I've been tagged!

Ok, so I was tagged back in October but have been so sick with this pregnancy that I didn't have the energy to tackle this until now. Sorry Katie but I'll try and make it worth the wait. So here are the rules:

1. Meeting new people is hard for me. I am an introvert and have a difficult time opening up to people I don't know. I often get passed off as being stuck-up because I am so quiet at first. People who know me are always surprised when I tell them this is a challenge for me but it's true.

2. I used to play World of Warcraft online. My husband and I played it for two years and we cancelled our subscriptions just this past July because it sucked away so much of our time. I have a level 70 human Mage, a level 30 human Warlock and a level 15 blood elf Mage. It was fun playing the game and sometimes I miss it but my life really is better without it. Games are addicting and sometimes they can ruin your life. We had two people in our guild who were each married to other people and they ended up almost having an affair with eachother. It was sad and one of the reasons we cancelled our accounts, it's not worth it.

3. I am domestically challenged. What does that mean? Well, I have no decorating sense and I do not enjoy cooking. Don't misunderstand me, I can cook and am often complimented on it but I do not enjoy it. As far as my decorating sense I have none. It's just not something I have ever developed. But I am working on it and have recently come across some fabulous blogs to help me in this area: Just a Girl, Nesting Place, My Insanity (also a personal friend of mine) This Young House. There are many out there but these are just a few of my favorites.

4. I love board and card games. I enjoy the interaction with others and think it's a great way to bring a family together (unless you're one of those competitive families in which case it's probably better to avoid them). My favorite game is Settlers of Catan. My husband and I try to play this with friends whenever possible (it takes more than two players). The hard part is finding another couple who plays this as well. Fortunately we have been able to find others throughout our moves.

5. I was the first person on my dad's side of the family to ever receive a Bachelor's Degree. I did not know this until the day of my graduation. My aunt who does a lot of family history told me what a milestone that was for me and my family. I felt very humbled when she told me. Neither of my parents have a college education and our family always struggled financially growing up but I had no idea that no one in my dad's family has ever received one. Receiving an education was important for me and I worked my butt off to receive my degree. Kevin was a year ahead of me in college so in order for me to graduate by the time he did I had to complete four years of college in three years. It was difficult and there were many times when I thought I couldn't do it, especially when I was carrying 18+ credits at a time but I did it and manged to graduate Magna Cume Laude as well. Kevin has since received his Masters degree and we will definitely teach our children the importance of a college education.

6. I love camping. Being in the outdoors is therapy for me and camping in Yellowstone National Park tops my list. Kevin and I went to school at Ricks/BYU-I and we lived an hour and a half away from the park. We had a yearly pass and used to go all the time. It's amazing to see all the thermal features the park has to offer, not to mention the wildlife. The best though is when you get off the main road and explore the trails and other features that are less well-known. One of our favorite things to do there is swim in the Firehole River. The hotsprings feed into the river and the water is like bath water, very warm and relaxing.

7. The first time Kevin asked if he could kiss me I turned him down. It wasn't that I didn't want to...far from it actually but we had just had smooties from Jamba Juice and mine had strawberries in it. Of course the seeds from the strawberries were stuck in my teeth and I didn't want to make a bad impression on him for our first kiss so I told him no. At first he didn't know what to say he just kind of laughed then he asked me if I was serious and I explained my reasoning to him. He laughed even harder. I stuck to my guns for the rest of the night, even when he dropped me off. Of course the next time we went out I made sure that my teeth were brushed and I was prepared for our first kiss. Let me just say it was worth the wait! I found out later that Kevin lost a bet because I said no the first time. He had a bet with a friend who was also dating a girl that he would get the first kiss before his friend did. He would have won if I had said yes.

Ok so I tag:
Rachel
Michelle
Brooke
Miriam
Meggin
Kim
Lori

Thanksgiving

We had a quiet Thanksgiving dinner at home. Kevin and I decided we wanted to do our own thing with Sarah this year to get some traditions going. I still cooked all the typical Thanksgiving dishes but it was on a much smaller scale than in years past. Sarah helped me make most of it. She loves to help whenever we cook and drags over a chair so she can see what's going on up on the counter. She got a big kick out of watching me prepare the turkey. We kept asking her what a turkey says and she would get this huge grin on her face and say, "goggle, goggle." It was hilarious.

After dinner we went over to my brother, Brian's house and played Rock Band with his wife Ann and a friend of ours. Sarah rocked out the whole time. She kept jumping around to the music and loved seeing daddy play the guitar. Uncle Brian played the drums and she got right up on his lap and played along with him.

I sang The Eye of the Tiger and got 100% on it, woot! Then I played the drums once...even on beginner it was hard, way too much going on for me.

