Whitney and Jeff

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T08:29:00.001-08:00

Someone tried one last effort to impress Santa and slept last night, even after sleeping all day Christmas Eve.

I just couldn't wait to share

2011-12-22T21:08:00.000-08:00

Jeff's Grandma was soo kind she spent the last year smocking this gorgeous blessing gown for the next grand-baby that was a girl, which was our Evangeline.

We couldn't wait and Grammy put the bonnet on Evangeline. Let me just say, I thought it was beautiful before, but when we put it on her, it was seriously the most precious thing ever. But we have to leave some pictures for the actual blessing day right?

Check out these details!

I love the scalloped edges...
And to top it all off, Grandma Sally even sent it in a garment bag with the tiny edging done by Jeff's Great-Grandma Mac.

Evangeline is one lucky little girl.

The part I forgot to show...

2011-12-21T19:30:00.000-08:00

Little did we know at the time of this picture, this was only the beginning. It'd get soo much worse than this :(

I will be glad when one of my battle wounds will disappear.
Blech.

During the delivery they kept telling me not to push with my face. But I didn't listen. I'd close my eyes and push harder than I'd ever pushed before. Unfortunately, those doctors knew what they were talking about. I guess when you close yours eyes and push you end up looking like a Sith lord from Star Wars with blood-red eyes. I broke so many blood vessels in my eyes that the whites just turned red.

The picture above was after Evangeline's arrival, but it got so much worse. We didn't take a picture of it when the whites of my eyes completely disappeared. Bleh! I couldn't even look myself in the eyes in a mirror, so I'm sure it was no picnic for everyone else to have to look at me. But now a lot of the white part has returned, so at least I'm looking nice and festive for the holiday season. I just have candy cane eyes for now :)

My Favorite Christmas Gift Ever

2011-12-20T23:38:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday I was blessed to have the most wonderful experience of my life. After experiencing it on my own, I hope and pray more than ever that everyone gets to have this experience at some point in their lives.

Some days I just look at Jeff and say, "Can you believe that we did that?" He always laughs and says, "Well, you did it" but I still say it was a team or I guess you could say a family effort. I couldn't have done it without Jeffrey and I love my memories of him helping me through the whole process. I'd always heard people describe the birthing process as an intimate event between husband and wife, but I now know that is the perfect way to describe it.

On December 1st (Evangeline's due date), Jeffrey and I went to the doctor early that morning for my appointment. I was terrified that nothing would be happening because I didn't feel that different. I definitely felt signs of early labor, but I wasn't sure if it was wishful thinking or if I was actually feeling those labor symptoms. Luckily, the midwife checked me and was happy to report I was dilated to a two almost a three, and she could strip my membranes to help the process along since my cervix had opened. She told us she'd be shocked if the baby wasn't born sometime that weekend.

Once we were home, I was so excited that things were starting. I went on walks around our housing to help the process, was drinking tons of water, and tried to make sure I was standing up as much as possible working on things, despite my new early labor symptom of achy legs.

I was so confused about the "labor contractions" I'd be feeling and how they differed from the Braxton Hicks contractions I'd felt all through my last trimester, so when my Braxton Hicks became significantly more intense that afternoon, I really thought things would be happening soon. But they didn't...

I'd gone to visit our friend, Lisa, and after talking with her I was pretty sure my "contractions" were not labor contractions. They'd stopped suddenly at that point anyway and I was more confused than ever about what to expect and how things would feel. My body knew what was about to happen though and I told Jeff I was so tired at 8 o'clock. I'd never felt so tired and I really couldn't keep my eyes open. Fortunately, Jeffrey said we should just go to bed if I was that tired. I went to bed frustrated but kept telling myself that the midwife was probably right - it'd happen sometime that weekend.

I woke up around three and kept trying to go back to sleep but I started to get weird cramping under my abdomen. At 4:30 Jeff woke up to me breathing heavily and asked what was going on. After a minute I turned to him and said, "I think I just felt a REAL labor contraction." Jeff got super excited and gave me a hug and said it was happening. His big joke in our birthing class was that he'd give me a pep talk in labor telling me, "You're strong, you're bold, you're beautiful," which I'd always roll my eyes in response and tell him that's the last thing I'd want to hear in labor. To start off our labor experience, Jeffrey of course couldn't help himself and had to give me his "pep talk" followed by him cracking himself up :)

Then as the labor contractions continued to be painful and consistently 6-7 minutes apart, Jeffrey really thought this was it and we'd be in the hospital within a couple of hours just like in the movies. He started emailing professors saying he might not be able to make it to his two finals that day, and we were surprised when everything ended up being a lot less dramatic. Our story becomes more dramatic later, but it definitely was a lot longer process than expected. No grabbing bags in a frenzy. No water breaking. Nothing like in the movies.

I was practicing the breathing techniques we'd learned in our birthing class and I just kept laughing between contractions because when I'd told Jeff I was having a REAL contraction it reminded me of this episode in the show "Up All Night."

In the episode Christina Applegate is in labor and this cute doctor comes in. She freaks out and tells him he can't be her doctor. When the doctor seems confused, she continues to explain that he's way to cute to see what's about to happen to her and she tells him, "Because it's about get REAL in here, okay? It is about to get REAL in here." Her husband sees the doctor is still confused and he leans towards the doctor and says, "I think she's talking about the poop."

When I started laughing in between contractions, Jeff asked why I was laughing. I reminded him of the episode and I just remember laughing sooo hard with him for a long time that morning. Whenever things would get more intense later, we'd sometimes think of that episode to lighten up the situation :)

As nothing was really changing with my contractions, I told Jeff to go to take his final. I stayed at home and found things to do. I even tried to sleep for an hour but kept waking up during every contraction. Jeff came home disappointed but also relieved that nothing had happened. He didn't have to go back to take his other final for a couple more hours, so we decided we'd wait and see how things went before he went back to school. I started knitting to help get my mind off the painful contractions. I'd have to stop during a contraction, but in between I could knit. My contractions started becoming super irregular and drastically slowed down in comparison to the several consistent hours of contractions earlier that morning.

We occupied our time by taking pictures in between contractions.

I still love remembering this early laboring experience though because I was knitting in our recliner (since it rocks and they say rocking chairs help in the same way as birthing balls) and Jeff told me I had to sit on a towel in case my water broke. We both seriously laugh so hard when we think back to that because little did we know a tiny hand towel wouldn't have done anything to keep that chair clean if my water had broken at home. We were both so clueless...

Our baby girl was so considerate she waited to come and let her daddy finish both his finals on Friday :)

Jeff decided to do some puzzling (he was working on a huge jigsaw puzzle) to pass the time before we went to the birthing center later that night.

Later that evening my labor contractions stopped completely and over the next couple of hours I stopped feeling the baby move. I told Jeff and freaked out a little. We called the birthing center at UCSF and they told us to come in to be checked.

She really had stopped moving significantly, but her heart rate was normal. They said they would check me to see how much progress I'd made. At that point I kept saying to myself, "Please say I'm a four or a five. Please say a four or five..." The resident checked and said I was dilated to a 1. That's right a 1. Apparently I'd gone backwards even though I'd had painful contractions for sixteen hours.

I think Jeff could see how disappointed I was and he jumped in the conversation by saying, "Just to let you know, yesterday at our doctor's appointment the midwife said we were a 2 almost a 3." The resident explained it was subjective and we'd be able to continue laboring at home.

Going home I was so frustrated and felt like this baby would never come. Jeff's parents had already arrived that evening and they met us at our apartment. I felt so tired and tried to lay down while Jeff talked with his parents. I didn't get sleep though because as soon as I laid down the contractions became even stronger and more consistent (every ten or twelve minutes). I tried to read to distract myself but it only worked for so long. Jeff's parents left around midnight and by the time Jeff laid down to go to bed, my contractions changed drastically.

I didn't know it at the time but that was what they call "Active Labor." I told Jeff I couldn't handle laying down, so I left him to try to get some sleep in the bedroom while I moaned and groaned in the living room. I couldn't sit or lay, so I just stood and paced or got on all fours to try to deal with the contractions. The TV was on to try to distract me, but at that point nothing could distract me. When it'd almost been two hours, I was so exhausted since I hadn't slept and I tried to sit backwards in a chair and lay my head on a pillow to get rest between contractions. By this point the contractions were five minutes apart, which kind of concerned me but not enough to do something about it, obviously. I'd had early labor contractions get to be five minutes apart and then after a few hours they changed to ten minutes apart or just stopped.

Jeff got up after he'd tried to sleep and asked me how it was going. I told him these felt very different, and he realized I kept shaking after I'd have a contraction. I explained that I'd get really hot during a contraction and then get sooo cold after to the point of convulsions. He'd hug me until I warmed up and then let go because I'd start getting soo hot. That was the first time that I actually felt like I could get through these contractions. Jeff continued to help by telling me to lay down in bed during contractions, try to rest, and when it was 30 seconds before my next contraction (which were four minutes apart at this point), he'd tell me to get ready. I'd then get up on all fours and deal with the contraction. I actually felt a little rested from this, but Jeff realized my contractions had slowed down to 6-7 minutes apart from laying down. So...we got up. I'd use Jeff's shoulders to brace myself during the contractions and after doing this for about twenty minutes the contractions were 3 minutes apart, which actually did scare me.

I told Jeff we HAD to call the birthing center at UCSF. Jeff was hesitant to call because we'd just left the hospital late the night before and weren't even close to being ready to be admitted. He also said if I really wanted as little medical intervention as possible, it'd be best to just stay home and labor. I was okay with that for another twenty minutes, but then I got really scared because these contractions were so close together. Jeff called the labor and delivery nurses station and they talked with me but didn't seem very concerned. They said it was up to us and if we wanted to come in we could.

This made Jeff and I both nervous that we'd just be sent home again. We both decided to just take a long time to get ready to go. We called the center at 4:30a.m. and we didn't get to the hospital until 5:45a.m. During that time I tried to labor in a warm bath/shower but HATED it. That was not helpful. I felt so horrible that I didn't dry my hair or anything. Instead, I threw up a little and kept telling Jeff how nauseous I was feeling. Jeff just threw on some clothes and we almost decided to leave the hospital bags at home! We were just both so convinced we'd be sent home. When we were walking out the door, Jeff changed his mind and grabbed the bags.

After getting to the hospital, the same resident we'd seen the night before saw my face and said I looked like I was in A LOT of pain. She asked how long this had been going on and I told her since 12:45 that morning. I just remember her face looking shocked and her saying she knew we'd be admitted for sure, but she just wanted to check to know how far along I was exactly. The resident assured me that she'd hurry because I needed to be put on some sort of pain medication right away. After she checked me, the resident's face was once again priceless as she informed me I was a 7. She asked, "You did all of that laboring at home?" Jeff and I just looked at each other and said, "Well we thought no one was going to actually let us be checked into the hospital."

I told the resident that I didn't want any pain medication but I did want to use Nitrous Oxide. Jeff and I had been excited to have me try the Nitrous since only three hospitals in the US provide that as an option for patients (even though they hand it out like candy in Europe), and UCSF just so happens to be one of those three. They also thankfully gave me something for my nausea in my IV, which helped me just be able to focus on the pain. We were all set up in my room by 6am.

Relieved to be at the hospital and so happy to be on the nitrous for the next couple of hours.

The anesthesiologist came with the nitrous and basically told me that most people don't really like it because you still feel the pain, which I was already fully aware of that fact so he set everything up with the nitrous. Once I started using it, I definitely still felt the pain, but it helped to just get through the contractions. You don't keep the mask on your face the whole time you have a contraction, which I loved because it gives you something to focus on during the contraction. The contraction starts and you breath in the mask and take it off and continue to do that until it's over. Then you just keep it off your face until the next contraction hits. Jeff noticed a significant difference in my behavior and thought I'd stopped having strong contractions. He suggested I stop using the nitrous to see if they were just as strong and I remember saying, "No, no, no. Please no." I just knew I could still feel the horrible pain, but somehow now I could cope with it better, so the last thing I wanted to do was stop using the nitrous. The best part was I could lie down and rest using the nitrous since I'd never felt able to lay down before during contractions.

The views from our labor/delivery room at UCSF. The rooms were so nice.

This continued for a couple hours and then suddenly my nausea came back full force. I told the nurse I really felt like I was going to throw up. She said that was a side effect of the nitrous and it was probably affecting me more since I'd already been struggling with nausea. I asked what we could do about it and she said nothing. She said fentanyl is only for pain not nausea and they couldn't give me more stuff for nausea for another hour and a half. This extreme nausea and the fact they couldn't do anything to make it stop is what made me start freaking out.

I put the nitrous mask on the bed, stood up, and said I wasn't going to use it anymore. The nurse became concerned since that meant I wouldn't be using anything to help with the pain. She told me to just keep using the nitrous, but I said I just couldn't do it and kept telling her I was going to throw up over and over again. This is when I hit my "transition" phase, which was definitely the most intense/worst part of the labor. I had to deal with these horrible, horrible contractions standing up and grabbing onto Jeff's shoulders. After several of these I remember saying over and over, "I can't do this. I can't do this. I can't do this." Jeff told me I was doing it and it'd be okay and then I remember laying on the bed on my side, holding onto the bed rail, and just screaming in pain. That was the one time I distinctly remember losing it. And the nurse came running over to me and started telling me to calm down. I'm sure they don't want women screaming out in pain and scaring the other women in labor, ha ha.

I know I screamed out at that part because I was scared more than anything. I was thinking at that moment, "If this part hurts this much, what will the next part of labor feel like." Up to this point every part had become worse and more intense. I just couldn't even imagine what the pushing would feel like and it scared me...

I was embarrassed that I'd screamed out and tried to get ready for the next contraction by standing up and holding onto Jeff again. That's when I felt water dripping from me. I started saying, "Oh no, I'm dripping something." I looked down just to see Jeff's two feet just sliding backwards away from me to avoid getting wet. I started to climb into bed on my hands and knees because I thought that must have been my water breaking, but it wasn't done. As I was climbing onto the bed, I felt a huge whoosh and heard water go everywhere. I never looked because I was so embarrassed and just kept saying, "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I think I made a mess."

Everything went really fast after this. The nurse said my water broke and then they went to get a doctor to come and check me. After my water broke, I really felt like I HAD to push. The nurse told me previously when it got to this point NOT to push. I felt like I had no control, so I started saying, "I'm pushing. I can't help it. I'm pushing!" The nurse started telling me to breathe and pretend I was blowing out candles, but I didn't do it. Seriously? Candles? This wasn't my birthday party, so I was not blowing out any candles. I remember then responding, "I feel like I have to poop. I am going to push!" And then the urge went away. I don't know if I was actually pushing or if I just thought I was. The doctor ran in checked me and said I was now a 10.

This is when the pushing started. I LOVED the pushing phase and was pleasantly surprised when I realized it was so much better than the transition phase. I loved that you could channel the pain of the contraction into the pushing. The doctor (resident), midwife, and nurse kept being so amazed at how much I'd push, but if I could still feel the contraction I was going to keep pushing. It was the first time in my labor that I couldn't feel the contraction pain, but as soon as I stopped pushing, I'd feel the pain again. So I just kept pushing.

