The Matlocks

Family Pics 2011

2011-11-30T16:03:00.001-08:00

We had our family pictures done at the beginning of November. It snowed the day before and was FREEZING, but you would never know because our photographer is that good! She was SO GOOD with Noah and we love our pics! Thanks Amy :)

Halloween 2011 Picture Overload

2011-10-31T18:10:00.001-07:00

We kicked off the Halloween weekend by going to a party with The Smurfs (a.k.a. The Astons). Blue is most definitely their color! Tyler and I dressed up as an old couple. Tyler was a little too into his character for the.entire.night!

Meet the future Mr and Mrs Matlock

This year was Noah's first real time dressing up for Halloween. We have always been out of town, so we were very excited to do this!

My Little Pirate

At the Trunk or Treat

So, about half way through the trunk or treat, Noah began to throw himself on the ground. He does this on our bed and on the couches and it's really fun, but it's not too awesome on the concrete. Anyway, he threw himself on the ground, and landed on his sword at the same time. A lady standing right there kinda started to panic and was like "his lip is bleeding." I picked Noah up and his lip was cut and blood was flowing out...onto my cardigan. YAY!!! The bleeding finally stopped and Noah finally stopped crying and now we have a fat lip pictured below. Never a dull moment. SIGH...

Wherever we go, Tyler insists on taking pictures left and right with the camera. Mostly when I am unprepared, or in this case yelling at him...I probably have one million pictures like this one on my camera. Haha.

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-25T16:46:00.000-07:00

We took Noah to the pumpkin patch here in Oakley. IT.WAS.FREEZING. But, we still had fun! Noah wasn't really digging it until he got a sucker at the end! Here are some pictures:

SO BEHIND!

2011-10-20T09:31:00.001-07:00

So, I suck at blogging. So sad. I believe I have yet to blog about our trip to Ireland...in June. To be honest, I have just not felt like blogging. Sad, but true. I have a few minutes to update, since my child is currently shaking it to Pandora in the living room. Haha.

I was called into Young Womens in September. Laurels Advisor. I did not see that coming. I felt really inadequate for the calling and sometimes still do, but I am enjoying it. There are good girls in the program and I love the YW President who serves over the Laurels with me. With this calling I became super busy overnight and my weeks literally fly by. It's crazy.
As of today I am like 70 something days off sweets and all the good stuff. I feel great!!! I also started running again. It was real hard at first and I'd be lying if I said it was easy now, but it is getting better. I wonder if I will ever be back to my college running time, but it takes time and I need to just keep working towards it. I have noticed a difference and have had to go down a couple sizes in jeans. There is no better feeling...I don't care who you are!
Noah is 19 months and a holy terror. Not kidding. He is adapting well to nursery, but sometimes I feel bad for the ladies in there...especially when I walk by and Noah is standing on the table as the other kids are sitting quietly eating their snacks. Aghhhhh! He weighs 31 lbs and is all boy!
I recently became addicted to Pinterest. Thanks Jess ;) Tyler says that he likes it because of all the recipes that I try out. Lol. I am in love. I made this wooden pallet frame thing that turned out super cute, and after that I felt like I was a master carpenter. So, I tried to make a coffee table. Turned out so ugly, don't want to talk about it. But for real, Pinterest is where it's at. I get the most awesome handouts and ideas for young womens on there. It has everything!!! Email me if you want an invite.
Tyler's grandma and Joe came to visit earlier this month. It was so great to see them and to catch up. Noah thought he was in heaven having people to show off to. My sister Kim and her fam may be coming up next month, and then my mam is coming for Thanksgiving. I love having family/visitors. It's too quiet here. SERIOUSLY!!!
Tyler is wrapping up cross country season and is so excited for basketball to start. I have a love/hate relationship when that rolls around. I love that Tyler loves it, but I never see my husband so it's hard.
Fall is here...Kinda. I am ready for the fall clothes, but the weather keeps playing tricks on us. Come on!!! I am soooo ready for the clothes, boots, coats, and everything else!!! I am so excited for Halloween, Thanksgiving and super stoked about our annual SLC trip!!!

He Loves Us

2011-09-22T11:02:00.000-07:00

This picture clearly shows how Noah really feels about us. I was walking through the mall in Twin awhile ago and won a free photo pass for a yr. I've gotten some taken of Noah over the last couple of months. They are not my favorite pics, mostly because Noah is a complete and utter nightmare in the studio. They called me the other day and offered me free family pics (probably because they saw me having a breakdown as Noah was slapping the photographer during his shoot...sigh!!!!) We have some more on the way and we also have a family photo shoot scheduled for the fall with Amy Nielsen. Can't wait!!!! We are in need of family pics like crazy around here. Also, fall TV is up and running. YEAH BOI!!!!!

Winner, Winner!!!!

2011-08-29T11:51:00.000-07:00

Noah was part of a Mini-Men photo shoot a few weeks ago. It was at a farm shop in the middle of nowhere. Noah was NOT in a good mood whatsoever, would not let go of my leg and was literally running from the photographer and hiding behind me. It was awkward, frustrating and super hot!!! I was so over it! But, when the pictures came out, I actually liked them. Even though Noah did not smile for one single picture, Amy (the photographer) still captured who he is....a grumpy little man ;) They did a facebook contest and Noah ended up winning! Thank you to all the friends and family who voted!!!!

Here are some of the winning shots:

I AM ALIVE!!!!!

2011-08-25T10:18:00.000-07:00

But Barely.... I am at the tail end of strep throat which has kicked my butt. I honestly thought I was dying. Couldn't get out of bed, fainting, nauseous, couldn't eat, drink....yep, it was that bad! I finally caved after I started getting the cold sweats and went to the doctor. I hate doctors! But, I like this one. Anyway, I had a temp of 103 in the office and when he walked in I was hugging the trash can, so he checked me out pretty quickly, wrote some prescriptions, and sent me on my way! Today is day 5, and I am finally out of bed, showered and feeling about 85%. Life is good! I will finish my antibiotics this time (maybe lay off the vicodin though ;)) because I never do and know that I always should!!! Also, its still summer outside!!! For some reason, I thought it was winter. Maybe because I was locked up in bed with the chills?!?!?!? I dunno...

I have so much to catch everyone up on! Our trip to Ireland, The Devine Family Reunion, Baby Blessings, Weddings, Road trips, etc. We have been traveling fools this summer and fortunately for my sanity, the rest of this year is pretty much jam packed. My mam is coming up for a week in Sep, Tyler's cute grandma and Joe are coming in Oct, Thanksgiving in Nov, Christmas in Dec and a wedding in AZ in December also! Hopefully we can stay sane through it all!

Tyler is officially back to school! School doesn't start til Monday, but the meetings for teachers began on Weds. He is excited for another year and still loves his job :) Noah is still spoiled and basically runs the show here at the casa. He weighs 28 lbs and all he wants to do is eat and watch backyardigans. It's a rough life for the little monster, but we love him lots and lots. Honestly, the hardest part of being sick was not being able to hang out and play with my little man. Sweetest part of being sick was when Noah walked over to me when I was laying down and gave me a kiss. So tender ;) As for me, well I am just trucking along. Nothing new really. Oh, except my sister Mandy and I officially began the legendary PACT on August 12th. No more yummy desserts or sweets for us! I kicked the pact off December of 2003 and stuck with it for 4.5 yrs...( i know, psycho) so I know I can do it! And, I know Mandy can too!!!! I have also started the crazy running regiment again. KILL ME NOW! I was kicking butt until I got sick, but now that I am on the mend, I will be jumping back on the treadmill any day now! I will be back to my old time. I WILL!!!!! Anyway, my goal with this neglected blog is to post all our trips and pictures, I have so many!!!! Until then....

Baby of the Week

2011-05-17T15:26:00.000-07:00

Noah has been chosen for baby of the week over @ www.newparent.com Head on over here and vote for him for a chance for him to be baby of the year. If he wins, he'll be on the cover of their magazine and we'll be RICH. Just kidding, but for real...go on over here and give him 5 stars!!! Even if you don't know me, but just stalk my blog (it's ok, I do it too), go on over and VOTE!!!

Thanks!!!

What's Going On?

2011-05-08T20:11:00.000-07:00

I have been fighting a cold since last week. BOO! Tyler was sick the week before and if you're a wife then you know that having a sick husband is like having 10 sick kids at one time...SERIOUSLY! I still love you Tyler :) It's been hard taking care of Noah with the cold, but the show must go on and I'm just really glad he didn't pick it up...fingers crossed!

I had such a great Mothers Day today! Tyler got a sitter last night and took me to dinner. It was so fun and really nice to just spend some time together. Our weekdays are so crazy and sometimes we don't get a lot of time together because Tyler is gone, or has a meeting or something, and when he's home he's usually doing homework so I am in our room watching reality tv in bed alone. Anyway, when we get time together, we definitely cherish it :) My boys got me new running shoes for Mothers Day! I love them. The highlight of my day was definitely when Noah walked across the living room with a Mothers Day card in his hand and brought it to me. I love that little guy so much and I'm so grateful that I get to be his mom! He's the cutest thing in the world...a lot of work sometimes, but still the best :) I look forward to the years to come and already have accepted that I have a little character on my hands!!!

I took this pic today on the way out the door to church. Aren't my boys so handsome?

We are still watching Idol. My boy James is going strong...Stupid Scotty is still on there. So annoying. I don't even care if James doesn't win, because I guarantee you he's already made it. At the same time though, I will FREAK OUT if Scotty wins. GO HOME! We also watch The Voice now. It's pretty good and there is definitely a lot of talent going on. At first, I had a crush on Blake Shelton but he is so cocky and rude, so now I'm starting to have feelings for Cee Lo Green. SIKE! But, he does seem to have a heart at least ;)

I made these chimmicangas last Sunday and they were seriously so BOMB! Picture yourself in Bajio, ordering from their menu, and that's exactly what these bad boys tasted like. Thank you Minders for the recipe ;)

Every night Tyler and I go tuck Noah in before we head off to bed. I could honestly watch him sleep for hours. Such a little angel...he looks like he's making a snow angel here...haha.

This is what happens when you ask your husband to feed your child dinner...I'll just leave it at that...with these pictures...and then I'll let you think what you want....

And Finally:

There are only 15 days (weekdays) til school get's out...CRAZY!
23 days til we take off for Ireland.....NERVOUS!
27 days until our newest niece Isla Maeve arrives, give or take....EXCITED!
8 days until my birthday...GETTING OLD!

Flashback Friday

2011-05-06T08:01:00.001-07:00

This picture was taken 3 yrs ago!!! It's my little sister Bev and I. I'm close with all my sisters, but we're only a yr apart and so we've always been forced to hang out. LOL. At this point, we were both single and living it up in Vegas. We thought we were little playas and now, we're both married. A lot has changed! We like to think we're more mature :) Beverley leaves for Ireland in 2 days and I leave in 24!!!! WOOHOOO!!!!!!!!!! I want to give her a shout out because she's taking her nursing final today....maybe right now as we speak!!! Good Luck B-Dawg-Dizzle!!! xoxoxo

p.s. My shirt may or may not say "I Recycle Boyfriends..." Hahaha.

Who needs toys.....

2011-05-04T17:06:00.000-07:00

when you have a sippy cup to entertain you? I was cleaning the kitchen when I heard Noah cracking up in his high chair. This is what I found....haha!!! I love this little man :)

-The videos are pretty similar, but still hilarious.

The Rant

2011-04-30T11:08:00.000-07:00

As most of you know, my husband is a high school teacher. Sometimes he tells me stories about things that happen at school and sometimes I FREAK OUT! I think I freak out because I know I will have to deal with my own kids growing up and going through school, but then I also freak out because I cannot understand how people can be so mean to each other. As some of you know, Tyler and I were asked to chaperon prom this year. Coming up to the big event, I asked Tyler about a kid at his school that doesn't have a great home life and has a sad background. I wanted to know who he was going with to prom. Tyler proceeded to tell me that he had asked about 3 girls, who had all turned him down, one after the other. One of the girls didn't even go to prom herself. I'll be honest, it was hard to hear...and it was even harder to see this kid show up in a suit to prom, dateless.

The topic of kids in general is a touchy subject to most moms and most normal people in general. I wouldn't stand by on the sidelines and watch my kids be bullied, and I wouldn't stand by while my kid bullied other kids either. I was never bullied growing up, but believe me if anyone had of tried to mess with me, I would have known how to handle myself! My mam always told us to never throw the first punch, but if someone hit us first then it was on!!!!!!! I was recently talking to my sister Mandy about the topic of kids. We always talk about how we will deal with things that are bound to come along as our kids get older. We've discussed how you can't always shelter your kids and protect them from every single thing (even though you might want to) and that the best you can do is raise them with good values, and morals and teach them right and wrong.

Anywho, back to kids...and not even kids, but people in general. Why are they so mean? I was recently reading a blog(which I actually cannot stand, but my sisters and I read it for a good laugh)....The author was commenting on an event and then posted a picture of a little girl from the crowd of approximately 50 million people (give or take) and said something about this little girl (that she doesn't know and never will) looking handicapped. Are you kidding me?????? I was appalled and disgusted! Who thinks something like that, let alone says it? I read another blog that is well known and pretty popular. This author is A.MAZ.ING! She has been through one of the hardest trials one can imagine, and has come out of it with nothing but a positive attitude. She is nothing but optimistic and honestly such an example for the rest of us. She came out of her situation with some visible scars, but is still one of the most beautiful people I know. She knows that she still has to get up each day to take care of her family and pretty much has the attitude of life goes on....which I think is awesome! Anyway, she posted a while back that while shopping at the grocery store, having been in a coma recuperating from this life threatening accident, that some lady came up to her and says "you look how I feel..." UH, WHAT?!?!?!?!? I don't get it. How can you sleep at night? I don't know how people contain themselves because I would honestly be doing some serious body slamming.

The other night at our bookclub...(which I love by the way) we were talking about how there are somethings that you just don't say, and basically how there are some people that just don't get it. Now, I'm not talking about the little foot in mouth comments that we sometimes slip and say, but the obvious things like: "You guys have been married for 10 years, why haven't you had a baby?" or "you look BIG, are you having twins?" You never know what people are going through, so please...Just don't say it!!!

Easter

2011-04-25T08:34:00.000-07:00

Well....I didn't take any pictures from Easter. Best mom ever, I know. We had quite the Easter morning, and by about 9:55am, I was ready to go back to bed. We had stake conference at 10am. We got up, got dressed and headed out the door at about 9:45.....early even. Noah looked so cute in his Easter suit. The minute we sat down, Noah was D.O.N.E. for the day. His shirt was all un tucked and he was all but ripping his vest off! UGH! He wanted to crawl/walk all over the gym which was full of chairs for stake conference. Before our broadcast even started, I was up and out of there with him squealing in my arms. Not good. I know they say people don't mind when your child acts up in church but I feel like the same eyes are looking at me every week saying the same thing..."oh there goes her kid again." He calmed down in the mothers lounge so I thought I'd try it again. Went in, sat down, two minutes later....a meldown. Back out. Pacing the halls until I smelled a nasty diaper which was of course Noah's and I had conveniently left the diapers inside the chapel....STRESS! I won't go on. You get the picture. I was done, Tyler thankfully came out and relieved me so I could at least catch the final speaker. Church is a nightmare. It's right at Noah's naptime, but I think he'd be bad no matter what time church was at. Good thing I love him right?? We did come home and have a lovely dinner. I can't wait to eat the leftovers for lunch...and dinner today!!!

Here's a cute video and picture to make sure you do know that I really do love him ;) Also, please excuse how trashed my house looks...sigh.

Noah was excited to find these in his Easter basket :)

Flashback Friday

2011-04-22T20:52:00.000-07:00

During the summer of 2007 I was going to school at BYU-Idaho. I had just gotten back from living in Vegas from Jan-April where I worked for an attorney. As I was returning to school that summer, he hooked me up with a job at this resort up in Island Park that his family owned. Now I won't lie... I had this picture in my mind of what this job would entail. I was thinking that I would work with a bunch of cool young people, like myself :) and that my summer job was going to rock!!! I also had a vision of hot guys waxing boats..shirtless. I seriously did, and I was seriously wrong!!!! I was the only girl. My boss (the attorney's brother) was pretty cool....for a 40 yr old married man with 6 kids. There were 2 guys who I worked with that were super ghetto. They talked like ex-cons and I swear they more than likely did time for crime. I did not give them the time of day, but also didn't want to be too rude....just in case they were convicts, for real. After working for a couple of weekends, my boss said that busy season was starting (memorial weekend), and if I had any friends that wanted to come up and work they could. I went home and asked my roommate Nellie if she wanted to come with me next week. She agreed.

We set off to Island Park the next weekend together. It was nice to work with someone that I knew, liked, and could relate too. Nellie was HILARIOUS with our shady coworkers. They would attempt to converse with us by trying to act all BAD-A and she would make it her business to shoot them down, or say something like..."Um, I doubt that happened." hahaha. It was so funny. One Saturday morning we sat off to head up to work at the resort. I usually drove my civic up, but Nellie had gotten back from Boise the night before and had her parents pretty new Ford Expedition and wanted to drive. Her parents (who I was pretty close to, her dad had been my bishop for a couple of years) were in California and she said it wouldn't be a problem if she drove.

About 30 mins into the trip, it began to snow. Did I mention it was the month of May? It really was May, but it was Idaho so I can't really say we were too surprised. We joked about the snow, but were deep in conversation and continued up the pass. All of a sudden, the suv began to drift across the 2 lane highway. Nellie was in total control and got us back on our side. This happened 3-4 more times, except the last time we never made it back to our side of the road. The next thing I remember was grabbing Nellie's hand while screaming every obscenity known to me as the expedition went down a hill, flipping 4 times end over end on the way down. We thankfully hit a tree which thankfully wasn't a big tree and it stopped the car. I felt immediate pain in my knees as they had hit the glove box each time the car flipped. My first thoughts were...(and I'm not even joking) "Please let me stay alert so that the EMT's don't cut my clothes off and see me naked." haha.

Most of the windows were gone from the car and it was freezing. We were wearing t-shirts and jeans. Not good. To say I was freaking out is an understatement. Nellie was as calm as can be. I remember she nonchalantly looked at me and said, "Do you need to say a prayer or something?" She ended up saying the prayer because I was still freaking out. These German tourists arrived on scene first with blankets. They had seen us go off the road. The cops and ambulance then arrived. We had to get out through a window and slide down a backboard. The whole time I was making sure my clothes were still on me. Not kidding.

