Ecklund Family Update

Wow!  It's been a LONG time since we've written a post.  It's been a long time since I'VE written one (this is Matt).  So, what have we been up to?  I could say "not much" but to us it seems like a lot.

1. Jess is "in a family way" or "in the way" as it used to be said.  Exciting!  Little Baby is due around the beginning of June.

2.  Abby started Nursery at Church a few months ago.  The first few weeks were tough dropping her off, but she has gotten WAY better at it.  Now, after the closing prayer's amen, she yells "CLASS!!!"  She just loves going to nursery. Probably because they have marshmallows...

3.  In May of this year Jess officially walked at her college commencement/graduation ceremony.  She finished classes last December - and Abby and I are SOOO glad!  It was tough doing that with a single car and a baby that was still nursing.  Abby and I had to go with her to make everything work out better.

4.  We paid off ALL of our debt!!  It was all student loans and took about 21 months or so to pay it all off.  It was really hard, but probably one of the best things we could have done for our marriage and family.  That's a place I never want to be again - loaded with debt.

5. Abby is growing up so fast.  She is still small for her age, but is really bright!  At 22 months old she has learned the basic colors, a lot of the alphabet, and can count from 1 to 10 most of the time.  Sometimes she counts 1, 2, 3, 96.  It's just her silly self! She has really come a long way with her vocabulary and can understand some complex instructions (ie do this then that and you will get ___).  As you can tell, I'm a proud dad!

6.  I am still working for my church's IT department.  I've been on a project that is going a little slowly, but I've been learning a lot.  I've actually gotten to take some advanced Linux training courses and will be doing an F5 training in January (on load balancing).

So, as you can see, we haven't done a whole lot - about 6 things this year.  So maybe it's more than that... We had a garden plot this year and learned a little more about growing vegetables.  We got a lot of tomato and zucchini.  Jess made a yummy salsa with our tomato and we froze TONS of shredded zucchini.  We will probably have to start making zucchini bread loaves as gifts for others.

When we get some more pictures of Christmas celebrations we will post them.

Merry Christmas and love from,
Matt, Jess, Abby, and Baby

Almost DONE!!

I am only two weeks away from graduating with my bachelor's degree!  (insert applause here---just kidding!)  I cannot even express my excitement, joy, and relief for December 14th when I will officially be finished with classes.  It's been a wonderful learning experience for me going to school while giving birth to and raising my sweet baby girl, but I am in no way disappointed that that stage of life will be over very shortly.  :)  I'm so looking forward to being able to focus on my little one and wonderful husband as well as manage our house a little better.  I also wouldn't complain if I'm able to find a little more time to myself for things like, oh I don't know...maybe sewing little dresses, dusting off the violin, and whatever else suits my fancy.  Mostly I can't wait for the freedom from school and homework.  It will feel great to have accomplished this goal I've had for what sometimes seems like forever.  Anyway, that's just a quick update for now.  I'll post a real one once school is finished (then maybe I can become a better blogger too---endless possibilities!) so just hang in there for that update complete with photos. :)

P.S.  Abby took her first real steps last Monday.  Eeep!  We'll have a 2 1/2 ft. tall tornado on our hands before long!

Summer Fun

I will never be a good blogger.  End of story.  BUT I'll go ahead and do a short post about a few of our summer highlights.

The months of June and July basically sped by, and I can't believe we're already to August and our baby girl is almost six months old!  It reminds me of that song by Kenny Chesney "Don't Blink".  That pretty much sums up how I feel about this summer--I've done too much blinking! (or too much school...)  Anyway, our summer has been full of fun activities and the normal stuff too.

We had a family reunion at the end of June and got to see a lot of family that we haven't seen for a long time. We camped over night and just hung out with the Nuttall side (my mom's family) for a couple of days.  Matt and I really enjoyed it, and Abby didn't do too bad for her first time camping.  She LOVED being outside with everything there was to see.  The only problem was that she was so excited about everything and it was so hot that it was hard to get her to take naps.  She got a little fussy a few times, but all in all it was a fun little outing.  She also got plenty of attention from all of my little cousins which I think she enjoyed.

We went down to Manti again for the fourth of July and then took advantage of the long weekend and went camping with my family.  It was pretty fun!  We tried our hand at dutch oven cooking for the first time, and also got rained on.  We went on a short hike and played in a stream with pretty little waterfalls.  This was a little bit of a harder camping trip because we'd just gone camping the week before, and it was quite a bit colder for Abby.  It was still lots of fun though!  I think we've decided we'll have to make a habit of camping in the summer time.

My summer classes just finished yesterday, and I'm SO relieved to be done for a few weeks!  I'm nervous for next semester when I have twice as many classes, but thankfully it will be my last.  I've had two night classes on campus this semester two nights a week.  Matt and Abby have been making the 45 minute drive with me to Salt Lake and hanging out while I'm in class.  I'm excited to have more time to complete unfinished projects and play with Abby, not having to worry about school stuff during the day.

