Caught.

So my brother's on an LDS mission and I wanted to mail him a Halloween package, right? So I made a quick stop to Rite Aid for some chocolate splendor and some wicked candy so he will love me. I picked him up a bag of brachs pumpkins, the mini bag for $1. I also snuck in a mini-bag for me. Jared has school until 10pm on Wed and Thurs, which is prime time to sneak in a treat. Patience is not one of my strong points, so right when I got in the car I popped the bag open - before dinner, mind you. I astonished myself by how many I was able to eat in the 3 block drive home. Twisted the bag up and headed up to the apartment to make dinner. Then I put my brother's package together, which involved me eating more pumpkins, of course. I spent an hour making a crib skirt, all the while popping one pumpkin in my mouth after another. Until I started getting sick. But I just drank some water and kept eating the pumpkins. They were so gosh darn good! I get a call from Jared telling me he's on his way home. I look guiltily on my wilting pumpkin bag. Only hours ago it was plentiful; now there are only a handful of clumps of dyed-orange-sugar-molded-into-pumpkins left. For the first time in our marriage, I hid something from JO. I quietly tucked the remainder away in my nightstand drawer. I'd finish the bag off the next day so he would never know.

At approximately 10am this morning, I received a text:
Mr Oakden: haha you are too funny
Me: huh?
Mr Oakden: You...
Mr Oakden: I bet Moe is gonna love those pumpkins you got him.
Me: Oh, did you see my stash!?
Mr Oakden: Haha. I went for some of your chapstick. Nice dear.

Blast! I got caught...

I think I just have the urge to write.

But I don't really know what about. If I had a house, I would probably write about how kick-awesome we are for growing a garden and hosting a Halloween party in our 3200 sq ft home. If we had kids, I would write about how messy they are and how one of them said an inappropriate thing today and I was roaring with laughter. If I had an awesome wardrobe, I would probably be a fashion blogger and post for you all my creative outfits with articles from Anthro, JCrew and rock Steve Madden heeled boots. If I lived somewhere that had seasons, I would probably post about apple picking on Friday and the pumpkin patch we went to on Saturday. And if you give a mouse a cookie, don't, give it to me instead. Because I could use some cookies on this bleak overcast Monday.

...My cookies never turn out. The plain chocolate chip kind. I've tried Martha Stewart and Betty Crocker, the fundamental source for cookie baking but none worked. I've researched blog after blog, yet none of them seem to rise. Weird. I keep telling myself that it must be the oven, but the oven cooks everything else just fine but rejects my cookies. Then I think that maybe it has something to do with living 2 miles from the beach and the moisture in the air is affecting my mix?? I'd like my husband to think of his wife as anything BUT a failed baker. So to make up for it I keep buying Nestle's pre-made cookies. What a kick in the ego-pants. I guess I'm done writing now.

Duped.

Are Jared and I the only people who have fallen into the VonTrapp trap?! My whole world has been upset to know that the singing family, comprised of precious children with dainty names and a dashing colonel father and beautiful mother who somehow escaped over the Alps, isn't true? Ok, the midnight venture over the Alps was a bit hard to swallow, but I definitely prefer that to truth that they just rode away in a train, and not even to Switzerland but to Italy! Oh Wikipedia, why did you have to destroy my naive vision with the truth that there were actually 10 children, not 7. And that their names were awful like Agathe, Joanna and Hedwig Maria! Save your eyes from looking at their real pictures; keep your minds pure with images of cute Gretl and Kurt. I know, maybe I was a sucker for Hollywood's limelight on the Von Trapp's, but who would do such a thing and fool us all?! Sure, I guess the Von Trapp story is still noteworthy, but they're just another immigrant family to the US now as far as I'm concerned. I bet there are a million more interesting migrant stories other than an Austrian family who leisurely imported themselves to Italy and took the ferry to Vermont and opened their own little hotel and sang to their guests. Hardly as captivating.

