The Kuehnes

Belly Pictures

2012-01-19T15:16:00.011-05:00

14 weeks

19 weeks

23 weeks

33 weeks

37 weeks

38 weeks ( the night before the big day!)

That is one big belly!!

One more week!!

2012-01-18T20:08:00.004-05:00

Well it looks like these babies will be here by the 26th!! I had my 37 week appointment today , which I still can’t believe I’ve made it this far. I have been so nervous this entire pregnancy that I would go into labor too early, but everything has gone perfect!! The doctor scheduled me to be induced next Thursday( Jan 26th) but he said there is a good chance they could come earlier! I’m already dilated to 3cm and 80% thinned out so we will see what happens!! He measured both babies today and baby A (boy) is 6.5lbs and baby B(girl) is 6.0 lbs, so things are looking great!! I can’t wait to meet these babies!! It all still seems pretty surreal; I can’t believe I’m going to be a mom!! I absolutely have loved feeling them move around in my belly, which they are constantly doing! But I just can’t wait to actually hold them!!

I haven’t documented my pregnancy very well, so here we go.

-Morning Sickness? I started feeling sick around 6 weeks and it lasted until about 17 weeks. I pretty much just felt nauseous 24/7. Meat grossed me out; I couldn’t eat it, smell it, or look at it. Smells really grossed me out. Leaving dishes in the sink overnight was the worst. As soon as I woke up I could smell it, and it would send me running to the bathroom….. Yeah I don’t miss that at all.

-First time I felt them move? It seems like at 17 weeks is when I first started to feel them move. So exciting!! It has been so fun to feel them get stronger over time. Now I will just sit and watch my belly move around like crazy. These are some active babies, let me tell ya!

-How much weight have I gained? At 37 weeks I have gained 53 lbs! Which is crazy that I’ve gained that much because I haven’t really had cravings. Most of the time I’m not even hungry but I eat because I know I need to. From the beginning I told myself that I would rather gain too much weight than not enough. And it looks like I’ve succeeded! Hahaha!

-Have I been able to work out? I haven’t worked out in FOREVER!! I am probably the most paranoid pregnant lady EVER. A month before doing In-vitro they told me I had to stop working out until I was around 9 weeks and then I could start working out again. But I decided I didn’t want to take any chances, because with both of my miscarriages I worked out the whole time so this time I didn’t think it was worth it. So yes, I am SOOO out of shape, seriously just changing my clothes makes me sweat, I have to sit down after to catch my breath….. But really, just talking gets me out of breath.

-Acid reflux? Yes. I constantly have acid reflux; this is one thing I will definitely not miss…… My throat feels like it’s always on fire.

-Bed Rest? I have been so lucky to not have to go on bed rest. At around 20 wks I did stop working though because I would get SUPER lightheaded doing hair. A few times I had to stop and lay down in the middle of the salon because I felt like I was going to pass out. Sitting down didn’t help, I had to lay down. So picture a client in my chair and me lying on the floor with my feet propped up. Yes, super embarrassing. Luckily my clients were cool and totally understood. But after the 3rd time of that happening I decided it was time to call it quits and I stopped working. Technically I wasn’t ever put on bed rest, but once I stopped working I pretty much just hung out at home and took it easy. I tried not to go shopping or be on my feet for too long, because whenever I was on my feet too long I would start having a lot of Braxton hicks contractions and feel really light headed. I guess I kind of put myself on a mild version of bed rest. Luckily Cam has been amazing and has done all the grocery shopping in the last few months because it was hard for me to be on my feet for very long. And he hasn’t complained about it once, he is awesome!

- My favorite maternity clothes are big baggy sweats and Cam’s t-shirts . Not much else fits my XL belly. And I hate maternity pants they are the worst.

- I pee like crazy, seriously every hour or so. I’m lucky if I can make it 2 hours at night. Fun times. But well worth it!

- I sometimes forget how big my belly is. I tend to get stuck in between stuff. Like our kitchen chairs and the wall because I think I can squeeze inbetween them when in reality I’m way too big. The other day we parked too close to another car and I got stuck trying to get out because I couldn’t open the door wide enough…

-Any problems? Once again we have been so lucky to not have any complications with this pregnancy. I did get anemic, hence the feeling like I was going to faint at work. So the doctor put me on an iron supplement and that has helped tons.

We did have one little scare that luckily ended up being nothing. I think it was at 27 weeks. I had just finished vacuuming the house when I went to the bathroom and was bleeding and I also had been having a lot of stomach discomfort. So I called the doctor and they told me to go to the hospital to have a non-stress test done. It actually ended up being kind of a funny story…. They hooked me up to the monitors to check the babies heart beats and to see if I was having contractions. The monitor showed that I was having some contractions. The nurse asked me if any of them were painful and I told her “ I don’t think so but I think I might have a high tolerance for pain”, so because I was having contractions they gave me a shot ( I can’t remember what the medicine was) that was suppose to stop any contractions. They gave me the shot and within 10 minutes I started having a weird reaction to the medicine. I got really hot, started feeling dizzy , I couldn’t breathe very well, I was shaky and the room was spinning and I couldn’t see very well. Which Cam laughed about later because I was freaking out and I kept saying…” something’s wrong I feel like I can’t see anything” and I guess while I was saying that he put up two fingers and said” How many fingers am I holding up?” and I immediately said, “two”, So I guess I wasn’t as blind as I was making it sound….hahaha. So I had Cam go get the nurse but he couldn’t find one, it seriously took about 20 minutes for a nurse to show up. I thought I was going to die. Once she came she had me put the oxygen mask on and lay on my side. And slowly I started feeling better. But it was the weirdest thing. The funny part was, she said it’s not very often that someone reacts to that medicine. And here I am feeling like I was going to die, after I had just told her that I had a high tolerance for pain. HA. She probably thought I was crazy. Anyway, so everything ended up being fine, the doctor said I probably just over did it when I was cleaning the house. After that I hired a maid to come clean every two weeks so that I don’t have to and it has been wonderful!!

I'll post some belly pics tomorrow.

The Nursery!!

2012-01-04T16:07:00.036-05:00

The nursery is all put together!! Now we are just waiting on those little babies! I'm 35 weeks today!! I think they are going to make their appearances around 37 weeks..... at least I'm hoping to make it that far. I have my next doc appointment tomorrow, so we will see what he says. I can't even describe how excited we are!!

You Are My World sign: Urban Outfitters

Lamp: Target

Elephant bank: Uraban Outfitters

Fabric for quilts and crib skirts: www.quiltcrossing.com/ and http://www.stitchinpost.com/

Crib skirt pattern:http://sew4home.com/projects/bed-linens/907-citron-a-gray-nursery-4

Chevron Fabric:http://www.spoonflower.com/fabric/740687

Owl Bank: Urban Outfitters

Ceramic Owl: Etsy, http://www.etsy.com/shop/DoctorMud?ref=seller_info

Fillsta pendant lamp: Ikea

Tree decal: Etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop/SimpleShapes?ref=seller_info

Rug: Walmart

Owl Pictures: TjMax

Banner: left over fabric from quilts and crib skirts

White paper lanterns: weddingshop.theknot.com

I'm back!

2011-12-11T22:02:00.004-05:00

It's been a long time since I last blogged, but I want to get back into the habit of it so I can document everything with my babies and use this more as a journal. I also am planning on printing off my blog, since i haven't done that before. But I want to add a few things before I do that. When we did in-vitro I wrote down a lot of the process so that I wouldn't forget, so I'm going to add those journal entries on here.

5/18/11
The last month or so we have been in the process of in-vitro. We did 6 rounds of IUI with no luck and decided that it was time for the next step. In the last month I have been on lots of meds and giving myself shots everyday. Fun times. Two days ago was an exciting day…it was the last shot I had to give myself! WOOHOO! At first I didn’t mind giving myself shots, but soon my stomach became super sore from the daily shots, it was hard to find a spot that wasn’t bruised. So, yes I'm happy to be done with that. But I guess even though I hated the shots, the idea of what the medicine is able to do, really amazes me. I am so thankful for modern medicine! So the medicine I was taking was Lupron( 10 units), Bravelle (3amps), Menopur(1amp). The lupron kept my body from ovulating until I needed to. The Bravelle and Menopur made more follicles grow and made them grow larger. The last week I went in daily for ultrasounds and blood work to check and see if the follicle had matured enough. They like to have 2 or more at 18mm. Finally when the follicles were mature they had me do the HCG trigger shot( which was my last shot Hooray!) This is what triggers ovulation. The doctor's office then scheduled the egg retrieval for 36 hours after I took the HCG shot. The timing on this is super important. Today was the retrieval and it went great, well besides me being all loopy from the anesthesia… haha! They retrieved 13 eggs and an hour or so after, they fertilized the egg with the sperm. They did what’s called an ICSI (Intra Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection) which makes for a better chance of the egg being fertilized because they actually inject the sperm into the egg. So now all I can do is pray that things go well in the lab. I should be getting a call tomorrow and the next day with updates on the fertilization. So, the next step is the embryo transfer. This will happen in either 3 or 5 days depending on how the embryo is maturing. Once the transfer is done I have 3 days of bed rest to help with the implantation. My friend told me to eat a lot of fatty foods to help with the implantation and that is exactly what I intend on doing! :)Anything for that baby, right? So now it’s just a waiting game until the transfer and then after the transfer another waiting game. I go in 8 days after the transfer and then 2 days after that for an HCG test to see if I’m preggo!! I sure am learning how to be patient through all this. I feel like my testimony has grown so much in the last few months. Maybe I’m just trying to prepare myself for whatever lies ahead. For a long time I allowed myself to be bitter about this trial, it was starting to take over my life. I had the “why me” mentality a lot and I was easily forgetting all the many blessing I do have. I really am so very blessed and I know I will have children someday, but I need to keep being patient and wait on my Heavenly Father and continue to have faith in his plan for me. Pres. Monson said, “ Fear not. Be of good cheer. The future is as bright as your faith.” I absolute love those words, how comforting and encouraging they are. The Lord will not give us a trial that we are not able to handle. A friend of mine was saying, that she feels that as we are given trials no matter how big or small, we learn how to deal with them. If we were to get together with all of our neighbors and everyone threw their trails out there for all to hear, there would be a good chance you would fight to keep your own trial. And I think that is because we do learn how to deal with them and our Heavenly Father provides us with the strength to get through them. As much as a hate my trial I can honestly say I’m thankful for it because I think it is making me a better, stronger person which will hopefully make me a better parent someday.

5/23/11
Today is the big day! Transfer Day! This is where they transfer the embryo into the uterus. So far everything has been going really well. I got a call on Thur, the day after the egg retrieval, from the lab. 10 of the 13 eggs were mature and all 10 fertilized!! Woohoo! They said they would call Sat morning to let us know if the transfer would be on sat or monday. The transfer usually happens 3 or 5 days after the egg retrieval. Sat morning Dr. Slater called and said she had good news for us. Out of the 10 fertilized eggs 8 have matured well and 5 have matured really well. She said we should wait until monday for the transfer to get a better idea of which ones are the best quality. The way I understand it is that by waiting until day 5 that the embryo grows more cells and is then called a Blastocyst. I read that there are higher success rates with a Blastocyst transfer. When transferring on day 3 on a normal cycle the size of the embryo would normally still be in the fallopian tubes. But by day 5 it would actually be in the uterus. Which make a day 5 transfer more natural for the body and embryo ( I don’t know how accurate that is, that’s just what I have read). Also I guess there is a lower rate of having multiples on a day 5 transfer. So Dr. Slater said that we should transfer 2 embryos and hopefully be able to freeze 2-3! But Ill find out for sure when I go in today for the transfer at 1:00. Oh man, I really hope this works.
So through this whole trial I have learned so much! We really are given trials for a reason. It has taken me a LONG time to understand this. My testimony is constantly being strengthened. The last few day I have been trying to do anything that would help me relax... getting a mani/pedi, reading a book, listening to relaxing music, going to a movie. All of these things were not working as well as I would have thought. I still felt so anxious. But, last night I had Cam give me a blessing and immediately I felt that peace I was searching for! He blessed me that I could be relaxed and that my mind would be at ease. He said that I would be a mother someday whether it would be through this procedure or not. It was such a spiritual experience for me. I am so thankful for the priesthood and the power of a priesthood blessing. It’s truly amazing.

