Birthday Boy

This year I wanted our birthdays to be semi low-key. I have been exhausted and didn't want to add too much more stress than I already have. Andrew's birthday is today and neither of us had to work which was perfect.

I wanted to make Andrew's birthday special not necessarily by the nice gifts I gave him, but by what we did. Andrew is really into board games and he suggested inviting 2 of our good friends, Aaron and Amy (who we met in Rexburg) over. They came last night and we stayed up way too late (1:30am) playing all sorts of games. This is hours later than I usually stay up, so of course we took a nap. Our friends stayed the night. This morning I made cinnamon rolls (taking the place of birthday cake). Andrew loves cinnamon rolls, but I don't make them super often because they are so time consuming. I am thrilled by how well they turned out. I made the dough last night and kept it in the fridge which I had never done before. 

I made reservations to go to Tucanos Brazilian Steakhouse. It is expensive, and I always over-eat to the point of feeling super ill so it's kind of a once a year thing (if that). Andrew and I were both actually able to get our free birthday meals because our friends were nice and split their bill, so one birthday meal could be put on each of theirs. 

Not my favorite picture... This was more to just document the occasion. 

We decided that for gifts this year we would do 1 bigger gift for both of us and we are getting a memory foam topper for our bed. Sooo excited! Because that is kind of boring, I also got Andrew a cheap, smaller gift-- a new game! It's called "Fuse" and it's a cooperative card game. You have to beat it within 10 minutes and you can download an app with a timer and an annoying voice that makes the game even more stressful.

February is just the packed month of fun around here. On Saturday night, we went to Red Robin to get our free birthday burgers. Delicious! And again, a free meal which is always wonderful. We still need to visit Dairy Queen to get a free birthday shake. Next weekend will continue to be a party. My birthday falls on Saturday this year, so neither of us have to work then either. Andrew said it's up to me what we do, so I need to get deciding which is not a strength of mine...

When we found out our baby boy was due in April, we were thrilled. We would like to avoid any more celebrations in the month of February if at all possible. :) 

4 Years

Andrew is and always will be the fun one in our marriage. I think we are a good balance for each other. If it were up to me, we would always do chores and household work on weekends. If it were up to Andrew, we would go out multiple times, catch a few movies, and fit in as much fun as possible. We usually do a little bit of both.

Having said that, for our 4 year anniversary in December, I was fine just going to dinner or getting a pizza. Andrew had different ideas and wanted to do something extravagant claiming we never do anything for our anniversary. We decided to use the gift-card he got from his company for Christmas to go to "The Melting Pot." We had been once before, but not for the main course and we weren't paying.

This time, we went all in and got the full-on course including appetizers, drinks, entrees, and desserts. We enjoyed our time together and it was definitely memorable and something different than just going to Red Robin.

Here are a couple pictures to document our evening: (Andrew, proof that we DID do something for our anniversary in 2016. :)

This showed up on the screen while we were waiting to be seated.

This weekend I was having a hard time. (I blame pregnancy hormones and a difficult work week.) Andrew kept trying to suggest a variety of things we could do to try to cheer me up. Nothing sounded fun or even good to eat. This is rare for me. Luckily after a while Andrew convinced me that we should go out to lunch to cheer me up. He even suggested going to "In-N-Out" which says a lot because that isn't his favorite, but he knows that I like it. We went and it definitely improved my mood and Andrew even said it was better than he remembered. 

I'm so glad to be married to Andrew! He knows me well and knows what I need. He gives me something to look forward to after work every day and he makes the weekends fly by because I enjoy spending time with him so much. Here is to many more memorable anniversaries!

New Year, New Goals

I am always a little too ambitious when it comes to goal setting. For instance, Andrew and I went over our goals from 2016 together this week. We both achieved about half of the goals we set. Oops. It can get discouraging. 

Let's focus on the positive though and talk about the goals I did achieve in 2016: 

1. I did become a certified teacher in Utah. I passed the praxis! (I can't believe this was in 2016, it feels like forever ago.)

2. I did limit social media. I specifically said no more than 10 minutes a day on Facebook. I did not achieve this specific goal, however I am improving. In fact, the Facebook app is no longer on my phone and hasn't been for several weeks.

