Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Heading off to Vegas in our BMW

When we were shopping for our Suburban my dad kept telling me to look for BMW's. I finally asked him if HE wanted a BMW, because I wanted a Suburban. He informed me of the acronym BMW for Big Mormon Wagon.

The truth is, I LOVE MY SUBURBAN! I feel like I'm driving a luxury car. I don't think there is anyone in the world who is happier to drive a Suburban than me. I love all the space, I love all the features, I just love it! And this is no fancy Suburban. It is used. We really didn't pay that much for it, and we don't know how long it will last us. But I love every second of it.

So as we head down to Vegas to hang out with some of our very favorite people, Jesse, Brooke, Matthew, and Drew (Yes, I like Jesse even though he makes fun of my BLOG!), I am excited to be driving down in the Suburban, yet hopeful the old thing doesn't break down or something! This will be our first family road trip in it, and I am looking forward to it.

Our kids can't wait to see their cousins, and I am looking forward to another laid back, delicious Thanksgiving dinner. We have so much fun with the other Low family (It's Dave's only brother), and it is probably the last time we will be able to visit them while they live in Vegas because Jesse is graduating from dental school in the spring. So Happy Thanksgiving to all, travel safe, eat lots of food, and I'll be back after my Disneyland trip!

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Interesting Study

Boys Preferred Over Girls, Poll Shows
Americans Show Slight Baby Gender Preference for Boys If Limited to 1 Child
By Miranda Hitti
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD
July 6, 2007 -- People in the U.S. show a slight baby gender preference for having a boy instead of a girl if they were only able to have one child.

That's according to a new Gallup poll on baby gender preferences.

The telephone poll, conducted in June, included about 1,000 U.S. adults. They were asked: "Suppose you could only have one child. Would you prefer that it be a boy or a girl?"

Here are the participants' baby gender preferences:

Boy: 37%
Girl: 28%
Either/doesn't matter: 26%
Not sure/no opinion: 9%
The "either/doesn't matter" choice wasn't mentioned as an option by the pollsters. But more than a quarter of the participants expressed that view anyway.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

We're Dish free!

Anyone who knows Dave and I knows that we have spent many years of our marriage without television at all, and even with television we almost never watch it. We have no "shows," we don't know when anything is on, and we only like having tv for events like: general conference, the olympics, the election, etc. When we moved to our new house there was no cable service. So we PAINFULLY signed up for the lowest Dish Network package (Still around $25 a month!) and have been using that ever since.

We ordered the government coupons for digital tv converter boxes and went shopping to Walmart for one today. We paid $9 for it. There was a guy there purchasing one who looked like he knew what he was talking about, so Dave asked him what antenna to buy. He laughed and said he wouldn't buy any of them. I thought, oh no we're going to have to spend like $100 on an antenna. The ones at Walmart were in the $40-60 range. To my surprise, the guy said drive over to Honks (A dollar store) and buy the loop antenna and the little transformer (Which was $4.97 at Walmart). So Dave worked on it, and we got our television working for about $11.00 total today. IT'S INCREDIBLE! The picture is fantastic, and it is SO all that we need for our television needs. We are now saving $25 a month and $300 a year on television service that we rarely used anyway. The only use we got out of our Dish service was Nick Jr, and that will be greatly missed, but PBS has some great reading shows that I'm excited for Isaac to watch, and I've ordered some movies for Christmas.

I had to share my excitement about our thrifty television service of Free-ninety-nine! It much more appropriate for a tv-clueless couple like Dave and I.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

20 weeks!

I am officially 20 weeks now. Which probably means no more than 16 weeks left of pregnancy for me. I'm actually at a pretty good stage right now, I'm only slightly nauseous, I sleep well at night, and I'm not uncomfortable at all. Today was my 20 week ultrasound, and our little baby boy measured right on, and appeared to be perfectly healthy.

I learned two new things today. First of all, I have suspected I have an "anterior" placenta because I just haven't felt this baby move much, and it's mostly on the sides. Sure enough, the u/s tech said he's nice and cushioned by that placenta right on the front, so I was right!

