My Favorite Things

I was "tagged" a while ago by Lyndi, and now I'm finally getting around to doing this. This is supposed to be a list of my favorite things. As I was trying to think of things mostly food items came to mind. Maybe that's because I've been constantly hungry all the time lately, I don't know. Anyway, here are a few of my faves:

1. Back and arm scratches. Not a massage, but scratched lightly. Josh knows how much I love them that we'll be sitting watching TV together and I'll just plop my arm on his lap and he'll start scratching it.

2. Strawberries. The best fruit ever! So succulent and sweet, such a pretty color. I just told Josh yesterday that if he ever needed and idea for a gift for me or if he ever just wanted to make me happy, all he had to do was buy me strawberries.

3. My George Foreman grill with removable plates. I grill so much more now. It's so easy to clean. It's great.

4. Giordano's Pizza. The best pizza in the world. What more can I say. I will miss it a lot when we move from Chicago.

5. My scanner. I am loving the fact that I can now scan all my print photos onto the computer and then put them onto CD's. I got married in the "olden days" before digital pictures were popular, so my first project is scanning in all my wedding pictures. Next will be my Europe pictures.

6. Arizona Sunsets. They are among some of the best.

7. My down comforter. I inherited it from my great aunt, and it's super high quality. It's the most comfortable thing, I love to just snuggle in it, even in the summer. It makes getting out of bed in the morning that much harder.

8. Europe. This is such an indredible place, so full of history, charm, romance, beauty. Maybe if I can get my pictures scanned in I'll post some of my favorite places from Europe. I'd love to go back and explore more.

9. Beagles. I don't have one, but I think these are just the cutest dogs. Every time I see one I tell Josh I want one. I hear they can be wild and crazy though.

10. Target. I don't know how I'd get by without this store. I've probably given them too much of my money already.

IT'S A BOY!!!

Yep, definitely a boy.

He's quite flexible, touching his head with his toes.

They gave us some 3D pictures too!

And, just for kicks, my most recent belly shot.

Spring Break Fun

Spring is finally here!!!

For this year's spring break we were unable to take our usual big trip due to our schedules, but we were still able to manage a quick overnight trip to Wisconsin. Since it was a pretty snowy winter for the midwest, Josh had been wanting to go skiing. And yes, believe it or not, there are actually ski resorts out here in this flatland part of the country! I was surprised when I first found this out. And there are actually more places to go skiing in Wisconsin than there are in Arizona. Natives from the west would surely laugh at the ski areas in Wisconsin because they're not on big tall mountains, but rather short hills. But hey, they're perfect for the beginner skier as Josh is. I opted not to ski because I figure it's a little too early to teach our baby how to ski. I was able to just relax, watch Josh come down the hills, watch a movie, and read. It was nice.

The whole drive up we were nervous the snow would all be melted because the whole week prior had been quite warm. But Devil's Head Ski Resort said they were still open. We trusted them and low and behold there was snow and we weren't the only ones there! Some of the snow was slushy but Josh was still able to have a great time.

That evening we drove up to the Wisconsin Dells area and ate at a restaurant that we had gone to last year when we visited the Dells. It's this GIGANTIC lodge type place, it's so fun and yummy! They had a bowling alley next door, and since we had only been bowling once before in our entire marriage (and we even lived next door to a bowling alley for two years!) we decided to have some bowling fun.

As usual, Josh showed off his athletic ability and beat me all three games.

The next day, before we drove back to Chicago, we decided to explore the friendly city of Madison. This is the capital building downtown, pretty much the biggest building they have. But it's a nice enjoyable city.

We also hung out at a local mall for a bit, did some window shopping, then went to see the movie Vantage Point. It was a great entertaining movie, I recommend you see it if you haven't!

Six Years Strong!

Yesterday Josh and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary! And I can happily say I am still madly in love with him, even more so than the day we were married. We have done so many great things together. We've endured good times, bad times, fun times, sad time. But he's always there for me, he supports me, he's a great husband and friend. I'm so glad I married him!

