MUCH ANGER!!!

Check out Stephenie Meyer's webpage for the full details.... www.stepheniemeyer.com but seriously someone leaked a copy of Midnight Sun and now SM might not even finish it. MUCH MUCH MUCH ANGER! For now I am boycotting reading it because I am so upset...although I know this will not change SM's decision to put off writing and publishing it indefinitely. GRRRRR!!!!

P.S. There is a post about this over at that blog I mentioned before http://www.myfavoriteauthor.blogspot.com/

Couldn't Sleep and Other Things

So, ya, if you look at the timestamp (which I think may be off) you may notice that it is uncharictaristically VERY early in the morning (like 4:00 a.m.). For some reason all of a sudden I could not get comfortable in my bed and my leg kindof had a restless feel. Since I have no idea what real RLS feels like, it is the only thing I can describe it as. I haven't had that feelings since towards the end of my pregnancy. So it woke me up. I am hoping that by distracting myself for a while on the computer I will get tired enough again that I can go back to sleep. Tomorrow is going to be rough if it doesn't happen soon.

Last night I was thinking a lot about relationships. Particuarly marriage relationships. It is interesting me to see who people end up with. I don't see it as anyone got stuck with anyone else, but rather that we made a choice of who to be with. We may have felt at the time like there was no choice, we loved the person and that was that. But was it really that simple? Don't we choose to give our hearts to certain people, and to others we think better of it?

People who know me well know that Tyson was my first and only real boyfriend. But that doesn't mean I didn't have other options at various points in my life. What was it about Tyson that made it so easy for me to allow myself to be that vulnerable and open up my heart to him completely and no one else?

Part of it was timing. He was there at the right time in the right place. He had goals that were in line with what I wanted out of life. And of course isn't it always about timing? Most of the other guys that were "almost" boyfriends it was always the timing. I was too young, or he was just moving away, or something like that. So Tyson had that down....but it was much much more than that.

I turned to Tyson today and said "You know honey, of all the guys I could have ended up with, I am so glad it was you." And I mean it. Tyson and I are not what I would call two peas in a pod, but rather two very different flavors that were meant to mingle. Like on Ratatouille, some foods are just better when they are mixed. Tyson plain and simple makes me happy. He makes me complete. I know that is clique to say, but it is true. I have a hard time loving myself a lot of the time, and he is always there to remind me that he loves me. He has taken care of me through my worst moments, and he is the most unselfish person on the planet. He is the world's greatest dad. Really, I am not just biased. How many husbands are the ones to wake up with the baby in the morning, because they know thier wife is not a morning person? And not just every so often, like EVERY day. Wow. I am often amazed at how wonderful he is and wonder why he picked me!

Anywho, that is what I have been thinking a lot about lately, so I thought I'd share. I guess I'd better go try and get some sleep.

Tip of the Evening

No matter what the thread count, don't try to sleep on new sheets that have not been laundered. The industrial starch makes them itchy...it is not fun. It is 11:00 p.m. and we are changing our sheets right now, cause I couldn't stand another itchy night.

Time for Change

I felt that now that all the big Breaking Dawn stuff was mostly over with, it was time for a change in background. What do you think? Tyson thinks its a bit too girly, but since all of his family members are girls (including the cat) I thought it was appropriate.

Enjoy the new look....next project, fix my music so 1) there are more songs and 2) it os random, so its a different song everytime you look.

My Favorite Author

Okay, so most of you have already received an e-mail from me, but for anyone who might just be browsing and they see this post, you gotta check out this cool new blog dedicated to reading, and authors and all that jazz. It's a great one and they are open for lots of comments and conversation!

www.myfavoriteauthor.blogspot.com

enjoy!

Happiness

I just really wanted to post because I am feeling really happy right now. I think of the many times that I allow myself to get in a rut. I feel down on myself because of my physical appearance, or perhaps I feel left out for some reason, or maybe I just don't feel good enough. I think I let those moments take up too much of my life. It is human to feel that way I suppose, and I realize we all feel this way at times (although I think we also all feel that we are the only ones feeling that way when we are feeling it), but I compare those moments to how I feel right this very moment. Maybe the reason why I have those moments is the whole "opposition in all things" idea. Because the way I feel right now could would not be as sweet if I didn't know the opposite feeling.

When we first moved to our new home I was scared beyond belief! I knew no one. And I mean NO ONE that lives even remotely close to the area. At the time none of my siblings still lived in Utah anymore. It was just me and Tyson, and we were moving away from the area we had lived in for nearly 6 years (two of those years were our dating years). I am a very outgoing person...most of the time. The one exception? When I don't know anyone. Needless to say it took me a long time to feel comfortable here.

