Bar Exam Results

So, Tanner studied really really hard, but sometimes studying doesn't payoff quite like you think it will. But ultimately, isn't the most important thing that you tried your hardest even if it means you may be unsuccessful? I remember a couple of weeks ago when Tanner was saying that at first he was worried about the embarrassment he would feel if he didn't pass, but after going through all of the studying and stress, that he couldn't care less about the embarrassment anymore, he just did not want to have to study for that stupid test again. So I guess it's good that he isn't worried about being embarrassed, but I think it is really really good that he doesn't have to study for that stupid test again because he passed the bar!

Weekend Away

Tanner emailed me at work on Wednesday and asked if I was interested in spending the weekend at the Firm's condo at New Smyrna. Yeah, I had to think about that for about .2 seconds. The firm has a schedule in which they allow the attorney's to sign up to spend time at the condo throughout the year. The person who had it scheduled for this week wasn't able to go in the end. One of my most favorite people at the firm is Carmen who is the recruiting coordinator. We've been buddies ever since we started the whole process of coming to the firm almost two years ago, and I think she may have had something to do with her assistant calling Tanner and asking if we were interested. I can't be sure, but she gets the credit in my book. We headed up there on Friday night and spent all day Saturday on the beach. The picture was taken just after sunrise from the balcony on Saturday morning. It was absolutely beautiful. We have decided that anyone who comes to visit should go to New Smyrna beach before going to Cocoa Beach. The best part of the day was when we took Clark out in the ocean on a boogie board and went up and down over the waves with him. He LOVED it! Every time he would see a new wave coming toward us, he would shout "GO!!!! WAVE!!!" He just loved sitting upright and going over wave after wave. Tanner got some of his own boogie boarding in and had the chest rash to prove it. I just enjoyed soaking up the sun and having fun with my boys. What a relaxing weekend...one to remember for sure.

It's Official: I'm Pregnant!

And I am already 4 months! For those of you who missed the subtle and not so subtle references from my family in both my mom's blog and also the comments in my Fort Lauderdale Beach blog, I am pregnant! I didn't plan on waiting this long to see a doctor, but due to moving and lots of other annoyances, this was the first time I could get in. I heard the heartbeat for the first time today and the doctor said that everything looks A-OK. Stay tuned, my ultrasound is scheduled for September 24th! Check out the new poll that will run for the next 10 days until we find out the gender.

Also, because I know you all have nothing better to do, you can go back and re-read all my blogs from May 17th on knowing now that I was pregnant at the time AND if you really want to feel sorry for me, I was throwing up on a daily basis from the end of June on.

I am starting to feel a lot better now and the energy is finally coming back. It has been wonderful having my husband home during this last month to help me with taking care of Clark and moving in while I mostly laid around. We are excited for another little one to join our family soon! Whenever we ask Clark if it is going to be a boy or a girl, he says girl. Then, we ask him if it is going to be a girl or a boy, and he still says girl. But, I think it might be just because he likes saying the word girl more than boy. But, we'll see. Tonight he started snickering during the prayer when we asked Heavenly Father to bless the baby. He said "baby" and then kept laughing. I can hardly wait to see how he reacts when he sees the "baby" in real life!