After a while of pushing, I decided to start trying different positions. The nurse and resident were just being so encouraging and kept saying that so much of the head was coming out that I was imagining her head being almost all the way out. I knew it was not good when the resident seemed flabbergasted and a little unsure about what she should say to me after I asked if her head was out yet. Boy was I disappointed when the resident lifted up her hand, showed me the size of a quarter with her fingers, and told me that was how much of the head she could see - after 45 minutes of pushing.

I remember sighing and laying back on the bed exhausted and feeling a little defeated. The nurse started asking if I wanted a mirror. I quickly told them thanks but no thanks. I'd told Jeffrey when I wrote our birthing plan that I never wanted a mirror to see what was happening. First of all - bleh. Second of all, if I couldn't see how little of the head was actually out, I could imagine the head was out and I was almost done. I felt like it'd give me more hope not seeing the actual progress and would help prevent me from getting discouraged. Last of all, we'd seen birthing videos and I knew what it looked like when women have babies, and I believed if I never saw myself looking that way, I could just pretend that I never did look that way - ever :)

The nurse was surprised I said I didn't want the mirror, so she then asked me if I wanted to feel the baby's head. Her intention was to let me know for myself how much progress I'd made, but it just sounded disgusting to me. I quickly said no and I guess that wasn't a good enough answer for the nurse because she continued to ask me to feel her head coming out. I only wanted to feel her head once it was all the way out along with the rest of her body, so I continued to decline her offers many times.

I wanted the pushing to go fast, so I started trying the different positions. Laying on my left side, standing on the bed, squatting using the labor bar on the bed, etc. The midwife and nurse finally suggested I get on my back. I really didn't want to because I was afraid of tearing, but they said I should just try it since I'd been pushing for 45 minutes. They took a sheet and wrapped it around the birthing bar on the bed, had me lay on my back, and grab each end of the sheet with each hand. Once I had a hold on the sheet, I was supposed to put my legs up on the top of the bar and basically do a crunch while using the sheet for leverage to pull myself up.

I tried this method once and HATED how it felt, so I flipped back onto my side while saying, "Nope. Nope. I don't like that." The funny part was that while I was pushing Jeff said Evangeline's head almost completely came out from under the pelvic bone. The nurse started yelling, "She's crowning. She's crowning..." until I flipped over, ha ha. Then Jeff said Evangeline's head slid right back inside.

The nurse tried to convince me to flip back over, but I refused since I had no idea what had just happened. All I knew was that whatever had just happened DID NOT feel good. After everyone kept telling me I wasn't making as much progress as I made on my back, I finally went back to that position and things really started moving along.

The rest of the pushing becomes kind of a blur. I remember them warning me about what they call "the ring of fire," which is what happens as the baby's head is crowning and finally comes all the way out. They said it would burn, but I don't remember it burning as much as I remember feeling really uncomfortable and thinking if I can just keep pushing this feeling will stop.

I also remember the resident and midwife talking to me, but not really being able to see them clearly. My eyes felt super swollen and I felt like I could barely open them to see what was going on. I didn't know it at the time, but this was a direct result of me pushing with my eyes closed. They kept telling me not to push with my face but to push up to the ceiling (whatever that means). It didn't make sense to me at the time and I just knew I wanted that baby out and I was going to push any way I knew how to push.

Jeff had the front row seat to everything that happened after this point. I remember feeling a lot less pain after her head crowned, but I didn't know exactly what was happening. I actually had no idea the doctor helping us was a resident, which is funny because Jeff says at this point her hands were really, really shaking. I'm glad I didn't see that, but from my point of view, she seemed very confident. It does make more sense now why there was a doctor AND a midwife there though.

The next thing I knew, at 11:16am, they were handing me my beautiful baby girl. I held her up to look at her and said to Evangeline, "We did it baby. We did it."

I wished I could have held her more right away, but I suddenly noticed how purple she was and I asked the nurse if Evangeline was supposed to be that color. They said they'd have to help clear her nose/mouth with an aspirator. Jeffrey went over with her to make sure everything was fine. Once I started hearing her crying, I knew everything would be okay.

Our chubby little newborn :)

After her spa treatment, or her first bath :)

I loved when the nurse asked me her name and I finally got to say, "Evangeline." It felt wonderful to have her here and for her to have a real name.

I ended up having a small tear, so since they had to stitch the tear, I told them I was afraid to hold my baby until they were done. It made me nervous that something would hurt while they were working on me, I'd jerk, and my baby would fall. Since I couldn't hold her right away, they told Jeffrey to take off his shirt and he was lucky enough to have a skin-to-skin bonding with his pretty baby girl.

That's one of my favorite memories - seeing Jeffrey rocking his baby girl on his bare chest and sobbing.

The stitching didn't take that long and I got to have the same skin-to-skin contact as I started nursing her. That's when I turned to Jeffrey and said, "Can you believe we did it?" And he quickly told me that I had been the one who did. Then I asked him if I was mean during labor and Jeff laughed and said, "No not at all. In fact, it was weird - you kept apologizing to everyone the whole time." That was a relief! I was always afraid of being mean in labor.

So glad Jeff's mom brought me Subway and Jamba Juice. The last meal I'd eaten was 16 hours earlier!

Grammy (Jeff's mom) came in once she was here!
Papa (Jeff's dad) came in later because he was picking my mom up from SFO. She arrived only a couple hours after Evie's arrival.

The resident and midwife were so kind to me at the end. They asked me right after I finished pushing her out how I felt and I told them I didn't really know. Ha ha! I think I was in complete shock from the entire experience. The resident kept telling me, "You just did something so beautiful. Can you believe you did that all on your own? You used the nitrous in the beginning, but you did this." I hadn't really thought about it that way, so I was glad she said that to me because I really did feel proud that I did something I didn't think I could ever do.

I'd always thought I'd use the nitrous the entire time, but I had no idea I'd stop using the nitrous at the worst part of the entire labor process! I still can't believe it when I look back on the experience...

After it was all said and done, I just remember feeling so grateful. I kept telling the nurse, the resident, and the midwife thanks so much for helping me again and again. I was so glad I took the time to tell them how much they helped me because you could really see a change in their faces. They knew they'd helped me do something so wonderful.

I didn't realize how much it had meant to everyone there in the delivery room until the next morning. The nurse that admitted me into the hospital ended up being my nurse the following day. She came into my room, asked if I remembered her, and said she'd heard all about my delivery and how courageous I was. That was when I realized our experience really was so special and I wouldn't change anything about it.

Since Evangeline's birth I've felt a love I didn't even know existed. I had no idea that I'd feel this new love not only for my new daughter but also for my husband. It's such a unifying, strengthening love. I feel like we are a stronger couple and now a stronger family due to this experience. Things are different now and all for the better.

I know it was hard for Jeffrey to watch me go through this whole process, but I love how he can always remain so calm. He helped me so much just being there and telling me I could do it. And when our baby girl finally arrived, I loved seeing how proud Jeffrey was of what I'd done and seeing in his eyes this new-found respect for me. He kept thanking me for what I'd done for Evangeline, which just made the whole experience even more worth it.

I am probably most surprised with my feelings about my physical changes. Before the labor I was convinced I'd just feel disgusted with myself, but I think I love my body more than I've ever loved it in my whole life. I am 20 pounds chubbier than I was before my precious Evangeline, my stomach is now permanently decorated with purple stretch marks, and I could definitely fit in with Santa right now with my "little round belly" that shakes "like a bowl full of jelly."And somehow I look at it all and feel beautiful. These scars remind me of her and being so blessed with the opportunity to raise her and teach her, so how could I not just love anything that symbolizes her.

This time of year is a time I love. To think of Christ. To remember how blessed the world was with his birth. And I have to think that Christ must feel the same about his scars. No remorse. No trauma. No anger towards his experience that none of us could ever understand. Only love for those he made the sacrifice for.

Evangeline's Excellent Adventures

2011-12-18T14:34:00.000-08:00

Here is our precious Evangeline getting ready for her first bath that she had once we were home.

Grandma Rainy (my mama) was kind enough to hold her as we got everything ready.

But don't let that sweet little face fool you...

This is what she had to say about the whole thing once we actually started sponge bathing her.
It was so sad to watch.

Here she is just hanging out with her Daddy...

It's definitely one of her favorite activities right now.

We love this sweet baby girl.

And look at that face
Who wouldn't love this sweetheart.

Happy Birthday

2011-12-10T20:45:00.000-08:00

Today our pretty little girl is one week old.

Evangeline Mae Youngberg
Born on Saturday, December 3, 2011 at 11:16am
8 lbs 4 oz

We are so glad you made it here safe and sound Evie...
And that you were so chubby :)

What a difference 8 months makes...

2011-11-01T17:09:00.000-07:00

So this is my most recent picture...

8 months pregnant

And...
this was 8 months ago before we knew I was pregnant.

I know you can't see my belly, but I promise it didn't look anything like it does now ha ha!
I am just shocked looking at what my face looked like back then.
Crazy!

So excited that a cute, cuddly (hopefully) baby comes at the end of this journey :)

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T12:27:00.001-07:00

I know it seems pretty scary...but don't be fooled -
it's just Jeff.

Here's Jeff's latest carving creation :)
We had fun carving pumpkins with some friends Friday, but Jeff gets pretty into the carving stuff so...I basically just watched.

And as you can see...
He was pretty excited about his pumpkin.

Wouldn't any little girl be lucky to have this guy as her dad?

The Start of Birthday Week :)

2011-10-30T17:53:00.001-07:00

Jeffrey turned 27 this year and luckily we love celebrating over here.

To start off our birthday fun, we had fun playing football with some friends since it is Jeff's favorite thing to do.

This was the birthday boy's banner. I thought the flags looked very football appropriate :)

I used it to decorate the breakfast treat table, which included Bob's donuts...yum :)
Don't the oranges look so beautiful?
AnnElise brought the oranges (they were especially a hit with the kids) and they were such perfect oranges!

We were lucky it was a beautiful Saturday morning at Golden Gate Park.

Jeff got to try out his new flag football set, which will come in handy for next year...

And here is one happy (and sweaty) birthday boy taking a water break :)

Thanks to everyone again for showing up!

And thanks again to Chris and AnnElise for helping! It was so good to have help carrying all the stuff since you always look a little silly being this pregnant and carrying tables and coolers around :)

This birthday football will definitely be a tradition for Jeffrey as long as he never gets sick of playing football with his friends.

Sneak Peek

2011-10-17T20:49:00.001-07:00

So here is a quick peek at the little cutie that will make her appearance in hopefully a little less than seven weeks...

I just love the chubby cheeks :)

And the little hand...

We're still so curious about her and what she'll be like, but this sneak peek will curb our curiosity for a while.

(I'll post more about getting to see our little girlie girl soon.)

The moment you've all been waiting for...

2011-08-10T22:07:00.000-07:00

Pregnancy shots.

Week 18

Week 19

Week 20

Week 21

Week 22
(finally wearing maternity clothes)

And we're stopping there because as much fun as this "All About Whitney" post is...no one wants to see tons and tons of my pregnancy pictures. So I'm stopping at 22.

The craziest part is looking back to the first photo. I finally decided I was ready to start taking pictures because I actually felt like I was kind of looking a little pregnant and didn't just look tubby. My back shifted forward that week, and I told Jeff the curve in my back made me look kind of pregnant. (That's why I'm posing in such an awkward, squatty way ha ha. I was trying to show that my back had a cute prego curve to it.) But now looking at it...I don't even look pregnant. Just chubby.

We've struggled getting them lately because the lighting in our apartment is so horrible right now since it's foggy everyday (notice the icky yellow lighting in the last shot - bleh).

As chubby as my face has already gotten and as fat as I feel like I've already gotten, it'll be interesting to see what I end up looking like.

More catch up posts coming soon...

So it's official...

2011-07-14T14:23:00.001-07:00

We are definitely having a girl!

(But we already knew we were...it was basically just confirmed today)
I say confirmed because at about week 8, between feeling sick and dreading going to work, I got the funny feeling that it was going to be a girl. So to prove I was right, I asked Jeff what he thought it was going to be, and he said it was definitely a boy. From that point I was sure it was a girl and Jeff was pretty sure it was a boy. But... it is a girl. We'll let Jeff stick to fixing teeth and leave the weatherman-type jobs to me from now on.

Here our some pictures from the big day today.
(But we'll spare you the money shot that proves she's a girl...)

Little tiny baby feet:)

Baby profile.

UCSF also does 3D pictures as part of the regular ultrasound procedure!
They looked better there though because they were in color.
Oh well. Still fun.

Baby face.

Another cute baby face shot.
No chubby cheeks yet since she still doesn't have fat.

We kept seeing cute baby hands during the scan too.
I love seeing those little bony fingers every time!
This scan we saw her thumb sticking up because she had her hand opened on her face.
Silly girl.
And my favorite was that her hand was resting on her knee at the end .
Posing already I guess - it is what little girls do best :)

Now onto the part I was dreading...the name game.

Since it was confirmed we're having a girl, I have to start doing what I didn't want to do -
choose a girl name.

For whatever reason I have no issues with choosing boy names, but I feel like girl names are hard to pick. I don't know what to do. I told Jeff I'm probably the only girl that doesn't have a list of girl names they've always wanted to use on a baby girl. Oh well...let the fun begin right?

Something that made me laugh...

2011-06-09T21:17:00.000-07:00

So I regularly check out my sister-in-law, Bridget's, blog. First of all, she's got a super cute kid that I'm just missing all of his growing up over here in SF and she's having these crazy adventures like finding turtles and stuff that are laying eggs - right in front of her?! How does that even happen? What a perfect adventure to have with a 1 year old boy. Seriously. I'm jealous.

Check out her picture!

But I guess I'd gotten behind on all her fun updates she'd posted lately, so I just checked it out this morning and found this. I thought it was a pretty funny post.

Maybe I check it a little too much and comment a little too often about how my nephew is too cute...ha ha ha.

P.S. - I love that the picture she used was from Christmas in NC. It reminded me of Christmas, which I'm just wishing it was already. Too bad the little baby that's on it's way won't be making an appearance in NC for a while, which has also changed our NC Christmas plans. At least the picture will help me remember what my parent's house looks like at Christmas. You can't even see my mom's decorations in that shot. It's out of control Christmas at her house. For reals. She spends forever getting it out and forever putting them all back on New Year's Day all by herself so she knows where everything is going. Oh man. That is dedication.

Our Fun Mother's Day Surprise

2011-06-04T11:07:00.000-07:00

So for Mother's Day, we both had gifts to give our moms.

We each chose how we presented the gifts to them.
I mailed mine to NC and told Mom to Skype with us after she'd opened it.
Jeff wanted to see his mom's reaction, so he decided to give it to her personally that day.

The card above was given to Jeff's mom and the card below was mailed to my parents.

We had so much fun making the onesies and cards!

Then to tell grandparents and other family members we...

mailed some more cards and pictures to NC with descriptions typed on the back about each picture.

And for Jeff's grandparents in Utah...

We emailed these pictures and descriptions.
*My favorite is the description for just the 13 week pictures because we actually saw the baby wave with its itty bitty hand:)

The baby is coming in December and we are so, so, so excited about it!

