15 years of goodness

today is friday, november 28 - my sister jalee's birthday. she was born in california and to this day i think of her as a californian girl. jalee has always been a lot of fun and she has made me laugh her whole life. she'll come home from school with these hilarious stories of something she did that makes her look clueless, but she doesn't care how she looks and laughs at the stories too. she is great with kids and that makes me excited because i know i will be able to call her any day and she will babysit once i have addison - :) hopefully. she is my favorite jalee in the whole world and i love her and hope she has a great birthday.

A Feast-able Day

i decided that thanksgiving is a wonderful day of torture. the day before and the morning of is spent slaving away over a beautiful dish. then when it's brought to the party, your piece of art is mercilessly cut apart without a second thought. next, is when you've eaten plate after scrumptious plate of the delicious art, and even though the food was sooo good, you can hardly talk, let alone breathe. so then you try and let the food digest as you socialize with the family, take a nap, or play cards. you start to see people walking around with a dessert you didn't see, that (of course) you must have, but the problem is you're still so full. needless to say, that really doesn't matter anyway because you know that you're going to roll over to the counter and get yourself a size able helping of the yummy treat. after you eat it, you feel even sicker than heck and you just know that your doctor is gonna kill you when he finds out that the weight you were suppose to gain over the span of four weeks, you easily gain in one. but you figure since you've already done so bad, nothing can make it really too much worse as you continually stuff yourself silly.

falling asleep that night with a completely full stomach is the last of torture for the day. but as you start to sleep, you can't help but subtly smile as you dream of next year when you'll do the same thing.

the thankful pot

i thought that it would be appropriate to talk about some things that i'm thankful for since it's the season to reflect on blessings. i read the talk today that president monson gave in the october 2008 conference. it was called "finding the joy in the journey". pres. monson says that there are subtle changes that are made in our life everyday and that if we are not careful in living fully in every moment and finding joy in the little things, we will, in essence, have an empty life. he quotes a play called the music man where a character says "you pile up enough tomorrows, and you'll find you've collected a lot of empty yesterdays". president monson advises us to look beyond the endless mounds of laundry, handprints on the wall, and toys everywhere from our children and to reaquaint yourselves with lost friends or loved ones. to have no regrets when you look back at the end of your life. to show love rather than assume someone already knows. to be thankful for the blessings in your life.
i have so much to be thankful for and i have been blessed so much. i have great parents and sisters who love me so much. i have the love of a handsome guy named kyle - who i adore. i'm going to have a baby girl soon. kyle and i by no means are rich, but we can't complain, we're doing fine. i'm loving life right now and feel like i can take president monson's advice to live life to the fullest - right now it seems like it will be pretty easy. we'll see. :)

Baby Update

so kyle and i got married and then two and a half months later - bam- we're preggo! so after the shock wore off, we got really excited and looked into baby names. we came up with damon lee mckay for a boy or addison grace mckay for a girl. looks like the "mccleve curse" lives on because it's a girl! we couldn't be more thrilled. this is my first belly shot. at the time i could tell a difference, but looking at the picture now, i don't even look pregnant.
the day we found out it was going to be addison grace mckay!!look at that belly GROW! addison moves around all the time for (lucky me at two o'clock in the morning) but almost never when i want kyle to feel. she's going to be a momma's girl, i know it.

kyle and i met in the summer of '07 after being at the same efy (especially for youth) session. he was my sister michelle's counselor and i was a last time participant. (kyle has been endlessly teased for dating and marrying a participant). we have michelle to thank for bringing us together when she asked me to say "hi" for her on kyle's facebook. we subsequently went on a blind date and hit it off from there.

efy - summer of '07. michelle is in the midst of the boys, and kyle is the yummy one.


the lengths we went to for some fun. it wasn't easy fitting in here. if walmart is going to add a ride, they should make sure it fits all sizes - don't you think?


We're hot, what else can I say!?