Pumpkin Carving and Cars

Pumpkin Carving is one of Kevin and my favorite family traditions. Every year my family and the Oliver family get together and eat delicious soup and carve pumpkins. This is one of the first year of many many many years that we have not carved pumpkins with at least one member of the Olive family. We missed them, but it was still fun.

Saturday morning Kevin and I went car shopping in Salt Lake. We saw a car that we liked on KSL and so we went to look at it. We drove it around, took it to a auto parts store to run some tests on it, then we went back to the dealer and bought it. It is an Audi car. I am not sure which model, but it does have a turbo. Kevin loves Audi cars. This one has some nice snow tires on it, which will be so nice once it snows, because Kevin will still be commuting to school. I love it because it has heated seats. I love heated seats. It is a stick shift, black, and has a sun roof. That is about as much as I know about this car, but I think we will have it for a while because Kevin really does love this car.

After we bought the car we drove back to Morgan. By this time Shantel, David, and Lydia were up in Morgan and they had made some delicious food. I love eating good food. There was cheese balls, taco chip dip,and 7 layer bean dip. I ate way too much food on this trip, but I am pregnant, I have an excuse right? No, I don't have an excuse, but I still did it.

In the early afternoon we decided to play some games. It was really fun because we decided to play the older games in the closet. My parents have had some games since before I can remember, and I am surprised we had not lost every piece of the games, but we have never really played them. So we played the game whatzit, and can you beat Jeff (or Matt, or someone...I can't remember the name). Whatzit was so fun! I can't wait to play again. Can you beat Jeff, well that was a different story. We ended up making our own rules which made the game so much more fun! We kicked Jeff off the board, and made some new rules.

After playing some games and eating more food, we made dinner and started carving pumpkins. By this time it was 8 at night. We didn't finish carving pumpkins until about 10. We were all so tired after. It ended up being a lot of fun. This was the finished product of everyone's pumpkins.

Here is Kevin and my carved pumpkins.

I think the baby is on our mind

 P.S. This is me at 27 weeks. The baby bump is here for sure!

Spontaneous Six- 2nd interview, Birthing Class, Jaelle, Sewing, and Fixing Cars

1. Kevin had his second interview over the phone today (10/24/13) for this job located in Portland. Kevin is so amazing. He said it didn't go as smoothly as he had hoped that it would, mostly because the guy giving the interview didn't seem to interact or care very much about the interview, so it was hard for Kevin to keep a conversation going with him. In the end, they asked if Kevin would be interested in doing a 3rd interview. Of course he said yes (we really are just looking for almost any job). So sometime in the next couple of months they are going to fly Kevin out to Portland for the third interview. I am so proud of Kevin. He is so great, even this company can see it!

2. Yesterday (10/23/13) I convinced Kevin to go to a birthing type class. It is for the next three Wednesdays at the hospital from 7-9:30. I mostly wanted to go to this class for Kevin, because he is not too familiar with the pregnancy and birthing process, but I ended up learning a lot from it too. It was kind of weird because so far we have mostly just watched movies (that are 20 years old) and asked questions, but I am hoping that we will learn some breathing/relaxation techniques as well. She showed us the epidural needle. To be honest it is a lot smaller than I thought it would be. Every time I hear someone talking about the epidural needle, they say it is SO huge. Since I have heard that so many times, I had this picture in my head that the needle was 1 foot long and the width of a pea (comparable to a drinking straw). It is not that big for those of you who have not seen them. We also saw a little suction vacuum thing. It was kind of funny. The lady showed us this thing that monitors the baby during labor. This device screws into the top of the baby's head. Like screws under the skin of the baby. I think it is so weird. She said that the doctor that I am seeing uses this on every single pregnancy he delivers. I do not love my doctor. I think we will have moved before I deliver though, so I am thinking he will not be the one delivering my baby. I am excited to go to the rest of the classes, even though they are kind of long.

3. I just got off the phone with one of my best friends, Jaelle. This has just been one of the greatest things this week. Jaelle and I were in the same 1st grade class, our teacher was Ms. Jordan. (she was the best teacher) but from that day forward, we were just automatic best friends. I always wanted to be exactly like Jaelle. She was/is so outgoing and happy and just herself. She makes everyone around her smile and feel comfortable. One time, I think in 5th grade, we had a sleepover because her parents were out of town, and we decided to wear the same outfit to school (I am sure I had that idea because I wanted to be exactly like her). That same sleepover, we thought it would be a good idea to put the spare key to her house under my porcelain doll's dress. I think I found it there several months later when I was cleaning. One time we decided to go into our back yard (which was a field) and make a fort that was underground. We had such great plans. We were going to take some extra wood from my dad, and put it over this hole and cover it up so that no one would be able to find it. We only dug for one day, but we made a pretty big hole (considering we were probably only in 5th or 6th grade). When I showed my dad he was so impressed, but after we never finished our project, he couldn't find the dirt because we had spread it everywhere and didn't make one big pile. The hole stayed in the field until we moved...I am sure it is still in the field. I have so many fond memories of Jaelle. I am so grateful for our friendship, and even though we don't talk very often, it is nice to know that she is still out there making someone happy and being herself.

Don't mind the puffy eyes, I think this was my last game before I moved and I had been crying

4. I have been so blessed in my life. Before I was married (and even still) my dad always check the oil in my car, fixed everything that went wrong. There were multiple times that I would call my dad and tell him that the car was making a funny noise. He would have me describe it. After I tried to make a noise and just sounding silly, my dad would have a good idea of what was going on with my car. He is amazing!

