Spring Break (Oregon)

This year spring break was a bitter sweet situation. I was very much looking forward to spring break and a get away (I was getting pretty worn out) but spring break also meant packing Kevin up and moving him to Oregon.  So when Friday rolled around I was both really excited and very nervous for the next couple weeks. Our spring break was only a Thursday, Friday, and Monday (Okay lets be honest that is not a spring break more like just a long weekend). Due to it being so short I had to take 4 days off of school. I took Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday (had Thursday, Friday, and Monday off for spring break) and Tuesday. So on Friday the 30th we headed to Caldwell where we stayed at Uncle Steves, and then woke up and drove the rest of the way to Grants Pass on Saturday. We of course stopped in Bend at the duck store to buy us a new sticker (since our last one was taken away with our shattered window). After Bend we hit some snow but not enough to slow us down too much. We arrived in Grants Pass just in time to send Kevin off to Priesthood. I spent the night with Shelby and the kids.

Sunday was spent watching conference and spending time at Jeff and Shelby's and playing the the kids. The exciting part about Sunday was Kevin received an email at about 10:30 that night from Oregon with an interview invitation. Talk about perfect timing. Anyways Monday he called and set up his interview for Thursday. The rest of the week is kind of a blur we went to a party at the office, did some babysitting, and a lot of relaxing.

Kevin and London's Pouty faces

"Hey Mr. Alligator can't catch me, can't catch me"

Wednesday we headed off to Portland. We first stopped by the Portland Temple, only to put the car in park right as a big hale storm started. We ran to visitors center and enjoyed a quick but fascinating tour. Once the hale and rain subsided we spent some time wandering around the grounds and admiring the beautiful grounds and enjoying the peace that always comes when you are at the temple. 

We then headed past Portland and made our way to Multanomah Falls. It was beautiful but cold. So we spent a few minutes enjoying the beauty and then headed down town to our hotel. Our hotel was about 10 min from campus so we decided to drive over to campus so I knew where I was going in the morning. Side note- I hate driving in cities so I was petrified to have to drive Kevin to his interview and back to the hotel by myself. However after driving it a couple times I got the routine down and felt somewhat comfortable driving him. We then spent the rest of the night relaxing and getting ready for the next day.

Thursday consisted of taking Kevin to his interview and me going back to the hotel and doing poetry lessons. I picked Kevin up a little after 2 and we then headed North towards Seattle. Kevin said he thought the interview went well (they were really impressed with his letter of recommendation from Kent Granat). So now we wait...

Family Time

This past month we have seen every member of Kevin's family minus Craig. It had been since Two Christmas's ago that we saw most of them, so we were very excited. It all started in Utah where we went to see Jen and Eric.

On our way down to Utah we decided to stop at Lava Hot Springs (which we have been meaning to do forever). There we spent the day soaking in the hot springs and soaking in the sun. We both received our first sun burns and we were thrilled, I mean I was thrilled.

They were there for work so we were only able to spend Saturday night and Sunday with them but it was still a fun quick trip. We were able to meet our new niece Gwendolyn and enjoy hanging out with Luke. Sadly due to time and lots of spit up we were not able to get a picture. Overall it was a great trip and so fun to catch up with Jen and Eric.

Just for laughs

I always get a good laugh when I see this picture. What cute nerds!

2 wonderful years

It is hard to believe that Kevin and I have been married 2 wonderful years. Although we would have both liked to escape and spend some time in the tropics for our anniversary we were not able to due to me getting time off and well money. So we decided to just have a relaxing anniversary. Our Anniversary fell on a Monday so we both had to work so after I got home from school we went and got pizza, and went to a movie.

When I came home from school I found these waiting for me. Daisy's are my favorite!

I also got head phone extensions and just dance 3! Kevin received his Iphone ha ha.

So since it is our 2 year anniversary I thought I would write about 2 of my favorite things about Kevin. (I could name a lot more, but for your sake I won't get to mushy)

1. His humbleness- I have never met anyone who thinks so clearly, has his head on straight, and is so understanding and humble about everything.
2. His strut- If you have not noticed Kevin has quite the strut and it is very sexy if I do say so myself.

Thank you Kevin for an amazing two years! Bring on Forever!

I've got who's its and what's its galore

Want thing-a-mabobs? I've got plenty. This has become my life song. In January I received a new insulin pump. My old one was fine but the warranty had worn out and since we are on good insurance we decided to get a new one. I was sad to say goodbye to Bullah who was a great friend and stuck by my side for almost 5 years (literally).  But I am happy to introduce Puma the new and I guess improved (I haven't found to much of a difference) insulin pump.