And second my doctor told me that since Henry came at 35 weeks and I started into labor at 34 weeks with him, I qualify to get the steroid shot at 32 weeks. The steroid shot helps the baby's lungs develop in the event of premature delivery. Now even though both of my premies had mature enough lungs, with the steroid shot I can feel a little bit more peace about delivering another premie. I have spent my last two labors feeling VERY nervous until the moment they were born and able to cry on their own. It will be really nice to know this time that I have history on my side as well as a steroid shot.

Because of the anterior placenta I didn't get any great shots in 3-d of the baby, but it was still a fun ultrasound.

Classic Profile of face


Why do my babies always cover their eyes in the womb?


The hand moved a little bit for this one.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Mistakes come back to haunt you... and sometimes that's a good thing!

So I was looking at our previous taxes and I happened to notice a mistake on our 2006 taxes. A BIG ONE! It only lists Isaac as our dependent, but Dawson was born in 2006. So I called my CPA and asked him to amend it, and add Daws. We are now getting $1600 more back from our 2006 taxes. Sweet huh! I guess sometimes mistakes can come back to haunt you in a good way.

$5.00 skirts

I was shopping the Modbe site, and found that their cutoffs are on sale for $20 PLUS the 30% off, and also they have $5.00 skirts in limited sizes. Just thought I'd throw that out there if anyone is interested. Some people have already ordered, if you want to make an order you can do it any now until Saturday. Thanks!

Thanksgiving Divorce

A man in Jacksonville calls his son in San Diego the day before Thanksgiving and says, “I hate to ruin your day, but I have to tell you that your mother and I are divorcing: forty-five years of misery is enough!”

“Pop, what are you talking about?” the son screams. “We can’t stand the sight of each other any longer” the father says. “We’re sick of each other and I’m sick of talking about this, so you call your sister in Denver and tell her.”

Frantic, the son calls his sister, who explodes on the phone. “Like heck they’re getting divorced” she shouts, “I’ll take care of this!”

She calls Jacksonville immediately and screams at her father. “You are NOT getting divorced. Don’t do a single thing until I get there. I’m calling my brother back and we’ll both be there tomorrow. Until then, don’t do a thing, DO YOU HEAR ME?” and hangs up.

The old man hangs up his phone and turns to his wife. “Okay” he says, “they’re coming for Thanksgiving and paying their own way!”

Monday, November 17, 2008

Modbe Virtual Party

*EDIT* As far as swimsuits go, their new line of swim wear is scheduled for release in February and they are claiming it is hot! (Of course they are.) But really, their swim wear is really cute, and it will be fun to see what they come up with this year. We won't see more sizes of the current styles, just a completely new line. But I'll be sure to do another party when swim wear starts up, although the 30% right now is pretty awesome. *END OF EDIT*

So I'm not a salesperson. Really I'm not. I'm not quite as bad as my husband who seems to almost always give away things when he's trying to sell them. But I'm close. A few months back I signed on as a salesperson for Modbe Clothing. I love their clothes, and think they are very high quality, but a little bit expensive. So I signed up as a sales rep, not to sell it to people, but to hopefully get the discount for me and my sisters.

Well, Modbe Clothing currently is offering a sale that will give discounts to "party" go-ers that is better than the discount I get as a consultant. So I decided now was an excellent time to throw a party and offer that discount to anyone I know who wants to order some Modbe clothes. So I am offering a "virtual" party to anyone who reads my blog and wants to order.

Here is the deal. They have given me my own modbe website. It is https://www.modbeclothing.com/ericalow. When you type in the party code of 985, and order 3 or more items, you can get 10% off of your order. There is a 30% off coupon with the code of MSHM69DF that you can use even with only 1 item. So when they take 10% off of your already 30% off order, it equals 37% off. That is an incredible deal!

It is nice that it can all be done online now, although if you are wanting to try the clothing on, I will have all the sizes of their clothes at my house on Thursday, November 20th, and in Bountiful on Friday, November 21st. I will be closing the party on Saturday, so if you want to make an order, please try to do so before then. Orders can be anytime now until Saturday.

