Urg.

Do you watch Lost? Nathaniel and I started to about a month ago and we’re pretty addicted (thank goodness for Netflix and this laptop). On Lost, there’s a character named Hurley who is one of my favorite characters. Hurley played the lottery and won, but since then, he’s had nothing but bad luck. Despite plenty of assurances to the contrary, he is convinced that the numbers he played with are cursed.

I don’t care what anyone says, blogspot is cursed. For me. Maybe it’s good for other people, but it just doesn’t like me. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve written a post and somehow, something goes wrong and it doesn’t work. Just now, for instance, I wrote this cute, sweet little post about Summer because she is four weeks old today. And what happened? It mysteriously disappeared. Wasting precious Summer nap time is pretty frustrating.

Anyway, our little Summer is four weeks old today, and we love her.

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Little Summer was born a week ago today.


Best adventure ever.

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How Summer Came

Have you ever been in so much pain that you can't think? That's how I felt last week. It was so miserable. Even after googling everything I could think of, I didn't know if it was related to the pregnancy or not. I went to the BYU Health Center on Wednesday and they gave me a muscle relaxer, which did absolutely nothing. Late Wednesday night, I told Nathaniel to take me to the Emergency Room. The one in Provo looked crowded, so we went to the hospital in Payson. We figured it might be nice to be there becuase that is where my OB hangs out. To make a long and painful story short and painful, the little baby was positioned in such a way that she was blocking my ureter, which made it rather difficult for my pee to leave the kidney. Basically, the baby was acting like a kidney stone, just so you know what kind of pain I was in. So, because I was 38 weeks pregnant already, they decided to get that little baby out of there.

On Saturday, May 2, at 7:57 AM the little baby was delivered by c-section. It kind of makes me feel like I never gave birth since I just went through a procedure that felt a lot like what I went through a year and a half ago when I had my bowl resection. Except this time, I got a baby!

It was so great to hear her first little squeals and to see Nathaniel walk off with her in his arms while I got sewn up. She weighed 6 lbs 4 oz and was 19 inches long. We weren't totally sure about her name. We were thinking of Summer Elizabeth Ward, but then everyone started saying how much they liked the other names we had thought of. That first night, after they took our little girl to the nursery, I dreamed of her and I wanted to see her, and in my dreams she was Summer. So that is the name we chose.

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Baby Summer

I don't have time to write much but here are some pics of our new girl.

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On Memory

My professor for personal finance this semester, Scott Marsh, offered an extra credit project that involved using a memory technique to memorize a main concept from every chapter of the Book of Mormon. I'm rather obsessed with the idea of improving my memory so I volunteered for the project. It turns out that he used the same numbers to letters method that I read about in a talk (Squeezing Milk from an Orange: An Easy Approach to Remembering Scripture,” New Era, May 1977) while I was on my mission. I already knew the basics of the approach from my mission and Professor Marsh's addition to them was great. Though I haven't yet memorized something major from every chapter of the Book of Mormon, I'm well on my way and I've found the method to be incredibly useful.

Professor Mash asked if anyone would like to volunteer a half-hour of their time each day for about a month during the summer to continue the project. I assume that we'll be moving on to the Doctrine and Covenants and New Testament as well. Anyway, the reason I write about this is because I think the program is actually making my memory better. Though I'm sure that some people are just born with a high capability to absorb and retain lots of information, I'm definitely not one of those. Programs like this help me stretch the meager brain that the kind Lord saw fit to give me.

Another though about memory: I've been using memory associations (I'm not sure if that's what you call it) to study for my finals this semester and I've got to tell you, it really blows my mind how much more you can remember by associating the new information with other things that you already know or with interesting images or even just with other new things that you are learning. I had a list of 17 items that I wanted to memorize for my personal finance test: mentor, path of progress, education, good writing skills, good speaking skills,show me the money, counselor, tax advice, prosperity from prosperity, innovative problem solving, teamwork, remembering, hard work, expert testimony, temptation, and marriage. Though I didn't need to memorize these items in order, I did because it was easy. I made up the following association train (I just made up that term, too) to remember it and now I can't forget it.

