Ode to Brandon.....

so recently we celebrated my dear hubby's 27th birthday... Happy Belated Shoutout Sugar!! so this post is in honor of that very handsome man:

he has been very diligently working on his metal sculptures/art and has been a very busy boy. Here are his latest creations that I would like to brag about.
theyre bookends that he made out of steel and driftwood (from our trip to Oregon the beginning of this year) the detail on them is quite amazing and overall, im pretty impressed. the grain on the driftwood actually wasn't stained, he used an oxysetaline torch to burn and raise the grain... pretty amazing, pretty creative.

In other B news, his much larger piece was accepted into the Springville Art Museum and it has been there on display for the last month. So of course we had to take a trip to the SMOA to see it proudly displayed......
Liz and I had already dont a lap around the exhibit and has scoped out B's art in advance. This is his first time walking into the room, if you look closely you can see a side view of his hanging on the right hand side almost straight infront of him... He hadn't noticed it yet in the picture above..


As far as baby goes, he totally surprised me last night by doing probably the funniest but super sentimental/sweet thing ever. So he asked me to bring him home some headphones, not earbuds but the oldschool pancake headphones that were so major in the late 90's, early 00's... He quickly disassembled them as started sewing them into this cloth strip that was about 9 inches long and 1 inch wide. I seriously had no clie what he was doing. so he finishes up and askes me to guess what I think it is.... im still thinking headphones go by the ears, so maybe an eye mask with built in earphones?? nope, waaaay wrong. So he brought me into the living room to demonstrate by plugging in my ipod and i was already sitting down. He laughed at me again and said I had to be laying down for this.... He had made a little sling/wrap that drapes over my tummy so the baby can hear music better! I was SOOOO surprised! I was so happy and touched by his creativness and thought he had put into it. His only restriction? No lady gaga allowed for the baby which also made me bust out laughing again. He's now currently devising a plan so I can wear it during the day as I move at work when the baby will sleep the most.. What a funny man.

Thats my funny little baby story for the day, 1 month to go till we find out if its a girl or boy!! I can't wait..

XOXO,
Imelda & fam

Galactic Domination, the Golden year...

Happy Belated Birthday Liz! I have been really bad with posting and with pictures... Liz has spent the last few weekends with us and in an attempt to not be so boring for her, we busted out with Star Wars Risk.
Lets just say that B ALWAYS kick my butt and i was maybe a little sick of it so Liz and I made a pact to just take him down and then she could kill my hutts off. (Brandon was the Empire, Liz the rebel alliance and I was the Hutts as in Jabba the Hutt). Needless to say, Liz wiped the galaxy clean and Brandon was not a happy camper with our "strategy". Oops.... :( here are some pics from that silly fun and maybe not so fair night:


Elizabeth's Rebels are the yellow and Orange Men... like I said she cleared the board.

Yes that is a Hutt/booger shoved up my nose and I am wearing 3D glasses that we found 5 minutes before... random? YES.

best deal

i just had to throw this one up super quick. Mini version of the ugle doll. google it. I love them. any ways its a dog toy for Bobo complete with squeaker. Heres the best part: $0.97 at Walmart!! Love it!

XOXO,

Imelda

We're Having A Baby!!!

There, its official internet world, after weeks of only having family know, we are bringing a little one into the world! Today I had my first prenatal visit...and everything is great.Tomorrow we will be 11 weeks along, not too shabby considering we're a quarter of the way there. I was so sad that B could not be there for this but I was able to hear the little one's heartbeat!!! It was so cool and really surreal to be like "wow, thats coming from inside of me and its totally somebody else!!!" All in all being my first visit, it was pretty standard and just a lots of tests and questions etc. I did get vaccinated against the H1N1 though so Im pretty happy about that.

