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. 

A year to remember

It is hard to believe that 2011 is already over. It is kind of a bitter sweet moment for me. 2011 was an amazing year full of endless opportunities, and lots and lots of firsts for both of Kevin and I.  However I am excited to start a new year and another chapter in our lives. So here is a quick review of a year to remember.

January- I began student teaching at Madison high school and Kevin began his last semester at BYU-I.

 February- We had an ice skating adventure.

March- Kevin and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary.

April- Was very busy, we graduated from BYU-I, we moved to Germany, and we went to Holland to see the tulips and windmills, and Berlin.

May-  We spent two weeks in Italy, a weekend in Paris, and a weekend in Garmish. I also got my first real person job. And finally we babysat 5 kids for 3 days and survived.

June- We went to the zoo, as well as lots of gardens, and spent my 21st birthday downtown Heidelberg at the castle. We also moved back to Idaho and went to the Manti Pageant. 

 July- Kevin studied lots and took his DAT test and passed with flying colors. We went camping with Mark, Jim, and Lauren. As well as went to Oregon to visit family.

August- The first half was spent going on a few adventures to the ice caves, and the to Crest Creek.  We then spent the next half of the month painting and decorating my classroom. And My first day as a real teacher. 

September- was spent relaxing and enjoying the little bit of summer left. 

October- We went to Oregon to see a Ducks game, and had a great halloween as a cookie and cookie monster. 

November- We celebrated Kevin's 25th birthday and had a great Thanksgiving at my parents.

December- We went to Las Vegas for Kevin's 1st interview for dental school. Kevin and I spent our first night away as he went to his 2nd interview in Phoenix. And Finally we spent a great Christmas day together in Utah with the Bergs and Idaho with the Dials and finally we spent a great New Years Eve together at Annalee's playing games and eating yummy food. 

So here is to another great year!