DONE!!!

This morning I finished my last Final of the semester, and of my time at BYU! I studied like crazy (more than I needed to) and got 100% on the exam, which is definitely a first for me. It's usually a big letdown when I find my score on the screen in the Testing Center. But not today! Woohoo! Going out with a bang! It's exciting to be graduating, but it's also pretty strange. I can't believe my BYU days are behind me. Josh will be going back to get an MBA in a few years and I'll be going back for an MFA degree at some point (maybe as a middle-aged empty-nester!), but neither of us are planning on doing our graduate work at BYU. I wish there was a December graduation ceremony, but there isn't any formal ceremony. Josh and I could come back in April and walk in the April graduation ceremony, but I doubt we'll be back for it. It would seem a little anti-climatic. Anyway, here are some fun memories of my BYU experience....(warning: this is a very long post of reminiscing! Sorry, I had to. How many times do you graduate!?)


I spent my first semester of college at the BYU London Center for a study abroad with the art department.

What a neat experience! I made great friends and had such a blast studying art in London, Paris, Prague, Berlin, and other cities in the U.K.

The rest of my freshman year was spent living in the Helaman Halls dorms at BYU. I lucked out with an amazing roommate, Kristin Drennan. What a wonderful friend!

Freshman year was a fun year filled with lots of crazy adventures in the dorms! Anonymous love notes, secret deliveries, spook alleys, dances, campus activities, all-nighters, and the frantic cramming for tests.

I also had such a great experience serving with these three amazing girls in the Relief Society.

I was definitely single and unattached all of my freshman year, but I had my share of interesting dates and set-ups. (No offense if you know this particular boy.)

My next semester of BYU was spent on a field study with about ten art students from BYU. We spent the first month of our trip in Tonga. It was definitely a little scary and uncomfortable at first!!!

But what a great experience it turned out to be. I learned soo much and had quite an adventure. Tonga has to be one of the most beautiful places in the world!

We spent the rest of the semester in Whakatane, New Zealand. We studied art and visual culture at a Maori university. This was a challenging experience, but I made great friends and I learned so much about myself as a person and as an artist.


New Zealand is simply breathtaking. I cannot wait to go back someday!

I spent the rest of my sophomore year at BYU living at Liberty Square with my good friend Lindsey Peterson. We had such a blast living together!

Soon after I got home from New Zealand I went out with Josh for the first time. I was smitten from the start....as shown in the picture above. (Taken right after my first date with him).

We started dating right away, and....

We got engaged near the end of winter semester. (My ring is actually a diamond, even though this picture makes it look like a little green neon light instead). This was such a fun semester of dating, but it resulted in the worst grades while at BYU! I was a little distracted.

We got married between my sophomore and junior years of BYU, so I began my third year at BYU as a little married woman. When I wasn't studying religiously at the library (ha!), I was learning how to cook! This was a fun time. I got such better grades (and such better sleep!) as a married student because I didn't have to schedule in time for dates and socializing.

I started BYU in the art program, but during my junior year I got accepted into the BFA division of the art program. I finally got studio space on campus. Hooray!

As far as art goes during my junior year, I spent most of the time on a series of paintings about the Great Salt Lake.

At the very end of my junior year I found out I was pregnant. I was so nauseous with morning sickness during my finals!

Luckily, I only had a few more classes to finish up, so I could fit my final credits in before the arrival of the baby. My senior year has been great! I had my final BFA art exhibit in October (see my art blog for more details). Once that was over, the semester wasn't bad at all. I just had a few last classes to wrap up, but it was a far easier semester than my past years.

I have LOVED my time at BYU. I feel soo blessed to have attended this university and to have been able to graduate. I have learned such a great deal these last few years, and I'm so grateful for this wonderful educational experience!

Under Two Weeks!

Here's a current picture of the growing pregnant belly. I am so excited to have less than two weeks left. Woohoo! I can't wait to have this baby out. She's due the 27th, not the 28th like I've been telling everyone. I was initially Dec 24th, but I thought it got pushed back to the 28th. However, I found out at my appointment last week that my due date, according to my doctor and my records, is actually the 27th. One day sooner. This may not seem like a big deal, but I was thrilled. Of course, I've been counting down the days, so it was definitely a nice surprise to hear that I could subtract a whole day! Anyway, everything's going well. I have my last final tomorrow and then I'd love to go into labor any minute after that!!! We'll see how it goes.