What made the difference? Honestly, it was book club! I have found the most incredible women and friends through book club. These are women I am comfortable sharing my innermost feelings and thoughts with. They have been there for me and I there for them through many things unrelated to books! Tonight I have had a chance to touch base with a few of them through blogs and phone calls, and really I just feel happy. I wanted to thank all of them for that, for helping me find happiness in our corner of the world. Because without you I truly would still feel lost.

Honestly, I'd love to have responses. Pick one thing that makes you happy that is maybe not the most obvious (like my baby girl makes me happy every day, and that is a WHOLE separate post, but I won't go into it right now). I anxiously await your responses!

Book Club (Spoilers for Breaking Dawn)

Last night we had our book club discussion on Breaking Dawn. It was so much fun! I don't think I have ever been hoarse after a book club before! But I certainly was after last night! I think we had the most animated discussion, the best ideas and good debating. By the way, those of you who have differing opinions I say YAY! I hope you didn't feel like when someone disagreed with you that it was an attack on your opinion. I think it was just a fun and great discussion.

We discussed Renesmee and Jacob, Edward's character and the way he reacted to things, Bella as a vampire, our belief that Bella should have some sort of precognition ability based on what SM wrote in the series with her foreshadowing dreams. We discussed our dissapointment that at the end of the series Demitri is still alive, we talked about Billy, Charlie and Sue, the Cullen cars, the romantic scenes and whether or not we thought they were too much and if we would let our daughters read the books, and at what age (that was a big debate, but it was a constructive one), we used quotes from SM's interviews since Breaking Dawn came out, etc.

We also talked about the movie and how excited we are about it. A friend of one of the girls in book club rented a theater for the midnight showing and we are all going together! Yay! Another chance to wear our T-shirts. I feel a little silly having a ticket for a movie 4 months in advance! But I am super excited! I think it will be better than I expected at first. SM has said she LOVES it and really looks forward to her fan's reactions. So that makes me more excited about it!

Anyway, I just had to share how much fun I had last night. I'm exhausted and Becca is not taking her normal morning nap at the moment, but is fussing like she needs to, so I must run. HUGS!

Thanksgiving Point and All That Jazz

So this was a fun weekend. My parents drove up from CA so we did some fun stuff with family. On Friday we went to Thanksgiving Point and went to the Natural History Museum with my brother Sean and his family, (Michelle and their three kids Alex, Bethany and Brooke), and my parents. Tyson couldn't go because he was at work. Becca didn't seem to care much, but it was fun to take her all the same.

This is a picture of Rebecca and her cousin Brooke, before going in to the museum. (By the way, this post took me FOREVER because I tried some of the other formatting for pictures, and I just don't like them. I know centering them makes it a LONG post, but I think it just looks so much better in the end.)

Becca and Alex braved a picture with the Utahraptor. We thought it was pretty cool to have a Dinosaur named after our state!


They DO exist! I found a gnome! I did see two others that were painted into the scenery too. I was so happy to finally see one! (P.S. it's that red and white thing...the red is the hat and the white is the beard)


This is me and Rebecca with the VERY large ancient Sea Turtle...um I didn't pay attention to it's official name...but it was cool.
On Saturday we went to Sean and Michelle's and had BBQ. This was the best and only picture I have of Grandpa Bowen with Rebecca. So here it is. For those of you who know my dad well, also knows that he professes to HATE cats. Well, when he came to our house on Thursday night he said "I like your cat, she has a great personality." ;) I don't think I'll ever let him forget that he said that. (So I'll put a picture of our cat Mocha on here so you can all see her).
This is just a cute picture of Mocha that I took a while ago.

Grandma Bowen made and brought this hat to us. We tried it on at the BBQ. It goes with a dress she made earlier...I just thought it was cute!
Grandma Bowen also brought us this dress and we wore it on Sunday. It is VERY pretty so we took some pictures of Becca in it...they turned out great!

Yep, that's my beautiful baby!

This was just such a funny face I had to put it on here!

Then mom and I went to Brigham City yesterday to see her second cousin (?) Carmen and get some geneology info from her great aunt's geneology books. Becca went with us, and other than not liking being stuck in her carseat for so long she had a good time. It was a fun weekend and good to see family.

BD Party Collage

So Stephenie Meyer's website is asking for Breaking Dawn Party picture entries, and Angela, the Photoshop genius came up with this collage to send in...I think it's great! So I'm posting it on here too!

Rebecca's 4 Month Check Up

Today was Becca's 4 month check up. She did really well. She is 14 lbs 1 oz. Which bumps her up from 50th precentile to 75th. She is also exactly 2 feet long. ;) The doctor said we can start introducing rice cereals into her bottle, and hopefully that will help with the spitting up too, since I guess thicker stuff stays in the tummy better.

It's fun to see our baby girl growing! She is already rolling over from her tummy to her back, and from her back almost all the way (she gets to her side and then gets stuck). She holds her head up very well, and grabs at toys and faces. She likes to stand on her legs (with mom and dad's support of course) and soon she'll even be sitting up! I know it is clique to say, but it is so true that they grow VERY fast!