The EMTs took us into the ambulance. They were asking us what hurt. I was still making sure no one would be undressing me, so I said I was fine. All that was visible were some seat belt burns anyway. I remember the ambulance doors flying open and our boss just standing there with the biggest look of fear in his eye. I think he thought we were dead. I was in total shock. Crying hysterically one minute, and then laughing and joking about holding Nellie's hand as we were going off the road.

My hair had been in a pony tail and the EMTs said they had to take out the hair tie because there was some glass in my head from when I hit the window. As they pulled the hair tie out, I remember seeing a long piece of hair fall by my shoulders. I guess I just assumed it was my hair because it was pretty long. Then I noticed Nellie's face..she was just kinda staring at me. The EMT's said something about my hair and asked if I wanted a mirror. Nellie told them not to give me a mirror. I took the mirror and looked in it and saw my luscious, long hair accompanied by a FULL ON MOHAWK! I mean...I didn't even care about the whiplash, the burns, or anything at this point. I was sobbing about my freshly cut mohawk! I sported that bad boy for months. Always had to wear my hair in the utah bump. It was devastating. I never went back to that job, and my hair took about a year to fully grow out!

And now....some pictures!!!

This is the hill we flipped down.

(pictures stolen from Nellie's facebook....Thanks;)

Eat your heart out Kim....

2011-04-17T19:37:00.000-07:00

So my oldest sister Kim has been making salsa for years! It's way good. Like so good that she's even had natives beg her for the recipe. You would think that being family, she would let us in on her secret recipe....but no. When Tyler and I were dating, he was introduced to the salsa and told me that it was my duty as his future wife to get the secret recipe and make the salsa. I begged Kim, but she wouldn't break. I honestly think my brother in law (her husband) was making her keep it hush, hush because he thought they could market it and become billionaires....Nice try Spam. Anywho, one summer a couple of years ago...Kim and her family had left for Florida. My other sister Mandy and her husband and Tyler and I were heading over to Kim's house to swim in the pool. Kim had texted us and said that she had left some salsa ready to go in the salsa maker and all we needed to do was blend it. So.... I picked through the ingredients, taste testing every single one of them and now I make the same salsa. What can I say? I'm not just a pretty face;) Don't worry Kim, I won't tell anyone.

xoxo

Noah Can Walk!!!!

2011-04-15T18:01:00.000-07:00

My baby is walking!!!! Noah started to take a few steps a couple of months ago. Lately he has just taken off! He has to put his arms straight out in front of him while doing so. It's cute ;) Sorry the videos are sideways, it only took me about an hour to figure out how to upload them. LOL! I included the third one just because I love how Noah is staring at me like a psycho...what can ya do?

What are you watching?

2011-04-13T19:06:00.000-07:00

-It is not news that I love TV. I never watched it in college or while I was single, but once we were married, we started finding shows that we both liked and wanted to follow. I won't lie, there are some that Tyler refuses to watch because he thinks they're chick shows. Whatev...

-Why is Scotty McCreery still on Idol? He actually had the cajones to say "I picked this song (from the movie Pure Country) because I wanted to go back to my country roots." Well Scotty, when have you not sang country on this show, or ever in your life? Seriously, it's not even him that bothers me....it's really just his face and how he holds the microphone. PLEASE GO HOME NEXT!!!!
How annoying is his face?!?!?!?

-Moving on....Everyone knows that my husband has had a man crush on Steven Tyler since he was 8 years old (not kidding). So obviously, when they announced the new judges for this year, Tyler was jumping up and down like a school girl (also not kidding). At first I was semi annoyed because I felt like Steven was perhaps replacing me. Then after the first few episodes, I started liking Steven too. I loved J Lo and could stand Randy even though I felt like he was trying to be hardcore or something. At this stage in the game....I'm over all of them and just want my boy Simon to come back. I feel like all three judges do not judge. They all say the same things EVERY SINGLE WEEK! Also, someone can totally suck (Scotty) and I will cringe through the whole performance and then the judges will give it a standing ovation. WHAT? I don't get it.

-In other news, all my favorite shows are coming to a close for the season. It's sad. BUT, let's be honest...they'll be replaced by other awesome ones for the summer. Here's a few of my many favorites (in no particular order):

Parenthood

I love this show, but what I don't love is having to hear Tyler talk about how great Tom Selleck's mustache is every episode. Seriously!

I don't care if you judge me for watching this show. We've been watching this show since we got married. They have marathons on USA and the local channels, plus they are still running the show, so we watch the new ones every Wednesday. Only problem is, I can't watch it right before bed or there will be no sleeping. Haha.

What are some of your favorite shows?

Flashback Friday

2011-04-08T07:02:00.000-07:00

As most of you know, my family is from Ireland and moved to America in 1994. Since the beginning of time in Ireland, I remember our "summer holidays" being a big deal! School would get out for the summer and we would literally be packed and in the car heading for the country immediately. We would spend THE ENTIRE summer down in the country and we wouldn't have a care in the world. My mam had been doing this her whole life with her parents, and so the tradition just sort of continued for us! We had a summer place and would call it home for the next 3 months. Included in this summer place, was a private access to the beach and up the road, through our friends land was another private access, but this one was to an actual private beach! I won't lie, it rocked!!! We would get up at the crack of dawn, pack a lunch and spend the whole day on the beach. My mam would even have us line up and do exercises as a family...glad we didn't own a video camera. haha.

In the nights, we would go into Gorey (town) because there was usually something fun going on. They had a summer fair, which had a music division and I remember us entering into the contest and singing on the huge stage, or going to The Tara Vale for their dance nights and all the kids that were there on vacation would get up and dance. Those summers are seriously some of my best memories from growing up! It was so awesome to get away from the city and just live a carefree life in the beautiful country. I'm so glad for these memories and experiences and hope to be able to create some kind of tradition with my own kids like this!

Here is a picture of Ballymoney Beach where we used to spend our summers ;)

THE BIG NEWS!

2011-04-02T21:39:00.000-07:00

It's official....We just purchased plane tickets for IRELAND! So excited!!!! We will be touching down here on June 1st:

And, staying here for 16 days:

And, will visit here:

Here:

And...maybe even here:

WE.CANNOT.WAIT.

OMG!!!!

2011-04-02T09:57:00.000-07:00

I forgot Flashback Friday. My sister Bev was right when she said I would start slacking. How sad! I will be back on track next Friday. But, in the meantime I will leave you with this: We have some very exciting news to announce..... and no, I'm not pregnant!

-xo-

Updates

2011-03-29T07:16:00.000-07:00

-It's still snowing in Idaho.....Not really an update because hello, it's Idaho. I'm so ready for spring! Our entire spring break was filled with snow/rain. AWESOME. not.

-We celebrated Noah's 1st birthday on the 18th. We just did pizza and a cake here at our house on his actual birthday, because we had such great plans of taking him to the zoo in SLC....those plans were crushed due to the weather :(

I had to add this next picture because it's Noah's favorite face to make. He usually does it when we are out in public and just stares at someone while making this face. We've had some awkward moments. lol.

-We were originally heading down to Utah on Mon-Tues of Spring Break. But, husband was itching to get out of here and I found some killer hotel deals, so we ended up leaving early on Sat and Staying til Mon. We stayed at the Peery Hotel, and got it for $40 a night!

(It conveniently has my favorite restaurant on the bottom floor...Macaroni Grill)

-I did not take one photo in Utah. Sad, I know. We drove to Utah in a snow blizzard and drove home to Idaho in the rain. Sad, Sad, SAD. We didn't go to the zoo, but mainly ate, shopped, and visited with friends.

-I went to the dentist yesterday thinking I was getting a crown put on....I had had one before so I was expecting to go in there, have them pop it on and walk out. Didn't happen. It turns out, the dentist hadn't fitted my for the crown. When he took out the HUGE needle, I knew I was in trouble. He had to grind down my tooth, remove the build up and put on a temp crown. Is it just me, or does anyone else get complete anxiety just walking into the dentist office? Teeth freak me out. I can handle brushing or whitening them and that's it!!!! Half way through the grinding, I began to feel the tool against my skin. I jumped in the air, and the dentist was like, "I wondered if this would happen.." He made me sit back down, took another HUGE needle out and shot me up in the roof of my mouth. I wanted to unload every bad word I know, but the Dentist is my old bishop, so I felt the need to keep up appearances. It hurt SO BAD though. I was honestly nauseous with the pain when I was checking out of the office. When Tyler came home for lunch, he made sure to let me know that my lip was two different sizes and my mouth was distorted looking. Thanks, love you too! haha. I am sore today. Feel like I got punched in the face.

-Tyler starts Grad School on the 1st of April. He will be getting his masters in Education Administration. He is really excited and I know he will do great!!!!

-I am planting a garden. Obviously, it will be a while before we start because of the weather. We are planning on tomatoes, romaine lettuce, cucumbers, onions, squash, peppers, and maybe some other things. Excited!!!!

That's about all our news for now. Not too exciting, I know. Until next time :)

Flashback Friday

2011-03-25T15:35:00.000-07:00

My sister Bev is a year younger than me and we have always been really close. We were both in high school when we moved and had a lot of the same friends from church and school. In high school I had the privilege of driving my family's van aka The Hoopty or the Shaggin Wagon. It looked a little like the one below....except it was silver, with pink velvet interior and had captain seats in the back that would swivel and a bench seat that folded down into a bed. It also had a table in the back with built in cup holders and even had the ladder on the back, just like this picture.

Anyway....moving on! Bev and I hung out with some friends that not only went to high school with us, but also were in our ward. We had good times....(some that will make the flashback friday cut and some that will not..lol). We had a pretty close knit mutual group. We were all especially close with our Young Women leaders. Our Young Womens President just happened to have 2 teenage sons who weren't really active, didn't go to school and were slightly on the verge of being menaces to society. We thought they were HOT! I think somewhere in our little juvenile minds, we believed that we could reactivate them, give them makeovers and turn them into movie stars. One of them had hair down past his shoulders, but it was nothing we couldn't change.

We wanted to get to know them better, but we didn't really know how to go about it. We told their mom to invite them to some activities, but we didn't want her to know about our makeover plans for them either, so we had to be pretty discreet. The boys in our ward were not helping the situation at all. They pretty much knew what we were up to and had already began to make fun of us.

One night as my sister, two of our friends and I were cruising around in the van, we conveniently drove by their house. The two boys were out on their front lawn sitting on their trampoline with about 5 of their friends that we only knew to see from our school. We played it cool, but knew this was our time to shine. We drove by ever so nonchalantly and began to devise our plan. We had nothing! There was no way we were parking and getting out to talk to them so we decided to just drive by one more time.

As we approached the front of the house, someone rolled down the windows in the van and screamed "YOU'RE SO HOT!!!!!!", as I lay on the horn! No sooner had the word hot been yelled out, than we heard sirens and saw the van get lit up by the cop car that was right behind us.....in front of our future husbands house.

I could have died right then and there. I mean, seriously what are the odds? We were pulled over basically in the boys' yard and they were just staring at us from the trampoline as if we were psycho stalkers or something, the nerve....... The cop came to my window, asked me for all my papers. He ran my license and registration and then came back and and then said something about honking being illegal (which I highly doubt) and said that he would let us go on a warning. We hid from those boys for a couple of weeks due to pure embarrassment, but as you can imagine that only lasted until we devised our next plan of attack.

Flashback Friday

2011-03-18T08:37:00.000-07:00

One year ago today, my life changed and I knew from that moment on, it would never be the same. I was 37 weeks pregnant to the day and was being induced at 6:30am in the morning. I was so unsure of what was going on. I felt like I wasn't ready to have the baby and that it was too soon, but I had a Dr. that was pushing me, telling me that I was on the brink of toxemia, but was also leaving for Peru the next morning. Man, have I learned a few things!!! ANYWHO, my mam had come into town to be there. Tyler, my mam and I headed to the hospital at 6:30am and checked in. I was so nervous. They took my blood pressure and it was sky high with the nerves...It came down once I settled down. lol. I hadn't eaten anything because they told me not to and I was already STARVING. Tyler and my mam went and got breakfast. I was already dilated to a 3 the previous week and just assumed that things would get moving pretty quick. They started me on pitocin and magnesium (because my lovely Dr. insisted). I was sweating, then freezing, then sweating. My husband was putting wash cloths in my palms because my hands were on fire. About 4 hours into it, I just felt sick. I sat up in the bed and proceeded to vomit, except there was nothing in me so I was just basically wretching (WORST.FEELING.EVER), my blood pressure dipped way low and so they had to give me meds for that and for the nausea, but my lovely Dr. would not turn off the magnesium. The vomiting happened a few more times and at this point, I was out of it. My Dr. had described being on magnesium as feeling like a limp wash rag...Um, yeah. They gave me a drug called phenergan at which point I began to hallucinate. My mam said I was saying things like, why am I here?, I don't even know who I am?, etc....I don't remember anything. I had gotten an epidural pretty early. I'm still surprised my Dr. was down with that because he was so dumb about everything else. He let me get an epidural at a 3. As time went on, I began feeling hard contractions and so my Dr. called the anesthesiologist to come top me up. Now, I don't know the lingo...but someone misinformed someone because the anesthesiologist gave me a whole new dose and my Dr. and him were having some strained discussions to the side of my bed. At this point, with the magnesium, epidurals and all the other drugs, I was basically passing out. Tyler kept trying to talk to me, but all I wanted to do was sleep. I started vomiting once more, and the Dr. came in and said, "ok, let's have a baby." Might I add, that him and my husband were talking about the BYU game that was on. I WAS SO MAD!!!!! It was around 7pm, Tyler had to slap me a few times to wake me up to push, but after about 20 mins, Noah Vann Matlock was born. Weighing 7 lbs 2 oz and 21 inches long. The nurses noticed that Noah was breathing kinda funny, so they called another Dr. in who suggested we transport him to Twin to St. Lukes. I was so mad at my Dr. because he was saying things like, "I thought his lungs would be ready"...Yeah, ANYWAY...Noah was transported to St. Lukes that night. Tyler went with him and my mam stayed with me. They wheeled him in to me in his little transport crib before they left and he was so dang cute. Little beenie, all wrapped up! It was honestly the saddest moment of my life. I was so worried and scared. I didn't sleep at all that night and I never ate because I wasn't hungry anymore! The next morning, my Dr. was trying to tell me that I had to stay longer because I had been on magnesium and couldn't leave for 24 hours. I seriously told him that I'd be leaving with his approval or without. He said he'd release me by 10am. My mam and I took off to Twin. As it turned out, Noah's lungs were fully developed but the fluid around them was not. By the time we got there, all was well. They had replaced the missing surfactant (fluid) and Noah was just being monitored really. He also had a bad case of jaundice, which is pretty common, but because we were there, they had him under the lamps. He was 5 days in the hospital. We stayed in twin and went over every 3 hours to feed and change him, even in the middle of the night! Even at days old, Noah was a little fireball. Everytime they put a tube in him, he'd pull it out!!! Every single person that passed him in the NICU commented on how beautiful he was. The funny thing was that most of the other babies were preemies, so Noah looked HUGE compared to them! We took him home on Tues night and our adventure began. We love Noah so much and cannot imagine our lives without him!!! Happy Birthday Mr. Skinny Bums!!!!

(when he arrived in Twin Falls, ID)

(This was in the nicu, I chopped off his head because he had an IV in it.)

(Now you know why we call him Mr. Skinny Bums....:))

St. Paddy's Day!!!!

2011-03-17T08:17:00.000-07:00

Wishing everyone a Happy St. Patrick's Day! Wish I was home in the motherland to celebrate it in style!!!!!! Instead, I will party it up with my boys as we get snockered off of green Kool Aid. Good Times!!!

Getting Creative

2011-03-16T14:26:00.000-07:00

I decided to take the plunge and take part in bountiful baskets. I picked up my box of produce on Saturday! I was excited, but kinda scared because this meant that I was going to have to get creative, especially since this basket contained asparagus, and multi colored cauliflower.....Eeek...

I am proud to say that I have been more than pleased. I made cauliflower cheese to go along with our honey bbq chicken one night and then made grilled fresh green beans last night. Let me tell you that those bad boys were SO GOOD! I couldn't stop eating them even before I put them on the plates. SO GOOD!!!! Tonight I am going to make roasted asparagus. I got the recipe here. (p.s.That blog is awesome, you should follow it :))

This isn't actually my basket, I took this pic from the same website where I got my recipes for the asparagus and green beans. I also got blueberries instead of blackberries and only 2 roma tomatoes :(

One more thing, for all my Vegas and Alamo peeps, Bountiful Baskets is in your area!!! You should totally check it out!!!! Here's the link. Enjoy!!!!

Flashback Friday

2011-03-11T08:51:00.001-08:00

I've decided to do a little blurb called Flashback Friday's on my blog. Some of the blogs I follow do this and I think it's really cool and interesting.....sometimes embarrassing and mostly hilarious. I will try to do one every Friday!!!

The year was 1997. I was a freshman @ Pahranagat Valley High School in Alamo, NV. My family had just moved into our new house on the outskirts of town and so our Saturdays consisted of waking up @ the crack of dawn and working like slaves weeding, making a circular driveway and planting trees. It was (and still is) HOT AS HELL in those parts and so we would usually get up at about 6am and work until it became too hot at about 10am. My mam is a hardworking woman and so when it was Saturday morning, we knew she meant business. Our little brother usually did whatever was necessary to get out of doing anything and always seemed to have a Mountain Dew in his hand while the rest of us were sweating bullets ;) I remember he once sat in the back of the truck after we had loaded a bunch of boulders for the driveway. When we got back to the house to unload the boulders, we noticed that Scott was no longer in the back of the truck....We felt real bad when we discovered he had fallen out of the truck and was now walking down the road to the house, all mad, but still clutching his Mtn. Dew. haha.

