La Pizza!! Che Bravo

Hello everyone! So I know you are wondering why I have a picture of a pizza here. Well, I am finally back from the dead and finally feeling well so I have been up and around. I wanted to posted this picture to show my awesome handy work. For years I have been craving a real pizza Margarita and every time we go out for gourmet pizza I try one and leave sad. I never really get the flavor that I was looking for in the sauce and then I am sad. I miss Italy so much and really miss the pizza! So, now armed with a true craving for it and super heightened senses I decided to surprise Rick and give it a go. I rolled out the dough by hand, chopped everything up, picked the basil, and best of all, I hand made the sauce. All I can say is yum! I tried about 4 sauce mixtures and found a great combo that felt like Italia! I used part real vine ripened tomatoes that were super ripe and stewed tomatoes that were canned. I am convinced that the mixture was right on. Too fresh was too much and too much canned was bland. It worked and I was ecstatic. Wish you were all here! There was plenty left over. Remind me when we see each other again and I will make it for you sometime. Avete un invitazione per la ciena a' casa mia! (You are invited for dinner at my house) . P.S. the peperoni was for Rick. He just cant leave amazing alone! Ha Ha.

Guilty Concience

So I woke up this morning thinking that Rick was still here at 8:30am and figured that he just had a late day. The light was on downstairs and I thought I heard someone in the kitchen so I dozed again and slept for about 3 more minutes before I remembered that Rick woke me up to drive him to work this morning way earlier. I told him to take the van (lots to do at home so I figured I would do that and not go anywhere today) so that I could sleep in. He was fully dressed so I realized that he would not be here still. Then I thought that he was a booger for not turning off the lights before leaving (I hate paying for lights that we don't enjoy). The thought occurred to me that Jacob could be downstairs so I sprang up and crawled to the end of our bed where I could look out of our room into Jacobs and saw him laying on his bed. A burglar was too far fetched so I decided to lay back down for a minute before getting up. Well, Jacob must have heard me stirring because I heard him run around his room for a second and then come running in to tell me how much he loved me and snuggle. Well, he comes in to love me and snuggle every morning before we go down stairs so I thought nothing of it. It was not until I suggested that we go downstairs and get breakfast that his little poker face broke down. He said, "no, no lets lay here and play." I told him that I was really hungry and that I wanted to go get breakfast and started getting up. That is when he sprang from the bed and said, "I love you mommy, don't go into my room." No break in the comments at all, just fast and forceful. Well, I figured out that something was off and started for his room. I started grilling him and he denied that anything was wrong and tried to bar me from entering into his room. I being bigger and taller just pushed him aside and then told him that not telling mommy when something was wrong was naughty and that if I found something before he told me about it that he would be in big trouble. Well, he taught about it for a second and then gave me a clue. He said I did something that is not that bad but it is not behind the door. Strait to the door I went and peaked around to find a bag of the gummy snacks that I told him he could not have last night.

Be fore I could even say a word he pulled me down to his level, looked me in the eye and said, "I know, I was naughty. When will I learn to listen to mommy? I know better and I cant have any for the rest of the day because I was sneaky and I don't get any now. He looked at me hopefully as if to cue me to deny that fact and I said, "yep, that is right! You were naughty, you need to learn to listen to mommy and you cant have any for the rest of the day. IF you ever do that again we will never buy any again, ever!" He said, "okay, you are right mommy, and I am sorry." Boy, I sure wish that every punishment went that way. Normally time out would have ensued but he confessed, apologized and took his consequence well. Cant argue with that. I used to find him in corners with boxes of stuff that he had eaten and dealt with him feeling sick all day, so we are definitely growing up. Gotta love it.

To Rick For Our Anniversary (late) Really 27th of Dec.

