I’ve developed the nose of a blood hound….seriously! I swear I can smell everything. Things that I never smelt before…and things I really wish I couldn’t smell.

When we bought our house, I hated the smell of it. I bought a bunch of wallflowers from Bath & Body and put them throughout the house. And frankly, I really liked the smell of them….until NOW. I came home from work last night and was so overcome by the smell of eucalyptus that I wanted to barf! I went around the house and gathered them all up and threw them out. BUT, then I couldn’t get the SMELL off of my hands! I washed them literally 10 times and still could smell the eucalyptus scent on them….so I pulled out an onion and rubbed it on my hands….nadda….pulled out some lemons and rubbed them on my hands…NADDA!! So, while cooking dinner, I burnt some cheese in my oven, and you’d think I was smellin’ the greatest thing on earth!! I actually preferred the smell of burnt cheese over my scenty stuff!

Sadly, once the smoke cleared and I was getting ready this morning….the smell was back! Seriously thinking about sporting a clothes line clip on my nose…fashionable…no??


Dear Fetus,

I want you to know how ecstatic we are for your existence….even though you living in my womb is making me feel a wee bit crazy from all the changes. I really wouldn’t trade it for anything in this world and it makes me tear up when I think of how blessed we are. You should know that your dad still calls you spike…which isn’t all that far off considerin’ you probably still have a tail at this point.

Love momma

So, let's see...I made that last post on Tuesday? Umm...not even a day later I was welcomed into the morning sickness clan. Although, I don't know why they call it morning sickness when it lasts ALL DAY!!!

My mother-in-law showed me how to prep a turkey for thanksgiving (since I volunteered to make it this year). Watching her peel the skin away from the flesh had me teetering on the verge of stuffin that turkey with my regurgitated morning breakfast! Thankfully, Steve took over from there and paid attention to all the disgusting details so that he could help me prep our birdie for thanksgiving dinner.

I called my sisters to find out how they dealt with this constant urge to loose your cookies and they told me the 1/2 a Unisom trick! I was a little skeptical. A sleep aid? For morning sickness? But, I tried it and PRAISE THE LORD! IT WORKED! I still have occasional nauseousness, but it's not the overwhelming, all-consuming feeling anymore.

The only side effect I've noticed is a bit more drowsiness during the day, but the benefit of not being sick all the time is worth a little drowsiness!!

I'm feeling a little on the bloated side. Like on those really bad days of your period where your jeans fit a little snugger than other days. Steve says he's gonna buy me a shirt that says 'I'm not fat, I'm just pregnant'. Not so sure if people are gonna believe that one just yet...lol.

He's also nicked named our little bean 'Spike'. Yep, I know...weird...but hey, if you know my husband, it shouldn't be all that surprising. :0) I asked him, what if it's a girl? He just looked at me and said, "Spike". Sounds like an identity crisis in the making...

So, I thought I’d give some personal experiences about my pregnancy thus far. I’m guessing I’m only 7 weeks roughly…I know, I know…”isn’t it a faux pas to announce so early?” you ask….NO! I was so stinking excited that I just couldn’t hold the good news to myself.

My first appointment isn’t until December 17th, where I’ve been told that they will give an exam, tell me yet again that I’m pregnant, and possibly let us listen to the little beans heart beat!

I was talking to my little sis about my one complaint thus far…sore boosies. ACK! I’m going to describe the feeling as having bowling balls implanted. Around 7:30 on the dot each night, I get this throbbing pain under my arms…which gradually moves to the bowling balls. From about then until 4 or 5 in the morning, any movement literally feels like they are going to rip from my rib cage! I’ve resorted to bags of frozen veggies to ease the tenderness.

My sis told me, “Em, it’s weird. You’ll wake up one morning and be like, WHOA, where did these come from?”. In my head, I’m thinking right, that may make you happy, but it’s gonna make me scream ‘WHY ME?’ to the heavens while Steve chants ‘Jackpot, Jackpot’ with a grin from ear to ear.
Thanks to a friend of mine who gave me the idea to wear a bra + a sports bra to bed…there ya go! Strap ‘em down!