On one of these hot days, my sister Mandy and I were asked to go haul a truck load of trash to the dump. We loaded up the truck and headed to the dump. My sister was a senior and drove the big old truck to the dump. We got there, unloaded and headed back. Now, I don't know exactly how fast we were going but as we came to the T in the road (which was conveniently placed infront of the cemetary, which was right next to our house), Mandy went to hit the brakes in order to turn right....except there were suddenly no brakes!!!!! I think we screamed and probably said some other stuff too (lol) and flew right through the cemetery fence and finally came to a stop about 2 inches from someones grandmas headstone. I think I remember nervously laughing. You know the kind where you know you're DEAD, but still can't believe that this just happened.... We went inside and called my mam to break the bad news. We were always getting ourselves into situations like this, so we were both scared to make the call. My mam was not happy! About 10 mins later, we were looking out the window and spotted Alamo's finest (the cops) at the top of the hill snapping pictures and measuring our tire tracks. Mandy and I then had to make statements, and had to convince the cop that we really weren't speeding (that much) and that Mandy was driving and not me since I was only 14. Everyone knew about it right away and probably said something like, "there goes those Devine kids again" but we were very grateful that we didn't get into too much trouble and only had to put up a new fence.

I'm glad we can look back on this and laugh now because at the time we thought our lives were over and that it was the end of the world!!!!

Back In Business

2011-03-07T11:38:00.000-08:00

First of all, this is what I opened my front door to today....Just when you think spring is here!!!

I haven't blogged in awhile. There have been a few reasons. We have been busy, out of town and my laptop choked. I also didn't feel like I had any good news to share, so blogging wasn't at the top of my list. Our new laptop arrived today and let me tell you, it feels great to have that technology at my fingertips once again. I have been trying to do what I can on my phone, but it just wasn't cutting it. We had another laptop and gave it to my mam & stepdad because we didn't need it....I would love to say I was surprised when our laptop bit the dust after giving our "back up" one away, but I'm not too surprised at all. Two words: DEVINE CURSE. Amen.

My baby is turning 1 year in 11 days. How can this even be possible? It seems surreal that at this time, a year ago...I was going in for non stress tests twice a week with a doctor that I despised and never thought that I would actually ever meet my baby because it seemed like I had been pregnant for about 3 years. Haha. How my life has changed since then...Everything I do now revolves around Noah and I wouldn't have it any other way. But, enough of the sappy stuff...let me be honest: My husband says that Noah is experiencing The Terrible 11 months right now. Noah is clingy, stubborn, spoiled, and then some. He gets into EVERYTHING. He has pulled off the child proof latches that Tyler installed....yes, the ones that you screw in. He will slam his fingers in the cupboard, scream hysterically and then go back for some more.... He is almost walking. He'll stand up by himself and walk around the furniture and I know my life will be over as soon as he becomes really mobile. Even though he is a fireball and a lot of work, I love him!!! One of my favorite moments of this weekend was when he snuggled up to me and fell asleep in my arms. Doesn't happen anymore, so it was awesome!!! We are still trying to figure out birthday plans. I would love to take him to a zoo or something. Does a zoo operate in the snow? I dunno.

I am on book #2 for the book club I'm in. The first book we read was Jane Eyre. It was so boring. I thought I would die reading it. Granted it's pretty much a classic, but so so so sooooooooo BORING. This months book is The Glass Castle. I haven't started it yet because it just got here, but the story sounds interesting and I'm sure it will keep my attention. Excited!

I'm a TV junkie. Don't judge me. I usually have to catch up on my shows after Noah is down for the night. It's the beauty of DVR. I watched the bachelor this season. 2 things...1. Brad is not cute and 2. He has the most boring personality in the world. How many times per episode does he say..I see what you mean, I know what you mean or I get what you're saying....Zzzzzzzzz, We are all up on American Idol as usual. I hated Steven Tyler at the beginning, but I kinda like him now and I like J Lo and Randy too. I was pretty ok with the final 13 picks and have a few favorites of my own.

This guy is one of my favorites! I love his background story and BOY CAN SING. I also think it's hilarious that my sisters think he looks like Tyler....Um, no!

My mam was in town a few weeks ago and made me curtains. I helped a tiny bit, but she did most of the work and I love them. I've been trying to find curtains that are wide enough to fit my kitchen window. I should have known that my favorite store (IKEA) would have them and for CHEAP!!!! We ended up buying a set of grey curtains there and some cute printed fabric and my mam did the rest!!!!

I wanted to get my sister a baby carrier tent for baby Isla who is set to arrive in June. I received one when I was pregnant with Noah and it has been a dream. However, when I went to buy one online, it was $50....No thanks. So, my mam and I bought some fabric and some thread and made one for about $8. Of course I didn't take a picture of the final product, but here's one before we started sewing. It was sooooooooo easy and $42 cheaper. We also made it so it can double as a nursing cover too!

Here's some other random pics from my camera.

Hahaha, somebody partied a little too much....

Recent Haps

2011-02-02T13:19:00.000-08:00

I think I've used that title before, but I not feeling creative today so there you have it!

~Basketball season is coming to a close. Sing Hallelujah! Tyler loves it, and I love it if he loves it, but I am so ready to have my husband back! I can't wait to have the weekends together, and to not spend every night in the gym. Roll on track season (he coaches that too)!

~Spring Break begins in 44 days, but who's counting? Oh wait, I am!!! We were originally planning to head to Vegas, but that may be changing to a different location...I don't really care where we are, or what we do as long as we're together. Cute, I know.

~About a month ago, Tyler called me and said that he had received a call from the Stake Executive Secretary asking if both of us could meet with the Stake President that night. I.WAS.SO.SCARED. I basically sweat bullets for about 3 hours until our appointment. He ended up calling Tyler as ward clerk. Hello Sunday meetings! Tyler is pretty excited about it!

~When Noah was born, I tried every diaper there was because I didn't know which ones we would like. We ended up settling on the Walmart brand, which was great because they were cheaper than anything. Fast forward 9 months, and the Walmart brand began to not cut it. I was SO SO SO SO SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO sick of the diapers leaking and the laundry that I decided to switch to Huggies. So I started searching for deals and ended up getting 300 for $12.50. I still get a little choked up when I think about it. If you know me well, then you know I like a good deal! Here's how I did it: I got a $20 amazon card for $10 (on groupon), but then it ended up being free because 3 of my friends bought one too, then I went on amazon mom and got 30% off and free shipping and got a box of 156 huggie. The total was $22.00, but only cost me $2 because I had the free $20 amazon card. Then seriously 2 days later, I stumbled upon hayneedle.com and got 70% off a box of 144 huggies with free shipping so they ended up being $10.50. Ammaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing.

~I joined a book club. My friend invited me and I was a little apprehensive because I've never been in one and didn't know what to expect. I AM SO GLAD I DID IT! I am so excited for the books we are going to read. Such a great variety. I'm so glad I have a husband who pushed me to do it as a sort of time out for myself. It's nice to leave Noah with Tyler and have a couple of hours for myself. Now, I need to get reading because I only have 3 weeks til our next meeting. Dun, Dun, Dun......

~Our taxes are filed! YAY! Now, maybe the refund will get here a little early if Uncle Sam is feeling generous. COME ON Uncle Sam!!!!

~Noah is 10 months old....almost 11. The thoughts of my baby turning 1 makes me feel like I'm having a breakdown. He has been walking around the furniture for awhile now, but recently has stood up all by himself....just for a minute, and then he gets scared and plops down. I am in no rush for him to walk, as he is already getting into EVERYTHING possible just with crawling.

~The sleeping program we did for him is still in full effect! It seriously rocks! He sleeps at least 9 hrs a night, sometimes 10-12. It's amazing. My only regret is that I didn't do it earlier! I would recommend it to anyone!!! It saved my sanity, just kidding....but seriously!

~We are sooooo into American Idol! I guess it helps that Tyler's other wife is Steven Tyler. HE LOVES HIM! I won't lie, he kind of annoys me on the show and you better believe Tyler and I have had a few heated discussion about his judging, but it's all good. I can't wait for Idol every week and already have some favorites. Also, what's up with the heart wrenching stories? I have cried at every episode since it started. Seriously.So.Sad.

Well, that's about it for now. I hope everyone is doing good and keeping warm. What's up with the crazy freezing cold weather?!?

Freeeeeeeee!

2011-01-31T15:07:00.000-08:00

I was walking through Sears a couple of weeks ago when a lady stopped me and asked if I wanted to spin a wheel to get a free prize. Of course I said YES! I spun the wheel and won the yearly membership to their photo studio. Pretty awesome since I have a 10 month old lil cutie!!! Anyway, we went on Saturday and had the pics done. I loved them all, but some of them were ruined due to the hair sticking out and flying away, a flipped up collar, or drool down the front of the shirt. Also, I have been looking for church shoes for Noah for awhile now, but never found anything I liked until I found the beauties he's sporting below. They are from The Children's Place and I scored them for $3. YEAH BOI!!! Here are a few of my favorites...excuse the sears logo, no copyrighting this time. haha.

Two Teeth!

2011-01-20T20:58:00.000-08:00

For documentation purposes, Noah has TWO teeth. He didn't get any til he turned 9 months, but then he got two at the same time!!!! If you look close, you can see the said teeth. Couldn't get a great pic as Noah likes to squirm around like crazy in the tub!!!!

HAHAHA, I love this pic.

Seriously.So.Cute.

2011-01-19T21:43:00.000-08:00

Christmas in January

2011-01-15T21:17:00.000-08:00

I finally got my Christmas present (camera)today! WOOOHOOOOOO! Let the daily photo shoots begin! Just kidding. Here are a few to tide you over!!!

Can he be any cuter? I think not.

He got excited about his new car seat :)

The parentals.

My mam would say "his eyelashes are like sweeping brushes." lol

I love, looooooooooooove, LOOOOOOOOOOVEEEEEEEEEE my new camera. Thank you Mr. Husband!!!!

Hilarious.

2011-01-14T12:09:00.000-08:00

Downeast Home Giveaway

2011-01-12T21:13:00.000-08:00

Check out this blog. Awesome Giveaway. I LOVE this store. I better win....lol.

Better late than never...

2011-01-10T09:15:00.000-08:00

Well, I have been slacking in the posting department, but that's ok because I don't know if anyone reads this anymore. Actually I do because it tells me all my visitors, but anywho.... We had a great holiday filled with family, weddings, surprises, airports, car rides, sickness and much more. It was a great time, but was pretty exhausting.

-We had a fabulous Christmas morning. Noah woke up around 7am, so we decided to open gifts. Little did we know, Noah only wanted to eat and was not interested in the gifts. He ended up throwing a couple of tantrums and was more excited about the wrapping paper and boxes then the actual gifts....what can you do? Tyler surprised me with a new camera! Only problem is it won't arrive til the 14th. He got it at Sears for 1/2 price because they messed up when they marked it or something, so I can't complain!

-On Christmas day, we decided to head off early to Alamo in order to beat a snow storm that was hitting Idaho that night. We took the back way and made it to my mam's house in about 7 hours. Noah slept all but maybe 20 mins. He never cried, and was in a great mood! We arrived about 1am, go there and slept.

-The next day was St. Stephens Day (An Irish Tradition to go to nana's), Mandy and Kim and their families were able to be there! It was great fun. Mandy and Lucas surprised us with the announcement of baby #4. Isla Maeve will arrive in June. Can't wait :) We had a great day, full of laughs, great food and lots and lots of football talk....Yay! not....

-The following day, we flew out of Vegas to Oklahoma via Minnesota to visit Tyler's family and to be there for his grandma's wedding. It was great and we were so excited to be able to be there for it. We love Joe and are so happy for him and Grandma Betty.

-We flew back to Vegas on Jan 2nd. Lucas and Mandy picked us up from the airport and then we pretty much jumped in the car and headed back to Idaho. About 45 minutes later (around Mesquite) we were feeling the side effects of waking up at 1am (Nevada time) after only 3 hours of sleep to head to the airport. We were both struggling to stay awake and I'm still surprised that we made it to Provo where we checked into a hotel. The roads were icy and we had gotten word that the back road inside the Idaho boarder was covered with deer. I'm glad we didn't keep going. I was sick to my stomach when we got there and spent a little time hugging the toilet. I seriously think it was from pure exhaustion. No bueno.

-We arrived home the next day and were greeted with frozen pipes. Awesome. We always pick the greatest times to leave town. I guess it was obviously freezing over the holiday and even some of my friends that stayed in town had frozen pipes. What can ya do? I did my best to thaw out the pipes and am happy to report that nothing burst! Thank Goodness.

-We were immediately back to the grind stone. Tyler was back to work within 20 minutes of us being home and then had 3 home games that week. Good times! On top of all of that, we had a little stomach bug in the house which managed to take Tyler out first, and then me all while Noah was experiencing some chronic diarreah. Nothing worse than having to clean up dirty diapers when you are already sick to your stomach.

-On Jan 5th, we started Noah on a new sleeping program and I am happy to report that after 4 nights, it is working like a charm. I do have to give Tyler most of the credit, because he has been very adament about the program when I have wanted to pull Noah out of bed when he starts screaming. I'm glad we have stuck with it and only hope that I am not jinxing myself by blogging about it :)

-On Jan 9th, we celebrated our 2nd year of marriage. We have been through a lot in just 2 yrs and sometimes I feel like we have been married for 20 yrs, instead of just 2. We had a lovely relaxing day and are ready to bring on the next 50 yrs.

We are excited for this new year. We have set many goals/new years resolutions and can't wait to see what is in store for us this year. We hope you all had a great holiday season and wish you all a Happy New Year!
-

Tyler's Top 10 Favorite Things To Say at Home

2011-01-06T22:06:00.000-08:00

10. "Hey, Babe" - No, I'm not talking about Babe Ruth. I am obviously referring to the lovely Trudi Matlock.

9. "Oh, crap, I forgot about that. I'll do it right now." - Okay, this is not even close to being a favorite thing to say but it seems I say it so much that I must like saying. What can I say, I'm working on being house broken.

8. "Yeah, stay in bed" - This is usually after I get up to get Noah in the middle of the night. Trudi says, No, I'll get him. And I will say, No, I've got him. And she will say, just let me sleep for 20 more minutes. I know she will sleep right through that 20 minutes! I don't really care though, she needs every bit of sleep she can get.

7. "Noah!! NOAH!!" - Even though he's only 9 1/2 months old, he still manages to sneak away and find trouble waiting for him.

6. "No, it's not that bad at all." - I say this when I change Noah's diapers. Wet ones or dirty ones. I always have to trick myself into saying it's not that bad at all so that I don't throw up on poor little Noah.

5. "NERS!" - So, my family has a thing about calling pets by nicknames, well, not to say Noah is my pet but I gave him a little nickname that I like just fine. Ners.

4. "I'm pushing for 6 ft 5 inches 220 lbs with long arms, good ball handling skills, and shooters touch with the ability to post up" - This is what I say to people who ask how much Noah weighs. Yeah, I answer the question based on my warped fantasy of his basketball career, so what? Who cares?

3. "Truddi" - Pronounced like Truhh-Dee. Trudi mostly despises this variation on her name. However, sometimes she doesn't smack me on the arm when I say it.

2. "Did yooooooouuuuuu teeeeeeeeeep goooooooood!?!?!" - Truddi, I mean Trudi, has been saying this to Noah since he was very little. It rubbed off on me so now anytime he is waking up from a nap or from a nights sleep I ask him this.

1. "This daddy loves this baby and this wifey." - Ahh, presh. It's true, I love my baby and my wife.

Thanks for reading my Top 10 Favorite Things to Say at Home

The Stockings are hung....

2010-12-24T18:51:00.000-08:00

It's Christmas Eve!!!! It doesn't really feel like it's that late in the year, or that it's even December to me, but here we are!!! We are so excited for the holidays and have a full packed schedule. We leave tomorrow night for Nevada, where we will spend St. Stephens day with my family!! It's been a tradition since the beginning of time to spend the day after Christmas (Stephens Day) at Nana's house. So, we will spend it @ Nana's house in Alamo. I.cannot.wait. The next morning, we will drive to Vegas where we will fly to Oklahoma, by way of Minnesota. We will spend the next few days with Tyler's family. We are so excited to be able to be there for Grandma Betty's wedding to Joe! We can't wait to meet him and are so excited for them :)

We have received so many treats this season...It has been great, but I can't even look at another piece of fudge or I WILL DIE!!!!

We kicked off our Christmas Eve with this for breakfast:

Ham & Cheese Souffle Roll a.k.a. So easy and SOOOOO GOOD! Click here if you want to give it a whirl.

Tonight we had homemade sweet n sour chicken for dinner with homemade eggrolls! So good! I may even make it a Christmas Eve tradition!!!

After dinner we decided to open one gift....Christmas PJs. It was a good trial run for Noah to unwrap a gift. He did great. haha.

His Christmas Pajamas:

Helping Daddy open his pajamas:

Tyler's exact words after putting on his new pajamas: "Ok, we're gonna have to turn the heat off if we are wearing pjs now." hahaha.

Here is our tree. Someday I might tell you how I wheeled and dealed for this beauty. Let's just say I got it for 1/2 the price during the Christmas season. Holla!!!! I'm a little ashamed to admit this, but I can't stand the suspense of surprises and have forced Tyler to let me open many of my presents and have even talked him into opening a few of his own!!! I swear, I will be better next year! As you can tell, most of my pics are from my phone, and they are not the best.....BUT....I wrote a letter to Santa for a new camera and I've been pretty good so....we'll see what happens in the morning!!!!

Merry Christmas!!!!

Sweet Treats By Jesseca

2010-12-18T19:41:00.000-08:00

One of my friends told me about this SaWEEEEEEEEEET giveaway. Check it out Here and then enter for a chance to win it!!! Good Luck!

The Real Meaning

2010-12-07T20:16:00.001-08:00

8 months old

2010-11-19T11:05:00.000-08:00

Where has the time gone? I can't believe that Noah is only 4 months away from being 1. Bittersweet!!! Noah is so close to crawling. He gets on all 4's and sticks his bum in the air. It's so cute. Tyler and I spend our evenings trying to get him to crawl. The only thing he will scoot forward for is this little football he has...Not a good sign. lol. He is still a HUGE eater. He eats 2 jars of food a day and 1-2 rice bottles, along with nursing. I've yet to give him something to eat that he doesn't like. He likes to talk. His favorite thing to say is 'Bah, Bah, Bah, Bah, Bah..." over and over again. He also loves to squeal in his highest voice. It's great during sacrament meeting :) He's wearing 9/12 month clothes but mainly because he's tall. We fall more and more in love with Noah everyday and can't imagine our lives without him.

