Loser Cleans the Bathroom

Well here we are at the end of another semester! I can’t believe how quickly time has flown by. Dave completed his last final this afternoon and is officially finished with school until next semester. I have a few more assignments to complete and turn in but nothing too major. I have to admit this has been the least stressful end of a semester that I’ve had in a couple of years. I quit working about a week ago so I had plenty of time to make sure that all of my work was done and my professors just happened to cancel or not have a final in their classes! Talk about luck!

Dave and I are thrilled to be on break from school! I have a few sewing projects I want to do before school starts back up as well as a few fun scrapbooking projects. Dave is still working and has increased his hours during the break but when he’s home we love to party! Our favorite pastime has become games of every variety- but particularly card games and board games. In fact, when it comes time for chores around the house, we decide who has to clean the bathroom by playing one of our favorite card games (Blink or Ligretto –I highly recommend you get them for your family game closet). Loser has to clean the bathroom! Lol

We are going to Star Valley and spending Christmas and New Years with Dave’s parents. We’re pretty excited to get out town and enjoy a fun and relaxing Holiday. Thanksgiving was spent in New Mexico with my parents and that was a blast. The car ride was our only worry and other than becoming familiar with every bathroom from Logan to Farmington, the drive went very well!

Unfortunately school starts back up Jan 10. Dave will be finishing his last semester of “classes” before starting his student teaching in the fall. He has worked extremely hard and has some of the best grades in the entire Special Education Program! I’m an awfully proud wife…. I will have finished my associate’s degree at Snow College at the end of the current semester, so next semester I start at Utah State University. I’m only taking 2 classes and they will be online to accommodate for the baby. I’ll also be applying to the Family Life Studies Bachelor’s Program for the fall semester. Lucky for me it’s geared completely toward online classes. I’m getting really excited to start classes specifically for an area that I’m really interested in.

The Baby: What a whirlwind adventure being pregnant is. Some days are wonderful and other days I’d prefer to hide under the covers in bed and wait for another day to come! Our baby girl is thriving, or at least she feels like she is! She is now able to punch my bladder and kick her feet into my ribs at the same time! Not always a welcome or pleasant feeling but at least I know she’s growing like she should be!! I’m officially 33 weeks along now (half way through the 8th month). Dave and I have decided to name our precious little girl Emilia Rebecca Cazier. She’s due Jan 28. It’s crazy to walk into what was once a spare bedroom/office, and now see a crib with blankets and quilts sitting across from the desk. Dave and I are extremely excited if still a little nervous about this new adventure. We’ve been attending a Lamaze class which is almost over and I’m not sure if the idea was to prepare me for labor or to terrify me. Either way, I feel it’s done both. Thank goodness for a husband who reminds me that my body WAS made to do this and that epidurals are a gift from the heavens. Lol.

All in all the pregnancy hasn’t been too bad. Recently the struggle is just getting comfortable. I have found a variety of places to put pillows other than just behind my back! I haven’t had much nausea or too many problems with swelling –thank goodness. As usual my frustration is food. I love it and I always want to be eating, but finding something that sounds really good to eat (and is still appetizing after I’ve seen it and smelled it) is not a fun process. The fact that I can only eat small portions due to the lack of space in my abdomen does not always leave me the happiest either. Once again, all I can say is that I have a wonderful husband who takes really really great care of me. I can’t wait to watch him with Emilia when she is born! She already knows his voice really well—he started singing the other day and it was as if she was trying to push her way out of me to get to him. I’d never felt her move that much and with that much force! What a wonderful experience. Needless to say, whether a surprise or not, we are excited to be parents and to meet our little girl!

I Do Not Know

God intended for women to be pregnant. If He didn't, then men would be. My "testimony" of this has been largely increased as of late as Emily has been going through the pregnancy roller-coaster.

Truth be known, Em has been doing great being pregnant. Honestly. She has been handling it like a champion and really doing quite well. But even with that being said, we cannot deny the fact that whenever a bunch of men gather together and one mentions that his wife is "pregnant", the others around them cannot help but shudder and give the man a look of sympathy.

It's the hormones.

The other night while out on our nightly stroll around Aggie Village, Em asked me what I thought when I first saw her on our wedding day. Breathing a sigh of relief, thinking this was an "easy-out" question, I replied honestly that while I was nervous for being in front of so many staring eyes, I was elated and couldn't wait to be hitched. I smiled happily over to her after saying this, expecting a smile back, but instead I received a sad look down.

Uh oh.

Suddenly I found myself stuttering like Porky Pig. "W-w-w-well it w-w-w-wasn't that I w-w-w-wanted to n-n-n-ot m-m-m-marry you, j-j-j-just that yo-yo-you're family was all there..." Then I continued to the blabbering stage: "I mean, I've always wanted to marry you and your family wasn't the problem. It was just intimidating having your dad sitting right behind you as we knelt at the alter... not that your dad is intimidating..."