On saturday when I found out that the procedure would be on monday, I posted this news on facebook. I thought maybe a few of my closer friends and family would comment. But I was blown away by all the support I received. All weekend I have been receiving supportive messages from so many people. I get choked up just thinking about the kindness of all of them. I don’t know if they even realized how helpful they have been. The power of prayer is so amazing! I can feel the prayers that are being said on our behalf. I really just feel so loved! During a trial its moments like these that make it bearable! I really am so grateful today!

Another Room Makeover

2011-04-20T03:21:00.017-04:00

I had so much fun putting together my craft room! I love how it turned out! It is such a cheery room. I can't help but smile when I walk into it! The stripes were super easy to do. A friend of mine told me to use a laser level... so worth the $10. Oh and Frog tape is the bomb. It works much better than the regular blue tape. Unfortunately, I ran out of Frog tape when I was doing the stripes because I did all the trim in the room first. So two of the lines look perfect the rest not as good.... so don't look too close.

BEFORE

AFTER

I had been wanting to paint my sewing desk white for the longest time. I just didn't ever do it. I am so glad it finally got a makeover..... It looks way better.

I found this console at the DI for $15 and then painted it this yummy yellow. Now I just need to find a lamp shade to go with the base and hang up the mirror.

2011-04-05T14:35:00.001-04:00

The Ensign this month has a great article about infertility. It talks about four couples and how they maintained faith through their struggle with infertility. I just thought it was so inspirational ,even if you aren’t faced with this same trial I would still recommend reading it. I have already read the article multiple times and highlighted almost everything! I just want to share some of my favorite parts, mainly quotes from the four couples.

• “ God does not leave His children alone in their trials. Never give up, there’s always hope. Heavenly Father always has something in store for us. We have found that over and over again.” - Brad Horrocks

• “ I couldn’t change the infertility, but I could progress in other areas of my life. I finally realized that infertility wasn’t a punishment. It was my refiner’s fire.” – Angie Belnap
“Angie started working through her grief by focusing on aspects of her life she could control rather than on those she couldn’t.”

• “ The tables turned for me, I began to think, ‘Why not me?’ I’m strong enough to handle this,”
-Melody Linton

“Melody knew that with the support of her husband, Curtis, and in the strength of the Lord she could face her challenges.”

• “ It is important to continue to trust in the Lord, even when what is happening isn’t what we want. For awhile I thought if I had enough faith, I would be cured, But sometimes having faith means trusting in and listening to the Lord even when we are not cured, What we want won’t always match what He has planned for us” – Brenda Horrocks

Brenda recalled a Sunday School lesson in which a bishopric member shared an important message about faith- one she’s clung to ever since. He said “When someone has an ailment or an illness and they are healed as the result of a blessing, their faith is being strengthened. But for those who aren’t healed but continue faithful, their faith is being perfected. The first is a faith-promoting experience. The second is faith-perfecting.”

• “ It helped me realize amid a lot of unknowns that I was really blessed to have a husband who is good to me, who loves me, and who is willing to work through this together. It didn’t mean that we got rid of the ups and downs, It didn’t mean that there weren’t times that were scary. But we’ve learned so much and grown much closer because of what we’ve been through.”
– Valerie Hochheiser

• “ I finally realized that infertile wasn’t a punishment, Once I was past the point of anger and bitterness, I was willing to hear the Spirit and receive direction about what we were supposed to do. Of course, that comes at different points for everyone. Infertility was my refiner’s fire. My faith was strengthened through those difficult years,” – Angie Belnap

• “ One of the gospel principles I’ve learned to appreciate through our experience is that Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us,” Sometimes we get caught up in the one-size-fits all mentality, and we feel that our lives should look like other people’s lives. But that’s really not true. Everyone has different trials, and Heavenly Father is aware of those. If we are humble enough to follow the plan He has for us, we’ll be happy.” - Dave Belnap

• “ I Learned that we had to do everything in our power but then ultimately turn it over to Him, Sometimes that means letting Him tell us which direction to go. Other times it’s a matter of choosing a directions and letting Him confirm the decision.” – Valerie Hochheiser

• “ What I would have planned for our life would pale in comparison to what God has given us. What He has in mind for His children is better than anything we could ever design.” -Brenda Horrocks

Our Journey

2011-03-28T00:32:00.002-04:00

April 24th, 2004 is when Cam and I got married, almost 7 years ago! WOW, time sure has flown by! On this special day our journey began. That day if you would have asked me what I thought we would be doing 7 years from now, I’m sure I would have said that we would have one, maybe two kids by then. That’s what I imagined our journey ahead to be. Over the last 7 years I have learned the hard way (two miscarriages and months and months of fertility treatments not working) that things don’t always happen the way we might have planned. But, that doesn’t mean that that is necessarily a bad thing. Through this I have learned how important it is to have faith in my Heavenly Father and His plan for me. It can definitely be a hard thing to do at times, but through experience I know that when I have faith and trust in him I feel a peace come into my life. Unfortunately, I have also experienced the other end, the being bitter end of things. Being bitter and upset at the trial doesn’t help the situation but only makes it worse. So why do it? Easier said than done, right? When we are given a trial we have a choice, we can make the best of it or the worst of it. I’m not saying I’m perfect at this by all means, ask Cam :). Sometimes it’s hard, but I’m trying to always see the positive. I usually give myself one day a month to have a pity party, which is usually the day I find out once again that that months fertility treatment didn’t work. I guess sometimes you just need to have a good cry and let it all out of your system. Then I try to move on and get excited about trying again. This last month we finished our 6th IUI cycle. Still no luck. I had my monthly pity party. But something seemed different this time around. Our plans were that if the 6th IUI cycle didn’t work we would start thinking about other options. Before I found out that this last cycle didn’t work, I felt like if it didn’t work I was going to be completely devastated and lose all hope. But when I got the call from my doctor, I was sad of course, but I felt so hopeful and excited about the future at the same time. I feel like I can finally see the light at the end of a very long tunnel. Either thru IVF or adoption, I can see that there will be an end to this trial, a happy ending! Hopefully sooner than later, but either way I’m excited! The day of my last pity party I felt prompted to look at Ldsfamilyservices.com. I couldn’t stop smiling as I read more about adoption. I read blog after blog of couples who are in the process of adopting or who have adopted in the past. Seeing how excited and happy they are made me feel the same way. I know without a shadow of a doubt that things are going to work out for us. Hopefully IVF will work, but if it doesn’t we will be so excited to start the adoption process! Keep your fingers crossed for us! :) I am so thankful for my Heavenly Father and the love that he has for all of us. Sometimes it is hard to understand why things aren’t going the way we had planned. But I know that if we have faith in him everything will work out.

(I have been debating on posting this for the last month or so. It is really hard for me to open up like this, I guess it makes me nervous to share something so personal because I worry what people will think (it’s kind of an uncomfortable thing for people to talk about and I don’t want this trial to define who I am). It’s something that isn’t talked about much, but so many people are going through it. So, I decided to post this on my blog because through all of this I have found a lot of strength in reading blogs of other couples who are experiencing this same type of thing. It makes me feel like I’m not alone; there are other people who know what I’m going through. So I hope that through my few personal posts about our journey in becoming parents that I can help strengthen someone else.)

Black and White Stripes

2011-02-18T19:45:00.005-05:00

So I got bored with my bedroom decor once again.... awhile ago I made plain black curtains but wasn't a huge fan of them. I had been thinking about black and white striped curtains, but I thought it would look too busy with my bedspread. Then I came across a pic from this cute blog and fell in love with the curtains. So I had to make them! It started out being a fun project, but by the last curtain I felt like a drunk seamstress... I couldn't sew a straight line for the life of me. So Don't look too close at the stitching.

Green Green Green!

2010-10-07T17:17:00.009-04:00

So I like color! And green happens to be my favorite. After I posted my last pictures, I kept thinking how boring the white walls were........ Now, I wouldn't call my walls boring anymore but bright, very bright! Not sure how I feel about this color yet, it's A LOT of green. Like I'm living inside an avocado green. But it's fun for now! And seriously who doesn't like avocados, right? ha!

Oh, and I painted the inside of this shelf and added some handy dandy hardware!

2010-09-26T02:13:00.037-04:00

A couple months ago (wow it's been awhile since I posted anything) we went to SLC for a dental convention. Cam's entire office came, we had a blast. While we were there we went to Music and the Spoken Word . Amazing! I love hearing the choir sing.

We ate at the Mayan with the office staff. YUM!

This was the black tie casino night/ dance party. Our office was dancing it up. I think everyone else there thought we were crazy. But we had fun!

Doesn't Cam look so good in his tux?? I couldn't take my eyes off him! I had a hard time finding a "formal" dress. I would have loved to buy some fancy shmancy gown. That would have been fun! But, not practical. So I bought a dress I would actually wear again. I know.... how boring of me. But I did find some killer shoes that I absolutely LOVE!

I did a little more decorating! This has been my project all summer. I made the curtains and then just bought a few things here and there. I finally but it all together the other day.

This is the upstairs living room.

Guest bedroom

Upstairs Bathroom.

Question: So I decorated this bathroom with green, gray, and white. I was trying to figure out what to put on the wall next to the sinks. I found these three GRAY pictures that I hadn't hung up anywhere yet. I didn't feel like spending any more money so I tried to use something I already had. I think they go color wise, but is it weird to have pictures of us in the guest bathroom? I just remember when we were looking at houses, one house had TONS of personal pictures in the bathrooms. I found it kind of weird. What do you think? Should I keep them
there, or find something else?

The End.

Our House

2010-05-04T22:03:00.027-04:00

I finally got my drapes made!!! So here are some pics of the house. I haven't finished painting and decorating the entire house. Which, honestly,probs won't happen for a long time. But here's what I've got done so far.

The office

Sitting room

(I wish I could say I made the drapes in this room. My mother-in-law made these ones. Isn't she amazing! They are actually the drapes we had in our Philly home. )

Entrance

Master Bedroom

Master Bath

This is the upstairs. We haven't done anything up here yet. One day this will be a movie/game room.

This is our guest room. But, as you can see it's our junk room right now :) I promise if you ever come visit I will clear a small space for you in there.

that's all folks.

Home Sweet Home

2010-04-30T12:40:00.009-04:00

As you can see, I found my camera.... woohoo!!!!

After living in Boise for almost a year, we finally bought a home!!! If you read my last post I did a quick re-cap of the process. In December, we were suppose to close on a house, but it took us longer than expected to secure our loan. We needed one more week and we would have had it all figured out. The bank got impatient and wouldn't wait a week and decided to put it back through the whole short sale process ... ugh. We still could have got it, had we wanted to wait for it all over again. No thank you. Not fun. SO, we started looking at other houses and found the one we just bought. It was bank owned, which the process for bank owned homes goes MUCH faster than a short sale. Everything ended up working out great, and we like this home and the subdivision a lot better than the previous home we were trying to buy. Here are some pictures of the outside.

Once I finish making the rest of my drapes I'll post some pics of the inside.