Here's a pic of Noah on his way to church on Sunday....(I still can't find my camera charger...Grrrr)

Recent Haps

2010-11-09T17:20:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm a lot better than the last post. I think I may have been having a breakdown....anywho....Noah has slept pretty well since that night. Waking up once at 4am for a quick feed and then back to sleep in his own room til about 7. Hallelujah, seriously!

I cannot for the love of anything find our camera cord. It is driving me crazy! I know I had it at this house, so where is it? Maybe Noah ate it.....I dunno.

We have officially begun Basketball season. Goodbye to my husband til February. Good Times. Try outs are Friday. I already told Tyler to not tell me if they have to cut anyone. I can't handle it.

On Saturday night, we were laying in bed watching Law & Order (Romantic, I know), It was approximately 10:45 pm and I was really in to the show...it was just getting to the good part. All of a sudden, I hear what sounded like about 25 shotguns go off in my living room. I curled up in the fetal position and let the s bomb fly. Don't judge, I seriously thought we were getting shot. Tyler ran outside to find a little bundle of firecrackers that some wise guy set off outside our front door......which is about 1 foot from Noah's bedroom window. NOT COOL! I won't lie, after I composed myself, I nervously laughed. Tyler said, "It's not funny", and proceeded to jump into the car and speed down the road. He followed a truck which contained a former high schooler who drove into his garage and closed it quickly. The kid denied it, but I still think it was him. Karma will catch up to him. When Tyler got home at about 11:15, I told him about my sister Mandy and I getting caught TP-ing Miss Hatch's house in high school. He informed me that it's not cool, and that I basically should be ashamed of myself. No sense of fun I guess.

It is so cold here. Just like that! One minute, it was 65, now it's in the 30s. BURRRRRRRRRRR! We haven't had any snow here yet, but the mountains are covered. It looks real pretty if you're inside sippin on some hot cocoa.

THE HOLIDAYS ARE HERE! I love this time of year. I am 99.9% set on a fake tree. I love the real ones, but I don't like cleaning up the pine needles, or thinking about my house catching on fire, so fake it is I guess. I have my eyes set on a pretty pre lit one. Less work right? I am excited to begin some new traditions for our little family and to spoil the little monster (Noah) too :)

I got a new calling. Enrichment Chair-person. It's a little intimidating, but I really like the counselor over it, so it should be fun. We had a tri-ward enrichment on Saturday. I made a cute craft for the holidays, but they also talked about other things like traditions, cooking, and couponing...I can't lie, I just don't have the patience to clip and store hop. I do like a good deal though and let me tell you, I have found some killer ones lately. HOLLA!

Well, that's probably it for now. Until next time....

p.s. rl';lerereew3re57675gfgn;llffg- A note from Noah.

Losing my mind

2010-11-03T04:14:00.000-07:00

When Noah was about 2 months old, he started sleeping through the night. It was awesome. He would sleep for at least 9 hours. Everyone told me we were spoiled, but I thought it was just making up for the first couple of newborn months....WELL, the sleeping through the night lasted about 2.5 months and then BAM, we were back to waking up in the middle of the night. Not once, or twice, but more like every two hours. As you can imagine, I thought my life was over...but then decided that I could handle it because all I had to do was get up, feed him and he would be back out, fast asleep. I won't lie, this was still tiring but I would take those days back now for sure.
At this point, we are still dealing with Noah waking up every two hours, but now he is wide awake, will not sleep, fights being fed and is currently blowing raspberries, parked in front of Tom and Jerry since 4am (it's now 5am). I THINK I AM GOING CRAZY. Every single night is a fight trying to get him to sleep. He is a strong little 7 month old and actually fights me. He won't go to sleep anyway until at least 11:30 pm. I asked Tyler earlier tonight if he wanted to head into bed and I would get Noah to sleep, his reply..."no, it's ok it's still pretty early." It was about 11pm.
I have read up on everything: Left him in his crib to cry it out, Done a night time routine, Tried the different techniques out there, but still nothing. My house is a mess. I haven't done laundry, unpacked from vegas (we got back a week ago), I haven't cooked a meal in I don't know how long and I basically stay in my pjs all day and lay on the couch. Tyler only gets about 5 hours of sleep each night if he's lucky, but still has to get up and work about a 12 hr day. We both look like crap and are both incredibly irritable. Seriously, the smallest thing can and does set me off in about 2 seconds. DEEP BREATHS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dreamy Eyes!

2010-10-24T22:20:00.000-07:00

This pic was taken over the weekend in Alamo. I still don't know how I got a blonde haired, blue eyed baby...BUT I will take it. He is soooo cute. We are still in Vegas. It is fun, but I am ready to get Noah back into a routine and I am soooooooo ready to see my husband :) 4 mo' days!

Viva Las Vegas

2010-10-11T21:23:00.000-07:00

Noah and I fly to Vegas on Thurs to watch these little monsters for 10 days!

We are going to miss this guy:

(Side Note: I slipped with the clippers while cutting his hair this weekend, so now he has this buzz. Ooopsie. Doesn't he look like a sexy convict?)

We are getting excited for this time of year. It's like Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas....and, Boom...2011. Crazy. Here is Noah getting into the halloween spirit:

(Glow in the dark PJ's....who comes up with this stuff??? SO CUTE)

I cut my hair! I have gone back and forth on this for soooooo long. I didn't want to have the "mom" haircut after I had Noah, so I thought I would leave it. However, I was in desperate need of a cut. I kept going back and forth because I didn't know what I wanted. Over the weekend, my hot husband set up a secret appointment and told me I had 5 minutes to make up my mind. Seriously, as soon as she was done cutting it, I had an instant relief of headache. 6 inches shorter and my hair feels sooooo light. Here's a pic:

The best part of this was on the drive home, Tyler asked me to grab something from the glove box. I opened it up and there was this little bag waiting for me:

....along with a pair of earrings to go with my new do!

I.LOVE.HIM.

p.s. I know my pictures suck, but I CANNOT find the cord to our camera and it's DEAD! So, my phone will have to do for now.

The Truths of Life

2010-10-06T16:36:00.000-07:00

Truths of Life

I saw this on a friends blog....hilarious. Enjoy.

1. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.

5. How the heck are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

6. Was learning cursive really necessary?

7. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on #5. I'm prettysure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

9. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

10. Bad decisions make good stories.

11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.

12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.

13. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

14. "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this - ever.

15. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Dang it!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What did you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and runaway?

16. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

17. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

18. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

19. Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the heck was going on when I first saw it.

20. I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

21. The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.

22. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

23. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear or understand a word they said?

24. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent an ass from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and sisters!

25. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

26. There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far..

27. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

28. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet my behind everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time!

10

2010-09-30T10:27:00.000-07:00

Ten Reasons why I am happy today:

My super cute baby is napping.
My house is clean.
My husb is coming home for lunch in 5.
My neighbor left about 25lbs of freshly dug up potatoes on my doorstep.
We are going to Utah this weekend. I.cannot.wait.
Noah and I head to Vegas in 2 weeks for 2 weeks.
Fall. I love this time of year. Love the weather, love the decorations, love it!
Thursday. Almost Friday and my favorite night of TV.
Pretzel Crackers. THEY.ARE.SO.GOOD.
My little family. I love my two boys so so so much!

The Good Life.

2010-09-28T17:57:00.000-07:00

So, we now have the internet. I am in heaven!!!! It is so nice to have it right at my fingertips. I have been meaning to blog, but to be honest, I just haven't had the desire. We have been so busy since our move and it looks like we will be pretty much booked through the rest of the year. We seriously don't really have lives so I don't know what takes up all of our time. Anywho, fasten your seat belts for some of our recent highlights:

MOVE-We moved into our new house a month ago today. We love it!!! We are only a block from the school, so Tyler walks and it only takes him about 3 minutes. He prefers it to the old 20 minute drive. We love, love, love our new house. There are so many things I am in love with. I.E. Two bathrooms, a master suite, a bigger kitchen, a big garage, more storage, and a better layout. I also love the front, side and backyard. The house also came with a garden full of ripe veggies. Not too shabby.
Church-We love our new ward. Everyone has been so welcoming! We were asked to speak last week. I was a nervous wreck. But, it turned out ok and I made sure to leave Tyler tons of time :)
Visitors-Tyler's parents came out to visit for a week. They left last night. We had a lot of fun with them and Noah got spoiled. Pictures to come :)
PREMIER-I need another DVR. Soooooo many good shows, so many on at the same time. We (more I) are so excited to get back into the fall shows. I am loving a few new ones such as THE EVENT (holy suspense batman), The Whole Truth, and also I can't wait for the premiere of The Good Wife. Also, Also, I heart Glee. So hilarious. We (more Tyler) are loving the football season too. Everyone say a little prayer that Tyler's fantasy football team does a 360 and starts winning or I might get beat....JK, but seriously.
NOAH-Where do I even begin?!?!? Our little man is 6 months old. Where does the time go? He is soooooo cute! His hair is pretty much fully back. No mo' baldy mullet...Yeehaw! We have been having some struggles in the car. Noah hates riding in the car. I won't lie, it's been hard. I no longer go anywhere by myself for my own sanity. Everyone has been so kind to give me their input on what I should do and that I shouldn't let it control my life, but talk to me after you have been stuck in the car for hours with pure screaming (not crying). He is teething hardcore which I think might have something to do with it.
MILESTONES FOR NOAH- October 1st is D Day for Noah. He will be converting to formula. Halleluja for me :) I am torn, but it's time. Noah moved into his crib from the bassinet when we moved into our new house. We have had our good and bad days. I attribute some of the waking up in the middle of the night to teething pains and some of it to him just wanting to play. In a nutshell, WE HAVE NEVER BEEN SO TIRED IN OUR LIVES! Noah is now officially sitting up by himself. He has been trying for a while now, but finally bit the bullet over the weekend.

All in all, life is gooooood. We are loving life! And now, for your enjoyment....Some photos of the little man himself:

We are Alive!

2010-09-19T10:06:00.000-07:00

Real quick.....We still have no internet. KILL ME. We had it all set up and were getting a smoking hot deal, but when the guy came out, he told us that there were too many beautiful trees in the way at our new house. So, we finally bit the bullet and ordered the $55 a month for 1M internet and what do you know, it takes 2 weeks to install. I SWEAR! But, I am at the library stealing theirs right now so, I can't complain. I have so much to update everyone on, but you will just have to wait because I only have 2.5 seconds to blog. We are all moved in, loving our new place. Noah is 6 months, and Tyler is now a teacher and no longer a dirty construction guy. Laundry is so much cleaner. lol. Welp, just hang on until Wednesday and I will have internet @ my own house and will be back to being the blogging queen. xoxoxo
p.s. We are talking in church today!!!! Me heart!

I'm a Blog Stalker

2010-08-22T19:40:00.000-07:00

So, I'm what you might call a blog stalker...ain't no shame. While "stalking" I found this blog. This lady creates little scenes around her baby while she sleeps. Seriously, so cute!

http://milasdaydreams.blogspot.com

Catching Up.

2010-08-18T13:13:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been off the blogging circuit for a while, but now it's time to catch up! We are moving!!! We will be moving 20 miles away to the town where Tyler teaches. We have known this for awhile, but have been working out the details etc... Our move date is Sep 1st. I am having major anxiety about this. Mainly because school starts on the 30th and then two days later we move....On a Wednesday no less. Who does that??? We do. We have the Uhaul ordered and hopefully we will get everything to go smoothly. Packing sucks so much. I started yesterday and haven't even made a dent. It's funny how you think you don't have a ton of stuff until you have a baby and then it get's crazy. It's also hard to pack everything up when you have to still live here for two more weeks. Aggggghhhh, the stress!

I came out of my room one night to find these roses from Tyler. So pretty. I love him!!!

My mam was here all last week. We had so much fun! She got here on Monday night and left the following Monday. Last Wednesday I had a root canal. The dentist got it done in 50 minutes, so I thought we were smooth sailing since my last one took 4 hours. Anywho, that night I began experiencing some intense pain. My face seriously hurt from my cheekbone clear down to my chin. OUCH! I couldn't do anything and had to keep an ice pack on my face. I would wake Tyler up in the middle of the night crying. It sucked. I finally couldn't take it anymore and went back in on Friday morning. They prescribed me some vicaden (sp?) and an antibiotic. Chances are I had a reaction to the anesthetic. This happened the last time too. So, no more novacain for me I guess. I finally started feeling better on Sunday. I am so glad my mam was here to help me out. Thanks Ma!!! On Saturday, we went to SLC with my mam. It was soooooooooo much fun! Have you ever been to the farmers market there?? It is one of our favorites. They have like 200 booths and you kinda feel like you are back at woodstock. Not that I would know. haha. We went to a Brazilian steakhouse for lunch. I can't even describe how good the food was. I have been to one in Vegas before, and this one was even better. You need to go. NOW. Noah made his debut at the steakhouse when he had a blowout in the air as I was taking him out of his carrier. Let's just say we went through 3 outfits and had to also buy one that day. Gotta love the blowouts. Here are some pics from the day. Of course, my camera died so we didn't get many pics.

Spineless Little Fraction of a Man & a Quick Update.

2010-07-30T13:40:00.001-07:00

*This would be one of my favorite parts of the movie Far & Away. Today, I used it in real life. I have mentioned before how I don't like to get involved in politics. Yesterday began with me making a comment on a friends facebook regarding the President being on the view. This friend happens to be from Ireland, but has lived in Utah for years. Her wall quickly became full with people's opinions. Most were from Irish people stating their opposite opinion from hers and mine. I know, right? Anywho, it was a fairly healthy discussion until this guy who you may remember from here: http://tylerandtrudi.blogspot.com/2010/04/politics.html told me "enough". I seriously cannot even explain how much I wanted to go trans atlantic and body slam him :) Seriously, you're not my dad, my husband, or really anyone of importance so mind your own. It took everything in me to not respond with 6 little words: Spineless Little Fraction of a Man. You can bet, I did write something witty back and it felt SO GOOD.

*We only have 1 month left (as of today), until school gets back in. Tyler is excited because he has been working construction in the heat, so it's actually like going back to his real job will be like having a break. Gotta love my man for bringing home da bacon ;)

*My mam is coming to visit for a week in August. I.cannot.wait. It will be so fun. She's excited, we're excited. YAY.

*Noah is still loving his solids. The only downside of it is his poop. But, who wants to read about poop?...so I will refrain :)

*We got new phones about 3 weeks ago. We finally bit the bullet, signed a 2 yr contract and upgraded our phones. Wouldn't you know that mine quit working the next day and after I went all the way back into Twin and got another new one, that stopped working too. So now, I am on my third phone within three weeks and I think we have a winner. Thank you Devine curse.

*Noah is in this new phase where he wakes up to play in the middle of the night. He loves to put the blanket over his face, which scares me to death. So, I am usually awakened by him squeeling, and kicking with the blanket covering his face. It would maybe be cute if it was at about noon, instead of 1:30am. AWESOME.

*This may be a little TMI, but I am going to go there. It is so hot in our ward building. I seriously sweat, like drips, from the minute we get to church until I get into the car. It is sooooooooo uncomfortable. Our Sunday school is held in the same room as relief society. A couple of Sundays ago, Tyler met me in there. It had been so hot all throughout relief society, so I was basically sitting in a pool of sweat. I was so irritated. All of a sudden, this old lady behind us (with a cardigan on) leans over and says to her husband, "it is so cold in here." I almost came off my chair. I think I am being taught patience, BUT come on!!! I basically pray for rain every Saturday night.

*Speaking of rain, we have had quite a few thunder storms the last 4 days. They are pretty wild here and I actually like them. I will take them any day over snow or heat @ church.

*Lately I have felt like I am losing my mind. I lose EVERYTHING. I seriously can't remember anything and I am tired all the time. Some ridiculous moments have consisted of me putting bags of rice in the fridge, losing my car keys, misplacing my phone when it's in my hand, and even missing our due date on a bill which I always pay early. It's annoying and I feel like a space cadet.

4 months old.

2010-07-22T12:45:00.000-07:00

Noah (aka Cheeks McGee) 4 months old

Noah had his 4 month check up/shots today. Have I mentioned that I love his dr? Well, I do. He's so nice and so cute with Noah. He spends a lot of the appointment just playing with him. haha. His stats as of today are:

Weight-14 lbs 6 oz
Height-26 inches
He has started eating rice cereal and solids now and loves them. He will eat anything, carrots, peas, even prunes. YUCK. His favorite by far are bananas and carrots. He will grab the spoon from me and throw it everywhere....just with excitement :) He sleeps about 9 hours a night, so I can't complain really. Every once in a while, he'll wake up at about 3am and feed and then go right back to sleep. He is laughing now which is hilarious because sometimes after he giggles, he will throw back his head and snort. I dunno where he got that from. hahaha. The Dr. thinks that the blue eyes are for sure here to stay, and the new hair coming in looks blondish too. Noah loves being outside. Whenever he is having a grouchy moment, we just go outside and all is well.
He is growing so much everyday. It's so bittersweet. I want him to stay like a baby forever, but I don't think that is possible.

Ladies Man!

2010-07-17T20:45:00.000-07:00

We went into Twin today for two reasons:

1. Grocery Shopping
2. It's so friggin hot here and no one believes in AC.

Anywho, grocery shopping turned into other kinds of shopping and we came across this hat..... I know, cutest.baby.ever.

Changes

2010-07-13T10:13:00.000-07:00

This is how our conversation went last night as we were going to sleep.

Trudi: I think its time to put Noah into his crib in his own room.
Tyler: Yeah, seriously.
Trudi: I'm just nervous.
Tyler: I don't know why. The monitor works and he's almost outgrown the bassinet anyway. And, also our room is way to small to bring the crib in here so don't even think about it.....

Hahaha. Tyler always jokes that I will never be ready to cut the cord and put Noah into his own room. He says if it were up to me, Noah would still be sleeping in our room at the age of 16.....Partially true.

So, today I decided that maybe I will start off with some baby steps....Perhaps an afternoon nap in le crib. I felt like Noah knew that I was up to something and was basically judging me with his eyes. Not really, but kinda.

The little man was intrigued by the OU mobile...but once the fight song ended, the crying began... I may have taken him out and rocked him to sleep in the glider. Don't judge me, I put him back in the crib after he fell asleep. I know I'm creating a monster :) I remember babysitting when I was younger and being so mad when the mom would say before she left, "now, little tommy needs to be rocked to sleep and sang to at 7". However, these days I gotta do what I gotta do.