There is a book I found at the family's house where I work that I feel summed up our emotions almost perfectly. The book is called, Love Song for a Baby, and at the very end it says:

We'd dreamed a baby,
We'd wanted a baby,
We'd planned a baby,
We'd waited and waited and waited for a baby,
until finally there was you.

I'd probably add we fasted and prayed for a baby, but besides that it's pretty perfectly stated. I think I like it so much because it portrays how wanted babies are in their parent's lives. I think it's just beautiful. Now I don't feel like we endured any sort of hardship or trial getting pregnant compared to so many others who have seriously dealt with difficulties getting pregnant. So I hope I haven't made it seem that way or that our journey was a terribly difficult one because I will never describe or remember it as one. We do though feel so blessed to be pregnant and feel so aware of the Lord's tender mercies in our lives. I love a quote by Elder Bednar where he states, "Often the Lord's timing of His tender mercies helps us to both discern and acknowledge them." I feel like that quote more properly describes our experience. We are more grateful now for a baby than I think we ever would have been had everything in our lives not happened exactly as they have.

But all seriousness aside, we did go through A LOT of pregnancy tests. We actually ended up buying kits online from a site we knew my sister-in-law had used when trying to get pregnant. The tests were super cheap, but they are just thin test strips and very flimsy looking. (Not to mention the learning curve that some people, other than myself, had in figuring out which end was the pee end and which end was the one you hold ha ha ha). So when we actually took the one that showed we were pregnant, we were both in disbelief. I was in shock because I'd already told Jeff I hated taking those tests because they're always negative. While Jeff was very skeptical about whether or not to actually believe the little piece of paper. He said we'd have to wait two more days and then we should get one of the fancy pregnancy tests that we used to use.

And when we saw this...

We were believers :)

And you're probably impressed with how super classy we are that we even included a picture of the pee stick...
It was just too exciting to not document it!

I'm headed into my second trimester and feeling so much better.
I wouldn't say I feel normal again, but I don't think that will happen until a while after I have a tiny baby in my arms.

This news may explain my recent disappearance from the blogging world, from social events, and from life in general, ha ha ha. And I hope it better explains why I have all this extra fat on my belly! I've definitely been flying under the radar as I've tried to adjust to pregnancy and all the glorious symptoms that accompany it.

And we find out the gender on July 7th!

And I'm not gonna lie...I'm super excited that it's coming in December. What a happy month to come into this world right? I keep watching any movie that takes place during Christmas time because I just want to skip ahead to Christmas! Little Women has been the most recent reoccurring movie in our home, but I usually have to sneak it in when Jeffrey's not here ;)

Half Moon Bay

2011-06-02T22:36:00.000-07:00

So...I've definitely been MIA from the blog-o-sphere lately. Well for like over two months now. But we've actually been doing things that I should have blogged about. But I didn't. I might try to play catch up and I might just call it a loss and move onto the most current happenings.

One thing that we did in May was go on a short trip to Half Moon Bay with our friends Chris and AnnElise. We hung out on the beach and AnnElise and Chris were so kind to bring snacks to munch on. While there we even saw a seal sneak up to the beach. I've never seen that before. I guess actually Chris spotted the seal, and I don't think I was the only one that didn't really believe him until Jeff jumped on the bandwagon and said it was definitely a seal. Once we got closer, the boys were right. So crazy...why was it so close to shore? I still have no clue. But it was cute :)

And as you can see - some things never change...

I guess Jeff has always had a thing for finding logs :)

Some background on this childhood picture is that the Youngberg family was camping near Lake Tahoe and Travis (on the right end) picked up a stick for the picture (because he's a boy and they do those kind of things I guess). This, of course, made the other boys want to hold a stick for the picture too. Unfortunately, Jeff (on the left end) couldn't tell the difference between a stick and a log. And we're still not sure what the heck is in Michael's hand...

P.S. - I'll be posting about more exciting current events in our lives this weekend, so stay tuned.

Ah...they're back!

2011-03-30T19:56:00.000-07:00

Today was pretty awesome.

Look where I was this afternoon...

These are our usual seats...

See them?
It's where those people are standing.
Yup. Behind the gates.
At least it's free right :)

But not today.
This was our view today.

And unfortunately this was our view too...

Sick, right?
It was extremely hot (not this view - I mean the weather), but really?

I was able to snap a picture of Jeff and Chris too (despite their complaining).

Too bad I focused on Chris by accident.
(I promise AnnElise that I wasn't trying to focus in on Chris because that would be super creepy)
I wanted to take another to fix it, but Jeff said he thought it looked like he and Chris were a couple so I didn't and we're left with this picture.

Check this out...
Have you ever gone to the ball park and smelled the delicious smells of grilled onions and garlic fries?
Have you ever wished that one of your bras could smell like that?

Well this lady thinks you did because it looks like she's gonna try to return her bra after the game today.

It is just sad...
Don't you feel so bad for her?

Girls Day Out

2011-03-16T22:16:00.000-07:00

A while ago I was able to have a girls day out with Ashley and AnnElise...

We went to the Ferry Building to check out the Farmer's Market that day.

I still love the free samples there...

And trying delicious types of hummus.

I was so excited to finally try Roli Roti (they are only at the farmer's market). The line for the porchetta sandwich was amazing.

Luckily for us it was a beautiful day,
but unlucky for all of our husbands who had to study.

We went window shopping too and fortunately Ashley had the inside scoop on this thrift store in the Haight that is my new favorite store. It's called Crossroads and it has found a new special place in my heart and made me actually enjoy shopping.

Brand new awesome Gap jeans for $7.00, yes please.
Brand new awesome H&M shoes for $13, of course!

I even took Jeff a few days later and he found two super cool American Apparel t-shirts for $4!

I'm not gonna lie. It was a good day :)

I'm alone with this...

2011-03-04T14:38:00.000-08:00

Check out his creepy eyes...
Devil eyes. Seriously.

I think he knows what is about to happen to him.

I kept hearing him scrambling around in there, so I finally put a lid on it.
I'm about to go back to work and I really hope that thing stays in there until Jeff gets home.

Crabbin'

2011-03-03T13:44:00.001-08:00

Jeff got this sudden urge to go crabbing, so on Monday we went. Jeff got home from taking a test and we left right away.

It was such a beautiful day.

The day before Jeff looked up what food was used to catch crabs...and it was definitely from the wrong source :) He read that fried chicken worked the best. We picked a couple pieces up from KFC. We felt kind of dumb when this crabber came up and asked us what we were using for bait. We told him chicken and he spotted our KFC bag, ha ha. This, of course, lead him to then ask us if we were using cooked chicken. Yeah...we got laughed at a little. I guess if you go crabbing - use squid (which we now have in our fridge in case anyone wants some - I know so sick, right?) or sardines. You live and you learn, ha ha, and feel a little stupid in the process.

Our net, unfortunately, never caught any. We bought some snares so the next time we'll have the net and fishing poles.

This guy was nice enough to let us use his knife.
(He didn't catch any either...so we're not the only losers out there)

These people used a net and they caught two.
We had to live vicariously through all the successful crabbers.

We finally caught one!

Not really.
But I took pictures of this one that the guy next to us caught.
He asked if I was going to put it up on YouTube,
which I thought was totally weird.
Who would really want to see a crab on YouTube?
Not to mention I wasn't taking video...

We were fascinated by the other people next to use catching so much crab.

This was the guy that asked what bait we were using.
He finally felt so bad for us he gave us some of his sardines.

They kept asking if we were from the city.
I guess we really stood out among all the fishermen.

This seal was just making his living off of the fishermen's bait.

Seriously, those snares were catching so many crabs.

Don't you see the seal looking at us?
Isn't that like the craziest thing you've ever seen?
He really was looking right at us!

This man caught two at once.
Some people just have all the luck.
Or at least all the right bait...

After we had fun failing at our first crabbing attempt, we went kite surfing.
That's Jeff.

Okay...we lived vicariously through the man that was kite surfing and just took pictures.
But we had fun just trying to crab :)
We're going again on Saturday morning if anyone wants to come!

P.S. - Jeff hates when I take pictures of just him, but I'm so good at sneaking them in :)

Sneak Peak

2011-03-03T10:41:00.000-08:00

This is what we did Monday morning/afternoon before I went back to work...

Can you guess?

What cute pictures :)

Take notice of the KFC bag. Big mistake. It wasn't for us, ha ha.

These guys were swarming the whole time.

Look how cute...

Giants Fan Fest

2011-03-02T11:31:00.001-08:00

See those holes in the wall?
Yup. Those are from baseballs hit by professional baseball players.
We were on the Giants baseball field because...we know people :)

Not really.
But we were actually on the Giants baseball field.

Earlier this month we went to the Giants Fan Fest. Neither of us quite knew what to expect because we hadn't ever been. Jeff was super excited and was so anxious to get out of the house. As we were driving there, we thought we might have missed our chance. The event hadn't even officially started yet, but the broadcasters on the SF sports radio announced that there were already so many Giants fans in line that if you weren't already in line - stay home. We were shocked they were actually telling people NOT to come!

We both decided we still had to try.
Best decision ever.

When we got there, we saw the line the broadcasters had been talking about. There were Giants employees telling people this was definitely the only line. But Jeff was convinced that these people were just being typical San Franciscans.

Since we've moved here Jeff has said that San Franciscans will stand in line for anything.
He says that they see a line and say, "Oh! A line. I should probably get it, even though I don't know what the heck I'm standing in line for or where this line is going!"

Well Jeff's theory was actually proved to be right this day. He said we should try going to the front gates to see what it looked like there because this line was at a complete stand still. We went to one side of the ballpark, and those gates were, slowly, feeding in the super long line we'd just passed. Then we went to the other side of the ballpark, and it was madness! There was kind of a line, but not really, feeding into the gates, but there were also just people everywhere. Jeff turned to me bright-eyed and said, "This is our chance!" So we pulled a Youngberg (Jeff's dad is king of this kind of stuff), we slipped on in (nobody being any the wiser), and we would've made Dad Youngberg proud :)

This doesn't show the line, but we went in here. There were just people everywhere, so no one was really paying any attention to who went in the gates as long as you let then check your bags.

Super awesome right?

The rest of the time was amazing. It was so crowded until we got the field. When we jumped down onto the baseball diamond, there was plenty of room.

Except for on the pitcher's mound...

Jeff's foot touching the pitcher's mound. Dream come true :)

Here we are looking like dorks...

But secretly pretending we're super awesome pro baseball players...

What the stadium looks like from the field...

the lights...

This picture reminds me of Field of Dreams for some reason...

And this is the line when we left...
Just PART of the line and this part was no where near the front.
These people were seriously just waiting and not moving.
They weren't going anywhere.

When we got into the stadium, they announced that the stadium was at full capacity.
No one else was let inside!
We left over an hour later and these people were still there.
Waiting.

Golden Afternoon

2011-02-27T16:26:00.001-08:00

A few weeks ago, we spent a beautiful day at the beach.

It's been a lot colder since those few blissful weeks, but no snow at least :)

We did it!

2011-02-25T19:58:00.000-08:00

Who found a place for dinner in SF for less than $6? That's right...we did :) Go to El Farolito and get a Super Carne Asada burrito. Share one though. Please don't eat one by yourself...

This place was voted best burrito in SF. Jeff and I still think Papalote is the best. Their steak is life changing - seriously. And their horchata is so yummy! I always want to get another when we are leaving. I don't even like horchata, but I love love love this stuff (it has so much cinnamon in it...mmm). But the price at El Farolito can't be beat :)

P.S. - Jeff wanted me to add that he's had a lot of burritos in his day, and this one is not even close to being one of his favorites but...it's cheap!

Things we both LOVE in SF...

2011-02-25T19:34:00.000-08:00

I love, love

the Ferry Building

Jeff got me. I obviously wasn't ready...

Jeff loves...

Coit Tower.

Much better :)

Look how cool this building is...

I love its color.

And that sign. We're going back to see it lit up.
It's like a total blast from the past.

Our view from the pier...

Jeff loves...

the Bay Bridge.

Jeff loves, loves...

no...not himself :)

San Francisco!

Earthquake

2011-02-23T10:35:00.000-08:00

So Jeff and I always tease each other about which natural disasters are worst...

Jeff is convinced that hurricanes and tornadoes
(which just both happen to occasionally go down in NC)
are the worst.

I beg to differ and have always said earthquakes are super scary,
and way scarier than any hurricane or tornado.
I'd tell Jeff that I hope I never live through an earthquake
because I would totally freak out.

Well...

I came home one day (right after Christmas break) and Jeff asked if I'd felt the earthquake.
I told him he was totally making it up.

Unfortunately, he had proof.

Can you see that "I" in our "BELIEVE" Christmas decorations? How it's fallen over?
Yup.
Results of an earthquake.

Don't worry - I made him give me more proof than that. We all know that boys are sneaky. He had a news article too. Lame.

Yeah...so Jeff went on to say that's what an earthquake usually does. And he rubbed in the fact that I hadn't even felt it.

Whatever.

SF Eats

2011-02-22T09:24:00.000-08:00

We've been in San Francisco for the past seven months now, and I'm pleased to say that we have actually had some success in finding restaurants we like and even LOVE!

Our most recent adventures have been...

A meat cone.
We saw it on the food network and decided we'd just try it.
Weird, right?

Check out the meat hanging in the fridges!
It was here at Boccalone, which is in the Ferry Building.
The meat cone was...meh.
But at least we can say we had one!

Another day we went back to the Ferry Building to try Gotts.
The burgers were good but overpriced.
They're famous for a tuna burger, but it's raw in the middle so we chickened out.
Can you blame us?
I'd go back for the onion rings though, seriously.
The picture at the top of this post is inside Gotts. Isn't it cool? I'm not gonna lie I liked the atmosphere of the place.

*Make sure you read the writing on the soda cup. So San Francisco...

Our other recent adventure was an ice cream place that I'd been dying to try.
Will we go back? Umm...no.
But how cute is the place? The red chairs. The overhang that just says "ice cream."
White lights and ice cream shoppe cuteness.
Too bad it isn't good.

We knew it was in the Mission district and the foodies say it's on a quiet corner, which we realized means that it's actually in kind of a sketchy place to go at night.
My favorite part was that their street sign was chained to a lamp post. Really. Chained.
Bad sign.

Jeff started getting skeptical about the location when we drove by residential buildings that had graffiti all over the front. But nothing sketchy happened. Thankfully.

The reason I'd wanted to try it was because they are supposed to be know for their weird and crazy flavors. And they are super crazy. We'd heard about Bi-rite when we first got here and I already posted about how we loved their interesting and delicious flavors, but I definitely think there is a limit to outlandish flavors. The two flavors I'd heard about at Humprey Slocumbe was their Secret Breakfast and their Prosciutto ice cream. When we got there, they didn't have the prosciutto ice cream, lame. I was desperately disappointed when the secret breakfast was bourbon flavor and cornflakes, bleck. So I tried some other flavors but they were intense! The balsamic caramel tastes way too much like vinegar, sick. The Harvey milk and Honey Grahams was delicious - just like milk and Teddy Grahams. But in my opinion, for $2.75 I'd hope that my ice cream would not be something I could easily and cheaply recreate at home, ha!

