The Gummy Bear and Me... small things can pack a big punch

Well, we have definitely had our fair share of surprises this summer... and to top that list of surprises, we are expecting a little addition to our little family. It is especially a little addition right now... it is about the size of and even strongly resembles a gummy bear(hence the picture above). We had our first doctor's appointment last week. I am due on March 22 and officially 10 weeks along. I am definitely feeling everyone of those 10 weeks right now. Luckily, my doctor gave me a prescription, that is supposed to help with the nausea and throwing up, and it usually does, if I make sure to get at least 10 hours of sleep a night.

But, on a happier note, at our appointment, we got the hear the little heart beat and even see the little gummy bear/parasite. We only call it a parasite because it just seems to suck everything out of me and make me really sick right now. Hopefully, it will soon just be known as the gummy bear, or some other random name that we come up with. =) Here is the picture from our first ultrasound.

A trip to the Zoo

So being the college student that I am I decided not study one day, but rather go with Kristen up to see our good friends Spencer and Laura up in Salt Lake. We had decided to go to the Hogle Zoo after a generous breakfast they made for us. I must say they were also patient since we were about an hour late getting there... oops. I, being my smart logical self, decided to wear a BYU shirt for our trip to the zoo which was located right near the U of U. I spent the remainder of my day observing the animals trying to stay sane in their cages and those regarding me and my shirt in disgust. I was very entertained as it seemed that both blue and red filled the zoo. But the minor distraction of loyalty did not deter us from enjoying the animals we went to see.




Our future pet... isn't he precious... I somehow don't think Kristen would find him so cute as he lays on our couch. I think he's got the lounging thing down though.


The baby giraffe, Kristen and Laura had a good time walkin back and forth tryin to get a good shot of this little guy,


We couldn't decide what happened to the bear... the mo-hawk thing with his fur was pretty entertaining...

Kristen had a great time with the small monkeys and proceeded to tell me we should get one... I would definately rather hear our future daughter, hypothetically, ask for a pony rather than a monkey. As it turned out, Kristen pretty much wanted any small animal that looked cute, so unfortunately when I asked for a Leopard she said no. We saw various monkeys, a Tiger, snow leapords, snakes, alligators, frogs, camels, a gorilla, bears, cougars, rhino's, elephants, zebra, penguins, even a baby giraffe, etc. The trip was fun, but definitely hot. We found ourselves lingering around mist spray machines provided at various locations around the zoo. We had a lot of fun watching the penguins as they swam around and darted through the water after each other and fish.


Here they go, follow the leader...


They all seemed to move in groups, unsure of moving too far without others approval first

It was entertaining at first to watch one penguin observe the rising water level of the pond they use... all of the others watched him as he waited moved back and forth as if encouraging others to join him while still deciding if the water was inviting enough himself. He finally jumped in and started swimming, after that most of the other penguins jumped in after him... guess it was safe since he did it. It funny if life how similar we all are... don't want to do something unless someone else does it first cause then ya know thats it's all ok... the penguin band wagon.


Wildcat... he was hiding in a little cave area, but one of the few big cats that was even remotely awake...


I guess we didn't get the sleep schedule for the cats... they were all pretty much asleep.


This was the only gorilla, he just wandered around and headed for a door opening at one point as if he was telling us that he knew it was meal time and he was hungry. The food didn't arrive though so he walked over to some shade and crashed...

Good times at the Zoo.

The Air Show...

The Air Force Air Show was always something I remembered growing up and so when I heard that it was taking place this year I told Kristen we should go. She was great about it and seemed excited to watch it despite not knowing who the Thunderbirds were.... We were honestly very lucky in our trip north to my parents house in South Ogden because there was a massive accident on I-15 that we were able to avoid, though we were worried for all those involved. We arrived at our destination and met with my parents, my sister, and her daughter. We went for a walk to the new library up there to kill some time before the real show started. I reminisced with Kristen about growing up and hearing the Thunderbirds fly over the roof top as if they were going to clip the nearest tree.




The time for the show finally arrived and it just so happened that some of our extended family pulled up next to us to watch the show too. We were entertained by the Queen of the moment, Lexi, until the show started. She was trying to be persuaded into visiting people as they held out the offering of chocolate, a common weakness in our genes, she was not to be persuaded though because she found the real source of the goodness. The show was great and we had at least five passes directly over our heads with between 4 and 6 Thunderbirds each time.



