spontaneous five- Hot Chocolate, Internship, Family Pictures, and Johnny Carino's

1. My sweet sister Shantel gave Kevin some hot chocolate for his birthday. Kevin LOVES hot chocolate. But instead of just the powder, Shantel gave him some chocolate spoons. The end of the spoon has real chocolate on it. When you heat the milk up, then stir with this chocolate spoon, the chocolate melts and turns the milk into hot chocolate. We tried it last night and Kevin LOVED it. He thinks it is so delicious. It was fun to try something different and new, not to mention delicious.
 
2. Kevin has started his internship. He is enjoying it, and I think by the end of it he will have enjoyed it a lot. It is never fun to start something because no one trusts you to do anything. You haven't learned what the protocol is for even the simplest of things. So you always start doing weird random jobs. That is where Kevin is at. Once he learns exactly what to do, he is going to be awesome. He really likes the man he is working for and it is really good experience for him since this company does exactly what he wants to do when he graduates. I am really grateful that Kevin was able to find this internship, we are excited to see what it has in store for us.

3. On Saturday afternoon Kevin and I went and got some family pictures taken. Every year I have tried to get some sort of family pictures. We just get on the school website and some starting photographer is usually advertising that they will do free photo shoots so that they can build their portfolio. It works out well for us because we currently do not want to spend any money on photographers, but if I can get one for free, then we always do them. Last year was sort of a quirky lady, but we got some good photos out of it. This year the lady who took our pictures was so nice. We really enjoyed her. She met her by the snake river, and we took pictures inside of a paintball arena. It turned out great, and I can't wait to see the pictures.

4. Tuesday night I got home from work and I was starving. Apparently my PB&J was not enough for me at lunch. I was just going to make some chicken fettuccine Alfredo with broccoli for dinner. It would be quick and delicious and quick. I really was hungry. I went upstairs to find Kevin and ask him how he felt about the dinner choice I had made. Come to find out, Kevin doesn't love Alfredo sauce. I never knew this about him, and I find it a little strange. Who doesn't love creamy alfredo sauce?

Instead Kevin suggested to go to Johnny Carino's. When Kevin suggest to go out to dinner I almost never refuse. I like to cook and bake, but I also like to not clean up dishes. So we went out. I still got my fettuccine and Kevin was able to get some steak. We were both happy. It is always fun to do something a little different than your normal routine.

5. Sunday night we were going to have Mexican Tacos for dinner. We both love Mexican tacos. They are delicious. I had some meat that had been thawing in the refrigerator for a couple days and it was already pre cut. Making dinner was going to be so fast. I just love dinners that come together quickly. Kevin usually helps me with this meal. He always cooks the corn tortillas in the hot oil. He is my hero for doing that because I hate being splattered by searing hot grease, and so he gets all of the burns instead of me.

I took the meat out of the fridge, and started cooking it. It had the most disgusting smell. To be honest, I probably have smelled worst things in my life, but it still didn't smell quite right to me. I wasn't sure if this was because of being pregnant or if the meat was just really bad. I haven't had any problems with cooking meat yet, but you never know with pregnancy. We decided not to risk it and throw the meat out. Since the kitchen now was so stinky (at least to me) Kevin offered to cook dinner for me. I got to sit on the couch and he cooked some chicken instead. He cut up the cilantro and onions and cooked the tortillas. It was such a thoughtful gesture to have him make dinner all by himself for me. I am so grateful to be married to such a wonderful man.  

General Conference

*I realize that none of my posts have pictures, I am still working on that part of the blogging thing, but at least I am starting to write and record what is happening in our lives. That is my justification just so everyone knows!*

General Conference is always so wonderful. I love hearing from the Prophets and learning and gaining deeper meaning into the gospel and my life and what I need to be doing. This General Conference was no different. Saturday I had to work for the morning session, which I haven't read, but I heard they did not announce any new temples. That is really surprising. I don't think that has happened in YEARS!! But the missionary work is expanding so quickly. I was able to listen to the last half of the afternoon session. It was wonderful.

