4 Christmases

I totally was trying to get this posted before New Years. That didn't happen... I started writing it before NYE, does that count?

This was our first year married, and so it was our first Christmas trying to figure out which families house we were going to, and when. It ended up being a bit of a run-around weekend for us, but I loved every second of it! On Christmas Eve morning, we went to my Grandma & Grandpa Stones house. (We were a half hour late, because I neglected to look at my calendar..oops!) We had a Stone family traditional breakfast of 'Egg McMuffins', hashbrowns, and fruit. We have that every year and I love it. It was so fun watching all the little kids with their gifts. Little Aidan was a blast, opening sparkly rocks for his collection.

After breakfast with the Stones we headed home, where I finished wrapping all the presents for Kirk's family, while Kirk watched the football game. We had dinner with Ray & Marie, along with Matt & Stephanie and kids, Wendy & Ben and child, Stacy, and Grandma & Grandpa Nash.  Marie made a delicious dinner, and I made cheesecake, which I thought was pretty scrumptious.

Christmas morning, we went to church then came home and had some yummy french toast for breakfast and opened presents. I think I was more excited about Kirk opening his presents from me, than I was to get presents from him.

In the afternoon we went back to Ray & Marie's house to talk to Jacob (brother-in-law) who is serving a mission for our church in the Philippines. He gets to call home 2 times a year, one of those being Christmas. We all got to talk to him for a couple minutes, which was great!

We went to Nana & Papa Buells house for Christmas dinner, and to do mom and dad/sibling/nana and papa presents. Nana and Dad made so much food! It was amazing, and I was stuffed.

We are so lucky to be around all of our family and to spend time with all of them. We're exited to have Jacob home next year, and have Janae officially in our family. Hopefully we'll either have a little one by then, or at least be close.

At Nana & Papas house

Auston got me these pink ear muffs for when we go shooting!

My mom got me this Nauvoo village and had it all set up when I got home from living in Nauvoo. I love it!

Personal Issues and Modern Medicine.

Just a word of warning. This may be a long post, with some frustration. There are somethings that have been going on that I've kind of tried to keep quiet, but now I'm done trying to hide things. If you continue to read, be warned that I'm going to talk about some personal things, and some things that boys in particular might not enjoy hearing about. I know my husband doesn't. If you're still wanting to read this, well here we go....

