Organization!

This semester, life has gotten busy.  Between work, classes, coaching, BYU sports, intramural sports, doctor's appointments, etc. there's just a LOT going on!!!  There are lots of nights where DJ is gone and I've been having a hard time keeping track of where he is!  SO... today I made a little weekly organizer:

Loooove it!!!!!  I got the collage frame at Wal Mart for $10, then cut scrapbook paper to 4x6, wrote the day of the week on them, and put them in each frame.  Now each little frame acts as a whiteboard, and at the beginning of each week we can write down what's going on each day and it's a SUPER easy, cheap way to keep my life organized!

Oooooh I'm so happy about it!!!

Preggy Pics

I realized I haven't posted any preggo pics on my blog, only Facebook.  And I guess eventually I'll want documentation of this pregnancy in hard copy, so it's probably best to put these on my blog so I can toss them in my blog book next year.

17 weeks 

(what's funny is I thought I was so fat!)

21 weeks

23 weeks

28 weeks

31 weeks

36 weeks

**UPDATE-- here I am at 39 weeks-- BIG!**

My friends, I am large.  I'm pretty sure this concludes the documenting of my ever-growing belly, which is why I decided to post all these now.  The thing is, I don't feel that huge or uncomfortable, but then I see pictures of myself and I feel like I just look massive!  I know the majority of my body hasn't gotten fat or anything, but still.  DJ and I laugh a lot because people tell me all the time, "You look GREAT for 36 weeks!  You're so small!"  I really am grateful for the positive feedback, it just makes us laugh cause I'm carrying around this big basketball on the front of me!  I can tell I've gotten bigger in my face (probably just retaining water), which I hate, but meh, oh well.  I've gained about 30 pounds, which I know is reasonable.  And I'm not super worried about working it off, because I've always had the ability to lose weight fairly easily when I actually work out :)   I'm just super grateful I haven't ballooned up everywhere :)

In 2012....

I kind of hate the word "resolution."  Have I ever mentioned that?  I hate the idea that everyone is "resolved" to do something fabulous at the beginning of every year... because for some strange reason, attaching the word "resolution" to a goal automatically makes me think it's not going to last long... maybe I'm just crazy?  ANYWAY... here are some goals I have for this year:

1- Continue to keep a positive attitude. I'm aware that I've got some tough times ahead of me.  Let's be serious... in a few short weeks I'm going to be birthing a child, and that's only the beginning!  I'll have a little person who relies on me for everything, every minute of every day.  The thought of this is thrilling to me, but I'm not naive enough to believe motherhood will come without its challenges!  I just want to apply the same attitude I have to my pregnancy to my life as a mom as well; just be sooo grateful I have the opportunity to experience it, and when my negative thoughts slip in, get rid of them as quickly as possible!

2- Attend the temple.  Let's be honest, it's the best place to be!  I haven't gone as much as I should since I've been pregnant, and I don't really have an excuse.  It's not going to get any easier to go to the temple after I have a baby and move out of Utah, so I really want to take advantage of the opportunity I have to go while I'm still here!

3- Lose the baby weight.  My goal is to be back to my pre-pregnancy weight by my birthday.  That gives me approximately 3 months from the time I have my baby.  Lest you think I'm being a little "pie-in-the-sky" about this, let's think about it:  First of all, I've gained less than 30 pounds.  I'm assuming I'll lose about 8 pounds the day I give birth (hooray, Savage fatty babies!).  Even if I gain a few more pounds before I deliver, I shouldn't have more than 25 to lose to get back to pre-pregnancy weight after I give birth.  For 3 months, that's about 8 pounds a month, or 2 pounds a week.  Obviously I won't hit that every week, but some weeks will be more, some less.  I already have plans to go on walks (maybe even become a "mall-walker," due to the season) very shortly after coming home from the hospital.  After a few weeks, I'm going to dive into my Lindsay Brin post-natal boot camp DVD's.  Plus, I'll be nursing, so hopefully that helps out!  Anyway, don't tell me I can't do this, cause if I want to, I can.  (Positive thinking plus action equals the desired results!!!)

