Thursday, April 30, 2009

A fun treat :)


I have been friends with Bree Johnson since she was Breanna Bernstein :) We have known each other since 7th grade and we grew up together all through high school and beyond.

Funnily enough, Bree and I are friends. If you know Bree, and you know Melissa, you will know that we are very opposite people. I suppose this is why we have so much fun together. Opposites attract.

Bree is very fashion conscious, I am...not. I am more into comfort than fashion and Bree was wearing high heals at 8 months pregnant with TWINS! Just take a look at the picture of her (which I stole from her facebook) of when she went in to deliver her babies last April. She looks more like she is headed to the prom with her hair piled high in curls atop her head and makeup compete with eyeliner. Bree is always put together so well.

Not only is she very fashionable, she is also very creative (which again...I am not hahah) Bree has always had a flair for design, color, form, function. She recently started an event business and is currently working on a degree in business at BYU-I so she can become licensed and operating etc.

She also has an Etsy profile. Which I absolutely do not. If I decided to get an Etsy profile, I would probably have to sell things I bought at Walmart lol. She is crafty in her mind and with her hands.

So today when I got home, imagine the thrill I had to get a package from Ms. Creativity herself! I open up the package and find this onesie (only mine was red and black and white), and a beautiful pink flower headband! Not only was I excited because my baby girl will look so darling in the headband and the onesie...but also because it highlights what Bree and I DO have in common...We love to travel the world in any way shape or form.

Bree went to Paris in the fall of 06 after I had gone the previous spring. I always think of Paris when I think of Bree and I think this is such a cute onesie for my little kicker!

She is such a great friend and talented woman! So thoughtful and amazing!

So if you are like me and you lack that creative flare, or you are not like me and you are seeking someone to do an event with contemporary modernism.. here are some links for you to connect to a very talented woman:
http://blisseventsandco.com/ (coming soon to an internet near you)
http://breesblissinc.blogspot.com/ (I think this was the old one, but still an idea for you to see before the new one comes out)
http://breeandbrandonsbliss.blogspot.com/ (For updates on what she is doing...and events)
htto://www.littlepinkorchard.etsy.com (for fun creative gifts like the one you see here)

Thanks Bree, you are awesome!!

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Joy's Blog Tag :)

50 things you're seldom asked....copy/paste & share!!

Once you've been tagged, you have the OPTION to answer this and tag people.

1. What color is your toothbrush? Pink

2. Name one person (or animal) who made you smile today?
Marcus, the little autistic boy I'm subbing today...he keeps calling me the cute teacher and batting his big brown eyes at me. He also said "Hey Cute Teacher, I like your baby."

3. What were you doing at 8 am this morning?
Subbing

4. What were you doing 45 minutes ago?
Eating lunch with Adam...Awe the joys of a flexible schedual

5. What is your favorite candy bar?
Cadbury Crunchie by far

6. Have you ever been to a strip club?
No, but I live in Vegas...does that count?

7. What is the last thing you said aloud?
"Its always a good day when you get to eat cake." To Elise the Autism Aid

8. What is your favorite ice cream?
Today? Tart Mango

9. What was the last thing you had to drink?
Water...and its about time again

10. Do you like your wallet?
Thats a stupid question...who knows.

11. What was the last thing you ate?
Chocolate Cake

12. Have you bought any new clothing items this week?
Some shoes

13. The last sporting event you watched?
Couldn't tell ya, probably swimming when Michael Phelps won his last gold

14. What is your favorite flavor of popcorn?
Light butter

15. Who is the last person you sent a text message to?
I don't have texting...so probably Adam two years ago

16. Ever go camping?
Yeah but its been a few years

17. Do you take vitamins daily?
I shouldn't answer this question...I'm really bad at taking my prenatals

18. Do you go to church every Sunday?
yes, and aparently our new ward will have three nursurys so...my baby will have friends (our current ward has three kids total)

19. Do you have a tan?
No thanks.

20. Do you prefer Chinese food over pizza?
No

21. Do you drink your soda with a straw?
Only if it's fountain

22. What did your last text message say?
who knows

23. What are you doing tomorrow?
Women's Conference in Provo with my Mommy

25. Look to your left, what do you see?
A classroom

26. What color is your watch?
Silver and Pink

27. What do you think of when you hear Australia?
Adam and Sean

29. Do you go in at a fast food place or just hit the drive thru?
Both

30. What is your favorite number?
2

31. Who's the last person you talked to on the phone?
My Mom

32. Any plans today?
Leaven on a Jet Plane

33. How many states have you lived in?
3 states, 2 countries

34. Biggest annoyance right now?
clothes that don't fit

35. Last song listened to?
Her Diamonds

36.Can you say the alphabet backwards?
No

37. Do you have a maid service clean your house?
Yes, its called a husband...yes its called a wife.

38. Favorite pair of shoes you wear all the time?
My tie up sketchers

39. Are you jealous of anyone?
No

40. Is anyone jealous of you?
Probably everyone...I have a pretty awesome life jk

41. Do you love anyone?
I love lots of people. Especially my husband and the little wiggle worm inside me

42. Do any of your friends have children?
Yes, all of them...most of them started at about 20 or 21 so...I have friends on their second or third now

43. What do you usually do during the day?
Work, go to school, hang out, do homework, clean

44. Do you hate anyone that you know right now?
No

45. Do you use the word 'hello' daily?
Yes I do, I use it more than hi and hey

46. What color is your car?
Forrest green

47. Do you like cats?
yes, but I'm allergic and Adam doesn't like them

48. Are you thinking about someone right now?
No

49. Have you ever been to Six Flags?
No

50. How did you get your worst scar?
Ask me in three months...OR falling out of a tree onto a branch then falling out off that branch while part of it was stuck in me and ripped me open OR falling on my head OR being hit on my head with a swing

Monday, April 27, 2009

A Big Day

Last night Mr. Turney had a restless sleep. For the past two years, Mr. Turney has diligently worked to obtain a masters degree in Education Leadership which culminated in a presentation he gave today.

