I need a new hairstyle

{I miss short hair}

Now that its winter and my long hair is dry and flat and ug I am at that restless stage where I just want to chop it short. I go through this every year. Its been hard living away from my personal hairstylist (miss you mom!) cause it was so easy to say "hey cut off a couple inches" throughout the year. But since I've been out in wisco I haven't had the luxery of getting my hair done often so it ends up being same-old... and the longest I've ever had it. I love long hair.. I think I feel less vulernable with the length. Its fun to braid. Its easy to pull up. Its cute when I blow dry it out with a round brush. But I'm bored and sick of it getting tangled in the back with all my winter layers.  Plus lets be honest... I never really do it- I just dry it straight and it hangs there.. but thats the beauty of the length.

They say to not do anything drastic with your hair while your pregs... I guess you might regret it or the color could not turn out the same. Everyone thats known me for years says I look great with shorter hair but some friends out here say they love longer hair on me. Of course the hubs loves longer hair. I think I'm at the point where I need to stop talking about it and just do it... or not. What do you think? 

love. too short?

love the bangs.

cute bob. love the blonde 



reiki

{Have you heard of Reiki before? Yeah I hadn't either... }

I meet Ali through our Rewards & Recognition committee and we have become close work friends. She is a Reiki master and is always telling me about the benefits of holistic healing. I've always been a strong believer in positive thinking and found her approach to having a mind/body connection very interesting. Being pregnant I've really gotten into yoga and meditation. Every night I stretch and try to feel in tune with my body's needs. I have also been thinking a lot about my friend Danielle and her frustrating adoption process. Since she has done acupuncture before I thought she would be interested in Reiki as a form of relaxing and distressing. After a little research we made a date out of it and loved trying something new!

Reiki= a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also promotes healing. It is administered by "laying on hands" and is based on the idea that an unseen "life force energy" flows through us and is what causes us to be alive. If one's "life force energy" is low, then we are more likely to get sick or feel stress, and if it is high, we are more capable of being happy and healthy.

We learned that our bodies have 7 Chakras or "energy centers" that each represent different areas in our life. When Ali held a pendulum over these different areas apparently its supposed to show if its out of balance or something and what areas she needed to focus on. Very new aged thinking. I strongly believe that our minds are way powerful and can heal our bodies so it was interesting to me.

We both had a very relaxing experience. If anything it was a good half hour for me to forgot about the outside world, take some deep breaths, and focus on me. I actually read an article that says it can make you feel connected to your baby... I didn't feel any connections but I did feel at peace. Ali said there was a lot of love surrounding me :) She could feel angels at my feet helping me with my balance. She also said that the whole time she got the impression that it was a BOY... we'll see if the Reiki master was right soon! Overall it was fun to experience something new... if I ever felt way stressed or had super bad anxiety I would do it again.

if any of my wisco friends are interested here is her website
healinghands-reiki.abmp.com/home

missionary discussions with coworker {update}

remember my blessing in disguise post? Here is an update!

Given our busy schedules its been difficult for Lisa and I to meet outside of work and have more discussion with the missionaries. We've stayed in contact through email and gone to lunch occasionally. Its fun to catch up with her but over time I stopped asking her religious questions..unless I needed to clear up another Mormon rumor. The Elders never contacted me to meet with her again, even after I took her to church. But we got new Sister missionaries and they are great!!! Every week they would text me and see if they could meet up with Lisa.

Finally after the holidays I was able to have them over for dinner tonight and we had a great discussion over pizza :) (I rarely have the car cause of Scotts rotation so I had to order pizza.. whatev they loved it) Lisa come prepared with her insightful questions and brought the Gospel Principles book that I gave her at church. She said she had read it cover to cover and loved it! Everything made sense to her. She loved how everything was explained in a way that didn't "beat around the bush." It was simple and beautiful to her. Her main question for the missionaries was about our concept on the war in heaven and how the Savior became the Savior. We also talked about Joseph Smith and how he got the plates. She had questions about the "dark skinned" and we clarified that it was the Native Americans. I bore my testimony on the fact that being L.D.S isn't just my religion but that its my life. I explained more about callings and everyones role in the organization of our church and she loved our definition of the term "active."

