Well, hello again! Have we been up to a lot or what! We have had some pretty busy four weeks. Here is an update on our busy lives. (Warning: This may be a long post, so you may want to abort now or get comfy.)
First, Janae and Reggie finally got hitched!! They got married on April 6th in the Manti, Utah temple. It was a great ceremony and the bride looked absolutely stunning (as expected). It was so stinking cold though. It had just stopped snowing when they walked out of the temple. We were all so cold so after the few family pictures we needed to be in we took off to Ephraim to warm up in McDonalds! Maybe this is a fact that was obvious to everyone else but me, but Manti is a TINY town! There is not much there except for the temple, two inns, and some random diners. So we had to drive 10 minutes to the next tiny town to get to McDonalds. After Janae and Reggie were done taking pictures we had a luncheon and then said goodbye to the newly weds. They both are so happy to be married!
Since Kyle and I's two year anniversary was on April 9th, we decided to make the trip our anniversary trip. We stayed the night in Manti at a little bed and breakfast inn called the Yardley Inn and Spa. We were up at 4:30 that morning to drive from Clearfield to Manti so we were pretty exhausted by the end of the luncheon, so we spent our afternoon in Manti taking a much needed nap! Afterwards we took a carriage ride around Manti. It was fun to see the quaint little town. The driver of the carriage was a sweet little old lady who knew every fact and almost every person in the town of Manti! She gave us all the history on the old buildings and who used to live where.
After our carriage ride we were hungry for some dinner and since Manti is only three blocks long, we went back to Ephraim for subway and a typical date activity - walking around walmart! (Luckily we live in Rexburg and have learned the value of touring Walmart as a date idea!)
The next day we met up with Kyle's family in Provo for lunch and the BYU rugby game. Then we headed back up to Clearfield where I had a baby shower with my family in Utah. We got so many cute things for baby Kyler!
We also spent Easter Sunday with my family and planned on leaving Monday morning for Rexburg. Unfortunately, we ran into some car problems. :( Our poor little Audi hadn't been functioning all that well. It would always jerk as if it couldnt switch in or out of first gear. I have a cousin who owns a mechanic shop in Kaysville so we figured we would just have him check out the car, hoping maybe it just needed transmission fluid or something simple like that. How sorely mistaken we were! He said he couldn't even find the exact problem and sent us over to the Audi dealership where they said they didn't think it was smart to drive the car back to Idaho because it probably wouldn't make it. They said the car was in "limp mode" and there was a leak in the vaccuum system - I don't know what that means, but apparently it wasn't good. So instead of heading back to Rexburg we spent another day in Utah while they fixed the car. We were worried about how much our car would cost to fix and our friend Scotty (who was driving back with us) missed work because of it, but overall the problem was "relatively" inexpensive to repair and we got to spend more time with my parents which was fun.
Since we've been back we've jumped right into the hectic chaos of school. Kyle is doing his senior practicum this semester which means he goes to an elementary school in Idaho Falls every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. He is gone from 7:20 to 4:00 and on Wednesdays he has a two hour class after he is done at the elementary school. Having three days of his week full and working part time, he has stayed SO busy. He is either at the school, doing homework, preparing a lesson, working or occassionally he gets a little sleep in. It is definitely going to be a challenging semester for him, but he is such a hard worker that I know he'll get through his LAST semester of college! I am so grateful for all that he does for our little family.
I'm doing my fourth full semester in row and just so you know, that many semesters in a row is not much fun! That week long break between last semester and this one was simply WAY to short for me to be excited for school again. I am already looking forward to this time next year when both Kyle and I will have a bachelors degree!! We can see the light at the end of the tunnel finally, but it is still a verrrryyy small light.
And the last exciting events on our list was a quick trip to Colorado this last weekend. Kyle's little brother turned 8 and got baptized this last week! Reggie, Janae and I picked up Kyle a little early from the elementary school on Friday and drove down to Salt Lake to catch a late flight out. Saturday morning was Jonah's baptism and then we had a little family lunch. It was fun to spend time with Kyle's family. That night I had another baby shower for baby Kyler. Again we got the cutest things for him! So many cute cute outfits that I cannot wait to put Kyler in!! We are so grateful to everyone who has supported us during this exciting time in our lives.
We left early the next morning to fly back to Rexburg, so we were only in Colorado for 30ish hours which was a HUGE bummer. Kyle and I love that place so much and everytime we go back there we talk about how much it feels like home and we just want to move there now! We always have a hard time leaving there, but after only one day it was even harder to leave. As short as our trip was though, you better believe we made some time to celebrate Cinco de Mayo in the best way possible...QDOBA!!!!! Qdoba has been my absolute biggest cravings since I was first pregnant and there isn't one within at least a 6 hour drive from Rexburg. I seriously cried over it one night I had to have it so bad. I have been looking forward to this trip for SO long because I couldn't wait to get my hands on some of that heavenly deliciousness. And let me tell you, it was the best party my taste buds have ever had. It was so good that I better stop writing about it now or I might start crying over wanting it again! Seriously though, we BETTER live closer to a Qdoba during my next pregnancy.
And speaking of pregnancy, we are moving along just fine! I will be 25 weeks in just a few days. My belly is finally starting to get big and I'm down to only 1 pair of pants that still button. (I know, I know. I absolutely cannot complain that I am 25 weeks and my pants are just barely starting to not fit.)
(This picture was taken at 22 weeks, almost 3 weeks ago, so my belly is a little bit bigger now.)
I can't believe how fast the weeks are flying by! We are down to only 15 weeks and I know they are going to fly by. He is starting kick much harder lately and Kyle finally felt him kick last week! It was really exciting. I love feeling him kick. I know almost every experienced pregnant lady would be quick to tell me "Just you wait, soon he'll start kicking so hard it will hurt and be annoying". Yes, I am sure that day will come when his kicks hurt and keep me up all night, but right now I love feeling him kick and squirm. I love seeing my belly bounce up and down. I love that Kyle can finally feel him moving around too. Kyle and I both go through phases of being really excited for him to come and being really nervous for him to come. After getting all of the cute new things for him, I'm currently in the so excited phase. I just can't wait to see what he looks like and what his little personality will be like. I can't wait to hold him in my arms and kiss his little head.
Phew, that was a long blog post! If you read it all, you are a trooper! I didn't realize I had so much to catch up on. I think the next few weeks will be rather uneventful so it may be a while before you hear from me again. What can I say, it's a busy life!
