Friday, September 6, 2013

Friday Five- Jenna Browning, Making Jam, Haderlie Dinner, and 21 weeks pregnant

My sister and several of my friends do a Friday Five post, or they call it something similar to that. I think this is a great way of documenting great things that happen during the week. I think I am going to start doing this, because we don't usually do big things that merit a whole blog post, but we are very blessed in our lives and do lots of fun little things. So I am going to start this today, and I might be going two weeks back.

1. Last Sunday my friend Jenna Browning was up in Pocatello and came up to Idaho Falls to visit. This was such a sweet thing of her and her husband to do. Pocatello is about 45 minutes away from us, and they were up visiting family, but they took several hours out of their day to come up and visit for a little bit. It was so good to see her and her sweet little girl Listen. (and her husband Josh).

2. When Kevin and I got married, we were given the most delicious bottle of Jam from one of my dear friends. I got the recipe from her and made a batch that same year. The jam has lasted us for the past two years, but I am pretty sure I just opened the last bottle. So I had to make some more. Today I took a couple of hours and made the most delicious peace-raspberry jam. Now the kitchen is a little messy, but the mess is totally worth it. (I am serious. If you ever need convincing, please just ask me, I will make some bread and give you the most delicious taste!)

3. I got called into the Young Women program in my church. I am so excited! Ever since I have been married I have only been in nursery or primary. The youth in this ward is so amazing. I have been able to go to a couple of mutual nights and they have been amazing. I love spending time with the youth. I am excited to grow in this calling.

4. Two Sundays ago Kevin's mom was in town for the weekend. Since she was down we had a big family dinner with everyone. We had Kevin's Brother Michael and his family, his cousin Aimee and her little family, his little sister Shannon and her husband, and Kevin and I. We went to his sister Shannon's apartment. Her husband made some delicious curry. I haven't had curry very much, maybe once or twice, but this was delicious!  It is so fun to see family and have little get togethers. We played a game called, know it or blow it. I really enjoyed it.

5. I am over half way. Today I am 21 weeks into my pregnancy. I love this. I can feel her kicking now and when I sit really still, I can see my stomach moving. I am now looking almost pregnant, but I definitely have a stomach now.  I can't wait to meet our little girl. She is already such a blessing in our lives.

Idaho State Fair

I love spending time with my sweet husband. Last weekend we were able to go to the state fair. We have both been wanting to go for the last several years, but we have never been able to make it. I thought the same thing would happen this year, but we both had the same day off and we decided to go. We got to the fair around 6. Neither of us knew where the fair was in Blackfoot, but luckily, as we were driving on the interstate we could see the fair rides from the road.

When we first walked in there were tons of people walking all over the place, and the smell of delicious food was in the air. That is mostly why I wanted to go, for the food, specifically funnel cakes. We decided to look at all of the food options and booths and rides before we actually ate dinner. This fair was the largest one I had ever been to. We walked around all of the food booths, then we started looking at all of the things that are for sale. Kevin gravitated towards all of the tractors, snowmobiles, and trailers. I was excited to look at the rides and the extravagant cakes that people submitted to the fair.

We walked around and looked at all the rides. It was like a mini Lagoon there. Honestly, I think even if Kevin and I were willing to spend money on rides (and if I wasn't pregnant) I still don't think that we would have gone on any of them. They are moved around in boxes and set up at random places. Some of them looked pretty sketchy.


We passed a mechanical bull at one booth. There was this really little girl,, probably only two years old, where her dad was holding her on the bull with her little hand in the air. It reminded me of something that my dad would have done. It made me smile.

While we were walking around we stumbled upon one of the free shows they had at the fair. It was called something like Ax women. They all were ladies who competed with axes. Some of them have even been to the wood chopping Olympics! Kevin and I couldn't keep from laughing. it was pretty cool, and these girls were pretty ripped, but it was such a weird hobby that someone would get involved with. They said that most of the joined the wood chopping club when they were in college. They did do some log rolling, like the kind in water. Now, we probably would have paid to try log rolling. It looked fun.



After we had looked at all the booths and all of the funny people, we finally got dinner. At this fair they serve MASSIVE turkey legs. Like the kind they eat in mid-evil times. It looked too funny not to get one.


