2009 New Beginnings

I just put on my first New Beginnings program since being called as Young Women's President 2 months ago. I feel like the night went really well!For those of you who don't know what New Beginnings is, it's a church Young Women's activity held at the beginning of each year that parents are invited to attend and we go over the purpose of the Young Women's Organization, the Personal Progress Program and our goals for the year.
I've been working with the girls for several weeks now getting them prepared to put on a New Beginnings skit called Women of Value, where they dressed up and acted parts of women from the scriptures like Mary, Hannah, Esther, Elisabeth, etc. I was a little nervous about how this would turn out because the program was a little "involved" but the girls did GREAT! Two of our girls played a special guitar number (Teach me to walk in the light) and all the girls sang "As Sisters in Zion" and I was so proud at how smooth the program went!
On my way home, I was so EXHAUSTED from the busy week that I had "eating, sleeping and breathing New Beginnings", while working and "trying" to keep up my house, which I have to say, I did a pretty lousy job of doing! I wasn't looking forward to coming home to a sink full of dishes and a MESSY house, but to my surprise and dismay, I came home to a CLEAN HOUSE and NO DISHES in the sink! John felt sorry for me for being so busy this week and he spent two hours tidying up! I'm such a lucky girl to have him! Now, instead of cleaning my house, I can take time to do a post on my blog! Here are a few pics from New Beginnings...




Don't they look cute!



I gave each girl a little New Beginnings treat bag to take home. It included a church CD (song playing now is from the CD), a picture frame with a picture of all the girls in it (from a YW sleepover we had a few weeks back) and a candle to remind them to let the light within them shine and to "Be thou an example of the believers", our 2009 Youth theme.

Arby's... A Marketing Genius

I had my monthly doctor's appointment this morning and as I was sitting in the chair waiting to get my blood pressure checked, I looked over and saw a stack of coupons for Arby's free roast beef sandwiches and 99 cent milk shakes, so of coarse, I grabbed several! The coupon said "Beaches Women's Health Specialist Customer Appreciation- Thank you for being a valued customer!" with the Arby's logo underneath. I had to laugh at this because I'm sure all us pregnant girls are VERY valued customers of Arby's! I can just imagine the stampede of "big girls" making their way to the Arby's counter for their free roast beef sandwich and milk shakes! And you know we wont be able to pass up those delicious curly fries once we're there! Arby's… A Marketing genius!



Is anyone else thinkin Arby's???

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day! We had a great one. The day started with John making me one of my favorite breakfasts- Cinnamon Eggo waffles with WARM syrup and I enjoyed this scrumptious meal from the comfort of my bed. What could be better on a Saturday morning, I ask you! We actually celebrated Valentine's Day last night by going out to dinner and a movie. We saw He's just not that into you (See movie review in post below).

Tonight we went to my parents house to visit my step sister Samantha who is in town with her husband and ADORABLE boys! We had a great time playing with the boys and catching up. As you can probably already tell, we got over the whole "big production" thing on Valentine's Day after our first or second year of marriage! We enjoy a more simple, low key celebration these days. But hey, you won't hear any complaints here! It was a nice, relaxing day. What did you do for V-day?


Here's a picture of us with Quinn and Max. Quinn was happy as a clam playing with my cell phone, his favorite pass time and Max was getting a little tired of me by the time we took this picture! Aren't their matching pj's cute!
Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm so into "He's just not that into you"

I read this book in college and was REALLY interested to see HOW IN THE WORLD they would turn it into a movie. John and I went to see it last night and we BOTH really liked it! Great acting and very entertaining! I thought it was clever how they dramatized the book. Other than the cheering from several CHEESY girls in the movie theater, we thoroughly enjoyed it! Two thumbs up! And John's already put in that he want's to get the soundtrack!

Random thoughts...

A co-worker of mine at work pointed something out to me the other day. A funny little branded soap that we have in our break room at work that I am just baffled by... On the little soap bottle near the sink, is a label that says "Non-Ultra Joy". Why in the world would you name your soap "Non-Ultra Joy"??? It's an oxi-moron right on the label.

We've all heard of escalating hyperbole for products: extra, ultra, super, premium, elite, luxurious. So I found it ODD that The Joy Company chose to brand their product "Non-Ultra Joy"! If you thought you were getting Ultra, you are mistaken my friend. Non-Ultra - It's not Sorta-Ultra, aLittle-Ultra… Non.

So I'm thinking, if it's not Ultra, why bring it up? Why not just call it Joy? Why get people thinking that they might just be getting something several notches down from Ultra? I didn't even want to use it!

This is a slippery slope for brand naming and packaging ;) You don't need a degree in Advertising to figure that one out (Although, I do have a degree in Advertising so I guess it did teach me something!)

Little Cam Cam's growing wardrobe

Now that we KNOW we're having a boy it's been REALLY hard to stay out of the stores and refrain from buying ALL the adorable little boy things we see! Don't you just LOVE the little shoes!

And here is what we decided we want to do with Cameron's room... A sailor theme!


We REALLY like this crib bedding set and this is the one we want to go with. What do you think? Cute huh! We wont do all the accessories shown in the room like the wall border and stuff but I really like the little bear, the diaper holder, and of coarse the music mobile.

We already have a basinet now thanks to our good friends Russ and Julie! They gave us theirs because they don't use it anymore so now we're all set! Here it is...



Now we only need aprox. 1 MILLION more things before the baby comes! Lucky for me, I have great friends like Amber who are showing me what all I need to register for! That's our next task!

Baby Cameron- 19 weeks

We had another ultrasound today and OFFICIALLY found out that we are, in fact, having a boy! Little Cameron is on his way! He's currently 7 inches long and weighs 10 ounces (average size for 19 weeks is 6 inches long and 8.5 ounces) So he is large and in charge! Here are a few pics of our little guy. I apologize because these aren't as clear as some of my previous ones but I'll try to explain what each shot is of...

Profile of face and body





3D picture of face. Right arm is over face and looks like he's saluting!


Face


It's a boy! This is a shot of his little legs, bottom and "pee-pee" I don't know what all that stuff is in front of him. He was moving a little bit so maybe it's water bubbles...


And here's a few pics of me in case you were wondering how chubby I am these days...