Visiting My Family

A couple of weekends ago I was able to visit my family. Unfortunately Spencer wasn't able to go because of school but  I hadn't seen them since last Thanksgiving, so it was a much needed trip. I was there for just 4 days. We tried to pack everything in and see everyone so we were super busy.

I didn't tell any of my friends that I was coming to town because I knew I wouldn't have enough time to see them. Lucky for me Spencer and I will be going Home for Christmas. Only 29 days left, not that I am counting. Hopefully when we go for Christmas we wont be so rushed and will be able to see everyone and really enjoy our time there.

So my plane was delayed and I was at the airport for 5 hours! My parents didn't tell my brother and sister that I was coming. I was supposed to surprise them. My family was going to pick me up from the airport and then go out to eat, and just spend the rest of the evening with them. I didn't get into Portland till about 11:00pm. It was a school night so my brother and sister were asleep when I got home. My mom and I decided that I would wake them up and tell them that I was here. We woke Avree up first and then Bryson. They both had the same confusing look of "how did you get here" and "why are you here" and then when they really woke up they were excited to see me.

Avree and I took a lot of pictures together. Here are just a few of them. I have missed her soooo much!! As I type this I feel like crying. When I woke Avree up the first thing she said was "where is Spencer?" I told her he was still in Utah and she got a big smile on her face. She was glad that she got me all to herself for this little trip. We did a lot of shopping and went to the movies. We also spent a lot of time doing our hair and make-up. She is really into fashion and stuff. I never really was so she may have taught me a few things...I am so lucky to have such a wonderful sister! I love her so much!

 

Bryson went to Homecoming with Delaney. I didn't get a picture of her AMAZING shoes. I love my brother he is so awesome! He is always coming up with fun things to do.

                           We met up with my Aunts and Grandma for lunch.                           

We got our nails done! Avree was mad because they messed hers up but mine turned out good! 

My dad showed off his guns. Spencer is so jealous of his new safe!

My dad, Avree and Bryson are into archery. It was pretty fun! They are all pretty good.

 

These are the kids that I used to watch while Spencer was on his mission. I was with them for two years. I love that we are still so close. They are getting so big! I loved hearing about all of the things they were doing. Keely is a soccer star and Teddy is learning how to play the piano.  Avree babysits them now and made up a game called "the stair game" which we played. It was pretty great! I am so excited to see these two cuties again!

And of course I was excited to see these ladies! They were all surprised and excited to see me. I met the newest members of the family. The twins, Debby and Shelly.

And then my lovely Mom. I miss her everyday.

And that was my trip. Like I said only 29 more days! But its not like I am counting...

Pumpkin Patch

This is the last Halloween that I will spend with the boys I watch. So I thought that it would be fun if I took them to the pumpkin patch. If the kids dressed up then we got a dollar off admissions. Pomai went as The Hulk and Kupono went as Captain America. Kupono wore his costume pretty much everywhere we went the whole month of October, it was cute. Spencer was able to come with us. I love it when he can go on outings with us. The boys love him and it is nice to have an extra pair of hands to help keep track of them!

We went through a corn maze

Saw some Animals

                                                

                            And of course they got pumpkins

 

 I cant wait to take my own kids to the pumpkin patch someday!

                                                                

 

Life lately: A little of everything

Well we are back in Provo. It's good to be back! It is so nice to have our own space, sleep in our own bed, and really just be in a familiar place. Everything is getting back to normal. Spencer started school. I forgot how late Spencer has to stay up to finish homework. It makes me appreciate him so much more, I don't know how he gets everything done. He only has 2 more semesters left and we are in Provo for 8 more months! I started work. I'm with the same family that I was with before. I missed the boys a lot! I was so excited to see them. They have grown so much since I have been gone. Seth and Taylor live in Orem now and we have had so much fun hanging out with them. It is nice having another couple to do things with.