Now, one thing you have to know about me is that I am terrible at making good decisions when it comes to food. Whenever we get food anywhere, Kevin's dinner is always looking way better than mine. So even though the turkey leg looked awesome, it was way too much meat. We both wish we would have got a hamburger and fries instead, but it was still a great experience.


After the Turkey leg, we got a funnel cake. I have been so excited for the funnel cake. I haven't had one in years, and I was so excited. It was delicious. It was a lot of sugar, but it was still fantastic.

We finished eating and started our walk back to our car. We had to park several blocks away near a restaurant called Rupes. Kevin lived in Blackfoot for a little while before his mission and he said this is the cool hang out place for high school aged people. Since we were so disappointed in our turkey leg, we decided to get some french fries. It was cool because it is one of those places that you can order your food from your car and they take it out to you. Pretty much like sonic, but cooler because it is not a big chain restaurant. We got our fries and our quart sized drink, and we were so sad. The fries were not salty enough and they came with fry sauce not ketchup. I know everyone loves fry sauce, but I don't. I always prefer ketchup. And we were expecting the quart sized drink to be huge, even though both of us know how many cups are in a quart. Enough complaining, the moral of this story is that I stink at making food decisions.


The whole night was so wonderful. We were able to spend time walking around and being with each other. We love when we get to do things like this together. I am so grateful for my sweet husband who loves me even when I make bad food decisions.


P.S. Look how awesome my husband is. He is so good at motor sports!


Thursday, August 22, 2013

First Comes Love, Second Come Marriage, Third comes a baby in a baby carriage.

Yup, That is right. We are expecting a little baby and we are SO excited! Over the last couple months I have just written little thoughts about how I have been feeling. If you want to read them go ahead, we are SO excited!

 We found out in May. I thought I might be pregnant, so got a pregnancy test and it was positive. I could not sleep that whole night. I just kept praying and worrying and talking to my little special baby. Kevin was gone in the truck, and came home two days later. I just wanted to call and tell him every single second of the day, but I figured that I could not tell Kevin over the phone! That would be so lame. So when he got home from his work, I had made a very cheesy candy bar poster that revealed my little secret. I think I was more excited than Kevin was, but he gave me a big hug and I am pretty sure I was crying. After I finally composed myself a little better, Kevin said that he already knew! He didn't know for sure, but he said he had a feeling. I was kind of bummed that he already knew because I wanted to surprise him, but it was still really exciting. We went to a couple appointments where they checked on me and if we had any questions we could ask them. At my 8 week appointment the doctor did a little ultrasound. It was amazing. Kevin wasn't able to come, but I got to see it wiggling around. It was such a touching sight. The baby was 3 cm long at the 8 week appointment. I couldn't believe that even though it was so small, you could start seeing little features. ( like a head, and I think that I could see little starting of arms and legs)

We told my family at 8 weeks, on the same day that I had my first little ultrasound, which happened to be my birthday. We thought it would be funny to have me open a present that had a little baby outfit in it. We thought right. It was perfect. Before going out to my birthday dinner, I opened one present. The expression on my families faces were priceless. I am so glad that Kevin was able to get these pictures.

Before I opened the picture.....

Mom knows what is going on......

Everyone else caught on.....


Hugs and Celebrating all around! 
 It ended up being the perfect way to tell my family we were expecting what we now know is our sweet little girl!


During the first trimester I have been so sick. I know that I have had a better pregnancy than a lot of people, but it is exhausting. I would throw up at least twice a day, and I would feel sick the rest of the time. I had absolutely no energy. I felt so bad for Kevin during this time. I would come home from work and nothing sounded good to eat (except for pizza for some reason), and I was too tired to cook or go grocery shopping. We never had any food in the house. I think Kevin survived off of Ramen Noodles and chicken noodle soup for a while. 

As I am writing this post, I am currently at 14 weeks. It is so nice to be out of the first trimester. I only throw up every once in a while, and I have so much more energy. For some reason food still doesn't sound super good, so I haven't been grocery shopping in a while, but I feel a ton better than I have the last couple of months. I cannot wait to find out the gender in a couple of weeks. I am mostly excited to start feeling the baby. I cannot wait to feel it hiccup, and move and kick. As of my 14 week e-mail that I receive, my baby is the size of a lemon and can now make faces. I am so excited.