So sometimes being adventurous doesn't pay off. Obviously.
But...sometimes it does.

Recently, our friends asked us for places we'd recommend in SF. It made me think it'd be a good idea to compile a list. So...
Here is a list of our favorite places in SF so far:

1. Little Skillet - Go! Please, please, please go. Get their chicken and waffles. It sounds weird. But it is too good. And it's awesome fried chicken (and I've had some rockin' fried chicken in NC). It's in an alley way and their are no seats inside. You order and pick up your food at a window with rustic/distressed blue shutters. We eat on a loading dock in the alley. To me it's like the quintessential San Francisco experience. It's only open for lunch, so we've gone back several times. We first tried it with our friends Joey and Katie and their friend Brie and it has definitely been our best find! And it's pretty reasonably priced (under $20). Mmmmm...now I want it again.

2. Dynamo Donut - I've only gone once and I wish I could go back, but the donuts are pricey. It's more like a once in a blue moon kind of place, but I've dreamed about their Bacon Maple Apple donut since I've had it. It sounds strange, but it's like eating a donut with all the best breakfast flavors packed inside! Mmmm...the chocolate spice is good too (and it's fifty cents cheaper). Go during the day too. They run out of donuts fast. And it's super cute and trendy.

3. Bob's Donuts - This one is far away, but we've been twice. Once for a surprise birthday party Annalise threw for her husband Chris, who is a first year like Jeff at UCSF. I had an awesome cake donut that night. Then I found out that it was open 24 hrs and we had to go on a late late night donut run. It was worth it to try their Apple Fritter. And their donuts have awesome prices that you'll never regret paying. This one is fun cause it's a total hole in the wall.

4. Papalote - Go. For reals. And get their Super Carne Asada Burrito. It's life changing . Jeff and I both agreed that it is filled with the BEST steak we've had in our lives. You also get to get their famous roasted tomato salsa and chips, which are delicious. It's a small place too and under $20. And get the Super. I made the mistake not to order (I didn't read the sign...dope. What a mistake!) the Super Burrito because I thought it referred to the size of the burrito (doesn't a super burrito sound way too big to eat? When you think about it that way - gross, right?). Welp, it doesn't. It means cheese and sour cream and guac are on it. You need those in it or else it's too dry. (They beat Bobby Flay on the Food Network on Throwdown)

5. Tartine Bakery - It looks what I'd imagine a Paris bakery would. It's quaint and urban. Now I'm not trying to sound snooty tooty. I just know that SF has a lot of French influence and was modeled after European cities like Paris. San Francisco is actually called "The Paris of the West," which is why I think that's what they were going for when they built the place. I've been wanting to go back so badly! Who doesn't love bakeries?

6. Saigon Sandwich - Jeff and I love to go here for lunch. We get two Vietnamese pork sandwiches and it is only $6! Seriously! You can't sit down in there (it's a hole in the wall too), so we take it and eat on the steps of City Hall in front of the big grassy plaza there downtown. Whenever we go we always say we feel so urban...even though we're so not :)

7. Turtle Tower - I got their Pho ga (because it's what they're famous for) and it was amazing. I was shocked because I'd had Pho (pronounced like the sound of this letter - "F") at a place in Santa Cruz that was on Guy Fieri's Triple D. But it was gross. It was so sick I told Jeff the next time someone offered me Pho I'd say, "Pho-getta about it." It was like trash in a bowl seriously. But this Pho was delicious. It was like a yummy chicken soup. They have awesome egg rolls here and Jeff got pork here that was to die for. And I've decided I love Vietnamese pickled carrots. They are so sweet and yummy! This place was under $20 and is small and is in Little Saigon (close to Saigon Sandwich).

8. Sentinal Sandwich - When we went we heard it was a $6 sandwich, but it's actually $9. We didn't regret getting it because it's actually the best sandwich I've had in my life I think, but we haven't been back. I can't even describe the yummy-ness of this corned beef deliciousness. When you're feeling like a big spender, maybe go here :) It's a lunch place too.

9. Brenda's French Soul Food - Jeff surprised me and took me for V-day at lunchtime. I'd wanted to go and try their famous shrimp po-boy since forever. And I finally got it. It was really good. I love fried shrimp and this is Louisiana/Creole style shrimp and let me just say...it's awesome! They are about to expand so it's small and there is a wait and it's a lunch place - PS Jeff didn't like his burger so maybe don't get that (shocker: Jeff got a burger, ha ha).

10. Nopalito - This is a cool place. Seriously. It's authentic Mexican style food. Jeff said it was all the food they had in Guatemala, but instead of being third world style, it was a gourmet version of the food. We loved the fish tacos (I don't even like fish tacos) and the carnitas are soo good. It's pork that's been cooked for like forever and a day and it's the most tender meat I've had. Mmmm...

11. Roadside BBQ - Disclaimer: THIS IS NOT CAROLINA BBQ! And they got their Carolina BBQ sauce all wrong. But...it's on this dense bun that has the texture of an English muffin and somehow that bun with the pulled pork makes all the difference. It is spicy BBQ though.

12. Zazie's - I love their eggs benedict and gingerbread pancakes. It's got a cool atmosphere too. They are supposed to have an awesome back patio, but when I went, I didn't sit there because it was too cold. I've heard rumors about the hot chocolate, so when I go back, I want to try it.

13. Bi-rite creamery, Mitchell's Ice Cream, and Anthony's cookies - I love the roasted banana and the snickerdoodle ice cream at Bi-rite. Mitchell's ice cream is super rich and creamy (the creamiest I've had), so I like to share a banana split with Jeff. They have crazy tropical flavors and they get all their fruit from the Philippines. So it's kind of fun. Jeff likes Mitchell's A LOT. Anthony's cookies are pretty normal cookies except for their cookies and cream cookie. We only went once, so it's nothing either of us crave to have again but it's a cool treat to have since I've never tasted a cookie like it before. It tastes like cookies and cream ice cream.

14. La Oaxaqueña - has great banana leaf tamales with yummy mole, but we went back just to get the hot chocolate. It's "so legend - wait for it" ... oh just go get it. I can't even describe it. I don't even like hot chocolate very much and I love this stuff! It even comes in a cute silver pitcher and they poor it in your mugs. And it's frothy and foamy! I totally want to try to make my hot chocolate at home foamy now...

*We also got a bacon wrapped hot dog at a stand outside this restaurant (when we just went for the hot chocolate). We shared it so we didn't feel disgusting, but it's goooood in a disgusting heart artery clogging way ha ha ha! Those Latinos in the Mission think of everything! What great idea right? Bacon around a hot dog!

15. San Tung's - This is awesome Chinese food. It tastes better than Panda! We never thought we'd see the day...We get their Sweet and Sour Beef and their Dry fried chicken wings (they are famous for these). When we went with Jeff's parents, we made the mistake of getting the wrong wings. Get the dry-fried ones...yummm!

These are our favorites. There are tons of other places I'm sure that people could go. Jeff is not a gourmet foodie person (not that I am) and he'd recommend any of these. (Well maybe not Brenda's because he didn't like their burger and he's not a huge fan of shrimp)

If you come to SF, we'd love to show you where any of these places are...
and really we'd love to go back to any of these restaurants again!
When we find more favorites, I'll post them.

I'm not big into going to fancy, expensive, gourmet restaurants...
but I LOVE small, quaint, urban cafe-type places.
They feel like places young (cheap) people should be eating when they go out.

Anyone in SF or that has visited SF have recommendations to share?

Remembering the Awesomeness

2011-02-20T23:26:00.000-08:00

So it's been forever and a day since I last posted. The family I nanny for has had sick kids, so I've been working 12 hour days and trying not to get sick myself (since the parents even got sick). I stayed healthy thankfully and I'm crossing my fingers that it stays that way. And I'm not gonna lie, I just haven't wanted to blog - which is one of many reasons why I could never be a real blogger.

However, lately I've been thinking about how fun SF has been. Sometimes I think, "Is Jeff really in dental school?" Now I'm not the one who's doing all the studying and the work and taking the tests, but I feel like we're having so much fun outside of his schooling and my work. I'm sure if I was teaching and wasn't working late hours during the week, I'd feel different because I'd be there while he was studying (and I'd be super bored). But I'm not. Since October Jeff's really gotten into the grove of things and it seems he's gotten used to grad school.

One of my favorite memories here in SF was the night the Giants won the World Series. When they won I watched it with the family I nanny for, hurried home, and Jeff was waiting outside for me so we could rush into the city to see how San Francisco was celebrating.

2 Fast 2 Furious: SF style

Obviously I thought that Fast and the Furious was funny that night too :)

Of course Jeff had to join in on the action...

We're not super hard core fans I guess since we didn't end up like this guy...

Too much fun?

Can you tell Brian Wilson is my favorite?

Intersection at Market and Castro...

The whole ride down Market was loud like this. My favorite part was when people would high five you in your car as you drove down the street. Crazy awesome, right?

This was seen all over the city...

The fans at AT&T ballpark...

It was very crazy over there. TP was flying through the air, corn tortillas were thrown around like frisbees, and there was a lot of liquids on the ground that we just chose to avoid.
Better safe than sorry, right?

We still aren't sure what this guy's job was...
I think he was supposed to being enforcing something, but the people were doing crazy things in the street so who knows what it was he should have enforced.

Jeff very, very happy.

What a great night of awesomeness :)

No lie - this actually happened

2010-12-20T23:18:00.000-08:00

So the other day Jeff was waiting in the car while I was on a yarn run. When I was in the store, I guess there was a homeless man outside that looked really strange. And of course, Jeff started gawking at him from our car.

It was to Jeff's surprise that the man actually noticed him staring at him through all the rain and in the dark of the night.

Once the hobo made eye contact with Jeff, it was over. He decided to attack! He lunged for the car, yelling indecipherable phrases like - "BLAH BLEH PLEH PLICK MEH BLAH-BIDDY BO!", and fired his ammunition.

And what was a homeless person using for ammunition?

Why mashed potatoes of course!

We drove around San Francisco the rest of night with potato on our car. It was disgusting and it actually took us a long time to figure out what it was. Jeff was the one who figured it out.

He poked it with his keys.
Yucky.

Holiday Fun

2010-12-11T10:15:00.000-08:00

So we had a fun Thanksgiving with Jeff's family with lots of delicious food and family time (P.S. - I highly recommend the movie Tangled), but we definitely missed these people...

We especially missed the cute girl in the back with the light blue shirt on since she wasn't able to make the trek in the snow to SF.
Maybe I'll see my sisters again someday...

Somehow from our NC trip this year, I didn't get a picture of my Dad. He always manages to be MIA in family pictures :)
He's usually the one taking them - like the pictures above.
But we missed him too!

We came back to San Francisco the day after Thanksgiving and went to see the lighting of the Macy's Christmas tree in Union Square.

There were so many people. I am lucky that I get to be in Union Square/Chinatown everyday, but I've never seen it quite like this with tons and tons of people everywhere. Well, I guess the only other time it was as crowded was when the city had a parade on Market for the Giants winning the World Series.

We could hear the music but we couldn't see the performers. Some people in the streets were getting frustrated because they couldn't hear anything and started chanting, "Light the tree! Light the tree!" This was then followed with a huge, very wide man standing up and rapping in between the chants and another larger woman getting up and pretending to pole dance while the large rapper waved dollar bills in her face. Ahhh...nothing makes it feel more like Christmas than seeing this sight while hearing "Let in Snow" in the background :)

These pictures always seem so fun, but they never look good...

All jokes aside it did make the holidays seem to officially begin and I kind of felt guilty for sneaking in some Christmas songs before this big holiday kick-off.

We'll definitely be there again next year!

The next day I took Jeff to see the sugar castle in the Westin St. Francis.

It is all made out of edible materials and is a towering 12 feet tall.
If you go read the sign. It's amazing to see how many pounds of gingerbread and other sweets they used to recreate this French castle.

I took the boys I nanny in the morning to see it unveiled and then took them on their personal favorite - the hotels famous glass elevators that go up 32 floors (I'm not gonna lie - I love them too! It goes a lot faster than you'd imagine and you totally feel like you're riding the Tower of Terror). The day of the unveiling ceremony they passed out sugar cookies and hot chocolate, which just seemed to make the castle seem even sweeter.

Too bad for us the day Jeff and I went, the hotel was asking for people to show their room keys to get onto the elevators. I've never seen that before, but it was a holiday weekend. Jeff's been but we wanted to see the lit Christmas tree from above. The hotel was thinking what we were, and our plans were foiled.

Jeff finished his finals yesterday and has three weeks off. I'm still working (if you can really call what I do working ;) ) but we plan on having lots of fun!

Shoes

2010-12-06T21:35:00.000-08:00

Jeff's mom would make her boys slippers that they called "muffins."
(I think it's hilarious that three boys would call their slippers muffins :) )

We each got a pair last year for Christmas, and I started wondering what they'd look like as baby booties.

That's how they turned out.

I like them.
Don't they look like Tinkerbell's shoes?

Luckily, Jeff's mom was able to alter the pattern and make one so I could learn too and not spend forever trying to figure it out.

They're gone already because I gave them away at a baby shower on Friday. But now I'm kind of tempted to make more...
Maybe some green ones with yellow pom poms ;)

ClASSless?

2010-11-18T12:07:00.000-08:00

In San Francisco? Of course not! What a silly idea...

This picture screams nothing but class!

I wasn't driving in the best part of town...if you hadn't already noticed.

Happy Christmas!

2010-11-17T14:41:00.001-08:00

Today I saw this...

And I'm excited Thanksgiving is next week
(because we get to overeat and my little sister is coming - Hooray!)

and it also means

CHRISTMAS IS COMING!!!

p.s. - Who knew Union Square has an ice skating rink?
You can go to the Embarcadero rink or Union Square to ice skate.
I LOVE CHRISTMAS!

One Man Band

2010-11-16T14:56:00.000-08:00

This is something you don't see everyday...
Look at all his strings!

An actual one man band.
He sounded good too.
Who'da thunk it?

Kade Monster

2010-11-14T14:32:00.000-08:00

I can't stop thinking about this cute post that my cute sister-in-law, Bridget, posted a while ago. Isn't it so creative?

I seriously felt like the pictures of Kaden matched perfectly with her dialogue for him!

Isn't Kaden just the cutest?
So handsome.
We miss him so much!

One year older and wiser too...

2010-11-14T14:09:00.000-08:00

So after I'd been working extra hours for both families lately, the last thing I wanted to do was blog when I got home.

But I did want to show what's been happening...

Jeff had a birthday!

Got a homemade pumpkin pie!

And got to wear his "Bear Bottom" man jammies from Mama Rainy and Papa Tan Tan (my parents are going to kill me for calling them those names...)

I didn't take a picture of the bottom of the pjs, but they come with butt flap and all. My favorite part is that there is a bear on the butt flap...get it since they're bare (bear) bottom pajamas! Ha ha. Thank you Carly for finding them and suggesting that Mom and Dad get them. She found them at the Mass General Store in Boone, NC. Don't they just look like something you'd find there?

Love it!

