June and it's pretty hot!!

Well, a lot has gone on in the past month--keeping it so busy I haven't posted yet...sorry about that! The big thing is...Brad and I can't get over how close we are getting to having the baby!!:) Currently, I am at 33 wks. I am feeling pretty good overall--bit of a back ache but totally worth that. He is measuring big so we are headed to the doctors today to see just how big to prep for (cross your fingers for us:) ha! One year ago....on June 16th Brad and I got engaged, so it's crazy to see all the changes just one year has brought. Brad and I continue to love our new home and neighborhood...and it's been even more fun to have my brother Brady and his family move in down the street! We will love having our kids grow up together, and Brad and I have enjoyed some more auntie and uncle time:) Saying goodbye to FHMS was really, REALLY hard! After 7 years it made for an emotional day, but I will never forget the wonderful friends and co workers and students I had there. Brad and I traveled down to our farm and helped my brother...well Brad helped my brother to give the calves shots and brand them etc. He had fun...I love that I married a man that likes the outdoors:) This summer I am teaching summer school, but only 4 periods so I go in later and get out early...has been pretty nice. Brad went on his MANCATION with his high school buddies and loved it...made it hard to come home and get back to work ha! I have been enjoying some crafting and prepping for the babies room...definitely feeling the nesting stage settle in. My friend invited me to paint nite and that was pretty cool..one day I would like to take art classes. Brad and I got a new niece and nephew this past week...and they are beautiful! Brad is so sweet to do lots of the house work...in fact he gets pretty obstinate about me not doing dishes lately, which is verysweet of him..it's pretty attractive to see a guy doing dishes:) And my poor dad had knee replacement surgery last week so he is recovering but doing his best to get back to walking again. We enjoyed our Father's day and I can't tell you how blessed I feel to be surrounded by such wonderful fathers..what a huge impact for good they make not only on individuals, but on society as well! Hope you are all having an amazing summer...Brad and I hope to get to the mtns more and enjoy some peace, relaxation, and mother natures amazing beauty!

And it's May!!

So it has been longer than normal for a blog post, but life has been quite busy lately! First of all, Brad and I have been saying to ourselves..I can't believe it's May! Not only does the month of May scream "craziness" for teachers, but it also means we hit the 3rd trimester of pregnancy making it that much closer to a sweet baby boy in our home...wow!! Brad and I both feel so excited about this new-coming experience, and yet we are both a bit nervous too. We are not naive to the fact that it will be life-changing...in a wonderful way, but of course learning to figure it out together will be a fun adventure. I don't know if parenting books, or advice from others completely help until you are actually the parent yourself. It's like teaching. I thought I had studied hard, and took all the teaching classes necessary to learn how to run a classroom...but until I stepped my foot into an actual classroom...I realized how little I knew! Brad and I will both have a lot to learn, and are grateful we have great family and loved ones who are there to help, and we are sooo comforted at knowing that we aren't a lone:) Many of you probably know this is also my last year of teaching. I will stay home with "Baby Z" (he has no name yet so that is what we call him because he started out as a zygote:), so after the school year I will teach one month of summer school then be finished. Hence, my classroom is looking a bit crazy as I am taking down things and trying to organize what to keep and what to give away. Brad has stayed plenty busy at work, he has helped with teaching classes at his company on Wednesdays which requires a lot of leg work to prepare for-- so there is never a dull moment for him. He has also been great at getting the yard going at our new house, and organizing and moving boxes since I am not much help in that area. We hit our 9 month of marriage mark this past week... to all those that have been married for decades, that probably seems like nothing, but for us we just can't believe how fast it's going. And I remind him what a trooper he is because our first year of marriage consisted of me expecting a baby..full of emotions, and feeling under the weather-- and yet he has been more than loving and sweet about it all...I feel lucky and incredibly blessed to have him as my sweet hubby. Friends at school threw a baby shower for me which was so sweet of them! We got some wonderful gifts, and it makes it seems even more real to have items to put in his soon-to-be room! Brad and I have lots of family members that are born in May so it's a busy Month of birthdays..which makes things really fun! We are still working on the baby's name as mentioned prior. My three year old niece suggested the name "Soccer Balls" so we will see about that one:) We are excited to celebrate our wonderful and beautiful mothers this weekend. They both are the sunshine in our lives and we love them sooo much! My hometown has a celebration over Memorial Day called "Scandinavian Days" where my family gets together to enjoy a town celebration so that should be fun. My goal is to be able to walk the 5K..running is a little too much at this point, but walking is doable...I hope:) Also..Brad has a trip to Phoenix planned for the middle of May for work, so that should be a fun outing for him, but I will miss him a lot! We are loving our ward and neighborhood, and love to find time to chill, ponder, and read scriptures whenever we can together.. to help us slow down our busy lives. One chapter that has helped us a lot in our relationship and life in general is Alma 32...read it, it's wonderful! Hope everyone is enjoying their springtime, it's a beautiful time of year!