A couple of minutes later....and this is what I saw. Now granted, I got him to sleep in the glider beforehand, but still :) The big question now is, will I be able to do this at night? Um.....I can't promise anything. The first night home from the hospital, we put Noah in the bassinet at the foot of our bed. That night I slept (but didn't really sleep) upside down on our bed with my hand on his heart. So...basically, it may not be happening anytime soon!!!

Now, let's talk about teething shall we? I think Noah may be. His hands are always in his mouth.
I have bought the teething rings, but he is not interested really. I've felt the gums and checked them too, and don't really see or feel much so who knows? Noah will be 4 months old on Sunday? Shocking, I know. I have to set up his 4 month appt with the dr. and I'm sure he'll give me the go ahead on rice cereal etc... My baby is growing up too fast. It's really bitter sweet. I am loving all the new things that he does every day though. My favorite has got to be the squeeling that I hear when he looks at himself in the mirror :)

Trip Home

2010-07-08T13:45:00.000-07:00

Let's see where to begin.... First of all, I am only now finding the time/energy to blog. I am so tired from the trip, we need another vacation :) Tyler dropped Noah and I off to the airport on the 28th. In case you are wondering, the airport in Twin resembles a potato cellar. Scary business. I have learned that traveling with out the husband is very, very hard. The only way I made it was to have Noah in the baby bjiorn, and all our luggage piled in the stroller with the carseat too. There were many times when I thought I would have a freak out, but mainly I just did what I had to do to make it through. Like, feeding Noah on the plane....I would have thought that I would never feed in public, but you gotta do what you gotta do. haha. Our plane touched down at 10:30 pm and the temperature was 103 degrees. This is when I realized that I was going to die. haha. We had a blast though. Thank goodness for air conditioning and swimming pools. We spent time with Kim and Mandy's families and then my mam came and picked us up and took us to Alamo. Tyler got there the next morning at about 2am. It was sooooooooo good to finally be together. The next morning we were told that Malcolm backed into our car in the driveway. Never a dull moment, seriously. BUT, this is why we all have insurance so no biggie right? We spent Friday lounging in my mam's pool and just hung out with our friend, the air conditioner. Noah was pretty good, but refused to make eye contact with anyone other than Tyler and I. I believe he rolled his eyes at my mam a few times. hahaha. The next morning, Bev, Lewis, Mandy, Lucas and the kids were all able to join us in Alamo for the festivities. It was such a good day. No drama, great company and seriously such great food. (I need to run double to get it all off ;) We went to church on Sunday, but kinda wondered why because we spent most of it outside consoling Noah. I think I ate something he didn't like cuz he was not a happy camper. After church, we gave him a bath and he took a 5 hour nap. It was nice. We headed back home on Monday morning. We decided to take the I-15 back and stopped at IKEA. This was all part of my plan....and, IT WORKED ;) I love IKEA and could spend about 2 days in there. We got home that evening and reality set in the next morning when we slept through our alarms and Tyler had 8 mins to get up and be at work. Good times! One more thing, Noah decided to go bald while we were out of town. It's so sad!!! He's still cute, but he now has almost no hair on top and a mullet in the back.....

Here we are on the 4th! I think Noah is teething...eeek. Also, this picture makes me understand why my brother in law calls my Cheyanne. haha.

All dressed up for the parade :)

Chunky Baby :)

Taking a bath at Nana's....BALD!

Making the trip to Alamo. He did so good. Slept the whole way!!!

Vegas, Here We Come!!!!!

2010-06-27T09:52:00.000-07:00

We leave tomorrow for Las Vegas, Fingers crossed for a quiet flight with the little man! We cannot wait!

Packed bags...check
Sunscreen...check
Sunglasses....check
Baby boardshorts and flipflops....check

3 months older and wiser too!

2010-06-20T23:30:00.000-07:00

My baby is 3 months old as of Friday! Whhhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaattttttttttt? This is so crazy! Sometimes I feel like I just had the little man yesterday and other times I feel like we were never without him! He is growing up way too fast. How did my baby go from this:

To this:

His thigh is now the size of that boppy!?!?!?!?!?!?!!!! hahaha, just kidding. I dressed him in a 6 month outfit today and teared up a little as I put away his newborn and 0-3 month outfits that don't fit him anymore :( Noah does something new every single day. It's so exciting. One of our favorite times is first thing in the morning. Noah is usually just kicking and cooing and usually greets us with huge smiles when we go to pick him up! He loves to play the burp rag game with his dad. That's when Tyler tickles his face with the burp rag and Noah smiles and giggles. It's sooo cute :) He is quite the entertainer. We were at a baseball game a few weeks ago and as soon as Noah woke up from his nap, he was all smiles for the ladies around us. Should I be worried? hahaha. He has a slight ring of baldness below the circle of bald in the back of his head right now, but don't worry.....he's still cute!!! We love him more and more each day and can't imagine our lives without him.

A Few Highlights:

He prays.....just kidding, but he folds his arms.

He laughs.

He chews on his whole hand.

He takes baths with his lil ducks...thank you Tyler for strategically placing the ducks :)

He loves to pose for pictures.

Ok, maybe not. Photo shoot over.

We love you Noah Vann....Halen/Helsing/Morrison/illa Matlock!!!
p.s. We are still not sure how he ended up with blue eyes and reddish/sometimes blonde looking hair...

Interesting...

2010-06-18T17:52:00.000-07:00

So, I saw this video on my friend Nelson's blog. I am not a fan on Lady Gaga at all, mainly because she wastes so much time trying to be different. Don't even get me started on her wardrobe. Her songs are catchy though. Tyler and I usually end up getting them stuck in each others head. haha. Anywho, she should have stuck with this get up. I still can't believe it's her. She has such a good voice, too bad it's over shadowed by her fugly outfits.

This is the life!

2010-06-14T15:54:00.000-07:00

Weekly Recap

2010-06-13T18:28:00.000-07:00

Tyler started work on Monday. He is enjoying the work, but comes home looking like he rolled in the dirt. It's pretty hot. Hahaha, just kidding, but what is hot is his sexy farmers tan....

Noah had been sleeping clear through the night for awhile, but is now waking up to feed in the wee hours of the morning as if he was a week old again. I don't think taking steps backwards is supposed to happen, but oh well. I also think he may be teething slightly. I dunno. He's drooling like mad and sucking on not one or two fingers, but his whole hand. Can't wait for that.

Here's a pic of the little guy. Check out the slippers. So. Cute.

I am flying home in fifteen days, but who's counting? We got my ticket for $40 which was a killer deal, but today I was on their website and it's now reduced to $19.99, Say what??? Also, there are some flights for $10 in July. That's a hint for my family (come visit)!!! I am somewhat nervous about Noah on the flight. I hope he doesn't have one of his infamous meltdowns, or there will be some major dirty looks coming my way. I also pray for no blow-outs, but they always seem to come at the most inconvenient times so I suppose it's inevitable.

I got released from nursery...YAY!!! And, got called to scouts....BOO! (Trying to be positive about this :) I go to my first pack meeting this week and also a den meeting. Whatever they are. I have tons of paperwork to fill out cuz I guess they have to do a background check on me or something. I will be over the weeblos. Heaven help me!

Tyler got a second calling. Young mens softball coach. He likes it, but has zero time with all his jobs etc... Anywho, we went to watch on Wednesday night and I got eaten alive by mosquito's. Um, it's not even summer here....Anywho, I had bites all over my arms and so I went to our medicine cabinet and put some itchy medicine on them. The next day, I woke up to find my whole arm swollen and red. Today, it's still red so I went and took a gander at the itchy cream. Turns out it was Tyler's from college and it expired about 2 1/2 years ago. I am hoping that this is the reason for the swelling and redness and hopefully it will go away as I have now stopped using it. If this is not the case, I am in trouble.

Today was actually a nice day. First time we've been out walking in about 2 weeks. YAY!

Boomer Sooner!

2010-06-09T14:30:00.000-07:00

I was dressing Noah today in this outfit and had a flashback to when Tyler and his friends thought it would be cool if we named him Boomer after Tyler's favorite team. I'm sure glad I stood my ground on that one ;)

Holla at my boi!

2010-06-07T15:56:00.000-07:00

So, it's still raining here. Two weeks plus...and going strong. I feel bad being mad because I know it's good for the crops, but come on. I haven't left the house for about two weeks with the exception of church and maybe a quick run to the grocery store here and there plus I'm not really a farmer myself so I don't have any crops to worry about. Cabin fever anyone?
Anywho, this enough about that. I wanted to give my man a shout out. Right now he's working ten hour days doing construction and when he gets home, he'll be umping a baseball game for the city plus he's mentoring kids through a state program for about 10 hours a week. As most of you know, Tyler is a teacher so this is supposed to be his break. The way his salary is set up, he still gets paid through the summer for teaching, BUT because he's awesome he's working extra jobs. We want to pay some things down and save a little. I feel so blessed to have such a hard working husband. He's so good to me and not too shabby on the eyes either;) Even when I was a raging pregnant ball of emotions (which he kindly reminds me about), he was the BEST. He is so cute with Noah and even takes him out to the living room on Sunday morning, just so I can sleep in. I am truly spoiled!

I could stare at this face all day!

2010-06-05T09:35:00.000-07:00

Goose Creek Reservoir

2010-06-02T07:48:00.000-07:00

We decided to have a picnic on Memorial Day. I checked the weather and it said mostly sunny. So that morning, we woke up...got our shorts on, packed a picnic and headed out. We decided to go to Goose Creek Reservoir because we had never been and had heard it was pretty. The drive was incredible. Seriously driving up a road only big enough for one car at a time, surrounded by nothing but HUGE drop offs. My head was between my legs for most of the drive. I don't do well with heights :) Anywho, wouldn't you know that as we were driving there, the heavens opened and the rain came pouring down. So, we basically parked and ate our picnic in the car and then came home. It was still nice to spend time together :) Here's some pictures. I would like to go back when the weather is nicer, but this shows how high up we were. haha.

I love how there's snow on the mountain in JUNE!!!!!!

Refusing the get out of the car. haha.

All Smiles :)

2010-05-30T19:21:00.000-07:00

Noah had his first round of shots on Wednesday. He did so good!! He now weighs 12 lbs, and is 23 inches long. He basically gained 5 lbs and grew 3 inches all in two months. He has blue, BLUE eyes and the Dr. is pretty sure they are here to stay. It's kinda weird because both Tyler and I have brown eyes. He sleeps through the night and only wakes up between 4 and 5 to eat and then goes right back to sleep. He loves the swing and loves to lay under the baby gym and kick and grab the little hanging toys. He seriously gets cuter every single day, but I guess that's no surprise :) He is now smiling all the time and we love it. We spend a lot of time just looking at him.

Thoughts

2010-05-23T21:12:00.000-07:00

It snowed last week...more expected this week. WHY?!?!?!?!?
Shots for Noah on Wednesday.
We bought a treadmill. I have ran every single day. My hips, quads, and calves are on fire. I keep forgetting to stretch. STUPID! Tyler and I both went running tonight. So...here we sit with red, sweaty faces as our son stares at us like we are weirdies. lol. It's so hard to keep going, but the more I run, the more motivated I become.
I was running yesterday with my ipod when all of a sudden this song came on. Seriously, I was dying. I remember my sisters Kim and Mandy doing their drill team routine to it back in the day. hahaha.
Schools out for the summer for Tyler on Friday. SING HALLELUJAH!!!
Noah has been basically sleeping through the night for about a month now. SO AWESOME. The beginning was so so so so hard, but now it's pretty much the best :)
Idol finale on Wednesday. I know, I know, this year sucked...BUT we are loyal fans and can't wait
I am contemplating cutting my hair....I am so torn. Every time I decide to do it, I have a good hair day. However, I only dried my hair once this week because I seriously have no time.
Jersey Shore is coming baaaaaaaaaaaackkkk. Don't judge.
If you are looking for some new recipes, please click here. This is my favorite recipe website. I'm not even kidding, IT'S THE BOMB DIGGITY! I seriously have made Chicken Parmesan, General Tso's chicken, Orange Chicken, Pizza, Bread, and even the exact Cafe Rio Pork salad from this blog. It's awesome and super easy.

The Devine Curse

2010-05-18T13:57:00.000-07:00

Growing up, my sisters and I would blame all the sucky things in life on the "Devine Curse". As most of you know, our maiden name is Devine, so it just kinda flowed. Lately I have been slapped in the face with an abundance of this heavenly curse. I won't go into all the different instances but here's the kicker...

My sis Bev wanted to send me a birthday card, so she texted me and asked for my address. I gave it to her and she said she'd throw my passport in there since she had found it with her important docs. (It must have gotten mixed up in her things when we lived together in college). Anywho, friday rolls around and I go to get my mail. Amongst the bills, I see a pink birthday card envelope. I open it up and see a cute "sister" birthday card. Assuming Bev forgot to put the passport in I shoot her a text and say, "Thanks for the birthday card, did you forget to put my passport in?" And this is where the curse comes into full effect....

My phone rings, it's Bev:

Bev: Trudi, are you kidding?
Trudi: No. Did you forget to put it in?
B: No, I remember putting it in right outside the post office before I sealed it.
T: Uh....are you sure?
B: Yeah. Trudi, are you joking?
T: No.
B: I know I didn't forget cuz I put it in the middle of the birthday card, right beside the Ross (one of my fav stores) giftcard.
T: (slightly tearing up)....UH, what Ross girftcard?

Then I notice that the side of the pretty pink envelope is neatly sliced.

We hang up and I have a breakdown and text Tyler. "Can you call me? Slightly urgent..."

5 mins later...my phone rings. I would put my conversation to Tyler on here but all I remember is crying and not making sense. hahaha

Bottomline, some tool bag stole my Irish passport and Ross giftcard. I called the post office here and the post master told me that some machine in a warehouse probably opened the envelope. Uh, welcome to the real world....you moron. My passport is an Irish one so I knew my next step was to call the Irish Consolate. Conveniently, my laptop cord blew up the night before so my lovely sister Mandy got me the number. They told me I have to file a postal inspector report, police report and then pay for a new one. AWESOME! I mean, it's not like I'm going anywhere but still. And, I suppose the giftcard isn't the priority, but still... And, so help me if someone steals and uses my identity I will freak. I don't know if the mail theft occurred here or in California where it was sent from. BUT, whoever you are, I am coming after you!

ALSO, I may or may not have written a letter to the newspaper regarding a very touchy subject and it may or may not have gotten published. I kinda feel famous. Famous, with no passport. UGH!!!!!!!!!!

Lately....

2010-05-06T21:15:00.001-07:00

we took some naps....

played in our "in home" gym...

talked some sports...

hung out with family...

got cuter....

went to a sports banquet...

made candy bouquets for the basketball team...

found some monkeys in our bed...

baked some good cinnamon rolls...

and, gave Hugh Hefner a run for his money!!!!

Meet the newest member!!!

2010-05-04T20:21:00.000-07:00

Noah was blessed on Sunday by his dad. Tyler's mom made his blessing outfit. It fit perfectly and we LOVED it!!! Noah looked so adorable and did so well. We left his rockstar pacifier in during the blessing to make sure he didn't scream.... When it fell out, our bishop kindly threw it back in before Noah noticed. lol. Some of both of our families were able to make it and we enjoyed spending time with all of them. It was such a special day! We are still loving Noah more and more each day ;) Here are some pics.....enjoy!

Here's the famous pacifier!

He has his dads feet ;)

Soooooooooo over this photo shoot :(

Happy Baby :)

Some Pics.

2010-04-25T14:52:00.000-07:00

I weighed Noah the other day. He was exactly 5 weeks old and weighed exactly 10 lbs! I really can tell a difference from when he was born. He is just growing and growing and getting cuter and cuter everyday too ;)
Noah went to church for the first time today! It was stake conference and he did so good. He slept the whole time and only woke up about 5 mins before the end.

This outfit is from the Gap. I got it for 1 Dolla! I know, I'm awesome. One Dolla make you Holla!!!!!

He is liking his car seat more and more everyday!

TummyTime :)

I placed him in his crib one day while I was hanging up his clothes. He no likey! BUT, he does blend in with the bedding. lol.

Cute little face :)

It's not easy being a personal trainer

2010-04-21T18:55:00.000-07:00

Okay, some of you, our adoring fans, have wondered what the details of Trudi's training sessions are. Well, like she said they're grueling. I do yell. I get paid for child abuse mind you! (Like not real child abuse, but I do get paid to yell at kids and make them perform physical feats that are quite painful) So she get's it pretty tough. You asked about whips. While I don't condone physical violence as a part of coaching and motivation I do condone the use of threats of physical violence. As long as you're scary enough you never actually to have to follow through with the violence. Trudi hasn't quite figured this out yet and I still have my scare in on her.

Here's a picture of me right before one of our workouts. Don't let the smile fool you. I put on a pretty face for the camera. I'm an animal.

No Time

2010-04-17T20:38:00.000-07:00

I never truly understood it when women would say, "you will have no time when you have kids." Now, I truly do. The other night I did one of those biore nose strips...The five seconds I had to myself was like the equivalent of having a spa day or something. hahaha. Also, those biore nose strips are totally disgusting, but awesome at the same time. My nose looks A-MAZ-ING! It's blows my mind how fast my days go. I feed Noah and before I know it, it's time to feed again. It's crazy. I wake up and the next minute, it's midnight.

Tyler is a junior class advisor and has had to help with the prom set up, so today Noah and I accompanied him. Noah didn't do much but sleep and scream, but I found myself making hawaiian flowers. It still amazes me how some people can be so crafty. When I walked into the gym, I felt like I was on an island in Hawaii. Some lady made a huge waterfall and there were homemade surfboards etc...It looks awesome. Prom is next weekend. Tyler has to go chaperone, so I might bring Noah....in a tux....jk, but wouldn't that be so cute?

