Craziness, Or Maybe Just Going Crazy!

The last couple of weeks I have felt like I'm slowly losing all of the normal mental functions that I once had. Mind you I'm not perfect, I've locked my self out of my car before (maybe a couple of times actually), I've gotten impatient, I've gotten tired and cried over something silly, but I have seriously never felt this way before in my life. Pregnancy is making me crazy! I'm not sick, but oh how I would trade for it right now. Why you may ask, because last week I lock myself out of my car and don't realize it until after work, and yesterday, well thats were our story begins.

This past week I have been watching a little boy from my ward who is way cute, very well behaved and just an easy going kid. I have had absolutely no problems while watching him. I took him to preschool, a play date and preschool again, and the rest of the time we just played. Yesterday was a preschool day and so I took him to preschool, and then dropped off his parents car picked mine up so that I could go back home and then run some quick errands before going back for the parents car and picking him back up. Sounds like a pretty good plan right? Well, sadly it turned out to be a pretty traumatic 2 hours. I get home safely get the information I need to go get some free concert tickets and as I step close the door I realize that I don't have my keys. This wouldn't have been a problem if I wasn't in the habit of locking the door handle from the inside before I got out. Do you see the problem this would cause? I did, and quickly I checked my purse to see if my keys were in there, nope nothing but the keys to my friends car. I check my ALL my pockets, nothing! I look in my purse again find the keys to my friends car and put them in my EMPTY back pocket, and I check all my pockets again for my keys, and again nothing. After throughly confirming that I had locked myself out of my house I began to cry, correction I started BAWLING! I called Jay left a message with him (although there was not much he would have been able to do because he out of town for work), and then I called my sister Veronica who got the whole crying, unedited version of my freak out that I had spared Jay from. She patiently listened and said that she could help me look up a locksmith, and feeling some relief I crumpled to the ground, upon doing so I felt a lump in my back pocket, thinking it was my friends keys I stick my hand in my back pocket and pull out MY keys! Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen you heard me right, I pulled out my keys. Threw sobs I tell my sister that I found my keys, and she told me I needed to go inside, eat, get a drink, and sleep. I thanked her for her help and feeling confused and terrified I went inside my home.

This might be a little ridiculous but after I found my keys I didn't feel relieved or happy like I should have. I was even more upset and seriously confused! I know I checked my pockets and there was nothing there! I felt like I couldn't trust my memory or my senses and I felt extremely venerable. Thankfully, I have a wonderful husband, mom, and sister who listened to my horrible story, and as I re-hear what happened I know I'm not crazy. Instead I realize how blessed I really am. I know those keys were not in my possession when I locked that door, or when I was talking to my sister. BUT I have a Heavenly Father who loves me and is watching over me (apparently very carefully), and he helped me so that I could get back into my house. I know that this may sound a little crazy in and of itself, but I know that my Heavenly Father can do anything (for heaven sake he parted the Red Sea) and he did help me yesterday.

Even knowing that though I still am very paranoid. I check my pockets and purse three times to make sure I have my keys before leaving the house or even my car, and I still freak out that I don't have my keys even when I feel my keys in my pocket. I'm sure hoping that this pregnancy thing feels like it goes by quickly and that some of my sanity is restored when our little guy gets here, but I'm not gonna bank on that. I have learned my lesson and have begun trying to find a good hiding spot outside for an extra key, and am planning on having another set of car keys being made as well.

On a happy note this song has been playing in my head, and I seem to hear it on the radio whenever I'm having a stressful or eh kind of day. I don't know why but it makes me smile :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZazrQYirYLs Enjoy!

Some Recent Things

A quick update on how things are going in our neck of the woods.