One other thing worth noting: Josh got the pins out of his finger this afternoon. Finally! He is soo glad to have them out. The pin going down the middle was about two inches long and the side pins are shorter. Yes, he kept all three pins and brought them home from his appointment. Don't be surprised if he pulls them out of his pocket and shows them off the next time you see him!

Clarke Baby Shower

After our Thanksgiving dinner with the Clarkes, my cousin Alli and I had a joint baby shower with the Clarke girls. Alli just had her beautiful baby girl in October. It was great to spend time with the Clarkes! Thanks so much for the fun shower! (You can see in this picture how big my stomach has gotten!! Geez! I'm about ready to burst.)





(You gotta love Marie's festive Thanksgiving sweater vest!)

Hawkins Baby Shower

The Hawkin's shower was almost a month ago, but I haven't posted in a while! This was my first baby shower and it was soo much fun. Thanks to Rindi and all my sister-in-laws for throwing it for me! This shower seriously got me so, so excited for the baby! I got so many cute, girly gifts! I loved it!

This is the cute "diaper cake" that Rindi made for the shower. I loved it! Rindi went to soo much work with all the shower games and plans! Thank you!!!

Corn Dog

This is Josh. I'm typing away with eight fingers as my corn dog looking cast (see Nov 11 post) effectively eliminates two fingers on my right hand. This cast actually gets me a lot of attention and I’m gonna miss it when it’s gone. I’ve tried to convince Lar that I know what she’s going through with her pregnancy because I have a broken finger, but there seems to be a disconnect. The cast creates random conversation with strangers. Examples of this are when I’m in an elevator or some other place and some one asks, “What happened to your finger?” My response--“I broke it.” That’s about where the conversation ends. I let them draw their own conclusions.
The most awkward part about the cast is giving a hand shake. When someone extends their hand to me I have one of three options: 1) Hold up my right hand showing the obvious dilemma, and then repeat the elevator conversation above. 2) Shake their right hand with my left hand. (Looks weird and feels weirder) 3) Do option one above only to have them extend me their left hand and make some cheesy joke, at which point I want to break one of their fingers.
There’s also the ridicule that comes from telling someone I broke my finger playing football when at which point they inevitably ask “tackle or flag”. I despise that question. I wish it had happened during the former but it didn’t. Then I think about a kid I once knew who through his back out while sneezing. Seriously, he really did. That makes me feel better.

Girls Night Out

Friday night I was able to meet up with a few of my very best friends from Jordan High. It was so great to get together with them and catch up on each other's lives. We don't see each other very often, so this was a treat! Love you girls!

Monkey Bread

I am addicted to this stuff. Okay, I've only made it once, but it's been on my mind ever since! And I have dough rising in the kitchen right now to make it again. I'm not quite sure why it's called Monkey Bread. All that matters is that it is delicious!!! It's similar a normal bread dough recipe, but you let it rise for 3.5 hours. Then you roll the dough out, cut it into rounds and stack them in a bundt pan to bake. You pull apart the little sections and it is soo good. It's the best when served with Marilee's recipe for raspberry butter, but even without the butter it is still amazing. Plus, our apartment is so little that whenever I bake bread the whole place is filled with the scent of homebaked bread. It's heaven!

Poor Josh

Josh was in a big football tournament on Nov. 1st and he came home with a really swollen and bruised finger. I convinced him that it was probably just jammed...but it was definitely broken! Oops. (I feel really bad.) When the pain and bruising didn't go down, he saw a regular doctor and then a hand specialist yesterday, who told him he would need surgery asap. Poor guy! The surgery needs to be done within 7-10 days of the accident, so they fit Josh in and did it this morning. Everything went well and Josh is doing great. (That might change when the numbness in the hand wears off!) I was hoping he'd be funnier after he woke up and came out of it, but he was pretty normal and coherent. No funny stories to share. Oh well. He has three pins through his finger, holding the bone into place, but he'll get those taken out in a month. And then he'll just do some sort of physical therapy to get his range of motion back. He also has to wear a sling and an ice pack until the weekend, which he's not too happy about. The sling definitely draws more attention to him than just the wrapped finger! This whole thing has become quite an ordeal! And we found out that his surgery will cost us as much as the big total cost of my labor! What a lovely (cough) surprise. I guess it's a good thing we're so loaded.


