Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Well, after the epically disappointing "blizzard" we were supposed to get last week, we finally got a bit of snow. And as much as I really hate the cold, the driving on slick roads, and the bundling up like i'm going extended deep sea diving just to get something out of my car, there is something about the snow that really helps me get into the Christmas spirit!

Bryant and I curled up and watched Frosty The Snowman with big steaming cups of hot chocolate Sunday night so I decided that it was about time we set up our tree.

Last year was our first Christmas as a married couple and we couldn't afford to buy a tree, let alone had room for one, but my parents came to the rescue! They found a 3ft pre-lit tree for us, which, yes it's tiny, but it fits perfectly in our living room/kitchen (yes, our couch and TV are in the kitchen...)
I think that even though it's small, it's kind of sweet in it's own Charlie Brown sort of way. Last year, most of my ornaments were pine-cones that I sprinkled in glitter and I ended up throwing them away because I knew they would just be a big old mess the next year. So this time, I decided to make slightly more permanent ornaments.


I just got some glass bulb ornaments from Roberts and I painted a few with window paint and wrapped a few with gold and silver ribbon.


And of course I brought out Ace's ornament. My parents got us a kit last year that you can make imprints in so after about 10 tries, Ace finally sat still long enough for us to get a good paw print. And it was a foam type stuff rather than plaster so there was no clean up!


I also saved a handful of bells from our wedding luncheon to use as ornaments. My mom gave one to everyone during the luncheon and the tradition goes that any time someone rings the bell, the bride and groom kiss. Needless to say, all the little kids had a blast ringing these in our face then yelling "Gross!!!" when we kissed (Bryant had a lot of fun with them last night too haha!"

Plus, bells always remind me of "It's a Wonderful Life".

These were the only ornaments I bought last year and there was no room on the tree for them. Also, they are a little big and they look funny on such a small tree so I converted them to standing picture frames.

Thanks to my wonderful Mother-in-Law Robyn, I now have an adorable snowman to add to my small but growing collection of Christmas decorations!

And thanks to my awesome sister-in-law Chantel, I now have a nativity! (And, this is handmade by her! Even better!!!)

I have a couple more decorations stowed away in the closet under my parents stairs like some willow tree figures and such, but I didn't want to dig all of my moms stuff out so i'll wait until she does it. I didn't want to mess up that whole closet, I probably wouldn't have been able to put it all back the way I found it.

But our tree is up! And decorated! I still need to make a star to go on top and I'm thinking of making a mini tree skirt to go under it.

Just thinking about it is getting me excited for Christmas!!!

I just can't handle stupid people...

Once, when I wan in a film class in High School, we were watching March of the Penguins.
My teacher was about 8 months pregnant at the time.

There is one part of the movie, where a little baby penguin gets picked off by a seal or something and my teacher got up and said "I'll be back, I can't watch this, it's a 'mom' thing"

I though it was weird, but, oh well...

Now I know what she meant.

In fact, Bryant and I sat in our PJ's this morning channel surfing. We stopped for a minute on Little House On the Prairie. We came in in the middle of the show and a fire had started in a blind school. A man ran upstairs to grab his blind wife, who had just laid her new baby in the crib to go to sleep. He yells "the school is on fire! we need to go!" he grabs her hand and they head down the stairs and out the door to safety, WITHOUT THE BABY!!! WHAT??? I couldn't handle it. As soon as the building started falling down and the parents realized that they forgot to grab their baby, that was right there when they were leaving, I grabbed the remote and changed the channel. I was getting really, really upset.

Then, as I'm lazily sitting here (2:30pm and still in my P.J's) going through my e-mail, I opened one I got from the What to Expect When Your Expecting website, which led me to this article.

Apparently, a woman was pulled over because she was breastfeeding her baby, while she was driving!

And not only was she driving, and breastfeeding, she was talking on the phone too!

So here she is, chatting away, driving, and breastfeeding her baby, who's head is inches away from the steering wheel (airbags, anyone?)

I couldn't handle this either. I read the news article and in it the woman states that if her baby is hungry, she's going to feed it.

Ok, thats fine with me, but for your safety, the safety of those on the road, and more importantly than anything else, your baby's safety, either wait until you arrive at your destination, or pull over for crying out loud!

And for the last story for the day, I was watching one of those TLC baby shows today and one was of a lady who decided to do an at home, natural birth. I'm perfectly fine with women who decide to do this. More power to them because I know I could never do it myself. I'm not that tough. I want the sterile and clean hospital, I want the pain meds and the staff of nurses and doctors who know what they are doing because heaven knows, I don't. But this story just had me saying "really? seriously?" the whole time.