To celebrate, we had planned to go out to dinner at a nice restaurant on our anniversary, but then we were able to get Bulls tickets for a game the day before our annivesary. Since Josh has been studying like crazy for his surgery rotation boards, he decided he couldn't go out two nights in a row. So the Bulls game was our celebration. It was a lot of fun! We hadn't been to a game before, and it's been on our stuff-to-do-in-Chicago list for a while. What was even better was they won! (they played the Utah Jazz) and because they won and scored over 100 points we all won Big Mac's! That alone totally made it worth it. ;) So can you guess what we ate for dinner the night of our anniversary? That's totally right, big macs!! I really dislike McDonalds, and I eat a big mac maybe once a year, if that. I think the last one I ate was also from winning one at a Blackhawk's game.

We had decided not to get each other presents this year, but I couldn't resist getting Josh just a little something. I looked up anniversary gifts by year, and for your 6th anniversary the traditional gift is candy or iron. The modern gift is wood. So I got him a little basket filled with candy. The nice thing is, it doubles as an early Easter basket! I know, cheesy huh. But he thought it was cute and thoughtful.
The best thing about our anniversary was that the weather was so nice! It's finally creaping up to the 40's and 50's. That alone puts us in a great mood. Spring is in the air!!

I thought it would be fun to also include pictures of us through the past six years. Luckily our anniversary always falls near Spring Break so we've been able to take fun trips around our anniversary. You can decide if you think we've changed much.

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

Protecting your blog privacy

My friend Darby made a good post on her blog about how to keep your blog more private so you don't have problems with creepy people posting strange things. I thought they were all great tips so I wanted to share (I hope you don't mind me sharing your post Darby):


"first i went into my settings and did the following

Went to Settings, selected Basic

Add your blog to our listings? NO
(this means that when i update my blog it does not show up on the blogger homepage or any other page as being updated - very important)

Let search engines find your blog? NO
(this means that search engines can not bookmark my site at all - bad if you are a buisiness, good if you are a family)

(Scroll down and click Save Changes)


Next I went I went to Comments (still in settings)

Who Can Comment?
Registered Users - includes OpenID
(this means that only people who can comment are those with gmail accounts - or who have active blogs open - this helps eliminate computers from spamming)

Enable comment moderation? Yes
(this means that no comments will post to our blog with out us approving them first - this way you can axe anything before it shows up)

Show word verification for comments? Yes
(this is super annoying, but important to stop spam and deter unwanted comments because it's an extra step)

(Scroll down and click Save Changes)

LAST THING
I never mention last names, show my address or town and I try to not tell the full names of anyone else on my blog either. also i don't post birthday specifics or when i'll be out of town. all of that will just lead to a home alone movie where the burglers find out when you are leaving. leave that kind of stuff to personal emails to family or blog about it when you get home. I also try to respect my friends privacy by not posting photos that could embarrass. The internet is really quite insane. once it's on the web it's ALWAYS on the web so post with courtesy and care.

All in all those are my safe blogging tips. the first few are really important as they blog the search engines from seeing your blog!"


I already went and made the changes, and I removed all the last names of people in my links since it's good not to post full names. I hope these things will prevent me from needing to make my blog private. I really don't want to do that!

My Week

Not much going on these days, and not much exciting to blog about. I figured I'd just write about my week.

SUNDAY: I got to sleep in, ate breakfast in bed, relaxed, went to Stake Conference in the afternoon (we usually have 9 am church) and heard a General Authority speak~Elder Douglas Callister of the Seventy, made dinner, set new goals for Josh and I, clipped coupons, talked to family on the phone.

MONDAY: Worked a long, busy day at work, came home and crashed.

TUESAY: Went to a dr. appointment in the morning. They didn't do much, just questions and a few labs, but in about two weeks we get to find out what we're having!! Then I came home and did laundry and dishes, made lunch, enjoyed Josh being able to come home early, did computer stuff, planned a dinner menu, then in the afternoon/evening went with Josh to a youth activity at the bishop's storehouse, which happened to be an hour drive away so it took all evening and we didn't get back til quite late.

WEDNESDAY: Got up early to take Josh to school by 5:45, then went to the gym since I was already up, took a nap, tutored 1st/2nd grade at Reavis Elementary for a couple hours in the afternoon, then did some grocery shopping, made a stop at the local produce store, relaxed a little, did some reading, made dinner, went to bed early.

THURSDAY: Worked all day, then went to our weekly LOST potluck/party night with fun and fabulous friends!

FRIDAY: Worked a long, busy day, came home to a tasty meal Josh made, then crashed.