I haven’t experienced any real morning sickness (knock on wood). I’ve had a stomach ache on occasion, along with the urge to upchuck…but I fight that urge with every bone in my body. I absolutely HATE to throw up! YUCK! I’ve been really tired too, but that’s ok, cuz I really like naps :0)

I’ve been told to get the book ‘What to Expect When You’re Expecting’. I’m thinking that might be a good idea. One of the websites I turned to mentioned leaky bossies, hemorrhoids and constipation as normal symptoms. SCORE! Sign me up!!

On the positive side, Steve and I are WAY excited! We’ve been making lists of all the things that we need to get and all the work we’ll need to do to get the nursery ready.I think we are both rootin’ for a boy, but we’ll take a lil princess, if that’s what it is! Steve has been kissing my tummy goodnight and telling the little bean how much he loves it…makes my heart just melt!!

So, you know that update we promised you????

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Well, here is a hint.....

And if that's not hint enough...

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then here's another one.....

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We are just SO EXCITED!!!

Cute...Cute...CUTE!!

This is Bentley and Lyza (Kristie and Josh's lil chillin's) all dressed up for Halloween!

SIDE NOTE: Yes, I know I have other nieces and nephews...but their mammy's and pappy's don't send me any pics to post and brag about! (hint, hint).

OH! By the way....Steve and I are going to adopt a GSP (German Short haired Pointer) hopefully before Christmas! We are so excited to take a road trip to California to pick out a rescue dog to add to our family!

Side SIDE NOTE: I realize you could use more of an update than this...still workin' on that ;)

IM chat I had with Steve this morning...

Steve: How's your day so far?
Me: Good, how about yours?
Steve: God, just got in
Me: Oh really?
Me: Well tell him HI for me
(Couple moments pass by wherein I'm sure Steve was scratching his head and thinking what?)
Steve: *Good
Steve: You know what I meant
Me: Yeah, I know, but I couldn't resist...LOL
Steve: I'm still tired

Bentley Luke and Lyza Mae Norman

Here is one of my nephews and his new baby sister, Lyza Mae.

I love their facial expressions.....priceless!

What's Yours is Mine and What's Mine is Mine...

Steve and I like to grocery shop for two weeks worth of food at a time. Sometimes we have to go back and pick up produce items that won't last that long...but our main goal is to only shop once every two weeks.

We always buy some sort of cracker brand for lunches. He's a big Ritz fan...me, on the other hand, I don't really enjoy plain crackers like that. So, one shopping trip, I purchased his boxes of Ritz crackers and threw in some Cheez-its for me. I recall packing them for lunch one day, and suddenly they were gone the next. (Steve had a sudden case of memory loss and apparently had no idea where they went).

The next shopping trip, I purchased some Ritz crackers (again), a 'spicy' cheez-it box and a regular cheez-it box. Steve avoids spicy foods, so I was certain that he wouldn't touch them :) Anyways, one night while watching 'The Office'...I had a snack attack. I took the half eaten box of regular cheez-its and devoured them! Steve returned from his trip to Reno to find them long gone. (I let him cry it out...he felt betrayed, but forgave me).

Last night, after shopping and eating dinner...I went to the pantry to pack my lunch for the next day. I grabbed a box of just purchased Wheat Thins and said, "Don't eat the Wheat Thins, baby. You have your Ritz...so these are mine."

He just smiled and said, "I know, but the Cheez-its are mine. I even wrote my name on them." I grabbed the box from the shelf and burst out laughing when I found he had written on every possible side of the box, "STEVEN'S".

I suddenly felt like I had regressed back to the single life of writing names on the food you didn't want your roommate to eat.

So Long...May you rest peacefully in appliance heaven

I woke up this morning, threw some wash in and hoped in the shower. By the time I was finished, I found smoke filling the halls. The culprit being THE WASHER (excuse me while I weep).

I won't lie, right then I felt like screaming, then drop kicking the washer out the front window. Instead, I called my husband and yelled at him (as though he single handedly had been the reason for the faulty washer). I'm sure he wasn't surprised though...he calmly told me we should have someone check it out and everything would be ok.

The appliance repair people came that night and delivered the bad news that it would need to be replaced (only after lecturing us not to buy appliances from Craig’s List...even if you are just trying to save some money).