Sunday morning I wanted to make something great. So I started on cinnamon rolls. I have been wanting to bake cinnamon rolls for a while now, but I haven't had time. They take a long time to make. I found a delicious recipe and started making them. When I started the dough I turned on conference, and there was a count down for 1 hour and 9 minutes. I was surprised that the timer was off because Conference was supposed to be starting in just 9 minutes. After the nine minutes were gone and conference still had not started I was really concerned something was wrong. I soon came to find out that I was mentally an hour ahead, even though I had looked at the clock a million times. It is good to know that you can always count on the Church to be right, even if it is just concerning the time.

I made the dough and started to let it rise. In the middle of the morning conference I punched down the dough and made the rolls, then let me rise again. I baked them shortly thereafter and they turned out delicious! I am so glad that I love to bake.

It was so nice to spend Sunday with Kevin and to be able to listen to conference. We are so blessed to be members of the True Church of Jesus Christ where we can receive revelation from God. I love this Gospel and I love Kevin.

Glasses

I recently have started working in an optometrist office this last May. I have been really enjoying myself there, and have enjoyed learning more about the eye. As a little perk I get to have a free eye exam. The last time I had an eye exam was after my 2nd semester of college, or around that time. While in school I was fairly diligent in my studies, especially when I first started college. My teachers would assign me 60 pages of text to read every other day, and by golly, I read them! At least most of them. By the end of my college career I would still read in the important classes that actually quizzed on the reading, but the other classes, I learned how to skim really well and pick up a lot of the important topics still.

But to get back on topic, by the end of my 2nd semester, I could see up close well,  but I could not see anything in the distance. When I would be walking across campus, I wouldn't realize I knew someone until they were three feet in front of me, and I would have to turn around to say hello because we had already walked past each other. I went home for my break, and I went to the eye doctors. I told him how I couldn't see the board in class really well, and how I couldn't see signs or things like that. The doctor said that he didn't want to give me glasses because I still could see pretty well and he didn't want me to become dependent on them. I went the rest of my college without glasses, and even though sometimes I felt like I needed them, I did well without them.

Anyway, I went and got my free eye exam, and I was still seeing very well. I feel so blessed to not have to wear glasses or contacts. I cannot imagine having to wear something to see anything! The doctor said that my eyes are working a little harder than they need to be, and that I have a slight prescription. Since I get a free pair of glasses while I am working in this office, I thought I might as well get some and not have to pay for them.

Now I am a glasses wearing girl. It feels kind of funny to wear them sometimes. I think I feel funny because I will be wearing the glasses and be seeing great, and then I will take the glasses off and be seeing just as great. I feel like I am just trying to be in fashion with glasses, but I really do have a reason for wearing them. I think I squint, and my forehead gets so tired by the end of the day. I do not get headaches from it, but I just feel like my face wants a massage every night. I am going to start wearing my glasses a little more often to see if they will help my head not feel so tense all the time. Although I do have to say, I feel pretty smart with my glasses on.

Spontaneous Fiv- Kevin's Birthday, Internship, Adventure in Rexburg

You might have noticed the change from Friday Five to Spontaneous Five. You might be wondering why I have changed the name. I will let you know. The first reason is because Friday is pretty much the only day that I do anything, so I always forget to post. The second reason is because sometimes I cannot think of five things every week. Most weeks we don't do anything too terribly special, but if I just have a spontaneous five post, then when my list comes to five, I will post. It will be better that way.

1. September 21st is Kevin's Birthday. Kevin doesn't love huge celebrations, and this year I was going to throw him a party. I wanted to do something special, but our apartment is too small to have lots of people over. So we ended up just inviting people to go to dinner with us. When we first moved to Idaho Falls we went to dinner with Kevin's Brother Michael and his family. They went to a restaurant called Smitty's. It was Saturday, and on Saturday they have rib nights. At ribs night, you get like a whole rack of ribs for not very much. They are so delicious and so inexpensive.