Someone just hand me a shovel.

Then it started raining. Metaphorically, that is. Em began the pregnancy-tears (which, for any man-readers out there, is definitely double the magnitude of the "time-of-the-month" tears) and before I knew it, I was holding a pregnant woman who was saying things like "You didn't want to marry me!"

It was at that moment, standing on that sidewalk holding my wonderful wife and future mother of my children, that I realized how much I love her and, reaffirming, how little I know about her and handling pregnancy. My attempts to make her feel better and to clarify my explanation finally proved successful, but then the tears started up again. Confused as could be, I asked: "Em, are these happy tears or sad tears?"

Through sobs came the reply: "I don't know!"

There it is, the common answer give by pregnant women all over the world: I don't know. I'd like to second that statement. I have no idea, and most likely never will.

Anniversary Surprises and Wonderful Nieces!

Dave and I celebrated our 1st anniversary with a bang! We went Jackson Hole for a day or two and found that we are pregnant! We have a baby due February 2, 2011. We are almost 9 weeks along. We are very very excited even if this was an unplanned event! As far as the pregnancy goes, the baby has been fairly kind to me. Morning Sickness is very very mild and hasn't been much of a problem. My hormones are absolutely crazy and Dave either deals with my tears or my orneriness. We've already had an ultrasound and heard the baby's heart beat which was absolutely amazing!

We also have thoroughly enjoyed the past week after having stolen our niece! Karisma has been up to play and we have had a great time with her! We've been to the temple, zoo, Bear Lake, baked cookies, played in the park, and done tons of other things! We have had such a wonderful time with her.

Well that's the latest update on us...just enjoying the summer and working hard!

Wow. It has been forever since I wrote anything on our blog. I'll just give a quick run down on the things that have happened this semester. So as layoffs started at work, it wasn't long before the entire department I worked for was shut down. A few fellow employees were transferred to other departments and the rest of us were laid off. It was a very trying time for me as I found myself without work. I didn't realize how much my job had begun to mean to me. It was what got me out of bed at a reasonable time and helped me be productive and useful. The change I experienced without my job was extremely difficult. Without my job, it felt like I had lost all motivation to do anything. Thank goodness it didn't last too long. Shortly after losing my job, applied for a position with Qwest in their customer service department. Dave and I were both pretty excited for this position. The benefits were going to be awesome (full medical insurance, pay was better, overtime encouraged, retirement fund, and they also would pay for my tuition for a few part-time classes). Not long after applying for the job at Qwest my old employers called me and wanted to re-hire me for a new position in the company. Qwest weren't going to be looking at application for another 3 weeks and I was going stir crazy at home so we decided to go ahead and take the position with Impact. About two weeks after I started with Impact again, Qwest called for an interview. The funny thing is that although Dave and I had been really excited and very hopeful about this job, neither of us had very good feelings about the interview. We prayed about it and surprisingly enough the next day after work, I stopped for a minute to ask my boss about some time off when my mom came up to visit, and before leaving my boss asked me to switch to another department which would be so much more enjoyable and a step up from where I was. It was the answer we needed to know that I was supposed to be at Impact. That's the wrap on work right now!

School is a very a different story however. As always I've procrastinated to the max and the next two weeks will probably the worst of my life. However, if I can make it past these next two weeks, I will graduate with my associates degree from Snow College. I still need to go and see an adviser at Utah State University to discuss classes for the fall semester but I'm thinking I need to be sure that I pass all of my classes so that I will be able to transfer to Utah State. Down to the Wire!!!

Family is great. Dave is a little worried at how baby hungry I've been but the good news I'm only baby hungry for all my friends babies. It's pretty crazy...the majority of people I see and talk to are pregnant now due in a month or two. Other than that, Dave and I are doing great. Next month we will be celebrating our first wedding anniversary. It's amazing that Dave hasn't mailed me back to my dad with a "Return To Sender" stamp across my forehead. I remember Dave sweeping me off my feet a month after our wedding when he told me that he thought that he had reached the peak of how much he could love anyone when he married me. Then he told me that he was wrong. His love for me increases everyday. I'll always remember that because it is exactly how I feel about him. We are celebrating our first anniversary and we've loved every minute of our life together!

My mom and sister had the chance to come up and see us and we had an absolute blast together! Loved having the girl time with them!!!!! We didn't have to do anything really fancy...we just loved talking and shopping together! It felt wonderful to spend the time together. Rachel, Rob, Dave, and I also traveled to New Mexico for Mom's birthday. Dad had called us way in advance and arranged for us to come down and surprise her. We had a wonderful time at home with everyone. Nick and his family are still as wonderful and fun as ever, and the time with everyone was perfect.

