ben & sarah

The 5th

2012-01-24T22:48:00.000-08:00

Let's see. At 5 months old Lucas was obsessed with his hands and feet. He would fall asleep staring at his hands while closing and opening them the same way a free-spirited hippie would after taking some LSD. It was pretty cute.

I would say the highlight of his 5th month was meeting is great-gradparents Burke and Vernita.

He saw snow for the first time in Utah

He finally met the Reinharts (this is the only picture I got, pathetic)

He also saw rain for the first time. I love the way he takes it all in.

Onto other non-Lucas related happenings during this month. Ben got rid of his beloved Jeep in order to make room for a more baby friendly car. It was an emotional moment. We bought this car 3 years ago on craigslist for $1000 and the great state of California gave us $1000 to retire it. Best return on investment as of yet, no wonder the state is having budget problems.

We have officially sold out. Here's a picture of the new car (new to us) in the church parking lot, apparently we fit in. But deep down inside we are not SUV driving folks, I promise.

Yes, I still blog.

2012-01-24T21:58:00.000-08:00

I know... I know.. at the rate I'm going I should really just close up shop and give up on this blog. I keep thinking I'm going to have time to blog and then I don't. Being a working mom, means that I spend any free time (when Lucas is asleep) cleaning and organizing. I really don't know how "those" moms do it. It's probably because we moved and I've had so much to unpack, but we are finally settled. It feels great to finally have our own home that's until something needs fixing.

So there. I blame it on moving. Should we rewind back to Lucas being 4 months old?

This picture was taken outside of our new place. The first interaction we had with our neighbors was while attempting to take his four month pictures. They must have thought we were nuts. Lucas was freaking out. We decided to stop torturing our baby for the sake of cuteness. At least we got one decent shot.

He was a sleepy chicken for halloween. I couldn't resist the stripy tights.

Lucas agrees modest is hottest.

At 4 months Lucas was 21 pounds and in the 99 percentile for weight and 95 for height.

As for Ben and I....

Well not much has changed since those days. I couldn't have picked a better baby daddy.

IVF Reunion

2011-10-16T21:55:00.000-07:00

Lucas with Dr. Jane Frederick from HRC Fertility

Last Sunday we were invited to a reunion with our IVF doctor. We didin't know what to expect but we were excited for her to meet Lucas so we went. There were hundreds of kids and even some teenagers. There were also a lot of twins, it was kind of crazy! It made me think of the other embryo that was implanted an never took, it made me think of the what if's. Life with twins would be a little nuts right now. On the other hand, part of me can't help but be a little sad about the fact that we no longer have any embryos we can use, and because of my condition (high FSH levels) we didin't qualify for the buy three get one free deal (no joke). But at the end of the day we ended up with ONE really perfect baby (on our first try) and I'm very grateful for that. In retrospect we got really super lucky.

Almost a year go we found out I was pregnant. It was a very scary and not for sure thing at first, that's why we didin't share the news for so long. A year later and I have a squirmy almost 4 month old on my lap (who refuses to go to bed and is being a total stinker). Ahh how things have changed...

The OC register wrote a little article about the event HERE. If you are interested in reading our IVF story you can find it HERE. If you have any questions about IVF, I'd be happy to help!

Three Months!

2011-09-25T19:31:00.000-07:00

This is the point where this blog turns into an official "mommy" blog, where all I do is talk about how many pounds the kid has put on. That's right. Baby Lucas is now 3 months old, he weights 18 pounds and is officially off the charts. He is solely breast feed, I'm not sure how he is getting so big. He is now sleeping through the night and we have a good routine going which makes life so much easier since I'm able to anticipate his needs. Although, I kind of miss our middle of the night cuddle sessions.

I love watching him try to figure out how his body works. He is currently obsessed with his hands. He likes to sit up all the time and loves people. He smiles at everyone and everything. Just yesterday I heard him laugh for the first time, it was the sweetest thing I've ever heard. Lucas is not much of a cryer (unless we deprive him of sleep) but when he gets mad he first starts off cooing and trying to talk to us like "hey people, pay attention to me" if we ignore him (not on purpose), his frustration escalates and so do his coos it's so funny to listen to, it sounds like he is cursing us in baby talk.

Lately I've been consumed by parenting books and articles, all which contradict each other. It's exhausting. I simply hope that our instincts will be right as we try and do our best to raise this little boy into a good and compassionate human being.

Two Months!

2011-09-25T19:10:00.001-07:00

My baby is now a 15 pound 2 month old. He is no longer the tiny cuddly newborn we brought home. He wiggles, smiles and is becoming more aware of his surroundings. He finally figured out that his arms are attached to his body. I'm still in awe that he is my son. I love to stare at him and watch all the little faces he makes. He is a very sleepy guy. He can't be awake for more than an hour and a half at a time. He is a good eater and a good sleeper. He gets feisty if I don't feed him fast enough, this kid can eat! Overall, he is a happy healthy baby. Can't ask for anything more.

His stats:

98th percentile for weight
95th percentile for height

He is huge.

First Month

2011-09-05T16:16:00.001-07:00

I couldn't have asked for a better baby to transition into motherhood. He is mellow and sweet like his father. I expected motherhood to be hard, which it is, but I underestimated the amount of happiness this baby would bring to our family. I thought it was going to be work, work work, and no sleep. The no sleep part is true but the work is overshadowed by overwhelming love and cuteness! It feels like we've had him for much longer than a month. Lucas loves to be held and cuddled and we are enjoying this so much. Ben loves to have Lucas sleep on him. It is pretty cute to watch the bond between them two.

Lucas is such a mix between Ben and I. I love that he is a redhead yet he has dark brown eyes like me. I try to not get caught up in the things that have to get done around here and just focus on enjoying his tinyness while it lasts. I'm a lucky lady.

By the way, babies poop so much more than I expected.

Birth Story

2011-08-31T12:53:00.000-07:00

I obviously have a problem with keeping things short and to the point.

I've been asked to post my birth story. We used hypnobabies to prepare for childbirth therefore this is written using the hypnobabies lingo. I think it's pretty easy to understand, nonetheless. If you are pregnant I would suggest you don't read this as my birth story is less than ideal, and with more medical interventions than the usual birth. I know when I was pregnant I mostly liked hearing about positive and assuring birth stories so if you are like me, I would stop reading right about now.

On Monday night (6/20) I had a lot of pressure waves, nothing regular enough to make me think I was in my birthing time, but strong enough to make me think I should probably stop working. The following day, Tuesday I finished up a few things at work, and I officially left on maternity leave. My biggest priority at this point was to make sure my baby was in the “right” position for birth. I had a feeling he was occiput posterior (OP) I had talked to both my doctor and a Kaiser mid wife about it during the previous weeks, they both told me that most babies turn and get in the right position by the time they are born. I didn’t feel right about just winging it, so I had also had emailed my birthing instructor and she gave me a bunch a tips including the number of a chiropractor. I had an appointment for Wednesday….
My coworker took this picture of me on my last day at work because she said my belly looked like a beach ball.

On Tuesday night June 21st, at around 11:00pm my water broke while I was sleeping. We knew this was coming so things were pretty mellow around here, nothing like what you see in the movies. Ben packed a few things in the car while I got ready. I was going to bake some cookies for the nurses but I didn’t have all the ingredients (also on my things to do for Wednesday) so we stopped and got donuts for them on the way to the hospital. When we got there it was 12:30am, I was checked and I was dilated to 4 (I had been at 3 for two weeks prior). The nurses and midwife were very nice about respecting our birthing preferences, in fact they followed our wishes and pretty much left us alone for hours. I think the donuts helped because they were super nice to us. I was deep into my hypnosis and both Ben and I felt pretty good with things. My birthing waves were powerful from the beginning but only about 5 minutes apart, they stayed this way until 7am. At this point the midwife checked me again and I had only progressed to a 5, they also told me the baby was in fact OP. Also, they put in a catheter because I was unable to pee, (TMI). The midwife said that I was progressing very slowly and suggested pitocin. She seemed to genuinely want to do the right thing, I trusted her judgement and agreed but I was determined to still forgo the epidural. They started the pitocin slowly and increased it to higher and higher doses throughout the day. The birthing waves were very powerful but I remained calmed and felt in control, Ben was really good during this part. There were moments were I would lose my focus, but overall my hypnobabies training was very helpful. I felt most of the pressure in my lower back, so Ben would press against my back during my birthing waves and it felt amazing. At 3:00pm I got checked again this time because I was bleeding a lot, and I had only progressed to a 6. By this point the midwife and nurses wanted me to be in certain positions in order to help the baby turn. The midwife tried to be respectful of our wishes to continue without an epidural but she wanted to crank the pitocin even more and I had rejected. She said that due to the position of the baby I wasn’t progressing and that maybe if I got an epidural it would help relax my muscles so the baby would turn also she said they could increase the pitocin very high with hopes that I would avoid a c-section. I was very disappointed, I thought I WAS RELAXED and told her no. She was sweet and tried to make me feel like I had done my part she said “honey, if your baby was in the right position I have no doubt that you would have had this baby already, naturally, you have been doing great.” I decided I would have them increase the pitocin, still without the epidural (I wasn't trying to be tough I simply wanted minimal amount of drugs for my baby) I tried to go deeper into my hypnosis but I think by now I had lost some of my focus, I also had a few more nurses tell me that I could possibly avoid a c-section if I opted for the epidural. So after 16+ hours of trying the natural way, I ended up getting the epidural with hopes that I would avoid a c-section. They turned the pitocin as high as they could. I spent the rest of my birthing time focused on getting the baby to turn, we tried a bunch of different positions, one of the positives of the epidural was that it was easy to bend and move which ever way the nurses wanted me, unfortunately the baby would not move and I wasn’t making very much progress.

At midnight the following day, 24 hours into my birthing time, the midwife said that the baby was “stuck”, it was not only OP but also at an angle and it was causing me to lose a lot of blood. They called the doctor on duty and he tried to talk to me into a c-section because it had been over 24 hours since my water broke, I had a mild fever and they were worried about an infection. I wanted to keep on going, my contractions were 2 minutes apart and I thought it might happen soon, but the Dr. kept saying it wasn’t likely. I think I was, more than anything, a liability for them at this point. Lucas's heart rate was strong, everything still looked good to me, but we decided to follow the advice of the doctor and have the c-section. I tried so hard to avoid it but at this point I didn’t have very much stamina left in me to contradict the doctor, plus Ben was getting scared for us. We figured better do it now that the baby looked healthy and my fever was still mild. Plus the doctor and midwives all said that due to the position of the baby at that point I would most likely end up with a c-section regardless.

So at 12:33am on Thursday morning June 23rd 2011 we welcomed Lucas into our family. He was 8 pounds and totally perfect. Once that little bundle was put on my chest I didn’t care how he got here. He is so precious and was alert and well from the beginning. Even though things didn't turned out like I had hoped for, at least I tried hard to give Lucas a natural birth and I feel good about that.

The pictures below were taken with a phone camera so they are not the best.

Outside of "labor and delivery". I was soaking wet but still had time to pose in between birthing waves.

"Super Birth-Partner-Ben" ready for action.

10 hours into it...Not looking so hot.
Finally, I waited SO long to hear "it's a boy".

Ben got to hold him first, here he is doing skin to skin.
No doubt the best moment of my life thus far...

From an 8 cell embryo to an 8 pound boy

2011-08-29T14:15:00.000-07:00

I could stare at this face all day long. I’m in awe of this life we have created. He is just perfect (at least we think so). I’m so grateful that he is ours forever. I love him more than words can describe, what an amazing thing to be a mom. My life has forever changed and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Hello World

2011-08-16T11:57:00.001-07:00

The kid is finally here. A little boy we named Lucas Jude. He was born on 6.23.11 and was 8 pounds 20.5". We couldn't be more in love with him. Life just got so much more exciting!