A special thanks to Grandpa and Grandma Tueller and Aunt Carolyn for helping us to and from the hospital, since our car is still in the shop until the weekend. We are soo grateful to live so close to family! They're not the only family members we've been bumming rides off of these last two weeks! Thank you!!!



One nice bonus of the surgery was Josh's new pair of fuzzy hosiptal socks. They've improved since the last time I had a surgery! I guess hospital socks now have grips on both the bottom and top of the sock. Not bad.

Any Advice?

Josh and I are wanting to buy a video camcorder before the baby arrives. Do any of you have suggestions? I've been looking online, but there are soo many options. Do any of you use digital camcorders or have you just stuck with the regular kind with little tapes? I'm only used to the kind with tapes, but maybe digital is the way to go???

Not a Good Combination

The car is in the shop until at least Thursday

+

The weather outside is frightful, and more rain and snow showers are predicted for this week

+

I don't have a coat that zips up around my big pregnant belly

=

A really fun week!

Luckily...

(1) It's not a long walk to campus and even Josh's work is just a block away from our apartment.

(2) I love, love, love going on walks with Josh, so this is just an excuse to walk with Josh to campus and anywhere else we need to go this week.
(3) We don't have any big plans this week that require a car.

(4) I have a really cute pair of wool gloves and three great scarves that will keep me warm!

(5) I have an awesome husband that helps me laugh at silly situations like this.

Halloween

Logan's favorite food in the whole world is KFC and he decided a few months ago that it would only be fitting to dress us as Colonel Sanders (his hero) for Halloween. My family was all over the idea and were hoping that he'd actually go through with it. He didn't let us down.
Josh and I went up to Sandy last night and were soo glad to see him all dressed up. I know I'm biased because I'm his sister, but you've got to agree that it's a pretty awesome costume! Atta boy Logan!

Someday....

...we will have a car that doesn't overheat every other drive!
Or... we will find an honest, knowledgable mechanic that can actually fix the problem for us!
Or... we will have a second car, so we don't have to rely entirely on the ten-year-old Acura!
Or better yet... we will be rid of the Acura completely and we will have two beautiful, reliable cars that will get us where we need to go without any finger crossing or silent prayers!!!

But until then, we will continue to enjoy (cough) the adventure of student life with a struggling little car! And if this is the worst of our troubles than we really have nothing to complain about.

nine weeks...

....and counting! I haven't had a picture taken of me lately, but here's about what I look like:

Last year Marie and I were janitors for a Tueller Halloween party. We tried to give ourselves pot-bellies, but we just turned out looking pregnant. They definitely weren't the most flattering costumes. Anyway, this is about the current size of my pregnant stomach. It's really popped out! (And I've still got a ways to go!) I had heard that the babe wouldn't move as much as she got bigger, but she is still moving around like crazy! It's so funny to watch my stomach move from the outside. I hope she settles down once she's born because she's sure an active little girl right now!

Recipes

TORTELLINI SOUP
1 roll (about 12 oz.) of Jimmy Dean sausage (I use original flavor)
1 onion, diced
5 cups beef broth
1 cup water
1 (28 oz.) can of diced tomatoes
1 cup thinly sliced carrots (I just buy the pre-cut matchstick carrots)
1/4 t. basil
1/4 t. oregano
1 (8 oz.) can of tomato sauce
1 T. parsley
Brown the sausage with the onion. Then transfer to large stock pot. Add the other ingredients and bring to a boil then turn down to low and simmer until the carrots are tender. (This usually takes about 30 min.)
Then add:
2 chopped zucchini
1 (8-12 oz.) bag of tortellini (I use the frozen kind and just let it sit out for 20-30 minutes so it's not quite so frozen when I put it in.)
Then simmer for another 20-30 minutes.