I must say though that despite our fun at the show, I learned that the camera Kristen's ... I had several moments of user difficulty trying to capture good pictures of the planes as they flew over. I finally passed the camera back to Kristen in defeat and frustration not knowing how a small black box could beat me so easily... maybe engineering might not be the best choice for my future profession... no just kidding, it doesn't require photography expertise, right?

The Fat Kid, family, Park City ... a memorable combination.

The tale of two sizes... I was always known as chicken legs and stick boy growing up because, I can admit, I pretty much stand on toothpicks for legs. I have learned however that my size and slender shape can be deceiving. That is how it was when Kristen and I made a trip to Park City to visit my brother and sister-in-law, Matt and Dayna. They were very generous in inviting us to come see them while they had some alone time from their wonderful children, Joel and Emme.

We decided to go get some food when we arrived, but the decision as to where to go was a whole different issue (as is the case when food is discussed in our families). We finally decided on a popular pizza place not far down the road and when we arrived I saw the Fat Kid. I knew there was going to be trouble the moment Kristen explained what the Fat Kid was doing... challenging me. I had already decided I would not back down, and so we accepted the challenge. I proceeded to show the Fat Kid that despite my slender appearance somehow my stomache can expand in places I don't know exist. I was told that my performance against the food which consisted of... about half or maybe a little more of the Fat Kid ( it's a 20" pizza with Pepperoni, Ricotta, and Spinach... despite my confident demeanor at the table it was bigger than I expected, but tasted great), half of my brother's philly steak and cheese sandwich (which was large... I basically had my own sandwich), almost half of Dayna's chicken... sandwich (also a good size sandwich which would have been smaller, but as it turned out Kristen only wanted a bite... for a taster), a healthy portion of fries, and most anything else that was not wanted to be eaten at the time... was shocking and maybe a little disturbing since I didn't feel that the food slowed me down at all. I would say that I won that bout and even impressed Kristen, who was only slightly surprised... though now I am questioning why I am informing you all about this... I just sound like a pig. Oh well...

We had a lot of fun up in Park City with Matt and Dayna. We were going to go miniature golfing but things didn't quite turn out to be what we had anticipated... it was more of a compact mini course you could pack up and take with you on trips for kids to play with, like connect the dots or something, we were all relatively disappointed... so we ended up going to a movie instead and chillin after. The day was great and we had no worries, though we were unable to show off our mad-Tiger putting skills... maybe next time. We stayed in Park City for a few hours, talked and laughed. We shared one of our traditions with them as we all got Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Apples, something we do just about every time we are in Park City. We then decided that we should get back to Provo before it got too late, the joys of early morning meetings.

Quick stop in Washington on our way through Summer...

I must say, everyone says time flies when you're having fun... what about when you are doin work and school, is that classified as fun? It does make time go by faster and can be enjoyable at times... so I guess it is. We kept busy with each passing day and month but were both very happy to get out of Utah County and make a quick detour to Spokane in July. The weather was nice, though it seemed to my little mind that the hot Utah days seemed to take a vacation with us. I am not saying that its our fault nor that we wanted the heat of summer to follow us but it did, maybe it was afraid of being forgotten. I don't know why, but either way it was nice and warm while we were in Washington.


Here I am, caught here, confused and disoriented... somehow I thought I should be doing homework on vacation... in a short time I was set straight and productivity showed me that it was a silly idea.

We had a great time there despite the warm weather. We spent the days doing various activities such as swimming, climbing, visiting with family, etc. and the nights playin cards, watchin the fireworks, and relaxin. I did see though that my poor example as a husband has affected my sweet and innocent wife. As we proceeded to prepare for our trip north my wife had the wonderful idea of surprising her parents who already knew we were coming... I have previously shown an example of having fun with whats true and whats slightly varying from truth when it came to visiting my family. Kristen had the great idea of varying from truth when it came to explaining when we would be arriving in Washington, which became later than expected due to unforeseen events (lies). Despite my objections (assistance) to this dirty (amusing) little plan everything seemed to play out as she desired, until everyone almost fell asleep before we pulled in. That entrance into the weekend was a sure sign that the trip was definitely worth it.


Climbin around... always good fun... though Kristen informed me that its not always fun for your hands...





Dylan, showing us how the real climbing is done...

