Last weekend my cousin Jessie had a baby shower. It was the first time I had seen her in months and I was so excited to see how her tummy had grown. She got married just after Ben and I did. They surprised the family by getting married in Vegas! (Jessie is the one on the left.) Aimee, in the middle, is my newest cousin. She married Jessie’s brother Colby on St. Patrick’s day, also in Vegas.
Jessie is due June 26 and is having a little girl. They are naming her Brooklynn Ann. So Cute! Aimee is having a little boy and they are naming him Larry Colten, but he will go by Colten. She is due Aug 4. Then there’s me who is due Aug 11.
At the shower everyone in my family kept saying “there’s pregnant women every where!” It was pretty funny. They should see Ben’s side of the family- there are like 6 of us! On my side of the family up until this point only one of my cousin’s has had any kids. So in one summer my grandparents are doubling their grandchildren!
Yeah, for having babies! I am getting so excited to meet little Hallie!
Wow, after almost six years we finally all got together. Yesterday we met up at the PF Changs in Orem and talked for hours. Throughout high school we were best buds and yesterday it was like nothing had ever changed. Appearance wise we all look a little more mature but mostly just my hair color has changed. With the four of us we cover most lifestyles.
Shanna has been married for over four years now. (She met her husband during her senior trip.) Marci just celebrated her one year anniversary with her husband and still glows like a newly wed. Lena is still in the dating scene and as flirtatious as ever. (The waiter even asked her for her phone number and gave us free dessert-Thanks Lena!) And then there’s me of course~married and pregnant.
I honestly can’t remember the last time I had so much fun. We ate fabulous food and then stayed and talked for hours. I love these girls so much and couldn’t have asked for better friends. All three of them are amazing and such great examples to me. Thanks again girls for last night. Next time, lets not wait six years!
We are headed back to my second home. Washington D.C. We decided to take the job with the Census Bureau which starts June 23. There are a million papers to fill out and documents to sign when working for the government. However, we are super excited and grateful that they will pay to move us out there. We plan on taking a week or so and visiting friends and family and church sites along the way. The furthest I have ever driven was to Washington State so this is quite the trip for me, especially being seven months pregnant. However, I am excited that we will get to see so many things along the way and it will be fun to just be with Ben. We have been apartment hunting all day, not to mention Ben’s trip out there before. It is not fun! I did find a few places that are in our price range we just hope they aren’t in too scary of neighborhoods. Good luck to us!
Congrats Ben on getting the job. You’re so strong!!!
This past weekend my wonderful mother threw me a baby shower. I ended up having two: one Thursday night and one Saturday afternoon. The one on Thursday was for neighbors and relatives. It was awesome! I enjoyed talking and catching up with old friends and neighbors that I haven’t seen forever. (I shook their hands at the wedding reception, but we didn’t get to talk.) I’m not too into little games etc. so we mostly just talked and chilled-which was perfect to me. I was so grateful that people took time out of their busy schedule to come and support Ben and I in this next step of starting a family. I received so many cute clothes and much needed items like blankets and wash cloths etc. Again, people are so good to me! I’m not sure what I have done to deserve to be surrounded by such good people-I guess it’s just in people’s nature to be so good.
On Saturday some of my best friends came. We ate, laughed, and talked for a couple of hours. Again I was so grateful that they would come. It really meant a lot to me. It showed me that when people have parties etc. I should really try to go because the support means a lot. One of my very best friends Bree even drove down from Rexburg. (Thanks Bree-You’re seriously the best and I miss you already!!) I had friends from High school, the mission, and college. Again, Hallie got super cute clothes which included a little swimsuit for next year-it’s adorable! Everything just made me even more excited for Hallie to come. Although, I’m glad I still have a few more months! Thanks everyone for coming- I loved it!!!!
My mom did an amazing job putting everything together. The food was fabulous and everything looked so nice. She really knows how to throw a party. Thanks mom for doing so much for me!!!
Many of you, including myself, have been wondering what our next step is going to be. It’s now the second week into May and we are still no closer to finding out.
Here are our options:
D.C. (The picture is of Ben the last time he flew back there to interview.) Ben has been offered a job at the Census Bureau. However, we don’t know when it starts. He has one more week to tell them yes or no. It pays pretty good and has great benefits, but it is working for the government.
New Jersey right across from Manhattan. Ben has also been offered a job with the Charles G. Koch Foundation. This job starts June 1st yet we don’t know the salary or benefits etc. This is the job that most interests Ben. He would be surrounded by people who share his passion for Liberty and the free market. He would be working with a research team and even holding press conferences to reveal his findings.
