I do something for you again!" Which really is kind of ridiculous.
3) I snap at him really easily, without even knowing it (which is a big part of the problem).
4) I want him to baby me. Which in reality, I don't need him to do.
5)I don't express as much affection to him as I should. I actually take a lot he does for granted.

Now. After accepting these facts, here is was I'm going to do to try to change myself. (And I hope you notice I said, "change myself" because you can't change your spouse. Marriage isn't about changing the other person, it's about changing yourselves to become better and the best couple you can be.)
So here is my plan. I am going to make my expectations reasonable. If I ask Jesus to make the bed, and he doesn't do it the way I normally do it, instead of being critical, I am going to keep my mouth shut. Because in all honesty, as long as the job is done, does it matter how it happened?

Next, instead of doing things and thinking, "I can't wait until Jesus sees how I organized this, he's going to be so happy!" I am going to do things for me. The laundry needs to be folded? Ok, I'll do it because I like the clothes to be put away. The sink is dirty? I'll clean it because I love a shiny sink. I get crabby when my environment isn't clean, so now I clean for me (to help my attitude) instead of thinking that I do all this for him.

When it comes to snapping at him, I think changing this will be the hardest. But I'm going to try my best. And you know what is helping so far? Imagining that Christ is in the room. Because in all honesty, I should show him the same respect that I show to the Lord. I know that seems kind of extreme, but hey, if it works, it works.

I've realized I don't need Jesus to baby me. Sure, I adore the comforting hugs I get from him when I'm sad, but I don't need him to baby me. After all, I'm an adult. I am married to an adult, and I am pretty sure that the adult I married to would like to feel that he is married to an adult as well.
I am also going to show more affection. I am going to show more affection in my words and my actions. And this doesn't mean having loads of more sex. It means being more considerate of him, kissing him hello and goodbye, holding his hand more, being nicer to him when I speak to him, etc. It's like how when I first discovered my love for him, how I always wanted to touch him, gaze at him, hug him, kiss him, and by golly, it's gonna be that way again.

Last but not least, I am going to be more grateful. When I am upset with Jesus, instead of thinking of all of the things he does wrong, I am going to concentrate on all the things he does right. All the things we do right together. It's like when you focus on one thing, that is what you become obsessed about. So instead of focussing and obsessing about what he does wrong, I am going to focus on and obsess about all the great things he does and what great things we can do as a couple.

This is my list so far of the changes I'm making and I'm sure the list will grow. And just so you know, I'm not perfect, and Jesus isn't perfect. He makes a lot of mistakes too, just like I do. This isn't just about me trying to change myself. Jesus is also trying to change himself. After all, it takes two to make a marriage and with us helping each other to become the best, and with God's help as well, I know we will be the bestest couple ever (it just takes a lot of work).

Oh, and I'll keep you updated on how these changes are going ;-)

A New Leaf

Ahhhhhhh. Mmmm. That is the sound of our satisfaction over our new apartment. Ahhhh. It’s amazing!

So incase you didn’t know the drama, the apartment that we first moved into after moving to Texas turned out to be horrible. The management screwed us over and the tenants were super ghetto. Although it looked like a (somewhat) nice complex, it’s the kind of place where once I got home from work, I would call Jesus and he would walk outside to watch me get out of the car and come inside safely. It wasn’t a great place for our pup, Texas, either since she is afraid of black people and it was mostly black people that lived there. No matter what the personality of the person was, if they were black she was cowering away. Poor dear. It’s so ghetto that someone actually stole our windshield wipers. Before a storm. Awesome people. 

To make things worse, the location of our apartment was horrible. It was right next to the playground. After listening to how those little kids spoke to each other (always cussing, they knew more swear words then I do!), and how they acted towards each other (pushing each other down and shoving them up against fences), I have decided that if my kids act like that, I’m going to give them away. I will let someone else have them. Which is what I figure their biological parents did, because those parents sure as heck were never around. Jeez. They probably ran away from their kids. All the mean kids dominated the play ground while the nicely behaved kids stayed by their front door. I’m guessing the parents of the non-cussing children didn’t want them playing with the other meanies. Who could blame them?

Anyway, when our lease was almost completed we gave them our 60 day notice saying we’re blowing that joint. Later that week, we received a notice that since we had given them our notice, they could enter our apartment (whether we are there or not) for any reason. They gave the example that they may come in to show a future resident our floor plan. To which Jesus called them up, very angry, and in his he-man, gun-slinging, tough guy ways told them that if anyone dares to enter our apartment, which by law is our home until our lease is completed, they will be considered an illegal intruder and will be treated as such. He then went on to question them about what kind of B/S excuse was coming into our apartment to show the floor plan, when they have models. To show future residents. With the same floor plan. Yeah, obviously this complex was not very smart. So after many heated and frustrating conversations, we are finally out of that garbage hole, and on the bright side, we have learned some valuable lessons. 