Kevin's birthday was on a Saturday so he decided that he wanted to go to Smitty's for his birthday dinner. It was really nice. His sister Shannon, her husband Collen, and his Brother Michael and his wife Charity were able to come. My parents wanted to come but were not able to make it. It was a really enjoyable night. The only bad part was that we got there too late and they were all out of ribs. Kevin didn't even get what he went there for. But it was still a nice night to spend with family.

I am so grateful for Kevin. He is such an amazing man. I am glad we were able to celebrate his birth. I am so glad he was born.

2. This is Kevin's last semester of his Bachelor's program in Financial Economics. He needed an internship to finish his schooling though. He had an internship that he could have done with Doug Andrus (the company he is currently working for), but he really wanted to diversify his resume. He has been working with Doug Andrus in several different positions, but for a long time. He was able to get an internship interview with a financial company in town. After the interview he was offered the internship position. We are really excited that he will be able to graduate in December and not have to do an internship later, but the  internship in not paid. We are a little sad about that because it will be taking up most of his time. At least this will get his foot in the finance world and will give him a good foundation for starting his career.

3. Recently we have been thinking about trying to find a job in the Salt Lake Valley after Kevin graduates this December. The reason for this is because he really wants to go to a great school out east, and then after that, most finance jobs are over on the east coast, so we would end up being away from family for several years. So for the short time that we can, we would love to live a little closer to family. This past weekend Kevin has been applying for several jobs. One e-mailed him back and set up an interview for Tuesday! I don't want to get my hopes up, but I am really hoping that this job works out for our needs and that they will hire Kevin.

4.  I am now 24 weeks. Everything seems to be going pretty well. She is estimated to be the size of a corn cob. She loves to kick and roll over. It is fun to feel her in my belly. I cannot believe we are over halfway done. We are really excited to meet our sweet little girl, but we feel really blessed that she will be here in January. It will be the perfect timing for us.

5. Yesterday was such a fantastic day! I was able to sleep in, and Kevin did some homework. I got ready and then I decided that instead of just sitting around home on my day off that I would go up to Rexburg with Kevin. He was really concerned that I was going to get really bored because I was going to be on campus for 6 hours by myself, but it ended up being such a great day.  We got up to Rexburg at one in the afternoon, and Kevin wanted to eat lunch at the Taco Bus. The Taco Bus is kind of a weird restaurant, but Kevin really likes it. It is very authentic mexican, it is actually really delicious. So we got our HUGE burritos and ate them really fast because Kevin had to get to a meeting.

We got to campus and I dropped Kevin off at his meeting then I started my day. I went over to the library and decided to start reading Harry Potter again. I really want to re-read Harry Potter now. I read for and hour or so (P.S. I now think that Kevin should dress up as Harry Potter for Halloween), then I decided to go over to the Book Store and just see what was new there. It just so happened to be Student Appreciation day. Everything was 25% off in the store, so I bought myself a handy dandy planner that I was really needing. They were giving out free popcorn and soda. I love popcorn! They were also doing free little makeovers. Since I had some time to spare, I ate my popcorn and soda and then I got a free makeover. Looking back, I probably shouldn't have gotten the makeover because I had purposely not put make up on that day, but I couldn't resist.

After all of my fun in the book store, I went up to the Health Center. When I was in school I used to work at the Health Center on campus. I did my internship in the x-ray department. I loved it so much. The lady who works in there is so kind and funny. But the reason that I decided to go there was because I have been so disappointed in my 20 week ultrasound. When I went to my doctor's for the 20 week ultrasound it lasted less than 5 minutes and we hardly saw anything. I felt like he had no idea what he was doing and I was so frustrated that I had to pay for this crappy ultrasound. I wanted to make sure that my baby was okay, so I went to the health center and Lisa was kind enough to do a very detailed, very free, ultra sound for me. It was so great to see her and all of the people that I used to work with, but it was especially nice to see my sweet little baby. We double checked, she is still a she. Her hands were opening and closing, and her toes and feet looked straight and normal. She yawned while we were watching her and she has such a cute, mouth. Her heart is beating at a strong 140 bpm. She doesn't have anything wrong with her spine, and she doesn't have a cleft palate. She was measuring perfectly and was just perfect in every way. It was so relieving to have a good ultrasound done.

