Blessings from All Around

I know this is a little late but, HAPPY THANKSGIVING! 

Spencer and I almost didn't have a Thanksgiving this year, and I want to share with you why we were able to have one!

All last month, we had hardly any money, except what we had for bills, and that which was left over went very fast to food.  We work at an opinion center.  We are those people who call you to do surveys.  So to be able to work, our center needs to get new clients and therefore new surveys.  We had the clients, but the surveys were very behind.  The editing was taking longer than expected.

So for two weeks, we would get either sent home because they didn't have enough surveys for everyone who would show up, or you would work for two hours and then go home.  With Spencer and I only working part time anyway, this just through a wrench in our finances and budget for the whole month.

So for groceries, we would get the cheapest most filling types of foods.  Aka rice and beans, and whatever else we had laying around from previous shopping trips.  We were living on the bare minimum.

To make ends meet, we were selling different things, or at least trying.  Luckily, Spencer sold his trumpet for $400 on Ebay. However, with all the rules and regulations and CRAP, it wouldn't get here til Dec 3rd.  Two days after our rent is due.

With our paychecks (which we wouldn't be getting until Sat. (the 30th) and we couldn't get it deposited until the 2nd) and the trumpet money, we were still going to be $50 short (not to mention a day or two behind on rent), so it was time to humble ourselves.  To anyone who knows me, asking for help is the absolutely hardest thing for me to do.

When calling my parents and asking for the help I actually broke down crying (also I don't know how much of the tears were from pregnancy and from embarrassment).  Poor Spencer actually ended up telling them the whole thing. (This all happened on the Tuesday before the Sunday rent was due)

My parents were more than happy to help, which I didn't doubt.  They were just concerned.  We of course promised to pay them back ASAP.

Then by the time we woke the next morning, you wouldn't believe our luck.  The trumpet money had gone through! 5 days early! The cushion was building!

Then at work that night, we found out that our paychecks had come two days earlier than expected, so not only did we have all the money we needed, but we had it with plenty of time to pay our rent by the time it was due!

On Thanksgiving we were actually able to go get food and even have a nice dinner, just the two of us.
(Shopping on Thanksgiving might actually become our new family tradition!)

Though it was an emotional roller coaster the whole month long, we were blessed with not only money, but a loving family that supported us when we needed help.  We were blessed with health and love and a wonderful holiday.

Remember that we have our friends and our families looking out for us, and on top of that, we have a wonderful Heavenly Father who watches out for us as well.  Don't be afraid to humble yourself and ask for help when you need it, because you are loved.

Have a wonderful Christmas and remember the real reason for the season.
God Bless!

Student Teaching Preparation

Hey Guys and Gals!

I've been applying for student teaching these past few weeks and I thought I'd get a few opinions on my bio that I have to write.  This is the bio that will be submitted to all potential schools, so feel free to be brutally honest!

I attended public schools in several states and was able to see for myself the difference between teachers and education systems.  In these schools, I became an avid reader and developed an even greater love for math.  I was able to study video technology in my middle school and pottery in high school.  I was exposed to so many more areas than I had even known existed.  Just having so many options thrilled me and propelled me to school each day with a desire to learn something new. 

When I was in high school, I was again provided with a significant chance of growth through a program called Running Start.   This allowed me to attend a community college for my junior and senior years.  By the time I graduated in 2011, I had my Associate’s in Arts degree as well as my high school diploma.  When I transferred to Brigham Young University-Idaho, I tried following what I was good at- chemistry -but I was forced to reconsider when I was no longer happy and excited to attend my classes.

I reevaluated what I wanted out of life and what I actually enjoyed; I realized that teaching was the only option for me.  I love learning, and I want to instill that love into my students.  Many of my peers throughout my school experience would share with me how much they hated a certain subject, and they were less than enthused about the prospect of a daily school schedule.  It was an effort to get them to attend their classes.

I believe this is not a problem with the student, but rather the teachers and education system.  I cannot change any of those, but what I can do is put one more excited teacher out there.  That’s me.  My goal as an elementary school teacher is to get to students when they are young and show them exactly why they should be excited about learning. 

Obviously as a teacher there are certain requirements for the state that your students need to learn, however I want to use this as a starting point instead of an end goal.  My classroom will be a place of exploration and growth for my students where the sky is the limit; for me, anything less than that is a detriment to our students and their potential. 

My classroom will have stations of learning and studying that touches on each of my students’ learning style.  I want them to be in a low stress environment so that they will have a safe place to learn.  In my ideal classroom I would have a space to exemplify each of Gardner’s multiple intelligences, if simply for my students to have the chance to understand that there are many options of learning besides studying the “textbook” way that has become the norm in schools nowadays. 

