Merry Christmas!!

Our Xmas cards are going out late, so please accept this picture in the mean time... (thx for the idea Neaner). Hope you all had a fun christmas. We certainly did.

New Year's Resolutions

I don't know if the Year's needs an apostrophe or not. Oh well. I LOVE, in all caps, new year's resolutions. LOVE LOVE LOVE. I start thinking about them...oh about this time of year. I usually try to make them in the physical, academic/mental, spiritual, and skill areas. SKill being like something new I want to learn the next year.
This wonderful lady was telling me about the acronym SPICES that they try to do with their kids everyday. They try to do something everyday in:
Spiritual
Physical
Intellectual
Creative
Emotional
Skill
So maybe I'll try to make all my resolutions in those areas; but that is a LOT of resolutions. I think I like resolutions so much because I LOVE checking tasks off a list. IT's so fun. IT's like a game. Old resolutions that I have been proud of have been: running a marathon, having a baby, losing weight. My spiritual goals always start out strong and seem to fizzle with time. I really need to focus on how to keep that one going strong all year. Especially with Madeline. Ohh- who knew praying twice a day would become a challenge???
What kind of new year's resolutions are ya'll making? Any suggestions?

Success?

I couldn't stand to wait any longer! In a spontaneous moment, I grabbed the rice cereal and mixed it up. Hopefully I don't kill my baby because she's too young, or immature to eat food. I got out my plastic coated spoon and mixed away... This is so exciting...

OK- that story shows that sometimes the complete dork in me comes out. Adam just walked in and I tried to hide the computer screen so he wouldn't read my post because I knew he would make fun of me. Sure enough, covering of the screen just made him more curious, and we've been sitting here laughing for at least 10 minutes. Oh boy, what a mommy blogger I've become. Describing feeding my kid, a pretty uneventful event actually, in such detail... this is embarassing. Well, anyway, I fed her, she wasn't interested, and she actually got quite frustrated with the spoon. She was sucking on it, wondering why it wasn't giving her any milk. I eventually held the spoon in front of her and let her lap up the rice cereal like a cat drinking milk, because everytime I put the spoon in her mouth--she just pushed it back out with her tongue. I think she possibly swallowed a 1/2 teaspoon of the stuff. I eventually quit and put her back on the boob-"ahhh..." a relief for all.

Is my baby "ready" for food yet? Probably not. But what a cute face ;)

4 month birthday party!!

No really, we didn't have a party, but Lauren let us borrow her bumbo seat and this morning she was too cute we had to take some pics! She is going to be GORGEOUS--yes I am obsessed with my child... ;). She is 4 months today, and I am debating whether to start her on rice cereal today, I am soooooooooooooooo excited!!! She could probably care less, but I just want to try it. I've heard that you should start feeding them at 4 or 6 months... what say ye? Any opinions?

No, I can't take credit for this cute blog...

Thank you to my awesome friend, Lauren, who made my blog cute!!! Because I am too impatient to figure it out on my own! (Everyone loves something for nothing) THANKS!!! You rock!

And thanks to Sarah for the new name (yes- I have no creativity of my own-lol).

Check out my Slide Show!

My Blog needed some pics...

So here are a few of my recent fav's:

Design Mom

Yes, I too, and guilty of "Blog Surfing". WHo isn't??? It's kind of like looking into another person's closet, don't you think? Whenever I visit a friend my favorite thing to do is to go to their closet and look around. But Blog Surfing is like looking into the closets of people you don't know... which is even funner than looking into the closet's of your friends.
Anyway, I came across this blog http://designmom.com/ and whenever I come across stuff like this it makes me feel bad because I've always wanted to be good at design like house design and clothes and I don't think I'm very good at it. I think I'm ok, but not great, which is what I would like to be someday. Everyone has something they compare themselves too, like my husband is so funny everytime we go to Rugby games, he always feels like a wuss because he's not out there playing Rugby with the "real men"; and every time we go to concerts, we feel bad because we're not the ones with that amazing musical talent that's on display. You know what kind of feeling I'm talking about...
Anyway, visit her site, it's fun and inspirational. If anyone of you have favorite design sites that you like to visit, please share! I love new ideas!!

Horray for Adam

Adam won 2nd place in the moot court competition yesterday!! Way to go babe! He did a great job at preparing his argument and presenting in front of the judges and the law school student body. I can't believe the standard the competitors had to meet. They had to research everything on their own, and come up with cases to back their arguments, but on top of that, they had to answer really tough questions thrown at them from the judges. And these were no 'student' judges. The three judges of the final competition were the Chief Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court, and 8th Circuit Court Judge, and a Federal District Court Judge. Tough cookies.

