The Energizer Bunny

I did not realize how sluggish and yucky I have been feeling over the past couple of weeks, until this past week. I had so much energy and felt great! I'm at 11 weeks, so it only seems fitting that I would start feeling better right about now :)

I celebrated by puking my guts out last night. I was so proud to say that I hadn't thrown up and had it pretty easy, and then last night happened. Yuck! 

Kent and I had our 2nd appointment this week and we met our doctor, Dr. Eddy. I'm not sure yet if we'll be going the hospital route, but if we do, I think I'm in pretty good hands. He reminds me of a long time family friend and I really, really appreciated his laid back personality. 

Getting insurance has been a never ending nightmare over the past few months and we finally went the route of MedicAid. FOR THE RECORD: WE DO NOT TAKE HANDOUTS AND ARE TYPICALLY AGAINST GOVERNMENT WELFARE PROGRAMS. However, I couldn't get insured :( and there was NO way that we could afford to have a baby on our own. Thank you good ol' Uncle Sam (for the 1st and hopefully the last time). All in all, we found out we were accepted into the program- phew!

That night Kent and I watched "The Business of being Born." I HIGHLY reccommend it to all people having or planning to have a baby. I had first learned about mid-wives and other alternatives to hospitals when I was in college. I agreed with a lot of what they were saying then, and I'm agreeing even more now. So now that we have insurance, I don't think we're going to go that route...or at least we will have the hospital as "plan B."

This morning I went to my old roommate, Julie's, Bridal Shower. It was just lovely and I am very excited for her. It was fun sitting with her and Megan and giggling about old times. Boy have I mellowed out since living with those girls! Back in July I told Kent that 2 of my friends were going to get married this year...Jeanette, and Julie; both of who were not dating anyone at the time. They are BOTH getting married on the SAME day!

Well now I'm just rambling about nothingness, so I should let you go.

We're in for another busy week and are looking forward to seeing old friends and having some fun!

Family, Friends, and Fun!

Kent and I summed up the week as a good one.

Kent found a new business brokerage that he's quite interested in. He gets along really well with the broker and they've been negotiating terms, but I think Kent just may sign on.

I've been a leasing machine and this week I closed another one. I don't know if I really am that amazing OR if the rental market is starting to pick back up again...I'm gonna stick with the amazing reason :) Haha!

On Thursday my cousin's wife let me know that they were coming to Arizona to visit Todd's parents and that they wanted to stop here as well. We had a short visit with them over veggie lasagna and gianormous strawberries. It was a lot of fun. We always love seeing them.

Yesterday we went with some friends, Adam and Lauren, to a Japanese Festival in Downtown Phoenix. It was really neat watching all of the drummers, dancers, and looking at all the cultural foods and other items. I've read/watched shows about some of the "gothic" culture in Japan and the Animae...and all those people were out too! It was all very fun and interesting.

Afterwards Kent and I grabbed some dinner in Chandler at a Chinese/Mexican restaraunt, Chino Banditos. I had eaten there many years ago, and wanted to try it again. My favorite part was the snickerdoodle cookie at the end...and of course spending time with Kent.

Then last night we had a little "Office" marathon.

This weekend we also found out that we get to buy a new Water Heater ($480)- woo hoo! Kent noticed the other day a small pool around our current water heater and it was determined we needed a new one. We saw this coming when we bought the house, but it still didn't help.

Once again, I don't know what this week holds for us. I'm supposed to have an appointment with my Doctor, but I still don't have insurance, so we'll see. UGH! We'd been considering going through a midwife anyway, so this may not be such a bad issue. We're going to watch, "The Business of being Born" this week, which may help Kent come around as he isn't as on-board as I am. 

Well I think that is about it. Have a great week!

Perfection

This has been the most absolute perfect weekend I have had in a really long time!!! On Friday, my mom came up to just spend time with me. I almost never get her all to myself, so Friday was so special. We went to Kohl's, Target, and the mall, and got lunch. We talked and talked and talked, and it was just perfect! 

I bought my first "maternity" clothing item- a pair of linen capris that are 1 size too big. I think those are going to be my favorite pants this summer because they are linen and will breathe- sigh! My mom also bought 2 pairs because they really are super cute.

Then Saturday morning I woke up and got to go shopping all over again!!! One of my best friends, Sara, came up from Tucson and we went to another mall and spent a few hours together. We never get to see each other (this was the 2nd time since my wedding), so it was especially nice.

That night I took Kent out for Valentine's Day. We were going to go to the Macaronni Grill, but it was a 1 1/2 hour wait- no thank you! So I told him I could possibly stomach some Mexican Food from La Parilla Suiza which was just across the street and not nearly as busy as the other 50 restraunts on the block. It was really good. My mom and I used to go there quite a bit, and since then they have changed up their menu. I don't think Kent was impressed at first, but when the food came out I saw the sparkle in his eye. Their presentation has become a bit more modern as opposed to traditional, so the food looked really pretty! 

Afterwards we went to the Hyatt at Gainey Ranch to watch the Flamenco Dancers. It was quite packed and we didn't have the best seats, so after we soaked in the environment we headed home.

This week Kent and I also both gave speeches at our Toastmasters' meeting. Kent gave his 10th and final speech, so he will be moving onto a different manual. It was probably the best speech I have heard him give and he really knocked it outta the park!

We don't really have anything too special planned for the upcoming week, so we'll see what life throws us!

Have a great week!