After the ultrasound, I went to the swimming pool and did water aerobics.This is why i mentioned earlier that I didn't wear makeup on purpose. But since I got the makeover, I ended up having raccoon eyes, but oh well.  It was such an intense work out, especially since I have not been really exercising as much as I should be currently, so I am very sore today as I write this. It was so much fun though. I really enjoy water aerobics. I just love swimming and water.

After water aerobics I went and read a little more Harry Potter then went and found Kevin. It was around 8, he was just finishing part of his homework with some friends. We headed home and went almost straight to bed- I was so tired.

It was such a fantastic day hanging out and doing such fun things. I don't miss being a student, but I miss all of the free things that come with being a student.

Apples and Cars

This past weekend was fantastic. I first have to start out saying how amazing my husband is. I feel so blessed all the time for the amazing man that I was blessed to marry. He just knows me so well, and he does extra little things for me so that I will be so happy. I was planning on going down to my parent's house in Morgan this weekend, and for the first time in months, he was able to come with me. It was so wonderful. We were going to have to leave Friday after his class, so we would get there late Friday night, but he decided that he would skip his Friday class so that we could leave earlier. Then we had the great idea to go down on Thursday night since we didn't have any plans on Friday. We decided that we would go down on Thursday after I was done with work and he was done with his homework and go to my sister Shantel's house. We were not going to arrive there until after 10PM, but then we would be able to spend part of the morning with her and my sweet niece while David was at work. Thursday morning came and I headed into work, I was reminded of someone who could come and take the last couple hours of my shift. I asked Kevin if I could get my shift covered if he would want to leave earlier. He said yes. I was able to get my shift covered and we left around 4.

We had to stop and pick up the semi truck from the repair shop, but after we brought it back to the yard we were on the way to Shantel's house. I am the worst at riding in cars, I always fall asleep, but on this trip I stayed awake the WHOLE way. We got to Shantel's house around 8. We were able to just talk to Shantel and David for several hours that night. It was wonderful.

The next day we woke up and Kevin started his homework. I went down stairs to play with my sweet niece and a couple of her little friends. Lydia (my niece) is so sweet. She gave me part of her pancake for breakfast. After breakfast Kevin and I went to the Salt Lake Temple. Parking is so hard to find around that place. But we were able to go do a session at the temple. It was beautiful. After the session we went to the cafeteria.

After the temple we started car shopping. I hate car shopping. We found a car on KSL and we thought it was going to be perfect for us. We thought we would go look at this car, and buy it. We loved the pictures of this car so much that we already named it. His name was Tony. He was the red version of the car we own right now. The only difference is that Tony has cruise control, is a stick shift, and he is red. We love Ellie so much, and we thought we would love Tony, but he didn't meet our expectations. And the sales man was kinda shady.

After we left his place we drove around to a couple other small places, which were not my favorite places to go. Car shopping is the worst. We gave up and drove to Morgan. When we got to Morgan, Kevin and I made cheesy potato soup for dinner. It was probably the best dinner that I had eaten in a long time.

We talked with my parents for the night then went to bed. The next morning we woke up and hung out with my family for a little while. Then David, Shantel, and Lydia showed up in the afternoon. Shantel, my dad, and I headed to Willard to pick up apples. The plan this weekend was to can apples. I know some people might think that canning apples is weird, but they are so delicious! They make such great apple crisp, and you can make some good apple pie filling with them also. They are good in pancakes and just to snack on. Needless to say my whole family loves them, except David.

We brought the apples home and started canning. Kevin was peeling and coring. (It sounds like the hardest job, but it really is the most fun) I was cutting the apples in half, Melissa was stuffing the jars (which really is the hardest job of it), then David was filling the cans with they syrup and putting the lids on. Shantel was doing all of the jobs on and off. My Dad would then take the bottles out to the camp stove and would boil the bottles. We had a good system working for us.

We ended up bottling 50 bottles of apples. It was so great! Aren't they just so beautiful? I think these apples are gorgeous when they are done!