Little Abby wishes with all her might that she were mobile.  She can roll over from her tummy to her back, but she hasn't figured out how to go from back to tummy.  I'm guessing part of the reason is that she really doesn't care for tummy time so why on earth would she purposefully roll onto it?!  She much prefers sitting to laying down at all actually.  She's become quite the pro in just the last few weeks, and it's been so fun to watch her notice so many new things from this new vantage.  I have a feeling that she'll be more motivated to learn how to scoot before too long, because she's starting to get really frustrated when she sees something she wants that she can't get to.  She wants to grab EVERYTHING in sight!  She has earned the nickname "Grabby Abby" for this very reason. :)
Abby is also working on her first tooth!  We've been expecting it for almost a month now, and it's finally popping through.  Abby has been drooling and gnawing on things like crazy.  Now she'll have something to show for it!
I wish we had some recent pictures to show of Abby's new skills, but our camera isn't working at the moment and hasn't been for a few weeks.  So yes, unfortunately I've missed capturing all sorts of adorable candid Abby photos.  Oh well.  There will be more, and hopefully we can get our camera fixed and working before too long.

Well, we're looking forward to what the rest of the summer brings.  (Hopefully it'll bring some nice cool weather so Abby and I can go outside and play or take walks for more than 15 minutes at a time.  The heat is a killer lately!)  We hope you enjoy the rest of your summer too!

Beginning of Summer!

So, I just remembered that I've had this post written for at least a month now, and it's just been waiting for me to add pictures and post it! (Busy and distracted, perhaps?) Anyway, here it is...

We're so glad that warm weather and sunshine are here to stay!  We've had quite a lot going on as of late so I'll attempt as brief of an update as possible.

First, Matt is officially a Utah State graduate and has now not only completed his coursework, but has also had his day of recognition for all of the hard work he's done.  We watched him walk and receive his diploma (well the cover at least) the first weekend of May.  He looked very handsome and distinguished wearing his cap and gown with his hood. ;)  Matt's dad was also able to fly out from Florida for the special occasion which was lots of fun!

Matt's up there on the top row waving--not the best quality picture, 

but all of the other better ones are on Matt's dad's camera. 

Abby and Grandpa Carl--best buds! 
(until the fussing begins that is... ;) hehe)

For memorial day we went up to Logan to visit my aunt Heidi, her husband Jeremy, and their little 2 1/2 year old daughter Isabelle.  It'd been a while since we'd seen them and it was so fun to get together again!  Isabelle was especially excited that we were bringing "Baby Abby".  She even told me over the phone not to forget to bring her with us. :)

 We were all playing dress up.  Isabelle had fun putting her stuff on Abby. :)

The rest of the weekends in May we kept busy by going down to Manti for Mother's Day and going to a car show with my family to watch my dad play in his band.

Our little Abby is getting bigger and cuter all the time!  (Everyone is always telling us that too!)  She still looks pretty little compared to a lot of babies her age, but she's healthy and strong.  Here are some recent pictures:

 Sleepy girl--she loves that thumb! 

 Just woke up. :)

 Hanging out with Daddy during Mom's class and learning

 how to hold her own bottle!

She started eating cereal and LOVES it!

Our New Arrival

I figured it was time to post about our new baby Abby...now that she's eight weeks old! It has been such an amazing journey preparing for her arrival and bringing her into the world. We feel so blessed to have her in our family, and we love her so much already!

The month of February was dedicated to preparation for when we would meet our baby girl. Every weekend (if not every day) we were making sure that we had all of the essentials covered so we'd be ready whenever Abby decided to make her debut. We made list after list and checked each one twice to be sure. :) We were released as ordinance workers in the Oquirrh Mountain temple so as to give a few weeks of preparation time before Abby arrived.

At the end of January, we had enrolled in a third trimester child birth class at the hospital to help prepare us further and give us some useful information. Initially I was the one who really wanted to go so that I could have as much information as possible about what to expect in every detail. Going to the class really helped put my mind at ease and helped me to prepare mentally and emotionally for the big day. Matt ended up liking it too. It was divided into four sessions and was held on Monday nights so it became our FHE activity for a few weeks...not quite four though. We took a "final exam" the day that we were supposed to go to the last session of our childbirth class. :)

On Sunday, Februaury 12 we went to church and were told that it would be our last week as nursery leaders (nursery callings are a little hard to keep when you have a new baby). I had just finished taking my midterm exams a few days before, so those were out of the way and there would be nothing too major due for a couple of weeks. I had already decided that this coming week would be a pretty ideal time to have our baby. (I was pretty sure I wouldn't make it the full 40 weeks, but at the same time I didn't want to get hopes up too high.) That night we decided that we should probably finish packing all of the main stuff into our hospital bags just in case. I'd noticed over the last few days that "practice" contractions were getting more regular, but I hadn't bothered to time them or anything yet. While we were packing Matt suggested that I start telling him whenever I had a Braxton Hicks contraction so he could help me time them and know what was going on. I did this, and we were finding that they were definitely starting to get more consistent and closer together. At about 9:30pm they were consistently about 20 minutes apart, and then by midnight they were more like 7-10 minutes apart. They still weren't painful though, so at that point we both decided to just go to bed. I figured that if they were actually doing something to cause progression I'd wake up.

