Finally an Update!

Sorry for the lack of blogging lately. We've been so busy. Nothing too exciting. Just the boring day to day stuff. Seems like there is always something to do and no down time for us. We recently moved...again. I'm thinking I won't take pictures this time. It's getting kind of old that we move so much. Our apartment in Glen Cove had a few problems...mold being one of them. We just thought that we would take the chance to get out of it while we could. We now live in Queens and are MUCH happier to live in a newer and cleaner apartment. Tom only has a 20 min. ride on the train to get to work which makes him a happy camper. My commute to work is not so hot...but I have found a closer job which is MUCH better for me.
Anyway, on to the pictures! Our good friends Brooke and Frank came to visit NY! They have been living in Hawaii for the past little while. We got together for dinner with them, Dave and Julie, and Deanna and Bryant...all friends from our days in the singles branch. Frankie was leaving the next week to fight the war in Afghanistan so Julie made him a REALLY cool and yummy tank cake!
Enjoy the pictures!

Deanna and Bryant

Me, Brooke, Deanna, and Julie

Julies AWSOME cake!

Brooke, Deanna, and half of Bryant

Julie, Dave, Frankie, and Brooke!

There has got to be a record for 5 posts in 1 day!

Jacque and Tigh are visiting in NYC this week! We went to Olive Garden Friday night, the broadway show Spamalot, and bowling at Dave & Busters on Saturday! It was super fun! I'm so glad I got to see them while they were here. It's nice seeing a familiar face when I am so far away from home!

Times Square


Jacque and Tigh at Dave and Busters


Me and Jacque

Random #2

This was a HUGE accomplishment for me to FINALLY get this little girl to smile! She spent the first 3 weeks crying EVERY DAY, ALL DAY and not easting a thing!! I am happy to say she has finally adjusted!!


Another little girl in my class that is just the CUTEST thing EVER!!!

My Third of Five Posts for Today!

As requested by Jacque...here are pictures of our current dwelling! BIG thanks to Dad and to Toms Mama for helping us get it put together when I was so sick!!

Master Bedroom


Master


Closet--This was pretty much what sold me on the apartment...I NEED at LEAST this size closet!!


Bathroom


The Loft


Living Room--smallest living room you will probably EVER see!!!


Kitchen

Random

This is me after I woke up...I felt equally as awful as I look...but at least I had Morphine! 

This is just one of the many bruises I had for a couple weeks after I got out of the hospital. I had a total of 6 IV's!! Luckily I was unconscious when most of them were put in!

This is me about 2 days before I lost the baby. Mostly it is so big because of swelling :0 I have lost 18 lbs since this picture! Whoohoo 

This is my dad at the beach when he came out to help me

And this is dad by the lighthouse!

Labor Day Weekend in Upstate NY

So, I know these pictures are seriously very late, but at least I got them on here. I'm sure most of you already saw them on facebook. If not, enjoy!
Tom and I wanted/needed to just get away for a little weekend. We went to upstate NY where his uncle has been building a cabin over the last 15 years. It was AMAZING! We had so much fun and can't wait to go back! Hopefully in the next few weeks we can take another trip to see all the leaves changing--my favorite thing about fall. :)

The Cabin


Authentic sign from Greece (Tom found it on his mission). It says "Gounaris Street"


Tom and I on the quads


These spider webs were EVERYWHERE when we woke up in the morning!


Nothing runs like a Deere!
 

The inside kitchen and stairs


I can't believe his uncle built all this--it's so amazing!


The view


The teepee!!!


Roasting marshmallows!




See the little house over there--that belongs to Yoko Ono!


Tom and Theo Thanasi cutting fire wood!


4-Wheelers are awesome!

To Block or Not to Block...to NOT!

Ok people, I think you should unblock your blogs :) You see, there is this nice new feature where you can see when your friends update their blogs without actually having to go to it...only it doesn't work if your blog is blocked. So...maybe you should come up with code names or something like my friend Wonder Woman and her husband Superman. Just a thought. :) 

My Thoughts....

Thought #1: Today is 9/11 and I have been worried about Tom all day. I know it happened 7 years ago and all...but I still worry about his safety since he works right in Manhattan. At least he works right by the temple. That's where I would go for safety. But, I'm sure since nothing has happened on the past 6 9/11's that today will hopefully be no different...

Thought #2: On Sunday in Relief Society they started something new. Each of us had to pick a name out of a basket and that week we were supposed to call and talk to them, take them out, send a note...just something to get to know them better. Well, this 60 year old woman got my name. She called me today, which was very nice of her (I didn't actually call my person...bad Sarah...especially since I got the RS president)...anyway, she calls and starts talking to me about none other than pregnancy. She wasn't so much asking me questions about it...she was just saying "Oh that would be hard to work and be pregnant" or "When I was pregnant...." kind of stories. The woman still thinks I'm pregnant and I could not bare to say otherwise!!!!! I know I need to tell people at church...but I just can't do it! What am I supposed to say? How do I let everyone know without having to talk too much about it?? It makes me not want to go to church, but I know that is exactly where I need to be right now. What do I do? People are going to notice...