Our friend Hank sang one of the last songs and he got real close to Sarah and sang right to her. At first she didn't know what to do and backed up a bit. Then she got right back in his face and sang into the microphone with him as lound as she could. We were all laughing.

It was a great day and definitely a memorable Thanksgiving.

Announcement

Ok, so I am officially announcing that I am pregnant with baby #2. I am 14 weeks right now and I'm due May 29th. I have been VERY sick and it got so bad that my doctor wanted to put me on a home iv to keep me hydrated but my insurance co. wanted me to pay $2,500 first. So I said forget that. Anyways the sickness is finally letting up a little but it's not gone yet. When I was pregnant with Sarah I was sick through week 17 so I guess I still have a few more weeks to go.

I don't have any feeling on whether it's a girl or a boy. Kevin is dying for another girl. He would be in heaven if we had all girls. I'm torn between the two. It would be nice to have a boy because then I would have at least one of each. But on the other hand I really want Sarah to have a sister. I guess we'll see!

"Blessing"

On Tuesday night we were driving home from Montana and Sarah came down with a fever about an hour before we got home. I got in the back seat with her and gave her some Motrin. After she took it she looked at me and said "blessing, blessing". I asked her if she wanted Daddy to give her a blessing and she said "yeah". Kevin and I looked at each other in amazement. He has given her plenty of blessings and she has seen him give me blessings but we didn't think she understood what they were for. Of course when we got home Kevin gave her one.

The next morning she had a temp. of 103.1 so I took her to the doctor. It turns out she has an ear infection which we had no idea was there. I got her prescription filled and gave her the medicine right away along with more Motrin for the fever. We went home and Sarah took a nap. After she had been asleep for an hour I felt prompted to take her temperature (we have one of those ear thermometers which makes it easy). Her temp. was 104.6! I double checked to make sure it read correctly and it came back with the same temp. Of course her little body was just on fire so I called the doctor to see if I needed to take her to the ER. The nurse told me to put her in a cool bath for 15 minutes. She also said that Sarah would get the shakes from it because it would be such a shock to her system. So I filled the tub with luke-warm water and got her out of bed. Sarah moaned a little but was as limp as a rag doll. Once I got her into the tub she became more alert and started wimpering and crying telling me she was cold and begging me to take her out. I had to leave her in for 15 minutes to cool her off so it was a very difficult bath to give her. I wanted to cry the whole time.

After I took her out and got her dressed she was still shivering so I hugged her close and put a blanket around her. As I was holding her she cried "blessing, blessing, blessing". That sent me into tears because Kevin was at work and I was amazed again at her understanding of what blessings are for. I explained to her that Daddy was at work so he couldn't giver her one but I asked her if she wanted Mommy to say a prayer and she said yes. So I sat down with her and prayed. She sat perfectly still the whole time and I could tell she felt better after we said the prayer.

The bath brought her temp. down to 100.7. I called the nurse again to update her on Sarah's status and she had me alternate giving her Tylenol and Motrin for 24 hrs. to keep the fever under control. She then told me if her fever spiked again to give her another bath. She said the ER would not be able to do much more than that. So I was grateful that she saved us time and money in avoiding a trip to the ER and today Sarah is much better. The antibiotics are finally kicking in and her fever is almost gone.

This has been an amazing experience for me. Of course it was scary when her temp was so high but Heavenly Father protected her and helped me through the situation. And Kevin and I were given the opportunity to see that Sarah is learning by our example even though she is not even two years old yet. That realization is both exciting and scary to me (what kind of bad habits is she learning from me?) But more importantly I am seeing that our efforts in teaching her the gospel are paying off just by living it. Actions speak louder than words.

Halloween

We had a great Halloween this year. First we had a trunk-or-treat at church on 10/20. I dressed Sarah in her Minnie Mouse costume and she kept taking her ears off. So I put bows in her hair instead.

On Halloween night I decided to give the ears a try and look how cute they turned out!

We had a great time trick-or-treating around our neighborhood with a bunch of friends. People loved to see the big group of little kids coming to their door. Sarah had a hard time saying "trick-or-treat" so she just said "treat" to people. She caught on real fast that if she said "treat" she would get candy. About 8:30 she fell asleep on Kevin's shoulder so we took her home to put her to bed and she barely woke up when I changed her into pajamas.

Kansas and the Wichita Zoo

We went to visit Kevin's family in Wichita, Kansas two weekends ago. His brother, Brian was deployed to Iraq on Oct. 6th and we wanted to see him before he left. The first day we went to the Wichita Zoo. The next day we ran errands and went out to dinner that night with the whole family then we came home Sunday. It was so nice to see Brian before he left. He is a Military Police and will be in charge of guarding the prisoners just outside of Baghdad. Our prayers are with him. Here are some zoo pictures:

Our Little Guitar Hero

We borrowed Guitar Hero III for the Wii from a friend of ours and Kevin is hooked. Sarah saw him wearing the guitar and she wanted to try it on. What do you think?

