Scott, Chelsie, and Brylie

Our Year In Review

2012-01-27T11:29:00.000-08:00

Even though its now almost the end of January, I am still kind of in the "think about last year and how blessed we are, and then try and make this year better" mode. So here was our last year in review, in a nutshell.

January

I started work on my final project to complete my Bachelors Degree, the dreaded Teacher Work Sample!
In the middle of my pregnancy and feeling pretty good! I think this was the one month that I wasn't congested and feeling miserable from some sort of sickness.

February

Completed the Teacher Work Sample, and PASSED IT! Woot!
Over halfway through my pregnancy, and finally starting to LOOK pregnant.
Celebrated Valentines Day with flowers and a big balloon on my desk at work from my cute hubby. (I think my students might have been more excited about it than I was!)
Got the crib for the nursery and started to decorate and get ready for baby!

March

I redid an old dresser and painted it white to put in the nursery to hold the bundle of clothes that we already had for Brylie.
Family baby shower in Idaho!
March must not have been too exciting, because that's all I remember. :)

April

I graduated from BYU with a Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education, walking at 8 months pregnant! (Let me tell you, that was one long and HOT ceremony! But well worth it!)
That same weekend I had my baby shower, thrown by my lovely mother, and my side of the family finally got to meet Scott's side of the family!
I finished LOTS of projects to get ready for the baby that would be born soon!
Scott and I got to go to our first live session of Conference! Thanks Meg and Micah!
Scott finished another semester at UVU, another one down... lots more to go! :)

May

Brylie Suzanne was born, and almost a week early! WOOT! I guess all that walking and lunging really paid off!
I finished my internship and have missed teaching ever since.

June

Scott's dad came from Reno to visit his new baby granddaughter
Took Brylie to the ranch for the first time, and at 3 weeks old we had her on a horse! (Held tightly in my arms, of course, and supervised by Scott and my parents.)

July

Brylie was blessed by Scott on July 10th. It was a beautiful, perfect day! Luckily it didn't rain and we were still able to have a get together outside afterwards.
Brylie and I went on her first road trip to Yellowstone!
Scott turned the ripe old age of 24 and started a fantastic new job at Mozy! :)
Brylie went to her first rodeo! The 4th of July rodeo in Oakley, Utah!

August

Scott started another semester at UVU
We celebrated our 3 year anniversary with dinner at Outback Steak House!

September

Brylie started giggling!
Really, that's about it for September! haha

October

My brother Brady came home from his 2 year mission in Uruguay! We sure missed him.
We went hunting, and didn't get a thing! But Brylie rode 4-wheelers with me and loved it so much she fell asleep! :)
It was Brylie's first Halloween! She totally rocked an adorable lady bug costume. Pretty much the cutest lady bug I've ever seen.

November

Thanksgiving! It was Brylie's first time out to Reno. She was a great road trip companion for us and loved getting to meet the rest of Scott's family.
We got our first, really nice family pictures taken!

December

I turned the big 2-4! Scott surprised me by getting me a MacBook Pro for my birthday, and then taking me to the ropes course at Provo Beach Resort. Highly recommend that place if you haven't been, its SO much fun!
Brylie's first Christmas! She got to meet Santa at the mall, and didn't even cry until the very end. She just kept looking at Scott like, why did you just put me on this weird man's lap and walk away? Then she would look at Santa, then back to Scott. She was a bit confused! haha
Baby's first snow!
Brylie's first taste of wrapping paper, and opening presents! She loved it!

Here is to a great 2011, and looking forward to a fantastic 2012!

Merry Christmas!

2012-01-25T15:54:00.000-08:00

Yes, I understand that this post is a good month late, but... better late than never!

Christmas has always been exciting for me, mostly. Sometimes I would get Christmas/Birthday presents because my birthday is so close to the day that we celebrate the birth of our Savior, which is not always superb. But for the most part, Christmas has always been magical, and this year was EXTRA magical now that I have my cute little daughter to introduce to all the greatness of the season.

Even though Scott fought me on this, I had our Christmas decorations up before Thanksgiving. My reasoning is that we were going out of town for Thanksgiving, and why not come home to the Christmas spirit? So I put everything up one day while he was at work. :) Not to worry though, we decorated the tree as a family.

I don't know about anyone else, but there is just something so torturing about seeing wrapped presents under the tree, just knowing that there is something there for you but you can't see it. This same feeling only intensified when my wonderful mother-in-law sent us a package that was jammed full of even more gifts for us. Seriously, the anticipation kills me. Knowing this, and probably because he was sick of me begging to open presents early, Scott and I opened a select few presents on Christmas Eve. Brylie had no idea what was going on, but she LOVED ripping the paper! And trying to eat it. :) I considered just getting her boxes and paper for presents, but what kind of a mother would I be if that is what I got her for her FIRST CHRISTMAS?!

Finding things in her stocking from Nana


Eating her presents

The next morning, Christmas Morning, we got up and got all ready to go to church. Our ward wasn't having sacrament meeting until 2:20 in the afternoon, and seeing as we were planning on spending the day with Grandma and Grandpa Thurgood, we went to their ward's Christmas sacrament meeting instead. It was really nice to feel the spirit and be reminded of the true meaning of Christmas on Christmas day.

After church, we headed back to my parent's house, changed into our Christmas pj's, and Brylie was spoiled with all the presents that Grandma and Grandpa got for her. Seriously, we probably could have piled her presents all up, and they would have been much taller than her! :) Again she had fun tearing the wrapping paper and trying to taste each piece.

Surrounded by Presents!

Thrilled with her first Christmas!

It really was a great Christmas, and we were luck enough to have my brother Brandon be here, right before he left on his mission to Argentina! We were excited to share Brylie's first Christmas with my family, and what a great day it was!

Merry Christmas! :)

We Wish You...

2011-12-08T10:15:00.001-08:00

Happy 4th of July... and Happy Halloween... and Happy Thanksgiving... AND a Merry Christmas, although the Christmas post will come later!

I realized that I haven't posted about anything having to do with what we have been up to on holidays, so here is a quick catch up on our major holidays since, oh... the 4th of July! (Yeah... I really need to be better at blogging! )

4th of July, our extended family on my mother's side usually goes to the Oakley rodeo and that's just what we did this year, too! Brylie was all of 6 weeks old, but she did great! She slept through the whole thing. It was SO fantastic! It might have helped that I had one of her ears pressed against my chest, and the other covered by a blanket and my hand, so she was having a peaceful nap while the rest of us enjoyed the wild and crazy rodeo. It was really fun! I hope this is a tradition that we can continue for a long time!

(Picture coming soon)

Next we come upon Halloween...

Scott and I have never been big on dressing up and such, but now that we have a baby, we HAD to dress her up! Especially since I found this adorable lady bug costume at the Holy Cow Boutique! So our Halloween festivities involved carving pumpkins (which never made it outside, despite our intricate workings of the pumpkin's faces. They rotted really quick, for some reason. :'( ), and then dressing Brylie up, taking pictures and heading over to my parent's house to show off our cute little lady bug! It was a fun Halloween!

Dad and Brylie carving pumpkins

Our little lady bug, all ready for some trick or treating!

For Thanksgiving, we made the long trip out to Reno to see Scott's family. I was worried about making such a long drive with a 6 month old, but she did GREAT! She didn't cry or fuss, and as long as we kept her comfy and full, she was happy the whole way! It was nice to get to see everyone, and introduce Brylie to lots of the members of Scott's family who hadn't met her yet. We ate good food, got pictures taken of all the grandkids, and had some good family time!

What a cutie! I just can't get enough of this face!

Tired baby. Not such a flattering picture of me, but... oh well

Spending time with Grandpa McCage and cousin Dylan!

Happy Holidays!!!

6 Months Old!

2011-12-06T14:43:00.001-08:00

I've decided that I really need to blog more. Even if nobody reads this, its a way for Scott and I to remember our lives. I always think when cute or fun things are happening that I will remember them forever, but I really couldn't tell you all the cute and fun things that happened last week, let alone for the last 6 months of my cute little daughter's life! So... this is my new years resolution, a little early. Blog more!

Our little Brylie is 6 months old already! I think she does better at her doctors appointments when Scott comes, because when its just her and I that are going, she cries a lot more. She had her 6 month shots, and did pretty well, seeing as she had already been crying before getting the shots, so there wasn't much of a change when she got them. haha. But once I held her she calmed down and we were able to have a good day.

