I'm always giving the excuse that I blog a lot better than I write in my journal which is completely true, but I'm still not very good at blogging. Cameron is such a good influence on me for that, he writes every day. I've made a goal to do better because there has been a lot happen and I need to document my happy life. Our trip back to Utah from Washington was great. We left early Saturday morning Aug. 20th. We went down to Yackima to visit my friend from high school Laura Packham White and her family. Her husband Jake is in medical school up there. They have two adorable kids, Hannah and Charlie. It was fun talking to them since I had never met Charlie and hadn't seen them since Hannah was super small. They fed us a little bbq lunch and we were on our way. We then drove forever up to a super small town in Idaho called Coolin. We went to Priest Lake. I guess it's something like 20 miles south of the Canadian border. Cameron's roomate last year Tyler Shieffield's parents and grandparents own a cabin up there. The only word I can think of to describe it was beautiful! The batteries in our camera were dead so I don't have any pictures of that where we stayed. It was wonderful. Tyler's dad took us out on the boat and I FINALLY GOT TO WATERSKI! I love waterskiing so much. Cameron was excited to tube. He doesn't share my excitement for waterskiing because the time he tried it before was extremely painful and he didn't like it. He does love tubing though, which I like but not as much as skiing. We saw where John Stockton (the guy that used to play for the Jazz) has a cabin. That made me think of Grea
t Grandma Parker and her love for the jazz. The water was super warm! We stayed there Saturday night and Sunday night. We went to church at a ward that was a hour away. All I remember about that experience was that chuch was FREEZING cold. Yes it was the summer so the AC could be on but man, it was super cold. Cameron was even cold and he doesnt' usually get cold. Sunday after church, lunch, and a nap, Cameron and I took a paddle boat out to 4 mile island. That was fun. We had fun spending time together giggling and racing motor boats. We never won. : ) Monday Morning Cameron got up and went kyacking for a little bit. He wanted to go across the whole lake and I didn't. He left and I just did my thing for all of 5 minutes then went running. In my year of running that 5 mile run I did that morning was definitley in the top 5 of my favorite and best runs. It was so serene. I was so energized and greatful to have a body that could run and take me to see the pretty things I did. I'll never forget. Then Monday we drove ALL DAY down to Boise Idaho. It was about 10 hours in the car. I couldn't have done much more. Cameron didn't like my driving and I didn't like his so yes, it was interesting. Whe we first got there we stopped into see our friend from Provo Chelsi Tolbert. She is so wonderful. We love her. After that we went to Josh Edgar's house in Boise for the night. Josh and Cameron were mission companions for 2 transfers. Josh and Stephanie got married in Feb. 2011. She was super nice and they have a nice place. I feel kind of bad because I was not in the best mood. I was SUPER hungry, tired and honestly not in the mood for Josh. He is loud and has a completely different personality than I do. They were very hospitable and it wasn't that bad. Then Tuesady morning we drove from Boise to Pocatello. It was so nice to get to a familiar town! Even though I hadn't been to Pocatello in a long time it was still fun because it was something I knew. We stopped at Sharon and Hal Call's house. Sharon is sisters with Cameron's Grandma Jackie Byrd who we lived with all summer. Sharon and Hal have been on a lot of missions and one of them was in Texas. They were a senior couple for Casey Rowland. Small world huh? We found that out because Sharon and Hal came to our wedding and at the luncheon just before they left they mentioned how in their Texas mission they had a cute elder from Ovid. That was convient becuase Christi and Brian and Julia were sitting there so I introuduced them. I really like Sharron and Hal. They are wonderful. They took us out to eat at Applebees. And when we were at their house visiting after they let me pick a bunch of appercots from their tree. Wonderful! I picked some for me and mom. After their house we went around the corner to the Winegars house. We love them so much! They are wonderful people. She gave us a tour of their house while president grilled us some steaks. We had a great visit with them. By this time I was just ready to get home becuase Bear Lake was our next stop! I was so excited because Morgan would be ther and I hadn't seen him since he'd been home. However, after the Winegars we went to the Johnsons. Random story about them. In our ward this summer in Shoreline we had wonderful missionaries. Elder Leavitt is from Vegas and he's great. But his first companion was Elder Saxton as in June Marie Saxton's son from Geneva. Small world. Then Elder Saxton got transfered and Elder Johnson was a greenie with Elder Leavitt. Turns out Elder Johnson is cousins with the Phillips family from Bern. So