Some of the memorable moments in Spokane were, to name a few, the family get together in mom and dad's backyard, flying off the slip and slide at that get together with Ryan and Kristin to follow suit after, seeing Cohen, getting family pictures taken, bouldering, playing cards, moving a piano, swimming at the beach area and watching a massive jet boat enter the water (though we never saw it take off... too bad), playing games as couples, sitting on the roof watchin various firework shows from neighboring cities and then the neighbors, eating at Zips (a ritual I don't think we will miss whenever in Washington, or so I am told), watching Nate dodge water balloons as he played both soccer and volleyball with a volleyball (though if I remember right... Nate dodging the balloon made for a wet Ashley), seeing grandpa, watching Dylan and Leila track down Chloe, and just catchin up on the good ol' times with family. We really enjoyed ourselves, but were forced to leave town... as responsibilities in happy valley pulled us back to reality. It is nice to see family and is always worth the time even if for a short few days over a weekend.


Dylan and Leila runnin and having fun... while dad relaxes and mom was not in the picture, the jury is still debating if she intentionally missed or accidentally missed the pictures...


Nate and Ash


Ryan, Kristin, and Cohen


Chloe, gettin some fresh air and jumpin around on various objects that seemed stable. To both Chloe's and our surprise the noises that followed informed us that not everything was as stable as it seemed. She also showed us how real vacation is supposed to be spent as only she could...




If any of the details are incorrect I am not responsible, Kristen is not here to keep me in line at the moment and I am left to think for myself... always dangerous.

Summer's here... or was...

Well isn't it nice to see that summer is almost he.. or wait... dang, its just our blog that thinks summer is almost here judging by our last post... Guess we are a little behind. This is the first time I, Dave, will have posted on our blog so bear with me.
Kristen and I are both doing well. There have been several things that we should have posted and will post about, but thats where all of your wonderful understanding and caring... did I suck up enough for forgiveness yet? Moving on... I hope the post makes sense since I don't really know what I am doing, though one may ask if I ever have... not likely. I am one of those who goes about life with a smile and a nod. Because really does it look like I know what I am doin...?

We have done quite a bit though this summer such as, made a trip up to Washington where we hung out with family and did some bouldering etc.,
had some family get togethers in Utah, made it through work and classes, resolved our car issues, went to the zoo, ate a Fat Kid, learned to play Castle Crashers from Joel, realized Kristen wants a cat or should I say kitten and a Yorky, Kristen survived not having channel 13 and found her show SYTYCD, I got tutoring lessons from my niece for Hydraulics (lucky she was there, she helped me pass the class), watched friends leave happy valley while I consoled Kristen telling her that someday we would grow up too...(while still gazing into the dark abyss that is future classes knowing that someone said my day would come too), got more responsibilities... whats up with that too? Just because someone gets older its assumed they are wiser?
Definitely something wrong with that thought process, 'cause they have not met me yet... though I must say Kristen is livin up to it so maybe I am the "exception" to the rule. I can live with that. We also had the chance to help friends move... I don't think I have been asked to help move so many pianos in one summer... not that I moved them much, generally I got moved by them and acted more as a cushion between the piano and the wall or gate or door... you get the picture. The piano in Washington was a fun one though... definitely one to remember.




Well thats enough for the first post... the details will come in the near future.

Wow, 2 Years Already?

Well, about 5 days ago, we had our SECOND anniversary!! I cannot believe it has been that long!! I know in the long run of things, 2 years is not that long... but it certainly doesn't feel like it has been that long. However, sometimes it does feel like it has been a lifetime. =) We have been through a lot in these 2 years but know that we still have a TON more to go through.


We celebrated our anniversary by going to the temple, and then getting some Costa Vida burritos and Little Ceasar's pizza. We couldn't decide what we wanted... =)We have had a great 2 years and we wouldn't trade it for anything! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, HONEY!! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!

Welcome to Rexburg, Population 5,000...

Ok, so maybe that was an exaggeration... There are around 27575 people there, and about 27,500 of those are BYU-I students or staff. =) But really, we went there for Memorial Day weekend to have an ALMOST whole family gathering. We were really bummed that my brother and sis in Oregon couldn't come celebrate with us. It was fun to see my mom and dad and my other brother and his wife. They live there in Rexburg and go to school there. We mostly just hung out and relaxed, which was wonderful. The best kind of vacation, if you ask me.



Saturday afternoon, we went up to see Mesa Falls, about 45 minutes to an hour away. It was absolutely beautiful! The falls were a lot of fun to see! We got to "hike" down to the little view area where we took a lot of pictures and just talked. I love waterfalls. There is just something about the sound of flowing water that relaxes me.

Take a Seat...

Our neighbors moved about a week ago and had some things that they didn't want to take with them. Among those things was a chair... a perfect(not perfect condition) chair... a chair that I have always wanted... A CHAIR AND A HALF!!!