She also got shots today, which is never fun. But she does remarkably well. It's taking the band-aids off later that she doesn't like. She recovers very quickly from the pricks. Well, it's time for her to have a nap so I best be off.

California Trip/ Fourth of July

Hey, I am backlogging a little bit here. Because this blog was so much Twilight themed (not that I mind that!), and not enough family...plus this is importanat stuff! This is from our vacation in July when we went back to my hometown of Seal Beach, CA. We went for several reasons, 1) to see family, 2) to just get out of the heat in Utah for a while , and 3) to bless Rebecca. (P.S. Not all of my posts are going to be this long or full of pictures! Promise!)

This first set of pictures is from our trip to the beach with Rebecca on July 3rd. It was her first time at the beach. She wore a little swim suit and everything! The water was pretty cold and so I was worried that when we stuck her feet in she wouldn't be happy, but she didn't really respond much at all! Her little feet almost turned purple they got so cold, and she just did not care. It was a fun day! (Gotta love my tan lines...eek!)

Isn't she just the cutest thing ever?

This next set of pictures is from the 4th of July. Rebecca wore her adorable sailor outfit for the first time. We went to a church breakfast at my parent's ward, then had a parade at the neighborhood park in a decked out umbrella stroller (Becca was entered in the 3 and under category, her cousin Christian was in the 3-6 year old range and drove a tricycle) and then went and saw fireworks at the Los Alamitos base later that evening. It was lots of fun! Becca got very tired by the end of the day, and she slept right through the fireworks!

This is our family that went to the breakfast...(Back)Tyson, Me, Rebecca, Grandma Bowen, (Front) Christian, my sister Wendy, and her hubby Sean.

These next pictures are from Saturday when Ryan and Natalie arrived at the Hotel California (Otherwise known as my parent's house) with their three kids James, Sophie and Maxwell. Maxwell loved Beccan and wanted to grab her a lot. Sophie kept announcing that "The baby is so toiny!"





Then later that day we went to Tustin to see Jen, Nathan and Katelynn. Jen was my roomate in college and they were living in CA for the summer while Nathan did an internship. It was good to see them again! We spent time hanging out and Katelynn loved playing with Becca. Then we went to Wahu's for dinner. YUM!



Katelynn is such a cutie! Gotta love that smile!

Then on Sunday we went to church in the morning then did the blessing in the afternoon at my parent's house. This way some of Tyson's family could drive down from Ridgecrest and not have to wake up super ealy in the morning. Rebecca wore the dress that I wore when I was blessed and a little gold ring that I wore as well. The family members that came down from Ridgecrest were Grandma Ratliff, Trent & Sabrina and thier four kids, Rees, Caden, Page, and Tricia, and Torri & Scott, and their three kids Victoria, Sirus, and Logan. The members of the circle for Becca's blessing were Tyson (daddy), Grandpa Bowen, Great-Grandpa Riccilli, Uncle Ryan, Uncle Sean, Uncle Trent, and my parent's bishop, Bishop Shaw (not pictured). Rebecca was so worn out she was not happy, and cried the whole time, but regardless it was a very emotional and spiritual experience. We felt the presence of her Grandpa Ratliff, and we know that he was there to be part of our baby's blessing. It truly was wonderful.

This is Rebecca with Aunt Brina, cousin Sophie, and cousin Rees. This is before the blessing so she's just in a onsie and not her dress yet.

Becca and her cousin Victoria


This is just a really cute, happy picture of baby Maxwell from that Sunday.


Becca and mommy's rings.



Rebecca and Grandma Ratliff

This is Becca and the participants of her blessing (minus the bishop, he already left). They are (L-R) Sean Morris, Grandpa Riccilli, Daddy, Trent Ratliff, Grandpa Bowen, and Ryan Bowen. (Sean had already changed his shorts, and Ryan was helping with dinner...thus the apron).



Our happy family on Becca's big day!

This is Becca with Torri and Scott and thier family, she didn't stay happy long so we needed to end the picture taking after this.

These are some pictures we took of Rebecca in her dress after we got home, since she was so unhappy that day. She is laying on my baby blanket too, that her Great Grandma Riccilli made for me when I was a baby.




Then Monday Tyson and I went to the beach with Ryan, Natalie and thier kids, and Wendy and Christian, and left Becca at home with Grandma B. Good thing too, cause Tyson and I got fried! We drove back on Tuesday and that was our big vacation. It was a great trip! I hope you enjoyed the pictures.

