Tuesday, June 26, 2007











Hey everyone! It has been a long time since I have been on so I am a little suprised with some of the fun news! It is so good to see what everyone is up to.
Well I am not up to much, it is after all 1:00 am which is a very unusual time for me to be up but I wanted to check emails without Drew helping out so here I am.
We haven't been up to much no wild trips like everyone else we just hangout. We did however go on a cattle drive which was suprisingly fun. Drew has been saying yehaw ever since it is so cute. He loved the horses, he fell asleep riding a horse (must have been so exciting)!
Besides that we are just good, andy is chugging along in lab like usual and Drew and I spend lots of time at my parents. I know we are so exciting!!!
Well I love you all and will hopefully be on a bit more but I won't promise a thing!
Oh I did finally figure out how to add pictures so I put a few in of drew of course and since I haven't been on forever there are some old pics too.

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Vail, Colorado



Hey everyone! Justin and I just got back from a week long trip to Vail, Colorado. We went with my family and stayed in the Marriott timeshare condos. We had a great time! Vail is absolutely beautiful, very green with lots of trees. There is so much to do there. Some of the things we did were go swimming, shopping, the boys golfed, we went to Denver for a day and saw the Colorado Rockies play the Yankees, went to a rodeo, saw the Betty Ford Gardens, went to an outdoor market, and relaxed!

Our new car!


Well, we finally found a car that suits our needs and our budget! We are really excited and the Lord has really blessed us! It is a 2005 Toyota Corolla with 31,000 miles on it. Here is a pic

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Sawadee Kaa (hello) from Thailand!!

Hi guys,
So, I'm writing this from an internet cafe in Chiang Mai, in northern thailand. Everything on this website is in Thai, so I had to click on every link to figure out how to read the blog, and then how to post!
Today we got back from a trek in the Jungle. It was a three day, two night deal, where we walked a few hours each day and then slept in a village each night. It was so interesting! The villages we stayed in don't really have access roads, and so the only outsiders they see are trekkers. the first night we stayed in a village that was REALLY poor. the kids don't usually have a teacher, because the teacher has to hike in and stay for weeks. It was so incredible to see how they lived!! We all stayed in a bamboo hut ( there were 9 people on the trek), and all night long we could hear dogs fighting, roosters crowing, pigs squealing, and cows mooing. Not exactly a five star hotel! (:

It was such an amazing experience! To end the trek, we took an elephant ride. It was so cool! I got to sit on its neck. I couldn't believe how rough the skin was and how coarse the hair was!

In a few days we'll leave thailand for Northern Laos. We'll travel down Laos by bus, then into cambodia, visit northern Vietnam, climb in Southern Thailand, and then possible head to Indonesia to surf, if there are no waves in Thailand. Hopefully we will be able to handle the heat!!! Bangkok was suffocating, so hopefully the other cities won't be as bad!!

Despite the few discomforts of traveling, we're having a wonderful time. It is so fascinating to see how different Asian culture is. The people are so amazingly kind. And the food has been wonderful!

Congrats to all the new babies, houses, and everything else exciting that's happening!


Nanette

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

house for rent....

Hey everyone! My parents own the house that Karen has been living in....and since she is moving into her new sweet house, it is going to be for rent again. If anyone is interested let me know...
Em

Post-Op

Welcome to the blog Jacee! It's good to hear from you! It's been a LONG time!!! I just wanted to let everyone know that Jake's surgery went great! It took about 2 hours for them to go in and reattach his retina. He was down for a few days, which was tough because boys are babies when it comes to pain, but he's good now. The doctor said that they need to touch up his other eye in about 2 weeks. Luckily with that one, they can do it with a laser, so it won't be a major surgery. I'm just glad they caught it and didn't go blind. Anyway, that's all I've got. I just wanted to update you with our situation.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Well friends, it sounds like things are going great! This blog thing is pretty cool!! It is so awesome to hear from everyone! Thanks again Karen. Okay so things have been great lately. I have some news, well first, I don't know if I have told you guys already, but we are building a house in Syracuse!! We are really excited! Things are going great and we plan to move at the end of the summer! The new house has four bedrooms, which should be perfect for the new addition to the family! I'm Prego!! I'm due in December and I don't know what it is yet! It will be crazy because Bode will only be one and a half! However, I can't wait! It will be so fun! Well that's the latest in the Pedersen Family. Besides that Bode just turned one on Sunday, Karri Sheppard moved into my ward in Roy and we hangout about everyday, Clint has been working on finishing the basement, and I clean and clean and still can't keep the house clean! So that is about all! Hope all is well! Love ya

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Hey amigas!

