Day 30?

So according to my calculations (which could definitely be wrong, lol) today should have been my last day of the 30 day blog challenge.  But of course, I got a little slack due to my nephew being here for the summer and spending a ton of time with him.  I think I'm going to cheat a bit and do a bunch of days all at once to get this over with then continue this as a regular blog.  I'm thinking this blog will turn into a little bit of everything.  There will be some pregnancy blogs (then baby blogs in a few months!), blogs about life in general, photography, baking, and who knows what else.

Ok...on with the mission!

Day 16: Dream House
At this point in life I really don't have a dream house.  I know two things about my dream house so far at this point.  The first main thing is that I want a huge kitchen.  I love to bake and cook so this is definitely a necessity.  I want a gas stove/oven (preferably 2 ovens), lots and lots of cabinet and counter space,   room for people to sit around and talk while I cook, and a huge pantry.  The second thing I want for sure in my dream house is a big library, Matt and I both love to read and I think it'd be really cool to have one.

Day 17: Something You're Looking Forward To
The thing I'm most looking forward to at this moment is meeting our baby!  I'm enjoying being pregnant, its been a fairly easy pregnancy so far but I am so so ready to meet our little miracle!  In 10 days we'll hopefully find out the gender and I know that will make me even more ready.  November can't get here soon enough!  I think even more than looking forward to holding our baby, I'm really looking forward to seeing Matt with our baby.  It will be amazing to have our own little family of three, we've waited a long time for this.
I'm also looking forward to next summer because we'll be moving to Ft. Lewis, Washington.  Growing up as an Army brat I got used to moving around every 4 years or so, which means when I've been somewhere about 3 years I get the itch to move.  We've been in GA for almost 4 years and I'm more than ready to get out, see a new place, and meet some new friends.  Plus I love setting up a new house and it will be even more special since we'll have our little one with us!

Day 18: Favorite Place To Eat
My favorite place to eat is a local Mexican restaurant, Mi Rancho.  It is sooooo yummy!!  Matt and I kinda stumbled on it one day when we were out.  We were at a festival downtown and it was super hot.  We were looking for a place to cool off and grab a bite to eat and we came across Mi Rancho in downtown Augusta.  I'm not usually big on Mexican restaurants but oh my goodness this place is AMAZING!  I'm super excited because they're in the process of building one in the town that we live in (as of now the closest one is like 10-15 minutes, it will be 5 when this is done)!

Day 19: Something You Miss
I miss having a best girl friend.  My husband is my best friend and I am very happy to say that because we've been through some stuff and it hasn't always been this way.  Having said that, I truly miss having a female best friend.  I have friends that I hang out with and talk to, but I no longer have someone here I would call my best friend.  The last best friend I had betrayed me in a huge way and I'm not sure if I'm ready to let someone get that close again.  I miss having someone to always count on to hang out, talk to, keep my secrets, or just do whatever with.

Day 20: Nicknames
I don't know that I really have any nicknames.  My middle name is Nicole so my dad calls me Nikki, does that count?  The only person who doesn't call me by my name is Matt, he calls me sweetheart, wife, honey, or his favorite at the moment...baby mamma, lol.

Day 21: All Time Favorite Picture of Yourself, Why?
This is probably my favorite picture of me (and Matt) of all time, it just reminds me of how exciting the first part of our relationship was.  This was taken the first time he went home with me to meet my parents (this was in September of 2003).

Day 22: Whats in Your Purse
Lets see here...there's papers with my appointments on them, pens, gum, keys, umbrella, Tylenol, wallet, checkbook, chapstick, crackers, and I'm sure a few odd and end things I can't think of at the moment and don't feel like getting up to look, lol.

Day 23: Favorite Movie
Sixteen Candles is definitely my favorite movie.  It just always puts me in a good mood and I can watch it over and over...it's a classic.

