Lyla Jane's Room... For now...

Now that school is out and all I do every day is go to work from 10:00am-7:00pm. I find that I am getting bored with my mundane life. So, I dream up ideas for Lyla's room. I am going to need some direction with this project from my more creative and talented sister-in-laws and mother. So these are my ideas...how can I make them a reality???

Colors for room:
Turquoise & Coral
   
For example:

Now to make decisions, decisions.
Do I do board and batten in her room...or do I do a wall with a stencil all over it?
Do I go light with the paint color or a brighter shade?
Do I do paint the crib White or Cream?
Do I have a changing table or not because changing a baby sideways is awkward?
HELP PLEASE!!!!

Baby Oh Baby!

If anyone knows me very well at all then they know that I LOVE ME SOME BABIES!
So when Tommy told me last year in July that he was ready to have a baby...I was shocked because he just had no interest in the idea before then.
So every month when that lovely terrible mother nature called...I was ticked. But everyone just kept saying "Be Patient." Yeah that didn't help, it usually just ticked me off royally and I would come back with some smart comment in retaliation.
When December rolled around I knew that it was time I just knew it. But, when I took that darn expensive pregnancy test and it came back negative I had a total melt down. That very day I received a call from my Communication Advisor from the UofU.  He had to let me know that one of my classes from SUU did not count anymore and that I would have to take an additional 5 credit hours in Spring semester in order to graduate.  It was a rough day to say the least.

I decided that there was nothing that I could do to change either of the bad news that I had heard except for my attitude.  I decided to register for 18 credit hours and quit worrying about not being pregnant. (For those women who have struggled to get pregnant or have never been able to have children...I admire you and pray for you and can't imagine what you are or have gone through. I am now embarrassed for ever complaining about not getting pregnant.)

But in January of 2011, Tommy took me on a cruise for my birthday with our friends Curt and Kelsie Neider. It must have been something in the water because on February 15th I took a pregnancy test and sure enough that second pink line showed up and I was shocked. Just too make sure like every other girl that has ever discovered she was pregnant...I ran to the store and bought the expensive kind. You know the ones I'm talking about...They clearly say PREGNANT or NOT PREGNANT.
And sure enough my eggo was Preggo.

I came up with a way to tell Tommy Boy and it was genius and he was going to be so excited and start screaming because that is what he does when he is excited.So I found his t-shirt that has a baby wearing sunglasses and sitting in a baby bjorn just like in the movie The Hangover, and I typed up a cute note that said this shirt will help you practice for the next 9 months and I put the pregnancy tests underneath. Creative right?  Oh you can bet that the exact opposite almost happened...the look of absolute shock and horror fell over Tommy's face almost instantly and he couldn't even eat dinner. I mean I cooked him dinner which is rare because I am never home and he was so freaked out he couldn't even it dinner.

This reaction did not bode well with me because I was like, "Hello we have been trying for 7 months, this shouldn't be a surprise."  But after some understanding on  my part I realized that indeed this is the reaction of many husbands and father's to be.  And they have an absolute right to feel this way I decided.  The pressure of them having to provide and work hard for not only a wife but now a baby and all the expenses that come along with a baby. And the worry about being a dad and being a good one at that.  It is overwhelming!!!
So, after a very a day or so Tommy was just as thrilled as I had hoped and now that's all we can talk about.

Tommy has been so awesome during my pregnancy, with cooked meals, treats for my lunches, adoring notes, new stroller,cleaned houses, surprise mother's day mani and pedi. I am the luckiest girl in the world to have a  husband who works so hard and treats me like gold.

On thursday we treated ourselves to a little early gender determination at Fetal Fotos because I was graduating and felt I deserved it.  And we even bet $20 bucks on the gender of the baby.  I was certain that it was a boy because my mom had boys and the McNeilis family was known for boys.  But Tommy knew it was a girl without a shadow of a doubt...sure enough he was right. We are having a BABY GIRL!!! Her name will be Lyla Jane McNeilis and she will be here in October.

*P.S. It really must have been in the water because Kelsie who was on the cruise with us is pregnant, Sarah is pregnant, Sniggadu is pregnant, our neighbor Carley is pregnant on top of 10 other people from our ward.  And all are due within days of our baby. SO EXCITING!!!

Good Bye School...Hello World!

Let me give you a little history of my long and tedious journey of what I will now refer to as "The University Years" or that expensive piece of paper that hangs on my wall.

I graduated from West Jordan High School in June of 2004.  I had already had one college class at this time, which marks SCHOOL #1: Salt Lake Community College.  I then enrolled in classes at SCHOOL #2 UVSC..aka UVU, for fall semester (where I met Tommy in the hall of fags..I mean fLags.) I am certain that the only reason I attended UVSC was to meet Tommy. I could only handle that place for one semester.

Then I took a semester off to Work at Zions Bank Call Center with Rach...Good Times.

In the fall of 2005 I decided to move to Cedar City, Utah where I enrolled in SCHOOL #3 at Southern Utah University. There I roomed with Rachel in a house that had 11 girls total and 2 bathrooms.  There was some fun and dramatic times in that house... a few issues with the temperature and a few choice words. All in all a great experience and I was there for a total of 1 year.

Then I decided to enter into the world of Title and Real Estate in fall of 2006. I still only had 1.5 years of college under my belt. I worked for a title company from fall 2006-spring 2008. I took two classes total over those few years at School #4...the University of Utah.

I then decided to go sell security systems in the ghetto's of Tucson and Phoenix Arizona. This section of my life will be saved for a different time and it deserves an entire post to itself.

In the Fall of 2008 I decided to really buckle down and finish my degree. I enrolled in classes full-time from fall 2008-spring 2011.

So after hundreds of hours of studying, thousands of dollars on books and tuition and after attending most of the colleges in the state of Utah. I graduated from the University of Utah yesterday and I am THRILLED...needless to say so are Tommy and my parents and his parents. It's a CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!

The Blog World...Yikes!

Well...I guess it is about time that Tommy and I joined the blogging world.  Everybody said to start it when we got married however, I didn't have time because of school and work. And Tommy was busy working, playing golf or coaching lacrosse. There was just no time for blogging.

 But now that I am graduated (CHRISTMAS MIRACLE IF I DO SAY SO MYSELF), I think it is time to tell you all a little about what has been going on in "The CRAZY LIVES OF TOMMY AND LAURA!