Tazmanian Devil

So, I had to take Clark to the doctor this week. He has seemed constipated for about two weeks, but after talking through everything with the doctor, he examined Clark and determined he wasn't constipated but actually has a Strep skin infection on his little bum (I just thought it was diaper rash). I felt really stupid, and definitely felt the need to redeem myself. I always feel the need to prove to the Pediatrician that my child is great and therefore I am great. I kept starting to tell the doctor that this is the first time I have ever brought Clark in for a sick child visit which is pretty remarkable considering he is almost two. But he kept cutting me off with questions like "Is he allergic to any medicine?" I say no and I actually wouldn't know because he has never taken anything but Motrin and Benadryll. I tell him that thinking he would then think I am a great mom because my child is not overmedicated, but he is already on to the next question and doesn't hear anything after the word no. In the meantime my child has turned into the Tazmanian Devil and is opening every cupboard in the room and scooting the metal step across the room making that ear piercing chalkboard-screeching noise. He is mad too because the doctor is sitting on the small wheely stool and now he can't roll the stool across the floor. He turns the lights on and off while we are trying to talk, and I wonder what would possess them to place the light switches low enough for a toddler to reach them. And all that was just in the first five minutes. Forget trying to look good in front of the doctor...Clark ruined that, and now I am just trying to stop him from destroying anything of value. It was the first time that I wanted to say "whose child ARE you?!" When we left, we stopped at the receptionist who wanted to make an appointment for his 2 year old well child visit. She asked if we wanted to go ahead and continue seeing Dr. Hayne, and I said "Sure, although he probably doesn't want to see us again after that display". She started cracking up laughing, which actually made me laugh. I decided on the way home that I really deserved everything since I went for 2+ weeks with a child who was in pain, but who did his darndest to act like the best little boy he almost always is, and I was completely clueless. So, I should give him a break. Clearly, he gives me one all the time.

First Day of Work

Tanner started work today with Lowndes, Drosdick, Doster, Kantor, and Reed. I just had to get a picture with Clark and his daddy before he left. I thought Clark would have a difficult time letting him go to work since he has been home for over a month. He cried the first couple of days until I would distract him with food or Little Einsteins. Now he is really cute and waves bye to him every morning and is ridiculously excited when Tanner walks in the door every night. Tanner is enjoying work so far and is glad to be back with the other Associates he started with last summer.

The Everglades

For those of you who come Florida for vacation, you should not leave without going on an airboat ride in the Everglades. It's a lot of fun, it's very educational, and you get to see some cool wildlife. We went to Everglades Safari Park about 30 minutes or so from downtown Miami. We hadn't even got on the airboat yet and we saw a huge alligator in the water right next to us. Cool, but a little scary!
For those of you who know nothing about airboats, they are one of the coolest inventions. It is like a boat, but you also glide over all kinds of grass and weeds growing out of the swamp. It's a little disconcerting at first, but it is a great ride. We had fun looking at all the wildlife and Clark loved the boat ride.
When we got back, there is an area where they keep alligators and someone who comes in to do a show. It's very strange seeing a person inside an area with 6 gators just hanging around...but she seemed very comfortable around them. I was wondering if I should be concerned that Clark looked at all the alligators like they were cute little puppies. I swear if we had put him in there, he would have gone right up to them and put his little hand in their mouth and would also try to poke their eyes out like he does with my parent's dog. It's fun that Clark is pretty much not afraid of anything...but he definitely keeps us on our toes!

Apple Thief

So, I had packed some snacks for the drive down to South Florida, and they were just in a bag in the back seat next to Clark. On our way to downtown Miami for dinner I heard a strange noise coming from Clark behind us. When we looked back, there was Clark CHOWING down on an apple from the snack bag. He looked at us with a cheesy/mischievous grin, and he just kept chowing. He ate the whole apple down to the core. I couldn't believe it, but it's not like I am going to complain that my child was eating fruit.

Fort Lauderdale Beach

We also stopped by Fort Lauderdale on our way down to Miami. Miami gets all the hype, but I actually prefer the Fort Lauderdale beaches and strip to Miami, especially if you aren't as much into the whole clubbing scene. I think it is also better kept and looks a whole lot less run down than South Beach. We ate lunch on the strip and went for a walk on the beach and then headed the rest of the way down to Miami. Once there, we stayed at an okay hotel right on the beach and went over to Bayside and ate Cuban food listening to the live salsa music. We had a good time and we drove around the downtown area and also down South Beach on our way back up to our hotel. I always laugh when I see snippets of CSI:Miami on TV because the make everything have a orange/yellow glow in the show. It's a beautiful city, but it's not like that in real life ALL the time.

Pilgrimage to Parkland

Tanner and I decided that we needed to do something other than lay around the house for four weeks before he starts work on Tuesday, so we decided to take a trip down to South Florida. I really wanted to go and see my old house in Parkland and just see how the area had changed. I was excited to go, but the logical part of my brain thought that it really should be no big deal. I was like a little kid pointing things out to Tanner after we got off the Sawgrass Expressway showing them how things had changed and stuff I remembered. When we got to the gate at Meadow Run, the guard came out. I thought I recognized him, but then I thought, why would I know him? Here is how the conversation went:

Me: "Hi, I used to live in here, and I just wanted to drive by my old house"

Guard: "Oh, well, what's your name?"