She is growing and growing! She is now 16 pounds 14 ounces and 27 1/2 inches long! That puts her in the 67th percentile for weight and the 97th for height! We have one long little baby! She has been rolling all over the place, and we are starting to have to watch where we put things on the floor, because sooner or later, if Brylie wants it, Brylie will get it! She isn't crawling or anything yet, but she puts her face on the floor and then starts to push with her feet. She really has to figure something else out soon, I worry that she is going to have permanent carpet burn on her face from trying to push herself around.She is also developing quite the fun personality. She laughs at just about anything (and when she laughs at me in the grocery store, it makes me feel pretty fantastic. I'm funny, and I don't even have to do anything! haha! Maybe its just my looks.) and we catch her smiling at us all the time. It melts my heart when she is sitting on my lap and turns around just to look at me and smile, then turn back around and continue playing. I can already tell that she is going to have a spunky personality, kind of like her mother, and I am loving it!

We also had a friend in our ward take some family pictures for us. This is us, as of a couple weeks ago! We love them SO much! You should check out her blog HERE. She is fantastic! :)

A Portrait of...

2011-10-15T23:04:00.000-07:00

Its been a long time since I have posted! I always seem to be running to try and keep up with the laundry and dishes and a now 5 MONTH OLD baby that I completely forget about updating this blog. But there has been something on my mind lately that I feel like writing about. Its kind of personal, so I don't really know why I am writing this so publicly, but hopefully someone can benefit from my thoughts, so... here it goes.

It seems like my whole life I have been chasing this image of perfection. The image that not only the media puts out there (the tall, skinny, beautiful woman) but also the image that I think I have placed on myself as to what the perfect woman should be. And it seems like time and time again, I never quite meet that image. Now don't get me wrong, I am a fairly confident person and am comfortable with who I am, but I still am always thinking that I should be better, or there is something more that I need to do.

And then I had a baby, which let me tell you, does NOTHING for your body, and is also quite the reality check. I thought I knew what it would take to me a mom, but nothing could have prepared me for the real thing. So then I added another image that I needed to meet... the perfect "stay-at-home mom" image. I am so blessed to be able to have a husband that works hard and is able to provide for our family so that I can stay home with our adorable little daughter and focus on raising her. But I struggle to meet this image of being the perfect mom. My house is NOT always clean, the laundry is not always done, I don't always have dinner ready when Scott gets home, I don't look perfect every day. In fact, some days I don't even shower or put make-up on, or change out of pajamas. Brylie is not always happy, I don't always know what to do for her, and sometimes she hangs out in a white onesie while I sit next to her in my pajamas. This is not what my image of the perfect mom and wife is.

I had been feeling like I would never reach that portrait of perfection that I thought I needed to for a while. I still haven't met it, as I type this on my living room floor that is covered with toys and other random objects that I should probably clean up. Anyways... I went to the Relief Society meeting and cried through basically the whole thing. The talk that really got to me was by Elder Uchtdorf called "Forget Me Not". (If you haven't heard it or read it, you need to. It's fantastic.) Basically it comes down to this, the Lord knows who I am and what I am doing. He knows how hard I try to do good things every day. He knows that I am not perfect, and He is just fine with that. He also knows that the people that I think are perfect, aren't. What matters is that I am trying to do my best, and as long as I keep trying, the Lord will continue to bless me.

I am coming to grips with the fact that I am not the portrait of perfection. Life is not easy, but its not supposed to be. It is through our trials that we become better people, and through our trials that we draw closer to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. So I am going to keep trying. I won't always have the laundry or the dishes done. My house won't always be clean, and I won't always be showered. But I will keep trying to make every day better than the one before it, and be the best mom and wife that I can be. Life is good, and really, I am loving it. Being a mom is the hardest thing I have ever done, but it is so worth it! I'm so grateful for the gospel that gives me strength. I am so blessed! :)

And of course... pictures of our little princess:

2 MONTHS?!

2011-08-04T22:07:00.000-07:00

Where in the world has the time gone, and how do I already have a 2 month old baby?! Well... I guess by now she's 2 1/2 months old. Heavens. I feel like it was just yesterday that we were bringing her home for the first time. But a couple weeks ago we had her 2 month appointment and she is doing quite well! She was 11 lbs 7 oz and 23 inches long, which means she has gained almost 4 pounds and grown 3 1/2 inches since she was born! She is in the 53rd percentile for weight and the 72nd for height.

We also had her first shots at this appointment, too. The poor little girl cried and cried and cried when they gave her the shots. I mean, face bright red, tears coming out of the eyes, and crying so hard you can't breathe kind of crying. And there I am having to hold her arms down while they give her the shots. Worst experience ever! But once I could hold her and cuddle her she was able to calm down and survive the car ride home without screaming or crying. Overall she did well, but I am not looking forward to doing this all over again at her 4 month appointment!

Lately she has also learned to smile and she smiles all the time! I love being able to smile at her and have her smile back at me! She is also starting to do lots of cooing. Most of it comes out as a high pitched squeak that makes us laugh so she smiles and does it more. She is such a cutie!

Here are the most recent pictures of her and her adorable smile! I love this little girl so much! I might be biased, but... I think she's the cutest baby ever! :)

Announcement

2011-06-22T14:45:00.000-07:00

Photo Card

View the entire collection of cards.

Brylie Suzanne McCage

2011-06-02T18:14:00.000-07:00

We are so happy to announce the birth of our little daughter

Brylie Suzanne McCage

She was born on Monday May 16th, 2011 (6 days early! Yay!)
7 lbs 9 oz
19 1/2 inches long!

I had my last appointment the Thursday before she was born, and I was NOT dilated and NOT effaced at all, so according to the doctor I was not going to have this baby until after my due date of May 22nd. So I was quite surprised when I woke up at about 4 in the morning on May 16th to my water breaking! I started to freak out a little bit and Scott groaned and asked me what was going on. Once he processed the situation, he started freaking out a little bit too! We were not at all prepared for this. No bags packed, I didn't have any sub plans for work, nothing. Oh dear.

But even though my water broke, I wasn't having any contractions, so when I called the doctor they said I could either come in right then, or wait and see if I started into labor naturally. I chose to wait for a couple hours (I had been hearing nothing but bad things about being induced, so I got a little nervous). In those couple of hours I showered and got ready, wrote sub plans for the day, e-mailed some people to let them know I was not coming to work, and Scott did a load of laundry to clean up from my water breaking and packed our hospital bag. About an hour after my water broke I started to have contractions that were 10 minutes apart, and at 7 that morning the doctor called and told me to come in so they could get things moving on my labor! Baby Brylie was on her way!

We got to the hospital, contractions were at about 7 minutes apart by then, and they checked me in. Never in my life have I ever planned on giving birth naturally, so when I checked in and asked if I wanted an epidural of course I said yes! Unluckily for me, the anesthesiologist was in a C-section and wouldn't be out for about an hour, so they put my name on the top of the list for the epidural, started the petocin drip to get things moving along and little faster, and left me in my nice little room with my husband to suffer from very painful contractions for the next hour. Seriously its the worst pain I have ever had! Chelsie + contractions = not happy.

After the longest hour of my life, I finally got the epidural, and the rest of the day was great! We watched movies, my family nicely got JCWs meals and ate them in the room while I watched and sipped my Sprite, I napped, and waited until I was dilated enough to start pushing.

At 4pm we got the news that it was time to start pushing! AH! I don't think I have ever worked harder for anything in my life! I pushed for 1 hour and 40 minutes and I was exhausted! But I can't even begin to describe the feeling that I had when they put my little daughter on my chest and she was crying, and I was crying, and Scott was crying.

I am so grateful that Brylie is here and safe and healthy! It is such a miracle having this little girl in our lives and I am so grateful to the Lord for giving us the opportunity to be parents to this sweet little spirit. Its been almost 3 weeks now that she has been here, and I would have to say that they have been some of the hardest weeks of my life, but some of the greatest and most rewarding weeks in my life, too. I LOVE HER SO MUCH, and I love being a mom!

Projects

2011-04-14T10:53:00.000-07:00

I've never considered myself much of a crafty person. I love decorating and such, but I'm not normally someone who makes things for the decorating. I'm more of a buy it and then decorate type of person. So I don't know what's come over me this pregnancy, but I have been crafting like I've never crafted before!

