Peterson

Quick random pic!

2012-02-01T22:55:00.002-07:00

Grandma Ruthie was watching McKenna while mom was at school. They decided to wash dishes! I love Kenna's face here!

Some bittersweet News

2012-02-01T22:45:00.002-07:00

Because I work in the child lab's on campus, I am constantly surrounded by news and ongoings. The child lab offices put out registration forms for TODDLER LAB.

This is a lab specifically designed for toddlers ages 18-36 months. The lab is 90 min twice a week. The children get to play in a mini scale room with little furniture, slides, scooters. They eat snack and play outside. The teachers in the class are students in the Child Development Program, Early Childhood Special Education Students, and Infant and Toddler Cluster students. They are all supervised by a great faculty mentor.

So why am I telling you all this? Put two and two together my friends, I signed McKenna up. Before I did I talked with several people who have done it and really enjoyed it. McKenna will be 20 months the first day of Toddler Lab. (Currently she just turned 17 months--ALMOST TO NURSERY!!!)

I think this will be a good thing for many reasons. The first is McKenna's speech. She doesnt talk at all. She is starting to say 'hi' but very random. She said 'gapa' (grandpa) the other day in repeat as well. I think as she socializes with other children her age and older, she will start speaking soon. (hopefully not to the point im sick of it)

Other factors to consider: The children eat a snack everyday. They eat with a spoon. Um....McKenna eat with her hands and puts it in her hair still.....I do have three months to work on this and hopefully she will outgrow it by then.

McKenna doesnt share very well. Again, this experience would greatly benefit her! But I dont want her to be the bully, or kids to push her cuz she wont share.

Signing. McKenna is learning signs all the time and is doing them often. What will happen when she signs: please to the teacher and no one knows anything!! I need advice here!!! I am not sure if the signing will fade, or if she will get discouraged or what.

I think overall it will be great for her! I am hoping she will enjoy it. I know that I will be very emotional because my little baby is all grown up!! (well more than before)

Lots has been happening to look for that post soon!

McKenna

2011-12-29T11:57:00.003-07:00

I feel like it has been forever since I have updated about my little princess!

McKenna is now 16 months old. She is 'RUNNING' everywhere she goes. She is our little explorer and gets into everything! She got tons of toys for christmas and is always playing with everything.

We redid our bedrooms and put Kenna in the bigger room. She loves having her stuff all out and i love having toys in her rom and not in the front room. We keep her door open to her room and she is just plays in her room then comes out and grabs our hands and has us come play in her room with her.

She is 31 1/2 inches long. 23 lbs 5 oz. She is growing like a weed!!

She has 4 teeth on bottom and 4 on top. She also has 4 molars! Two on each side(one on top and one on bottom)

She loves food and her sippy cup!

McKenna is not talking :( Instead we have been working on sign language! She can say:

please
more
eat
milk
all done

We are working daily on more signs (thank you, mommy, daddy, blanket, drink) She is super cute when she does them. She will even bring me to the fridge and sign milk. So smart!

We also taught Kenna what Santa says. She says: Ho! Ho! Ho! She loves "How to Train Your Dragon" and I asked her what a dragon says and she says: Rawr. Lastly, we say: "Kenna, who's cute?" and she will raise her hand. I will try to video these things and put them on here but she never does them for the camera. (Stubborn girl)

McKenna will be in nursery soon and we cant wait! Our goals for her(by 18months) are no more paci (she only gets it at nap and bed) and no more bottle (she only gets it at bed time)

McKenna is still a bundle of joy and makes people laugh all the time! She adjusted well to the traveling and the jumping around from place to place. She loves her grandparents so much! When they are around she wants nothing to do with mom and dad. She is very spoiled and needs some cousins soon! I dont have any recent pictures but there are some on my facebook page if you are looking for new photos! I hope to take and then add some soon!

California Quickie!

2011-12-18T20:57:00.003-07:00

It seems like California was over in a blink. We were able to do so many things! We missed some things but that is ok.

We went to Apple Hill.

We helped with a wedding in the backyard.

We went to a Boise St game.

We went to the Oakland Temple

We fly home for Thanksgiving

The biggest event was Scott's sister Staci getting married to Jared Eaton on Dec 2nd. Of course I have no photos....Lame. I was busy watching Kenna of course!

California was a great adventure and we are going to miss it a lot! We made some good friends and got to see family we haven't seen in a long time!

We are back I'm Idaho now and these are our plans...

Scott will be doing his last semester of school and GRADUATE in April. He will have a Bachelors in Political Science with a minor in Business Management.

I will be doing my internship in Jan-April on campus doing TTH preschool labs. I have two semesters left. I will Graduate in July with a Bachelors degree in Child Development and an Associates Degree in Preschool Education.

I couldn't end this post without mentioning MCKENNA RUTH. She is adorable. I am hoping to be better at my blog. Hopefully I can! She is growing like a weed. She has her four top and four bottom teeth. Then she has all four molars in! That has been a hard month. She currently has an ear infection and a runny nose.

McKenna is 16 months and will be in NURSERY the end of February! She loves to explore now. She gets into everything and is constantly searching for new things to break of play with. She is still not talking but can sign: please, Milk(but its fading for some reason) more. We are working on eat, thank you, and all done.

Chirstmas is around the corner. We are super busy but will update soon!

California Trip!

2011-11-01T12:32:00.005-06:00

Ok here is the post you have been waiting for! Our trip to Modesto, CA!

Ok so Sunday the 28^th Scott and I left Island Park and drove to Rigby to get things packed up. It took us forever and we did some chasing around and finally went to bed at 2 am. (NOT COOL)

Kenna had shots Monday morning at 8:40am in Rexburg so we drove up there and took care of that. I knew she was going to hate it so I took a sucker with me. As soon as she got her shots I gave her the sucker and she calmed right down! Why don’t the nurses give you one? So after the shots we loaded up and had to strap on our fanny pack.

Here is the story on the fanny pack: We were looking into car top carriers for our trip. We sold my car, traded in Scott’s to get our Honda Pilot. Since we weren’t moving for good, we had to take more things with us cuz we didn’t want to buy new stuff. We decided we would need the car top carrier as well to pack clothes. Our friends: Tayler and Kayla got a bag for the top of their car. As we were looking into those, Scott found a thing called a PackRight.

This pack right sits behind your car instead of on top. This is supposed to help with gas mileage and such cuz of less wind resistance. So Scott read reviews on it and looked into the storage space and such and found that this might be the best deal. So we bought it. When my dad saw it he said, “It looks like a fanny pack for the car.” And he was right.

Here is a pic of the pack right the morning we left:

Before we left we asked that Scott and I get blessing from our dads. My parents came to Dan and ShaLae’s house and we received our blessings. I am so grateful for the Priesthood in my life. I don’t think I could have made this trip without that blessing.

Here is my parents with McKenna before we left:

Here is Dan with McKenna before we left: Notice how he kissed Kennan and NOT Dax.

McKenna is all strapped in and ready to go!

After saying ‘goodbye’ we took off at about 1pm. We were doing so good until we got just outside of IF. There was roadwork going on. It took us forever to get through and lost about 30 min of driving time. We got to Poky and then and little further whe we hit construction again. It seemed like Idaho was doing all the roadwork in one day because we hit even more roadwork out side of Twin. UGH! We lost so much time and it was very frustrating!

ShaLae had made reservations in Reno so we had to push to make it there. McKenna did ok in the car. She had her fussy moments and then there were times that she slept a good portion so we could just drive.

We made some interesting stops for gas. The view was not exciting at all to look at but the stops were. We saw so many weird people, doing weird things and heard some weird conversations from people each time we stopped. We finally made it to the ATLANTIS hotel and casino in Reno, NV at midnight.

We went right to bed and slept in til 9. We got up and had an amazing buffet breakfast and headed to Modesto (3.5 hours away) We stopped in Sacramento for Red Lobster and it was fantastic! We love seafood!

We took the Modesto exit and I said: ‘ok this is home for a while!’ well there wasn’t much to look at and when we turned down another road, all we saw where almond trees! As we turned down the road we ended up driving right past the house! Oops. We turned around and pulled in!

We spent the night eating yummy food and moving out a few things. I was able to make the pool house (which is meant to be a play house and somewhere to shower off after swimming into a house) into a temporary home.

The first night in our house went well and McKenna did all right in her pack and play. Aunt Holly let us use her old crib and even bought a mattress for it. We just had to by the sheet. The next day, Drew was able to get off work and take Dan, ShaLae, and Scott golfing. Which left me alone to do some unpacking. (not fun but it needed to be done).

It took a couple days for things to get put together and now it feels like we can make this work for a while. Below are some before pics! The after pictures will be up in the next post. Enjoy!

McKenna's 1st Birthday!

2011-10-22T15:19:00.006-06:00

The following story is about a little Princess named: McKenna. She is spoiled like her mom and her mom asked her dad (Kenna's grandpa) if we could go to a cabin for McKenna's birthday and go boating. Grandpa said yes. We had a fun day boating (See post on boating day) Then we went to the cabin. Grandma Ruthie made a cake for McKenna and let her lick the beater!

Yea, she loved it!

Madison's family was already at the cabin and so we invited Scott's family to come up. Scott made Pina Colada Tacos (recipe from Madison's cousin Sarah Stanger Galbraith) and then we opened presents. McKenna had already learned to open presents with he friend Grace so she dove right in. Mom and dad got her a giraffe that you put colored balls in and they go down a slide thing.

Grandma and Grandpa Peterson got her LEGOS

and puzzles!

Grandma and Grandpa Hammar got her clothes and a singing tea pot!

Staci got her Disney Princess Books too! She had lots of presents and didnt really know what to play with!

After presents it was time for cake. Yes, Kenna reached for the candle. I undressed her because I've seen how messy it can be!

Dad and mom blowing out candles!

The 'TANGLED" Rapunzel cake! Grandma Ruthie spent a lot of time on a cake that would just be eaten and destroyed by a 1 year old!! Aunt Katie and Jessica helped too!

McKenna eating cake!

This stuff is good! We did have to give her a bath! She was messy!

Happy Birthday McKenna. Mom and Dad love you very much! You have blessed our lives so much! We hope you have a good year and grow strong and healthy!

More pictures of Boating!

2011-10-21T11:47:00.001-06:00

Matthew's Birthday

2011-10-21T11:38:00.002-06:00

My sister Jessica and I were in charge of Matthew's birthday this year. We decided to do ANGRY BIRDS. It was a lot of fun. Here we are ready to blow out the candle.

Yes, as the big sister I have a few rights and one of them is smashing the cupcake in your face after you blow out the candle. He was kinda mad but laughed anyway!

So these are cupcakes that have 'pigs' on them from the game angry birds. They took me forever to do but they turned out great. The green part is a gum ball and the other stuff is fondant and a marker that is eatable. Yes, they were kinda top heavy and they kept falling over.

Random things from this summer!

2011-10-21T11:15:00.004-06:00

Random things from this summer! I like to post things in order and I have just found some pictures from this summer that I want to blog about. So enjoy the summer with me and then stay tuned for the info about Kenna's Birthday and Our trip to Cali.

So I actually dont know where to put this because, as you can see, this picture is a year old. BUT i need to post about it. My brother Colton baptized my younger brother Matthew. It was an awesome experience. McKenna was just two months old.

So my brother sent a hat from his misson in his first area (Encinitas Cali) Well it didnt fit too well and Kenna didnt like it. Dont believe me...look at the next picture.

Told ya she didnt like it.

So below is our family fun day at The Riot Zone. My dad got us in free because it was a work party and they paid for it! NICE!

Matthew, Me and Jessica (who worked there)

Boating

2011-09-05T10:15:00.005-06:00

So here is some more info on our weekend on the cabin: Real quick a list of who was there: My dad and mom, Scott, Me, Kenna, Katie and her husband Greg, Jessica, Michael and Matthew.

So boating was awesome! We borrowed a tube from my mom's brother Mark. It is called the Big Mable. It can hold up to 4 people. You can lay back with your feet in front of you, lay on your stomach feet behind you, or sit on your knees leaning forward.

Scott is not usually a tube person but he loved this! We also tried to waterski. Greg grew up on a lake and does it all the time. Scott, me and Jess all tried and Scott got up for a bit and crashed a few times, Jess got up for a few seconds, however, I was never able to :( maybe next time!

This is me trying to waterski

I got to drive the boat!

Scott, Madi, Jessica, and Greg on tube!

I ate it hard and drank so much water! It was fun tho.

Michael alone on tube! He was so brave. He was not very patient when others were skiing so he gave him a ride of his own. It was 'hardcore' and 'extra long'. Well he ended up flipping up over and making a huge splash cuz there was no weight and he was flat so he flew in the air. He was so brave and got back on after and the best part: didnt complain about getting enough riding time!

This is an action shot so its kind of blurry but this is Scott on far left, then Michael, Jessica and Greg

This shot is out of order but this is Scott getting ready to wakeboard

McKenna in her life jacket! She loved the boat. She would flap her arms and 'yell'. It wasnt loud but it was a constant jabber yell as we road around. She even fell asleep to the rocking of the boat and slept for a bit. I will try to find that pic.

Me, My mom, Katie, and Jessica

Michael, Madi, Matthew, and Jessica

Playmill

2011-09-05T10:03:00.003-06:00

Ok so for my brother Matthew's birthday (aug 10th) and McKenna's (26th) we decided to go to Island Park and ride 4-wheelers and go boating! We were so excited. It was a rough day getting up there and super stressful because we were headed to Playmill that night because we wanted to see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. So we rush and end up making it there right at 8:30. Well guess what happens right as we park? McKenna makes a lovely full diaper for me! But this is not a little diaper. It is a full out, through the clothes, rinse off in the tub kind...just my luck. So my mom helps me and we use up all the wipes we have left to clean her up. Luckily we had an extra outfit.

So we get into the show and we had amazing seats! I sat on the end with McKenna incase I needed to take her out. Well of course I needed to. She didnt like any of the slow songs with just one or two people singing. So during these parts I would walk around the halls with her. During the fast group numbers she loved to bounce and flap her arms. Just so happens that her pajamas are striped and almost every other color of stripe was white...well during one of the numbers they turned on a black light and McKenna glowed! And she was dancing so much that all the people in the play were laughing and singing to her!

