Latest Heritage Makers Project

This is a 12x12 Scrap Page that I put together a few days ago of our trip to Half Moon Bay last September. I've been putting off a lot of projects lately and I'm looking forward to getting started on many of them. Here is what I'm going to be working on in the coming months:

Birtcil Family Cookbook

Stephensen Family Cookbook

Stephensen 2008 Family Yearbook

Harlan Russell Christy (A book about my Great-Grandfather)

Abigail's Pregnancy and Birth Book

Personalized Planner/Agenda

This is a 18x24 poster of the Family: A Proclamation to the world surrounded by our family photo's. It's easy to make, so if you would like one of these, just let me know and I can help you out.

March 13th

Today is the 10th anniversary of my baptism into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! I've been looking forward to this day for many years... why? No reason other than it's a milestone. I think it's cool to say that I've been a member of the church for a decade... don't you think so too?! Every March Fast Sunday, I get up and share my Testimony... this is how I celebrate.

Being a member of the LDS Church has had a significant impact on my life. I've grown immensely spiritually. I've been married in the Temple to an amazing man. I've gotten to know my Savior personally as I've strived to live His principles and commandments. I've been blessed to have a greater amount of joy and happiness than I ever dreamt was possible.

I want to take a moment and express the Testimony that I've been blessed to gain since becoming a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:

I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. It contains the words of our Savior Jesus Christ. Joseph Smith was/is a prophet and was called of God to restore His church in these latter-days. Joseph Smith did, in fact, see God the Eternal Father and His Son Jesus Christ in the flesh. The priesthood of God has been restored and through this priesthood power, all the ordinaces of the Gospel of Jesus Christ which are necessary for the salvation of souls are performed. I testify that we have a modern day prophet on the earth, Thomas S. Monson, who is guided by Jesus Christ to lead this church. I know that Jesus Christ lives and that He died to atone for all of our sins and that His sacrifice makes it possible to dwell with God again. I know and testify that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true church of God on earth and I testify with all the energy of my soul that you can know all of these things for yourself by the power of the Holy Ghost. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

The Hazards of Church Callings

Beware being called into the Young Women's Organization in the South Meadows Ward of the Reno Nevada Stake! Turns out that you have about a 90% chance of getting pregnant once you've been set apart...

In the past two years, we have had 5 YW leaders get pregnant and/or have babies while serving in their respective callings (including me). Steve and I were joking about it last night and had a little dialogue going...
Bishop - "Sister SoNSo, we would like to extend the calling of YW _____ in our ward."
Sister SoNSo- "I'm sorry Bishop, I'm going to have to refuse to take this calling."
Bishop - "May I inquire the reason."
Sister SoNSo - "My husband and I just arn't ready to get pregnant right now Bishop."

Can you IMAGINE?!

22 Weeks: Baby Update

Tomorrow I will be 22 weeks pregnant! Yea!!
Every week for about 2 months now, I've been going to the pernatoligist so they could watch my cervix. Every week it has been the same, everything looks great. Yesterday, the perinatal Dr. said that we can pretty much rule out cervical incompentcy... which is great! He also said that I will not have to come in anymore, unless my OB/GYN recommends it... such great news. I'm still supposed to take it easy and watch out for signs of preterm labor.
Also yesterday, the Dr. took some more measurements of little Peanut... she is growing just the way she is supposed to be growing. It's so exciting to see how big she is getting every week! Yesterday, I saw her little hand open and close a couple of times... it's so darn cute. The Dr. gave me a few ultra sound pictures, including 2 3D images.

So, how I've been feeling....
I feel fabulous. I'm happy to be pregnant. I'm really starting to get that baby bump, which is very exciting. It's something that I didn't get to experience with Joshua's pregnancy, so I'm just eatin up all kinds of attention focused on my belly. I LOVE IT! The question we get all the time now is, "Have you thought of any names?". Yes. Right now, her name is probably going to be either Kathryn May or Abigail May.... which one is most likely may depend on which parent you ask.

Not So Easy This Time

Steve is leaving very early tomorrow morning.