First, Jay has finally been commissioned into the Navy as an Officer. I am so proud of him! He has worked so hard to be selected to be apart of this direct commissioning program. For those that don't know already Jay has already served in the Air Force for 10 years and loved it. He is excited for this new transition and is looking forward to being an officer. (Don't worry when I get a picture of him in his whites I will post it (: )
Second, we had a chance to go to Sea World together for the first time. It was SO much fun. I enjoyed looking at all of the animals and being able to spend more time at the different exhibits. We have both already been before but the shows are a little different and we got to see parts of the park we didn't before. I guess thats what happens when you only go with two people instead of 8 or more. But we had lots of fun and I didn't get too tired walking around and I slept really good when we got home!

Us with Shamu

This has become my new favorite sight. Jay is SO good with kids and I love seeing him play with them. He is enjoying all the babies that are around us right now and the chance that it gives him to hold, sooth, and play with them. This picture is cute because Jay was making Calvin my nephew laugh so hard by singing to him in Portuguese.

The other thing that we have been doing a lot lately is babysitting :). There are several families in our church ward that have kids and have let us babysit for them. It feels like every week we are watching one or more of these amazing kids and it has been so much fun.

Oh, and guess what?!?! We found out a couple of weeks ago that we are having a baby BOY!!! We don't have a name picked out yet, but we are still looking. So far the doctor says he is healthy and is right where he needs to be as far as growth is concerned. I am also starting to show :) I haven't felt him kick yet but we are hoping that that will happen soon enough. I am happy to say that I still fit into most of my clothes still but I'm sure that will change soon enough too.

21 weeks along and finally showing :)

Well we will keep you posted on the things to come. So stay tuned!

Babies, Babies Everywhere!

Its fun to see as a group of people go through the same stages of life at the same time. I say this because a couple of years ago it felt like everyone I knew was getting married, and now it seems like everyone I know is pregnant and having babies. Don't get me wrong, I love weddings, and I LOVE babies! I love the pretty wedding dresses, and the love that you see in the couple's eyes. And I think babies are so cute with their exploring eyes, and how cuddly they can be. I also even love them as they get bigger. These three little ones are especially dear to my heart!

Annalisa 12/5/2008

Calvin 06/19/2010

Livianna 08/01/2010

My husband jokes that I have baby radar, because when ever we walk into a room I almost instantly know where half the little kids are (I think its just because most of the kids are in my nursery class). But if it is true it is definitely going to start coming in handy, because this baby will be joining the Snell family in March 2011 :)

Baby Snell (Coming Soon!)

My Overflowing Tea Cup

My first day in a doctor's office was CRAZY! I have been to the doctor's office before, but I have never experienced it like I did today! It is one thing to be a patient at an office, but it is completely and totally different to be working in one. First off, I should explain to those of you who don't know that I am currently externing at a doctor’s office so that I can finish up my medical assisting program. I have 7 hours down and 145 to go. I'm working at a family practice that treats mostly people who do not speak English. Out of the however many patients we worked with today none of them spoke, wrote, or even understood English. Not one of them understood me, and all of them needed a translator. Have I said it enough ways that no one understood me?!? To be honest this really didn't bother me too much, I just felt inadequate when trying to help them and can only imagine how they felt when working with me.

I felt like a tea cup today, they were pouring out all this information that I had to learn and most of is was just pouring out the sides of my pour little cup. Things like locating files by DOB, and others by last name depending on what kind of insurance they had didn't stick. While things like blood draws, injections, answering phones and making appointments took up all the space my poor little cup could handle. Luckily, I think my tea cup was big enough for the lead MA and the Doctor because at the end of the day they both said they liked me and that I was one of the best externs they had worked with. Phew! Maybe I will be able to make it through the next 145 hours alive! :)

I know that this next month is going to be so hard, but it is giving me good experience that I can apply to other places I work.  Can I also mention, how much I love the fact that I get to help these people. Who knows maybe I will learn Korean, or Cambodian after interacting with our patients so much, or then again maybe I won’t, but it was a cool idea anyway, huh?

What a CRAZY summer!

This summer has defiantly been a whirl wind adventure that is for sure! In the month of June it was so crazy I took a leave of absence from school so that I didn't fail my class. We started the month off with our week long trip to NYC, and then went for a drive to Filmore/Orem/Provo, UT, and then I flew to ROC for a week. It was a blast. Very tiring, but a blast.