We celebrated Kevin's birthday that night with German Chocolate cake and new socks! It was so great. Kevin was supposed to go home saturday night so he could teach on Sunday, but again he was so sweet and we talked him into letting us stay one more night and we (meaning he) would have to drive home early the next morning to make it to church.

Overall the weekend was one of the most enjoyable that I have had in a long time. I love spending time with family, especially when Kevin can come along as well.

Here I am at 24 weeks pregnant, I feel like this pictures does not justify how large I actually am.

Friday Five- Maternity Clothes, YW Yoga, and Ultrasounds

1. This past week I went and got some maternity clothes. Well I really was shopping for birthday presents for Kevin and my sister Shantel, but I ended up getting semi distracted. I am really enjoying them. I am lucky because I tend to like baggy shirts, so most of my clothes have fitted me for a long time, since they had room for me to grow. Anyway, I went to Ross, which growing up I didn't love shopping there because I felt like you had to look around forever to find one good piece of clothing, and I felt like most of the styles that they carry are very punkish. But I went in to the maternity section and they had such cute clothes. I got two very cute shirts which are so comfortable. I also got a pair of maternity pants. They are so cute and comfortable. I have found a new love for maternity pants.

2. Remember how I am in the Young Women's now? I just love it so much. In the last couple week the girls started school. So for an activity we had a stress free night where we learned how to not stress and we did some yoga. I love yoga, and I haven't done it in a long time. We were able to have someone who teaches yoga professionally. It was so fun.

3. School started this week for Kevin. He has been home almost everyday and he has been home every night. It has been wonderful. I am grateful that i have a husband who works so hard to provide for our family, but also makes sure that he spends some time with me each week. He is so wonderful. Everyday i cannot believe how blessed I am, and I just realize how much I love him every day.

4. On Wednesday we had our 22 week check up. At the check up the doctor did a little ultra sound to double check the gender. He said it was still a girl. We seriously are so excited! As we were leaving Kevin said, "I think it is a boy." It made me laugh so hard! He thinks he saw something on the ultra sound, even though the doctor said twice that it is a girl. I guess we will see when it comes out.

5.Tomorrow is Kevin's birthday. We are going to do a little celebration. Kevin and I are different. I love big celebrations, and Kevin likes it to be smaller. But tomorrow we are going out to dinner. Even though he doesn't love to celebrate it, I am so grateful he was born. He will be 25 this year. Side note, last year during Kevin's Birthday I was enrolled in a cake decorating class. So I made him a cake! I brought it home from class and said, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" I showed Kevin the cake and he said, " oh, thank you! Except I am only 24." On the cake I had put 25. I was so embarrassed. So we practically celebrated this birthday last year.

Monday Five- Megan and Damon, Starting School, Age of Empires, Motor Biking, and Fixing BMX Bike

This past Friday, I forgot to write my Friday Five. I guess I should get a planner and remind myself to write these blog posts. I really do want to be writing these so that I can remember what is happening in our life, but for some reason I just space doing it. So today, it will be a Monday Five.

1.Last Saturday (not two days ago, but the one before) we were able to have lunch with some of our good friends. When they lived in Rexburg we would have dinners and watch the presidential debates with them, but then they moved away. They still rent a trailer home in Rexburg, so it brings them to this area every once in a while. Megan is so awesome and always texts me and we try to get together when they come down. We decided to go out to lunch before they had to head back to Paul, Idaho. We went to Red Robin. Kevin and I had never been to Red Robin before. Once we walked into the restaurant, thought it looked weird, walked back out and went to dinner somewhere else. This time we stayed and ate there. It was pretty delicious. Kevin loved his Burnin' Love Burger. It smelled so spicy. It came with a roasted Jalapeno pepper on top of the Hamburger. I don't love super spicy things, and recently I have been enjoying more bland things because the normal flavor of things has been so strong recently, but he loves spicy and he loved his meal.

It was really fun to see them and their little girl Sandy. This was the first time I had met her. It just made me really excited to see our little girl. I feel so blessed that we have a couple good friends that we can do some things with even though we aren't living in the same town.