I fed her a yogurt during intermission and she loved that. She would take a bite then dance for a bit, then she would stop, look at Scott, take another bite, turn back to the stage and dance

again. She was making us laugh so hard and yes, she is very spoiled.

After the show the people in the play all commented on how cute she was and how they loved watching her dance with them. Hopefully next time she will sit better.

Here is a pic of us at Playmill!

Birthdays!

2011-09-02T16:40:00.008-06:00

Ok so this post is all about McKenna and Grace! Grace is McKenna's best friend! She is 2 weeks older than McKenna. Her parents are Ben and Whitney Tibbitts. Becausethese two are best friends we decided to have a combined birthday for them.

So Scott and I show up at their apartment with a gift for Grace. When Whitney saw it she went, "Crap, I forgot to get her a gift!" I laughed so hard. So we ate dinner (yummy fish that B

en caught) and went to Wal-mart. By this point the girls should have been in bed but weren't.

While waiting in the car, McKenna takes Grace's paci out of her mouth and puts it in her own mouth. So funny!

Whitney buys a gift and we decide to go to Nelson's custard! So Yummy. So we are eating and I decided I better get my dad some. We were staying there that night and it's his favorite. So I call him and yes he wants one, so does my mom. As we are leaving I order two to go. Well they dont really make them to go. They shake thing I got extends up the top of the cup and is immediately starting to melt. Right away we know we have a problem. Well Nelson's doesnt have bigger cups, lids or anything that will help us. Guess its up to us to eat the top part. We finally get to the car cuz the girls are crying and the shakes are still making a mess cuz there is a lot to eat.

When we finally get to Ben and Whit's apt there is shake all over me and Whitney. We were trying to eat it and keep it from getting all over the back of the car. Ben on the other hand

takes care of his shake with no problems. Maybe cuz he has a bigger mouth or something. Moral of the story is: Madison is no longer allowed to take shakes home to her parents anymore,Whitney and Madison cant handle one shake but Ben can, Ben and Scott deserve and award for putting up with us! Hehe.

So we get back to the house, Whitney wraps the present (in christmas paper) and the girls are ready to open gifts.

This is where the story gets funny! McKenna gets her present open...

But Grace is struggling. She thought she could throw her present around and it would open. But that didnt work so....

She plays with McKenna's present instead.

So McKenna decides to open Grace's present!

So Grace is playing with the present she got for McKenna and McKenna is playing with the present she got for Grace. Go figure.

The girls played so cute and were so funny! These two are best friends and will be forever! WE are definitely going to miss them! Happy Birthday Girls!!

Crazy Summer!

2011-08-27T23:50:00.004-06:00

In an earlier post I mentioned a list of things we had coming up. I just wanted catch you up on the details of these events.

First, we didnt make it to Utah. :( We really wanted to go down but things just didnt work out.

Blake and Sarah's wedding: Such a beautiful wedding! We loved it so much. Background story: One crazy night we decided that Scott's bff (BLAKE) since nursery needed to be setup on a date. We tried to set him with my cousin Kim but that didnt work so we tried Sarah. Things clicked really well for them after that first date. We were so happy! Scott was a best man and Madison was part of the set-up crew who put things together for the reception. My mom and I spent hours trying to get things set up and it was minutes before the reception started when things were done! So crazy. It was beautiful and elegant. Sarah chose to do peacock feathers with blue, green, and gold. It was truly amazing.

Blake and Sarah got married in the Idaho Falls Temple on the 12th of August. We were there for the sealing with a room full of family and friends! Sarah and Blake had an ice cream bar for refreshments which helped us 'cool down' after a long day of work...(well at least for me) Scott and Kenna played all day.

Atkinson Reunion: this was so much fun. I will do a separate post for this in a minute!

Moving again: I dunno what word to use: resettling maybe? We moved out of our apt and into Dan and ShaLae's house. Only that didnt work too well. McKenna was right next to us and would wake up and see us. Normally, I would just lay her back down but that didnt work, so my dad got us his camper trailer and we stayed in that for a few days. It was so nice and had AC and a separate room for McKenna. Sunday, my dad hooked up the trailer and took it to RIGBY for us and we stayed there for a couple nights.

Thursday morning Scott took the GRE!! This is something he has been studying for quite a while on. We arent really sure the path the Heavenly Father has for us yet. We know there will be a need for Scott's job and it will provide for the family and be something he enjoys. All we know for certain is that it pertains to POLITICAL SCIENCE. He has spent time researching all the possibilities and still dont know.

We are going to California for Scott's Internship. He will be working at a Law Office with his uncle. We are waiting to see if this means he will go law school and pursue that path or if we want to do graduate school in PoliSci. If we do graduate school, we dont want to skip a year in waiting to be accepted so we are applying now.

That long story leads us to Scott taking the GRE. He got a father's blessing (from my dad) on Wed night. It was amazing. I love the power of the priesthood! Thursday morning he woke up early and drove to Pocatello. He took a 3 hour test (on computer then some writing sections) and then drove home. He wont know his score for a while tho.

Here is the good part: They gave him a 'guestamate' on his score. They told him if his score was between these two numbers than things looked good. Scott was in the range! (He isnt around right now for me to ask him the specifics, sorry) We are happy it is over and hope for the best. All we know is we are trying to do our part and follow the plan God has for us. Things could completely change in a matter of minutes or days for us at this point.

After taking the GRE we left for Island Park for McKenna's birthday shindig. I am currently typing from the third floor on a ginormous cabin! In will post more about this and McKenna's birthday soon!

Coming soon:

2011-08-15T23:37:00.001-06:00

I made an awesome dinner and will post the recipe soon!

Pictures of our new car!

We moved!

2011-08-15T23:22:00.002-06:00

So we are are out of our apartment...for at least 4 months anyway.

Can't remember everything that is going on in my life? Neither can I, so I will remind you and refresh myself again.
Blake and Sarah got married on the 12th (more on that in a minute). They are going to live in our pat for the fall 2011 semester while Scott and I are in California for Scott's internship.

We moved out today: Aug 15th to Scott's parents house. We will be here all week and then we have an Atkinson Family Reunion on the 19th and 20th. We will have our last Sunday dinner on the 21st and then move to my parents house on the 22nd.

Scott will take the GRE the morning of the 25th. We will head to Island Park in the afternoon and go to playmill that night and then spend some time four-wheeling and boating! So fun!

We will leave for California on the 29th. We will be back before Christmas.

Now that we are out of our apt, it seems more real and proves that time is moving so fast! We have so much going on constantly that I shouldnt be too worried. My biggest concern is being away from my mom. I have never lived more than 20 min from her my entire life! Scott served a mission so this is nothing to him. His concern is having no one to hang out with.

We are so blessed to have so many friends and family memebers that live close to us and that want to hang out and see us. We love planning parties and being with people. (Some day I hope to be a real party planner and I will be one who gathers friends often)

The memories that Scott and I talk about and remember happen with those we love and care about. We might struggle a bit in Cali with just the two of us. That is why I have a request from all of you:

PLEASE UPDATE YOUR BLOGS OFTEN!

For the first time since McKenna, I will be a full time stay at home mother. I am taking my computer to scrapbook and to blog. I will try to be interesting but no promises. I will miss everyone and will want to stay in touch! At least promise me you will all try!

Dear Blogger Professionals:

2011-08-08T00:39:00.002-06:00

Hello People of Blogger World.

I need help. I am so confused on how to change my background. I finally have cute fonts that I love but I cant figure out how to get the old backgrounds I used to.

I know that blogger updated or switched or something a while back. Well I didn't have time to do much so I just picked a pre done template and accepted the changes that came with it.

Well now I am sick of it and when I did what I used to do it looks funny.

Also, How do you make the really cool collage pictures and writing at the top of blogs?

Sincerely,

Lame Blogger in need of Help

Update!

2011-08-02T11:12:00.002-06:00

So, I've wanted to make some new dinners but we went to Sammy's for dinner one night and then to Scott's parents house and last night we had some friends in town so we ate at Wingers. Crazy busy but I think the next couple days will be slower and I can try some new things.

Here is a little of what we have been doing:

-Cleaning house

-Playing kickball with Scott's Family

-Playing Farming Game with Ben and Whit

-Eating Dinner with Kayla and Tayler and Luke and Eli (Staci has a picture that I will post later!)

-Buying a new car (details and pictures to follow)

Things coming up:

-possible trip to Utah (for fun)

-Blake and Sarah's wedding

-Moving out (Aug 15th)

-Peterson Reunion 19th-21st

-Scott takes the GRE 25th

-Island Park: Boating and Playmill Aug 25-28

-Kennas 1st Bday Aug 26th

Most SCARY and EXCITING:

LEAVING FOR CALIFORNIA on Aug 29th!!

I'm behind...

2011-08-02T11:04:00.002-06:00

So life has been busy and I forgot to post a new dinner we tried!!

Connecticut Beef Supper:

Brown One Yellow Onion

and

One package Beef for Stew Meat

add

1 cup of water and let simmer until meat is done

Cut:

2-3 carrots

2 potatoes

**Put in crockpot

add meat and onion.

In a bowl, Mix:

8oz of sour cream

1 cup milk

1 can cream of chicken soup

**Pour in crock pot over everything

Cook on high for 2 hours

Scott and I loved this dinner. We were nervous that the sauce would be weird but it wasn't! We really liked this. Its more of a winter dinner cuz its like soup but its nice not to turn on the oven in the summer!

Fried Chicken with Milk Gravy and Potatoes.

2011-07-28T18:22:00.003-06:00

Fried chicken:

-take 2 chicken breasts and cut each into 5-6 pieces.

-on a plate mix: flour and Maddox Seasoning (you just have to guess on the amounts)

-cover chicken pieces in flour mixture and put in skillet

-cook in hot oil until golden crispy on outside (about 20 min)

-season a few times

Make mashed potatoes:

-if you have to ask you are not a true Idahoan. If you still have to ask get the little premade made ‘just add water’ potato flakes. You just may no longer be my friend

Gravy:

-drain off most oil. Leave enough in to mix with left over flour

-once that is thick, add milk and whisk.

-you just have to judge how much. You want it thin….but as it boils it will thicken.

Serve with an ice cold glass of milk and a smile! Enjoy!

Here is a picture of the completed dinner #1

This is a dinner Scott and I have had before so it doesn't really fit the goal BUT i have never made it so that is part of the challenge!

This is a favorite and a new twist on the typical gravy!

5 STARS

Recipes!!!

2011-07-27T19:31:00.003-06:00

Today starts the MADISON'S SUMMER NEW DINNER RECIPE THING-A-MA-JIGGER

I have no title for what I'm about to do. Did anyone see Julie and Julia? Dumb movie cuz it was so slow but good concept with a few random 'funnies'. So for the next two weeks (cuz thats all i think i can handle) I will be making something NEW for dinner. Scott is getting bored with the 'usuals' and i need a new challenge since school is over.

**Anyone who would like to join me is more than welcome.

So tonight is: FRIED CHICKEN WITH MILK GRAVY, MASHED POTATOES, STEAMED AND MASHED CARROTS. I will post the recipe and the results in about an hour. Stayed Tuned!!

End of School, Start of Summer

2011-07-22T23:57:00.002-06:00

Summer can finally begin because school is over! This semester seemed really long but it's finally over. It’s bittersweet for me because I am really going to miss preschool. I honestly loved going early every morning and playing with the children. Yes, I was really stressed and it was hard to leave McKenna but I enjoyed every minute of it. The sad part is not knowing when I will be teaching again. I would like to when Kenna is 3yrs old but that has so many ‘what-if’ scenarios its hard to say what will be going on.

Scott and I have some news for those who havent heard:

WE ARE MOVING TO CALIFORNIA!!

Scott got an internship with his uncle’s law office in Modesto, California. We are going to live in their pool house, which yes, is right next to a pool.

We will be leaving the end of August and will be back in Rexburg before Christmas.

I’m nervous and Scott is excited. Scott is ready to be doing some work related to his major. He is done working at the hotel August 11^th. After 3 and half years he is ready to be done.

I am nervous for the following reasons:

· New town (where is wal-mart?)

· New ward (new calling? And friends?)

· New house (no dishwasher, oven or stove, one big room with small bathroom. No bed, closet, dresser. Giant pool table in the way, and limited space plus much more

· What do you do at home all day with a 1 yr old? Since Kenna was 2 weeks old I have been going to school. What in the world am I going to do with my days now?

· One car. We have always had two (spoiled, I know) Scott will have the car and I will be stuck ten minutes outside of town with no way into town (if I wanted to go to library, get groceries, etc). I can try to take him but he might need it for work :(

· Being away from family, friends and neighbors :(

This is only for 3.5 months and it is a good situation and opportunity so I will just have to sacrifice. If you have any ideas to help me out! I can use any advice right now.

For the next 3 weeks we will be living in our townhome still and I will be packing for cali and for the storage shed.

Time is going too fast! If you wanna hang out just let us know! I will try and keep up with posting the best I can!

2011-05-18T13:18:00.001-06:00

McKenna woke up from her nap talking. When we went into get her we found her like this! Her legs are so cute!! I love my little girl! She is 9 months next week so stay tuned for her update!

McKenna is finally crawling

2011-05-16T15:36:00.003-06:00

I am so late on all my posts but I thought I would let the world know that McKenna has stared crawling. And yes, its just starting. She hasn't figured it out 100% yet, but she can move her arms and legs at the same time. That's crawling right? It's kinda funny to watch cuz she moves both arms then her back legs like jump/scoot to catch up with her. Everyone once in a while she actually does crawl like a normal baby. I know that here in a few days she will be everywhere. I have started moving stuff around to baby proof the house and holy cow did I have a ton to do. My house is now suitable for a crawler.

On another note. My daughter doesn't love baby food. She rarely eats well. She loves to nurse however! How do I make the switch? She loves to eat peas, and bananas, and puffs (all real food) but isn't into her baby food as much! She takes forever to eat when she does eat. I'm going crazy!!