Even though Scotty and I sacrificed our Friday night date night it was worth the spirit that we felt in our apartment tonight. I was scared she might be too much for our new sister missionaries but everyone got along great.  I love discussing the gospel with those who respect our views. Even though I don't think Lisa will be converted anytime soon its been fun to plant a little seed. Who knows who she is going to meet through her life that will have a misconception on Mormons.. and now she can set all of the straight!! I feel blessed to be that example in her life and look forward to more open discussions in the near future.

work drama

{change is always hard}

So even though its been a couple days since all this drama went down I still feel that I need to vent about it. Maybe it will help remind myself to not get so work up at the beginning of problems until I see how they play out or maybe it will help remind myself that I need to embrace change. That being said, a lot has changed at my work.

Long story short- a month ago my coworker and I announced to our clinic that we were both preg. Of course it came to shock to most that we were both preg at the same time.. but all were extremely happy for us, except the doctor we work for. She is a biotch (sorry, but there are no other words to describe her bio polar, entitled persona) So she didn't talk to us for a week... literally not one word. How rude, right? But expected. She did however say some really disrespectful things about my coworkers preg situation. So she went to our manager, who went to HR, who went above to the president of MCW and they took the comments very seriously- and for good reason.. who says such unethical crap in a work environment?! While she was out for 2 weeks on her yatch in St. Croix, they put my coworker in another dept. Crazy fast change. Although she got on my nerves at times, she was my bff here. Now I have to take on all her responsibilities and deal with the awkwardness of this doctor. At first they weren't going to give me her title as and Admin Assistant but yet make me do all her work... um no. Thats where all the drama really started for me. I already feel so taken advantage here. I fought it for days until they finally agreed that its only fair to give me the title and the pay!!! So in the end it worked out in my favor.. although I'm super busy now I at least get the pay and respect that I deserve. Its hard to get used to her being gone and having all the responsibilities but in the end it worked out better for both of us. I know I'm blessed to even have a job like mine and I need to stop being so negative and just deal. On the bright side I'm getting the heck out of here in 5 months... :)

trying to be domestic

I love my kichtenaid that I got for christmas! Its so easy to use and its getting me into the kitchen more. I love cooking but I've been so lazy lately... the last couple years Scotty has had inconsistent schedules so I haven't gotten into the habit of making a dinner every night, or even more then twice a week these days. I really want to cook more so if you have any delish recipes let me know :)



chocolate chip cookies



white artisan bread



starting to show

I can't believe I am already 16 weeks pregnant! This whole process has been so surreal... over the past couple weeks my belly has started to grow and its feeling more real. I swear every morning I wake up and freak out cause I feel bigger and bigger, so crazy. I can't believe there is a baby growing inside me. At first all these changes really freaked me out cause I could feel it stretching and all this pressure that would make me sick. I lost 1o lbs in the first couple months because of lack of appetite so I'm happy to finally be feeling better and I'm enjoying the process now. Its been fun to read all the prego books and find out how much our baby has developed every week. Its amazing.
Scotty has been the best supportive husband during the past 4 months. My morning sickness came at night and luckily I only threw up a couple times but I had really bad cramping and unfortunately I still have trouble sleeping so I'm always exhausted. Scottys been there for me with anything that I needed.. back/foot massages, whatever food I was craving (mostly sprite and salty foods), and sleeping on the couch when I needed the whole bed to be surrounded by pillows. He has had to be patient with me when I bursts of energy and want to go out and then an hour later I'm feeling terrible and wanna go to bed. Our date nights have been a lot of take out and movie nights. I'm lucky to have an almost doc hubs that knows whats going on when I get my paranoid concerns. He couldn't be more excited about my growing belly and is looking forward to delivering our baby.
I'm supposed to double in size between now and 20 weeks- My torso is so short that this baby is going to make me huge. Luckily I can wear scrubs to work! I've got bio oil, maternity jeans, cute preg tops, and the best maternity bra... I'm ready  :)  