Well, better a late blogger than never . . . right? Well, I wish I had some pictures to share right now, but we can't find our camera. We're still looking though.

Congrats to the Firths and Kathryn!

I guess I should give an update on what's going on in my life. So, I'm going to summer school right now at UVSC. I work there too in the Aviation Marketing department as a Marketing Representative. I guess one cool thing about work is that I'm going on a business trip to Wisconsin at the end of July. We're going to market our online degree program at the biggest air show in the world. It's going to be hot, but it will be fun.

I'm planning to graduate in April next year. Kris should be done in 2 years. Something exciting about UVSC, for those of you who don't know, is that it's becoming a University next year. Kris has been involved with a lot of the transition committees. He was elected student body president and gets to associate with a lot of neat people. It's an exciting time to be here and see all the changes.

We just moved to Orem on May 22nd. We live on 1200 W. in between the Orem, Center st. exit and UVSC. You can see our apartment from the freeway. We like it so far. It's been nice to be so close to work and school and not have to drive 45 min. to get there.

That's about it for now! I hope everything is going well with all of you!

Friday, June 08, 2007

Surgery

Hey guys! I have some news.. not exciting! But news anyway! Yesterday Jake found out that he has a particially detached retina. We are going into emergency surgery this afternoon! I'll keep you posted!

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

More good news!


Well, the Firths have decided we like to make life crazy...I got engaged last night! I am marrying Roger Gardner on October 3rd. Yes, I'm getting married three weeks after Meg and yes, my mom has been in tears for a week. :) Just a little bit about him... we were a blind date back before Christmas, he's turning 26 in a couple months, he just graduated in Business Management, and he's perfect. Okay, okay so I'm biased. Anyway, I wanted to tell everyone the fun news! Here is a picture of him and I on Easter. I hope you all can make it to both weddings!

Friday, June 01, 2007

2 Months of building

2 months ago tomorrow I posted a picture of my BEAUTIFUL hole that our house would eventually be built in! Well...here's the update on what's happened in 2 months! A LOT!!! Bryce and I go there about 2 or 3 times a week just to see how much has changed! It really has been a neat experience watching it change from day to day. You will see from the picture that a window is missing! The window was ordered wrong so we had to order a new one! Our 2 garage doors were also ordered wrong! Pretty stupid I know, but not much we can do about it! We now have 3 extra windows (2 were ordered and then we decided against them). So if anyone needs a window just let me know! :) Also...the front door will not stay that stark white! It will change to a color (red maybe?!) Our projected move in date is the beginning of August. So 4 months to build...not too bad! It really has been awesome! I'll definitely have to have an ending of summer party or something! Our next adventure is in about 2 weeks where we'll be having an amazing time at Lake Powell (my very favorite vacation spot). I'm excited to just be with my fam for a week! Other than that not much is new! (I guess building a house is new every day though huh?! My life isn't as dull as I think it is!) YAY!!!!!

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Family in Vegas



Well, this last week, my family made the trip to come visit. My mom and dad, sister, brother-in-law and two nieces. It was a blast. We went to the Celine Dion concert for my birthday and it was a blast. It was so artistic and visually stimulating. It was way better than I expected. Claire sure had fun with her cousins! She gets along great with them and it is so cute.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Exciting news...

Hey everyone! I've been so bad at checking this becuase we didn't have the internet all last semester. When I finally checked it I couldn't believe all the new babies, engagements and fun news! Also I forgot my password so I had to have Karen help me figure out how to log in again. OLIVIA! You are an amazing artist, where do you live, what are you doing??

