9.26.2012

Drum roll please........!!!!!!

We have the BEST news we can ever imagine sharing!!!!!!


We are going to be parents!!!!
Not to just one child, but TWO - we're having twins!!!

Due April 23, 2013
Currently just over 10 weeks along and the babies are healthy, strong and lookin good :)

A pic from my appointment with the doctor today:
Twin A is a little blurry but we got to see them wiggle around and watch their hearts beat and ahhhhh it's just so exciting we can't even stand it!!!

9.23.2012

Yay for Fall!

Fall here is absolutely beautiful!  During the summer it has been so incredibly green, but now all of that green is turning into yellow, orange, and red.  Leaves are falling, the are is getting cooler and everywhere we go is gorgeous!

Here are some pictures from a walk we took today.  This tree is absolutely stunning with it's colors.

 My husband belongs in a magazine





We were watching the blue blue sky and laying on the grass just talking when I looked over at Martin and saw him taking this picture...he's a goofball!
 
As for adventures lately, we got to go to Duluth, MN a couple weeks ago and have a little camping adventure.  And it most certainly was an adventure.  The long story is below, but I will warn you, it's long.  Basically lots of things went differently than what we planned for and we could have been all grumpy about it but we couldn't help but laugh about the whole thing! It was just one of those trips.

So, Duluth is about 3 hours north of us up by Lake Superior, and everyone here has told us we need to go there so we decided at the last minute that we would go!  So after work on Friday I picked Marty up and we eventually got everything ready to be able to hit the road.

We had heard there was construction on the way up so we tried to take a detour...key word tried.  We ended up taking a 40 minute detour that got us nowhere near where we were supposed to be.  We eventually found our way back to the highway and the construction wasn't bad at all.  So we rolled into Duluth around 10pm and our GPS was supposed to take us to a camping ground where we were going to camp for the night.  The GPS ended up taking us to the parking lot of a hospital type building...hmmm.  

So, we drove around for a little bit without any luck and eventually found a gas station where we could ask for directions.  The lady working there had no clue what roads we were even on but she could at least suggest a map for us to look at!  After looking through several maps we finally found the campground!  We hoped back in the car, made our way there and somehow set up camp at 11pm with no light except our handy dandy head lamps!  Little did we know that all the camping sites were walk-in sites, which would have been great if we had prepared for that.  Unfortunately, we thought we'd be able to pull our car up to our spot to use electricity, unpack, etc.  Oh well, we made it work!  So we got the tent all set up and crashed for the night.  

Around 6am I heard a woman's voice over a loud speaker system telling groups of people where to go.  I'm not going to lie, it was pretty creepy and reminded me of the woman from Hunger Games.  Here we were surrounded by trees and there is a loud speaker system with a woman giving people orders...it wasn't the secluded camping I thought it was I guess! Martin was fast asleep and luckily I was able to fall asleep again.  The woman's voice came on several more times, but I just ignored her.  Come to find out, our camping ground was right next to a military training base and a small airport so I'm guessing that's where the voice came from.

  We woke up around 10am to this beautiful view outside our tent:


And we found out we didn't do too bad at setting up our tent in the dark!


We originally planned on making pancakes on a skillet that we thought we'd be able to plug into the car, but we had to change things up a bit.  At the entrance to the campground was a little cabin with bathrooms, showers, etc. and we found an outlet on the outside of the cabin that we could plug our skillet into!  So we started making breakfast and it started to drizzle a bit.  I didn't think much of it because the weather report had said that there was only a 10% chance of rain.  Well, the rain just kept on coming so we whipped out our umbrellas and tried to save the pancakes!

They got a little soggy, but I inherited my dad's amazing pancake making skills and they were still really tasty!  Marty liked the syrup and almost gave himself a hicky on his tongue haha:
The rain kept on coming but it was really fun to try to keep ourselves and the food and all of our supplies dry!  We just had to laugh!  We had a lazy morning and just hung out in the tent while it kept on raining then we eventually took advantage of a break in the rain and quickly cleaned up our site.  We made our way into town and got to see lots of cool things!  There were a couple of piers with lighthouses on Lake Superior that we explored:

Who needs electrical power to lift up bridges when you have Martin?

Me passing the "torch"

We explored a museum

Watched a HUGE boat go through the channel and under the bridge

And then enjoyed the view and ate yummy ice cream

It was a quick trip but absolutely gorgeous up and there and fun to explore the area.  We are doing really really well and work is going well for both of us!  We have lots of things to be excited about in life, that's for sure!



9.07.2012

Labor Day Weekend

For our date night on Friday night we went to a science museum in St. Paul. It was SO cool!!!!
I feel like a little kid there because EVERYTHING fascinates me.  Martin and I were
in our own little worlds exploring the things they had there.

It was a very hands-on learning science museum - right up my alley.  I felt like a kid on Christmas!
The best part is that we only got through about half of the museum that night so we are definitely going back!

I was taking mental notes all through the night on teaching techniques because hands-on learning is so effective.  Even though I don't get to teach (I majored in Health Education and am licensed to teach 6th-12th grade) while we are moving about with Martin's job I still love thinking of things I could do in the classroom.  Ah, I just love seeing kids discover things on their own!

Here is the one picture from the night...I thought I took way more.

Saturday was a productive day of cleaning and going to a church BBQ.  Sunday was a relaxing day and a fantastic day at church.  On the 1st Sunday of every month the pulpit is opened up to the congregation and people can go up and share their feelings about Christ and scriptures and the gospel in general.  So many people shared inspiring stories, and several youth got up and shared their thoughts.  I never cease to be amazed by the young people of today, they are STRONG.

Sunday night was a blast.  We went over to a friend's house for dinner and we had a sleepover with them and another young couple!  Yes, I recognize that that may be weird to some of you, but Marty and I used to do sleepovers with our BFF's in Provo quite a bit...so it felt normal!

The next day we woke up and went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast then swam in our pool at our complex, did a little bit of shopping, made a Sonic run, and the day was over!  Our friends are so awesome!  It's cool because we are all in the same stages of life and can just chat and chat about things.  We've been doing a lot with these couples and I'm so grateful! 

Becky, Martin, and Cami waiting in the rocking chairs at Cracker Barrel

Jesus and James playing checkers while waiting

To top off the weekend I have good news!  I got a job!!!  I'm working part-time as a nanny for a family close by.  They have two darling little boys ages 2 and 5 who I get to spend 3 days a week with.  It's such an answer to prayer and the perfect fit for me right now.

I have applied to 20+ jobs, gotten 7 or 8 job offers, and yet none of the job offers felt good to accept.  And it's so hard to feel accomplished after spending 4 years studying and becoming a teacher then not even being in that profession.  At times I really questioned my "success" but I was always promptly reminded that success isn't measured by the money you make, the title you hold, or what company you're with.  I get to determine my success and I measure success by the joy I feel in what I am doing and how I have helped others along the way.  When I'm doing those things, I feel genuine joy.
 
 Still, It's been a frustrating couple of months because I don't do well with idle time - I start to waste my days away and go stir crazy.  So I NEEDED something to be doing but I felt so torn because the job offers I got just didn't feel right for some reason.  Things started making sense though and I began to see the bigger picture and why none of them felt right.  Now I have this job and it is going really well.  It feels great to have something to do, to be bringing in some money, and to also have time to take care of me, the house, etc.

My first day at my job!