Pics coming soon...hopefully

2010-04-28T14:01:00.003-04:00

If I were my camera where would I be????? We moved into our house a few weeks ago, which all happened super fast. We found out we had to be out of the house we were renting (the ppl buying it had to close by the end of last month). We found that out on a Sunday and they closed on Tue. Crazy. Fortunately, the same thing ended up happening to us and we had to close by the end of the month too (the house I posted months ago, we gave up on, the short sale was taking too long, even after we thought we had it. So, we ended up house shopping again). Long story short, we found out on a Sunday we had to move out, we packed our stuff and loaded it into four pods on Monday. Homeless for a day, thankfully Cam’s family is awesome and let us stay with them. Mon, we found out from our bank that we needed to close by the end of the month. Tue we closed. Wed cleaned the new house, Thur moved in. And today, four weeks later...I still can't find my camera. I remember when we were packing things putting the camera in a "good place" so I wouldn't forget where it was.........hmmmmm? So.. someday I will post pics.

New Blog

2010-04-26T16:09:00.004-04:00

Working on a new blog.

http://www.keepintheflabaway.blogspot.com/

I love me some Zebra print!!!

2010-02-24T18:45:00.006-05:00

Before:

After:

Cost:

Chair- $5 (yardsale)

Fabric- $17 ( Hobby Lobby-i love you.)

I'm still debating on painting it black? Should I or should I not?

Good stuff

2010-01-27T13:33:00.006-05:00

GOOD SONG!

(push pause on my music playlist)

******************************

SUPER GOOD, recipe!

Belgian Waffles

1 1/2 cups plain flour

1/2 cup cornstarch

2 tbsp cornmeal

1 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3 large eggs

3 tbsp granulated sugar

1 3/4 cups buttermilk

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup (or 1 stick) unsalted butter,melted.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour,cornstarch,cornmeal,baking powder,baking soda, and salt. Set aside mixture. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites. In a mixing bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks from. Add sugar to the egg whites and continue beating until stiff peaks form. Set aside. Whisk together the egg yolks,buttermilk,and vanilla. Use a rubber spatula to stiff the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture, and mix until the dry ingredients are moistened( there will be small lumps, which are fine: do not over-mix). Stir in the melted butter. Fold the egg whites into the mixture until combined. Bake according to your rotary Belgian waffle maker directions.

2010-01-21T01:18:00.018-05:00

Hats,hats and........ more hats. I went to buy one more at Target. And walked out with all these. They lowered the price again. $3.24. I tried really hard to only buy one more but,as you can see, couldn't resist.

I also walked out with this. Very happy about this purchase. I have been looking for the LONGEST time for this style of comforter. The ones I like are usually over $100, which is more than I wanted to spend. I was super excited when I found this 8 piece king comforter set for $60 at Target, normally $80. I Love you Target! The black part is a velvety material, so yummy.

I like them. Their music makes me smile.

This week we are going on a Bavarian/snowboarding getaway to Leavenworth, Wa.

Supposedly, they keep all their holiday lights up until Valentines day!!!

Adios!

Love Her. Love the Dress.

2010-01-19T21:10:00.003-05:00

Isn't this dress amazing? Definitely my fav of the night. How fun would that be to wear beautiful gowns? I want one. But where would I wear one if I had one? Grocery store? Mall? To the gym? Work? Cleaning house? Maybe crash a high school prom? Sorry beautiful, out of control-expensive gown that I will never be able to wear, you don't fit into my lifestyle. boo hoo.

What to blog about?????

2010-01-16T01:18:00.024-05:00

I got nothing. Not a whole lot is going on to blog about. But, I do LOVE reading blogs where people share what some of their favorite things are. I figured I'd give it a shot. Hopefully I don't bore you (as in you three people that still read my blog) too much.

Cam is modeling my burts bees eye cover thingy magig ( what are they called??). I love them. I can sleep a LONG time with those on. But make no mistake Cam is my # 1 fav, not the eye cover thingy magig "wink wink". (Cam read this and wanted to make sure I had him as my #1 fav.)

A Few of my Fav Finds.

Chicken Pot Pie Recipe

( Don't you wish you could make your Chicken pot pie look this pretty? Me too. That's why I googled this picture.)

Chicken Pot Pie

1-15 oz pkg. pie crusts

1-3 cups cooked, cubed chicken or turkey
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup flour

1/3 cup chopped onion

3/4 tsp. salt

1/3 tsp. pepper

1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup milk
2 cups mixed veggies

Heat oven to 425. Place one pie crust in 9" pie plate.

In med. saucepan melt butter over med. heat. Add onions; cook until tender,about 2 mins. Stir in flour,salt,and pepper. Cook stirring constantly until mixture is bubbly. Remove from heat. Stir in broth and milk. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 min. Stir in meat and veggies. remove from heat. Spoon mixture over crust. Place second crust over filling;flute edge. Cut slits in several places. Bake 425 for 35-40 min or until crust is golden brown.

Then Enjoy! Yum!

HatPhones
One word- Awesome. Having speakers in your beanie is such a genius idea. Love them.

Moroccan Oil
I'm a hair product junky! This stuff rocks. It will make your hair silky smooth.

Dust It : aka- magical powder.
Want Idaho/Utah hair (Lots and lots of volume) use this!!!

Sprinkle a little bit over where you back comb,rub it in. Instant volume that stays all day!

I love me some good deals. Old Navy has awesome deals this time of year on coats.

Old Navy-$22

-Old Navy $30. (I got it last year, so they probs don't have anymore of this one)

-Purple Hat $6 at Target. They have tons of other cute colors.

Hunger Games.
You must read these books. So GOOD!

Son of Rambow. Cute Cute movie!

I want this room.

The End.

Merry Christmas!!!

2009-12-26T18:12:00.021-05:00

First of all.... Tricia, I WON!!! I posted before you. mwahahahaha!

I can't believe Christmas is already over. This month flew by! We were so excited to have Cams family here. And it was nice not having to travel anywhere!!! Here are some pictures from our fun-filled Christmas!

Christmas Morning

Cam bought us the New Moon trivia game. Cam is always making fun of the movies. Ironically, he knew more answers than his mom and I. I think he secretly likes the movies.

Sporting my goggles I got for when I'm using my scroll saw.

Happy Birthday to me!!! And I'm not going to lie, I did kiss the cake a few times or maybe even a lot of times! Just kidding, I actually think Robert Pattinson is pretty gross.

I got a scroll saw, I was super excited!!! More crafts here I come!

I hope you all have a happy New Year!!!

Oh, and speaking of New Years Eve... We are going to a theme party "Play on Words". Any good dress-up ideas????

Crafty

2009-11-17T16:49:00.004-05:00

Cam's parents came to visit and while they were here his mom helped me make these cute fall letters. I just love how they turned out. They were pretty easy to make too. Well, that is, if your mother-in-law cuts out the letters for you. I want a scroll saw so I can make more cute stuff. I was thinking about doing SNOW and have the O be a snowman. But I'm not sure how I would make the snowman look cute. Any ideas??

We got together with Cam's aunts and also made these watch bracelets. We had so much fun. Too bad beads are so expensive because I want to make one for every outfit. You jewelry makers out there...were do you buy your beads? Where are they the cheapest?

That's all fokes!

Halloween

2009-11-04T15:39:00.018-05:00

Happy late Halloween post!

(Sorry most of these pictures were taken with my camera phone.)

We drove by this house and I had to take a pic of all those Jack-O'-Lanterns lit up.

Cam trying to look like the pumpkin he just carved.

Decorating yummy cookies.

On Halloween night there was a house in Boise that was doing a big "Thriller" production. It was awesome. They had professional make-up on and I'm pretty sure they were professional dancers too. (Once again, pictures were taken with my phone. Sorry )

We went to Cam's uncles big Halloween party. We decided to dress up as his aunt and uncle from the 80's. We thought it was pretty funny considering we are always making fun of them and their 80's music that they still listen too. We found this sweet wig that looks like his uncles hair. Then Cam made the B-52's shirt with a picture on the back of his uncle in high school. He carried around a walk-man with head phones playing WHAM all night. It was hilarious! It's hard to tell in the picture but my hair was huge. Huge bangs and a sweet side ponytail. I also had awesome leg warmers with bright pink heals. We had so much fun, I love dressing up.

Here's Cam doing his thang. We were playing a game where we tied a balloon to each of our legs and had to try to pop each others balloons. But, instead of really playing the game, Cam just put his head phones on and started dancing around the room with his 80's glowsticks. I was dying,it was so funny. I wish I had video of it.

THE END.

Recent Projects

2009-09-25T14:40:00.011-04:00

I always forget to take before pics. Halfway through this project after I sanded the whole thing and started painting I remembered to take a pic. Unfortunately, I forget on the other two things that I refinished. So, just imagine that the other two looked similar to this before I sanded and painted them.

Before

After

I love the curves on this table.

My actual plans for the chairs are to put them around my dinning room table. But I still need to refinish some more chair. This picture kind of gives you an idea of what it will look like. I can't decide if I should stick with those two colors or do a different color for each chair, any ideas? Oh, and I am also thinking about painting the table completely white. What do you think?

Fun in Portland.

2009-09-22T01:33:00.013-04:00

While we were in Portland we had breakfast at the Carver Cafe', which is the cafe in the movie Twilight. Then we went to the location where they filmed the CHEESIEST part of the movie. I'm sure you all know what I'm referring to. Where Edward shows his sparkling skin to Bella. When I think of that scene it almost makes me gag. But, it was cool to see where they filmed, even though I wasn't a huge fan of the movie. I did really like the books though, and I'm hoping this next movie is mucho better.

(Check out my Aloha pants, another Hawaii thrift store find. I think they are pretty cool.)

They had markers to show where each scene location was.

Crown Point at the Columbia River Gorge

Oneonta Gorge

You have to hike through water to get back to the waterfall. The water was FREEZING cold.

Here we are trying to dunk each other in the freezing cold water.

BBBBRRRRRRRRR!!!!!! The water wasn't quite the same as the water in Hawaii. Actually, I should say RRRRRRRR... cuz this picture looks like I'm trying to attack the person taking the picture.(sorry,kind of a scary picture of me.) But Cam, he definately looks cold.

THE END.

ALOHA!

2009-09-21T14:34:00.027-04:00

Here are some pics from our trip to Hawaii.

I thought this was such a pretty sailboat.

Our hotel on Waikiki beach

Hanauma Bay. This place is awesome for snorkeling!

This is the Luau at the Polynesian Culture Center.

We loved the PCC. It was fun visiting the 8 Island villages.

Me getting a fake tattoo at the PCC.

The Laie Hawaii Temple. Beautiful!

Grabbing a bite to eat after being beach bums all day. It's a tuff life but someones got to do it.

Here are our awesome Hawaii thrift store finds. The thrift stores there rock! Besides our shoes, actually cam got his at a garage sale, the rest of our attire are thrifty finds.

Blue steeling it up.

The sunsets were amazing.

This is on the road to Hana on Maui. If you ever get the chance to do this, do it. This road takes you to the back side of the Island, were there aren't any resort. It was by far the prettiest part of the island. I probably took 500 pics of scenery on this drive.

It was awesome having a jeep for the drive, because we had the top of the jeep off and stood up pretty much the whole time.

Cam's aunt and uncle are such fun vacation buddies.

