Steph+Lars=STARS

We are thrilled to announce...

2012-02-07T17:18:00.000-08:00

It is expensive to mail out birth announcements so we emailed this out to as many people as we could. Sorry if you didn't get it via email. You can enjoy your copy here.

Preggo Photo Shoot

2012-02-07T11:37:00.000-08:00

One time I was pregnant and we got a cool camera and went to Lake Arrowhead and other places to play with it and took lots of pictures of me being pregnant. It was lots of fun and here are some of my favorites of the photo shoot.

We had a good time.

Born Neighbors and Friends

2012-02-07T10:19:00.000-08:00

It has been so awesome being pregnant at the same time as my friend and neighbor, Marly. We have been able to have a lot of fun together. She has been super supportive and a good friend. It has put a lot of ease on me as we live far away from our family. Thanks Marly for always being a rockin' preggo pal.

These are our boys.

Dane and Roan

We think they look like twins here

Now our boys need to play play play. We hope they will have lots of enjoyable times together. They will be each others wing men and buddies. Look out world, here comes Dane and Roan!!!

Muppet Baby Shower

2012-01-31T14:31:00.000-08:00

My dear friend Karen and many other awesome ladies threw me a Muppet Shower. Here is a slide show of all the pictures from that. It was a blast and I am so grateful for all the hard work put in by all who made it happen. Seriously an awesome day! I think Roan's 1 year birthday party will be Muppet themed. Maybe we can convince Karen to be the party planner ;)

Customize your own photo slideshow

Cute Noises in Everything I Do

2012-01-28T12:14:00.001-08:00

I look like...

2012-01-28T12:04:00.000-08:00

This is Lars

This is Stephanie

This is Roan

I think he has a lot of Lars in him, the lips, the nose, the hair, and the butt chin. He does have some of me like the Stark ears, instant rosey cheeks and other things that we are discovering as he gets older.

What do you think?

We had a BABY!!!

2012-01-26T16:27:00.000-08:00

Roan Larsen Barlow

Born Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 8:22 a.m.

8 lbs & 7 oz 22 inches long

He is very loving, cute, blonde silvery hair, and peach fuzz all over.

He is a week old today. It has been an amazing week. I have so much to tell you but have been so incredible tired and occupied with him so it will all just have to wait. He is worth all the wait believe you me.

Until enjoy these pictures from my phone and a short video.

Come on Baby Let's Do the Twist

2012-01-16T09:53:00.001-08:00

During weeks 32-38 I tried to capture Roan's movements he made. I was needless to say very unsuccessful. He might be camera shy or something, which is beyond me because I am the exact opposite (guess he takes after Lars there). He would move, I start filiming and then nothing. I turn off camera and WHAM! He is at it again. So without further ado, here are the most successful videos from the project.

Project 52 Let Me Help You

2012-01-16T09:53:00.000-08:00

My friend Karen has this thing that her and another friend came up with called Project 52. It is fantastic and you can read about how it works here The gist of it is that you pick a project/goal each week to accomplish by the end of the year, 52 weeks in a year=52 goals. It is really cool, but too ambishus for me for now so I will just stick with my previous post of goals. A lot of my local friends/bloggers have been posting what their goals are for the year some via Project 52. I think some of the goals are so awesome, things like, take a self defense class or eat eggs benedict for the first time. As I was reading their goals I decided to add one more goal to my list, Help my friends with their goals. This will 1) help me get to know them all better 2) give me a new experience with them or just something else fun to do.

So if you want any help with any of your goals let me know what I can do and I am there. It can be anything from going to eat something new with you, to taking a class with you, or just being a soundboard for ya.

39 Weeks Final Count Down

2012-01-16T09:39:00.000-08:00

Yep. We are on the final count down. Last Wednesday night I lost my mucus plug and I had a doctor appointment Thursday and found out I was dilated to a 3. WAHOO! That just put me in a whirlwind of "gotta get things done." All the last minute things I kept putting off, i.e packing for hospital, washing baby clothes, final set up of baby's room, and last minute purchases got done by Friday. I wanted to get to those things done earlier, but work has been nuts with new sites opening, heavy recruiting, and a new boss to transition in all right before I go on leave. I am officially on leave now and I love it. I am pretty impressed with myself for working so long. and I probably could have worked longer. But honestly I was sooo ready for the break. I was getting trunky and the events of the last few days made me anxious. I wanted to make sure I left work with enough time as to not leave things undone suddenly.

SO now that I am on leave it feels like I am just waiting for this slow labor process to continue. I imagined it going a lot faster and I guess I can't complain because I am experiencing progressive signs of labor everyday, but I suppose I am ready to move onto having my little boy in my arms so I just want to get this over with. Some friends have told me that the last few weeks are the hardest. I can see why. In this exact moment I feel a little icky like I am on day 3 of a really bad period. LOL but hey it is all part of the progress so no complaints. I have loved being preggo but I want to, as they say in Canada,

"Move On" or "Take Off, heh". Everything in its right time I guess.

I am keeping myself busy with various projects around the house, books, movies, and walks.

I feel like everything I do could be a final thing before I go into the real part of labor, last meal, last trip to the store, last phone call made. LOL. I am setting this up too much and probably just need to chill out.

Yesterday Lars and I thought it would be fun to talk Roan into coming out now. We both started laughing and nothing and then said to my belly. "That was funny, guess you have to be out here to see it. Come join us on the outside Roan and see for yourself." LOL we are silly.

Wish me luck with these final days/weeks. Maybe today will be the day...hmmmmm

Come Follow Me/Baby Poll/Giveaway!!!

2012-01-09T14:55:00.000-08:00

38 Weeks

OK. So I want to have a little fun. I have been thinking of ways to gain more followers and have a poll for all to guess when Roan will make his debut. Since I enjoy killing a million birds with just one stone we are gonna try a little something special, here it goes.

I want to have a

doooo dooo doooo doooo (trumpet horns)

"Come Follow Me/Baby Poll/Giveaway"

Here is how it works and you can spread the word.

I have a $10 Walmart gift card that I am going to give away to the winner of our Baby Roan Poll.

The person who guesses the closest to the date, time, and weight of Baby Roan will win the gift card AND a picture of our cute little guy printed on the finest paper on our fine Kodak printer.

WOWEEE What a steal!!!
But Stephanie, what about the Come Follow Me part.

Why I am so glad you asked.

You must be a follower of my blog to win the prize.
Please enter your guess by leaving me a comment or email me at barlow.stephanie@gmail.com

I will be advertising this post on FB and also emailing it out to gain more of an audience and to up the stakes.

Here are a few clues to help you in your guess.

1) The above pic was taken today and shows how much I have already popped at 38 weeks.

2) My due date is Jan 23rd

3) I think the baby is dropping slowly, but I can't be too sure

4) I have already starting having braxton hicks and other aches/pains

(I am telling ya'll the tectonic plates are moving down there)

5) It's a boy (if that helps)

6) When Lars and I were born we were around 8 lbs

7) I go walking everyday because on the days I don't I have a hard time sleeping and staying comfortable

I hope those clues help. Honestly your guess is as good as mine.

We will announce the winner after Roan is born. The winner will have 48 hours to contact me for their gift card or the card will be given to the next closest winner.

GOOD LUCK ALL!

SO long, farewell....Hello there!

2011-12-31T04:33:00.001-08:00

So 2011 is over.

Today is a time of self reflection to look back at the year and the goals I made and see how I did. First, I wanna say that I really loved 2011. The last few days a lot of people of facebook have been down on 2011. Now I know we all go through different challenges and I am not saying that 2011 was the best year of my life or that I look at life through rosey glasses, but come one people, seriously was it that bad? I had a fun year, granted I had my ups and downs this year, but at the end of the day I really can't complain. I am super excited to see what 2012 will bring for me and my family. Before we get to those goals lets look at 2011 Goals.

Send birthday cards via mail or email to family for their birthdays

I only did this for the first month of the year. Afterwards I either made phone calls, did the FB birthday wish, or did nothing.

Be honest and ethical in my daily dealings

I am proud to say that I improved a lot on this and feel like I was blessed for my efforts, especially at work where this can be the most challenging.

Go to the temple every other month
I went probably 2-3 times this year. This is something I would like to improve on for 2012

Read my scriptures 3 times a week

Meh. I had good weeks and bad weeks with this.

Read the Ensign cover to cover

This was pretty easy to do and now that we have the LDS app on my phone we stopped buying the magazine. I love having the scriptures and other LDS tools at my finger tips. There are times during my day where I try to skim the apps instead of wasting my time on FB stalking people.

Read a book each month

When I first started this goal I knew I would suck at it. And I did, sorta. I read the Hunger Games series, 1 book from my book club (Enders Game, but technically I only got half way then I finished with the Clip Notes, I am a cheater), then I read 2-4 pregnancy books. SO I did read a lot of books. In 2012 I am going to continue this but be more specific with it.

I always give excuses and reasons for simple everyday actions. Nothing major. Just dumb stuff. As an example, one time I was going down the elevator and I had to tell my receptionist why I was going down. No big deal though and what does she care. SO for this goal I want to refrain from giving people reasons or excuses for my actions. If they need to know why then they will ask.

I rocked this!

Be more confident in everything I do.

When I did stuff I tried to commit to them trusted the choices I made. I did good here but will forever be improving on this.

Listen more

This will forever be a goal as the biggest room in the work is room for improvement.

Be the first to order off the menu at a restaurant.
As long as it was the same restaurant I did awesome. :)

Cook dinner 5 times a week.
We had some good weeks where I was motivated and in the cooking groove and off weeks. All in all not too shabby and our budget and getting out of debt is proof of this.

Stay fit and healthy. ~ I never want to say diet or loose weight. Though it would be awesome to be at my prewedding weight. I just don't think it is going to happen unless I starve myself. I am gorgeous and content with what I look like. I would like to keep my healthy eating and exercising habits because they make me feel great!

I have never been more confident with how I look and feel and that confidence has helped my self esteem steer clear of rude comments people have made since I have become pregnant. There were days when I felt like a walrus, but I would work through it after my own personal pep talk and some love and support from Lars.

Reconnect with old friends

I did get a chance to reconnect with a small handful of old high school/college friends and loved it.

Draw or paint a picture each week.

I wasn't good about this at all like I wanted to be, but thanks to Brother Koenig, I will be drawing on the church program every Sunday. He prints a black and white picture of the temple on the program with the hopes that kids will color. I color and have gotten incredible creative. At the end of church I give him my program to keep. I hope he is putting them in a book or something and maybe someday I will publish that book. :)

Dance more and sing out loud

Continue to smile

These two are fun and I will always be doing now matter what.

So not a bad year as far as getting my goals done. I really could always do better. Now for 2012. I will be having a baby in a few weeks so most of my goals for 2012 will in one way or another probably be directly related to this new chapter I am en devouring on. I will also be turning 29 in a few weeks. I made a lot of goals to myself to accomplish before I turn 30. My clock is running out on those so this year is the homestretch to accomplish those goals or extend them. I am super excited to see what this year has in store for me. I know it will be very hard at times, but with faith and smiles I am sure I can do it.

2012 Goals

Be an awesome Mom (Last year I said I either wanted to have a baby by the time I was 30 or get a dog, the baby beat out the dog :) We will still get a dog but not for a few years)

Continue to be an awesome Wife

Get back in post preggo shape after baby is born (eat healthy and exercise weekly)

Continue to have my own interests and identity after the baby is born (I am going to love being a Mom and will give it my all, but I still want to be me and get away from time to time and not let my child define me entirely to the point that I don't do anything for me or am sad. I think to remain sane and balanced I will need to continue to pursue stuff for me. Balance has been my biggest worry about becoming a Mom. In the past I have been the go to person for everything but I am learning to take it easy and put myself first in certain things so I can be sane and happy enough to take care of my little family better. After the baby is born I want to be able to balance the responsibilities I have in a way that keeps me happy enough to continue pursue those responsibilities /interests, ie work, homemaker, church callings, etc.)

With that last goal being said I would like to read 6 biographies this year.

Continue to have date night with Lars, even if we are improvising now that we are parents.

Take an art or sewing class

Finish writing the musical I started. I have the story idea down but I just need to get some songs together.

Participate in a local Theatre production

Finish the Book of Mormon again

Create a Mormon.org profile

Go to the temple 6 times

Be more active in politics. I love discussing politics as of late and have become more passionate about standing up for what I believe through politics.

Go shooting at a gun range twice and maybe even buy a gun

Go camping 3 times with my family/friends

Sing and dance to my baby boy everyday and help him laugh and love life as much as I do

There ya go. Wish me luck. Make it a great year everyone!

Everyday Regular Joe's

2011-12-30T13:34:00.001-08:00

Lars brother had the funniest post on his FB status the other day. He said, "I go to the same Arctic CIrcle so often that the manager gave me a Christmas card."

I don't know why but I thought that was so funny and cute. It made me think about the regular Joe's that I encounter daily that I may take for granted. How their small acts of kindness can really go a long way. I work in customer service and I love it when people are kind and say thank you or really go above and beyond. That is what I expect of myself at work so naturally I expect it of others when I go out shopping. Plus I think it is just a healthy attitude all around to put more value and stock in our relationships and interactions with people. Especially people we see daily. My Mom always said treat others how you want to be treated. I like making people smile and laugh cause I never know what kind of day they are having and I appreciate it when people unintentionally do the same for me.

SO Thank You....

Garbage man who picks up our garbage cans every Tuesday at 7 am and Fridays at 1 pm. I enjoy waving to you from my kitchen table when I am there as you drive by. Yesterday, I wished you a Happy New Year by throwing my hands in the air and yelling Happy New Year. You stopped driving and returned the exact same motion back to me. It made me smile.

Papa Johns Pizza regular delivery guy. You deliver your pizza with so much enthusiasm. Seriously, when I answered the door he practically sang, "Hello, I am the pizza man." Then announced in a radio host voice what was on our pizza to confirm it was correct. I responded with, "Hello, I am a hungry girl." We then proceeded to share funny pregnancy stories. Nice guy and I will tip him well.

Arby's dude who rings us up EVERY TIME we go to Arby's. This guy is nice. Lars and I went to Arby's immediately after our first ultrasound, we also heard the heart beat for the first time. We were both so excited that when I walked into the restaurant I help up the picture and announced to the few strangers and workers present that we were pregnant and they were the first people to know. (We did call our parents first but the adrenalin was so high I didn't care who knew after that). Since then this guy chats with us a bit every time we go there, which lately has been a lot because I cannot get enough of their Beef n'Cheddars.

The long blonde hair lady who manages the self check out line at my local Ralphs. She is kind and helpful and always shows a person interest in her customers.

These people and others are the everyday regular Joe's that I interact with. Their kindness and smiles brighten my sometimes gloomy days. I hope I can pay it forward by treating other I interact with nicely and maybe even give them a Christmas card.