So I finally finished dental hygiene school and this summer I am finishing my last 2 classes to get my degree from the U. I'm going to work as a hygienist, so I'll never need my degree from the U- but since I just had 2 classes left, I thought I might as well. Ty just finished law school from BYU and has a job with a firm called Latham and Watkins. We were going to move to California to work at the office in Los Angeles, but a month ago we got an email saying that they were going to hire some new people to start at offices in Europe and we applied and are moving to LONDON!! I'm so excited! We didn't think we'd get it, but we found out yesterday so we'll be moving there at the end of the summer. We committed to work there for at least 2 years. So, if anyone wants to take a trip over there- you have a free place to stay with us. I'm not kidding- PLEASE, I would love for anyone to come. I've only been to Europe once, but not to London. So if anyone's been there and has any fun ideas of things to do/see, let me know.

Well, that's it for me, I don't know how to post pictures, but one of these days I'm going to figure it out and put some on here. I hope everyone is doing wel!!!
Emily

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Alaska and Murray

Hey everybody! Congrats on everyone's new engagements, pregnancies, marriages, and births! Man we are really doing a good job of multiplying and repleneshing the earth, aren't we? I haven't checked this for a couple months and I can't believe how much I missed! As for Adam and I, we just got back from and Alaskan cruise last week, and it was such a blast. It was beautiful and actually not that cold. We saw lots of beautiful glaciers and wildlife. It was a good break for us.

Marjorie Glacier in Glacier Bay


Standing on a huge snowbank in a tiny Klondike town. Population: nine
I'm sure this would be much taller in the winter!

Three bald eagles on Panic Island in Ketchikan. We saw like fifteen of them there.

Next week we are closing and moving into a twin home! We are so excited. It's small but really cute and just the perfect starter home for us. It's just around the corner from where we live right now (in Murray) so we'll be able to stay in the same ward, which we love! I can't wait. I'll have to post pictures of it after we move in.

Adam was unfortunately hospitalized on Saturday! He had extreme pain in his abdomen and was throwing up! It turned out he had a kidney stone. When he finally passed it yesterday, I coudn't believe how big it was...about the size of a grape nut. The poor boy was in so much pain and throwing up constantly for a couple of days, but he's fine now, luckily. I was just glad it wasn't anything serious!

I must brag that we also have two new additions to our family. Their names are Angel and Coco, and they are adorable little girls. Here's some pictures.





Lol, ok so maybe they're not as exciting as a baby, but we weren't allowed to have pets any bigger than that where we're living, so we got mice. All animals are fun! (don't worry, they do live in a cage.)















So we have had a lot of changes lately and it's been a crazy few weeks! Hope everybody is doing well!

Monday, May 21, 2007

Hawaii






Hi all. Well we just got back from Hawaii and it was a blast. We went with the whole Vance clan and Seth and I stayed at my brother in-law and sister in-law's house. I got to meet my nephew for the first time and that was fun. He was blessed while we were there. Claire was a trooper. The flight was a nightmare (both ways) but she adapted pretty well once there. It was fun to be there with some natives because they really knew some fun things to do. I went snorkeling, boogie boarding, jumping of cliffs in pouring rain, to Pearl Harbor, to the Polynesian Cultural Center and much more! I am really happy to be home though. Here are some pictures (some of Claire with her cousin)

Meet Colt!

Colt K Lancaster was born Monday, May 14th at 11:16 a.m. He was 7 lbs 13.3 oz and 20.5 inches long. We are obsessed with this new member of our family!!

The brief version of my story is that contractions began Sunday night. After 13 hours of labor, it was time to push. After pushing for almost three hours (which it usually takes about one), I was exhausted and had torn a bit. Colt was stuck sideways in what's called tranverse arrest, and he couldn't move through my narrow bones. The only option was a c-section. I am so happy we made it through! My recovery is going quite well; it's been very helpful to have Adam around and to have his mom here to help. My parents get home a week from today on the 28th. Life is really great!!!

