I miss the cordial cherries

My dad always bought us kids a box of cordial cherries for Christmas. They were really yummy, until about the 3rd one.. and then they got too sweet. But it was dad's gift and we all loved and expected it. This year, I guess I got a step up from the cherries when I unwrapped these...

Thanks dad, I guess these will take care of all those years of extra sweet cordial cherries decaying my teeth. Merry Christmas!

My icicle is bigger than your icicle

I just wanted to share a little of Minnesota with you... interestingly enough, icicles on houses are a bad sign. That means there is heat leaking from your roof. Our house doesn't have any luckily!

We've gotten a lot of snow so far this year too. This is the latest snowstorm and what Kurtis had to shovel. Notice how deep it is on his boots. There was so much snow in the air, this is the best I could do for a picture!
Our house has been great in all this cold weather and we're greatful! But a comment you could only say in Minnesota.. "I hate it when it's negative!" -Kurtis, temperature outside: -30 with wind chill. :) Good thing we're going to Florida tonight!!!

14 weeks!

I am now 14 weeks pregnant and into the 2nd trimester (yay!). I was reflecting on some of my thoughts/feelings/etc. during this first pregnancy and thought I'd document and share them. Some are weird, but I'm pregnant so give me a break!

• It hasn't hit me yet that we're having a baby. I just feel fat.. I hear this is just a stage.
• I don't think my kidneys are working correctly because I have to pee all the time!
• I am finally able to eat meat without disgust.. although I can only eat small portions. Kurtis was about to nuts without meat in his dinner. I can eat anything else though. No random cravings.
• Most smells are OK to me.. however I've noticed that the smell of fresh toilet water is NOT appealing...
• I've been very lucky that I never got 'sick' and threw up during the first trimester. I did get nauseated but I curbed it if I kept snacking during the day.
• However, I am hungry ALL THE TIME and am so sick of eating! Who'd have thought?
• Kurtis has been SOOO patient with me and SOOOO understanding. I can cry at the drop of a hat (not crying, sobbing) and he is just so wonderful about it. He is clueless most of the time, but very comforting and reassuring. I'm so grateful for him. Thanks babe! :)
• I feel like a lazy bum because I get tired so easily. a
• Sleeping on my side is NO fun but it freaks me out whenever I find myself on my back. I feel like I'm killing the baby because they say lying on your back limits blood supply to the baby. Not that it matters, since I don't sleep well lately anyway.
• We scheduled the ultrasound for January. I'm trying to reassure myself that everything will be fine (or as it should be) and that I'm only having 1 healthy baby. (Twins run in my family...eak!)
• I feel so grateful that Heavenly Father has given us this baby and me the chance to be a mother. I can't wait. :)
  

Shopping spree!

Although we did venture out on Black Friday (at noon, for an hour), I decided to see if there were any pre-Friday good deals. I figured I'd be needing maternity clothes soon. I didn't find anything good in the first couple of stores I went to. Then, I hit the jackpot at Old Navy. Not only was there a whole section on sale, it was half off the lowest marked price! My total purchase was $27 for about $150 worth of stuff! Mostly shirts though.. anyone know where the best maternity pants are?

I love a good deal. And just to lure me in.. there was a rack of .97 cent baby clothes right by the register. I couldn't resist and bought my first baby outfit. I figured it was as neutral as I could get. We won't find out what we're having until January, but it was so cute! Yay for baby clothes!

Kurtis goes camping

Last weekend the older Scouts in our ward needed another Priesthood chaperone to go with them on a camping trip. Kurtis has gone with them before and was happy to jump on the chance. The only catch was that he's never been 'cold camping' since he's from Florida. So he insisted on taking our down comforter in addition to the 2 sleeping bags we have. This is just a little glimpse into his camping preparation of getting dressed...don't worry, those are not his undies. :)

I was tagged..