Way back in November of last year I had just gotten my health insurance back, and decided that since I was 22 and had never had a pap smear I thought it was about time (sure you want to keep reading?). So off I go to the doctors office. I get there and it's a doctor I've never seen before. She seems nice enough, but I can't understand hardly a word that she's saying. She does my exam and I'm outta there so fast. Weeks, and months go by and I never hear anything, which to me means that everything looks good. In February after Kirk and I got engaged, I decided that it was time to get on the good ol' birth control pill. This time I decide to go to a gyno instead of just my primary physician.  I had my insurance send me a list of gynos that they accept, and I found one that sounded good. (Lets face it, I found the name that sounded the most 'white'. I have NOTHING against other races being health care providers, I mainly just want to be able to understand the person I was talking to.) So I make my appointment and go in to see her. Before she gives me my prescription she wants to do a pap, just to make sure everything is ok. I get what I need, and I'm on my way. About a week and a half later, I get a phone call on my cell while i'm at work, and I check the message and it was my doctor. I listened to the message and all it said was that she wanted me to come in to the office so we could discuss the results of my exam. Well that's not good. They only have you come in if something is wrong, right? I call back, and she's already gone for the day. So I make the appointment, and when the day comes along, I head in to the office not knowing what to think.  We sit down, and she proceeds to explain that they found some abnormal cells on my exam and they were going to need to do a biopsy of some cells. She assures me that it's probably not a big deal, and that it's just a precaution. I return a couple weeks later, mother in tow, for my biopsy. A biopsy on the cervix entails swabbing vinegar on the cervix (it makes the abnormal cells a different color) and injecting the cervix up to 4 times with a local anesthetic. Yes, they stuck a needle in my cervix. Then, they have this little gadget that they use to cut the cells off. 4 samples worth. The doctor continued to assure me that this was just a precaution and that there was no need for worry. A couple weeks later when the results came back, she called me again. The first things she said were "I'm sorry, but I don't have good news for you." So again, I head back into the office, mother in tow, to talk about the results of this exam. She informed me that the cells that they removed were pre-cancerous and we needed to take further steps to remove the cells. Que the sounds of my little world crashing around me. At this point we were only 6 weeks from the wedding. And now I was supposed to have surgery? Before we left the office we scheduled my appointment for the following week. THANKFULLY my boss was super understanding, and had gone through something similar with his wife. All I could think was "I have to take a week off, and then take another week and a half off less than a month later..I'm so getting fired". I didn't. I tried to convince the nurse that I didn't need a full week off work. They insisted that I did. I take that week to try to get everything done that I wasn't going to be able to do when I'm supposed to lay around the house for a week. Surgery day comes, and I head off to the hospital. I get checked in, they do all the required blood work, and get me into the bed. Thankfully Kirk showed up right as they were getting ready to put my IV in. He played the dutiful fiance, and waited for me. They did 2 procedures during the operation. First they did a D&C, (if you've ever had a miscarriage you most likely know what that is.) and then a LEEP. I'll let you read all about it, but basically they cut off half the tip of my cervix. Un.Comfortable. 5 weeks till my wedding and i'm being chopped up. Awesome. Kirk takes me to get my drugs and takes me home. I do have to say that my family was amazing during the first couple days. My brothers got me anything I needed, and made sure I was taken care of. Before I know it, it's wedding time. I'm still bleeding from my surgery! Not horribly heavy, but enough that I had to have some form of feminine protection in use at all time.  Really, who wants to spend their wedding day and honeymoom worrying about things like that? After almost 7 weeks I finally stopped bleeding. I decided after a couple strong promptings that it was time to say buh-bye to the pill. Kirk left all the timing of getting pregnant up to me. I wanted to wait, and he wanted to just go for it, so he made it my choice. What a good guy. I waited till the time that my doctor said I could start trying, and into the trash goes that little pink container. See ya later money. A month goes by, and before I know it I'm starting to have those good old pregnancy symptoms. Nausea? Check. (Try for 2 1/2 months!) Bloating? Check. Bigger, super tender boobies? Check. Off to the store I run for tests. First test - negative. It's ok, it's still a week till my period. They say some tests can detect it that early. Second test a week later - negative. Ok, call the doctor and make an appointment. Maybe these symptoms are from coming off the pill, or from my surgery. A day later it's my good friend aunt flow. Not right on time, and not normal. Third test - Is that a positive? Husband! Is there really a line there? Sure looks like it. So I go get a blood test done. Negative. It's ok, because I already have a doctors appointment. So I visit the doctor, and she says no way are the symptoms from my surgery or from the pill. She's convinced I'm preggo. She did an ultrasound and didn't see anything, but that early in a pregnancy it might still not show. She decided she wanted me to get a blood test done every week for 4 weeks, and come back at the end of the 4 weeks. So I go faithfully every week, and get jabbed by that daggum needle. 4 weeks go by, and i'm still having symptoms, including an expanding waist line. All 4 test that I took came back negative, but the doctor says they could be wrong? 2 sonograms later and there appears to be no baby. Then why all these symptoms? So I get referred to a Hormonal Specialist. The only problem is that my appointment is 5 weeks away! So I wait (sometimes not so patiently) for those 5 weeks to go by. Meanwhile my symptoms persists, and my waist line is ever expanding. Not just like getting chubby, but in my lower abdomen where it's normal to grow when you're pregnant.(Come one people, I don't sit on the couch and eat junk food all day. We eat healthy, and I get some exercising in.)  Before I know it, none of my pants fit and i'm in yoga pant heaven, and it's time for my appointment. This time with my Aunt in tow, I head off to the office. After we wait for 20 minutes, they let me know that my doctor is with a difficult delivery and won't be back to the office that day. My appointment is rescheduled for 2 weeks later, which is in my opinion, a long time for it being their fault the appointment had to be changed. Fast forward a week and a half. The office calls to reschedule my appointment one again due to a surgery. A couple days after that phone call my back started really bothering me. By Sunday (as in 2 days ago) it was really really bothering me. I went to church, and basically went straight to lay down. Kirk left a few hours later for a baptism, and I stayed behind in bed. For some strange reason, I started feeling what I can only describe as extremely strong menstrual cramps. I knew it wasn't time for me to start my period, as they'd still been coming every 28 days as normal, but were just 3 days instead of 5, and also very light with no clotting. No, it's still another week or so till I should start. The extra odd thing was that it was basically contained to the right side of my uterine area. Poor husband o' mine came home to find me curled in the bath tub crying in pain. He sent me back to bed and we decided we'd call the doctor in the morning. I stayed home from work yesterday and made a couple phone calls trying to get into the doctor. The soonest appointment I could get was for this morning! I get showered and dressed and made my way in. I had the beginning of an appointment, got sent home for a few hours, returned for yet another ultrasound and the finish of my appointment. As the tech was doing the ultrasound she spent an especially long time looking at my ovaries and making lots of little measurements on the screen. I didn't know what she was looking at, but I just had a feeling that it couldn't be good if it was taking so long. After she was done with the U/S she told me she was just going to type up the report real quick, then exit the room so I could get dressed and meet with my doctor. As she was typing, I saw the words "Several simple cysts on both ovaries". What?! I just kept telling myself to stay calm, and not to jump to any conclusions. The doctor would be able to tell me what was wrong. I kept thinking "first pre-cancerous cells, now cysts?". Thankfully she explained to me that these "simple cysts" are fluid filled cysts and frequently come and go on their own, and are not dangerous or cancerous. They typically go away after a few menstrual cycles. But i'm not having normal cycles. I'm not sure how that affects things. She also explained that due to these cysts, I'm not ovulating normally, and thus not having a normal period. What she couldn't explain is what is causing so many of them to appear. Typically  you would just have one at a time, on either ovary, not multiple on both. She also attributes the pain I felt on Sunday to the bursting of one of these fluid filled cysts. Now I have to wait another month to see a Hormone Specialist (if the appointment doesn't get canceled again!) to try to figure out what is causing these.