Take Shape For Life

2009-08-10T14:28:00.008-04:00

Cam and I are so excited about the "Take Shape For Life" program, which is a program that assists people in losing weight, maintaining that weight and reaching their all time goal of optimal health. This program has been recommended by over 15,000 physicians since 1980 for their patience as a weight loss guide. Cam's dental office is focused on helping people with TMJ problems and they also deal with a lot of sleep apnea patients. They make appliances for their sleep patience for them to wear at night. The appliance aligns their jaw to allow their air-passage way to open more fully, which helps with sleep apnea because they are able to breath better when they sleep. They have incorporated the "Take Shape For Life" program into their practice, because losing weight goes hand in hand with helping their sleep apnea patients. Not only are they incorporating it into their practice but we are spreading the word to everyone about this health program, because we have seen how successful it is. We have met first hand many people who have found success through this program. Whether it be 10, 20, 50 or 100+ pounds. Not only do they lose the weight, they keep it off and learn how to make healthy life choices.

There are three phases of the program: weight loss, transitioning, and maintenance.

The first phase is a step by step guide to lose the weight. Once you lose the weight you begin transitioning foods that were not allowed during the weight loss portion back into your diet. The last phase, and MOST IMPORTANT phase, is maintenance. Unlike a lot of weight loss programs out there, this teaches you how to maintain your weight and not gain those pounds back.

The weight-loss phase (the first phase) incorporates nutritious pre-portioned, easy-to-prepare meal replacements that are delivered right to your door; you are still allowed to cook one meal on your own a day. It is a 5 and 1 plan, so you will be eating six small, nutritious meals throughout the day. Eating one meal every 2-3 hours is great for your metabolism. Five of the meals will be the "Medifast" pre-portioned meal replacement meals. Then you get one "Lean and Green" meal, which is something you prepare yourself. This would include: a lean meat (chicken, fish, egg beaters, lean beef, etc.) and three servings of green, non-starchy vegetables. You will learn how to eat small healthy meals throughout the day rather than three large meals. The "Medifast" meal replacements take the guess work out of counting calories or points and make it easy to lose the weight. And they actually taste good!

Cam and I have already lost weight. In the last couple months I have had a lot going on and I put on 7 pounds, which has been driving me NUTS! My pants were feeling too tight and I just felt uncomfortable. But the first week on the program, I lost 4 pounds and Cam lost 8. The meals are low fat and low-glycemic, and the carbs to protein ration is 1:1. So you are still consuming carbs, but not at as high of a rate as you normally would. The low rate of sugar, carbs, and fat in this diet allows your body to burn your fat storage faster. If you stick to the diet plan after the first 3-4 days your body will go into a state of ketosis (a fat burning state),where you are able to burn more fat than normal. This means losing weight at a faster rate! The first couple days tend to be a little difficult because your body is adjusting to the program. At first, I felt a little hungry in between meals and had a few headaches, but by the third day (once I was in the fat-burning state), I felt great. The meals are formulated with the right amout of protein and fiber to keep you feeling satisfied. The scale alone will keep you motivated as the numbers keep dropping. Women on average lose 2-5 pounds a week and men lose 3-7. Medically proven studies done by Jones Hopkins University show that it is a healthy way to lose weight. It allows you to maintain your muscle mass while losing weight.

This is a great, healthy, convenient and fast weight loss program. If you or anyone you know is interested, give me a call (208-286-5926) or e-mail me at (dr.cameronkuehne@gmail.com). I would love to tell you more about the program. You can also visit my website http://www.cpcidaho.tsfl.com/

Last weekend we went to San Antonio for a dental convention. We set up a “Take Shape For Life” booth and talked to a lot of dentists about doing the weight loss program for themselves. We also spoke with them about incorporating it into their practice to help their patients who suffer from sleep apnea.

Seattle

2009-07-10T13:45:00.017-04:00

About a month or so ago we went to Seattle with Cams aunt and uncle for a dental convention. It was my first time in Seattle and I just LOVED it. Such a pretty city.

This is at the top of the Space Needle. It was such an amazing view, but super windy.

Pike Place Market.

Playing the bagpipes.

We went on a dinner cruise with the other dentists at the convention. The cruise took us out on the Puget Sound. It was so fun. As we were eating we could see the Seattle skyline. They took pics of every couple before we entered the boat.... so here is our "prom" pic.

Cam's aunt and uncle.

Thank You

2009-07-09T23:09:00.002-04:00

I just wanted to thank all of you for your support. I appreciate it so much. I debated on whether or not I should write about the miscarriage because it is so personal. But, I’m glad that I did, because your kind words and advice have really helped me out in the last couple weeks. It’s amazing the strength we have felt through your prayers. Thank you so much.

Count Your Many Blessings

2009-06-26T12:15:00.007-04:00

In the last week I have realized how important it is to remember everything that Heavenly Father has blessed us with. My list right now goes on and on. When I am faced with a trial if I try to focus my attention on the positive things in life and on what I do have, rather than on what I don’t, I always feel so much better.

In the last couple of months Cam and I have had so many great things happen. Cam graduated from Dental school. We were able to sell our house extremely fast and our move went very smoothly. It has been sad leaving our great friends and ward family in Philly,we miss you guys, but we are so happy to be back in the west. On our road trip back to Idaho, we were able to go to Nauvoo. Which was such an amazing experience and a testimony builder for me. Through the example of the Pioneers I have learned more of the love Heavenly Father has for us and that his plan might not always be our plan, but if we have faith in him we will be strengthened and can endure anything. After Nauvoo we traveled to Yellowstone. We were SO excited to see mountains and not just hills. We spent a few days there and just enjoyed the beautiful outdoors and wildlife. We saw herds and herds of buffalo, it was amazing. Now that we are in Idaho we have been able to spend time with our family here. It’s so nice to be home again. Cam has been working for over a month and just loves his job. We moved into a house that we are renting. We have enjoyed using our free time looking at houses, hopefully we will buy one soon. And to top it all off, a couple weeks before we left Philly, we found out some great news, that we were pregnant.YAY!!!! At first we couldn’t believe it. We had been trying for over 2 years with no luck. With the counsel of my doctor and some good friends I decided to try a fertility drug, Clomid. In April, I started my first cycle of Clomid and a month later we found out we were pregnant. I can’t even express how grateful we were to find out this news; a weight was lifted off my shoulders. Unfortunately, this week has been hard for us. This last Sunday when I thought I was 10 weeks along I began spotting. Tue we went to the Doctor and found out we had had a miscarriage about 3 weeks prior and that my body was just now starting to react to it. Our doctor told us we should wait a few months and then he will put me right back on Clomid. It has been mentally and physically a tough week but I know that we are given trials for a reason. And as hard as this has been we have so much hope right now. A few months ago I was beginning to think we wouldn’t ever be able to get pregnant. But we did!!! And we are excited and feeling extremely positive about the future and all the blessing that still lie ahead.

Graduation!!!

2009-05-15T07:53:00.020-04:00

Yesterday, Cam or should I say DR. Cameron A. Kuehne, graduated from dental school. I'm so proud of him and all of his hard work. We were joking about him graduating from the 22nd grade. He put in many years of schooling and at times it seemed like it would never end, but his years of hard work paid off..... because he is done. HALLELUJAH!!!! I love you Cam! Congrats!!!

I'm glad my mom was able to share this special day with us.

This is the theatre where the graduation was held. It's was pretty amazing.

On to the next chapter of our lives. We are moving to Boise next weekend. Cam has a job all lined up with his uncle. We recieved an e-mail from his uncle yesterday with these pictures of the office. Pretty exciting!

Philly Fridays

2009-04-09T18:17:00.038-04:00

OUR FAVORITE PHILLY/NYC FOODS

...............OH HOW WE WILL MISS YOU DEARLY.

If you know me very well, you know that I'm not much of a cook. We tend to eat-out a lot and I mean A LOT more than we should. It would make sense to say that most of the places we will miss the most in Philly happen to be places we like to eat at. Oh how sad are we? Does Boise provide yummy food?? I hear they have a"Philly Cheesesteak" place. I don't know.....kind of nervous about that one. I might actually miss using the Philly lingo," I want a steak WIT WIZ". WIT meaning with onions. WIZ meaning with cheese wiz. It sounds gross, I will be the first one to admit that. But, boy is it delicious!

Rita's.... I love you!!! Your custard(loaded with rainbow sprinkles) makes me smile!!!

I rant-and-rave about this place ALL THE TIME. Juniors!!! We love you too , why can't you be in Boise???

You can't go to NYC without eating roasted peanuts at the Nuts 4 Nuts stands. SOOOO good!!! Doesn't my face tell it all? Yes, I was super excited to eat those scrumptious things.

PHILLY CHEESE STEAKS. A sandwich of greasy goodness.

I like Geno's steaks. Cam likes Pat's.

Oh, Reading Terminal Market you smell so delicious all the time. We will miss our cute "Dutch Eating Place". The greatest blueberry pancakes on earth. Seriously, amazing!!!

Going to our favorite Pho (Vietnamese soup) restaurant reminds me of the tv show CHEERS. "Sometimes you want to go. Where everybody knows your name". Well, not exactly, considering they really don't know our names. But, they know who we are , because we come in SO much!We always get the same waiter and he remembers we like water not tea. I will miss you waiter(OK, i don't know HIS name either. This is nothing like Cheers, what was i thinking). Anyways, I LOVE PHO.

Labertville Station. How can I EVER forget you... and the crazy, stalker-ish group of girls roaming the town causing all sorts of mayhem. I will always have nightmares of that day. When Cam and I were stalked. It was 2 years ago , April 24th to be exact, our 3 year anniversary. We were enjoying ourselves, walking around the cute stores in Lambertville on our way to the Lambertville Sation for dinner, when we saw a gang of unruly looking girls surrounding our car. Drawing on it with their lipstick. We were scared for our lives....... Cam scram like a little girl in fear. But, other than being stalked by girls in our ward(unruly girls..... you know who you are...) we had a great time dining at one of our fav restaurants.

Philly Friday

2009-03-20T10:58:00.022-04:00

WOW.... long time... no post!!!!! Do I still have any readers out there?????

I can't believe Cam and I only have 2 months left here in Philly.... it's so crazy.

I was thinking the other day about all the things I am going to miss about living here.... there really is SO MUCH that I'm sad to leave behind. I have mixed feeling about moving. I am so excited to move back west and be close to our families. But, I am really going to miss our ward family here in Philly and all of the other great people we have met. I realized, as I was doing this post that I haven't taken very many pictures of us with all of our friends here. So watch out.... the camera is coming out!!!! (if i don't have a pic of you now... soon I will):

Stay tuned..... Next Friday.... Our Favorite Philly Foods (even more important then friends is FOOD)

This is one of my running buddies..... sorry Elsa, I don't have a picture of you YET... you better watchout.

I love this picture.... I am so glad they took this.

I am so sad to leave the salon I work at. I love these girls and I'm going to miss them so much!!!

Feed the birds, toppin's a bag. Toppin's, toppin's, toppin's a bag

2008-12-23T10:57:00.049-05:00

Cam and I went to NYC for a few days and had such a great time. On Friday night we saw Mary Poppins on Broadway, which was super cute. I loved every minute of it and would love to see it again.

The next morning I ran in a 15k in Central Park. As you can see there was snow EVERYWHERE, it was a BEAUTIFUL winter wonderland. I absolutely LOVED running in Central Park it was so pretty. I wish I could run there everyday.

Off we go!!!

Waiting for the race to start.

I don't look cold at all, do I????

(sorry, the pics are out of order)

The picture explains it all. LONG DAY!!!!

The BIG PIANO at the toy store,FAO Schwarts. This is the piano that Tom Hanks plays in the movie"BIG."

Rockefeller Center

Times Square.

This is our hotel room. The veiw was awesome.

Central Park.

Ice skating rink in Central Park.

Lego statues at FAO Schwarts.

Bryant Park.

This place was so cute. It was a little Christmas village with tons of cute Christmas shops, iceskating rink, big Christmas tree, and Christmas carolers.

