"The cabin experience"

If you've never been to the cabin, you've never lived. My dad has been building a cabin with his bare hands for about two years now. It is coming along and we have helped a tad here and there. The above pic is my little bro Dallin eating dirt. This can be a common occurence.

We went to a water hole near the property and there was an old fence. Like all encounters with old fences, this one had to be photo-documented.

Hannad and the water hole. Doesn't it look like she's posing for her Lifetouch photo?

Cameron and me. I may or may not have worn those clothes for 2 days. Showers are not common at the cabin. In fact, there is no running water yet so an extended stay has included giving yourself a sponge bath before church to get all the dirt off your body.

The outhouse is around the back. If you're lucky, the wind might blow the "blanket door" out of the way while you're in there and you can feel a cool breeze. And somebody might see you. Awkward.

The classical stylings of the expectant mother

The idea that pregnancy can be laughed at really makes up for those uncomfortable moments of achy calves and heartburn. Lately I have misplaced things that I was carrying in my hands, thrown a marker across the classroom on accident, and locked our 4 weiner dogs in their cage for 12 hours while I was at work. Thankfully, they didn't come down with a horrible case of UTI. They looked like rats trying to escape from a burning building when we got home. There didn't seem to be any "accidents " although the faint smell of urine is ever-present.

Until . . . the next morning when the dog poop was discovered underneath the blankets, waiting there like a horrible hidden surprise. Imagine the desperation of a small dog, locked inside and needing to go potty, and then finally going in his own bed and covering the evidence. Anybody know a good pet therapist?


But let's get to the title of this post. Last weekend we went to a wedding reception for a girl in our ward. I thought it might be cold in the building, so I brought a stretchy black sweater. We were sitting around a table with our cute Bolivian bishop and some of our friends. I pull out the sweater to put it on a lo and behold . . . .


It's not a sweater!

Black stretchy pajama pants! How convenient!

The whole table was laughing and saying it was my prego brain. The next thing I knew, my bishop grabbed the pants, held them up, and put them on his head. Great moment.

Pull out the pink????

The doc said there's a 70% chance we're having a girl. So what do we think about those odds? Do we start buying flowery crib bumpers? Anyway, he was nice enough to check real quick for us and said he can do it again later but I don't want to bug him at my Nov. appointment. So I think I'll ask him in December and get the final word.

"Brainstorm" and is my fly open?

So this year I was conned into becoming the coach of the Brainstorm team at Westwood. This is a trivia game that is similar to Jeopardy and it's actually on TV. Each team has 3 players and they have buzzers. The host is named Dave, and acts like any other normal game show host.

The pic above is some random team I found online. So here's why I'm sharing this story. As a pregnant woman whose pants and skirts don't fit right now, I'm always looking for an excuse to dress casually at work. I also started a routine 3 years ago that on Tuesdays and Thursdays I basically don't do my hair. I put it in a clip or pony tail. So the day of the Brainstorm filming happened to be a Tuesday. I dressed down, not thinking that other coaches from other schools may be dressed up. I wore a blue Westwood t-shirt, khakis that barely zip up, and sandals.

My team on the other hand, wore black suits. The other coach that came with me wore dress pants and a tie. So I was looking a tad on the shoddy side. To top it off, I have a cut on my cheek that hasn't healed and it's huge and red. I don't put makeup on it so it can heal.

So we get to Phoenix for the filming and the other teams and coaches are there, all professionally dressed. They ask who the coach is for Westwood and the lady says, "Oh! I thought you were one of the students." Yeah, I get that all the time. Then I find out that during the filming of the show, I will be called out of the audience to be introduced. So I frantically go to the b-room, put makeup on my cut which makes it look worse close-up I'm sure, and I tuck in my shirt. I realize that the fly area of my pants is folded so that it's going to look like my zipper is down. Not good. But oh well, what could I do? I was feeling self-concious.

So I joked with one of the students about her saying during the show, "I just want to give a shout out to my coaches' unborn child." I was joking, but of course she wanted to do it. So the time comes. They call me out to be on camera. Picture me standing awkwardly in front of those boys in that picture, my fly looking like it's down, bad hair, totally underdressed. So it comes to the girl's turn and she says, " This is my coach, Mrs. Lee. She's pregnant."

Awkward silence. No one really knew how to react, especially the host. And all the camera people and judges just stared at me. It was a rather embarrassing moment, I have to say.

So guess what? It will be out there in living rooms across Arizona on November 19th. If anyone has Cox channel 7, it's on at 6:30 pm. You can T-vo it for me and we can all have a good laugh.

Lessons of the day: 1. It's better to be overdressed. 2. Don't announce pregnancy on a game show.

