Dare I try to be crafty?

     Those who know me know that the idea of crafty things may be nice, but I do not have the ability to actually pull it off. So I usually let others do it. But.....gasp! Shock! I might just make my own attempt. What has caused me to venture into this unknown and slightly scary side of things? This book. It is a Grandparents book. 

    Now most baby sentimental things I find cheesy. But I really like this. I love reading memories of when people were growing up. How awesome would this be? So I went to a book store to get one. Then I looked at it. It is nice, but I kept thinking as I looked at it, "if it only had this." or" I would have it say this." etc. Then I thought..."I bet I could make a better one..." 

      And there it is, the thought that got me. I could possibly make a book. So I am asking for opinions and help. Do I make a scrapbook myself? With cut outs and all those fancy things? What are good covers? Or do an online one so it is more like a published book? If so...what company should I use? I would obviously need one that doesn't require pictures on it. Send ideas my way! (oh and if I couldn't make this a little more crazy, I would like to give it as a Christmas present to Cory's parents. ( I am pretty sure they don't read this.....) Crazy I know. But I want to try.) I am patiently ( but really not so patiently) waiting for your reply. 

Thoughs at 24 weeks

Yes, a cheesy picture. I just feel weird taking them. But I know they are fun so I do it anyway.

My first thought? I always found it weird that when someone was pregnant they always told you how many weeks they were. I would ask and get something like, "Im 28 weeks now." and in my head I am trying to figure out how that works month wise. Then I give up and just say, "aww fun!" Of course now, it makes sense. For the most part.

Then apparently once the baby is born it is all about months, even after the 1 year mark. Is your baby a year and a half? No 18 months. I still do not see the logic on that one but I am sure I will. Anyway. I am now 24 weeks (go ahead try and figure out the months) And I thought It would be fun to answer the more common questions I have been asked.

Do you have a name

The answer is yes. We have picked a name. It will be her name, unless we decide it just doesn't work. I have shied away from telling people because I fear the "oh...thats a....nice...um name.." moment. But I am getting over it now. Her name will be Jocelyn. And she will be ours. And she will be our Jocelyn.

How are you doing

For the most part I am doing well. Minus the fact that each day I am unsure if my stomach will be happy with what I eat or not. But, with such a small space who can blame my poor stomach? There might also be a few other things that are intersting but I feel no need to share them here. So yes, I am doing well.

Had any cravings

No cravings. At least not any different from before. In fact I probably have the opposite. Things I use to crave that my brain and possibly my heart yearn for but my stomach and pregnant self screams at the thought of. Most of these are things that are not good for me so I am not too upset. But I do, however, greatly miss milk. And my favorite Cold Stone ice cream creation. I am pretty sure that not too long after having Jocelyn I will be sending someone to get me a glass of milk and Chocolate ice cream with brownie and carmel.

Is Cory excited

Cory is quite excited. He makes me feel so happy and excited to be his wife and to be a parent with him. He will be the most amazing father ever! He loves to keep his hand on my stomach all the time. Really. He finally felt her move a few weeks ago. Which says a lot. She does not seem to like to preform (what? my child?) The only time you can get her is when he is laying his head or arm on my stomach. Apparently she does not like to share. We will work on that later.


So there you have it. My thoughts at 24 weeks. Kind of long. It happens. Maybe I will spare you the 34 week post. Or the,she is here novel. Maybe not.

A day of thanks.

As we expres our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.-John Fitzgerald Kennedy


Thank you to my Husband, Grandpa Williams, Grandpa Pulsipher, Cousin Joe, All of Cory's amazing friends and especially those who have given their lives for our freedom. To all veterans, I am forever thankful.

Today is the day

Cory and I found out if we were having a boy,girl or an it. Well, for sure baby is not an it. And for sure not a boy. So...a girl! All of my siblings have had boys first. I tend to be the stubborn one though. I hate to say it, but we both were a little bummed not to have a boy. But secretly I think I knew all along. I just told myself I didn't because I didn't want to feel silly saying, I think our baby is a girl then have a boy. Anyway....here is our picture of our little girl. I will grant her, her privacy and not show the picture that proves it.

Maybe?