Enjoy these cute pics.









SURPRISE!!!

well kids... i know you're all shitting your pants because the one and only Olivia Winn has joined the brilliance of the blog group. you're sitting on the edge of your seat right now, gripping the mouse, hanging onto every word... some of you are even reading aloud because you can't believe this miraculous event is occuring. Oh come on... you've missed me. So the first time i was invited to this blog thingy i was special ed and didnt' follow the directions correctly and i failed to join. but karen caught me online today and told me she'd send me an invite yet again... so you can all thank karen cause i know you've missed me... especially you nicole, don't deny it. well. life is good. i don't have an official job right now... i'm just oil painting.. which is a good time...

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

so yeah... that's a little bit of my work... and i went from this

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

to .... this Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

so until next time.. hope all is well with you kids. and i can't believe you're all having babies... good times.

Saturday, May 19, 2007

It's a ...

It's a girl! We went in yesterday for my ultrasound and we are having a baby girl! I am soooo excited! Justin really wanted a boy, but before we walked in I asked if he would be mad if we had a girl. He said no....and good thing! (After all, he's the one who determined the gender!) No, he is really excited actually! At work the other day he saw his manager's three year old daughter and decided little girls can be quite adorable! :) She'll have him wrapped around her finger!

The ultrasound was seriously the neatest thing ever! Just ask anyone who's had one! It was so fun to see her little body! Right now she weighs eleven ounces. She was really cute...she was waving her little hands in front of her face and she had her feet crossed at her ankles. It is seriously so amazing to see them moving around inside of you! Anyway, the good news is that she is healthy and it all seems more real now!

Friday, May 18, 2007

Read this!

I am reading a really good book right now and I think you all should read it! It is Smart Women Finish Rich by David Bach. He also has one called Smart Couples Finish Rich. It is great! It is really easy to read and has really practical, valuable tips and instructions on financial matters. It covers everything from budgeting, investment, insurance, home-buying, and lots else to help you understand how to be financially secure. It's just so important because these are the things that affect everyone. So please read! You will be happy you did.

I'm also reading The Poisonwood Bible which is my favorite book. I read it every summer and I'm making Jeff read it with me. Haha. It's more of a girl's kind of book.

I hope you are all doing well! Congratulations to Becky with her new little baby Colt! He is so adorable!

Monday, May 07, 2007

NEW LOOK

So...I was really starting to get sick of the black color of our blog! So...I decided to change it up a bit! So if you are confused just know that you are at the right spot! :) I wanted something fresher and I really liked this template so I hope everyone else does as well! I also added a fun quote at the top left that I thought fit our group of friend's perfectly! Although we don't see each other all the time I think all of us know that each one of our friends will always be there for the other! I know that this has been true in my life because (let's face it) I've been through rough times in the past and I knew that you were all there for me to support me! I know that was forever ago, but I still want all of you to know that I'm thankful for all of you for being my friend! :) Keep the posting up! I have really enjoyed staying in touch again over the last few months! It was sad when I didn't know what was going on with people and now that we have this blog I feel like we are all connected again! YAY for technology!

Sunday, May 06, 2007

Graduation!

Well I did it. I am offically a University of Utah Alum. It's so weird. I am really going to miss college life I have really loved it. But we all have to move on right? This was a really long day. I had seen Spider Man 3 the night before so I was on no sleep and I went to the early Convocation with Pres. Monson, then this ceremony was at 6:45 at night. Here I am right after I got my offical picture taken.
These are all the graduates from my Newsbreak class. The old guy is our teacher.
These are my good friends from Newsbreak. Matt, Me, Adam, Lloyd and Alan. (Always with the boys :)
You know her. She actually stole the read thing. Which ironicly is called a stoll. Te he.
Well there you have it. Some pictures from the longest day of my life! But a fun one.
I leave for Hawaii in the morning. And if anyone gets bored Monday night turn on Channel 9 at 10:00 and you can see the last newsbreak sports broadcast. I know you BYU fans wont apprehiate it but I'm in it so. . .
Hope all is well. Congrats to everyone who has fun big changes coming up. Love you all.

