ITALIA

So this post is long over-due, but I couldn't get myself to take the time to write it until now. Back in June, Chris and I took an awesome trip to Italy to celebrate our five year anniversary! Now, usually we obviously wouldn't have the funds to support such a great trip, but back when we were building our house, we bought all of our supplies with our United Mileage Plus card and paid it off with our construction loan, which gave us enough miles for a free trip to Europe! So basically, we just stayed in hostels and cheap bed and breakfasts and ended up not spending very much on our trip, it was so great! So...we flew into Rome, and stayed there 3 nights at a really cool hostel/campground. Oh, and my brother Drew, was going to Marsielles, France (ironic, huh?) to do an internship a week after our trip was scheduled, so he ended up coming to Italy and taking the trip with us, and it was really fun to have him along. So anyway, Rome...we hit the Colesseum of course, one of the top world sites on my list...which brings up the question everyone asked us...why Italy? I studied Humanities in college and Italy had so many of the things I wanted to see...that's where I wanted to go most in Europe. So the Colesseum, the Pantheon, the Vatican, and the Sistine Chapel, the Trevi Fountain, and wow, some AMAZING food. We also made it to Venice and Florence...posts coming soon!

Shannon Garber Photography Giveaway

So I have a friend that is also an awesome photographer, she actually did all the photos for my maternity business, and did such a great job! She's actually only been doing photography professionally for a year, and I can't believe how talented she is in such a short amount of time! The great news is, to celebrate her one year anniversary, she's giving away a FREE photography session (family, child, senior, engagement, bridals) + a 16x20 mounted print of your choice! Visit her blog to enter the giveaway at www.shanzphotoblog.blogspot.com. She's located in Farmington, Utah.

Lots of NEWS!

So I haven't posted anything for a good 2 months, and with good reason! I've been so busy, and sick, and busy! We are expecting our second baby; I'm about 14 weeks along, and I've been really sick. And I remember now why it's so easy for me to gain like 50 billion pounds when I'm pregnant...I get this crazy need for Domino's breadsticks or something else totally fatty and full of carbs, and HAVE to eat it...basically if I go for the healthier apple and protein bar, I dry heave all the way through it, and sometimes it comes back up. And being the anti-puker that I am...I'd rather go through serious physical pain than be nausiated, I could never be a successful bullemic, I go for the breadsticks...and this happens oh, about every hour, the need for this crappy food that I would hardly EVER eat otherwise. I tell you KFC never sounded so good! And I can't even tell you the last time I had KFC, probably like 10 years ago. So...500 pounds later...I'm just hoping it ends soon...anyway, and ironically, for the past few months I've been working on starting an online maternity clothing business. When I was pregnant with Marsae I had a hard time finding trendy maternity clothes that were affordable too. The tops that I actually liked were between $60-$100 bucks!! I don't know who those guys think they are over there at "Pea in the Pod", for why they think they can charge that much...so anyway, I decided that other Moms probably felt the same way and I wanted to make cute clothes that people could afford. So...my site is up and running finally! The web address is www.milanmaternity.com, so you'll have to check it out and tell me what you think! There's a link to the site on the side of the blog...And, for those of you fellow bloggers, I would LOVE your help in getting the word spread! So...in the next week, if anyone posts a little something about my site and/or clothing on their blog, and lets me know, just leave a comment with your blog address, I'll enter you into a drawing for a gift card to your choice of Olive Garden or Applebees! And...if you're a facebooker, if become a fan of Milan Maternity's facebook page by Friday this week, you'll be entered into another drawing for another gift card. SO if you do both, you'll double the chance of winning! I would love to hear what you guys think!

Play time

I just had to stick in this video of our funny girl...my parents gave her this princess castle tent for Christmas and she loves to go and play in it...and sometimes give it a good clean out. It's so funny to watch her, you just see her hand throwing it all out to the right of the tent...that seems a good spot for everything.

Healthy Lifestyle Motivation

Hey guys! So I joined a blog a while ago to help those of us with healthy goals...like weight loss, exercise, cutting back on the sweets, or whatever, and we're starting a new 6 week contest and the winner gets a cash prize as well as a new MODBE swim top. If any of you are interested in some needed motivation to achieve your goals, let me know and we can get you in on the fun.

Here are the official details:
(1) $10 entrance fee per person, which will be collected by the winner (or divided in a tie).
(2) We start on, Monday 3/30/09, and end 6 weeks later on .
(3) You can earn up to 8 points per day.
(4) You have two free points a week to be used at your discretion.
(5) You keep track of your own weight once a week on the same day (no penalty for gaining weight), but you get 2 points for every pound you lose or BMI point you go down.

ACTIVITY (Worth 1 point each)
30 min. Workout
No soda (even diet)
No sweets
Daily vitamin
48 oz. of water
No eating within 2 hrs. of bed
7 hours of sleep
5 servings fruits/veggies

So keep in mind that even if weight loss isn't your goal, you earn points by doing these healthy habits...but for those of us that follow this, weight loss is sure to go hand in hand!

Shenzhen Market

I had to add this one...The next day we went to a market in Shenzhen and found some great stuff! This is Chris's favorite, we had no idea that President Obama has his own Nike shoes! :) I also found this great shop with little decor boxes like you'd find at Pier One or other stores like that. But instead of being like $25 a box, they were only $3! I love shopping in China!

CHINA!

So Chris and I just took a short little trip to Shenzhen, China last week to check out a potential business opportunity...who knows if it will work out or not, but if it does, I'll be sure to let you all know! Anyway, we were only there for four days, but we able to fit in a few things besides meeting with businesses. The night we got there we went to dinner with some friends that I made the first time I was in China like six years ago! Rita and Doreen were teachers at the same school that I taught at in central China, and are now working in southern China. Doreen lives in Shenzhen and Rita works in a city near by, so it was so great to meet up with them!
We took a little bicycle taxi ride to the subway station, and Chris wanted to catch a little of it on video...
The next day we took the afternoon and travelled over to Hong Kong, Shenzhen is right on the boarder of mainland China and Hong Kong, so it didn't take to long to get there using the subway. It was kind of a bummer trip though, because right when we got there, I stepped in some really good and fresh dog poo, and pretty much there's no grass anywhere in big cities like that, and I wasn't about to go down some dark alley looking for a hose or something, and didn't have anywhere to wash it off. Plus it was super caked on and reaked something nasty, so we set out to buy me some new shoes. But I definately wasn't going to make a hasty purchase and buy shoes that I was never going to wear anymore, so we finally found some cute Sketchers and gave my boots to the sales rep in a plastic bag to take out to the trash. So ladies, if you need a new pair of shoes and your husband isn't keen on the idea of you getting new ones, just step in dog crap in a foreign place with no where to wash it off, and you'll get your new shoes in under an hour... So after that we finally got to go back to the restaraunt that we had been seated in 2 hours before but had to run out because of my great smelling boots. It was so nice to enjoy dinner without the smell of poop.