For the record. I took a maternity leave of absence from blogging. I've been using my time away from Lucas to shower.

Pregnancy Update

2011-05-23T22:53:00.000-07:00

The weeks are flying by. It's hard to believe I only have less than 5 weeks to go. There's still so much I need to do. According to my doctor I'm measuring small which is crazy because my belly looks ginormous, but apparently our baby is on the small side, she said he/she is probably only about 3-4 pounds.

I'm of course excited to meet the kid and finally find out if we are having a little boy or girl! I know pregnancies can be very different, I've been fortunate thus far to have a pretty easy and comfortable pregnancy (with the exception of the kidney stone). I'm still feeling well. We took a hypnobabies course and it has been so helpful, I feel like we already got our money back simply because I can sleep comfortably and feel pretty good because of the techniques we learned. We are also almost done with all the regular baby classes. I didn't think we needed them but Ben has been all for it, he loved learning how to swaddle, bathe and calm a fussy plastic baby. He even took notes during my "breastfeeding with success class". I'm sure he is going to make a great birth partner.

I still find it hard to believe I'm pregnant. You would think by now reality would have set in, but no. It's amazing to think what the female body is capable of doing. I've loved watching my body change. Sorry for the pregnancy info overload but nothing else going on is as exciting as the impending birth of our baby.

My belly at 35 weeks

My mom.

2011-05-08T10:12:00.001-07:00

In order for my mom's mothering needs to be fulfilled she needed to have like 20 kids. Her ability to love and nurture is just so great. Since she only had three, you can just imagine the kind of mom this lady is.

As I reflect on the kind of mom I want to be, I feel like the bar has been raised pretty darn high and I better not mess it up. I'm very lucky to have been raised by such a wonderful woman, she is the perfect example of selflessness and compassion. Aside from these, my mom is also known for her following attributes: Her sense of humor, her love of dancing, and her love of people, she is pretty much the life of the party (literally). She has a huge group of girlfriends which she has maintained her entire life. I think that says a lot about her. She is just so much fun to be around. Everyone loves her!

She is so excited for our baby, that's all she talks about. She is going to be the best grandma. I can't wait. I'm so glad to have her nearby because I still have so much to learn from her and I know I'm going to need her help more than ever!

Pictures below taken while on bed rest from the IVF, as you can see we had a pretty good time just laying around.

Easter.

2011-04-24T18:48:00.000-07:00

I love Easter, what an amazing time to reflect on the life and the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

It's a Reinhart tradition to take a picture on Easter, and we have been able to stick to it during the past 5 years no matter how crappy the picture might be. A windy day+little time+a camera on self timer=

This picture is just bad in so many ways...

The wind was blowing my dress up...

A little better...

Overly posed, we are over this...

Pregnancy update:
I'm 31 weeks. This week I really started to feel pregnant. I notice it especially at the gym, my work outs have gotten consistently weaker, mostly because it feels like my uterus is going to fall out as soon as I hit the third mile mark on the tread mill. I really hope to have the endurance to birth this baby out, I feel like I did back in high school when I would have a big race coming up but I would ditch practice to go lay out at the beach and then on "race day" I would come in second or third (or last). I hope that's not the case on "birth day".

I also started trading heels for flats at work, and button up shirts for cardigans. Not every pregnant woman can be as fabulous as Rachel Zoe. Despite being a little tired and weak I'm really enjoying this so far, my heart is so full of gratitude for this baby and the opportunity to have it grow inside me. The reality of it all STILL hasn't completely sunk in. I'm also so overwhelmed by the generosity of people around us offering to help plan baby showers and giving us baby stuff. I've always felt like I've been very lucky but lately I feel flat out undeserving of all of this. It is a reminder that moving back to Southern California was the right choice for our family. Our baby will be raised near both sets of grandparents, and awesome friends. I can't imagine living anywhere else right now.

Ben won't stop taking pictures of me, and by the look in my face I don't mind it at all. Ah... the joys of having a husband who thinks I'm beautiful when I really look like crap and likes photographing every minute of my life.

Sweet.

2011-04-05T13:51:00.000-07:00

This father-daughter duet is pretty cute.

Enjoy!

As promised: The IVF Story

2011-02-16T20:28:00.000-08:00

I tried making this short, but I failed.

In early August (2010) we found out that I have elevated FSH levels, this basically means that I have the reproductive age of a 43 year old, or in even shorter terms, I have old eggs. There’s no explanation for why some people get this condition, it just happens and in my age group it’s pretty rare. Luckily for us, I found this out pretty early on, meaning we didn’t spend years trying to figure out what was wrong without any answers. A simple blood test confirmed my FSH levels, so we avoided a lot of the heart ache associated with wanting a baby and not being able to have one. In that regard we feel very blessed. My doctor pretty much said there was nothing they (Kaiser) could do, insurance in California does not cover infertility treatments for people who have a 14 or above in FSH levels. We were told in vitro was the only option for us. So we prayed and did some research to figure out whether we wanted to move forward with it. For as long as I can remember I’ve always wanted to adopt, so I thought maybe the reason this was happening to us was because I was meant to adopt. I feel like I’ve been given the ability to genuinely love other people’s children without a problem despite how crazy they might be. I remember discussing with Ben the reasons why I thought this was happening to us and he said something along the lines of...“why not us, is about time we have to deal with something difficult". That has been Ben’s attitude throughout. So it wasn't some big deal, we knew in the end we would expand our family one way or another. It is so nice to have a constant positive, calm, and rational partner putting things into perspective. I can’t say enough nice things about Ben, he has been the most incredible source of encouragement and laughter (I’ll explain later) throughout this ordeal. So after considering our options, including adoption of course, we decided to start an IVF cycle at HRC fertility with Dr. Jane Frederick. I was told to gain 5 pounds and I was put on the most aggressive treatment option considering my diagnosis but at most if everything went perfectly I would get 10 eggs harvested. I got 11! Out of these, 9 were viable eggs. We decided to go all out in order to maximize our chances so we also did a procedure called ICSI where they pick just one sperm and inject the egg with it. The whole process is pretty incredible. Again we were very lucky and out of the 9 eggs got 7 living embryos. Our doctor was amazed at how well my body responded to the medication and how many of our eggs fertilized (because remember my issue has to do with egg quality). We also did something called "assisted hatching" in order to increase the chances of the embryos implanting.

I was told that IVF was going to be like riding an emotional rollercoaster, and I was determined not to let it affect me. Throughout this process I was detached, and unemotional, I didn’t want to get excited. I wasn’t pessimistic either, I was simply going through the motions. Also, surprisingly the hormones in the medication didn’t give me any emotional side effects, I was my normal self. We had gone to the temple and felt pretty at peace with things, plus I was doing a lot of yoga and acupuncture; I think that helped a lot. My “egg retrieval” was on a Friday (10/1), I was scheduled to have my “embryo transfer” the following Wednesday (10/6), after the embryos were 5 days old. During natural conception, the embryo is in the "cell stage" which takes place in the fallopian tube. On the fifth day (after conception) the embryo reaches the uterus and begins the blast stage. Therefore, transferring the embryos to the uterus on the fifth day, after they reach the blastocyst stage replicates the natural process more closely, and it increases the success rate so we were hoping for a 5th day transfer. Unfortunately on Monday morning (10/3) we got a call from Dr. Frederick telling us we had to come in. At this point 4 of our embryos had stopped growing, all we had left was a 6, 7, and 8 cell embryos all graded C or below (meaning not good). At this time the doctor showed us the pictures of our not-so-great embryos (they were all dying), regardless of the news, Ben was in his element cracking jokes and naming the embryos, he said "look honey, the first picture of our babies", as he held the picture of the embryos. It was pretty funny. Ben has a gift of making a tense situation bearable, it really helped me relax for the transfer. I had two embryos put in, the doctor decided not to put the 6 cell embryo in, it was monitored in the lab and later discarded because it stopped developing. At this point we both felt like it was over due to the poor embryo quality, I was also cramping a lot and I was sure IVF hadn't work.

Following the transfer I was on bed rest for 4 days. My mom came over and stayed with us during those days, she made me all my favorite homemade soups, and we had a great time together. This woman is a saint. The following Monday (10/11), a week from the day the embryos were transferred, I started working full time. It was a nice distraction, my job kept me mentally occupied and I was very happy to finally be working in my field.

Just a few months after my diagnosis, Dr. Frederick called and said "girl, you are pregnant". I couldn't believe it, in fact I didn't.

We didn’t tell many people about IVF because our chances were only 50-50 (that was before we knew our embryos weren't very good), if it worked I wanted to wait as long as possible before sharing the news, if it didn't work I didn't want people to feel bad for us, we knew the outcome would be the right one for us regardless. The IVF process is very personal to me and I wasn’t ready to open up, I think Ben felt the same way. Now that is all set and done we figured it would be good to share our story because maybe we could be a resource to friends, or friends of friends who are thinking about doing IVF. There’s so much we wish we knew going into this….

We have grown so much through this experience, we are both very glad we went through it and luckly for us we'll get a little baby in the end. Although we remain cautiously optimistic. We'll believe it when we see him or her.

Ben giving me some shots, based on what we are wearing, this video was not made for public viewing but whatevs.

Our embryos, or in Ben's words "the first picture of our baby" at 3 days post conception. Not many kids can say they have that.

One of the nice things with IVF is that I had to go in every week until I was 10 weeks along for blood work and ultrasounds, so we got to see the week by week growth which in the early stages is pretty amazing, the machines used at the fertility clinic are crazy good. This video was of our first time hearing the heart beat at 7 weeks.

The belly is growing so fast all of the sudden and after putting my body through so much, I'm loving every minute of this. I'm probably the only pregnant girl who actually wants to be ginormous. Recently my boss said I looked like I swallowed a basketball, I'm still giddy about it.

(I was about 20 weeks along here, I need a recent photo because I've pretty much doubled in size)

Lovers day...

2011-02-16T12:54:00.001-08:00

I wrote Ben a self deprecating poem titled "A Not So Poemy Poem", it was very thoughtful of me as I wrote it in 6 minutes. Ben makes me a card every year, so the pressure is always on for me to NOT to give him something from the valentines isle at CVS. We went out to dinner and made dessert at home (although we ended up having dessert twice). Lately we have this enormous need to party-it up and enjoy our time together as much as we can before the baby comes. We have a vision of this baby coming and completely changing our lives, I'm pretty sure our expectations are accurate.

Here's an excerpt from the poem:

I looked hard but I couldn't find the right card for you

Everything out there is too lame for my uber rad husband,

Plan B was to make you the coolest homemade card

Sadly bewteen the pregnancy and the kidney stone...

Nothing got done, and all my plans soon turned to crap.

I'm not not good with poems, I pretty much suck at rhyming,

Sonnets are not much easier since I'm not good at counting either.

I'm not good at many things, but...

I'm good at loving you because that's pretty easy.

The card from the Mr:

Dinner:

We came home and made some of these:

Ben is responsible for this mess, in his defense it was dark chocolate, his favorite.

The night was not complete without some youtube videos while snuggling in bed. Man, we are so romantic.

Names-Help Please.

2011-01-26T13:22:00.000-08:00

Today Ben texted me "I can't believe we are having a baby" out of the blue and totally out of context. Considering I'm half way done with pregnancy is about time Ben figured that one out.

It's probably a good time we start seriously thinking about baby names since that's what everyone seems to be asking us about. Picking a name is harder than we thought in fact I'm considering setting up a survey in order to figure this out. What makes choosing a name difficult is finding a name that can be easily pronounced in spanish (my mom doesn't speak English) plus I want to make sure my family likes it. Ben on the other hand doesn't care what anyone thinks.

I asked Ben to make a list of "bilingual" names that he likes and he came up with this:

For boys

Fox
Felix
Max
Braxton
Axel

For the record, I vetoed Braxton and Axel because #1 I don't like them (no offense to anyone with those names) and #2 they are not easy to pronounce in Spanish. As for the other names...Well, I'm keeping an open mind.