So much has been happening, here are some highlights:

We celebrated 3 birthday's

Spencer's

My Dad

And my little sister, but she is not so little anymore! I cannot believe that she is 13!

We did one of Spencer's favorite things before he had to start school.

Sarah was in Provo for a few days and I was able to spend sometime with her

He mourned the loss of his beard

I still LOVE him

And my wonderful friend Christina had her baby. He is so adorable. And it may have made me even more baby hungry.

Pennsylvania

This past weekend Spencer and I were able to see my Aunt, Uncle and Cousins. We are winding down the summer and are heading back to Utah here in a week, we had to go see them since it is just a 2 hour drive. I hadn't seen them since my Grandma died 5 years ago. My Aunt and Uncle were very generous and put us in the Hotel my Uncle runs. It was a nice hotel. Spencer and I definitely needed a little get away. So THANK you SO much!

I've missed my cousins. I always wished that we lived closer. They were so much fun to be around and to hang out and talk with. When my Grandma died my family went to Utah to help my Aunt clean out her house. Spencer had come up to take me to EFY and go camping with Braiden. We were 17 at the time. Every time Spencer walked into the room where Blair was she would cry. She was so afraid of him. When we were there it was cute because she kept saying she faced her fear and wasn't scared of Spencer.

They live in a cute little town called Elizabethtown, right by Hershey, PA. We didn't do Hershey Park because August is it's busiest month. We did however do Chocolate World. It was a lot of fun! We rode this ride that gave us a tour on how Chocolate was made and they had different activities that you could do. It is geared toward little kids but it was still fun.

We got some souvenirs and then headed to Lancaster, PA to learn about the Amish. Spencer and I took some of my Cousins and we went to the central market in Lancaster. We were excited when we first saw Amish people at the market. They were dressed in traditional clothing and some had an interesting accent. We then met up with the rest of my family and rode a buggy through their town. It amazes me that people still live with no modern technology.

We headed back to my Aunts house and played dance central. Spencer even played it! I wish I would have gotten a picture of that. Then we ended the night with a campfire and telling stories and looking at pictures of my Grandparents. It was so much fun to see them and to spend time with them. I hope that we can do it again soon!

In Lancaster, PA

The Ducks outside of the Hotel.

All of us on the buggy ride

Blair petting a kitten near the buggy ride

I Love Him

New Jersey Life

Well we made it! It took 4 long days to get to NJ. I'm glad that we wont be doing that again for a few more months! Spencer has officially gotten the job. He started a week ago. It was such a relief when we found out he officially got it. Coming up here to New Jersey and not knowing was pretty stressful for both of us. We have been able to go up to Connecticut to see Spencer's Parents a few times. It is nice having them so close to us. We thought that after this last Christmas we probably wouldn't be seeing them for a while. The weather here is SUPER humid!! I feel like I am sweaty and sticky constantly. Its only going to get hotter and more humid around here. I'm starting to appreciate Utah's dry weather! Spencer and I went to Cape May and saw dolphins. We ate at this restaurant called Lucky Bones, If anyone has a chance to go I would highly recommend that place. They had the best Fish and Chips! We also Went to a Cute beach called Wildwoods. It had a carnival and a cool boardwalk. It was fun to people watch and to look for shells down on the beach. We are excited to be here for the summer and will hopefully be able to do more sight seeing! And the best part of New Jersey is that we have been able to spend LOTS of time with our 3 adorable nieces! I'll end with some pictures.

The First day we were there, the girls gave me a bucket of flowers

We got to finally meet this cutie

The girls love to play with Uncle Spencer

Bailey is such a helper

This boat took us to see the dolphins

It was nice to go to the beach. It reminded me of going to the coast in Washington

And we went to an auction where I tried on Shane's clown nose.

