Food Baby

Food

Eating is a big deal around here. 

Enough that I feel like it needs it's own blog post, I guess.

We'll start with our absolute favorite meal: Ranch Chicken!

Ranch Chicken

It is so fast, easy and delicious! It's also very versatile with the sides, which is a big deal to Clayson. 

We often do ranch potatoes (as pictured), rice, or garlic roasted potatoes. Usually with a few sides of vegetables as well  :)

Calzones

Once, I decided to get adventurous and made Calzones. 

They were pretty good, but I'm still a fan of regular homemade pizza.

"We don't ration bacon at our house."

Clayson went on a breakfast kick, and this was not unusual to see at all. 

Yes, we only have 2 people living at our house, and yes, that is all for us (mostly Clayson)

Meat!

This is what our freezer looks like. 

That is all meat! (Along with some delicious homemade jam and corn.)

Olive Garden

And this is our refrigerator. 

We discovered the Get One Take One deal at Olive Garden. 

This fed me all week!

Cereal!

This is our pantry.

We may have a slight cereal problem on our hands....

They were all on such good deals, though, and we couldn't pass it up!

Baby

11 weeks pregnant & 38 weeks pregnant 

When I took this picture in March, not many people knew I was pregnant. But those who did made sure to give me a hard time about being so big that I already had to start wearing Clayson's shirts.

Now, in September, I really am so big that I have to wear his shirts!

I have such wonderful friends and family who have thrown me baby showers!

The best part was just getting to see everyone!

My phone was dead for the family shower, so I don't have any pictures, but it was so fun as well!

Thank you to everyone who made these happen! It really meant a lot to me.

We are getting excited to meet our little one!

Less than a week left! The count-down is on!

and we still don't have a name....

:)

50 Shades of Gray - Searle Style

I have been meaning to write this post for months! 

I visited my cousins house and Clayson says I'm not aloud to go over there anymore  :)  

Her house is so cute and it inspired me to do something with our own place. 

we accidentally matched our pajamas  :)

Mostly I'm a whole lot of talk and not much action. 

Partly because I'm lazy and partly because I finally tell myself I'm going to buy
 curtains/rug/chair/baskets/table/decoration/whatever and then I get to the store and see how much it cost, and I instantly talk myself out of it. haha! 

ready to paint!

One day my parents called and said they were planning on coming to visit us for the weekend.

Because I had just been telling Clayson all my latest plans that would one day maybe be a reality, I off handedly told my parents we could paint my house when they came. Surprisingly, they agreed! And were actually excited to do it! (I think).
So, kind of unexpectedly, all my talk suddenly became reality.

taping.... this didn't last long.
Notice how there is no contrast between the walls and moulding around the doors

We picked up some paint samples from Home Depot.
 I think picking out wedding colors there has scarred Clayson for life, thinking that we will be there for an hour picking between 50 shades of gray
(don't worry, not the movie) but this was much easier than wedding colors. 

We were honestly there for like 5 minutes, tops. 

again, no contrast between moulding and wall

My parents arrived Friday night, we picked up the paint Saturday morning, and the fun began! 

See the color begin to go on! We have contrast!

laying down newspaper

Courtney decided to join the fun! 

However, she conveniently forgot we were painting so she wasn't dressed for it and she showed up just as we were finishing. 

She was good at finishing off our leftovers though  :)

getting above the cabinets was a fun job

We made a last minute decision to paint the kitchen blue instead of gray.

I think I'm ok with it now.

mom and me

me and courtney

After painting mom & dad took us all out to lunch, and then we took a break in the freshly painted living room.

That night we played an exciting game of Mexican Train.

I believe I won  :)

and we went on a walk.

girls in the hood

piggy-back

and played Heads Up

The final kitchen (I promise it's blue, it just doesn't show very well in this light)

Mom & Dad were so generous to help us furnish our living room for our wedding present. 

We love how it turned out!

(one day we will have decorations on the wall....)

Now we just need to decide which arrangement we like.... top, or bottom picture?

Thank you again Mom & Dad for all your help, it would not have happened without you!

We can't wait for you to come back to visit again!

I'm sure I could come up with another project....  :)

Denver

Last weekend I went to Denver with my office for a chiropractic conference.

we made him take this picture

Our rental car was so cool! It's called a Spark, but the handwriting on the paper we were given looked like "Spank" so it was the running joke.

our first look at the spank

The drive to our apartment was exciting. This is the only way we were able to get to our hotel and I laughed so hard every time!

Imagine doing this for the first time at night. 

Lyndie was my roommate. 