Now that I am married, I am not home as often, but I have been so blessed because Kevin is such a handyman. This morning (10/26/13) Kevin woke up and headed out to fix my car. My front light has been out and Kevin thought that the brake needed changed. He tore everything apart and found out that my brake is fine, but he fixed the light. It is so nice to be taken care of.

If it were not for these two men in my life, I am sure my car would be ruined. I would have my engine seizing from not changing the oil or something. I am so grateful that my dad and Kevin have been able to fix my car and take care of me. I am so grateful for them.

5.This morning (10/26/13) Kevin asked me to fix a couple of his clothes. He has this super ugly, ratty, shirt that has huge holes in the elbows. He only wears it when he goes snowmobiling. So this morning I cut the sleeves up to the elbows and hemmed them up. The shirt now looks pretty good. Kevin is going to be so excited when he sees it.

This is a before and after in the same picture. See how big that hole is? The other side is exactly the same! 

For Christmas last year, I got some clips for Kevin's shirt stays. If you don't know what shirt stays are, they are these elastic type things that you hook one part to the bottom of your dress shirt, and the other part to the top of your socks. They make it so that when you raise your hands, your shirt stays tucked in. Hence the name shirt stays. Kevin loves them. The part that hooks onto your socks and been starting to slip so I got some new clips and sewed them onto the elastic so that they will stay better. I only had gray thread instead of the black that matched the elastic, so they kind of look poorly done, but no one will see them. It is nice that I finally finished Kevin's Christmas present from last year!

6. Last night (10/25/13) we went out to dinner with Kevin's cousins. We went to chuck a rama. I have so many memories there from when my Grandma and Grandpa Walker would take us out to dinner. I think growing up, every time we ate there, my brother Matthew would throw up because he would eat too much. That is the curse of buffets. Don't worry, now he is older he can portion control a little better.

Long story short, it was really nice to see his cousins Aimee, Andy, their son Logan, and Aimee's brother Jordon. I love when we get to spend time with family, and it is always an added bonus when we get to eat good food.

Spontaneous Five- Interview, Icy Hot, and Yoga Mat

1. Kevin is so awesome. He is super trying to get a job that is something other than driving a semi truck. That will be so nice once we have a family. He can come home every night and have dinner with me and see our sweet little baby. I am really hoping he gets a financial job so that he can do that. He found a company that he would like to work for, unfortunately they are located in Portland, but at least we can have a good family life. He found out that they were going to a career fair in Montana to do interviews. So last Thursday Kevin woke up really early in the morning, drove to Montana, met the recruiters at the career fair, drove back to Rexburg and went to class. He was so nervous because he had to go on a different campus and find a random building. Everything ended up going fine for Kevin, he found everything smoothly. Once he found the company he was looking for, he talked to them for close to a half hour. They loved talking to him. Kevin said that as they were talking, several students from the Montana school dropped their resumes off with this company, and the recruiters were acknowledging them and thanking them, but didn't really talk to them. They just kept talking to Kevin the whole time. Kevin is so awesome. They couldn't do the interview that day, and they said after they were done with their University recruiting tours, they would give Kevin a call and set up an interview. It turned out really great for Kevin. Kevin is just so amazing. This company would be so lucky to have Kevin as an employee.

2. Following up on the story below, they called Kevin and set up an interview! We are really excited! The interview is today at 2:00. (as I am writing this, that is 45 minutes away). I know that Kevin will do so great! I will update on what happened later.

3. I am now 27 weeks pregnant. I know that I can't really complain, but already my back hurts fairly often. It makes it so I do not sleep very well. One night I put some Icy Hot (it is actually the Melaleuca brand, which I think they are more of a natural company),  on my back and it was the best nights sleep that I have had in such a long time. My back didn't even hurt very bad. The next morning I woke up so happy. I then thought that I should Google if it is okay to use Icy Hot. All of the comments said not to use it. I was so sad. This week at my Doctors appointment, I asked my Doctor. He agreed with the comments I read and said I probably shouldn't use it. I am really sad about this, but oh well. I thought I would just let the world know of the best/sad discovery that I have made.

4. Yesterday morning I was taking to Kevin and I told him how I wanted to go to the prenatal yoga class that is free at the hospital. It is offered on Thursdays, but I haven't gone yet because I am concerned that everyone will come with a yoga mat and I will not have one and will look silly. Kevin was so thoughtful that later that day, Kevin went and bought me my first yoga mat. He is always so thoughtful. I was SO excited. I pulled it out and did yoga at home last night. I really like it, even if I am just doing it in our home. It helps my feet and hands not slip as much. I am so grateful for this yoga mat and for Kevin. Yay! I am planning on going to prenatal yoga this Thursday now!

5. Candy Crush Saga. I think that is all I have to say. I am pretty much addicted. I am so glad that you only get 5 lives before you have to wait like 3 hours to get more lives (or you can post things about it on facebook). Since I will never post any game I am playing on facebook, I just wait. It helps me space out my game playing time. I love finding a fun new game. Although I sometimes have dreams about this game, it is still great!

Jenna's Graduation

Yes I graduated from college. I know this happened a while ago, but I just found the pictures that my sister Shantel sent to me. I wanted to at least have them on the blog so I can find them again some day, and print them out when I print this blog out as a book.

I received my bachelors in Health Science with a Public Health Emphasis. I am so grateful for the help I received from my parents while going to school. My family came up to celebrate and come to my commencement. It was so nice. We played games and ate some delicous food. My last semester of college I took a class where you had to run a restaurant. I made my family my favorite wrap that we sold in the restaurant. It was really fun. It was an all around good day. Here are the pictures that my sister sent me.

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.