4- Date night once a week!  Since our lives will suddenly involve a third person, I want to make sure DJ and I continue to make time for each other and our relationship!  I love that guy so much, and I never want to forget to take the time to continue to build our marriage!

5- Get myself ready for the day.  Just because I'll be a stay-at-home mom doesn't mean I should let myself go!  I guarantee this is going to be my hardest goal to keep.  I know there will be plenty of days I hang out in sweats with my hair in a pony tail.  But I'm going to do my best-- I really don't want to turn into a schlumpy frumpy mess :)

6- Be a good mom.  I'm incredibly blessed, because I got the best little mommy a girl could ask for!  She's showed me what to do, and I know if I follow her example then I'll turn out okay, and I'm pretty sure my kids will too :)  I'm looking forward to reading scriptures to my baby girl from the time I bring her home from the hospital, taking her to church, and teaching her all kinds of fun things!

So there you go-- a few basic, attainable goals for this year!

Resolution Wrap-Up

Since I started out 2011 with a list of resolutions, I've decided to report on how they went during the year!

1- LOSE WEIGHT-- I entered the "Savage Family Biggest Loser" competition, and it was great!  I ended up losing to Ranee by 1%, which was a matter of about 2 pounds, I think.  I was still happy about what I lost.  What I didn't know was that at the very end of the competition I was actually pregnant, and have since gained about 26 pounds and weigh more than I ever have in my life!  Haha!  I'm thrilled to be at my heaviest ever ;)

2- VISIT AT LEAST 12 DIFFERENT TEMPLES-- We didn't quite make this goal.  This year we did work in the following temples:
-Provo
-Mount Timpanogos
- Jordan River
- Oquirrh Mountain
- San Diego

We also attended a wedding in Manti and attempted to do a session in Salt Lake, but missed the session.  We also planned on attending a session in Saint George for my birthday but forgot some church clothes and were unable to attend.  The biggest reason we didn't meet the goal was my pregnancy-- I was so sick for about 24 weeks that it was hard to get to the temple, and when we did go, we went to Provo cause it was easiest.  We do LOVE the temple, and hopefully we can go a little more this coming year!

3- BUY A BIG TV-- This obviously happened.  I blogged about it January.  We do love our TV :)

4- BE HAPPY-- I was thinking about this earlier today, and I can honestly say that 2011 was a very happy year for me!  I am certain that attitude has everything to do with that.  2010 was fairly rough-- dealing with infertility that entire year really wore me down.  I'm happy to say that this year, even before I was so blessed to be pregnant, I had a MUCH better attitude about it, and things went well.  I'm a firm believer that attitude plays such a ridiculously huge roll in life.  Of course I still had hard days this year.  I still had moments of bad attitude.  But overall, I think I've been pretty positive!  I'm confident that I could have been a pretty big downer particularly during the first 24 weeks or so of my pregnancy when I was throwing up nearly every day, but instead I chose to remember that this was MY DECISION, and the blessing I'd been praying for for nearly 2 years.  I've decided I have no reason to complain!  I'm married and sealed to my very best friend, we're so blessed to have a baby coming to us in just a few weeks, I get to rent out my parents' basement apartment and see them regularly, I have a fantastic job, DJ hasn't needed to work while he was in school, he only has one semester left, we have 2 well-functioning cars, we've never had to worry about where money for rent or food was going to come from, we teach the greatest Primary class in the world, we have the opportunity to visit family in Wyoming cause they're not too far away, we get to attend the temple, we have support from both sides of our family... I could go on and on and on.  Basically we're incredibly blessed, and we are so grateful for what we've been blessed with!  Instead of focusing on the few things that aren't ideal, why not focus on the amazing things we have?  It's clear our Heavenly Father loves us SO much, and it would be so selfish of us to mope about the little things we think we're lacking when in fact if we have a trial or something that's hard to deal with it's going to be for our own good.  If we do our very best to focus on what we do have, and how to get the most of the situations we are in, we're going to be happy!!!