Project #1: Hanging Letters

It all started when I was looking up ideas for how to decorate the nursery. In so many of the pictures I found these cute letters that had different patterns and such on them to have on the wall to spell her name. But when I looked at different sites to see how much I could buy them for, they were like $40 A LETTER! Seriously?! Maybe I was looking at the wrong sites, but that is a little overpriced for a piece of wood with some cute patterns and ribbon on it. So I made my own. I went to one of my favorite places in the world, Hobby Lobby, and found everything that I needed, paper, letters, glue, ribbon, everything, for $15! Much more affordable than $40 a letter! All I did was trace the letter into scrapbook paper, paste it on, and then hot glue the ribbon onto the back of the letter and tie the little bow for the top! This was the final product:

This is a close up of the first letter of her name:

And here is her full name all finished:

Project #2: Bow Holder

I really don't know what to call this, but I got the idea on-line again. One of my obsessions since finding out that we are having a little girl is HAIR BOWS!!! They are SO cute, and affordable (when you don't buy tons at the same time :) ), and I needed somewhere to keep my little stash of bows. This is what I made:
First: I got a pink mesh kind of fabric and bunched it and hot glued it to a metal hanger. (Scott was very helpful in cutting the hanger so that it would be a good size and hang right on the door. )
Next: I glued the ribbons that would hang down onto the pink fabric
Then: I glued the yellow ribbon on top
and Finally: I hung the bows on the ribbons and hung the whole thing on the closet door in the nursery.

And TA-DA! I was really happy with how it turned out! Now I just need to get more bows... ;)

Project #3: Shadow Box Flowers

The theme that I'm going for with Brylie's room is daisy flowers. I have done these little shadow boxes with flowers before for our master bathroom, and I really liked them. So I thought I would do MORE for Brylie's room. I really don't know where I got the idea. All I did was get some shadow boxes, fake daisies, and scrapbook paper at a craft store, paint the shadow box, cut the paper to fit the inside of the box and glue it in, cut the top of the flower off and glue it in the middle, and project done! This is how it turned out. (Again, Scott was so helpful with helping me hang them on the wall and placement and such. He's so good to me! :D )

Project #4: Car Seat Cover

This is ANOTHER thing that is SO expensive! I see all these cute covers in the ward and when we're out shopping or other things, and then I look them up and again, they are like $50! 50 bucks for a piece of fabric that drapes over the car seat was just not a justifiable amount for me to spend, so again I turned to my trusty friend, Hobby Lobby, and got all the things I needed for just $10! Score! This was kind of a big project for me because I am NOT a good seamstress. The last thing I tried to sew was a skirt when I was in high school for a young womens project. It looked terrible and it didn't even fit, so it didn't do much for my sewing ego. But I decided to try and sew this cover anyways. I found the instructions here and tried to follow them perfectly. It is just a good thing that my mom was there to help me or I could have had a disaster on my hands! After 2 days of sewing and measuring this is what was created.

This is the outside:

And this is the inside:

Project #5: Baby Quilt

I really can't take any credit for this one. It was all my mom. I just thought it was so cute that I had to put it on here. My mom found the cutest fabric and sewed me a nice little baby quilt, and then we tied it together at a family baby shower we had with my mom's side. It was such a cute idea and the colors are almost a perfect match to all the decorations in the room. I love it! Thanks mom! This is what she made:

This is the whole quilt:

And here is a close up of one of the cute little butterflies:

Conference Weekend

2011-04-11T11:40:00.001-07:00

A couple weekends ago was Conference Weekend! It was so nice to relax and listen to the words of the prophet and the apostles and really hear what the Lord wanted me to hear at this time in my life. Our dear friends Meghan and Micah came to visit from Colorado, and brought with them tickets to the Saturday afternoon session. It was Scott and my first time going to conference, so we were SO excited that Meg and Micah invited us to go! We decided to make a day out of it, so Saturday morning we met at Trax and rode up to Salt Lake, then spent some time walking around Temple Square. And yes, we even took pictures! (Again, Scott and I really need to get better at this whole picture taking thing.)

We were a little worried about making it on time and getting good seats, so we got some smoothies and then headed to the conference center to make sure we got our seats. We made it in plenty of time, and even had time to kill, but hey, we got good seats! :) It was such a great experience to be at conference and feel the spirit that's in the conference center. Loved it!

And here we are in the conference center:

It was such a great weekend. I even got to spend some time with some of my best friends at a much needed girls night while Scott was at the priesthood session. We are so blessed to have the gospel in our lives to guide us and give us strength. I don't know where I would be without it! I love the Lord so much and am so grateful for the blessings that he gives me every day, like an amazing husband, a healthy pregnancy and baby so far, jobs for both Scott and myself, a place to live, and being surrounded by fantastic family and friends. Really, can life be any better? I owe everything I have to this gospel and my Heavenly Father. The church is true, and we are so blessed to be a part of it! :)

32 Weeks!

2011-04-11T11:26:00.000-07:00

Its weird that my pregnancy is coming to an end! I have to say, I am SO ready to be done being pregnant, but SO nervous for the little baby that will be my responsibility. I am ready for her to be here and for Scott and I to start our own little family. I am now 34 WEEKS!!! Holy crap! Things have really flown by! It helps that I am working full time being a first year teacher and trying to figure out what I'm doing, and worrying about graduating, and finishing projects, and Scott in his first year of college and working full time. Needless to say, its been a busy past 8 months. But I am so grateful for everything that's happened in these last few months.

And now for what everyone wants... the belly picture! We all had our doubts that I would actually ever look pregnant, but I am getting less and less "oh... you're so little" comments and more "Oh... when are you due?!" comments. haha. This is me at 32 weeks. (We really need to get better at taking pictures of my growing stomach, too.)

6 weeks and counting until our little princess is here! :)

26 Weeks

2011-03-02T20:29:00.000-08:00

Its kind of exciting to actually be showing now. I feel like I was in the awkward "Is she pregnant or is she just gaining weight?" phase for quite some time, so to have people asking me when I'm due without hesitating is nice. The lunch lady at work even sneaks me extra food when I eat school lunch, because I'm eating for 2! :) I have gotten even bigger since this picture was taken. I am now 28 weeks, and I guess that our little baby girl is supposed to be gaining about 1/2 pound a week! And since she is getting bigger, so am I! I now weigh more than I think I have ever weighed before. The number of the actual weight will remain a secret! But its alright, its all for a good cause!

This is me at 26 weeks:

I'm 28 weeks now. That means just about 12 weeks until our little bundle of joy is here! I am so excited to meet her! I love her so much already, I can't imagine what its going to be like when she's here!

22 Weeks

2011-02-17T19:17:00.000-08:00

Alright, I know I'm about 4 weeks late with these pictures. But in my defense I lost the cord to connect my camera to the computer, and only have these now by borrowing someone's camera and secretly downloading these onto my computer.

But I think I'll start with pictures of our little baby girl...

This is our very first ultrasound at 10 weeks. Scott called her our little soy bean. :)

This is our little girl, now at 18 weeks. She was not interested in giving us a good profile picture, but she does have a very nice backbone. :)

This is the first real baby belly picture we took. This is me at 22 weeks. Over halfway done with the pregnancy, and just starting to show!

And a close up, just in case you couldn't see it in the other picture. :)

I am now 26 weeks and really starting to feel like I'm getting big. Brylie is growing like crazy, and has recently discovered my ribs. At first it was just a rubbing along my rib line, but lately she has learned that she can kick harder and go underneath the ribs, too. Its really hard to teach 2nd graders an effective math lesson with my little daughter doing flips in my stomach and kicking my ribs! It hurts, but really I just love feeling her move! I can't wait for her to be here! 14 weeks and counting!!!

Its a....

2010-12-21T08:33:00.000-08:00

I can't believe how nervous I was to actually find out! Maybe it just makes this whole experience more real or something, but Scott and I were SO nervous as we were driving to our appointment. Luckily right after we sat down in the waiting room, they called us back to start the ultrasound. Right away we saw 5 little fingers on one hand and then 5 little fingers on the other hand! The baby was moving around so much that the tech lady was having a hard time seeing what she needed to! But just a few minutes into the ultrasound all the moving around paid off, and we found out....
We are THRILLED, and are going to name her Brylie! She is healthy and strong, and is developing just like she should, and if the ultrasound is any hint to how she will behave after birth, we are going to have our hands full with one energetic baby!

I can't believe how much I love this little girl already! I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for blessing us with such a gift, and I can't wait to hold her in my arms!

Countdown!

2010-12-17T17:26:00.000-08:00

Its official! 3 days until we find out the big question... BOY or GIRL?!?!?! We are so excited, AND we even get to find out on my birthday! :) Best birthday present ever, I think! So... what do you think? Boy or girl?

Underwater Tragedy

2010-12-04T21:18:00.000-08:00

Scott is a fish lover, and has brought his love of them into our home. Example: remember Ben the Beta? Well recently he got a fish tank from Jesse, a guy he works with, and was SO excited about it. He even had me move all my decorations on the table in the front room around so that we could make room for the new tank. That same day we went and bought 4 new additions to our family. I would tell you what kind of fish they were, but I don't think I ever really knew. Scott is the fish person in the family, I just thought they looked cool.