In 2007 as we were approaching our first anniversary, after a two year hiatus from school, we decided it was imperative that I go back to school and complete my bachelores degree in education before beginging our family. For months we saved and saved to be able to pay for that education, and I was fortunate enough to recieve a grant from UNLV. After I graduated, Adam would continue his education.

As I've learned, our plans are not the Lord's plan, and Adam had a strong impression that he should begin his Masters degree. Because of the grant I'd recieved, and the money we'd saved up for my education, we decided that it was doable. Unfortunatly, Adam had zero qualifications as he had not yet begun to teach in a classroom and years of experience was required for him to begin his Ed. Leadership program. Because of his impressive resume, his charming ways :) and an endorsment from a very impressed site administrator Adam was admitted to the program.

This required a huge sacrifice on our family. Both Adam and I were working to obtain our respective degrees and working full time while trying to make our little family function. Adam was extremely supportive of my activities, as he continued in his.

Next week, my Adam will graduate with his Masters Degree. I cannot express the gratitude I have for him, for the sacrifice, for the hours, for the support that he continually gave while participating in Administrative duties, Class duties, and Teacher duties. His positive attitude has made this possible, as well as his dilligence and hard work.

Today was his final presentation in which he presented the last two years of work for a committee. Two of his professors, a site administrator, and his wife (who has watched him perserver through the past two years) watched Adam's 45 minute presentation.

I knew that Adam hadn't slept much last night, I watched his nerves go one by one. Adam isn't very expressive when it comes to emotions but I can recognize the stress and worry he goes through. I was nervous, praying for him the entire time in my heart, listening intently to each word.

He presented himself humbly and articulatly. The presentation was well organized, although he hadn't practiced. He talked about his required hours of administrative duties, the organization that he was chair or co chair on, and all of his hard work.

I can't express my pride for all he's done. I'm grateful for his sacrifice and support for me as well as for our family. Not to mention, he is participating in a SECOND masters degree already (he is taking a two semester hiatus and will begin again in January, to graduate for a second time in December 2010). My husband is my hero, he is my best friend, and I look forward to the next two semesters where he can take a long awaited breath.

Who are you, I'd like to know
about the life inside of you- inside of me
I want to hear your voice
Do you have a big grin like your Daddy?
Or does your smile spread unevenly, favoring the left
like me?

Will you be tender, patient, selfless
That is the nature of your father
Or will you have a willful spirit-
too large to be contained in your tiny body...
I don't know where you'd get that from.

Do you know that I love you already?
That you have changed my world?
Do you recognize when I laugh?
Do you know the warmth of your Daddy's hand
As he searches my tummy, trying to feel you move beneath?

I cannot wait to meet you, to hold you in my arms
I want to kiss your little lips, your soft delicate eyelids
I watch you move inside my body, and I know my life is no longer my own

Although you do not have a name, your daddy and I are so in love with you,
See you in three months!

Love,
Mommy

Sunday, April 26, 2009

{Pregnant} Girls Night Out!

Last night my friend Celestial invited me to have a pregnant girls night out with her sister and two other friends. The five of us range in ages from 19-23 (me being the oldest) and with the exception of her 22 year old sister, we were all first time moms (her sister Tara has two kids already and is on to her third). Tara is 37 weeks pregnant and is having a baby girl, Celestial is 30 or 31 weeks pregnant with a baby boy, Denise and I are 26 weeks pregnant with a due date two days off...well it would be except she is having twins: a boy and a girl, and Brittney is 14 weeks pregnant having a baby something.

So what do pregnant women do at 14-37 weeks? Well eat of course. We went out to Red Robin and got lots of stares (after all, four of us have obvious bumps) and questions. Someone said "I hope its not the same guy..." I wanted to have a little fun and just mention that we were Mormon lol. We all kept getting up having to go to the bathroom. It was funny because we took a bunch of belly pictures together sideways and front ways and every way possible. Tara was 45 inches around, Celestial was 42 inches around, Denise was 39 inches around, and I am 35 inches around. Brittney had a cute little bump but had not measured yet.

After dinner we went to an indoor mini golf arena. It was pretty funny to watch us play, and though our scores should have been much worse we kept giving each other do overs. The game was interrupted by bathroom breaks, braxton hicks, and having to get up after squatting down to place the ball where it needed to go. We all looked pretty hilarious. The guy at the counter was the only one working there and he was really freaked out that someone was going to go into labor at some point lol. He kept checking on us.

After that we went bowling hahaha I'm just kidding...could you imagine. Actually we went out for free frozen yogurt at the Golden Spoon. It was delish.

I'll post pictures if the girls ever e-mail them to me :) It was nice to have a girls night out, even if Adam does worry too much (29 missed calls).

Saturday, April 25, 2009

In the past week:

I signed up for my final semester at UNLV; I'll graduate in 7.5 months

I signed up for birthing classes at the hospital so I can be prepared for the event in 14 weeks

I signed 6,000 papers so I can own my own home in approximately 9 weeks

I need a nap.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Home Purchase Update

Author: Adam Turney
For those that are interested in following our adventure in purchasing a new home we will be providing periodic updates and will likely post pictures during the building phases. On Tuesday we put down a deposit to ensure that we could get the lot we wanted and this began the whole process of filling out paper work and applying for a home loan. We submitted most of our required documents but are waiting on some W-2's because we seemed to have misplaced ours from 2007. Once we get those we will be good on our documentation. The agent informed us we would likely be setting up a meeting this week to head into a studio to make any changes and upgrades to our home. Then we would meet again shortly after to finalize the changes to the home.