TOMATO SOUP
1.5 - 2 cups of matchstick carrots
1 cup chopped celery
1 chopped onion
2 t. tarragon
2 t. thyme
2 t. basil
1 t. garlic salt
1/2 cup water
Bring to a boil, then turn on low when onion and celery and turning clear. (5-10 minutes)
Then pour in:
1/2 cup flour
1 T. chicken granules
1/4 cup sugar
1 (46 oz.) can of tomato juice (not V8, just the straight tomato juice.)
1 (28 oz.) can of diced tomatoes
Let that simmer on med or med-low for about 20 minutes.
Then add:
2 cups of half and half
Stir that in and then you're done!

EASY BREADSTICKS
Dissolve 2 T. yeast and 1-2 T. sugar into 1.5 cups of warm water.
Let that rise for 5 minutes.
Then add:
2 T. sugar
1/2 t. salt
3 cups flour
Knead into a smooth ball. (You may need to sprinkle a little more flour). Let rise for 15 minutes. Then roll out the dough on a floured surface and cut into strips.
Melt 3-4 T. butter or marg. in a jellyroll pan. Dip breadstick strips into melted butter on both sides and then fit them all onto the jellyroll pan. I like to add parmesan cheese, garlic salt, parsley, etc. on top of them.
Bake for 20 minutes at 375 degrees.

Good Cookin

With the cooler weather and my art show all done, I have totally been in the cooking mood. I used to take pictures of everything I made when I was first married because I was so excited about it. I had gotten out of that habit, but now it's back. I think it's because I didn't cook over the summer while Josh was gone and I hadn't done a lot of cooking the last month or so because I was too busy with my art. Now I'm back in the kitchen, and loving all the new recipes Josh and I have been trying out! The above picture is some yummy homemade breadsticks. These weren't too difficult (okay, they're actually super easy) and they turned out great!

This is homemade tomato soup. It doesn't look that great in the picture, but it is soo good... and healthy. Always a plus! It has lots of diced tomatoes and other vegetables and it has such a good flavor. We took some over to my father-in-law and Josh's grandpa and they were both fans, as well!

Josh liked this soup even better than the tomato soup. It's a tortellini soup with italian sausage, zuccinni, tomatoes, carrots, etc. Soo yummy. It's got a really good flavor. Jae was sick last week, so I took him over some of this soup and he was better just the next day. I credit his speedy recovery to this delicious soup.

Finally, here's a picture of the yummy apple crumble pie that we tried. It was so good and fun to prepare. I felt so domestic and mother-ish pulling a hot apple pie out of the oven. Our neighbors brought us over a huge bag of apples from their tree, so it gave us a wonderful excuse to try out apple muffins and this apple pie. Yum. I like to attribute my growing belly to the fact that I'm pregnant, but who am I kidding? The main reason my stomach is getting bigger is because of all these new recipes!

A Little Catch Up

So my final show was last night and it went really well. I'll post about it when I get pictures from my sister's camera. I thought I'd give a quick update of a few things. First of all, here's a current pregnant stomach shot. My belly has grown a lot lately! Here's a picture from earlier this week: (You can totally see the line of my maternity pants. Not something I'm trying to show off.)

About a week ago Josh and I went to a BYU activity on campus for married students. This was a first for us and we were skeptical, but we heard that Comedy Sportz was coming so we couldn't resist. It was a fun night in the Wilkinson Ballroom with a catered dinner, musical performance, and best of all...some improv comedy from Comedy Sportz. It was a good break from working on my final art show. (It said semi-formal dress, but some couples were all decked out in tuxedos and long formal prom dresses! You know the poor husbands got roped into their tuxes by their wives!)

I loved the little place cards to show what we ordered. The head shot of the cow on Josh's steak card was my favorite!

The next night we went to Sizzler with my family after the BYU game for Jae's 24th birthday. Josh was soo happy to have steak two nights in a row! It was fun to be with family and to celebrate Jae's big day.