7/25/2013
Today I went in for a check up. I got to listen to the babies heartbeat. It was at 140 beats per minute. It was the most exciting thing. So far I feel the same. I haven't really gained any weight, the only difference is that I have felt so sick and throw up a lot more than I did before I was pregnant, but today it hit me. I have a baby inside of me! The second I heard the heartbeat I just got the biggest smile on my face. I was so happy. The next appointment is set in 4 weeks from now. We will be getting an ultrasound on that appointment. I cannot wait!

7/26/2013
Hello Baby,
I am just thinking about you. I just love you so much. I can't wait to feel you move. Also, Thank you for not making me feel as sick as you used to. I know it is not your fault, but I am glad that I am not feeling so sick. I am also kind of excited to start showing. Some people have touched my belly, and it felt weird because I don't really have a belly for them to touch (except just my normal size belly). That is all, I just love you, I hope you know that already!

Mom

8/21/2013
I have started feeling you move around now. It is exciting. I think it is you moving around anyway and not just my stomach. I like knowing that you are moving and are alive. I pray every day that you are health and strong. I can eat pretty much anything I want right now (as long as it is healthy). None of it makes me sick. Also, tomorrow I go in for an ultra sound. We are going to find out your gender tomorrow. Grandma texted me this morning and is so excited to find out! I am also so excited to find out. Last week I almost went to my last job where they have an ultra sound machine and had them do a quick free ultra sound just so I could find out the gender, but I am waiting. I can't wait to see you tomorrow!

8/22/2013
Today was wonderful. I called the doctor's office this morning to see if they had an earlier appointment that I could come in for. They did! Instead of going in at 3, we were able to go in at 10:30. They were so nice to fit us in, Kevin has to drive and will be gone at 3, but he was able to make it to this ultrasound. It was wonderful. We went in and then we the doctor started looking. We saw all 4 chambers of our babies heart. We saw legs and arms and a head. It was wonderful. Then the doctor said that we are having a GIRL!! We are so excited!!!! She is going to be so amazing! We can't wait for her to come. We are almost half way there! We love this sweet little pea!


Sunday, August 4, 2013

The Best Little Zoo in the West

Kevin and I don't always have a ton of time to hang out or go on dates, especially recently. Kevin is such a hard worker and since we just started our new business he has been working a lot, and he is going to school at the same time. (Thank goodness his semester just finished, now he has 7 weeks of semi freedom). But this weekend I didn't have to work, and neither did Kevin. It was great. We started the weekend by doing the murder mystery party with Kevin's family, and then on Saturday we went on a date. Just the two of us. it was so wonderful.

We started the day by sleeping in, then Kevin had to do some book keeping. I just read my book in bed and waited for him. Then we got ready and went to McDonald's for lunch. Every year we get sucked into McDonald's Monopoly game. Since it just started we had to go get our french fries. While we were eating one of the workers asked if we wanted a free blueberry shake. Of course we said yes. It was surprisingly delicious.


After lunch we went to the Idaho Falls Zoo. Since I have moved up to Rexburg (5 years ago), I have wanted to go to this zoo, but I never have. One time while Kevin and I were dating, we drove up to the parking lot of the zoo, but instead we just played on the park outside of the zoo. Tautphaus park is a secret gem here in Idaho Falls. It is beautiful and huge. There is a little fountain/splash pad thing, tons and tons of grass to play on, a skate park, several play sets with slides and such, and even a couple of carnival rides. The rides consisted of a Ferris wheel, a tilt-a-whirl thing, and a carousel. On top of all of those awesome thing, there is the Zoo.
See how awesome this place is, and yes that is snoopy on his dog house down in front

When we arrived at the zoo, we noticed on the map that the penguins were going to be fed at 4:00 PM. That was only in 5 minutes. I was so excited and I told Kevin we had to get there right now. Since Hogle Zoo is the only zoo I have been to, I expected it to take us a lot longer to get to the penguin area. It didn't. We got there in probably 30 seconds, so we had to wait for a while. Watching the penguins eat was fun though. I felt bad for the person feeding them, because they kept biting her so she would feed them.