This woman decided that for her first birth, she was going to do it natural, and at home, unassisted meaning, no doctors, no midwives, no doulas. Nothing. She decided that she wasn't even going to research it out or take any prenatal supplements or birthing classes or anything. She wanted her natural instincts to kick in.

This is another time when I can't believe that someone would risk their child's life. She ended up having twins, both breech and one with a cord that preceded the baby, meaning that in a normal situation, the doctor would have performed an emergency C-Section. Thank GOODNESS that both babies survived!

I don't mean to sound rude or anything, but I really can't understand people like this, They just drive me nuts. And today is one of those weird hormonal days where everything sets me off. I promise, I'm usually a nice person, I just needed to get some anger out haha!

Thanksgiving!

I have a bad habit that when I pray, I tend to just ask for things I need. I always give thanks for things, but its usually rushed to get to the things I need and want. I decided to give a prayer of only thanks and my prayer seriously took soooo long to say and I realized how good I felt to give thanks, and I realized how many things I had to be grateful for. I decided that in honor of Thanksgiving today, I would post just a few of them.

1. MY HUSBAND- I am so incredibly grateful for Bryant. In the past 3 1/2 years that I've known him and the last year and a half we have been married, I've come to realize that there is no one else in this world who is more perfect for me than him. To put it simply, he puts up with me. He handles all my stress and breakdowns and tears with ease and is my support throughout everything. Even after a year and a half, I still miss him when he's at work and still get butterflies in my stomach when he sneaks a peck on my cheek when I'm falling asleep. I love him so much and I'm so happy we were able to find each other here on this massive earth out of 6 billion other people.
(Bryant told me not to put this picture up cause his eyes are closed, but I still like it!)

2. MY WIGGLY BABY GIRL- I am already so in love with her and she's not even here yet! And I can't help but have this feeling that she already loves me too. Even just this morning, I was laying in bed and I suddenly got worried, I hadn't felt her move since I had gotten off work the night before and lately she's been waking me up in the middle of the night with her kicking. I was suddenly terrified that something had happened and just as I was about to get up and begin really panicking, I felt a whole series of really strong kicks. It was almost like she was saying "hey mom, calm down! I'm fine!"

I am so grateful to become a mother. Even though when I sit down and really think about it, I start to get worried that I won't be a good mother, that I won't have the time or the energy, that my schooling may take a lot longer than planned, that I don't have space for her, I always get a calming reassurance that God never gives you anything you can't handle. He knew that my heart desired a child and felt that I was ready to take care of one. She really is such a blessing in my life!

3-MY FAMILY- I'm the luckiest person on the planet when it comes to family. My family is such a strong support system to me and they are always there when I need them. They are the best and I wouldn't trade them for any other family ever!

4-MY IN-LAWS- Speaking of family... You know all those jokes about in-laws and you always here people complain about their in-laws? So NOT true! My in-laws are THE BEST! They have welcomed me into their family and have made me feel so comfortable and welcome around them!

5-SCHOOL- There are so many times, especially now with work getting busy and a baby on the way that I just want to quit school. I just want to throw my hands up and yell "I'm done! I'm never coming back!" but then I realize that out of every person on the planet, I'm a lucky one. I have been given the opportunity to go to college when so many, many people in this world don't get the chance to even go to grade school. When I realize this, it makes me all the more determined to finish school. "so what?" I think "There are tons of parents, even single mothers, who work a whole lot more than I do and finish school. So can I!"

6.-MY JOB- I love my job. I may get tired and worn out a lot faster now and I may complain about a rough day or an angry customer, but I really do love it at the bookstore and I realize that my job is another blessing in my life, especially during these hard times in the economy when so many people have lost theirs.

7-ACE- Of course I have to add my puppy to this list. Ace is a good buddy to have around and even though he is such a stinker, he is a good and loyal and protective of me, and such a sweetheart.

These are just a few of the things I'm grateful for, I could go on and on all day. But right now, my sister just came down with a plate of yummy divinity to watch the Macys Thanksgiving day parade with me. It's the little things like this that I'm also so thankful for.

I suggest to everyone that when you pray tonight, to really spend some time on your knees giving thanks for all that God has blessed you with. It will really make you feel so good.

Happy Thanksgiving Every One!
Enjoy your family and friends, and of course, the turkey today!