What is your husband's name? Kurtis
How long have you been married? 1 year, 4 months (it hasn't been so long so I count the months!)
How long did you date? officially, 7 months. Unofficially, we knew each other over a year before we got married and dated earlier.
How old is he? 25
Who eats sweets? Both of us. I love fruity gummy stuff and he loves the chocolate. We both love desserts.
Who said I Love you first? He did. He was so cute too.. it was early on in our official dating period and I wanted to say it too, but I couldn't. He actually stopped me and said I shouldn't until I was sure. He just wanted me to know how he felt.
Who is taller? He is, by 2 inches about
Who can sing best? Well, on key-I am. But he has a great voice! He just needs music to keep him on the right notes.
Who is smarter? This is not a fair question. We're both smart in our own ways, especially at being skart-alecks!
Who does the laundry? Me usually. Kurtis will put in a load sometimes when it starts to really pile up.
Who pays the bills? Me. I got that from my mother.
Who mows the lawn? Kurtis. We JUST got a free lawn-mower too from our fabulous friends and now it's too cold/snowy to mow. Oh well!
Who cooks dinner? I do. Kurtis is quite impressed too, except when I put onions in it.
Who drives? Kurtis. I like being chauffered!
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I do. I also got that from my mom. It's got the night stand too so I can put my water there.
Who is the first to admit they are wrong? Ummm... I'd actually say we're both stubborn.
Who kissed who first? Kurtis did. I wanted to kiss him on one of our earlier dates but didn't. (Major self-control!) It was a very sweet kiss. Very tingly.
Who asked who out first? Kurtis did. We went ice skating and he held my hand! I needed the support because I kept falling.. haha! I asked him on the second date though. For the NEXT NIGHT! But it was a Jazz game so I didn't know if he was just using me for the tickets. I guess not. :)
Who wears the pants? Both of us. He lets me be bossy but puts his foot down when things get outta hand.

Feel free to tag yourself with these questions!!

Man skills

My mom had nothing to do with carving pumkins for Halloween so if I wanted one, I had to do it myself. Now that I have Kurtis, it's his job to carve the pumpkin. So it's Halloween night and the pumpkin is not yet carved. What to do!? He finally got home from work and went to get his pumpkin-carving tools: a giant scooper, the largest knife we have and his drill, yes, his electric drill. 'What's it good for if I don't use it?' was his response to my scoffing. I was quite impressed with his skills I have to say. It was a beautiful night and we sat outside carving the pumpkin and waiting for the little monsters. Our street is pretty quiet so we only got about 20 kids. But the pumpkin was a HIT. 1 million man points to Kurtis.

Boo!

Yes, it's true

Yesterday I had my first OB doctor's appointment and heart our baby's heartbeat. We are 10 weeks pregnant and due June 6- just in time for school to end! We found out a couple weeks ago but I've been feeling tired and sickly for a month or so. Other then that I'm feeling fine. I wanted to put a lovely picture of the pregnancy test (the dipstick, haha!) but couldn't get a focused picture. We're THRILLED and feel EXTREMELY blessed. It will be interesting to see just what a Tucker/Gillman will do to this world. :)

I'm also super excited because my sister is also pregnant and about 3 weeks ahead of me! Now these cousins will be BFFs, you know it. Yay!!

City Beautiful!

Last week I had 2 days off (YAY!!!!) from school to go to the state teachers' conferences if I wanted to. Obviously I didn't and I convinced Kurtis to take me to Nauvoo. It took A LOT of convincing but we got there. It's about a 5 hour drive through small towns and beautiful countryside. We stayed in a small family-style hotel and enjoyed every minute of it.

When we first arrived, it was already dark and rainy. We dropped off our stuff at the hotel and changed to go to the temple. I was so amazed by the beauty of that temple! It has so much symbolism and history behind it, I couldn't help but drop my jaw whenever I looked at it. Our session was small, which was nice, and the sweet couple missionaries showed us some special bits of history inside the temple including Joseph Smith's sword and the Assembly Hall. It was a special experience to be there and to remember the extreme faith the early Saints had to build their temple only to leave it a week later when they were driven from the state.

The next day we bundled up to tour the original downtown Nauvoo. We took wagon rides through the town and heard stories about the Saints who once lived there. We got our infamous Nauvoo brick and hugged some oxen. I think Kurtis' favorite part was the gunsmith house. He was in heaven to be surrouned by so many guns!

It was so peaceful in Nauvoo and beautiful too. I told Kurtis I was too wimpy to be a pioneer and was glad I was born with the luxuries of this day. What made me realize this was when our tour guide told us that 9 babies were born on the frigid morning the first group of Saints crossed the Mississippi River, only 1 survived the journey to SLC. He agreed (that I was wimpy, haha!) but that he was grateful for what we had. I am so grateful for the sacrifices from those who came before me. They paved the way for me to be as happy as I am today and for me to be able to live with my family forever.

