Christmas Vacation

Christmas decor in K-

We were able to go back to Utah for our Christmas vacation this year.  Because I work at the medical school, Brady and I had almost the same days off so we spent the entire TWO WEEKS in Utah.  As soon as he was done with his final we took off to Kansas City.  It's funny how when you are on vacation driving 3 hours to the airport is no big deal.  We stopped by my sweet cousin Sarah's house to leave our car and she drove us to the airport.  It was really nice to catch up with her, see/meet her sweet kids and to not have to leave our car in the airports garage.  

As soon as we flew in to Utah, it was go time! We had non-stop fun the entire first week.  We went sledding, walked around temple square, participated in the nativity, cuddled with the nieces and nephews, played games and ate way too many treats.

Our  Christmas Tree in Kville

We spent Christmas eve day at the Andersons eating a delicious brunch, playing more games and then had a really neat devotional. Then we headed to the Webbs at night for a delicious dinner and a hilarious white elephant gift exchange.  Some how Brady and I missed the fact that everyone was supposed to bring "good" gifts this year. There were gift cards, potty putter games and coveted bottles of Poo Puorri getting stolen left and right! We had a nice devotional/nativity and were sent to bed. We split Christmas day as well and enjoyed spending time with family, getting spoiled by our parents and family and seeing everyone's faces when they opened our presents.  I got really into crochet before we came home and decided to make all my nieces and nephews a hat and a beard. They were so gracious but most of them didn't really fit! That's what happens when you live far away I guess.

We slept the first week at the Anderson's and the second week at the Webb's.  Once we got there, the real fun began.  As we were getting ready for bed, Brady just kept saying that his stomach was a little upset.  I had a really bad cold so I told him I was sorry and zonked out.  All night he kept getting up and going to the bathroom trying to relieve his stomach pain. Finally, around 4 am he made his way to his dad and asked for a blessing. At this point he was in real pain and I was sound asleep.  The next day he still wasn't feeling well so we asked Dr. Brad to come over and check things out. He told us Brady probably had appendicitis and we should head to the hospital.

This whole time Brady hadn't really complained so I didn't think he had anything wrong with him. So as we were driving to the hospital I told him we could turn around if he started feeling better. It is a good thing he didn't listen to me because his appendix had burst and they had him into surgery 30 minutes after we got there.  Brady was such a sport and was so interested in the lives of all the doctors, nurses and anyone that he could talk to.  He never complained and made the experience almost fun!  The doctor told he wouldn't be able to get out of the hospital for at least 10 days (Brady needed to be back in school in 7). Miracles happened and he was out of the hospital in 2 days!! He couldn't get medical clearance to leave until the following Tuesday so he spent the week recovering.

We loved our time with our family and were grateful for their love and support. Can't wait till we see them again!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving: a time to reflect, give thanks and be surrounded by family.  This is how Brady and I would had defined Thanksgiving in the past, but what do you do when you are a thousand miles away from your family? You make new family and give thanks with them!

We are so incredibly grateful for our friend family here in Kirksville.  It is so great to have other wives whose husbands are going through the exact same thing.  Normally it would be a little different to have girls nights every night and weekend, but when your husband is away that is the only way to survive!  Brady has made some great friends at school and loves having all his classes with his buddies. We know that we were meant to come to Kirksville because the people here have helped us get through so much! We are grateful for our friends!

So Thanksgiving was spent at the Wilson's house. There was a large group of our good friends at the church and next year we will all get together but it was nice to have a quiet little dinner for our first one away from home.  I made my first ham and Sariah made an incredible Turkey.  The Gardners had some great contributions and it was fun to share in some different culture with one of Brady's classmates Hassan.

We ate ourselves silly then the girls went for a walk while the boys "cleaned up". After that we played some Just Dance and watched a movie.  It was such a nice break from all the crazy and we were really able to reflect.

Fall Festivities

Fall is my favorite season ever.  I used to think I was unique in my obsession but I am pretty sure that everyone loves fall.  October and November were jam packed with fun activities.  We had to limit ourselves so Brady could stay caught up on his studies.  Here are some fun activities that we remembered to take pictures at! (I need to get better at taking pictures, maybe I need a better camera?) 