So, the silver lining to this story??...after we replace the dishwasher and washer...every appliance in our house will be brand new (minus the water heater). Ok, that's more of a GOLD lining...:0)

SLOWLY BUT SURELY...

Well, it's official...we've finally moved into our new home! Now, don't take 'moved in' too literally. We've still got boxes scattered between different rooms, searched for toilet paper, towels, and deodorant that we packed no where near each other, and moved furniture around one too many times.

BUT, the important stuff is done!

• We found the remote to the TV (that's an important one)!
• The kitchen is finally unpacked (it's so weird to not feel like I'm setting up a booby trap every time I strategically put the dishes away!)
• All the bathrooms now have toilet paper! (I tell you this with great pride. Nobody likes to do the chicken dance in search of TP, pants around their ankles, praying that nothing drips and ruins the freshly cleaned carpets!)
• Locks have been changed
• WINDOWS ARE SPARKLING CLEAN (shout out to mom for that one!)
• Disposal has been replaced (go daddy-o!)
• Fire alarms no longer squawk in protest every 3 seconds to remind us to change the batteries (this is an amazing accomplishment considering I did this WITHOUT the use of a ladder...piles of books, laundry and my feeble gift of balance to thank for that)
• Boogers have been cleaned off ALL blinds
• Bed setup, WITH SHEETS

Jim and Anne were gracious enough to hire help to clean our house. This was a gift straight from heaven! It would have taken me until the year 2015 just to skim the surface.

The cleaning ladies showed up and 9 hours later, called to let me know it was finished. When I got there to check things out, Maggie (the cleaning woman) just looked at me, wiping sweat from her brown, and said, "They NEVER clean!" I dare say that I agreed with the understatement! From a quick glance, the house really didn't look that bad. However, once we really started looking at it, we realized that the previous family had zero concept of cleanliness.

So, we knew for sure that we would have to replace at least the stove. We used every chemical known to man (nearly) in attempt to scrub the grime off, to no avail. We were going to use a fridge that Jim and Anne had years ago...but sadly it died the day we moved it into our place...so that too needed to be replaced. The micro was stained and didn't work. The dishwasher was on the list to be replaced as well...but we figured we'd use it till it died and clean the gunk off as best we could.

One Saturday we ventured out to Home Depot, picked out our selection of white appliances and setup a delivery for the following weekend. No more than 2 days after they were installed...Mr. Dishwasher keeled over...but not without leaving us a basin full of water...and no easy way to get it out. Steve is now filling in on behalf of the late Mr. Dishwasher. May he rest in peace.





Here are some pics of the inside of our new place:

Spring Mountain Country Club

Okay, so this picture has been up for a few weeks and I thought that I would give some what of a description. :) I did a photo shoot a couple of weeks ago for a new "country club" just outside of Vegas in a small town called Pahrump/ It is owned by some .com millionaire out of LA who likes to race cars. This is pretty much the coolest thing ever!! You pay an annual membership fee along with some monthly dues and you get a full blown track to race on 16 days a month (car not included).

They also offer driving schools for Lotus, Corvette, and Suzuki motorcycles. Needless to say, I was in heaven!!! The shot turned out really well and it was a ton of fun driving the cars around.

(From Left to Right): Porsche GT3, Corvette ZR1, Lotus Exige Cup, Radical Racer

Steve is currently on the Seabourn 'Spirit' with the same captain as the article mentioned below.

He found out that the captain is an amateur photographer. He worked a deal with him. Steve will give him a few pointers about his camera, in exchange for an exclusive story session of the attack! Needless to say, he's pretty excited!

CRUISE LINER OUTRUNS ARMED PIRATE BOATS

A luxury cruise line will re-evaluate whether to offer future cruises off the coast of Somalia after pirates attempted to attack one of its ships early Saturday.

The pirates were in two small boats and were carrying machine guns and a rocket-propelled grenade when they attempted the attack on Seabourn Cruise Lines' "Spirit" about 5:35 a.m. local time Saturday, Deborah Natansohn, president of the cruise line, told CNNRadio.

The ship was carrying 150 passengers and a crew of about 160.

The ship, she said, immediately instituted its emergency response system. "The occupants of those boats did not succeed in boarding the ship and eventually turned away ... our captain and crew did a terrific job taking responsive action."