Baby Boy on it's way!!!

So the latest for our update is our exciting news about having a little baby boy join our family! I didn't post about expecting yet because I thought we would wait until we knew for sure what we were having! We both kind of thought it would be a boy, and of course we couldn't be more excited! Between the 2 of us we have 7 brothers...no sisters, so we feel like we are kind of familiar with boys:) We were so amazed by the ultrasound, we were both clueless to how wonderful technology is with all of that! It was neat that they were able to show us so many tiny details of our cute little peanut, and it makes it even more real. The baby didn't love the ultrasound...he kept squirming around...until we got to what gender he was, he didn't have a problem showing that off, which we laughed over..ha! We haven't thought of any exact names yet, there are some we like better than others...so if you have any great ideas..send them our way. I am due August 6th, so it might be a hot summer for me this year, but of course it's all worth it! I am feeling much better in the 2nd trimester than the 1st...pretty tired, but I know that's part of it..and it's soo soo worth it. Brad and I have both waited so long to have kids and we know it's going to be very life-changing, but we are excited to move on to this new adventure in life, yay! I don't believe we posted our Bryce Canyon trip..but that was a lot of fun! We took my parents and headed down south and stayed at Ruby's Inn. Bryce Canyon was beautiful with the snow on top, it looked like frosting was outlining the tops of the rock..it was incredible! I highly recommend visiting this national park if you haven't hit it yet! Brad and I found some tennis courts close by and we are excited to take up playing tennis a bit more..so fun! We have had a lot of family and friends visit in the past few weeks which has been really fun. Before we announced the gender we told our parents first at a little gender reveal party where they cut into the cake to see if we were having a boy or a girl...blue or pink. That was fun:) Both of us are keeping plenty busy at work, but we are going to take a Spring Break trip down south in the next week and we are both getting excited for this. We have enjoyed audible.com, Brad is listening to "unbroken" and I am listening to "The boys in the boat." It's nice to listen as we continue to put boxes away in our house. Well life has been especially exciting this month, and we feel incredibly grateful to our Heavenly Father for the many blessings we receive on a daily basis:) Hope everyone is doing well, it's exciting to have Spring here to enjoy the great weather.

Goodbye February!

So just to follow up--the Valentines dance we went to was a blast! It was fun just to dance around and have fun, and the music was the swing-type of music so that was awesome:) I married a great dancer so that adds to the enjoyment of it! It was fun to catch up with our 2 friends we hadn't seen for a while, so it made for a fun-filled night:) Well...I have to showcase some house warming gifts we have received. My friend bought me a beautiful flower, that I haven't killed yet, and hope that I don't, I love it, it's in our kitchen. My sis in law made us the cutest "A" wreath and I love her craftiness--I hung it right up. And my mom sewed us some pretty blue printed napkins for a family dinner we hosted! I am lucky to have a mom who can sew just about anything! It was fun for us to have family dinner at our house and actually have everyone fit....that's what a home is all about right? Creating great memories with family and friends. (We bought a dining room table and that was fun to have enough space for everyone to eat:) Our neighbors down the street brought us a tasty treat, and we are slowly learning more and more names. Brad and I enjoy taking good walks around the neighborhood, we love the city view at night as you look towards SLC and see all the lights, so beautiful. There are quite a few houses going up around us, so our neighborhood will change quite quickly, but in a good way I am sure. Brad has kept REALLY busy at work, probably one of the craziest couple weeks he has had in a while, but he handles it like a trooper! I am getting ready for parent conferences next week so the grading is keeping me busy. Life is good, we are both thinking of a little get-away we can take in April, just to give us some place to relax and something to look forward to. Random--We went to Panda Express, Brad read his fortune, I opened mine and ....a big, fat, NOTHING! Ha I have no fortune, maybe that isn't a bad thing huh. Made us both laugh! Our little nephew, who is not so little anymore because he is serving his mission in London, England-- keeps us updated on how things are going and it is sooo neat to hear of his wonderful missionary experiences back there. I think of this quote below whenever I read his e mails...Brad's mission has had such an amazing impact for both of us, and I know it will continue to bless our family forever. Best wishes to everyone in the next week, and we will continue to keep you updated on life:)

Valentines week:)