My sister,Mindy, flew into the Laguardia Airport and met up with us in Manhatten. It has been so much fun having her here with us for Christmas

Fifth Avenue

Rockefeller Center.

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This is the Saint Thomas Church on Fifth Avenue. We went to their Christmas Service and listened to their mens/boys choir. They were amazing and the church was beautiful. It totally reminded me of "Home Alone" when he goes to the church and listened to the choir sing.

Sacks Fifth Avenue.

The window displays were alot of fun to look at at all the big stores.

The tree/skating rink at Rockefeller Center

O Little Town of Bethlehem

2008-12-14T23:27:00.017-05:00

We had such a good time at our ward party. The Petersons did an AMAZING job putting everything together. I love this time of year and I love all of the lights, decorations, gift giving, music and FOOD (of course). But, sometimes I find myself getting a little too wrapped up in some of those materialistic aspects of Christmas. As we pretended to be visiting Bethlehem for a night, it really helped me think more about the love of our Savior and the true meaning of this Christmas season. I hope that I can continue to focus on those more important things.

There can't be a party without the Vegas!!! Oh yeah.....and Brigg!!! :)

They asked Cam and his friend, Dan, to be Roman Guards and hand out play coins as people came in so that they could buy their food at the little shops. We put together these costumes and I think they turned out pretty good.

Philadelphia Marathon!!!

2008-11-23T18:44:00.040-05:00

First of all, can I just say BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!! Today, I froze my hinie right off. Seriously, I couldn't feel it for the first 5 miles, someone could have grabbed it and I would never have know. "TMI" I know, sorry. ANYWAY..moving on... I ran in the Philadelphia Marathon this morning and ,like I said, it was SUPER cold. All week I was debating on wearing tights or shorts????? At the last minute I opted for the shorts, because I would rather be cold then too hot. The first 5 miles were quite COLD and to keep myself from pulling any muscles I ended up running the first few miles much slower than I would have liked, but watcha ya gonna do, right? After about 8 miles I started to feel my legs again and by 15 I was so happy I didn't wear the tights, I would have been too hot. I know, weird, how can someone be TOO hot when it's like 30 degrees out, but it happens. Oh, and there were 18,000 runners, yeah... super crowed,which made the first 5 miles even slower, because it was almost impossible in some areas to pass anyone. But the big crowds do make for a really fun experience and it is probably better to start off too slow then too fast. I also always love seeing the costumes some people wear(6'3 man in a teletubbies zip-up costume with a wig, actually I am not really sure what he was),it makes for a good laugh though. Also, I love how big races bring huge crowds of spectators, because they help motivate us runners SO MUCH, specially at 20 miles when you feel like you are going to hit the wall. The 20th mile mark was in Manayunk and there were TONS of spectators out cheering us on, it was awesome. Those people have no idea how helpful they were in those tough miles. The volunteers for the race were awesome too, they stood out in the freezing cold the entire race handing us water, sports drinks, and energy gels, and boy was I happy they did. Besides the extreme cold ,big crowds of runners at the start of the race and the monster hills, the race went really well and I had lots of fun. What can I say... I love running (I am crazy, huh?). When I finished the race I was so excited and so emotional because I knew that all of my hard work starting from months in advance had paid off. It's really such an amazing experience, and to be surrounded my others(18,000 others) feeling the same way is pretty cool, kind of surreal in a way. I was really happy with my time. I set a PR, I ran the 26.2 miles in 3hours and 50 min, which is about 25 minutes faster than my last marathon and my pace was 8:47 minute miles.

Here are a few pics from this morning. I wasn't even thinking about pictures because I was so cold, so sorry these pictures aren't too exciting. ( I think the first one is actually from last year, but I can't find any on the internet from this year, but you can get an idea of what it was like and how many people were there)

This is the medal all the finishers got.

Here I am heading over to the race area.

After the race with my medal, cool blanket, chattering teeth and purple lips.

That's right we kicked some ASsPHALT. This is the cool shirt we got at the expo in our packets. It's a really nice lycra material, love it, except for it's a mens small that is 10 sizes too big. Dang it.

BIG PROJECT!!!!

2008-11-18T12:59:00.008-05:00

In about 6 months Cam is going to be graduating from Dental School...YAY !!! Which means we will be moving back to Idaho... YAY again!!! (actually I am pretty sad to move, I really Love Philly). Which means we will have to sell our house ...... :( that will be a sad day. Which also means we have to do some final touch-ups/house projects so that we can get as much moola as possible when we sell. Our latest project was the stairs, and oh boy was that a project. We have been working on these babies for the last 2 weeks. Sanding, sanding, more sanding(we had to sand the varnish off of the steps and railing; then staining, staining, and more staining then many coats of paint. It was A LOT of work but we are happy we did it, we love how they turned out. This is before we sanded all the varnish off.

After we sanded all the varnish off the stairs and the skin off our fingers (yes, our poor fingers had to pay the price...... OUCH!!!)

THE FINISHED PROJECT!!!!!!

The Phantom of the Opera

2008-11-06T23:05:00.021-05:00

Last month Cam and I went with his parents to NYC to see a Broadway show,"The Phantom of the Opera". I have been dying to see this musical. It did not disapoint. It was amazing! I have seen the movie so many times and I LOVE all the music. This was my first Broadway play and I can't wait to see another one.

Cams mom and the phantom

The Theatre was AMAZING!

This is the Chandelier after it crashes to the floor at the beginning of the play. I think that was one of my favorite parts.

Here are some other pics from our day in NYC

Central Park

Waiting in line to get our "Phantom of the Opera" tickets.

The Brooklyn Bridge.

Happy Halloween!!!!

2008-10-31T14:07:00.007-04:00

ROCK ON!!!! I LOVE Halloween, we always have so much fun dressing up.

YAY! or NAY!

2008-10-28T15:35:00.013-04:00

I say YAY!!! But what do you think about my recent purchase? Is it me that has strange taste or you?

The other day I was thinking that I don't want to put all my summer skirts away just because the weather is getting cold. So,I went to the store to buy some black tights to wear with some of my skirts,and that's when I fell in love with these babies. (the purple tights)

(Please ignore the nappy/bedhead hair and lack of make-up. COME ON... can't a girl have a lazy day. )

They are SO BRIGHT, FUN(well at least i think they are fun), and did I mention BRIGHT. During the winter I tend to gravitate to wearing a lot of black with some sort of accent colored accessories. So... what better way to add some color than with colored tights. and NO.... these are not part of my Halloween costume, I really do like them,OK! If you share my strange taste go buy yourself a pair of these fun tights. I got mine at Target. And if you don't share my taste, that's OK too.... just take a few minutes to laugh at my purpley purple legs. adios!

More Pics From Barbados!

2008-10-13T13:37:00.043-04:00

Here are some more pics from our trip. While we were in Barbados I had the hardest time sleeping-in every morning. I usually would wake up around 5:30 and couldn't go back to sleep. Instead of just laying awake in bed I would walk out to our beach and read, or take pictures of the beautiful scenery. So here are some randoms pics I took.

This guy was fishing. I was trying to be discrete while taking the picture. If you look close he is looking right at me. OOOps!!! I guess I wasn't discrete enough.

We went snorkeling a few times while we were there. It was so fun. We saw A LOT of ocean life. It was quite amazing!

This was at a shipwreck. These pictures really don't do it justice. We were a couple hundred yards out from the beach and the water was about 40 feet deep yet it was still perfectly clear. The guy in this picture is swimming along the ocean floor 40 feet below us.

These turles where HUGE!!! They were probably around 200 lbs and 6 feet long. Later in the day we swam right with a BUNCH of turles and we actually were able to touch them. Unfortunately we had already used up all the film in our water camera.

Win a Handbag!!!!!

2008-10-08T01:05:00.005-04:00

I LOVE fREE STUFF!!!

gO TO THIS aWESOME website : www.HandbagPlanet.com

You can register to win a handbag and all of the bags are super cute.

chECK iT oUt!!!

Best of Barbados!!!!

2008-10-01T17:08:00.052-04:00

(We took this picture from the airplane) You can actually see part of the beach at our hotel. It is the beach on the far right.)

We had such an amazing time in Barbados. It seriously was paradise. A week of laying out on the beach and swimming in the most beautiful,clear-turquoise water. I really don't think it gets much better than that. Yes, we were pretty much beach hoppers for a week. But the coolest part about the whole thing is.....it only cost us $450 dollars TOTAL. You heard me... $450 baby. In march we found this deal called " Best of Barbados" that the Bajan govt was doing to help out their economy. Both of our flights and a weeks stay at an Ocean front beach hotel for $650. Then they gave us a $200 dollar debit card to be used anywhere on the Island. I'll do the math for you = $450. I know,pretty sweet, huh? When it comes down to it, we figured we couldn't afford not to go. We thought once we got there that there would be some kind of catch,it had to be too good to be true. NOPE. It was all legit.But, this last Tuesday was a sad day.... when we had to pack our things after a week of beaching(is that even a word) and spending money that wasn't really even ours to begin with, to fly home.Back to life back to reality. Which really isn't bad at all, I love my life, but I love my vacation life so much more. To sum it all up, Barbados is beautiful but because it is not feasible for us to ever live there we will definitely LOVE to vacation there again. If we find out that they are doing this deal again next year I will let you all know.

Eating a flying fish cutter sandwich at Cutters!!! YUM!!!

Our rental car was tiny and it was pretty scary having to drive on the other side of the road.

Cam looking pretty hot!!!! NIIIICE!!!!!!

We walked out on this peir (or as the Bajans call it "the jetti") to see the turtles swimming. The sunset was amazing that night!

We were getting into our car and as soon as Cam started it we saw a bunch of monkeys jump out of a tree. So we jumped out of the car and ran after them to try and get some pics.

This one looks pretty scary!!! I don't remember being that close, i must of zoomed in alot!

More pics on the jetti.

Another awesome sunset!!!

We absolutely LOVED our hotel. We had an ocean front room,it was such a beautiful view. Next, to our hotel was the Hilton which was also amazing. We walked to their beach and used their pool and hot tubs. The last season of "The Bachelor" had the final rose ceromony there, where he proposed,at this Hilton.

Our Hotel(the Amarylis).

This was the view from our room.

The Hilton's beach and pool area.

This is Crane beach. It was my favorite. The travel channel voted it as one of the top 10 beaches in the world. The water at most of the beaches was dead calm, but this beach had pretty big waves which made for some fun body surfing. Oh, and all of the cliffs.... Amazing!

Fun Times!!!

2008-09-21T20:15:00.020-04:00

On Sunday I ran in the Philadelphia Distance Run (1/2 marathon). I ran it last year and I absolutely loved it, so I was excited to be able to run in it again. If you are thinking about running one I would definitely recommend doing this one. It is such a fun race!!! I was really happy with my time, I shaved off 12 min from my time last year. I ran it in 1 hour 47 min, averaging 8:10 min miles.I ended up taking 2,852 nd place, but that is out of 13,179 finishers. It is so funny to me when people ask me what place I got. But hey, I was pretty happy with it.

I was so excited that Cam's parents were able to be here for my race.

Saturday we went to the race expo to pick up my race packet. I LOVE going to the expos, it always gets me pumped up for the race. Across the street from where the expo was is our favorite breakfast spot, the Dutch Eating Place at Reading Terminal. OH MY!!! It is delicious!!! I think i have raved about it on my blog a few times. We usually order the blueberry pancakes, and boy are they good and worth every calorie. Ya gotta love carb loading!!!!
.

After all this hard work what better way to celebrate and relax then by speding some time here........

BARBADOS HERE WE COME!!!!!

See Ya SooN!!!!!