Our trip started off crazy, we thought that we would be ok with taking a direct flight from SD to JFK the flights looked good and we were all set to go, until jetBlue calls and says our flight is cancled. YAY! So I get on the phone and frantically call my Mother to find out that no other direct flights are good anymore. They are all completely pack with paying customers and with standby. This was not looking good for us, but after about 5 hours we figure out a way to get us to JFK. Jay and I flew 6 hours to BOS where we then found a bus that would shuttle us the 4 hours to NYC. Once there we joined up with 10 of Jay's high school friends and our adventure began. We got see the Empire State Building, The Bodies Exhibition, the Statue of Liberty, FAO Swartz (you know where the big piano from the movie BIG is), we saw the financial district, the fashion district, the Guggenheim (spelling is not right), the National Museum of History, the Met, and we saw a Mets game. We also saw three Broadway plays, Wicked (of course), In the Heights (my favorite!), and The Adam's Family (coolest stage effects!). There is so much other stuff that we got to see that I can't even remember. We stayed until Saturday morning, and it was just a blast! I even enjoyed the part where we woke up an hour late on Saturday, making it so that we got to the airport only an hour early... normally an ok thing, but not in JFK where there are MASSIVE lines that take an hour to get through. Thankfully we got our tickets with a less than a minute to spare, and made our flight home!After that adventure and we safely made it home, we had some time to rest but not long because that weekend we drove up to Orem/Provo/Filmore for a family reunion.

We left Thursday night after Jay got home from work. I took the wheel first and drove from SD to St. George (with a couple of stops for gas), and then Jay drove from there to Orem where we crashed for a couple hours at a friend’s house. We then were able to visit with a couple of Jay's good friends from BYU, we had lunch and then William, The Pie King, invited us over to his new pad, for pie :) yummy! After our short break from driving and with an additional passenger (my SIL Squeaks) we drove for another 2 hours back down to Filmore where the family reunion was. We reunited with my awesome in-laws by playing Canasta (THE card game), and Rock Band. I think my favorite part of Filmore was playing Canasta while being serenaded by the beautiful voice of Itsy my SIL. I love how easily I can be myself and fit in with Jay's family it is just great! We then left Sunday morning to Orderville (ya, didn't know it existed either) where we went to church with one of the coolest people I know, Lora VDB. I haven't seen this girl since the wedding and have tried 3 times to see her since all unsuccessful. However we got to see her!!! So all is good! She was also wearing the most amazing yellow dress I have ever seen! I miss laughing and joking around with this girl. She is great! Sadly we had to part so Jay could get to work then next day and so that I could get rested for the rest of my adventures. We arrived home late Sunday night, and I left for ROC, this time by myself :(, on Monday night to visit home for a week.

ROC was great fun. I swam in the pool with my niece and family, played Frisbee with my old YSA group, and got to hang out with Sarah :), and I got to be there to celebrate my little big brother graduating from high school. I say that I got to celebrate because I didn't actually see him walk across the stage... I don't know how I lucked out on that one. Sorry little Bro but graduations are BORING, with a capital everything!! It was also really nice because my Grandpa & ma Griffiths were there and we got to hear them tell cool stories. Another great thing about visiting my family was that I got to take lots and lots of pictures. I was the designated photographer for the graduation, for my sister Chantle’s maternity pictures, and her family pictures, for my parents who are working out and looking great, and for the recording of my time there through pictures. I got to feel artsy again, and it was fun! I love taking pictures; it’s something that I would love to do freelance someday.

I am glad that all that traveling is done. NOW it’s my parents turn to come visit us! My sister Veronica just had her first baby. And boy is he cute! Oh and did I mention that he is also the first grandson too? Well, he is. So that just intensifies his cuteness. He has my dad’s nose and Lloyd’s cheeks. He is adorable and we are all so excited! However we are still waiting for Chantal’s little one to come too but we don't mind the wait. (Livianna, you can stay in that belly until you are good and health and ready! We want you here safe.) I just love being an Aunt and having a nephew come and another niece on the way just adds so much more fun to the summer! :) Well I hope that you enjoy the pictures, they took a lot of work to get on to this thing!

