Dear Bethy,

Here is the room I would like to stay in.

Beds with just a headboard always look comfortable, and they are cheaper than the headboard/footboard set. This one is courtesy of Pottery Barn. The seagrass gives it a good texture. If you want a footboard alternative then you can put a bench on the end.

I like this comforter from Target. It is a fun color but not too bright and it compliments the brown really well. I wouldn't go with the matching sheet set, though. Too geometric. I would stick with solids.

If you are looking for accessories, lamps are an easy way to go, especially in a fun color like this one from Pier 1.I would end with sheer drapes (floor-length), because I like how much light they let in.

If you are painting, I have ideas for that too.

Of course, these are just suggestions.

And we're back

So we did it. Brandon and I went camping for 5 days in southern Utah and Colorado. It was fun, but there were definitely points where I wondered what I was thinking when I agreed to spending 5 days outdoors when I'm 4 months pregnant. Oh well, we got through it and it was definitely worth it. Here are some pictures: Bryce Canyon hoodoos. This was the prettiest place we went to, but it was in the 40s for alot of our visit, and I was pretty grumpy.

Okachomo bridge, in Bridges National Monument.

Brandon, cooking dinner over the fire. We camped in La Sal National Forest, and it got into the 20s that night. Again, I was very grumpy.

Canyonlands National Park. This was at the end of our 6-mile hike. I was pretty tired. And this was a waterfall that we found near our campsite in Canyonlands.

Other highlights included:

Almost crying because we had to drive down a really scary cliff (seriously, I was freaked out)

Realizing that Moab is a horrible place to camp because it is crowded and they charge alot for sites

Being kept up all night by a crying toddler in the site next to us

Learning that a 4-year-old girl CAN go down ladders and walk along cliffs as long as she is on a leash

Learning that ooid, loes, and facie really are words

Having so many mood swings that Brandon didn't know what to do with me

Running out of a slot canyon because we were afraid of a flash flood

And many, many more stories.

Yay, spring

Spring is finally here. I am done with all of my finals but one and the weather is nice. Yesterday Brandon and I went hiking and I realized that I will have lots of things to do when I'm not in school. I'm excited about everything I will get to do this summer. I need to:

Learn how to sew
Learn how to take good pictures
Learn how to use photoshop well
Plant tomatoes and maybe a few other things
Move into our new, TWO bedroom apartment
Figure out how to decorate baby's room using only gender-neutral colors
Find a place to keep Brandon's rock collection (it gets 10 lbs bigger every time we go hiking)
Learn how to cook
And lots of other things.

As for this week, Brandon and I are taking advantage of the break to go on a road trip. We will hit Arches, Canyonlands, Mesa Verde, Escalante, and either Capitol Reef or Bryce Canyon. It will be fun, and there will be rocks. Lots of rocks.

Ridiculous

Normally, I'm not a Utah-hater like the rest of my family. There are several things I like about it. I like the mountains, the national parks, getting free food from Grandma, and the ice cream. But waking up to this in the middle of April really makes me want to kick Utah in the face and run back to Texas. I think I will spend the rest of my day shopping for plane tickets.

Our little Easter

I was very excited for Easter this year because it is the first holiday that Brandon and I have been able to celebrate all by ourselves. In the morning we looked for Easter baskets. I must say, I was impressed with what Brandon got me. I tried to pick something out of it to eat and I just didn't know where to start. It all looked so good. After church I started making dinner and put the ham in the oven. To my surprise, Brandon started throwing things together and made a glaze. It made the ham DELICIOUS. I never knew I could like ham so much. I was impressed again. So here is a picture of our baskets: Yesterday I had to walk around with my pants unbuttoned all day because my belly is starting to stick out. So that I don't flash people, today I got a belly band to cover it up. I don't know whether to blame this on the baby or on Brandon and his delicious Easter goodies. Actually, it's probably my fault for wearing super tight jeans. Anyways, Fernash has been asking for a picture so here's one, belly band and all. It doesn't look like much yet.


Brandon went on a field trip on Saturday. When he got back, I found this scandalous picture on the camera: I asked him about it and his response was: I had to put something in there for scale.

I didn't ask who brought their barbie doll on the trip.

Good old Daily Universe

Last week, BYU's trusty newspaper "the Daily Universe" had a typo. It was the issue that covers General Conference, but on the front page, instead of saying something about the LDS church's quorum of the twelve apostles, it called them the quorum of the twelve apostates. It was obviously a mistake, and I thought it was pretty funny.

Apparently, though, the DU did not have a sense of humor about it. As soon as they found out, every single newspaper bin was cleaned out and replaced with a sign that said "paper recalled because of a printing error." I was surprised that no one followed me home to steal and burn the copy that I had from that morning. I was expecting an apology to be issued in the next day's paper, but there was none to be found. I also expected there to be a few Readers Forum letters about the typo the next day, but they didn't publish any of those, either. They sure tried to destroy the evidence.

I did hear, though, that the typo made the evening news in Salt Lake. So much for covering your tracks, DU. I think an apology would have been more effective.

Bouquet

If anyone was wondering what the flowers on my blog are from, that is the bouquet that I made for my bridals on Tuesday. I was so excited to find roses in my colors, then I almost peed my pants when I found ranunculuses, too. I was very proud of this bouquet.




So I had a fun little romp in my wedding dress, but I decided that's the last time I am going to put it on. It is getting pretty tight. At least the pictures turned out well, and Brandon had a fun time staring at me for two hours.

Dear Bexar,

I nominate you for Best Blog award. Not only did you title your post about having another baby "Oops, I did it again," but you topped it off by telling everyone that we are trying to populate the world all by ourselves and that's just how we roll. I laughed out loud. Keep up the good work.

Love, Shady

Dear Fernash,

I am not a pushover anymore. In fact, I'm a jerk sometimes. But that's only when people do stupid things. So if you want to see me confront someone, just call me "ghetto booty" or "cankles" one more time, and I'll come all the way to Dallas just to kick your butt.