Obviously, he likes names with X's in them (which I think is kinda weird).

If it's a girl, he likes the name June, I like the names Ruby and Lucia. Ruby might be a good choice for us since that's my dad and bother's nickname for Ruben, in spanish Ruby can be used for either sex, so I think we are leaning towards Ruby June. My dad is really excited about it. At least we got a girl's name down, it makes me want to find out the sex of the baby just so I don't have to think about coming up with a boy name (if it's a girl), but we are not...

Boy names I like are:

Lucas
Milo
Eli (probably Elias, which is a family name or Elijah)
Nicholas

I also like Jude and Elliot but these names are not easy to pronounce in spanish.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

P.S.

My mother in law, MaryAnn recently gave me Ben's baby blessing outfit in case we have a boy. After almost 28 years the color and everything looks perfect (the picture isn't the best). I really like the fabric, and the fact that it doesn't have pants! Perfect for a summer baby which happens to be due right around Ben's birthday.

Interesting article. I promise it is not about politics.

2011-01-21T15:09:00.000-08:00

Ben sent me this article titled "Why I can't stop reading Mormon housewife blogs: I'm a young, feminist atheist who can't bake a cupcake. Why am I addicted to the shiny, happy lives of these women?"

I felt I had to post it.

Link HERE
Enjoy!

January Beach Day

2011-01-21T14:26:00.000-08:00

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Usually we go camping on MLK weekend. We felt bad flaking on our friends this year but I really needed a weekend alone with my Benjers. The day started off by going to the gym, followed by bagels from my favorite, the "Bagel Shack". Feeling guilty about the enormous amount calories consumed we decided to go on a bike ride and headed for the beach. It was a glorious day to sit out in the sun. Also my belly decided to pop out this morning so I had to take a picture for Rachel (my sister in law is obsessed with seeing my belly, so here it goes).

For the record, being Mexican this is as white as I get and its pretty embarrassing.

If we had kids Family Home Evening would have consisted of a lesson on Martin Luther King Jr. but since we don't have any yet we headed out to dinner and a movie. Followed by some much needed cuddle time.

Big News.

2011-01-21T12:15:00.000-08:00

Please excuse any typos, I'm at home passing a kidney stone. I was going to call this post "The Tale of a Kidney Stone" but it didn't seem very appropriate.

Ben got a new job! He still will be working for Edison, still as an engineer but he now will be working in the Probabilistic Risk Assessment group. This new position is more "mathy" and analytical so Ben is pretty excited. He likes his current job but was ready for something new. I'm sure he will miss his cube buddies. -Sorry to be cheesy but I can't help but boast about how lucky we are, I've never had to worry about Ben not being able to provide for our little family. Even when he was a student at Berkeley he worked during the summers at the Jamba Juice headquarters. When people asked what he did for work, he simply said he worked at Jamba Juice. Ben got some good skillz. Yet, he is humble and just grateful to be working in this economy. Now when people ask him what he does for a living he just says "I work at the boobs". That's my guy! I'm so proud of him.

In other exciting news...we are expecting a baby in June! I've felt great so far (minus the kidney stone) and everything is moving along...a little too fast if you ask me. We have chosen not to find out the sex of the baby. We like surprises. For Christmas we got paper audio record cards for our parents and we put this ultrasound picture in the front and Ben using a very high voice recorded something like: "Hi grandma, hi grandpa I'm stuck in here but I can't wait to come out and meet you guys, see you in June." Christmas was also the day we told our extended family I was pregnant, my 95 year old grandma cried. It was a very sweet day.

We are also hoping to buy our first home! Everything is also moving along in this department, although we are not sure if it will happen by June. We are very much do-things-in-order type of people. In my personal journal my ideal time line looked something like this (I wrote it around the time we got engaged, Ben agreed to it. I was 22 or 23 so don't judge): Get married in the fall, wait to have kids for at least 3 years, finish grad school, learn to play the accordion, become DINKS, travel to Europe, buy our first place, have a baby. I have to say with the exception of learning how to play the accordion, by the end of the year everything in this list might be checked off.

Things don't always work out as planned and in this case we are doing things out of order, which turned out to be a huge blessing because we were able to use some of our "home" savings towards IVF which was the way our baby came into my belly. More on that later. I think it deserves it's own post.

2011 is bound to be an eventful year for us. The only thing we really care about is having a healthy baby, everything else is just a positive externality.

I'm sure if my econ teacher read this post she would have to reconsider giving me a C.

Irrational thoughts from a work week

2011-01-08T10:50:00.000-08:00

I wrote this like 2 weeks ago and just got around to posting it...

I miss being a nanny because at the end of the day I would be physically exhausted by not mentally drained. I take physical tiredness any day over mental exhaustion because when your mind is giving up, you have irrational thoughts like these.....

Thursday: I was having one of those days at work where there's meeting after meeting and then a meeting to discuss the meeting...Anyway, I had a few minutes in between meetings and I was finally getting things done, and I really had to pee but I was too busy answering emails and just when I was having an argument with myself as to how much longer I could hold it, the electricity went out, maybe it was God's way of telling me I had to go.

Friday: For some reason despite the fact that it is now January the abundance of holiday candy and baked goods continues to lure all over the office. Having the self control of a 2 year old, I don't hesitate to partake until Friday when I realized the fruit Ben packs in my lunch had been accumulating over the week so in a desperate attempt to finish it, I had 2 kiwis, an asian pear, a nectarine, an apple and some kumquats all within a 1 hour span. Luckily I did not have a fiber overdose.

Friday afternoon: My coworker sneezed and I without hesitation sprayed her with lysol. My normal self, with a normal functioning brain doesn't spray people with lysol. Note to self, do not keep the lysol so readily available on my desk.

I have no complaints though, I really like my job, I love my coworkers and hopefully giving my brain a work out will keep me younger longer. Is not always easy to discuss the Governor's budget proposal with a 2 year old. This doesn't mean I don't miss being greeted by this pretty face every morning. I miss little Ella.

2011

2011-01-03T10:46:00.000-08:00

I have a feeling 2011 is going be pretty great, a lot of exciting things happening...Stay tuned. I also a feeling this will be the year I'll get really into blogging... Okay maybe not but I'll try a little harder. Happy New Year!

Our New Years Eve was spent at home watching my beloved Anderson on Eastern Standard. We didn't feel like partying for once.

We took pictures I just can't find them, like always.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-25T19:25:00.001-08:00

Noche Buena, Noche Loca.

2010-12-23T14:56:00.000-08:00

These days we have been super busy, and it's not just work related. We have been busy partying. This might sound like a good thing, but at this point I'm exahusted. We are greatful for our awesome friends, and family but I kind of wish I could just sleep for the next few days. This Christmas eve will be spent with both our families, on the same day in two different countries. Yes, that's a lot of driving! But we really don't want to miss out on being with them, even if it means driving all over, and not getting very much sleep because let's face it, in Mexico we party all night (it's tradition to open gifts at mid-night even when you are 5 and delirious from lack of sleep).

This year, I've done absolutly no baking. Although I'm sure the ladies I visit-teach didin't mind getting Godiva truffles instead of my burnt sneaker doodles this year.

I didn't spend any time making gifts or wrapping them in cute packages. Generic it is...

Gifts for our out-of-state family will arrive late.

We didin't send grandma Reinhart a personilized christmas letter, I'm worried Ben won't be her favorite any more and the yearly piece of china will stop (she sends a plate per year, no I'm not kidding).

We didin't get a chance to feed the homeless in capo beach, adopt a needy family, or sing christmas carols to the elderly at the community center, we basically sucked at doing any service projects this year. I guess we'll just have to try to be service oriented all year long in 2011.

On the bright side all of the gifts are done (even if it's just gift cards and movie tickets). At least the nieces and nephews will have real gifts.

It might be a crazy Christmas but at the end of the day I'll get to snuggle with my parents (it never gets old), play soccer with my brothers and spend time with my Benji.

Oh yes, I also had a birthday this month and I just remembered I have yet to send thank you cards, crap! So when exactly am I suppose to fit Jesus into this equation? I kid, I kid. My mom gave me a brand new baby jesus for my nativity (that's for another post), and no I'm not kidding about this part either.

Not your grandma's christmas card.

2010-12-18T23:52:00.001-08:00

I love getting Christmas cards in the mail, but this Christmas card tops the list. Our super talented friend Cory made this of his wife and kids, so in case you were wondering she isn't a single mother...

A Very Dotty Brown Christmas from Cory LeSueur on Vimeo.

Temple Square in SLC is always beautiful this time of year.

If you like the video you should check out THIS.

Uncle Ben

2010-12-05T19:03:00.000-08:00

There's no denying Ben is everyone's favorite uncle. On Thanksgiving our nephew Jack who recently turned 3 came running in (after ringing the doorbell 3 times in a row) looking all over for Ben and we had the following conversation:

Jack: (with a worried face) where's YOUR uncle Ben?
Me: Using the potty, he is potty trained you know.
Jack: Yeah me too, just like uncle Ben.

A few reasons why the nieces and nephews love Ben so much:

Because at any given time he....

1. Turns into a crazy monkey (see video)
2. Turns into a wild chicken (much different than the monkey)
3. Turns into the snuggle or tickle monster (depending on circumstance)
4. Turns into a talking horse (this one is my personal favorite)
5. When he pretends to be a water ballerina.

Yeah, pretty much there's no competing with uncle Ben. Even 1 year old Weston gets excited to see him. I will always be boring aunt Sarah who "doesn't let us eat chocolate." -Charlotte (age 4).

Thankful.

2010-11-25T11:30:00.001-08:00

I have a personal theory that gratitude and happiness go hand in hand. I think having a grateful heart is the key to being a happy person regardless of life circumstances or hardships. My parents don't have a lot and I've NEVER heard them complain about stuff. I'm lucky to have grown up with parents who do not associate happiness with material possessions or status. It's always been all about love and family and for that I'm grateful today.

PS

Can you tell I'm a little sentimental to be without my family this Thanksgiving? They decided to go on a trip to Guadalajara, Mexico without me. There's always the Kelly's.

Halloween.

2010-11-25T11:26:00.000-08:00

I just realized we never posted a picture in our Halloween costumes. Is it too late? It's only thanksgiving....

Yes, we were legos.

Palm Springs

2010-11-14T18:13:00.000-08:00

Despite being busy we were able to sneak away for a weekend to celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary. It's our tradition, no matter how small the trip. 1st year it was Santa Barbara, 2nd year was Napa 3rd year was San Diego (we had gone to Europe earlier in the year so we had to keep it cheap, plus David Sedaris was having a reading so it worked out) and for our 4th we went to Palm Springs. We stayed at a place called Hope Springs, they have heated mineral pools and a mid century vibe. It was very peaceful, exactly what we wanted. We went on a self guided architectural tour, did some thrift store shopping, ate lot's of yummy food, slept in, it was perfect.

These are from the hotel, I happen to match the decor so Ben took a bunch of pictures of me.

4 years.

2010-11-14T17:50:00.000-08:00

Sorry, it's been so long. I blame it on the election. I thought that once November 2nd came I would have a life again, and I was going to get back to blogging. But I forgot about all the post-election debriefings and meetings. Election time for public affairs peeps is (probably) the the equivalent of tax season for accountants. It's been a while since I've worked on a campaign so I was a little rusty and totally underestimated the craziness that comes with it. So if I've canceled dinner plans with you, if I missed your birthday, if I missed your baby shower or if I haven't returned your phone call consider this a sincere apology. I suck. I even missed blogging about our anniversary last month. Heck, I even missed buying Ben a gift. At least you didn't have to read a cheesy post on how wonderful and amazing Ben is. Okay, maybe you will....

I'll try to keep it as un-cheesy as possible.

4 years later and I love him and respect him more than ever. I'm constantly in awe. Life is so good. I really lucked out.