School is out of control right now! Scott is doing IBC and it's ridiculous. He is gone a ton and is constantly reading articles for class. He went on a two night campout to build team unity and such and it was rough here at home!

School for me is a giant headache! I absolutely love preschool but this semester is no fun. I am in charge of a lab (100% in charge) and it's insane all the work that is involved. I still like that I have chosen this and I love children! I am just ready for this semester to be over.

For those of you who haven't heard, Scott got his internship with his uncle this fall semester. We will be going to CALIFORNIA from sept to dec. We are excited/nervous/anxious. We will be living with Scott's uncle in Modesto while Scott works at his uncle's law firm. I will give you all more details when I know them!

Mobile McKenna

2011-05-06T17:45:00.002-06:00

Kenna is now 8 months old. She is not crawling yet but that doesnt stop her from moving all around the room! It is really funny to watch. I will sit her on her blanket with some toys. When she gets bored of those she will like lunge forward onto her belly. Then she will roll toward a new toy or the TV stand. When she is on her belly and looks around she will use her arms to turn her to a new direction and then keep rolling.

She has been doing that for about two weeks. For the last couple days she has learned how to get from her belly or back into a sitting position. This means McKenna is even more all over the house! Its so fun to watch and see where she goes and what she wants. Im in no hurry for her to crawl. This is enough for me, even though I'm sure its right around the corner!

Pictures of Kenna and her Friend Grace

2011-04-09T11:08:00.004-06:00

Grace is two weeks older than McKenna. They have been friends forever! Scott and I have been friends with Graces parents: Ben and Whitney for a long time. Grace and McKenna were belly buddies and play at least once a week together. They even take baths together:

This is a picture of the girls playing in matching pjs!

SO CUTE!

Happy late Birthday!

2011-04-09T11:02:00.003-06:00

So Scott's birthday was the 24th of Feb and mine was the 27th!!! We had great weekend and went to dinner with Scott's family and went to dinner with some friends at Texas roadhouse and dinner with my family also! Here is a picture of Scott with his birthday cake I made. I dunno why we dont have one of me...oh well. Enjoy

Babysitting

2011-02-28T18:30:00.002-07:00

Scott's parents went on a cruise and went with Scott's aunt and uncle as well. We babysat their 6 kids! It was so fun. The kids were really good and they all helped out.

We played puzzles and wii non-stop. Scott and Brayden played Black-ops and the girls and I played just dance! So much fun. We went to McDonalds and Wendy's and ate lots other food.

All the kids loved McKenna and helped a ton. I think they enjoyed her toys more than their own.

Kenna is 6 months old!

2011-02-28T18:26:00.003-07:00

McKenna is now 6 months!

SO CRAZY! She is growing up so fast! She is so fun and laughs a lot! She had shots today and I made Scott come with me to be with Kenna when she cried. She didnt do too bad and she only cried for a minute or two.

Rolling over!

2011-02-28T18:20:00.002-07:00

I wish uploading videos didnt take so long otherwise I would upload one of Kenna rolling over. You can see it on facebook tho!

She has been rolling over from back to belly just one way. We are working on the other way!

Kenna is so content just laying around and playing with toys! We try to get her to crawl but she doesnt want to.

Baby Food

2011-02-28T18:15:00.002-07:00

Kenna has been eating baby food for a month now! She loves it. We have only been eating veggies but we will start fruit this week!

McKenna's Blessing Day

2011-01-11T17:48:00.002-07:00

I am still catching up on old events! Oct 3rd Kenna was blessed. My parents bought her a dress with Dan and ShaLae. She wore a purple bracelet that I made her and a purple bow in her hair!. We decided all to match so I wore my purple dress and Scott a purple tie. CUTE huh?

Kenna didnt cry at all but was awake the whole time. Colton was even able to join in!

Recovery

2010-12-29T19:44:00.002-07:00

Dan and ShaLae, Staci, Bryan and Ruth were all there when McKenna was born! Tons of pics were taken! She was so good too. I got to hold her a ton and so did Scott. We got a picture with the amazing nurse as well!!!

Recovery was not fun! My shower was awesome however!! We moved over to a new room and people began to come visit. The nurses were NOT nice at all and never came to check on us. We were very tired and McKenna didn't want to sleep. we sent her to the nursery and felt horrible!

They brought her back after 2 hours and said the girls were changing shifts and it would be less confusing with the babies in their rooms....WEIRD

The next day was tooooooo crazy with lots of visitors! Next baby we wont have any visitors at hospital. (SORRY) I was too tired and it was too much for me and baby!!!

Random thoughts:

Scott didnt eat hardly at all and I ate tons!

Scott called her McKenna from the first...it took me a while.

Kiwi ice chips arent as good as Huckleberry.

Scott drank tons of pop from the daddy center fridge!

Going home was crazy but my mom helped!!

Finally an update!

2010-12-29T19:06:00.005-07:00

I have to go BACK-IN-TIME and share the story of McKenna Ruth and how she got here and update from then on! Here we go:

7:15 am. Checked into hospital and stared IV. The stupid nurse asked where to put the IV and I told her the right arm/hand was best. She said, “Are you right handed?” Yes. “Well then the left might be better because you will need your hand later. GRRR whatever just get it in me. Well the first insert didn’t work. Try number two in left hand = no good. Ok lets try your right hand. (DUH STUPID) Well while she was switching over to the other side I looked at my hand (bad idea) and saw the red gauze. Immediately I didn’t feel well and told the nurse. “Do you want to lay down that might help?” Not really but ok. As she lays me down I say, nope I need to sit up. She puts the bed back up and hands me a bowl. Well for some reason I don’t use the bowl and throw up allover myself and the floor. (Sigh, it was going to be a long day). Well this makes Scott sick! I look up and see him look really, really white. I asked him if he was ok. Luckily there were two nurses and the one helped Scott lay back and the other helped me get cleaned up!

8:30 Dr Meredith comes in and checks me. I’m still dilated 3cm and still 80% effaced. Dr Meredith breaks my water and says he’ll be back later to check on me. (Super uncomfortable but doesn’t hurt) We brought in Mockingjay and read that for about an hour. We met our new nurse JILL and she was awesome. She said she would be here throughout the whole day! (I think we scared the other two away) Jill started my pitosin at a 3 and we read some more. PS I wenr to the bathroom a ton! Is that normal?

11:30 both Mom’s show up to be with us. Jill checked me to see where I was = still 3 cm L BUT she broke my water! If you were reading carefully DR Meredith already did that. NOPE! He just thought he did or there was a small outer sack that he broke. After Jill broke water I could definitely tell it was broken this time. I can finally feel my contractions! Yep, I couldnt feel them up til now. LUCKY ME!

1:15 Epidural in and working beautifully. Story behind getting it was not fun. From 11:30-12:30 was killer contractions getting way hard and uncomfortable. Jill said lets get the epidural at 12:30. Well the lady who does it was way behind and didn’t come in til 1!!! So for half an hour I was in killer killer pain! (I dunno how some people do it!) I made Scott go get food with his mom and Jill and my mom stayed with me. When Scott came back in I was happy and tired. Took 30 min nap.

2:00 Dr Lovell came in and checked me. Said I was at 9!!!! Jill checked me and said 7. HMMM who to believe? We waited a little bit longer. Jill brought me HUCKELBERRY ICE CHIPS! My favorite thing in the whole world. I loved them!!! They helped a lot.

3:15 Jill checks and says 9!!

4:00 Start pushing. Dan and Shalae waited outside the room. My parents sat in chair to my right. Scott fed me ice and held my leg. Jill held other and coached me through pushing! Jill kept telling me I was “SO CLOSE” for about 20-30 min. At this point I was frustrated. I was “SO CLOSE” for so long I didn’t believe them! Scott said he saw the head crowning and we got excited! I pushed a lot!

5:07 Baby Girl Arrived!!!! Dr Lovell Delivered her and Dr Meredith observed. She came out not crying. I was closing my eyes and pushing hard I didn’t know she out. Jill told me to relax that she was here. They put her on my tummy and smiled and stroked her hair! She had tons!!! Lots of nurses came in at this point and there were people everywhere. They took the baby to be weighed and Scott followed. Dan took pictures of McKenna and she held Scott’s hand. She was 7 pounds 3 ounces and was 20 inches long!

What if the Book of Mormon was like our cell phones?

2010-09-02T20:22:00.000-06:00

Don't you wonder what would happen if we treated our Book of Mormons like we treat our Cell Phones?

What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets?

What if we turned back to go get it if we forgot it?

What if we flipped through it several times a day?

What if we spent an hour or more using it every day?

What if we used it to receive messages from the "text"?

What if we treated it like we couldn't live without it?

What if we gave it to kids as gifts?

What if we used it as we traveled?

What if we used it in case of an emergency?

Oh and a few more things - Unlike our cell phones, one plan fits all.

Unlimited usage.

No roaming charges.

You always have reception.

No weak signals and we don't ever have to worry about our Book of Mormon being disconnected, because our Savoir already paid the bill! --Author Unkown

Island Park

2010-08-17T17:27:00.004-06:00

These are pictures of Scott playing on a bear out front!! hehe. I love him!!

So after my dad injured his foot, we set up a fun-filled weekend in Island Park! Friday night we drove an hour north and stayed in a beautiful cabin that belongs to a friend of my dads. There were tons of bedrooms and a huge bonus room with arcade games! That is where we spent most of our time :)

They also had 6 four wheelers and we spent a lot of time on those as well, however there wasn't a trail close enough so we just drove around the cabin and along a road. However we did see a MOOSE! We named him: Bullwinkle and he was super huge! He just stood there looking at us. My dad and sister actually saw him twice (Scott and I only once :(

We spent the weekend eating tons of great food and playing tons of games! It was a great vacation before this baby comes! We are hoping that is soon and we go to the Dr tomorrow so stay tuned for more updates!!!

Murder Mystery Party

2010-08-17T17:18:00.002-06:00

Hello Blog World! This post is once again photo-less. I think it may have something to do with the fact that I'm pregnant and I never remember to take pictures. Friday night we got together at Sam and Catherine's in-laws house for "A Murder on the Grill". It was the 50's and we had a great dinner of hamburgers and chips and salads! Hutch, Elise, and Talon along with Nick, Madalyn and Megan joined the party! IT was a blast and we had a great time!

Update!

2010-08-10T21:05:00.002-06:00

Quick update from Rexburg, Idaho. I went to the Dr on Monday and things are great! Baby Girl measured right on! 36 cm! Her heartbeat was 135! (awesome!) Her head is still down and in the right place! She hasn't dropped yet, but we still have 3 weeks. The Dr will check me on the 17th, 38 weeks along! WE CANT WAIT!!! Everything else was good and we are just now counting down the days.

We still dont have a name yet. We have a couple names we are deciding between, but nothing has stuck yet.

Scott is working full time at the hotel still. They changed from a Best Western to a Magnuson because of some crazy demands Best Western made to the owner. Scott is still Front Desk Manager and is making plans to remodel his office!!

My last day at Community Care was the 7th and it is nice to be done. I wanted to be done early enough to prepare for the baby. Right now I am busy getting the house ready and crocheting a few blankets for the baby! YEA!

So far August has been a very busy month! We have been going, going, going all day almost every day! Today was Matthew's 8th birthday and I helped my mom plan an army themed birthday for him! After the marshmallow war at Dan and ShaLae's we took our guns out to my parents house on Sunday, My brothers went crazy and thought it was the best thing ever! So, we decided to use this for Matthew's birthday. We got some guns and camouflage bandanas and sent the boys to 'take out' some army men. They absolutely loved it and had a blast. We put army guys on Matt's cake and he got some great presents! I love throwing parties for people!!!

We have a murder mystery party on Friday and then we are headed up to Island Park Saturday for a day on the lake and some fun four wheeling. However, I cannot do any of this so I will be taking pictures of Scott waterskiing and playing. My mom and I will rest and plan some fun baby stuff!

STAY TUNED!!

Peterson Family Reunion!

2010-08-08T23:55:00.002-06:00

Things kicked off thursday with a day of swimming at Heise! Things were super slow getting started, but once we were there it was lots of fun! We had lots of crazy weather and we switched pools all at the wrong time! :( We got some sun and had some great food! After dinner we played a fun stick game that ShaLae played at girls camp. Tons of fun!

Friday Scott went up Huckleberry picking with his family and four wheeling. They got caught in a the rain storm and had to hide out in a spud cellar. They still had tons of fun tho. Friday night we had a hot dog and marshmallow roast at Scott's grandma's house and played card games after!

Saturday was a free day to play and just visit. We had family pictures and an amazing dinner that night. The little kids also put together a 'movie' that Scott's cousin wrote and we all got tickets to see the big 'show'. Grandpa Peterson even had a small role in the movie and it was all done at her house! It will be great in the years to come to look back at the movie. It was so fun to see all the family and spend time getting to know those that live far away! Can't wait til next year!!!

Horrible Heise!!!

2010-08-05T11:57:00.002-06:00

My family is jinxed at Heise! 8 years ago my mom was pregnant with Matthew and she decided to go into the warm pool at Heise. While in there her water broke and my dad took her to the hospital and left us kids there--my grandpa ended up coming to get us later.

Well on Monday we had a family reunion for the Hammar side. Well my dad went up with Mike, Matt and Jess and started swimming.....He jumped off the diving board a couple times and did great until the last jump when he tore is Achilles tendon. As he jumped off he heard it snap and before he hit the water he knew what had happened. His brother Mark helped him out of the pool and change his clothes. We got there right after it happened and Scott and Mark helped my dad into my Aunt Kirsten's car and she drove him to the hospital. Turns out it was completely detached and he needed surgery for a complete repair. YIKES! He was in tons of pain too! SAD. The surgery went well on Monday night.

The one bad thing was the nurses didnt make sure his medication line wasnt completely connected so in the night when he would push the button for meds it would just leak onto the floor and not make it my dad at all!!! He was in pain all night. he asked two different nurses to look at it and neither noticed. When the new nurses at 6am took over she was checking everything and noticed the giant puddle on the floor and finally connected the tube. my dad couldnt believe the difference and was feeling a lot better after. He slept a lot on Tues and finally went home that night.