Young Printer for Sale

2011-12-28T13:45:00.000-08:00

We are selling our old printer. Or would like to...check out the info here and contact me if you wanna talk business here. http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/sys/2772362125.html

36 Weeks

2011-12-26T14:36:00.000-08:00

Here I am at 34 weeks

Here at 36 weeks

Probably not much difference. Some days I feel huge other days normal. I still love being pregnant. It is a process getting used to the limits of movement I have now. My feet are swelling more often, especially my right foot. I think I lean on it a lot so I have been cautious about how I have been standing so I even the balance a bit. I am not as graceful anymore either. When things fall on the ground I either leave it, take a knee, or squat to pick it up. In an attempt to take off my socks one foot at a time while standing and I fell over, thankfully onto a sofa chair so it was a soft landing. Clipping my toe nails has also been an adventure. I think I will get a pedicure before the baby comes as touching my toes is well..hard. In the past when Lars and I went on walks I would always walk faster and he would have to ask me to slow down. Now I am the slower walker. :)

I don't think I am craving anything anymore. Just normal eating when I am hungry or less than that as I fill up quick and the days that eat a lot I have indigestion so I try to keep a low key on the amount of food consumed at once. I still have heartburn from time to time.

Baby Roan has found my ribs too :) I often wondered what that would feel like, it is rather uncomfortable with a lot of sharp pinching. When he goes there I try to just breath and massage the area and talk him out of playing in there. So far it is working. The last few weeks his kicks, punches, slithers, and movement have increased. I can tell where his butt is too. I love love love feeling him move and have tried to record it but once the camera comes on he stops and as soon as I turn it off he starts up again. GRRR! Soon I will get him on camera.

That's all I got for now. :)

Christmas

2011-12-26T13:55:00.000-08:00

We had a nice quiet Christmas this year, probably the last quiet one with just the two of us.

Lars got me a Kitchen Aid for Christmas and it has already been put to good use with lots of enjoyable baking of deliciousness. Such as...

our Christmas roll

and all the trimmings for breakfast.

Our dear friend from the DLPC, Christy, came by for breakfast and games

Pic from our "Ugly Christmas Party" we attended with some friends. It was a grand time!

Later in the day we talked to all our families. Today we relaxed and watched movies, played games, and downed some delicious food from Cafe Rio, well at least I did. :)

Hope you had a wonderful Holiday. What ya doing for New Years?

Barlow Christmas Card/Slideshow/Newsletter 2011

2011-12-20T16:51:00.000-08:00

Create a slideshow

And the Winner is...

2011-12-14T10:35:00.000-08:00

ME! Thanks to all of you for your votes and support. Thank you to the Muppets for being a big part of the blog this year and thanks to my man for being oh so fine. :)

Keep reading and following and I will keep producing whatever blogs come out of my head. :)

Read all about the awards here

http://www.apeekatkarensworld.com/2011/12/karens-blog-awards-2011.html

Fortress of Pillows

2011-12-12T14:40:00.000-08:00

Lars and I have accumulated a collection of pillows over the years as we are hard on our pillows and try and get new pillows every 6 months or when we can afford it. We have kept most of our old pillows for our guests to use when they visit. Right now we have enough for 8 guests. After my belly popped a bit I started sleeping with an extra pillow so I could use it to prop up my back in order to get used to only sleeping on my sides. As the weeks have past we have slowly added more and more pillows to the fortress. I have one for my back, one fore my knees, and one that I sometimes use for my other side to hug or hold onto or lean up against, and Lars recently started using one for over his head to block my snoring that has become more frequent. I am sure it has something to do with my ability, or lack there of, to breath through my nose at night as a pregnant woman.

I didn't realize how many pillows we actually use until I went back to bed this morning after seeing Lars off to work. I crawled back into bed and rearranged all the pillows to the middle of the bed and made myself a cozy fortress so no matter where I turned I was surrounded by pillows. I remember when we first got pregnant I looked into preggo pillows and body pillows, but I couldn't bring myself to paying so much money for either when I knew we had all these guest pillows to use. We have gotten a lot of use out of them and after the baby comes I will sleep somewhat normal again and we will again have plenty of pillows for guests again.

32 Weeks and a WIDE LOAD

2011-11-29T16:26:00.000-08:00

I am 32 weeks now.

Meh. Not much to report. Business as usual I guess. I was real sick the last two weeks with a bad bad cold, but other than that life is grand.

I look at pictures of myself from when I first got a bump and then I thought I was so big, but now when I look at myself and compare my pop it is amazing to see the difference.

20 Weeks

32 Weeks

I never know how to pose my face. I really can look sleek and chill but I am a goof.

I know I am not a wide load and I am exaggerating when I say that. I do joke about being a chub from time to time. Some days I feel huge, but I know I am not that big and still have some healthy growing to do before the baby comes. But sometimes I think when people see me they move out of the way a bit. Yesterday, I was walking up the parking lot stairs and I swear that everyone that passed me going down moved over to the side and said excuse me as they passed. Maybe they were just being nice or maybe I was walking too close to the middle of the stairs or maybe I am a wide load and when I breath heavy and walk people can only move out of the way for fear that I will trample over them :) LOL Either way I get a good laugh at it and try to wear the outfits that make me feel the most womanly and awesome more than the fatty ones. But hey, I am not complaining. I look and feel amazing but some days I feel funny and that is apart of the process.

In other news over the Thanksgiving break my neighbor helped me sort through all my baby clothes I have so far and I have a good amount of newborn to 6 months clothes, but not a lot of 6-12 months clothes. It was fun getting everything organized and imagining a little baby in all those outfits. I also got registered at Babies R Us to get a free gift card. We are also registered at Target and Amazon. I get all sorts of deals and coupons from those places now. I love it and feel like I am stealing money from them sometimes. We are still getting situated and need some basic stuff, but it is coming along.

The dreams I am having are crazy at times. Nothing scary anymore, just weird. Every now and then I dream about a little girl, not sure why. One night I dreamed that I was trying really hard to breast feed our son but he wouldn't eat and yet he kept getting fat as the dream progressed. I accused the people helping us of bottle feeding him behind my back, which is out of their character because these people are super respectful. The dream continued and I wouldn't let our son out of my site, then in the middle of the night I went to check on him and a little leprechaun snuck into the babies room and was bottle feeding him. WHY??? Once I solved the mystery I woke up right away. Such a crazy weird dream.

What weird dreams did you have while preggo?

Muppet Movie Review

2011-11-29T11:18:00.000-08:00

The Muppet Movie was a hit this opening weekend. It took a solid $42 million and was 2nd in the box office, Twilight Breaking Dawn took 1st. I know the movie will keep bringing in the glory as the word gets out. I saw the movie on Thanksgiving day. I have to tell ya...I absolutely loved LOVED this movie. I was a little nervous that I would be too excited and my expectations would be outrageously high. If they were they were certainly met. This movie was fun, hilarious, cute, and just awesome. I laughed hard and even cried here and there. What I liked most about it, besides everything, was that the movie made fun of itself a little, or poked fun at the typically story a Muppet movie has. Plus it was one of the best villain's for a Muppet movie. I could go into so much more detail and give you a crazy review about everything but I think you should go see it for yourself. It was serious good and worthwhile. I enjoyed the writing, music, and the action. In fact I might just go see it again. It is also very quotable. I am for sure buying it when it comes out on bluray/dvd. It stayed with me for days afterwards and every time I think about it or see that someone else on FB saw it I just smile.

One of the best movies of the season and worth all the hype. Good job Muppeteers, Jason Segel, and Disney. Welcome Back Muppets, we are so happy you are here!

FINAL ROUND LET'S VOTE!!!

2011-11-29T10:41:00.000-08:00

WAHOOOOOO!!!

I made it into the final round!! Thank you all who have voted so far. Please continue to vote and help make me a winner. Either way I feel like a winner thanks to your love and readership. :)

Click here to vote

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-24T21:11:00.000-08:00

Today we cooked for two. We originally wanted to just get a bunch of turkey legs and cook them in our dutch oven, but we waited to long to buy them and they ran out. So we got the smallest turkey we could find and cooked it like a normal turkey. It turned out fine, not my best honestly, but still good. We had all our other favorite trimmings, mash potatoes and gravy, cornbread stuffing, Lars' famous candied yams and apples. We had a lot of fun cooking and eating. We also bought 3 pies. :) But we only dug into one of them later on in the evening. We also got to skype with all of our families and saw The Muppet Movie (review to come later). I got a ton of reading, blogging, and relaxing done while Lars played Starcraft multiple times with his brother and friend. All in all it was a fabulous Thanksgiving. Plus side is that we still have a long weekend. I love this time of year, lots of cooking, food, family, and friends, and singing Christmas songs. :)

Utah Trip 2011 (Cool Stuff We Did)

2011-11-24T20:32:00.000-08:00

We go to Utah every year. But this last trip was one of the best. Most of the time we go visit we end up packing our days until we are blue so we can see as many people as possible, often times it ends up being frustrating and stressful. But this trip we got to see more people than usual and it was stress free. Everything just fell into place. We had a blast with everyone and ate lots of good Utah food (like fry sauce everyday, seriously, I found a way to eat it everyday). We loved it so much. Not sure if it was all the preggo happy hormones but it seriously was one of the best trips ever which made it hard to come back to Cali.

I wanted to post all about it when we returned, but work and then getting sick consumed me. Now it is catch up time (as you can tell from all these posts that I am knocking out in a row). Hope you enjoyed them so far. This is more or less the conclusion of awesomeness from the trip. For a review of the first part of our trip check out this and this.

First, Lars celebrated his 31st Birthday while in Utah. Now his birthday is during General Conference, which sometimes overshadows it a bit. So this year, his birthday was LARSFEST. Which was a combination of his birthday and Hanukkah. I gave him a gift each day for Larsfest, and on the back of each banner was a clue as to what the gift was. Most of the gifts were movies that he has been wanting. It was fun and cute and he was genuinely surprised during all of it, which was my goal because he is hard to surprise. Then on his birthday we went out with some dear friends and had a blast. Lars wanted a pie for his birthday so we had pumpkin pie with our families later on.

My friends Stephanie, me, and Kristina. We are each holding our babies.

The Barlow/Madsen family got together to celebrate Mom, Wendy, and Lars' birthday. We went to two buffets while in Utah, Golden Corral and Chuck-a-rama. I liked Golden Corrals steak, salad bar, and mac and cheese best while Chuck-a-rama had the best carved meat.

One is a beer belly and the other is a baby, which is which?

Tina is probably my favorite sister in law of all time. SO we had a photo shoot together to celebrate how awesome we are.

I had lunch with my dear friend Rachel.

We ate exotic food.

And Japanese food. She was the first person to introduce me to wasabe many years ago by telling me it was guacamole. I know better now. This restaurant we went to is called Koi Sushi, best in Utah County.

I went to the Temple with my in laws.

I loved seeing all the fall leaves and colors. We experiences all sorts of weather there, sun, rain, and snow, and even construction if you can count that.

As always I had to get together with my old HRO family and The Judge Cafe (one of THE best places in downtown to eat)

Judge brownie and sugar cookie

Best green enchiladas on the planet.

During General Conference my Mother and Mother in law helped me tie a quilt together that I had pieced together before our trip.

Here is the final product that I just finished last week.

So that was our awesome trip in a nut shell. Seriously an unforgettable trip.

Lars 10 Year Mission Reunion

2011-11-24T20:07:00.000-08:00

Lars hosted and put together his 10 year mission reunion. It was really hard to do from out of state and quite honestly will be the last time we ever do anything like that again. However, it was so worth it. The group that gathered was small and intimate. They had a great time together reminiscing about the mission and just reuniting. Since then we have been able to get together with some of his mission buddies. We hope to keep in touch with them better and see them more often.

Slideshow design created with Smilebox

Barlow Baby Shower Open House (Utah)

2011-11-24T19:58:00.000-08:00

These next few posts I am going to be playing catch up and post some pics from our Utah trip that we took this last Sept-Oct.

My Mom and Lars' Mom were kind enough to throw us a Baby Shower open house. It was awesome. We got to see so many people, some we haven't seen in years. It was a wonderful evening full of friends, family, and food. We were very grateful for the thoughtful gifts that will help so much in providing for our little guy. Thank you all, especially our Mom's for all their hard work in putting it together.

Enjoy this slide show made from the event.

Create a photo slideshow

Vote for Me Please!!!

2011-11-22T13:23:00.000-08:00

Holy Moly!!

I was nominated a few times for various awards from the one and only Blog Award, hosted by Karen. It is only the semi-finals so I need all your votes to put me into the final round.

Please please please vote for me and I will love you forever even more.

Click here to nominate

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

HUG HUG HUG!!!

Muppet Monday~Muppet Domination Nov 23

2011-11-22T13:16:00.001-08:00

We are finalizing our Muppet Mondays. It has been so much fun posting memories, fun facts, and videos about the Muppets. The movie comes out tomorrow. Tonight and midnight in some places. They are calling it Muppet Midnight. I am thrilled to see this movie. If my preggo body could handle a midnight showing and work the following day I would soooo be there. But it won't make it, still getting over a cold and need my beauty sleep. So Lars and I will be seeing the movie either on Wednesday or on Thanksgiving. Thank you for reading and participating in these posts. We will have a final post next Monday to review the movie.

Please enjoy a final look at one of the best trailer cuts for this movie

http://disney.go.com/muppets/

What will be next for Monday's??? Who knows, but I am sure it will be awesome!

3rd Trimester Yo's!

2011-11-15T15:17:00.000-08:00

I am 30 weeks as of yesterday! EEK!! (Excited Squeal!) I cannot believe how time has just flown by. I mean some nights my eyes just pop open and I realize, I am going to be a Mom in 10 weeks or less. I am feeling really good and ready. We still have to set up the baby room and get somethings squared away there, but we are getting there. My plan is to work on finalizing that stuff over Thanksgiving break. I also have a baby shower coming up on January 7, 2012, a few weeks before my due date. We should be finalizing all our other needed things by then I hope.
I have been doing a lot of reading up on natural birth too. I really want to give birth naturally and have been reading all sorts of books, stories, and articles about it to see what has worked for other people to create a plan that will hopefully work for me. I am opened minded to other options if necessary, but I feel really good about my plan so far. I have always always always had a high tolerance for pain and really want to be in control of the process as much as I am able too.

I am really grateful to have so many tools for educating myself at my finger tips. I have talked to my Mom a lot about various things, even a few friends or coworkers that have gone through it already, I have taken some free classes that my insurance company/hospital has offered, plus I have a few books, and the Internet. I took an amazing child birthing class last night that was awesome and just put things into perspective and left me feeling very encouraged and amazing. I feel like a sponge some days. I just want to get as much info under my belt mostly to feel at ease and prepared, I guess knowledge is power or makes me feel more prepared. Some days I take a break though because it feels a little overwhelming. I took a break for a few weeks and read part of The Hunger Games series. :) I think all the natural instincts are kicking in and if I forget something then I do, only human right.

Aside from the occasional hip pain, leg cramps, and heartburn I am feeling amazing. (well right now I am fighting a nasty cold) I love being pregnant and love the process of feeling him grow. I have experienced swollen ankles and I think that my belly button will be popping near the end. My favorite part has been feeling him move. He has become incredibly active and strong. One night when I was reading I could see my belly move like a wave. It was amazing. Lars and I enjoy playing with him. We play "hide n' seek" or "tag your it". We poke him or a side of my belly and see if he pokes back or moves over to the other side of my belly. I end up laughing a lot of the times when we play and then we can't tell if it is him moving or me from the laughter. At times my belly looks deformed because he is curled up on one side and it is hard as a rock. Minutes later he moves and it changes shape again. He also gets the hiccups in the mornings and evenings. We should start teaching him morse code or something to communicate. Tap once if this is your head, twice if it is your bum. :) I love love love it!

