Decorating for Christmas

Amber Says:

We've been decorating for Chrismtas for a while now. The Sunday after Thanksgiving we put up our tree. We put it between our living and dining area where it was last year. But we moved it a few days later into the corner where there is more room (this required a slight furniture move). That Wednesday following Thanksgiving I put up all of the inside decorations. My mom was in town and insisted that the house was decorated before she left so she could see it.

This weekend Adam and I put Christmas lights up outside. This is the first time I've hung lights outisde because I've never stayed in Las Vegas for Christmas. We had a lot of fun hanging the lights up in the back of the house. Adam became very hyper and said he was happy because I was making Christmas so good. So we decided to hang some lights in the front too. Unfortunately the wind (probably along with the weight of the cord) knocked the lights in the back down over night. The lights in the front were still good though; it's a lot less windy in the front since the houses face eachother. Adam's going to try to fix the lights tomorrow. We really like them, they looked so pretty. Hopefully he can get them to stay. Below are some pictures of our current decorating situation.

Out Front W/ and W/O the flash

Our tree and the living room

My villages

From Adam:
I did it! A couple of days ago I got 1001 spins during three minutes of super hula hoop in the six minutes exercise game in Wii Fit Plus. I am excited.
This week I have two 2nd exams which will finish both of those classes. I feel ready to take both of them. The first is tomorrow at 11:30AM, it is about communication, how to learn better and faster, and how to make and achieve goals. It has been a good class. The other class was about older adults 65+ and how they age. What happens to them, why they do things they do, how to age well and how not to, how to bad aging become better aging, and memory strategies.
I will make this post short. Have a good one.

Nothing special

From Adam:
Nothing too special has happened over the past two weeks. I will be going hometeaching next weekend. It will be before Thanksgiving, and will be Stake Conference weekend. My Mother-in-law will be in town Friday after Thanksgiving and her husband will be coming into town for work sometime thereafter. Friday morning Amber and she will be going shopping; I will most likely be at the temple doing baptisms for the dead with Rylee and McKaylee, my nephew and niece. Sometime during the holiday I will be seeing my high school friend Dianah and her family.

I have two reports due this week. One is due on Wednesday. The other is due on Thursday. The one for Wednesday is mostly done, but the one for Thursday only has a topic. Osteoporosis is the topic. I am doing it because I couldn't think of a topic. Amber said she would be interested to know what happens as she ages and her bones age. So I am doing the research mostly for her. Something that I learned in class about osteoporosis is that the bone density that she has right now or possibly a few years ago was as dense as it will have ever been. Now, she needs to make sure she is getting enough calcium to make up for the calcium lost in her urine. So as long as she eats a well balanced diet with enough calcium and vitamin d she will not need any supplements. If she doesn't eat a good balanced diet then she might need to take caclium vitamin d supplements. The diet is not the only part of a healthy skeletal system though. She must also put her bones to work by doing exercise. The body will decide to get rid of calcium if it feels like the body can do without it. So if Amber exercises her body, her body will know that it must maintain its calcium levels, however, if Amber doesn't stress her body enough by exercise then her body will dump some calcium even if there is plenty of vitamin d to take it up.

I did the Super Hula Hoop on Wii Fit Plus. I did the 6 minute version which is the hula counter clockwise for three minutes and then clockwise for three minutes. I was able to achieve 992 spins counterclockwise and 982 spins clockwise! I was absolutely amazed by my performance. I used to hate the hula hoop exercises in Wii Fit, but I have grown to love them.

Amber is feeling a little sick today. Most of the day she was fine, but now that she has eaten dinner she feels sick to the stomach. She's been feeling sick a lot lately. Hopefully, she won't feel too sick for Thanksgiving time. The doc says she'll probably be sick 'til the 14th week.

2nd Doctor's Appointment

We went to the doctors today, and our doctor was actually there this time. She did a vaginal ultra sound, and we were able to see our growing baby with a strong heart beat. This was very exciting for both of us. She printed a picture for us. You can clearly see the baby's head at the top of the picture. If you look closely you can see how it is bent over leaning against the chest, and you can just make out the line between head and chest. The baby measured just under an inch. The original assessment of 8 weeks and 6 days was supported by the baby's growth. The expected due date is still June 10, 2010.

