Random tid bits

My friend Jill had this tag on her blog, and I thought it was hilarious. What you do is answer the questions and type the answer into "google images." Whatever image pops up; you add to your answer...

My name is: MILLI My middle name is: JONESMy last name is: Charles My favorite vacation spot: LAKE POWELL
How old am I? 25
Where I'd like to go some day: THAILAND
Where I grew up: DRAPER, UT (what a random shot)

Favorite food: THAI FOOD

Favorite treat: BROWNIES WITH ICE CREAM Where I live right now: RIVERSIDE, MO (Wow, is it really this pretty?)

Favorite animal: HORSE Favorite color: Orange
I'm married to: Travis
Describe hubby: Sweet

What do (did) I do for work? Nutritionist

Whoever wants to do this... do it, its fun. I had to edit one picture because it was morbid, so I chose the second option.

Also, a couple of weeks ago Travis and I went to a birthing class at a hospital. Instead of taking a weekly class, we just wanted to go for one day straight; so it was a 4 hour class! We pretty much just learned about labor and delivery and what to expect. There was also a segment on breathing. They showed us some breathing techniques and had us practice. Well, right before I was going to start practicing, Travis conveniently passed some gas. It made it really tough to get through the breathing part. Especially when we both started laughing hard. I think the nurses were kind of bugged at us, but seriously they didn't have to smell it! It might not be so funny during the real deal Trav, so seriously get it out of your system now!

Best parents ever... we got a certificate of completion!

And here are more belly shots. Not too many weeks left.

34 Weeks (I wasn't ready for the pic, so the face shot's a little weird, ps, those are all my shoes)

35 weeks

36 Weeks

Next item is Travis's business... since it is a new month, he started a new rotation. He is doing internal med for October. So far, his hours have rocked again. He leaves at 8:30 and is usually home by 2! He basically goes around and does health histories on patients and checks their vital signs to prep for the doc to come in. He will also help with procedures and stuff like that. On his first day he caught someone with a heart murmur after the Doctor had missed it. He rocks! He comes home with interesting/pretty gross stories sometimes. I think this rotation might motivate him to take better care of himself. Lots of old, obese, diabetic and unhappy people!

Lastly, I had to mention my trip to the Kansas City zoo. I've been here for over two years and have never been. I wasn't working one Monday and my friends in the neighborhood were taking their kids and invited me. Needless to say, I was the 9th wheel, but I had a lot of fun. The first exhibit we came across was the otters. You may think they are cute, but they are vicious. Apparently 5 minutes before we got there, a wild duck flew in their cage. Bad idea wild duck... when we got there; one otter was eating the head of the duck, with its bill hanging out of the otter's mouth. The other otter was eating the body of the duck. There were feathers everywhere! It was one bloody massacre.

If you look closely you will see the bill of the duck.

The last exhibit we went to was the birds (I forgot the species, but they were birds!) You could actually go in the cage and play with them. There was this old "bird man" who would give you sugar water so the birds would land on you. I came to realize that I didn't enjoy this much. Their claws were dang sharp, and they were aggressive. One bird actually bit me and drew blood. The bird man refused to believe that it could be his sweet bird's fault so he said that I must have been "moving a lot." Does it look like I'm moving a lot in this picture?

Bird man was out of his mind. He had names for all the birds and would practically kiss them on the beaks! He may have a disease or two!

Here is the cute group I went with... thanks for the invite! Hopefully next zoo trip I will have a kid to offer!

Happy Birthday to You!

Travis had a birthday yesterday. He turned 31 (whoa)! He has a couple really cute gray hairs starting to come in on the sides of his head. I point these out a lot to him. He isn't a fan of them but I personally can't wait till he has salt and pepper hair. I think it looks so good on men.

For example:

See what I mean...

Anyway, for Trav's birthday we went and had dinner at Gojo's Japanese steak house. It was pretty excellent food.

Then we went back to our crib and had a bunch of neighbors over for ice cream and cake.

Deep Down, I think that I wish I had a 4 year old, because I continue to make Trav cakes that would be for that age... I made a BYU football cake with the help of Brandi of course... she is my mentor!

I honestly thought I could put 31 candles on a cake, but after about 5 I suddenly realized (after burning myself and waxing the cake) that this was impossible and so he only had 5 lit candles.

I'm sure his wish will come true this year!

I know people always give Trav a hard time about his age, but personally I like it. He is older and wiser and mature... Love you Trav.

6-4-1-9-4

When was the last time you set foot in a high school? For me, I think it was May 2001, the day I graduated. I haven't really had a reason to go to one. I don't have siblings that play sports so I never really had the need to go back to my old stomping grounds. That was until this week. Unfortunately I still haven't been back to my good ole' alumni Alta high school, but I did go to a high school near where I live and not as just a passerby, but an actual teacher. I got a job this week subbing high school PE.