Day 24: Something You've Learned
I'd like to think I've learned a lot so far in my life, let me think of a good lesson I've learned in the past few years.  I guess there are a few that I've learned that all go hand in hand.  First of all, don't judge a book by its cover...that goes for the good and the bad.  I used to just take a first impression of someone and use that to base my option off of but I have learned that can be terribly misleading.  Also, don't judge someone by what you hear from someone else, take the time to try and get to know that person for yourself.  The most important lesson I've learned is that no matter what you've been through or what you're going through, God is there for you and He wants you to lean on Him. 

Day 25: Put Your iPod on Shuffle, What Are the First 10 Songs
1-Starry Night by Chris August
2-Something Glorious by Revive
3-Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green Day
4-7x70 by Chris August
5-If I Knew Then by Lady Antebellum
6-You've Got a Way With Me by Shania Twain
7-Angels Fall Sometimes by Josh Turner
8-Light Up The Sky by The Afters
9-Your Hands by JJ Heller
10-Fishing in the Dark by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

Day 26: Your Dream Wedding
Well I'm already married so I'm all done dreaming about this, already married my perfect man!

Day 27: Original Photo of the City You Live In
Augusta, GA
Fireworks on the bridge at the Riverwalk

Day 28: Something That Stresses You Out
I used to get stressed out over lots of stupid little things but I realize these days that there just isn't any need for that.  Getting stressed out over something doesn't help anything or change anything so why bother?  

Day 29: 3 Wishes
1-I wish that Matt and I live a long, happy life together and get to watch our child/children grow up and have families of their own.
2-I wish that someone would find a cure for MS.
3-I wish that our cross country drive next summer goes as smoothly as possible with 2 dogs, 1 cat, and a baby.

Day 30: A Picture of Yourself This Day and 5 Good Things That Happened Since You Started This Challenge
This one will have to wait till tomorrow as I'm already in bed and definitely not taking a picture of myself right now, lol.

So there you go...my cheated version of the 30 day blog challenge!  Hope you enjoyed...if anybody even read all of it, haha.

Been MIA

Sorry I've been MIA, been spending time with family because my nephew is in town for the summer, this is the only time I get to see him.  Not sure when I'll pick this back up, won't be too long, I promise!

Day 15: Bible Verse

I have quite a few Bible verses that mean a lot to me but I think today I'll just share one short passage and another verse that have hit close to home in the past couple years for me.

Luke 6:27-36

[27] "But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, [28] bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. [29] If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. [30] Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. [31] Do to others as you would have them do to you. [32] "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. [33] And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. [34] And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. [35] But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. [36] Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

This passage hit very close to home towards the end of 2009.  My 2 best friends hurt me more than I ever thought possible and it was a really rough time for me.  I ran across this passage in the midst of it all and it helped give me the strength to forgive and start moving forward.   Of course it's easy to be nice and helpful to those who are the same to you, but your true character comes out when you come into contact with someone who has done you wrong.  In the past I have handled situations incorrectly (even though at the time I thought it was best) and I've learned from that and from growing closer to God. 

On a totally different note, the other verse that is in my mind a lot is 1 Samuel 1:27

I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him.

I can't tell you how many times I prayed that God would give Matt and I the chance to be parents, one way or another.  I feel so blessed to be carrying a child within me and to be given the chance to be a mother.  I couldn't ask for anything more!

Day 14: A Picture of You Last Year - How Have You Changed?

There's me in January of last year.  One change that happened shortly after this picture was taken is that Matt and I finally moved off post!  I had been begging him to do this for a while but he didn't see the point in it.  On post housing here is horrible, we had mold growing in our house, things would break and they'd take forever to fix them (if they ever came at all), and worst of all there was just so much drama no matter how you tried to stay away from it.  Things came to a head at the end of 2009 and by early 2010 Matt was more than ready to move off post.  He has since vowed that we will never live on post again, lol, we'll see.  Anyhow, we moved off post and things have been awesome ever since!  Another plus to this...we now lived closer to Matt's work than we did when we lived on post, pretty crazy huh?  Here is our lovely off post house!