Saturday, May 05, 2007

Crib

So we don't have a new house or anything, but I thought I would add our newest piece of furniture! Justin's parents gave us some gift cards to R.C.Willey that were going to expire, so this is what we got! It's pretty basic and simple, but it will work! We are very excited to know what kind and colors of bedding to look for...which we'll find out in two weeks! We can't wait!

I am still feeling well, which is to be expected in your second trimester (usually). I am starting to show a little bit, but you can tell better in some things than in others. It really depends on the pants! I haven't felt the baby yet, but they say that from 18-22 weeks is when you may start to feel the baby. I am 18 weeks today, so pretty soon I'll feel some movement I'm thinking!

BTW Patrice the lotion you made is amazing! I absolutely love it and I want the recipe! If you have a chance and can post what you did, that would be awesome!! I have everyone smell it and sample it and everyone loves it! I showed my mom and sisters and they want the recipe too! Good work!

The last thing is I have to put in a plug for Layers! The Spring Line is up and launched and they have a whole bunch of really cute swim suits, dresses and t-shirts. I haven't had anyone volunteer yet to host a friends party, so if you're interested, let me know! The hostess gets to earn free clothing!! I just got my spring catalogs, so if anyone is interested, let me know and I'd love to mail you one.

Hope everyone is doing well! Love, Nicole


Monday, April 30, 2007

My House!!




Hey everyone! I didn't realize that I hadn't posted pictures of my house! I guess I forgot! So here they are! ** DISCLAIMER** These were taking BEFORE we moved in. I haven't taken pictures of it since we've moved in, but we've painted and done a few other things!
1) Is the outside view
2) Is my kitchen! I HAVE CABINETS!! I had like 2 in my apartment, so needless to say, I was pretty excited!
3) Family room & I'm standing in the kitchen nook
4) entry/living/dining room
5) Standing in our loft, looking at the extra bedrooms and stairs!

It's not much, but we really like it!
Whit

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Out of the Loop

WOW!!! CONGRATULATIONS to everyone that is engaged or pregnant! That is so amazing and I so excited for everyone! I feel so out of the loop, when we moved into our house our Internet was all messed up so I haven't been able to really do anything besides check my email! But.. we're back up and running so that's great news! We are finally settled into our new house, it's SO much fun! I love it! It's crazy the little things I get excited about, like picking out paint colors, or buying a new kitchen table! Nothing really exciting has happened to us since the last time I posted, but I thought I would say congrats to everyone because everyone elses lives are so exciting and changing so much! It's amazing, I feel like I'm ready to be a mom too.. this is the last week of my BC pills... and then... well anything could happen! Well I love and miss you all!
Whit
Wow, things change so fast! Babies, dogs, houses, husbands, school and jobs!!! Things are crazy!!! It's been a long time since I have posted, so I thought it was about time! Things are great! Clint has one more final and then he is home free for the summer. In the fall he has one class and then he's done!!!! Actually, he has been talking about going to on to get a MBA so we will see. But all in all he is doing good! Bode, is almost 11 months and into everything! He has 8 teeth and chews on everything! I love hanging out with him all day and wouldn't change it for the world!!! He keeps me pretty busy, but besides that Young Womens is keeping me really busy. I have some fun news, we are looking at building a house in Syracuse, which is a little south of where I live now! I'm way excited, we have found a great builder and are looking at the options, so we will see how that goes! Well hope all is well!

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Pictures











I thought I posted them, but they didn't show up!

New addition and Hawaii

Hello everyone,

I haven't posted for so long. I don't have the internet at home and so I have to come to my parents to get it. Homeless, huh? Well, the most recent thing for us is we got a dog! His name is Chevy. He is a black lab. We got him when he was 6 weeks old and he has grown so much everyday! He is now 3 months old. He was such a handful at first, but he is slowly getting easier. I never knew dogs were so much work. He is our baby. Also, we went to Hawaii over our one year anniversary. It was so beautiful. I loved it there. We did fun things like seeing the Polyenisian Cultural Center, Pearl Harbor, Snorkeling, Hawaii Temple, and we learned how to surf! It was a great trip. I would go back in a heart beat. Anyway that's about it for me. Congrats to all the pregnant people and newly engaged. That is so fun!