He is now at home resting!! He is so bored tho and we feel so bad for him! If anyone has any suggestions let my know! He will have a temp cast on until the 11th and then a full cast for 5 weeks. He cant work for two weeks and then we arent sure what will happen. SO CRAZY!!!

Other than that our day at Heise was a blast. I didnt dare go into the warm pool cuz of my mom's history. We played in the water all day and Matt and Mike loved the slide and didnt do much else!!! We put on tons of sunscreen and didnt get burned! YEA!!!

Atkinson Marshmallow Dinner

2010-08-02T11:08:00.002-06:00

So I took pictures of this epic day with my grandparents camera...not mine. :( What was I thinking? So this will be a pictureless post but it is definately worth the read!!!

So we showed up to Scott's grandma's house and we were asked to put together our 'gun' and paint it. Everyone was asked to put together PVC pipe into a marshmallow gun!! SCARY!! Scott's was camo and I did purple....We ate some amazing turkey with peas and potato soup and YUMMY fruit!!! After the dinner the war began:

Everyone was divided into 5 groups: Rednecks, wimpy whites, blue, green and yellow (i dont remember their names) So each team had a flag and had to keep it safe. The object of the game is to keep your flag safe and steal another teams flag, once that flag is stolen, the teams join together. You shoot marshmallows at the other team and once they are hit they have to go back to their base and count to 100 to get back in the game. You keep playing until one team has all 5 flags.

So I was on the REDNECKS team and we were able to steal all 4 flags the first round!!!! YEA....so we decided to play again, and all 4 teams came at us at once! What the heck??? They were all so mad that we won we got taken out right away. The second time the wimpy whites took the victory!

It was so fun to see all the little kids and adults run around shooting marshmallows at each other!! We even had little 4 year old running around shooting others! It was a blast and we were all very tired!!

My new CRIB!!!!!

2010-07-29T17:25:00.001-06:00

For my shower on the Barnes(my mom's) side, we had a crib and bedding/gift shower! I got tons of great stuff and this new crib! I absolutely love it!!! Thanks everyone!

5 weeks left!

2010-07-29T17:14:00.002-06:00

We went to the DR on Monday and things are looking great! I only have 5 weeks left and so I am starting to get anxious! When will she be here? Everyday we wake up, Scott and I say will it be today? What if it was today? Its a fun game! hehe

School is over and we survived! A's and B's!!! We were both very happy. I have 7 weeks off and then I'm headed back to just do 8 credits. Scott is off until Jan! He is stoked but he is watching the baby while im in school so hopefully they survive!!

We have a fun month coming up:

Aug 1st - Atkinson Dinner

Aug 2nd - Hammar swim day at Heise!

Aug 5th-7th - Peterson Reunion

Aug 7th - Last day of Work

Aug 13th- 16th - Boating in Island Park and Playmill!

Aug 20th - Hammar side Baby shower!

CRAZY SCHEDULE! I will try to stay updated as best I can.

ALSO---I am in the process of getting the baby's room ready to go, so I will post pics soon!

48 days left!!

2010-07-16T10:42:00.003-06:00

I only have 48 days left of being pregnant! (give or take depending on when she gets here). Scott and I are starting to get really excited and realize that this is really happening and we will soon have a baby in our home! CRAZY

I had a Dr apt on Monday and things are going great. She is measuring right on schedule 33cm! Her heart rate was also really good. I love going to the Dr to get the small reassurances that things are going ok.

We got a pack and play from Dan and ShaLae (Scott's parents) and we are so excited! We are getting a crib as well but she will sleep in this for the first couple months! It is pink and Scott was not happy about that but he has finally adjusted to it.

Other than getting ready for the baby we are just trying to finish up with school. We have one week left and we are so excited for a 7 week break! We definitely need it. Scott will be working full time in the fall and I am going to go back to school and just do part time. We figured that 3 part time semesters would be easier for us than 2 full time ones. We are hoping everything goes ok with the baby and we are able to make that happen.

July has been a busy month of just school work but August is full of more fun stuff. Coming up:

--We are also hoping to get some golf and camping in.

--We have a family reunion on Aug 5-7

--4 Baby showers!! (yep you heard right!)

-one for Scott's side of the family

-one for my mom's side of the family

-one for my dad's side of the family

-one for people at work

Why don't we just combine and do one big party? Because there are at least 70+ invited to these showers and that is too much for one person to plan. These will be smaller parties but still just as fun.

With lots coming up I'll try to stay as up to date as I can!

Pregnancy Pic

2010-06-30T15:57:00.000-06:00

June is halfway over? Since when?

2010-06-15T21:27:00.002-06:00

Since when did May end and June come? And half the days are gone already? HOLD ON! I"M NOT READY!!!

I feel like time is moving too fast. School just started but that isn't true cuz midterms were posted last week!!! WOW. I have completed my 3 days of teaching and that is a relief. I love teaching but the preparation is not fun. School is getting more difficult and preschool is actually a break cuz I play with playdoh hehe!!

We went to the doctor yesterday and things are great. My BP and weight were good. She measured right on schedule and her heartbeat was 145!! YEA. The best part is that I passed my gestational diabetes test! This means I can have SNOW CONES (Scott threatened to take them away if it came back positive) She is moving more and more every day. She punches when she is hungry or I'm squishing her. This makes it difficult to sit in a desk all day. I cant bend over at all without feeling sick now tho :(

Scott is still going strong with school. He is having a hard summer because we were suppose to have a softball league this summer but not enough teams signed up. Scott is way bummed and just tries to get some golfing in. We are hoping to go camping soon.

We went to the playmill with my family on the 12th and we loved it. We saw the play Foreigner (not the band). This play didn't have any music so Scott enjoyed it!! It was full of laughter and great acting. We recommend this to everyone!!

Memorial Weekend

2010-06-01T09:08:00.002-06:00

Being sick on a holiday weekend is not fun. Pink eye and strep! YUCK! Fortunately I got feeling well enough to be out and about. Saturday morning came too early and with WORK :( I was able to take a lunch break and go to the BARNES FAMILY CRAB CRACK. Scott and I love crab so this is always a MUST. This year my Uncle John and his wife Heather held it at their house (thanks guys!) We had tons and tons and tons of salads with lots of amazing crab! Super yummy.

After a few more hours of work we went out to Scott's grandma's house and had roast, potatoes, fruit and homemade rolls! Scott's uncle Rod, Uncle Larry with his wife Judy and their sun Tony all came up from Utah and ate with us. It was fun to see all of them!

Sunday was a relaxing day with crazy primary kids. We asked our primary class what their favorite animal was and one little boy answered: YOSHI! (I love primary) My dad went up to Henry's Lake on Saturday and caught tons of trout and let Scott and I have some, so we fried that up Sunday night just the two of us! I love quiet Sunday's at home! We did go down to Rigby that night and play some tripoly with my family.

Monday was the BARNES FAMILY REUNION and this year my mom and her brother Paul were in charge. We had a Mexican Fiesta and ate pulled pork, tamales, chips and salsa, salads and more. We also had Mexican hat dances and pinatas! We also played Minute to Win It games (from the TV show) and that was a blast! We had many activities for both old and young and everyone was laughing so hard! We ended up golfing Monday afternoon and it started out really nice until it RAINED on us. My umbrella in my bag was broken too :( After this we went and had dinner at Scott's aunt's house. Once again we had some amazing food and delicious desert!

This weekend was full of great food and better company! It is hard to get back in the mood for school but we are at midterms this week which means there is an end in sight!

Day 1 and 2 of my 3rd Tri

2010-05-28T17:01:00.002-06:00

So I am officially in my 3rd trimester and it officially sucks. I was super stressed on Thursday because I had a lesson for preschool to prepare. Luckily I was able to get off work and get stuff done. One good thing that happened was we had a dinner Thursday night for Colton and Karissa for GRADUATING HIGH SCHOOL! What?!?!?! Who said my brother could be 18 and grow up? Completely crazy if you ask me!

Friday I woke up early and got ready to teach. I was nervous because we were suppose to be outside in the gardens but it looked like rain outside. I did have a back-up plan ready to go if needed. We were able to go outside and the children loved playing in the dirt and helping us on the playground. When I cam home from school I took a shower from being extra mudding and while I was getting ready, my legs gave out. All of the sudden my legs hurt so bad and they felt hot and I couldn't stand anymore. After calling my dad, I took some tylenol put icy hot on them and took a nap. When I woke up my legs felt a ton better. (but 100%) HOWEVER my eyes were full of goop!

What in the world is going on with me??? I don't know how much longer I am going to survive if this is any indicator of the next three months. Hopefully I make it through!

WHAT?!?!

2010-05-21T15:13:00.002-06:00

What?!?! Have I really not posted since May 2nd? Sorry world. Here we go:

School is back in full swing and taking up most our time. I am in the preschool lab MWF for 4 hours. It is killer. All my energy is focused on waking up and being placing on time. I have been working extra shifts at work and that too is adding stress. Midterm is around the corner and I cant wait. I am ready to be out of school and ready for our little girl to be here!

We had a Dr apt on the 17th and things looked good. She measured a little small only 22 inches and she should have been 24. The Dr said everything else looked good tho. I do have to do the glucose drink thing for my next apt and I am not excited.

The summer is only sort of here and we are dying to be outside more. Not that we have time tho. Scott is going camping with his dad and cant wait to take me. I am not sure I want to pee in the woods 20 times!!! NOT FUN

We cant believe May is almost over and we will be in June! Hopefully I will remember to post more!

Catch-Up

2010-05-02T23:10:00.004-06:00

First things first:

Monday April 19th was the ultrasound apt! We found out we are having a GIRL!!! We were both excited (me more than Scott) but he was a good sport about it and let me buy a few things that day too.

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The name battle has begun! We cannot agree on a name. NONE. We both have problems with the others suggestion. Right now we call her: baby girl peterson and until we find something thats what it will be. Most likely we wont pick it until she is born.

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Everything on the ultrasound looked good. We did have trouble measuring her. She found a very comfortable spot and did not want to move. We need the top of her head but it was super low. We tried lots to get her to move but nothing. (already proving to the world she is the boss and very stubborn). We finally did the best we could and she measured right on schedule in the 55th percentile. I am right on schedule with everything else and had no problems.

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Pregnancy is going good. This week is started showing. I still try to hide it but saturday I couldn't hide it anymore. I finally have the belly. Jeans are snug but I have a belly band that I love!! It makes wearing anything a lot better. I am tired a lot and feel worn out after walking lots. Sleeping is beginning to show problems. I am used to sleeping on my stomache so I am adjusting to that, and the fact that I feel I need the whole bed to get comfortable. (Scott thinks iI have to share with him) Other than that no complaints!

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I do have to mention two cravings: I was walking outside with Scott on campus one day and smelled cinimon. I instantly craved apple pie!!!! I knew someone, somewhere was eating it and I was not. The other is lemon. We ate dinner at my grandma's my aunt had made a lemon-lime cake. (not sure how and what all was in it) It was amazing!!! I ate like 3 pieces of it and brought some home. Ate that that night and wanted more. I craved lemon bars, lemonade and more!! I was addicted. (I am looking forward to snowcones too)

---

School is proving more difficult that I imagined. I am starting my semester in the preschool labs and tomorrow is the first day of class. We have been preparing for 2 weeks: going over lesson plans, having parent orientaion meetings, getting the classroom ready and more. I am very nervous and anxious. I hope things are natural and I am not stressed. We have 20 students and 7 teachers (aprox 3 children to each teacher). I am required to teach 3 times and assist in all the others. Lab is 2 1/2 hours every MWF @ 8 am! Not my favorite part of the day. My other classes will be pretty easy. Hopefully I can get into a nice habit and just enjoy teaching. Scott is loving poli/sci. He finds stuff interesting and tries to teach me stuff. I just nod my head and smile. He has a 15 page paper due as his final and that makes him nervous. Other than that he loves everything and has a pretty easy schedule.

---

As we enter May and our last summer of just the two of us, we are planning and looking forward to many things:

-family softball

-golfing

-camping

-boating

-trips to West Yellowstone and Playmill

-warm weather

---

I cant end this post without a shout out to Scott. We visited our neighbors who had built some shelves in their laundry room. I loved the shelves and wanted some. I have been begging Scott since before Christmas and he did it this weekend with the help of his dad!! Three new shelves and I am so happy! I cannot believe how much storage I now have! This will be a huge help with storing baby stuff as well!! I am so proud of Scott! The shelves are amazing and I love the hard work he put in his love for his family to provide for us! Love you babe!

2nd year Anniversary

2010-04-15T12:10:00.003-06:00

This year I was in charge of our anniversary plans and I decided we were going to go somewhere different this year: BOISE. We stayed in the Northwest Lodge which was really nice. We went swimming and slept in and I loved it! My cousin Kesley and he hubby live in Nyssa, OR which is an hour away but we decided to go visit them. We ended up going golfing and it was was fun. Here are a couple pictures from golfing in OREGON!

It was so nice to see them and visit! We also did some shopping and bought way too much. It was a fast trip but way worth it!

PS: I find out in 4 days the gender of the baby! Everyone should guess boy or girl and let me know!!

Week update

2010-04-05T22:24:00.002-06:00

Ok so I forgot to post about my Dr apt last monday. Everything turned our great and we had no problems! The heartbeat was super strong(again) and we were able to find it right away! She wasn't hiding at all (YEA) Originally Dr Meredith had said every four weeks but he said if I wanted to come in a week early we could! So we are set for April 19th for an ultrasound apt! I will be 20 weeks and 4 days then so we are hoping for a good clear picture! The fight is on between Scott and I (boy vs girl). We keep guessing and trying to pick names (nothing has stuck yet) Let me know what you are guessing (boy or girl). We cant wait!

I did feel the baby move after my apt. So for a full week now off and on he/she will move around. Mostly I am sitting on the couch reading and holding still I can feel it move. Then after a few minutes I realize I'm hungry. After I eat, the baby stops moving (bittersweet) I want to feel it more but people tell me it will start moving too much and I will get sick of it (hope not) Scott is sad he cant feel anything yet but I tell him every time it does and he starts asking what I want for food.