We watched the news every night and talked to each other in our sleep  :)

Most of our time was spent in classes helping us learn how to improve our office

We were afraid of falling asleep in class, so Dr Cannon bought us all glasses with eyes so we could fall asleep safely without the instructor noticing  :)

I got an award!

it's really not that exciting because we all got awards, but whatever

We have the best doctors!

Dr Stevens & Dr Cannon

Everyone in the Spank!

It's surprisingly roomy!

We went out to eat for every meal. I don't want to eat anything for the next week.

First time at Jo's Crab Shack

Saturday night we went to see this movie:

I love our office  :)

again, this picture was forced

It's good to be home  :)

Once upon a time....

We went on a walk!

Yes, this was back in May-ish.

It's fine.

Dreams

Trying to find my "Space Jam"

I feel more like this kid....

TMI

Warning: Boys (and some girls) may not want to read this post, but it really isn't that bad. One day you're going to have to get used to this kind of talk, but if that day is not today, or if you just don't care to know, than I will not be offended if you choose to skip this post. Thank you. 

Remember this post?

Well, here are the promised details:

About four-ish years ago I started have "contractions" as we now so lovingly refer to them as.

Let me be clear: these are not normal cramps.

They come after my period (during I'm usually fine), and it's not every time that it happens. I never know when it's going to happen.

There have been a few times that it got to the point where I had to go home from work.
They called my dad to come pick me up because they didn't even trust me to drive the 5 blocks home.

I missed President Eyrings devotional and instead spent it sprawled on the bathroom floor (you know there is something wrong when I lay on the floor of a public bathroom) That ended up being a very eventful day and is actually a great story (the same day we had this prank pulled on us) but we'll save it for another time  :)  

I went to the doctor when it first started and they just told me it was cramps. They gave me some medicine (which I'm pretty sure is more of a placebo than anything) and sent me on my way. I felt stupid for making such a big deal about it, so I just dealt with it.
Surprisingly, things started to calm down slightly.

This year things started getting bad again. Even worse than before.

I had to have my friends bring me home early from shopping because I was having such bad  "contractions" that it was making me physically sick.

I missed the Super Bowl because of the pain.
I actually started to wonder if my apendix had burst and was seriously considering calling someone to take me to the hospital.

My contractions started waking me up in the night and they would last up to 2 days instead of a few hours like before.

Last month, after another restless night of contractions, I decided I was going to the doctor while it was happening so they couldn't just dismiss me like they did the last time. I went to work and told them I would just be gone for an hour and then I would be back.

I guess that plan didn't really happen....

I went to the doctor and the pain just kept getting worse and worse. Lets just say I pretty much cried through the whole visit. The good news is that everyone took me seriously  :)  They did an ultrasound and found a fibroid. I was told that fibroids aren't uncommon in older women, but for my age and health I was probably in the 1 percentile. Awesome!

Everyone was very good to me and by the end of the visit I was wrapped in a thick heavy blanket, eating crackers, and sipping on a juice box.
I was prescribed Loritab and given a note to take the day off work.

I had told Brie I would be back at work in an hour (which I had already missed by a long shot) and I have this unexplained fear of medicine.
So instead of following doctors orders, I went home and slept for a few hours and then went back to work for the afternoon.
I was achy and sore through the next day, but I was still functioning, so it was fine  :)

Friday, I had an MRI, but it wasn't very conclusive. I was told we would have to do a scope and they were pre-authorize my insurance for surgery. We planned to combine my pre-op appointment with the surgical consultation to speed the process up. My mom came to Logan so she could be with me (thanks mom!) Insurance was figured out. I scheduled the surgery for July 1 and had the week off work for recovery. Everything was lined up!

Then I went to the surgical consultation / pre-op and after talking everything over.... they put me on birth control.
I may still end up needing surgery, but we figured there was no need to jump straight to surgery if it could be fixed with something much simpler.

So please be understanding if I go a tiny bit crazy for a while. It's not my fault  :)

So there you have it! A little anti-climactic and a little TMI, but people have been asking and wanting to know.

Thank you everyone for your concern and support. It has been much appreciated.

My Dad

I have a pretty amazing dad.

Funny

Patient

Optimistic

Supportive 

Thoughtful

Encouraging

Strong in the gospel

Worthy priesthood holder

Always going on adventures

Did I mention that he's patient?

Always putting others before himself

Provides, Presides and Protects our family

Doesn't take himself too seriously, but knows how to when it matters

The list could go on forever!

I think my mom did pretty good for herself.

I hope that one day I am lucky enough to get a guy like my dad.

He has set a high standard, boys!

Happy Fathers Day Dad!

I love you!

less than three

( <3 )