A young college kid goes and asks a college professor to be his mentor. The mentor tells him that he will be his mentor and that in order for him to succeed he needs to pick a path of progress (which is a job that will have high earning potential in the future). In order to pick such a career he'll need to go to college and get an education. At college, he'll have to learn to write well and speak well (in public). After he gets done speaking to a group of his classmates he surprises them by asking them for money. Once he gets some money from his fellow classmates, he walks over to the ASB (administrative building on BYU's campus) and becomes a counselor. However, instead of just becoming a normal counselor, he becomes a tax advisor. As a tax advisor, a rich student comes to him with a broken arm asking whether the tax advisor can help him. The advisor tells the rich student that he should ask his parents for money (prosperity from prosperity). Then the advisor looks at the broken arm and decides that he can use innovative problem solving to solve the problem. He sends the boy down to the football field to consult with the football team (teamwork) about how to fix his arm. Down on the field, coach Mendenhall tells him to run all the way to the top of the mountain (a task that requires much hard work) in order to find the solution. After making it to the top of the mountain, the boy becomes an expert witness on how hard it is to climb a mountain. While he is testifying about the difficulty of the climb, Satan tries to tempt the him to buy promoted items like investment life insurance(the promoted items were something I needed to remember). A beautiful young lady magically appears on the mountaintop and helps the boy resist the temptation. After telling Satan to go to hell, the boy decides that this beautiful young lady is the right person for him to marry.

If you read that whole thing, you're very kind. I've used an approach similar to this to memorize a lot of the stuff I've got to know for finals. It's not only made it much easier to retain more information, it's made it a lot more fun. So, for those of you who have finals right now, you might give it a shot. I'd also love to hear from anyone who has other ways of remembering info for tests and other stuff.

-Nathaniel

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Chungas al Pastor

Did you know anyone in high school who was really obsessed with one band or artist in particular? These were the people who would constantly wear t-shirts with Soul Asylum or Dave Matthews Band album cover art, who would spend hundreds of dollars of their parents' money to go to a concert, and who would insist on their songs being played at school dances, no matter how inappropriate the tempo was for dancing. The oddest thing about these people was the fierce loyalty they felt toward their band. If you asked them about some new song, they would say something like, "Yeah, they're all right, but Chumbawumba is so much better." Or something even fiercer, like narrowing their eyes and saying, "The Smashing Pumpkins suck! Linkin Park rules!"

This is what I thought of Nathaniel's friend when he recommended a Mexican place on Freedom Boulevard. Apparently, he was telling everyone he got the chance to tell that Chunga's, in the strip mall just north of Ozz, was a Mexican restaurant worthy of beatification. I love a good restaurant as much as the next person, but I am more the type to suggest a place if I'm going out with some friends and leave it at that.

One fateful day, Nathaniel was cleaning out his old credit card pile and found a gift certificate for Einstein's Bagels. We jumped in the car and went, only to find that the one on Center Street was closed. He wanted to go to Octavio's instead, but was too embarrassed to be seen with me in my hoodie and batter-splattered sweats (rude!). So we got in the car, lamenting our failed attempt at spontaneity, when he yelled, "The taco place!"

So, we went to Chunga's. He ordered the enchiladas with pork (al pastor), and I ordered the chicken quesadilla. (Nathaniel typing now, Dorothy got tired of it). Perhaps I (Nathaniel) should mention that Dorothy, as a rule, does not eat the pork (the 'unclean' meat). Well, after I took a bite of this pineapple-soaked, spit-roasted, pork enchilada, I made Dorothy take a bite. She loved it! Dorothy loved the unclean meat! Needless to say, I loved it too. Dorothy's chicken quesadilla also left absolutely nothing to be desired. Hands down, this is the best Mexican food in the Valley. The service was also exceptional. Though they don't refill your drinks (which means you don't have to tip:)), they do ask you how you're liking you're meal more than once. The people there are genuinely happy to be there--and you can tell that they're not just smiling because their managers taught them how to have a permasmile (like McDonald's).

So, to tie Dorothy's intro in to my ending, if you were to tell us that Cafe Rio has some decent food, we'd tell you to crawl out of your moldy cave of crappy Mexican food and try some real Mexican food. Nobody has anything on Chungas! We've now become the culinary equivalents of those kids who worshiped just one band in high school....and we're proud of it.