The loan processor called me Wednesday after school to discuss some of the loan application. Since Melissa isn't working much he said we would use only my income for the application process. While he went over our information he was enthusiastic about how easy it seems we will get the loan. He said our credit was amazing and that he wished his debt ratio was as low as ours (we are just paying off some Praxis exams). His confidence in our ability to get a loan and easily pay it off was incredibly comforting and reassuring. I had wondered what the loan process would be like, but the loan officer was incredibly helpful and answered any questions I had...although I still have some but that is fine. Even though he did not have all our paperwork he sent our application off to the loan underwriter and so we should be finding out about our loan shortly. Also, the interest rates are around 5% right now, so we will have an incredibly manageable monthly payment.

As I shared this with Melissa she was ecstatic and relieved to know that we are going to be able to do this. We cannot say positively that it will all go through, but the loan processor gave us hope and has helped our dream become more reality. Today we will meet with our agent and work on some more paperwork, setup our appointment to visit the studio, and just get everything rolling quicker. Again, if it all goes as planned we will be moving into a new home before Melissa has the baby (still haven't settled on a name) and we will be able to share our new home with our new baby. What an exciting year this is turning out to be.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Hoping to Buy a New Home

Author: Adam Turney
Melissa and I have been living in Las Vegas for 2.5 years now. We have been renting a house for the last 2 years and have been incredibly fortunate to live here. However, with our family starting we are desirous to have a home of our own. The housing market in Las Vegas has dropped over the last year and although it has been disastrous for some, it is heaven for a buyer that can afford a mortgage. We have been looking at homes throughout the past year and have fallen in love with one particular new home. The moment we opened the door and walked into the model home we felt so good about the home. However, the first time we visited the home it was too much for our limited income. We have been patient and over the last year the cost of the new home has dropped $50,000 and is in a price range that we can comfortably afford.

We visited the home again this past weekend and feel strong about the prospect of purchasing the home. There are currently only 3 lots left with the model we like and we are hoping we can get one of the homes being built. We have gathered our paperwork and will be submitting the first part Monday. This is an exciting time in our lives. If everything works out then we will have the most amazing year. In 2009 I will graduate with my Master's degree, Melissa will have a baby girl, we will buy a new house, and Melissa will graduate with her Bachelor's degree. We are praying for the Lord to help us through this process. I ask that you pray for us also, so that we can get through the process and be blessed with the wonderful opportunity of owning our own home. Thank you in advance for all your prayers.

For those interested in seeing the home you can click on the link to KBHomes.com. You can take a virtual tour of the home.
*Or you can go back to June 2008 when I first wrote a blog about the house...

Saturday, April 18, 2009

For My Adam

Remember?

Once upon a time there lived three little pigs, a mommy pig, a daddy pig, and a poopy pig. One day these three piggses decided to make a tow cow for eating when they get to be hungry for eating. So they started for the making of the toy cows and had lots of fun. The end.

Then the toy cows came to life and started eating the pigs. They started with the daddy pig (Medium Rare) then the mommy pig (well) then went to the little poopy pig and thus saith the Cow it was bad so they stuffed him in a dumpster and let the fisherman sit on the lake. The end.

So now we have a group of toy cows that are roaming around the city and causing havoc hither and thither. So the mayor of the town calls Batman for help but he is out on vacation. Fortunately, Batman recommends one of his good friends, so the mayor gives the friend a ring and it is Superman. Superman explains that he has a deathly fear of cows, but it is even worse if they are toy cows come to life (I mean seriously, that would be pretty scary and they eat pigs). So Superman refers the mayor to a local butcher that deals with dead cows all day, a little different than a live cow but it still works. The End.

The Mayor who is actually the alter ego of Indiana Jones gets his butcher knife and chases the once toy now real live cows down the street and realizes that this is much like the story of Pinocchio and decides the best way to get rid of them is to make them lie because things happen. Although on the surface this seems like a logical Idea when the cows start lying their tails grow and they start destroying the village building by building. by this time they have to bring in the national guard but too bad they are all in Iraq so oops then Indiana Jones who now realizes he's only Harrison ford calls his good friend Adam Turney to kill the cows and Adam says ok I'll kills them with my super powers the end.

So Adam, being the incredibly sexy beast that he is, use his power to destroy all the kows. Everyone came out of their houses to celebrate the destruction of their town and the kows and a parade began. But before everything could become something more there was a scream heard from the top of a sky scraper. Everyone looked up and it was the evilest kow leader and he had Melissa in his hooves. He was threatening to drop her if his demands weren't meant. So the bargaining began. The kow just wanted to be able to make chocolate milk but he also knew that it was genetically impossible to turn a strawberry kow into a chocolate one...so this presented a predicament for the super hero Adam. But he had an idea. A huge tub of chocolate syrup was brought out and set at the bottom of the building for the cow to jump into and he would absorb the chocolate into him in hopes of eliminating the girly pink in him. Then things turned to the worst and the cow dropped Melissa. Immediately Adam went into action and ran up the side of the building, but his calculations were off and her momentum was too much and they both fell into the giant tub of chocolate. The end.

Fortunately for Melissa she was an excellent swimmer and knew her way around chocolate so she saved both their lives (Adam being from California thought he was immune to drowning but forgot that he didn't know how to swim) the cow turned into a chocolate cow and being a girl was able to appreciate the greatness of chocolate. Melissa and Adam sold the chocolate milk to all the towns people and Donald trump AND the president so they raked in over two hundred billion Jillian dollars. Not wanting to waste their good fortune they financed Bens mission so he would do the homework and quizzes and project so they could sleep in and never have to work again. Unfortunately the goodness of chocolate could not completely erase the demons in the Know the end.