Final Art Exhibit

So I know I've already mentioned this, but here's one more post about my final art show. It will go up on Thursday...just two days! It will be on display until the end of the month. The opening art reception is this Friday from 7-9 pm in the main gallery of the Harris Fine Art Center on BYU campus. Everyone is welcome! My art reception will be in conjunction with the opening art shows of two graphic design students, so you can check out their work, too. (If my artwork isn't enough of an incentive to come maybe the work of the design students will convince you!)

I can't wait to have the exhibit up. It will be such a huge relief. I've been working like crazy to get it all done and I've still got some final details to wrap up these next few days. Josh has been so helpful with all the little details, and he's been so patient with me as I've been stressed out to the max! I'm sure he's even more anxious than I am to have this show up and over with. But it will be great and I'm really excited to have my work on display after months of laboring over it.

Josh's Birthday

Friday was Josh's 26th birthday! He's pictured above with a huge bowl of Grandma Tueller's famous carmel corn with nuts. It's his favorite! She was so sweet to bring over a fresh batch for his birthday. I'm pretty sure Josh was more excited about this carmel corn than he was about any of his other gifts! We spent a little time together then headed to Park City for Josh's mission reunion, which was great. Afterwards, we went to my family's house in Sandy for birthday cake and gifts. Logan had set up a big treasure hunt around the house for Josh, with two big bags of Reese's cups as the final treasure. Josh couldn't have been happier. (I promise Josh isn't as big of a sweet tooth as this post is making him sound like!)

Josh is amazing! He is the perfect companion for me and I'm soo lucky to be married to him.

Logan

This past weekend Josh and I were up in Sandy, using my dad's fancy tools to build some panels for my art. I had to make a run to Home Depot to get some materials and Logan asked if he could join me.

(This is beside the point, but I have to include why Logan would be so anxious to go to Home Depot: He bought a few long wooden dowels, which he later cut and made into wands for every member of our family....yes, you guessed it. He's reading Harry Potter. He just finished book five. Harry Potter has also incluenced his naming of our pigeons. Two of the newest birds are named Ron and Hedwig. In fact, he might be holding one of those two in the picture above. He says the next bird to be born is going to be Dolores Umbridge. Josh is so proud of him).

Anyway, I realized that I hadn't brought my wallet with me to Sandy, but Logan assured me that he could cover for me. Turns out he carries about $100 cash in his wallet. He's not your typical ten-year old. Either he's extremely frugal with his Christmas money or he's a thief. And either way it's pretty impressive. He was able to bail me out and pay my $50+ bill at Home Depot. On our drive home, however, he quietly mentioned that he would be charging me interest for the money he had leant me. When I asked what his rate of interest would be he initially said $5.00 a month. After thinking about it for a minute he decided it would actually be $5.00 a week. Smart boy.

The below picture is a sneak preview of the Fall Fashion Line of pigeon attire that Logan is currently designing. Notice the stylish red bonnet and green cape, both made of local grown materials. With his impressive design skills and his business sense, Logan is destined for success.

BFA Show

My final art show is in under three weeks! Click http://hawkinsart.blogspot.com for info and for a little preview.

Fish Tacos

Not much is new with Josh and I except that I'm still licking my lips over the yummy fish tacos I had last night for dinner. Josh and I got tons of gift certificates to Magleby's Fresh from our landlord over a year ago. We were so good at using them sparingly, but we finally used the last ones last night. I usually strike out at Magleby's. I think I've gotten a salad every single time and I just don't think their salads are that impressive. But last night, after seven hours of classes I was STARVING and a salad was not an option. I branched out and got the mahi mahi fish tacos. Yum. (They were almost as good as the ones I had at Becky's house a few weeks ago!) The tacos were so much better than anything I've ordered there. It's too bad that I didn't discover the fish tacos until I was on the last of our gift certificates! I'll just have to learn how to make them.