Well, as you probably read, my 6th anniversary was a mess. I was so sick that we could not do anything and I was barely coherent because of the pain meds that they had me on. I tell you, if Rick loves me the way I was on our anniversary this year, then I am confident that he truly loves me no matter what!! Just to back that up, here is a little idea of the mess that I was: Not showered in 2 days because the water hurt my ears, hair a horrible mess, sick, hacking, tissues everywhere, groaning and on Vikidin. If you are not a long time friend that has ever seen me in the maybe 5 times in my life that I take meds that are stronger than Tylenol you will not understand, but if you have seen me you will understand. I am a LOON on meds. I laugh, say weird things, apparently I call out like a Yeti and hold a care bare monkey of Jakes like my child (says Rick). Basically, I loose all sanity! Yep, just what I wanted to do to make him so happy he chose me 6 years ago. To top it all off I am pregnant and getting big and well, if he loves me despite it all, I guess it is just one more reason that I got luckier than I ever knew on Dec 27th 2002 when he said I will!

If that is not enough to show my utter gratitude to the lord for a man like Rick, here are 6more things that I would share about and with Rick for our 6th Anniversary:

1. No matter what, Rick makes me laugh! - We fell in love, married, and then realized that we are both totally different and the same at the same time. Maybe it is that we are the same temperament, same ideals and same bull headed types, but our approaches are different. We just work though. We argue on occasion, we disagree (at first) a lot, we drive each other nuts sometimes, but I cant stay sufficiently mad at him for long. As long as we engage in the argument it can go on and on, but once one of us leaves the room, it is only minutes before someone comes running to make amends. He comes in and pokes his head around the corner and says something funny and I know that if I look at him, it is over. There just is not room for any anger when I look at him because I adore him. I truly think he is the funniest, cutest person that I know. Close second would be our little one Jakie.
*Rick has even texted me from downstairs before to see if the coast is clear to come and check on me. He was particularly bad that time and a poke around the corner might have been a poke in the eye for him. It was cute though!

2. The man has true character: -I have never in my life ever met any man like him before. I know that other people exist like him like my mom and good people that do good things for no reason, but he was the first handsome man that I ever knew that was truly that way. No wonder I fell fast and hard for him! I have always been amazed at his sense of family, sense of right and wrong, his desire to be better, and his utter devotion to God and me. In these things I have never been disappointed in him. I remember when we were dating that he would tell me not to come over on Saturday mornings until about 11am. He had a list of chores that he did for his family and community. I figured he did a few things at the threat of his parents anger, but no, he volunteered. Not just him but his whole family! Cam is just like him in this and I always admire it. Anyway, he would go over and mow his grandma's lawn, mow the neighbors lawn, or help with other things they needed, he would then help in is family yard and run any errands that needed doing. He was the first to agree to do whatever he was asked. Yeah, he whines sometimes, but not like I would have! I was thoroughly impressed then, but I had no idea that I had not even scratched the surface of his service. He goes so far above and beyond in his callings at church, he helps anyone he can and certainly helps me. I have to whip him into shape sometimes, but he is so much better than me in so many areas and I feel complete gratitude for his example on so many occasions.

3. He is an amazing father: - I knew when we dated/were engaged that he loved kids, and after we were married I saw even more evidence of that but I never knew the depth of reverence that he holds for Heavenly fathers "little ones". He melts at the sight of a child and especially a baby. He really would hold them all and call them all little ones all of the time. I watched him with others kids before we had Jake and knew that he would adore his children and love them completely. Well, I was right but I never knew how much more he could love our own child. Jacob is such a sweet little spirit and keeps us on our toes. I watch him as he interacts with Jacob and I see that no time with his son is ever a wasted moment. Sure he looses his temper on occasion and Jacob drives us both nuts sometimes, but he is our most precious gift and Rick makes sure that Jake knows it daily. I admire his openness with his feelings for Jake, I am amazed at his desire to give him more love each day and I take lesson at the time he spend with Jake even when I know that he is exhausted and ready for a break. I know that he will be doubly so when our next little one joins our family in June.

4. He was irresistible to me: - When I think of what I could have ended up after a 2-3 week courting period and a 2 month engagement before our wedding, I know that I got lucky! Same goes for him, I could have been a psycho!!! Shame on us for our carelessness. What were our parents thinking!! I am surprised that no one stormed the temple and demanded that we not be fools. We never even got a stern talking too to make sure we were not nuts. Well, I guess that both sides knew us and realized that #1 we are insanely strong willed, #2 we were truly in love, #3 that we were both RM's with the training to tap into the spirit. Well, that said, if Jacob ever does that to me, I am going to freak out!!