Even though we went to bed, I had a really hard time sleeping. I may have slept for a few minutes, but my contractions were close enough together that they were really obnoxious (although not painful yet) and I couldn't relax enough to get some good sleep. At about 2:30am I started feeling some cramping pain with the contractions and I remember thinking, "Is this what real contractions feel like?" I wasn't sure so I kept trying to sleep unsuccessfully. I kept track of the contractions on a notepad by my side of the bed. I finally decided to get up just before 3:00am and go eat some cereal and continue timing the contractions. I figured I might as well do SOMETHING since I couldn't sleep. I looked up a few things about labor signs and how to tell if it's "for real". Contractions kept getting closer together and stronger, and they didn't go away with walking or changing positions.

I finally decided to go back into the bedroom at 4:30am and wake Matt up, "Matt, just so you know we're going to need to go to the hospital sometime today. I'm going to get in the shower and get ready." Matt came in to check on me a few times while I was taking a shower, and then I decided to soak in the tub to help my body relax a little more if possible. Matt brought some of my favorite scented candles into the bathroom, and he sat and timed each contraction and helped me breathe through them. At this point I was in a fairly good amount of pain every 5 or 6 minutes. We decided it was time to finish grabbing the last minute things for our hospital bag, and head out. I think it was just after 6:00am at this point. I got out of the tub, got dressed, and started putting my hair up and out of my face. In the few minutes it took to do that, the pain and pressure of the contractions had GREATLY intensified!

After a couple of pretty hard contractions Matt and I were both decided that we needed to go to the hospital NOW. The only problem was that we still had a few things to pack, but I was finishing up really slowly because I'd start doing something and then another really hard contraction would come and I'd call foe Matt to come help me get through it, stopping the packing process temporarily. At this point I remember feeling like that was absolutely all I could do. I was too tired and in too much pain to keep going. I said to Matt, "I'm gonna have to get an epidural when we get there. I can't keep going like this!" I wasn't sure I could go natural as we'd planned. With the contractions coming now about every minute or two and lasting for a minute it took us quite a while to actually get out the door and to the car. The same was true when we got to the hospital. We had to stop a couple of times in the parking lot, in the hall, AND in the elevator to get through contractions.

When we finally made it to the desk to check in it was 6:55am. We told the receptionist that we were ready to have our baby and we needed to check in and have a nurse check me. (It was a little difficult to tell the receptionist my name and info in the middle of a few more contractions!!) We waited for a nurse to come for what seemed like an eternity to me. Matt was a wonderful help talking me through the discomfort and reassuring me that I could keep going and was doing a great job. I could never have given birth without him and his support!!

The nurse eventually got there and proceeded to check and find out how dilated the cervix was. Up until this point, I'd been telling myself that we'd come in and get checked and they'd probably tell me I was dilated to a four or five. Even though I was in more pain than I'd ever experienced I figured it would still have to get worse. The nurse said, "I'm not feeling the cervix." She kept feeling around trying to find a head and said,"This doesn't feel like a head. It almost feels like fingers or toes to me... " She told us she was pretty sure the baby was turned the wrong direction and we'd probably have to have a C-section, but she'd go get another nurse to check and make sure. the second nurse came in, checked me again, and said, "Yep, that definitely feels like some kind of digits." The two nurses left the room to get equipment for an ultrasound to see where the baby's head was since it obviously wasn't down where it should have been. While they were gone Matt asked me, "When a baby is breeched isn't there a way the doctor can help them change position so you don't have to have a C-section?" I'd heard that before, and I thought we'd talked about that briefly in our child birth class. We decided to ask the nurses about it when they came back in. When we asked them a few minutes later the nurse looked at me and said, "Oh! It's too late for that--you're fully dilated! We have to do an emergency Cesarian right away."

Before too long I was whisked away in a wheelchair (still having painful contractions mind you) to the operating room. Because they were in a hurry they had to do a spinal block which goes a little further into the spine and makes the anesthesia kick in almost immediately instead of having to wait 15 min. or so like with an epidural. This was probably the hardest part because you're supposed to hold very still while they put the needle in. It made my contractions five times worse not being able to move during them. I was also resisting the incredibly strong urge to push at this point, and that WAS the hardest part! Again, I was so glad to have Matt by my side helping me. I was more than grateful and relieved when I couldn't feel anything anymore. The operation only took a few minutes. But, it felt like a long time to me. Besides being anxious and excited to meet our baby girl, I was beyond exhausted and also really cold because of the anesthesia and the cool temperature of the operating room. Even though I was shivering uncontrollably during most of the operation, I had the hardest time staying awake for my own child's birth! Matt was alert and asking the doctors questions while he watched them cut me open. I for one was glad that I didn't have to see that, but Matt loved it and thought it was really cool.