Thought # 3: I've always had a hard time liking my personality...it's hard to get what I REALLY want because I'm always trying to make everyone happy. My mom always said that it is a blessing to be this way...but, wow, it's so hard sometimes! It seems like I am always getting hurt. I just LOVE too much! Bet you didn't know that was possible? I feel for everyone...even the people who do awful things. You could be so mean and wicked to me and I would still love you. Why is this a bad thing you might ask? Because, it leaves me crying all the time and never doing what's best for myself. It's a bitter-sweet blessing/curse I guess? I think it just goes with being a women. I think we ALL have at least a little bit of this in us. We love and love to be loved...

Tagged by Elizabeth!

How to play this game: Post these rules on your blog: List 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 random surprising facts about yourself. Tag 5-6 people at the end of your post by leaving their names.

Joys:

1. Watching the sunset with Tom

2. Watching the leaves change colors in the fall

3. Watching a child play and learn and grow

Fears:

1. Never getting pregnant again

2. Lossing Tom

3. Being alone

Obsessions/Collections:

1. Reading great books

2. Having a clean house that smells good. 

3. Music...listening to it and playing

Goals:

1. Be a better person

2. Read my scriptures and pray more

3. Learn to play every musical instrument

Random Surprise Things:

1. I like silk...I know this may nor be a surprise to some of my closest friends, but I sleep with a "silky" every night :) 

2. I love cheese...just chedder, colby, pepper jack, mozerella, and string cheese :) Also may not be a surprise to some

3. I used to want to have at least 10 kids...now I'm just hoping for 6...but would be happy with whatever Heavenly Father gives me.

I tag: Bonnie, Stevie, Wonder Woman, Kristen Compton, and Jacque

Update

Hi everyone! I just wanted to give you an update since I haven't been on here in a while. 

I've almost got my body back to normal. I went back to work on Tuesday. It's probably a bit soon...but I just can't stand sitting at home anymore since I have been doing that ALL summer. Fortunately, I work with some awesome people who help me out a lot with the things I can't quite do yet.  I'm working as a preschool teacher at the same place I worked when we lived here before. I love it! It's such a great place to work.

I had my post-op checkup today. Everything is looking pretty good after the surgery.  I am still a little anemic after the blood transfusions and all, but nothing to worry about. 

I have two GREAT doctors now...not like the other ones I have had. One of them specializes in high risk pregnancy and is the chairman of the OBGYN section of the hospital. I am very pleased with him. The other is a fertility specialist who will hopefully help to get us on track for trying again whenever we are ready for that.  She is very nice and I met with her a few times when I was staying at the hospital. 

My dad came for a week and he was such a great help! He helped me clean up my house and spent time with me. I love you dad! 

This past weekend I started getting out and having a little fun. I'm too tired to put the pictures on now, but I will do it later. The emotional part of all this is very difficult...but I will make it through with God's help. The hardest part is having to tell people who don't already know. 

Thank you for all your prayers and support and loving messages. I am so grateful to have good friends and family! 

...

Thank you Nancy for letting everyone know. I am able to use Toms phone for a minute today and wanted to let everyone know I am doing OK. I have gotten several texts and voice mails. unfortunately, I am not able to read or listen to many of them due to the fact that I am unable to become emotional. I had surgery and my stomach is in pain so I cannot cry. I feel every ones love though and am grateful. My dad is coming from NM and I am so happy to have his support as well as the rest of my family and Toms. They have been so great.
For those of you who don't know, Monday I was very sick throwing up (which isn't unusual). At about 1am I woke up with excruciating pain in my abdomen. Tom rushed me to the ER. They did several ultrasounds and could not figure out what was wrong. I kept passing out and throwing up from the pain. After a while the pain became much worse and my blood pressure began to plummet dangerously low. They rushed me to the OR where they found I had an ectopic pregnancy and my left fallopian tube had burst leaving me with 2 liters of blood in my stomach. I am very lucky to be alive. Our baby was 13 weeks which is very rare for an ectopic pregnancy to last that long without being noticed. Heavenly Father was looking out for me and I know that our baby is with Him again and we will one day be reunited. Fortunately, my right fallopian tube is perfectly fine as well as my ovaries. After some time we will be able to try again.
Thank you for your prayers and support. I will read your comments when I am better and finally able to deal with the emotional part of this. Please spread the word so that I don't have to say any more than this. I love you all!

