As you wish....

Get ready for a long post -

Last Friday Ben and I decided that we were tired of just sitting in the house every evening, and to start off the holiday weekend right we were going to do something fun, a date night if you will. We decided to go to "As You Wish" it's a fun pottery painting place where you pick what you want to paint (plate, jewlry box, mug, princess statues, etc...) and you put on an undercoating with whatever design you like then they glaze it and fire it for you. It's awesome, made me feel like I was in early morning art class again from back in the elementary school days ;)

Anyway, Ben had been there before on a date several years ago and made a mug that he uses to drink from for every meal. While we were there I decided that I wanted a mug too (not the same 'cause I want it to make tea and hot cocoa in, so a little smaller than his). Anyway....while we were there learning about the process we found out that the mug that Ben has loved for so many years had a poisonous paint on it that was extremely high in lead content!!! So, sad to say his beloved mug has been trying to poison him all these years. So, it came time that Ben had to make a new mug. Here it is:




For my mug I wanted to do a Jackson Pollock tribute, so I thought of one of my favorite paintings of his and duplicated it in my own way. Here is his painting, it's called "Lavender Mist":



And here is my mug:





Of course it's not really the same, but I wanted to get the key concept in there. Oohhh, I just love my mug!!! I finished mine relatively quickly, and Ben said he still had a ways to go, so I decided to do another small item. It's a ring holder, 'cause I always take off my wedding ring when I wash my hands, so I thought this would be perfect!



This bottom part is all spedeckled with a crazy fun coat called "patriot". That made Ben like it :)




Okay.....and here's for all of you who have been asking for those belly pictures....
I know I don't look super happy in them, but that's 'cause whenever we take pictures of me I always look like I have a chubby face, or just look different from real life...yuck...I hate 'em. So, Ben tried his best, but yeah....
Here's what we got:





That's it for now. I'll update after I get to Utah! Yeah for Utah, I've been missing it a lot lately. Well, mostly just my family and friends...okay and the mountains too. Sorry but Arizona's just too flat for me. ;)

~Crystal

Pregnancy peculiarities...is that a word?

I've stopped counting weeks. I had to get one of those countdown widgets for my blog just to figure out how many weeks I am now. I guess it's come to the point where I just get through each day one at a time...but I do still care about my clothes and makeup, so I guess I'm not too far gone yet ;)
The weird thing lately has been that when I lay down I get this shooting pain in the right side of my butt, like a deep pain way in there, and it shoots down my leg. Sometimes when I get up it's like I can hardly walk on that leg, or it'll just give out. It doesn't last long, but terribly inconvenient. I told the doctor and he said it was normal, and of course there was nothing they could do about it. Well, I figured that. That's why i don't usually bring up many things at my doc's appointments, the pain doesn't bother me much, just that it's inconvenient, and they usually want to put me on something or tell me there's nothing to be done about it, so I think, if I can bear it then I just won't mention it.
Two things about my legs: 1. my calves are way bigger than before, they're muscle-y, but they're just much bigger, and 2. my dainty ankles are gone, not quite kankles yet, but they're definitely not so pretty as they used to be.

As for baby girl, she's moving around quite a lot these days. Sometimes she moves so much, or just that she's so strong that my belly will start moving when she gives a good kick, or does a big spin, or whatever gymnastic moves she's trying out that day.

Tonight we had some friends over for dinner (2 other couples). It's so fun getting together with them. I love having people over, maybe it's the Mexican side of me, or the Taylor side. I guess I get it from both sides. We just love hosting people and having get togethers :)
Ben made Kahlua Pork for dinner, and I made rice, then we had macaroni salad for a side, and Bethany brought a salad, then Laura had the most delicious ice cream/cake/treat dessert. So delicious! Then we chatted and played a game, it was great! One of the best parts was that in preparation for the great dinner, yesterday we cleaned tons of the apartment (which was really needed), and I feel great about it now. There's still lots of stuff to go through before the move (end of June), but at least we got a great start. :)

Tomorrow I'm off to buy a maternity swimsuit. I've been researching this item and have gone to look at several different stores, and many online stores, but I think I have come to the conclusion that I'm just going to have to buy a XL tankini to make it work. Well, see tomorrow how it goes, but so far I've had no luck. Why do they think that once we become pregnant we loose all style? Anyway, wish me luck, and let me know if you know of any good places to shop for a good suit.

This weekend I fly to Denver for my cousin Niquito's wedding to Missy. I'm soooo excited for them, congrats guys! Marriage is fantastic, I recommend it to everyone! I'm also excited 'cause my cousin Mica just got back from his mission and we're all going to be there for his homecoming talk too on the same weekend. After that I'll drive to Utah with my family from Denver and we'll of course have the time of our lives ;) Then that following weekend we'll have an Alvarez Reunion, first ever. I'm really thrilled about the great bonding time that we'll have out there camping together. And I'm especially excited to see the Brent, Michelle, Morgan, Savannah, Harley, and KC 'cause I haven't seen them in almost a year and a half!!! Pictures don't cut it, I need to see my babes! But it'll be awesome to see everyone there :)

Well, that's my update for now. I'll post something soon about Ben and I making "Wishful creations". Ta ta for now............

~Crystal