Our sweet little daughter was delivered at 8:12am on Feb. 13th. Matt was the first one to hold her while the doctors stitched me up. Abby Jean weighed 6 lbs. 3 oz. and measured 17 1/2" long. It was such a miracle to see her for the first time and hear her cry. :) I was able to stay awake long enough to see her and watch the nurses do a few tests a couple of yards from the bedside where I was still being stitched up, but after that I gave in to the sleep and was in and out of consciousness until we were about to leave the operating room.

Once Abby and I were both cleaned up, the nurses handed me our baby girl and we were wheeled into another room where our little family was left alone for a precious few minutes. Despite being tired, Matt and I held our tiny child in awe at the events that had taken place and our new responsibility. It's amazing how you can love someone instantly, and that love has only continued to grow stronger. We wouldn't trade our Abby Jean for the world!!

Abby is now 8 weeks old. It's been a wonderful and often tough time of adjustment for all of us, but we're slowly working into a schedule and getting back to normal life. We love our new addition, and watching her grow has been so fun! She's now weighs somewhere around eight or maybe nine pounds. (We'll find out on Friday when we take her in for her two month doctor appointment.) She's also started smiling a little on purpose and cooing occasionally. We're excited for her to move into this next stage of more interaction. Parenthood is incredible and very rewarding. We couldn't be happier! (except maybe if we had a little more sleep...;)

6 months down with 3 more to go!

So...I don't really want to talk about how LONG it's been since I last updated this! Sorry, but this will be kind of a longer post. We've been a little busy to put it mildly. I know I won't be able to catch up on most of what's been going on in our lives, but at least there will be a new post and pictures! :)

Our minds are filled with baby, school, temple, and Christmas! We just got back from a wonderfully long Thanksgiving weekend with my family in Manti, and now we're trying to re-adjust back into normal life.

My little brother made himself a Thanksgiving "mini pie". He was pretty proud of it, 

and I thought it was probably the cutest pie I'd ever seen and had to take a picture. 

Near the beginning of October we were called to be ordinance workers in the Oquirrh Mountain LDS temple. We've been working there on Tuesday nights from 4:00pm to 10:00pm for the past couple of months. It has been such an incredible blessing! It's amazing how it brings the spirit more abundantly into our home and has already blessed our marriage more than I probably even know right now. I have definitely felt the positive effects of being ordinance workers! On Tuesday, I was talking to a few of the sisters as we were eating a snack in the lunchroom of the temple and they were commenting on how blessed we are to 1) be members of the church and 2) have the blessings of the temple so close to us, and that 3) only a handful of members who have the blessings of the temple are able to be ordinance workers. It really got me thinking about what a privilege it is to be working in the temple and especially at such a young age. I have already learned so much and made some connections I might not have made if it weren't for my service there. So many of our fellow workers have said, "What a great way to start off your marriage!" I couldn't agree more, and I know I am only beginning to grasp the true blessing that it is.

Here were our Halloween festivities:

 Some delicious and adorable candy corn sugar cookies

 Here I am carving our Jack-O-Lantern, cleverly named "Jack". :)

 Jack in the making.

Here we are with the finished product. 

 Don't forget to notice his teeth...they took a while!

 Here's Jack all lit up on our porch.

 These little pot pies were our Halloween dinner. We also 

watched "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken" that night.

This is Jack in his old age. We both thought it was hilarious that 

his teeth were gone and he was all wrinkly like a really old man!! This

picture was taken not too long before his burial (or trip to the dumpster).

Matt is just about to finish his MBA!! We are SO excited! He'll be all done with classes in 8 days. This is part of what is making our lives a little crazy. Originally, Matt was going to take one class this fall and then save the other one for the spring. He found out though, that instead, he'd have to take two classes this fall. (I can't remember all the exact details of why he has to do this--I suffer from pregnancy memory loss! He'd be a better one to explain all of that.) Anyway, both of his classes started in October and go through the beginning of this month. So basically he's taking two MASTER level classes at once in HALF the time of a normal semester while still working full time! He has been working very hard, and is definitely a hero in my eyes. When we first found out about this change in plans, we both decided that it'd probably be for the better since we have a baby coming in the middle of next semester. (I could just picture me going into heavy labor/needing to go to the hospital while he was in class or taking a final or something! Maybe that's just me being pessimistic...) Things have been crazy for both of us, but we're nearing the tail end of it now, so we just have to hang on for 8 more days!
My classes are also winding down, and it feels good to have one more semester almost finished. Three more to go for me! I'm planning on taking 2 classes in the spring, 2 in the summer, and 3 in the fall. Then I'll be done too! Hurray!!