Sarah is going to pee her pants over this

2010-10-22T23:24:00.000-07:00

When we met we both shared a love for Magnetic Fields. I can't think of a better way to spend our anniversary next week than to see this.

-Ben

I hijacked the blog.

Halloween costumes...

2010-10-05T09:27:00.000-07:00

How awesome would it be to dress up as a lego guy for Halloween?

The only downside, is that it would be hard to get our dance on in this costume. Last year our ridiculous earbud costumes were a hit, but not the most comfortable. If you follow my blog you know October is my favorite month. I just love everything about fall! Last night Ben made some yummy pumpkin muffins, he frosted them with nutella. They were moist and scrumptious, perfect for the misty weather we've been having. I'm looking forward to so many things this month including a little trip to Palm Springs, our anniversary, starting a new job in my field (public affairs, full time, with benefits the real deal) among other things. Last weekend was also the semi-annual general conference of our church, it was announced that a temple will be built in Tijuana, Mexico. As soon as we heard the news we both, without thinking about it, simultaneously did a happy dance and then hugged each other really tight. I'm pretty sure that's the first time two temples will be built within 30 miles of each other, yet in different countries. I have mixed feelings about this conference, some talks were really good, others I need to hear (or read) again. I LOVED President Monson's talk on gratitude. He said that gratitude is not just the noblest of virtues, but the parent of all others. I couldn't agree more. Another quote that stuck out to me was by Elder Richard G. Scott, he said "we become what we want to be, by consistently being what we want to become."

How did my Halloween post turn into a post about conference? My posts are like my mind, all over the place.

Temple Grandin

2010-10-02T00:46:00.000-07:00

Ben and I have been looking forward to a quiet, mellow weekend. We started tonight by staying home and renting a movie. I've missed cuddling with my Benji, we have both been so busy lately. Temple Grandin is a fantastic biopic. It is based on the life of a very accomplished autistic women. I loved it, it was very interesting and moving. It is based on two books written by Grandin one called "Thinking in Pictures" and the other "Emergence". I haven't read the books in fact we pretty much rented this movie last minute without seeing any reviews, but we picked a good one. This weekend is off to a good start!

Spiritual thought and Ruby

2010-09-14T09:52:00.000-07:00

I got an e-mail this morning from the young women president asking me to prepare a spiritual thought for our meeting today. Normally I never prepare for these kinds of things, I just wing it. But I needed an excuse to miss yoga this morning because my body is still sore from "spinning" class yesterday. So I was searching on-line and found this:

It's an excerpt from a conference talk given Oct/2008 (nothing too profound or new but I love the simplicity of it).

"Stresses in our lives come regardless of our circumstances. We must deal with them the best we can. But we should not let them get in the way of what is most important—and what is most important almost always involves the people around us. Often we assume that they must know how much we love them. But we should never assume; we should let them know. Wrote William Shakespeare, “They do not love that do not show their love.” We will never regret the kind words spoken or the affection shown. Rather, our regrets will come if such things are omitted from our relationships with those who mean the most to us."Send that note to the friend you’ve been neglecting; give your child a hug; give your parents a hug; say “I love you” more; always express your thanks. Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved. Friends move away, children grow up, loved ones pass on. It’s so easy to take others for granted, until that day when they’re gone from our lives and we are left with feelings of “what if” and “if only.” Said author Harriet Beecher Stowe, “The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone.”
-President Thomas S. Monson

You can find the entire talk HERE.

My brother Ruby is so funny, he's the dramatic one in the family. He always says goodbye to our grandma (94) with so much passion and enthusiasm because in his words "you never know if this will be our last good-bye" (for the record, he sees her daily). He cracks me up! He is the type of brother to call randomly just to say he misses me. The only time I get text messages from him is to either tell me a very inappropriate, probably racist joke or to tell me he loves me for no reason. I'm so excited to have dinner with him tonight! And one more thing....HE JUST GOT ENGAGED!!! Oh, and another thing...I'M GOING TO BE A "TIA" (aunt). No he didn't get his girlfriend pregnant, instead he is adopting her little girl. Not many 26 year old guys willingly take on this type of responsibility. Ruby is going to be a great dad.

Eichler love

2010-09-12T22:00:00.000-07:00

When Ben and I started dating we used to go on lots of walks in his neighborhood in the city of Orange. I LOVE Orange for many reasons one being the abundance of “Eichler homes”. I love everything about mid century minimalist architecture: The floor to ceiling windows, the cute atriums, the simple, clean and open feel. We have been to a few Eichler open houses only to pee our pants over the coolness of the houses, not like we can afford them (even after the market downturn). Most of the pictures below are the same houses Ben and I used to see on our walks in Orange. It’s not coveting…just daydreaming, I swear!

Bay Area Bliss

2010-09-06T14:56:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we spent some time in Berkeley and San Francisco and visited friends and old neighbors (thanks to facebook we've managed to stay in touch even with our neighbors, I love it). We actually hadn't been back since Ben graduated from Cal over 2 years ago! We decided to be tourists for a day, I captured some fun images with my phone and just took in the sights.

Chocolatier Blue, is a must! Sooo good. They have two locations in Berkeley.

Ben's favorite place to eat in Berkley, Brazil Cafe. They make really good mango smoothies.

No freak dancing allowed

2010-08-22T00:18:00.000-07:00

I finally know where Ben learned to dance like an Orangutan. Mormon youth dances.

Last night we chaperoned a youth dance. The fact that they trust us with the "youth" of the Church still baffles me. I'm sure the Bishop has seen these and many other crazy pictures on facebook:

Yet somehow they still think we good role models.

We thought all the sweet dance skills we learned from our Oakland youth would come in handy but San Clemente kids are nothing like Oakland kids, I bet they don't even know how to "walk it out".

Ben sounded like a grandpa the entire night saying things like "back when I was a youth we had to wear church clothes to dances, these kids have it too easy."

Brother Prolo=Best deejay ever. We actually had fun and Justin Bieber's music was kept to a minimum. Thank Goodness.

lovebirds.

2010-08-09T00:24:00.000-07:00

My parents renewed their wedding vows over the weekend!

My dad and his obsessive overprotective tendencies combined with my mom's overly motherly almost overbearing love equals...A somewhat functioning family with young adults who still expect their breakfast to be made when they wake up in the morning. I'm so thankful for these two.

It is a proud moment when you realize your white husband knows his way around Tijuana probably better than you. I love him for loving my family and embracing my culture. In return he gets to be Mexican every once in awhile.

Oregon Coast and Portland.

2010-08-08T23:51:00.000-07:00

Here's an attempt to sum up the beautiful places we saw along the Oregon Coast and in Portland. It was a great trip, we saw many lighthouses, pretty beaches, and amazing vegetation. We visited the Oregon Coast Aquarium, and in Portland the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI). In Portland we stayed with the Asakawas (Ben's aunt and family), they were very nice hosts and showed us around the city. Portland is one of those places you can never get tired of visiting. The best part of the trip of course was the time we spent with Ben's family. Dr. Reinhart called earlier today to talk about the next camping trip. We are in!

Overcompensating for something Ben?

Hot rock therapy, ghetto style.

Ben and Gentry. Brotherly love.

Nerd.

The Willamette River

Portland!

Oregon road trip

2010-08-05T18:08:00.000-07:00

We recently went camping in Oregon with Ben's family. Aside from packing and downloading podcasts, books and music for the road, we didn't have much else to do. Ben's folks camp with a super comfy trailer plus they bring another trailer just for STUFF, so we didn't have to worry about anything except showing up. It is seriously so nice. All the meals were super planned and yummy.

Ben's little brother Cameron (16 yrs old) brought 5 of his friends on the trip. They are all really sweet kids and we had a lot of fun with them. Ben really impressed them by showing off and telling them that he got a 5 on his AP calculus exam in high school. Cameron pretty much worships Ben, he plans on going to Berkeley and majoring in Engineering. Sound familiar? He even has a picture of the Cal campus on his locker at school. How cute is that? Here are some of my favorite pictures from the first part of the trip.

Thank you Florence, Oregon.

2010-08-01T20:52:00.000-07:00

Last week we went on a road trip up to Oregon. We had the best time driving up the Oregon coast, the scenery was stunning. On our way to the Umpqua State Park we came upon the city of Florence, Oregon. The last time we went to a city named Florence we had a much better time. Nonetheless, we were told that Florence had been voted the #1 place to retire in the United States beating out some cities in Florida! We all know where there's old people, there's good thrift stores. The older the better. So of course this town made for some amazing thrifted finds. I scored a few dresses, knitted ties for Ben, and the skirt I'm wearing in the picture. Ben loves it, I think the more yokel I dress the more attractive he finds me.

Blog worth reading

2010-08-01T15:22:00.000-07:00

One of our girls from church is currently in India volunteering at a leprosy colony. It's amazing to see the teens we work with doing amazing things and serving others so selflessly. Ashley is going to be a senior at San Clemente High next year. If you want to read about her experiences in India or how you can help people suffering from leprosy click HERE.

Rewind.

2010-07-26T19:26:00.000-07:00

I normally don't play catch up, not everything we do gets documented of course, but these pictures (mostly taken with my phone) are worth sharing so let's recap to the weekend before last weekend.

-Rode our bikes to the San Clemente Ocean Festival. If you are looking for a fun workout I recommend riding a one speed beach cruiser uphill. It works every time.

-Saw She+Him and the Swellseason perform. Despite the big venue, it was a fantastic show.

-Karaoke night with friends. Before and after pictures can be deceiving but we were all 100% sober, I swear.

-Sunday family dinner with the Kellys. Every third Sunday we see the nieces and nephews and go swimming. These kids think grandma and grandpa’s house = pool time regardless of the weather.

This summer is going too fast, let's hope we get more sunshine soon.

Another pretty voice

2010-07-16T13:30:00.000-07:00

Carla Morrison is a new Mexican artist from Tecate, a small city east of Tijuana. Her voice is too good not to listen to. Enjoy!

P.S. In the last few weeks I've been messing with my layout. Why does blogger insist on making it so difficult to have a plain and simple looking blog? I'm thinking about moving over to WordPress.

A beautiful game...

2010-07-11T17:44:00.000-07:00

It has been amazing watching the world cup unfold in South Africa. I have countless memories of gathering in front of the TV every four years to watch the world cup. There was always so much excitement in my home during this time. We would wake up in the middle of the night (depending on time zone differences) just to watch the games. One of my cousins who was born during the 96’ world cup was named Roberto Carlos after the famous Brazilian soccer player because he was born within minutes of him scoring a defining goal. True story.

It is not called the beautiful game for nothing. I’m a firm believer that soccer unites the world in a way that nothing else can. South Africans must be so proud to watch their country host, to cheer on one of their colonizers on the finals and to export their affection for vuvuzelas even at the expense of western ears.

Soccer is known to stir up both good and bad emotions. I remember watching the game where Colombian player Andrés Escobar scored and auto goal, I was 11. Later on we heard on the news that he was killed by an angry fan. Some people go crazy over the game but for the rest of us, it’s a happy time where we can cheer on our teams and enjoy the hotness of the players. There I said it.

27.

2010-06-27T13:39:00.000-07:00

No one makes me happier.
No one makes me laugh like you do.
No one is as sweet as you.
Happy birthday to my dancing machine!

Happy Summer.

2010-06-22T19:47:00.000-07:00

Well, not so happy for me yet. I have a gnarly cold. I rarely get sick but when I do it seems to always be whenever I'm the busiest. I hope to be all better by Ben's birthday on Sunday. Speaking of his birthday, I came across this t-shirt while shopping for his gifts. I didn't buy it (I'm pretty sure Ben won't wear a shirt with the word sex on it) but I thought I'd share this gem of a find in case there are some less modest nuclear power lovers in the house!

