Adoption

I just wanted to let you all know that we have officially begun the adoption process. Jon and I have prayed and fasted about what we should do and we both feel strongly that we should adopt right now. We haven't turned away the idea of IVF, but for now we are going to do adoption. We just sent in our application this week, so we haven't received a reply from anyone yet, but we will keep you all updated as things begin to happen. I don't think anything will happen for a while since we have to have three interviews, a background check and they need to contact our references. It will probably be a long process, but we are excited that we've now begun the process. Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers on our behalf, they mean so much to us.

-22 Degrees

I've been keeping an eye on the weather in other parts of the country (Bozeman and Woods Cross) and I've been quite jealous of the warmer early spring weather. We are currently enjoying subzero temperatures and I HATE it. Spring and fall in Mankato are absolutely beautiful, and the weather is perfect, but I am really struggling with the winter. I have never been a fan of the cold or snow, but I have learned that if it's warm enough to snow, its not too cold. This subzero stuff is awful. I don't know how people live here for many, many years. I'm hoping that I won't have to, because I won't survive. I've had the privilege of going to school this semester and I have classes twice a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Of course, the two coldest days this week were Tuesday and Thursday. I froze as we (Jon and I) walked to school. My legs literally were numb in less than five minutes. The temperature Tuesday was -15. Today was even better I checked the temperature five minutes before we left and it was a sunny warm -22 degrees outside. We bundled up and headed up to school. Today I actually ran part of the way to school, because I was afraid that my numb legs would actually stop working, or atleast make it that much longer to get to school, because I couldn't feel them and they were literally slowing down with each step. I figured the best way to keep them from stopping was to run and hopefully they would warm up a little. Lucky for us, all of the buildings on campus except for the library are all connected via hallways. It makes getting around campus much nicer, it's getting to campus that isn't fun. I just had to vent and let all of you know how warm it is here in Mankato. If anyone wants to send me a plane ticket to visit you in your warm part of the country, I won't object. Alyssa, please bare with my complaining, because I'm sure it's even colder for you in Alaska. How do you do it?

We're back!

It was Danny's birthday and he turned six.

We got to sing Happy Birthday and have birthday cake with him.

The Bowden kids.

The Zetterquists.

It was fun to see baby Keith for the first time.


I apologize for all of the posts at once, but I didn't have time while we were in Utah. We had such a great time with our families. As usual, it was hard for me to say good-bye. I miss my family so much when we are away. I love being in Minnesota, although I'm not loving it right now, because it's just too cold here in the winter. We have wonderful friends and I am so grateful for them, they are what make living here worth it, but I hate living so far from family. We played lots and lots of games and ate lots of food and just enjoyed being with our families. We got to see friends from Montana, the Bowdens and the Zetterquists and we also got to see the McMillans who are friends from Minnesota. It is good to be back and we are busy trying to get everything ready and finished in time for school next week. Jon starts back on Monday and I start working again on Monday with classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It's going to be a busy semester for us, but we are looking forward to it. I'm glad we'll be busy, because I'm hoping time will just fly by, and before I know it, Spring will be here and it won't be so cold anymore. Wish me luck getting through this winter. I was crazy enough to sign up for classes this semester and now I have to walk from my house to campus in the negative temperatures with negative wind chill. What was I thinking?

New Years Eve

Fireworks at midnight.

The happy bunch who stayed up until midnight.

New Years Eve was a busy day. We headed down to see Brock and Jody, friends of ours from Minnesota who moved back to Utah last summer. We miss having them here in Minnesota with us, and we had to stop and visit, even if it was only for two hours. They were sweet and took us to lunch at Bajio. Thanks for the yummy lunch, games and fun visit. We miss you lots! After our visit with friends, we met Jon's family at the theatre. We saw Bedtime Stories and it was really funny. Good clean movie and great humor. We spent the evening with Jon's family in Provo. We ate lots of yummy food, played games and enjoyed being with family. Most of the kids got to stay up until midnight and boy were they excited. I think they enjoyed being able to yell and scream outside at midnight more than anything. They also got to bang pots and pans to ring in the New Year. The mall put on a firework show, so those brave enough to stand in the cold got to see a great firework show. We wish all of you a Happy New Year. We hope this year brings you much happiness and success.

Trip to the ER

The happy patient.

It was weird to have him be the patient, because

I'm usually the patient. We didn't know how to react since the roles

were reversed.