3. I did blog at least twice a month, if you count that I cheated. I only blogged once in July, but I made up for it by blogging 3 times in August.

4. Andrew and I did attend the temple at least twice a month. Again, we cheated. We only went once in November (I had a nasty cold), but we did go three times in December.

5. Andrew and I did go on a trip together with just the two of us not involving extended family. Vegas!

I tried to be extremely realistic with my goals for 2017:

Physical

• Run a 5k (after recovering from birthing a child of course)
• Find a class to attend regularly at the gym that I like 

Spiritual

• Read the Book of Mormon
• Read the New Testament
• Read/listen to a conference talk daily

Educational

• Read at least 20 books

Personal

• Learn/find a new hobby
• Blog at least twice a month
• Floss more (I hate it, but apparently pregnancy ruins teeth)

Joint

• Go to the temple twice a month (until the baby comes) and after that once a month.
• Read 2 books together. I still have fond memories of reading "The Help" together a long time ago. Andrew can pull out quite the accents.
• Find a hobby we enjoy doing together. (Besides playing games and watching Netflix) 
• Do/plan something special for our 5 year anniversary! 

I'm thinking 2017 will be one of my favorite years ever because I will become a Mom. I'm excited to see what lies ahead this year for our family.

Light the World

I decided to do the "Light the World" challenge this month to try to remember what this time of year is really about. There were recommended things to do everyday online for this challenge. My family did a group text daily to report to each other what we did. I want to document what I did, so I can remember for next year. Some days were definitely harder than others to come up with and do service. In fact, the end of the "Light the World" challenge tells you to pick one of the acts of service you did and make it a goal for 2017. I haven't gotten around to that yet... 

December 1st- Andrew and I babysat Simon and Esther so Jeff and Lindsey could go to Jeff's work party.

December 2nd- Andrew and I wrote a thank-you note to Logan and Julia who let us stay at their house while we were there for Thanksgiving.

December 3rd- I wrote Grandma and Grandpa Langlois a thank-you card for the Christmas money they sent me.

December 4th- We donated to the general missionary fund.

December 5th- We took 2 names of kids from sub for Santa at Andrew's work and got them giftcards for things they need.

December 6th- I posted a scripture on social media. (I don't think I had ever done this before.) 
D&C 18:10-11

December 7th- We donated boxed/canned food to help those who are starving in Utah.

December 8th- I texted a friend that just had a baby and is having a hard recovery. 

December 9th- I donated all the change in our "change bag" to penny wars at school. (All the money goes to struggling families within my own school.)

December 10th- We did sealings at the Mt. Timpanogos Temple. We brought family names to do.

December 11th- I wrote 7 cards to family members. Most of them were thank-you cards to Andrew's family for throwing me a baby shower, but one was to our niece who got baptized. (We weren't able to make it to the baptism.)

December 12th- I made cookies for the people Andrew sometimes carpools with to work.

December 13th- I sent my friend, Kaitlin, an e-gift card to her favorite pizza place for her birthday.

December 14th- I purchased a picture of the Savior to put in the nursery.

December 15th- I put together some Christmas gifts for coworkers. I felt really bad because last year I did nothing.

"This 'winter' I'm grateful for you. Have a very merry Christmas!"

December 16th- I invited two newer couples in our ward over for a game night.

December 17th- We bought neighbor/home teaching/visiting teaching Christmas gifts.

"Wishing you a holiday season full of peace, joy, and hope (soap)."

(We crossed out hope and wrote in soap.)

December 18th- I made cookies for Andrew's Sunday school class.

December 19th- I emailed my nephew, Alex, who is on his mission in Romania.

December 20th- "Be a mentor or tutor to someone." I was extra patient during math with some students who didn't quite understand the concept.

December 21st- I got my friend, Brighton, a cookie from Swig (her fav) to wish her luck on a licensing test she has been studying for. 

December 22nd- We went to the temple.

December 23rd- I went to the store and got treats to make a dessert for the family coming over. Does this count?

December 24th- We stopped at The Corner Bakery to buy my Mom a fresh chocolate bundt cake.