I LOVE THE OLYMPICS!!!!

2008-08-16T23:48:00.004-04:00

DID YOU SEE THIS GUY?????

All I can say is WOW!!!! This is seriously amazing to me. It looked like he was jogging the last part of the race and he still wasted EVERYONE.

Yes... I Know... I am a HUGE slacker!!!

2008-07-21T12:37:00.042-04:00

Here are some pictures of what we have been up to recently (well in the last 2 months).

We took a weekend trip to Atlantic City and stayed at the Harrah's casino. If you know Cam, you know that he LOVES finding good deals and what better deal can you find then
$Free 90 free.00 We stayed in an amazing room on like the 40th floor(the building to the left) which normally goes for around $400 dollars a night on weekends. So we were pretty excited that we got it for Frizity Free. Since we didn't spend any money on the room we decided we would treat ourselves to the $ 30 ALL YOU CAN BUFFET!!! I don't remember the last time I ate at a buffet, I normally am not a big fan of eating a weeks worth of calories at one meal. But that day we didn't care and we ate and ate and ate( we had to get our money's worth)........ I seriously felt like that little girl Violet on "Charlie and Chocolate Factory" when I was done eating. We could of used the help of the oompa loompas to roll us back to our hotel room.
( Was anyone else scared of these little guys on the new movie, I know I sure was!)

Last weekend we went to Palmyra for the Hill Cumorah pageant. We also met up with a bunch of our friends from our ward and drove up to Niagara Falls, which was amazing. Cam and I camped out for a few nights with our friends,the Taylors, at a really nice campground called Cayuga lakes which was about 35 minutes from Palmyra.

Maddie got stuck in the chair. Cute, huh?

I absolutely LOVE camping, it is just so nice to be able to get out of the city and relax.

The pageant was amazing. They put so much work into this production in such a short amount of time. I really was so impressed with the amount of ground they covered in 1 1/2 hours.

It was such a humbling experience to be able to see all of the church history sites. I can't wait to go back again someday.

The Sacred Grove.

Joseph Smith Frame Home

Smith Log Home.

These flowers were at the Palmyra Temple. I thought they were so pretty.

Palmyra Temple

Niagara Falls

We rode on the Maid of the Mist. It is a boat that takes you right up to the falls. They handed out panchos for us to wear to keep us from getting completely soaked.

Cam and I went on a walk by where we were camping. We stopped to play on the toys at this playground. We were having a contest to see who could do the most pull-ups. Yeah I did 1/2 of one. I know pretty sad huh?

THE END.

see ya in 2 more months.... :)

Bedroom Makeover!!!

2008-05-18T17:21:00.013-04:00

Recently, I decided I wanted to do some redecorating. I get bored with my decorations really easy and I am always wanting to change or add something to our house decor. I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted to do and which room to do it to ,but I have been itching to do SOMETHING!!! So, I was talking to my mom the other day and she gave me a great idea. I guess she has been to a lot of receptions recently where the colors they used were black and white with an accent color. I just thought that was such a cute idea, and I wish I could go back and change the colors of our wedding to black and white( you could do some really fun stuff... polka dots, stripes, etc....) But, since I can't go back in time and change the colors of our wedding, I thought it would be fun to decorate a room that way. I really wanted to do our family room, but I have already put too much time and money into decorating that, so I ended up doing our bedroom. I am really happy with how it turned out and it worked perfect because we already had a black bed frame and a white bedspread. I went on a shopping trip to my FAV place, Joann's Fabric, I know I am such a nerd, but i could spend the WHOLE day there, I just love it!!! I bought a bunch of cute fabrics to make drapes and pillows. I LOVE making pillows, if you have ever been to my house you would know how crazy I am, because there are pillows EVERYWHERE... yeah... pillow overload. So here are some pics of our new bedroom decor.

The applique flower is my favorite. I saw a pillow like it at Ikea that I really liked, so I tried to save some money by making one similar to it. I wish I could say I made the cylinder shaped pillow, but I bought that one at TJ Max.

I also had a zebra striped pillow ,that I liked, but I don't think Cam liked that one so much, because he kept hiding it from me. hahahahah!!!! So, we compromised a little bit and I ended up just using the zebra fabric in the flower pillow. But, Cam has one of those special memory foam pillows so I think I am going to make a zebra pillowcase just for his pillow, and sew it to it so he can't get rid of it!!!! That will teach him a lesson about hiding my pillows!!!

I think Cam is going to KILL me!!!!

2008-05-08T20:55:00.008-04:00

Ok, so before I started beauty school, Cam made some rules: 1. that I couldn't chop my hair off or, 2. color it green, blue , purple, or any other crazy types of colors. By the time I finished school I think I was the only girl left who still had long hair; and I have now been out of beauty school for 3 years and I still have kept my hair pretty long. I didn't EVER want to cut my hair, because I also like long hair. I did chop my hair off when I was younger (and hated it) and said I would NEVER cut it short again. Well, the last few months I have been much more daring then I thought I would ever be. Every other week I have been cutting a little off at a time, and every time I come home from getting it cut Cam says, " It looks good (just because he knows he has to be nice, he really likes long hair better) but don't cut anymore off." Then I tell him, " I know this is the shortest I am planning on going.".....yeah right........ Then a week later what do I do? I walk into the house AGAIN, with a shorter haircut, and we go through the same conversation every time. On Tue I decided once again to get my hair cut. When I got home Cam said he liked it, but jokingly he also said, "Did you want me to help you speed up this whole haircutting process and buzz it off, since I think that is where you are going with this." This time I promised him I wouldn't go any shorter. But hey, I figure he had a fullet so I am entitled to do anything with my hair!!! right??? hahaha! I will definitely grow my hair long someday, but for now I really LOVE having short hair, it's super fun.

Here is a picture of my hair a little over a year ago.....

and this is my short/blonde hair now.

Allison, thanks again for doing my hair, you're the best!

SO HAPPY TOGETHER!!!

2008-04-24T12:16:00.004-04:00

Today is our 4 year anniversary, I can't believe how fast time has flown. It seriously seems like we were just dating but I couldn't imagine my life without Cam and I wouldn't ever want to. He is such a great husband and we have had a wonderful 4 years together and I am excited for the many more wonderful years to come.

Cam took the day off from school and we went to the beach to enjoy the beautiful weather.

After hang'n out at the beach Cam took me to dinner at this yummy Italian restaurant "Di Beni". For dessert we had cannolis, which were absolutely amazing. I don't think I had ever had cannolis before but everytime we watch "Everybody Loves Raymond"(one of our fav shows) they talk about how good they are, so when we saw them on the menu we thought we would give them a shot.

More pics!!!

2008-04-20T00:25:00.017-04:00

Here are some pictures from our trip to NYC. Cam and I have been there 7 times now, and every time we go we always have such a great time.

When we go to NYC we drive from Philly to Staten Island and then we take the ferry across the river to Manhatten. This way we get to see the Statue of liberty and the skyline.

This is at the corner of Broadway and Wall street. Just to the right of where we are standing is where the New York Stock Exchange is.

CRACK KILLS!!!! The reasoning for this picture was actually for the purses, but not until I got home did I realize how beautiful the picture really was. I LOVE going to Canal St. where they sell all the knock-off purses,watches, etc. . . I think it's fun and funny trying to barter prices with them.

Here we are on the subway after I bought a purse on Canal St. I was so mad, because the lady I bought it from, was SO STUBBORN, she refused to go down in price. I wanted to just leave because she was so mean, but I loved the purse so I had to give in. Darn it!

I am not too sure what this place is, but I do LOVE bargains and I do WISH i was a millionaire.

We were so excited to eat at the "Hello Deli" right next to the Late Show theatre, but it was already closed when we got there.

If you are ever in NYC you HAVE to go to Juniors for their cheesecake. It is A- mazing. No matter how much food we eat on our trips to NYC we ALWAYS stop and eat some cheesecake there.

This is on the Staten Island ferry after our long but fun day in NYC. The picture didn't turn out very well,but those lights in the back are the NYC skyline.

Yea!!! My parents are here in Philly!!!!!!

2008-04-16T23:23:00.021-04:00

I have been so excited for my parents to come visit. This is their first trip to Philly so we have a lot of site seeing planned. Even though I sometimes tend to trash talk Philly, I really do love it here and I am so excited to show my parents around the area. Wednesday we drove to Chestnut Hill. It is a cute little town right outside of Philly. We walked through the cute shops and ate at a yummy sandwich shop.

We also took them to see Chestnut Hill College. This place is so beautiful, it looks like a castle. Pretty cool, huh?

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Yesterday we kept ourselves busy visiting the hisorical sites in Philly. We went to see the Rocky statue at the Art museum. While I was taking a picture of my parents a guy came up to us and asked if we wanted him to take the picture so that we could all be in it. After I handed him the camera, he asked us where we were from, because he saw my CTR ring. It turns out that his wife went to my high school, and her sister was a year younger than me (Katie Tolman). Small world, huh?

This picture is in the Assembly room in Independence Hall. This is where the delgates debated and approved the Declaration of Independence.

We also went to see Independce Hall and the liberty bell.

The tour of Philly wouldn't be complete without eating a Philly cheesesteak. We ate at Pat's, which was so yummy!!! This is a picture of Geno's which is another steak place right across the streat from Pats.

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Today we took my parents to Reading Terminal and ate breakfast at the "Dutch Eating Place". Cam and I always order the blueberry pancakes. They are seriously to die for, I think I could eat them everyday. So GOOD!!!!

After visiting Reading Terminal Market we drove to Atlantic City.

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There is a really cool water/light show at the mall in Ceasars Palace. It's really neat!

Happy Birthday!!!

2008-04-15T13:46:00.011-04:00

Happy Birthday Cam!!! OK, so his birthday was actually on Sat, but I still wanted to post some pics.

Yes, cam begged and begged for me to use Elmo decorations, hence the Elmo Birthday banner. I know kind of crazy if you ask me!!!:) ( OK so that's all they had at the store, give me a break)

Look at how surprised he looks while opening one of the gifts he ordered for himself .

I try not to be to corny on my blog and Cam would probably rather I didn't talk about him on here. But I just wanted to say how proud I am of him. He is in the middle of finals right now and he is doing a great job. I am always so impressed with him. He really makes dental school seem so easy, because he doesn't ever seem to be stressed out about it or at least he doesn't ever show that he is stressed. I know that if it were me in school, I would be a complete mental case and stressed out all the time. Thanks Cam for working so hard and for being such a great husband and Happy B-day again, a couple days late, love ya!!!

Ok so there is my corniness for the day :)

and now to the rock'n, hip and cool stuff..... a few days ago we got together with some friends , i should say some rock'n friends and played rock band. We are practicing so that we can perform the musical number in church in a few weeks. :) and if i heard right, I think Natalie B might even have a little dance number prepared? Am I right Natalie?????

Long time..... no post!!!!

2008-04-11T12:07:00.010-04:00

Due to crappy Internet service It has been over a month since my last post. Every time I tried to post or use e-mail our Internet decided it wanted to stop working, so I pretty much gave up with this blogging stuff for awhile...... But I decided I would try and post some pictures of us out BBQ'ing in the BEAUTIFUL weather yesterday. We had yummy ribs and fruit (pineapple, strawberries,grapes,cantaloupe) yea... I think I could eat fruit all day everyday. I LOVE the warm weather and I LOVE wearing flip flops and shorts. It's the BEST!!!! Yea.... for spring and summer!!!!!

Check out that hottie!!!!!! Cam worked on our yard yesterday. I know you are all SOOO Jealous of our HUGE hard that we have and you wish you had a yard that big. OK, so we try to compensate for the small yard by making it look as nice as possible. So today cam mowed the lawn, added some land scape lights and planted some flowers. Thanks Cammers for making the yard look nice!!!!