Two days after Christmas, we had a fun filled trip to the ER. We had been at my aunt and uncle's house to say good-bye to Bryant and Amee, which we didn't really get the chance to say good-bye. Bryant and Amee, it was so fun to see you and your cute kids. Sorry we didn't get to say good-bye. Jon had told me the night before that his chest was hurting, but I didn't think too much of it, because he'd been shoveling snow that day and I thought it was probably a sore muscle. This night, he told me that the pain was getting worse, it had spread to his left arm and he was having to take deep breaths. Aunt Sherri gave him some Aspirin and then he laid down to rest. I was too scared and didn't want to take my chances, so my Dad took Jon and I to the ER. The nurse immediately did an EKG, which showed that Jon's heart was just fine. After several labs, a chest x-ray and two hours of sitting in the ER, we were told that Jon had pleuracy, which is an inflammation in the outer lining of the lung. Jon had had a cold earlier and the doctor said it was probably caused from the cold. What a huge relief! It gave us quite a scare! Now more than ever, I am so grateful for my wonderful husband and I am so glad he is with me.

Christmas Day Pictures

Christmas Day

We had a wonderful Christmas Day. Nicole and Scott and Jon and I spent the night at my parent's house with our brother Nick. You would think that with a house full of adults, we wouldn't have to wake up early Christmas morning to open presents anymore, but that isn't the case. Actually this year, Jon wasn't the first one up. Scott and Nicole woke up between 5:30 and 6:00, but were kind enough to wait until 6:30 to wake everyone. We stayed up late Christmas Eve, so I was grateful to sleep that late. We had fun opening gifts from one another. Dolly was the first to get a present. She was so anxious for her chew sticks, and she knew right where they were. After a yummy breakfast, we relaxed in front of the TV and watched Penelope. Nick and Scott drove up to Snow Bird to go snowboarding just to find out that only two lifts or runs were open and the resort was going to close early, so they decided to come back home. By the time they got back, it was time for me to shower and get ready to head down to Lehi. Jon's mom had made Christmas dinner, so we went down to Lehi to spend the afternoon with Jon's family. It was great to see the nieces and nephews. The kids were so excited about all the fun toys they got for Christmas, but the best was playing Grandpa's Wii. Grandpa got Mario Cart from some of his kids and of course, the grandkids had a great time breaking it in for Grandpa. After several games, we decided we better head home before the storm hit. We timed it just right. About five minutes after we got to my parents, it started hailing and within fifteen minutes from getting home, it had started snowing. After snowing for about a half hour, we already had an inck of snow. I was grateful we left when we did, we didn't need another accident. The second day we were in Utah, we took my Dad's Jeep down to Lehi and as we were getting on the interstate at 123rd South, we slid onto the interstate and ended up perpendicular to traffic. It was very scary, but we were protected and we weren't injured. A truck getting in the other lane, to avoid hitting us, his tail end hit the front bumper of the jeep and cracked it. Now we get to replace the bumper, but considering the circumstances, it could have been much worse. We were truly blessed that day. Anyway, we had a great Christmas and we hope each of you did too.

Christmas Eve Pictures

Christmas Eve

You're probably wondering why I didn't give many details about our Christmas, on my Christmas post. Well, just in case someone I didn't want to view my blog found their way to my blog, I didn't want it out on the internet, that we were out of town. Now we are safely home and I thought it would be fun to let you know what we did while we were in Utah.

We spent Christmas Eve with my family at my aunt and uncle's home. It's been a tradition for years, that my family spends Christmas Eve with our cousins, the Ruedas'. Anyway, all of my cousins, and my siblings were all together this year for Christmas. It's been two years since I've seen my cousin Bryant and his cute family. They have a one year old son, Andrew, who I hadn't seen until this year. It was so much fun to get together with our cousins again. Now that many of us are married, we've tried to coordinate, so that all of us are gone with our in-laws for Christmas on the same year, so it's been two years since we've all been together for Christmas. Anyway, Tio Israel made a wonderful meal. Any of you who know Tio, know that he is an amazing cook, and boy did the meal that night prove it. We had prime rib, which I don't usually like, potatoes, salad and rolls. The tables were set so elegantly. The kids acted out the nativity story with the help of some of the adult men. The women got to watch this year. We had the cutest angel, Mary, littlest shepher and littlest wiseman. The men were good sports to be a part of the nativity, all except Scott, who didn't want to be the donkey, but who could blame him. He was a too stuffed from dinner. We sure enjoyed being with family. It was a wonderful way to celebrate Christmas Eve. Thanks Sherri and Israel for the fun evening. We loved being with your family for the evening.