Still no pictures...someday. On another non picture related note, I think I actually felt our baby move last night. People have been telling me I would feel it soon but I had not. Or at least, as far as I knew. I felt a random muscle spasm here and there, but nothing consistant enough to lead me to believe it was a baby instead of a muscle. But last night Cory, Emily and I were hanging out, wich is quite usual these days. Cory was laying his head on my stomach and apparently the baby was not all about sharing that space because I felt a little twitch, and another twitch and another all right where his head was. I was excited and told Cory, he felt bad, apologized to baby and moved his head. Ha.

As Promised

Another update! Sorry, no pictures though. I just have not had time to take them. But I hope those who read may someday forgive me. So here is our update.

The Mince family is officially growing. As of March 28 2010 we will have another Mince in this world. (if Cory gets his way there will be two more. But I kind of hope not.) Anyway, we are both extreamly excited. Of course with the excitemnt comes some realization of the responsabilites that we will take on as well. I know this will be a challenge as well as a blessing, but I know it is a challenge that we are more then willing to take on. Again, we are so excited and feel so blessed.

On that note, if you are already a mom and would like to share advise but are afraid I will take offense. I won't, share away! You obviously know more then I do. Also, if you feel the urge to call me prego...I will kindly remind you that I am a person and not a spaghetti sauce.

Update!

It has been a while. Basically, both my computer and Cory's decided that turning on was not the cool thing to do anymore and at the same time. Cory got a new one, but is so protective of it that I cannot go onto my blog or facebook with it or put pictures on it. I am not upset. Even if I could I would not have any pictures to post because I lost the battery charger to my camera after I went to California in July and the battery died shortly after that. Hence, no updates. BUT! There are good things to come. So stay tuned. Someday in the near future I will have pictures that I have taken with my camera that has a charged batter, that I can download onto a working computer and post on this blog. Be excited.

We thank you for your service.

                   Vietnam vet, Iraq vet July 4, 2009 Malad Idaho. Semper Fi

I have never actually stayed overnight in a hospital before, though I spent much of my childhood going to them and for some reason wishing I could stay. But I think that was more because of the fact that whenever I went I would get balloons and all sorts of attention. At that point needles were a part of my life. I would even request a specific needle each time they took blood.

Well, this weekend broke my track record. Long story as short as i can make it, On Tuesday I worked out with a personal trainer. She worked my triceps and shoulders a lot but nothing too crazy. The worst part was at the end when she had me use a machine and do something called a drop down set. But even then it wasn't so bad she was practically lifting the weight for me. So, when I was sore the next couple of days I complained but was not surprised. Wednesday- couldn't lift my arms, Tuesday-couldn't lift my arms, Thursday- still couldn't lift my arms and there was so much pressure in them. It hurt and was weird but we all thought it was working out. Friday comes along, not as sore but it hurt to move my arms. That evening we drive to Rexburg to visit my cousins and sister. My arms hurt but I didn't want to be a baby anymore, until they were twice the size they normally are! 

                                              My arm after a lot of swelling had gone down.

                                                 My are should be the same size as Sara's

So I ended up in a hospital, spent the best hour of my life crying (yes crying) because the nurses were fishing around for veins to start an IV ( 6 in my hands 2 in my arms not to mention one nurse would pull the needle out then stick it back in) Stayed overnight where they proceeded to poke me three more times to draw blood and one more for good measure to give me blood thinner. It was great, I loved it, kind of. I looked like popeye. 

* I am in no way trying to make hospitals or nurses look bad. My mom is a nurse and I have a lot of respect for her and nurses and hospitals in general. My arms were just huge. And I rode in a wheel chair for people quite larger then me. The end.

A year ( and now a month ago because I am just now posting this.) I was newly married, new to Utah and just starting my very..interesting  job as a receptionist at a hair salon. (Posting from my first day for those who want to know just how interesting is here. hint start the second paragraph) It is crazy to think how much you change and learn in a year. ( and a month)

Though A year is not really that long, it seems to be one of those mile markers. Its like you have reached a certain status. When people ask you how long you have been married, they don't just chuckle at you like they do when you say 3 months. You have finally celebrated a real aniverasry. By the way, why do people say things like 2 month aniversary and 6 month aniversary? Doesn't aniversary mean whatever it is is anual, as in once a year? Just a random thought. But back to the mind ramblings at hand

When Cory and I were first married it was weird to me that people would say how fast a year, two years or five years went by. It felt like forever to me! Not in a bad way, but I just couldn't wait to have some more time under my belt. And, with a ten month engagement we felt like we had already been married for almost a year. But then the next thing I knew, it was 8 months, then 10, then a year. I don't know if it was just the fact that I needed to get through those first few months, or that I worked as a receptionist at a hair salon and had nothing better to do then clean and count how long I have been married. I will probably assume the latter. But it has been a year and a lot has happened. I am excited for the eternity ahead of us.