Onto our new apartment. Ahhh it’s just so...nice! It is in a completely different town, mostly white people, which is good for our racist dog. It also happens that many of the tenants here work for the airport (flight attendants, security, etc.), so they aren’t around much. Which means good parking, and it is extremely quite. We are literally right next to 3 parks, a wildlife trail, and some other great attractions. Right across is a dog park, which Texas loves. However, instead of playing with other dogs, she runs to the people and tries to get them to pet her. Jeez, you’d think she doesn’t get enough attention at home. She has also learned how to manipulate us into giving her Pupperonies. Whenever we open the door, she will race out, turn around, sit down, and just stare at us. If we call her in (even using our serious voice), she just wags her tail and continues sitting. Then we get her bag of Pupperonies, and BOOM! She race’s back inside. Our little manipulator. But, I have to admit, it is partly our fault too, because we are rewarding her bad behavior and by giving her more treats we are just reinforcing that behavior. But she’s just so darn cute. Why wouldn’t we want to give her a treat?!

Back to our great apartment, we have soo much more room!!!!! And we have 10 huge windows here, compared to our last apartment to where we had 4 windows, and 2 glass doors. Anyway, we don’t count those windows either way because we never had the blinds open. It was the kind of place where we always left them closed. Our new place? They are always open. I don’t turn on the lights until it’s night time. Love it!

We have met 2 of our neighbors so far and they are very kind. I never realized how much a neighbor can determine how much you love where you live. Good neighbors make an incredible difference. We are counting our blessings. 

As for other news, work is going great. Jesus is getting even stronger from working in his warehouse all the time. I got promoted at work which is a huge plus. On the down side, I did run into a car. Yeah. Oops! No one was hurt, and I’m just so grateful that it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as it could’ve been. God sure is looking out for our little family. 

I’m learning how to cook more and more every day. I can successfully make 

1) pecan pie (after I realized you should use corn SYRUP not corn OIL), 2) mashed potatoes, 3) chicken, 4) easy chicken pot pie, 5) enchiladas, 6) enfrijoladas, 7) meat loaf, 8) pot roast 9) and much more. I just can’t remember everything off the top of my head. 

Basically life is great. We love our new place, love each other and our doggie, love God, and love our family. Yeah, I’d definitely say life is great.

Vacation Time!

As many people know, our lives are super hectic (and if you didn't know, then that obviously means we are too busy to talk to you long enough to tell you that, but that doesn't mean we love you any less). Jesus is a branch manager, who even when at home, is doing something related to work. I work two jobs, working 60+ hours a week. Talk about busy. I have come to realize that what William Hazlitt said is true, 

"The more we do, the more we can do; the more busy we are, the more leisure we have."

The past weekend I took work off and we spent our leisurely time with my dad in San Antonio. Our weekend consisted of walking everywhere (we only drove the car once!), eating all different kinds of food, walking the River Walk, and going to the Tower of the Americas. We gazed longingly at the homes of the King William District, went to an art gallery, waited 1 hour and 45 minutes to eat at the Guenther House Restaurant, went swimming and hot tubbing. We even ran into fellow Californians and had a nice chat with them. It was a blast being able to experience this with my father, who researched where to go and what restaurants to eat at.

The Guenther House, where we had a great breakfast! Well actually, for how long the wait was, it was more like lunch instead of breakfast.

The Tower of the Americas, where Jesus suffered from vertigo.

It was also a great vacation because we left our little puppy doggy with our friends who were so gracious to dog sit. After dealing with the anxiety of leaving our perky pooch with someone other than ourselves, I think that we will now be better able to deal with leaving our future children with a baby sitter. But who knows? After all....an actual baby is a bit different than a little dog. Just a bit.

And to make the vacation even better, on our way home from San Antonio we were able to stop and visit our bestest best friend, Lianna!!! (She got a job in Texas going door to door selling pest control products. I told her it sounds like she's a missionary, spreading the good word of pest control to the unbelievers.)

(This is what Lianna will look like. Instead of saying, "You wanna buy a sundial?" She'll say, "You wanna buy some pest control?" And whip open her jacket revealing pamphlets of the prices.)

It was also Jesus's birthday on Sunday!!!! Happy 29th!!!  Ah, the joy of growing old together. We celebrated his birthday dinner at Boudro's on the River Walk and the food was delicious! Mmmmm. 
After a family/fun/food/friend filled weekend, we are now back at home and back at work. Life is pretty darn good. 