So proud of my Dad!

Friday night was the artist's reception for the art show my dad was featured in!
I had been waiting for this for MONTHS!

Bryant and I headed up right after school to do a bit of Christmas shopping, but ended up taking too long to grab dinner.
We ate at California Pizza Kitchen and Bryant was being a stinker about letting me take his picture. I told him if he kept hiding his face, it would end up on my blog... So here it is!

Afterwords, we walked over to the gallery (literally across the street from the Gateway) where the night was in full swing! There were TONS of people there! In the gallery my dad was in, it was literally shoulder to shoulder standing. SO MANY people were there, it was great!!!
My Dad chatting with visitors. Sorry for the dark picture, Hopefully I'll get better ones at the December 3rd holiday exhibition.


We had tons of family and friends stop by, which was fun to see them (and I have to say that I don't think I've ever had my belly rubbed that much by that many people...)


Lots of people we didn't know were also chatting up a storm with my dad. There was even one man that had had a stroke a few months ago and he was telling my Dad about it (my dad had one when he was 39).

My Mom, enjoying talking with friends and family (and enjoying the lemonade I bought her!)
Don't you just love her jacket? I might have to borrow it...

It was fun to go around and see the other exhibits too. Also, there was a Christmas tree there where you could bring your own ornament to put on it. I made on the other day and gave it to my sister to put on it.


My Dad even sold a few paintings and it was only opening night! I was in there for only a few minutes and Bryant was telling me how the ballerina was his favorite and how he hoped it wouldn't sell so we could put it in the baby's room, I turned around for just a second and when I looked again, there was a sticker saying it had been sold! That fast!

Bryants 2nd favorite was sold too! Poor Bryant, he just can't win haha! But I told him not to worry, I can make a print of the ballerina and still put it in our girl's room. :-)

All-in-all it was a fantastic night! I am so proud of my dad and all his hard work he put into this! He definitely deserves the attention and recognition!

I can't wait until the December 3rd reception! It going to be just as amazing!

(*disclaimer: I apologize for any spelling, grammatical or continuity errors. I'm exhausted from being on my feet all day, every day this weekend at work and I would be asleep it it wasn't for a certain wiggly girl who is kicking my bladder, the sides of my stomach where it feels stretched to it's limit, and towards my lower spine... which is new and not very pleasant...)

What I'm doing tomorrow

I have a busy day tomorrow!
It's going to involve:


Going to watch my little sister's presentation on ancient Egypt (my mom made her costume, how cute!)
Going to my Dad's art show at the Art Access II gallery in Salt Lake City!
(I'm so excited for this!)
The artist reception is tomorrow (Friday, Nov, 19th) from 6-9pm and it's an open house. Everyone is welcome to come!!! Come support my dad and get to visit with him!
For more information, visit my dad's blog or visit here or here.

I am also:

Doing some Christmas shopping! I want to get all my in-laws stuff done tomorrow so I can send it with my Brother in-law Tyler and Sister in-law Chantel when they go back to California next week. Speaking of Chantel, She's coming to town tomorrow and staying will us all weekend! Woo Hoo!!!

And last but not least I'm going to...


Harry Potter!

Bryant and I have been re-watching a lot of the old movies this last week, I'm so excited to see this one tomorrow!

Actually, I'm just really excited tor everything tomorrow!!! And to make it better, Bryant and I both have the whole day off!

Also, if anyone has any questions about my Dad's show, leave a comment or send and e-mail!

Baby Stokes Is A.....

Today was our long awaited ultrasound!
I was so excited that I was going crazy all morning!
I even woke up early when I didn't need too!

So we show up at the doctors and they usher us in a really nice room with a GIANT TV in there, ready to go. The doctor walks in and the first thing he says is "before I even turn the machine on, just tell me, do you want to find out? I don't want to spill the beans if you don't"

Of course we do!

So we got down to business.

Everything looked amazing and perfectly healthy with our little bundle of joy. He measured the head, belly and leg and the computer said the baby was growing right on track.


(baby Stoke's Arm and hand)

The brain looked great and was developing perfectly, all 4 chambers of the heart were intact with no holes and pumping at a perfect pace! And the spine was fully formed and stationary.
(The spine, bum and leg!)

The feet were adorable and baby was kicking like crazy! I think I have a soccer player on my hands...

(The legs and a foot! The baby was kicking and it looked like it was running in place!)

