And Then There Were Three

WE'RE GOING TO BE PARENTS!!!!!!!!! :D :D 

We have been anticipating this moment for many months!! There was much anxiety when we were waiting for the results early in the morning. It felt like the longest 3 minutes ever. I was so nervous because I didn't want to see another one line on the stick.  When I walked into the bathroom I slowly removed the toilet paper I placed on top to uncover the results (cause I felt the need to add more to our anticipation). My eyes were shut and I slowly peeked one open while uncovering, took a deep breath, and screamed for joy. I ran out to tell Kyle who was anxiously waiting on the couch. My performance told him right away what the results were. He jumped off the couch and we ran to each other, hugging, and jumping up and down while we screamed like a bunch of teenage girls (except his voice wasn't high, it was manly). It was the best feeling in the world!!! We couldn't believe it. It was such a surreal experience. We kept having to look at the two lines to remind us of the reality. Our smiles were from ear to ear and the biggest its ever been. We stared at the stick soaking everything in: that there was life being created inside of me, that we were going the become "mom" and "dad" in 9 short months, and that our lives would forever change for the better. Who knew those two little lines could evoke so much excitement and love within us for our child to be. Being a mom is all I've ever wanted to be. I can't wait to hold my children, teach them, protect them, raise them, and form relationships with them along side my husband. What an honored and blessed calling :) We are soo thrilled!!!! We have our first doctors appointment on the 28th of Feb. It's going to be great :)

Christmas Vacation

Christmas was spent with my hubbys family in Twin Falls, Idaho! I have been so excited to spend Christmas with them because my mother in law gets soo excited. She is been described as getting more excited then her children and acting like a little girl. She still leaves cookies out for Santa, which says a lot. It was so fun being a part of the celebration! On Christmas Eve she closes the living room doors and puts a sign that says do not enter. In the morning we all line up at the top of the stairs in order of age and go down one by one. This year, we all got surprised with tickets to CALIFORNIA!! As we opened the yellow envelope we all screamed and wooped. As if we weren't excited enough, it got even better, we also got tickets to sea world and disneyland!!!

The view from our hotel room. It was in the 70's :)

 Disneyland was PACKED! It was insane how many people there were. They had to stop letting people in at one point. According to the news, Disneyland can hold up to 80,000 people before they have to stop letting them in. Thankfully, we arrived at 7:30 every morning and we had a system so we didn't have to wait for very long and we were able to ride a lot and enjoy our time :) Hooray for mathematical geniuses who love stats! 

Main street had a christmas fireworks show and at the end the castle lit up and "snow" started to fall. It really was the definition of magical. I couldn't stop smiling and giggling. It seemed for a moment that all troubles froze and nothing mattered than being there. We had a three day park hopper and by the end, we were parked out. 

We also made our way to Sea World.

and saw the Shamu show!! Thankfully we did not get splashed.

Shamu waves to you!

It was such a fun adventure. New Years eve was spent in the hot tub, napping, and eating...very exciting, haha. I think the only person wide awake and excited was my mother in law, I don't know how she did it. We then spent time with aunt lisa and her family, Where it was 80 degrees in the winter..how wonderful. We all got sick, were sleep deprived, but made so many great memories. What fun times! Thanks mom and dad for the vacation :)

Turkey Day in the Good ol' Springs

I love coming home for many reasons, but lately it's been because of this....

and this...

These two girls have a way of wrapping themselves around your finger and filling your heart with such happiness. It's always difficult to leave them. But the memories make the difficult days more bearable. 

We spent a week in Colorado Springs with my family and it was wonderful. There's something about a colorado fall day. The skies are deep, bright blue (a blue I've never seen anywhere else), the mountains stand against and create a clean contrast, and the air is so crisp and clean.

It was so great being with my family. We had dinner at my sisters house and I made my mother in laws butter rolls from scratch. It was such a big hit! WOOT. We spent our days shopping and talking while the guys spent it watching football and playing video games. 

Another thing I look forward to is playing board games with my mother until the late hours. Every night the three of us play sequence and rummikub until we can't think anymore. I love going home. 

Thought I'd share these pictures....

Can't wait to see them again!

Spooky NIghts

I love halloween! I just love the cute decorations, the pumpkin carving, the fun haunted houses, the cute kids in costumes, trick-or-treating, and the feelings of being spooked. I have always imagined what my home will look like with all the halloween decorations. I'm so excited! For now, being married college students, the decorations are a bare, bare minimum.