I get frustrated because I feel like I was listening to the promptings I was given, and also following my doctors orders, and yet I'm not pregnant yet. I don't feel like I have much room to complain on that front, considering I have a couple friends who have been trying for at least a year and still don't have a baby. I know God has plans for each of us. Sometimes it would be nice if He would let us in on them. I know that's not the way it works though. I know things will happen when they're supposed to, and I just need to be patient. I feel like I've been patient for a while now, but as my mom always told me, patience isn't really a virtue I posses that well. I know there is a lesson somewhere in her, I'm just trying to find it still.

Thanks to modern medicine we were able to catch the pre-cancerous cells before they progressed. We were able to find minuscule cysts that are causing problems. I'm so grateful for the technology we have to find things like this. That's a blessing all in itself.

If you managed to read all the way through this without getting queasy, or feeling like you now know way to much about my body, I have a simple request. Please don't ask me if I'm pregnant yet. I will let everyone know when that happens. If you want to ask about anything else I've written, please send me a message on facebook or email me or text me. Please don't post anything on my wall. The things I have written are all very personal things, which I feel like I can share with those of you who read my blog. I just really don't want things posted all over facebook. If that doesn't make sense to you, then to bad. If it does make sense, and you want to send me a private message, I'd be more than willing to talk to you.Oh, and also, please don't ask my husband about this. Kirk doesn't know how it makes me feel, deep inside. He knows I'm frustrated and hurting, but as the one not going through it, he doesn't fully get it. Don't ask him what a cyst, or a LEEP or a D&C are. He probably doesn't know. I'm so grateful at this time for such a supportive husband, but this is my body I'm talking about. So feel free to ask me, but not him. Thank you!

Gingerbread House Contest

This year Kirks work decided to have a gingerbread house contest. So far only one person has actually made a HOUSE. For those of you who don't know what Kirk does for a profession, he's an engineer. Specifically, one that specializes in structures. Now think about a whole bunch of engineers with the task of building gingerbread houses.  Did I really expect them to actually just build houses? Kirks boss even made a scene from the game Angry Birds. It's amazing. Kirk had the idea that he wanted to make the Twin Towers in memory. He had the idea, but didn't really know how he was going to go about it. We ended up building the graham crackers up three high, and letting the royal icing set for a couple days so it would be nice and hard. When it was time for the decorating, that was up to me. I colored the rest of our icing a nice grey color, and colored some gum paste yellow for the windows.  Kirk had the task of decorating, because I was in bed with a bad backache. I think he did a fabulous job!  