I am pretty excited about their fall clothes, I ordered some workout capris, the cowl neck shirt, the jeans, and the hoodie where you stick your thumbs through. They tell me that you can wear the jeans through pregnancy because they are stretchy, and I'm hoping they are right, because I am SO sick of maternity clothes.

Club Soda and a lime

My favorite drink, especially when I'm pregnant and sick, is club soda with a lime. It is probably one of the least desirable drinks to most people, but to me it is the best thing ever. My sister Jessica drank it all the time in the last years of her life because she was always nauseous too. I ran out a few days back, and was feeling really sick last night. Some time before I woke up this morning, my husband went to Macey's and bought me 3 2-litre bottles of Club Soda, and 3 limes. Is that true love? I think it is!

Here is a picture of my birthday drink. He splurged and bought Pellegrino for my birthday, but honestly I think I like the cheap Shasta Club soda just as much. Thanks Dave for my drink today, my stomach feels great now!

Saturday, November 15, 2008

My latest soup obsession

My friend gave me this soup, and I couldn't stop thinking about it afterwards. We ate it in a breadbowl, and it was to die for! It makes a pretty big recipe, and freezes well. This will be our dinner tomorrow and I can't wait!

Cheddar Vegetable Soup
Leslie Pocock


4-5 Cups cubed Potatoes
1 Cup Chopped Cauliflower
2 Cups Chopped Carrots
1 Cup Chopped Celery
1 Cup Chopped Onion
2 1/2 Cups Water
4 Chicken Bouillon Cubes
2 Cups Chopped Broccoli

« Dissolve bouillon in water and boil & simmer all veggies
except broccoli for 20 minutes. Add broccoli and cook another
7 minutes.
« DON'T drain.

1/2 Cup Butter
1/2 Cup Flour
2 Cups Milk
1 Tbl. Dry Mustard
1/2 tsp. Pepper
1 Pound Velveeta Cheese

« In a separate pan, melt butter then add flour and mix well.
Slowly add milk and stir well.
« Add dry mustard and pepper and cook until smooth and thick.
« Remove from heat and add cubed cheese.
Stir until cheese is completely melted then pour over veggies.

Monday, November 10, 2008

I'm going to Disneyland!

For at least a year we have been trying to find a time to take Isaac to Disneyland on a Mommy-son trip. Taking babies to Disneyland doesn't appeal to us at all, and we think having that one-on-one time will be priceless. We have mulled it around a ton and finally booked it. We wanted to try to be creative and find a way to do it without taking money from our family budget, and to do it as cheap as possible. We have been very creative to come up with "found" money and to shave off as many costs as possible, and I must say we've done a great job! It is all worked out now, and Isaac and I are going to Disneyland with Brooke and Matthew (his cousin) on December 1st and 2nd. We are so excited. We are watching videos of the rides, and the thing that he is most excited about is the Jedi training where you get to fight Darth Vader and Storm Troopers.

Isaac is a little sponge, he soaks up everything, and remembers detail I can't believe he remembers. I am so excited to hear him tell stories about this all the time after his trip. He is so enthusiastic about things, it's going to be a blast.

The Jedi Training on Youtube.com

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Teacha!

I am teaching Joy School for my three week rotation right now. It really has been a lot of fun, although it does keep me busy. Dawson has loved almost every second of going to school. He has picked up on the school lingo, and during the school hours he calls me "TEACHA!" Isaac and I have a good laugh over that one.

Have you heard of Chacha?

It is a free service that you can call or text your questions to and they answer them for free. It's kind of a cool thing, I don't understand how they make money, but whatever!

Text Chacha or 24224 or call 1-800-2-Chacha and ask your question.

Disappointed

I feel really disappointed with the election. I was really hoping it would turn out otherwise. My husband HATES to have me be disappointed with anything. Anyone else just feel a little bit disappointed?

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

What? I'm an Esme?

I'm a Esme! I found out through TwilightersAnonymous.com. Which Twilight Female Are You? Take the quiz and find out!