Fun projects!!!

2008-03-06T18:15:00.010-05:00

Here are some pictures of a quilt I recently made. I am a novice quilter so I have a lot to learn, but I absolutely LOVED making this quilt and I am excited to try another one. I got the idea to make this from a quilt that Cam's Mom made for us and I just tried to follow that layout. If you haven't ever made a quilt before, try it, it's so much fun and a lot easier than you might think.

I bought these blocks at Michaels and painted them with red acrylic paint..... total cost... $ 6.50.

This was also real simple and cheap to make. I used a frame that I already had and then bought the letter and flowers in the scrapbook section at Joanns. I attached it all to the front of the glass with hot glue.

Our BIG announcement

2008-02-20T11:31:00.017-05:00

We are PRE......................................................................................
..................................................................................................
...............................................................................................
.............................................................................................
...................................................................................tty
excited about our BIG announcement.

DRUM ROLL PLEASE.....................................

Cam and I started a BAND, a Rock band that is!!!! YEAH!!!!! ( I hope that announcement wasn't to misleading or disappointing :)

We would like to introduce our awesome and very talented band members.

WE have:

Cameron as lead Vocal

Hollie on lead guitar

Cameron on base

Hollie on the drums

And last but not least is Gene Frenkle on the Cow Bell!!!

We haven't named our band yet, but here are some possibilities........ "More Cowbell", "Kuehne Cult", or "Man with Hairy stomach".

(side note: Rock band is kind of funny to me, because people like me with no musical ability whatsoever, end up spending hours playing this game to perfect their fake guitar and drum skills. When really,with all that time I could actually be learning to play a real instrument. But hey, it's fun... and did I mention we are on tour. Yeah,I know pretty cool!)

You are all welcome to join our awesome band. We hold auditions and band practice pretty much when ever Cam isn't at school, Hollie isn't working or when Gene Frenkle isn't shaving his stomach hairs.

2008-01-29T12:11:00.000-05:00

They were Destined to be Fo- llet Friends.

Madison is SO cute!!!

We had our friends,the Taylors, over the other night and Allison decided to try the F0-llet out on her daughter. Pretty cute, huh?

( don't worry ,scissors were not used only water to create the beautiful hairdo.)

It's official

2008-01-26T10:14:00.000-05:00

Cam decided it was time for me to cut his long hair,

short again............................................Well, lets just put it this way........he only let me cut HALF of it short.

As Cam would say: " Business in the front."

"Party in the back."

ITS OFFICIAL........ I'M MARRIED TO A MULLET, or you could call it a FO-LLET(a little bit of both... fohawk and mullet)

Fun craft Ideas

2008-01-20T19:55:00.000-05:00

Here are two crafts that I made this last week. I got both of the ideas from going to craft stores while we were on vacation. I took a lot of pictures on my camera phone of cute ideas that I wish I could share with you, but I don't know how, or if, I can download them to my computer. Maybe I'll eventually figure it out.

This first one is a coffee table tray. This was really easy to make. I bought the wooden tray and letters from Jo-anns and painted them with acrylic paints. Then I cut a piece of scrapbook paper and glued it into the bottom of the tray. Then I just arranged the letters and the candles on the tray.

I saw this picture frame calendar idea and just LOVED it, so I attempted to make my own. I bought the vinyl lines and letters at Michaels craft store( I bought letters for each month). Don't look too close at the lines because I am not really happy with how the lines turned out (kind of crooked). Eventually I will try to make them look better.

I found that permanent markers show up the best on the glass(with water it wipes right off).

We're Back!

2008-01-07T23:49:00.001-05:00

After 3 weeks of visiting our families, eating lots of food, relaxing with NO responsibilities, eating more food and snowboarding(to try to make up for some of that yummy food) we are back in Philly and I am ready to get rid of those extra pounds I brought back with me from constantly eating.

Here are some pics from our vacation......

This first pic is of my Brother ,Scott, and his FIANCE,Amy!!!! He proposed Dec 20th. Congrats Scott and Amy, we are so excited for you!!!!!

This is their cute dog Billy.

Christmas at the Kuehne's

Yes, Santa really did come visit us on Christmas Eve.

Here we are modeling some Christmas gifts we got.

Christmas at the Gneiting's

Amy K and Amy G Rockin out to Guitar Hero!!! This game is SOOOOO addicting.....when Scott and Amy went back to California we were so sad, but sorry Scott and Amy it wasn't because you guys left but because you took Guitar Hero away from us, we really were having withdrawls!!!

When we were little we always wanted a Ronco Food Deyhdrater and this year ( 10 years later) Santa brought us one, we were so excited!!! MORE YUMMY FOOD!!!!!

What a bunch of cute GIRLS!!!! I styled my mom and 2 sisters hair..... oops I mean my husband.( yes that is his real hair, with a little product and a flat iron there's no telling what you can do)

Merry Christmas!!!!

2007-12-14T00:03:00.000-05:00

I was having so much fun blog surfing today, because so many people post pix of their Christmas decorations,and I LOVE it!!! I also found a lot of craft ideas. So here are a couple of the ideas I found and thought I would share.

The first one is a cute magnet Idea. I saw them on someones blog and she did a really cute,more detailed job with hers, but these are the ones I made today. These are really easy to make. I bought wooden stars(you can get a pack of them for like $3.00) then I painted them with black acrylic paint then glued it onto the wrong side of the scrapbook paper and cut out the shape. Then attached the magnet on the back ( i used the sheet adhesive magnets,and cut out the shapes i wanted).

This next idea is so cute , yummy, and easy to make. I found this idea once again from someones blog whom I don't know, and I stole the pic off her blog too because my camera wasn't working ( so hopefully she,I think her name is Nickie, doesn't mind).
SO, this is how you make them.
-bag of Hershey kisses
-bag of mini pretzels
-M&M's
Lay out the pretzels on a cookie sheet, and then place a kiss on each one....put them in a 300 degree oven for about 3-5 minutes. When you see the kisses are shiny and still looking like a kiss...take them out and press the M&M's into each one! Place the cookie sheet in the fridge or freezer for about 10 min. ( I found that dark chocolate looks the best)

I hope you enjoy these ideas that I stole from other peoples blogs :)

Have you found any thing cool while stalking others blogs????

I love seeing other peoples Christmas decorations so I thougth I would post some of the things we put up this year.

Cam's mom made this for us. Isn't it so cute!!! Everyday of the month the star moves closer to the manger, counting down the days until Christmas. Then on Christmas day there is a baby Jesus that we put in the manger.

My mom sent me this nativity as an early Christmas present. It is hard to see in the picture but it is so beautiful and the colors match perfect with my house. Thanks MOM!!!

WINTER WONDER LAND

Cam took me to Longwood Gardens last week. It was really fun, we walked around and looked at all of the lights( they do an amazing job with the lights and decorations). Then we watched some Olympian Ice Skater perform. We had a great time, so if you live in the area I would definitely recommend going there.

Cam and I are taking 3 weeks off (and our vacation starts tomorrow) we will be visiting family in Portland and Rexburg, yaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!! I am so excited!!!!

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas!!!!

The Rexburg Temple

2007-12-09T21:16:00.000-05:00

We are going to the Rexburg Temple open house in a few weeks and I am so excited!!!!!

Isn't it beautiful?????

( When Cam and I were dating we both lived in the apartments ( The Ridge) right next to where the temple is now, I think you can see the apartments in a few of the pics. WOW , that seems like a long time ago....... :)

I know, I know, Thanksgiving was almost 2 weeks ago, so maybe I am a little behind on my blogging.

2007-12-04T23:16:00.000-05:00

This year for Thanksgiving we went to the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade in NYC with our good friends, the Taylors. We ran around the streets of NYC trying to find a place where we could see the parade and finally lucked out with finding this great spot, right at times square. We had a lot of fun and got a lot of close up pictures of the floats.

Here we are taking a picture with Shrek's rearend.

I was so upset because I had the perfect view of Jordan Sparks(American Idol contestant), but as soon as I grabbed my camera she turned around. So here is Jordan Spark's backside.

I love Good Charlotte, so I was so excited that they were in the parade.

These next 3 pics are of Mrs. Angry lady. Mrs. Angry lady is the lady in the crowd with the curly poof ponytail and she has glasses on. I couldn't believe this lady, she started picking a fight with this little lady, she was in her face yelling for at least 5 min. Happy Thanksgiving to you Mrs. Angry at the world lady. I couldn't resist, I had to take a picture, or pictures I should say, of her.

I don't know who these guys are and I felt bad for them because I don't think anyone else knew who they were either.

I think this is Miss America or Miss Universe???

HAHAHAHAH!!!! How ironic, I just noticed Mrs. Crazy lady is in this picture and I think she is STILL yelling at the other lady. Just like the energizer bunny she kept going and going.

The Mystique of running 26.2 miles

2007-11-13T00:18:00.000-05:00

I did it!!! After a lot of hard work and determination, I ran my first marathon. I absolutely LOVED running in the Philadelphia Half Marathon in Sept, and decided that I wanted to run a full marathon. I started training for the Nov 17th Philadelphia marathon, but when I went to register, it had already filled up. I was so disappointed, but I ended up registering for the Harrisburg Marathon, which was such an awesome and beautiful course. I was pretty nervous, since I had to start tapering my workouts a week earlier than planned (because the Harrisburg race was scheduled a week earlier than what I was training for) and I wasn’t able to run my last and longest Saturday long run. But, as soon as they shot the gun to begin the race ( they also had the song “ Hit the road Jack and don’t ya come back no more no more no more no more” blasting on the loud speaker, it was pretty funny) my nervousness was gone and my adrenaline helped me through.

The excitement that you feel from a marathon is so hard to describe. Whether it be the actual mystique of the race, running in a different city, the training for the race, eating pasta and pasta and more pasta, reading motivational marathon books, going to the expo the night before, starting the race with 750 other motivated runners, hearing people you don’t even know cheering you on throughout the race, seeing your husband throughout the race cheering for you, and most importantly crossing the finish line 26.2 miles later with the excitement of knowing all your hard work paid of and that you reached your goal of running a marathon, all make for such a exciting experience (sorry for the extremely LONG run- on sentence).

Cam was so awesome and he really helped make the whole experience so special for me. As soon as I told him I was planning to run in Harrisburg he took it into his own hands to make the weekend plans. That made it so nice, because I didn’t have to worry about anything except for the race. He also surprised me on the drive to Harrisburg with a detour to Hershey, Pa. We weren’t able to stay as long as we would have liked, because I had to get to the expo to get my race packet. But, we did take the Hershey tour and ate some yummy chocolate. Thanks Cammers for being so supportive.

The pic below is at like mile 23...... I just kept saying to myself over and over " You're Almost there, almost there, just a 5 k away from the finish" 4 hours 13 min 55 sec( my actual chip time)/26.2 miles later and I could finaly stop running!!!! yeah!!!!!

Hey look another cape to add to Nachos wardrobe!!!!

Now, for the post race update: I have decided to live on the bottom floor of our home because I am way to sore too even think about walking up the stairs.