Passenger Mike Rogers of Vancouver, Canada, said the pirates were shooting and sending rockets at the boat.

"The captain tried to run one of the boats over, but they were small boats, about 25 feet long," he told CNNRadio affiliate CKNW in Vancouver.

"Each one had four or five people on it, and (the captain) said he was going to do anything to keep them from getting on board."

The captain, however, did not hit the alarm button to alert passengers of the emergency, Rogers said. "He announced it over the speakers because he was scared people would run up on deck, and he didn't want people on deck because they would have been shot."

The cruise ship eventually outran the pirates' boats, Natansohn said. One person suffered minor injuries, she said without elaborating.

"There's some minor damage done to the ship," Rogers said. "There's no water right now, for instance, in some places, and I believe one of the grenades actually went off in one of the cabins, but everyone on board is fine."

The ship is now en route to the Seychelles Islands, Natansohn said.

On Thursday, the United Nations' World Food Program warned that hijackings off the coast of Somalia were restricting the delivery of needed food assistance to the country.

"The southern Somali coastline is one of the most dangerous in the world," the WFP said on its Web site. "In recent months, WFP's operations in Somalia have been sabotaged by the hijackings of two vessels carrying relief food. Ship owners are now demanding armed escorts to travel in these waters."

Natansohn said efforts were under way Saturday to locate the pirates. "We have notified U.S., Canadian and Australian authorities because most of our passengers come from those three countries, as well as local authorities in Africa."

"Seabourn 'Spirit' has offered itineraries in that part of the world before, but we'll obviously be looking at the incident to determine what to do in the future," she said.

Rogers said, "We're always looking for adventure, but this is probably a little more than we would normally look for."


By CNNRadio's Matt Cherry and Amanda Moyer
Saturday, November 5, 2005; Posted: 9:45 p.m. EST (02:45 GMT)

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/africa/11/05/somalia.pirates/index.html

The Signing

Yesterday was our official signing, and since Steve was obviously not there to sign, I signed on his behalf. Apparently, I didn't think that process through!

I've been told that signing for a home is like signing your life away. For me, it was like autographing every single page of a 500 page book...TIMES NINE HUNDRED!

I was grateful that Anne (my Mother-in-law) came with me. She made the whole experience go by quickly. However, it was no help that the air conditioner at the Title office was broken. So, here’s me (the human furnace) and Anne (the hot-flashin’-queen!) trying to direct me through the heap of signature lines.

I signed my name, and then everywhere that Steve was to sign, I had to write (IN CURSIVE I MIGHT ADD!!) "Steven J Bell by Emily S Bell his attorney-in-fact".
I'll admit, I NEVER write in cursive. I hated it in school, and to this day, still refuse to use it for anything other than signing my own name! I would venture to say that I’ve forgotten how most of the alphabet should look in cursive. By the end of the signing, I was printing the letters and ‘hooking’ them together with lines to make it look like cursive. It literally looked like a child scribbled out Steve’s name! I was concentrating so hard on making my 5th grade penmanship legible that my hand cramped up and had to temporarily be given the nickname “Quasi”.

Now that this is out of the way, we are only waiting on a few small details. If all goes well, I could have keys in hand by next week! We're unofficially official home owners! :0)

SOOOOO EXCITING!

We sign for our new home on Monday!!!!

Where in the World is Steven??

Steven began his three 1/2 week trip to the Mediterranean today (07.24.2008)! He started in Las Vegas. He then flew to Houston, Paris, and lastly, Athens. I've placed stars on a map to indicate all the areas he's adventuring to!

07.26.2008 - Pireas, Greece
07.27.2008 - Kusadasi, Turkey
07.28.2008 - Mykonos, Greece
07.29.2008 - Navplion, Greece
07.30.2008 - Transit Cornith Canal
07.31.2008 - Dubrovnik, Croatia
08.01.2008 - Split, Croatia
08.02.2008 - Venice, Italy
08.03.2008 - Hvar, Croatia
08.04.2008 - Dubrovnik, Croatia
08.05.2008 - Cruising Ionian Sea
08.06.2008 - Taormina, Sicily
08.07.2008 - Lipari, Italy
08.08.2008 - Sorrento, Italy
08.09.2008 - Civitavecchia, Italy
08.10.2008 - Sorrento, Italy
08.11.2008 - Taormina, Sicily
08.12.2008 - Katakolon, Greece
08.13.2008 - Itea, Greece
08.14.2008 - Santorini, Greece
08.15.2008 - Mykonos, Greece
08.16.2008 - Pireas, Greece and then back to Las Vegas, Nevada!!!