We also got to go to Texas Roadhouse (yummm!) with Jeff's family thanks to his parents. I am still dreaming about those rolls with the cinnamon honey butter...

What do you do on a cold, rainy SF night?

2010-11-09T22:45:00.000-08:00

Well...I don't know what you do, but we go get ice cream!

So we'd had several people tell us about this Bi-rite ice cream place, but we ever we thought, "You know what I could really go for some ice cream right now," there would be this ridiculous line outside. I'm not a fan of standing in line, as I'm sure most people aren't, but I'll stand in a line if I don't have anything better to do and I'm with people I can talk with. When Jeff sees a line, he just keeps on driving. He loses all desire to get whatever it is that people are waiting for. So Bi-rite just had to wait.

It was cold tonight and Jeff wanted to go to Twin Peaks for a while (I love that it's only two minutes from our place). Once we were out and saw the city, we just wanted to go do something else too. Seeing the rain dripping from the trees gave me the idea and feeling the chill in the air made me think well we sure shouldn't go get ice cream right now...or should we?

We decided to check it out and see if there was a line and just as I'd suspected - no one gets ice cream on a cold, rainy SF night.

But I'm sure glad we did....

Jeff looks so tired...poor thing. It was past his bed time.

Yummy!
This place is a definite winner.

Jeff got a banana split with caramelized bananas and the roasted banana ice cream. I didn't take a picture of mine because it was gone before we left the store, which is totally embarrassing, but it was too delicious. I just got a scoop of cinnamon snickerdoodle cookie ice cream.

It actually had snickerdoodle cookies in the ice cream!

I wanted to get either the roasted banana ice cream or the pumpkin ice cream, but could only choose one.

We'll definitely be back.

AND THE GIANTS ARE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES!

2010-10-23T22:00:00.000-07:00

What an awesome win! Watching the tense game helped me forget I was sick for a little while. Too bad I'm just not totally cured.

Let's go Giants!

Can you believe that our first year out here they're going to the World Series?

Jeff's still trying to convince his mom to give him tickets. He along with everyone else she knows will be harassing her I'm sure.

P.S. - Brian Wilson totally rocks! I've loved watching him and all his antics all season. Fear the beard baby! But does anyone know what the machine is? That's always gone over our heads. What the heck is that?

Have you ever...

2010-10-22T21:45:00.000-07:00

seen a man bungee jumping off a tree?

I have.

He then proceeded to swing on a tire swing five times,
and glided on out of the park on roller blades and equipped with ski poles.

It was pretty awesome to watch. I wanted to film it but by the time I pulled out my phone, he'd already rolled on out and down the hill...sad day.

Playing Hookie

2010-10-21T21:34:00.001-07:00

So sometimes I wish I could play hookie when I start getting sick. I've started to lose my voice but I don't really have symptoms of a cold. So who knows what's up.

Anyway, I was nannying and the little four year old boy turned, covered my mouth, and said, "Please only talk when you're reading the bedtime story."

Isn't it interesting that he cared about my voice, but not enough to skip the bedtime story? That bedtime story trumps everything. I thought having a raspy voice was cool, but I guess he didn't think so.

SPOILER ALERT!!! BRIDGET DON'T READ THIS IF YOU DON'T HAVE IT YET!

2010-10-20T21:11:00.000-07:00

This is what I just sent to my nephew Kaden...

It's nothing special. But I'm glad that I made it for him, and maybe he'll keep it and someday have one of his little babies wear it.

I'd thought about sewing on these baby blue (for him it was Carolina blue since they're big fans) mother of pearl buttons, but I showed them to Jeff and he said they were girlie. So I didn't.

I'd started using a dark blue yarn (I liked it b/c it was Duke blue) and Jeff said that I should knit in a D and tell them that it was for Kaden Davis but really the D was for DUKE! I know...tricky tricky. Sadly, the yarn was VERY difficult to see. So I changed colors.

I just love gifts that are made with lots of love...I'm very glad Jeff's mom taught me how to knit so I can make these types of gifts.

Now that I finally just mailed it...
Onto the next project!

Pizza Pizza!

2010-10-17T19:30:00.000-07:00

It's decided. My pizza's now officially the best in San Francisco.

We had homemade pizza tonight. I just had to make it after thinking about how disappointing all the San Francisco pizza places have been.

It was good. I made two pizza's one for me and one for Jeff, but I only took a picture of Jeff's. Jeff just cut his so beautifully that I decided to take a picture of his.

I don't like black olives, so I prefer when we can get separate pizzas (like at Nicolitalia...I know. I need to let it go. It's out of my life forever.)

But doesn't it look delish?
Okay anyone in SF want to help start a pizza place with me? I've already got the pizza recipe.

Pillow Talk

2010-10-17T13:39:00.000-07:00

The other night Jeff and I were having our nightly pillow talk routine (which has now extended a lot later than it used to since I work so late now). Jeff told me about a conversation he had with his friend Chris at school.

Chris: My wife and I went to this restaurant over the weekend. Several people told us it was the BEST breakfast place in San Francisco. We went and it wasn't even that good, especially for how much it cost.
Jeff: Yeah, I finally realized that when people suggest restaurants, I always need to ask them first, "Wait? Do you live in San Francisco?" Because for whatever reason, people in SF think expensive means good. And they're never right. It's never good.

I was just glad to hear that someone else was having the same experience in food hunting as we were. It's been rough replacing "the regulars" from Provo. The pizza hunt I've decided won't ever be a success. No one can replace Nicolitalia. Now I can only dream about it in my sleep. With it's perfect ratio of chewy to crunchy crust. Mmmm...

In fact, I've become so disappointed with the lack of acceptable pizza here, I've just starting making my own. I've never been that into making homemade pizza, not because it's not good, but because I have always thought of pizza as being a special "out on the town" type of food. I guess you could call it a treat and one that I just didn't have to make. Well not anymore. I make that too.

And the thing is when you ask most people what's one of the best parts of living in a big city? They say the food. Well, for me at least, it's the food. I LOVE food. I love making food. I love eating food. I just love it. Cities should bring a whole new selection of restaurants to the table. And we fully expected there to be plenty of places we'd be able to visit that'd be within a reasonable price range.

But they're not reasonable priced for what you're getting in most places (probably because they have to pay rent in SF). We haven't been to a ton of places because we're poor, but where we've been it's usually a disappointment.

I leave saying, "I could've made that."

And isn't that why you eat out? To be given food that you just can't replicate at home?
Or is that just me?

When we first moved here, we kept receiving referrals from people we'd meet. One place (La Taqueria) we went to was on the Food Network. All the places also happened to be on this list.

Let's just say Jeff no longer believes in that list.

We wanted to replace Diego's Tacos (well I did... Jeff never loved that place, but he wanted to replace Taco Trucks in Modesto), so we went to the Mission District and ate at La Taqueria.

It was expensive for what they gave you.
Took a long time.
And wasn't anything special.
Let's just say, I could've made it better at home.

We wanted to replace JDawgs and so we went to this sausage place in the Mission District, Rosamunde. We had the recommended Beer sausage with sauerkraut and grilled onions.

It is no JDawgs.
Was fairly inexpensive.
Didn't taste very good.
And had nothing special about it.
I could've definitely made way better at home.

Maybe before we leave SF in four years we'll actually find some place that has special food AND that is reasonably priced, or at least worth what your paying for.
Here's hoping...

Today I...

2010-10-16T15:56:00.000-07:00

saw a human head.

It was juicy. It's eyes still rolled around when you moved it.

The eyebrows were still there, which was weird.

I was glad it was cut in half, so it didn't seem so real.

The part I really didn't like was when Jeff said, "Oops. A little piece of her brain just sloughed off."

Sick man.

In college, I never had to take anatomy for my education major, so this was definitely an experience for me to see what Jeff's been studying.

P.S. - I HATE how it smells in there. Blek. I seriously can't stand that smell. I always tell Jeff he reeks when he comes home from the lab.
P.S.S - The weirdest thing was we went to a BBQ place in Pacifica afterwards, and the girl that took our order told me I smelled good. I hope she wasn't talking about dead people smell, because that's straight up nasty!

Get your orange on!

2010-10-15T21:29:00.001-07:00

So here's a picture Jeff's mom sent us from our most recent Giants game.

I seriously loved those rally rags. "Get your orange on" - how fun is that?

Whoever does the marketing for the Giants is seriously so awesome. I'm sold on all their slogans. Their main tag line "It's magic inside" makes AT&T park sound like Disneyland.

Fun baseball, fun family, fun times!

(I'm banking on this post being good luck for the Giants tomorrow. I hope I'm right...)

Did you miss me? Did you miss me?

2010-10-13T21:32:00.000-07:00

Okay...so if you think, judging by the title, I've been around too many toddlers lately then you're right! I've been a little MIA for a while, but Jeff forked over the Mac just so I could post!

Lot's of things have been going on and I don't even really know where to begin or what I've let out.

Jeff had his white coat ceremony...

It was fun to hang out with Mom and Dad Youngberg, and doesn't Jeff look so cute in his white coat? (Even though it was too small. There was a mix up with the sizes. That's what you get I guess when you're 6'2" and have super long arms - you can't get away with wearing a medium.)

Now let's play a game...

Guess who's the dentist!

Can you tell? I know we're pretty tricky like that.

(White Coat pictures are courtesy of Jeff's mom. Mine were lame, so thankfully she got a ton of awesome shots.)

The Giants have been playing so well that we got to go with Jeff's family to the first game in the series against the Padres the first weekend of October. They lost that game, but it was still fun to go with family. That was the first game Jeff and I had been to this summer where the Giants actually lost.

Because the Giants made it to the Playoffs, we invited friends to come over and watch with us. We had yummy ginger cookies (with crystallized ginger from Chinatown since I walk through their everyday :) ), guac, and pumpkin spice chex mix - which is the bomb by the way. I'd never made the chex mix before and Jeff asked me to make again as soon as it was gone.

It was very casual but I impressed myself with my ingenuity. We got rally rags/towels from the game Jeff's parents took us to. I'd just washed them, saw them sitting out, and when I was putting the cookies on their plate, I had the idea to make it look like they were a runner.

Check it out...

Jeff and I were debating about whether or not it was ingenius to make a runner out of rally rags. He said that it was creative. Jeff argued that I didn't use any ingenuity since I didn't make any plates float in mid air. Whatever. I think Jeff's confused about the difference between ingenuity and magic. What do you think?

Obviously, Jeff couldn't care less about my ingenius/creative faux Giants runner. He was more concerned about the proper use of adjectives.

I LOVED Fleet Week and all the tricks that the Blue Angels showed off. We have a Blue Angels kite, but I never actually knew how cool they were until I got to see them in person. And let me tell you what, they are way better than our stupid kite.

Just to end this post on an extremely happy note...

Check out this beautiful view I had on Sunday morning. I was eating breakfast and had to snap a shot of it.

I LOVE our apartment and all the trees. It makes me feel more like I'm back in NC. And the third story is way better than our basement apartment in Provo. Too bad we're paying for it - literally.

Central Park ain't got nothin' on Golden Gate

2010-09-26T20:27:00.000-07:00

We walked around Golden Gate Park today and I still haven't figured it out. Why is Central Park the only park that everyone hears about in the US. It's in shows and movies and books. Everyone knew about it in NC, but I don't know of anyone ever mentioning the Golden Gate Park. But it totally kicks Central Park's trash.

We've been having fun going to see Giants games for free in the archways at the stadium; hanging out, eating s'mores, and having a bonfire with friends at Ocean beach; and finding an amazing Chinese restaurant close to us. We were especially glad about the Chinese place. We were beginning to think that we'd just have to get Panda Express whenever we wanted Chinese food...

And so sorry but no pictures.

I've been kind of lame lately and haven't been taking a lot of pictures. But we also save all our pictures on the Mac because it's got photoshop, and Jeff has decided to use it for school. Since school has started he's using it all the time to study and work, so...sorry but no pictures. I might have to start posting at odd hours just to get pictures up again because well... I don't know about you, but I really like the posts that have pictures too on blogs.

Man in Black

2010-09-20T20:34:00.000-07:00

Dear Man in Black,

Why were you banging your duffel bag against the door of the train over and over and over again? I don't understand why you kept screaming at yourself. And what is in your duffel bag? I was getting really creeped out when you started pacing up and down the aisle and then started yelling "F*** it, f*** it, f*** it, f*** it!" Next time please stay home so someone can help you and you won't hurt anyone.

Sincerely,
A girl on the N-Judah

Dear San Francisco,

2010-09-18T21:50:00.000-07:00

Why are there a bunch of men dressed up like queens and chanting on the street in the Castro? Was it a drag-queen face off? I'm so confused what they were doing.

Your new resident,
Whitney

Happy Halloween!

2010-09-17T20:49:00.000-07:00

So this is what I came home to today...

That's right people it's a skull. A human skull. Did you know dentists bring home skulls to study? Well I sure didn't. Bleck. Who knew!

Take a look inside this treasure trunk...

Yep it's full of what else but bones. The skull I at least get because of the teeth but bones? I'm just glad Jeff didn't decide to put a bone in our bed...

It's Begun!

2010-09-13T19:47:00.000-07:00

Today Jeff officially started dental school! Well...at least orientation, ha ha. But still...Hooray! I am so excited for him because this has been his goal for a long time.

Here we go...buckle up! It's gonna be a long ride.

CANDY!!!

2010-09-05T21:55:00.000-07:00

We went to Pier 39 the other day to hang out. We like to look at the shops and we've passed by the candy store called "Candy Baron" a couple of times, but we finally took a closer look at what was inside...

Check out Jeff's awesome find.

I discovered that Obama and the first lady have their own mints...who knew!

Does anyone else love Cadbury creme eggs? Growing up my brother and I always looked forward to them every Easter. I found this candy bar that is a creme egg! Mmmmm...

I saw this one and thought what the what?!

Not for girls? Seriously? I wanted to prove them wrong and eat it but then I checked out the price tag.

Jeff spotted this handy store :) for my dad and little sister...

They had a really clever idea. Spiral bound notebooks that had the spirals on the right side! I'm not left-handed but seeing that notebook sure made me wish I were left-handed just so I could try this notebook. I'm sure it's pretty cool.

This was our favorite find though and we really want to try it (but not for five bucks).

Did you notice the new canned dog food flavor? Yummy!

Have video games really gotten that bad?

2010-09-05T21:36:00.000-07:00

So we not only took pictures at the arcade, but we also took some awesome video that were all sideways...oops! Sorry about that :)

Here's the what the laughing lady did...

I'm glad we didn't have to pay for it.

Check out this game...

I know...you couldn't see what happened. But I wanted you to see the title of this game.

Here is the video that actually shows what happens.

Check out this one...

So disturbing that they looked at this stuff for fun. Who were these people?

Needless to say...we enjoyed this place.

Musée Mécanique

2010-09-05T20:42:00.000-07:00

So...the other weekend we went and saw this crazy vintage arcade at fisherman's wharf. It was crazy cool and kind of creepy at the same time. When we walked in, Jeff didn't see too impressed (even though he was the one who'd thought of going :) ), but after seeing some of this weird stuff...how could you not like this place. I mean really...take a look at this stuff!