Our living room on post:

And our living room now:

Our kitchen on post:

And our kitchen now:

See...much better, right?



The next change that has come along since then is we went from having 1 dog and 1 cat

To having 2 dogs and a cat

We got Ruby at the end of June last year so we've had her for almost a year now.  Max (the black dog) is totally a mamma's boy and Matt wanted a dog that would be "his" so we got Ruby.  We looked around at a few of the shelters around here but the couple dogs we liked Max wasn't too fond of.  We finally saw a really cute dog on petfinder.com (highly recommend this site if you're looking for a new pet, its where we found both of our dogs!) at the local pound so we went to look at her.  When we got there we found out that particular dog already found a home so we walked through to look at the other dogs there.  Of course as we're walking through most of the dogs are jumping all over and barking like crazy.  There was this one really sad looking dog who was just sitting there looking at us like "please take me home!" so we asked to see her.  We went into a room and they brought her in, she was scared to death!  Matt sat on the floor and she went right over to him and sat with him.  We knew this was the dog but we had to make sure Max would get along with her.  We left her there and went back the next day with Max to see her.  She and Max got along great and the rest is history!  She was in kinda rough shape when we got her, she had just had puppies not long before, her ears were fly bitten, and her fur was all rough and thin.  She has certainly come into her own since then and we can't imagine life without her now!

Ruby when we first got her:

Ruby now: (this is a few months old but its the best pic of her whole body)

Now onto the biggest and best change that has happened in the past year!  Matt and I have been trying to get pregnant for 4 years.  It hasn't been constant, thanks to the Army, but for most of those 4 years we've been trying.  I went off birth control in January of 2007.  We weren't having any luck so we tried getting help from doctors.  The lovely Army doctors here will not help you get pregnant unless you've been trying constantly for a year with no breaks.  Do you know how hard that is with the Army!?  That means if he was TDY one month out of the year then they wouldn't help us.  Finally we hit a spot where he had been home for a full year and we found a doctor to help us.  2 rounds of Clomid later we were really excited about the possibility because I actually got a positive ovulation prediction test.  A couple weeks after that I woke up and decided to take a test and see (I was 1 day late) so I woke up and this is what I saw

I thought I saw a very faint line there but wasn't quite sure if it was just in my head or what, lol.  I didn't want to get too excited so I waited till after Matt came home from PT and left to go to work then ran up to Wal Mart and got a digital test.  And sure enough...

I think I stood there in shock for a good 5-10 minutes just staring at the test then I broke down in tears.  I didn't want to call Matt and tell him yet, I wanted to tell him in person.  I ran up to the hospital on post and got a blood test and luckily got the results before Matt came home for lunch...I just wanted to make sure!  While waiting on the results I ran out to the Harley store and bought a little present to give to Matt when I told him.  I had been waiting for this day for so long and if was finally here!  The feeling of seeing him smile so big when I told him was amazing!  He opened the bag and there was a onesie in there that said "My daddy rides a Harley" he just kinda looked up at me like...is this for real!?  I yelled out "I'm pregnant!" and he just ran over and hugged me...amazing!

And here I am...now 18 weeks, 3 days pregnant and couldn't be happier!

I think I've blabbered on enough on this post, lol.  If you made it to the end congrats!

Day 13: Goals

One of my main goals in life was to get married and have children.  I've had the married part down for the past 6 1/2 years but now I have the children part taken care of too!  At least, partially, lol.  In November (or October, who knows) I should be able to mark this goal as completed.  I can't even express to you how amazing it feels knowing that I have a child growing inside me, one that is a combination of Matt and I together.  For anyone that knows us, that's quite the combination.  Matt and I are quite different so I'm interested to see what our child's personality will be like.

