Orchid Festival

I'm so glad that we bought passes to Longwood Gardens.  It's great to get out of the city and see something beautiful.  We have definitely gotten our money out of our passes and we still are planning many more trips before our year is up.  Right now they have the Orchid Festival going on and I couldn't be happier.  Not only did they have my first and second favorite flowers everywhere (lilies and orchids respectively), but the smell was amazing.  Their smell was almost better than how beautiful they were.  Too bad for you, you only get the pictures.

Alisha's Best Photos

Brad's Best Photos

You Know You Married a Dental Student

When I got home from Spring Break in Utah I knew there wouldn't be too much time for me and Brad to hang out since Brad had a test the next day.  However, Brad did take a little bit of time to spend just with me before he had to head back to school.  When I was dropping Brad off at the dental school, Brad asked if I'd like to come in and see all of his cool dental stuff.  All the students have recently got a lot of new equipment and I hadn't seen it yet except his drill which he thought was cool enough to bring home to show me.  We were able to sneak me past the night guard (not really, I still have a ID card, though, its a spouse card, not an actual student ID.)  Brad showed me all of his cool dental tools, mechanical jaws, torch, carving materials, explorers, mirrors, drills, drill bits, models, impressions, etc.  It was quite impressive to see all of his equipment.  Brad had a project to complete so instead of going home I watched him work on attaching a model of the lower teeth to the upper teeth.  Doesn't he look just so cute in his white coat?

So, when most people would spend the evening catching up after being apart, Brad brings me along to work on teeth.  I'll take whatever time with him I can get.

Baby Shower

My mother and sisters threw me a fabulous baby shower while I was in Utah.  They did a lot of work and it turned out beautifully.

It was so wonderful to see so many friends and family there.  We received so many wonderful gifts for the baby.  I got some things off my registry and some very cute clothes.  Thank you everyone!  Also, thanks Mom, Malinda, and Adrianne for such a wonderful baby shower!

Spring Break

We had the most lovely Spring Break in Utah.  It was so good to go home and to visit everyone.  It was a little busy and crazy getting everywhere, but it was so worth it so we could see all of our friends and family.

We arrived on Tuesday morning.  Baby did not like the plane ride.  He kicked me all the way up and all the way down.  My mom came and picked us up at the airport and we spent the rest of the day with her.  Mostly we ran some errands and hung out.  And we had real Mexican food at Mi Ranchito.  I often wish we had some real family style Mexican in Phillie.

Wednesday, my sweet mom gave me highlights and a hair cut that I've been needing badly.  After that Brad and I drove up to Farmington to see Grandma Packer and Aunt Carolyn.  On our way home we had dinner with Alissa and the girls (Ryan was stuck late at work.)  Both Ella and Anna have grown up so much since we last saw them in July.

Thursday was our busiest day.  First, we visited with Grandma and Grandpa Palmer.  Thursday was very momentous because that was the first time we've had Cafe Rio since we moved from Utah.  It was a very joyous day.  Aaron joined us for the occasion.  After lunch the boys went to play games and my mom met up with me so that we could go shopping.

You may wonder why Brad has a cake with "World's Best Father-In-Law" on it.  Well, once we got home from shopping we realized that the boys had been up to no good.  It involved some rough housing and one of my dad's plants ending up demolished.  Brad felt very bad about this to say the least.  My dad LOVES his plants.  Almost as much as he loves his dear children.  I believe there are plants in our house that are older than me.  He waters them, meticulously prunes them, he even talks to them.

Here comes in my dad's other great love, German chocolate cake.  Whenever one of us girls comes home we promise to make him German chocolate cake to prove who is his favorite.  Hoping to get back in my dad's good graces Brad made the cake and frosting almost entirely by himself.

It worked.  In my dad's words, "I'd rather have cake than a plant."

After finishing the cake, we went to dinner at Shoots with Aaron.  It's our favorite Chinese place and we miss it so much it Phillie.  We ordered all of our favorites.  Brad even had a great fortune.  We really could use some good luck.

After dinner we met up with my friend Hillary and had some dessert at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.  It also gave us a chance to walk around the cutest children's toy store.  It was good to catch up with an old friend.  Once we got home we waited up for my sisters to arrive from St. George.  I've never before been worried about being mobbed.  Keeping my belly from being touched and caressed by my sisters was absolutely impossible.

Friday, all the girls went shopping for our family photo.  We were able to find something for everyone.  We had the photos taken later that afternoon.  I think we looked pretty good.

After a great family dinner, we went to Ryan and Shanda's for games with the Palmer family.  We taught them a new game we learned from our friends in Phillie called Wizards.

Saturday, we went up to Sandy and had breakfast with Ryan and Alissa, Doug (who happened to be in town for the weekend), and Aaron.  It was a pretty good gathering of Packers.   After this, Brad left for the airport to go home (he had classes on Monday.)  I went back to Alpine and got ready for the baby shower that my mother and sisters threw for me (I'll post about that later.)  Later that night I couldn't stop my sisters from once again having a go at my belly since baby boy was kicking me.  Can you tell they are excited for this baby?

Sunday was spent at church, spending time with family, and playing games.  Holly and Wayne stopped by to play with us.

Monday and Tuesday was spent with my mother and sisters.  We set up sewing camp in the family room.  We were able to finish both of my quilts for the baby.  My mom and sisters also worked on another quilt for baby boy.  Right now they are being finished so in a month or so I'll have them back and can show you how adorable they all turned all out.

Tuesday, I also went to lunch with my old roommate Shelley.  I love this girl so much and it was so great to sit and chat with her.  Shelley is one of the most amazing people I know and I'm very blessed to have her as a friend.  I'm so glad that she's moving to DC in just a few months so we can be closer and our babies can grow up knowing each other.