Oh well, I guess that is how life goes. Thinking back, I could never have done it any other way! I dated long and hard before Rick and never wanted marriage with any of the other ones. I never even considered it and certainly not at 24. But, I knew on our first date that I was in trouble with Rick. He was everything I wanted and everything I didn't even know I was looking for. We went to see Elder Ballard speak on our first date and at the event center rick put his arm around me (rick, you fast mover you!!) and I swear I felt a shock of electricity. I knew I was in it for good if he wanted me! Then he held my hand on the way out (seriously confident here huh!) and I smiled the whole way home. I never worried about if it would work really, I changed plans to move back to California right away and stayed to see how things would work. I knew they would and I said yes the second he hinted at marriage. I just did not want to loose him. I wonder about my life without him and I am just sure that I could have been fine, but never as happy as I am with him! It has been a wild ride but I would love to do it all again with him any day. Next time I would be smarter though and not make the mistakes I have. Then I could be perfect in his eyes!

5.He is very ambitious: Well, as you can tell from the last comments Rick is quite tenacious! He is very kicked back about things until he knows what he wants. Once he sets his sights on something, it will happen for him. Not in a cocky or smug way at all, it is just that when Rick sets his mind on something, his whole focus shifts to make it happen and people cant help but jump on board and follow what he has set. I have been his only nemesis because we are the same and if I do that, compromise is required, so he does not always get what he wants with me. I try to let him have his way on things though, I get a secret happiness from knowing that he gets to lead and have generally found that he is quite right about a lot of things (I put the smack down when he gets out of control tough). Okay, most things. I think it is because he is so logical and I am quite emotional. Anyone will tell you that logical usually trumps emotional.

Anyway, He is tenacious and can set goals. He sees what he wants and just does it. I remember when we met he was at UVSC after his mission (and a 1.7 GPA during his freshman year at Snow College). Yikes, he had obstacles to overcome, but was doing great at UVSC and planned on going to the U of U for med school. I married him despite his wanting to be a doctor (a doctors life, yuck!) and believed he could do anything. I would have married him no matter what he wanted to be, but I have been impressed and even surprised at his ability to accomplish things in his life. He figured out that a DR. is not what he wanted to be and made administration his goal . I watched as he got into BYU by the skin of his teeth and flourished there in the Public Health Dpt. I never even saw him do homework at home because he went to school 9-5 so that when he came home, it was just us. He blew me away as he applied to graduate schools that were in the top 10 and got in! We were off to Seattle and I watched as he reached the top of his class and got a coveted internship at UW and then was again floored when he got a fantastic Fellowship post grad. I never could have imagined that he would take us that far. I did not ever think he could not do it, I just have always been so surprised and sometimes shocked by the overwhelming reaction to him by his peers and professional leaders. He is as ambitious with them as he is with is and I love and truly respect him ever day for that!

6. He is more than a husband, he is my best friend: There is no one in this world that knows me better than Rick Shumway! For better and certainly at times for worst, he knows me and has always loved me. I can't lie to him (unless it is a surprise) and I never feel worse than when I do not give him 100% of my love. I feel like with him it is all or nothing. We could never work if we were not best friends. I think we both just want and need that too much. He has slowly become my conscience and I see what I want to be when I look at him. We teach each other, I dare say, daily! Sometimes we teach what not to do and other times it is a lesson on what to do to love one another. I think so many wonderful things of Rick but I think that what I always come back to is just a feeling of complete love for him. I love his little faults, I love his dumb sounds that he makes to make me laugh, I love when he thinks that he is fooling me and I am totally on to him, I love when he takes nurse quality care of me when I am sick, I love when he accomplishes something big and fakes humility, I love when he smiles at me and his ears move, I love when he tries to lie to get out of doing something he hates doing (usually shopping), I love it when he holds our son and tells him that daddy loves him, and most of all I love that he chose me! I know that he could have had his pick, but I thank the Lord everyday that he is all mine for more than forever! I get his one for eternity.
Happy anniversary Love. There is so much more I would say but no one else wants to hear about that stuff! I am sorry that I was disgusting and completely incoherent during the whole day on our real anniversary! I will make it up to you by actually getting cute and then buy you a belly full of food that you love! -Happier than I ever could have imagined, Sarah

The Days following Christmas.