Apple of my eye

A few weekends ago we returned to the best orchard nearby. We didn't do the corn maze this time because we didn't have time (or the cash on-hand sadly) but we got our apples and walked around. We wanted to pick but then I found the "2nds" apples for half price!! Hello!!! They have little bruises or hail damage yet are still yummy to eat and PERFECT for an apple pie. We also got a massive pumpkin and saw the animals. I absolutely love the fall here. I've never seen so many colors in the trees. It also hasn't been that cold, although the temperature is slowly dropping. PS, not my best hair day so don't judge. :)

Rules, Rules, Rules

It is now the end of the 2nd week of my job teaching 6th grade ESL. I am really liking my job and getting to know the students one by one, some more then others because of their 'outstanding' behavior and neediness. After many days of craziness and gathering ideas, opinions, and curriculum, I realized that I needed to give my students a more structured environment. My hour with the students was sinking into an arguing match over doing homework or learning new concepts with a mean comment thrown in here or there among the students. One of my girls was so frustrated with the class that she didn't want to be in there anymore. I didn't blame her. I thought back on my experience student teaching in DC where the students suffered from a lack of structure. They didn't have the self-discipline or skills to be able to work independently, take notes or complete assignments. We had to go step-by-step with them and give them very structured lessons and instructions. Only then did we have success with them.

This principle of structure made me think of having rules or set boundaries in our lives. Why should we have them? I know I often ask. Why can't I just do it the way I want to? The beauty of this life is that we really don't have to do anything if we don't want to. We have the agency or ability to choose whatever we want to. Of course, with this agency comes unavoidable consequences, good and bad. Following Godly commandments results in promised blessings and visa versa.

I think of a quote I heard once relating to a violin's strings. Some may say the strings are tied down, restricted from their full potential. But if you loosened them they wouldn't produce any sound at all. It is only when they are tied down and tightened that they are able to produce beautiful music. It is the same with us in our lives. Actually, I think it is nice to have someone tell me what to do! Rules, commandments, structure or whatever you want to call it is what allows us to reach our full potential. They also keep us safe along our journey.

I gave my students some struture during our hour together and they thrived! Of course I met with some resistance but they loved the more positive atmosphere I had set in the room. (My bribing them with positive reinforcing tickets I call 'Wow's' and a drawing for prizes every week helped a bit too..) But I'm optimistic that this structure will help everyone and will allow us to get some things done! So the next time I'm feeling like I'm 'tied down' and am frustrated from the happenings of life.. I'll just have to remember this simple parable of the violin string.

Utah excursion, continued

I realized that I failed to tell the tale of our last stop in Utah! We stayed in Logan for the week after Lina and Jordan's wedding with Kurtis' mom's family. Here's a list of the fun things we did:

1. Hiked to White Pine lake with various rounds of 'The ants go marching' (English and Spanish versions), and 'I hate hiking,' (from William and Paola's brother). Needless to say, it was beautiful.

2. Getting to hold baby Lucia! Chauncey and Paola welcomed their new little girl Paola Lucia Tucker on August 12th. She's adorable!!! Congratulations you guys. Pao, I hope I look as good as you did in the hospital when I have a baby!

3. Watching the olympics. This is all we did every night!

4. Playing around, I mean working, on Grandpa Hansen's farm. Kurtis even let me use the chainsaw!

5. Spending time with family. It was great to see cousins, aunts and uncles, grandma and grandpas during our time in Utah. We're so blessed to have the support we do from our family. We love and miss you all!

Oh yeah, I found this great book at Grandpa Hansen's house. I studied it immensely. ;)

Free entertainment!

Last Sunday Kurtis and I found these sparklers in our garage. We had lots of fun with them. I guess you could say that it was our FHE activity. Haha!

Style points

We went to a garage sale yesterday and came home with almost $100 worth of stuff. It really was a bargain! Here's what we bought:

-3 lawn chairs

-2 nativity scenes (which were really all I wanted)

a couch and a loveseat
-some shoepolish (actually, she threw this in free)

-a grill

I saw the couches and was skeptical about them. However, they were in great condition with no pet hair! Our other couches are covered in cat hair even after numerous vaccuming attempts. Kurtis won't sit on them. The couches have a lovely print. I'm sure if I grew up in the 60s they would rock! I'd like to pay tribute to those couches which are now in the basement replacing the sleeping bag fort we made to watch TV, and the couches upstairs. They aren't quite the style I'm going for (I say as I long for my house to be a page out of the Pottery Barn magazine I just got in the mail) Someday maybe... :)

New job, new house, new haircut, new internet!