The Big Apple

Yesterday I was feeling pretty good so I decided to head to Manhattan with Tom. I don't get to see much of Tom these days since he works so much, so it was nice to go and see what his work days are like. Plus I was feeling a little gypped since I turned the big 24 on Monday but I didn't get to do what I wanted because it was pouring rain and there was a tornado warning!
I have to say that there is never a shortage of entertainment in the city. You don't even have to pay a penny and you can be entertained ALL day! I wish that I could have taken pictures of all the crazy things I saw yesterday, but it probably would have been really rude to take pictures of all the crazy people (of course, they probably wouldn't have noticed), but all I got a picture of was the pigeons, since I figured they wouldn't be hurt.

So, these may be one of those "you had to be there" kinda things, but I still want to share. The first thing I saw when I got off the train was this man who literally looked like the ape on the Geico commercial! He was eating an ice cream cone and was REALLY into it if you know what I mean.
Next, I saw a man singing in the train station who was dressed up like Charlie Chaplin--I thought it was funny.
Then, there was the woman walking down the street wearing nothing but a t-shirt and a diaper...yes, you read right, a diaper! As crazy as this sounds, it's actually not the first time I have seen this! I don't know if it was the same lady, but a few years ago I saw the same sight...only difference was she was walking a dog.
Then of course you have the naked cowboy! He is always a sight to see! Don't worry folks, this picture was taken a few years ago when I was more "adventurous"...I wouldn't go anywhere near the naked cowboy these days! (I cut off the bottom of the picture to save us all the pain!..and by the way if you don't know, he really isn't naked...they just call him that since all he wears are tighty whities!) Oh, and I can't leave out the tin man. If you've never seen him it's just this man that walks around wearing silver and his entire body is painted silver. 

As we were walking to the subway we saw another women who was VERY into her ice cream! She was looking at it as though it was the most interesting thing she had seen in all her life (of course she was on drugs). Someone must have gone around buying the homeless and drug addicted ice cream yesterday!
Anyway, the list could go on and on....and on (if you've been to NY you know what I mean). I hope nobody thinks I am horrible for making fun of these people, it's just very interesting to me. You don't see these kind of things where I am from.
When I first moved here it was a bit of a culture shock...and I must admit I hated it! But now, I just love seeing how different things can be. Living in NY to me is honestly like a whole other country (of course if you ask anyone that is from here they will say that NY is the country).

So, if any of you were worried about me not getting enough culture in my life...come to NY! If I just took you to church on Sunday you would see what I mean. Half my ward ONLY speaks Spanish, one or two speak Korean...and then there are about 3 families like Tom and I who only  speak English. I was very confused one Sunday when I walked  in and in order to hear sacrament meeting in English you had to have headphones through which the missionaries translate. 

Anyway, I  decided to make the best of everything and just enjoy the "culture" of NY since I am probably going to be living here for a good portion of my life. It's not that I don't like it here, it's just that well...if you know me, you know that being here is a little out of my bubble. I love the trees, I love being near family (that is a HUGE help since I am prego), I love how the women in Relief Society at church are so happy I am here (I got called as the music director after one week! I'm surprised out of all the different types of people, nobody plays the piano!), and I love the weather and when the trees change colors in the fall. 

Well...here's to The Big Apple!

Pregnancy update (keep scrolling down, I made other posts)

The pregnancy is going well other than being sick. I have a doctors appointment next Thursday morning. I had a little trip to the emergency room on Tuesday. I smelled something bad which made me throw up, and then I couldn't stop. Anything and everything I ate or drank came right back up. So of course I ended up really dehydrated. I spent the afternoon hooked to an iv. Not fun! I thought I was finally getting better...but then that happened. At least today is going well. It is only 11:30AM and I have already eaten 2 bowls of cereal, 2 bowls of jello, 2 yogurts, and some grapes...I feel like such a pig, but at least I have an appetite right? I go back to work next week to set up the classrooms and then the kids come the last week of August. Pray that I will feel good!
Don't forget to vote: Boy or Girl????
Here is a picture of my little bump.

Better late than never right?

Wow, I am a little behind, but I finally got out my printer so I can upload these pictures. There are a few posts today so make sure you scroll on down/up :) These are pictures from our anniversary and the 4th of July.

Tom and I in Times Square for our 2 yr anniversary


me "drinking" out of the worlds largest Hershey bottle


this Asian lady was jealous of my picture so she asked me to take one of her :)


Tom on the 4th at Jones Beach


me at Jones Beach waiting for the fireworks


Tom buried me in the sand


and they finally begin...

Our Utah house...

Well, I know we only lived here one month...but I did promise pictures so here are a few. I sure miss this house. It's CRAZY how much more you can get for you money in Utah compared to New York. Maybe one of these days I will take a picture of our NY dwelling (of course that would require me to finish unpacking). :)