Our Christmas on Film

We had a wonderful Christmas! In fact, I've really been relishing this whole holiday season. To be honest, the past couple Christmases have been a little bit sad for me. I guess Christmas is a marker for me; every year I've thought to myself, I'll for sure be pregnant by next Christmas, and when I haven't been it's been a sad feeling. But this Christmas I decided to break the cycle. I decided I wasn't going to be sad, and my strategy has been to keep myself really busy-- and it's working! :) I have to take take 2 Spanish literature courses for my PhD, so I've been relearning Spanish and this has been taking up TONS of my time. I've also taught myself to crochet. (I'll post pictures of my projects later.)

This Christmas we went up to Salt Lake for a quick trip, which has become a tradition for us. Going to temple square and hanging out in downtown SLC just makes me feel Christmasy and reminds me of all the fun choir trips I took in high school. Here is a video of our quick trip with Skyler and Jamie. (It's way cute, but Shaye had to throw in some crude humor at the end [I shake my head]).



Another super fun, exciting event this Christmas is that Shaye and I helped my Mom buy an Audi for my Dad for Christmas. If you don't know my Dad well, he's a total car freak. He bought his A3 (a more conservative Audi) 4 years ago and he and my Mom made a pact that he would wait 8 years and then they would get him the Audi of his dreams. So it came as quite the shock to my Dad on Christmas Eve when my super frugal Mom surprised him with the Audi S4. This surprise seriously made our Christmas. We haggled with the car salesmen with my Mom, drove down to Vegas and picked it up with her, and kept it in our garage for a few days. This video below is the footage that Shaye captured of the big surprise. So much fun!



Well, I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and that you all have a Happy New Year!

Shaye's New Business

Hello Everyone! Sorry it's been so long since I've updated my blog! Time seems to be going by so quickly lately. Since I wrote last, things have been going quite well. I haven't talked about this much, but Shaye started his own business in August and they have been doing well and building up a good clientele. His business is called Call IQ; they are a telecommunications company and the gist of what they do is that they provide online business tools to company. They assign unique tracking numbers to phone numbers assigned to different marketing campaigns and assess what mediums are working best for companies. They also record all of their clients' calls so that they can assess how well their employees are handling incoming calls.

Since August we've learned that owning one's own business is definitely a very different experience from working for someone else. There is so much more responsibility, but so much more reward as well. I'm so proud of Shaye and impressed by his passion and dedication to what he's doing. (Plus, doesn't he look so handsome in his business suit above. :)) I'm excited to see Shaye continue in this great work he's in. I'm proud of you, babe!

If any of you want to read more about it, this is the company website: http://mycalliq.com

Ever Gain 100 lbs on Halloween?

Exhibit A

Me with a chocolate covered macaroon. Caught red handed!


Exhibit B

Kathleen Smith's, my sister-in-law Jamie's Mom's, house all decked out for Halloween. (Like the pillow in my back?)

Exhibit C

I spot a plate of brownies across the room. (No worries, we're drinking IBC Rootbeer, not booz!)

So how did this disastrous Halloween costume come about, you ask? We were invited to a super festive Halloween party for the second year in a row. Last year we were the LAMEST couple there. Shaye went as a mustache vampire ('nuff said). So this year I was determined to dress up cute. I asked my Mom if she had any costumes. She has all the Wizard of Oz costumes which she bought for Dixie's education department...but she only had a plus size Dorothy costume.

At first I thought, perfect, Shaye can go as Dorothy and I'll go as the scarecrow. However, Shaye gave me an ultimatum--I could go as "Full Figured Dorothy" to the party and he could go as the scarecrow, or we wouldn't go at all. (Who do you think wears the pants in this family?)

So I stuffed myself with two pillows and we ate tons of yummy food and had fun. I felt kind of bad dressing up as a full-figured Dorothy because I think plus-sized women are beautiful and not to be ridiculed. Even so, I couldn't help but feel self-conscious going back for seconds. Everyone kept saying "you look so cute!" but I'm pretty sure they really meant "it's so good of you to make a fool of yourself for our enjoyment." But I guess this is what Halloween is all about.

I'm More Than Halfway Through the Semester!

Life has been great lately, and I love checking in on all your blogs! My semester is going well. Since I'm well into my 2nd semester of my Ph.D., I'm really beginning to feel more at home on UNLV's campus and more accustomed to the drive. It's such a great opportunity that I have and I'm really trying to make the best of it.
Here's a picture of me with my primary reading for this semester. I'm having so much fun! Most of this stuff is so fun to read!

A Personal Victory

For the past year I've been working on my Ph.D. and I've been loving it! However, I've been waiting to formally apply to the program formally because some of my entry exams were not as high as they needed to be. This is fairly common at UNLV because several of the GRE (Graduate Record Exams) are pretty difficult to pass. UNLV allows students to take 12 credits before official admittance, which is what I've been doing.