Road Trip

Its official Spencer and I are moving to New Jersey!! Spencer has been applying to internship after internship for about a year now and he hasn't heard back from really anyone. He would get the occasional interview but nothing past that. His older brother Scott called to let us know that he might have a way to get him an internship with the company that he works for. We were really excited to hopefully have a chance of something! Spencer had an phone interview last Tuesday that went really well, and today he was told that they want to invite him over for an on-site-interview. We still don't know 100% sure if he got the internship, but we are pretty sure that he has it and are taking that chance and heading to New Jersey tomorrow morning around 8:00am! We are hoping to do it in 4 days and get there by Tuesday night. If this doesn't work out we are lucky enough to have Spencer's parents living a few hours away and Spencer would go work for his dad. I've already let the family that I work for that I will be leaving tomorrow, and they have already told me that I can come back in August! It was a bitter, sweet day as I said goodbye to the sweet boys that I watch. Throughout the day I was getting teary eyed as they would do something or say something that I knew I would miss. My plan is to hopefully find another nanny job for the summer. I'm sure I will post more about our road trip but for now I need to pack and get things ready!!

The Dentist

Yesterday was quite the day. I woke up at 9:30 and got ready to go to the dentist at 11:30. I had 3 pills, 2 pills I had to take an hour before I left and the last one I had to take at the dentist. I was anxious about going, but after about 20 min of taking the 2 pills I was pretty relaxed. It was weird because I knew that I was nervous but I couldn't feel nervous. We got to the dentist and about 5 min later they called me into the room. I was calm and I was going in and out. I couldn't feel any of it except at the beginning when they were numbing me up. It hurt the worst when they had to numb the roof of my mouth, In the video you can see that I was really upset about that. When it was all done Spencer came and got me and we went home. In the video I was talking about when I was drinking and couldn't tell when the water was in my mouth, I guess Spencer ground up my pain pills in water and I told him that I wanted to drink from our fanciest cup. I honestly don't remember anything from before I took a nap. I do want to say that I have the best husband! He was so nice and kind in taking care of me. He even let me watch "She's the Man" twice because I didn't remember watching it the first time. He would get up in a heart beat to get my medication and would rub my back when I was throwing up. He ran to the store twice to get me some yogurt, and pudding and some soups, and then again to get me some peppermint candies to help with the nausea. Which by the way works wonders! I am so thankful that I have him as a husband! I also want to say thank you to my wonderful friend Christina who stopped by to visit me and brought me a vanilla frosty from Wendy's and bought some ice packs to put on my face for the swelling. My mouth still hurts, but not as bad as it did yesterday. The holes stopped bleeding, (hopefully they wont open up) I have my hopes up that today will be a good day and that I will recover before Monday to go back to work.

I don't remember but Spencer asked to see my "best smile"

The Ice packs my friend bought me, and I can actually smile again

Missionary Girl

I had the day off today so I could take my best friend to the MTC. As I was waiting for Haley to get out of the airport, I was thinking how I wished she had a cell phone so I could know where she was and when she was coming out. I don't know what people did before cell phones. After 15 minutes of waiting I finally saw her and got out so she could see me. As we drove home we chatted and caught up since we haven't seen each other for about a year! It is a tradition in our family that when we take a missionary to the MTC, we have J Dawgs for lunch then drop them off. So of course Spencer and I had to take her, and she loved it!! As we headed to drop her off I, being the baby that I am, may have shed some tears...We finally made it through the traffic of other people dropping missionaries off, when Haley spotted Bryan Brittain! She rolled her window down and shouted his name and he ran down to where we were dropping her off and he escorted her into the MTC, but not before we got some pictures and chatted with Bryan. I'm pretty sure the senior missionaries were annoyed with us because we stayed longer then we were supposed to and warned us that the cop was coming down to tell us we needed to leave. I was so excited to be able to see her before she left for the MTC, even if it was only a couple of hours. Malaga, Spain is lucky to have her and I know she is going to be a great missionary!

J Dawgs

Can't believe we saw Bryan there! I think it made it less scary for her, having someone she knows to help her on her first day.

Hug and...

Kiss goodbye