Again with the dang sideways pictures!

The "construction phase"

Frosting and adding windows

Stake Conference

While typically stake conference is awesome, and some really great thoughts are shared, this years stake conference was extra special and outstanding. We were blessed to have an apostle and special witness with us. We had a visit from Elder Bednar. Now, I had the opportunity about 6 years ago while I was attending BYU-Nauvoo to be able to be involved in a Q&A session with Elder Bednar. Ever since then, my mom has called him "Nikki's Apostle". When we found out that he was coming, I was so excited. While he was here, there were 4 different sessions. He took the time to meet with the youth, the new members, have a priesthood leadership session, and then the regular general session. As a youth leader working in young womens, I had the opportunity to attend the youth session. He took those two hours to answer any of the questions that they might have. Our youth our outstanding! I know that we have some amazing youth and that the future of the church is in fantastic hands. After the meeting was over Elder Bednar took time to shake hands with the youth that were there. After all the kids had gone through, he had all the adult leaders and the parents come up and shook all of our hands. That was amazing. As I was shaking his hand, and looking into his eyes, I was holding back tears and the spirit was just so unbelievably strong. I've had a testimony of the gospel for a long time, but it's little things like that, that continually keep my testimony strong. Every time he got up and bore his testimony and his special witness of The Father and the Son there was just such an amazing feeling. I really hope that other people that were attending were also able to feel that. It was such a blessing to hear the messages he shared. One of the best talks he gave came after he said "I really have no idea what i'm going to say to you guys" and then proceeded to share with us a Christmas tradition in his family. He shared the Christmas story not out of the Bible, but out of the Book of Mormon. He shared with us the ways that as a LDS family the way his family sees Christmas. I feel so blessed to have had that experience and I'm so grateful.

Surprise date time!

I've known for a couple weeks that Kirk had a surprise date set up, but I had no idea what it was. All I knew is that I was supposed to eat dinner, and have his truck at his office by 5, and that I was supposed to wear nice clothes. He got off work, got in the car, and we headed down the freeway.

 I knew we were headed toward the bay area, but still had no idea where we were going. After a big of driving it was apparent we were headed toward the Oakland temple, but I was pretty sure we weren't going TO the temple, since all of our stuff was still at home in the closet.

 After we found a parking space in the extremely packed parking lot, we walked into the theater and Kirk pulled out tickets to the show that was going to be that night. 

The Nutcracker!

Boy, does my husband know what I like.

The dancers in the show were fantastic, and WOW! that Sugar Plum Fairy. She was amazing. She had to be maybe 15 years old, and she was just so light on her feet. She was dancing in her pointe shoes, and you could hardly hear her land. The show was fantastic, and date night is always wonderful.

Christmas partying it up!

The past few years I've been able attend Kirks company Christmas party with him. This was our first year going as a married couple, and it was great. It's so fun to dress up and go out and have a delicious (free) dinner.

(Will someone please tell me why it keeps uploading all my pictures sideways? They're all fine before then, and I've never had this problem before)

♪ Gas drops keep falling on my head ♪

Yes, I wrote that correctly. Not rain drops, but gas drops.

 And it was less like drops, and more like a fountain.

I was putting gas in the work car, and this lady next to me was getting ready fill up her car.

She took the nozzle out of the pump, and squeezed the handle. 

Somehow the gas started spewing out of the nozzle.

I say somehow, because typically the plastic guard on the nozzle has to be pushed back. 

For some reason unbeknownst to me, she pointed the nozzle in the air, at which time the gas fell like water coming out of a fountain and landed directly on the top of my head. She then started flailing the nozzle around, and sprayed me other multiple times.

The kicker of the story? 

She didn't even apologize to me.

She looked me square in the eyes and said "Well that was a waste of gas. I should get some money back"

Seriously lady? I'm sitting here covered in your gasoline, and you think it was a waste? 