New Name for my Blog

Ok, "Diana's Blog" is a bit boring as a title. Any suggestions? If any of you can think of a great name that I decide to use, I will dub you as one of my... best friends... wow, that is prestige...

Resolutions

I know it's a bit early, but don't worry it's only for this month. After sitting at our computer at 8:30 a.m. and polishing off an entire bag of choco chips by myself (come on, I've been working on it for a week now, that's ok right?) I figure it's high time I stop complaining about my baby weight and start doing more to get it off. I am going to talk to my husband about helping encourage me, which is the LAST thing I would ever contemplate doing in my normal world, because I'm way too stubborn and prideful to take ANY criticism (I'm practically perfect right?? hehe). But in an effort to 1. Help me lose weight, 2. Become more humble and less of a stuck-up-jerk, I am going to let him help me really work on it. That means, I will have to swallow the down right shouting and or silent treatment I would usually use when he asks me how much I ran that week or why I'm eating choco chips out of the bag AGAIN. This being over sensitive about my weight and health is one of the worst traits about me probably. I really let it bug me and I fight back with a vengence, allowing otherwise normal conversations to turn into day-long Jerry Springer-type brawls... ok maybe not that bad, but close. I started one of these yesterday after Adam asked me how much I had ran this week. It was an innocent enough comment, but i took it to mean that he was judging how much I run and work out, which in turn ofcourse means I'm fat and ugly and why is he even with me if he thinks I'm fat and ugly, which is ofcourse not true- he always tells me how beautiful I am but of course I don't remember any of those comments once I am enraged (haha). Anyway, this has turned into quite the confessional of a blog, I'm not sure I want to post it because this is really something I struggle with and it's completely personal and makes me vulnerable . Blog postings are supposed to be fun, lite hearted little random thoughts... well, this one isn't, but it's important for me to get this out there, so that I can take the first step: 1. Admittal. In an effort to be "Wonder mom" I really want to try to nip all my bad traits in the bud, so I'm going to work on this one first. I know it's kind of an impossible goal to be perfect, but it's worth working on your faults I've always thought. For November, I'm going to try and not be so sensitive, thus starting fights, and also let Adam help me, because that's what he's there for. And I'm going to post about my progress. Ok, ready , set , go.

Introducing Sydney Holland McArthur

Jared and Melissa have a baby girl! She is so cute and wonderful. I am so happy for them! They're home from the hospital and doing wonderfully.

That's why they call them business socks...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGOohBytKTU

No, I'm not trying to say anything... lol- but this is HILARIOUS

Confession

Confession- I WATCHED a Denise Austin workout video today while nursing Madeline. My thought process went like this:
"I need to work out...it's not going to happen... I got this video from the library..I might as well do something with it... we don't have cable yet... it couldn't hurt to just WATCH it.... I'll breathe along with the work out... that'll do something right??"

Oh how the mighty have fallen...

My new occupation

Yes, this is a pic of my gorgeous baby. I know, I know, enough already about being a mom and my beautiful baby, but seriously, just one more thing... since this is what consumes my thoughts and actions every day now. I am still amazingly overwhelmed by my new occupation. I never in a million years thought it would be so demanding and challanging, and I only have a two month old! Yesterday, I was proud of myself for going to two of the three meetings at church, and while I was feeding Madeline in the mother's lounge there was this beautiful, put-together young mom who had four girls (not all in the mother's lounge with her-lol) and I was talking to her. I asked her if she was done having kids, since "four does seem to be the new six" (thank you Rachel Short) and she said "no, I think we're going to have eight kids" I was floored! What! Eight! Wow- I can't even imagine that... maybe it gets easier, but the feedings, diaper rash, naps, buying inexpensive clothes, toys and baby gear, and keeping my house tidy (notice I didn't say "clean"), and taking care of my husband (lol- or the other way around), etc. is pushing my can-do limits at this point. The thought of having eight kids makes me want to just go to sleep for a really long time!! That is awesome that she was so calm and put-together and wants to have eight kids. Hopefully, I can feel calm and put-together at some point too, until then... I'm just going to focus on my weekly goals of : 1. getting dressed everyday, 2. Making dinner, and that's about it. LOL.

Cutest Nursery Ever

Not quite done, but getting there. Yes, the PINK dresser is an accomplishment- I painted it when I was 9 months prego... ok, ok, Adam helped a tiny bit... but not really... ;)

Madeline Joyce is born!