Christmas

We had Christmas with my family on Thursday the 22nd, because my family headed to Virginia on the 23rd to spend Christmas with my brother and his family.  On Thursday evening we went out to dinner at The Pizza Factory, which was fabulous!  We then came home and opened presents.  DJ got his dream Christmas present of an apple peeler/corer/slicer, and he was thrilled!  (Simple pleasures, right?)  We got some adorable clothes for Alexsi, a griddle, a bread hook for our Kitchenaid, and my personal favorite, Dr. Seuss books.  LOVE that guy!!!

On Friday the 23rd I went to work until 3pm, so it didn't feel too much like Christmas.  BUT, when I got home, DJ and I did have our own Christmas together.  We opened presents (it's always weird how little time that takes with only 2 people), and it was a blast!  The best part for me was that I actually surprised DJ!  He's  kind of a snoop, so it's hard to keep secrets from him.  This year, though, his big present was a new golf bag. I bought it after Thanksgiving and wrapped it in the huge box our stroller came in.  It was over half the size of our little Christmas tree!  Needless to say, he was very curious about it, and was happy when he opened it.  DJ got me some movies, a couple shirts, and most importantly, a SERGER!  Just what every girl needs :)  I'm super excited about it.  I serged the edges of some burp cloths that night, but haven't been able to use it more than that since we've been out of town.  But I can promise, that blessed little machine will be getting a LOT of use!  We were also thrilled with the gifts Josh and Carly sent us-- all I can say is, Carly has superb taste in children's clothing!  (And movies, by the way!)

On Saturday morning we got up at 4am and headed to Lovell for Christmas.  Our drive went really well, and we made excellent time, especially considering that we stopped every 2 hours for me to get out and walk around (doctor's orders).  It was fun to see everyone on Christmas Eve, but man were we exhausted!  Nikki and I took a nap together in the afternoon, which helped, but it was still a tired time.  That night, Nikki, Keesha and I were planning on going to Midnight Mass at the Catholic church in Lovell.  It's something I've always wanted to do, cause I'm really fascinated with religion.  Unfortunately, the church in Lovell wasn't holding Mass, apparently the Mass was in Powell, which we didn't find out til the next day.  The good news is that Annie told me she'd go with me a different year :)  The very BEST part of the day was when DJ and I carried on a tradition we started last year-- we decided that we'd each make each other a gift, and that gift would be opened on Christmas Eve.  His homemade gift for me this year was my absolute favorite part of Christmas:

This is a love note box!  DJ covered it in paper and pictures of us, and put a few love notes in it to start the year out right.  There was a note included that told me to put it somewhere in our home and he'd add a new love note to it once a week.  Can I just tell you how much I adore this man?  He's the sweetest husband ever!

My homemade gift to DJ wasn't nearly so sentimental, but it was fun to make and I was happy with the results:

It was an idea that evolved as I made it, and ended up taking longer than expected, but it was totally worth it! I love making stuff for him!

On Christmas day we got up and opened presents with the Savage fam.  Mama Savage had told us that if we didn't tell her what we wanted for Christmas we were going to end up with underwear.  I told her to go right ahead and do that, and she most certainly did for me :)  She also got us the scripture readers for Alexsi, which is great!  We went to Sacrament meeting that morning, and came home to the annual family Christmas breakfast, which is kind of a big deal in this family!  It was so fun to see all the extended family as well.  After breakfast, we headed down to Grandma and Grandpa's for more presents.  A fun tradition they have is that Grandpa and Grandma save their change all year long and at Christmas they draw names out of a bucket and give the change away.  This year I was one of the lucky winners, and I'm sure I'll find something awesome to do with my winnings :)  

The rest of the week was spent playing games, football, reading, resting, and just spending time with family.  One of the highlights of my week was watching some rousing games of sock monkey basketball:

Yep, that really happened.  The best part was listening to them really getting into it.  If you don't know this family, they can get competitive about anything! It's pretty hilarious!

We traveled home on New Year's Eve, and we're happy to be back!  We sure love all our family, and we're grateful for the time we got to spend with everyone this year!