I showered and washed my hair multiple times, and washed all my clothes a few times. Everything still smelled like gas. Kirk walked in the house and goes "What is that smell?!" After I told him what happened, he promptly asked if we needed to call poison control. I googled how to get the smell out. I tried baking soda, vinegar, baking soda AND vinegar (don't worry, it didn't make my washer explode), coke-coke which is supposedly a sure-fire way to get it out, and tide. They still have a slight gas smell. 

The old lady is out a few bucks, and I had 4 lemons worth of juice in my hair.

Really? She's the one who's out?

Our Christmas Tree!

For years I've had this idea in my mind of what my 'Perfect' Christmas tree would look like. Thankfully for me, I have a wonderful husband who let me decorate it how I wanted to without a peep of objection. He even helped.  I knew the colors I wanted, and looked till I found the ones I wanted. Then the hunt was on for a tree skirt and topper. I found my skirt at Sears the day after Thanksgiving. I was so excited. I looked and looked for a topper, and finally ended up finding a beautiful, completely beaded snowflake topper at TJMaxx.  After I got all the ornaments on, including an 'A' in the middle of the tree, and the topper on, I just didn't feel like it was complete. I found some ribbon at Michaels that has glitter snowflakes on it, and its perfect!  

(I know the pics are sideways, They were upright before I uploaded them!)

Yes, I even wanted to make the wrapping paper and ribbon to match

Our First Thanksgiving

We managed to get through our first Thanksgiving. We knew that with pretty much all of both of our families being in town, we were going to have to work out where we celebrated. In the end, we had Thanksgiving dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Nashs house, and then went to Nana and Papa Buells house for dessert.  Dinner was so great. Kirk had family that came out of town that we were able to spend time with, and Kirks brother Jon brought his new Fiance. Who happens to be one of my best friends! (Jon and Janae are getting married in May!) After dinner we zoomed over to my grandparents to enjoy some delicious pie. After dessert, we let the black friday shopping commence. There was a GPS I really wanted from Best Buy, but I didn't think I really wanted to brave it at midnight. Lucky for me, I was able to order it at the sales price! I got the one thing I really wanted from the comfort of the couch. I did venture out at 4 am with my new mom, and janae. We hit Pennys (they have different Disney snow globes every year that my M-I-L collects), American Eagle to get some presents for Kirk, Old Navy, Sears (where I got my beautiful new tree skirt), and Target. I returned home only to realize that I forgot my gate clicker. *Facepalm* I knew Kirk was still sleeping so I felt back calling him to have him open the gate for me. I sat for about 15 minutes thinking that someone for sure had to be coming or going on such a big shopping day! Much to my despair, there was not a moving car to be had. I finally gave in and called Kirk. As I figured, he was still sleeping and didn't answer his phone. I decided I was going to just hop the fence and went into the house and grabbed my clicker. Go figure, as soon as I got back in the car someone drove up. It was so nice to crawl back into bed and sleep for another few hours. That was my very first black friday not working in retail, and it was GLORIOUS. That was also my first, and mostly likely last black friday going shopping. (Somehow we also ended the holiday with no pictures. I suppose we should work on that)

Being home sick is good for something!

And that something is finally getting my blog updated! I always pledge to do better, and then I fall so behind I don't know how I'm ever going to get caught up. Here we go...

Early in November, Kirk and I were able to make a trip up to Oregon to visit one of his best friends from high school, Jared and his beautiful wife Brooke and two adorable kids Jack and Harper) who also happened to be the best man in our wedding. (Kirk was also the best man in Jared and Brooks wedding.)  Little Harper had just been born into their wonderful family 3 weeks before we went, and I got to spend 4 days holding the most adorable little girl. While we were there Jared and Brook took us to a hiking trail with some beautiful waterfalls. 