You've got to give this place a shot. The pork is incredible and if you're as lucky as us, they'll give you free-taco coupons when you leave.

Since neither Dorothy nor myself are professional reviewers, we'd like to point you to what the Daily Herald has to say about our new favorite restaurant. Just click here.

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I need some advice

So I watched this clip about a while back:



I thought it was hilarious, albeit awkward, and so I did something I never do: I e-mailed Sam the Cooking Guy. My e-mail stated:

Just saw you on that show with Kathy Lee. You are my favorite chef ever.
- Dorothy

A few days later, he e-mailed back! He said:

I get a lot of emails, but your brief and to the point one is now one of my favorites.
thanks for taking the time to write.

by the way, I'm back on the Today show tomorrow.

--
Sam
www.thecookingguy.com

I thought it was so cool! I shared it with Nathaniel, who also thought it pretty cool. I mean, Sam the cooking guy is no Britney Spears, but who wants an e-mail from Britney Spears anyway? I watched the next clip where Sam apologizes to Kathy Lee and Hooda, laughed, and didn't think about it anymore...

Until I got this e-mail:

I came across this old email from you while looking for something else - but it still is cool, I had to write and thank you.
so thank you.

--
Sam
www.thecookingguy.com

I at first wondered if it was creepy, but I decided no, it's not creepy. It's just nice. But how do I be nice back? Just say thank you? Does he want a pen-pal? Should I say, hey, I'm an eight-month pregnant law student at BYU who enjoys cooking as a hobby? Tell me about yourself? Kinda awkward cause he has a wikipedia entry. Maybe I could tell him I'm preparing to be a mother and need some advice on making baby food? Or I could just not respond.

What do you think?

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Cheesy post

On Sunday, Nathaniel and I drove to Farmington twice (yep, twice). On the way there and back, we listened to some talks by Elder Maxwell. They were amazing, naturally. In one of them, he said something about not wasting effort criticizing, or something like that. There were lots of really great things that he said, all of which I planned on implementing in my life, but most of them I messed up on Monday. Oh, well, I'm going to keep trying.

But I did do this: I am occasionally guilty of thinking bad things about people. I never used to do that and I really think it drags life down. So I decided that every time I thought something bad about someone, I had to think of five things that were good about them. I remember reading about doing that with a spouse in an Ensign article. I decided to store that trick away for a time when my inward complaints about my spouse were something more than, "Dang, he's putting his shirt back on," and "Why is he going to school when he could just skip it and hang out with me?" Yes, I am a very mature person.

When I got to school on Monday, I saw a girl and the first thought I had was something like, "annoying." Dang, now I had to think of five good things about her. I didn't want to. But I did anyway, and it wasn't hard. It made me feel guilty. She is super nice, she's smart, she has a cute haircut, and she works hard...and she's super nice! Okay, that's only four, but I don't really know her that well.

It was so interesting: when I saw her again later that day, my thoughts about her were positive. I wondered why I thought before that she was annoying.

I hope this doesn't sound too much like a sacrament meeting talk, but I think this is a really powerful principle. Maybe this is part of what the apostles mean when they say the Gospel of Jesus Christ will change the world. Imagine how the world would be if everybody thought positively about everybody else. Of course, you have to judge - the world is not all butterflies and chocolate covered cherries - but if we could just criticize what people do, with compassion and understanding, and not people themselves, the world would be awesome.

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About having a little one on the way

I am currently 23 weeks pregnant. I have a little girl growing inside me. When I was fourteen, I visited the home of my cousin, Jana. Jana is one of the coolest people on earth, and is also about fifteen years my senior. When I visited, she had three children ranging from about eight to four years. During my stay, I got my period. Not for the first time, but it was still new enough that I had not been introduced to the miracle that is the Advil gelcap. I was miserable and I whined about it like a fourteen year old girl would. Why, I asked my wise cousin, do I have to put up with this? Why don't men have to deal with this pain?

It all seemed so unjust. She told me that men, even though they have the priesthood and have more leadership roles in church and everything, can never experience carrying and giving birth to a child. Giving birth to a child truly was the better calling.