Speaking of fish tacos...I'll never forget ordering fish tacos with Josh at a restaurant in Mexico last summer. I was expecting some delicious fresh fish caught just that morning, but instead the tortillas were filled with fried fish patties (basically the generic brand frozen fish sticks that give you a bad feeling when you see them on the freezer aisle at the grocery store). Come on Mexico! You can do better than that! I'm pretty sure you invented the taco, and you could have even had a hand in inventing the fish! Ok, maybe.

The London pants are back

This is a long story, but it has a happy ending, so it's worth it: I spent the summer of 2005 in London on a BYU study abroad, and it was an amazing experience -- particularly for my taste buds. (Notice the beautiful freshly baked breads at the Borough Market above). For some reason I just went for it and ate all the English delicacies that I could find. I'm still not sure what happened to my self-control while I was there. Here are just a few of the pictures of me and the food.

The first, of many, trips to an Indian restaurant near the BYU London Center.

We are just about to dig into our dessert... following an already large-enough and fattening-enough meal of steak and ale pie.

Seriously, why didn't someone stop me!?

Just hanging out with my Professor's son....oh yeah, and a table covered in English candy, cookies, and sweets!

Needless to say, I came home much rounder. And I had to buy several new pairs of pants and tops to accomodate my new girth. Buying new clothes because of a weight gain is never a fun thing. However, I eventually lost the London weight and was able to box up those roomier clothes. The good news of this story is that those London clothes have been put to good use again...as maternity clothes! Josh will say "Oh, did you get some new maternity pants?" and I'll say "Oh no, these are just London pants." At least now I have an excuse to fit into them! I guess some nightmares do have happy endings.

Blueberry Pancakes

This morning I woke up and suggested we make blueberry pancakes for breakfast. Have we ever made them before? No. Did we even have blueberries? No. But was I craving them anyway? Yes. Josh didn't ask any questions. He took off in the car and returned 15 minutes later with blueberries. And 10 minutes after that we sat down to a delcious blueberry pancake breakfast. Yum. If blueberries weren't $2.50 for a tiny, little package I think I'd make blueberry pancakes every morning.

Date Night, SLC Style

We had such a fun date night last night! We went downtown to the Utah Museum of Fine Arts for the big "Monet to Picasso" show. It was a really great exhibition. Josh is a trooper because this is the second art date in a row. Last Friday we spent the evening going to several galleries in the Provo Gallery Stroll. The SLC Gallery Stroll is next Friday and I'd totally love to go, but I'm not even going to ask. I think that's where Josh would draw the line.

After the art show we walked around the Gateway and had dinner at California Pizza Kitchen. Yum. Josh got a delicious pizza, and I tried the BBQ chicken chop salad and I LOVED it. It was really, really good. Plus, food has been 10 times more satisfying ever since I've been pregnant. Josh is loving it. I'm usually not a huge fan of going out to eat, but now I'm all over it. Josh is taking advantage of this time and we've had some good eats lately.

Miracle Grow?

This is what my hair looked like about a year ago - nothing fancy, but nice and long. Just ignore the little hairs that are spiking over my forehead, it was after a long day. Okay, who am I kidding? I have little baby hairs in just about every picture I have of myself. Anyway, I have to have the slowest growing hair of all time. I think it will be another five years until my hair gets to this length again. In the meantime, does anyone know of anything to speed up the process? You know, secret off-the-market products, incantations, fertilizer, accupuncture, etc.

It's pretty sad when you resort to posting about your hair length. I guess it goes unsaid that it's been a pretty uneventful week. We did, however, go to a rivoting Reptile Show at the Bean Museum this week for FHE, but I don't want to post about it and spoil it for the rest of you - as I'm sure you'll all be attending next month's show.

Baby Update

The babe is 23 weeks and she's moving like crazy! It's been hard to focus in my classes this week because she's just been going wild in my tummy. I don't know what her deal is. Why all the thrashing around? It could be that (A) she's a BYU fan already and she's ecstatic to be on BYU campus, (B) she values a good education and she's just giddy about the high standard of classes I'm taking, or (C) she's on a sugar high from all the cookies I've been eating this last week. Those are my best guesses.

Many of you have asked to see the growth of the baby via tummy shots. We just weren't sure whose tummy you wanted to see. Ha ha. We took these pictures this morning and hopefully they will do.