7th Annivesary

Jared and I just celebrated our 7th anniversary! How did that come so fast? The years just seem to go by faster and faster for me. This year we went for a night away to the Anniversary Inn. My Mom was so very nice and came and stayed with Maren overnight so we could go. We stayed in the Jackson Hole Suite. It had a covered wagon bed, and the shower had bottles that came off of a shelf for the shower. It was a nice, relaxing little mini vacation for us. It was nice to be together- just the two of us and have some alone time. I was ready to come home and see my daughter again as well, that was our first night away from our 18th month old. It was a great anniversary! Still love you Jared after 7 great years!

Now I am in the middle of my third class in school. It is a Creative Writing class, then comes History and then the dreaded Math, two classes of Math! I hope with all the online tutors and help from everyone it won't be so bad. Please start praying for me now. It starts on November 10th!

First class is done! Hope the next one goes as smooth!

Back to work tomorrow- this summer flew by even though we did nothing. I was home with Maren, that is what counts! Looking forward to working with 3rd graders this school year.
Almost done with my first class as well. It ends on August 25th, we get to write a team paper and have a presentation that night. Should be fun!

School starts for me on Thursday. My first class..gen ed 200, where we are going to learn about managing our time, stress and our goals. I am a little nervous and hope I can do this..especially the math classes!

William Xander

My new nephew William Xander was born on Monday June 27 at 4:19 pm. He weighed 9 pounds 6 ounces and 20 1/2 inches. Cute little guy

Not much is happening at this point in time. I am not working- since it is summer- and home with Maren. It has been fun being with her not that we do much. We did get the pool key last week and took her swimming. She wasn't very fond of it at first but after we kept her in for awhile she seemed to like it better. Hopefully the weather will warm up so we can go more often. This week we are going to the zoo, and then next week sometime Krista and her family will come from Vegas because Becca will have her baby- Zander next week. We are excited for that.

Baby Contest

Today we went to the Eagle Mountain City Baby Contest. We entered Maren in her age group which was 11-14 months. She took 2nd. She had to impress some old lady judges- she smiled but didn't do much else. They loved her red hair and blue eyes.

Maren's first birthday was last weekend. She had a fun party with lots of family and friends. We can't believe how fast her first year went. We love you Stink Bug!

Some cute pictures of Maren

we have moved out of our rental house, the lease is up on April 15th. So now we are currently living at my In-laws (they are in OK for a month) while we wait for the tenants of the new rental house move out. I am hoping that happens before the in-laws return. We shall see! I really won't miss the house we just moved from or the neighbors. We having been moving for the past few days- does anyone come and offer any help? Nope! (well our HT did come to get some knives that Jared was giving away & he helped for a bit). I don't know why it is so unfriendly but it is. Jared wants to know if I will be happy anywhere I move- I told him I loved the neighbors in Eagles Gate. Let's hope that our new neighbors are nice people!

so we found a house to rent, it is in our old stake. We turn in the application tomorrow, keep your fingers crossed that all works out. There was one couple in front of us that decided it wasn't the house for them- but great for us! We are excited and hope it all works out!

Not to much to report on here. Just living life day to day. Maren is growing like a weed. She weighs 18 1/2 pounds now, still only two teeth on the bottom. She was sick a few weeks ago and that was no fun at all. She had a nasty cold and cough but it passed.
Work is work- going good. We have Spring Break in a few weeks, I'm excited for that. Next month we will have a one year old. This year has flown by!

A few pictures of Maren at 9 months.

Maren 9 Month Stats

As of January 31st, here are Maren's 9 month stats.

Length: 27.25 inches 38%
Weight: 17 pounds 5 ounces 22%
Head: 44.8 cm 73%

She is starting to army crawl and move herself around. She has learned how to get up on her knees and rock herself but so far no crawling yet. She is such a joy to have in our home, we love her very much.

Valentines has come and gone, again! I have to say it was pretty lame around here. I made some chocolate chip cookies for Jared and got some nice Valentines from the kids in my class. We are going to go to dinner one of these nights, just hasn't happened yet.
Maren had her pictures taken last weekend. I am just waiting on the cd to come so I can post some. I know they will be really cute! Only a few more months and Maren will be a year old! Where has the time gone??
Not much else happening now. We are looking for somewhere else to move in April. There is a house in our old neighborhood that could be a possibility, which I would LOVE! We just need to check into it a little bit more.

A girl I grew up with lost her 20 month old son in his sleep the other night. It really makes you stop and think about life. I am so grateful to know what I know, that we will live together as a family again after we leave this life. It would be so devastating to loss someone and not have that knowledge. I don't know how anyone can cope with the loss of their own child, I hope I never have to experience that! It makes me stop and think about the plan of salvation and realize how truly blessed I am to have that in my life. My heart goes out to this friend and her family, may the spirit of the Lord be with them at this time.

I'm not super happy with my neighborhood, we have been here 8 months and know about 3 friendly people. We will move in April and hopefully that will change. I just miss my old neighbors!

The show The Bachelor - hooks me every time! Michelle from Utah is super annoying and I hope he doesn't keep her long.

My all time favorite reality show is "Big Brother"- love summers because of it!

If Maren doesn't get a nap she is cranky! Night time especially- so nap time is great around here.

I am ready for the snow to be through and it's only January.

I need a good book to read- something that will really hook me. I have tried a lot of the books from my old wards book club and the last one I really liked was "The Help". Any suggestions?