The spirit of the evil Kows went up to heaven to speak to their overlord about getting some revenge on Adam and Melissa because they felt cheated of their share of the moneys. So the overlord decided it was only just to allow one of the evil spirits to return to earth and occupy the body of the first living organism it came in contact with. Excited at this great opportunity to prove itself the evil spirit hopped in its cloud mobile said farewell to its care bear friends and headed back down to the earth world. It was thinking of what type of organism it would occupy, a human would be ideal, as it would allow it to mix better with the other humans and take revenge on the terrible Melissa and Adam. Meanwhile, Adam and Melissa were kicking back in the pool. Adam was receiving swimming instructions from his good pal Ian Thorpe from Australia, and Melissa was thinking about something useful to do...I think she was working on a plan on how she was going to win Adam...but I can't read her mind so you will just have to use your imagination. The End.

While in the pool a great cloud descended upon the three swimmers/kicking backers and began to rain apparently it remembered they were in Rexburg and the sun is not supposed to shine but they realized they were in the hart building and it was strange. Evil Kow spirits sent by their overlord come to take over the first living organism it sees they both thought but not Ian Thorpe cause they didn't tell him the story. Annoyed at the disturbance of her thought process Melissa rolled her eyes and said to the guys "follow me" and they swam underneath the pool through the pipes but it was becoming difficult to breath so they decided they should breath more air. They ended up swimming into the pipes of none other than Kensington 201 and Melissa was like hey I live here and Adam was like nice couches and they all fell asleep knowing it was only a matter of time before the evil kows found where they were probably cause they were wet. The end

"Oh crap, we forgot Adam back at the pool," Melissa shouted underwater to the other swimmers. Back at the pool Adam was lying in the chair getting a tan and the evil spirit descended upon his resting body. Adam attempted to fight back internally but the overlord was giving the spirit extra powers. Adam was about to finish himself so as not to allow the kow spirit the great powers that he possesses (such as being a ladies man and saving the world, you know, lame stuff like that) but the kow would not allow it and Adam surrendered to the spirit. Adam was now Adam the Evil Kow, the most evilest evil person in the world. Melissa swam back to save Adam but obviously she didn't swim fast enough and the other guys that were with her didn't have enough oxygen and they drown. "Wow, nothing is going my way today," though Melissa as she looked back on the days events. Kow Adam left the vicinity and headed off to the evil forest to begin recruiting bad guys to aide him in taking over the world. Soon there would be the battle of Armageddon (not like the movie with Bruce Willis and that other guy). Melissa not knowing what to do and being a girl started to cry...the end.

when she finally stopped crying, Melissa decided she would donate plasma so that she could A) inject it into Adam (evil Kows are allergic to human plasma) and B) earn 20 bucks. So she ran off to the plasma center but it was too late...the evil Kow/boy Adam was hot on her trail. Her weakness was first putting on Clinique Happy heart because he knew her scent she ran as fast as she could and it was actually a lot faster than Adam cause he is kinda slow due to a strange scar on his foot acquired at toddler hood. The Kow didn't realize this when he chose Adam’s body. He just thought it was a good deal because Adam too possessed a dark side and his powers of being a ladies man and saving the world was just tempting.eventhough kows are ladies the end

"That is true, cows are ladies...boy cows are males...dang!" Evil Adam yelled as he realized that he was a female cow trapped in a mans body, and cows aren't even attracted to humans at all so it upped the badness of the whole situation even more. Now the evil Kow spirit wanted out of this horrid body that consumed it, but there was no taking back the gift of fake resurrection, the overlord would not stand for it (especially since Kows can't stand). "I guess I will just have to make the best of my situation. I am getting kinda hungry, where are some piggies?" Evil Adam set out on a journey for some yummy piggies. Melissa was running out of ideas so she rang Ben who was prepping for a mission and was full of good ideas. Ben decided that it would be a good ideas to trick Evil Adam into eating a Wholesome Pig that has special mystical powers inside and this might release the Evil Kow spirit from Adam. This was especially important because if Adam wasn't saved soon then he would end up failing his biology class and that just can't be, what good bio partners Adam has. So they headed off to the Piggy Factory that Evil Adam was slowly making his way to so they could setup the trap and save Adam's grades. The end.

Unfortunately the only purely perfect pig was a choice between Babe and Wilber. Being that they were both movie stars that had reached their peak they decided just to give up. since well Adam is a man/cow he can eat quite a lot and Ben and Melissa decided to freaken sacrifice two pigs. Adam suspected nothing as he approached the feast and tasting the wholesome pig was soothing to his soul and body. The more he ate the more the evil inside of him faded away. Meanwhile back at the ranch. Melissa and Ben were getting ready to open bens mission call, as his family disowned him for genetic reasons. so they opened the call "elder Benjamin Carl Decker you have been called to serve in the...the end.