Pictures in no particular order...

*New curtains we finally hung once Kurtis got his drill.. thanks Christy!

*My shoes, they were organized at one point..

*A bookshelf in our bedroom

*Our address :)

I know you've all been dying to see our house and I apologize that you're going to have to wait some more. The truth is, I'm ashamed that I haven't gotten things in order yet and I can't take pictures of my mess! I have some teasers here for you though.. some candids of around the house or your viewing pleasure. :) It was also time to tame the long, stringy, mousy hair that is on my head so I got a haircut! We also got our internet connection hooked up yesterday. YAY! Lastly, starting tomorrow I am the new ESOL teacher at Kellogg Middle School. It's the same school I was at last year. I had many people rooting for me and pleading for a job for me. I am truly humbled by that. I'm going to be teaching 6th grade kids who are learning English as a 2nd (often 3rd-4th) language. I'll be in some regular classrooms (including science!) and reading classes. I'm really excited to be staying at my school and working with more wonderful people.

This is another lesson in faith and patience the Lord has taught me. The Lord works in mysterious ways but we've got to be patient enough to receive the blessing. Today's lesson in Relief Society reminded me of this. It was on Elder Utchdorf's April 2008 conference talk 'A matter of a few degrees' and King Saul from the Bible was mentioned. He asked the prophet Samuel to offer a sacrifice for his armies to defeat their enemies. Saul waited 7 days for the prophet to arrive but listened to his advisors and the desires of his own heart and performed the sacrifice himself, something he was not authorized to do. When Samuel arrived the next day he had to tell Saul, "Thou has done foolishly; thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God, which he commanded theel for now would the Lord have established thy kindgom upon Israel forever. But now thy kingdom shall not continue." (1 Samuel 13:13-14) I know I think I have waited long enough for an answer to a prayer, for some special blessing I think I deserve, etc. but the Lord is reminding me to wait just another day to receive his choicest blessings. I hope I can have more humility to trust in the Lord and not lean unto my own understanding.

The dog we never had...

This is a very selfish post, I know, but I'm feeling wronged here. My mom never let us have dogs-she didn't like them. So now that I'm married and have my own house, I want a dog! Kurtis is allergic and wants an outside dog. Well, you can't have those here unless they are huskies because it's SUPER cold in the winter. I would feel so bad for the poor thing and am not having it live in the garage all winter. That's 6 months!! Anyway, we have friends who have a rat terrior. Max is his name and he's soooo sweet and great with their kids. He's short-haired and doesn't really shed. Kurtis never has a problem when we're over there. So I've been looking for dogs in the paper and found rat terrior puppies for $50!! I even called the lady and wanted to schedule a time to come see them. I consulted Kurtis first (like a good wife) and he struck the idea down saying the dog would be bored all day while we were at work. Dogs are dogs, they do dog things all day. That's their life. It would be fine! Once I stay home with a kid we can get a dog he says. :( I want a doggie. I never got one. Kurtis had 3 dogs growing up. I feel neglected and am trying to make up for lost time. So if you would be so kind as to tell Kurtis how much we should get a dog.. I'd appreciate it. :)

eeeeeeeeeeeeew!

I'm a biology teacher, I can't help but get the kids to do gross things. Most of the time they have nooo problem getting their hands dirty and looking at icky pictures. But every year it doesn't fail that when I start to talk about the bug collection I get eeeeeeeeeeeww!'s and 'I can't touch that!' in chorus from my 7th graders. I have to admit that I'm squemish myself sometimes and didn't like doing a collection but I needed the grade. I'm a but surprised that a few are totally freaked out by their Monarch caterpillars they have to take care of. What is going on!? We are raising a whole generation of children who don't go outside because they can't get away from the Wii or X-box. (I'm a Wii fan myself but I can take a hike too!) So get your kids outside and enjoy nature. Turn off the TV and the computer and garden. I give kudo's to my sis who is always doing something outside with the kids. I'm sure Jana would be too if it wasn't a million degrees outside in Phoenix. :) Hahaa!

Anyway, the kids are slooooooooooowly getting warmed to the idea and are starting to do the classic 'die, diiiie!' chant as they skewer their bugs with pins. Don't worry, it's all in the name of science.