I know we haven't updated many since we first found out we were pregnant (which was back in the first days of October) but honestly there hasn't been that much to update about. I have had virtually no "morning sickness" except for this last Monday and let me tell you, it blew. I am so grateful I haven't been sick (knock on wood). I dont know if i could handle it, its way too draining. I have been sick with little colds which is aggrevating enough. I had one for a week almost right after we found out that we were expecting and I caught another on two days ago. But now that Im this far along the doctor has ok'd Sudafed which is a dream!!! yay for decongestants!! Now hopefully B and I can get some sleep, I keep him up at night with getting up to use the bathroom at all hours of the night and snoring (poor man, I guess I wasn't very pretty last night). Its almost like life is normal as ever.... except for being bloated all the time and having a mild for of heartburn 24/7. eh, such is life I guess. and I am NOT complaining!

I forgot to mention that we are doing all of this through a Midwife clinic. Its part of a gorgeous new hospital so everything is fabulous AND I get to spend alot more time during my visits asking questions and its so comfortable. I did originally want to look into seriously doing a water birth but they're not allowed in Utah hospitals, but with the midwives I still have a ton more options on how I want to go about things. Its funny I always imagined Midwives to have a Dr. Quinn type look to them etc. Nope. The gal I met with was so young and hip it was so NOT intimidating. Love it. Im pretty pumped I wont lie.

Some days I get freaked out thinking "Holy cow, Im going to be someone's mom soon" but Ill do my best for the baby so Im not too worried....yet. For those not seeing me on a daily/weekly basis, I dont believe Im showing yet... Liz thinks otherwise but I think Im always just gassy when I see her hahah. I'll try to keep everyone updated as other appointments come along but no big news other that the fact that we're prego!! Haha can you tell I can't get over it yet?

Ugh, I could keep gushing all day but I feel like Im so scatter brained on what Im talking about that no one will be able to read it and follow my train of thought. Ill save more for another day. Oh I almost forgot to post answers to the most common questions that people have been asking me:

1. No,I really don't have a preference as to what we have. I can only imagine a little girl because coming from a family of all girls (including the new niece) thats the only image my brain can compute. It doesnt have the creativity of imagining a boy because I've never been around a baby boy. I know it sounds strange but Ill be pumped either way!!

2. No we haven't seriously thought about names yet either, Feel free to email suggestions but dont be offended if we dont name he/she Grizzly Adams, or whatever you guys pick. We won't find out what we're having till mid-January to the first week in Feb.

3. Im due aprox June 25th. Seeing as my sisters baby came 2 weeks early but was 9 lbs and I myself was 10 days late (and also just as heavy) that gives us about a month to play with. So plan on sometime summer 2010. Hahah. I love it.

ok my wrist is getting irritated from resting on the edge of the laptop so Im going to cut myself off. Love you all and thanks for the support!

XOXO,

Imelda

Disclaimer: Full of excuses................... for NOT posting ; )

so it has been FOREVER since we've bothered to post anything at all. We decided to save some $ and go without internet for a while. I (emi) feeling cut off from the world, decided a world without the internet is pretty impossible and we gave in. So yes, that is an official excuse for not having posted. In other news, we've moved again and as a result had to give away our precious little Hugo who we loved sooo much :( at the time we were told that cats were not allowed under any circumstances at our new apartment.So we found him a good home with a co-worker from Lexus. Later we discovered that our "smoking man" neighbor is the equivalent to a cat lady and probably owns about 6... figures. Oh well. Among other HUGE highlights.. We were sealed in the Jordan River Temple in August!!! Finally! Pics to follow I promise! B's Grampy was awesome enough to come out and do that for us.
I will post more pics of that fab"vacation" ( I use quotation to not be sarcastic but it felt like a vacation except everyone came to us instead!) when i find them/have time to edit and upload them all.
Lets see what else is new? I left Lexus mid August to return to the notorious Charlotte Russe. This was strictly a financial decision that I hope will lighten the load for B with school etc. He is still at Lexus, running their roadside assistance program/ Delivery experience program. I do miss it there but the pay helps with not having to stress. I should mention that i returned as an assistant manager instead of the previous job as store manager but the stress is a night and day difference and we can't be greedy with needing the extra $ when being assistant pays you less stress and still a decent wage. I am totally NOT complaining!!
We love the ward we're in and B has a great calling as 2nd Councellor in the Elders Quorum. Its a mixed ward with lots of newly weds so its nice to have people our age that are going through similar trials like school, $ etc.