"...In the end? What kind of mission call is that? I am serving in The End mission call, I don't get it!" Ben cried as he read his papers. Hmm, this presents and interesting revelation, very interesting indeed. This is obviously a sign from God that Ben is the only one that will ever be able to bring this whole dramatic saga to an end because that is where he will be serving. Perhaps it is Ben’s duty to take the evil spirit that has been flushed out of Adam to The End with him so that there are no more dramas. Perhaps Ben will even perform a great work for the cow that so desires to be free of his prison state, to be able to once again frolic in the fields with his other cow mates. But Ben was too stunned and confused by his weird calling to be able to see past the shock, so I guess we may have to wait a bit longer before this inspiration comes to him...until then lets see what George is up to. The End

So, where we last left off was with Benjamin Karl Decker contemplating his next two years. He had just gotten his mission call to the "End" mission of the "The" province, hence going to the The, End mission. He was trying to decide what this ment, and started remembering his philosophy class and their recent readings on relativism. He recalled one section about the, end. This mission, as the book called it, was comprised of the Southern Pacific Ocean, which coincedentally was located on the exact opposite side of the Earth from where Ben was currently located. As his friend, the early Adam Turney (early because he dieded during the proccess of evil Kow extrication, a proccess that even the most skilled of doctors would shudder at) once told him, the The pacific ocean is home to one of the most magical places on good old Mother Terra (mother earth). At first confused about the first part of the statement, Ben didn't quite remember the second part of the statement which for some reason he knew would be crucial to their current predicament. For the sake of saving the readers of a heart attack which was more than likely from the suspense, everyone lives happily ever after, and the magical place Ben couldn't remember was in fact australia, Adams desired fatherland, but against Ben's gut instinct, this place actually ended being COMPLETELY inconsequential this story.

Ben and MeLLissa were now faced with the dauniting task of somehow satiating this barbarous bloody beast and bringing back their biological lab comerade Adam. As we all know, Adam is the name of the first man ever to live on earth. Using this starting point, Ben started contemplating a solution. His thought was sooooo deep that Mellissa had lost her last lab partner (as his vital signs were barely noticeable and since she wasn't a nurse, she worried and cried. Cried more for Adam, because she would now never see him again, because Ben was his only hope, and she didn't really care about ben (we will now refer to him in lower case due to his inferior standing in the mind of MeLLissa) but only wanted him around to bring back her hunk of burning love, and one and only soul mate, Krusty Kow... oops... I mean Akow, NO!!!, KrustyDam, dangit!!! ADAM..... There we go...) and was now unvariably doomed to certain badgradedom because she didn't know how to properly fingerprint or measure calcium levels in various random substances. So now she had summoned all of the girls from her all of the sudden extremely hot ward, who were now busy cradling ben's head and stroking is arms and head affectionately (one of them looked remarkably like Callista, only she was hotter and really friendly, found ben attractive as well, etc. all in all, the girl of ben's dreams). Now with this massive influx of love, ben was able to summon the energy to complete the final calculations that would solve all their problems. All of the sudden, and to the astonishment of everyone present, expecially Callista lookalike, whom we will call Ali's sister, he woke up. ben then looked around and tried to find a pen or a hen, some kind of den, but then his eyes met with Ali's sister's, and the sparks flew!! They had never met before, but this was love at first sight in the most truest of senses. Because of this chance encounter and the obvious jubilation on their faces, the rest of MeLLissa's extremely hot ward (though still quite inferior to that of Ali's sister), were now downtrodden at the loss of the fair ben, and now hoped and prayed for the reinstitution of the practice of plural marriage (not polygamy, becasue that was never actually practiced by the church). So now MeLLissa was faced with a dire choice, break the love locked trance between ben and ali's sister (we will now also refer to her in lower case because for some blatant reason that she could not quite put her finger on, MeLLissa classed her with the lowly ben), or lose her on and only true love Adam (bold because he is soooo HOT). She thought, and after quite some deliberation came to the conclusion of saving Adam, so she plugged in the brain knowledge replicating device into ben's enormous brain, and found the knowledge necessary to save Adam. She must now take the Kow to The End, since ben was now a little preoccuppied. But as she was about to leave, ben called out and said that he must fulfil his mission, and return honorably so that he could have ali's sister forever. Knowing the incredible odds against (2085299145 to 1, which quite coincedentally is the same as his home phone number) ben left on his journey. He did not no why to take the Kow to The End, but he knew he must do it. He left and did that fighting sort of junk, saved the world a couple of times, and eventually won. When he got there, Kow started to feel some good vibrations. She looked at ben hopefully, but he, scared out of his mind, pointed down into the water where some Manitee like creatures were swimming, and as we all know, another word for Manitee is sea cow. So this was it!!! It was a herd of Sea Kows!!!!!! At this sight, Kow now forgot ben and MeLLissa and consequently Adam, but ben, being the noble being he is, called Kow back (since ben brought him here, he now had the command of all the Kow herd), and asked how to save the hunky Adam. Kow said it would not be easy, but would be quite hard and difficult. She said that ben must find Adam's one and only true love, and somehow convince her to give him a kiss, now comes the hard part, they must not make out until they are married!!!!! (otherwise the foundations of everything that exists will no longer exist, yada yada, so on and so forth) So eventually this happens, MeLLissa and Adam find a way to bridle their passions and wait, while ben returns honorably from his mission, (he ended up being transfered to the China, Beijing mission, and baptised like 100,000 people, not to mention the baptisms for the dead, which were at least 2 raised to the power of the number of people baptised) and every one lived happily ever after. :-) Or did they?!?!?!!?!?!
The end

Odd to look back

Every once in a while I become sentimental and look back at the road that led me to where I am now. Sometimes I read old journal entries, other times I look at pictures or watch family movies. Tonight I am reading Adam's blog from four years ago. Adam had a Bebo account that he shared with me while we were dating. He was a much better blogger then than he is now. His entries seemed to be more significant and introspective hahaha.