Things I've Noticed

I realized that I haven't written in a while so here is a quick update:
1. Jesus and I are finally beginning to feel settled in!
2. We have met people around our age and have made friends at last! (Which is really good, because although Jesus and I love spending every freaking second of the day together when we are not at work, it is fun to hang out with people that we are not married to.)
3. Our dog can balance on her two front legs and do hand stands--without us holding her. Yeah. It's pretty awesome that we have such a talented dog.
4. I learned how to make meatloaf and how to make pot roast in a crock pot! YUM! It was so good. Mmm.
And that's pretty much it for the update.

Anyway, lately I've been noticing a lot more stuff of what people say. For instance, I always notice old people saying things like, "I can't believe I'm this old," and they say it with a disgusted tone. It baffles me because shouldn't you rejoice in being that old? Because lets think about it, if you weren't that old, you'd be dead. And on that note of being dead, the other day someone told me, "I hope you never get as old as I am," (the lady is in her 60s) and all I could think was, "What a jerk! Are you wishing that I'll die?! Rude." And compared to a 100, being in you 60s isn't that old. Old people also lament having birthdays, and once again, dumb old people, be grateful you're having a birthday, otherwise you would be DEAD! And then instead of birthdays you would have deaddays. Just sayin.

I have also noticed how incredibly gullible people are when it comes to religion. When the girls realized I was a Mormon, they had the funniest questions. For instance they wanted to know if we can wear makeup, nail polish, or perfume. (I would like to mention I had on all three. And just so you know, YES, we can. Don't worry, I'm not breaking a commandment by wearing nail polish.) Anyway, it reminded me of an incident with a friend of mine, who asked how Mormons can have "intimate relationships" if we always have to be modest. Hahahaha so I made up this huge tale of how men and women have these special nightgowns with holes in the bottom, that way we can reproduce (to take over the world) and not have to witness our spouse in their nakedness.
...And she believed me!!!! I was laughing soooo hard on the inside! However then I went back to her and told the truth, that yes, we can indeed be naked with our spouse and have sex, because I didn't want her to go the rest of her life believing that. Although it would've been pretty darn hilarious. Really, some people are dumb. Super dumb.

I would also like to point out that Jesus and I have noticed that Texas is a pretty big let down. We came here thinking we would see cowboy hats, cowboy boots, big belt buckles, and women with a whole can of Aqua Net sprayed into their hair. But let me tell you, those movie producers in Hollywood are not correct when they portray Texas in their movies. The residents here have hardly any accent, and not only do women not spray Aqua Net in their hair like they are walking down the red carpet, their hair is generally, for the most part, not even good! Hair here is just...blah. That's the only way I can describe it. When I asked Chris (my amazing hair guru from Fresno) if he knew any good salons in Dallas, he said no, and then added that I should just pay attention to the women's hair at church or at work, and if I see a style I like, ask them where they got it done and go there. Well. That advice (while it is smart advice) has failed me. I haven't seen anything I like. Oh well. Maybe I'll see something I like someday.

Wellll that is it for now. I miss you California, with my family, friends, and better hair styles!

2011

Well, it's the New Year!
"Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us." -Hal Borland
I have no idea who Hal Borland is, but I saw that quote in my daily planner, and I like it so I put it on here. Haha. But yeah, anyway, Happy New Year!

Since Jesus and I have no family and no friends here yet, we spent our Christmas Eve at the movie theatre, went Denny's, then we went home and watched Christmas themed movies. Then on Christmas Day we slept in, kissed a lot, then went to Dona Lencha, a mexican restaurant. (They have the best tacos that I have ever had!!! And we now go there once a week.)
We realized that Christmas really isn't too fun unless you have family in the area or unless you have little kids. And we have neither, so it was pretty boring. However, our hearts were filled with joy because of Christ. But yeah, besides that, it was pretty boring.

Then for New Years Eve Jesus let me know that we would be sleeping on the floor in the living room. Why? Because it is tradition for his family. Why is it a tradition? Well apparently when he was young and he and his family lived in the really ghetto, dangerous side of town, they would sleep on the floor because everyone in the neighborhood would be shooting their guns and they didn't want to get hit by flying bullets. Great tradition right?! Haha anyway, it turned out to be pretty fun. It was like we were camping! (However, in the morning Jesus was a little disappointed because no guns went off.) On New Year's Day we went to the gun range and did a little target practice which was pretty fun.

Basically we have discovered how tedious life is without family around you. We miss our family so much!!! Jesus and I both got teary eyed when we were talking about our family traditions.

Tomorrow I have both my job orientations, one at 4 AM (crazy right?!?! 4 AM??)and the other at 6 PM. It seems as though it will be a busy day. Hopefully it will go well!