Well another week has come and gone, and the crazy part to us is how warm it is outside! We have been going on lots of walks around our new neighborhood because it feels like May weather in February. But we can't complain about driving in the snow. As a farmers daughter I get nervous for the crops and lack of water, so we will see what the next few months bring! We have been working a lot on organizing boxes...it's a process but we are getting closer. My friend Courtney came over last week with her cute twins and helped me organize all my clothes which was very helpful! We are still on the hunt for a dining room table, so if anyone has good ideas as to where to look let us know:) Brad and I have both stayed plenty busy at work, my students have been SAGE testing a lot, and he has had to get prepared for some big meetings coming up. We celebrated our 6 month anniversary last week by staying home and relaxing a bit. Time has just flown by, and we know it will just continue to do so. We had a wonderful stake conference this last weekend and felt so inspired by so many great words. Brad is so good at taking notes, and I try to do the same it's just hard to keep up! Brad has enjoyed having his weight set in the basement which will be great for both of us! We still don't know many neighbors yet, but hope to go meet some more this week. It's weird being the new kids on the block, but fun and exciting at the same time. Our plan for this week is to go to a Valentines Dance/dinner on Saturday with friends. It should be fun, it's down in Utah County so it will be a fun, romantic outing I think:) We went to Brad's grandparents this week and all 3 cousins were wearing batman shirts so we had to snag a pix (Brad being one of them of course!) Hope you all have a wonderful Valentines day this week! xoxo

6 month anniversary mark! Crazy fast:)

So it seems like I was just posting about our 1st month anniversary...it really does go to show, that time moves so quickly. It makes one realize how important it is to take in every single day because time sure marches on! I feel like I get a little mushy but the past 6 months have been so wonderful...I sure love married life! Hopefully Brad feels the same way:) Single life was so different--of course you feel very loved, but at the end of the day you are alone, and that is not the nicest feeling. Brad and I talk often about how we were single WAY longer than we ever would have planned...and yet we learned so much from it...especially to appreciate having that special someone to love! Yes we dated each other for over a year...and of course you learn so much about each other then, but you learn sooo much more about each other when you get married, and that part has been great, it comes with a learning curve but it's good. Moving into our new house--and actually buying the house has been a great new experience...did I cry a few times...yes! Did that weird Brad out a bit...yes! But the boy didn't have any sisters so he is learning of the emotions of girls that come up at times, and he is doing great! Summary-I feel very blessed to be married to the man I love. He is truly an answer to years of prayers and I love that I could be doing anything and nothing with him and still be as happy as ever. I know life has had, and will continue to have challenges for us, but I know and have faith that as we work through these together, we will grow closer in our relationship. I love this quote...and I feel it can be a great motto: Some things on our to do list lately: 1-unpack 2-unpack 3-Go to Ephraim for the wkend for my Dad's b-day 4- Cheer on the Patriots for the superbowl (my 2nd favorite team:) 5-unpack 6-clean 7-take a walk around our new neighborhood.

How time flies in 6 months when having fun! Hope everyone is doing great...Can't believe January is almost over!!

2015...A New Year!!

So life has been a bit crazy in the past few weeks. We sure loved Christmas. It was nice to take a break and enjoy family and loved ones. For the new year we headed down to Fool Creek and went sledding and watching the ball drop. Isn't it crazy it's 2015? I remember the year 2000, thinking that was so cool...now look, 15 years later...time really does fly! The past few weeks have been eventful, we have looked for a house to buy for 2 months now, and I have to admit it's been a hard process. I told Brad it reminds me of dating all over again..."do I really like it?" "Is there better out there?" "Does it feel right?" Haha...needless to say we made it through the process and will be homeowners next week, and will be moving to West Jordan! Brad and I both have siblings that will be out there so that is exciting, but we both have discussed how we will definitely miss our downtown home. Brad has been downtown about 10 years and me about 8 years so we feel like we have a big connection. We have loved meeting the wonderful people in SLC and have made some of our closest friends here. We look forward to our new area, and I am sure it will be fun...change is great but can be hard. Hope everyone is enjoying the NEW YEAR! PS--Added in a pix of Brad's huge cornflakes! Never seen cereal that big...ha! Goodbye to our little condo!

New Years 2015:

New house:

Holiday times together..

Wow, time has flown right by this month! We celebrated Brad (and his twin brother Ben's) birthday on the 13th-- so that was fun! We enjoyed lots of Christmas parties with friends and family, and an enjoyable Christmas at Brad's parents in West Valley. It was fun to finally get some snow--it always makes it feel more like Christmas. We love the Christmas music, the lights, and the Christ-centered feeling that there is. It's fun to decorate and make Christmas treats, but even more so, we both noticed (without getting too mushy), how great it is to have a partner in crime...during the holidays. You don't have to say goodbye at night, your best friend is with you through the entire season and what a blessing that is! We were able to enjoy New Years down in Fool Creek at my brothers with family and that was fun too! 2014 has proven to be the most eventful year for both of us, as we both made that big jump to get married. What a great decision that was, of course it's not easy to combine lives...but it's worth all the changes. We have felt very blessed to have such supportive friends and family through our big year...and can't wait to see what's in store for 2015! We have set some spiritual goals, physical goals, financial goals, etc.. and will keep adding to the list. January is a great time to reflect on what to improve in life...and also, what's going pretty well. We love our family and friends and feel very fortunate to know such wonderful people. Happy New Year...2015 will be great!!