"Pocky"

A few weeks ago I took Sarah to the botanical gardens here and they had pumpkins for sale. When Sarah saw them she was so excited. She ran over to them and started hugging and kissing them. I told her they were called pumpkins and she said "pocky". So now all pumpkins are known as pocky.

I let Sarah pick out a pumpkin and she chose one that is just her size. She wanted to hold it in the car all the way home and now she carries that pumpkin all around the house. She gives it pats and hugs and kisses it too. It is the cutest thing. Whenever she wants to hold it she says, "hold pocky, hold pocky".

Back Seat Driver

Thursday I was backing out my driveway and almost got hit by some woman who decided to flip a u-turn right by my driveway. When I pulled up behind her at the stop sign she just sat there even though there were no cars coming. I was just about to honk my horn at her when she rolled down her window and waved me past. The problem was that she was sitting right in the middle of the road so I had to drive right next to the side walk on the wrong side of the road to get around her. Needless to say I was pretty ticked by this point and as I passed her I called her a stupid cow (my windows were rolled up, I was just venting outloud). All of a sudden from the back seat Sarah said, "Moooooo, Mooooooo, Mooooooo!" I was so upset over the situation that it took me a second to understand why she was mooing. Finally it hit me, I had just called this woman a stupid cow and Sarah picked up on the cow reference so she started mooing. I busted up laughing and almost peed my pants. It was so funny! I will definitely have to start watching my actions when I drive.

Gymnastics

A few weeks ago I signed Sarah up for a gymnastics class for toddlers. We go every Monday and last Monday was our first class. It runs for six weeks. It's really like glorified play time but Sarah loves it. We start out with circle time where the kids do fun little stretches and sing a few interactive songs. Then we have free time for half an hour where the kids get to run around on all the gymnastics equipment. They have the parallel bars, uneven bars, the rings, balance beams, a mini trampoline and big squishy mats all over the place. But Sarah's favorite area is the pit of foam blocks. They have a slide set up that drops you into the blocks. Sarah also like me to toss her in. After free play we pull out the parachute and do various activities with the kids. I am so glad I signed Sarah up for this and I know she is too. It is so great for her to run around and just be a kid and it gives us some special time together.

This is only half the equipment there

Big Girl Bed

Last Sunday, Sept. 14th, we moved Sarah from her toddler bed to a twin size bed. She loves it! It is so fun having her in a bed because I can do so many more things with her. We kneel down beside her bed to say prayers, I lay down with her to read books and I sit on the edge of her bed while I sing to her. It's also nice to cuddle with her on it.

Her first night in bed went really well. She usually sleeps with her pink bear. About 10 minutes after we had put her down we kept hearing her meowing over and over. After a while it was quiet and she had fallen asleep. When Kevin got up at 5:30 the next morning to get ready for work he peeked in on her and she was asleep with her stuffed kitty and Pinky was in the corner with the rest of her stuffed animals. An hour later at 6:30am I peeked in on her and this is what I found:

In that one hour she had gotten up out of bed, walked over to the corner, put the kitty back, picked up her brown bear and crawled back up onto her bed where she fell asleep on her knees. She stayed asleep like that for an hour and then decided to come out of her room. Funny girl!

The Children's Museum

Last week Sarah and I had a mother/daughter date to the Children's Museum here in Denver. It was the first time I had ever been there and we had so much fun. They have all kinds of attractions that are for geared for different ages. Sarah's favorite area was the treehouse and village. We spent half of our time here exploring everything. There is a big open area that looks like a meadow with a few gazebos to sit down in. A magnetic spiderweb on the wall had alphabet magnets and there was a cute little bridge that Sarah had fun walking and crawling over. Then you wander back into the treehouse. You could climb different areas of the tree and there was even a built in slide in it. After that you come to a little pond with a boat where you can go fishing with magnetic fish and a magnet fishing pole. In the back of this exhibit you come to the village that has a cabin, general goods store, a mill and a garden where kids can plant and pull up stuffed cloth vegetables.

After we left that area we went to the arts area where Sarah got to finger paint. Of course it was very messy and we got some paint on her clothes but it all came out in the wash. From there we moved on to the dance floor where they have costumes and props you can dance with on the dance floor. Sarah loves to dance and really got into the groove. She ran around and danced with ribbons and these cool nylon scarves.

After we were done there we went to the "locker room" where Sarah was able to play in some lockers and shoot some hoops on a little mini basketball court. Then we went outside and played on the playground for a little while. Among the typical playground equipment there were these cool rock sculptures for kids to climb on. After we left the museum we went across the street to this yummy mexican restaurant and had some lunch. We were worn out by then and headed for home but we had a great time together.