The only thing we didn't get to see was a profile because the baby's head was low by my right hip and facing my spine, the doctor tried pushing my stomach to try to get it to roll over and it just wouldn't budge! Bryant said that it was definitely his kid if it was already being a stinker :-)

I was ok with it though because they said they will do another quick ultrasound next time so we can get a good profile shot and check for a cleft pallet.

They recorded the whole thing for us on a DVD, which was really fun to come home and show my parents. I wish I was going to Mt. Shasta for Thanksgiving to show my in-laws too!

Finally, after everything was checked and OK'ed, we were able to find out what it is!

Baby Stokes is a....

(drum roll please)

GIRL!!!

I am SO EXCITED to have a baby girl!!!
And I've decided that it is perfect because:

1. The last few babies on my dads side have been boys
2. My cousin on my mom's side is having a boy just before I'm due,
3. My Great-Grandma told my mom she made 2 girl blankets because there are too many boys in the family
4. My little sister probably would have thrown a fit if it was a boy
5. My niece Jayden will have a girl cousin to play with!
And
6. My heavenly father has decided to bless Bryant and I with this baby Girl

Bryant is so excited too. During the entire ultrasound he was grinning from ear to ear and I could hear him whisper "wow" over and over again.
Man-o-man do I love him.

I am dying to start planning a nursery and buying cute girl cloths and all sorts of stuff!
And of course, picking out the perfect name. I already have a couple in mind, but it's going to be a lot of fun coming up with more!

I am so incredibly grateful to become a mother of a wonderful Daughter. I'm already so completely in love with her!

Also, just a side note, this is my 100th post!!!
Woooohooooooo! (I specifically waited until I knew what the baby would be, just for this momentous occasion! My goal for the next 12 months: 200 more posts!)

Art show!

So as I have said many times before, my dad, Lance Peacock, is an amazing artist!
And Friday, November 19th he is being featured at the Art Access gallery in Salt Lake City as party of their gallery stroll!


The artist reception will be that night from 6-9 pm but everyone is welcome to visit any time after that, and my dad will also be featured in their Holiday group exhibition which holds another artists reception December 3rd from 6-9pm and runs through mid-January.
My dad will be there for both artists receptions (so will I!)


The gallery is free to the public (but you're more than welcome to purchase a painting!) and on the 19th and the 3rd there will be refreshments. It's also right next to the Gateway, which means you can grab some dinner, do some Christmas shopping, and see some amazing art! It makes for a perfect holiday date night so bring friends, relatives or a special sweetheart! (I'm bringing mine!)


These are just a few selections of my dad's work, there are many more that will be there!
For more information, please visit the art access website, the Salt Lake Gallery Stroll website or feel free to leave a comment or message me!

Before the snow sets in

It feels like it's been an eventful Sunday.

This morning, Bryant and I's alarm didn't go off so we accidentally slept in way too late, which really bummed us out because Elder L Tom Perry came and spoke at our building. We were planning on being at church really early so that we could get a seat. Dang that alarm!

So we were an hour late and on our way to the church, I nearly kicked a snake in the face! I was looking at the ground and telling Bryant how pretty all the leaves were that had fallen off the trees and I was shuffling my feet through them, trying to kick them up when all of a sudden, there it was! Right by my foot! Of course I screamed, and I may or may not have said something I shouldn't have said at the church (sometimes when I'm scared I can't help what comes out of my mouth, sorry mom!)

After I screamed, I almost thought it was fake because it was holding perfectly still. I even threw a leaf at it to see if it would scurry away, but it wouldn't.

After debating if I should poke it or not, I decided that we should continue into the building. Of course, every nook and cranny of that place was packed and kids were running wild in the hallways like a pack of monkeys. After 15 minutes of trying to find a seat in every room (you'd think people would make room for a pregnant lady) we finally found a piano bench we parked our bums on. We only caught the end of the talk, but it was really good!

After church, we went up to my parents where they asked if Bro. Clayson had talked to us. We said no, and the next thing we know, he's on the front porch step. I was crossing my fingers he was coming to release us from primary (and crossing my toes he wasn't coming to chew us out about being terrible primary teachers)

And wouldn't you know it! He released us!!!
Best. Sunday. Ever.

He said they were switching some things up in January and needed to release some people early. I'll bet you 10 bucks we are the only ones getting released early. He said it was effective immediately, that we didn't even need to teach next week!

After lunch, Bryant and my brothers went out to work on the fence


Someone needs to tell Sawyer that the 80's called and they want their sweat band back.

My mom wanted it to get done today and tomorrow because it's supposed to snow this week.