It feels harder than ever to let Steve go. It's been a bit of an emotional day for me. I don't feel ready for this right now, yet, there is nothing that can be done about it. I've been trying to hold in the tears most of the day, but this evening I finally let them go. Steve went upstairs to record himself reading a relaxtion script and a book I bought for the baby, so I stayed downstairs and began to write in my journal for the evening. And there they were, those darn tears I've been holding back. I don't usually cry so much when he goes. Of course I cry a little the night before, and then a little more after I drop him off at the airport... but this time I can't help but sob and sob. Darn pregnancy hormones! But, really, its more than that. I'm going to miss him terribly. This time home (and most times) was such a sweet experience. Of all the things in my life (the gospel goes without saying and so does this I reckon), our marriage is the greatest blessing I could ever have. I'm so grateful to have such an amazing marriage to an amazing man.

Steve, I love you! I wish you didn't have to go... I know you wish the same. Here's to just 3 more months.

Headaches

For 3 months or more, I've been suffering through a lot of headaches. Headaches are not something that I have often, and usually I can trace why it's going on; dehydration, cold, sinus, etc. Right now I'm averaging about 1 headache a week... occasionaly two. The biggest problem is that they last 2 to 3 days in most cases. The one I have now started on Monday morning. Usually if I have a headache, I can take a couple of tylenol, go to bed and wake up and it's gone, never to return. But not these ones, tylenol just kills the pain for a while. It's really frustrating. These headaches feel like sinus headaches... right behind my eyes and in the back of my head. Though I'm not really certain, because I've never had sinus headaches last so long and come so often.

I've talked to the perinatal Dr. about it, he suggests that it's all the extra hormones running through my system from the pregnancy. Now, I know that one pregnancy is different from others in ways... I had no headache problems when I was pregnant with Joshua. When I talked to the midwife about it last week, she suggested it could be sinus or even tension headaches. She suggested I use a netti pot and some salt water to flush out my sinus'. The netti pot didn't work at all. Elizabeth Wells suggested I may need to get my eyes checked for glasses; something I have been thinking about for a little while. Who knows! I think I may go see a massage therapist. Anyone have any other suggestions? By the way, motrin, Ibuprofen, and aspirin are not options because I'm allergic.

Youth Book of Mormon Reading Challenge

A few weeks ago, Brother Dorny came into Young Women's and announced that he was hosting a Book of Mormon reading challenge for our Youth. It all started with a conversation he had with Lindsey Carducci on the Youth Temple Trip back in early January. Apparently, Lindsey's dad had been persuading her to read the BOM from front to cover since she hadn't done so. In the conversation, Brother Dorny gave her the challenge to start and finish the BOM by the end of February. To keep her motivated, he commited to do the same thing.

When Brother Dorny came in to issue the challenge to the Young Women, I groaned and said, NO WAY. I was just settling into a nice slow reading pace after rushing to finish the BOM and the Old Testament by the end of the year. I was not about to jump on THAT wagon... I'm a slow reader! Well, Sister Keeler, sitting next to me, was all excited and was trying to get me stoked about it too. "You can do it, come on!", and she raises my hand. So, i'm volunteering involuntarily to be apart of this commitment... thinking the whole time, NO WAY! Brother Dorny did say that there would be a surprise for those who finished. None of us know what it is yet, but we all seem to be excited about it.

Well, fast forward 3 weeks. We have quite a few of our YW who are hanging in there! The first week for me was rough... having to read 11 pages a day takes quite awhile and I got behind. But I was resolved. Even though I was behind, I was going to stick to it. On the next Sunday, Brother Dorny came in to YW to see who had done any reading during the first week. He passed out a great little chart to everyone to help keep track of where we are and where we should be and gave snickers bars to the faithful readers.

I will have to admit now, that this has been one of the most enjoyable readings of the BOM I have ever experienced. It takes me an hour to read the 13 pages I need to stay at the goal. At first, it was daunting to think about having to read my scriptures for an hour. But I've gotten to the place in the past few weeks where that hour is the highlight of my day and and never feels like an hour. I love how I can see more clearly the things that are taking place... how they connect, because the reading flows from one chapter to the next. My testimony that the BOM is divine scripture was pretty solid before, but I feel even more passionate about it and even more sure in my knowledge. Thanks Brother Dorny!