Ok, so thats going to be my disclaimer/hasty update post to bring everyone up to date.

XOXO,
Imelda

P.S. I wanted to share that B and I are an aunt and uncle! My sister had Mirene in early Novemember and we are sooo pumped to meet the little munchkin. She is adorable! (I didnt forget Yuka, I just wanted to have a separate little blurb for the little one!)

Waaaay overdue for a Vacay.....

So B and I have been in desparate need of a vacation.... we decided we were going to visit his mom who recently moved to Oregon (a place I had only driven thru for a few minutes). She is getting married this summer and we wanted to give our "stamp of approval". So we left for Oregon last friday with only a few speed bumps. It was quite the adventurous day I promise. So 14 hours and 3 States later we were in the greener than green state of Oregon and

I will not lie, I was in love!

Our Trip to Oregon, click here to see more photos!

So I've included lots of pictures of our fabulous but very wet trip (it rained almost everyday we were there and trust me they weren't spinkles either!). All in all it was a very fun trip, the road was very long and I was grateful to say I was (GASP!) happy to be back in SLC.

I never thought I would say that.

So to recap our little adventure:

1. Ken is a way nice guy, shy but nice. We're super happy for Sharon and hope everything will be as amazing and fun and we all dream it to be!

2. Grammy and Grampy are really fun. They are totally different in the comfort of their own home and I love it! I am so glad that I was able to get to know them better!

3. Oregon is a beautiful place, it kind of reminds me of home but I cannot live in a super rural place, UT has spoiled me too much. It'd have to be really close to a city, like 5 minutes close.

4. There's no place like home. Especially with my babies!! (even if that place is UT!)

Thanks for the love, shelter and friendships we enjoyed on our trip!

XOXO,

Imelda Grim

Blood, Sweat, not quite Tears...

So last weekend B and I both had Saturday off. We decided to make it our project for the weekend to finally get our food storage (FS) up and running. We have been stockpiling for quite a while and with alot of help from his mom Sharon we have a pretty impressive FS for just 2 of us. We still are renting (and it feels like we will for the rest of our lives but thats ok...) and there never has been much room for a dedicated area for just FS. Well we overhauled our office and all of B's tools (there's alot!) got organized, consolidated and in the middle of it Hugo found himself a new bed...
Yes that is a spare tool bag.... what a weirdo lol. Well we finally got our project off the ground, literally. He came up with a really awesome design that is really easy to relocate when we move with minimal damage to the apt.

So knowing that there is never a dull day at our house, we were installing it when the drill made a terrible noise like it had just hit a rock... turns out it wasn't a rock, just B's thumb. He grabbed it so fast and I of course started to freak. It was gushing blood because it was his thumb and it turned out it was a huge gaping hole that was pretty much ripped off. The gross but kinda cool thing was that once this was all over and we were ready to re-tackle the shelves, B picked up his drill and it was totally all fleshy around the bit. Like I said, totally gross but way cool. Disgusting I know...

Either way we got our project done and I have to say I'm pretty impressed. For our fam and friends that are wondering where in the world we can fit such a project, here are our results:

Ta da!! He is pretty much amazing and also super handy!! Yay, I'm so happy to finally get this done and over with. Another fun and amazing adventure with the Grims'.

Imelda Grim

Bows for Bobo

So I was feeling crafty the other day and decided to make Bobo some adorable little hair bows. Lets just say they didn't last very long. We first attempted to attach them to little elastics but they didn't hold very well. So then we moved onto bobby pins. The logic behind it was with her curly little cues would hold the pins in a little longer and not pull on her hair as much. Ya freaking right. they lasted a whole 5 seconds longer than the elastics did. She was so adorable but sooo angry at me. She would shake and shake until they went flying across the room.

Hugo on the other hand thought it was the funniest thing and loved playing with them. Figures.

What a freaking screwball. O well, we love our little devil to pieces.

I hope you all are well wherever you are...