 And since we reached my deductible with my pump I opted to get a continuos glucose monitor (CGM). It checks my blood every 5 minutes and shows me a graph. You can also plug it into the computer and gets lots of other information like what your highest high has been and your lowest low and so forth. So meet Elmer (the sensor that is stuck to me) and Dexter the receiver.

 So yes, I now have two patches stuck to me and another device to carry around.
 Between my pump, my CGM and my cell phone I often fill like I have gadgets and gizmo's a plenty.  But even though they can kind of be annoying to carry around they are very helpful and so far I have loved my CGM and it has really helped me control my blood sugar because I always know where I am headed. It is interesting to see the way different foods affect my blood and the different trends it takes during different times of the day. Hopefully this helps me control my blood sugar better and help me get a better a1c.

Apples

So our Valentine presents this year had a central theme... Apples. Before Valentines Day and babysitting the kids I went and got Kevin's present and planned to give it to him ahead of time. So one night I snuck the present into my bag as we headed to dinner. I planned on giving it to him their but we ran into some friends and ended up sitting with them and enjoyed talking and catching up.  So upon returning home I asked Kevin to get my phone out of my purse. He started digging through it only to find his new "Apple" I-phone. He was completely surprised. We had been talking about how it would be nice for one of us to have a smart phone and so I decided why not spoil him and count it as Valentines and Anniversary since they are so close.

Thank you Stacey for helping me and setting everything up.



So for my Valentines presents I also got lots of apple things like apple suckers (my students are always eating them and making me crave them). And Carmel apples (mmm... those were delicious). Also added on to my Valentines day presents was weights and an ADULT onesie (like pajamas). 

Puzzled?

Kevin and I have a great routine going on. Kevin watches sports and I do a puzzle. Kevin usually joins me in doing the puzzle and I hate to admit it but I usually join him in watching sports as well. (This kept us sane during March madness)

The following are 2 out of 3 puzzles we have done. All 3 of them were of places we have been... Venice (not pictured) Paris, and Holland.

Another blessing

I will be the first to admit that I have been very blessed in my life. One of the greatest blessing I have been given is great friends. And last weekend we got to enjoy some of the greatest friends.

When my friend Cayla invited me to her gymnastic competition in Utah I was more than happy to take a Friday off of school and head down to Utah. So after sending the kids that we were babysitting off to school and cleaning up the house we headed to Utah. Our first stop was Crystals. Crys and I have been friends since kindergarten. Although I did not like her too much the first half of the year (she liked to tell on me to the teacher for poring out my milk during snack time). After numerous fights our teacher put us on the same table with all boys. And due to the fact that boys had cuties, we had to become friends. And we became best friends. I do not remember a summer of my life that does not include Crys. We spent most days together every summer and even went to Spain together.  I am so grateful for the friendship that we built. While talking about friends the other day with Kevin I mentioned that I have never felt like I did not have friends, because it did not matter when or where I was if I needed someone Crystal found a way to be by my side. She is seriously the best friend anyone could ask for. So of course we had to stop and see her. We spent the day talking and then headed to dinner before we left for the competition.  It was very fun catching up and spending some quality time Crys.

Now Cayla and I became good friends in high school. We connected very fast and have remained really close even though she moved away from me to California. She is one of those people that you seriously just stand in aww of. If there is someone that I completely admire it is her. She is amazing at everything she does, (especially gymnastics) she is always smiling, very welcoming, and the funniest person I know. I adore her and am also so grateful for the friendship that I have with her and that we have stayed in contact and remained an incredible friend to me. We enjoyed her competition in which she did spectacular. Too bad we didn't have more time to catch up.

Following the competition Kevin and I headed to Grandma Bergs where we spent the night. We spent the next day with Grandma and then headed to Provo to see some more really good friends Jim and Lauren. Jim was Kevin's first roommate up at college. They continued to room together after their missions until Jim transferred to Provo. I could probably go on and on about how funny Jim, Kevin, and Mark are together however I don't know to many details about their friendship since Jim had already moved by the time Kevin and I started dating. All I really know is something about a gay horse? Anyways he is very funny and great to hang out with. You usually get a good ab work out from laughing when you are with him and his wife. Lauren is also incredible and so fun to be around, and we always look forward to spending time with them. So we enjoyed a great dinner and some great laughs about banging Big Juds and so forth. Sadly I forgot to take any pictures so enjoy one from Yellowstone this summer. 