The bus from BOS to NYC

The Subway, so much fun!
AHHH! RUN! te he :)
Us on top of the State Building
The fuzzy Crystler Building

Trying to get a picture of us all on top of the Empire State Building.
Jay at the Met comparing Abs
Eating a "Central Park" hot dog
Jay playing the BIG piano

:)

Most of the family outside Eastmen.
Boys will be boys...
Ben with G&G Griffiths
Hey Ben, whatcha pointing at?
Monica's a bandit, and Ben's embarrassed to look like a hick.

te he... Dads a happy cowboy! Marveling at how quickly a little girl can go from clean to dirty.
Playing in the potatoes
But Aunt Monica its fun to attack your face!
She loves her Uncle Ben

Bug with Grandma

My amazing parents! (Time to take a poll who thinks I look like my Mom?)

Having fun with grandpa.

Superman!

Bug

Norman, Chantle, and Anna Bug.

The baby bump :)

Aunt Nikki with Bug

This little one is just too cute!

Our Anniversary!

I love long weekends and this one was deffinatly no different in that aspect, except that I might have enjoyed it more then most weekends. Why you may ask? Becuase I celebrated my one year wedding anniversary. I know I know it was a couple of days early, but we wanted to make sure that we celebrated before things got to crazy this month, and Jay will be on base this weekend so we couldn't do it then.

We decided that we wanted to cook dinner together so that we could have a fancy meal and still have it with in out budget, and we also decided to start a marriage time capsule. The marriage time capsule is something that I wanted to make a tradition in our family ever since I heard the idea from another blog. The purpose is simple; to help us remember the important good times about each year we are married and to remember and spend time reminicing about it each year to come. Promoting nice thoughts and hopefully some laughs... yep I deffinately like this tradition.

So I found a tin and we decorated it. We each put different things in it leaving room for growth. I put in a picture from our wedding, some love notes that Jay has written me through out the year, a picture of Christ (bc of the blessings and guidence we have recived together and the reminder that he is the center of our home) and I put in my birthday gift that Jay gave me, note cards that spell I love you on them that he hid through out the house for me to find (possible the best gift ever hands down!). He put in some love letters that I have written him, and a CD with my songs on them (for those of you who don't know each year since we started dating Jay has given me a song). The CD included my new song for this year, It's your love, by Tim McGraw, our wedding song, Then by Brad Paisley, and the song he gave me when we first started dating called I need you, by Loose Change. The last thing that Jay put into the time capsule was a container or dirt. Surprisingly this one made me cry. It contained three layers of dirt and represented our trip cross country. The top layer was actual rust from NY. Yep thats right, rust. Apparently while living there a couple of bults on his car rusted and he kept them in his tool box after having to remove them, so he gathered rust from them and puts it in the container. The next layer was from a Nauvoo brick we got on our trip out to CA, and so he scratched some dirt from the brick and put it in the container. The last layer of dirt was actually sand from the beach out here, but the sand wasn't from any beach it was from our beach, Sunset Cliffs beach. :) hence the crying. The represntation made me once again remember how adorable my husband is!

So after putting together our capsule we made dinner together. Yummy Orange Chicken and fried rice was what was on the menu. All made from scratch and more importantly it was done together. I love cooking with my Husband always have always will. It makes the meal seem more romantice, important, delishes, I don't know what ever the positive adjective you want to put in there thats what it does. It brings us closer together. It makes me happy. I have had the most wonderful, trying, loving, growing year with my husband and can't wait for what else is in store for us!

This is our table setting, yeah I know fancy :)

our Orange Chicken and Fried rice! (SO yummy!)

And the flowers I made for decoration looked like this... The cougar lily. Are you surprised? I didn't think so.