I absolutely love this chair!! It is so comfortable to curl up and read, sleep, watch tv, or cuddle in! I was so excited about this chair that I have told everyone that they need to come over and see it!! Dave just laughs and says that it is just a chair... Oh honey, if you only knew... =) I got something that I have always wanted and didn't have to spend any money on it!! It was very nice of them to give this to us. They probably have no idea how much I love that chair!! Thanks a bunch!! =)

"Honey, I was in an accident..."

That was what Dave said to me about 10 minutes after dropping me off at work. Needless to say, I freaked out and ran out of my office faster than anyone would have thought possible in flip flops and at 6:40 in the morning. So yeah, Dave got hit by a woman who ran a red light at an intersection about 100 yards from my work. She hit the driver's side of our car right on the rear wheel, spinning him a little over 180 degrees so he was back facing the way that he had come. When I got to the intersection, all I saw was our car, sitting in the middle of the intersection, no Dave, no other car, just ours. I started thinking to myself, "The other car left?!" Luckily, I saw Dave sitting on the curb on the other side of the street and hurried across the crosswalk to check on him. He was a little shaken up but not seriously hurt. So that right there was already a huge blessing! I sighed with relief and then asked him what we need to do. About 2 minutes later, the police showed up and gave Dave and the other driver papers to fill out. I started getting some things out of our car that we might need and speaking to the officer about what we will need to do and everything. I, of course, called my mom in tears(we were supposed to be meeting them up in Rexburg for the long weekend) and broke the news to her that our car is not drivable and that we might not be able to make it up.



Once Dave got his papers filled out, and our car was towed away, we walked back to my work to start getting everything taken care of. We immediately called our insurance and started the process of filing our claim. They took Dave's statement and everything. I took the rest of the day off and Brian and Sheri came down to help us sort everything out, because I was a huge wreck. We found out from Geico that we were found to have zero liability in the accident but had yet to hear about the other girl's claim. We were on the phone with Geico for probably between 3-4 hours trying to get everything worked out so that we had some sort of transportation.


Luckily, we were able to rent a car and ended up being able to go to Rexburg after all. We were very blessed and I am so beyond grateful that Dave is ok!! Thanks for everyone's help with everything!! We love you all!!

California... Here I come!!

So, Dave COMPLETELY surprised me with a trip to California for my birthday! It was right around finals when he sent me... Probably so I wouldn't be home to distract him... =) We were planning on going to Salt Lake one Friday night in April so Dave came to my work to pick me up and go. I was sitting at my desk and he came up and sat next to me. He handed me a couple sheets of paper and said that he had some ideas of what we could do in Salt Lake. I looked at the first paper and it was a picture of the beach, the next one was Disneyland... I was thinking to myself, "Did Disneyland just decide to move to Salt Lake without me knowing?" Then, the last paper was a flight itinerary for me to California. I looked at him and said, "Is this some kind of joke? Because it's not funny!"

Well, it wasn't a joke, much to my delight and I flew out 2 hours later... I flew in to Long Beach, CA, by far the smallest airport I had ever seen, the baggage claim was actually outside, and Jen picked me up.


We went to Rodeo Drive the next morning and felt so out of place we couldn't even bring ourselves to go in the stores... I think they were just a little too down scale for us... =) It was kinda fun to see all the fancy cars and everything. I was rudely reminded by the people there that I would never own anything like that in my entire life. =)





We also went to the beach 2 days in a row, to work on my tan. Within 10 minutes of being there, I pretty sure there was sand in and on everything! Lexi especially... Her bath after the playing at the beach looked like she brought the whole thing home with her! I had a blast playing with Jen and Lexi on the beach! Well, the whole time actually... =) Lexi loved the water so much!! Once she went up one time, we couldn't get her to stay up at the towels for more than a few minutes without serious repercussions. =)

We also spent a little time in Hollywood, the best place on earth!! It is actually quite a bit more dirty than you see in the movies... How did real life become so much dirtier than the movies?! I thought everything was supposed to be perfect?! =) It was kinda cool to see all the cool theaters there and everything. It is amazing sometimes to see all the random things that people think of, how, I am not entirely sure. Much to my dismay, and Jen's, we found out later that night that HUGH JACKMAN was in Hollywood the same day we were!! Just a few hours earlier!! I couldn't believe it when I heard it!! Sorry honey, but he is very attractive... =) Also, while in Hollywood, we went to a cool shopping mall that had a big fountain in the middle that came right out of the ground... Dave couldn't seem to keep Lexi out of it... Or was it the other way around? =) By the end of that play session, Lexi and Dave were pretty wet!