Our baby girl is growing fast now! It's so exciting to feel her kick, squirm, and get hiccups. We've decided to call her Abby (still haven't thought much about a middle name, but she'll have one). We've started collecting lots of baby stuff to prepare for her arrival. Yesterday I spent a ton of time (too much) looking at different prices for baby supplies, researching cloth diapers (I hear they're not too bad, so we're thinking about doing that), and dreaming about our little one and wishing I knew exactly what day she'll decide to come. I guess I'm a little too much of a planner when it comes to certain things. I always like to know what's ahead, but I suppose this is one I'll just have to accept someone else's timing! :)
For the most part I'm feeling great! I DO have my downer days, but thankfully Matt is here to comfort me when that happens. I've been loving the energy that has returned to me over the last few months, and I'm hoping that it doesn't disappear too quickly during the last part of this pregnancy. I had the glucose tolerance test a few weeks back, and they called me to tell me that my glucose levels were elevated (who knows how much--they didn't say) so I'll have to go in for another test. This one will be a really long one--four to five hours! I'm really hoping I don't have gestational diabetes!
Here are a few of the fun things we've collected so far for the baby:

 My sister and I decorated these letters when they were visiting 

Matt and  I in August. Originally they were going to 

spell "baby", but we like it this way too! :)

 This was an adorable gift from my father-in-law. Abby will be able to

 wear her UCF onesie and matching socks to support her daddy's school! :)

 A friend of my father-in-law made these for us. I'm so excited to use the tiny hat

 and little fuzzy blanket! They even match the colors we chose for Abby's room!

 This cute little bassinet was given to us by an angel family in our ward. 

They also gave us a crib and refused to let us pay. We're very blessed!

My mother-in-law got us these books to read with Abby.

 It will be so fun to read these with her!

"Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat..." Talk about Christmas sneaking up on you! Here I am thinking about baby and school stuff, and Christmas is just around the corner! I've got a few different projects that I've been trying to work on and finish for Christmas during the minutes that I don't have school or housework. Now is when I really have to get going at full speed. I'm sure it will all come together, I'm just not sure how together I'll be by the end!! We're planning a trip to Oregon with my family. We'll be having Christmas with my grandparents on my dad's side. We're all very excited (except for the long drive)! Matt and I still haven't put up any Christmas decorations, but we're getting in the mood with Christmas music. We've also started reading the book of Luke. We'll read one chapter every day until Christmas.

Hopefully this gives you an idea of what things are like around here. We're both happier than we've ever been and are excited for the things life holds in store for us in the future!

The Beginning of a New Adventure

Once again, I'm sorry to all those who've been expecting a new post for weeks now. Honestly, besides being busy with other things, sometimes I just plain forget to update the blog! 

This summer is going by pretty fast already. We've been down in Manti a few times for the Manti pageant, a family reunion and July 4th, and we've also started bringing my younger siblings up here one at a time to stay with us for a few days by themselves. It's been a fun experience so far and has helped Matt and I be able to bond a little more with the extra one-on-one time with them. It's also been great for me to have company while Matt's at work! 

I've finally decided on transferring to University of Utah to finish my bachelors degree. I was working on Elementary Education at Utah State, but I've decided to switch to Human Development and Family Studies. This is something that I think will be very fitting and helpful in the future, and it'll also be nice because you can actually do the whole program online if need be. Right now my plan is to go to U of U for the fall semester and then I'll probably switch to online after that. As of right now I'm still waiting for an acceptance letter....I wish they weren't so slow! There were a few issues with having the transcripts under the name "Boylan" and applying to U of U as an "Ecklund". Anyway, I won't bore you with the details, but it's been a little frustrating. Of course, from my own experience of transferring in the past there are ALWAYS complications of some kind. Gotta love it!

So a few weeks ago we found out that we're expecting a new addition to our little family! YAY! We're absolutely thrilled and are excited to find out if it's a boy or a girl. (I'm only 7 weeks along though, so it'll be a while before that happens.) We're in awe reading about how the baby is developing each week and how intricately the whole ordeal works. I enjoy seeing what the professionals compare the baby's size to each week. Last week we affectionately referred to our little one as the "little lentil bean", but this week it's the size of a blueberry. We're hoping and praying that our "little blueberry" continues to grow and develop as it should. It certainly seems to take a lot out of me--already! (along with all the pregnancy hormones and such) Anyway, I'm to the point of nausea and constant munching to keep from losing my food. I haven't actually thrown up yet, but there have been times when I certainly wished I would! All in all though, pregnancy is good  so far. I'm working on lessening my complaints and remembering that all of the discomfort is for a good cause and will have a wonderful result. :) 

Well, that's our life at the present. We're embarking on a new adventure and all sorts of changes. We couldn't be more excited! Life is wonderful!

Ready, set, MOVE!