I am proud to say that I am now off sugar for one week. I did this before for about 3.5 years, but once I got pregnant, I started eating sugar again. I can honestly say that I prefer carbs to sugar which is not good, but it makes it easier to steer clear of ice cream, brownies, chocolate etc... I have been walking everyday and the weather here has been beautiful! I have come to learn that there is not one single normal sidewalk in this lovely town. Seriously, I may write the mayor a letter asking him why these issues haven't been fixed since we pay the city an arm and a leg each month? BUT, that's a different post. lol. Seriously, my brand new stroller is taking a beating.....not good. Anywho, my original point was that I have been trying to get back into shape. So, the other day I asked Tyler to get a workout ready for me including stretches, crunches, push ups, etc.... The next thing I know, Tyler has my doing like squats, lunges and these things from hell called deep knee bends. My thighs were literally cramping on the spot. I kept trying to get out of it by saying "please sir, I just had a baby," but Tyler was like yelling at me to drop and give him 20. Seriously, it sucked and 4 days later, I still burn. I want to start running again, but need to give it time. I think I already overdid it.....anything to get out of that hellish workout with my man :)

Noah had been sleeping better since my last post until last night. I was awake until the wee hours of the morning consoling the little man. I believe I woke up sitting on the couch at 4:40 am with a total creek in my neck. OUCH!

We took this picture today after his bath. Blackmail for when he brings his first girlfriend home :)

Zzzzzzz

2010-04-12T16:46:00.000-07:00

We have been having some wild all nighters here at the Matlock home....and I don't mean all nighters in a good way. Noah has been keeping us up all night. I seriously lay down at 6:30 am this morning for the first time and only got about twenty mins in until he started crying again. Tyler get's up at about 6:30am, so things here have not been pretty. I thought it was gas at first so we got mylicon drops, but now I think he just doesn't want to sleep. He will only stop crying if I cuddle him real close which is fine, but I am still trying to find a way to sleep and do this at the same time. Tyler went and got this book today

We've heard great reviews about it so hopefully things around here will change, otherwise we will turn into zombies. I know a lot of people will probably tell me to leave him in a room crying until he falls asleep, but it's so bad that we can hear him, even in a different room. Tyler spends most of his nights sleeping on the couch because he has to get up so early. I feel like Noah is on such a backwards schedule. I am looking at him snoozing in the bouncer right now. He sleeps so good during the day...TOO GOOD!

I'm soooo tired. Like, I seriously don't know if I remember ever being this tired. Of course, when I said this to Tyler he said "well, you did used to drink one energy drink per day before you got pregnant." Thanks! Even though I am so tired, I can't help but love this little face :)

Old Woman

2010-04-10T18:15:00.000-07:00

I was flicking around on the tv today trying to find something to watch! There is never anything on during the weekend :( That was until I stumbled upon Legends of the Fall. Hello Brad!!!!

Ah, the memories. I remember watching this movie when I was growing up! I'm not sure if we were supposed to be watching it.....eek. Anywho, looking at Brad in this movie makes me feel old. He was so young in it. I just googled it and I guess it was made in 1994. Shoot me now!

So, little Noah Vann Halen has taught himself a little trick. He now holds his pacifier in his mouth all by himself. 3 weeks old and already looking after himself.

Every time Tyler changes Noah's diaper, he laughs at his feet. They are too cute :)

We have now upgraded from the boppy to the bouncer. I'm not gonna lie, we may have had the bouncer in the bed with us the other night. We will do whatever it takes to get a few minutes of sleep, don't judge.

G'day Sir!

2010-04-06T18:11:00.000-07:00

This picture just cracks me up. Doesn't Noah look like an old man? Like a little old cute Ben Franklin? Maybe it's just me....Either way, he's cute.

p.s. Tyler asked me last night if I thought Noah was going to mold into the shape of the boppy due to all the time he spends in it. ROTFL.

Politics

2010-04-04T10:35:00.000-07:00

I have never been a fan of politics. Mainly because I'm not an American citizen and always chose to keep my mouth shut when it came to political conversation. However, due to some recent changes, I have become a little vocal regarding politics. Some of these changes include the following:

1. I'm married to a history teacher.
2. I found out that the above teacher is very passionate about politics and WILL NOT back down for anything.
3. Things are changing drastically in this country we live in.
4. Transatlantic "people" are so caught up with things going on with America's government and as they continue to voice their opinions, I continue to get fired up.

Before I go on, let me say that I do not want this blog to turn into a political platform (Tyler :) but I just need a venting outlet real quick. We've all had those awkward heated political discussions that have turned into world war III. Mine usually take place at my mam's house during a family gathering. While I think it's good to be up to date with the haps of your government, I do not believe it is necessary to get into an argument. I have learned that sometimes you just have to agree to disagree. We have some friends who have the very same beliefs as us, but chose to be on a totally different political side. This has been hard for me to swallow and at times I have felt that these same friends only claim to have those political beliefs for the simple fact that they like to rock the boat. Not because they really feel that way politically. Tyler and I have even had to agree to disagree on a lot of political issues. It's been hard to let it go and not beat a dead horse with my opinions, but you gotta do what you gotta do right?

As most of you know, I was born in Ireland. Before I get on my soap box, please understand that I LOVE Ireland and miss it dearly. I think about it a lot and sometimes even pine to be back over there. However, I will never ever EVER understand the passion that most people over there have for American politics. I remember visiting the country with my sister Bev when I was 18 and she was 17. We were in Dublin city one day shopping. As we walked down a famous street (Grafton street), we were stopped by a kid about our age. He was carrying a clip board and seemed to be doing a survey. He began to ask us some questions and recognized our "American" accents. He commented on it and continued with his survey. The survey turned out to be about the American government and George Bush. We were asked if we liked George Bush. We said, "Sure"...because we didn't mind him. The kid proceeded to flip out and began yelling at us and basically called us all sorts of names. He continued to tell us that the people in Europe have more access to what was going on over in the middle east because of the BBC being over there and that we had no idea what George Bush was doing to America. I'm pretty sure Bev and I ran off to the nearest store and dropped some money that we didn't have on clothes that we didn't need :) My point in that really long story was that this was my first experience where people from Ireland/Europe thought they had a say in what was happening over in America.

I will never understand this! All of my family, except for my mam and siblings live over in Ireland. Most have never even stepped foot outside of the country, yet most of them and most of my friends over there feel the need to voice their opinion regarding America. As we all know the healthcare situation has our country up in arms right now. But, it has other countries up in arms too. The most shocking part of it all is that Ireland is a country that has taken part in socialized medicine since I can remember. I also remember that that was a factor in my family deciding to immigrate to America. That among many others. Even to this day, the healthcare system over there is a mess. For example, if you need an MRI...you will be put on a waiting list for 2-3 yrs. AN MRI?!?!?!? Something that we can get done in less than 24 hours will take a person over there 2-3 yrs....YET, those same people are all for socialized medicine.....in America, no less.

I recently got into a confrontation on facebook with a friend that we went to Primary with in Ireland concerning this matter. He is Irish, but lives in England and has for years. Every other status update on facebook was about America's healthcare bill. I watched it and watched it and even tried to ignore it, but finally snapped one day. I posted my feelings on his wall to which he replied that "America chooses to put their nose into everyone else's business so now the shoe is on the other foot." I can't lie and say I was shocked at his response, but I refuse to keep quiet when someone is obviously ignorant. After all, I may not be a citizen, but he doesn't even pay taxes over here! So we went back and forth for awhile and finally I let him have the last word...which didn't even make sense.

Just because I don't agree with the changes happening to our healthcare system doesn't mean I don't think our country's healthcare is in need of change. It is in dire need of change and help! It doesn't mean that I am going to picket outside of the white house and send threatening letters to our leaders when I know they will never even be read. It means that I think it's important that we pray for this country and for all the changes and decisions that are taking place just like I think it's important that people outside of America pray for their own country and their leaders.

The Weight Game

2010-03-30T14:29:00.000-07:00

We took Noah in today for the snip snip. Needless to say, I stepped out of the room and made Tyler stay in there with him. Both boys did great :) I thought I could handle it, but when the Dr. started explaining the process, I decided to exit stage left. I love the nurse in the dr's office. She's an older lady and is just so cute with Noah. She is always talking the baby talk to him. lol. Today she said (in her baby voice) "you look like a total boy, no one would ever mistake that little face for a girls." It was kinda random, but cute! She took Noah to weigh him and the little guy has gained 7 ounces since our last visit which was only 4 days ago. That's my boy! When I stepped out of the room, I decided to weigh myself. I was a little nervous because I haven't since I had the baby, but I am proud to say I am down 20 lbs. YEAH BOI!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now, I only have 20 to go. I am itching to get out of this house and run like crazy. I am sure I will change my mind once my feet hit the pavement, but it's a great thought :) It's only been a week and a half since I had him so I don't want to rush things too much. Also, it is raining cats and dogs today so hopefully that will be over and spring will be finally here when I decide to step out!!! I just hope that I haven't hit a plateau. But if so, there is always Dr. 90210 ;)

Also, I am intrigued by a new show. It's called hoarders. It's on TLC on Sunday nights. Now, it may not be totally new, but it's new to me. I am so flabberghasted by these people. The FILTH!!!!!!! The whole show makes me feel two things. 1. Sick...to my stomach that people can live like this and 2. So great about my own house/life. Seriously, I feel sooooooooo clean. Some of the episodes are seriously so bad that I have to change the channel. It's sad!

New Hair Do.

2010-03-28T20:35:00.000-07:00

So my sister Mandy and her family came into town last night. It has been so much fun hanging with them. They leave tomorrow and I'll be sad to see them go :( I swear Gavin, Tyrone and Niamh have all grown a foot since Christmas. My other sister Kim is headed up on Weds for a couple of days. My mam left on Fri afternoon and I miss her too. She helped so much while she was here. COME BACK!!!! jk...sorta.

I walked into the living room yesterday and found this:

Cute right? My boys are tired! Noah actually slept from about 3am-8am this morning, but those hours until 3am were killer. He is asleep next to me right now. Passed Out! So, that probably means tonight will be another all nighter. AWESOME! Also, it is my understanding that Tyler is shaving the beard tomorrow. YAY!!!!!

We gave the little prince (as my mam calls him) a bath tonight. I loved it. Him, not so much. I just love the smell of a clean, fresh baby. When we were done, I noticed he was sporting a faux hawk. Sooooo cute. I think we may be onto something here....

Noah Vann Matlock

2010-03-26T18:23:00.000-07:00

Noah was born on March 18th at 7:16pm. He weighed 7 lbs 2 oz and was 20 inches long. I was in labor for about 12 hours and it was a hard day, but all very worth it! I always think it's kinda weird when people write a play by play of the delivery on their blog so I won't but, let's just say I don't remember a lot of it. My dr. had my so drugged out that Tyler had to practically slap me to wake me up so that I could push. I don't know when #2 will be coming along (it won't be soon), but I do know that I will be doing some things differently.
Tyler and I are in love with this little guy and spend most are time just staring at him ;) He is such a good baby. He only cries when he's hungry. I do think he has his days a little backwards because he sleeps all through the day and wakes up about every hour during the night. Good Times. I also think I have created a monster with the boppy pillow. Noah will not sleep in the bassinet and will only stop crying during the night if I put him in the boppy. That thing is pretty cool though.
The minute we saw him, we knew the name we picked was the right one. We have had some fun though. Some names that may be heard are: Noah Vanwilder Matlock, Noah Vann Freakin Matlock, and Noah Van Halen Matlock. We have also started hearing the Noah jokes....A lady said to me the other day "Oh Noah is a cute name. Let's hope he doesn't miss the boat." She then proceeded to laugh out loud to herself. hahaha.
We feel so blessed to have this sweet little boy in our lives and are so excited for all the adventures that are in store for us!!

Here are a few of my favorite pictures.

Spring Break!

2010-03-15T18:04:00.000-07:00

This week is Spring Break! YEEHAW! Now, if I wasn't married to a teacher, then I probably wouldn't care because my girls gone wild days are over....but because I am it basically means a weeks vacation for us! Perfect timing for me to be induced on Thursday right? RIGHT :) We have been busy prepping for our little man to get here! Here's a few pics of the haps.

This is a diaper cake that a lady made for my shower. Cute huh?

Tyler's mom sent us this crib set! Soooo cute.

Since we're renting and can't paint, I had to get creative and put up a boarder.

My mam sent us this plaque for the baby's room. Love it!

So, I wanted to take a bump pic the other day and asked Tyler to take it. After he took it he said, "you look like a ragamuffin!" Rude! So anywho, I cropped my face off and kept the bump...ENJOY!

And here's a picture of my bearded man. Thankfully the beard isn't growing at a rapid pace. lol.

After today, we only have 2 days til D day!!!! GIDDIUP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just hangin out

2010-03-11T12:18:00.000-08:00

I am just sitting here watching E! (don't judge) and thinking about the fact that this time next week I may have my little man in my arms! Deep Breaths! haha. I had an appointment on Tues and my dr. said I am dialated to a good 2 and 80% effaced. (If you are Thome or Quinn, you may want to stop reading this blog or go talk to your mom if you have questions. lol. ) I was shocked when I heard that, but also relieved. I'm relieved to have made some progress as I am being induced. I have heard that it's a bit harder when they induce you and you have not progressed. So...YAY FOR ME! My Dr. still thinks that I will be delivering about an 8 pound baby, because he's measuring big, but I guess you never really know. He seemed impressed, but then spent the next 25 mins shooting the breeze with Tyler about the Utah Jazz and how some dad's try to fit in a game during the delivery. That's when I piped in, snapped my fingers and said "Not this dad!"

Tyler is still growing the beard. I actually kinda like it now. I had visions of him looking like Osama Bin Laden, but it actually looks pretty good, even hot!!! I did hear a little rumor that he told his students that he's only doing it so he can shave it and keep a mustache. Um, mustache=molestache! I will never understand why men are intrigued by mustache's. Hmmmm......

So my mam is arriving next Wednesday aka St. Patricks Day....coincidence??? I think not. Maybe we can fit in a little shin dig before I go in the next morning, or not. I'm excited though. It will be fun! My oldest sister Kim called this morning and said she'll be stopping by at the end of March/beginning of April for a few days. It'll just be her and I'll miss her kids, but then again her son Ryan is the one who drew on Kami's newborn head with a sharpie so....maybe not:)

So, this week is HUGE for Idol. They will cut 2 girls and 2 boys tonight and then we will be down to the final 12. I'm still having mixed feelings about this season. My girl Crystal is AWESOME though. Totally head and shoulders above the rest. Also, I love Tivo. It's a beautiful thing. I haven't watched a commercial in so long and I especially love it to fast forward through Kara's stupid comments during American Idol. Good times!

And now, for your viewing pleasure:

A new tradition?!!?!?!?!?

2010-03-07T18:49:00.000-08:00

This conversation took place at our house this morning while getting ready for church.

Me: "Are you going to shave?"
Ty: "Nah"
Me: "Really? Not for church?"
Ty: "No. This is how I'm doing it now. I'll shave on Monday mornings and then that will be good for the week."
Me: "Really? Hmmmm"
Ty: "I'm actually thinking of growing a beard until the baby gets here."
Me: "Seriously? Why?"
Ty: "Just like to start a tradition ya know?"
Me: Running to count the days on the calendar til I deliver...."10 more days of no shaving???"
Ty: "Yeah, cool huh?"

He will be a mountain man by the 18th....Awesome.

Boys, Boys, Boys....

2010-03-06T09:06:00.000-08:00

We are pretty much almost there with the preparations for our little guy. I remember at the beginning of the pregnancy people would ask me what I wanted, a girl or a boy? I really didn't know. I really didn't care which one I guess. Tyler said from the beginning that he knew it was a boy, but I thought he would be wrong just because he seemed so "sure" about it. I remember his mom sent us some OU onesies and I thought, "could I still put a girl in those?" I remember not being sure which I wanted more a girl or a boy. There seemed to be so much more clothes for girls in the stores. When we found out we were having a boy, Tyler's first words were "That's right!" I remember being excited, but over time I have become even more excited and now I just can't wait :)

My mam sent me this picture from Bev's wedding and I just thought it was hilarious.

It's my 4 nephews in deep conversation with the bar tender at the restauraunt following the wedding. I think it's so funny that the four of them are sitting up at the bar, with their little suits on. My mam said "they looked like 4 little old men"...hahaha. These 4 little guys are so adorable! They each have their own individual personality and each of them are hilarious in their own little way. We miss living close to them and can't wait for them to meet our little guy so they can teach him all the tricks of the trade.

Here are the same boys with Tyler at our wedding. They are getting this whole wedding thing down at this stage in the game.

When these boys are older, we will all have nothing but good memories of their younger years. A few that come to mind are:

-Ryan drawing on his newborn sisters head with a sharpie...not good. lol.
-Gavin replacing the word "truck" with a similar swear word when he was learning how to talk.
-Tyrone locking himself in his room and falling into such a deep sleep that his mom thought he was passed out and took a hammer to the door to open it.
-Jacob doing kung fu panda and smashing his face on the edge of a table. Cool scar though ;)

2 weeks!

2010-03-03T07:55:00.000-08:00

Yep, that's all I have left. My dr is inducing me on the 18th. I will be a little over 37 weeks. To be honest, I have mixed emotions, but it's ok. I will be full term, but still a little anxious. The baby is measuring big and is very healthy and that's all I really care about. My dr. had me do some labs and there was a trace of protein which I think is pretty normal from what I've read, but he thinks we should induce. It has been a dramatic experience, but I know everything will work out. I am nervous, but more excited to meet our little man. Tyler has been so great! He comes with me to every appointment now and it makes me be able to handle my dr better. He may have even lay the smack down on our dr. a few times.
I had a shower on Sat. It was so much fun! I felt like everyone showed up that was invited. I really feel like I got to know more people in my ward and they are all so great! I got sooooooooo much stuff. It is all so cute! Our crib is in transit as we speak and should be here by tomorrow. We finally buckled down and chose one we wanted. It's so hard to make decisions. haha. We basically have everything now, so I feel a little better than I did last week when my dr. threw this induction at us.
My little sister got married on Sat and as you know, I couldn't be there :( Everyone said it was so great though! We are all so happy for them and I can't wait til Bev gets her pics back from the photographer. Congrats to them :)
In entertainment news, we are sucked in to our annual American Idol. Is it just me, or does everyone suck on the show? That may be a little harsh, but like no one stands out to me. Sure, Casey James is hot, but like nothin to write home about. I am hoping it gets better. It's so funny because my sister Kim and I watch that show and my other sister Mandy and I watch 16 and pregnant. So, you can guarantee there are multiple texts flying back and forward on Tuesday nights as both shows premier haha. Also, Bev and I were texting about The Bachelor on Monday night. I am not even going to go there though....RIDICULOUS! hahaha.
I worked out in Oakley with Tyler for the last week. I was in 4th grade for 4 days and then High School Government for 1 day. I took today off because I seriously needed a break. I can barely walk with the pressure on my hips and pelvis. Tyler laughs at me and says I walk as if I am a bow legged cowboy. haha. I literally wore leggings and furry boots the other day just so I wouldn't have to put on dress pants and real shoes. Sad....oh well!
My mam is coming up when I have the baby! I am so thankful for that! I can't wait for her to meet our little one and I know she'll be a great help. It's so calming to think that she'll be here to help if I have any questions or anything. Tyler's mom will be coming out sometime and his grandma will be stopping by at the end of April. She's done with her mission then....we're are so sad/happy for her :)
Life is good!