Yes this is old news by now, but I'm trying to be better at blogging. (I sound like I would after a General Conference session where I make all these new goals like keeping my journal updated, being a better wife, being honest with myself, etc.) But to the rest of my friends out there who I haven't talked to yet, I HAD A BABY! And of course she is the most beautiful, amazing, perfect baby in the whole world!! (And yes I still think that even though in the past month she has kept me up with her screaming several times until 3 a.m.--that just means I'm prepared for NEXT General Conference session to NOT feel guilty about my lack of patience.)

The birth was actually surprisingly uneventful. I went into the hospital on Sunday Aug. 12 (Jared's birthday) because Adam and I were sick of waiting for this baby to come (her due date was Aug. 8). I was so embarassed because I knew the nurses were just going to send me home because I wasn't in "movie labor" you know, the kind of labor you always see in the movies, with the sudden gush of broken water, and the yell to the husband that "Honey, it's time!!" At which point the husband puts his pants on backwards and drives like a maniac to the hospital usually taking a couple of wrong turns on the way. Although, I wasn't having "movie labor" I had been having contractions on and off for the last 15 hours, and we just decided, "hey- what the heck, let's give it a whirl and try to talk the Dr. into inducing me".

So we went in and for some miraculous reason, I dialated from a 3 to a 4 in that hour hooked up to the monitors on the bed, while Adam returned a bunch of phone calls.

The Dr. came in and said they would keep me. "Hallelujah! I just wanted this baby out!"

After an hour or so I got an epidural, and let the fun begin... We watched the first "TMNT" and the end of "Grease" and "Austin Powers", we were hooked to TNT, since we don't have cable at home. We took a nap and at 5 a.m. Monday morning I started pushing and an hour later our beautiful Madeline Joyce was born! Adam had made a "Labor PLaylist" on the ipod for the event, and so the pushing was serenaded by Queen, John Denver, and Mark Knopfler.

I can't begin to describe the joy of giving birth to a baby. An actual person that Adam and I created. I could hardly speak afterwards I was filled to the brim with emotion. I just cried when they put her in my arms. It was a different emotion than I have ever felt. Somehow, in that one moment it made all my 9 months of suffering worth it. I would have done it again right then. All for another Madeline Joyce.

Beautiful Nail

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsWrY77o77o

Adam got me a pedicure and massage for our anniversary- what a guy... ;) I got him a croquet set which he LOVES.

A Good Man is Hard to Find

That's the title of a short story by Flannery O'Conner.
You know you've got the right one when he can figure out what you want even when you don't tell him. This is an email conversation we had last week that I think is hilarious!

Me: babe- what's that song by Guster that I like?
Adam: The song by Guster...I have it on the tip of my tongue, remind me of the line that you like.
Me: Oh gosh- I can't remember... it's like "nananana hurt yourself... nananan na na" ok, this is just embarrassing. Forget it.
Adam: I believe the name of the song is 'Careful'
Me: you're awesome ;)

7 Things you may not know about me

Ok Kassie, I'm too retarded to know how this tagging thing works, but I'm just going to write the 7 things you may not know about me.

1. I was president of the College Republicans at BYU. Ha! My husband can't believe it! I don't even know the republican platform! I'm not even that conservative! I hate the NRA, I am opposed to the death penalty, and I think guns should be illegal, the list goes on and on. It's quite embarassing and one of the nerdiest things I've ever done- but hey, I had a great time while my facade lasted.

2. My husband and I met in Korea while serving in the same mission. (you can draw your own conclusions on that one!! lol)

3. My favorite kind of food is Korean. Bring on the Kimchi!

4. I really wanted to be Miss America up until my dream finally dissolved when I was about 18 years old. (Little Miss Sunshine anyone?)

5. I have started picking my nose and reading on the toilet since I've been pregnant and I can't stop. I hide it from my husband because I hate those two habits, which he does, and I yell at him when he does it, and I just can't admit to him that I've started doing them too!

6. I have kissed somewhere around 15 people in my life, my husband has kissed 3. (Ouch!- what was I thinking?!).

7. I always have these premonitions of violent crime. I know that sounds really weird, but I always imagine someone coming in my house and killing me a variety of ways, or if I go to a cliff, I imagine myself jumping off. I try to figure out how I'm going to escape the situation or pull a Jack Bauer or something. It's really weird and disturbing-except for the fact that it's not disturbing--I just look at it as a way to be prepared. Anyway, I have like one daydream a day usually a couple of them. Am I mentally screwy? I don't know...

This is a picture of Adam and I at Jared's wedding to Melissa in May 2006.