Christmas

It was my parent's turn to have us for Christmas morning, so the way things lined up for travel, Lucy ended up with 3 straight days of Christmas! On the 23rd, we did Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa Griffith, on the 24th we did Christmas at our house (so we wouldn't have to haul her toys to and from) and on the 25th, of course, we did Christmas with Mima and Ba Ba (Lucy calls my dad Ba Ba, we don't know why)

Lucy was as spoiled as all one-year-olds should be, and Tom and I were thrilled with everything we got as well. It was a short trip, but we had fun! Tom and I in our matching shirts from Tom's parents
Lucy grinning as she steals one of her cousin's toys

Christmas morning mess

"Ba ba"

Family photo

To My Grandma

This season has brought a tremendous amount of stress between buying our first home, moving, starting a new job, and the exhaustion of first trimester. Time has really gotten away from me! So, Grandma, when you read this, I'm sorry I didn't get anything in the mail for Christmas this year. I will do my best to send something for New Year's. I love you and will post pictures of Christmas as soon as we get back from Wyoming!

XOXO

Tears, tears, and more tears

Yes, I know pregnant women cry a lot...but it's more than that. Working at the Family Support Center is particularly emotional this time of year because I am so aware of so many needs that are going unmet. There are very generous people out there who are "adopting" our needy families for Christmas and buying the kids a gift or two, which is so, so wonderful. No matter how many we provide for, though, the ones I think of are the ones still left. I know there is no way we can help everyone who needs it, but gosh, it's one thing to know that, and another thing entirely to have to look a weeping mother in the eyes and say, "No, we don't have any help for your kids." I cry almost every day, now.

So if any of you out there feel like you can or would like to adopt a needy family this Christmas, please let me know. I've got lists of them, from one kid, to six kids, and everything in between. And always remember to be grateful for what we have!

New House!

So Tom and I both had a four day weekend for Thanksgiving...but it actually felt like a break to go back to work! In order to get all the remodeling done in time, there wasn't a single night we went to bed before 3 A.M. But it's mostly done now, just a few loose ends to tie later. I could kick myself for not having my camera to take before and after pictures; we really changed it a ton! For starters, there was a full wall between the kitchen and living room that we took out to open the room. Then, the kitchen was the most offensive shade of robin egg blue I've ever seen. Plus, the living room was a yucky, chipping, yellowed color. Needless to say, repainting was a must. Then add a few curtains, some blinds, and of course, a Christmas tree...and call it home!

The carpet and kitchen was brand new, which is great. I LOVE our shower, the shower head is like, 10 feet tall! And the shower is done in sandstone tile, so you feel like you're under a waterfall or something. It's four bedrooms (well, 3 and a half) 2 bath. The outside doesn't look like much; just a simple grey house on the corner. But it's OUR simple grey house. Plus, the inside is a lot bigger than it looks from the outside, so I'm thrilled. Here are some pictures! There are a few boxes in the pictures; we're still working on it. When it's done though, you're all invited to our housewarming party! Archway Tom made; and yes, that's a PINK kitchen. I still giggle every time I look at it.
Still can't believe he let me paint it pink :0) Little office

front entry way

Tom's carport

Front of house. It kind of looks like a trailer house from this angle...but it's not

Master bath shower

Master bedroom (messy, I know, I know. I'm getting to it)

Living room

Living room from the another angle

Hallway

Guest bathroom

Guest bedroom

Lucy's bedroom

offcially home owners!

A month later...it finally happened. Tom and I closed on our first home yesterday!! We already took down the wall between the kitchen and living room we didn't like. Tom let me take the first swing at it, and let me just say, if you've never hit a wall as hard as you can with a hammer...put it on your "to do" list. It's an incredible feeling.
Anyhoo, so it's going to be a time crunch, but Tom and I both have a four day weekend, and we're hoping to get everything painted, cleaned, and moved in by Sunday. I'm so mad at myself for not taking pictures of the demolation, but I'll be sure to post pics of the final product :0)
Happy Thanksgiving to all, and wish us luck!

Simple Bliss...