Then, we just kinda hung out and I got to relax from real life for a while. Thanks Jen for letting me invade your house for a week and putting up with me the whole time! And Thanks Honey for being so great!! You are amazing!! =)

Valentine's Day

Ok, I know what you are all thinking... I am way behind... I always wait until I have so much to blog about that I don't have time to do it all. We went and saw Twilight at the dollar theater and just hung out most of the day. We had pizza and watched a movie. I even got Dave some french pastries to try and surprise him but apparently he knows everything, even when no one tells him. I should just give up trying to surprise him. I am a terrible liar anyway... But, I had some pictures of our wonderful Valentine's Day dinner and thought I would share them. =)
I slaved all day on this Papa Murphy's heart shaped pizza... =)

And I actually set the table and lit some candles...

it adds to the "romance" of the holiday so I hear... =)

So yeah, that about wraps up our spectacular Valentine's plans. I know, I know, we are so exciting that you guys can't handle it. But try... =)

Puzzled

So, I love doing puzzles! They give me something to do other than sit on my butt and watch tv distracting Dave from something constructive, like homework. I'm sure he would rather not be doing his homework, but I always feel bad when he is doing things at the last minute all because I kept him from doing it before. So, I recently got a new puzzle to take up some of my time. It was a 2000 piece puzzle of the Vegas strip at dusk. It was way cool looking! It took about a week and a half to finish the puzzle, so it didn't end up taking up as much time as I'd hoped. But, it was fun anyway. =) Here is a picture of the finished product... and I didn't do it all myself, contrary to what some people think... Dave and some of our friends helped out a ton!!

Better Dead Than Red...

Or so I hear anyway... Red is my favorite color, but not on days that University of Utah is being talked about. My life might be in danger if I were to admit such a thing in this town. The most dangerous thing around here is probably the BYU fans. Don't get me wrong, I love BYU but I personally don't think a color is going to make a difference.

Anyway, we went to the BYU vs. Utah basketball game last Saturday. One of Dave's friends, Kyle, is a huge fan and was camped out with the crazy people to get good seats at the game. We were the 17th tent in line. By Saturday morning, the day of the game, there were over 80 tents up around the Mariott Center. It was crazy!! Dave and I went out Saturday morning and stood in line to make sure we keep our spot. We got to see all the random groups, some playing Rock Band, or watching movies, or other random things that, generally, are not done outside in the cold. While waiting in line, we got to see some of the players come around and talk to the people in line. The athletic trainers also came out and were giving out dozens and dozens of donuts to people who had been in line for days. It was pretty cool! =) Free donuts!

Once inside, the fans were insane. They were booing at the slightest bit of red that came in to the building... and this was about an hour and a half before the game even started... I love listening to loud, crazy people boo at a color... (I hope you caught that sarcasm, I was laying it on PRETTY thick...) =) It was a really good game, and to make it better, BYU came out on top, as they should. I have some pictures of our crazy group... =) We had a great time!

Welcome Cohen!!

We just wanted to welcome our new nephew into the family!! I know it's a week late, but hey, I am really not that on top of things... He was born last Sunday night and I am pretty bummed that I couldn't be there to see him. But that's ok. He is healthy and a very cute baby!! Congrats Ryan and Kristin!! We love you!

Breaking Down...

Ok, so I have finally broken down and read the Twilight series... try not to be too surprised, everyone. So, I didn't ever think that it would be something that would interest me, but much to my dismay, I did kinda like them. It was a little too sappy at some points and it kinda made me wanna stop reading. I am now almost done with the 4th one. I started reading them a few days before I came back from Washington and have been trying to read them as fast as possible. I was kind of afraid to stop reading at a boring, sappy part in fear that I wouldn't ever pick it up and finish. But, SURPRISE!!! I am almost done. I already know what happens at the end of this one so I havent really been surprised with any of it. It was kinda nice to read it, already knowing the whole story beforehand.

RUGS!!

Ok, so I know this is probably the most ridiculous thing that I have written about but I am so excited about the new addition to our home! I have been searching for the perfect rugs to put in our living room for probably over a year. Well, I finally found the perfect ones to put in there! I found 2 and couldn't decide which one that I wanted... Luckily, they were both very cheap and so I got both! =) I hope you like them as much as I do! they fit perfectly in our little house! =)