December 25th- How sad is it that I don't know what I did on Christmas day! I did make jello for the Christmas dinner...? I helped set the table?

I wasn't perfect at this and have plenty of room for improvement.This was a really neat experience for me though and I plan on doing it again next year. (Maybe I'll even be able to donate blood next time because I won't be pregnant!) Sometimes, I worry too much about money and this helped me step out of that mindset a bit. I have been blessed and can bless others because I know that God is the person I have to thank for everything I have. #lighttheworld

Pregnancy Probs

This post is more for journaling and so I can remember what pregnancy was like.

I feel blessed in that I haven't really had any morning sickness and I haven't thrown up once. I know so many people face challenging pregnancies and I'm so glad that I'm not one of them.Pregnancy does take some getting used to and I want to keep track of some of the things that I've dealt with this pregnancy.

1) Bathroom Constantly 
This definitely comes in spurts. For a while I was waking up several times a night to tinkle and then it stopped for a while. Now, it's back and not just at night, but during the day as well. Sometimes it is tough while I'm teaching because I have to go to the bathroom so much. The longest period of time I have to wait is from 7:55-10:45 and as soon as I let the students out for recess, I immediately dash to the bathroom. I'm not used to using the bathroom often in public places because I never had to, so this is new to me.

2) SLEEP
Especially in the first trimester, I could sleep forever! In fact, my bedtime changed for several weeks to like 8:30pm (no joke). No matter how hard I tried to stay awake past this time, it wouldn't work. Now I'm coming close to the third trimester and I still find myself to be exhausted. I think teaching has a lot to do with it. By the time I get home each night, I am so sick of standing. My bedtime might not be 8:30pm anymore, but it is almost always 9:30pm. It's so early that Andrew stays up usually two or more hours after I go to sleep. 

3) Charley Horse
Until now, I have never had a charley horse. Man, who knew these were so painful? I have now had 2 just this week and they are starting to take their toll. Luckily, I had a doctors appointment yesterday and discussed this with the doctor. It turns out I'm calcium deficient and now I take a calcium vitamin 3 times a day. Hopefully these vitamins will kick in soon because I don't want to have another one! It's a horrible feeling to be woken up in the middle of the night with such throbbing pain. In fact, they have been so painful that my calf/leg hurts for a few days after the charley horse. Apparently these are really common during pregnancy. The doctor also told me that this would help with my shin pain. I've always had shins that bother me, but lately they have been extremely sore at the end of every day. Hopefully that will change!

4) Baby Bump Comments
This has been a big adjustment for me. Usually weight isn't an okay topic to discuss, but suddenly when you're pregnant it is. Obviously I'm not mad that I'm getter fatter because I'm growing a child, but I find these conversations quite awkward. "Ooh, looks like you're starting to show Jenna." "You are so small, you must be carrying him more in your back." Nobody has been offensive at all, but I just don't know how to respond. I'm always caught off guard when people I hardly know make comments about my baby bump. I need to think of what to say so that I just have an immediate response on-hand because it happens so often. 

Also, I'm not one that will post pictures of my baby bump  weekly or monthly or ever probably. My friend did say that I'll want to look at them later though, so I recently took my first baby bump picture. (Can't believe I'm posting it here, but this is my journal!) 

In this picture I am almost 24 weeks pregnant. (3 days shy) 

5) Fighting off sickness
I got a cold about 2 months ago. (Not surprising especially when I get a nice view from the front of the classroom of students picking their noses.) It wouldn't go away. In fact, when I went to Spokane for Thanksgiving it was worse and I had had the cold for 3 weeks at this point. I actually ended up having to get on a prescription for a sinus infection. This cold took over a month to get over! It felt like I was sick for SO LONG and it wasn't fun!

I am excited to pop a bit more mostly because pants are uncomfortable. Regular pants aren't an option at this point, but maternity pants fall down all day and drive me crazy! I have tried the band you wear around your waste with regular pants (and unbuttoning the top button), but that isn't ideal either. Again, I have been very fortunate with this pregnancy! I wish it would go by a little faster so we could meet him!