Photos by Jenn King

2010-06-18T10:41:00.000-07:00

The amazing Jenn King just posted more pictures from our vintage shoot on her site: www.jennkingphoto.com. And of course, because we are narcissistic and have no shame I'm also posting some of the photos on here.

Jenn is super fun to work with, and I'm not saying this just because she's my friend. She is very creative and will climb on tress (wearing cowboy boots, and all) and will do whatever it takes to get a good picture. I love her! If you are thinking about doing a family session or plan on getting married, you should hire her. She even did a slide show for us! So if you want to see even MORE pictures of us (you know you want to) click on the video below. * There's a bit of a problem with my settings so is better to view the video on here . Plus the images look much better on hi-res.

Brilliant!

2010-06-17T19:33:00.000-07:00

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

An Energy-Independent Future

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor

Tea Party

Job update

2010-06-12T00:22:00.000-07:00

The job search has been pretty difficult. Let's just say Orange County is not the best place for someone with my educational background (what Ben calls my "skillzzles"). I have gotten a few job offers but nothing worth working for. I was tempted to take a job trying to secure government contracts but after a week I was ready to shoot myself. That's usually not a good sign of things to come. So I decided to take a part-time job at a Public Affairs firm. I'll get to do pretty much all of my work from home because my soon-to-be boss spends most of his time in D.C. With e-mail and video conferencing we expect to make this work. I'm hoping this will lead to something full-time, if anything the experience will be worth it. In the meantime I'll continue with my other part-time job (caring for an almost 2 year old). There's nothing like looking forward to mornings spent cuddling on the couch, eating cheerios and watching Do-do-dora.

Pretty voices

2010-06-08T21:13:00.000-07:00

Last night we went to see Thao and Mirah with the Most of All. We normally don't go to shows in the middle of the work week but Ben had not seen Mirah live since high school and we were both excited to see Thao and Mirah play together (we are suckers for girls with pretty voices). I'm glad we ended up going because the show was so, so good. Maybe the fact that Ben is approaching his 27th birthday had a little something to do with his desire to go relive his teenage years. Either way, we had a great time.

Education Reform

2010-06-02T21:38:00.000-07:00

“Waiting for Superman" is a new documentary about our education system. In grad school I did my final research on education policy, in fact my passion for education reform was one of the reasons I even went to policy school in the first place. I figured one day I'm going to be a mom...and my kids will be in public school and I want to be able to know more than the superintendents in terms of operating budgets, and implementation of school policies (I'm sure one day I'm going to make a heck of a PTA president). Anyway, enough day dreaming, back to what I was writing about. I'm super stoked that this documentary brings to the limelight the truth about the state of our education system.

Don't get me wrong, I'm super grateful to have given the oppotunity to attend school in the U.S. I grew up in Tijuana and crossing the border every morning in order to go to school was no fun. I'm of course so glad my parents pushed me as hard as they did. When I was in high school a day didn't go by that my dad didn't say "you are not getting up at 5 am everyday to go and socialize, you are going there to learn." Yes my dad is that intense when it comes to education. Thanks Papi.

Now, if only every student could get a quality education regardless of school district...

Utah

2010-05-31T00:14:00.000-07:00

The next destination on our road trip was Utah. I love visiting Utah. Some of our most favorite people live there. Including Ben’s dad and step-mom, 3 of his siblings (Gentry, Rachel and Cameron), our little niece Delilah and of course the LeSueur-Preston-Poole clan.

Things we did in UT:

-Went to a Real Salt Lake game (made us really excited about the world cup this summer).

-Blew bubbles with Delilah.

-Visited Rachel in her dorm at the U (she has one year left of medical school) and played scategories.

-Met Cameron’s band mates and girlfriend. He is 16 but dating a senior, way to go Cam!

-Helped Dr. Reinhart build a display for his scouting memorabilia. Here's the final product:

-Attempted to play scrabble only using an ipad and our iphones. Technology is amazing.

-Cuddled with baby Townes. Townsey is almost one but still loves to snuggle, my kind of kid.

-Read books with Dotty and discussed the importance of princesses not only being pretty but also smart and up-to-date with current events. She is a super fun 3 year old, and a great kitchen helper.

-Partied with the Lesuer’s as soon as the babies were asleep and by party I mean watched videos on hulu…Ben and Cory talked about camera equipment for hours. All while Mere and I ONLY discussed scholarly things and politics and didn’t talk about anything on the E! network, or tabloid drama (wink wink).

-Stopped by the St. George temple, only to pee in the visitor’s center. Such a pretty temple with so much history. We will have to go back and visit.

We also...

-Had graduation congratulatory BBQ with friends. (Congrats Jon!)

-Visited our cousin Mindy.
-Drank tea and chatted with Grandma Reinhart. Herbal to be exact. She was visiting from Oregon. I absolutely love her.

We never have enough time in Utah to see all the friends we want to see and do all the things we want to do. This trip was so much fun, and Utah is a beautiful place, I love the mountains.

Arizona Guilt

2010-05-20T00:45:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went to Arizona, I know, I know...not the best time to visit Arizona given the lame new law, Bill 1070. We got a taste of this law as we were pulling into our hotel (I’m embarrassed to say we didn’t camp, we are slowly morphing into the kind of people we swore we would never be, people who choose comfort over adventure). We got pulled over for going 10 miles over the speed limit (downhill). Sure we were speeding, thus breaking the law so the cop had a right to stop us. I wasn’t driving but the cop still wanted to see my I.D. Ben asked why since I hadn’t done anything wrong, he of course wanted to check and make sure I was legal. We laughed it off but it brought our attention back on this measure, which is of no joking matter. We realized just how easily a police officer can find a reason to stop someone (ANYONE, including a U.S. citizen like me and people who just happen to be a little browner like Native Americans which there are lots in Arizona) and ask for identification. No racial profiling? Please. I’m no expert on immigration law, but I do know a thing or two about public policy and this measure my friends… is just plain wrong on so many levels. A friend wrote a bit on the subject here. If you are interested you can also check out a little economic analysis on the matter here.

The reason for our visit to Arizona was to spend some time at the Grand Canyon (in our defense the grand canyon is technically on federal property). It felt so good to breathe some fresh air and enjoy all the beauty that surrounds such an incredible place. The drive from Arizona to Utah through route 89 is very long but so worth it. I fell in love with the desert.

I recently vowed to not share opinions on here and just keep this blog for archival purposes on the Reinhart happenings but that’s hard to do. I have no authority on any subject matter, and there is a lot I don’t know about, but this is my blog and if you don’t agree with me that’s O.K. Different opinions, choices and ideas is what makes this bloggy-world interesting. I'm not the type to shove my ideas down people's throats but I do have an opinion at times and I’m done apologizing for having something to say. Ben took a bunch of pictures with his fancy camera equipment, but they are on his computer (minus the two on top) so this will do. My little point and shoot still works.

Driving through Arizona...

This is now in Utah, such a difference with the mountains in the background, and yes that speed limit says 80!

Thanks for putting up with me, my liberal tendencies, my super long sentence structures, and my obsession with (parentheses) among other things. More on Utah soon.

80's prom party.

2010-05-08T11:00:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went to a super rad 80's party. We didn't put too much effort into our costumes but I think we accomplished looking ridiculous which is always a good goal. I put on my Jellies sandals, didn't straighten my hair (it's sad how little effort I had to put into my hair to make it look frizzy) and we were out the door. Ben wasn't feeling well, but he never says no to a party, and this one had atari video games so he wasn't about to miss out on that.

Thanks Jill for throwing such a fun party!

My blog

2010-05-06T22:47:00.000-07:00

I've been neglecting this blog. I haven't been very comfortable with sharing a lot lately. Recently I had an experience where something written (not on here, not by me) was very misconstrued, and it got me thinking about how easily text can be misinterpreted or taken out of context, or could make people think I'm a different person than who I really am.

I live day to day hoping to become a little bit wiser and a little bit better at life. I love my husband, I love my family and most importantly I love my faith. This is who I am. There's lot's of things I like: music, books, politics, humanitarianism, feminism, crafty things. Who I am is not defined by what I like. I write as if people know me, but lately I have realized that this isn't the case, not everyone who reads my blog knows and understands me. This has now become more apparent than ever. And I do not care to make an effort to write clearly enough to be understood. It would take too much time and effort. Heck, English isn't even my first language.

I've never written anything on here that I regret, and a big part of me could care less what others think of me but I realize that I need to be more careful with my words. Not just for my sake. The blog will go on, I love to look back at our old archives and reminisce about our bike rides in Berkeley, Ben's outfit on his first day at work, our silly ikea races. I wish I would have started this from day 1 of our marriage. The last 3 and a half years have been incredible. So many great trips, good times, and "incoherent thoughts" have been recorded on here. I don't want to give up on the blog I just need a little time to get back into it.

At this point you might be wondering the reason for the "talk nerdy to me" image. No reason it just made me think of Ben, and it made me happy.

Zip-lining with my love

2010-04-20T09:54:00.000-07:00

If I would have known someone was taking pictures I would have worked it, or at least act like I wasn't totally scared. I've gone on more zip-lines since knowing Ben than in my entire life. He just can't say no to a zip-line (the taller and longer the better), and I can't say no to Ben. 

My Ruby

2010-04-19T21:19:00.000-07:00

My brother Ruby is 26 today. We have always been opposites, growing up he was the sweet, cautious, sensitive child, and me the charismatic, outspoken wild child. We have always balanced each other. Ruby is the kindest person I know, he has always been very giving, loving and completely selfless. Ruby is a lot like my mom, EVERYONE knows who he is, he is the life of the party, very outgoing and fun. Growing up I always had someone to play with, Ruby and I did everything together and had so much fun making up games, building forts, and watching cartoons. I can’t imagine my childhood with out him. In high school we were both in the school soccer teams and we got to travel to games together, and spent a lot of time with each other during and after practices. I miss those days. I got super lucky having a brother who is so close in age (14 months), best of all I got a brother as nice and sweet as my Ruby. Happy Birthday Ruben!

Interesting fact: Ruby and I ONLY speak to each other in Spanish, yet David (my youngest brother) and I mostly speak to each other is English. Why? Maybe because Ruby and I grew up speaking only Spanish and David grew up speaking both. 

Easter

2010-04-05T17:00:00.000-07:00

I’m finally back from a peep induced sugar coma. This year we had the laziest most glorious Easter of all time. We were supposed to be camping at various national parks with Ben’s dad and family but due to some health complications (Ben’s dad had a mini-stroke) our trip was canceled. Luckily Dr. Reinhart is doing well and is now recovering at home after having a little hole in his heart repaired. This year our Easter consisted of hearing from the leaders of our church from the comfort of our BED. That’s right people you don’t get any lazier than spending your weekend in bed. 

We also reflected on the atoning sacrifice of Jesus, took lot’s of naps, lot’s of cuddling, partied in LA with some of my favorite people, got woken up by an earthquake, went on a bike ride, and got confused for a teenager again. All-in-all perfect Easter weekend.

During our bike ride we discovered a bunch of pretty wild flower fields...picture above taken with my phone.

You will be missed

2010-03-31T11:10:00.000-07:00

"My skills are really to motivate these kids, to make them learn, to give them "ganas"--the desire to do something--to make them believe they can learn." -Jaime Escalante

Today is also Cesar Chavez day. I asked Ben if he was going to get the day off. His response, "who do you think I am? a union employee?" Good thing I can find humor in all of his mean sarcasm. I can't wait to one day teach my future children about the legacy of these great men.

Worst easter pictures ever and a crappy dress

2010-03-28T22:46:00.000-07:00

Alright, so every year we take "Easter" pictures. Again, another one of my silly traditions... So today after church we were in the process of taking our Easter picture in the back yard by using the self timer. But our adorable (and sweet) landlord saw us struggling and kindly wanted to volunteer to take our picture. She's in her 70's...this is the best shot we got. No comment. Aside from the blurriness, Ben's super short tie makes me laugh.