End of October

Happy Halloween

Amber Says:
I got back into Las Vegas late on Thursday night. My plane was delayed an hour so it was midnight by the time we pulled into our carport. I enjoyed spending time with my mother, but I did not like being away from Adam.


My mom took my grandma and I to see Disney on Ice in Portland. Grandma had never been to a show like that before. We all had a good time. We also went to a cousins wedding. The wedding had a country theme and was at the Fair Grounds in St. Helens, Oregon. My cousin wore a cowboy hat, as did his 4 year old son. His bride was beautiful in her gown though. They had hay bales decorating the building along with pumpkins and other fall decor. The cake, made by grandma and mom of groom, was decorated as a cow with black spots and all. They also had a jumper for the kids (those blow up things they jump in) with a giant monster truck on the top. They had a DJ that only played country music, including when the bride walked in. And to top it off there was a mechanical bull. It was really a fun wedding and I enjoyed seeing so much of my family. I also helped my mom prepare for Halloween before heading back.


Adam and I had a good Halloween yesterday. He didn't decide what he wanted to be until 5 O'clock when I began pestering him. I ended up fixing him a candy cane costume. Many people said he looked like an elf. I think he also looked like he was ready for bed. But in any case he was cute. We went to our ward party. Adam thought it was at six, but it turned out it started at five. We got there in time for trunk or treat, but missed dinner. So we passed out our candy and headed up to Adam's parents. We helped his mom pass out candy and had way too much fun scaring all of the children by startling them with screams when we yanked open the slightly ajar door. I should not enjoy scaring children so much, but it was fun.


Adam's words:
I got through the rest of the days without Amber. Unfortunately, Amber didn't want to eat pizza by the time she got back from her parents house. I had to eat the pizza all by myself without any help which in some ways is a blessing. I like pizza. She had a bunch of pizza in WA, that, I think, is why she didn't want to eat the pizza I had homemade. I don't think I have mentioned this on the blog yet, but I am working towards not scratching any itches. I typically have many itches everyday that I have always responded to with a scratch or two or hundred. I get scabs from all of this scratching, which causes me to be itchy during the nighttime and I tend to unconsciously scratch myself. I have a theory about this nighttime itchiness. While in Peru I spoke Spanish all of the time. Around my 15 month mark I sat up while I was sleeping and said something in perfect understandable Spanish with my everyday Spanish accent (I know this because my companion was awake when I spoke in my sleep). Thus, I think if when an itch comes and I ignore it during the daytime hours, I think my automatic response during the nighttime hours will also be to ignore it. I think it will be a while before it is the automatic response during the nighttime hours, but someday I am pretty sure it will occur as long as I keep my no scratching goal. My goal date is to have it achieved by Thanksgiving.
I have done some great things with Wii Fit Plus. One of the aerobic exercises is the Hula Hoop. I did it for 10 minutes and achieved 3464 spins! 3000 spins is really good; the game calls 3000+ spins a Calorie Incinerator. I burn at least 54 calories when I do this for just ten minutes. I am the only one with a ten minute score because I don't get overly tired by it. I have an efficient technique. My vigor for Wii Fit Plus is much lower than when we first got it, but I am going to try to continue exercising because I know it is good for my long term health.
I have a goatee with moustache now. You can see it in the candy cane picture. I am going to keep it until the end of the week, and see if I still like it. The whiskers are still a little stiff and spiky which is why I don't like it.