Friday, April 20, 2007

almost done....

So, of course I'm checking the blog instead of doing homework! My good news is that I am almost done! I graduate on May 4th, and then take off to Europe and Southeast Asia for the summer. We're spending 3 weeks in Europe with my parents, come home to go to Lake Powell, and then leave to Southeast Asia for 3 months where we'll visit Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. I really can't wait!

As a school project, we had to create a wikipedia article on a meteorology subject that interests us. Here is a link to the article I created, if anybody is interested. It's on wave clouds! They're pretty cool.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_cloud

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Hello everybody!



Hi every one! This is my first time posting so sorry if it's not to interesting! I know I should have done this sooner but I didn't. After seeing everyone at Becky's shower i realized that I really have been missing out on everything that is going on. I just wanted to give a quick up date about me. I just got married 6 weeks ago to the greatest guy. his name is Scott Wilson. He is 29, from Orem and works for a company called Mstar we are in the process of looking into school for him to get his masters. We plan to leave in January but who knows We live in Cedar Hills and love it. Were actually in Chase Jensens parents ward. I finally graduate on the 27th from UVSC and the best news of all I'm pregnant. I'm due December 11th. We know its fast but we were planning on it so it's really no surprise but were so excited!! We hoping for a girl because both our families are all boys so cross your fingers! I'm not sick yet but I'm always hungry!! I feel like I eat all the time...I'm sure that some of you know how this feels. We will keep you updated! Well i hope I can keep this up, I can barley keep a journal so we will see how this goes! It was fun to read and see everyone on the blog. Talk to you all soon.




karlie

Monday, April 16, 2007

UVA



Seth and I just got back from "Darden Days"-the admitted students weekend at the University of Virginia (the business school is called Darden). Charlottesville is honestly amazing! The school is even more amazing. It is Jeffersonian architecture and is immaculate. The town is so charming and has so many fun things to do. We found a townhome that we love next to some members who are first years at Darden. It has 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, two fireplaces, and a back patio with a stream in the back yard. It is so perfect. Attached is a picture. We hope that we can secure it-maybe if you all pray that we will get it, we will! It is very underpriced too. I am so excited for this fun adventure. It is absolutely beautiful out there, so anyone coming to the east coast must come visit! We were also able to stop in Baltimore to visit my brother Paul and his wife Stephanie. Their son Luke is 3 and is huge, and their other son Liam is 4 weeks old and tiny (he wasn't even 6 lbs when he was born). It was really fun to see them

Monday, April 09, 2007

Continuing with the good news...

My good news is I'm PREGNANT! Ahhh! :)

I am due October 7th, so my big day comes a little after everyone else's! I am 14 weeks along. This past Friday we went to our second appointment and heard the heart beat! It was so neat and so crazy.

I go in for my ultrasound to find out the gender on May 17th. We cannot wait! Justin wants a boy so they can be "best friends" and I will be happy just to have a healthy baby! So far things have gone so well for me. I have hardly ever felt sick. As long as I get plenty of sleep and eat every couple of hours (I feel like such a pig!) then I do really well. I have never thrown up, so I feel like one of the select few lucky ones!

This baby will be grandchild #4 on my side of the family and the first on Justin's side, so his parents can't wait! Although my parents are excited as well. I still haven't told anyone at work, but I plan to do so soon!

TRIPLE Good News!!!

You guys will never guess! I heard the news of my life last week.

My parents were in town for 3 weeks, and they headed back to the Philippines last Friday. Well, I was talking to my mom on the phone to make sure I would get the chance to say goodbye. As we chatted, she met up with my dad. I could tell he was informing her to pass some information on to me. The conversation went a little like this:

MOM: "Oh, by the way, Dad says plan for me to be there for the baby on May 20th."
ME: "Really?! That's great, Mom!"
MOM: "Can he come, too? Can we both come - to stay?"
ME: "Well, sure! Do you mean that? I didn't know both of you would be coming. I'd love it!!"
MOM: "Becky, did you catch what I just said?"
ME (rewinding a little): "What? You said can you and Dad come. Oh wait, did you say TO STAY?!? Are you saying what I think you're saying?"
MOM: "Yes. We are coming home to stay."