The first couple of days went well, besides the fact that one of the fish thought it was cool to beat up the other fish, and then they would all hide behind the filter, or dig holes in the rocks below a nice little bridge we bought. The next few days were not quite so fantastic. I don't know what it is about us and keeping fish alive, but one night when Scott got home, 3 out of the 4 fish that we had gotten just a few days before had gone belly up and joined the fish heavens. Needless to say, it was not the happiest night in the McCage home. Somehow we recovered enough to make it to work/school the next day, just to come home and find that the 4th and final new fish probably died of loneliness and a broken heart from being all alone and he, too, joined his friends in fish heaven. :(

You would think it couldn't get any worse, right? But wait... there's more. We got over the loss of the fish and were able to have a great Thanksgiving break with family in the frozen iceland of Rexburg, ID. Great food, great company, and we even got to see Harry Potter 7 a second time. Good weekend! But when we got home, we found that Ben the Beta, who has had some struggles but has survived well up to this point, was also dead. WHAT?! I swear, we are not intentional fish killers! But apparently we don't have the magic touch when it comes to keeping fish happy and alive. Needless to say, I think we are going to give the fish thing a rest for a while. If we decide to someday try and defy the odds and get another fish, I will make sure to keep you posted.

Scott and Chelsie Sitting in a Tree...

2010-10-19T17:30:00.000-07:00

K-I-S-S-I-N-G.

First came love, then came marriage...

and in MAY comes our BABY in a baby carriage!!! :)

Back to School... Back to School

2010-09-23T19:37:00.000-07:00

So... I know this post is a little overdue! Scott and I have been on our new schedule now for about a month (22 school days to be exact... no worries... my second graders and I keep track) and life has gone from nice and relaxed to CRAZY!!! A good night means that we are both home by around 6pm... and that's after leaving the house at or before 7 am. :'(

Scott has been working hard on going to school full time and working full time. And I have been working hard teaching 29 second graders. It is exhausting!

I honestly wasn't prepared for how much work I would need to put in to be the best teacher for those students that I can be! I wasn't prepared for the early mornings and late nights and endless hours of copying and cutting and coloring and decorating and planning and re-planning and grading and organizing. But I also wasn't prepared for the huge impact that every single one of those students in my class would have on my life. Every day I want to be better, so that I can somehow make sure that the kids leave my class having learned something and knowing that they are important. I wasn't prepared for how hard teaching is, but I wouldn't trade it for the world!

Benjamin Brockley McCage

2010-07-28T18:35:00.000-07:00

Ever since we have been married we have wanted a pet, but being in an apartment where we weren't allowed to have any (and if we did and they found out, we would have been kicked out and homeless) we have just been discussing what pets we someday would have. Scott is a fish person, and for some reason we decided that a betta fish would be a cool thing to have in our new condo. We could even put it in one of those cool fish bowls that look like an overgrown wine glass, and put cute colored rocks at the bottom, and the fish would be so happy and we would live happily ever after. So once we moved we did just that. We spent forever at Pet Smart picking out just the right fish bowl (not to mention the several months we have had of looking at all the vases and things in all the stores that we went to, to pick out just the right shape), we got the cute colored, blue and green and clear, rocks. And then picked out the perfect fish. His name was Brock. Brock the Betta.

It was a happy day when we brought him home and got his bowl all ready and perfect. Then came the time to put him in his new home. Scott decided to get a large spoon, the really big stirring spoons that you use when you're cooking and such, and pour Brock onto the spoon over the sink and then put him in the bowl. Good idea in theory, but when put into practice, it went something like this... water comes out of the container Brock was in, Brock comes with the water and onto the spoon, Brock gets scared because he is on a spoon and not in the water, flops off the spoon, into the sink, and down the drain. Then comes the mass panic and yelling from myself and Scott, mostly because we were worried for the safety of the newest addition to our family who is now down the drain, and not in the fish bowl. We even tried to take the little bend in the drain apart to see if by chance Brock was in there... no luck.

So here we are, with the perfect fish bowl, and no fish to put in it. :( Clearly we can't go back to Pet Smart and get another one, because they will know that we are accidental fish killers and may not let us walk out of the store with another betta, for fear of this fish's life too. Our next choice, Animal Ark, sadly was closed. So we went to our last choice, Wal-Mart, and got Brock Jr. But SURPRISE ... betta fish do not live well, or really live at all, in tap water, despite the insistance of Scott that they do. So a couple days later we said goodbye to Brock Jr as he passed on from this world and into fish heaven, due to a fungus that started growing all over him because of the tap water.

Now... meet Ben.

This is Benjamin Brockley McCage. Named Ben because it still sounds good as Ben the Betta, middle name to remember his brothers who have passed on before him. I bought him as a surprise for Scott's birthday and I am happy to report that Ben is a happy, healthy fish who seems to be enjoying his fantastic fish bowl, in distilled water, not tap water, and having been transferred from store container to fish bowl in a more appropriate method than being poured onto a kitchen spoon.

Depending on the situation, we are thinking about getting a dog next. Any advice given or prayers offered for said dog would probably be a good idea so that we do not repeat our fish follies with yet another pet. But I think everything will work out alright. :)

The Skateboard Saved Me

2010-07-28T17:47:00.000-07:00

I have never been known as someone who skateboards, or longboards. Probably for a good reason. I'm TERRIBLE at it! If you want proof, all you have to do is talk to my friend Tyler, who is the one person who has ever tried to take me longboarding. My first time was in Provo Canyon, and it was not a pleasant experience. It ended with me having several bruises, splinters covering my hands and arms, some scrapes and scratches, missing a job interview, and a golf ball sized goose egg on my head. So its no wonder that I have never been too excited to have skateboards and longboards laying around the house, because clearly I was fearing for my life.

But it was not until a few weeks ago that I realized the true potential of the skateboard. Not for riding around (if you are even able to ride one of those things, I cannot). But in fact, for furniture moving! I claim to be pretty strong, but when it comes to moving our furniture, especially the couch, I fall short and can't even lift the dang thing. Picture this, Scott holding up his end of the couch, trying to coach me on how to properly lift my end of the couch so that we can move it from our apartment to the waiting trailer in the parking lot, and me giving my all to try and lift it, but nothing happening. I mean really, that couch was going nowhere. So here we are, in quite the predicament, when Scott sees the skateboard on the ground and comes up with the great idea to balance the couch on the skateboard! Genius! It worked like a charm, and all I had to do was guide the couch along the walkway and make sure it didn't run into walls or anything. Really, who needs a furniture dolly when you have a skateboard? We then used this same idea to move the desk and our matresses, even tho we probably really didn't need to. But when you figure out something as great as this, clearly you need to use it!

Sadly, I did not take pictures of this. I wish I would have. But trust me, it was a lifesaver during the whole moving process!

Reno... a little late!

2010-07-15T09:26:00.000-07:00

I think I forgot to mention this before... but in May we took a trip to visit Scott's family in Reno. It was over Memorial Day weekend, and true to tradition his family was out in the wild, roughing it with mother nature and camping. I guess its not really in the wild when you're in a camp ground right off a road, and not really roughing it when they have nice big trailers to camp in, but hey... camping is camping, right?! So here are a few pictures from our most recent Reno trip!

This is our dear nephew, Dylan. He is SO adorable, and looks so much like Scott did when he was little (or so I am told, and have seen through pictures). But Scott took it upon himself to teach Dylan how to use the pellet gun while we were there. In about 15 minutes, this little guy knew how to load the gun, cock it, and shoot it. Scott was thrilled! :)

One thing that few people know about me is that I have an intense fear of.... KITES!!! Weird, I know. But theres something about them that just freaks me out! So clearly this was not an activity that I really participated in, but it was fun to watch other people struggle to get / keep kites in the air.

This is Scott on one of his attempts to get a kite flying.

And here is one of his successful flying times, helping Dylan to fly a kite too! (check out his awesome farmers tan!)

The next day we went to pizza with Scott's dad, as you can see from the pizza all over Dylan's face. But I thought this picture was SO cute and SO cheesy, I just had to post it!

Us at Scott's dad's house.

It was a really fun trip, and we wish we could be out there more to visit! And OH... on a side note... while driving those long hours across the baren wasteland of the Nevada desert, we read "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins. It was FANTASTIC!!! I highly suggest reading it! The next book is called Catching Fire, and we just purchased it yesterday, so I am excited to start reading it! :)

Home... Home on the Range

2010-06-01T10:54:00.000-07:00

Scott and I have had quite an eventful 3-4 weeks, filled with homecomings of a best friend, a farewell of a cousin, and a weekend get away to finally see Scott's family after about 6 months.