A Day of Love

Valentines is a day dedicated to love, and what better way to spend it then with lots and lots of people you love. My sister Annalee was able to go to Germany to see her husband who returned from Afghanistan. And we were able to watch her five kids while she was gone. They were great, well most of the time. I will admit I was a little nervous about her little 2 year old who is a bit of a mommy's boy. But he was great. We were simply in charge of after school, night time, and getting them to school in the morning. And oddly enough everything went smoothly. Valentines fell right in the middle of our babysitting week. So our Valentines was spent eating heart pancakes, opening Valentines presents, putting Valentines in back packs, eating dinner at my parents, and reading lots and lots of Valentines cards with lots and lots of Valentines candy.

So no my valentines was not romantic, but it was spent with 5 little ones I love, 2 parents that I love, 2 grandparents that I love,  a sister her husband and her 4 little ones that I love, and of course my one and only, so overall it was a great Valentines Day full of love.

I love nutella

Sometimes when your blood levels read 51

you find yourself in the corner looking like this...

Mmm... I love me some Nutella... and some normal blood sugar levels. 

Patience is a Virtue

I have always been told that patience is a virtue. A virtue I do not have.  Patience is something that I have struggled with my whole life. Not so much being patient waiting at the stop light or at the doctors office, but being patient waiting for life to catch up to my plans. I have been told numerous times by numerous people to be patient.  I have spent my whole life praying for patience. And even dedicated lots and lots of lines of my new years resolutions to the word learn patience, learn patience, learn patience, etc. Although as a quick side note, my lack of patience has helped me before in regards to Kevin, and the text I sent him after he held my hand, that in a nutshell said, " Hey I like you but if you are not interested I don't want to wait around". Luckily he was interested :)

So when it came to dental school I have been trying to be patient. In December I mentioned to Kevin that I had been doing very well waiting to hear back from dental schools for interviews and admission. Then January came and my patience ran thin. I do not know what happened between December 31st and January 1st but I all of a sudden I wanted to know, and I wanted to know now. I might have began checking Kevin's email on days he worked, to see if he received any emails. In the mean time I tried to keep myself busy and kept praying for patience.

Well February 1st  finally came and was the day we "should" finally start hearing back from dental school. We woke up and Kevin headed straight for his computer to check for an update.  I was glad, because I was getting really anxious. But nothing was there. So pouting a little bit inside realizing that I was going to have to continue to be patient, I headed off to work. I had just pulled into work when my phone started quacking. Realizing that it was Kevin calling me (quacking ringtone) I tried not to let myself get to excited and came to the conclusion that I must have forgot something. However I did not. Upon answering Kevin quickly announced that he HAS BEEN ACCEPTED TO VCU (Virginia Commonwealth University). I squealed, I jumped up and down and I happily told everyone I talked to for the next hour.

Nonetheless the waiting is not over. We are still hoping for an interview with Oregon because Kevin would get instate, and it would be a lot cheaper for us. So I guess I will keep attempting to be patient but I am still happy and relieved that we are in and that the Dental School chapter will soon begin.

Livia turned 1

Since we don't have our own children to blog about and since my sister is really bad at updating her blog I thought I would blog and maybe brag about this little bundle of joy and how she turned 1.

Adorable huh?!? I would take her home with me if her mother would let me. But since I don't think her mother will let me I guess I will just continue visiting as much as possible to get my Livia fix. 

Here are a few other photos from the birthday party. 

VCU

In late December Kevin received another invite for an dental school interview. This time it was in Virginia. We quickly bought him a ticket and began preparing to spend a few days apart.  We debated back and forth about having him fly out of Salt Lake or Idaho Falls. We finally decided the extra money was worth it and he flew out of Idaho Falls Sunday December 8th, morning. I mumbling the whole time spent the day at my parents house feeling bad for myself. Kevin on the other hand headed out to Virginia excited for his little trip. My moms cousin Daniel lives out there and they graciously opened there house to him.  Bethany (my cousin that is my age and Daniel's daughter) and her husband Brent (from Eugene) picked Kevin up from the airport late Sunday night. He spend Monday driving around with Brent and seeing all the sights in Richmond. He spent that night watching the National Championship game --when he should have been sleeping. His interview began Tuesday at 7:30 eastern time which is 5:30 our time. He thought the interview went well and felt good about it. It helped that one of the professors he interviewed with was very familiar with his cousin Nate who graduated from there a couple years ago. He then returned from the interview and enjoyed a nice mountain biking adventure with Brent. 

We were so grateful for the Rhodes and for there hospitality and willingness to open there house up to Kevin and allow him to use there car to get around. The trip was great and very enjoyable for Kevin.  However it was not  very enjoyable for me, who stayed at home working and complaining the whole time.

The only picture Kevin took of the beautiful country was of Brent and the squirrel he caught. So you get to enjoy it.