If you've got it, flaunt it

Well, well, well. The baby didn’t want to show its stuff today. I feel bad saying “its” but I can’t bring myself to prematurely pick a sex. So today was dramatic and anti-climactic. I guess I should have asked someone how long ultrasounds take. I had no idea they were going to do all those other measurements. So I’m thinking the lady would look at it and then yell out, “it’s a girl!” or whatever. So this lady, we’ll call her Pam, (actually that was her name), was silent for 15 minutes while she measured. Cameron just stood there expressionless and I was just anticipating.

Well, the baby was breach. So Pam said she would let me go to the bathroom. My bladder was explosively full at this point. You guys were right, though, I was too excited to think about that. Well, after a half hour I got to go potty. I came back and the baby was turned around! I thought, “It’s got to happen now.” But I had this sinking feeling that Pam didn’t know what she was doing. Or didn’t care if I knew or not. She did after all, make an offhand comment about how knowing the sex was not “medically necessary” anyway.

Well, she didn’t see anything. There was a leg in the way. I can understand this and I was kind of fine with it. Until I found out later that she could have rolled me over or told me to go for a walk and then tried again.

So I went back to school and had 10 kids stop me on the way back to class. I literally have kids betting money on this. Plus I had them sign a paper with their guess and am giving them extra credit for being right. My count down has been on the board for 12 days. So yeah, you disappoint the kids. Oh well. We’re starting a new count down.

Hopefully my insurance will cover another ultra sound if it’s deemed as “necessary.” I have to hear back from my doctor. Until then, I wait.

The most important thing is that I saw healthy bones, a heart, and a normal size baby. Plus cute stuff like it grabbing its toes and fingers.

So the moral of the story is, flaunt those body parts or drive your frazzled mother nuts.:)

Prego update

I get my ultra sound on Sep 17th. I wanted to ask all you mothers out there your opinions. This one place said I needed to drink 32 ounces of water and hold it for over an hour before I go in. I am freaking out about this because I don't think I can do it. Did any of you have to do that? I might go to another place now.

What are the weirdest theories people have ever told you about whether your kid is a boy or a girl? Here are some I've gotten lately:

-if you got heartburn as soon as you got pregnant, it's a girl

-if you carry the baby low, it's a boy

-if you've been really sick, it's a girl because of the extra hormones

-and the weirdest one . . . if you take your birthdate, your husband's, and the conception date and do some sort of mathmatical equation, it'll tell you the gender . . . Uh, OK. I don't know what the equation was but the guy said it won't work 'cause our birthdays are in the same month.

So far, I've decided not to believe any of them. So what theories do you guys know?

Im-PALIN' the competition

I like to see a woman that stands for family values, is super intelligent, and doesn't apologize for what she believes. No matter where you are on the political spectrum, you have to find something to admire about Sarah Palin.

Yes, she was only a mayor for two years and a governor for almost 2. But governors make huge, ginormous decisions every day. She commands a national guard, she manages billions of dollars of a budget, she overseas the resource wealth of Alaska. In her first year she created an 6 billion dollar budget surplus. Our governor, by contrast, has been a part of a billions of dollars budget defecit. I nearly lost my job, and many teachers like me did. Not to mention cops and prison guards I know that have lost thousands a year in overtime pay. Palin made huge decisions and they came out ok.

Not to be too harsh, but running a campaign for two years doesn't count as executive experience as some may claim.

But besides that, for those of you who have strong opinions on one side of the other, I won't get into criticisms. I'm just lettin you know that I am excited for this woman and about her. No man gets questioned on whether he can be a father and adequately do his job. So why should a woman be? US Magazine has been very cruel to her.

Can you tell I'm obsessed with politics? I would bore you with everything I think about on a daily basis. I think being a history teacher might have something to do with it. I've had to follow these things for 5 years. Oh well.

Don't feed baby carrots into a slicer

So i can't type much b/c I sliced my middle finger on an evil Saladmaster machine. I got stitches yesterday. I cried when they soaked my bloody finger in soapy water. I got 5 shots directly into the wound so they could numb it. I may never have that finger print again. I can commit Heinous crimes. I cried this morning when I took the bandage off. Then my Tylenol finally kicked in. I am a wimp.At least it's not my grading hand. I can still work I guess. Lovely Labor Day, eh?

That is not my finger but you get the idea.

A Bun in the Oven

Ok, so not a visually stunning layout or post, but here it is. We are finally having a baby. Some of you know that already. Highlights of the pregnancy so far have been:

1. Cameron seeing the ultrasound today and saying it was the coolest thing he's ever seen.
2. When the baby was the size of a blueberry
3. When I got to throw up in an airplane bathroom (twice)
4. When my baby and I stood on the continental divide in Colorado
5. When my baby was the size of a small prune
6. When I got to go to Girl's camp just after finding out I was preggo
7. When I realized I haven't gained any weight yet because of "losing" food)
8. When the baby was the size of a peach

Here's the other issue. Since the baby is due on Valentine's day and Arizona's birthday, what should I name him /her?