Interesting, isn't it?
Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

Happy Halloween!

I'm a little bit late on this, but don't worry, we weren't late for trick-or-treating.

We had a Joy School Halloween party at our house. Here are the kids singing "I'm a mean old witch with a hat."


I loved having my two little Buzz Lightyears. They were very cute, and those costumes are SO practical. They keep them nice and warm. It was a beautiful evening for Halloween, we've had such a nice fall, and we deserve it after our awful spring. We all wanted to go trick-or-treating together, so we left a bowl of candy on our front porch and left. We were gone all night visiting people and hitting a fantastic garage party in our neighborhood. When we came back, the strangest thing had happened. Instead of all of the candy being gone, our bowl was full of all different types of candy that I hadn't purchased. I wonder if someone felt bad for us because we were almost out of candy? It was kind of funny.





The two Buzz brothers and the two Hannah Montana sisters. Aren't they cute? Having the same gender has some really fun benefits!

I'm grateful for my children???

Today is one of those days when I wonder why I love my children. Sometimes it really makes no sense, but I really do adore them. Seriously, I had one of most horrific, yet hilarious hours of my life today. I went to vote, and figured while I was out I would renew my driver's license. (I didn't know it was expired until I tried to get on an airplane. It expired in March!) I thought I could handle taking a picture with my kids with me, and off I'd go. Wrong!

Because my license was expired for so long I had to take the written exam. 25 questions, no problem. They failed to tell me that they were 25 questions that had almost nothing to do with day-to-day driving, and that I would have to search through a book to find answers to. "The average person is too drunk to drive after 3 drinks of beer, 3 mixers, or something else, and maintains that by drinking one additional drink per hour, True or false?" WHO CARES! How about, just don't drink and drive and it doesn't matter! Or "Which type of signs are rectangular?" The answer was "regulatory." How about I read the sign, and tell you what it says, and the shape just doesn't have much to do with it! This was a good one, I think it really applies to the average person (sarcasm) "A military personnel licensed in Utah can keep their Utah license for 90 days when in another state." Why should I take a test about that. Why don't they put that on the military test or something. How many people really run into that scenario?

So while I was flipping through the 40-something page book looking for answers, the following things happened with my three kids running around.

-Isaac went potty... twice.
-Dawson thought he might need to go potty, and started stripping down.
-Dawson climbed up on the study booths, and was jumping from booth to booth.
-The grumpy lady asked me not to let my kids climb up on the booths or chairs. I wanted to ask her how I was supposed to do that AND take a test.
-Dawson dumped the package of Nerds that some nice lady gave him.
-Dawson opened up the door, and Henry crawled into the rain.
-Isaac asked me every question he could think of regarding the driver's license division.
-I told Isaac he was going to get in big trouble and possibly go to jail if he wasn't good in this place.
-Isaac asked the attendant if he really would go to jail, and they guy told him no.
-I considered begging them to take me to jail.
-I think I asked Isaac to be quiet about 40 times.
-I asked Isaac to go retrieve Henry after he crawled away, WITHOUT carrying him.
-Isaac retrieved him by carrying him, and then dropped him and Henry bonked his head.

And last but not least, the crowning jewel of the experience...................

As I was searching for the answer of question 24 of 25, the man came and told me I had 80% of the test right, and didn't need to answer the last two questions. I think I'll send him some chocolates, and maybe name my next child after him. He was my HERO! So I took a hideous picture, and went on my way.

I would have just left in the middle of the test, but I was scared they would call the police since I didn't have a license. I'm so glad I passed that dang test, I really don't know what they would do with me if I hadn't.

As for the election, I'm trying to stay positive. I'm really excited for tonight, but I hope I'm not disappointed. Isaac keeps asking me who the elephant is (My preschool lesson on the political parties had a huge impact on him!). And he says he would definitely vote for the elephant, whatever his name is.

And here is a picture of that "sweet" little boy whose name was listed so many times above. Luckily, he finds ways to steal my heart many times throughout the day, and that seems to counteract times like I had today. He was really proud of his new soccer shirt that I put on him today.