My little sister and the neighbor girl (in her PJ's no less!) came to help too.


I had fun shuffling through all the leaves in my way awesome slippers. They literally fell all off yesterday. Every time I walked out my pathway, it was raining leaves! I'm thinking of going around the neighborhood and collecting a bunch of different ones and framing some of them.

My sister and the neighbor girl had fun jumping in all the leaves.

I got cold sitting out there so I came in to do some laundry and work on the cowl I'm knitting (if it's going to snow this week, I need to get it done quick!

Bryant just came in and made me a cup of hot chocolate. I think this makes for one great Sunday...

My artsy little sister

I come from a pretty artistic family.
My dad is a traditional artist and is amazing!
In fact, everyone should check this out (there will be a whole blog on my dad and this art show coming up!)

My mom does graphic design and art and is a PRO at crafts and projects.

I, unfortunately didn't get the creative/art gene as strongly. I can only do a few doodles and sketches but I'm no pro. But my little sister Sage is well on her way to following in my parents footsteps.

Ever single time I see her, she is in the living room or in the kitchen doing something. She's either painting, drawing, knitting, sculpting, doing origami, cooking, or just about a million other things.

And she's only 11!

This year, she decided to enter into the reflections contest at school. Reflections is a program where kids can enter a project, whether it be a film, dance, music, photography, drawing, painting or 3D object and it goes along with the theme for that year. This years theme was "together we can".

Last night was the open house to go see all of the entries. My little sister did a 3D sculpture


(its the pink, blue and yellow one on the end)

And a painting

Check out that medal!!!

After she painted it, she wasn't too sure about it, so my dad had her watch a documentary on Jackson Pollock.

I was so proud of her. She really is such a creative little girl and she still has so much room to develop and expand her artistic talent.


In other news, I have been so sick since last Saturday. I went in to the doctors on Monday and they ended up losing my lab results and it was a big old hassle, which most of you have already heard on Facebook so I'm not going to go into it.

Anyways, I've been feeling better off and on the last 2 days. I'll wake up sick, then feel better by around 11am, which means I'm on the mend at least. Last night I was feeling a lot better so I decided to go to Bryant's football game since I had to miss his one last week.

They played really well and won! Woo! Despite the fact that it was absolutely freezing! However, because I was out in the cold, my cold came back. I felt awful this morning, so I crawled back into bed after some cereal and a dose of Robitussin. Needless to say, I'm feeling much better!
My hubby is so handsome when he's all geared up for football!

And these two really annoying girls next to me spent the first half of the game wondering why there were 2 Stokes on the team. They were thinking that maybe one was a copycat, or one had borrowed the jersey from the other, or one was a nickname. They didn't realize that Bryant and Tyler are Brothers haha! I like that they came up with the most ridiculous theories first when anyone else would have figured it out pretty quick.

Also, they were annoying me by rating how hot all the players were. What was this? High school?


Also, I'm 19 weeks along today! Almost half way there! Also, Bryant got to feel the baby kick yesterday!!!

Etsy?

So a lot of friends and family have Etsy shops, and they all seem to do pretty well.
For weeks, Bryant has been telling me that I should open one to sell some of the crafts and projects I do.

I LOVE my job. It's the best job I've ever had in fact and I've worked at the bookstore longer than I have at any other job. All my other jobs I would get so sick and tired of after a few months but I'm perfectly happy at my current job. It's perfect for me, and I love the people I work with.

However, I want nothing more than to be a stay at home mom when this baby gets here. We have plenty of support from my parents and I have no doubt Bryant and I can balance school, work and being new parents, and the money would be extremely helpful, but I really really want to be here for my baby as much as possible, and If I didn't have to work that would really be a blessing.

Every time I bring this up with Bryant he says "well just open an etsy shop. You love making stuff, you might as well make a profit off of it too"

But weighing pro's and cons, there seem to be more cons...

Pro's:
I can stay home
I get to create and make things all day which I love,
I will have my own schedule,
If we ever moved, I wouldn't have to find a new job
If successful, the money would be good

Con's:
My stuff may not be very good
My items would not be consistent(meaning I have too many random things I would list, they wouldn't make sense being in the same shop.)
If unsuccessful, I'd be in the hole with money
There is a lot of competition out there
My current job is reliable (and I'd miss it)
I basically would have no idea what I'm doing

Bryant says I could give it a trial run. Open one during the holiday season and see if it's worth doing. So here I am, asking the blogging world for some opinions and advice!