.heading into my first surgery for work, and I didn't pass out.

.we hung out with the Wilsons a bunch. We match.

.loving life and my good friends at the phillip phillips concert. 

.B tried to grow his hair out,
he couldn't stand it long so he cut it
himself.

.halloween party. 

.yes that is a real pig.
 

.Fun walk behind the TCC.

UTAH!

We knew Brady was having fall break which meant an ENTIRE week with no school!  I didn't think I would be able to take the whole week off of work so we had planned on just going to St. Louis with some friends.  Then right before fall break, I found out I could have it off!  We immediately changed our destination and set our sights to the west, UTAH!

B and I left right after I got off work to make the 17 hour car ride to see the fam.  Side note.. I LOVE car rides, especially with Brady!  We spent our time talking, laughing, listening to audio books, eating yummy treats and singing at the top of our lungs (it helps keep us awake).  We drove straight through the night, watching the sun go down and back up.  Then the party started!

Because we decided to go home on such short notice, we only told one of my brothers and my sister in law.  So we spent the first day surprising everyone!  We about gave Lichelle a heart attack when we surprised her at the hospital (this champ just spent over 2 months in the hospital on bed rest, she's my hero!)  We were able to see our new fighter nephew, Emmett! We were only able to see him in the NICU but I'm already in love and can't wait to see him again! After that we stalked Kam, ambushed Sam, Jami and Addi and got an incredible reaction from Mom, Dad and Tays!

Here are a few of our adventures... next time we will do better at taking pictures!

Fun time with the sisters after shopping!

Pedi's with the girls. Thanks mom!

.Pretty intense Volleyball game.

.Best birthday ever.

BooooondockS!

.love these kids. 

.too perfect. 

Our time with the families was jam packed with adventures and our time flew by!  The drive back home wasn't quite as fun and our first week back took some adjusting to.  But if I've have to be 17 hours away from my favorite people, at least I'm with this guy! 

Throw Back Thursday: Recruiting Compton

At the end of February I was able to go to the great land of California on a recruiting trip!  Getting ready for the trip was quite a learning experience.  I was in charge of setting up all of my visits, events, plane ticket, hotel, car, the works!  At a staff meeting I was reporting on what colleges I had lined up visits, one of them was Compton Community College.  (For anyone is as naive as me, Compton sounds like any other respectable college name.  But for everyone else, it reminds them of some lovely rappers called Tupac and The Game and lyrics such a "I'm from Compton where the wrong color be cautious" and some other lyrics that I just looked up and will now need to wash my eyes.) So it goes with out saying, as I left for trip, my colleagues were a little worried about how this bushy tailed, 22 year old recruiter would do.

The trip was so much fun, and the other recruiters I went with were incredible.  The recruiter that tag teamed with me had so much knowledge and spunk, there was never a dull moment.  Our most memorable experience was at Benihannas, where Lisa and I sat by two fascinating families.  They told us great stories about getting in fights, how they punched so and so, and getting the police called on them as they were in line for the Dumbo ride.  One of the families was from Inglewood and the other was from Compton. (I was so excited to meet people from this city I had heard so much about!) The son from Compton excused himself  a couple times to take care of his business, it looked like he was selling bags of sugar, and we were able to get to know those sitting with us really well, I mean really well.

As we started to leave, the son from Compton (the one with the sugar business) chases after us.  He gives us a note and asks if we are going clubbing tonight and if he could show us around his city.  As much as we wanted to, we already had plans to pick up a Pink Berry and watch the Bachelor.  He was persistent and kept walking with us as we kept turning him down.  Finally he gave up but us Utah girls were a little flustered and hadn't noticed that we had walked past our car.  When we turned around to go to our car, we found our friend lingering near by.  To avoid giving this entrepreneur false hope and avoid another run in, we decided to walk home. Below is the note he gave us, points for style!