I hope in 20 years I can sell my life off for millions of dollars with an alternate truth. I'll make sure it has catchy tunes and gorgeous children running across the screen too to make it all the more captivating. Maybe Jared and I will be suffering here in the years of Obama's economic depression and we can barely feed our children, and to make a living we all play the fiddle and do the... jive?? [not sure I even know what kind of dance that is, but it sounds like we'll be the life of the party and big screen if it's thrown in there.] Eh, I'll have to give it some time, but in the mean time, I'll try not to come down too hard on the VonTrapp's. I doubt they had much to say in what Hollywood made of them anyways... but still. Cheated, I feel. Cheated.

Hollywood Land

Yes, I saved you all from having to look at my ridiculously disgusting face by replacing it with a loving heart. Much better, no? Jared and I "hiked" the Hollywood sign on Saturday. Quotes are surrounding the verb because I wouldn't really consider it a hike, but rather a gradual winding incline with horse poop infested dirt switchbacks. Nothing really beautiful about it, but we did it in the later afternoon so the sunset was nice. It took us about 30 min to climb to the bottom of the sign, which apparently ends at a neighborhood that we could have driven to and skipped the walking. Oh well. I was kinda disappointed because the closest you can get to the bottom of the sign is by standing a hill away. Helicopters are constantly patrolling the area to make sure no one passes into the restricted zone. You can also climb up the backside of the sign and look down on it by the tower, but we I was too fatigued for that. Perhaps another time. [Trivia for the curious at heart: I just did some googling about the Hollywood sign to see a history of its origins. Hollywood got its name from the wife of the developer who owned the land. Daeida Wilcox gathered the name from a woman she sat beside on the train, who had a summer home she called Hollywood. Wilcox told her husband, who named his subdivision "Hollywood Land." The sign used to read the whole thing, until it was in shambles and Hugh Hefner of all people held an auction in 1977 to restore the sign. Then it just read Hollywood. There you go.]


I celebrated my 24th year of living on this earth last Thursday.
Birthdays were much better when I was in elementary school.

What's in a name?

Before being pregnant, I would ask other pregnant women the infamous question "Do you have a name picked out?" At the time, it didn't seem like that big of a deal to ask. No, I wasn't going to steal the name or anything, and in all sincerity I could care less what that person names their kid. It's not mine, so no matter what the answer they gave, props to them. Pretty much just a conversational element I would toss in there. Now that the game has switched and I'm the one being asked, why do I find it such a bother? #1 - I'm not terrified that someone will steal the name, not in the least. #2 - I don't care if people judge the name, because I already know its awesome. #3 - I am going to name my child ____ no matter what, so what does it matter if I tell them now or when the child is born? #4 - I ask people the question nonchalantly all the time, so what is it if someone does the same to me? It's getting to the weird stage where random strangers are gravitating to my tummy and people less than acquaintances are asking the name of my girl. I don't think it's intrusive in anyway, just funny. I think the real factor of it all is that I feel kinda silly giving a name so openly to a child that is yet unborn. I feel right now that I'm giving a name to just a baby doll, something that isn't 100% real yet, even though she is very much alive and kicking my gut throughout the day. What if something happens and I can't carry her to full-term? Even if that tragically were to happen, then she would still be given the name. So.... yes, Jared and I have a name, a name that we love and pretty sure it will fit this girl perfectly.

...........

..........................

I'm still scared to share for reasons unknown.

Any one else have this dilemma??

Deal

My fam came down this last weekend to get one last hoo-rah in before the boy leaves us. Although we just had Saturday together, it was good quality time. Emerson, you will be missed.