The waterfalls were BEAUTIFUL, and it was such a nice hike. After the hike we went to lunch and enjoyed some delicious pizza. While we were in Oregon, I also got to visit one of my best friends Kayli, and meet her newest family addition Caden. I hadn't seen Kayli in almost 3 years so it was super amazing to get to see her. Kirk got to meet her for the first time, which I was so happy about. Of course I'd want 2 of my best friends to know each other! We took her boys to a Childrens museum in Eugene. After the museum we went to Cabelas!! Kirk and Jared met me there, and we picked up a few things. On top of having no sales tax, there was also a special 10-20% purchases made by law enforcement personnel. Lucky for us, our good friend Jared is a Police Officer. We saved a ton of money! Kirk very much enjoyed visiting Jareds parents, and having our first thanksgiving dinner of the year. Jared even got Kirk to play Just Dance on the Wii! It was amazing. Kirk had fun playing with little Jack, and also learned things not to teach little kids. I think he got his first real glimpse of what having kids is like. When it was time to go, I just felt like we hadn't spent enough time there. Every time Brooke and Jared had come to visit California, we'd only gotten a few hours with them at a time, and it was so great to spend days with them. I'm ready to go back. (I don't want to move there though. Just saying.)

The boys...and me.

Kirk has a cousin who enjoys shooting guns very much. It's a big hobby for him. It happens to be a hobby for my dad, too. Kirk's cousin decided he wanted to have a "Family Shooting Day" which we were all in for. "Family" ended up being Kirk, his cousin, Dad, Bryce, and myself.  I got home late the night before, and then woke up at the crack of dawn to go on a two hour drive to the shooting site. We got there and got all the targets set up, and then it was time to get the guns out. Dad started me on a little gun, then I slowly got to work my way up to the big ones. The only guns I'd ever shot before were pellet and BB guns, so this was quite different. Throughout the day we all took turns participating in little shooting competitions. I decided that if i'm going to be strong enough, and 'sharp shooter' enough before the Zombie Apocalypse, i'm seriously going to have to start working out. I was fine that day, but the next day I was feeling it in my sides. I had the chance to shoot a 30-06 (hunting rifle). Kirk had shot it 2 times, and missed the target both times. His cousin asked if I wanted to "make Kirk look like a fool". What other answer is there to that question then "Yes!". I shot 3 times, and hit the target (about 90yards away) all 3 times. It took me a few minutes to take the first shot because they warned me that it would have a bigger kickback then anything else I'd shot thus far. I was nervous that it was going to come back and hit me in the face or something. It didn't, and thankfully I had it snugged up against my shoulder pretty well so I didn't bruise..much. I couldn't put my purse on that shoulder for a couple days though. We had a great day, and can't wait to go again!  

x

So You Think You Can Dance!

So, once again our family friend who works at the arena came through for me.  The So You Think You Can Dance Tour came to Stockton and I reeeeeally wanted to go, but the tickets were a little expensive so I decided it wasn't in my budget. Sadly. The night before the show our friend told me she had some extra tickets, and asked if I wanted to go. Uh YES! So I texted a friend who I used to dance with and asked if she wanted to go with me. Again, "Uh YES!". So we got all dolled up and went to enjoy some spectacular dancing! As always, the seats we had were amazing! It was fun because we could see the dancers backstage before they came out. It just reminded me so much of how it felt standing in the wings, getting ready to go on-stage. Oh how I miss that. After the show there was a meeting with the dancers for the V.I.Ps, and after that, the dancers all came outside and met other fans. We (obviously) had to stay and meet and get pictures with ALL of them. Another BIG thanks to A for the tickets. You rock!!!!

Me and Miss Bailey

The Girls (and Auston)

Jordan

Jess

Caitlynn

Marko! (Finger in Baileys ear, finger in Annas ear)

Nick. 

Melanie! Winner!

Rickey!

Tadd!
 He asked me how I enjoyed the night. I told him I felt like
 "A kid in a candy store" to which he replied "You want to lick me? Gross!"

Make A Difference Day

Or as it's now known, Mormon Helping hands day. This year our stake had the opportunity to paint over graffiti on the bike path that runs along the levy.  This was especially nice for Kirk, since this is the path his takes when he rides his bike to work.  Grandpa Stone worked very hard to put this even together in Stockton, and the turn out was great and everything went so well.  When people would ride their bikes or jog by while we were painting, quite a few of them expressed thanks for the service we were doing. Stockton kinda has a bad rap, but it was rewarding to make it more of a place that people would want to visit, and less of a place that you read about in the papers.