All alone

I, Adam, am all alone in our house:(. Amber is visiting her mom and dad in Vancouver, WA. Today is her dad's birthday. It was also the wedding day of her cousin. I have been coping well. I have had a homework assignment since Monday. It is called a "stretch". A "stretch" is something that makes you uncomfortable to do. For example, I scratch a lot, so yesterday my stretch was to not scratch at all. It was very difficult, but everytime I started to scratch I told myself that I wasn't allowed to scratch. That happened about 15-20 times. I continued the "stretch" today, but it does not count toward my homework; the homework requires a different "stretch" every day. Last night I tried my hand at making homemade pizza with a better homes cookbook's help. The dough turned out great. I like tomato sauce so I put 16 oz on the 16" pizza. I think it was a litttle to much sauce. Other than that it turned out okay. I also put three slices of pizza in the freezer for me and Amber to share when she gets back on Thursday. I did the Wii Fit Plus all this week, too. I am still liking it, but probably a little bit less than last week. The coolest thing I have done this past week was the lengthening of a lamp's power cord. I cut a cord from a broken lamp, and I then spliced the two cords together to make an ~11' cord.

Amber and I have been reading scriptures together at nightime, so we have been doing that over the phone for the past few nights, and then praying together. We miss each other. Amber is keeping her stomach fuller so as to not feel nauseated. It has worked pretty well for her. We are still very excited to be becoming parents.

I went hometeaching tonight with a new convert to the church. It was cool. He liked it, and his children liked seeing that he was going hometeaching. I think it really affected him and his family. I am thankful for that. He is a very nice man, and it is not because he gave me orange slices. It is because he just has a special spirit, and you can tell he loves his wife. That is what I think is really important.

Good News

From Amber:

Adam and I are excited to share our good news. We are expecting our first child in June. We found out on Thursday, October 8th by means of a home test. I took a picture of the test and displayed it on the Wii for Adam to see when he got home. He was very excited!

This is what Adam saw.

We had our first doctor's appointment this past Wednesday. Unfortunately we did not get to meet our doctor, or I should say midwife. She was delivering. The medical assistant confirmed that I am pregnant. We have another doctor's appointment in a few weeks where we will have our first ultrasound. I did talk to our doctor the other day. I had some brown spotting. The internet said it was probably nothing but that I should call my doctor just in case. The doctor told me it was common and should go away, which it did. She said the blood was old blood.

Today has been my worst sick day yet. It was not a happy time in church, and I had to teach a lesson in Relief Society. But I made it through.

On Friday my good friend Amanda stopped by after work. She had a present for us. Our first baby present! I get too excited about little baby things, they're so cute. She gave us a card in which she had written that the baby needs to learn to like frogs some day. She gave us a little blanket toy that is a frog as well as a book called Ribbit Goes the Frog. There was also a cute pair of pjs with a bear on them that say "I Love You."

Amanda's Present

Note From Adam:
We got Wii Fit Plus on Thursday; it is a lot of fun. It is more functional than the original Wii Fit because you can make custom strength and yoga routines, thus making it easier to get your workout done in a shorter time period. I have used my routine twice now. It is a 27 minute routine. Before and after I do my routine, I play the balance games and aerobic exercises. I did very well on the Hula Hoop yesterday; I got 316 points, which is a 4 star calorie incinerator rank! Neither Amber nor I had ever done so well. If you like to exercise for fun, or you want to lose some weight, or you just want to have a healthier body, I would recommend you get the new Wii Fit Plus. I have been wanting to play DDR Hottest Party 2 on Wii but my eyes have been overly dry for the last year. Playing DDR makes my eyes hurt; I don't blink so I can get a good score. I hope we will play DDR at Thanksgiving again. It was fun last time. We should also play Mario Kart Wii.

Amber is handling the pregnancy very well. She doesn't mind that she is sick. She loves the little baby growing inside of her. I love the little baby inside of her too. I told her that the night we knew about the pregnancy. I love my girl. I would like to have a boy, but really any gender baby is good. I want a boy because boys can take care of their younger siblings.

School is good. I have done well in all of my courses at UNLV so far. I got 2 A's during Spring semester a B+ and a B. During Summer semester I got 4 A's. So far this semester in my 5 classes I have 5 A's. Amber and I are pleased. In case you don't know, I want to be a Physical Therapist. A doctorate of Physical Therapy takes 3 years at UNLV. If things happen as we want, I will have a doctorate in 2014.