Crazy Mad Props

 A couple weeks ago we had an impromptu family gathering at my grandma's farm in Idaho. My cousin had been in a car accident on her way home from a lifeguard class. Everyone in the car was ok, except my cousin broke some bones in her face. 

   I just want to give my cousin some crazy mad props because I know I should. (name that song) Lets face it, to have your face all swollen and bruised at age 15..or 16 ( im a bad cousin) is probably not the most ideal situation. Yet, she was as happy as could be when we went to visit. And, from what I hear, though she was the only one injured that night she was the one taking care of everyone else. I have a seriously awesome cousin. 

  Love you Shala, feel better!

On my mind

I have pictures to post, but no time to post them. But I do have time to post a little blog of the things that have been on my mind lately.

Cory and I are nearing our one year anniversary. It seems like it should be our two year.

Other things on my mind? California. It is starting to warm up here (finaly!) and all I can thin of is the beach. Will I ever get used to it? I am totally and completely homesick right now and I cannot wait until July when I go, or maybe I won't wait and just go randomly sometime soon. Who knows.

Also, I am really in a shopping mode right now. I really want to go shopping for new clothes and things for our house. We have spent most of our time here with bare walls and limited furniture. Which doesn't bother me that much, at least furniture wise. But I really want some personality in our home now. I would love to get some fun throw pillows and maybe curtains, and of course wedding pictures to hang on our walls ( in progress hopefully happening soon) Oh and a Kitchen Aid. It counts as decoration. But, I do not have a limitless bank account so I will not have all of these at once. So which do I get first?

Many random things on my mind. But I thought I would throw it all out into cyberspace for all of you who miss my insessant talking.

How much will you lose?

I don't know about anyone else, but Cory and I are big fans of the Biggest Loser. I have never really watched it until this season, and we are really enjoying it. As we sit and watch the show while eating ice cream and pizza it occurs to me that this situation is quite ironic. Then I think a little more and decide that, given my goals for the year, this may not be the best way to go about things. What are my goals for the year?

  Well, since you asked, basically my goals are not to gain ten pounds just because I am married. I am determined I will not "let myself go." I was never in shape so I could "catch a guy" so why stop now? 

  So back to the biggest loser. Watching it made me realize that I am not impervious to weight gain as my loving husband seems to be, and I need to be better. So what have I done? I joined the pound for pound challenge. It is a fun idea, every pound you lose a pound of food is donated to a food bank. Not that I have a lot to lose but anything helps so,why not? Also I plan on competing in a race that consists of a 400m swim and a 5k. I am excited. Wish me luck! (and if you are in Utah, do the race with me!)

  If anyone wants to start working out or get their routine going then let me know, I am more motivated when I am motivating others. 

I love Birthdays, don't you?

To continue with our March fun, on the 20th it was the frist day of spring ( not the 21 all you crazy people out there who do not know when the actual first day of spring is....) and if that does not make it special enough, it was also my 25 birthday.
It was a fabulous birthday full of phone calls from friends and family, eating great food, feeding the ducks, walking around Downtown Provo and Cold Stone. (of course!)


Cory took me to a place called Ottavio's. It was delicious, and the cute old man playing the accordian and singing made me want to start singing "Bella Notte" or at least watch Lady and the Tramp.

Did you know that ducks can be really violent and even border R rated? Well we discoverd this fact while feeding the ducks, and at the BYU duck pond to say the lease. (and no these are not pictures of ducks being violent, obviously!)

I have seen and heard about Build a Bear for a long time, but never done it because of the price. Well we decided a 25 birthday was worth the price so we each made a bear. I bet you can't guess which one is mine......

The first two weeks of March

The first two weeks of March were pretty busy in the Mince household. Both Cory and I have birthdays in March. So it has been full of birthday celebrations and, of course, a lot of fun having. What better way to start off a Birthday month then with a new hair cut? My hair stylest is awesome and suprised me with some full on bangs. I love them!




Next on the list? A combined Birthday Party for Cory and me. With good friends and good food how can any gathering go wrong?