It turns out that my dad got a phone call on March 9th, asking him to take a new assignment. My parents are coming back home! It is so shocking since we've all been preparing for another 1.5 years without them... But every time I think about it, I can't wipe the grin off my face!!

Sunday, April 08, 2007

Double good news!!


Congrats Kathryn! I'm so excited for you! I love this blog! Does anyone else check it all the time to see what's new with everyone or is that just me?

I also have good news to share.......I got engaged today too! The Easter Bunny was very busy. :) He had a friend dress up as a huge easter bunny and deliver an easter basket to my house during my big family party. He proposed right there in front of everyone! I was so surprised because I also didn't think we'd be getting engaged for a few weeks.

His name is Devin Bland and we've been dating about a year and 4 months. We were set up on a blind date around Christmas 2005.....who ever thought blind dates actually work? :) He's great and I'm so excited! We're getting married September 12, Salt Lake Temple and Millennial Falls for our reception, so hopefully everyone can make it. I will post updated pictures of us later.....this one is almost a year old.

Congrats again K! Can't wait to see your ring!

Guess what!!!!!!!

I am engaged!! So most of you know that I met Jeff last summer when we were in Guatemala together and we've been dating since last May. It has been crazy the last year as he's been going to school in Utah while I've been working in California and DC. But now he's out here with me in DC and it has been so much fun!!! He planned an Easter egg hunt for us today and in the last one I found there was a ring! I was way surprised. Well I knew we were going to get married but I didn't think we'd be engaged for at least another month or so. We are moving home in July and will be in Utah for at least another year because Jeff has one more year of school left at BYU. We're planning on getting married August 7th, so you better all be there!! I think someone has a list of everyone's addresses, right? Becky maybe? I'll call you. Anyways, I am so happy and Jeff is the best!!! I am excited for all of you to meet him. xoxo

ps does anyone have any suggestions of places to look for wedding dresses? and any reception centers that they love? thanks!

Monday, April 02, 2007

Cancun and A HOLE!!!!!




Hi all! Well, Bryce and I were lucky enough to go to Cancun last week with my parents. We got back one week ago and had a blast! I finally got a tan! Getting a tan is very difficult when you are inside an office 40 hours a week. So it's nice to finally have some color! We didn't do very much. We sat by the pool a lot, which was fabulous! Bryce and I went parasailing (that is a picture of us...I promise), we went snorkeling a few times, and just played and had fun! I'm glad we got to go. It was great weather and it was sad to come home to snow last week...good thing the snow didn't stick to the ground! :)

The hole is the hole for our house (I'm sure you figured that out when you saw the picture)! I'm not sure how much many of you know about this house of ours, but I was told that I would have a house in this neighborhood in about 2003/2004. When Bryce and I got married we were told to only sign a nine month lease on our house because our new house would be done in June of 2006. Well...none of that ever happened! :) But, things are finally happening now! Our hole was dug last Thursday and the foundation is going in sometime this week! Bryce and I spent about 4 hours on Saturday (yes we missed the second session of conference...we are bad) driving around and looking at houses and going through a couple of model homes. I have to start picking everything out and I'm looking forward to it...but I'm also not looking forward to it at the same time! So...that's the "news" in my life as of right now! Most of you like to see pictures of babies posted on here...and...well...since I don't have a child yet, our house is my baby for the next couple of months. So I will probalby post pictures on here as things progress so you can all see our house turn from a hole in the ground to an actual home!!! I'm just extremely excited that things are happening!


Anyways...I hope to hear more from people. I'm glad that we have people posting and sharing their lives with us...but I still would love to hear from more! :) It's great keeping in touch since it's so hard to get together nowadays!


I love you all, Karen