At times it is really hard to describe or find words to express the love I feel. I end up crying tears of joy when I really stop and think about it. One day I was just listening to the radio and Beyonce's song Halo came on and I just started bawling at the words. I love this child and I love how into this Lars is. He is going to be an amazing Dad. Sometimes I feel silly with how emotional I am about this but it is just a great feeling. I feel like when the baby comes out and when I hold him on the outside I will just explode with even more love and not know what to do with myself.

Here is my 30 week belly shot.

People at work that were too afraid to ask if I was pregnant now have no shame in asking questions and even strangers or vendors that come in the office congratulate me or comment about it. So far I haven't been too terribly offended by any rude remarks or comments about my weight or hormones. I think I have been annoyed twice by something someone said, but I can't even recall what it was so I guess it wasn't that important. I do joke with some people about it and am called Chubbs LOL. But those are people I know really well so it is cool with me. I don't mind people touching my belly. Most people are polite about it and ask first which is nice. So far no creepos have come asking because I will tell them NO! LOL

Anyway so there is the 30 week update. I guess since I am nearing the homestretch I will be posting weekly pictures of the belly progress. :)

Muppet Christmas Carol - Thankful Heart

2011-11-15T15:05:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Sucked! So you are getting Muppet Tuesday instead.

8 days until The Muppet Movie comes out.

Just to update you I have sent in my letter to try and get tickets to the Premiere. Unless they contact me between now and then I don't think I will be going. But that is okay. I will go to the movies next Wednesday night with my main man Lars to see the movie. He is my favorite and cannot wait. (Maybe by the time they read my letter they will think it is so cool that they will invite me to something else awesome)

Anyway, I know it isn't Christmas yet, but this is the season of Thanksgiving and I thought this song to be appropriate for one of my final Muppet Mondays. I am very grateful for my family, friends, and membership with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. May we all give thanks and also remember those less fortunate than us and follow Christ's example and give.

Stephanie Age 0-10

2011-11-11T13:44:00.000-08:00

As apart of my Blog Craze. I want to document my life story a bit here. My journals throughout my life will probably contain more of my deepest darkest secrets or at least more detail than what you may read here. But this is something I have wanted to do for a while so here it goes.

Long ago, but not too long ago, a man named Steven John Stark from Rupert, Idaho had a roommate, John Nelson. John took Steven to his home in Idaho Falls, ID for the holidays one winter. John had a sister named Lorrie Lou Nelson. They were both smitten with each other from the get go. So much that 6 weeks later they were engaged. (Side note: the night they got engaged Lorrie was supposed to be babysitting her two little sisters, but instead she and Steven went cruising in his car up to a hill where he proposed. LOL This story is very similar to my own engagement story which is saved for another blog:))

Steven and Lorrie were married July 12, 1968 in the Idaho Falls LDS temple. They lived in Idaho for about 1-2 more years, then moved to Provo, Utah where Steven was getting his Bachelors and Masters from Brigham Young University. Over the next 15 years they moved throughout Provo and then to West Valley City, UT. By this time they had 5 children, 4 boys and 1 girl, Carl, Monte, Neils, Lorretta, and Richard. One evening as they gathered around the dinner table the 3rd oldest boy, Neils, looked around and said out loud, "Ya know, I think have room for one more at this table." (Truest story ever) Later that year their youngest daughter and last child was born: Stephanie Joy Stark. I was born on Super Bowl Sunday at 7:11 pm. The family was thrilled to have their last child and that I was girl, hence the middle name "Joy".

Naturally, I do not remember anything about my super early childhood phase. I have heard stories from family that I was very blonde and that my mother would dress me up in puffy dresses for church and that my crib was next to the window and I would often climb up on the crib and run my hands down the closed blinds and make a lot of racket. My earliest memories began about my preschool age. That summer I was sent to a house in our small neighborhood for a few days out of the week. It was a short pre-preschool that was ran by a few Laurels from our ward, probably for a Young Women medallion project or something. I remember I liked Barbies and Velcro shoes because they were super easy to put on. I remember the day I lost my first tooth. It was just before my elementary preschool class, I had the afternoon session. I was eating a hamburger at home and I took a painful bite then pulled away to find my tooth pushed into the hamburger with spit and blood. I cheered and ran to my Mom to show her. Yes the tooth fairy came that night and most every other tooth after that was exchanged for a small amount of change. I also sucked my thumb longer than I needed to. My Mom had this yucky paste she would put on my thumb before bed. One evening she asked me which thumb to put it on. I looked and both of them and then back at her and then told her the opposite thumb I use, she was smarter than I gave her credit for and put the paste on both of my thumbs. No matter what Mom's know all. Seriously, some summers when we kids were home alone for a few hours out of the day and we did something bad or broke something we all swore on pain of death not to reveal what happened, but sure enough Mom and Dad would just know. Like they could feel it in the air or something. Not sure how they did it but they did.

I remember giving my older brother a near heart attack. I had this rad cabbage patch doll plastic tricycle. I would ride it up and down the sidewalk. One day I got to our house and just parked it in the drive way behind the car for a second to run inside and get a drink. I didn't think twice about it. While I was in the house my brother, not sure if it was Carl or Monte, came out jumped in the car and backed up into the tricycle and crushed it. They of course heard the crunch and panicked at what they had done, thinking they had hit and killed me they stopped the car and ran to look. Thankfully I was in the house. I was sad about the tricycle but okay once I realized it could have been a lot worse if timed out differently.

I had a cool childhood, I would run and play around the house and tag along with my Mom during all her errands and activities until I was put in school. She was involved in all my siblings activities, paper routes, PTA, our ward choir and other church callings. She also taught voice and music lessons to the locals so we constantly had visitors and were thrown out of the Living Room (piano room) during those hours and asked to play quietly somewhere else. I loved to play and had a huge imagination. I had lots of little toys and trinkets that I could spend hours with. Even if I didn't have a toy I would turn something into a toy for whatever bidding my imagination needed it to be. I also loved Lego's and creating things. I used to get frustrated when I had to interrupt my play time for chores or anything for that matter. One time, I had my entire play schedule planned out for the day, but then my parents asked me to babysit some kid so they could all go to an Amyway evening meeting. I was so annoyed with the request but my parents talked me into it and I hated the evening because it completely interfered with my plans to roller skate and then lock myself in my room with my toys.

We lived in a rad neighborhood. Our house was one of the first houses in the development. Our family grew with the development along with the rest of the other families that started out there. Today you wouldn't recognize it. When I lived there it was near a farm field and on Saturdays we would walk to the farm and pick various things and then head over to the plant to get some eggs. It was known then as the Fasio Egg Farm, now it is another development and a park. When I was there it was safe to run around freely without fear of any immediate danger. There were lots of other kids to play with and most evenings were spent running around the neighborhood on our bikes, skateboard, or roller skates, or baseball. We thought we owned the place and we would play games together. One of my favorite games we played was a made up game called, "To The Trees". This game is best played at night. Our house was right in the middle of the fork in the road so you can see all sides of the neighborhood and streets to the neighborhood from our front door. We would stand in the middle of the road in front of our house and as soon as we saw a car coming we would yell, "TO THE TREES, TO THE TREES" and run and hide into the bushes and trees in front of our house. We laughed and giggled as we hid and thought we were so clever. The game was inspired by Kevin Costners movie Robin Hood Prince of Thieves. There is apart in the movie where the Sheriff's armies surround Robin Hood's homemade village and one of the characters yells, "To the Trees!" and everyone runs to their station in the trees to prepare to defend their home. We thought it was awesome and the game was born from it.

There was a corner lot that never got sold and trees grew there. We would often shortcut through the small wooded area to get to the other road. We used to pretend it was a haunted forest sometimes. One day when I was walking alone through there on my way home from school, I was singing aloud as I always did, when I stopped suddenly under a tree because I heard a loud cracking noise that was interrupting my singing. Everything happened real fast but I very distinctively remember feeling someone push me out of the way. Seriously hands were on my back pushing me. I think I was out for a second and when I awoke next to the space I was standing in I saw a giant branch laying where I once stood, then I had a peaceful feeling come over me. That was the start of my testimony of angels and the Holy Ghost. I went home and told my Mom. I know without a doubt that an angel protected me from harm that day. (Almost like the angels from the Family Circus cartoon where they get tired out because kids are having fun). This was later confirmed by a passage in my patriarticle blessing that more or less stated God had given angels charge over me to protect me and at times I am aware of them and other times my life has been spared without me knowing. Crazy cool huh?

Being in a large family we had all the chores divided with our handy dandy chore chart. Dishes were one of the biggest responsibilities. We did not have a dishwasher until I was 12. During the weekdays my parents would team up an older child with a younger child to complete the dishes. Then on Sunday was Team C meaning Team Children, all of us together. My favorite part of doing the dishes was rinsing, I don't know why but it was. When I had to do the dishes by myself it would take me hours not because of the workload but because I would start playing imagination with the dishes and it would last for hours. I would lose myself in the fun and never stop until someone came into the kitchen only to find me 1/4 of the way done. (BTW Beauty and the Beast was my favorite movie then, especially the part with the singing dishes) My parent caught on to this and I think that is when they teamed us up to be more efficient and to teach me to stay on task.

I also learned how to cook early on from this chore chart. My Mom would assign each child a day to help her in the kitchen with dinner. I loved making Top Ramen, I thought that when you combined it with cooked carrots it turned it into Chinese food. My palette wasn't developed much then. I hated most veggies and fruits but loved bread and jam and grape juice. My family bottled their own jam and it was delicious. At almost every meal we had bread, butter, and jam. Every 5 minutes during the meal I would ask someone to pass me the bread until I became restricted and had to actually eat real food.

In our back yard we had lots of grass, a playground in a rock area, a shed, a small orchard with 6-8 fruit trees, a garden, strawberry and raspberry bushes. Every Saturday each of us had to weed an entire black garbage bag of weeds before we could go and play. The earlier you started the quicker your got done. I could never believe there was actually that many weeds each week, but my parents insisted. I cheated and filled my bag with dirt, but I would get caught. I got caught a lot. Another time I was tasked with vacuuming the Living Room, we had a two piece vacuum. I took just the one piece that actually goes over the carpet and didn't plug it into anything. I figured I would run it over the carpet and it would leave the marks so it would look like I vacuumed. My brother Monte caught me and asked what I was doing. I let him in on the secret and he just laughed. A few hours later my Mom asked me to vacuum for real. "Take pride in your work and do the job right the first time." This was a lesson that I constantly learned and is still burned in me today. I guess you can say that thanks to all those shenanigans I tried to play but never got away with I am the super awesome responsible adult I am today. Now I get annoyed when people try to cheat or lie with their work. Anyway, I don't really care for weeding today, but I do find a sense of accomplishment when I am able to plant something and keep it alive. I would love to have a little garden and orchard of my own and plan on doing so when we have the space. I prefer grass too. I love the smell of it and mowing it. I relished the day when my brothers all left on their missions because the task of mowing the lawn fell to me and I loved every minute of it. I would mow a lawn over weeding any day of the week.

My parents taught me to work, besides all these chores and school work we each had our own paper routes. These routes increased the older we got. I had a number of expierences during these routes, but I will save them for another time. They are so weird and I often use them for the ice breaker game 2 lies and 1 truth. (I will however clue you into some of them: thrown out of car, dead body, dead cat in car, Lifetime movie moment with battered woman, weird for a kid right?) When my brothers got real jobs us younger kids took over their larger route. This gave me some money to play with, but I mostly saved it because it wasn't much or I spent it on stuffed animals. One year my parents challenged us to save money for a plane ticket to FL. If we saved enough money by the summer they would pay for our tickets into Disney World. We all were able to go except for my brother Carl. It was the trip of a lifetime for a young girl and to this day we still talk about the trip and covet the Mickey Mouse picture album that my Mom made from that trip. Other family trips included driving up to Grandma and Grandpa Stark's home in Idaho, Bear Lake, Yellowstone, and lots of other fun camping adventures.

I went to Jacking Elementary. I guess it was a good school. I was active in all the things it had to offer like after school choir and theatre and sports. I had some good friends that I knew from early grades up to 6th grade. They were Marilee Riggs, Laura Hansen, and Emily McKenzie. At least those were the ones I remember the most and we did lots together. There were a few other girls from the ward but we hated each other until we got older I guess. I also had two or three short lived boyfriends in Elementary school. I don't remember their names, one was real short and the other was "the bad boy". I did have crushes on other guys, but I didn't think they liked me because I was weird. I like to think I was a good student. Getting my homework done so I could play came natural to me. I would, however, wait until the last minute to complete big projects and my Mom would stay up into the wee hours of the night helping me get them done. My parents were sure to keep our minds growing throughout the summer. My Mom would give us math, reading, and spelling quizzes and every Friday if we scored well enough she would reward us with part of a cute summer outfit. It is how we earned some of our clothes I guess. The boys would end up with matching shorts if they weren't careful to watch and see what the other one picked for their weekly accessory. LOL.

I learned a lot from my older siblings and have a lot of memories with each of them. Carl and I were the farthest apart so he moved out when I was 6 years old. But I remember he was really smart and into Star Trek. I remember watching Star Wars at home for the first time with the family, I think he helped introduce it. I fell asleep during it because it was too long for my mind to take, but I remember liking the Ewokes. Monte, or Monster as we called him (his basketball court name) spoiled me a lot. He would take me with him on dates with girls, not sure if it was to impress them or because Mom asked him to take me. I got to see the Nutcracker and other plays thanks to him. Monte also baptized me when I turned 8 and then went on his mission shortly after that. Neils will forever have a special place in my heart because he wished for me to be born. He took care of me a lot when I was sick and would feed me bread and grape juice. He is best known for making me laugh too. Whenever I was grumpy and didn't want to talk to anyone he would pull out his hands and shape them into a puppet that he named "Mr. Happy Face". I would only talk to Mr. Happy Face when I was down, he just got me. Neils always encouraged me to be my best and to hurry up with my chores so we can enjoy a fun family home evening together. I learned that I do have control over my choices and can always choose to be happy no matter my situation. My older brothers also had me clean and wash their cars for 50 cents, when they paid me they asked me what I was going to do first with the money. I learned from them how to be a tithe payer as they would help me count out what money that belonged to me and what money to give back to the Lord. Lorretta, (I would call her Netta until I learned to say the 'Lor" part) taught me how to ride a bike. I was so scared. I had only had a scooter and I didn't want to learn until I was forced too. My scooter broke and she gave me her bike but also helped me learn. We became better friends the older we got. Rich taught me how to tie my shoes, he gave me 2 Butterfinger candy bars, one for each foot, once I did it on my own. Richard was also my snow buddy. We loved to play it rough in the snow. We would do all the shoveling and we had a great system down. Then we would box, wrestle in the snow, and climb the snow mountains that were made from the plow at the church parking lot.