Yep. It's official--we're moving to Riverton this FRIDAY! Matt got a job working for the LDS Church's IT department. We went down to Riverton last weekend to secure ourselves an apartment, and this week we just have to pack up all of our stuff and head on down so Matt can start work on Monday, June 13th. There will be plenty to do at our house over the next few days!

We're both excited for what lies ahead for us in Riverton. Although, I will definitely miss the handful of close friends and family we have here in Logan. Last night we went to visit the Loosle's our "adopted grandparents" (as I like to call them) to say our last goodbyes before we leave this weekend. They're such a sweet elderly couple! They were some of the first people to welcome us into the Logan 19th ward in January, and we'll miss seeing them each week at church. I'm so grateful for the wonderful people that are placed in our path when we need it most. Sometimes it's hard to leave those people. There are quite a few people I hope to be able to visit when we're in Logan next! :)

I have to insert a funny story here:
When we got back from the Loosle's last night, we were about to open our door when we saw a giant hornet sitting on our bucket of sugar! We didn't dare move any closer to the door for fear that we would make it feel threatened so it would have to defend itself by stinging one or both of us. We contemplated the best way to deal with the situation without it resulting in any unwanted pain. It's so funny that we were being held hostage by something 1000 times smaller than us! I finally went up to the garage and found some Raid that belonged the owner of our apartment (I'm glad HE was prepared for such hazardous circumstances!), and Matt used it to squirt the little bugger and save the day. I conclude that times like these are just another one of the perks of being married! :) (Following our little escapade with the hornet we happened upon two earwigs, a spider, and a centipede--maybe we're not too sad to leave this apartment after all!)

It's funny how life is continually changing. We're looking forward to this change with open arms and know that it will be a great opportunity for growth for us both. There's nothing like being given a chance at a fresh start. With a new job, new people, new apartment, new area, etc. there are all kinds of new beginnings we'll get to make. We've already started making some goals and plans for ourselves for the next year or so, and it feels so good! We're aiming to learn the most we can from this experience. What a great blessing we've been given!

Once we get to Riverton, I'm still not sure exactly what I'll be doing. I've been looking a little bit at classes for the  fall at different schools in the area. There's also the possibility of Independent Study with USU. I'm not sure if I have the discipline for that though. We'll see. To keep me busy for the rest of the summer, I might get a job, sew my heart out, practice my music, keep the house spick-and-span, work in the temple, and try to meet people in our new apartment complex. Those are just a few thoughts I've had. :) Unfortunately, I won't be babysitting anymore because we're moving, so I'll have to find other ways to keep myself up and going while Matt's at work.

Well, that's the summary of our life at the present. :) We hope all goes well with the move!

April showers brought May flowers...and some MORE rain!

It's ABOUT TIME I finally update this blog! Sorry for being so busy with finals and such. Unfortunately, those had to take priority over blogging.

Well, it's being all rainy lately. I suppose the weather still hasn't quite made up it's mind like I have---it's summer! I will say though that the cloud cover and drizzle do make for some beautiful coloring outside. I guess it just doesn't do much to color ME! haha Just kidding. :)

It's nice to be done with school for the summer. Matt still has classes so he can graduate in December, though. This means we still get to drive down to Ogden every Tuesday and Thursday. I have to admit that the hour-long drive gets kind of tiresome sometimes....and I'm not even the one driving!

I've been doing the "stay-at-home-wife" thing lately. :) I keep myself busy with household chores and projects. My "summer job" is babysitting for my aunt Heidi who has an adorable little girl, Isabelle, who is 18 months old. We get to play for a few hours most weekdays while her mom works as an office manager. It's very good preparation for motherhood! We have a lot of fun together that's for sure! One day I'll get to be a stay-at-home-MOM. :)
Another thing that I've been working on is sewing--YAY! I have all kinds of fun, bright fabrics and dress designs to make and sell baby dresses at craft fairs and maybe online. I haven't gotten very far on this project yet, but we'll see how it goes. It's fun anyway.

The latest development occupying our minds is that Matt is looking for work in the Salt Lake area. He's had a few interviews for different jobs, and we've looked at housing costs and such down there. We'll see what happens. We're hoping to move there within the next month if everything works out. We're keeping our fingers crossed! When we were there in Riverton interviewing and looking for apartments we felt good about it all. Now we just have to wait and see what the outcome will be! (I think that's the hardest part!)

Last Sunday we had our ward conference with the theme, "...by small and simple things are great things brought to pass...." (Alma 37:6-7) It made me think a lot about how true that principle is. I made a list of small and simple things that I can improve upon in my life. I know that the smallest things can make a huge difference for good or for bad, and that's something important to remember. The counsel we heard was so inspiring, and I was ready to tackle the world the next day. I'm grateful for our great leaders in the church both local and church-wide.