But the purpose of this post is not to talk about how busy we have been, its talk about our mastery skills in horseback riding! :)

I have been lucky enough to be able to go to "the ranch" nearly every summer since I was little. The ranch is a huge property with a river, forest area that we go hunting in, and a big open meadow where we keep the horses. Ever since I can remember I have LOVED riding horses and we have taken the last couple of weekends (not including Memorial Day Weekend) riding. In the middle of May we went up with my parents to make sure that the horses would be alright for riding again after a long winter of not being ridden. It was so nice to be riding a horse again! While riding we had sun, snow, rain, sleet, and hail. But rain or shine... nothing kept us from our ride! :)

Scott and I

A nice view of the surrounding area (and my hot husband in the grey on the right. :D )

One of the highlights of the day was trying to take one of the new horses, Seana, through part of the river. She is young and has never really been in the mountains before, so when we tried to get her to go through the river, she was not at all interested. So clearly... we decided to pull her through. My dad was nearly de-saddled in the attempt, but after a few minutes......

With 2 leaping bounds she was through the river. Way to go Mom for staying on top!!!

The next week we also went up to help with a company party thing my dad was having at the ranch, and we rode horses pretty much all day! The goal for everyone (who had never really ridden before) was just to stay on top of the horses. Mission accomplished! Not one person fell off the whole day! lol.

This is Scott on the other new horse, Jack!

Here he is on the ride. Also... notice the BEAUTIFUL scenery!!!

We had a great time riding and being with family and friends! If YOU want to go riding anytime... let me know! I would love to go again, and soon!

Sushi ~ok~

2010-05-06T19:05:00.000-07:00

Once in a while I get cravings for sushi. But not just any sushi, GOOD sushi. I have not always been a sushi lover, but being married to one I have made the slow conversion to really loving good sushi. Last Friday was one of those sushi craving days so we decided to try out a new sushi place called Sushi Ya. Both Scott and I had heard good things about this place so we figured we'd try it! It was one of the most awkward dining experiences we have ever had!!!

The night started out with us walking through the doors, expecting to see someone waiting to seat us, or at least the customary sign that says "Please seat yourselves". But with no sign in sight, and having never been here before, we stood alone by the cash register hoping that one of the passing waiters would stop and at least tell us what to do. We stood there for a good 5 minutes, probably looking ridiculous, before someone stopped and finally sat us in a booth next to the bar, asked what we wanted to drink, and then left. So there we sat, patiently waiting in our oversized booth, and waited... and waited... and waited. Another 10 or so minutes passed before our waitress came up to us again, asking what we wanted to drink. I guess she forgot that she had taken our drink orders already. This time before she left she did leave the ticket for us to order what sushi rolls we wanted, so we could at least occupy our time deciding what we wanted to eat, but this time the drinks did come pretty quickly.

It only took us a couple minutes to decide what rolls we wanted and we filled out the ticket.... and waited... and waited... and waited! By now we are thinking that there must be something that we should be doing, like just turning in the sheet to the sushi chefs ourselves, but we didn't know our table number to put on the sheet, so who knows where the sushi would have ended up. So we started watching other people to see what they were doing, because everyone else seemed to be eating, so they must have done something right. But when you're sitting in a restaurant, or really anywhere, it is normally not acceptable to sit and stare at people. Which means that we needed to be sneaky about it, which was good that we were sittiing in the corner booth because hopefully nobody was looking back at us! Luckily we avoided any eye contact with the other people eating but we didn't see them do anything that we weren't doing, which was just sitting in the booth, but they were joyfully eating sushi, and we were not.

What the heck?! At one point in our at least half an hour wait one dear waiter came up to us, and whispered something along the lines of "you ready?" and Scott said "We have never been here before so we don't really know how this works. Should we be doing something?" To this the waiter smiled and said "ok" turned around and booked it the opposite direction. Hahaha! After a good laugh about that, Scott finally took the initiative to go and find the waitress and ask what we were supposed to do. By no means are we a stick out of the croud, extremely memorable couple, but when we are sitting in a restaurant I would at least like the person that is serving us to remember what we look like. At least until we leave. When Scott finally found the waitress and asked if we should be doing something she said "Have I seated you yet?" "yes" "Have I brought you your drinks?" "yep" "Did I give you the sheet to order your rolls?" "yep" "Have I come to pick them up yet?" "nope" "oh, ok. I'll come get those now!" Yay.

When she finally took our sushi order we expected to wait again, and started reading the things they put on the table. Who really reads things like that tho, right? Ya... we do. Normally they are not that big of a deal. But this time they had HOUSE RULES listed. Now you know when they are listed where people can read them, that means this place is serious. They were all good and nice, until we read the one that talked about being charged extra for "wasting" food. Aka: eat everything you order or we are going to charge you more for NOT eating it! WHAT?! Scott and I normally have the problem that our eyes are a lot bigger than our stomachs, so we tend to order more than we can really eat, but never have we been charged MORE for not eating it all! Thats what take home boxes are for! But lucky for us this was an all you can eat place, so no take home boxes available. :'(

My worst fears were confirmed when they brought a large pizza sized plate out filled with sushi and set it on our table. If we were going to finish this huge pile of sushi, we needed a game plan. Since rice expands in your stomach after you eat it, clearly the only logical thing that we could do was to eat as much sushi as we could as quickly as we could and hopefully polish off all of the sushi that we ordered, and wouldn't be able to take home. The next few minutes went something like this: shovel sushi into mouth, chew quickly while getting another piece ready, shovel sushi into mouth, quick sip of the drink while preparing the next piece, shovel sushi into mouth. Our game plan failed miserably. Out of the 7 rolls that we ordered (why we thought we needed 7 rolls between the 2 of us, I have no idea) after eating about 4, we felt like we had sushi coming out of our ears. There was no way that we were going to be able to eat the rest of it. So pulling from prior experiences in childhood we spread the remaining sushi out on the plate to make it look like we ate more than we actually did and walked to the cash register to pay our bill. No worries, they didn't even check how much we ate, nor did they even have our bill listing what we had actually ordered. Good thing we are honest people and told them what we actually got. But on the good side, we didn't pay extra for what we didn't eat. We left feeling extremely full, and not really enjoying this sushi experience as much as we had hoped.

I don't think we'll go back there anytime soon, but I do still love good sushi.

I Hate Lamp

2010-04-22T09:43:00.000-07:00

In honor of one of Scott and my favorite movies... Anchorman... I have decided to call this day and the last couple of days an I Hate Lamp day. I could, and should, have a better attitude about life at the moment, there are lots of things going RIGHT. But I think right now I am content to be in a bad mood, and hate lamp... and carpet...

But if there is anything that I have learned over the past couple of days, its that the Lord is in charge and he knows what is best for me. I may not understand why things are happening the way they are, and why they aren't working out how I wanted them to. But the thing that I do understand is that the Lord cares about me, loves me, and knows what is best for me. If I can turn my life over to Him, and trust that He knows what is best, things will work out the way they should, and probably better than what I had planned for myself. The Lord has also blessed me with an amazing, strong husband that knows just what to do to make my day brighter, and be the support that I need when I feel like I can't stand on my own anymore. All-in-all, life is good! As I focus on the positive things in life, and the blessings that I do have like a fabulous and supportive family, great friends, and a husband that loves me, every day gets better and better!

Dear Body....

2010-02-11T21:29:00.000-08:00

Dear body,

I understand that sometimes you need to rest and feel sick for a while, but now is NOT the time. Seeing as I am in my last real semester at BYU, and missing one class is like missing a lifetime, I would appreciate it if you could start feeling healthy again so I can go on with my life. Thanks!

Love,
ChelsieThis week has not been the best of weeks so far. Besides going to an AWESOME PGvs Lone Peak basketball game where my dear brother and his team dominated and ended up with a win, my stomach has decided that now is a good time to decline any sort of food put into it and send it right back up making me feel like the picture above. I missed class Monday and Tuesday due to lack of strength and my stomach not wanting to keep anything down and finally kind of felt up to going back to school on Wednesday, so I did. Probably not the best idea I've ever had- but in the interest of being able to graduate without having to quickly retake classes over the summer, I dragged myself out of bed and made it through 41/2 hours of class straight only to come home and retire to my bed for the rest of the day... at least until Scott called me when he got off work. :) But on the up side... I was able to drink a whole Powerade today and even eat some chicken and I am feeling a little better. Fingers crossed that I'm almost done being sick!!!