Mormon Helping Hands Day

Kids in the back of the golf cart

Me and Bailey (I so didn't put make up on)

Kat, our official photographer

 

Grandma Stone, Kirk, and Jared

See Ya, Suckers!

After almost 4 1/2 years (at the sometimes great, sometimes the most horrible thing you can imagine) at this job, I. am. out. That's right! I finally quit. I think I've been talking about quitting for over a year. Kirk's talked about me quitting for over a year. I finally have a new job, and although it's not a phlebotomy job like I've been hunting for, it's much better then where I was. I've gone from getting my schedule on a week-by-week, not being able to plan anything till the last minute, having to ask for weekends off job, to knowing I work Monday to Friday. 8-4:30(ish). I can make plans for a weeknight weeks in advance. I can do whatever I want, whenever I want on Saturdays. I don't have to deal with crazy managers (I've had 9 store managers) and all the crazing switching in and out of people. I can now enjoy going into that store again, because when I do, it'll be to shop. Over the last week Kirk kept asking me "Will you miss your job?". I can answer "No" to that question without even thinking about it. I will however miss some of the people that I worked with. Seeing as I never had shifts the same time as those people anyways, I didn't get to say good-bye to a lot of those people. I guess I'll have to go shopping soon to be able to see them. I can't believe it's really done, and what a relief it is.  Adios, BBB

Tomato Sauce and China.

Kirk and I decided that one thing we really wanted to make sure we got with all of the gift cards from our wedding, was all of our china. We got a few sets from some family and friends and knew we had to get the rest. We ordered it a few weeks ago, and it finally came! We decided that we were going to use it, just for the heck of it. We also decided that it was something we wanted to use often, and mostly likely every Sunday night. If you come over for dinner, you'll probably end up eating off the china, just because we can! Kirk also decided that with all the awesome tomatoes from our garden, he wanted to make a homemade Spaghetti sauce. So he did! I am so blessed to have a husband that not only knows how to cook, and cook quite well, but also someone that LOVES to cook! He won't admit it, but I think it's a release for him. He comes home from work, and that's how he likes to unwind! Works well for me!

Oh how time flies!

Yesterday was 4 months from the day that Kirk and I got married. Now I know some people have been married much longer, but I waited 2 1/2 years to marry this man, so I'm taking it all in. It seems like time has been going by so fast! It was just June when we were preparing for the wedding, and now it's almost November! These last few months have been filled with up's and down's, but we know that all marriages are like that. I've been told by quite a few people that the first year is always the hardest, but I think because we were together for so long before we got married, we already worked a lot of those kinks out. A year ago I was really ticked off that we weren't married yet, but today I am so grateful for the time we had together to build a better friendship and relationship before we got married. In the last 4 months Kirk and I have changed wards, gotten new callings in the church (him as Executive Ward Secretary, and me as a Young Womens adviser), given talks..well, mine is this coming sunday, and I've gotten a new job. Even though this might be a time when we really would love to just spend all our time together and maybe not really be thinking about doing other things that would keep us away from our home and each other, it really has been such a blessing to have the chance to serve in our ward. I'm not sure what his thoughts are, but I love my Young Women. It helps that I'm now related to a few of them, but they really are wonderful girls. I have the opportunity to teach every other sunday, and for those of you who really know me, that is a very hard thing for me to do. As much as I love talking, I really do not love talking in public. For me to get up and give a lesson is just very nerve wracking for me. Thankfully, our Heavenly Father knows exactly what we need. I'm so grateful to know that whatever He has in store for me, I can accomplish with His help. One of the things that Kirk and I have been trying really hard to make sure we do, is to hold Family Home Evening every week. It usually works to have it on monday, but every now and then it ends up on a different day. As I was moving from my parents house into our house, I found this FHE board (pictured below). It was unfinished, and needed some love. I decided I didn't like the font that was already started and decided to start all over. I sanded down what was already on there, repainted the black, then traced and painted all the words. I decided that while the FHE board was good, it just wasn't complete. I went to Michael's Crafts and bought the letters for our last name. My engineer hsuband helped me space all the hooks out, so they were perfectly spaced. He even got out his calculator! After we got all of our wedding pictures back from our amazing photographer, Emily White, I decided that with the big empty space in the loft, I wanted to hang photos up. I went to Target and bought all the frames and Kirk just looked at me like I was crazy! I told him to just trust me, and it would turn out great! I am so happy with how they turned out. It helps that our photographer was AWESOME!!!! (Thanks Em!)  Every time I walk up the stairs and see all those pictures of us at the temple, it just makes me so thankful to be married to such a wonderful man for time and all eternity. 

