Mormons are Nice

Its a known fact: Mormons are Nice.

I think its a basic requirement that if you are a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a large part of your being must be nice.

The ones in Camarillo California are especially nice.

Friends from my church threw me a beautiful baby shower for my first child. A ton of people came and were a lot more generous than they should have been. My friends and family threw me one in Utah and I was overly spoiled again. Let's not even get into how much my mom and dad spoiled me.....

So now I'm having my second baby boy and really don't need anything for him.

When my ward (Mormon churches are organized geographically into "wards") wanted to throw a combined baby shower for me and a few other pregnant girls, I was surprised. All four of us pregnant chicks have had other kids.

I grew up in Utah where girls typically have a baby shower for their first babies and that's all.
California is a little different.
Here, its pretty common to have baby showers/celebrations for every pregnancy.


I hate being the center of attention and felt kind of guilty having another baby shower when I didn't need anything. I was excited to go support my other pregnant friends, but I requested no gifts for me.

I showed up to the combined shower excited to celebrate all the babies and eat good food.

What I didn't expect was the pile of gifts waiting for me.

We have only been in this ward a little over a year, and I have some good friends but I don't know some of the ladies very well. But a ton of them showed up and were soooooooo generous with their gifts.
Everyone that came brought gifts for all four pregnant girls.

I left with a stomach full of good food and a garbage bag full of diapers, wipes, target gift cards, and other awesome baby stuff.

Ummmm, I'm lucky.

And like I said, Mormons are way too nice.

And I'm thankful :)

 

Baby #2's Peen

I had to drag myself to another hi-risk ob/gyn appointment. The only cool thing about these appointments is that you always get the creepy 3D ultrasounds.

I'm 30 weeks along so the baby is looking less like an brine shrimp and more like a human.

After these ultrasounds, I feel confident in saying that I am bound to be the proud mother of another mythical elf-baby.

Baby #2 looks exactly like Pee-toddler. Look at his nose:

After the initial ultrasound, the nurse printed out a bunch of pictures for us. Then the actual doctor came in to tell us everything looks good(!!!).

The Dr. is a middle aged Indian dude with a heavy accent. He immediately congratulated Jared on impregnating me with another boy. He turned on the ultrasound, found baby #2's peen, flipped on the 3D option, and shook Jared's hand.

After more back-patting, Dr. J printed out the 3D image for Jared to take home. No other pictures... just the one of the penis. For REALS.


The Indian culture obviously celebrates manhood seriously.

I was trying not to laugh as he gently handed the wiener picture over to my husband (which Jared received with delicate reverence):

 

 

 

Gross. This is going to be adorable in my scrapbook.

 

 

 

Butt Glitter

I feel so conflicted. I love glitter, but I also think it's the Devil.

 

I was at one of my favorite stores in the world, Paper Source, when I found a beautiful roll of silver glitter wrapping paper. I bought it... and it wasn't even on sale.

 

A few days later at the American Mecca of Walmart, I found a glittery blue roll for 1/2 the price. Of course I bought that too.

 

 

Getting ready to wrap some presents, I unfurled my glorious sparkle paper and the glitter instantly covered my entire body and the entire kitchen.

 

 

 

 

 

That's the problem with glitter. It gets everywhere. I later found it in my car, the bathtub, Ryan's fingernails, and in my hair. Weeks later I still found remnants in my suitcase and in my butt-crack.... it was a surprisingly festive reminder of the holiday season.

 

Finding glitter in all your crevices is the sacrifice that must be made.

 

But look how pretty it looked under the tree!!!

 

 

 

 

It was especially magical at night with the tree lights on.

 

 

 

 

Pee-Baby loved all the "parkles".  

So did my brother when his two sons opened their presents and coated him in glitter prettiness.

 

 

I'm guessing they all found some in their butt-cracks later.