I am yet another person to be tagged

So, I have been tagged. Dan and I made an event out of it. I tried to come up with things about him and he did the same for me...although we both needed a little help from each other. We tried to come up with some unique answers to see how many people REALLY know us. :)

Here is what we came up with for me:

Joys:
1. Dan, baby, family, church, friends (all the typical answers)
2. Baskin Robbins ice cream (or any ice cream for that matter)
3. Teaching Kindergarten

Fears:
1. Fear of the unknown or unplanned.
2. Fear of throwing up.
3. Fear of very confined places (This is a new found fear.)

Obsessions:
1. Once I start a project, I have to finish it.
2. Routine. I am a person that loves my routine. (Maybe that's why I love teaching Kindergarten)
3. Decorations. I LOVE buying new decorations for each holiday.

Random Facts:
1. I love raw potatoes.
2. All the clothes in my closet are hung up according to color (rainbow color order).
3. I sigh in my sleep.


AND here's little bit about Dan:

Joys:
1. Erica, baby, family, church, friends (all the typical answers)
2. Dr. Pepper
3. Hunting

Fears:
1. losing Erica
2. giving blood
3. snakes

Obsessions:
1. Shooting ground squirrels
2. Eating French Toast
3. He has to have trimmed fingernails

Random Facts:
1. He HATES clothes shopping for himself!
2. He has to have chapstick in his pocket at all times.
3. Loves the the smell of wood.

Well, there you have it. Hopefully you learned something interesting about us. If not. Sorry. We will try to lead more exciting lives. :)

I tag Chelsea, Kaytie, KaLee, and anyone else who wants to see if they can come up with some interesting facts about themselves. (If you don't want to do it, that is completely fine with me.) The rules are below:

Post these rules on your blog; List 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 random surprising facts about yourself. Tag 4-6 people at the end of your blog by leaving their names.

Baby Update...

I don't know if I should even call it that, but for those of you who are wondering or even care...

Here's the lowdown...(don't worry I will keep it brief and not TOO detailed)

I am dilated and effaced some (I have been for a couple of weeks, so don't get too excited). Her head is down. Now, we're just playing the waiting game. My doctor says she keeps thinking she will see me anytime, but what she doesn't know...is the odds are against me. (Both my mom and my sister deliver late, and I suspect that will be the case with me, but hey, at least I know and I am prepared.)

Here's the 38 week pictures. Sorry that I can't provide anything more exciting...such as baby pictures or heaven forbid an actual flattering picture of myself.

(I am beginning to think that those don't even exist any more. No matter how many times I try to get a good picture, where even my face looks decent. It just. doesn't. happen.)


Hopefully that was enough to satisfy you...at least until I can provide you with something a little more exciting. :)

Can you tell the difference?

After posting all of my sewing projects, I was reminded of a funny story that happened to me about five years ago.

Background:
When I was 18, I took sewing lessons from a lady that goes to my church. It was once a week. I provided all the fabric, patterns, etc. and chose what I wanted to make. Since this was during my high school years, of course, I wanted to make all sorts of clothing for myself (shirts, capris, dresses, etc.). She guided me through each project. It was great, she told me how to complete each step and helped me with the difficult parts. (I wish she was around for some of my most recent projects. I really could have used her help.) And the best part of the whole thing was, getting new clothes to wear when I was finished.

More background info:
After high school graduation I started working at an office supply store to earn some money for college. I worked as part of the floor staff. We greeted the customers, helped them find the item they were looking for, checked them out, answered phones, took orders, etc.

Don't worry. This will all make sense in the end.

One day at work the following situation occurred:

A lady, probably in her mid 40's came into the store looking for a certain kind of legal document. I walked her back to the area where we kept all of those documents and showed her the many different kinds. She looked for a minute and then found the one she needed. I walked with her up to the front to ring her up. As we approached the counter, she said the following:

Lady: So, when are you due?
Me (as I feel my face getting EXTREMELY red): I am NOT pregnant. (Keep in mind. I am 18, single, LDS, AND wearing my new homemade shirt!)
Lady (without skipping a beat): Oh, that's too bad. I just love babies.
Me (staring at her with a dumbfounded expression): No words would come out. I just gave her a half smile while thinking... THAT'S TOO BAD! WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT'S TOO BAD!

I quickly told her how much she owed, gave her her change, and walked as fast as I could into the back room.

All the while, my coworkers were just standing there with their mouths open.

Talk about taking someone's self esteem and cutting it in half!

Needless to say, I never wore that shirt again...

until I actually was pregnant.


Here is documentation of me wearing my newly sewn shirt when I was 18. This is the only picture I could find since I don't think I wore it again until just recently so I am bent over, but clearly...there is NO baby in that belly.


Here I am at 37 weeks wearing the masterpiece (just kidding). Keep in mind, this shirt is NOT a maternity shirt so it's not so flattering. Oh, and don't pay any attention to the "I'm so done being pregnant" look on my face. Not so flattering either.


A view from the side. Again, clearly this shirt was not meant for the 37 week pregnant me. Yuck! Don't worry, mom, I didn't wear this out of the house so you don't have to be embarrassed for me. :)

I just have one question.

Lady. Can you tell the difference, now!?

I really am not a snob...