Niki, I know you are a high school PE teacher so no offense, but this was the easiest job alive! I'm sure she puts way more effort into the job than some teachers, but seriously, all you have to do is take roll, have them stretch (which you don't even have to do, you have a student lead), go have them run around the track for 15 minutes then think of a game for them to play, such a ultimate frisbee. You may have to blow your whistle a couple of times and maybe tell some kids to run instead of walk, but other than that the job is very simple. You get to wear comfy clothes, you get to go outside and have fresh air and if you are feeling inferior you do have a whistle you can blow at any given time. Also, the school has a block schedule, so they have only 4 long periods per day, and one of those every day is a prep period. So I only had to work 3 out of 4 classes. Seriously, not a bad break!

Its also funny to observe the kids. I was trying to think of what kid I would compare to. There were the "cool" kids; they were the one's that wore the latest Nike apparel and would run together in a huge group on the track. Of course there were the "jocks", which kind of mixed with the "cool" crowd. There were the "punks" who try everything in their power to look like anything but normal. There were the "loners" who try to act invisible and try to avoid any sort of conversation. Then there were the "suck-ups" who try to be your best friend as a teacher, I was definitely not one of those!

I did get tired of people trying to take advantage of the sub. In the beginning, I would listen to all sorts of reasons why they needed to use the hall pass, or why they couldn't participate in gym. Near the end, I turned into a hard "A" and didn't take any excuse. In a way, I think I learned a little about parenting. You have to be strong in your decisions and not let any excuse change your mind.

Some peculiar things I noticed in the school as I was aimlessly walking around during my hour in a half prep period:

1) Baby diaper changers in the student bathrooms. Um.... why do they need those? Am I being naive?

2) The lunch room had the worst possible diet you could think of. I looked in the vending machines and there was not one healthy thing. Even in the drink machines, they didn't sell diet and the drinks were 20 oz.

3) Another bathroom observation. The tampon and pad dispensers machines are still just 25 cents. I would think since the economy is hurting and inflation, they would have raised those prices!

4) Some kids had some major BO issues in gym. Man some of them stink!

It was a fun experience going back to high school. It brought back tons of memories of being back. I look back and I feel good about my role. I had good friends, I played sports, I got decent grades, but I also lived it up. Remember that one night we found old bagels in the dumpster and went to the Juice Tree (the cool hang out in high school) and chucked bagels at people? Or when we dragged State and ran into some boys and they thought we were cute and so they pulled over and Meagan (the cute cheerleader) walked up to their car and started acting like a dinosaur? Good times had by all of us!

Analyze this

Move over McDreamy and McSteamy...

There's a new one in town...

That is correct. Travis has started his clinical rotations. He is finally out of the classroom and participating on all the hands on action. They rotate every month to a different specialty. His first one is psychology. I was afraid that after a hard days work he would come home and stare at me and just analyze me, but so far he's normal still. And check this out, his hours are usually from about 8:30 to 1:30. Then he comes home and we play. Not a bad deal. I guess I shouldn't get too used to it because there are really crappy rotations like surgery or OB that are crazy hours.
As for me, like I said last blog, I have officially quit my job. I know its a little early for maternity leave but since we moved North, the commute was pretty dang long. Kind of a lame excuse, but commuting when you are fat and prego are not too fun. I however, am a certified substitute teacher. Just haven't gotten called yet... I'm still waiting! So for now, I am a house wife. I clean, I cook new recipes, I hang out with the other mom's in the neighborhood, I do the bills, etc. That my friends, is a full time job in itself! I'm getting excited and anxious for Spud to get here. I"m running out of room and my poor ribs are paying for it. Only about 6 more weeks or so to go!

Can't Stay Away

It seems like this summer, with weddings and other family events, we just haven't been able to stay away from Utah. Well, we went again! For two weeks! And I quit my job! So we were free as birds.

The first part of the trip we had the annual Charles reunion. This year, Travis was in charge of the planning. For being the procrastinator that he is; he did a pretty decent job... minus a couple kinks here and there.

We found a spot on the Park City Mountain and had a picnic, then rode down the alpine slide

Every year we have a doubles tennis tourny. Trav and I were the reigning champs from last year and we totally lost this year. If our marriage were to ever end; sports would be the reason. We were at each other's throats by the end of the matches. We hate to lose... we will get you next year Tracie and Mike!

After the tournament, we were on our way to Smith and Morehouse camp ground Northeast of Park City. We stayed for two nights and ate, talked, sang, rode dirt bikes (sorry about your accident Wes), went on jogs and walks, hiked, squatted in the woods in the middle of the night (darn fetus), played with the kids and had a good time!

After our reunion, we got to hang out with Sid and Tam. You will notice a theme with this blog... and it is mountains! Can you tell we live in the flat state? We miss the beautiful mountains.

First, we went on a cool hike up Big Cottonwood Canyon near Brighton ski resort- I love how in Utah you only have to drive 20 minutes to get to amazing places like this

Then we decided to go on a weekend getaway to Bryce Canyon. We took the Rhino and went on some trails and ran into some cows who wouldn't move their fat butts... we waited for forever! . We also went hiking in Bryce Canyon.

It was really pretty and fun. I think the older my parents get the weirder they become... but ya gotta love them!

I'd say overall the trip was a success. Of course I never feel like I get to see all the people I wanted to. We had fun with our family and friends. We loved watching the Olympics, I still am in an Post-Olympic-Partum depression.

Its nice to be back... I promise we won't be back for awhile because we are grown ups and can handle living far away OK so BACK OFF!