I came across this one, written by Adam apparently 1308 days ago...long time. This was before an engagement, before Russia, before a wedding and long before baby girl. This was just when Adam and I were just Adam and I...no cares in the world whatsoever. Adam was working on his undergrad and so was I we were dating...he was seriously considering marriage and I was seriously considering making a decision on thinking about if I was ever going to chose between Elder Simpson and Adam Turney. Adam was a lot more sure of our relationship than I was and I'm grateful for his perseverance. As I read this blog I thought of all the things that this decision has made for us and the significance of his writing which neither of us could have predicted at the time:

"Upon selecting a place for me to student teach I found that the only place I wanted that was available was Las Vegas, NV. I am strongly hoping that I will be able to teach there because it provides a nice central location between the families of Melissa and I. I know that we are not engaged yet, but I am planning for all this to happen. Another nice things about Las Vegas is that they are well known for hiring new teachers...one of my instructors informed me that the Las Vegas school district recently hired several hundred full-time substitute teachers, which means that they are in need of full-time credentialed teachers. This is exciting because I could easily have a job waiting for me once I graduate. Also, there are a couple universities in Las Vegas and this means that both Melissa and I can continue our education process. She can get her Bachelors and teaching credentials while I work on my Masters and can slowly work my way into administration."

I knew nothing about Las Vegas. I didn't know my friends, my students, my experiences that I would have here, and 1308 days ago when Adam applied for student teaching here, I didn't know how my life would change. Its funny how things don't work out the way you plan them. I guess it just goes to show that Heavenly Father is in charge and watching out for us.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Blessed

Recently I have been catching myself up with the General Conference sessions I missed while out of town in California and New York. I just finished listening to the talk by Mary N. Cook of the General Young Women presidency called “A Virtuous Life-Step by Step.” She began her talk by saying “One of the choicest moments of a mother’s life is when she receives her newborn baby girl in her arms and realizes that this pure spirit has just come from our Father in Heaven. It is a sweet reminder that we are daughters of our Heavenly Father, and having just left His presence, a child comes to earth pure and ready to learn and progress.”

As you know I am just about three months away from that moment in time. I can only imagine the feelings I will have when I welcome my baby girl body and soul into our home, our hearts, our family. I have loved pregnancy, although I had a horrible first trimester with morning sickness and I know as I get bigger and the temperature rises my body will feel more uncomfortable and I’ll have to make more of an effort to remain positive. No matter the inconvenience and pain, I have discovered how sacred pregnancy is. I have become closer with my husband as we talk about her arrival, and he watches my tummy grow daily. I discovered this morning that when Adam comes to bed each night (me being dead asleep much like my mother Betty) he takes time to have “tummy time” holding our baby in his hands and feeling her move beneath my skin. If she stops moving he gives her a little shake and whispers “please don’t leave…” Right now I feel so in love with my little daughter and her Daddy and I feel so blessed to be given the opportunity to have her.

At times I feel a strong responsibility weighing upon me as I think of raising her up to be a righteous daughter of God. Cook put this responsibility into perspective for me when she stated: “Just as the Salt Lake Temple took 40 years to build, stone by stone, you are building a virtuous life, step by step. You have made covenants to be obedient. You have made some good choices. The patterns of virtue you develop now will help you to continually hold fast to the iron rod. You will never be alone on your journey because the Savior will always be with you, and you can repent. You have been blessed with the Holy Ghost to comfort and guide you. Look to the examples of the believers in your life, and seek to help others on their journey.” This is a step by step process and at times I look to life as an enormous task, difficult to chew…but we take life one day at a time. We aren’t doing it alone. Adam and I will have to learn to depend on our Savior more than ever. Its going to be a beautiful adventure.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

I Passed My Test

Author: Adam Turney

Four weeks ago I took a test that determines whether I can get my administrative credential and graduate with my Master's degree. The test was 120 questions, all multiple choice with five possible answers, and we were allotted 2 hours (120 minutes) to complete the test. Everyone that took the test in my program was nervous that we would not pass because we do not feel that we were adequately prepared for the test. I barely finished the test in time...I think I had three minutes to spare. Each of us have been anxiously waiting to find out our test results to know whether we passed our $150 test, or whether we would have to pay another $100 to take it again. This morning I quickly sat down at my computer to check the status of my test score and was incredibly relieved to see that I passed the test.

I was telling my students about my test and their biggest question was about my score and what the grade was. I explained to them that I didn't care what the grade was, I could get a C and would be happy because it is all about passing the test. As far as I know, employers don't look at those scores to compare administrative candidates. Good thing because those questions are terrible representations of our ability to effectively run a school. Now I have to make it through the next few weeks, give a major presentation before my administrators and professors, and complete all my assignments that I struggle to understand why we have to do again (more hoops we have to jump through). Once May 9 rolls around I will walk across the stage and receive my Master's degree in Educational Leadership and feel proud of myself that I was able to achieve another one of my goals. Lucky for me, I have had great support throughout this experience and after I am graduated I can give back to Melissa and help her through the final two semesters she has.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

New York~ Last Day :(

We didn't want to miss any moment we had left in New York so we woke up early and went back to the Today Show. It wasn't as fun as a few days earlier because the anchors were inside and weren't budging. We were a little tired from pushing ourselves all week too, so we were less enthused.

Adam had been talking about going to the United Nations building, which is located at turtle bay, not very conveniently located, so we went off on foot. It was about a mile walk but we made it! It was pretty cool to see all the flags of the world displayed prominently in front of the impressive building. I really didn't want to go, I had other things to do, but I will always be haunted by the fact that my Dad really wanted to visit the World Trade Centers back in July 2001 telling us that if you stand at the top you can almost feel the wind blowing the tower... no one else wanted to go. We were right on Wall Street when we decided to go back to the hotel and rest. I remember my dad saying "Oh well, we'll go next time." So of course in all my travels since then I try to do EVERYTHING, just in case for whatever reason, there is no next time.

We went back up to our hotel so we could pack up and check out. Our hotel held our bags for the rest of the day so that we could spend more time exploring, after all, our flight wasn't until 5:50 that evening so we might as well spend as much time on vacation as possible.