Overall, my goal as an educator is to make my students’ learning experience as exciting and new to them as it was for me growing up.  To do this I will provide a safe and loving environment for my students to learn while simultaneously pushing them to do the absolute best that they can.  The lower expectations of the world are not going to work in my classroom if I want my students to be as successful in their lives as I know they can be. 

Let me know what you think!

A Baby Update

UPDATE 11/13/12 Spencer felt Evelyn kick for the first time!!

To all my friends and family who are not currently either living in my apartment or Rexburg, ID, I'd thought I'd let you know how my pregnancy is going.

First off, I am 25 weeks this Wednesday (11-13-13)!  Woo hoo!!

I went to the doctor last Wednesday and that was interesting.  Apparently we meet with all doctors in the practice (which is like 2 full time docs and 1 part time).  So instead of having my normal doc, Dr Allred, I had Dr. Evans.

Needless to say I was nervous about having a guy doctor anyway, but now I have two.  So 'to "Woo!" or not the "Woo!" that is the question.'

Luckily with Dr Allred, the first time we met we didn't have to do anything vagina related. Thank goodness!  This calmed my nerves a whole lot and I got to know him in a stress free environment.

With Dr. Evans, I was not so lucky.  It was my first time meeting him and the man had to feel up my cervix. (I mean at least take me out to dinner first! Sheesh!)

That was normal though, because last Friday I had some contractions before bed.  Luckily he checked everything out and we are good to go.

When we got to the Dr's I got an ultrasound, but our little girl is very camera shy.  She was head down so we couldn't get that dang profile!  So after the appointment, we went in again, and still to no avail.

We were promised by our ultrasound tech that if next time she can't get the profile then she will give us a free 3-D ultrasound!

(We are choosing to think that Evelyn is maybe just holding out for the good ultrasound for mom and dad instead of her being a lil' stinker.)

Now I've been feeling my sweet baby move for a while now (I finally realized I wasn't possibly THAT gassy).  However today I got a little more.

I was sleeping in bed while Spencer was getting ready for classes and all of a sudden I felt a huge kick right under my right ribs.  I literally yelled out because it was so hard!  Not painful, just jolting.  Spencer came running in to make sure I wasn't dying and just cracked up when I told him what happened.

Not 15 minutes later, it happened again, and all you see is me, jumping a foot in the air, and Spencer rolling on the floor in fits of laughter.

Since this, I've just felt the small movements she does in my lower gut, but we will keep you posted for when Spencer actually snags a feel.

My Husband is NOT a Cat

Last night as I was snuggling with my husband, we were talking about our little sleeping nuances and what bugs us in the night.  Number one being our cat, Spock.

Hubby and Kitty snuggles

He comes into our bed at night and meows and meows.  If you ignore him, he lays on your face and paws it.  If that doesn't get your attention he proceeds to claw your face.  Needless to say, this is undesirable.

I guess this is just practice for little Evelyn.

Anyways, after we established that yes, our cat is extremely annoying in the middle of the night, we found out that so am I.

Yes the thing between this cutie and his slumber? -Me

Now it's not only because I am a bed hog, especially since my belly region is plumping up, but because I love my husband.

What does that have to do with anything you say?  Let me tell you.

When you are pregnant, you just can't help it.  When you see that wonderful man you married, all you want to do is snuggle up close to him.  I mean you thought you loved him before, but it is nothing compared to when you are pregnant.

Now this hormone or whatever doesn't come at certain times of day, it comes suddenly and all you want to do is be close to him.

This brings us to our dilemma.  I wake up a lot in the middle of the night, and every time I do, I see Spencer.  Now it isn't every time that I see him that I want to be close to him, just randomly, maybe like once a night.

So, instead of waking him up by plastering myself to him and the big spoon, I decided to be polite and just pet his head.

I imagined it something like this..

So for a few nights, to get my love in, I was petting my husband in the darkness of night.

Needless to say, I was happy I found a way to resolve this urge to cuddle.

Now back to talking with my husband about what wakes us up at night, and he says the cat has been stroking his head.

Now for some reason, I thought that I was so sneaky by petting him and letting him sleep, but in reality I woke him up every time I pet him.  He was so frightened that he just laid there, eyes wide and waited for it to be over.  So instead of the peaceful image above, I had been subjecting Spencer to this..

Leaving him wondering what the heck had just happened and terrified.

The only problem now is to figure out how to get my touching fix without scaring the living daylights out of my husband.

My Baby UNregistry

My first baby bump at 20 weeks!

I've noticed that of all the registries there are out there, there are NONE that simply say what you DO have and gives the buyer the chance to get you what THEY think will be cool.