Speaking of good food, I found a recipe for these chocolate covered red velvete cake balls that we had at a friends baby shower. They were amazing! I highly recommend them!

Next on the list of wonderful March happenings? I flew to the dreded state of Arizona to visit the fabulous Lisa Blocksage and a handful of other close and amazing friends as well. If Arizona didn't mean death in the summer, the people there would almost entice me to want to move there. But the summers do mean death and I did only say almost. But I will visit anytime! (well almost, not in the summer of course)

Have you ever thought about how amazing it is that everything in life has a purpose? Well, to save you all from one of my novels I will just say that the boys in the picture above and their family were definitely sent to Simi Valley California for a purpose even if it was just for ten months and these two girls in the picture below are a part of the reason I ended up at CSUN even if I did not know them or want to be there at the time.

Finally, to end these two weeks and give a great start for the next few to come, we went to the Draper Temple Open House. Thanks to our friend Lissy we knew the right building to go to and didn't have to wait at all. But even if we did it would have been worth it. It was beautiful! But when is a temple not? The spirit was so strong and it made me so happy eventhough it was so cold outside!

Dusting off the good ol' vocal cords

Though you might have heard far and wide that I am the worlds greatest aquatics coordinator and could find no greater calling in life, (as the lightening strikes) you might be suprised to know, if you do not know already, that I have another passion. This passion is music, specifically the performance of the "classical" vocal type.
Having been relocated to Utah away from my trusted voice teacher I have fallen a little out of practice. I am in the process of finding a new one, but that does not change the last few months. Why am I telling you this? You may ask. Well this is why.
After paying a visit to some of my very good friends in Arizona a fire was re-lit inside me to persue some sort of performing. So, today I was looking on the website for Utah Opera and discovered they will be auditioning for the 2009-2010 season chorus. This was posted on the 16, the auditions are the 25 and 26. Ugh! My first thought was that there is absolutely no way I could be vocally ready for that. Not in one week without a coach or teacher. So I decided not to do it. Then I looked at the line up of operas. So great! Just a couple being Carmen and Suor Angelica ( of which the picture up top is from, so dramatic and beautiful!). Both amazing operas.
Now I am indecicive. Should I set up an audition? Can I really have an aria vocally ready in a week? Can I pull of the sight reading? Sight reading always firghtens me, especially nowThey want you to have signigicant vocal experience, do I have that? Or is this more for Grad Students? My biggest fear in doing this when I am not quite ready is of introducing myself into the Utah music world in a poor way. I have no idea what kindo of competition is out there or if I can compare to it and no one who has been there to give me any tips for the audition.

So now that you know my concerns, what do you think? Should I do it? Or should I spend the year really preparing myself and audition for some other smaller things in order to present myself better?

And just so you know, this is really not a case of stage fright or anything, I am not one to be afraid to just throw myself into an audition if I know I am prepared. This is more a case of not knowing if I could really be prepared in a week and if I have "signigicant" vocal performance experience.

Having fun

There has been a lot of fun having in the Mince household these last couple months. First Emily came to visit and play a show with our friend Mallory. And lets face it, when is that not fun?

Some good times at the University mall. I am wondering if I should count how many pictures like this we have. But really, if people are going to keep making rediculous sunglasses we are going to keep taking funny pictures with them.



For the most part it was rather warm when Emily was here. But right before she left she was able to experience some fresh snow at Sundance.



Next came Valentiens day. This Valentines Day was my first real Valentines day. We were together last year but Cory was on base. Because of this Cory wanted to make it special. We had a lot of fun and he got me some awesome perfume and a beautiful necklace! ( no he did not actually put it in the cheesy box but I used it for the picture.)



And last but, of course, not least. Stephen turned 22 in Feb.! So crazy. Cory and I made him a birthday dinner and some delicious ice cream cake on Saturday night. Following Pulsipher tradition we did not have birthday candles, but we did use the next best thing, bigger is better right?

Finally some pictures!

Cory and I have been without internet since January. The reason for this? I do not understand the language of internet and because of this I could not decide if it was worth it to pay more for a higher number of mpbs. In the end I was assured it kind of matters. But I am in the process of bringing us back into the world of internet and have some pictures to post from way back in December! Enjoy.

What better way to start of the pictures then with a family picture? For some reason people thought this was a normal picture and all they thought was wrong was the fact that we didn't fix the red eye. Do I really always dress that bad?