Happy Anniversary!

Today Kevin and I are celebrating our 8th anniversary. When I went downstairs this morning I found flowers and two cards sitting on the table. I don't know how Kevin got the flowers there because it was 7:00am and the vase had condensation on it from being refrigerated. He left for work a half hour earlier and he didn't get up any earlier than he normally does. Anyways, so far it's been a good day. I have spent a lot of time thinking about the day we got married. We were married in the Bountiful, UT temple. We went on our honeymoon to Breckenridge, CO for three days. We spent the time relaxing, window shopping, eating and riding horses. It's fun thinking about how new everything was those first few weeks of marriage. A lot of people say the first year is the hardest and Kevin and I kept waiting for that to come, but our first year was wonderful and it has only gotten better since then.

I feel so blessed to have a husband like Kevin. He treats me like a queen. I never have to ask him to help with housework or making dinner. He is the best daddy to Sarah. She adores him and has him wrapped around her little finger. He is a good provider for our little family and I appreciate so much how hard he works for me and Sarah. Kevin also works very hard around our house fixing things and keeping up with the yard work. He is always so patient with me and always tells me how much he loves me and that I am beautiful even when I have bed head and morning breath. I love the smile he always has on his face and brightens up the room whenever he walks in. He loves to make me laugh which helps me from being too serious, especially when I'm stressed out. He values and respects the priesthood he carries and always keeps himself worthy to hold it. He also works hard to magnify his calling as Elder's Quorum President and puts in many hours of service behind the scenes to the members of the quorum.

The love that we have for one another is so strong and it only gets stronger every day. I love being in love with Kevin and I know that these 8 years will turn into 50 years someday. Happy Anniversary to my sweetheart!

Labor Day Weekend

We had a great weekend. Kevin planned some fun activities for Saturday and wouldn't tell us what we were doing so we were completely surprised. We left the house around 10am and drove down to Colorado City which is about two hours south of here. Out east of there we went to a caslte called Bishop's Castle. It's this castle this man is building all by himself. Apparently his dad started building it 20+ years ago and now he trying to complete it all by himself. It's actually a pretty cool place but at the same time it's a little scary too. He is building this castle without any permits and is taking all the stone from state forests. He doesn't believe in the government and justifies his actions by saying he lives in a free country and can do whatever he wants. So he is a bit of a nut job, but the castle is still pretty cool. It is completely free and always open to the public. There are signs all over the place absolving Bishop of any liability.

There are staircases and turrets all over that you can walk on. I've been on the walkways and they don't feel that safe.

Kevin took Sarah up to the top of one of the towers.




This chair was out in the front of the castle. It's hard to tell from the picture but it's about five feet tall!

Sarah waving hi.

You can buy a pane of stained glass and put a dedication on it. There were windows like this one all throughout the castle.


The detail on the ironwork is incredible.

Standing on one of those "unsafe" walkways. It just feels unsafe because the flooring on the walkway is a wire mesh rather than a solid surface.

After we left the castle we continued driving east until we got to the Sangre de Cristo mountain range then we turned north and followed the mountain range up to Cripple Creek. On the way there we passed a bunch of horse back riders out on a three day trail ride. They stopped and let Sarah pet the horses. They were a group of people out raising money for a local pregnancy shelter. Sarah loved it and kept neighing as she petted the horse.

When we got to Cripple Creek we went to the Molly Kathleen Gold Mine. We had to put on hard hats and jackets then they put us in the verticle lifts they use for the miners. It was so cool. The lifts were like enclosed cages and were pulled up and down the shaft with a belt drive. The mine is 1,000 feet underground and we got to the bottom of it in 1 minute 42 second. Our guide said that the Empire State Building is 1,000 feet high so we were pretty impressed with how short it took us to get to the bottom of the mine. They had mining equipment from the early days and our guide demonstrated how it worked. It was fascinating learning how they used to do mining and how far it has come since then.

This was an old rail car they are converting into a diner.

Sarah having fun with the hard-hat.

After we left the mine we drove 20 minutes up the road to Mueller State Park. It was dinner time and Kevin brought hot dogs and smores to roast. We set up our camping chairs and enjoyed being in the outdoors while we ate our dinner and dessert. Sarah loved being outside in the mountains.

After we ate we went home and got there around 10pm. It was a long day but it sure was fun. We did so much and we didn't have to travel very far for it. I love Colorado!

On Sunday we slept in to recover from the day before. That evening we were invited over to a friends house to hang out and have dessert. Monday we did a ton of yard and house work then in the evening we had a barbecue at our house and invited a bunch of people over. The kids had fun playing in the backyard and the adults had fun eating and talking. It was a great weekend and nice break.