SATURDAY: Slept in a little, then headed to the gym in the morning braving the treadmills once again (It's been a while since I've run, I still took it easy though), caught up on some needed cleaning, read blogs, made lunch, and that brings me to the present. Now I plan to read some, maybe work on some crafts, wait for Josh to get home from studying, then we'll have our date night. We'll either go out to the movies or else stay in and watch one of our Netflix movies and order Giordano's pizza. It'll probably depend on if it's still snowing. Before bed we'll turn our clocks an hour forward because daylight savings time starts tomorrow! This means tomorrow will be only a 23 hour day and we'll lose an hour of sleep. (I still think this whole time changing thing is a bad idea and a waste of time. We should just stick to either daylight savings or standard time all year long. But oh well. Thank you Arizona for being smart.) Good thing tomorrow is Sunday and we can take nice nap after our morning church!

So I guess this is a pretty typical week for me- work, chores, some shopping, a little me time, a night or two with friends, a date night. As you can see I have a pretty nice schedule. I love it! Hope you guys have had a more exciting week than me!

My little baby bump

For those who wanted to see...

Note: this picture was taken right after eating dinner, so that's also contributing to the bump. I don't think I'm really this big yet. Although my appetite has been ravenous the past two days! So I know I'm bound to grow much more soon.

Irritated

Lately I've been extra irritable it seems. I'm not in a bad mood at all, I just find some thing really irritate me! I'll share:

1) Radio music in the car. I usually always listen to music while I'm driving. It keeps me alert and entertained. But lately, every song that plays irritates me! It's either been way overplayed, has repetitive lyrics that drive me crazy, or it's just plain annoying. So I've been driving in silence that past while. I need to get some books on tape or something.

2) Potholes. Chicago streets can be quite dangerous to drive on this time of year. Since this winter seems to have been extra cold and more snowy than in the past, there are significantly more potholes! Cannot avoid them. And some are huge, gaping holes that could cause some serious danger to my car if I'm not careful! Some roads you practically need four-wheel drive just to get through!

3) Slow drivers. It seems like every time I go to get on Lake Shore Drive (the mini-highway by our house that runs along the lake) I get stuck behind some slow driver. I'm always tempted to honk my horn and yell "go a little faster!" I really don't try to drive real fast or anything. I just get irritated by people who don't pay attention to anything around them when they're driving.

4) Headaches. For the past week or two I've had a headache every day. It usually sets on after I eat lunch. I take Tylenol, but it does nothing for the heachaches. Tylenol never has helped my heachaches, but I'm not allowed to take anything else! Really stinks. My dr. said it could just be pregnancy related. So in the mean time, I'm just trying to stay hydrated and deal with them.

5) Cockroaches. Last year we had a little bit of a cockroach problem (I know, GROSS!!) See, we live right above our building's basement/storage area/junk area/laundry area, and lots of little critters live there and made their way up to us through the floor and wall cracks. Finally, they disappeared and we haven't had a problem! Until this past week that is. I saw a big one right outside our apartment door one morning, I screamed probably waking up all the neighbors, and ran for the roach killer. I killed it, then sprayed all the cracks in our apartment. I don't want to find ANY inside! If I do, I'll seriously have to think about moving. They give me the heebie geebies.

6) Vacuums with bags. I went to the store today to try to find more bags for our vacuum. They have to be a certain size you see, and this was the third store I tried, thinking they would for sure have them. They didn't have any though!! Ugh. I've never had a problem finding vacuum bags in the six years I've had my vacuum. It still works great and everything, but I guess it may be time to upgrade to a bagless vacuum. Seems to be the trend these days.


Writing all these things makes me sound like such a negative person! Despite the things that irritate me, there are lots of things that make me happy lately. I should probably share these just to balance out the irritations.

1) I have a clean house and all my laundry is done! That's got to be one of the best feelings.

2) I haven't had any nausea for about a week now! It's been great, and I found that taking my vitamins in the evening as opposed to in the morning really helps.

3) I'm starting to get a visible baby bump! Several people have commented that they can tell I'm starting to show. This makes me happy because it means I'm leaving the "I just feel and look fat" stage.

4) I bought a new shower curtain! We needed new bath mats anyway, and I decided our bathroom needed a little more color. Before, we had plain white bath mats (which I probably won't ever do again, they just get too dirty) and a plain white shower curtain. Now I have chocolate brown bath mats and a cream/brown/green striped shower curtain.

5) I have a great hubby! He's been gone long hours every day, but still is able to help out with the cleaning, cooking, and shopping. He's great!

