BOY OR GIRL?...

We asked people what they thought the gender of our baby would be…and the majority thought it would be a girl.  Although some people said it would be human, which we're starting to doubt looking at our ultrasound pictures.  It still looks like an alien.


Anyways, the results are below.  We are so excited for this little baby boy to join us in September!

FAILING AT COOKING...

Sometimes, I feel like a horrible wife.  I love surprising the husband with dinner.  I've been sick so I haven't cooked much.  But, the other day, I felt well enough to throw a little something in the crockpot. I found a glorious recipe on pinterest for minestrone soup.  It would have been really yummy.  But, I went to class and forgot to turn the crockpot on low!

DANG IT!  (Well, I thought a little more than that, but for the sake of sanity, I will be PG.)

I got home from school and it was a pile of mush!  So gross!  I dumped it out.  So, we ended up having chicken enchilada soup from Costco for dinner, with avocado cut up in it.

The lessons to be learned here, is sometimes pinterest fails AND to always have back up dinner in the fridge or freezer somewhere like a frozen pizza or soup from Costco.  If you are just newly married, then use one of those glorious gift cards someone has given you.

I'm always checking out food blogs for new recipes and don't understand how can their food look so perfect all the time?  These bloggers carve creatures out of watermelons to fancy up their fruit plate, or the frosting on the cupcakes is absolutely perfect to the T with no hint of fingerprints.

Please tell me, that I will only get better at this…if not, maybe this just isn't my talent and I should pursue my domestic attempts somewhere else like in Karate, Acrobatics, Yoga…the list goes on and on.

It's times like these where I'm really thankful for my husband and his willingness to support me for richer and for poorer.  Failing at cooking, especially while pregnant, is by far a very very emotional.

We would love to know some of your favorite EASY recipes, paste the link to a recipe in a comment below!  

DIY PROJECTS...

First off, everyone was so sweet to comment with all sorts of ideas on how to cure my pregnancy sickness.  I guess I should clarify that pregnancy sickness can NOT be cured.  We found that the biggest things to help me get over the hump of sickness were:

 Try my hardest to sip on fluids.
Go get an IV of fluids if I'm not really succeeding at drinking fluids.
Vitamin B6 shots every couple days.

Here is a 16 week ultrasound picture of our baby!  It kind of looks like an alien.  Our midwife said, she thought she something BUT she kept saying "I'm not an ultrasound tech, so I could be totally wrong."  We had a hunch it was a girl, but now we have absolutely no idea!
Hurry up 20 week May 8th appointment so we can know our baby's gender! 

Anyways, Derek and I are slowly starting organize our apartment a little bit.  We have a lot of things for being newlyweds.  It's been interesting trying to find a spot for everything.  We love doing a lot of DIY projects together, and organizing means just that.


I think I knew we would some sort of life-changing event happen and so last November, we invested in a nicer TV stand.  It was a little beat up, so we decided to sand it down and paint it!

I LOVE bright colors.  I have so many ideas for what I would love to do with my house one day.  Lets just say, my kitchen will one day trump everyone else's.  This TV stand will be project number 2 we have worked on together as a couple.

I think that working on projects together, makes you closer than ever.  I really enjoy the time I get to spend watching my husband sand something…I think it is very manly!  I'm not really sure what he thinks of me when I sweat, with my hair pulled back in a messy pony-tail, while painting a small crevasse.  He probably dies over how attractive I look.

I'm not sure how many projects we will get in once we have our new born.  We will probably be too tired to even think of doing any projects.

Anyways, I would love to hear some of the projects you have worked on with your spouse or even with your kids.  We always love getting ideas for what we can do now and in the future together.

Thanks!

Check out our masterpieces below:

(Our bedroom vintage dresser)

 (And the yellow TV stand)

  

SpOoKtAcUlAr MaRrIaGe...

We have had a busy month.  We are proud to say we have about a month and a half of food storage.  Every time we went to the store, we would buy the cans of food that were on sell.  So far, we have a variety of beans, corn, soups, diced tomatoes, pasta, spaghetti sauce, and a case of water.  We don't have a lot of room, so the little bit of food storage we have will suffice for now.  It's been great to have a little stash because we are able to relieve our worry of having enough food in case we have a natural disaster or some sort of dilemma happen.

We have been very busy with school and it's very difficult to find time for everything while we are busy studying.  We have had the most amazing dates and cherish the time where we don't study.  We love spending quality time together!  We were able to go to a Strike concert.  They are a local band that had the opportunity to open up for the Stadium of Fire awhile back.  They sound great live and we really enjoy their music.  Check them out here.  We had our ward Halloween party and we fulfilled the husbands dream by dressing up as 80's rockers.  We carved pumpkins for Family Home Evening.  We also took a few family pictures with the Nielsen side.  

We hope you all have a sPoOkTaCuLaR hAlLoWeEn!!!!

Getting Physical...

We have a hard time going to the gym since we have been married.  Maybe it's because we feel like we are getting our work out in another aspect of life, which we won't go into.  Lets face the facts, every married couple does really well right before they are married.  We loose all this weight to fit in our wedding dresses and tuxedos.  But then after the magical honeymoon, we get back to reality, we start school, we go back to work, we realize we need to focus even more on our marriage, and that's where the pounds start creeping on.

We are both 4 pounds heavier than we were when we got married.  Oh, this isn't a lot you say?  Well, we have only been married for about 3 months.  Think of in another 3 months, we could be another 4 pounds heavier than that...and the cycle keeps going on.  The adjustment to marriage is a little tricky, time-management gets a little bit harder and keeping things spicy in the relationship takes work!  (We're sure that the longer couples are married, the more work it takes.)

The point is, we feel like the air bubble on a piece of pizza that has just got out of the oven, and we wish loosing the pounds would be just as easy as getting poked with a fork to release all the air.  But, sadly, it's not.  It takes work...hence the term "work out..." which means more time-management...which means less time to cuddle on the couch with the significant other after a long day of work or school, less time to get our homework finished, less time to cook healthy dinners, less time to do our hair, less time to do the dishes, less time to cherish sleep, less time to go to the store...the list goes on and on and on and on and on.

In the typical newlywed minds, we find that adding something into the marriage, means less time for other things that are important in the marriage.  With the gym, it's that one more thing we could really use but we don't want to sacrifice other aspects of our marriage.  This is why we gain those few pounds.  This last week we slacked, we were sick, but we have found the cure for this thinking.  MAKE WORKING OUT A DATE!  Gym time can only add to your relationship!  Think positively!  When we go to the gym, we will be on treadmills at the same time, we will do the weights at the same time, we will look at each others sweaty faces and think, "My spouse is so dang sexy!"  

Change your thinking!  Make gym dates a regular activity!  Working out will lessen the stress of the new adjustment, it will make the two of you look even more desirable to one another, and it is healthy!  Adding things into a marriage take work, but when looking at them in the right perspective, they only make your marriage better.  We have suffered from this thinking, but we promise we will drop those 4 pounds, and we hope to drop even more!

FHE Adventures...

We went on a drive up the canyon.  We loved looking at all the trees changing color!  It's hard to go to school, be married, and work...but, we have found that it helps to take a little time every Monday night and just focus on the two of us.  It helps us to remember what is really important and that is each other.

Food Storage...

We need advice on food storage...so feel free to leave comments below.  In other words, we would appreciate any advice on this matter.

What is the best way for newlyweds to start out getting food storage?  Do we need a year supply or should we just focus on a 3 month supply?  What kind of things do we get first?  How often should we get food storage?  Where are the best places to get food for storage?