UNLV has 2 test requirements: that their applicants score in the 75th percentile of higher in the GRE General Test and in the 50th percentile or higher for the GRE Literature subject test. I passed the GRE Literature test finally in March (Wahoo!); however, I barely missed the General test by scoring in the 74th percentile, basically 1 question too low.


I was bummed about this, but when I began applying a few months ago, UNLV told me that my General score was great. They said that the test company reported that I scored in the 95th percentile, not the 74th percentile I thought I had scored. I was super relieved at first, but then I got to thinking there must be something wrong with what UNLV was telling me.

So I had UNLV send me the scores, and low and behold, they were Amanda Scott from Loveland, Ohio's scores. Oh no! So then I was faced with a decision of whether or not to raise this to the UNLV's attention. I knew they would never be the wiser if I kept my mouth shut, but of course, I couldn't live with being dishonest about this score. So I told them this high score on the test (in the 95th percentile) was a different Amanda Scott's scores and they told me to hurry and retake the test.

The past two weeks I've been studying to retake this test. It is something that I would usually take a few months to study for, but because the deadline for my application is November 1, I had to act fast! I studied really hard and learned about 1200 new words. And I prayed that Heavenly Father would bless me for being honest. And boy did he ever, I took the test today and scored in the 97th percentile! Not only is this high enough to reach UNLV's requirement, but it is even higher than that other Amanda Scott's scores. I'm so relieved that my hard work has paid off and feel so blessed for Heavenly Father's help. Now I have my fingers crossed that I'm officially admitted in the next few months. Wish me luck! :)

Our New Puppy!

In mid-July we did a crazy, spontaneous thing. I was in the Utah Valley area visiting some of Shaye's family and we decided, totally spur of the moment, that we wanted a second dog! I called a breeder in Spanish Fork and we got little Max!

Isn't he adorable? He's been so fun because he's quite a bit sweeter than Mimi--though we really love Mimi, believe me. But Max is more silly and sweet, while Mimi is smarter and sassier. :) We love our sweet little guy! Now Mimi has a buddy to play with!

Welcome Baby Landon!

Congratulations to Skyler and Jamie on a beautiful new addition!! Little Landon Michael was born yesterday at 5:54 pm, weighing 7 lbs 11 ounces. Jamie and Landon are doing great!


Skyler called us just a few minutes after the baby was born and so we got to come and see the new arrival get his first bath and everything. I got to hold him about an hour after he was born. So special! I've never been in the delivery room so soon after a baby is born and was amazed at the peaceful feeling there. I'm so proud of Jamie. She is such a strong woman! I hope I can be as good as a mom as she is someday. In the meantime, it's so fun to be an aunt to all the little Scott cuties!

This Summer So Far

Stephanie Belle graduated from Dixie High. She is now going to hair school at Taylor Andrews. I'm so proud of her!

Shaye turned 26!

We've had plenty of long car rides with the windows down with this cheeky dog, our Mimi.

I went to girl's camp (just for one evening) with the darling Young Women in our ward. They're all so darling!

The AWESOME Maui Movie Shaye Made!

Maui Revealed from Shaye Scott on Vimeo.

Shaye made the coolest video of our trip to Maui. I think I'm licensed to brag on him a little bit here. He's been filming weddings as a side job and making short films just for the past few months and he's seriously so good at it! I love watching his movies over and over, especially this one. I hope you enjoy it!

P.S. You can click on the link below the movie to watch it in HD, which looks awesome!

MAUI!

We went to Maui for a week earlier in May and had the time of our LIVES!!! It was just Shaye and me on this beautiful, exotic island! If you haven't been to Maui before, I can't recommend it enough. I've been to Oahu, which I also loved, but Maui is my new favorite.

This is the lanai (or patio) attached to our hotel room. We had a spectacular oceanfront view and could always here the waves. There were sea turtles playing right on the beach. It was magical!

We went on this gorgeous 4 mile hike through the jungle, swatting mosquitoes the whole way. (I had 17 bug bites after this hike--I counted.) We hiked through this bamboo forest. It was crazy beautiful. Then at the end of the hike we ended up at the ginormous waterfall, (pictured below). It was an adventure!

I'm the tiny speck at the bottom. :)

At the Seven Sacred Pools in Haleakala National Park.

Sunset on the Road to Hana. Doesn't Shaye have mad skills with the camera?

This part of the island, Upcountry, was so mountainous and gorgeous, but didn't really look like Hawaii--maybe New Zealand or somewhere.

This is us on top of the Haleakala Crater. This is only 4 linear miles from the beach, but 10,034 above sea level! It was so peaceful and quiet up here and we could see Hawaii and Oahu from up here!

This is at a fun little restaurant we found on the beach in Lahaina. It was so yummy! I'm hooked on Poly food now!