So here is the story. Christmas was awesome. I loved playing with Jacob and Rick and seeing them enjoy the presents and all that the season have to offer. Well the 25th passed with not much more than the regular pregnancy Yuck that I have everyday. I went to bed that night feeling like I might be starting a cold but was not particularly worried. Then I woke up on the 26th. I was out maybe 8 hours but there was a serious siege under way in that short time. I have never felt so bad so fast. I was hacking, coughing, and miserable from the moment I woke up. A good steam bath and some rest later I was feeling better so I took a nap at lunch time with Jacob and then the misery really started. I fell asleep feeling pretty good, but coughing and woke up 2 hours later with a deafening, stabbing pain in my right ear. It seriously felt like someone was stabbing it so I called down to Rick for help and he of course, did all that he could do to make me comfortable. Tylenol, hot compress, nothing much because of the baby. Those things helped a bit but I think I needed something more like a bottle of whisky (just kidding though I did consider the sort) or NyQuil (my own LDS whisky). Oh, how I miss NyQuil!!! It really is one of the biggest reasons I don't like being pregnant. There are many, but it is up there). I like to take it the second I feel sick and spend the illness in a stupor but no such luck. I thought we needed to to the ER (since it was a weekend) but we held out because of the $75.00 co pay. I knew I needed drops! We called the OB and they put me on an antibiotic just from my description and called in some Vikidin (okay when you are pregnant so I was surprised!). It took the edge off and let me sleep okay on the 26th and helped me get through the 27th during the day (my anniversary! Sad huh, drugged and sick on my day of Love). Anyway, I got to sleep on that night but at about 12am I woke up in such excruciating pain that there is nothing to compare it to. Even labor was less intense because it breaks for a few minutes between contractions. I guess the only thing to describe it is about as close a tooth ache that needs a root canal. I had one once and that was about the most pain I have ever been in. This one was at last as bad as that. I cried and cried, and finally when I started screaming I knew it was the ER for me. We left at 2am and got in to see someone at about 3pm. They prescribed stuff that helped and I finally got home at 5am. Poor Rick & Jake had to sit there while I cried and got treatment in the yucky ER. What a sad Anniversary huh!
Anyway, the Ear drops helped the most and they stopped the horrible shrieking pain in my ear. Turned out that I had a severe sinus, inner ear and outer ear infection. Talk about more that a pregnant lady can take. Well, It has taken me until today to be able to get up and walk around and do more than lay on the couch or bed in pain. To make things even worse, Jacob started coughing a few days ago and it sounded just like mine. I knew it was the same horribly strong infection I had so I set up a DR. Apt for him. We got in and they checked him and guess what: Inner ear infections in both ears and a sinus infection. He barely showed any symptoms. I swear, it takes a tank to knock this kid down. He coughs in the morning and night but aside from that, I would never have known he had ear infections too. Luckily he is on Antibiotics and headed toward health. Right now, we are two sad sacks coughing our brains out and spending the day laying on the couch and sleeping it off (that is if he sits still). Oh well, maybe with the new year we will be feeling better. I sure hope so!

Christmas Cheer!!

Well, nice to get back to the real world today. What day is it?? The 30th. Wow, time flies fast when you are laid up for a week or so. I will explain later, but I wanted to post our fun Christmas pictures and let everyone see our fun day. Jacob had a super fun time watching the tree fill out with family presents that were sent by Mom, Dad, Kate, Cam, my Mom & Dad, and friends, etc. To tell the truth, I got excited too!!! I was so excited to give Rick my present because I knew he would be over the moon for it. I had all but convinced him that there was no way we could afford a Wii and that I had already purchased a fantastic present for him. He was excited even still and was a super sport. I then of course, went out and got him the whole system and surprised him on Christmas morning. He was shocked and it was so fun.