So I just woke up from a nap to find, to my wonderful surprise, that Lucy is still napping. Tom is at a church meeting, so I am left in a quiet, peaceful apartment. I'm sipping a french vanilla steamer, soaking in the moment, and feeling rather content with life right now. Wishing you all a peaceful Sabbath :0)

First Race; First Place!!

For my birthday this year I decided to run my first 5K. My parents recently ran one in Florida, and as my earlier blog posts suggested, I "caught the bug". I've been training hard for almost a month now. I was so nervous for the race. As Tom and I pulled up and I looked at the hundreds of other runners (it was a smaller race, but there were still in the neighborhood of 300 runners), I actually said out loud, "What have I gotten myself into?"
I was so intimidated by their long, skinny legs and lengthy bodies. They all looked like bred runners to me! I literally felt sick, and arrogant for ever thinking I could compete with real runners. I wasn't much of a runner in high school or middle school, and those gym class horrors came back into my mind real quick.
Anyway, I took a deep breath and reminded myself that I'm not here to win, I'm just here to run. To finish the race.
It turns out, I exceeded my own expectations! I finished the race in 25:37, which put me in first place for the women age group 20-24, and 22nd overall! I was very happy with my time, and with the race in general. It felt so great! I even got a little medal that said first place. I can't wait to run another one!
As my husband and father both pointed out, though, I may want to wait until the baby is born. Training that hard while pregnant is tough, and will only get tougher. I will definatly keep running as long as my little zygote will let me, though.

What a great birthday! Thank you to everyone who came to the race to support me! Me after the race, sporting my 5k shirt and medal
Just got my award and some flowers Tom had for me at the finish line.

Just crossed the finish line; Tom was waiting there with flowers!

I'm just behind the tree in blue and red

Standing at the "Start" line, waiting nervously

My own office...

Today I went in to fill out new employee paperwork and get a tour of the office building. I was pleasantly surprsied to discover that I get my own office! Not as in, I get a desk in an office, or a cubicle in a room. No, there is a door, with my name on it, and behind that door is an entire office that is exclusively mine! I got butterflies just looking at it. I CANNOT wait to fill it with personal little knick-nacs (okay, I have no idea how to spell) and make it my very own :0) Each of the other offices I went into had their own personal touch; music, colors schemes, smells...so I guess I'll be given the same liberties. I cannot wait to start Monday!
I did buy Lucy a few new toys that I'm hoping will distract her enough to help ease the transition into daycare twice a week. That's the only part I'm not looking foward to :0(

I GOT A JOB!!

I was offered a job today that could not be more perfect. I will be the volunteer coordinator for the Family Support Center. It's a non-profit organization that works to prevent child abuse and strengthen families. They offer counseling, parenting classes, and work with women to become economically independent so they can leave abusive situations. I will be recruiting and coordinating volunteers to help this program. I'll also be giving presentations and pulic speeches to different groups in the community about who we are and what we do.
The job is only 20 hours a week, and I set my own schedule. So it's perfect because I won't be away from Lucy too much. I also already found childcare for Lucy. I feel like it all just fell in my lap! I feel so blessed! Because it's so part time I'll still be able to do it after the baby is born as well :0)
I am so honored to have been chosen because I know a lot of qualified people interviewed; I heard one of the inverviews through the door while I was waiting for my first interview. I also saw many of the people who applied, and they all looked very together and professional. So I can't believe they chose me, two interviews later!
I start Monday, which is perfect because the race is Saturday. It feels so great for things to be coming together after such a trying few weeks. (They weren't all bad, though.)

Halloween Fun!

Well, Lucy is too young to trick-or-treat, but the bunny costume was too cute to pass up, and she was too cute in the costume to not show off! So you see my dilema? So we went to a ward party thing where they were showing a movie, just so everyone could see how sweet she looked :0) She loved her costume so much we let her keep it on all night. We carved a jack-o-lantern, made popcorn balls (thank you Cody) and after goose went to bed (I don't know if I've ever called her that on my blog, but we call Lucy "goose" at home) the adults all watched two scary movies we rented. I'm a big baby when it comes to spooky movies, so I only watch them once a year. It was very fun!