Well, I think that's all for now folks! I'll do my best to keep this blog updated with our latest news! :)

Adventures and Fun Times

"Aaahhhh!"
I turned my back on my current project (making waffles for breakfast) to see an indoor firework show hosted by our very own stove top! Matt, hearing my yelp of surprise/fear, turned to be a second witness and then quickly ran across the kitchen to turn off the burner of the stove. He hurriedly lifted the full pot of water off of the sparking burner to find water gushing out of a new hole in the 3-month-old pot. The coil on the burner had melted a hole right through it! Don't believe it? Here's the proof:

THE VICTIM:The bottom of the pot (with a hole blown out of it)

THE CULPRIT:The burner completely exploded!

Whew! WHAT a way to start off our Saturday morning! Luckily we're still alive and well, and our house is still standing. :) We managed to survive our little adventure with only some damage to our pot (which we were able to exchange) and the stovetop. (Remember our cooking adventures a few months ago with very little cookware and kitchen utensils? Well kids, we've embarked on a new adventure called no working stovetop. Fortunately, we DO have a working microwave, electric skillet, oven, and Crockpot so it's not too rough this time.)

Last week we had the opportunity to visit our favorite little Manti to watch the broadcast of the LDS General Conference with my family. What a wonderful weekend that was! It was full of inspired counsel and lots of time with family. What a blessing it is to hear from Apostles and prophets. The challenge for the next six months will be to re-read and study the words that we heard and apply it to better ourselves. I felt like so much of what was said was talking directly to me and our family. Matt and I both found a number of things that we can do now in our little family of two to prepare for the time when we are blessed with our own little ones.

We only have a few weeks of school left before finals hit. At times I feel overwhelmed with papers and homework and housework and music practice. BUT it won't be long before the sun will come out to stay and my homework will go away for the time being. I must say that I'm all too excited for that time to come! Matt was telling me yesterday that it would be a good idea to make an effort to enjoy the last few weeks of class. I guess that should help me be grateful for the snow that's trying to help me forget that it's spring so that I can focus for the rest of the term. That's right SNOW. Maybe you're thinking, "What?! Snow in April??" Yep. That's Logan, Utah weather.   Not only has it snowed, but it's sticking too. Blessing or trial? Maybe a little of both. :)

Well, I suppose I should get on to doing bigger and better things with the rest of my Sunday. If I could sum up my thoughts from the past few days it would be that attitude is everything and life is what you make it. If you make up your mind to be happy you will be!

Baked Teriyaki Chicken Recipe

Okay, so we made this recipe a while ago, and I've been meaning to post it for those of you who like to try new recipes. I've been finding a few good ones online lately, so I thought it might be good to share some. Here's one for baked teriyaki chicken:

• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon cold water
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar (you can substitute with lemon juice)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 12 skinless chicken thighs

1. In a small saucepan over low heat, combine the cornstarch, cold water, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, ginger and ground black pepper. Let simmer, stirring frequently, until sauce thickens and bubbles.
2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
3. Place chicken pieces in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking dish. Brush chicken with the sauce. Turn pieces over, and brush again.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Turn pieces over, and bake for another 30 minutes, until no longer pink and juices run clear. Brush with sauce every 10 minutes during cooking.

*This recipe makes 6 servings*

Matt and I had this with garlic mashed potatoes and green beans. It was quite tasty, and I highly recommend it!

If you're wondering how life is going for the two of us it's still just rollin' right along, and we're having fun with it. I can't believe it's almost APRIL! I guess that means we've been married just short of three months now. Whew! Where does the time go? Right now we're trying to figure out our plans for the summer. Between church, work, school, family reunions, and warm weather I think we'll be just about booked! :) Anyway, that's all the updating I have time for at the moment. I'll have to go into a little more detail as we figure those details out. 

Here's a quote that I like that was in one of my books I've been reading for school:

"It is through laughter that we feel most enraptured, most alive, most connected to what is happening around us." 

Laughter is something that helps keep me going through thick and thin. Laugh your way through life's challenges!

~Jess~

Spring Break

Well, here we are again. It's only been a week since we last went to Manti. It was our spring break 2 weeks ago, and we decided to spend most of it in Manti visiting my family. It was so good to be with family and friends for a whole week! 


I spent probably the majority of my break helping my mom sew clogging costumes for my sisters' clogging team's competition yesterday. My sweet mother was put in charge of making the costumes to lessen the cost for the girls on the Sanpete Storm clogging team. Being the optimistic and helpful person she is, she was willing to take on the challenge of finding fabric and sacrificing time to put together a satin poodle skirt and scarf for sixteen girls. Much to her dismay, she realized a little too late that the skirts were going to take a lot longer to sew than planned. This is where I came in. I guess you could say that Matt and I showed up in the nick of time. I was so glad that I was able to be there to help her out with her heavy load. Matt played the part of the "taxi cab" carting the kids back and forth so that we could stay busy sewing. The two of us sewed an average of about 6 hours or more each day from Monday through Friday and barely finished the costumes in time for the girls to do a dress rehearsal before the competition the next day. Whew! We were both sufficiently worn out by the end of our task.  