So I guess back in the day they were totally obsessed with watching goofy little goons laughing. This was just one of them. We passed on paying money to watch Jolly Jack laugh because...

We'd already overheard this crazy lady cackle when we walked in the door. Luckily someone else had just paid a quarter to watch her laugh. She was pretty weird and I was trying to show on my face how scared I was. Too bad it was a bad picture, so we had to try again.

Take Two: What can I say redos of crazy faces never seem to turn out well. I just ended up looking like a spaz. Oh well. At least you can see how huge the lady was.

Here was the next game we wandered upon. At this point Jeff was still not impressed. Then he started to become disappointed (as you can see by the look on his face) when he thought the ancient machine had taken his quarter without letting him play a fun game.

But really he just didn't know how it worked. But luckily he's smart. He's going to be a dentist, so he figured it out. The ball just suddenly popped up and this was his face when it did, ha ha :)
Boys are such kids! You've gotta love it.

This picture of Peppy the clown is for our friend Jack. Since I've known them they've always had a clown voice and said..."Hey kids!" Don't ask. I don't even know.

Then we saw this. What kind of games were they letting their children play. Opium. Really people? Take a look in the drug den. It's totally creepy too.
They look like zombies...bleh!

We were a little too scared to take a peek inside this game...eeek!

We tried to figure out what Jeff's future career would be...you know just to make sure we weren't going into tons of debt for nothing. But it wouldn't tell us and we wasted our quarter, so we'll never know I guess.

This measured what kind of lover you are and I think the picture speaks for itself :)

This was outside the submarine. Who knows why it was out there but what can I say...we just can't pass up the chance to put our face in one of these things. Well...Jeff can. He said it was a girl thing, so he wouldn't. Ha ha. What a goof.

Jeff has spent the night on this submarine...

just like these boy scouts. Well he actually was a boy scout when he did it.

Here's Jeff trying to prove his strength. He was a hoot at this place.

We had a lot of fun here and it turned out to be a lot better than we both thought it was going to be. We're just glad we've had time to go have fun together since the dreaded first year is coming up very soon.

The best of this place is yet to come...

Ahem...Attention please!

2010-08-28T08:34:00.000-07:00

Everyone will you please take notice of the beautiful new header on our blog. I just made it last night on Photoshop and this was the first time I'd ever done a project using that program. Luckily we just got it for free thanks to Jeff's mom who gave us one of her licenses that came with it. I'm sooo excited to start working with all our pictures!

Can I get a woot woot?

I heart flea markets...

2010-08-26T22:49:00.000-07:00

Jeff and I went to the famous Alamo Square flea market last Saturday. I was so awesome. If you guys haven't been to a San Francisco flea market you have to go. I heard someone call it a yard sale, but I've been to yard sales in Provo and they were disgusting. People were actually trying to sell their trash. So crazy. This was no yard sale. It was amazing. What did I find...

A beautiful round pedestal end table that I'm going to paint

PLUS

A long strand of antique looking costume jewelry pearls for only 3 boo-whos!

I left feeling like I totally scored.

I'll have to post pictures once it's finished being painted.

This is at Alamo Square

They call these houses the seven sisters. Only six are in this picture though. Sometimes they're called the Painted Ladies too.

I was shocked at some of the prices at the flea market though. My sister-in-law, Bridget, lucked out when she got cool antique yellow furniture from her family for their baby room. The bookcase was bamboo and I love how it looked. It was the second time I'd seen that. I'd also seen a cool bamboo dresser that'd been painted. So when I went to the flea market and found this bamboo end table/stand I got super excited. It did have a weird suede table top but I figured if I painted it and cut off the suede it'd be okay. I asked the man the price and he told me $85 bucks! Seriously?

I had to hold my tongue because all I wanted to say was "For that trash?"

Ha ha, I was fine with it until I found out it was $85. Jeff told me later that he thought the man was throwing out a crazy price so I'd throw out lower price and then we'd go back and forth on prices for a while. That's stupid though. I don't play that game. When I hear a ridiculous price, it makes me think, "For that? That is not worth it."

Props Needed for Pictures

2010-08-25T22:11:00.000-07:00

Here's more pictures of some of the things we've been doing since in San Francisco, but I have to say there's only so many pictures you can take of the two of you together before you start wishing you had a prop or something...any ideas?

Pretty soon we'll just have to start bringing a little cactus with us, just to spice our pictures up a bit.

Here's the tower right outside our apartment (luckily you can NEVER see it in our apartment because of the fog). We were shocked we could see it that day! It's called Sutro Tower since we live on Mount Sutro in the Forest Knolls - doesn't that sound like Hobbits should be our neighbors or something?

Here's Jeff...He was sure trying to make the picture fun and exciting.

So I stepped it up with my Vanna White pose, just so people don't think we're boring.

Our first attempt at having a tourist take our picture with Lombard Street. He failed. And for some reason I kind of look cross-eyed. Weird.

Our second attempt with another tourist taking our picture.

We started to get sick of asking random people to take our picture, so we took pictures of the views at Coit Tower.

And this is my future home in Carmel.

And I love how everyone in San Francisco grows plants around their doors and windows. It's so beautiful!

Sea lions at Santa Cruz. We were so close!

We left Utah and came to CA, but look what we found when we got here!

Jeff got tickets for the 49ers practice day in Santa Clara.

Here's Alex Smith...

Frank Gore...(he's smaller than I realized)

Taylor Mays (I'm sooo excited to see him play this year...he's awesome! If you haven't seen him play, you've got to watch You Tube and see him playing for USC. He's a monster!)

And Michael Crabtree! We were 30 feet away..so crazy!

My favorite part was when practice was over Crabtree signed one of his receiver's gloves and threw it into the kids' section. The children went crazy! And some parents got a little crazy too as they were telling their child to grab the glove, ha ha.

And she'll have fun, fun, fun til...

2010-08-24T20:52:00.000-07:00

the sun leaves San Francisco! We've been having so much fun the last two days because it's warmed up A LOT in the city! Yesterday it was in the 80s. Today it got up to 98 degrees.

Yesterday felt pretty darn perfect, but today it felt ridiculously hot. We probably would've felt cooler if we had AC, but we don't. I guess San Francisco just doesn't get warm enough during the year for people to have AC for the five days that do get very, very hot!

We went to Ocean beach yesterday and Pacifica today. Jeff found awesome deals on nice brand new wet suits for both of us and we've bought one nice body board. We'll still hunting for a good deal on another one. So if anyone knows anyone selling one...let us know!

The Pacific Ocean is sooo much colder than the Atlantic Ocean but with a wetsuit I can definitely go have fun out there! If anyone's close...this is the time to go to the beaches here :)

Tomorrow's agenda...SURFING!

The San Francisco Treat...Ding! Ding!

2010-08-22T22:24:00.000-07:00

Jeff will probably think I'm lame for including the sound of the cable car in the title name, but it is part of the commercial. It was necessary to include, especially since I've been hearing that sound ALL the time here. The boy I nanny for always says, "Cable Car! Ding, Ding!" I ride the cable car everyday to get to my new job (nannying), and I hear it when I walk home (I'll walk down the hills...I'm not THAT lazy). The picture above is where I hop on every morning - Union Square.

Since we last posted, there has been a lot of things that have happened. In May, I finished teaching - yahoo! In June, Jeff and I finished being Resident Assistants - double yahoo! At the end of June, I finished my ESL Endorsement and we moved - FINALLY! We stopped in at Jeff's parents for a few weeks in Modesto. They were nice enough to let us hang around, help us pick up our stuff from the moving company depot, keep all our stuff in their garage, give us free furniture, and feed us.

We moved into our apartment in the middle of July and it is AWESOME! I keep telling Jeff that I never want to move the whole time we're here (I really hate moving). Jeff quickly asks me what we'll do with our child when we have one...and I'm not quite sure. I haven't figured that out yet, but I will :) It is a small apartment, only 570 sq. ft., but it's cute.

Our ward here is AMAZING! (Sorry if the all caps thing is getting annoying, but I'm really excited about how everything has worked out so well...so it probably will happen again.) The ward members have already invited over for dinners, stopped by to say hi, and baked us things.

I got a nanny job that is just part time, so it's been the perfect job since Jeff won't go back to school until the end of September (isn't that crazy?!), we've gotten to hang out together all afternoon and evening.

Okay enough yapping...here are some cool pictures of our recent adventures.
Oh yeah...we went camping in Moab in June for our 2 year anniversary. We camped at a BLM campground that was right by a river and was only eight dollars!

I got a happy birthday peach when we went to the farmer's market at the Ferry Building on my birthday. It was the best peach I'd had in a long time. Mmmm...I love peaches!

Jeff bought Giants tickets for my birthday and we sat in the bleachers. It was an awesome game, until...
A girl threw up right next to us after she'd been drinking and chewing tobacco - BLEH! So...

We moved to way better seats with no throw up in sight! Ahhh....Happy Birthday! We also enjoyed watching the Bush Man on the piers on my birthday. Jeff's been watching him since he was 10 years old and he still laughs so hard he almost cries. It's surprising how it doesn't get old. The piers are definitely a favorite hang out spot because there's always stuff to see.

I also saw a cute Giants onesie that I wanted so bad. But Jeff said it didn't make sense because we don't have a baby. But we WILL have a baby, so why not get it, right? It made sense to me. But I didn't get it and have regretted it ever since.

Then we went to another Giants game in way better seats later that week. Jeff bought some tickets from Dreadlocks Bill (or Bull...neither of us can remember his name) and they were the best seats I've had. I liked them better than the club level we've been on. You could see everything and we were right behind home plate. I'll sit in those seats again any day. The awesome deal on tickets got included a $5 off coupon for concessions, so we bought Boudin bread bowls with clam chowder, which never get old.

Then we went to Berkeley's Kite Festival and rode on this Salsa party bus, which Jeff says looks exactly like the buses in Guatemala, ha ha.

And saw these kites and some other kites that were dancing to Stairway to Heaven (seems very appropriate song since we were in Berkeley). There was a kite fight as well with an MC giving a play by play, but lets be honest...kites are kites, so we didn't stay there long. Watching kites can only be so interesting for so long. We probably should've brought our own and then we probably would've stayed longer.

The most RIDICULOUS part of the trip was when an ambulance came and there was so much traffic it couldn't get through. We were on our shuttle riding back to our car, so we were surrounded by a lot of people from that city. The ambulance had no choice but to drive over the shrub covered median in order to SAVE A HUMAN LIFE. The woman in front of us started freaking out and cried, "Oh no! That poor grass. They're just killing that grass!" This completely inappropriate comment was shortly followed up with a comment from the lady behind us who exclaimed, "They've just destroyed that habitat's ecosystem." What what? Really people? Really? You've got to love Berkeley residents, right?

We've also been lucky to have two beach trips this summer - one at Santa Cruz and one trip in SC with my family.

I'll have to post all those pictures soon...

It's official...

2010-05-11T20:31:00.000-07:00

We FINALLY had our housing acceptance from UCSF's student housing! We will be leaving Provo June 30th and moving to San Francisco. This is what it'll look like:

I'm really, really excited that we'll be living in a forest. Helllooo trees! I've missed them so much being in Provo for so long. It'll be so wonderful to look out our window (we get to be on the third floor, whoot whoot) and just see green!

Jeff also officially graduated! It's been a couple of weeks since graduation, but I thought I'd post about it anyways. We had an awesome time with friends and family and Jeff is now enjoying life as a free man - no obligations until August.

My family was able to help my sister move into her dorm at BYU for spring term that same weekend, and we're enjoying getting to see her a lot more now that she's at the Y (even if it'll just be a couple months before we move away).

I get finished teaching the last week of May and unfortunately have to finish some graduate credit classes in June. The classes will feel like I'm still teaching since they'll be from 8am-4pm everyday, which is quite unfortunate. But they'll be finished on the 25th and then...LET THE FUN BEGIN!

We're also stoked that this month is the last month we are working as Resident Assistants. We still have to pack up our apartment and my classroom, move it all to CA, buy furniture for our apartment, and I still have to find a job. Bleh...but it's all very exciting!

We'll miss our friends and family in Utah, but we're very excited to move onto the next phase in our life.

A Change Would Do You Good

2010-02-13T00:00:00.000-08:00

So...we are changing our plans. We are moving to San Francisco for the next four years and Jeff will go to UCSF for dental school. Hurray!

Hopefully people will still visit us even if we aren't going to be living in New York. I mean who wants to live in New York anyway right now? I mean look at it...

Miss Honey or Ms. Trunchbull?

2010-01-17T18:25:00.000-08:00

So I had parent teacher conference last week and all went well, which is good because I heard some horror stories from my co-workers. I was also told a cute story from a parent. One of my students was watching Matilda, turned to her mom, and said, "Ya know Mom, if my teacher's hair was a little different color, she'd be Miss Honey!" I guess that's always a plus to be thought of as the nice teacher instead of the evil teacher in the movie. It's always hard to know how your students perceive you, especially when they're getting frustrating and you're stressed. But it was good to hear another mom say whenever she gets upset with her boys (I have twin boys in my class) they always tell her, "Mom stop yelling! Our teacher never yells at us when she's upset." Hopefully my students next year will think of me the same way...it will be very different teaching in NYC and I'll have to adjust culturally once again. You forget while you're teaching mostly LDS students how different their lives are compared to kids everywhere else in the country. When I was testing my students during reading benchmarks, I was reminded of this unique situation I've been teaching in. My student had read a book and I asked him the same question I'd asked the other students and said, "What kind of person was his dad?" The right answer and the one most students respond with is that he's a good person and they proceed to explain why. This particular student answered, "I think he's a missionary." I was a little confused and asked why he'd said that and he replied, "Because he helps people." What a good answer! Then I started to laugh because I can only imagine what a non-LDS teacher some where else in the country would have thought about this student's answer. I know that will be me when I enter into another culture in NYC. I felt it once and I know I'm going to feel it again - like an outsider. I'll be the different one. I'll be the one that isn't in the "club." It's been so comfortable understanding what my students are always talking about because it's things I talked about when I was eight as a mormon child. This next year will be good, but it'll be so different. I've enjoyed seeing what education can be like in good communities, with stable families, and lots of supportive people. I've realized the huge difference involved parents can make in children's education, and I've realized what type of parent I want to be. Each morning as I drive among the picturesque mountains, I feel like I'll really miss this beautiful rural community I've grown to love and respect. I know I've learned a lot and I know these experiences have all been for my own good.

Big lights will inspire you, let's hear it for New York, New York, New Yooork!