Ok. So I am a complete idiot. I have just realized that I have been responding to all of the comments that you have been leaving in a way that DOESN'T EVEN WORK!

So, while you have all been leaving nice comments and asking me questions, and waiting for a reply...

You just are not getting them.

I have been replying.

I promise.

Don't worry. I have figured out my problem and from now on you will be getting reponses. (I hope.)

*For those of you that did leave me a comment and asked me a question, be looking for an email from me with that response!

Maybe I will get it together one of these days:)

Kindergarten Funnies

It's about time for another Kindergarten story.

This story did not actually happen to me, but it is about one of my kids that I had last year. We'll call him Chad and his teacher Mrs. V.

Chad: Mrs. V., my dog died.
Mrs. V.: I am so sorry Chad. That is sad. Those things happen sometimes. (Then Mrs. V. went into a class discussion about death and how sad it can be.)

After school, Mrs. V. still felt badly about Chad's dog and decided to call his mom. When she reached Chad's mom, she kindly let her know how sorry she was to hear that their dog had passed away and Chad's mom simply replied, "We don't have a dog."

I laughed so hard when I heard this. I know it's probably not as funny to you as it is to me since I actually know this little boy, but still, you have to admit, it's pretty funny. :)

Needless to say, I think Mrs. V. has learned not to believe EVERYTHING Chad says.

Scrap bag

Ok. So some of you are probably getting sick of my little projects that I keep posting.

Sorry.

You're just going to have to deal with it...at least until the baby comes because then I won't have any time to do them anymore.

Scraps, anyone?

I wanted to use up all the scrap material that I had, so I decided to quilt some material and make a bag.

It turned out way cuter than I thought, so I thought I would try my hand at a purse. I still have some experimenting to do, but it was fun!

MY baby

I just remembered this funny story that happened at my baby shower and I wanted to share.

My darling, four-year-old niece came to my baby shower. She is a cutie and was right there to help me open my gifts. After the shower, Dan came to check out all the gifts and had the following conversation with her:

A: DAN! Don't sit by Erica's baby's gifts! They are not yours!
D: Can't I just look at them? They're my baby's gifts too.
A: No, they're not!

Apparently this little one is just MY baby.

Afterward, her mom kindly explained that my baby is also Dan's baby.

*I told my brother about this story. He laughed, and then said, "The only question I have is, when are you going to have a shower for Dan's baby?"

Wouldn't that be great? Two showers for the same baby! :)

36 Weeks

I think it is time for another pregnancy post.

As my pregnancy is drawing to a close, (ok, so I still have 4 weeks, but still, it's getting closer.) I was thinking about all the changes that I have experienced and I decided to document just a few.

My hands are not the size they once were. As you can see, my wedding ring no longer fits on my finger. It is now replaced with a CTR ring that thank goodness I bought a little too big.

My feet have definitely seen smaller days. Their size seems to fluctuate depending on the amount of time spent sitting and standing. For quite sometime I have been wearing the same reef flip flops EVERYDAY, with the exception of the three hours for church (I try to squeeze my feet into something a little fancier). If you look closely, you can see a slight tan line from these flip flops, as well as a line where the straps are getting tighter and leave marks.

Granted, these beauties are not as extreme as my sister's impressive "Flintstone feet", but I still have a few weeks to go.
And, of course, the belly that goes along with every pregnancy.

I think this picture pretty much is self explanatory. I am feeling and looking like I am about ready to pop. And apparently other people think so because a few days ago while I was at Wal-Mart the following conversation occurred after I passed a child and her mom:

Child: Mom, did you see that lady? It looks like she has a really big basketball under her shirt.
Mom: Shhh...I know.

The whole time I was thinking: No, it's more like TWO really big basketballs.

Then, yet a few days later, my kind husband says to me, "Erica, you are getting REALLY big. But I am the only one who can say that."

Thanks, Dan! I agree, I am getting really big. :)


Overall, I have had a wonderful, easy pregnancy (minus those terrible first three months. I don't even want to think about that.) and I have really enjoyed this experience.

Cover Up

Here is yet another one of my sewing projects. After getting so many wonderful gifts at my shower, I realized there was one thing that I still wanted and did not have- a nursing cover up.

Instead of buying one, I decided to use some of the extra fabric that I have accumulated from the other various baby sewing projects, and make my own. It turned out to be an easier task than I thought and I saved a fair amount of money by just making it myself.

Thanks for the pattern, KaLee!

Final Outing

Labor Day weekend was the final chance for Dan and I to escape and travel. The time is nearing that this little one will be here and after today, I am not supposed to venture too far.

So, Dan and I took the opportunity to go to Zions National Park. Dan has especially been wanting to go ever since we have moved here. It was the perfect day trip. Zions is actually only about a 40 minute drive from St. George so we didn't have to dedicate much of the trip to driving. There are some amazing views and it was interesting to ride the tour bus and learn about all the rock formations. We really enjoyed ourselves and would love to go back.

Here are a few pictures of the amazing scenery.



On the way back, when Dan thought the day couldn't get much better, we stumbled across this sight-every man's dream. (Too bad they're domestic. It kindof takes the fun out of it.)
Now I am pretty sure Zions wasn't the highlight of the trip for Dan anymore.