Here are some pictures of my sisters at the competition:

Matt was also able to offer his helping hand by keeping the little boys entertained and doing yardwork and other odd jobs. He and my dad took apart our tiller to try to get it running properly...and didn't put it back together. It's still laying in pieces in the backyard.


Here's Matt being silly with Trace. From the looks of it, these two were just caught in the middle of their horseplay, but Trace actually requested that Matt "hold him upside down" for a picture! I thought it was quite funny.

And here is Tyler and Lance sleeping on the sofa chair:

One of my favorite parts of our vacation to Manti was our double date that we went on with my parents on Friday night (AFTER all the sewing was finished). We took a CD player, CD's with our favorite dancing songs, and drove ourselves over to the Ephraim Institute of Religion for an evening of inexpensive fun. We played pool, ping-pong (we really struggled to keep the ball on the table), and foosball before we broke out the dance moves. Matt and I attempted to teach a few country swing dance moves to my parents, and in return they tried their hand at showing us a few ballroom dance steps. Money just can't buy experiences and memories like that. It was a great date!

So besides our little spring break undertakings, we've just been at home in Logan going to school, work, and church. I'm still waiting for a calling in our ward, but for now I'm keeping myself busy trying to get to know and serve people of all ages in our ward boundaries. Today Matt was set apart as the 1st Counselor in the Elder's Quorum presidency. I know he'll do a great job, and I'm excited for him. 

We've started making bread a lot with our wonderfully handy KitchenAid, and we've made a 2/3rds rule. Each batch makes three loaves, but we make it a point to give at least one away. I feel like this has been a great way to give and serve. We don't have a lot, but we've still been able to find a way to give of what we do have. AND since we both love to cook and bake it turns out to be more of a fun activity than it is a sacrifice. 

This past week I had the opportunity to see my aunt and uncle have their adopted baby boy sealed to them in the Mt. Timpanogos temple. There was a wonderful spirit there, and I was glad to be able to attend. Afterwards we had a chance to eat a lot of yummy food and visit with family that we don't get to see often. 

Anyway, I'm not sure what else to post at this point. I guess this will be it for now! 

- Jess

First Blog

So this is our first family blog.  It might be hard to catch you up on the last combined 44 years of our life (lives), so we will start on the last few months.

I met Jess at a get together a few days before the semester started in August 2010.  It was a "Thirsty Thursday."  I don't remember what was served, but it's usually slushies in the Summer and hot chocolate in the Winter.  We quickly became friends (through the encouragement of my roommate over the Summer - Jaiden Olsen).

Jaiden told me in the middle of the Summer about a girl he wanted me to meet.  She was in Israel at the time, so I had to wait until the semester started.  Was it love at first sight?  We don't believe in that sort of thing, but Jess certainly had a lot more interest than I did at first.  But I have since repented - obviously!

We were engaged on Nov 10, 2010.  We had dinner up here at Hamilton's Steakhouse (courtesy of the diamond store) and then went up to the Logan Temple.  It was freezing!!  And super-windy! But the sight was amazing.  In the unused, southwest doorway I got down on my knee and asked Jess to marry me.  She said yes!!  I hopped up and gave her a great big hug and kiss.  I must have only been on my knee for about 3-4 seconds.

We planned our wedding in a matter of 7 weeks.  We were married in the Manti, Utah Temple (Mormon Temple) on December 30, 2010.  It was such a great day!  It was great to have so many people we love at our reception.

We had a honeymoon in Florida.  Let me say that Florida is a LOT nicer at the beginning of January than Utah in January.  We then had another reception there for my family and friends in the Southeastern United States.

Here are some pictures of our honeymoon.

I didn't even notice the painting at the restaurant in Disney World until after we had finished eating. (I certainly chose the best path!)

Cinderella's Castle at Disney World

Jess and I at the Orlando Temple

View of the beach in Florida (from the road)

Jess says she could have put her head in farther.

But we all know I'm the one that came up with this crazy photo

Castillo de San Marcos in St Augustine

Castle fort in St Augustine

The lighthouse in St Augustine (it's a famous one)

View from top of lighthouse (it was VERY windy!)

Spiral staircase in the lighthouse

Since then we have moved into our apartment, started a crazy school schedule, and moved into a great ward.  We are in the Logan 19th Ward in the Logan Central Stake.  We've been making great friends and have great neighbors.

So far life has been great!  Our first dinner was cooked with some imagination mixed with ingenuity...

Yes!  Those are eggs frying on a pizza pan.  We have since gotten some kitchenware.

Next time we will add pictures of our wedding.

Today we are thankful for (Pres. Monson's counsel): 

Jess - Friendly neighbors/ward members

Matt - A wonderful wife

p.s.  If you want to know about anything, just ask!