After watching the penguins eat we went to the other exhibits. It was surprisingly fun and amazing. They had monkeys and flamingos and HUGE turtles. My favorite thing about the park was a lot of the animals had just had babies. They babies were SO cute! The lemurs had two new babies. One baby was holding onto the back of it's mom, and one was hanging on the stomach of the other. They were both so adorable. They had such long tails and cute eyes and were just so so so cute. I almost died they were so cute. They one that was hanging on the stomach was so little. It was so cute. I just wanted to snuggle with it and hold it and love it forever.
Can you see the little baby? It is so so so cute! 
They had a lot of fun animals at the zoo, from flamingos to little goats. Here are a couple of my favorite animals that we saw at this little zoo.


These Turtles were so big. It was a pretty warm day so all they wanted to do was sit in the mud

There was a mommy lion in this exhibit also. When it was dinner time she told the daddy lion who was in charge and she made sure to get dinner first. 

Over all we spent 1.5 hours a the zoo and had a very enjoyable time. I would recommend it to anyone, even if you have been to a better zoo in other cities. We had such an enjoyable day there, and enjoyed being with each other. I do love a nice day with the people I love.
Classic Zoo picture. These fountains used to be so much larger when I was younger.



Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Murder Mystery Party



Have you ever played a Murder Mystery party Game? Well if you haven't, then you should. This last Friday we played one of these games with Kevin's family. We went up to Mike and Charity's house and met up with Jenny, Roger, Shannon, Collen, Diane, Steven. That is all but one of Kevin's siblings (plus Diane's husband).

This is the game we played I believe, doesn't it look so fun? 

It was Mardi Gras themed, which was really fun because Mike and Charity lived in New Orleans for a while and so when we didn't know what the game was referring to, then they could clarify and teach us what it meant. We all dressed up and wore costumes to match our character, and we were wearing the mardi gras masks. We took a picture, so when I get it, I will post it on here.

Another awesome part about the night was that Charity made Gumbo, which I have never eaten before and it was DELICIOUS! Then for dessert she made Bread Pudding, which was surprisingly delicious. After dinner we went and sat on the couch and started the game. 
The game was full of laughs, southern accents, and of course Murder. In the end Steven (the Lawyer) was the murderer. It was so much fun to play this game with Kevin's family. I feel so blessed to have married into such a wonderful family.

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

The Maiden Voyage

For the past year and a half Kevin has been working on a plan. He has spreadsheet after spreadsheet and a 40 page business plan. We finally bought a truck. We are starting a small trucking company. After many months of signing papers and getting loans and getting registered, we have our truck. It looks similar to this truck (all Doug Andrus trucks look the same). I was going to take a picture last night, but I couldn't find our camera. 



Last night we took it out and did a load down to Utah. It was so awesome. We celebrated with Subway on the way down, and me sleeping on the way back. Lets be honest though, me sleeping in the truck is not something unusual.

Kevin Driving on our first trip
This is a new exciting little chapter in our life. We are excited to start this business and see how it works out. 

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Jenna's Birthday



I have the most amazing family.


For my birthday they traveled from Utah all the way up to Idaho Falls to celebrate with Kevin and I. My little niece came and traveled all the way from Lehi. She did awesome for being only 1. They got here later in the afternoon and so we went out to dinner. I chose to go to Big Juds. This restaurant is out in the middle of nowhere, and it is delicious. 



We got two of their HUGE hamburgers to split. They were as big as my little niece.

At Big Juds you can get two hamburgers that are bigger than this one if you can believe it.

Between the 6 of us, we ate both of these hamburgers. It was so fun. Lydia wanted a big bouncy ball out of the quarter machine. It is so hard to not give her everything that she wants. She is just the cutest little girl ever. 


Here are some more pictures of us enjoying our delicious meal. 






After dinner we drove back to our apartment and ate some cake. For the last 10 years of my life at least, I have always had a cheesecake for my birthday. This year was no exception. 

Kevin got me those awesome birthday candles 
I am so grateful to have such a wonderful family that cares so much about me to travel all the way up here. It was a wonderful birthday.