2. This morning Kevin starts his last semester of his Bachelor's Degree. We are both so excited! A plus that comes with Kevin starting this semester of school is that he is going to be home practically every single night. This does not happen very often. But with how his schedule worked out, he will just wake up in the morning and do a short run to Utah, and be back before his afternoon classes. It will be so nice because in past semesters, Kevin would leave after his classes, and he would get home until 2-3 in the morning. This will be such a better schedule for both of us. It is going to be weird having almost a normal routine, but I am excited to see him more often.

P.S. As I am writing this, Kevin is shaving off his beard (no beards on BYU-I campus) and he left his mustache, which is allowed on campus. Mustaches were not meant for most people, and as I am finding out, Kevin is included in that bunch of people. I might just have to post a picture of it when I have a little time.

3. This is going to be really nerdy, but this last weekend Kevin's cousin Jordon came over to play Age of Empires with Kevin. I didn't just want to sit by myself and do nothing while they were playing this game together, so I decided to play with them. They were such good sports to let me play with them. For those of you who don't know, Age of Empires is a game of strategy where you build armies and try to destroy the other armies. It is like a pumped up game of Risk. We were all on the same team, then we had some computer players that we were going up against. Kevin and Jordan helped build walls around me so the computers wouldn't kill me and gave me food and wood and other supplies multiple times so that I could continue to build. It was safe to say I was not very good at it. I do have a confession to make though. I feel so nerdy, but I really enjoyed playing! It was surprisingly fun. I love making the little farms and growing food and mining gold and watching my resources grow. I enjoyed it so much that I invited Jordon to come over the next day to play another game with us. The second time I played I did so much better. I still did not make any walls, but by the end of the game I had the largest army out of EVERYONE that was playing. It is probably because I did not attack anyone so none of them died, but I still had the best stats for that area. So there is my confession, I like Age of Empires. I am now officially a nerdy nerd.

4. I love when Kevin can do something just for himself. He is so selfless. He works all the time, and when he isn't working he is serving in the church or doing something that probably wouldn't be first on his list with me. But this last Wednesday Kevin was able to go motor biking down in Malad, Idaho.His brother was going down to ride motor bikes in Malad, and Kevin wasn't going to be able to go because he was going to be at work, but there was a big confusion at his work and he ended up having Wednesday off. Kevin really should be writing this part of the post because he is the one that went, but he said it was so fun. They rode for about 4 hours, and it was nice because the weather was kinda rainy and cloudy so it wasn't even too terribly hot. It is always fun to see Kevin do the things he loves to do.

5. Kevin should also be writing this little snippet, but I guess I will just write the part that I know so that we can remember. Kevin loves to do BMX bike riding. Growing up he would ride his bike for hours on end and would build jumps and he even competed in races and did really well in them. One story that I love to hear his mom tell me is about Kevin riding his bike over jumps. This story also makes me feel a little grateful that we are having a girl first. The story goes something like this, One day Kevin and his friends were outside playing. His mom was inside making dinner or something like that. Kevin and his friends had decided to build a jump and ride their bikes over it. They didn't want to just stop there though. They decided it would be so much cooler if below the jump they built a fire so they would be riding their bikes over this fire. So they built a fire. Then they thought it would be so much cooler if as they ride over this jump, that when the rider gets to the peak of the jump they would throw gasoline on the fire so that it would get bigger as they are jumping it. They did this for a little bit. When his mom came out and checked on them and found out what they were doing, she put a stop to it immediately. But this little story just goes to show how much Kevin likes bikes and jumps.

So a couple weeks ago he decided he wanted to fix up his old BMX bike. He had bought it years and years ago. It had gone through several families and was really beat up. Rusted over and the wheel had rotted out, but he still wanted to fix it up. He pulled the bike all apart, got the frame and handle bars painted. Bought some new rims and stickers. (the stickers are really important. It is a Redline bike, which aparantly is a fancy kind of BMX bike, so he wanted people to know it was a Redline.) He just it all put together this last weekend.  It looks so cool, and the stickers actually made it look even cooler. You can't even tell it is the same bike. Hopefully Kevin will start doing a little racing again.