Another goal of mine is to get my masters degree.  I was about to sign up and get started on this goal when I found out that I'm pregnant and that we'll be moving next summer, so this goal is currently put on hold.  I want to get my masters in social work and become a military social worker.  I really thought teaching was my calling (that's what I have my B.S. in) but once I graduated and started teaching it just wasn't what I expected it to be, then we moved to GA and it's near impossible to find a decent teaching job here.  So I reevaluated things and decided social work was the way to go.

A long term goal of mine would be for Matt and I to own our own home.  Since he's in the military it is going to be a while before this one happens.  We definitely won't be buying a house until he is done with the military, just doesn't make much sense for us.  It would be nice to save up enough money to be able to build exactly the kind of house we want...we shall see how that goes.

Those are pretty much my goals.  I'm a pretty easy going person with simple dreams I think.  I just want to love and be loved, have a wonderful family, do what I love, and have a place to call our own.  Not too much to ask, right? :)

Day 12: Something You Don't Leave the House Without

My phone is definitely the one thing (other than my keys, duh) that I never leave the house without.  I love my phone, it is super awesome!  I have a Samsung Fascinate and I love it more than I've loved a phone in a looong time.  The screen is super clear, the camera is awesome, I can take HD video with it, it connects me to my husband, family, and friends at all times, and it has lots of fun apps and games.  I never liked touch screens before but this one is pretty nice!

Day 11: Favorite TV Shows

Grey's Anatomy is probably my favorite show on TV right now.  It somehow always seems to suck me in and make me wonder what is going to happen next.  It's not one of those shows that is so predictable that you know what is coming next and I like that.

Of course there's Army Wives.  There are times when this show isn't the best at portraying the real life of Army wives but there are some times when it touches really close to home.  I think it does a relatively good job of showing people the main ups and downs of being a military wife.

Gilmore Girls is no longer on the air other than reruns, but the whole time it was running it was my favorite show.  My mom and I used to get pizza and watch Gilmore Girls together every Tuesday (at least I think it was Tuesday, lol).  When I left for college we would call each other and be on the phone while we watched it.  I miss those times!

And now my nerdy pleasure.  I absolutely love watching Jeopardy!  I'm not quite sure why I love it so much but I really look forward to watching it every day.  I get super excited when I know the answers, lol.  Makes me feel smart sometimes I suppose.

There ya have it, my main TV shows.  I probably watch way too much TV now thanks to the invention of the DVR but I didn't want to bore you with too many shows. 

Day 10: Something You're Afraid of

I know, I know.  This blog was supposed to have been done yesterday, but what can I say?  I guess I'm a slacker.  I was busy yesterday making a birthday cake for a friend's daughter, going to an OB appointment with a friend who's hubby is deployed, delivering and enjoying some of said cake from earlier, and having dinner with a friend.  I was super worn out when I got home.  So here I am, yet again blogging for 2 days in 1.

Hmm...something I'm afraid of.  There are quite a few things I'm afraid of, I suppose some would call me a wuss, lol.  There's spiders, snakes, bugs in general, fear of getting into a car wreck (not sure why but this really is a huge fear of mine, I say a prayer every time I get in the car to drive), losing a loved one (which is silly because I know its going to happen at some point, instead of being scared I should just enjoy the time we have), heights, someone breaking into our house, our house catching on fire (this is a result of a fire in our apartments when we lived in TX, of course Matt was away at training and I had to get me and the animals out and sit on the curb for what seemed like forever in the middle of the night while the firemen did their jobs), and the list could go on and on I'm sure.

I think one of my biggest fears is.....

Open water.

Open water freaks me out big time.  I recently got over my fear a little bit and went out on the lake in a boat with the hubby and my family but you can bet that I had a life jacket right beside me the entire time.  I'm not the best swimmer which I'm sure is part of the issue, but there's also the fact that you really have no idea what is in that water.