It made me feel so mature to be going on a "work trip". I loved every second of it and the best part was I was able to tell people all week long how incredible UTAH STATE was!

Santa Monica Pier with Lisa

The Melting Pot

The Karaoke bar we almost went to. 

Block Weekends

ATSU has a pretty rigid testing schedule, every three to four weeks the students take a test on everything they were taught during that "block".  The tests are usually always on Monday so the Friday and Saturday before are big study days, which means the husbands are usually M.I.A.  This could make for terribly depressing and lonely days but with such incredible friends out here, block weekends are some of my favorite! (Don't get me wrong, they would be so much better with Brady!!)

.we only got a couple pictures at the end so we missed a lot of cute girls. 

This block weekend started off with a chill girls night where we just sat around, talked, laughed and ate cookies.  The next morning I slept in then spent the afternoon at the beach.  Yes, I did say beach.  Surprisingly, Kirksville has a beach.  It isn't huge but it does the trick.  We played in the water, made some sand castles and soaked in the sun.  Once I got home, I cleaned the house, laundry and went grocery shopping.  After that some friends came over and we made all kinds of popcorn and then went to the movie in the park.  During all this time, our poor husbands were stuck inside studying!  Sundays are the best because Brady doesn't do anything school related!  We were able to sleep in, go to church together and then enjoy a day of rest of rejuvenation.

.this one offers a great view of our nostrils.

This weekend was jam-packed with fun things and helped me remember why I love it here so much!  I love the fact that there is always someone ready to have fun and that there are so many people I can relate with.  I am grateful for the crazy girls who keep me busy and laughing my head off.

It is a good thing that I sacrificed this weekend so Brady could study because he felt pretty good about his test on Monday!

Anderson's in K-Ville

I counted down the days until my parents came! These two are a blast to be with and make you feel like the most important person in the world!  Their visit was way too short but I am so grateful for the time that I did get to spend with them.  

I drove to Kansas City to pick them up, and for those who know of my driving skills, this was an impressive feat!  I arrived at the hotel a couple hours before their flight came in so I splurged by using the gym and taking a relaxing bubble bath while watching a movie.  When their flight FINALLY came in, we could not stop talking! Even though we had a full day ahead of us, we stayed up far into the morning laughing and talking nonstop.  

The next morning we woke up, went to the gym and then jumped in the pool for a quick swim.  We decided to stop in Kirksville before heading to Nauvoo so that we could eat dinner with B man, who was MIA because of school.  The girls ate way too much at a salad buffet and the boys loaded up with steak and potatoes.  Finally we rolled out, sent B to the library to study, and headed to Nauvoo. 

 

We made it to Nauvoo just in time for the pageant.  WE LOVED IT!  The actors were amazing and the stories they told were incredible.  Even though I’m still scratching my mosquito bites from this night, it was worth it!  We didn’t plan well for the evening and mom and I started to get a bit chilly as soon as the pageant began.  My dad could not stop chuckling as we used the chair cushions as make shift blankets to keep us warm. 

Our time in Nauvoo was spent going around the historic town, eating yummy food, going to the beautiful temple, attending different shows and spending time with Aunt Bonita and Uncle Snick.  They are serving a mission out here and it has been great fun to be so close to these guys.  Another special treat was running into my cousins Sterling, Olivia, Tiffany and Todd and all their kids!  

After we were Nauvoo’ed out, we headed back to Kirksville.  Unfortunately, B man had gotten sick and was feeling miserable!  He stayed in bed the rest of the weekend while we made scrubbies, went to the lake, shopped, hiked and played games. 

I miss these two so much already!  Kirksville is a blast but there is nothing like being with family and I hope one day we will end up close to everyone.  Thanks for the laughs, the talks, the food and the fun!  Dad’s chuckle and silly grins can lighten any day and mom knows just what to say to turn any situation into a great one!  I am so lucky to have them in my life and could not have asked for better parents.  The hardest thing about these visits is that it makes you realize how much you miss them.. so come back soon!! I can't wait for future visits but until then, I will remember the fun memories we made.