Us younger kids thought we had it good. We didn't get spanked with the wooden spatula as much as the older kids did. But we had our challenges too. We would team up against and sometimes with each other and often got separated. One time we found a bunch of cough drops and we used them as chips to play Poker or War. We never ate them, just made them into currency until we had Halloween candy for currency. We played a lot of board and card games together. Our favorites were, The Game of Life, Aggravation, War, Missionary Impossible, and the Prophet cards. We also fought over who the cat loved the most. If you could get the cat to come into your room then He loved you more. I like to think we had fun through my youthful years of 0-10. I wanted to be one of the guys and play with Richard and his cousins and friends, but I also wanted to be one of the girls and prance around with Lorretta mimicking everything she did.

So that is a summed up version of my early childhood. I would post pictures but they are still getting organized. My next memory post will contain everything from 10-18. Thanks for reading the memories.

HI-YA!

2011-11-09T11:01:00.000-08:00

There are two characters I really like right now that always say HI-YA!

They are:

The Muppets Miss Piggy

and Futurama's Leela

Leela is voiced by the wonderful Golden Globe award winning Katey Sagal, who is also married to Kurt Sutter, the creator/writer/producer/director/actor of the FX hit series Sons of Anarchy. Katey also stars in this series and today I want to talk about how awesome this series is and why you should watch it.

Here is the story:

Sons of Anarchy is about a motorcycle gang in Northern California and all their legal and illegal activity to protect the small town of Charming, CA that they reside in. I honestly tried to write a short detailed summary about the premise with character details but it was hard to do without giving too much detail that sounded dumb. So here is the gist and then you can read here for more. Some of the gang members are family and get along except when they butt heads about how things should be ran. Overall, they try to protect their town from drugs and other enemies (other gangs, outlaws, pedophiles, unconstitutionalist etc.), but do so by taking the law into their own hands sometimes. The gang survives and makes money by their illegal gun smuggling and autobody shop. The gang avoids capture from their enemies, the ATF, and a local Sheriff who's life goal is to bring them down.

I love this show because:

1) The plot is really good. The writer really did his research here and though this gang and town are fictional, as far as I know. The stories are inspired by Kurt Sutter's research from an actually biker gang that he spent a lot of time with.

2) I love the characters. Sometimes they do bad things for the right reasons, other times they don't. The situations are awesome.

3) The writing is really good. Ya know how in most drama shows character A has a secret and needs help from character B, but they don't help because character A doesn't communicate with character B about it. Like a soap opera and it is seriously frustrating to watch because nothing progresses and though that may happen in real life but I don't think it happens as much as t.v. makes it out to. This doesn't happen on this show. The characters actually progress and if they hold secrets, it is only for a short amount of time and it is amazing writing how the characters handle the situation and themselves. Things actually get wrapped up in the show instead of secrets dragging on for seasons at a time.

4) I love the characters and the actors who play them are awesome:

Katey Segal plays Gemma Teller, the matriarch of the gang. She is seriously the glue and her character just get better and better. And Katey portraying her is amazing. I think she is super strong and seriously deserved the Golden Globe.

Ron Pearlman plays the gang President, Clay Morrow. Ok , Ron Pearlman is just awesome because he takes awesome roles and he is tall and he has awesome teeth.

Charlie Hunnam plays Jax teller, the VP to the gang and son to Gemma and step son to Clay. He is super cute and is just amazing.

There are ton more actors that rock and even guest stars that rock too, Henry Rollins being one of them.

The show is currently airing their 4th season. I have just finished watching Season 2 on Netflicks and let me tell you. It was intense and sat with me for a few weeks. FX just renewed the show for a 5th season and the writer plans to take the show to 7 seasons. If you are looking for a savvy, intense, awesome drama that will take you to another place then please check out the show.

HI-YA!

Weekly Entertainment~The Muppets

2011-11-07T10:34:00.000-08:00

Saturday I got my Weekly Entertainment that we get for free because we ordered something off of newegg.com or something. Either way I am cool to get a free magazine from time to time.

To enjoyment The Muppets were on the cover.

It was a fun and insiteful article about the puppeteers and how the movie came to be and some of the characters. No spoiler alets so it is safe to read here.

For an additional interview watch this video below. I was going to save a lot of this for other Muppet Monday's but I am kinda excited and going a little bit crazy here. Enjoy!!

Muppet Monday~Special Guest Interview

2011-11-07T10:02:00.000-08:00

Today for Muppet Monday we have a very special guest. May I present to you one of the stars of The Muppet Movie......DAN MERKAT. We had the following interview with Dan regarding his most recent role.

How long have you been acting?
I started acting in ninth grade because I had no interest in wood or metal shop.

What other projects/movies have you been involved with?
I have done about twenty films, most of which were extremely low-budget so you've probably never heard of them. I have done about ten commercials and maybe ten guest TV spots. Touched By an Angel, Everwood, and Promised Land. And commercials for the LDS church, Foundation For a Better Life and Sprint. I have done about 100 plays.

What is your favorite movie?
My favorite movie of all time is Schindler's List. My favorite of the films I've been in is The Maldonado Miracle.

What part do you play in The Muppet Movie?

I play the Large French Bussinessman. The Muppets are trying to get in to see Miss Piggy, who is running Paris Vogue. They decide that they can't get in unless they are dressed appropriately so they steal my suit and stuff it with a bunch of Muppets. Then there is a shot of me in my underwear tied up in a closet. It was a lot of fun.

What did you enjoy most about filming with puppets?

It was very cool to see how they set up the shots with the Muppets. The Muppeteers were dressed all in blue and they would sit on the floor and raise their hands to indicate where each muppet would be and what they would do and then at the last minute they would bring the actual muppets in and shoot the scene.

Who is your favorite Muppet?

My favorite muppet has always been Fozzy the Bear.

Thank you Dan for taking the time to give us some insite into your role in The Muppet Movie which comes out November 23, 2011.

Too Crazy Not to Share~It's a Red Flag

2011-11-03T09:28:00.000-07:00

OK. So I am on yet another little rampage this week.

It is not as bad as that post and actually I do have follow up news to said post. Good news first. It has been brought to my attention from a higher up that DH from the said post will be moved into another position and his current position will be transformed and given to a new person. HALLELUJAH! I got the news and almost cried, though DH will still be around, he will not have as much direct contact with me and hopefully the change will be for the better for the entire situation overall. Could DH's replacement be worse, I doubt it and I will take my chances there. There is more to this story and I am not giving that much detail on purpose. Not sure who reads this and even though I have the policy "my blog, my complaint so suck it", I choose to be vague as to cover my tracks because people are people.

Anwayzzzz

The newest thing....it is actually kind of humorous.

Okkie dokkie

I do a lot of recruiting for my company, a lot, like all of it for the entire Southern California area. Needless to say I meet and talk to a ton of different people. I know everyone has their own story or version as to why they are unemployed or looking for work and blah blah blah. I sympathize with people and do my best to be sincere and help them out if they flip the bill or I keep them in mind for other positions when possible. A lot of our hiring is dependent on our clients so I don't get a lot of say sometimes, I just grease the wheels and try to find the most qualified people to represent. But there are some interesting people I meet and just have no idea what to do with. Sometimes this group of people interview really well or they know how to write up a solid resume but then little red flags pop up that just scream, "You should never hire me! or Ban me from your planet because I just don't have the smarts for it!"

At times I feel like I need to be wearing this shirt

Case and point.

I had a candidate, we will name him Jimmy Joe, his resume is outstanding and exactly what we are looking for. I phone screen him and he sounded professional and decent over the phone so I schedule him for an interview. Being hired with our company is contingent on a background check. SO I coordinated with Jimmy Joe to email him the form so he can fill it out and email it or fax it back to me for processing to speed up the hiring process. Easy enough right. I email him and then a few minutes later he emails me back with the following question...

"Hi Stephanie, What is your email address? Is it www.dtiglobal.com" (company website I have posted in my email signature)

You could hear the sounds of my hand smacking my forehead from across the room.

Dude, did you not just realize that I emailed you and you emailed me back and now you are asking for my email address.

I replied and gave him my email address and then decided to update my signature with my email address posted in it, guess I should be more obvious.

Jimmy Joe emails me the form and I open it only to discover that all he did was send me back the original file I sent him. He didn't fill it out or he did and he just sent me the wrong file? I really have no idea but I can't help but assume the worse with this guy.

I then replied to that email and instructed him to just fill out the form while at the interview. However, I did make a call to the manager conducting the interview to share all of the above with him and gave him a heads up. Man oh Man! That was just a series of red flags that are really hard to ignore. Jimmy Joe is not alone in the world. I have met other like him and I don't know what to make of it anymore.

The hardest thing about recruiting is really knowing and believing how much people say they know and can perform. Most of our jobs require having a sound understanding with technology and especially computers . We try to take precautions when hiring. We screen people, have them go through a rigorous interview process with more than one person and even the client when necessary, and we check references. I am starting to think that we need to create and aptitude test as well just to be on the safe side.

I have learned in that last few months of recruiting that:

when people say they have taken "computer classes and are certified" its a red flag

(almost all the people that i have hired that said that had the hardest time getting trained on our computer procedures)

if they have trouble sending me emails after I already sent them an email it's a red flag

if they ask me what does gender mean while filling out the background form it's a red flag

if they only answer "assisting"to the question "What did you like most about being a Administrative Assistant?", it's a red flag.

All you can do is do you best to read people and read through the lines. Ya just never know and sometimes the surprises are funny, sometimes they just make me shake my hands to the sky and scream, how do these people walk among us!!

Happy Fall Ya'll

2011-11-02T15:35:00.000-07:00

We celebrate Fall in style at the Barlow Household. Especially in our belly's.

It has become tradition to get funnel cake from the Catholic School's Country Fall Festival that they hold across the street from our house. Now I make my own funnel cakes at home but it is fun to get other funnel cakes from time to time...especially with friends.

We are pretending to be Catholic here. We were for an hour by supporting the school in buying a funnel cake. There was a Priest there too but we were too shy to ask for a photo with him. ;) Also, our someone from our Stake Presidency was there too so no need to concern yourself, we are still very Mormon. :)

The Christensen's and the Barlow's (wives are in a very preggo state)

After the Fair we had a ROOT BEER AND PIE PARTY EXTRAVAGANZA! I honestly just felt like making pies and wanted to share them so we threw a party. Well we also hung up pictures around the house so let's celebrate that too. Lars made his homemade root beer which is always fun to do.

mmmmm pies and other goodies

For Halloween we dressed up for work and our Church Halloween Party. I won an award, 10 years in the running, GO ME!
Lars was even more festive than ever in his Orange Pumpkin shirt.

Hope ya'll continue to have a nice Fall with lots of goodies, friends, and family.

Raw: The Muppets invade a Halloween edition of Raw - Next

2011-10-31T08:59:00.000-07:00

Just in case you didn't have any plans tonight for Halloween you may want to watch some RAW!!!

Muppet Monday~Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T08:57:00.000-07:00

Have a fun and safe Halloween!!!!

24 Days until The Muppet Movie comes to Theatres

89 days to go!

2011-10-26T16:57:00.000-07:00

In about 89 days from now I will be experiencing something like this....

One of my Attorney's just gave me some advice to pass along to my husband too. He said: 1)Have him wear comfortable shoes, 2) The scene after birth looks like a cow was slaughtered.
I told him that Lars likes to eat his steaks medium rare and his most comfy shoes are flip flops so we should be set. :)

Muppet Monday~Halloween Costumes

2011-10-24T09:22:00.001-07:00

Just in case you wanted to dress up like a Muppet for Halloween here are some creative ways to do it. You can also check out this awesome website that post pictures from their Muppet Costume Parade

This one is super creative, she called it a Muppet Hunter. :)

Friday...is a good day!

2011-10-21T09:01:00.000-07:00

SO as per my previous post it has been a tough week. Last night was another sleepless night. My drive into work just made my more cranky. I swear my car must be invisible because so many people try to hit me all the time. Anyway, I was letting myself feel angry about stuff that was out of my hands which made me more angry that I was choosing to feel this way. But then something awesome happened. My phone had a voicemail pop up. I wasn't going to listen to it for fear that it might be dreaded information regarding work. But I listened to it anyway and to my gladness it was my best friend, Amy D. In the message she told me she loved me and shared a cool memory from high school. I cried I was so happy to hear from her. I immediately called her back and we talked all the way until I got to work. It made me so grateful. Her timing couldn't have been better. I told her that her call made my week and day. She asked me what else I was grateful for and I told her:

1) Two of our other best friends called us last night and shared outstanding news coming up their lives. I cried then too.

2) My brother's wife has been on bed rest for a few weeks now and in an out of the hospital with high blood pressure. I have been praying and thinking about them a lot especially this week. Last night they took her in for an emergency C-section. This morning I woke up to wonderful news that my sister in law and their new baby girl are doing great. I hope and pray they will have a fast recovery so they can all be home as a family together soon. I am an Auntie again to a cute little girl and this made me so happy.

3) For good friends and God's tender mercies and sending these good friends my way when I need them the most.

4) For Lars, he has been a trooper this week. Work and other ongoing things in our lives have been stressful for him as well but he always manages to goof off and make me laugh and smile. I love him so much.

Life is going to be okay. Today will be a good day. I am still going to press forward and make some needed changes in my life. One of them being eliminating things and people that make me mad or give me unnecessary stress. I really just want to surround myself with the people who matter most so I am going to be doing some emotional, physical, and mental house cleaning.

After my awesome phone call this morning these two songs played on the radio. I really liked them and wanted to share them. Guess they contributed to my new sense of "Let's make this great day happen!"

Have a nice Friday ya'll!

"That" kind of a week.

2011-10-20T16:04:00.000-07:00

Just a forewarning that I am going to do some soap box complaining here. I don't like to complain...much, but after this week I deserve a cry and a pizza party so here ya go.

"I can't complain, but sometimes I still do." ~Joe Walsh

Every week I send a reminder email out to all my managers to collect their weekly reports, part of my fun admin duties, awesome right ;) I always include a quote in that email to be fun and spread joy. I usually try to stick with humorous or motivational quotes, but this week I went with the above quote because as far as work is concerned it has been "that" kind of week and just fit with how I am feeling.

We came back from our vacation a little less than two weeks ago. You know how that goes...you feel rested and refreshed and ready to take on the work world again. The first week was amazing, must have still been honeymooning or something. Certain peopled expressed their appreciation for me and how much they missed me, "glad to have you back" or "I am not sure how we will survive when you are gone on your maternity leave." Oh the joy and I just didn't have a worry in the world, things were good and when crappy things happened I just shrugged it off and got through it. Until about Thursday. Thursday have been the suck suckiest days of the year. Not all Thursday but on just about every Thursday of the year something happens. Whether it is sickness or the crap at work hitting the fan. When work wasn't so busy I would try to work at home these days just to breath and remain sane.

Anyway, Thursday came around and a bunch of annoying things happened and they just rubbed me the wrong way. Friday was a little better, but not much. I tried to relish in the simple things to get past it and not let any of it ruin my weekend. Monday arrived and the crap just continued to slide down hill. I will be honest. A lot of my current work grief comes from one source. A certain person who will remain nameless, we will call this person DH (you can guess what it stands for). DH could be nice, but is not. DH has a double standard and often lies or tells me one thing and another manager another thing. DH will be nice to my face and then steal credit or backbit later on. It would be simple if DH would just be honest and tell us all the same thing. But instead DH doesn't follow procedure, is never ever ever around to help when the going gets tough, and for the most part will be the death of me. Maybe its not that bad, but I don't like being played or lied to or to have to do more unnecessary work or DH's work (I don't get paid the big bucks like DH does) because DH is just....well I really don't have nice words anymore. I like people but have low to zero tolerance for people who lie to me and are just big fat DH's. I know every office has a DH, but man DH is the worst I have yet to find.