Mommy's 'lil bunny!

Look at that cute bum!

Melts my heart. I'm a puddle right now.

Cody!!

Growing up, my cousin Cody lived in a different part of Wyoming than me when we were young, then we lived in the same area for a few years, and by the time she was in high school, my family moved to Cheyenne. While we saw eachother regularly at family functions and around the holidays, we didn't get a chance to spend much time together as adults. She recently moved to Salt Lake, though, and we've been spending a lot of time together.
This girl is a Godsend. When Lucy was super sick last week and puking all over my shirt and carpet, there was Cody, running around behind me, cleaning up. When I needed someone to watch Lucy while I went to the doctor's, there was Cody, bright and early in the morning, knocking at my door. She decided to come early because she knows I run in the mornings, and thought it would be nice for me to be able to run without the stroller. When I was stressed and exhausted from a long day, there was Cody, with a gallon of ice cream and carmel butterscotch topping.
Cody serves selflessly, and without being asked. I'm literally crying while I write this. She is patient with Lucy, and genuinely loves being around her. She never expects elaborate thanks, returned favors, or pay. She simply loves to be around family and help in any way she can. She is a wonderful example of love, and I am thankful for the short time I get her here.

I love you Cody! (She's not a blog-follower, so she probably won't even read this. But her mom will :0) People say we look like sisters :0)

Update on the house

We got the official denial on our property, with the condition that if we got a second opinion, that is, if we can find an electrician who is willing to say everything is to code "as is" (without us taping or covering that stupid wire) then they will push everything through. So we went on the hunt for an electrician who is willing to "stretch" a bit to help us out. I have a great-uncle who is coming to look at it tomorrow. He's really straight arrow though, so I have my doubts about him being willing to give us what we need to close.

We looked at going with a different company that does HUD homes all the time, and finds loopholes around these kinds of issues, but it would be several thousand more upfront, plus a higher interest rate, and we just don't think we can afford it. So if Uncle Gary can't help us out, we will be withdrawing our offer and just have to wait for another house. We've learned a lot though, and when the dissapointment wears off, we'll be just fine :0)

To make this post more interesting, I chose five random pictures from my file. I literally just clicked numbers. Have no idea what they are. Enjoy.

Some bad news

So we just found out that there was some technicality on the inspection report on our house that will more likely than not result in us not getting it. I am so upset! I expected to be moving THIS WEEKEND. It's all very distressing. What was the technicality? Well, the place where the dishwasher goes has a wire hanging out of the wall because (hello!) a dishwasher used to be there. Because of this one, little wire, the inspection report read "exposed electrical wire", to which the underwriter responded by coding it as a fire hazard. We are not allowed to change anything before closing; we can't even cut that wire, or hook it up to our dishwasher that we will be moving in there. It's so frustrating! I thought people were trying to SELL homes in this housing crisis. Anyway, so we will find out for sure in the next couple of days, but it's looking more and more like we'll be sticking around in our apartment a little longer. We're hoping the company we're managing the apartments for is flexible with us, because we already told them we were moving and they started looking for other managers. Great.
Sorry to follow our good news with some bad. As you can imagine, I have whiplash from going up to emotional highs and then crashing to emotional lows. If any of you want to send chocolate my way...it couldn't hurt. Actually, on second thought, then I'd gain weight and be upset about that. Eat some chocolate in my honor.

Answer to the riddle

You're all very smart,

There's no fooling you.

My little secret is:

I'M GROWING BABY NUMBER TWO!

??? A Riddle ???

I have a little secret
I can't tell you what it is
I can, however tell you
It starts out small, and then gets big

I keep my little secret
tucked away so no cold can get in
What is my little secret?
Let the guessing games begin!