Where Dreams Come True

2007-11-09T10:51:00.000-05:00

Cam and I went to Disney World "the place where dreams come true", a couple weeks ago with his family. We had such a great time its always nice to get away and go on vacation, especially when its DISNEY WORLD. I felt like a little kid there and I loved it, no responsibilities and nothing to do but have fun. Through out the trip I took a lot of pictures, and of course I realized that I was completely picture happy and couldn't stop taking pictures of everything. But,not until we got home and I tried to download all the pictures from the camera did I realize how picture happy I really was. I thought maybe 40 pictures would come up( that seems to be a lot for 3 days). Nope,after 40 it kept loading and loading and loading...... I took around 140 pic at Disney World. I know ,I am the crazy picture lady! It didn't seem like that much at the time but if you talked to Cam he would probably say different. Every ride we went to, restaurant, pretty view we passed by, bathroom, garbage can, funny looking people(OK the funny looking people are Cam and I), I would say.... " STOP!I need to get a pic of this". As you can tell I am not a photographer only a crazy tourist so here are A LOT of not so great pics. So I guess deep down I must have been dreaming of being a crazy tourist and taking a million pictures because in Disney World my dream came true.

View Album

Get your own

I know what you're thinking... was that shirt really see through??? NO it wasn't, it was just the flash or something.

Happy Halloween!!!!

2007-10-23T09:55:00.000-04:00

We had a lot of fun getting our costumes ready for the ward Halloween party. Nacho Libre and Napolean are off to DisneyWorld!!! (Maybe, we will wear our costumes into Disneyworld and see how many people try to take pictures with us in our expensive, (not homemade at all) costumes.

I LOVED this episode!!! So Funny!!!!

2007-10-21T13:11:00.000-04:00

Poor Michael Scott. But, this is who he is now, a man on a train with No answers.

"Run away train never coming back.... run away and I am never coming back"

I would love to stay at the Schrute beet farm. But really..... who wouldn't????

ACTUAL ANNOUNCEMENTS TAKEN FROM CHURCH BULLETINS:

2007-10-14T13:38:00.000-04:00

I thought this was pretty funny! (sorry mom for stealing it off your blog :)

ACTUAL ANNOUNCEMENTS TAKEN FROM CHURCH BULLETINS:
* Don't let worry kill you. Let the Church help.
* Thursday night Potluck Supper. Prayer and medication to follow.

* For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.
* Tuesday at 4 pm there will be an ice cream social. All ladies giving milk will please come early.
* This being Easter Sunday, we will ask Mrs. Lewis to come forward and lay an egg on the altar.
* Next Sunday, a special collection will be taken to defray the cost of the new carpet. All those wishing to do something on the new carpet will come forward and get a piece of paper.
* At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be "What is Hell?" Come early and listen to our choir practice.
* Weight Watchers will meet at 7pm at the First Presbyterian Church. Please use large double door at side entrance.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

To me, it sounds like the ladies that don't know that they have kids have maybe participated a little to much in the prayer and MEDICATION idea.

How to Have a Fun Camping Trip

2007-09-26T23:52:00.000-04:00

1. Eating good in the neighborhood (or the woods)

First of all, eating well is always a necessity and when you go camping you don’t have to compromise what you eat. As good as hotdogs are over the campfire, pizza in a Dutch oven is so much better. The pizza was easy to prepare and so yummy!!!

Making breakfast in the morning (mmmm... omelets)

Also, you can’t camp without drinking hot chocolate and eating s'mores.

2. Build your own shelter.
That’s right, we went all out and built our own shelter. Who needs a tent when you have these kind of building skills?(Near where we camped was the Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site. The Government has restored it to what the Iron Plantation would have been like in the 1800's. This little hut is actually where the workers at the Charcoal pits would sleep. )

3.Have an encounter with a spider the size of my head.
The spider really was huge, it looked like a tarantula. I didn’t take a pic, because I was too scared to get that close to it, and I didn’t want to cause any one else to have a nightmare about tarantulas attacking them………….. Like I did, which leads to # 4

4. Have a nightmare that you are sleeping in your tent while the tarantula, bears, and wolves are planning to attack you in your sleep.

5. Cool off in a beautiful lake.
I decided that the water looked so nice that I wanted to jump right in. Ok, I chickened out, and took a picture instead, pretending to jump in. After looking at the picture I realized my acting skills stink, because it looks a lot more like I am doing yoga at the end of the dock.

6. Play your own version of darts, with a hatchet and a tree.

7. Go Boating.
Boating is always fun, but if you aren’t cool enough to have your own boat, just sit in someone else’s boat and pretend it’s yours and that you’re boating and that you’re cool.

8. Gather food to eat.
This is at the Iron Plantation, where we picked apples from the trees in the apple orchard. We also were chased down by the apple orchard guards…. BEES……..
They were everywhere!!! People probably thought we had gone crazy as the bees attacked.

Brian Regan said something similar to this, “I think that Lady just snapped, she was walking normal and then out of nowhere she started screaming and running in circles with her hands flying in the air.”...................................Yep, that was us!!!

9. Cheat with clean up.
Normally when we go camping there isn’t warm running water nearby, but on this trip, within 50 ft of us there were bathrooms, showers, and sinks with warm water. This definitely doesn’t make for the most rugged camping experience, but it sure made clean up a lot easier than normal. I couldn’t complain.

10. There is nothing better than enjoying beautiful Mother Nature.

11. Ruining your pants by sitting in a pile of crap.
After I pretended to jump off the dock, I decided I would sit down on the dock, not knowing yet that I would regret that decision. After enjoying the view on the dock, I sat up and Cam started laughing and said…. “Nice poo on your pants.” I guess I just wanted to add a little color to my boring attire.

12. Last but not least. After a fun filled camping trip it’s always nice to shower and put on clean clothes.

After we got home and cleaned up we headed over to Cams’ basketball game,where he played great, but unfortunately didn’t win.

After the game, as I stood up, I realized that once more I found myself stuck in some nasty slime…. Yuck. Yet again, I ruined another pair of paints.

Note to Self: LOOK BEFORE YOU SIT!!!

Here are 4 things that I have always wanted to do…… and today I finally did them all!

2007-09-16T17:28:00.000-04:00

(sorry this pic is a little random and i didn't mean to place it here... but i can't figure out how to move it to the bottom of my post.)

1. Run a ½ marathon. (Philadelphia Distance Run- Half Marathon)
The race was awesome!!! I had so much fun; it was hard but so worth it. It was my first half marathon so I didn’t know exactly what to expect or what time to hope for. But I was happy that I finished the race under 2 hours without walking or stopping. There were soooo many people there…. 15,000 entered the race…. ya soooo crowded!!!

The course went through a lot of Philadelphia’s historic sites. The start and finish line were at the Philadelphia Art Museum (where Rocky ran up the steps). From the start line we ran towards Center City on the legendary Benjamin Franklin Parkway lined with glorious fountains, international flags, and a vast array of public art. We then passed City Hall and Independence Hall. After heading back up Benjamin Franklin Parkway, the course rolled into the serene and beautiful Fairmount Park along the Schuylkill River before finishing back by the Art Museum. Also, throughout the race they had bands playing, which was awesome, because it really helped motivate us.

Before the race started I was so nervous……. And when you get nervous you know what happens….. You have to PEE!!!! So 10 minutes before the race started I was frantically looking around for a port-a- pottie . Don’t ya love those stinky nasty looking things, I hate them, but needless to say I was happy to finally find one. Well, I guess I was somewhat happy…considering it seemed like the 15,000 other runners were also looking frantically around for one of those nicely kept stinky toilets. So this leads to my second thing that I have always wanted to do and that I did today. . . .

2. WAIT IN A LINE THAT SEEMED TO BE AS LONG AS THE RACE ITSELF JUST TO GO PEE IN A BEAUTIFUL, 5 STAR PORT-A-POTTIE…… YUCK!!! (check out pic below)

3. After the race was over, I finally ran up the Art Museum stairs just like Rocky and we took pictures by the Rocky statue. Yes I know, we are pretty lame, we have lived in Philly for 2 years and just barely did it today. Well, thanks to our new Magellan (Navigation system), we can actually navigate our way downtown without getting lost and suckered on all the retarded one way streets.

4. After the race, we ventured over to the Reading Terminal Market(once again lame.... for not going before), where we ate lots of yummy food and I sat on a huge pumpkin. Enjoy the pics!!!

Warming up for the big race.

Here I am after the race at the finish line showing off my medal and the Bengay packet they gave to all the finishers. They also gave everyone that PARTICIPATED some Spenco Insole sandals. I put emphasis on PARTICIPATED,because some how Cameron ended up with a pair. I Guess he participated by taking pictures.... right!

Longest line EVER for a port-a-pottie. I haven't ever seen that many people needing to pee so badly. We were basically fighting for a spot in line.

I wanted to scream " Adriane!!!!!"

Reading Terminal Market ( the sign is kind of hard to see)

Yummmy in my tummy food!!!!

Sometimes we all just need to sit back and RELAX!!!

2007-09-14T00:20:00.000-04:00

I had my whole day planned out. I would wake up, go running, clean, dust, vacuum, clean the kitchen, mop, make dinner, blah… blah… blah….doesn’t that sound like the perfect day off from work…. Cleaning?

While I was running I started to think about all the good books my mom had sent me recently that I have been wanting to read, but never seemed to make time to actually read them. I was thinking reading a book seemed much more appealing than mopping or cleaning the bathroom. Then, unfortunately, I was distracted as the sidewalk decided it would be fun to jump up and trip clumsy me. As I regained my balance, my mind went back to thinking about all the exciting chores I had planned for the day.

When I got home from my run I started my fun-filled day of cleaning. When I was dusting off the nice books which I had really only used as filler spaces on my bookshelf I remembered how before the side walk attacked me on my run, I was contemplating taking a little time out of my day to read. After I finished dusting, I decided that was exactly what I was going to do… Sit back to read and relax.

I pulled out my recently dusted off book which my mom sent to me a few weeks back. I thought, “I’ll read for an hour and then get back to cleaning.” An hour later I already had become completely enthralled with the book, and when I looked at the clock I was so disappointed that my hour was up. But, I had to find out what happened next, so I figured I would just read a few more pages. Well, that few pages turned into about 50. I looked up at the clock again and then around the room, and decided that the rest of the cleaning would just have to wait. Besides, even if I did clean, I would be doing it all over again next week anyway. I sat back to read, relax and once more ignore all the cleaning I really should probably have been doing. But, honestly I didn’t feel too bad about slacking off, considering I ended up reading 2 books in about 3 days.

In conclusion, I hope I haven’t talked anyone into slacking off on their daily chores, but it never hurts to take a little time to kick back and relax.

Here are the culprits that stole my attention away from my cleaning and cooking( sorry Cam about the not cooking thing).
They really were great books! I am trying to find another good book to read...... if you have any recommendations let me know!!!

( You caught us.... I have to confess we were watching a redneck mullet show..... OK, and I even think the cool bike might be a huffy!!!)

Should I be worried????

2007-08-31T00:31:00.000-04:00

Today I was downstairs and I could hear Cam upstairs yelling, “ Hooooolls!!! Hoooollie!!!”
I yelled back, “Whaaaat!” (As you can tell,we enjoy the whole yelling thing, rather than making the effort to actually walk into the other room.)
Then he yelled, “Where are your hair ties???”
Now I am thinking…. “Hair ties…. Really???… That’s a little odd.”

Next thing I known he is downstairs asking me to put his hair into a ponytail. I couldn’t stop laughing; this was just so funny to me. 15 minutes later he is yelling again, “Hoooolls!!! Hoooollie!!! Where is your lipstick, pink dress and your high heels???” Ok, so maybe that part didn’t happen, he really didn’t ask for my dress, high heels or even the lipstick. But,that would have made for a funny story, well more of a scary, weird, and creepy kind of story.

Anyway, he was really on his way out to play basketball with some friends over at the church and wanted his hair in a ponytail to keep it out of his face. Here are the pictures of Cam with his extremely MANLY hair due. These picture are after he got home from playing…. So he kept it in the whole time. Maybe this will be the next trend; all the girls in the ward better watch out, your husbands might start trying to sport this same due.