Me: "My last name is Nielson"

Guard: "What was your name when you lived here?"

Me: "Carter. We lived on NW 98th..." (the guard cut me off in mid sentence)

Guard: "Doug and Debbie?"

Me: (In complete shock) "Uh yeah! Did you work here then? Because you look familiar"

Guard: "Yes! How long has it been?

Me: "8 years since I graduated high school. This is my husband and my son"

Guard: (He is now in complete shock) "Wow! Yeah, I remember you guys were the ones with the jet skies that would go in and out all the time"

It was so surreal talking to him. We chatted for a few minutes and he let us in of course, since he KNOWS me.

What is it about the sights and smells of your early childhood that are so endearing? I remember buying some random cleaning solution one time and realizing the second I sprayed it that it was the exact same cleaning solution that my kindergarten teacher used to clean our desks. Just like that my brain had made the connection, and whenever I smell it, it gives me warm fuzzies about my kindergarten days in Mrs. Ickenberger's class. It was the same thing as I sat there looking at my old house. It was the feelings I had while living there more than specific memories that came back to me and the fuzzy feeling was back. Although I would never want to go back to that time, it was great and I will always look back at my Parkland days with fondness.

I've been tagged...FINALLY

I was so happy to see that my sister tagged me. I have seen that most people who have blogs have done tagging blogs, but I have never been tagged. I even thought once that I would just say I had been tagged and do the blog even though I hadn't. Thank you for tagging me Mel!

ABOUT ME:

Jobs I've Had:
*Office Secretary, numerous temp jobs
*Secretary at a Mental Institution for 3 days
*Admissions processing Supervisor at BYU-Provo (if you need advice for your kids applications, I'm your girl)
*Secretary for Office of Development at the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation in Williamsburg, VA
*Online scorer for ETS
*Mommy

Movies I Can Watch Over & Over Again:
*Jane Eyre (the brand new one that just came out..SO GOOD!)
*A Few Good Men (I know it's rated R, but it really should be rated PG-13...not that that is an excuse or anything...there are just too many good one liners! Back me up people who like this movie!)
*Back to the Future Part 1
*Sense and Sensibility
*Groundhog Day (I can't believe you did not put this on your list Mel!)
*The last 15 minutes of Top Gun (all stereo systems must be tested using this movie--just ask my dad)

Favorite TV Shows (does this include EVER? Okay, I'll do both):
*24
*So You Think You Can Dance
*Amazing Race
*West Wing
*Around the Horn and PTI (they get put together because they are 30 min. sport shows)
*Everybody Loves Raymond
*Survivor

Favorite Hobbies:
*Reading
*Blogging
*Reading/Watching the News

Places I Have Lived:
*California
*England
*Florida
*Utah
*Virginia

Favorite Foods:
*My mother's lasagna (the unhealthy kind)
*Chicken Cannelloni from Macaroni Grill
*Flautas from Tijuana Flats
*Breakfast for Dinner!
*Fudgsicles (can you believe this is not in the dictionary?!! Popsicles are but not Fudgsicles! What a travesty!)
*Anything my Dad BBQs
*Any chocolate that is English Cadbury's...two of my favs are Fudge and Caramel

Favorite Getaways:
*Visiting Family
*Hiking in Zion's National Park "The Subway"
*Washington,DC day trips
*Skiing in West Virginia
*The Outer Banks
*Any Theme Park....I love Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, VA

Websites I Check Daily:
*Hotmail
*Blogs
*Fox News
*Drudge Report
*Google
*Intellicast (my favorite weather site)
*As of today, August 25th, NFL.com Fantasy website...go Cheznanigans (that's my fantasy football team name...cool huh!) And since you are all SO interested...here is my logo for my team that I created all by myself!

Stephanie Nielson, Rosemay Webster, and Chenaenae YOU HAVE BEEN TAGGED!