3 more days of school. This semester has been very quick and full of struggles. We cant believe that we have been in school 3 1/2 months! Since it was my first one back I had a hard time keeping up and couldnt believe how much homework I had! I'm so glad to be done in three days. Scott struggled in his classes with both chem and physics and is very glad to be done and moving on to something new. He is looking forward to his classes and figuring out what he wants to do with life.

We have a ten day break and we are busy working and going to BOISE! Our 2nd year anniversary is the 12th and so we are taking a couple days off from Rexburg and life here and going to Boise. We are going to golf and see my cousin Kelsey, her hubby Lance and their baby Jeager! We are super excited to see them and be away from Rexburg!

The last update is EASTER! Scott and I both worked saturday :( so we missed those sessions of conference. We ate dinner with my family and then Scott went to priesthood. That night we couldnt hold back our Easter excitement so we celebrated Easter that night. Scott has a tradition that his mom would hide his Easter basket and he would wake up and go find it, and if he didnt find it, he didnt get the basket! So He hid mine and I stayed in the bedroom and then we switched. Well I through in my family tradition and filled some sports eggs with candy and hid them as well. When I told Scott he not only had to find his basket but 16 eggs he was very excited and we said go and we ran around the house looking. Scott thought they were little eggs and started in the bathroom looking everywhere. When he found his first one and saw how big they were he was able to find them quickly (there arent many places to hide them in our apt) Meanwhile I was opening tons of cupboards looking for mine and I couldnt find it! While Scott wass looking for eggs he found his. We had two eggs left and I couldnt find my basket!!! He told me he would give me a clue after he found his! I kept running around looking for it, when he found his last two eggs! GRRR so he played hot and cold and I found it IN THE BEDROOM! What? I didnt think that was part of the rules!! I didnt even look in there! (not fair in my book!)

Scott got me some pink bibs for the baby! He thinks that by getting pink he will jinx it and it will be a boy!! (I still think it is a girl!) I got the new book 'The Last Song' by Nicholas Sparks and a purple bunny, tons of candy!! LOVE IT!! I got Scott some Sharpie pens and he loved it! I also got him the peanut butter eggs he loves and NERDS!

Sunday morning was spent in bed listening to the radio to conference. It was nice to have that session together! After that we headed out to Scott's parents house and watched the second session. We ate at his grandma's house and it was delicious!! After that we went up to my grandma's house for desert! We had brownies and lemon lime cake (my new fav)! My mom also showed a movie clip about Christ's hands to end the Easter day(made it perfect)!

We had a great Easter weekend and cant wait for the rest of this month to unfold!! We will keep you posted and let you know the baby gender!!! Wish us luck with finals!!

Powar and Greede

2010-03-29T15:01:00.002-06:00

Powar and Greede was the name of our Murdery Mystery Party we had Saturday night. Below are some pictures of all of us. We were all invited to the premiere of a new movie and so we are all in our Sunday attire. We had such a great night with all our friends!

Scott and Madison

Elise and Hutch
Sam and Catherine

Luke, Tayler, and Kayla

Quick Update:

2010-03-24T21:09:00.003-06:00

So real quick I thought I would give you all an update.

I am now 17 weeks and counting down until the next ultrasound (3weeks) Weeks 15 and 16 were horrible. I got a really bad cold. A nasty cough combined with a runny nose. I was so tired (even after a full nights sleep). School was miserable because I couldnt concentrate at all and I was coughing so bad people were looking at me so I'd leave the room like 5 times! UGH. I ended up skipping a couple days and staying home to rest. Tylenol cold and PM were my only help the first little bit. My dad was nervous to give me something at this stage of the pregnancy. After tons of OJ and sleep and nothing improving, I asked my dad for something to help me. I started (and finished an anti-biotic) and nothing is different. It takes even longer when you are pregnant to get feeling better and I think I am doomed to cough for 23 more weeks! (FRUSTRATION)

The good news is we only have 2 weeks left of school. Well this semester anyway. I am very excited to be done with my pre-req classes and move on. I am hoping for a very easy semester and not too much homework. HOWEVER: I did register for classes and 2 of my classes are ONLY offered at 7:45 am!! Ya that will be a huge problem for me. Hopefully I can adjust.

Ok now for some news on Scott:
We are taking a religion class together on campus and our teacher told us about an experience he had that made him change majors. (you see where I'm going?) Well that VERY night I took my Tylenol PM and was out super fast. Scott couldnt sleep so he got up and read his scriptures. He decided to read his patriarchal blessing and thats when it hit him: "I need to change my major!" Well FOUR, yep 4 hours later, he came to bed. He had spent that time researching new majors and trying to decide what to do. His decision:

Political Science!

Small story: I got up and went to the bathroom during his 4 hour research and I walked into the frontroom and asked what he was doing. He answered, "I dont want to be a dentist, I am changing my major." Without answering, I walked away and went to bed. (Scott thought this was funny)

So the next morning Scott woke me up before leaving for class and said, "Can I talk to you for a minute?" after looking at the clock and realizing I still had an hour of sleeping I said no. He said well I dont want you mad when I dont go dental school. At this I opened my eyes again and said, "What?"

We had a quick talk and Scott explained his night and his thoughts. He chose business management after returning from his mission, and after we got married decided to do health science has his cluster in order to get into dental school. After doing his science classes he realized he didnt like it at all. He wasnt excited to go to school to learn or to enter dental school. After researching options the political science classes got his eye. He still doesnt know what he wants to be but we are hoping that during these classes he will find something. He is still going to do business management as a minor. He is now very excited for next semester and he cant wait to get started. He is hoping to move to Boise(Kelsey if you smile and get excited let me know!) He wants to work with Representatives and Senators. (as of now he doesnt want to be one, who knows if that will change).

My feelings: Very mixed. It has been hard to see Scott struggle through his classes this semester, so seeing him excited is great. This will put him another semester at school but hopefully it will all work out. He keeps asking if I am excited. Um, not really. I am more nervous for an unclear future. I know that this was a very thought out plan, with inspiration from above, and not just a sudden change. i am crossing my fingers that he loves his classes as much as he is hoping to. I think my problem is I dont know where this will take him, but I still support him and know that he is very determined this time around!

Sorry for the long post! Life is always changing and it keeps things interesting! It's just hard to change! Also, I go the doctor on Monday so look for a new post then!

Sorry Kelsey!

2010-03-17T11:53:00.002-06:00

Kelsey commented that I haven't mentioned the pregnancy. It's funny because most of the time I don't feel pregnant. Since seeing and hearing the baby it has made it seem more real but nothing else has kicked in to let me know I'm pregnant yet. My friend Whitney said she can feel the baby move but I haven't felt anything yet. I am tired but I have heard that is normal.

I haven't been sick at all which has been super nice. I threw-up twice but I'm not sure why. Other than that no sickness. It has been a huge blessing with school and work. Also I have lost tons of weight. I have heard that can happen but none of my pants fit right now! I thought it was suppose to be the other way around. We figure this is due to the fact that at my old job I sat in a chair 8 hours a day. Now I am walking constantly from building to building.

I feel like I am constantly eating but the last week that has slowed down some. Food is so boring to me. I go into the kitchen to eat and nothing sounds good to me. I eat only cuz I have to but its no fun at all. The girls in my classes all laugh at me because I will take grapes, cereal, poptarts, granola bars, yogurt etc to class and eat. They think its super funny. I am on campus from 8-2 most days and I have to eat.

I go to the Dr on the 29th. I am super excited to go again. My dad said he would do an ultrasound at 20 weeks for us and then Dr Meredith's office will do one on week 22. (cuz thats when the apts are sheduled)

So far the pregnancy isn't too bad. I still dont have a baby bump but everyone is looking for one! (can be kinda awkward not going to lie) I am picking my outfits more carefully until I actually have something to show. Make sense?

Kelsey, hopefully this answered all of your questions! Let me know if you have any others!!

This is my baby!!!

2010-03-16T21:53:00.002-06:00

This is our baby! It was so fun to see her (yes I am calling the baby a girl, Scott still thinks it a boy LOL) It was really hard to get this picture. She was moving all around and her hands were in front of her face the whole time. For those who dont know what they are looking at let me try to explain. This the the right side of her face. The bumps at the top (from left to right) are her forehead, then it dips down into the eyes, then up to the nose, lips and chin. (her lips look huge to me!!!!) You can also see her fist. She has all five fingers!! (I know i'm corny. We also saw the other hand and yep, all ten are there!! YEA). She did not like ultrasound at all. She was squirming all around and mocing so much it was hard to take measurements. The baby measured at 13 weeks 4 days. I thought I was 13 weeks so for it to be pushed 4 days ahead was awesome! I am due SEPTEMBER 2nd!!! That will be 5 weeks after school is over which makes me very happy! I should have plenty of time to get stuff ready. This thursday(March 18th) I will be 16 weeks. (only 4 weeks until we know the gender!! I cant wait! I am getting so anxious to know. I'm ready to go shopping!)

Until next time!

February Catch-up

2010-03-02T22:12:00.001-07:00

So I did give you all a preview of what was to come and it was a busy month. It is March 3rd and I cant believe how fast February flew.

Scott's conference in Utah was boring but informative. We enjoyed the warm weather and I got to see my friend Kate Smith! We went and saw Valentine's Day (good movie!!!) We got Scott a new suit for work and Church and we got a good deal on it! It was his birthday present early and he loves it.

I have never been able to surprise Scott with christmas presents or dinner or anything ( i think he has a camera somewhere!) Well his birthday was on a Wed and I knew that he would have class all day and his chem lab so we wouldnt have time to do much celebrating. So because of this I threw Scott a surprise party. I planned it in like three days. Staci helped me decorate and I bought Scott an ice-cream cake which he loves. I invited all his family and friends and we showed up to the church by his house and he walked in and kinda ruined the 'SURPRISE' part but it was still very fun for him. He thought it was for both of us but I told him it was all for him and he loved it. On his brithday he babysat for his cousins Kayla and Tayler so they could go to a bball game. He was very happy we had the party the friday before! So fun for him!

My birthday started with me asking for waffles and Scott fulfuilling that for me! He burned himself and I felt so bad. I got to sleep in and it was amazing. We drove to IF and went shopping and then joined both sets of parents at Texas Roadhouse for dinner (so good!) After the amazing dinner we went and saw Sherlock Holmes. Not my favorite but Scott loved it. Very funny, lots of action and a weird psycho that did weird psycho stuff.

We were able to eat dinner with Soctt's family to celebrate and played Settlers. We ate with my family the following Sunday and played Fill or Bust (fun game for those who have never played!) We are grateful for our families and all they do to help and support us! And to the friends who wished us happy birthday!

Also Kylie and Chris are safe in Germany. They are slowly adjusting which is harder for Kylie than Chris. Sam and Catherine are some great friends who we havent seen since the beginning on January and so we went to visit them. Logan is so cute and growing so much!

The month went so fast and we loved it. We are looking forward to the month of March and the warm weather that could be in the future!

HEARTBEAT

2010-02-22T07:29:00.002-07:00

On saturday, Scott and I were able to hear the heartbeat. My dad did it at the clinic and my mom also came. At first I was nervous but when I heard it I was very happy! I asked my dad tons of questions and he was like, "Well be quiet and I will tell you" and "Mad I cant hear it, be quiet." I was so excited! It was really fast and strong! My dad said that means a girl! So did Scott's mom. Scott was a little bummed by that but is still hoping for a boy. Our apt got moved (i know) Dr Meredith is out of town and so it is now on March 1st. I didnt think we would be able to wait that long but hearing the heart beat helped!!!

Kelsey tagged me!

2010-02-17T14:59:00.005-07:00

Ok so Kelsey tagged me in the photo post thingy so here we go. No judging!

Self Portrait. Really? This is embarrassing!

My closet: is actually in the spare bedroom becuase the master is so tiny, so Scott has it all. I share my clothes with the extra storage and odd items.
My favorite shoes. I dont wear them that often, mostly sundays but I pregnant so I dunno how much longer I will wear them.

What my kid is doing right now: This is an email pic from pregnancy.com about what my baby is doing! Yea!

So here is my fridge: Im not sure what all is in here but its what we eat. I know its not much.

Here is my sink. As you can see we eat cereal and drink tons!

My laundry room. As you can see it holds potatoes and cereal as well as laundry detergent.

My bathroom: I had 8 am class so no its not clean. Notice all of Scott's stuff is put away? How does it do it? Oh ya he has three things he uses in the morning. I have 25!

My favorite room is the bedroom! I love to sleep in and I love our sheets and pillows! This is my favorite place to be!

Thanks for the tag Kelsey! I really hated seeing what all I need to clean. But it was fun to take a break from homework!! I tag: Whitney and Kayla!!

My Favorite MONTH

2010-02-09T19:45:00.005-07:00

So February is my favorite month for three reasons:

The first and most important HOLIDAY on the planet is: MY BIRTHDAY. That's right ladies and gentleman. I was born Feb 27th. Best day and month ever. I have begun my countdown and we have 17 days. We arent sure what we are going to do yet but I will let you know!

Second reason: Scott's birthday! How ironic that Scott and I were born in Feb?!?! His is the 24th which means I only get three days of my birthday is before he gets bragging rights to the closer birthday :( This year is fun for Scott because he will be 24 on the 24th! So fun for him!!

Third: Valentine's day. I have had some interesting V-day's with Scott. He took me to Mongolian grill (for my first time) on that day after the dinner I had prepared failed miserably. Well i hated dinner. (I'm not sure why but i love it now). We dont have any traditions but I usually get a flower and that makes my day. For those of you who dont know Scott he is NOT a romantic. I have learned to adapt and yes, it has been hard. He doesn't think much of the holiday but puts up with it because I love it.

So those are a couple things coming up. Also Scott's cousin Kylie and her husband Chris are moving to GERMANY for 6 months because of his job and we are going to miss them! We have a going away party for them and we are going to try not to cry. We love them!