Phoenix with U.S. Airways. Ben just recently flew back there and interviewed so he hasn’t heard back from them yet. We did find out that this job has the best perk out of all of them. We can fly free where ever their airline flys. Plus discounts on all other flights and even cruises. Sounds soooo good! I’ve always wanted to travel and this would be my chance.
We are so excited for this next step in our lives-especially the baby! The sky is the limit and we plan to take advantage of it. It’s nerve racking to me to not know where we are going and when but I’m just grateful to have a husband who is qualified for so many neat jobs. He’s the man!
As soon as I know anything I promise to post an update. Until then…… we all wait!
Many of you, including myself, have been wondering what our next step is going to be. It’s now the second week into May and we are still no closer to finding out.
Here are our options:
D.C. (The picture is of Ben the last time he flew back there to interview.) Ben has been offered a job at the Census Bureau. However, we don’t know when it starts. He has one more week to tell them yes or no. It pays pretty good and has great benefits, but it is working for the government.
New Jersey right across from Manhattan. Ben has also been offered a job with the Charles G. Koch Foundation. This job starts June 1st yet we don’t know the salary or benefits etc. This is the job that most interests Ben. He would be surrounded by people who share his passion for Liberty and the free market. He would be working with a research team and even holding press conferences to reveal his findings.
Phoenix with U.S. Airways. Ben just recently flew back there and interviewed so he hasn’t heard back from them yet. We did find out that this job has the best perk out of all of them. We can fly free where ever their airline flys. Plus discounts on all other flights and even cruises. Sounds soooo good! I’ve always wanted to travel and this would be my chance.
We are so excited for this next step in our lives-especially the baby! The sky is the limit and we plan to take advantage of it. It’s nerve racking to me to not know where we are going and when but I’m just grateful to have a husband who is qualified for so many neat jobs. He’s the man!
As soon as I know anything I promise to post an update. Until then…… we all wait!
At my graduation Elder M. Russell Ballard spoke about using the Internet to share the gospel. He mentioned how influential blogging can be. He encouraged us to not be shy about posting gospel related topics or stories and he also suggested commenting on other people’s blogs and striking up conversations about the Church. He told us to defend the Church if we ever see anything that isn’t accurate and to download videos etc. from Church websites. Overall, I felt like it was something every Church member should read not just those graduating from BYU-Idaho. It’s called “Making your Influence Felt”
I challenge myself and everyone else to talk more openly about the Church on their blogs and with friends and neighbors. Just as an example of how I am going to do better- as I was looking over my past blog entries I saw that when I posted wedding pictures I could have shared my thoughts on the Temple etc. I love the Church and I am so grateful for my membership in it. It brings peace to my crazy life and provides purpose to all that I do. I know who I am and I know that God is real and that He loves me and knows everything about me. He is interested in our lives and cares very much what happens to us. Yes, there are a lot of bad things in the world but there are also so many good- we just need to re focus our attention.
This past weekend my beautiful mom and I went to Thanksgiving Point to see the famous Tulip Festival. I had seen pictures of the festival from past years and it looked amazing. I was so excited to go. Everything, including the weather, seemed perfect. We got there, paid the 10 dollars each and walked out to view the fields of tulips. There was just one problem. There weren’t any tulips!!! The fields were green without a spec of color. The place was packed with people and I was blown away that each one of us paid ten dollars a piece to see tulips and there weren’t any. My mom and I decided to take advantage of the chance to walk and talk. I love my mom so much! She is so much fun to hang out with and so patient with me as I rattle on with my nonsense. I wish we could spend more time together. But alas, life is so busy and the 45 min drive seems soooo long.
The moral of this blog post is that Thanksgiving point is a money making liar. That didn’t seem harsh did it? I’m not quite sure why they didn’t move back the dates of the festival because the bulbs hadn’t opened yet or why they didn’t mention anything to the thousands of people who paid. To me it is false advertisement and I was way disappointed!
With all that said I did get to spend time with my mom and so it wasn’t all bad.
Okay so I’m not quite sure how healthy this bread is but it doesn’t contain any oils and it only has three ingredients so it’s the best one I’ve found out there. Plus, it’s so simple to make you’ll love it!
Ingredients:
1 box spice cake mix (dry)
1 can Libby’s 100% pumpkin (the smaller size of the 2 sizes, similar to a regular Campbell’s soup size)
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
Directions:
Mix 3 ingredients together and place in a pan of your choice. (bread loaf, shallow pie dish etc.) Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 30 minutes. It may be longer for a bread loaf.