The husband and I did our tradition of carving pumpkins, eating chocolate doughnuts, sipping on warm apple cider while watching a fun spooky movie. I love this tradition. We always look forward to picking the perfect pumpkin and carving it! We really hoped for trick or treaters to come to our apartment, but no one came. I guess that's what happens when you live in an apartment. I dressed up as a blue ghost and the husband laughed at me and said I looked ridiculous, I didn't care :) I can't wait for Halloween to come next year!

The Husbands 

Mine

SPOOKY!

Thought I'd show off my wonderful nieces and nephew...

Enoch and Lily ready to trick or treat!

Carlie as tinkerbell :) 

Cute Jenna :)

This was my costume :)

A gentle reminder

Today is one of those days where I am an emotional mess, and it's bad. I had a break down about a paper I have to write. Papers are my weakness...BIG TIME. Not only that, but I have always struggled in understanding what is being taught or said and struggled in my studies ever since I can remember. I've always had to put in extra effort to complete a simple assignment and re-read things to understand it. It's been a constant battle to not feel stupid and to know that I am not stupid, that I am capable of so many things, and that I can make my dreams come true. Some days I am able to stare my problem in the face and say, "I CAN DO THIS!"

Other days...I cant. like today.

I let my problem control me rather than me control my problem. I believed the lies that I felt whispered in my mind and heart, "You can't do this. Just give up. You're stupid and not capable. It will be so much easier to not even try." At this point my problem is staring me in the face and laughing. That's when I broke down and cried for about an hour, and I mean cry. I felt powerless and alone.

Then something so wonderful happened.

I felt the love of my Heavenly Father as He spoke peace to my mind.
I felt His love burn in my bosom.
I felt His arms wrap around me.
I felt Him strengthen me.
I felt His gentle reminder that anything is possible.
I felt that I could do anything!

I needed this and He knew it.

I am reminded of the story of Moses Chapter 1:
12 And it came to pass that when Moses had said these words, behold, ^aSatan came ^btempting him, saying: Moses, son of man, worship me.

 13 And it came to pass that Moses looked upon Satan and said: Who art thou? For behold, I am a ^ason of God, in the similitude of his Only Begotten; and where is thy ^bglory, that I should worship thee?

 16 Get thee hence, Satan; deceive me not; for God said unto me: Thou art after the ^asimilitude of mine Only Begotten.


 18 And again Moses said: I will not cease to call upon God, I have other things to inquire of him: for his ^aglory has been upon me, wherefore I can judge between him and thee. ^bDepart hence, Satan.

I know I am a child of God, created after His image. Because of this, I can do anything. I have limitless potential. If I put my trust and faith in him, I can accomplish anything. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the most comforting and beautiful truth on this earth. I know it's true. I know my Heavenly Father loves me and is very aware of me and my breakdowns, my weaknesses, my deceptive encounters with Satan, my potential, my desires, and my fears. He created me. He is my Heavenly Father and I am His daughter. How grateful I am for His infinite love and concern and for the tender reminders as He holds me with a love that is indescribable. I know the atonement of Jesus Christ is real, because without it I would never receive the comfort He gives me. He KNOWS EXACTLY what I am going through and feeling because he felt it too. He knew all the things I would face and he knew what I would need. I love the teachings of the scriptures and the power they hold to lift me up on days like today. 

Family Pictures :)

We needed new family pictures so our wonderful friend, Erica, took them for us. She did such a great job. Here are just a few.

Crafts!

I finally got to make some crafts!!!!!!!!!!! I cant wait to graduate college cause then I can just make crafts all day long :)  If you can't tell by now I LOVE making crafts. We had a lazy, relaxing, me filled Saturday. Which was really nice because for the last 6 months we have been working every Saturday. Kyle got to watch college football all day long and I got to make two crafts for 10 dollars!! I was at Porters for, I kid you not, 2 hours deciding on ideas and supplies. It was so relaxing.

Here is my Halloween decoration that I made. It cost me about $3. Oh, and I don't mean to toot my own horn but"spooky nights" is handwritten not vinyl. This project took me some time, but I was sooo excited!!

This is my Thanksgiving decoration. This one was a bit more, $7. It's the center piece for our coffee table :)