2009-12-04T18:01:00.000-08:00

In case you haven't already decoded Jeff's encrypted messages about being "In the Empire State of Mind," it is official that we are going to NYC next year. Jeff got into Columbia University for dental school, so we will be there for four years. Jeff got an email yesterday and received his packet in the mail today. We still are in disbelief but extremely excited! Jeff didn't even want to tell people until he officially received his packet in the mail because he said it just didn't feel real. He's worked very hard and he deserves it. After talking about it since the acceptance, Jeff is confident this is the school he wants to attend for dental school. President Cecil O. Samuelson talked to Jeff's pre-dental class last winter semester and advised them all to apply to at least one school they didn't feel qualified to attend. Columbia was Jeff's school that fit into that category. I guess President Samuelson was advised to do that from his dad, which resulted in him applying to Johns Hopkins and getting accepted. It was advise he continued to follow as he searched for jobs and applied to teach at Duke Medical Center and was given the job. Jeff decided it sounded like good advice, so he applied and got in! It's not going to be cheap, but it definitely will be an experience we will never have again. Let's just say in our excitement we've heard Jay-Z's "Empire State of Mind" song over and over and over again. The next step is for me to find a job. I am excited that I get the chance to teach again in an urban environment since that's what I went into teaching to do. I guess it worked out better than we could have ever imagined it would.

So anyone want to come visit us next year?

Can you believe that will be our home?

Do you want to know why my skin is so beautiful...

2009-09-23T20:25:00.000-07:00

So I was talking about teaching in Washington, D.C. to my students. I was telling them that the class was a lot different than ours. They noticed that the students all had dark skin and they said well some people in our class have dark skin but not skin that dark (I don't have any African American students in my class, which is pretty typical for our entire state). One boy started pointing out who had dark skin. Some of the people he pointed out were white but had dark complexions, but others had dark skin because of their parents diverse nationalities. I said we are lucky that we have so many different and beautiful students in our class. This girl comes up to me and says "do you want to know why my skin is so dark and beautiful?" I asked her why and she informs me that her grandparents are Italian. I gasped and said, "Oh so that's why. I've been wondering why your skin was so beautiful!" She grinned and said, "Yep that's why it's so beautiful." Super, super cute...

Crying in Class

2009-09-23T19:53:00.000-07:00

So yes...I started to cry in my class today. Not sobbing crying, or even tears running down my face crying. But if I hadn't stopped myself, I am sure it could have gone that far.

It's no secret that I have one interesting student in my class. Because of his unique (cough, cough) personality, most other students stay away. However, the girl that I have him sitting next to is an angel. I have always thought she was very nice and pleasant, but the more I see her interacting with him the more I think she's simply magnificent.

Today in class she was his partner for centers. She was so patient and really tried to help him focus. Every time she read a word, he'd do his usual quirky thing and say "What?" She'd repeat it and emphasis her pronunciation. The interaction went a little something like this:

Her: "Clock"
Him: "Huh?"
Her: (slightly louder) "Clock"
Him: "What'd you say?"
Her: "Cl-o-o-ck, k, k" (slowly enunciating each sound)
Him: "What?"

Well you get the point. Sadly that was not the end of their conversation for that particular word. But what really brought me to tears was her intuitiveness.

He didn't want to do his vocabulary, so I tried to convince him it was sooo easy. He doesn't enjoy writing, so he didn't want to write any vocabulary words. I knew that my learning objective wasn't to see how well he spelled the vocabulary words but was to see if he knew how to apply the words, so I told him all he needed to do was draw lines to the words instead of writing them. The girl noticed I said that and she turned to me and said, "Oh, so we don't have to write them?" He turned to her and said matter-of-factly, "Oh, no no no. You don't have to write them. Just draw lines to the words." I leaned behind his back and while see was still looking at me I mouthed "Write it" as I moved my hand in a writing motion. She nodded slightly. I told him, "But you know some people can choose to write it if they want to." She turned to him and said, "Thanks for telling me, but I think I am going to choose to write it." Then she looked at me and smiled. What seven year old actually is discrete enough to do something like that? Any of my other students would have responded with something like,"Teacher I can't hear what you're saying," as I was trying desperately to conspicuously mouth my directions.

It was after that moment that I started to cry. I just walked away, but I truly felt blessed to have her in my class. I think sometimes when people going into teaching they forget that the purpose of teaching isn't always to change students' lives. I have learned a lot from my students and I know I still will. Some have really touched my heart and show me the type of person we all should be a little more like.

This student is truly a kind soul.

Start spreading the news, I'm leaving today...

2009-09-17T17:10:00.000-07:00

I want to be part of it,

New York, New York!

So Jeff's already on his way to UNC and will be heading off next to interview at Columbia in New York City, UNLV in Vegas, and UCSF in San Francisco. Holla!

Jeff's big fat black rain cloud

2009-09-06T19:59:00.000-07:00

So the UNC news was a little too good to be true...Jeff saved up to buy both of us All Sports Passes for the BYU football games. Sadly, the UNC interview falls exactly on the same day as the BYU vs. Florida State game here in Provo. Jeff was so upset he looked up the other two interview days for UNC to see if he could reschedule for a later date and oddly enough...they just so happen to be on the same day as the other two big home games for BYU. Jeff feels that his sacrifice of missing such an important game should automatically earn him a spot at UNC. And as for me, welp...oddly enough I am a basketball fan that will now be attending the Florida state football game without Jeff. Lame. Way to rain on our parade UNC...

GO JEFF, GO JEFF, IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY...

2009-08-28T19:32:00.000-07:00

Okay it's not really his birthday but it's almost like his birthday. Yesterday he got a really nice surprise - an interview invite to UNC. Whoot whoot! September 19th is the big day and I'm sure he'll do great. It's exciting to get any invites, but UNC is considered to be one of the top five dental universities in the US. Since they are a state school, they are very bias towards state residents. Only 7 out-of-state applicants got in last year, so this interview invite is great news! This is an exciting time and we're really stoked to figure out where we will be next year. Yay Jeff! He's worked so hard and deserves a big pat on the back for a job well done. So if you happen to see him any time soon, feel free to give him one...

MDon's Pancakes and the Guac that Rocks!

2009-07-25T12:30:00.000-07:00

So I love making breakfast meals. I think there is a reason why they say breakfast is the most important meal of the day - because it tastes the best! Pancakes are one of the breakfast foods that Jeff loves, so I've tried several varying recipes. However, I could never get more of a response from Jeff than "Yeah...they're good." (Which we all know really means...they just taste like normal pancakes.) No one wants to just make normal tasting pancakes. BORING. So we found out the recipe to Jeff's favorite pancakes - McDonald's. I didn't believe him that they tasted better until we made them and they totally do! The secret ingredient is...SPRITE! Weird, huh?

We have also been obsessed with Chipotle's guac. If you haven't ever had it...well you're missing out on some pretty awesome guacamole. Nothing else at Chipotle is fabulous enough to make us crave it, but that guac...mmmm, delicious. We found the recipe for that too! The secret with their guac is you don't put any tomatoes in it (like a lot of the recipes on The Food Network...tomatoes, bleh). So we made that too and let's just say we will be having the guac that rocks for a long, long, long time.

If you want to be as cool as us, you can make the same guac too.

4 avocados
1 jalapeno
1/2 of a red onion
1/2 of a lime (juiced)
1/2 teaspoon salt
(And a little lemon juice, but not a lot. Just mix it all together in a food processor. It's super easy.)

Success is just so sweet...

2009-06-04T22:55:00.000-07:00

Well...he did it! Jeff took the DAT and… alright, hold on. First things first, I know most spouses like to pat each other on the back (even when they do something mediocre), so that’s what I’m going to do. Jeff actually did an awesome job. He’s worked so hard and deserves to be noticed and appreciated. Since Jeff doesn’t like tooting his own horn, I’ll just have to do all the tooting (as weird as that sounds). His scores were…

Perceptual Ability Score: 25 Percentile: 99.8

Total Science Score: 24 Percentile: 99.1

Academic Average (overall score) Score: 23 Percentile: 98

Ironically enough, his best section in the sciences was in biology, which has always been his lowest scoring science section. However, the studying paid off and he scored a 26 in the bio section and was in the 99.6 percentile.

After the test Jeff shakily picked up the score report from the proctor (he was still in shock at his test results). She was surprised to see such great scores and told Jeff that she’d never seen anyone leave with scores like him. Yay! Who knew?! Jeff is a genius! We’re excited to move onto the next step of applying to dental schools. Now maybe we can choose a school instead of crossing our fingers and hoping to just get into one. Jeff has worked hard studying and this definitely wasn’t a random coincidence. We’re just glad that all his dedication has paid off.

So basically, you can start referring to Jeff as Dr. Youngberg. WAA WHOOO!

Countdown to the DAT

2009-05-29T19:59:00.000-07:00

We are T Minus 3 days and counting...

Good luck babe!

And then the summer fun begins... Waa-Whoo!

Say What?!

2009-05-29T19:52:00.000-07:00

With the school year coming to an end, my students started delivering presents to me. My favorite part was the thank you notes from the second graders. I'd received one that told me "You're the best Queen" and inside it said "To Mrs. Queen Yongbrg" (yeah let's just say not a single student finished the year able to correctly spell my name). But there are also humorous pictures in the cards as well. One student drew a picture of me, very tall of course, and a tiny, tiny boy beside me (he looks more like a preschooler than an 8 year old). I was patting him on the head with a speech bubble that said, "I like you." He's the class clown, and let's be honest everyone loves people that are funny. I guess he picked up on that too.

But as I continued to receive cards and pictures, I was very speechless when a cute girl in my class handed me her card with a picture folded inside. Looking at the crayon drawing, I realized I was in the picture and the girl was drawn a lot smaller beside me. She had a speech bubble that said, "graet bod!" I read it again because what second grade girl would write a note saying that to her teacher? I took it home to have Jeff confirm what I'd read was correct. He got a good laugh out of it. Jeff told me to hang on to it because I'd probably want to read it when I am pregnant :) After his confirmation I remembered hearing her say it at recess to another little girl, so there was no denying it - she must be telling me "great bod" in her picture.

Is that weird or what?

This is why I love teaching elementary school...

2009-03-06T21:22:00.001-08:00

Jeff and I laughed our heads off when we watched this! Kids are super crazy.

So we're famous...

2009-03-06T21:01:00.000-08:00

Well, at least our hands are famous! Jeff was going to class on Wednesday and decided to grab a Daily Universe. As he started flipping through the pages, he stopped on one page that had an artcile about how marriage license fees would not be increased. As enthrawling as that headline sounds, amazingly, the article was not what grabbed his attention. Instead, there was a picture in the middle of the article that seemed very familiar...a little too familiar. Jeff thought to himself, "That picture looks almost exactly like one of our engagement photos!" Then Jeff, like Scooby and Shaggy, started putting two and two together and sniffed out the real solution to this mystery. He realized the hands in the picture look so much like...wait! They were our hands! It was our picture!

It turns out that Jeff's mission buddy that took our engagements is a photographer for the Daily Universe and used our picture. We are very flattered, but I must say we are not that surprised we were chosen. I mean...come on...have you seen our hands? At this point, we are considering changing our career path to superstar handmodel! What do you think? I like it. But if you are hesitant to agree, just look for yourself. The picture that was published has been on the left side of our blog this whole time. Yup. We knew all along that it was golden. You can't deny the attractiveness of those hands, and if you can, well...really what do you know? Have your hands been in a major publication? Yeah...that's what we thought.

*Oh yeah...you may have also noticed that our...umm...Christmas Saga was never quite finished. Well, let's just say it was super fun, and we'll end it there. Blogging in depth about vacations is way too much work, and really who cares (at least that's what I think because I hated blogging about our Christmas. Too much happened).

The Magic of Disneyland

2009-02-07T17:13:00.000-08:00

So after we'd checked into our very spacious handicap hotel room, we were able to experience all the magic of Disneyland at Christmas time. We rode the classics like Space Mountain, Star Tours, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Splash Mountain, the Matterhorn, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, and It's a Small World. However, there were a lot of new attractions to experience this time. Disneyland is transformed into a wonderland of holiday lights, garland, Christmas trees, and holiday magic at Christmas time! The Haunted Mansion is transformed into a ride with a The Nightmare Before Christmas theme. WE LOVED IT! My favorite part was where you suddenly smell gingerbread and you look down and see a gingerbread man rising from a coffin with little x's for his eyes. As I describe it, I guess it sounds a little morbid, but it really was just very clever and hilarious. I only wish they'd keep the theme for the whole year, but it probably wouldn't be as special and cool...needless to say, we rode the ride several...okay, okay, A LOT of times.

However, our first ride on it was the absolute best and couldn't be beat, at least in my opinion. When we walked into the first room of the house (where they shut the doors, turn off the lights, and the walls begin to get taller), the lights turned off and a scary man started talking. As we heard the first sound of thunder crash, a little boy behind us let out a piercing shriek and burst into tears. The incident only became more entertaining as his parents tried to console him by telling him to look at the cool pictures on the walls, which just happened to be the same horrifying pictures that were growing taller before our eyes. The boy became hysterical and gasping between sobs he screamed, “I DON’T WANT TO BE IN THIS HOUSE ANYMORE!” It was just too must amusement for us to handle. Me, Jeff, and his dad laughed the whole time at this poor child’s traumatic experience. As the doors opened, the boy said he wanted to leave, but before his mom could try to dissuade him, Jeff’s dad turns around and says, “Oh, you’ve got to stay because you’re making the ride so much more enjoyable for us.”

We also were able to go to California Adventures, which had most of my highlights for the trip. The ride SOARIN’ is absolutely the best ride in both parks. It’s not scary or super thrilling, but it is exhilarating and breathtaking. The best is being on the top hang gliders because you can’t see anyone’s feet above you. My favorite part of this ride was the smells! Really I think all amusement park rides should use smells. They are so wonderful. You smell oranges and pine trees during this ride! Yummm! The ride is indescribable. You just have to experience it for yourself in all its awesomeness. Really, I want that ride in my own home someday. It’s just that awesome. California Adventures also has two cool tours. The Mission tortilla tour is great because they give you a hot tortilla at the end, but I loved the Boudin bread tour the most. They give you a sample of the bread at the beginning, but you also learn the secret of the delicious sourness of Boudin – they use part of the starter dough that was first used 200 years ago! No wonder! The mystery has been solved! (Plus it was lunch time when we had the tour, so we all got Boudin bread bowls after the tour!)

We learned on our trip that at Disneyland you can also see celebrities. Who knew? Triple D (Guy Fieri) happened to be there from the Food Network. He was filming a show in one of the Disney candy shops, and we could see him through the window. Jeff’s dad had a perfect view above the crowd since he’s a towering 6’4”. He is a huge Triple D fan, so he throws up his hands, makes the rock on sign, and screams, “Yeah Triple D!” We got a good laugh at it, but we all were surprised when Triple D stopped what he was doing, looks out the window, and makes the rock on sign back! A Disneyland worker that was on crowd control informed Jeff’s dad that they will cut that out of the segment for sure (I guess some people think it’s fun to try and ruin people’s days). Travis quickly responded, “He doesn’t care. That’s not why he did it.” And it was true. He didn’t care.

Out of all the crazy fun adventures, I think the most magical part was when they lit up Sleeping Beauty’s castle for the fireworks. For Christmas the castle was decorated to look like there was snow and icicles on it. After they light up the castle, they start playing a song about believing and then suddenly snow starts to fall. You look up and realize it’s coming from the rooftops of the shops on Main St. and that it’s not actually snow but soap suds. Jeff’s mom said she thought it was so magical she almost started crying. So I mean really…how much more magical can you get? However, you could tell most the people at the park were Californians because when the snow started to land on people they quickly brushed it off. Ahh…true Californians – snow haters.