cousins with Colby and Cassie. Not only that but his older brother Brayden was in our mission in Jersey. I never knew him but Cameron did. So we stopped in to meet their family. That was fun but I really was pushing to get home. We finally got home to Bear Lake and saw Morgan! I don't really remember what I thought about first seeing him. He was bigger, that's for sure. I couldn't stop pestering him though. I kept sitting on him and always touching him. I was probably pretty annoying but I didn't care. It was great being home after a full summer away. Tuesday we spent the day just hangin out in Ovid. Cameron wanted really bad to go 4-wheeling since he'd only been once before. We did that and I saw my horse! Toney...how I'd missed her. Mom was great and got us the best food ever...STUDABAKERS PIZZA! My mouth is watering right now just thinking about it. Yum. Wednesady we went to Logan and saw the Johnson's. Man I'd missed those kids so much!!! It made me so happy that the boys after they got home from school when they first saw me ran up and gave me the biggest hug. My heart melted! I loved being with them. Everyone else met up at Darci's house since the next day was Emy's bday and we were going out to lunch. It was a fun thing we did and it would be fun to keep it as a tradition to take the birthday sister out to lunch. That's not quite possible since Jamie, Jodi, and Emily are the only ones that live close. But it was at least fun for Emy's bday. That night we stayed at Jamie's house, or should I say the Messick Motel. :) Ki and Mills love Cameron and he loves them. He gets jealous because the Johnson kids like me more than him but he says that the Messick kids like him more than me so we are even. I don't think so but I let him think that. I'm the aunt of coolness hello! No man can take that from me! :) Friday Morning Cam left early since he had a meeting for work. I came later that afternoon with Jamie and Theron. Our apartment here in Provo was unfurnished so Jamie and Theron are kind enough to let us borrow their stuff so we have somwhere to sit and sleep. We hauled in all of our stuff which was a slight disaster but I don't want to remember that. The rest of that weekend was spent unpacking. Now about our apartment. I'll post pictures on the next post but here is the story on that. A week before we got married we were playing games with Janell and her cousins. Kent was there and told us that he was moving in Aug. One thing led to another and here we live. We live super close to BYU campus which is great for Cameron. We live 960 Cedar Ave. It is the basement apartment of a couple with 3 kids. Jordan and Joanna Harmon and their kids Eli, Sunny, and Lousia. (Lousia cries A LOT and it's not a normal cry it's super annoying. Cameron and I are always commenting on her annoying noise. It's not even a cry, it's just noise.) Anyway, when we moved in the box spring for our bed wouldn't fit so for the first few weeks we slept on a mattress on the floor. The entire house was FILTHY!!!!! I don't think they even wiped anything down when they left let alone cleaned the whole time they lived there. I was super annoyed that we had to pay $650.00 plus about $70 per month for utilities for this crappy apartment. Just wait until you see the pictures. I absolutely hated living here at first. It was such a hard adjustment for me. I don't dread coming home anymore like I used to but Cameron and I are looking to find a new place for next semester. I hate the idea of moving now since I've worked so hard to get this place to where it is now, but it would be nice to find somewhere that is cheaper and less falling apartish. I can feel those emotions coming back to me now as I'm thinking about it. New subject. School for both of us is really busy. Cameron is gone a lot. That is one thing that I really apreciate and admire about my wonderful husband. He is such a hard worker. He is always working on something for work or school. He teaches 4 different stats labs and grades a lot of papers and has meetings and is always working. When he's not working working, he's studying or reharsing for choir. He is wonderful to work so hard for our little family. I sure am one lucky girl. Even though he is super busy he is really good at still making time for me. We have this little tradition that I love that when he gets home he kisses me, we eat dinner, then we watch an episode of "The Office" together before it's back to studying. It is important to me, and him, that we make time for each other. I struggled at first in the fact that I don't have a job so our only income is from what he makes teaching, and tutoring but at least he doesnt' have to worry about dinner, laundry, cleaning, and groceries. I can do that and I want too since he's got a lot of other stuff to worry about. Knowing he doesnt' have to do that makes me feel a bit better about not bringing in any income. I will next semester though because I FINALLY GRADUATE! It's official, as long as I pass all my classes (and I will) then I'll graduate on April 26th. It still feels surreal. The other thing that feels surreal is that we found out on Tuesday September 13th that I am pregnant.