Chocolate massages and other such updates

"Hey Miriah, why haven't you been posting any pictures?" Because I'm lazy, that's why. But here are some updates. First, I sent off my final revision to my prospective agent about a week ago. It was the first time I was able to hold all 310 pages in my hands! It was a big moment for me. Now I just wait...and wait....and wait. I won't hear back for a few more months.
Second, for General Conference, my cousin Cody came over. She is going to massage therapy school, so after the session was over, we made brownies and she gave both Tom and I deep tissue massages! Chocolate and massages...I was in freakin' seventh heaven! She is this tiny little girl, but she is SOOO STRONG! I couldn't believe she could do two hour long back to back massages. We loved having her over :0)

And lastly, Tom flew to Arizona today for a business trip. Before he left we were able to get a date in. It had been a long time since we'd gone anywhere just the two of us, so it was really refreshing to be Tom and Miriah for a few hours instead of Mom and Dad. We really appreciate and love Jeannette, who is always willing to babysit for us at a moment's notice. You rock, girl! Yes, I took a picture of myself holding my manuscript :)
Look how thick that baby is!

Cody doing Tom's massage. Love that girl.

Lucy licking out the brownie bowl!

She's so excited!

DATE NIGHT!!! (someone, please tell me how to rotate pics on blogspot...please!)

New fitness goal

I forgot to blog that I did, in fact, meet my last fitness goal I blogged about. Yeah! So, on to the next. Now that I'm the weight I want to be, what about strength? My parents, some of you may know, are fitness freaks. There is no other word for it. Freaks. Anyway, they want to come visit Tom and I in our new house (fingers crossed on the closing date coming through) on my birthday (Nov 7th) and run the Turkey Trot 5K in Sandy while they are here. My dad wants me to run with them.
Now I love to run, but I've never really run competetivly. I prefer on my treadmill, where no one can see me, and where I am free to meditate and get lost in the rythm of my footsteps and breathing, without feeling pressure to go faster than the next guy. So my inital reaciton was, NO THANK YOU. But after giving it some thought, I decided, why not? I don't have to be competitive; I can just run it so say I've run a 5k. Might be fun.
So, I started training today (which just means I run a little more than usual. It's really not as intense as it sounds). I'm excited to do it. Plus, I really do like running, so it's the perfect way to spend my birthday, I think :0)
Wish me luck!

Super sad :0(

Today a girl I had classes with in college went on a facebook rampage against the church, using foul language in conjunction with Elder Dallan H Oaks and another general authority, I forget who. It was about gay rights, and she, who is a baptized member, proceeded to blame the LDS Church for all injustices concievable.
I am a firm believer that everyone is entitled to their opinion. But why is it that those who leave the church, can't just leave the church? They have to fight actively against it! It's infuriating because most Christian churches have the same stance on homosexuality, but none of them are criticized as highly as we are for it. When I pointed this out, I was attacked (there is no other word for it) by several people, telling me I'm a victim of brainwashing and a prisoner of biggotry, and other such nonsense. They even compared the LDS church to the KKK!
If I were a Muslim standing up for my beliefs, these "tolerant" people would be singing my praises. But because I'm a Mormon standing up for the church, I am "ignorant," "intolerant", "brainwashed", and basically unintelligent.
I am so sad by the whole thing. I love the Church, and a few mean-spirited people who think they are promoting tolerance by trying to bully the church into changing its morals will NEVER have the power to take that from me.
A very sad day indeed.

Random Camping Trip

So Tom had a camping itch randomly this weekend. Despite the freezing cold, he absolutely insisted we go camping. So, we did. It was cold, and I'm not much of a camper, but I was surprised at how much fun we ended up having! I think random, spur of the moment trips make the best memories :0) Lucy did pretty well for her first camping trip. She loved the fire and exploring, but wasn't a fan of the tent. Thus, no one got any sleep. We were up by 5 a.m. because there was just no comforting her. Exploring at 5 a.m. She has two layers of clothes on...you can see her jeans, ha ha
Again, 5 a.m. She's happy. I'm not.

The hat is actually mine. A bit big on her

The night we got there. I'm still happy in this picture

family camping picture

Right after we set up camp. Freezing, but happy. I like this picture of us; Tom is handsome.

Only the most nutritous food for camping. Chips and hot dogs.

Warming water for hot chocolate...yum!