Dave and I also got to spend time with his parents over conference weekend. During the priesthood session of conference (which Dave and his dad went to), Mama Beth and I were able to enjoy plenty of shopping together and a wonderful dinner at the Cracker Barrel. We had such a good time together! Nothing like spending time with family for the perfect weekend.

Dave and I are currently ward missionaries in the ward. I have absolutely loved this calling. It's been neat to be a part of the ward. At first I struggled being in the ward because it changed every week -its a student ward where most people miss a lot of church as they visit family. Now being a ward missionary gives me the opportunity to enjoy being around people I don't very well and to step out of my comfort zone to make a new friend. Dave and I are quickly learning that although we'd really like to, we just can't have friends over every night of the week for dinner. We try to limit it to only 3 times a week but sometimes even that doesn't work. We thoroughly enjoy spending time with the friends we have here.

Well...I have work that will be calling my name long before I'm ready for it so I'm going to hit the hay. Love you all!

Sleep At the Cazier Residence: the Sleepless Slumber

There is a lot of change that a man must go through after he gets married. Weight gain, hair loss, chick flicks, feminine hygiene products in his bathroom, having to report of his whereabouts, emotions... these are all side-effects of that amazing promise and vow that thousands of couples make with each other each year. The most significant one, for me at least, has been getting used to sleeping in the same bed as another person.

I admit I was given a rude awakening to this change on the very first night after Em and I got married. I was sleeping soundly, grateful to have embarked on the next great stage of my life and dreaming about the eternity before me, when I was awakened by a sharp and nauseating feeling; Em's knee had quickly jerked (a result of her having one of those dreams where you're falling and one of your body parts moves) and collided with my... uh... lower abdominal region. Startled awake, I realized what had happened, and with anger I was about to shout when I looked over at my peacefully-sleeping wife, who--just like one of those Disney princess pictures--was innocently sound asleep, completely unaware of the chaos she had caused.

I rolled over, sighed painfully, and grasped reality: this is going to be a loooong eternity.

The next morning, I told Emily of the domestic violence that occurrd the night before, and after accepting her apology I said, "Ya know, it's a good thing I'm going into special education. The way you knee, our kids might have some disabilities."

Ok, so truth be known, it isn't really me that takes the abuse of having to sleep with another person. To face the facts, it's my poor dear wife that has the short-end of the deal. The other night, I awoke at around 2:30 AM standing in the closet. I heard this voice calling to me over and over: "Dave... Dave... what are you doing over there?"

You know that feeling of when you know you know you are losing cool and all that you can do is desperately claw at keeping your dignity? As Em called to me, I realized that I was indeed sleepwalking but for some unknown reason, I didn't want Em to know this. So, as smoothly as even possible, I replied: "I just... gotta see if they match... my shirt and pants..." I trailed off.

Yeah... she's sure to believe that one. After obeying Em's call for me to return to bed, I rolled over and went back to... or continued rather... my sleep. Needless to say, the next morning Em was all over the previous night's experience like white on rice. "You were soooo funny!" Em giggled over and over. "I don't know what you're talkin' about," I lied grumpily.

To make it worse for my dear wife, this definitely wasn't my first sleepwalk/sleeptalk experience nor shall it be my last. Besides attempting to teach an amazing lesson to a class of 251 students in my sleep, I have also searched for several random unidentified items under the bed, played a killer round of racquetball, and even attempted to romance Em.

Sleep at the Cazier residence is only sleepless slumber.

"They Smell Fear"

"You ever watch 'The Dog Whisperer?" Spencer Holmgren, the third-grade teacher who I do my level-II teaching with asked me one day. "No," I replied, admitting I didn't catch too much TV these days. "Well, it's about this man who disciplines dogs," Mr. Holmgren continued. "Kids are just like the dogs on his show. They need discipline, love, and respect. Most importantly, you need to remember one thing: they smell fear."

So much for a pep-talk. For my special education class for level II, I have been required to go into an elementary school this semester. While I admit I wasn't too excited that I had to go into an ELED class (since I'm aiming to be in secondary education), I was more than a little excited to go to Woodruff Elementary School to observe and take part in one of the third grade classrooms there. It's been a great experience, and learning one too. Especially when Mr. Holmgren couldn't make it back to the classroom and it was just me staring into the faces of 24 eight and nine-year-olds. One word sums up the feelings in my heart: fear.

I was in a near-fatal car accident in high school, I've spoken live on the radio with just seconds of warning beforehand, declared the Lord's truthfulness into the blazing eyes of Norway's largest city's State Church Minister, and avoided the swing of a gang of druggies high on their addictions... yet never before have I truly felt such fear as I did staring into these clear 24-pair of eyes. I licked my lips and swallowed hard. I knew they knew it. I knew they could smell it.