15 weeks size of an apple



size of a lime



size of a sesame seed

12 week ultrasound pics

{12 week ultrasound }

This was my second ultrasound so I didn't cry as much as the first but I still get emotional even now looking at them. Its so amazing to see our little baby growing inside me. Hearing the heart beat makes all these months of feeling sick so worth it and brings everything to reality. They measured the spine and took some blood to make sure the baby didn't have down syndrome or other defects. Everything was perfect and the ob was really happy with how healthy the baby looked :) I'm gaining some of my weight back and starting to get a little belly! Can't wait for my 20 week ultrasound in Feb to find out if its a boy or a girl.

I'll be home for Christmas

Christmas Eve

we went out to dinner at the Jasmine, got silly pjs from the elfs, played games, and watched Christmas Vacation. I couldn't get in the hottub this year but it didn't matter since utah had no snow.. crazy. We had a great night!





mom and lil sis

 Christmas Morning

We woke up early cause Santa came for Scotts little brother Hayden! We had a great morning opening gifts and surprising his family with our exciting news...

Scotty with his lil bro Hayden

 Telling Scotts family that we are expecting a baby....

Mike is in total shock

so excited for their first grandchild!!!

 we headed over to my parents house for brunch with my grandparents. we spent the afternoon opening gifts

my sisters and I with grandpa O

My grandparents surprized us with a baby present... so thoughful!!

Jensen Christmas party

 gamma girls

 Jensen Family Pics

remake of a pic when we were younger (we do this every yr lol)

we didn't document our trip in pics that well cause we were so busy trying to see everyone/ do everything. We had so much fun telling everyone in person that we were going to have a baby. Since I'm pregnant I couldn't do our usual (skiing, iceskating, hiking, even temple square cause I get so tired at night).. but scotty went skiing with his family, I went to park city with my family, we ate at some of our fav resturants, caught up with kat and jon, saw my gamma sisters, visited family, got gel nails with  my my mom and sis, played michael jackson wii with my fam, went out to lunch with mike and jordi, saw scotts buddies for new years, and we did a lot of shopping. We were so spoiled and took full advantage of being with family and friends for that short amount of time. So sad Christmas is over and I'm back in wisco...but so happy we had an amazing christmas holiday!  

best fortune cookie ever

this is the story of how I told scotty I was pregnant...

{warning:  I only spared a few details}

A little over 3 months ago I woke up to a normal Friday morning and went to the bathroom to get ready for work. I had been feeling kinda crappy but since I recently got off of birth control it was totally normal for me to feel bad and to be a couple days late.  Being my curious self I took a preg test anyways just to get my hopes down and prepare myself for another torturous period. I didn't think anything of it and continued with my normal morning routine. When I got out of the shower I remembered and look down at the stick in disbelief. I stood there dripping wet, all by myself, in total shock. It was positive.

I'm pretty optimistic but when it came to getting pregnant I prepared myself for the worst. Even though it would be frustrating I was totally prepared to try for at least six months before I even started tracking ovulation and wait at least a year before I became obsessed and go to the doc for help. I watched my oldest sis try for years and I just assumed it might also take long for me... so I was fully ready to not be disappointed once a month. That being said, Scotty and I were trying and hoping and praying but not expecting anything to happen right away.