Girl's Night Out/ Breaking Dawn Release Party

Hey! So my book club (and otherwise good friends) and I all got together for a Breaking Dawn release party. Angela and I were the brains behind the madness. It began as come on over to make T-shirts, and turned into this big thing! It was so fun! We made T-shirts, played a few games, had good food, took pictures with "Edward" , etc! There are LOTS of pictures from it, so enjoy! (P.S. if you read Angela's blog then there might be quite a few repeats, but since there are lots of people (namely family) who read mine that don't here they all are)

The two masterminds behind the madness....me and Angela.

This is just a picture of the books and some flowers we had set up. If you look closely there is the wristband we used to get our books at Barnes and Noble. We also downloaded Stephenie Meyer's playlists that she listened to while writing the books and played those for background music, and burned some CDs of them to give as prizes for our games.

This is our "Edward" if you look closely he is even sparkly. Tee Hee!

Angela and Sara just hanging out. I thought it was a really cute picture of them.

Angela and Mandy doing iron-ons for thier shirts. We found this really cool paper that you can print on and then you can iron that on a shirt! It was great!

Erin with Edward....gotta love it!

This is just a really cute shot of Courtney while she was deciding what to do on her shirt.

Tyson was helping me figure out what to do on my shirt, and generally just walking around while Rebecca was asleep (Thus the moniter hanging on his shirt).

Me and Angela with Edward in our Twilight shirts. We both did the sparkly red apple, with twilight over it, and OCD on the back. (Pics of those up close are below)

I just HAD to put this on my shirt cause (well as you can tell by my background...) it is SOOO me! Some of the other shirt sayings were "Bite Me", "It's always darkest before the dawn...Breaking Dawn Midnight Release Party", and "I didn't get my letter from Hogwarts, so I'm moving to Forks to live with the Cullens". I wanted to use all of them! Really, it took me forever to decide what to do!

Just me and Edward!

All of us showing off our shirts. (Top) Jena, Theresa, Courtney, Angela, (Middle) Ellise, Sara, Mandy, Erin, Emily, (Bottom) Me...don't ask me why I sat there all by myself!

This is all of us showing off our rings as well. Angela and I made a version of Bella's ring for everyone. Angela's was the best, but her fingers are so tiny that the ring she made would not have fit anyone else's. Mine had a little extra special something on it to make it a little more similar, then we had fun ones for the rest of the girls. Angela, Erin, and I also made a replica of Bella's bracelet (without the wolf...cause 1) I couldn't find any wolf charms, and 2) who wanted one anyway?). I don't have any closeups of them yet, but I plan on getting some.

We made it to Barnes and Noble in Sandy!

Working on the Trivia at Barnes and Noble...it was super hard! Do you remember what Bella was wearing on her flight to Forks at the beginning of Twilight? Or the name of the designer who Alice had make Bella's wedding dress? I didn't think so!

This one needs some explaining....This is me, Sara, Erin, and Angela posing with Ben Barnes (The one in the picture)....yes we are at a Breaking Dawn party...BUT we saw this poster book for Prince Caspain. Now...Sara (the lovely lady in the middle next to the magazine) is a WONDERFUL Author herself. She has written an AMAZING book named Hidden. Hidden's main male protagonist is Gareth. Gareth is HOT! And we have decided a while ago that Ben Barnes would be perfect for the part. So here we are oogling at Ben/Gareth. SO MUCH FUN!

Barnes and Noble had a boquet toss, and whoever cought it won! This is me eagerly waiting for the bouquet to be thrown...if you can pick me out of the crowd...Erin is in there too on the left side.

After all is said and done, this is us waiting for our number to be called. This is (Top) Theresa, Courtney, Mandy, Sara (Bottom) Erin, Ellise.

This is Jena, Theresa, and me.

This is all of us in line once our number is called. We were in group 8. This is (Top) Mandy, Angela, Courtney, Erin (Middle) Me, Emily, Sara, Ellise, Theresa, (Front) Jena.

I got a picture of all the girls paying for thier books, but I'll just post mine, and let them post thiers on their own blogs. Notice the bracelet. ;)

Since there were 10 of us, it was the perfect amount for us to be handed one box of books! Here we are with the box DYING to open it! This is Ellise, Sara, Mandy, Jena, Courtney, Angela, Emily, Me (with the box), Erin and Theresa!

We got it open and we are so EXCITED! (Top) Ellise, Sara, Mandy, Jena, Courtney, Angela, Theresa, (Middle) Emily, (Bottom) Me, and Erin.

Me and my book! I've been waiting for this one for over a year!

Angela, Erin, me and Sara...the midnight release party was originally going to be us four, but then the news spread to the rest of our book club gals and boom! You see the results!

Me pretending to read my book...in reality I got home and read the first 3 chapters before going to bed. Then I read all day Saturday (with some breaks for napping and hugging my baby girl...if you've read the book you'll know why) and finished it after church on Sunday.

This was just a FEW of the pictures we had! It was such a fun night! One that I will never forget! Thanks so much to all the gals who made it so great! I hope you loved the book! I sure did!