Almost before I had a chance to say "Let's work on some assignments," chatters started, slowly at first, then evolved into a roar. Students soon started to migrate from their chairs to various parts of the room. Little girls' pigtails twisted into devil-horns, and those "cute" little boys' smiles cracked into mischievous grins.

I started sweating bullets.

I admit I like being the nice guy. It's hard to be the "mean jerk." But, watching this classroom suddenly transform into a warzone, I realized I needed to crossover to the dark side: I needed to be the teacher.

Demands blurted out from my mouth, surprising even myself, as I declared that the whole class would lose ten of their "victory points" if they don't sit in their seats in the "ready position." Maybe it was because I was the Lion in the "Wizard of Oz" my senior year of high school, but my acting has really taken off. I'm not sure if they just thought I was unpredictable or if they really thought I was a serious force to be reckoned with; either way, my fear was hidden.

Just forty more years of this fear-hiding and I'll have it set.

Back to the Gosh Dang Grinding Wheel....School

Well, I figured that it's about time that I write a post on this thing! I have so much to talk about that I'm going to give you headings on each different thing.
I think I'm going to start this off by telling about a wonderful school vacation!

The Salt Lake City Temple:
For Christmas, Dave and I were in New Mexico. On the way down, we decided to spend a night in Salt Lake. This was going to be our Christmas present from "Santa". On the drive down to Salt Lake, while debating where we would eat and what we would do, we had the novel idea to actually attend a session at the Salt Lake Temple rather than just walk around outside it. Somehow this had never occurred to me, as such a thing had never been an option until now. We quickly changed and went to the temple. A more wonderful evening I cannot have imagined. After finishing a beautiful session, Dave and I were asked to help with some sealings. A woman had a neighbor who was unable to leave her home due to her health but had names from her family that needed to have the work done for them. We were only too happy to participate as we didn't have any set plans to keep us from it. There were only three people in the sealing room (excluding the necessary priesthood authority), Dave, myself, and the woman who had brought the names. We were very excited to learn that the names were Swedish (Dave's ancestry is Swedish and he served his mission in Norway). It was even more amazing to hear the names pronounced perfectly by the sealer as he had served his mission in Sweden. The other two gentleman in the room had also served missions in the Scandinavian Area. It was incredible to know only a few people filled the room and yet, to realize that room felt crowded. It was an absolutely amazing experience and we could not have had a more enjoyable evening together.

Christmas with The Taylor Family:
Christmas was an absolute blast! Nick, Heather and the Girls were in Pennsylvania (visiting Heather's family) until around 10pm Christmas Night so they missed out on the tubing in Durango but it was definitely one of the highlights of the Holidays. We also enjoyed watching Rob model fake high heels and a dress while playing Guesstures (girls against guys). Christmas morning was a delight as usual! We were all thrilled when Nick, Heather, and The Girls returned home. We learned a lot from Riley while being there, such as how much I like sleeping through the night! LOL! Anyways we had a great time with the family and had a great First Christmas Together!

New Years with The Cazier Family:
New Years was as much of a joy as Christmas! Again games were wonderful, food was delicious and family was wonderful! I have to admit the highlight on this one were the illegal fireworks Erick set off at New Years (in Idaho) and Mama Beth seeing the flashing lights of a cop car outside the window! Thank goodness the officer didn't decide to stop in and chat with us! It was great fun watching the nieces and nephews and being able to talk to with everyone. Another highlight of this family time was the baptism of Konner Steven Cutts! It was an absolutely wonderful experience to watch him. I learned so much from watching the faith of this 8yr old boy. I loved spending the time with all of the family!

A New Semester:
Now we've started a new semester and coming with that is plenty of change. My work schedule changed so that Dave and I can both get where we need to go with the car. He'll be starting his practicum in the schools and taking classes so I work 8-4 so that he can drop me off and pick me up and he'll still be able to get to his classes and work. I'm taking 14 credit hours this semester and will hopefully graduate from Snow after this semester with my Associates in General Education. From there I supposed I'll have to figure out what kind of career I want to settle into so I can get my Bachelor's. Dave is taking 14 credits as well and is excited for the practicum this semester.

Life Today:
I've had a few very interesting things happen lately. Lay-offs at work. This started my week and to say it was stressful would be an understatement. Thank heavens, I was not laid off nor will I be in any of the forseeable future. It was something completely unexpected for everyone at work and it was really hard to watch my friends lose their jobs but it was a learning experience for me. The Lord definitely watches out for us everyday. Dave and I have also been doing great together.

I had a really great thing hit me today while Dave and I sat reading the Ensign with Dave. I realized that the times when I've felt the closest to Dave and really enjoyed life, is when we are doing something spiritual together, such as our time when we read the ensign and attend the temple together. It's wonderful!

Well anyways...we're doing great! Had a fantastic holiday and a wonderful time being married!