At first I thought I was just making big deals out of nothing and putting too much pressure on myself to do everything because honestly I am anxious to start my maternity leave and would love to never return. All I can do is my best and die knowing that I rocked it and have some integrity. I try to keep that in mind and have a good attitude. Don't get me wrong. I do love my job and love the career I have started, but I think I am wanting to slowly close the book on this chapter in my life and feel like I should be moving forward to a new chapter for a few years and then reconsider when and if I want to reboot my career. Is this just my womanly mother instincts talking or something that I can really make happen? Can I let go of this chapter or will I get bored? I think I would rock as a homemaker. Either way if I am ever able to no longer work then I would like to leave on good terms, which I will. But some days I think to myself, if DH is still in the picture then I will be strongly negotiating other options.

Believe me I am making the best of all this and just working through it. Like I said I don't like to complain much. I love to make the world's gosh darn best lemonade from the lemons life throws at me and I always drink that lemonade with a little gig and prance but I still think I am allowed to complain from time to time as long as I don't let it own me in the end.

There it is off my chest....Man I feel better....moving on.

Being preggo is awesome!!!!

Our vacation back home to Utah was one of the best, will post pictures and stories soon.

We finally hung up some pictures in our house. It has transformed our apartment into a lovely home. I even framed some of my art work from my High School art portfolio to hang.

This weekend I am hosting a Pie Party. I really just felt like getting festive and making pies. I am a killer pie maker and make my own crust from scratch. I am going to make like 50 pies so I invited anyone and everyone to come over and help me eat them. Lars is making his homemade root beer. You can come too if you like. You probably deserve too if you read this post from start to finish. Ha Ha!

Have a super de dooper day and if life is throwing you lemons join me in my drinking lemonade gig prance :)

The Muppets: Cårven Der Pümpkîn

2011-10-17T14:14:00.000-07:00

For Muppet Monday I tried to find a video that had the Muppets with a Zombie theme in honor of The Walking Dead Season 2 Premiere last night. But I didn't find anything. SO to celebrate Halloween lets learn how to carve pumpkins from The Swedish Chef.

Next week I will show you awesome Muppet costumes and later on we will have a special interview with a star from The Muppet movie. :)

Letter to The Muppet Movie Makers

2011-10-11T15:48:00.000-07:00

To Whom May Concern:

My name is Stephanie Barlow. I am a Muppet fan. I wouldn't say that I am the biggest Muppet fan in the world, but I feel I am certainly an enthused fan. I have a blog that I try to update each "Muppet Monday" with a featured video, article, or thought about The Muppets. I do so to pump up the world for the newest Muppet movie coming out this Thanksgiving. The Muppets have been apart of my husband and my life since we were youngsters, it brought us joy and laughter.

I am an Anaheim resident and normally we go home to Utah to visit our families for the holidays. We go to the movies, play games, and eat lots of food together. However, this holiday my husband and I will be unable to travel that far because I will be in my 3rd trimester of our first pregnancy. We are having a boy! :) We are still planning on seeing The Muppet Movie as a family, as small as it is, to celebrate our holiday on our own. You can make our holiday all the more merrier by allowing us to see The Muppet movie at it's premiere. I would love nothing more than to start introducing our little boy to the Muppets as early as possible so he can participate in the same laughter and joy we felt as children.

Thank you for continuing to spread Muppet joy to all and thank you for your consideration with my request.

Smile and Staycool,

Stephanie Joy Barlow
Enthusastic Muppet Fan

Kick off to the Fall

2011-10-02T09:43:00.000-07:00

This free picture slideshow created with Smilebox

Saturday night we went out with our dearest friends Brandon and Melissa and played at the Thanksgiving Point Corn Maze/Pumpkin Festival. It was a blast! There was lots to do and see. I feel like Fall is really here now that I have participated in some of the festivities. Besides the maze they had tons of activities for kids and some scary activities for the adults. It was a NASA/Space theme so they had exhibits and a telescope to look through. I loved it all and couldn't stop soaking it in. Plus it was a hoot with our goofy friends and our ongoing jokes. They had two phases to the corn maze and we spent hours in the maze playing and hours at all the other activities. Afterwards we went out for yummy shakes from JCW's. Loved the time we had there and recommend checking out this place. Totally worth it!!!

31 FLAVORS

2011-09-30T14:29:00.000-07:00

31 years ago and handsome youngster graced the world with his awesomeness.

Today he is the Baskin Robbins age of 31!

I couldn't be happier that this man is in my life and cannot wait to share the events of LARSFEST with you. The celebration has only begun. More posts to follow will unfold the surprises that await the birthday boy.

(I would share, but I am keeping a tight lip on everything from every soul, no one not even my parents know. I have to be secretive because Lars is really good at figuring out surprises.)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LARS!

Vacation

2011-09-30T13:53:00.000-07:00

We are in Utah for the next 10 days.

We were gonna leave on Thursday morning, but then my manager meeting on Wednesday evening got cancelled. Seeing as how we were already packed we got off work early and hit the road. We made killer time and beat all the bad traffic. We made more pit stops than usual so I could use the potty and stretch my legs. We could have driven all the way through to arrive at my parents by 2 am but decided to spend the night in St. George to relax and goof off. I slept in the most comfy bed ever and woke up to waffles. Thanks Marriott, I love being apart of your rewards program. On the way up we stopped at Cove Fort and took a long tour of the historic site.

It was actually pretty cool so check it out. We pass it all the time on this yearly trip, finally we stopped and it was worth the time.

The closer we got to our destination the more construction we encountered. It was like proceeding deeper into a dark cave that gets uglier and uglier. Since I have been living in California I have become more patient with traffic and stupid drivers, but no state has ever had construction like Utah. They have a saying here, "There are two seasons, winter and construction." It is the truth. I just don't get it. Half of the construction they are doing is on roads that just got done with a previous construction job 1-2 years ago, some roads are on their 4th face lift. I find it a little short sighted that they keep messing with things that from where I stand seem fine and wish that they would just invest more into expanding their Trax system. I am probably not allowed to really complain about it thought because I don't live and pay taxes here. It is a little annoying but I will get over it. I am just glad to be hanging out with my family and friends here.

So hooray for vacation and all that it will entail, construction and all.

Muppet Monday~Happy Birthday Jim!

2011-09-26T16:33:00.000-07:00

There is so much Muppet Madness that I want to post, but I am slammed at work and getting ready for my upcoming vacation. I will posted an added special Muppet post this week once I get on vacation to make up for this shorten post.

Saturday was Jim Henson's 75th birthday. Google featured a special Doodle in his honor.

Here are a few articles about the doodle. I didn't have much time to play with it. But it sounds like it was awesome.

http://www.beatweek.com/news/9480-jim-henson-google-doodle-hidden-unused-muppet-animations-uncovered/

http://articles.cnn.com/2011-09-23/tech/tech_google-jim-henson_1_doodle-google-jim-henson?_s=PM:TECH

http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2111825/Jim-Henson-Muppets-Google-Doodle-Lets-You-Become-the-Puppeteer

http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Google

Cedar Chest of Memories

2011-09-20T14:24:00.000-07:00

We inherited Lars' Mom's cedar chest many years ago. She left some of Lars's baby things in there for us to have when we had kids. We sifted through those recently and found some really cute vintage and handmade outfits that Lars wore when he was a baby.

Guest what this is?

It's a homemade Bjorn. Lars' Mom used to make and sell them. I asked her if she had the pattern so I can pass it on to a few friends but she wasn't sure where it ended up.

Modeling with a stuff toy will have to do for now, at least for a few more months :)

There are a ton of other cute clothes and blankets too. I think we might have to reenact some of Lars' old baby photos with our little guy since they will have shared clothing.

Cutest Story ever~When Lars saw the above vest he said that it was what he wore to church every Sunday for years. He was allowed to bring one small toy with him. He looked in the pocket and what did he find...

his one small toy. It was so darling that it was still there after all these years.

Muppet Monday-Movement

2011-09-19T14:07:00.000-07:00

I am fascinated with the technology behind the Muppet's and how they are brought to life. It is not just one person but a team of people, from the actual puppeteers (in this case, muppeteers) to the voices and techies making one Muppet come to life. Here is a link to a break down of how it comes to life starting with the cosmetics and design all the way show time.

What's in a name?

2011-09-16T16:21:00.000-07:00

Lars and I want our babies name to be unique and special. We both have Danish blood and would like our kids to have Norwegian or Scandinavian names. Lars's own name is very unique. How many people do you know are names Lars that don't play the drums? We want our kids names to have special meaning behind them and give them a name that they cannot shortened into a nickname unless they earn themselves a nickname through their personality.

So our current pick for our son's name is:

Roan Barlow

pronounced Ro-uhn

Lars found that it means ancestor. We prefer the one syllable spelling too. I think it sounds very barbaric or viking/warrior like. This name just feels right like it would fit him and us. It is a Danish tradition to have your son's middle name be the mother's maiden name. Lars shares his father's middle name which is his mothers maiden name. Should we follow that tradition then his full name would be Roan Stark Barlow. Meaning ancestor to Stark and Barlow. I like how it sounds, but am still open to other ideas for middle names.

I have also considered ways to make fun of this name, there will always be a way to make fun of a name so unless it is really bad I really don't think we should care about getting around this.

Ways to make fun of this name:

Roan Roan Roan (put to the music rolling rolling rolling, roll'em in raw hide)

Roan Roan Microphone.

I am sure there is more but those were the ones I could think of that made me laugh out loud. What kind of a Mom am I? I am already laughing at my kids name. LOL.

Red Carpet

2011-09-16T15:03:00.000-07:00

Life...I love it!

I am so grateful to so many people for so many things right now. Life is just feeling pretty dandy right now. Not everyday is a bed of roses for sure. Work still gets me frustrated and the amount of stupid drivers in the world is increasing by the minute it seems. However, there really isn't much to complain about and I am loving everything around me. Guess I just want to take sometime and sorta put a bunch of stuff out there that I have been thinking about.

First off, thank you to some awesome ladies for loaning me so many maternity clothes. They are so expensive but I haven't had to buy much thanks to you. Plus you all have some very very good taste so I feel like a runway model or like I am on the Red Carpet and the paparazzi are asking me who I am wearing and I say...Annalisa, Shawna, and Lori.

Yep. I look like a fabulous hot mama thanks to you.

Next up, thanks to all the ladies in our ward. I really like our stake. I have been in two wards in this stake and have gotten to know a lot of people. They are all great. I served in the Stake YW's Presidency for a year and loved it. So sad that calling is done for now, but look forward to the next great thing. I am a people person and just love to know people and have been able to in this stake. A week ago I attended my ward's book club. Probably one of the funniest nights ever. We laughed a lot and ate a lot of food and cooed over the babies and the cat in the room.

My family has been pretty cool lately too. Or at least I appreciate them more then I used to. I find myself calling my Mom more and more just to chat about lame stuff.

This little guy inside just makes me happy beyond belief. I can feel him move around now and I love it. I was at 18 weeks and sitting in Relief Society when suddenly I felt what is best described as strong bath bubble action. I knew it was him. Prior to that I kept thinking I was feeling him, but really I was reading into anything because I wanted to feel him. But when I felt that first action I just knew it was him. Since then it has gotten stronger and has changed from bubbles to flutters and some punches or jumping. The flutters tickle from time to time. One day Lars was in the other room and could hear me giggling from upstairs. He came to investigate and I put his hand on my belly, but of course he wouldn't move for Lars. But he was jumping around more wildly then I have ever felt. Since then whenever I feel him move for more than a minute I grab Lars' hand so he can feel. Success was made last night. We were watching a movie and Lars held his hand on my belly for about 5 minutes. Then suddenly he jumps and Lars gasps. He said he got punched in the palm of his hand. I think little Roan was giving him a high five. LOL. Anyway, I am super grateful I get to feel this guy moving because it brightens my day more and more.

We leave for Utah in less than two weeks. I am so pumped for a vacation. Plus I get to see my family and friends and the fall. I love the fall and watching the leaves change. That is one thing I truly miss. CA just keeps blossoming and stays green. At least the area we are in. With Fall arriving it means one of my most favorite holidays is coming...HALLOWEEN which also means pumpkim pie, apple cider, costumes, and carmel apples. Most wonderful time of the year.

SO there ya are. Enjoy life and make it great.

The Booth at the End

2011-09-14T16:34:00.000-07:00

I recently watched a short series on Hulu called, The Booth at the End. You can find it here. I really enjoyed it and if I were teaching a theatre, acting ,or writing class I would show this series to my students. The premise is basic, a guy in a cafe, people go to him and ask for something. He gives them a task to complete and in return they get what they want. Here are some reasons why I think you should watch it.
#1 It all takes place in this cafe so it is up to the actors to describe what is going on and help advance the story. It is well written and well acted.
#2 The situations people are in and the choices they make just get to me in a mind stirring way. In one of my earlier blogs I spoke about how I love to find out what makes people tick. This satisfies that for me.
#3 You really have to ask yourself in certain situations "how far will you go to get what you want?" Do you go to extremes to get it or do you just wait it out and see what happens. The choices people make in this series and the outcome to some of them really got to me and made me think deeply about the meaning the writer or director were trying to make.

In fact after we watched it, only took maybe 2 hours to get through the 6-7 episodes, it sat with me for a few days and I had a lot of conversations with Lars about it. Basically it is a series that you can interpret based off your own morals and beliefs and I found it interesting and enjoyable to exercise my mind in that way. Hope that makes sense, sometimes I have trouble explaining stuff like that.

Anyway. I recommend checking it out. It is a basic story but I love how it is told and how they get your mind rolling on things. Reminds me of the days I studied Theatre.

Stuffed Toy Savior

2011-09-14T15:34:00.000-07:00

When I was a little girl I had a huge and I mean HUGE stuffed toy collection. I had a paper route and most of my earnings went into what I now call the "Save Every Toy on the Planet" project. I had this theory as a child, and little now too, that toys were alive and needed to be loved. I felt bad for the stuffed toys donated to Goodwill or Desert Industries. SO I bought as many of them as I could. Mostly animals and anything to do with Rainbow Bright. I have a lot of memories playing imagination with my stuffed toys, they got me, and it was fun. Just before I got married my collection was over 100 stuffed animals. I knew I couldn't keep them all. So I narrowed the pickings down to the ones that needed to stay in the family or ones with the highest sentimental value. Keep in mind the toys I had ranged from small to very large the size of a toddler toys. When I let some of them go I didn't just give them to anyone. I was very selective at the adoption process and tried to give them to kids or friends that would love and appreciate them like I had through the years. I even cried a few times. When I recently watched Toy Story 3 I bawled my eyes out at the end. I am such a sap...I am getting teared up RIGHT NOW just typing this. UGH! It was hard to let go, but I did and I slimmed the count down even more years later. When we started getting the babies room ready they were the first thing I pulled out.