Basically, we loved Disneyland at Christmas time and we can’t wait to go back!

Spacious rooms, showers, and the beginning of F-U-N

2009-01-11T15:05:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, I stink at blogging. But in true Jeff fashion I am wasting my life away watching retarded comedies, today its Joe Dirt, and since I have seen this many times I am gonna try to update the masses. I decided that since Christmas was amazing I am gonna write more than one blog about it.

We left the Saturday after finals early in the morning and drove straight on down to L.A. It wasn’t such a bad drive until we hit San Bernadino. That is because it wasn’t until we were about 8 hours into the drive that I realized that we had forgotten the map to the hotel we were gonna stay in. With some quick thinking on my part I texted Joey who lived his whole life in the greater L.A. area. This may come as a shock to some of you but, there are so many freeways in L.A. that nobody has them all memorized. So with a little help from Joey we got ourselves a more than just a little lost. Take home message / Late Christmas gift to all, never get directions through texting, most of the time you are already past the exit you should have taken by the time the planets align and the message gets to you. Once we were completely lost we called Whitney’s dad, luckily he was near a computer and led us safely to our destination. La Quinta.

I have seen our beautiful La Quinta hotel in Orem from the road. I always figured it was your normal hotel with unlimited doughnuts and small boxes of frosted flakes in the morning. However, this one that we stayed in was huge. I am positive that it was bigger than our apartment. It was a handicapper room so everything had to be spaced out so that a wheelchair could move around. We had two T.V.s, a couch, a living room, and a bathroom. I only mention the bathroom because it was crazy. Apparently handicapped people get to shower sitting down on a bench. Needless to say, I want to be handicapped.

So This is Christmas...

2008-12-14T12:08:00.000-08:00

Our Beautiful (Real ) Christmas Tree! YAY!

This year is our first Christmas together. We were lucky to get ornaments and decorations from both our families to help bring more Christmas cheer into our home. I was very excited to get twinkling lights, ribbon, my Christmas ornaments, and a Moravian star for the tree. Jeff was very happy to get colored lights, his snowball candle, Santa’s Workshop, and his lite brite Christmas tree. We also received a cute advent calendar from my little sister, Carly, that allows us to eat a piece of candy each day until Christmas! YAY for enjoying candy and getting fat!

Another pleasant and unexpected surprise we received was a special ceramic nativity from Jeff’s family. Jeff had told me all about this special nativity that his mom made and was always his job to set up. He was very shocked when his mom sent it and loved setting it up again this year. We are glad to have a family tradition that can be carried on with our own family.

Jeff and I have enjoyed the holiday season. Besides finals and my crazy kids that are super excited about Santa and no school, it has been so fun listening to Christmas music and baking Gingerbread cookies!

Here are some pictures of the fun we had decorating our house for Christmas.

Cute Precious Moments nativity we got for Christmas.

Thanks Carly!

Merry Christmas!

Body World

2008-12-02T21:27:00.000-08:00

Today while I was kicking back, watching Zoolander, and tying to memorize some stuff that I think is so retarded, the movie came to life for me like it never had before. It got to the part where Derek returns home to “find himself” and, right before the Merman commercial comes on, he starts to complain about having the Black Lung. I know that this experience does not seem that unusual, nor does it make sense why that part would jump out so much this time, but prior to this weekend, I had never seen an actual black lung.

Instead of freezing to death standing in line in order to get a good deal on some stuff at Best Buy, we decided to spend the day after Thanksgiving with Whitney’s family in SLC at Body World 3. In case you didn’t know, there are a ton of dead bodies lying around at the Leonardo. I won’t try to explain what they do at Body World because I don’t want to sound like a dork, but basically you can see all the body parts that you want for $19. There is a cross section of a big fat dude and you can see all the fat around the organs and everything. Also, there is a full on camel. It is a lot like the ones that the Wise Men probably rode on to visit you-know-who, except this one had a gaping hole in its side, so you could see all of its guts. Pretty much it was a great date, even though there were bazillions of people there.

Oh, as a side note, I would like to post the following warning: I love Christmas and I get carried away quite frequently. Tonight I was trying to bring the Christmas spirit into our home with a little hot chocolate. Unfortunately, I don’t drink milk, so I have a hard time getting that creamy thickness; I have tried to remedy this by adding extra flavors. I tried making the hot chocolate tonight with grape juice instead of water. I’m surprised that I am still alive to tell about it. I was one of the worst flavors that I have ever had in my mouth. So be warned in case you think you are the first person to think of Grape Chocolate, there really is a reason that nobody is selling it.

Family … isn’t it about T.I.M.E

2008-11-30T18:56:00.000-08:00

When I was in high school, and for about a year afterwards, all I did was play guitar in local bands and bum around with friends. Unfortunately, I have learned that there is more to life than all of that. However, my buddy Jack has found a way to mix adulthood with those beloved teen years. He is a student at the U of U and plays in a local band. His band, This Is My Escape, opened for Fall of Troy. It was a pretty good concert. It had your usual group of junkies and burnouts, but it was fun to get out and do something that didn’t involve O Chem, Physics, or Physiology. I was surprised because there were 5 bands on the bill, which is a lot of rocking for one night. This was compounded by the fact that one of the bands was a modern day Nirvana; I didn’t know it was possible to write 5 songs and only use 4 phrases. To top off the night, we enjoyed a delicious dinner at Betos. I am so glad that we had Thanksgiving break.

It's a hard knock life...

2008-10-24T18:40:00.000-07:00

Here is a current update:

Life at our house consists of Jeff studying for school and the DAT, me planning lessons, and both of us working at the Branbury. Add in church and trying to stay on top of everything else in our lives and life becomes crazy. We were so sad when we realized that the time we'd gotten to spend together last weekend was the hour we went grocery shopping and the five hours we were in my classroom on Saturday (Jeff studied while I worked).

We are currently trying to catch our breath. Jeff has three tests this week in Physics, O-Chem, and PD Bio, and I just had parent/teacher conferences on Thursday. Between review sessions and report cards, we have been able to go out and throw the football around while we make up "original" plays. Let's just say this past week has consisted of very little sleep...

Looking at the kids in my class, who's biggest concerns consist of when lunch is and who is their new "best friend" for the day, makes me think of how much simplier life used to be. And I know that it will just continue to get more hectic. Kids come along (no I'm not pregnant) and life doubles in craziness.

But looking at my kids, I just think back to one of my favorite childhood stories, Peter Pan. I always hated how Peter Pan never stayed with Wendy, but you can't blame him. Who doesn't want to just have adventures all the time and be completey carefree. Sure he had to watch out for Captain Hook, but he never seemed too concerned about him either. Bascially, what I am trying to say is what would life by like if we lived as Peter Pan? What would it be like in a world where no one ever grew up?

I don't really want to find out because I love being grown up and all that comes from it (i.e., intellectual/spiritual growth, being married, making your own decisions, being completely independent, etc.), but there is just always so much to do.

Jeff and I are just grateful for the situation that we've been blessed with, which makes our lives so comfortable. But we are both really, really looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas break! YAY!

Shoulda Known Better

2008-09-24T20:17:00.000-07:00

We went to a concert with Jack earlier this month, and it was just so amazing that we had to make time to blog about it. I am sure most of you have heard of Unwritten Law and may think they're pretty good, but you have no idea. We watched a free "after party" performance at a club in Salt Lake and found the singer to be incredibly entertaining. It was so fun to watch his interesting, statuesque (I'm not trying to use big words but this really is the only word that can describe them) dance moves...kinda weird, but way cool at the same time. Jeff bought a CD the next week, and we've been listening to it in the car nonstop since the show. The music just makes you want to dance (even Jeff, who hates to dance, thinks so).

So if you see two unbelieveably good looking people car dancing in a red Toyota Corolla driving around Provo...that's us...listening to the one and only Unwritten Law.

Please Help the Poor, Invalid Boy!!!

2008-08-08T22:22:00.000-07:00

This is a message for all of those people that have been scratching their heads and pondering, "What can I do to help Jeff and Whitney?" The following post answers just that question.

Okay, so here is our current predicament:

Jeff, who just five days ago suffered a major concussion (among various other traumatic injuries), took a make-up exam today, and although he was shooting for the stars, he missed. Because his grade was not so great, he needs your help. His professor is letting friends take a survey that will help him earn extra credit points. Please "Save Jeff" and take the following survey:

http://qtrial.qualtrics.com/SE?SID=SV_dajj8KTsyR26dDe&SVID=Prod

At the end of the survey, click on the "click here" link and it will ask you to put in the name of the person you are taking the survey for. Just type in "Jeffrey Youngberg" and you're done! It is sooo easy and you Save Jeff!

Now being serious, it would really help if people would take this survey.

Thanks everyone!

(When finished just let us know you've taken it by posting a comment.)

We may not have it all together...

2008-08-05T22:00:00.000-07:00

Okay, okay...so I admit we are failures when it comes to blogging. I had hoped that my husband would help strengthen this horrible weakness that I have, but unfortunately, he is a blogging failure too. I have this great ability to forget and let things go that I feel are a last priority, and sadly blogging always ends up being dead last and, consequently, completely ignored. However, Jeffy loves the idea of a blog, so I am attempting to make up for the lack of bloggage on our part and have a somewhat up-to-date blog. I do think blogs help keep everyone in the loop, but my question is - when do you people blog? When? I can't sleep, and here I am blogging.

The following is our life in a nutshell:

June 7th - Jeff and I were married.

June 8th - Our Honeymoon began.

We went on an amazing Western Caribbean cruise to the Cayman Islands, Cozumel (Mexico), Belize, and Roatan Island (Honduras). The food was great. Jeff enjoyed it a little too much, which was flaunted with his eight pound weight gain. Yes...skinny Jeff left married and studly and came back to the states with a belly. But in his defense, it was lost within a week of getting back. I guess all-you-can-eat 24 hour buffets are too tempting for Jeffrey.

In the Cayman Islands, we went snorkeling and walked around. It was our least favorite place because it was too commercial.

In Mexico, we went the Mayan ruins. They were amazing. It did rain while we were there, but it just made it even more fun!

In Belize, we talked with the locals, took a taxi around town, and went to a private beach. This stop was a favorite because we were able to interact with the people so much and learn about their culture.

Roatan Island was our favorite. It was very exotic and remote. Not commercial at all. We played with monkeys, birds, explored technologically advanced pirate caves containing swamp coolers, and played on the beaches.

There was one crazy monkey in Roatan. It has so crazy and evil that it had to be chained to a tree to protect all the tourists. Watch at your own risk and behold the monkey, Kill!

Jeff being a crazy...

The "pirate caves"

When we got home from the honeymoon, we returned to bills, school, and work. We also had a little disaster at the end of June (just to make life interesting). Our bedroom flooded, but it is a long story so...we won't go into details. It was so fun though to rip apart all of our well organized rooms that had taken weeks to get our things exactly in the places we wanted them. So fun! Our living room looked like a disaster area. We had planned on going camping that weekend, but sleeping on our coaches was probably the next best thing. When it was all happening, all that Jeff could do was laugh, which is so Jeff. But his reaction just made everything so much more fun and hilarious! That Jeffrey...

We got our apartment back into order by the beginning of the next week, so it all worked out pretty well.

We were also VERY excited to get our porch light fixed!

Another major event occurred in July - the release of the second Batman movie, The Dark Knight. Since Jeff is the biggest Batman fan I've ever known (proven by the fact he had Batman sheets until we got married), he waited for the monumental event since well...forever. As we were waiting for its release, we prepped ourselves for the movie by buying Batman Begins and watching it over and over again. We also were so excited to find out that Domino's Pizza had a "Gotham Pizza." We bought it and found out that whoever thought of the pizza was a genius!

Read the pizza box and find out for yourself...

I mean, have you ever see such a cleverly designed pizza box? And the chain hanging in the background is Jeff's countdown to The Dark Knight's midnight showing. What a goob...
Needless to say, Jeff loved the movie (I did too), and we've already watched it three times since it's release date.

The rest of July was filled with me working at Baskin Robbins, hiking, biking, and rock climbing.
Jeff was excited to climb his first three pitch climb.

However, the most important event that took place in July was my birthday. Since it fell on a Sunday this year, I informed Jeff that I guessed we'd just have to celebrate my birthday the day before. Jeff made fun of the idea (I guess he's never been informed of the birthday celebration rules), but he went along with the whole thing. When I got off work, Jeff took me to Outback Steakhouse, and we treated ourselves to a nice big beefy dinner. We then planned on going to the driving range, going to get dessert, and going to a dollar movie. However, we had a pleasant change of plans when my brother called and wanted to go rock climbing instead! We climbed for a little while, but our plans were ruined when it started raining cats and dogs. We ran for it as we got completely soaked. By the time we got changed and hung up all the rock climbing gear, we were so tired we just went to bed. But running in the rain is always super fun, so our plans weren't ruined I guess, just changed. We decided that we would just go buy dessert on Monday night, so my birthday celebration turned into a three day extravaganza. I think this should be a new birthday tradition. I mean think about it...three days of celebrating?! It would make birthdays unforgettable. Birthdays are usually pretty good, but if they were three days long, then they would be one of the best times of the year! On Sunday, my real birthday, we went to church, and then we went to Evan and Bridget's (my brother and his wife) to have a cook out with Natalie and Mikey (my sister and her husband) and their two kids (Avery and Aidan). We had hamburgers and my favorite southern dessert, Hot Milk Cake with fresh strawberries and whipping cream. Avery surprised me with a wonderful birthday card that she worked very hard on.

Jeff also surprised me with his gift earlier in the day. He came out in his chemistry goggles, with a tower of snicker doodles (my favorite cookie) that had a candle in it. My gift was wrapped with love in an entire roll of toliet paper. Can it get any better than that? Yes, it can and it did. When I opened my gift, I was so excited to get a nice, new backpacking tent. It only weighs three pounds! So crazy! Here is a picture:

To finish the month, I stopped working at Baskin Robbins and began trying to set up my classroom.

We started the month of August with an unexpected accident - Jeff fell rocking climbing. We won't go into details, but his friend was able to save his life. Jeff had already fallen 30 feet, and his friend was able to catch the rope with one hand and prevent Jeff from falling another 40 feet. The doctors were baffled that he had such "minor" injuries. He stayed in the hospital for about three days, and he is now recovering very quickly. He left with a broken arm, 80 stitches in his forehead leaving a very nice Harry Potter scar, stitches in his nostril, a tear in his lung, a bruised and collapsed lung, and a lot of scrapes and bruises. Jeff's accident was reported both on KSL news and Fox 13 news; although, all the information reported was incorrect. Apparently, these news networks don't value credible sources and have no issues with completely making up their news reports.

(Thanks to Travis, Jeff's brother, who kindly took pictures while in the ER. Brothers are perfect for documenting disgusting experiences to remember later.)

We had lots of visitors while he was in the hospital and received so much help from friends and family. One of our favorite experiences was receiving a get well card from our niece, Avery.

Life has been full of crazy things since our marriage, but we are so glad to be alive and together.

This is the first day of my life...

2008-06-22T20:16:00.000-07:00