Here is the story. I hadn't had a cycle since July but I took a pregnancy test the day before we left Washington and it was negative. I was starting to get a little worried that something was wrong with my body since it had been so long since I'd had a cycle but wasn't pregnant. I didn't think I was pregnant because I wasn't sick and puking. I did have less energy than before but I thought that was just my body's way of adjusting to Utah and my new schedule. Tuesdays are really long for me and when I got home at 5 I found that my computer battery that I ordered for my computer was here. Yeah! My computer hasn't been working for a while and I thought that a new battery would solve the problem. It didn't. Iwas on the phone with HP trying to get it the probelm fixed but they wanted money. I was super upset when Darci called. I was still ticked off so the poor girl got an earful. I told her everything that I was frustrated while on the brink of tears if not crying. Before I got off the phone with her she told me to "wipe the stick across my belly" (Georgia thinks that's how you tell if you are pregnant or not.) Cameron was gone until about 10:30 that night because he was at a choir retreat. After I ate dinner I was going to walk down to the creamery and get some milk. Before I left I decided I would. I was hesitant to talk one because since we've been married I've taken a few pregnancy tests and they've always been negative and it honstly upsets me. It's so frustrating wanting something so bad that is part of fulfilling our covenants to "multiply and replenish the earth" and not having it be true. It makes me sad and I didn't want to go through that until I was more sure it would be positive. I also didn't want to take one becuase Cameron wasn't here and I wanted us to find out together. However, since I didn't think I was pregnant and I was already sad and ticked off I figured I had nothing to loose except Cameron not being here and I was willing to take that change. What do ya know, not even a minute later two very visable lines appeared on the pregnancy test. Talk about emotion overload. I was sitting on the edge of the bathtub at the time and then scooted back into the tub and cried. I didn't know what to feel. Guilt because Cameron wasnt' there? Excitement that I was finally pregnant? Nervous that I was now growing and responsible for another human being? I was mostly excited because I knew Cameron would be really excited. I took the test at about 6 and knew that he wasn't going to be home for another few hours....KILLER!!! When he got home I tried to act as normal and calm as I could. Since we've been married whenever I say "guess what" his first response is always, "You're pregnant?!" So knowing that he would say this and I genuinly wanted to hear about his day first tried to avoid saying, "guess what." Well, it must have slipped out because he guessed it before I could hear about his retreat. He looked at the test and we spent the rest of the night laughing and discussing different options and plans of this new chapter in our lives. Wow! If all pregnancies will be this easy then I will do my part in bringing God's children into this world. I haven't been sick like most women get. I did barf the day after we found out but I think that was because dinner didn't agree with my stomach and that's why. I have been super tired, and ALWAYS HUNGRAY but other than that, I feel fine. Since we've found out about me being pregnant, we've decided to go with a midwife instead of a doctor at a hospital. Dont' get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with doctors, I'm not a complete hippy, it's just the type of birth that Cameron and I want to have is provided by a midwife. We chose a local midwife here in Provo named Melody Pendlton. She is wonderful. We found her becuase she is also Lacey's (my mission companion) midwife. My entire family (and then some) know about me being pregnant and they all know about the midwife. They think that I should go to a doctor but this is mine and Cameron's decision. We've researched and prayed about it and we both feel that it is the right thing to do. My family knows, that if they make fun of or make me feel bad about going to a midwife that they don't get to know much about the pregnancy. They can be a part of the baby's life but won't get to know anything else. Why tell them if they make me feel like we've made the wrong decision? It's my body and I know it will be fine. I guess I'm a little sensitive on this issue. We don't know the exact due date yet but will hopefully be able to tell at my next appointment this upcoming Friday. What a great time we have to raise children. Yes, satan is on the earth in full force but so is God. We are on His team and doing our best so we will be blessed.
Well, that's about the extent of our life as of now. We are loving being married and preparing to add April 30, 2012 a new little Gleed. I wonder if it will be a boy or a girl, who they will look like, and what will we name it. We've talked about baby names our entire marrige since we knew we were going to start our family soon. The only names that we both like are:
Girls: Annie, Berlin
Boys: Owen, Tanner, Anders, Kyler, Jackson, Landon, Ethan
Twins: Oliver and Olivia
Names that Cameron like and I don't: Sebastian, Fin, Ferris
Names that I like and Cameron doesn't: Wheatley, Briquel,
The kids and I both had a break from school the same weekend. Since Darci and Joel wanted to celebrate their 11 year wedding anniversary I got to be the lucky one to play with the chitlins. I took Ki and went to Logan to play for the weekend. We had a lot of fun. Playing baseball, jumping on the tramp, tag, bikes, basketball, making sugar cookies, eating pizza, building a fort and sleeping in it while watching movies. Cameron had school and work so he couldn't come, but we had fun without him!