End of Season!

2010-02-20T10:54:00.000-08:00

Well, we are wrapping up the end of the basketball season! Yay! I decided to take the camera to the last game I went to. Here's a couple of shots of Tyler in action! Now, let me just say that some people have told us that they only come to watch Tyler on the sidelines. Let's just say he gets very involved in the game. I never really heard him scream until I saw him coach and I have never seen someone jump as high as him when the ref makes a bad call. hahaha. He may or may not have gotten a technical at one of his games this season. That's my man!
This is the calm before the storm.

This would be the storm hahaha.

All in all, the game turned out well and they won 72-57. I guess all the screaming was worth it!

I made bread this week and not to toot my own horn, but I'm pretty much awesome. hahaha. It seriously turned out sooooo great! I am going to try to make bread now instead of buying it. Tyler has always called me a bread snob. Hey, I can't help it if I'm a quality kind of girl. Anywho, this bread is as good as the expensive stuff. I put honey in it and you can make it with white or wheat flour. It's the easiest recipe ever and it's super good. Yay!

My baby shower is this weekend. The same day my sister is getting married. SAD! But, I'll make it through. I guess it's good that I have something to keep my mind off the fact that I'm missing her wedding. Here's the invite. SOOOOOO CUTE!

I have been walking a bit lately. I looked outside today and saw this beautiful sky and it looked way nice. So Tyler and I went walking. Obviously, I was deceived! My ears literally almost fell off. Not worth it. So that ended up being a short one. I do feel way better after walking though. My hips and pelvis constantly feel like they are being ripped apart. Good times.

So I had an appointment with my dr. yesterday. All is well. Everything is going according to plan...just as I always knew. I will have to have another ultrasound in two weeks to measure for size again and then he will decide on weather I will be riding this out til the end or weather he will be inducing. Someday, like let's say the day after I deliver...I will dedicate a blog to my doctor. It will be very intense and will be full of everything that he has put me through during this pregnancy. I just can't handle writing it right now, but mark my words I will! Stay Tuned for that one. It will be good.

Word Court!

2010-02-17T10:25:00.000-08:00

So I mentioned in my last blog that I am a bit of a grammar snob. I have been thinking about this a lot lately. Sometimes Tyler will try to pull the "I'm smarter than you" tone on me and correct me. It drives me crazy....mostly because I know I'm rarely wrong. I will admit I say things funny, but I come from Ireland and was there through 5th grade, plus the language over there is probably more correct. I would think anyway. More of the traditional English language ya know? Tyler thinks he's so smart and he really is BUT he does say a few words that I'm like "uh, what?" For example: He says wuff rather than wolf. He also says fith rather than fifth. It's weird and he gets mad when I call him out. He usually pulls up this blog and points out all my run on sentences, but I mean that's totally different than bad grammar right? hahaha. Anyway, the point of my title is this: Why do people say "all of the sudden?" It drives me CRAZY! I have always said "all of a sudden," but recently I have heard "all of the sudden." When I hear it, I cringe. Physically cringe. So then I thought to myself that maybe I could be wrong. NO WAY! So, I googled it and I literally rolled on the ground laughing at some of the things it brought up. It turns out there are a lot more grammar snobs out there than I thought and it also turns out that I am right. It is "all of a sudden." YAY!

So there I was blog stalking this morning...and I couldn't help but wonder why everyone was putting Irish backgrounds on their blogs..HELLO?!!? St. Paddy's day is just around the corner, in like a month. WHOOP WHOOP! I will miss being with my family this year. Most years someone usually does a little St. Patricks Day get together. Oh well!
I started my birthing classes last night. It was quite the experience. Tyler's team is in the playoffs so unfortunately he wasn't able to come with me. It took everything in me to go alone, but I did it. The instructor was way nice and totally full of good information. There were two couples, one girl with her grandma and then me. About 5 seconds in, I thought to myself...."ok, this class is 2 hours long and if one of those stupid tool bags (the husbands to the two women) makes another stupid comment, I'm gonna get up and have a freak out!" They were THE MOST ANNOYING PEOPLE EVER! One of the guys in particular was AN IDIOT! Just making border line dirty comments and seriously felt like he had to comment on everything. I looked at his wife with pity because I seriously think I would drop a bow (elbow) if I had to see his face while delivering. I basically felt like he ruined the experience and the other guy didn't help much either. He just laughed his annoying laugh at everything the other dude said. Needless to say, they were probably the most ghetto, most annoying people I have ever met! Anywho, we took a tour of the birthing center and went over some symptoms of pregnancy and did an overview of the breathing which we will go over more in depth next week. Tyler's team is playing again next week, so i will have to go alone. I think the class thinks I am lying about having a birthing partner. Oh well, what can ya do?
We stayed up until about 1am watching American Idol last night. We're dumb, because I seriously felt like I had been kicked in the face when I woke up this morning. Tyler was like, "I wanna turn it off, but I wanna see who goes through." We had it recorded, but of course couldn't wait. I really like Ellen as a judge on there. She is so hilarious and I can't wait until it get's down to crunch time and then the show will really take off. Stand by for awesome posts from me on that :)
I am wondering when I should turn in my two weeks notice for nursery...lol. But seriously, I don't know how much more I have in me. The kids aren't too bad actually. When the new year rolled around, we got rid of all the older ones and got all the younger, quieter kids. It's just the cleaning up of toys and running kids to the bathroom that is killer. I am actually looking forward to going back to Relief Society once I have the baby. I know, shocking!!!!

My Little Man

2010-02-13T18:02:00.000-08:00

We had an ultrasound this week to measure for size. My doctor was thinking I was measuring small so he had his nurse call the hospital to schedule an ultrasound since he doesn't do them at his office. We got there and the ultrasound tech was so nice. She was the same lady who told us the gender and made sure to point out everything. Our little guy was moving around and I kinda thought that he looked pretty big, but I haven't had an ultrasound since week 18. Anywho, at the end she said that he was measuring 3 weeks and 4 days ahead of schedule and that he was weighing about 5 pounds 11 ounces already. She did explain that the ultrasound can be off by up to a pound either way. Let's hope he's not measuring 6 pounds 11, or I may be delivering that 20 pound Indonesian babys twin. lol. I had researched online what the average size of a fetus should be this far along and found out that it's usually about 3.7 pounds. Eeeeek! It is always such a relief to see him moving around in there. And even though I am scared that I may be delivering a big boy, I am glad that he is bigger rather than small :) She also told us that he's still a boy. Phew...I have had a couple of nightmares that they might have messed up on that one.

It was hard for her to get a good picture of his face because he likes to keep both hands up by his chubby little cheeks all the time. haha. This is the best she got. It's my favorite one. He's so cute!!!!

I have to include this one of his foot. It looks like our little man might have his dad's feet. Tyler wears a size 13 and his toes look like my fingers. hahaha.

I don't know when I will be having him. There has been talk of inducing early because of size and I also found out my doctor is headed to Peru in mid March so who knows. We are just excited to meet him!!!!

P.S. If one more person says "Happy Valentimes," I am going to freak out! It's Valentines people! I have heard not only little kids say it, but also grown adults. I am a bit of a grammar snob, but seriously??? VALENTIMES??!?!?!?!?!? But..really Happy Valentines Day!!!

The Final Countdown!

2010-02-09T17:06:00.001-08:00

I am back into the blogging world. I know, I know...I have been slacking. I won't lie, I just wasn't feeling it. I have been so tired and then I got a huge cold on top of it so I have basically been laying low. Aren't we all glad that Tyler stepped up to the plate to take over the blog?!?!?!? hahahaha. He's crazy.

Well, where do I begin?

1) Yesterday was Tyler's birthday. I really meant to write a post yesterday, but was in bed sick by 9. We celebrated Tyler's birthday over the weekend, because we were both working yesterday. He reminded me about every 5 seconds that I had to be nice to him on this his birthday weekend...and I WAS :) I asked him what he wanted to do for dinner yesterday and he said he wanted me to cook something. So I decided to make sweet n sour chicken and cream cheese wontons. I know, right???

Happy Birthday Tyler! I LOVE YOU!!!!
2) My blog says I have 58 days left, but if my calculations are correct, I have less than that! YEAH BOI! Here's a couple of pics! Enjoy. P.S. I look like a Geisha in the seconds one. hahaha.

3) Basketball is almost over.....Do I sound excited??? I am. Tyler's team has done so well and will go to the playoffs next week and then we'll see about state.

4) My birthing class starts on the same day as the playoffs. So, basically it will be me with my pillow on the first night. lol. I AM SCARED! I keep going back and forth, like should I even take them? Is it worth it? Better more information, than less I guess. We'll see. The baby had the hiccups last night. It was so funny. We counted like 60 hiccups in a row. It. was. awesome.

5) I had two friends have babies today. They were both born perfect and healthy! So cute. When I got the text, my heart stopped for a minute because I realized I AM NEXT! I am so anxious and nervous, yet I am ready to get this party started....I think :) We are almost 99.9% set on a name. I am still going back and forth about going public with it. There are babies being born left and right and I will cut someone if they steal our name so I think I'll keep it private for now. It's CUTE though :)

Well that's about it to be honest. I will try to be better at posting, but really I just want to sleep all the time, so I guess we'll see.

FML

2010-02-01T17:54:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I made the executive man decision to commandeer the blog since Trudi has commandeered the couch. She's not feeling well. Anyway, I was strolling around the interwebs earlier this evening when I stumbled on what at first appeared to be my journal until I remembered that I don't keep a journal and that I didn't post it on a manly pregnancy informational website. The site mentions some of the emotional things that women go through during pregnancy including "nesting". "Nesting" is when expectant mothers feel an insatiable need to prepare the nest or home for the baby's arrival. This is the "hypothetical" conversation that the site has:

Her: "Did you wash your hands before you started cooking?"
Him: "Yes."
Her: "With soap?"
Him: "Yes."
Her: "Which soap?"
Him: "The soap that is on the sink."
Her: "Which soap that is on the sink, the one that smells good, or the one with bleach?"
Him: "The one that smells good."
Her: "Don't you know I'm pregnant(?)! Your baby is inside me. Do you want the baby to get germs from me eating the food you touch with your dirty hands! Wash your hands with the soap that has bleach!"

That is a glimpse into my life right now! This actual conversation hasn't happened yet but I'm sure it will and we've had many conversations that follow these lines. Like the habit I broke of eating so much at dinner time.....now I'm told that I'm too skinny and need to eat more. WHAT!? For those of you who know me, you know I eat alot. I'm used to being told to eat less. Now I'm being told to eat more? WTF, mate?

I rag on Truddi alot (I know there's not two D's in Trudi, that's because I'm spelling it how I say it these days, it rhymes will silly putty) but she's a trooper! We did Sealings at the Temple in Twin Falls saturday and the sealer said they worry about having pregnant women doing sealings because of kneeling and stuff but I told him she was as tough as they come. She had no problems and we were able to get alot of work done! She's amazing and awesome and while pregnant she still manages to cook for me most every night, she still manages to get to most of my basketball games, she still subs almost everyday with crazy kids, she has gone home teaching with me the past two weeks, she also lets me watch sportscenter sometimes too! Life is good, way good!

Best Wife Ever

2010-01-29T22:26:00.000-08:00

This is Tyler. Trudi is in bed. I will probably get in trouble for posting without permission. But this is just a quick post to let everyone know that I have the best wife ever! Sorry if you thought you were the best wife ever or if you thought your wife was the best wife ever but Trudi ACTUALLY IS the BEST WIFE EVER!!

Laters and stuff omg lol, Tyler

Is It Friday yet?

2010-01-25T16:13:00.000-08:00

Have you ever woken up and really wished that you were just having a nightmare and that you could go back to bed and sleep through it???? Well....enter this morning. I was having the best sleep of my life when I hear the hubs say "Are you freaking kidding me?!?!?" Of course, I don't move and say "What?" and he says..."It's 7:14". So he's supposed to be at work by now and I am due to be at work myself at 8:00. So after we run around like morons for a couple of minutes, I take a 2.5 second shower, jump out and open the bathroom door to see Tyler standing there with my car keys in hand. He tells me that his car won't start and he has to take mine and get gas in one of those little ghetto red things and fill it up. At this point I'm about to call into work to cancel and just go back to bed. But, instead I make a fried egg because you know that's what I eat everyday. Anywho, he comes back with the gas and still no dice on the car starting. Turns out, he ran the battery down. At this point, I'm literally offering myself to call in sick to work. But...NO BUENO! haha. Tyler ended up calling into work and getting a sub for the day. I myself, went into work and subbed for third grade. All day long, it's been one thing after another. Being in third grade today made me want to SCREAM! The kids were whiny and I just wanted to call it quits and have a full day recess. Friday better come soon.

So Cute!

2010-01-18T15:53:00.000-08:00

Also, Keith Urban was on Ellen today as well. I'm just going to leave it at that :)

The Haps.

2010-01-16T12:05:00.000-08:00

Here are the happenings of our lives lately.....
Well not much is going on around here. It's Saturday and we are sitting around eating and being lazy. Um, also I am noticing that the tv just got switched to basketball. Not happening. Anywho, I made THE BEST veggie pizza ever. My MIL made it over Christmas and I fell in love with it then. It's super easy and super duper good!

I completely forgot to blog about this next piece of information. My sis Bev is engaged and getting married Feb 27th in California. Am I super pissed I can't be there? Yes. Do I expect her to move her wedding back? Yes. Did I ask my Dr. if I could go? Yes. Did he stare at me like I was an idiot? Yes. hahaha. I'm sad I won't be there, but I already have a plan in the works for a vacation to Cali in the summer with our cute baby. I am already looking at board shorts for him to wear on the beach. I know, CUTE.

I really want to see this movie!

....BUT...wouldn't you know that this awesome town doesn't have it playing in their theater yet. Are you kidding me????? Annoying, but I can deal. I suppose. I am loving the new year for many reasons, but I won't lie to you...I am also loving it because of all the new shows. My boy Simon is back with American Idol and I LOVE it. Sometimes I want to punch my tv when he starts talking in his British accent, but I secretly think he's hot...in a jerk kind of way. There are some other shows that I may or may not watch, but at this point I am not at liberty to publicly disclose what they are. Basically I am embarrassed that I watch them, but am too sucked in to turn them off!

The weather here has been pretty SaaaaaaaaaaWEET lately. When I say it's sweet, I mean it's 35 -40 degrees every day. It's pretty sad that I am excited about this being warm, but it is what it is. The snow is all melted and I love it. I keep thinking that maybe winter is over, but then I remember that one time that it snowed in June when I was up at school at BYUI :(

Sappy Love Post

2010-01-11T18:05:00.000-08:00

Well here it is...better late than never. We spent our Anniversary apart, but we survived. Tyler said that stinky boys weren't as cute as me, but no shock there. haha. This last year has been so fun! It has definitely been an adjustment, but all in all good :) We still laugh about how we met and about all our other funny times. I never thought I would find someone that fit my criteria. I thought I would have to settle and honestly with the pressure of getting married, I almost did a few times. BUT....I was lucky to find Tyler. He is everything I ever wanted and more. I am so excited to spend forever with him! I can't wait for our baby to get here so I can watch him be a dad! My favorite things about Tyler are that he has always respected me, has the same goals as me, always puts me first, is HI-LAR-I-OUS, caring and kind, and he's not too shabby on the eyes either :)Also, my man gives me a calf massage every night for those awesome leg cramps. I LOVE HIM!
I still laugh about our wedding, well mostly the planning. As you saw in the previous posts...I may have been a bit of a bridezilla. I am still shocked that he's still with me. I remember fighting about our wedding song because I wanted something romantic and Tyler wanted Meatloaf's "I would do anything for love." I'm pretty sure my grandma liked that song :) I mean, I had to put my foot down. My brother Scott sang this song below and nailed it. It is one of my favorite songs and I loved it at our reception :) I love you Tyler...forever!

Third Trimester.....YEAH BOI!

2010-01-07T15:32:00.000-08:00

Well, I figured everyone has hopefully recovered from Tyler's year in review posts. I must have been feeling really nice to have let him take the reigns on the blog...because he doesn't have much of a sensor as you now know :) I feel like I am still getting caught up after the holidays. It was so much fun to get out of town and spend it with both of our families, but I was so ready to come home. I think it is just the pregnant in me, but I was so tired of sitting on planes and cars. I think I need a doughnut...you know those little round cushions they give people when they break their tailbone. On the ride home from Las Vegas, I literally thought I was going to have a freak out from sitting in the car. Combine leg cramps, with back cramps, with gas cramps and then you will have a window into my life in that car for 8 hours! TMI???? Maybe. I have officially hit the 3rd trimester...which means a few things. I am in the final stage of this pregnancy, I am on bi-monthly Dr. visits, I am getting anxious, I feel unprepared and oh yeah...I AM GROWING BY THE SECOND!
This is me at 28 weeks...I know, BIG MAMA!
Oh well, what can ya do?!?!?

I'm just gonna go ahead and throw this out there...wearing clothes sucks. It's not really the wearing, it's the finding and putting on. I am still wearing my own pants. Now before you get excited, you should know that I wear them unbuttoned and folded back with a bella band over the opening. I cannot find long maternity pants anywhere so....that's the best I can do! I can feel my hips widening so who knows how long I will be actually able to pull the pants up for? My next move is to bust out the husbands pants. haha. On a positive note though, I have not had the luxury of swollen feet or hands yet. Everytime I go to my Dr. he asks me if I have experienced either and it feels good to say no. If it does happen, I will just bust out the furry boots for church I guess.