Another event is Scott's job training. Scott is loved by his boss more than any other employee. Feb 15th Scott is attending another training class. This time in SLC home of the JAZZ. Sadly they are not playing that weekend :( oh well. Scott is sad that his day off from school will be spent in an 8 hour class but we are hoping it helps him with his Business major and it will look good on his resume! Scott is also hoping to do his internship with Best Western this fall semester.

Superbowl weekend was spent babysitting my cousins. My Aunt Kathy and her husband Justin spent their anniversary in Utah and asked Scott and I to watch their kids. We have done this before a year and a half ago and we enjoyed it. This time was a little harder being pregnant. Everything went ok tho and the kids had a blast. Scott was the only one in the house screaming for the Saints, which made for an interesting night.

The last comment is on my first prenatal visit. Because of our crazy schedules we had to schedule our apt for FEB 22nd. ANOTHER 2 weeks:( I think I am going to go crazy! The Dr's office said I should be fine to wait that long and that the heart beat will be stronger by than anyway. Also the baby will be bigger in the ultrasound. I wish I could go tomorrow like planned but for some crazy reason Scott wants to be there (jk I want him there too)

In my classes we talk alot about the growth of babies and children. We talked about disease and learning disabilities and I got nervous and said, "why am I having a baby again??" We also watched a birthing video and I immediately said "i change my mind" (oh ya...TOO LATE). However, we also watch fun videos of baby grabbing mom's finger and recognizing mommy's face. (YEA) I guess this will be worth it later I just hope I am ready. It is fun for me when Scott gets excited. Right now not too much is going on for him to be involved, so I feel bad for him and want him to be a part of it. We read pregnancy books together and he makes funny and sarcastic comments like "thats why you are so moody, its the pregnancy hormones", or "our baby better be healthy, you need to eat fruit not cookies". We are still having trouble thinking of names so that is on hold for now. When we know the gender we will start the conversation up again. I am getting nervous that we wont agree and on the blessing day Scott will name him Theodore, James Bond, Batman, or some other random name. Hopefully it doesnt come to that but that is currently on of my fears.

I can already tell this month is going to have tons of posts so I hope you enjoy it while it lasts. Nothing important happens in March so that will be boring. Thanks for all the advice and the love!

procrastinating

2010-02-02T21:46:00.002-07:00

So I always procrastinate my homework thats just a given, but instead of homework this post is about my first Dr visit.

I have this book called What to Expect When You're Expecting.

Well there is a section that tells you what to expect at your first visit and the things that happen. For those of you who have done this you are probably laughing saying its no big deal, its awkward at first but not anymore; but I am terrified! (For those of you who dont know what happens go buy the book!)

I know I have to go. And I will go.

I was getting ready to set up the apt and thought, I'd better read that section first so I'm prepared if they ask any questions over the phone and I know whats going on. Well now I'm freaked out and I just really wish some things didnt have to happen. I know it helps, and its safer for the baby...blah blah blah. But its just awkward. It is something I wish I could skip. I do want a healthy baby so yes I am going. I just needed a few days for the impact of the news to settle down.

Next post: Report on visit. Wish me LUCK!!!

I'm Pregnant!

2010-01-26T14:22:00.003-07:00

For those who havent heard, I am pregnant! We found out Christmas Day and we are very excited and nervous! I am 8 weeks along and so far I havent been sick. YEA!

I am trying to balance school and work and being prego and its hard. I love to sleep and its almost all I do. I get my homework done, then sleep!!

School is a lot harder than I remember it being. There is more reading than I can imagine. I think it is more time consuming than anything.

I am going to the Dr next week and hopefully I will have more to update! Life is going great but I think Scott and I have decided to move to Arizona where it is warm and doesnt snow.

Convo with myself this morning

2010-01-18T03:45:00.003-07:00

230 am

"Wake up madison!"

What? Who's there? It's 230 am leave me alone please!

"Wake up, I don't want to lay in bed anymore"

It's 2 am, you may not be tired but I am

"Let's go watch TV, play mario, or eat food"

No, I want to sleep. What if I roll over. Is that more comfortable? Can you please go to sleep now?

"Not even close sister! You know I am going to win. You might as well wake up."

No way. I will win this fight. I'm not getting out of bed until the sun is up. I will fall back asleep and you will leave me alone.

"Good Luck"

330 am

Fine, you win. Happy?

"Yes thank you."

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

For Kelsey and Kambria

2010-01-06T22:59:00.003-07:00

Ok Kelsey first. This month was seriously so busy! I really wanted to post sooner. Sorry! I am honestly going to try to post weekly for sure. if not twice. But if all i do is homework do you really want to hear about that? what if its super boring??

Kambria: I wish i could duplicate myself and get 3 degrees. I would love to go to hair school and color and cut my hair all the time, and cut Scott's hair along with my kids, but that just didnt fit. I did want to go to hygiene school mainly for the money. Is that shallow? Some only work 3 days a week! lucky. However that was too far away. I would have had to get my prereqs done at BYU-I and then travel to Poky and start a 2 yr degree there. That was just too involved.

SOOOOOOOO..... i did finally pick a degree and i am sticking to it: Professional Preschool Education. I am actually very excited for it. I've gone to each class once and I am definately connected to this! I have parallels and i can see myself growing more interested and wanted to know everything there is. I am taking the prereqs for the degree right now.
-children literature
-foundations of early childhood
-child develpoement
-child curriculum
-communications
-nutrition for young children

In some of those classes I will go into the labs in the Clark building and work with the children there. My next semester will be a 4 hour lab three days a week and my 300 and 400 level classes. I have three semseters of that 4 hour lab. Each semester we focus on a different aspect. So i will graduate July 2011 with Scott.

We are both happy to have an end in sight. Its a year and 7 months away. Seems forever but it will be worth it.

After I am done with BYU-I I will be licensed through the state and the college to work or open my own preschool. I am hoping to work 2-3 days a week at a preschool, or open my own in my home (but my home is small so i dunno how well that will work). I am pretty excited tho. It is something that i can call a career, but i wont let it over take me and i can still raise my family someday!!

Did that answer your question? hope so! how is Owen? we need to have you and Kent over for dinner and games sometime!! Miss you! You too Kelsey, you're not in trouble for not calling but you arent 100% forgiven yet. I miss you like crazy! You better still be planning on the 18th or 19th!!!

The End of Decemeber and Back to School

2010-01-05T15:02:00.005-07:00

The month of December was super crazy for us. We had a fabulous morning and a full day of ‘opening presents’. We opened presents at our house and we got each other backpacks for school! We love them. After our house we went to my parents house in Rigby, had waffles, opened presents and talked to Katie! She is dong great. She loves her area and her companion. We couldn’t be happier for her. She has been out for 6 months and has 12 to go.

This is Scott on our first day of school, with his new backpack.

I got a giftcard to Maurices from Scott's grandma and I bought this outfit!! My first day of school in Years!! I love school.

So on christmas day we found this cat under the dumpster and we rescued her. She was a great kitty but she smelled, and we werent home enough to play with her so we gave her to Susie. She loved to play with a golf ball, and got in Scott's way while he golfed.

Scott saying goodbye to Kitty

December

2009-12-18T17:09:00.002-07:00

So this month has been very crazy so far. The month started with us coming home from Houston.

The second week ended with Madison getting sick :(

I finally started an antibiotic but that has yet to work.... I have been coughing really bad and not feeling well. Hopefully i will feel better before Christmas.

I finally put in my two weeks at the dental office. I start training at Community Care on Monday and I am very excited.

Scott are I are already for school to start! We bought our books today and we finally figured out our schedules just perfect. We even have a class together this semester! It will be entertaining as we try to out do the other person.

Christmas is almost here and I think I am most excited for Katie to call. She is doing great and hopefully this time of year isnt too hard on her. Scott is excited to see his cousin Tayler. Tayler is serving in Guatemala and will be home the 31st!!!!

We have so much planned on the 24th and 25th I think we forgot to plan any sleep! Hope everyone has a safe holiday!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!!

Houston

2009-12-05T10:04:00.003-07:00

Happy Late Thanksgiving!!! Hope everyone's holiday was just perfect! Our holiday was full of tons of family, we ate with Scott's family at Grandpa and Grandma Atkinson's house. Dinner was fabulous and we loved it! After that we drove to Rigby and ate at my parents house with the Hammar clan! We had tons of food and lots of fun with our families.

The Sunday following Thanksgiving, Scott and I drove to Springville UT and stayed in the hotel Scott's boss owns. The next day we drove to the airport and flew from SLC to Denver and then after a 4 hour layover we flew into Houston, TX.

Scott had an 8 hour class the first day, after which we did a little shopping and ate at Joe's Crab Shack. The best dinner! The crab was delicious and we loved it! It rained all day and the rain was hard and fast. Not very fun. Wednesday Scott's class was only 4 hours. We spent the rest of the afternoon at the biggest mall we have ever been in!!! It took us forever to get all the way through it.

On Thursday we woke up at 3 Idaho time and drove to the airport. We caught our flight 6 am and then flew to Phoenix and then had another layover :( finally we landed in Utah and drove to Rodizio Grill and ate a very yummy lunch!! Finally we pulled into Rexburg Idaho and the vacation was over. We had a great time!!!

2009 Football Season

2009-11-18T16:19:00.002-07:00

The 2009 Football is at an end. It is a bittersweet moment for all of us. Scott got so beat up this year it will be nice for him to have a break and get healed up. There were a lot of: "if i would have" moments that Scott couldnt let go. His team played great and held off a really tough team until the last quarter. It is sad to see them lose. Esspecially since we made it to the championship game last year. We are still undecided if Scott will play again next year but its hard to let his football career end on Tuesdays game. It was a great season. Thanks to all who came and supported Scott!

Football Playoffs

2009-11-15T17:01:00.002-07:00

Football playoffs started on sat. Scott's team was seated second and they played the team in 7th and won 26-6. Scott even got a sliding touchdown into the end zone! YEA!!!

Scott plays Tuesday at 8pm for all who want to come watch. They play the Spartans, a team they have beaten before, but they have acquired new players so this should be a good game!!!

If they win on tuesday they will play in the championship game on thursday night at 8 pm. We are hoping the team gets rested and will play smart, aggressive football and win us the title of : champions!!!

Halloween Part Two

2009-11-01T12:56:00.003-07:00

On Halloween we had an amazing Murder Mystery Party! This is a group picture of all of us! We had tons of food and a great night! Lots of laughs and a very scary murder! We all gathered at castle Von Morgue at Lizzie's engagment party but someone killed my fiance!!! Who did it?

Sam and Catherine Claunch as Prince Aldrinktotat, and Angela Deth

Whitney and Ben Tibbitts as Madame Garlique and the Prince of Dimness

Kayla, Tayler and Luke as Glumda the witch, Hannibal the kosher vampire and a lion

Scott and Madison as Frankenstien and Lizzie!

Halloween Part One

2009-10-30T23:23:00.003-06:00

So my aunt Kathy threw an amazing Murder Mystery party on the 30th of OCT. We really know how to celebrate Halloween!! The name of the party was: Death of a Vampire! The picture above is of my aunts and uncles, plus grandma and grandpa, all dressed up for their parts! Scott and I were Shabby and Velma. (from scooby doo) We had a such a blast and the murder was very tricky and a fun way to spend the night!

tOuChDoWn WiLdCaTs

2009-10-26T19:15:00.002-06:00

Scott played an amazing game of football Saturday. He was able to get a touchdown and win the game!!! YEA! I am so proud of my husband!!

PETS!!

2009-10-15T21:25:00.002-06:00

So I have posted once about Dax and now it is time to do it again. After we moved into our apartment we invited Dan and ShaLae over for tacos to thank them for helping us paint and wash our carpets! They asked if they could bring Dax and we said sure. He was so excited to see us and ran all over. Dan and Scott had to run to the store for something and after they walked outside Dax sat at the door whining because he missed Dan. He did not stop until Dan and Scott came back. We tried to play games and he wanted to be right up at the table with us. ShaLae had brought some toys but he wasnt interested at all in them. We had bought a weird ball thing at Wal-mart. Scott went and grabbed it and Dax went crazy. It is hard to explain the ball so just look at the pictures.

Dax got his head stuck in the ball and we laughed so hard at him! He couldnt get his head out of it! We we laughing so hard we were crying! At one point ShaLae asked Dax if he wanted a treat and he stopped and looked at her and you could barely see his eyes and the ball was just resting on his head!

Dax stuck in the ball!

Scott has been wanting a bird for a long time, but I havent caved yet so we decided to get a fish! Yep, a crowntail beta fish! He is purple and maroon and cream colored! Yes, I got to pick him out. He is really tame and lots of fun already. We named him Toby and we think he likes his new home so far!

Individual Excellence

2009-10-14T14:13:00.002-06:00

Every night before Scott and I go to bed we read 'counsel and inspiration for each day of the year' Stand A Little Taller from Gordon B Hinckley. I want to share one of the quotes that meant a lot to me!

Individual Excellence

Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God. --D&C 18:10

You can be excellent in everyway. You can be first class. There is no need for you to be a scrub. Respect yourself. Do not feel sorry for yourself. Do not dwell on unkind things others may say about you. Polish and refine whatever talents the Laord has given you. Go forward in life with a twinkle in your eye and a smile on your face, with great and strong purpose in your heart. Love life and look for its opportunities, and forver and always be loyal to the Church.

Football

2009-10-12T09:21:00.002-06:00

Saturday. A day to rest, clean house, play with friends and watch a football game! Scott played this Saturday and he did great! His team won 22-6! YEA! Scott played both offense and defense and loved it! They had a couple injuries tho. Hopefully the boys will recover and rest before the next game. Scott was really close to a couple touchdowns. With some practice he will get it!

While Scott ran all over I sat in blanket and FROZE!! I was so cold. I had a Thermos with hot cocoa and it was delicious and kept me so warm! Hopefully it will warm up before his next game!

WE MOVED

2009-09-30T21:12:00.010-06:00

The last week has been super crazy!! Be prepared this is a long post! First off Scott muscled through three days of try-outs and found out Saturday he will be playing on the WILDCATS! (yes like high school musical) His team jersey is grey and he is number 89!

All of his games will be at the Hart Stadium.