Jacob woke up with such enthusiasm at about 7am and I got to get him coming down the stairs on video. It is too long to run here I think, but you can just imagine if you know Jakie. He gives great reactions. Truly my child in that respect. We set out a race car track from Grandma & Grandpa Hutchins and once he had taken in all the presents he focused in on that and freaked. I loved watching his reaction to every present and laughed when he repeated with more enthusiasm than that last time "oh, this is the best Christmas I ever had". He is such a fun boy. We finished our day with the Elders for a late lunch and took them out for Christmas Chinese food. The place we went was the real deal and it was yummy and fun. Rick was bummed because it was not a buffet, but I guess that just means that he will call ahead next time! Enjoy the picture story below. I tried to get them all but as I look at what I have, I did not even get 1/10th of the presents. Oh well, you get the gist.

Jacob with his awesome present from Trace. He loved it!!

Price Slobe the new Hamster that just happens to be a girl, but Jake does not care.

Hungry, Hungry Hippos. Jacob loved beating the pants off of us. He is pretty good!

Cap guns and cowboy outfit. Cam, you are a genius!! He loved it.

Well, you know what this is, but I had to show my present. I love my little mixer with all of my heart. My presents were thoughtful and needed. Every one of them! Thank you Santa and thank you everyone for your love. Presents are fun but I like the gift of love and friendship the best! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

Good Times in the Pittsburgh 2nd Ward:

We had our primary Christmas lesson today in sharing time and I got to teach. I chose stories from the life of Jesus and shared my testimonies with the kids about each one. Kind of a review, but focused on Christ and Christmas. It was so fun to bear testimony to those sweet little kids and tell them how much I love them. I had to threaten Jacob with "No Santa Clause" a few times to get him to sit still while I taught, but it went well.

Here is a funny story for you:

Jacob had Sunbeams following sharing time and all was well until Brother Russon (Sunbeam teacher) brought Jacob in to me and said that he was disrupting the class. I was concerned so I asked what he was doing and he said that they were cutting out pictures of the Shepherds from the Nativity and while cutting, Jacob reached over and cut of the head of his friend Luke's Shepherd. He cut of the head!!! Should I be concerned about that I asked brother Russon with a scary face, and we all started laughing. Poor Luke!! No head on his shepherd. How was he going to feel the spirit after that assault on his poor Shepherd??? Well, I gave Jake a good talk about how cutting off our friends heads on their shepherds (or any other thing with a head) was naughty and will make them not want to be friends. I asked him if he would like to say he was sorry and was happy that he did. Brother Russon said he could go back to class and it was not seconds later that I peaked in to check on him and found them to be little buddies again. I was stood there watching my little boy and despite being a little horrified at his actions, found myself a little amused by my naughty little boy. I console myself with the fact that all of the kids do funny/naughty stuff like that and that it is pretty normal but I guess I will have to diligently dedicate a few seconds each week at FHE about not cutting off heads on other peoples paper projects (maybe I should keep it a broad "any heads of anything" ) to the list of FHE teachings. Anyway, I thought you would get a kick out of that story like Rick did when I told him about it.

Christmas Thoughts

I thought I would quickly share my thoughts from this week. The Season has moved quickly and Christmas is finally almost here. I feel this year more childlike than most past. I have always loved Christmas, the lines, the gifts, shopping, parking, etc. I take the good with the bad but for the first time in.. well ever, I finished early and am ready to do some serious gift opening. We are going to be quite modest in our items, but I think I may have done a little more than expected for Rick. I saved all year to splurge on him a bit and got him gifts that I truly know he will be excited about. I cant wait to see his face as he gets gifts from Jakie and I and the family that he did not expect but will absolutely love.

So, I think the tradition of "Clab Legs" and "Fa, Ra, Ra, Ra, Ra, Ra, Ra, Ra, Ra (Chinese food on Christmas for you non Christmas Story lovers.) will live on this year. I don't want to cook and we love Chinese food. It has been something we do with the Shumways since I am note even sure how long, so we will follow tradition this year. We have a set of missionaries that we will have join us since no one signed up to feed them. I really like these Elders and I think it will be fun to have them come and join us. I think I will invite them back after to have desert with us at home so that they are not totally missing any normal tradition.

Well, I cant wait to wake up on Christmas morning and be excited. I think that I want to do a few children's scripture verses with Jacob first though. I don't want to loose that part of it for him. He is young/old enough that he will have fun and learn something from it this year.

We sure miss you all and hope your Christmas is Merry and Bright. Please drop us a line and thanks to all that sent Christmas cards, letters. I love hearing from you all!