What?

You mean everyone doesn't wear a size 6x in camo-overalls?

Since when??

Julia says, "I love Steve's expression in this photo. It's like, 'What? So I'm sharing a large pair or pants with a man...who cares? And yes, I'm wearing underwear, I don't know about him, but I am!'"

Some Humor

I like to use 'I Can't Believe it's Not Butter' on my toast in the morning, because sometimes when I eat breakfast, I like to be incredulous.

"How was breakfast?"

"Unbelievable."

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“I noticed that there are no B batteries. I think that’s to avoid confusion, cause if there were you wouldn’t know if someone was stuttering.

‘Yes, hello I’d like some b-batteries.’

‘What kind?’

‘B-batteries.’

‘What kind?!?’

‘B-batteries!!!’

...and D-batteries, that’s hard for foreigners.

‘Yes, I would like de batteries.’” - Demetri

My name is Emily Bell.

Steve and I have been married since June of 2006 (just had our 2 year anniversary). If I had to describe my husband in one word, that word would be 'charming-handsome-kissable-incredibly gifted-sarcastic-gun totin'-oh snap sayin-comical-drives our car like a Ferrari (and everyone knows Hyundai is NO Ferrari)-supportive-lovable-man'. Again, that's if I had to put it into one word.

We live in Henderson NV....and are 'SO CLOSE WE CAN TASTE IT' to buyin' our first home!! We are hopin' to sign the docs before Steve leaves on yet another amazing adventure for what he knows as a 'job', but the rest of the world would call a 'vacation'.

He's a photographer for a studio here in Las Vegas and he works with two comical...yet amazingly talented men. Over the past year, they have been doing photo shoots out of the country to places like Italy, England, Costa Rica, Cabo, etc. His next endeavor is a 3 week trip up and down the Mediterranean on a yacht (don't even think about it...I've already asked to be stowed away in his suitcase...it ain't happenin'!).

Steve and I met in Provo Utah. We both worked for the same company for a couple of months. I still remember the first time I saw him....starring at me....which I still catch him doing.....and I remember thinking what a freakin' hot dude he was! (Mom, I get to tell the story my way! It's less embarrassing...and a little less blown out of proportion! hehehe) Anyways, Steve was in Provo to see where a relationship would go with another girl (enter Emily) and quickly realized that he actually moved to Utah to meet the girl of his dreams (a.k.a ME).

Unfortunately, I was not so willing to give up my somewhat-wild-roots and refused to succumb to the feelings I was quickly developing for him.

He got a job opportunity in Las Vegas...moved...and long story short...I followed shortly thereafter. BUT, I wasn't willing to move all the way to Vegas (didn't want to seem to eager...yeah, right), so I moved back to St. George for a couple of months. By the way, St. George is my official hometown.

First came love, then came marriage....and sometime soon, the baby carriage. (noooooo, that is NOT an announcement MOM or PATTI).

I'm WAY excited about getting our first house! I've always had a LOVE (very near obsession) with decorating and interior design! Yet, oddly enough, that's not what I currently do for a 'living'. So, it is idea overload every night trying to decide what I want to do with our soon to be 'blank canvas' of a home!

Then comes my second passion...cooking! I can't wait to invite people to our home...instead of our rinky-dink apt...and cook up a storm! I like to try out new recipes on my guests...not usually the norm for most...but hey, if it doesn't work, there is always pizza!

I realize that I'm probably not the ideal person to be blogging...considering I am a failure at scrap booking and/or keeping a journal...so I figured this would be a sure fire way to kill two birds with one stone! HOWEVER, unlike my past journaling attempts...I will try to update this blog more than once every January 1st...LOL.

My apologies to those who read this and don't find any part of it humorous...I lack the skill of putting the funny moments in my life into words, while still keeping the moment 'funny'. I'm generally an animated person....so the stories are always better in person.

Till next time,

Emily