We love to walk around the Simi mall when the weather is nice. The coi pond is a favorite. There are some rather large coi in there right now.



Our origional plan was to leave Dec. 30 so we could go home, sell our contract and move. But the call of the beach made us stay. This is what we got the next day. I am so glad we didn't leave!



We spent New Year's eve with Cory's family. These are some of his cousins. They were smart and celebrated at 9. I should do that.



This is my Grandma Williams. I love her. She is so funny and such a trooper. We took her to the cold beach when she was in California to get away from the cold in Idaho. But give her a book, some blankets and hot chocolate and she will roll with the punches!



This is the funny and rather fat and large pelican on the ventura pier.

Blue Avocado

For those who know me, you know I am not someone who loves "designer" things. Or even "trendy" things. For the most part. But I believe I may have found something that might fall into that cagagory that I want, and the fact that I want it as bad as I do kind of makes me laugh.
Why? You may ask. Because what I want so badly is not a purse, shoes,toy or clothes what I want are grocery bags. Not just any grocery bags, reusable grocery bags. And not just any reusable grocery bags, but blue avocado grocery bags.


I love these bags. Not because they are cute and I would probably use them for more then groceries, and not necessarily because they are reusable (though I am a big fan of reusable) But mostly because they are "I live in an apartment without a driveway, it is cold and I only one to make one trip from my car to my door with all of my groceries" friendly.Check them out, they all work together, and you can even get a comfy shoulder strap thing. Silly I know, but I hate cold and I hate making more then one trip from my car to my apartment.

Feel Good

In high school I played waterpolo. I loved it. I felt pretty hard core and, lets be honest, I was. I am now five years a high school graduate (that is so weird!) and have learned that not being in waterpolo and practicing for the minimum of 3.5 hours a day as hard as I can makes a difference in my body. That being said, I am glad I was in waterpolo because it taught me to love working out, or more, how I feel when I do. Which is where this fits into my blog.
I have discovered that I am an addict. I admit it, I am addicted to feeling good. I will do whatever it takes to feel good and in these last five years I have discovered that one of the biggest things taht does that for me is exercize. I have had my ups and downs. Times where I went forever without working out, telling myself I will do it another time as my past self looked on in disgust because I swore I would never be like that. But I think that I have found something that works.
I have had several different routines, most involving a lot of cardio and watching how many calories I eat ( not necessarily eating well though) I shied away from weights because, though I loved it then, I did not really want to earn back my bulky build with shoulders that, one of my friends so lovingly told me "scared him". But now I have learned. Forget the shin splints and weezing! Strength training is the way to go! Don't get me wrong. I still do my cardio. Just not as much. Which my legs are thankful for. I feel so good. strong but not "scary" and in tune with my body. Also, I have been making sure I eat healthier food.(another thing I swore I would never do) sometimes I will even eat vegitables! (gasp and shock!)

Basically, if you are looking to "feel good" I highly reccommend some strength training and healthy eating. Sure we all love our sweets. But it all just feels so good!

Quick Update

It has been a while since I have posted. The reasons keeping me from posting still remain, but I have a few minutes so I will do a quick update.

Cory and I went home to California for Christmas and were able to enjoy some warm sun and great beach time near the end. We also were able to go to Disneyland with Cory's family for Christmas Eve which was a lot of fun. We got back to Utah on Jan 2 and moved Jan3. This being the main reason I have not posted. Our new apartment does not have internet yet.

After getting back to Utah, I recieved a call for an interview for a job I applied for before Christmas and, after a couple interviews am now the Aquatics Supervisor for the Orem Parks and Rec. If you have known me for a while you might be laughing. But I feel very blessed to have this job. I went from Salon receptionist to a full time job with salary and benefits. I have now been at the job for two days and am loving it. Its crazy, but fun.

That is really about it for my quick update. I should have the internet in a week or so and will post pictures and all sorts of fun things.

A special request.

It has been a while since I have posted. But todays post is a special post.

     A girl from my work had her baby during the christmas break. Unfortunately there were some complications, they did all they can but their child was not able to make it. Now their insurance is not going to pay for their efforts to save their child because he was not alive "long enough". I will not waste your time going into how I feel about this, I will just make my request.

  There is a fund in which people can donate to help these parents pay for the insurance bills and a head stone for their child.  I ask you to please, even if it is just giving up your change jar, see if you can help. To get more information and to donate go to this link. Thank you for your help and please keep this family in your prayers.