So allow me to introduce you to the surviving members of the

"Save Every Toy on the Planet" association.

Here they are together

These ones were hand made by my Grandmother Bertha Stark, who passed away when I was 8 years old. There is an Ewok, E.T., Care Bears, and a little guy. The Car Bears and little guy belonged to me as a child and the E.T. was my sisters (the boys had a blue one) and the Ewok was one of my brothers. They tried to give them away and I saved them. If anyone else in the family tries to give away something Grandma Stark made I will be happy to rescue it.

These had high sentimental value.

The butterfly on the right and the doll on the left were the first toys I could ever remember having as a baby. The puppies were a gift from my Grandma and Grandpa Nelson while they were on a mission in New Jersey. The Teddy Bear was hand made by my next door neighbor. She named her dog Teddy and we helped her take care of him when she was out of town. She made all sorts of Teddy Bears and sold them. I can't remember her name, but she was nice and lives in New York now. The doll and the unicorn belonged to my sister. I would steal them from her and play with them. She would get mad and take them back. Eventually I just kept them probably because she got tired of fighting me. ;)

These are some fun toys that I kept cause they were gifts. The green ball, I called it Spud, was the reason for a lot of laughs at girls camp. The bunny is actually a puppet and has come in handy when I substitute as the Primary Chorister. The penguin, blue bear and frog were from my days at Fashion Bug. The monkey and cat were the only beanie baby like toys I had, besides a Huskie (he didn't make the picture because he is in the guests children toy box down stairs along with a smiley face doll that couldn't make the photo shoot.) The buffalo was a gift from my best friend Amy when she lived at Yellowstone. That gift was recent. I still love getting toys.

One reason this doll was so cool because it was 2 in 1

A day time doll..

and a night time doll.

So there ya have it. One of my obsessions is stuffed toys and rescuing them.

Top Ten....

2011-09-13T12:25:00.000-07:00

I found this link from my cousin's blog. I thought it was cute, clever, and true.

Just thought I would share.

Muppet Monday makes me Happy!

2011-09-12T17:04:00.000-07:00

It has been an eventful Monday. I got a lot done at work, but had a few curve balls thrown at me, one of them being my first experience of having to refuse service from a messenger trying to serve a subpoena on one of my attorney's. Needless to say I followed a long procedure and could not accept the subpoena and then spent sometime listening to the messengers choice words and attempt to belittle me. Thankfully our toughest looking attorney walked into the reception area at the right time and scared the guy away. Security was called and blah blah a process was started at investigating the messenger. Let's just say that the messenger service got an even nastier email from a big wig attorney with a few of his own choice words. An apology is on its way and I did my job. No physical harm was done so honestly I am all good. I cried for a minute cause it just wasn't nice of the guy to be SO MEAN! It was just annoying because I was trying to do my job and help the guy out, but my hands were tied. I am blonde and beautiful, but am not stupid and will not be intimidated into giving people what they want when they are childish and yell at me. I have grown some thick skin over the years and know how to use it. I am glad I know who I am so stuff like this doesn't get me down.

Anyway, So I had planned to share my letter to the Muppet Movie makers about why I should be invited to their movie premiere in November but ran out of time for the day. SO instead I will share this video that makes me happy because despite the crazy any events of Mondays or any day the Muppets make me happy and life is still pretty darn good.

Click here for the video since computers are against me today. LOL

One Ring to Rule them ALL-Winner!!!

2011-09-09T08:10:00.000-07:00

I have a collection of rings. I will tell you where they all came from.

You voted and now I will reveal which one was which.

The wedding ring that rules them all is.....

Ring B

Lars proposed with the diamond of this ring on a hill in Bountiful. The diamond was his Mother's. Together we picked out this set from Shane company before we got married. I love it because the two rings look intertwined as one, which is what I wanted in my ring because I think it represents my marriage. Two become one.

Second trimester ring is Ring C

This ring was given to me by my singles ward roommate. She had a fake ring to wear to the gym and when she got engaged to passed it onto me for protection from creepy guys. It was a princess cut, her favorite, that she had gotten from Walmart. :) I kept it in my jewelry box and knew it would come in handy during my pregnancy when my fingers swelled. They have swelled some, my real wedding ring fits, but is very snug and hard to get off. I don't want to risk having to fuse it off so for now it is put away in a safe place. However, vendors are always hitting on me at work, so I still need a ring for protection. Thank you Melanie for the protection.

Third trimester ring is Ring A

This ring is much larger in size. I am not sure if I will need to graduate to it, but just in case here it is. My best friend since childhood, Karin, and I would hang out in Provo monthly. She went to BYU and I went to SLCC. One night we thought it would be funny if we got fake rings together. We went to Walmart and got the largest and cheapest matching rings we could find. We purposely got them a few sizes to large so we could wrap string on them to wear them, like a boyfriends High School class ring. LOL. We wore them around for a bit and secretly giggled and shared the funny comments people made to us. Oddly I think within a year of buying those rings both of us got engaged and trading in these rings for pretty smaller ones. But it was sure fun and worth spending $8.88 at Walmart.

But there can only be one ring. Thank you Marly and Shawna for being the only ones to vote. The prize is pride and fun. Hope you enjoyed it.

Recent Quilt Project

2011-09-07T14:17:00.000-07:00

I have kept all my old shirts from girls camp, EFY, High School sports, and theatre in a box in my closet for many many, 10 years to be exact, years. In hopes that one day the crafty bug will tickle me and I will somehow make them all into a quilt. Two weeks ago that bug caught on in I discovered what fine work I can do when I am disciplined enough to start and finishing a crafty project. In a few hours I cut and sewed the top part of the quilt.

VIOLIA !

Now all I have to do is add a border to the edges, batting, a back, tie it together, then sew up the edges. I am hoping it is easier than it sounds. I am motivated to finish the project by Halloween. Maybe sooner if I take it with me on our vacation to see family in Utah in a few weeks. Either way when it gets done I will be sure to post a final picture of the quilt in all of its glory. At least now a I have a free space inside my closet that is the size of a box. :)

Shirts from the sporting years, softball, volleyball, and powder puff. If you can't tell #7 is my favorite and lucky number. Shrits from TheatreShirts from EFY and Girls camp

A shirt from U-Hall on the BYU Campus. I really loved this quote and have tried to live by it.

20 Weeks

2011-09-05T14:05:00.000-07:00

WAHOOO! I am 20 weeks!

Half way there. Time is a flying and I am loving it.

Please enjoy my 20 week photo shoot as a prego super model!

Muppet Monday brought to you by the number 20

2011-09-05T14:03:00.000-07:00

In honor of me being 20 Weeks please enjoy this Muppet video titled:

At The Dance (Episode 20)

One Ring to Rule Them ALL-Vote

2011-09-02T09:54:00.000-07:00

I have a collection of rings. I will tell you where they all came from, but first,

please vote one which ring rules them all.

One of these rings is my:

1-wedding ring,

2-Second trimester ring, and

3-Third trimester ring

But which is which?

Ring A

Ring BRing C

Leave a comment with your vote and I will reveal the answers next Friday!!!

Movie Island

2011-09-01T13:12:00.000-07:00

Ever ask yourself...If you had to be stranded on an island for all eternity what top 5 movies would you take? Only 5. For me that is hard to decide because I love movies and watch at least on average 3 a week. (don't judge, I don't have cable, I have netflicks and I love my life). If I had to chose between everything I have seen to date then these would be my top 5.

Disney's Beauty and the Beast

This was my childhood favorite movie. I love the story, the music, the fact that Belle had a beautiful yellow gown and some brains. When I was 19 and living on my own I had a choice to either pay a bill or buy this DVD before it went into the "Disney vault". I paid the bill because I was responsible, but longed for it to come out of the vault so I could have it as my very own. 10 years later it came out of the vault and Lars bought for me on a dual DVD/Bluray set. We watched it that same day. He fell asleep and I sang along with the movie.

Fired Up

This movie is one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. I have seriously watched it at least 12 times in the last 2 years and I never tire of it. True it is your typically stock story about two guys joining cheer camp for the girls but in the end learn a lesson and fall in love. Though in this story there is a comical make fun of said stock type stories twist and the jokes are so funny and quotable. But what makes this movie great are the two leading guys. I truly believe that they could be best friends. The way they banter back and forth without missing a beat. Their chemistry is amazing and for that I love this movie.

While You Were Sleeping

My favorite movie as a teenage. We owned the VHS and I would seriously watch it every weekend. I watched it so much in 3 years that eventually the VHS broke. I couldn't live without it so we quickly bought it again from Walmart but this time on DVD. I love the story about love, family, and not wanting to be alone but to live life to the fullest. The acting is good and the characters are awesome. And it takes place in Chicago which is near Grand Rapids, Michigan where I grew up.

The Lord of the Ring Trilogy (Extended Version)

This trilogy is just EPIC and I cannot deny it entrance to the Island. I love love love the music for the move and my yearly tradition of watching this trilogy in one weekend must continue.

Zombieland

I love Zombies, especially comedies. This one is one of the best comedies/zombie/scary/awesome movies ever. Like most of the above movies I have watched it many many times and have yet to tire of it. Love the character, the actors, the story, and the message at the end.

GASP A STOWAWAY

Stargate: Continuum

If I could have one stowaway on the island, or honorable mention if you will. This movie would be it! I love scifi and remember seeing the Original Stargate movie with my Dad back when I was a kid. I thought it was so cool and after I married my geeky husband we bought and watched all 10 seasons of Stargate SG1, most of Stargate: Atlantis (meh), and all of Stargate: Universe. We also own all the Stargate movies, the above and The Ark of Truth. But this movie, besides the first, is a stand alone movie from the series and one of my favorite movies that I don't mind watching over and over. Love the character and the humor.

SO what movies are on your island?

Thoughts from Today

2011-08-31T16:39:00.000-07:00

Today I was just reminded how short life can be. No one died. I just got some super sad news about a friend who is incredibly strong and has been battling for her life for a long time. She has persevered through all the up hill battles and has remained positive throughout the entire process, but her body is struggling to keep up with her spirit. She needs a miracle. I am sad. It makes me want to ensure that I am loving my family more, bring kinder to others, and living it up in anyway I can no matter what life throws at me. I am grateful for so much and hate to waste time being angry about stupid things at work I cannot control, which has pretty much been my week. But all that doesn't matter. What matters is how I chose to react and the relationships with the people around. Go, and give someone a hug today and do a good deed or something. Just remember why we are here and enjoy the journey.

A little story about ME

2011-08-29T17:03:00.000-07:00

Look who is having a baby... Let me tell ya this girl does have talent, but I am also interested in her own personal philosophy of family and child bearing. I pretty much like to hear anyone's philosophy on those things. I like biographies for similar reasons. Why people made the choices they do and where they came from and where they are going sorta thing. I have my own story that I am sharing a little here and there.

Beyonce said in the following interview ,
"I feel like a woman. I feel like I'm very aware of who I am. I feel great and I feel like 30 is the ideal age [to start a family], because you're mature enough to know who you are and to have your boundaries and your standards, and not be afraid, too polite -- but you're young enough to be a young woman," she said. "I'm so looking forward to it."

I like her thinking. First off, I am not saying there is anything wrong with having kids before you are 30 or after you are 30. For me, I wanted to have at least one child before I was 30, I guess deep down I knew I would need that time to personal get ready. I am meeting my mark. I am 28 and will be 29 when our son is born.

Here is some of my story.

I was the youngest growing up so I didn't have a lot of exposure to babies and youngsters until I was older and was a nanny and then had nieces and nephews of my own. Honestly kids scared me!! When we first got married I knew I wanted to wait so I could get to know ME for a while and be married. I knew the kid thing would happen but I needed ME time and was a little scared and selfish all rolled together. Sounds like I was a bad Mormon or something, WRONG! God gave us choices and this was my/our choice. For the first few years we got a lot of grief and I think apart of that was because we lived in Utah and the culture there is so stiff when it comes to these kinds of things. One day a friend asked us if we were getting a divorce because we didn't have kids yet? WHAT the @#$@! (He was demoted on the friend list btw) People's happiness should never be measured by the amount of kids they have. Some people don't know other's circumstances. My Aunt gave us the best advice after we were married. She said, "Having kids is deep water, don't jump in unless you know how to swim." Not to be preachy, my blog deal with it, but she is right. It is a big commitment emotionally, spiritually, physically, and financially. Yeah ya gotta have faith, but faith without works is dead and I preferred to have strong preparation for that step in my life. I needed to take my time with this decision and become more confident in my ability to mother as well as myself. I had fun too, I got a college degree, worked in the corporate environment for 5+ years, and got a great career started that I know I have options with should I chose to continue down that road.

For years I emotionally and spiritually was on a motherhood quest, but the health quest wasn't quite there until after this moment. Because of my invincibility I was a reckless dare devil. In my lifetime I have been in countless biking, tumbling accidents, and was even thrown out of a moving car, another blog post another time. I walked away from all of it without a scratch. It wasn't until I had my roller blading accident at the age of 26. I broke my broke my fingers and suddenly woke up a little and decided that maybe I should start being more cautious about my health and take care of it if I want to carry something in it. I also remember having an experience many many moons later with some friends. They are a wild and crazy bunch and often times they invite us to join them on their adventures. Lars and I went on this particular adventure that lasted into the wee hours in the night and it was a fun time. But it didn't have the edge it used too. SO after that moment I realized that we are growing out of that phase in our lives and ready for the next phase. Which logically meant a family. After more financial prep and prayer and blah blah blah we were for the most part getting on our way.

We knew waiting was a risk but we took that risk with a "come what may" attitude. I always knew that when we decided to start a family it would be perfect and things would just fall into place and it will be perfectly beautiful for us and our timing. Let me tell you, it has been. :) Preparing for this the last few years have been wonderful for us. Just wonderful and it keeps getting better and better. A long while ago when Lars and I were folding laundry together out of no where he says to me, "ya know, I love you so much we need to have kids." awe :) I am sure we could have had kids sooner or maybe even later. But now is awesome and well I really cannot imagine it being any other way for us. There are just so many little things that have happened that confirmed that this is the right time for us. It does have its tough moments, but the good absolutely out ways the bad and this whole process just strengthens my testimony about being a child of God and eternal families.

Sunday we watched Hook with some friends. Peter Pan, Robin Williams, needed a happy thought to fly and through all sorts of physically exercises and self searching he learned that his happy thought was that he was a Daddy. This too has become one of my happy thoughts that have gotten me through some of the crummiest days.

So Beyonce you spoke what I was feeling. Yes, I do feel like a woman. I love my body and I am also aware of who I am. I feel amazing and I also so look forward to this process and the new adventure that lies before me.

Muppet Monday

2011-08-29T11:34:00.000-07:00

So I cannot review this quite yet because I haven't finished sampling it on Amazon just yet. All I can tell ya is I heard some samples on the radio and I wasn't entirely crazy about it. Maybe it is just the classic person in me or that the radio didn't choose the right songs to sample? Not sure. I should be sampling it later this week and then will have a review for ya. You can sample it on Amazon and share with me what your thoughts are?

