Helping the Needy

Today I had an interesting experience. I was out shopping (yay for being off-track!) and had stopped at Kneaders and bought one of their delicious chocolate chunk cookies...they might possibly have just become my new favorite dessert :). I pulled into a shopping center parking lot and was finishing my cookie before I went inside. I was almost done when a middle aged guy with red bloodshot eyes approached my car and held out his hand as if he were asking for money. I'm not sure why, but this completely shook me up. I shook my head and quickly locked the doors. He must have realized he had alarmed me because he immediately backed off. I felt really shaky after this and decided not to go into the store after all. But as I was driving away, I couldn't help but feel bad. What if this man really needed my help? I had cash. I could have helped him. What was I so afraid of? I couldn't shake these thoughts. I guess that's why I'm writing about it. I can't help but wonder about him. My tendency is to be suspicious of people begging for money. I'm not saying that's right, but it's how I usually feel. I'll gladly help someone if I know they genuinely need it, but then again, who am I to decide who is actually needy and who's doing a con job? I guess the only solution is to do as the Savior said and “remember in all things the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted” [D&C 52:40]. Hopefully next time I'll remember this :).

Valentine's Day...better late than never!

For Valentine's Day this year Dale completely surprised me by bringing me flowers to school. He's never done that before, so of course I didn't expect it this year...that's his tactic. Sporadic = surprise :). I only wish I had gotten a picture of them! They were BEAUTIFUL!
For Valentine's Day this year we celebrated early. We had Dale's brother Paul and his girlfriend Danielle over for dinner Saturday night. We dined on delectable Papa Murphy Pizza (very fancy, I know :) and red Kool-aid/pink lemonade accompanied by a delicious salad. For dessert we pulled out the chocolate fountain...only it wasn't working so well, so it turned into a chocolate fondue pot. We had lots of fun with the fondue...
A picture is worth a thousand words...and I have 3 :).

My Hero =]

Dale is my hero. Why? Because he carries in all of our groceries every week. Apparently it doesn't take a lot to make me happy :). Not only does he do that, he also always carries them inside in 1 trip. That's right folks, 1 trip! He HATES having to go back multiple times. So each week he carefully loads everything up in his arms and makes 1 trek into the house. As long as he doesn't break anything this works for me too! At least until our little baby boy is big enough to help :). Then they can share the role of being my hero!

It's a BOY!

Boy, oh boy are we excited! We went to the doctor last week and found out we're having a mini Dale, as he calls it :). We couldn't be happier!

I already bought all of my bedding...I guess you can say I'm just a little excited :). It's all boy- cars and airplanes and trucks...I can't wait to decorate the room!

Random Ramblings

January is a bleak month for me. It brings inside recess days and subzero temperatures, not to mention colds and having to scrape my windshield. It's my very least favorite month. It's kinda a letdown too, after all of those holidays in a row.
And, now I have another reason for wanting January to go by super quickly. Dale and I find out if we're having a boy or a girl on February 3rd! Yay! I AM SO EXCITED! Dale's still pretty much convinced it's a boy. I've been reading my Baby Center Email every week, and a couple of weeks ago they mentioned it's good for both the mom and the dad to talk your baby while it's developing. Dale has taken this role very seriously. He even welcomed "Baby Hunter" to FHE last week :). I tell ya, he's going to be one SUPER dad!

December Flu

If somebody gives your hubby the flu,
he's going to ask you to take care of him.
He'll probably even ask you to go to the store late at night...in your PJ's...to get some Theraflu, juice, and stuff to make homemade chicken noodle soup.
If you give give him some Theraflu, he'll take 20 minutes to whine about drinking it before finally gagging it down.
When he's done taking his medicine he'll lie on the couch and begin watching the entire consecutive second season of 24 on Netflix. Then he'll ask for a glass of juice.
If you get him a glass of juice he'll probably ask for some homemade chicken noodle soup to go with it.  When he finishes eating the soup he might insist on helping to do the dishes...even though he can barely manage to stand.  You'll have to gently FORCE him to get some more rest.
When it's time for bed you'll have to kindly "suggest" he sleep on the couch so he doesn't contaminate your bedroom (the one germ free area left in the apartment).  And even though he's on the couch and you're in the bedroom with the door shut, you can still hear him coughing all night long.
The next morning you'll force him to take some more Theraflu.  Then he'll insist on going to church because he has to play the piano for the ward Christmas Program.
After church you'll have to persuade him to eat something...which is very unlike him.  That's when you know this is a bad flu.
If you get him to eat something, he might take a nap...and his fever might actually go down.
When he wakes up you'll take his temperature again and find out that his fever is back.  You'll probably start to get tired of your hubby having the flu.
If he starts to feel better, he'll probably go to work the next day.  But then he'll most likely overdo it and have to come home early.
After repeating this cycle for a couple more days, he'll finally start feeling better.  Yay!  Then you'll have to do some serious de-germing of the apartment.
If he's feeling better he'll probably start sleeping in your bedroom again...even though his cough isn't gone...and then you might end up being the one to sleep on the couch just to get some rest :).  FINALLY, after Christmas, his cough will go away, and he'll feel 100% better.
And if you ask him if he wants to get a flu shot next year, he'll say NO WAY!  And so, you'll probably be going through this again next year...

Update

Well, as it turns out I've been super tired for the last few weeks and have become a major blogging slacker!  But now that I'm off-track and can fight the extreme fatigue by taking nice long naps and sleeping in late, it's time for an update.

First off, Dale and I are super excited that we're having a baby!  (thus the extreme tiredness :)  I'm due June 26th, and we couldn't be happier.  This pregnancy is going by fast.  I'm already 12 and 1/2 weeks and almost done with my first trimester.  Dale and I went to the doctor last week for the first time.  We got to hear the heartbeat AND see our sweet little baby in the ultrasound :).  Dale is pretty much positive it's a boy.  He always calls it Baby Hunter...which is the boy name we're thinking about.  I've gotta admit he's going to make one incredible dad :)

Dale had his 2nd Annual Jingle Dale Rock Christmas Concert (wow, that's a mouthful!) last weekend.  It was so fun, and he did such a great job.  He even made me a t-shirt that said "I'm Dale-icious"!  I love it!  He made me show it off at his concert :).  His website is also up and running...FINALLY!  It's been a 2 year project for him.  It's nice to see all that hard work pay off!  Check it out!  www.dalejessee.com

That's all for now, but I'll try and post some pics soon!