I don't really remember what happened during the next couple minutes... I was freaking out. I had to tell somebody... I knew scotty couldn't answer his phone and I couldn't say it over text/email. How was I supposed to get ready for work now?! Scotty was in the middle of his OBGYN rotation and had been really busy with long hours. I hadn't seen him really in the last couple days and I was looking forward to our Friday date night. Could I wait til then to tell him?! Being close with my coworker Mandy (who also found out she was preg that week, crazy!) I texted her and ran over to work.  Working together for over a year now we knew each other really well and had talked about ways I could tell my family when I got pregnant.  Since I couldn't tell Scotty right away I thought it would be so awesome to surprise him in one of those ways! For lunch we went over to P.F Changs and told the manager what I wanted to do... I grabbed some fortune cookies, made reservations, and bought a gift card.  We came back to work and after many attempts we put the same fortune in two of the cookies. (wrap the cookie in a wet paper towel and microwave for a couple seconds... then quickly replace fortune while cookie is still warm) We even glued that plastic covering back over them and you couldn't even tell!!  

Work was agonizing to say the least. I finally got a text from him around 4 asking how I was doing... I told him I had won a gift card from my Rewards & Recognition committee and I had made reservations at 6. He was stoked for free dinner and didn't even question it because I had won gift cards before. When I initially saw him it was hard to not share the huge news but by this point (and after all my planning) I could wait another hour. With the fortune cookies in my purse, we finally went to dinner. When I told the hostess my name she smiled at me and the other waitress's all gave that cutesy look at us and totally almost gave something away (scott says he didn't even notice but it was obvious haha) They sat us at a nice private booth and our waitress was super nice. I don't know if I was just anxious or cause I was sick being preg but chinese food was the last thing that sounded good to me..  I barely ate anything. gag.  We had a great dinner though- we hadn't really spent time together in awhile so it was nice to catch up and hear all about his rotation and his experience delivering babies. At one point he even said "its totally normal to take a year to get pregnant for like 80% of women"... little did he know he was about to get the biggest surprise of his life. I acted like I had to go to the bathroom to give our waitress the fortune cookies and told her to bring them out asap cause I couldn't wait any longer. We weren't even done with our meal but she brought them over and Scott picked one up right away. I could see the super glue on the plastic wrap where we had carefully put it back together. I tried my hardest to continue in our conversation but I was just staring at the cookie as he opened it up and read it. His expression was priceless... total shock/confusion. I can't say his exact words since he swore haha I guess my well worded fortune was so legit he thought it was just a coincidence cause we were just talking about pregnancy. He looked at me and I said "its true... I found out this morning... I'm pregnant!!!" AH he had no clue, we hugged and laughed and smiled and got really nervous/giddy as reality sunk it... it was such an AMAZING moment. I was so happy that he finally knew and that we were going to have a baby!!! The manager came over and said congrats and that he had told some of the tables around us.. one even payed our bill but remained anonymous. I'm pretty proud of myself for keeping it a secret, everything worked out perfect!

What was going to just be our normal every friday night-date night will now be a night we will never forget. We coudn't be more excited for this next chapter in our life :)            

2011 highlights

{2011 highlights}

Went snowshoeing when everything closed down since wisconsin got the most snow in one day that it has had in over 10 years. saw janet jackson in vegas with my sisters. Celebrated my 24th bday. I survived the lack of husband during his busiest year by watching Friends. celebrated our 3rd year anniversary. Scott passed the step 1 boards!! I helped out with young women girls camp. Stayed at a b&b in Door County for a little summer getaway. went to nauvoo with my mom and lil sis. Scott started his 3rd year of med school with easy rotations. spent a lot of time being photographers and learning how to edit. went to north carolina for the baby blessing of my 4th niece Ava. Spent a week at myrtle beach. Officially been at my job for a year. went to chicago with my girls. Found out I was pregnant! dressed up as snooki and pauly d for Halloween. Had a delish thanksgiving at the Jackmans surrounded by friends. Celebrated scottys 28th bday.
 Had an amazing christmas back in utah with family that we already miss so much.

Here's to 2011!!
 We had an amazing year.  2012 will be even more amazing... We are happy to finally tell the world that baby carver is due June 21 :)