Fun with the scanner

I recently acquired a new printer/copier/scanner/faxer machine, given to us for free by someone in our ward who no longer needed it. I was super excited because for the past few months I had already been talking to Josh, trying to convince him this item was a necessity, rather than a frivolous want.

Well, when we inherited it we knew the ink cartridges were in need of some cleaning first before we could print, but after several attempts to clean them per the manual's specific cleaning instructions, buying new ink cartridges, and spending a long conversation on the phone with a technical support person, we've realized something inside the machine itself is broken and is in need of repair. Since we payed nothing for this machine and still have a regular printer that functions perfectly fine, we are not going to invest any money in trying to get if fixed. It also means we can't copy anything, and we don't have a phone line to fax things, so that leaves only the scanner function working. But that's ok!! That's the function I was most excited about anyway. We got it at just the right time to scan in our ultrasounds pictures so you could all have the opportunity to "ooh" and "ahh" at our little miracle peanut. :)

I also wanted to try scanning in old pictures I have, so I looked through a photo book from my younger years and found several pictures of birthday. I figured this would be a fun place to start. So, thanks to my new scanner you get to enjoy some fun, but not always attractive, pictures of me through the years. I think I'm pretty brave to do this. No laughing allowed.

The Original Birthday:

November 17th, 1981

10:43pm

8lbs 2oz, 21 inches long

Desert Samaritan Hospital, Mesa, AZ

(yes, I know the stats from memory)

3rd birthday:

we're at Pioneer Park in Mesa

4th birthday:

I was in love with cabbage patch kids at this time,

so I had a cabbage patch cake and I also got a cabbage patch!

5th birthday:

6th birthday:

8th birthday:

I don't think I had a birthday party this year because we celebrated my baptism.

I was so proud to have my own set of scriptures.

9th birthday:

We're at Reed Park in Mesa. This is when the girly parties started!

All these girls stayed over for a sleep over too.

My poor parents!!

(yes, it's November and we're still in shorts. Love it.)

(I'm the one with the huge plaid shorts)

10th birthday:

Remember, I said no laughing!!

11th birthday:

This ended up being smack dab in the middle of 5th grade science camp!

But it was fun to have my friends around.

Sorry to Maranda and Malinda for your pictures ending up on here!

(I'm wearing the hot pink sweat suit. I loved that outfit!)

13th birthday:

entering teenagehood

this pretty much sums up how nerdy I was as a teen.

(man, my family had that brown table for a lot of years!!)

26th birthday:

Ah, finally a little more decent looking.

Guess I've changed some over the years!

I know there were several other memorable birthdays, I just don't have pictures from them. The most fun birthday I had that I can remember is when my friends threw me a surprise party, which really was a complete surprise! They even passed out flyers/invitations at school without me noticing. And the time when my friends made me a shirt that said something like "it's my birthday, wish me happy birthday" and made me wear it to school all day. Embarrassing. Another fun one was when there was a meteor shower the night of my birthday and Josh and I went out to the desert to watch it. Talk about being able to make a bunch of birthday wishes on shooting stars! I hope I have many more memorable birthdays to come!

Valentine's day love

So this is my very first post on the famous Wallbrechts blog page but I wanted to post a little Valentine's day love for my sweet wife Melanie. Some of the top reasons I love her are:
10. She is musical, something I am not. I love to watch her play her violin, sing in church, or just play around on the piano.
9. She is humble. She's talented, everyone knows it but you wouldn't know by talking with her.
8. She takes care of me. We're both busy people but she makes sure there's food in the house and the laundry gets done. I try to help out some too, but she takes care of things.
7. She is a stone cold fox. I mean seriously she has the whole package. The green eyes, the blond hair, and a body that could melt a grilled cheese sandwich from across the room.
6. She works hard for her money. It's great to have a sugarmomma.
5. Beyond working hard, she is a great nurse who loves her profession and has, does, and will touch to lives of many patients.
4. She is very adventurous. While I have some pretty crazy ideas, I can usually talk her into it. That includes: SCUBA, hiking the Grand Canyon, foreign travel, and interesting ethnic food.
3. She has a testimony of Jesus Christ and the Church. For her it is something she was born with.
2. She is pregnant with our sweet little baby; she will be a fantastic mother.
and
1. We will be together, forever. What a blessing!
Happy Valentine's Day sweetheart!