We loved our time in Utah.  It's odd that it feels a lot more like home than Phillie does for both of us.  A lot of our friends and family are there so it was great to feel so comfortable and, well, at home.  I'm so sorry if we missed anyone during our visit.  We were busy busy, but know we still love you too.

Spending Fast Recap

As I said earlier this month, I joined my sister-in-law, Lauren, on a spending fast.  What is a spending fast?  Basically, you don't buy anything for a whole month.  Well, you don't give up everything.  You give yourself a grocery budget, can fill your car up with gas, and pay your bills, but other than that don't spend a dime.  No eating out, no craft store visits, no trips to Target, no Amazon purchases.  Sigh.

Last year, when Lauren posted about her spending fast, I thought that it was a great idea and probably wouldn't be that hard for me.  I could do that.  I mean, Brad's in school so we're in the stage of our lives were we are poor college students.  We have to be frugal and not buy things.  How different from normal life can it be?  I'm not saying that this wouldn't be incredibly hard for other people.  I'm truly impressed that Lauren does it when she has three kids.

However, when Lauren called out for people to join her this year, I will say I had second thoughts about how easy I thought this would be.  One, we're having a baby.  I've wanted so badly to start buying things for Scoot.  Two, along with having a baby there are certain things I've been wanting to make for the baby, like quilts, blankets, decorations, and a crib mobile.  A spending fast doesn't exactly allow for a craft budget.  Third, groceries cost so much out here versus how much they cost in Utah last year.   For example, our $1.97 gallon of milk in Utah costs over $4 in Pennsylvania.  I was worried about keeping our groceries within a budget.

But I decided to commit to the spending fast.  One month, on a grocery budget and no extra purchases.  It wasn't as easy as I thought.  By any means of the imagination.

It all started the night before the spending fast.  I was getting ready for bed and turned on the bathroom nightlight (for those 3 am pregnant lady bathroom runs) when the light burned out.  At 11 pm.  I'm in my pjs and there is no way I'm running to the store to buy a lightbulb before the spending fast begins.  Plus, it's not really in the true spirit of the spending fast.  The idea is to live with less.  I thought I had a few extra lightbulbs, but I couldn't find them.  I begrudgingly decided I wouldn't buy the replacement lightbulbs during my grocery trip on Monday and go the whole month turning on the bathroom light in the middle of night and waking me up even more.

Then a few days later, the same sort of lightbulb went out on my sewing machine.  Truly desperate this time, I did a deeper search for the extra lightbulbs.  Turns out, I was right.  I did have them.  They weren't where they were supposed to be, but I was able to fix both my nightlight and sewing machine.  While this may seem small, I'm glad I stuck to not buying anything.  I was able to make due for the few days that I needed to without what I wanted.  And I also learned I often have what I need if I look hard enough.

Groceries were also tough this month.  The first week was great.  I came in under budget.  I was elated that I had done it.  During week 2 came the perfect storm.  We ran out of EVERYTHING.  Trash bags, paper towels, toilet paper, dish soap, plastic wrap, printer paper, AAA batteries, Q tips, shampoo, vitamins, kleenexes, flour, sugar, just to name a few.  All basic things you don't have to normally buy for awhile all finished off in one week.  Some of these I could live without, others are true necessities.  Also, it was Valentine's that week.  We had planned just to do a romantic dinner at home so I had planned a few extra grocery dollars for that.  All these things made me double my grocery budget for the week.  I haven't ever spend that much on groceries in one week out here.  And I overspent during the spending fast.  Talk about disappointed with myself.  So, during weeks 3 and 4 I tried extra hard to stay within the rest of my budget.  And at the end of the month, I'm twenty dollars over.  While I'm a little sad I didn't make it within budget, I learned I could keep a grocery budget as long as I don't have to buy all my basics in one month.

Something that did help me not spend anything on the baby this month was to go make my baby registry. I could pick out all the cute and adorable baby things I wanted, but I didn't spend a dime.  It was a little overwhelming with all the baby things, but in a way I feel a lot more prepared for Baby knowing that everything is picked out.  I did spend money on one thing at Babies R' Us.  Our friends had their baby a few weeks early so I picked up a gift for them off their registry while I was there.  Kinda cheaterish, but I don't feel bad about it.

My final hurdle for the month has been to not have a craft budget.  I've had a million craft ideas for Baby's nursery flying through my head.  Like some adorable quilts I've been wanting to make.  But what pushed me over the edge is that we are going to Utah in March.  And if we are going to Utah, there is a family friend who can machine quilt the blankets together for me.  But that would mean I'd have to have both quilt tops done by the time I arrive in Utah.  And I didn't have enough of one fabric to finish one of the quilts.  However, I had some yarn left over from Baby's blanket that I needed to return.  So, I returned the yarn and bought my fabric for the same price.  Well, I was over by 31 cents.  A little on the cheater scale, but now I'm going to be able to finish my quilts in time to go to Utah.

I think the best thing that kept me on track was that we sat down before the month started and made me a budget sheet.  Ok, Brad sat me down and made me go over the budget with him.  I'll be honest, he's the much more budget conscious of the two of us.  Our budget sheet had all of our expense categories listed and what our budget was for the month.  A little sad to see so many zeros on the sheet, but I will say it was by far the most helpful thing for the spending fast.  I was able to see how I was doing on groceries and spending on gas.  I'm going to have Brad keep making me one so hopefully I'll carry on a little bit of the spirit of the spending fast.

All in all, the spending fast was great.  Hard, but really good for me.  It made me realize how often I would spend money without thinking about it.  Or I would think that we really needed it when really we could make due.  We'll see if I can do it again next year after we have the baby.