I also had a traumatic (at least it was to me) event happen when I was younger.  We used to live in Arkansas and my family would go swimming at a pool that had a huge razorback painted on the bottom of the pool.  I have an older brother, which if you have one of those yourself you know that they can cause you some scars both physically and mentally/emotionally.  My lovely older brother used to tell me that the razorback on the bottom of the pool was going to come eat me if I went too far into the pool.  Mind you, at this point I was only about 5 or 6.  My dad, who is my ultimate hero in life, for some reason didn't tell me that this wasn't true, he just laughed and kinda went along with the whole thing.  I'm pretty sure this is where my fear of open water started.

So there you have it...my biggest fear is open water...freaks me out.

Day 9: A Favorite Picture of Your Best Friend

My husband, Matt, is my best friend.  This hasn't always been the case but things have happened in the past couple years that have brought us closer than ever.  I'm so blessed to have him in my life and couldn't imagine my life without him.  I love this picture of him because it was the first picture he sent me after he left for his first deployment.  The deployment was rough and it was great just to see his face.  Every time I see this picture I think about where we were in our relationship at that point and how much we've grown since.

Day 8: A Place You've Traveled To

In high school I went on a few mission trips with my church, the most exciting place we went was Alberta Canada.  We did a VBS with a local church there, sang at the Calgary Stampede, and also visited Banff National Park.  Banff is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen, such a great example of God's majesty! 

The trip was amazing until I took a little trip of a different kind while there, lol.  While at Banff National Park (which happened to be the first part of the week we were there), I tripped on a broken stair and hurt my foot/ankle.  I told the chaperons but they figured I just sprained my ankle so I hobbled around all week, using my friends as crutches.  I knew something else was wrong and that it wasn't just a sprained ankle but they wouldn't take me to the doctor.  As soon as our plane landed back in TX my mom took me to the emergency room.  Turned out I had broken my foot.  I ended up having to have surgery on it and lots of rehab...not fun.  Here is a pic of some of the stairs at the National Park, there are literally thousands of them probably.

Overall the trip was still fun, but would have been a lot more fun if I hadn't been in horrible pain the whole time.  It was a great experience though and like I said at the start of this post, Banff National Park was a great reminder of just how amazing God is.

Too tired

I'm going to cheat and do 2 days worth of blogging tomorrow, I'm worn out and ready to head to bed!

Day 7: Favorite Movies

My all time favorite movie is by far "Sixteen Candles," I could watch it over and over again without ever getting tired of it.  Who doesn't love Jake Ryan!?

How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days is another favorite of mine, it just always seems to put me in a good mood.  Matt and I watched this movie on our first date, maybe that's why it always cheers me up, it holds some good memories!

Day 6: A Picture of Something That Makes You Happy

Finding out Matt and I are expecting our first child has made me so unbelievably happy.  I can't even put into words how excited we both are to finally be growing our family.  Seeing the ultrasounds and feeling the baby move is a feeling you can't even imagine!

Day 5: A Song to Match Your Mood

Seeing as it was about 101 degrees outside today (according to my car) some friends and I decided to go swimming.  The water felt sooooo good and for about an hour we totally forgot it was scorching hot out.  So in honor of that, the song that matches my mood today is "Water" by Brad Paisley.  Seems pretty darn fitting to me!

Inflatable pool full of dad's hot air
I was three years old splashin' everywhere
And so began my love affair with water

On a river bank with all my friends
A big old rope tied to a limb
And you're a big old wuss if you don't jump in the water

And when that summer sun starts to beatin' down
And you don't know what to do
Grab your swimming trunks, ice up that old Igloo
And drive until the map turns blue

Daytona Beach on spring break
Eighteen girls up on stage
White t-shirts about to be sprayed with water

Let her go boys

And when that summer sun starts to beatin' down
And you don't know what to do
Just go and grab someone you wanna see in a bathing suit
And drive until the map turns blue

You can stay right there when the daylight's gone
Play truth or dare, and it won't take long
'Fore you and her got nothin' on but water

All you really need this time of year
Is a pair of shades and ice cold beer
And a place to sit somewhere near water

This weekend I'll be heading to the lake for a birthday party and I can't wait, should be a great summer day!