Job Update

As most of you know, my position from last year was temporary and unfortunately was given to another teacher in the district who was displaced from her position. Since she was contracted, the district had to give her a job. So I looked around in many nearby districts for a job but found nothing. I was also trying to get my MN teaching licence renewed. MN is a.. needy state in terms of requirements. I prepared myself and planned on subbing this year. So I completed those and then went on vacation. When I got back the secretary at my old school (Kellogg) called and asked if I would be interested in subbing for the very teacher who was in my position for the first month of school. Apparently, she just adopted 3 children from the state-all siblings. WOW! Sure, I'd love to! So I had to go through many, many hoops to work the system. At first the district said I couldn't sub until I had a subbing licence on top of my teaching licence. I was so upset because I was just waiting on paperwork to renew my original licence and why would I need a subbing licence too? I got really frustrated that I couldn't even do what I didn't want to do (sub) and figured that maybe I shouldn't be a teacher in MN.

Well, the district was WRONG the State told me. The district here is undergoing many changes (for the better is not what I'd describe it as...) and things are NUTS. No one could give me a straight answer about anything! Anyway, I got help from my school and worked the system to get this subbing job. Oh, and I got my 9-12 life science teaching licence. The teacher is planning on returning to school the end of September and I've recently found a few other positions I could possibly take. Things are still up in the air and I'm learning to be patient. I think Heavenly Father is giving me these trials as a lesson in patience. As my mother reminded me bluntly yesterday that I'm not. :) Oh well.. Kurtis is a trooper for putting up with me. So I'm teaching now in my old classroom, getting to know the students, doing a job that no one else could do having only a week to prepare for and no real lesson plans...but I'm surviving and loving it. :) I have so many people on my side that I am truly humbled to know that the Lord answers prayers through people. I have wonderful friends and am so grateful for their support. I'll keep you posted on my next step! We'll see, maybe I'll get to stay in my classroom while this teacher decides to stay home with her kids. But I'm not holding my breath!

PS: I am glad I'm not an English teacher. Thank goodness for spell-check. I still cannot spell "lisence." :)

Summer travel: 2nd stop-Utah wedding

She got the bridesmaid's dresses

made in China for super cheap!

Me and Paola in the rain

Charles stepped up to brother duty and held an umbrella for Lina all morning!

The happy couple before the wedding...

After a week in Arizona, I flew to Utah and met up again with mom who was there to help out my recently-returned-missionary-grandparents! Grandma broke her hand in Italy and decided it was time to come home. I was so happy to see them. I met up with Kurtis' mom and siblings who were in Utah for Lina's (Kurtis' sister) wedding. I spent the week with his family getting wedding details settled and anxiously awaiting the reunion with my husband! We were apart almost 2 weeks and we couldn't stand it. I don't know how you do it Jana and Mark, I don't envy it but admire your strength. :) The pre-wedding partys were lots of fun and full of family. It was mostly the groom's family in charge because they live in Utah! We ran around the valley attending various things, including an embarassing bridal shower (see picture, I think those are for Jordan...ha!) and a wonderful first temple session for Lina. The wedding went by in a blur of course on 8-8-08, not to be upstaged by Kurtis and my 7-6-07. We didn't need the lucky 777 date. :) Anyway, the wedding was very special with a sealing by Elder Quentin Cook of the quorum of the 12. The groom's mom is cousins with another apostle who just had knee surgery, he sent Elder Cook in his place! The SLC temple was a madhouse with over 90 weddings that day and rainy weather. But we survived in style, took naps and partied like it was 1999 at the reception. Oh, and we finally convinced Jordan's mom to let us decorate their 1st get-away car. They hid the real car in fear that we'd trash it. Wimps. :) Congrats Lina and Jordon! We love you!

Summer travel: First stop-Arizona

This summer my mom asked me to attend the WPPI piano festival. 2 Summers ago it was in AZ and I was able to drive down from BYU to provide moral support for mom. She was so anxious about all her duties this festival, including a major performance, that I was more then happy to come. The festival was great and mom's performance was fabulous!! As well as their outfits... :) Congrats mom and great job! I also got to spend a few days with Jana and Grant who live near Pheonix where we spent our days playing with trains, talking about daddy, and watching sappy chick-flicks. You can look at Jana's blog to see exactly how we spent our time... wink wink.... Thanks for letting me stay Jana!!