Imelda Grim

Goin to the big T...

So Brandon and I have made it one of our major goals in 2009 to make it to the Temple and be sealed. Now for those who know us well, at the date of this post we've been married for 2.5 yrs... not too bad but definitely overdue for a visit. As we've been preparing to go, a few interesting things have happend along the way:

We went on a date 2 weeks ago to Temple square, I thought it would be romantic to stroll around on a really beautiful night. Well we never quite got there on Friday so we tried again on Saturday. There were a million and two excuses I had not to go: it was cold, we left the house late, i forgot my coat, no change for the meter maid, etc. Well we only have enough loose change for 1 hour... not very much time but oh well. So we walk in.. (I still didn't have a jacket on and the sun just went down, brrrr) and there are 2 sets of sister missionaries just waiting for someone to talk to. GGGrrreeaat, I think, here goes the night. But B, always the sweet spirited guy started chatting it up with them and next thing you know we're taking a tour. It's kind of interesting to take a tour of a place you drive by all the time.. you kind of end up taking it for granted. So the Sisters took us all over and it ended up being one of the most fun and spiritual tours I've ever had the luxury of experiencing. Having our goal in mind changed my perspective so much! I used to be soo rebellious, thinking being "churchy" was so uncool. Funny how stuff works out. At the very end we were asked by the misisonaries to share our testimony, not my thing at all! but of course I got to and I am so glad that I did. I feel that they not only helped me but I was able to repay them as well. Pretty freaking cool. It was just the little things that just fell into place for me that night and I am so grateful.

ok so "churchy" thing part II:

B and I volunteered at the new Draper Temple's open house this last weekend. It was so nice to take a day off of work and give service. We (being the tech-y 20 something's that we are) were assigned the AV dept. Pretty much it consists of pressing play at the chapels so that people can watch the video on what Temples are. The church has arranged for handicapp accomodations to be made to have the video played at the Temple to make it easier for those in need. Anywho, it was such a great time and I am so glad that B and I were able to do it together as a family.

I've been sitting on this post for a while so Im sorry if they seen a little overdue but better late than never right?

XoXo,

Imelda

Ta Da! The Grims' have arrived!

Hello World! I always think it is best to start everything with a smile, even a laugh. If Bobo could laugh it would be pretty ridiculous so we'll just have to settle with her little grin.

Now when I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING: school, relationships, work, new friendships... everyone lowers their guard just a little bit when they are greeted with a smile : )

Take Brandon and I; our very first time really hanging out together was so giggly and obnoxious but ridiculously fun. It probably was absolutely retarded to a stranger looking past but who cares right? Now this is not to say that if you put a smile on it will magically make the world pink with daisies. By all means, please NO!! but it definitely changes your inner attitude if you just consciously remind yourself to make a real effort to S-M-I-L-E. People love to be around someone who is always pleasant with not a lot of bad things to say. There's just always a place and time for everything, you know?

Remember we are always our toughest critic.

That being said here are some of my new years' resolutions:

1. Really focus on school and grades instead of just shrugging it off...
2. Make more of an effort to prepare for my little 9yr old Valiant's in Primary.
3. Keep a cleaner house. (no wise-cracks allowed!)
4. Be more physically active, I was going to say the usual "lose 10 pounds" but that's too depressing sometimes.
5. Make it to the big T with B this summer.
6. Train Bobo to not be so naughty....not like she's bad because she's not but I want her to listen... sit, stay, that kind of thing.
7. smile more.

I guess I could keep going but that's a pretty hefty list so far so I'll save some for 2010...

So that's where I'll leave it for now but if you haven't written down really realistic goals for this year, I say at least make that promise to yourself. Goals are what keeps us moving forward in life. They help us grow (sometimes in ways we never intended to but growing none the less).

Here is my challenge to you (Ewa, Liz, etc): Start a blog, It doesn't have to be public although it's sooooo much more fun that way but do it for yourself. Its an amazing channel for personal reflection and insight. B and I will be trading off when it comes to post so it's a family project.

We love you all, how ever far away you are,

Imelda Grim