Arizona Valentine Lee?

Do you think if it's a boy he'll get beat up?

If anyone has any cool ideas, let me know.

Smoky Mountain Adventure

So I'm finally posting again. I wasn't posting because I had no way to download pictures, but I'm not going to let that stop me anymore. I'll just find some.

Have you ever been to east Tennessee? It's quite the southern paradise. I went for a weeklong AP History training. I stayed in Maryville, a few miles from Knoxville. This is a picture of my dorm building.

So I'll tell you the most adventurous story: The lost hikers. I made friends with three teachers there: Jennifer, a spunky English teacher who hadn't been hiking in years; Melissa, member of a hiking club and divorced mother of 1; and Phil, a gung-ho married guy with 2 kids.

We drove through the Smoky Mountains, pictured at the right, to a ranger

station at Cades Cove. There I learned that this area is known to

be invested by hundreds of black bears. My immediate thought was:

Jim: What kind of bear is best?

Dwight: That's debatable.

Jim: False! Black bear. Bears! Beets! Battle star galactica!

So anyway, we take off on this hike. Melissa and Phil started getting way ahead of Jennifer and me. See, she wanted to take a lot of pictures along the way, and also she needed to rest for 5 minutes each time we walked 5 minutes up the hill.

We were on our way to see some waterfall. Phil and Melissa decided to just go way ahead of us and meet us later. The problem was that we never planned a meeting place and they never told us to turn left onto a different trail.

So soon they were an hour ahead of us on a different trail and we continued to climb up the mountain thinking they'd soon be on their way back down. They never did come. And it was like 8:30, about an hour until dark, when I suggested we'd better start back without seeing the waterfall.

At 9:30 it got pitch black outside and we were hiking through bear-infested woods. A bear had just killed a lady hiker a week before. It was taking us much longer than we thought to get back.

Meanwhile, Melissa and Phil got to the car 45 minutes ahead of us. When they had almost reached the car, they saw a black bear. Melissa was totally freaked out that we were hurt or eaten by that bear. They decided to tell the ranger station we were missing. A ranger came and wrote a missing person report and didn't even try to look for us.

When we finally got there, still pretty chilled out and calm, Melissa started sobbing. "You don't know how glad I am to see you guys!!! " She hugged us and cried and cried. She told us that while she was waiting she promised God all these things if he would send us back. (one thing relating to her run-ins with men) Anyway, this poor woman had this traumatic experience and we were fine.

We got a 10 minute lecture from the ranger, who wanted us to reflect on "what we did wrong."

So the moral of the story: Don't go hiking in late afternoon without a flashlight, have a plan of where to meet, and don't mess with Smoky mt. rangers.

More family photos from April

Some more family photos. The first is of Nat, nephew Porter, Nat's prom date Preston, and our new nephew Tanner
Sister Tracie, me, my dad, Kayli and Justin. Doesn't Kayli look like she fits right in with our family?
Finally I got Cameron to be in a pic.

Justin's Wedding Extravaganza

We're happy now after 9 chicken nuggets a piece.
Semi-sweet, sweet, or bittersweet?
My new nephew Tanner Lee Haddock
Cameron's followers

The gals Cam's good at entertaining kids

Hannah pre-injury

What a hottie!

Why me?
Cameron and our nephew porter intensely battling

The happy couple --Look at that waist!
Niece Lindsay and nephew Spencer killing time at the Visitor's Center

Here are a bunch of pics from Justin and Kayli's wedding. My sister Hannah broke her arm an hour before the reception. Notice her cute bummed-out face. Check out her blog on my link list for the full story.

Highlights of the wedding:

-My sister Terra getting naughty and hitting strangers, knocking over food on the table, and finally knocking over the giant punch bowl off its stand. (Note: She's disabled, for those who don't know)

-My brother Dallin throwing his pink matching tie and no one could find it forever.

-Hannah landing on her left arm funky while getting "popped" on the tramp. (not a highlight--a lowlight for Hannah)

-My dad coming out, "Yep. It's broken," very matter-of-factly. My dad would say "Yep, that's blunt head trauma" in that same tone.

-My dad and brother making Hannah a splint out of a spatula and a cut out piece of cardboard. Don't forget the bandana sling.

-Natalie leaving for prom after the reception on the same night.

-"Justin and Kayli Jeopardy" that me and my sister made on my powerpoint.

-Justin singing Ben Folds' "The Luckiest" to Kayli

-Being with my entire family

-Temple sealings! I love 'em!