So here is my crazy invention called the Baby UNregistry

(which is in reality my totally unused blog with a list of things I already have and do not need)

So to start off, I'd like to introduce you to WHO you will be shopping for.

Baby at 16 weeks (going in for a pick I think)

Meet Baby Nelson... AKA... Evelyn Grace Nelson

Evelyn is named after my beautiful grandmother and my husband's great grandmother!

But anywhoos..

Down to business, what do you get a first time mom other than those cutsie packs of onsies that everyone gets? (lets be honest, those are adorable but I DO NOT NEED BABY CLOTHES)

Baby Evelyn is lucky enough to have a second cousin (I think this is right..?) who is about a year older than her who is donating clothes to the cause.  Plus she has an aunt whose friends are giving her clothes.  Thanks to this, you no longer need to provide cutsie onsies to this little girl.

No Thank you!

Next, she already has a stroller, thanks to baby Daisy (Evelyn's second cousin)!  Not to mention a little baby swing and stroller.

~~Thank you Joe and Becca! Spencer and I really appreciate all the help.  You guys are awesome [:

Luckily, Spencer and I found an awesome deal on a rocker/ottoman combo (super cute and for only $25 used--say whaaaa?)  So we don't need this either! Woot Woot!

UPDATE:  Spencer and I found a cute white crib so we no longer need one and Becca and Joe are giving us a co-sleeper!

So I think right now that about covers it, but Spencer and I do have a couple of things that we would consider "necessities."  So basically if someone doesn't get them for us, then we will have to get them ourselves.

1.  Cloth Diapers
     I know, I know, what the heck are we thinking??  If you are curious as to why we are doing this, check out this blog.  The lady is awesome and it is super informative.  Definitely best info blog EVER
   Now, we don't just want any, we want a certain kind because we hear great things about them and they are the cheapest for the quality.

I got this pic from her blog as well.

This type is called "TweedleBugs" one size fits all diaper cover.  We think to start off with one baby that we need about 20-30 of these.
Then we also need the filler items...aka the stuff you put in this cover.
- prefold cloth diaper (we will need the same amount of these as diapers)
-flour sack towels (you can find these in any store really..she mentions it in that blog link above)
-micro-fleece (this you can buy at a fabric store (maybe just a yard or two of this)

2.  The Milk Saver
I'm going to be honest, this one is all for me.  You stick it in your bra and instead of leaking booby milk everywhere, you catch it and save it for later.  Saves on the horrible (so I hear) pumping process.  Plus it saves your clothes from a nasty mess.

"Milkies"

3.  Ship Hop Duo Diaper Bag
Hands down this diaper bag has the best ratings, especially for how cheap ($50) it is.  I'm pretty sure Joe and Becca have this and it is amazing.  Absolutely love it.

4.  Dresser- again, don't care if its old or used I would prefer it to be a long one instead of tall though.

Basically that is all I can think of right now, but I have put some basic (I guess) things on the babiesrus.com website.  Just look up our names and you should find the registry pretty easy.
If you noticed something I need that I didn't put, let me know because Spencer and I have no idea what we are doing, lets be honest.

But anyways, Thanks for reading and thanks for all the love and support you've given us.
We are so grateful for all of you! <3

Introductions!

Lets introduce my missionaries!

Numero Uno! -I first met Elder Crabtree on my doorstep with Elder Brenton(i think..i only met this one once.)

Now is Elder Hardy! This man was there for the whole 6 months it took me to get baptized and ended up baptizing me himself!

ya ya, i already used this pic, but i don't want to raid his facebook for more pics

Now the order of them get a little hazy.. So these are the rest!
Elder Courtnay-on the left!

Elder Davis

uhmmm i think thats it before i got baptized actually.
Missionaries usually switch out every 6 weeks..hints why i have so many.
Oh! and "Elder" means teacher. and these young men choose to serve the church, teaching those they meet about what they believe, for two years. (women can do it too! they are called Sisters though and they serve for 18 months.)
Now when a missionary is teaching an investigator (me;) they try to get church members to help out so if the investigator gets baptized, they won't stop going to church when their missionary gets transferred.

This is Cindy Brown!  She is the sweetest woman I know and also the most understanding.  She was my rock through the process of learning about the church.  She still is.  If I have any questions or if I just need a friend, she is always there.  She always puts in 100% in everything she does.

Okay so this goober is the one and only Spencer.  He is my best friend and the love of my life.  He is perfect for me in all ways.  I can't wait til June til I can get married to sexy butt [:

I think that is it for now, but I know I'll have to introduce some more people along the way!
Ps Sorry for such a long gap.  My laziness got to me :p

-Claire.. My Life As Mormon