We went up to Strawberry Fields, a memorial to the late great John Lennon in Central Park, took some pictures, and strolled through the park. We walked through the Central Park Zoo and took pictures of many beautiful sights in the park. We walked over to the Plaza Hotel (Herbert Hoover once stayed on this floor...The vacuum guy?...No, the uh...President), F.A.O. Shwartz, Tiffany's, and Bergdorf Goodman.

Well that's about it. We saw everything we needed to see, we had a fabulous time, and we are so grateful to Adam's mom Kris who made the whole thing happen for us!

For your enjoyment a little video: Here is a toy we found at F.A.O. Shwartz which doesn't seem to be worth the 15 bucks it was priced at. These things always make me nervous, the anticipation of being startled really gets to me, so when Adam started playing with it at me...you can imagine our suprise...

New York~ Day Four

Day four was one of my very favorite days! We woke up very early and took the subway to Battery Park, walked around a slight bit, and then headed to the Liberty Island ferry. We ate some sub par pretzels and hopped on the ferry. It was the coldest day that we had spent in New York, and being on the water made it that much worse, but it was a beautiful day!

The ferry took us over to Liberty Island where we walked around and admired the Statue of Liberty. The statue is often portrayed as massive and impressive, and while it is impressive, the size seems to be over exaggerated, but it was amazing to be standing next to a symbol of the freedom of our nation. The view of Manhattan was very impressive, although the skyline is now missing the two tallest towers. We were going to walk to the base of Lady Liberty (and I use lady loosely as she lacks feminine qualities such as a butt and appears more built than any man I know) but the wait was over two hours and we wanted to spend more time at our next stop...Ellis Island.

Ellis Island was more amazing than I could have imagined. I loved it so much. It was not only physically beautiful, but the rich history and the heritage that shaped our nation. I took a picture next to the board which cataloged the numbers of immigrants to the country. I am pointing to 1962 which is the year that my Grandparents, Aunt Lesley, Uncle Archie, and Dad came to America. I think their immigration was part of the reason I was so intrigued by the stories and artifacts. Although my family didn't have to pass through Ellis Island, endure inspection and scrupulous interrogation, and the physical journey was undoubtedly easier, leaving their home, and enduring physical separation from each other must have been the hardest thing they'd ever do.

Ellis Island had to be one of my New York highlights. My favorite story came from a girl who was about 4 or 5 years old. 5o years later she was recalling her memory of arriving at Ellis Island. She remembers seeing a man, and thinking he was so beautiful and falling in love with him instantly, not knowing that he was her father. She says she must have recognized herself in him and recognized the love in his eyes. She'd never met him before that moment because he'd come over to America years before his family.

After Ellis Island we returned to Manhattan. We remained down town and headed over to Wall Street. There is so much security down there! LOTS of people smoking too, Adam believes there is a lot of thick stress flowing through the air down there. Good thing we found a free life coach offering her service to those walking by! We took pictures by the bull and sent our positive thoughts through that street and ate at the BEST DELI!!! I can't remember now what it was called, perhaps Adam will. We then walked over to Trinity Church and saw Alexander Hamilton's grave. There was aparently a lot of victim relief at Trinity Church during September 11th.

We walked over to Ground Zero. What a strange sight to see. Any other place in the world it would have just looked like a construction zone, but in the middle of lower Manhattan where the buildings scrape the sky and hug each other like brothers, the empty space was haunting. We didn't stay long. There was really nothing to see, and that was eerie.

Like two crazy people, we kept going. We'd already had a full day and then some, but we still had some free coupons that we wanted to go through and Adam suggested MoMA: the Museum of Modern Art. Although we hadn't planned it, it was one of the best parts of our trip. Partially because we were SHOCKED at what some people considered art. Examples of this were: Folded paper, Torn Paper (you know, just a ripped up piece behind glass), a guy who locked himself in a cage for a year in the name of art, a guy who splattered various things on white paper such as fingernail shavings, urin, and sauce. At some points I was crying because I was laughing so hard! Of course the museum did have its redeaming qualities such as the post impressionist and impressionist paintings which I enjoyed and an amazing light fixture which was inspired by breaking dishes in a kitchen...it was really amazing and I want a house to put it in lol.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

New York Trip Continued~ Day Three

Day three started out cold and raining, but that didn't stop us from becoming one of the geeks that hang out at the Today Show!!! Since Rockefeller Plaza was just a ten minute walk from our place, we ran over to the Today Show and I got to shake hands with Al Roker. We also got to see Meredith and Matt on the Plaza and Adam was even seen on TV by his mom. It was pretty fun. In the studio you could even see shamed former Governor of New York Elliot Spitzer in an interview with Matt. It was fun to be there because Adam and I watch the show every morning and it was cool to see in person. We then hopped over to the NBC experience store where we purchased an umbrella because it was the only place close enough that we could find one.

After the Today Show we headed over to the Empire State Buliding to go up. In the elevator I had a slight incling to push all the buttons so they would "look like a Christmas Tree" (Elf) but I refrained :) Unfortunatly there was about zero visability up at the top because it was such a rainy day. We had a free audio tour with our city passes so we used it to imagine what it would look like through the mist. Romantically, there was a time when we (along with the workers) were the only ones at the top! We were just like Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks making a love connection lol.

Next, our treck took us to China Town and Little Italy. It's so weird that just twenty blocks away from the heart of Manhattan are these two ethnic corners right next to each other. It was very cool to see, and very different from anything we'd experienced thus far. We ate at a place called DeNico's in Little Italy which was so romantic and delicious. My mom had recommended it for us and we loved it! We spent a while exploring down there and got lost on the subway and walked forever and ever and then finally ended back at our hotel where we took a much needed rest.