Also at around 9:00pm I had the brilliant idea to sew a shirt-dress. I thought how hard can it be to sew a shirt and some fabric together? Let me clarify that I had never sewn anything other than pillows, curtains and hems. But I got the idea because my favorite comfy t-shirt (an American Apparel 50/50) got a stain on it but I was too sad to part with it so I wanted to give it a new life. I like doing things fast, Ben calls me his little speedster. So sewing is no different I didn't bother with pins or measuring anything I just winged it. And this is what I ended up with. The bottom half is a jersey knit thus making this dress the most comfortable garment ever. As you can see, I'm wearing a belt super high up almost to my boobs. That wasn't the plan but that's what I ended up with. the belt also hides the seam on the "waist" (not really on the waist, but you get my drift) which is slightly slanted, actually it's pretty darn crooked. Ta-dah! My very first dress. Ben dared me to wear it out on public, so I said "bring on the camera, I'm putting it on the blog".

Seriously I need someone to teach me how to sew for reals. I've always been in-loved with the idea of creating clothes. I have an aunt who is an amazing seamstress she made my wedding dress (and all of my prom dresses) but she lives in Tijuana and is too busy to teach me. Any takers?

My wedding dress: 45 dollars worth of cheap fabric from downtown L.A. + my aunt's hands + one afternoon two days before my wedding + my mom's 80's wedding veil = my wedding outfit.

Toddlers and fondue

2010-03-28T01:24:00.000-07:00

Every third Sunday of the month we have dinner with Ben's family. My favorite part (aside from MaryAnn's cooking) is getting to spend time with our little nieces and nephews. Here are some of my favorite pictures from last Sunday. I'm going to brag a little...these kids are pretty stinkin' cute. Little Miss Charlotte is 3, Jack (we call him Jack-Jack or Jack attack) is 2 and baby Weston is 5 months old and completely adorable. We can't get enough of these kids.

A little preview...

2010-03-23T09:06:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been living in sweatpants and saggy-butt-jeans due mostly to my work schedule (I haven't turned into a frumpy, lazy wife just yet), which these days includes tutoring kids, playing with kids and wrestling kids. So when the opportunity came up to put on my favorite vintage dresses and twirl around in them all while getting pictures taken, I jumped on it. Ben was pretty excited to come up with his "outfit". He got a few vintage looking vests and some bow-ties for the shoot and now all he ever wants to wear to church is bow-ties! I love it. Last Sunday at Church a girl asked him if he was dressed like a leprechaun, how funny is that?

Our friend Jenn from Jenn King Photo just posted a little preview of the vintage photo session we did with her last week. She is such a fun and talented girl and we had the best time with her and her husband Will. I can't wait to see more pictures.

The slogan for Jenn's photography website is "catching all the light" and that she did indeed.
Click HERE for see the preview of our of our shoot.

Silly traditions

2010-03-17T17:34:00.000-07:00

While most people celebrate St. Patrick’s Day by drinking green beer. Here in the Reinhart household we celebrate it by eating green pancakes. This year we didn’t go crazy, I tried to be a little healthier so we made multi-grain pancakes with flax seed, instead of regular ones. I tried keeping the food coloring to a minimum thus creating neon green pancakes. I attempted to make the pancakes in the shape of shamrocks. Bad idea. My culinary skills are not up to par, not to mention I was trying to do this at 5:00 am because Ben goes to work super early. As a side dish I added ham (for Ben) and honeydew but I ruined the “greenness” by adding strawberries (not green but they were on sale), and we drank “green machine” Naked fruit juice. Overall a good green-somewhat-healthy breakfast. I know I sound completely insane but I’m committed to our family traditions even if they are silly and even if our family is just Ben and I.

Fact: The Irish fought on the Mexican side during the Mexican American war. Therefore, I could in fact be part Irish.

Fact #2: Ben might look Irish, but according to his genealogy he isn’t Irish. He is mostly English and German.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Outside my bedroom window

2010-03-16T22:54:00.000-07:00

The sunsets have been so pretty this week and so has the weather. I'm of course loving it. I get to wake up every morning and look out at the ocean all while still laying in bed, how did we ever get this lucky? Yesterday I rode my bike to the beach, today I ran to the beach and tomorrow I plan on taking my "work" to the beach. All while the rest of America freezes to death. I have no complaints.

28 years

2010-03-13T14:55:00.000-08:00

Today my parents are celebrating 28 years of marriage. Things haven't always been perfect but they have been able to overcome everything that has come their way by sticking together, and loving each other unconditionally. In the last few years since dealing with my brother's mental illness my parents have seemed to have fallen in love all over again in a new kind of way. I think the struggles have made them even closer. It's now been officially a year since David was in the hospital. And what a difference a year has made. He is doing very well. He goes to college full time, has a cute little girlfriend and is living his life like an average kid. Thank God for modern science, if this was 20 years ago David would probably be homeless. Thankfully he hasn't had "an episode" in a year which means he is basically recovered as long as he stays on his medication.

My dad planned a romantic weekend in Ensenada Mex for my mom. He is really good about these kinds of things. I'm glad to see them happy and enamored with each other. So cheers to another 28 years of love.

*That's the most recent picture I have of them taken last month. I wanted to post one from the late 70's when they were dating but my scanner is not cooperating.

My latest obsession

2010-03-10T18:09:00.000-08:00

I know this blog has been pretty boring as of lately. There's nothing exciting to report.... I've been busy re-oganizing my life and de-cluttering. Ben kindly asked me to downsize and get rid of some books. Instead I rediscovered some old ones but good ones. I'm currently re-reading all about the initiative process in california (just in time for election time, I suppose). I seriously have a book hoarding problem. Ben even offered to buy me a kindle , but I refuse to go that route, call me old fashioned but I'm just not ready for that non-sense. I guess Ben will just have to deal with my crap. I have to put up with all his old camera equipment and weird musical interments that look like they don't belong to an adult. Compromise it is.

Alright so my latest obsession:

www.askmormongirl.com

Waking up to us

2010-03-07T21:48:00.000-08:00

Ben makes me laugh more than anyone. I woke up this morning feeling a little tickle on my face, it was Ben. This is how the conversation went...

Me: Ben what are you doing?
Ben: I'm exfoliating your nose with my eyelashes (in a totally serious tone)
Me: What? Can you not do that, I'm trying to sleep plus I can exfoliate my own skin later
Ben: But this is natural and organic
Me: You are a freak
Ben: Do you rather me use my beard?
He proceeded to exfoliate my whole face with his beard. Great, just what I needed this morning. He did manage to wake me up though.

Ben's jokes are never ending and always amusing.

Conversion story dilemma

2010-03-01T12:55:00.001-08:00

How does a Women Studies major join one of the most patriarchal religions in the world, the Mormon Church? When I get asked this question I try my hardest to eloquently tell people to mind their own business. One of my new year's resolution is to kindly articulate my beliefs (when asked about them of course) instead of blowing people off. Therefore, I've been attempting to write my conversion story but I'm having a hard time coming up with a serious beginning. Here are a few of the ways I've tried to start telling my story.

"I met a few Mormon guys at a bar and I invited two of them over to my apartment and..." or "One of my girlfriends met a guy on the internet on a web site called "hot or not" (it was popular among shallow people in 2004) she didn't want to go meet him by herself so I reluctantly came along. We all met up at a bar, he brought some of his friends and they all turned out to be Mormons, my friend was turned off by this and by the fact that they were *gasp* Republicans! After all she was the President of the College Democrats on campus (I was the Vice-President). I thought one of the guys was really cute despite being a Mormon and a Republican so I invited him and one of his friends over to my apartment for some serious political discourse (or whatever I could get from a really hot Mormon Republican)."

See, it sounds like a joke! But seriously this is how it all started for me. I doubt I'll ever have the guts to post the entire story on here. Also, sorry to disappoint but Ben wasn't one of those guys. He was serving a church mission in Brazil at the time. I know this blog has been unusually "churchy" as of lately. This has something to do with my parents recent shocking interest in Mormonism. It has me thinking about my faith a lot. Yesterday we went to church with my parents in Mexico! I loved going to church there, but for some reason going with my parents felt really weird. My brother has been dating an LDS girl for over a year now. My mom made a joke that she doesn't want to see another one of her kids get married in an LDS temple without her being there. Even though it was a joke, I couldn't help but feel a little guilty. I felt like saying "hey it's not my fault David is dating a Mormon, after all he met her at a bar." This is true (Shhh...she is the bishop's daughter). Instead I said, "lets go get some chinese food" Mexican-chinese is the absolute best.

March is Women's History Month. So in honor of that here are a few of my favorite images of the "first wavers". The first picture is of Emma Goldman's mugshot.

* I had the hardest time with blogger trying to post this today, so I apologize if you follow my blog and the same thing showed up over and over.

Making egg rolls from scratch

2010-02-28T00:02:00.001-08:00

Ben and I have been living like gypsies. Driving all over Orange County going house to house enjoying good food and great conversations with friends. As much as I sometimes miss living in the bay area nothing beats the comfort of being close to family and friends. Last week we had the best homemade spring rolls with our friends Kimi and Jay-Jay. Kimi taught me how to make spring rolls from scratch, I even got to roll! Ben, Jay-Jay + kids and the missionaries played around in their music room. Ben also gave them a lesson on nuclear energy and assured them that the plant is not blowing up anytime soon (with guys like him running that place I don't know if I believe it, just kidding sweetie). It was Elder Dushane's Birthday. Kimi found Elder Dushane's mom on facebook and was able to find out his favorite type of birthday cake. It was some weird Utah concoction that Kimi was able to recreate using natural ingredients. It was an "eclair cake" and it turned out delicious! He was super surprised and excited. The first thing he said was "my mom made me this every year for my birthday".

I'm pretty sure we helped this boy not feel so homesick.

g-master

2010-02-21T19:11:00.000-08:00

Ben's older brother Gentry turns 31 today. Ouch. Don't worry Gentry we still think you are awesome. Gentry is a really fun guy, writer by profession, redder-more-normal-version of Ben. He lives in Utah and we don't see him very often but when we do it's always a party. Happy Birthday Gents, we love you!

my little love

2010-02-12T20:15:00.000-08:00

*disclosure this post is a bit obnoxious*

I know boasting about Ben's awesomeness is annoying so sorry in advance.

Alright he is really not little at all. I was thinking about something nice to write about Ben in light of LOVE day. But I really can't even put into words how much I love this guy. As cheesy as this sounds, it's true. He is my everything and I'm incredibly blessed that he chose me to be his wife. Before I was married I practically dated half the male population of Orange County (I have a tendency to exaggerate but I did date a lot, mostly in exchange for free meals) and no one even came close to being as unique and amazing as my Ben. Even after almost 5 years together I still get so excited to see him when he gets home from work. I literally jump on him when he walks in. I think this is normal behavior because my mom is the same way with my dad, but maybe it's just in our genes to be crazy in love with our husbands. And maybe this isn't normal. I know most guys would probably hate my obsessive hugging and kissing but not my Benji he obviously loves it or he wouldn't have married me. But don't worry people we don't make out in public. That's where I draw the line. I don't follow in ALL of my mom's footsteps.

Ben has a lot of qualities that make him truly great. He is the most creative person I know, his mind works in ways I could only hope mine would. He has the best taste in music, film, and everything fun. He is sensitive. compassionate. smart (super-mega-smart-border-line-genius). honest. rational. confident. super funny. MOTIVATED. not scared of anything. unselfish. overall good guy.

I put motivated in caps because that is such an important quality that I love about Ben. He is never complacent and is always looking for ways to improve at something. He is also constantly thinking about our future together and I love that.

Our first Valentine's together Ben made me a CD (along with an array of crafty things, you can't expect anything less from Mr. Martha Stewart). Here's the play list, I could listen to it over and over and never get sick of it, (minus the Bjork song, not a fan).