BLOG CRAZE

2011-08-26T09:58:00.001-07:00

For the next month I am going to be a crazy blogger. I have been given an assignment at work, receptionist for a whole month in addition to all my other fun admin duties. The only sad part is I won't be working from home during this assignment and also have to work during the office hours and won't be able to come early to leave early sorta thing :( But I do have some perks. Like having me a little break from running around other sites and less trips to downtown LA. Plus in between all my work I can get more goofing around accomplished. So reading your blogs, other books, and updating my blog will be apart of the task of goofing off. If you have any recommended blogs let me know.

I have a check list app on my phone because I love check lists. One of my check list is titled, "Things to Blog About". Seriously, through out my day I think of fun or silly things that would rock on this blog. I have a lot of weird thoughts and I plan on sharing them. Some are baby related and some are just about me and my life in general. One thing I have been wanting to blog about for months now has been my personal history. And a little bit about Lars too. I want to recount my entire life from start to present. Not just so you can have a good read but because this is like a journal for me and someday I will print it and put it in a nice book and hope that my kids will enjoy reading this in addition to all my journal books that I have kept since forever.

So be prepared for as long as this blogging mood is hitting me THERE WILL BE BLOGSSSS

Belly Bump Shots

2011-08-23T15:58:00.000-07:00

I haven't been real good at being consistent with any belly shots. But here are some goof off camera shots I have taken with my camera phone. I love my belly, it is fun to rub and see grow. It is especially fun to find clothes that make my belly pop. When I wear loose clothes it isn't so obvious that I am pregnant and then the next day BAM! I look preggo.

Playing with my shadow

~16 weeks~

Red and white polka dot dress my mother wore at her sisters wedding as a bridesmaid

~16 weeks~

wearing my favorite AFI shirt

~17 weeks~

Probably my favorite belly shot to date

~18 weeks~

wearing another one of my Mother's dresses that she wore when she was my age.

I love wearing my Mother's old clothes, they are vintage and cute and they work with the belly.

Pickles and Ice Cream

2011-08-23T15:51:00.000-07:00

When it has come to cravings lately the two most popular items for my belly that I cannot get enough of have been...

Blueberries in any form, muffins, pancakes, bagels, and especially yogurt.

AND

Rasins especially chocolate covered rasins.

Pickles are still gross and ice cream is still good but not having it as often as I used too.

Muppet Monday

2011-08-22T16:44:00.001-07:00

So since we found out that we are having a boy this Muppet Monday is dedicated to Lars. Gonzo has always been his favorite character. And here is Gonzo has a Muppet Baby.

Lars is really good and doing Gonzo's voice too. Maybe we consider decorating the nursery with the Muppets, particularly Gonzo. Gonzo rocks because he is weird but has a huge imagination and is friends with chickens. The coolest thing about kids is their imagination. Something I hope to encourage our kids to grow.

A Dragon, a Unicorn, or a baby...

2011-08-22T15:18:00.000-07:00

SO the last few weeks a lot of people have been asking me what we are having and recently the answer I have given them has been, "oh maybe a dragon, or a unicorn, but I guess a baby boy or girl could do."

Today we went to the doctor and found that we are having a boy!!!

As if the picture at the top didn't give it away.

He was seriously break dancing on his head the whole time. The ultrasound tech had me roll around and go on a walk around the hallway to see if I could move him so she could get better measurements of his head. When it came time to see what the sex was he wasn't shy and the first shot was the money shot but the tech checked a few times before saying anything to us, but Lars and I knew what those 3 dots meant. I felt surprised at first cause both of us have been having baby dreams with a little girl in them. But I guess that won't be just yet. I am very excited to have another cute guy around the house and look forward to just about everything we could possibly do together.

The tech also said that he is tall and that might move up our due date. I imagine he will be tall, blonde, and blue eyes. I would love it if he had Lars feet and skin tone, but my teeth.

We originally only had girl names and I wasn't sure we were going to be able to come up with any boy names. But, as has been this entire process, things have just fallen into place. Shortly after our doctor appointment we went to lunch and by the end had a boy name picked out. We are both Danish/Norwegian/Scandinavian so we want our kids names to be very unique. Right now this is the current favorite: Roan prononunced Row-uhn

I think it has a cool warrior/viking sound to it.

Here is the little guy holding his knees up.

He is trying to look at us here

His spine

Here he is looking at us, you can see his eye socket. I call this picture skeletor :)

T.G.I.F

2011-08-17T14:53:00.000-07:00

I know it isn't Friday yet, but everyone should watch this video. It is hilarious and has a very 90's feel to it. It also has a ton of special guest stars, many of whom were most famous during the 90's. I won't tell you who they are, you will just have to watch it all the way to the end to find out. Plus this song is really fun and catchy and I cannot help but play the air saxophone anytime I hear it.
Enjoy and Happy Humb Day!

Archery Analogy

2011-08-16T11:53:00.000-07:00

While I was at girls camp I helped supervise their archery activity by overseeing the girls while they received instruction and played archery. The next day I was asked to give a talk during morning exercises that tied in with our theme, the 13th Article of Faith. Through thought and prayer the following analogy came to me that I also shared in a sacrament talk recently and wanted to share on my blog as well.

Archery is the art, practice, or skill of propelling arrows with the use of a bow, from "arcus" (Latin). In archery there are three components, the target, the bow, and the arrow. On one end of the arrow there are three feathers, two of the feathers are the same color, these are called the Hens. The third feather is called the Rooster and it is a different color from the Hens. This is important because when you place the arrow on the bow and get ready to aim you must place the Rooster in a outward direction. Otherwise the Rooster feather will collide with the bow and throw your arrow off your target.

This can be likened until Life. Living with Christ again or eternal life is our target. When we do what is right, keep the commandments, are kind to others, etc. then we are keeping our Rooster feather in the right direction so our efforts will be aimed at our target and when we shoot the arrow we will hit the target. When we don't do those things then the Rooster is facing the wrong way and even if we think we are aimed at the target just right the arrow will dance away from the target because the Rooster feather collides with the bow.

Many of the girls had trouble pulling their arrows all the way back on their bows. Most of the time they were really hard to pull back, but would usually ease up when they reached the back. The bows were each unique and different depending on bow strength. They had some easy and really hard bows to use depending on their size and height. No matter what bow the girls chose almost all of them needed help pulling their arrow back into place before shooting it at the target. The camp sites teachers were a big help to girls in this regard. Many of them stood behind them and assisted with pulling the bows back while others kept the arrows on the bow while the girls pulled back.

This is likened unto life and the trials each of us face. We all try to stay on course and keep our arrow on target, but when it comes time to shoot the arrow we cannot do it alone. True, we can get help along the way from our parents, leaders, friends, and Bishopric. But the one person who is and will always be there to help is our Savior, Jesus Christ, through the atonement. He knows exactly what trials we are going through and if we turn to him and utilize the atonement in our own lives then he will be there to help us pull our arrows back and shoot to meet our aimed target. He loves us and will always be there, we just have to let him in.

I know that if we do our best to keep our Rooster in the right direction and rely heavily on the Lord for strength through trials then we can meet our target. He does so in my life countless times. I am very grateful for the atonement and the knowledge that I will live with him again and that families are forever. Amen.

Muppet Madness

2011-08-15T12:42:00.001-07:00

So I was searching for a video to post and I googled "Muppet Madness" and this link appeared.

SEEEEEE

Along with this

How cool is that. SO I guess I have another new source of Muppet information.

A Wonderful Story

2011-08-12T10:23:00.000-07:00

Many years ago in a land of Utahns lived a sweet girl with stringy blonde hair and goofy glasses. She was fun and had a zest for life. One day she was in a van full of friends on their way to play lazer tag. She was in the front seat and seated in the middle was a cute boy with shaggy blonde hair and a gorgeous smile and laugh.

On a dare said girl turned around to said boy and spoke, "Ya know what? I think you are cute!" Shaggy blonde boy then smiled his gorgeous smile and said something that stringy blonde hair girl never thought a boy as cute as him would say to her, "Yeah...I think you are cute too." Both of them smiled at each other and thus began a wonderful courtship.

Months later this goofy couple made their 1st best decision together and were married for time and all eternity on August 12, 2003 in the Mt. Timpanogous Temple. Many many years later this goofy couple made their 2nd best decision together and started growing their family. They had no idea the joy this decision would bring to their lives and wish they could express their exuberant gratitude and love they feel.

They now celebrate 8 years of blissful togetherness and have blossomed into a swan like

yet still a little goofy wonderful family. :)

V-Town

2011-08-11T12:56:00.001-07:00

So last weekend we went up to Vallejo to have some fun and see our friends baby get blessed. While there we watched Zodiac. If you don't know anything about the movie let me at least tell you this. It is based on a true story about a serial killer and most of the killings took place in or around Vallejo. Yes we didn't watch it until dark and I did get scared especially when Lars wanted to drive to some of the locations after the movie. No we did not do that, but it was pretty cool to watch the movie in the same town and I recommend seeing the movie and maybe even reading the book.

Other fun things included but not limited to:

Making homemade ice cream everyday

Eating homemade ice cream everyday

Going on walks

Sleeping in

Playing with the kids

Keeping the kids from hurting themselves while they played

Keeping the husbands from hurting themselves while they played on the kids toys

We especially had fun making homemade ice cream that when Lars and I returned to Anaheim the first thing we did was buy our first ice cream maker. It is simple, just throw a recipe together and put it in the device. No rock salt or ice needed. It is perfect and we are having fun with it.

The guys chillin

Evelyn playing with bubbles. This girl was super cute. Last year she was shy, this year she made up for by hugging everyone over and over.

Family Love

Making a List and Checking it Twice

2011-08-10T10:08:00.000-07:00

So I am working on getting a list of baby things to get before our little bundle comes. I am sure we don't need to have everything right away and can get some things afterwards. I am a list person and I have been feeling anxious about making some progress in this area so a list will help put my mind at ease.

Since this is my first I thought I would open the floor to your thoughts. If you know of any items that you found useful and can't live without or items that were a waste of time and money please do share.....

Cowboys and Aliens and The Muppets

2011-08-04T08:32:00.000-07:00

I have been off the radar with all the Muppet Mondays. Honestly I am working on drafting a letter to a number of people that might be able to get me tickets to The Muppet Movie Premiere, which has been my latested obsession.

In the mean time there are other really good movies out that I would recommend. So in honor of

Please enjoy the above Muppet video.

I really liked Cowboys and Aliens because it truly was a Western. The acting and effects were good and the story was pretty cool too.

Plus watching Daniel Craig for 2+ hours is a good deal in my book. :)

But my favorite part was that is was actually a Western. People don't make those anymore, or they do but they add to much modern stuff that it isn't. This was a Western with some Aliens, but the main focus was the Western and the two main characters seeking redemption.

As LeVar Burton said, "But you don't have to take my word for it."

Go check out Cowboys and Aliens for yourselves.

Baby is Getting Older

2011-07-25T13:16:00.000-07:00

As of today I am 14 weeks. Hooray for 2nd Trimester!! Let me tell ya, so far it has been pretty rad. A few weeks back I went on a good nonpuking up streak and didn't puke for 5 whole days. It was wonderful, I even had energy. So morning sickness is getting better and is starting to go away, for good I hope. If I throw up it is usually on Thursdays only, not sure why but that is the pattern. I also haven't needed ginger ale as often. Heartburn still exist but Tums have rescued me there. I love having energy again, it isn't at 100% and I am always ready to go to bed by 8:30 pm, but it feels different to me and I hope to get a lot of baby stuff done on this wind of energy.

My clothes are getting tighter so I have reverted to wearing sweat pants or skirts when I am at home and the same work pants that are currently the only ones that let me breath. I should do side pics of my belly, those will come later. I don't think I am showing that much but I am rounder and firmer in that area. At first, I felt like I gained 10 pounds because my 3 meals turned into a million tiny meals (disclaimer, I am not one to count the scale pounds, that just doesn't matter to me, I base it off how I feel, when I work out I feel good so I work out and try to eat healthy, but mostly eat what I want and Yes that has changed since the bun has been in the oven). At my first doctors visit I learned I only gained 3 pounds, at my second visit I discovered that 2 of those pounds were lost due to morning sickness. Yesterday I jumped on a reliable scale and I am back on track to keeping this bun happy and healthy.

Anyway, so back to clothes. I am grateful I have some local friends and long distant family members willing to share their preggo clothes with me. I tried shopping and was lost at what to buy and where to start. I tried a few stores and figured out what works for me but the price for a pair of pants was outrageous, $65 for a pair a jeans EEK! So I bargain shopped and found a pair of maternity capri's for $5!!!! SCORE!!!! This pair will last me until I get other arrangements made. :)

On to the really good stuff. At our second visit we had an ultra sound and got to see the little one.

WOW WOW WOW!!!

First of all, the ultra sound really tickled. I am very ticklish and kept giggling as the midwife moved it around to find the sucker. It was fun to see my belly move on the screen.

The amazing part of our first visit was hearing the heartbeat. It was amazing and still brings me to tears when I think about it.

The amazing part of our second visit was this.....

(Front view)

The baby actually looks like a baby and not a bean anymore. It was seriously amazing, it is really really hard to describe what I felt other than JOY!!!! It made it even more real cause it was moving and looking at us and probably wondering why I was giggling so much. :)

(Side view)

It was beautiful and priceless and I cried and this wonderful feeling came over me and stayed with me and Lars for a very very long time and still comes back when I stop and ponder on this. I love it and I never want to forget this feeling. I love how all these emotions just keep building on eachother and getting better and better.

We find out what we are having on August 22nd.

Any guesses????

Muppet Monday

2011-07-25T12:22:00.000-07:00

As you go through life remember that other people are working on going somewhere as well, even if they aren't fit for the job, admire their efforts and willingness to become better.

Bobby and Courtney Together Forever

2011-07-10T18:06:00.000-07:00

Introducing.....

Mr. and Mrs. Bobby and Courtney Kallush
Aren't they cute.
First wedding we have been to for years.

They are a fun couple that we have know for a few years now.
Her dress is georgous and I love love loved her colors
They threw a really amazing 10 out of 10 reception.
Elder Chadburn, well not an Elder anymore.

Vickie, the cool sister.

Sexy Bots

2011-07-10T17:11:00.000-07:00

Over the 4th of July weekend Lars' half brother, Glenn, and step-sister, Bonnie came to stay with us. We had an absolute blast hanging out with them. They were the coolest house guests and oh so fun. I love being a big sister and YES I did wake up early just to jump on their beds and wake them up.

We took them around to some fun touristy stuff and ate lots of delicious food. We went to Venice Beach, Downtown Disney, and Hollywood Walk of Fame. Every time we went to leave the house I would shout out, "Barlow, Madsen, Smyth Bots...Let's Roll Out." (The reference is from Transformers) Those are each of our last names, long story. Eventually we shortened it to "Sexy Bots" :) We loved having them and look forward to their next visit. Enjoy the slideshow of our adventure.