I was ready to be done for the day to be honest, we'd done a lot of walking but we had promised ourselves that we would try to get into the Colbert Report (for those of you who don't watch, the Colbert Report is a faux news program on Comedy Central, a spin off of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart). We love that show and the guest for the night was TOM BROKAW (who is very classy and has a sexy voice). We had to get in line by 4:00 to get standby tickets. Once we had our names on the list (we were #s 9 & 10 thanks to the rain, not many people turned out) we were free to go until 5:30 when they would let us know if we made the standby. Around the corner was a Barns & Nobel where we sipped hot chocolate and got some reading done for a while before we ran across the corner to hopefully see if there was room for us. Our hearts were racing as they started calling people and we were SO GRATEFUL to get into the show!!! We were lucky enough also to be in the FRONT ROW so when Stephen ran by he gave us all high fives! It was a great show and a highlight of the trip. You can see Adam and I for about an eighth of a second haha.

So although Day Three was rainy and we had a few disapointing moments like our lack of visibility from the ESB and getting lost in the middle of the Lower East Side, it turned out to be a pretty good day!

New York...Day 2

For Sunday we had a nice relaxing day planned.

First, we hopped on a subway and headed for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I have always loved Museums and have looked forward to the Met since the last time I was in New York eight years ago. Unfortunately, the last time I went to the Met, Sean decided he was going to wander all over the museum by himself and forced Megan and I to stay in one spot while my parents went searching all over. Thanks Sean.
So we loved the Met. I don't think I've ever been to a museum with Adam before so it was a fun date. He was surprised how HUGE the whole place was! He was also impressed with their collection of artwork and artifacts. We both enjoyed the Egyptian and Middle Ages artifacts. I especially enjoyed the European paintings. By the time we'd seen all we had wanted to see, our legs were aching!

(I thought I had to complain when I have to wear high heals! Imagine wearing these golden flip flops into battle complete with golden toe protectors!)
(My night in shining armor!)
(Me with one of my favorite paintings by Van Gogh)

We grabbed a hot dog and took a stroll in Central Park. It was a beautiful day! We probably walked about a mile enjoying the park until we reached the west side and we went to the American Natural History Museum where "Night at the Museum" took place.
We probably should have gone here before we went to the Met because after seeing the Met, neither of us were very impressed. We did get to watch a movie at the Hayden planetarium which was kind of cool. If any of you remember Ross and Rachel's first date on friends when he takes her to work (he worked at the NHM) and wanted to seduce her by taking her to the planetarium and play the video of all the stars, it was exactly like that, except the booming voice over was less comical as it was Robert Redford.

We took a subway to Harold Square on 34th street and walked to the Empire State Bldg. Because there was such a long line we decided to wait until another day to head to the top and just wander around the streets. This led to the discovery of the Flat Iron Bldg. Adam had seen it in some pictures on the street and had been curious about it. We learned that it was one of the first sky scrapers in New York, and now it cowers under the shadows of bigger titans.

(Here is a picture of the Flat Iron Bldg with the not so flat iron preggy who by the way spills food on her newly acquired ledge every time she eats which makes her wonder if there was a trail of food on the ground when she had a flat tummy.)

We headed back up to our Hotel in Times Square and explored a little while and got a true New York pizza pie. Mmmm. It was a beautiful day to be in New York City.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

New York! Day One

I have to apologize in advance for the length of this post! I'll try to do more pictures than text...

New York was a BLAST! First off, I have to thank our dear friends Joy and LaVon for not only taking us to the airport and picking us up, but they also brought us DELICIOUS gourmet chocolate dipped strawberries from Edible Arrangements. They are such great examples to us as friends. I told LaVon a while ago that if I was investigating the church and they were the only example of a Latter-day Saint I'd get baptized on the spot because of their amazing Christlike examples. So here is a picture of me at the airport enjoying their generous gift!
We flew in to JFK around 6:30 am on Saturday and thanks to some research from my MIL we found there was a train that goes directly to the subway and from there we went to our hotel. Sure it took an extra half hour or so but it ended up saving us a hundred dollars to get to and from the airport and skip the taxi thing. It only cost seven dollars a person!

Although we were EXHAUSTED we didn't want to waste one moment in the Big Apple! We were able to drop the bags off at our hotel (Mariott Marquis at Times Square) and head out into the city for some fun. First stop Grand Central Terminal. I found a tour that we printed off from the internet which we took around the station.
After Grand Central, we headed up 5th Ave. and hit the American Girl Store. It was a dream I've always had and it was awesome! There was a doll hospital, a doll hair parlor in which you could get your dolls hair done for 20 bucks, and a tea parlor. All very expensive but fun! I loved the displays of all the dolls. Adam saw the price of the dolls and his eyes popped out.
Next door we skipped over to Sacs 5th Ave. It was fun to be there, especially with Adam because he was so vocally discusted with the prices. There was a Burberry scarf for 800 dollars and he about died. It was awesome.

We went over to St. Patricks Cathedral after that. I love going to Cathedrals! It was interesting to see such a building among the sky scrapers.
We LOVED the New York City Library! It was awesome. We were walking around and found a display that looked interesting and found out it was one of the origional Gutenburg Bibles! It was sooo cool!

We walked up to Central Park which was one of my highlights. I love that there is this enormous beautiful park in the middle of a thriving, busy city. Everything just slows down in the park.
We went to get tickets to a Broadway show and got tickets to Shrek. It was AMAZING!!!! We laughed the entire time. Some of my favorite lyrics include this one " Hello fair princess Oh look the moon Is out tonight You remind me of that moon Because it’s big and bright And by big I don’t mean chubby Obviously you’re not fat But your personality is biggish Is what I meant by that." It was very clever and spectacular.