I thought that was a line of BS fed to women to make them feel better about having to put up with all the pain and misery.

But now, I believe her.

I am helping God create life. I can feel her inside me every day. She kicks. She grows. She tickles me. I can see her move.

I am so curious about her. I can't wait to see what color of eyelashes she has. I want to know whether or not she has the same triangular mouth I had as an infant. I wonder if she'll be a calm baby, like my older brother, or scream constantly, like me. I wonder when she'll take her first steps and what her favorite foods will be. I wonder what kind of stories she'll want read to her and which of the kids in nursery she would be most like.

I am excited to meet her, but scared. I am scared of something going wrong. I am scared of not knowing how to comfort her. I am scared of not being the mother she deserves. I am scared, sometimes, but the fear is nothing compared to the joy.

I am overwhelmed knowing that God, through Nathaniel and me, created life. I love Nathaniel so much. I could not imagine a better person to be the father of my child. Sometimes I can’t believe we did this together. But then I remember that it's real, and I am so happy we did.

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There's a reason why this house is taking a year and a half to sell

School's out, and Nathaniel is working at his house, so I decided I wanted to be frivolous and dream about when we grow up and can get a house (that we can actually live in; not one 1.5 hours away from where we live). A house caught my eye, but as soon as I enlarged the picture I went from curious to unimpressed. I scanned through some of the pictures, and this bathroom caught my eye. Do you notice anything strange about it?


Yes, there's the blue marble counter top. And the fact that this is billed as a master bathroom in a half million dollar house and it looks about as big as the bathroom I hove now (excluding the tub). But is it just me, or is anyone else creeped out by a picture of Jesus directly over the bathtub? The Lord can probably see me when I bathe, but I really don't want a constant reminder of that fact.

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Blogging

I hate blogging, I decided. I wanted to be all domestic and whatever, but it really sucks. If I have something interesting to write, most of the time I don't want the whole world seeing it. If I have cool pictures I want to post, I can't because Nathaniel puts all the pictures on his computer. And uploading them takes forever. Ugh. Maybe when I graduate...

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Vindicating Nathaniel

Re: post of Thursday, Oct. 9: As a matter of clarification, Nathaniel did not say anything mean to me. We had a discussion of universal health care and whether or not an individual has a right to health care. I decided no, we don't have a right to health care, because no one has an obligation to give it to me. A moral obligation, yes; a legal obligation, no.

My hormones got the best of me when I realized that meant that if I didn't have health insurance last year, and there was no way for me to get health care, I would have died. Luckily, Nathaniel was there to make it all better.

So you see? I have a very sweet husband.

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Today

So, today, lots of things happened.





1. Nathaniel got up early and woke me up.




2. I told him that his tie worked with his shirt.




3. I may have lied, I'm not sure.




4. I fell back asleep.




5. I woke up at 10:00.




6. I missed my class.




7. I read every blog I have ever heard of and more that I hadn't heard of.




8. I took a pill to stave of the morning sickness.




9. But you already knew that I'm pregnant, right? That I'm 10 weeks along, due May 16th?




10. I thought so.

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Mischievery

To me, this picture totally says, "Aw, look how sweet." Nathaniel was comforting me when I was upset about something he said having to do with me and Chron's disease. But at the same time, he was taking a picture of it. Clearly not focused 100% on me. Well, maybe he was - it did make me laugh, which is what I needed at the moment. And really, he is so sweet.

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I love my mom

A couple weeks ago, my mom called me and told me that she had just gotten out of jail. I hadn't gotten this sort of call in years. I asked her what happened, and she told me she took two ambien, went to sleep, and woke up in jail. Today, mom went to her hearing where the police who put her in jail told the judge exactly what happened.

The police, hanging out in front of the station, were alerted to my mother's presence when they heard a loud crashing noise at five second intervals. My mother, in her huge boat of a car, was driving on the SIDEWALK across the street from the station, hitting the big cement flower pots as she went.

Let's hope she can keep her license.

