Can You Say "RELIEVED"?!?!

I woke up this morning at 4:30 needing to throw up. I've been having this throw up feeling all week, every morning and every night. Needless to say this got me thinking that I could be pregnant. Well this morning was the breaking point for me. I wanted to leave early this morning just to go to the store and pick up a pregnancy test to see what was up, but I thought Mark would be worried if he found that I wasn't there. SO I waited. I stayed up for an hour just thinking about "what if I were pregnant?" And started to FREAK OUT!! As much as I talk about wanting to have a baby the thought truly scares me. A million things ran through my head and I could picture Mark being just as scared if I found out that I was.

So when Mark left for the gym this morning I went to Smiths and bought a pregnancy test. I initially thought I should tell him about this, but I'm a very private person, even with Mark about some things, and so I wanted to do this alone. Plus, Mark never reads this blog, so at the back of my mind I thought it would be really funny that I would go through all of this and they only way he would know that this happened was if someone else read this blog and called him. I can really picture his face then, and I think it would be quite hilarious. :)

After I meticulously read the instructions I took the test and saw this.







YEA ONE LINE!!! Can you feel my relief?!?! Whew!!

Don't get me wrong, we still want to have children, but it's one thing to have a surprise, and another to start when you feel ready. Obviously I'm not completely there yet!



On a random note, I got this video from my sister. It's my brother making his baby girl Mckayla laugh. I love it. :)

Markie's Birthday!!

Yesterday was Markie's birthday :) I bought gifts for him weeks before and surprised him in the morning with them. We need to take pictures of him wearing his new clothes. We did a fashion show today, but I forgot to snap pictures! Needless to say, he looked stunning in the clothes I picked out for him.

Mark's dad called me up and wished me a Happy Birthday. He said that since we're married now, I get 50% of all the gifts that Markie gets. Both he and I had bought Markie suits recently, so I'm taking the coat and Big Mark is taking the pants. Good deal.

Besides my awesome gift giving skills, his birthday was also celebrated with cupcakes, and dinner at Outback with some of our bestest buddies here in Utah. We were missing Nora, Britney, and Matt though. :( Maybe next year we'll have them there with us, and since everyone is either pregnant or already has kids (besides us) we'll have our party at Chuck-e-Cheese. :) Fun times.


On our way to the restaurant Mark told me that Tim had a surprise gift that he bought from a dirty prank store. I told him if it was furry, smelly, or elephantesk that it was going straight into the trash. So far I haven't found out what it is because Tim didn't bring it to dinner with him. We'll see what happens.

Miracles DO Happen!!

Mark GRADUATED from Utah Valley University Friday, May 01, 2009!!!

This weekend was a bit of dejavu for us. Almost exactly a year ago I graduated from BYU, and then we were married. This year Mark has just graduated and now it's our anniversary!!



We're very proud of Mark for all the years of hard work that he's put in to getting his degree. It's definitely been a long road for him, but now we can see the finish line and it is BEAUTIFUL!! He has his capstone class to take during Spring/Summer and then he's officially done!

The keynote speaker was President Thomas S Monson, the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.


He talked about 3 key things that the graduating students could do in starting out their future.

1) Glance Bakwards
2) Reach Outward
3) Press Forward

It was a fantastic talk and will probably come out in every church publication soon. Utah Valley University also gave Honorary degrees to President Monson and his wife Frances. It was so sweet because after they both got their robes put on them, President Monson gave Frances a kiss. It was really sweet. :)

Both of his counselors were there as well. Oh, and just in case you were wondering what kind of phone President Eyring has, he has an iPhone. :) He was having his bodyguard take pictures of himself with his wife, President Uchtdorf, and Sister Uchtdorf. That's just my little plug in for the iPhone. :)

Mark's mom, dad, and both grandpas (Jimmy and Bill) were able to come up to Utah to see him walk. It was a busy weekend. Thursday night we went to Red Robin to eat dinner. Friday was the commencement at 10:30 and then convocation the same day at 2:30. In between we went to Burger Supreme for lunch.

Side note: He broke our family tradition of eating at KFC on graduation day :( (he's obviously too good for KFC)
After Convocation we picked up Tucanos catering and had a family get together at his cousin's house. Sooo good!!! If there's one thing the Shinoda family does well, it's food.

Saturday we ate at Callie's cafe, went to Tai Pan to check out the competition, ate J-dawgs, took a tour of the Valley, look at houses at Midway, and ate dinner at Happy Sumo. It was definitely a busy day, but a great day. :)