We are ernestly trying to agree on a name for the baby. My mam is already calling him by our top choice so hopefully for her...we pick that one. He is very active now, but of course goes into hiding mode whenever Tyler tries to feel him move. It's so funny.

We will be married for one year this Saturday...Don't you worry, I am already planning my sappy declaration of love post to Tyler. We will actually be apart for our anniversary which is sad but hey, at least I have lifetime. Some idiot decided to schedule an away game for Saturday in Carey, Idaho. So Tyler will be spending our anniversary on a bus with stinky boys. LUCKY HIM! My sweet husband asked me if I wanted to jump on the bus and ride up to the game....3 hours both ways, pregnant, with stinky boys....I declined.

On a more serious note...some of you may have already heard, but my sister Mandy's father in law is sick! He is fighting IBC, an aggressive form of breast cancer. An online auction is being held to help raise money for his treatments. Go to thedailyabbott.blogspot.com to see the items and for more information. Garth is one of the most genuine people we know. He is always willing to help and serve whomever, whenever. Please take a moment to visit the blog and please keep him in your prayers!!!

2009 - Part 2

2010-01-04T18:15:00.001-08:00

I decided to go ahead and finish my 2009 review tonight because if I don't do it tonight, I may never get to that. You know how things like that are, right? Anywho, back to our year.

June 2009 - June was a great month for us as we were able to work together at the marketing company. Before I had gotten the teaching job Trudi and I decided that I would apply for a position at the marketing company that she worked for. We hadn't previously applied because we thought it would be a conflict of interest as Trudi is involved in the hiring process and works closely those that are more intimately involved with hiring. But we decided that we should ask and see for and the powers that be said why not? So I applied and interviewed and got hired. My job was to call medical offices around the country and train them on how to use and sell a medical finance option...AKA CREDIT CARD! It was a pretty ok gig. I got to flirt with secretaries on the phone and you can never really beat that. They all said I had a smooth and seductive voice and they would look me up if they were ever in Vegas. I may or may not have made up all or part of that. It was a fun job all in all and was nice because I got to see Trudi alot. Sometimes we rode to work together and that was nice. We couldn't all the time because she didn't work full days on most days. And the pay was better than my previous job. I did have to give up my talk radio habit which I had acquired while sitting in a truck for up to 8 hours a day. It was cool because I also got to put a face to all the crazy people that Trudi would tell me about when she got home from work. Not to talk trash about anyone behind their back or anything but to talk trash about someone behind their back, but there was this guy there who would literally poo on the toilet seat and himself every day. Each and every single day this man would go into the bathroom around the same time and proceed to poo on himself and the toilet seat. At first Trudi and I felt bad for him because he was older and slightly handicapped (he was overweight, so not technically handicapped but effectively handicapped). But after weeks of pooing on yourself, there is no excuse. Once, it's an accident. Twice, it's embarrassing. Thrice or more, good lord man CRAP IN THE BOWL FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! So June consisted of us talking about the poo man. We were also looking forward to Idaho very very much but had to keep it a secret because we didn't want to lose our jobs in Vegas yet.

July 2009 - July was a very exciting month! The highlight of this month was that we found out we were pregnant! The previous month we kind of hoped that we would turn up pregnant but didn't. I guess this was because of that whole ooovulation thing or something fem like that. So we were really looking forward to "that time of month" so that I could buy pregnancy tests and give them to Trudi to pee on. Speaking of pee sticks, I bought like 3 boxes and Trudi peed on each and every test to confirm the initial positive result. I had to go out and buy an expensive box because the cheap box could have been wrong. We finally got it through our thick heads and accepted that we were pregnant. Around this time Trudi got the worse sickness of her life! As it turns out it was a sinus infection from hell. Her head was clogged up all the time and she couldn't sleep and was just miserable. While she was sick, I was in the process of moving all of our stuff to Idaho. The day after we found out we were pregnant we packed up our whole apartment and loaded it onto a trailer to be moved to Idaho.

August 2009 - We were staying with Trudi's sister and brother in law (Kimbo and Sambo) across town while we waited for our house to be opened up for us. You all may remember the Idaho house drama, if you don't remember here's the summary. The B sold our house a week before we were to move in. So we had a week to find a house without being able to visit and see it ourselves. I went up to Idaho to drop all our stuff off at our new house while Trudi stayed in Vegas to work a little more. Trudi's sister Mandy's father in law Garth drove me up pulling our life on the trailer behind his truck. Trudi came up for a weekend with her mom and malcom but had to leave to go back to work. Remember, all the time suffering from the sinus infection from hell. She had gotten an antibiotic from a physicians assistant at walgreens but was still suffering. Long story, a little bit shorter, we ended up moved in to our house in Idaho. It was so nice to finally have Trudi there with me. We still hadn't told anyone that we were pregnant. I guess it's bad luck or something to tell people that you're pregnant until later in pregnancy. I started teaching school in mid August. It was way fun to get back into the classroom. I tell people all the time that high school was such a good experience for me that I decided I wanted to go back and make a career out of it. I'm very lucky to have my job. I wish it paid better though. I'm going to push my kids into medical school or law school or something that's not education!! Anyway, Trudi finally got over that sinus infection from hell proving that she is stronger than any man or hell made disease.

September 2009 - September in Idaho is beautiful! It's still summer but fall is coming. The days are hot and the evenings and nights are cool and relaxing. September is also the beginning of Harvest Season in Idaho. Harvest means spud trucks and falling potatoes. Trudi got a job through a lady in our ward at a major potato product manufacturer. They buy pots from the local farmers and make them into the yummy goodness we love at home such as hash browns and french fries and tater tots. Trudi did lots of things for them including weighing the massive spud trucks as they came in with loads straight from the farms. She did a great job for them and the lady she worked for said she wants her back next harvest season. September also found me busy with school and cross country. I had one cross country meet a week and practice every day after school. It was a real neat experience. I have immense respect for runners. I mean, really, who runs for fun? I loved my cross country kids.

October 2009 - October had one more move for the Matlocks. The house we had been renting was sold. We knew that was a possibility and we had to accept that stipulation when we moved in because we were desperate. It was easier to find a place this time because we weren't 700 miles away. We ended up finding a great little place that is as just as nice and cheaper!! Can't beat that! Cross Country continued and Trudi's seasonal job was ending. So she decided to get started substitute teaching. She does that to this day. Each night she is online and calling the substitute program trying to get a job for the next day. There are several schools in the district that have since moved her to the top of their priority list because she is so good. Being around so many little kids she has learned alot about kids and raising them. You can tell what kids have what kinds of parents she says. She's going to be a great mom for sure. In October we were also looking forward to finding out what we were going to be having, boy or girl. Trudi wanted a girl because she wanted to dress her up like a princess and all that good stuff and I wanted a boy so I could groom him for athletic super stardom.

November 2009 - We find out what we were having. I ended up getting my wish when we found out we were having a boy. The ultra sound pictures were posted here. I love the one where you can see my little man's face and also the one where you can see his "Matlock" feet. I have big feet for my height. And I guess my feet are normal sized, it's my toes that are long. Anywho, you can see his big toes! Also, Trudi didn't post it but they gave us the ultrasound capture that showed us that he was a HE. Let me say this, my son is indeed a MAN! We were also anticipating a visit from my grandma and sister and bro in law and nephew for Thanksgiving. Grandma is serving a mission in the Church Office Building in SLC. Nick and Tara and Jayden flew to SLC from Oklahoma and drove up with Grandma. We had a wonderful visit with them. I felt bad because I didn't have tons of stuff to show them. Let's face it, Burley has no tourism for a reason. I took them out to show them my school. But the main purpose of the trip was just to see them and we were able to do that. We hadn't seen Jayden since we went to Oklahoma for our open house after the wedding. He was almost over a year old in November. It was his first long trip so he was kind of a grump but we still had so much fun with him. Trudi, Tara, and Grandma put together a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner. Wayne came down from Rexburg to spend the day with us too. Because he was there, I got to watch football games on thanksgiving! WHOOP WHOOP!

December 2009 - December is the freshest month in my memory. I could go on and on about it but will try to save you some time and give the best parts. Preparations for the baby was one of the themes for this month. Every day, we were on Craigslist or some store website looking at crib or stroller prices. We knew we were having a boy so we were finally able to buy stuff. December also marked the beginning of Basketball for me. The football team at Oakley won the state championship so we got a late start. Most of the town was surprised to see a new head coach as young as me. But I think the boys found out quickly that I meant business. Games started and everything has been really fun. Top highlight of the month was our trip to Oklahoma. We got to see my mom and dad for the first time since January. Mom has had some health problems over the last several months so it was good to see her. We also got to see Nick, Tara, and Jayden again. Jayden was in a much better mood because he was in his element. He put on a show for us!! Christmas was awesome in Oklahoma. We got an uninvited White Christmas but made the best of it even though we were snowed in. Of all the places to be snowed in, Mom and Dad's place is the best! We ate very well. There was so much food all the time! We got to see old friends of mine from high school, go to the mall where I used to hang out, eat at my old favorite restaurant and all sorts of fun things.

There you have it my friends. 2009 Year In Review. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope I didn't bore you too much. I know it was a lot and I thank you for your attention and interest.

Please leave comments!

2009 - Part 1

2010-01-03T20:00:00.000-08:00

From Vegas to Idaho, city to town, millions to hundreds, lights to stars and from single to married, from no kids to one on the way, 2009 was a very busy year for Tyler and Trudi Matlock. Join us for this year in review.

January 2009 - The year started off with a boom. Trudi and I had been engaged for over two months and were more than excited to get married. Trudi was caught up in all the planning and preparing for the wedding and I was not. Trudi says she didn't turn into Bridezilla. I agree with that to a certain extent. I mean, I'm sure that there were way worse bridezillas than Trudi. However, I'm just glad that I survived the whole experience. Funny story. We were in Alamo the Wednesday before our Friday wedding decorating. I was being the ever attentive fiance that I should have been and was on top of a ladder 40 feet in the air hanging strings of lights and doily stuff. As I was working, I worked up an appetite as I tend to do. Well, Trudi's mom Dolores came in and said she had a big batch of curry made just for us. The only problem was that it was at her house. Well, I proceeded to volunteer my services and go get the curry and bring it to the church. I no sooner had volunteered my time for the betterment of my colleagues by getting dinner than Trudi jumped down my throat and told me how I didn't care about the wedding and the reception and how she wasn't going to put up with it. The people in the cultural hall got quite the show. In fact, one lady who was especially helpful tried to calm the situation by telling everyone that it would be all right. I ended up getting the curry and made Trudi a plate and all ended well. The cultural hall ended up being very beatiful and made for a very wonderful reception. Trudi was a BEAUTIFUL bride and I know that all who have seen the pictures can attest to that. She continues to be beautiful this day!! In fact, she's the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. Anyway, enough of that romantic stuff!! Getting married was the most amazing event of my life! Good stuff.

February 2009 - February was a fun month. It was a month of adjustment as Trudi got used to living with a smelly man. And as I adjusted to a bathroom full of hair dryers, hair straighteners, hair this, hair that and all of that kind of stuff. Trudi was working at an athletic clothing company. I thought she had a pretty sweet gig at first because I took a tour of the place and they gave me a free pair of college football shorts that were being shipped to the college that week. But as it turns out the work environment was horrible and Trudi ended up very miserable. It was about this time that we were realizing that she needed to get out of there. I was working for an electrical contractor as a parts runner. My job was to drive electrical parts from the supply house to the job sites. I did other things but mainly that. Real tough gig, I know. We would meet up at this gas station a couple blocks from her office and a couple blocks from one of my supply houses for lunch on most days. It was right next to the penthouse strip club. Cool right? Anyway, that gas station had a worker named "Laura". "Laura" looked like a man and probably was. Trudi and I still joke to this day about stopping by and seeing "Laura".

March 2009 - In March our married life adjustments continued. I learned that wedding pictures are very important to Trudi and that I need to go with her to get them developed even if she says I don't have to!! I have since learned that this lesson applies to any task, not just wedding pictures. :-) Trudi continued work at the athletic clothing company and I with the electrical contractor. Trudi started looking in earnest for another job. Searching for a job in Las Vegas at this time was like searching for a needle in a haystack. You heard everyday on the radio or the news that there were thousands of people out of work and looking. Well, Trudi being the amazing worker that she is got a job for a marketing company as an Executive Assistant. She was pretty much running that company by the time she left. Seriously, they still call her to ask questions! While she got the new job, she continued working at the other job as they had cut her hours at the other job and the new one was only supposed to be part time. Around this time, we said SEE YA to the job at the athletic clothing company because Trudi was miserable there. She would call me as she got off just drained of energy and in a horrible mood because of what she was put through at work.

April 2009 - This was a pretty uneventful month for us in that everything was steady and relatively stress free. Our biggest stress was the fear that we could lose our jobs at anytime. With Trudi at a marketing company and I in the construction industry, we realized that our positions could be eliminated quite easily. We both did our best to work hard and make ourselves valuable to our employers.

May 2009 - May was a very big month for us because we decided that we were going to pursue a teaching job for me. If you don't know already, I graduated from BYU-I with a degree in History Education in December 2008. The school district in Vegas was not hiring or even accepting applications for history teachers so we decided to apply out of state. So this month consisted of both of us scouring the internets looking for school districts in Idaho that were hiring history teachers. Why Idaho? Because my certificate is in Idaho and that would increase my odds of getting hired. Well, I ended up getting a call from some school in Oakley, Idaho asking if I could come up for an interview. I tried to conceal my excitement in my voice as I said yes. I called Trudi and told her. That night we looked up Oakley and found out what a small town it was. I was so excited to have an interview that I would go anywhere. I felt the interview went very well. Trudi asked me every question imaginable about how I felt the interview went. The principal I interviewed with said she would be in contact with me the next week to inform me on her decision. An hour later, as I was stepping out of the men's room at the Flying J in Snowville, Utah my cell phone rang. It was the principal from Oakley High School telling me that she wanted to offer me the job! I told her I would call her back after talking with my wife. I just wanted to double check everything with Trudi and make sure this is what we wanted to do. She was very excited to hear the news. I quickly called back and said I would take the job! That's why were are now in Idaho. This month was also big for us because we decided that we wanted to have a baby. I mean, we always knew we wanted to have children but it was in May that we decided to get started for real. I will talk MUCH more about the BABY in the coming months.

This concludes part 1 of my 2009 year in review for the Matlocks. I had no idea it would take this much time. I will be posting part 2 in the coming days.

Seasons Greetings!

2009-12-15T22:07:00.000-08:00

I decided to send out Christmas cards today....like.right.now. hahaha. Here it is! Enjoy!!!

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It's been awhile....

2009-12-10T14:57:00.000-08:00

Well, it's about time for an update! Not much new here. Tyler and I are both just working away and trying to stay warm. Never in my life have I been this cold. I constantly wonder how I ever went to BYU-Idaho. I can't believe I used to play in the snow and go out and have fun. Who was I?!?!? Tyler left for work this morning and called to tell me that it was -9 outside at 7am. NOT INTERESTED! I have started wearing my fuzzy boots with dress pants. I know.....I'm hot. Yesterday a kid asked me why I was wearing my slippers??....funny!
I had a doctors appointment last week. I am right at about 6 months, and have gained 12 pounds total. So, there I sat thinking I was pretty awesome for only gaining 12 pounds when my doctor proceeds to give me a weight lecture. He told me that back in the olden days, people were told to only gain 24 pounds, but then some scientist did a study and you should actually gain 35 pounds. Now, I love my doctor.....but he is a man with zero personality so I just sat there thinking "are you saying I need to eat up or cut back???" Finally he said, "look, you shouldn't gain more than 35 pounds in this pregnancy." I'm still a little confused, but oh well. I think I'll be fine...but then again I could eat a lot by March. Also, Nicole Richie gained like 60 pounds with her last pregnancy. Just sayin'
We went to Sexy Rexy last weekend to go out with some friends. It was so good to be back there and to see old friends. I feel like part of my heart still longs to live in Rexburg, but then as I watch students hike it up a snow bank....I think "Nah, I'm over it."
We got a crib!!! I am contemplating redoing it. I know it's easier said than done, but I have this cool idea for it which involves a lot of sanding and staining. I wish I was the chick from bewitched so that I could just wiggle my nose and it would be done. I think it would be cool to say "Oh yeah, I actually re did that crib" but I just don't want to have a freak out in the process :)
We have been soooooooooooo busy lately. I feel like Tyler and I never see each other. It's sad, but it makes us cherish our weekends together more I think. It's like we have something every night. Crazy.
Sunday was my first weekend in Nursery. WOW!!!!!!!!! The nursery leader is about 32 weeks pregnant and when they called me I thought "hmmm, that's kinda weird, because who would put 2 pregnant ladies in there?" Well, basically I won't lie to you. I don't know if I would have wanted a child if I had have been in nursery before I got pregnant. 32 kids. Like 26 of them are boys and they are all wild. We had screaming, throwing, tons of boogers, and play dough stuck EVERYWHERE! I seriously had to do some breathing exercises to get through the 2 hours!
I have been having a hard time with our relocation lately. It's just hard sometimes. I miss my family and Vegas surroundings. I don't necessarily think it's that I miss Vegas, I just don't think I'm cut out for a town of 10,000 people. Somedays I would just give anything to see some civilization. It's hard but oh well. Tyler and I have started making friends which has helped a lot! We went and watched The Blind Side with a couple from our ward on Monday and then on Tuesday, I dragged myself to enrichment. I was soooo glad I went! I met so many people from the ward and it was a fun night. I think if I continue putting myself out there, I will make it through living in the country ;)

Growing Everyday!

2009-11-30T17:05:00.000-08:00

Well Thanksgiving was great! I ate soooo much, but it was worth it! We had a blast with Tyler's family. Of course we didn't take pictures so I will have to wait until his sister posts some and then I will steal them :) The baby is kicking A LOT! It's always great to feel it! I have been having some back pain.....but not too bad. I don't know if it's an indication of back labor which would suck, but what can you do? I keep telling Tyler it's my psyatic (spell ck) nerve, but of course he thinks I am making up words. AWESOME! Well, here's a picture I took today. As you can see the baby and me are growing. I feel like I gain weight during the night. Good Times. I have plans to run this all off after I have the baby but that probably is pie in the sky :) My next dr's appointment is Weds. I am sure he will ask me if I ate a horse over thanksgiving.