Ok, so I'm hear to share a deal with you all. If you have not taken part in restaurants.com, you really should take advantage. I didn't think the website was real, but let me assure you that all deals are legit. So basically, you can buy a gift card to a restaurant in your area for cheap. Like a $25 gift card for $10, so you're saving $15. Not bad. But the website constantly has promotions like the one we picked up on - a $25 gift card for $2. Yes, $2! We bought 5 gift cards for the value of $125 for $10! That's a steal. And we've already used 3 coupons here, here and here! On Friday we hit up Bread and Porridge, and it was a fantastic meal, where i carried out leftovers and our $43 bill came to $18 [including tip!]. So seriously, check it out. If you type in the promo code FALL right now, you will receive the $25 for $2 deal. Try it!

Observations

Does your family do TL's? My family does. Yesterday I was told the most rewarding TL I have ever received. My mother relayed to me that my uncle observed that I looked happy. And not only happy, but I looked at peace. Seriously, that topped off as the ultimate TL! I'll be honest, I can be a worrisome person. The uncertainty of the future gives me high anxiety. Like, HIGH high anxiety. But amidst all the chaos and confusion I create for myself in my mind, I also pat myself on the back for recognizing that I can be a loony and re-ground myself.   I recently needed a re-grounding about 2 weeks ago. I remedy my uncertainty in a very scientific manner. I observe. I take note of all the things in my life that are certain, things that make me happy and things that I can improve on to bring about greater assurance.

Here are my observations the past little while:

 1. Faith is not fear.

2.  My husband is my stabilizer.

3. Obedience brings about blessings and security.

4. “Don’t be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger.
If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves.” 

- Dale Carnegie

5. Eating healthy will make you happier than eating crap.

6. A good book is a quick fix to boredom.

7. Keep a journal.

"Begin today and write in [your journal] your goings and your comings, your deeper thoughts, your achievements, and your failures, your associations and your triumphs, your impressions and your testimonies. We hope you will do this, our brothers and sisters, for this is what the Lord has commanded, and those who keep a personal journal 
are more likely to keep the Lord in remembrance in their daily lives.” 

-Spencer W. Kimball

8. Keep life simple.

9. Sometimes you can't know how everything will play out. 

10. Fall is my favorite season.

11. The gospel is my salvation from this ever-decaying demoralizing world.

12. At the same time, I love this world and everything about it. I am glad I get to experience it.

13. I've partaken of my first handful of Brach's candy pumpkins this season, which always brings about certain satisfaction!

14. Every one fails. Every one is learning as they go.

15. Someday I will have a house with a backyard that I can decorate for holidays and children to keep me busy. I guess this is a good start :)

22 weeks

So basically, life is pretty rad. I am at peace. Not that I am always in this state of turmoil - I hardly am ever in distress. But it's nice to have worries hushed at times and just focus on being happy. I feel completely blessed that I can be observed as someone who is at peace. 

"For those who can adapt, who can bend, who can modify, who can improve, lies great opportunity. Sometimes we need to have the strength not to take counsel from our fears. This takes courage."

 -Elder Faust

A Trip Down South

We spent Labor Day amongst the San Diegan's with my sister and her husband. We enjoyed the newly renovated Mormon Battalion as well as Old Town. We had our first try at cinnamon and strawberry tortillas and fulfilled our stomachs with rock candy prior to our big lunch at Phil's BBQ. Until next time, you stay classy San Diego!

The Magical World of Spray paint

It does wonders.

Because you're dying to know. Or more so, I'm dying to share!

Well I guess I better sharpen up my crafty skills and load up the bank account because we're having

We are thrilled! Stoked! I thought for sure I was having a boy because all midwives tales told me so, but we're so happy that we have a future babysitter, chore-helper, disher-doer on the way! JK, girls are so much more than help, they are the most fun to dress up! Accessories, here we come!

Oh, the dresses I have to make, the homemade little tights I get to manufacture, the headbands [without the ginormous fake flower] and bows I need to create - creativity is endless! Huzzah!

We went to the Doc on Wed, and he said he THOUGHT it was a girl, but not to facebook it yet [which of course we did!]. But all was confirmed today! And little girl has long long legs... 

I wonder who she got that from ;)