1. J'suis d'accord-Francoise Hardy
2. Fools Says- M.ward
3. Sleep walking-Modest mouse
4. Once upon a summer time-Astrud Gilberto
5. I Can't pretend anymore-Cyann & Ben
6. Sweepstakes price-Mirah
7. I miss you- Bjork
8. La la love you-Pixies
9. Capturing moods-Rilo Kiley
10. Mambo sun-T.Rex
11. My baby just cares for me-Nina Simone
12. Waiting for the moon-Tindersticks
13. If there's such a thing as love- The Magnetic Fields
14. It's a crime I never told you about the diamonds in your eyes- The Black Heart Procession
15. There is a light that never goes out-The Smiths
16. I'd rather dance with you-Kings of Convenience
17. Many splendored Thing-Papa M (that's just how he spells it)
18. The way- Bonnie Prince Billy
19. Between the bars- Elliot Smith

How can you not fall in love after hearing these pretty songs. #18 is still one of my most favorite songs ever.
PS HE SHAVED!

Let's have a yoga party

2010-02-06T23:19:00.000-08:00

Anyone interested in doing a little yoga with me? My friend Melissa from Yellow Lotus is doing classes for $10.00 a person when we get a party with more than 7 people together. You really can't beat the price. We could do it at the beach, the park, or even in our backyard which has both a big grassy space and an ocean view. Melissa is awesome and I'm sure her classes are rad. So if you live in Orange County let me know. If we get a good group going we could do this on a regular basis, how fun would that be?

If you are interested in yoga but not with me (you suck), Melissa also offers private classes. Check out yellowlotusyoga.blogspot.com for more info.

Picture above is actual photo of Melissa doing her thing.

Little Person

2010-02-04T20:23:00.001-08:00

I baby sat a few nights ago for a lady from church. Same church just different congregation (ward) than us so we didn't know each other. The 5 year old answered the door, didn't say a word he just ran upstairs and whispered at the top of his lungs "Mom our babysitter is here and she's a little person". Isn't it funny how kids can whisper but scream at the same time? The first thing the mom said to me is, "thanks so much for driving yourself that's so helpful". I knew that she was thinking I was a teenager at this point. I guess that's a compliment. I was trying to hint at her that I was a grown up but she obviously didn't get it and kept on thanking me for babysitting on a school night. The night went well, her boys were super funny. The 5 year old showed me his karate moves the entire night and kept speaking to me in a language he called "chow mein" I tried to explain to him that chow mein is not a language is actually stir-fried noodles but he was 100% sure of his ability to speak chow mein. The 7 year old was a little weird (in a super cute way) and exactly the way I picture Ben being as a kid. His name is Rex and I asked him if he wanted to watch a movie or play with me. He asked if we could do an electromagetic experiment instead. I discouraged the idea and told him he should be an engineer when he grew up. He told me he already has a career picked out. He is going to be an entomologist and his little brother is going to be the guy who catches all the bugs for him. These two kept me laughing all evening. The mom called at 9:30pm and was apologizing for being so late. She told me she knew it was finals week at San Clemente high school, so she was worried I wouldn't be getting enough rest for the night. I finally had to break the news to her that I was 27, married and NOT in high school. When she got home she still wouldn't believe me so I showed her my wedding ring. "See I'm married."

Academic Transcript

2010-02-03T16:02:00.000-08:00

I just got a nice little package from Cal State Fullerton in the mail. I graduated 5 years ago but I never got around to ordering a diploma. I guess is good to have one. Anyway, I also needed a copy of my academic transcript and for the first time ever I saw what my grades were my senior year. I don't know why I never bothered to check before. It just goes to show the person I used to be, carefree and way more preoccupied with more important things like having fun. Well, it turns out I got a C in beginning jogging. I guess my teacher didn't get the memo that I've run marathons and was a CIF athlete in high school. But who takes an 8:00am "jogging" class senior year in college. Seriously, what was I thinking? I thought it was a pass/no pass class so I didn't bother to show up every morning. Oh well, I'm not about to argue over the grade 5 years after it happened. Another surprise in my records, a D in physical geology lab! This is what happens when you procrastinate and avoid taking a science lab and hope to graduate without anyone noticing. Except someone did notice, and I of course ended up taking this stupid lab my very last semester. I can't believe my worse grade was in a lame one unit class, I did missed the class field trip to Laguna Beach because my alarm didn't go off, but a D is a little harsh. That same semester I had 3 other classes, all upper division poli-sci and I got all A's in those. Go figure. When I have no interest in something, I just suck at it. Looking at rocks is so overrated.

And yes employers are actually asking for my transcripts, so study hard kids. I never thought this day would come.

Vintage Benji

2010-01-31T23:46:00.000-08:00

I LOVE finding old pictures. Alright this is not that old. Ben circa 2005 a few months before we started dating at his Provo farewell. Ben had spent that summer being lazy, not working and sharing a bed with James.

Camping

2010-01-29T12:27:00.000-08:00

Ben and I grew up camping a lot and we love it. I was a Scout until I was 17! In Mexico we don't have boys and girls scouts we just have Scouts of Mexico. It is way intense, and thanks to my scouting days I will always know how to make a floating fire. Being a scout for so much of my youth was such an amazing experience, I learned so much and Ben loves that I'm an outdoorsy girl. On MLK weekend we were able to join my college friends for a little winter camping at Lake Lopez near San Luis Obispo. I love being in the passenger seat while Ben drives in unfamiliar windy roads while listening to Gal Costa or some of his other Brazilian tunes. The drive up to Lake Lopez reminded me of our trip to Napa, the scenery was so green and relaxing.

We have lot's of camping trips scheduled this year some with the entire Reinhart clan, I can't wait.

Here are a few of the pictures Ben and I took. Ben went crazy taking pictures of me. so that's pretty much all I got. And everyone requested for me not to post pictures since we don't have make up and have our camping faces on. But I couldn't resist. (Don't hate me Katie it's just one)

A morning in Solvang

2010-01-24T17:27:00.000-08:00

Solvang is a cute little Danish town in Santa Barbara. Always a good place to stop by and get some breakfast when driving through the area.

Good times with my Benji last weekend.

Team Coco

2010-01-22T21:36:00.000-08:00

Sure there are way more important things going on in the world but I had to post this. I have two TV loves and anyone who reads my blog knows #1 Anderson Cooper #2 Conan O' Brien (only because I think he is super funny). At least we got to see him live while he was still on the air. It is a sad night tonight.

Feliz cumple Papi!

2010-01-20T18:29:00.000-08:00

I get my good looks and stubbornness from this dude. Today he is 54.

My dad in a sweaty tank top, classic. Me cuddling up to my dad in his sweaty tank top....gross. At least this picture shows how much I love him.

J+W

2010-01-19T21:48:00.000-08:00

J had been dating W for the past 7 years. Last weekend we went to their wedding and it was wonderful. She looked super pretty, the food was delicious, and the dancing was so fun. It was my first time at an Afghan wedding and I have to say, Afghans know how to party!

Some of my favorite memories of J are:

-Becoming friends in our politics of sexuality class (we were both women studies majors)
-Going to the 2004 Women's March in DC together
-Almost burning down our apartment. There were FLAMES coming out of the toaster oven!
-Sleeping together when one of us was scared. We were roommates, that’s what roommates do.
-Sitting next to each other at graduation
-Wedding dress shopping
-Oh so many memories…

Things that remind me of J:

-Hello kitty stickers
-Stickers in general
-Belle and Sebastian
-Instant Coffee
-Sunflower seeds
-Band-aids
-The word “fancy” "fancy-pants" or anything related.

I love you J and I hope you had a great trip.

Here's the lovely bride with her dad.

With the couple at the end of the night. I had a dental surgery the day before, so my face looks huge and terrible.

When we first saw each other at the reception. J's face is super cute.

We were worried that by trying to dance to traditional Afghan music we were offending W's family, but I think they appreciated us working it.

Ben: "Is funny how we always accidentally match" Me: "Suuure accidentally..."

Not the best group photo but this is all I got. At some point I have lived with almost every girl and guy in this picture.

We are usually the only sober people at weddings yet by the end of the night we end up looking like the drunkest people there.

Yet another reason to love Anderson Cooper

2010-01-18T21:08:00.001-08:00

Haiti

2010-01-13T23:30:00.000-08:00

It's been so sad reading the news coming from Haiti. My heart just aches for the people who have been affected by this earthquake. Erin's (Ben's step sister) boyfriend is from Haiti in the last few years we've learned a bit about the culture, food and history of Haiti from him. Thankfully all of his family is O.K.

Click HERE if you want to make a donation to help children affected by the earthquake.

Engineers are weirdos

2010-01-06T13:01:00.000-08:00

As if I already didn't know that! A post on the New York Times blog freakonomics said the following regarding engineers:

"A study by sociologists Diego Gambetta and Steffen Hertog reveals that engineers are “three times more likely to become violent terrorists than their peers in finance, medicine, or the sciences,” as reported in Slate. So why the career change? Among the sociologists’ hypotheses: Lack of jobs for engineers in Arab countries and “a particular mind-set among engineers that disdains ambiguity and compromise.”

When telling Ben a story, even if he is not even remotely interested in the subject he will ask about every single detail. You better know your facts before you get to talking with him. Disdain for ambiguity indeed. Now on the compromise part not so much, he is a total push over, how else could our marriage work?

I'm obviously kidding. The research is pretty interesting, but I'm not sure I believe the findings. The causation is totally backwards. Of course terrorists become engineers. How else are they going to learn how to make things explode?

Sure engineers are weird but terrorists? Nah.

Welcoming the New Year

2010-01-03T17:22:00.000-08:00

"Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens."- Khalil Gibran

It's been a great few days welcoming the new year with some of our bestest friends and their super cute kids (yes I know bestest is not a real word).

My favorite Dotty moment:

We were at south coast plaza and this song was playing in the background of a store and the almost three year old tells me "Sarah I have this song, I have this song on my ipod". Her dad turns around and tells me, yeah she does.

Just one more:

Me: Dot, do you like being a big sister?
Dot: Oh yeah, Towns is the best, he is such a squishy boy. I love him so much.
So precious!

It's also been so nice having Ben home for so many days in a row. I love hanging out with my Benji, I wish every weekend was like this one.

A very rashy Christmas

2009-12-27T20:46:00.001-08:00

Christmas morning we drove to Mexico. Christmas at my parents was very mellow this year. I was sick, apparently I have a viral infection wreaking havoc in my body and it decided to show up in the form of a super nasty rash that has gotten progressively worse in the last few days. It's disgusting, I'll spare you the details. Back to Christmas... My mom's sisters came over and we had a lot of fun just cooking and talking. We visited a lot of family (we just walked around the neighborhood, going house to house saying hi to people and eating again and again). I had a nice visit with my grandma, she looks very fragile and tiny these days. Poor Ben had to sit in complete boredom. I know these visit's aren't easy for him. He doesn't get the jokes and isn't always able to keep up with the conversations because we "talk too fast" but he says the food makes up for it. All he ever does in TJ is eat and pretend to know whats going on. His Spanish has gotten really good although he still throws in a few Portuguese words when he speaks. It makes me happy that he tries so hard. The day after Christmas was my mom's birthday so we stayed overnight. My parents house is soooo cold. Houses in TJ are cold. We slept on a blow up mattress because so many people stayed over and the bedrooms were full. So Ben and I had a sleepover with my brothers in the living room. I know it sounds weird but it was a ton of fun. Ruby was cracking us up. He so sweet and funny. In the early morning he woke up and saw that some of our blankets were on the floor so he put more blankets on top of us and tucked us in. My brothers are the best. My mom's birthday turned out to be in her own words "one of her favorites". I'm glad she was happy and excited to have us all home. My ridiculously overprotective parents can drive me nuts most of the time, but I'm so blessed to have been born in the family that I was born in.
Because I was sick and because Ben didn't want to take his camera to Mexico (somehow he had no problems taking it to Tunisia but Tijuana...) we don't have many pictures of Christmas.