Highlights of the School Year

I want to update this more so people will check it and not think it's ever changing. So I'm doing a temporary post here. I will post more pictures later this week of my hilarious students and their skits on 1950's music, tv, stars ,etc. Hopefully. Anyway, this was a highlight of the year on Halloween when my neighbor let me borrow her tea pot costume. I was a little intimidated to wear it and it was a little embarrassing. But then I realized later that people thought it was funny and that my students will always remember that. When will they ever have another teacher in a Mrs. Potts costume? Hopefully, they'll remember me for more than just that though.

AP Test Anxiety

I have never experinced something quite like this. Here I am, it's 5 in the morning and I can't sleep 'cause I know there is a gigantic test that a bunch of kids are going to take. And I was the one to prepare them for it. I have anxiety.

Did they study last night? I really prayed that they did. Because it sounds like most of them didn't study at all until yesterday. Janae, remember when me, you , and Ben studied? How much did we study before the actual test?I was so confident that their scores would be good until yesterday. I had given them a practice multiple choice and most of them scored about 10 percent below passing. Then I realized that I didn't deduct an extra 1/4 a point, like AP does, for every one you miss. The last 2 timed essays I gave them, many of them didn't even finish in the time. I am so freaked out that they will write crap essays or fail the multiple choice.

It is so weird to be the underdog school. Coming from Mt. view, where kids come to you with most of the abilities they need to pass an AP test, even going there myself, I am used to that attitude of hard work. We did whatever it took. I am working with kids who are way below the level, whose writings are filled with sentence fragments and misspellings. They are generally lazy, except for about 10 of them. There are about 8 realy strong writers. I love all these kids though.

Anyway, so I am going to school today to give a test to the rest of the kids who aren't teaking the AP exam. I will be wondering what essays my kids are writing, praying that the questions are something I taught themm praying they will write fast. And then after today I will wait. This agonizing TWO month wait until the scores come out. And then next year I'll do it all over again.

Hey, but I got a call yesterday that someone wants to be my student teacher! Wouldn't that be awesome? I didnt' even know I was old enough to have one. The only thing is I would not want her to teach my AP classes. Janae, remember that crap student teacher in history that almost ruined our year? Anyway, so I'm going to ask if she could just teach my regular history. Yes, my schedule has changed again. I will have 2 AP's , 2 regular, and one economics. That's nuts! Three classes to prep every day. I really hope I get pregnant this summer 'cause if stress is causing it not to happen now, that could very muich be the case this fall.

waiting for life

I decided instead of waiting for my broken digital camera to be fixed, that I would just write on here without pictures. I've love looking at all blogs. But I especially love when people pour their heart out, or are just honest with how they feel. The people's blogs I read are so good at writing it out. I'm not so expressive, but I can try.

It seems like when you are a girl trying to have a baby there are so many different "baby" things that cross your path. And it's funny how you can prefectly handle things sometimes, but other days you feel totally incapable. of it.

"baby showers"--usually fine. I love to see the happiness on my friends' faces

"friends who announce they're pregnant that got married after me". This one has been tough lately. I really want to know though! I hope no one will think they can't tell me. I just tend to think there's something wrong with me, or wrong with our little family's beginning. I know there's not. I love that people are having kids. I know that I'm supposed to be learning something by waiting.

"when i get emails of sonograms from college friends I haven't heard from in months and didn't know they were prego"
This one can go either way. I think if I were 21 or 23, this would be different. I wouldn't care that it's going to take at least a year for this to happen. But I've become obsessed with comparing my age to people I know. I'm just about 26. "My sister had 2 kids by that time." This is a pointless exercise. I know so many people start their families later and they still have several kids. Still, this one has made me sob on a bad day.

"Turning 26 on Mother's Day this year." This could be a doosie. I don't know. I have been doing fine thinking about it because I think I'll be distracted by my birthday.

"Learning that someone I know has infertility." This one has made me admire people for their strength. I think that I could have it worse and have health issues. Or I think maybe I will eventually find how I have infertility too. But I just feel selfish and dumb for worrying about myself. It's so good to hear how other people get rhough things. And people are amazing. And I need to not freak out this early in the game.

"Hearing about pregnancies where people get deathly ill." This makes me be realistic that pregnancy won't be a cake walk. And it makes me ralize how selfish I am with my eating and sleeping habits that I choose. And how wimpy I am when i get a sore throat.

"My sister coming to town with her two month old baby boy" --It felt weird to hold him knowing that I could be responsible for a little person. I will be so awkward with it at first! it's kinda intimidating. But I loved holding my little nephew. I'm baby hungry and you gotta love those motherly instincts.

I'll end this now. Basically, I'm glad I teach high school because it's so distracting from other problems in my life. In fact, deciding to teach again next year has made me excited to travel for training this summer. And that has been a distraction. And thinking about waiting to try for a little while so I don't have a baby right in the middle of the school year in January. I have a lot to be grateful for. A baby will come at the right time,I suppose. I just wish I could be happy any time I encounter baby stories. Eventually I will. Evcntually.