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Why I wish my knees were good enough to go running

I’d like to create a little word picture for the five people who read this blog. Picture me a class at 24 Hour Fitness, wearing a t-shirt and spandex shorts, bending over slightly, and attempting to mimic what the instructor has demonstrated. I’m holding a three-pound weight in each hand, trying to smoothly move them forward and back in a motion that is painfully similar to what I used to ignorantly do when seventh-grade perverts would ask me to try get my elbows to touch each other behind my back. My face is red and sweaty and my hair is sticking out in ways that would be impressive if only done intentionally. There is no denying it. I am a hot mess. But because everyone else in the room is a hot mess too, sweating like pigs and doing all sorts of ridiculous movements in pursuit of better bodies, I’m okay with that. I’m okay with it, that is, until the instructor, in an unfathomable attempt to get us more motivated, cries out into her little headset microphone: “Think about what you’re doing!”

Hmm, you want me to think about what I’m doing. What am I doing? I’m taking time out of my day (spending precious gas) to go to a place where I, along with ten others, will follow the instructions of somebody I don’t know. In front of all other members of the class as well as people looking in the ginormous window facing the parking lot, I squat down, jump, and turn directions, twenty times, trying to go as high as I can. I put a jump rope down on the floor and jump over it on one foot. I take some heavy things in my hands and lift up my arms in a Y shape while looking at myself in the mirror. I lie down on the floor and attempt to push my body up with my hands. All this makes me curse out in the instructor (in my head, but that doesn’t make it much better) and look like crap. And I’m paying money for it. I know what I’m doing. I’m acting insane.

In case any gym instructor ever stumbles on this blog, listen up: don’t let people think about what they’re really doing. Biking in place? That makes no sense. Punching at nothing while bouncing up and down? Are you serious? Lifting several pounds, only to put them right back down and lift them again? How did I convince myself that I needed to do this? If you need to motivate them, tell your students that their bodies will love them for working out. Tell them that they need to think about their muscles and flex them. Tell them that working out is incredibly useful because they’ll be in good shape for when they need to flee when the Basque army takes over. As long as you’re telling them what to think, you’re fine. Just don’t ever ask them to think for themselves. It inevitably leads to disaster.

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Fire! Fire!

We were having a barbecue, and Berkeley had the most amazing idea: build a fire! There is a little nook-ish corner of the yard near his parking lot, which made the perfect place. So Berk mowed:



Grant dug:


And a fire pit was born!

We roasted marshmallows, made s'mores, and told stories that can't be repeated here. It was a blast. Annie did get kind of confused about the purpose of the roasting sticks. She figured it out, but not before Nathaniel caught this picture:

More pictures:






I highly recommend others do the same.

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Hawaii

Believe or not, Nathaniel and I went to Hawaii. Unfortunately, that moment in our lives will be poorly recorded for two reasons. The first is that neither of us wanted to take pictures. I think there was a total of ten. Here are a few of them:






The second reason is that I have a difficult time blogging. Luckily, Nathaniel immortalized my frustration:



Anyway, we had an amazing time there. Nathaniel's aunt and uncle teach at BYU Hawaii, so we stayed at their house. Their two daughters were kind enough to give us their beds. Also, didn't want to pay an extra 200 hundred dollars for the under-age fee for the rental car, so we just took the bus, which was great! We plan on making Hawaii a regular event. So maybe next time I'll get some better pictures.

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Nathaniel has a hobby

Nathaniel plays soccer. A lot. Behold his awesomeness.

Warming up:

Awkward, yet impressive, pose:



Playin' Ball:

Arguing about the outcome of the game:


Just kidding, he's happy. See?

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Dorothy's favorite fashion junk:

Site name remains anonymous due to profanity:

B'Fun

A Scene From the Life of Beyonce:

(I suggest clicking on the picture to enlarge it)

BEYONCE: So what are you saying?

BEYONCE'S CONCERNED STAFF MEMBER: Those pants were in your dressing room for a reason.

BEYONCE: Pants?

BCSM: We TALKED about how you weren't going to wear hot pants any more. Remember?

BEYONCE: I would never have agreed to that. I'm the president of the American branch of the International Society for the Promotion of Short Shorts.

BCSM: I don't even think that exists.

BEYONCE: I can forward you the newsletter.