Weez Gotz Talentz

This past week we attended the baptism of a friend, Lauren Wallace.  Adam has been dating her for awhile now, and they make a really cute couple; they've very intelligent and we enjoy our philosophical and political discussions with them.  We've had them over for dinner, and they've had us over as well.  We're hoping to go to the Renaissance festival sometime next week with them.  Apparently, Arizona has one of the largest Renaissance festivals in the country.  Who knew?

We also attended a ward "talent show" (more like a humiliation and laughs show) where Carly sang a song and did a little dance to "Jesus wants me for a sunbeam."  I did some juggling with tennis balls, and the two of us did a wheel barrel race.  I'm just glad we weren't called up to do some of the more humiliating stuff like dancing to MC Hammer's "can't touch this", sitting on whoopee cushions, doing a nutcracker/ballet dance, or playing the part of Juliette from Romeo and Juliette -- all tough acts.

Carly and I are baking chocolate chip cookies this evening.  They look amazing, according to Carly.  I think this is the first time we've ever baked together -- it was kinda nice.

We've also decided to try something new as of today - we'd like to start reading a scripture in the evenings together after dinner and clean-up.  We used to read our scriptures in the morning together, but we've been getting up at different times and Carly could use the extra sleep.  :)

The baby keeps whining, or wait, is that Carly...?  Yep, Carly's been a total basketcase lately.  Among  the funny things she's cried over this past week: the pizza she picked up at Little Cesar's was a peperoni pizza instead of cheese only - waaahhh! -- (I know, tough life, huh?)  I keep trying to remind her of the starving kids in Africa, but that doesn't seem to help much.  (She laughed at this paragraph, so don't worry, she's totally aware of me slamming her) :)

Oh, and we ate at Denny's for dinner on Thursday.  Got their Grand Slam dinner for FREE.  That was nice.  I've eaten at Denny's a few times before, but I gotta admit, their pancakes were amazing this time; apparently they've done some new things with their ingredients -- we actually were impressed and surprise surprise, enjoyed the meal.  

I've been talking with a hedge fund manager this past week about taking over some of the marketing roles of the company -- we'll see.  Truly, I wouldn't be very interested in promoting their 2 funds, so much as I would be interested in learning more about the industry, and how they promote their services to accredited investors.  I'm still very much wanting to pursue being a business intermediary; more so for the intent of having first dibs on businesses that come down the pipe, and getting 5-6% commission as the self-appointed buyers rep.

Still, the focus is on Eleava for now until we can stabilize it's cashflow and get it on a semi-auto-pilot again; we've lost a lot of clients to foreclosure, and a lot of the agents that used to refer us business have been stepping into the property management arena.  Carly has expressed a desire to have me more involved in the day-to-day operations of the firm, so I'll be trying to help out a bit more on that for now.  

As much as I've not enjoyed working with Eleava much the past couple of years, I've felt a renewed desire to possibly franchise the company.  Real Prop Mgmt out of Utah has grown from 11, to 23, to 38, to now over 200 franchises in just the past few years.  Ironically, the same 4 Harvard MBA's who decided to spear-head Real originally talked with me and Jack Eberenz, who was the consultant working on Eleava with me when we first started talking about possibly franchising.  (Jack has almost 30 years of experience taking companies from concept to nationwide franchises, including ReMax and Realty Executive, as well as The Hat Club).  However, the 4 boys Jack and I were talking with knew we still had atleast 12 months to go before we would be in a position to take them on as partners, and they opted for Real instead, apparently getting a deal they simply couldn't refuse.  Now I'm more inclined to compete with them.  The 2nd mover usually has the advantage over the trailblazers, and they have no competition right now.  The industry is still very fragmented, with mostly mom and pop shops dominating the scence.  I'd like to change that.

Anyhow, enough business.  Back to Carly, the baby, and I.  

We're happy and are very excited about the future.  These are some exciting times we're living in.  

Hope all our family and friends are doing well.

Onward Ho!

This week we had our 1st doctor appointment, making the idea that we are pregnant, a fact. It wasn't so bad as it was mostly an introduction to being prego. My doctor obviously knows me very well as she knew she could start winning me over to the idea of pregnancy with gifts and a prescription for a Dairy Queen diet. Apparently I need to focus on gaining weight while I am pregnant- I don't know how I feel about that though.

Kent has been a super great husband this week. The beast inside of me became unleashed as it was nourished with a diet of hormones...Kent knew how to protect himself while taking care of me at the same time. For being a rookie at this, I think he is right on par :)

Yesterday, we went to Temple together and then to Borders Bookstore before getting a bite to eat at Chipotle, and then planned to head to a party. Well, the day was going just great until we got to Borders where I started crying because I couldn't find anything to read. Chipotle was having a Cardinal's deal where if you wore red, your lunch was free. Well, the lines at 2 Chipotles were forever long and we decided to go home. Just to give you a little background on how ridiculous this next part is...I'm completely turned off to all Mexican flavored foods. So we're in the car and I start balling because I wanted Chipotle. We then decided to skip our friends' party and go home for a nap and some ginger ale...and to protect the general public from the hormonal beast.

Aside from that little "reaction" I'm doing really well with not having much morning sickness. Hopefully yesterday will be the end of the mood swings as well.

We're also settling into having our own Brokerage, ELEAVA. It's nice to finally be a little more settled with everything.

Well, I think that is really about it for this past week. On Tuesday we have our first Sonogram to make sure everything is in place.

Have a great week!