I hope this rash goes away soon, it really really sucks and I look like a freak.

With my mom and tias

There aren't many redheads in mexico but somehow my cousins are able to produce them. Meet Valentina my newest little cousin. My cousin brought her over in an effort to pressure us into having a red head of our own. The baby pressure continues.

PS
I'm not contagious!

Celebrating Baby Jesus

2009-12-26T21:42:00.000-08:00

This year we spent Christmas Eve with the Kelly's (Ben's mom and Step-dad). This was the first Christmas Eve EVER that I didn't see my parents. It felt like I was cheating on them, I called home three times and tried to act like a grown up and not cry over it. We ended up having a great time. Ben's mom is really good at holidays and keeping family traditions. She's the epitome of mom-perfection, she just makes everything feel warm and fuzzy. I got really lucky marrying into Ben's family because I get to experience so much of American culture, in a movie-like setting. Holidays with my family are also fun but a lot more disorganized and crazy, but Ben likes all the traditional Mexican things we do. I guess it works out. This year it was just his turn to be with his family on Christmas Eve. The highlight of Christmas Eve was definitely the live Christmas story acted out by the family. Our niece Charlotte was an angel, Jack was a shepherd and our newest nephew Weston was baby Jesus! He was the cutest baby Jesus I've ever seen. Shannon was Mary, Andre was Joseph, Angie played the piano and Grandpa Kelly was the narrator. The rest of us where the choir as we sang hymns and listened to Grandpa Kelly tell the story of Christmas. Charlotte took off her costume and got naked in the middle of the performance. Jack decided to use his shepherd staff as a weapon and hit Joesph on the head. It was hilarious. Mary was trying to keep it together as her kids were going crazy, Weston seemed to be the only one who really stuck to his role as baby Jesus.
As always in the Kelly household dinner was delicious. We spent Christmas Day with my family in Tijuana. (I'll post all about that tomorrow).

Charlotte as an angel. Not sure if Ben overexposed this picture on purpose.

Jack having a little drink before his big performance.

Mike and MaryAnn. We all know where Ben gets his red hair from.

Do I even need to explain? Ben being inappropriate and putting a show for the family.

Ben has 2 sisters, 2 step sisters a brother, a half brother and a step brother. This is Erin, one of his step sisters.

The game was getting intense.

This year we ate around the Christmas tree. With such a huge blended family, Ben's mom has to get creative so we can all sit on the same table.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-25T09:51:00.001-08:00

December happenings

2009-12-20T14:18:00.001-08:00

When Ben who never checks this blog or contributes to it tells me that I've been slacking on the content you know is bad. He even noticed I skipped a thanksgiving post! Oops. I'm not going back. We have been super busy like everyone, getting ready for christmas, and on top of that I always have the additional task of thank you notes (for my birthday) but overall everything is super. Here's this month so far:

Here we are at the "Second Annual Christmas Extravaganza". We took the ugly sweater theme a little far. I was in Mexico at a funeral so I asked Ben to get some cheesy Christmas sweaters at the thrift store. Instead he got some plane red sweaters and he decorated his. I just hung stuff on mine, (we only had half an hour to spare, making these) we of course looked totally ridiculous but Ben is super proud of his masterpiece because "it lights up". Ben found battery operated Christmas lights at the craft store and is now thinking about making some more sweaters and selling them on etsy! Yeah right, please someone other than me tell him that's a bad idea. He's been wearing the sweater a lot, and even plans on wearing it to work next week. No joke.

Quick trip to Disneyland on my birthday with my homies.

Birthday dinner at my favorite Cuban restaurant in Orange. (More pictures on FB) Ben as always was making me laugh so much. One of these days I'm going to pee my pants for reals. Notice he shaved, that's what I asked for my birthday. Don't get me wrong I love his beard but once in a while I like to know what my husband looks like without so much hair on his face. He even got a hair cut! This doesn't happen very often. Doesn't he look handsome? But for the record I did meet him with a beard and it was a HUGE homeless looking beard so I can't complain now.

Ice Skating! We went ice skating with the youth, it was so much fun. In this picture it looks like I'm about to fall but I didn't, not once! Oh, and Ben is of course wearing his "famous" sweater.

This is funny

2009-12-15T18:16:00.000-08:00

or so I think.

Click HERE to view this little video.

Sarah's Birthday

2009-12-14T10:47:00.000-08:00

Today is Sarah's Birthday. Happy Birthday, Sarah. I'm so glad you were born. See you after work!
-Ben

Dear Ben

2009-12-08T11:05:00.000-08:00

Thanks so much for working so hard and for always providing for our family. You have always done what you said you are going to do, and I'm so proud of you.

"Let us give full, honest effort to our jobs as though we owned the enterprise. In a very real sense, each of us is in business for ourselves, no matter who pays us. Be honest with your employer. Make sure that “the laborer is worthy of his hire.” (D&C 84:79.)

PS

I'll stop whining about not going snowboarding with your brothers this winter. You stay home and work and I'll go without you.

Love,

Sarah

Dear Creatures and Ben's Girlfirends

2009-12-05T22:55:00.001-08:00

When I met Ben the first thing I noticed was all the girls in his life. He has a really great group of girlfriends who adore him. And I don't blame them, Ben is a rad friend to have. He is sweet, funny and gives really good back rubs. When he was a student it wasn't weird for me to come home and find him snuggling on the couch with one of his girls. Quite frankly everyone could use a little Ben in their life. There's a picture I need to scan of Ben at his farewell dinner (before his mission) surrounded by like 10 girls. Even though they are not members of the church they all wrote to him every week, and sent him many care packages while he was gone. They are truly awesome girls. One of his good friends Bianca, recently started her own clothing line Dear Creatures. We are so proud of her and are so happy to see all of her hard work paying off. Some of her clothes will be soon sold at Anthropologie and celebrities like Zooey Deschanel are wearing her stuff! I'm in love with every piece of clothing in her fall collection. Tonight we went to a Dear Creatures trunk show and I was able to get some really cute stuff. I already have first dibs on some spring items and I can't wait to see her entire spring collection. I'm sure it will be great. Her line has a lot of modest pieces so check it out.

We had a lot of fun tonight in L.A. catching up with Ben's high school friends.
Ben and Bianca

Ben and some of his girls (just like old times)

He has guy friends too (not many, but proof that he is not totally gay)

Does this look like us?

2009-11-29T20:18:00.001-08:00

I've had a few people tell me that we look like the couple on this Ikea commercial. Let me know what you think. In my opinion we are slightly better looking.

A G-Rated Bachelorette Party

2009-11-23T21:13:00.000-08:00

To celebrate my friend Jessica's upcoming wedding we (the old college roommates and friends) got together for Jessica's Bachelorette party at Disneyland. It was a perfect day for d-land - no lines, the weather was perfect and the park is now all decked out for Christmas. All in all it was a fun day with the girls.

With the Bride-to-be.

Some of us got wild and crazy and got our faces painted!

National kick a ginger day is mean

2009-11-20T19:17:00.000-08:00

Apparently today is National kick a ginger day. I heard some teenagers talking about how cool it was to kick redheads today. That's just terrible.

As a mom to future redheads (crossing my fingers) I don't appreciate this kind of discrimination.

Yes that's Ben as a baby with his sister Angie.

My favorite surprise

2009-11-16T23:20:00.000-08:00

The day David was born was definitely one of the happiest days of my childhood. There was so much anticipation surrounding the arrival of our baby brother. Ruby and I would talk to David so much while he was in our mom’s belly that it felt like we knew him and he was a part of our family before he was even born. We were so involved in the entire process of becoming older siblings it felt like the biggest responsibility of my life at the time (it probably was). We got to pick out his name. I choose the name David because I had a crush on a curly haired blond named David who was an actor on a Mexican soap opera. Ruby got to pick his middle name, Humberto after his favorite horse jockey. We were 5, and 6! What parents let their 5 and 6 year olds name their kid? Mine do. If you know my parents this totally makes sense. David was going to be a Daniel so my mom had picked out the name but she went for my suggestion so of course Ruby had to have a turn at it. I’ve written on here that I was 7 when he was born but I was actually 6 and 11 months. David was of course a “surprise” a very cute surprise. He is still super cute. I'm amazed at how vividly I remember David’s "birth day". Ruby and I had brand new outfits to wear to the hospital. I wore a pink sweatshirt with a fuzzy velvet cow in the middle, light blue jeans, and matching pink socks. I picked out the outfit myself. I remember thinking my grandpa would like it (he was a dairy farmer). The minute I got to hold David for the first time I felt like he was mine, he was perfect. I was immediately obsessed with his tiny feet. Ruby was just as happy.

I can’t believe my little David is now 20! No longer a teenager. He was a puny 6 grader when I left for college. This must be similar to what parents feel like when their children grow up. I’m so thankful for David. My life would have been so weird and incomplete without him. My mom has always said David was not an accident, he was a surprise, he was meant to be because God doesn’t make mistakes.

Ruby and I weren’t stupid we soooo knew David was an accident.

Happy Birthday David! I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect baby brother.

PS

In case you are not familiar with my family Ruby is actually a boy, we are 14 months apart and his real name is Ruben after my dad.

I don't have many pictures of us as kids on my computer but I found this one. I remember we were not planning on getting our pictures taken that day, but the photo place was having a sale that my dad couldn't pass.

Chalkboard art

2009-11-16T12:30:00.000-08:00

I walked into Ben's Sunday school class and found this gem of a portrait on the board. Let me remind you that Ben teaches 15 year olds! Coincidentally he was giving a lesson on genealogy/family history work of all things. If you look carefully you will see that Ben is predicting we will have three children, Timmy, Billy and Suzy. Not sure I'm going to let him pick out the baby names.

Day of the Dead

2009-11-02T07:29:00.000-08:00

I started doing my family history a few months ago. My grandma’s 94th birthday in July was a reminder that I might not have much time left with her and I need cherish the time we have together and get as much family history as I can get from her. I plan on going to Tijuana sometime this week and do a little more research, note taking and hanging out with my abuelita. I just discovered the recording feature on my iphone; score! A few weeks ago I was at a flower shop and I came across a bunch of marigold flowers. The smell of them brought back so many memories of my grandparents on my mom’s side and immediately my first thought was…I need to do their temple work. On Day of the Dead my grandparents would go to the cemetery and they would always bring me along. They would go to the tombs of my great-grandparents and other family members and leave orange and yellow marigolds. This tradition has been lost in my family, in fact I’m pretty sure in most big cities in Mexico the Day of the Dead is a dying tradition (no pun intended). As a child I loved this tradition because I was able to learn so many neat stories of those people for whom we were leaving flowers. I felt like I knew them and I was connected to them. I’m really excited to have the opportunity to do my family history, I’m learning so much in the process. I’m so proud of my grandparents and all of the sacrifices that they made for our family. I feel so blessed to be the one in my family who gets to do this work. It’s taking me a while to get to this point where I finally understand the importance of genealogy, better late than ever.

*borrowed image.

Halloween

2009-11-01T00:46:00.000-07:00

This year we dressed up as ipod earbuds. The costumes were made out of cardboard, cheap satin fabric and duct tape for the letters. I had a lot of fun making these and we won best overall costume at a party so it was worth the work.

Too bad the video is super dark because Ben's dance moves were pretty rad. As always he was the first one on the dance floor.

Could the rumors be true?

2009-10-29T23:49:00.000-07:00

Is Anderson Cooper gay? If true, he should just come out and stop making girls like me daydream about him. I professed my love for Anderson Cooper here on my blog last year. Not to worry, Ben isn't the jealous type. I've already been in an elevator with Anderson and contained myself. To be more accurate I didn't even talk to him, I pretended like I wasn't excited but I totally was and almost peed my pants.