ALSO... Welcome home to my cousin Taylor who returned from serving a very honorable mission in Virginia! We are so thankful that he made it home safely and are excited to see the newest RM of the family in the near future. Yay for Taylor!!!

Movie Weekend!

2010-02-01T19:51:00.000-08:00

What an eventful weekend! I didn't do any homework which always makes for a good weekend, but not such a good start to the week, but oh well! It was well worth it!

We started by going to the PG vs Alta basketball game this weekend. My dear younger brother plays on the varsuty team and although the team played really well, they came out with a loss, only losing by 1 point. :( So needless to say, Brandon was not to thrilled at the end of the game.

Being the GREAT sister and brother-in-law that we are ;) we decided to cheer him up in the best way we know how. MOVIE!!! Things are always made better when watching a movie and eating candy. Thats why me, chick flicks, and ice cream get along oh so well! We went and saw Avatar in 3D, and it was pretty good! It was a little long for my liking, and my poor knees were aching by the time it was over, but Scott LOVED it and so did Brandon, so mission accomplished!
(Secretly it made me want to do cool things like wrestle and ride crazy dragon like creatures and jump gracefully from tree to tree, but don't tell anyone....:) But for any of you that are behind in the times like we were, and have not seen the movie... here is what you are missing out on! :D

Being the avid movie goers that we were this weekend, we also took up an offer to go and see When In Rome with my cousin and his lovely wife. Its been a long time since we have seen them and it was good to catch up and hang out and watch a fun movie. We switched roles on this one and I LOVED this movie and Scott even admits that he thought it was cute! I would see it again, and I am suddenly in desperate need of that sound track! Wonder when it comes out.....?

What I've Learned From First Graders

2010-01-14T11:45:00.001-08:00

As I mentioned in my previous post, I spent the entire month of November working in a first grade classroom and LOVED it! Every day was so exciting and a new experience and I laughed every day! But here are a few things that I learned from them:

When its snowing, you should NOT eat the yellow snow. Oh, and don't throw snowballs at other people either.

When walking in a Halloween parade, to avoid the swine flu you should NOT slap the hands of...

your friends
teachers
siblings
parents
your dog
your cat
a pig
a bird, or
a frog

When eating lunch in the cafeteria, its ok to chant the song "We Will... We Will... Rock You" at the top of your lungs because the majority of your peers will join in the rally. Sometimes its necessary to prove a point.

If you read a sentence that says "They like to race" as "The lick-ee to rack-ee" and nobody corrects you, its correct and you can turn the page and move on to easier sentences. (While reading with one of the students, she read this sentence, looked at me, rolled her eyes and said "that was easy" and turned the page with pride. haha)

When I as the teacher am introducing myself and ask if anyone has any questions, an appropriate question is "Last night my mom let the dogs out of the house and they ran outside and then the cops came and my mom got 2 tickets." To which I reply "Great question... anyone else have any questions?" :D lol

Its appropraite to propose to your teacher after having known them only a few short days. (One student asked me to marry him and was very disappointed when I told him I already have a husband. But he was not discouraged for long... he was quite flirty the next day. haha)

How do you speak in Spanish? Well... its a lot like English, except you say it with a different voice!

Books without pictures are stupid. Who would want to read something without PICTURES?!

Its been a while!!!

2010-01-07T12:22:00.000-08:00

Wow! Its amazing how fast the last few months have flown by! I can't believe I haven't posted anything since JULY!!! Oops! :) But not to worry, we have not been doing nothing worth posting about for the last 5 or so months. Its just been way too busy to think about blogging! But here I am... ready to start again and hopefully keep things up to date this time!

So to get everyone caught up on our lives the past 5 months, this is what we've been up to:

-In August we celebrated our 1 year anniversary! WOOT! We took the whole day and went to Lagoon, which is one of our favorite places. We wanted to go to Disneyland, but... Lagoon is the next best option. That morning started out being a bit cloudy, but the day turned out to be fantastic and SO much fun! Maybe not as great as Disneyland, but... still pretty fabulous.

-The end of August I found a lump in my throat that was making it hard to swallow and I spoke mostly in a whisper because it hurt to talk. So thinking it would be a quick fix at the doctors office I went to the doctor who tested me for Mono or Strep and both tests came out negative. So the doctor sent me to a specialist... who sent me to get an ultrasound and biopsy.... who sent me back to the specialst... then off for another ultrasound and never getting the biopsy... then back to the specialst... who sent me to ANOTHER specialist.... that finally gave me an antibiotic. That antibiotic gave me a rash but got rid of the annoying and painful bump in my throat, so mission accomplished!

-About the picture... it is possible to roast hot dogs over the oven and YES they do taste good. Nuff said. :)

-School started and thus started my first Cohort experience with BYU, which sent me out to teach in a first grade classroom for a month, woring with a cooperating teacher. It was FANTASTIC!!! It made me want to be a teacher SO much more! I picked the right major, I really DO want to be a teacher!

-I have decided that I want to teach in the younger grades! Its way too much fun having them draw me pictures, tell me that I am pretty, and give me hugs as they go out the door! I will write another post with highlights of working with first graders for a month!

-Brad Paisley Concert. Need I say more?! It was AMAZING and so much fun! We went with our neighbors, Kris and Brittany, who were a blast to hang out with. It rained a little bit in the middle of the concert, but we stayed nice and dry thanks to the blanket we brought to sit on. But really... who sits at a concert?! Good times!

-Scott got a promotion! WOO HOO!!! He had been working in the same position for a while and although he really liked it, it was time for a change. So when the position to be Head of Quality Assurance and working with the outsourcing centers was offered to him, he took it! He now works mainly with call centers located internationally in places like India and the Phillipines. He also does a lot of hiring and firing of the telemarketers and working with the "big bosses" to better the company. He is really loving what he is doing!

-My younger brother Brady left on his mission! It was kind of a shock to have him leave, but we have pulled through and LOVE getting his e-mails from Uruguay every week.

-Thanksgiving was spent in Reno with Scott's family (and I guess my family now too... :) It was really fun to have a BIG Thanksgiving with tons of food and family, AND we got TONS of good pictures of our cute nephew Dylan! As you can see... he's a pretty hard core 2 year old! :D

Not to forget one of the most important parts of December... MY BIRTHDAY!!! I turned the big 2-2 and we spent my birthday weekend at the Anniversary Inn up in Salt Lake City. It was FANTASTIC!!! We had a great room, spent the night walking around temple square and eating yummy chocolate stratwberries! MMM-MMM GOOD!

Finally.... Christmas was here in good ol' Utah with my family. We had a nice big turkey dinner on Christmas Eve and then presents and talking to Brady on Christmas day. We even made chocolate covered strawberries that looked like reindeer and took it as our contribution to the family dinner. They turned out SUPER cute! (Check out the picture for proof) I think we are going to make it a tradition! My other bro is on the PG Varsity Basketball team and was leaving for a tournament in California on Christmas day, and my parents went too... so we went and saw Sherlock Holmes. Loved it!

Events all leading to...

2009-07-21T20:32:00.001-07:00

Well its been a while, but the good news is that Scott is now walking! But it was not all fun and games getting him there.

When we got to the doctors office, after filling out our mounds of paperwork and waiting in the pleasant waiting room for what seemed like an eternity, we finally heard the nurse call out "Scott McCage" and I followed my gimping husband into the doctor's office. We weren't really ready for the reactions that came from everyone that looked at his foot, but we got a lot of "Wow" and "Hm" and "Oh my gosh" comments. The doctor was fairly convinced that Scott has broken something, do to the condition that his ankle and foot were in, so we were sent to wait some more for some x-rays.

We were pretty positive that he had broken something when more of the wow's and oh my goshes came from the x-ray technician who told us this was one of the worst ankles that she has seen, and that it was probably broken in at LEAST 3 places. But once the x-rays were placed on that lighted wall area where they put x-rays, and the doctor stared at them for a lot longer that what you would think would be normal, we were informed (from what sounded like a disappointed doctor) that nothing was broken. I guess things twisted in such a way that none of the bones were harmed, but he got the worst sprain that he could have gotten. So the good news is that nothing was broekn, but the bad news is that nothing was broken. It would have healed faster if it would have broken, but we dealt with what we were given.

And now he is walking. He is not quite at the point where he can jog or run yet, he's still working on getting the swelling completely down and the flexibility back. But slowly and surely he is working on a full recovery!

Scott fell down and broke his crown.... or foot.

2009-06-10T10:43:00.000-07:00

This last weekend was our first weekend in a couple of months that was work free and plan free. And just the thought of not needing to be somewhere or do anything was so great! So Scott and I decided that with our free Saturday we wanted to take a picnic up the canyon and spend some time out in the sun. We had our shopping trip to prepare for the event on Friday night and loaded up on snacks and good picnic food, and we even purchased a frisbee! Sounds fun, right?!