Oh my goodness! Have you ever had Hawaiian shave ice? We heard about this place in Lahaina that had a PERFECT review history and decided to try it our first night--we went back every single night to try new flavors. This is not a snow cone, people! It has a texture similar to ice cream and all of the flavors taste EXACTLY like the real flavors. Amazing! Ululiani's Shave Ice is a MUST TRY if you're in Maui!

Sunset in Old Lahaina Town.

We had such a wonderful time! I feel so blessed to have so much time with my sweet, handsome husband!

The Road Less Traveled

A wise poet, Robert Frost, once wrote:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

I have thought about this poem a lot the past few weeks. In all truth, life is a journey in which sometimes we choose our path and sometimes our path is chosen for us.

Those of you who are close to me know how much I want to be a mom. At the end of March Shaye and I went on a total emotional roller coaster ride at the sheer joy of finding out I was pregnant and then the gut wrenching disappointment of losing the pregnancy within the week. Though I know early miscarriages are very common (some sources report that 50-60% of first pregnancies end in early miscarriage), it was quite difficult for me because we've been trying to conceive for so long. In some ways it is a huge blessing to know that I can get pregnant at all. Even so, my first thought when I found out I was miscarrying was, will it take us 3 more years to get pregnant again?

The bottom line is that I don't know what will happen, but I do know that God has led me down a path and He will continue to lead me. It is a path that I never thought I would go down-- a path full of graduate research conferences, faculty meetings, alone time with Shaye, and a fluffy little dog who makes a pretty good substitute for a baby... for now :)

I'm grateful for all that I have. And as brilliant as Robert Frost is, I think his poem neglects the most important part of the journey--our Master Guide and Savior. I know that I am not only taking the road less traveled, but I have a merciful Guide who knows all paths and will help me through.

Shaye's Newest Movie

For the past few weeks Shaye's been working on his new short film, "Not Found". At first he started out shooting random footage in the hills by our house with his friend Kyle Fisher. Then from there they tried to fit their strange shots and dialogue into a plot. This movie should give you all a good laugh and give you insight into Shaye's strange brand of humor. Let me know what you think!

Learning to Laugh

The other day I was reading my good friend Kenzee Anderson's blog and I came across this:

I really got to thinking about this and I wondered, am I laughing my way through life? Until about 3 years ago, laughing at my life's problems had not been a problem--not until we had a hard time getting pregnant. Admittedly, though I've had a lot of good laughs, I haven't had as many good laughs about this struggle as I should have...So I started looking for the humor...

I started to realize that one of the reasons I've had such a hard time with it is that I grew up with a lot of negative associations with infertile women. First impression--Sarai--she had to wait to conceive until she was 90 and had to watch Hagar have Ishmael in the meantime for her husband because she could not conceive. Not fun.

Then I thought of the movie Raising Arizona that I saw as a kid. In this movie, the woman finds out that she's infertile and then gets her husband to steal a baby for her so she can be happy again. Not exactly a stable image... (P.S. I'm making this movie sound like a horror flick, but it's actually a comedy.)
Even so, all joking aside, I've been blessed with Shaye, who is so good at making me laugh. I know that he cares about having a family just as much as I do, but he is always good at balancing me and helping me keep things into perspective. Just the other day I was feeling really weird because of a medication I'm on. I kept saying I felt weird and I was kind of moody and weepy. We were watching TV and Shaye was skipping through some commercials and all of the sudden this hospital commercial came on with a mom holding an infant and talking about the joys of motherhood and how you need a good hospital when you deliver. Shaye looked over at me hoping I hadn't seen it and then we both busted out laughing. I'm so lucky to have him.

Another example was the other night when we were at the table praying over our dinner. He said "please help us get pregnant with one baby when it is thy will." I had to laugh. Shaye knows that as we proceed further with treatments, our chances of multiples rises, (mostly the chance of twins...not sextuplets or Octomom style pregnancies)--which makes him a bit nervous, understandably. But I'm like--bring it on!


So until things work out, I'll continue to learn to laugh. We have so many things to be grateful for. If this is our trial for the moment, we're in pretty good shape. But I want to thank you, our friends and family, who've given us so much support. It's helped so much!

Read-A-Thon

Hi Everyone! I hope you're all doing well! I was just realizing something fun and kind of crazy that I wanted to share with you all. As many of you know, I'm a PhD student at UNLV (earning my degree in British and American Literature). This semester I am taking two classes, which is only part-time, and I have approximately 800 pages to read each week. That translates to 21 novels, and about 12,000 pages in all.

I guess when you're a grad student in Literature they want you to read a lot. Weird. :) It's a good thing I love it! I have to admit though, I do miss the Read-A-Thons in elementary school when I could wear my pajamas and read the Boxcar Children and eat Swedish Fish and M&Ms... No, grad school is much different than that!