Oct 10^{th @ 4:00pm}

Oct 17^{th @ 12:00pm}

Oct 24^{th @ 4:00pm}

Oct 31^{st @ 10:00am}

Nov 7^{th @4:00pm}

We would love to see you there!!

The moment you all have been waiting for.... WE MOVED!!!! Its all done. We received a call on Thurs the 24 to come and sign closing papers! this was me: "WHAT!?!? FOR REAL? ALREADY? WOW?!?! WAIT, I OWN THIS?" Its a huge things to own a townhome, its was crazy but felt so nice! We started packing that night and on friday. I also went and painted our house with the in-laws and Scott's cousin Kylie! We had a blast and it turned out great! Dan is our hero because he spent 30 min figuring out how to use the carpet cleaner and then cleaned my carpets for me! What a nice father in law!!!!

Saturday was moving day! Scott and I finished boxing stuff up in the morning and took two carloads up to our house at noon. My brother Colton was a huge help and let us use his truck to pull my uncle's trailer. We had a huge group of people help us and I want to thank them all! Colton and his friend, Andrew, My dad!, Chris Pierce, Sam and Catherine Claunch, Blake and Ty Galbriath, Dan and ShaLae Peterson, and Elise Thompson! You all helped a ton!

The boys left Rexburg around 1 and drove to Rigby to load up the trailer. Meanwhile my Aunt Gina came over with her daughter Kylie and helped me paint a square on my wall! THANK YOU both! It looks amazing.

Shortly after the boys arrived with all our stuff! AND WE HAVE A LOT OF STUFF!!! It went super fast and they all got rewarded with PIZZA! Thanks again all you muscle men! The rest of Saturday was spent unloading boxes. It took us forever, but emptied our stuff box by box.

6pm was the Relief Society Broadcast and I took a break and went with Catherine to the boradcast. It was amazign and I love the RS Presidency. They are such great examples and I love hearing from them!

Scott worked Sunday, (i think he planned that) so while he worked I unpacked and unpacked and oh ya unpacked. We had the majority of it done but we still needed help with some 'projects' so we called TAYLER and KAYLA! (and Luke but only so we could play with him, we didnt give him a hammer).

They came over and Kayla helped me finish my Kitchen. I was so overwhelmed with it that I just ignored it. Kayla was amazing as she helped me organize and fix all my supplies in the right cupboard! Thank you so much KAYLA!!!

While the girls were in the kitchen, Scott and Tayler put their 'man skills' to the test, installing a new shower head, a medicine cabinet (which they had to do twice cuz it was slanted!!!) and the final project was my mirror. So here is the story on the mirror. The bathroom is tiny and has no drawers! In order for us to make room we decided to put in the medicine cabinet. Where do we put the mirror? IN THE FRONTROOM! We painted a brown square and put the mirror over it (the brown is the boarder) and it looks amazing! I was so nervous because i had never done a project like this before! They boys were so great helping us out and it looks amazing!! They even got to play tanks after!

My frontroom! I love my mirror! It looks so nice!

My kitchen table!

This is my kitchen! I have tons more room than I did in my old one!!!

This is the view standing in the kitchen looking at our table!

This is probably my favorite room in the house! My laundry room is amazing! I have lots of storage up top and in the drawers. I love being able to do laundry anytime!
This is my frontroom! We got the entertainment unit from Tayler and Kayla. Thanks guys! We have loved having it!
This is the bathroom! I registered for the decorations and I love it.

Only because you asked

2009-09-16T16:57:00.002-06:00

I just did an update on the 8th and it seems like that was forever ago but it was only a week ago! Time flies! So not too much else is going on right now but I can blog about upcoming events that you will have more detail on later!

1st - We are moving. We were going to wait a little longer to spill the beans on this one but we are constantly talking about it that we cant help it. We have been living in Rigby for the summer to save money but we both start school in Jan so we decided we better start looking around in Rexburg for somewhere to live. My dad suggested us buying something rather than renting. Why waste money when you can turn around and make something later? So we starting looking and found a townhome in rexburg by Smith Park and the High School. We got a great deal and some great perks! We dont close until the end of the month so we cant move in yet. We are both way excited to have a place to ourselves again. More to come when we finally move in!

2nd - Football! This one has 2 parts. First is the Pigskin Pick 'em. This is something Scott's aunt started and you go to ESPN online and you are able to guess the winners of each weeks football games. I have never done it before and had no idea where to even start. I had heard of some teams, but not all of them. Each week the games change and you have to guess each week and points are updated. After week one Scott, Aunt Gina and I, are tied for first! How crazy is that. There are 17 weeks of games and many points to be won! hopefully this beginners luck will carry through the season. I dont have a team picked for the Superbowl yet but I will let you know!

Second part - BYU-Idaho football starts this month with an hour long meeting that Scott must attend in order to play football again. We debated whether or not he would play this year but he loves the game and decided he wanted to one more year. We are both excited and hoping he is on a good team again with a good coach. After tryouts we will let you know of his game schedule!!

3rd - BABIES! (NO, I'm not pregnant) My cousins Kelsey and Kambria are due the beginning of OCT and I cant wait to celebrate with them the joy of having their babies. I have been working on gifts for them and it has kept me busy. My friends Catherine and Elise are also expecting and I couldnt be happier for them! Someday I will join them but until then I love having babies around to prep me for mine.

4th - Canning! I have never canned before and my mom decided this year she would start! We have done tomatoes, peaches and pears! I love all three! I wish I would have done beans or a vegetable but I did corn last year and still have some of that left. I loved learning this 'mother' skill, knowing it could come in handy in the years to come!!!

THATS ALL FOLKS!! I cant think of anything else to bore you with so until I do enjoy this post and the last couple days of summer!

Two new updates!!

2009-09-08T14:29:00.007-06:00

Two new updates!

The first the last saturday of August. We went out to Palisades with my dad and family on the boat. Scott and I invited Tayler and Kayla to join us. We had a blast. We took food and relaxed on the dock. Scott and Tayler waterskiied and did great! They had a blast and then we decided to go tubing. My dad has a long tube we call a hotdog/banana. (see pic)

My cousin Kayla has been wanting to make paci chains for her son Luke. I love the one she has so I agreed to help her make some and made some of my own. We got together with Kayla and Kylie and made some! They were lots of fun and turned out so cute!!! We are going to make some more soon let me know if you want some!!

Celestial Marriage!

2009-08-21T15:02:00.003-06:00

One of Scott’s good friends from high school has been taking the missionary discussions and trying to make it to the temple so he can marry a girl he is dating. Scott’s dad is a bishop and called Scott last night and said Danny has a meeting with the missionaries to discuss celestial marriage and we would like you and Madison to come. (I was nervous)

We read some scriptures and the sisters asked us to share what we learned from two versus and I was surprised how much truth we can find in two verses! It was neat to find out what other people learned and we told Danny that everyone gets something different out of reading the scriptures so we need to read them often to learn more. (Off topic but when you have an opportunity to teach you do it right?) We all shared our feelings on the temple and the effect it has on us, and the result we get from it! We also shared what the temple covenant means to us and it was neat to hear those thoughts from my husband and in-laws, and to also share that with Danny.

Well we talked a lot about the temple and how it is a serious commitment and the promises that we make and it was really neat to sit and talk about those things. Danny and Stacey (the girl he is dating) want to get married but Stacey won’t unless it’s in the temple J and she has been trying to hard to get him there.

We talked a while longer (I wont bore you with details) but we had a good talk and touched on some serious material that is really important. They are starting a temple preparation class for Danny and Stacey (they are in the same singles branch) and they are both really excited. Danny has to finish the discussions and then be ordained an elder so he can go to the temple! It is amazing to see him go step by step. It is so neat to see Heavenly Father’s hand in everyone’s lives and see how is church is run so smoothly and the steps we have to take to be perfect and receive the blessings that are ours! We are going to go buy a picture of the temple and give it to Danny to hang on the wall. I love missionary work and I am so happy I have been able to lend my hand and to share my testimony with Danny. The church is true and I love the plan that Heavenly Father has for us and I am so grateful for my celestial marriage and the knowledge that my family will be forever.

The end of Softball

2009-08-16T15:50:00.004-06:00

Sadly, the time has come to say goodbye to Softball. We had our tournament weekend on Friday and Saturday. We lost our first game, but were able to come back and win our next two games and end in 4th place!!! It was seriously a miracle win and we earned it!! Even though we had some errors we played amazing! We had some great plays and were able to win the game in the last inning! We had two outs and we had a huge rally and won! We needed 5 runs to tie (which would have given us another inning to play) or 6 innings to win and play again later that day.

This is Staci posing for a picture DURING the game! Yes, she should be paying attention!

This is our 'tough' group pic! Look at those muscles!

Our first week of August. (All ready so busy!!)

2009-08-09T23:49:00.011-06:00

The summer of 2007 was one of my favorites ever. One of those reasons was because of my summer job at Jamba Juice. I worked with 6 of the most amazing girls! 4 of which I have stayed close to. We got together and had a little ‘reunion’. We had so many laughs together and shared some great memories! From left to right: Rebecca (Hansen) Leavitt, Me, Haleigh Holt, Chalyse (Nye) Wilmore, Kristie Wilcox.

Scott’s mom put together an ‘Amazing Race’ for her extended family. We had 25 people with 5 teams each. We had 9 tasks to complete and we had tons of fun doing them! We had to do things such as: move ice from one bowl to another, count the wood planks in theback yard fence, move water from one bucket to the next, etc. We were only timed on the actual events we did, not from start to finish. Each team had crazy ups and downs and many laughs! Here is a group picture of all of us together!

On Saturday the 8th, my dad agreed to take us boating, but then the weather didn’t agree with our plans so we had to change some stuff. We ended up going hiking with Kayla, Tayler and Luke. We drove up to Heise and walked along a trail called Wolverine Creek. Luke was great and fun to listen to. He loved to talk. It was chilly and we had to grab sweatshirts but it ended up being the perfect temp. We had a great time talking and getting closer together. We ended the hike by eating some hawaiian and BBQ chicken pizza! We ate almost all the pizza in 20 min! It was really great!

NEW CALLINGS:

Scott and I also recieved new callings in our home ward. I, Madison got called as the Assistant Cubmaster. So basically I help with pack meeting and attend roundtable. I am brand new at this and have no idea what to expect! I know absoluelty nothing so I am crossing my fingers I can handle this. Scott got called as a primary teacher for the 10 yr old class. We had to laugh at our callings and couldnt help thinking they were backwards. :) We will take them one full throttle and try our hardest to learn something from them. The Lord works in mysterious ways sometimes, but he knows what he is doing!!

July Update!!!

2009-08-09T23:16:00.008-06:00

The month of July was very busy! SO busy that I am just now finding time to post all about it. The fourth was a crazy day with a Hammar BBQ and then fireworks out in Menan.

This month was full of softball and even though we aren't the best we have tons of fun and love laughing with our family. Picture is of Scott batting.

Scott's cousin Kylie got married on the 18th and we had a blast helping her out and celebrating with her. We had a dinner the night before and played volleyball and basketball. She got married in the REXBURG TEMPLE and she was so beautiful. Her reception was held at Chris's grandma's house in the front yard and it was so pretty and nice and cool. It had been very hot earlier that week and we were afraid of massive heat but luckily some clouds covered us and we stayed 'just right' all night long. Kayla and I got to sit at the candy table and thank everyone for coming. We wore yellow and orange (Kylie's colors) and matched just perfect! (see pic)

Beautiful Kylie Kay Pierce and me!!!

My sister-in-law Staci needed a vacation so she invited me to Utah with her to play at the pool and at Lagoon. We had a blast! We went shopping the first day and got some really cute things! Laying by the pool was a blast. We got so much sun! Lagoon was very hot, but so fun! They had some new rides I had never been on and some of my favorites. These are pics of us in front of the Bountiful Temple:

Weddings:

My friend Becca got married on the 28th and she was also so pretty. We worked together at Jamba and were in the same ward for some time. Scott even had a business class with her husband Craig. The four of us attended an 'Etiquette Dinner' dinner on campus, so we had time to bond and get to know eachother then. The third wedding of the month was my cousin Kayla. She married Aaron on the 31st of July. She held her reception in the Gardens at BYUI. She was so pretty and very happy. They will be living in Rexburg for a while to finish school.

BOOK REVIEWS

2009-07-24T15:48:00.002-06:00

OK on the right side of my blog there is a list of some of the books I've read and my thoughts on them. If you are looking for something to read check this out and you can click on the book and get my thoughts on the book. I have loved almost all the book I've read so I suggest all. If you want more details on a book let me know!!! Thanks!!!

Our Favorite Dinner = Lasagna Rolls

2009-07-24T11:03:00.002-06:00

Scott loves eating meat for dinner (what boy doesnt) however, he loves Lasagna Rolls. We got the recipe of the Food Network channel and Giada was making these and we decided to try them and we love them! I decided the last time I had them I needed something more so i added my creativity to this amazing dish. The recipe calls for marinara sauce over the noddles. Well I browned one pound of hamburger and then added the marinara sauce to that and then covered the noodles with the hamburger marinara sauce. It was ten times better! (sorry giada) I loved it and could eat an entire pan of those! Scott loved it as well and it is one of our favorite meals!!!

Boating!!!!

2009-07-07T21:55:00.008-06:00

I love the summer time! I could have worked 3 hours today or WED so I picked WED. So I had the day off and got a good-morning sleeping in!! YEA! Also my dad didnt have to work so I asked him what his plans were. He thought about going golfing, shooting or boating. I really wanted to go boating but Scott worked and I didnt think that would be fair to him. So when he got home from class, I asked him what he wanted to do and he said: boating!!!!! Here is a pic of us on the 'banana'.

So Scott made a few phone calls and got work off so we could boating!!!Is that a sin? Hope not. He felt bad cuz he didnt work at all over the weekend so we could camp, and then he missed today. BUT Its finally summer so we can now play. We went up to Ririe resivoir. Here is a pic of me on the tube.