Well you're right! It was really fun! Around 1 or so Saturday afternoon we headed up Provo canyon to one of the parks that they have, where we are regulars. We laid out the blanket and ate, and read, and talked, and watched the scouts that were a few yards away try to make a campfire meal. It was such a great day!

Then we decided to play with our newest purchase, the frisbee. For the record, I am not and have never been very good with a frisbee. If I am under the pressure of an ultimate frisbee game, then maybe I can make a decent throw or two, but other than that, I have never claimed to have good frisbee skills. So what happened should have almost been expected of me. During the beginning of our 2 person frisbee game, things were going pretty well. I even had a couple of good throws to boost my confidence. But sooner or later it was bound to happen, and on what I thought was going to be one of my better throws, I threw the frisbee in a completely different direction than I intended and it fell to its watery grave in the rapids of the Provo River.

But being in the good moods that we were, Scott runs to the Jeep and brings back the emergency soccer ball that he keeps in there so that we can continue our Saturday fun. It was maybe 6 or 7 passes into our intense 2 person soccer game that the ball went by me, and as I turned to go retrieve it, Scott's competitive side springs to life and as he is running to beat me to the ball, instead of stepping on the bottom of his foot, for some reason he stepped on the side of this foot, which then twisted his ankle. SOME MAY SAY that it was my fault because I threw the frisbee in the river, but I take no fault for this accident.

At first there was nothing that could be seen that was wrong with it. He was even limping around our picnic blanket trying to loosen things up. But here is what has happened in the days since then:

Saturday night, after much icing and elevation, and not putting hardly ANY pressure on his ankle, it looks like there is a grapefruit growing out of the side of his foot. Hm.... is that normal?

And now this is from last night. There is no longer a grapefruit on the side of his foot. Instead his whole ankle AND foot have swelled to a size where he can no longer even fit a flip flop on, not to mention his toes that look like little sausages. Also, notice the nice violet coloring that has spread from the tip of his toe up to about mid calf. But not to worry! We have an appointment with the doctor today to make sure everything is really alright. Updates will follow.

Day 286

2009-05-28T11:40:00.000-07:00

According to my "wedding book" on facebook, today is the 286th day that Scott and I have been married! WHAT?! Where did the time go! Now I guess that we are still newlyweds and have not yet reached the monumental mark of our one year anniversary, but seriously? 286 days? That just sounds so long but has gone by so quickly!

Which brings me to wonder... what have we done with our lives over the past 286 days? Since making the switch from the single world to the married life, not much has changed except now I have an eternal roommate that I share a bed with, we go to a married ward, and we have to pay more bills. But don't get me wrong, I LOVE the married life! We always have a good time, and I love always being with my best friend!

So here is a recap of the last 286 days with the Scott and Chelsie McCage family:

Married August 15th, 2008 in the Mt Timpanogos Temple
Missed our flight to Reno for our second reception with Scott's family and finally got there 2 hours later than planned
Honeymooned in San Francisco and the surrounding areas for a week, including a trip to Six Flags Marine World, where I got to touch an elephant and we watched all the animal shows they had available to watch
Moved into our first apartment together, and spilled a whole pitcher of red kool-aid on the carpet a couple of days later. (the stain is now covered by the couch :)
Another semester of school started for me, and Scott keeps working so that we can afford it.
We had our first trick-or-treaters that Scott gave candy to, and I didn't even get to see.
We tried our first "new meal" out of the wok cooking book we got for our wedding, and we did a pretty good job!
I got accepted into the Elementary Education program at BYU
We bought a Wii, and it changed our lives.
Traveled to Idaho to visit my grandparents, once for Thanksgiving, and another time just because.
I spent my first Christmas away from my family with Scott's family in Reno
We got stuck in a blizzard on the way home and had to spend the night in Wendover, where we gambled for the first time. Hard core penny slots baby!
I started the elementary education program at BYU
I finally got the guts to quit working at the worst job I have ever had, and was blessed with a new job just a couple weeks later
Scott almost set the apartment on fire when trying to clean some ground beef off of a hot burner with a paper towel.
We started looking at duplexes to buy and become HOMEOWNERS!
Religiously watched the whole 5th season of LOST and LOVED it!
We also decided to get a dog when we live somewhere that we can have a dog. Hopefully its soon, because I really want a dog.
Scott got his scuba certification
We went on a family cruise with my family to Belize, Grand Cayman and Key West
Scott went scuba diving for his first time
Visited Reno for the Memorial Day weekend and had an awesome time!

All in all, I think its been a pretty eventful 286 days, with eternity still to come! Yay! I'm sure that I missed a ton of things, but I think this gives the general idea of our lives. 286 days?! Wow!

Reno for the Weekend

2009-05-22T10:58:00.000-07:00

Seeing as there is a long weekend coming up for Memorial Day, Scott and I thought we would go visit his family. Its been a while since we last saw them, so its long overdue for a trip out there. It seemed like a great idea until I remember the 8+ hour drive it takes for us to get out there, and then the 8+ hour drive for us to come home 2 days later.

But its alright. We always have fun on our road trips, especially when driving in the middle of the night, hopped up on caffeine and candy. ( My one and only time trying Red Bull, I thought it was DISGUSTING, so we don't drink that anymore. Someday I might venture out and try another energy drink, but today is not that day. I am still trying to recover from the terrible experience of the Red Bull.)

But all in all, it should be a good weekend. We are excited for another summer mini-vacation! Woot!

Key West

2009-05-13T10:29:00.000-07:00

We were origonally going to go to Cozumel and do another dive, but because of the swine flu the directors of the cruise decided to play it safe and go to Key West instead, which turned out to be pretty fun!

We decided to do a jet ski tour around the whole island of Key West and it was so much fun! Ocean jet skiing over the big waves of the open water brings some good times and a lot of fun!

We started out on a little dock all lined up and then one at a time, made our way out into the Gulf of Mexico. My brothers, my parents, and Scott and I fell off several times, especially when Scott got the hang of how the jet ski worked and started experimenting with donuts! AH! I haven't laughed as hard as I did when we were riding that thing in quite a while!

At one point of the tour, we were at the southern most tip of the Continental US, which was kinda cool. I think I got a picture of it, but I am not sure where it went. Hm...

To finish off our time in Key West, we did a little shopping like any good tourist would (there were some pretty hilarious, and some not so hilarious shirts there!), and then went to a little Mexican diner that had some pretty good food. Somehow Scott ended up getting fried on his arms, although we put sunscreen on both before AND after the jet ski adventure, and he wore a shirt when we were not on the water. Poor boy. :(

This was the last full day on our cruise and none of us really wanted to leave when it came time. But eventually we made it to the Miami airport and made our way back home to Utah. But I have to admit, I was not super excited when I looked out the window and saw snow STILL on the mountains in the middle of May. I miss the ocean and warm sun already!

Belize

2009-05-13T09:54:00.001-07:00

Wednesday was another "Fun Day at Sea", which is what the cruise called it, where we spent more time working on our burns and eating delicious cruise food. But Thursday was another port day and we went to Belize! Supposedly Belize is supposed to have some of the best diving in the world, and it was pretty awesome!

Because of the time difference of "ship time" and Belize time, we were a little early showing up to the dive shop, so we talked to some of the locals, that seemed to be a little stand off-ish. But when 8 o'clock Belize time came is when the fun started.

This is a picture of the dock where we took off to start our Belize diving adventure. For some reason I really love the look of it. There were small canoes all over the place, and there was even a man taking people across this little chanel in his own canoe, that looked like it was about to sink with just him in it, but somehow he got the passangers across.

We must have been quite the spectacle while loading onto the boat, because by the time we were pulling out, we had a audience of people watching from across the chanel, and a little Belize boy standing right next to us, openly admitting that he was skipping school. He was cute! :)

This day was a little windy and the waves were HUGE when we got past the reef. It made things pretty exciting on the boat when the waves came over the side and drenched all of us before getting in the water. I was still wearing my capris at the time, and they never quite finished drying for the rest of the cruise.

This is a picture of the fish that followed us for the whole dive. When we first discovered him, Brady, my brother, was almost convinced it was a shark and Scott landed on it when getting in the water. So with my brother yelling shark, and something grey swimming underneath Scott, he kinda freaked out and used probably half the air that was in his tank.