This free picture slideshow customized with Smilebox

Muppets Go to Hollywood

2011-07-05T17:48:00.000-07:00

So we had family come into town over the holiday and we took them to Hollywood. Pictures will come soon. For this weeks Muppet Monday I wanted to find a video about them going to Hollywood. Well I found this new trailer and so I am posting it instead because I am, let's face it, obsessed with this movie coming out and this trailer showed a lot more awesome stuff. They are coming back to Hollywood and I keep getting more and more excited. And yes, when we register for baby stuff The Muppet Show series and anything else to do with The Muppets, Looney Toons, Tiny Toons, or The Animaniacs will be among it.

P.S. It will also be my dream to go the priemere of this movie. I am gonna find a way to make it happen.

Oh and I just found this site that I had to share. http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/The_Muppets_(2011)

Life and 2 Most Recent Frequently Asked Questions

2011-06-29T13:28:00.000-07:00

SO Life has been pretty busy for the last few weeks. Lets bring you all up to speed. In May we found out we were pregnant :) and things have pretty much taken off even more so since then. I always felt that when we decided to take this step in our lives then it would happen in a perfect time for us and it would be awesome and beautiful. After all we are playing against our own deck of cards as everyone else is. So far I feel that the timing couldn't have been better, I really can't complain. A lot of things have fallen into place that is helping us move along. And I know that it is an answer to our prayers. We were waiting for a bigger apartment to become available and it just so happened to come available the week we found out we were expecting. Right time and right price. We jumped at the chance after thoughtful prayer and have since moved into our new apartment. We went from a 1 bedroom to a 2 bedroom townhouse. If any of you have ever been to our old townhouse in SLC, UT then it is pretty much the same, just with no basement and no master bathroom. We love it here and love how this place just swallows up everything we own. It will take me a while to get things settled and decorated. Guess we are in our nesting phase. Now if you come and visit us you will get your own private space and we have air conditioning.

Both our jobs are going pretty darn good. Lars likes what he does and likes the people he works with and has goals that his employer is helping him accomplish. They see the value in him and do their best to reward him. I love my job, sometimes I have to deal with stupid people, sometimes I am acting like the stupid one. But for the most part I like where it is going and feel good about where I have been. For a while my job was really frustrating and stressful and I was unsure I was going to keep with it. But I had an attitude check and roughed it out and I am so glad I did. I have something in the works and as long as I need to work I am hoping that my job will allow me to work from home from time to time after the baby is born. We will see as time gets closer.

Now for the 2 most recent frequently asked questions.

But first...*DISCLAIMER*

*****Going forward when I talk about being pregnant on my blog and all that comes with it please PLEASE don't think I am ever complaining or be offended by what I say. I am a very optimistic person but I will be honest on my blog about what I am truly feeling or thinking. I never liked faking anything or painting a rosey picture. I have vowed never to complain about this experience because: 1) We have waiting for this day for a while now. 2) I read enough books and did enough research to know sort of what to expect. I realize that my body is changing and pregnancy comes with a lot of ups and downs. It can be a roller coaster ride I guess. I knew before committing to this that it was going to be an all or nothing package deal and I am so very fine with that. I am merely sharing my thoughts, feelings, and experiences here so I can journal this and so my family and friends can follow my life's adventures and participate. All of my family lives out of state and I hope they read this from time to time. My intention has never been to hurt or offend anyone. And I don't know all there is to being pregnant so I am very open to your thoughts, advice, comments, and would love for anyone to be a participant.******

Okay

As we have been announcing our pregnancy to our friends and family these have been the two most frequently asked questions.

#1 How are you feeling? Any morning sickness?

I remember when I was younger my Mother told me that she didn't have hardly any morning sickness. So I assumed that because I was her daughter and because I was "Super Stephanie" that I wouldn't either. Well...at about week 6 I quickly realized that I was no exception to the rule. Actually the first few times I threw up I thought it was awesome because it gave everything more reality. I remember writing in my journal afterwards and describing what it looked like. Gross I know, but I am silly like that. Then it became an every other day thing. By week 8 it became an everyday thing and I started to recognize my puke, which honestly made eating a large chore. Obviously I have to eat, but deciding what became a big deal. And grocery shopping and opening any fridge became a nightmare. I quickly found my friendly foods, yogurt, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and cheeze-its. Every week that would change cause I guess my body got used to it and reminded me that tricks won't work. Right now the fan favorite is fruit smoothies, saltines, and soup.

Funny though when I am singing I don't feel as sick. So I try to sing where ever I go. Thankfully I was only sick one day when I was at girls camp. But since I have returned I have been down with a head cold and sore throat that I think came from a combination of throwing up so much that the acid made my throat sore and just having a cold. However, I haven't been sick while I have had the cold so that rocks. Guess I know the cold will be gone when I start to feel nauseous again. EEK! Anyway, I think I am figuring out the balance I need to give my body from being sick. 1) Eat a little bit often and rotate what I eat. 2) If it smells bad then don't eat it. 3)Listen to my body 4) Sleep Sleep Sleep

I read and heard that it gets better by the 2nd trimester which I am only a few weeks away from, currently I am at week 10. I think I can hold out until then. I would like to avoid taking anything for having morning sickness if I can. Guess time will tell.

#2 How does Lars feel and what was his reaction?

Lars is so awesome. He is more enthusiastic than me most of the times, and I am always happy so that is saying something. Which I am so grateful for because his cuteness and attitude strengthens me when I am feeling weird. He is so helpful around the house and lifts me up when I am discouraged because I can't do everything in one day anymore. Plus he is just so fun and I couldn't be more happy that he is so into this.

He makes me smile.

So that's a catch up from us for now.

Anaheim Stake Girls Camp 2011

2011-06-28T17:14:00.000-07:00

Last November when they called me to the Stake Young Women's I knew one of the highlights of the calling would be going to Girls Camp. I have been looking forward to it all year. Let me tell ya it was a blast. The camp was pretty cool, different from my youth, of course to this day I don't think any camp really roughed and lived it up like the Grand Rapids Stake did in my day. This camp had a lot to do and some of the best camp food ever. They had an endless salad bar and nachos. I really liked being a leader. I got to see many good things happen that I never saw as a youth. At times it was frustrating (when the girls wined endlessly about the horrible 3 mile hike or trying to sneak into cabins in the middle of the night only to get caught by the Sleeping Giant Preggo Stephanie). But at the same time it was incredibly rewarding to the see the girls grow, and see when they have been touched by the spirit, and feeling the spirit inside myself grow. We were surrounded by many many tender mercies. I was over the 4th year cabin, we only had 8 girls, but they were the most amazing 8 girls. Plus being in the Stake I got to go around to all the girls cabins at night and sing them goodnight and deliver their mail. All the girls were awesome and I so enjoyed being with them. In a way I got to relive my girls camp days, some of the best and most memorable days ever. I don't know who I would be if not for my girls camp days and I was so glad to be apart of this girls camp and to get to know them more and to just love them.

I loved it and cannot wait to go again.

Please enjoy a slide show of all the fun we had. Just so ya know it is kind of long because there was much fun to be had.

Make your own free slideshow

Muppet Monday

2011-06-27T16:38:00.000-07:00

I know I am actually doing this on a Monday. WOWEEEE

Muppet fever is getting spread around. Click here to find out how you can rock out to The Muppets famous music with your favorite artist at home.

Cheese 1/2 Ink a....

2011-06-12T17:54:00.000-07:00

In May we found out that our loving family will be expanding :)

Do you like that i didn't even bother to wipe off the stick before taking a picture :)

Our first doctors visit was on Friday :)

Our baby is the bean looking thing and the round thing is the yolk :)

We got to listen to the heart beat. It was a precious moment that I will never forget :)

If you can't tell we are ALL :)'s.

I wanted to be super creative when we told people that we were expecting. So in reference to the title of this post Click HERE

More awesomeness to come I am sure. :)

Muppet Wednesday because Monday I was lazy

2011-06-08T13:24:00.000-07:00

In Honor or two movies coming out this November enjoy the Muppet unofficial parody of Twilight.

Here is the real Breaking Dawn trailer.

Yes it will be a good Thanksgiving indeed.

Endless Wings for the History Books

2011-05-30T11:53:00.000-07:00

Lars' old college friend, Jon, came into town (in case you haven't noticed April and May were national visit Lars and Stephanie month's :)).

We may or may not have went out to a certain place for their endless wings.

It was delicious and between the 3 of us we finished 80 wings.

The food fest didn't end there. Later that week Lars and I visited some dear friends of ours, the Reyneke's, who were taking a binge day from their diet. We wanted to make it a historical binge day. So in a course of 5 hours and in between card games we ate BBQ chicken pizza, chips, spinach strawberry salad, chocolate fondue with ALL the trimmings, homemade funnel cake, chocolate Ganache, and deep fried twinkies. It was EPIC and something I am not sure I can handle to do again. I would be lying if I said I didn't pay for it early the next morning. However, it was super fun and something that will go down in our history books.

Now that you have read this go eat a salad. I know I am. :)

Universal Studios is for Lovers

2011-05-30T11:44:00.001-07:00

This month Lars and I went to Universal Studio's, just the two of us.

We are annual pass holders and often times when we go we take out of towner's with us, so we usually do what they want to do first. This trip was all about us. We saw everything we hadn't seen yet and things we really loved twice. I can officially say that in only three trips I have done everything at Universal Studios, but I love it so much I am up for doing it again. Our passes don't expire until the end of September so if you would like to go let us know. We get discount tickets and sometimes free tickets because we are pass holders.

Terminator 2

Animal Actor's Show (one of my favorites)

Blues Brothers

Marilyn and I

Do the Bart Man!

UVSC (UVU) Theatre Dept. Reunion

2011-05-30T11:33:00.002-07:00

A few Saturdays ago some old college friends came into town for something fancy (Disneyland). We met up with them and had lunch at my favorite place, Ruby's Diner. Of course we had to take pictures to document our adventure.

Ruth, Nate, Adam, Allyson, & Me

(Ruth and Nate and also Adam and Allyson met through the theatre department and got married)

so cute!

Then we went to walk around Downtown Disney and they introduced me to a new hobby, trading pins. It was fun. I really wanted to find a Princess Belle pin and when I found one but the little girl did not want to trade with me :(. After a few other trades I did however end up with a Fozzy Bear Muppet's pin which I gotta say was pretty awesome so no complaints here. Maybe soon I will obtain more pins and be able to trade and find my Princess Belle pin. :)

Muppets Stars & Stripes FOREVER!

2011-05-30T11:33:00.000-07:00

In honor of Memorial Day!

In the words of Sam the Eagle....

Thank you for keeping our world safe from "weirdo's" .

Can't Wait Until Thanksgiving

2011-05-25T19:59:00.000-07:00

In Law April

2011-05-21T17:36:00.001-07:00

I feel so blessed to have the coolest in laws in the world. In April, both of Lars' sets of parents came into town. Lars' Dad, Ivan and his wife Trisha came in during the first part of them month.

Lars' Mom, Beverly and her husband Richard came during the last week of April. We had a lot of fun with both sets of parents and did a lot of neat things together. One of the neatest things we did with both sets is we took each of them to one of our California Temples. We went to the LA temple with Ivan and the Newport Beach Temple with Beverly. I love the temple, families truly are forever. I feel blessed to have the relationship I have with my in laws. I love them both very much and being apart of their families is GREAT! I can always be open around them and they love me the way I am. Hooray for cool in laws and Hooray for their visits. :)

Muppet Friday

2011-05-20T08:03:00.000-07:00

I loved watching this show as a child. I think the theme song is so cool. It is classy, like something you would hear from Happy Days or something from the 60s, which is one of my favorite decades. Muppet Babies do make our dreams come true. :)

What You Didn't Know About the Muppets

2011-05-10T11:19:00.000-07:00

So this link contains things you didn't know about the Muppets. Interesting and also some old videos. The Muppet's certainly have evolved. :)

What You Didn't Know About the Muppets - UGO.com

My #1 Fan

2011-05-07T20:52:00.000-07:00

My #1 Fan in life has always been my Mother.

I tell people that all the time because it is so true. No matter what I am involved in or decisions I make my Mother has always been there cheering for me. She was heavily involved in every activity I participated in as a youth. From PTA, to choir committee president, to young women's, she did it all to stay involved and watch me grow. She has and will always be there for me. In my teenage phase I was kind of annoyed by this because she always wanted to know who my friends were and their parents. After I graduated from High School she chaperoned my choir during our Europe trip. I thought it was going to be lame having my Mom there. But I was so glad she came. We had a blast together and when I got burned out from certain people drama during the trip I hung out with my Mom and discovered that she is the coolest. (She always has been the coolest I am just constantly reminded of that). Since then, I have grown up and I absolutely value her interest in my life. She is my best friend. She is always there to offer her endless love, advice, shoulder to cry on, and to laugh with and sometimes at me.

I am so blessed to have her as my Mother. If I could be half the Mother she was to me then I will be the best Mom in the world, or second best. ;)

Happy Mother's Day to my Mother and to all women who offer their hearts, their compassion, and their examples. My life has been blessed by a lot of "extra" Moms.

Muppet Tuesday

2011-05-03T08:16:00.000-07:00

Here is a fun clip to get you through your Tuesday.

If so inspired afterwards prank phone call someone today. :)

Good Times Camping

2011-04-30T11:14:00.000-07:00

One time we went camping at a really beautiful place. There was lots of relaxing, hiking, delicious food, nature admiring, and fun with two STARS!

Home away from home

Super STARS

Deer

We also saw a wild Turkey

Everything we cooked was out dutch oven. I only used our camping stove to boil water for hot coco and cider. If we ever had to live outside for the rest of our lives we would be set as long as we had out dutch oven.

Cinnamon Rolls

Pineapple, bbq chicken, and green peppers

Mountain Man Breakfast

Steak, potatoes, and asparagus

Hope to camp a few more times this year. If you would like to join us next time let us know and we will get something planned.

Muppet Monday-Camping

2011-04-19T07:58:00.000-07:00

We are going camping this weekend so I decided to find some Muppet camping videos. Here are a few of my favorite.

I love rough camping, so I am no Miss Piggy when it comes to camping.

I also came across this link to Muppet books. Something I will have to look into more so we can get them for our kids to read.
http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/The_Muppets_Go_Camping

Needless to say most of these videos are from John Denver and The Muppets Rocky Mountain Holiday. Check it out. It was fun and I cannot wait for our camping trip this weekend. Too bad The Muppets won't be there, but we will have fun anway.

Muppet Thursday and Thoughts

2011-04-14T15:23:00.000-07:00

This week I have been commuting to LA everyday and will continue to do so for the next week or so, until my new site is fully staffed and trained (hopefully sooner rather than later). It takes about an 1 to 1.5 hours to get there and 1 hour and 15 minutes back home. I wake up at 5 am ish and leave around 6 am ish and pull in about 7:30 ish. Then I leave at 6 pm ish and pull in about 7:15 ish. That is a lot of ishes. I don't mind a whole because I know it is temporary and a change from the norm will help me appreciate the norm. As long as I have my tunes to listen to I am all good. So this video was fitting for this weeks Muppet Monday because that is exactly what I am doing...Moving Right Along. On a deeper note I have learned over the years that you have to "Move Right Along" an sing with what your are working with because stopping to complain and stamp your feet don't help. You have to just push through even if it sucks. Things get better or at least your attitude can. Something to think about if you are also finding yourself in a situation that may suck. Life can still be good, just sing, dance, laugh, and smile it away! :)