BCSM: Can you please just go change into something that doesn't make you look like you forgot to wear bottoms?

BEYONCE: I just don't think that's ever going to happen.

The fun girls are the best. If you want to know where this comes from, email Dorothy.

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Blue Bunny freaking rocks

Have you ever complained about a product before? I never had before a few weeks ago. My dad and mom are so anti complaining. But when I opened my blue bunny heath ice cream bar, I was pretty disappointed. The bar was basically devoid of toffee bits. Everyone (i.e., Rachel Williams), said I should write the company and complain, so I did. A week later, I received a letter in the mail:

Dear Ms. Ward,

Thank you for your Internet message concerning a recent purchase of the BLUE BUNNY Heath Ice Cream Bar, which you described as not containing many toffee bits in the chocolate.

Wow, they actually read my complaint.

I would like to reassure you that Wells' Dairy, Inc. is a responsible food manufacturer and we enforce strict quality control procedures so we can offer premium quality products to our customers.

Good thing they told me that. I was beginning to think Wells' Dairy was an irresponsible food manufacturer.

However, your description suggests that this particular bar may have been at the beginning of the production line run and the ingredient feeder was not fully operational, or may have jammed up, thus preventing the appropriate amount of ingredients from being added to the chocolate.

Ah ha, I see!

Therefore, we will discuss this incident at our weekly supervisors meeting and with the individual production personnel to reinforce the importance of monitoring this manufacturing step and maintaining our high quality standards.

You're going to discuss the toffee bit problem at the weekly supervisor's meeting AND with the individual production personnel? Are you going to line them up and wave my complaint in front of them and yell about the importance of toffee?

Ms. Ward, we appreciate you informing us of this incident so a recurrence can be prevented...I have enclosed a coupon, redeemable for a BLUE BUNNY product, to reimburse you for your purchase of this product, and any inconvenience that this may have caused you.

Good, cause those missing toffee bits were a big inconvenience!

Sincerely,

And then "Jackie" actually signed her name.

While I definitely didn't take the incident as seriously as Jackie took it(and likely her fellow supervisors and those poor individual production personnel), my husband and I did appreciate the free ice cream. Blue Bunny is pretty cool.

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Pop Quiz

Nathaniel and Dorothy

What is his name? Nathaniel George Ward
What is your name? Dorothy Allison Hatch Ward (Freak, what a name)
How long have you been married? Something like six months.
How long did you date? Um, four months, approximately.
How old is he? He's 24, today!
Who eats more? He does, but not by a lot.
Who said I love you first? Nathaniel totally pulled one on me and made me say it first. He asked what my definition of love is and then asked me if I could say that about him. What was I supposed to say? But I did love him then. That was a great night.
Who is taller? Nathaniel by five whole inches.
Who can sing better? That's close. We're both pretty good at singing hymns in church, and that's it.
Who does the laundry? Nathaniel.
Who pays the bills? Nathaniel, unless it's a hospital bill. Then my dad pays it.
Who sleeps on their right side? We both sleep on all sides.
Who mows the lawn? Well, we rent, so we don't know yet. However, I have never mowed a lawn in my life and I intend to keep it that way.
Who cooks dinner? If dinner is actually cooked, it's never Nathaniel's doing.
Who drives? Nathaniel. But I've been driving more lately.
Who is more stubborn? I think one of the things that attracted us to each other is how we both love a good debate and we love to argue with each other. So we're both stubborn, and we like it that way.
Who kissed who first? He totally kissed me first. I didn't mean to let him.
Who asked who out first? He asked me out first. I didn't know his name at that point.
Who proposed? Hard to say. Of course Nathaniel did the asking in the official proposal (at which point we already had the temple reserved), and he's the one who brought up marriage first, but I was the one who wanted to get married at the end of August. That was the middle of August, and we weren't engaged yet.
Who has more friends? Nathaniel. He has lived in the same place all his life, practically, so he still has his elementary school friends.
Who is more sensitive? Nathaniel says me. I don't know.
Who has more siblings? I always thought I had a lot of siblings until I met Nathaniel. There are nine kids in his family, and six in mine. So he wins.
Who wears the pants? Nathaniel. He's always laying the smackdown.

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