Because he used so much air, this is either him checking to see how much air I have to comapre it to himself, or just checking to make sure that I have enough air for the rest of the dive. He is so cute. :)

We dove on what they say is the biggest "living reef" in the world, and it was GORGEOUS! One of my favorite dives so far! We even saw a couple of eels, a lobster, and some sort of underwater spider that Scott held and played with. Good times.

This is us on the ferry back to the cruise ship after the last dive of the day. I think the guy in the background really just makes the picture that much better! Oh, and Belize was AMAZING!

Grand Cayman

2009-05-13T09:06:00.000-07:00

Tuesday May 5th (my dad's birthday) was our first stop in Grand Cayman, where we spent the day scuba diving! It was a great day and the water was perfect for Scott's first dive ever, and the first dive of the trip!

I am not really sure what I am doing, but this is us waiting on the boat for the first dive. Notice the excitement on Scott's face.

I am also pretty sure that I put too much weight on my weight belt because I pretty much sank like a rock when I hopped in the water, but coming back up when the dive was over was not as easy. Note to self: next time use less weight.

Scott's first time going in the water! We were all really impressed with his diving skills, especially on his first dive ever! He did an awesome job and didn't use ALL of his air, which is quite useful when you are under the water and need the air to breathe!

Under the Water

Afterwards we spent the day walking around Grand Cayman, and even shopped at the local grocery store (for the essentials of Pepsi and candy bars), and got some Grand Cayman money (called CI) for change, which we are now using as a souvenir.

Crusin' the Caribbean ~ Part 1

2009-05-13T08:35:00.000-07:00

To start out, the cruise was AWESOME! It was so nice to have such an amazing vacation, where I was pretty much waited on hand and foot, and we had a blast doing tons of fun stuff! (Details on the fun stuff to follow).

It all started at 4 in the morning on May 2nd, which is how early I had to wake up so that I could shower and get ready for the day, and still be able to make our 7am flight to Miami. Not being a morning person, it was not super exciting for me, but the thought that the next day I would be on a cruise made everything bearable.

When we finally got to Miami we left the airport... and look what picked us up!!!

Thats right, a limo! My dad secretly booked a limo to pick us up, and then we spent the next hour or so getting ice cream and cruising South Beach Florida in STYLE! People kept taking pictures of the limo, I am sure thinking that there was some famous person inside. Needless to say, it was pretty awesome.

We got on the ship the next day and spent the rest of that day and Monday relaxing and getting some sun. (A little TOO much sun because we spent the rest of the trip trying to recover from our sunburns that we got that day.)

Change of Plans

2009-05-01T11:07:00.000-07:00

So... because of the SWINE FLU, we found out yesterday that we will no longer be going to Cozumel on the cruise. :( Sad I know, but the good news is that we are at least still going on a cruise!

The other good news is that instead of Cozumel we are going to Key West (technically still part of the U.S. so not quite as exotic, but still AWESOME!). And according to my father we will probably be doing some sweet jet-skiing while we are there! I figured that the water-proof camera is probably still good for this, so hopefully I get some good pictures of the fun times!

But we are off tomorrow! YAY!!!!!!!! We can hardly wait!!!!!

Cruise Time!

2009-04-27T14:03:00.000-07:00

We are officially on the count down until the cruise! I guess it really started last week when we made a paper chain to count down the days. But we are now down to 5 days before we fly out to Miami to start the best vacation ever!

It will go something like this:

Sunday: Get on the boat

Monday: A day at sea (much tanning will be involved)

Tuesday: Grand Cayman - Scuba Diving

Wednesday: Belize - Scuba Diving

Thursday: Honduras - Snorkeling and an awesome zip line!

Friday: Cozumel - Scuba Diving

Saturday: Another day at sea

Sunday: Home

We can't wait to get a vacation! It has been way too long and is much needed! No worries, there will be LOTS of pictures for us to post later of the actual cruise festivities! We might even get some good shots of us scuba diving with our underwater camera that Scott's mom gave us for Christmas! Yay for vacations, especially cruises!!! :)

Awesome Quote

2009-04-18T08:55:00.001-07:00

In my boredom at work, I found this quote on-line and REALLY liked it, so I thought I would share. Its interesting to think about what is really important in our lives and where priorities lie. If we have them in the wrong places, we could really be missing out on the great things that make life truly amazing.

"Life isn’t about keeping score. It’s not about how many people call
you and it’s not about who you’ve dated, are dating, or haven’t dated at
all. It isn’t about who you’ve kissed, what sport you play, or which guy
or girl likes you. It’s not about your shoes or your hair or the color of
your skin or where you live or go to school. In fact, it’s not about
grades, money, clothes, or colleges that accept you or not. Life isn’t
about if you have lots of friends, or if you are alone, and it’s not about how
accepted or unaccepted you are. Life just isn’t about that.

BUT life is about who you love and who you hurt. It’s about how you
feel about yourself. It’s about trust, happiness, and compassion.
It’s about sticking up for your friends and replacing inner hate with
love. Life is about avoiding jealousy, overcoming ignorance, and building
confidence. It’s about what you say and what you mean. It’s about
seeing people for who they are and not for what they have. Most of all, it
is about choosing to use your life to touch someone else’s in a way that could
never been achieved otherwise. These choices are what life is
about!!"

Crazy Weather Documentation

2009-04-17T14:07:00.000-07:00

What is going on with the weather this week?! Scott thinks its signs of the next Ice Age :). I don't know if I agree. But since there is not a whole lot to do at work, me and Brandy (a girl I work with) took the liberty to document what was going on from the window at work. So this is what was seen:

April 15th- Day 1

I got to go into work a little late, just because. So when I left the house around 11:30 that morning, it was a slushy rainy kind of weather. Not the best, but better than snow! By around 1 o'clock that afternoon it looked like this:

Where in the world did the snow come from?

April 16th- Day 2

After taking FOREVER to scrape the snow off of my windows I made it to work and found this site, from the same window at work:10 inches of snow to greet me! There is something SO wrong about 10 inches of snow on the ground in the middle of April.

April 17th- Day 3

Day 3 seems to be panning out a little better weather wise. Partly cloudy skies, and thus far, no sign of any more snow. To complete the documentation, here is the picture from today:

Scuba Certified!!

2009-04-14T09:53:00.000-07:00

Good news! Over the weekend Scott completed his courses and dives to become SCUBA CERTIFIED!!! Its been a dream of his to be able to go scuba diving, and now we are one step closer to making it a reality!

There is this awesome place up in Midway called "The Crater" which is basically what it is. Its this huge crater that fills with naturally warm water and people can go scuba dive there! So after taking a couple classes Scott did his first dives here.

So only about 18 more days until we are off on a cruise filled with fun, sun, and scuba diving! We're really excited!

Good Friday

2009-04-11T13:54:00.000-07:00

Come to find out, yesterday was Good Friday, so I got the day off of work! What a great holiday! :) I had never really even heard of it, and if I have I don't remember. But I get work off, that means it is a good holiday!

So to continue the goodness of Good Friday, we celebrated by going to the movies, and then decorating eggs! I don't know how long its been since I have done that, but Scott came up with the idea, and it was AWESOME! We even splurged and got the Decorating "Party" pack at Wal-Mart for $3. Glitter AND stickers included!

This is us before the egg decorating. We are holding a bunch of hard boiled eggs, they just didn't make it into the picture.

Durring: We had 11 different colors. (It would have been 12 but we blended 2 colors to see what we got. That idea is not suggested. No good colors come from it.) There was also paint, sponges for the paint, glitter, glue, rubber bands for striping the eggs, stickers. The works.

And After: These are the beautiful eggs we created. Some are better from the side... but we didn't get pictures of that.

HAPPY EASTER!!!!

The First One

2009-04-08T14:20:00.000-07:00

I guess its about time that we started a blog, seeing as just about EVERYONE else is doing it!

So... for a short intro:

We are the McCage family! Scott and I got married on August 15th 2008 in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple. It was a SUPER windy day but all turned out perfectly!

Right now we are living in Provo about a mile or so south of BYU campus in a cute little one bedroom apartment that we love, but are looking to buy a duplex soon and become homeowners!

Scott is working full time to put me through school. He is a supervisor at I Marketing Solutions, a telemarketing company, and really likes his job. Right now he is working on getting scuba certified so that we can go scuba diving on the cruise that is coming up in a little over 3 weeks.

I am going to school full time at BYU, majoring in Elementary Education, and LOVING it! There is something about homework that is painting and making posters that is so great to me, although my math class is just about killing me. And no, elementary math for elementary teachers is NOT as easy as it sounds. I am also working part time at American Family Insurance (which is where I had enough time to start this blog :). The job is alright, it helps pay the bills, and helps pay for school, so it will do for now!