Scott went boating with our family last summer and water skiied and that was his first time ever! Yes, he did get up that day, although it took a while. This summer he tried again, and did amazing!!! Here is a movie and a pic. He did so good!! (he stayed up a long time but i only got a little bit)

We have a round tube and my brother Michael loves it! He road on it forever! He even did the "fire power" gesture from Night at the Museum 2. (see pic below)

We had such a blast and loved skipping work today. We promise to be good the rest of the week and work very hard, well at least we'll work. No promises about 'hard'.

Time Travel

2009-07-05T20:10:00.004-06:00

Ok so I broke my camera. I don’t remember when but we just got it fixed and I have some fun photos on there so we are going –back in time- so I can blog them!!!

The first is golfing with the boys: one random day I went golfing with Scott, my dad and Colton. We went to teton Lakes and each golfed our own game. I didn’t do too well but scott did great! My dad hit a ball and we was it land but it bounced and we didn’t quite know where. When we went to look it had landed in a bush! How often does that happen? NEVER!! My dad said he has never seen that in all the years of golfing!!!

Later he hit a bad ball and wanted a mulligan but he didn’t have a ball so I threw him one and it was pink! He was a good sport and hit it very well and i was laughing so hard and I kept teasing him that he should always use it!!!
The next update isnt that old but it is the funnest post yet!!! Scott’s mom got a puppy!!! His name is Dax and he is the cutest thing ever!!! He doesn’t bark yet just has a grunt-growl that is adorable. He is the funnest little guy ever! He has a stuffed teddy bear that he chews on and we took the scarf off the bear and tied it around Dax. He looks so cute.

He is so tiny and he cant jump that high so he has trouble on the stairs. He also runs like a bunny. He is so fun to play with! Thanks Dan and ShaLae!!!

July 4th weekend EXTRAVAGANZA

2009-07-05T18:59:00.003-06:00

Holy cow the 4th of July already? Time is flying by! Scott and I got invited to go camping with some of Scott's family. We left rexburg thursday night and drove to Birch Creek out by Salmon. Dan, ShaLae, and Staci slept in a pop-up trailer, while Scott and I slept in our tent!! We love our tent! We slept right by the creek and it put us to sleep. Scott is determined to get us waterfall for our room.

Friday morning we decided to go a huge four-wheeling trip up the mountain. We had 23 people and 9 four-wheelers! Is that safe?(you cant see all 9 in this pic but they are all there) Everyone 18 and younger had to wear a helmet. We had such a blast and took a lunch up with us. We went to to Pass Lake and skipped rocks. We drove outtto this pretty ledge and our view was anazing!!! We were kinda cold tho and it rained a little that night. We roasted marshmellows and starbursts! We even took Dax! We stayed two nights had a blast. We will probably go again and most likely it will be an anual event!!!

FANTASTIC NEWS!!!

2009-07-01T15:47:00.002-06:00

I was just complaining last night that I had nothing to post and my life was boring but then I got some FANTASTIC NEWS today!!!

Scott and I had some long talks about the future (dont ya love being a grown-up?) Well we decided I should reapply to BYUI and go back to school. I didnt like school at all so I was very nervous and very against it. However, after talking to friends and family members we decided it was a good thing to do. So I applied.

My answer came today and you tell by my post title: I GOT ACCEPTED! I dont like homework at all so why should I be so excited? I guess its what I'm suppose to do! I only a few credits left but I will probably do 2 full time semesters and take some fun classes as well.

I am not sure when I will start. I was originally on the winter-summer (jan-july) and that is the track Scott is on as well. They had me fill out a survey to decide my start date. I'll keep ya posted on that!! Ready or not school, here I come!!

UpDaTe

2009-06-30T23:35:00.002-06:00

I havent posted since June 6th! Where has the time gone and where have i been?

Katie has been in the MTC 3 weeks now and she is loving it. We have heard from her a couple times and she only has good things to say!!!

Girls Camp is over. :( and :) I'm not sure what to feel about it. There was lots of planning involved, lots of activities leading up to a 3 day adventure and then ta-da its done. The girls were amazing and so fun. I got way sick tho (the life of mono) and so I slept a ton! I wasnt able to do some of the events because of that (sad). We stayed in Island Park at a Scout camp so we were able to do 'swim checks' to play in the water events(canoes, sail boats, row boats, etc) They also had a repelling wall that I was able to do and I loved it! So scary. My dad came up and it was so good to have him there to help. Scott had class and work so he wasnt able to come :( That was the longest I have been away from him as well and it was DANG hard.

Softball is so fun! I missed our games the monday before camp, but I was able to go this monday and we won both games. YEA!!! I have never seen our team play so well!!! Our team is really getting good and they have lots of fun!!!

The fourh of July is coming up and we are dang excited. PS who said it could be July already? where has the time gone? We are going camping and will have more to post then!!

Our friends Sam and Catherine Claunch are expecting their first baby and we are dang excited for them! Catherine works night shifts at the hospital and has been very sick :( so I have been helping with meals and we are keeping her in our prayers!! Congrats Catherine!!!

Nothing else exciting has happened lately. Sorry for no photos. My camera broke and we were jsut able to get a new one (it couldnt be fixed) We did get a discount on a new one tho!! YEA!!!!

Quick update

2009-06-06T22:54:00.002-06:00

So my sore throat is finally gone and I am starting to feel a little better, not tons tho.

Katie leaves for the MTC in 4 days! So crazy!

We had our first baseball games on fri night and we played really well, but the other teams were tons better! oh well

My mom spoke in Stake Conference and did really well. She is also 19 days off Pepsi!

Girls Camp is 17 days away! I have lots to do!!!

Sat night Scott got called into work, and my family went into Dinner and left me with my little brother Matthew and we played SkipBo. He was dang cute. Well he was going to brush his teeth and my sister had a hair straightener plugged in and it fell. When he went to catch it he burned his finger. He cried so hard. I ended up giving him a cup of ice to put in finger in and we are currently watching Finding Nemo. I feel so bad for him.

Mono Alert!

2009-06-04T15:41:00.002-06:00

Sunday night my throat started to hurt but it wasnt til Monday that I said, I'm sick. My throat was not ok. My dad started me on some medicine and I tried to sleep a lot on tues. Wed morning when I woke up I knew something was wrong. I looked in the mirror and my tonsils were covered in white pussy stuff(nasty i know). So I asked my dad if that was normal and he said no come get a blood test.

The result: MONO.
I have 5 of the 9 symptoms:
I had a fever and had been sweating all night long. (that finally broke though)
I had been super tired
No appetite at all.
Huge Headaches
and
The killer bad sore throat.

So I took the day off work and tried to sleep the best I could. I have had to get up a lot during naps, and in the night for drinks, and then, cuz i drink so much, to use the bathroom. UGH! There is no cure for mono. Just rest and fluids. I am still on the medicine tho so the sore throat should clear up really soon. Mono can take up to 6 months to recover from and I'm hoping for 6 days!!! The worst part of this is not being able to kiss Scott :( Also I have Girl's camp coming up and my dad said just to take it easy and I should be fine. One good thing about this is I am NOT contagious. You have to share a spoon, kiss or drink from the same bottle. Hopefully the sore throat will go away first and then I will start to feel like myself again!

A good day at work.

2009-05-27T16:30:00.002-06:00

FYI: I do not like my job. HOWEVER, today was a good day. I work as a receptionist but I am also the Office Manager, fancy title huh ;) Well I have been working extra hard lately to get INS payments and to fix problems. Today I went through my file once more and got everything taken care of! I

have no outstanding INS claims over 30 days old or any INS problems to fix!! That is a huge accomplishment and I just want to scream!! YEA!! I will prob come to work tomorrow and open the mail to problems but until tomorrow I am happy!!! :) :) :) :) :)

I love my mom!!

2009-05-22T10:05:00.002-06:00

Since Monday May 18th at noon my mom has not had any pepsi. It took some convincing to start that day but my sister and I made a pact with her to stop drinking pepsi. She has been a faithful drinker for quite some time. We were afraid she was 'addicted' and it would be several months before she didnt want it anymore, and we were nervous to end cold turkey. My mom said she only do it if my sister and I helped her and our faith added to hers.

She has been Pepsi free for 4 days now :)

She has not had any withdrawals, cravings, or headaches. She misses it alot and tried to drink Rootbeer to at least get the fizz effect. (Didnt quite satisfy her but it was close). She has also tried lemonade, water, and chocolate milk. She says she misses it but she is going strong and says she can do anything now. My mother is a huge inspiration to me and I love her example and her faith she had in my sister and I. Love you Mom!!

New Calling

2009-05-12T17:37:00.001-06:00

I recently got my new calling in our new ward as the Assistant Girl's Camp Director. I am working with some really fun ladies in the ward and we should have a good week. We leave June 23 and we are going to Island Park. Our theme is 'There's No Place Like Home' Not Dorothy, but the temple is our home. Preparing the girls to enter the Temple. We have lots planned and I will keep you posted and put up pictures!!!

St George

2009-05-12T17:18:00.005-06:00

This post should have been posted awhile ago. April 16th, 17th, and 18th we went down to St. George and went golfing with Scott's family. The 8 hour drive was long but fun.

Our first day we golfed at Sun River in the morning and it was very windy. The golf course was fairly new and was at a retirement center so there was tons of elderly people everywhere. We ate sandwiches at the club house and they put mustard and Staci's and my sandwich (sick).

That afternoon we golfed at Stonegate and it was a very difficult course. I basically gave up it was very frustrating. We all lost tons of balls. (Bummer) The next day we golfed at Dixie Red Hills and had a blast. The wind had stopped and so it was way warm and we golfed really well.

Staci and I sat by the pool that after noon! YEA for summer! we woke up the next day and drove home. We had a blast and we really wish St George was closer, or Rexburg was warmer.

Anniversary!!

2009-04-28T21:17:00.002-06:00

April 12th was our one year anniversary!!! We were both very sick tho, and spent most of the weekend taking naps. My aunt Joni, who made our fantastic cake froze the top layer for us to have this year. See the pics below. We Went to St. George the week after so we didnt do anything special, however we did get each other gifts. I got a new CD player for my car that will let me plug my ipod into it. I took Scott into Idaho Falls and let him pick out a Basketball hoop. He loved it! (He couldnt believe my family didnt have one). Scott has loved it and has been teaching me.

ITS HERE

2009-03-30T10:48:00.002-06:00

My sister got her mission call a week early! We were way surprised. We thought with conference coming up it would be pushed back some but it came! We had family dinner Sunday Night and Katie opened it, we didnt take pictures. OOPS. She is going to be serving in Texas Huston, South Mission!!! She is way excited. She leaves June 10th. Look for updates on her by clicking on the link to the left!!! Her address will be posted soon!!!

Moving

2009-03-24T22:20:00.000-06:00

After much debating, pondering, and prayer we are moving. We ran out of money sooner than we thought, we are newly weds :) Luckily my parents have an extra bedroom and a lot of space for us and said we could move in. They live in Rigby and that will be quite an adjustment for Scott but also really fun. We are very sad to leave our ward and our first apartment. We do have hopes of coming back soon. Until then we will be sleeping in Rigby. It will be a very interesting experience and we will keep you updated!

Madi

Utah

2009-03-11T22:02:00.001-06:00

This is a pics of Madison and Scott at the Utah Jazz game.

For my birthday I told Scott that I would love to go to a Utah Jazz game. Scott asked his mission companion, Jon Hyde, if he could help us out. (Jon's dad is the vice president in charge of finance for the Jazz; and he gets 4 tickets to every home game). Jon said that would be great. Friday March 6th we drove to utah to watch the Jazz take on the Denver Nuggets. Before the game we went into the arena to watch the team warm up and Kyle Korver, #26, was warming up. We sat 2 rows behind the players bench and watched and when he was done he came over and was signing auotgraphs so scott grabbed his ticket and said, "will you sign this?" and Kyle said, "someone got the good seats." That was so exciting for us!

We left then and went and had prime rib for dinner. It was delicious. The Jazz have a new way to start their games and it is amazing. BEAR (the mascot) holds a giant Jazz flag and waves it like crazy, while the players come out giving each other unique hand shakes and basically just getting each other pumped up.

Our seats were across the court from the Jazz bench, fourth row up. We were so close to the court that when Brewer, #9, scored a huge dunk we could see every muscle in his body work for it. We were right next to the tunnel as well, which Scott loved because the Jazz Dancers came in and out of there as well. The game was amazing and the arena was full of cheers for the JAZZ. It was an amazing game. Here are a few pictures from the game. It is very difficult to take pictures, the players had their backs to us quite often and they are always running, I did my best and if you wanna see more pics check out my facebook!

The Bear came up right next to us but we couldn't get a picture with him, so I took one of him from BEHIND! haha

Deron Williams, #8, making a foul shot. Everytime he was at the line the crowd cheered MVP.

Cyst on my Wrist

2009-03-03T19:50:00.000-07:00

For about 2 years now I have had a bump on my right wrist called a CYST. For the most part it wouldn't bother me but other times I would agitate it that it would start to hurt. Golfing was a pain along with writing letters. Finally after much deliberating, my dad said that he would fix it. So Tuesday night I drove down to Rigby. We ate dinner and during dinner I started to get a very bad headache. ( i am trying to cut back on the caffeine ) well my head hurt so bad i was crying so i said go ahead and do my wrist also. So i hid under a blanket and my dad numbed my hand. He then injected my wrist and drained it. I was a white Gluppy and a red Jelly. (sick!) That part didn't hurt at all. Then he had to inject me with some medicine to get rid of the membrane. Gross again. That part hurt so bad! I did scream once or twice. So currently my wrist is in a brace cuz it hurts to move it at all. Hopefully i can take lots of pain killers for a while and in a couple of days I should be fine. There is a 50% chance it could come back, so cross your fingers for me!!

FHE Birthday Cakes.

2009-02-24T21:24:00.000-07:00

Monday night we had FHE at Grandma and Grandpa Atkinson's house. Madison made 2 cakes, one for Scott and one for her. Lots of family came, Dan and Staci; Amy and Gabe(with their family), Gina and her family, Allison and her kids, and Tayler and Kayla with baby LUKE. Everyone sung Happy Birthday and we blew out fun candles. We got really good candy from G and G! Scott's Birthday is the 24th and Madison's is the 27th. Look for more pictures for more.