Last week we had the day off for Martin Luther King Day. It was gorgeous outside so we took a walk around town and hit up Ben's favorite pizza place. It's the college hangout so I always feel younger when we are there. According to Ben they play the perfect music, have the best "Stromboli" and show ESPN non stop. During our lunch he said something along the lines of what a great day it was turning out to be..."Stromboli, my girl, and ESPN, what more do i need?" I tried to get a picture of him in all his happiness but he couldn't turn his head away from the TV long enough to look at the camera.

Family Pictures

Before we moved from Utah this last summer, my whole side of the family got together for some pictures. I think our last family picture was taken in 1999. Looks like Ben is officially a part of the family now!





These were all taken in my parents backyard. They are amazing gardeners...




Ben's parents returned home from serving as Temple President in Mexico before thanksgiving. When we returned back to Utah to visit we were able to do family pictures for his side of the family as well.







So I guess now that we have new pictures as a couple, we should probably take some of our wedding photos down. I'll admit that I am somewhat hesitant to take them off the wall; does this mean we aren't newlyweds anymore?! We are going on three years now. Maybe I will just leave ONE wedding photo up somewhere.

The Little Things

The days are so long but the weeks are going by fast! Life is good but I can't help but get a lil grouchy here and there. I remember reading others blogs when they were pregnant and getting so irritated when they would complain, because after all, at least they were lucky enough to be having a baby. So I try my best not to complain now that we have finally gotten what we so very much desired, but some days are hard, no matter how blessed you are. I don't really enjoy my job, which is too bad because i really thought I would, but that's another story. Yesterday was just a bad day, but it got better when I came home to find a present from Ben. I have been wanting a small water bottle to take around with me that is less noticeable than my huge 32 oz bottles since I am always thirsty now. He bought me two lil water bottles and I can't wait to use them! Ben has been so great about cleaning up around the house and catering to my needs. Luckily I haven't been sick or anything, but i sure don't have the energy that I use to. It comes and goes though. I don't get to run as much as I use to since it's been so cold out, but I made it back on the running trails today. It was great! The little things; a good run, having the dishes and laundry almost always done, loving food more than ever, and lately, feeling lil baby spasms in my tummy, life is perfect. I wasn't sure I was feeling the baby but i described what I had been feeling to my doc yesterday and she helped confirm that yes, I am feeling this lil baby move! We should find out if its a boy or girl next week. Crazy how fast time is flying, but despite the bad days, I am really lovin life and looking forward to the months to come.

Thanksgiving Surprise

I realize I am nearly a holiday late on this post, but I am unmotivated to blog lately because my desktop computer is so slow, and that is the computer that I upload my pictures on to. However, I just discovered a way to get pictures from Ben's camera onto the laptop, so hopefully I'll be posting a little more often. Like the last post mentioned, we're going to have a baby soon! I imagined waiting until Christmas to tell everyone, but this was such a hard thing to keep a secret, especially since it seems like it took forever for to actually happen :) We we're in Utah for Thanksgiving so we decided that would be a good time to spread the good news. Thanksgiving dinner was at Ben's parents this year so we were able to tell most of his family in one sitting.  It was a fun way to tell everyone, but it was kind of embarrassing to have all the attention on me. I guess I'll have to get use to that though as my baby bump begins to grow! To tell my side of family we passed around the picture of the ultrasound and waited to see the reaction on their faces, that was fun too :)

I do not have a face to see,
or put inside a frame.
I do not have soft cheeks to kiss;
I don’t yet have a name.
You can’t hold my tiny hands,
nor whisper in my ear.
It’s still too soon to sing a song,
or cuddle me so near.
But all will change come July 1st,
when they say I’m due.
I’m Baby Ontiveros;
I can’t wait to meet you!

October Happenings.

Ben celebrated THIRTY YEARS in October. It was kind of a low key day since I had to work, but when I got home I took him out to eat at his favorite pizza place in town. It's the college hangout but Ben has fallen in love with thier "Stromboli". Its pretty much just a pizza folded in half but they serve it with a ranch pesto sauce. Ben would eat it every day if he could! Then of course we had the traditonal Cheesecake with a few gifts. I am getting pretty good at my cheesecake, so Ben says, of course I don't like cheesecake so i wouldn't know if it really tasted good or not. Thats a present in itself, Ben getting to eat a whole cheesecake by himself! :) So Happy Birthday baby, here's to thirty more! :0
We didn't open the door for trick or treaters on Halloween. We figured in our neighborhood you never know who you are opening the door up for. We did go to our Ward's Trunk or Treat the night before. We love it, even without kids, its fun to see all the little kids. Some friends in our ward had a Halloween party early in the afternoon so we did get a chance to dress up. I think we won the best costume award, or maybe tied, I can't remember. It was fun though! Ben's bro gave us some underarmour spandex a few years ago and as soon as we got them the idea came to my head, Mr and Mrs. Incredible. So we finally got the chance to dress up. I didn't think Ben would go for it but he is such a good sport, all the guys were impressed...and I'm sure the girls were too, haha. We spray painted Ben's hair yellow, but it didn't work out so well since his hair is so dark to begin with. And don't be alarmed, his shirt is stuffed with a pillow for effect ;) Ben made the incredible logo out of felt and we bought the masks at a halloween store. Super easy costumes, and we were a hit with all the little kids. Hope you all had a Happy Halloween, we sure did!