PBR, baby!

A couple weekends ago, i was at my parents house printing some things, and I get a call from one of my aunts. She says she has an extra ticket to the Pro Bull Riding event that was happening downtown that evening. She convinced me to go, and picked me up about 5 minutes later. We have a family member that works at the arena, and sometimes gets tickets. (Gotta love the hook up!) When my aunt called, I was under the impression that it was only going to be the 5 of us that were in the car, and then I found out that a bunch of family was going to be there! I feel like now that a lot of the kids are growing up, we don't see each other as often as we used to. Maybe that's just me though.. We got there and a bunch of the family was already there, and we had a great time waiting for the show to start. The one thing that you don't know about our family, is that it seems as if a bunch of us have cameras surgically attached to our hands or something. We really like taking pictures.  The rodeo was awesome! There were quite a few times that we gasped and flinched, watching the riders get trampled or stepped on by the bulls. There were also quite a few times when we were very grateful to not be in relationships with said riders. I don't know how their significant others do it. I sure wouldn't be able to! They got stamped on, head-butted, chased, and a couple even got stuck on the bull when they were trying to get off, and got flopped around like little rag dolls. Sometimes I get working about when Kirk has to go out onto a job site, but it's nothing compared to this! It was a fantastic evening with the fam!

Mr. Mario-Pro

(I don't think he really wanted to take this picture)

                                                                      Ride that bull!

He's Ryan Seacrest, and this, is...

 That's right! We went to the American Idol Live tour! It was way better then I thought it was going to be, and the only letdown was that Scotty, the winner, was only on-stage for like a half hour! He only sang a few songs by himself, and hardly any of the group numbers. I wish that we would have seen more of him, never the less, it was still a fantastic show. Kirk talked about going a couple years ago, and it didn't happen. He was so impressed with the contestants on this past season that he knew he had to go. He works with a gentleman who also watches the show with his wife, and he was in love with Pia (on of the contestants) so when Kirk approached him about going to the concert, he was all over it. Kirk bought the tickets, and we waited a few months, and then finally it was time. Kirk came home from work a little early so he could get changed and we could hit the road. He had an extra ticket so he also invited his sister to come along with us. We stopped at The Red Tractor in Dublin for dinner (delish!) and before we knew it, it was concert time! We got a pair of binoculars for our wedding, so with those in hand it was off to our seats. It was great watching the contestants on the big screen because it was nice to see them close, but it was so neat to watch them on the stage and think that they were RIGHT THERE. On our way back to the car on the BART, there was a lady that looked at us and goes "Oh, you were the ones in section xx (just because I can't remember)." We were like "Yeah..." She goes "Yeah, you were screaming a lot. You must be big Scotty fans!". We had to laugh, because mostly I was screaming. It was a little embarrassing to have someone recognize me as the loud one. It was a fantastic evening, complete with people that we love, and great entertainment! 

Kirk & Katie

Kirk, Me, Doreen, & Ron

Garden Update..

I just realized how long it's been since I've updated on anything...I'm kind of a blogger drop out. Now, to avoid writing the talk, and finishing the lesson I'm giving THIS SUNDAY, I'm going to attempt to catch up a little bit. (Last night I procrastinated by catching up with my friend Stefan, Damon, Klaus, & Tyler. Get some good vamp/were action.)


As you'll be able to see below, we had quite a lot grow this season. We weren't expecting that since we started so late, and really had no idea what we were doing! Kirk took the opportunity to learn how to can. He borrowed some things from his mom, and went to work! As a result, we have 2 jars of squash, 6 jars of tomatoes, and 3 cans of homemade pickles! Also (not pictured) we have bags of green beans and corn in the freezer!

(Please ignore the fact that I look pregnant in this picture)