We just got back from a trip to Utah. Ben's parents came back from serving as Temple President in Mexico. Even though we don't live close anymore it's so nice to have them back. We are still getting to know each other since Ben and I got married while they were out. They did get the opportunity to come back for our wedding though, and Ben's dad even got to seal us. While in Utah we got family pictures taken, I am looking forward to seeing how they turned out. Unfortunately we were having such a good time that we didn't even take our camera out, so if the rest of the fam has some good pics of the weekend send them my way.
We are looking forward to the Holidays. We got our first snow yesterday. It wasn't so bad. In fact everyone is saying it is suppose to be a mild winter this year. I sure hope so because apparently last years winter was horrid. Happy Holidays and bring on the turkey! :)

Just hangin in there.

We are keeping busy with jobs and school and finding a lil time to enjoy each others company every now and then as well. Our biggest struggle these days is taking care of our housing situation back in Utah. We still own our house but since we were unable to sell it before we moved we rented it out to a nice couple. Problem is, they decided that they would rather live there for free. So we are doing what we can to get them out. We are so thankful to family and friends for helping us out, cross your fingers for us that we don't take too big of a hit on this one.

We are enjoying the area, especially the beautiful Fall air. It was SUPER cold last week and I was feeling cheated out of Fall as it looked like we were heading straight into Winter, but it has warmed up this week. Yesterday Ben played in a football tournament for our ward, I think it was fun for him to get out and play after spending so much time coaching the middle school team and watching others intramural games at work. I am taking advantage of the great running trails before it gets too cold out. I suppose I will probably still run when there is snow on the ground, I just may not enjoy it nearly as much.

So we are heading into another week and are looking forward to Halloween. We are going to dress up this year. I haven't really dressed up since I was little, so this should be fun. Maybe we'll post some pics, depends on how things turn out!

Charlotte's Web

Ben has a new pet. He discovered this huge spider out on our back patio last month and has named it Charlotte. The spider is so big that I wouldn't know how to kill it if I wanted to, and Ben says he respects the hard work that this spider has put into spinning its web and wouldn't dream of ever killing it. So Charlotte remains. The web really is huge, just like the spider, and you can occasionally see flies and other insects trapped in the web. Gross, I know, I really hope the spider doesn't have babies and then we have a million Charlotte's. I couldn't get very good pictures of it, plus i was a little freaked out to be so close to it. Ben looked up the spider but can't figure out what kind it is, any guesses?

Bad Dreams

Ever had the dream where you can't remember your locker combination? I constantly had this dream growing up, but not only could I not remember the combination, sometimes I couldn't even remember where my locker was, and then once i found it, something else would go wrong, like forgetting my schedule, where to find my classroom, etc. Of course, these were just dreams. Well here I am again, but this time as an adult, watching it happen in real life. I have already been a hero to five students and it's only the second week of school. I'll see them with a look of panic, spinning the dial on the locker, and then they proceed to kick it when it doesn't open. They might try this a few times and then start to hopelessly walk away as the bell rings and the hallways empty. And thats where I come in, "do you need help?" They turn around with near tears in their eyes and mumble yes. So they tell me the combo and Ta Da, I open it :0 Gratefully they scramble to get what they need and mumble thanks and they are on their way. Fortunately I have mastered the art of opening locks, but I am wondering, why doesn't anybody bother to tell middle schoolers that you need to turn the dial past the middle digit once before you go onto the third digit? It would honestly cause a lot less stress for these kids, but until then, I don't mind being the hero. Besides it gives me a good chance to interact with some students without behavior problems :)

My "Classroom"

Like most work computers, all personal email and other websites that might keep you entertained throughout the day(ie facebook) are blocked. However I am still able to get onto our blog :) My first week at the middle school has been somewhat slow. Luckily we don't have many kids assigned to in school suspension yet, which leaves me with a lil downtime. Obviously the ISS room is not suppose to be a fun place, but I still don't think it needs to look like a prison. I found some motivational posters in the office and but them up around the room.

Since my phone can do amazing things, like take pictures and send them to my work email, I am posting a few here for the sake of something to do this morning :)